Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Palestinians dust off a 2018 "peace plan," where only Israel has to give up anything, to the UN Security Council

Now that Joe Biden is President, Mahmoud Abbas is trying to set the clock back to the Obama era by pretending to act like he wants peace and hoping that the world will go back to castigating Israel and praising him.

The PA's foreign minister spoke before the UN Security Council and managed to get the usual suspects to praise the Palestinians and slam Israel.

The reason for the meeting was for the PA to push a 2018 "peace plan" that they put together as a response to the Trump recognition of Jerusalem. They are now treating this plan, where they are not expected to give anything up, as a serious proposal to try to regain some momentum and act as if they are interested in peace.

The "peace plan" includes:

An international peace conference led by the permanent members of the Security Council and the Quartet.

Accepting the State of Palestine as a full member of the United Nations

Mutual recognition between the State of Palestine and the State of Israel based on the "1967 borders."

An international multilateral mechanism to assist the two sides to resolve all permanent status issues within a specified time period with guarantees for implementation.

During the period of negotiations, stopping all settlement activities including East Jerusalem.

Freezing the US decision recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Implement the Arab Peace Initiative and no Arab nation can make peace until that is implemented.

"State of Palestine" capital is in East Jerusalem.

An international peace force to assist.

"A just and agreed solution to the Palestinian refugee issue on the basis of Resolution 194."

Continued international commitment to support UNRWA "until the refugee issue is resolved."

This is warmed over versions of Palestinian demands for years, where instead of Palestinians making actual compromises, they sit back and let the international community pressure Israel into making concession after concession on everything - Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, borders.

They are clearly hoping that the Biden administration will back them up.

01/26 Links Pt2: What the War Over the IHRA Definition Obscures; The uncomfortable truth about BLM, Malcolm X and anti-Semitism

From Ian:

Jeff Jacoby: The politics of an Auschwitz survivor’s son

Equally menacing is an obsession with race and racial distinctions. Hitler’s Germany deemed “Aryans” the highest race and Jews the lowest. In their fanaticism on the subject, the Nazis demonized Jews, denied them legal rights, deprived them of their livelihoods, drove them from their homes, and finally destroyed them by the millions. As the son of a Holocaust survivor, I consider all racial categories fundamentally illegitimate. I abhor the labeling and sorting of Americans by race. “Classifications and distinctions based on race or color,” argued the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in a 1947 brief, “have no moral or legal validity in our society.” That has always been my position. It makes me heartsick that 50 years after the civil rights movement, America’s leading institutions have become more race-obsessed than ever.

I’m sure that some of the stands I take in public-policy debates have been influenced by my experience growing up with a father who survived the death camps and being raised in a community that was home to other survivors. I fervently opposed the Bush administration’s reliance on torture to extract information from Al Qaeda detainees, for example. I have always condemned the scapegoating of immigrants, whether it came from the left or from the right. I have no patience with foreign-policy “realists” who downplay human rights in dealing with other governments.

Above and beyond politics, however, my lifelong awareness of the Holocaust has made it impossible for me not to know that human goodness is fragile. It doesn’t come naturally but must be honed and practiced, etched into our nature one good deed at a time. Civility and civilization are only veneers, stretched like a bandage over an ugly wound. More easily than we like to think, that bandage can be pulled off, exposing the putrescence beneath. It was pulled off in Europe in the middle of the 20th century, and the consequences were diabolical — for the world, for the Jews, for my father and his family. Those consequences are never far from my mind. They shape my thinking to this day.

After converting to Judaism, I was surrounded by neo-Nazis - Opinion

When we talked about it over scoops of ice cream later that night, he told me it was surprising to have experienced neo-Nazis in Iceland, a country famous for its equality and peaceful society, but he didn’t reveal having felt anything beyond the surprise.

I took this experience home with me though, and it helped me understand the gravity of my conversion. It was the first time that fear made me reconsider my conversion and the choices I was making in my public Jewish life. It was the first time I truly looked inward and asked myself the hard question required of converts: Was I ready to accept the realities of anti-Semitism?

I also asked myself the question so many of my friends had asked already: As a gay man, why would I want to add an additional target on my back?

I used to find the imagery of a target on someone’s back too grotesque and melodramatic for the context of a religious conversion, but since my encounter with presumed neo-Nazis in the hot tub that day, the question has become even more reasonable. On top of all-too-common news of anti-Semitic threats and vandalism, there have been synagogue shootings and Jewish-oriented hate crimes around the world.

At the time of this writing, we are dealing with the aftermath of domestic terrorists storming and overtaking the U.S. Capitol building. Some rioters waved Confederate flags, others held signs referencing the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory QAnon. Others wore sweatshirts that read things like “Camp Auschwitz,” an obvious glorification of the Holocaust. During the pro-Trump “Save America” rally leading up to the storming of the Capitol building, a Republican congresswoman, Mary Miller, even quoted Hitler.

While I wait for my city’s mikvah to reopen after being closed due to COVID-19 in order to finalize my conversion, I find myself revisiting the same question I asked myself back in Reykjavík: Is my conversion a smart choice?

In the two years that have passed since soaking in a hot tub with neo-Nazis, I have to admit that my certainty in my desire to convert has taken a few blows. But what keeps me pushing toward the mikvah, however, is that when I’m asked if I’m Jewish, I always say yes.

The uncomfortable truth about BLM, Malcolm X and anti-Semitism

Fifty-five years ago, Martin Luther King delivered a speech to 50,000 Americans in which he demanded justice for persecuted Jews behind the Iron Curtain.

‘The absence of opportunity to associate as Jews in the enjoyment of Jewish culture and religious experience becomes a severe limitation upon the individual,’ he said. ‘Negros can well understand and sympathise with this problem.’

He then stated, in typically uncompromising style, that Jewish history and culture were ‘part of everyone’s heritage, whether he be Jewish, Christian or Moslem.’ He concluded:

‘We cannot sit complacently by the wayside while our Jewish brothers in the Soviet Union face the possible extinction of their cultural and spiritual life. Those that sit at rest, while others take pains, are tender turtles, and buy their quiet with disgrace.’

This speech – released last week by the National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry (NCEJ) to mark Martin Luther King Day, and coming just days before we remember the Holocaust – feels particularly poignant in the newly radicalised atmosphere of 2021. Today's activists in the Black Lives Matter movement would be wise to remember King's words.

During the Los Angeles riots over the killing of George Floyd, Jewish shops were destroyed, synagogues were sprayed with ‘free Palestine’ graffiti, and a statue of a Swedish diplomat who had saved Hungarian Jews from the Nazis was defaced with anti-Semitic slogans.

In France, a Black Lives Matter rally descended into cries of ‘dirty Jews’, echoing the anti-Semitic chants that filled the same streets during the Dreyfus affair a century ago. Shortly afterwards, the #Jewishprivilege Twitter hashtag sought to lump Jews together with the forces of oppression – until it was subverted by Jews posting accounts of the persecution suffered by their families. Jewish privilege indeed.

Cartoon of the Day: Some of my best friends....

Continuing my series of recaptioning cartoons....

Some recent pro-Israel memes from EoZ

Here are some memes I've posted on Twitter recently.

01/26 Links Pt1: Daniel Pipes: The Israel lobby is good for America; UAE, Bahrain: We need ‘unified voice’ with Israel on Iran’s missiles, nukes

From Ian:

Daniel Pipes: The Israel lobby is good for America

Israelis and Palestinians each call on the enthusiastic support of a great hinterland. Israelis have the Jewish diaspora, especially its rich and powerful leaders, from Chaim Weizmann to Sheldon Adelson, as well as a worldwide network of Christian supporters, from Lord Palmerston and William Blackstone to Clark Clifford and Nikki Haley. In parallel part, Palestinians have counted on Arab, Muslim, European and Communist states such as, respectively, Egypt, Iran, Sweden and the Soviet Union, as well as growing support from the global left, exemplified by former British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Indeed, as Steven J. Rosen has shown, “the Arab road to Washington runs through Paris, London and Berlin.”

Through the past century, those hinterlands have grown and roughly balanced each other. Both came into existence during World War I, when British Zionists pressured their government to support a Jewish national home in Palestine, as Arab leaders extracted promises from Britain about Palestine before helping its war effort. During World War II, Western Jews and their allies applied desperate pressure on the British government to open immigration to Palestine for Jewish refugees, as Arab rulers threatened to sabotage Britain’s war efforts if it permitted that immigration.

After the war, American Zionists moved to the forefront, as independent Arab states tripled in number. Zionists successfully lobbied President Harry S. Truman to recognize the State of Israel in 1948, as five Arab states invaded the nascent polity. Each side learned from the other: Israelis developed a powerful army, as Arabs won increasing clout in Western politics, media and education. Each side developed and refined techniques for extracting funds from its hinterland, whether the United Jewish Appeal or Saudi, Kuwaiti and other government donations.

Repeatedly, when Israel’s enemies attack, its American friends defend. Arab states boycotted U.S. firms invested in Israel; Israel’s friends won legislation making complying with such boycotts illegal. Arab states withheld oil supplies; Zionists pushed against capitulation to such pressure. Arab states rounded up overwhelming majorities in international organizations; Israel’s friends did likewise in Congress. Each hinterland fights for its cause. Each provides diplomatic support, financial aid and armaments.

In other words, American Zionists serve as a principal counterpart to anti-Zionist foreign states. The Zionists pressure Washington from within, the states do so from without. It’s a significant difference but ultimately a technical one.

Thus, the Israel lobby does not impede the formulation of an objective foreign policy but constructively offsets anti-Israel influence. Arguing for Israel is not just protected under the First Amendment and entirely legitimate, it informs and improves American policy formulation by countering foreign influences. The Israel lobby, therefore, is good for America.

IDF Cheif Kochavi: Return to Iran 2015 nuclear deal is strategic mistake

A return to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, or a "slightly improved" deal would be a an operational and strategic mistake for the world, IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi warned on Tuesday

He said that Iran’s advance centrifuge progress and jumps in enriching uranium could eventually bring it to be "only weeks" away from a nuclear bomb.

The deal would still allow the Islamic Republic to break out to a nuclear weapon in 2030 when the agreement expires. The IDF chief said that the US and others must maintain all sanctions and pressure now as Tehran is at its weakest and closest to making real concessions.

In addition, he said that Israel’s strikes in Syria and other undefined parts of the Middle East had created the greatest deterrence Israel has ever known against its enemies.

Moreover, he said that the normalization trend is isolating Iran in ways that it never expected and was not prepared for.

UAE, Bahrain: We need ‘unified voice’ with Israel on Iran’s missiles, nukes

The Islamic Republic’s foreign minister warned last week that his country would not accept changes to the terms of the 2015 pact, which currently does not deal with Iran’s missile program or regional proxies.

“We must respond to Iran’s missile program,” Alzayani continued, “its support for proxies in the region, and its interference in the domestic affairs of states across the region, in order to bring about a broader peace and stability for the Middle East.”

The JCPOA was signed by Iran and six world powers known as the P5+1 in 2015. Then-president Trump unilaterally pulled the US out of the deal in 2018, opting instead for a “maximum pressure” sanctions effort.

One of the JCPOA’s “failures,” argued UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash on Tuesday, was the “absence of a regional voice therein.”

Iran drafted conditions for returning to compliance with the nuclear deal, one of which is that no new signatories — understood to mean Arab Gulf states — may be added to the agreement.

Since 2019, Tehran has suspended its compliance with most of the limits set by the agreement in response to Washington’s abandonment of sanctions relief and the failure of other parties to the deal to make up for it. It is now enriching uranium to 20 percent, just a short step away from weapons-grade levels.

Israel, UAE, and Bahrain all seek to dissuade the Biden administration from returning to the JCPOA in its original form.

1000 Irish artists no one ever heard of are boycotting Israel

The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign is celebrating that after ten years, they have found over 1000 Irish artists who pledge not to perform in Israel.

They don't seem to be exactly A-listers.

I assume that the people on this poster are the biggest stars on the list.

I didn't check them all but I couldn't find any that had more than 10,000 followers on Twitter.

More proof BDS is antisemitic (and Ilhan Omar is a liar)

There was a Twitter spat between BDS supporters and Democratic Majority for Israel:

Many people responded to Hill and Omar pointing out quotes from BDS leaders that showed that they oppose the existence of the Jewish state altogether, and the claim that BDS has no position on the ultimate solution is specious since one basic tenet is to support "return" which would flood Israel with Arabs specifically to end it as a Jewish state.

I've also argued that BDS is antisemitic because the BDS movement targets only Jewish owned businesses in Israel and the territories, and ignores those owned by Israeli Arabs.

There is however one other fundamental reason BDS is antisemitic.

The BDSers love to pretend that the movement started in 2005 with a "call from Palestinian civil society." Pro-Israel groups point out that BDS was a direct result of the antisemitic 2001 UN Conference against Racism, held in Durban.

But BDS comes directly from Arab boycotts of Jews that have been declared for over a hundred years.

The earliest I could find was from 1909 in Hebron, when Arabs there decided to boycott Jewish merchants, followed by another in 1914. The Hebron Jewish community had lived there continuously since Biblical times, so they could hardly be described as Zionist invaders.

These anti-Jewish boycotts continued through the decades:

Boycotts of Jewish-owned businesses in Mandatory Palestine were organised by Arab leaders starting in 1922 in an attempt to damage the Jewish population of Palestine economically, especially during periods of communal strife between Jews and Arabs.[5] The original boycott forswore with any Jewish-owned business operating in Mandatory Palestine. Palestinian Arabs "who were found to have broken the boycott ... were physically attacked by their brethren and their merchandise damaged" when Palestinian Arabs rioted in Jerusalem in 1929.[6] Another, stricter boycott was imposed on Jewish businesses in following the riots that called on all of the Arabs in the region to abide by its terms. The Arab Executive Committee of the Syrian-Palestinian Congress called for a boycott of Jewish businesses in 1933 and in 1934, the Arab Labor Federation conducted a boycott as well as an organized picketing of Jewish businesses. In 1936, the Palestinian Arab leadership called on another boycott and threatened those who did not respect the boycott with violence

The 1945 Arab League boycott wasn't shy about saying that its targets were Jews. Its declaration stated, "Products of Palestinian Jews are to be considered undesirable in Arab countries."

Even after Israel was reborn, the Arab boycott was explicitly antisemitic. The Saudis and other Gulf Arabs, with their new oil wealth, were eager to use their economic power to boycott not only Israel but even US businesses owned by Jews. (Bnai Brith Messenger, 1956)

This explicitly antisemitic boycott continued through the 1970s (NYT, February 8, 1975)

Arab states were so eager to extend their boycott that they even started threatening any Arabs would would shop at high-end London stores owned by Jews:

Marks and Spencer department stores and Selfridges department store are undeterred by the news that they are to be picketed by patrols trying to enforce a boycott by Arabs because of their Jewish ownership and connections with Israel.

The Arab boycott conference meeting at Aleih, near Beirut, yesterday decided to keep a close watch on Arab visitors abroad. Observers of different Arab nationalities “who can discreetly spot their countrymen” will be posted in front of or inside “blacklisted” stores in Britain and other parts of Europe.

By the turn of the century, the idea of the boycott had already morphed into what looks like BDS nowadays. This 2002 Muslim News article (UK) bridges the antisemitic Arab boycott with the liberal language of BDS - three years before BDS was supposedly "launched."

Even BDS adherents acknowledge that the movement is related to the previous Arab boycotts. This 169-page white paper hosted on the BDSMovement site goes through the history of Arab boycotts, carefully excising any mention of "Jews" as the target and pretending that the boycott began only after Israel's establishment.

BDS did not sprout from out of nowhere. It came directly from this explicitly and proudly antisemitic background. Erasing the word "Jewish" from their literature doesn't make it any less antisemitic than it was in the 1920s, 1940s and 1970s.

Al Hayat Press Agency, an independent Palestinian news site (not the same as Al Hayat al Jadida,) writes about how President Biden is just as bad a Zionist as Donald Trump - because so many of his picks are Jewish.

Arabs and Muslims, especially the Palestinians, were very happy with the victory of US President Joe Biden, but the truth soon became clear, that Biden is Trump's brother with another yellow face!. Most of those who he nominated for positions are Jews !!

Joe Biden nominated "Rachel Levin" to assume the position of Assistant Secretary of Health and Services, who is Jewish (his gender is changed from male to female), the other Jews in Biden's government as follows:
Director of National Security Jake Sullivan is Jewish
Assistant Secretary of State Wendy Sherman is Jewish
Finance Minister Janet Yellen is Jewish
Deputy Director of Intelligence David Cohen is Jewish
Secretary of State Blinken is Jewish, Deputy Foreign Minister Victoria Nuland is Jewish, Homeland Security Minister Alessando Mayuras is Jew
Chief of Staff Ron Klein is Jewish, the Chairman of the Committee of Economic Advisers Bernstein is Jewish, Director of National Intelligence "Avril Heinz" is Jewish, as is Kamala Harris' husband is Jewish, and Biden's three children are married to Jews.
This is the first time in history that this number of Jews controlled such a large number of positions in an American government.

The author goes on to say that the goal of the Balfour Declaration was "to get rid of the evil of the Jews from Europe and to have them act as a guard dog for their interests in Palestine."

Just because this sounds like Nazi propaganda doesn't mean he's antisemitic.

UPDATE: This meme is now all over Arab antisemitic media. Here's a video from Vetogate on this topic, complete with a US flag with a Magen Dovid.

01/25 Links Pt2: Int'l Holocaust Day: Has the world learned the lessons of the Holocaust?; ‘Vaccine Apartheid’ – blatant blood libel, but too good to resist

From Ian:

Int'l Holocaust Day: Has the world learned the lessons of the Holocaust?

The story of my relatives is that of the Holocaust survivors who moved on to build Israel after most of their families were murdered and villages were destroyed. The Polish family that saved my relatives’ lives is part of the Righteous Among the Nations, those that the State of Israel and the Jewish people respect, honor and thank.

As a Jewish state, we learned our lesson from the Holocaust, but has the rest of the world learned it? Today, as we see movements of racism and antisemitism growing, the threat of hate is our motivation to act.

The Abraham Accords are not just a normalization treaty to build our relationship between the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Israel. It is a peace that is based on shared values and a vision of tolerance, with a shared mission to spread the message that this is the only way to fight all kinds of racism, including antisemitism.

"There will be no victory of light over darkness as long as we do not stand for the simple truth that instead of fighting darkness, we must increase light,” Aaron David Gordon said.

The eyes of the entire world are looking at us. This is why we designed the "Leaders of Tomorrow" initiative. Young Emiratis, Bahrainis, Moroccans and Israelis that build trust and friendship, leaving differences aside and focusing on our similarities – we are becoming the light that our families have waited centuries for.

Tefillin Discovered in Hidden Bunker in Warsaw Ghetto

A bunker containing 100-year-old tefillin (phylacteries) hidden from the Nazis in World War II has been discovered in the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto.

In recent years, Polish authorities have begun to demolish buildings inside the Warsaw Ghetto to turn them into residential buildings in a process of urban renewal. Following one such demolition, construction workers discovered an entrance to a bunker dug in preparation for the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. One of the Polish construction workers on the site who entered the bunker to clear it out discovered 10 phylacteries that had been hidden behind books and other items.

Hearing of the sensational discovery from their local contacts, European emissaries of the Shem Olam Faith and the Holocaust Institute for Education, Documentation and Research secretly contacted the construction workers. Following lengthy negotiations and a commitment to keep the transaction secret from Polish authorities, the phylacteries were handed over to the emissaries. They recently arrived in Israel, where they were transferred to the institute for disinfection and conservation.

Shem Olam announced it had the phylacteries ahead of a conference it is set to hold to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The virtual conference, which will be open to the public, will include panels on the memory of the Holocaust from an international perspective and will be attended by politicians, spiritual leaders, rabbis and historians from around the world.

According to Shem Olam director Rabbi Avraham Krieger, “The discovery of 10 phylacteries concentrated in one place testifies to the Jewish lifestyle they maintained in the ghetto. Despite the horrors and the cruel reality in which they lived, they continued to observe the customs and tradition they grew up with.”

History Extra podcast: Searching for freedom after the Holocaust

Rosie Whitehouse tells the story of a group of Holocaust survivors who sailed to Palestine in 1946, in defiance of the Royal Navy

Author and journalist Rosie Whitehouse discusses her book The People on the Beach, which tells the story of a group of Holocaust survivors who sailed from Italy to British Mandate for Palestine in 1946, taking on the might of the Royal Navy in the process.

Cartoon of the Day: The woke rules can get complicated

Continuing my series of recaptioning cartoons...

Now that Biden is president, Israel and the Jewish community look on as the various pieces of his new administration fall into place, waiting to see what this means for both the Jewish community and for Israel.

Everything becomes part of the cup of tea leaves that Jews are trying to read.

One of the things that got this process going in earnest was the change made to the Twitter account of the US Ambassador to Israel.

Last Wednesday, the account suddenly read:

The question was: why change it to US Ambassador to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza?

Legal Insurrection quotes from the original article in the Washington Free Beacon which sounded the alarm:

The change in title marks a significant shift in policy toward Israel. The United States has for decades declined to take a policy position on the West Bank and Gaza territories, maintaining the Israelis and the Palestinians must decide in negotiations how the areas will be split up for a future Palestinian state. By including Gaza and the West Bank in the ambassador’s portfolio, the Biden administration appears to be determining that neither area is part of Israel—a move that is certain to rile Israeli leaders. [emphasis added]

In the end, it apparently turned out to be a false alarm, as the page was quietly changed back to "US Ambassador to Israel" and WFB updated their article accordingly. No one knows if it was the work of an overeager staffer or whether Twitter accidentally refreshed the old page.

But this is a good example of the eagerness to jump at the most trivial indication of Biden's new Middle East policy, especially in terms of what policy changes we should expect, especially when it comes to Iran.

Attention dutifully went back to following the procession of Biden nominees for various positions within his administration.

Biden's new National Security Adviser is Jake Sullivan.

Last May, Sullivan co-wrote an article in Foreign Affairs about America’s Opportunity in the Middle East, which advocated

a phased approach that delivers nuclear progress up front and creates space to address regional challenges over time. Under such an approach, the United States would immediately reestablish nuclear diplomacy with Iran and salvage what it can from the 2015 nuclear deal, which has been fraying since the Trump administration abandoned it in 2018. The United States would then work with the P5+1 and Iran to negotiate a follow-on agreement. In parallel, the United States and its partners would support a regional track.

It is to be expected that Sullivan supports some kind of return to the Iran deal, albeit cautiously.

On the other hand, Sullivan also praised the Abraham Accords back in September, saying it was a "positive accomplishment" that was "good for the region, it’s good for Israel, it’s good for peace" while balancing that with "we should praise this deal for what it is but not for more than what it is...It’s been a long time coming. This is not a bolt out of the blue."

But over the weekend, when Sullivan spoke by phone with Israeli National Security Advisor Meir Ben Shabbat, the White House released an oddly phrased statement that

They discussed opportunities to enhance the partnership over the coming months, including by building on the success of Israel’s normalization arrangements with UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco.

Lahav Harkov, the Jerusalem Post's diplomatic correspondent, noted on Twitter

She also pointed out that while in Israel it was reported that

The two agreed to discuss soon the many topics on the agenda including Iran, regional issues and advancing the Abraham Accords.

in the White House statement, there was no mention of Iran at all.

There are those tea leaves again.

And then there is Tony Blinken.

During his confirmation hearings last week, Tony Blinken -- Biden's choice for Secretary of State -- was asked about Biden's Middle East policy.

The Biden administration would consult with Israel and Arab allies before taking any action regarding returning to the Iran deal, though he admitted that he "believes that if Iran comes back into compliance, we would too"

But Blinken went on to say, on the issue of compliance:

But we would use that as a platform with our allies and partners, who would once again be on the same side as us, to seek a longer and stronger agreement, and also as you and the chairman have rightly pointed out, to capture these other issues, particularly with regard to missiles and Iran’s destabilizing activities. That would be the objective.

Having said that, I think we are a long way from there. We would have to see once the president-elect is in office what steps Iran actually takes and is prepared to take. We would then have to evaluate whether they were making good—if they say they are coming back into compliance—[on] their obligations, and then we would take it from there. But in the first instance, yes, we absolutely will consult with you, and not only with you, I think as the chairman suggested, it’s also vitally important that we engage on the takeoff, not the landing, with our allies and with our partners in the region, to include Israel and to include the Gulf countries. [emphasis added]

First of all, Blinken seems to be taking an awful lot for granted about getting Israel and the Gulf Arab states on board negotiations with the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the Middle East.

Secondly, his metaphor about engaging US allies "on the takeoff, not the landing" implies a willingness to push those US allies off the plane -- if not under the bus.

And Blinken is nothing if not a party man, who claimed during his confirmation hearing:

In my judgment, the JCPOA, for whatever its limitations, was succeeding on its own terms in blocking Iran’s pathways to producing fissile material for a nuclear weapon on short order. [emphasis added]

But overall, the general consensus does seem to be that Biden's picks for his staff have been reassuring on the issue of Iran.

Except for one.

There are indications that Biden could pick Robert Malley as his special envoy to Iran, which Eli Lake describes as a reason to believe that Biden’s First Foreign Policy Blunder Could Be on Iran. The problem is that Malley favors talks with Iran as the only way to get any results, and claims that pressure does not work.

Lake demurs:

More important, the notion that Iran’s regime does not respond to pressure is a talking point of the Iranian regime, especially Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. It also happens to be false. Obama’s maximum pressure campaign between 2011 and 2013 ultimately coerced the regime to enter open nuclear negotiations with the U.S., China, Russia, France, Germany and the U.K. [emphasis added]

More to the point, appointing Malley would directly contradict statements that Biden made just last year while on the campaign trail:

Biden himself during the campaign has said he would support targeted sanctions to punish Iran for human rights abuses, developing ballistic missiles and support for terrorism. And Blinken and Sullivan have committed to working with regional allies to press Iran to change its ways. What message would it send if the administration’s envoy to Iran believes no Iranian leader could ever agree to stop making war on its neighbors?

Part of Biden's problem is that he is beholden to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, one that favors the Iran Deal and supports for a Palestinian Arab state on the one hand and is antagonistic to Israel and Saudi Arabia on the other, and is not impressed by the Abraham Accords either.

So it's no small thing that while praising the Abraham Accords, Blinken made a point to leave this window open:

However, he said the Biden administration would “take a hard look at” some of the “commitments” that were made in tandem with those accords.

Is Biden going to try to thread this needle -- both in terms of his Middle East policy abroad but also in terms of satisfying his progressive base that expects to be rewarded handsomely for their support?

And if he does make this attempt, will he succeed?

Or are we already seeing signs of it beginning to unravel?

01/25 Links Pt1: Palestinians Need to Rethink the Way They Treat Israel; The Jordan Valley as Israel’s Strategic Line of Defense; 75% of Jailed PA Terrorists Vaccinated by Israel

From Ian:

Peres Center for Peace Chairman Chemi Peres: Palestinians Need to Rethink the Way They Treat Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promoted: "peace for peace," a rejection of the traditional paradigm of land for peace. He says the UAE deal sets a precedent: Israel doesn't need to cede land to the Palestinians in order to win friends in the Arab world. In the Persian Gulf, a new generation of Arabs is less consumed by the never-ending Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"This is a model of how the peace needs to be with the Palestinians. Mutual respect and acceptance...looking forward to doing business together and living together," said Israeli investor Simcha Fulda after business meetings in Dubai.

"I think that the Palestinians need to rethink the way they treat Israel," said Chemi Peres, son of the late Israeli President Shimon Peres, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for peace efforts with Palestinians. Peres' son runs the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, which is prioritizing Israeli business ties with the Emiratis, an approach he wants Palestinians to adopt in forging peaceful ties with Israelis.

"Their point of view has been, let's first solve the political issues and then we can start normalizing things and move forward. I believe those days are gone," Peres said. "I believe that the only way for us to really, really achieve peace, comprehensive peace, and save the region from backwardness, is to focus on moving forward together."

In Focus: The Jordan Valley as Israel’s Strategic Line of Defense

Following the 1967 Six Day War initiated by Arab countries, Israel, by virtue of its resounding victory, expanded the territory under its control. While the Sinai Peninsula was subsequently returned to Egypt as part of the 1979 peace agreement, and whereas Israel in 2005 fully withdrew from the Gaza Strip, the Jewish State has to date not fully relinquished the West Bank (also known by its biblical name, Judea and Samaria), which for two decades beginning in 1948 was administered by Jordan and, crucially, includes the Jordan Valley.

Historical, religious and legal claims aside, successive Israeli governments have often cited security considerations as a reason for retaining the area, which has been referred to as “Israel’s eastern line of defense.” As such, the issue has often featured prominently in US-mediated peace talks with the Palestinians, who claim the entire West Bank as part of a future state.

In this respect, while newly minted President Joe Biden’s exact policies regarding the West Bank are not yet known, his nominee for secretary of state secretary, Tony Blinken, has asserted that the current administration views Israel’s security as “sacrosanct.” At the same time, he said that the 46th American president would promote the two-state solution and oppose unilateral steps by both Israelis and Palestinians.

Israel’s Need for Strategic Depth
Defense experts have repeatedly acknowledged the need for so-called “strategic depth.” The 1921 journal of the US Infantry Association summarizes this military philosophy: “All essential elements of the defense should be organized in depth. If the forward defensive areas are captured, resistance is continued by those in rear.”

Before the UN Partition Plan of 1947, some prominent members of the Zionist movement warned against establishing a Jewish state in the absence of what they considered defensible borders. In a 1937 address to members of the British parliament, Ze’ev Jabotinsky described such a prospective country:
Most of it is lowland, whereas the Arab reserve is all hills. Guns can be placed on the Arab hills within 15 miles of Tel Aviv and 20 miles from Haifa; in a few hours these towns can be destroyed, the harbors made useless, and most of the places overrun, whatever the valor of their defenders.”

More recently, Israeli leaders have gone so far as to call the pre-1967 lines “Auschwitz borders,” pointing out that Israel is, by comparison, similar in size to New Jersey or Wales and therefore vulnerable to attack. Before the Six Day War, Israel proper at its narrowest measured only 15 kilometers (9 miles) wide across its middle.

Israel’s first ambassador to UAE ready for his historic mission

For Ambassador Eitan Na’eh, the excitement of being Israel’s first senior diplomat in the United Arab Emirates began even before he landed in the Gulf state this week.

Speaking from self-quarantine in Abu Dhabi on Monday, Na’eh spoke of “national and personal excitement mixed together,” which began “from the first time the foreign minister summoned me and asked me to come here.” That continued on Sunday, when Na’eh “got on a flight going east, over Saudi Arabia and landing in Dubai,” something that, as an Israeli, he still did not take for granted.

Now, Na’eh is the charge d’affaires of Israel’s new embassy in the UAE, opened five months after the countries announced the peace and normalization agreement called the Abraham Accords. Na’eh is in charge of the embassy until a permanent ambassador is chosen after the next government is formed, which will likely take at least three months.

Na’eh said he is in Abu Dhabi “with clear instructions to expand the ties,” because previously, Israel only had diplomatic representatives to the International Renewable Energy Agency based in the UAE, and not to the country itself.

“We need to build relations for the long term,” he said.

From Naharnet:

Fifteen Israeli soldiers on Sunday opened the border gate at al-Wazzani and scoured the area facing the parks, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.

“Before their withdrawal, they seized seven cows,” the agency added.

Lebanon is accusing the Israeli army of opening a fence, stealing seven cows, and bringing them to Israel.

Does this make any sense whatsoever? Only to people already predisposed to antisemitism, who consider all Jews to be thieves.

Some Lebanese made fun of the absurd news, even making a hashtag #freethecows.

Fortunately, Lebanon still have some independent news sources. The Daily Star Lebanon disputes the official state version of events:

A small Israeli force combed a border area with Lebanon early Sunday, seizing seven cows that had strayed into Israel, a Lebanese security source said.

The source said 15 Israeli soldiers searched an area facing parks and restaurants on the Wazani river in south Lebanon. The soldiers did not cross into Lebanon but as they pulled back they seized seven cows who appeared to have strayed across the border while grazing in the area.

The fate of the cows was not immediately clear.

Perhaps the seven cows represents seven years of plenty.

Israel always ends up returning cattle that cross over, but they have a real concern for Hezbollah booby trapping animals - something that Palestinians have done repeatedly.

The IHRA does not include Holocaust inversion (saying Israel is acting like Nazis) in its definition of Holocaust distortion. Why the hell not?

We have discussed the excellent IHRA definition of antisemitism many times, and praised the recent handbook released by the EU as one of the best explanations of that definition and how it can be practically used.

In 2013, the IHRA also came out with a working definition of Holocaust denial and distortion.

The "distortion" part of the definition says:

Distortion of the Holocaust refers, inter alia, to:

Intentional efforts to excuse or minimize the impact of the Holocaust or its principal elements, including collaborators and allies of Nazi Germany;
Gross minimization of the number of the victims of the Holocaust in contradiction to reliable sources;
Attempts to blame the Jews for causing their own genocide;
Statements that cast the Holocaust as a positive historical event. Those statements are not Holocaust denial but are closely connected to it as a radical form of antisemitism. They may suggest that the Holocaust did not go far enough in accomplishing its goal of “the Final Solution of the Jewish Question”;
Attempts to blur the responsibility for the establishment of concentration and death camps devised and operated by Nazi Germany by putting blame on other nations or ethnic groups.

Recently it released a handbook, "Recognizing and Countering Holocaust Distortion: Recommendations for Policy and Decision Makers," to help apply these principles.

This is essential work.

But unlike the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, the IHRA working definition of Holocaust distortion ignores one of the most widespread examples we see today: Holocaust inversion.

Lesley Klaff describes Holocaust inversion:

What has been called ‘Holocaust Inversion’ involves an inversion of reality (the Israelis are cast as the ‘new’ Nazis and the Palestinians as the ‘new’ Jews), and an inversion of morality (the Holocaust is presented as a moral lesson for, or even a moral indictment of ‘the Jews’). More: those who object to these inversions are told that they are acting in bad faith, only being concerned to deflect criticism of Israel. In short, the Holocaust, an event accurately described by Dan Diner as a ‘rupture in civilisation,’ organised by a regime that, as the political philosopher Leo Strauss observed, ‘had no other clear principle except murderous hatred of the Jews,’ is now being used, instrumentally, as a means to express animosity towards the homeland of the Jews. ‘The victims have become perpetrators’ is being heard more and more. That is Holocaust Inversion.

This reprehensible comparison of Israel to Nazi Germany, so widespread among the antisemitic Left, is ignored by IHRA in its working definition of Holocaust distortion, and even in the expanded examples given in the new handbook.

The closest it gets it this:

The use of imagery and language associated with the Holocaust for political, ideological, or commercial purposes unrelated to this history in online and offline forums.

This refers to things like comparing slaughtering animals for food, or abortions, to the Holocaust. As disgusting as those comparisons are, the motivation behind Holocaust inversion is much different than those types of Holocaust distortion. The people who make such a comparison are saying that the Holocaust and Israeli actions are tightly linked - that Jews learned cruelty from the Nazis and now apply it to Palestinians, which is much different than making a rhetorical, specious comparison of non-related events to the Holocaust.

Which means that this obvious example of Holocaust distortion by Carlos Latuff is not covered by the IHRA working definition.

We cannot know for sure why these sickening and antisemitic distortions of the Holocaust are excluded by the IHRA, but it appears to be deliberate - and political.

Every example of Holocaust distortion mentioned by the IHRA are those that typically come from the Right, while Holocaust inversion is nearly exclusively from the Left.

Most troublingly, the source of this omission may come from Germany itself.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas gives some of the background behind this new handbook in an op-ed for CNN:

As the current chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), Germany therefore wants to move forward the fight against such dangerous lies, the distortion of facts and the trivialization of the Holocaust, also at a global level. We have therefore initiated a Global Task Force Against Holocaust Distortion so that, together with our partners, we can defend these universal values. This week, leading international researchers have presented to us their recommendations for countering Holocaust distortion. These indicate there is an urgent need for action...

[T]he current digital nature of anti-Semitism means that it knows no borders. That is why, now more than ever, we must combat it globally, in a coordinated way. It may not always be easy to draw a line between freedom of opinion and hate speech, between ignorance and the deliberate distortion of facts.

So, as a first step, it is important for us and our global partners to develop a common understanding of what we consider as Holocaust distortion, and how to combat it. We are working on this together with our partners in the IHRA, the European Union, UNESCO, the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). However, domestic authorities, too, must be part of the effort. A recent study shows how, already today, right-wing terrorists and conspiracy theorists are forging close networks online. Our security authorities must counter them by working in even closer coordination.

Maas even says "anti-Semitism has not disappeared. It just keeps shape-shifting," which is a good description of the new antisemitism from the Left that is covered by the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism. Yet the only examples he gives come from right-wing antisemites - even though the most prevalent types of Holocaust distortion nowadays are almost exclusively from the Left.

It appears that the IHRA group that worked for years on this project has been hijacked by politics to exclude the worst kinds of Holocaust distortion that can be seen every day.

The IHRA's entire moral authority comes from it being above such politics. When it seemingly deliberately excludes Holocaust inversion from its definition of Holocaust distortion, it loses some of its credibility - which in turn weakens the other excellent work it does.

This handbook should be revised immediately to include Holocaust inversion as a prominent example of modern Holocaust distortion.

Anti-Israel activist warns of "Zionist" plan to divide Morocco into six parts

One of the favorite Arab antisemitic themes has always been the Jewish desire to divide their countries into tiny, indefensible states, supposedly written in the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.

Old habits die hard.

The head of the "Moroccan Laboratory for the Struggle against Normalization," Ahmed Ohman, has warned Moroccans against a supposed Israeli plan to cut up Morocco.

“Naturalization with the Zionist institution has reached all spheres, such as politics, economics, the arts, and sports,” Ohman said. “On the whole, Moroccans need to understand that there is no area that is not protected by Zionist invasion.

“So this is no longer normalization, this is infiltration. The plan, which aims to divide Morocco into six countries in the smallest detail, was to be published with photos, along with their maps and flags and even their national anthems, and a secret organization which loves Israel."

Morocco already has 12 regions, so I am not sure how the six countries would be divided. But I'm sure he has a map somewhere.