Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, March 11, 2022

03/11 Links Pt2: Washington's betrayal has only just begun; How the Biden Administration Is Funding the Effort To Delegitimize Israel; Matti Friedman: “Who By Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai”

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: America and the truth of asymmetric warfare

In an interview about the war against Ukraine, the former Soviet dissident turned Israeli public figure, Natan Sharansky, made a key observation.

Commenting in Tablet that both Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, were far from the strongest in the world, Sharansky shared something he had learned from his time in a Soviet prison.

The ringleader in the cell, he said, wasn’t the one who was physically strongest but the one ready to use his knife. “Everybody has a knife, but not everybody is prepared to use it,” he said. “Putin believes that he is willing to use his knife and the west isn’t—that the west can only talk even if it is physically stronger.”

Of course, most people assumed that Putin would never use his knife. They thought he would never invade Ukraine and embark on a horrific campaign against its civilian population. Yet that’s exactly what he has done.

In a similar vein, no one apparently believed that Putin would ever deploy nuclear weapons. Yet with the Russian dictator issuing not-so-veiled threats about nuclear war, Britain and America are refusing to yield to the pleas by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to fly bombing raids against the invading Russian forces for fear that Putin may do just that.

At a stroke, therefore, a key tenet of western defence policy has been destroyed. For decades, western leaders have told themselves that the principle of “mutually assured destruction” — under which any nuclear first strike would provoke a devastating nuclear counter-strike — is so obviously suicidal that no leader in his right mind would ever use nuclear weapons.

Yet what Putin is demonstrating is that this doctrine may not apply to him. The west’s nuclear knife is sheathed; but he is brandishing his own in a menacing manner and, as a result, has the upper hand.

Once again, the west has made the false assumption that every world leader is fundamentally a rational actor acting in his own self-interest. But some individuals are driven by fanatical devotion to a cause which means they make an entirely different set of calculations.

This is one reason why the Biden administration is making such a catastrophic mistake over Iran.

Caroline Glick: Washington's betrayal has only just begun

The Biden administration justifies its pro-Iranian and anti-Israel/Sunni Arab policy by claiming it is a means to disengage the US from the Middle East at a time that Washington is keen to concentrate its resources and attention on Asia and the rising threat of China. While on its face, this justification seems reasonable, it stands on a rotten foundation.

During his term in office, then-President Donald Trump sought to minimize US presence in the Middle East in order to focus US efforts and resources in Asia to contend with the rising threat from China. To achieve this goal, Trump empowered America's allies – Israel and the Sunni Arab states led by Saudi Arabia. He provided political, diplomatic, logistical, and when necessary, military support to ensure the success of their efforts to combat Iranian aggression against them.

Trump's concept, which was successfully diminishing both the level of violence in the region and the US's direct involvement in the Middle East, was that since America's allies share the US's interests in the Middle East, the more able they are to defend their own interests, the less the US will have to invest in protecting its interests in the region.

Trump created institutional frameworks for cooperation between US allies both by forging the Abraham Accords which effectively ended the Arab conflict with Israel, and by integrating Israel into the US Central Command and so fostering operational military cooperation between Israel and the US's Arab allies under the aegis of the US military.

Biden's policies are the polar opposite of Trump's policies both conceptually and substantively. Biden's policies represent a reinstatement and escalation of Barack Obama's policies for Iran and the wider Middle East. In contrast to Trump, Obama, Biden and their advisors believe that the US's Middle Eastern allies – Israel and the Sunni Arab Gulf states – maliciously worked for decades to entangle the United States in the wars of the Middle East. To disentangle America from the region and its pernicious "allies" the Obama-Biden doctrine posits the US must realign itself away from its allies and weaken them, and towards Iran, which it must empower.

This brings us to Israel, and what its government must do in the face of the administration's betrayal. Since supporting Iran and undermining Israel are the founding principles of Biden's Middle East policies, they are not subject to change. Israel cannot influence them. It doesn't matter how many times Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid gush about Israel's "true friends," Biden and Blinken. They have chosen a path that is impermeable to reason and argument.

Rather than expend efforts to woo an implacably hostile administration – through futile mediation of other people's wars and committing Israel to a policy of "no surprises" in its handling of Iran's Biden-supported-nuclear program, Israel's leaders must prepare for what awaits us.

We are about to be scapegoated.

In 2014-2015, in their efforts to sell their original cataclysmic nuclear deal with Iran, Obama and his advisors ran a campaign to demonize Israel and its supporters in Congress specifically and in US public life more generally. Now that Biden has agreed to an even more dangerous nuclear deal, Israel can expect for the demonization campaign that awaits it to dwarf its predecessor. In fact, as we see with the administration's efforts to scapegoat Israel directly, through its media partners and through the Ukrainian leadership, for not being sufficiently anti-Russian, the campaign has already begun.

The Saudis and the Emirates clearly already recognize the sucker's game that Biden and his team are playing. On Wednesday the Wall Street Journal reported that Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Muhammed bin Zayed of the UAE both refused to accept phone calls from Biden this week. Israel's leaders should follow them in accepting reality and acting accordingly before the situation deteriorates still further.

Demonstration in front of the U.S embassy, against the dangerous nuclear agreement with Iran

How the Biden Administration Is Funding the Effort To Delegitimize Israel

The Biden administration is offering nearly $1 million for groups to investigate alleged human rights abuses in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, an effort that will delegitimize Israel, according to sources who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon.

The State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) is soliciting nonprofit groups to apply for grant money up to $987,654 to "strengthen accountability and human rights in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza," according to a grant notice first posted online in mid-February.

Groups applying for the grant money will investigate alleged crimes inside Israel and these territories and "collect, archive, and maintain human rights documentation to support justice and accountability and civil society-led advocacy efforts, which may include documentation of legal or security sector violations and housing, land, and property rights," according to the State Department.

Israel's defenders on Capitol Hill expressed outrage over the program and said the Biden administration is helping fund international efforts to delegitimize Israel and boost the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. The grant is also fueling concerns about the Biden administration's relationship with Israel and its hiring of officials who have been critical of the Jewish state.

"This is disgraceful," Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) told the Free Beacon. "The Biden administration wants to use American taxpayer money to subsidize the international NGO campaign to demonize and isolate Israel, which then serves as a basis for anti-Semitic efforts to boycott and wage economic warfare against Israeli Jews. Congress did not appropriate funds for this purpose and has repeatedly condemned such campaigns."

The State Department, Cruz said, "should immediately cancel this program and investigate how it was approved."

1a. Beinart gaslights on the genocidal intent of Hamas' 1988 charter. The charter quotes a famous Hadith calling for the slaughter of Jews, but Beinart doesn't quote that part. https://t.co/71JySzVY2x pic.twitter.com/ItaMbypf5Q
— David May (@DavidSamuelMay) March 9, 2022

Al-Zaytouna Centre for Studies and Consultations is a Beirut-based think tank that "strives to raise the local, regional and international awareness about the realities and repercussions of the events in the region, with special reference to the Palestinian issue and the conflict with Israel. "

A new article that is only in their Arabic site proposes a strategy on how to hijack the Ukraine crisis into making the world more sympathetic to Palestinians.

The cynicism is palpable.

It notes that international attention is now focused on Ukraine, meaning there is less attention on the Palestinian cause. But it thinks that a new "popular uprising" during Ramadan in April, backed up with Hamas rockets, would bring attention back to the Palestinian issue and embarrass Israel because the Palestinian "resistance" would appear to the world to be just like Ukrainian "resistance."

Its recommendations include:

The Ukrainian crisis requires special attention on the part of the Palestinian parties, in terms of positions and language of discourse, including:

* Investing the rising discourse at the Western level that states support the armed resistance of the invasion and occupation forces, given the Ukrainian situation, in confirming the legitimacy of the resistance of Palestine and the just struggle of its people.

* Benefiting from the sanctions and disinvestment policies led by the United States and its allies against Russia in the face of policies and propaganda efforts against boycotting the Israeli occupation, and disinvesting and imposing sanctions on it.

* Avoidance of appearing in a position in favor of the Russian invasion and the occupation that it may entail in Ukraine, given the initial dimensions in this regard, and the contradiction of such an assumed position with the demand for the end of the occupation in Palestine.

That last point is a wonderful encapsulation of the Palestinian mentality. They are saying, "We might support Russia like we support every autocratic regime in the world, but don't say it out loud because it makes us look like hypocrites as we are trying to publicly identify with the Ukrainian people."

It shows that the Palestinian position towards any world event is not driven by principles or morals, but purely from the viewpoint of "how can I take advantage of this?"

Also notice that Israel-hating Western reporters have already adopted the first recommendation.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Read all about it here!

03/11 Links Pt1: Eli Lake: The World Has Changed and We Must Change Along With It; How Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine is Fueling Holocaust Distortion

From Ian:

Eli Lake: The World Has Changed and We Must Change Along With It

Zelensky’s bravery in the face of overwhelming odds has proved a reminder that great peril can produce great leaders. America is in desperate need of such leadership today. Our country has been mired in self-doubt. We have forgotten who we are. The nationalist right and the socialist left don’t agree on much, but they both regard America’s recent wars as moral abominations and the country’s economic realities as marks of an irredeemable corruption. Who are we to judge or intervene, when we have tortured prisoners and droned wedding parties? Who are we to promote equality when we have income inequality?

It’s time for both parties to soundly reject this myopic politics. American global leadership is the only way that weaker democracies can survive. It is the only chance for long-term peace. And for all the ugly chapters in American history, our enemies have done and are doing and will do worse. We remain a beacon of hope for all people who struggle for freedom, whether we know it or not.

Rejecting the recent myopia and division requires some faith in the American people as well. The campaign against “disinformation”—much of it based in the idea that stupid Americans were wildly susceptible to Russian manipulation—has resulted in pointless censorship. We should not make that mistake again. Consider that all of Russia’s propaganda and bribery in Europe, aimed at weakening the continent’s resolve during a war like this, has failed miserably. Putin’s menace and Zelensky’s heroism galvanized Europeans and their leaders to impose unprecedented sanctions on Russia and reinvestment in their militaries in record time. There is no need to ban Russian state propaganda from the Internet. Moscow’s lies are self-discrediting.

This moment should also stir the Republican Party to take a hard look at its future. Donald Trump is too enamored with strong men to carry on America’s tradition of fighting tyranny. He views their amorality as a new kind of realism. Republicans have every reason to look higher.

And so, too, does Joe Biden. He is the leader of the free world—but he seems be more concerned about his position as the leader of a domestic political party whose elites have spent the past two years embracing the idea that America was born in evil and is awash in racist sin even now. He has greeted the challenge from Putin with resolve, but he has also defaulted to a strangely passive notion that Putin will fail in his goals because “freedom” will somehow triumph over “tyranny.” That’s not how it works. Tyranny must be resisted and boxed in as a precondition for freedom’s eventual victory. It will not happen on its own. It never does, and it never will.

If Biden cannot find a way to greet this moment by saying unambiguously that we are the good guys, that our cause is just, and that we are engaged in a titanic struggle with evil regimes that believe that the only way they can rise is if we fall, history will dub him a dominated weakling.

We must prepare for the long struggle ahead. The world has changed. We must change along with it.

David Horovitz: If PM can’t say it, we Israelis must: Zelensky, we’re with you; Putin, stop the war

Unforgivably, the prime minister’s neutral posture has already led Israel to snub Zelensky by initially refusing to let a president pleading for help to save his country address the Knesset — with the speaker of the House risibly explaining that, oh, sorry, parliament is going into recess and, oh, such a shame, but there is renovation work being done in the building– before changing tack and arranging an invitation.

Dismally, it has seen Israel snub our most important ally by declining to co-sponsor the UN Security Council resolution condemning Putin’s invasion on February 25, with the disingenuous excuse that the resolution was destined to fail anyhow given Russia’s veto power.

Some in the corridors of Israeli power assert that the various global leaders trying to bring this crisis to a halt and prevent a drift into World War III do not merely indulge Bennett’s mediation efforts but encourage them. That may be so. But his neutrality has placed Israel on the wrong side of history for two weeks and counting.

On behalf of those Israelis unburdened by the ostensible realpolitik restrictions on taking a clear moral position and conveying it unmistakably to Moscow, let it be stated here: The people of Ukraine manifestly believe that their country does in fact exist; do not loathe their government or regard it as a manifestation of Nazi evil, and do not seek liberation by Russia. And Israel stands in solidarity with them.

Hopefully, our prime minister, in the difficult, constricted conversations he is having with a brutal, wayward, ally-of-sorts in the Kremlin, has at least tried to emphasize that people have the right to a life free from murderous assault; that, whatever Russia’s grievances, the killing has to stop.

Hopefully, Bennett will soon also find himself able to make that publicly clear, begin to reroot Israel firmly on the side of freedom and democracy, and start to undo the damage that has been done.

Honest Reporting: How Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine is Fueling Holocaust Distortion

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the dire humanitarian crisis that it is causing has been the top story globally for the past two weeks. Prominent news organizations have covered fast-moving developments on the ground, along with their possible long-term geopolitical implications. Yet, a disconcerting trend has emerged: the use of Holocaust-related analogies and imagery in relation to the conflict.

The devastation being caused by Europe’s most severe military crisis since World War II is undeniably horrific.

But there is no genocide — such as the systematic extermination of some 6 million Jews by the Nazis — currently taking place in Ukraine.

Accordingly, the media is, in most cases inadvertently, painting a distorted picture of the current situation, and thereby diminishing the magnitude, memory and lessons of the Holocaust by uncritically disseminating language being used by leaders worldwide.

Consider the following quote included in a March 6 Washington Post article titled, Israeli Prime Minister Bennett says brokering between Ukraine and Russia is ‘moral obligation’:
Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Korniychuk, went further… accusing [Israel] of forgetting Ukraine’s history of aiding Jews during the Holocaust.”

Another example is found in a March 5 CNN piece titled, Israel’s fraught Russia-Ukraine balancing act:
At the same time, Israel has other critical interests to protect. As a state created as a safe haven for world Jewry in the wake of the Holocaust, Israel pays a price for appearing to waffle in the face of a predatory power preying on a weaker state.”

Meanwhile, Business Insider on March 8 published Chuck Schumer says ‘there’s a Holocaust going on’ in Ukraine amid push to send billions in aid to the country:
The Ukrainians lack food, they lack clothing, they lack shelter, electricity, medicines — we must get them these things. There’s a Holocaust going on. When you see that people are lined up on buses to just leave a conflict zone, and Putin’s artillery shells those buses, that is just below humanity, below dignity.”

Moreover, the leaders of Russia and Ukraine have both invoked the Holocaust. A February 23 New York Times piece uncritically cited as follows one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s justifications for launching the war:
‘I have taken the decision to carry out a special military operation,’ Mr. Putin said. ‘Its goal will be to defend people who for eight years are suffering persecution and genocide by the Kyiv regime. For this we will aim for demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine…’”

From Jewish Insider:

Following Amnesty International’s recent report that accused Israel of “apartheid” in its treatment of Palestinians, the group’s USA director appeared to go a step further on Wednesday, suggesting to a Women’s National Democratic Club audience that the bulk of American Jews do not want Israel to be a Jewish state, but rather “a safe Jewish space” based on “core Jewish values.”

Paul O’Brien said one of Amnesty’s goals in publishing the report, which was roundly criticized by Israeli and American officials, is to “collectively change the conversation” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “It needs to start first and foremost with the Jewish community,” O’Brien, who is not Jewish, said.

The Amnesty official rejected a 2020 survey conducted by the Ruderman Family Foundation that found that eight in 10 Jewish Americans identify as “pro-Israel,” and two-thirds feel emotionally “attached” or “very attached” to the Jewish state.

“I actually don’t believe that to be true,” O’Brien said regarding those figures. “I believe my gut tells me that what Jewish people in this country want is to know that there’s a sanctuary that is a safe and sustainable place that the Jews, the Jewish people can call home.”

Rather than a Jewish state, American Jews want “a safe Jewish space,” O’Brien continued. “I think they can be convinced over time that the key to sustainability is to adhere to what I see as core Jewish values, which are to be principled and fair and just in creating that space.”

I can't even.

This modern antisemite is telling Jews what our core Jewish values are?

He's saying that Jews don't really give a damn about Jerusalem and they only want a safe space, which could be in Miami Beach. He's saying that millennia of Jewish longing to return to Zion isn't a core Jewish value.

And how does he know? His gut tells him!

It gets worse:

Israel “shouldn’t exist as a Jewish state,” O’Brien told some 20 in-person and 30 virtual attendees at the Wednesday lunch event, before adding “Amnesty takes no political views on any question, including the right of the State of Israel to survive.”

“The right of the people to self-determination and to be protected is without a doubt something that we believe in, and I personally believe that,” said O’Brien. But “we are opposed to the idea — and this, I think, is an existential part of the debate — that Israel should be preserved as a state for the Jewish people.”

So what exactly does self-determination mean for the Jewish people? Living as "protected dhimmis" under benevolent Muslim rule? Not being allowed to defend yourself from those who want to destroy you and your people?

This is Amnesty's antisemitism in a nutshell - claiming that Jews have the right to a "safe space" but demanding that non-Jews define what the parameters of that space are.

It wasn't that long ago that there were regular terror attacks blowing Jews up in Israel. It wasn't long before that when Arab armies fully intended to utterly destroy Israel and throw the Jews into the sea. Israeli Jews are safe because Jews decided to defend themselves and prioritize the safety of their own people, as every other state does.

Amnesty wants to take that right away, and wants Jews to return to living as second-class citizens who must beg their non-Jewish leaders to treat them with basic human rights. Amnesty wants the Jews to be oppressed so it can issue sympathetic reports while Jews are being slaughtered.

That, according to Amnesty, is "human rights."

Paul O'Brien has discredited whatever little credibility Amnesty used to have.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Read all about it here!

Israel hating reporters trying to compare Ukrainian self defense with Palestinian suicide bombings

At yesterday's State Department press briefing, Al Quds media's Said Arikat and spokesperson Ned Price had this exchange:

ARIKAT: So here’s unqualified support for the Ukrainians to resist this Russian invasion and so on, and to – and for any occupied people to resist their occupier. Does that extend to other places, like for the Palestinians, and maybe the Iraqis, and other places? Do they have the right to resist a military occupation?
MR PRICE: Said, self-defense is a principle that belongs to all countries.
ARIKAT: Right, and so it does belong to people who are under military occupation, including –
MR PRICE: It belongs to –
ARIKAT: — including the Palestinians, right?
MR PRICE: — all countries. All countries have the right to self-defense.

A very similar question was asked by NPR correspondent Asma Khalid at the White House press briefing by Jen Psaki earlier this week:

Q Can I ask you one other question? In parts of southern Ukraine, it seems that Russia has shifted from a military takeover to, essentially, occupation.
MS. PSAKI: Yeah.
Q That it is now occupying parts — occupying towns. Does the White House support the Ukrainian people’s right to resist the occupation and, essentially, through any means necessary?
MS. PSAKI: Well, we certainly support the rights of the Ukrainian people to fight back. I would note that we have seen many Ukrainians; many, many members of the Ukrainian military; and certainly President Zelenskyy in leadership fight bravely, courageously over the course of the last 12 days.
I think it’s also true that the world needs to be prepared for a very long, difficult road ahead. While they are fighting bravely and we are standing with them and supporting them, the Russians are still intending to grind out military advances in the short term just by sheer manpower and firepower.
So, yes, we support their right to push back and to fight back against that.

Palestinians and their supporters are playing a game, mightily trying to compare Ukrainians defending their homes to "Palestinian resistance."

But "Palestinian resistance" has a completely different meaning. To Palestinians and their Israel-hating supporters, "resistance" means the right to murder Jewish civilians.

In Arabic, Palestinian terrorist groups like Islamic Jihad and Hamas are called "resistance factions." The Arabic "Palestinian resistance" page lists over 40 terror attacks against Israeli civilians as examples of "resistance" dating back to 1954. Gaza rockets aimed at Jewish population centers are called "resistance rockets." The word "resistance" is a dog-whistle for Israel haters to justify terrorism.

Asma Khalid's question used another dog-whistle that is crystal clear to Israel haters, by adding "through any means necessary" - a reformulation of how the modern antisemites describe murdering Jews as resistance "by all means and methods" or, in Hamas' formulation, "with all means possible." She was trying to get Psaki to say that Palestinian terrorism is admirable.

Sure enough, even though Psaki didn't fall completely into that trap, Mondoweiss trumpeted her answer as if Psaki herself used the words "by any means necessary," pretending that she agreed that terrorism is legitimate.

Similarly, MSNBC's Ayman Mohyeldin chose to interpret Psaki as saying that Ukrainians have the "right" of "resisting occupation," and he is knowingly adopting that language to give the impression to the reader that Palestinians have the right to kill Jews.

No one says that Ukrainians have the right to shoot rockets into Russian population centers. No one says Ukrainians have the right to send suicide bombers to kill Russian civilians drinking tea in restaurants. Terrorism is illegal under international law. But these reporters are trying to get US officials to adopt their terminology to imply that murdering Jews is a right, and purposefully misinterpreting the answers as if they agree that Ukrainians can defend themselves.

Which means that the White House and State Department allow people who support and justify murdering Jews into their briefing rooms.

(h/t YMedad)

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Read all about it here!

Forget Ukraine. @Amnesty is back to slandering Israel again.

Amnesty International spent too much time and money on their "apartheid" report to let a little thing like a genuine humanitarian crisis in Ukraine distract them for too long:

The Australia Israel/Jewish Affairs Council just destroyed this argument this week. They show the history of the law was specifically to stop terror attacks, as a number of them were perpetrated by Arabs who obtained Israeli citizenship or residency through marriage or from their parents getting married.

One of the bloodiest of these was perpetrated by Shadi Tubasi who lived in Jenin and who had acquired Israeli citizenship through his mother. In March 2002, at a busy Haifa restaurant during the Passover holiday, Tubasi blew himself up together with 16 Israelis, including children, and wounded another 40.

Tubasi’s Israeli identity card was seen as helping to enable the attack and this rapidly led to calls for the suspension of the family reunion process. The temporary Citizenship Law came a year later.

Tubasi was not the first to exploit Israeli citizenship gained through family reunification with such violent effect, nor the last.

Others have included Mohammad Abdel Jafari Nasser, who in 2012 wounded 26 Israelis in an attack on a Tel Aviv bus; Mohand al-Uqabi, son of an Israeli father and mother from Gaza, who murdered an Israeli soldier at Beersheba Central Bus Station; and Khaled Abu Jaudah, who also murdered a soldier, at a bus stop in Arad.

According to Israel’s internal security service, the Shin Bet, approximately 155 of the beneficiaries of family reunification or their immediate descendants have been involved in terror attacks in Israel since 2001.

Funny how the human rights of Jews not to be blown up by suicide bombs is not even worth mentioning by the purported "human rights group." In their report, where they discussed this law at length, where they discussed this law at length - over 7 pages.

As far as this law being "brazenly discriminatory," then surely Amnesty has written at length about how Jordanian women married to Palestinian men and their children are not citizens of Jordan either. Some 52,000 Palestinians are married to Jordanian women, right?

No. Instead of seven pages, Amnesty briefly discusses it for two sentences in its 2020 annual report, not mentioning that the law affects Palestinian men more than anyone else. Amnesty hasn't written a specific report about that as far as I can tell. The only citizenship laws they ever criticized on Twitter is Israel's and India's.

Lebanon has a similar law, which Amnesty did write about in 2010.

Only Israel is called "apartheid" for these sorts of laws.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Read all about it here!

03/10 Links Pt2: From Ukraine to UNRWA: Russia foments war in Arab refugee camps; Iran played by Russia as Moscow tries to take over nuclear deal

From Ian:

From Ukraine to UNRWA: Russia foments war in Arab refugee camps

Under the guidance of the KGB, the idea of the Arab refugees as a distinct people took hold.

The KGB generated a storyline that nowadays is often taken as factual. These are its basic points, none of them true:
1. The PLO, from its start, expressed the will of the Arabs living the geographic region Palestine, rather than the will of Moscow to create divisions and overthrow democracy.
2. Palestine is not just the name for a geographic region, but the home for a distinct and indigenous people, the Palestinian Arabs. Its Jewish citizens are colonizers from some unidentified foreign country..
3. Israel practices apartheid in which the Arab citizens of Israel are prevented from advancing.
4. Arab poverty in the territories controlled by Arabs is due to Israel, rather than to the Arab rulers Hamas and the PLO

Why is the Russian PLO embrace relevant today?

Since February 24, 2022, the day when the Russian attack on the Ukraine commenced, the top brass of PLO counter intelligence has been sitting in the Kremlin, egging on Moscow. By no coincidence, the League of Arab Nations, which spawned the Palestine Liberation Organization with Russian support back in in 1964, has supported the war launched by Russia.

In that context, the time has come to pay attention to the overlooked Russian role in Middle East]

UN Watch: Justice, Justice shalt thou pursue

UN Watch's Hillel Neuer took the floor at the Human Rights Council to condemn the chair of a new commission of inquiry on Israel. Chair Navi Pillay lobbies governments to “sanction apartheid Israel.” That she was named head of a UN inquiry on Israel, due to report in June, is a travesty of justice.

Petition for Ms. Pillay's removal as inquiry chair

Seth Frantzman: Iran played by Russia as Moscow tries to take over nuclear deal

Nevertheless, the US administration wants to re-enter a deal with Iran that won’t last more than another few years, or a decade at most. Toward that end, the Biden administration coordinated with Russia. Moscow works closely with Tehran. That means Moscow was playing “good cop” during negotiations of the deal, and the US appears to have outsourced at least some of its demands via Moscow. This bizarre fact was revealed time and again by Russia’s chief envoy, Mikhail Ulyanov, who bragged about meeting the US envoy.

As the US was coordinating with Russia, Moscow was planning the invasion of Ukraine. That gave Russia a golden hand to play at the negotiating table. Once it invaded Ukraine, Moscow could present itself as holding the deal discussions hostage, by claiming that the US must agree to Russia’s terms in order to get to a new deal. Washington, meanwhile, was close to giving away the store anyway, but Russia is now trying to drive up the price.

The “Iran deal” has now become the “Russia deal,” as Russia swoops in at the end to reveal that it controls the talks, and Iran has been played by Moscow. Iran has discovered too late that Russia could sabotage the deal so that Russia can escape sanctions.

Iran is nonplussed to find that Russia is now holding Iran hostage. After all, Iran is the regime that likes to hold hostages. It’s the regime that is used to playing the West by using the “good cop” strategy of charlatan Javad Zarif against the “bad cop” of the IRGC. However, Zarif is gone, Iran is running into the arms of China, and Russia is now using Iran. Those who pushed the Iran deal are now concerned about Russia’s interference. This is the interference they enabled by always trusting Moscow.

Russia is now playing the role of mafia boss Emilio Barzini in The Godfather, revealed as being behind the whole scheme of the Iran deal in the first place. Russia wants all its trade with Iran exempt from the sanctions it is under for invading Ukraine. Russia wants to milk the Iran deal, and use Iran as a nuclear blackmail shield against the US.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Read all about it here!

Calling Facts We Don't Like 'Hasbara' Isn't Working, says Pro-Palestinian Activist (Pre)ccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

Calling Facts We Don't Like 'Hasbara' Isn't Working

by Abier Khatib, keyboard warrior and pro-Palestinian activist

abier khatib New York, March 10 - Folks, we have a problem: all that online engagement on Twitter and Instagram, promoting our narrative and debating against Zios has yet to produce the desired effect. We haven't moved the needle in any noticeable way regarding American public opinion on Palestine. People aren't buying our side of the story, even when we dismiss points we dislike as mere propaganda.

I love to dogpile Zionists as much as the next activist. Don't get me wrong. "Cathartic" doesn't begin to describe the thrill of harassing those devils into blocking or muting us - all the more when we can glory in a Palestinian operation that kills Jews. Unfortunately, that doesn't change the basic calculus: when we call the "facts" that Zios cite, and we call those points "hasbara" instead of addressing the points themselves, we appear to lose credibility.

I don't like it any more than you do! It's just a - there's no better word for it - a fact. I know we like to avoid "facts" that contradict our narrative of virtuous victimhood - when we're not doing the opposite by calling the violent targeting of Israeli children virtuous - but we might have to change our approach if we really want to make inroads in public opinion. It turns out that winning debates when lots of people who don't already support you are watching and listening requires facility with information, logic, and coherent argument, and not just the slurs we practice when we get together for activist events.

Those nefarious Zios have even marshaled these things called "logic" and "facts" that can undermine our case! I can't tell whether they actually believe Palestinians left en masse without being expelled by ethnic cleansing Jews, or whether it's just a hole they've found in the historical record that they can exploit; the thing is, the effect is the same either way. We have to actually prove our assertions if we want to emerge victorious in debate, and we've been sorely lacking that regard because we rely on cries of "Nazi!" "Hasbara!" and "Genocide!" We don't know how to respond without more of the same when a Zio presents actual Palestinian statistics showing the opposite of ethnic cleansing or genocide, or when the photos we've been posting of Zionist atrocities get shown to be from Syria, or worse yet, from the so-called Holocaust. And I don't need to tell you what kind of losing argument it is, to our chagrin, when you try to deny the Holocaust to a bunch of Americans.

So we have our work cut out for us. Does anyone have any real facts that we can use?

Anyone?

Anyone at all?

Hello?

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Read all about it here!

03/10 Links Pt1: The Russia-Ukraine War and Its Legal and Political Implications; This Is Why Putin Thinks He Can Wait Out the West; Turkey Walks a Tightrope on Ukraine

From Ian:

Amb. Alan Baker: The Russia-Ukraine War and Its Legal and Political Implications

The bitter hostilities between Russia and Ukraine are accompanied by widely reported instances of indiscriminate targeting by the Russian military forces of civilians and civilian centers as well as nuclear power plants, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, and the use of weapons outlawed by international law.

In a statement issued on February 28, 2022, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, acknowledged that “there is a reasonable basis to proceed with opening an investigation by the Court.”

On March 1, 2022, the Prosecutor informed the Court of his intention to open an investigation. He subsequently announced on March 2, 2022, that the Court had received referrals by no less than 39 state parties to the ICC Statute calling upon the Court to open such an investigation against the Russian political and military leadership.

Palestinian spokespeople are expressing considerable concern and indignation that the international community, including those same international judicial bodies in which they actively engage, are immersed in the legal proceedings regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, rather than pursuing Israel.

Such Palestinian lamentations are misplaced, misleading, and manipulative. Compared to the massive, urgent, and severe humanitarian issues arising in the context of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, as formally stressed by the ICC Prosecutor in his official statements, the Palestinian issue deserves no comparison.

On the contrary, it is widely acknowledged that the Palestinian referrals to the Court do not stem from any genuine or substantive concern for human rights. They are part of the Palestinian political struggle to manipulate the international judicial organs within the international community to target and delegitimize Israel.

Noah Rothman: This Is Why Putin Thinks He Can Wait Out the West

The Biden White House is facing down the most dangerous geopolitical crisis in decades. In response to Moscow’s aggression, the West has imposed a commercial blockade on Russia. Whether Joe Biden believes this is an act of war or not is immaterial; the Kremlin apparently does. The president will now have to sustain that campaign and preserve public support for it. That’s no easy task, and Biden has not shown the capacity or willingness to absorb the political costs associated with securing American interests abroad. Vladimir Putin has every reason to believe that Biden’s resolve will break first.

For now, the balance of economic forces arrayed against Russia is overwhelming. The Russian economy is headed for default. The Ruble is fast approaching valuelessness, and access to hard currency as a hedge against skyrocketing Russian inflation has been curtailed. It is now a struggle to process a transaction in Russia, much less invest in its economy. More than 100 multinational firms have fled Russia. Iconic businesses such as McDonald’s and Pepsi—companies that famously helped open the Soviet economy to Western interests—have pulled the plug. Russia doesn’t just find itself back in the USSR. It has stumbled its way back into the Brezhnev era.

Though attacks on the Russian financial system will limit Moscow’s options, these measures generally transfer the pain of war onto the Russian public with the hope of degrading the citizenry’s tolerance for Vladimir Putin’s adventurism. But there are few indications that the Russian regime is sensitive to public-pressure campaigns. The Biden administration has, therefore, laudably refused to stop there. On Tuesday, the White House announced a ban on the U.S. import of Russian oil and petroleum products (the U.K. has done the same). That’s a crucial and largely unforeseen contribution to the global campaign aimed at limiting Russia’s ability to project power beyond its borders. But the cracks are already starting to show in the West’s resolve to sustain this crusade. Already, the demands of partisan politics are beginning to find their way into how the White House talks about its actions against Moscow.

When asked how he expects fuel prices will respond to curbs on Russian imports, Biden replied curtly, “they’re gonna go up.” He continued: “Can’t do much right now. Russia’s responsible.” Indeed, the Biden White House has trotted out an alliterative slogan for the present oil shock: “Putin’s price hike.” But Russia isn’t the only malign force conspiring to steal your wages. According to Biden, fossil-fuel producers are also to blame.

Alan M. Dershowitz: The Nobel Committee Should Give Zelensky the Peace Price Now

The prize is awarded only to living recipients. The question is, will Zelensky be alive in the fall? He himself has acknowledge that he is Russian's "number one target," and we know from tragic experience how Putin deals with his targets. They are poisoned, thrown out of windows and killed in other brutal and sometimes subtle ways.

Accordingly, the Nobel Committee should break with tradition, meet now and award Zelensky the prize.

This may not save his life, or the lives of heroic people of Ukraine, but it may make it just a little bit harder for Putin to incur the wrath of the entire world by murdering the holder of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Committee likes to say that its nomination is designed not only to award past actions, but also to influence the present and the future of peacemaking activities. No award could meet those criteria as effectively as the Peace Prize for Zelensky.

To be sure there have been other massacres and even genocides, but the invasion of an entirely peaceful nation cannot go unrecognized by a committee whose agenda includes rewarding the past and influencing the future.

So, the question is not whether Zelensky deserves the Prize. He does. The only question is when he should get it.

As the great Rabbi Hillel once said: "If not now, when?"

Sometimes, the only place to find stories that completely contradict the narrative of a racist Israel hell-bent on subjugating and destroying Palestinians is in Palestinian media itself.

Ma'an reported this week that there has been a 55% in exports of textile products manufactured in the Gaza Strip.

They quote the Israeli liaison to Gaza saying that it is working to implement an expanded civil policy towards Gaza by facilitating and improving operations at the Kerem Shalom goods crossing.

Beyond that, Israel is introducing additional measures to support and strengthen the textile industry in the Strip. Israel recently agreed to introduce a large machine for manufacturing fabrics into the Gaza Strip.

Usually when Israel haters are confronted with facts like this that contradict their narratives, they say something like "but Israel is only doing this for its own benefit." Indeed, Israel has every reason to improve the Gaza economy and to give Gazans a way to live dignified lives and jobs. But Gazans benefit as well. What is wrong with a win-win scenario?

Palestinians and anti-Israel activists think with a zero-sum mentality where if something is good for Israel it must be by definition bad for them. They cannot conceive that Jews don't think the same way.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Read all about it here!

Masarat, the The Palestinian Center for Policy Research and Strategic Studies, is a think-tank "specialized in formulating the strategic policies and studies."

A recent article about the war in Ukraine shows how warped Palestinian thinking is and how self-centered they are, and everything in the world revolves around them.

Written by Ghania Malhis, it is titled, "Which is more dangerous to humanity: Russia and China or the United States of America?"

Of course, she says it is the US. Her first example is that the US is the only nation to use an atom bomb.

Her second example of how terrible the US is is a doozy:

The United States of America - which defends human rights - along with a number of Western European democracies, closed its borders in the face of Eastern European Jews fleeing the Nazi massacres. To push them to the only outlet that was opened for them in Palestine, and the British Mandate supervised its preparation to receive them, and then recruit them into a functional state, needed by the colonial West to carry out the mission of an advanced military base at the center of the region to divide the the extended Arab-Islamic region. To undertake to perpetuate its fragmentation, impede its advancement, and prevent it from regaining its unity. And thus contribute to the perpetuation of imperialist hegemony over its capabilities.

That's a lot to unpack, all of it ahistorical nonsense. But to Palestinian thinking, the tragedy of the Holocaust wasn't that millions of Jews were killed, but that some of the survivors went to Palestine.

The rest of the article is equally insane, where she cherry picks things she doesn't like about the US while barely saying a negative word about China or Russia. What she says is through the bizarre lens of Palestinians being the center of the universe while justifying the Russian invasion:

And because we in Palestine have experienced more than the bitterness of forced uprooting from the homeland and the humiliation of asylum. And we are still living its woes for the eighth decade in a row. We and our brothers among the sons of the Arab peoples in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen are the most affected by the humanitarian repercussions of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A country that over many centuries constituted a vital part of Russian history and geography. It became independent from it in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disintegration of its states. And its political system mobilized to consolidate its independence and sovereignty by seeking to join the European Union and NATO, and Russia considered it an intolerable strategic threat to its national security.

Seriously - she says that Palestinians are the most affected by the Ukraine crisis. Not, you know, Ukrainians.

This is not an op-ed columnist, but a respected researcher who has written fairly widely in academic circles.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Read all about it here!

Israel's President Isaac Herzog met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday afternoon. Erdogan told the media that he believed that “this historic visit will be a turning point in relations between Turkey and Israel. Strengthening relations with the State of Israel has great value for our country.”

Predictably, Islamic Jihad issued a statement saying that they "strongly condemned the reception of the head of the Zionist entity, Isaac Herzog, in Turkey."

Hamas' condemnation didn't mention Turkey, though. They merely said thsat Hamas "followed with great concern the visits of officials and leaders of the Zionist entity to a number of Arab and Islamic countries, the most recent of which was the visits of the President of the Zionist entity, Isaac Herzog to a number of countries in the region."

Echoing the Elder of Zion myth, Hamas called on regional Muslim countries into "not giving the Zionist entity the opportunity to penetrate the region and tamper with the interests of its people."

Hamas is very nervous. If Turkey desires closer relations with Israel - and it does, as its economy is in bad shape - then Israel can demand that Turkey minimize its ties with the largest Palestinian terror group. Hamas gets lots of aid from Turkey. But even Turkish media has been cooling towards Hamas over the past year.

Assuming that Turkish-Israeli relations do well, as they had in the past, Hamas could be out in the cold.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Read all about it here!

03/09 Links Pt2: State Department Hire Oversaw UN’s Terrorist Textbook Program; The PLO has renounced all agreements with Israel, and why it doesn’t matter

From Ian:

The case for a Palestinian state is based on flawed moral logic

Consequently, the moral argument for Palestinian self-determination and statehood compete with moral arguments for Israel’s existence. If the moralists are correct, Israel’s crime was not in winning the war against Arab aggression in 1967, but its survival and victory in 1949.

As long as Palestinians are unwilling to renounce their intent to destroy Israel and reject reciprocity, why should Israel continue to make concessions?

Opponents of settlements have led us into the trap of believing that creating another Arab Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza will satisfy Arab demands for Israel’s elimination. Moreover, using moral arguments masks an even more confused belief that Israel and Jews are guilty for alleged crimes against the Palestinian people when the State of Israel was established, ensuing war and dislocation, Arab refugees and the failures of Palestinianism.

The UN and the media transformed the image of the PLO from a terrorist organization into a national liberation movement and a moral imperative. “One man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter” and “justice for Palestinians” became incantations of moral sophistry.

Arguments for a Palestinian state should be made on its merits, not on guilt-feelings, apologies for Israel’s existence and scorning Jews who live over the Green Line.

Fear-mongering by some Diaspora-minded Jews about what the goyim will say is shameful, not only because it denies the truth of Jewish claims, but it causes suffering to others.

Jewish and Israeli uber-moralists who oppose the Levy Report, which detailed Israel’s rights in the area by offering moral flicks instead of serious legal arguments ignore reality and undermine the purpose, ethos and sovereignty of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel.

In fact, “the two state solution,” rather than promoting peace, ensures that the conflict will continue by promoting the Palestinian narrative, the Nakba, the attempt to destroy Israel in 1948. “Ending the occupation,” as supporters of Palestinians claim, means the entire area “from the river to the sea.”

That is the moral issue.

State Department Hire Oversaw UN’s Terrorist Textbook Program

The Biden administration has hired the former director of a United Nations agency accused of promoting anti-Semitism and terrorism in Palestinian schools to help oversee refugee issues and U.N. reform at the State Department.

Elizabeth Campbell was hired as deputy assistant secretary of state at the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration last month, according to reports. From 2017 to 2022, Campbell served as Washington, D.C., director of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), a U.N. agency that runs schools for Palestinian children and has used textbooks that teach anti-Semitic and pro-terrorist views.

Campbell's appointment puts her in the position of working for the same State Department bureau that provides funding and oversight for the U.N. agency she previously helped run.

Rich Goldberg, a senior adviser with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the Biden administration's decision to hire Campbell shows it has no intention of demanding accountability from UNRWA.

"That is the height of outrage," said Goldberg, who worked on UNRWA reform issues as deputy chief of staff for former senator Mark Kirk. "It shows the Biden administration has zero agenda to achieve any semblance of reform at that agency."

Under Campbell's tenure, UNRWA was accused of disseminating anti-Semitic and anti-Israel literature. The Trump administration cut the agency's funding, and the European Parliament passed a resolution last April condemning UNRWA for textbooks that teach "hate speech and violence" in Palestinian schools run by the agency.

US pressure on UNRWA to stop incitement in education is US “forcing the Zionist narrative”

Israel Despised

Diatribes against Israel by Jews are hardly new. But French journalist Sylvain Cypel, who emigrated to Israel in time to become an IDF paratrooper before studying at the Hebrew University, has set a new low standard. His “The State of Israel vs. the Jews” recounts how twelve years of living in the Jewish State and confronting its “colonial attitudes” transformed him into a stanch anti-Zionist who takes evident delight in lacerating Israel.

For Cypel the Six-Day War was transformative. Not because it returned Jews to their Biblical homeland in Judea and Samaria (names nowhere mentioned by him) after two decades of Jordanian rule. Rather because it unleashed Israeli “colonization and occupation” that reflect the apartheid values of the Jewish state — which, as it happens, has a more diverse population (Jews, Muslims, Christians and Druze) than all Arab states combined.

So Israel became “a racist, bullying little superpower.” In Cypel’s warped vision it is “occupying another people’s land,” imposing ”a policy of dispossession and repression” upon cruelly conquered Palestinians. Its “colonial mentality of domination” protects settlers who nurture “an exalted, messianic view of the Land of Israel.” Cypel labels it a ”system of madness.”

His indictment does not stop there. Cypel imagines that “the effects of colonization and occupation have become deeply ingrained within the psyche of the colonizing society:” Israel. To support his spurious claim, he lacerates Ateret Cohanim as a “messianic” Jewish organization that has focused on the “Judaization” of Jerusalem’s Old City by “expelling as many of its Palestinian residents as possible.” In fact, Ateret Cohanim seeks to reclaim Jewish-owned property seized by Arabs during Israel’s independence war, when Jews were expelled from their Old City homes and prevented from returning until Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War nineteen years later.

Heading south, Cypel absurdly identifies Hebron, burial site of the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Jewish people and the first capital of ancient Israel, as “a place where [Israeli] racist oppression is at its worst.” (He ignores the horrific slaughter of dozens of Hebron Jews in 1929 by rioting Arabs.) He is oblivious to Hebron’s reality: seven hundred and fifty Jews are confined to a decrepit neighborhood in the old city, where they are outnumbered by thirty thousand Arabs. The prospering Arab sector of Hebron, inhabited by 200,000 Muslims (and no Jews), features shopping malls, a university, hotels and apartment complexes.

Ukraine and the bravery of the Ukrainian people are on our minds, and the topic of seemingly every news story. Everyone knows that Putin is evil, full stop. We are all aware that this ex-KGB man is committing war crimes, for instance hitting evacuation crossing points, murdering innocent civilians even as they attempt to flee. Ordinary Ukrainian citizens refuse to fold, resisting and hitting back however they can. Still, as the inexorable invasion of Ukraine winds on, this pervasive hero worship of the underdog Ukraine has left some Jews discomfited.

Some of the Jews made uncomfortable by the elevation of Ukrainians to hero status, grew up Jewish in Ukraine, or had relatives who did. Others tell bloodcurdling family stories of relatives murdered during bloodthirsty Ukrainian pogroms and massacres. We applaud the courage of the modern Ukrainian, but we remember the history, both old and new, of Jews in Ukraine.

There is Babi Yar, for example, that happened only 81 years ago. Some of us may have parents or grandparents who were alive when the massacre occurred. Others may be named for the kedoshim—the holy ones—who were murdered there.

But there is newer history even than Babi Yar. Katarina Matlin, a woman in her thirties, left Ukraine for the United States not so very long ago. Matlin can attest to the fact that Ukrainian antisemitism is still alive and kicking, both from personal experience and from monitoring what Ukrainians are saying on social media today. Responding to a question I asked on Facebook, “Is it in bad taste to talk about Jewish history as it relates to Ukraine while innocent Ukrainians are being slaughtered?” Katarina wrote:

I grew up in Ukraine. About electing a Jewish president… Jews have served in the highest echelons of governments in the most antisemitic countries throughout history. This is nothing new. Zelenskyy’s election doesn’t mean Ukraine got over its antisemitism. It’s no different than why they’d go to a Jewish doctor. Besides, Zelenskyy pointed out during his campaign that he married an ethnic Ukrainian and had his kids baptized in the Ukrainian Orthodox faith.

About current antisemitism… It’s as bad as it’s ever been. I don’t know why anyone would say that Ukraine suddenly shed its antisemitism. I’m a part of this generation and I could write a book about being on the receiving end of Ukrainian antisemitism. I’ve been reading local Ukrainian Facebook groups and they’re spewing venom at Jews just like they always have. They’re already blaming us for this war, just like they blamed us for bringing Hitler, the famine, disease, and every other misfortune.

Not every Jew who feels uneasy with Ukrainian hero worship lived there in recent times, like Katarina, or had a relative directly impacted by antisemitism in Ukraine. Some of us just feel a deep connection to Jewish history and to the Jewish people as a whole. Whether we are from Ukraine, Lithuania, or Morocco, we are one people from Israel, who have wandered in exile for thousands of years. When there is antisemitism, it doesn't matter where it happened or to whom. For us, it’s personal.

The awakening of national memory comes to us in different ways. For some of us, it is our reading that does it. What we learned has made us leery of applauding Ukrainian courage. We have read everything we can get our hands on about the history of the Jews of Ukraine. The stories and events stay with us.

Reading is not the only way to look on from afar and have history touch you. Many of us have listened to Survivor testimonies and may have spent time with Survivors. Herb Glatter (“80 last August 22nd and proud of it”), for example, will never forget his brother in-law Al’s story of survival:

My sister’s husband was a survivor of Auschwitz, Mauthausen, and Gusen. He rarely spoke about those times, perhaps with fellow Survivors, I don't know. I do recall him saying: "There were more Ukrainian than German guards in Auschwitz."

I have never viewed the testimony of him and his brother at the US Holocaust Museum (USHMM), but I have it. His granddaughter named her son Al in his honor, I still choke up when I hear that.

Herb’s story of Al the Survivor is an example of how the Holocaust touches all of the Jewish people. What happens to one of us, happens to all of us. And we have a long national memory.

That is precisely the problem. Some of us take umbrage with putting these memories aside, even temporarily, while innocent Ukrainians are under siege. Those inclined to forgive and forget, however, want us to put history on the backburner, and instead show support and sympathy.

We do sympathize. But we feel guilty, too. When we sympathize with the Ukrainian people, we feel as though we are betraying those who suffered or perished at the hands of Ukrainians. We feel like we are betraying ourselves as a people, looking away from an issue of tremendous national significance. Is it right to elevate the courageous Ukrainians above our own exquisitely appalling history and experience in Ukraine?

We can’t help our thoughts, even as we work to tamp them down. It is embarrassing to say these things aloud in this news cycle and climate, but some of us think them anyway. Should we dare to allude to such thoughts in public, we are sure to be deemed inappropriate and chastised by the others.

I hate to say it, but Karma is a . . . https://t.co/B9sY42Pbd7
— (((Varda Epstein))) (@VardaEpstein) March 7, 2022

I find it tasteless, and I'm holding my tongue, to bring it up while the entire people of Ukraine are being bombarded.
— Shimsha (@Shimsha5) March 7, 2022

I understand. That is why I held back until now. And I ache for what these people are going through and am furious with Putin. But the thought still does occur. Guess you're a better person than I.
— (((Varda Epstein))) (@VardaEpstein) March 7, 2022

Across the very wide spectrum of Jewish thought and opinion, we have those who for now, only see the horror of the present-day slaughter. Their hearts go out to the Ukrainian people without reserve. They are at peace with their natural inclination to sympathize with a victim, irrespective of history or even recent deeds. One Israel-based friend said, “I think now is not the moment. There are many Jews there, or were, as many are coming here now. IM"H (God willing) they will all come here.”

Two friends referenced Hagar and Ishmael in the desert as in Genesis 21:17:

And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her: 'What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.’

As my friend Sharon Katz explained:

Hashem heard the voice of the boy as he was (at that moment). We all know the violence and death brought on by Ishmael, but Hashem judged him at that moment.

** Fast forward thousands of years, Ukraine is a place drenched in Jewish blood, between Chelminicki, Babi Yar, and thousands of pogroms throughout the centuries. It was a BAD place for Jews.

** ** Fast forward further to 2022, Ukraine has a thriving Jewish community and Jews have made a comfortable place for themselves there. I don't know what will happen in the future, if this determined country can survive, with G-d's help, and if it does, if it will continue to be kind to the Jews. But I know that Hashem judges people in THE MOMENT, and at this moment, He is deciding whether they are worthy of His mercy and help.

This is a beautiful thought, well-expressed and persuasive. And still, some of us see “THE MOMENT” differently. Our eyes are drawn to certain parts of certain news pieces. How Zelenskyy does not feel that Bennett has wrapped himself in the Ukrainian flag.

Why this criticism of the Israeli prime minister? We are all in awe of Zelenskyy's stand against the Russian giant, but as one friend put it, “A Jew leading a non-Jewish country is always a Jew who is out-goying the goy.”

It’s not just Zelenskyy who criticized Israel, of course. There is the Ukrainian ambassador to Israel who suggested that not enough Jewish dollars have been sent to Ukraine. "I am trying to be diplomatic," said Yevgen Korniychuk. “. . . we have received more help from other partners in the world than [from] Israel but we hope that decisions will be taken and there will be more aid from Israel in the coming days."

When more aid did arrive from Israel, Korniychuk continued in his tirade against the Jewish State.

“I don’t understand the limitations that Israel imposes.” Korniychuk said conversations were ongoing over a possible acquisition of protective gear from Israel, and donned a helmet as an example.

“Explain to me how it’s possible to kill with this,” Korniychuk said of the helmet.

We don’t need to explain anything to Korniychuk. Israel has taken in more refugees than any country in the West that does not share a border with Ukraine. Our Torah observant prime minister, viewing the situation as a matter of life and death, traveled on the holy Sabbath to mediate between Russia and Ukraine. Israel has sent 100 tons of aid to Ukraine, and is also there on the ground, setting up field hospitals, and helping however it can.

Aside from the criticisms of the quantity and quality of Israel’s support for Ukraine, Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba accused the Jews of taking blood money, that old and ever-popular antisemitic trope. Kuleba went to the press to take El Al to task for accepting payments via the Russian banking system 'Mir' in an effort to evade sanctions. Except that never happened.

In a now deleted tweet, Kuleba showed a screenshot of the El Al website as “proof” of his false assertions, writing, "While the world sanctions Russia for its barbaric atrocities in Ukraine, some prefer to make money soaked in Ukrainian blood. Here is @EL_AL_ISRAEL accepting payments in Russian banking system ‘Mir’ designed to evade sanctions. Immoral and a blow to Ukrainian-Israeli relations.”

If only Kuleba had cared to check, responded the airline, he would have discovered that Mir had been blocked by El Al since February 28.

With so many Ukrainian government officials criticizing Israel without basis and with such overt nastiness, it is difficult to view today’s Ukraine as any different than the Ukraine of the past, as it relates to antisemitism and the Jewish experience. Certainly Ukraine is in a terrible situation, but then so is Israel and it is simply not plausible that Ukrainian officials fail to understand this.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Israel had no choice but to reach a strategic agreement with Russia to fight against Iran and its proxies. In protecting itself from terrorist aggression, Israel must consider Russia’s presence in Syria and secure Mr. Putin’s agreement for airstrikes against targets there. This arrangement, which began under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, renders Israel dependent on Russia’s goodwill even now, during Mr. Putin’s worst aggressions to date.

We are doing the best we can, and still Ukraine and Ukrainians curse us, the Jews of the Jewish State of Israel.

But it doesn’t matter. Our hearts still bleed to see Putin’s reign of terror over the citizens of the Ukraine on our screens. We still find ways to give to and support the Ukrainians, in spite of the vicious nature of the past, in spite of the reluctance of some of us to let go of history and the memory of our sojourn in the Ukraine. Because that is who we are.

There may be some of us that are of two minds about the hero worship of Ukraine and Ukrainians. Nonetheless, what’s wrong is wrong.

This invasion is wrong.

And Putin is a very evil man.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Read all about it here!