Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, August 02, 2022

Latest Iranian claims of Zionist spies more absurd than the last one (update)

Last week I noted that Iran's claim that a Zionist spy ring that they supposedly caught had been in contact with the head of the Mossad was quite ridiculous, and it makes one think that many of their claims of catching spies are more for the sake of honor than the truth.

Their latest claim of catching "Zionist spies" is even more ridiculous.

Iran's Mehr News says:

The Ministry of Security said in a statement today, Monday: "The cadres of the Ministry of Security arrested a number of members of the central cell of the Baha'i Espionage Party," and added: "The arrested suspects were directly connected to the Zionist center called 'House of Justice', which is based in occupied Palestine." .

The statement continued: "The results of the intelligence documents indicate that the aforementioned center has conveyed to the detained network the strategy of reviving the deviant Baha'i sect organization in Iran ..."

He added: "They were also assigned the tasks of spreading the teachings of Bahai-made colonialism on a large scale and infiltrating educational environments at various levels, especially kindergartens throughout the country. In addition to that, the arrested cell members had several meetings with the central staff of the Zionist Party abroad and were presenting periodic reports on the above-mentioned missions, especially the organized promotion of the fight against the veil in Iran, to the conspiracy center in occupied Palestine."

The Baha'i are persecuted mercilessly in Iran.The Baha'i International Community website says:

Baha’is, who are Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority, are routinely arrested, detained, and imprisoned. They are barred from holding government jobs, and their shops and other enterprises are routinely closed or discriminated against by officials at all levels. Young Baha’is are prevented from attending university, and those volunteer Baha’i educators who have sought to fill that gap have been arrested and imprisoned.

Israel provides refuge for the Baha'i, whose beautiful headquarters is in Haifa. But if someone wanted to spy against Iran, Baha'i would be the last people one would recruit! A good spy is invisible, not a member of a hated minority.

Iran's credibility has always hovered around zero. To use Israel as an excuse to persecute the Baha'i is pretty low, though.

UPDATE: Baha'i news sources are reporting that there is a huge escalation of persecution against them. The "Zionist spy" story seems to be an attempt to cover it up.

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!

Palestinian media is celebrating terrorist Abbas Al-Sayed receiving his master's degree in regional studies - from prison.

Al-Sayed is one of the most senior Hamas terrorists in prison, having been the mastermind of the HaSharon Mall suicide bombing in 2001 that murdered five Israelis and the Park Hotel Passover Seder massacre in 2002 that killed 30.

Both of those attacks were in Netanya, the coastal city that is only nine miles from the Green Line.

Al-Sayed's wife sent a message to the media: "At the mercy of the injustice of the prison and the warden, our prisoners innovate in bringing children into the world behind bars (through sperm smuggling), in education and obtaining the highest level of degrees, thanks to their patience, courage, steadfastness and strong will.

"On my behalf, my children and my family, we extend our congratulations and blessings from my captive husband, Engineer Abbas Al-Sayed, on the occasion of receiving a master's degree in regional studies from Al-Quds University (Abu Dis) with a very good grade, and we ask God that the doctorate will be in an atmosphere of freedom."

Al Quds University has campuses in Abu Dis, Ramallah, the Old City of Jerusalem (in the Souq Al Qattanin next to Al Aqsa) and Sheikh Jarrah. The latter two are within the Jerusalem Municipality under full Israeli control.

Matan Peleg, CEO of Im Tirtzu and Maor Zemach, Chairman of Lech Yerushalayim, responded to this news with a statement: ''The fact that Al-Quds University operates within the territory of sovereign Jerusalem and allows itself to distribute titles to abominable terrorists and murderers is a disgrace for the State of Israel. Just as the Minister of Education acts to close schools that incite violence, she must act immediately to close this institution that incites murder. The principals should be sent to prison immediately."

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!

Al Quds News says that the Russians are quite justified in closing down the Jewish Agency there, because it is just a front for the usual evil Jewish plots:

The basis of the crisis is neither Ukraine nor the bombing of Damascus airport, but rather the work of the Jewish Agency itself in Russia, an act of sabotage that other countries do not dare, as this agency operates freely, to look at it objectively and effectively....

The Russian direct accusation to the Jewish Agency is that it collects information on Russian citizens, as it does in all the countries in which it operates, and chooses among them those who are qualified to immigrate to the entity, according to its requirements and needs. The Jewish Agency, with all its branches, considers the countries of the world to be a human reservoir for the growth of the Zionist entity, without regard to the affiliation of these Jewish people to their countries and society, because it basically considers that the Jew is not capable of assimilation and that he must emigrate. A recent study on the work of the Jewish Agency in the world states that its employees approach them in the places where they live, and begin to teach about the entity and settlement and the benefits of their immigration.

The Russian authorities accuse the agency of encouraging “brain drain” from their countries, as they were educated in their schools and universities, and benefited from the scientific development there, and where their emigration abroad (the Zionist entity) represents a human and scientific loss to their motherland. In addition, Russian officials accuse the Jewish Agency of keeping the data it collected about its citizens outside the country, meaning that it has come into the hands of other countries, especially the Zionist entity.

Regardless of the fact that the work of the Jewish Agency is a criminal act against the Palestinian people because it facilitates the migration of Jews from countries of the world to settle in Palestine, kill its people, destroy its civilization, Judaize its sanctities, and distort its Arab and Islamic landmarks, the work of this Agency can be considered an act of sabotage to the societies of the world, because it separates the Jews and spreads hatred and discrimination against other citizens who do not belong to the Jewish religion.

See? Not only is the Jewish Agency antisemitic, but everything Jews do is meant to hurt Palestinians!

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!

08/01 Links Pt2: In Israel, the Idea of Apartheid Is Laughable; Spinster Sisters Versus Nazis; How Israel and Its Neighbors Are Fighting to Save the Environment Together

From Ian:

In Israel, the Idea of Apartheid Is Laughable

Although signs on city buses in St. John's, Newfoundland, calling Israel an "apartheid" state were shocking to many Canadians, in Israel, the ad drew only laughs. In the Israeli city of Karmiel on July 27, an Arab-Israeli leader laughed in hysterics when I asked him about apartheid. He outlined his own success in Israel, having completed a graduate degree at an Israeli university, then having the freedom to travel to Jordan to earn a doctorate and to pursue a successful career as an educator and media personality.

Many of his friends are professionals like him and enjoy the benefits of being Israeli citizens. In fact, he ran in the last national election. Indeed, hardly anyone in Israel actually believes it is an apartheid state. Co-existence and peace is the language of most political and community leaders in Israel today.

The wasted energy and resources on negative ad campaigns that achieve nothing except hate and discord sadly misrepresents the seismic shift that's now underway in the entire region. A lie told enough times can become a truth if unopposed. We have a responsibility to stand up for Israel, because the right thing to do is to support the development of peace and friendship in the region.

Eldad Beck: 'Germany cannot be blamed for the Munich massacre'

Shaul Ladany's life was saved twice on German soil. The first time, at the age of eight, when he survived the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, and again in 1972, at the age of 36, when he managed to escape the Palestinian terrorists who took over the Olympic building where the Israeli team was staying, killing two and taking nine hostage.

The two memories will be united in September, when 86-year-old Ladany, who holds the world record in the 50-mile walk, will participate in a ceremony marking the 77th anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, followed by a ceremony commemorating the Munich massacre the next day.

In an interview with Israel Hayom, Ladany recalled the horrifying events.

"I was staying at an apartment on the ground floor. Each apartment had two floors connected by a spiral staircase. I shared with swimmer Avraham Melamed. The [sports] shooter Zelig Shtroch, who was on the upper floor of my apartment, woke me up and told me that Arabs had murdered the wrestler Moshe Weinberg.

"I put on my walking shoes, went to the main entrance door of the apartment, opened it and saw four meters away who I later found out to be the leader of the terrorist group – 'Issa'. I heard the conversation between him and the village guards, who tried to convince him to allow the Red Cross to enter and provide aid to the hostages. When he refused, they told him: 'Be humane', and he replied: 'The Jews are not humane either.'

Ladany continued, "I went back into the apartment and went up to the second floor, where everyone was already dressed. When I asked what was going on, they pulled back the curtain from the front window and pointed to the blood stain at the entrance, and said: 'It's Weinberg's blood, they've already taken his body.'

"Then someone said, 'The Arabs might try to kidnap us, let's get out of here.' We all went down to the ground floor of the apartment, to my bedroom, someone opened the sliding door to the garden, got out, and started running in zigzags along the lawn. I put my training suit over my pajamas. When I finished everyone had already run away, then instead of running away I went to warn the head of the delegation in the back of the building and together with him I left the building."

1948 newspaper warned of dire plight of Jews in Arab countries

On 12 November 1948, Avraham Elmaleh filed this report on the increasingly desperate situation of Jews in Arab countries for the weekly newspaper Had Hamizrah (The Echo of the Orient), warning of the dire consequences if nothing was done to save them. They were hostages to the war instigated by Arab countries against the new state of Israel, a war which the Arab League intended to finance with assets stolen from its Jewish citizens or extorted from them. These measures were contrary to resolutions passed by the recently-created UN. This extract is from page 12 and appears in the digital archives of the National Library of Israel and Tel Aviv University.

In my review of the situation of Jewry in the Middle East and North Africa, I used to refer to these countries as “rare islands of tranquillity in a stormy sea”. Compared to the situation of Jews scattered around Central Europe, these Jews lived in security. They were not persecuted because of their Jewishness and race, and enjoyed equal rights with the rest of the country’s citizens. However, it was enough for a slight change to take place between Israel and the Arab countries, for the situation of their Jews to change for the worst from one end of the region to the other, and become worse than the situation of their brothers in pre-peace Poland, in Hitler’s Germany, in fascist France and in Nazi Central Europe during World War II. Approximately one million Jews in the Islamic countries spanning Asia and Africa – from Morocco to Persia – are now targeted by Arab nationalism, which has taken on a threatening and aggressive form and turned the Jewish minorities in Arab countries not only into second-class citizens, but into dispensable elements that can be permitted to be abused and persecuted to the point that they are boycotted, rioted against, hunted down and hanged for no reason, just to rob them of their wealth and property.

An iron curtain separates us from these brothers, and the little news that filters up to us is sparse. However, even from the little information that has reached us, we have learned that the Jews of the Islamic countries are now living in a huge prison, under a tyrannical, oppressive and insulting regime of terror, headed by dark and fanatical feudal lords who oppress unique, ancient communities. The captives live in disgraceful conditions, in great distress and in danger of being killed. About a million Jews in Arab countries moan and groan under the yoke of the oppressor, at the mercy of incendiary mobs, and of bloodthirsty outlaws who seek robbery and plunder, who steal their property under the pretext of donations to Arab jihad: hundreds of thousands of them are expected to be exterminated and massacred, condemned to slow physical and spiritual degeneration if measures are not taken to save them, because the stranglehold around their necks is getting tighter and tighter day by day, and they live in terror while others are put in concentration camps. Others still live in destitution and are deprived of their livelihoods; part of their property was stolen, and the other part was seized. According to the UN partition plan of November 29,1947 it was clear to all who knew about the affairs of the Arab countries that there was a danger to their Jews, their property and rights.

Yes, @NYTimes, photographs can mislead. And you have published lots of them yourself.

The New York Times has an interesting article about the revelation that Herman Heukels, who took most of the famous photographs of Jews getting ready to be transported from Amsterdam to work or death camps, was a Nazi.

With this knowledge, we now understand that he intended to demean the Jews whose photos he was taking. He didn't take any photos of the police rounding them up, for example.

In some images, the Jews' dignity shine through anyway.

But this changes the interpretation of the photos.

Janina Struk, author of the 2005 book “Photographing the Holocaust: Interpretations of the Evidence,” said that in the postwar period, photos taken by bystanders, perpetrators and victims were “all kind of mixed together,” and hardly anyone asked who had shot the photos or for what purposes.

In recent years, she added, there has been a greater emphasis on contextualizing the images, explaining how they were made, so that viewers have a better understanding of what they’re looking at — and so people can make better ethical choices about how to present them.

I wish the New York Times cared this much about the context of photos from Gaza taken by modern antisemites.

Here are two photos from last year's war in Gaza that are obviously staged, as I pointed out then:

The New York Times also hires freelance photographers in Gaza who have every incentive to show Israel in a bad light and ignore Hamas war crimes like shooting rockets from populated areas. The NYT is highlighting obviously staged photos as well, like this one, with a bassinet that somehow landed right side up, meters away from the demolished building that supposedly housed it - and without a speck of dust on it. The photographer was also amazingly lucky to find a photogenic, sad boy who just happened to be walking right in front of it, but to the side, so we could see both.

Or this one, where elderly women climbed over dangerous rubble where they could fall and break their hips so they could sit (one on a convenient plastic chair) and look sad in this supposedly candid shot:

Seeing the beach in the background, this airstrike may have been at the Shati camp, where Israel said Hamas leaders were meeting - but the New York Times won't mention that.

Context is everything. Photographers stage their photos and direct the subjects as actors when they won't get caught. They gather ahead of time in likely trouble spots but ensure that the other dozens of photographers crowding around are never in the shot. They choose the ones that tell the story they want to tell and don't submit the ones that contradict them. The freelancers provide the background information that is believed implicitly by the editors.

Is there any moral difference between publishing context-free photos from people who hated Jews in the 1940s and those from people who hate Jews today?

The last paragraph of the article about the Nazi photos is the best summary of the topic, and one that fair media would be attuned to if they cared about context and objectivity.

Struk added, “We need to move away from the idea that a photograph is just a window on the world. It isn’t. It’s a very edited version of what the photographer chose to photograph.”

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!

Israel provides more electricity to Gaza than you think - but Egypt has been providing more fuel

The monthly UN OCHA report on Gaza for July has been released, and they added some graphics I hadn't seen before.

This one shows that Israel provides Gaza with no less than ten separate electricity feeds, three of which are split off in Gaza itself. Israel provides far more electricity to Gaza than the Gaza power plant does,

But I was surprised to see that even though Israel has built large pipelines to securely transfer fuel to Gaza at Kerem Shalom, the Hamas government prefers to obtain most of its fuel from Egypt. Industrial fuel is exclusively from Israel but everything else is mostly from Egyptian sources.

Egyptian fuel imports:

Israeli fuel imports:

My guess is that Egyptian fuel is cheaper, and perhaps Hamas can more easily tax and redirect the Egyptian fuel for their own purposes.

However, in May and June, Israeli exports of cooking gas went much higher while Egyptian exports plummeted. Apparently, the cost of Egyptian cooking gas soared (some blame Hamas, Hamas blames new regulations) and it seems Israeli gas became more affordable by contrast. Gazans were very angry at Hamas when someone published the raw costs of cooking gas from Egypt and the Gaza costs were double that amount.

As usual, what we see in the media is only a tiny portion of what open sources can tell us, and the open sources are only a tiny portion of what is really going on. So-called experts are working with very limited information yet they confidently tell everyone else their analyses as if it is based on all the information - and it never is.

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!

08/01 Links Pt1: The UN Human Rights Council's "Commission of Inquiry" Goes Openly Antisemitic; Why Economic Carrots Won't Appease Iran

From Ian:

Prof. Anne Bayefsky: The UN Human Rights Council's "Commission of Inquiry" Goes Openly Antisemitic

In May 2021, after an 11-day conflict between Palestinian terrorists in Gaza and Israelis, the UN established a "Commission of Inquiry" on Israel with a permanent "ongoing" mandate to ferret out "systematic discrimination and repression."

Three well-known biased actors were appointed as members of the inquiry who could be counted on to manufacture a guilty verdict: Navi Pillay as chair (former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights), Miloon Kothari (a former UN "expert"), and Chris Sidoti (a close associate of a top Palestinian organization and of Israel-bashing NGOs).

While UN rules specifically require that UN human rights "experts" are independent, impartial, and objective, each one was on record promoting the libel of apartheid and crimes against humanity regarding Israel and a proven anti-Israel zealot. In June 2022, the inquiry members presented their first report, which concluded that the actions of "Jewish Israelis" were the "root cause" of the conflict.

On July 25, 2022, an interview with commission member Miloon Kothari appeared on the anti-Israel website Mondoweiss where, referring to Israel, he said: "I would go so far as to raise the question as why are they even a member of the United Nations." He referred to social media reaction to the inquiry controlled by "the Jewish lobby."

Human Rights Council President Federico Villegas of Argentina called Kothari's remarks "unfortunate" and said they "could reasonably be interpreted as the stigmatization of the Jewish people." He suggested Kothari "consider the possibility" of "publicly clarifying" his comments. In a letter to Villegas, Israel's Prime Minister Yair Lapid wrote, "The fight against antisemitism cannot be waged with words alone. It requires action. This is the time for action; it is time to disband the Commission. This Commission does not just endorse antisemitism - it fuels it."

The Biden administration has officially and repeatedly objected to the UN "inquiry." On June 29, the House Appropriations Committee adopted an amendment prohibiting the use of any American funds for the inquiry. Defunding would be entirely consistent with current American legislation prohibiting the use of taxpayer dollars for other anti-Israel UN bodies.

JPost Editorial: UN bias toward Israel does nothing to achieve peace

The comments by the UN’s Miloon Kothari last week were shocking but not surprising. Kothari is on a three-member panel appointed by the UN last year to conduct an unprecedented open-ended war-crimes probe against Israel. Along with Kothari, the panel comprises chairwoman Navi Pillay, a former UN high commissioner for Human Rights, who in the past has supported calls to boycott and sanction Israel, and Australian legal expert Chris Sidoti, who has also made disturbing remarks recently.

The “UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including east Jerusalem, and in Israel” was initially approved in May 2021 by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council. It followed in the wake of the 11-day war that started when Hamas in Gaza launched thousands of rockets on Israel, starting with Jerusalem, and Israel in response launched Operation Guardian of the Walls.

The creation of the commission of inquiry (COI) to investigate Israel – and not Hamas – in perpetuity, is itself shameful. That the panel is composed of three people known to have voiced negative views about Israel, the subject of their investigation, compounds the problems. Nothing the commission or its members have done or said in the meantime even partially mitigates concerns of the built-in bias against Israel. Sidoti rejected criticism when the first report was published in June saying some Jews were throwing around accusations of antisemitism “like rice at a wedding.”

Last week, however, Kothari raised the rhetoric and did away with the last vestiges of pretense of impartiality. Upset by criticism of the COI, including by some governments, Kothari said in an interview with the Mondoweiss website: “We are very disheartened by the social media that is controlled largely by – whether it is the Jewish lobby or specific NGOs – a lot of money is being thrown into trying to discredit us.” The Indian lawyer, in addition, said “I would go as far as to raise the question of why Israel is even a member of the United Nations.”

Kothari’s comments combine the abhorrent but frequently heard antisemitic tropes of Jewish control of the media backed by Jewish money. For good measure, he also clearly questions Israel’s right to exist along with its membership in the 193-member United Nations.

Sign Our Petition: Help End UN-Backed Hate Campaign Against Israel and the Jewish People (with VIDEO)

On July 25, a UN expert tasked with investigating the Jewish state told an anti-Israel website that the “Jewish lobby” controls social media.

“We are very disheartened by the social media that is controlled largely by — whether it is the Jewish lobby or specific NGOs… A lot of money is being thrown into trying to discredit us,” Miloon Kothari said in an interview with Mondoweiss’ David Kattenburg. A long-time pro-Palestinian activist, Kattenburg once asserted that “the Nazis would have been impressed” with what he described as the Israeli “terrorist apartheid regime.”

Miloon Kothari is one of three members of the controversial ‘UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel’ (COI), which is currently carrying out an unprecedented open-ended probe into Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, set up following 2021’s 11-day Hamas-initiated conflict.

The COI’s first 18-page report, published on June 7 of this year, charged the government in Jerusalem with everything from “gender-based violence” to hindering “Palestinian democratic processes.”

At the time, leading news organizations were all too eager to parrot the UN’s slanted conclusions. Yet these same outlets have refused to univocally condemn the antisemitic tropes in Kothari’s most recent statements, even as they fall within the widely-adopted IHRA working definition of antisemitism.

Over the past months, the media have also failed to note that the commission’s head, Navi Pillay, has expressed support for the BDS movement, which according to its leaders is meant to put an end to the Jewish state. Pillay has furthermore advocated for the blacklisting of companies that do business with Jewish communities located over the Green Line, and went on record as saying that Israel has “enforced segregation on racial lines.”

Similarly, mainstream journalists did not report that COI member Chris Sidoti on June 14 at the UN Human Rights Council downplayed modern-day Judeophobia, claiming that some Jews throw around “accusations of antisemitism” like “rice at a wedding.” Before his stint at the UN, Sidoti worked closely with Palestinian NGOs for over 15 years.

Notably, Pillay defended Kothari’s anti-Jewish remarks in a letter to UN Human Rights Council President Federico Villegas, falsely asserting that the quotes about the “Jewish lobby” were taken out of context.

Indonesian books on Jews are uniformly filled with hate

An Iranian news agency said that the Indonesian International Book Fair was being held in Jakarta this week. As far as I could tell, it is being held in November.

Either way, since Indonesia is the largest Muslim country, I was curious as to what their books say about Jews.

A cursory look at the top search results for books in Indonesian about Jews shows nothing but pure antisemitism.

History of Judaism's blurb includes:

What kind of events happened until today we witness how Jews dominate almost all aspects of life? The dominance that makes them act as they please; seized the land of the Muslims by force, houses were demolished with barbarism, children, women and the elderly were brutally killed, their possessions greedily robbed. What's worse, they don't even feel ashamed or guilty, instead they become proud and arrogant. Before the end of the world, a great war will occur between the Muslims and the Jews. This book will be very helpful in providing knowledge and understanding about the religion so we understand who is really the enemy and who is the friend.

Jewish Red Reports Throughout History:

Lots of rottenness, cunning, tyranny, and all the crimes committed by the Jews, all have been described in the Qur'an. Where the Qur'an shows us about the opposition of the Jews to the Prophets, their denial of the Apostles, their defilement of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, and much more.

Alhamdulillah, this book unpacks and explains the Jewish red report cards, which are explained in 30 chapters throughout history, based on the Qur'anic sources which are explained clearly and are easy to understand. I hope this book is useful.

There is an entire book that is the transcript of a 2006 interview between a pastor and a fake Jew who called himself "Rabbi Abe Finkelstein" who "admits" that Jews made up the Holocaust and kill Christian children for Passover matzoh. This is a popular audio on American antisemitic sites today.

The Zamzam Illustrated Encyclopedia of Judaism Book of Religion by Dr. Tariq As-Suwaidan is described this way: "The Jews always instill hatred and hostility towards the Muslims, both openly and hidden. Thus, understanding the causes of hostilities, their history, and the methods they use requires in-depth and careful research; includes history, creed, system, and all things related to Judaism. So we will be alert and know where their strengths and weaknesses are. Furthermore, we will be able to deal with them by focusing attacks on those weaknesses. Because, how can we be able to face an enemy that we do not know? ...So, this book is very important and deserves to be owned by every Muslim in order to know the true nature of the enemy.

These are the first four books I found. The next one, another encyclopedia, looked like a somewhat more objective history but it still claims that Freemasons and Lions Clubs are Jewish organizations and Jews killed all the prophets.

This is what a quarter of a billion Muslims are being taught about Jews, today.

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!

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid wrote an excellent letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in response to the statements by one of the members of the Commission of Inquiry, Miloon Kothari, that were antisemitic, claiming that the "Jewish lobby" controlled social media.

Significantly, Lapid's letter does not only call out the antisemitism of that statement. It also points out that Kothari's suggestion that Israel does not belong in the United Nations altogether is also an example of antisemitism - according to the words of Antonio Guterres himself!

But more than that, he points out that the commission itself was biased from the start, and its reaction to this episode only solidifies how biased it is.

As is often the case, the Prime Minister's Office stupidly did not release the letter in a way that is could be easily copied and pasted - it only released a photograph of the letter. This is simply unforgivable. The basics of public relations are ignored and only people who make a great effort to view the letter and quote it can do so.

So I am reproducing it here.

Your Excellency,

I am writing to you to demand the immediate removal of all three members of the COI tasked with investigating Israel, and the disbanding of the Commission. The COI has been fundamentally tainted by the publicly expressed prejudices of its leadership, who do not meet the basic standards of neutrality, independence and impartiality required by the United Nations.

In a recent interview (July 25th), one of the commissioners, Mr. Miloon Kothari, made several outrageous comments, including some which are clearly antisemitic.

During the interview, Mr. Kothari said, “We are very disheartened by the social media that is controlled largely by- whether it is the Jewish lobby or specific NGOs, a lot of money is being thrown in to try to discredit us.” He further questioned Israel’s right to exist as an equal member of the community of nations, in an unacceptable and cynical attempt to discredit the very legitimacy of the one and only Jewish state. He stated, “I would go as far as to raise the question as why they are even a member of the United Nations.”

These antisemitic remarks are a stain on the entire United Nations and are not befitting of a person with such a position of responsibility. As such, they were firmly condemned by representatives of the United States, France, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Austria, the European Union and others.

Instead of taking a moral stance and repudiating these comments, Ms. Navi Pillay, who chairs the COI, chose to defend and excuse them, in a public letter sent to the President of the Human Rights Council on July 28th. She doubled down on the Commission’s support for Mr. Kothari’s comments. Pillay’s claim that the comments were taken out of context are false and were even rejected by the President of the UN Human Rights Council. I urge you to listen to Mr. Kothari’s interview and judge for yourself.

I recall your principled comments at a New York conference in 2017, that “a modern form of antisemitism is the denial of the right of the State of Israel to exist.” Furthermore, you pledged to take a stand “in the front line of the struggle against antisemitism, and to make sure the United Nations is able to take all possible actions for antisemitism to be condemned, and if possible, eradicated from the face of the earth.” You stressed that "Israel needs to be treated as any other state, with exactly the same rules."

Excellency, I call on you today to honor your word in this egregious case, to set the record straight. This cannot stand. Slurs about a “Jewish lobby” that acts to “control” the media, are reminiscent of the darkest days of modern history.

The fundamentally flawed nature of the COI has been widely discussed, and a group of 22 nations, led by the United States, issued a joint statement during the June HRC session expressing their deep concern about this. This latest shameful episode is a further example of its flawed and biased nature.

The fight against antisemitism cannot be waged with words alone, it requires action. This is the time for action; it is time to disband the Commission. From Mr. Kothari’s outrageous slurs to Ms. Pillay’s defense of the indefensible, this Commission does not just endorse antisemitism — it fuels it.

I therefore ask you to take all necessary measures to bring about the immediate resignation of Ms. Pillay and the other commissioners, and the disbanding of the Commission.

Sincerely,
Yair Lapid

I cannot find the full text of Antonio Gutteres' 2017 speech to the World Jewish Congress where he said “a modern form of antisemitism is the denial of the right of the State of Israel to exist.” Arguably, the more important statement was where he said "Israel needs to be treated as any other state, with exactly the same rules." This commission, by its very existence and the fact that it is the only open-ended commission in UN history, violates that rule and is prima facie evidence of the UN's inherent antisemitism.

Gutteres has also said, “You can be absolutely sure, as secretary-general of the United Nations, I will be in the front line of the struggle against antisemitism, and to make sure the United Nations is able to to take all possible actions for antisemitism to be condemned, and if possible, eradicated from the face of the earth.”

It is past time to turn these words into action.

If the fight against antisemitism is to have any meaning at all, this commission of inquiry must be disbanded. But there is no procedural method to accomplish that - antisemitism is baked into the UN and in its rules allowing something like this to begin with. All we have left is to expose the hypocrisy of a commission that is supposedly meant to advance human rights when the UN's leader has said, explicitly, that "Antisemitism threatens all people’s human rights. It is a menace to democratic values, to social peace and stability. "

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

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Abdel Wahab El-Messiri is an Egyptian academic who is more famed in the Arab world for writing an eight-volume "Encyclopedia of Jews, Judaism and Zionism."

Ever since the Abraham Accords, a quote from him from decades ago has been making the rounds of op-ed writers, most recently this past weekend.

About twenty years ago, he wrote, "From now on we will find Jews in Muslim clothes, the functional Jew, a Muslim who prays with us in the mosque, but he plays the same role as the Jewish general, and therefore this phenomenon must be analyzed so that many of us do not turn into Jews without realizing."

Notice that he doesn't say "Zionist" but "Jew," showing that even the biggest supposed expert on Judaism in the Arab world saw no distinction between the two - the Jew was a danger to Islam.

And now, to these pundits, the worst thing about the Abraham Accords is not the Arab turning into a Zionist - but the Muslim turning into a Jew.

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Palestinian leaders again say that paying terrorists is their highest priority

Israeli media announced that Israel is deducting 600 million shekels from the tax revenues that it pays the Palestinian Authority because that is the amount that the PA pays terrorists in prison and their families this year.

As usual, the Palestinian leadership said that paying terrorists is sacred and nothing Israel does will stop them from making those payments.

Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a press statement, "The Palestinian leadership, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, affirms its categorical rejection of this dangerous decision."

He stressed that the decision "will not lead to any result, because the rights of our heroic prisoners will not be affected, no matter what the pressures."

Abu Rudeineh added, "We will not accept a single penny reduction of the money of the heroes of the Palestinian people who carried the banner of freedom, for the sake of Jerusalem and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state."

The world media rarely reports that the top priority of Palestinian leaders is payments to terrorists.

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07/31 Links: How Norway and EU Are Undermining the Oslo Accords; The way is being paved for the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine plan

From Ian:

Amb. Alan Baker: How Norway and EU Are Undermining the Oslo Accords

Norway and EU member states have restored funding to six Palestinian civil society organizations designated by Israel as terror-supporting organizations, thereby rejecting evidence submitted by Israel that such organizations are linked to the universally outlawed terror organization: “Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.”

Funding terror contravenes international counter-terrorism conventions and resolutions to which Norway and the EU are party that criminalize funding terror. It also undermines distinct counter-terror provisions in the 1993-1995 Oslo Accords between the Palestinians and Israel and is incompatible with their active involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

This decision to restore funding to terror-supporting NGOs is particularly serious in light of Norway’s and the EU’s special status both as witness to the Oslo Accords, but more so in light of Norway’s active involvement as the principal facilitator, mediator, host, and patron of the accords.

Contrary to its special status as witness, sponsor, and facilitator of the Oslo Accords, Norway has consistently conducted a one-sided, partisan policy aimed at prejudging the issues that are still to be negotiated between the parties, such as the issue of Jerusalem and the permanent status of the territories.

Facilitating international funding for supporting and encouraging Palestinian terror, including providing funds for salaries and benefits of terrorists serving prison sentences, is the antithesis of any genuine international action to promote human rights, peace, and stability in the Middle East.

David Singer: The way is being paved for the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine plan

It would appear that back channel negotiations have been going on since the release of the Saudi plan on 8 June to refine it to reflect - with more precision - the starting positions of Jordan, Israel and the PLO in any negotiations.

Those agreed starting positions include:
The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine will be ruled by Jordan’s current Hashemite ruler King Abdullah – which Hashemite dynasty has ruled Jordan for the last 100 years.

The right of return to Israel by Palestinian Arab refugees will not be pursued. Instead The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine will integrate those refugees within its borders

The borders of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan will include
-Jordan with its current borders
-The Gaza Strip
A-reas of the 'West Bank' inhabited by Palestinian Arabs and bordering Jordan that are contiguous and not divided into islands
-The retention by Israel of the Jordan Valley and other areas of the 'West Bank' such as Oslo-designated Area C, where all the Jews in the region live, will be resolved in the negotiations

Neither the Arabs nor the Muslims will seek to expel Israel from Jerusalem. However it remains as a bargaining chip in the hands of the Palestinian Arabs in securing any agreement and giving the Holy Places in Jerusalem a special status.

Any agreement will need to be ratified by a free popular referendum by Arab voter constituencies consisting of all Jordanians and residents of the 'West Bank' and Gaza Strip and those who are stateless such as the residents of the refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria. Palestinian Arabs who are settled in other countries and who enjoy full citizenship will have no vote.

The rationale for creating The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine is based on the fact that Jordanians and Palestinians are Sunni Arabs from the same region and integrating them will not cause any ethnic or sectarian fault lines in the long run.

Jordan has received a flurry of visits from Mohammed Bin Salman, PLO Leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israel’s President Herzog, since the Saudi Plan was published.

Lapid’s visit now when he is only caretaker Prime Minister is highly significant. It could indicate the commencement of negotiations is supported by the majority of Israel’s political parties even though nothing can go forward until after the next government is formed post November elections.

And then - let the negotiations begin.

League of Nations Mandate Centenary

This is a recording of a UKLFI Charitable Trust webinar marking the League of Nations Mandate Centenary. It took place on 21 July 2022, and features a special introduction by the President of the State of Israel, H.E. Isaac Herzog and a talk by Professor Steven Zipperstein. Jonathan Turner is the chairman.

The Mandate for Palestine was adopted by the Council of the League of Nations (the forerunner of today’s United Nations) in London on 24 July 1922. It mandated the British Government to put into effect the Balfour Declaration of 2 November 1917.

The Mandate explicitly recognised the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that territory. It transformed the unilateral declaration of the British government into an instrument of international law and provided the legal basis for Britain’s administration of Western Palestine until 1948. Its impact on the development of the Jewish national home into the modern State of Israel cannot be denied, and the rights and obligations set out in its provisions arguably remain relevant today.

A Palestinian leather goods and embroidery shop in Ramallah, named "Rahala" ("nomad,") insists that American, British and French customers grovel and apologize before they are allowed to purchase any items:

This won't hurt their sales. On the contrary. Their products are meant to appeal to exactly the kinds of people who would happily grovel for the privilege of purchasing these items.

A Chicago Tribune article last year featuring Noora Jebreal, an American importer from the shop, says:

But more than pretty pieces, the products have a political meaning.

Holding up a pink slipper with black crossover threading resembling a wire fence, Imad says in Arabic, “I made this shoe in 1999, and it’s called ‘prison,’” during a March Instagram Live interview with Jebreal. The slipper represents the open-air prison that many Palestinians and humanitarians feel Gaza has become.

Of course, in 1999 Gaza was not under blockade and the Oslo process was in full swing, but why should a reporter bother to check the facts from people who are clearly pushing a political message?

One other part of the article struck me, and it is a small but telling example of how the media is willing and eager to allow Palestinian lies to become part of the record.

The Rahalah workers, according to Jebreal, couldn’t take things to the post to get mailed from Bethlehem to Tel Aviv during the height of the pandemic.

“What was once a 15-minute car ride is now a 45-minute car ride (for his transporters from Ramallah to Bethlehem),” she said. “And you know gas is more expensive out there too because Israel has sanctions on that for Palestinians. And then you have to pay the actual shipping from Israel to the states.”

I had never heard of "gasoline sanctions" on Palestinians before, so I looked up current fuel prices on gasoline in the Palestinian territories and in Israel.

According to Numbeo, the average price for gasoline in the Palestinian territories is ILS 6.55 per liter, while in Israel it is ILS 6.97. (That's $7.74 per gallon.)

Yes, gas is cheaper for Palestinians than for Israelis.

But the actual facts are too good to check. After all, the media is filled with stories about how Israel oppresses Palestinians, so of course it sounds right that Israel would tax fuel for them, too. And why would such a nice young woman lie? So her lie gets published, unedited, by a major American newspaper, and the goal of demonizing Israel with cumulative lies - which is the entire point of this store - is achieved.

Palestinian propaganda has won yet again.

And as this article shows, it is cumulative - when one lie gets accepted, then it becomes easier for the next lie to be accepted as well, since no one bothered to fact check the first one. Eventually you create an entire narrative based on lies that are so entrenched that the media doesn't bother to begin to unravel them, and simply publishes them without checking.

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Yesterday, IfNotNow published a "havdalah service" for people who were campaigning for Andy Levin in Michigan - "Jews for Andy."

Havdalah is meant to separate the Sabbath from the weekday, but for these people, it was done in broad daylight, which is something we have seen anti-Israel groups do before.

This was also done in a "Jews for Rashida" "Passover seder" held in 2020 where the entire idea of a seder was subverted and perverted for political ends.

In this case, though, IfNotNow tried to pre-empt any criticism with this tweet:

To all the trolls ready to dunk on a Havdalah ceremony while there’s still light out — you’re just telling on yourself when you police others’ Jewish practices.

There’s no right or wrong way to be Jewish.

It didn't work out for them. As of this writing, this tweet has been "ratioed" 3-1, one of the relatively rare cases where far more people comment negatively to a tweet than click on "Like." My comment was, "So I can light a Christmas tree and call it a Chanukah menorah? I can have a Yom Kippur feast and call it a fast? I can replace a shofar with a kazoo?"

Yet the tweet says a great deal about the Israel haters who claim Jewish legitimacy and their relationship with Judaism.

To these "progressives," anyone can declare themselves to be anything and this must be respected because it is "their truth." But that cheapens and ultimately makes worthless the religion they claim to respect. If there are no rules, then being Jewish means nothing. It is as absurd as saying that there is no right or wrong way to be a vegan, or no right or wrong way to play soccer, or no right or wrong color of a stoplight to decide to go.

But Judaism isn't completely worthless to these "progressives." To them, it is a prop - declare themselves Jewish, do something that vaguely resembles a Jewish tradition, tie it to a political cause and then discard it.

This isn't "pick and choose" Judaism. This is claiming that Judaism simply has no value or meaning except for selfish political reasons.

And if you proclaim that Judaism has no intrinsic value, then you are an antisemite.

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Al Aqsa preacher again pretends that there is no archaeological proof of Jews in Jerusalem

From Al Watan Voice:

Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, the preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque, confirmed that the occupation has been excavating and digging in Al-Aqsa Mosque since 1967, but he did not find a single stone related to the ancient Hebrew Jewish history.

In press statements, Sabri stressed that what the occupation found are Roman and Islamic monuments from the Umayyad, Abbasid, Mamluk and Turkish eras.

This is a constant theme in Palestinian media.

The absurdity is almost beyond belief. The entire Marwani Mosque, the underground mosque on the Temple Mount that was excavated by the Waqf, is built in the area of what is known as "Solomon's Stables" but were built during the Herodian era. The retaining walls of the Temple have been dug to the their foundations and are well-dated.

The entire City of David archaeological park, the numerous ritual baths that are right outside the Temple Mount, the bullae that have been found...the list is endless.

This stone, discovered next to the Temple Mount after 1967 by archaeologist Benjamin Mazar, says - in Hebrew - "To the Place of Trumpeting:'

This stone was a Greek-language warning to non-Jews not to enter the Temple grounds:

No stranger is to enter within the balustrade around the Temple and enclosure. Whoever is caught will be himself responsible for his ensuing death.

Partial remains of a similar Greek language warning were also found.

Coins of the Bar Kochba revolt included diagrams of the Temple.

There are new findings every year, including the stunning Herodian tiles found in the Temple Mount Sifting Project, which has also found First Temple-era finds and many Hebrew inscriptions.

The desire to erase Jewish history is simple bigotry.

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