Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, June 07, 2022

Abbas spokesman: Jews visiting the Temple Mount are "invasions, not visits"

From the official Palestinian Wafa news agency:

The daily storming by Jewish extremists into the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque and its courtyards, which are rejected and condemned, has become an invasion and not simply a visit, today said the spokesman for the Palestinian presidency, Nabil Abu Rudeineh.

He stressed the importance of preserving the legal and historical status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque, warning that the continuation of this invasion would turn the conflict into a religious war with serious repercussions.

He called on the US administration to assume its responsibilities and compel Israel to stop its escalation and storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque before it is too late.

He pointed out that the continuation of double international standards and ignoring United Nations resolutions have become a cover and protection for incursions and blatant Israeli violations of international law, which encourages the occupying power to persist in its crimes.

So Jews peacefully visiting the Temple Mount, walking around its perimeter, not bothering any of the Muslims there, not interfering with any Muslim religious rites, are characterized as "invading."

And the only people who keep warning about a religious war are the Palestinians who insist on using war terminology like "invasion" to characterize quiet and peaceful visits.

The people who want a religious war are the ones who say Jews walking and quietly praying is an unacceptable event - while hurling rocks and firecrackers, playing soccer and volleyball, and waving the Hamas flag are the proper ways to honor the holiness of the site.

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06/06 Links: UN and PLO are the cause of journalist Akleh's death; Saudi Arabia Engaging in ‘Serious Talks’ with Israel; The 1967 Six Day War: Why it matters

From Ian:

David Singer: UN and PLO are the cause of journalist Akleh's death

CNN at least used the word “suggests” rather than “establishes”.

Not so Al Jazeera which headlined its report:
“Shireen Abu Akleh: Al Jazeera reporter killed by Israeli forces”

A later statement from Al Jazeera indicated it had not resiled from its unproven claim:
“In addition to the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh by the Israeli Occupation Forces outside Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank on May 11, 2022, the case file will also include the Israeli bombing and total destruction of Al Jazeera’s office in Gaza in May 2021, as well as the continuous incitements and attacks on its journalists operating in the occupied Palestinian territories”.

No mention was made of Israel’s claim that the Gazan building housing Al Jazeera: "contained military assets belonging to Hamas military intelligence,"

The Jenin refugee camp should have been closed after it came under the PLO’s administration in 1995 with its 14000 occupants being resettled in Jenin or other 'West Bank' Arab towns and villages.

The UN has never called for Jenin Camp’s closure –despite UNRWA labelling it as experiencing:“one of the highest rates of unemployment and poverty among the 19 West Bank refugee camps.”

Nor does the UN question why those 19 refugee camps are open today – being located in the territory of Areas A and B – called Palestine by that body and a non-member observer state of the UN.

The UN keeps repeating its mantra for a two-state solution- which Trump’s plan provides for – but refuses to call on the PLO to negotiate with Israel on the final contours of Trump’s proposed new State.

Instead the UN continues to take note of the quarterly reports prepared by Tor Wennesland - United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process – detailing the cycle of violence that peace negotiations could have helped prevent.

The UN and the PLO have a lot to answer for the bullet that killed Shireen Abu Akleh.

House letter calls for ‘independent investigation’ of Abu Akleh death

A group of House lawmakers is set to send a letter on Friday calling for an “independent investigation” of the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and urging the Palestinian Authority to turn over evidence to assist the inquiry.

Twenty-four House members — 14 Democrats and 10 Republicans — have signed onto the letter, organized by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and obtained by Jewish Insider, to Secretary of State Tony Blinken encouraging him to take steps to facilitate an independent inquiry into the Al Jazeera reporter’s death.

“The Palestinian Authority was quick to ‘reject and refuse the participation of any Israelis in this kind of investigation,’” the letter reads, citing an Al Jazeera report. “Without access to the bullet that the Israelis have requested as part of an independent investigation, it is impossible to determine all the facts. This obstinate position serves no one, and will preclude any final determination of responsibility. One-sided releases of information will not get us closer to the truth.”

The letter adds that “Recent sensationalist media accounts of the incident have not served the cause of truth. Only an independent investigation can resolve this situation, and provide solace to the families and all parties.”

Abu Akleh was killed in the West Bank town of Jenin during a raid by Israeli Defense Forces. The PA has accused Israel of intentionally killing Abu Akleh. Her employer, Al Jazeera, blamed Israel and has urged the International Criminal Court to investigate.

Israel has said Abu Akleh’s death occurred during an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants and that it cannot conclusively determine who the shooter was without the provision of the bullet that killed the reporter, which the PA has withheld.

“We urge you to ask the Palestinian Authority to provide access to the forensic evidence in Abu Akleh’s death for an independent investigation, so that all parties can reach a definitive conclusion about the events leading to her death, and hold all parties accountable,” the letter reads.

I am shocked, just shocked that @nytimes Editorial Board would entirely blame Israel for killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akhel, notwithstanding there is not a shred of evidence!https://t.co/SmQQkZNHBZ
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) June 4, 2022

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach!

I've been playing with an artificial intelligence art generator, and here was the best I could get it to do for Shavuot:

Maybe I should stick with cheesecake pictures.

Anyway, chag sameach!

I will not be blogging or tweeting from Friday night to Monday night.

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06/03 Links Pt2: Morningstar's ESG unit admits anti-Israel bias; Beinart, in New York Times, Aims at Maker of Iron Dome, Javelin While Misleading on Military Budget

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: From Washington to Jerusalem, the conspiracies are unravelling

Like every politician on the face of the planet, Netanyahu sought positive coverage from news organizations. The prosecution decided that this effort amounted to a solicitation of a bribe. Netanyahu signed regulatory decisions that affected a telecommunications firm owned by his friend. The prosecution decided this was a favor – a payment for positive coverage from his friend's news website. Unfortunately for the prosecution, Netanyahu received terrible coverage from the website. But no matter, the prosecutors simply updated the definition of bribery. They said Netanyahu received "undo responsiveness" from the website's management to his requests for better coverage, and that was now the definition of a bribe.

Over the first several months of the trial, prosecution witness after prosecution witness shred the claim. The website's management was not responsive to requests from Netanyahu or his spokesmen, not in absolute terms and not in comparison to requests from other politicians.

Over the past three months, the focus of the trial moved to the alleged regulatory favors Netanyahu provided his friend, who owned the telecommunications giant Bezeq along with his website. Here too, the prosecution's case has fallen apart. Netanyahu was a mere rubber stamp in the regulatory process. He gave no instructions to his underlings. There was no give, and no take. There was no bribe.

There are many different ways to view the prosecution's behavior. Some commentators argue that they never thought Netanyahu would risk going to trial and would simply cop a plea to avoid prison and slink off into the shadows, handing leadership of the country to someone else. Others claim that the prosecutors are simply stupid, or incompetent.

But judging from their behavior, Israel's legal fraternity was – and remains – rabidly political. They used every power they could conjure up to bring about Netanyahu's downfall. They invented laws just for him. They defined politics and journalism as criminal enterprises, to criminalize Netanyahu's non-criminal actions – which, it works out, he didn't even undertake. They trampled the very notion of the rule of law in their "ends justify the mean" campaign to force Netanyahu from power.

And just as in the case of Russiagate, the prosecutors and the police could never have conducted their legal coup d'etat without the media's full cooperation. Just as was the case with Trump and the US media, so in Netanyahu's case, the Israeli media was a full partner in the plot to overthrow Netanyahu. Throughout the two-year investigation, the media received a constant stream of illegal, and grossly distorted information from police interrogations which carefully selected reporters breathlessly reported daily on the evening news.

Israel's prosecutors tied their actions to the elections calendar to tilt the results against Netanyahu. And they succeeded. For four years, then-attorney general Mendelblit was the most powerful "politician" in Israel. And he won. Netanyahu was first paralyzed and weakened by the investigations, then critically wounded by the indictment, and finally forced from office.

Whether or not Netanyahu is exonerated, whether or not Sussman's acquittal was justified, the fact is that no verdict will bring justice or bridge the divides in American and Israeli societies. So long as the legal systems that created Russiagate and ousted Netanyahu from power remain corrupted by politicized bureaucrats, our societies will only grow more divided and unstable.

Beinart, in New York Times, Aims at Maker of Iron Dome, Javelin While Misleading on Military Budget

Unlike Beinart, I’m not going to cast aspersions on people’s motives. Yet it’s intriguing that the single defense contractor he names, Raytheon, is Israeli defense firm Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.’s partner in the development of the Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and SkyHunter interceptor systems and Tamir missiles that defend against incoming rockets, artillery, and mortars. Beinart is on record calling for elimination of the Jewish state and its replacement with a different country Beinart calls “Israel-Palestine,” “a Jewish home that is also, equally, a Palestinian home,” “a Jewish home that is not a Jewish state.”

Personally, I’m grateful Israelis are protected by defense systems of the sort built by Raytheon and Rafael. I’d think ties to Raytheon would be a plus in a potential Pentagon official, not a disqualifier.

Even Beinart concedes, “The Biden administration deserves credit for speedily arming Ukraine.” Who does Beinart think manufactured those arms that went to Ukraine? Without the defense contractors Beinart is casting aspersions on, the Ukrainians would be crushed under the tracks of Russian tanks. Raytheon, it turns out, also helps make the Javelin antitank missile that has been so useful to Ukraine in disabling Russian armor.

Modern weaponry requires extended research, development, manufacturing, testing, and training lead time. Without adequate military spending even in peacetime, speedily arming any country — Ukraine, Israel, the United States itself — that needs protection from an advancing tyrant becomes impossible. This was a point made memorably in 1938 by Winston Churchill in While England Slept and in 1940 by John F. Kennedy in Why England Slept. By the years those books were published, the realizations were, alas, too late to save much of European Jewry.

Posters that summarize proof that Palestinians killed Shireen Abu Akleh

I created a series of posters to summarize the main findings I mentioned in my video and followup posts.

The IDF was only in Jenin for perhaps 45 minutes that morning, it was not a large operation. They simply didn't have the time to take over buildings and set up sniper positions in a hostile environment. As we showed in other contexts, some Palestinian observers even identified the snipers all over Jenin as being militants.

Shireen was shot by Palestinian snipers in the buildings opposite her. I don't know if it was accidental or purposeful - they were about 185 meters away so they may have misidentified the helmeted Abu Akleh as a soldier - but the soldiers were in a different direction, and too far away to have fired the gunshots we heard in the videos.

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06/03 Links Pt1: Why the US won't stop appeasing the Palestinians; Blinken promotes an immoral Israeli-Palestinian moral equivalence; Demonization of Jews, not flag march, at fault for Jerusalem unrest

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: Why the US won't stop appeasing the Palestinians

Although such incitement has recently reached a crescendo, the P.A. routinely promulgates Nazi-style blood libels and "evil Jew" conspiracy lunacies; instructs its children that their highest calling is to kill Israelis and steal their land; and continues to pay terrorists' families a reward for murdering Israeli Jews.

In any sane and morally functioning universe, such people would therefore be treated as social and political pariahs, and be held to account for their murderous agenda.

So why is the Biden administration so determined instead to elevate them? Of course, there are elements within the administration of gross anti-Zionist or anti-Jewish hatred. Such bigotry marks many Palestinian supporters in progressive circles throughout the West.

But there is also a lethal refusal to face reality in the Middle East that has characterized American administrations, as well as governments in Britain and Europe, for many decades.

This has been fed by a fundamental misconception that the war of extermination waged against Israel is instead a conflict between two rival claims to the same area of land. To those wearing such blinders, the solution must therefore be a compromise between the two sides in which the land has to be shared.

But since this is in fact a war of extermination by the Palestinian side against Israel, all such attempts at compromise serve instead to legitimize, incentivize and reward its aggression – while punishing and weakening Israel for refusing to surrender to its existential foe.

The great fallacy of American and Western liberals is that this insistence on compromise is proof of their even-handedness.

The idea of equality, and thus moral equivalence, is a supposedly cardinal precept of liberal thought. In reality, it results in grotesque and amoral inequality. By insisting on equivalence between victim and aggressor, it always ends up favoring the aggressor and placing the victim in even greater jeopardy.

It's not possible to support the Palestinian cause without harming Israel. Palestinian supporters tell themselves they are helping those who have been deprived of a state of their own. In fact, they are aiding the potential invasion and theft of someone else's country.

Western liberals don't seem to realize it, but their support constitutes the Palestinians' last chance of destroying Israel. For the Arab world has largely deserted them, and instead of trying to destroy Israel, the Arab states are increasingly "normalizing" relations with it.

In short, the murderous Palestinian train has left the station. The Biden administration and other Western liberals – clinging to their ideologically twisted fantasies about creating a new world – are apparently the last people to know.

Biden Is No Friend of Israel

The real crime, one that represents a serious breach of the long-standing intelligence-sharing arrangements between the US and Israel, is that one of President Joe Biden's senior officials has been willing to betray the trust of such a close ally.

At a time when tensions are already running high between Iran and the West over the stalled nuclear talks, there are quite justifiable concerns in Israel that the leak will prompt Iran to exact revenge by attacking Israeli targets, even if it later transpires that Israel was not responsible for the assassination.

The timing of the leak also indicates an underlying willingness on the part of the Biden administration to undermine Israel when, in public, the White House is seeking to portray itself as an ally of Israel, as indicated by its recent seeming decision not to remove the IRGC from the US list of designated terrorist organisations.

As for motivation, it is unclear if the leak was deliberate, to harm Israel, or from not fully appreciating the jeopardy it could potentially cause Israel, an act which would reflect the Biden administration's profound lack of understanding as to what is at stake with the entire Iran issue.

The alternative universe of Palestinian 'sovereignty'

The real concern, then, is that a great many people are unwilling to learn, discern, analyze and evaluate our situation. It is much easier to just believe what the "underdog" has to say.

Realistically, though, what can come of such a delusional mindset?

H.L. Mencken, the cynical 20th-century American journalist and commentator, once famously said, "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people." I would suggest that no one is about to go broke overestimating the willingness of the Palestinians to depict an alternative universe in which their control of Jerusalem is blocked and thwarted by settler thugs.

We have heard rumors, for example, that the EU plans to construct a contiguous belt of structures that will link eastern Jerusalem (which includes the Old City) with Palestinian-controlled areas. Part of the reason for this is likely that the EU has adopted the Palestinians' delusional claims. The Europeans believe they will build on what is already "Palestine" – or, at least, ought to be "Palestine."

It is difficult for rational people to understand true irrationality, so I suspect that the Israeli leadership laughs off the sheer lunacy of the Palestinian vision. But there is a method to the Palestinians' madness, which is to formulate a false reality that the rest of the world buys into, and then insists Israel buy into it as well.

One of the challenges of true sovereignty is to do whatever it takes in order to protect that sovereignty. Israeli leaders will have to learn how to expose the delusions of the Palestinians and disabuse the world of their fantasies.

We have no choice but to enter their alternative universe and bring it back to reality.

A Muslim storms the Kotel and joins in Talmudic prayers

Arabic media is upset at this tweet from Mohammed al-Dhirabi, a trainer in the Council of Arab Economic Unity of the League of Arab States, who is visiting Israel.

Watanserb reported it this way:

Bragging about his Zionization, the Bahraini coach accredited to the Council of Arab Economic Unity of the League of Arab States, Muhammad Al Dhirabi, published a picture of him performing a Talmudic prayer next to a number of Jewish extremists at the Al-Buraq Wall, which the Zionists call “the Western Wall.”

Al-Dhirabi appeared in the photo, wearing a white cloak and a red shemagh, next to the wall, accompanied by a group of extremist Jews, performing their prayers.

The tweet is a greeting of Shabbat Shalom to all Jews.

Notice that the Jews have no problem with a Muslim praying at the Kotel with them. The contrast with the Muslim insistence that no Jews pray (or even visit) the Temple Mount could not be more striking.

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NPR has a segment pretending to analyze the very valid reasons why Palestinian terrorists from Jenin try to kill Jews in Tel Aviv cafes by interviewing his gracious host, one uncle of the terrorist who murdered three in a Tel Aviv cafe in April.

NPR justifies terror and humanizes terrorists.

What compelled a young Palestinian man to open fire at a bar in Tel Aviv last month? It was one of several deadly attacks in Israel that has sparked a military crackdown in the occupied West Bank, where a prominent journalist was recently killed covering an Israeli raid. NPR's Daniel Estrin visited the Jenin refugee camp to trace one early spark that ignited the latest flames.

DANIEL ESTRIN: Amin Khazem invites us to his rooftop porch in the Jenin refugee camp.

From your rooftop, you can see the whole camp.

AMIN KHAZEM: Yes.

ESTRIN: What are you growing here? All these rooftop plants, what are these?

KHAZEM: Small oranges.

ESTRIN: Amin is also raising two parrots ...And looking after his 5-year-old grandson, whose T-shirt, shorts and shoes feature the silhouette of an M-16.
Here, the culture in the refugee camp is a culture of jihad and martyrdom," Amin says. They carry the memories of their families' old villages, destroyed when Israel was created.

KHAZEM: (Speaking Arabic).

ESTRIN: Wow. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine - can't even count how many bullet holes are - oh, on that wall, too.

KHAZEM: From the Israeli army.

In his Twitter thread on the story, Estrin says that the IDF took over Khazem's rooftop in 2002 in Jenin - meaning that the bullet holes are likely from Palestinians shooting at the Israelis, not from the IDF. But he doesn't bother to clarify that in the NPR story.

ESTRIN: Scars from a major battle with Palestinian militia 20 years ago. It was the Palestinian uprising. Young men from this camp were going to Israel to carry out deadly attacks. Israel stormed the camp and destroyed hundreds of homes. Amin's 29-year-old nephew Raad watched all of this when he was this little boy's age. One night last month, Raad wasn't home in the camp.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) UNIDENTIFIED JOURNALIST: A Palestinian assailant opened fire inside a crowded Tel Aviv bar, killing three Israelis.

ESTRIN: Hundreds of Israeli officers and armed civilians launched a manhunt through the streets of Tel Aviv. Officers say they found Raad at dawn and killed him in a firefight.

KHAZEM: (Speaking Arabic).

ESTRIN: Amin says the family was shocked. Raad was a techie. He invested in Bitcoin and was financially stable. But his uncle says neighbors shot Raad in the legs several months ago in a dispute over a loan. He says Raad wanted to shoot them back, but the family convinced him to reconcile. He did, and a week later, he was in Tel Aviv. Did this personal anguish drive him to kill Israelis, knowing he likely wouldn't come back alive?

KHAZEM: (Speaking Arabic).

ESTRIN: Amin denies any connection. He says Israel links Palestinian attacks to personal hardship to undermine the fight for Palestinian rights. Raad's father was a senior commander in the Palestinian security forces, trained by the U.S. to round up gunmen, bring order and prepare the ground for an independent Palestine. But here, Palestinians are fed up with their own security forces who brought no security and no independence.

KHAZEM: (Speaking Arabic).

ESTRIN: He says, "we fell in love with the United Nations Security Council and the International Criminal Court in the Arab states and ended up with delusions. People have reached a dead end. There's no horizon that we we will be liberated without us liberating ourselves." He says the camp is full of guns.

It doesn't take much to realize that Ra'ad was humiliated at not being able to take revenge on being shot by his neighbors, but once his family convinced him not to, he had to regain his honor somehow - and killing Jews is always a reliable method to do that.

In fact, this was alluded to in a video from another of Ra'ad's uncles, who praised the murderer for shooting Israelis instead of his fellow Palestinians - which is what he wanted to do!

Khazem can be seen is in the background of this video of the other raving uncle.

Estrin simply accepted the words of the terrorist's uncle - which is the Palestinian narrative that justifies all murders of Jews as a natural response to Israeli actions.

Notice that they aren't featuring any interviews with the victims' families. Only the terrorists must be understood and sympathized with.

(h/t Daniel)

UPDATE: The first picture above has what looks like notone but two swastikas on Khazem's wall. (h/t Ian)

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Earlier this week, Haaretz published an op-ed by B. Michael which I still cannot tell if it is parody or not. Excerpts:

I’m a proud exilic Jew. I’m an internationalist and a cosmopolitan. I’m also devoid of any relationship to my geographic birthplace, and “land” to me is just the dirt in which food grows and people are buried. It doesn’t have a single milligram of sanctity, and it isn’t worth even a single drop of blood.
...
In our own day, we’ve learned that we owe our survival to being geographically dispersed rather than geographically concentrated. To diversity rather than unity. To communities rather than a state.

We’re really terrible at being a “nation.” We very quickly become as stupid, violent and greedy as most of the other nations of the world, and within a short time we brought destruction and exile on ourselves. Only there, in exile, do we regain the sense we lost and resume being a people that survives.

Apparently, being a majority doesn’t suit us – ruling, running an army and a state. We’re good at being a minority. Even a little persecution suits us. It brings out the best in us.

And now, we’re once again playing at being a “nation.” Ostensibly, that’s our eternal answer to the Holocaust that befell us. But in reality, it’s the continuation of the Holocaust. Not, heaven forbid, the burning of our bodies, only the crushing of our souls.

It’s the growth of another shoot from the Jewish tree that does harm to everyone around it. A rotten, poisonous brother of the Zealots, the Sicarii, Rabbi Akiva’s blind students and Simon bar Kochba’s foolish disciples. They ought to be called Jew-oids. They’re like Jews who took the trivial and wicked parts of Judaism and turned it into the essence.

... Consequently, there’s no choice but to admit that Zionism was a naïve mistake and to go into exile again to regain our strength and refresh our values.

B. Michael is the pen name of Michael Bryzon, a screenwriter and satirist. At first glance this seems like satire, but there is no punchline - and people with no sense of humor like Judith Butler also believe that the Diaspora is where Jews properly belong.

But satire or not, Arab media is reporting heavily about this article without the slightest doubt it is meant seriously. Many Haaretz articles excite Palestinians, but this one is being reproduced all over.

It reminds me of the interview last month where Ehud Barak expressed his worries about Israel making it successfully past its eighth decade. Arabic articles are still being published about the "curse of the eighth decade."

There is nothing wrong with self criticism, but the Arab world always misinterprets anyone asserting Israel has made mistakes as an indication of the demise of the Jewish state, rather than an indication of a thriving, open society.

The anti-Israel Arab world, humiliated at their inability to destroy Israel in 1948., pathetically grab onto any Jews who says that Jews will destroy the state themselves.

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06/02 Links Pt2: What if Israel treated America as America treats Israel?; Hamas-Loving, Israel-Hating Newspaper Publisher Successfully Lobbies Biden Admin To Create Muslim Outreach Post

From Ian:

What if Israel treated America as America treats Israel?

Israel enjoys a special relationship with the United States that dates back to its founding. That relationship, however, is sometimes a double-edged sword.

Most of the time, it works to Israel’s benefit. Still, the U.S. State Department, which opposed the creation of Israel, often treats Israel differently than any other democratic government by singling it out for criticism. If Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) behaved the same way towards the United States, news reports might sound something like this:
The MFA spokesperson said the Government of Israel expresses its condolences to the families of the massacre victims at the school in Uvalde, Texas. She also noted that the rate of gun deaths in Israel is about two per 100,000 residents compared to 12 per 100,000 in the United States, and the number of firearms per 100 Israelis is less than seven compared to more than 120 in the United States.

“In Israel, most Israeli men and women serve in the military, so they have been trained in the proper use of firearms,” she added. “Still, they cannot get permits for weapons until they are 21. Those without military training must wait until they are 27. Even then, applicants for licenses must typically work in security-related fields or live in a dangerous area.”

The spokesperson suggested the United States could learn from Israel’s experience, where applicants must go through a security check, take a shooting and gun safety course, and get a doctor to certify that they do not have a mental illness and are not taking it any medication that could impair alertness. In contrast to the ease of obtaining a gun in the U.S., 40% of all applications are rejected by the government.

Following a report of a U.S. drone strike that killed members of a wedding party in Somalia, the foreign minister called for a thorough investigation of the incident and said that military operations should be carried out with extreme care to avoid civilian casualties.

In response to President Joe Biden’s declaration that the United States would defend Taiwan against Chinese aggression, the MFA spokesperson said that China and the United States should “do everything possible to deescalate tensions.”

President Biden’s refusal to supply fighter jets to Ukraine prompted the MFA spokesperson to declare that this was a reminder of America’s failure to bomb the concentration camps during World War II when thousands of lives could have been saved.

After police shot yet another unarmed black man in the United States, the MFA spokesperson called on the United States to enact police reforms to prevent such tragedies.

Vivian Bercovici: On Being a Jewish Diplomat in Israel

I. The Middle
One evening, in the summer of 2015, I was invited along with ten or so European ambassadors to a dinner party in Herzliya. An affluent beach town just north of Tel Aviv, it was the favored location for many foreign diplomats’ residences.

The gathering was just what one would expect: canapes, fine wines, formal service, the sort of petit bourgeois fussiness that has become a hallmark of modern diplomacy. Diplomats, it is true, love to play fancy aristocrat.

At the time, Ayelet Shaked was Israel’s minister of justice, and she joined us for the first hour of the evening to discuss a hot topic in those days: the European Union’s plan to pass legislation requiring products made in the West Bank (those made by Jews, not Arabs) to be labelled as having originated in the Occupied Territories.

The intention, of course, was to pressure Israel to engage in what the EU considered to be serious talks to cede control over the West Bank in favor of Palestinian sovereignty. Sanctions targeting Israeli interests were one tool in their kit. This move also came at a time when the BDS movement was gaining momentum globally and presenting as a serious economic concern to Israel.

The EU ambassadors were—with few exceptions—enthusiastically supportive of the labelling initiative, but they restrained themselves with Shaked.

When the minister slipped away, we continued on to the main course, and the knives—literal and metaphorical—came out.

A robust discussion ensued, considering the merits and demerits of the “labelling” plan.

One ambassador turned to me, arms crossed, head atilt.

“Vivian, what are your personal views on the issue?”

At the time, I was serving as Canada’s ambassador to Israel.

“My personal views are no more relevant than those of anyone around this table,” I responded. “The views I represent are those of the Government of Canada.”

Clearly, the fact that I was Jewish was an issue for some.

“Why is it,” the ambassador continued to probe, “that 'you people' have such problems with labelling?”

Oh. My.

You people. Labelling. In Europe.

Hamas-Loving, Israel-Hating Newspaper Publisher Successfully Lobbies Biden Admin To Create Muslim Outreach Post

Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas created a Muslim community outreach position after meeting with an Arab-American activist who has cheered violence against Israel and praised the terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas.

Mayorkas met on March 18 with Arab American News publisher Osama Siblani, who has called Hamas and Hezbollah "freedom fighters," and other activists in Dearborn, Mich., over their concerns with racial profiling by the Department of Homeland Security. Siblani, who urged Arabs last month to fight Israel with "stones" and "guns," has lobbied DHS for years to appoint a liaison between the agency and Michigan’s robust Arab community. He praised Mayorkas after he announced the position on March 30.

"We were told to keep complaining," Siblani told his newspaper. "Mayorkas told us this time ‘we will do something about it' and he did."

The meeting emerges as Mayorkas faces scrutiny for a series of policy blunders. Republicans have called for Mayorkas's impeachment over his handling of a historic surge of illegal immigrants at the southern border. Republicans have also blasted him for forming a Disinformation Governance Board led by a Democratic activist who pushed disinformation about Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment about Mayokas’s meeting with Siblani and the other Arab-American leaders. Siblani’s inflammatory remarks were well documented before his sessions with Mayorkas.

The Anti-Defamation League has noted Siblani’s praise for Hamas and Hezbollah as "freedom fighters." He cheered when the the Iran-backed Hezbollah "delivered on its threat" to bomb Israel in September 2019. He reportedly praised Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, as the most "honorable man in the world."

Siblani has referred to Israel as "occupied Palestine" and claimed the "pro-Israeli lobby" owns Washington, D.C. Last year, he urged a boycott of a restaurant whose owner posted "Long Live Israel" on Facebook. His anti-Israel remarks last month were at a rally alongside Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.), the Washington Free Beacon reported. Siblani praised the fedayeen, or Islamic militants, fighting against Israel.

As President Biden prepares for his upcoming trip to Israel, the question of his promise to reopen the US Consulate in Jerusalem to serve the Palestinian population is coming up again.

Last year, Israeli officials suggested that while opening it up in Jerusalem is an affront to the Israeli claim to Jerusalem, they have no problem if the US opens it up in the de facto capital of the Palestinian Authority of Ramallah.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman of Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas rejected the idea, saying, "We will only accept a U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, the capital of the Palestinian state."

But consulates aren't opened in capitals. They are opened in other important cities. Capitals usually host embassies, not consulates.

Meaning that if the Palestinian Authority insists that Jerusalem is their capital, they should insist that a US consulate be opened in Ramallah or Nablus or Hebron, and that eventually - in their hope - an embassy would be opened in Jerusalem.

As usual with Palestinians, facts are not a factor. Everything is about symbolism. Many of their "red lines" are symbolic and have nothing to do with their ostensible demand for a Palestinian state. Jerusalem isn't even mentioned in the PLO charter of 1968 - they created that demand to take Jerusalem away from Jews. Their insistence on Jerusalem being their capital is a completely different topic than statehood, and any links are imaginary.

And then we read this insanity:

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is considering suspending its recognition of Israel ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden's upcoming visit to Israel, Palestinian sources told Ynet on Thursday.

The Palestinian leadership has agreed on a tactic of gradually upping the ante against Jerusalem in a bid to stir international pressure and turn the screws on the White House in order to score lucrative overtures from the Americans.

As part of the measures, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is considering adopting the Palestinian Central Council's decision to suspend its 1994 recognition of Israel until the latter withdraws from territories it seized in the 1967 Six-Day War and recognizes a Palestinian state within their border. Ramallah is also considering suspending security ties with Jerusalem.

Normal countries are penalized for acting against American interests. The Palestinians are not only rewarded for bad behavior - they expect to be rewarded for acting irresponsibly!

The West needs to distinguish between Palestinian demands and reality, and insist that they will not negotiate fantasies.

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Iranian Hackers Take Crucial Step Toward Destroying Israel: Disabling Website Of Haifa-Area Dry Cleaner (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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hacker Isfahan, Islamic Republic of Iran, June 2 - Online activists with skill in compromising the security of internet-connected remote computers celebrated a milestone today in the ongoing campaign to undo the Zionist project, now that they have succeeded in taking down the interface that a Kiryat Motzkin-based small laundry business uses to advertise its services, location, hours, and contact details.

The team of Iranian hackers exchanged high-fives and virtual congratulations upon crashing the website of Levi Dry Cleaning, run by local resident and second-generation proprietor Yehoshua Levi and his wife Nitza. Temporary neutralization of the enterprise's site marks one more important step in the generations-long effort to eliminate Jewish sovereignty on land that Islam once dominated; the existence of Israel represents a never-ending source of shame for those who associate Islamic superiority with everything good in the world. As soon as anyone notices the site not functioning, they will realize the enormity of Iran's capacity to penetrate Israel's cybernetworks.

Experts differ on when, if ever, the breach will gain the proprietors' attention. "Most of the online interface with customers takes place via WhatsApp and the business's Facebook Page," argued cybersecurity and defense commentator Moshe Sharatt. "I'm not sure they've even checked their website this year at all."

"It's bound to happen soon," countered network specialist Laura Itti. "They're going to have to change the banner about COVID-related policies, which haven't been relevant in months."

The hackers plan not to rest on their laurels after this accomplishment. "We've already identified a dozen other prime targets, of immense strategic value," boasted a hacker calling himself Chow Khamein. "There's a 24-hour billiards hall in Jerusalem that has lousy cybersecurity on its site - should be a cinch to hack that one and put up a message glorifying the Ayatollah and promising the demise of the Zionist Entity. That will bring our victory even closer."

Chow Khamein and his associates already envision the decoration they expect to receive from Tehran. "Medals, and maybe a computer-shaped trophy," suggested the hacker calling himself 4Chinzz. "Remember, we also took down that arrogant site advertising a two-for-one special at a family restaurant in Modi'in. Neutralizing evil of that magnitude deserves recognition, and maybe we can parlay this into more permanent work for the government. I could use a steady job. Maybe overseeing cybersecurity for a government ministry or two. But if the money's right I might consider selling secrets to the Mossad."

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06/02 Links Pt1: Israel, Saudi Arabia agree: Security arrangements in Straits of Tiran for flyover rights; How Can the Mere Presence of a Jew "Defile" the Al Aqsa Mosque?

From Ian:

Israel, Saudi Arabia agree: Security arrangements in Straits of Tiran for flyover rights

Israel is set to agree to new security arrangements allowing Egypt to transfer control of two islands in the Straits of Tiran to Saudi Arabia, which US President Joe Biden is expected to announce on his trip to the region at the end of the month.

There is currently a multinational force on the islands of Tiran and Sanafir, which Saudi Arabia does not want present once they control the islands.

Under a soon-to-be-announced deal, Israel will agree to have the forces stationed on what will remain Egyptian soil, several kilometers away.

In return, Saudi Arabia will allow Israeli airlines to fly over its airspace. Currently, only Israeli flights to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain can fly over Saudi Arabia, as well as Air India flights to and from Israel.

Background
The multinational force has patrolled the islands, strategically located at the opening of the Red Sea and the only shipping route to Eilat, since Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979. That condition came about because former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser blocked the Straits of Tiran in the lead-up to the 1967 Six Day War.

Saudi Arabia had originally given Egypt control of the islands in the 1950s, and Egypt agreed to return them in recent years. Israel also agreed, in principle, in 2016, but alternate security arrangements were not finalized.

The Biden administration has been working to bring about an agreement between the sides, as first reported in Axios last month.

No public meeting between Israel and Saudi officials is planned to announce the agreement, but Biden will present it as his administration’s achievement during his trip to the region, in which he is expected to visit Jerusalem and Riyadh, at the end of the month.

While not denying the negotiations, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan made that diplomatic relations with Israel are not on the immediate horizon.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, bin Farhan said: “We have always seen normalization as the end result for a path [to peace],” with the Palestinians.

Similarly, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid told the Magazine, in an interview to be published Friday, that norm

HRH the CP and PM #Salman_bin_Hamad meets with Israel’s Director General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, HE Alon Ushpiz @AlonUshpiz #Bahrain #Israel pic.twitter.com/R0abzRk1JI
— ????? ??? ??? ????? (@BahrainCPnews) June 2, 2022

JPost Editorial: Israel UAE trade agreement is a big deal

It’s a big deal for several reasons. First and foremost, it will boost economic ties between the two regional powerhouses, with trade already at an estimated $2.5 billion since ties were normalized. Marri, who forecasts that bilateral trade will hit more than $1 trillion over the next decade, declared that the deal “will create a new paradigm in the region.”

The agreement also serves as a model accord for future FTAs between Israel and Arab countries. Barbivay was spot-on when she hailed the historic importance of the “groundbreaking move,” saying it will serve as an “inspiration for the region” and “generate unlimited opportunities for business, for entrepreneurs from both countries.”

“Together we will remove barriers and promote comprehensive trade and new technologies, which will form a solid base for our joint path, will benefit citizens, and make it easier to do business,” she said, adding that it “can prove to nations and governments around the world that collaboration and dialogue are the best ways to turn challenges into opportunities.”

The Israel-UAE free trade agreement covers everything from regulation and customs to e-commerce and intellectual property rights. Some 96% of products traded between the countries – from food and agriculture to cosmetics and medication – will be exempt from customs duty, many immediately and others gradually.

In a significant step toward sealing the deal in January, Israel’s cabinet approved a joint Israel-UAE R&D fund to support tech projects involving Israeli and Emirati companies. Emirati Minister of State for Foreign Trade Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, who flew to Jerusalem last month to finalize the terms of the agreement and forecast that bilateral trade could double to $5b. by 2024, said it constituted “a new chapter in the history of the Middle East.”

“Our agreement will accelerate growth, create jobs and lead to a new era of peace, stability and prosperity across the region,” he tweeted. “Throughout the last 18 months, we have proven what can be achieved when disputes and differences are set aside.”

Israel’s Economy and Industry Ministry said bilateral trade with the UAE reached almost $900 million in 2021 – including products ranging from diamonds and minerals to electrical equipment and transportation materials.

Seth Frantzman: Israel and India Pledge to Strengthen Defense Cooperation

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz began his official visit to India on Thursday by paying tribute to fallen soldiers at the National War Memorial in New Delhi.

Gantz was then greeted by his Indian counterpart, Shri Rajnath Singh, as the two countries mark the 30th anniversary of their formal diplomatic relations and defense cooperation.

The ministers discussed global strategic challenges, military cooperation, defense industrial cooperation and joint R&D.

They also discussed a cooperation agreement signed between the Indian DRDO (Defense Research and Development Organization) and Israel’s Defense R&D Directorate, which will allow the expansion of technological collaboration between the countries by putting the focus on drones and defensive capabilities.

During the bilateral discussion, the ministers declared their intention to exploit Israel’s technological advancement and operational experience, as well as India’s extraordinary development and production capabilities.

In January, The New York Times wrote a story about a new documentary about the discovery and preservation of a remarkable color home movie.

Glenn Kurtz found the film reel in a corner of his parents’ closet in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., in 2009. It was in a dented aluminum canister.

Florida’s heat and humidity had nearly solidified the celluloid into a mass “like a hockey puck,” Kurtz said. But someone had transferred part of it onto VHS tape in the 1980s, so Kurtz could see what it contained: a home movie titled “Our Trip to Holland, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland, France and England, 1938.”

The 16-millimeter film, made by his grandfather, David Kurtz, on the eve of World War II, showed the Alps, quaint Dutch villages and three minutes of footage of a vibrant Jewish community in a Polish town.

Old men in yarmulkes, skinny boys in caps, girls with long braids. Smiling and joking. People pour through the large doors of a synagogue. There’s some shoving in a cafe and then, that’s it. The footage ends abruptly.

Kurtz, nevertheless, understood the value of the material as evidence of Jewish life in Poland just before the Holocaust. It would take him nearly a year to figure it out, but he discovered that the footage depicted Nasielsk, his grandfather’s birthplace, a town about 30 miles northwest of Warsaw that some 3,000 Jews called home before the war.

Fewer than 100 would survive it.

Now, the Dutch filmmaker Bianca Stigter has used the fragmentary, ephemeral footage to create “Three Minutes: A Lengthening,” a 70-minute feature film that helps to further define what and who were lost.

It isn't so easy to find the actual footage as a whole, but I found a lower-resolution version with some added background music.

The kids are excited, making faces, jumping into the view, even hitting each other. Men and women help their elderly parents down the stairs of the synagogue. It is all utterly unremarkable except that nearly all of them would be gone within a few years.

This is a rare view of how dynamic and alive the Jews of pre-war Europe were, and how many distinct worlds were lost in the Holocaust.

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"Jewish Voice for Peace" espouses the blood libel - literally

The ADL tweeted this image from Jewish Voice for Peace's social media:

Yes, this is a literal blood libel, accusing Jews of drinking Palestinian blood.

It doesn't get more antisemitic than this.

Actually, maybe it does. At least one of the corpses wears a striped uniform that evokes Holocaust victims.

The Jews in the cartoon aren't just killing Palestinians for no reason - they are celebrating murdering people to steal their land.

Many of the comments to the ADL tweet double down on the antisemitism, or say that the ADL is distracting from supposed Israeli crimes. One even claims the blood libel was true.

When "anti-Zionists" excuse antisemitism, it tells you all you need to know about "anti-Zionists."

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