Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, July 16, 2021

Quds News gets ratioed for tweeting that Jews are "storming Al Aqsa"

Quds News tweeted a video of Jews walking and singing as they walked up the wooden ramp to visit the Temple Mount, with the absurd caption that they were "storming Al Aqsa:"

230 Israeli settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyards under the protection of Israeli occupation forces and performed provocative tours, today.#FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/ffQ9QbZ0eR
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 14, 2021

Even though we've seen this terminology countless times, for some reason people noticed this one and hundreds commented on the absurdity of calling this "storming."

More Jews than usual visit the Temple Mount ahead of Tisha B'Av, the fast day that commemorates the destruction of the Temples, which is on Sunday.

From CNBC:

Google has parted ways with its VP of developer relations for Google Cloud, according to an internal email that employees said followed a contentious all-hands meeting about antisemitism.

“I wanted to share that today is Amr Awadallah’s last day at Google,” Eyal Manor, Google Cloud vice president of engineering and product, wrote in the email to staff Thursday evening and viewed by CNBC.

Awadallah, who was vice president of Developer Relations and joined the company in 2019, wrote a 10,000-word manifesto on LinkedIn in June about his previous antisemitism. It was titled “We Are One.”

“I hated the Jewish people, all the Jewish people”! and emphasis here is on the past tense,” his manifesto began. “Yes, I was anti-Semitic, even though I am a Semite, as this term broadly refers to the peoples who speak Semitic languages, such as Arabic and Hebrew, among others.”

In interviews with CNBC, several employees described a contentious staff meeting on Wednesday, which touched on the manifesto.

Awadallah, an Egyptian American who is well-known in the cloud industry, also posted his manifesto on YouTube and Twitter in attempts to decry antisemitism by recounting how he became enlightened after he “hated all Jews.” In an awkward attempt to decry hate amid the Israel-Palestinian conflict, he listed all the Jews he knew who he said were good people. Employees said his public admission, which omitted major historic Jewish events, made it difficult for public-facing developer advocates who are tasked with being the face and bridge for Google developers internally and externally.

Within the manifesto, Awadallah describes how he was “cautious” of VMware co-founder Mendel Rosenblum based on his last name but that he learned to appreciate him after getting to know him and his spouse, VNware co-founder and former Google Cloud CEO Diane Greene, who both invested in Awadallah’s company Cloudera.

Employees who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, said the frustration with Awadallah’s leadership style had been building for months, leading up to this week’s all-hands meeting, where employees confronted him about their discomfort with his manifesto, working with him and the leadership attrition of his reporting leaders. The meeting, employees said, required mediation from a human resources employee who had to step in several times.

“On one hand, I’m grateful that you not longer hate my children,” a Google director of Network Infrastructure and Tech Site lead said in a LinkedIn comment. “On the other, this has made my job as one of your colleagues much harder. The previous situation has made being a Jewish leader at Google tough. This has made it almost untenable.”

While Awadallah in his manifesto acknowledged his prior prejudice in apparent pursuit of “peace,” he used anecdotes and personal stories to try to make a point about why his current assertions are correct. One way he does this is by sharing his 23andMe results, which showed he was 0.1% Ashkenazi Jewish, which he typed in boldface as a reason for why he’s technically Jewish, too. Employees said Awadallah had previously used his 23andMe results to justify his opinions.

The manifesto attempts to be woke but in the end it is cringe-inducing and wildly anti-Israel. It isn't a reason to fire someone, though, and it looks like employee dissatisfaction with Awadallah has been there for a while.

The manifesto describes all the Jews that Awdallah respects - from colleagues to Stan Lee, Albert Einstein and Isaac Asimov - but he pointedly notes that the ones that he looks up to are all atheists, proving that Jews are a people and not just a religion.

But by saying that, he is also saying that he disrespects any Jews who believe in God.

He also goes on an incredibly ignorant rant about Israel, claiming that he has nothing against Zionism but then insisting that its practitioners are all about ethnic cleansing. That only leftist Israelis care about Palestinian lives. That most Palestinians want peace, and there are only a few fanatics who don't. That Gaza is an open-air prison. That Israel is an apartheid state.

I don't see any malice - but a great deal of ignorance, and more than a little bigotry that peeks through as Awdallah broadly implies that only atheists can be moral humans.

Again, I don't think this should be enough by itself to fire the guy, although if I was a religious Jew or Christian working for him I would feel very uncomfortable. Apparently, this is the last straw of a long line of problems that people had with Awdallah.

If nothing else, it proves yet again that intelligent people can be ignorant and bigoted, even as they think that they are immune from both.

07/16 Link Pt1: Arnold Roth: King Abdullah, when will Jordan hand our child’s murderer over to US justice?; The UAE and the so-called ‘national sin’

From Ian:

JPost Editorial: Tisha Be'av: Israel must end baseless hatred, rally together - editorial

Tisha Be’av, the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, begins at sunset on Saturday, July 17. The 25-hour fast on which the Book of Lamentations is read marks a series of disasters in Jewish history, headed by the destruction of the First and Second Temples.

Talmudic rabbis blamed these tragedies on what is called “sinat hinam” in Hebrew – baseless hatred. Sadly, it has again raised its ugly head, and we need to work together to quash it. Israeli society is beset by factionalism and polarization, distrust and a lack of compassion, inequality and selfishness. Baseless hatred is rife – too much of it. Here are just a few examples:
• As religious affairs correspondent Jeremy Sharon reported this week, an organization of religious-Zionist groups that calls itself the Joint Committee for Preserving the Holiness of the Western Wall is praying at the section reserved for non-Orthodox egalitarian prayer. Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai condemned the move as “baseless hatred,” noting that the area is the only place non-Orthodox groups have to pray at the Kotel.
• As noted by Yochi Rappeport, the executive director of Women of the Wall, a group of ultra-Orthodox men expressed intense hatred toward women who gathered to usher in the month of Av on July 11, tearing up 39 of their prayer books, jeering and laughing. “This hate crime can be likened to the baseless hatred we find in our history thousands of years ago,” she wrote.
• As political correspondent Gil Hoffman reported from the Knesset on Monday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu crossed the line of acceptable political discourse while accusing each other of mishandling the coronavirus pandemic. Netanyahu asked Bennett, “How did you succeed in destroying so much in such a short time in the struggle against corona?” while Bennett retorted, “You became sourpusses so fast that even when you see good things, you cannot give compliments.”

When President Isaac Herzog took his oath of office just a few days before, he made a point of urging the public “to change the tone, to lower the flames, to calm things down.”

Although his plea apparently went over the heads of the prime minister and his predecessor, Herzog added, “Baseless hatred, the same factionalism and polarization, are exacting a heavy price – today and every day. The heaviest price of all is the erosion of our national resilience.”

Arnold Roth: King Abdullah, when will Jordan hand our child’s murderer over to US justice?

On March 14, 2017, the US Department of Justice unsealed terrorism charges and designated Tamimi an FBI Most Wanted Terrorist. The US prosecutors had kept the charges secret for four years as efforts were made by private diplomacy to convince your government to turn her over. The announcement brought us hope that long-thwarted justice was about to be done.

Our hope was misplaced.

Just six days later, Jordan’s Court of Cassation, the appointment and dismissal of whose judges require your approval, declared the extradition treaty, bearing the personal, signed endorsements of your revered late father King Hussein and President Bill Clinton, as unenforceable. The court ruled it lacked parliamentary approval — a purported defect that obviously could have, but never has, been corrected.

In the years that followed, we fought to create awareness of Tamimi’s obscene freedom and of the appalling support Jordanians give her. We have gotten pushback we never expected, warning that your kingdom, a key US strategic ally and third largest recipient of US aid, would fall and chaos ensue, if this lightning rod for terrorist sentiment is extradited to Washington.

Shockingly, your multiple ceremonious visits to Washington as guest of the Obama and Trump administrations produced not a single official utterance about the ongoing travesty of justice.

How to explain this desecration of law, of morality, of fundamental decency? Is your rule truly that precarious? Is Jordanian society so infused with hatred of Jews that, with the connivance of the international media, you have no choice but to let it go on? What meaning does leadership have if, as monarch, you are hostage to the most bigoted elements of Jordanian society? What future does Jordan have if its leadership nurtures the dysfunctional mindset by which handing an admitted murderer of Americans to American justice is the real outrage?

It remains in your hands, King Abdullah. You can end this. Let your upcoming visit to Washington be the moment when you declare Jordan is going to do whatever necessary to immediately effectuate the 1995 treaty; to honor the US request to extradite Tamimi; to see justice finally done.

Unforgivably overdue by years, this would be a step towards healing a festering wound in the strategic relations between Jordan and the US and, no less important, eating away at Jordanian society itself.

Every US official who meets with @KingAbdullahII next week should be asking him to honor Jordan's extradition treaty with the United States, including @POTUS. This is unacceptable and will undermine Congressional support for Jordan if not resolved quickly. https://t.co/DeWFb8dnq0
— Richard Goldberg (@rich_goldberg) July 16, 2021

Palestinian Media Watch reports that an "Israeli affairs expert" claimed on Palestinian Authority TV that according to Israeli law, Arabs are prohibited from polygamy - but Jewish men are allowed to marry more than one wife.

PA TV “Israeli affairs expert” Fayez Abbas: “Another article in the [Israeli] paper Haaretz –says that in the Negev (i.e., in southern Israel) there are 6,680 cases of men who are married to more than one woman, and the [Israeli] police or attorney’s office claim that they did not succeed in enforcing the anti-polygamy law. In Israel it is forbidden to marry more than one woman for Arabs, for Muslims only. The Jew can marry more than one woman according to the law in Israel (sic.), but the Arab cannot. [The Arab] is sentenced to an active prison term and the payment of heavy fines.” [Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, July 4, 2021]

This is of course absurd as Paragraph 176 of Israel's Penal Law, which prohibits polygamy, applies to everyone living in Israel, without exception.

This is probably the way that the lists of "racist laws" that supposedly apply only to Jews and not to Arabs get compiled.

Palestinians in Silwan selling houses to Jews, taking the money and fleeing

Two Silwan properties were found to have been sold to Jews within the past month.

On July 1, it was revealed that Walid Atout sold his apartment to Jews. He and his family fled because they could be killed for selling to Jews.

From the Silwan Information Center:

About the property, the information center clarified that about a week ago, there was talk about selling it to unknown parties, so notables from the town of Silwan and members of local committees spoke with the owner of the property named Walid Atout, where he denied the sale, pointing out that he received an offer to sell it to Turkish authorities, but he did not do so. He remained at home with his family until Thursday morning.

The Wadi Hilweh Information Center added that amid the investigations conducted by the committees and the competent authorities over the past few days, it was found that Atout sold his house to Ahmed Ighbaryeh from the Palestinian 1948 lands, who handed it over to a contractor for renovations, while Atout and his family of 5 members left the property without emptying its contents and without taking their personal belongings of clothes and other stuff, in order not to draw the attention of the neighboring residents, especially since the property is located inside one of the alleys of Wadi Hilweh neighborhood.

The center added that competent authorities from Silwan had contacted the so-called "Ighbaryeh" on Thursday to find out what was going on and demanded him to come to the property to talk, but he refused and denied that he had leaked the house, and said that he had bought it to turn it into a clinic. The notables managed to talk to him and then he too fled the site.

This week another sale was revealed. Faoud Atallah Siyam had sold his properties to the Elad Association a while ago and subsequently died. His wife wasn't aware of the sale but she was called to a lawyer's office this week where she was shown video of Siyam accepting the money and that he also sold another apartment he owned in the neighborhood to the Jewish group.

Because the Arab media doesn't want to admit that their own people would sell land to Jews, they use the language (in both Arabic and English) that the properties were "leaked" to the Jews.

These stories don't often make it into Western media because the narrative is that Jews are stealing properties rather than legally purchasing them. If the truth was reported, the media would have to mention the potential death penalty that the PA has for selling land to Jews, which would be awkward and show that the only bigots in this story are the Palestinians.

Palestinian officials claim Israeli ice cream will cause miscarriages

The Palestinian Ministry of the Economy issued a warning for Palestinians not to buy Israeli ice cream because it has listeria:

Ministry of National Economy

Israeli ice cream contains Listeria monocytogenes which might lead to suppressing the immune system and miscarriages for pregnant women.

Out teams made sure that our markets do not carry the Israeli product, and we invite you to use the national products that are of high quality and competitive.

There is a grain of truth in this announcement. The Israeli Buza ice cream shop chain announced that their own internal testing had identified a small amount of listeria.

They have four shops, two in Tel Aviv and two in the north. They apparently provide ice cream for other shops but they do not sell their ice cream in commercial packaging.

Buza ice cream would never have been carried in Palestinian stores.

In a normal consumer announcement, the government would specify the brand, the lot numbers, the expiration dates, and tell consumers to discard anything they already bought. The ministry is doing none of that.

The ministry is using a real story to try to get Palestinians to think that all Israeli ice cream brands are dangerous.

Incidentally, Buza is co-owned by an Israeli Jew and an Israeli Arab (h/t iTi)

07/15 Links Pt2: No More Slogans; Erasing Years of Work, California Bill Revives Anti-Semitic Ethnic Studies Curriculum; Florida Officials Thank IDF Rescue Team

From Ian:

No More Slogans

The ADL is not alone in its failures; few of the other prestigious Jewish organizations headlining the No Fear coalition have done much better. But its performance is illustrative of the broader problem. On the eve of the rally, the ADL’s CEO Jonathan Greenblatt admitted in a Newsweek column that “the left has an antisemitism problem.” According to Greenblatt, “while extremism on the right has dominated the public conversation for much of the past five years … right now the challenge is also rising among certain elements of the far left.”

Greenblatt implies that this is a new and surprising phenomenon, but antisemitism found its most comfortable philosophical and political home on the left several years ago. President Obama’s strategy of distancing the United States from Israel while bolstering Iran was accompanied by a deliberate demonization of the Israeli government and more than a few intimations that Jewish money and influence were responsible for the domestic unpopularity of the administration’s nuclear deal.

In response, Greenblatt himself spent years leading numerous witch hunts, using the ADL imprimatur to tar opponents of the Obama administration’s Iran policy with the brush of antisemitism. Under the leadership of a partisan political operative, the ADL has been far more committed to the welfare of the Democratic Party than to the welfare of America’s Jews.

It’s no surprise, then, that antisemitism is enjoying normalization across the mainstream of Democratic politics. Just as in Corbyn’s Labour Party, antisemitism now permeates the Democrats’ progressive base. If nothing else, the one thing that Black Lives Matter, the Women’s March, the squad, the Democratic Socialists of America, the teachers unions, and the entire intersectional movement all share in common is a nagging antisemitism problem. These are not fringe movements, but valued members of the Democratic coalition, often used as campaign surrogates and enjoying public endorsement from leading Democratic politicians.

None of this is to say that there is no antisemitism on the right. Republican politicians and right-leaning pundits also stray into stereotyping, invoke antisemitic tropes, trivialize the Holocaust, hold Jews to unique double standards, refer to the canard of dual loyalty, and accept endorsements from outspoken antisemites. But Republican leadership and the Republican Party in general have been far more willing than Democrats to call out such behavior from their own colleagues, and to distance themselves from both the transgressors and their transgressions. On the political right, antisemitism is increasingly the exception; on the left, it is fast becoming the rule. Most people on the left are not antisemites, but antisemites now hold most of the left’s power.

“No Fear” may be a fine aspiration, but it’s deeply misplaced as a substitute for bold action against dangerous forces. In the current climate, fear is deeply rational. Antisemitism is on the rise, it has a strong and tightening grip on elite and establishment opinion, and the primary organizations Jews trust to protect us have instead abetted its rise. It’s past time for America’s Jews to move on from their traditional leaders and organizations in favor of new ones willing to speak honestly and act.

Also King: “When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You’re talking anti-Semitism!” https://t.co/Qfh1b0FSW2
— Orbital tungsten rod sales ?? (@razingarizona) July 14, 2021

Debunked: Those Maps of ‘Palestinian Land Loss’ Are Misleading. Here’s Why.

If you’ve spent some time reading about the Arab-Israeli conflict on the internet, you have most likely encountered a series of maps supposedly outlining how Palestinian land ownership has dramatically declined over the last century.

Seen variously under titles such as “Palestinian loss of land,” “Shrinking Palestine” or, more recently, “Palestinian Historic Compromise,” the maps are striking.

They are also grossly misleading and poison the conversation about Israel. Here’s why.

Most people assume maps are accurate: charts that have been meticulously drawn up to faithfully depict the land they represent. But we often fail to consider their potential to mislead. The ability of maps to convey three-dimensional realities on a two-dimensional plane is more constrained than we realize. Moreover, the title above the map – like a headline – frames the way we understand it.

When taken out of context, maps can easily be used to manipulate or deceive. While this deception is immediately apparent to those familiar with the particular region’s history, such maps can nevertheless successfully influence the perception of uninformed people.

The next time you see these maps online, feel free to quote from part of this article, or to simply link to this page.

Whatever you do, don’t let the lie go unchallenged.

Misleading Terminology
First, some background information. Historically, the word “Palestinian” did not refer to Arabs living in the region, but to the region itself. Some 100 years ago, the land was administered by the British, and its inhabitants were Jewish, Christian and Muslim – all of whom were identified as “Palestinian.” However, for most, their primary identity was not their nationality, but their religion.

Indeed, many Arabs bristled at being called “Palestinian,” voicing strong opposition to the label. Instead, they saw themselves first and foremost as Arabs or Muslims. Only in the mid-1960s was the word co-opted to mean Arabs.

Hence, before 1948, it would not have made sense to talk about Palestinians as opposed to Jews. The population was divided into two primary groups: Jewish and Arab.

This makes sense because a sovereign Palestinian state never existed. Therefore, there were no “Palestinian lands.” Rather, the land was part of the Mandate for Palestine, a geographical area controlled by the British after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the First World War.

Media Outlets Omit Critical Context About PA’s Pay-for-Slay, Turn Facts About Policy Into Israeli ‘Claims’

Glaring Omission: 2018 Taylor Force Act
The Washington Post, The Associated Press, and Reuters are also seemingly oblivious to the fact that Israel’s decision to freeze part of the tax transfers aligns with United States’ policy to prevent taxpayer money from going to the PA so long as it continues its Pay-for-Slay program.

Named for an American civilian murdered in a 2016 Palestinian terror attack in Tel Aviv, the Taylor Force Act was passed in 2018 with strong bipartisan support. Its purpose is to stop US funding to the Palestinian Authority due to the stipends paid to terrorists and their families.

In fact, it would seem that an article ostensibly castigating Jerusalem for taking steps to deter terrorism would include related information about how Washington has done the same thing. Albeit, the Biden administration has seemingly found a loophole and intends to provide groups supporting Palestinians with hundreds of millions of dollars.

By failing to note the Taylor Force Act, WaPo and The Associated Press can proceed to blithely spread the following:
For the Palestinians, the families of attackers are widely seen as victims of a half century of Israeli occupation. The Palestinians say that many Palestinians are unfairly held by Israel and that the number of prisoners involved in deadly attacks is a small percentage of those aided by the fund.

It is difficult to fathom how any news article could include an apparent justification for terrorism.

Moreover, the problem is widespread. Research conducted by HonestReporting shows that between July 6 and July 12, the term “Taylor Force Act” was included a total of 52 times in news items and television segments. Over the same period, “Taylor Force Act” and “Israel” were mentioned in the same article or segment a mere 15 times. When you add “terror” to the mix, there were only five results.

By uncritically relaying the PA’s stance on Pay-for-Slay, news organizations are proving to be obstacles to the kind of transparency needed to facilitate a robust public debate on the issue of aid to the Palestinian people — especially regarding where it winds up.

Babylonians Graciously Offer Jewish Exiles Perpetual Second-Class Status, Occasional Genocide (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

: Credit: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP via Wikipedia

Babylon, July 15 - Officials and local leaders reacting to the arrival in Mesopotamia of the continuing waves of forced Jewish emigration from Judah took pains today to repeat their message of welcome to the refugees from Emperor Nebuchadnezzar's conquest of their land, stressing that the newcomers can look forward to thousands of years of contingent tolerance, sporadic attempts to destroy Jews, and discriminatory treatment by their host nations, be they the current, Neo-Babylonian Empire, or any number of successor regimes ruling various parts of the Jewish Diaspora.

Crowds of Babylonians lined the roads of towns and cities across the region this week to greet Jewish refugees and those forced at swordpoint to leave their ancestral homeland, a massive population movement expected to continue for months, perhaps years, as Nebuchadnezzar's military mops up remaining Jewish resistance and determines whether to leave any Jews at all in Judah. The crowd called cries of welcome to the Jews, assuring the exiles that millennia of second-class status await them, during which the dominant powers will treat Jews as perpetual outsiders, at best tolerated and at worst, well, look what's happening right now.

The current wave, estimated at several million, significantly increases the number of Jewish exiles forced into Babylonia, eleven years after Nebuchadnezzar removed the vassal King Jechoniah of Judah and installed the latter's brother Zedekiah in his stead. The emperor deported large swaths of Judah's aristocracy along with Jechoniah, in an attempt to decapitate incipient insurrection. However, Zedekiah eventually revolted as well, prompting Nebuchadnezzar to order a full-scale invasion and reduction of every Jewish stronghold. Following suppression of Zedekiah's revolt, the military administration installed Gedaliah ben-Ahikam as governor of the troublesome province and its remaining inhabitants, but the long-term prospects of that arrangement remain uncertain.

Babylonian community leaders exhorted their constituents to make the Jews feel at home by reminding them they don't belong. "We do them a favor by not killing them, that's the main thrust of our welcome," explained Hamedatha the Agagite. "I just don't think people who hold this bizarre notion of a single deity behind all of reality can ever truly integrate into larger polytheistic society. So we can give this a few decades at most, I think - probably on the order of seven or so - but my prediction is their presence is just going to be a thorn in the side of right-thinking people and it's our children and grandchildren who will have to deal with it."

07/15 Links Pt1: Israel Is Held to a Special Standard that Is So High It Can't Be Met; Why the World Needs to Condemn Hezbollah; Slovakia to open diplomatic mission in Jerusalem in September

From Ian:

Israel Is Held to a Special Standard that Is So High It Can't Be Met

It was during Operation Cast Lead in December 2008. The Israeli Embassy in Britain was surrounded by demonstrators, some of whom became violent. They climbed the fence, threw Molotov cocktails and rocks. Tension was running so high that Yuval Diskin, then-head of the Shin Bet security agency, which is in charge of security at Israel's embassies and consulates abroad, recommended closing all diplomatic missions to keep their staffs safe.

Ron Prosor, who was serving as Israeli Ambassador to Britain at the time, rejected the idea.

"No embassy will close on my watch and under my command," he told Diskin. "As far as I'm concerned, they can take the staff out in APCs," he added. The embassy continued to operate. A few days later, clad in a flak jacket, Prosor took part in a pro-Israel demonstration held by the local Jewish community.

This story, which does not appear in Prosor's new book Undiplomatically Speaking (Yedioth Books, Hebrew, English translation scheduled for 2022) reflects the approach of one of Israel's outstanding diplomats of the past few decades: initiative, offense, standing up for Israel's national honor and battling for the justness of Israel's path on all fronts. It should be required reading for any Israeli who wants to understand what is happening to us in the international arena.

In the book, Prosor sums up 30 years at the heart of diplomatic activity. From the secret contacts he helped build with the Gulf states to dealing with the global media in London and the ceaseless struggle against the UN's hypocrisy and triple standards. The book includes anecdotes, including one time when Prosor noticed an unusually unattractive woman sitting next to him on a flight. On second glance, it turned out that "she" was none other than then-head of the Mossad Meir Dagan.

Prosor sits down with Israel Hayom to discuss the new governments in Israel and the US.

My oped in @LeTemps: ”The ICC was designed to fight impunity for the worst atrocities, not to pursue a democracy defending itself from terrorists, with a robust legal system, and with an army that has 'done more than any other in history to avoid harming civilians in a war zone.' https://t.co/92Jmt3MNw4
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) July 15, 2021

BREAKING: The Dutch government's antisemitism envoy calls on all European countries to follow the Netherlands & withdraw from the UN's Durban IV conference, "a process rife with antisemitism."

Also pulled out: Australia, Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, UK, US. https://t.co/ml3RJ98VfP
— UN Watch (@UNWatch) July 15, 2021

From Good Evening San Diego:

Amid a rise in recent antisemitic crimes, Christian and Jewish groups from around San Diego will be rallying together against antisemitism on July 25 in El Cajon.

Mayor of El Cajon Bill Wells joined KUSI’s Logan Byrnes on Good Evening San Diego to discuss the event.

Shield of David is organizing the event with a group of over 2,000 local Jewish community members, parents, business owners, and concerned citizens.

At the end of this interview, Mayor Wells says that they expect as many as 5,000 people to attend.

Why would this rally in a suburban San Diego town attract more people than the "No Fear" rally in Washington last Sunday?

The reason is simple: this one is more concerned with all kinds of antisemitism than catering to those who deny the most prevalent kinds.

It is obvious that the recent spike in antisemitism recorded in New York, Los Angeles and the United Kingdom is directly because of Israel haters attacking Jews. Yet the people that the No Fear rally wanted so badly to co-sponsor refuse to admit it. Which means that they really don't care about antisemitism.

As this Shield of David organizers say, they are all about "combating discrimination and persecution of Jews anywhere."

Which includes Israel.

Because the message of this rally is straightforward, without caveats excusing certain kinds of antisemitism, it will attract the people who care most about antisemitism. It will attract Christians who care about Israel. It has a famous keynote speaker, Mike Pompeo, who is unapologetically pro-Israel and philosemitic - and who would have not been allowed to speak in DC because he is a Republican.

Assuming this El Cajon rally isn't rained out, it will be successful because it doesn't make the mistakes of the DC rally.

Don't modify and water down your message to attract reluctant partners.. Send out a proud, unambiguous message and attract people who agree with you. You get a lot more respect that way.

The logic of Arab peace with Israel - from Jordan's King Abdullah I

Palestinian "resistance factions" condemned the opening of the UAE embassy in Israel, calling it a "great sin against the Palestinian people" and called the UAE "the head of evil."

There has always been a division in the Arab world between leaders who can think clearly about their people's interests and the majority whose Jew-hatred overrides what's best for their people.

In Avi Shlaim's 2008 biography of Jordan's King Hussein. he recounts an episode from Hussein's father King Abdullah I:

One question that has continued to puzzle observers is: why did Abdullah disregard all the warnings and keep to his plan of Friday prayers in Jerusalem [the day he was assassinated]?

One possible answer, which was long to remain a closely guarded secret, is that Abdullah had arranged to meet two Israeli officials in Jerusalem the next day, Saturday, 21 July 1951.

The two officials were Reuven Shiloah and Moshe Sasson, who was continuing the negotiations for a peace treaty that his father, Elias, had begun.

At one of their first meetings, Moshe Sasson asked Abdullah, "Why do you want to make peace with Israel?" The king replied, "I want to make peace with Israel not because I have become a Zionist or care for Israel's welfare but because it is in the interest of my people. I am convinced that if we do not make peace with you, there will be another war, and another war, and another war, and another war, and we shall lose all these wars. Hence it is the supreme interest of the Arab nation to make peace with you."

Self-interest always wins.

Unfortunately, Jew-hatred is so widespread in the Arab world that Arab leaders have to be concerned about the possibility of their regimes becoming unstable from their antisemitic subjects who hate Jews more than they care about their own country. This changes their own self-interest calculations.

The key for peace in the Middle East isn't Israeli concessions. It is to eradicate Jew-hatred from the Muslim world. If there is no antisemitism, then the benefits of peace with Israel are crystal clear.

This is obvious to anyone who isn't blinded by the lie that antisemitism has nothing to do with anti-Zionism.

The European Union Border Assistance Mission for the Rafah Crossing began working in January 2006 to be a third party observer on people crossing the border between Egypt and Gaza, under Palestinian Authority control and with Israel watching remotely to ensure security.

Hamas took over Gaza in 2007, and after being there for less than 18 months, EUBAM-Rafah no longer had any reason to exist.

It still exists, waiting and hoping for the PA to take over Gaza and turn the clock back to 2006. In its own words, for 14 years "it has maintained its readiness to redeploy to the RCP (Rafah Crossing Point) including launching a Preparedness Project, designed to enhance the Palestinian Authority’s capacity and readiness to return to the RCP."

There are 18 people working there, doing virtually nothing while living in Tel Aviv and drawing salaries.

Its mandate gets renewed every year.

Its annual budget is €2,040,000.

Occasionally EUBAM-Rafah members give training to the PA. Last month, they gave a seminar on how to use X-Ray machines for goods. That was the first training this year; in January 2020 they gave a one day seminar on how to deal with disabled travelers. They've been doing that since 2014.

Sometimes they donate equipment, or host some mid-level official from Europe. That's about all they do.

Everything they are doing can be done by existing EU groups in the territories

Even though it only took five weeks to create and staff EUBAM-Rafah in 2005, for some reason the EU thinks it is more efficient to keep them around just in case there is a sudden reason for them to go back to observe people at the Hamas controlled Rafah crossing.

07/14 Links Pt2: The ADL head's disingenuous epiphany about left-wing antisemitism; Remembering Bayard Rustin; NBA Legend Rick Barry Visits Kids at Basketball Camp in Jerusalem

From Ian:

Ruthie Blum: The ADL head's disingenuous epiphany about left-wing antisemitism

He went on to say, "Demonizing Zionism as a concept represents a kind of anti-Jewish racism. Delegitimizing the Jewish state with exaggerated claims and unhinged charges, then dismissing the connection between that level of inflammatory rhetoric and the violence perpetrated against Jewish people, is willfully ignorant at best, intentionally malign at worst. Excluding Jews from political coalitions or public activities is discrimination, plain and simple."

All well and good, of course, though why this manifestation of antisemitism is only just dawning on the ADL chief is as curious as his referring to the demonization of Zionism as a "kind of" anti-Jewish racism, rather than part and parcel of its very essence. After all, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism includes singling out the Jewish state for condemnation.

Lest one was tempted by Greenblatt's words to give him credit for doing his job, however, he made sure to let his leanings come out in the conclusion.

"It has been heartening to see that some prominent progressive voices have spoken out against anti-Semitism or apologized for using overheated rhetoric," he wrote. Judging by the hyperlink under the sentence, he was referring to movie star Mark Ruffalo, who tweeted remorse for having suggested that Israel committed genocide in Gaza. How touching.

Greenblatt also gave a nod to members of Congress (i.e., Democrat Brad Schneider of Illinois) "who have made their problems with their colleagues' statements crystal clear."

Interesting that he's impressed with a Jew for bemoaning the blatant antisemitism of his fellow Democrat representatives. Pathetic that neither Greenblatt nor Schneider holds the party to which they belong accountable.

Instead, Greenblatt ends his piece with a generalized message about needing "all our allies to listen and others to engage authentically" – whatever that means.

"This might not be easy," he stated. "It may require some serious self-reflection on the part of some partisans in order to admit their biases and acknowledge their insensitivity. But it's imperative that leaders from all corners of society clearly, forcefully, unequivocally condemn antisemitism full stop. And it's even more important and meaningful to do so when the hate happens to come from their own camp."

Good luck if he thinks that platitudes are going to budge the Israel-bashers in his own camp whose intersectional endeavors he always rushes to defend. With self-described "proud Jews" like Greenblatt, who needs antisemites?

Remembering Bayard Rustin

Bayard was a resolute supporter of Israel, a position that put him at odds with both his own pacifist principles and left-wing activists who regarded the Palestine Liberation Organization a legitimate liberation movement. Even before the Six-Day War, some outspoken Black Americans, most notably Malcolm X, gave vocal support to armed Palestinian groups. But Bayard laid the problems of the Middle East squarely at the feet of the monarchs and dictators who brutalized the Arab people—he referred to some of them as “proto-fascist”—and who resented Israel as the region’s lone democracy and, thus, a living rebuke to their own despotic regimes. After the UN General Assembly adopted the notorious “Zionism Is Racism” resolution in 1975, Bayard organized a committee of Black leaders to support the Jewish state.

Tribalism: Because of his extensive international experience, Bayard was sensitive to divisions over race, tribe, and caste everywhere. He understood that race consciousness here was inevitable as part of the Black struggle for full citizenship but was skeptical that race consciousness would contribute to material progress.

More, he was mistrustful of policies meant to divide goods along group lines; he preferred old-fashioned social democratic strategies based on the premise that economic growth lifting all boats could be accompanied by policies meant to direct benefits to those most in need.

Bayard was struck by the way that identity-based laws and policies in Asian societies like India, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia were either explicitly meant to benefit majority groups or, if designed to benefit lower castes, invariably failed to eliminate caste consciousness. He was not enthusiastic about the United States embarking on a similar course. Bayard did not use the term “racism” indiscriminately. When he applied terms of opprobrium like prejudice, bigotry, and, in the worst case, racism, he was a traditionalist: He tried to be precise.

‘Junk Science’: Ashkenazi Jews Are Not Descendants of Khazar Converts

Indeed, the Khazarian hypothesis has been debunked by virtually every field of science. For instance, historians stress that the kingdom most likely never converted to Judaism. Archaeologists excavating in the former Khazar lands have found almost no artifacts displaying Jewish symbols. Moreover, linguists point out that Yiddish — for centuries the language spoken by Eastern European Jews — is in no way similar to the vernacular used in Khazaria, nor do Jewish surnames from the last 600 years contain any link to the kingdom.

Experts in Jewish genetics have lambasted Elhaik’s “findings,” arguing that he “appears to be applying the statistics in a way that gives him different results from what everybody else has obtained from essentially similar data.” In fact, most DNA research proves precisely the opposite: namely, that European Jews are closely related to Middle Eastern populations.

Most of this research has long been readily available, with leading scholars having refuted Elhaik’s paper within a year of its publication. Nevertheless, Jew-haters and anti-Zionists alike continue to use the Khazarian myth to deny the Jewish people’s millennia-old connection to the Land of Israel.

Interestingly, Elhaik — who served in the Israeli army for seven years — has said that it bothers him that individuals utilize his research for nefarious purposes. For his part, Koestler stated that the “problem of the Khazar infusion a thousand years ago… is irrelevant to modern Israel,” as the Jewish state’s existence is, in his view, predicated on decisions made by the international community.

The anti-Zionist argument is flawed for another major reason: that is, most Jewish Israelis are not of European descent. According to Tel Aviv University research, in 2018 only 31.8 percent of Israeli Jews self-identified as Ashkenazi (Eastern European). A significantly larger share, about 45 percent, identified as Mizrahi – an umbrella term for those Jews that fled Arab countries to nascent Israel. Israelis of Yemeni origin, for example, trace their roots in the region back to biblical times.

The fact that millions of Israeli Mizrahim are indigenous to the Middle East is indisputable.

A Treatise on Thumper: Please Don’t Trash-Talk Israel (Judean Rose)

Please don’t trash-talk Israel. Aside from the fact that criticism of Israel is against Torah precepts, and really bad form, why would you do it when the entire weight of the world is bearing down on the Jewish State with all the hate it can muster? Do we really need it from you, too?

Look, I don’t know you. I don’t know who you are, or what you think about Israel. But if you don’t love Israel, this piece probably isn’t for you. Because this week I’m writing for the people who love Israel. And if you love Israel, this is very simple: you’d never do anything to harm her.

Yes. I know. The IHRA working definition of antisemitism says that criticism of Israel “similar to that leveled against any other country” isn’t hate, and “cannot be regarded as antisemitic.”

That’s fine. We’re not talking about haters here. We’re talking about the people who claim to love Israel. People who ought to know better. (Here’s where for some reason, I see in my mind’s eye a Scotsman on a mountaintop, in full kilt crying out, “If ye loue her, you'd ne'er slander her.”)

The sages of the Talmud were clear about this, going so far as to stand in the shade on hot days and in the sun on cold days so they and their students would not complain about Israel’s weather. Ketubot 112a:

Rabi Abba kissed the rocks of Acco. Rabi Chanina repaired the roads of Eretz Yisrael. Rabi Ami and Rabi Assi moved the students from the sun to the shade and from the shade to the sun [so they wouldn’t complain about the weather]. Rabi Chiya bar Gamda used to roll in the dirt of Eretz Yisrael, as the scripture (Tehillim 102:15) states, "For your servants desire her stones and find charm in her dirt."

Scripture is clear on this. We learn it from the story of the spies. The spies weren’t lying when they talked about seeing giants and other bad stuff during their pilot trip to Israel. They were telling the absolute truth. But there were many nice things they could have said about Israel. Instead they chose to say ugly things, and this had a chilling effect on the people, so that they became scared to make Aliyah.

It all boils down to this: The Torah prohibits speaking negative language about the Land of Israel. To use negative language in relation to Israel is a form of Lashon Hara (Evil Speech), a category of forbidden speech. Also, the Torah stipulates that Lashon Hara, by definition, is true.

The spies’ report was scary for the very reason that it was true. Giants? You’d talk about them no matter WHERE you saw them, Spain, France, Italy . . . why would you keep the presence of giants to yourself? The report given by the spies was legitimate, but here’s the thing: it was frickin' scary.

IHRA would no doubt see the spies’ report as “legitimate criticism.” But the Torah went to great lengths to tell us it’s wrong to speak like this about Israel—that it’s damaging.

Here’s where some might say, “It’s precisely because I care about Israel that I say these things. I want to effect positive change.”

But negative reports about Israel cannot and do not effect positive change. That’s a part of what we learn from the story of the spies. Negative reports about Israel cause damage. In the case of the spies, a negative report scared people off from coming to live in Israel. And this is a kind of damage, because Israel encourages and needs Aliyah.

I like to tell people: “Israel wants your warm bodies.”

Because what Israel needs isn’t a public perception that limits her ability to grow. Israel needs to be strengthened. And that means strengthening Israel's population through Aliyah.

The spies could have, and should have, talked about the delightful fruits of Israel and the way the inhabitants feared and gave honor to the spies. Today we can still take this route. We can talk about the wonders of the Israeli pomelo and the flavorful red tomatoes. We can marvel at the way our leaders face down Iraq and Iran, and appear before Congress to standing ovations. The Land of Israel has been vanquished time and time again, our land nearly, but never quite emptied of our people, yet here we are, having risen from the ashes like a phoenix.

These are the things that make a positive impression and make people yearn to be here. Stories about the wonderful people. The miracle we are. The gorgeous produce that springs from our holy soil.

Had the people but heard these potent stories that tell of Israel—stories that are true, stories that tell of what they never knew, never dreamed we would become—they’d have rushed into the Land with pure hearts, full of excitement, desire, and purpose.

Here's the thing: Israel is called the Holy Land for a reason. To be holy is to be set apart from all else, in this case, all other countries. Sacred. The IHRA definition that refers to criticism you’d say of “any other country” notwithstanding: Israel is different.

Am I saying that Israel should be held to a different standard? Hell, yes. All honor must be given. A negative report, on the other hand, is a desecration.

Don’t think it’s not.

Because when you trash-talk Israel you're piling it on. You're increasing the hate, which is to put all Jews in danger. And at that point, who the hell cares if what you’re saying is true? The words that issue from your mouth damage public perception thereby posing an existential danger to Israel.

Do you want to effect positive change? Increase love for Israel in the world. Say nice things about her. Speak well of the Jewish State that rules over a significant part of your land.

If nothing else, don’t say anything bad. Even if you feel like you really, really want to. Seriously.

Just zip it.

Note to my readers: I will be taking a hiatus from this column as I recover from surgery for midfoot arthritis. Thanks for being my loyal readers. I hope you’ll be waiting for me on my return. In the meantime, keep it warm!