Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Woman who tried to run over, stab soldiers this morning was a terrorist fangirl

An attempted combined stabbing and ramming attack was thwarted by the IDF outside the town of Hizma near Jerusalem on Wednesday, the army said in a statement.
A Palestinian woman who arrived at the scene attempted to run over soldiers who were securing engineering work and then exited her car and tried to stab the soldiers. The terrorist was shot and killed by the soldiers, and one soldier was lightly injured and treated at the scene.
The terrorist was identified as Mai Afanah, 29, from Abu Dis, by Palestinian media.

While Times of Israel reports that Afanah posted on Facebook hours before the attack that “I don’t have much time left in life.” I couldn't find that in her page.

What I did find was someone who was a big fan of terrorists.

She wrote this tribute to DFLP terrorist Muhammad Khalaf in 2017:

In 2019, she praised Omar Abu Laila, who fatally stabbed Sgt. Gal Keidan and murdered Rabbi Achiad Ettinger.

In February, she praised Fatah terrorist and explosive belt expert Ahmed Sanaqrah:

Last month, she changed her profile photo to one that showed a dead Muslim woman, that she implied was from Gaza but was in fact from Peshawar last year.

In her text, she wrote that "we will give birth to children even if we know that they will be martyrs in the future."

Similarly in January she wrote that people shouldn't be confused by how she appears, she is really a lioness underneath.

Even now, Palestinian media is claiming that Afanah had made a wrong turn and was killed for no reason. But it is pretty clear that Afanah intended to become a martyr.

(Some media reports that she was married and had a daughter. It is very strange that her Facebook has no photos of her husband and daughter.)

Yesterday, during the Jerusalem Flag march, a group of Jewish children chanted "Death to Arabs."

מוות לערבים pic.twitter.com/PD9Aq4HQoL
— نير حسون Nir Hasson ניר חסון (@nirhasson) June 15, 2021

This was the scene that reporters came there to see, and it spread like wildfire.

The chant is reprehensible. It is a call to genocide and ethnic cleansing.

However, such calls are seen in Palestinian - and pro-Palestinian - protests all the time. They do not get nearly as much coverage.

In Manhattan on Tuesday, among the many slogans being chanted by a crowd of anti-Israel protesters, you can hear:

"Long live the intifada"

"There is only one solution - intifada revolution"

This is a direct call to violence. While apologists claim that "intifada" merely means "shaking off" in Arabic, in colloquial terms today it always refers to the terror spree that killed hundreds of Jews with bus bombings, suicide bombings and other attacks.

"Hey hey, ho ho, Zionists have got to go"

Where? Jewish Zionists have lived in Israel for a hundred years. It is a call for ethnic cleansing.

"No justice, no peace"

This one means that unless Palestinians reach what they call "justice" - which is the elimination of the Jewish state - the will continue their support of terror and war against Jews (not against Israeli Arabs!). So it is another call for ethnic cleansing of Jews.

That's in Manhattan.

In Jerusalem, during the flag march, Palestinians chanted back,

“With fire and blood, we’ll liberate Palestine.”

This is again a direct call for war and violence against Israeli Jews.

At other protests, you can hear

"Itbach al-Yahud." - "Slaughter the Jews."

This has been a popular phrase since at least the 1920s. It was broadcast over loudspeakers at the Temple Mount to incite the 1990 riots. It has been heard at other protests.

"Khaybar, Khaybar Al Yahud"

This is a message for Jews that the army of Mohammed, who slaughtered the Jews of Khaybar, will return for them. This is especially popular, even though it is yet another call for genocide.

"From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free"

We've discussed the origins of this phrase recently. Unlike the apologetics that some are claiming, this is a direct call to destroy the State of Israel and to ethnically cleanse the Jews.

"Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas"

More popular with soccer fans, but still more widespread than "death to the Arabs." (h/t Emmanuel)

Where are the people protesting these frequent calls to ethnically cleanse - or even to slaughter - Jews?

Jews and Israelis across the board condemned the call to kill Arabs. Where are the condemnations from Palestinians or Palestinian activists about these calls to eliminate Jews from the region?

06/15 Links Pt2: Democrats Can Blame Their Headaches on Their Own Cravenness; The anti-Americanism of anti-Israel activists; Changing the Focus of Israel Advocacy

From Ian:

Christine Rosen: Democrats Can Blame Their Headaches on Their Own Cravenness

Note to Nancy and the Squad: Criticism of a public official for questionable or misleading statements she made in the course of doing her job isn’t “tone policing” or Islamophobia or racism. It’s part of the job of being a public servant; you have to answer for your public statements.

At least Omar continues to receive plenty of cover for hers from mainstream media outlets. Intellectuals sympathetic to the progressive cause have leaped to her defense. Former New York Times columnist Elizabeth Bruenig, now at the Atlantic, argues that “of course no one should believe” that Omar would equate the Taliban with the U.S. or Hamas with Israel, and paints those who questioned the remarks as acting in bad faith.

There is no “of course” in this situation, however. Given Omar’s history of anti-Semitism and anti-American statements, the burden of proof should be on Omar to explain herself, not on the public to give her the benefit of the doubt every time she says something inflammatory or bigoted.

Bruenig is assessing the situation within the framework of internal Democratic coalition politics, and as such complains that while the Marjorie Taylor Greenes of the world roam free, “Democrats pick off their only honest lefties and coddle their pet right-wingers, such as Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, in hopes of stopping the somewhat further right.”

But should Democrats be embracing these so-called honest lefties? What’s popular among the Squad and the Bruenigs of the world turns out to be not quite as palatable to the average Democratic voter. A recent autopsy of the 2020 election by several centrist Democratic groups found significant challenges posed by progressive posturing on key issues. As National Journal reported, “The political autopsy, coauthored by Third Way, the Collective PAC, and the Latino Victory Fund, suggests that largely white progressive activists pushing a left-wing agenda on the party were blind to the ideological diversity within nonwhite communities.”

Efforts by some Democrats to move to the center are “being held captive by a network of progressive activists and donors who demand ideological fealty on policy positions that are politically toxic to middle-of-the-road voters of all racial and ethnic backgrounds.” Such assessments include the Squad’s irrational hatred of Israel; 75 percent of Americans hold favorable views of Israel, according to the most recent Gallup poll.

Perhaps Pelosi should occasionally rebuke the Squad when it indulges in excessive, misleading, or anti-Semitic rhetoric? Besides making her look more like a leader and less like a shill for the Squad, it might in part determine if Pelosi will be wielding or relinquishing her Speaker’s gavel in January 2023.

Emily Schrader: The anti-Americanism of anti-Israel activists - opinion

The problem with ignoring incitement and hate speech against specific groups or even nationalities, is that it doesn’t stop there. As we’ve seen throughout history, what starts with discrimination against one group never ends with only that group. Much has already been said about the rise of antisemitism online and in person in recent months, and it’s true that it has grown in part because of the outlandish and incendiary rhetoric on social media about both Israel and Jews. But one phenomenon that many in Gen Z don’t seem to fully grasp is that the same people who are obsessed with hating Israel are also hell-bent on smearing the United States as well – and not just because of the US aid to Israel as many would like to believe.

Almost any place you see aggressive, over-the-top anti-Israel activity, you see it coupled with radical anti-American ideas as well. Even going back to my campus days at the University of Southern California, the most prominent anti-Israel groups were also virulently anti-America, and would rant and rave about how we have to overthrow the economy in order to usher in a socialist (or communist in some cases) revolution. The events hosted on campus by anti-Israel groups like “Students for Justice in Palestine” also featured openly anti-American speakers who made inflammatory and untrue statements about Israel, while also condemning US soldiers – and all of this was in the pre-Trump era.

Today’s anti-Israel activists are even more extreme. Take for example, Mohammed and Muna El-Kurd, the twins from Sheikh Jarrah with millions of followers on social media who are on a constant international media tour, playing the victim and sharing their sob story about how “evil” Israel is. Yet while the international press is normalizing these activists, a quick glance at their social media will show you not only radical support for terrorism and violence, but also vehement hatred of the United States including celebrating the burning of an American flag in Colombia and whitewashing al-Qaeda. By failing to call out radicalism, we normalize it.

But sadly, the anti-Israel and anti-America voices have also become more mainstream in the government. In the United States, the inaccurate propaganda and the smearing of American allies has been normalized thanks to extremists like Rep. Ilhan Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib. Yet it still came as a shock to many when this month Omar compared the US and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban, claiming that “all” of them had committed “unthinkable atrocities” – horrific crimes against humanity. Her ignorant comments drew sharp criticism from her fellow Democrats who penned a letter demanding “clarification.” Instead of apologizing, Omar then claimed she was being pressured because of “Islamophobia,” and Tlaib backed her up.

Obviously, Omar’s comments and response are both absurd, but where were these Democratic lawmakers when Omar was standing on the House floor calling Israel’s right to self-defense “terrorism” when they strike Hamas military targets? Suddenly when Omar exposes her true anti-American beliefs, the world is surprised. When we fail to defend the truth when Israel is unfairly maligned, the United States is never far behind in the campaign of delegitimization.

Changing the Focus of Israel Advocacy

Those who advocate for Israel often take a defensive posture in response to endless attacks from advocates for the Palestinians. The debate focuses entirely on Israel’s perceived imperfections. Instead, pro-Israel advocates should take an offensive posture, shifting the focus of debate onto Palestinian behavior and holding Palestinian leaders accountable for their malfeasance.

In recent years, Israel has fared poorly in the court of public opinion. Palestinian advocates have engaged in a well-organized offensive campaign of disinformation, while Israel and its advocates around the world have remained largely on the defensive.

This posture will guarantee the continued degrading of Israel in the minds of diplomats and the general public. Those who advocate for Israel should respond not defensively but offensively, focusing the world’s attention on the gross malfeasance of the Palestinian National Movement (PNM).

Over the past decade, Palestinian advocates became much better organized, especially on college campuses. The number of chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) has steadily increased. They have a high profile and an aggressive agenda aimed at vilifying Israel and intimidating Jewish students. Many students and faculty, as well as diplomats and the mainstream media, scrutinize Israel under a microscope and condemn it for every perceived imperfection. No country could withstand that level of scrutiny.

In response to this relentless onslaught, most pro-Israel advocates have tended to spend the bulk of their time and energy defending Israel. While well-intended, this approach keeps the spotlight on Israel and gives the Palestinians and their leadership a free pass.

Many Palestinian sites have this news:

The customs police seized, at dawn today, Tuesday, in the Bethlehem governorate, more than 6 tons of [bathroom] tissues produced by settlements, prohibited from trading in the Palestinian market; in order to protect and support the Palestinian local product.

In a statement, the police agency said that the competent authority in the Directorate of National Economy approved the seizure of the mentioned quantity and referred the case to the Public Prosecution to complete the necessary legal procedures according to the rules.

It would be a tragedy if Palestinians started using settlement toilet paper. Who knows what awful diseases could be spread by that?

Gay McDougall is Biden’s nominee for the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and is expected to be confirmed on June 24. Before Biden, Both Clinton and Obama had nominated her the position -- but unlike Biden, neither Bush nor Trump renewed her term.

Why?

In 2002, then-Democrat congressman Tom Lantos, responded to the Durban Conference with an article, The Durban Debacle: An Insider's View of the UN World Conference Against Racism in The Fletcher Forum of Foreign Affairs.

After a hopeful start, it disintegrated into an anti-Ameican, anti-Israeli circus. A number of Islamic states conducted a well-orchestrated effort to hijack the event, and they succeeded...Durban will go down in history as a missed opportunity to advance a noble agenda and as a serious breakdown in United Naitons diplomacy

According to Lantos, the starting point for the corruption of the conference was one of the preliminary conferences -- the one held in Iran.

Gay McDougall responded to Lantos in the following issue of Fletcher with her article, The World Conference against Racism: Through a Wider Lens

On the one hand, McDougall begins with a promising start:

This is not to say that there were no flaws in the Durban process. There were many. I join with Congressman Lantos and other critics who rightly condemn the anti-Semitism that some groups brought to events and activities surrounding the Non-Governmental Forum (NGO Forum). In some places, there was an atmosphere of intimidation and hate against Jewish people. There were cartoons and posters that were hurtful and inappropriate. Additionally, the final NGO document contained language relating to Israel that was inflammatory. In fact, portions of the document proposed by the Jewish caucus were defeated in a process that was intimidating and undemocratic. [emphasis added]

After paying lip service to the "flaws" of intimidation and hate, of inflammatory language and of a process that was intimidating and undemocratic -- once McDougall gets all that out of the way, she sets about justifying the singling out of Israel: "They charge that Israel was the only country singled out for criticism in the Declaration and Programme of Action."

McDougall responds to Lantos's point criticism that Iran refused entry to a number of Israel-friendly entities to the Asian Prepatory Meeting for the WCAR (UN World Conference Against Racism) held in Tehran:

o Israeli passport holders were barred from attending
o  Jewish NGOs were unable to attend
o  Kurdish and Bahai NGO's were barred (despite Robinson protest)
o  Australia and New Zealand were excluded

Lantos sums up Iran's interference:

Apparently, Iranian authorities were willing to go to great lengths to block participation by any state that would actively seek to frustrate their efforts to isolate Israel.

But McDougall actually ignores these details, admitting that the document produced in Tehran "contained harsh criticism of Israeli policies in occupied territories and the treatment of Palestinians and drew an analogy between Israeli policies and apartheid" -- but then, oblivious to how Iran deliberately rigged the proceedings, McDougall claims:

governments, during regional PrepComs, are free to place on the table for discussion issues they determine relevant to the region. These issues are to be for discussion and negotiation only in a lengthy process that would ultimately reflect a global consensus. (emphasis added)

True enough -- providing that those governments have not been blocked from attending those meetings to begin with.

As for the accusation by Arab countries of the OIC at the biased Tehran conference, that Israel is apartheid, McDougall excuses this on the basis that

It is hard to sustain, however, the view that these were issues that had no relevance to the anti-discrimination agenda of the conference or that to debate them was intrinsically anti-Semitic.

In other words, any attack against an opponent can be defended, as long as it can be dressed up as an attack against racism. We see this tactic refined and repeated today all the time, as people are silenced by opponents who accuse them of being racist, white-supremacist, or privileged. The charge of Apartheid is cancel culture writ large.

Lantos's criticism focuses on the singling out of Israel

Indeed, the documents not only singled [Israel] out above all others -- despite the well-known problems with racism, xenophobia and discrimination that exist all over the world -- but also equated its policies in the West Bank with some of the most horrible racist policies of the previous century. Israel, the text stated, engages in "ethnic cleansing of the Arab population of historic Palestine," and is implementing a "new kind of apartheid, a crime against humanity." It also purported to witness an "increase of racist practices of Zionism" and condemned racism "in various parts of the world, as well as the emergence of racist and violent movements based on racist and discriminatory ideas, in particular, the Zionist movement, which is based on race superiority."

But McDougall's response ignores the fact that Israel was singled out, as if the general problem of racism was actually being addressed in Tehran:

Racism certainly exists in Israel just as it exists in practically every other country in the world. There are no grounds for exempting Israel from the same examination of its policies and practices to which all other states are subject.

McDougall of course is right, all states should be subject to having their policies examined -- just not at that Tehran conference, nor later at Durban.

Nor anywhere else apparently.

In October 2009, UN Watch noted U.N. Discrimination Investigator Focuses on Canada, Ignores China, Sudan, Iran:

Ms. Gay McDougall, the U.N.’s chief monitor of discrimination against minority groups, and a leading defender of the 2001 Durban conference, just wrapped up a 10-day investigation of Canada by accusing it of failures and “significant and persistent problems.” She has never investigated any of the countries listed by Freedom House as the world’s worst abusers: not China, Cuba, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Burma, Chinese-ruled Tibet, South Ossetia in Georgia, Chechnya in Russia, or Zimbabwe. [emphasis added]

UN Watch makes clear

While it’s perfectly legitimate to hold free societies accountable, the reality is that immigrants of every color and creed rightly seek out Canada as a haven of tolerance, equality and opportunity. UN Watch launched a protest against this U.N. official’s skewed set of priorities: picking on the most tolerant countries like Canada — possibly as U.N. payback for Ottawa being the first of 10 Western governments to pull out of the world body’s ill-fated Durban II conference — while she consistently turns a blind eye to the world’s worst abusers.

The UN Watch piece includes an editorial from The National Post:

Gay McDougall is like a cop obsessed with ticketing jaywalkers, while all around her murders, rapes and muggings are being committed on the street she patrols.

The United Nations’ Independent Expert on minority issues has been on the job for four years. Much of that time she has spent investigating the way humane, pluralistic, industrialized democracies handle their racial and cultural minorities, while foregoing similar inspections of truly abusive regimes

The National Post, like UN Watch, admits that all governments should be open to examination -- and helpfully gives an example of Gay McDougall doing her job:

Undoubtedly, scattered examples of minority maltreatment can be found in any country, if one looks hard enough and uses a loose enough definition of discrimination. In 2007, for instance, the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination told Ottawa to stop using the term “visible minorities” on census forms and other government documents. The phrase, according to the committee, had the potential to be “racially insensitive,” and might lead to “direct or indirect” forms of discrimination based on skin colour.

Oh, the humanity.

The editorial attempts an explanation for the apparent lack of interest, or courage, in examining actual, repressive regimes:

But what is truly missing from Ms. McDougall’s travel schedule is a trip to any of the world’s vilest regimes such as Syria, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, China, North Korea, Burma or Chad. Together, millions of people have been murdered by the 21 governments that Freedom House judges are the most repressive in the world, many simply for their minority status alone. Millions more have been imprisoned and tortured. Yet not one of these countries has been the subject of one of her inspections, nor are any scheduled to be.

We cannot avoid the impression that Ms. McDougall and the UN human right apparatus as a whole are simply afraid to put truly repressive states under the microscope. Instead they justify their salaries and expense accounts by poring over the workings of liberal democracies for the teensiest infractions.
...But we urge her next time to pick a country truly in need of a rights rebuke. If she dares.

And this is the person Biden has nominated to return to her position on the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Those repressive regimes who should be the primary focus of the head of CRED are no doubt relieved.

06/15 Links Pt1: Bret Stephens: Israel’s Coalition of Patriotic Traitors; UK must boycott Durban IV; Nikki Haley warns Biden Iran policy 'death wish' to Israel

From Ian:

Bret Stephens (NYTs): Israel’s Coalition of Patriotic Traitors

Israel’s new government must be a puzzle for anyone who thinks of the Jewish state as a racist, fascistic, apartheid enterprise.

Issawi Frej is Arab and Muslim and used to work for the Peace Now movement. Now he’s Israel’s minister for regional cooperation. Pnina Tamano-Shata is Black: The Mossad rescued her, along with thousands of other Ethiopian Jews, from hunger and persecution when she was a small child. She’s the minister for immigration and absorption. Nitzan Horowitz is the first openly gay man to lead an Israeli political party. He’s the health minister. At least one deputy minister, as yet unnamed, is expected to be a member of the Raam party, which is an outgrowth of the major Islamist political group in Israel.

As for Benjamin Netanyahu, “King Bibi” has finally left office — churlishly, bitterly, pompously — but in keeping with the normal democratic process. He faces criminal indictments in multiple cases. His immediate predecessor as prime minister, Ehud Olmert, spent 16 months in prison on corruption charges.

It’s some fascist state that subjects its leaders to the rule of law and the verdicts of a court. Meanwhile, Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, “postponed” elections in April. He’s in the 17th year of his elected four-year term of office.

A new government, even one as fragile and fractious as Israel’s, is always an opportunity for a course correction. But the course correction Israel most needs is not the one its critics generally suppose.

Netanyahu lasted in office as long as he did not because Israelis wanted a strongman or someone who would crush the Palestinians. He lasted because he was, in many ways, good at the job.

David Collier: An open letter to Boris Johnson – do not u-turn on antisemitism

Boris Johnson PM

I basically have just one question to ask you – are you a man of your word? After all that British Jews have been through over the last few years, after all your promises and supportive words – it seems as if you are about to go back on everything that you promised. You are about to betray British Jews.

We all know about Durban IV. It is an upcoming anniversary celebration of that vile, antisemitic UN event in 2001. The Iranian sponsored conference of hate that did not just spawn the anti-Israel boycott movement, it also helped to legitimise and spread antisemitism throughout the west. The then UK Prime Minister David Cameron, withdrew the UK in 2011 from the anniversary event, saying that it should be condemned not celebrated. That has been the UK policy. We clearly should not be going in 2021. Both the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council have asked that you follow the previous government position and boycott the event.

If you attend Durban IV you are reversing the UK policy on antisemitism. Why would you do this? If anything has changed since 2011, it has only got worse.

Looking back at the comments of Boris Johnson on Israel, antisemitism and the United Nations, this case is a simple one:

You have stated that you have ‘always been proud to be considered a friend of Israel’, even having spent time there as a Kibbutz volunteer. You rightfully recognise Israel as the only ‘pluralist, open society” in the region.

Boris Johnson has already shown that he knows that the boycott movement is a sinister extremist strategy to undermine and weaken Israel solely because it is the Jewish state. You spoke out against BDS even before you were Prime Minister. Your government has moved forward with anti-boycott legislation in order to thwart its spread, even including it in this years Queens Speech – thus making it an official part of your agenda. UK universities have faced growing pressure to reign in the toxic antisemitic activity and ideologies of their students. Given all this – it is unimaginable that under your watch the UK will actively participate in a conference that explicitly demonises Israel as a pariah state, and promotes the full BDS Boycott – with all of its sinister aims.

Campaigners call on Boris Johnson to boycott 'Jew-hate fest' Durban IV conference

Jewish groups have intensified calls on the Prime Minister to boycott the 20th anniversary of the notoriously antisemitic Durban conference at a time of rising Jew-hatred in Britain.

Tweeting under the hashtags #NoUKAtDurbanIV and #Durban IVTargetsJews, the Zionist Federation (ZF), Likud-Herut UK and Sussex Friends of Israel joined the Board of Deputies (BOD) and the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) to demand that Britain pulls out of the "Jew hate fest".

"Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab, don't betray UK Jewry," the ZF tweeted. "By pulling out of Durban IV, Boris Johnson will be placing the UK on the right side of history."

Lekud-Herut UK added: "Do the right thing and pull out of the Jew hate fest." And anti-racism campaigner David Collier tweeted: "Why is the UK promoting Jew hate? Get out now!"

They acted in advance of a planning meeting for Durban IV, scheduled for Wednesday, in which Government representatives are expected to take part.

The campaign groups warn that a planned revival of the UN’s infamously antisemitic 2001 ‘anti-racism’ summit in Durban, South Africa, set to take place in New York this September, may legitimise anti-Jewish bigotry on a global scale.

If Britain takes part, they say, it would risk fuelling a fresh wave of race hatred in this country, which has seen a rash of antisemitic incidents linked to recent pro-Palestine rallies.

Twenty years ago, the UN-hosted World Conference Against Racism resulted in the now notorious Durban Declaration, which singled Israel out for criticism.

Israeli and Jewish delegates were hounded and harassed, and antisemitic material was widely distributed.

Israel Advocacy Movement: UK must boycott Durban IV

It's shameful that as anti-Jewish racism surges in Britain, instead of protecting Jews, the British government is taking part in Durban IV… an antisemitic conference!

In March, Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) introduced S.1061 - Israel Relations Normalization Act of 2021 in the Senate. A companion bill, H.R.2748, was introduced by Rep. Bradley Scott Schneider (D-IL) in Congress.

The bills are very good. They seek to promote and expand the existing Abraham Accords, to work to find other Arab peace partners for Israel, to fight antisemitism and Holocaust denial in the Arab world, and - crucially - to protect Arabs who desire peace with Israel from being persecuted in their own countries who have "anti-normalization" laws.

I cannot find any reason why anyone would object to these bills. Yet for some reason, the bills have gone nowhere.

The Senate bill has just sat there since March. The Congressional bill was referred to the Subcommittee on Middle East, North Africa and Global Counterterrorism and to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, with no new news since April 30.

These bills have received very little attention in the media.

It may be worthwhile for US citizens to contact your senator and representative and ask that they help push these bills through Congress and to become law.

"Day of Rage" in NYC: More proof that Palestinianism is just antisemitism in new clothing

Today, Palestinian groups in the US are planning a "Day of Rage" protest outside the Israeli consulate in New York City:

The purpose of the rally is to "stand against the Zionist settler invasion on Al Aqsa in Jerusalem Palestine."

Which means to stop Jews from peacefully walking on Judaism's holiest site.

Here's one such recent "invasion:"

This isn't a pro-Palestinian rally. This isn't even a rally against the Jerusalem Flag March, which will not enter the Temple Mount.

The entire stated purpose of this rally is to deny Jews any religious rights to Judaism's most sacred spot.

Denying Jews basic human rights is the very definition of antisemitism.

When it comes down to it, every "pro-Palestinian" demand is a variant of denying the right of Jews to live in peace and security in their ancestral homeland.

Professor Ahdia Ahmed Al-Sayed is the first woman to chair the Bahraini Journalists Association.

Speaking to the American Jewish Press Association, she said that the Bahraini community did not accept her and many of her fellow journalists because of their explicit support for Israel’s normalization agreement.

“Yes, I was bullied and harassed on social media,” she said.

Al-Sayed strongly implied that she was threatened, saying that her attackers went beyond “what can be said about women” in Bahrain.

Earlier, during an interview with Israeli radio, she stated that “the Palestinians have not offered themselves anything for seventy-two years, yet the normalization agreement with Israel does not contradict Palestinian interests.”

Al-Sayed plans to lead the first delegation of journalists from Bahrain to Israel this year.

06/14 Links Pt2: Dore Gold: The Baseless Charge that Israel Is an Apartheid State, Again; Why ‘the Jews’?; Ilhan Omar is a wakeup call for American Jews

From Ian:

Dore Gold: The Baseless Charge that Israel Is an Apartheid State, Again

The baseless accusations that Israel has adopted an apartheid system similar to South Africa's pre-1994 racial doctrine just won't go away.

Former South African Supreme Court Justice Richard J. Goldstone, chief prosecutor of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, wrote in the New York Times on October 31, 2011, that descriptions of Israel as an apartheid state are "unfair and inaccurate slander." "In Israel there is no apartheid. Nothing there comes close to the definition of apartheid under the 1998 Rome Statute." Goldstone headed a UN fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict in 2008-9, which tried to argue that Israel had deliberately killed civilians in that war. Goldstone eventually retracted the principal conclusions of his own report.

The details here matter. In apartheid South Africa, there were white hospitals and black hospitals. Yet anyone today who wanders into the Emergency Room at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem will find both Jewish and Palestinian Arab patients treated by both Jewish and Palestinian doctors working side-by-side. Charging Israel with apartheid is not only unfair, it is completely inaccurate.

So why do writers persist to argue that Israel is an apartheid state? Because Israel's adversaries are waging an ideological war against the Jewish state. Advocates of the Israel-apartheid libel hope that their campaign will lead to Israel's eventual replacement with a Palestinian Islamic entity.

This campaign against Israel has had vile aftereffects that need to be noted. It is no coincidence that the world is witnessing an upsurge in anti-Semitism. Anti-Israel demonstrations today frequently have signs that refer to apartheid. Those pushing the "Israel is an apartheid state" rhetoric are playing with fire.

MEP's call on UN chief to investigate UNRWA over hate teaching

Letter also sent to EU Commission president demanding probe into antisemitism, incitement to violence

A cross-party group of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) sent a letter Monday to the UN Secretary-General and EU Commission president demanding an investigation into the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) over the revelations of antisemitism and incitement to violence in its educational materials.

The 26 MEPs, who represent all the major parties in the European Parliament, initiated by MEP David Lega (EPP, Sweden) and MEP Miriam Lexmann (EPP, Slovakia), raised significant concerns about the kinds of materials that UNRWA uses.

The letter expressed alarm about "UNRWA’s continued use of hateful school materials that encourage violence, reject peace, and demonizes both Israel and the Jewish people. We deeply deplore the agency’s lack of oversight, transparency and accountability with regard to the repeated revelations of teaching hate and incitement to Palestinian children under UNRWA’s care.”

Crucially, the letter condemns the use of EU taxpayers’ money to fund hate teaching and antisemitic provocation, which the authors maintained was a "grave misuse in violation of our values."

They added that the revelations were particularly "disturbing" given that UNRWA's Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini addressed the European Parliament just last November, he personally guaranteed that in UNRWA schools 'there is absolutely no room for any teaching which would encourage violence, discrimination, racism or antisemitism.'"

“The EU condemned UNRWA in May for teaching hate and these members of the European parliament are absolutely right in turning to Secretary-General Guterres for answers they have not been able to receive from UNRWA itself, including who authored and authorized the hateful UNRWA-produced teaching material," maintained IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff.

Scorecard: Half of UN Human Rights Council Members Opposed Action for Victims

Nearly half the countries on the UN’s top human rights body—which the U.S. is now seeking to rejoin, and which opens a 3-week session on Monday, June 21st—are using their membership negatively, opposing instead of supporting action for victims of arbitrary detention, torture and other abuses, according to a new report released today by UN Watch, an independent non-governmental human rights organization in Geneva that monitors the world body.

UN Watch’s scorecard measured all 47 UN Human Rights Council member states based on their 2020 votes on resolutions concerning victims in such places as Belarus, Burundi, Eritrea, Iran and Yemen, as well on resolutions that define human rights concepts.

Thirteen countries were rated as having “Destructive” voting records, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Libya, Namibia, Nigeria, Qatar, Senegal and Somalia.

Another 10 council members were rated as having “Very Destructive” records, including Eritrea, Mauritania, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sudan and Venezuela.

“When 60 percent of the UN Human Rights Council is composed of tyrannies and other non-democracies—absurdly, China, Cuba and Russia this year joined existing members such as Libya, Pakistan and Venezuela—we should not be surprised that so many use their votes to oppose action against the world’s worst abusers, or to support counterproductive resolutions that legitimize dictatorships and terrorists,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

“Even worse, most of the world’s worst situations of widespread abuse never even come to a vote, with major violators of human rights such as China, Cuba, Egypt, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Zimbabwe enjoying complete impunity at the UNHRC, escaping any censure or scrutiny in the form of council resolutions, inquiries or special sessions,” said Neuer.

Only 24 of the 47 Council members had mixed or positive records. Twelve countries received a “Constructive” score: Austria, Brazil, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, and Ukraine. These countries contributed constructively to the council’s work between 70% and 89% of the time.

The Kerem Shalom crossing, which is the main crossing for goods to and from Gaza, has not yet fully re-opened since the May mini-war.

This is a little surprising, because that re-opening is always one of the major pre-requisites for the cease fire.

Merchants and manufacturers in Gaza say that the goods they have ordered are stuck in the Ashkelon port, and they cannot get them transported to Gaza. (They are also charged for storage at the port.)

The Gisha NGO says that only food, animal feed, humanitarian aid, medication, and fuel for international organizations are allowed into Gaza - not even fuel for the Gaza power plant. Nothing is being exported, either.

Perhaps there is some sort of security concern, but I cannot imagine what it is.

I know that the PA wants to be in the loop on allowing reconstruction materials into Gaza so there may be some political infighting between them and Hamas in allowing imports to resume - they have argued over tax collection from imports in the past.

Not re-opening the crossing in the way it was before could provide an excuse for the rockets to resume.

06/14 Links Pt1: We must recognize Netanyahu's achievements despite his flaws; Senior Fatah official supports Hamas rockets “that put Israel in bomb shelters”

From Ian:

David Horovitz: Israel awakens to its most representative government ever, courtesy of Netanyahu

Israel awoke Monday to a new, post-Netanyahu dawn — to a fragile and phenomenally diverse coalition whose members chorused their determination to work for the good of the country. The sun rose as usual, just as Naftali Bennett had promised last week that it would, except he was now prime minister. “King Bibi,” it turned out, was not a monarch after all.

As they assembled for the traditional photograph with the president, there was no mistaking the breadth of Israel represented by the ministers in the government headed by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid. On one side of President Reuven Rivlin sat Bennett, Israel’s first Orthodox prime minister and the former head of the Settlers Council. On the other sat Lapid, the secular centrist who drew together the radically improbable eight-party mix that on Sunday unseated Benjamin Netanyahu after 12 years.

Among those arrayed behind them stood an Ethiopia-born minister (Pnina Tamano Shata), a former IDF chief of staff (Benny Gantz), Israel’s first openly gay party leader (Nitzan Horowitz), a minister from the Arab community (Issawi Frej), other ex-army officers, and immigrants from the former Soviet Union. In her wheelchair to Lapid’s left was Karine Elharrar (she has muscular dystrophy), the incoming energy minister.

For Rivlin, who publicly declared his discomfort when charging Benjamin Netanyahu with forming a government after the March 23 elections, but expressed no such reservations when transferring the mandate to Lapid in May after Netanyahu failed, Monday’s ceremony was a fortuitously timed delight. Rivlin’s seven-year term ends next month, and he relished this most significant of his final events, taking the time to shake hands with all, and embrace many, of the 27 ministers in the government that has ended Netanyahu’s rule.

Not only does Israel’s new government hail from diverse backgrounds, however, but its component parties are advocates of radically contrasting ideologies.

JPost Editorial: We must recognize Netanyahu's achievements despite his flaws

There is something ironic and yet symbolic about Israel entering the post-corona era this week with a new government – but one without Benjamin Netanyahu at its head.

As of Tuesday, Israelis will no longer be required to wear masks anywhere, thus removing the last public regulation of corona. Israel’s success in countering the pandemic is due to many factors, but one main one is certainly Netanyahu’s success in bringing sufficient vaccines to the country, which were then efficiently and effectively distributed via the country’s health fund system.

Netanyahu probably thought that this alone would be enough to enable him to be reelected to the position he has held for 12 straight years (in addition to his first term between 1996 and 1999.) But he underestimated the mood of the country, and certainly the political forces that were intent on replacing him.

As Netanyahu moves out of the Prime Minister’s Residence and takes over the position of leader of the Opposition, we must look back at his term in office and say thank you for his achievements.

Netanyahu’s last few years in particular have been very divisive, with unbridled attacks on the justice system, the media, the police, and anybody he considered a political rival.

Moreover, Netanyahu is leaving the premiership under a cloud of corruption, standing trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Like any citizen, he should be considered innocent until proven guilty; but this does not allow him the right to actively undermine the institutions that make up Israel’s delicate democratic fabric. It is this rhetoric that many Israelis will now remember.

Nevertheless. there is a Jewish tradition of hakarat hatov – expressing gratitude. Netanyahu is a human being with faults and failings, but he is also someone who has dedicated his life and career to the Jewish state, and has achieved an impressive list of accomplishments.

Fmr. Ambassador Michael Oren on Netanyahu, New PM Bennett

Honest Reporting: Benjamin Netanyahu: A Political Timeline

Netanyahu: The Early Years
Benjamin Netanyahu, referred to by many as “Bibi,” was born in Tel Aviv in 1949. By 1963, his family had moved to Pennsylvania, where he attended high school.

At the age of 18, Netanyahu was drafted into the Israeli military, serving in Sayeret Matkal, an elite special operations unit. Over the next few years, he took part in several counter-terrorism missions, notably aiding in rescuing a hijacked plane at the Tel Aviv airport in 1972.

From 1972-76, Netanyahu attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and a Master’s in Business Management.

After his brother, Jonathan, was tragically killed in action while rescuing hostages from German leftist and Palestinian terrorists in Entebbe, Uganda in 1976, Netanyahu started an anti-terrorism foundation known as the Jonathan Institute. By 1982, Netanyahu had become a well-known public figure, serving as Israel’s deputy chief of mission in Washington, D.C. He became Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations in 1984.

In 1988, Netanyahu was elected to the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, for the first time as a member of the right-wing Likud party. He served as deputy minister of foreign affairs until 1991, when he became deputy minister in then-prime minister Yitzhak Shamir’s office.

Continuing to gain traction, Netanyahu was elected chairman of the Likud party in 1993.

Commentary Magazine Podcast: Bibi Goes Bye-Bye

Bret Stephens joins the podcast crew today to discuss the change in Israel’s government—and the complex legacy of Benjamin Netanyahu. Then we talk NATO, Biden, and the end of the pandemic. Give a listen.

Jewish woman visits UAE mosque. Arab media says she "desecrated" it.

Are Jews allowed to visit mosques under sharia law?

Sura IX, Repentence, verse 17-18 states: "It is not for the idolaters to tend Allah's sanctuaries... He only shall tend Allah's sanctuaries who believes in Allah and the last day and observes proper worship,

pays the poor-due and fears none save Allah"; verse 28: "O ye who believe! The idolaters only are unclean. So let them not come near the inviolable Place of worship."

Since Jews (and Christians) are dhimmis, not idolators, these verses do not apply to them, and they should be allowed to visit mosques. In the early days of Islam, they could.

Under the Ottoman empire, though, additional restrictions were placed on Jews and Christians, and they were not allowed to visit the Tomb of the Patriarchs or the Temple Mount. These are not based on Islamic law.

Last week, a Saudi journalist tweeted this:

Vanesa, a Jewish Israeli lady expresses how welcome she feels inside Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque 🕌

This is what my great religion Islam promotes, and these are the values of the UAE 🇦🇪♥️ pic.twitter.com/guISS9HWGz
— Loay Alshareef لؤي الشريف (@lalshareef) June 13, 2021

Loay Alshareef was already considered very bad in some Arab circles for having participated in a Chanukah ceremony last year. Here, the Egyptian-born, Bahraini citizen is taking a Jewish Israeli woman on a tour of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. She really enjoyed her visit.

But Arabs who saw this video are upset.

Saudi news site El Dorar's headline says that Loay "desecrated" the mosque by bringing the Jewish woman there.

So do sites in Yemen. and elsewhere.

The issue isn't that she is Israeli - if she was an Israeli Arab she would not have been condemned this way. And the mosque welcomes visitors from around the world no matter what religion.

No, the only part that upsets these Arab sites is that she is Jewish.

Evyatar is a new outpost that some Israelis have set up recently with caravans, in response to the murder of Yehuda Guetta in early May. It was originally created in memory of Evyatar Borowski who was murdered at that location by Arab terrorists in 1982, but Israel has not allowed building there since it was first attempted to be built in 2013.

Israel has not legalized this settlement, and it has banned bringing building materials into the area, but there is pressure to allow it to be built. Israel is studying whether the area of Evyatar should be considered state land which would be a first step on legalization.

Palestinians are keenly watching what happens with Evyatar, which they call Jabal Sabih. There have been major riots over the outpost and one Palestinian teen was killed on Friday during one riot.

On Sunday night, Ma'an reports that Palestinians set fires in areas near the outpost, burning tires and setting off fireworks, and in fact they have been doing this every night.

In an apparent move to force new Prime Minister Bennett into a difficult situation, Bibi Netanyahu instructed defense minister Benny Gantz not to demolish the outpost, which means if Bennett changes that order he will look like a "leftist." Gantz said that he will evacuate the outpost today, and only Bennett can stop that. Yet his coalition will not want to legalize it.

Netanyahu, of course, had legalized very few new settlements during his time in office, and had slowed down new construction in existing, legal settlements. This is all politics.

Bibi did something similar with pushing the Jerusalem flag march to tomorrow, making it Bennett's headache as well.

It is difficult enough being a prime minister in Israel without having landmines purposefully planted there.

When politicians put their own interests and childish vendettas ahead of what is best for the country, everyone suffers.