Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, April 15, 2021

04/15 Links Pt2: On this Independence Day, Israelis have a lot to be proud of; What is it with J Street and anti-Semites?; Why France Refuses to Prosecute an Antisemitic Murderer

From Ian:

After last year’s lockdown, Israelis back at parks to celebrate Independence Day

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis flocked to beaches and parks across the country Thursday, barbecuing, waving flags and craning their necks for a glimpse of the Air Force fighter jets’ flyby to mark the country’s 73rd Independence Day.

While most wore face coverings or had masks strapped around their chins, the scenes looked nearly identical to those from the pre-coronavirus era. After an early wave of the pandemic tamed celebrations significantly last year, Israelis were allowed to celebrate freely this year, with restrictions drawn back almost entirely.

As a result, families flocked to national parks and beaches, filling many to full capacity. The Israel Nature and Parks Authority issued a statement early Thursday afternoon urging civilians to avoid traveling to the Tel Ashkelon National Park in the coming hours due to overcrowding.

The Tze’elon, Shikmim and Amnon beaches at the Sea of Galilee were also shuttered to additional visitors after reaching full capacity, the parks authority said.

Meanwhile, Israeli Air Force planes jetted across the country to mark the occasion. The flyover, a popular and iconic feature of Independence Day celebrations, is passing over more cities and towns than usual this year in what the Israel Defense Forces has called a “salute” to all Israeli citizens.

Last year, during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the flyby saluted medical staff over the nation’s hospitals.

Ben-Dror Yemini: On this Independence Day, Israelis have a lot to be proud of

There is no point in denying that after four consecutive election rounds in two years, the atmosphere in the country is tough and even irritating.

And while the public discourse, as filled with discontent as it is, paints a seemingly gloomy picture, the people of Israel are actually pretty pleased with their country - as they should be.

This is not due to blind optimism spurred by the festivities of the 73rd Independence Day. No, it is an actual fact solidified by concrete data.

Israel is placed fourth among OECD countries in the sphere of healthcare. And while the average happiness index score among OECD countries is hovering around 6.5 out of 10, in Israel the score is 8.5.

Indeed, the people of Israel are stronger than the eroding influence of its political system.

And while the voices of discontent among Israelis are indeed loud, they do not, in fact, represent the majority.

Israel's Gini index - a measure of the distribution of income across a population - reached a 20-year low in 2018, which means inequality gap is narrowing.

That is without mentioning the fact that Israel is ranked fifth in the world in intergenerational mobility - which means that an individual's wellbeing is less dependent on the socioeconomic status of his or her parents. In that respect, we have beaten countries such as New Zealand, Sweden, Germany and Japan.

According to one survey, however, as least 48% of Israelis are considering emigrating to another country. In reality though, Israelis tend to emigrate much less, at least compared to other OECD countries.

In fact, emigration from Israel has declined. In 1990, according to a study by Uri Altman, the rate of those leaving Israel was 5.3 people per 1,000. After about a decade, it dropped to 4.2 per 1,000 and by 2017 it stood at about 1.6 per 1,000.

It seems that despite warnings about people leaving the country en mass, the majority of Israelis have actually decided to put down roots in the Jewish State.

As Israel celebrates 73 yrs of independence, growing antisemitism serves as the proof for the necessity of Israel's existence:

Here's a look at a handful of incidents of Jew-hatred around the globe that occurred just in the past week.#YomHaatzmaut #YomHaZikaron #YomHashoah pic.twitter.com/PKL9P28XpA
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) April 14, 2021

Independence Day torch lighters span in age from 18 to 102

Fourteen people have been selected to light the symbolic torches at this year’s Israel Independence Day ceremony on Wednesday night, according to Israeli news site Maariv.

The ceremony, in which 12 torches are lit to symbolize the 12 tribes of Israel, traditionally marks the transition between Israel’s day of remembrance for fallen soldiers and Independence Day marking the country’s founding in 1948.

Among those who are being honored as torchbearers are Ofri Butbul, an 18-year-old Israeli who saved the life of an elderly man she had gotten to know as a volunteer with a nonprofit organization, as well as Yaish Giat, a 102-year-old Yemenite Torah scholar who owns a spice shop and sells natural medicines.

A committee chooses the torchbearers, who are approved by Israel’s sports and culture ministers.

Giat was surprised to hear he had been chosen for the honor.

“People say it is a great honor. I do not know,” he told Ynet. “When I raise the torch I will wish that our nation love one another, that people will respect one another for the benefit of the Land of Israel.”

This year’s Diaspora representative, a recognition introduced in 2017, will go to Gabriela Sztrigler Lew, a volunteer from Mexico who turns 20 this week.

Lew has participated in more than 10 humanitarian missions with the Shalom Corps, an organization run by Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and the Jewish Agency, and assisting Holocaust survivors during the pandemic.

CEO of Pfizer proud of Israel's achievements on Independence Day

Israel offered Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla the chance to light an Independence Day torch, and although he declined due a scheduling conflict, the CEO did give a pre-recorded video speech at the event.

"I'm honored that you've chosen to pay tribute to Pfizer in this Independence Day ceremony," Bourla began.

"Along with other Jews in the world, I take immense pride in Israel. Pride in the fact that Israel is there for Jews everywhere, for us and for our children. Pride in Israel's achievements in science, technology, innovation, and so much more" he told the audience.

"This year, the partnership between Israel and Pfizer produced yet another groundbreaking achievement," he said. "Together we are demonstrating that through mass vaccinations, we can defeat the COVID-19 pandemic and save lives. I want to thank Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and all the Pfizer colleagues in Israel. We have been shown that there is a path back to normalcy – and that is definitely something the entire world can celebrate."

The CEO concluded by saying "Happy Independence Day" in Hebrew.

Fatah Threat To Cancel Elections It Will Lose Not Having Desired Effect Of Projecting Strength (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

Palestinian parliament Ramallah, April 15 - Declarations by members of the party controlling the Palestinian Authority that unless their rivals or Israel make substantive changes to longstanding policies and practices, a long-delayed parliamentary contest that will likely see the ruling party fall from power will not take place as planned, have not elicited the anticipated changes that those declarations aimed to achieve, in particular the casting of that party as a confident source of leadership, party sources reported today.

Fatah, the now-dominant faction governing the autonomous Palestinian Authority in inland areas Israel vacated under a 1993 agreement, faces electoral defeat, according to recent polling, in parliamentary elections that have not taken place since 2007. Their chief rivals, the Islamist movement Hamas that staged a coup in the Gaza Strip that year and has since governed that coastal territory separately, stand to overtake Fatah in those elections, and for reasons not entirely clear to Fatah spokesmen, threats to call off the elections have not cast Fatah in the public imagination as demonstrating the swagger expected of leaders secure in their role who will attract popular support.

"It's weird - this isn't what we expected to happen," admitted Nabil Sha'ath, a longtime ally of President Mahmoud Abbas, who also serves as Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization. "We thought that the collective equivalent of threatening to resign unless we get what we want - a popular tactic among Palestinian government officials - would make us look like concerned public servants leveraging the government's public image to extract changes from the higher-ups. In fact it's had the opposite effect, namely it's made us look like a bunch of cowards afraid to face the wrath of an electorate that hasn't had a change to express its dissatisfaction with a corrupt, incompetent, short-sighted, thuggish, hypocritical, lying, repressive leadership in a decade and a half. An easy mistake to make."

Fatah stalwart Nabil Aburdeineh noted that the party had hoped to rely on Israel to provide a pretext for canceling the context and saving Fatah face, but that the Jewish State, preoccupied with its own election and post-election concerns, has so far failed or declined to play that role. "We thought Israel would come out and say, as they have many times before, that East Jerusalem Palestinians may not participate in Palestinian Authority elections," he acknowledged. "That's been our old standby for many years to avoid facing inevitable defeat. The danger to Israel's claim to exclusivity on control of the city has always been enough to spark that move on their part - but this time around they've stayed mum on the issue. What are we supposed to do - actually let people vote? That's crazy talk."

04/15 Links Pt1: J Street and Americans for Peace Now back bill that restricts Israeli spending of US aid; The Crumbling Walls of Arab Holocaust Denial; How Palestinian Leaders Treat Their Refugees

From Ian:

J Street and Americans for Peace Now back bill that restricts Israeli spending of US aid

Two liberal pro-Israel groups, J Street and Americans for Peace Now, are backing a House bill to be presented this week that would list actions Israel may not fund with U.S. money.

The measure, which will be introduced by Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., and was first reported by The Intercept, would restrict Israel from using U.S. funds to detain Palestinian minors, appropriate or destroy Palestinian property or forcibly move Palestinians, or annex Palestinian areas.

The endorsement by two groups that describe themselves as pro-Israel and McCollum’s new seniority as the chairwoman of the defense subcommittee of the powerful Appropriations Committee suggest that the bill could attract broader Democratic support than previous attempts to restrict how Israel spends U.S. assistance. Americans for Peace Now is a member of the umbrella Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

“It’s time that Congress stand up and defend the human rights of the Palestinian people,” McCollum said Wednesday on Twitter.

Spokesmen for J Street and Americans for Peace Now confirmed that they backed the bill. The latter’s president, Hadar Susskind, emphasized that the bill does not condition aid to Israel but restricts it. Thus Israel may carry out the activities named in the bill, but would incur no penalty if it can show the actions were completed without the use of American funds.

U.S. assistance to Israel, $3.8 billion a year, overwhelmingly goes to weapons systems.

The bill requires State Department and General Accounting Office reporting on whether Israel is using U.S. funds to carry out the restricted activities, but it does not describe a mechanism to penalize Israel.

“The one thing this bill does is that it requires reporting,” Susskind said.

The bill expands prior attempts by McCollum to restrict areas where Israel may spend U.S. funds. McCollum has sought previously to keep Israel from spending U.S. funds on detaining Palestinian minors. Those bills attracted only a handful of backers, and no support from groups that described themselves as pro-Israel. Center and right-wing pro-Israel groups, chief among them AIPAC, have forcefully opposed the McCollum initiatives.

Happy Israel Independence Day from the Week pic.twitter.com/7FFvhgmDD1
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) April 15, 2021

The Caroline Glick Show: Episode 1: The "accident" at the nuclear facilty: Iran, Israel and the Biden administration

In the premiere episode of the Caroline Glick show, Glick and her co-host historian Gadi Taub take a deep dive into last weekend's "incident" at Iran's nuclear installation at Natanz. They discuss the stakes, the pathologies of U.S. Iran policy going back to 2002. Caroline, who was an embedded reporter with the 3rd Infantry Division at the outset of the Iraq War analyzed the consequences of the war on Iranian power. Gadi discussed the roots of America's "woke" Iran policy in Edward Said's anti-intellectual legacy. And Glick and Taub marked Israel's 73rd birthday considering the threats and triumphs of the Jewish state.

🚨🎙️🎧On the latest episode of COUNTERBALANCE, Hudson's @Doranimated speaks w/ Israeli professor, pundit, and screenwriter @GadiTaub1 about Israel's seemingly never-ending elections.

Listen & subscribe: https://t.co/MDWwX1pCAG
— Hudson Institute (@HudsonInstitute) April 14, 2021

JINSA Podcast: When a Week Seems Like a Year: Parsing the Middle East’s Very Busy Week with John Hannah

JINSA’s newest Senior Fellow John Hannah joins host Erielle Davidson to break down an eventful week in the Middle East, from a potential coup to oust the Jordanian king to the latest Iran deal negotiations in Vienna. Mr. Hannah discusses why recent events in Jordan should remain on the U.S. radar and what internal dynamics within Jordan might have contributed to the alleged coup. He then unpacks some of the concerns facing the United States as it begins talks to re-enter the Iran nuclear deal. John and Erielle also review Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s timely visit to Israel, as well as the conclusion of the Iraq Strategic Dialogue.

As expected, the Biden administration is actively pursuing reestablishing the Iran deal. Currently, US representatives are meeting Iran officials in Vienna who have demanded that US sanctions imposed under the Trump administration be removed first as a precondition to talks. Secretary of State Blinken, for his part, has claimed that Biden wants to “lengthen and strengthen” the deal.

This time around, there is no longer talk framing opponents to the Iran deal as warmongers, as the Obama administration and its allies did. It was a theme that was repeated endlessly and hammered into the public consciousness, that while the deal was not perfect, the choice was a binary one -- on between the Iran deal and war.

The argument worked.

The argument of limited choice has also been used in pushing the two-state solution -- but has been updated.

At one time, the need to create a separate, independent Palestinian Arab state was justified on the basis of the threat of a "demographic time bomb," that the Arab population in Israel, Gaza and the "West Bank" would swamp the Jewish population. For example:

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) released its annual population survey for 2014, in which it predicted that starting in 2016, the number of Palestinians and Jews living in Israel and the Palestinian territories of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza "will total about 6.42 million each by the end of 2016 provided that current growth rates remain constant." The bureau also states: "The number of Palestinians in historical Palestine [Israel and the Palestinian territories] will total 7.14 million compared to 6.87 million Jews by the end of 2020." [emphasis added]

Obviously, this did not materialize.

So now there is another justification. As acting US Ambassador Richard Mills claimed at a UN Security Council meeting, the two-state solution "remains the best way to ensure Israel’s future as a democratic and Jewish state."

That was back in January. In March, US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield reiterated at a UN Security Council meeting that "we believe this vision [of a 2 state solution] is the best way to ensure Israel’s future as a democratic and Jewish state."

This might go back to December 2016, when then-Secretary of State John "No, no, no and no" Kerry said

If the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or democratic; it cannot be both, and it won't ever really be at peace.

Hold on.

It is one thing for the US government to pursue an admittedly imperfect deal and do an end-around to bypass Congress to make an agreement. It is one thing for the US to do this to ourselves.

But it another thing to force this on an ally.

The US has a history of deliberately influencing the Israeli elections, with the excuse that it was being done in the interests of peace. And it is a peace that on the other side of the world where the US will not have to live with the consequences for security.

There is another comparison between the US attitude to Iran and the Palestinian Authority.

Back in 2016, Kerry defended the $150 billion in sanctions relief to Iran that could end up going to terrorist groups. A.J. Caschetta, a fellow at the Middle East Forum writes:

Kerry reiterated that, after settling debts, Iran would receive closer to $55 billion. He conceded some of that could go to groups considered terrorists, saying there was nothing the U.S. could do to prevent that.

“I think that some of it will end up in the hands of the IRGC or other entities, some of which are labeled terrorists,” he said in the interview in Davos, referring to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. “You know, to some degree, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that every component of that can be prevented.”

But he added that “right now, we are not seeing the early delivery of funds going to that kind of endeavor at this point in time.” [emphasis added]

Iran did not share Kerry's interest in economic recovery.

And it is almost painful to read the degree that Kerry is forced to hedge on how little the billions in relief would go to terrorism. Of course, much of it did go to terrorism and not towards the benefit of the Iranian people.

Caschetta sees the same wishful thinking in Biden's planned bypassing of the Taylor Force Act (TFA) to provide millions in aid to Abbas:

Likewise, Joe Biden believes that the advantages to funding Palestinians outweigh the unfortunate fact that a percentage of that money will be spent on missiles, salaries of imprisoned terrorists and pensions for the families of Palestinian "martyrs."

Add to that the Biden administration's support of the upcoming Palestinian Arab elections, which will allow Hamas terrorists to again directly participate with Fatah. This is a repeat of the elections in 2007, when the Bush administration OK'ed Hamas participation -- and culminated in the bloody coup that kicked out Abbas and Fatah and sent them packing, back to the West Bank.

Putting aside the legal issues of US aid in contravention of the TFA, Jonathan Schanzer, of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies notes that US support for these elections is itself problematic:

This is somewhat awkward in light of the fact that Biden, while serving as a U.S. senator, spearheaded the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006, which prohibits U.S. assistance if the Palestinian Authority is “effectively controlled by Hamas.”

According to that law, that Biden co-sponsored:

 (a) Declaration of Policy.--It shall be the policy of the United 
States--
            (1) to support a peaceful, two-state solution to end the 
        conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in accordance with 
        the Performance-Based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution 
        to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (commonly referred to as the 
        ``Roadmap'');
            (2) to oppose those organizations, individuals, and 
        countries that support terrorism and violently reject a two-
        state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict;
            (3) to promote the rule of law, democracy, the cessation of 
        terrorism and incitement, and good governance in institutions 
        and territories controlled by the Palestinian Authority; and
            (4) to urge members of the international community to avoid 
        contact with and refrain from supporting the terrorist 
        organization Hamas until it agrees to recognize Israel, renounce 
        violence, disarm, and accept prior agreements, including the 
        Roadmap. [emphasis added]

Of course, if Biden can work his way around the Taylor Force Act, he should have no problem contravening the law that he himself proposed.

This comparison between Iran and the Palestinian Authority also points to differences.

Consider the push by the media and progressive groups for the US to take action against Saudi Arabia for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The measures suggested include ending US support for the Saudis against the Iranian-supported Houthis in Yemen, cutting back US arms sales to Saudi Arabia and pushing against crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

This already started during the Trump administration.

Now, it is promoted as part of the Biden administration's vaunted support for human rights.

So on the one hand, we have the call for justice on behalf of Khashoggi, who was not a US citizen, contrary to media claims. He was in the US on the basis of an O-1 visa, which is granted to individuals with “extraordinary ability.” Putting aside his jihadist views, this journalist who wrote for the Washington Post did not even know English; his articles were translated by an employee at the Qatari embassy and his last article was delivered by this translator the day after Khashoggi was reported missing. The Washington Post did not respond when asked if they were aware of this background to the articles.

The US concern for justice for Khashoggi is not matched by a concern for justice for Malki Roth, whose murderer, Ahlam Tamimi, continues to be sheltered by the Jordanian government in defiance of the active extradition treaty between the 2 countries. While the Trump administration made clear it considers the treaty in force and broached the topic with the Jordanians, it never applied pressure on what they consider an ally.

Can we expect the Biden administration's professed concern for human rights to extend to extraditing the self-confessed murderer of an actual American citizen?

Or is Biden going to follow Obama's example, as when he treated American lives cheaply when he paid the ransom for the release of Americans kidnapped by the Iranian regime?

One of Trump's last contributions towards the end of his term is the Abraham Accords, which will be a thorn in the side of the Biden administration, both in terms of its Iran policy and any attempt to bring a two-state solution to reality.

In terms of Iran, Trump supported the steps Israel repeatedly took to defend itself against Iranian attempts to exploit its position in Syria and expand its sphere of influence against Israel. We have already seen that Israel continues this policy during the Biden administration, even while the US is engaged in negotiations with Iran in Vienna in an attempt to restart the Iran Deal. Thanks to the Abraham Accords, Israel is no longer alone in this fight.

In terms of the Palestinian Authority, while Biden will be able to some degree to renew US support for the Abbas regime, both politically and even economically, claims of the inevitability and necessity of the two-state solution have lost their sense of urgency. The normalization of ties between Israel and the Arab world will continue and may even converge with a growing attitude among Arab Israelis to work within the system to improve their lives.

In terms of the lives of Arabs in Israel, Biden may find himself irrelevant.

In terms of the lives of Palestinian Arabs, if the best that Biden can do is offer a continuation of the Abbas regime, he has nothing of substance to offer.

In terms of Iran, the US may find that it cannot go back to 2015.

Photos from the first Yom HaAtzmaut, 1949

From Israel's National Library, photos of the first Yom HaAtzmaut:

Albert Arie, the oldest Jew in Cairo, passed away Thursday morning, at the age of 91.

Like the rest of the dwindling handful of Jews in Egypt, Arie was anti-Zionist and he was celebrated by Egyptians for his refusal to move to Israel as so many other Egyptians were forced to in stages as Egypt persecuted and expelled them starting in 1948.

Arie would often do interviews where he would speak about what life used to be like for Jews in Egypt, recalling how Egyptians used to be able to take a train directly to Jerusalem (although his claim that it took only two hours seems suspect.)

This interview took place last October:

JIMENA estimates that there only about four Jews left in Egypt, and most reports say the remainder are all or mostly elderly women.

However, last month some 13 Yemeni Jews fled their country and went to Cairo, so at least for a while, there are more Jews in Egypt than there have been for about ten years. It would be interesting to see if Egypt allows them to become citizens - current Egyptian nationality law would seem to allow them to apply to become citizens after ten years, since they come from a Muslim-majority country, and the president can override those requirements.

I wrote the original essay around 2002 and I have been modifying it every year since then. Here is this year's version:

========================

I am a Zionist and I am proud of it.

I know that Israel has the absolute right to exist in peace and security, at least as much as any other country. Given Israel's unique history and the resurgence of antisemitism worldwide, Israel arguably has more moral legitimacy than any other nation on Earth.

In last year's essay, I wrote:

In a short period of time Israel made itself into a strong yet open nation that its neighbors can only dream of becoming.

And they are indeed starting to dream. Arab nations are waking up to the reality of Israel and the desire to be more like her.. Despite the constant incitement against Israel in their media, ordinary Arabs know that Israel treats its minorities with more respect, and gives them more civil rights, than Arab nations give their own Arab citizens. Miraculously, in recent years, we are seeing some of Israel's enemies now accepting that Israel has the right to exist and seeking to partner with it. This was unthinkable a few years ago, and the reason is because of Israel's strength, both militarily and economically. The biggest (and artificial) dagger that has been used against Israel for 72 years, the Palestinian Arabs, is quickly losing its effectiveness in the Arab world except for lip service. Israel is simply more valuable to the Arab world as a partner than as an enemy, and this is directly due to wise and forward thinking Israeli policies..

Little did I know what amazing changes would happen the following year.

This was the year that Israel signed normalization deals with the UAE and Bahrain, and peace deals with Sudan and Morocco.

Who cannot be proud of such accomplishments?

The Abraham Accords go way beyond the specific treaties, though. They mean that Israel is now truly part of the Middle East, with economic ties as well as growing cultural ties. There was a sea change in the Arab world this year, and we now see articles that are pro-Israel and philosemitic in countries that would never have published those a year ago. Saudi Arabia is no longer an enemy. Qatar cooperates openly with Israel. Jordan and Egypt remain hugely antisemitic, but they are buying natural gas from Israel and there is no foreseeable danger of them becoming enemies again.

Clearly the people who accuse the Jewish state of anti-Arab racism were not prepared for Israel - and Israelis - eagerly embracing their new Emirati friends. It turns out that "militant" and "intransigent" Israel is far more interested in peace with its Arab neighbors than any of Israel's many critics, who often belong to groups with "human rights" and "peace" in their names.

If those had been the only amazing accomplishment for the year, dayenu. But there is so much more.

This has been an annus horribilis for everyone. And yet, under such trying circumstances, Israel one again showed the world how seriously it takes its responsibilities.

Israel spared no expense to become the world's leader in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. It paid a huge premium on vaccines, and bargained with the leading vaccine manufacturer, in order to get them as early as possible - and to save as many Israeli lives as possible. That is the most basic obligation of any state, yet no other nation acted so above and beyond to save their people's lives. It has been a light unto the nations.

We can safely assume and be just as proud that Israel has been equally innovative, creative and effective in fighting Iran's nuclear ambitions as it has been in fighting the coronavirus.

Because of COVID, the number of Palestinian terror attacks went way down this past year. That is one reason the number of Palestinians killed while attacking Jews and the IDF also plummeted. But the other reason there were fewer casualties is because the IDF keeps continuously improving, learning from its mistakes It is truly the most moral army in the world, and I am proud of it.

There seems to be no limit to what difficult problems Israel can solve. I am proud of how Israel responds to so many seemingly intractable problems. In the early days of the intifada there seemed to be no solution - but the IDF found one, managing to bring deadly suicide attacks from 60 in 2002 down to practically none today. For every "successful" attack (if you can use such a term) there have been many failed attempts, and these are truly miraculous. Hamas has been reduced to celebrating attacks that cause only minor injuries because most of their major attacks, thank God, are foiled. Today there are new challenges, but each one is met and solved with brains and creativity.

If Israel had a real Palestinian partner for peace, there would be peace.

Israel has succeeded and continues to succeed in its many accomplishments in building up a desert wasteland into a thriving and vibrant modern country, with its countless scientific achievements, incredible leadership in high-tech and the environment, world class universities and culture. Practically every computer and mobile phone being built today includes technology and innovations from a single small Middle Eastern country. A tiny nation, under constant siege, with few natural resources besides breathtaking beauty, has used its smarts and strength to build a modern success story.

Zionists have every reason to be proud of the incredible achievements of the Jewish national movement.

The word "Zionist" is not an epithet - it is a compliment.

Yahoo says Natalie Portman is a "Palestine-American" actress

If you do a search Natalie Portman on Yahoo, you see that she is considered a "Palestine-American actress."

It links to her Wikipedia page, which says no such thing.

Google's default results for searching for Portman says she is an Israeli-American actress. Bing says she is "an Israeli-born actress and director."

This is very weird. I couldn't find any other famous Israelis or Jews born in Jerusalem who were called "Palestinian." Also, the choice to say Portman is a "Palestine-American" actress and not a "Palestinian-American" actress indicates that someone who doesn't know English very well deliberately chose to edit her entry.

(h/t Stu via Adam)

04/14 Links Pt2: A Tribute to the Bereaved Parents of Unsung Fallen Israelis; Memorial Day sorrow fades into joy as Israel ushers in 73rd Independence Day

From Ian:

Jpost Editorial: Independence Day: In 73 years, Israel has accomplished so much - editorial

As Israel celebrates its 73rd birthday on Thursday, it is worth remembering that there are those who have said from the very beginning that it cannot survive.

Pinstripe diplomats in the US State Department said as much in 1948, trying to convince US president Harry Truman not to recognize the nascent state. Arab leaders said it that same year in mobilizing armies to fight the Jewish state. European politicians said it before the Six-Day War as Israel’s Arab neighbors were tightening the noose and threatening to destroy the country.

Over the years pundits and politicians, columnists and authors have all spilled millions of words discussing how Israel cannot survive: how it will be overwhelmed by the enemies around it, torn apart by the divisions inside it, or swept away by pure demographics. For instance, in 2008 the Canadian newsweekly Maclean’s front cover story was entitled: “Why Israel can’t survive.”

Yet here we are, 73 years later, still standing, still kicking, still surviving. And more than that, flourishing in a way that those of little faith in the country, its people or their abilities ever imagined. Not without problems, not without dilemmas, not without blemishes, not without painfully fractured political moments, but still surviving and flourishing.

Those predicting Israel’s imminent demise have always overlooked one important feature: the people dwelling in Zion desire life, and they desire life here in an independent land in this little corner of the world. And that desire for life has compelled them to adapt and improvise over the last seven decades to confront changing demographic, political, military realities and take those steps needed to ensure survival.

Ruthie Blum: A Tribute to the Bereaved Parents of Unsung Fallen Israelis

It’s virtually impossible to remain dry-eyed at these mini-biographies of so many incredible Israelis who died in the line of admirable duty.

But there’s another group of bereaved parents far from the limelight, unable to engage in the kind of collective mourning that characterizes Memorial Day. These are the mothers and fathers of kids who committed suicide during their service in the Israel Defense Forces—after suffering from periods of depression, unrequited love, unfulfilled perfectionism and probably a less-than-stellar adolescence.

Though suicide, like illness and accidents, is counted in the annual tally of casualties among soldiers, police and civilians, it is not championed as “heroic” or highlighted on Yom Hazikaron. Nor are the parents of suicide victims as likely as their more “normative” counterparts to revel in or dwell on the circumstances surrounding their children’s demise.

Sadly, however, these mothers and fathers—who warrant just as much empathy as those given constant accolades for their kids’ accomplishments—are largely ignored. It’s actually odd, considering that suicide remains what the IDF admitted in January is the leading cause of death among its troops.

According to IDF Manpower Directorate commander Maj. Gen. Moti Almoz, of the 28 soldiers who died last year, nine took their own lives. Eight of these were men, and five served in combat units.

Almoz claimed that because of prevention programs, the IDF has a lower suicide rate than the country as a whole and less than many other of the world’s militaries. He boasted that four soldiers were saved in 2020 thanks to cell-phone data used to locate them before they managed to self-harm. In addition, he said, IDF commanders are better-equipped these days to recognize suicide warning signs.

If so, they and the rest of the public, which stands in silence at the sound of the siren denoting the start of Yom Hazikaron, should give thought and pay tribute to the families of the unsung fallen Israelis gunned down at their own hands.

May their memories be a blessing.

#Israel comes to a standstill, as a piercing siren 🚨 wails in honor of all the @IDF soldiers who made ultimate sacrifice for our freedom and civilians murdered in acts of terror. May their memories always be blessed! #YomHazikaron #MemorialDay 🕯 🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/IiWZDOKuKO
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) April 14, 2021

This evening on #YomHaZikaron we pause to honour the memory of the 23,928 Israeli soldiers who have fallen in service and 3,158 victims of terror. May their memory be for a blessing.pic.twitter.com/qpzpa0UavZ
— Chief Rabbi Mirvis (@chiefrabbi) April 13, 2021

IDF Chief Cantor Lt. Col. Shai Abramson sings the Hatikva, Israel's national anthem, at state memorial ceremony marking #YomHaZikaron pic.twitter.com/ezqLepS5Lu
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) April 13, 2021

Memorial Day sorrow fades into joy as Israel ushers in 73rd Independence Day

Israel made the abrupt annual transition from mourning to jubilation on Wednesday night, as Memorial Day drew to a close and its 73rd Independence Day began.

Somber speeches, ceremonies in cemeteries and news reports on fallen soldiers and terror victims gave way to celebration as the annual state ceremony began at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl.

Local authorities around the country held Independence Day events in person, after events last year were mostly canceled or went online due to the nationwide virus lockdown. Now, the plummeting infection rate has allowed for most restrictions to be lifted, though some limits on gatherings remain in place.

All participants will be required to carry a “Green Pass” — evidence of full vaccination against COVID-19 or of recovery from the coronavirus.

The Mount Herzl ceremony is led by the Knesset speaker, a position currently held by Yariv Levin of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party. During his speech, Levin called for unity amid Israel’s stifling, years-long political impasse. Last month’s inconclusive elections were Israel’s fourth in two years.

“We went through four difficult election cycles. This long period of instability, of uncertainty, harms us all. This is the time to mend the rifts. Even when our opinions are at odds with each other we are still two sides of the same coin, one nation. This Independence Day is the right moment,” Levin said.

He also gave a statement in Arabic, saying, “This holiday is for all Israelis.”

You can’t see him in the photo below, but he’s there. Right behind the guy with the Israeli flag. My son, my baby, the youngest of 12, representing his IDF battalion as part of an honor guard to welcome Lloyd Austin, the United States Secretary of Defense, on his first visit to Israel.

I watched the livestream and for a moment I thought: there’s the tip of his boot! Seconds later I thought I caught a glimpse of his back. But you know, it didn’t matter whether or not I could actually see him. I got Jewish nachat* just knowing he was there, my baby, standing tall and straight and proud.

Like all my children, Asher is a dual citizen of both the United States and Israel and somehow that made it all the more thrilling to know he was there (even if I couldn’t see him). As the IDF band played first the American and then the Israeli anthems, I hoped my parents were watching from the heavens. No one knows these things, but that doesn’t stop us from hoping.

I hoped my parents were proud of Asher, proud they had a grandchild in this honor guard, a soldier in the IDF, greeting a US dignitary. I hoped they were proud I’d ended up in Israel, that I had raised a beautiful family in the Holy Land.

It had been a long road here, to this place.

When I first arrived in Israel, I felt I belonged nowhere. I didn’t speak the language well, I didn’t understand the cultural norms of Israeli society. It took a couple of years before I could successfully push my way through a pushing, shoving crowd and onto a bus—before it closed its doors and drove away from me. People weren’t necessarily rude, but there was no concept of social distancing back then, or private space. There was a different pace here in Israel, an attitude of don’t be a freier, a sucker, grab at life while you can.

That feeling of not belonging hurt. I’d grown up in a close family, with lots of siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles. Here in Israel, it was just me and my husband and, as our family grew, our babies. I missed having clan, people who knew me from when I was born, people who knew my grandparents before me. I missed them especially at the holidays, or when I had a new baby. There was no one to say: “She looks just like Grandma Elizabeth.”

Israel is all about family, but I had only the people in my immediate environment: my husband and children. I wanted more. I wanted extended family. For me and for my children.

I wanted to belong to something. I wanted my kids to belong to something. I wanted to belong to Israel, to feel I was a part of things. So, I delved into my family tree and history, knowing I had way distant relatives in the country going back to Ottoman times. Maybe these people, or at least their descendants, could be my family.

Getting to know my own history, learning about these family members, and the role they played in building the country did seem to make a difference in how I felt. There was a certain lift now to my shoulders as I walked the streets of Jerusalem, knowing my family had been here a long time, perhaps longer than the people to the right and left of me, waiting for a green light on the corner of Jaffa and King George.

My history was tangible. My great great grandparents are buried on the Mount of Olives.I visited the graves.

The graves of my great great grandparents on the Mount of Olives, restored after 1967

There was the relative who was killed in the King David Hotel bombing, one of the few Jews killed in that event, Yehuda Yanowski. Yehuda clerked for the British (which appalled the cousins), did a stint in the RAF, mustered out, and then returned to marry his sweetheart. He went to the hotel to invite his old office mates to the engagement party that night. Instead, all were blown to smithereens—because the damned Brits had foolishly ignored the warning leaflets and phone calls the Etzel had graciously sent.

And there was my cousin, Itzhak Tsvi Yanovsky, an important banker.

Itzhak Tsvi Yanovsky

Itzhak Tsvi Yanovsky in front of the bank in Tel Aviv

One of the cousins owned the first laundromat in Tel Aviv.

Another cousin smuggled guns into Israel for the Haganah. (She later married a general and settled in Beverly Hills).

The distant cousin I found who shared all this with me, was a professor of chemical engineering at the Haifa Technion. He had served in the Palmach and was my late mother's age, exactly.

It was all very rich, this history (no trickle down effect from the bank guy, by the way). But as much as I pored over everything I learned about these Israelis, these distant blood relatives of mine, they never felt quite like my own, like they belonged to me. The descendants of these people were happy to exchange trees and correspond, but we never had the big, warm family gatherings of my fantasies.

In studying my family, of course, I had to go back to where we had been in Europe, a shtetl then in Lithuania, now in Belarus, called Wasiliski. The Jews called it “Vashilishok” and it was where my maternal grandfather had been born. There was nachas—Jewish pride—in this history, too. Many great rabbis came from Lithuania. The Lithuanian Jews were scholarly. Study halls in Israel today, and throughout the world, are patterned after the yeshivas of Lithuania.

My great grandfather was the first to leave Vashilishok. He settled in Pennsylvania, and as was the custom, went back to the shtetl to show he'd made good. But he couldn't let his mother see him without a beard, so he first visited the relatives in Israel, then took a side trip to Egypt, all the while growing the beard you see in this photo, taken in 1914 (he is the one on the camel). It is the only photo we have of him with a beard.

Here too, the history felt a little artificial, a little off. How could I romanticize a place my family couldn’t wait to leave? A place of pogroms, of death. But my desire to belong to anything in a land where I belonged to nothing, made me cling to this history, too.

And yet: the more I learned about my personal family history in pre-state Israel, and the shtetl we came from in Lithuania, the more I settled in and became at home in Israel. I made a life here. Now I knew the streets, and how to push my way onto a bus. I could banter with the salespeople in the market and make an appointment at the medical center.

I put my studies aside. I stopped looking for cousins, dead or alive, stopped looking at death records and graves. I pulled myself out of the shtetl, out of Vashilishok, as my children came of age and served in the army. And as my children grew up, tall and straight and proud, some of them having families of their own, I realized that I had become rooted to the soil of Israel. Not just by dint of my history and the people who came before me, but by living my life here in this place.

Now I knew the truth, knew it in my bones. We are the past, but more important than that, we are the here and now, and our children are our future. Jews aren’t from Lithuania, but are B’nai Israel, sons of Israel, from Israel, and from Israel, alone.

All this is in me, when I sing Hatikvah at a son’s graduation from college, or hold a new grandson at a bris in a tiny synagogue in the south. This feeling was with me, of course, as I tried and failed to see my son in the honor guard, representing his battalion, on Lloyd Austin’s first visit to Israel. And it was with me just a few days later on Yom HaZikaron, when my baby was once again part of an honor guard, as part of the memorial ceremony at the Western Wall.

I strained for a glimpse of my son, my baby. And this time I saw him. He was there, standing at attention to give honor to those who gave their lives for this country, for Israel.

This was a sad and tragic event, one that ties all of the Israeli people one to the other through spilled blood and treasure. With my son there, standing tall and straight and proud in the here and now—a soldier through and through—I owned the truth at last: I knew that I belonged, that I was surrounded by family, and that I’d come home for good.

*Nachat (Hebrew) or Nachas (Yiddish), Definition: Proud pleasure, special joy—as from the achievements of a child.

_______________________________________

Thoughts on Yom Hazikaron (Vic Rosenthal)

Weekly column by Vic Rosenthal

A few moments ago, at exactly 11 am, I went up to my roof to stand at attention for two minutes during the siren that honors the 23,928 people, soldiers and civilians, who have died since 1860 in the struggle to create and defend the Jewish state.

Today, Wednesday, is Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism. It’s been said that on Yom Hazikaron we consider the price of having a state, while on last week’s Yom Hashoa, we think about the price of being without one. Most Israelis understand that the latter’s cost would be much greater, but still, the pain of those who have lost loved ones is almost unbearable. And that pain is worsened when the loss was avoidable, perhaps caused by incompetence, laziness, or selfishness on the part of political or military leaders that failed those who put their trust in them (and who mostly had no choice in the matter).

The 1973 war is considered the most prominent example of unnecessary losses in the history of the state. Repeated failures by military and political officials (including the PM, Golda Meir) to take seriously the warnings from numerous sources that an attack was imminent – even King Hussein of Jordan personally warned Meir – led to the catastrophic lack of preparation for the joint Egyptian-Syrian attack. At least 2,500 Israeli soldiers died in the war that followed, many of them in the first hours of the war when inadequate Israeli forces faced large invading armies on the Golan Heights and the Sinai.

After the war, a commission of inquiry (the Agranat Commission) investigated the failures, and after the release of its report, several military commanders were forced to resign, as well as Meir and her cabinet. Although Meir’s government was succeeded by one led by Yitzhak Rabin, it’s generally thought that the debacle of 1973 led directly to the end of the left-wing monopoly on power, the triumph of Menachem Begin’s Likud Party in 1977.

Another, more recent example was the Second Lebanon War. The three men who managed the war in the summer of 2006 were unqualified to do so. The Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, and the Defense Minister, Amir Peretz, had little military experience and went to war without a clear objective or exit strategy. The Chief of Staff, Dan Halutz, was an Air Force officer who didn’t understand the workings of the ground forces, and how to get them to do what he wanted. The army, especially the ground forces, suffered from a long-term lack of discipline, which manifested itself in an abysmal lack of preparation. There were serious failures in intelligence, logistics, tactics, and execution. 121 Israeli soldiers died in the inconclusive month-long war, which ended in a UN Security Council resolution that proved worthless in preventing Hezbollah from rearming for a second round.

The theme of the tragic loss of young people in war pervades Israeli culture; it appears throughout popular music, films, and literature. It’s felt especially strongly on Yom Hazikaron – the newspaper, radio, and TV are full of stories about young men and women who were everything to their parents, who were full of plans for the future, had talents and dreams, but whose lives ended at the age of 23, or 20, or 19. And the thought that it may not have been necessary is excruciating.

Today Israel is facing Iran, a large country whose leaders seem to have a limitless hatred for us, a hatred greater than just their geopolitical ambitions. They have surrounded us with proxies, in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza, armed and waiting for the conflict to begin. The Iranian regime is committed to building nuclear weapons, and we are committed to stopping them. For both sides, this is an issue that is not amenable to compromise. Unless something very unexpected happens, there will be war yet again, and yet again our young people will offer themselves generously on behalf of the am Yisrael. We know, beyond any doubt, that they will not all return to take their after-army trips around the world, or go to university, or marry their sweethearts. We know this for certain. This is the terrible cost of defending the Jewish state, which is still less expensive than the cost of not having one.

If there isn’t a way to prevent it – and I think there isn’t – at least we can do our best to minimize the number of those that will be lost because of incompetence, laziness, and selfishness in the higher echelons of the government and the military.

The present situation in which there is no permanent government, in which vital functions – including the military budget – are held hostage to the ambitions, fears, personal grudges, and egos of a few dozen people who lead our political parties and our legal establishment, must end now. Not after the missiles start falling on the unprepared home front, and not after reserve soldiers whose training was cancelled for budgetary reasons are thrown into combat.

You know who you are – Bibi, Bennett, Lapid, Sa’ar, Smotrich, Gantz, Lieberman, as well as Kochavi, Mandelblit, Hayut, and all the rest. You know that the state is in a perilous situation, and that it needs the attention of leaders that will put aside everything else except the good of am Yisrael and its nation-state, who will start earning the exorbitant salaries that we pay them. You know what you have to do. Do it.
Now. Before it is too late.

04/14 Links Pt1: Biden Just Threw Israeli-Palestinian Peace Under the Bus; Boris Johnson Affirms British Opposition to ICC Investigation of Israel

From Ian:

Amb. Dore Gold: The First Lesson of the Holocaust: The Jewish People Will Never Allow Anyone to Do This to Us Again

Five years ago when I served as Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, I stood in the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp in Germany on Yom Hashoah. Jews from all over the Nazi Empire in Europe and North Africa were forced into Bergen-Belsen, where thousands died. What has the modern state of Israel learned from the horrors of Bergen-Belsen, and the Holocaust?

Chaim Herzog served as an officer in the British forces that entered Bergen-Belsen in 1945. In April 1987 he went back, as Israel's sixth president, and declared that the victims bequeathed a responsibility to later generations to ensure that the Jewish people would never again be helpless. That meant, first, that we will never allow anyone to do this to us again.

In modern times, there is a real physical threat to the Jewish people that emanates from a regime in the Middle East that parades missiles in its capital nearly every year and fastens to its launchers the words, "Israel must be wiped off the map." You cannot wipe a country off the map without posing an existential threat to the people who live there.

Israel will deter and defend against any state or political movement which poses a threat to the Jewish people. This is not an obsession, but a sacred trust handed to us by the people buried under the rubble of the Second World War.

Clifford D May: Biden's bad foreign policy deals

Why would the Biden administration — or any administration — not utilize all available leverage when negotiating with unfriendly and untrustworthy interlocutors? Three plausible — and not mutually exclusive — explanations occur to me.

The first: Mr. Biden actually believes Iran’s rulers can be appeased, that they will be satisfied to merely “share the neighborhood,” as Mr. Obama memorably put it.

The second: Because American diplomats are regarded as having failed if their talks break down, and having succeeded if they “get to yes,” they are inclined to see a bad deal as preferable to no deal — especially if the flaws in the deal can be papered over for a while.

Consider the 1994 Agreed Framework under which President Clinton gave North Korea massive aid in exchange for a pledge to end its nuclear weapons program. The regime pocketed the benefits while continuing its nuclear program covertly. Today, dictator Kim Jong-un possesses nuclear weapons and is developing missiles that can deliver them with accuracy.

At the time, however, Mr. Clinton was able to declare that he’d found a diplomatic solution, and the diplomats involved could move up the ladder or take comfortable chairs at universities.

The third explanation: American politicians and diplomats too often convince themselves that even the most despotic regimes contain some not-so-bad guys — moderates who want to reach a compromise, a win-win outcome.

Can American politicians and diplomats really be so naive? Yes, because sophistication is not the same as street-smarts.

Were you really surprised when John Kerry was outfoxed by Javad Zarif, Tehran’s silver-tongued foreign minister? Do you not get that Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, has much to gain if he does Beijing’s bidding – and much to fear if he does not? By contrast, President Biden presents no threat and offers not much opportunity.

The “international community” is diverse. And not in the rosy sense that Americans now use that term.

Einat Wilf and Adi Schwartz: Biden Just Threw Israeli-Palestinian Peace Under the Bus

By resuming U.S. funding for UNRWA, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, the Biden administration is choosing to fund an agency that is institutionally committed to ensuring that peace will never be possible. UNRWA, under the cover of providing social services to Palestinians, is giving political cover to the dream of undoing Israel by nurturing and legitimizing the demand to settle millions of Palestinians inside Israel.

UNRWA is one of the greatest obstacles to peace between Israelis and Palestinians. The vast majority of UNRWA refugees, the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the original refugees, are also citizens of other countries or living within territories governed by Palestinians, and so are not actually refugees and in no need of resettlement. UNRWA sustains many of them in perpetual limbo, in the elusive promise that they will one day be able to "return" to Israel.

There are perfectly rational, humane and effective ways to provide public healthcare and education services to Palestinians without fueling the conflict with Israel. As long as Palestinians are indulged by the West in their belief that the war of 1948 remains an open case, there is zero possibility that peace will be achieved. It is hard to imagine a more anti-peace U.S. policy choice.

Biden admin. say UNWRA is committed to 'zero tolerance' for antisemitism in their schools.

Meanwhile #UNWRA students ... 🤔

👉🏻"I want to fight against the Jews"
👉🏻 "I hate Jews"
👉🏻 "They teach us that Zionists are our enemy"
👉🏻 "Jews are bad people" https://t.co/arxCk5CPxS pic.twitter.com/gBHx2Rn8oU
— StopAntisemitism.org (@StopAntisemites) April 13, 2021