Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, December 17, 2021

12/17 Links Pt1: Ukraine recognizes Jerusalem as capital of Israel; UN Completes 14 Resolutions on Israel, 5 on Rest of World Combined'; Netanyahu and Trump's well-defended goal

From Ian:

Ukraine recognizes Jerusalem as capital of Israel

Ukraine recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's "one and only capital" and will open a branch of its embassy in the capital in the upcoming year, Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk said on Thursday.

Korniychuk's announcement came at the Kyiv Jewish Forum, an event marking 30 years of Israel-Ukraine ties, which was attended by Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze'ev Elkin, who grew up in Ukraine. Elkin is also the housing and construction minister.

The embassy branch in Jerusalem would be responsible for promoting bilateral trade and technological ties and will be inaugurated during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Israel next year.

The aim of the annual Kyiv Jewish Forum – which was held online this year due to coronavirus restrictions – is to foster dialogue among leaders from around the globe that will help bring about solutions to such challenges as antisemitism, the rise of the anti-Israel boycott movement, and the effects of the ongoing pandemic. Discussions also centered on pressing issues facing Jewish communities worldwide, and relations between Ukraine, Israel, and the global Jewish community.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky attended the online event, as well as Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Health Minister Viktor Liashko, in addition to Elkin, Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai and Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov, among other senior leaders and officials from Europe, Israel and the US.

Reopening Jerusalem consulate a priority for Biden admin. - Nuland

The US is still determined to reopen the Jerusalem consulate for the Palestinians and is still in dialogue with Israel about it, contrary to many reports, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland told Maariv.

She explained that, as clarified by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, reopening the consulate is seen as a priority for the Biden administration. This, she explained, would be a return to the longtime status quo, until former US president Donald Trump had closed the consulate down.

The Israeli government has been vocal in its opposition to reopening the consulate, as have some members of the opposition.

UN Watch: UN Completes 14 Resolutions on Israel, 5 on Rest of World Combined

The UN General Assembly will condemn Israel today in two separate resolutions, concluding the world body’s 2021 legislation with a total of 14 resolutions that single out the Jewish state, and five on the rest of the world combined.

There was one resolution each adopted yesterday for the regimes of North Korea, Iran and Myanmar, one on Crimea, while a draft resolution on Syria was deferred.

“The UN’s assault on Israel with a torrent of one-sided resolutions is surreal,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based non-governmental watchdog organization.

“It’s absurd that in the year 2021, out of some 20 UN General Assembly resolutions that criticize countries, 14 of them—70 percent—were focused on one single country: Israel. Make no mistake: the purpose of the lopsided condemnations is to demonize the Jewish state,” said Neuer.

Today’s Two Resolutions Against Israel
The plenary will vote today to ratify two one-sided resolutions against Israel that were adopted in draft form last month by the UNGA’s Second Committee.

The resolution entitled “Oil slick on Lebanese shores” singled out Israel as the only country to be censured under the “Sustainable Development” agenda item, and refers to an alleged incident from the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. It is expected to pass by an overwhelming majority.

A second resolution condemns Israel for allegedly exploiting natural resources of the Palestinians, and in the Golan, also expected to be adopted by a wide margin. The text makes no mention of Hamas’ commandeering of international aid money to fund the construction of terror tunnels rather than to rebuild destroyed infrastructure; environmental pollution caused by Palestinian tire burning; destruction of flora and fauna with arson balloons and kites; and refusal to develop their own water resources and deal with their own sewage as required by the Oslo Accords.

Palestinian Self-Determination Resolution Adopted
Only yesterday, a resolution on “The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination” was adopted by a vote of 168 to 5, with 10 abstentions. Out of hundreds of self-determination claims worldwide, thee UNGA singled out one—the claim against Israel—while omitting Palestinian obligations to dismantle terrorist infrastructure before a state is to be created.

StandWithUs: The UN and Israel UN Secretary-Generals past and present all agree: The UN's disproportionate criticism of and obsession with Israel has to stop!

Here's an unusually sane article in Egyptian media.

Well-known writer and editor Ibrahim Eissa confirmed that the Christian community in Iraq has been subjected to violent and racist attacks over the past years, noting that 4 million Iraqi Christians have left the country as a result of persecution.

During his interview at the Cairo Talk program, Eissa said that there is real fear for the disappearance of Arab Christians and what it means for diversity in Arab societies, pointing out that the proportions and numbers of Christians in Lebanon and Syria have greatly decreased as a result of the control of Islamic leaders in most Arab countries.

The journalist and Islamic thinker explained that Christians in Egypt were subjected to much sectarian strife as a result of the control of the Wahhabi Salafist movement over the country, pointing out that the exodus of the Jews from Egypt after 1956 made the country lose the civilized, internationalist character of which it was part.

This is not a take that one sees often.

Eissa has won freedom of expression awards for his outspoken journalism.

You won't believe why the Palestinian Authority shut down four mosques in Hebron

Four mosques in Hebron have been closed by the government for Friday prayers today.

Not the Israeli government, though. That would be Islamophobic!

No, the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Endowments in Hebron announced that the four mosques would be closed to encourage Muslims to all pray at the "Ibrahimi Mosque," the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.

It announced the closure "in support of and strengthening the presence and endurance in the Holy Ibrahimi shrine and to counter repeated attacks."

When they say "attacks," they mean "Jews praying." Which means the official reason of closing these mosques is to promote antisemitism.

However, commenters on Facebook understood that the official reason was not the real reason. If it was, the PA would have made this announcement when Israel's President Herzog lit the first Chanukah candle there. Or for any of a dozen other reasons before now. Why this week?

The real reason is because those mosques are Hamas strongholds! Hamas planned a demonstration today after prayers at one of those mosques to celebrate the 34th anniversary of its launch.

The PA wanted to stop the Hamas rally, but admitting that is the goal would be divisive and look bad. So instead the PA chose to use as an excuse the only point of unity between virtually all Palestinians: hating Jews.

This one incident - the PA arbitrarily closing mosques, the official reason being antisemitism, and the real reason being a passive aggressive attack on its political rival - is a microcosm of the reality of Palestinian politics. It isn't an anomaly; this sort of stuff happens every day. But Western journalists don't bother telling their audiences how dysfunctional, broken and hateful the PA is.

Because the incompetent, petty and Jew-hating PLO represents the "best chance of peace."

‘‘Combating International Islamophobia Act’’ can easily be misused to condemn Israel defending itself from terror

The US House of Representatives approved a bill Tuesday that seeks to combat Islamophobia around the world - but not within the United States. The bill is supposed to create an Office to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia in the State Department, which only deals with foreign affairs.

The text of the bill is problematic.

Firstly, it doesn't define Islamophobia. Given that we have seen any criticism of any Muslim being used as examples of "Islamophobia," a definition is critical. Its absence means that the envoy who heads this department has wide latitude in deciding what is and isn't Islamophobic.

The bill does give some examples of a subset of things that it does consider Islamophobic:

Acts of physical violence against, or harassment of, members of the Muslim community, and acts of violence against, or vandalism of, Muslim community institutions, including schools, mosques, and cemeteries.

The first part is too vague. It need to say that an act of violence or harassment is Islamophobic only if the act was clearly directed against Muslims as Muslims. A random shooting or looting a store that happens to be Muslim-owned is not necessarily Islamophobic; there needs to be evidence that the attack was meant to target Muslims. (The second part is not bad -one can assume that an attack against a mosque or a Muslim cemetery is indeed aimed at the Muslim community.)

Instances of propaganda in government and nongovernment media that attempt to justify or promote racial hatred or incite acts of violence against members of the Muslim community.

Without a definition of Islamophobia, this can be badly misused. The Palestinian Authority issues a weekly report on "racism and incitement" in Israeli media and social media, and very few of their examples are racist or incitement. They interpret anything they disagree with politically to be incitement against them as Palestinians or as Muslims. This includes archaeological finds that support the Jewish history in the land.

The Israeli flag can be seen as incitement to people who pretend that the purpose of Israel was colonialism and ethnic cleansing of Muslims. The Israeli national anthem can be called racist. Calling Israel the Jewish state could be considered off limits. Without a definition of Islamophobia, the opportunities for misusing this example are unlimited.

And, as before, anything done towards members of the Muslim community is only Islamophobic if they are deliberately aimed at them because they are Muslim. The current language could result in absurdities, like Israeli airstrikes against terrorists with rocket launchers or Hamas weapons caches being interpreted as "acts of violence against members of the Muslim community."

So could attacks on ISIS or against Syrian chemical weapons factories.

These aren't the only problems. Is it Islamophobic to criticize women being forced to wear the hijab or burqa? Is it Islamophobic to point out that most designated terrorist organizations base their philosophy on Islam? Is pointing out the antisemitism of the hadiths that trees and stones will instruct Muslims where to find Jews to murder off limits? Can a Jew say that the Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism, which would hurt the feelings of Muslims who insist it should be Judenfrei? Can one write academic studies about Muslim cooperation with Nazis? Can one even talk about the problems of child marriage or female genital mutilation or "honor killings" in Muslim countries?

Critics of Israel falsely claim that Jews use the charge of antisemitism to silence critics - will anything in this bill forestall that very accusation from becoming true but with Muslims and Islamophobia?

As it stands, this is a poorly written, vague bill that can easily be weaponized against not just Israel but the entire West.

And let's be honest: Ilham Omar's incentive to write this bill is not to fight worldwide Islamophobia. It is to water down the effectiveness of the antisemitism envoy, which calls out antisemitism that Omar supports.

Modern antisemites like to claim that antisemitism can be fought just like every other bigotry and therefore needs no special attention. Statements against antisemitism issued by everyone from colleges to Congress get watered down into "all lives matter." Yet history shows that they are wrong: antisemitism is fundamentally different from all other hates, and as such requires different tools and methods. Only antisemitism is based on conspiracy theories, only antisemitism is hate based on the target group having too much power, only antisemitism can explain the obsessive hate of anti-Zionists. The current false narrative of the world being divided into the oppressors and the oppressed deliberately puts Jews in the "oppressor" category and therefore it is impossible to fight antisemitism within that context.

But can the same be said about Islamophobia? Is there any difference between anti-Muslim hate - which is very real - and other prejudices, bigotries and racism? Why, exactly, do we need a separate Islamophobia envoy and not, say, an envoy to combat anti-Black racism or anti-Asian racism or anti-Hindu hate worldwide? The US already monitors human rights issues around the world - what is being added by this office? The most important question to be asked about any new government organization is "what value does it add?" I don't see that this question has been answered.

Given that the downsides of the possibilities of this office being misused, compared to the undefined and nebulous benefits it would bring, one wonders why this is needed altogether.

12/16 Links Pt2: Charging Israel with apartheid turns int’l law on its head; Big Four auditors ditch NGOs listed as terror groups by Israel; Gaza Boy Is 6,000th Child Saved by Israel's Save a Child's Heart

From Ian:

Charging Israel with apartheid turns int’l law on its head - NGO Monitor

Attempts to tar Israel as an apartheid state under international law, twist legal tools for political ends, a new NGO Monitor report argues.

Authored by British Barrister Joshua Kern and NGO Monitor Legal Advisor Anne Herzberg, the report delves deep into legal sources to identify what “apartheid” means as a crime in concrete legal terms as opposed to its colloquial and political uses.

The report comes following non-governmental organizations (NGOs) increasing campaign to apply the “apartheid” label to Israel not only in political discourse but lobbying the International Criminal Court (ICC) to charge Israelis with this crime and bolstering related campaigns at the UN.

“Apartheid is a grave accusation, but claims of apartheid have been made imprecisely and casually by many NGOs… the definition of apartheid is untested in international law as no court has yet examined the crime, and there is comparatively little legal writing available,” says the report.

NGO Monitor views the report as an opportunity to address “this legal vacuum and provides a full analysis grounded in international law of the elements of apartheid as a crime against humanity.”

According to the report, “the elements of the crime have been broadened by Human Rights Watch [HRW] and others in a manner that is inconsistent with both the principle of legality (under international human rights law) and the presumption that the definition of crimes shall be strictly construed (under international criminal law).”

Law Professors' Group Should Revoke "Human Rights Award" Given to Raging Antisemite Zahra Billoo

Zahra Billoo is the Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area. According to her official bio, she received the 2017 Human Rights Award from the Society of American Law Teachers, a left-wing law professors organization.

Let's start by noting that mainstream (i.e., in this context, progressive-leaning) Jewish organizations have been among the strongest advocates for admitting Muslim refugees to the U.S., opposing Trump's so-called "Muslim ban," opposing hateful remarks against Muslims by populist right-wingers, and so on.

Nevertheless, as the Jerusalem Post reports Billoo holds these organizations, which she calls "polite Zionists," responsible for "Islamaphobia:" "When we talk about islamophobia, we often think of the vehement fascists… but I also want us to pay attention to the polite Zionists, the ones that say 'let's just break bread together.'" Who is she referring to? "the Anti-Defamation League, we need to pay attention to the Jewish Federation, we need to pay attention to the Zionist synagogues, we need to pay attention to the Hillel chapters on our campuses." These, she said, are Muslims' "enemies."

You can't get more mainstream in the Jewish community than synagogues (almost all synagogues would qualify as "Zionist" by her lights), Hillel, the Federation charitable infrastructure, and the ADL. In other words, Billoo wanted her audience to see the overwhelming majority of the American Jewish community as the "enemy." Even "organizations who say they're not zionists but want a two-state solution" are the enemy, assumedly because they don't want Israel destroyed.

Worse yet, she strongly implies that Islamaphobia is a Jewish conspiracy: "Islamophobia is a well-funded conspiracy, a well-funded project — A well-funded project to marginalize us… We have to connect the dots between the organizations that promote Zionist agendas materials marketing and legislation are the same ones that want to ban Muslims, are the same ones that want to pass anti-sharia legislation…"

‘Jews Don’t Count’ Author David Baddiel Explains to ‘Late Night’ Host Seth Meyers Why Antisemitism Is a Kind of ‘Racism’

British comedian and writer David Baddiel discussed how antisemitism fits into the concept of racism during a Tuesday guest appearance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers.”

The author, who was born Jewish but identifies as an atheist, published “Jews Don’t Count” in September. In it, Baddiel uses his “unique combination of close reasoning, polemic, personal experience and jokes” to argue “that those who think of themselves as on the right side of history have often ignored the history of antisemitism,” according to the publisher.

Baddiel argued to Meyers on Tuesday that antisemitism should be judged as a form of racism, though it is often not.

“It’s about the identity politics conversation and how in that conversation, which has intensified incredibly over the last 20 years, it seems to me that antisemitism, which is a very old racism [and] a very old form of discrimination, is kind of very low in the mix of that,” he said about his book. “It kind of feels like people aren’t so bothered about it.”

Baddiel told Meyers that in the US, it’s “more of a complex thing” and there “seems to a problem” with identifying racism and antisemitism.

He explained to the talk show host, “I’m an atheist, but that would get me no free passes out of Auschwitz. White supremacists don’t check whether I keep kosher before they think ‘I’ll burn down that Jews house.’ So for me, its an accident of birth that the racists hate me for and so, therefore, its racism.”

It's funny that they accuse us of "whataboutism"....

Family Makes Aliyah Just To Escape All-Pervasive Christmas Music (PreOccupied Teritory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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Christmas music West Hempstead, December 19 - Saturation of the environment with "seasonal" songs has driven one homeowner in this Long Island hamlet, along with his wife and children, to pack up and move to Israel.

Adam Shulman, 30, told PreOccupied Territory today that the family's Aliyah, literally "ascent" in Hebrew, will take place next week, following what the father of three characterized as "year after year of the same musical assault on the ears and mind every time you walk into a store or turn on the radio, and it gets worse as time goes on." Shulman spoke to journalists as movers loaded the family's furniture and other possessions into a truck for shipment to Haifa, and thence by truck to the community of Efrata, south of Jerusalem, where they hope to find an environment blessedly devoid of lyrical references to silent nights, coming faithful, red-nosed reindeer, and bearded folk figures coming to town after making lists and checking them twice.

"Three years ago, Tehilla and I resolved to escape this jingle-hellscape," he recalled, nodding to his wife of eight years. "We always knew we wanted to live in Israel, and had a vague plan to get there, but that was when we started to make concrete arrangements, because neither of us could stomach the prospect of another slog through the pre-Christmas season each time Thanksgiving rolls around. It's bad enough that a couple of our neighbors put up their decorations in October. Our original shipment and flight reservations were for this past summer, but COVID complicated things and we've been forced to endure more than half of this year's music. At least we're getting out before it peaks next week."

The Shulmans' destination community of Efrat, a few minutes south of Jerusalem, boasts a sizable contingent of English-speakers, many of recent American extraction. Most immigrants to the town of about 11,000 chose the locale for ideological reasons, either because of the political and spiritual significance of living in the ancient Jewish heartland in the face of international opposition to Israel's control of the area, or because they believe Jews belong in Israel and simply found Efrat convenient and affordable. Tehilla and Adam, however, while acknowledging the influence of Zionism in their "modern orthodox" Jewish upbringings, talked mainly of getting the hell out of the dystopian world of commercialized paganized acoustic assaults.

"It's not even that it's all Christian and we're not," explained Tehilla, 28. "I used to love watching the fire department drive 'Santa' around the streets on its biggest truck, waving at all the kids, even while I knew we weren't really part of the celebration. It was all kind of sweet, kind of wholesome. The music has just become unbearably omnipresent. We're out of here."

No one has yet informed the Shulmans that Jewish holiday music in Israel is fast approaching similar saturation as the respective festivals approach, and that said music has even less to recommend it.

12/16 Links Pt1: Israeli Military Leaders: Biden Nuclear Deal Poses ‘Significant Threat to Israel’s Security’; Abrams: Two Signs the Palestinian Issue Is Rapidly Losing Its Importance to World Politics

From Ian:

Israeli Military Leaders: Biden Nuclear Deal Poses ‘Significant Threat to Israel’s Security’

A group of nearly 3,000 Israeli military leaders, soldiers, commanders, and intelligence officials are warning the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress that a new nuclear deal with Iran poses "a significant threat to Israel's security."

These leaders, who organized under the umbrella group Israel's Defense and Security Forum (IDSF), raise concerns that the United States will sign a deal that gives Iran the cash assets needed to fund terrorism and put it on a glide path to a nuclear weapon that will be used to destroy the Jewish state, according to a letter sent last week to Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Menendez (D., N.J.) and senior Biden administration officials.

The 2015 nuclear accord "is fatally flawed and represents a significant threat to Israel's security," the Israeli leaders write, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. "Returning to this expired and flawed agreement would be a grave mistake." Iran's only goal, they say, is to create a "nuclear umbrella under which Tehran can dominate the region."

The letter, sent on Dec. 9, comes as the Biden administration continues its diplomatic effort to secure a revamped nuclear deal with Iran, which would lift sanctions on the hardline regime and provide it with billions of dollars in cash assets. The Israeli government has expressed its fear about a new deal, but the IDSF letter outlines in the clearest terms to date what the Jewish state expects from the Biden administration if it follows through with negotiations. Concerns about a new deal have been growing as Iran boosts its enrichment of uranium, the central fuel for an atomic weapon, even as it participates in talks with the United States.

As the Biden administration considers inking a temporary deal that places fewer restrictions on Iran's nuclear program, the Israeli generals warn that this type of agreement "would fuel Iran's already recovering economy and leave Israel in an unacceptably precarious situation."

The Iranian Threat Cannot be Underestimated

As we enter the new year, Israel’s strategic position is sound, but fragile and facing many challenges. Sound, because despite the events of the past year, Israel ends 2021 with its diplomatic standing strong, its economy robust and its military power established beyond doubt. Israel continues to harvest the fruits of its diplomatic achievements, of the perception of its prowess and of being a nation of innovation and technology.

Fragile in view of the large number of volatile issues that it faces, the connections between them and the broad implications of each. Above all, of course, the Iranian nuclear issue on which we are approaching a decisive point, and where tensions are increasing in the diplomatic arena and on the security front.

That Israel faces many challenges seems to always be the case. But at this time, among those challenges is the need to tread lightly on every level, from the strategic to the operative planes. Some of the challenges the country currently faces involve decisions on issues within the Israeli sphere itself.

The unity of Israeli society is essential to our national resilience. This is true at any time, and all the more so because of the challenges that the political-security reality may spring upon us. The tensions between Jews and Arabs in mixed cities since “Operation Guardian of the Walls” in May, the decline in the sense of personal safety, the apparent decline in governability and the increase in serious crime in the Arab sector have created new fissures and deepened existing ones. These are the results of internal polarization.

The situation assessment on this matter necessitates a change of approach, and addressing these issues must be among the government’s primary goals for the coming year.

Gantz was warning Washington, not Tehran

If, as the Times reports, the Israelis fear that the United States is currently conducting secret back-channel diplomatic discussions with Iran that will lead to renewed public negotiations, whose outcome will be a pre-ordained surrender of Western interests, then they have good reason to think so.

That's what happened nine years ago when President Barack Obama was conducting his successful re-election campaign in 2012. During his foreign-policy debate with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, Obama promised that any nuclear agreement with Iran would mean the end of Tehran's nuclear program. But he was already planning on ignoring that pledge. Senior White House Advisor Valerie Jarrett was conducting backchannel talks with the Iranians and preparing the way for a deal that would contradict Obama's avowals. By the time new talks had convened in 2013, the Western slide to surrender to Iranian demands was a fait accompli.

While Jarrett is no longer on the federal payroll, most of the same cast of characters that were running foreign policy for Obama are doing the same for Biden. There's every reason to believe that when their obsession for diplomacy for its own sake is stymied, their reaction will be to again double down on appeasement rather than honestly confront their mistakes and seek a different course.

The Israelis know their window for both attempts to influence Biden and/or to take action on their own may be closing. Once the United States and Iran are back in Vienna and moving towards concluding another nuclear pact that won't actually stop Iran's march to a nuclear weapon, it may be too late for the Israelis to act.

Just as troubling is the likelihood that the Americans aren't taking Gantz's threats seriously. They know how difficult a military campaign to take out Iran's nuclear facilities would be even with the much greater forces that the United States can bring to bear on the problem than Israel. And, as the Israelis are finding out, American opposition to Israeli action can be made clear in ways other than diplomatic exchanges. As the Times later reported, the Americans are stalling on delivering new refueling tanker planes that will be needed if Israel is to attack Iran. That won't impact events in the short term. But it is, at the very least, a symbolic gesture intended to warn the Jewish state to defer to Washington, even if it means sacrificing their defense interests.

The South Africa contestant for Miss Universe, who was under huge pressure by Israel haters to withdraw from the pageant, also gained lots of support from her fellow South Africans on social media.

She wrote on Instagram,

“The most beautiful turn of events is when the obstacles that were meant to tear you down, end up strengthening you in ways you never could've imagined”

I decided to choose faith over fear and follow what felt right and good to my soul and I am filled with so much appreciation and gratitude for all the love and comfort I received in support of my pursuing something extremely important to me.

In the run-up to the contest, NGO Citizens For Integrity (CFI) wrote an open letter to sports, arts and culture minister Nathi Mthethwa, calling on him to apologize for his treatment of the young woman, and reiterated it after her third place finish.

Columnist for Eyewitness News, Kenneth Mokgatlhe, also called for an apology from the government:

Miss South Africa, Lalela Mswane, is an embodiment of resilience and bravery. She was able to secure a second-runner-up place at the Miss Universe competition in Eilat, Israel this week. This, despite an attempt by naysayers who did everything possible to discourage and pressurise Mswane from competing in this extraordinary international meeting.

Our government was quick to withdraw its support for Mswane, siding with anti-Israel organisations which label the Jewish state as an “apartheid” state. However, we have come to see the power of social media as Mswane received enormous support from ordinary South Africans, hence she was able to resist the pressure from politicians and other influential personalities in this country.

It goes without saying that the government, through the minister of Arts and Culture (Nathi Mthethwa) should offer an unconditional apology to Mswane and to the entire country for behaving like a tyrant and failing to show the world that South Africa is a true democracy.

The haters know how to make noise, but most people are far more sensible.

By RealJerusalemStreets

Elder wrote his opinion after watching Miss Universe's final competition broadcast from Eilat with its positive imagery projected to world audiences.

However, while the international beauty contestants were arriving in Israel, another world championship competition was taking place in Jerusalem.

The 10th Flag Football World Championship games took place in Jerusalem, Israel, from December 6 to 8th. Due to a change in the weather, the finals were held at Teddy Stadium, instead of the entire games at the Kraft Family Sports Complex. A record of 39 teams from 23 countries competed. The USA men and women won the first place trophies again as expected, but Mexico gave them serious competition coming in second in both men's and women's flag football.

The opening night event was held at the Ramada Renaissance Hotel for an estimated 900 participants, players, coaches, and managers. The program held on the last night of Hanukah started with the lighting of the large Hanukah menorah by Rabbi Aharon Katz, head of the Derech Etz Chaim.

For many of the players from Austria, Belarus, Brazil, Chile, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, South Korea, Team Neutral, Thailand, and the United States it was not only the first time in Israel and but also experiencing a Hanukah celebration, perhaps even having interaction with Jews.

The program started EXACTLY on time. I arrived a minute late!

A short video of Jerusalem highlights was shown as the crowd waited for Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion to arrive. He was very late to welcome the visitors, but they gave him a hero's welcome as he made his entrance.

Because of the coronavirus restrictions, the teams were not able to do any of the usual tourist stops and photo ops similar to the Miss Universe contestants. The footballers were restricted to the sports fields and back to their hotel.

But the buzz and talk in the hotel ballroom were already of returning visits to Israel. The energy of the teams, seated by their country's flag was exhilarating, their behavior praiseworthy.

The world was hesitant to host due to the situation of the variants of coronavirus. However, Steve Leibowitz the President of AFI American Football in Israel was a driving force behind the games coming to Israel. Winners qualified for July 2022 World Games in Birmingham, AL when flag football is to be included for the first time.

Tournament sponsors included NFL Patriots owner Robert Kraft, a long-time supporter of American football in Israel and donor of the Kraft Family Sports Campus. Kraft was not able to attend in person but sent a video message shown at the opening event.

Hundreds of young international sportspeople arrived in Israel for the first time, learned about Hanukah, and saw Israeli footballers wearing a kippah.

Not as glamorous and sexy as a world beauty competition, but thousands watched their international teams playing flag football live from Jerusalem as the broadcast went around the world to fans.

I saw less BDS pressure on these world championship games than the Miss Universe pageant, maybe the sport was lucky to get less attention.

But the World Championship Flag Football games were a great success. Even the last game ending in cold and rain could not ruin the event. After all, what's a little mud in when we are talking about football.

The final men's game is here, the others can be found on YouTube.

Hating the Jewish state elevated into an art form

Former Jewish Voice for Peace director Rebecca Vilkomerson tweeted:

Think about the phrase "visionary heart-opening anti-Zionist book."

Try to imagine the phrase "visionary heart-opening anti-"anything else.

Anti-communist? Anti-white supremacist? Anti-terrorist? Anti-gay? Anti-Chinese? Anti-global warming? Anti-abortion? Anti-Muslim?

There are lots of people and groups against a lot of things, and hate is an appropriate response to many outrages. But how many people who hate anything try to elevate that hate into art and poetry?

I can only think of two examples.

Nazi Germany turned Jew-hatred into poetry. Here is a poem "If All People Were Jews:"

If all people were Jews,
What would become of the world?
No corn would grow,
No plow would move through the fields,

No forester would tend the woods,
No miner would start his shift.
Jews don’t even like
To sail the seas.
The steamboat would never have been invented,
Nor would the train.
No dirigible would rise
Shining into the sky.
We wouldn’t have gunpowder,
Nor electric lights.
For the Jew can barter,
But he cannot invent.

... What can the Jew give,
He who has nothing,
Yet presumes to
Call himself “elect”?
Only the devil knows,
For the devil loves pride and arrogance.
Thank God there are still
People other than Jews on earth!

And now the "anti-Zionist" community, with books and songs and chants dedicated to hate..

Like the KKK, the modern haters used to pretend that their movement was not negative but positive. They pretended to be "pro-Palestinian." But that façade has faded as it became increasingly clear that these groups were doing nothing to help Palestinians and as their philosophy developed around the theme of hating Israel and everything it stands for. They only support Palestinian initiatives that align with that goal. (How many "pro-Palestinians" make solidarity visits to Lebanese or Jordanian UNRWA camps? It's very rare.)

Here is an entire book of "personal stories, history, poetry and art" that is based on a negative: "confronting Zionism." These people define themselves by what they hate. And now like their antisemitic forebears they are trying to use their hate as a springboard build an entire artistic community.

This idea of elevating antisemitism as anti-Israel art has been building for years. Belgium's poet laureate Charles Ducal and poet Alice Walker both wrote poems that compared Jews to Nazis under the guise of "anti-Zionism." So did the acclaimed play "Seven Jewish Children."

The modern haters are all strengthened by finding comrades who share their hate, and since they look at themselves as being cultured, they are now in the forefront of integrating hate into art.

Jordan's Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh responded to those who are against getting desalinated water from Israel, with a stark warning that Jordan will run out of water if it does not immediately look for alternative sources.

"The water poverty we have reached is unprecedented and threatens the level and quality of life for our current and future generations," he told a Lower House of Parliament session on Wednesday.

Khasawneh said that the annual per capita share of water in Jordan is about 90 cubic meters, while the global water poverty line is 500 cubic meters annually. He warned that if things don't change, the annual per capita share will drop to 60 cubic meters by 2040.

The prime minister defended the deal with Israel, but said it is still in the early stages.

Parliamentarians continued to squabble over the issue after one said that Israel might poison the water for Jordan.

Representative Najeh Al-Adwan said that Jordan is going through a great water crisis. he defended the agreement with Israel with Quarnic precedents of Muslims buying things from Jews,

Al-Adwan said, “The Muslim woman used to buy from the Jewish market, and Uthman bin Affan bought a well of water from a Jew, and the Prophet acknowledged to the Jews what was in their hands."

Uthman bin Affan was a companion and second cousin of Mohammed. The story of his well, which is still an active well in Saudi Arabia, happens to be about a greedy Jew trying to take advantage of Muslims, and how the Jew was defeated.

In the past, about 1,400 years ago, this well was the only source of sweet water in Madina city and it belonged to a Jew named Rummat Al Giffari who charged Muslims and other inhabitants of the city with the excessive amount if they wish to fetch water. When the Prophet of Allah knew about this incident, he assured great reward for those who will buy the Rummat well and endow it free to the inhabitants of Madina.

On hearing this, Uthman bin Affan offered the Jew to sell him his well but he refused. He again offered him to buy half of the well. The Jew accepted the offer of the clever businessman Uthman thinking that this will help him to get some money and the agreement was settled that both will fetch water from the well but on alternate days.

Uthman, after buying half of the well, opened it for Allah’s sake and offered everyone to fetch water from the well and this cause great loss to the Jew as no one ever bought water from well paying a large amount to the Jew. The people would fetch their two days’ water supply from the well on Uthman day and ignore fetching water on Jew’s day.

Hopelessly he broke down and offered Uthman to buy the other half of the well for 20,000 dirhams because it was left for no use to him. The kind Companion accepted this offer and bought the well from the Jew.

Other parliamentarians rejected Al-Aswan's argument for getting water from a Jew.

One thing is obvious: if they are arguing over Muslim stories about Jews, then the people who don't want to get the water from Israel are antisemites, not merely "anti-Zionists."

(h/t Yoel)

A Message to our Arab Citizens (Vic Rosenthal)

Weekly column by Vic Rosenthal

A recent editorial in the Jerusalem Post views with alarm recent statements by some media and political personalities that the Post sees as advocating “ethnic cleansing.” For example, journalist/political consultant Itamar Fleischman remarked on the anti-Jewish riots that took place in several mixed Arab-Jewish cities in May, saying
The bottom line is that we have a situation in which Arabs forgot the Nakba. … And the solution is to remind them of the Nakba. We should tell them as soon as now that if they don’t start to come to their senses, and if they keep trying to murder our children, their next stop is beyond the Jordan River or in al-Yarmuk [refugee] camp in Syria.
Radio host and former MK Yinon Magal said something similar: “if you’ll keep killing Jews, we will exile you again.” And Betzalel Smotrich, MK and leader of the Religious Zionist party, spoke bluntly in response to anti-Zionist comments by Arab members of the Knesset:
I am not holding any conversations with you, you anti-Zionists. You are supporters of terror, enemies. You are [here] due to a mistake because [Israel’s first prime minister David] Ben-Gurion didn’t finish the job and throw you out in 1948.
The Post’s editorial writer said that such public statements “raised a red flag,” and that
The Jewish people should be particularly sensitive to such racist remarks. People who know firsthand the outcome of extreme racism should be the first to cry out when they witness or hear a form of institutionalized racism.

Arabs in Israel should not have to live in fear of possible expulsion. They are not terrorists, and the vast majority of them are ordinary law-abiding citizens who hate violence.

He added that “[t]he best way to quell Palestinian nationalism within Israel is to make Arab citizens feel that they belong.”

While I agree that the vast majority of Arab citizens of Israel are “ordinary law-abiding citizens who hate violence,” I disagree that the comments of Fleischman, Magal, and Smotrich were inappropriate. There is a real issue with the Arabs of Israel – leaving aside the Arabs of Judea/Samaria and Gaza – which is not going away, and can’t be made to go away by telling the Jews not to be “racist.”

What is the issue? First, it has nothing to do with “race,” and accusations of “racism” do not illuminate the problem. In a nutshell the conflict is a national one, over the historical question of to whom the Land of Israel belongs, and over who gets to determine the character of the state that is established here.

I’ve written enough about the competing narratives and I don’t want to go into them here. Obviously I believe that the existence of the Jewish state as the nation-state of the Jewish people is justified. That implies that Jews get to choose the flag, the national anthem, and other symbols of the state. And more practically, they can also choose immigration and citizenship policies that will lead to a continued Jewish majority.

Is this situation entirely “democratic?” That depends on your point of view. Yes, there is a Jewish majority which supports the continuation of the Law of Return for Jews, and does not want to change it to include the descendants of Arab refugees from 1948. But isn’t that law in itself anti-democratic? The Zionist answer to that question is that the Jewishness of the state takes priority over its other characteristics. The state strives to provide equal rights for all its citizens, but not at the cost of giving up its identity as a Jewish state. As a result, Jews in Israel have a different status than non-Jews: they are the owners of the state.

It’s impossible to finesse this issue. I myself wrote that there is no contradiction inherent in the formulation “a Jewish and democratic state,” because all citizens, Jews and Arabs, have full civil and political rights. That is true, as far as it goes. But it’s our country, not theirs.

The Arabs – and I think this includes virtually all Arab citizens of Israel – vehemently reject this, because in their historical narrative, they are the owners, and the Jews “stole” the land from them. Statements to this effect are regularly made by Arab members of the Knesset. So while most Arabs do not take part in violent attacks on Jews and Jewish property as happened in May, the idea that we can prevent such occurrences by “mak[ing] Arab citizens feel that they belong” is fantasy. They will not “belong” unless they are given ownership, and we are not going to do that.

Asking the Arabs to give up their narrative is a fool’s errand, and it would be wrong to try to brainwash them with our version of history, even if as a matter of fact it is correct. And if Israel’s Jews should give up their Zionism – as some on the Left would like – then the Jewish state will have failed, and will soon disappear into the mass of Arab states surrounding it.

What we should say to our Arab citizens is something like this: this is a Jewish state and you are a national and religious minority in it. You have all the civil and political rights of any citizen and will not be discriminated against. This is a free society with a free-market economy where you can live better than in any other country in the region. We will treat you with respect, and we appreciate your contribution to Israeli cultural and economic life.

But we insist that you do not try to subvert our state, help its enemies, or engage in insurrections. There are many other states in the world; some of them are defined as Arab-Muslim states, and some are “states of their citizens.” If you can’t accept the minority status that is available here, then go somewhere else.