Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, August 30, 2021

08/30 Links Pt1: Border Police officer shot on Gaza border dies of wounds; The West must wake up to the threat of Jihad; Terrorist murderer Dalal Mughrabi is a role model at PLO camps

From Ian:

Border Police officer shot on Gaza border dies of wounds

A Border Police officer wounded during violence along the border with Gaza more than a week ago died of his wounds at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba Monday afternoon, hospital officials said.

Barel Hadaria Shmueli, 21, had been fighting for his life since being shot in the head at close range by a Gazan attacker as he guarded the border on August 21. His plight had attracted nationwide attention and mass vigils outside his hospitals took place nearly nightly.

“The medical team fought for his life and he underwent multiple surgeries during his hospitalization,” Soroka hospital said in a statement. “Despite the intense efforts, due to his serious injury the medical staff was forced to determine his death. We share in the heavy grief of his family.”

The announcement of Shmueli’s death drew an outpouring of condolences from leaders, politicians and others.

“There are no words to comfort his family amid their deep grief,” said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. “Barel was a fighter in his life and a fighter in his death. He fought for his life until the last moment, as all of the people of Israel were praying for him.”

Shmueli was wounded last Saturday night as Gaza rioters at a Hamas-run rally surged toward the security fence. In videos from the scene, rioters could be seen attempting to destroy and then snatch a soldier’s gun as it poked through a hole in the concrete wall. One man could then be seen running up to the wall, taking out a gun that had been tucked in his waistband and firing three shots through the hole at point-blank range. One of the rounds struck Shmueli in the head.

Heartbreak ?? after 9 days fighting for his life, Barel Shmueli succumbed to his injuries after being shot by Palestinian.

All of Israel mourns today. BDE pic.twitter.com/mTi12el30D
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) August 30, 2021

Sick! Gazans pass out candy and celebrate the death of IDF soldier Barel Shmueli who was shot by a Palestinian terrorist at the Gaza border.

pic.twitter.com/9LVUxBtjFE
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) August 30, 2021

On the #Lebanon side of the border, a mural has been painted depicting the Palestinian militant who shot a border patrol officer a couple of weeks ago at the #Gaza border. pic.twitter.com/qNE8mxD9RA
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) August 29, 2021

Amb. Alan Baker: Is the Gaza Security Perimeter Defunct?

The unbelievable ease with which an armed Hamas terrorist was able to brazenly approach Israel’s concrete defensive barrier that separates Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, insert the barrel of his handgun into the narrow slit in the concrete and just blindly shoot, at close range, a border policeman, raises many serious questions.

By the same token, one may also ask how and why a regular phenomenon has been allowed to develop over the last few years by which large groups of violent, wildly incited Hamas demonstrators and armed terrorists, hysterically intent on infiltrating into Israel with the aim of harming Israeli soldiers and citizens, are able to so easily approach and storm Israel’s security barrier.

One of the central security elements of the 1995 Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement (commonly termed “Oslo II”) was the creation of what was called the “Delimiting Line” along the entire northern and western edges of the Gaza Strip, separating the Strip from Israel’s sovereign territory.

Part of this central security element was the establishment of a “Security Perimeter” adjacent to that line, within the Gaza Strip, hundreds of meters wide. In that Security Perimeter, the PLO and Israel agreed that the Palestinian police would exercise “security responsibility for preventing infiltrations across the Delimiting Line or the introduction into the Security Perimeter of any arms, ammunition or related equipment.”

Israeli Analyst: Iran Entrenching Itself on Israel’s Border With the Syrian Golan

Iran is slowly entrenching itself in the Syrian Golan region at the border with Israel, a top Israeli analyst stated on Sunday.

The area of conflict is taking place in southern Syria, where certain rebel groups are still holding out after 10 years of civil war have seen the ruling regime of dictator Bashar Assad take back most of the country.

On the Syria Golan and the Hauran region, composed of south Syria and north Jordan, the Syrian army along with Hezbollah and Iran-backed militias — propped up by Russian political support — are besieging the city of Daraa, one of the last redoubts of the rebellion.

Veteran analyst Ehud Yaari writes on the Israeli website N12 that it is only a matter of time before Daraa falls, and the rest of what remains of the rebellion in the area will likely follow.

Jordan’s King Abdullah is attempting a delicate balancing act, argues Yaari, noting that the king has expressed a willingness to renew ties with Assad and help do the same with the rest of the Arab world, but does not want a Hezbollah-Iranian presence on his border.

This is particularly the case because divisions of the Syrian regular army in the region are now essentially controlled by Iran and Hezbollah, of which Abdullah is well aware.

Israel, says Yaari, faces a difficult situation: it does not want a war with the Syrian army, to upset Russia, or to gamble on the various rebel groups in the region.

Rina Shnerb's family and friends turning her death into multiple opportunities to help people

I had written about how the friends of Rina Shnerb, the 17-year old who was murdered by a bomb while hiking, embroidered a wedding canopy for anyone who needs it so her family could participate in the celebration of weddings that Rina would never have herself.

Commenter Annie in Petah Tikva noted that her friends also initiated another project: "They set out camping kits all around the north of Israel in popular hiking spots. Inside the kits is a photo of Rina z"l, an explanation of how she was killed, and a suggestion that you donate any unused equipment of your own "in order to spread the light that shone from Rina". The kits contain coffee pots, a camping gas and other accessories to make your hike pleasant."

Rina's family also turned her death into opportunities to help people.

The Kol Rina association has multiple projects in her memory: a project to provide communal Shabbat meals for anyone who needs one, a project to limit time on smartphones and spend more time with families, the establishment of 80 Torah study groups in Rina's memory, an initiative to construct safe hiking paths and lookouts throughout Israel, a matchmaking initiative, and more.

What is amazing about this is that this is not unique by a long shot. There are so many incredible initiatives that have been created in Israel in response to terror attacks by families of victims. It is perhaps the best testament to the resilience of the Jewish people to turn tragedy into opportunity to help others.

Rashida Tlaib praises Palestinian terrorists. Over and over.

Recently, Rep. Rashida Tlaib referred to Ahmad Erekat, the Palestinian who was shown on video swerving his car to attack a female Israeli soldier at a checkpoint, as a "loving son."

It turns out she has a habit of complimenting terrorists who attempt - or succeed - in murdering Israeli Jews, as well as their families and villages.

She referred to Mai Afana, the woman who also tried to run over and then stab Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint, as a "mother, loving daughter & successful PhD student." Afana's Facebook page where she compliments numerous terrorists, demands that Palestinian mothers give birth to more "martyrs" and describes herself as someone who looks meek but is really a "fierce lioness" makes it very clear that she planned this attack.

Tlaib has shown sympathy for Khalida Jarrar, who has admitted to being a member of the PFLP terrorist organization that has been responsible for the murder of many Jews, whose "family have gone through so much."

Muntasir Shalabi shot three Jewish seminary students and murdered Yehuda Guetta. Rashida Tlaib didn't condemn his murder - but she referred to Israel's demolishing his home in "beloved" Turmusaya. Demolishing a bricks and mortar, she said, was to "dehumanize," but murdering a human isn't.

Tlaib has also shown support for convicted murderer Rasmea Odeh, fighting her deportation from the US.

Are there any Palestinian terrorists that Rashida Tlaib has ever condemned? I sure cannot find any. To her, they are heroic.

(h/t Claire)

A week ago, a video showing abuse at Iran's Evin prison was released by hackers who broke into their video surveillance system.

In one part of the footage, a man smashes a bathroom mirror to try to cut open his arm. Prisoners — and even guards — beat each other in scenes captured by surveillance cameras. Inmates sleeping in single rooms with bunk beds stacked three high against the walls, wrapping themselves in blankets to stay warm.

The head of Iran's prison service didn't dispute the footage, taking responsibility for the abuses.

But apparently he spoke too soon. Because Iran didn't want to admit that it abuses prisoners, something that is well known.

So an Iranian official went back to the tried and true playbook and blames...the Jews.

Commenting on the prisoner abuse videos leaked by hackers in recent days, Iranian Judiciary's First Deputy Mohammad Mosaddegh on Sunday claimed that some of the scenes in the surveillance footage from Tehran's Evin prison were forged and the Judiciary -- which oversees all prisons -- could not be blamed for the abuse seen in them.

Hassan Norouzi, Deputy Chairman of the parliament’s Legal and Judiciary Affairs Committee on Saturday was the first to deny the authenticity of the abuse footage. He claimed that there is no torture in Iranian prisons. "The videos were forged by Zionists to divert the Iranian public's attention from the disgraceful defeat of the United States and Zionists [from the Taliban] in Afghanistan," he told Borna News.

Blaming "Zionists" in cases like these is so obviously antisemitism that it makes the people who try to defend every attack on "Zionism" as being legitimate look like idiots.

Palestinian Taliban upset over a party at Murad Castle, Bethlehem

From Enjoy Bethlehem:

The Murad Castle was built 400 years ago during the rule of the Ottoman Sultan Murad, with an aim to protect the area of Solomon’s Pools from invaders, especially the safe passage of water resources to Jerusalem.

The Castle was transformed into a museum that relates a four thousand year old history, civilization and culture of all the people and civilizations that lived in the area. The museum is one of the biggest and most important in Palestine in terms of its history and collection of relics. It contains over 2,000 ancient pieces, which date all the way back to the Bronze, Iron, Byzantine and Islamic ages, reflecting all the civilizations that were living in the area.

Even though the castle is right in the area of Solomon's Pools, for some odd reason Jews don't seem to be mentioned as one of the peoples who have lived in the Bethlehem area. Isn't that interesting.

Anyway, the museum is also an event space nowadays. Like many museums, people can rent it out for parties or other events.

As far as I can tell, none of the tourist sites mention that this is a sacred Islamic site, or that one has to be careful how to act at Murad Castle.

Apparently, it is one of those unwritten rules.

Over the weekend, a party was held at the castle. Young people ate, drank alcohol and danced together.

The reaction from the conservative and religious sites has been vehement, blaming Fatah for allowing what they call "a crowd of young men and girls participating in the beat of crazy songs and mixed dance, interspersed with the presentation of alcohol."

The Forum for Palestine Advocates reacted today in a way one would expect from the Taliban:

It is not surprising that the occupation attacks mosques and places of worship, and seizes real estate and cemeteries that represent the Islamic heritage in order to obliterate all Islamic landmarks and visit history.

It is not surprising that we saw the influence of the occupation in converting some ancient mosques into inns, bars, dance halls, gambling and the like.

But... the strange thing, which the mind does not accept, and it contradicts the national and Islamic affiliation... that some sons of the homeland turn the square of a mosque into a dance hall and promiscuity.

The Forum of Palestine Advocates condemns this unpatriotic act of holding a party of singing, dancing and mixing in the courtyard of the Murad Castle mosque in the town of Artas, and this is a legitimate and moral crime in harmony with the settlers’ crimes against our mosques. .

The competent authorities in the Palestinian Authority must bear full responsibility for this immoral attack and deviation from national values.

08/29 Links: Collier: The ethical demise of the Jewish Diaspora left; Rothman: The ‘Forever War’ Fallacy; Tlaib Describes Palestinian Terrorists as ‘Loving’ and ‘Successful’

From Ian:

David Collier: The ethical demise of the Jewish Diaspora left

The electoral defeat of Bibi Netanyahu has done much to expose the ethical vacuum in much of the leftist Jewish Diaspora that both obsessed about and despised him. From the day he was no longer Prime Minister, the ground on which this modern ‘pseudo-Zionist’ left stood, simply melted way.

Three recent examples spring to mind – the first was when some Jews who call themselves Zionists – came out in defense of the Ben and Jerry’s pro-BDS boycott. The next was an awful article on a ‘community split’ in the Jewish News – and the third was the unwarranted attack by toxic groups such as Na’amod – on community heroes such as UKLFI and North West Friends of Israel.

Who are the ‘pseudo-Zionist’ left?
Let me clarify. I know many decent left-wing Zionists. I was one myself three decades ago. Like me, these people watched as Oslo burned in the exploding buses of the Second Intifada. Most of the left absorbed the necessary lessons – even more so if they lived in Israel where the entire ‘peace camp’ sank. Many of these people still identify as left-wing today, but do so from a rational standpoint and an understanding of the nature of the enemies we face.

Then there are the pseudo-Zionist left. The comatose (rather than ‘woke’) Jews. Self described Zionists who are more likely to discuss ‘Black Lives Mattter’, or pronouns, than terrorist attacks against Israelis. These people possess a post-Oslo, left wing Zionist ideology that matured in an era when Bibi was the undisputed king of Israel. In fact, Bibi was such a strong factor in their Zionist make-up – that they are at a loss as to what to do, or think, without him as their go-to ‘demon’ upon which everything can be blamed.

Before the fall of Bibi – everything was simple for them. It was always all Netanyahu’s fault. There was no need for any nuance. Bibi was a fascist – the Likud were fascists – together with the orthodox and settlers (more fascists) these ‘extremists’ were all busy ruining Israel for the ‘good and enlightened’ Jews. All that we needed for sanity to return, was for Israelis to vote Bibi and his clan out of power.

Unfortunately for these hard-left elements, the Israelis (with the help of a twisted electoral system) went and did just that.

Caroline Glick: Bennett’s goals, Israel’s goals

If Iran is on target to become a nuclear-capable state in seven weeks, then the upshot of Biden's statement is that the Biden administration is willing to live with a nuclear Iran.

There was no evidence of tension between the two leaders in their joint appearance at the Oval Office. This despite the fact that Biden's claim that he would consider "other options" was far weaker than statements by then-President Barack Obama. At the height of his efforts to appease Iran through nuclear concessions, Obama said that the "military option is on the table." Even worse, when US reporters asked White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki what other options are being considered, she said that at this point, no options other than diplomacy are being considered in respect to Iran's nuclear activities.

Biden failed in Afghanistan because he apparently believed that with the unstinting support of the US media, he didn't need to bother putting together a coherent withdrawal plan or discussing it ahead of time with US allies. He was convinced that good PR meant you don't need a good policy. His failure in Afghanistan proves that reality is unmoved by press clippings.

Israel's media are Bennett's flacks. And the reporters and commentators on TV claimed that Bennett's goal was simply to sit down with Biden. Just by sitting in the Oval Office, he showed that he is the prime minister now – not the other guy. But here too, the reality is a stubborn thing. According to Lapid and Gantz, we are but seven weeks away from Iran becoming a nuclear state. The atmospherics of the meeting had no impact on that state of affairs.

Biden's fiasco in Kabul showed the world that he is not a trustworthy ally. In their joint appearance, even the nice promise that Iran will not get nuclear weapons, which Biden read from his cue cards could not diminish the fact that his underlying message is that he is not with Israel on Iran.

Bennett told reporters after the meeting that he accomplished what he set out to achieve. And maybe that's true. But it will be reality not successful public relations that will decide if Israel got anything out of the trip. On the face of things, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Citing antisemitism, growing number of countries shun Durban conference

A global network of more than 3,000 pro-Israel lawyers and activists is asking European countries to withdraw their participation from an upcoming event marking the 20th anniversary of the Durban Conference.

According to the Jerusalem Post, a dozen countries have pulled out of the conference so far.

The original Durban Conference in 2001 singled Israel out as racist, with draft resolutions saying Zionism is a form of racism

The Durban IV Conference is slated to take place at the United Nations in New York on Sept. 22.

The International Legal Forum (ILF) said in a letter to UN ambassadors and foreign ministers that the event, first held in South Africa in 2001, has "descended into an infamous hotbed of unbridled Jew-hatred, anti-Semitism and vilification of the State of Israel."

ILF explained that the conference "revived the "Zionism is Racism" slur, outrageously claimed Israel is an 'apartheid state,' distorted the Holocaust and made numerous Nazi analogies. It also became the birthplace and catalyst of the modern boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, which seeks the destruction of the State of Israel as its ultimate goal."

The pro-Israel group sent the letter to countries that have adopted the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism, including Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

The 2001 Durban Racism Conference turned into an antisemitic hatefest.

12 nations have pulled out of Durban IV:
???? UK
???? USA
???? Israel
???? Czech
???? France
???? Austria
???? Canada
???? Bulgaria
???? Hungary
???? Australia
???? Germany
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What about yours?https://t.co/5f21p40q6n
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) August 29, 2021

#OTD 40 years ago the Palestinian Abu Nidal group carried out a horrible terror attack in front of Vienna’s main synagogue, killed Nathan Fried and Ulrike Kohut and injured many others #NeverForget (for German-readers, I recommend the text referenced in the tweet below) https://t.co/TbNjxOevRV
— Hannah Liko (@HannahLiko) August 29, 2021

B'Tselem believes any ridiculous Palestinian lie

B'Tselem uncritically reports another dubious Palestinian claim:

On 26 June 2021, at around 4:00 P.M., we suddenly noticed settlers coming towards us. The women and children on the farm were terrified. We tried to drive the settlers away to defend our families, and tried to protect the flock, tents and fodder as best as we could. A few dozen guys from the area who heard what was happening came to help us fight them.

The settlers torched a car we used for transporting things inside the farm, well as two tons of barley for feeding the flock (a ton costs about 17,000 shekels [~5,2450 USD]), and about 50 sheaves of straw that were also intended for the flock (every sheaf costs 50 shekels [~15 USD]). They also injured two goats whose legs got broken.

June 26 was a Saturday. B'Tselem claims that the Jews cam from Adei Ad, an outpost founded by religious Jews. While it is possible that Jews violate the Shabbat and torch Arab fields as they take their Shabbat walks, it seems unlikely.

I could not find any article in Arab media about this, although there were reports of settlers attacking the same area three days later, supposedly burning fields with fires in a suspiciously straight line that would not be the most efficient way to destroy a field.

B'Tselem's report on the latter incident ignored the allegations of fires and instead claimed that the settlers uprooted 75 olive trees. Olive trees are notoriously hard to uproot or even cut down.

I'm not saying that Jews don't attack Arab fields sometimes - they certainly do. Arabs also regularly attack Jewish-owned fields, something that no international NGOs ever report on.

But it appears that many of these attacks on Arab property are false reports, and B'Tselem doesn't even pretend to verify the facts, parroting the Arab claims no matter how dubious.

(h/t Shaun Sacks)

Joe Biden hasn't exactly distinguished himself in recent weeks.

But did Biden fall asleep while Naftali Bennett spoke to him in Washington on Friday?

People are making that claim based on this video:

Another angle of the entire meeting, with a much higher resolution video, shows that Biden only has his head bowed, a position he went to as Bennett started to praise him. As this video shows, Biden goes into that position at about 12:09 and remains in that same position as he responds to Bennett at 12:43:

His eyes are more evidently open in this second video, the first one is too fuzzy to really see - and people's brains fill in what they want to see more than what their eyes are showing them.

Which is one reason anti-Israel lies are so effective: the fauxtography, deceptive camera angles and false captions only serve to strengthen the opinions of those who are already haters of Israel and they see this "evidence" as proof of their position. No one is immune to this, which is why critical thinking is such an important skill.

The main reason people believe the meme is because of Trump's highly effective "Sleepy Joe" monicker for Biden, showing how easily people can fall for persuasion techniques.

I think that Bennett's and Biden's words and mannerisms are far more newsworthy than Biden's nonexistent nap, and there is still plenty to be concerned about as far as Biden's ability to lead.

Bennett quoted this past Shabbat's haftarah as an accurate prophecy by Isaiah on modern Israel.

Bennett quotes, in Hebrew, Isaiah 60:4:

שְׂאִֽי־סָבִ֤יב עֵינַ֙יִךְ֙ וּרְאִ֔י כֻּלָּ֖ם נִקְבְּצ֣וּ בָֽאוּ־לָ֑ךְ בָּנַ֙יִךְ֙ מֵרָח֣וֹק יָבֹ֔אוּ וּבְנוֹתַ֖יִךְ עַל־צַ֥ד תֵּאָמַֽנָה׃

The translation is, "Raise your eyes and look about: They have all gathered and come to you. Your sons shall be brought from afar, Your daughters like babes on shoulders."

Bennett - who recites the Hebrew verse without notes - paraphrases it as "The sons and daughters of the Jewish people are going to come back to the land and are going to nurse our ancient land and rebuild it. This ancient Jewish prophecy is today's Israel reality."

Biden responds by referring to Bennett's earlier praise of the US giving Israel the tools to defend itself, and adds that the real credit should go to Barack Obama. His response is a bit fuzzy:

Thank you; you give me credit much of which should go to Barack Obama for making sure that we committed to the qualitative edge you would have relative to your friends in the region so he's the one that deserves the credit. Thank him as well. Thank you very much folks.

"The qualitative edge you would have relative to your friends in the region"? If they were really friends, Israel wouldn't need the weapons! Egypt is hardly a friend, although it is an ally; the US also provides some weapons to the Lebanese army which is hardly a friend, as well as Gulf states who do not have peace treaties with Israel.

Israel doesn't need better weapons than its friends, but better weapons than its enemies. Iran and its proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Gaza is the enemy that must be defeated, and the president didn't emphasize that when he had the chance.

Obama's weapons to Israel were also a set of golden handcuffs - a way to ensure that Israel doesn't have the ability to take unilateral action against Iran if it comes to that point.

Biden might feel a gentleman-like need to give credit to his Democratic predecessor that he served under, but this was a little tone deaf.

Biden's earlier statement to Bennett was not off the cuff - he read nearly every word he said. At one point he even got lost in his reading, saying "We've got a big agenda today starting with Covid, [looks up], which we've been talking about, [looks back at his text,]" and, uh, 19, in both our successful vaccination programs..." Clearly the text said "COVID-19" and Biden didn't even have enough awareness to skip the "19" part when he recovered from his tiny ad-lib.

The contrast between a US President who couldn't even properly read a statement and the Israeli Prime Minister who spoke extemporaneously was clear.

If one is going to criticize Biden, do it based on his actual words and actions. There is plenty of real material to discuss that can cast doubt on his ability to analyze, think and lead, even in an orchestrated press event.

Europe is characterized as being liberal and enlightened, and Israel is portrayed in the media as intolerant and Islamophobic.

But European countries and towns have many laws that are specifically against the practice of Islam, and Israel doesn't.

In so-tolerant Denmark, children who live in certain neighborhoods called "ghettoes" - which happen to be Muslim majority neighborhoods - are literally taken from their parents for 25 hours a week, starting at age 1:

Starting at the age of 1, “ghetto children” must be separated from their families for at least 25 hours a week, not including nap time, for mandatory instruction in “Danish values,” including the traditions of Christmas and Easter, and Danish language. Noncompliance could result in a stoppage of welfare payments. Other Danish citizens are free to choose whether to enroll children in preschool up to the age of six.

The French Senate voted to ban hijabs for children in public.

Six European nations have banned the face-covering burqa altogether.

In Moldova, several local councils banned public Muslim worship.

The European Union court has ruled that workplaces can limit Muslims wearing religious headwear.

A number of European communities ban halal (and kosher) slaughter.

Switzerland banned minarets on mosques in 2009.

Several French municipalities ban the "burkini" body-covering swimwear that Muslim women use.

None of these restrictions on Muslims exist in Israel.

By any measure, Israel is more tolerant of its Muslim minority than most European nations are.

Yet Israel is the only country tarred with the "apartheid" label, while criticism of European Islamophobia is muted..

08/28 Links: Islamism’s Brutal Face Is Back on Display; IDF strikes Gaza after violent border riots, airborne arson attack; Rashida Tlaib Promoted a Fundraiser for Group Tied to Hamas, Taliban

From Ian:

Islamism’s Brutal Face Is Back on Display

Any notion that the worst days of Islamist terrorism are long behind us was brutally shattered at Kabul Airport on Thursday, as twin bombs ripped indiscriminately through Afghan civilians and US and other foreign servicemen trying to complete the desperate evacuation of thousands of people for whom Taliban rule represents the most terrible fate.

Gen. H.R. McMaster, a former US national security advisor who served as deputy commander of the international force in Afghanistan, put it succinctly in the hours that followed the bloodshed in Kabul. “Maybe this moment is the time that we can stop our self-delusion that these groups are separate from one and other and recognize that they are utterly intertwined and interconnected, and what we are seeing is the establishment of a terrorist, jihadist state in Afghanistan,” McMaster, a visceral critic of the US withdrawal strategy pursued by both the Trump and Biden administrations, observed in a BBC interview. “And all of us will be at much greater risk as a result.”

His underlying argument is that talking up divisions between the Taliban and fellow Islamist fanatics — such as ISIS-K, the Afghan branch of the Da’esh terrorist organization in Iraq and Syria that carried out the Kabul Airport bombing — elides the point that these groups are united in their fundamental worldview. On the ideological front, the late Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s promise of a war against “crusaders and Jews” still holds firm, which means terrorism against Western interests and Western targets, most of whom will be defenseless civilians. It also means, for those unfortunate enough to live under the direct rule of the Islamists, that ordinary Muslims will continue to be their principal and most numerous victims.

The “intertwined” connections described by McMaster inside Afghanistan can be seen in the region more broadly. At the same time that the Taliban have conquered Afghanistan, Iran has appointed a new cabinet composed of men with a direct, personal role in terrorism, torture and other systemic violations of human rights, all of whom have extensive connections with Iran’s regional proxies, like Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The anti war movement has finally gotten what it wanted. They ended the forever war in Afghanistan. As a result, women will return to bondage, our allies will be murdered, America has been humiliated and Afghanistan is again a safe haven for terror.
— Eli Lake (@EliLake) August 27, 2021

Biden Admin Gives Iran's Mullahs Another Victory: Taliban Takeover

In the past, the Iranian regime used to hide its ties with Taliban; not anymore.... "The Taliban today," Kayhan wrote recently, "is different from the Taliban that used to behead people." So far, there seems insufficient evidence if that is true. At the moment, it does not look that way.

"Thinking that the Taliban will come under Tehran's command is tantamount to growing a snake up your sleeve." — Ali Khorram, former Iranian diplomat, iranintl.com.

The Iranian regime seems happy to build alliances with any government or terror group that shares Tehran's hatred towards Saudi Arabia, the Gulf countries, Israel or the US.

One of the critical opportunities that the Iranian regime sees in Taliban's takeover is that the group can once again become a safe haven for terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, or Islamic State -- called virtually identical "Pepsis" to the Taliban's "Coke" -- that attack the United States.

In 2017, a trove of 470,000 documents released by the CIA also revealed close ties between Osama Bin Laden, Al-Qaeda and the Iranian regime. A federal court ruling, found that "Iran furnished material and direct support for the 9/11 terrorists." At least eight of the hijackers passed through Iran before heading to the US. A federal US District court ordered Iran, for its role in 9/11, to pay some of its victims more than $10 billion, although there may be no way to force Iran to comply. US Federal courts have also ruled that Iran still owes Americans $53 billion for Iran having bombed the US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983, and other assaults.

What we are seeing is that the Biden administration just handed the mullahs of Iran – as well as the Chinese, the Russians, the North Koreans and the Turks -- yet another victory as they all cheer the US failure in Afghanistan and celebrate the takeover of Central Asia by terrorists.

IDF strikes Gaza after violent border riots, airborne arson attack

The Israel Defense Forces launched airstrikes in the Gaza Strip late Saturday night in retaliation for airborne arson attacks from the coastal enclave and renewed riots along the border.

The raids on Hamas targets south of Gaza City came hours after two fires were sparked in southern Israel by balloon-borne incendiary devices launched from the Gaza Strip. Hours later, Palestinians resumed clashes with Israeli forces along the Gaza border, as Hamas threatened to step up the cross-border arson attacks from Sunday.

The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza on Saturday night said 11 Palestinians were wounded in the border clashes with Israeli troops. According to the ministry, three of those wounded were hit by live fire and are in moderate condition. The other eight are said to have been lightly hurt from rubber bullets or shock grenades. It was not immediately clear if the Israeli airstrikes on Saturday night caused injury or damage.

The “night confusion units” behind the border riots do not officially tie themselves to Hamas, though their activities could not take place without the approval of the terror group that rules the Strip.

In the past, Gazans involved in such activities have burned tires, hurled explosive devices, and played fake rocket alert noises in an attempt to confuse Israeli residents living near the border and harass soldiers guarding the border.

08/27 Links Pt2: Melanie Phillips: The west's delusional fifth column; Caroline Glick: The roots of America's defeat; Quora Writers Say ‘Unchecked Jew-Hatred,’ Holocaust Denial Persist on Popular Q&A Site

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: The west's delusional fifth column

All those precious, preening, posturing personalities who cheered Biden on while demonising all who stood against the Democrats or their left-wing agenda bear responsibility for swelling the fetid cultural sea in which this administration swims.

The point of saying all this is not to point fingers gratuitously and inappropriately in the wake of a tragic and still-unfolding catastrophe in Afghanistan. The Taliban and Islamic State are responsible for the savagery there. The Chinese Communist Party, Russia’s President Putin, the Islamic regime of Iran and their Sunni jihadi counterparts, not to mention Pakistan and North Korea, are the enemies of the west and the free world.

But along with swathes of the western left, the Democratic Party is currently a fifth column in the defence of America and the west against these enemies. The point of calling this out is to warn about the supreme danger of ever putting the left into power.

The Democrats have shown themselves to be institutionally unsuitable for high office. They currently constitute a menace to the cultural integrity and continued strength of the United States, are placing individual American lives at terrible risk and are presenting a mortal threat to the security of the free world. And if Biden were to be removed, he would merely be replaced by the Vice-President, Kamala Harris, who is an even worse proposition; and after her in the constitutional pecking order comes the ineffable Nancy Pelosi. Say no more.

Unlike other societies, the people who live in democracies have a choice about who rules them. What’s happened in Afghanistan should be a graphic warning to the west to snap out of its complacency about the left. Their track record, both in and out of office, shows that they are generally as delusional as they are incompetent.

And they will never change. The notion that the Democratic Party has been hijacked by a few extremists is itself delusional. Just look at what the universities and schools are teaching the young — to hate their country and western values, to internalise the Marxist trope that all relationships are defined by power, and to believe that lies are truth and truth is lies.

These ignorant, spoiled, viciously indoctrinated young people are the future of the Democratic Party. And this educational subversion has been going on for decades — with the mainstream media its most conspicuous and degraded advertisement.

Where have all those “centrist” Democrats been all this time? Either being sucked into the madness by telling themselves that their political tribe is virtue incarnate and so everything it does is right and good; or else covering their eyes and ears and pretending that this cultural meltdown, and their side’s role in it, isn’t happening. And exactly the same thing has happened to Britain’s Labour party and wider “progressive” circles.

Biden is merely the boil that has now burst on a diseased body politic. As soon as they are able to do so, decent Americans should use their votes to remove the Democrats from office and, unless the party repudiates what it has become, prevent it from gaining power in America ever again.

Caroline Glick: The roots of America's defeat

Even before the suicide bombings outside the Kabul airport on Thursday evening, the US media was acting with rare unanimity. For the first time in memory, US media organs across the ideological and political spectrum have been united in the view that US President Joe Biden fomented a strategic disaster for the US and its allies with his incompetent leadership of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Some compare it to the 1961 Bay of Pigs; others to Saigon in 1975; others to the US embassy in Tehran in 1979. Whatever the analogy, the bottom line is the same: Biden's surrender to the Taliban has already entered the pantheon of American post-war defeats.

Biden is personally responsible for the humanitarian and strategic disaster unfolding before our eyes. He is the only American leader in history who has willfully abandoned Americans and American allies to their fate behind enemy lines. But while Biden is solely responsible for the decision to leave Afghanistan in the manner it is, it isn't Biden's fault that after 20 years of war, the Taliban was still around, stronger than it was on Sept. 11, 2001, and fully capable of seizing control of the country. The foundations of that failure were laid in the days, weeks and months that followed the Sept. 11 attacks.

In the aftermath of Sept. 11, then-President George W. Bush and his national security team put together the guiding assumptions for what came to be known as the global war on terror. In the years since then, some of the assumptions were updated, adapted or replaced as conditions on the ground evolved. But three of the assumptions that stood at the foundation of America's military, intelligence and diplomatic planning and operations since then were not revisited, save for the final two years of the Trump administration. All three contributed significantly to America's defeat in Afghanistan and its failure to win the war against global terror as a whole. The first assumption related to Pakistan, the second to Iran, and the third to Israel.

By rights, Pakistan should have been the first domino to fall after the Sept. 11 attacks. The Taliban were the brainchild of Pakistan's jihad-addled ISI intelligence agency. Al-Qaida operatives also received ISI support. But aside from a few threats and temporary sanctions around the time of the US invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, the US took no significant actions against Pakistan. The reason for America's inaction is easy to understand.

In 1998 Pakistan tested nuclear weapons. By Sept. 11, 2001, Pakistan fielded a significant nuclear arsenal. Following the attacks, Pakistan made clear its view of nuclear war, and the connection between its position and its sponsorship of terror.

In October and December 2001, Kashmiri terrorists sponsored by Pakistan attacked the Jammu and Kashmir parliament and the Indian parliament. When India accused Pakistan of responsibility and threatened reprisals, then-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf placed the Pakistani military on alert. India began deploying troops to the border and Pakistan followed suit.

Rather than side with India, the US pressured Delhi to stand down, which it did in April 2002. In June 2002, Pakistani-backed terrorists carried out suicide bombings against the wives and children of Indian soldiers. The countdown to war began again. In June 2002, again bowing to US pressure, India pledged it would not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the conflict. Musharraf refused to follow suit.

Andrew Pessin: Campus Cancel Culture, the Jewish Question, and Why I Wrote ‘Nevergreen’

As those who follow college campuses know, these are challenging times for the Jews — and, perhaps, for sane people in general.

The university has become almost unrecognizable. In place of reasoned deliberation, we find feverish activism; in place of a neutral forum for civil debate in the shared pursuit of truth, we find the enforcement of official orthodoxies. Disagreement, once the driving force of intellectual advancement, now is anathema. If you dare to differ from some particular orthodoxy, it’s because you enjoy privileges that blind you to the experiences of others. Or, worse, it’s because you, in fact, are actively defending those privileges. You are, in other words, a racist, or a homophobe, or a transphobe, or an Islamophobe, or — a Zionist.

In short, you are a hater — and hatred has no place on campus.

All of this culminates in “cancel culture”: those who disagree with the orthodoxies must be eliminated from the table of discourse, and in some cases, from the campus altogether. The National Association of Scholars currently documents some 180 cases of “cancellation” at North American universities going back to 2015, and that list does not include the increasingly frequent cancellation of Jews, especially Jews who support Israel.

Back in 2018, I co-edited a book called “Anti-Zionism on Campus: The University, Free Speech, and BDS.” That book documented several dozen episodes where pro-Israel faculty and students were targeted for cancellation.

Today, just three short years later, those seem like the glory days.

"My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish." Daniel Pearl’s last words are true for me, too. I could not be prouder to be a Jew, and I am deeply honored to be receiving this year's Daniel Pearl Award for Courage and Integrity in Journalism. https://t.co/2wk5WOXP6p
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) August 26, 2021

From TOI:

The rate of new COVID-19 patients being hospitalized in serious condition has slowed significantly as a result of the booster vaccine, experts said on Friday, anticipating that the current outbreak has been curbed.

After surpassing 700 concurrent serious cases earlier this week, Health Ministry data on Friday showed there were 689 patients hospitalized in serious condition, in what appeared to be the start of a decline in the country’s fourth virus wave.

Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem said in a Friday report that Israel’s drive to administer widespread third COVID-19 vaccine shots had caused the change of trend, along with some reimposed restrictions. They added that in the coming days, the number of daily infections was similarly expected to start slowing down.

Eran Segal, a COVID expert and one of the top government advisers to the coronavirus cabinet, said the rate of serious cases out of all new infections dropped from around 2 percent to 1.4% in recent days.

Some people - including some who hate Israel - are bitterly opposed the booster shots.

Alice Rothchild, of "Jewish Voice for Peace"' Health Advisory Council,. tweeted "As Israel ignores WHO’s plea to stop booster shots, some Israeli experts side with the World Health Organization and claim the current policy is both morally and epidemiologically wrong."

There is no doubt that vaccines need to be distributed worldwide. But it makes no sense for nations to forego booster shots for their own people, especially when evidence is mounting that the vaccines lose their effectiveness over time.

The international priority needs to be the manufacture and distribution to all who want the vaccine. Until there are enough vaccines for all, the problem of variants is going to continue no matter what. Redistribution of vaccines that only last 6-8 months from some countries to others is barely a band-aid, and every nation is obligated to help its own citizens first. (Of course, vaccines that are within a month of expiration that would go unused should be prioritized for distribution elsewhere, and no one seems to have been doing that.)

08/27 Links Pt1: John Podhoretz: As We Mourn Today; Israel’s Spy Agency Snubbed the U.S. Can Trust Be Restored?; Afghanistan's lessons for Israel

From Ian:

John Podhoretz: As We Mourn Today

As we mourn the losses of American servicemembers today in Kabul, please keep this in mind: They would not be dead if Joe Biden had not chosen to pull American forces out of Afghanistan.

The number of deaths today in Afghanistan is greater than the entire number of Americans who died there in 2020. They mark the first service deaths in Afghanistan since February 2020. The change here was the deliberate and conscious decision to “end a war” in which Americans were not suffering combat casualties.

The status quo held. And then Joe Biden, in between licks of his ice cream cones, heedlessly and vaingloriously smashed it to bits. He wanted to be the bringer of peace; he is instead the bringer of chaos. And we haven’t seen anything yet.

I am heartbroken by the news coming out of Kabul. I send my deepest condolences to the families of the Americans and Afghans who were killed. Israel honors the brave US service members who gave their lives to save so many.

Gantz Condemns Kabul Terror Attacks: ‘We Stand With Our American Partners’

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz condemned the terror attack at the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday, reiterating that Israel “stands with our American partners.”

“My thoughts and prayers are with the US troops and the Afghan people in Kabul, following the attacks that recently took place. I extend my condolences for the lives lost and pray for the rapid recovery of the injured. We stand with our American partners,” he posted on Twitter.

According to The Washington Post, at least 12 US service members and dozens of civilians were killed in the blast outside Hamid Karzai International Airport on Thursday.

“We can confirm that a number of US service members were killed in today’s complex attack at Kabul airport,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. “A number of others are being treated for wounds.”

IDF ‘Stands With US Service Members’ After Kabul Attacks

The Israel Defense Forces added to the expressions of solidarity with those affected by the terrorist attacks outside the gates of Kabul airport Thursday, which killed at least 85 people, including 13 US soldiers.

“My deepest condolences go out to the families of the victims of the horrific terrorist attack in Kabul,” IDF international spokesperson Amnon Shefler said on Twitter on Monday. “The IDF stands with the US service men and women who risk their lives to make our world a safer place.”

The extent of the casualties from the bombings, which have been claimed by ISIS, was still being assessed on Friday. The US military said that at least 18 service members were wounded in addition to the 13 killed, while the toll of Afghan deaths rising to at least 72.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who was set to meet with US President Joe Biden Friday in a meeting that was postponed due to the attacks, also gave his condolences.

“On behalf of the people of Israel, I share our deep sadness over the loss of American lives in Kabul,” Bennett said Thursday. “Israel stands with the United States in these difficult times, just as America has always stood with us. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of the United States.”

I am heartbroken by the news coming out of Kabul. I send my deepest condolences to the families of the Americans and Afghans who were killed. Israel honors the brave US service members who gave their lives to save so many.

Israel stands with the United States. 🇮🇱🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/PMDM4ffVnY
— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) August 26, 2021

A new poll published by Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD) asked Palestinians in the West Bank what they would prefer to see in a final solution with Israel.

Their preference reminds one of an earlier "final solution."

Only 36% support a two state solution. 60% support a "solution" where an Arab Palestine takes over the entire area: "a unified Palestinian state on historic Palestine."

What about that "binational state" where Jews and Arabs have equal rights that so many Israel haters like Peter Beinart are claiming would be the best solution?

Only 8% support "a one-state solution with Palestinians and Israelis living together." The question didn't even ask about equal rights - just whether they would want a state where they merely live with "Israelis" (which means Jews - they consider Israeli Arab to be Palestinian.).

This means that those who answered "a unified Palestinian state on historic Palestine" don't want any Jews in their state, certainly not as citizens with full rights.

Tell us again that Israel is the obstacle to peace.

Why the Pope's comments on the Torah are a very big deal

From Religion News Service:

Israel’s Chief Rabbinate has written a letter to Pope Francis conveying its “distress” at comments he made suggesting Jewish law, as written in the Torah, is obsolete.

The letter, first reported on by Reuters, was sent by Rabbi Rasson Arousi, chair of the Commission of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel for Dialogue with the Holy See. Arousi was referring to a homily Francis made during a general audience on Aug. 11.

In that homily, or sermon, the pope reflected on the Apostle Paul’s views in the New Testament that the Torah does not give life.

Speaking of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, the pope said: “It does not offer the fulfillment of the promise because it is not capable of being able to fulfill it … Those who seek life need to look to the promise and to its fulfillment in Christ.”

At first blush, Jews might think, "so what?" Jews don't have to believe Christian theology and every religion believes itself is the right one.

The article only gives a beginning of an answer as to why this is big deal.

That statement comes close to supersessionism, also called replacement theology— the belief that the Christian faith has replaced or supplanted Judaism, a view the Catholic Church repudiated. In a 1965 landmark Vatican declaration, Nostra Aetate, the church established a new rapport between Jews and Catholics.

“In his homily, the pope presents the Christian faith as not just superseding the Torah; but asserts that the latter no longer gives life, implying that Jewish religious practice in the present era is rendered obsolete,” Arousi wrote in the letter.

“This is in effect part and parcel of the ‘teaching of contempt’ towards Jews and Judaism that we had thought had been fully repudiated by the Church,” he wrote.

This is still a huge understatement.

Supersessionism has been the key driver for antisemitism for the past two thousand years.

As I pointed out in this 2017 article, Christian supersessionism prompted attacks on Jews. Churches throughout Europe can still be seen with carvings and stained glass images of Ecclesia, the triumphant symbol of victorious Christianity with crown and chalice, and Sinagoga, the defeated, humiliated and blindfolded Jew whose tablets of Law are slipping from her fingers.

The message wasn't merely that the Church was superior to Judaism, or even that it had superseded Judaism. The message, based on the placement of these figures in areas where there were large Jewish communities, was that anyone who clings to Judaism is willfully blind and defective.

The continued existence of a vibrant Judaism when Christian theology says that it has been replaced was a threat to that very theology. If the original Jews haven't embraced Christianity, either there is something wrong with them or something wrong with the idea that Judaism has been replaced.

Jewish communities are a source of shame for supersessionist Christians.

Some people will do anything to remove the source of their shame, from forcible conversions to pogroms and genocide.

Christian supersessionists aren't the only ones for whom Jewish existence is a source of shame. Islam also attempted to attract Jews - and responded violently when they refused to become Muslim. Muslim supersessionism is most obvious by how Muslims have consistently converted every Jewish holy place into a mosque. Muslims believe that the world is divided between "Dar al-Islam" and "Dar al-Harb" and the very existence of Israel in the heart of the Muslim world is a constant source of shame and defeat of that ideology.

Palestinian antisemitism combines the Christian and Muslim supersessionism as religious reasons to fight the Jews, minimizing the theological divide between the two to jointly attack any Jewish political power in the region.

It is also notable that Arab nations lobbied fiercely against the Vatican's 1965 Nostra Aetate that redefined the relationship between Catholicism and Judaism to be less adversarial. The Arab world supported Christian antisemitism, and the Catholic denominations in the Middle East rejected Vatican II.

Pope Francis' words indicate that while the Catholic Church has officially abandoned supersessionism, the basic theology cannot so easily be excised. His speech should have been vetted but I don't think most Catholics would disagree with his actual words - if Judaism can bring eternal life, then why believe in Jesus? This indicates that there is a slippery slope where a future Church could revert to its traditional antisemitic theology.