Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Who Killed Abu Akleh and the Bullet they Wont Let Us See (Judean Rose)

Who killed Abu Akleh is an important question for some, and not at all for others, but no matter how you feel about the question, the answer lies with the bullet the PA does not want you to see. Some of those who want the answer to the question of who killed Abu Akleh may be desperate to prove Israel’s innocence or guilt. Others don’t care to know the answer at all, as long as they can smear the Jews. A third, likely much smaller group includes Elder of Ziyon, host of this column, who cares only to find the definitive truth, no matter where it leads. For the rest of us, however, there is no question of who killed Abu Akleh. There’s a bullet. The PA won’t allow Israel to examine it. Case closed.

It’s really very simple: if they won’t show us the bullet, Israel’s not guilty. End of story. That works for me, but it doesn’t work for everyone. Some of us need to see what is, and not what isn’t. The truth is more important than a cynical surmise.

At one point convinced that IDF gunfire was responsible for the Al Jazeera reporter’s death, for example, Elder laid out his reasoning, concluding with these words: “I hope that I can also always be on the side of the truth tellers.”

This is an admirable goal for an honest blogger swimming against a tide of anti-Israel hate. The fact, however, is that for many of us, attempting to answer the question of who killed Abu Akleh is moot. We know who killed her, if not their names, their allegiance. Because if it were Israel who had killed Abu Akleh, you’re darned tooting that the PA would be showing everyone and his dog that bullet, the one that would point a definitive finger at Israel. The fact that they—the PA—won’t show us that bullet is proof positive that Israel is of a certainty not responsible for the death of Abu Akleh.

At one point we might have been persuaded to believe that the PA lacks the expertise to know for sure who killed Abu Akleh. This would have been reason enough not to show anyone the bullet or Shireen’s helmet, for that matter. The PA may not be able to tell whodunnit, but could be concerned at the possibility that an outside ballistics expert might yet exonerate Israel. But this is a case of trying too hard to be impartial.

The world is not on Israel’s side. No matter what proof there is, the world will continue to finger Israel for the deliberate murder of a journalist who willingly entered a combat zone. So there really is no reason to hide that bullet. The world doesn’t even care about the truth. They only care about demonizing the Jewish State.

Let’s look at what we do know. On the same day that Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed, May 11, the Jerusalem Post reported that “An initial autopsy of her body by Palestinian coroners said that she died after a bullet that was fired several meters away struck her head. Dr. Ryan al-Ali of the Pathological Institute at the a-Najah University in Nablus was quoted by al-Jarmak TV channel as saying that they could not determine who had shot her.”

The next day, according to Ynet, a top Palestinian official—Hussein a-Sheikh—the Palestinian Authority's (PA) liaison to Israel, announced that “the Palestinian Authority will not transfer the bullet that killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh to a ballistic inspection in Israel, despite Jerusalem's call for a joint investigation of the incident.”

Despite the fact that PA coroners could not determine responsibility for Abu Akleh’s death, and in spite of the fact that the PA refused to show Israel the bullet, the media et al., not only claims that Israel killed Abu Akleh, but that we did it intentionally and with malice. Wikipedia, in its entry on Abu Akleh, states that the “Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that the IDF killed her.” Only way, way down the page on this very long entry do we learn the truth: Israel asked to examine the bullet, and the PA refused:

“The Palestinian Authority refused an Israeli request to conduct a joint investigation, insisting on the results of its own investigation which found that the IDF had deliberately killed Abu Akleh. The Palestinian Authority also refused requests to hand the bullet over to Israel for ballistic testing. The Israeli government identified the gun of a soldier which may have killed her but insisted that it could not determine which side had fired the fatal shot without the bullet. A bipartisan group of United States Congress members urged the Biden administration to press the Palestinian Authority to release the bullet for tests.

“Israeli Minister of Defense Benny Gantz said the IDF had requested that Palestinians let Israelis examine the bullet. Israel also suggested a joint probe into the death, which was rejected by the Palestinian Authority on the grounds that it wanted an independent investigation.”

Israel even admitted one of its soldiers may have been responsible, and still—STILL—the PA refuses to let anyone see the evidence. What conclusion can we draw other than that the bullet shows that in fact, Israel is not responsible for the death of Abu Akleh, an Al Jazeera journalist who, of her own free will, entered a conflict zone erupting with active gunfire to cover a story.

Those of us who are not military or ballistics expert may not be able to offer intelligent theories about the angle of the bullet or the distance of the gunshot from the unfortunate journalist, and we may not be able you a thing about muzzle speed. There is nothing we can add to the discussion of who was closer to Abu Akleh, the Jenin shooters, or the IDF soldiers. But we know that the PA won’t show us that bullet.

There is other evidence, of course. Elder of Ziyon has done a wonderful job of following leads, for example, uncovering eyewitness testimony suggesting there were no Israelis nearby and that Shireen was shot by snipers from a building (no IDF soldiers were shooting from buildings). EOZ also gave us a brilliant piece about bullet math, how the sheer number of bullets overwhelmingly suggest that it was not an Israeli gun that fired the shot that killed Abu Akleh.

Here in this blog, Elder also looked at errors of fact and omissions by online investigators like Bellingcat, and called them on it, too. Elder exposed the cherry-picking and outright lies of Time Magazine, CNN, the NY Times, the AP, and even Israeli fifth column Haaretz. This coverage is important. We can’t just let them lie and omit. We can’t let them smear us and not respond.

We can’t let reporters get away with it when they know there were Arab snipers in the vicinity of Abu Akleh, but hid that from the public. Elder didn’t. We can’t allow the coroner to retract his decision and tell the world that IDF soldiers shot Shireen with a gun they don’t use, a Ruger. Elder called them on it. And when members of Congress pressed the FBI to do an independent investigation of Abu Akleh’s death based on the fact that she was a US citizen, Elder was there to question whether the FBI would be in violation of its own long-standing policy should it do so (it would).

All of these issues were important to expose. And yet, in some ways, none of it matters. Because the PA is hiding that bullet, so we already know the truth. Susan Sarandon and Rashida Tlaib can spout all the hateful antisemitic lies about Israel they wish but we will still know the truth: Israel did not kill Abu Akleh, not intentionally, and certainly not by accident. Else the PA would be showing us that bullet, evidence of that literal smoking gun.

When will the world and those who stand by Apartheid Israel that continues to murder, torture and commit war crimes finally say: "Enough"?

Shireen Abu Akleh was murdered by a government that receives unconditional funding by our country with zero accountability. https://t.co/c2yLpM7UC1
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) May 11, 2022

Elder has also remarked on the refusal to share the bullet and the bias of the PA “investigation” into who killed Abu Akleh. He is certainly not naïve, but looks for proof of what is, rather than what isn’t, for example, that bullet they won’t let us see. His work is important and good and I am content to sit back and let the cynic in me watch him do all the heavy lifting, because as far as I’m concerned, I already know the truth, and the world does too, and if they say they don’t, they’re lying.

We know it wasn’t Israel who killed Abu Akleh, because it all boils down to the bullet that they, the PA, will not show you. That the world looks away from this fact is not a surprise—their hate for Israel and the Jewish people is nothing new. This inappropriate use of a reporter’s death to demonize the Jews and their state is just one more salvo in thousands of years’ worth of the same damned thing. All the haters are happy to have the truth hidden from you as they spout their anti-Jewish hate from their various platforms.

It doesn’t matter because they will not win. However it looks to your naked eyes, the collective they—the anti-Israel media, the celebrities, and everyday haters—have already lost and we have won, even as their guts grind inside them. Because we will always know the truth—that they hid the bullet—and we will always know why. The world knows this, too. They know they’ve lost and the Jews have won.

They can’t get away from it. The evidence confronts these haters smack in the face. The Jews have been winning for thousands of years.

The proof is we’re still here.

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!

Shatha Hanaysha is the woman who was next to Shireen Abu Akleh when she was shot.She has insisted that Israel targeted Abu Akleh deliberately, and has been telling all news media that story.

But she was involved in another shooting incident, in Jenin, only a few months ago.

Hanaysha, who works for the site UltraPal, had been covering clan clashes and "security chaos" in Jenin, where people wantonly shoot weapons all the time. She apparently upset someone with her reporting and they shot her car.

It was a death threat from the "shebab" of Jenin.

The Palestinian Media Forum denounced the shooting, saying it was "an attempt to deliver a message of threat and intimidation to her, for her coverage of the issues of lawlessness, family problems and the chaos of arms in Jenin Governorate on more than one occasion."

The Human Rights Institutions Association also condemned the shooting, saying that journalists are being targeted for their reporting.

By Palestinians.

At the same time that the world is reporting Hanaysha's lies that Israel targets journalists, she herself was targeted by the Palestinians who she doesn't want to blame. She is known for reporting on Jenin youth wildly shooting at people - but she doesn't want the world to know that part about Jenin.

I'm not saying that the Jenin terrorists targeted Abu Akleh or Hanaysha, but this proves that Jenin gunmen are known to threaten and intimidate journalists - with guns.

We've seen the wild shooting from Jenin youth.

The killing of Shireen Abu Akleh is more consistent with trigger-happy, immature youth with guns and inflated egos than with a professional army.

There is a lot of context about Jenin that the world is refusing to report, because the lie of Israel targeting civilians has become the mainstream narrative.

(h/t @iTil972)

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!

06/15 Links Pt1: The UN continues Israel-bashing after Biden promised to stop it; Landmark deal: Israel to export natural gas, via Egypt, to Europe

From Ian:

Richard Goldberg: The UN continues Israel-bashing after Biden promised to stop it

When the Biden administration last year reversed its predecessor’s decision to abandon the UN Human Rights Council, Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged his team would use diplomatic engagement to stop its focus on delegitimizing Israel. That promise remains unfulfilled — and the administration stands on the verge of complicity in UN-sponsored anti-Semitism.

If US diplomats can’t put an end to the council’s anti-Semitic circus in Geneva this month, Congress should put an end to US participation in the council.

After Hamas terrorists rained down thousands of rockets on Israeli civilians last year, forcing the democratically elected Israeli government to respond militarily to defend its citizens, the Human Rights Council voted to establish a commission of inquiry into Israel. It has a mandate not just to compile alleged human-rights abuses but to concoct a body of so-called evidence to buttress broader anti-Semitic efforts to label racist the very notion of a Jewish state.

Why does the mandate rise to the level of anti-Semitism? It meets the criteria of the US State Department-adopted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition. The alliance cites two prime examples of modern anti-Semitism: “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor” and “applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”

The Human Rights Council has long applied a double standard to Israel — the only country for which it has a dedicated agenda item. But its new commission’s mandate goes even further, aiming to produce a UN document that countries can cite to justify anti-Semitic claims that Zionism is racism.

Amb. Danny Danon: The investigators who should be investigated for their own crimes

The U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has just published an 18-page report on the May 2021 conflict between Hamas and Israel. From the outset, Israel knew the report’s conclusion was predetermined and rightly refused to cooperate with a biased investigation, labeling it “a moral stain on the international community and the U.N.” This assessment has proved correct.

The inquiry that led to the report—the first such inquiry to be open-ended—is led by Navi Pillay, a former UNHRC high commissioner who has spearheaded more investigations of Israel than of any other country in the world. She has a long history of anti-Israel statements. Miloon Kothari of India and Chris Sidoti, an Australian expert on international human-rights law, were also involved in the inquiry. Both of these individuals have documented records of anti-Israel bias.

No information has been provided as to how these three commissioners were appointed or who else was involved in drafting their report.

It is clear, however, thatsomehow these three individuals—none of whom set foot inside Israel over the course of their investigation—managed to draw firm conclusions about the conflict based solely on visits to Jordan and Geneva.

One wonders what the motives of these unelected officials might be. Given their history and clear hatred of Israel, it’s not hard to understand why their report is filled with lies.

The bias and absurdity of the report are made clear by a simple scan of the contents and the observation that throughout 18 pages of Israel-bashing only a handful of paragraphs are allocated to the atrocities committed by Arab terror organizations such as Hamas, which publicly declares that one of its goals is the complete destruction of the State of Israel. Given that the council has been outed time and again for its anti-Israel bias, it is unsurprising that the UNHRC report perpetuates and even intensifies this hostility towards the Jewish state.

In landmark deal signed in Cairo, Israel to export natural gas, via Egypt, to Europe

Israel, Egypt and the European Union signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday in Cairo that will see Israel export its natural gas to the bloc for the first time.

The landmark agreement will increase liquified natural gas sales to EU countries, which are aiming to reduce dependence on supply from Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.

Last year, the EU imported roughly 40 percent of its gas from Russia. It has faced energy difficulties since imposing sweeping sanctions on Moscow.

The agreement will see Israel send gas via Egypt, which has facilities to liquify it for export via sea.

Energy Minister Karine Elharrar said the signing of the MOU had cemented Israel’s role on the global energy stage.

“This is a tremendous moment in which little Israel is becoming a significant player in the global energy market,” Elharrar said.

Energy Minister Karine Elharrar, signs a deal to boost East Mediterranean gas exports to Europe with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Egyptian Minister of Petroleum Tarek El-Molla, in Cairo, Egypt, June 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil) In a joint news conference alongside European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and Egyptian Petroleum Minister Tarek el-Molla, Elharrar said the deal came about in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The memorandum ofunderstanding will allow Israel to export Israeli natural gas to Europe for the first time, and it is even more impressive when one looks at the string of significant agreements we have signed in the past year, positioning Israel and the Israeli energy and water economy as a key player in the world,” she said.

Caroline Glick: Time to help the Iranian people overthrow the regime

In this week’s episode of “Mideast News Hour” with Caroline Glick, she talks with Cameron Khansarinia, director of the National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI) in Washington, D.C., to discuss the latest round of national protests and the regime’s response.

From the protests and domestic repression, Glick and Khansarinia move to the IAEA’s announcement that the regime has crossed the nuclear threshold, mastered the nuclear enrichment cycle and has the independent capacity to build nuclear weapons without foreign assistance.

They also discuss what governments and private citizens can do to help the Iranian people free themselves and the world from this evil regime.

Academic journals allow themselves to be centers of anti-Israel propaganda

Here's another academic paper that is purely meant to smear Israel but hides behind a pretense of objectivity:

Vaccine apartheid and settler colonial sovereign violence: from Palestine to the colonial global economy

This article examines the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine both in Palestine and globally through a decolonial lens. In dominant Euro-American discourse, the invention, production, and distribution of the vaccine is largely judged as an indicator of sophisticated and advanced health care systems and economies. The underlying premise being that the advanced, wealthy, and capable nation-states have endogenously earned the position of power and prosperity. The world’s poor nation-states are posited as the recipients of charity from these rich states only after the latter have sufficiently inoculated themselves. The entire discourse turns the question of vaccines into a series of technical questions about capabilities, facilities, infrastructure, economic purchasing power, and so on. Concealed in this discourse is a settler colonial foundation – an aspiration towards omnipresent and absolute power – which not only creates the contrast between Palestinians and Israelis, rich and poor, colonizer and colonized, but also seals a forcefully imposed settler colonial contract in which colonizing populations ensure their ability to inoculate themselves by debilitating the colonized.

Ostensibly, the paper is about the larger question of whether it is fair or acceptable for rich states to ensure that their own populations are medically safe before offering help to poorer countries. That is a reasonable question and one worth exploring. (The answer is that the supreme obligation for any state is to protect its own citizens first.)

But the abstract makes it clear that this is only an excuse for attacking Israel. The very title, "Vaccine apartheid," is meant only for Israel. It pretends that the Palestinian issue the paradigm through which the entire world is viewed, when it is nothing of the sort - an analysis of how Australia and New Zealand gave vaccines to their own citizens before providing them to small island nations that depend on them would never been called "apartheid" and yet it is the model for how the entire world acted when vaccines were scarce.

I don't quite know how the paper includes "settler colonial sovereign violence" in this topic, but I bet that the paper does not mention:

1. The Palestinian Authority never asked for vaccines from Israel except in small amounts, which Israel gave them.

2. The PA claimed throughout the process that it will procure its own vaccines.

3. Israel inoculated tens of thousands of Palestinians who work in Israel.

4. The number of deaths per million remained lower in the Palestinian territories than in Israel even during the months that Israel had the vaccine and the PA did not.

This is nothing more than anti-Israel propaganda, and modern antisemites finding new venues to spout their hate.

Either Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory doesn't realize that it is being used - or it does. Given the state of social sciences today, I'm afraid it is the latter.

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!

When investigators like Bellingcat refuse to answer questions about their own methods, how can you trust their reporting?

A week ago I wrote a letter of complaint to Bellingcat about flaws in their investigation of the death of Shireen Abu Akleh using their published procedures.

Their site said, "We will acknowledge your complaint by e-mail or in writing within 7 calendar days and will normally respond to your complaint with a final decision letter within 21 calendar days. If we uphold your complaint, we will tell you the remedial actions we have taken."

I dutifully waited the seven calendar days and received no acknowledgement.

When I went back to their website, I discovered something amazing. The complaint procedure which has been displayed on their website since at least March 2019 had been removed within 24 hours of me filing a complaint against them last week.

(As of this writing, they have not yet removed that complaint procedure from their Russian language page.)

Bellingcat boasts, "With staff and contributors in more than 20 countries around the world, we operate in a unique field where advanced technology, forensic research, journalism, investigations, transparency and accountability come together." This incident casts doubt on whether they themselves are transparent or accountable.

Bellingcat has done some fantastic work. I went into this process in the hope that, given their commitment to objective investigative research, they would acknowledge the problems I uncovered with their investigation of the events in Jenin on May 11 and would issue corrections or clarifications. I don't expect any corrections from CNN or the Washington Post, but Bellingcat has a great reputation.

When this issue was brought up to Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins, he responded they are changing to a Dutch regulator because they are based in the Netherlands, but that is not a reason to leave themselves in a regulatory vacuum in the meanwhile.

I asked him if Bellingcat will respond to my letter. He dismissed my research:

We now have AP, CNN and the Washington Post saying the same thing as Bellingcat, and an initial look at your complaint indicates we'd be wasting our very valuable time responding to it as it's poor quality analysis.

This is an amazing response on a number of levels.

First of all, I've been in contact with other OSINT researchers as I've been uncovering facts about the case. While some have quibbled about some details - and I have modified my assertions as a result - none of them have disagreed with the main points that I have made: Bellingcat ignored known militants who were videoed in the area, Bellingcat didn't consider evidence of Palestinian snipers that they didn't have video of but that witnesses mentioned, and Bellingcat misunderstood the audio forensics expert and didn't measure distances to the IDF properly - and when done properly, that key piece of evidence actually disproves that the IDF could have fired the bullet that killed Shireen.

Secondly, to have him claim that the findings of the mainstream media who made the exact same mistakes as Bellingcat (in fact, they aped Bellingcat's methods) is evidence is astonishing.

Thirdly, the complaint process is meaningless if it can be ignored because the very people being accused of sloppy reporting can choose to ignore the complaint.

Higgins doubled down on his argument from authority:

I've had 10 years experience doing this work and have won multiple awards for doing so, so I'm going to rely on my own judgement on what's good & bad analysis, and save my staff valuable time giving detailed responses to it when it's only impressing people who want to believe it.

"I'm an expert! Trust me!" This is the exact opposite of what Bellingcat claims to be about!

If Bellingcat truly cared about the truth they would have eagerly responded to my list of issues, to either confirm or refute them. Ego should have no place in an organization that fearlessly uncovers the facts.

I am disappointed that Bellingcat would choose to drop its stated commitment to responding to complaints rather than to...respond to a complaint.

And if Bellingcat is so adamant about protecting its own reputation over finding the truth, then one must question its commitment to objectivity and transparency in all its reports.

UPDATE: I received a response from IMPRESS and they said that Bellingcat's contract with them recently expired. So it may be a coincidence that they removed the Complaints section that day, although I would guess that the contract expired previously and my letter prompted them to update the page.

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!

Jerusalem isn't in any country, according to The Weather Channel

The Weather Channel thinks Jerusalem isn't part of Israel. It's just part of something called the "Jerusalem District."

Israel has lots of districts. And sometimes the Jerusalem district is in Israel.

But some communities that are considered "settlements" have no district or country. They don't belong to anyone.

This becomes obvious when you search for "Ma'ale:"

Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem aren't part of the Jerusalem District. They are part of the "Jerusalem Governorate:"

The only other time Weather.com uses "governorate" is for towns in the Palestinian territories. (There are exceptions there - for some reason Jericho has no governorate.)

At least one Arab neighborhood in Jerusalem has no district or governorate:

While it is not consistent, it seems that the policy of the Weather Channel is that the Green Line divides Jerusalem, Jews who live across it are no longer in Israel, Arabs who live on the east side of the Green Line, even in Jerusalem, live in what will be a Palestinian state.

Accuweather says Jerusalem is in Israel. It lumps all the major settlements under "Jerusalem, IL" and doesn't list any that aren't near Jerusalem, like Ariel.

(h/t Allon)

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!

06/14 Links Pt2: Ben & Jerry’s requires new employees to watch lectures on Israeli-Palestinian conflict; Stacey Abrams Org. funded Israel-Hating Terrorist Sympathizer

From Ian:

Ben & Jerry’s requires new employees to watch lectures on Israeli-Palestinian conflict

New employees hired by Ben & Jerry’s are required to watch four video lectures featuring activists discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as part of their orientation, Jewish Insider has learned.

The videos are part of what the ice cream company dubbed “Scooper Series: Social Mission” and address racism in the U.S. and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to an employee who viewed the videos.

In a portion of one of the videos, which was reviewed by JI, Omar Shakir, who serves as Human Rights Watch’s Israel and Palestine director, attempts to explain Israel’s policies vis-a-vis the Palestinians.
“If you look at the recent escalation that took place in May of 2021, it started over discriminatory efforts to force Palestinians out of their homes in occupied East Jerusalem as part of this larger policy,” Shakir says in the video.

“The policy also extends to the Gaza Strip,” he continues. “Although the Israeli government withdrew its settler population and ground forces in 2005, the Israeli government continues to exercise control over Gaza. And our study of Israeli policy over the last 16 years shows that it sought as [well as] pursued a written policy of separation between Gaza and the West Bank. Its enforcement of this policy largely aims to prevent Gaza residents from moving to the West Bank as part of a policy to remove the large Palestinian population in Gaza — 2 million people living in a 25-by-seven-mile territory — off Israel’s demographic balance sheet.”

The ice cream company did not respond to a request for comment.

Shakir, who was expelled from Israel in 2019, had reportedly counseled the Ben & Jerry’s board last year, ahead of the ice cream company’s decision to stop selling its products in what it referred to as “Occupied Palestinian Territory.” Shakir did not respond to a request for comment.

How Stacey Abrams Helped Funnel Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars to an Israel-Hating Terrorist Sympathizer

Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams sits on the board of a foundation that funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to an anti-Israel activist who has praised terrorists and encouraged violence against Jews.

Abrams joined the Marguerite Casey Foundation board in May 2021, business filings show. Roughly six months later, the foundation announced its 2021 cohort of "Freedom Scholars," a group of "leading thinkers and scholars … in critical fields including abolitionist, Black, feminist, queer, radical, and anti-colonialist studies." Included in the group was UCLA professor Robin D.G. Kelley, a leading Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) activist who works with groups that collaborate with Palestinian terrorists.

Kelley, who received $250,000 through the program, praised the Palestine Liberation Organization—a U.S.-designated terror group—as "revolutionary combatants" and "models for those of us dedicated to Black liberation and socialism" in a 2016 article. Three years prior, Kelley encouraged Palestinians to use violence against Israelis, calling the notion that Palestinians should only protest non-violently a "bludgeon to beat down Palestinian organizations." Kelley also advises the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, a group that operates to advance the BDS movement on college campuses. The campaign's fiscal sponsor, Al-Awda, works with Palestinian terrorist organizations such as Hamas to grow BDS and routinely hosts convicted Islamic jihadists at its events, the Jerusalem Post reported in 2019.

Abrams’s role in funding Kelley provides a startling window into how the Democrat could handle the BDS movement and larger issues of anti-Semitism on Georgia’s college campuses should she defeat Gov. Brian Kemp (R.) in November. As governor, Abrams would appoint members to the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, which oversees the state’s public colleges and universities. Georgia legislators passed a law in 2016 that forbids the state from contracting a person or company that promotes a boycott of Israel, but a federal judge struck that law down in May 2021. Abrams opposed the law as a state representative and reportedly refused to meet with pro-Israel activists at the time.

It is unclear whether Abrams was directly involved with the grant to Kelley. When she joined the foundation's board in 2021, she emphasized that a major part of her role would be determining "how the philanthropic network targets its contributions." Neither Abrams nor the foundation responded to inquiries on her involvement with the Freedom Scholars program. Abrams has earned more than $52,000 from the foundation since 2020, her financial disclosures show.

In addition to Kelley's anti-Israel activism, the professor has called himself a "communist for life" and argued that capitalism is inherently racist. The Marguerite Casey Foundation also awarded $250,000 to a pair of academics—Angelica Chazaro and Ananya Roy—who advocate for the abolition of prisons and private property, respectively.

How Imprisoned ISIS Terrorists Obtain Cash and Legal Aid

Jihadist militants imprisoned in the United States are receiving cash and legal assistance from a website similar to Facebook that connects them with terrorist sympathizers and publicizes their location, including "GPS-coordinated satellite imagery of the facilities at which the inmates are held," according to a watchdog group.

"At least two incarcerated ISIS operatives maintain registered profiles on the website, suggesting the accounts were generated by the operatives themselves," according to a new investigation by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), a watchdog group that tracks jihadist behavior online. "Online ISIS supporters have raised awareness about ISIS operatives' profiles on the website, raising potential security risks." MEMRI is withholding the website's direct address to avoid aiding in its recruitment.

ISIS uses social media and the internet as a recruitment tool, and its online efforts to assist convicted terrorists in American prisons raise domestic "security risks," according to MEMRI. ISIS wants to establish a direct line between imprisoned terrorists and their supporters across the globe, allowing them to exchange information and potentially plot attacks. The prisoners are also receiving monetary support from the website, raising concerns that these funds are coming directly from ISIS affiliates.

The website allows these convicted terrorists to connect with other militants and ISIS sympathizers who can provide them with monetary assistance and legal help, according to the report. In-depth information about the federal detention centers where these inmates are held also is available on the site, making these locations vulnerable to a possible attack or other ISIS-backed operation.

"Chatter in pro-ISIS chat rooms about the website may raise security concerns for the facilities where the operatives are held," according to MEMRI. "The website provides addresses and GPS-coordinated satellite imagery of the facilities at which the inmates are held."

Inmates who join the site can "claim their criminal records" by providing photographic documentation and verifying their identity. Entries include contact information, links to similar websites, writings from these terrorists, and other information about their crimes.

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!

It is the 15th anniversary of the Hamas terror group taking over Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in a bloody mini-war. For 15 years, Gazans have lived under a dictatorial Islamist terror regime, that kills suspected "collaborators," gives perks to Hamas members, and steals international aid meant for the people.

So naturally, Human Rights Watch decided to use the occasion to issue yet another anti-Israel report, calling Gaza an "open-air prison."

Israel’s closure policy blocks most Gaza residents from going to the West Bank, preventing professionals, artists, athletes, students, and others from pursuing opportunities within Palestine and from traveling abroad via Israel, restricting their rights to work and an education. Restrictive Egyptian policies at its Rafah crossing with Gaza, including unnecessary delays and mistreatment of travelers, have exacerbated the closure’s harm to human rights.

To HRW, allowing terrorists to enter Israel freely so they can kill Israeli humans is the epitome of "human rights."

The report adds nothing new to HRW's long list of anti-Israel reports. In fact, it could have been written five years ago with little change. Even though Israel has given thousands of work permits to Gazans to work in Israel in the past year, this little fact is not mentioned in a report that is almost entirely about the restrictions on Gazans' freedom of movement.

That isn't the only omission. To HRW, Israel has no reason to treat Hamas as anything less thasn law-abiding moral citizens.

The report does not mention the word "rockets" once.

It also doesn't mention the arson kites, the balloons with incendiary devices meant to start fires in Israel, or the regular arms fire that reaches Israeli communities. It doesn't mention the attacks from Gazans who have entered Israel for medical reasons.

This is a report about Israeli restrictions on Gaza movement with barely a word as to why Israel might not want to allow Gazans to enter.

This is yet another reason why HRW cannot and should not be taken seriously.

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06/14 Links Pt1: The U.N. Abandons Impartiality; White House announces Biden trip to Israel, West Bank and Saudi Arabia July 13-16; 15 years of Hamas rule of Gaza

From Ian:

White House announces Biden trip to Israel, West Bank and Saudi Arabia July 13-16

The White House on Tuesday announced the dates for US President Joe Biden’s highly anticipated first trip to the Middle East, which will include stops in Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia from July 13 to July 16.

Biden accepted an invitation to visit Israel in late April. The trip was initially planned for late June, but was later delayed to July over what the White House said were scheduling issues. According to an Israeli official, those scheduling issues related to the Saudi leg of the trip, which was a later addition that exposed the president to criticism from some Democrats, who expected him to maintain a firm stance against Riyadh over its human rights record.

The trip will begin in Israel, where the president will meet with Israeli leaders, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. An Israeli official told The Times of Israel that Biden will meet with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz. The official added that Biden is also slated to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and East Jerusalem.

A senior Biden administration official briefing reporters on Monday said the president would likely tour a US-funded missile defense system in Israel in order to highlight White House efforts to secure an additional $1 billion in funding for Iron Dome battery replenishments after the May 2021 Gaza war. Biden will also “discuss new innovations between our countries that use laser technologies to defeat missiles and other airborne threats.”

The administration official said the Israel visit will also focus on the Jewish state’s “increasing integration into the region through the Abraham Accords — normalization agreements Jerusalem signed with the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco — through the strengthening of Israel’s ties with Israel and Egypt and through the creation of a new forum established by the Biden administration that includes the US, the UAE, Israel and India — the I2U2.”

The U.N. Abandons Impartiality

This COI contravenes the impartial standard Canada holds dear and violates the UN’s own standards dictating that those undertaking the investigations should “in all cases, have a proven record of independence and impartiality. It is also important to ensure that the background of candidates, prior public statements or political or other affiliations do not affect their independence or impartiality, or create perceptions of bias.”

South African jurist Navanethem Pillay was selected as chair of the UNHRC COI focused on Israel. Ms. Pillay has an impressive resumé that qualifies her generally to serve on COIs. Regarding Israel, however, she has a well-documented bias which, according to the UN’s own guidelines, should disqualify her from participating in this COI.

Justice Pillay has accused Israel of apartheid and claims to be “very pleased” with the BDS (boycott, disinvestment, sanction) campaign against Israel. Historically, Canadian Prime Ministers, conversely, have condemned this campaign, rightly calling it antisemitic. Pillay hailed the “huge victory” against Israel when the UNHRC issued a blacklist against companies doing business in the territories. She publicly supported probes into “Israel’s war crimes” and lent her signature to petitions demanding further investigations targeting Israel. Despite these and other demonstrations of her bias, the UNHRC nevertheless appointed her to chair the COI, a decision that, by exposing the bias of the UNHCR against the Jewish state, is itself deeply troubling.

Justice Pillay is certainly entitled to her views on Israel. But those views, expressed repeatedly and publicly, call her impartiality into question, and should disqualify her from this role.

While it has, unfortunately, become standard for the UN to ignore its own guidelines of impartiality when it comes to Israel, we expect more from our own government.

Canada should recognize and refute this failure publicly. Given Canada’s domestic experience regarding impartial COIs and clear foreign policy values of supporting the credibility of international institutions, we call on our government to reject the findings of this biased commission. The dictum “Justice must not only be done but must also be seen to be done” is an important principle of our legal tradition.

By June 13, at the start of the UNHRC’s session, Justice Pillay will release her report, one that will be informed by her personal bias. The world will once again condemn Israel yet remain silent about the UN’s disregard for its own guidelines and principles intended to assure the integrity of its COI.

To maintain its own credibility and to urge reform at the UN, Canada must demonstrate leadership and reject this report.

U.S. condemns UN Human Rights Council over anti-Israel bias

The United States condemned the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday for a report published last week that accused Israel of perpetuating the conflict with the Palestinians.

In its 18-page report which focuses on the root causes of the conflict, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel identified “forced displacement, threats of forced displacement, demolitions, settlement construction and expansion, settler violence, and the blockade of Gaza” as “contributing factors to recurring cycles of violence.”

The report was presented during a hearing at the UN Human Rights Council headquarters in Geneva.

While prompted by last year's Gaza war, the UN Human Rights Council inquiry mandate includes alleged human rights abuses before and after that.

The open-ended inquiry is headed by former United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay who is joined by Miloon Kothari of India, the first UN special rapporteur on adequate housing, and Australian international human rights law expert Chris Sidoti.

The U.S.-initiated declaration is signed by at least 22 countries, including Austria, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and Brazil, and criticizes the broad authorities bestowed to the inquiry and cites its very existence as evidence of the disproportionate attention that the Human Rights Council dedicates to Israel, a treatment that it seeks to end.

Lebanese article calls for annihilating Israel because Jews are the bloodsuckers of society

Al-Binaa is a Lebanese newspaper controlled by the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. They just published an op-ed by Yousef al-Mismar saying that it is a duty to annihilate Israel:

There is no way to deal with an existential, life and fateful enemy of this kind except by eliminating it no matter how high the price. There is a sacred duty is to attack and eliminate it even if the whole world stands against us and on its side, because when the world supports the side of the aggression, it becomes a world of void, and the best solution is annihilation. ... The germ of normalization lies between right and wrong, between justice and injustice, and between crime and innocence. The right that reconciles with the wrong is no longer a right, nor the justice that accepts injustice remains justice, nor the innocence that fraternizes the crime continues to be innocence.

The call to international federations, cultural and legal bodies, and Arab and international cultural ministries has proven that it is not effective. If it was useful, it would put an end to the evils and grievances of this aggressive, cancerous, dangerous entity that killed, kills, and continues to kill the children, women and men of Palestine in cold blood, and makes it homeless and will continue to displace millions of our nation’s sons and prevent them from returning to their homeland, homes and livelihoods.

You don't see this sort of thing as often as in the past, but calls to destroy Israel are common enough in the Arab world. But then the writer shows exactly who he wants to destroy:

The process of Jewish robbery and theft of the heritage of others is not new. Rather, it is old in history, and it has occurred and is still happening constantly in all countries and all the peoples in which they live and with them. In an old article by the Syrian social scientist and philosopher, founder of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, Antoun Saadeh, published in the magazine “Al Majalla” in São Paulo in Brazil on February 1, 1925, he stated: “We know, as the whole world knows, how the Jews live as independent groups among peoples.” [Jews] take their money without providing any benefit to [their host countries.]. In many countries, Jewish geniuses rose, but the rise of Jewish geniuses does not mean that they wanted to give to the peoples from whose hearts they suck blood. ...And when we wanted to analyze, we asked a simple question, which is: 'Did the Jewish geniuses change the character of the Jews?'

“There has never been a genius Jew who was able to instill in the hearts of the Jews the trait of rapprochement with the peoples among whom they live, and solidarity with them in their social and urban works. The Jews, with their talents, remained like Jews without their talents, living like dreams, taking from the heart of the social organization for free. Then the Jews complain about being persecuted by the people [they are leeching from]!”

Anti-Zionism and antisemitism are the same thing.

The SSNP wants to see a Greater Syria that includes Lebanon and, yes, all of Palestine.

Its logo is a stylized swastika, created in the 1930s, although the party claims it is a whirlwind and a combination of the Islamic crescent and the Christian cross.

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Palestinian UN representative calls for the US to be expelled from the UNHRC

The UN Human Rights Council has released the initial report of the permanent Commission of Inquiry that is designed to delegitimize Israel. It is the only permanent commission of inquiry in the UN.

The commission is headed by Navi Pillay who has pre-judged Israel to be guilty of a host of crimes over the past 15 years before even the pretense of investigation, making her the ideal lead for this kangaroo court.

A consortium of 22 nations, led by the US, signed a letter to oppose the obvious bias of the commission:

Resolution S-30/1 established a COI of open-ended mandate with no sunset clause, end date, or clear limitations connected to the escalation in May 2021. For this reason, many of the Council’s members at the time expressed fundamental concerns when resolution S-30/1 came up for adoption.

To be clear, no one is above scrutiny and it is this Council’s responsibility to promote and protect human rights the world over. We must work to counter impunity and promote accountability on a basis of consistent and universally applied standards.

We believe the nature of the COI established last May is further demonstration of long-standing, disproportionate attention given to Israel in the Council and must stop.

We continue to believe that this long-standing disproportionate scrutiny should end, and that the Council should address all human rights concerns, regardless of country, in an even-handed manner.

The Palestinian Authority's deputy foreign minister and Palestinian observer to the UN, Ibrahim Khraishi, gave a speech to the UNHRC denouncing the letter - and said that because of this letter, the US should be expelled from the UN Human Rights Council!

There is a joint statement prepared by America with the occupying power inciting against the commission, its report and its work, which exposes the double standards practiced by other countries that demand the necessity of supporting the work of other investigation committees emanating from this council in different parts of the world.

This policy pursued by America, which undermines the legal and human rights system, disqualifies it from being a member of this Council. Therefore, we call on the General Assembly to suspend its membership in the Council.

Yes, the PA is saying that the US is guilty of double standards for opposing the UN's double standards.

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A family in Gaza has accused Hamas of torturing their son to death in prison.

The Al-Hasanat family wrote a letter to various authorities claiming that Nawaf Al-Hasanat, who had a wife and six children, was arrested in November over a land dispute and was in Hamas prison until he died last week.

Meanwhile, the PA was accused of torturing Hamas members in a Jericho prison. The "Lawyers for Justice" NGO says that 15 Hamas members who were recently arrested by the Palestinian security services in Ramallah "are subjected to very, very severe torture."

One prisoner, Ahmed Al-Khasib, appeared in court yesterday, unable to speak due to the severity of torture. Another detainee, Ahmed Harish, could not control himself in front of the Jericho Court today and started crying during his court appearance.

As usual, when Israel cannot be blamed, people show no interest in the fate of Palestinian prisoners.

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06/13 Links Pt2: 22 nations oppose UNHRC probe, Pillay calls for arms embargo against Israel; Free occupied Svalbard!; BDS Goes Full Anti-Semite

From Ian:

22 nations oppose UNHRC probe, Pillay calls for arms embargo against Israel

Israel secure the opposition of 22 nations to the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) against it, as the prob's chair blamed it for the conflict with the Palestinians and called for an arms embargo against the Jewish state.

"The occupation must end," said Navanethem ("Navi") Pillay who heads the UN Human Rights Council's three-member COI.

Third-state parties also have a responsibility here and can be culpable when it comes to breaking international law, Pillay said.

"This includes, but is not limited to, the transfer of arms when there is a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations or abuses of international human rights law or serious violations of international humanitarian law," Pillay said.

She delivered the first of what is expected to be an annual report against Israel to the 47-member UNHRC on the opening day of its 50th session in Geneva. An updated version of the report is expected to be given to the UN General Assembly late this year.

The UN's probe into Israel
The probe is set to investigate alleged Israeli human rights abuses within sovereign Israel and against the Palestinian living over the pre-1967 lines in Gaza and the West Bank.

No vote was required with respect to this first annual report, but Israel together with the United States garnered a list of 22 UN nations including themselves who opposed the COI.

US Ambassador to the UN Michelle Taylor read out a statement against the report, explaining that her country was not part of the UNHRC and was not part of the council when it approved the COI in a 24-9 vote last year.

Israel is the only UN member state against whom there is an open-ended permanent probe.

Free occupied Svalbard!

In 1925, the Norwegians got aggressive. They used their clout at the Paris Peace Conference following World War I to wrangle the “Treaty of Svalbard,” granting them sovereignty.

But what makes that treaty valid? Countries that win wars are able to impose new boundaries. That doesn’t mean their decisions are necessarily right or just. It’s merely the ‘right of might.’ I don’t see how Norway’s claim to Svalbard is superior to that of the other countries whose explorers preceded the Norwegians by many decades.

The assorted fishermen, hunters, and scientific researchers who reside in Svalbard today are being denied their right to self-determination. Nobody asked them if they want to live under Norwegian sovereignty.

Maybe they would prefer to be part of Holland, Britain, Denmark, France or Russia. Or maybe they would like to be part of Free Svalbard.

All of which highlights Norway’s brazen hypocrisy. The Norwegians say Israel is “illegally occupying” Jerusalem, and therefore products coming from most parts of the city, as well as Judea-Samaria, have to be labeled.

Well, the Norwegians have been occupying Svalbard for a lot less time than the Jews have been in Jerusalem. To be precise, Svalbard has been part of Norway for 95 years. Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for over 3,000 years and was the capital of several sovereign Jewish kingdoms during much of that time.

Israel’s right to Jerusalem is enshrined in history, the Bible, and international law. Norway’s right to Svalbard is based on arbitrary border realignments following a world war. Norway has no historical or religious claims to Svalbard.

When Norway’s foreign minister tell us that her country’s labeling action against Israel is just some kind of consumer protection, I say: Nonsense. The sole purpose of labeling those products is to facilitate the boycotting of goods made in most of Jerusalem and other parts of the ancient Jewish homeland.

And the purpose of boycotting them is to bring about Israel’s economic collapse. That’s what the leaders of the BDS movement themselves say.

For Norway to aid and abet those who seek Israel’s collapse is outrageous and immoral. Even more outrageous and immoral than Norway’s continuing occupation of Svalbard.

EU chief, Italian PM in Israel, with Russia-sparked energy crisis topping agenda

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi landed in Israel on Monday, as the EU seeks to wean itself off Russian fossil fuel imports.

Both leaders were due to hold energy talks in Israel, which has turned from a natural gas importer into an exporter in recent years, cashing in major offshore finds.

Von der Leyen was to meet Foreign Minister Yair Lapid later Monday and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday, with talks expected to focus “in particular on energy cooperation,” a commission statement said.

Draghi, on his first Middle East trip since taking office last year, was also set to discuss energy and food security during his two-day trip, Italian media reported.

Both leaders will meet Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh on Tuesday in the West Bank.

Israel’s ties with the EU frayed during former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s tenure over the lack of movement on the Palestinian issue. Relations have slowly improved over the last year since the new Israeli government was sworn in, with Lapid leading the effort.

On Sunday, the cabinet unanimously approves joining the EU’s Creative Europe program through 2027. The program offers almost 2.5 billion euros every seven years toward films, visual art, literature and other creative endeavors.

Does Ali Samoudi's wound indicate a bullet from a higher angle hitting him (and Shireen Abu Akleh?)

This is almost all conjecture - I'm hoping that people with more knowledge than me can help out.

Ali al-Samoudi was shot at the same time as Shireen Abu Akleh. He made a selfie video of his drive to the hospital and his initial treatment there.

He told interviewers he was shot in the lower back, but the only wound I see doctors actively working on appears to be a graze on his left shoulder. (The selfie video is mirrored.)

The wound caused serious bleeding to both the front and back of his shirt. I couldn't find obvious damage to the flak jacket in the brief period before it was removed, outside of one errant thread.

If he was shot from the IDF position, roughly level but slightly elevated, could the bullet have grazed him in a way that at least part of the wound is visible on the front half of his body?

It seems to me that the bullet grazed him from an angle that was higher than ground level to leave a wound there.

I could easily be wrong here - maybe there was a deflection from his flak jacket or maybe the flak jacket stopped the bullet and this is only a secondary wound from the impact on his shoulder, although the amount of blood doesn't seem consistent with that. To me, this doesn't look like an indent - it looks like he lost some skin.

If I am right and he was not hit in his lower back at all, it is more proof that Ali Samoudi is a liar who will say anything for self-promotion and to make Israel look bad. Notice how he switches his video view from the front camera to selfie mode while he is entering the hospital, as he cares more about the drama for his video than his own bullet wound.

Any experts out there who can see if it is possible to determine the angle of the bullet from this video?

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