Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, November 19, 2021

11/19 Links Pt1: UK to designate entire Hamas a terror group, outlaw support; Caroline Glick: Bennett builds a terror state; UN Watch: Fighting Anti-Israeli Bigotry

From Ian:

UK to designate entire Hamas a terror group, outlaw support

The United Kingdom will designate Hamas as a terror organization on Friday and outlaw support for the group, with violators liable to face up to 10 years in prison, the British Embassy in Israel confirmed.

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel will make the announcement Friday during an event in Washington, DC, according to a statement from the embassy.

The UK recognized the Hamas military wing — the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades — as a terror organization in 2001, but did not extend that designation to its political arm, which rules Gaza.

Speaking to reporters in Washington on Thursday, Patel said that distinction was no longer defensible.

“We’ve taken the view that we can no longer disaggregate the sort of military and political side,” she said, according to The Guardian. “It’s based upon a wide range of intelligence, information and also links to terrorism. The severity of that speaks for itself.”

Patel will advance the designation through parliament next week, according to The Guardian. The outlawing of the group would see those who express support for Hamas, meet with its members, or fly its flag, face criminal punishment of up to a decade in prison.

In her speech on Friday, Patel will call Hamas “rabidly antisemitic,” and say the outlawing of the terror group aims to make Britain’s Jews feel more secure.

“Hamas has significant terrorist capability, including access to extensive and sophisticated weaponry, as well as terrorist training facilities, and it has long been involved in significant terrorist violence,” her prepared remarks said, according to a statement from the British Embassy in Israel.

“But the current listing of Hamas creates an artificial distinction between various parts of the organization – it is right that the listing is updated to reflect this. This is an important step, especially for the Jewish community. If we tolerate extremism, it will erode the rock of security.”

Israel cheers as UK says it will designate Hamas as terror group

Israel on Friday praised the United Kingdom’s planned move to designate the entirety of Hamas as a terror organization and outlaw support for the group.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid thanked UK Home Secretary Priti Patel after she announced Friday that the British government intends to eliminate the distinction between the group’s political and military wings.

“This is an important and significant decision that gives British security bodies additional tools to prevent the continued buildup of the Hamas terror organization, including in Britain,” Lapid said.

“There is no legitimate part to a terror organization and any attempt to separate parts of a terror organization is artificial,” the foreign minister added.

The decision was also cheered by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

“Hamas is a terror organization, plain and simple. The ‘political wing’ enables its military activity. The same terrorists — only in suits,” Bennett tweeted.

Bennett thanked his counterpart, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson for his “leadership on the subject.”

Extremist jihadism has no place in democratic countries or anywhere else.
It is impossible to separate between the political wing and the military wing of an organisation that has murdered innocent civilians for decades. 2/3
— Tzipi Hotovely (@TzipiHotovely) November 19, 2021

Corbyn Would Face 10 Years in Prison If He Defies UK’s New Total Ban on Hamas

Patel told reporters in DC on Thursday: “We’ve taken the view that we can no longer disaggregate the sort of military and political side. It’s based upon a wide range of intelligence, information and also links to terrorism. The severity of that speaks for itself.”

Back in 2009, then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called Hamas and Hezbollah “friends.” In a testimony he gave in 2016 in an investigation of anti-Semitism within his party, Corbyn said: “The language I used at that meeting was actually here in parliament and it was about encouraging the meeting to go ahead, encouraging there to be a discussion about the peace process.”

When asked if he still thought Hamas and Hezbollah were friends, Corbyn answered, “No. It was the inclusive language I used which with hindsight I would rather not have used. I regret using those words, of course.”

Corbyn also said he regretted comparing Israel to Iran, but that would not land him in jail after the new ban on Hamas takes effect. Saying Hamas are friends of the UK would.

Home Secretary Patel’s paternal grandparents were born in Gujarat, India, and immigrated to Uganda where they ran a convenience store in Kampala. Her parents immigrated to the UK in the 1960s and settled in Hertfordshire, where they established a chain of newsagents in London and the South East of England. Priti was raised as a Hindu. Her father was a candidate for the right-wing UKIP for Hertfordshire in 2013. His daughter became involved in Conservative Party politics in 2005.

Another member of Hamas' politburo, Fathi Hamad, has long been suspected of creating a Hamas proxy militant group, Humat al-Aqsa. The group was involved in the latest round of fighting in May. Hamad also recently visited an al-Qassam site to inaugurate a mock Merkava IV tank. pic.twitter.com/OKywsAEgJu
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) November 19, 2021

Hamas has issued a statement re: its reported designation as a terrorist entity by the UK. The group derided the decision & described it as a continued betrayal of the Palestinian people and claimed the UK should apologize for past actions such as the Balfour Declaration. #Gaza pic.twitter.com/7HXmfDcWvr
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) November 19, 2021

Hamas calls on Justin Bieber to cancel show in Israel

Hamas called on Justin Bieber on Thursday to cancel his planned concert in Tel Aviv scheduled for October 13, 2022, KAN news reported.

On Monday, it was announced Bieber will perform at Hayarkon Park next year as part of his Justice World Tour.

Hamas has also reportedly called on Bieber to boycott Israel altogether due to its "crimes against the Palestinian people."

The last time that Bieber had set foot in Israel was in 2017, where he performed at the same venue. Approximately 50,000 people were in attendance.

The first time that Bieber appeared in Israel was in 2011.

The New York Times reports:

An armed drone strike last month on an American military base in southern Syria was Iranian retaliation for Israeli airstrikes in Syria, according to eight American and Israeli officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

The drone attack, which caused no casualties, would be the first time Iran has directed a military strike against the United States in response to an attack by Israel, an escalation of Iran’s shadow war with Israel that poses new dangers to U.S. forces in the Middle East.

Five so-called suicide drones were launched at the American base at Al Tanf on Oct. 20 in what the U.S. Central Command called a “deliberate and coordinated” attack. Only two detonated on impact, but they were loaded with ball bearings and shrapnel with a “clear intent to kill,” a senior U.S. military official said.

Most of the 200 American troops stationed at the base, whose main role is training Syrian militias to fight the Islamic State, had been evacuated hours earlier after being tipped off by Israeli intelligence, the officials said.

Both Israeli and U.S. intelligence officials said they had intelligence indicating that Iran was behind the operation. Because three of the drones did not explode, American officials were able to study them and determine that they employed the same technology as drones used by Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

Israel attacks Iranian targets in Syria, and Iran retaliates against - the United States.

Why?

Perhaps it is because Iran considers the US and Israel to be essentially the same. But they are far more sophisticated than that.

This is an attempt to drive a wedge between Israel and the US.

Iran sees the public debate in the US over support for Israel. While the media exaggerates it a great deal, that isn't important; the perception is. If Iran starts to harass US troops and American targets, while making it clear that this is about Israel, there will be some Americans who say that supporting Israel isn't worth the risk to American lives.

Of course, Iran cannot do this directly, so it has to do it without taking credit but in such a way that it is unmistakable.

This was the wildly successful Palestinian strategy in the 1970s. They directed their terror attacks primarily against Western targets, particularly airplane hijackings and attacks in airports. The terrorists made it clear that if the West would give up its support for Israel, the attacks would stop. George Habash, the PFLP head, said, "To kill a Jew far from the battlefield has more effect than killing a 100 of them in battle; it attracts more attention. And when we set fire to a store in London those few flames are worth the burning down of two kibbutzim. Because we force people to ask what is going on."

PFLP mastermind of airplane hijackings, Wadi Haddad, said, "We must be a constant irritation, a bug under the skin of the developed world. We must make them lose patience with Israel and Palestine that hard way.”

Yasser Arafat responded to the PFLP by creating Black September to be able to reap the benefits of attacking Western targets while maintaining deniability as to being directly responsible, so he could pretend to want peace.

After only a couple of years of these attacks, the world rewarded Arafat with a speech at the UN. This happened in 1974, in the midst of the Palestinian international terror spree - two years after the Munich Olympics massacre, two years before the Entebbe hijacking, with many other major attacks both within and outside Israel never stopping.

The West rewarded Arafat's terror by legitimizing him and turning away from Israel while pretending to do this for moral reasons. This culminated in the infamous UN "Zionism is Racism" resolution, a complete capitulation to Palestinian terror by the international community.

Iran is now mimicking the PLO's strategy - be a thorn on the side of the Americans and make it seem as if this will end when the US abandons Israel. Do it in such a way that the US does not have enough clear cut evidence and Congressional backing to directly retaliate against Iran.

Meanwhile this is an appeal to American opinion that supporting Israel is not worth the cost. And, just as it happened in the 1970s, the people who are most likely to buckle under to this blackmail are the ones who will loudly proclaim that they are doing it not because they are cowards but because they truly believe in the justice of the anti-Israel cause.

-----------

An excellent account of the Palestinian hijacking attacks from the 1960s to early 80s can be found in an appendix of Terrorist Innovations in Weapons of Mass Effect Preconditions, Causes, and Predictive Indicators, page 86-98. A much shorter article, The 1967 War and the birth of international terrorism summarizes this as well.

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel is set to declare all of Hamas as a terrorist organisation, not just the "military wing."

In a planned speech, Patel will say, “Hamas has significant terrorist capability, including access to extensive and sophisticated weaponry, as well as terrorist training facilities, and it has long been involved in significant terrorist violence. But the current listing of Hamas creates an artificial distinction between various parts of the organisation – it is right that the listing is updated to reflect this.

“This is an important step, especially for the Jewish community. Hamas is fundamentally and rabidly antisemitic.

“Antisemitism is an enduring evil which I will never tolerate. Jewish people routinely feel unsafe – at school, in the streets, when they worship, in their homes, and online.

“This step will strengthen the case against anyone who waves a Hamas flag in the United Kingdom, an act that is bound to make Jewish people feel unsafe.

“Anyone who supports or invites support for a proscribed organisation is breaking the law. That now includes Hamas in whatever form it takes.”

Hamas' reaction to this proves that she is right.

Hamas announced that this decision to ban the organization is in support of the aggressors at the expense of the victims. In a statement, it said,

Unfortunately, the UK continues with its aggression against the Palestinian people. The UK government should have apologised for its historic sin against the Palestinian people in the shameless Balfour Declaration and the British mandate that handed Palestine to the Israeli occupation. Now, the UK government sides with the aggressor against the victim.

We believe that resisting the Israeli occupation with all means possible, including armed resistance, is a guaranteed right for peoples under occupation as per international law.

Meaning, targeting and killing Israeli and Zionist Jews is a right, not an act of terror.

Hamas itself didn't try to make a distinction between its armed wing and military wing in its statement. The statement defending terror was issued by its political organization, not the Qassam Brigades. It is the political organization that is energetically defending terror, proving Patel's statement to be entirely correct.

Australia, New Zealand and Paraguay still make this artificial distinction between Hamas' military and political wings. They should look closely at Hamas' statement and follow the British lead.

Abbas advisor also says that the Temples never existed. He's following the Palestinian tradition from the Mufti.

Yesterday I reported that the Waqf said that Israel intended to brainwash its young students into believing that the Temples in Jerusalem ever existed.

Mahmoud al-Habbash, a senior advisor to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas who is also the top sharia judge for the Palestinian Authority, went even further.

Al-Habbash issued a press statement where he said that "the occupying state practices all tricks and fabrications and uses lies and falsification of facts to try to prove any connection between the Jews in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque [meaning the Temple Mount], in preparation for imposing Israeli control over the mosque within the circles of Judaizing the holy city. "

Denying the Temple is antisemitism, just as is denying any part of Jewish history, denying that Jerusalem is holy to Jews, or denying that today's Jews are descended from the Jews of the Torah.

As far as I can tell, the first person to even imply that there was no Jewish connection to the Temple Mount was the antisemitic Mufti of Jerusalem. Giving his statement of the Committee for the Defense of Al-Buraq Al-Sharif at the Islamic Conference held in Jerusalem in 1928, he talked about Jews as "these greedy people" and said, "Jews have long been aiming for a terrible goal, which is to extract the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the hands of the Muslims, even though they did not claim it is the “Temple” before [under Ottoman rule] because the Holy Land was guarded by the Muslims themselves."

Anti-Zionism has always been antisemitism.

11/18 Links Pt2: Anti-Israel Activists Resort to Violence Because Their Views Cannot Withstand the Application of Fact; Palestinian sues over Ben & Jerry’s boycott, saying it promotes ‘hatred’

From Ian:

Lessons learned on the frontlines against BDS

The post-Holocaust moratorium on openly expressing anti-Semitism is over. Even where blatant targeting of Jews remains unfashionable, it often flourishes masquerading as anti-Israelism. Its latest incarnation is the BDS campaign. States can and should help fight this stealthy discrimination.

Even as more Arab countries recognize Israel, Israel's high-tech economy flourishes and competing Palestinian leaderships achieve nothing positive for their people, BDS warriors inside and outside the Middle East ramp up a rejectionist narrative painting Israel as a pariah and its supporters (read, "Jews") as the devil's handmaidens. The strategy is not just to harm Israel's economy, but to destroy political and moral support for the continued existence of the world's sole Jewish state. As for the goal, former BDS co-founder and Hamas leader Omar Barghouti explained: "definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine."

Ben & Jerry's is the first high-profile company to buy into BDS. Judging by the recent success that ideology has had in penetrating Western business culture, it won't be the last. Like other ideologies, BDS blames successful people and societies for their success, presumes the unsuccessful bear no responsibility for failure and, in fact, blames the successful for others' failure.

But many states are fighting back. Thirty-five of them have passed anti-BDS laws, resolutions or executive orders opposing boycott, divestment, and/or sanctions against Israel. Some are modeled on anti-boycott legislation the United States passed back in the 1970s to counteract the Arab boycott. US law forbids taxpayers from participating in a foreign boycott of Israel.

Anti-Israel groups have targeted anti-BDS laws for extermination. In the course of litigation, they have shone a spotlight on the laws' strengths and weaknesses. Here are some suggestions for strengthening anti-BDS legislation consistent with First Amendment rights.

Anti-Israel Activists Resort to Violence Because Their Views Cannot Withstand the Application of Fact

On Nov. 9, the Israeli ambassador to the UK delivered a speech to students at the London School of Economics (LSE). When she left the building, she had to be bundled into her car by her security team as dozens of screaming, aggressive protesters shouted insults, booed and sought to break through a phalanx of Metropolitan police officers.

It's one thing to stamp your feet and burst into tears whenever a university invites someone whose views you disagree with, even as you demand that your feelings are more important than free speech. But this is about physical, violent intimidation of your political opponents. The thugs will claim that their cause is so just, so righteous, so obviously right, that their willingness to enforce their views with a fist, a stone or a bottle is merely the natural and just response to the threat of opposing views.

But there's a much easier, simpler and more logical way to explain why these activists will always resort to mob rule rather than sit down and discuss their views in an adult fashion: they know their views cannot withstand the application of fact. When your own views are based on emotion, wishful thinking and a conviction that lends itself more easily to religious edict than to rational thought, the last thing you want to do is expose them in an arena where your opinions can be examined, analyzed and called out.

A Mindset of Pure, Unadulterated Anti-Semitism

An inordinate amount of the content on Twitter is directed against Jews and Israel, reflecting a toxic, widespread obsession online and off which betrays a disturbing anti-Semitic bent. The endless defamation of Israel is of little surprise, marked by a troubling double-standard and righteous indignation reserved only for the Jewish homeland. In addition to social media, this preoccupation also plays out in news coverage, the UN, NGOs, in academia and in the arts community.

Of course, like all other countries, Israel is and should be subject to criticism. But when its very existence is questioned, it's an attack on the Jewish people. Anti-Israel activists often wrap themselves in the "anti-Zionist" flag, as if denying Jews the right to their own state in their ancestral homeland were a badge of honor. This has a negative impact for Jews, with many feeling they're having their safe space stripped away.

Let's be clear, diaspora Jews and Israelis criticize Israel all the time. It's something else entirely when celebrities and social media influencers with millions of followers use their platforms to regularly denigrate Israel with highly charged misinformation and falsehoods, sometimes even justifying violence and terror against it and its civilian population. One has to wonder why they devote such wildly disproportionate attention to a liberal democracy - that just happens to be the world's only Jewish state.

The Council of Endowments, Islamic Affairs and Holy Sanctuaries in Jerusalem, known as the Waqf, warned today that "the targeting of Al-Aqsa Mosque by extremist Jewish groups reached a level of danger in the decision issued by the so-called Education Committee in the Knesset to compel schools affiliated with the Israeli Ministry of Education to include the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque within educational tours for Jewish students."

The statement said that the decision was made "in order to strengthen and increase the number of Jewish intrusions into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and to consolidate the idea of the alleged temple in emerging minds."

Yes, they are warning that Israeli schools want to brainwash kids into believing that the Jewish Temples existed.

The Waqf reiterated that the Temple Mount, in a place that Muslims call Bait is a purely Islamic mosque that belongs to Muslims alone and does not accept division or partnership.

In a place they call Bayt al-Maqdis, after the Hebrew Beit HaMikdash, which means Holy Temple.

The antisemitic Waqf continued saying that "the claim of non-Muslims that the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque is part of their heritage is a false and slanderous claim in order to storm it and disrupt the historical, religious and legal situation that has existed in it for a long time."

The group also said that Israel is trying to ignite the region in religious wars. And right afterwards they called on all Arab and Muslim nations to support a Jew-free Temple Mount.

Ministry Of Culture Puzzled By Grant Request For Non-Anti-Zionist HaBima Play (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

Habima Jerusalem, November 18 - Officials and clerks at Israel's chief government body for support of the arts voiced confusion today upon receipt of an application to fund a production of a show at the country's most venerable and prestigious theatrical venue - but one that, unlike every other production in that establishment, does not question, challenge, undermine, or ridicule Judaism or the legitimacy of Jewish sovereignty in the Jewish homeland.

Functionaries at multiple levels of the Ministry of Culture and Sport acknowledged Thursday they continue not to grasp the bizarre application for a grant to help the Habima Theater Company produce Idit Avrahami's play Sultan's Breakfast, a drama the takes place primarily in a kindergarten, and that explores gender roles, child-adult dynamics, the border between a child's perception and reality, and other themes, with a thick layer of warm humor pervading the script. A spokesman for the ministry told reporters they still did not know what to make of the prospect of funding an artistic event without anti-Zionist or anti-religious connotations, explicit or implicit.

"We're still trying to figure this thing out," admitted Theater Division chief Meza Nin. "When the application first came in, we thought something was missing. One of our mid-level officials recognized the play - I think her cousin helped edit it or something - and she stood there for what must have been a full minute, dumbfounded. Something just didn't add up. When she finally recovered the ability to speak, she said, 'I don't think we've ever done this before.'"

"That's not strictly true," remarked Assistant to the Deputy Minister Masha Bim. "Early on, the ministry wouldn't go near anything with even a whiff of anti-Zionism. Anti-Judaism was OK, as long as it was directed at Haredim or unspecified 'extremists.' But that went out the window in the 1980's and 90's. A new, progressive generation of officials began to throw their weight around, bringing in sensibilities that didn't grow from a sense of Israel's existential precariousness, and who saw such concerns as primitive and parochial. Fast forward a few years, and no one knows how to make heads or tails of an exhibit, show, or event that accepts Jewish tradition as valid, let alone valuable, or that sees the State of Israel as a net good."

No official decision on the funding application has issued yet; the deadline for such a decision lies two months away. In the meantime, ministry personnel indicated, HaBimah executives will be interrogated as to what the hell they have in mind.

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.