Tuesday, July 20, 2021

A brief history of Arab boycotts of Jews. (Not Zionists - Jews.)

I'm seeing some people on Twitter ask why boycotting Israel is considered antisemitic.

One reason is that history shows that these boycotts are just a continuation of the boycotts that Arabs enacted against Jews in the decades before Israel was reborn.

Here is a list of boycott actions of Arabs against Jews - not Zionists, but Jews - between 1891 and 1945. 

1891: Arabs request the Ottoman Empire not sell land to Jews.

February 1909: "In Hebron, where out of a total population of 18,000 about 2000 are Jews, the Arabs decide to boycott Jewish merchants."

January 1915: The American Jewish Yearbook reports "At Hebron, Jewish storekeepers are boycotted
by Mohammedan women."

April 2, 1920, AJC: "Rosh Pinah: Thirty Arabs attack Arab workmen in fields belonging to Jewish inhabitants in endeavor to bring about boycott by Arabs against Jews."

June 4, 1921: "Haifa: Arabs issue proclamation urging the populace to boycott the Jews and drive them out of their villages."

1922: Arab Congress calls on Arabs to boycott Jewish businesses in Palestine.

1924:
MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.—AS in the past, the Muslim-Christian Association again expressed its opposition to the Mandate and to the very idea of the creation of a Jewish national home in Palestine, and voiced its demands for the independence of Palestine. It conducted an anti-Zionist and also anti-Jewish propaganda. In a publication which it widely distributed in the past year, the Association repeatedly refers its sympathizers to the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", as a book which should be read by every-one who still doubts the pernicious motives of the Jews. ...It voted to authorize the Executive Committee to boycott the forthcoming elections and to promulgate an economic boycott against the Jews. The economic boycott, however, was later abandoned.

1925: 
ARAB ASSOCIATIONS.—The Moslem-Christian Union during the past year continued its policy of obstruction—not only in political matters but it also tried to interfere with the economic development of the country. Early in the year under review, a congress adopted a resolution urging the boycotting of the Ruttenberg Electrification Plan.


1929: Arab Congress vows to compel Arabs to boycott Jewish merchandise. Syria prohibits import of merchandise produced by Jewish businesses in Palestine. 

1931: World Islamic Congress passes resolution requesting Muslim countries to boycott trade with Jewish businesses in Palestine. Arab Labor Federation pickets Jewish businesses in Palestine. 

1945: Arab League Council adopts Resolution 70, recommending that all Arab states establish national boycott offices. 




The antisemitism is clear. It is absurd to think that the continuous boycotts by Arabs of Jews (the boycott office of the Arab League is still in place) suddenly changed in 1948 from a boycott of Jews to a boycott of Israelis.

Moreover, the Arab League boycott was explicitly against Jews even through the 1950s.

My sources were the American Jewish Yearbook and a chart in the book Effects of the Arab League Boycott of Israel on U. S. Businesses By Constance A. Hamilton, 1994.





Monday, July 19, 2021

07/19 Links Pt2: Kenneth Roth says Israel is responsible for rise in antisemitism; David Collier: Make no mistake – Wikipedia is at war with the Jews

From Ian:

Kenneth Roth says Israel is responsible for rise in antisemitism
The executive director of one of the world's leading international human rights organisations has been criticised after suggesting Israel is responsible for the rise in antisemitic incidents during the recent Gaza conflict.

Writing on Twitter, Human Righst Watch director Kenneth Roth said: “Antisemitism is always wrong, and it long preceded the creation of Israel, but the surge in UK antisemitic incidents during the recent Gaza conflict gives the lie to those who pretend that the Israeli government's conduct doesn't affect antisemitism.”

His tweet accompanied a link to an article in Ha'aretz about the fact antisemitism rose to record levels according to data collected by the Community Security Trust.

A report by CST stated that 628 antisemitic incidents were recorded during the one-period between May 8 and June 7, a rise of 365 percent over April and “the highest number CST has ever recorded in any month-long period.”

Mr Roth’s tweet was widely condemned as people pointed out that he would not look to place the blame on any other minority community facing an increase in hate crime.

Instead of apologising, he went further to defend his comments.

In another tweet he said: “Interesting how many people pretend that this tweet justifies antisemitism (it doesn't and I don't under any circumstances) rather than address the correlation noted in the Haaretz article between recent Israeli government conduct in Gaza and the rise of UK antisemitic incidents.”


A eyewitness to Arab antisemitism in Palestine, 1847


One of the most repeated lies made by Palestinian Arabs is that before Zionism, Jews lived in harmony with the Arabs of Palestine and throughout the Middle East.

Israel Joseph Benjamin was a Jewish explorer who traveled the world seeking to find the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel in the 19th century. He describes, in simple terms, his visits to Jewish communities worldwide.

His straightforward testimony shows how poorly Jews were treated by their Arab and Muslim neighbors. 

Here he describes the situation of Jews in Palestine, whom he visited in 1847. He notes that their plight was in some ways the worst that he had seen among Jews anywhere. (Bolded highlights are mine, italics are his.)

The State of the Jews in Palestine

Deep misery and continual oppression are the right words to describe the condition of the Children of Israel in the land of their fathers. — 1 comprise a short and faithful picture of their actual state under the following heads.

1) They are entirely destitute of every legal protection and every means of safety. Instead of the security afforded  the law, which is unknown in these countries, they are solely under the orders of the sheiks and pachas, men, whose character and feelings inspire but little confidence from the beginning, It is only the European Consuls who frequently take care of the oppressed, and give them some protection.

2) With unheard of rapacity, tax upon tax is levied on them. With the exception of Jerusalem, every where the taxes demanded are arbitrary. Whole communities have been impoverished by the exorbitant claims of the sheiks, who, under the moat trifling pretenses, without any control, oppress the Jews with fresh burdens. It is impossible to enumerate all these oppressions.

3) In the strict sense of the word they are not even masters of their own property. They do not even venture to complain when they are robbed and plundered; for. the vengeance of the Arabs would follow each complaint.

4) Their lives are taken into as little consideration as their property; they are exposed to the caprice of any one; for even the smallest pretext, even a harmless discussion, a word dropped in conversation; is enough to cause bloody reprisals. Violence of every kind is of daily occurrence, When; for instance in the contests of Mahomet Ali with the Sublime Porte, the City of Hebron was besieged by Egyptian troops and taken by storm, the Jews where murdered and plundered, and the survivors scarcely even allowed to retain a few rags to cover them. No pen can describe the despair of these unfortunates. The women were treated with brutal cruelty; and even to this day, many are found who from that time became miserable cripples. With truth can the Lamentations of Jeremiah be employed here. Since that great misfortune up to the present day, the Jews of Hebron languish in the deepest misery, and the present Sheik is unwearied in his endeavours, not to better their condition, but on the contrary to make it worse.

5) The chief evidence of their miserable condition is the universal poverty which we remarked in Palestine, and which is here truly characteristic; for nowhere else in our long journeys, in Europe, Asia and Africa did we observe it among the Jews. It even causes leprosy among the Jews of Palestine, as in former times. Robbed of their means of subsistence from the cultivation of the soil and trade, they only exist upon the charity of their brethren in the faith in foreign parts.

... In a word the state of the Jews in Palestine, body as well as mind, is an unbearable one; and yet there the land yields most abundantly. If the possession of it were not to completely in the hands of the Arabs, — if one could only secure for the Jews some little portion of it and give them the means for its cultivation - sufficient sources of industry would be open to them; wherewith to obtain a livelihood. But what does it benefit them to cultivate the ground, if the Arabs rob them of the harvest?
I will continue to excerpt parts of this book. Sometimes his slightest side comment is stunning. 




  • Monday, July 19, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon

Ben and Jerry's stops sales to Jews in Judea and Samaria; Arabs who support terror there continue to get their ice cream

Ben and Jerry's announced:
We believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). We also hear and recognize the concerns shared with us by our fans and trusted partners. 

We have a longstanding partnership with our licensee, who manufactures Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in Israel and distributes it in the region. We have been working to change this, and so we have informed our licensee that we will not renew the license agreement when it expires at the end of next year.

Although Ben & Jerry’s will no longer be sold in the OPT, we will stay in Israel through a different arrangement. We will share an update on this as soon as we’re ready.
So Jews who live in their ancestral homelands in Judea and Samaria are banned from getting Ben and Jerry's locally - but their Arab neighbors can continue to get it.

From Brothers Supermarket in Ramallah, a sale on Ben and Jerry's for Eid al Ahda:



Arabs can buy their ice cream, Jews cannot.

The moral team and Ben and Jerry's don't seem to have a problem selling their goods to an entity that literally pays terrorists and their families, with citizens who cheer terror attacks, and who would love to ethnically cleanse the Jews from their homeland - and who are about to start slaughtering cows and lambs in the streets to the cheers of crowds.

Sounds like Ben and Jerry's agrees that this is what social justice looks like.



07/19 Links Pt1: What on Earth Is the Problem with a Jewish Majority in Israel?; Iraqi man in pro-Israel video beaten up and hospitalised; Rashida Tlaib’s Tisha B’Av Edition of Lying & Spreading Hate on Twitter

From Ian:

Ha'aretz: What on Earth Is the Problem with a Jewish Majority in Israel?
Why should the Jewish state not do what it can legally do to maintain a Jewish majority? Why do so many of its champions find it difficult to affirm what is so clearly sensible and right? Students of Israel and Zionism know that demography is destiny.

Zionism has always been about creating a democratic state with a Jewish majority. The State of Israel can, and must, take appropriate steps to assure that a stable Jewish majority is maintained. Taking such steps, and being honest about your intentions, need not be inconsistent with democratic principles or with the ideals of Israel's Declaration of Independence. The loss of a Jewish majority means the end of Zionism and the disappearance of the State of Israel.

The premise of Zionism is that there are many Jews who desperately want to live in a majority-Jewish state. Their eagerness is understandable, and they make no apologies for this fact. They are grateful that the State of Israel, after millennia of Jewish exile, finally enables them to do so. Israel, they remind us, was created to promote the religion, civilization and culture of the Jewish people and its dominant Jewish majority.

To forcibly transfer Arab citizens out of the country would be a violation of democratic norms and international law, not to mention Jewish values and tradition. But assuring a Jewish majority by adopting laws and policies that are consistent with democratic governance is an altogether different matter. It is both acceptable and desirable.

Absent a Jewish majority, would Israel continue to provide no-questions-asked refuge to Jews facing danger and distress in countries around the globe? Almost certainly not.

We Jews want a state of our own, where the Jews, a secure and confident majority, will call the shots, govern democratically, and live in peace with our neighbors. That is what Zionism is.
Can anyone explain the US State Department "illegality statement?"
Israel’s former Justice Minister was “mystified” when a State Department spokesperson recently said Judea-Samaria "settlements" were “illegal even under Israeli law.” In fact, such building and developing in the region that flourished as an integral part of the Jewish monarchy in biblical times, are “of course” fully legal under Israeli law, former Israeli Justice minister Zachi Hanegbi wrote last Monday.

His letter was published in the Israeli English language daily, The Jerusalem Post, which had covered what the State Department spokesperson said last week.

In a 30 June Department briefing, an American reporter and two Arab reporters cooperated to elicit statements from a State Department spokesperson, Jalina Porter, about Judea-Samaria "settlements," a loaded word for Jewish communities in the area that was originally meant to be part of Israel, overrun by Jordan in the 1948 War of Independence, and regained by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War. Due to Palestinian Arab counter-claims, the area can be called "disputed" territory, but is certainly not "occupied," despite the common use of the term.

Said Arikat, Washington bureau chief at Al Quds Daily Newspaper, said to be the most widely read Palestinian Arab daily, joined forces with Hiba Nasr (Correspondent at Asharq News, a Saudi media group) and Abigail Williams (State Department reporter for NBC News). Porter, a former political advisor for Democratic elected officials, took all the trio’s questions.

Former Justice Minister Hanegbi complimented Porter, saying she was an “experienced communications professional”. Yet, Hanegbi said, Porter may “have been led astray by a recent illegality allegation about Evyatar by a (non-attorney) Meretz minister.” Meretz is a radical left wing party and member of Israel's new government.

Hanegbi (Likud), an attorney by training, explained that Jewish residence in Israel’s Judea-Samaria region is “fully legal” and not only under Israeli law. Prof. Eugene Rostow, dean of the USA’s leading law school, “affirmed this decades ago, adding that it is impossible to contend that Israeli settlements are illegal”, the former Justice Minister said.
Israeli ministers vote down West Bank annexation bill
The government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett rejected a West Bank annexation bill of Likud MK Miki Zohar in the Ministerial Committee on Legislation on Monday morning.

Zohar had dared Yamina and New Hope ministers to support the legislation, even though the coalition has been voting against every opposition-sponsored bill.

He said he will still bring the bill to a vote next week in the Knesset plenum, where Bennett himself will have to vote against it. Zohar released a statement bashing Bennett, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar and Construction Minister Ze'ev Elkin.

"You promised again and again that you will take action to bring about sovereignty over Judea and Samaria and you once again broke your word," Zohar said. "You once again proved that you have no ideology and that no values are holy for you except for keeping your cabinet seats.
  • Monday, July 19, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon

Watch what "settlers storming the Al Aqsa mosque" today looks like according to Islamic Jihad (video)

Palestine Today, the newspaper of Islamic Jihad, features video from today's visits of Jews to the Temple Mount.

Dozens of settlers stormed this morning, Monday 19/7/2021, the day of Arafat, the greatest day of Hajj, in defiance and a dangerous transgression that has not occurred in the past years.

The occupation forces had launched a drone over the Marwani Mosque to secure the settlers’ incursions.

Our correspondents reported that the intrusion comes again in clear defiance of all the feelings of Muslims in the world, and without any consideration, amid great security restrictions.
Here you can see yourself how disrespectful the Jewish stormers are towards the feelings of Muslims. 



The "storming" is quieter than the roosters are.





  • Monday, July 19, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon

Yair Lapid's speech on antisemitism




There was a conference on antisemitism in Jerusalem last week that received very little publicity - until Israeli opposition politicians decided to politicize it and attack Yair Lapid's speech, claiming that he tried to water down and "all lives matter" antisemitism by comparing it to other forms of hate.

He did nothing of the kind. His speech was short but excellent. His point was that what starts as antisemitism rarely ends there, and it is not only a problem for Jews but for everyone. In his words, "Antisemitism is not the first name of hate, it is its family name. "


On December 27, 1944 my father was a child in the Budapest ghetto. They lived then 600 people in a smaller basement than the hall where you are now sitting. At this point they lived mostly from the meat of dead horses they found on the street. That morning his mother - my grandmother - called him and said, ′′ Tomika, you don't know that, but today is your bar-mitzvah. Your father won't come already," Grandpa at this point already died in the gas chamber at the Mauthausen concentration camp, ′′ I can't bake you a cake ", She continued, ′′ But there's one thing I can do." and she took out a small vial of perf Chanel 5 ". It was the classic perfume of elegant ladies like she was before the war, and only God knows how she kept it intact all these years. Then grandma forcefully broke the vial on the floor and said, ′′ At least it won't be stinky in my son's bar-mitzvah."

This story comes with a question: Why?

Why did they hate him so much?

Why did they want to kill a 13 year old they didn't know. That didn't do anything wrong to them?

My father did not write the protocols of the elders of Zion. He was not an international banker. He didn't answer any of the anti-Semitic stereotypes. Why did they want to kill him so bad?

The answer is that they did not want to kill him even though they did not know him, but because they did not know him.

The anti-Semites always say, ′′ How many of my good friends are Jews ״. The absurdity is that this is probably true. They don't hate the Jews they know, because they know they are human like them. They hate the Jews they don't know, because it's easy to hate people in groups. That's how hate works. The first condition is the dehumanization of those you hate. He's not really a person. He's a faceless group that you can throw all the fears and all the hate and all the prejudices on. The Jew you know loves his children, the Jew you don't know hates your children.

So the question is not ′′ which person is the Jew ״, but ′′ what person is capable of hating someone so much that he doesn't know?״ What person is so full of hate and venom and prejudice and racism that he wants to kill children who did nothing wrong to him?

For too long we've defended. Too much we thought we should tell the right story about the Jews so that the anti-Semites stop hating us. I want to offer you the opposite option:

It's time we start telling the right story about the anti-Semites. It's time we tell the world what we're facing. The anti-Semites were not only in the Budapest ghetto. The anti-Semites were slave merchants who threw slave ships into the ocean water slaves chained in chains. The anti-Semites are the members of the Hooti tribe in Rwanda who slaughtered the Totsi tribe. The anti-Semites are Muslim fanatics who have killed more than 20 million other Muslims in the last decade. The anti-Semites are ISIS, and Boko Haram. The anti-Semites are people who beat young people from the LGBT community. The anti-Semites are everyone who persecutes people not because of what they did, but because of what they are. Because of how they were born.

Antisemitism is not the first name of hate, it is its last name. She is anyone who eats hate so much that he wants to murder and destroy and chase and expel people just because they are different from him.

The Jewish people rightly expect the world to remember the Holocaust. The Holocaust is the end phenomenon of hate. She is the example of what happens to hate when no one stands in front of her. There was nothing like the Holocaust in the history of humanity. A phenomenon like modern anti-Semitism, which we are facing today, is actually everywhere. To fight her, we need allies. We need to recruit anyone who believes that people should not be persecuted because of their religion, or sexual orientation, or because of their origin or because of their gender. We need to tell them that anti-Semitism will never stop in Jews only. She will always move on. The fight is not between anti-Semites and Jews, the fight is between anti-Semites and everyone who believes in values like equality, and justice and human love.

Anti-Semitism is racism, so let's talk to anyone who is against racism. Anti-Semitism is extremism, so let's cooperate with anyone who extremism scares him. Anti-Semitism is xenophobia, so let's recruit anyone who has ever been a stranger to us and tell him, ′′ This is also your war ״. If you don't help us today to fight against anti-Semitism, someone might in the future look at your child and say to himself, "I want him to die.״
The agenda for the 7th Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism looks like it was interesting, so my question is why aren't most of the videos and texts of the other speeches and discussions online? I could only find a few sessions.

Opening ceremony and speeches:


Lapid's speech (starts with audio only, video starts around 2:00)



Session about how antisemitism was fought by the Chelsea football club. 







Jews visit the grave of Otniel ben Kenaz in Hebron




Arab media reports that IDF soldiers protected Jews who visited the cave gravesite of Otniel ben Kenaz in Hebron.

Otniel was the first Biblical judge after Joshua's death. Jews are allowed to visit only a few times a year, and one of those days is Tisha B'Av.

The Jerusalem Post reported on one such pilgrimage in 2019.

One 19th century visitor to the tomb was Israel Joseph Benjamin, a Jew who traveled the world in search of the ten lost tribes of Israel. His book looks really interesting, and I hope to have more posts about it, but he mentions the gravesite:

Likewise outside the city (of Hebron) towards the south in a vineyard, which was purchased by the Jews, are the graves of the father of King David and of the first Judge, Othnieli the son of Kinah (sic.)
Benjamin, whose pen-name is based on famed Jewish explorer Benjamin of Tudela, also mentions the tomb of Abner, also in Hebron, which can only be visited by Jews for ten days a year.




Sunday, July 18, 2021

  • Sunday, July 18, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon

Mahmoud Abbas condemns Jewish right to worship. The international community pretty much agrees with this antisemitism.



Israel's Prime Minister's Office issued this fairly bland and utterly uncontroversial statement, if it  would have been made by anyone else about any other place:

Prime Minister Bennett just spoke with Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev and Israel Police Inspector General Koby Shabtai. 
 
The Prime Minister thanked the Public Security Minister and the Israel Police Inspector General for managing the events on the Temple Mount with responsibility and consideration, while maintaining freedom of worship for Jews on the Mount.
 
Prime Minister Bennett emphasized that freedom of worship on the Temple Mount will be fully preserved for Muslims as well, who will soon be marking the fast of the Day of Arafah and the Eid al-Adha.
So of course, Palestinian dictator Mahmoud Abbas freaked out:

The Palestinian presidency expressed its condemnation and categorical rejection of the statements issued by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, in which he said that the freedom of worship of Jews and Muslims must be preserved in Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The presidency considered that this statement from Bennett is an escalation that is pushing towards a dangerous religious conflict, for which the Israeli government bears the responsibility, as it puts obstacles in the way of international efforts, especially since this provocation is taking place on the eve of the celebration of the blessed Eid al-Adha.

The presidency said that the Palestinian leadership should take all the required and necessary measures to preserve our inalienable historical rights in Jerusalem and the Islamic and Christian holy sites.
One side comes across as tolerant and liberal. The other is intolerant and antisemitic.

The international community is solidly on the side of the antisemite.

Egypt condemned Jews visiting the Temple Mount. So did the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. So did Turkey and Jordan.

The EU tweeted, "Concerned over ongoing tensions around the Haram Al-Sharif/Temple Mount. Acts of incitement have to be avoided and the status quo respected. Israeli authorities, religious, and community leaders from all sides should act urgently to calm down this explosive situation."

When they say "status quo" they mean Jews shouldn't be allowed to visit their most sacred place. The US has said similar things.

Which means that antisemitism is the official policy of most of the world, and Israel defending the human rights of Jews is twisted into saying Israeli Jews are the bigots.






  • Sunday, July 18, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon

Head of human rights NGO, @KenRoth, blames antisemitism on Jews

Last week, Sam Sokol wrote in Haaretz:

British Jews experienced an “unprecedented number of antisemitic incidents” during and after this summer’s fighting between Israel and Hamas, the Jewish community’s watchdog organization announced on Thursday.

In a report, the Community Security Trust stated that 628 antisemitic incidents were recorded during the one-period between May 8 and June 7, a rise of 365 percent over April and “the highest number CST has ever recorded in any month-long period.”

“This was the most intense period of anti-Jewish hatred seen in the U.K. in recent years,” the group stated. “It saw record levels of antisemitic hate incidents, anti-Jewish chants and placards on public demonstrations, incitement from radical Islamist extremists in the U.K. and calls from jihadist terrorist groups for Jews to be killed.” The organization added that “the level of anger and hate that is directed at Israel always spills over into antisemitism at times of conflict,” with British Jews being “held responsible for events thousands of miles away, over which they have no control, simply because they are Jewish.”

According to the CST, 83 percent of incidents constituted abusive behavior, 7.5 percent of incidents involved threats and 5 percent involved assaults. Many involved Jewish people being singled out on the streets or in schools with screams and chants about the Palestinians.

In one case, a man stopped Jewish high school students in London and threatened to punch them if they did not say they supported the Palestinians. He then said: “Tell your fucking mum and dad they are murderers and killing babies.”

In another, a speaker at a Manchester demonstration accused Jews of controlling the media, declaring that “the main 13 executives that approve the content released by the BBC are actually in fact Jewish. So this means the information released by the mainstream media will be biased.”

On May 21, police arrested a man whom witnesses said broke into the car of an Orthodox Jew and began hitting the driver unprovoked. The incident happened outside the Kosher Kingdom store on Golders Green Road before noon. One witness told the Jewish News of London that the car had been targeted because it displayed an Israeli flag.
Ken Roth, who has a salary in excess of $600,000 for heading Human Rights Watch, ran this information through his twisted, Israel hating brain, and wrote this tweet:
Antisemitism is always wrong, and it long preceded the creation of Israel, but the surge in UK antisemitic incidents during the recent Gaza conflict gives the lie to those who pretend that the Israeli government's conduct doesn't affect antisemitism. 

There are at least three things that are outrageous about this tweet:

1. Anytime you say that something is wrong but....you are justifying it. Roth would never, ever formulate a tweet beginning with "Racism is wrong but" or "Asian bashing is wrong but..." Yet in this case he is making an excuse for a specific subset of antisemitic attacks.

2.  Roth is not blaming attacks on Jews on the attackers, but on Jews themselves. Specifically, his hate for Israel is so pathological that he says that Arabs attacking random Jews in the UK should be blamed on Israel.

3. He doesn't mention his own role in fomenting antisemitism. After all, years of telling the world that Israel is uniquely evil, and since April most of his tweets slandering Israel as being guilty of apartheid and racism, has a cumulative effect on people. When the leaders of human rights organizations demonize Jews, it can result in people justifying attacking Jews. 

Roth saw that his tweet was being ratioed with withering criticism, and he attempted to clarify it:

Interesting how many people pretend that this tweet justifies antisemitism (it doesn't and I don't under any circumstances) rather than address the correlation noted in the Haaretz article between recent Israeli government conduct in Gaza and the rise of UK antisemitic incidents.
Is that what the article says? Because its author doesn't think so!


If he would have said anything remotely similar about racism, or sexism, he would be forced out of his job within minutes of the tweet.

But antisemitism is an exception to the no tolerance policy for bigotry among those who travel in Roth's circles. 

This one episode exposes the hypocrisy of the "human rights" community, the lie that the Left stands in solidarity with Jews under attack, and the impunity that Roth and Human Rights Watch have to slander the Jewish state and its supporters.




Peter Beinart just proved he is a bigot by his own definition

There seems to be a tendency among Israel haters to play a "can you top this?" game where they fall over themselves to find new ways to accuse Jews and Zionists of being horrific people with new accusations against them - even though nothing has changed on the ground.

Peter Beinart jumps on the bandwagon by not only repeating that Israel is guilty of apartheid - a position that he argued against not long ago - but he then goes on to say that all Zionists, and indeed anyone accusing haters of Israel of antisemitism, are in fact bigots - because they are "anti-Palestinian."


His argument is muddled, to put it mildly. He starts off by saying that the Republicans wanted to censure Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Presley, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for “inciting anti-Semitic attacks across the United States.” with their scurrilous accusations of Israeli "apartheid" are in fact the real bigots:

Such accusations have dogged Tlaib, Omar, Pressley, and Ocasio-Cortez since they entered Congress. Search for articles alleging that they are antisemitic and Google generates a seemingly endless supply. But if you search for articles suggesting that their critics are  “anti-Palestinian,” you’ll find next to nothing.

Let's ignore for now that the entire spike in antisemitism in the US, Canada and UK during the last two months has been clearly tied to pro-Palestinian attackers, and that the link between slandering Israel and attacking Jews is crystal clear.

Since only Tlaib has Palestinian ancestry, Beinart's claim that the politicians who criticize the"squad" are anti-Palestinian bigots means that he is saying that anyone who supports the only Jewish state (or points out the link between anti-Zionism and  antisemitic attacks) is a bigot.

What, exactly, is "anti-Palestinianism" according to Peter Beinart? He doesn't define it, so it is unclear whether he thinks it is bigotry against Palestinian Arabs or simply being against Palestinian Arab nationalism.He brings examples that would indicate both of those, saying that anyone who is against a Palestinian state that would be a danger to Israel is guilty of the brand new crime of "anti-Palestinianism."

But if being against a Palestinian state is bigotry, that means that being against nationalism is bigotry.

And since Beinart has established himself in recent years as being the leading Jewish intellectual anti-Zionist, then by his own definition he is a bigot.

Beinart quotes one potential definition of "anti-Palestinianism" that is instructive:
In a tweet last fall, Mezna Qato, a historian of the Middle East at Cambridge University, defined “anti-Palestinianism” as “Prejudice, hostility or discrimination against Palestinians. Denial of the Nakba. Accusing a Palestinian of ‘latent’ racism(s) without cause. Allowing Palestinian exception to all other held liberal or left values/politics.” 

If Beinart accepted that these are examples of bigotry, then Beinart and all anti-Zionists are bigots.

“Prejudice, hostility or discrimination against Zionists" - All of Beinart's writings at Jewish Currents are hostile to Zionists and Zionism.

"Denial of the Jewish history of the Land" - Beinart isn't guilty of this but there are countless examples of Palestinians denying the existence of the Temples in Jerusalem, taking over Jewish holy spots and claiming them as their own [there are literally no Jewish holy spots in Israel that Muslims do not claim themselves,) andclaiming

"Accusing a Zionist of ‘latent’ racism(s) without cause." That is the entire point of this essay!

"Allowing Zionist exception to all other held liberal or left values/politics." Palestinians do not hold liberal values by any definition. Zionists, generally, do, from equal rights for women and gays to sensitivity to animal rights to adherence to human rights standards. Israel's tolerance of Islam is far greater than what is found in Europe, where minarets, burkinis, hijabs and Muslim slaughter are all subject to restrictions that are unheard of in Israel. 

The only exception to liberal/left politics is in fact their opposition to the most liberal state in the region.

Peter Beinart has defined himself and his allies as bigots, in black and white.

Beinart tries to thread the needle, by ridiculously claiming that what Palestinians (or, specifically, Tlaib) want is not a Palestinian state but a state where Palestinians are the vast majority (thanks to "return") and yet Jews will supposedly be granted equal rights. Anyone who follows even a little bit of the news, or the history of the Arab claim to want equal rights for Jews in an Arab majority state, knows that this is not at all what Palestinians want. Surveys, speeches, and history proves that Palestinians have always wanted to control the areas that Jews controlled, and nothing else. 

The history of Palestinian nationalism is the history of Palestinian Arab antisemitism:

From the Mufti who considered Palestine to be southern Syria before the British Mandate,

to their insistence that Jews under the threat of annihilation be forbidden to immigrate to British Mandate Palestine while Arabs could enter freely,

to the 11th hour "binational state" that Arabs proposed in 1947 when it looked like they would lose the partition vote - a state where Jews would have full rights - a mere ten days before they started attacking Jews in Palestine and a mere year before Transjordan expelled all Jews from its portion of Palestine,

 to the 1964 PLO Covenant that excluded the West Bank and Gaza from its desired "Palestine" because Jews didn't control those areas,

 to Yasir Arafat's 1974  "phased" plan to destroy Israel (never renounced),

 to the repeated Palestinian refusal to accept a state and permanent peace and their choice to kill Jews instead,

 to surveys that show that Palestinians who say they want a two state solution see it as a stepping stone to taking over the entire area where Jews have no national rights - but Arabs do.

Just today, these enlightened, democratic Palestinian Arabs are denouncing Jews visiting the site of the Jewish Temples on the anniversary of their  destruction. (They also demand that the Western Wall be considered Muslim so Jews would be limited from visiting there, just as they were before 1967 and 1948.)

Who is Peter Beinart trying to kid when he claims that an Arab majority state from the river to the sea would allow Jews to have equal rights? 

When Beinart defends Palestinian nationalism, he is defending antisemitism. 

I want to be clear: when Westerners talk about a Palestinian state, they do not mean a state that is antisemitic. But when Palestinians talk about a Palestinian state - whether it is side by side with or replacing Israel - they look at it as a means to end Jewish rights in the region. It is purely antisemitic. In fact,  antisemitism is the very reason they have not accepted a state by now, because it would allow a viable Jewish state to still exist.

Beinart knows the truth. Zionists know the truth. Palestinians know the truth. But liberal Westerners are ignorant about the history, about the bigotry in daily Palestinian media, the antisemitism taught in Palestinian schools. Beinart wants to gaslight Western liberals into accepting his grand plan to destroy the Jewish state in the name of tolerance and human rights, fairness and justice.

They shouldn't believe him. 

After all, he just proved he is a bigot.



07/18 Links: 27 Years Since the Attack That Shook Argentina; Biden gives UNRWA $135m. after agency condemns anti-Israel hatred; Im Tirtzu: 'UN sponsoring BDS groups,'

From Ian:

IDF: 27 Years Since the Attack That Shook Argentina
On July 18th, 1994, the Lebanese terrorist group, Hezbollah, carried out an attack at the site of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) building in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Within hours, Israel sent a rescue team to assist in the search for survivors. This is one of the many attacks committed by Hezbollah abroad and is indicative of its presence and activity in Latin America.

27 years ago, Hezbollah attacked the AMIA building in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The attack was carried out by means of a vehicle armed with explosives that, after detonating, demolished the 6-story building. This terror attack took the life of 85 and left injured more than 300, most of them members of the Jewish community of Buenos Aires.

Hours after the terror attack, the IDF sent an Israeli Air Force aircraft to Argentina, along with a humanitarian aid delegation made up of officers and soldiers from the Search and Rescue Brigade.

Master Sgt. (Res.) Nissim Nassi, a rescue engineer in the IDF Search and Rescue Brigade, shared with us, “We received the call... and immediately packed our bags and left. We quickly understood that the attack was carried out with a ‘car bomb’ that was found under the building."

The members of the IDF delegation worked together with Argentinian firefighters and volunteers in order to find and rescue as many of the victims as possible. “What struck us was the number of people who wanted to help. We started with the challenging task of evacuating people and trying to find survivors," Master Sgt. (Res.) Nissim Nassi remarks.

According to the Argentinian official investigations, the attack on the AMIA building was carried out by Hezbollah, an internationally recognized terror organization. Hezbollah is based in southern Lebanon and is financed by the Iranian regime. The organization’s primary objectives are to destroy the State of Israel and establish an Islamic republic in the region.

Although most of Hezbollah's activities take place in the Middle East, they maintain a strong presence in Latin America. The terror organization was able to carry out the attack on the AMIA due to its network of operatives abroad. Today, Hezbollah continues to promote illegal activities all over the globe.

Hezbollah’s acts of terror have no borders. Just as they attack Israeli civilians, they pose a constant threat to communities around the world—the terrorist attack on AMIA in 1994 is a prime example.






  • Sunday, July 18, 2021
  • Elder of Ziyon

Before Israel was reborn, every Friday was Tisha B'Av for Jerusalem's Jews


Ahead of Tisha B'Av, I looked up some 19th century accounts of Christians who visited the Kotel, or the "Jews Wailing Place" as they called it. 

Every Friday, Jews of Jerusalem would come to mourn at the Wall for the destruction of Jerusalem. Every Friday was more emotionally wrenching for these Jews than Tisha B'Av is for most of us today.  

This account even says that Jews recited Kinot (elegies) every Friday:

From Toward the Sunrise: Being Sketches of Travel in Europe & the East, by Hugh Johnston · 1881:
A very touching and sadly suggestive scene is the wailing of the Jews when, from week to week,  these poor, despised, down-trodden people gather to sigh, and mourn , and sob over the ruins of their temple.

The Jews' Wailing Place is a little quadrangular area, about one hundred feet long and thirty feet wide, an exposed part of the outer western wall of the Haram , between the gates of the Chain and of the Strangers. It is a fragment of the old wall of the Temple, as shown by the five courses of large bevelled stones, and here on Friday afternoons the Jews gather together to weep over the ruins of the Holy City, and mourn for their “ holy and beautiful house ” defiled by infidels. There are old Jews with black caps and dingy dress, sitting on the ground, reading out of old, greasy books ; and Jewesses, draped in their white izars, sitting in sorrow , their cheeks bathed in tears, or kissing passionately the stones which formed part of the foundations of the holy house. Unhappy ones, they can get no nearer the place of their fallen temple, for to cross the threshold of the sacred enclosure, on Mount Moriah, is instant death to a Jew. 

There they are, engaged in their devotions ; some standing, some .sitting, some kneeling, others lying prostrate upon the ground. They read lamentation after lamentation : “ Be not wrath very sore, O Lord ; neither remember iniquity forever ; behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. Thy holy cities are a wilderness; Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire, and all our pleasant  things are laid waste.” — Isa. lxiv. 9, 11. "O God, the heathen are come unto thine inheritance ; thy holy temple have they defiled ; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. We are become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to them that are around about us.” -Ps. lxxix . 1-4 . 

One of their wailing chants is in words like these : 
“ Because of the palace which is deserted, We sit alone and weep ; 
Because of the temple which is destroyed, We sit alone and weep ; 
Because of the walls that are broken down, We sit alone and weep ; 
Because of our greatness which is departed, We sit alone and weep ; 
Because of the precious stones of the Temple ground to powder, We sit alone and weep." 


From Eastern Life - Present and Past, by Harriet Martineau · 1876. This author could not imagine that less than a century later, her hopes would largely come true.
 I have said how proud and prosperous looked the Mosque of Omar, with its marble buildings, its green lawns, the merry children, and gay inmates making holiday ; all these ready and eager to stone to death on the instant any Jew or Christian who should dare to bring  his homage to the sacred spot. This is what we saw within the walls. 
We next went round the outside , till we came, by a narrow crooked passage, to a desolate spot, occupied by desolate people. Under a high, massive, very ancient wall, was a dusty, narrow inclosed space, where we saw the most mournful groups I ever encountered. This high ancient wall , where weeds are springing from the crevices of the stones, is believed to be a part, and the only part remaining, of Solomon's temple wall : and here the Jews come, every Friday, to their Place of Wailing, as it is called, to mourn over the fall of their Beautiful House, and pray for its restoration. What a contrast did these humbled people present to the proud Mohammedans within ! The women were sitting in the dust - some wailing aloud, some repeating prayers with moving lips, and others reading them from books on their knees. A few children were at play on the ground, and some aged men sat silent, their heads drooped on their breasts. Several younger men were leaning against the wall, pressing their foreheads against the stones, and resting their books on their clasped hands in the crevices. With some, this wailing is no form ; for I saw tears on their cheeks. I longed to know if any had hope in their hearts that they, or their children within a few generations, should pass that wall, and become the echoes of that ancient cry , “ Lift up your heads, O ye gates, that the King of Glory may come in !” If they have any such hope, it may give some sweetness to this rite of humiliation. We had no such' hope for them ; and it was with unspeakable sadness that I , for one, turned away from the thought of the pride and tyranny within that enclosure, and the desolation with out, carrying with me a deep - felt lesson on the strength of human faith , and the weakness of the tie of human brotherhood .


From an essay in Memories of Gospel Triumphs Among the Jews During the Victorian Era by John Dunlop, 1894. Although this author was writing about the desire that Jews would all convert to Christianity, these observations of Jewish continuity and attachment to Jerusalem are spot on.




(This post was queued up before the fast day)


Saturday, July 17, 2021

07/17 Links: Yisrael Medad: Jabotinsky, Arabs and the Jewish homeland; Ilhan Omar’s antisemitism poses a moment of reckoning for Democrats; Brooklyn Man Beaten, Robbed on Way to Synagogue

From Ian:

Yisrael Medad: Jabotinsky, Arabs and the Jewish homeland
To reach that stage, Jabotinsky wrote that the Jews in the Mandate territory required a wall. Was that wall, a la Podeh, one of a separation of populations? One of apartheid? One of suppression? No. He explained, “The only way to obtain such an agreement is the iron wall, which is to say a strong power in Palestine that is not amenable to any Arab pressure.”

Jabotinsky’s Iron Wall was part of a defensive mechanism that would convince Arabs engaged in a terrorist campaign that they would fail. A century later, they have not yet surrendered their campaign of violence, negation and rejection of Jewish national identity.

Jabotinsky’s outlook on the Arabs in Mandate Palestine was based on his early promotion, from 1906, on behalf of national rights of minorities in Europe’s multi-ethnic empires. His dissertation was on Karl Renner’s concept of national cultural autonomy.

His 1929 poem, Two Banks has the Jordan, contains the line, “There the son of Arabia, of Nazareth and my son will find fulfillment”. In a 1930 essay, he wrote, “He can produce documentary evidence of always having been a staunch adherent of the binational, even the multi-national state idea.”

Gil Rubin, in his 2019 study, notes that Jabotinsky, despite writing in 1937, “From a Jewish perspective it [population transfers] is a crime,” did consider the idea of a transfer proposal of Arabs out of Palestine in an outline of an article jotted down in November 1939. His thinking was influenced by the Peel Commission’s recommendation to relocate 300,000 Arabs, and also based on his belief that no ethnic minorities would remain in Eastern Europe after the war. Up to twenty million minority peoples, he foresaw, would be forced to leave their homes or assimilate into the majority population.

Nevertheless, as Jabotinsky’s “The Arab Angle Undramatized” proposal shows, he believed once a firm Jewish majority was in place, it would convince the Arab residents that Jewish primacy was the reality and normalcy. The article outlined in detail his view that wide-ranging autonomy rights could be then granted. His thinking formed the basis of Menachem Begin’s 1977 autonomy proposal.

It is unfortunate that we are a witness to Elie Podeh’s own legacy of falsehood.


Israel quietly letting Jews pray on Temple Mount, in break with status quo — TV
Israel has quietly started allowing Jewish prayers on the Temple Mount in recent months, in what would appear to be a major change to the status quo that has existed at the holy site since the Jewish state captured the Old City of Jerusalem from Jordan during 1967’s Six Day War, according to a report Saturday.

Channel 12’s religious affairs reporter Yair Cherki filmed prayers at the site in recent days, as policemen — who in the past would eject any person suspected of prayer, and sometimes kicked people out for merely citing a biblical verse while speaking — passively looked on.

“For months now, every morning this unofficial prayer quorum has been praying on the Temple Mount,” Cherki said. The worshipers gather without prayer books, tefillin or any other symbols of prayer that could draw unwanted attention from Muslims at the compound that houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

But pray they do, with the cops turning a blind eye. The Islamic Waqf, which administers the compound, is aware of the situation and monitors them from a distance, but has so far not taken action, according to the report.

Cherki described the developments as “a revolution, unfolding quietly and gradually under the radar.”

The Temple Mount is the holiest place in Judaism, as the site of the biblical Temples. It is the site of the third-holiest shrine in Islam, the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Biden’s Mideast point man said to urge Israel to aid a teetering PA
The US administration’s point person for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reportedly warned Israeli officials during his visit to the region this week that the Palestinian Authority is undergoing one of its worst crises yet and that Jerusalem would be well advised to provide some assistance.

“I have never seen the Palestinian Authority in a worse situation,” US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israel and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr told Israeli officials, according to a Thursday report by the Axios news site.

The PA’s crisis is multifaceted: At the economic level, it has suffered significantly as a result of the ongoing pandemic. It has also seen Israel withhold hundreds of millions of shekels in tax revenues on an annual basis since 2019 in order to offset funds that Ramallah pays to terrorists and their families.

The PA also faces a legitimacy crisis at the political level after its President Mahmoud Abbas made the decision in April to indefinitely postpone the first parliamentary election in nearly 15 years. The PA leader said the decision was due to Israel’s refusal to allow balloting in East Jerusalem, but most observers charged that Abbas feared an embarrassing loss to his rivals in Hamas and within his own Fatah party.

To make matters worse, the PA became the target of international uproar after a prominent Palestinian activist, Nizar Banat, was killed last month while in PA custody. The death sparked protests throughout the West Bank, against which Abbas’s security forces clamped down harshly, leading to further demands for explanations from the US and other countries around the world.

Amr met with Abbas, PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and other senior Palestinian officials in Ramallah as well as Israeli officials in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv while in the region this week.
Palestinian-Jordanian crisis erupts ahead of Abdullah-Biden meeting
A senior Palestinian official has triggered a crisis between the Palestinian Authority and Jordan after stating that the Palestinians alone had thwarted former US President Donald Trump’s plan for Mideast peace.

The Jordanians say that they also played a major role in derailing the Trump plan.

The PA dismissed the Trump plan, which was unveiled in January 2020, as a conspiracy aiming to liquidate the Palestinian issue and Palestinian rights.

The Arab League, including Jordan, also rejected the plan, saying it would not lead to peace or meet the minimum rights and aspirations of the Palestinians.

Jordanians feared that the plan aimed to turn their country into an alternative homeland for the Palestinians.

The crisis comes on the eve of a meeting in Washington between Jordan’s King Abdullah II and US President Joe Biden.

It also comes two weeks after PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Abdullah agreed during a meeting in Amman to coordinate positions “on the interest of the Arab nation and its common cause, primarily the Palestinian cause,” according to the PA’s official news agency WAFA.

During the meeting, Abdullah reiterated Jordan’s support for the Palestinians “in achieving their just and legitimate rights and establishing their independent, sovereign and viable state on the June 4, 1967, lines, with east Jerusalem as its capital,” Jordan’s official Petra news agency reported.

The crisis erupted during a recent meeting of the Arab Parliament, the legislative body of the Arab League. A video of the rare public, heated discussion appeared over the weekend on various social media platforms, drawing sharp criticism from Palestinians and Jordanians alike.

The Palestinian official, Azzam al-Ahmed, a veteran member of the Fatah Central Committee, said in a speech before the parliament that the Palestinians alone had foiled Trump’s “Deal of the Century.”

“We are the ones who clashed with America,” he said.

Friday, July 16, 2021

07/16 Link Pt2: Melanie Phillips: The challenge of reconciling Christians and Jews; How can Israel convince gentiles if it can't convince Jews?

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: The challenge of reconciling Christians and Jews
Even in godless Britain, progressive Christians have played a hugely disproportionate role in feeding the new antisemitism through the influence of the Church England itself, Christian non-governmental organizations, and other Christian institutions.

Shouldn't the Church of England be atoning for all this rather than an event that took place seven centuries ago?

The poisonous combination of Christian theology and the social-justice agenda is now making inroads even among America's bedrock Christian supporters. Earlier this year, a survey by the University of North Carolina at Pembroke revealed a sharp drop in support for Israel among young American evangelicals.

Asked whom they supported in the "Israeli-Palestinian dispute," just 33.6% said Israel, 24.3% said the Palestinians and 42.2% said neither side. In a similar survey in 2018, 69% said they sided with Israel, 5.6% said with the Palestinians and 25.7% said they did not take either side.

Supporting Palestinianism enables these young evangelicals to appear cool to their secular peers. The twist is that Palestinian "replacement theology" enables them also to tell themselves that they are still loyal Christian believers.

Only now, they believe the ludicrous fiction that Jesus was a Palestinian, and its grotesque spin-off that the Israelis are crucifying the Palestinians of today.

Saying sorry for the past just isn't enough. Addressing Christian antisemitism involves facing its anti-Israel element head-on.

This doesn't just mean acknowledging the pernicious lies and distortions about Israel perpetrated by the church; it also means acknowledging the roots of this bigotry in Christian theology.

Only such honesty can start to reconcile Christians and Jews, and open the path to a partnership between these two parent-and-daughter faiths that is essential if the West is to be defended against the forces threatening to bring its historic culture and values down.
How can Israel convince gentiles if it can't convince Jews? - opinion
The recent Pew survey shows that only a third of US Jews believe the Israeli government is making a sincere effort to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Of the Jews who support the ruling Democratic Party, only 20% think so.

The Lapid-Bennett government is unlikely to change this worrying picture because its existence depends on maintaining the status quo on the Palestinian issue. Consequently, the desire to restore a healthy balance to the triangular relationship will eventually encounter an unbridgeable obstacle: the lack of a credible Israeli intention to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians.

The same obstacle will also prevent the success of Israel hasbara (PR) efforts in the US and the West in general. In 1993, Christopher and Peres feared that American Jewry would not support the Oslo Accords arguing that Israel had gone too far in making concessions to the Palestinians. Over the years this picture has completely reversed. Most American Jews believe that Israel is not at all interested in marching toward a settlement.

The Palestinian issue is not a matter of bad public relations that a shrewd argument could overcome. It is a living reality that threatens Israel’s identity and its future. The illusion that the solution to the problem exists in the realm of rhetoric did not begin with Netanyahu. When Menachem Begin outlined the ‘Foundations of Hasbara (PR) Abroad’ he wrote: “Do not mix into the language of the past the linguistic barbarity ‘Palestine’... Why can we not say: ‘Arabs of the Land of Israel’? And in saying this, we immediately create a different moral and political perspective.”

Compared to the Netanyahu era, the new government is indeed a refreshing breeze. But even this government will find that being nice and showing good manners do not create a “different moral and political perspective.” It would be useful to revisit the words of Shimon Peres: “Without a policy of a peace initiative, Israel cannot conduct an effective policy of hasbara… The problem is not just what we’re explaining, but to what extent are we believed.”

Israel’s hasbara problem is, of course, only a symptom of much more serious phenomena, among them: the threat to our relations with the US and its Jews. If we fail to convince the Jews, how can we persuade the gentiles?
The Tikvah Podcast: Daniel Gordis on the Rift Between American and Israeli Jews
It’s sometimes asserted, particularly in elite circles, that liberal American Jews have grown distant from Israel because of Israel’s actions, including those undertaken by longtime and now former prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. With the ascension this year of a new prime minister and a new government in Israel, the time has come to reassess that argument and consider it anew.

The American-Israeli writer Daniel Gordis disagrees with this idea, that Israel’s actions determined American Jewish attitudes. To him, the growing divide between Israeli and American Jews is decidedly not about what Israel does. It is, rather, about what Israel is. The two largest Jewish communities in the world are animated by different attitudes about Jewish life and Jewish prosperity. In this rebroadcast conversation from 2019 between Gordis and Mosaic’s editor Jonathan Silver, he argues that these more fundamental differences, not the policies of the Netanyahu government or the chief rabbinate, are the true cause of the widening rift between the Jews of Israel and the United States. That suggests that a simple change in a policy—as the new government may bring about—won’t bridge the gap
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