Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

07/13 Links Pt1: Israel, US to declare ‘strategic partnership’ during Biden visit; Biden in Israel: You don't need to be a Jew to be a Zionist; Does Iran Have Biological Weapons?

From Ian:

Israel, US to declare ‘strategic partnership’ during Biden visit

The Jerusalem Declaration of the US-Israel Strategic Partnership will be a centerpiece of US President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel on Wednesday through Friday.

The agreement includes a joint stance against Iran’s nuclear program and regional aggression, with both countries saying they will use “all elements of national power” to ensure Iran never attains a nuclear weapon.

In addition, President Biden will reaffirm his commitment to Israel’s security, including its qualitative military edge and ability to defend itself by itself.

Helping Israel defend itself
The declaration states the US plans to follow up on the 10-year $38 billion Memorandum of Understanding on military aid signed with Israel, addressing emerging threats and new developments in the region.

Iran is at the top of Israel’s agenda for bilateral meetings with the Americans at all levels, including Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s meeting with Biden, a senior Israeli official said.

“Iran is continuing to violate its obligations and continues to deceive the international community,” the official said.

“Things published in recent weeks – and even just yesterday – statements by our American counterparts, reflected that,” referring to a remark by US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan that Iran plans to provide Russia with hundreds of drones.

When it comes to indirect negotiations between Iran and the US on the latter’s nuclear program, “Iran is playing for time,” the official added. “As long as Iran believes time is on its side, it will not give in or make any concessions. Time has run out [on the 2015 Iran deal], and it is crucial to exert pressure on Iran.”

Collaboration with the Biden administration on the Iran front is “very strong,” and Israel is grateful for it, the official stated, expressing hope that work on a joint strategy will be taken “to the next level” during Biden’s visit.

What Does Iran Think About Biden’s Visit? – Analysis

An Arab NATO?
Iran is also gambling on the fact that previous plans for a regional alliance, what some have called an “Arab NATO,” have never emerged. That means Iran believes Egypt and Jordan do not want to be part of any grouping that is perceived as anti-Iran.

The goal of using Zangeneh to discuss the visit is that if Iran is wrong, then the regime can simply move on, while the media used someone else to communicate the regime’s concerns. The article notes that the US cannot implement a regional partnership linking Israel and the Arab states because the US does not recognize how complex the region is.

“There are many obstacles in this field. America does not have the previous authority it once held to exercise its authority or to do this through military force. Of course, in the field of arms sales, America sells its military equipment and Saudi Arabia also buys it, but all these goals are lofty goals that cannot be achieved.”

The writer goes on to note that while normalization will continue, the US president will likely be in office for only another two years. That means, Iran believes, Riyadh might not gamble on any assurances from Biden.

In short, Iran is counting on regional complexity, Saudi caution, and Jordanian and Egyptian foreign policy to prevent the emergence of an alliance in the region that would exclude Iran. Iran is obviously concerned but it is waiting to see what will happen. It also appears to be concerned that it must tread carefully and not provoke a crisis while Biden is here.

That means Iran might be weighing whether it wants to use drones and missiles to attack or threaten Israel, Saudi Arabia or US troops in Iraq and Syria. Iran has used its proxies to carry out some 29 attacks since last October against US forces in Iraq and Syria. Of course, the lack of Iranian messaging does not mean that such attacks will not happen. However, Iran appears concerned about driving Israel and the Arab states into any kind of alliance.

Israel and the United States—an unbeatable alliance. ???????? pic.twitter.com/729T7g2nXw
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) July 13, 2022

Biden in Israel: You don't need to be a Jew to be a Zionist

US President Joe Biden reaffirmed his Zionism and the strong ties between the US and Israel in his remarks upon landing in Israel on Wednesday.

“You need not be a Jew to be Zionist,” Biden said, repeating past comments to which Lapid referred in his remarks at Ben-Gurion Airport.

The two-day visit to Israel is Biden’s tenth, but his first as president. Remarking on his first trip to Israel, in 1973, during which he met then-prime minister Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin, who later became prime minister, the president said he had “the great honor of living part of the history of this great place.”

“Every chance to return to this great country, where the ancient roots of the Jewish people date back to biblical times is a blessing,” he said. “The connection between the Israeli people and the American people is bone deep, and generation after generation that connection grows as we invest in each other and dream together.”

Biden spoke of US and Israel partnering on “the most cutting-edge defense systems in the world,” shortly before he went to a presentation by the Defense Ministry that included an Iron Dome battery and the laser-based Iron Beam missile defense system.

“We will continue to advance Israel’s integration in the region and expand emerging forms and engagements like new I2U2 summit,” of Israel, the US, India and the UAE whose leaders are set to convene via video link on Thursday, “to deepen the economic cooperation between the Middle East and Indo-Pacific,” the president said.

Biden said he will also discuss his “continued support – even though I know it’s not in the near term – for a two-state solution, which remains the best way for equal measures of security, freedom, opportunity and dignity for Israelis and Palestinians.”

The president spoke of his strong connection to Israel and the Jewish people going back to his childhood, when his father, a “righteous Christian” told him and his siblings about the Holocaust and “imbued in us a sense of obligation.”

Biden planned to visit Yad Vashem after departing from Ben-Gurion Airport, where he said he will “honor the six million Jewish lives stolen in the genocide and continue what we must do every day, to bear witness…and honor those we lost so that we never forget that lesson.”

Neither The ICC Nor The US Responds When The PA Falsifies Documents Or Destroys Evidence (Daled Amos)

By Daled Amos

Abbas and the Palestinian Authority sometimes bend the truth.

Take for instance in May 3, 2017, when Abbas came to the White House and told then-President Trump about their inculcation of peace:

"Mr. President, I affirm to you that we are raising our children and our grandchildren on a culture of peace."

Palestinian Media Watch captures the moment in a video, along with examples of what the PA is actually teaching Palestinian children to say:

(The complete video is available at the above link)

It just goes to show you that when it comes to brainwashing their children to hate, the PA can really give Hamas and their videos a run for their money.

The dishonesty of Abbas and the PA goes further however, and extends to manipulating the law and distorting evidence.

On May 19, 2020, Abbas -- who has a history of threatening to quit and to annul the Oslo Accords -- did it again, claiming that the PA no longer saw itself as being obligated by its agreements and accords that it had signed with Israel.

Maurice Hirsch, Head of Legal Strategies at PMW, writes that on that day Abbas in fact proclaimed the end of the Oslo Accords:

The Palestine Liberation Organization and the State of Palestine are absolved, as of today, of all the agreements and understandings with the American and Israeli governments and of all the obligations based on these understandings and agreements, including the security ones.

[Wafa, Official PA News Agency, May 19, 2020, Official PA TV, May 19, 2020] [Emphasis added]

The day after Abbas made the announcement, Palestinian PM Shtayyeh released a press release:

“During the meeting, Prime Minister Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh confirmed the Palestinian government's full support to the decision announced yesterday by H.E. President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian leadership that we are absolved of all signed agreements and understandings with the Israeli and American sides. The Prime Minister stressed that we would work on translating this decision on the ground.”

[Office of the PA PM, Press release, May 21, 2020 (http://www.palgov.ps/en/article/230/Remarks-by-Prime-Minister-Dr-Mohammad-Shtayyeh-During-the-Emergency-Cabinet-Meeting)]

And a week later Shtayyeh again confirmed that all agreements with Israel were null and void:

“Today, the Cabinet will finalize plans related to the leadership’s decision, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, that Palestine is absolved of all agreements with Israel.”

[Office of the PA PM, Press release, June 1, 2020 (http://www.palgov.ps/en/article/231/Remarks-by-Prime-Minister-Dr-Mohammad-Shtayyeh-at-the-Weekly-Cabinet-Meeting) emphasis added]

And that got the attention of the ICC.

The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber requested information from Abbas “to provide additional information on this statement [by Abbas cancelling all agreements with Israel], including on the question whether it pertains to any of the Oslo agreements between Palestine and Israel.”

Sure enough, Abbas responded -- and lied to the ICC:

“Substantively, the Statement declares that if Israel proceeds with annexation, a material breach of the agreements between the two sides, then it will have annulled any remnants of the Oslo Accords and all other agreements concluded between them.”

[PA submission to ICC - PTC, June 4, 2020 https://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2020_02277.PDF] [emphasis added]

Abbas lied, claiming it was merely a warning and not a declaration. Abbas knew that if he admitted that the PA actually annulled the Oslo Accords, the PA -- and his presidency -- would be null and void as well.

But as Hirsch points out, Abbas lied about something else -- his voluntary confession to a war crime.

During Abbas's original speech, he also proclaimed:

Currently, [the Israelis] have asked the banks not to pay the prisoners, [but] we will pay, no matter what they want. (literally: “against the will of their father.” emphasis added)

And he liked so much how that sounded that Abbas broadcast that excerpt on PA TV 5 times:

Abbas: “We vow to our honorable Martyrs and heroic prisoners – [The Israelis] have asked the banks not to pay the prisoners, [but] we will pay, no matter what they want."

[Official PA TV, Abbas’ original speech on May 19, 2020, broadcast on May 20, 2020]

However, when Abbas dutifully responded to the ICC request for the text of his speech -- he changed what he actually said:

Eighth: … We pledge to our honoured martyrs, our brave prisoners and our heroic wounded to remain faithful to our oath until victory, freedom, independence and return are achieved...

No mention that Abbas proudly boasted that he was going to continue his pay-for-slay policy.

Why not?

Because 5 months earlier, on December 5, 2019, the The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) came out with its Report on Preliminary Examination Activities, detailing its preliminary examination into situations under consideration for possible investigation. While Israel was one of those under consideration -- so too was the Palestinian Authority:

According to this, the ICC was considering the PA not only for the crime against humanity of torture -- but also for the possible Rome Statute crime of paying stipends to families of Palestinian terrorists (pay-for-slay).

But it's not as if Abbas really had anything to worry about. I asked Lt. Col Hirsch if Abbas faced any backlash for falsifying the document he gave to the PA. He confirmed:

The Prosecutor said nothing. While the court referred to the document, it said nothing about the fact that the version submitted was falsified.

For that matter, the ICC seemed equally unconcerned with the torture and pay-for-slay policy of the PA as well. When the ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda opened the formal investigation into war crimes

Ms Bensouda said there was a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes were committed in the context of the war, and that charges could be filed against Israel Defense Forces (IDF) personnel and members of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups. [emphasis added]

While Hamas and "other Palestinian armed groups" were mentioned, it was 'in the context of war.' There was no mention of the torture and terrorist payments conducted by the PA. That would be the same PA that happily met with Bensouda to help her prepare for declaring the investigation of Israel.

Photo by WAFA, the official PA news agency, showing PA Prime Minister Shtayyeh meeting with ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in February, 2020

It is not surprising then to find another example of the PA's disregard for truth and the law when it comes to the investigation into the death of Shireen Abu Akleh -- and how it is ignored.

It took nearly 2 months before the PA finally turned over the alleged bullet that it claims killed Abu Akleh. What are we supposed to make of that delay?

According to JNS:

the bullet had no “chain of custody,” so the P.A. could not prove it was the same bullet that killed Akleh. As evidence, it would be inadmissible in any American court. The fact that the P.A. waited so long to release the bullet, even though it was too damaged to be of any use, also casts doubt on its credibility.

But leave it to The Washington Post to spin the Palestinian delay in handing over the bullet in a positive light:

The Palestinian Authority on Saturday said it has given the bullet that killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh to American forensic experts, taking a step toward resolving a standoff with Israel over the investigation into her death...It signaled that both sides may be working to find a solution to the deadlock.

The fact that the PA has falsified a document to the ICC in the past, might justify a more skeptical view.

On the issue of the nature of the damage done to the bullet, leading physicist and ballistic expert Nahum Shahaf is suspicious:

"the bullet underwent a severe transformation at the hands of a hammer that created a deep depression in its back, which cannot be formed by the projectile's movement alone"...Regarding alterations made to the bullet prior to the PA allowing foreign experts to analyze it, Shahaf says he can detect streaks of crushing as well as an internal depression, which can only be produced by a hammer of enormous weight. The squeezing in question was performed on the back of the bullet and not its front, which smashes on impact. [emphasis added]

This makes the conclusion reached by the US on the incident rival the ICC when it comes to treating the Palestinian Authority with kid gloves. Based in part on the damaged, unverified bullet, the US came to the conclusion that the bullet was likely fired from the Israeli position, but not intentionally. How it was possible to reach this conclusion -- which left neither the PA nor Israel happy -- is unclear. But some kind of conclusion was necessary to try and resolve the issue before Biden's arrival in the Middle East was necessary.

And like the ICC, no official US condemnation of the delay in delivering the bullet or of the unexplained damage to the bullet was forthcoming.

Neither the falsification of a document nor the destroying of evidence by the PA merits a response.

But there is hope for some kind of justice:

The U.N. Committee against Torture (CAT) — a subsidiary of the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) — convenes today in Geneva, where it will investigate instances of enforced disappearances, violent interrogations and the holding of the remains of Israeli soldiers, among other issues. In addition to investigating the Palestinian Authority, the committee will also probe Botswana, Nicaragua and the United Arab Emirates.

In accordance with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Palestinian Authority was required to submit a report detailing its adherence to the convention.

Not surprisingly, there is no mention of the Palestinian record on human rights -- only on Israel.

Also noted in the article:

The PA report was initially due in 2015, but was not submitted until 2019 — a delay not addressed in the report.

Not surprising -- neither the delay, nor the failure of the UN to think it worth mentioning.

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Many Islamists criticized Saudi Arabia for appointing Muhammad bin Abdul-Karim al-Issa to perform the sermon and prayer on the Day of Arafa at the Namirah Mosque in Mecca for Hajj.

Al-Issa had visited Auschwitz, met with rabbis, visited Yeshiva University in New York and in general has been outspoken in pushing for coexistence with other religions.

This was a significant, public move that showed that the Saudi leadership is liberalizing and encouraging its people to no longer consider Israel as an enemy.

Saudi Arabia's Basic Law says that the constitution itself is defined as"The Holy Qur'an and the Prophet's Sunnah (traditions)." Before normalization with Israel is possible, there needs to be rulings based on the Quran that would allow such a relationship.

MEMRI reports that this is already happening:

An unusual and recent article on the religious legitimacy of diplomatic relations with Israel, which may promote the rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and this country, appeared in the Saudi state daily Al-Jazirah on June 20, 2022. The article, titled "The Fiqh [Jurisprudence] regarding al-siyasa al-shar'iyya Shari'a-Based Policy and the State of Israel," is by Dr. Khalid bin Muhammad Al-Yousuf, a senior lecturer on international law at the Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh and the secretary-general of the university's Supreme Council. He argues that, in the modern era, there has been a significant change in the perception of the state and in the rules of the game in international relations. According to the new rules, he says, Israel is an existing reality just like any other world country, and a member of the UN. Therefore, it must be treated according to the accepted norms of the international community. Al-Yousuf calls on Saudi clerics to reexamine the sphere of international relations and formulate a new religious perception of it, compatible with these new norms, which will enable the ruler of an Islamic state to employ independent judgement and form ties with Israel if he deems this to be in the interest of his country. He emphasizes that normalization with Israel will allow many Muslims to come and pray in Jerusalem and "rebuild it," which cannot be done without maintaining ties with Israel.

The article, as translated by MEMRI, starts off with a justification for how Saudi Arabia has already accepted Israel as a member of the international community as a first stage towards recognition:

First of all, what is Israel today?

In the contemporary international community, [Israel] is a sovereign state that has the character of a state according to the modern global perception. It is a member of the UN, and since it is recognized as a state, it operates in the contemporary international community vis-à-vis all the other states, just like any other country – whether in the framework of mutual legal recognition [between it and other states], or in practice, based on reality, according to the requirements of the contemporary circumstances.

Examples of the first [type of recognition] are, for example, official mutual visits by state leaders, the opening of embassies, direct trade, and the like. Examples of the second [kind of ties, based on the requirements of reality are the existence of] maritime zones and airspace; the use of shipping routes; indirect trade, for example by transferring goods through third parties, in free trade zones and through [individuals with] dual citizenship; meetings between official delegations at international forums, and encounters as part of various sports events. A state cannot be part of the international community without taking an active part in international forums…"

The Saudis have already been interacting with Israelis in the context of multilateral and international meetings. This article gives both that level of acceptance and the higher level of recognizing Israel an Islamic imprimatur, by showing precedent by Mohammed in the Quran in how he dealt with other nations.

The legal basis is the concept of "al-siyasa al-shar'iyya" which says that relationships with non-Muslims that benefit Muslims have a wider latitude as long as they do not explicitly violate shari'a law. The essay says that the ruler of a Muslim country can make decisions about what is best for the country based on politics as well as Islamic law.

It seems to me that this policy has been in place for decades anyway - after all, Saudi Arabia has diplomatic relations with scores of Christian countries, and in Islam there is no legal distinction between Jews and Christians. But since Israel has been the object of so much hate for so long, and that opprobrium was also ostensibly based on Islamic law, the Saudi leadership needs to explain how it can justify such a major change in policy towards Israel.

There is another interesting implication in this article. It seems to effectively accept international law as being more important than shari'a when it comes to international relations:

If we examine our current reality we will find that [the concept of] dar al-harb in its Islamic and jurisprudential sense is no longer implemented today. The fact that it is not implemented does not mean that the shari'a laws pertaining to it are abolished, but only that they are not applied to modern states because this term is not used in the modern international community. Modern states interact through contracts, charters, agreements and alliances. These can be collective, like the UN Charter, which is the founding document of the UN, [an organization] that encompasses all the world countries. According to this charter, states have rights and duties towards the UN, towards the international community and towards each other… Saudi Arabia was one of the first countries to sign the UN Charter, and it is therefore a founding member [of this organization]. King Faisal signed the charter as a founding member already on June 26, 1945 in a ceremony that took place in San Francisco.

...An in-depth examination of the reality in the modern international community reveals that a state, in addition to being a legal entity, may not violate modern international law… For example, it may not hijack planes, trains or ships in another country, and if it does so, it incurs international condemnation.

This could open the door for Saudi liberalization in many more areas than just relations with Israel.

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The Canadian Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security issued a 54-page report on "The Rise of Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism in Canada."

The report includes 33 recommendations to combat violent extremism - and Israel haters were very upset at one of them:

That the Government of Canada thoroughly reject the demonization and delegitimization of the State of Israel, and condemn all attempts by Canadian organizations, groups, or individuals, including university campus associations, to promote these views, both at home and abroad.

The Canadian government recognizes, correctly, that demonization and delegitimization of Israel aren't legitimate criticism but manifestations of hate - and that hate can easily turn into violence when left unchecked.

Naturally, the Israel haters condemned it - by misstating it:

A report from the federal government's Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security recommends the Canadian government "thoroughly reject" harsh criticism of Israel and denounce anyone who engages in it.

There is a huge difference between criticism and saying a nation has no right to exist. The tweeter knows this which is exactly why he misrepresents it.

In 2020, Jews were by far the most victims of anti-religious hate crime in Canada. 13% of all hate crime was towards Jews, who comprise 1% of the Canadian population.

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

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07/12 Links Pt2: Will CEOs Finally Learn Their Lesson on Boycotting Israel?; New Jewish Group Slams ‘Progressive Assault’ on Israel; Shocking videos of CUNY antisemitism hearing

From Ian:

Richard Goldberg: Will CEOs Finally Learn Their Lesson on Boycotting Israel?

The Ben & Jerry's news parallels Airbnb's ill-conceived 2018 boycott of Israel that ended with a similar reversal after the company faced state blacklisting threats and litigation.

Given the difficulties faced by Airbnb and Unilever, you'd think the CEOs and chief counsels of large corporations would have learned their lesson. Apparently not. The next potential target for state anti-BDS laws, congressional investigations, and litigation? Chicago-based financial research giant Morningstar, whose ESG research subsidiary Sustainalytics appears to use the BDS playbook to produce negative ratings of companies connected to Israel despite full knowledge such ratings may drive divestment.

Before its acquisition by Morningstar, Sustainalytics had a long track record of promoting boycotts of Israel. It produced an "Occupied Territories Involvement Report" that encouraged investors to avoid territories controlled by Israel. When numerous companies and churches boycotted Israel, Sustainalytics was there providing research support.

In January 2021, the investment group JLens placed Morningstar on its "Do Not Invest" list because of Sustainalytics' ties to anti-Israel boycotts. Though Morningstar initially brushed off the criticism, it eventually hired an outside law firm to address the allegation. The firm mysteriously concluded Morningstar had no systemic bias against Israel and was not in violation of any state anti-BDS law. The facts presented in the report, however, did not match these conclusions. Instead, they painted a picture of a firm that heavily relies on deeply flawed anti-Israel sources, and automatically finds companies involved in entire sectors of Israel's economy to be complicit in human rights abuses.

Morningstar committed to firing one outside vendor, but still refuses to come to terms with the fact that Sustainalytics is engaged in a boycott of Israel through its ongoing use of BDS assumptions and sources to promote divestment. With anti-BDS laws on the books in 34 states today and a corporation continuing to make potentially misleading statements to investors, we know how this movie will end.

Boycotts of Israel carry legal and reputational risks. The next time a company gets scooped up by pressure from the antisemitic BDS mob, the story of Unilever will be one to remember.

New Jewish Group Slams ‘Progressive Assault’ on Israel

With anti-Semitic hate crimes on the rise, veteran pro-Israel activist Charles Jacobs says the organized Jewish community in the United States is asleep at the wheel.

Jacobs, who has spent four decades at the forefront of the Jewish human rights world, says establishment Jewish organizations are led by "people who refuse to fight for Jewish interests" and contribute to the dangerous climate Jews face in the United States by appeasing far-left, anti-Israel forces. The American Jewish community’s alphabet soup of establishment organizations, such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), American Jewish Committee (AJC), and the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), among others, "have failed to inform the community of the dangers of Islamic radicalism and anti-Semitism and instead have vouched for radical Muslims posing as ‘moderates,’" according to Jacobs.

That’s why he and several other likeminded Jewish activists have joined together to form the Jewish Leadership Project (JLP), which adopts a more right-leaning philosophy and seeks to undo the damage the group says has been caused by the mainstream Jewish world's near total embrace of Democratic Party politics. The JLP, Jacobs told the Washington Free Beacon, "will demand that major Jewish organizations—including the JFNA, the ADL, and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs—cease subordinating the safety and welfare of the Jewish-American community to partisan ideology."

The JLP intends to wage an internecine war with the mainstream Jewish communal world to drag it away from "the progressive’s assault and demonization of the Jewish state and its supporters," said Jacobs.

Organizations like the ADL, which is currently led by Obama administration alum Jonathan Greenblatt, have drifted away from their original mission statements to defend Jewish interests in the United States, instead embracing liberal ideologies that paint Israel as a pariah state. These groups, Jacobs said, "have accommodated, rather than battled the insidious and harmful ethnic studies and critical race theory ideologies that are teaching American students that Jews are undeservedly privileged, ‘white-adjacent’ people who support the ‘racist’ state of Israel."

For years, organizations like the ADL have faced accusations that they isolate conservative-leaning Jews and are overly deferential to Democratic Party politics. These groups, critics say, behave more like Democratic advocacy organizations than protectors of the Jewish people. And while a plurality of American Jews are Democratic voters, Jacobs and his allies say there is a silent and more marginalized segment of the American-Jewish community that is concerned by the party’s leftward lurch.

Emily Schrader: We cannot continue to minimize antisemitism

This reluctance to call a spade a spade is a part of the larger problem of antisemitism in the world, particularly in America: Jews aren’t the victims the world likes.

This is the reason that despite the fact antisemitic hate crimes have topped the FBI’s list of religiously motivated hate crimes in America for my entire life – by more than double any other religious minority – Jews continue to be pushed out of spaces where minorities work to fight oppression.

Efforts to change the subject
This is also the reason that in the aftermath of the Highland Park shooting, instead of discussions on antisemitism in America, we saw a discussion on whether or not Anne Frank had white privilege trending on Twitter.

Why are Jews targeted? Because they are a minority which has risen above hate, which has succeeded in many fields beyond its tiny 2% of the US population and most of all, because it’s easy to give in to the age-old hatred of antisemitism. Apparently, it’s too complex for the media to acknowledge that Jews are both a historically oppressed minority who have succeeded beyond expectation, but also that they face tremendous persecution and hate today at the same time.

We are less than 100 years since the Holocaust, yet somehow Jews are no longer interesting victims. Is Jewish blood not important enough to make headlines? Are the threats against Jewish communities worldwide not enough for the media’s clickbait?

It’s time to call out the blatant, antisemitic coverage that’s providing cover to the rising wave of antisemitism in the US and beyond.

Let’s talk about that Jewish “privilege”
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— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) July 11, 2022

This tweet from Matt Duss, Bernie Sanders' foreign policy advisor and president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, is really amusing:

A good question for reporters to be asking this week about the Abraham Accords is why this regional "peace deal" doesn't seem to be supported by actual regional peace and human rights activists.

The "experts" on the Middle East have been proven to be completely and totally wrong in their analysis, which incidentally has not changed at all since 1995.

In their universe, Palestinians who are dedicated to destroying Israel should have veto power over anything Israel does with any Arab state.

And for the years of the Obama administration, that is exactly how things were.

Then, Gulf states realized that their slavish dedication to supporting Palestinians who couldn't even solve their own internal split was counterproductive - and that partnering with Israel would bring great benefits.

So then the largest sea change in the Israeli-Arab conflict since Camp David happened - the Abraham Accords.

These "experts" were really upset that their formula didn't work, and they keep trying to shoehorn a radically changed Middle East into their old thinking, since they really have no imagination beyond "Israel bad, Palestinians good."

Hilariously, Duss resorts to saying that the "experts" - human rights activists who spend a large percentage of their time demonizing Israel - don't support the Abraham Accords, so therefore they must be meaningless.

Never in their wildest dreams can these blowhards consider that they have been wrong since - well, forever.

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From Naharnet:

Israel was mulling the possibility of filing a U.N. complaint against Lebanon over the drones that Hezbollah sent towards the Karish gas field, but it later shelved the idea at Washington’s request, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Israel refrained from filing the complaint “after the pressures of U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea on the Lebanese premier managed to secure a stance shirking responsibility in an official (Lebanese) statement,” al-Akhbar added, noting that the U.S. pressures were also aimed at avoiding any impact on U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to the region.

Not sure how reliable Al Akhbar is, since Israel did write a letter of complaint today. So the question is - was there US pressure?

“The Americans are exerting pressures on a group of Lebanese politicians to avoid any negative development that might affect the U.S. mediator’s tour, and they are also requesting the announcement of positive news about an imminent solution for the demarcation file in order to make use of that in the pacification efforts,” informed sources told the daily.

If true, does Israel get anything in return for acquiescing to US demands? It doesn't seem so.

The article goes on to say that there may be a horse trade in the works to help the negotiations over the maritime demarcation line between Israel and Lebanon:

Al-Akhbar added, citing deliberately “leaked” media reports, that “the demarcation file has entered an advanced new stage.”

“Reports are saying that the Israel enemy does not mind granting Lebanon the entire Qana field without financial compensations, following a U.S. endeavor in this regard,” the newspaper said.

“Discussions are now revolving around a compensative maritime area that would be granted in return for giving up the entire field,” al-Akhbar added.

“This area is related to the demarcation of lines, which requires a zigzag line granting Israel a maritime area after adding the field to (Lebanon’s) exclusive economic zone,” the newspaper quoted the sources as saying.

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!

07/12 Links Pt1: Why Biden's 'Gestures' to the Palestinians Will Not Bring Peace or Stability; Trump was a gift, Biden is the punishment; U.N. to review reports of torture carried out by the Palestinian government

From Ian:

Bassam Tawil: Why Biden's 'Gestures' to the Palestinians Will Not Bring Peace or Stability

The Biden administration might do itself a favor if it understood that previous "gestures" made by Israel did not contribute to peace and stability in the region, and did not advance any peace process between the Israel and the Palestinians.

There is much that the Palestinian Authority can do to ease tensions and help create a suitable atmosphere for the resumption of the peace process with Israel. The PA could, for example, stop the incitement against Israel, halt payments to families of terrorists, condemn terrorism and crack down on terror groups operating under its control.

It is this unresponsive governance by the Palestinian Authority to everything except killing Jews -- not the absence of "gestures" -- that strengthens the support for Hamas.

The Palestinians correctly spot these fig-leaf public relations "gestures" as just political plumage for Abbas that does not require him to change how he mistreats them. So why not try Hamas?

It was hard, in fact, to find anyone in the Gaza Strip who saw Israel's withdrawal as a positive development or as a sign that Israel wanted peace and calm. Instead, it was seen as a validation of terrorism: We shoot, they run. Great! It's working! So, let's keep on doing that!

Until today, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group controlling the Gaza Strip, continues to portray the withdrawal as a "defeat" for Israel and "victory" for the terror groups. In addition, Hamas continues to describe the "expulsion" of Israel from the Gaza Strip as a first step towards achieving its goal of eliminating Israel and replacing it with an Iranian-backed Islamist state.

Here is what the official Fatah Facebook page published as late as May 25, 2022: "No statute of limitations will apply to our historical right to take back all the Palestinian land from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea, including the [Jordan] River and the [Mediterranean] Sea" -- thereby making an alliance with Hamas all the more tempting in order to accelerate the process.

The "gestures" and "concessions" will, in fact, be seen by the Palestinians, like Israel's retreat from the Gaza Strip, as a reward for their ongoing incitement and terrorism against Israel.

The "gestures" the Biden administration is demanding are, according to the Israeli group Regavim, illegal...

Khaled Abu Toameh: Why Arabs Are Fed up With the Palestinians

The Palestinians can only blame themselves for antagonizing their Arab brothers and consequently losing the Arab money. The Palestinians have been spitting in the face of the Arab countries, while at the same time expecting these countries to continue funding them.

The Arabs are clearly not as naïve as the Americans and Europeans, who are continuing to pour millions of dollars annually on the Palestinians without conditions and without demanding accountability.

Had the Palestinians welcomed the many peace accords between Israel and the Arab states instead of condemning them and bad-mouthing the Arab leaders, they would have been in a much better situation today. They would have continued to receive financial aid from the Arabs and been able to use this money to build a better future for their children

The Arab countries have more urgent issues to deal with than the corrupt, thankless Palestinian leaders do. You can start with the welfare of their own people. The Palestinian leadership, by contrast, is happy to fail its people by indoctrinating generation after generation with bloodlust for Jews. When Palestinian society finds itself left in the global dust of progress, it can thank its leaders for bringing them to that sorry pass.

Trump was a gift, Biden is the punishment

We can only hope the visit comes and goes in peace, and that Prime Minister Yair Lapid can charm his sleepy guest and mitigate any potential damage. Either way, the main sentiment regarding the visit is one of immense frustration over the administration in Washington, mainly from the chorus of foolish Israelis who cheered it on while ignoring the magnitude of the wasted historic opportunity we had when Trump was in power.

Netanyahu's main achievement in terms of the Trump administration shouldn't actually be judged according to the bottom line, although this would be quite sufficient (and in my opinion not enough). The main success is in the spirit of the matter. However we look at the Biden administration's positions regarding Israel, the impression is one of identification with a Palestinian narrative that seeks to persuade the world that Israel's very existence is a "problem." There are those who support this "problem" and others who have their reservations, but this has been our story since 1948: We're a "problem." An established problem, a successful problem, a problem the Americans share many interests with, but a "problem" nonetheless.

Light years apart, meanwhile, the Trump administration's collaboration with the Netanyahu government evinced a fundamentally different perception of Israel. It approached Israel naturally, as an indisputable fact, not just because of aligned interests but because of complete identification with the Zionist narrative predicated on the natural and historic right of the Jewish people – and the Palestinian opposition to this as a "problem." Israel is stable and upright, it has problems and those need to be addressed. These are not two versions of the same story. They are two different stories altogether.

Perhaps this situation was caused by Trump's abrasive and problematic personality. But who the hell cares? Beggars can't be choosers. Does Israel have the luxury of picking and choosing the source of its salvation? Every Israeli understands this. Then why the cheers and joy over the Democratic victory and open disgust over anything connected to Trump? Because of the game of pretenses, which first and foremost consists of needing to appear universal and approach every dispute in the US as if it is happening here; and second, because of the need to be considered enlightened. This is the powerful engine driving many Israelis and is behind their emotional reaction to the abortion issue there as if it is any of their business. No, friends, it's not your business. And yes, Trump was a gift. And Biden is the punishment for the sin we committed in denial and falsehood.

Algerian news site Echorouk Online claims that there was a major normalization crime in rival nation Morocco:

[The Moroccan kingdom] focused on its provocative activities, the latest of which was the organization of a circumcision ceremony for children of poor and needy Moroccan families under the supervision of a Zionist delegation consisting of hardened criminals, in order to create a propaganda scene that serves the Zionist agenda and the Zionist subversive penetration into the depths of Moroccan society, according to the

The Moroccan Observatory for Anti-Normalization stated that “in a very dangerous step, and considered a crime with full descriptions, some agents of normalization in the city of Fez organized a circumcision ceremony for more than 500 children and a medical examination for more than 200 women free of charge, in order to receive, honor and highlight the faces of Zionist terrorism, represented by a delegation from the officers of the Zionist war army, for whom everything was arranged,” in Kharja bearing “a lot of very dangerous symbols.”

In the context, the observatory said that Moroccan women were lured from the poorest neighborhoods in Fez, “with the aim of making the scene of propaganda a servant of the Zionist agenda and the Zionist subversive penetration into the depth of Moroccan society and beautifying the faces of Zionist terrorism in the eyes of Moroccans.” According to the observatory, what happened in Fez is “a major crime by all standards, and accordingly it is necessary to arrange the positions it requires, whether by the state or society, otherwise the country is heading to the bottom, the bottom of the comprehensive Zionist disgrace.”

It took a while but I found video of the supposed event.

It seems that an Israeli named Avraham Avizemer arranges tours of Morocco for Israelis, and this was part of one tour. It wasn't an official Israeli delegation.

Avizemer was born in Casablanca and formerly worked for the Israeli Navy, which is what makes him a Zionist criminal, apparently.

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!

Poll: More East Jerusalem Arabs would prefer Israeli citizenship than Palestinian. 22% of WB Arabs support killing Jews worldwide.

One of the best polls of Palestinians has been that of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where they ask Palestinians questions that Palestinian pollsters tend to avoid.

The most recent poll finds that East Jerusalem Arabs have become far more moderate in the past two years.

Today, half (48%) of the city’s Palestinian residents say that, if they had to make a choice, they would prefer to become citizens of Israel, rather than of a Palestinian state. From 2017 to early 2020, that figure hovered around just 20%. Today, only a minority (43%) of East Jerusalemites say they would pick Palestine; while the remainder (9%) would opt for Jordanian citizenship. Among West Bankers, the comparable figures are Israel, 25%; Palestine, 65%; Jordan, 10%.

Significantly, this sharp contrast is now evident on other, related questions as well. For instance, in East Jerusalem, 63% agree at least “somewhat” with this purposely provocative statement: “It would be better for us if we were part of Israel, rather than in Palestinian Authority or Hamas ruled lands.” In the West Bank, the corresponding figure is less than half that proportion (28%).

Interestingly, the "Jordanian option" which had not even been a consideration at all in previous polls has become significant.

Another major divergence between Jerusalem Arabs and West Bank Arabs was the question, “I hope some day we can be friends with Israelis, since we are all human beings after all.” 54% of Jerusalem Arabs agreed, compared to just 26% in the West Bank.

But when questions were phrased in emotional or religious terms, the Jerusalem Arabs were even more extreme than those in the West Bank:

For example, 23% of East Jerusalem Palestinians agree “strongly” with this assertion: “I sincerely worry that Israel wants to destroy the Al-Aqsa mosque and harm our religion.” An additional 46% agree “somewhat” with that sentiment. Nineteen percent agree “strongly” that “we should demand Palestinian rule over all of Jerusalem, east and west, rather than share or divide any part of it with Israel”; an additional 45% offer lukewarm agreement, given that maximalist formulation. Finally, this deliberately inflammatory hypothetical arouses the harshest responses: “When I think about the occupation, I get so angry that I wish all Israelis would disappear.” A large minority (41%) “strongly” agree, with another 33% “somewhat” agreeing as well.

Support for violence across the board has lessened somewhat since the last poll in February 2020, but it is still quite significant - and under-reported.

In the West Bank, there is little distinction between Israelis, "settlers" and security personnel. 53% support and 37% oppose attacks on Jews in Israel, and a similar percentage support attacking Israelis in the West Bank as well as Israeli soldiers or police.

But a significant percentage - 23% - also support attacking tourists in Israel.

And pure antisemitism is evident in the response to the question of whether it is good or bad to attack Jews anywhere in the world. 22% say it is good - half the number from 2020, but still more than one in five West Bank Arabs want to see Jews killed everywhere.

This poll didn't include Gaza, which typically would be more extreme, meaning that at least a quarter of Palestinians support murdering Jews worldwide.

See if you can find that little fact reported in the mainstream media.

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!

A new book has just been published,titled "Bioethics and the Holocaust: A Comprehensive Study in How the Holocaust Continues to Shape the Ethics of Health, Medicine and Human Rights." It is a free download from the Maimonides Institute for Medicine Ethics & The Holocaust.

Chapter Two, "Teaching Medical Ethics in Nazi Germany: Debunking the Myth that the Nazi Physicians Abandoned Their Ethics," by Tessa Chelouche is mind-blowing.

Believe it or not, Nazi Germany was in the forefront of publishing a guide for medical ethics. medical ethics manual, Medical Jurisprudence and Rules of the Medical Profession,was written by Dr. Rudolf Ramm. In its own sick and twisted way, it created an ethics system that in some ways resembles the one used by doctors worldwide - but it was steeped in Nazi racial ideology.

The uncomfortable reality is that the physicians who executed these crimes were of the conviction that their actions were morally and scientifically right (Caplan 2010). These were not incompetent, insane physicians from the fringes of the profession. Many were distinguished, experienced professionals from mainstream German medicine, which was considered to be the most progressive of the time (Aly et al. 1994; Weiss 2005). The German physicians were not coerced to join the Nazi Party, but did so on their own initiative and in greater numbers than any other free profession (Kater 1989). Among them were university professors and experienced physicians who, like Rudolf Ramm, took it upon themselves to inculcate future generations of physicians precisely due to the fact that they believed that what they were practicing and preaching was ethically and morally right (Bruns and Chelouche 2017). In Ramm’s words: “So this book should be a companion and a guide to the student of medicine and to the young physician for his established goal and an adviser to the young person in his choice of profession.”

...Nazi Germany became the first country in the world to hold mandatory ethics classes in medical schools.
Antisemitism was an inherent feature of Nazi medical ideology. One of the first steps taken in the newly formed Nazi regime was the removal of Jews from medical practice, both academic and clinical. In reading the textbook we realize the extent to which the Nazi physicians internalized and embraced antisemitism as inherent to, and acceptable with, medical and ethical norms. Ramm praises the new antisemitic directives: “One of the first measures of the National Socialist Physicians leadership was the cleansing of the profession of politically unreliable and racially foreign elements, so long as the medical benefit for the Volk population was not endangered” “Cleansing the profession” refers to the expulsion of the Jewish physicians from medicine in 1938, whose licenses were revoked and who were no longer considered doctors, but rather healers permitted to treat only fellow Jews. “One can however today already grasp the blessings which are important to life and to our Volk in the offices of the states that have emerged after the forceful expulsion of the Jews from the profession” He rationalizes the self-righteous persecution and marginalization of Jewish physicians: “It was the Jew who forced some German doctors into a crass materialistic employment of professionally unworthy methods of competition; the Jew who endangered the German Volk, and the one who through extension of his souls-poisoning ideas, enabled the destruction of germinating life while generating the impression, through his methods of advertising in wide circles of the population, that he was indispensable as a medical researcher and medical practitioner…Today no full-blooded German would allow himself to be treated by a Jewish doctor”. Although these passages read as blatant racist propaganda, they are in essence what was deemed morally right to teach medical students in Nazi Germany.

The chapter goes on to discuss sterilization, eugenics and euthanasia as all being placed in an ethical framework.

Ramm's medical ethics manual created a framework that was 'ethical" in the sense that it had an ethical basis - the importance of the Volk and the nation, ensuring that the most fit people would lead the nation in the future. Those who would be deleterious towards that goal should be marginalized and ultimately eliminated. It is monstrous, but it is a self-consistent ethical framework that appealed to the medical professionals in Germany of the day.

The conclusion includes:

[E]thics instruction does not ensure future virtuous medical practice. In addition, the existence of codes and directives and in this case, ethical textbooks, does not assure moral integrity. In fact, Ramm’s work shows us just how training and education can be used deleteriously.

If we expand a little beyond the medical profession, this is exactly what we are seeing today. So called "human rights" groups, taking the mantle of the highest ethical arbiters as medical professionals have been, have created their own self-consistent definition of morality that just happens to be twisted against today's Jews. They created brand new definitions of "apartheid" and "persecution" and "colonialism" that have been custom built to apply only to Israeli Jews, or terms like "indigenous" that have been interpreted deliberately to exclude Jews.

The insidiousness of their methodology is that they are not just spreading hate. They are teaching their ethical framework as if it is the only ethical system that exists.

Within that framework, it is impossible to defend Israel (as well as the traditional family, religion, and a host of other issues.)

This chapter is meant to teach doctors that they cannot assume that their ethical training makes them immune to doing immoral things in service of the prevailing standards and mores. But others who claim to have the moral high ground should read this as well.

Bioethics and human rights both became much more prominent as a response to the Holocaust. This book reminds us that adhering to an ethical framework is not enough: sometimes the framework itself can justify even the most heinous crimes.

(h/t Jay L)

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!

07/11 Links Pt2: Why Does the Palestinian Cause Get So Much Attention?; The Liberation of the Arabs From the Global Left; Archaeological Discoveries Confirm Ancient Connection of Israel to the Jewish People

From Ian:

Alan M. Dershowitz: Why Does the Palestinian Cause Get So Much Attention?

Why does the Palestinian cause get so much attention, when there are much more compelling causes around the world such as those of the Kurds, Uyghurs, and other stateless and oppressed people? There are more demonstrations on university campuses against Israel than against Russia, China, Belarus and Iran. Why?

The answer has little to do with the Palestinians, and everything to do with Israel, as the nation state of the Jewish people. It is a political manifestation of international antisemitism. It is only because the nation accused of oppressing Palestinians is Israel.

It has little to do with the merits and everything to do with antisemitism. It calls itself anti-Zionism, but it is only a cover for anti-Jewish bigotry.

A recent example is the decision of Ben and Jerry's ice cream to boycott parts of Israel, while continuing to sell to countries in which far greater abuses occur. When asked why Ben and Jerry's limits their boycott only to Israel, its founders admitted they had no idea.

Who is leading the crowd of antisemitic bigots? The movement to single out the nation state of Israel for boycott, known as BDS, was originated by a Palestinian radical named Omar Barghouti, who does not hide the fact that his goal is the destruction of Israel....

Do the Palestinians deserve a state? Yes, but no more so than the Kurds and other stateless people. Why no more so? Because the Palestinians have been offered statehood numerous times and have rejected it.

Palestinians were offered a state on the vast majority of arable land, as part of a United Nations proposed two state solution; the Jews were offered a state on a far smaller area of arable land. The Jews accepted the compromise two state solution. The Arabs rejected it and went to war against the new Jewish state seeking to destroy it. It was this act of unlawful military aggression that resulted in the Palestinian refugee situation, which they call the "Nakba" ("catastrophe"). But it was a self-induced catastrophe. And many current Palestinian leaders and followers fault their predecessors for not accepting the two-state solution offered by the United Nations 75 years ago.

The Palestinians could have had a state in 1948, 1967, 2000-2001, 2005 and 2008. They still preferred no Jewish state to a Palestinian state living in peace with Israel. They can have a state now, if they would negotiate a compromise instead of fomenting terrorism.

I wonder how many of those who demonstrate against Israel have any idea of this history.

The Liberation of the Arabs From the Global Left

Leftist intellectuals such as Judith Butler and Noam Chomsky are therefore not wrong when they declare that Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran are part of the international left. A journey of philosophical inversions started from a Hegelian inversion of Christian theology, then a Marxist inversion of Hegelianism, a fascist-Nazi inversion of Leninism, the globalization of European thought, the conversion into Arab nationalism, its fragmentation into Arab Marxism and Palestinian radicalism, and their inversion back into theology, creating an ideological tornado with antisemitism as its vortex. The aggregate result was the gradual decivilization, and moral and social erosion, of entire Muslim and Arab societies, many of which collapsed unto themselves in spirals of self-destruction.

The dissolution of religious thought of otherworldly transcendence into a political transcendence inside history fundamentally transformed and restructured the identity of Islamic religious piety into the piety of struggle. Muslim identity was remolded into an eternal struggle that in its origin is not the jihad of classical texts, but the German dialectic world made by Marx. A religious doctrine of martyrdom and eternal life in the hereafter merged into a cult of the eternal revolutionary glory and hero worship of the Che Guevara type. This is the best explanation one could offer for the peculiar phenomenon of Muslim societies becoming more religious since the late 1970s in a way that only translated into more rage, more rebellion, less moral restraints on violence and sexuality, and conspicuous pagan worship of pain, blood, and misery. This is also the best explanation for why the societies of the Arab Gulf, which did not modernize during the 20th century, seem to have a much smoother transition away from antisemitism into social liberalization and peaceful worldviews.

Let’s assume I’m correct, and Islamists got this idea by way of a global revolutionary culture that got it from Lenin who got it from Marx who got it, not by way Plato as Popper assumed, but by way of rediscovery through inverting Hegel’s inversion of Christian theology. Doesn’t this theory naturally fall right back into the religious dogmatism that is associated with Marxist intellectuals? Raymond Aron rightfully thought so in his Opium of the Intellectuals. Theory then reverts into a theology that becomes a political religion waging religious wars, schisms, ancestral worship, and textual fanaticism. Theology made philosophy by Hegel, philosophy made politics by Marx, and then politics was made into a religion. So naturally, Qutb’s and Khomeini’s conversion of the Marxist inversion reverted back into theology. But what does theology lose by this double inversion and what does it gain? Much. It becomes a religion of atheistic politics. It loses all its basis of religious justification and with it its entire moral structure and becomes an immanentist atheistic theology that leads to no redemption, no transcendence, and nowhere.

I want to emphasize what this article is not saying. I’m not saying that any form of Islamic fundamentalism could be attributed to modern revolutionary thought. Indeed, all religions have their own forms of modern fundamentalism as a response to modern liberal social organization. But Islamic fundamentalism proper means a rigid and ultra-conservative social ethos that is resistant to social change, as best exemplified in the Salafism that until recently dominated the Arab Gulf.

What the union of imported European ideologies like Marxism, Nazism, and existentialism with Islam accomplished was to profoundly alter the entire conceptual scheme and epistemological foundations of Arab societies so that even Islamic fundamentalism, unbeknownst to itself, could no longer provide a pre-revolutionary reading of Islam. European moral philosophical traditions and their language managed to make a tectonic shift that resulted in the development of a modern Islamic political theology that is totalitarian, dystopian, and revolutionary. The Islam of Iran, ISIS, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hezbollah, and al-Qaida is simply a regional variant of progressive Western revolutionary thought.

Yet I am not saying that the West is to blame for this development. For if this article seeks to affirm anything it is that the West-Islam dichotomy is not only meaningless but delusional. Cultural and moral relativism are meaningless when the foundation of all our modern moral and political thinking comes from the same place. Europe has managed to create a truly global human culture that no longer has ideational barriers and in which fashion, style, fads, and ideas form global mimetic contagions.

This is a story of a global nightmare constructed by intellectuals from all religious and national backgrounds. The Enlightenment and its aftermath are now just as solidly a part of Islamic intellectual makeup as they are in Western cultures, and if the Muslim world is to move forward it would be through the recognition and not the denial of this fact. If the moral and social destruction of the region resulted from incompetent Arab intellectuals sleepwalking in the orbit of a global culture, the solution is competence. The exploitation of the intellectual, social, and political energies of impoverished and pre-modern societies for use as cannon fodder in the great ideological battles of the Western left has had disastrous effects on the social, economic, and political development and progress of many Arab and Muslim societies. In this regard, the Western left’s theology of how the West destroyed other societies has become a self-fulfilling prophecy, from which it is now our duty and obligation to liberate ourselves.

Jerusalem bridge displays Japanese flag in solidarity after assassination of ex-PM

Jerusalem’s Chords Bridge was lit up to show the Japanese flag alongside the Israeli flag on Sunday evening as a sign of solidarity with the Japanese people following last week’s assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe.

“The city of Jerusalem sends its condolences to the Japanese people and mourns the death of a friend of Israel, a great leader of his people and the entire world,” Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion said in a statement.

Abe was shot from behind minutes after he started a speech Friday in Nara in western Japan. He was airlifted to a hospital for emergency treatment but was not breathing and his heart had stopped. He was pronounced dead later at the hospital.

The 67-year-old Abe was Japan’s longest-serving leader before stepping down for health reasons two years ago. He served in 2006-2007 and again from 2012 to 2020.

Israeli leaders were quick to express their shock and condolences on Friday at the assassination of the former Japanese prime minister.

“On behalf of the government and people of Israel, I send my condolences to the Japanese people and their government on the tragic death of former prime minister Shinzo Abe,” Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in a statement. “Abe was one of the most important leaders of modern Japan, and a true friend of Israel who brought about flourishing and prosperous relations between Israel and Japan.”

From the International Quran News Agency (Iran):

Yemen’s Defense Minister Nasser al-Atefi said the Zionist regime of Israel is in its worst condition and in a precarious situation.

He made the remark in a visit to a war zone in Ma’rib province, adding that given its shaky condition, Tel Aviv is seeking to get the support of certain Arab regimes, Al-Mayadeen reported.

He added that the Arab regimes that are part of the Saudi-led coalition launching aggression on Yemen want to get support via normalization of ties with the Israeli regime.

Al-Atefi warned the coalition that if the scope of the aggression, siege and attacks on Yemen intensifies, the Yemeni people will rub their nose in the dirt.

Hey, he's an "expert!"

This is a typical article in Iranian media. Officials predict Israel's demise, just as they have been for decades. And if Israel is allying with Arab countries - it is just proof of how weak it is. (And before that happened, it was proof of how isolated Israel was.)

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!