Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Palestinians trying very hard to turn a terrorist into a human rights icon

A mass murderer as an icon for human rights? For Palestinians and their supporters, there is no contradiction.

Nasser Abu Hmeid, the terrorist who died of lung cancer yesterday, is now the number one cause for the Palestinian Authority.

He had murdered seven Israelis - and five Palestinian "collaborators." But since he was a member of Fatah, the Palestinian Authority is in the forefront of mourning him.

The PA held a massive rally in Ramallah protesting his "assassination."

The Ministry of Education is forcing schools to hold assemblies supporting his terror career.

Their official school radio dedicated this morning to talking about how Israel mistreats prisoners.

Here is a heartwarming scene of a child on his father's shoulders, surrounded by the Palestinian and Fatah flags, with a (toy?) gun, supporting the murderer:

Given all this, it is understandable that Israel has not released his body, since that would spark violence. But now they are trying to make that sound like a human rights issue as well: the Palestinian National Council called the decision "fascist:"

This fascist decision of a country whose parliament ratifies laws that qualify criminals to hold ministerial portfolios is a flagrant violation of the most basic international and humanitarian laws and norms and all human rights standards, which categorically demonstrates the impotence and weakness of the international system and its condoning of the occupation's crimes against our people.

Does this sound like legitimate outrage over not receiving the body - or an opportunity to demonize Israel to the world?

Not to be outdone, Hamas called this decision "Nazi." Nah, nothing antisemitic about that!

Meanwhile, the Palestinian leaders are trying hard to internationalize this issue. The Arab Lawyer's Union issued a statement, no doubt at the behest of Abbas:

The Palestinian prisoner, Nasser Abu Hamid, was martyred as a result of gross and deliberate medical negligence by the Israeli occupation prison administration, which pursues a policy of revenge against sick prisoners. ...The fascist Israeli occupation deliberately inflicted medical harm on the martyr Nasser Abu Hamid, who was sentenced to seven life sentences in 2001 to spend his life suffering from the pain of cancer, which ravaged his body behind bars until he rose to a martyr.
The Secretary-General of the Arab Lawyers Union called on the international community and international organizations concerned with human rights to condemn this heinous crime and to press for the Israeli occupation to be held accountable for its crimes against the sick prisoners, which are inconsistent with the Geneva Convention, which are crimes against humanity that history will not forget and will not expire by statute of limitations.

No, Israel didn't violate the Geneva Conventions.

Keep this in mind the next time an Arab lawyer is interviewed about Israel: they lie as easily as they breathe.

I'm not seeing too much interest in Hmeid's death in the general Arab media. They seem to grasp what self-centered Palestinians cannot: that many of the things that supposedly outrage them are obviously manufactured and directed by their leaders, but have little to do with reality.

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

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Updated database of antisemitic Arab cartoons that use a menorah motif

For Chanukah, here is a list of Arab cartoons I have found that use a menorah as a motif.

It sure looks antisemitic to me.

During wildfires in Israel

Stylizing the last letter of "Daesh" (ISIS) to look like Israel is behind the group

Jew as monkey (1992, Egypt)

Now compare with this from Nazi Germany:

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12/20 Links Pt2: To tackle the oldest hatred, it’s not enough to just teach the Holocaust; Caroline Glick: Hanukkah and the new imperialist assault on Judaism; Airbnb launches positive series of articles about Israeli hosts

From Ian:

Stephen Pollard: To tackle the oldest hatred, it’s not enough to just teach the Holocaust

In much of the West there is an assumption among both Jews and those who sympathize with them that teaching people about the Holocaust somehow inoculates them against anti-Semitism. Stephen Pollard observes that education about the Shoah in Britain is very good, but evidence shows that hostility toward Jews is nonetheless on the rise:

Last year, I was told by the anti-extremism educator Charlotte Littlewood of her experience in one school. After giving training to a sixth form about 9/11, a teacher approached her about the session. Why, he asked, had she ignored the “evidence” that 9/11 was organized by the Jews?

Ms. Littlewood is the author of a study cited today by the government’s so-called “anti-Semitism tsar” Lord Mann in his ground-breaking report calling for all schools to have policies to recognize and combat anti-Semitism, which should also be part of teacher training. (One might also point out the inherent irony of the phrase “anti-Semitism tsar.”)

Her study found that recorded anti-Semitic incidents in schools in England have nearly trebled over the past five years. But a mere 47 schools have any kind of formal, written policy that “might make staff more aware of the vicious forms of anti-Semitic bullying”—such as making a hissing sound when Jewish pupils enter a classroom in a reference to the Nazi gas chambers.

[In fact], some of those who think of themselves as being profoundly anti-racist nonetheless harbor stereotypically anti-Semitic thoughts about Jews—that they are rich, they control the media, they stick together, and so on. They won’t even recognize that these are racist ideas, seeing them merely as statements of fact. This explains how you can teach the Holocaust and yet not make any impact on dealing with living, breathing anti-Semitism. Or, to put it another way, the bar for anti-Jewish racism is set at the level of killing Jews.

A Festival of Light for Dark Times

A Hanukkah message from Theodor Herzl, 125 years ago

As noted by the historian Daniel Polisar, Herzl was likely writing autobiographically. He had customarily purchased a Christmas tree for his family and was more well-versed in Latin, Greek, and German than he was in Hebrew. But he was developing the realization that candles of national pride and Jewish tradition, once lit, could attract companions. Writing a few months after the First Zionist Congress—whose 125th anniversary was marked in Basel in 2022—Herzl hoped for the progressing of his project of national reclamation. He anticipated the most desperate, the young and the poor, would be the first to see the light.

Then the others join in, all those who love justice, truth, liberty, progress, humanity, and beauty. When all the candles are ablaze everyone must stop in amazement and rejoice at what has been wrought. And no office is more blessed than that of a servant of this light.

Though Hanukkah is undoubtedly a uniquely Jewish holiday, commemorating the bloody battle for the preservation of its ancient practices and beliefs 2,000 years ago, all Americans may find inspiration in Herzl’s depiction. After all, imagining the reinvigoration of political unity and patriotic pride in the United States today seems no less far-fetched than Herzl’s dream for a renewed Israel seemed on the eve of 1898. Even if we willed it, we undoubtedly feel, it would probably remain just a dream.

Yet, during the American colonies’ earliest decades, and as the colonists subsequently developed hope for independence from Britain, they looked to the branches of a tree to reflect the potential of shared national purpose. Old elms were deemed “Liberty Trees,” a symbol of what one observer called “that Liberty which our Forefathers sought out, and found under Trees, and in the Wilderness.” The biblically tinged image, like the menorah, acknowledges separate branches, but emphasizes the shared root that feeds its growth. It reminds us that by drawing from our common core we might yet expand outward and upward.

In the dark desperation of our current societal disunity, consideration of what Herzl termed the “marvel of the Maccabees” may serve as a hopeful reminder, a means of reclaiming our own sense of national pride and purpose. If we remind ourselves and the next generation of the faith in which we were forged, and envision a brighter, more joyous tomorrow, we may yet find companions amid the slumbering darkness. We may yet find ourselves servants of the light.

Ruthie Blum: No, Gray Lady, the ‘bedrock’ of US-Israel relations isn’t a two-state solution

In a social media post on Sunday, Prime Minister-designate Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu blasted the Gray Lady for its gall.

“After burying the Holocaust for years on its back pages and demonizing Israel for decades on its front pages, The New York Times now shamefully calls for undermining Israel’s elected incoming government,” he tweeted, in response to a weekend editorial titled: “The Ideal of Democracy in a Jewish State Is in Jeopardy.”

He was right to fight back, as the piece not only asserted that his coalition-in-formation poses a “significant threat to Israel’s future—its direction, its security and even the idea of a Jewish homeland”; it also urged the administration in Washington and the American public to support the “moderating forces” in the country that are “already planning energetic resistance.”

Not that Bibi’s response will do any good, other than reminding those who long ago realized that the “newspaper of record”—a broken one where Israel is concerned—doesn’t deserve its self-anointed reputation as a reliable source on any issue.

Nor did its horror at the return to the helm of the longest-serving premier in Israel’s history come as a shock to anyone, least of all Netanyahu himself. On the contrary, had it expressed a more positive view of the cabinet now taking shape in Jerusalem, it would have lost the remainder of its shrinking readership to publications that refuse to compromise on their unabashed radicalism.

In fairness, albeit ill-deserved, the Times and other “anti-Israel-is-the-new-pro-Israel” periodicals abroad are taking their cue from the “anybody but Bibi” contingent at home. The latter’s way of bemoaning its uncontestable Nov. 1 ballot-box defeat has been to decry the imminent demise of democracy at the hands of extremists bent on transforming the Jewish state into an unrecognizable, racist, homophobic theocracy.

The irony is that the bulk of the wokeratti, who can take considerable credit for the electorate’s rightward pull, didn’t use to praise the country for its liberal values. The sudden nostalgia—while the current caretaker government of Yair Lapid hasn’t even left its perch—is not merely laughable, it explains the Times’s disingenuous reference to “Israel’s proud tradition as a boisterous and pluralistic democracy.”

Chanukah music video night 3: Six13 - Elton Johnukah (plus DisneyKids Hanukkah is Here)

Plus bonus video:

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A statement was just released by "64 scholars denouncing the smear campaign against UN human rights rapporteur Francesca Albanese."

Of course, they have to somehow skate around the fact that she wrote that America is subjugated by the Jewish lobby, a classic antisemitic trope.

So they try to gaslight the world:

Once again, a high-ranking UN official defending the human rights of the Palestinians is being castigated, based on disingenuous allegations of antisemitism. This time, the trigger for such allegations is a statement Ms. Albanese made in 2014, excavated from a personal letter about Israel’s attack on Gaza she had shared on Facebook.

Indeed, Ms. Albanese said therein ‘America is subjugated by the Jewish lobby’. But first, she has rightly distanced herself from this inappropriate choice of words, and second, it is clear from the context of her statement that she was referring to pressure groups that are commonly referred to as the ‘Israel lobby’. Books have been written including by Jewish scholars about such groups. They legitimately exist and their influence, however effective, on American foreign policy towards Israel is real, in particular when it comes to blocking any initiatives aimed at holding Israel accountable for its inhumane treatment of the Palestinians.

When Special Rapporteur Albanese is delegitimized and stigmatized as an antisemite based on isolated and decontextualized statements, this amounts to political abuse of antisemitism, which fundamentally harms the urgent and important fight against antisemitism.

Let's look at their defense of Albanese.

First, they claim that it was "excavated" from a "personal letter" she shared. No, by definition, sharing a letter makes it an open letter, written to the world, to raise funds for UNWRA.

Then they claim that she "distanced herself" from that choice of words. Yes, but only when she was called on it - and even then, she denied that the phrase was antisemitic.

Third, they claim that in the context of the statement she was clearly talking about the "Israel lobby," not the "Jewish lobby," and that her critics are taking it out of context. This is another lie: in context, she wrote, "America and Europe, subjugated by both the Jewish lobby and the guilt for the Holocaust, remain on the sidelines and continue to condemn the oppressed - the Palestinians - who defend themselves with the only means they have..."

She is saying that Europe is "subjugated" by guilt for the Holocaust in the same breath that America is "subjugated" by the "Jewish lobby." She is saying that America and Europe are both beholden to not upsetting Jews. In context, it is very obvious that her "Jewish lobby" comment refers to Jews, not AIPAC, or else the Europe part of the sentence makes no sense.

But let's pretend that Albanese really meant "Israel Lobby," not "Jewish Lobby." It is still antisemitic - even according to these "scholars!"

You see, many of the same "scholars" who signed this letter also signed the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism, which is meant as an anti-Zionst alternative to the IHRA Working Definition. Aleida Assmann, Leora Auslander, Angelika Bammer, Omer Bartov, Peter Beinart, Michael Berkowitz, Daniel Boyarin, Jose Brunner, Stephen Clingman, Raya Cohen, Alon Confino, all signed both - and that is only through "C." There is a very large overlap between the signatories to this statement and the JDA.

Now, what does the Jerusalem Declaration say about examples of speech about Israel "that, on the face of it, are antisemitic"? The first one is, "Applying the symbols, images and negative stereotypes of classical antisemitism (see guidelines 2 and 3) to the State of Israel."

Guideline 2 says, "What is particular in classic antisemitism is the idea that Jews are linked to the forces of evil. This stands at the core of many anti-Jewish fantasies, such as the idea of a Jewish conspiracy in which “the Jews” possess hidden power that they use to promote their own collective agenda at the expense of other people. This linkage between Jews and evil continues in the present: in the fantasy that “the Jews” control governments with a “hidden hand,”...

Albanese is saying that Jews/Israelis have power over both the US and Europe, power that she is exposing in her letter. Note that she didn't say that the US and Europe are "influenced" (as the statement claims) or even "pressured" by the Lobby - she says that they are subjugated. That means that Jews/"Zionists" control the US and Europe.

Even dedicated anti-Zionists are on the record as saying that this is antisemitic - including many of the people who signed this statement!

These hypocritical scholars are ignoring their own definition of antisemitism in their zeal to exonerate Albanese.

Ironically, the JDA was written to allow people to freely attack (and boycott) Israel without being called antisemitic, but Albanese even crossed their own extraordinarily high bar for when attacking Israel is considered antisemitic.

They themselves are guilty of what they accuse Albanese's critics of: "this amounts to political abuse of antisemitism, which fundamentally harms the urgent and important fight against antisemitism."

Which shows the level of integrity of the anti-Israel crowd: Exactly zero.

(h/t GnasherJew)

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

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12/20 Links Pt1: Secret document reveals EU plans to help Palestinian takeover of Area C; Palestinian stubs toe, U.S. demands investigation; The UN's not-so-Interim Force in Lebanon

From Ian:

Secret document reveals EU plans to help Palestinian takeover of Area C

A document composed by the European Union’s mission in eastern Jerusalem and defined as secret exposes the E.U.’s intention to help Palestinians gain control over Area C of Judea and Samaria, commonly known as the West Bank, Israel’s Channel 13 revealed on Monday.

Under the Oslo Accords, Judea and Samaria is divided into three zones with Area C falling fully under Israeli control.

The six-page document calls for mapping the territory in order to prove Palestinian rights to the land and monitoring Israeli archaeological activity, as ancient Jewish ties reinforce Israeli claims.

The document also recommends strengthening Palestinian infrastructure in Area C and supporting Palestinians with legal aid.

In response to Channel 13‘s expose, the E.U. said, “As a general rule, we do not refer to documents. The policy of the E.U. is created by its 27 member states. Our policy has not changed—we are committed to a two-state solution with Jerusalem as the future capital of both states.” Subscribe to The JNS Daily Syndicate by email and never miss our top stories

The report raised an outcry among politicians and various Israeli groups.

“It is not by chance that the European Union chose to classify the document as secret since it reveals its antisemitic attitude towards Israel for all to see,” tweeted Religious Zionism Party Chairman Bezalel Smotrich.

“It’s not content with accelerating the Palestinian takeover of Area C, it is important for it to thwart Israeli archaeological activity in Judea and Samaria lest the truth be revealed: ‘We have not taken foreign land, nor foreign property of our own; but the land of our ancestors…,'” he said, quoting the Book of the Maccabees.

Israel Can’t Allow Bigots to Control the Narrative on the Temple Mount

The trope that Jews are trying to seize and desecrate Muslim holy sites — “Judaizing the Temple Mount”– has been used to foment violence since the 1920s. If Israel is “Judaizing” the Temple Mount, it is certainly taking its sweet time. One might even argue that Israel is going about it all wrong.

For instance, when the Ottomans conquered Constantinople, they did not work out a deal by which Eastern Orthodox clerics and Byzantine authorities retained control over the Hagia Sophia. They just conquered it and converted it into a mosque. Israel by contrast won control of the Temple Mount in a defensive war, after imploring Jordan not to attack. Upon its military victory, Israel then gave control over the Temple Mount to the Jordanian Waqf. There is no historical precedent in which a militarily victorious country made such a concession to a vanquished foe. One might have expected that the world would credit Israel for its tolerance.

Today, the concepts of human rights, dignity, equality, and tolerance are thankfully considered to be paramount in most of the world. The demand to bar only Jewish worship at a site that is sacred to multiple religions is akin to the worst examples of segregation. Jewish worshipers on the Temple Mount are not guilty of disrupting Muslim prayer. They are not the ones rioting, shouting, burning tires, throwing rocks, or even murdering worshipers. Indeed, neither Jews nor Israel even consider banning Muslim worshipers from the holy site.

While most controversial issues in the Middle East have some shade of gray, this is one of the most black and white ethical dilemmas. Jews want to pray and let Muslims pray. Those manufacturing a crisis want the Jews banned, period.

Unfortunately, many international leaders and the international media outlets automatically blame Israel and thus, peaceful Jewish worship, for the tension. Even the US State Department called upon Israel to defuse tensions caused by Arab rioting on the Temple Mount. It is amazing that this centuries-old excuse for violence still bears weight.

Israel cannot allow bigots to control the narrative around the Temple Mount, and it is high time its leaders get out in front with a well-articulated explanation. While many Jews and Israeli officials have made this case, Israel’s leadership must make an articulate, public, and unapologetic case to its Arab neighbors and the world, that it respects religious freedom, demands that same respect, and explains that it is those perpetrating violence who are truly desecrating this holy site. This is urgently needed, not just to combat antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment, but to save the hopeful promise of the Abraham Accords.

Will Mahmoud Abbas and PA Leaders Face ICC Prosecution for Murder

In a statement, the Banat family directly accused PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of being responsible for their son’s death, because of his responsibility for the Palestinian security forces. The family announced their determination “to go to the end and bring justice to the gang that murdered Nizar Banat.”

The PA’s trial in Ramallah of those accused of the murder opened following heavy pressure exerted on the Palestinian Authority by the Biden administration, the European Union, human rights organizations, and the Palestinian street, which held a series of demonstrations, mainly in Ramallah and Hebron, against the dictatorial regime of Mahmoud Abbas.

Until the start of the trial, the Palestinian Authority tried to reach a compensation settlement with the family in exchange for canceling the trial. It offered them a large sum of money and jobs in the PA, but all its offers were rejected.

Even after the killing of Nizar Banat, the PA continued to use force and its security forces violently suppressed the demonstrations that called for the resignation of Mahmoud Abbas, the punishment of the murderers, and the establishment of an international commission of inquiry in the case.

According to Palestinian law, the PA defendants face prison sentences ranging from seven years to life. However, this is not going to happen. The Palestinian Authority is determined to protect them. Therefore, the Banat family appealed to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to put pressure on the Palestinian Authority by opening an investigation into the case.

Meanwhile, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is taking advantage of concerns over the PA’s possible collapse and the consequences of this for regional stability, in order to delay the trial.

The murder of Nizar Banat was intended to send a clear message to all the political opponents of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who will continue to forcefully suppress his critics and opponents, just like the other dictatorial rulers in the Arab world. There is no difference between them.

Mass murdering terrorist Nasser Abu Hmeid died this morning of lung cancer in Israeli custody.

Abu Hmeid was a member of Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas' ruling party. His entire family is a family of terrorists; four of his brothers are in prison as well.

He was convicted of killing Israelis Eliyahu Cohen, Binyamin and Talia Kahane, Gad Rejwan, Yosef Habi, Eli Dahan and Salim Barakat. He also killed five Palestinian "collaborators."

If anyone deserved the death penalty, it was Hmeid.

But instead of that, for twenty years, Israel kept him in prison - allowing family visits, treating him according to international law.

Last year he started suffering chest pains, and Israeli doctors diagnosed him with lung cancer. It was spreading fast. Israel hospitalized him multiple times. Last October he refused a surgery because he didn't like the security measures in the hospital for a mass murderer. (He agreed to the surgery in November.)

Israel spent tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of dollars to keep this piece of subhuman garbage alive - even though the survival rate for lung cancer is a mere 16%.

Meanwhile, while Israeli prison officials spent so much time and money to keep this terrorist alive, the Palestinian Authority kept saying that his lung cancer was Israel's fault, and they are now blaming his death on Israel - as they do with every prisoner who dies in custody, even though statistically Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prison have a far lower death rate than people out of prison, and a much lower death rate than prisoners in European countries.

Al Manar is calling his death "medical homicide" - not just negligence, but claiming that Israel deliberately killed him!

And so is Mahmoud Abbas, while calling him a hero:

President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas announced to our people, the fighters, and the free people of the world the death of heroic Martyr, prisoner, and commander Nasser Abu Hmeid, who died as a Martyr today as a result of the policy of deliberate medical neglect, ‘slow murder’.

Here is a summary of Abu Hmeid:

* He is a mass murderer who was part of the ruling Fatah party, who helped found the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group during the Oslo process.

* He comes from a family of murderers, who have so far received over $1.5 million in payments from the Palestinian government.

* Palestinian children are taught to lionize and emulate him.

* Abu Hmeid is indeed a hero to Palestinians across the board. as well as to BDSers.

* Despite his villainy, Israel went above and beyond to treat him and keep him alive, spending Israeli taxpayer money for that purpose.

* Even so, the "moderate" Palestinian Authority president and prime minister portray him as a heroic role model for other Palestinians to follow.

* And they lie about his death, accusing Israel of "murder."

* You cannot find a single media outlet under the Palestinian Authority that will say anything negative about Abu Hmeid. And it would be very difficult to find even a single Palestinian from the PA in social media to condemn his murdering civilians.

This is the reality that Western media doesn't report. Palestinians are overwhelmingly in support of the most heinous murderers and terrorists, and their hate for Israel is so great that they will go to any lengths to lie about it.

This is several generations of people brainwashed to hate, taught this hate in their schools and media and by their own leaders. It isn't a situation of "two sides to the story." Only one side acts like this, without any dissent, without any debate even being allowed.

This is an entire culture that is conditioned, as their highest priority, to hate Jews.

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

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The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights reports:

Two unidentified gunmen, likely to belong to Lebanese Hezbollah, were killed due to the Israeli attacks near Damascus International Airport and the vicinity of Damascus, where the attacks targeted a Hezbollah warehouse containing weapons and logistic materials in a farm located between Al-Saida Zainab and Al-Bajdaliyah, destroying it completely, amid reports of more casualties in the site.

Israel fired four missiles on positions of Iranian militias in the vicinity of Damascus International Airport and farms in Al-Saida Zainab area in Rif Dimashq, where ambulance vehicles rushed to the site. However, no casualties were reported.

This indicates two things: that Iran is hiding its weapons en route to Hezbollah in farms - and that Israeli intelligence is finding them.

But that is not the only impressive feat of Israeli intel mentioned in this article. It has a tally of those killed by similar Israeli attacks in Syria this year:

SOHR documented 32 airstrikes and ground rocket attacks since the beginning of 2022, during which Israel targeted several positions in Syria, destroying nearly 90 targets, including buildings, warehouses, headquarters, centres, and vehicles. These strikes killed 85 military personnel and injured 115 others, as well as injury of 23 civilians, including a little girl and at least three women.
The deaths were as follows:
• Two Iranian officers operating under the banner of Al-Quds Corps.
• Ten Iranian-backed Syrian fighters.
• 29 Iranian-backed fighters of non-Syrian nationality.
• 36 Soldiers and air defence officers of regime forces.
• Eight collaborators with Lebanese Hezbollah.

That is a perfect record in avoiding deaths for civilians. Given that many of these airstrikes were in cities, that is a further indication of the depth of Israeli intelligence - and not incidentally, that many Syrian informers do not want Iran taking over their country.

In 2021, there were several civilians reported dead during Israeli airstrikes, but most of them seem to have been killed by debris from Syrian anti-missile systems falling to the ground in populated areas.

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

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No, a settler didn't deliberately ram his car into two Palestinian brothers (update)

On Saturday night, two Palestinian brothers whose car was having some problems were hit by an Israeli car, which killed them.

Immediately, Palestinian leaders and Arab and Muslim media accused the Israeli "settler" of "deliberately" ramming the car into them to kill them. Gruesome video of the dead brothers sprawled on the road incited Palestinian hate. Palestinian leaders called for an investigation for what they already determined was a deliberate double murder.

It was clearly not deliberate. It was a hit and run accident.

The Jerusalem Post shows photos of the car, heavily damaged and pushed into a ditch so hard it was on its side.

Here's a classic case of psychological projection.

Palestinians ram their (expensive) cars into Jews, not worried about the damage to the car, for two reasons: it is easier to get closer to the victim than with shooting, and because they don't expect to survive the incident - if they are killed during the attempt, they don't care about damage to the car.

Israelis have no incentive to crash their cars into another car - heavily damaging their own. They don't risk their lives (or even their property) to attack Palestinians. That's something only Palestinians do.

My guess is that the driver didn't see the brothers on the road, crashed into them, panicked, crashed into their car pushing it into the ditch and then drove away.

Israeli police are assuming it was an accident based on their initial evaluation.

The immediate rush to judgment by the Palestinians, accusing Jews of acting towards Palestinians the way Palestinians act towards Israelis, is another manifestation of antisemitism.

UPDATE: Apparently it wasn't even a hit and run. Israellycool found a video of the damaged Israeli vehicle at the scene.

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!

12/19 Links Pt2: The light of Hanukkah that has continued to shine for 74 years; General Washington’s Christmastime Hanukah Encounter; Children discover 2,000-year-old lamp in the ground

From Ian:

Daniel Greenfield: The light of Hanukkah that has continued to shine for 74 years

A candle is a brief flare of light. A wick dipped in oil burns and goes out again. The Hanukkah light appears no different, but it is.

Two thousand years after the Jews had come to believe that wars were for other people and miracles meant escaping alive, Jewish armies stood and held the line against an empire and the would be empires of the region.

And now the flame still burns, though it is flickering. Seventy-four years is a long time for oil to burn, especially when the black oil next door seems so much more useful to the empires and republics across the sea. And the children of many of those who first lit the flame no longer see the point in that hoary old light.

But that old light is still the light of possibilities. It burns to remind us of the extraordinary things that our ancestors did and of the extraordinary assistance that they received. We cannot always expect oil to burn for eight days, just as we cannot always expect the bullet to miss or the rocket to fall short. And yet even in those moments of darkness the reminder of the flame is with us for no darkness lasts forever and no exile, whether of the body of the spirit, endures. Sooner or later the spark flares to life again and the oil burns again. Sooner or later the light returns.

It is the miracle that we commemorate because it is a reminder of possibilities. Each time we light a candle or dip a wick in oil, we release a flare of light from the darkness comes to remind us of what was, is and can still be.

Israel is one of the most progressive countries in the world

While so-called “progressives” and biased media in the United States level a relentless stream of accusations against Israel, these “critics” uniformly ignore the fact that Israel is one of the most liberal, progressive nations in the world. If Israel’s “progressive” critics really cared about social justice, they would be the country’s most fervent supporters.

Enemies of Israel falsely accuse Israel of white colonialism, apartheid, ultra-nationalism, unfair treatment of its Arab citizens, LGBT “pinkwashing,” theocracy and violations of international law.

In fact, Israel is a mature democracy with high-functioning government and judicial institutions, plus a long track record of moral behavior and the rule of law. It guarantees expansive civil liberties, equal rights and economic opportunities to its citizens.

This includes, of course, Israel’s two million Arab citizens—20% of the population—who share all the benefits of Israeli society.

Israeli Arabs are currently represented in the Knesset by two political parties, one of which is an Islamist party that was part of the outgoing government. An Arab Muslim judge serves on Israel’s Supreme Court. An Arab Christian also served as a Supreme Court justice and was chair of Israel’s Central Elections Committee.

An Arab Muslim is the head of Bank Leumi, Israel’s largest bank. Arabs also make up 30% of the country’s doctors and 50% of the country’s pharmacists.

Thousands of Israeli Arabs volunteer for service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), even though military service is not required of Arab Muslims or Christians.

So much for the myth of Israeli apartheid.

General Washington’s Christmastime Hanukah Encounter

There is a particularly American Hanukah story that occurred when Washington and his troops were at Valley Forge during Christmas of 1777. Dan Adler’s article “Hanukkah at the White House” recounts this tale of George Washington’s encounter with a Jewish soldier: “In December, 1778, General George Washington had supper at the home of Michael Hart, a Jewish merchant in Easton, Pennsylvania. It was during the Hanukkah celebration, and Hart began to explain the customs of the holiday to his guest. Washington replied that he already knew about Hanukkah. He told Hart and his family of meeting the Jewish soldier at Valley Forge the previous year. (According to Washington, the soldier was a Polish immigrant who said he had fled his homeland because he could not practice his faith under the Prussian government there.) Hart’s daughter Louisa wrote the story down in her diary.” Rabbi Susan Grossman has written that, “[l]ike generations of Jews before him, that soldier served as a ‘light unto the nations’ (Isaiah 42:6), bringing inspiration and courage to a nation in its birth pangs. And he did so in a perfectly American way, a way in which a miracle did result, the miracle by which the light from one religion helps give comfort and courage to another.”

Washington “was welcomed at the home of Corporal Michael Hart,” which is described as “a two-story stone building on the southeast corner of the public square, directly opposite the courthouse. His general store was on the first floor, his residence on the second. Michael Hart’s wife, Leah, prepared a kosher meal... in honor of the Hanukah festival, it being the sixth day of the holiday.” (To offer a mild correction, December 21, 1778, was the eighth and final day of Hanukah that year, since Hanukah ran from sundown, Sunday, December 13, 1778, until sundown, Monday, December 21st.)

Further, Louisa Hart would “proudly record” in her diary: “Let it be remembered that Michael Hart was a Jew, pious; a Jew reverencing and strictly observant of the Sabbath and festivals, dietary laws were also adhered to although he was compelled to be his own Schochet [ritual slaughterer]. Mark well that he, Washington, was then honored as first in peace, first in war and first in the hearts of his countrymen. Even during a short sojourn he became, for the hour, the guest of the worthy Jew.”

Chanukah music video night 2: Hanuka (in Ladino) - Sarah Aroeste (plus bonus Hanukkah Love Song)

The lyrics in English are:

The festival of Hanuka is approaching

It fills us all with joy.

A woman never fails to do her duty,

For she is entrusted with the hanukiyah.

The Hasmonayim on this bright day

Showed us their great valor.

We shall always remember them

And we shall always bless our great God.

What a pleasure it is for the children

When they begin to receive sweets,

Beautiful toys from their father

With warm hugs from their mother.

God saved us from great sorrow.

May he always be our great savior.

May we never have trouble or sickness,

May we never know bitterness.

Plus bonus song, "Micky Shiloah - Eight Nights (A Hanukkah Love Song)." Very 50s pop vibe.

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War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. "Human rights defenders" want Jews to be killed.

Salah Hammouri, who was deported to France today, is a terrorist.

There is no doubt about that. He has admitted it.

While newspapers say that he denied having anything to do with a plot to assassinate Israel's Sephardic chief rabbi, and that he was even a member of the PFLP, he admitted to the plot in his plea bargain. Moreover, he essentially admitted to and justified the plot in this PFLP website, no longer online, from 2011, which also calls him a member of the group ("comrade.")

Moreover, this PFLP website listed him as one of their members, #8, who participated in a hunger strike only this past September (autotranslated):

But this would-be assassin is labeled a "human rights defender" by the UN, by the International Federation of Human Rights, and Amnesty International.

Which can only mean one of two things. Either these "human rights" organizations consider murdering Jewish Israelis to be a human right, or they don't believe that Jews in Israel are human to begin with.

Either way, calling Hammouri a "human rights defender" proves that the term "human rights" has lost all meaning, and indeed means the opposite of its original definition.

In this, they agree with the PFLP itself, which makes that equation between murdering Jews and "human rights' explicit, as one of their officials said ten years ago:

We reaffirm our commitment to our goals, principles, and inalienable Palestinian national rights. Some of which have been recognized and approved by international norms, principles, agreements, resolutions, international law and human rights. The first of these rights is the right of the Palestinian people to resist the occupation by all means and methods.

Every Palestinian understands "all means and methods" to include terrorism against civilians.

"Human rights organizations'" defense of Hammouri indicates that they agree.

(h/t GnasherJew)

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12/19 Links Pt1: Western Wall rabbi tells European envoys: Jews don’t need your approval; Netanyahu slams Holocaust-burying New York Times for demonizing Israel

From Ian:

Bassam Tawail: Biden Administration and the Two-State Delusion

The results of several public opinion polls, including the most recent one, demonstrate that Blinken and his team are either engaging in self-deception or simply fail to understand or see what most Palestinians want: Killing more Jews and the obliteration of Israel.

This is not the first poll to show that a majority of Palestinians oppose the "two-state solution." That is because they are clamoring for a Palestinian state not alongside Israel, but instead of Israel.

The rising popularity of Hamas among the Palestinians is a clear sign that most of them identify with the Islamist group's goal of destroying Israel.

According to the latest poll, if new presidential elections were held today, the Biden administration's favorite Palestinian interlocutor, Mahmoud Abbas, would receive 36% and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh would get 54%. In addition, 75% said they want the 87-year-old Abbas to resign.

The Palestinians, in short, are telling Blinken and the Biden administration that they can keep dreaming about the two-state fantasy for as long as they wish, but that they prefer "armed struggle" and terrorism to peace negotiations with Israel.

It would have been a good idea if Blinken had listened to what Hamas leaders clearly said in the past few days during rallies to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the founding of their group.

Marking the anniversary occasion, Hamas issued a statement on December 14 that basically refutes claims by some Westerners that it has become a "moderate" group that is ready to accept the "two-state solution."

Anyone who supports the establishment of a Palestinian state would be paving the way for the Palestinians to use the West Bank and Gaza Strip as launching pads to attack and destroy Israel.

The way for the international community -- starting with the US -- to turn the problem around is through insisting that any aid is strictly conditioned upon the Palestinians abandoning their calls for terrorism... If there is any non-compliance, payments must actually be withheld.... Otherwise, all of the aid that does not "disappear" is openly being used to bankroll terrorism, jihad and killing Jews.

Tel Aviv terror attack survivor recounts long road to recovery

Meital Mizrahi, 28, was critically wounded when a Palestinian gunman opened fire at revelers at a Tel Aviv busy pub in April, and after a long rehabilitation, she sat down with Ynet to recount the tense moments and the long road to recovery.

The attack took place at the Ilka Bar on Tel Aviv’s bustling Dizengoff Street, when Ra'ad Hazem, a Palestinian from the West Bank city of Jenin shot up the place, killing 3 Israeli men and wounding 13 others, including Mizrahi. He was ultimately killed by Israeli security forces after an hours-long manhunt.

Mizrahi, who arrived at the pub with her husband, took a bullet to the neck, narrowly missing her main artery and living her hanging between life and death.

“I still think about whether it was fate or divine providence that saved me when the three men who sat next to me were killed,” she said. “The ordeal I went through was shocking and painful, but it also did some good. It brought me and my family closer together and made me chase my dreams and prove that I’m stronger than I ever thought possible.”

Mizrahi was rushed to the hospital, suffering multiple upper-body injuries. “The doctors fought to save me,” she said. “I wanted to go out for a drink and found myself in a hospital room, suffering painful injuries, including fractures in my torso, a punctured lung and one hand that wasn’t moving.”

Despite the hardships, Mizrahi refused to give up. “On one of my first nights in the hospital, my husband and I talked about what happened in the attack. I promised him I’m not going to give up and keep fighting.”

“When I arrived for rehabilitation in the hospital, I had to have self-discipline and chose to believe that everything happened for a reason, and I received a second chance at life,” she said. “I realized that lamenting my fate won’t get me anywhere and that I had a chance to rehabilitate myself, so I did.”

Mizrahi was discharged from the hospital in August and said that she continues to face her physical and mental scars alongside managing her anxiety in her everyday life. “I established an architecture and interior design firm. I realized that if I can face what I’ve been through, I can take on everything. So I decided to go and pursue my dream,” she said.

Western Wall rabbi tells European envoys: Jews don’t need your approval

Ambassadors from Italy, Romania, Slovenia and Moldova withdrew from a group visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem a week ago after the EU ordered member-states not to participate in any Israeli-hosted tour of eastern Jerusalem. Representatives from seven countries attended the visit as planned. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, the rabbi of the Western Wall, responded on Friday.

"It was with extreme dismay that I heard of your decision not to attend the official tour of the Western Wall given by the State of Israel for ambassadors....Your decision to 'avoid' the tour was a resounding victory for evil, a deeply upsetting choice. The Jewish nation does not need anyone's approval for its eternal connection with Jerusalem and the Western Wall. This is a bond of thousands of years that was shaped by the love of a nation for its God and forged through the fire of destruction."

"It is a bond that is validated every single day by unusual archaeological findings from the days of ancient kings of Judah, discovered in the earth of Jerusalem. Had you joined the tour, you would have seen them yourself."

History of Arab leaders lying about #AlAqsa being in danger to fuel violence against Jews has a history of over 100 years. Now Palestinians are falling for it again as Hamas and Fatah called today to “defend Al Aqsa” Here’s the truth:

pic.twitter.com/PcYl9C1mUk
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? ????? ????? (@emilykschrader) December 18, 2022

In October, at least eight Palestinians died when their the boat they were on to try to enter Europe sank off the coast of Tunisia.

Their bodies were returned to Gaza over the weekend and their funerals were held.

Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for the Hamas movement, said, "We mourn the martyrs of the siege who were killed off the Tunisian coast, and we extend our sincere condolences and great sympathy to their honorable families, asking God Almighty to grant them patience and solace."

In a press statement Sunday, Qassem held Israel fully responsible for their deaths.

Gazans, however, blamed a different party: Hamas itself.

“The government that governs us here is the reason. It’s to blame. It’s to blame,” said Naheel Shaath, whose 21-year-old son Adam was among the dead. “I blame all officials here who don’t care for the youths or provide job opportunities for them.”

“Our children are drowning in the sea and their children are enjoying luxury. Isn’t this unfair?” Mrs. Shaath said.

Another family, the al-Shaers, buried their son, 21-year-old Mohammed. But his younger brother Maher, 20, is still missing. They were on the same doomed boat.

Their mother, Amina, blamed Hamas for the family's misery.

“What do we see in Gaza? We only see oppression," she said. "They are suffocating the youth and the youth flee because of their suffocation.”

Hamas wants to blame Israel to take off the heat from itself. Jews, of course, are the natural targets for blame. And Palestinians know when they are being manipulated by their own leaders.

The route that took the Gazans to that boat was quite circuitous. They went to Turkey, presumably by air since Turkey accepts Gazans, but instead of trying their luck there, they went from Turkey to Egypt, traveled to Libya, and then tried to cross the Mediterranean a third time, hoping to eventually make it to Belgium.

Turkey is supposedly very hospitable for Palestinians, so it is strange that they went from Turkey back to Egypt. Presumably they flew to Turkey from Cairo after crossing the Gaza border at Rafah.

There is more to this story, perhaps Palestinians are not as welcome in Turkey as we are told.

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St. Louis @KSDKNews promotes false propaganda about an American girl detained for no reason by Israel

The top story on St. Louis KSDK news last night was about a dual citizen Palestinian American who was detained by the Israeli army as she tried to go through a checkpoint to Jerusalem:

Israeli Defense Forces detained a St. Louis college student on Friday and held her over the weekend after she attempted to cross the border from Ramallah into Jerusalem to visit revered holy sites with her family.

Hala Kasim Salameh, a 22-year-old Palestinian-American woman from St. Louis, was visiting the West Bank with her mother, sister, aunt and cousin.

According to her family, Salameh is an American citizen who had proper documentation, a travel permit, a U.S. passport and her Palestinian I.D. card when she approached the first checkpoint but was turned away.

"Sometimes it doesn't really go how you want, and they can refuse your entry for no reason at all, and that's exactly what happened to my sister," her younger sister Yumna Salameh told 5 On Your Side in a video call on Sunday night.

"She tried to ask them twice to go in, and they still refused her entry," she said. "They kind of got aggressive with her, too."

After being separated from her family at the first checkpoint, Salameh tried again to reconnect with them in a taxi cab. She managed to make one final phone call to her family before she was arrested.

Neveen Ayesh, a St. Louis advocate with the Missouri chapter of American Muslims for Palestine, is working with Salameh's family to get her legal representation.

"To begin with, she was not wrong because she did have a permit to enter," Ayesh said. "The soldier just decided he didn't want to let her in."

The story is very strange. Why would the soldiers let her family through and not her? Why would she be put into jail for something so minor - why not just release her?

If you listen carefully, the video of the story answers both questions, with two buried details that are not in the written story.

At 2:23, after the video report, the news anchor mentions as an aside, "The family tells us that she did have the proper documentation, but did not have it on her when she was detained."

Suddenly, things are starting to make sense. The family and lawyer in the news story were lying when they said she had all her documentation, and then - perhaps upon further questioning from a skeptical reporter - the family changed their story. But that detail didn't make it into the print and video story, which still quotes the AMP lawyer as saying she had her permit on her.

Now look at the video at 1:00: "Now, separated from her family, she tried to enter a third time, in a taxicab." Her sister then says, "Oh, the third time they said, 'you disobeyed us, and now we catch you.'"

Meaning, they let her go twice, but she still tried to sneak into Israel a third time by hoping that they wouldn't check her papers from a taxicab.

This isn't a story of an American girl being abused by the IDF. It is the story of a person trying, three times, to cross a border without documentation - and the third time, knowingly trying to sneak past the border guards.

This is what would happen at any border crossing worldwide.

The family turned to pro-terror American Muslims for Palestine for help. AMP saw an opportunity for a propaganda bonanza, so they immediately contacted the media and concocted a story about a forlorn American girl of Palestinian ancestry who was arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned for no other reason except that Israelis hate Palestinians.

And KSDK happily runs with the story as their top story of the evening. Not only that, they illustrate the part where she gets arrested with this photo of Israeli police detaining a violent protester, as if this was how Hala was treated:

This is not news reporting. This is anti-Israel propaganda.

A proper news organization would have reported this the way they would report anyone trying to bypass security at an airport - as a potential terrorist trying to illicitly cross an international border.

(h/t RealJerusalemStreets)

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