Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, June 26, 2022

Iraq shooting itself in the foot with anti-normalization law

A week ago, the Iraqi parliament unanimously passed a law criminalising any form of normalisation with Israel. The law threatens the death penalty or life imprisonment for anyone calling for normalisation.

The law says that any Iraq who visits Israel will be sentenced to life imprisonment, and those who establish any political, economic, or cultural relations with Israel institutions, even through social media, will be sentenced to death.

An analysis in The New Arab - which is very anti-Israel - indicates that Iraq might suffer from this law if it enforces it, which it might not do:

The new anti-normalisation law could also be weaponised against Sunni Arab dissidents, warned Tallha Abdulrazaq, an expert in Middle Eastern strategic and security affairs, in an interview with The New Arab.

“I’m a British-Iraqi and in my academic work I engage sometimes with Israeli academics, policymakers, and even lawmakers on occasion…I’m exactly the kind of target whom they’d like to sweep up in this sort of thing because I’m a dissident of the political process and I’m a Sunni. There’s a political aspect and a sectarian aspect to this…So, if you have any interactions with an Israeli entity, they can target you with this law.” He added that “this is going to have a chilling effect on academics abroad and people who work in the media.”

This legislation could also have negative implications for Iraq’s economy and foreign investment climate. Depending on the extent to which authorities enforce this law, investors might worry more about the potential risks of doing business in Iraq on top of concerns surrounding the country’s overall state of insecurity.

There could be “possible obstacles to foreign direct investment in Iraq by companies that feel constrained by their own policies or the laws in their home countries that would penalise anything that looks like cooperating in a boycott of Israel,” according to analysts Yerevan Saeed and Hussein Ibish.

Yet, Abdulrazaq believes that this law will not be weaponised against foreign corporations with links to Israel given Iraq’s current economic problems.

“The Iraqi economy is in absolute shambles…They need these foreign companies [and] foreign direct investment…This is more for popular consumption. It’s not meant as a stick meant to beat foreign companies with. They need them for their economy…If these guys were to leave, then that’s it for Iraq. There’d be almost nothing there for them. Even in terms of their oil sales, it’s not enough. It’s not enough to sustain Iraq itself. They will not chasing any foreign corporations any time soon.”

The initial consensus is that this law is simply a means to unite Iraqis with anti-Israel rhetoric, a time honored tradition in the Arab world that is quickly losing its effectiveness. There seems little appetite to have Iraq allow foreign investors to be chased away because they also have ties to Israel, which was the Arab League position for decades.

(h/t JW)

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06/25 Links: Under the Biden, Iran Sanctions are Violated with Impunity; Sudan: The Genocide No One Talks About; Iran vows to press ahead with nuclear development until West ends ‘illegal behavior’

From Ian:

Under the Biden Administration's Watch, Iran Sanctions are Violated with Impunity

The Biden administration's weak leadership -- to hold accountable those who are violating Iran sanctions -- is likely a critical reason the Iranian regime is flamboyantly ignoring the US and forging ahead -- soon, most likely, to become a nuclear state.

Presumably to take even further advantage of the Biden administration's weak leadership, the Iranian regime is also signing long-term agreements with its oil clients to permanently insulate its economy from the US sanctions.

The ruling mullahs are now producing more oil and selling it at levels close to the pre-sanctions era to countries such as China, which desperately needs more oil, while the Biden administration has cut off US oil exploration.

One of its terms [of the deal recently signed between China and Iran] is that China will invest nearly $400 billion in Iran's oil, gas and petrochemicals industries. In return, China will have priority to bid on any new project in Iran that is linked to these sectors. China will also receive a 12% discount and can delay payments by up to two years. China will also be able to pay in any currency it chooses. It is also estimated that, in total, China will receive discounts of nearly 32%.

The Biden administration must impose drastic economic sanctions on Iran's energy and financial sectors: that would threaten the ruling clerics' hold on power, forcing the leadership to recalculate its priorities. The US must hold those who violate the sanctions strictly accountable, and make clear to the ruling mullahs that if they continue advancing their nuclear program, military options are on the table.

Pierre Rehov: Sudan: The Genocide No One Talks About

Civilian institutions are concerned that Sudan's new puppet government is simply a cover for the return of Bashir and that, although he is in prison, he is behind every development in the Sudanese government.

This, apparently, is also the conviction of El Nur. He notes with distress that the massacres organized by the Janjaweed and the Rapid Intervention Forces have not seen any let up. Daily peaceful demonstrations in Khartoum and the rest of the country are interrupted by the police and state militias, who fire live ammunition at the crowds, while raids are conducted throughout Sudan. Homes are burned. Villagers are forced into the desert without food or water. Summary executions take place. Women and children are crushed by cars. Students are mown down by bullets.

To this day, although the American government has scrupulously honored its part of the agreement, the Sudanese authorities have been careful not to respect the slightest paragraph.

In northern Sudan, mercenaries from the Wagner Group, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, have, with the apparent complicity of the regime, taken over the main gold mines of Al-Ibediyya. Day and night, extracting this gold is carried out by "free" Sudanese whose symbolic salary is close to slavery. Where does this gold go? No one is sure, but reportedly it could be feeding the coffers of Moscow and perhaps those of its ally, the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, Iran.

Last month, the Biden administration suspended all aid to Sudan, including that linked to its normalization agreement with Israel, and informed Jerusalem that no support should be given to the Khartoum government until there are democratic elections.

Bennett: I won't rule out sitting under Netanyahu in future

The 24th Knesset may disperse as early as Monday evening, exactly a week after Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s dramatic announcement to that effect.

While there are still a number of parliamentary hurdles to clear, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked said on Friday that the negotiations to form an alternate government led by opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu had been exhausted, leaving elections as the only remaining option.

Bennett’s political future is unclear. He met with his longtime political partner Shaked on Friday for the first time since Monday’s announcement, which he made while she was on an official visit to Morocco. The two are set to meet again on Sunday, presumably to discuss their political future.

In interviews on all three major television news outlets aired on Saturday evening, Bennett said that he would not announce his plans for the future until the Knesset officially disperses, but that his decision will be based on whether his remaining in politics would or would not contribute to healing the schism between Israel’s different sectors.

06/24 Links Pt2: Whatever Happened to the ‘Pro-Jewish’ Left?; The moral clarity of Nikki Haley; Google honors the life of Anne Frank with diary doodles

From Ian:

Whatever Happened to the ‘Pro-Jewish’ Left?

The disengagement from Jewish life by some on the left is neither novel nor especially surprising. After all, there’s a long history of Jews identified with the far left who have rejected religion and feeling responsible for the Jewish people. But the masses of American Jews who identified with political liberalism thought differently. They saw no tension between their commitments to aid fellow Jews while also supporting non-sectarian causes. Nor did they indict their religion as the source of human failings. Twentieth century Jewish liberals often were leaders of federations of Jewish philanthropy, defense organizations, social service agencies, and Jewish educational and religious institutions. During the 1960s, baby boomers seeking to make their mark on American Jewish life were committed to anti-war protests and the Civil Rights movement, as well as labor unions—even as they marched to free Soviet Jewry and defend the embattled State of Israel. While in our time it is not uncommon for Jewish progressives to ridicule efforts to ensure “Jewish continuity,” youthful activists in the early 1970s critiqued Jewish organizations for investing too little in Jewish education and too much in Jewish health care facilities that no longer served a primarily Jewish clientele. In that era, too, the Jewish left produced the Havurah fellowships, the turn to neo-Hasidism, significant aliyah to Israel, Jewish feminism, and mass demonstrations in support of Jewish causes. Undoubtedly, some on today’s Jewish left passionately share similar Jewish commitments. But the data we have cited point to the indifference of many Jewish liberals today—particularly younger adults—to most forms of Jewish particularism, religious life, and positive identification with Israel as a Jewish state.

How might this situation change in the direction of greater involvement by political liberals in Jewish life? It’s possible that American society, including political liberals, will re-embrace religious commitment and a more positive approach to cultural heritage. The pendulum may swing back: Americans may come to place more value on association, cooperative work, and volunteering. Just as trends in the wider society have pushed liberal Jews in the past to distance themselves from their religious and collective needs, a broader shift in attitudes may make Jewish particularism more attractive. Not least, rising levels of antisemitism may accelerate these changes.

There also are possibilities for some rebalancing of priorities within the American Jewish community. Reform, we expect, would have to come from inside the camp of Jewish liberals. Sobered by findings such as those we report, liberal-minded leaders may take up the challenge of rebuffing ideas and influencers undermining participation in Jewish religious and communal activities. In all likelihood, only highly respected and credible liberals committed to Jewish life—and there still are tens of thousands of them—have a reasonable chance to reverse the Jewish commitment gap we have highlighted. They are best-positioned to make the case to their ideological allies for the compatibility of liberalism with active participation in Jewish communal and religious endeavors and reject those aspects of left-leaning thinking inimical to Jewish life.

Why ‘Pro-Israel’ Is No Longer Enough

Speaking to a group at last month’s Israeli conservatism conference, former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman was asked how best to “sell Zionism” in America.

Before delving into his reasoning, the former ambassador answered that “selling Zionism” first requires “selling Judaism.” Friedman correctly maintains that Zionism rooted in the belief that Israel exists as a Jewish state will inevitably unite the “political left, right, and center.” Friedman argues that Jews must stop trying to appease antisemites by “bifurcating Zionism and Judaism.”

Decades ago, being raised in a pro-Israel household, taking a Birthright trip, and living within a Jewish community protected against the anti-Israel hostility that a young Jewish student might encounter on campus. But today, US Jews are being peddled a brand of popularized universalism that often demonizes Israel. As a result, the repackaged antisemitism, which partners a hatred of Israel with progressive causes, is neglected and, increasingly, is bolstered by some in the Jewish community.

Moreover, an affinity for Israel based on expressed parental support does not advance the Israel literacy required to combat contemporary antisemitism, or give Jewish students the critical thinking tools necessary to counter anti-Israel propaganda spouted at them on campus.

With an attachment to Jewish peoplehood already weakened, the crucial work of organizations like Birthright Israel and StandWithUs are not strong enough to teach young Jews the truth about what is happening in Israel and “Palestine.”

Most will already be exposed to social media postings decrying Israeli “apartheid,” and media lies falsely accusing Israel of war crimes. In California, as part of the K-12 ethnic studies curriculum, students may have previously completed coursework affirming that Israel is a “settler state” founded on “genocide.”

Accruing the resiliency and knowledge to combat anti-Zionism will inevitably raise critical and, at times, uncomfortable questions.

Melanie Phillips: The moral clarity of Nikki Haley

The challenge facing western leaders therefore could not be more momentous. But could any leader meet it? Is it actually possible to stop America’s slide into cultural fragmentation and global impotence?

When asked this question in London, Haley said America simply couldn’t afford to fail. And her own approach showed how, if this desperate task has any chance of succeeding, the west can stop itself from plunging off the edge of the cultural cliff.

The only way is through leadership that exhibits the kind of moral clarity she was expressing. For the reason that evil currently has the upper hand in the world is the absence of leaders prepared to make it clear that they simply won’t stand for attacks on their society at home or on the free world abroad.

What is so astounding isn’t just the appeasement of the west’s enemies abroad. It is also that that, at home, the lunacies of critical race theory and intersectionality have gained such traction in the universities, schools, companies and even the armed forces. It’s all part of the same dismal story — a wholesale absence of western spine.

What makes the timidity of western politicians all the more frustrating is the demonstrable public hunger for such leadership, and the rewards that it brings.

In America, this was demonstrated by last year’s stunning election victory in Virginia of Governor Glenn Youngkin, who gained office in a hitherto solidly Democratic state by emphasising parental rights to make decisions about their children's education with the slogan, “parents matter”.

And in Israel, the Trump administration’s decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem not only did not produce the eruption of violence so adamantly predicted by the US State Department and hosts of other faint-hearts, but ushered in the revolutionary Abraham Accords between Israel and the Gulf states.

One thing above all is required at present from the leaders of the west. It’s moral courage. Whoever displays that deserves to win the highest office. It is essential that whoever fails to display it does not.

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

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The media completely ignores the corruption inherent in the PLO and PA

On Thursday, Mahmoud Abbas led a meeting of the PLO Executive Committee, for which he has been the chairman since 2004.

Here is what the meeting looked like as they prayed to open the session:

Sixteen older white men, almost all Muslim.

Hanan Ashrawi, a Christian woman, was a member of this committee but she resigned in 2020 - partially because all the decisions were being made by old men.

Keep in mind that the Palestinian Authority (or, as they call it, the "State of Palestine") reports to the PLO. This non-elected organization is what really makes the decisions, not the PA. So for example, in 2009 the PLO Executive Committee - headed by Abbas - voted to allow Abbas to remain the president of the PA indefinitely, even in the absence of elections. This power also allowed Abbas to dissolve the High Court and replace it with his own appointees, and to sideline the legislative branch of the government when Hamas won those elections.

This is dictatorial power, and the Western media just shrugs - or pretends that the PA is a democracy because it sometime stages meaningless elections.

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06/24 Links Pt1: Exposed: UN Teachers Call to Murder Jews; Senate Shoots Down Biden’s Anti-Semitic Ambassador Pick; Inaugural Emirates Airline Flight to Tel Aviv Takes Off From Dubai

From Ian:

UN Watch: Exposed: UN Teachers Call to Murder Jews

As the U.S. and other Western states gather today at the United Nations in the presence of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to pledge funding for the UN agency that runs schools and social services for Palestinians, a watchdog group urged democracies to stop funding hundreds of UNRWA teachers and other employees who call to murder Jews.

UN Watch today exposed antisemitism and incitement to terrorism propagated recently by 10 UNRWA teachers and other employees. This is in addition to more than 100 UNRWA educators and staff previously exposed published by the non-governmental organization UN Watch, an independent human rights monitoring group based in Geneva.

The latest 10 UNRWA teachers and other staffers to be exposed are:
1. Nihaya Awad, Computer Teacher at UNRWA West Bank, Praises Hamas
2. Abu Muhammad Fathi Bahar, UNRWA Lebanon Employee, Promotes Violence
3. Elham Mansour (Teacher, UNRWA Lebanon), Incites Killing Israelis and Jews
4. Hana’a Daoud (Teacher, UNRWA Jordan), Advocates Killing Jews
5. Sameer Abo Ayyash (Social Worker, UNRWA Jordan), Admires Taliban
6. Majed Zaben (Teacher, UNRWA Jordan), Incites Against Israel
7. Adel Torbani (Math Teacher, UNRWA Jordan), Rejects Israel’s Right to Exist and Posts Antisemitism
8. Qusai Mansi (Employee, UNRWA Jordan), Equates Zionists with Nazis
9. Rula Om Mo’awia (Teacher, UNRWA Jordan), Incites Against Israel
10. Muneera Abu Hadeel (Midwife, UNRWA West Bank), Portrays Israel as Thieving Dog

As documented above, UN Watch has uncovered 20 new cases of virulent incitement committed by 10 UNRWA teachers and other staff, in violation of the agency’s own rules and stated values of zero tolerance for racism, discrimination or antisemitism.

UN Watch submitted the findings today to EU foreign affairs commissioner Joseph Borell, and U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, whose governments are among the top funders of UNRWA, and to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini.

UN Watch is calling on the agency’s major funders—including the U.S., Germany, the UK and the European Union—to ensure that none of their combined $1.2 billion of donations to UNRWA will fund teachers of hate, and to hold the agency accountable to its own standards and commitments.

As revealed by UN Watch today, UNRWA staff stationed in the West Bank, Lebanon and Jordan are publicly inciting antisemitism and terrorism.

Report: UNRWA educators promote antisemitism online

Israel’s UN Envoy Demands Accountability After Report Exposes New Cases of Antisemitism at Palestinian Refugee Agency

Israel’s envoy to the United Nations launched a fresh attack on Thursday upon UNRWA, the refugee agency solely dedicated to the Palestinians that was charged in a recent independent report with inciting antisemitism.

“Not only does UNRWA not help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it causes enormous damage, incites hatred and terrorism and perpetuates the conflict, all under the auspices of the UN, which buries its head in the sand and refuses to see reality,” Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said in a statement on Thursday.

Erdan cited a report published by the UN Watch NGO, that documented over 120 UNRWA educators and staff promoting violence and antisemitism on social media. Titled “UNRWA’s Teachers of Hate,” the report also discovered 20 new cases of “virulent UNRWA staff incitement which violate the agency’s rules and stated values of zero tolerance for racism, discrimination or antisemitism.”

One May 2022 Facebook post by an UNRWA teacher in Lebanon, Elham Mansour, declared: “By Allah, anyone who can kill and slaughter any Zionist and Israeli criminal, and doesn’t do so, doesn’t deserve to live. Kill them and pursue them everywhere, they are the greatest enemy….All Israel deserves is death.” Another post by Mansour, addressed to “filthy Zionists,” urged Palestinians to “slaughter each and every one of you and toss you into the garbage heaps, because you are filthy, you contaminate any land you are in.”

According to UN Watch, UNRWA’s budget last year included $338 million from the United States, $177 million from Germany, $118 million from the European Commission.

#UN: Disgraced Human Rights Council in Geneva. Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch, Malcolm Hoenlein @Conf_of_pres @mhoenlein1 https://t.co/hCwhgnmQXY via @Audioboom #UN
— John Batchelor (@batchelorshow) June 24, 2022

Underfunding UNRWA will lead to its collapse, agency head warns

It's not enough to renew the mandate, Lazzarini said, UN nations must also provide the funds to execute it. Eventually, he said, failure to do so would "push the Agency towards financial collapse."

"For years, we managed the chronic underfunding through internal measures such as cost control, austerity and zero-growth budgets," Lazzarini said.

"Today, we have depleted our financial reserves and reached the limits of cost control and austerity measures," he explained, adding that, "austerity now affects the quality of the services."

"We are not in a position anymore to adopt austerity and cost control measures of the size of the funding gap," he said.

A funding failure now would put at risk the education of half-a-million girls and boys as well as the primary health care for close to 2 million people, Lazzarini explained.

"To illustrate austerity, think of 50 children in one classroom, double shifts within schools, or a medical visit where a doctor spends less than 3 minutes with a patient," Lazzarini said.

The pace of donations, he said, cannot keep up with the needs of a growing population.

This is not a new problem
UNRWA has long been in financial distress, but the situation has become more acute in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian war.

"The situation in Ukraine has exacerbated the noticeable increase in food and commodity prices, seriously affecting the household economy of Palestine refugees," Lazzarini said.

Poverty rates have reached 80% in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza with "too many Palestine refugees report living with one meal a day," Lazzarini said.

"I have appealed to all donors to ensure that Palestine refugees are not a collateral of the events in Ukraine," he said.

When Gaza suffers from environmental catastrophes, Israel is blamed because it supposedly blocks lifesaving infrastructure from being set up.

Yet this year, Gaza's beaches have re-opened after being closed due to tons of sewage being dumped into the sea.

AFP reports:

Palestinians in the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip are rediscovering the pleasures of the Mediterranean Sea, after authorities declared the end of a long period of hazardous marine pollution.

Marine pollution has worsened in recent years in Gaza, where insufficient wastewater solutions have turned the Mediterranean into a dump.

The problem has been further exacerbated by the dilapidated infrastructure of the impoverished and overcrowded enclave.

[S]ix months ago, a German-funded plant began operating in central Gaza, and now treats 60,000 cubic metres (more than 2 million cubic feet) of wastewater per day, which is half the enclave's sewage, according to Mohammed Masleh, an official at Gaza's environment ministry.

This is just the first phase of the project, and eventually, the plant could treat all wastewater in the territory.

The quality of marine water in Gaza has already improved significantly.

Now, according to samples collected by Gazan authorities, two-thirds of the enclave's beaches are suitable for swimming, said Masleh.

How can this be? Isn't there still a blockade where Israel is depriving Gaza of basic necessities needed for living?

Could it be that Israel never blocked materials for treating wastewater to begin with, and the problems came because the PA and Hamas didn't prioritize the quality of life of the people they are responsible for?

According to Reliefweb, once Israel approved the project, it took only four years to build this sewage treatment plant.

The media blames Israel for everything wrong in Gaza and remains strangely silent about Palestinian dysfunction and petty conflicts between the PA and Hamas that are the real root of the majority of Gaza's problems.

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!

The UN "investigation" into Abu Akleh's death is even more ridiculous than the others

The UN High Commissioner of Human Rights pretended to investigate the death of Shireen Abu Akleh, and it came to its pre-ordained conclusion with a minimum of pretense that it was being objective.

In accordance with our global human rights monitoring methodology, our Office inspected photo, video and audio material, visited the scene, consulted experts, reviewed official communications and interviewed witnesses.

As with the other faux investigations, they never seriously considered that there were any Palestinian militants around, even though they were pointed out at the time.

The most obvious proof that the UN did not do any sort of serious investigation comes from this laughable lie:

At around 06h30, as four of the journalists turned into the street leading to the camp, wearing bulletproof helmets and flak jackets with “PRESS” markings, several single, seemingly well-aimed bullets were fired towards them from the direction of the Israeli Security Forces.

There are between 12 and 18 sounds of bullets audible on the videos of the scene. One hit Abu Akleh. One grazed the shoulder of Ali Samoudi. Three hit a tree. No one seems too interested in what happened to the rest of them - there has not been a word about the PA investigating it, and the scene was never closed off for any sort of investigation. (People visited the site immediately and created a shrine to Shireen with no interference from the Palestinian police, and indeed I have not seen a single photo of the Palestinian police at the site at all. Compare to any shooting scene in any other place in the world.)

So how, exactly, were these bullets "well-aimed"? Any shooter who hits a tree more often than a target would not be considered exactly a competent shot.

However, if you look at how Jenin terrorists shoot their weapons , their barely aiming at their targets (as this May 13 video below shows), it is far more consistent with the shooting pattern towards the journalists.

The words "well-aimed" for volleys of bullets that are anything but proves, as if we needed any more proof, that the UN "investigation" is a sham.

Which is why it is not at all surprising that the UN doesn't even mention that the PA is refusing to allow the bullet that killed Shireen be analyzed by anyone else. They don't mention it at all. If they really wanted a thorough investigation, they would demand the bullet be handed over to a competent authority.

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!

From Jewish News (UK):

Anti-occupation group Na’amod have claimed they are opening a “conversation on anti-Palestinian racism” within the UK Jewish community after publishing a series of testimonies that are alleged to shed light on the scale of the problem.

So what are examples of the "anti-Palestinian racism" that they are so horrified at? The article lists:

Among a series of 18 personal testimonies from young members of the community, is a claim that a peaceful pro-Palestine protest at Bristol University was disrupted by a group of students hailing from north west London who “stormed the peaceful protest, sporting large Israeli flags as they frantically ran through the crowds of protestors.”

Holding an Israeli flag is racist? I'm not sure of when this happened, but perhaps it was this incident, which shows who the racists are:

However, the protest attracted a degree of controversy from fellow students. One group of Zionist Jewish students objected to the protest and stood by the marchers holding an Israeli flag. They reported that marchers shouted at them saying, ‘you are murderers’.

Second-year Languages student, Talia Rack said, ‘No side is blameless but it didn’t feel appropriate to counter-protest this march on Nakba day, in light of what happened on Monday in Gaza’.

So holding an Israeli flag is racist, but holding Palestinian flags and calling British Jews "murderers" is perfectly fine!

Another example of so-called Jewish racism:

A further testimony includes a claim that pointing out the appalling treatment of LGBTQ+ people in Gaza by Hamas to people holding “Queers For Palestine” banners is “a deeply racist idea — and one that often goes unchallenged in our community.”

Telling "Queers for Palestine" that they would be murdered by Hamas is a "deeply racist idea"?

There were two other examples given that were so vague as to be meaningless:

Another account suggests there are “overt examples of anti-Palestinian racism in the wider British Jewish Community” including “the occasional outbursts of certain members of the Board of Deputies to come face to face with naked bigotry.”

Other examples detail alleged racist responses to the Palestinians, while another testimony from former JFS pupil “Josh” says teaching around Israel at the school meant that “Palestinians were only referenced as an obstacle, a safety threat and a thorn in the side of Jewish freedom and safety.”

This is a list of people being offended at any point of view not their own - but there is not a single example of racism, by any definition.

Meanwhile, in Bristol, the openminded pro-Palestinian crowd routinely burns Israeli flags. Imagine how racist that would be if Zionists did that to Palestinian flags in Bristol!

Maybe the report will have more examples, but from what we see so far, the only thing this proves is that British pro-Palestinian Jews call anyone who disagrees with them "racist" - and they act worse than their supposed tormentors.

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!

06/23 Links Pt2: Promotion of Apartheid Rhetoric and BDS at the UNHRC 50th Session; The Botched Hit That Sparked the First Lebanon War; Human Rights NGOs: "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"

From Ian:

NGO Monitor: Promotion of Apartheid Rhetoric and BDS at the UNHRC 50th Session

The 50th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), held in June 2022, perpetuated the bias and hypocrisy that has come to define the UNHRC specifically and the United Nations in general. NGO Monitor was present, speaking before the Council and documenting the false accusations made by self-proclaimed human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Several statements made during the session by NGO officials, many of which receive large portions of their funding from European governments, promoted the apartheid canard and advocated for BDS.

Item 2: Commission of Inquiry
In May 2021, the UNHRC established a permanent Commission of Inquiry (COI) tasked to “investigate” crimes allegedly committed by Israel since April 13, 2021. Fuelled by disinformation provided by NGOs, the COI is yet another UN body marred by secrecy and tainted by conflicts of interest, whose objective is to target Israel and disseminate false and antisemitic narratives about the conflict.

On June 14, the COI presented its first report to the UNHRC, perpetuating outright falsehoods and relying on information provided by terror-linked and anti-Israel NGOs.

During the debate, the Commissioners, who were appointed despite conflicts of interest and prejudicial backgrounds, made statements illustrating these biases. Navi Pillay, Chair of the COI, used her opening remarks to call for boycotting the State of Israel, claiming that the COI “will carefully assess the responsibilities of third states along with that of private and other actors in the continued violations and abuses of human rights law, and violations of international humanitarian law in Palestine and Israel. This includes, but is not limited to, the transfer of arms…” to Israel.

Commissioner Chris Sidoti attacked those who raised the concern of antisemitism, calling their statements an “outrage,” denigrating the IHRA definition internationally- recognized consensus definition of antisemitism, and accusing pro-Israel NGOs of being agents of the Israeli government: Even the definition of antisemitism promoted by the government of Israel and its GONGOs (government sponsored non-governmental organizations) acknowledges that criticism of Israel, similar to that leveled against any other country, cannot be regarded as antisemitic.” Rather than engage with Jewish and Israeli groups who expressed concern of antisemitism to try and understand, Sidoti instead belittled them, stating that “accusations of antisemitism are thrown around like rice at a wedding. That legitimizes antisemitism. Trivializes antisemitism. Defiles the memory of the 6 million victims of the Shoah.”

The third Commissioner, Miloon Kothari, drew false equivalencies between Russia/Ukraine and Israel. Kothari addressed the alleged “double standards,” affirming that “The question needs to be asked why in the case of Ukraine the international community is rightly appalled in the face of aggression and occupation and has correctly moved to act swiftly and forcefully to ensure compliance with international law, while in the case of Israel and Palestine there has been inaction for decades. Are these glaring double standards? The answer has to be yes.”

It’s Time to Stop the UN Human Rights Council’s Downward Spiral

In this backwards reality – where the world’s worst abusers of human rights hold the power at the UNHRC – it comes as no surprise when a monstrous amount of time, effort, and money is spent in an endless, coordinated effort to condemn a single country – the Jew in the room – rather than allow attention to be drawn to their own regimes’ crimes.

This strategy works quite well for the human rights abusers, with the UNHRC funneling significant resources into attacking Israel. Israel has had more resolutions condemning it than all other countries in the world combined, more Commissioners of Inquiry (COI) into its actions, and it is the only country with an entire regular debate on the Council’s agenda dedicated to it. Nowhere near this level of scrutiny is placed on countries actively committing genocide, such as China.

In its latest endeavour, the UNHRC has embarked on an unprecedented journey prompted by the 2021 Gaza war and led by China, Venezuela, and Russia (while it was still a member of the Council) to investigate Israel – and only Israel –for alleged crimes committed for the entirety of the conflict, its “root causes,” and in perpetuity. With such an outrageously broad mandate, which omits mention of any Palestinian terror groups, comes an outrageous budget, provided by the UNHRC’s donor states, including Canada, which contributed $4.5 million to the UNHRC in 2022.

The COI is led by actors who hold well-documented anti-Israel biases, a choice that contravenes the UN’s own guideline that Commissioners have a “proven record of independence and impartiality.” It is no surprise that, in its first report to the UNHRC published on June 7, the COI’s focus was disproportionately on Israel, mentioning it 157 times, while mentioning Hamas – despite its targeting of Israeli civilians with over 4,000 rockets – just three times. During the presentation of the report to the UNHRC, Chair of the Commission Navi Pillay further emphasized alleged crimes committed by Israel while minimizing the role of Palestinian terrorist organizations, with Syria intervening to accuse Israel of committing “war crimes” and Russia to note it would be a suitable partner to facilitate peace negotiations.

Something must be done to stop the UNHRC’s downward spiral. The answer is not incremental votes by the UN General Assembly to kick members off the Council, with the red line being outright invasion and war crimes. Democracies, including Canada and its allies, should use the leverage they have – diplomatic pressure, public statements, and, if necessary, withholding funds – to ensure that the UNHRC operates as it was intended: as a Council of the world’s human rights role models who act for the benefit of all populations. As the great rabbinic sage, Hillel the Elder, said, “if not now, when?”

UNRWA's Teachers of Hate: Hillel Neuer on i24 TV News

UN Watch's Hillel Neuer on i24 News.

Background: As the U.S. and other Western states gather today at the United Nations in the presence of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to pledge funding for the UN agency that runs schools and social services for Palestinians, a watchdog group urged them to stop funding hundreds of UNRWA teachers and other employees who call to murder Jews.

Over 120 UNRWA educators and staff have been found to promote violence and antisemitism on social media, according to the latest report in a series published by the non-governmental organization UN Watch, an independent human rights monitoring group based in Geneva.

Entitled “UNRWA’s Teachers of Hate,” today’s report uncovers 20 new cases of virulent UNRWA staff incitement which violate the agency’s rules and stated values of zero tolerance for racism, discrimination or antisemitism. June 23, 2022

Elliot Abrams: Human Rights NGOs: "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"

But the very large size of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch raises several problems, starting with the threat to the “pluralism” that Thomas Melia mentioned and the “democratic gap” that van Boven said NGOs might fill. When two gigantic NGOs dominate the field, their voices can drown out those of many other, far smaller organizations. What’s more, NGOs and their leadership are not immune from harboring prejudices and political biases.

Both organizations have been deeply critical of Israel and have attracted accusations of bias against that country. In February 2022, Amnesty issued a report entitled “Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians: a cruel system of domination and a crime against humanity.” The UK foreign ministry rejected the use of this terminology, and the German foreign ministry said "We reject expressions like apartheid or a one-sided focusing of criticism on Israel.” The spokesman for the U.S. State Department said "I reject the view that Israel's actions constitute apartheid….we must ensure there isn't a double standard being applied."

The attitude of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International toward Israel presents at least two problems. The first is simply the merits of the argument: are these two organizations biased against Israel, engaging in “one-sided focusing of criticism on Israel?” What other biases might they have, with respect to particular countries or on particular issues? Are they playing some matters down and playing others up in ways that would be controversial if fully understood outside the organization?

That the U.S., U.K., and German governments felt compelled to respond to the Amnesty report is a measure of Amnesty’s influence and of the attention that its reports receive—far more than is typical for the scores of NGOs active on Middle East or human rights/democracy issues. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty also have a considerable ability to affect press coverage and the views of other NGOs, setting the agenda for debate for the media and campuses as well as for foreign ministries.

Moreover, when two such NGOs dominate the field, questions may arise as to their own internal “democratic gap.” Such large and rich organizations report to no one, nor of course are they democratically run internally. Their top officials theoretically report to boards of trustees, but the boards are themselves self-perpetuating and independent from any oversight. The very independence of NGOs, one of their greatest strengths, can become an issue when two organizations so dominate the field.

The ancient question Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? or "Who will guard the guards themselves?" arises here—and is difficult to answer. Others in the field of democracy promotion may be reluctant to criticize such powerful players—in part because anyone in the field may think he or she might one day seek employment as part of their large (and at the top very well-paid) staffs, and in part because they do not wish to tangle with organizations having such influence.

NGOs are critical participants in promoting democracy and human rights around the world. They play roles that cannot be filled by governments, and their many and varied voices provide perspectives and information that would otherwise be unavailable. The dominance of the two largest organizations is at the same time worth careful attention, especially given how controversial have been some of their activities. The independence of NGOs is invaluable, but the issues of oversight, governance, and bias at the two largest NGOs, which dominate the field globally, cannot be overlooked.

Miracle at Al Aqsa: Only Israeli excavations endanger it, not Muslim underground destruction

A couple of weeks ago, a stone fell out of the wall in the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount.

Naturally, the Jews are being blamed.

The Islamic Information issued a press release:

According to the chairman of the Palestinian Legislative Council’s al-Quds and al-Aqsa Committee, Mohammed Abu Halabiya, the Israeli underground tunnels, and diggings beneath the Aqsa Mosque pose a real threat to the future of the mosque.

MP Abu Halabiya announced on Monday that stones recently fell from an Aqsa Mosque wall as the result of Israeli digging underneath the area called the Umayyad Palaces, which stretches over 800 meters between Ein Silwan and the Buraq Wall.

As a result of Israel’s refusal to allow the Islamic Awqaf to perform renovation works in al-Quds, the recurring fissures and cave-ins at the Aqsa Mosque endanger the entire holy site.

Palestine Today adds:

Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, the preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque, confirmed today, Thursday, that the foundations of Al-Aqsa Mosque have become exposed as a result of the excavations of the Israeli occupation, explaining that “any strong earthquake will destroy these foundations after the occupation removes the surrounding soil.”

Sabri said, in a press statement: "The excavations carried out by the occupation in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque are ancient and modern excavations under the pretext of searching for traces of the Jews.

The preacher of Al-Aqsa added, "The Israeli occupation soldiers and settlers excavate and search and yet did not find a single piece of evidence related to Hebrew Jewish history."

Have you ever noticed that the Muslims always blame the Jews for causing damage at the Temple Mount due to digs in the surrounding areas - but they never mention that they do illegal digs directly under the Mount itself?

In the 1990s, the Waqf oversaw the conversion of "Solomon's Stables" into the huge Marwani Mosque and then dug a large tunnel to be an underground exit, throwing out hundreds of tons of priceless artifacts from the times of the First and Second Temples. But their wholesale destruction didn't end there.

When the Temple Mount was closed for Covid-19, the Waqf published photos of Muslims taking advantage of the lack of Israeli oversight as they started digging another hole on the site.

In September 2020, a hole opened up on the Mount and the Waqf, instead of allowing archaeologists and experts to explore and carefully repair the hole, dumped concrete on it to ensure that any Jewish treasures would not be found.

It seems that Allah does not let excavations of tons of material nearly directly under Al Aqsa to damage the mosque. He only lets the damage be done by the Jews from scores of meters away.

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Germany Declares Day Following V-E Day 'Nakba Day' - 'It's What You Do After Genocide Attempt Against Jews' (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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Berlin, June 23 - German government officials announced today that henceforth, the country will observe the ninth of May to highlight the displacement and suffering of Germans that occurred in the aftermath of German surrender to the Allies in the Second World War and of the Holocaust, following the Palestinian model of a national day of grief and vengefulness on the day after the anniversary of Israel's declaration of statehood in 1948 that also resulted in massive displacement amid a regional effort to exterminate Jews.

The Federal Republic's Minister of Interior Affairs Krei Bulli convened a press conference to inform journalists and the public of German Nakba Day. "We have deemed it appropriate to emulate the reaction of others who have undergone similar experiences," he stated. "Others have brought calamity on themselves by attempting to eliminate Jewry, even if those others did not succeed in making the impact that the Third Reich did manage to achieve in that respect. Palestinian Arabs, with whom Nazi Germany allied during the war, and whose other Arab allies enjoyed close ties and training with the Nazi military apparatus, underwent experience that resonates with us as perpetrators of such a genocide; the Palestinian Arab reaction has inspired us to cope with our legacy of suffering in the same way."

"Palestinian leaders selected the fifteenth of May for their Nakba Day," he continued, "because it immediately follows the date of the Jewish State's founding, and they tie their suffering to that event, suffering that came about because of failed Arab attempts to commit genocide against the Jews. We, too, note Germany's surrender on the eighth of May, 1945, precipitated by an ideology that demanded geocide of Jews, and the consequent German suffering that grew out of that genocide, and declare 9 May 'German Nakba Day.'"

Historians noted that in both cases, the flight and permanent displacement of Palestinians and Germans began well before the symbolic date of the observance. "Ethnic Germans started fleeing where they lived outside Germany as the Red Army advanced" in 1944-5, explained WWII historian David Glantz. "The displacement continued for several years afterwards, as well, ultimately affecting tens of millions of Germans. As for Palestinians, many of them began heeding Arab leaders' advice to get out of the way of the ostensible Arab military juggernaut that would cleanse 'Southern Syria' of Jews, long before May 14, 1948. May 9 and May 15 are symbolic, not literal." Glantz also noted the parallels between displaced Palestinians who hoped to claim the property of ethnically-cleansed Jews in Palestine and eventual German refugees who had settled in ethnically-cleansed properties in Poland.

Minister Bulli also floated the idea of a United Nations agency that could keep the descendants of those WWII refugees stateless until they reclaim the places they had lived beforehand, like the one the Palestinians have.

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06/23 Links Pt1: US antisemitism envoy travel to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE; Biden Ambassador Pick Under Fire for Anti-Semitic Tirade; Iranian kidnapping of Israeli diplomats foiled

From Ian:

JPost Editorial: US-Israel relations boosted by Biden refusal to delay visit

Despite the turmoil, uncertainty and instability caused by the current political crisis in Jerusalem, it’s encouraging that US President Joe Biden is still planning to visit Israel next month.

Biden’s trip to the region – scheduled for July 13-16 and including visits to the Palestinian Authority and Saudi Arabia – had already been postponed by a month, due to domestic considerations. Back then, the Biden administration expected to be meeting with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who visited the White House once as prime minister last August.

With the process of dissolving the Knesset and declaring new elections well underway, it wouldn’t have been surprising for the White House to decide to postpone the July trip. All indications are that Biden will be greeted in Jerusalem by caretaker prime minister Yair Lapid who would serve as Israel’s leader until the next elections, likely in October.

However, as a National Security Council spokesperson said this week, “Israel is a strategic partner and fellow democracy. We respect its democratic processes. We have a strategic relationship with Israel that goes beyond any one government. The president looks forward to the visit next month.”

Former US ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro told The Jerusalem Post’s Omri Nahmias on Tuesday that the impending Israeli election will have little impact on the substance of Biden’s visit.

Jonathan Tobin: The fatal contradictions of Biden's Middle East trip

The decision of an American president to visit the Middle East has always been seen primarily through the lens of its impact on efforts to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That is not the case with President Joe Biden's planned trip next month to Israel, the Palestinian territories and Saudi Arabia. With inflation and the price of gasoline skyrocketing in recent months, Biden's priority should be to increase Middle East oil production, not resurrecting the failed policies of the past and pressuring Israel to appease the Palestinians.

That will require the president to abandon his much-publicized hostility to the Saudi regime. In recent years, many Democrats have become ardent opponents of the US-Saudi alliance, finding Riyadh's admittedly egregious human-rights record to be intolerable even as they downplayed or ignored the equally terrible if not worse actions of Iran. But with the American economy teetering towards recession as a result of Biden's overspending and Washington needing the Saudis to help offset the impact of sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, Biden is going to have to swallow his pride. Though he had vowed to make Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – the country's de facto ruler – an international pariah, the president will now have to resurrect what's left of his old glad-handing skills to get the Saudis to help him out of this fix.

The fact that the international sanctions on Russia seem to have hurt the United States more than the authoritarian government of Vladimir Putin is ironic but no joke. Despite military setbacks and Europe uniting to cut Moscow off from the international economy, Putin has doubled down on his determination to continue his illegal and brutal aggression, meaning that no end to the fighting and the rising toll of civilian casualties seems to be in sight. What's worse, Russia appears to not have suffered too badly from the sanctions with the ruble becoming the best-performing currency, gaining value against both the Euro and the US dollar, during the course of the war. While the world has been hoping that the embarrassing performance of the Russian military and economic isolation would lead to Putin's fall, that much-desired outcome doesn't appear to be a possibility.

That means that America's Ukraine policy, while rooted in a justified desire to oppose aggression, seems to be turning out to be as much of a disaster as Biden's catastrophic retreat from Afghanistan or his inability to curb inflation or deal with supply chain crises.

Jonathan Tobin: Biden will do everything he can to help Lapid and sabotage Netanyahu

The latest developments in Israeli politics provided President Joe Biden with a good excuse to postpone his visit to Israel next month. With the collapse of Israel’s coalition government this week, the country is saddled with an interim government headed by an unelected prime minister in Yair Lapid who is about to launch his campaign to hold onto the office. Scheduling a visit by the leader of Israel’s sole superpower ally at the start of what promises to be a bitterly fought election campaign will make it clear that Washington is far from neutral when it comes to the outcome.

And that is exactly the impression that Biden is hoping to leave when he goes to the Jewish state in July.

Far from being an unwelcome development, the exit of Naftali Bennett from the prime minister’s office is good news for the Biden administration. It viewed Bennett—the leader of a small party that was actually to the right of the Likud and former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu—as a necessary evil. Since his decision to throw in with Lapid and the ragtag coalition of parties from the left, right, center and one Arab Islamist faction was the only reason that Netanyahu was ousted, Biden and his foreign-policy team treated him with kid gloves over the course of his year in Israel’s top job.

The administration was itching to bash the Jewish state over every new home built in Jerusalem or Judea and Samaria, as well as for every ginned-up dispute about the Palestinian Arabs involving Israeli self-defense against terrorism. It was also less than enthused over Jerusalem’s ongoing campaign to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program that was being conducted even as the Americans were desperately trying to convince Tehran to cut a new and even weaker deal. But they passed on every opportunity to do so, signaling that their preference was for the Bennett-Lapid coalition to somehow cling to power.

Bennett repaid their courtesy by declining to push openly for Americans to speak up against the new push for appeasement of Iran, thereby undermining critics of Biden’s feckless policy among both Democrats and Republicans.

Should someone tell him what the purpose of a green screen is?

The editor of Ma'an, Nasser Al-Lahham, recently took ill. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas called him up to wish him a full recovery. Ma'an, while independent, is largely aligned with Fatah.

And two recent editorials by al-Lahham are quite insane.

In one rant where he says that all Israeli natural gas is really Palestinian, he starts off saying that Israel is erasing the name "Yafo" (Jaffa) from the map and replacing it with Tel Aviv.

When the Zionist gangs occupied Jaffa in 1948, the name of the city remained Jaffa until now, but Israel continued to expand its settlement construction in Tel Aviv , to the point of saying that it is the city of Tel Aviv in order to cancel the name of the Arab coastal city, which is Jaffa.

Tel Aviv merged with Jaffa (Yafo) in 1950, and over seven decades later, the official name of the city remains Tel Aviv Yafo.

That's not a very good erasure.

Al-Lahham wrote something even more bizarre recently, claiming there is a "Palestinian curse" that is destroying the United States:

I am convinced that Palestine has a stronger curse than the curse of the Pharaohs. And that everyone who attacked the people of Palestine and their just cause became an example for those who are considered.

And after the United States failed to create any moral or political balance in the world and oppressed the people of Palestine. It began to crumble like dominoes, at the gates of the ancient East.

And after it failed in Jerusalem and embodied its injustice in the Trump deal, the youth tore the pictures of US President Trump and trampled on them with slippers. The era of America's defeat has begun to appear everywhere in the world, in Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia, Brazil and even Iran.

Here is an editor of a newspaper, a newspaper that is quoted worldwide and considered moderate - and he thinks that the US is in decline because Palestinian youths ripped up photos of Donald Trump.

I'd like to say that al-Lahham's mental faculties have been affected by his mystery illness, but he's been writing crazy things for years.

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From JTA:

A US federal appeals court upheld an Arkansas state law requiring all public contractors to promise they won’t boycott Israel in a Wednesday ruling, overturning an earlier decision that had said the contract violates the First Amendment.

The ruling by the St. Louis-based US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit was a major victory for pro-Israel activists who have pushed around 30 states to adopt so-called “anti-BDS” laws — intended to strike back against the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement targeting Israel — in recent years. The plaintiffs say they plan to appeal to the US Supreme Court, a process that could result in a nationwide showdown over the constitutionality of all anti-boycott laws.

It was the first time a federal appeals court ruled in favor of laws forbidding public contractors from being involved in any Israel boycott movements.

Such laws have been heavily opposed by civil liberties groups and press freedom advocates, who say they violate free speech. Federal courts have previously ruled that similar anti-boycott state laws in Georgia, Arizona, Kansas and Texas are unconstitutional.

But the Eighth Circuit, minus one dissenting judge, found that an anti-boycott contract provision does not infringe on the signer’s free speech rights because it “does not require them to publicly endorse or disseminate a message.” Instead, the court said, the clause requests “compliance” with a financial regulation — which the court says is a form of “noncommunicative” speech not protected by the First Amendment.

The case that was brought up is a perfect example of why anti-boycott laws have nothing to do with free speech.

A state-funded school, the Pulaski Technical College of the University of Arizona, stopped advertising in the alt-weekly Arkansas Times unless the paper signed the anti-BDS pledge. The newspaper sued, saying that this impeded its rights to free speech. (It seems to me that suing to force the school to spend money on advertising in the paper is a bit more of a violation of free speech than refusing to advertise is, but I'm no lawyer....)

As the court decision states,

[T]he certification requirement here is markedly different from other compelled speech cases. Although it requires contractors to agree to a contract provision they would otherwise not include, it does not require them to publicly endorse or disseminate a message. ....We are not aware of any cases where a court has held that a certification requirement concerning unprotected, nondiscriminatory conduct is unconstitutionally compelled speech. A factual disclosure of this kind, aimed at verifying compliance with unexpressive conduct-based regulations, is not the kind of compelled speech prohibited by the First Amendment.

The newspaper was not being asked to adopt a pro-Israel editorial position - which would be an obvious violation of free speech. They could have a banner headline telling readers to boycott Israel.

The irony is that the law is meant to uphold equal treatment for Israel. The only people who want to discriminate are those who want to single out Israel for boycott. Such a law would be unnecessary without people singling out Israeli Jews (and only Jews) as objects of attack.

Boycotting Israeli businesses as a policy is as immoral and reprehensible as boycotting businesses that are owned by people of color or women. Individuals can choose who they will or will not do business with, but a state has every right not to do business with those who pro-actively discriminate against companies owned by those with a specific national origin.

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!