Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, August 17, 2021

What's the difference between the Taliban and Hamas?

What is the exact difference between the Taliban and Hamas?

Both are Islamist groups that have taken over a geographic area.

Both govern according to their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

Both take rights away from women.

Both are viciously violent against their political opponents.

But when Hamas attacks Israeli civilians, we are told "armed resistance is legal under international law."

When Hamas says that women cannot travel without a male guardian the world shrugs.

When Hamas takes suspected "collaborators" out of prison and kills them publicly by dragging them along the street, Human Rights Watch pretends it was some rogue element and calls on Hamas to investigate - itself.

Everyone is outraged at the Taliban, but no one is outraged at Hamas. On the contrary - Hamas is considered far more legitimate a government than the Taliban.

There's no difference between them. But Hamas has one advantage: people hate Jews and therefore, people support Hamas over the Jewish state.

Everything else Hamas does - which is everything the Taliban does - can be swept under the rug so as not to diminish from people's hate of Israel.

08/16 Links Pt2: We can no longer ignore anti-Zionist Jews; It is time for Palestinians to acknowledge Israel's existence; Israel Sends Emergency Team to Help With Devastating Earthquake in Haiti

From Ian:

We can no longer ignore anti-Zionist Jews - opinion

The new anti-Zionist Jews are not like members of the Satmar Hassidic community who hold the theological belief that Jews should not have a state of their own until a miraculous messianic era. The new anti-Zionist Jews are Jews who have decided to wage war against other Jews. They are Jews who advocate for economic boycotts of Israel, which will rob other Jews of their means of livelihood; they are Jews lobbying to limit weapons sales to Israel, choking the Jewish state's ability to defend itself, they are Jews seeking to tilt public opinion against Israel and seeking to diplomatically isolate Israel. This is not about Israel being in the land of Israel with all of the historical and religious meanings that might have; this is about waging war against the largest Jewish community in the world. It is about taking an active role in seeking to harm other Jews.

Peter Beinart could have taken whatever position he wanted on what the meaning of Zionism is. Joining Ben and Jerry's campaign to actively boycott other Jews, whether they live inside or outside the Green Line, in Uganda or Iran, crosses a red line. It is the kind of behavior we cannot contain as a community. This brings us to why it is that Zionism plays a role in our communities when not religiously mandated or inspired.

Two things that have always brought together Jews regardless of place or ideology have been the concept of arevut – a commitment to the well-being of fellow Jews – and a shared belief in the need to secure the future of the Jewish people. Jewish institutions in America did not just pop up. They were built with immense sacrifices.

I think of my grandfather Rabbi Bernard Poupko who miraculously fled the Soviet Union in the 1930s just to come and help build Hillel Day School and much of the Jewish communal structure in Pittsburgh, or of my friend and hero, Rabbi Joseph Polak, who survived the Holocaust to become the Rabbi of Hillel in Boston University and raise funds to build one of the most beautiful and successful Hillel Houses in North America. They sweated and bled because of their commitment to the Jewish people and our shared future.

It is time for Palestinians to acknowledge Israel's existence - opinion

ALTHOUGH MILLIONS of Israelis still sympathize with the Palestinian cause and want to end the conflict on the basis of a two-state solution, they are often treated with disdain by other Israelis because they are assumed to be ignorant of the Palestinians’ real intentions. And of course, leave it to the Palestinians to engage in a narrative that inflicts the most injury on themselves and obscures their legitimate demands to end the occupation and establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.

Meanwhile, look at what has transpired over the past 73 years. Israel has become one of the most advanced nations in just about every field of endeavor and with formidable military prowess, while millions of Palestinians continue to languish in refugee camps. Why? Every Palestinian of conscience and knowledge must ask this question. Why have their so-called leaders led them astray one generation after another clinging to an illusion, and betrayed every Palestinian who wants to live with dignity and grow and prosper in peace and security?

I am the last one to suggest that Israel did not play a role in perpetuating the Palestinian plight; it certainly took advantage of the Palestinians’ weak leadership while successfully pursuing a policy of "divide and conquer," pitting one Palestinian segment against another. Meanwhile, Israel is expanding its foothold and taking hard measures against the Palestinians in the occupied territories to keep them at bay. Moreover, Israel uses national security as a blanket insurance policy under which it could justify the occupation, the settlements and its continued resistance to the creation of a Palestinian state. To that end, Israel developed the most comprehensive security apparatus, and no longer feels pressure. For a growing number of Israelis, the status quo has become the new normal with which they can live comfortably.

One other sad implication of the Palestinians’ unruly resistance to Israel’s right to exist is that the Arab states who championed the Palestinian cause for decades are losing patience and no longer make normalization of relations with Israel conditional upon the establishment of a Palestinian state. In addition to Egypt and Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco have recently normalized relations with Israel because their strategic interests outweigh their concerns over the Palestinian cause.

It is a wake-up call for all Palestinians, from the most moderate to the staunchest extremist. They must disabuse Israel of the belief that the Palestinians cannot be trusted and instead put Israel on the defensive by ending the dead-end narrative of from the river to the sea, and mean it. To be sure, the longer they hammer this illusion, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza will become an illusion too.

The United Church of Christ's obsession with Israel - opinion

At the 33rd General Synod in July the church took an approach very different from its approach heretofore. Instead of framing the conflict in political terms, it focused on theological interpretations grounded in a document issued in July 2020 by Kairos Palestine, the Palestinian Christian group that actively solicits American Christian denominations, including the Presbyterians, Methodists, and UCC. “Cry for Hope: A Call for Decisive Action,” the Kairos document, proclaimed that “support for the oppression of the Palestinian people, whether passive or active, through silence, word or deed, is a sin.”

This year’s Synod statement “is not just a call to action. It is, centrally, a confession of faith and principles,” wrote Hans Holznagel on the UCC website in May, ahead of the July virtual conference. The resolution, “Declaration for a Just Peace Between Palestine and Israel,” adopted on July 18 by a vote of 462 to 78, declared “Israel’s continued oppression of the Palestinian people a sin in violation of the message of the biblical prophets and the Gospel.” It firmly rejected “the notion that Israel’s occupation of Palestine is a purely political problem.” Notable is the lack of clarity of what constitutes Palestine in the view of the UCC. The “text of the motion,” following the preamble, opens with “whereas for over seventy years Palestinian people have faced dispossession of their land.”

This view that the “occupation” began not in 1967 but in 1948 is the conviction of extremist Palestinians, notably Hamas, who firmly believe that the Jews are colonial intruders, have no connection to the land, and must be expunged. In the entire UCC declaration there is no mention of Hamas, which has governed Gaza since 2007, is committed to Israel’s destruction, opposes any peace initiatives, and in May initiated another conflict by firing thousands of rockets indiscriminately at Israel’s cities.

The UCC declaration rejects “the imposition of so-called peace agreements by Israel or the United States,” but does not identify any of them, while totally ignoring genuine peace offers by Israel, with American support, that have been consistently spurned by the Palestinian Authority.

THE LATEST UCC resolution is a disservice to those truly committed to achieving durable Israeli-Palestinian peace and no doubt will be enshrined in the permanent record of UCC policy toward Israel. Other Protestant churches may well emulate the UCC’s new theological approach when they convene next year and, as they do regularly, prepare and adopt statements condemning Israel. Repetitions of accusations and judgments do not make them any truer and certainly do not advance peace.

From Haaretz:

Toasting marshmallows around the campfire, splashing in a lake and competing in color wars are all images that come to mind when we think of classic summer camp activities. Comparing narratives about Jerusalem by reading the poetry of Israeli and Palestinian writers Yehuda Amichai and Mahmoud Darwish, or stepping into the shoes of Jewish, Christian and Muslim social justice activists? Not so much.

But a new program launched this summer in the United States, called “Breaking Binaries, Creating Connections,” is attempting to add a new dimension to the Jewish summer camp experience.

In 2018, the need to better equip young Jews for such future challenges came to the fore when the leftist-activist group IfNotNow launched its “You Never Told Me” campaign.

In an open letter that year to their day schools, youth movements and summer camps, a group of young Jewish Americans asserted that they had been denied “the honest truth” about Israel and would “no longer accept an educational approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that ranges from open endorsement of indefinite occupation to saying ‘it’s complicated’ and leaving it at that,” nor “accept a communal norm that will force another generation to only learn about the occupation only once they leave these institutions.”

That campaign (which led to a syllabus drawn up by Jewish educators, spiritual leaders and students to be used as a resource by institutions and individuals) “rattled” the world of Jewish summer camps and the wider community, said Libby Lenkinski, the NIF’s vice president of public engagement, who is spearheading the new camp curriculum effort.

The problem of Jewish teens going to college completely unprepared to discuss Israel is a real problem.

The solution isn't to give all narratives equal weight. That is not how to educate kids - itis how to confuse them and let them know that their fellow Jews in Israel are awful human beings who don't give a damn about human rights.

Any Jewish camp or school must teach from the perspective of "here is what the other side says, and here is why it is wrong." Students and campers would have the opportunity to ask the hard questions but the important part is that they would know that there are answers, even if the answers are sometimes difficult.

Just like it would be unfair to ask kids to look objectively at any negative feelings their neighbors and parents' coworkers might feel about their family, it is irresponsible to raise them to think that the Israeli side of the story is just one of many, and that those who want to destroy the Jewish state have just as much of a right to describe it as Jews do. Even if that description is in a beautiful poem.

So, yes, kids should know both sides, know what side they are on - and know how to answer the other side. They should know the arguments and understand them, but they need to be brought up with a sense of right and wrong and not that everyone is equally right.

The "right of return" sounds very reasonable unless you know its history and real goals.

"Occupation" sounds awful unless you know Israel's valid claims to the territory and the dangers it faced before 1967 as well as Palestinian rejection of a state with terror.

"5 million refugees" sounds terrible unless you compare them to other real refugees and understand what the definition of refugee is, and how innocent people are used as weapons. against Israel.

"67 kids killed in Gaza" sounds horrific if one if ignorant about the difficulties of war in an urban area where the combatants purposefully hide behind children.

Yes, some Palestinians have suffered and deserve sympathy, empathy and help. But that doesn't make them automatically right, nor righteous.

And teaching the history of Zionism without putting it in the context of both Jewish history in the Land, and of historic Muslim and Arab antisemitism, is irresponsible.

This the the education that the organized, Zionist community has failed at, and it is 70 years past due.

08/16 Links Pt1: Biden Just Made America and the World Much Less Secure; The US should have learned from IDF withdrawals

From Ian:

Noah Rothman: Joe Biden Just Made America and the World Much Less Secure

Eighty years ago, the West’s appeasers howled in unison “Why Die for Danzig?” Why wouldn’t today’s “peacemakers” be just as inclined to question the value of a global war against Russia over Tallinn? At least, that’s what the Kremlin’s hungriest revanchists must be asking themselves.

It’s a perfectly rational question. After all, even America’s allies were shocked to watch the United States so callously sacrifice an ally for no discernible strategic purpose and under no perceptible pressure from the voting public. Our caprice has shaken the faith that we will defend our partners’ interests around the world if we’re unwilling to bear the modest burdens associated with preserving our own.

As the Washington Post’s Liz Sly reported over the weekend, U.S. allies are fit to be tied over the shambolic handling of Afghanistan. “U.S. allies complain that they were not fully consulted on a policy decision that potentially puts their own national security interests at risk,” Sly reported. One German official raged over the Biden administration’s haughty disregard for European security. “We’re back to the transatlantic relationship of old, where the Americans dictate everything,” she snarled. Another British parliamentarian wondered aloud about whether America under Joe Biden would or even could stand up to its peer competitors if it is “being defeated by an insurgency armed with no more than [rocket-propelled grenades], land mines, and AK-47s?” And in the Middle East, which continues to be menaced by an increasingly extroverted Iran, some are now conceding that American involvement in the region ends up ultimately being more trouble than it’s worth.

Advocates for American retrenchment abroad fancy themselves a serious sort. They don’t think America should commit its resources to the defense of interests on purely moral grounds. So, if they are not moved by the sight of Afghans we abandoned to the Taliban clinging to U.S. transport planes, tumbling to their deaths from hundreds of feet up, perhaps they will be moved by they will be moved by the grave implications to U.S. interests and global security. If not, we can safely assume that their interests are not as benign as they insist. Perhaps pursuing what’s best for America at home and abroad isn’t their only or even foremost motive.

Melanie Phillips: The rout of America

In the unholy armoury of the enemies of the west, their single most important weapon is their understanding that the west is no longer willing to do what it needs to do to defend itself. It is no longer willing to be in it for the long haul. It no longer has the stomach for a fight.

In baleful contrast, jihadis take the longest possible view. They have been waging holy war against the enemies of Islam — as they view them — since the seventh century; and for them this holy war won't end until the whole world is under Islamic rule or the world itself ends, whichever comes first.

The west just doesn’t understand that mindset. It doesn’t understand cultures so very different from itself, and tries fatuously to fit them into a western template. It doesn’t understand that in Islamic societies negotiation is regarded as a sign of incipient surrender and therefore incites further aggression to achieve final victory. It doesn’t understand that Islamic religious fanaticism is fuelled not by helplessness or despair but by exultation.

When in the 1980s America and Britain rejoiced in the defeat of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the war fronted by the Afghan mujahideen, they ignored the warnings from a prescient few that the people who had been energised and incentivised were Islamists who viewed their victory over the Soviet empire as a precursor to and augury of their forthcoming victory over the American empire.

Those warnings were borne out. Afghanistan became the crucible of al Qaeda, providing a base for Osama bin Laden and resulting in the 9/11 attacks. Now Afghanistan is poised to become jihad-central with rocket-boosters. The Taliban have already released thousands of terrorists from Afghan prisons. Afghanistan will become a magnet and an inspiration for jihadis from all over the world.

For the abandoned Afghan people, the consequences are likely to be hideous. But the malignant effects of this disaster are already rippling way beyond this epicentre of terror.

America’s allies can now see that the US is a faithless friend, the weak link in the chain of western defences and with untold consequences for their own security.

With America on its knees, other enemies of the west — Iran, China Russia — must be rubbing their hands in glee over the opportunities for evil now opening up for them as a result.

David Singer: Israel boosts Biden image while blunting UN and EU Jew-bashing

The decision will give President Biden’s image a much-needed boost in the international arena as his administration battles with the results of his disastrous decision to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan.

This breakthrough represents an affirmative response to the following emotive-packed question posed by UN-Habitat:

“What do you do if you are told you need a permit in order to build a home that would not be demolished, but it is all but impossible to acquire such a permit? This is the situation facing many Palestinians living in Area C in the West Bank.”

UN-Habitat’s own in-depth response is revealing:

“The vast majority of Palestinian applications for Israeli building permits in Area C are rejected by the Israeli authorities on the grounds that the relevant area has not been zoned for construction. This is the case even when the land for which the permit is requested is undisputedly owned by the Palestinian applicant. Consequently, it is virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits: according to data obtained by the Israeli organization Peace Now from the ICA, between 2009 and 2018 only two per cent of all requests submitted by Palestinians for building permits in Area C were granted (98 out of 4,422).”

Jewish Israelis fare no better.

Both the UN and EU have condemned demolitions of illegally built Arab residences in Area C.

The EU has also become increasingly embroiled in planning and financing unauthorized structures in Area C – which UN-Habitat has confirmed:
“Based on certain criteria, the European Union (EU) collectively, as well as certain individual EU members states, sometimes support the construction of essential infrastructure projects in areas covered by pending local outline plans, despite the risk of demolition and confiscation.”

An EU Report covering 1 January 2020 to 30 June 2020 openly admits:
“According to UN OCHA [UN office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs – ed] 318 Palestinian owned structures were demolished or seized… 38 structures were funded by the EU or EU Member States. 50% of the targeted structures were residential in nature. 30% were agricultural and livelihood related. The total losses were estimated at EUR 124,725, which represents a nearly 40 % increase in financial injury compared to the 36 EU-funded structures demolished during the equivalent period in 2019 that were valued at EUR 89,219”

The EU’s blatant intervention in Area C – and the resulting tensions caused between Israel and the EU - will hopefully be diminished in the future following Israel’s latest decision.

Prime Minister Bennett has vowed to extend Israeli sovereignty to Area C – offering Israeli citizenship to its Arab residents. Treating Jewish and Arab building applications in Area C on an equal footing will blunt UN and EU criticism of Jews being granted permission to build there.

Decisions taken by Bennett’s coalition Government continue to surprise and impress.

Israel in Arabic tweeted video of an Israeli rabbi, Yisrael Hazot, offering a prayer for the King of Morocco at the Beit El synagogue in Casablanca, as Israel's Foreign Minister Yair Lapid attended.

The Arabic comments to the tweet were mostly supportive, and the ones that were negative did not receive many "Likes."

The tweet did not receive too much coverage in Arabic media, although it was picked up by Sputnik's Arabic site and copied from there to a few small sites.

Hamas praises the Taliban (UPDATE)

Musa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of the political bureau of Hamas, has expressed praise and support for the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

Tweeting in both Arabic and English, he wrote, "The Taliban are victorious today after being accused of backwardness & terrorism. it became more pragmatic. They have stood up to the US & its agents refusing compromise, they have not been fooled by slogans like democracy & elections.

This is a lesson for all oppressed peoples."

Hamas' Ismail Haniyeh met with a Taliban delegation in the past couple of months,probably in Qatar.

A Fatah news site aligned with Abbas rival Mohammed Dahlan says that Hamas' praise of the Taliban is shortsighted - not because they are bloodthirsty Islamists, but because they never helped the Palestinian cause.

UPDATE: Hamas formally congratulated the Taliban with this press release:

In the name of of Allah the Merciful

Press release

Issued by the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas

- Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas blesses the people of the Muslim Afghan defeat of the US occupation of Afghan territory.

-The Hamas movement congratulates the Taliban movement and its courageous leadership on this victory, which was the culmination of its long jihad over the past twenty years.

- Wishing Afghan Muslim people and their leadership success in liberating Afghanistan and its people , unity, stability and prosperity, to confirm that the demise of the American occupation and its allies, to prove that the resistance of peoples, particularly the Palestinian people who are struggling will be victorious and achieve their goals of freedom and return , God willing.

"The victory comes only from Allah"

Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas"

Israel Hayom writes:

Israeli officials are up in arms over the UN agency for Palestinian refugees' refusal to take action against employees who incite violence and promote antisemitism online.

A report by UN Watch, a Geneva-based nongovernmental organization that monitors UN activity, found 113 instances of incitement to violence by UNRWA staff, in clear violation of UNRWA's rules.

Israel's Ambassador to the UN and the US demanded UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini take action against those cited in the UN Watch report. The UN body, however, rejected Erdan's demand, announcing it would host a workshop for employees on the issue instead.

A workshop!

Let me remind our readers that one of the worst examples I found in UNRWA online teaching materials of antisemitism was inside their curriculum on human rights! Meaning that UNRWA's own "human rights experts" were antisemitic.

How can an agency which has been shown to spread antisemitism time and time again be trusted to create an effective workshop that can eliminate it just by having antisemitic employees attend a couple of times?

The idea of a "workshop" to teach tolerance to employees of an agency which is committed to remain in existence until the Jewish state is destroyed (via "return") is a sick joke. And it proves that UNRWA has no real interest in addressing its real problems.

The beauty of a Miss Universe pageant in Israel

Israel is slated to host the MIss Universe pageant this coming December.

Last year's winner wasn't Miss Israel. But the pageant decided that Israel was the best place to hold the event anyway.

In July (before the resurgence of Covid-19),

Paula Shugart, the president of the Miss Universe organization, said Israel has been on the pageant's shortlist of host countries "for a number of years due to its rich history."

"As we sought a location for our 70th anniversary celebration, it became clear through our conversations with acting mayor Lankri (of Eilat) and the Israeli Ministry of Tourism that Israel, which has done a good job containing the global pandemic, has the best resources to host Miss Universe in December," Shugart told Insider.

"We look forward to deepening our commitment to creating meaningful cultural conversation, connection, and understanding through this partnership," she added
The Miss Universe Organization said contestants will "explore the rich history and culture of Israel" in the weeks leading up to the competition with visits to the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv.

They really want to be in Israel. And when they say Jerusalem, they aren't talking about any sections within the Green Line.

Of course, the haters tried to make a hashtag #BoycottMissUniverse, which fizzled quickly. They are also trying to claim that Israel targets Palestinian women, which is the sort of insanity they all repeat to each other until they actually try that logic out on someone who is not already in their echo chamber.

08/15 Links: You can't be 'pro-Israel' if you defend anti-Zionists; Peter Beinart's war on Israel; Naive Biden has condemned the United States to strategic irrelevance

From Ian:

You can't be 'pro-Israel' if you defend anti-Zionists

According to Omar and her defenders, telling the truth about her anti-Semitism and hatred for Israel was "putting her life at risk." The left-wing J Street lobby claimed that in simply noting the facts, AIPAC was "declaring war on progressive Democrats" and making false accusations about "women of color."

Sadly, Pelosi and Hoyer said that speaking out against the pair or Tlaib was "deeply cynical and inflammatory" and wouldn't increase support for Israel.

The problem here is not just that members of the expanded 2021 version of "The Squad" have been lying about Israel and helping to incite anti-Semitic violence against Jews. It's that their fellow Democrats are still more offended by attempts to hold these people accountable than they are by the kind of open anti-Semitism expressed by them.

Democrats respond to every query about this issue with talk of the far right's anti-Semitism. But gaslighting the country with partisan talking points about Trump is no answer.

We know that Democratic Socialists and other members of the left-wing base of the party that currently controls both the White House and Congress are increasingly embracing anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic positions, making it politically dangerous for mainstream Democrats to confront them.

Even as it was engaging in disgraceful attacks on those who seek to point out the truth about "The Squad," J Street did withdraw its endorsement from Tlaib for her open embrace of Israel's elimination. But there is little difference between her stands and those of House members like Omar, Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) who also support the anti-Semitic BDS movement.

We're now at the point where liberal Jewish groups – not to mention House Democratic leaders Pelosi and Hoyer – cannot be allowed to continue to get away with an effort to distance themselves from these haters while not actually condemning them or calling for their removal from Congress. The talk about defending "women of color" and other attempts at distracting us from the reality of what now amounts to an informal pro-anti-Semitism caucus in the House just won't cut it anymore.

Simply put, if Rashida Tlaib isn't given the same treatment dished out to Taylor-Greene, then there is no way to argue that the House Majority hasn't established a standard that gives a permission slip to anti-Semitism from the left.

Peter Beinart's war on Israel

Over the years, Beinart's criticism of Israel, and the settlements, in particular, has become increasingly extreme. If only it ended there. Beinart has undermined the very structure of Israel's regime. He believes Israel should be a state in which Jews and Palestinians live together in full equality. It seems this is the reason he has called for Israel to open its gates and allow the Palestinians to realize their "right of return." Just recently, he has gone even further, in his Israel criticism, so much so that his recent opinion piece, titled "America Needs to Start Telling the Truth About Israel's Nukes" and published just a few days ago in The New York Times, could be seen as comparing Israel to Iran.

Honest Reporting, a US pro-Israel media watchdog group, was highly critical of Beinart's piece, the subject of which was Iranian and Israeli nuclear policy. In his piece, Beinart called for the US and Israel to begin to reveal the truth about Israel's alleged nuclear missiles. Beinart dwarfed the Iranian threat toward Israel, making no mention of the fact that it is Iran that is threatening to wipe out Israel and the country's leaders who consistently call for the destruction of the Jewish state.

Beinart claims his minimization of the severity of the threat is aimed at promoting the nuclear disarmament of the Middle East. The difficulty, he argues, lies in the fact that Israel is not a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, and unlike Iran, does not allow inspection of its facilities. The nuclear issue appears to be a recent addition to Beinart's Israel criticism. After all, Jewish American criticism of Israel tends to focus on the settlements as the source of all evil. For Beinart, Netanyahu's years in office provided a comfortable platform for him to write his criticism. The question is: Will the American Left Beinart represents soften its stance on Israel in the Naftali Bennett era or will it become even more radicalized?

Past time for ‘Telling The Truth’ about Palestinian lies

Even a cursory glance at contemporaneous Arab and Muslim newspapers and other Muslim media makes clear that it was Arab leaders who commanded the local Arab population to “flee” their homes in anticipation of the genocide of the Jews:
- On April 3, 1949 the Near East Arabic Broadcasting Station reported: “It must not be forgotten that the Arab Higher Committee encouraged the refugees’ flight from their homes in Jaffa, Haifa and Jerusalem”.
- On October 12, 1963 the Egyptian daily “Akbar el Yom” reported that : “The 15th May, 1948 arrived…On that day the Mufti of Jerusalem (the Grand Mufti Amin al-Husseini) appealed to the Arabs of Palestine to leave the country, because the Arab armies were about to enter and fight in their stead”.
- On April 9, 1953 the Jordanian daily “Al Urdan” reported: “For the flight and fall of the other villages it is our leaders who are responsible because of their dissemination of rumours exaggerating Jewish crimes and describing them as atrocities in order to inflame the Arabs… By spreading rumours of Jewish atrocities, killings of women and children etc., they instilled fear and terror in the hearts of the Arabs in Palestine, until they fled leaving their homes and properties to the enemy”.
- Even the contemporaneous reporting of “The Economist” makes clear that the alleged “Nakba’ was self inflicted. On October 3, 1948 “The Economist” reported: “Of the 62,000 Arabs who formerly lived in Haifa not more than 5,000 or 6,000 remained. Various factors influenced their decision to seek safety in flight. There is but little doubt that the most potent of the factors were the announcements made over the air by the Higher Arab Executive, urging the Arabs to quit…It was clearly intimated that those Arabs who remained in Haifa and accepted Jewish protection would be regarded as renegades”.
- On August 19, 1951 the Beirut weekly “Kul-Shay” opined: “Who brought the Palestinians to Lebanon as refugees, suffering now the malign attitude of newspapers and communal leaders, who have neither honor not conscience? Who brought them over in dire straits and penniless, after they lost their homes? The Arab states, and Lebanon amongst them, did it”.
- The Arab National Committee in Jerusalem, following the Arab Higher Committee’s March 8, 1948 orders, instructed women, children, and the elderly living in Jerusalem to leave their homes: “Any opposition to this order … is an obstacle to the holy war … and will hamper the operations of the fighters in these districts.”
- Furthermore, the Jordanian newspaper “Filastin” on February 19, 1949 stated: “The Arab States encouraged the Palestine Arabs to leave their homes temporarily in order to be out of the way of the Arab invasion armies, have failed to keep their promise to help these refugees”
- The Syrian Prime Minister in 1948–49, Haled al Azm, also openly acknowledged the Arabs’ role in persuading the refugees to leave: “Since 1948 we have been demanding the return of the refugees to their homes. But we ourselves are the ones who encouraged them to leave.”

Anti Israel fanatics in the main stream media, on college campuses and in political circles cannot change the reality of what contemporaneous Muslim and Arab media reported.

The “Nakba” was self inflicted.

Palestinian media claim there was never a Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem

Safa News reports about a "secret" Israeli archaeological dig in the Old City of Jerusalem that they claim endangers Al Aqsa and threatens to "Judaize" Jerusalem..

Several days ago, the occupation authorities began conducting new secret excavations under the western side of Al-Buraq Square leading to Al-Sharaf and Al-Mughrabi Quarters in Old Jerusalem, which form an integral part of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

“Haret al-Sharaf” is an Islamic neighborhood in Old Jerusalem, with an area of 133 dunams, and it is adjacent to the Magharebia Quarter. In 1967, the occupation demolished about 70% of its area and confiscated most of its remaining buildings, expelled 3,000 Palestinians from its residents, and changed its name to “The Jewish Quarter.”

That's news to those who lived in the Jewish Quarter before 1948.

It is true that the Old City had a neighborhood called Haret al-Sharaf since before Ottoman times, along with a lot of other neighborhoods that did not line up with the four quarters that became popular in Western maps in the late 19th century. But even in the 16th century, there was a Haret el-Yahud near Zion Gate. (Maps from this 1992 article in Middle Eastern Studies.)

But the Haret el-Yahud neighborhood had already spread through Hret al-Sharaf during the 19th century as more Jews moved into the Old City.

But modern antisemites hate Jews so much that they refuse to admit that there was a Haret el-Yahud, and you can find webpages showing absurd things like these:

As it was, there were plenty of Jews who lived outside the Jewish quarter. 32% of Jewish families lived in the Muslim quarter, and at least one of the neighborhoods of that quarter - the al-Wad neighborhood to the northwest of the Temple Mount - was majority Jewish in the 1905 census.

Jerusalem itself was majority Jewish from the middle of the 19th century. The desire to erase the Jewish presence in Jerusalem today proves that Palestinians are still antisemitic.

Ilhan Omar's career in the Minnesota Senate proves she supports terrorists

Anti-Israel activists have been attacking AIPAC for a series of ads like this one targeting Representative Ilhan Omar.

AIPAC was highlighting this Omar tweet:

Their argument has been that by mentioning that Omar seems to water down terrorism by comparing Israel and America to Hamas and the Taliban, AIPAC is unfairly linking Omar with terrorism itself.

Obviously, AIPAC's ad didn't go that far. If they felt that she was a terrorist, the tagline "Condemn terrorists, not America" wouldn't make much sense.

There is a good reason why Omar's anti-Israel supporters want to change the argument from what Omar actually has said to identity politics, where a Muslim woman of color is untouchable and any criticism is twisted into Islamophobia, misogyny, racism and incitement.

However, the record shows that during the short time Omar was in the Minnesota Senate she consistently chose to defend and support terrorists.

As soon as Omar was elected in November 2016, before she actually took office as a state senator, Omar wrote a letter to Judge Michael Brown asking for leniency for 9 nine Somali men facing sentencing for trying to join ISIS.

In her letter, Omar wrote that the men do not deserve long sentences in prison, as this would destroy their lives. She suggested instead a rehabilitation program, saying “the desire to commit violence is not inherent to people — it is the consequence for alienation.”

However, Judge Brown had already tried a deradicalization program for at least one of the men, placing him in a halfway house. He violated the terms of parole and was sent back to prison.

Either Omar was not aware of this - which is unlikely, since the Somali community in Minnesota is tight-knit - or she tried to use her influence to release nine men who intended to join ISIS.

In April, 2017, Omar showed with her own vote that she supported terrorists.

In 2015, terrorist Syed Rizwan Farook verified his life insurance policy was up to date before going on a shooting rampage that killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. He was shot dead by police at the scene. Farook's mother attempted to get the insurance payout

The Minnesota Senate introduced legislation to close any loopholes that would allow insurance companies to pay for people killed while performing terrorist acts.

There were only two votes against that bill. One was by John Lesch, who described his concern about a theoretical situation where insurance companies could decide that a borderline case was terrorism to avoid a payout. He felt there should be a conviction in court making that determination. However, Lesch said, “Terrorists should not be able to send life insurance benefits to beneficiaries based on bad faith recent policy purchases. I think we can all agree on that.”

The other person who voted against this bill was Ilhan Omar.

Unlike Lesch, she refused to give a reason for her vote. Unlike Lesch, she never said that she was against life insurance benefits for terrorists.

These two examples in Omar's record show a pattern of support for Muslim terrorists.

For some reason, the media doesn't talk about Omar's record as a state senator supporting terror, but anything she says nowadays as a member of Congress that minimizes international terrorism must be seen through the lens of her existing record. That record is damning.

If anything, AIPAC's ads do not go far enough.

She may not be a terrorist herself, but Ilhan Omar has a consistent record of using her political position to stand on the side of terrorists. People who support her support that agenda.

Saudi model reveals she married a Jew, upsetting Muslims, but claims he converted for her and hates Jews

A Saudi model named Jojo who has apparently lived in America for a while announced her engagement to a boyfriend of a different religion on Instagram in 2019.

No one seemed to care.

They got married last October. No one seemed to care.

But last week, she published some of her wedding photos - and he was wearing a kippah.

Now people seem to care a lot.

Sites say that his wearing the kippah "indicates his religiosity and extremist." The same Jordanian site says "Wearing this beanie is one of the teachings of ultra-Orthodox Judaism as it says in the Talmud: 'Cover your head so that the wrath of heaven is not over you.' (according to their claim)." This is a made up Talmud quote, from what I can tell.

Joja, who does not mention the name of her husband, defends her marriage saying "The Jews are not only a religion but a race. He is of a Jewish race, but he does not know anything about the Jewish religion and does not believe in it, neither he nor his mother nor his father...My husband is of Jewish origin, but he is not a Jew. He is a Muslim and loves our religion and loves the Arabs and hates the Jews and their customs, but he cannot escape from his origins, whether on occasions or traditions, and I am the one who made him convert and love my religion."

Muslims are skeptical, noting that the couple had a civil ceremony so there is no indication that he converted.

Either way, it says something that she has to defend him by saying not only that he converted but that he hates Jews and Judaism - since that was the only way she felt she can retain her Arab fans.

08/14 Links: The American Jewish Establishment Has Failed, It’s Time to Replace It; Israel recalls envoy to protest signing of Poland's anti-restitution law

From Ian:

The American Jewish Establishment Has Failed, It’s Time to Replace It

Over the last few months, American Jews have been the target of a pogrom. Beatings, intimidation, and the stabbing of a rabbi have been only the most prominent atrocities in a frenzy of racist violence, mostly committed by Muslim antisemites backed by members of the far-left, who used Israel’s recent conflict with Hamas as an excuse. An excuse by and large accepted and endorsed by the non-Jewish establishment.

One of the most astonishing things about this pogrom, however, was the fact that it took the American Jewish establishment almost entirely by surprise. Indeed, they were so shocked that their reaction was almost non-existent during the pogrom and its immediate aftermath.

Recently, I saw one of the most prominent leaders of the American Jewish establishment acknowledge, at long last, that antisemitism on the left actually exists, and something probably ought to be done about it. My immediate reaction to reading this missive was twofold. The first was the intense desire to say, “if you’d done your job, we wouldn’t be in this mess!” The second was to wonder, “where have you been for the past 20 years?”

Regarding the latter, it is a simple fact that, for some of us, the recent pogrom came as neither a shock nor a surprise. We have been aware — and shouting at the top of our lungs — that since the outbreak of the second intifada in 2000, antisemitism had become not simply a part but an essential part of far-left ideology. We knew, because we saw with our own eyes, that this metastization was rapid and aggressive, and would inevitably end in violence. And for that entire time, in an act of willful denial that must have required extraordinary energy to sustain, the American Jewish establishment simply pretended it wasn’t happening.

This points to perhaps the most important lesson of the recent violence: the American Jewish establishment is not simply ineffective at stemming the rise of antisemitism on the far-left and in the American Muslim community. It is incompetent.

This has immense implications, because the American Jewish establishment is, of course, meant to represent and serve the American Jewish community. And perhaps the most important service they can render is to effectively combat and prevent antisemitic violence. It has now been conclusively proven that it either cannot or will not do so. That some of its more prominent figures may have finally acknowledged what is happening is not so much a positive sign as a confession of guilt. If they had done their job, after all, we wouldn’t be in this mess.

Put bluntly, what this dereliction has demonstrated is that the American Jewish establishment is not a vigorous leader and guardian of the community, but a decadent and impotent aristocracy that must be overthrown in favor of a new, passionate, and effective generation.

This is an absolute imperative, because the Jewish people cannot and have never been able to afford incompetent and ineffective leadership. We know, after all, what happened during the Holocaust when an earlier American Jewish establishment proved itself incompetent and ineffective. And in any other situation, the solution would be obvious: replace them with those who aren’t incompetent and ineffective.

Israel Furious as Poland’s President Signs Bill to Limit Property Claims

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett condemned the law and said Israel would not simply stand by at its approval. “It is a shameful decision and a disgraceful contempt for the memory of the Holocaust,” he said in a statement.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said: “Poland today, for the first time, approved an antisemitic and immoral law.” In response, the head of Israel’s embassy in Warsaw was being called back immediately, he said.

“Poland has tonight become an anti-democratic, non-liberal country that does not honor the greatest tragedy in human history,” Lapid said in a statement.

A new ambassador to Warsaw will not be sent at this stage, Lapid said. He also suggested Poland’s ambassador to Israel extend his vacation and not return to the country.

“He should use the time he has on his hands to explain to the Poles what the Holocaust means to Israel’s citizens and the extent to which we will not tolerate contempt for the memory of those who perished and for the memory of the Holocaust. It will not stop here,” Lapid said.

Israel was discussing further steps with the United States, he added.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday said Washington was deeply concerned that the Polish parliament had passed the bill, and urged Duda not to sign it into law.

Washington is one of Warsaw’s most important allies, but relations between the two countries have been strained by the property issue, as well as other issues such as plans to introduce changes that the opposition says aim to silence a US-owned news channel critical of the government.

The World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) on Saturday urged the Polish government to work on resolving the issue of property seized in the past.

“Democracy & justice hits new low in Poland, as President Duda signs a law making it virtually impossible for all former Polish property owners to secure redress for property illegally seized during the Communist era,” Gideon Taylor, chair of operations of the WJRO said in a statement sent to Reuters.

Israel recalls envoy to protest signing of Poland's anti-restitution law

Israel recalled its envoy from Poland to protest a new law that limits the ability of Jews to recover property seized by Nazis during the Holocaust and retained by post-war communist rulers.

“Poland today approved – not for the first time – an immoral, antisemitic law,” Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said in video message he issued on Saturday night.

“This evening I instructed the charge d’affaires at our embassy in Warsaw [Tal Ben-Ari Yaalon] to return immediately to Israel for consultations, for an indefinite period of time,” Lapid said. The newly appointed ambassador to Poland, Yacov Livne, has been asked to remain in Israel “for the time being.” In addition, Lapid asked Poland’s Ambassador Marek Magierowski, who is out of the country, not to return. “He should use the time he has on his hands to explain to the Poles what the Holocaust means to Israel’s citizens and the extent to which we will not tolerate contempt for the memory of those who perished and for the memory of the Holocaust. It will not stop here,” Lapid said.

08/13 Links Pt2: The Abraham Accords: For the generations to come; Melanie Phillips: When the Jew-bashers are Jews; How CUNY’s Faculty Union Bet on Israel Hatred, and Lost

From Ian:

Fleur Hassan-Nahoum: In praise of the Abraham Accords, one year on

Two weeks ago, at the end of a fairly standard meeting in City Hall with a group of East Jerusalem businessmen, Mahmoud, a local entrepreneur, pulled me aside.

He told me that as the result of his attendance at one of the webinars organized by the UAE-Israel Business Council, an organization I co-founded over one year ago, he now has a promising new business with an Emirati investor which utilizes Israeli technology and Moroccan raw materials.

At that very moment I truly understood the power of people-to-people peace. This is the new model of peace and co-existence we are building every day.

Up until now, Israel was a lone player in the region and we were not part of any regional cultural, sporting or business alliances. Our network faced west rather than to our own neighborhood, where we share much in common.

This past year has changed everything. In June 2020, my co-founder Dorian Barak and I saw that a shift was taking place, but we did not know just how quickly it would boom.

The minute the Abraham Accords normalization agreement was announced, we created an online platform for people to connect, the first of its kind for the accords.

Within weeks thousands of Israelis and Emiratis had joined in order to interact with each other, to talk, to do business and to become friends.

This is embarrassing. Un-grit your teeth and show some damn pride in America's accomplishment. https://t.co/JwsEoFacN9
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) August 13, 2021

Houda Nonoo: The Abraham Accords: For the generations to come

The signing of the Abraham Accords will no doubt be one of the biggest Middle East milestones in our lifetime and as we celebrate its first anniversary, it is an opportunity to reflect on this auspicious time for the Kingdom of Bahrain, and the region more broadly. It is also the time to look forward to the limitless opportunities ahead of us.

As one of the few indigenous Jews in the Arabian Gulf, it is particularly meaningful to me. As a citizen of this region, I am filled with excitement to see the construction of a new Middle East, one focused on coexistence and prosperity.

I would like to thank His Majesty, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and His Royal Highness, Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, for their leadership, vision, and courage to lead our nation proudly and boldly into the future through the signing of the Abraham Accords.

These Accords represent a promise that the leaders in the region have made to build a better life with security and opportunity for all of us and for future generations still to come.

This is the fundamental accomplishment of the Abraham Accords. In the past, the nations of the world dealt with Israel in the shadows. The Jew was to be used but not seen with. Now the Jew's place in the world is open, acknowledged, and *equal.* Long live the Abraham Accords!
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) August 13, 2021

Seth Frantzman: The Abraham Accords a year later: Challenges and hope

Asked about the expectations, she says that the peace deal has not met expectations in the UAE. “There have been so many missed opportunities on both sides. However, the UAE has repeatedly demonstrated good faith and that it delivers on its promises. Israel, on the other hand, hasn’t been meeting the UAE with the same amount of dedication and risk-taking. In fact, Israel has so far over promised and under-delivered. While normalization between Israel and the UAE, Morocco, Bahrain and Sudan was a calculated risk and took into consideration potential political and economic gains, it also took tremendous courage to pull it off. This courage is often overlooked and under-appreciated by Israelis. Economic benefits will take a long time to show.”

She points out that while the agreement can benefit trade and innovation, “its real value and incentive lies in a political and ideological agenda. The Arab Spring exposed the danger of Islamist groups.” This means that many countries in the Gulf and officials in Egypt realized the threat of the Brotherhood. “We are already starting to witness the largest effects of the normalization deals and to witness Islamist delegitimization and the dismantling of the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist ideology in the region.” I also asked Dan Feferman, communications director for the organization Sharaka, which has been helping advance person-to-person connections in the wake of the peace deals. “Looking back one year, I could not have imagined that the relationships would have moved this quickly across all issues. I am so impressed and surprised by the scope and pace of normalization… I don’t know what the expectations were. I can only imagine they exceeded them. There are still many challenges ahead... There were and will be again policy disagreements.” He pointed to major trade implications. He says the new path with the Gulf will “reshape the Middle East as we know it. I believe this is the beginning of the end of the Arab-Israeli conflict. A path to taking extremism head on, a path to diplomatic engagement and cooperation in the region. The regional implications in fighting extremism are the most important here.”

These contrasting views share some commonalities but also point to some major conceptual differences between the Gulf and Israel. In Washington the change in administration has created a mixed bag of results. While there is hope the new administration will continue to stick with the Abraham Accords, and build on them, there are some who wonder if the administration will indeed do that, or will it put an emphasis on a new Iran deal and other agendas.

David Weinberg, vice president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, points out that the “real shadow hanging over the future of Abraham Accord-type peace treaties in the region comes from the incipient reconciliation between Washington and Tehran in the form of a renewed nuclear deal.” He pointed out that while the Gulf states could seek closer ties if they see instability in the region, they could also “hedge their bets by minimizing open ties to Israel and their full alignment with the United States. To a certain extent, this process may already be underway. For the first time in many years, the Saudis and Emiratis recently held direct and public talks with Iranian leaders.”

This leaves many questions about the challenges and hurdles that lie ahead for the Abraham Accords. While much has been accomplished, and the current Israeli government is hosting delegations and taking positive steps, there are complex hurdles. For instance, the pandemic has papered over questions about when Emiratis will get visas easily. If and when Israel opens to tourists, people from the Gulf will want the same ability to travel to Israel as Israelis enjoy going to the Gulf.

D'var Torah: Shoftim: Justice in America, by Rabbi Reuven Mann

I was just sent this, and it is a nice thought for this week's parasha.

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Justice In America

Rabbi Reuven Mann

This week’s Parsha, Shoftim, takes up the rules of engagement pertaining to warfare. It should be noted that some religions are entirely pacifistic, believing that their exclusive vocation is to be dedicated to matters of peace. War, they believe, entails destruction of human lives and the uprooting of societies not to mention the harmful effects on the environment.

However, what troubles the Christian conscience the most is the notion of killing, which they regard as murder. For they ask, what right do we have to take anyone’s life in order to preserve our own interests?

Judaism takes a different view of these matters. The Torah makes it clear that there are times when it is man’s moral responsibility to take up arms. In Bereishit it depicts the heroic midnight “commando” raid launched by Avraham and his 318 men to rescue his nephew Lot from captivity. Subsequently we read in Shemot that Moshe slew the Egyptian taskmaster who was beating a “Jew from his brothers.” He was operating on the principle that innocent life must be protected even at the cost of the existence of the aggressor.

Judaism takes a very practical stand on issues of self defense and the protection of innocent life. Our religion is also very committed to the importance of maintaining societal order as our Parsha proclaims, “Shoftim v’Shotrim teeten lecha bechal shearecha…” (“Judges and police officers shall you appoint for yourselves in all your gates so that they can judge the nation righteously.”)

Civilized society is under constant threat by external enemies but also by internal forces that seek to undo the social balance that preserves freedom while maintaining security. The principle of societal order has been gravely tested recently in America. Tragedies have occurred which unleashed powerful forces of resentment among certain sectors of the population. This group saw no other way to proceed than to take to the streets. Peaceful protest and civil disobedience have come to be accepted in America as a legitimate mechanism to generate necessary social change. But there has to be a limit.

It is important to be able to address injustices that prevail in America and protest movements can be helpful in galvanizing the necessary public opinion to achieve that goal. However there is a very subtle and delicate line between constructive activism and harmful lawlessness. The fabric of society is very fragile and can be seriously damaged by those who seek to nullify the authorities whose job it is to enforce the statutes and protect the law abiding citizenry.

The Rabbis were very wary of ideologies that tended to diminish the effectiveness of the legitimate law enforcement agencies. They famously said, “One should pray for the welfare of the government for without it each person would swallow his brother alive.”

The warning of the Rabbis has been confirmed by the outbreak of crime and violence that has surged in the wake of the “Defund the Police” and other movements. Street violence and social chaos are not the way to achieve necessary and desirable social change.

At present we desperately need courageous leaders who can organize “Shoftim and Shotrim” who can protect the rights of citizens to peace and quiet while providing non-violent channels for legitimate grievances to be expressed and dealt with.

Over the course of its long history America has shown itself to be a country in which injustices can be ameliorated while the bonds that keep us together can be maintained. The message of Parshat Shoftim is very relevant to our situation. We need judges and police officers who are firm, resolute and who provide righteous judgement. May we merit to attain it.

Shabbat Shalom

(h/t Anne)