At the end of the Council's proceedings, the Minister of Interior made before His Majesty the King, may God preserve Him, a presentation on the measures elaborated, pursuant to the High Royal Instructions on the organization of the Moroccan Jewish community.
These measures are based on the supreme responsibility of His Majesty the King as Commander of the Faithful and guarantor of the free exercise of worship for all Moroccans, all religious confessions included, and come to enshrine the Hebrew tributary as a component of the Moroccan culture rich of its multiple tributaries.
The scheme submitted to the High Appreciation of His Majesty the King, drawn up after extensive consultations with representatives of the Jewish community and personalities belonging to it, includes the following bodies:
1- The National Council of the Moroccan Jewish Community:
It is responsible for managing the affairs of the community and safeguarding the cultural and religious heritage and influence of Judaism and its authentic Moroccan values. Regional committees of the Council will be responsible for managing the day-to-day issues and affairs of the community's members.
2- The Committee of Moroccan Jews living abroad:
It works to consolidate the ties of Moroccan Jews living abroad with their country of origin, to strengthen their cultural and religious influence and to defend the supreme interests of the Kingdom.
3- The Foundation of Moroccan Judaism:
Its mission is to promote and watch over the Jewish-Moroccan intangible heritage, to safeguard its traditions and to preserve its specificities.
King Mohammed VI was always sympathetic towards his Jewish subjects, but until the Abraham Accords he couldn't have allowed an organization for Moroccan Jews abroad - for the simple reason that most of them live in Israel.
This brings up an additional benefit of the Abraham Accords: it has significantly reduced the amount of antisemitism in the media of Gulf countries and Morocco.
The ADL's polls from 2014 in the states most affected by the Abraham Accords indicated that in Morocco, 80% of the citizens held antisemitic attitudes; UAE 80%, Bahrain 81%, Saudi Arabia 74%, Oman 76%.. The Palestinian territories was 93%.
Until there is a new survey, we won't know how much the Accords have reduced Arab antisemitism, but it is a fair bet that with fewer antisemitic articles and stories in the media - and far more stories sympathetic to Jews - the attitudes of the citizens will be positively impacted towards Jews.
The progressives who never admitted that there was an Arab antisemitism problem likewise will not admit that reducing Arab antisemitism is a clear win from a human rights perspective. They try to spin the agreements as if they are somehow making human rights worse for the Arab signatories, when in fact when they are more favorably disposed towards Jews they are also more open to all non-Muslims.
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The Biden administration has invited Shireen Abu Akleh’s family to Washington to “engage directly” with the slain Palestinian-American reporter’s relatives, who have expressed outrage over the US determination that she was not intentionally killed by the IDF during a raid in the West Bank.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Israel on Wednesday that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke recently on the phone with members of the Abu Akleh family and extended the invitation.
“The administration, at the president’s direction, has been very much engaged in helping try to determine what exactly happened around the tragic circumstances of her death,” Sullivan said, adding that “this subject will be one of the subjects at play in this visit.”
Abu Akleh was killed on May 11 while covering clashes between IDF soldiers and Palestinian gunmen. The Palestinian Authority said its investigation proved that the Al Jazeera journalist was intentionally targeted and killed by the IDF, while Israel insists there is not enough evidence to draw a definitive conclusion.
After nearly two months, the PA agreed to hand over the bullet used to kill Abu Akleh to US authorities, who proceeded to conduct a forensic examination. On July 4, the State Department announced that the probe had been inconclusive because the bullet was too badly damaged.
Washington added that it had reviewed the separate investigations by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, concluding that she was likely struck by Israeli fire, though it found “no reason to believe that this was intentional.”
Rep. Cori Bush (D., Mo.) spent years cultivating a relationship with a pro-Palestinian activist who once tweeted that she wants to "set Israel on fire with my own hands & watch it burn to ashes along with every Israeli in it."
Bush, a member of the far-left "Squad" of lawmakers known for their anti-Israel attitudes, has been working alongside anti-Israel activist Neveen Ayesh since at least 2017, according to information published by Canary Mission, a watchdog group that tracks anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activists online. While Bush has publicly condemned attacks on the Jewish community, her relationship with Ayesh and other anti-Israel activists is drawing accusations that these statements are empty rhetoric.
Ayesh, who has been active in several leading anti-Israel groups, including American Muslims for Palestine, organized a 2020 fundraiser for Bush that featured Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.), one of Congress's most vocal opponents of the Jewish state, and Linda Sarsour, an activist who has repeatedly used anti-Semitic rhetoric. An invitation for the fundraiser, titled "Muslims for Cori," is accessible on the ActBlue website, an online donation portal used by Democrats.
The relationship between Ayesh and Bush is raising fresh questions about the congresswoman's support for anti-Israel causes and willingness to partner with individuals who have expressed hatred toward Jewish people.
"Neveen Ayesh has shown support for terror organizations, wants to kill every Israeli, and called being Jewish a crime worthy of the rope," a Canary Mission spokesman told the Washington Free Beacon. "Her anti-Semitism is publicly known information. It was even discussed on the floor of the Missouri House of Representatives. However, Cori Bush had no problem benefiting from a fundraiser organized by Ayesh and enjoys a long-standing relationship with her."
Bush, the watchdog group said, must provide her constituents with "an explanation." A Bush spokesman did not respond to a Free Beacon request for comment on the 2020 fundraiser and the congresswoman's relationship with Ayesh. Bush and Ayesh were pictured together as recently as 2020 and as early as 2017 during a trip to the Middle East.
Ayesh in February defended Hamas, comparing the group's armed resistance against Israel to Ukraine's war against "their oppressors" in Russia. People "somehow have an issue with Palestinians doing the same," she tweeted.
Ayesh has lambasted Israel on social media and wished death upon its citizens, posts that were made before she formed an alliance with Bush. Many of the most controversial tweets have since been deleted but remain archived online, with original screenshots, by Canary Mission.
"I want to set Israel on fire with my own hands & watch it burn to ashes along with every Israeli in it," Ayesh tweeted in February 2014.
"Once again I want to personally set Israel & all the Israelis in it on fire & watch them burn to ashes. Burn you bastards #IHateYou," she wrote one month later.
Nine European states rejected Israel’s designation of six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organizations, in a joint statement released on Tuesday.
Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden came out against the Israeli decision, announced in October. The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and the Foreign Ministry said then that Palestinian NGOs Addameer, Al-Haq, Bisan Center, Defense for Children International Palestine (DCI-P), Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC) had extensive enough ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine to be considered branches of the group, designated as terrorists by the US, EU and others.
“No substantial information was received from Israel that would justify reviewing our policy toward the six Palestinian NGOs on the basis of the Israeli decision to designate these NGOs as ‘terrorist organizations,’” the statement reads.
“Should evidence be made available to the contrary, we would act accordingly. In the absence of such evidence, we will continue our cooperation and strong support for the civil society in the [occupied Palestinian territories]. A free and strong civil society is indispensable for promoting democratic values and for the two-state solution.”
Among the items the Israeli government has made public to show the connection between the organizations and the PFLP is a video from the Palestinian Wattan Media Network of leading figures in the NGOs, including Khalida Jarrar and Abdullatif Ghaith of Addameer, Shawan Jabarin of Al-Haq, Gebril Muhamad of Bisan, and Ahmad Sa’adat of the UPWC, at an event in a hall with dozens of PFLP flags hanging.
Background
The event in Ramallah honored PFLP political bureau member Rabah Muhanna, who according to information posted by the PFLP, took part in the establishment of Addameer, UHWC and UAWC.
In 2019, the PFLP planted a bomb, killing 17-year-old Rina Shnerb and injuring her relatives.
"Should evidence be made available to the contrary, we would act accordingly. In the absence of such evidence, we will continue our cooperation and strong support for the civil society in the [occupied Palestinian territories]"
The joint statement
UAWC’s Finance and Administration director Abdul Razeq Farraj was indicted in October 2019 on four counts, including aiding an attempted murder in the terrorist attack on the Shnerb family. Farraj’s indictment refers to Ubai Al-Aboudi, a PFLP member working with Farraj on recruitment, and the UAWC’s Monitoring and Evaluation Officer until April 2019. The commander of the PFLP terror cell that prepared and detonated the bomb was Samer Arbid, and accounted for UAWC at the time of his 2019 arrest.
The Netherlands previously acknowledged the UAWC’s ties to the PFLP, and that Dutch funds paid the salaries of the NGO’s employees that carried out the attack that killed Shnerb.
President Biden, like it or not, is in Israel. Israelis on
the left are thrilled. To prove it, Peace Now hung a massive
PLO flag on the side of a Tel Aviv building to welcome the President.
Israelis on the right, far from welcoming the President, are gritting their
teeth at the anticipated challenges to Israel’s sovereignty, and the
concessions that are sure to be demanded of Israel, alone.
The views of the Israeli left and right, in this regard, are
in diametric opposition. One wing, the left, wants the American president to
force Israel to give the Arabs everything they want. Money, land, a state. They
want Biden to demand that Israel stop
building Jewish homes.
The Israeli right, on the other hand, wishes the American
president would mind his own business and leave us alone. Don’t patronize us.
Don’t tell us what we can and cannot do.
The right is jealous for Israel’s right to make its own
decisions on matters of national importance like any other sovereign nation. We
don’t like being squeezed for concessions, we don’t like being forced to give
succor to despotic Arab regimes that incite their people to cut down Jews in
the streets of the Jewish State. It sticks in our collective craw.
The right, moreover, perceives a profound insult in the way these
presidential visits tend to manifest. They see a disturbing pattern to the
visits in which Israel is threatened, abused, and extorted. Israel is treated
like the enemy, and told to jump when Abbas, the architect of the murder of so
many Jews, says jump.
The PA, meanwhile, is treated with indulgent presidential
paternalism. America has always told the Arabs, albeit in diplomatic code, “You’re
Arabs. Of course you can’t help murdering Jews. We understand. We’ll get you
some of their land, give you some more money, and you’ll calm down for a bit.” *Cue
the presidential wink and backslap*
Whether right, left, or Arab, on one thing we all agree: all
of us know by now that a president’s visit means monumental traffic snarls, in
particular along the narrow streets of Jerusalem. According to general
consensus, until Biden leaves the country, one might as well cancel all
appointments and stay
home.
Of course there are worse things than traffic, for instance,
terror attacks. Arabs generally attempt to murder Jews whenever a president or
even a vice president visits Israel. It happened when George W. Bush came to
Israel in January 2011. From the Meir Amit Intelligence and
Terrorism Information Center:
1. On the morning of Tuesday, January 8, the remains and fragments
of two rockets were found in the Western Galilee town of Shlomi. Investigation
showed them to be two 107-mm rockets fired from Lebanon during the night.
2. In the early afternoon of the same day, a roadside
bombing targeted a vehicle traveling on a road to the north of Sidon. Two
soldiers belonging to the Irish contingent of the peacekeeping force were
wounded as a result.
It happened when Obama visited Israel. A terrorist took it
in his head to ram Jewish civilians with a backhoe, right near Obama’s hotel.
It happened when Biden was vice president. From Time
Magazine:
A Palestinian attacker went on a stabbing rampage, killing
an American student and tourist and wounding nine others before being shot by
police, according to officials. The bloody attack unfolded in the ancient
Mediterranean coastal port city of Jaffa, which joins Tel Aviv—a mixed Arab and
Jewish area—and came soon after two other serious attacks across Israel in a
little under two hours.
On Tuesday evening, as Biden was at the Peres Centre for
Peace in Jaffa, a Palestinian man ran down the seaside promenade, stabbing and
wounding three people, before fleeing and carrying out stabbings in two other
places, wounding another seven people. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said
the attacker, 22-year-old Bashar Masalha, from Auja, near Qalqilyah in the West
Bank, was shot dead. Israeli police also confirmed the 29-year-old American
student and tourist—identified as Vanderbilt University student Taylor
Force—had died of his wounds on his way to hospital in Tel Aviv. The Israeli
news website Ynet reported that his wife was also critically wounded.
The stabbings in and around Jaffa, came on a violent day
when four other people were killed—three Palestinian attackers and a
50-year-old Palestinian woman who Israeli police say intended to carry out a
stabbing attack. The day is one of the worst in a five-month wave of violence
between Israelis and Palestinians, in which 30 Israelis and nearly 200
Palestinians have been killed, two-thirds of which Israeli officials say were
killed while carrying or attempting to carry out attacks.
Less than two hours before the attack in Jaffa, a
Palestinian man on a motorbike opened fire on two Israeli border police on a
main shopping street in East Jerusalem, wounding them both, before he was shot
and killed in turn. Within minutes of this attack, another Palestinian man
stabbed an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man in the neck in Petah Tikvah, near Tel
Aviv. The man removed the knife from his neck and used it to stab and kill his
attacker, Israeli television media reported.
You would think that terrorists would think twice before
committing violent acts in the run-up or even during an American president’s visit
to Israel. After all, the Arabs stand to gain from such visits, which always
end with largesse for the PA and concessions from Israel. Why risk such
concessions by behaving in a manner not conducive to reward? It seems
illogical.
Logic, however, never applies when it comes to Israel and
the Jews. The terrorists, with encouragement by the PA, believe that if they target
Jews with violent acts of terror, the president will force Israel to make
concessions. Unfortunately, they’re right. That’s exactly what happens. Every
single time.
This is a tragic dynamic that should not exist: Arab
violence followed by Israeli concessions. Why should Israel reward terror?
Because a third party demands it, in this case the American president.
To the Israeli right, this makes no sense. It makes us
chafe. Common sense says we should give no concessions to terrorists. To the
contrary, terrorists and regimes that legitimate and foment terror, for example
the PA, should be punished, their aid slashed. They should be shunned, treated
not as desperados, but as the antisemites and murderers they are.
President Biden, of course, has already shown his disdain
for the Jews, and his approval of the despotic Arab regime that attacks them.
The President’s itinerary includes a visit
to an Arab hospital on the Mount
of Olives, the first time an American president has visited an institution
in “East” Jerusalem. The hospital visit sends the message that Biden does not
recognize Israel’s sovereignty over a united Jerusalem, and is rolling back Trump’s
recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. There was even a
diplomatic kerfuffle over whether an Israeli security detail or perhaps even a minor
official from the Ministry of Health would be allowed to accompany the
President’s entourage. Underscoring the intent of Biden’s hospital visit, the
President will announce his intention to give $100m
to “Palestinian” hospitals—this during a time of rising US inflation—to show
American support for the people responsible for spilling so much Jewish blood. This,
after he had already restored approximately $500 million in aid to the “Palestinian”
people.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was pleased to remind
us of this support for the people who murder Jews in his July 11 press
conference, in which he also, remarkably, attributed a Hamas ceasefire to
Biden: “Under President Biden’s leadership, we helped end the war in Gaza,
which easily could have lasted months, in just 11 days.”
How has Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
responded to American expressions of support for his people? Abbas’ response to
Biden’s cash gift is to demand even more. He wants Biden to abolish the Taylor
Force Act that put an end to US economic aid for the PA until such time as it ceases
paying salaries to terrorists and their families, otherwise known as Pay for
Slay. Abbas not only demands these things, but doubles down on his support for terror
by raising the salaries of hundreds
of terrorists.
The PA, in fact, has issued a long list of demands from the
Biden administration, accompanied by threats, including more terror attacks on
Jews. From MEMRI:
The Palestinian leadership, headed by President Mahmoud
'Abbas, clearly articulated what it expected the visit to yield – namely the
fulfilment of a series of commitments they claim Biden made them during his election
campaign and since the start of his presidency. Chief of these demands are: the
removal of the PLO from the Congress list of terror organizations; the
reopening of the PLO representation in Washington, which was shut down by the
previous administration; the reopening of the U.S. consulate in East Jerusalem,
which served as the U.S. representation to the PA until it was closed upon the
Trump administration's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital; the
renewal of the U.S. financial aid to the PA, halted in August 2018 by president
Trump; exerting significant pressure on Israel to halt what the Palestinian
leadership refers to as Israel's unilateral settlement activities in the West
Bank, its attempts to change the status quo in East Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa, and
the escalation of its actions against the Palestinians; a reiteration of the
U.S. commitment to the two-state solution, and serious action towards renewing
the negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel . . .
. . . Fatah Revolutionary Council member and Al-Hayat
Al-Jadida columnist Muwaffaq Matar [warned] that, in the current
situation, there are only two options: Biden's visit will either restart the
political process, or it will lead to consequences that the Israelis cannot
imagine, and the U.S. administration will be responsible for this. He wrote:
"The U.S. administration will have to bear the consequences for the fact
that we [Palestinians] have only two options, and no third option: either a
breakthrough in a peace process based on the UN resolutions – which must begin
with practical measures and by exerting pressure on the occupation, settlement
and apartheid state, i.e., the state of Israel… – or else the second option,
which will [dire] beyond the expectations of the experts and strategic analysts
of the Israeli occupation and its supporters…"
In other words, if Biden doesn’t give us what we want, we
will kill Jews.
Abbas need not worry. Biden looks with favor upon many of
these demands. The American president is, for example, reportedly mulling over
a demand that Israel stop building homes for Jews in Judea and Samaria: the
ever popular building
freeze that so delights the Arab people, who want these territories handed
over to them Judenrein. Anticipating this demand, and wanting to please the US
president, Lapid, according to the Jewish
Press, “ordered the removal of two plans from the Jerusalem District
Planning and Building Committee agenda,” which would have created “a total of
2,000 new housing units in Jewish neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem.”
Alas, Lapid was thwarted in his desire to earn the affection
of the Biden administration. Ayelet
Shaked, Israel’s Interior Minister, countermanded the order. “I will not
allow harm to construction plans for Jews only on my watch,” said Shaked in a
statement. “So, I decided to postpone all of the plans, by a week.”
Again, not to worry. Lapid has other ways to kiss up to
Biden. Lapid, in tandem with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, plan to give Biden
the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honor, an award not dissimilar from giving
Obama a Nobel Peace Prize, before he even stepped foot in the White House. From
Arutz Sheva:
“This award makes no sense. A ‘true friend of Israel’ and
fighter against antisemitism would not pursue the numerous policies undermining
Israel’s sovereignty and security that President Biden and his administration
are pursuing, including 100’s of millions of U.S. tax dollars financially
aiding and abetting Palestinian Arab terror against Jews,” said ZOA National
President Morton A. Klein and Director of Research & Special Projects Liz
Berney in a statement.
“Nor would ‘a true friend of Israel’ take advantage of
Israel’s caretaker government to make visits, as Biden is doing, to symbolic
Palestinian Authority institutions in eastern Jerusalem. Former Israeli
Ambassador Danny Danon noted that these Biden visits are unprecedented and were
‘created to pave the way for the U.S. administration to challenge Israel’s
sovereignty over Jerusalem,’” they added.
“Biden bragged about giving $500 million of U.S. taxpayer
dollars to the Palestinian Arabs – and is planning to announce an additional
aid package for Palestinian Arab facilities on his upcoming trip to Israel.
This funding for Palestinian Arab government functions aids and abets terror by
freeing up the $400 million per year that the Palestinian Authority spends on
substantial lifetime pensions to reward Arab terrorists for murdering Jews and
Americans. (The more Jews murdered, the higher the PA reward.) Biden is
blatantly violating and/or circumventing the Taylor Force Act. The Biden
administration’s indirect funding of these heinous PA payments needs to end.”
“In addition,” said ZOA, “Biden restored funding to UNRWA –
which hides Hamas rockets in its schools, employs Hamas terrorists, and teaches
children to murder Jews. UNRWA textbooks currently used throughout both Gaza
and the Palestinian Authority teach students to die as a martyr by killing
Israelis.”
“Outrageously, Biden and his administration (including
Secretary Blinken and Ambassador Nides) condemn Jews for building homes in the
lawful Jewish homelands in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria while saying nothing
about massive illegal Arab building. It’s time for the Biden administration to
end these blatant antisemitic attacks on Jews’ rights to live in the Jewish homeland,”
said Klein and Berney.
“Biden has attacked Jews for living in the Jewish homeland
throughout his political career. In 1982, then-Senator Biden threatened
then-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin during a Senate Foreign Relations
Committee meeting to cut aid to Israel if Israel refused to agree to Biden’s
demands to stop Jews from living in Judea/Samaria. PM Begin famously responded:
‘Don’t threaten us with cutting off your aid. It will not work. I am not a Jew
with trembling knees. I am a proud Jew with 3,700 years of civilized history.
Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody
came to our aid when we were striving to create our country. We paid for it. We
fought for it. We died for it. We will stand by our principles. We will defend
them. And, when necessary, we will die for them again, with or without your
aid.’”
“But now, Lapid and Isaac Herzog are responding to Biden’s
lifelong anti-Jewish policies by giving Biden and award! Where is their pride?”
said Klein and Berney.
It’s great to have this support from American Zionists. But
where are the Israeli Zionists in all of this? Why aren’t we hearing their
voices? Because the Israeli government has squelched its attempts to speak out.
From the Jewish
Press:
Israel Police denied a request submitted by a group of
nationalist organizations to protest President Joe Biden’s visit to eastern
Jerusalem later this week. The Regavim movement responded, saying, “Lapid
agrees that eastern Jerusalem is not part of Israel’s capital.”
Ahead of Biden’s visit, and in response to reports that
Israel will allow the presidential delegation to visit eastern Jerusalem
without official coordination with or an escort by the Israeli government, the
Zionist organizations Regavim, The Sovereignty Movement, Im Tirtzu, The
Bithonistim, Ad Kan, and ZOA submitted a permit request to the Police for a
protest vigil along the route of Biden’s entourage, “to clearly demonstrate the
Zionist view on Israeli sovereignty over its unified capital, and to sound the
alarm against the government’s failure to express the basic Zionist principle
of Jerusalem as the undivided, eternal capital of the sovereign State of
Israel. “
Israel Police denied the permit request, claiming that all
roads along the route to the proposed demonstration site would be closed during
the presidential visit. In a Police Regional Headquarters hearing of the
request Monday morning, two alternatives were proposed: the demonstration could
go ahead at the location in question only after President Biden concluded his
visit or the organizations may seek a permit for an alternative location, away
from the route of the visit altogether.
The Zionist organizations expressed their anger and
frustration, arguing that the alternatives do not permit them to express their
legitimate Zionist position appropriately. The only alternative they agreed to
would allow them to express their political views in eastern Jerusalem during
Biden’s visit.
If the police persist in denying them their right of free
speech, the Zionist groups plan to seek relief from the High Court of Justice.
Meir Deutsch, Director General of Regavim, said: “This is
nothing short of a complete breakdown of the system. The Israeli government
gave in and allows the visit, thus is re-dividing our capital – in violation of
both US and Israeli laws. This is an outrageous capitulation and we demand the
right to express our objection with our presence in Israel’s united capital. If
the police denies us this right, we will appeal to the High Court of Justice.”
The Israeli right is tired of having its rights trampled not
only by Biden and his handlers, but by the Israeli leadership. It doesn’t seem
to matter whether our leaders are to the left, right, or center, the resultant
kowtowing to American druthers is the same. It doesn’t matter whom we vote for,
or what we do. They stop us from building homes in our indigenous territory,
and they offer incentives to the people who want to kill us, rather than live
with us in peace on Jewish land.
All that is left, it seems is our undying hope. Hope for an
Israeli leader with cajones, and hope
for another American president who understands our rights in the region, a
president who is unafraid of withdrawing support for Arab terror, and most of
all, a president with creative new ideas for bringing peace to our region.
As long as in the heart within,
The Jewish soul yearns,
And toward the eastern edges, onward,
An eye gazes toward Zion.
Our hope is not yet lost,
The hope that is two-thousand years old,
To be a free nation in our land,
The Land of Zion and Jerusalem.*
*Translation of Hatikvah, the Israeli anthem, lyrics
composed by Naftali Herz Imber, circa 1878.
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Peter Thomas, known as Baron Thomas of Gwydir, was a British Conservative politician. He was the first Welshman to become Chairman of the Conservative Party, serving from 1970 to 1972, and the first Conservative to serve as Secretary of State for Wales, holding that office from 1970 to 1974
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Mayhew, says that the views of the noble Lord, Lord Haskel [that Israeli settlements do not violate Article 49 of the Geneva Conventions], are not widely shared. Listening to the noble Lord, Lord Mayhew, it is clear that his views are widely shared by those who have an aversion to the state of Israel. For many years he has demonstrated his views on that matter. I applaud what was said by the noble Lord, Lord Haskel. I thought his contribution important.
However, I am somewhat anxious about the way in which the debate is going. I understand that the Question before the House is: "whether the Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention". In anticipation of my noble friend Lord Gilmour giving the reasons why he was asking the Question, I obtained a copy of the Convention for the Protection of War Victims. I assume that my noble friend is referring to the last paragraph of Article 49. It states: The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies". That is the end of the article. It begins by dealing with individual or mass forcible transfers as well as the deportation of protected persons from occupied territories. It was put into the convention at the end of the war as a result of the dreadful activities of the Nazi administration, in particular the mass transfer of population in order to get rid of people regarded as being unacceptable; in name, the Jews. They were taken to be liquidated from one country to another and were moved from one place to another. That is why we have Article 49 in the convention.
I remind the House of Article 2. It states that, "the present convention shall apply to … armed conflict which may arise between two or more of the High Contracting Parties". The convention applies, to all cases of partial or total occupation of the territory of a High Contracting Party. I therefore ask the House to consider this question: which is the high contracting party whose territory is occupied? In other words, which state has sovereign title to the West Bank?
In 1967 Jordan was in occupation. It is generally accepted that after its annexation of the territories, Jordan had no sovereignty in international law. Its presence in Judaea and Samaria was only given de jure recognition by two countries out of the whole international community. Therefore, if one is dealing with points of law, as my noble friend's Question seeks, it seems clear that the West Bank, at present occupied by Israel, does not belong to any other state, and the convention therefore does not apply. The answer to the first and dominant part of my noble friend's Question is therefore no.
I shall raise another matter if I have time. The last legal sovereignty over the territories was that of the League of Nations mandate of 1922. It can be argued that its provisions still hold legal weight. The mandate stipulated that the area was to be part of the Jewish homeland, and that Jewish settlement there was to be encouraged.
I have referred the House to those two matters, namely, the effect of Article 2 and the mandate, to indicate how ridiculous it is even to contemplate that major national and ethnic issues can ever be solved by raising legal points.
That last paragraph seems to me that he is not so much saying that he is making a legal argument as saying that legal arguments are irrelevant since anyone can interpret them as they wish, and the only solution is political.
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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.
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.
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.”
(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.
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.
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?
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.
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.
"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.
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.
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 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.
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!
Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.
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.
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.
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.
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Thursday, July 14, 2022
Elder of Ziyon
