Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, January 04, 2022

01/04 Links Pt1: Eli Lake: What Biden Can Learn From Trump’s Iran Policy; Jordanian Former Minister: The Narrative About The 'Zionist Enemy' Is Defunct

From Ian:

Eli Lake: What Biden Can Learn From Trump’s Iran Policy

Faced with these escalations, the Biden administration has tried to walk a tightrope on Iran. On the one hand, it has continued to hold out hope for diplomacy even though Iran’s diplomats in Vienna will no longer meet with the U.S. envoy. The U.S. has also relaxed enforcement of some sanctions, leading to an increase in Iranian oil exports, but has not unilaterally lifted them. And early in his administration, Biden ordered a missile strike on Iranian-backed militia bases in response to an attack.

Most troubling, however, is that the U.S. has let it be known that it does not approve of Israeli intelligence operations against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Some administration officials doubt the efficacy of Israel’s sabotage and assassinations inside Iran, according to the New York Times, fearing that they provide an incentive for Iran to build back its nuclear program better.

This is the wrong message. Not only does it risk alienating America’s most important ally against Iran, as former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer noted at a web conference this month. It also risks more provocations from Iran: If the regime’s leaders believe they face only economic consequences for their predations, then they will continue to test America’s resolve.

That’s why Biden, like the Iranian regime, should also mark the anniversary of Soleimani’s death. He should make clear that the U.S. is willing to use force against a regime that remains undeterred by sanctions alone.

PMW: Abbas and PA: “The colonialist world powers used the Jews” to create and “implement colonialist plots in the region”

Mahmoud Abbas: “the colonialist world powers used the Jews in order to execute the great colonialist plan – dismantling the Ottoman Empire and afterwards dismantling the Arab nation”

Mahmoud Abbas: Israel’s creation was not “efforts of the Jews themselves, but rather colonialist-theological plans and visions”

PA TV: Jewish immigration to Palestine was “a colonialist Zionist plan” … [the Jews] will return to where they came from”

PA daily: The US and GB created “the Zionist organization in their laboratories” and established “an entity that they termed ‘Israel’”

PA: US and GB created Israel to “implement colonialist plots in the region”

Fatah on its anniversary: “We were and still are the obstacle to completing the colonialist project of Palestine”

Fatah defines murder of Israelis: “A quality and unprecedented national struggle”

Palestinians: We Are Proud of Terrorists

Last year, Abbas paid the family of a Palestinian terrorist who murdered two Jews 30,000 Jordanian dinars ($42,000).

By rewarding the family of al-Halabi and other terrorists who carried out attacks or murdered Jews, Abbas is also stating that he, too, is proud of those who engage in terrorism.

Some Palestinian parents, however, are proud to see their children carry out terrorist attacks or murder Jews. For these parents, it is more "honorable" if their son or daughter murders a Jew than becomes a doctor, lawyer or engineer.

Abbas and his senior officials have repeatedly made it clear that they will continue to pay monthly stipends to families of Palestinian terrorists.

This is the same Abbas who recently has been telling the Biden administration that he wants to revive the stalled peace process with Israel.

This is also the same Abbas whose government continues to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to families of terrorists and the same Abbas whose media continues to glorify terrorists by describing them as "heroes" and "martyrs" of the Palestinians.

The next time a US official arrives in Ramallah to meet with Abbas or any of his senior aides, he or she should ask them about the wild incitement against Israel and Jews, especially in the Palestinian media. They need to ask the Palestinian leaders why the PA educates its youth to admire terrorist murderers and deny Jewish history. It does not matter what the Palestinian leaders say in response; they need to be told that the indoctrination and violence will not improve the living conditions or boost the economy of the Palestinians.

The top priority of the US officials should be to stop the latest wave of terrorism against Jews in the West Bank and Jerusalem. This can be achieved only if the Americans put pressure on the Palestinian leadership to stop the incitement and glorification of terrorists.

Mahmoud Abbas and his PA officials Palestinian say (in public, at least) that they want a better future for their people. Their actions and rhetoric, however, suggest otherwise. They pay salaries to families of terrorists and glorify murderers, thus encouraging more Palestinians to become terrorists. A Palestinian leader who wants to see children grow up to become doctors and engineers does not glorify terrorists and encourage young men and women to go on television and talk about their desire to murder Jews.

By Daled Amos

Mahmoud Abbas is getting ready to celebrate the 18th year of his 4-year term as president, while polls periodically list all the people who would beat him if and when the Palestinian Arabs ever do hold elections again.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, the Teflon terrorists of Hamas appear to escape responsibility for the mess they have made of Gaza. According to a poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in 2018:

Almost all Palestinians view conditions in the Gaza Strip as dire, bad or very bad. Responsibility for this situation is placed first on Israel, then the PA, and finally Hamas. But for Gazans, the blame is placed first on the PA, with Israel and Hamas second and third respectively. [emphasis added]

According to the poll, things are so bad that 45% of Gazans surveyed indicated that they want to emigrate -- compared to only 19% of those Arabs living under the Palestinian Authority.

Close to half of Gazan Arabs wanted to leave, yet they did not hold Hamas responsible.
And it was not as if there was no public criticism of Hamas.

In October 2017, just 5 months before the PCPSR survey was done, MEMRI reported on Hamas Gaza Officials Internal Criticism, referring to

o Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad, who called for a reassessment of Hamas relations with Fatah, and for a national strategy offering a chance for progress in the peace process with Israel.
o Hamas member Ahmad Yousuf, who protested the Hamas suppression of dissent and free speech.
o Zaher Kuhail and Khadar Mahjaz, former Hamas members who left Hamas and are known for their criticism of it.

Based on the results of the 2018 poll, those criticisms did not sink in.
Or did Gazans just decide to share their criticisms among themselves?

If so, all that changed in 2019.
And even the media noticed.

The BBC reported Gaza economic protests expose cracks in Hamas's rule:

In Gaza, it is no surprise to hear complaints about the terrible living conditions - after all, the World Bank describes a local economy in "free fall" with 70% unemployment among young people.

However, what has been extraordinary in recent days is that large crowds of Palestinians have been turning out on the streets to voice their frustration and even criticise Hamas - the militant Islamist group which rules the strip with an iron fist. [emphasis added]

The BBC referred to this as "the 14th March Movement" and noted its slogan: "We want to Live." It quoted Moumen al-Natour, one of the organizers, who made clear they were not political and their goal was not to change political systems:

We just want to get our rights. We want jobs, we want to live. We want equality, dignity and freedom. [emphasis added]

Symbol of the "Want to Live" campaign
protesting the high cost of living, rising prices
and unemployment in the Gaza Strip
(Source: Facebook.com/416655539140185, March 16, 2019)

Some protestors were very explicit about whom they thought were responsible:

Palestinian woman criticizes Hamas:
"Hamas officials' children drive in luxurious cars, but I have 4 unemployed sons. All of Gaza are unemployed because of Ismail Haniyeh & Yahya Sinwar. These officials care nothing about the poor people's necessities. We have the right to live." pic.twitter.com/caE84QcQKm
— Heshmat Alavi (@HeshmatAlavi) March 17, 2019

The description of the demonstration by The Arab Weekly illustrates that the protestors did more than just voice their frustration:

Gaza has never seen such large-scale protests directed at Hamas’s decision to increase prices and taxes on goods. Protesters burned tyres in the streets, shouted anti-Hamas slogans and threw stones at security forces.

(Apparently, protests against Israel served as good practice.)

Hamas responded about the way you would expect:

Hamas security forces fired shots into the air and at protesters, which injured some demonstrators. Houses in numerous locations throughout the tiny strip were stormed by security forces carrying guns and batons.

Dozens of people have been arrested and many members of the same family were taken to unknown detention centres for interrogation. Among those attacked, detained and beaten were journalists and staff members of the Independent Commission for Human Rights.

And just as the media unexpectedly covered the situation, the UN actually reacted to Hamas. Nickolay Mladenov, then the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, condemned Hamas:

I condemn the Hamas violence in #Gaza against protesters, women, #children; journalists & human rights activists. #Palestinian factions must engage with Egypt on the basis of the the Cairo Agreement. #UN is working to avoid escalation, lift the closures, & support reconciliation
— Nickolay E. MLADENOV (@nmladenov) March 17, 2019

Even Amnesty International took notice:

The crackdown on freedom of expression and the use of torture in Gaza has reached alarming new levels. Over the past few days, we have seen shocking human rights violations carried out by Hamas security forces against peaceful protesters, journalists and rights workers,” said Saleh Higazi, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Amnesty International.

All this was in 2019.
Has anything happened since?

2020 was quiet.
So was 2021.

Until the middle of November:

In the last few days, economic and social protests against the Hamas authorities in Gaza have erupted again, led by the "We Want to Live" movement and online campaign. The campaign was first launched in March 2019 to protest the high cost of living and the unemployment in Gaza, and included mass demonstrations that were brutally suppressed by Hamas' security apparatuses. So far, the renewed campaign is largely confined to social media, but some activists warn it may soon escalate into street protests against Hamas, like the ones in 2019.

This time, the protests were in reaction to 3 Gazans trying to emigrate because of the economic situation, but drowned when their boat capsized between Turkey and Greece. The protests were also a result of the outrage on social media to the extravagant lifestyles of Hamas officials and their families.

Addressing the ill-fated attempt to flee Gaza, Khaled Abu Toameh gives some numbers:

It is not clear how many Palestinians have fled the Gaza Strip in recent years. Some reports estimate that more than 40,000 Palestinians managed to leave between 2014 and 2020. Other reports put the figure at more than 70,000.

Palestinians in the poll expressed concern that many of the emigrants include university graduates and professionals, especially medical doctors who prefer to work and live in European countries, and not under Hamas.

Does all this point to a change in perception among Gazans that Hamas is responsible for their situation -- and not Israel? We know that the fact that Palestinian Arabs want to get rid of Abbas does not make them fans of Israel. After all, one of those suggested as a replacement is the terrorist mastermind Marwan Barghouti.

But the economic situation in Gaza is worse.
And unlike Abbas, Hamas deliberately pursues policies that periodically build up to terror attacks and rocket barrages that result in retaliation from Israel.

Gazans have more at stake.

That is the reason that more Gazans want to emigrate than do Palestinians under the PA.
It may lead Gazans to one day see to it that it is their leaders who emigrate instead.
These protests give reason to hope.

Hamada Faraaneh was born in Amman and was a member of the Jordanian parliament in 1997, but he is also a former member of the DFLP and a current member of the Palestinian National Council.

He writes in Ad Doustor that Palestinian violence pays. His example is interesting.

On Saturday, May 15, 2021, US President Joe Biden called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, following the outbreak of the May 10 Ramadan Intifada, which Hamas called the “Sword of Jerusalem” intifada. The intifada, which spread to Palestinian Arab cities in the 48 areas, and the destructive Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip, and the Palestinian bombing, however modest it seemed, of the 48 areas, pushed the Israelis to shelters and disrupted the economy.

President Biden’s call for the first time since he took power on January 20, 2021, with President Abbas, would not have taken place without the events of the May Ramadan uprising and its repercussions, in an atmosphere of sharp escalation between the Palestinians and Israelis. Biden literally told the Palestinian president over the phone: “The United States is making efforts with the concerned parties in order to achieve calm and reduce violence in the region.”

So the Palestinian presence in the confrontation is the impetus for the American action, including the visit of US Secretary of State Tony Blinken to the region in the wake of the May Intifada, and the meeting with the Palestinian President on May 22, 2021.

The lesson he learns is that no one pays attention to Palestinians unless they act violently. He mentions also that the Oslo Accords wouldn't have happened without the first intifada and Israel wouldn't have withdrawn from Gaza without the second intifada.

He isn't completely wrong. The Palestinians associate all their gains with violence. It has worked for them since the 1970s, when their international terrorism got them to be invited to the UN.

Part of this association is false, though. Israeli concessions at Oslo were ties to Palestinian pledges to end violence and other promises. It doesn't matter - the Palestinian media and "street" don't look at Oslo as being positive, even though it gave them autonomy that they never had in their history.

How can this mental linkage be changed? It's already built into Palestinian psychology that violence pays. Any Israeli offer to help Palestinians would be perceived as a reaction to some violent act, whether it is true or not. While Hamas and the PA understand in practical terms that they lose more from violence than from detente, that message does not get conveyed to the people who are told daily that violence is honorable.

Perhaps Israel should offer a schedule of moves that would help Palestinians - more work permits, less restrictions on travel, more imports and exports - that are tied to positive moves on their side like less official incitement. This should be communicated up front, and if the benchmarks are not met, then the concessions would be delayed.

The linkage in Palestinian minds between terror and political gains must be broken. It would not be easy but Israel needs to be more pro-active and less reactive - because being reactive itself solidifies the idea that only violence pays.

We know from recent surveys that Palestinians, for all they hate about Israel, they admire it as a strong democracy. 68% of Palestinians describe Israeli democracy as good or very good.

This sort of influence is indirect, but important. The Palestinians might not be implementing real democracy, but they know that they are falling short.

A similar effect was reported in Palestine in 1920, as the Arab women saw that the Jewish Assembly of Representatives held elections - the first free elections ever held in Palestine - and Jewish women could not only vote, but they could run for office as well. And this caused the Arab women to think about equality.

I found this article in a number of newspapers; this specific one is from the Dodge City Journal for July 8, 1920.

It is bigoted against Arabs, but it points to something that is rarely studied: the psychological effects of a liberal Jewish population on the Arabs in Palestine.

ARAB WOMEN DEMAND THEIR PLACE IN WORLD

Newspaper accounts some time ago prophesied the gradual disappearance from Palestine of the picturesque water vendor, for thousands of years a familiar characteristic of the landscape of the Holy Land. The reasons advanced for the elimination of this graceful Arab woman, who glides along-with an earthen jug balanced so carelessly on her veiled head, were that improvements made in the water supply systems in Palestine, particularly in Jerusalem by the Bristish army engineers and the Zionist Commission, together with future improvements planned in the Zionist reconstruction of the Holy Land would give the water vendor nothing to sell.

But something else has happened in the meantime, which has hastened the disappearance of this typical Eastern figure. For the water vendor has not waited for modern improvements to force her to seek other fields for earning a living. Together with other Arab women of a Palestine, she's beginning to object to carrying a heavy earthen jug of water around on hot streets, at the same time that others of her sex are refusing to serve as oxen in the fields or as other beasts of burden for their husbands, a role they have faithfully enacted for these many thousands of years.

For while furnishing the motive power for husband's plow or trudging to market with his sack of grain on her shoulders the Arab woman has learned something this spring, which caused her to stop and think, something the customs of the race haven't permitted her in some time.

She made the almost unbelievable discovery that Jewish women had been granted equal right in the government of Jewish Palestine, that not only were women given the right to vote for representatives to an elected assembly, which was to provide laws for the government of the Jewish communities of the land, but that these very same women could be candidates for representatives, and if elected, sit in the assembly chambers with the same power and rights as the men.

And then to impress this equality of sex further upon the minds of the long timorous and plodding Arab women, five Jewesses were chosen members of the first popular assembly in Palestine in the first popular elections ever held in the country. Whereupon, according to reports received in this country, Arab women, took stock of themselves and, breaking away from traditions and customs which have made them slaves of the basest sort, they proceeded to lay down the law to their husbands, much to the latter's surprise and discomfort. For wives being much cheaper for the Arabs of Palestine than horses and oxen, they looked at marriage purely from. the economic point of view.

Dr. Rosa Straus, long prominent in philanthropic work in New York, is in Palestine for over a year where she has been engaged in various communal enterprises for the uplift of women, reports that "many an Arab wife is refusing to put up with the treatment which for centuries the custom has decreed for the women of that race." They are courageously defying their husbands. and the custom behind which their husbands have lived a comparatively restful life, and are now striving to improve their conditions, according to Dr. Strauss.

Equality for all sexes, races and religions is one of the basic principles of the Zionist program in then National Homeland in Palestine. For a long while the extreme orthodox group held out flatly against granting women full suffrage, but the women Zionists finally prevailed and the first popular election ever held in the Holy Land found women voting and campaigning as spiritedly as the men and just as successfully for they elected five representatives.

Arabs who have been voicing opposition to Zionism, because the new Jewish National Homeland will bring enlightenment, progress and prosperty to all the peoples of the land, have another grievance against the Zionists now, because the equal suffrage movement in Palestine will lose them their absolute czardom over the home. and worse yet, according to their way of thinking, transportation power for their ploughs and crops.

An equal rights association in Palestine already has branches in Jerusalem„Jaffa, Haifa and Tiberias, although members so far include mostly Jewish women. Arab women will soon flock to them in great numbers, it is predicted, as the suffrage movement is progressing steadily throughout the land. Another chase of the Zionist work which will influence the gradual emancipation of Arab women is the fact that the Jewish women engaged in agricultural colonization and in other work toward the reclaiming of the lost industrial and commercial life of the Holy Land are practically all from well educated families in Eastern Europe. They engage actively in the pioneer work of restoring the ancient land on the same basis as the men, an example which which too has made a deep impression on the Arabs. Zionist schools, too, together with the University of Jerusalem, all of which will give Arabs their first real chance at an education, will help in raising the Arab women to the standards customs have kept from her for so many hundreds of years.

Hunger striker Hisham Abu Hawash is a terrorist. Here's what he's done.

The media is filled with stories about Hisham Abu Hawash, the Palestinian hunger striker who is reportedly near death as he insists to be released from administrative detention.

Arab members of Knesset are visiting him. Rashida Tlaib is calling for his release. Islamic Jihad is threatening war if he dies.

Nobody is talking about his record, though.

While the reasons for his current detention have not been released, he has a long track record of terror - and the media is not reporting about his past attacks, which certainly have relevance today. He is no innocent lamb. His current detention is to stop a planned attack, but the details are confidential.

Israel's Channel 14 did the research.

In 2002 he assisted other terrorists by spying on IDF movements and letting them know the details. He also helped find hiding spots for another terrorist.

In 2004, he obtained a rifle and hid it until a planned attack. The attack came later in 2004 as he tried to fire on IDF jeeps, but his gun malfunctioned and he was caught. He received a 56 month prison sentence for that.

One can assume that after his prison stint, he has remained active in Islamic Jihad and has been rising through its ranks. 39 year-olds are senior operatives. If Israel says he was planning a major attack, it doesn't seem like they just made that up.

(h/t Tomer Ilan)

01/03 Links Pt2: Palestine Action: How and why they have crossed the line into antisemitism; UN envoy goes after Harry Potter star Emma Watson for Palestinian solidarity post

From Ian:

Palestine Action: How and why they have crossed the line into antisemitism.

Finally — the blood libel, “Israel’s love for blood”
This is the clincher, which makes it pretty clear that this is no normal “activism”. Which other countries, during protests, have been accused of having a “love for blood”? I challenge you to Google it, the answer is: none (except for Israel of course)

This is vehemence on a scale that goes far beyond normal hatred. It is the kind of hatred whipped up against the Jews by Nazi Germany in the late 1930’s.

The last video I discuss is the one featuring Sarah Wilkinson, talking about why she is an activist against Elbit. In her words, Israel doesn’t mearly cause deaths during a war with a determined enemy, it “slaughters Palstinian civillians”

Behind the doors of an innocuous looking office door in Shenstone, the evil Zionists design “some of the most hidious weapons in the world”, which are “responsible for the death of hundreds of thoudanss of men women and children”

The number of Palestinian “people” Israel has “slaughtered” seems astronomical — even by the standards of its neighbours, who do far worse. Then comes the accusation that Palestinians are used as “Guinea pigs”, conjuring up images of animals in cages, having goodness knowns what awful experiments performed on them .

As a person, whose identity as a Jew is determined by his long Jewish ancestry (many of whom were murdered in Nazi death camps), and who grew up in Northern Israel, where Jewsish nuses regularly work alongside doctors, videos such as these don’t make me angry - they make me frightened, very frightened, because if these people believe that we are as evil as the worst Nazis (or possibly even more so), then what is to stop them trying to harm or even kill us in order to support a “just cause”?

I my opinion, had Labour got into power, with much of the party membership (and many officials too) apparently believing these sorts of things about Israel, it is not inconceivable that they would have moved to outlaw anyone with any connection to Israel or anyone perceived as a “Zionist” (most British Jews would fall under this category)

I hope to have show n that the direct-action group Palestine Action are motivated by the oldest hatred in the world. Their statements are replete with echoes of the blood libel, which originated here in England in 1144 (in Norwich), where 18 Jewish leaders where executed as a consequence. The total expulsion of English Jews followed shortly after.

Palestine Action should not be regarded as a normal activist group, but rather they should be regarded as were Combat 18 — a British neo Nazi group from the 1990’s. And their antisemitism should be made clear to the public.

Jonathan S. Tobin: What is the greatest threat to Jews?

These groups are prepared to mobilize their supporters to march on behalf of an issue that is, for all of the hyperbolic and largely dishonest rhetoric expended on its behalf, tangential to Jewish issues. Yet there is little sign that they will be heading to the streets to protest another bout of Iran appeasement from the Democrats.

In analyzing this issue, we need to discount President Joe Biden's transparently false attempts to compare voter ID laws to "Jim Crow" or his claim that this presents the "greatest threat to our democracy since the Civil War. That's not hyperbole. Since the Civil War." It's a statement that makes one wonder whether even a president as prone to hyperbole as Biden actually knows what the word means.

Instead, this points us toward something that ought to be at the top of any theoretical end-of-year list of top 10 mistakes that Jewish organizations make.

I don't doubt that many of the constituents and donors of the JCPA, the ADL and the host of other liberal Jewish groups enlisted to fight for the president's priorities will applaud the willingness of these organizations to do so. In a time when politics now fills the role religion used to play in most people's lives, partisanship is second nature, and most Jews are Democrats.

Many if not most American Jews consider issues which are not particular to Jewish interests to be the most important priorities. That notwithstanding, those organizations that exist to defend specifically Jewish interests, whether it is to combat antisemitism or to speak up on behalf of Jewish security, should nonetheless prioritize those topics. If they don't, then they've essentially discarded their main responsibilities and have become merely Jewish auxiliaries for non-Jewish interests.

So, if Jewish groups are going to treat the Democrats' partisan claims about voting to be (as Harris would have it) the top issue, while either running interference for Biden's Iran appeasement plans or treating it as an issue of lesser importance, then that matters a great deal. If that's the direction they are headed in, and there's little reason to doubt it, then they might as well drop the pretense that they are defending Jewish interests.

Lapid: 2022 will see intense effort to paint Israel as apartheid state

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid warned on Monday that Israel will face intense campaigns to label it an apartheid state in 2022.

“We think that in the coming year, there will be debate that is unprecedented in its venom and in its radioactivity around the words ‘Israel as an apartheid state,'” Lapid said during a Zoom briefing with Israeli journalists.

“In 2022, it will be a tangible threat,” he predicted.

Lapid pointed at Palestinian campaigns against Israel in the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice in The Hague, and the UN Human Rights Council’s establishment of a permanent “Commission of Inquiry” — the most potent tool at the council’s disposal — into Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, including Operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021.

“The commission of inquiry into Guardian of the Walls is unprecedented because it doesn’t have a time limit, it doesn’t have a limit of scope, and it is well-funded with many people working on it.,” Israel’s top diplomat emphasized.

Lapid pointed out that the COI has a budget of $5.5 million with 18 staffers. By contrast, the COI looking into the Syrian Civil War has an annual budget of about $2.5 million and 12 staffers.

“It shows where it is heading,” he said, stressing that the campaign by the Palestinian Authority and anti-Israel organizations could affect Israel’s ability to participate in international cultural and sporting events, among other challenges.

Lapid called the accusation that Israel is an apartheid state “a despicable lie.”

Daily Nous, a philosophy news blog, writes:

Have Jews insinuated themselves into positions of power and influence in politics and culture because they are innately gifted with higher IQs, or is it also because they are ethnocentric and hypocritical networkers good at using non-Jews in their self-serving mission of “transforming America contrary to white interests”? Race science and/or conspiracy theory? This—pardon the editorializing—outrageous question is currently under discussion in the pages of the academic philosophy journal Philosophia.

Welcome to 2022.

January 1st saw the online publication of “The ‘Default Hypothesis’ Fails to Explain Jewish Influence” by Kevin MacDonald, who is described on Wikipedia as an “anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist, white supremacist, and retired professor of evolutionary psychology.” MacDonald’s 32-page article is a response to a piece by Nathan Cofnas, “The Anti-Jewish Narrative,” that Philosophia published last February, and which is one of a series of pieces in which Cofnas critiques McDonald.

Both MacDonald and Cofnas are preoccupied with the question: “Did Jews create liberal multiculturalism to advance their ethnic interests?” (Cofnas, p.1332).

The summary may be a bit unfair to Cofnas. Let's backtrack a bit.

Kevin MacDonald is described in Wikipedia as "an American antisemitic conspiracy theorist, white supremacist,and retired professor of evolutionary psychology at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). In 2008, the CSULB academic senate voted to disassociate itself from MacDonald's work."

In one of his books, he has a chapter called " "National Socialism as an Anti-Jewish Group Evolutionary Strategy". In other words, Nazism arose as a logical counter to Jewish supremacy, and antisemitism is justified as an evolutionary counter-strategy for the supposed Jewish evolutionary strategy of dominating non-Jews.

However, MacDonald is influential among the modern alt-Right as an intellectual support for their bigotry and antisemitism.

The abstract of a 2021 article in Antisemitism Studies titled "A New Protocols: Kevin MacDonald's Reconceptualization of Antisemitic Conspiracy Theory" says,

Kevin MacDonald is a key figure in shaping contemporary antisemitism for the Alt-Right. He repackages classic antisemitic beliefs for the twentieth and twenty-first centuries by cloaking them in a language of evolutionary psychology. His most important innovation is to reject The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as factual but retain them as a metaphor for Jewish anti-white activism. By arguing that it is Judaism itself as “a group evolutionary strategy” that leads Jews to tear down white society (European-derived Christian majority states in the Western world), he is able to present an image of the Jews akin to that of The Protocols, but one that obviates the need for any actual conspiracy. Once Jewish culture and genetics become the driving force of this effort to destroy white society, one only needs to show that individual Jews are acting on its behalf, not that they are conspiring together to do so.

Nathan Cofnas, who works with the philosophy of biology and ethics at Oxford, decided to write a full paper in Philosophia - which is an Israeli journal - last year to rebut MacDonald's arguments from within the evolutionary psychology framework that MacDonald uses. He defends his choice to treat MacDonald seriously and not dismiss him as a crackpot in an earlier 2018 article in Human Nature:

There are at least three reasons to give MacDonald a hearing.

First, some respected psychologists and evolutionary theorists have reported that they found value in MacDonald’s work. For example, David Sloan Wilson endorsed the ideas in A People That Shall Dwell Alone and strongly criticized the representatives of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society who rejected MacDonald: .... This amounts to at least some degree of prima facie evidence that MacDonald’s theory should be considered.

Second, it is an undeniable fact that, in the past few hundred years, Jews have had a disproportionate influence on politics and culture in the Western world, if not the whole world. It might be worthwhile to investigate this phenomenon from a biosocial or evolutionary perspective.... The idea that Jewish influence resulted, at least in some cases, from their pursuit of a group evolutionary strategy cannot be dismissed a priori. Since MacDonald has defended this theory, he seems to provide a starting point for anyone wishing to investigate the understudied issue of Jewish influence. If he is wrong, it may be useful to know why and how.

Third and perhaps most important, though, is that MacDonald’s work has been influential—enormously so—in a certain segment of the lay community, namely, among anti-Semites and adherents of the burgeoning movement known as the “alt-right.” It is hard to overstate his influence among this group. Some years ago Derbyshire (2003) called him “the Marx of the anti-Semites,” and with the advent of the alt-right his audience has grown substantially. Richard Spencer, whom the New York Times calls “the leading ideologue of the alt-right movement” (Goldstein 2016), introduced MacDonald at a conference with one sentence: “There is no man on the planet who has done more for the understanding of the pole around which the world revolves than Kevin MacDonald” (Spencer 2016). Andrew Anglin, who runs the most popular alt-right/neo-Nazi website, says in his “Guide to the Alt-Right” that “MacDonald’s work examining the racial nature of Jews is considered crucial to understanding what the Alt-Right is about” (Anglin 2016). ...

Cofnas does not repeat this argument in the newer paper.

Now, Kevin MacDonald himself has written his own response to Cofnas' paper in the current issue of Philosophia.

And now an antisemite has been mainstreamed as a respectable philosopher.

How could have this been handled better?

I admit I only skimmed through the papers, but at first glance it appears that Cofnas made two errors. While his 2018 paper did an admirable job in showing how MacDonald was not intellectually honest - cherry picking sources, ignoring counter-proofs or even misrepresenting them as supporting his theories - he does not "go in for the kill" in that paper and point out that MacDonald's errors are a direct result of his antisemitism. Anyone can find support for any position if they only choose to report the evidence that supports their position, or misrepresent other facts as doing so. This is propaganda. We see this all the time with anti-Israel propaganda. The reader is still left with the impression that MacDonald's theories have some merit, even if he has clear biases.

The other error is that Cofnas presented his own alternate theory as to why Jews are disproportionately influential in Western culture. This now makes his theory a target for MacDonald - who indeed attacks that theory in the new Philosophia issue - and now MacDonald looks again like he has a valid viewpoint. He gave the opening for MacDonald to attack rather than put him on the defensive, and now it looks like a "he said, she said" debate.

Making MacDonald's antisemitism mainstream.

By not looking at and emphasizing the entire context of MacDonald's antisemitism, Cofnas let MacDonald control the framing of the debate giving him an advantage to promulgate his antisemitic theories as legitimate.

Of course, Philosophia should not have published MacDonald at all, but in this context, of the pretense of pure philosophical debate, it would have ad a hard time denying a response without giving MacDonald more ammunition about how the Jews are controlling the debate.

These people might know philosophy, but they don't understand the nature of antisemitic propaganda. And now the damage is done - an Israeli journal and an eminent academic have, without meaning to, spread an antisemitic theory.

Daily Nous adds:

Philosophia is edited by Asa Kasher (Tel Aviv). In response to questions about the publication of these articles, he wrote that the papers were refereed prior to publication, but that it was “a mistake” to publish them, explaining that he was “not aware of the general background of the debate” and that he is “sorry for treating the discussion as an ordinary philosophical debate.” He added that further comments from him may be forthcoming.

Yesterday, Moti Mizrahi (Florida Institute of Technology) who was until last night the associate editor of Philosophia, wrote on Twitter: “I had nothing to do with the publication of this [McDonald’s] paper in Philosophia. I’ve asked the EiC to reconsider its publication in Philosophia.” Later in the day, he announced his resignation from the journal.

So this is turning into a major debacle.

(h'/t Dan)

A swastika in a Jewish newspaper 100 years ago

Ahead of New Year's Day 1922, a laundry service in Milwaukee wished its customers a happy new year.

In the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle.

I don't think this is the kind of "reputation" the laundry would have wanted.

The Nazi party had adopted the swastika as its symbol only a year beforehand, and it was still used as an innocent decorative motif with no associations with genocide. But it is really jarring to see.

By Rosh Hashanah 1922, the swastika was dropped.

("Almost" dry?)

Here's what is that location today: General Rubber Company.

01/03 Links Pt1: Betraying the memory of Lieutenant Taylor Force; Abbas meets Gantz one day and bashes Israel the next; 2021 Saw Lowest Israeli Fatalities in West Bank in Years

From Ian:

Abbas meets Gantz one day and bashes Israel the next

Abbas has been around quite a while and obviously knew that his meeting with Gantz would trigger furious responses on the Palestinian street. Then why make the meeting public? Why not meet in secret? A secret meeting would likely have yielded the same results, and he would probably have received the same gestures from Gantz.

The reason is that while the Gantz meeting might not have aided Abbas’s sinking popularity among Palestinians, it helped him with the world. The US, EU, UN and various countries praised the meeting, signaling that they hoped this would build momentum for something bigger. Being seen as constructive could help Abbas build support for his never-ending effort to convene an international peace conference.

For Abbas, therefore, the Gantz meeting served a purpose in giving the world what it wanted to see. He also surely realized that while the Gantz meeting would grab headlines, a speech in which he slammed Israel a couple of days later on New Year’s Eve wouldn’t garner much international attention.

And while that assumption might be correct, Abbas again mistakenly chose to treat Israeli opinion as if it doesn’t count, that it doesn’t matter, something he has done repeatedly in the past. Abbas has never seemed to realize that any diplomatic process with Israel will need the backing of the Israeli people and that words like the ones he uttered Friday drive them away.

While Abbas has met in the past with left-wing Israeli politicians and activists as a way of outreach to Israeli society, that is not going to convince mainstream Israel that he is a man who can be trusted to make peace.

If Abbas really ever wants to reach any accommodation with Israel, he – or whoever follows him – will eventually need to win over the Israeli center. And one way not to do that is to accuse Israel of “organized terrorism” and “ethnic cleansing” just two days after meeting Gantz and walking away with a few confidence-building measures.

Gantz, ‘disappointed’ by criticism of Abbas meeting, vows to meet PA chief again

Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Monday pushed back against criticism of his recent meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, vowing to continue meeting with the PA leader.

“I heard the criticism and again say, it’s the one who sends soldiers into battle who’s responsible for doing everything to prevent it,” Gantz said during a faction meeting of his Blue and White party.

Gantz hosted Abbas at his home in Rosh Ha’ayin last week, the first time the PA leader met with a senior Israeli official inside Israel since 2010. It was also their second meeting since the new Israeli government was formed in June, with the first sit-down held in Ramallah.

The meeting was strongly criticized by right-wing opposition parties and some hawkish members of the ruling coalition, which includes factions spanning the political spectrum and has clashed over various policy matters, including those pertaining to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“I was disappointed by cabinet ministers who preferred to speak from a political position at the expense of security needs. Behind closed doors, they sound different,” Gantz said. “For me, whenever the political interest runs into the security interest, security must always prevail.”

Gantz said “the need to maintain Israel’s security” was the main focus of his meeting with Abbas, along with countering the Hamas terror group.

“And this is the reason I will continue to meet with him and other elements in the region with whom discourse helps our stability, security and interests,” he said.

PMW: Betraying the memory of Lieutenant Taylor Force

Taylor Force was a West Point graduate and veteran of tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist while walking along the promenade in Tel Aviv, visiting Israel as part of a Vanderbilt University MBA study group trip examining global entrepreneurship. The terrorist was killed at the scene, before he could murder other innocent people. To this day, the Palestinian Authority pays a monthly allowance for life to the family of Taylor’s murderer, simply because the terrorist was killed during his murderous terror attack.

In order to prevent US money going to the PA as long at it pays millions of dollars every month to terrorist prisoners, released terrorists, wounded terrorists, and the families of dead terrorists - collectively known as the PA’s “Pay-for-Slay” payments - US Congress passed the Taylor Force Act (TFA) in 2018. Focusing on Economic Support Fund (ESF) aid - the largest section of US aid to the PA - TFA conditioned the ESF aid on the PA’s ending its “Pay-for-slay” payments.

Ignoring the clear call of Congress, since 2018, the PA has spent an estimated one billion dollars, paying monthly terror rewards, including over $32,434 dollars to the family of Taylor’s murderer.

While the US administration is prevented from providing direct aid to the PA, according to PA Minister of Finance Shukri Bishara’s Advisor Stephan Salameh, for 2022 the US has promised at least $225 million worth of financial aid to the Palestinians.

PA Minister of Finance Shukri Bishara’s Advisor Stephan Salameh: “The promises [from the US] are: There are promises that next year [2022] $225 million will be allocated to development projects. Also $50 million will be transferred for joint projects.”

Official PA TV host: “From institutions, not from the American administration?”

Stephan Salameh: “From the American administration, $225 million for development projects, not through the Palestinian [PA] government but rather projects by other bodies, but for developmental needs.”

TV host: “That's a good sign.”

Salameh: “Of course. $50 million for joint economic projects and support for the private sector. Also, from this $225 million there is a project to support the private sector. In addition to this, there will be between $150-200 million to support UNRWA, and additional support for other issues.”

[Official PA TV, Personal Encounter, Dec. 16, 2021]

In order to bypass the letter of US law but openly violating the spirit of the TFA, the US administration is providing the aid through its own aid organization (USAID) and is not giving the money “directly” to the PA, thereby circumventing and undermining TFA.

Israeli newspapers are reporting:

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh says that if Israel does not come to a prisoner accord with the terror group, it will kidnap more Israelis.

“We have four prisoners, and if Israel is not convinced by that, then we will add to our stash,” Haniyeh says in comments circulated in official Hamas media.

So what's new?

2004:

Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar, a member of the political leadership of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, confirmed that his movement is determined to free the Palestinian prisoners, through the kidnappings of Israeli soldiers.

2007:

Yesterday, a Hamas official threatened to kidnap more Israeli soldiers to force the Israeli authorities to release Palestinian prisoners.

2010:

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) threatened to kidnap more Israeli soldiers if the international community did not intervene to solve the issue of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

2015:

Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the Hamas political bureau, threatened today, Thursday, to kidnap Israeli soldiers and settlers as long as the heroic prisoners remain in the prisons of the Israeli occupation.

2021:

The Hebrew Kan channel revealed on Wednesday evening that Hamas has threatened to resume kidnappings and capture of Israeli soldiers if a new deal fails. According to the Hebrew channel, a senior Hamas official, Khaled Meshaal, threatened to kidnap new Israelis if Israel refused to release heavy prisoners in a new dea

Kidnapping is a core strategy of Hamas and has been since at least 1989. After the Gilad Shalit deal, they redoubled their efforts to kidnap Israelis. Hamas praised and then boasted about the kidnapping of the three Israeli teens Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar, Naftali Fraenkel who were then murdered in 2014. A primary goal in the 2014 war was to abduct Israeli soldiers.

There is nothing new here.

Here's another example of someone who would swear that he isn't antisemitic as he spouts classic antisemitic tropes.

Editor in Chief of Ma'an, Dr. Nasser Al-Lahham, writes first about how utterly evil and racist Zionist Jews are:

Israel has entered the phase of apartheid and racial discrimination: politically, parliamentary, judicial, municipal, labor market, employment and security. And even in sports, tourism, hotels, apartment rentals, road networks, trains and airports. Israel sank as a whole in the quagmire of racial discrimination and there is no hope of saving any part of it from its inevitable fate.

It has turned from an island of salvation for European Jews into an epidemic area that spreads viruses of racism and hatred throughout the world.

So what's the next move for the evil Jews?

I believe that Zionism is behind the aggravation of relations between Russia and Ukraine, leading to a war and the inevitable result of which is that Russia will occupy Ukraine in a matter of hours. The Zionist movement will accelerate the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Jews from Ukraine to Palestine. The Ukrainian Jews will be disposed of in the occupied West Bank and Syrian Golan settlements.

So Zionists are secretly manipulating Russia and the Ukraine to fight each other in order to force Ukrainian Jews to immigrate to Israel and settle in "occupied" territory.

Nah, nothing paranoid or antisemitic about that. After all, the Jews are behind all wars which are waged to help and enrich the Jews. I read it in a book somewhere.

Ma'an is regarded as one of the "moderate" Palestinian news sites. It has historically been funded by various European governments and NGOs.

The body of Montaser Balawi, 51, a military judge in the Palestinian Authority, was found at dawn Sunday with a bullet to his head.

His body was found inside his home in Tulkarm.

Palestinian media is calling this part of recent "security chaos" in the West Bank which has recently escalated. There have been several little-reported armed clashes.

Palestinians are upset at the police because they are perceived as protecting Israel instead of protecting them. The proof, to them, is that the police saved the lives of two Hasidic Israelis who accidentally drove into Ramallah. The crowd attacked them and torched their car but the police rescued them. According to Palestinian media now, Palestinians are angry that they weren't allowed to rip the two Jews apart.

Similarly, Hamas media also complains that the PA arrests Hamas terrorists who are planning attacks against Jews, and it tries to incite people into being angry at police for doing their jobs, which contributes to this "security chaos."

Iranian cartoon obsession with Israel betrays official state antisemitism

The Ahlul Bayt News Agency, an Iranian website geared towards a pro-Shiite agenda, publishes regular editorial cartoons.

Since May, it has published 57 editorial cartoons.

53 cartoons of them are anti-Israel, 3 are anti-US, and only one that is about the rest of the world.

And it is not like they have only one cartoonist. They choose cartoons from multiple sources - including Carlos Latuff in Mondoweiss - that are all fixated on hating Israel, and often with antisemitic motifs.

The editors don't want you to hate the Israelis because of their alleged actions. The reader's are supposed to increase their hate because the Israelis are Jews.

01/02 Links: Col. Kemp: Is Biden's Legacy Really Going to Be the Dismantling of Democracies and the Free World?; Where’s the afterglow from Gantz’s meeting with Abbas?

From Ian:

Dore Gold: The UN’s Reinvention of Jerusalem’s Past

The UN is at it again. On November 26, 2021, the General Assembly adopted a resolution referring to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where the Temple of Solomon once stood, only by its Arabic name, the Haram al-Sharif. From the standpoint of the UN, Christian and Jewish connections to the area were non-existent.

For years now, the UN’s Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has been systematically pushing false narratives about Jerusalem that deny the historic connection of the Jewish people to their holy city. In May 2016, UNESCO decided that the Western Wall Plaza should be designated with quotation marks after adopting the term Al-Buraq Plaza for the very same area with no qualification.

UNESCO reaffirmed this language in subsequent years. These distortions, which were blatant violations of its own statute, have penetrated the discourse about Jerusalem in the international media, in universities, and in world parliaments. What was axiomatic 200 years ago is now called into question.

So many people speak about Jerusalem but so few really understand it.

I’ve been a diplomat for over three decades, serving on the front lines of Israel’s struggle over the Holy City. 30 years, and I’m still surprised by the scale of disinformation and by the depth of ignorance regarding the Holy City. The ignorance in the face of overwhelming evidence of its historical past. The ignorance regarding historical facts, even recent history.

It’s been 50 years since the reunification of Jerusalem and while across the Middle East holy sites are destroyed, in Jerusalem they’re protected. And yet Israel’s legitimacy is questioned time and time again.

Col. Richard Kemp: Is Biden's Legacy Really Going to Be the Dismantling of Democracies and the Free World?

Biden inflicted untold damage on the free world by his catastrophic surrender in Afghanistan, demonstrating to America's enemies and friends alike that, under his administration, the US was no longer willing to stand by its allies nor to protect its own vital national interests.

Now Biden is planning discussions in early 2022 between Russia and selected NATO members to "defuse" the situation [Russia threatening the Ukraine]. Can he really believe that any negotiations short of capitulation to Russian demands would satisfy Putin or achieve anything? So-called diplomacy down the barrel of 90,000 Russian guns looks a lot like even more appeasement.

Biden has failed to respond to Iranian attacks on Saudi Arabia, Iranian aggression against Israel and even Iranian attacks on US forces in Syria and Iraq. Iran's contempt for Biden was further displayed last week in the launch of multiple ballistic missiles during manoeuvres that Iranian commanders explicitly said were intended to threaten Israel.

In the face of Iranian nuclear provocation, Biden's officials have refrained from any threat of military action — taking off the table the only truly effective deterrent against regimes that respect strength alone.

Biden's policies of appeasement towards Iran and Russia are bad enough. But the greatest threat to the free world today comes from China. Biden has a long record of appeasing Beijing.

Biden's administration has projected only confusion over China's ambitions against Taiwan. The president twice suggested the US might be willing to defend the country in the event of Chinese invasion, with his comments immediately walked back by officials... Similarly mixed messages coming from London led the Argentinian junta to believe Britain, despite its vast military superiority, would not fight to defend the Falkland Islands on the other side of the world, and actually encouraged the 1982 invasion.

"One of [Biden's] first acts on assuming the presidency was to shut down the investigations into the origins of Covid-19 — including the one I led at the State Department in 2020, which presented troubling scientific and circumstantial evidence on the secret activities of the WIV [Wuhan Institute of Virology] that bolster the lab-leak theory". — Dr David Asher, who spearheaded the State Department task force investigating the origins of Covid-19 and the role of the Chinese government, Hudson Institute, November 17, 2021

None of Biden's acts of appeasement are isolated to their targets alone; they are widely observed and cumulative in effect. They embolden America's enemies and unnerve its friends, potentially fracturing alliances that are vital to defending democracy. So much damage has already been done in just one year that even were Biden to change course, his legacy might well be the dismantling of democracies and the free world.

Yisrael Medad: There is Jewish and there is Arab violence

Over the past several months, the pro-Palestinian chorus has been pushing the theme of “settler violence” running rampant in the West Bank. A search using Google shows that these reports say the violence has “risen,” “increased” and “spiked” and that there has been an “upsurge” in violence by Israeli settlers.

In fact, if one reviews the various websites of such organizations and news platforms, which all feed into the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), the theme is a staple of their messaging. One can even read a statement from the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor asserting “state-sponsored violence and attacks” that were mostly “executed with full protection from the Israeli army.”

That body, however, is chaired by Richard Falk, who has been accused of manipulating anti-Semitic memes and whose reports for the United Nations as its Human Rights Council special rapporteur were condemned in years past by the United States.

Incidents do occur; no one denies that.

They are condemned by the official representative bodies that represent the Jewish residents in the West Bank. The questions, though, are how many are there, who initiates them, is the reported damage correct and what are the true overall statistics and context of violence from both sides.

As Jonathan Tobin, of JNS, recently observed, “There is something wrong if a few Jews throwing stones is considered far more important than the fact that attacks on Jews in the same areas are more or less the national sport of Palestinians.” He points to a double standard whereby proportionally fewer Jewish attacks gain greater coverage while “exponentially greater volumes of Palestinian violence is considered either unremarkable or somehow justified.”

Indeed, the data made available by the Israel Police point to something remarkable - the number of incidents of Jewish violence is decreasing. From 2019 to 2021, there has been a 61.1% drop in so-called price-tag attacks. Moreover, the number of indictments of Jewish extremists has doubled from 16 to 32 over the past year. That is not the picture the pro-Palestinian groups wish you to see.

Another factor that is underplayed is the above-mentioned volume of Arab violence in the same area. The Rescuers Without Borders paramedical organization is the first responders unit on the scene of incidents. They provide first aid and ambulance services. In the past two and a half months they reported 315 rock-throwing incidents and 50 firebombs tossed at Jewish targets in the West Bank. That is an average of eight each day. Just last night, in East Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood, dozens of firebombs were thrown at Jewish homes.

The IDF data indicates that in 2020 there were 1,500 rock-throwing incidents, 229 firebombs tossed, 31 shootings, nine stabbings, 541 guns and rifles were seized and 330 knives were recovered.

The Shin Bet security agency recorded over 100 Palestinian terror attacks in the West Bank in October 2021. In 2020, it reported almost 800 acts of Palestinian terror; an additional 424 “significant attacks” were thwarted.

Last week, a fight broke out in Jordan's parliament over discussions about a constitutional amendment.

What caused such a violent response?

Jordanian law does not say that women have equal rights. The discussion was about adding the word "women" to Article VI of the Jordanian constitution about rights, which now says, "Jordanians shall be equal before the law with no discrimination between them in rights and duties even if they differ in race, language or religion." Not gender.

Opponents of the amendment are concerned that it would then give women equal rights in inheritance as well as other areas.

There is also a Palestinian angle. Right now, only children of Jordanian men receive automatic citizenship. Jordanians are concerned that allowing children of Jordanian women to be citizens would affect the national character of Jordan - and most of the new citizens would be Palestinian.