Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Burkini controversy in Egypt

Egypt seems mesmerized by the saga of "Burkini Girl."

Dina Hisham went to a swimming pool in a hotel with a burkini and was told that she was not allowed to swim there. She tearfully posted about her experience on Instagram, and as sometimes happens, the video went viral, starting a fierce debate in Egypt.

There have been news segments dedicated to the issue last night, where people debated the merits of the burkini - swimwear that covers up the women wearing it. A "medical expert" said that the swimsuit was dangerous because it covers up any skin disease that the person might have, presumably putting other swimmers at risk.

By that logic, everyone really should swim nude. Who knows what skin condition is under the covered parts?

The funny part is that in Israel, no one cares if Muslim women wear full coverings or not in public pools and beaches.

The Jewish state is more tolerant of Muslims than Muslim countries often are.

06/29 Links Pt1: The UN should start focusing on the Jordan-Israel two-state solution; Holocaust restitution: For Poland, none is too much

From Ian:

Yisrael Medad: Syro-Palestine

My blog has multiple posts documenting that the Arabs residing in the territory of what was to become the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine viewed themselves not as "Palestinians" but "Southern Syrians" and did not reognize "Palestine" as a separate geo-political entity.

Have you heard of the 1921 Syro-Palestinian Congress?

It was founded on August 25, 1921 in Geneva by a group of Arabs from Greater Syrian, including Palestine and even the Syrian National Society based in Boston, under the auspices of the Syrian Unity Party. The main aim of the congress was to try to influence the terms of the proposed League of Nations mandate over the region that would be awarded to France.

Its formation followed the July 1919 "Pan-Syrian" Syrian National Congress.

On September 21, after almost a month of deliberations in the Plainpalais Assembly Hall , a public statement to the League of Nations was issued demanding:

Recognition of the independence and national rule (al-Sultan al-Qawmi) of Syria, Lebanon and Palestine; Recognition of the right of these countries to unite in the framework of a civilian government, responsible to a parliament elected by the people, and in association with the other Arab lands; Immediate annulment of the Mandate; Departure of the French and British forces from Syria, Lebanon and Palestine; and the annulment of the Balfour Declaration.

David Singer: The UN should start focusing on the Jordan-Israel two-state solution

United Nations Secretary General – Antonio Guterres – was at it again this week repeating the failed decades-old UN mantra supposed to end the 100 years old Jewish-Arab conflict:
“I remain committed to supporting Palestinians and Israelis to resolve the conflict and end the occupation in line with relevant United Nations resolutions, international law and bilateral agreements in pursuit of achieving the vision of two States – Israel and an independent, democratic, contiguous, viable and sovereign Palestinian State – living side by side in peace and security within secure and recognized borders, on the basis of the pre-1967 lines, with Jerusalem as the capital of both States.”

The Secretary-General’s “vision of two States” – the creation of a new Arab State between Israel and Jordan for the first time in recorded history – is nothing but a mirage.

This UN backed solution is not based on historic, geographic or demographic foundations – but on a fiction invented in 1964 with the creation of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

Article 24 of the PLO’s founding Charter expressly denied any claims to such an independent state:
“This Organization does not exercise any regional sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or the Himmah Area”

The PLO clearly had no interest in establishing an independent state in any area that had been occupied by another Arab state since 1948 which then included east Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

It was only after the 1967 Six Day War that the concept of an additional Arab State – with Jerusalem as its capital - was dreamt up by the PLO – and promoted at the UN with the formation in 1975 of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People - spewing out a fictitious narrative on the Arab-Jewish conflict.

MEMRI: Jordanian Journalist To Palestinians: Forget The Delusion Of A Palestinian State From The River To The Sea And Seize The Historic Opportunity To Realize The Two-State Solution

In a May 26, 2021 article on the liberal website Elaph.com, Jordanian journalist and former culture and information minister Saleh Al-Qallab urged the Palestinian Authority (PA) to adhere to the two-state solution, namely a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders alongside Israel, instead of the tired slogans that are brandished by populist elements and by those who live in various Arab states and are loyal to Iran. Al-Qallab added that today there is a golden opportunity to realize the two-state solution because the U.S. and other world powers are serious about promoting it. "When a historic moment like this comes along," he wrote, "the Palestinians must stop chasing beautiful delusions" like the notion of a Palestinian state from the river to the sea, which have only caused many Palestinians to lose their lives or become refugees over the past decades.

The following are translated excerpts from his article.[1]
"The Palestinians must adhere to what U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken said to Palestinian President Mahmoud 'Abbas (Abu Mazen) during their meeting in Ramallah, namely to 'the two-state solution, that is, a Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel,' and must not miss another historic opportunity that may never recur if they continue to adhere to slogans like 'from the river to the sea,' which the populists are so fond of brandishing. It is clear and certain that the Americans, and also most if not all of the influential countries in the West and the East, are serious about resolving this issue, which has been hanging by a thread all these long years, during which the Palestinians sacrificed a steady stream of righteous martyrs and continued to produce wave after wave of refugees who settled in the Arab countries, far and near, and all around the globe.

"An Arabic, and perhaps universal, proverb says, 'grasp all, lose all.' True, [all of] Palestine, from the river to the sea, is dear to the Palestinians and to most of the Arab nation. But when a historic moment like this comes along, the Palestinians must stop chasing beautiful delusions, as they have been doing all these years since the Nakba of 1948, while the Israelis have continued to put down roots in what is left of Palestine and in territory belonging to the Arab states, like the Syrian Golan Heights.

"The Palestinian leadership, namely the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, headed by President Mahmoud 'Abbas (Abu Mazen), will surely encounter [opposition from an entire] procession of populists uttering tired slogans and by those who live lives of luxury in the capitals of various Arab countries and in the state of the Iranian Jurisprudent. However, the Palestinian leadership – including the leadership of Fatah and of the other Palestinian factions that support it – is now clearly determined about this issue [of implementing the two-state solution] and will [surely] seize this moment rather than miss it, because this time it is clear that the U.S. is really serious, as are all the European states and all the influential countries in the world.

PreOccupiedTerritory: Man Figures If He Kills Enough Jews Allah Will Change Mind About Land Belonging To Israel (satire)

A local activists believes that despite statements in Islamic sacred texts that assign the Holy Land to the followers of Moses, he can alter the divine attitude toward the disposition of that piece of real estate by shedding the blood of numerous such followers of Moses, the activist disclosed today.

Itbah al-Yahud, 33, hopes to kill enough Jews so that the almighty Allah will retract His promise to grant the land of Israel to the people of Israel, with the argument that if he kills enough, God will change His mind because Mr. al-Yahud carries such vehemence to his efforts.

“I’m not saying God is wrong,” he assured. “I just think that ultimately we’ll reveal a deeper truth if we engage in this holy work, the deeper truth being we haven’t killed enough Jews, and we have to do a better job of accomplishing that holy task.”

“I appreciate the efforts of our brethren in Gaza, and the occasional pushes from members of the Islamic Umma in Europe,” he continued, referring to terrorist attacks on Jews both in Israel and abroad, especially Europe. “But it’s become harder and harder to get the numbers up where they once were. The whole Allah-giving-Israel-to-Israel has made it much, much harder to kill Jews, which is one important argument in favor of undoing the giving of Israel to Israel.”

Krakow cracks down on antisemitic "Lucky Jew" figures ahead of European Games

From Inside the Games:

European Games 2023 host Kraków has announced it wants to end the sale of so-called "lucky Jew" figurines and paintings, which depict Orthodox Jews with stereotypically anti-semitic facial features and counting gold coins.

Poland’s second-largest city had launched a consultation process last year over the sale of the figurines.

Museums, religious associations and other institutions were canvassed for their opinion.

Kraków is located just 66 kilometres from Auschwitz, the largest of the German Nazi concentration camps and extermination centres where 1.1 million, most of them Jews, were killed.

The European Games, which is expected to feature more than 20 sports with more than 5,000 athletes from 50 countries, is set to be the biggest sports event staged in Kraków in association with the Małopolska region.

"These figurines are anti-semitic, and it’s time for us to realise that," Robert Piaskowski - the cultural representative of Kraków’s Mayor, Jacek Majchrowski - told the Algemeiner Journal, an American-based newspaper which covers Jewish-related news.

"In a city like Kraków, with such a difficult heritage and a painful past, it should not be sold. Enough of sweeping it under the rug. Our position is a breakthrough. We finally named the phenomenon, we showed it. I hope this will be the beginning of an important conversation about Polish-Jewish relations, empathy and seeing the other."

The figurines usually show a stereotypical Jew clutching a coin or a bag of money.

This painting of a Jew counting his money includes instructions that makes it into an antisemitic mezuzah:

“The portrait of a Jew counting money should be hung next to the entryway of a home or office, on the lefthand side of the door. If you cross the threshold, you should glance at it so that you will have good fortune in business.

"The picture has two hanging loops. On Saturday we hang the picture upside down so that the money gathered by the Jew during the previous week falls out of his sack and remains in the house or the office.”

Perhaps even more disturbing is that some of these "lucky Jews" are candles - where Poles can literally burn the Jews.

Krakow is not banning the sale of these figures, instead trying to convince shop-owners not to sell them.

Today, in Al Bireh, there is a conference being held at Al Quds Open University called "The myth: Zionism between denunciation and dismantling."

It is being held under the patronage of president Mahmoud Abbas, and in the presence of prime minister Muhammad Shtayyeh, along with Fatah's Non-Governmental Organizations Commission.

Papers being given include “Refuting the Myth of God’s Chosen People in Biblical Texts,” "Israel... From existential anxiety to demise," "Al-Buraq Wall and the surrounding area... between the Arab-Islamic right and the Zionist slander", and “Forgery and Judaization of historical Arab sites and names in the Hebron Governorate."

In the keynote speech, given by video, Mahmoud Abbas said:

I salute the efforts made to hold this conference that refutes the Zionist narrative that falsifies truth and history, and which all documents and research confirm that it is a colonial industry.

They planned, executed and financed the implantation of Israel as a foreign body in this region in order to break it up and keep it weak. The colonial powers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries organized the immigration of Jews to Palestine after issuing the Balfour Declaration, which was drafted by America and Britain, and imposing the Mandate of Nations all the way to their issuance of Partition Resolution No. 181 in 1947, their recognition of the State of Israel, and the continuation of work to protect it, which caused the displacement of more than half of the original Palestinian landowners, who became more than 6.5 million refugees.

... The world has begun to see Israel for what it really is, a state of occupation and apartheid, and I am confident that the contribution of researchers and participants in this conference will have an important impact on clarifying and explaining the truth of the myths and false narratives of this Zionist project, which was created by the countries of the West for purely colonial purposes.

In short, the purpose of this conference is to distort history and create a false Palestinian narrative where Zionism is nothing more than a Western imperial experiment and Jews have no ties to the region.

The prime minister Shtayyeh then solidified the fiction - and proved himself to be every bit as much of a lying bigot and antisemite as any Hamas member, despite his reputation as a moderate.

Shtayyeh pointed out that the occupation is waging a war on our people with money to impoverish them so that people are not empowered in the face of the Zionist project, and the fourth war is the war of the narrative, and to be precise, and we strive only based on the facts of history, and in this war it is important from where to start the war of the narrative. The Hebrews, Jews and Israelis are not the same thing and there is no relationship between the Israelis and the Jews.

He explained that Judaism in the Torah that we know today was written in the year 70 BC, and in order not to lose the compass, the forged Zionist narrative is the one that mixed the Hebrews, the Israelis and the Jews, and accordingly, this matter is the key to researching the myth and the roots of the myth, and the other key is the Jews of today are the Khazar Jews who were Judaized in the sixth century AD.

Yes, Shtayyeh is pushing the antisemitic Khazar myth and saying that today's Jews aren't Jews - and therefore Israeli Jews have no ties to the Middle East, and are foreign interlopers and colonialists.

This is the "scientific research" being spread at this "academic conference" sponsored by the dictator of the Palestinians.

The Kuwaiti parliament is considering adding amendments to the existing 1964 law boycotting Israel to make it illegal to even hint that one wants peace or saying anything nice about Israel.

Here is what the proposed law would entail:

The proposed law prohibits all forms of dealing, normalization of ties, and conclusion of any agreements, protocols, and meetings of any nature with the Zionist entity or any its organizations around the world either directly or indirectly. It prohibits citizens and residents from sympathizing, participating, or calling for dealing or normalization through any means or insinuation that calls for cooperation, communication, contact, participation, or dealing with the Zionist entity and its organizations. It criminalizes travel to Israel either with a passport or without a passport, as well as all kinds of support, glorification, promotion or propaganda for any cultural, media, religious, social and other business transactions under any other name in covert or explicit dealings with the Zionist entity by any means. The proposed law punishes those who violate its provisions with imprisonment for a period between one year and three years and/or a fine of maximum KD 5,000.

It sounds like any Israeli can really mess with Kuwaitis by tweeting at them or commenting on their Facebook pages - starting anonymously, getting them to respond, and then identifying themselves as Israeli. That communication could put them in jail!

Or posting up a photo of an Israeli model without identifying her, asking if he agrees she is cute, and then revealing that she is Israeli and he just glorified her!

Trolling Kuwaitis can put them in prison.

Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators @scbwi forces out Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer for issuing a statement condemning antisemitism (update)

Earlier this month, when the nation briefly noticed the attacks on Jews that crested during the 11 day Gaza war, the Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators issued a statement condemning antisemitism:

The SCBWI unequivocally recognizes that the world’s 14.7 million Jewish people (less than 0.018% of the population) have the right to life, safety, and freedom from scapegoating and fear. No person should be at risk because of their heritage, religion, disability, or whom they love. In the last several years, antisemitism has been on the rise globally, and has fueled a 75% increase in hate speech and random violence against Jewish people in the last few weeks alone. Because antisemitism is one of the oldest forms of hatred, it has its own name. It is the example from which many forms of racism and violence are perpetrated. As writers, illustrators, and translators of children’s literature, we are responsible for promoting equity and humanizing people in our work-all children and all families.

Silence is often mistaken for acceptance and results in the perpetration of more hatred and violence against different types of people. As proof, it saddens us that for the 4th time this year we are compelled to invite you to join us in not looking away and in speaking out against all forms of hate, including antisemitism.

#StopAntisemitism #StopJewishHate #NeverAgain #UniteAgainstAntisemitism #WeStandAgainstAntisemitism

For this, she was forced to resign.

You see, when one condemns antisemitism, one must "all lives matter" Jews. And one must mention Palestinians and Muslims. Those are the rules of the disgusting Left.

Here is the apology issued by the SCBWI:

Our Apology
To our SCBWI community from Lin Oliver

I want to respond to the events of the last week. Thank you all for your patience. I have been away with my family after over a year’s absence and with no social media, so I apologize for this tardy response. On behalf of SCBWI, I would like to apologize to everyone in the Palestinian community who felt unrepresented, silenced, or marginalized. SCBWI acknowledges the pain our actions have caused to our Muslim and Palestinian members and hope that we can heal from this moment. I also want to offer my apologies to Razan Abdin-Adnani for making her feel unseen and unheard by blocking her. She has been unblocked from our feed.

As a remedy to these events, we have taken some initial steps:

Effective immediately, we have accepted the resignation of April, our Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer.
We are creating board seats and Equity and Inclusion Committee slots for Muslim members of the SCBWI.
Our E&I committee will specifically review our policies regarding freedom of expression for all underrepresented members to make sure no one is silenced or unsafe.
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. Please send us your suggestions as to what further actions we should take. We will give every suggestion serious consideration and will report back with more changes. Please send emails to equity@scbwi.org.

Finally, in resigning, April, our Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer, has asked that we share this message with you:

“By posting an antisemitism statement, our intention was to stay out of politics. I removed both anti-Palestinian and anti-Israeli posts, which in hindsight was not the right thing to do. I neglected to address the rise in Islamophobia, and deeply regret that omission. As someone who is vehemently against Islamophobia and hate speech of any kind, I understand that intention is not impact and I am so sorry.

While this doesn’t fix the pain and disappointment that you feel by my mishandling of this moment, I hope you will accept my sincerest apologies and resignation from the SCBWI. I wish all of you success in your work because the world’s children need your stories. All of them. – April”

As executive director of the SCBWI, I can assure you that this painful week has been a crucial learning experience for SCBWI. As we approach our 50 year anniversary, we pledge to correct any harm we have done and to redouble our efforts to promote equity and inclusion in the children’s book field.

What the hell is wrong with people?

If Muslims or Palestinians are complaining about a statement against antisemitism, it means they are antisemitic!

Why does a statement against antisemitism have to mention Palestinians or Muslims? Why on Earth would it make them feel invisible? If they want a statement about Islamophobia, they can ask for one - I'm sure April would have accommodated them!

This is bigotry masquerading as inclusion.

The only person who was truly hurt by this episode was April, who happens to be a Jew of color. She calls herself a "Jewbian Princess." Apparently she has been hounded so much she has closed her Twitter account.

She did everything right. She checked all the boxes. She issued an excellent statement against the antisemitism that is responsible for, by far, the most hate crimes against a religion. But she made a mistake: she didn't realize that a high percentage of the "woke" are closet antisemites themselves.

Let's be clear: If you say that a statement against antisemitism must automatically include a statement of support for Palestinians, you are a Jew-hater. You would never demand the same about a statement against any other kind of bigotry. Only Jew-hatred must be "balanced" with words of appeasement for the very people who, statistically, are the most antisemitic on the planet.

This episode is outrageous and sickening. The SCBWI should remove their craven apology and apologize to the Jewish authors and illustrators that they represent - because they just made all of them feel victimized all over again.

UPDATE: This article goes into details on what happened between the two statements, and the harassment and doxxing of April by antisemite and terrorist supporter Razan Abdin-Adnani.

06/28 Links Pt2: American Scholars Feature Prominently in Palestinian Terrorist’s Conference; Google antisemitism must be a wake up call for Jewish people

From Ian:

Truth can conquer ignorance about Zionism, antisemitism

Young adults fresh out of school understand the anxiety associated with taking a test. The amount of preparation can be daunting. But when it comes to taking a test about antisemitism, Judaism or Israel, how much do young adults really know these days? I framed this question at the first B'nai B'rith Portugal European Young Leaders Program on June 21 at the new Oporto Holocaust Museum, the first such institution in the country.

The adults in the audience, young and older, certainly could relate to the universal pressures of taking an important test, whether their subjects were marketing, management or dentistry. But in a time when young adults generally are far less knowledgeable or savvy about such matters as Judaism and the Jewish state, one wonders more broadly how prepared the next generation is to handle the challenges facing them on college campuses or in the workplace, where Jews have felt pressures heaped on them recently by antagonizing and attacking anti-Israel/antisemitic forces.

Sadly, most students are woefully ill-prepared or ill-informed about such matters, leaving them vulnerable to believing whatever they are told by peers, and fearful as to what attacker may lurk around the corner. Perhaps students, armed with the truth, would be able to defend themselves.

Clearly, the Jewish people have been tested through time. They have survived adversity through great civilizations, tyrants, impossible circumstances, expulsions, pogroms and gas chambers. Amid all of their wondrous achievements and successes, they have faced inexorable pain. Portugal witnessed 20 percent of its population evaporate in 1497 from the Inquisition and expulsion of Jews, and Europe lost at least 33 percent of its Jews from 1933 to 1945.

For thousands of years, Jews have absorbed being demonized, persecuted and subjected to blood libels that stripped them of their humanity. The defense in common libel matters of American jurisprudence is the truth.

So, the young adults in Porto's Holocaust museum this day were advised that the truth is readily available, and that they must pursue it to counter – and hopefully reduce – damaging falsehoods. The test for which they must prepare will require time and commitment for study. They must have the mentorship and guidance of an older generation, thus making this process something that is delivered from generation to generation.

The Porto conference taught them about the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism from Ambassador Luis Barreiros, Portugal's delegation head to the IHRA committee. The definition has been adopted by more than 30 countries, universities, organizations, large businesses, even premier sports leagues.

American Scholars Feature Prominently in Palestinian Terrorist’s Conference

An recent online conference in Turkey featured anti-Israel scholars from prominent American universities. The fact that the conference was hosted by an organization led by a convicted leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) did not deter these American scholars from participating.

The week-long conference, “Challenging Apartheid in Palestine: Reclaiming the Narrative, Formulating a Vision,” was organized by Sami Al-Arian‘s Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). Al-Arian pleaded guilty in 2006 to conspiring to make or receive contributions of funds, goods, or services to or for the benefit of PIJ. Records show Al-Arian was a longtime member of the PIJ Shura, or governing council. He was deported to Turkey in 2015 as part of his plea agreement, and he now heads CIGA at Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University.

Al-Arian invoked a series of false claims and buzzwords in his opening remarks last Friday, claiming “the Zionist movement has been successful in establishing a settler-colonial state in the historical land of Palestine by implementing several strategies and employing varying tactics to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians.”

The man who shouted “death to Israel” during a pro-PIJ rally in the 1990s and solicited donations in the wake of a double suicide bombing “so that operations such as these can continue,” excoriated Israel’s “use of assassination as a tool to eliminate thousands of Palestinians and other supporters around the world for resisting the brutal occupation.”

At CIGA’s December conference on the Muslim Ummah (global Muslim community), Al-Arian reiterated his call for Israel’s destruction.

That kind of rhetoric from the conference organizer, calling for a country’s elimination, did not dissuade UCLA’s Loubna Qutami from participating in the meeting. Qutami applauded Palestinian youth who “have amplified global Boycott Divestment and Sanctions [BDS] campaigns, and are working to end normalization agreements between their host states and Zionists and the Zionist settler-colonial regime.”

Oh no, an Article on Israeli ‘apartheid’ - opinion

Now how about Israel itself, where it’s common knowledge that Arab citizens suffer under the yoke of the oppressive Jewish regime? Not.

For the first time, there’s an Arab party in the coalition government. There have been Arab ministers in the government before as members of predominantly Jewish parties, but this is a big deal: the representatives of an entirely Arab, Islamic party have a direct say in policy – and more importantly, are taking responsibility for it.

Meanwhile the society has moved far past the government when it comes to opportunities for Arab Israelis.

I recently had the chance to spend quite of bit of time at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv. It prides itself on being named among the top 10 on Newsweek’s “World’s Best Hospitals 2021” list.

At some point, I wondered if anybody there spoke Hebrew. Many of the nurses and orderlies were from the Arab Israeli community or were immigrants from Russia or Ethiopia. Also among the Arab Israelis on staff: many doctors, including one of the three surgeons I dealt with. Yes, folks, there are Arab doctors in Israeli hospitals. And at my local pharmacy, almost all the pharmacists are Arabs. Overall, about 17% of Israel’s doctors are Arabs, as are 25% of the nurses and about 40% of the pharmacists.

That’s not to say there are no problems. The Arab community suffers from income and education gaps, inadequate infrastructure and housing issues.

But one thing there isn’t: apartheid. Just as no one notices who’s Arab and who’s Jewish at my favorite open-air market, no one pays much attention to ethnicity at the hospital, either. We’re so far past that. So I went and wrote about Israel and apartheid. I just couldn’t help it.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty have literally no one with any serious military experience yet they confidently talk about "war crimes" without knowing what kinds of decisions military commanders have to make with limited information.

International law takes these things into account, but "human rights" organizations do not - and therefore make flawed analyses all the time.

The New York Times' report on Israel's bombing of Wehda Street, which relied on an Israel-hating Amnesty "expert," is what prompted me to make this.

It's easy to find Leftist antisemitism. Just open your eyes.

This morning, former member of Congress Cynthia McKinney tweeted this:

Despite the word "Zionists," this is so obviously antisemitic that it shouldn't require any explanation. It is a classic trope, with the word "Zionists" pasted in to replace "Jews."

Also this morning, I made this poster, after reading this article in Newsweek by Gil Troy:

As I pointed out last week, there are only two "supremacies" that Amnesty refers to in its site: white and Jewish.

This is antisemitism.

It is up to the Left to fight Leftist antisemitism, but they are so frightened of being canceled or labeled Islamophobes or whatever that they only reluctantly point out the most egregious examples and sweep the rest under the rug.

Where are those that truly will speak truth to power?

06/28 Links Pt1: New York Times Video Whitewashing Hamas Is Condemned as ‘Shocking’ ‘Hatchet Job’; B'Tselem activists arrested for torching land in West Bank

From Ian:

New York Times Video Whitewashing Hamas Is Condemned as ‘Shocking’ ‘Hatchet Job’

The New York Times is being condemned for publishing a nearly-15-minute long propaganda video criticizing Israel for an attack that “could be a war crime.”

The video, headlined, “Gaza’s Deadly Night: How Israeli Airstrikes Killed 44 People,” carries the bylines of a staggering ten people: “Evan Hill, Ainara Tiefenthäler, John Ismay, Christiaan Triebert, Soliman Hijjy, Phil Robibero, Drew Jordan, Yousur Al-Hlou, Christoph Koettl and Patrick Kingsley.”

The video, in typical Times style, is full of self-congratulatory and self-referential hype.

“The Times spent more than a month investigating these attacks to find out what went wrong,” a narrator solemnly intones. “It was a complicated and intense month-long team effort.”

But, also in typical Times style, all this work by all these people ultimately delivers not much. “Experts say that the type of Israeli strikes we documented can easily lead to catastrophe and could be a war crime,” the script for the documentary speculates. “Could be?” After all that effort the Times can’t even find an expert to say it “is,” a war crime, just that it “could” be? And the expert turns out to be from the notoriously anti-Israel group Amnesty International: “Saleh Higazi of Amnesty International said that Israel should have foreseen the disastrous effects of such strikes on a dense civilian neighborhood could have. Attacking anyway, without warning and with heavy bombs, could be a war crime and should be part of an ongoing investigation into Palestine by the International Criminal Court, he said.”

Several of the bylines on the video are of people with experience at advocacy groups and who were educated in Europe, which can tend to tilt more favorably toward the Palestinians and against Israel than US institutions. Evan Hill, a producer on the project, before coming to the Times spent three years as a Middle East researcher from Human Rights Watch, a notoriously anti-Israel advocacy group; beefore that, he worked for Al Jazeera. Triebert is a 2015 graduate of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, and Tiefenthäler is a 2012 graduate of Humbolt University of Berlin, according to their LinkedIn profiles. Kingsley, the Times Jerusalem bureau chief, was educated in England and came to the Times from the British Guardian newspaper.

A former Israeli diplomat, Lenny Ben-David, called the video a “hatchet job,” and said the Times video “relied on Gaza photographers & ‘fixers’ who are owned or threatened by Hamas.”

Where’s the Outrage?

There’s an entire global industry dedicated to vilifying and isolating Israel, the world’s only Jewish-majority nation.

Where’s the outrage?

Of the 193 UN member states, only one, Israel, is targeted by another, Iran, for annihilation, even as many countries conduct a shameful business-as-usual policy with the Iranian regime.

Where’s the outrage?

At the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, just one nation is deemed such a violator of human rights that it warrants a separate and permanent agenda item. Not China. Not Cuba. Not Iran. Not Russia. Not Syria. Only Israel, the lone liberal democracy in the Middle East.

Where’s the outrage?

Every country but one has the recognized right to designate its own capital city. Only Israel is denied that right by a majority of states.

Where’s the outrage?

Unlike other countries, Israel’s legitimacy is constantly challenged, yet Israel’s claim to a sovereign sliver of land has been validated by more international bodies (San Remo Conference, League of Nations, UN Special Committee on Palestine, UN General Assembly) than most other nations, including several that happen to be located in the Middle East.

Where’s the outrage?

Jews have been connected to the region for 3,500+ years, established Jerusalem as the center of Jewish prayer, and, even in forced exile, never stopped yearning for a return. Nonetheless, Jews are called “crusaders” and “colonizers,” rather than the indigenous people they are.

Where’s the outrage?

Watchdog Group Says UN Report on Children and Armed Conflict Biased Against Israel Due to NGO Influence

A top watchdog group asserts that a new UN report on children in armed conflict that will be presented to the Security Council on Monday is biased against Israel due to the involvement of “radical” NGOs in its formulation.

A review by NGO Monitor said of the Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) report to the UN Secretary-General that its allegations against Israel “primarily originate with a group of radical NGOs that belong to a ‘working group’ tasked by UNICEF with monitoring and advocacy on children’s issues. Together with UNICEF, they engage in a campaign to demonize Israel in the Secretary-General’s annual report.”

The group said that there is also an issue of disproportionate criticism of the Jewish state, which is driven by institutional pressures.

“The relatively large number of NGOs active in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict — enabled by significant funding from the EU, European governments, and others — leads to a selection bias: [the] UN receives and reports a high number of allegations against Israel because of NGO engagement,” the Israel-based group said. “Grave violations that occur in places with less NGO presence are underreported.”

NGO Monitor also criticized the report’s redefinition of the term “maiming” to include the inhalation of tear gas, which then amounts to 50% of the number of children the report claims have been maimed.

This redefinition has been used only in relation to Israel, it said.

no surprise. These NGO-terror links go way back. Jabarin is also on the @KenRoth @hrw "Middle East Board" and SecGen of the Paris based propaganda org @fidh_eu https://t.co/nLQR6ZhELm
— Prof Gerald M Steinberg (@GeraldNGOM) June 28, 2021

Palestinian journalists turn against the PA

There have been numerous attacks on journalists during anti-government rallies in he West Bank over the past few days. Undercover Palestinian police and Fatah members have been filmed attacking journalists, destroying cameras, and many journalists have been injured.

A number of journalists protested by cutting up their press cards, saying that the Palestinian Union of Journalists have not been protesting and protecting them.

Finally, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate issued a statement condemning the PA for these attacks on journalists. They called on the PA to dismiss the current police chief, and they called for a clear apology. They said that journalists will not cover news about the government or presidency until these demands are met.

This is, as far as I know, unprecedented. The media (outside Gaza) has always been in the pocket of the PA government.

I've never seen the PA this shaky. The government insists it created a commission of inquiry into the death of Nizar Banat but no one believes that it will be impartial. The PA has also staged pro-government demonstrations and heavily covered them in their own media, while ignoring the anti-government demonstrations, which is fooling no one.

The current protests are of a different nature than any previous ones, and this is the biggest threat to the PA since it was created.

Journalist Khaled Abu Toameh has quoted Mahmoud Abbas as saying in 2011, "I will step down before the first demonstration against me takes place. I will not accept 4, 10 or 20 people chanting 'Down with Abbas!' I will leave before that."

BESA Center estimates 91 Gazans killed by Gaza rockets. (I think that is too high.)

Dr. Alex Safian of the BESA Center does an interesting analysis to estimate how many Gazans were killed by Hamas rockets that fell short last month.

By calculating the lethality of Gaza rockets that fell in Israel, correcting for those intercepted by Iron Dome, assuming that the population density of the targets in Israel is roughly the same as that of Gaza as a whole, and knowing the number of rockets that landed in Gaza (680), he estimates that some 91 Gazans were killed from Gaza rockets - 36% of those killed in total in the war.

I had done a similar estimate a couple of weeks ago, although I made a mistake in saying that 12 Israelis had been killed directly by rockets - the number is 9, so my initial estimate would have been almost identical of 90 killed. However, I don't think Safian is taking into account the fact that, according to the IDF, most of the rockets that landed in Gaza fell towards the periphery of the sector, which is less populated and much of it is farmland or the Israeli-enforced no-go zone.

Very few Gaza rockets fell in Gaza City, Rafah or Khan Yunis, the largest cities. Many, however, fell in Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahia.

It that sense, I think that Safian's analysis falls short.

Interestingly, a similar graphic from the IDF during the 2014 war showed a similar pattern of rockets falling on the perimeter:

There is another factor at play here. Larger rockets have larger payloads, and therefore are more deadly. The smaller terror groups in Gaza who shot rockets did not have the range, or the payload, that the larger Hamas and Islamic Jihad rockets had. We have no idea how many of the larger rockets fell short, although given that we know that on the first day two rockets killed 16 Gazans, it seems likely that at least some did. In the beginning of the war I noted that some of the vapor trails for larger rockets showed them falling in Gaza; I did not notice that in later videos.

I think that the best way to estimate casualties from Gaza rockets is to go through the reports from PCHR and Al Mezan Center of casualties during the war and match those up with the lists of known terrorists killed. When civilians are killed without warning, in areas that are known to have been hit by Gaza rockets, and no known terror targets nearby, it can be confidently assumed that they were killed by Gaza rockets. I showed a few examples previously and added a few here.

According to PCHR’s investigations, Israeli warplanes targeted an agricultural land near a 3-storey house belonging to Mahmoud Hashem al-‘Attar’s sons in Beit Lahia on the Street beyween al-‘Atatrah and al-Salatin neighborhoods in Beit Lahia. As a result, Lamyaa’ Hasan al-‘Attar (27) and her 3 children namely Islam (8), Amira (7), and Mohammed “Zain al-Dein” (8 months) were killed, and their house was completely destroyed. Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes launched 2 missiles at an agricultural land in al-Amal neighborhood in Beit Lahia near a 2-storey house belonging to Ibrahim Mousa Ahmed Salama (49). As a result, his wife, Faiza Ahmed Mohammed Salama (45) was killed, and the house owner and his son were injured.

At approximately 16:20 on Wednesday, 12 May 2021, the dead body of Hammad ‘Ayyad Mansour al-Debari (86), from al-Shokah in eastern Rafah, arrived at Abu Yousif al-Najjar Hospital after he sustained shrapnel wounds in the head inside his house near al-Sabereen Mosque.

At approximately 21:30, shrapnel of a missile fell on a house belonging to the sons of ‘Issa ‘Obaid on al-Nozhah Street in Jabalia. As a result, a girl with disability namely Buthaina Mahmoud ‘Issa ‘Obaid (6) was killed after being hit with shrapnel in the right side of her head when she was in front of her house.

[May 19] At approximately 20:05, Israeli warplanes fired a missile behind Sa’d ‘Ali ‘Asaliyia’s house in eastern Jabalia. As a result, Sa’d’s daughter namely Dima (10) was killed as she sustained shrapnel wounds throughout her body.

Another strong indication that Gazans were killed by Gaza rockets is when PCHR describes their injuries as being from "shrapnel," since Gaza rockets are built to maximize the amount of shrapnel and Israeli missiles minimize the amount of shrapnel.

[May 12] At approximately 21:15, Israeli warplanes launched 2 missiles at Salah al-Deen Street in front of al-‘Ijlah Meat Shop in al-Zaytun neighborhood in southern Gaza City. As a result, Yahiya Mazen Shehada Khalifa (14) was killed with shrapnel that hit different parts of his body as he was in front of his house. Moreover, 4-storey building sustained severe damage.

Adding these to the 16 killed on the first day, that makes 25 Gaza civilians likely killed by Gaza rockets. I'm being cautious, there are plenty of others killed apparently from Gaza rockets that fell short; some of them did fall in Gaza City and other densely populated areas.

If I had to guess, I would think the number of Gazans killed by Gaza rockets is closer to 50-60, which would make the ratio of terrorists to civilians killed by the IDF much higher than 1:1 - absolutely unheard of in an urban war.

In the wake of the heavy handed Palestinian security forces attacking protesters over the past three days, people criticized the EU for funding the Palestinian police.

In response, the European Union and the Palestinians explained exactly what they fund for Palestinians:

The EU does not provide any financial or technical assistance to the Palestinian Security Forces other than technical assistance to the Palestinian Civil Police. Our funding pays salaries for nurses, doctors and teachers, and contributes to the financial support to the poorest Palestinian families in the West Bank and Gaza. We also finance major infrastructure projects, support civil society and the business sector, notably micro and small enterprises, implement projects to preserve the Palestinian identity of Area C and East Jerusalem, and remain the major partner of UNRWA. The EU has the most robust monitoring mechanism in place to ensure that every Euro is actually spent as intended.

We already knew this, but here the EU says it explicitly: they regard all of east Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria to be Palestinian territory - not something to be negotiated between the parties. And they will spend a large amount of EU money to oppose Israel's claims on those areas.

And it does this even though those areas were never "Palestinian."

It isn't exactly being an honest broker.

In 2017, the EU budgeted 45 million euros to support "East Jerusalem" over the following three years. As far as I can tell, none of it went to pay the rents of Arabs in Sheikh Jarrah which could stop their eviction.

Fatah spinning furiously to justify attacking protesters

Fatah is releasing statement after statement to deflect or justify the police brutally attacking protesters this weekend.

Majed al-Helou, member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council said that "the occupation is the only beneficiary of the state of chaos that some seek to provoke in the Palestinian street, and the Fatah movement is resistant to conspiracies targeting our national project."

Muwaffaq Sehwil, secretary of Fatah in Ramallah, said that Fatah will remain vigilant, and will not stand idly by in the face of attempts to shed Palestinian blood, saying that the protesters had "non-national agendas."

The Governor of Jenin, Major General Akram Rajoub, said that the demonstrators insulting and provoking security personnel in Ramallah yesterday was an intentional and planned act, aimed at creating sedition in the Palestinian street. He said they were planning to create confusion and destabilize security, to repeat what happened in 2007 of a coup in the Gaza Strip in the West Bank.

Too funny. From Al Monitor:

The boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement is upset at a Hamas leader for meeting with the Moroccan prime minister due to Morocco having relations with Israel.

BDS released an Arabic-language statement on Tuesday to “denounce” Hamas’ political head, Ismail Haniyeh, for meeting with Moroccan Prime Minister Saadeddine Othmani. The meeting took place last week during Haniyeh’s trip to Morocco, during which he also met with Islamist and opposition parties.

“We strongly condemn Haniyeh’s meeting with the Moroccan prime minister, which betrays our people and furthers normalization with the occupation and its continuing crimes,” BDS said in the statement.

Yes, BDS is criticizing Hamas for not adhering to the BDS standards.

Putting it another way, if Hamas isn't adhering to BDS, then no one is.

BDS' statement went further:

The Palestinian National Committee for the Boycott of Israel denounces the meeting of the Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, with Saad Eddine El Othmani, Prime Minister of Morocco and the signatory to the agreement of normalization and betrayal with Israel.

At a time when we salute the brotherly Moroccan people for standing against normalization and with the cause of Palestine, its central cause, we strongly condemn Haniyeh's meeting with the Moroccan prime minister, which betrays our people and is implicated in normalization with the occupation and its continuing crimes. With the recent Israeli massacre against our people in the besieged Gaza Strip, with the systematic ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem, the Negev and the Jordan Valley, with the escalation of colonial settlement in all the occupied lands, and with the spread of manifestations of colonial fascism against our people in the lands of 1948, we cannot understand the attempt to legitimize this regime, which betrayed our people and their cause.

The continuation of official Palestinian normalization, the most important manifestation of which is "security coordination" and the so-called "Committee for Communication with Israeli Society", and Haniyeh's participation in meetings with leaders of the Moroccan government legitimize normalization and provide fig leaves to justify or soften the normalization of other Arab regimes.

It sounds like BDS is pushing the secondary boycott - not to talk to anyone that has relations with Israel. Israel has direct relations with 164 UN member states , only 28 don't recognize Israel (Algeria, Comoros, Djibouti, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Niger, Pakistan, Cuba, North Korea, and Venezuela.)

Even Iran meets with countries that have relations with Israel.

It looks like BDS has really gone off the rails.