Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, July 21, 2021

Israel’s Second Struggle for Independence (Vic Rosenthal)

(Judean Rose will be taking off for several weeks.)

Weekly column by Vic Rosenthal

Israel’s Second Struggle for Independence

The USA has been Israel’s greatest friend and supporter in recent years.

It is also Israel’s biggest problem.

Our dependence on American military aid has sharply limited our freedom of action, distorted our decisions about procurement of weapons, crippled the development of our own military industries, corrupted our decision-makers, and damaged our standing as a sovereign state.

It is true that on some occasions Israel has acted against America’s wishes, such as the bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981. It is also true that far more frequently, Israel has been forced to bow to US demands, even when they are not in her best interests. In several wars and smaller operations, cease-fires have been dictated by American pressure, although Israel would have preferred to continue fighting longer in order to achieve a decisive victory. During the Gulf War, the US prevented Israel from retaliating for Iraqi Scud attacks. In peacetime, US pressure has prevented Israel from building in Judea and Samaria, and forced Israel to accept Palestinian demands for the release of prisoners. American opposition was a major factor in the decision not to attack Iranian nuclear facilities in the 2010-2012 period.

Israel’s relationship with the US has been better or worse depending on the direction of political winds there, but pressure to reverse the outcome of the 1967 war has been a constant ever since – with the notable exception of the Trump administration, which for the first time recognized Israeli rights to Jerusalem and the Golan heights. But now it seems that the US is taking a turn in the other direction; and this time – thanks to Israel’s conclusive loss of the cognitive war for the consciousness of American elites, the partisan division of attitudes toward Israel, and the new strength of the radical Left in American politics – our time in the wilderness may turn out to be much longer than before.

The inroads being made by elements hostile to Israel into the American educational system, previously limited to higher education, but now reaching into high school and even grade school levels, are troubling. The “intersectional” connections being made between every progressive cause, and the politicization of almost every field of endeavor, have injected the issue of Israel vs. the Palestinians into places where it was not found before.

This is a problem, because our enemies – particularly Iran – are taking advantage of the less pro-Israel climate in the US. The Biden Administration, which has already significantly released the pressure on Iran, appears to be galloping toward a full removal of sanctions, whether or not it will gain significant leverage over their nuclear weapons program. Trump’s sanctions had sent the Iranian economy into a tailspin, which helped energize the Iranian opposition to the repressive and backward regime of the Ayatollahs. Even today, Iranians are in the streets protesting against the regime. But the removal of sanctions will not help them; the regime will funnel cash into its nuclear program, into the pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, Yemen, and Syria, and to build up Israel’s most dangerous enemy, Hezbollah.

At the same time, the Biden Administration, which has staffed its echelons dealing with the Middle East with people less than friendly to Israel – including some with a history of anti-Israel activism (see here, here, and here) – has already restored funding to the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA, plans to re-open the Jerusalem consulate, the unofficial “US Embassy to the State of Palestine” in Jerusalem, and to allow the PLO to restore its embassy in Washington.

A recent poll shows that the Democratic Party, which now controls the House, Senate and the Presidency, has moved significantly away from its formerly solid support for Israel in recent years, with sympathy for Israel among Democrats maintaining a slight edge of only 3 percentage points over sympathy for the Palestinians. The “liberal” wing of the party is far worse, with the Palestinians holding a 15% margin over Israel. Younger respondents also were more likely to favor the Palestinians, which argues for a continuation of the trend. And there is a very vocal contingent in the US Congress that is strongly anti-Israel, and not at all constrained from giving voice to the most extreme anti-Israel propaganda.

The Israeli leadership must come to understand that the continued expectation that Israel will receive military and diplomatic support from the US is unrealistic and dangerous. Israel needs to take action now, to reduce its dependence on the US, to increase its freedom of action, and to build up its own resources in important areas.

There is only one way for a small country in a strategic area to obtain independence from the various empires that wish to make it a satellite, and it is difficult and precarious. That is to play the empires off against one another, and to make alliances with other unaligned nations. I believe that Binyamin Netanyahu understood this, and made small but steady progress in this direction. It remains to be seen if the present government, whose foreign policy appears to be in the hands of the obsequious Yair Lapid, can pull this off.

From the military standpoint, Israel needs to be its own main source of supply. That has implications for the kind of military forces it can field. For example, it may be unrealistic to try to maintain a large fleet of the most sophisticated manned combat aircraft. Drones and precision-guided missiles are far less expensive than F-35s, and while they can’t entirely replace conventional aircraft, a small country will find it more practical to produce and maintain them.

There are also economic considerations. Iron Dome is a wonderful thing, but if it costs $100,000 to intercept a $500 rocket, then massive-scale use of it will bankrupt us. It is much less expensive to deter rocket attacks with the threat of forceful reprisals than to depend on antimissile systems to ward them off. The former strategy is more appropriate for a smaller country whose defense budget is not bottomless. I don’t suggest doing away with antimissile systems entirely, just changing our strategy so that we will not need so many of them.

I recommend that we start moving in this direction now, by agreeing with the US to a gradual phase-out of military aid. At the same time, we will have to revitalize our domestic military industries. Barack Obama very cleverly did not decrease the level of military aid we received, to maintain the maximum leverage over our actions. But the percentage of that aid that could be spent outside of the US was set to gradually drop to zero over the next few years. This had the effect of increasing the subsidy that aid to Israel provided to US defense contractors, and weakening Israel’s home-grown industry. This made us more dependent and at the same time reduced the competition to American weapons suppliers in the world market. A win-win-win for the US, but a loss for us.

America is changing in ways that are not good for America, and not good for us. I hope that the political/cultural pendulum in the US will swing the other way. Probably it will, if the nation survives the present storm intact. But here on the other side of the world, Israel’s enemies are not waiting with their hands folded. She will either adapt to the new situation or find herself in deep trouble

I'm continuing on with my reading of the journey of Israel Joseph Benjamin in the middle of the 19th century.

Here is what he encountered in Erbil, in what is now the Kurdistan portion of Iraq:

Erbil is divided into two parts ; of which the one lying on the mountain is the city, the other, in the vast plain is the seat of trade and industry. One hundred and fifty Jewish families dwell here whose Nassi is Mailum Mordecai; they are however mueh oppressed by the fanatic, rude and half civilized sects of Allah, of which I will relate some examples.

A short time before my arrival a Jewish girl emptying some dirty water into the street, accidentally besprinkled with it a Mussulman who happened to be passing by. Im- mediately a crowd assembled before the house, broke open the door, seized the girl, and heaped upon her all kinds of threatening abuse; asking her how she, the daughter of an accursed race, dare presume to insult a true believer. The girl defended herself to the best of her ability, but the leader of the uproar cried out to her: "There is only one way for thy escape, embrace our faith, and thou shalt marry one of our people, who is young, handsome, rich, and of a good family." But the girl refused and answered: "I am a Jewess, born so, and as such I will die; never will I deny my God, my people and my faith. If you kill me, God will demand of you my blood, and the Lord will avenge me." — After that they seized her, killed her before the eyes of her parents by stabbing her with their knives, and in tore her in pieces. —

The community desired at first prefer a complaint before the Pacha of Baghdad and afterwards at Constantinople, but they refrained from doing so for fear of other persecutions and of a general massacre.

In the same year Rabbi Perachia, a deputy of the Portuguese Jews at Jerusalem, who was commissioned to receive the charitable alms for the poor Jews of Jerusalem, died at Erbil, and was buried with all the honours belonging to his sacred office. The night following the burial the Musselmans tore the body out of the grave, cut off a hand, and threw the remains into an open ditch, without even a covering. The Jews repaired to the burial ground, and filled up the empty grave; that was all they ventured to do. The daily occurrence of such oppression has crushed them to such a degree, and the fear of still greater misfortune is so great, that they submit to anything without a murmur...

Another proof of religious oppression causes especial astonishment, because the intolerance of the Mussulmans does not otherwise cross the threshold of the house of God. The Jews of the lower part of the town had erected a new Synagogue and wished to convey solemnly into it according to custom, the manuscripts of the Law. On the road they were attacked by Musselmans, several of them killed, others wounded and the new Synagogue pulled down. Since then a second Temple has been built; but at the solemn conveyance of the Pentateuch into it the same scenes have been repeated.

I myself was a witness to the last disturbance, and can with justice proclaim the State of my brethren in Erbil to be a most unbearable one.

07/21 Links Pt1: State Dept. Rejects BDS After Ben & Jerry’s Joins Anti-Semitic Movement; B&J's board chaired by anti-Zionist; B&J’s Targets Anti-Semite Demographic With Audacious New Ice Cream Flavors

From Ian:

State Department Rejects BDS After Ben & Jerry’s Joins Anti-Semitic Movement

The State Department on Tuesday said it "firmly rejects" the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, just a day after ice cream giant Ben & Jerry's announced that it would stop selling its products in what it called "occupied Palestinian territory."

The left-wing ice cream company announced its support for the BDS movement, which seeks to wage economic warfare on Israel, by stating that its products will no longer be sold in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Supporters of the BDS movement, which is widely seen as anti-Semitic, say that these contested territories are Palestinian lands and that Israel is occupying them.

When asked to clarify the Biden administration's stance on the BDS movement in light of Ben & Jerry's decision, a State Department spokesman told the Washington Free Beacon, "The United States firmly rejects the BDS movement, which unfairly singles out Israel." The statement is likely to rankle far-left elements of the Democratic Party that have sought to push the Biden administration into endorsing BDS.

"While the Biden-Harris Administration will fully and always respect the American people's First Amendment rights, the United States will be a strong partner in fighting efforts to delegitimize Israel, and we will work tirelessly to support Israel's further integration into the international community," the spokesman said.

The ice cream company explained in a Monday statement on its decision that "it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry's ice-cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory." The company will not renew its contract with the Israeli manufacturer that distributes its ice cream in Israel after it expires later this year.

Recently elected Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett said Ben & Jerry's has "decided to brand itself as anti-Israel ice-cream."

Rep. Lee Zeldin (R., N.Y.), a leading pro-Israel lawmaker, accused the company of catering to anti-Semites and discriminating against Jews.

The decision "to target hundreds of thousands of Jewish customers abroad with this discriminatory boycott is a disgrace and a direct embrace of the anti-Israel BDS movement," Zeldin said, adding that he will pressure New York state to cut ties with the company under laws prohibiting the government from partnering with companies that back the BDS movement.

US State Department on @benandjerrys: We firmly reject the BDS movement, which unfairly singles out Israel.”

pic.twitter.com/wPZlu04aYt
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) July 20, 2021

How US laws against Israel boycotts could hit Ben & Jerry’s

The board’s chairwoman, Anuradha Mittal, was furious with Unilever’s response, telling NBC that Unilever was “trying to destroy the soul of the company. We want this company to be led by values and not be dictated by the parent company.”

Mittal, an outspoken critic of Israel on social media, is the founder of the Oakland Institute, a progressive think tank that advocates on issues including trade and land rights.

Even though the current Ben & Jerry’s pledge says it will keep selling in the rest of Israel that it does not consider “occupied,” that may not protect the company from legal repercussions.

Among the 33 states with anti-BDS laws, 21 have measures that target boycotts that include areas controlled by Israel — meaning the West Bank. The language usually reads as it did in the Illinois law passed in 2015: “‘Boycott Israel’ means engaging in actions that are politically motivated and are intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on, or otherwise limit commercial relations with the State of Israel or companies based in the State of Israel or in territories controlled by the State of Israel.”

Ben & Jerry’s could not credibly claim that it does not understand that boycotting settlements would effectively lead to a boycott of all of Israel, argues Eugene Kontorovich, the director of the Center for the Middle East and International Law at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School.

Kontorovich, who is widely seen as an “intellectual architect” of the anti-BDS legislative push, noted that Israel’s laws effectively ban boycotts of the West Bank and that the term “Occupied Palestinian Territory” likely includes eastern Jerusalem, which Israel regards as its sovereign territory. (The company’s statement did not specify from which territories it was seeking to extract its ice cream.) “Ben & Jerry’s is doing this in full awareness that this will basically end their business with Israel,” Kontorovich said.

“Under Israeli law, a business can’t discriminate amongst Israeli citizens, regardless of where they live, and certainly in Israeli sovereign territory,” he added. “The licensee, in this case, understands this full well, and has explained to Ben & Jerry’s that [the licensee] really has no choice but to end its association with Ben & Jerry’s.”

@NYCMayor joins the #BoycottBenAndJerry movement. pic.twitter.com/zexRWw2nqv
— Rabbi Yisroel Kahan ???? (@ykahan) July 20, 2021

Ben & Jerry’s Targets Anti-Semite Demographic With Audacious New Ice Cream Flavors

Left-wing dessert has slaughtered millions through its contributions to the global obesity epidemic

Ben & Jerry's, a left-wing ice cream company owned by Unilever, announced Monday that it will stop selling its products in the so-called Occupied Palestinian Territory, more commonly known as the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The company, which is at least partially responsible for the nearly three million annual deaths from obesity, argued that selling ice cream in those areas was "inconsistent with our values." Others argued the move was merely a performative display of anti-Semitism designed to appeal to journalists and other radical liberals.

New information exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon suggests the company's commitment to anti-Semitism was the driving force behind the decision. Documents obtained by the Free Beacon reveal that Ben & Jerry's plans to target the anti-Semite demographic with an extensive ad campaign touting the release of at least five new ice cream flavors.

Ilhan Omar's All About The Benjalmonds

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Yasser Arafat's First Mintifada

Rothschild's Raspberry Conspiracy

Moodolf's Final TiramiSolution

How can Israel overcome the pervasive lies about it? (Daled Amos)

By Daled Amos

After Israel's miraculous victory in the Six-Day War -- has Israel ever not had a problem with its image?

Israel's image problem got so bad that in April 2007, Newsweek described the quandary the Jewish State found itself in as Girls: Israel's racy new PR strategy:

The Israeli consular official based in New York approached Maxim six months ago. His proposal: the government and other pro-Israeli groups would fly a camera crew across the Atlantic in an effort to remake the Jewish state's public image. Israel's reputation had suffered after last summer's war with Lebanon; in a recent BBC poll taken in 27 countries, 56 percent of respondents considered Israel a "negative influence" in the world, higher than both Iran and the United States. But Israel's real PR problem, according to [the Israeli official], is that Americans—particularly men aged 18 to 35—either associate the country with war or holy relics, or don't think of it at all. "We have to find the right hook," he says. "And what's relevant to men under 35? Good-looking women." [emphasis added]

Newsweek goes on to quote Benny Elon, a former tourism minister and then a settler leader, who described Israel's marketing strength as being "the only state where you can take the Bible as your tourism guide." Based on that, Elon was open to a recommendation by the consulting firm Ernst & Young to target American evangelical Christian tourists, though focusing on attracting Christian tourists could alienate secular liberals.

Which brings us to 2008, and a new approach.

That was the year that Nefesh B'Nefesh's hosted an International Jewish Bloggers Convention. Zavi Apfelbaum, Director of Brand Management of the Foreign Ministry was a featured speaker and described the problem of Israel's negative image. She illustrated the issue with the results of focus groups where small groups of Americans were asked to imagine themselves invited to different homes, each one inhabited by people from a different country, and to describe what they expected to see and experience at each home.

The houses were described as warm, welcoming and colorful, filled with good food, talk and laughter.

But not Israel.

As opposed to all the other homes, the Israeli home was dominated with cement and did not have a grass lawn. The man of the house answers the door and the woman of the home is not even seen. One participant said that it would be uncomfortable to enter, because the home would be 'Orthodox' and the people living there would probably not even want guests.

These are the impressions people had, from Apfelbaum's presentation:

Hat tip: Mystical Paths

Here were intelligent Americans, people who tended to support Israel -- and yet they had no clue as to what Israel and Israelis were really like. Americans supported Israel, but not because they actually understood or could really identify with her.

Apfelbaum described the solution to the problem as "Nation Branding" or "Country Positioning," which would be a departure from the traditional Hasbarah approach, which assumed that Israel's image problem was due to a lack of knowledge, and that the goal was to gain political support.

As described earlier that year by Ido Aharoni, founder of the ministry’s Brand Israel concept, the problem was that

Israel is viewed solely through the narrow prism of the Arab-Israeli conflict…Israel’s personality is 90 per cent dominated by conflict-related images and some religious connotations. Those of us who know the brand intimately are disturbed by the divergence of brand and the perception. [emphasis added]

The new approach would take into account that

aspects of Israel are worthy of promotion, including its culture and arts; its accomplishments on environmental matters such as water desalination, solar energy and clean technology; its high-tech successes and achievements in higher education; and its involvement in international aid, he added.

This was not an entirely new approach to Israel advocacy. An article in The Forward from 2005 describes the competition between the old approach -- presenting Israel's side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- and the new approach:

The new approach to Israeli image control first began to take on institutional form about four years ago with the founding of Israel21c, a small California-based group that has worked with public relations experts to place news stories about Israel that do not focus on the conflict with the Palestinians. The organization has a Web site where it posts articles about, among other things, medical and technological advances in Israeli laboratories.

...The battle of old approach versus new has been crystallized in the competition between Israeli21c and The Israel Project, another American group formed at about the same time. The Israel Project has followed the more traditional path of presenting Israel’s side of the conflict with the Palestinians. Among other things, The Israel Project has paid to air ads in influential markets touting Israel’s commitment to peace and democracy.

Larry Weinberg, executive vice president of Israel 21c, called The Israel Project’s work “crisis management” and said that such efforts frequently end up reinforcing Israel’s image as a conflict-ridden place. [emphasis added]

Comparing the goals then with the way Israel is perceived today, it would seem that the new approach has been a success: Israel today is in fact identified with hi-tech and international aid.

The question is: has this new approach actually helped Israel's image?

According to a 2017 article from JTA, via Haaretz -- not so much, claiming that, The more Americans learn about Israel, the less they like it, study suggests. Those studies are by the Brand Israel Group, which was launched by Ido Aharoni in 2002. In addition to focus groups in 2005, it also commissioned surveys in 2010 and 2016.

Those surveys found that across every demographic group except college students, knowledge of Israel increased: while 23% of Americans claimed they knew a fair amount about Israel in 2010, in 2016 that number had increased to 37%.

And at first glance, that sounds encouraging:

Israel’s touting of its tech industry, warm climate and Mediterranean food may have worked a bit on Americans, who view Israel as innovative (78 percent) and cool (63 percent).

Israel's image, however, did not change in the process:

But around three-quarters of Americans still see Israel as dominated by conflict. And though only 10 percent of Israeli Jews are Haredi Orthodox, 73 percent of Americans view Israel as ultra-religious. [emphasis added]

And when it comes to viewing Israel favorably, things are not getting any better:

The groups with relatively high levels of favorability toward Israel, according to the study, included men, Republicans and older Americans. The groups that like Israel less are the mirror image: women, Democrats and millennials, along with African-Americans and Latinos. And those population groups are all growing.

A majority of all of these groups still sees Israel favorably, but the numbers are falling. Favorability among Democrats dropped 13 points, from 73 percent to 60 percent. Among women, it dropped from 74 percent to 57 percent.

Among African-Americans and Latinos, favorability toward Israel fell 20 points each, from about three-quarters each to just over half. Fewer than half of African Americans and Latinos believe “Israel shares my values.”

That was in 2017.
And we all know that 4 years later, things have only gotten worse.

But wait.

How can Americans say they know more about Israel if they still think that Israel consists of fundamentalist, religious fanatics?

The JTA article doesn't address this, but the answer may be that when people claim they are more knowledgeable about Israel, they are in fact confusing their knowledge of Israel with the added exposure they get to Israel on social media.

And that is something that the marketing gurus and branding experts might not have anticipated 16 years ago.

A 2005 article on the Israel21c website quotes a marketing CEO who explained that the fact that Americans see Israel as a war-torn country as opposed to a hi-tech wonder

doesn’t mean Americans are anti-Israel or pro-Palestinian. They just find Israel to be totally irrelevant to their lives, and they are tuning out, and that is particularly true for 18- to 34-year-old males, the most significant target in such studies. [emphasis added]

And according to Aharoni, part of that tuning out is because of “media fatigue,” and that the longer the Israeli-Palestinian conflict goes on, the less interested Americans become and the more they blame both sides for not ending the violence.

Larry Weinberg, executive vice president of ISRAEL21c chimes in that, "When it comes to Israel, 98 percent of what the media focuses on is the war with the Palestinians and 98 percent of pro-Israel advocacy is going to waste because it’s all about the crisis.” --

Proving that Israel is right and the Palestinians are wrong may be emotionally satisfying for advocates, said the former New York public relations expert, but not necessarily effective in changing people's way of thinking about Israel.
“We’re not saying there should be no more discussion of political policy,” he said, “only that we have to change the mix. Let’s not spend almost all of our time on it. We need a strategy that includes more positive imaging.”

The thing is, people are not tuning out to news about Israel.
There does not appear to be media fatigue or less interest.
And defending Israel on social media is not as emotionally satisfying as Weinberg makes it out to be.
In fact, it takes a toll.

This month, a poll came out finding that 25% of American Jews consider Israel to be an Apartheid state and 22% thought Israel was guilty of genocide. Despite questions on the objectivity of the poll, the results point to a major failure in the Jewish leadership in the US.

And a failure by Israel.

David Horovitz writes in the Times of Israel:

A multitude of factors, some of them far beyond Israel’s control, have led to poll findings such as these. But self-evidently, Israel would help its standing if it explained itself more effectively.

Yet Israel has a long history of failure in doing this.
According to Horovitz, just this past May, during Operation Guardian of the Walls:

o There was no experienced English-language spokesperson to regularly present Israel’s point of view to the media

o  Instead, the job of explaining the war was left to the IDF and to its Spokesperson’s Unit

o  But instead of presenting the context of the war for an international audience, the IDF’s prime focus was on Hamas and Gaza’s other terror groups, to impress upon them the IDF’s strength and capabilities.

o  Among the IDF's "diplomatic" failures were its attempts to deceive world media -- and Hamas -- with false information about a ground offensive and its inability to quickly produce compelling evidence to the public of why it was necessary to destroy a Gaza high-rise that it claimed was a Hamas military asset where the Associated Press had its offices.

o  In the US, Israel’s demanding diplomatic posts of ambassador to the US and ambassador to the UN were filled by one man, Gilad Erdan, who, according to Horovitz "avoided almost all of an avalanche of interview requests, apparently because he was concerned that his English, though serviceable, is not entirely up to the task."

o  The office of consul general in New York was unfilled at the time

o  Major international diplomatic posts, including the ambassadors to Canada, France and Australia, were vacant.

o  Prime Minister Bennet has no English-language spokesperson yet.

o  Erdan has stepped down as ambassador to the United States but has not been replaced

Let the experts argue about the best approach to improving Israel's image.

But first, Israel must finally address the bread-and-butter need for hasbara, to clearly present its case -- not just to its allies, but to Jews around the world inundated with the overwhelming flood of hate in social media, and threatened by the spike in antisemitic attacks that result from it.

From Notes from Poland:

At an anti-vaccine protest in Poland [Sunday,] participants chanted that “Jews are behind the pandemic” and “rule the world”.

In Głogów, a town of 70,000 in western Poland, followers of the local football team on Sunday held the latest in a series of protests against restrictions and vaccines. They called on people to join “the fight for our common future” against “the globalists”.

At [Sunday's] event, a man leading chanting through a megaphone asked the crowd: “We know who is behind this whole ‘plandemic’ and who rules the world, right?” In response, someone shouted “Jews”, and the man replied, “Of course it’s the Jews”.

The crowd then chanted together: “Every Pole can see today that behind the ‘plandemic’ are the Jews” (Dzisiaj każdy Polak widzi, że za plandemią stoją Żydzi).

Over 100 people attended the march, according to NaszeMiasto. Among them were families with children. Many carried white-and-red Polish flags or wore other patriotic symbols. Some also lit flares.

Separately, the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja) party – which has also been involved in protests against coronavirus restrictions – shared a video of one of its supporters saying that she “does not want Jewry” in Poland.

Confederation’s social media profiles shared a video of one of its supporters explaining why she likes the party. “Because I don’t want Jewry, I don’t want LGBT,” she said. “Only Confederation can ensure such normality.”

Following publication of the video, several firms cancelled contracts with the woman shown in it, Samuela Górska, who is a professional model, reports Wirtualne Media.

Górska has been deleting critical comments on her Instagram and Facebook pages.

Between Monday and Tuesday evenings HRW head Ken Roth posted no fewer than ten tweets blaming Israel or Jews for something or another.

This is clearly in response to the criticism he weathered when he essentially blamed antisemitism on Jews on Sunday, showing that in the face of adversity he will redouble his public campaign against Israel and Jews.

He deleted that tweet but didn't apologize - in fact, he instead said that his critics are all idiots for not understanding what he meant, rather they reacted to what he actually wrote.

Really.

He originally wrote, "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. "

On Tuesday, he wrote, "I deleted an earlier tweet because people misinterpreted its wording. " Not "I worded it wrong" but "I'm right, everyone else doesn't understand my English."

He also wrote no less than six tweets about the NSO Group, which makes spyware purchased by many governments, and which was reportedly used for spying on journalists and political opponents. There are many companies that provide tools that governments (and others) can use to illegally spy on citizens, and there is no evidence that the government of Israel knew what NSO was doing - in fact, after the story, the government said that it will investigate the claims. Yet Roth invariably emphasizes "the Israeli NSO group" as if the fact that it is in Israel is what is so damning about it.

(I am not convinced about the story altogether. It is based wholly on a list of 50,000 supposed targets that were "leaked" but no one says where it was leaked from. NSO denies that the list came from them, and there is no reason a company like that would maintain a list of targets from its disparate clients. The investigators are not saying where this list came from. This mystery list is a pretty big hole in the story. It is quite likely that governments that bought NSO Pegasus spyware misused it - any weapon can and will be misused - but the evidence that NSO is culpable for that is thinner than being reported, and there is even less evidence that Israel knew about it.)

Roth- human rights activist - then weighed in on the Ben and Jerry's story, twice. He claimed, incredibly, that anyone selling ice cream to Jews who live in Judea and Samaria are complicit in war crimes. Just like genocide.

But that wasn't enough for Roth. He also tweeted this:

As American Jews turn on the Israeli government for its repression of Palestinians, the government increasingly relies on American evangelical Christians for support, even though their support is based on beliefs that ultimately leave no room for Jews.

The article is behind a paywall. but based on the subhead and Roth's penchant for adding his own opinion as if they are in the link, Roth's comments on evangelicals are probably mostly his.

Even if evangelical teachings say that Jews will eventually be destroyed or converted, unless they are doing the destroying themselves, who cares? Jews don't believe in it! It is better to have allies who support you than as-a-Jew enemies like Roth who actively work to destroy you!

And if Jews should be concerned about working together with members of a religion whose teachings include antisemitism, then that means that Roth would advise Israeli Jews to never work with Muslims!

Roth is obsessed with Israel and Jews.

07/20 Links Pt2: To Antisemites, a Jew Is a Jew Is a Jew; Ben & Jerry’s joins long list of failed 'boycotts' of Israel; David Collier: Meet Alaa Daraghme – the BBC’s Hezbollah loving Journo

From Ian:

What are the real threats of modern antisemitism? - opinion

Jews gathered this week to fight antisemitism in two locations, and the very different results are telling.

In Jerusalem, several hundred NGO representatives convened for the tenth Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism, under the auspices this year of the Israeli ministries of foreign and diaspora affairs. The discussion of strategies to turn back the current tsunami of blended antisemitic and anti-Zionist expression were deep and fruitful.

In Washington, one hundred American Jewish organizations cooperated to organize a rally near the Capitol against the same tsunami, with meager results. Only 3,000 people participated in the “No Fear” demonstration, which amounts to about 30 Jews (and non-Jews) per organization. Some hard-Left American Jewish groups refused to participate all-together, because they reject the overriding message that Jewish identity and support for Israel are inseparable.

Alas, partisanship, “progressive” politics, legal pretexts, anti-Israel sentiment, and community divisions hamper the effort to combat surging Jew hatred. Worst of all, the surging Jew-hatred seems to have sapped the confidence of American Jews, which is, perhaps, the greatest threat of all.

These disturbing trends have been analyzed in a series of recent, important intellectual articles, as follows:

• False equation
The British columnist Melanie Phillip notes that even when condemning antisemitism, politicians and intellectuals feel the compunction to condemn “Islamophobia” and “all forms of racism” at the same time and in the same sentence. This politically correct refusal to acknowledge the uniqueness of antisemitism (and the overwhelming preponderance of antisemitism, above and beyond all other hatreds including anti-Muslim hatred) demonstrates precisely that Jew-hatred.

“People can’t stand the uniqueness of antisemitism because they can’t stand the uniqueness of the Jewish people.” Worse still, many progressive Jews make the false equation of antisemitism with anti-Muslim abuse in a misguided attempt to prove that they are not claiming any special status as victims.

• Mainstreaming
Writing on Bari Weiss’s blog, Peter Savodnik reviews just who is speaking out against antisemitism and who is staying silent. While Michigan Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and some her “Squad” colleagues are using their notoriety to bring antisemitic policies and rhetoric into the mainstream, many news outlets are far too obsessed with the novelty of their identity or enamored by their “progressive” politics to care, he writes.

Even when Tlaib and Ilhan Omar regurgitate the “dual loyalty” charge against pro-Israel Senators – a classic antisemitic trope – the national Democratic leadership has found it hard to condemn them outright or explicitly, without wrapping rejection of the slur in the bland blanket of rejecting “all racist” language.

This is because the American Left has stumbled into the bottomless rage of identity politics. “They have embraced the new racial-gender taxonomy, which reimagines thousands of years of Jewish history into a wokified diorama. Today, the conflict can only be seen through this flattening prism, with Israel playing the role of the white, colonial settler and the Palestinian that of the settler’s dark-skinned, indigenous victim.

David Harris: To Antisemites, a Jew Is a Jew Is a Jew

Pro-Israel students on numerous campuses were under assault in the classroom or on the quad.

Hostile faculty members, aggressive student groups, the impact of intersectionality, and some weak-kneed administrators combined to create toxic environments in a number of places. A few Jews were even being questioned about their eligibility for student government positions based solely on their identity.

But, hey, not only was I not one of “those” victimized students, but I avidly supported the victimizers, so it didn’t really touch me.

Wait a second. The walls are starting to close in. All those “woke” movements I support seem to find more and more reasons to point the finger at Jews, to blame Jews, to label Jews, to exclude Jews, to demonize Jews.

I thought I was ultra-safe in my space. I joined in all the ritualistic denunciations of Zionism. I always put the universal, not the particular, first and foremost. I distanced myself from those “clannish” Jews, those Jews who could never let go of their own history. It was a point of pride to put other Jews last, not first, in my list of priorities. I was totally convinced the danger to everyone only came from the far-right, the neo-Nazis, the QAnon crowd. All my attention was single-mindedly focused on them.

I tried to show that this Jew could be relied on, even as I was being used, it turns out, to shield “my” own groups from charges of antisemitism. After all, if I was a part of the crowd, and often pushed to the front when convenient, how could they possibly be accused of antisemitism?

Oh my goodness, they’re now starting to question me. But, wait, there’s no one left to defend me.

Why didn’t I bother to learn the history of the Jewish people? Antisemitism is antisemitism is antisemitism. Which means a Jew is a Jew is a Jew.

So, to the antisemites, my “good” (Jewish) credentials don’t count for much, at least not for long. No exemptions, it seems.

I thought I could save myself by, in effect, selling out millions of other Jews. Instead, I sold my dignity and got nothing, absolutely nothing, in return, except a punch-in-the-gut lesson in reality.

David Collier: Exclusive: Meet Alaa Daraghme – the BBC’s Hezbollah loving Journo

So it came as no real surprise that Bateman retweeted Alaa Daraghme’s post. But the connection still interested me – and I wondered – who this journalist was that the BBC correspondent felt so comfortable promoting. It didn’t take long for me to find his timeline was awash with problems.

This is the first images Daraghme shared that caught my eye – an image calling Israelis ‘ Nazis’.

It is possible to argue that he merely shared an image of someone else being antisemitic – but he still chose to promote the Nazi analogy. Then things soon got at a lot worse. Alaa Daraghme appears to be a full on conspiracy theorist – who often shares fake news.

Daraghme was recently caught, sharing a fake news video about an Israeli ‘ramming’ Palestinians in Jerusalem. This was one of those videos that went viral during the recent violence. In reality that Israeli driver only lost control of his car – because he was attacked by a Palestinian mob.

But there is far more than one viral video in his timeline. During the ‘knifing Intifada’ of 2015, antisemitic Palestinian propagandists pushed a vile conspiracy theory that the knifing attacks were not real. Instead – they claimed that Israelis shot Palestinian freely – and then placed knifes at the scene to provide a pretext for their bloodlust.

Daraghme pushed that line consistently:
The real story was that the terrorist attacked and injured a soldier – before he was shot.

The conspiracy is a constant trend in Daraghme’s posts. Here is another example:

In that post, Daraghme changes the knife for a gun – and has two Palestinians shot – ‘just because’ with Israel using a shooting attack as an excuse. In the real world – on 14th February 2016, Palestinians opened fire on police officers in Jerusalem. The terrorists were all shot.

If only antisemitic conspiracy theories were the worst of Daraghme’s behaviour.

Alaa is not an appropriate person to be an impartial @bbc journalist. But of course, despite him being a keen terror supporter & racist conspiracy theorist @BBCNews @tombateman merrily shares Alaa's distortions. As @mishtal says: why is the BBC not doing basic due diligence? pic.twitter.com/pFEKPqoZiV
— Queen of Broccoli 🥦👑 (@jobellerina) July 20, 2021

Palestinian propaganda State Department pool "journalist" admits he has terrorist relatives

At the daily State Department briefings, a so-called journalist for Palestinian newspaper Al Quds named Said Arikat always harangues the spokesperson with questions that are really meant to get anti-Israel propaganda into the official record.

In yesterday's briefing, he sad something interesting:

QUESTION: Real quick. Thank you, Ned. Last week, while Mr. Hady Amr was visiting the West Bank and Israel, the Israeli occupation authorities razed 50 structures – 50 structures – while he was there. Are you not offended by that? Why is there no statement on these things? Why can’t you say you have to cut this out, stop it, just stop it?

MR PRICE: Said, we have spoken very clearly in public and in private. We have made the point that we believe it is critical to refrain from unilateral steps that increase or exacerbate tensions and then make it more difficult to, over the longer term, achieve that two-state, negotiated solution. This certainly includes demolitions. We’ve certainly made that point. You’ve heard me make that point before. We have made that privately as well.

QUESTION: Yeah, I mean, I hear you all the time. But apparently, they are not hearing you. They are not listening to you. So, what is the use of saying what you’re saying without having – without putting some teeth or some oomph behind your statements?

MR PRICE: Well, Said, we certainly have, and you’ve seen that in any number of forms. We have spoken recently about the steps that we have taken to re-engage the Palestinian people, the Palestinian Authority, to provide humanitarian assistance, to provide support. And we do that not only for the humanitarian implications, because the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank – in the West Bank, are in need of this humanitarian assistance, but also because we are trying to set the conditions to eventually be able to work towards a two-state solution. That has been the overriding goal of successive American administrations, obviously has been an overriding goal that has eluded successive administrations.

As you have heard from us, we aren’t under any illusions that a two-state solution is right around the corner. We’re not under any illusions it will be here next week or even next month. But what we are trying to do now is to set the stage to make meaningful progress, and I think we’ve done that in ways that are both rhetorical but, more importantly, are tangible, including for the welfare and the well-being of the Palestinian people. We have repeatedly made the point that Palestinians and Israelis alike deserve equal measures of safety, of security, of prosperity, and importantly, of dignity. And that is what much of our humanitarian assistance, what much of our support, is aimed at enhancing: a sense of dignity that has in many ways eluded the Palestinian people for far too long.

QUESTION: I mean, you speak of dignity to me. As much as I hate to do it, it’s a personal thing. A cousin of mine, young cousin of mine, 29 years old, was shot dead in cold blood a year ago on the 22nd of June. They still hold his body. Last month, another relative of mine, a young woman, 29 years old, shot in my village. They still hold her body. I mean, talk about dignity. Why do this? Isn’t that collective punishment?

MR PRICE: Said, look, I’m, as you know, not in a position to speak to individual cases. We have spoken to the broader issue of what some might call collective punishment, and we spoke of home demolitions of Palestinians suspected to have been behind attacks. And we made clear that entire communities, entire families shouldn’t be punished for the actions of one individual. But again, I’m just not able to comment on specific cases.

QUESTION: Well, let the record note their names: Ahmed Erekat and Maya Afana.

Ahmed Erekat was killed while trying to ram his car into Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint. It is on video.

Mai Afana also tried to ram her car into soldiers at a checkpoint, then exited the car and tried to stab them.

Arikat sure has some family. And he defends their terror.

(h/t YMedad)

Ben and Jerry memes

Here are some memes I made about the Ben and Jerry's kerfuffle.

I have news for @BenandJerrys:

The Jews are indigenous to the land. Unlike, say, the headquarters of an ice cream company in Vermont. pic.twitter.com/JSYMGqF26P
— Elder of Ziyon 🇮🇱 (@elderofziyon) July 19, 2021

(tweet)

Let's be clear: In the Old City of Jerusalem, @benandjerrys wants only Arab owned shops to sell their ice cream and the Jewish owned shops a few meters away would be boycotted.

There's a name for that....
— Elder of Ziyon 🇮🇱 (@elderofziyon) July 19, 2021

(tweet)

07/20 Links Pt1: Why Is Support For ‘Freedom of Worship for Jews’ on the Temple Mount So Controversial?; Ra’am party shows its true colors; Mahmoud Abbas Wants Israel’s Surrender

From Ian:

Jonathan S. Tobin: Why Is Support For ‘Freedom of Worship for Jews’ on the Temple Mount So Controversial?

This dispute is dismissed by some as an unnecessary conflict that is harming Israel’s security merely to satisfy the wishes of extremists. But the Palestinian claim that Jews have no rights on the Temple Mount is inextricably linked to their unwillingness to recognize the legitimacy of the Jewish presence and sovereignty anywhere in the country.

That Abbas and his “moderates” claim there were no Temples on the Mount or the historical nature of the Jewish claims to this land isn’t merely rhetoric that enables them to compete with Hamas. It goes to the heart of their long war against Zionism that they still refuse to renounce. A Jewish state that would officially renounce Jewish rights on the Mount would be sending a message to the Palestinian street that the extremist belief that Israel will disappear isn’t a pipe dream that they must abandon if they want a peaceful future.

Those who are still trying to pressure Israel to accept a two-state solution that the Palestinian Authority has repeatedly made clear it has no interest in pursuing need to understand that peace can’t be built on the denial of Jewish rights, especially in Jerusalem.

Israel has no desire to interfere with the mosques on the Temple Mount or stop Muslim (or any) worship there. Those who circulate this lie, whether among the Palestinians or their American cheerleaders, like Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), are opponents of peace, not people working for co-existence. That even some of those who claim to be Israel’s friends think it is reasonable to deny “freedom of worship” for Jews at their most sacred site are giving unwitting aid and comfort to the very extremist forces that make peace impossible.

The world’s tolerance for Palestinian intolerance and anti-Semitism that finds expression in a denial of Jewish rights to the Temple Mount has helped enable the conflict over Israel’s existence to linger on long after it should have been abandoned by its foes. By taking a position on the Temple Mount, Bennett has done something that should have been done by his predecessors decades ago. Having chosen to take a stand on the issue, he dare not retreat from it lest he justify his opponents’ belief that he hasn’t the right stuff to maintain his principles or his government.

Ra’am party shows its true colors

Those who have been pitching the “new and improved” Ra’am Party to the Israeli public as a moderate faction promoting a civil agenda, now that it is a member of Israel's governing coalition for the first time in Israel's history, had something of a rude awakening on Sunday, courtesy of the “old” Islamist Ra’am.

Its warning against “settlers and MKs violating the Al-Aqsa mosque” was taken right out of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s playbook. Similar statements were made by the Gaza-based terrorist group as part of its ultimatums to Israel prior to the 11 days of fighting that erupted in May.

Its statement, echoed by the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement from which it hails, adopted the menacing terminology used by Hamas with regard to the Temple Mount.

Ra’am knows very well that no Jewish visitor to the Temple Mount plans to breach Al-Aqsa mosque. This didn’t stop it from adopting Hamas-style radicalism in its statement by claiming full proprietary Islamic sanctity over the compound’s 35 acres.

If anything, this means that the allegedly moderate Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement aims to take the place of its northern counterpart, which Israel outlawed in 2015 over its radicalism and ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Southern Branch officials are now expressing radical opinions over the Temple Mount similar to those expressed by Northern Branch officials who are now jailed.

It is time to admit that the status quo at the holy site has been eroded to the point that it exists in name only. The Muslims have turned the Dome of the Rock into a mosque, they have built two underground mosques at the site, Israeli enforcement of building regulations and protection of antiquities has weakened and Jews have been subjected to rigorous limitations with regard to visiting the site.

It is only natural in light of these developments that Israeli enforcement of the joke that is the “status quo” should slacken.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Arabs Warn Biden: The War on Terrorism is not Over

The Arabs are saying that the Americans are mistaken if they think that the war on terrorism will end with the withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan.

Adib warned that the US will pay the price for its exit from Afghanistan. "The cost of the withdrawal will be greater and more dangerous for America and the entire world," he said. "Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are preparing to establish a state whose features will be close to those of ISIS. The threat of ISIS is still there and its cells are still spread everywhere." — Mounir Adib, Egyptian expert on Islamic movements and international terrorism, Annaharar.com, June 5, 2021.

[T]he threat of terrorism will grow because of the Americans' failure to consult with their allies in the Middle East, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.... — Mounir Adib, Annaharar.com, June 5, 2021.

"The biggest catastrophe is that Afghanistan will become the capital of terrorism again, and now we have the threat of Al-Qaeda making a comeback... after America's withdrawal from Afghanistan as these groups feel proud and victorious, which will push them to continue fighting against America and the Arabs and Europeans." — Mounir Adib, Annaharar.com, June 5, 2021.

"[T]he problem is that extremist and terrorist groups and political Islam do not know how to live without rivalry, and they do not like to live in peace and without enemies. It is true that the US military force diminished Al-Qaeda and destroyed the dream of ISIS to have its own state, but it did not eliminate the terrorist ideology...." — Bahaa Al-Awam, Syrian journalist and political analyst, Al-Ain, July 12, 2021.

"What makes matters worse is that the American withdrawal from the region will mark a victory in favor of political Islamic organizations...." — Bahaa Al-Awam, Al-Ain, July 12, 2021.

These Arabs are telling the Biden administration in no uncertain terms: US policies and actions are undermining your credibility among your allies and paving the way for the return of Islamic terrorist groups.

Mahmoud Abbas Wants Israel’s Surrender

Reflecting a tactic of skilled negotiators, the list of demands made by Mahmoud Abbas as a precondition for renewing talks with Israel mixes sensible requests with unacceptable demands. His demand that Israel upgrade the Palestinian solar network, for example, appears fairly reasonable on the face of it but has security implications for the work of the Shin Bet.

Abbas’ demands as a whole indicate a desire to restore the status quo that existed before the terror war begun by the Palestinians against Israel more than 20 years ago, in September 2000. His wish list also indicates that he believes it is possible to go back to the state of affairs that prevailed when he rejected Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s sweeping proposal, though more than a decade has passed since then.

During the intervening years, the Middle East has seen many sea changes. In the past decade, for example, as the Syrian civil war unfolded and Iranian involvement increased, Qassem Soleimani’s plan to surround Israel with a ring of fire deployed and supported by Iran steadily progressed. Under those circumstances, Israel’s control of the Jordan Valley became far more vital than it was in the days of the July 2000 Camp David summit at which PM Ehud Barak was willing to cede the Valley and agree to the Clinton Parameters for a partition of Jerusalem.

In the business world, it is inconceivable that terms for a deal would not change with the passage of time. Abbas’ list of demands implies that when negotiating with Israel, the years that have passed and the events that occurred during those years should be dismissed as irrelevant.

Palestinian media trying to get people to lynch man who sold his house to Jews

As I have previously reported, Arabs sold two properties to Jews in the past few weeks.

Now one of the sellers is in danger.

Palestinian Media Watch reports:

The PA has publicly exposed, shamed, and literally endangered the life of an Arab who sold land to Jews in Jerusalem. According to the PA, Palestinians who sell land to Jews are considered “traitors” and criminals. In fact, the PA has forbidden selling land to Jews by law. Anyone who tries to sell land to Jews will be sentenced to 5 years of hard labor, and someone who actually sells land to Jews will be sentenced to life in prison with hard labor, as documented by Palestinian Media Watch.

Moreover, the religious establishment of the PA has declared it “a sin” against Islam to relinquish any part of “Palestine” to Israelis - the “enemies.” “Palestine” is said to include all of the State of Israel - “a pure right of its Muslim owners,” as one Shari’ah judge has put it.

Accordingly, an Arab named Walid Ahmed Atout has now been publicly exposed by Abbas’ Fatah Movement for having sold his property in the Silwan neighborhood in East Jerusalem to Jews as well as having “sold his morals.” Reporting on this, Fatah’s TV station Awdah even broadcast footage of Atout “fleeing” and a photo of him “because these images and this information are important for our people so that they will see this traitor.”

There have been media reports about torture and extrajudicial killings of land sellers such as this in English and a more extensive report here in Hebrew.

In the broadcast, the TV host called Atout “a traitor and land transferrer” and “betrayer of the homeland.” Needless to say, after this kind of designation by the PA/Fatah, Atout’s life may very well be in danger:

It isn't only Fatah. Atout's picture and condemnation of him is all over Palestinian media.

Here's video of his family leaving their home.

Here's video of a walkthrough of his house showing that the family left their possessions there to make it look like they will return.

And his photo is all over the place.

The point is clear: if you find Atout, take justice into your own hands.

Needless to say, no one ever says that the prohibition of selling land to Jews is pure antisemitism.

Judaism's two holiest places are filled with Muslims today

Over 100,000 Muslims filled the Temple Mount today, Judaism's holiest place, for Eid al Adha prayers today.

Thousands more filled the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, Judaism's second holiest spot.

Imagine if the situation was reversed and there was Muslim control over these places. Would they allow Jews to enter on their holy days?

We don't have to imagine. When Muslims controlled them before 1967, Jews were banned from entering both. Muslims would not allow Jews to go beyond the seventh step at the Cave of the Patriarchs, and they would gather to pray at that step.

Even today, even though Jewish holy spots are listed in the Oslo agreements as places that Jews should be able to freely and safely visit, the Jewish sites under Palestinian Authority rule can only be visited sporadically and when protected by the Israeli army.

And Muslims insist, today, that these holy spots are exclusively Muslim and Jews should be banned altogether from them.

The international community, which wants to give control of these places back to Muslims, will never insist on Jewish rights to visit and worship at Jewish holy places. It is up to Israel to enforce that.

Only under Jewish rule is there respect for all religions in the Land of Israel.