Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, May 31, 2022

05/31 Links Pt1: Meir Y. Soloveichik: ‘These Stones Are Not Silent’; Israel, UAE Boost Ties With Free Trade Pact; China threatens to downgrade Israel ties over 'Post' Taiwan interview

From Ian:

Meir Y. Soloveichik: ‘These Stones Are Not Silent’

Begin’s point is at once simple and profound, and what he wrote about the Western Wall is all the more true about the top of the Temple Mount itself, the site of “the great flame” and “the house that once stood” on that site. Are the stones silent or are they not? Is there still a profound Jewish connection to this site or not? If these stones are not silent, if they still whisper, “sending out their light across the generations,” how could a Jew possibly visit the sacred without being moved to prayer? And if the stones of the Temple Mount are indeed dead, silent, no longer linked to a living Judaism—if reverence for them is mere “old fashioned prejudice—then it makes sense to allow Jewish visitors as mere tourists, uttering nary a word, their silence paralleling those of the stones themselves. But then, why is the Western Wall itself a site of Jewish longing, and why should Jerusalem itself be of importance to Jews?

The question of what the Temple Mount embodies is bound up with the identity of the Jewish people, and of the State of Israel. Norman Podhoretz has suggested that the quest to divide Jerusalem is an attempt to assault the “scandal of Jewish particularity,” the notion that Jews have a unique destiny linked to one land on the earth. In the Bible, this “scandal” is made most manifest on the Temple Mount, where a universal God is described as choosing one mountain, among one people, as His eternal dwelling place.

It is just this that many seek to assault, denying the Jewish link to the land by seeking to ensure that the Mount remain devoid of Judaism if not of Jews. Begin similarly described the motivations of those who attempted to limit the sounding of the shofar and the singing of “Hatikvah” at the Wall: “Living testimony to a glorious past? A charter of rights hewn in ancient stone? Precisely for these reasons must the stones of the wall be taken from the Jews.” Thus a study of Jewish history reveals that the debate about Jewish rights in ancient Jerusalem, now as then, is linked to something larger: whether the Jewish reverence for this site, and the expressed longing for all that once occurred there, is mere “superstition,” or whether such faith is reified by the very stones that whisper still.

In the days before the May 6 Jewish pilgrimage, the newspapers of Israel, from the right-leaning Israel HaYom to the leftist Haaretz, published a poll revealing that at least 50 percent of Jewish Israelis believe that Jews should be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount. By the end of Independence Day, around 1,000 Jews had ascended to the Temple Mount, four times as many as those who had ascended on the last Independence Day before the pandemic. They were celebrated online by another minister of the government, Ayelet Shaked, heightening the contradictions in this coalition regarding a matter central to Israel’s identity. One fact is clear: The ancient stones are not silent, and the argument over the Temple Mount has only begun.

Jerusalem isn't unified until the Temple Mount is ours - opinion

When we promise not to forget Jerusalem, what is it that we conjure up in our minds and hearts? What is it that we associationally capture in order to never forget Jerusalem?

While we might have idealized visions of what the place might have looked like, we also have extensive descriptions of how the heart of the city appeared. That heart, that crown, was the Temple, of course. It was resplendent, magnificent and beckoning, yet also aloof.

If, as we learn, the nations of the world flocked to Jerusalem, it was not to visit the existing rendition of the Mahaneh Yehuda shuk (outdoor market). It was to be awestruck and moved by the presence of God’s abode on Earth: The Temple.

The Temple was the epitome of the magnificence of Jerusalem and Jerusalem as a place was indistinguishable from the Temple that crowned it. Today, we have been blessed to once again be part of the life of the city that we have sworn eternal association with. We can marvel at its old walls and we can explore, with head-shaking wonder, the newly unearthed tunnels and passages that link us to Davidic times.

But, alas, that which made Jerusalem the great city is no more, and even worse, we are hard-pressed to even visit the site of its crown. Today, those who respectfully wish to visit the Temple Mount, the enormous Herodian creation on which the Temple was built, will undergo a process of humiliation and debasement for their loyalty.

Ironically, while we triumphed miraculously some 55 years ago against an array of genocidal enemies and recaptured the Old City of Jerusalem, we almost immediately surrendered our greatest prize: the unfettered control of the Temple Mount. What ensued has been one of the greatest failures and embarrassments of the state of Israel: the willing severance of the connection of the Jewish people from its holiest site.

The Abraham Accords continues to fuel levels of cooperation between Israel and the Arab world that could not have been dreamed of two years ago.

Today, Israel and the UAE signed a free trade agreement - the first between Israel and an Arab country.

But even more amazing is that Saudi Arabia is now inviting Israeli businesspeople to the Kingdom, using their Israeli passports - and deals are being signed:

"Globes" has learned that, for months, Saudi Arabia has been permitting Israeli businesspeople - mainly representatives and managers of Israeli technology companies invited by the Saudis - to enter its territory on Israeli passports with special entry visas. The change that has taken place in recent months is the lifting of the blanket ban that had been in place, and easing of the special visa issue process.

Dozens of businesspeople have taken advantage of this opportunity and visited Riyadh, the economic center of Saudi Arabia, and also other places like Neom - the city of the future being built not far from the Red Sea coast.

These visits have spawned quite a few deals, including two desert agriculture deals worth millions of dollars....

These projects have significance for the entire Middle East, as they also demonstrate to other countries in the region Israel’s ability to assist in areas especially important to countries suffering from food shortages.

Saudis have been doing clandestine deals with Israeli companies for years, but those deals have been signed in other countries.

The article also notes that the Saudis have soured on the Palestinian cause, and there was outrage among the people at photos of Palestinians stockpiling and throwing stones and fireworks from the Al Aqsa Mosque in April.

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

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Felesteen, a Hamas newspaper, reports:

On Monday, a Palestinian official revealed the Palestinian Authority’s protest to regional and international parties, due to the marginalization of its role and the failure to communicate with it regarding the repercussions of the “flags march” in the occupied city of Jerusalem.

The official - who preferred not to be named - told the newspaper "Felesteen": "The office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has contacted Arab and international bodies, complaining to them that they have made [direct] contacts with the head of Hamas' political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, to calm the situation in the Palestinian territories after the "flags march." and the provocations of the settlers.

He added that "instructions were issued by the Office of the Presidency of the Authority to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Shtayyeh's government to intensify its efforts, in order to cut regional and international communication with the leaders of Hamas."

Haniyeh had received several Arab and international warnings demanding calming in the Palestinian arena, and not to be drawn into an explosive situation because of the "flags march", for fear of a new military confrontation between the Gaza Strip and the occupation.

The Palestinian Authority is upset because they want to maintain the fiction that they are the leaders of Gaza as well and all diplomatic communications to Hamas must go through them.

Needless to say, asking the PA government to pass a message along to their rivals would have been worse than useless.

These warnings worked. Hamas and other Palestinian groups were inciting a "religious war" less than a week before Yom Yerushalayim. Palestinian media was filled with promises that they would attack if the Flags March went on as planned.

It seems almost certain that Israel requested its Arab friends and contacts to warn Hamas not to attack, and that the consequences of such an attack would be severe.

A couple of years ago, Egypt would have been the only nation Israel could ask to pass such a message to Hamas. Today, Israel could have asked Bahrain, Morocco, the UAE and even (indirectly) Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar to pressure Hamas not to start a war.

Anti-Israel "experts" derided the Abraham Accords as a meaningless gesture when they were announced, saying that any agreement that doesn't directly include the Palestinians is worthless. They were wrong. Every month we see new direct an indirect benefits of the Accords.

This time, the Abraham Accords may have averted a war.

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

I have obviously spent a lot of time on the Shireen Abu Akleh story over the past couple of weeks, and I put together everything we know into this video.

The IDF could not have killed her, for reasons I describe.

It ended up taking 33 minutes but I think that it explains everything as well as possible, without getting too caught in the weeds. There are plenty of problems with the AP and CNN reports but this covers the basic issue - the distance from the gun to Shireen and who could have physically been that exact distance. (I could have added ten minutes on the idiocy of the CNN quoted "expert" who happens to hate Israel.)

I hope it helps people understand the issues.

If you want only the Powerpoint slides, I placed them here (with embedded video). Requires a Microsoft account.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: More evidence here. The two people closest to Shireen said that snipers shot at them from buildings across from them. There were no IDF troops in those buildings - but there were Palestinian terrorists.

UPDATE 2: I am told that the Duvedian unit in Jenin uses the M4 Commando 5.56mm 11.5 30+1. The muzzle speed is somewhat lower than the longer M4 or M16. My estimate is that the distance based on the audio analysis would be longer than I said in the video, about 196 meters, still lower than the 215 meters distance the IDF was known to have been. (h't DigFind)

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

05/30 Links Pt2: Jonathan Tobin: Why do young Americans give Israel the cold shoulder?; Half of Jewish Israelis back prayer on Temple Mount, mostly to ‘prove sovereignty’

From Ian:

Jonathan Tobin: Why do young Americans give Israel the cold shoulder?

As Gallup's numbers show, those trends were set in place long before Netanyahu and Obama were engaging in public quarrels. Moreover, Israel's continued presence in the West Bank has everything to do with repeated Palestinian rejections of Israeli offers of statehood and peace, and little to do with the policies of right-wing governments. Since, to this day, both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas reject the legitimacy of a Jewish state no matter where its borders are drawn, the continued "occupation" is their fault – not Netanyahu or the coalition led by Naftali Bennett that includes an Arab party that succeeded him a year ago.

The failure of American media, mainstream politicians and the foreign-policy establishment to accept these facts as most Israelis have done is why so many have accepted the false narrative about Palestinian victimization that has impacted public opinion.

Israel's polling problems can also be traced to the popularity of left-wing ideologies like critical race theory and intersectionality that have largely conquered college campuses and have now recently migrated to the public square. If you view Israelis and Jews as possessors of "white privilege" – though the majority of Jewish Israelis are people of color who trace their origins to former homes in the Middle East and North Africa – and think of Palestinian Arabs, rather than Jews as the indigenous people in the country, then you are likely to ignore the facts of the conflict or about the character of the movements that lead the Palestinians.

It's hardly surprising that these views are to be found more among young Americans and Democrats than among older ones or Republicans.

As to what to do about it, the notion that policy shifts regarding the Palestinians or Iran will make Israel more popular is a myth. The idea was discredited by what happened after it embraced the Oslo process that involved territorial surrenders, as well as by the aftermath of the complete withdrawal of every Israeli soldier, settler or settlement from Gaza by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2005.

Those efforts led to more terrorism and allowed the Palestinians to continue to dream of Israel's destruction. Rather than illustrating Israel's desire for peace or the Palestinian disinterest in it, it had the opposite effect. Each concession only strengthened the false narrative that Israel was a thief returning stolen property to the rightful owners and gave new life to an anti-Zionist movement whose goal is the elimination of the only Jewish state on the planet.

That demonstrates that what Israel needs is a more aggressive information policy grounded in arguments for Jewish rights and the truth about the nature of its opponents, not anodyne sentiments about a desire for peace or even attempts to distract the public from the conflict by talking about Israel's beauty or the value of its high-tech industry.

Israel will never convince "progressives" that believe it has no right to exist anymore than Palestinians will persuade the 30% of Americans who told Pew that they believe God gave the land of Israel to the Jewish people to forsake them. Instead, it must battle for those in the middle, pointing out that the toxic theories of the left are a permission slip for antisemitism and not advocacy for human rights. Any other approach will only ensure that the troubling trends among young people and Democrats will continue to get worse.

Our nation's capital throughout history - Jerusalem

Jerusalem and the Jewish people are so intertwined that telling the history of one is telling the history of the other. For more than 3,000 years, Jerusalem has played a central role in the history of the Jews, culturally, politically, and spiritually, a role first documented in the Scriptures. All through the 2,000 years of the diaspora, Jews have called Jerusalem their ancestral home. This sharply contrasts the relationship between Jerusalem and the new Islamists who artificially inflate Islam's links to Jerusalem.

The Arab rulers who controlled Jerusalem through the 1950s and 1960s demonstrated no religious tolerance in a city that gave birth to two major Western religions. That changed after the Six-Day War in 1967, when Israel regained control of the whole city. Symbolically, one of Israel's first steps was to officially recognize and respect all religious interests in Jerusalem. But the war for control of Jerusalem and its religious sites is not over.

Palestinian Arab terrorism has targeted Jerusalem particularly in an attempt to regain control of the city from Israel. The result is that they have turned Jerusalem, literally the City of Peace, into a bloody battleground and have thus forfeited their claim to share in the city's destiny.

Jerusalem’s Jewish Link: Historic, Religious, and Political

Jerusalem, wrote historian Sir Martin Gilbert, is not a ‘mere’ city. “It holds the central spiritual and physical place in the history of the Jews as a people.” For more than 3,000 years, the Jewish people have looked to Jerusalem as their spiritual, political, and historical capital, even when they did not physically rule over the city. Throughout its long history, Jerusalem has served, and still serves, as the political capital of only one nation – the one belonging to the Jews. Its prominence in Jewish history began in 1004 BCE, when King David declared the city the capital of the first Jewish kingdom. David’s successor and son, King Solomon, built the First Temple there, according to the Bible, as a holy place to worship the Almighty. Unfortunately, history would not be kind to the Jewish people. Four hundred and ten years after King Solomon completed construction of Jerusalem, the Babylonians (early ancestors to today’s Iraqis) seized and destroyed the city, forcing the Jews into exile. Fifty years later, the Jews, or Israelites as they were called, were permitted to return after Persia (present-day Iran) conquered Babylon. The Jews’ first order of business was to reclaim Jerusalem as their capital and rebuild the Holy Temple, recorded in history as the Second Temple.

Jerusalem was more than the Jewish kingdom’s political capital. It was a spiritual beacon. During the First and Second Temple periods, Jews throughout the kingdom would travel to Jerusalem three times yearly for the pilgrimages of the Jewish holy days of Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot, until the Roman Empire destroyed the Second Temple in 70 CE and ended Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem for the next 2,000 years. Despite that fate, Jews never relinquished their bond to Jerusalem or, for that matter, to Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel.

No matter where Jews lived throughout the world for those two millennia, their thoughts and prayers were directed toward Jerusalem. Even today, whether in Israel, the United States or anywhere else, Jewish ritual practice, holy day celebration and lifecycle events include recognition of Jerusalem as a core element of the Jewish experience. Consider that:
- Jews in prayer always turn toward Jerusalem.
- Arks (the sacred chests) that hold Torah scrolls in synagogues throughout the world face Jerusalem.
- Jews end Passover Seders each year with the words: “Next year in Jerusalem”; the same words are pronounced at the end of Yom Kippur, the most solemn day of the Jewish year.
- Three-week moratorium on weddings in the summer recalls the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army in 586 BCE. That period culminates in a special day of mourning – Tisha B’Av (the 9th day of the Hebrew month Av) – commemorating the destruction of both the First and Second Temples.
- Jewish wedding ceremonies – joyous occasions, are marked by sorrow over the loss of Jerusalem. The groom recites a biblical verse from the Babylonian Exile: “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning,” and breaks a glass in commemoration of the destruction of the Temples.

Even body language, often said to tell volumes about a person, reflects the importance of Jerusalem to Jews as a people and, arguably, the lower priority the city holds for Muslims:
- When Jews pray they face Jerusalem; in Jerusalem Israelis pray facing the Temple Mount.
- When Muslims pray, they face Mecca; in Jerusalem Muslims pray with their backs to the city.
- Even at burial, Muslims face toward Mecca.

Finally, consider the number of times Jerusalem is mentioned in the two religions' holy books:
- The Old Testament mentions ‘Jerusalem’ 349 times. Zion, another name for ‘Jerusalem,’ is mentioned 108 times.
- The Quran never mentions Jerusalem – not even once.

Even when others controlled Jerusalem, Jews maintained a physical presence in the city, despite being persecuted and impoverished. Before the advent of modern Zionism in the 1880s, Jews were moved by a form of religious Zionism to live in the Holy Land, settling particularly in four holy cities: Safed, Tiberias, Hebron, and most importantly – Jerusalem. Consequently, Jews constituted a majority of the city’s population for generations. In 1898, “In this City of the Jews, where the Jewish population outnumbers all others three to one …” Jews constituted 75 percent of the Old City population in what Secretary-General Kofi Annan called ‘East Jerusalem.’ In 1914, when the Ottoman Turks ruled the city, 45,000 Jews made up a majority of the 65,000 residents. And at the time of Israeli statehood in 1948, 100,000 Jews lived in the city, compared to only 65,000 Arabs. Prior to unification, Jordanian-controlled ‘East Jerusalem’ was a mere 6 square kilometers, compared to 38 square kilometers on the ‘Jewish side.’

Half of Jewish Israelis back prayer on Temple Mount, mostly to ‘prove sovereignty’

More Jewish Israelis support allowing Jews to pray on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem than oppose it, a recent survey has found.

Half of those polled by the Israel Democracy Institute said they supported Jewish prayer on the holy site, while 40 percent said they opposed it. The rest were not sure.

The poll, which was conducted last month, was first published shortly before Sunday’s Jerusalem Day, which police said saw a record-setting 2,600 Jews visit the Temple Mount.

Over the course of three days in late April, the IDI surveyed 601 people in Hebrew — a common means of collecting a Jewish polling group without asking for one’s religion directly — about their opinions regarding the Temple Mount and the restrictions against Jewish prayer on the esplanade under what is referred to as the “status quo.”

Generally, this arrangement is understood to mean that Muslims are permitted to visit and pray on the Temple Mount, while non-Muslims can only visit, not pray. The status quo has also been interpreted to refer to formal, organized Jewish services, not prayers said quietly by individuals.

The ban on prayer, as well as religious prohibitions against visits to the Temple Mount entirely, were once a matter of consensus among religious and secular Israelis, but in recent years, public opinion on the issues has begun to shift, save for among Israel’s ultra-Orthodox population, which still overwhelmingly accepts and supports these restrictions.

This is principally due to a growing belief that equates Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount with Israeli sovereignty over the site, widely considered the holiest spot for Jews, where two Temples once stood and where the biblical patriarch Abraham is said to have nearly sacrificed his son Isaac, before God intervened.

Amazingly joyful celebration of Jerusalem Day! With unexpectedly high number of participants and, despite Hamas threats, and contrary to Al-Jazeera "reporting", a successfully managed and peaceful celebration with no major problems. Hats off to Israeli police and Israeli public. https://t.co/B1UPsLp38j
— Judea Pearl (@yudapearl) May 29, 2022

74 years ago: World compliments Arabs on how humanely they ethically cleansed Jews from Jerusalem

This is the 74th anniversary of the surrender of the Old City of Jerusalem.

This article shows how both the Jordanians and the Swiss acted like the Arabs were supreme humanitarians - because they didn't massacre every man, woman and child and "allowed' them to leave their homes with only a few possessions.

This was ethnic cleansing.

Not a single Jew remained in the Jordanian administered part of Jerusalem for 19 years. But since Arabs are assumed to be vicious animals, when they act a little less horribly, everyone praises them.

And in another article in the Palestine Post on May 30, 1948:

Of course, within days some 50 synagogues were deliberately destroyed by the humane Transjordanians.

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Latest slander: "Israel indirectly used chemical weapons in Gaza"

From The Guardian:

An Israeli airstrike on an agrochemical warehouse during last year’s war in Gaza amounted to the “indirect deploying of chemical weapons”, according to a report analysing the attack and its impact.

Incendiary artillery shells fired by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) hit the large Khudair Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Tools warehouse in the north of the Gaza Strip on 15 May last year, setting fire to hundreds of tonnes of pesticides, fertilisers, plastics and nylons. The strike created a toxic plume, which engulfed an area of 5.7 sq km and has left local residents struggling with health issues, including two reports of miscarriages, and indications of environmental damage.

The extensive investigation, which involved analysing mobile phone and drone footage and CCTV, dozens of interviews with residents, and analysis from munitions and fluid dynamics experts, used 3D modelling of the warehouse to determine the circumstances of the attack.

It is the first publication by Palestinian human rights NGO Al-Haq’s newly established forensic architecture investigation unit, a first-of-its-kind collaboration in the Middle East with Forensic Architecture, a research agency based at Goldsmiths, University of London, which carries out spatial and media analysis for NGOs and in international human rights cases.

We've seen just a few months ago how Forensic Architecture suggests Israeli crimes by backing up nonsense assertions with the illusion of comprehensive research filled with impressive 3D modeling that doesn't prove anything. To the average observer, the sheer amount of "research" and effort seem to give support for their charges, but when you look at it carefully, it is simply smoke and mirrors.

In short, Forensic Architecture and Al Haq say that Israel fired the Elbit Systems M-150 smoke projectile several times towards the Khudair Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Tools warehouse. They show video that shows that the projectiles are indeed smoke projectiles, and they seem to come from artillery to the southeast.

Those are reasonable assumptions, backed by their evidence.

Then they go off the rails. They claim that this was a deliberate attempt to burn down the factory to cause an environmental disaster and ruin the lives of Gazans.

That is, of course, nonsense.

I am the first to admit that I have no idea why the IDF would use smoke munitions, usually used as a smokescreen for ground forces, in this attack. I do not know what was in the mind of the commander who decided to launch this attack, or what tactical advantage smoke munitions would provide.

One thing is clear, though: If Israel wanted to destroy the factory and cause an ecological disaster, this is the worst possible munition to use!

It took 8-9 minutes after two of the shells landed before a fire was started from materials igniting nearby. For most of the shells, no fire was started at all. If Israel wanted to blow up the factory, this is not the way any military commander would do it.

A firecracker would be more likely to ignite the chemicals than a smoke bomb.

The choice of munitions seems to indicate the opposite: that Israel wanted smoke, but no fire, in the factory. Perhaps it had intelligence that Hamas was building explosives with the factory's fertilizer, and wanted to stop the manufacturing while minimizing chances to burn down the factory.

The report quotes their go-to "expert" - the same one that CNN used to "prove" Israel shot Shireen Abu Akleh - Chris Cobb-Smith, to say that there is no military reason to use the smoke bomb.

Why would the army use it, then? The "expert" is silent. But his quote is framed to make it appear like it was a deliberate attempt to burn down the factory, which is absurd.

Of course, the anti-Israel Al Haq and Forensics Architecture did not look to investigate any alternative theory to the one that makes Israel look as bad as possible - a deliberate act of WMD against Gaza. They don't bother to explain the inexplicable of why Israel would choose the worst means to accomplish its nefarious goal.

Because they don't care about the truth. The entire report is meant to be make a completely ridiculous accusation, and assume that the audience's antisemitism is higher than their bullshit meter. Which it almost invariably is - because of reports like this being treated respectfully in outlets like The Guardian.

(h/t Adam Levick)

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

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Read all about it here!

05/30 Links Pt1: Israel to finalize UAE free trade agreement, a first with an Arab state; U.S. to Boost Ties with Palestinians after Shelving Jerusalem Consulate Reopening

From Ian:

Israel to finalize UAE free trade agreement, a first with an Arab state

Israel is set to finalize its free trade agreement with the United Arab Emirates in Dubai on Tuesday, marking the first time it has come to such a wide-ranging economic arrangement with an Arab state.

First FTA with an Arab state
“This is a visit of strategic importance to the economic relations between the State of Israel and the United Arab Emirates, in which I will sign the free trade agreement and promote a number of economic partnerships,” said Economy and Industry Minister Orna Barbivai, who will be in Dubai to sign the document.

“Together we will remove barriers and promote comprehensive trade and new technologies,” she said.

“This is a free, full, first trade agreement with an Arab state, which takes place so soon after the establishment of diplomatic relations.”

The agreement comes less than two years after Israel and the UAE established full diplomatic ties under the rubric of the Abraham Accords. Based on the accords, Israel also normalized ties with Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.

Israel also has a limited free-trade agreement with Jordan, but it does not reach the same level as this document, which is more along the lines of Israel’s FTAs with the United States and the European Union.

What does the FTA cover?
This agreement covers 96% of the trade between Israel and the UAE, which stood last year at $885 million.

That is more than double Israel’s $330m. in trade with Egypt in 2021, even though the two countries have had a peace agreement since 1979.

According to the Economy and Industry Ministry, the level of trade in 2020 stood at $120m. and at $1m. in 2010.

Seth Frantzman: UAE $10 billion investment in Jordan and Egypt is a game-changer

The UAE will allocate $10 billion to an investment fund linked to Egypt and Jordan, it was unveiled on Sunday. Khaleej Times reported that the fund will be called the Industrial Partnership for Sustainable Economic Growth.

Regional investment linking these countries together also relates to the larger context of peace and security in the region. This is because Egypt, the UAE and Jordan all have made peace with Israel. Insofar as those countries work together, it matters because they share interests in the region.

According to reports at The National, “a $10 billion investment fund has been allocated and managed by holding company ADQ to accelerate work on the partnership across five priority sectors, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, said in a joint [press] conference on Sunday in Abu Dhabi.”

Further, the report says that “the partnership identified five sectors of mutual interest to the three countries including petrochemicals; metals, minerals and downstream products; textiles; pharmaceuticals and agriculture, food and fertilizers.” This will mean the possibility of joint large industrial projects, job opportunities and a view of diversifying the economies of those countries.

The decisions are based on the directives of UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan; there are a lot of potential game-changers here. This is because the discussion regarding the investments link to security, safety and prosperity in the region and is pegged to building capabilities and growth.

The reports noted that the three nations signed the partnership agreement in Abu Dhabi in the presence of UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs Sheikh Mansouri bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Prime Minister of Jordan Dr. Bisher Al-Khasawneh and Egyptian Prime Minister Dr. Mostafa Madbouly.

Caroline Glick | Tikvah Conference 2022

On May 3, Reporters Without Borders released their annual rankings of World Press Freedom.

No one seems to have noticed that the abysmal record of the freedom of media in the Palestinian territories plummeted even further.

In the 2021 rankings, "Palestine" came in as #132 out of 180 with a score of 56.82.

In 2022, it fell to #170 with a score of 28.98.

Here are the countries that it is comparable to:

166 Saudi Arabia 33.71

167 Bahrain 30.97

168 Egypt 30.23

169 Yemen 29.14

170 Palestine 28.98

171 Syria 28.94

172 Iraq 28.59

173 Cuba 27.32

174 Vietnam 26.11

175 China 25.17

The media generally regards any news that comes out from China or Yemen or Syria or Saudi Arabia as being automatically suspect because everyone knows that those countries have heavy control of the media, both direct and indirect. Their official statements are treated like the propaganda it is.

Yet statements from the Palestinian Authority - the organization that controls and limits the media - are still treated respectfully. Their media is quoted as if they are Western-style liberal outlets when in fact they are suppressed and threatened if they say the wrong thing. And the readers of these Western articles that quote Palestinian sources are never told that the media is suspect.

Even worse, the prevailing atmosphere under both Palestinian Authority and Hamas rule is that everyone knows there are certain things they simply cannot say, as a reporter or to a reporter. In recent days I showed that Palestinian journalists and eyewitnesses are well aware that there were other militants in Jenin near where Shireen Abu Akleh was - but they will never say that to CNN or AP. Once the official narrative is established, you won't find anyone to publicly contradict it. I've documented dozens of cases of "eyewitnesses" who know what they are allowed to say and what they are not.

Also not mentioned in the report is that even foreign media is threatened to toe the government line, especially but not only in Gaza.

Perhaps the most absurd part is that the EU and UNESCO marked World Press Freedom Day with the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate in Ramallah this year, barely mentioning how terrible the situation is - but quick to blame Israel for the majority of issues with Palestinian press freedom.

The Palestinians have a narrative of blaming everything on Israel and downplaying the complete lack of freedoms under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas - and the world happily plays along, even when they know the truth.

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

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For Memorial Day, I found this incredible story of bravery performed by Captain Ben L. Salomon, who was a dentist serving as a surgeon during the Battle of Saipan, Mariana Islands in World War II:

Captain Ben L. Salomon was serving at Saipan, in the Marianas Islands on July 7, 1944, as the Surgeon for the 2nd Battalion, 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division. The Regiment’s 1st and 2d Battalions were attacked by an overwhelming force estimated between 3,000 and 5,000 Japanese soldiers. It was one of the largest attacks attempted in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Although both units fought furiously, the enemy soon penetrated the Battalions’ combined perimeter and inflicted overwhelming casualties. In the first minutes of the attack, approximately 30 wounded soldiers walked, crawled, or were carried into Captain Salomon’s aid station, and the small tent soon filled with wounded men. As the perimeter began to be overrun, it became increasingly difficult for Captain Salomon to work on the wounded. He then saw a Japanese soldier bayoneting one of the wounded soldiers lying near the tent. Firing from a squatting position, Captain Salomon quickly killed the enemy soldier. Then, as he turned his attention back to the wounded, two more Japanese soldiers appeared in the front entrance of the tent. As these enemy soldiers were killed, four more crawled under the tent walls. Rushing them, Captain Salomon kicked the knife out of the hand of one, shot another, and bayoneted a third. Captain Salomon butted the fourth enemy soldier in the stomach and a wounded comrade then shot and killed the enemy soldier. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Captain Salomon ordered the wounded to make their way as best they could back to the regimental aid station, while he attempted to hold off the enemy until they were clear. Captain Salomon then grabbed a rifle from one of the wounded and rushed out of the tent. After four men were killed while manning a machine gun, Captain Salomon took control of it. When his body was later found, 98 dead enemy soldiers were piled in front of his position.

Captain Salomon was denied a Medal of Honor for decades because a medic with a Red Cross emblem is not supposed to take arms under the Geneva Conventions, even when using them to save the lives of their patients. Finally, after years of lobbying, he was awarded the Medal of Honor by George W. Bush in 2002.

May his memory be a blessing.

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Palestinians held their own "Flag March" in Lebanon, culminating with burning Israeli and US flags

On Sunday, the Palestinian "People's Democratic Party" in Lebanon organized a Palestinian flag march in Sidon, Lebanon - because they love to copy the people they hate.

The march had the slogan "Carry your flag and come, all you lovers of Palestine."

The participants in the march raised Palestinian flags, chanted in support of Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa, and concluded in the time honored Palestinian tradition of burning the American and Israeli flags.

I wonder if we can call this "provocative" and therefore justify violence in response? Or does that only work one way?

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CNN investigator KNEW there were militants in the area where and when #ShireenAbuAkleh was shot - and didn't mention it in @CNN's report

Here's a tweet from Gianluca Mezzofiore, investigative journalist at CNN, on the morning of the death of Shireen Abu Akleh:

He had seen the TikTok video that showed Jenin militants near where Abu Akleh was shot to the southeast. He says it explicitly: "near where the Al-Jazeera journalist was shot."

Mezzofiore is one of the authors of the CNN hit piece saying Israel deliberately killed her.

The main evidence that Israel was responsible for her death is seen in this CNN graphic:

The militants to the southeast, who were exactly the correct distance to have shot her are simply airbrushed out of history. It isn't like CNN mentioned them and dismissed them as possible shooters - they don't even mention them as existing, saying that the only recorded positions of any Palestinian militants were due south of Abu Akleh.

That is a provable lie.

The article reiterates this:

[A]n investigation by CNN offers new evidence — including two videos of the scene of the shooting — that there was no active combat, nor any Palestinian militants, near Abu Akleh in the moments leading up to her death.

We can no longer assume that CNN was not aware of the video showing other militants. It was aware and actively decided not to mention them.

And then claim that they never existed.

CNN cannot credibly claim to have discounted the video based on a calculation of the time of day it was taken. The video of the militants is difficult to check for the time, but if I'm using SunCalc correctly, it was clearly within 15 minutes of Shireen's being shot. This is a comparison of the angle of the sun's shadow in the video (a wall parallel to the street) with what SunCalc says would be the shadow at 6:25 AM:

Is CNN actively withholding facts that undermine its predetermined conclusion that Israel is the only possible party that could have shot Shireen? Because this claim that there were no other militants in the area is a blatant lie on the part of the writers, not an oversight.

I tweeted Mezzifiore asking him why this was not mentioned in the article. No response as of this writing.

(h/t Jonah B)

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05/29 Links: Isaac Herzog: Jerusalem: City of heart and soul; Jerusalem Day: 25,000 people march through Old City with Israeli flags; Iraq’s Blood-Curdling Bill Targets Israel (and Its Own People)

From Ian:

Isaac Herzog: Jerusalem: City of heart and soul

When I was elected president of Israel, my wife Michal and I privately celebrated for another reason, besides the great responsibility and trust placed in me: the fact that from now on, we would have the privilege of living in Jerusalem, a city that has had a deep place in our hearts for many years.

Yes, it is a privilege to live in Jerusalem. And every morning over the past year, waking up in Jerusalem, we have felt a certain excitement, an excitement of the sort that only life in Jerusalem can provide.

The poet Yehuda Amichai, for whom Jerusalem was his heart and soul, wrote in one of his poems a verse that captures something of my feelings: “Jerusalem is a swing: sometimes I descend into the generations and sometimes I rise into the heavens.” And that’s Jerusalem: a city in which polar opposites, diversity and change are all fused with each other, lending it its unique character.

There is no other city in the world like Jerusalem. A city that people pine for, a city that they face to pray, and for whose sake they pray, a city to which so many look up. A city that serves as common ground but is often also a locus of frictions. A city that contains everything of everything: the spirit of sanctity and the vibrancy of day-to-day life.

Jerusalem is a city whose one million inhabitants reflect the entire mosaic of Israeli society and its complexity, a city whose name means “peace,” yet a city that has also known many wars.

Jerusalem Day is a symbol of one of the formative events in the city’s history. From the day that Jerusalem was unified, all parts of it have been growing and developing. And while safeguarding its sovereignty as the State of Israel’s capital, Jerusalem also promises freedom of worship for members of all religions, and no less importantly – a form of coexistence that does not diminish difference and tradition, and which brings to light the hidden power of our ability to live together and work together hand in hand.

Ethiopian Jews mourn the thousands who died on the journey to Israel

Immigration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata on Sunday said she was working to expand awareness about the thousands of Ethiopian Jews estimated to have died while immigrating to Israel, and to provide greater benefits to their families.

“As immigration and absorption minister, no decision has been more important for me than the decision to create dozens of memorial rooms that are scattered throughout the country to remember the Jews of Ethiopia who died along the way,” Tamano-Shata said, speaking at an annual memorial ceremony at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl cemetery. These efforts were made, she noted, in collaboration with local authorities and members of the Ethiopian community.

“Another important decision… was creating a team to put together assistance for the families of the fallen and to continue presenting the story of the journey and those that made it. Soon we should receive the committee’s recommendations,” she said.

Between 1979 and 1990, Israel organized several transport operations, bringing Ethiopian Jews to Israel via Sudan.

Some 4,000 people are estimated to have died on the trip — largely made by foot — from Ethiopia to the Sudanese camps from where they left to Israel, either on the march itself or in the camps, which had poor sanitation.

The names of some 1,700 people who died en route are engraved on a monument at Mount Herzl. Though more names are added to the monument each year, many are likely to remain forgotten.

Dore Gold: Yom Yerushalayim: Correcting a Historical Injustice

How are we to understand the meaning of Jerusalem Day, when we commemorate the reunification of our historical capital? In 1997 I served as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, and I asked for instruction from our foreign minister at the time, Ariel Sharon. He sent me back to the speech our first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, gave to the Knesset on Dec. 5, 1949.

Ben-Gurion was taking a historical decision at the end of the first Arab-Israeli War. He decided to move Israel’s capital from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Ben-Gurion was told by Israel’s closest friends not to undertake this move. According to UN General Assembly Resolution 181, Jerusalem was supposed to be a “separate entity” — a corpus separatum, in the language of the United Nations.

But what occurred in the war was that Jerusalem was surrounded by a coalition of Arab armies and bombarded by their artillery. The Jewish Quarter of the Old City was ethnically cleansed. Its great synagogues, some dating back to the 13th century, were leveled. What the war had proven was that if Jerusalem were not under Israel’s sovereignty and protection, the consequences would be catastrophic. Ben-Gurion told the Knesset:
“But for our successful stand against aggressor’s activity in defiance of the United Nations, Jewish Jerusalem would have been annihilated and the State of Israel would never have arisen.”

Ben-Gurion had a message to the world about Jerusalem:
“The people which has faithfully honored for 2,500 years the oath sworn by the first exiles by the Rivers of Babylon, not to forget Jerusalem — this people will never reconcile itself with separation from Jerusalem.”

Judaism has always been Zionist (posters)

There is a flip side to saying that anti-Zionism is antisemitism.

It is that Judaism is inherently Zionist.

Some posters I made .... and there are plenty more examples.

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Today is Jerusalem Day.

Like every other Sunday through Thursday, Jews are visiting the Temple Mount, although many more today than usual.

And like every other Sunday through Thursday, both Palestinian and Jordanian media are reacting with antisemitism, although more today than usual.

Jordan's Minister of Foreign Affairs issued a statement condemning Jews visiting the site:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates on Sunday condemned allowing Israeli extremists and a Knesset member to storm the Al-Aqsa Mosque/Haram Al Sharif compound, warning of escalation due to permitting an Israeli march scheduled to begin today in Jeusalem.

The Ministry's spokesperson Haitham Abu Alfoul said the Israeli raids, protected by the Israeli police, are a violation of the historical and legal status quo and the international law, stressing that Al-Aqsa Mosque is purely a place of worship for Muslims and that the Jordanian-run Waqf (endowments) and al-Aqsa Affairs Administration in Jerusalem has the exclusive jurisdiction to run all the affairs of the holy site.

In short, Judaism's holiest spot must be restricted to Muslims only.

The official Palestinian Authority statement went further, saying that any Jew who stepped foot on the Temple Mount was "desecrating Al Aqsa:"

Presidential Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said that "Israel is playing with fire irresponsibly and recklessly by allowing settlers to desecrate sanctities in occupied Jerusalem and escalate the killings."

Abu Rudeineh stressed that the road to security and peace in the region passes through meeting the rights of our people, stressing that Islamic and Christian sanctities are a red line, and their desecration can never be accepted.

It is rare for news media nowadays to recall what the Old City of Jerusalem was like in the 19 anomalous years that Arabs controlled it and created the so-called "status quo" of a Judenfrei Jerusalem.

The South China Morning Post, on July 3, 1978, journalist Barry Choi laid out the difference between how tolerant Israel is compared to how intolerant the Jordanians were:

Nothing has changed - but nowadays the news media is more likely to take the Arab side that anything Jews do in half of Jerusalem is illegal and immoral.

The antisemitism that was obvious even to a Chinese journalist in 1978 is the same we are seeing today - but the Western media take the side of the antisemites. Their coverage today says that "illegal settlement" is the lens through which to view Jerusalem - and the complete ethnic cleansing of Jews that today's Palestinians and Jordanians demand is not at all newsworthy.

(h/t Ahron Shapiro)

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!