Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

05/25 Links Pt1: Arab States Are ‘Washing Their Hands’ of Palestinians; How the UN Stole Jewish Homes in Occupied Jerusalem and Set Off the Latest Conflict; UNRWA director says IDF strikes were 'precise', 'did not target civilians'

From Ian:

Analysts: Arab States Are ‘Washing Their Hands’ of Palestinians

By contrast, Gulf states seemed more interested in military alliances among themselves and with Israel to counter threats like Iran, said Soliman. “The idea of an Arab-Israeli NATO” goes back to President George W. Bush, and “we are getting there. It’s not a fancy idea anymore; however, it is going to take time.” Webinar moderator Joyce Karam, Washington correspondent for The National, noted that an “Arab NATO” was an “idea that was first started with Harry Truman” with initiatives that led to the failed 1955 Baghdad Pact.

Elgindy additionally cited the practical realities that facilitated Israel’s relations with Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the UAE. Unlike Egypt and Jordan, which made peace agreements with Israel in 1979 and 1994, respectively, this Arab quartet had never engaged in military hostilities with Israel. Correspondingly, several of these states have had “under-the-table relations with the Israelis anyway” and now merely “are consecrating an existing geopolitical order.”

Meanwhile, Arab states “will continue to pay lip service to two states because everyone needs some place to hang their hat” concerning a strategy for the Palestinians, observed Elgindy. Yet international actors are increasingly practicing “conflict management” and “risk aversion” towards the Palestinians, United States Institute of Peace Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Program, explained director Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen. In tandem, she added, Israeli “trends are clear that the body politic has moved very much and largely to the right,” to the detriment of concessions to the Palestinians. This trend has only accelerated with the latest eruption of violence.

Yet even before Hamas’s latest jihad, Elgindy correctly faulted Palestinians for their plight, as the Palestinian Authority’s recent cancellation of long overdue elections—the first since 2006—further exposed the corruption of the P.A. dictatorship. The cancellation “is another sign of a, I don’t any other way to put it, but a bankrupt leadership, that has no strategic vision, that is incapable of even minimally doing what is required to put its own house in order.” “You can never really underestimate the Palestinian leadership’s dysfunction,” he added.

How the UN Stole Jewish Homes in Occupied Jerusalem and Set Off the Latest Conflict

The fundamental issue at stake in Shimon HaTzadik and Sheikh Jarrah are crystal clear. Unlike some parts of Israel where territory changed hands in more complex ways, we know exactly what happened and why it happened. And those simple facts tell a story of the UNRWA’s complicity in the ethnic cleansing of Jews, not just today when it serves as a storehouse for Hamas missiles and an employment agency for Hamas propagandists, but back in the 50s.

Jews were ethnically cleansed from Jerusalem after an invasion and occupation. The United Nations, through UNRWA, violated international law by taking part in population transfer by an occupying power which had expelled the indigenous population. This is the charge that the UN and the anti-Israel politicians and media have repeatedly lobbed at Israel.

And they’re the ones guilty of it.

Their Sheikh Jarrah argument is that ethnic cleansing and occupation are moral and legal when Arab Muslim armies do it. It’s that Arab Muslim squatters who moved into Jewish homes in 1956 had gained an immutable moral right to live in them by 1967 that outweighed those of the Jewish trusts which had owned them since the 19th century.

There’s no better way to show the hypocritical double standards of an anti-Israel movement that cries about occupation, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid while practicing those very things.

AOC, Sanders, Warren, the UN, the Quarter, the EU, and the Biden administration are demanding that the Arab Muslim occupation of Jerusalem continue. They are ordering a free country to overturn the legal ruling of a court in case that goes back to the 1970s because they believe that Arab Muslim occupiers have a right to live in Jerusalem… and Jews don’t.

That’s what this was about in 1948. That’s still what it’s about in 2021.

The occupiers cry about the “occupation” and the ethnic cleansers cry about “ethnic cleansing” as they fight to bring back the state of apartheid that drove the Jews out of Jerusalem.

Much of the narrative around the Sheik Jarrah property dispute is based on the myth that the law discriminates against Palestinians. Prof. Avi Bell's detailed legal @KoheletForum explainer demolishes that claim https://t.co/HUzaqHjvI6
— Eugene Kontorovich (@EVKontorovich) May 24, 2021

Refuting 15 Anti-Israel Lies

As Hamas fired deadly missiles at Israel for 11 straight days, Israel’s critics fired one verbal salvo after another.

Unable or unwilling to distinguish between a terrorist organization seeking Israel’s destruction — Hamas — and a democratic country trying to deny the group’s wish, the anti-Zionists and antisemites went for the jugular.

Here are 15 of the most memorably outrageous accusations:
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, discussing Israel’s actions in Gaza on CNN, stated, “They’re losing the media war despite their connections…” CNN anchor Bianna Golodryga laudably pushed back, “What are their connections?” The minister laughed and said, “Deep pockets.” The anchor followed up: “What does that mean?” The minister replied, “Well, they’re very influential people, they control media.” (May 20)

This is classical antisemitism — the spurious notion of Jews “controlling” the media (see AJC’s Translate Hate Glossary). By the way, if Jews did control the media, we’re doing a pretty lousy job, judging by the daily fare we’ve witnessed from the BBC, The Guardian, The New York Times, MSNBC, etc

Chinese Communist Party-affiliated Chinese TV Host Zheng Junfeng: “Some people believe that US pro-Israeli policy is traceable to the influence of wealthy Jews in the US and the Jewish lobby on US foreign policy.” (May 16)

Another egregious example of classical antisemitism, alleging that “wealthy Jews” wield inordinate influence on the policies of a government. This simply echoes the notorious Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which attributed demonic powers to a Jewish “cabal.” Incidentally, Jews are two percent of the US population, hold a multiplicity of views, and, like fellow Americans, are active on many sides of many causes. And please take note: Unlike the case in some other notable countries, the American Constitution invites citizens to “petition the government.”

Member of Irish Parliament Richard Boyd Barrett: “We must demand the dismantling of the Israeli state.” (May 15)

There are 193 member states of the United Nations. Mr. Barrett is proposing the dismantling of Israel. Are there any other UN member states he is proposing to dismantle? If not, which appears to be the case, could it possibly have something to do with the fact that Israel is the lone Jewish-majority nation on Earth?

PCHR has lots of fake civilians in Gaza

As we've seen in previous wars, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights happily spouts lies about the civilian status of the people killed in wars with Israel, accusing Israel of targeting civilians when it simply isn't true.

Here's a sad story PCHR made up:

At approximately 23:50 (May 14), Israeli warplanes launched at least 15 missiles at ‘Abed al-Razeq Qlaibo Mosque and its surrounding near Qlaibo Hill in Beit Lahia. As a result, the mosque was completely destroyed. Five minutes later, the residents of the area thought that the targeted house belonged to Hatem al-Mansi, which is to the southern side of the mosque, so they ran to evacuate al-Mansi family members. When the residents arrived at al-Mansi’s house and entered it, an Israeli drone fired a missile at the house garden. As a result, 3 civilians, including 2 brothers, were killed while 5 others, including a woman, were injured. One of those injured sustained serious wounds. Those killed were identified as: Ahmed (34) and Yousef (22) Hatem Mahmoud al-Mansi (34) and Ahmed Mohammed ‘Abed al-‘Aziz Sabbah (28). Moreover, 4 houses near the targeted mosque from the western side, other nearby houses and electricity and communication networks sustained severe damage

Ahmed Hatem Al Mansi:

Ahmed Mohammed Sabah:

Chances are that Al Mansi's brother Yousef was a terrorist too, but Hamas has only released a small percentage of its martyr photos. At any rate, these two were obviously not civilian.

PCHR wrote:

(On May 13). the Israeli artillery fired 2 shells at a group of farmers in their land near the American Hospital near Beit Hanoun Crossing, north of the Gaza Strip. As a result, one of the farmers namely Suhaib ‘Abed al-Raheem ‘Awad Ghanem (25) was killed while another namely Yehia Mansour Ghaben (24) was seriously injured, both are from Beit Lahia.

Here's one of the "farmers," Yahya Mansour Ghaben:

You know how NGOs love to say that Israel's blockade is responsible for Gaza's water crisis?

You hardly ever hear them blame the actual rulers of Gaza.

Here is a music video from Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades showing them manufacturing weapons - from existing water pipes that they dig up from the ground.

Terror groups have been bragging about this lately:

In the conflict's final days, Islamic Jihad leader Ziad Al-Nakhala boasted about his group's ability to improvise weapons from everyday materials.

"The silent world should know that our weapons, by which we face the most advanced arsenal produced by American industry, are water pipes that engineers of the resistance turned into the rockets that you see," he said.

They were taught by Iran how to convert the pipes into missiles.

So now, Hamas is eager to get an international "reconstruction conference" together to help rebuild its arsenal with new pipes and cement.

And the world will continue to blame Israel for Hamas redirecting humanitarian aid to weapons and tunnels.

From Jordanian news site Sawaleif:

No one in the world, whether individual, group or state, dares to harm or annoy the evil Jews, despite their crimes, massacres, and fires that they ignite in various parts of the world.

There is an exception to this rule: Muslims are the only nation that God blessed and Almighty has entrusted with punishing Jews for their crimes against God Almighty first, then against the prophets, peace be upon them, and then for the rights of people, especially the Palestinian people.

And because Muslims are not able to reach this evil gang that is scattered in various parts of the world, God has brought them today to live in Palestine in order to make it easier for Muslims to subdue them by crawling towards them from every direction in order to punish them and take revenge on them and eliminate them completely, to rid the world of their evils.

The exercises or maneuvering with live ammunition that are now taking place between armed Zionist terrorists and unarmed peaceful Palestinians who were displaced by the evil and armed Jewish gang from their homes to the Gaza Strip are rather preparatory exercises for the holy march of the return of Palestinians from all refugee camps in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Gaza to their homes, their land and their homeland, to eliminate this armed Jewish division supported by the United States, and to implement the true Holocaust against these evil people in a well-deserved way.

Many indications indicate that the hour of the divine promise to implement this Holocaust is approaching.

Sawaleif has a history of crazed Jew-hating articles, but this may be the worst one.

The author's previous article says that the only way that the world can ever have peace is by getting rid of all the Jews from Israel.

05/24 Links Pt2: Matti Friedman: The Americanization of the Israeli-Palestinian Debate; How to halt the criminalization of Israel; Street Violence as a Political Tool

From Ian:

Matti Friedman: The Americanization of the Israeli-Palestinian Debate

The story of the Jewish minority in Europe and in the Islamic world, which is the story of Israel, has nothing to do with race in America. My grandmother’s parents and siblings were shot outside their village in Poland by people the same color as them. If you stand on a street in the modern state of Israel and look at passersby, you often can’t tell who’s Jewish and who’s Arab. Many Israelis are from Arab countries, and for the 6 million Jews living in the heart of the Arab world (300 million people) and in the broader Islamic world (1.5 billion people), the question of who’s the minority is obviously a tricky one. Most Black people here are Jews with roots in Ethiopia. The occupation of the West Bank is supported by many Israelis mainly because they have rational fears of rockets and suicide bombings, tactics that weren’t quite the ones endorsed by the American civil-rights movement. All of this is to say that although Israel, like America, is deeply messed up, it’s messed up in completely different ways.

Nonetheless, the belief in a fundamental similarity has caught on. While following the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, which to me seemed just and necessary, I saw a sign that read From Ferguson to Palestine. This was puzzling: American soldiers still occupied Iraq and Afghanistan, and American aid money was flowing to repressive regimes throughout the Middle East and beyond. If activists were seeking foreign inspiration for a domestic movement, they had hundreds of ongoing ethnic conflicts to choose from. But something about Palestine struck Americans as relevant to their own experience.

That sentiment has moved into elite opinion. In 2019, The New York Times published an op-ed by the respected scholar Michelle Alexander, the author of an important book on incarceration, that described Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians as “one of the great moral challenges of our time,” the scene of “practices reminiscent of apartheid in South Africa and Jim Crow segregation in the United States.” The essay didn’t explain why this conflict constitutes one of the great moral challenges or offer any indication that the author had ever visited Israel. Last year the Times ran an essay by the author Viet Thanh Nguyen, a Pulitzer Prize winner and a college professor in Los Angeles, that ridiculed “white writers” for their “white privilege,” identified the American dream as “settler colonialism,” and then segued into an attack on Israelis as settler colonialists.

For these Americans, distant Jews have become an embodiment of the American evil, racial oppression. People have always projected fantasies onto other places and groups, but this particular type of projection, in which Jews are displayed as the prime symbol of whatever’s wrong, has a long history. When it surfaces, it usually heralds an impatience with logical analysis and normal politics, and a move toward magical thinking.

Think the woke are not antisemitic? Think again.
Watch me raise money for Hamas to kill Jews from students in Portland! pic.twitter.com/osIVUKNk80
— Ami Horowitz (@AmiHorowitz) May 24, 2021

Straight up incitement from the NY Times. An entire article claiming that the problem is Jews moving from one city to another city in the Jewish state.

Jewish lives are considered themselves a provocation. This is some mid-20th-century-Poland horsecaca https://t.co/lehEoedYuS
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) May 24, 2021

Noah Rothman: The Radicalization of the University of California Press

On May 21, a prestigious activist organization expressed its “solidarity and support for Palestinians in their fight for liberation.” In accordance with the radicalism of this organization, it pointedly did not refer to Israel by name, placing the Jewish state instead within “historic Palestine.” This activist organization encouraged us to donate to “local organizations,” like the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), presently celebrating what it takes to be a “courageous victory” over the Zionist regime and its “Zionist settlers” across “all of Palestine.”

The activist organization in question is the University of California Press, the “nonprofit publishing arm of the University of California system.” Because it is associated with a university system, it dutifully notes in its solidarity statement that it will “prioritize pedagogies that reflect intersectional, anti-colonial, anti-racist action.”

This statement is not exactly a departure for the press, which includes a commitment to “drive progressive change” in its mission statement. On the Israel front, it published Sunaina Maira’s Boycott, which risibly asserts that there is a virtual ban on “pro-Palestinian” speech in the academy. The assertion is risible because her book is part of a UC Press American Studies series, co-edited by scholars prominent in the successful effort to win the American Studies Association over to boycotting Israel. If there was any doubt that they had a home in one of the biggest university presses in the country, the Press has now invited them to leave a toothbrush and offered them a drawer.

In recent months, defenders of academic freedom have worried about the ham-fisted and, in some cases, unconstitutional, GOP-led legislative efforts to combat left-liberal “social justice” ideology on state university campuses. State legislators hold the purse strings and are a formidable threat to academic freedom. Perhaps that threat is more deserving of our attention than student op-ed writers. But the defense of academic freedom rests in no small part on the university’s claim to be a center of “the free search for truth and its free exposition.” When the publishing arm of a state university system decides that it is also the publishing arm of anti-Zionism, it undermines that defense.

Is the problem in Israel rooted in 1967 or 1948?
?@DanielGordis? joins our podcast from Jerusalem — as the ceasefire is being negotiated — to take us through a longer view of the recent crisis. https://t.co/J7m18YsZ7y pic.twitter.com/qBmkm15uIh
— Dan Senor (@dansenor) May 21, 2021

In the past, the weeks following these ceasefires with Hamas terrorists have sometimes produced a shakeout of facts and information previously denied by Hamas.

Here are some examples:

May 2018: Hamas official: 50 of the 62 Gazans killed in border violence were our members
Salah Bardawil’s confirmation means number of acknowledged members of terror groups who died on Monday and Tuesday is now 53

August 2014: Hamas Admits To Kidnapping And Killing Israeli Teens
A senior Hamas leader has said the group carried out the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teens in the West Bank in June — the first time anyone from the Islamic militant group has said it was behind an attack that helped spark the current war in the Gaza Strip.

September 2014: Hamas Quietly Admits It Fired Rockets from Civilian Areas
The Gaza terrorist group offers that "mistakes were made" in its summer conflict with Israel.

November 2010: Hamas Admits 600-700 of Its Men Were Killed in Cast Lead
The military group had previously claimed only 49 militants died during Gaza war, though Israel put the figure at 709.

The ceasefire last week may have already produced an admission from Hamas.

Raf Sanchez, foreign correspondent for NBC News, tweeted last Friday:

It's not at all clear what basis the IDF has for making this claim.

But then again, this is not the first time that Hamas has openly admitted to misjudging Israel's reaction.

Haaretz reports that in 2011, Hamas fired a barrage of mortars into the Negev:

Yesterday's mortar barrage on the western Negev is the most extensive operation by Hamas since Operation Cast Lead ended in January 2009. The group has been involved in a few incidents with the Israel Defense Forces since then, but usually on a smaller scale, and it has rarely claimed responsibility.

Yesterday, Hamas publicly announced that its people were behind the latest incident. They said the reason was the Israel Air Force's attack Wednesday on the Hamas training camp in the ruins of the settlement of Netzarim in which two people were killed. That attack had been precipitated by a Qassam strike a few hours earlier near Sderot.

So, in case you were not keeping score:

A Qassam strike on Sderot started things off.

Israel responded with an attack on a Hamas training camp.

Hamas responded to that with a barrage aimed at the Negev.

But Hamas says it has an excuse: Israel broke the rules.

Not the rules of the Geneva Convention.

Not the rules of International Humanitarian Law

Not the rules written by the ICRC or of the UN.

These were unwritten rules

Hamas whined that:

Israel had exceeded the unwritten rules of the game. The Qassam had been fired by a marginal Palestinian group, and the accepted response would have been a bombing of empty Hamas offices or an escape tunnel without casualties.

Hamas did not expect Israel to hit back hard.

Apparently, they expected a proportionate response.

Hamas's surprise is reminiscent of a BBC report of Nasrallah's apology for ordering the kidnapping of 2 Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev -- leading to the 2006 Lebanon War:

"Had we known that the kidnapping of the soldiers would have led to this, we would definitely not have done it," he said in an interview on Lebanese TV.

It is not clear what Lebanon thought of the apology.

Apparently, there are times when even terrorists, like Hamas and Hezbollah, find a need to apologize to the citizens they hold hostage.

I fear that what could happen is if Congress were to overturn [the Iran Deal], our friends in Israel could actually wind up being more isolated and more blamed.
John "No, no, no and no" Kerry (2015)

Israel's Operation Guardian of the Walls has come to a close, assuming that the ceasefire with Hamas terrorists in Gaza holds.

For over a week, Israel fought to defend itself against 4,300 rockets fired against unarmed Israeli civilians, who were then forced to run with their children to the nearest bunker...So as usual, it was Israel that faced condemnation.

But in one place this is becoming more difficult.

Last week, the EU’s foreign policy head, Josep Borrell, convened a special videoconference of ministers in a demonstration of EU unity. The idea was for the EU to both ask Hamas to stop firing rockets at Israeli civilians and to urge Israel to be "proportionate" in its response and avoid civilian casualties -- thus equating Hamas terrorists committing war crimes with a democracy defending itself once again against the attacks.

At least that was the plan.

But EU countries have long been ferociously divided over the Israel-Palestine question, as was clear on Sunday when the EU ambassador to the United Nations, Olof Skoog, delivered a statement to the Security Council condemning the violence but was prevented from speaking “on behalf of its member states.” Hungary, an ally of Israel, blocked the statement.

Borrell, similarly, is often forced to issue statements on the Israel-Palestine conflict without the unanimous endorsement of the 27 member countries, effectively leaving him to speak for himself. Without national capitals on board, the EU is impotent on foreign policy.

This is a theme I have touched upon before -- that far from being isolated, Israel has many allies and has formed alliances that have helped to prevent one-sided condemnation of Israel from the European Union.

o Hungary, which abstained when the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to reject the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, joined the Czech Republic and Romania in blocking a European Union statement criticizing Washington’s decision to move its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem.

o Hungary blocked the EU effort to issue a joint statement condemning the US decision to no longer consider Israeli settlements as illegal

o Last year, the EU failed to get a consensus when it tried to unanimously condemn Trump's peace plan

o In response to the ICC announcement that it would investigate Israel for war crimes, Australia, Brazil, Hungary, Austria, Germany, and the Czech Republic asked the court to let them file "amicus brief" opinions on Israel's behalf.

After decades of watching the Arab countries in the UN create alliances with third-world countries to pass all kinds of anti-Israel resolutions, this is a welcome change of pace.

And what these European states are doing in Israel's defense is not some kind of attempt to win the Jewish vote in their respective countries. According to the Pew Research Center, the total Jewish population of Europe is only a little over 1 million, which is far, far less than the growing Muslim population:

Nevertheless, there are critics of Netanyahu's policy of creating alliances with the right-wing, and possibly antisemitic, leaders of East European countries. Efraim Zuroff, Israeli historian and Nazi Hunter, is critical of Netanyahu's friendship with Viktor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary.

This realpolitik of Netanyahu is reminiscent of Theodor Herzl's own brand of practical diplomacy, when he negotiated for the creation of a Jewish state with some decidedly antisemitic leaders.

Alex Ryvchin, the author of Zionism: The Concise History, explained in an interview how Herzl deliberately tried to win over antisemitic leaders to the idea that creating a Jewish state would be to their benefit:

Herzl dealt with a lot of ardent antisemites like the Kaiser and the Russian Foreign Minister. He felt a cold synergy between the interests of Zionism and these rabid antisemites. Herzl thought that for the Jews to achieve the return to their ancestral land, these antisemites who are so keen to purge their countries of Jews would be accommodating. And indeed, many of them saw a benefit in a movement that could absorb a large number of Jews.

In any political campaign such as Zionism, there has to be a dose of realpolitik--to think not only about the idealism, but also how to practically achieve your goal. That means creating alliances with those you find unsavory.

The danger, Ryvchin says, is to see such temporary alliances as good faith, long-term alliances.

In order to gauge whether Herzl had any success, here is a letter he received from the antisemitic Kaiser in 1898, describing how he considered the possibility of supporting a Jewish protectorate in Palestine. It is quoted from Yoram Hazony's The Jewish State: The Struggle for Israel's Soul. In his letter, the Kaiser describes

the energy, creative power and productivity of the tribe of Shem...addicted to social democracy and busy inciting the opposition will move off to the East, where more rewarding work awaits him...Now I realize that nine-tenths of Germans will be horrified and shun me if they find out at some later date that I am in sympathy with the Zionists and might even place them under my protection if they call upon me to do so [the Kaiser then rambles on how Jews don't deserve further punishment for killing Jesus]...And from the viewpoint of secular realpolitik we cannot ignore the fact that, given the enormous and dangerous power represented by international Jewish capital, it would surely be a tremendous achievement for Germany if the world of the Hebrews would look up to our country with gratitude. [p.131-132]

Meeting with the Kaiser, Herzl had no illusions about converting him into a lover of Jews, but did get a commitment of support for a Jewish state.

Similarly, here is a letter from Wjatscheslaw Plehwe, the Russian czar's interior minister -- and the man believed responsible for the Kishinev massacre in which 49 Jews were murdered, Jewish women were raped and 1,500 Jewish homes were damaged. Plehwe describes the degree to which the Russian government would support Zionism:

I had the occasion of explaining to you the point of view of the Russian government regarding the implementation of Zionism...The government of Russia will look upon you with favor so long as Zionism consists of the desire to create an independent state in Palestine, and organizing the emigration from Russia of a certain number of its Jewish subjects. However, the government of Russia will not agree that Zionism be transformed into propaganda for Jewish nationalism in Russia. Zionism of this type will only result in the establishment of a separate national group which will endanger the integrity of the country. [Hazony, p. 136]

It was the possibility of saving Russian Jews, who lived with the perpetual threat of pogroms, that drove Hertzl to look into potential territories other than then-Palestine, in the short term.

Eventually, Herzl realized that he was not making the necessary progress with leaders who were fundamentally hostile to Jews, and changed the focus of his efforts to Great Britain, where he found allies who were driven by Christian ideals and had a genuine passion for Jews returning to their ancestral land.

The success that Herzl was ultimately able to achieve diplomaticall rivals Chaim Weizmann's own success which culminated in the Balfour Declaration. The British offered Herzl a Jewish settlement in East Africa (erroneously referred to as Uganda), leading to the following letter from Lord Lansdowne, the British foreign secretary:

If a site can be found which the Trust and His Majesty’s Commissioner consider suitable and which commends itself to His Majesty’s Government, Lord Lansdowne will be prepared to entertain favorably proposals for the establishment of a Jewish colony or settlement on conditions which will enable the members to observe their National customs. For this purpose he would be prepared to discuss...the details of a scheme comprising as its main features: the grant of a considerable area of land, the appointment of a Jewish Official as chief of the local administration, and permission to the Colony to have a free hand in regard to municipal legislation and as to the management of religious and purely domestic matters, such Local Autonomy being conditional upon the right of His Majesty’s Government to exercise a general control. [emphasis added]

Hazony explains that the Landsdowne Letter surpasses the Balfour Declaration because the letter expressed Great Britain's willingness to agree on Herzl's own terms that the land would be chartered with the understanding that it would be governed as a Jewish territory, by the Jews themselves. [p.135]

The alliances Israel has formed with some right-wing leaders are not in the same category as the leaders of Russia and Germany that Herzl had to deal with. Still, some do question their motives. But such alliances, as we have seen, have helped Israel.

Ryvchin makes the point:

Today, Israel has formed alliances with some nations that might really see a short-term alignment of interests, but don’t harbor any great feeling of warmth towards the Jewish people. That is dangerous, but it is also the world that we live in. And as long as the Netanyahu government and the successive governments go into this with their eyes open, I think it is something that can and needs to be done.

Ryvchin is referring to countries like Hungary.
The same could apply to Russia, with whom Netanyahu has an understanding (so far) that allows it to fly into Syrian airspace to challenge Iran.

We hope that the same reason for caution does not apply to the UAE and other Arab parties to the Abraham Accords as well.

After the events of the last 2 weeks, we may soon find out.

05/24 Links Pt1: The Palestinian Voices Blinken Won't Hear; Hamas co-founder to UK TV: Israel has no right to exist; The IDF’s Spectacular Precision

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: The Palestinian Voices Blinken Won't Hear

The renewed talk about a "two-state solution" comes amid a significant increase in the popularity of Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group whose charter openly calls for replacing Israel with an Islamic state. It also comes at a time when Abbas's popularity is at its lowest ebb.

The Palestinians are telling Blinken that he is wasting his time if he thinks that they would accept "so-called peaceful solutions" or "renounce any part of Palestine." They are also sending a warning to Abbas that recognition of Israel's right to exist and acceptance of the "two-state solution" is tantamount to treason, a crime punishable by death.

Abbas is afraid that Hamas will try to stage a coup against the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.... Abbas, however, does not feel comfortable talking about the Palestinians' two rival entities, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and prefers to continue pretending that the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel is still a realistic option.

As long as Israel maintains overall security control over the West Bank, Abbas can feel safe sitting in his office or at home in Ramallah. It is only Israel's presence in the West Bank that is keeping him in power and preventing Hamas from extending its control beyond the Gaza Strip.

A recent public opinion poll showed that 57% of the Palestinians are opposed to the two-state solution. Another 57% said they support the "armed struggle" and "popular resistance" against Israel. According to the poll, 68% of the Palestinians want Abbas to resign.

Blinken needs to go out and talk to ordinary Palestinians. There, he will get a good grasp of the Palestinians' profound anti-Israel sentiments and their deep support for Iran's proxies and others who wish to wipe Israel off the map.

Blinken trip to Israel aimed at preventing aid to Gaza from reaching Hamas

The official was also asked what can be done to ensure that aid money won’t be diverted to Hamas.

“We are going to work in partnership with the UN and the PA to channel aid in a manner that does its best to go to the people of Gaza,” the official said.

“We are going to do anything we can so that this assistance will reach the people who need it the most,” the official added. “We are focused primarily on making sure that the ceasefire sticks,” the official said.

“We, and other donors, are trying to structure things in a way that diminishes Hamas’s abilities, strengthens the people of Gaza, begins a process of hopefully reintroducing and reintegrating the Palestinian Authority into Gaza and is in partnership with the United Nations,” the official said.

“The United States remains committed to the two-state solution, that remains the vision of the United States,” the official noted.

“We are not wavering from that in any way.” They went on to say that “it’s probably premature at this time to invite the parties to Washington or anywhere else. This will be the secretary’s first trip to the region. He’ll be engaging with the parties and listening to them,” the official said.

Where Does Hamas’ Money Go?

Sec. Blinken Won't Say Whether He Believes Iran Is Funding Hamas Even After The Terror Group Admitted It

After a mere hours following the Friday announcement of ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, a senior leader in Hamas thanked “the Islamic Republic of Iran; who did not hold back with money, weapons and technical support,” according to Jerusalem Post.

“The president reiterated strong support for Israel on Friday, but he’s coming under increased pressure from progressives,” George Stephanopoulos, the show’s anchor, said, referring to pro-Palestinian statements and resolutions by Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Mark Pocan and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

“What’s your response to that?” Stephanopoulos asked Blinken.

The secretary of state said that he prefers focusing on the policies and leaves the politics to others. He then proceeded to tout President Joe Biden’s “relentless focus on diplomacy” which he said has produced the ceasefire between Israel and Gaza.

Blinken also spoke in favor of the arms sale, arguing that Israel has the right to defend itself from “indiscriminate rocket attacks against civilians.”

“We’re committed to Israel’s defense,” he added.

Watch the Blinken interview below. If you find his logic tortured, if it looks to you like he’s uncomfortable, & if you ask, “What the hell is he thinking?” — if all of that goes through your mind, then @AcrossTheBay & I wrote the article just for you: https://t.co/BkvyTmR3cI https://t.co/lyLVwrcKPS
— Mike (@Doranimated) May 24, 2021

The biggest progressive lie about antisemitism is that it must be fought in conjunction with fighting racism, homophobia, Islamophobia and so forth.

It is not close to true.

There are a few reasons for that.

Firstly, none of the other hates are based on a conspiracy theory. People hate minority groups because they are the "other" or they feel threatened and people retreat into fear and hate.

But Jew-hate is different - it is the only hate that is based on a conspiracy theory. It claims that Jews (Israel) secretly control the media, the banks, the government. That they work together in secret cabals with the goal of world domination (or Middle East hegemony.) No accusation is too lurid to be hurled at Jews/Israel - baby killers, ethnic cleansers, disease spreaders, stealing organs, lying about their very history.

The tools to fight the other bigotries are not at all the same tools to fight Jew-hatred.

Secondly, when the far Left says that all bigotries should be fought together, they really mean that antisemitism goes to the back of the line. Only after the other hates are eliminated - which will never happen, because the same Left claims racism is systemic and built into the very DNA of white people - will they supposedly take up the lowest priority. Meaning, never.

Thirdly, this supposed plan doesn't account for the fact that a great deal of antisemitism comes from the other "victim" parties themselves - Black antisemitism and Arab/Muslim antisemitism are far more prevalent among those groups than the general population. The Left cannot admit this to themselves because it destroys their thesis that victims are pure. They want to punish the victimizers, not the victims. (Jews are never the victims.)

Finally, the entire construct denies the basic fact that there is a great deal of Leftist antisemitism hiding as anti-Zionism. The tropes are the same, the hate animating them are the same, the obsession is the same. When the far Left claims to be against antisemitism, they only mean one specific kind of antisemitism and they have no ability to look in the mirror and see their own. Which may be the real reason they sweep it under the rug and give it only lip service.

We are seeing a huge surge in antisemitism now - and it is all because of years of priming the West into believing the lies about Israel's unsurpassed evil. The current wave is not a bug, but a feature, of the demonization of the Jewish state that has become mainstream in the opinion pages of the world's leading newspapers. Now, the haters feel confident that they can go public with their hate without much fear; after all, their noxious opinions have been shared privately among themselves for years without any brave Leftists standing up and saying that this is against everything that they should be standing for.

Even today, the leading lights of the US progressive movement cannot unequivocally denounce antisemitism - because such a statement would hurt them among the extremists that they depend on to be enthusaistic (and mindless) supporters.

The progressive Left is not equipped to fight antisemitism because today's antisemitism is enthusiastically embraced by those progressives.

⚠️Thursday May 20th, approx. 6:44 PM, at 1604 Broadway, a male, 29, wearing a yarmulke, was assaulted by a group of males who, knocked him down, punched, kicked and pepper sprayed him and hit him with crutches, while making anti-Semitic statements. Know them? ☎️1-800-577-TIPS pic.twitter.com/NDgmJ79MHt
— NYPD Hate Crimes (@NYPDHateCrimes) May 22, 2021

The only person so far arrested for that horrific assault of Joseph Borgen is Waseem Awawdeh.

Here's the aftermath of the attack.

When Awawdeh posted bail, he was lauded as a hero by his fellow Jew-haters.

How did Awawdeh post bail?

Because a group of well-known pro-Palestinian organizations put together a fundraiser to support an antisemite.

A brand new organization called The Palestine Freedom Fund was created specifically for this fundraiser and it is managed by an alliance including Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition – NY; American Muslims for Palestine – NJ; Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network; and Within Our Lifetime – United for Palestine.

Their site says,

The Palestine Freedom Fund works to support bail and legal expenses for Palestinian organizers, activists for Palestine and community members targeted for persecution.

As a first initiative, we are fundraising for bail/legal support funds for Palestinian youth arrested at New York City demonstrations for Palestine on Thursday, May 20, 2021.

Awawdeh said after posting bail that he does not regret attacking a defenseless Jew and would happily do it again.

The Israel haters like Peter Beinart pretend that these sorts of incidents are not representative of the "pro-Palestinian" movement.

They know this is a lie. They are quite familiar with Samidoun and Al Awda and what their goals are.

And here we have proof positive that these Palestinian organizations directly support antisemitism and those who target Jews - and call their being arrested "persecution."

The Palestinians and their fans at these rallies aren't against antisemitism. They wholeheartedly support it. This is the story that the media refuses to touch.

(h/t kweansmom)

The Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association (AMEJA) is a network for journalists of Arab and Middle Eastern descent. They have members who work at AP, Reuters, ABC, CNN, NBC, The New York Times, Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News, among others.

They have issued guidelines for how reporters of Middle Eastern descent should slant their stories. For example:

All reporting should take into consideration that Israel occupies Palestinian territory, and that Palestinians — whether they live in the West Bank, Gaza or inside Israel — are subject to an unjust and unequal system...

Avoid “both sides” framing. Recognize the power imbalance between Israel and the Palestinian people.

Do not call Gaza “Hamas-controlled.” It is sufficient to say “Gaza,” or “Gaza’s Health Ministry,” for example.

Replace “eviction” and “real-estate dispute” with “forced removal.” The terms “eviction” and “real-estate dispute” suggest a disagreement between a landlord and tenant, obscuring the Israeli government’s efforts to forcibly displace Jerusalem’s Palestinian population.

Be cognizant of how you’re identifying Palestinians. Do not use the identifiers “Arab-Israeli” or “Israeli-Arab,” unless requested by the individuals described. Instead use “Palestinian citizen of Israel” if that applies, or “Palestinian.” Also recognize Palestinians represent multiple faith backgrounds, including Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Samaritan, Baha’i and others. Ignoring this diversity perpetuates the misleading notion that the conflict is a religious one between Jews and Muslims rather than political in nature.

All of these, and others, are biased against Israel. This association is telling its members to ignore accuracy and objectivity and instead publish anti-Israel propaganda as news.

Now, imagine the uproar that would come from all sides - Jews and journalists alike - if a Jewish journalist association would issue guidelines on how Jewish reporters should write:

"Use Judea and Samaria instead of the Jordanian-created term West Bank."
"Ensure that every mention of Hamas includes the fact that is it an internationally recognized terrorist group."
"Never say 'occupied territories,' they are disputed."
"The term 'settlers' has become derogatory, instead refer to them as Israeli citizens resident in Judea and Samaria."

If a Jewish journalist association asked Jewish reporters to do this, it would be front page news, with people screaming about how Jews are trying to manipulate the news with language choices. Journalists would be up in arms. Many Jews would be up in arms, too!

This is exactly what AMEJA is demanding.

I would love to see these changes I listed above in news media coverage. But it is highly inappropriate to ask Jewish reporters to do this on their own, without having a larger conversation with the editors and publishers, to be transparent about what language is appropriate and why.

This is an open attempt to impose a slanted political viewpoint on what should be objective news. No one would accept this from Jews, and it is equally unacceptable from reporters of MENA descent.

(h/t Jill)

The star soccer player who was also an Islamic Jihad terrorist

Last week, the president of the Asian Football Confederation, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, expressed his condolences on the death of Palestinian player Moaz Nabil Al-Za'anin, a player for the Beit Hanoun football team in Gaza.

There were many articles in Arabic about how tragic it was for a promising sports star to be martyred at such a young age, killed in an Israeli airstrike, along with an apparent relative, Muhammad Awni Abdullah Al-Za'anin, and a friend, Muhammad Yusef Mahmoud Abdullah.

Now, Islamic Jihad has released a list of 19 of its members who were "martyred" during the fighting, and guess who is there?

Both of the Za'anins were part of the "Mujahideen artillery in the North Gaza Brigade" of Islamic Jihad.

Many of the people listed here were named in the lists of PCHR and Al Mezan Center - but most of them were not identified as militants by those supposed human rights organizations.

05/23 Links: Ben Shapiro: If you side with Hamas, your antisemitism is showing; Israel's secret weapon: We have nowhere else to go; The BBC, child fatalities and shortfall Palestinian rockets

From Ian:

Ben Shapiro: If you side with Hamas, your antisemitism is showing

The media coverage of the conflict has been predictably morally absurd. The Associated Press, an outfit that has regularly covered up Hamas' atrocities, has condemned Israel for hitting a Hamas building in which the AP had offices. Trevor Noah suggested that Israel's military superiority means that Israel must absorb hundreds of rockets per day and allow its civilian population to live under the shadow of radical Islamic terrorism. "If you are in a fight where the other person cannot beat you, how hard should you retaliate when they try to hurt you?" he asked. HBO's John Oliver accused Israel of "killing civilians and children."

Members of the Democratic Party's radical, antisemitic fashion have been no less morally inverted. Rep. Rashida Tlaib has encouraged President Joe Biden to cut off Israel's defense supplies. Rep. Ilhan Omar has accused Israel of "terrorism." Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has called Israel an "apartheid state," despite the fact that Arabs are full citizens of Israel while not a single Jew lives under the predations of Hamas. And this week, nearly 200 Democrats voted not to cut off funding to groups linked with Hamas.

The conflict between Hamas and Israel is not a dispute over borders: Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip a decade and a half ago. It is not a dispute over religion: Israel allows Muslims full freedom of worship throughout Israel, particularly on the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site, where Jewish worship remains essentially forbidden in favor of kowtowing to Islamist diktats. It is not a dispute over homes in Sheikh Jarrah, a suburb of Jerusalem that has been the subject of a decadeslong property dispute between private parties and in which Arabs who aren't subject to such disputes continue to live.

The conflict between Hamas and Israel is about a stubborn fact: Israel exists, and Hamas wishes it didn't exist. Hamas will target civilians in Israel, use Palestinian children to shield its rockets and lie to the press to achieve its goals. Israel, meanwhile, is seeking to minimize civilian casualties at great risk to its own citizens. Opposing Israel's actions doesn't make you an anti-Semite. But siding with Hamas in a conflict like this one certainly does.

Ben Shapiro: IDF Spokesman Explains How The Iron Dome Actually Works

I had the privilege of speaking with Jonathan Conricus — International Spokesperson for the IDF — about Israel’s life-saving Iron Dome Defense System. Conricus also provides a glimpse into other strategies Israel has implemented to defend itself against missile attacks being launched by the terrorist group Hamas.

The BBC, child fatalities and shortfall Palestinian rockets

The IDF also investigated an additional incident that took place around the same time in Jabaliya in which four children aged 18 and under and four adults died. That too was found to be the result of a rocket fired by Palestinian terrorists. The NGO ‘Defence for Children International’ described that incident as having been caused by “a homemade rocket fired by a Palestinian armed group”.

If the BBC’s previous record is anything to go by, it is highly unlikely that audiences will be relieved of the inaccurate impression that Ibrahim al-Masry and other members of his family were killed by an Israeli airstrike.

As has so often been the case in previous escalations, the BBC continues to uncritically amplify casualty figures which are part of Hamas’ framing of the story without any evidence of the type of independent verification that responsible, accurate and impartial journalism requires having taken place.

How do we know these are actually terrorists and we're not just saying so?

- Hamas & PIJ publish "shaheeds" on their websites
- Confirmed pictures of terrorists on social media
- All backed up & supported in the following @terrorisminfo report:https://t.co/kHOp4eG4Lc

??fin
— The Mossad: The Social Media Account (@TheMossadIL) May 23, 2021

Hamas spokesman confirms Hamas is committing war crimes. He tells @Stone_SkyNews that international law gives Hamas the right to ignore international law and wage war "by all feasible means." He confirms that Hamas fires rockets from civilian areas and targets Israeli civilians. pic.twitter.com/fnJ3wUf7qn
— Daniel Rubenstein (@paulrubens) May 22, 2021

Human Rights Watch @HRW leader says antisemitism is bad - because some anti-Israel Jews might be attacked accidentally

Just when you think Ken Roth of Human Rights Watch can't be any more against human rights, he proves you wrong.

He tweeted, "Antisemitic incidents have surged (e.g., fivefold in London) in light of the Israeli government's recent conduct. It is WRONG to equate the Jewish people with the apartheid and deadly bombardment of Prime Minister Netanyahu's government. "

That's Ken Roth's reason why attacking Jews is wrong?

He seems to be saying that antisemitism is wrong - because some Jews don't support Israel defending itself.

But, Roth implies, if the Jews you are attacking are supporters of Israel, then he cannot think of any objection to attacking them!

The Skokie synagogue that was vandalized has a big sign in front of it with Israeli and American flags. Ken Roth seems to be saying that this attack is therefore justified. He certainly did not say a word that would condemn that attack.

In 2014, Roth implied that antisemitic attacks were done because of Israel, and Jeffrey Goldberg slammed him for it. This is possibly worse, because now he's saying that antisemitic attacks are OK depending on the victim's beliefs.

Similarly disgusting is Linda Sarsour's reasoning to oppose antisemitic attacks - not because they are wrong, but because they make Palestinians look bad.

Antisemites attacking Jews reported as "clashes between groups"

There are two reasons the media has been soft-pedaling the many antisemitic attacks last week.

1) The victims are Jews.

2) The attackers are Arabs.

The media has internalized the lie that Jews are privileged whites and Arabs are disadvantaged people of color. To people with that mindset, the "whites" are presumed to be in the wrong and the POC are in the right, no matter what the actual circumstances.

Since the actual facts contradict the narrative that the media has been pushing for years, there is a reluctance to contradict all that previous coverage with those false assumptions. So the media (and politicians) duck and only say anything when they are FORCED to.

Finally, on Friday, some outlets were shamed into covering the story. But they didn't leave their biases aside.

The New York Times actually claimed that the attacks in New York City that they ignored all week were "clashes" between Zionists and pro-Palestinian protesters, not that 100% of the incidents reported were attacks on Jews. That 100% of the injured were Jews.

And other media outlets used the same script of "clashes."

When Hamas attacks Israel for no reason, or when Arabs attack Jews in broad daylight, suddenly the media that was screaming lies about Israel deliberately attacking civilians is "even-handed."

The antisemitic memes that Jews control the media and the government affect even those who know it is nonsense. In the back of their minds, they - including many Jewish reporters - don't want to be looked upon as puppets of the great Jewish/Zionist conspiracy. Hence, avoiding reporting as long as possible - and then "all-lives mattering" the reporting they are forced into doing.

One cannot stress enough how toxic these identity politics are. And after years of modern antisemites converting Jews from racially inferior to racially privileged, they've accomplished their goal of having ordinary people look at Jews as part of the despised group.

Which is something Jews have a few thousand years of experience in.

This isn't a story about resurgent antisemitism. This is a story about antisemitism that has stealthily become part of the fabric of Western society.

Without the years of positioning Jews as the rich, white successful, arrogant "chosen", and of positioning Palestinians as the brown, oppressed, helpless victims, the violence we've seen could never occur.

So this isn't a story about a few keffiyeh clad thugs, as the Israel haters take pains to try to paint it (when forced to.) It is a story of an entire mindset that the far Left has managed to create, where people are victims or victimizers, Jews are by definition victimizers, and victims are always right.

Anyone who truly cares about the future of America should be angry at what we see happening, the stealthy hate that has infected large swaths of society and that became explicit this week.

It didn't happen in a vacuum. These are the fruits of slanders that started behind the Iron Curtain and has become mainstream in the US.