Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

12/28 Links Pt2: What really happened to the million Jews in Arab lands?; Chair of Ben & Jerry’s Board Voted as ‘2021 Antisemite of the Year’; Archbishop of Canterbury falls for anti-Israel lies

From Ian:

David Collier: What really happened to the million Jews in Arab lands?

The need for the whitewash
By the early 20th century, the attacks on these Jewish communities were brutal. Much of it was government driven, with increasing anti-Jewish legislation appearing throughout the region. But there was also a lot of anti-Jewish violence on the street. This all spiked dramatically when Israel was founded but had started long before. The growing hostility was to drive the ethnic cleansing of every major Jewish community inside Arab lands. The creation of nearly a million Jewish refugees.

For those pushing an anti-Israel agenda – and whose entire narrative is built around the non-necessity of Zionism and the tragic existence of Palestinian refugees, the true history surrounding Jewish refugees creates five key problems:
1. The image of co-existence is a myth
2. There were more Jewish refugees created than Arab refugees
3. The value of what the Jewish refugees had stolen from them was many times greater than anything the Arab refugees can claim they lost
4. The attack on the Jewish communities was unprovoked and on an innocent civilian population. The same is not true of much of the Arab population in the mandate, with many Arab villages choosing a violent confrontation that fuelled a civil conflict
5. Like it or not, many Arab families in the mandate area had simply moved into the area as the Ottoman empire collapsed – or as Zionist investment created opportunity. This means many of the Arab refugees had no real roots in the mandate area (one example – the ‘Palestinian’ hero of the 1930s, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam – was born in Northern Syria.) The same could not be said of the ancient Jewish roots in places such as Egypt, Iraq or Yemen.

All of these factors create a huge problem for anti-Israel activists. In real terms, the unprovoked destruction of the Jewish communities in the MENA region was far worse than the destruction of the Arab communities engaged in civil conflict in the mandate area.

Another *key difference* between the two – was what followed their respective departures. While Israel looked after Jewish refugees and absorbed them – so today they no longer exist – the Arabs disgracefully *CHOSE* to weaponise the refugees. Instead of absorbing them, they locked them into camps and deliberately perpetuated their suffering. Many of the grandchildren of these Arab refugees still live in camps today, solely because the Arab nations wanted to keep them that way.

There is even mind-numbing hypocrisy in the way these people are treated. People still refer to a Jordanian whose ancestors fled the mandate area in 1948 as a ‘refugee’ – but nobody would dream of doing the same to an Israeli whose ancestors were expelled from Egypt. Both of these families have new nationalities – but are treated very differently.

But even all this misdirection wasn’t enough. Even with the UN, UNHRC, Amnesty, HRW and media outlets like the BBC – all playing along with the gross deception. The anti-Israel propaganda machine needed more.

Chair of Ben & Jerry’s Board Voted as ‘2021 Antisemite of the Year’ in Watchdog Poll

The chairperson of Ben & Jerry’s board of directors and vice president of the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation has been crowned the “2021 Antisemite of the Year” by thousands of voters in a contest organized by the StopAntisemitism.org watchdog group, it was announced on Sunday.

Anuradha Mittal was selected over two other “finalists,” singer Dua Lipa and Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, following several weeks of voting. The Ben & Jerry’s chair was a leading force behind the company’s announcement in July that it would stop selling its products in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem — areas the ice cream maker called “occupied Palestinian territory” — by the end of 2022 because doing business there was “inconsistent” with company values.

In response to the boycott move, several US states, most recently Illinois, announced that they will divest pension and public funds holdings from Ben & Jerry’s parent company, Unilever, in accordance with anti-BDS laws.

“For us and for the voters, Mittal was clearly the 2021 Antisemite of the Year,” said StopAntisemitism Founder and Executive Director Liora Rez. “The Ben & Jerry’s boycott is shamelessly biased and Mittal’s commitment to promoting her antisemitic and anti-Israel agenda is deplorable. The way she has leveraged her namesake and power in the corporate world to promote antisemitic initiatives is horrendous.”

Mittal did not immediately respond to an Algemeiner request for comment. She defended Ben & Jerry’s decision in August, saying, “It is not about boycotting Israel … the occupation is anti-Israel. Our decision was pro-Israel, pro-humanity, pro-human rights.”

In 2018, under Mittal’s leadership, Ben & Jerry’s partnered with anti-Israel activist and Women’s March co-founder Linda Sarsour, StopAntisemitism noted. Mittal is also the founder and executive director of the left-wing policy think tank Oakland Institute, where she led a team that wrote a series of reports called “Palestine for Land and Life,” which claims to document “everyday life under occupation” and “the use of laws and military orders which subjugate Palestinians.”

Meet our 2021 Antisemite of the Year - Ben & Jerry's Anuradha Mittal

Mittal spearheaded the antisemitic boycott against various parts of Israel that led to:

- 5 states divesting their pension assets from parent company Unilever
- an SEC investigation
- a drop in Unilever stock pic.twitter.com/INLkVpV9aG
— StopAntisemitism.org (@StopAntisemites) December 28, 2021

Rabbi Abraham Cooper and Kinue Tokudome: Japan-Israel ties at 70: obstacles and opportunities

Next year, Japan and Israel will reach a major milestone: 70 years since relations were established between these two unique democracies. In that time, both countries have made immense strides from uncertain times following World War II. Today, in the 21st century, they are both among the most technologically advanced democracies.

As two people who have worked to promote understanding and friendship between Japanese and Jewish people for decades, we enter this anniversary year with great anticipation.

One of us has been building relationships in Japan since the 1980s to increase awareness and educate Japanese people about the Holocaust, Jewish history, and Israel. The other has been writing and translating books and articles about the Holocaust and Jewish people for Japanese audiences for more than 25 years.

We have traveled to Japan many times; met with Japanese government officials as well as Israeli and American ambassadors to Japan; and spoken to the media.

Recently, an interesting article caught our attention. It suggested that Japan and Israel could form a powerful new alliance with the US. This is a wonderful vision that deserves to be pursued.

However, we believe that it is imperative for Japan to first address its long-held position towards Israel that has deeply disappointed those who would support closer ties.

Jewish Voice for Peace sent out a fundraising email from Judith Butler, where she says:

As the largest Jewish organization that has declared itself anti-Zionist, JVP has taken on an indispensable role in public life that is singular, timely, and critical. JVP offers a way for Jews to re-imagine what Jewishness can look like without nationalism and state violence, for Jews and other Palestinian allies to enact true safety and solidarity in our communities, while showing up and speaking out in the hard moments — the moments that really count.

JVP is at the forefront showing what a powerful and meaningful Jewish life can look like now, and helps all of us imagine the future. Help me make sure that future comes to fruition.

What kind of Judaism can JVP offer?

Given that the entire point of the organization is to oppose Israel, that makes its public activities all political. The only vestiges of religion are the ones that they can twist into politics.

JVP is trying to create a "Judaism" beyond just anti-Israel activities. They set up something called the JVP Havurah Network:

We are an emergent network that gathers, supports and resources diasporist, anti-zionist and non-zionist Jews and Jewish spiritual communities. We yearn for a vibrant Jewish life beyond nationalism that condemns and challenges white supremacy within and outside Jewish communities. The JVP Havurah Network supports collaboration and leadership development in service of the movement for Palestinian freedom and all liberatory movements.

Unlike their events, their ritual sheets are not centered exclusively on anti-Israel activities. They try to take whatever they can from Judaism and remove anything that has anything to do with Israel.

Which leaves them with very little.

Their Kabbalat Shabbat worksheet includes parts of the service. But it has to remove the middle paragraph of Sh'ma, which talks about the ties between Jews and the Land of Israel.

If they would create a prayer book, they would need to excise much of the Amidah and much of the Grace After Meals. Their Passovers must not include where Pharaoh should let the Israelites go. Their Pentateuch would not include much at all, since it is filled with promises from God to give the Land to the children of Israel. Chanukah turns from a holiday of rededicating the Temple in Jerusalem to...Palestinian olive oil.

They realize that Judaism without Israel isn't Judaism, so they are literally trying to create a new religion that they want to pretend is a legitimate branch of Judaism. The hoops they need to jump through prove what a sham they are.

12/28 Links Pt1: The U.N.’s Israel Libel Machine Expands; Attacks up, fatalities down in the West Bank; Israeli defense official says Iran faces ‘no deterrent’ to its nuclear goals

From Ian:

WSJ Editorial: The U.N.’s Israel Libel Machine Expands

Israel’s defense of its civilians was lawful, targeted and restrained, but the U.N. wants to use the war as a pretext to indict Israel for “crimes,” real or imagined. The commission staff, led by figures with records of anti-Israel rhetoric, are charged with “investigating all underlying root causes of recurrent tensions” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (meaning causes excluding Hamas terrorism) and delivering biannual U.N. reports indefinitely into the future.

Israel is already an irrational fixation of the U.N., which issued 17 resolutions condemning it in 2020. But the funding stream approved at the General Assembly Thursday further institutionalizes the anti-Israel libel machine. The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs notes that the new commission will have 24 permanent staff, compared to 20 permanent staff for the Human Rights Council branch covering all of Asia. With an annual budget greater than $5 million, it will fund “790 days of travel for experts and staff every year from 2022 on.”

The commission has issued a public “call for submissions” and will recommend “criminal and command responsibility” for anything Israeli officials have ever done or may do in the future—an extraordinary attack on the sovereignty of a democratic member state.

As international order frays, the U.N. is focused on enlarging impotent bureaucracies and encouraging malevolent ideological campaigns. This will inflame Israeli opinion and do nothing to solve the conflict. The Biden Administration says it will oppose the new commission, but it ought to use it as a reason to exit the Human Rights Council and stop funding it.

Eugene Kontorovich: Trump Was Right To Recognize Moroccan Sovereignty Over Western Sahara

The Trump administration has achieved yet another success in brokering peace between Israel and the Islamic world, with the recent announcement of normalized relations between Israel and Morocco. The U.S. benefits greatly from good relations between two of its long-standing Middle East allies—and as part of the arrangement, the U.S. agreed to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara. There is nothing unusual about adding "sweeteners" to such deals: The Carter administration, for example, made Egypt one of the largest non-NATO recipients of U.S. aid as a result of the Camp David Accords between Cairo and Jerusalem.

But the Western Saharan recognition has come under attack from those who had long supported unsuccessful policies for resolving the conflict. Former National Security Advisor John Bolton and Former Secretary of State James Baker both penned op-eds lambasting President Trump's move. These criticisms claim that the recognition is a radical departure from both U.S. policy and international law norms. Neither claim has any basis.

First, some background. Western Sahara had never been an independent state; rather, it was a Spanish colony until 1975, when Spanish rule crumbled at the end of the Franco regime. Morocco promptly took control of Western Sahara as the Spanish were on their way out, leading to a three-way conflict with Mauritania and the Algeria-backed Polisario guerrilla group. Morocco prevailed and has administered the territory as its "southern provinces" ever since.

The United Nations has described Morocco's presence as an "occupation" in a couple of resolutions. But much of the international community, including the United States, has taken a more ambiguous position, describing the territory as "disputed" between Morocco and the Polisario, which claims to govern an independent state that it calls the Sahrawi Arabic Democratic Republic.

By Daled Amos

Mansour Abbas, head of the Islamist Ra'am Party and member of the ruling coalition government in Israel made waves last week when he publicly declared that he recognized Israel as a Jewish state.

During an interview with Mohammad Magadli of Channel 12 News, Abbas said:

Israel was born a Jewish state, that was the decision of the people, and the question is not what is the identity of the state — it was born this way and it will remain this way.

Israellycool posted the video:

The question is: just how seriously should we take Abbas's apparent recognition of Israel as a Jewish state?
After all, back in December 1988...

After a two-day meeting with five prominent American Jews here, a P.L.O. delegation led by Mr. Arafat said in a joint statement that the Palestinian parliament in exile last month had ''accepted the existence of Israel as a state in the region'' and ''declared its rejection and condemnation of terrorism in all its forms.''

It became evident that Arafat neither accepted the existence of Israel nor rejected the use of terrorism, so it is understandable that some may be wary.

One indication of how difficult it may be for some to accept what Abbas said is that this is not even the first time that Abbas has recognized Israel as a Jewish state.

In a December 17 article on the Haaretz website, Michael Milshtein wrote:

Three weeks ago, United Arab List leader Dr. Mansour Abbas dropped one of the most dramatic political bombshells that’s been heard in Israeli discourse for some years. Astonishingly, it attracted very limited attention among both the Jewish or Arab publics. In the course of a tempestuous interview in the studio of the Nazareth-based Kul al-Arab news site, which addressed the UAL’s integration in the coalition, Abbas said, “Whether we like it or not, Israel is a Jewish state, and my central goal is to define the status of the country’s Arab citizens. I view myself as a citizen in the full sense of the word, who deserves to receive full civil rights.” [emphasis added]

That means Abbas originally came out with his recognition of Israel as a Jewish state in late November, before his interview with Magadli, without being noticed

And Ruthie Blum notes that following his statement in his interview with Magadli, Abbas doubled down in a post on Facebook:

In a lengthy post on Facebook, he reiterated what he had said at the conference, writing that Arabs need to distinguish between “desires and reality,” and not be fooled by the slogan “a state for all its citizens,” which is “employed to exploit people’s emotions without telling them that they’re talking about the state of Israel.”

The fact is, he emphasized, “legally and demographically, the State of Israel is a Jewish state.” [emphasis added]

We can argue over what Abbas is up to, but this was definitely no slip of the tongue.

Maybe he was reacting in response to a member of his own party.
JNS reported that on December 20, Ibrahim Hijazi -- the secretary-general of the Ra'am Party -- among other things called for the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria to be erased:

Ibrahim Hijazi made the remarks during in an interview that aired on the the Nazareth-based Kul al-Arab news station, just one day prior to Ra’am head Mansour Abbas’s declaration that Israel will remain a Jewish state. The interview was translated and first reported on by the Arab desk of Israeli NGO Im Tirtzu.
Hijazi stated that “the one who makes decision on large matters, nationalistic and ideological, is not Ibrahim [Hijazi] or Mansour [Abbas]—it’s the Ra’am platform.”

...Hijazi also asserted that the Arabs, not Jews, are indigenous to the land. [emphasis added]

Maybe Abbas offered his recognition of Israel in order to deflect attention from a claim made by a leader in his own party, whose own statement could potentially cause embarrassment.

There is no way to know for sure.
Just as there is no way to know for sure why Abbas originally made his statement in November.

But back in November, Caroline Glick outlined multiple ties that Mansour Abbas apparently had to Hamas.
Could Abbas have been reacting to that?

In an I24News article on Abbas's interview with Magadli, there is an unrelated embedded video discussing an offer Abbas made in the beginning of November to take $32 million earmarked for the Arab community -- and offer it to the "Jewish Ultra-Orthodox sector" in what he claimed was consistent with the policy of the Ra'am party to help all of the weak sectors of society. Some attacked the move as an attempt to drive a wedge between the Orthodox parties and the Likud, led by Netanyahu. When asked for his take on Abbas's motivation, Gil Hoffman -- chief political correspondent for The Jerusalem Post -- suggests:

Abbas is right now, very, very angry at Netanyahu. He blames Netanyahu for reports that there have been over the last week about reported ties between Ra'am and Hamas that Abbas vigorously denies and this is his way of getting revenge against Netanyahu.

Could his first statement about recognizing Israel have similarly been a reaction to those claims accusing him of ties to Hamas?

Maybe.

But on a practical level, the fact remains that Mansour Abbas has shown an ability to work within the Israel government, receiving a willingness for cooperation from unexpected areas.

For example, while the right-wing Religious Zionism party head MK Bezalel Smotrich refused to help form a coalition for Netanayahu that included Abbas, in 2020, Smotrich did help Abbas as transportation minister to resolve traffic infrastructure problems near the Israeli Arab towns of Nazareth and Kafr Kanna -- proving once again that politics makes strange bedfellows.

Which is what Naftali Bennett's coalition seems to be all about.

And if the head of the Islamist movement in Israel can work together with a right-wing Zionist, maybe there could be potential for some other positive developments as well.

If you read the social media accounts of supposedly pro-Palestinian activists, you will often see the word "resistance" accompanied by photos of unarmed Palestinians, often with flags, standing alone against heavily armed Israeli soldiers or police.

But in Arabic, the same word nearly always means violence.

Here are the top Google Image results for the phrase "Palestinian resistance" in English:

And in Arabic:

This is reflected in rhetoric as well. To Western nations, "non-violent resistance" (which includes stone throwing and firebombs) is emphasized by Palestinian organizations to attract the :progressive: crowd, but in Arabic the expression is often "armed resistance," which is promoted by every major Palestinian political party - from Hamas to Fatah to the PFLP and other socialist parties.

We've seen this kind of doubletalk before. Progressives shout "Intifada, Intifada!" and claim that it merely means a peaceful uprising; in Arabic Palestinians often threaten a "new Intifada" which invariably means one like the Second Intifada where a thousand Jews were murdered.

Similarly, the non-violent interpretation of "jihad" is emphasized to Westerners, while no one will find any objection to Palestinian Islamist terror groups using the term to exclusively mean killing Jews.

To be sure, there have been Westerners who have supported terrorism and violence as legal and legitimate, from Richard Falk to CJ Werleman. But on the public relations front, the anti-Israel crowd will mute their support for terror in English, hiding behind obfuscation to make it appear like they simply support freedom and justice.

The contradictions become apparent when they refer to Hamas and Islamic Jihad as "Palestinian resistance groups."

The messaging is carefully massaged to give the impression of being against violence.

But their support for terror is not in doubt.

Here are the most popular articles by EoZ's columnists this year:

Biden’s choices point to a continuation of a long list of Middle East foreign policy errors (Daled Amos)

Rabbi Twerski: The Man with the Face of an Angel Who Worked at St. Francis with the Nuns (Judean Rose)

(Also, this 2018 post from Judean Rose had a large audience this year.)

How Israel-haters became influential (Vic Rosenthal)

Report on Jerusalem correctly! (RealJerusalemStreets)

Elad Barzilai survived the Arab lynch mob (Forest Rain)

Suicide Bomber Hoping Work-From-Home Rules End Soon (PreOccupied Territory)

And some other guest posts that did well:

Linda Sarsour Indoctrinates Small Children to Hate Israel (@Kweansmom)

Israel: where the game never ends (Ellen E. Horowitz)

Academia for Hamas (Dr. Andrew Pessin)

BDS is a threat to the entire free world (Richard Landes)

Palestinian hate for Israel hurts Palestinians. Again.

From the Jerusalem Post:

The Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba will no longer allow Palestinian shoppers to make purchases on AliExpress.com, according to a text message that many buyers received from the company on Monday.

The reason for the move is that the Palestinian Authority's mail services refuse to handle packages that have the word Israel in the address. Many Palestinians do not know this and write Israel rather than Palestine as the destination country, according to N12.

Some Palestinians address deliveries to themselves saying "Israel," and - in the bizarre logic of the Palestinian leadership - they must be punished by not getting the goods they paid for!

Gee, the Palestinian Authority really cares about the people who live under its control.

Does this mean that Palestinians who order from Amazon or other places never get their deliveries if they unwittingly write "Israel" as their address? Are there medicines or medical supplies that aren't getting delivered because of this stupid, childish policy?

The thing is, this is normal for the PA.

The PA could have worked with Israel to get Covid-19 vaccines, but they refused - because, Israel.

The PA tried to forbid Palestinians from shopping at convenient and affordable Israeli supermarkets in the territories - because, Israel.

The PA rejected a state multiple times - because, Israel.

I would be very surprised if Israel would refuse to deliver a package with the proper postal code addressed to someone in "Lydda, Palestine." Because post office delivery services are not the place to play stupid political games.

Any real leader would instinctively know that.

But the entire purpose of the Palestinian Authority was never to provide a safe place for Palestinian Arabs to live. It was never to serve the people. The raison d'etre of the PA is to be a means to destroy the Jewish state. Hating Israel and the Jews is more important than helping their own people.

The Palestinian Authority proves, every day, with its own actions, that it cannot and should not ever be responsible for the lives of the people it pretends to lead.

12/27 Links Pt2: Good News in the Fight Against Antisemitism; Israel Is the Best Thing to Happen to Christians in the Holy Land for Centuries; The Tyranny of the Woke

From Ian:

Good News in the Fight Against Antisemitism

At this time of year-end recollections, we cannot forget that antisemitism has reached historic levels this year, including attacks on Jews in the streets of Boston, New York, Los Angeles and Southern Florida. But the year has not been entirely bleak. There has been good news. The fight against antisemitism is also surging. For those who seek silver linings in the dark clouds that gather, here are 10 positives from 2021.

1. Surveys Document the Growing Problem
I know, this sounds like bad news. The Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, Hillel International and my own Louis D. Brandeis Center published reports confirming that antisemitism is spiking and that Jewish Americans often feel the need to hide their identity for fear of attack. But the fact that we’re now doing better research is positive. We now know, for example, that two thirds of American Jews have encountered antisemitism over the past five years. (And we can wonder where the other third have been hiding.) Such data spurs action.

2. European Commission establishes antisemitism strategy
In January, the European Commission published a Handbook for using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s crucial Working Definition of Antisemitism. This important publication demonstrated both the IHRA definition’s widespread international support, despite persistent naysayers, and its practical usefulness. The Commission followed up later in the year, announcing its first-ever official strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life. One can only hope that the United States will also one day develop a national strategy.

3. Biden administration embraces IHRA working definition
In February, State Department official Kara McDonald announced the Biden administration’s support for the “invaluable” IHRA definition and its “real-world examples,” similar to the support that the definition has received from the last few administrations. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed that the administration “enthusiastically embraces” the definition. The White House followed up with an important if barely noticed provision in its Spring 2021 Unified Agenda, committing the US Education Department to codifying former president Donald Trump’s Executive Order on Combating Antisemitism. In other words, the Biden administration is committed not only to embracing IHRA but also to implementing it.

Telegraph ($): Israel Is the Best Thing to Happen to Christians in the Holy Land for Centuries

Every year at Christmas, some Christian prelate warns of the fate of Christians in the Holy Land. This year it was Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Anglican Archbishop of Jerusalem Hosam Naoum.

But the state of Israel is the best thing to happen to Christians and other minorities in over a thousand years: a revolution for freedom against religious empire, a refuge for Jews, and a model of multi-ethnic pluralism at the same time. To the Archbishops' credit, they acknowledge that "In Israel, the overall number of Christians has risen," yet fail to note that this is the first time in 13 centuries that such a thing has happened.

There are, in fact, two Christian communities in the Holy Land: a large and prosperous Arabic-speaking population in Israel, where 182,000 live as citizens, mainly in the Galilee; and a smaller group of 50,000 Christian Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. The real crisis is here, under Palestinian rule. Data from a study by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research show that 2/3 of Christians in the Palestinian territories worry about rising Islamic sentiment, which drives economic hardship, emigration and decline.

Christmas offers an opportunity to thank Israel for safeguarding Christianity. If the Church of England wants a Christian renaissance in the Near East, it should extend a hand of friendship to the only country where that project is still viable.

The New York Times wrote an article about a new mall and destination theme parks in a part of Maale Adumim called Park Israel.

Among other things, it says:

[O]ne recent morning, the three-story fairground was packed with 1,500 Palestinian youths, mostly boys, on an outing from four schools in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem. Seemingly oblivious to the geopolitics, the middle schoolers screeched in fear and delight as they plunged down the sky tower and hurtled around the extreme 360-degree Looper ride.

“Most of the parents want their children to have fun more than anything else,” said Imad Karain, the trip organizer from one of the schools.

Mr. Karain said he had received no complaints, though he did acknowledge some uneasiness about being in a settlement. Of the parents he said: “Politics doesn’t interest them so much. We want to live in peace and bring up our children in peace. We believe in coexistence and negotiations to solve the problem.”

“Enough of war and violence,” chimed in Muhammad Baidun, an English teacher.

The next day, Magic Kass was booked by an ultra-Orthodox Jewish boys’ yeshiva. And when the gates opened to the public in the late afternoon, the line was a mix of the religious and the secular, Jews and Arabs.

Maale Adumim and Park Israel currently provide jobs for about 5,000 Palestinians and a similar number of Jews, including cleaning and maintenance staff and managers.

So Jews and Arabs can go, thousands of Palestinians are employed, there is absolutely no discrimination.

And here's how Ken Roth of Human Rights Watch summarizes the article:

As the builders of an Israeli theme park try to hide that it's located in a war-crime settlement, West Bank residents see it as "an example of the two-tier legal system in the occupied territory that critics increasingly describe as a kind of apartheid."

They are hiding the gigantic theme park? A place where Arabs and Jews mingle and work together is "apartheid?" A place that provides thousands of jobs for Palestinians is a" war crime"?

Antisemitism rots your brain.

12/27 Links Pt1: PA seeks to undo the result of Balfour Declaration and have Israel “disappear”; 'Iran deal put us on cruise control heading over a cliff,' former envoy warns

From Ian:

PMW: PA seeks to undo the result of Balfour Declaration and have Israel “disappear”

PA school kids taught that the Balfour Declaration is:
“The filthiest colonialist promise in human history”
“the ugliest historical injustice”
“Palestine is ours and will not be a homeland of the Jews”
“We will give our children’s blood” to undo Balfour Declaration, says Fatah official in Gaza
Girl from Fatah calls Balfour “a traitor of humanity,” vows to “fight… with the blood of Martyrs” to erase Israel
The Balfour Declaration was “a declaration of war against Palestine” – editorial in official PA daily
The Balfour Declaration helped Europeans realize two goals: “Get rid of the Jewish problem in Europe” and “ensure their colonialist interests in the Near East and Far East” – columnist in official PA daily
Fatah: “The Balfour Promise was and will remain the most shocking crime in modern human history” whose goal was “to empty the land of Palestine of its people” and “build a military apparatus” so that the Jews “would fulfill a role for the global colonialist system”

'Iran deal put us on cruise control heading over a cliff,' former envoy warns

Former Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer this week defended his government's positions that encouraged the United States to leave the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and supported Israel's current position that the US must leave a military option on the table and signal that Iran cannot develop nuclear weapons.

Speaking on Tuesday in a Zoom seminar held by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), in conversation with JINSA President and CEO Michael Makovsky, the former envoy said he stands by his previously expressed stance that US withdrawal from the deal (also known as the JCPOA) under the Trump administration was the single-most important decision that any president had made for Israel's national security.

While that decision didn't end the Iranian threat, it was a "critical means to an end" because the JCPOA provided a legal framework for Iran to achieve nuclear status once the deal's provisions ended, rather than block it entirely, he said.

"Because what the deal did is it put restrictions on Iran's nuclear program for a limited number of years, and those restrictions would be automatically removed," said Dermer, who served as ambassador from 2013-2021 before joining JINSA as a non-resident distinguished fellow at the JINSA Gemunder Center. "And contrary to what many people believe, the nuclear deal did not freeze Iran's program."

Under the accord, Dermer explained, Iran "was allowed to do research and development on more and more advanced centrifuges. So, the nuclear deal with Iran enabled Iran to advance their nuclear program, under the imprimatur of the international community – essentially gave a kosher stamp to Iran moving on a path not just on one bomb but to an entire nuclear arsenal."

Makovsky said that Iran is getting very close to a nuclear bomb, having enriched Uranium to 90% – one of the red lines that those discussing Iran were hoping would not be reached.

Dermer noted that even according to former President Barack Obama, whose administration helped negotiate the agreement, when the deal's provisions were scheduled to sunset, Iran would have had a breakout time of zero.

Experts View Iran's Advance toward Nuclear Weapons

Sima Shine - head of the Iran program at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and former head of the research and evaluation division at the Mossad - explained earlier this month that Israel is faced with three main issues with regard to Iran: the nuclear program; the fact that Iran is close to Israel's borders in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza; and Iranian cyberattacks against Israeli infrastructure and civilian entities. "The closer Iran gets to a nuclear weapon, the more temptation there is to get there," she added.

Elliott Abrams, former U.S. special representative for Iran, said, "We see the behavior of Iran in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen. All of this is undertaken without nuclear weapons. One therefore must ask oneself: What would Iranian behavior be like if it felt safer because it had a nuclear weapon?"

He noted that it would be "destabilizing and terribly undermining of U.S. leadership and credibility if all of these pledges and promises by American presidents over the years turn out to be hollow, and it turns out they can be defied by Iran with no impact or reaction on the part of the United States."

The world order "is largely based on the credibility of the U.S., and if that credibility disappears, we have a whole different world....An Iranian nuclear weapon, in the teeth of the American pledge 'this will never be permitted to happen,' would really do damage to America's interests throughout the world."

Joseph's Tomb in the early 1900s

Palestinian media report:

On Friday evening, security forces prevented angry youths from burning Joseph's Tomb in the city of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank.

Local sources reported that an angry march started at night in front of Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus, with the participation of dozens of young men, and headed towards Joseph's tomb in the Balata Al-Balad area, in an attempt to burn it in response to the escalating attacks by settlers.

The sources stated that reinforcements from the security services arrived at the site of Joseph's tomb and spread around it, preventing the march from approaching it, and confrontations erupted between them and the march participants.

According to Khaled Abu Toameh, there were two such attempts in recent days.

For the second time in the past few days, Palestinians attempted to set fire to Joseph's Tomb in Nablus. Palestinian Authority security forces fired tear gas to disperse the attackers.
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) December 26, 2021

Trying to burn down a Jewish holy site? Nah, nothing antisemitic about that!

Al Jazeera quotes Palestinian Authority official Ghassan Dahglas, who is literally paid to lie about Jews in the territories and gets believed by major media. He claims that Jews only created Joseph's Tomb in recent years!

Ghassan Dahglas, who is in charge of the settlement file in the northern West Bank, confirms that the place is "a shrine, not a tomb, and not for the Prophet of God Joseph, peace be upon him, as the occupation claims."

Dahglas denies that there is a tomb in the first place, and says that the Israelis came in 2011 with large stones carried by trucks, and put them down in the place, and later claimed that it was the grave, and he tells Al Jazeera Net, "This is Palestinian-documented," and adds that "all of this is taught by their children to preserve it for future generations and adopt the forged story."

Calling Jews liars and thieves for trying to claim a Muslim site as their own? Nah, nothing antisemitic about that!

While there is certainly doubt whether this is the actual location of Joseph's Tomb, it has been identified as such since the 5th century at least. Here is an 1864 account of the site by John Mills:

There is nothing remarkable in the present structure. It is surrounded by a common -built stone wall, six feet high and thirty -eight inches thick , plastered on the inside with mortar. The space within the wall measures nine feet and five inches, from north to south ; and nine feet and thirteen inches from east to west. The corners nearly answer to the cardinal points. The doorway is in the northern side ; and opposite to it in the southern wall is a place for prayer, looking towards Mount Gerizim , and marked by a niche in the wall, over which are two slabs of stone, with defaced Hebrew writing upon them : similar niches are in the south -west and north- west corners, The tomb itself is built diagonally across the floor, and not parallel to the walls, as is usual, with the head towards the door, and the feet towards the south - west. It is built of common stone, plastered over with mortar. It measures seven feet two inches long, three feet six inches high , and three feet ten inches wide at the floor, but narrowing as it rises, and at the top terminating in a ridge. There are, also, two pillars built of stone and plastered over, in the same style as the tomb itself — one standing at the head and the other at the foot - having cavities on their tops, to hold the incense burnt by the worshippers who visit the place. The larger of the two measures nearly four feet in height, and three feet in circumference. The walls on the southern side of the tomb are scribbled over with names of Samaritans, Jews, and Mohammedans, written in their different languages.

Times of Israel reported yesterday:

Israel is planning to ease a series of restrictions currently in place on the Gaza Strip, aiming to alleviate some of the territory’s economic woes and prompt the population to pressure the Hamas terror group to keep the calm, according to a report Sunday morning.

Among the moves allegedly being weighed is increasing the number of work permits for Gazans in Israel and allowing some dual-use materials to enter. in coordination with the UN. which will ensure they are used for civilian purposes rather than terror, the Haaretz daily reported, citing unnamed security sources.

Naturally, Gaza's terror leaders responded by saying they prefer war to easing restrictions.

Informed sources stated that the resistance factions informed the concerned mediators, especially the Egyptian mediator, of their rejection of any Israeli solutions or proposals represented in a formal easing of the restrictions imposed on the Strip.

In turn, the spokesman for the Islamic Jihad Movement, Tariq Ezz El-Din, said: "The Israeli talk about alleged easing will not deceive the resistance factions, and it will not be a substitute for lifting the siege, nor will it succeed in absorbing the anger of the resistance."

Hamas issued a press release where they said that they prefer war to any other solution:

The Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas" affirmed that the choice of comprehensive resistance, primarily armed resistance, and igniting the intifada in the face of the occupation, is the way to extract our rights, liberate our land, and defend our people, our principles, our sanctities and our prisoners, and it is capable of deterring the occupier, curbing his aggression, and stopping his crimes.

Gazans know who wants peace and who wants them to be under constant war.

It is notable that Hamas' press release was for the 13th anniversary of the start of the 2008-2009 Gaza war, on December 27.

However, at the time, Hamas had declared that it started the war three days earlier, with a barrage of rockets they called Operation Oil Stain. Throughout the war Hamas maintained that they were the ones who started it. Now, they choose to say that Israel started it - by responding to their rockets.