Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, July 27, 2021

Learning the wrong lesson from the Ben and Jerry's incident

One emerging meme from the Ben and Jerry's decision is that Israel's reaction proves that Israelis don't distinguish between both sides of the Green Line (also, that there is some link to the NSO spyware.)

A (VERY biased) NYT op-ed:

The uniformity of official reaction in Israel to the Ben & Jerry’s decision reflects an Israeli political consensus — unlike that of the international community — that does not distinguish between Israeli territory within its internationally recognized 1948 borders and the territories it occupied in 1967.

A similarly biased Washington Post column:

The whole episode reveals a fundamental tension in Israel’s posture about its role in the Palestinian territories. On one hand, Israeli officials vehemently reject the charge that their government is perpetuating the crime of apartheid in the West Bank and East Jerusalem — where Palestinians are subordinate to Israeli security imperatives and denied the same political rights as their neighbors — by drawing a line between Israeli policies in the occupied territories and in Israel proper. Palestinians there are under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, a weak and unpopular institution that the Israelis claim is accountable for Palestinian grievances.
Yet when Ben & Jerry’s makes a business decision based on conditions specifically beyond the Green Line, it is read as an “anti-Israel” move writ large and even deemed antisemitic. This, some analysts argue, is untenable, and also illustrates the extent to which the Israeli establishment resists being held to account on the world stage.
“Ben & Jerry’s just did the same thing that Israel itself does, and even employed the exact same argument that Israel wields to fend off charges of apartheid — that there is a distinction between official Israeli territory inside the Green Line and disputed Israeli territory beyond the Green Line, and thus treating the territory and the people who live on it in different ways makes sense as a matter of policy,” wrote Michael Koplow of the Israel Policy Forum. “It is not credible to argue that the Green Line should exist when it is convenient and that it should be erased when it is convenient, and that it is outrageously anti-Israel, antisemitic, or even a form of terrorism to maintain the same distinction that Israel itself makes in all manner of ways.”

Mehdi Hasan on his show makes a similar point:

The arguments are flawed to begin with, because the head of Ben and Jerry's board said that the ice cream company never said they wanted to continue to sell in Israel. Unilever - without consulting them - added the section in their press release saying that the ban is only against the territories. NBC News reported a week ago:

The Ben & Jerry's board had been pushing to withdraw ice cream sales from the occupied territories for years, said the board's chair, Anuradha Mittal. However, it wanted to release a different statement, reviewed by NBC News, that made no reference to continued sales in Israel — a decision that Mittal said would require board approval — and highlighted the company's commitment to social justice.

Unilever released the statement against the wishes of the board and in violation of a legal agreement made when it bought Ben & Jerry's in 2000, Mittal said.

So anyone who says that Ben and Jerry's only wanted to block sales to the territories and continue to sell in Israel is lying or misinformed.

But there is a larger point.

Many Israelis who are proudly Zionist are ambivalent about or against the Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria. Yet even they are upset at Ben and Jerry's even without knowing the machinations of the B&J board mentioned above.

The reason is that most Israelis instinctively know that even if they are against building in the territories, that is no reason why Jews who choose to live there should be discriminated against. They are Israeli citizens, and they deserve to live their lives normally without the world dictating the terms of what they are allowed to do in their everyday lives.

Saying that the international community should dictate which products are allowed in stores in Efrat or Ramat Shlomo is thoroughly offensive to nearly all Israelis.

If Palestinian leaders accept a real peace with Israel as a permanent Jewish state, then some settlements would probably be dismantled. Most would stay. Perhaps some would become Palestinian villages with Jewish citizens. But the people who live there today are upstanding citizens - they are passionate Zionists who believe that they are doing the right thing, and they shouldn't be treated like criminals.

And treating them as criminals is exactly what the editorialists and pundits - and Palestinians - demand.

This is not politics anymore - this is an attempt to punish human beings because of their beliefs and their decisions. It is treating 650,000 Israelis as not deserving of the same rights as others.

Moreover, it is a decision that says that all Israelis, even within the Green Line, do not have the right to do business with their fellow Israelis depending on where they live. It is saying that the world will punish Israeli businesses for selling to other Jews, but not for selling to Arabs who live in the next town. It is world-approved antisemitism.

The issue isn't ice cream, but an assault on Israelis and their rights. The reaction might seem over the top over a mediocre dessert, but buckling under to that is giving up Israelis' own freedom to make their own choices. Any proud citizen of any country would be rightly offended at this.

The lesson is not what these anti-Israel idiots claim, that all Israelis are somehow racist. The lesson is that there is an entire huge community of Israel haters who want to control the lives of every Israeli Jew, limit their choices, label them as guilty of apartheid and racism and every social crime there is, punish them according to arbitrary criteria, put limits on their lives that no other citizens of any country in the world are subject to, and demonize them as criminals.

Only the Jews, though.

It is not an assault on Israel but on Israelis. The people who pretend to care so much about human rights, about collective punishment, about equal rights, about being against racism and bigotry, are singling out Israeli Jews for particular public punishment. They want to divide Israel, and Jews worldwide, into "good Jews" and "bad Jews," and turn each against the other. It is all part of a campaign that will not end until the Jewish state is eradicated and Jews have no national protection. And the supporters of this boycott admit this themselves when they speak candidly.

Yes, the anger over an ice cream seems over the top. But all Israelis - including most of the leftists - understand that this is not only about ice cream.

07/27 Links Pt1: See No Evil: NGOs Turn Terrorists into Civilians in 2021 Gaza Conflict; Iran must be banned from Olympics; Iranian defector Mollaei dedicates medal to Israel

From Ian:

NGO Monitor: See No Evil: NGOs Turn Terrorists into Civilians in 2021 Gaza Conflict

A major element of NGO propaganda consists of accusing Israel of targeting and killing civilians in Gaza. NGO Monitor has examined the use of this subterfuge during the May 2021 Gaza conflict, as well as in previous confrontations.

One method used by NGOs to inflate civilian casualty numbers, accompanied by allegations of “war crimes,” is to obscure or omit essential details about specific incidents – thereby erasing the role of terrorist groups. NGOs falsely classify Palestinian terrorists as civilians and ignore evidence that implicates terror groups in the deaths of Gazan civilians.

NGO Monitor research has identified 50 incidents in which Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives killed in Gaza were falsely labeled by NGOs as civilian casualties, or in which civilians killed by Hamas were implicitly attributed to Israel. (Approximately 15 percent of the 4,300 missiles fired towards Israel fell short and impacted in Gaza.)

In failing to report accurately, Palestinian NGOs amplify the demonization strategy, ignore the commission of war crimes by Palestinians, and distort the reality of Israeli efforts to limit civilian casualties during the fighting. These manipulated NGO accounts also serve as the basis of inflammatory media projects, such as the infamous New York Times front page story with pictures of children, and for international “investigations”, such as a forthcoming UN Human Rights Council commission of inquiry.

Emily Schrader: Iran must be banned from Olympics - opinion

Iran’s alarming abuse of athletes is not new. It’s been occurring since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. For example, in 1981, wrestler Hooshang Montazeralzohoor was executed for his anti-government stance. In 1988, the regime executed volleyball player Fouzan Abdi and football player Mahshid Razaghi – both political dissidents. In 1984, they executed football player Habib Khabiri for the same reasons. In 2012, they executed kickboxer Majid Jamali-Fashi, accusing him of being an Israeli spy. In 2021, after the execution of Afkari, they executed a second champion wrestler, Mehdi Ali Hosseini as well as a champion boxer and prominent sports coach, Ali Mutairi.

How many athletes have to die under this regime for the IOC to take action? It’s not as if Iran conducts its business in a sportsmanlike fashion in any case – Iran has been throwing matches to avoid Israelis for years, repeatedly forcing athletes to resign rather than face Israeli athletes. In one of the most famous cases, Iranian wrestler Saeed Mollaei threw a match in judo to avoid facing an Israeli, only to defect later and compete for another country after fleeing to Berlin.

He is not alone. Dozens of Iranian athletes have fled the oppression of the regime which destroys their hard work and dreams. One Iranian ex-athlete who fled to the United States confessed to CNN that Iranian intelligence watches the teams 24/7 and they are punished if they do anything wrong while abroad. “I want to ask [the] IOC, are you aware of this? You talk about gender equality and race equality. Are you aware that one of your members is violating the charter all the time? You have been silent about this... This is sport, it has to be about peace and friendship, but they teach you to hate,” he said.

The IOC has no excuse. It is well known and documented – by both international human rights organizations as well as refugee athletes who have fled Iran for their lives – that the state of Iran violates every principle the Olympic Games represent. Iran has no place in the Olympics and the IOC cannot continue to allow these egregious violations of human rights to occur right in front of their faces. The IOC must ban Iran from the Olympic Games.

The international Olympics Committee's Jewish problem

The Berlin Olympics reinforced Brundage’s admiration of Nazi Germany. During a speech at Madison Square Garden, he praised Nazi Germany as “60 million people believing in themselves and their country... we can learn so much from Germany.”

Two years later in 1938, Germany awarded his construction company the contract to build a new embassy in the United States.

Brundage probably never changed his anti-Jewish animosity. Just as he was dismissive of Jewish athletes' expulsions from German sports, his attitude of disdain towards Jewish athletes continued with “the games must go on,” following the murder of the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics.

His dismissal of Jewish sporting achievements was made hollow by swimmer Mark Spitz two days after the massacre, who won seven gold medals for America. This record was finally beaten by American swimmer Michael Phelps at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The IOC still “does not get it,”- in July 2020 it used promotional material taken from Hitler’s 1936 Olympics using the slogan “stronger together,” which was deleted after protests.

Notwithstanding the persistence of Israeli athlete widows Ankie Spitzer and Ilana Romano to have the massacre commemorated with a minute’s silence, IOC presidents always turned a deaf ear until the current president, Thomas Bach agreed.

The IOC has awarded itself a behavioral medal 49 years later.

Finally the right thing, but certainly not gold.

See for yourself how biased @HRW is against Israel, in its own words, in only one report

I just took apart Human Rights Watch's absurd report on the May Gaza war, but I wanted to step back a little and describe biased, unfounded and ridiculous assumptions that HRW makes in order to reach its conclusions.

1. Gaza eyewitnesses are reliable.

Even when they say things like "I saw a high speed Israeli missile coming gradually from a great distance and explode one meter above the ground but I didn't run away."

Even when they would be arrested if they say anything that Hamas doesn't want them to say, like we saw armed militants come into our building all the time.

2. HRW researchers in Gaza are objective.

Even when they would be arrested if they say anything that Hamas doesn't want them to say.

3. Israeli statements are unreliable.

Even though they have much more to lose by being proven wrong than anyone else.

4. Israel drops one ton bombs on residential areas without any military reason or targets that HRW "experts" can find.

5. Israel flattens buildings with people inside without warning for no reason - and possibly just because they want to kill civilians out of pure malice and criminal intent.

The fact that half of those killed in an urban war were militants - a record unmatched in the history of warfare - is utterly irrelevant to HRW.

6. Israel always starts the fighting, somehow. When Hamas shoots rockets from Gaza, it is to defend Palestinians in Jerusalem from Jewish settlers. This reasoning is not questioned.

7. Absence of evidence is evidence of absence. If HRW cannot find any trace of a Hamas presence, then Israel just bombed the building based on no evidence whatsoever.

8. The IDF is not a professional army with multiple layers of approvals for every airstrike, but it acts like a toddler who lashes out indiscriminately at any and everything that upsets it.

9. International law has nothing to say about how an army may make decisions on attacking military targets hidden among civilians.

10. Israeli attacks that kill civilians while targeting terrorists are assumed to be unlawful; Hamas attacks where they brag about directly targeting civilians are just something that needs to be investigated and do not cause any casualties worth mentioning.

11. It is critical to say that the entire conflict between Israel and Palestinians is completely Israel's fault as a state that is guilty of the worst crimes there are, and there is no background information about Gaza terror groups that run the enclave or any intifadas or bus bombings and suicide terror or incitement or anything else that any readers need to know for background information.

The "larger context" must be taken into consideration by the UN - but only the larger context that damns Israel.

Human Rights Watch's own words show its pattern of hate for Israel as clearly as possible.

HRW issues another anti-Israel report filled with lies and innuendoes of nonexistent war crimes

Human Rights Watch continues its obsession with Israel in its latest report accusing Israel of "apparent" war crimes in Gaza.

The report is based on incomplete information and assumptions that the IDF just targets innocent families for no reason.

It looks in detail at three incidents, and ignores any information that contradicts its assumptions that Israel is of course targeting civilians.

The first incident is the bombing near the Al Masry house in Beit Hanoun:

Shortly after 6 p.m. on May 10, a guided missile struck near the town of Beit Hanoun and killed 8 people, including 6 children, all apparently civilians, and reportedly injured 18. The missile exploded about a meter above the ground, 10 meters from the closest of four houses built next to each other and owned by four brothers of the al-Masri family – Arafat, Ibrahim, Mohammed Attallah, and Youssef – who lived there with their families. The houses are located about a kilometer to the east of Beit Hanoun in the northeastern corner of Gaza.

How does HRW know it is a "guided" missile and not a Hamas rocket? Initial reports on May 10 said it was very possible it was a Gaza rocket that fell short, and even Palestinian human rights groups admit that there were lots of Gaza rockets being shot at the time.

HRW interviewed family member who all said that the rocket came from the "east" in the direction of Nahal Oz. It is highly likely that they were told by Hamas to not give any indication that the rockets came from Gaza - and Israeli missile are shot from the air, not the ground. They also "testified" that the rocket exploded a meter above the ground, something that is literally impossible to see at those speeds.

Their "testimony" is to say what they are supposed to say in order not to get in trouble with their leaders.

HRW claims to have done some expert analysis:

Human Rights Watch analyzed photographs of munition remnants taken by another human rights organization that Human Rights Watch independently confirmed were taken the morning of May 11 at the location, as well as video footage filmed in the immediate aftermath of the attack that Human Rights Watch determined was authentic.

The limited blast and fragmentation damage at the scene suggests the use of a munition with a small explosive yield. The lack of an impact crater suggests the munition detonated in mid-air. Remnants of the munition photographed on the morning of May 11 indicate that the weapon used was a type of guided missile used to attack armored vehicles, fortified positions, or personnel in the open.

Then how did eight people get killed - according to reports, even their body parts blown apart - if it was an anti-personnel munition with a small blast radius? Who are HRW's experts that identified the munition?

The Israeli military has not provided information that would justify the attack. An investigation of the attack should consider whether Israeli forces targeted a military objective, and, if there was a legitimate military objective, whether all feasible precautions were taken to minimize civilian harm, and whether the expected military gain outweighed the anticipated loss of civilian life. An attack that was unlawful and was carried out with criminal intent – deliberately or recklessly – would be a war crime.

Except that Israel didn't attack the al-Masry home. Israel admits its attacks, even if they are mistakes - if it denies one, there is a reason for it. The Meir Amit Center, which is close to the IDF, flatly says this was a Gaza rocket.

HRW notes that Israel said that one of those killed, Mohammed Ali Mohammed Nusseir, was a terrorist, although Israel never said that it shot the rocket that killed him. It seems to be coincidence. Yet HRW says, "None of Gaza’s armed groups referred on their websites to any of those killed as members, which is their standard practice when a fighter is killed."

Really? Because here is his martyr's posters from the Fatah Martyr Atiya al-Za’anin's Facebook page where he is referred to as a "hero martyr":

Again, it doesn't appear that Israel targeted him, but this shows that HRW simply will not research anything that contradicts its pre-existing biases.

The second incident that HRW investigates is the airstrike at the Al Shati camp. Israel says it was targeting a Hamas apartment, HRW cannot find any evidence that Hamas was there - therefore, HRW must be right and Israeli intelligence wrong.

Even though even Hamas admits that it places its military targets in the middle of civilian areas. Even though neighbors will never admit that fact because it could cause them to be put into prison. HRW doesn't mention that - because the point of this report is to damn Israel, not investigate the facts.

The third incident from HRW is almost comical - the bombing of the tunnels under Al Wehda Street.

Human Rights Watch did not find any evidence of a military target at or near the site of the airstrikes, including tunnels or an underground command center under al-Wahda street or buildings nearby.

So, if we are to believe Human Rights Watch, Israel just randomly dropped 1,000-kilogram GBU-31 series air-dropped bombs along a straight line on the street with no intelligence indicating there were tunnels underneath.

Even Hamas didn't claim that there was no bunker or tunnels under that street. On the contrary, they mocked Israel by saying that they have far more tunnels that Israel didn't touch!

HRW doesn't mention Hamas admitting placing military objects among civilians. It doesn't mention Hamas claims to have 500 kilometers of tunnels under Gaza. It doesn't mention that at the end of Al Wehda street is the Al Shifa hospital that houses a Hamas headquarters, and is almost certainly part of the tunnel system. HRW doesn't even mention Israel's explanation for the building collapse: that when the tunnel under the building collapsed, the foundations of the building were unexpectedly damaged as well.

HRW ends off with this about the collapse of the building:

An attack that was unlawful and was carried out with criminal intent – deliberately or recklessly – would be a war crime.

And if Ken Roth raped and killed a baby two weeks ago he would be a depraved criminal - but he probably didn't, so saying that statement would be nothing but incitement. Even floating the idea that Israel purposefully destroyed a civilian building with criminal intent shows that HRW has zero credibility. If the IDF wanted to kill civilians, then it did a very poor jobindeed.

Which proves that this entire HRW report is nothing but incitement, designed to make the world hate Israel.. It shows that HRW knows nothing about international law, which says that a reasonable military commander can act based on the best information he or she has in order to determine whether a valid military target is valuable compared to the anticipated collateral damage. It is not up to non-experts who already have a hatred of Israel to make that determination weeks afterwards.

One other point: HRW's researchers in Gaza are almost certainly Gazans themselves. Hamas knows they work for HRW. If they would issue a report saying that Israel is innocent of crimes, what do you think Hamas would do to them?:

This report is a joke, as is everything Human Rights Watch releases about Israel.

From Arab News:

Empty supermarket shelves, hours-long queues for gasoline, and resorting to sleeping on the balcony to endure no electricity for fans or air-conditioning in the summer - such has become the routine for the everyday Lebanese.

“These scenes of humiliation, people should not bear,” Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech last month, waving his finger as he lambasted the long fuel lines in recent weeks.

“Those responsible for government formation need to listen to people’s voices and look with pain at the cars queueing up for fuel and the loss of electricity and medication,” Nasrallah said as he urged his supporters to be patient and to sacrifice.

Indeed, Lebanese people of all backgrounds should not have to bear with the consequences of years of government corruption and a financial meltdown - and yet, it appears that Nasrallah’s former representatives in government, and his party allies’ current parliamentarians do not fall into that category.

Free Patriotic Movement MP Ibrahim Kanaan and former Hezbollah MP Nawwar Al-Sahili both walked their elegantly-dressed daughters through fireworks-laden walkways and striking strobe lights this week - not two weeks after former Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri stepped down from attempting to form a government after 10 months.

Photos and videos of the luxurious weddings were widely shared across social media as they were heavily criticized, prompting Sahili to issue an apology online - claiming that it had not been on purpose.

“Hezbollah is proving yet again how aloof it is to the suffering of Lebanese people. This video of the lavish wedding of their MP Nawar Sahili's daughter, going viral in #Lebanon. No empathy whatsoever,” Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center Research Fellow Mohanad Hage Ali tweeted.

The weddings were clearly tone deaf, but if they were given by popular politicians this would have been a non-story. Hezbollah's stock in Lebanon has gone down a great deal, and the anger over the weddings are an indication of that.

07/26 Links Pt2: Antisemitism debate cuts to heart of Zionist vision; Twitter discriminates against me because I am a proud, unapologetic Jew; The Enigma of Colonel Richard Kemp

From Ian:

A hatred that dwells alone? Antisemitism debate cuts to heart of Zionist vision

Left and right

When the white supremacists marching in Charlottesville in 2017 chanted “Jews will not replace us,” they were deploying the same mechanism: Explain away real anxieties and fears by misdirecting them onto a nefarious Jewish power.

To European conservatives of the 19th century, Jews were the unwanted liberalizers or communist agitators. But they were no safer in the Soviet sphere in the 20th century, where they quickly became the regime’s favorite target.

Where conservatives and nationalists hated the Jews’ “cosmopolitanism,” communists depicted them as a capitalist vanguard and nationalist reactionaries whose clinging to their cultural distinctiveness threatened the global progressive revolution.

In hindsight, it might astonish us that Zionism could ever have believed the solution lay in changing the Jew. Antisemitism, then and now, was simply too useful to be abandoned just because the Jews of the eastern hemisphere had reorganized themselves into a nation-state.

Strident opposition to Israel’s existence on the ideological left has its intellectual roots in that Soviet antisemitism. In Soviet discourse, Jewish peoplehood was a very specific sort of threat: a retreat from the progressive project toward the old nationalisms that communism (and more to the point, Soviet imperialism) sought to eradicate. The USSR invested a great deal of effort in erasing Jewish distinctiveness, systematically persecuting and killing off the Jewish cultural elite and outlawing the study of Hebrew.

It was in Soviet ideology and its response to Jewish nonconformity that antisemitism became anti-Zionist — Israel was the epitome of the distinctiveness they sought to uproot. The Soviet intertwining of antisemitism and anti-Zionism swept through the Arab world to become a dominant paradigm of Arab politics for generations.

In March 1945, as Adolf Hitler hid in his Berlin bunker awaiting the Soviet advance on Berlin, Arab leaders met in Cairo to declare the founding of the Arab League. “It was organized around one principle unifying idea: being anti-Israel, the prevention of the creation of the State of Israel, and then after 1948, war against the State of Israel,” said Wisse.

Resisting Israel wasn’t one of the Arab League’s policies, it was its raison d’etre, the organizing principle of pan-Arab politics from that moment on.

“Why did they need to do that? They could have organized in 1945 against any other thing. It was a marvelous time for the Arabs. All their imperial overlords had been involved in this devastating war. Britain was crawling home. So suddenly the whole Arab world was free. They could have done anything,” Wisse said.

“But they couldn’t, because their leaders were worried about democracy, modernization. So the handiest thing was to organize [their politics] against the emergence of the State of Israel. This was their organizing tool. They used opposition to Israel as a unifying element among all these disparate and politically dysfunctional countries and leaderships.

“The more dysfunctional you are, the handier it is to point to Israel, to make Israel the target, to make Israel and the Jews” — and not your domestic troubles and failings — “the subject.”

David Collier: Twitter discriminates against me because I am a proud, unapologetic Jew

Twitter discriminates against me because I am a proud, unapologetic Jew. If you are Jewish and active on the platform – Twitter probably discriminates against you too.

Twitter is a biased platform. We all know that. But their ability to influence goes a lot further than simply not banning antisemites. They also decide who to legitimise and who to refuse to give that credit to. As an example, Twitter have just turned me down as a candidate for verification for the third time.

Last year there was a Jewish boycott of Twitter because of the platform’s unwillingness to take antisemitism seriously. Twitter provides a blatantly visible example of open discrimination – in which anti-Jewish racism is treated very differently. You can say almost anything about Jews on Twitter- yet Twitter rarely responds to complaints of antisemitism the way they would if the target was a different minority group. This blindness explains why antisemitism is so rampant on the platform.

When their own ‘partners’ point out their failings, Twitter cuts all contact – just as they did recently with the Campaign against Antisemitism. Through their inactivity and unwillingness to act, Twitter permit daily racist abuse against people like me.

But the non-banning or suspending of anti-Jewish racists is only one element of Twitter’s multi-faceted discriminatory environment. ‘Zionists’ are errantly seen as ‘right wing’ and the Twittersphere leans ‘progressive’ left – which means openly unapologetic Zionists are disfavoured on the platform. It is a shifting Overton window. As right-wing voices are cut more frequently, and for lesser crimes, than left-wing voices – what constitutes the middle ground, slowly, but consistently moves further left. Eventually what was once a centrist opinion becomes right-wing, and what was centre-right is then viewed as an extremist position- and those promoting it become vulnerable to censorship or expulsion. In such a manipulated test-tube, everyone who does not conform to the progressive mindset – is standing in quicksand.

I’ve been active against antisemitism and extremism for over two decades – but only turned to publicly associating with my own research with the start of this blog in 2014.

Within a year my research saw an MP disciplined (Guardian, Independent). I was the one there – reporting on Gerald Kaufman when he made his antisemitic comments about ‘Jewish money’. My research also played a large part in the fight against the one-sided conference scheduled to take place in 2015 at Southampton University. My analysis of the participating academics was used as the evidence with which to expose the hypocrisy and bias, and thus delegitimise the delegitimisers.

The Enigma of Colonel Richard Kemp CBE explained in his own Words

“Why?” was the question I asked Colonel Richard Kemp CBE during our recent meeting in Jerusalem. Why is the former head of the British military in Afghanistan, who is neither Jewish or Israeli, such an outspoken, eloquent and effective defender of the IDF and the Jewish State? He began his answer with this statement,
I was taught when I was a child to know right from wrong. And when I hear some of the lies, the propaganda and the malice that’s churned out in the international media, in universities, in high schools and so-called “human rights” groups, I know it’s wrong. I know it’s wrong what’s being said in relation to the IDF (Israel Defense Force).

Colonel Kemp then went on to explain that he served as the Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan, and was a veteran of thirty years-service, and that he had fought in combat zones around the world including Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Macedonia and Iraq, and that he was also present throughout the conflicts in Gaza in 2014 and the most recent “Operation Guardian of the Walls” in May this year, when the Iranian-backed Hamas Terror organization fired thousands of rockets into Israel.

He added that based on his experience and on his personal observations: the IDF does more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare. He gave three main reasons for this. Firstly, Israel is a decent country with Western values, run on democratic principles. Israel has no more interest in war than Belgium does. In fact, Israel has never started a war. The only reason it ever goes to war is to defend itself. And it has to defend itself because, unlike Belgium, it is surrounded by countries and armed groups that want to destroy it. Secondly, Judaism, with its unsurpassed moral standards, remains a major influence on the citizens of Israel. “I say this as a non-Jew.” Thirdly, the army is composed overwhelmingly of citizen soldiers. Israel is a small country with a small professional army.

He also went on to express admiration for “Lone Soldiers” from abroad. During his visit he met with Harriet and Mark Levin, the parents of fallen Lone Soldier Michael Levin z”l (whose 15th Jahrzeit was commemorated by the Levins, IDF comrades and friends on Mt Herzl this month)

Peacemakers in the Holy Land https://t.co/iwrNxHswzd
— Israel Advocacy Movement (@israel_advocacy) July 25, 2021

1946 advice on fighting antisemitism that works today

If ever there was a time when one would think that antisemitism was not an issue, it would be 1946.

The horrors of the Holocaust were apparent to all. Israel had not yet been reborn. What possible excuse could ther be for Jew-hatred in 1946?

Yet if you look at the Jewish newspapers from exactly 75 years ago, you can see the headlines:

In that same issue of the B'nai Brith Messenger was this article on antisemitism by Dr. Trude Weiss-Rosmarin, a German Jewish immigrant who founded the Jewish Spectator magazine. Her essay on antisemitism could have been written today.

You Can't Argue With Bigots

By DR . TRUDE WEISS-ROSMARIN

Can anti-Semitism be fought with reason ? No , says Dr . Rosmarin. The only defense is in reforging the armor of Judaism.

IF JEWISH history has proved anything ; surely it is the impossibility of fighting anti-Semitism with reason . The hatred of Jews is a primitive antagonism that sprouts from the aboriginal fear of the different , the nonconforming . Jew-hatred has never needed logical justification for enlisting followers . The triumphs of antisemitic agitators prove that the slogan "kill the Jews" is all that is needed to rally the masses . Those who would fight antisemitism with reason meet their most formidable obstacle in the nonsensical , illogical and contradictory charges they are expected to disprove . Simultaneously , antisemites charge Jews with being Communists and capitalists, internationalists and rabid Jewish nationalists , diabolically imaginative and utterly uncreative . There is no trait and its very opposite which have not been ascribed to| the same Jew . Where , then , is refutation to start , and what should be refuted ? Is there even a possibility of debating with Jew-haters ?

The question arises whether some of the resources expended on fighting anti-Semitism should not be diverted to efforts to compensate for the psychological effects of the hatred , by strengthening the spiritual stamina of our people , so that we may be able better to withstand the corroding impact of antisemitism . This theory does not imply resignation and submission to our enemies . Rather , we must insist on our constitutional rights and fight individuals and movements that would infringe upon them . The resources used to convince our enemies of the absurdity of their anti-Semitism are spent in vain, for as three thousand years of Jewish history has verified , there is no possibility of achieving this goal . The eradication of antisemitism is a dream beyond the realm of possibility , as long as the Jews live as a minority , distinct and different , scattered among nations . In the words of Theodore Herzl , the nations in whose midst Jews live are all either overtly or secretly antisemitic .

The Jews of history took antisemitism in their stride . They were sufficiently realistic to recognize the impossibility of outrooting it with the spades of reason and enlightenment , they investigated what lay beyond antisemitism. The Jew of the past was virtually immune to the psychological ravages of antisemitism . Medieval chronicles report of Jewish martyrs who died for Judaism , but there is no mention of Jews who choose death because they were Jews , as did Stefan Zweig and other Jewish intellectuals of our time . The Jew of the ghetto found Judaism satisfying and a compensation for the sufferings he had to endure for its sake .

But the modern Jew who no longer fulfills himself in Judaism , nervously concentrates all his efforts on fighting anti-Semitism , or he tries to escape from the Jewish community .

Although it sounds paradoxical , it is true that the survival of Judaism and the Jewish people was never threatened by anti-people , their philosophy and way and expulsions were tragedies for those directly affected and a heavy drain on the resources of the Jewish people as a whole , but they did not weaken nor even touch the core of the Jewish people , their philosophy and way of life , because those bases of Judaism always were beyond antisemitism . There is no power that can remake antisemites . Even in free America we are all but helpless before the politer forms of antisemitism . There is little we can do to turn anti-Semites Into philo-semites . Rather , we must arm ourselves so that their sting will not poison us . Instead of being concerned primarily with the negative of antisemitism , its prevention , treatment and cure , Jews should concentrate on the positive aspects of Jewishness , the eternal verities of our existence and survival . An observer of the contemporary American-Jewish scene easily could be led to believe that Judaism is a fight against rather than an effort for .

Jewish self-hatred has been popularized recently in our literature . But little is done to prevent and cure it . In the essay Hatzi Nechamah ( A Half-Consolation ) written in 1893 , Ahad HaAm . the Zionist philosopher , offered a novel and correct analysis of the impact of anti-Semitism on Jewish psychology by pointing out that if an accusation is hurled long enough at a person who is completely innocent , the victim ultimately may doubt his guiltlessness and be swayed to agree with his accusers . Jews constantly plagued by antisemitism eventually may reach the point where hatred by the majority will raise doubts of tha justice of their own cause and the merit of their people and their culture .

This state of mind Ahad HaAm . diagnosed correctly as the real threat of anti-Semitism . Its grave peril lies in its propensities for breeding Jewish self-hatred .

History attests that while the success of the fight against antisemitism is never commensurate with the effort , prophylactic measures against the spread of Jewish self-hatred are highly effective . These steps include the strengthening of Jewish self-respect and of psychological resistance by teaching what Judaism really represents . That the Jew who is ignorant of the Jewish legacy and the meaning of Judaism is singularly vulnerable to Jewish self-hate is evident , for this type of Jew has nothing to compensate for the hurt of anti-Semitism . The intelligent and effective attack on anti-Semitism should be concentrated primarily on strengthening the inner Jewish bulwark . It is here that defense is needed most .

Not anti-Semitism . but what lies beyond it in the Jewish sphere , is the challenge of the hour , the emergency which must be met if our people is to survive in creative vigor

This isn't too far off my recent post on this topic.

Support for terror. Demonization of Israel. Antisemitism. This feedback loop is all illustrated on the security barrier.

Recently, Palestinian artist Taqi al-Din Sabateen painted a picture on the separation barrier, showing an Israeli soldier who removes his helmet to reveal a KKK mask, as he glares at a Palestinian child hilding a goldfish bowl.

Calling Israeli Jews racists has been fashionable since Israel existed, and it is not considered outrageous anymore.

It should be.

The cumulative effect of this slur - along with "genocide" and "apartheid" and all the others - is that people believe it and eventually it becomes something that you cannot even argue against because they are accepted as historic fact.

Which is entirely the point.

To the immediate left of this mural is another, of PFLP terrorist and airplane hijacker Leila Khaled.

At the very same time that the audience is being told that Israeli Jews are like the KKK, we see that killing Israeli Jews is a heroic act - it is the "struggle" and the "resistance." Terror against Jews is not only allowed, but mandatory, because they are evil racists who think they are "chosen" and better than goyim - which is a mainstream Palestinian view.

And Westerners are not allowed to criticize this because the Palestinian experience makes their opinions tantamount to facts - if they are antisemites, they are justified in being antisemites.

Therefore, antisemitism is a legitimate opinion.

And when repeated over and over without pushback (because it is considered vaguely racist to question Palestinian hate,) it becomes more and more accepted.

07/26 Links Pt1: Casualties in the 2021 Gaza War: How Many and Who Were They?; Palestinian Man Who Saved Jewish Family Granted Permanent Israeli Residency

From Ian:

JCPA: Casualties in the 2021 Gaza War: How Many and Who Were They?

This article is part of the forthcoming Jerusalem Center research report: The Gaza War 2021: The Iranian and Hamas Attack on Israel.

During the 2021 Gaza War, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza claimed there were 256 Palestinian casualties. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) concluded, “at least 253 Palestinians have been killed, 129 of whom were civilians.” That means 124 of the dead were combatants, close to a 1:1 ratio, an unprecedentedly low ratio in terms of civilians killed in urban warfare.

At least 680 Palestinian rockets fell short or misfired, landing inside Gaza. According to the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center in Israel, 9 children and 10 adults were killed by Palestinian rockets.

The New York Times provides a case study of inaccurate reporting on casualties among Palestinian children. On May 26, 2021, the Times published a front-page report entitled, “They Were Only Children,” which displayed pictures of 67 children in Gaza allegedly killed by Israel. It included 20-year-old Khaled al-Qanou and 15-year-old Muhammad Suleiman, both confirmed Hamas members engaged in violent anti-Israel activity. A stock photo of a young girl from 2015 was also included in the Times report.

Hamas is known to blur the lines between those who died of natural causes and those who died in the war. About 16 Gazans die of natural causes each day. Since Hamas tightly censors information, it is difficult to know if some natural deaths were falsely attributed to deaths from the conflict, especially during the time of the coronavirus pandemic. Moreover, some of those executed by Hamas as spies and collaborators with Israel may also be included in the civilian casualty toll.

Jewish Groups Praise Germany for Skipping UN Anniversary Event Marking Durban Conference

Major Jewish groups applauded Germany’s decision to boycott the event marking the 20th anniversary of the UN’s World Conference Against Racism to be held in Durban, South Africa.

First held in 2001, the conference has become notorious for serving as a forum for antisemitic materials and virulent anti-Israel activism.

This year’s 20th anniversary event is already being boycotted by the United States, Israel, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Austria, Canada, Australia, and the Czech Republic.

American Jewish Committee CEO David Harris said Saturday, “Germany has again asserted leadership in the global fight against antisemitism,” adding that the country “laudably recognized the discredited nature of the original conference, held in Durban, South Africa. We hope other nations will follow suit.”

“Confronting true racism around the world is a noble cause, but singling out one country, Israel, and one group of people, Jews, for continual censure is grossly unjust, and undermines the global fight against antisemitism and other forms of bigotry and hatred,” Harris added.

B’nai B’rith International tweeted, “We welcome the news that #Germany will not participate in @UN commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Durban conference, which was overtaken by anti-Jewish, anti-Israel bigotry.”

“All democracies must do similarly,” the group said.

Palestinian Man Who Saved Jewish Family Granted Permanent Israeli Residency

Israeli Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked has granted permanent residency to a Palestinian man who saved the lives of three members of the Ettinger family following a terrorist attack in 2016.

The father of the family, Mark, lost his life in the attack, but wife Chava, son Pedaya and daughter Tehila survived thanks to the first aid provided by A. — whose full name has not been revealed — and his wife, who also alerted law enforcement.

News of A.’s actions quickly reached Ramallah, and A.’s family began to receive death threats. In an effort to protect his loved ones, he fled to Israel, leaving his parents, wife and newborn son behind. Sometime after, A.’s wife joined him in Israel, and in November 2019, due to public pressure, the Interior Ministry provided the couple with a temporary residence visa.

After granting the two permanent residency, Shaked said: “He who saves one life it’s as if he saved the entire world. A. saved the life of the Ettinger family in a deadly attack, for which he has been persecuted relentlessly. We will never turn our backs on a friend. That is why I approved his permanent residency in Israel.”

Continuing on with my summary of portions of the book, "Eight years in Asia and Africa from 1846-1855" by Jewish explorer Israel Joseph Benjamin, this was what he had to say about the Jews of Shiraz, Persia, present-day Iran:

Shiraz. — Deplorable condition of the Jews.
Only about twenty years since, nearly 3000 Jews lived in this once magnificent and flourishing city. By persecutions, oppressions and odium of all kinds more than 2500 of them were compelled to go over to the Mussulman sect of Ali. Although outwardly apostate, a great number of these families still preserve in their hearts the faith of their fathers, and even find means of having their children circumcised in secret. Nine synagogues in the town testify to the former greatness of the Jewish community ; now unfortunately, they are almost all laid waste.

Benjamin then goes on to describe how the Jewish women manage to remain true to their religion even after being forced to convert, and then describes how one of the Jewish leaders in the town was tortured mercilessly when he refused to convert.

He ends off with another story:

A rich Persian took a fancy to a Jewish girl, and brought her in the home of her parents. As, however, these visits became dangerous, he tried to persuade the girl to adopt the MussuIman faith, so that she might become his wife. "My parents would die of grief," said the Jewess,"if I forsook my religion." — "You heard it," said the Persian to his companions, "she will embrace the Islam faith."

Notwithstanding all her protestations he hurried to the Achund (Priest and Judge), and corroborated by his companions, stated to him that the maiden wished to embrace Islamism. The Achund immediately caused the girl, who had meanwhile been concealed, to be sought for at her parents' house; the messengers treated the parents most cruelly, and their daughter was dragged before the Achund.

At the end of two days the prescribed purifications were concluded, and the girl begged for permission to walk on the terrace in order to enjoy the evening air, She was allowed, and she threw herself down from the terrace and fractured her skull. The Persians, who knew the cause of this suicide heaped the most dreadful insults on the dead body, hacked it to pieces, and left it in the streets. Only during the night did the Jews venture to collect the remains, and bury them.

Shiraz continued to be viciously antisemitic in the decades after this. Wikipedia summarizes: "There has been a significant Jewish population in Iran for 2,500 years. Pogroms have not been unknown. In 1892, several Jews were murdered in Shiraz. Twenty Jews were murdered and three synagogues were burned down in 1897. Pogroms, forced conversion and expulsion swept Zarqon, Lar, Jahrom, Darab, Nobendigan, Sarvestan and Kazerun.Jamshid Sedaghat, a historian in Shiraz, has said attacks happened annually during the late 19th century, finally ending as a result of pressure from Europe. The last of these occurred in 1910" - which was a blood libel that resulted in the murder of 12 Jews and the entire Jewish quarter devastated.

A major online campaign to force Mahmoud Abbas to resign his position as president of the Palestinian Authority kicked off this weekend.

The hashtag #ارحل, which means simply "Leave," is base on a promise that Abbas made years ago that he would resign if there were even small protests calling for him to leave.

The protests were sparked by the apparent murder of Abbas critic Nizar Banat last month by Palestinian police.

Some of the current criticisms of Abbas now are more centered on his being way too moderate and conciliatory towards Israel, saying that he has no right to accept a two state solution.

This one quotes him as saying that "East Jerusalem is ours and West Jerusalem is theirs," asking what gives him the right to give up 80% of Jerusalem?

This graphic lists the high Palestinian officials who have gone to Israeli hospitals when they are ill, leaving their people to use sub-par Palestinian hospitals. (The Palestinian Authority used to pay for all citizens who needed treatment in Israeli hospitals and stopped that a few years ago.)

But while Hamas is trying to take advantage of this unrest, and indeed stokes a great deal of it, it has its own challenges with the people under its own control in Gaza.

The blast at the Al Zawiya market has spawned calls for investigations on why Hamas allows - and encourages - placing military equipment in the middle of civilian areas, knowing that Israel is reluctant to bomb those targets but putting Gaza lives at risk.

Also, last week Hamas forces shot at a car that they claimed sped through a checkpoint. (Yes, there are checkpoints inside Gaza, under full Hamas control.) One of the passengers died and Hamas' story was not consistent with the autopsy results.

Both Hamas and Abbas are trying to distract the criticisms by redirecting anger towards Israel, their usual go-to move. Hamas has resumed allowing incendiary balloons to start fires in Israel and PA prime minister Shtayyeh has been working to get new UN Security Council condemnations of Israel as well as to re-start the moribund Quartet, with a friendlier White House less likely to object.

Hamas is in no danger of falling, although it is sensitive to criticism. Abbas is more vulnerable- most likely by his death - and the terrorist-paying, Holocaust denying antisemite would be replaced by someone even more extreme.

Attempt to #BlockTheBoat in Elizabeth, NJ a miserable failure

From The New Arab:

Thousands of US activists in New York City and New Jersey are planning to block an Israeli-operated cargo ship from docking at the Port of New York on Sunday morning in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Activists seek to stop the ZIM Qingdao cargo ship, which is operated by the Israeli international shipping company ZIM, from unloading. It is expected to arrive at 6 a.m. EST at the Maher Terminal in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

The Palestine Chronicle, Gaza Post, and Wafa News Agency all reported on the expected arrival of "thousands" of activists.

Here is what the pathetic turnout looked like:

And the equally pathetic chants, with about as little enthusiasm as possible:

This demonstration was heavily promoted, meaning that it missed its goal of thousands of protesters by about 99%.

Even the activists had to admit that the number that showed up was in the "tens."

Any way you look at it, this was a huge fail.

The Ben and Jerry's Foundation has funded BADIL, a Palestinian NGO that supports terror and promotes antisemitism

Ben and Jerry's controls the Ben and Jerry's Foundation which supports various social justice causes.

In 2017, the Foundation gave some $80,000 to the Oakland Institute, a think tank whose executive director is Anuradha Mittal, the head of Ben and Jerry's Board of Directors who has shown her antipathy towards Israel and sympathy towards terror groups on multiple occasions.

Of that amount, thousands were earmarked for the BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, which is dedicated to destroying Israel through the "right of return."

But BADIL is much worse than that.

In December of 2016, before this grant, BADIL issued a report that justified Palestinian terror - and said that Israel doesn't have the right to defend itself from rockets and terrorists.

The right to resist of people under foreign and colonial domination, including armed struggle, and the applicability of these provisions to the Palestinian people has been reaffirmed by many other UNGA resolutions...In its suppression of resistance, Israel has made use of excessive force to stop armed struggle....Equating all forms of resistance with terrorism as a justification for suppression lacks legal basis, as the Palestinian struggle for liberation is legitimate and all actions carried out against Israel for that purpose are therefore lawful.

BADIL allows that there are rare instances where individual Palestinians might have crossed a legal line, but then says that Israel cannot retaliate against entire armed terror groups that sent them on their murderous mission. BADIL says that it is open season on Jews in Israel.

Before that, and certainly known to the Oakland Institute, BADIL cosponsored the 4th Annual Al-Awda Award in 2010 for posters, papers and caricatures. The second place award for caricatures, with a cash prize, went to this blatantly antisemitic cartoon:

This wasn't the only brush with antisemitism from BADIL. Its director Nidal Al-Azza, wrote in 2007 that it isn't only Zionism that is racist, but Judaism itself:

Racism in the Zionist ideology and later, in the Israel regime, can be identified in… political concepts, ideas and visions inspired by religious thought, provisions of the Talmud, and legends, most importantly, the notions of Jews as “the chosen people of God,” “the pure race” and “the promised land,”… [and] the mentality of segregation, nurtured by life in the ghettos.

All of this was known at the time Ben and Jerry's Foundation decided to grant thousands of dollars to BADIL, through Anuradha Mittal's own foundation.

Is antisemitism and explicit support for murdering Jews in Israel part of the "social justice" that Ben and Jerry's promotes?

(h/t StopAntisemitism)

This is something you don't often see - an Arab at a major Arab newspaper debunking an antisemitic rumor that has become an accepted part of the narrative.

For decades, Arabs have been taught that the Jewish men and women of the IDF, upon conquering the Old City of Jerusalem, went through the Al Aqsa Mosque in a drunken and half-naked state, chanting, "Mohammed is dead, and he left only daughters!"

Even though this story is absurd to begin with, Ali al-Ameem, a Saudi journalist, traces the rumor back to its origin and debunks it thoroughly.

The first mention of the story comes from Iraqi Islamic writer Mahmoud Sheet Khattab in his 1969 book “Arab Military Unity.” He wrote, “When the Jews entered the city of Jerusalem on June 6, 1967, they were chanting in Al-Aqsa Mosque in Hebrew, with the meaning: Muhammad died, he died... He left daughters, and I listened to the silly joking, broadcasting a text from an Arab radio station, and commenting on it by the announcer, translating it to Arabic. Perhaps many Arabs and Muslims listened as I listened to that radio, and felt as I felt that a poisoned arrow hit my liver, which is bleeding blood, bitterness, sadness and pain.”

The story morphed. In a 1970 book by the same author, "Israel's Expansionist Objectives in the Arab Countries" Khattab wrote:

On June 6, 1967, Israel occupied the ancient city of Jerusalem. So the President of the Israeli State, the Prime Minister of Israel and the Ministers of Israel, led by the Israeli Chief Rabbi, proceeded to march towards the Western Wall, and there Moshe Dayan said: Today the road to the city is open.

The Jews desecrated the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque by allowing the Israeli male and female soldiers to enter it wearing revealing clothes while they were drunk as if they were in bars or places of prostitution.

The Israeli army and the Jews violated the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque. They were chanting in his courtyards on June 6, 1967: Muhammad died, he died... He left behind daughters!

Ameem points out the inconsistencies between these two stories as well as more embellishments that Khattab added in years later. He notes that the phrase "Mohammed dies, and left daughters" only rhymes in Arabic, not Hebrew (Mohammad mat wakhalf banat.) He mentions that it makes no sense for Israelis, who have had women in the army since 1948, would say anything disparaging about Mohammed having only daughters. He points out that if the phrase had been on Arabic radio then many Arabs would have condemned it immediately and not waited until 1969.

Furthermore, Ameem points out, indeed Mohammed did die and leave behind only daughters. Why is that an insult to begin with? It only is insulting since Arabs do not regard women to be as important as men!

Ameem ends off with words I've never seen before in an Arabic article. He says that whenever one hears rumors like this one, one should not believe them unless there is real evidence to back it up.

Things are definitely changing in the Arab world, mostly for the better.