Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, November 18, 2021

11/18 Links Pt1: An Important Blow Against UN Anti-Semitism; US Senate Bill Calls for Annual Review of Palestinian Curriculum for ‘Racist Violence Against Jewish People’

From Ian:

The Fallacy of 1,300 ‘Obstacles to Peace’ in Middle East

The problem is that both of these claims are complete and utter nonsense. Nevertheless, that doesn't stop many world leaders and many mainstream news networks from repeating these claims over and over again as if they are black-letter laws.

One such example occurred on Oct. 29 when Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney was on CNN and pronounced that Jewish "settlements" "built on territories in the West Bank" are "illegal" under the "4th Geneva Convention" because it "forbids the transfer of civilians." In addition to making this assertion to CNN's entire audience, as if it was no more controversial than claiming that the earth is round, Coveney added that it is these "settlements" that are "making a two-state solution and a peace process more and more distant and more and more difficult."

The Geneva Conventions of 1949, which were the basis for these "international law" claims by the Irish foreign minister, were drafted to prevent the kinds of deplorable forcible deportations and mass transfers of peoples perpetrated by Nazi Germany during World War II. They are, however, completely inapplicable to how Israel came into control of Judea and Samaria.

Under the Fourth Geneva Convention cited by Coveney, in order for territory to be "occupied," it must be conquered by force from an existing sovereign state. But Judea and Samaria were never part of any recognized sovereign state because Jordan conquered it in 1949 as part of the Arab League's collective war to annihilate Israel in 1948 and Jordan's attempted annexation of Judea and Samaria (after it renamed the territory the "West Bank") was rejected by every country in the world, other than the British.

Moreover, even if Judea and Samaria was presently "occupied territory," Coveney's cite to the Geneva Convention for the proposition that Jews living in Judea is "illegal" (because Article 49 prohibits the "transfer of civilians" by the "occupying power") is simply wrong. Nowhere in Article 49 does it say that civilians can't voluntarily move to live in "occupied territory." Nor does it require "occupying powers" to make it difficult or burdensome for their civilians to reside in these territories.

That is particularly the case here, where Israel did not gain control of Judea and Samaria from any Palestinian Arab state or polity, but in a defensive war launched against Israel by Jordan. A war in 1948 that Jordan and the Arab League indisputably started and where Jordan literally ethnically cleansed all of the Jews from the territories it had conquered as a result.

Anne Bayefsky: An Important Blow Against UN Anti-Semitism

The resolution was cunningly crafted and ostensibly about combating racism. Opponents to it could anticipate that their objection would be framed as racist, as indeed it was. Additionally, objectors knew that they didn’t have the numbers to prevail. This is because almost all UN members avoid exposing the human-rights charade in operation at the UN’s top human-rights body. Some of the boycotting countries preferred to do battle on other ignominious resolutions on the Council’s agenda and worried about expending limited political capital. Opposing yet another anti-Jewish and anti-Israel UN resolution was annoying and troublesome—precisely the UN environment that anti-Semites can so readily manufacture.

The states that boycotted Durban IV, though, could not avoid the choice either to allow the resolution to be adopted by consensus or to “call for the vote” and demonstrate their objections. Britain stepped up and called for the vote. On October 11, 2021, the final tally was 32 in favor, 10 against, and 5 abstentions. Accompanying their no votes, the UK (speaking also on behalf of Australia), Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic made statements in “explanation of vote” that specifically referenced the issue of anti-Semitism.

As with the boycott of the 20th anniversary itself, those negative votes indicated that key democracies in the United Nations understand this truth: The UN’s discriminatory treatment of Israel, and especially Durban’s racism lie, is a form of modern anti-Semitism. That is truly important.

Still, these states are in the UN minority. The resolution was adopted. It demands the launch of a new UN “communications strategy” to flog the Durban Declaration and all its components worldwide, making special use of “social media” and targeting “young people,” the “news media,” and “educational entities.”

Ambassador Moynihan concluded his 1975 condemnation with these words: “A great evil has been loosed upon the world. The abomination of anti-Semitism…Evil enough in itself, but more ominous by far is the realization that now presses upon us—the realization that if there were no General Assembly, this could never have happened.”

Almost a half a century later, the realization presses upon us that if there were no General Assembly, the outrages of Durban I, II, III, and IV could never have happened. Over the course of seven decades of the violent rejection of the Jewish state, it is the United Nations that has provided Israel’s enemies with the political weaponry to avoid peace. It has promoted “Zionism is racism,” “apartheid Israel,” and Durban “victims” in order to isolate, sanction, and ultimately eliminate the Jewish state. Ominous, but, as the boycott of Durban IV proved, the UN is not omnipotent. At the same time, it makes doing the right thing more difficult, not less. UN-driven anti-Semitism will not be impeded by the faint of heart.

Starting now and over the next month, the world parliament known as the U.N. General Assembly will adopt more resolutions targeting the Jewish state than the combined total of resolutions on Iran, Syria, North Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela & Libya.https://t.co/vvxRv41R6a
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) November 18, 2021

Biden’s Betrayal of Israel at the United Nations

This past week the Biden Administration ratcheted up its pressure on Israel by abstaining from a vote on a United Nations General Assembly Resolution entitled, “Assistance to Palestinian Refugees” which raised the canard of the “Right of Return”.

I could not help but think back to President Obama’s outrageous and shameful abstention from voting against Resolution 2334 on December 23, 2016 which stated that Israel’s “settlement activity” constitutes a “flagrant violation” of international law and has “no legal validity.”

Israel accused President Obama of secretly orchestrating the passage of the resolution as his parting shot or as some have characterized it as his “parting punch” against Israel.

During the Trump years America defended Israel at every turn in the United Nations.

The Biden Administration has made a concerted effort to return to the ways and policies of President Obama. Israel cannot rely on America to help them at the United Nations.

Richard Mills, US Deputy Representative to the United Nations said, “we were pleased to see language included in several of the resolutions that reflect our priorities in line with strengthening UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency) for “Palestinian Refugees”. In other words, Israel was not their priority.

The Resolutions call for the “Right of Return” for “Palestinian Refugees” to Israel as well as for the receipt of compensation for property lost when they left their homes.

A Resolution like this has only one focus and one goal and that is the elimination of the Jewish State. If the United Nations got its way, more than 3 million Arabs would flood Israel and make it impossible for the Jews living there. It would destroy Israel.

Vandalized mezuzah case at Northeastern U Hillel in October; the parchment was stolen

WTHR (Indianapolis) reports:

Starting in September, around Jewish High Holy Days, IU [Indiana University] had at least a dozen reports of sacred religious symbols, mezuzahs, stolen from dormitory doors. The mezuzah is an enclosed prayer scroll put on a doorframe, that identifies a home as Jewish and indicates God's protection.

Rabbi Sue Silberberg, the executive director at IU Hillel, said in her 31 years working at the university, IU has always been known as welcoming, with very few incidents of hate.

But she's seen a recent rise in antisemitism across the country and at IU.

The Briscoe, McNutt and Forest quads were all hit in the past month or two. One student, Silberberg said, was verbally harassed, too, by girls on her floor. Some students had their mezuzah stolen multiple times.

"It was taken and she put it back up. It was ripped down at least another two times, and then, someone else on her floor had their mezuzah ripped down. Then, it spread to another residence hall and a third residence hall," Silberberg said.

This is only the latest of a string of mezuzah thefts and vandalizations on campuses in North America.

Earlier this month, a mezuzah was stolen and damaged at George Washington University.

A mezuzah was torn from Northeastern University Hillel in October.

Two mezuzot were ripped down from students' doorposts at Tufts University during September in separate incidents.

It happened twice at the University of British Columbia, most recently in August.

There have been incidents in the past of this kind of vandalism, but not as many as we are seeing this year.

Studies have noted that antisemitic incidents on campus correlate with anti-Israel activities. Without anyone catching the vandals, though, we don't know if this is prompted by classic or modern antisemitism.

Hanan Ashrawi, former PLO member and darling of the Western media, sent out a racist tweet this morning.

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield visited an UNRWA school in Ramallah, and she tweeted that she met with UNRWA officials on how they can help educate Palestinian children without teaching them hate, as they have been proven to do time and time again.

Ashrawi responded by essentially calling Thomas-Greenfield an Uncle Tom:

This tweet is incredibly offensive on so many levels.

Ashrawi is gratuitously bringing Thomas-Greenfield's race into a discussion where it is completely irrelevant.

She is saying that a high-ranking, successful Black woman is slavishly following the dictates of the white man and has no agency of her own.

She is defending UNRWA's teaching antisemitism and hate for Jews and Israel.

She is saying that UNRWA is a Palestinian school system that doesn't have to answer to anyone, when in fact it is a UN organization that gets funded by the West and that has written standards that it must adhere to - which is what the ambassador was doing. (Thomas-Greenfield didn't even say a negative word about UNRWA!)

Finally, Ashrawi is saying that a Black woman doing her job and representing the most powerful nation on Earth is a traitor to all people of color.

Black people have noted for years that it is offensive when non-Blacks call other Blacks traitors to their race. The new racists are saying that all Black people must act a certain way that they define.

Ashrawi is brazenly condescending towards people of color. She is a racist who arrogantly tells Black people how they should act and think.

A Palestinian teen transforms from an innocent child victim to a hero shahid in Palestinian media

When the initial report came out of an attempted stabbing in Jerusalem by a 16 year old boy, Arab media reported it as another child victim of Israeli aggression.

Then the videos were released, showing that the teen indeed tried to murder the two police officers and they reacted appropriately.

And photos of his knife, which was clearly not for kitchen use:

And the teen's last posts on social media, asking forgiveness from his friends:

So the Palestinian narrative turned on a dime from "innocent victim of Israeli bullets" to "brave mujahid shahid."

And the NGOs that pretend to "defend Palestinian children" will never say a word against a child throwing away his life for a chance to injure Jews.

Defense for Children International - Palestine tweeted about the youth's death and said that they will send out an update as soon as they find out details.

DCI-P has been linked to the PFLP terror organization, and the PFLP celebrated the attack a couple of hours later.

Which means that DCI-P will never issue a statement against a culture where Palestinians celebrate their children planning to get themselves killed to become heroes.

This is one of the groups that the EU and Hollywood leftists are supporting as a human rights organization. DCI-P has never condemned anything the PFLP supports, and never will - even cheering a child's death.

Palestinian culture is a culture that celebrates the death of children as long as they manage to injure a Zionist on their way to paradise. You will be hard-pressed to find a single article or op-ed opposing such an attack and its effect on the psychology of thousands of other children who might look at martyrdom as a wonderful way to escape problems they are having in school or with friends.

11/17 Links Pt2: Palestinian Leaders’ Fabrications About Ancient Israel Go Unchallenged By Media; David Collier: We have planted trees in Israel for those who help fight antisemitism

From Ian:

New York Times Video Depicts Israeli Soldiers Winning Pizza Coupons by Shooting Palestinians for ‘Fun’

The New York Times is out with another anti-Israel video — this one accusing Israeli soldiers of shooting Palestinians for “fun,” and drunk Israelis on Purim throwing bottles at a Palestinian baby.

Israeli soldiers were rewarded with coupons for pizza if they shot a Palestinian, the video alleges. The video also depicts Jewish children chanting “slaughter the Arabs.”

A Times opinion newsletter promoting the film is headlined “A Rare Look at Israeli Soldiers in the West Bank City of Hebron.” The “senior commissioning editor for Op-Docs,” Christine Kecher, who joined the Times this year with no apparent previous newsroom experience, writes, “We hope it will resonate with you the way it has with audiences around the world.” The Times didn’t commission this film, which, as the newsletter explains, has already been created and shown elsewhere, and debuted in Amsterdam nearly a year ago. But the Times is hosting the 22 and a half minute “Mission Hebron” movie on the New York Times website and promoting it on the Times homepage under the headline, “I Asked Fellow Ex-Israeli Soldiers to Tell Me Their Stories.”

The Times is depicting it as Israeli self-criticism: “Director Rona Segal learned filmmaking the Israeli army. Now, she turns the camera on her fellow soldiers.”

But the final credits disclose foreign involvement, with “thank you” to “The European Union,” the “International Solidarity Movement,” and “DCA ACT Alliance.” The European Union — well, we all know unfortunately what happened to the Jewish people the last time they entrusted their security to France, Germany, and the Netherlands. The International Solidarity Movement was founded by “extreme leftist Americans,” according to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. And the “ACT” in DCA ACT Alliance stands for Action by Churches Together — it is an alliance of the World Council of Churches and Lutheran World Federation. Those churches’ involvement might explain the Purim angle or the depiction of Jewish bloodlust that infuses the Times-promoted video; already back in 414 in Inmestar, Syria, Christians were accusing Jews of seizing and killing a Christian child on Purim. As Henry Abramson has written, “it didn’t take much to convince Christian audiences that Jews were in fact bent on committing acts of horrific violence. From Inmestar to Norwich to Nazi Germany and beyond, the noxious lie of the blood libel continues to plague innocent Jewish communities.”

Brooke Goldstein: In D.C., American Jews continue to face antisemitism unabated

Being anti-Zionist is the antithesis of supporting indigenous rights and statehood for indigenous people. Zionism is the ultimate of progressive values in its recognition of Jews as indigenous to the land of Israel.

Anything else would be contradictory, all in the name of a “commitment to racial justice, self-governance, and indigenous sovereignty.”

Where is the uproar from the left? Why haven’t progressives who embrace the Statehood DC movement decried the hate speech aimed at Jews by this local chapter of a national organization committed to fighting climate change? It took the national Sunrise Movement days to reproach its D.C. affiliate, at first ducking a response to Sunrise DC’s racism and antisemitism by citing its practice of no oversight over local affiliates’ statements before they are published.

In our nation’s capital we have the opportunity — the obligation — to do better. At the seat of our government, in the city that boasts Black Lives Matter Plaza, American Jews continue to face antisemitism unabated.

Discrimination against a people for their faith disguised as a political movement is racism, plain and simple. So why doesn’t anyone seem to care when Jews are the ones being targeted?

Statehood DC, when will you decide to push back against racists using your space to exclude people because of their ethnic, cultural, and religious identities?

Blatant antisemitism under the guise of “racial justice” has gone unchecked for too long.

Let’s end it now.

David Collier: We have planted trees in Israel for those who help fight antisemitism

Before we were rudely interrupted by a pandemic, I ran a campaign asking British Jews to put forward names of those who they feel are standing by them in the fight we face against rising antisemitism. They also donated, to honour those fighting with trees being planted in Israel in their names. Forty trees in total have been planted and this week a certificate has been sent to those named here (and some unnamed).

The JNF certificate they received carried this message:
A mature tree has been planted in an urban forest in the Negev, (in your name) bringing life into desert towns in recognition of your bravery and strong stance in fighting antisemitism in the United Kingdom. You are a true friend of the Jewish people.
Donated by and sent with best wishes from
the Jewish Community in the UK

The fight has a cost
Everyone involved in this battle knows that the fight can carry a high personal cost and not everyone can be publicly recognised. All those named below have given their permission to be listed here.

A few other important points:
- This is not a list I drew up – but one that reflects the wishes of those who supported the campaign. No list could be complete but as someone who has been on the front line – I recognise each and every one of those mentioned. Much of the activity can take place behind the scenes and some have paid a very heavy price indeed for their solidarity.
- Secondly, this is recognition with a present tense. This is about honouring fighters in the field of a battle still being fought.
- No list of this type could be complete. For those who you think have been missed (and we all know some have) – you can still honour them in the same fashion. If you feel a non-Jewish voice has been empowering you, strengthening you, standing by you – then you can go to the JNF page – donate £50 – and plant a tree in their name. If you want to use the same message as the one I sent out – just put a note saying ‘same as David Collier’s‘ in the message box. Don’t forget to also write the name of the person you wish to honour in this way. If you do not want to do this yourself, use the donate buttons below, send the funds along with the instruction – and I will take care of it.

This is for one of our wonderful non Jewish supporters who have joined the growing ranks of Jewish diaspora planting trees in Israel to combat #climatechange We can’t name him because of #JewHate supporters, but he is a mensch and deserves our heartfelt gratitude. Kol Hakavod ?? pic.twitter.com/9PISg2NpsI
— lindi ?????? (@Lyndagee49) November 17, 2021

When Will Israel Regain her Honor? (Vic Rosenthal)

Weekly column by Vic Rosenthal

In 1981, Menachem Begin presented what he thought were the most important lessons to be learned from the Holocaust. Many people remember the first lesson, “if an enemy of our people says he seeks to destroy us, believe him,” and Israel’s leaders seem to have taken this to heart, with respect to Iran at least. But what about Begin’s fourth lesson?

Jewish dignity and honor must be protected in all circumstances. The seeds of Jewish destruction lie in passively enabling the enemy to humiliate us. Only when the enemy succeeds in turning the spirit of the Jew into dust and ashes in life, can he turn the Jew into dust and ashes in death. During the Holocaust it was after the enemy had humiliated the Jews, trampled them underfoot, divided them, deceived them, afflicted them, drove brother against brother, only then could he lead them, almost without resistance, to the gates of Auschwitz. Therefore, at all times and whatever the cost, safeguard the dignity and honor of the Jewish people.

This, unfortunately, seems to have been ignored by the leadership of the Jewish state for the last several decades. Over and over, when the Jewish people, their state, or its institutions like its army or police, are humiliated, deceived, or treated as sub-human, our policy is to take the “pragmatic” course, wipe off the spittle of our enemies, and pretend that nothing serious happened.

Examples abound. Consider the Oslo Accords. Almost from the first day, after Arafat signed a document in English recognizing “the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security,” he began to call for jihad against that state in Arabic. This was the beginning of a pattern, which soon included alternating diplomatic demands and terror attacks. More than 150 Israelis were murdered between 1993 and 2000 (later, the Second Intifada would claim more than 1100 additional lives). And yet, for years after Oslo, Arafat and the PLO were considered our “peace partners.” How is that possible? Was there no one in the State of Israel that understood Arabic? Was there no one able to see the connections between Arafat and the waves of terror he unleashed?

The answers are obvious. The deceptions and other blows to our honor – there is no worse humiliation than murder unavenged – were, for lack of a better word, absorbed. Absorbed and allowed to pass in the pursuit of peace, as if allowing our state and our people to be degraded would be likely to advance the cause of peace! Quite the opposite, as we shortly discovered.

Speaking of murder unavenged, in a fruitless attempt to appear enlightened to the Europeans who hate our Jewish guts in any case, and in opposition to our own biblical tradition, we do not execute terrorist murderers no matter how heinous their crimes (the one exception, Adolf Eichmann, only emphasizes the rule). Rather, we imprison them with their compatriots in some of the world’s most comfortable prisons while we allow the terrorist organization that employs them to pay generous salaries to their families.

Here is yet another example. In May of 2010, our naval commandos boarded a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, that was carrying “activists” to try to break the blockade of Gaza. Rather than automatic weapons, the commandos carried paintball guns, which – regardless of the ultimate outcome, was ludicrous and embarrassing. Luckily for them they also had pistols, although they were instructed not to use them unless their lives were threatened. "We came to speak, they came to fight," the Foreign Ministry quoted the IDF spokesman.

They were met on the deck of the ship, not by the “peaceniks” they expected, but by terrorists armed with clubs, knives, iron bars, and other “cold” but deadly weapons. They were beaten and stabbed, and one was very seriously wounded and thrown into the sea (he survived). Only after they were taken below decks, and a pistol that was taken from a wounded soldier was turned against them, did they shoot their way out of the trap. In the process, nine of the Turkish terrorists were killed.

What’s wrong here is that Israel – the IDF – greeted an attempt to violate its (legal) blockade with a display of weakness rather than strength. In addition to the practical failure – most likely fewer would have been seriously hurt or killed on either side if the commandos had carried assault rifles rather than paintball guns – we sent the wrong message. The paintball guns say “we don’t want to hurt anybody,” but what we needed to say was “you will not get to Gaza and we will use any means necessary to stop you.”

This same incident later led to an even greater loss of honor, when Barack Obama pressured our Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, to apologize to the antisemitic Turkish tyrant Erdoğan three years later. In one of the most humiliating episodes of Netanyahu’s career, he “expressed Israel's apology to the Turkish people for any mistakes that might have led to the loss of life or injury and agreed to conclude an agreement on compensation/non-liability.” In 2016, Israel did indeed pay $20 million to the families of the terrorists that had tried to kill our soldiers. Promises of improved relations between Israel and Turkey did not materialize. But then, behavior that evokes contempt rather than respect rarely pays.

Incidentally, Obama often used humiliation as a tool of policy. He deliberately personalized his disagreements with Israel’s policies, and heaped contempt upon Netanyahu. In one of the stupidest insults in history, a surrogate for the US president called the combat veteran who had defied Obama by speaking to the US Congress over his objections, “a chickenshit.”

Just as the defensive-only response to rocket attacks brings about more rocket attacks, Israel’s acquiescence to the loss of honor and her acceptance of humiliation emboldens her enemies. The same Erdoğan that humiliated Israel over the Mavi Marmara incident just took an Israeli couple hostage last week, on trumped-up espionage charges. Would he have done it to Russians? I doubt it.

In recent years, crime by Bedouins in the south of Israel has exploded. Extortion, illegal weapons and theft of weapons and ammunition from military bases, theft of cars and agricultural equipment, and harassment of women are common. There have even been rapes and murders. Enforcement has been lax, in part because of fear of retaliation by witnesses, police officers, and even judges. A few days ago, two Bedouin clans got into a pitched battle that began with rock-throwing and ended in stabbing and shooting, right outside the entrance to Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva. This is possible because the state and its organs are held in contempt by the criminals.

Honor is lost by giving in to unreasonable demands, ignoring injuries, and allowing someone to try to hurt you (even if he doesn’t succeed). It is lost when you make threats that you don’t carry out or rules that you fail to enforce. The very fact that we allow avowed antisemitic enemies, Hamas and the PLO, to exist, rule enclaves inside Eretz Yisrael, and mount terrorist forays against our people, represents a loss of honor.

Honor can be recovered by responding to attempted extortion forcefully if possible, and never by appeasement, and by disproportionate responses to challenges from external enemies or internal criminals. Terrorist murderers should receive a death penalty; in fact, if caught in the act they should not survive apprehension.

Israel isn’t weak. Her military is arguably the most powerful in the region. Her struggle against terror for at least 100 years has given her tools that can be deployed against criminals as well as terrorists. What prevents her from doing what’s necessary to regain her lost honor?

Does Kof-K Have the Right to Refuse Service to Ben & Jerry’s? (Judean Rose)

Kof-K, the kashrut agency that certifies Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, is mulling over the idea of not renewing its contract with the ice cream company when its current agreement ends in 2022. The Jerusalem Post, on getting wind of the story, was quick to issue an op-ed censuring the Kof-K for what it deems to be the politicization of kashrut. This is, however, a grave mischaracterization of the decision now before the kashrut agency.

There is nothing wrong with the Kof-K seeing out its contract until the end of the year—which it fully intends to do—and then leaving it to Ben & Jerry’s to find a new kashrut certification agency should it so choose. The Kof-K, like any other business, has the right to refuse service as long as the refusal is not due to discrimination.

There is no doubt that the Kof-K does not like Ben & Jerry’s selective, antisemitic boycott of specific sectors of the Jewish population of Israel (which is, in fact, politicization of ice cream) and as a result, prefers not to do business with the ice cream company. In other words, it is not the Kof-K that would be acting in a discriminatory manner should it not renew its contract, but it is Ben & Jerry’s that is guilty of discrimination for refusing to sell ice cream to certain customers on the sole basis of their nationality and creed. As such, the Kof-K is well within its rights to refuse Ben & Jerry’s custom.

By not renewing its contract, would the Kof-K, as the JPost op-ed has it, be weaponizing kashrut as a political tool? Not at all. Refraining from renewing its contract with Ben & Jerry’s does not constitute a rendering of the ice cream as “treif.” It just means that if Ben & Jerry’s desires kashrut certification when its contract with Kof-K ends, the Vermont-based brand will need to contract with a different vendor.

There is a knee-jerk reaction for those who are supposed to be on “our side,” for example, the Jerusalem Post, to bend over backward to be more Catholic than the Pope. The op-ed says as much, along the lines of: we don’t like what Ben & Jerry’s is doing, but we shouldn’t be like them. The implication is that Ben & Jerry’s is being childish, and if the Kof-K doesn’t renew its contract, it will similarly be acting in an immature manner. The right thing to do is to be above that sort of behavior, suggests the JPost from on high in its assumed role as Big Brother to the Jewish people, an arbiter of right and wrong.

The JPost has framed the pending decision as a conditional threat. “If you go through with your boycott, we won’t renew our contract.”

The Kof-K may not renew @benandjerrys's Kashrut certificate if the global ice cream company makes good on its plan to boycott West Bank settlements.

Report by @tovahlazaroff #Israel | #BDS https://t.co/b1fkyXJkap
— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) November 11, 2021

But what, exactly, is wrong with that? Does the Kof-K not have the right to discontinue working with an unscrupulous business entity that discriminates and actively seeks to hurt Jews? Ben & Jerry’s proposed boycott is a extreme example of moral turpitude and as such, there is no reason that the company should be trusted. Hence, no reason on earth why an editor's pen should malign and shame the Kof-K in an attempt to force it to do business with Ben & Jerry’s.

Note that the Chief Operating Officer of the Kof-K, Rabbi Daniel Senter, has no intention of removing Ben & Jerry’s existing certification. The ice cream manufacturer has, in fact, done nothing to jeopardize the kashrut status of its products. The only topic in discussion is whether or not the Kof-K will renew its Ben & Jerry’s contract when it expires, or if it will simply allow it to lapse.

Senter said as much to Tovah Lazaroff of the Jerusalem Post. “We have told Ben & Jerry’s that we do not know if we will be able to renew our contract.”

In other words, some of us, for example the Kof-K, think that discriminating against certain Jews is not exactly kosher. And we don’t have to put up with that, or do business with these people. The Kof-K is to be lauded for even considering the non-renewal of its contract with the ice cream monolith.

The ball is actually in your court, Ben & Jerry.

It’s totally up to you.

11/17 Links Pt1: Iran's Antisemitism Isn't Only About Israel; Biden's Moment of Truth on Turkey; Israel asks countries to defund Palestinians one day, then the opposite the next day

From Ian:

Biden’s Middle East Dilemma

Its determination to reenter the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was left unmentioned, but it was hard not to notice that the revival of negotiations with the still more vicious theocracy in Tehran coincided with renewed public scapegoating of the House of Saud. If the Obama administration had acquiesced to the Saudi intervention in Yemen in 2015 to ease Riyadh’s panic over the nuclear deal, the restoration of the deal seems to provide the regional policy framework for the Biden team’s approach to relations with Saudi Arabia—this time, by freezing out the “murderous maniac” crown prince in order to “put human rights back at the center of our foreign policy.”

And indeed, as president, Biden has refused to engage directly with MBS, who he’s said has “very little social redeeming value.” He released an intelligence report in February that claimed (but did not demonstrate) that the Khashoggi murder was approved by the crown prince. He has held offensive weapons sales to the kingdom in suspension, reduced U.S. support for Saudi operations in Yemen, and withdrawn missile defense systems from Saudi soil, even as Houthi rockets and Iranian drones menace Saudi cities and oil facilities. His “foreign policy initiative” is backed by feverish legislative activity, too: Pending in the 117th Congress are no less than 10 bills meant to hit the Saudis in general, and MBS in particular, for Khashoggi and Yemen.

It’s possible an American Metternich could persuade Riyadh to engineer an oil price collapse that would aid his own political survival while continuing to whip it in public for crimes against morality and aligning with its strategic rival. But Joe Biden probably can’t. There seems to be some dawning recognition, in fact, of the Saudis’ limited but real ability to scupper both the Iran deal and Biden’s political fortunes: In recent weeks, the State Department approved the potential sale of $650 million worth of air-to-air missiles to Riyadh (Rep. Ilhan Omar has filed legislation to block it) and a U.S. bomber (accompanied, at different times, by Saudi and Israeli fighter jets) conducted a patrol mission around the Arabian Peninsula. Ahead of upcoming nuclear negotiations with Iran, the White House is also sending Special Envoy Robert Malley to Riyadh (and Dubai and Jerusalem) for “consultations.”

But if the administration expects these concessions (such as they are) to reassure the Saudis, they’ll likely be disappointed. The crisis threatening U.S.-Saudi relations is not that the president prefers to deal with the crown prince’s father, the 85-year-old King Salman, or that some House reps would like to pass the MBS Must Be Sanctioned Act (H.R. 1511), or that Democrats in general are striking an “increasingly standoffish attitude toward the kingdom,” as one typically navel-gazing U.S. press report put it.

The real crisis is of a different magnitude: Saudi Arabia is terrified not of cold shoulders or even of sanctions, but of the fact that the United States seems intent on reaching a diplomatic condominium in the Middle East with the kingdom’s existential enemy—even, if necessary, at the expense of Biden’s political fortunes; and even if it means—as it did in Kabul—watching its former allies fall.

Iran's Antisemitism Isn't Only About Israel

Anti-Zionism is antisemitism, and the Iranian regime's singular focus on denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination in the Jewish homeland is Jew-hatred, plain and simple.

One of America's most prominent universities shamefully regurgitated Khamenei's talking point. "The theocratic [Iranian] regime is neither irrationally messianic nor antisemitic in its hard power calculations," read a page on Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced and International Studies. It was deleted following condemnation on social media by many Iran observers, including this author.

Distorted images of the Iranian regime are by no means unique to the American academy. While the rest of Iran's Jewish community stays below the radar, one young rabbi—Rabbi Yehuda Gerami—has taken to calling himself the "chief rabbi" of Iran and posting his activities on social media. Gerami, who was educated in the U.S. before returning to Iran, is infamous for condemning Israel and making a "condolence visit to the family of Qasem Soleimani," following the Trump administration's elimination of the terror mastermind, according to Ynet.

During his rather strange tour of the United States this month, Gerami claimed that the Jews in Iran are thriving. "Even if someone is caught with wine on the street, if he says that he is Jewish and shows his Jewish identity card, there are no problems," he told Ami Magazine, seemingly with a straight face.

Try as some might to paint the Iranian regime as a rational or even tolerant actor, senior regime figures have a habit of exposing their virulent antisemitism. Iranian vice president for economic affairs Mohsen Rezaee last month threatened to take hostage the Jewish community of Iran: "The Israeli government knows very well that if it makes a mistake, the regime will treat the 10,000 Jews living in Iran differently."

This is an obvious threat to Jews—not in Israel, but in Iran, which has been home to Jews for over 2,500 years, pre-dating the Islamic conquest of Persia.

Ever since Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic Revolution of 1979, Jews have not been treated as equal members of Iranian society. Some have been executed by the regime for no "crime" other than being Jewish.

Caroline Glick: Biden's Moment of Truth on Turkey

Then there is Jerusalem. Rather than permit Turkey to expand its hostile activities in Israel's capital, Israel could ban Turkish NGOs from operating in Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Israel could easily couch this as a move on behalf of Jordan, which is concerned by the outsize role Turkey has arrogated to itself.

Another area Israel has massive leverage over Turkey is natural gas. Israel has built a natural gas alliance with its fellow East Mediterranean producers Greece and Cyprus. The three governments agreed to build a pipeline to Italy—bypassing Turkey—to sell natural gas to Europe. Earlier this year, then-Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said Israel would cooperate with Turkey on the Eastern Mediterranean natural gas pipeline. That decision can, and should, be reversed so long as the Oaknins remain in custody.

Another area Israel could squeeze Turkey is in the international unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market. Israel has been considering relaxing restrictions on the export of its UAVs. Turkey is currently building up its position as a major UAV supplier. An Israeli move to expand its position in the market would significantly decrease Turkey's market share, diminishing not only Erdogan's foreign currency reserves, but decreasing his leverage with Russia and other major powers.

Israel's ability to stare down Erdogan, both to secure the Oaknins' speedy release from Turkish jail and to disabuse Erdogan of the notion that he is well served by taking Israeli hostages, is dependent to a large degree on U.S. support.

Following the Gaza flotilla, the UN set up a commission to investigate what happened. In 2011, the commission largely exonerated Israel from blame for the death of the Turkish passengers who attacked IDF commandos engaged in the lawful effort to enforce a lawful maritime blockade. That should have been the end of Erdogan's demand for damages for the dead IHH attackers and the end of his assault on Israel. It certainly should have ended any thought in the Obama administration that it would be reasonable to pressure Israel to bow to Erdogan's demands, apologize and pay indemnities to the families of the IHH assailants who attacked Israel's naval forces.

But that isn't what happened. In 2013, then-President Barack Obama visited Israel. At the end of his visit, as he stood on the tarmac before boarding Air Force One to depart the country, Obama demanded that Netanyahu apologize to Erdogan in Obama's presence. The men sat down in a trailer at the airport, where Obama called Erdogan and put Netanyahu on the phone. Netanyahu apologized. Israel agreed to pay into a fund for the dead IHH assailants. And Obama left Israel with a "diplomatic achievement."

If President Joe Biden opts to follow in Obama's footsteps and coerces Israel to accept whatever demands Erdogan makes to secure the Oaknins' release, Biden won't simply be placing the lives of every Israeli tourist in jeopardy. He will demonstrate to U.S. allies worldwide that the U.S. will exploit their vulnerabilities to join their enemies in harming them.

Al-Omah, a pan-Arab news site meant to cover the entire Islamic ummah, has an article by Dr.. Walid Abdel Hai about using Jewish humor to understand Jews and Israel, noting how sociologists analyze jokes to gain further understandings in society all the time.

He gathered a decent collection of Jewish jokes to show how Jews think. Some of the jokes are funny. Some don't appear to be jokes by Jews at all. But either way, his analyses of Jewish attributes based on the jokes are hilariously antisemitic and clueless.

Joke #1:

ISIS arrested three journalists: an American, a British citizen, and an Israeli. ISIS asked each what his last request was before his execution.

The American said, “I want a hamburger,” so they gave him his request.

The British man said, “Red wine,” and they gave it to him.

As for the Israeli, he requested that ISIS kick him hard on his ass, so the ISIS members did so.

The Israeli fell to the ground, pulled out a pistol he was hiding in his clothes, and shot and killed the ISIS terrorist.

The two other journalists asked him "Why you didn't kill him from the beginning?" The Israeli answered: "So that you don't say in your newspapers that I started the aggression."

What did the author think this teaches about Jews? "Making a pretext for aggression."

Joke #2:

An American, his wife and his mother-in-law traveled to Israel as tourists.

While they were there, the mother-in-law fell ill and died.

The Israeli authorities told the American that they can bury her in Israel for free.

He strongly refused in front of his wife and insisted that his mother-in-law be transported to America to be buried there.

The Israeli official took him aside and asked him, "Why you insist on bearing the costs?"

He answered, "Jesus was buried here and rose after three days. I can't take that chance!"

The Jewish quality this story shows? "Lack of confidence."

Joke #3:

Three people, one American, one from Sierra Leone, and one from Israel, saw a sign on the door of a butcher shop: "We are sorry for the beef shortage."

The American asked, "What does 'shortage' mean?"

The man from Sierra Leone asked, "What does 'beef' mean?"

The Israeli asked, "What does 'sorry' mean?"

The Jewish attribute that the author thinks this shows? "Failure to admit responsibility."

Joke #4 (actually #6, I'm skipping some):

A customs officer at a Moscow airport saw a Jewish immigrant to Israel had a statue of Lenin,

The agent asked him: What is this? The Jew shouted back patriotically, "What do you mean? It is a souvenir of the workers' paradise here!" So the Russian let him go.

When he arrived at Tel Aviv airport, the customs officer asked him, "What is this?"

He answered to him, "This is a statue of Lenin. I want to put it in the bathroom so that I can spit on it every time I enter." So the customs agent let him keep it.

When he reached his new home, the Jew's neighbor asked him: "What is this?"

"Two kilos of gold."

The Jewish attribute? "Deception."

The writer is trying to shoehorn his antisemitic ideas of what Jews are like into our jokes!

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Finally, this joke sounds like an antisemitic Palestinian joke rather than a Jewish joke, under the summary of "Greed."

A person wanted to buy a plot of land to build on, so he consulted with a Jew, saying to him: "You Jews are smart. Which of the two parcels should I buy... the right piece or the left piece?"

The Jew told him the left piece, so the man bought the right piece.

So the Jew asked him, "I told you the left piece, so why did you buy the right? "

The man said, "I knew that you didn't say the right parcel so you could buy it yourself. You Jews are smart but you are liars."

(If this had actually been a Jewish joke, the two would have met later:

Gentile: "So I heard you actually bought the left parcel of land - why?"

Jew: "Because some idiot didn't take my advice!")

The Democratic Socialists of America released this statement:

The National Political Committee is aware of the trip that DSA member and Congressman Jamaal Bowman took to Israel this week, and has received letters from various DSA chapters and members about the situation.

DSA unapologetically stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their ongoing struggle for liberation. Our platform proudly states continued support for and involvement with the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and efforts to eliminate U.S. military aid to Israel, while resisting the “normalization” of relationships between the Israeli government and other governments.

The NPC is treating this as its highest priority right now; to work with the DSA BDS & Palestine Solidarity Working Group and the Congressman’s local chapters to address this directly with Representative Bowman. We will be meeting with him in the next few days. We will update the members as soon as possible following that meeting.

What exactly did Bowman do?

He visited Israel and met with officials there in a trip organized by J-Street, which endorsed him in the last election. He tweeted about Kristallnacht without mentioning Jews. He visited Yad Vashem and tweeted about it also not even mentioning that Jews were victims of the Holocaust until people complained. He visited the West Bank and criticized Israeli policies.

DSA considers this unconscionable, because the DSA supports the antisemitic BDS principles. Bizarrely, to them this means that Americans must not speak to Israeli officials because that is "normalization" with a country that the US already has strong relations with.

Bowman is a member of DSA. He agrees with most of DSA's positions. But to today's American fascists, he must toe their line completely. If an uppity Black congressman actually thinks for himself, he is suddenly the biggest danger to the entire movement and must be put in his place.

The DSA's highest priority is to intimidate a person of color to follow their instructions without question.

On Bowman's platform webpage, he openly says that he supports a two state solution and Israel living in security while strongly supporting Palestinian statehood and pushing the lie that US taxpayer money pays for "occupation" - entirely in line with J-Street's stated position:

Bowman never embraced BDS. He voted for continued foreign aid to Israel. He did nothing on this trip that was new for him.

But the grassroots of DSA across America erupted, and demanded that a person of color be put in his place. Wisconsin DSA has demanded his expulsion from the group; the Portland chapter demands either a censure or his expulsion because he is "in substantial disagreement with the principles or policies of the organization."

Really?

Read the DSA platform. It includes hundreds of demands, many of them truly insane, and BDS is only one of them.

If a member of Congress supports any budget that gives a dime to the FBI, CIA or NSA or to local police, they are in breach of the DSA platform. If they don't prioritize the US leaving the World Trade Organization they are in breach. If they support giving any money to NATO, they are in breach. If they don't support all major industry being run by the government, they are in breach.

Even being a member of Congress itself tacitly violates DSA principles, which wants to abolish the entire American government and replace it with a parliamentary system. DSA demands that we repeal and replace the Constitution that created Congress to begin with.

I don't like Bowman's politics, but he is consistent in his principles. He should resign from the DSA because they are treating a Black man like they own him.

Youm7 (Seventh Day,) a popular Egyptian newspaper, has an article about Aziz Eid, the "pioneer of Arab theatre," who directed and starred in a number of popular plays in the first half of the 20th century.

The focus of the article is on how much he hated Jews.

It offers several anecdotes.

Once, Aziz Eid visited Palestine and stayed in a hotel called “Palestine Pension.” On the next day, when he learned by chance that the owner of the hotel was a Jew, Eid threw his bags out of the window while saying: “I didn’t know that I slept in a criminal house!"

Another time that Eid traveled to Palestine with his troupe and he arrived in Jaffa, a mixed city. He posted a sign on the theatre he was to perform in saying, “Entry is restricted to Arabs only." According to the story, local Jews considered this sign a challenge and attacked the theater causing a riot and the police were called. When Eid found that the police that came to the theater was led by a Jewish officer, he refused to give his statement except to an Arab officer in the police department.

Yet another time Eid brought an antisemitic play to Palestine, with a main character who was a stereotypical evil Jew. The Jews protested and Eid said he was happy that no Jews would attend his show, and he then dressed up as the Jewish caricature and walked around the streets.

No one can call these anecdotes "anti-Zionist." Yet they are being fondly recalled, today, in a mainstream Arab newspaperr.

11/16 Links Pt2: It Is a Tree of Life; Expo 2020 is a stunning example of tolerance; Justin Bieber announces 2022 concert in Tel Aviv; Israel’s Ice Cream Battle Heats Up

From Ian:

It Is a Tree of Life

Review of 'Squirrel Hill' by Mark Oppenheimer
SQUIRREL HILL is a book for Jews (and Gentiles) everywhere, but it is particularly a book for those of us who grew up Jewish in Pittsburgh. (The house where I grew up is a 15-minute walk from Tree of Life, although we were members of the larger Reform synagogue, Temple Sinai.) Fellow residents, both former and current, will recognize many of the places and names; at one point in the book I paused, read aloud a passage Oppenheimer transcribed from a Jewish journalist’s recounting of her work with the city’s liberal Chevra Kadisha, and then told my wife that I had had a crush on said writer for most of elementary school.

In that regard, Squirrel Hill showed me how unusual the neighborhood was as a place to grow up. Being raised Jewish in Pittsburgh is a bit like how Oppenheimer’s podcast co-host Liel Leibovitz recently described being Jewish in Israel: “You are Jewish by osmosis. You just open the window and breathe in a lot of Jew.” It offers what Oppenheimer describes as “an idyllic Jewish life in a modern urban shtetl”—so if the dream of being fully Jewish and fully American is possible anywhere, it’s there.

But it is all too easy—in Squirrel Hill, and in modern liberal Jewish life—for Jewish identity to stop being a choice, for it to become something that happens to us but to which we do not contribute. I grew up unselfconsciously Jewish because of the environment in which I lived. It was only after I left Squirrel Hill (and after I fell in love with a non-Jewish woman and spent years watching her work on conversion for her and our son) that I began to understand that for most American Jews, being Jewish is not something you “breathe in”—it’s something you choose, or don’t choose, every day.

The choice to be willfully, deliberately Jewish always means accepting the risks that go with it—of anti-Semitism that can be subtle and, in its violent expressions, unsubtle. A place like Squirrel Hill hints at a world in which being Jewish is easy and free from fear, but the Tree of Life shooting shows that even there it is not.

That’s why the best stories in Squirrel Hill are those of people who, face-to-face with the scourge of anti-Semitism, chose to become more Jewish, rather than less. There’s Lynn Hyde, married to a Jewish man but who had always stopped short of converting—until she realized that if the shooter had entered the synagogue where she and her husband were praying, he wouldn’t have bothered to ask if she wasn’t Jewish before shooting her. Or Robert Zacharias, the computer artist who responded to the shooting by starting to wear a kippah everywhere he goes and grappling with all the discomfort that being publicly and visibly Jewish brings. Even Ron Symons, the Reform rabbi who walked with his Orthodox brothers during the funeral procession, captures this: In mourning another Jew, we are all Jewish together.

These stories and others are the closest thing Squirrel Hill offers as an answer to the question it poses. To be Jewish has always meant to be Jewish after tragedy—after the fall of the Temple, after the exile, after the Holocaust—and therefore through overcoming it. That choice to overcome, to be Jewish over and against the desires of violent anti-Semites, is the way Jews continue to preserve and build places like Squirrel Hill.

Emily Schrader: Expo 2020 is a stunning example of tolerance

Interestingly, absent from Israel’s pavilion was any mention of its history or any political messaging whatsoever. In fact, Israel didn’t even display a map. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the Palestinian pavilion. While also a beautiful display of culture, their displays were highly politicized in a way that seemed out of place: from heavy Jerusalem imagery throughout the exhibit to maps displaying the entirety of Israel as Palestine.

They also had a coloring activity to color the map of Palestine and an interactive map of Israel, which they labeled Palestine, urging visitors to mark off where they are from on the map. Finally, their pavilion prominently featured sweeping nature shots of “Palestinian” cities today, including Acre, Haifa, Nazareth and Masada. The problem with this is, of course, that they aren’t Palestinian cities at all; they are Israeli and they are even within the 1967 borders.

While the rest of the participating countries, even enemy states, presented a forward-facing, apolitical perspective of their countries, the Palestinian pavilion used the expo, a symbol of tolerance and acceptance, to once again push political messaging and look backward instead of forward. The contrasting narratives were blatant and once again demonstrated that instead of progressing toward a brighter future for all the region and the Palestinian people, the Palestinian leaders are hell-bent on missing every opportunity they can.

Meanwhile, the UAE leads the way for the entire Arab world presenting a path forward for peace and collaboration instead of war. Of course, this doesn’t mean agreement on every political issue, but it does mean an open line of communication and understanding to create a better world.

I would be remiss not to note the striking similarities between the vision of the UAE’s leaders and the State of Israel. Both nations are states that developed something stunning out of virtually nothing. Both nations massively developed only in the last decades, and both nations continue to expand and improve the world through technology, business, innovation and yes, peace.

It is only natural then, that the UAE and Israel, both nations of dreamers, continue setting an example for the region and the world of what the future can be.

Pop icon Justin Bieber announces 2022 concert in Tel Aviv

Justin Bieber is coming to Israel, planning to perform October 13, 2022, in Tel Aviv’s Ganei Yehoshua, as part of his Justice World Tour.

The Canadian pop singer, discovered when he was just 13 (he’s now 27), has concerts planned in five continents through March 2023, kicking off the tour in North America. The new dates were announced Monday, with more shows to be announced for Asia and the Middle East.

Bieber hasn’t toured like this since 2016. The pandemic sidelined his previously announced 2020 concert dates.

The tour begins in 2022 in North America, kicking off in San Diego on February 18, moving to Mexico in May before heading to Scandinavia, South America, South Africa and the Middle East in September and October, followed by Australia and New Zealand in November and December and the UK and Europe in early 2023.

“We worked hard on this tour and created the best event we’ve ever done,” said Bieber in a statement. “I can’t wait to share it with fans around the world. I’ll see you soon.”