Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, October 15, 2020

'BDS' Much Shorter Than 'Movement To Make Jews Feel Unsafe Anywhere' (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

: Credit: Takver, via Wikimedia Commons

Berkeley, October 15 - Activists campaigning for the economic, diplomatic, and cultural isolation of the world's only Jewish state disclosed today they prefer the three-letter shorthand term for their movement to any more honest name, which would require them to use a cumbersome moniker indicative of the real-world negative effect the movement has not on Israel, but on Jews everywhere else.

Local chapter leaders of several groups billing themselves as pro-Palestinian or focused on human rights, but who somehow muster their numbers and voices only against Israel, explained in interviews that the initials of "Boycott, Divest, Sanctions" lend themselves to punchier, more nimble rhetorical use than any name that would convey the actual outcome of the groups' activities, such as "The Movement to Make Jews Feel Unsafe Anywhere" or "The Committee for Thinly-Veiled Threats of Antisemitic Violence on Campus."

"Speaking out our actual aims, not to mention accomplishments, would be a real mouthful," lamented Bay Area Jewish Voice for Peace coordinator Timothy al-Masri. "Many of us would like to think that our campaigns have resulted in even a single instance of boycotting, divesting, or sanctioning Israel, and we can sometimes even glom onto an instance of someone canceling a concert there, or whatever, and claim our pressure did it, but we also know deep down no one actually cares what we think, and that Israel is far too powerful economically and politically for us to have any hope of real impact. The truth is most of us just really hate Jews and loathe the idea of Jewish sovereignty. Our real accomplishment isn't in the metrics of celebrity visits to Israel canceled, or corporate partnerships prevented, but in creating an environment here in Berkeley, or across the US and Europe, where Jews feel threatened. That's what happens as if my magic everywhere we do our thing. It just doesn't have a catchy set of initials to capture it, so we go with 'BDS' instead. That's a compromise we're all willing to accept."

Some activists have suggested rebranding with even shorter, catchier, terminology: several suggestions have emerged for various phrases whose initials spell out SS, such as Sanction the Shlomos and Sovereignty Struggle. These ideas have found little resonance among activists, most of whom view the nomenclature as a distraction from their chief mission: singling out Jewish sovereignty as a unique evil, the fight against which requires support for actions that demonstrate what happens to Jews in the absence of such sovereignty.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

10/15 Links Pt1: Sudan to normalize ties with Israel after US ultimatum; Israelis most want ties with Saudi Arabia next; Nearly 80% of Saudis in favor of normalization with Israel;

From Ian:

Sudan to normalize ties with Israel after US ultimatum - report

Sudan has reportedly decided to move forward with normalizing ties with Israel, after the US reportedly issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the country demanding that it recognize Israel in order to be removed from a US blacklist, a source close to Sudan's leadership told i24News.

The decision was made after a heated discussion on Wednesday, according to the news station.

The ultimatum reportedly included an offer to remove Sudan from the list of states that sponsor terrorism, work to remove Sudan from a list of travel ban countries, work to increase aid to Sudan, commitment to facilitate private investment in Sudan, arranging an investment conference in Sudan and forgiveness of billions of dollars of Sudanese debt to the US, among other benefits, according to a Sudanese journalist.

In September, Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said that the country does not want to link its removal from a US terrorism list, which is hindering access to foreign funding for the country’s economy, with a normalization of relations with Israel. However, Sudan’s leaders did not rule out establishing ties with Israel as part of a US offer of $300 million in economic aid, as well as $3 billion in debt relief and investments.

Earlier this month, deputy chairman of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo told TV station Sudania 24 that his country ascribes great importance to establishing ties with Israel so that it can be removed from the United States’ terror list.

Sudanese Researcher: Our Normalization with Israel Will Lead to Normalization with the U.S.

Four ways the Abraham Accords dismantle the anti-Israel camp’s narrative

First, the Abraham Accords sound the death knell for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. BDS was built on the foundations and legacy of the Arab Boycott of Israel, initiated as a boycott of the pre-state Yishuv by the Arab League in 1945. With key Arab states now formally embracing trade and diplomatic deals with Israel, it looks ridiculous and out of touch with the reality of the region or Arab opinion for radicals in Europe and North America to continue to pursue a boycott policy.

Secondly, the Abraham Accords demolish the narrative that Israel is engaged in a race-based and hence racist oppression of the Palestinians, and hence the apartheid smear and the BDS policies that flow from the false comparison with apartheid South Africa. Emiratis and Bahrainis are the same ethnicity as the Palestinians: Arab. If Israel is able to have normalised and mutually beneficial relations with other Arab states it stands to reason that the occupation is down to a political impasse with the Palestinians, not a race-based desire to subjugate them.

Thirdly, the Abraham Accords destroy the narrative that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is based on an inevitable religious clash between Jews and Muslims. The UAE and Bahrain are predominantly Muslim societies just like Palestinian society. If anything, they are more monolithically Muslim than Palestinian society is. This deal proves Israel can have good relationships with Muslim countries. The way in which the deal uses language about the mutual heritage of the three Abrahamic religions acknowledges that Jews are indigenous to the Middle East.

This last point links to the fourth aspect, which is that the Abraham Accords draw a line under historic Arab delegitimisation of Israel and the narrative that saw it as a temporary, colonialist imposition that could be destroyed. The deal shows the rest of the Arab world is growing impatient with Palestinian intransigence, and has moved to seeing Israel in pragmatic rather than ideological terms, as a permanent feature in the region that doesn’t just have to be accepted but can actually be a useful trading partner and security ally against Iran and its proxies. The contrast between practical steps by other Arab nations and the Palestinian Authority’s history of rejecting Israeli offers, even when its people would be the main beneficiary, is very stark.

As well as opening the door to a better life for many people in the region, the Accords have just made it a lot easier for all of us who have always proudly defended Israel here in the UK to win the ideological arguments with the delegitimisers, who increasingly find themselves on the opposite side to much of the Arab World, let alone Israel and its traditional allies.

David Singer: Jordan and Saudis tighten screws on PLO and Hamas

Saudi Arabia and Jordan have engaged in a twin-pronged attack on the PLO and Hamas seemingly intended to get them to bury the hatchet and begin negotiations with Israel on allocating sovereignty in Gaza and Judea and Samaria ('West Bank') under President Trump’s 2020 Peace Plan.

Prince Bandar bin Sultan Al-Saud – Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States 1983 - 2005, secretary general of the National Security Council 2005-2019 and director general of the Saudi Intelligence Agency 2012 - 2014 - provides a fascinating insight into the many failures of the Palestinian Arab leadership he witnessed from 1978 to 2015 in an Arab News article headlined “Setting the record straight”.

Bandar is particularly critical of the PLO and Hamas - after Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah brought PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to Mecca for crisis talks in February 2007 to end the deadly PLO-Hamas violence that had followed the January 2005 presidential election won by Abbas and the January 2006 legislative election won by Hamas:

“After (King Abdullah) checked what they had written and read it in front of everyone and asked them to vow before God and in front of everyone that they agree to this deal, he asked them to shake hands and congratulated them, saying, ‘God is our witness, and we are in his holy land. (Prince) Saud (bin Faisal), take the brothers to the Kaaba and let them pledge their word before God and before the Palestinian people.’ Only a few days after they left Saudi Arabia, we received news they had already gone back on their word and started conspiring and plotting against each other once again.”

No elections since 2006 and no reconciliation between the PLO and Hamas continues.

Bandar recalls the many times the Palestinian Arab leadership asked Saudi Arabia for advice and help – took the help but ignored the advice:

“Then they would fail and turn back to us again, and we would support them again, regardless of their mistakes,” he said. This nature of the relationship, he felt, might have convinced the Palestinian Arab leadership that “there is no price to pay for any mistakes they commit towards the Saudi leadership or the Saudi state, or the Gulf leaderships and states.”

Reconciling their differences is the price the PLO and Hamas have to pay for future Saudi help - following peace treaties signed by Israel with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain whilst Saudi Arabia has granted Israel’s commercial airlines the right to fly in Saudi Arabian air space.

Arab media wondering if Iraq will normalize with Israel

Al-Arab, a pan-Arab newspaper published out of London, has two separate articles about the possibility of Iraq joining the Arab nations that normalize relations with Israel.

Ibrahim al-Zubaidi writes that the current Iraqi prime minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi is seen as being pro-American and cautiously distancing himself from Iran, even though Iran supported his candidacy.

Kadhimi has spoken about creating a "new Mashreq" - a new Arab East coalition - that would include Iraq, Egypt and Jordan. It is notable that the other two countries already have treaties with Israel.

Zubaidi notes that if Iraq normalized relations with Israel, it could attract huge investments from multinational corporations and global investment companies because of its strategic location and resources.

The other article which openly advocates for Iraq normalizing relations with Israel is notable because it is written by an Israeli writer with Iraqi roots, Linda Mnouheen Abdulaziz. She lists all the benefits to Iraq from relations with Israel and notes the long history of Jews in Iraq.

Her position isn't what is interesting about the article. The interesting part is that Al Arab decided to publish an article by an Israeli Jew to begin with - and this is the second article by her this week, which makes it seem like she is now a regular columnist for the paper.

That by itself would not have been conceivable a short while ago.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Last week, King Abdullah of Jordan appointed Bisher al-Khasawneh to be Jordan's new prime minister.

In 2007, Khasawneh wrote a book-length thesis for his PhD at The London School of Economics and Political Science, entitled "An Appraisal of the Right of Return and Compensation of Jordanian Nationals of Palestinian Refugee Origin and Jordan’s Right, Under International Law, to Bring Claims Relating Thereto, on Their Behalf to and Against Israel and to Seek Compensation as a Host State in Light of the Conclusion of the Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty of 1994."

The paper, predictably, doesn't even pretend to address whether international law considers descendants of refugees to have refugee status themselves, nor whether Jordanian citizens can be considered refugees and as such whether full citizens of a nation can have the "right of return." Instead, he selectively quotes from sources as irrelevant as the Magna Carta (purposefully omitting the exception written there "except in time of war.")

However poor his legal arguments are, this shows that Jordan's new prime minister has spent a great deal of time formulating arguments for lawfare against Israel on this topic.

Palestinian refugees have a right to return to their homes of origin in Israel and to the West Bank. They also have a right to compensation. The two rights, as indicated throughout this thesis are complementary and not mutually exclusive. The right of return and right to compensation naturally apply to Jordanian nationals who are of Palestinian refugee origin from the period of 1947-1949 and its aftermath or the 1967 war and its aftermath and their descendants. This right of return is clearly established in the context United Nations Resolutions, the law of nationality, human rights law and humanitarian law. It is also implied in certain provisions of the Jordan-Israel Treaty of Peace. The right of compensation for Palestinian refugees, including ones who are Jordanian nationals, is also well established in international law.

Interestingly, he also admits that Jews have the right of return and compensation from Arab countries:

Naturally, Jews who fled certain Arab countries and who were nationals of such countries in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict have the right to return to their homes of origin in such countries and have a right to compensation, especially when the circumstances of their flight are similar to the ones in which Palestinian refugees were forced to leave predominantly under coercion

In the end, though, Khasawneh realizes that actual return is unlikely, so therefore he concentrates on compensation - and naturally he wants that compensation not only to go to the Palestinians in Jordan but to the Kingdom of Jordan itself!

While the right of return of Palestinian refugees, including those who are Jordanian nationals, is solidly established in international law, it is not likely that all or even the majority of Palestinian refugees would be allowed to return to what is today recognized Israeli territories. This is ascribed to the fact that there is general recognition that massive scale return of Palestinian refugees to Israel would in fact endanger and dilute the Jewish character of the State of Israel. It is unlikely, that any international tribunal would actually give effect to the right of return on a massive scale to Palestinian refugees to what is today recognized as Israeli territory.

Ultimately, the solution of the Palestinian refugee problem will predominantly be one that would allow the exercise of the right of return to a Palestinian State that emerges from the Peace Process when resumed subject to absorption capacity. Some refugees, in limited numbers, may be allowed to return to Israel.
The solution of the Problem of the overwhelming majority of Palestinian refugees who do not return to such a Palestinian state will most likely be through their settlement in countries in which they currently live or to third countries that are willing to resettle them. This would be coupled with paying compensation to those returning and non returning refugees.
Therefore, for realistic and practical purposes, Jordan would be advised to focus its claims to matters of compensation of its nationals of Palestinian refugee origin and compensation as a host country predominantly. Jordan should not wait until the Peace Process resumes before it initiates a process of negotiations with Israel and would indeed be better advised to delve into such a process without any further delay.

This could become a priority for Jordan's new government. Israel may want to prepare for any Jordanian legal maneuverings in this area.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

From The Guardian:

The UN security council has been called on to address whether the opening of what was once the fabled Varosha beachfront in breakaway Turkish northern Cyprus is admissible under international law.

The council is expected to review the controversial decision, which Ankara encouraged on the eve of presidential elections in the territory, as criticism mounts both internationally and on the island itself.

Few places have so graphically conveyed a crisis frozen in time as the sandy strip of beach and the sealed off area of Famagusta behind it.

Fenced off 46 years ago when Greek Cypriots were forced to flee invading Turkish forces sent in following an abortive attempt to unite Cyprus with Greece, it has remained a ghost town ever since. For its inhabitants at the time, what was once the island’s most cosmopolitan resort has become resonant of the pain and frustration associated with the failure of peacemakers to resolve the Cyprus problem.

“This is a terrible day,” said Anna Marangou, a prominent Greek Cypriot archaeologist and historian whose family had owned a beachfront villa from which she and her relatives fled.

Like Marangou, who was 22 at the time, most Greek Cypriots left with only the clothes on their back - and often in little more than T-shirts, swimsuits, and flip-flops – as heavily armed Turkish troops landed on the island’s northern coast. About 150,000 Greek Cypriots were displaced from their homes in the summer of 1974, never to return.

Nicos Anastasiades, the president of the island’s internationally recognised and Greek-administered south, said the move was illegal and in “flagrant violation” of UN resolutions.

This didn't exactly prompt screaming worldwde headlines about "occupation" or "annexation."

Unlike practically all the Jewish areas in Judea and Samaria, in this case Turkey is taking over private property and buildings that obviously belong to other people.

Yet the EU's response has not been the reflexive condemnation that it has for every new building in Efrat, but far more polite:

On Varosha and the most recent Navtex issued by Turkey, we have had a discussion, listening to our colleagues from Greece and Cyprus on the last events. We consider that the reopening of Varosha beach undermines mutual trust. Ministers [of Foreign Affairs] stressed that such actions increase tensions and should be reversed.

For us, it is of vital importance that the United Nations-led efforts on Cyprus settlement are relaunched as soon as possible. Yesterday was the first round of the elections in the Turkish-Cypriot community in the island and, as soon as these elections have been concluded, - I think there is going to be a second round, if my information is correct - next Sunday, we will support the United Nations to resume the Cyprus settlement as soon as possible, which is the framework to deal with many issues.

We consider that Turkey needs to engage actively in finding solutions and not to engage in negative behaviour.

The EU and double standards. Peas in a pod.

(h/t Irene)

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Vic Rosenthal's weekly column

Information Warfare in the West

The “Information War” is the struggle to attack or defend the image of the State of Israel in the consciousness of the world. It is truly a world war, but the two main active fronts today are the Arabic-speaking world, where for the first time there are signs of pro-Israel initiatives, and the West.

A striking feature of the Information War in the West is the imbalance between the resources of the two sides. The pro-Israel list is much shorter. We have sporadic and uncoordinated attempts at hasbara (public diplomacy, or “propaganda,” if you prefer) by the Israeli government, the most recent of which is the allocation of funds to the Ministry of Strategic Affairs (MSA) to fight BDS and delegitimization. In 2019, MSA granted about $5.3 million to individuals and organizations. As of September 2019, it had 32 employees (Hebrew link). Al Jazeera alone has about 100 times as many.

The most important and well-known private individuals that support pro-Israel messaging, of course, are Miriam and Sheldon Adelson. Their family foundation has given millions to Birthright Israel. They are also involved in other causes, such as Holocaust education, that are only tangentially related to the cognitive conflict over Israel’s image. Other Jewish philanthropists give large amounts of money to Jewish and Israeli causes (Jewish education, hospitals, Magen David Adom, etc.), but little for hasbara.

There are also a few private organizations. Some conservative think tanks like the David Horowitz Freedom Center give grants and fellowships to pro-Israel writers. Its 2018 Form 990 shows total expenses of about $6.8 million. Considering its wide range of activities, its contribution to specifically pro-Israel hasbara is small.

Evangelical Christians that support Israel have some positive effects. Christians United for Israel had a budget of about $1.3 million in 2018, a surprisingly small amount given that group’s status as a bête noire for liberal American Jews.

Many large Jewish organizations, such as the Jewish Federations of North America, the ADL, and the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) do publically oppose BDS and anti-Israel extremism (misoziony), but because of their need to appeal for funding from a wide political spectrum, take positions that are bland at best and negative at worst (e.g., the URJ’s failure to oppose the JCPOA, President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran). Their net contribution to pro-Israel hasbara is zero.

Turning to the other side, the mainstream media in North America and Europe is almost unanimously critical of Israel, with many important media channels – the New York Times, the BBC, Al Jazeera, MSNBC, National Public Radio (see also something I wrote about NPR 10 years ago) and the AP in the US – clearly on the anti-Israel side. And we mustn’t forget what has been called (video link, 1:36:00) the “first blood libel of the 21^st century,” the false report by Charles Enderlin of France 2 on the alleged killing of Muhammad al Durah.

The United Nations and its agencies are a potent source of anti-Israel propaganda. There are countless anti-Israel resolutions passed by its Human Rights Council, the General Assembly, UNESCO, and even the Security Council. There is a “Division for Palestinian Rights” which does such things as organizing international conferences, conducts “training programs,” and puts on the annual “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.” I have no idea of how to put a dollar value on its work – for the Palestinians, it’s priceless.

The European Union, collectively and from its members, has provided tens of millions of Euros to NGOs hostile to Israel, which are responsible for demonization and delegitimization in the information sphere, and lawfare against Israel. It also provides practical aid supporting illegal Arab colonization in Area C of the territories, which is supposed to be under full Israeli control according to the Oslo agreements. In the past nine years, the EU has even granted 38 million Euros to NGOs linked to EU-designated terror groups. All this is in addition to its own political activities, like demanding that Israeli products from the territories be given special labeling to facilitate boycotters.

There are major charitable foundations, like the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF), the Ford Foundation, and groups linked to George Soros’ Open Society Institute. Together these foundations funnel tens of millions of dollars into groups and activities that support BDS or simply produce anti-Israel propaganda. For example, the RBF has made grants to IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace, two BDS-supporting groups in the US, and to dozens of other anti-Israel actors.

These groups are linked together. For example, the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP), which paid misozionist writer Peter Beinart $110,000 in 2018 as a “consultant,” also received a contribution of $135,000 from the Alex Soros Foundation (Alex is the son of George). Perhaps the idea was to make the Soros-Beinart connection less obvious.

The FMEP, incidentally, while a small player in the Israel defamation racket, is quite active in the realm of social media, as well as producing lectures, presentations, op-eds, and so forth.

Finally, there are the direct donations from Arab countries and Iran to Western universities, primarily in the US and the UK, but also in Canada and on the continent, amounting to billions of dollars. That is not a typo: one country, Qatar, gave $1.4 billion to American universities between 2012-2018. Of course these countries have other goals in addition to defaming Israel, but still there is no doubt that a great deal of the influence they are buying is directed to the cognitive war against the Jewish state.

Given all this, and considering the tepid support for Israel from liberal Jewish communities in North America, I’m surprised that so many Americans say they support Israel (I’ve been unable to find a poll of Canadians that is fair and reasonably recent). There is a red flag: support for Israel seems to weakest in younger people, getting stronger with age. I speculate that this could be related to the increasing bias in the educational system, both schools and colleges – the product of the massive investment made by Arab countries.

Although we can’t dream of matching the investment being made by our enemies, there are a few things we can and should do.

First, we can make their propaganda activities a major issue in our normalization negotiations with Arab nations. They are not doing us a favor by normalizing; if they want our economic and military cooperation they will have to end all of their information warfare against us. That means direct propaganda, but also financial support for groups that are working against us – even if it is a department of Middle East studies in a university.

We can’t make antisemitic Europeans change their attitudes. But we can shut off the flow of their money into our country that goes to anti-state organizations. Just as we (finally) have started barring BDS supporters from entering the country, we can bar their Euros too. Let “Breaking the Silence” and the others survive on contributions they get from Israelis – if they can.

News organizations live and die by access. It should be withheld from hostile reporters and organizations. They will scream bloody murder, but ultimately they will see that we only want fairness. Or they’ll have to do their coverage from outside.

There is nothing that we can do about the UN. We are probably better off not resigning from it. Someday it will collapse from its own worthlessness.

We can’t afford to imitate Al Jazeera. But we can set up internet news and culture channels in several languages, professional in every respect. Countries used to spend huge amounts of money on shortwave broadcasting with all of its technical problems. Today we have the means to deliver high-quality content all over the world at reasonable cost. People are curious about Israel – why do we leave it to our enemies to tell them about us?

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

10/14 Links Pt2: How to Combat Anti-Israeli Hate on College Campuses; Gal Gadot's rude 'wokening'; Peter Beinart Rakes in Six Figures from Anti-Israel Group; Joe Biden is not a friend of Israel

From Ian:

Josh Hammer: How to Combat Anti-Israeli Hate on College Campuses

The much-ballyhooed UN Security Council Resolution (“UNSCR”) 242, passed in the aftermath of the Six-Day War, does not in any way alter the conclusion that Israel is the best claimant to Judea and Samaria. That resolution affirmed “[w]ithdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict”; but as the careful reader will note, the operative language is “territories,” not “the territories,” therefore unambiguously permitting at least some Israeli presence in Judea and Samaria. Additionally, UNSCR 242 also requires Arab UN member states to “[t]erminat[e] . . . all claims . . . of belligerency and . . . acknowledg[e] . . . the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence” of Israel—obligations they clearly have not fulfilled. Given uti possidetis juris—not to mention the wholly defensive nature of Israel’s involvement in the Six-Day War—it would be extraordinarily peculiar to think of Israel as an “[o]ccupying [p]ower” under Article 49. Even assuming, arguendo, that “occupation” did commence in 1967, furthermore, it would not have survived the signing of the Oslo Accords and the peace treaty with Jordan, in 1993 and 1994—after all, Article 49 has no legal application outside of international armed conflicts. But this lattermost thought experiment notwithstanding, Israel was not an illegal “occupier” in 1948, it was not an illegal “occupier” in 1967, it was not an illegal “occupier” after the Arabs’ third failed attempt to exterminate Israel in the Yom Kippur War of 1973, and it is not an illegal “occupier” today.

This remarkably straightforward analysis and application of international law notwithstanding, supporters of the Jewish state on the American university campus today are routinely assailed as apologists for “apartheid,” illegal “occupation,” and/or European-style ethnic colonialism. Many, perhaps most, of these verbal assaults comfortably fit the requisite criteria for the U.S. State Department’s definition of anti-Semitism. But due to the ubiquity of these incidents, however tragic that ubiquity may be, it is imperative that Zionists squarely address how to best handle them. Based on personal experiences and the vicarious experience of close friends and loved ones from the front lines of the on-campus “Israel wars,” here is some advice to Zionist students under siege on the American university campus today.

First, know your facts and your basic history. Understand, and be able to explain, what exactly the Jewish state of Israel is and how it first came into being. Understand, and be able to explain, the relevant history—the dates and events that matter, and why they matter. Understand, and be able to explain, a rudimentary conception of the international law principle of uti possidetis juris and how it applies to the state of Israel’s rightful legal claim to Judea and Samaria—dating back to Article XXII of the Covenant of the League of Nations. Be respectful of the other side’s narrative, but be confident in the moral and legal superiority of your claim.

Second, be the better person. We Zionist veterans of the on-campus “Israel wars” all know what a determined SJP/JVP foe looks like: threatening, slanderous, bellicose, hysterical. It is imperative that supporters and friends of Israel neither mimic their grotesque tactics nor stoop to their sordid level. Instead, recall: We have the better of the legal argument, we have the better of the historical argument, and we have the better of the moral argument. All we must do is maintain our composure, speak the historical truth, and make the unabashed moral case for Israel’s right to the land of Eretz Yisrael—forcefully but respectfully, unapologetically but reassuringly.

Third, be strong and be proud. You are standing up for the noblest and most just causes of all: the health, safety, prosperity, and security of the Jewish people and the Jewish people’s right to self-determination and territorial sovereignty in their ancestral, biblical homeland. If you are a proud Jew or a proud friend of the Jews, then there is simply no more righteous cause. The modern state of Israel, which was born from the ashes of one of human history’s darkest chapters, has survived against impossible odds and developed the region’s most advanced military—a fighting force, that is, which self-imposes the most stringent ethical norms in all of modern warfare and has executed countless daring raids to rescue Jewish hostages abroad and bring them home to safety. Israel has become the whole world’s envy in technology venture capital. It is an intrinsically moral state, a beacon of light amidst a turbulent sea, and an indispensable military and intelligence ally for the United States. Perhaps most importantly, it is the Jews’ Promised Land. Israel is, in a nutshell, one of the most remarkable human success stories in two to three millennia—and inherently worthy of a robust defense in the lion’s den of today’s neo-Jacobin American university campuses.

On the one hand, it is profoundly sad to see Israel, once such a unifying issue for our normally fractious politics become the intensely debated subject that it is today. On the other hand, it is cause for optimism that, despite all the intensity and vitriol that this issue lamentably engenders, there is such a simple, persuasive, and compelling legal argument to support the modern state of Israel’s rightful territorial claim to Eretz Yisrael—including the most relevant portion, for purposes of this essay, Judea and Samaria. It is my hope that beleaguered students today encountering the BDS movement’s headwinds will be able to utilize this essay to stand up defiantly for Israel’s dignity—and defy those who would smear it as an illicit “occupier.”

Ruthie Blum: Gal Gadot's rude 'wokening'

Suddenly, the international sensation with a sexy Hebrew lilt was blasted for having served in the Israel Defense Forces and – gasp – being proud of it. This was a huge no-no for the BDS crowd, who began to accuse her of war crimes.

Luckily for Gadot, her box-office success was of greater interest to her Hollywood studio than her country of origin or the fact that her military duty involved teaching calisthenics to combat troops. If anything – as she herself has said in interviews – her fitness prepared her for the role with which she has become synonymous.

Even if she had been a commando, however, she would have been at a loss in the face of American "woke" culture, in which the pen has become stiff competition for the sword. What she ought to have learned by now, after so much time among progressive bullies in the United States, is that the animosity she's currently experiencing cannot be countered through appeasement.

Indeed, she can argue that Cleopatra was a descendant of Macedonian Greek general Ptolemy; she can shout "Joe Biden for president" from the rooftop of her LA mansion; and she can work to reassure her social-media followers that her main mission is to promote female empowerment – you know, in the vein of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose Sept. 18 passing spurred her to thank the late judge on Instagram "for everything [she] brought to this world," and to punctuate the tribute with a broken-heart emoji.

None of the above would or does suffice for the radicals bent on discrediting her, not only as a fair-skinned Israeli, but as someone who hasn't gone far enough to the left. Short of renouncing her roots and refusing the cinematic role of her dreams, there's nothing she can do to satiate their cancel-culture hunger.

But she might want to consider expressing a bit of gratitude to the slew of conservatives engaging in ideological warfare on her behalf. That would make her a genuine superhero.

Israeli Actress Gal Gadot Shares Morning Prayer Routine With Vanity Fair, Teaches Hebrew Slang

Israeli actress Gal Gadot talked about her upbringing in Israel and the Hebrew prayer she recites every morning in a cover story interview with Vanity Fair for its November issue.

The “Wonder Woman 1984” star, who grew up in the central Israeli city of Rosh Ha’ayin, told the magazine from her home in Tel Aviv that she started her days with the Jewish prayer “Modeh Ani.”

“I say thank you every morning,” she explained. “In the Jewish culture there’s a prayer that you’re supposed to say every time you wake up in the morning to thank God for, you know, keeping you alive and dadadada. You say ‘modeh ani,’ which means ‘I give thanks.’ So every morning I wake up and step out of bed and I say, ‘Thank you for everything, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.’”

The actress, 35, then closed her eyes, as if she was saying the prayer again, adding, “Nothing is to be taken for granted.”

Gadot grew up in a home with two working parents. Her father, Michael, was an engineer, and her mother, Irit, was a gym teacher who taught sports to Gadot and her younger sister, Dana, Vanity Fair reported.

Following high school, Gadot spent two years completing her mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces, where she was a fitness and combat readiness instructor, before she went to college.

“I came from a home where being an actress wasn’t even an option,” the former Miss Israel said. “I always loved the arts and I was a dancer and I loved the movies, but being an actress was never a discussion. My parents were like, You need to graduate university and get a degree.”

Gal Gadot to Play Muhammad in Upcoming Biopic (satire)

In a decision that has angered both Muslims and western liberals, Israeli actress Gal Gadot has been cast to play the Islamic prophet Muhammad in an upcoming film about the founder of Islam’s life.

The ‘Wonder Woman’ star and Israel native will don a fake beard to play the lead role in ‘From Medina to Mecca: One Man’s Journey to Change the World, Establish the Caliphate, and Find Himself.’ She will speak Hebrew instead of Muhammad’s native Arabic, but director Patty Jenkins said that “most viewers won’t know the difference.”

“Muhammad was Middle Eastern and Gal is Middle Eastern, so it just made sense,” said Jenkins. “Besides, she knows a little Arabic, like ‘Show me your ID’ and ‘Stop or I will shoot.’”

Gadot’s casting drew criticism from Muslims, who objected to Muhammad being portrayed on film; leftists, who accused Gadot of cultural appropriation; and the alt-right, who opposed both a film being made about a Muslim and an Israeli Jew playing a leading role. James Zogby, the president of the Arab American Institute, called Gadot’s casting a “genocide.”

Gadot was originally cast to play Cleopatra in an upcoming biopic of the Egyptian queen but was forced to drop out after people on Twitter pointed out that she is not in fact Egyptian and did not die in 30 BC. Instead, Rob Schneider will replace Gadot as the film’s lead.

President Donald Trump, if you believe the media spin, is the most reviled person ever walk the earth. A search for “Trump” in Google News overwhelmingly generates negative headlines. A more nuanced search, however, suggests that voter enthusiasm is for Trump, while the response to the Biden Harris ticket is somewhere between lackluster and nonexistent.

Here are the first seven results generated in a search I did for “Trump” on October 13, 2020, all negative:

I next turned to some work-related research on the creative use of cars during the pandemic. Here, too, the election figured large in the search results. It seems that cars in the 2020 election cycle have been enlisted as a safe way for people to rally for their preferred presidential candidates while adhering to social distancing standards. But this time, when I did my search, the shoe was on the other foot. The search results were mostly positive, and they were mostly about Trump.

The rallies with the largest, most enthusiastic turnouts were clearly for Trump. Similar rallies held for Biden, by contrast, yielded fewer attendees, and sometimes none, as happened in the battleground state of Arizona.

Biden and Harris hold a campaign event in Arizona and the local news can’t believe that not one supporter showed up! pic.twitter.com/JKj0fPi6Jj
— David Croom - (ツ) (@dailycallout) October 11, 2020

Only one week earlier, an Arizona rally with Vice President Pence drew a large crowd:

Here is a view of the crowd and line as we are a few minutes from the Vice President Pence’s arrival. #12News pic.twitter.com/kb96IdeK8A
— Michael Doudna (@MichaelDoudna) October 8, 2020

Here's a tweet from Jenna Ellis, senior legal adviser for the Trump campaign, noting that the crowds turned out to see her and other lesser Trump campaign figures, including Trump Campaign Director of Strategic Communications Marc Lotter, and Senior Trump Campaign Adviser John Pence, compared to NO people, whatsoever, turning up to see presidential candidate Joe Biden himself, in the flesh.

This is embarrassing. 100x more people showed up just to see @Marc_lotter, @jepence, and me on our @TeamTrumpOnTour!! 😂 https://t.co/ceNW1kbhVE
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) October 11, 2020

A drive-in event in Toledo, at which Biden spoke, appeared to have just six Biden supporters in attendance, sitting in their cars.

.@JoeBiden brings his economic message to Toledo, Ohio where how main message besides selling his “Build Back Better” plan to union members gathered at the drive-in is promising to never turn his back on them like Pres. Trump has in the last several years. pic.twitter.com/P9UrRCVcaa
— Marianna Sotomayor (@MariannaNBCNews) October 12, 2020

There were more Trump supporters in attendance than Biden supporters.

Dozens of Trump supporters were loudly chanting a mix of “Four more years,” “Trump” and “USA” throughout the event, growing louder anytime @JoeBiden mentioned the president. pic.twitter.com/7M0iZWdmRf
— Marianna Sotomayor (@MariannaNBCNews) October 12, 2020

Trump rallies, it is clear, generate large cheering crowds. Biden rallies, by comparison, are poorly attended. Hundreds of cars decorated with American flags, Make American Great Again signs, and Trump posters, for example, made up a rolling caravan that ran all the way from Plymouth, Massachusetts to Nashua, New Hampshire.

A Vietnamese family decking out their van with Trump posters and flags. Apparently there’s a contest to see who has the most swagged out car.

Rally goers say they’re not here to change people’s views—just to voice their support for the President. #WBZ pic.twitter.com/glBGnHbNrV
— Tiffany Chan (@TiffanyChanWBZ) October 3, 2020

By contrast, 70 cars came out for Biden in Des Moines, in September.

Next stop in Cedar Rapids: a drive-in campaign rally with @DrBiden and @DouglasEmhoff. Here’s my view. @FoxNewsMMR pic.twitter.com/gIJYKlSi4C
— Mitti Hicks (@MittiMegan) September 26, 2020

In the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami, some said as many as 30,000 cars took part in a Trump rally on October 10, waving American and Cuban flags. There were so many cars that police officers had to come direct traffic. Biden may think the Latino community is incredibly diverse, but they appear to have a single-minded preference for Trump.

The same day the “incredibly diverse” were cheering for Trump in Miami, a “Trump Train” made of cars took over an oversized parking lot in St. George, Utah, before setting out in support of President Trump. This time, hundreds of people lined the streets for blocks, straining for a glimpse of the event, already an hour before it was slated to begin. The crowds had put aside the danger of contagion in favor of showing support for their favored presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump. People said the “train” of cars seemed to go on forever.

The mainstream media has left no doubt as to what it thinks you ought to think about Trump. You should hate him with every fiber of your being, and do everything you can to make him lose the election. For the media, it’s not about generating love for Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris. Especially since neither of them are especially loveable. Instead, this election cycle has been all about hate—in particular, about hating President Trump.

The good news is that it’s not working. People would rather love than hate, especially when the object of that feeling is the holder of the highest office in the land, the president of the United States. The people have made their choice and they choose veneration over hate. So the crowds turn out for Trump. And they turn out with enthusiasm.

This, of course, is good news for Israel, where an October 12 poll found that 63.3% of Israelis favor Trump over Joe Biden for president. Maybe this has to do with the way Biden upbraided two Israeli prime ministers. Or maybe it’s because Biden plans to reinstate the JCPOA. What we know for sure: Israel won’t be naming any city squares or neighborhoods for Joe Biden Jr., at any near point in time, and probably not ever. Because Joe Biden hasn’t shown much love for Israel. And like the people of America ignoring the hate-filled spin of the media in favor of flocking to those rallies for Trump, Israelis choose love over hate.

Joe Biden is no friend to Israel, which means he’s no friend to the Jews, which is why Israelis are glad that when it comes to presidents, Americans would rather choose love over hate.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Facebook says blood libel isn't a violation of community standards

Last week I reported that a director at Gaza's Ministry of Education had written an essay "proving" that Jews use the blood of gentiles in their Passover matzoh.

The writer, Dr. Nasser Al-Yafawi, also posted the essay on his Facebook page. So I reported it to Facebook, because things don't get more antisemitic than this.

Here was Facebook's response:

Apparently, Facebook thinks that Jews saying that the blood libel is a lie is an adequate response to educate people.

It is as if a Facebook user would falsely accuse someone else of being a rapist and Facebook telling the accused that they are free to write that they are innocent, and let the marketplace of ideas figure out who is telling the truth.

There is a reason it is called a "blood libel." But apparently libel is not a violation of Facebook community standards.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

10/14 Links Pt1: Top UAE official laments PA’s ingratitude after Abbas envoy rants on Israel ties; Pompeo Urges Saudi Arabia to Consider Normalizing Ties With Israel

From Ian:

Top UAE official laments PA’s ingratitude after Abbas envoy rants on Israel ties

A senior United Arab Emirates official on Tuesday shot back at the Palestinian ambassador to France, who had attacked Abu Dhabi over its establishment of formal relations with Israel.

In an interview with French magazine Le Point, Salman El Herfi fired several unusually harsh salvos at the UAE and at Bahrain, another Gulf state currently in the process of normalizing relations with Jerusalem, including saying these countries “have become more Israeli than Israel” and are violating the charter of the United Nations.

“I was not surprised by the statements made by the Palestinian Ambassador to Paris, and his ungrateful discussion of the Emirates,” Anwar Gargash, the UAE’s minister of state for foreign affairs, wrote in Arabic on his Twitter account.

“We have grown accustomed to the lack of loyalty and the ingratitude. We proceed toward the future confident in all our actions and beliefs,” he added.

In the Le Point interview, El Herfi said that the UAE had long abandoned the Palestinian cause and that he wasn’t surprised by Abu Dhabi’s decision to normalize ties with Israel in August.

“The only new thing was the formalization of this relationship. I thank them for having revealed their true face,” he said of the UAE leadership.

“The truth is that the Emirates were never at the Palestinians’ side,” he went on, charging that the UAE froze aid for the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1985.

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is merely “a little dictator who wants to become known, and he’s playing with fire,” the veteran Palestinian diplomat said. The UAE’s de facto leader “surrendered to Israel without a fight,” El Herfi added.

He also accused the UAE and Bahrain of violating a long list of Arab League and UN resolutions, even going as far as saying they violated the UN charter by normalizing relations with Israel.

PA instructs its officials not to attack Arab leaders, countries

The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday instructed its official spokesmen and representatives around the world not to attack Arab heads of state and Arab countries in the aftermath of the peace agreements signed between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The instruction came after the PA ambassador to France, Salman el Herfi, launched a scathing attack on UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, dubbing him a “little dictator who wants to make himself known.”

The PA has repeatedly accused the UAE and Bahrain of backstabbing the Palestinians and betraying the Palestinian issue by signing the peace accords with Israel.

Hypocrites… and enemies of the Islamic society- Abbas’ advisor about Arabs who normalize with Israel

PA official: The UAE and Bahrain=worms exposed by the sun, Netanyahu= a distorted copy of Mussolini

Khaled Abu Toameh: Why Palestinians Will Not Accept Advice from Arabs

Palestinian leaders are continuing to act not only against the advice of [former Egyptian President Hosni] Mubarak and other Arabs, but also against the interests of their own people.

"The Palestinian leadership has lost its credibility in the eyes of the new Arab generation, which is a generation of technology...." — Abdullah Al-Ghathami, professor of criticism and theory at King Saud University, Twitter, September 25, 2020.

Pointedly,.... the Fatah delegation in Istanbul last week met with officials from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, as well as Turkish and Qatari intelligence officers.... and discussed... ways of "coordinating positions to direct blows to the interests of the Arab countries, especially the Arab Gulf states and Egypt."

The report added that "analysts specializing in the Palestinian issue commented that Qatar and Turkey will use Abbas to harm the interests of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Sudan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia."

The report also revealed that Qatar recently gave Abbas and some of his aides more than $50 million for their personal bank accounts inside banks in Israel and the Palestinian Authority areas."

After reading the title and abstract of this article in Social and Cultural Geography, you have no more idea of what it is about than before:

Touring and obscuring: how sensual, embodied and haptic gay touristic practices construct the geopolitics of pinkwashing

Gay tourism is commonly studied through pride events in cities. Rethinking the role gay men’s bodies and politics play in the context of tourism to Israeli heritage sites, this paper contributes to debates on geopolitics and geographies of sexualities and the embodied approach to tourism. Analyzing daytrips through the Occupied Palestinian Territories, I argue that sensual, embodied and haptic practices, which are immanent to gay men’s travel cultures, play into a pinkwashing geopolitics in this specific circumstance. Thus, this paper conceptualizes pinkwashing mechanisms operation through heritage tourist sites just as much as they are produced via the presentation of Tel Aviv as a modern space of acceptance of LGBT sexualities, albeit obviously in different ways. Moreover, tourists’ notions of place and non-place construct how (urban) space is produced as meaningful while other (heritage) space is marginalized. Methodologically, I present a reflexive embodied ethnography, which relies on my researcher’s reflexivity to produce an analysis through a story.

The actual article is about the experience of the author, Gilly Hartal, of the Gender Studies Program, Bar-Ilan University, a lesbian who joined a day trip of gay males to Masada and the Dead Sea during Tel Aviv Pride Week a few years ago.

Based on this single trip, Hartal makes some sweeping conclusions about gay male tourism in Israel - for example, that gays are more interested in photographing themselves, hooking up, dancing and drugs than in learning about the sites they are visiting. If a straight male would make this observation he would be called a homophobe, but apparently a lesbian can say this in an academic paper.

Hartal is also upset at the group because, as a lesbian in an all male gay group, she is invisible. The encourage one of the reticent males to jump into the Dead Sea but none of them ask her to join them.

Part of her conclusion based on a sample size of one trip during which she was pissed off:

In this article, I have shown that looking closely at the negotiation of Israel/Palestinian politics in juxtaposition with gay men tourist bodies outside Tel Aviv’s urban space reveals the centrality of the body in gay tourist culture. Gay tourism literature has tended to limit the centrality of sensations and bodies to urban settings or to gay tourist sites. Obviously, bodies play a major role in gay tourism, within which identities and subjectivities are produced (Waitt & Markwell, 2006). The present analysis, however, questions the sharp distinction between ‘gay’ and ‘non-gay’ tourism spaces and shows that gay tourist bodies play a major role even outside commonly discussed gay urban spaces such as pride parades and parties (Johnston, 2005; Waitt & Markwell, 2006). The day tour described above reveals an epistemology of gay tourism that is beyond the destination itself, produced by the tour organizers and most importantly by the participants as a tool for igniting sensations, for enriching haptic experiences.

This paper conceptualizes pinkwashing mechanisms operation through heritage tourist sites just as much as they are produced via the presentation of Tel Aviv as a modern space of acceptance of LGBT sexualities, albeit obviously in different ways. This is formed through the well-proven practices of promoting Israel as a liberal and modern state – a gay dream come true – combined with the envisioning (but not actual experiencing) of Palestine as a homophobic nightmare way beyond the wall. Another twist is added with less expected practices such as visualizing Jewish settlements and the occupation as a rational practice available even to a non-heteronormative logic.

If you think that an entire supposedly scholarly paper based on a single day trip with gay men is irresponsible social science, check out this other paper where the writer describes her renting an AirBnB in Tel Aviv and makes more sweeping conclusions based on her experience.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Security chaos in Gaza and the West Bank that Western media ignores

Two incidents in the past 24 hours highlight the contempt for law in the Palestinian territories.

This morning, a group of Islamic Jihad militants entered a mosque near Khan Younis and (while wearing shoes) forcibly abducted three worshipers, while shooting their guns in the air.

Islamic Jihad later apologized, saying that the kidnappers were not authorized. But the fact that masked members of Islamic Jihad feel free to abduct men from a mosque during prayers shows how little regard they have for both the law and for Islam.

Over in the West Bank, people forcibly broke into the International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters in Ramallah in solidarity with an Islamic Jihad hunger striker in prison.

Palestinian Authority forces went in and brought the protesters out, because it doesn't look good fo Palestinians to attack the Red Cross. (This is hardly the first time the ICRC has been attacked by Palestinians.)

I did not see anything in Palestinian Authority media about the incident. But Hamas and Islamic Jihad media bitterly complained about the eviction, saying that the PA was collaborating with Israel in detaining the protesters who were braking and entering the ICRC.

Of course, the PA police went too far, also breaking up what appear to have been peaceful sit-ins outside ICRC offices in Jenin and Al-Bireh. Their respect for human rights is no better than those of the terror groups.

Western "pro-Palestinian" activists pretend that an independent Palestine would be a human rights paradise and as safe as Paris or Munich. In reality, it would soon enough look more like Kabul with armed groups competing with each other for power.

Which is why stories like this are not seen. The narrative is that Israel is the oppressor of Palestinians, not their fellow Palestinians. Sympathy for the Palestinians would be reduced if Western media reported on these kinds of daily incidents.

This is a major reason the Arab world is losing their own sympathy for Palestinians - they can read these stories in Arabic.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Felesteen reports that the "National and Islamic Forces" - a committee with Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad as members - have called on the "Arab masses" to reject normalization with Israel.

The terror groups issued a statement, after a meeting held by their forces' leadership in Ramallah on Monday

Their statement said that Arab normalization "constitutes a betrayal of the Palestinian cause and the issues of the nation," stressing "the importance of keeping the masses of our Arab nation standing by the central issue of the Palestinian issue and rejecting the official Arab normalization policy."

The group also rejected the "false accusations directed against the Palestinian people, their leadership, factions and symbols," referring to recent statements by Saudi officials and others.

The thing is, the Arab street doesn't exist. As I showed, within two months of the Israel/UAE announcement, some 30% of Arabs changed their mind about normalizing with Israel. The rest are not nearly as interested in making noise as they were when they knew their leadership was on the same page.

For years, and even now, Palestinians have been assuming that the lip service paid to their cause by Arab leaders represented something tangible. But all it was good for was to get them anti-Israel votes in the UN and Arab League. Now even that is in jeopardy.

So they are desperately appealing to the "Arab masses," hoping that they will revolt or at least march for the Palestinian cause.It is now easier for them to get a demonstration in London than in Riyadh.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.