Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, January 05, 2023

Jordanian lawmakers call Jews "monkeys and pigs" (and women!) as anti-Israel analysts try to explain why there's no rioting

A member of Jordan's parliament on Wednesday said that Jordanians would become "suicide bombers" for the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem in response to the previous day's visit to the Temple Mount by Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Using an antisemitic reference to Jews as "the sons of monkeys and pigs," Yanal Abd al-Salam Nour al-Din al-Fraihat said in a speech at Jordan's national assembly in the capital Amman that "the response of the Palestinian and Jordanian people at the moment is only talk, but this is a volcano and soon the response will be with lead bullets."

Here's the video with Hebrew subtitles.

He wasn't the only Jordanian lawmaker who used the "monkeys and pigs" phrase.

MP Khalil Attia condemned the "stinky-yahu" government (apparently an Arabic pun on Netanyahu) for Itamar Ben-Gvir's peaceful walk on the Temple Mount, also referring to him as the "grandson of monkeys and pigs" who "infiltrated Al Aqsa like women."

He said this while a woman MP was sitting right in front of him.

Have you noticed that ordinary Palestinians are not rioting over this? All of the inflammatory rhetoric is coming from politicians and pundits who keep predicting an earthquake. And they seem a bit disappointed that it hasn't happened. It's been two days and their confident predictions are looking rather foolish.

The always moronic Jonathan Cook, writing in Middle East Eye, regretfully notes that "Ben-Gvir’s visit has passed, at least so far, without a significant Palestinian backlash" but claims that this only means that Ben Gvir is about to launch a "holy war" against Palestinians. He then gives this priceless piece of "analysis:"

The precedent he was drawing on was the visit to Al-Aqsa in September 2000 of then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon backed by 1,000 members of Israel’s security forces, over the opposition of the Jerusalem police.

That incursion triggered a Palestinian uprising, the Second Intifada, justifying years of crushing Israeli military repression.... Ben-Gvir might be angling to provoke a similar confrontation to provide a pretext for finishing off what’s left of the PA.

Cook thinks that Israel wanted and even planned the second intifada, sacrificing a thousand citizens just to weaken the PA. That is classic projection - the Palestinians may act that way, but Israel actually cares about the lives of its citizens.

Haaretz' Jack Khoury has a different theory. He writes, "The lack of Palestinian response in Jerusalem can perhaps be explained by the fact that it doesn’t depend on those leaders. Neither the Palestinian Authority nor Hamas have an organizational infrastructure in Jerusalem that can dictate the public agenda and bring masses out to the streets."

Which means he is admitting that those "spontaneous protests" are really scripted out by Hamas and the PA, and do not reflect the actual feelings of the people, who care as little about another Jew walking on the Temple Mount as they did about Trump's Jerusalem embassy move.

But don't worry, Khoury says: "What passed quietly on Tuesday is no guarantee for what may develop tomorrow or in the near future."

The third intifada has always had a large cheering section, trying to goad the people who would suffer from its effects into violence.

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Here are the poor, innocent Palestinian "children" killed so far this year

Defense for Children International - Palestine issued a press release claiming that Israel has killed three innocent Palestinian children already so far this year.

The first one was Fouad Mahmoud Ahmed Abed, who they say was 17. He wasn't: he was 25, killed along with Mohammad Samer Houshieh, 22:

So young and innocent!

Then came the death of Adam Ayyad, 15, on Tuesday. DCI-P and Palestinian English news sources don't mention that he was a member of the PFLP terror group and was throwing firebombs at the time he was shot.

And today, another poor innocent child was killed: Amer Abu Zaytoun, 16.

He just happened to also be an armed member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

In Arabic, terror groups freely admit that he was fighting at the time. Palestine Today says, "A special force belonging to the 'Israeli' occupation stormed the Balata camp, and surrounded several houses, which led to the outbreak of armed confrontations and clashes with the resistance fighters, which resulted in the rise [to Paradise] of the boy Abu Zaytoun."

Here's his "martyr poster" from the Fatah-affiliated terror group:

It says he was a "heroic martyr."

The DCI-P NGO certainly knows all of this, including the fact that one of their "children" was quite a bit older. But they aren't a real human rights organization: they are a PFLP front whose entire purpose is to create anti-Israel propaganda.

If they were a real human rights organization, they would condemn Palestinian terror groups for recruiting and training child soldiers, which violates international law.

They never have, because that would be admitting that Israel isn't targeting innocent children but armed terrorists.

(h/t Adin Haykin)

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Most Arabs still oppose normalization with Israel, but there are pockets of hope

Arab Barometer released the results of a survey of selected Arab countries last September. One of the questions was about whether the people supported their country normalizing relations with Israel.

As one may expect, the percentages of supporters of normalization were quite low.

I'm not quite sure why this was not widely reported.

Even though the numbers are generally quite low, I find it interesting that Lebanon, traditionally extremely anti-Israel, was in third place behind Morocco and Sudan which had already started normalization. My guess is that with Lebanon's economy is a dumpster fire, a significant number of Lebanese think peace with Israel could help them out.

Egypt and Jordan, as well as the Palestinian Authority, all of which have peace agreements with Israel, are among the least interested in full normalization. Their leaders keep using Israel as a convenient scapegoat. But Israel trades with all of them and the Egyptian and Jordanian leaders have steadfastly resisted demands from their people to cut off relations - because their own basket-case economies need Israeli gas and/or water.

The leaders will continue to insult Israel while quietly making sure that the relationship endures.

Israelis might want it, but they don't need to be loved. In the Middle East, it is more important to be respected.

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01/04 Links Pt2: Challenging anti-Semitism is a moral imperative for non-Jews; Eight Wars and Peace Deals That Could Happen in 2023; Glick: Netanyahu must defend Israel against ‘wokeism’

From Ian:

Stephen Daisley: Challenging anti-Semitism is a moral imperative for non-Jews

They are not the only British Jews to be acknowledged on the New Year Honours list but they have in common a commitment to confronting anti-Semitism and a record of making people in power take notice of the problem. In recognising their efforts, the honours committee is expressing admiration for their public service and an affinity with the cause of fighting anti-Semitism. This is all well and good but it’s not enough. It’s not enough to give recognition or solidarity to Jews then go back to letting them tackle anti-Semitism on their own. Anti-Semitism and its suppression is not a ‘them’ thing but an ‘us’ thing.

The first six months of 2022 saw 786 anti-Semitic incidents in the UK, four in five of them taking place offline and one in ten involving assaults. Although this marked a reduction on the first half of 2021, another disturbing trend emerged: where age could be ascertained, one in five perpetrators were under the age of 18. Between 2020 and 2021 there was a 59 per cent increase in anti-Semitic incidents on UK university campuses, taking the total to the highest in the 20-year history of recording this statistic. The CST has also documented how the Covid-19 conspiracist movement has laundered tropes like the blood libel, Jews poisoning the well, and secret Jewish plots into its narratives about the virus and the vaccines.

Anti-Semitism in Britain reflects a mightier tide of anti-Jewish hatred sweeping the globe. In 2021, anti-Semitic incidents rose 29 per cent in Germany, 54 per cent in Canada, 74 per cent in France and 119 per cent in Austria. Jews continue to be the foremost victims of religious hate crimes in the United States, including in New York City, where such incidents increased by 125 per cent last year. Kanye West has given a celebrity hechsher to Jew-hatred while Donald Trump, reportedly gearing up for another White House bid, had dinner with Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist who ‘ironically’ denies the Holocaust and says ‘the Antichrist is the Jewish state of Israel’.

Commending Jews for standing up to all this hatred is like applauding when the woman you’re watching being mugged across the street gets a decent punch in. Challenging anti-Semitism is a moral imperative for non-Jews and one that is growing more urgent by the day. Holocaust survivors have been pivotal in educating each new generation about where anti-Semitism leads but vanishingly few remain. Of the six featured on the latest honours list, the youngest is 85. When we lose a survivor we lose a living testament and it becomes all the harder to debunk the lies and madness of Jew-hatred. Gentiles must bear their responsibility to combating anti-Semitism. Achrayut is a Jewish principle but it doesn’t apply to Jews alone.

Seth Frantzman: Eight Wars and Peace Deals That Could Happen in 2023

The first days of the new year have already illustrated that the potential for wider conflict and escalation in the Middle East is a very real concern.

For instance, an airstrike on Damascus International Airport illustrates that Iran will continue to try to entrench in Syria in the coming year. In addition, the decision by an Israeli politician to visit the Temple Mount appeared ready-made as a potential incendiary decision that could lead to tensions. The Kingdom of Jordan has warned Israel against upsetting the status quo in Jerusalem.

Here is a list of some of the potential conflicts that could break out and peace deals that might be signed this year.

Another conflict with Hamas and Islamic Jihad
Iran emboldened Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to attack Israel in the past. In May 2021, Iran encouraged these terror groups to escalate tensions over Jerusalem during Ramadan. This resulted in a short conflict. It’s possible that Iran, under pressure at home due to protests and encouraged by new drone deals with Russia, could push Hamas to heat up a conflict with Israel.

Hamas continues to test rockets and continues to threaten Israel. Hamas may seek to destabilize the West Bank in order to cause this crisis to grow. PIJ has ample resources in Jenin and elsewhere. Constant attempts by Israeli security forces to keep these threats in check are important, but they can always boil over.

A breakdown in Palestinian control, rise of violence in West Bank
The last year has seen a massive increase in violence in the West Bank. While most of this was contained and took place in clashes between the IDF and terror groups and armed gangs in Jenin and Nablus, it is possible that the Palestinian Authority is losing its grip.

Although the PA security forces were trained by the US and Palestinian police have been trained by the EU, the authority itself is losing its grip. Its aging leadership is out of touch. This means that enterprising young men, armed with the flood of illegal weapons that have been a phenomenon of late in the West Bank, could begin to challenge the authorities.

This could lead to violence in which Ramallah asks Israel quietly for more support. With a new right-wing government, Israel’s actions to tamp down the violence could end up enflaming tensions. Jordan, angry about alleged changes in the status quo in Jerusalem could also seek to play a role, exacerbating the tensions.

The Beautiful People vs. Ugly Israel’s new government

Beautiful Israel has many ways of keeping Ugly Israel in its place; the media columns on both continents attacking the new government are the least of the weapons at its disposal.

But Ugly Israel has been slowly winning ever since Begin mobilized Holocaust survivors tear-gassed outside the Knesset for protesting the government’s deal with Germany. As well as Middle Eastern Jews with little interest in being the slave labor on the socialist kibbutzim of Beautiful Israel, only to then be ridiculed and mocked in TV skits as backward wife-beaters and superstitious “amulet-kissers” who sell their daughters. Russian Jewish immigrants, and religious Americans living in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, have also joined Ugly Israel.

The clamor about the “threats to democracy” posed by Ugly Israel is the voice of an elite establishment that lives in terror of democracy and does everything possible to usurp it.

“I hear the opposition’s eulogies about the end of state, the end of democracy—members of the opposition, to lose an election isn’t the end of democracy, it’s the essence of democracy,” said Netanyahu concisely.

But democracy as a fetish object has little to do with elections. When the media and the elites bemoan threats to democracy, what they really mean is threats to their political power and, more intangibly, to their cultural power. The rise of Ugly Israel is a reminder that Beautiful Israel, with its cafes, its chummy literary awards, its film industry, sneering bottle-blonde anchorwomen and corrupt bureaucracy, is a failed attempt to create a European socialist utopia.

That effort failed a generation ago when the kibbutz fell apart, the economy was liberalized and most of the country stopped paying attention to worthless leftist culture, to Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua, and the rest of the canon, and developed a hearty contempt for its ruling class.

The next time you hear some activist or media pundit fulminating against the new Israeli government, what you’re really hearing is the elite telling the rest of the country to shut up and take it for the sake of higher priorities, like relationships with the Biden administration, the United Nations and the European Union, and for the cultural sensitivities of the scribblers of Beautiful Israel, who deplore a beaten man shouting a slur at the thug who threw a rock at his head more than they do the thug.

Israel is becoming representative of all the people who were shoved to the back to make utopia happen. And despite being the majority, they’re still being shoved to the back, sold out and shouted down. Their lives are incomprehensible to a ruling class overjoyed at the thought of vacationing in more Muslim countries, but with no idea what it’s like to balance six kids, maintain a small business that can be shut down at any moment or shaken down by an African gang, dodge bullets and rocks, or to be threatened by the authorities and mocked by the media.

Beautiful Israel doesn’t care about any of this. Just as America’s political establishment doesn’t care about jobs being exported to China, fentanyl trafficking, the collapse of the family, runaway crime or any of the things that actually matter outside a handful of wealthy sub/urban enclaves.

In 2016, Americans made them care. In 2022, Ugly Israel made Beautiful Israel care.

That’s why Beautiful Israel is angry. That’s why you’ll see columns even from people who claim to be conservative and pro-Israel deploring the “ugly” “far-right” government.

They’ve been made to care, but they still don’t give a damn about the people of Israel.

Abdullah Barghouti—Hamas commander and bomb-making expert responsible for killing 66 Israelis and injuring hundreds more—is slated for release to Jordan in an upcoming prisoner exchange. It was his guitar bomb that was used in the Sbarro attack that took the life of Malki Roth.

Rehavam Ze’evi may have been in favor of transfer—but not the kind where the mastermind of his own murder gets transferred from Israel to Jordan. A member of Knesset, Ze’evi, also known as “Ghandi,” was gunned down in 2001. The man who planned his assassination, Majdi Rahima Rimawi, was sentenced to life in 2008. Now Rimawi's name appears on a very long list of prisoners with blood on their hands, said to be slated for release to Jordan in exchange for four Israeli captives in Gaza, two of whom are dead.

MK Rehavam Ze'evi, assassinated in 2001.

This is difficult to fathom. How has it come to the point where the Israeli government would even consider releasing the man behind the murder of one of their own: an Israeli member of parliament? In fact, in their sentencing of Hamid Quran, a member of the team that assassinated Ze'evi, the three-judge Israeli panel pointed out the exceptional nature of the killing, "Murdering a minister differs from murdering an ordinary citizen by the fact that it constitutes direct harm to a symbol of the State and harms its sovereignty.”

Now it appears that this symbol of State and sovereignty has no more meaning.

Rimawi’s name draws one’s attention because of his involvement in the murder of an MK. But the long list of prisoners to be released also includes Abdullah Barghouti. Barghouti made the guitar bomb that was used to blow up the Sbarro restaurant, the attack in which American citizen Malki Roth was murdered. Malki was 15. But she was not Barghouti’s only victim.

From Ynet:

Among the prisoners slated for transfer to Jordan is Abdullah Barghouti, who was convicted and sentenced to 67 life sentences and an additional 5,200 years in prison for his involvement in attacks that resulted in the deaths of numerous Israelis and the injury of hundreds of others during the second Intifada from 2000-2004.

In the case of the Sbarro attack, Barghouti’s bomb was transported to the site by his relative, Ahlam al-Tamimi, a beast who crows with delight over the number of Jewish children she has killed. Her crowing is done in Jordan, where she is celebrated by Jordanian society for having murdered so many Jewish children. Tamimi and a further 1,026 other prisoners were exchanged for a single Israeli prisoner: Gilad Shalit. This time we’ll get four kidnapped Israelis, two of them already dead.

It was Arnold Roth who reminded me of the prisoner exchange, in response to a tweet in which I held America responsible for not bringing Tamimi to justice.

Yet the US does nothing. Or rather, it does something. It wines and dines Abdullah. One can only conclude that Jewish blood is cheap. https://t.co/1EIqEgpbfc
— Varda Epstein #JusticeforMalkiRoth (@VardaEpstein) January 3, 2023

As Roth was quick to point out, no one is without blame in regard to the lack of will or caring to do anything about Tamimi, a terrorist on the FBI most wanted list. It’s not only America, but Israel too, that indulges King Abdullah. And it's an unfathomable betrayal of Jewish victims by the Jewish State.

The White House wines and dines King Abdullah, but apparently says diddly-squat about his refusal to honor the US/Jordan extradition treaty.

We know what will happen. The terrorists will be released to Jordan where they'll spend a bit of symbolic time in Jordanian prison cells before they are pardoned by the king and freed. We cannot even blame the planned prisoner exchange on the outgoing Israeli government as it appears Netanyahu was briefed and seems to be onboard with the plan, thus far.

01/04 Links Pt1: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict can't be solved, only ended; UNRWA paving the road to conflict; Iran vows response to Khamenei cartoons in Charlie Hebdo

From Ian:

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict can't be solved, only ended - opinion

It’s not about what Israel does, but about what Israel is and represents. That’s why many oppose Israel and support its enemies.

Attempts to find “solutions” were based on leftist assumptions that in order to have peace, Israel must make compromises and concessions. This was the basis of the Oslo Accords that legitimized the PLO and created the Palestinian Authority. The “peace process” was a hoax, a hype to bring Arafat and the PLO back to Israel and empower them.

This confused way of thinking persists. It is the basis of what is called the “two-state-solution,” (2SS) an independent Arab Palestinian state based on the 1949 Armistice lines, and support for United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

In response to threats from the EU, UN, and even the Biden administration, Israel concedes, which always leads to more problems. The IDF, COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories) and police destroyed Jewish property for no rational reason and restrict building in settlements. Israeli leaders (including Netanyahu) went along with the fraud of trying to appease the Palestinians and those who supported them. Why should this absurdity continue? Who does it serve?

Jews who live in Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem are not “occupying Palestinian territory.” It is not “illegal,” and there is no basis for this accusation. Jews should be protected and encouraged wherever they live. That’s what Zionism means. That’s what the new government will hopefully do. Some are opposed, and some call for a “civil war.”

Our recent elections indicated that most Israelis want a realistic agenda that ensures their safety and security. Dealing with Palestinian terrorism is our first and foremost concern, and – as many understand, the PA/Hamas are unwilling and unable to stop it. Palestinian identity was and is based on a “one-state solution” – “from the river to the sea.” This goal, enabled and facilitated by the Oslo Accords, is why resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains elusive.

The most practical and realistic alternative to the 2SS is to recognize Jordan as the homeland of the Palestinians – all of those who want to live in peace. Engaging in and supporting terrorism and seeking Israel’s destruction is simply not an option. The conflict cannot be resolved, but it can be ended by understanding why it exists.

UNRWA paving the road to conflict

The 67 nations and 33 agencies which aid UNWRA do not demand a change in its policies that support the perpetuation of conflict. Op-ed.

Realizing the extent of incitement in UNRWA schools and summer camps, the Trump administration cut US funding to UNWRA in 2018 for lack of “accountability.” The Biden administration has resumed funding but only under the condition that its education curriculum is for peace.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United States and the UN, Gilad Erdan called for “countries to freeze contributions until UNRWA teachers expressing support terror are fired”. But the funding continues.

In 1967, following Israel’s victory in the Six Day War, when the IDF took control of the Arab populations of Judea and Samaria and Gaza, school textbooks used by Palestinian Arabs rejected Israel’s existence and incited violence. But, then placed under Israeli administration of COGAT,(Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories), new text books were implemented.

However, the signing of the Oslo accords on September 13, 1993, which would give the Palestinian Authority control over education in territories which they administered as a result of the agreements, saw a steady deterioration in the curriculum. Incitement to violence against Israel again abounded in what was supposed to be the beginnings of a process of reconciliation. With the OSLO Accords came the deterioration of UNWRA sponsored institutions, as anti-Israel propaganda proliferated in the territories.

Since Oslo, donor countries have not demanded accountability. Journalist, David Bedein who heads the Israel Resource News Agency and the author of ‘UNRWA Roadblock to Peace’, stated that when he posed the question to thirty-five of the sixty-seven nation which fund UNRWA, as to how they track the funds and where they are going, “they replied that they rely upon the rigorous oversight of UNRWA.”

Today, UNRWA facilities primes tomorrow’s generation for conflict. UNRWA should be seeking real solutions to what was the rejection by Arab nations of the partition of the land in 1947, according to UN resolution 181. Their leaders’ statements denying culpability belies their agenda, which is to allow perpetuation of conflict and the continued hope by Palestinian Arabs to flood Israel with refugees.

Iran vows response to Khamenei cartoons in French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo

Iran warned France on Wednesday it would respond after “insulting” cartoons depicting Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were published in the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

The weekly had published dozens of cartoons on the same day ridiculing the highest religious and political figure in the Islamic Republic.

The magazine said the cartoons were part of a competition it launched in December in support of the protests triggered by the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurd who was arrested for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women.

“The insulting and indecent act of a French publication in publishing cartoons against the religious and political authority will not go without an effective and decisive response,” tweeted Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

“We will not allow the French government to go beyond its bounds. They have definitely chosen the wrong path.”

The French magazine said the contest aimed “to support the struggle of Iranians who are fighting for their freedom.”

Yesterday I mentioned the Palestinian organization Maata that keeps track of - and brags about - Palestinian terror attacks.

They just issued their report bragging about "resistance activities" for 2022:

The year 2022 witnessed a remarkable and qualitative escalation in the forms of popular and armed resistance, especially in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, as the Palestinians united on the option of all kinds of resistance.

The popular and armed resistance, represented by the Jenin Brigade and the “Black Den” in Nablus, embodied a model of resistance and an icon of challenge in the West Bank for the year 2022, where hundreds of resistance and armed clashes were carried out, and the occupation soldiers and settlers were killed.

The Palestine Information Center - Maata - monitored the killing of (31) Israelis, most of them soldiers, and the injury of more than (525) others, during the year 2022, as a result of carrying out more than (12188) resistance actions, including (848) shooting operations, and (37) attacks. (18) a stabbing or attempted stabbing operation, and (18) a run-over or attempted run-over attack, in addition to one double explosion.

It is interesting that they claim that most of the dead Israelis were "soldiers." They weren't, but there is a slight hesitation to take credit for murdering civilians.

Anti-Israel groups keep track of, and issue reports, about how many Palestinians were killed during the year (without mentioning that 90% of them were militants.) But the Palestinians that they pretend to support are proud about the attacks they take responsibility for.

It is also notable that Maata counts Israeli Arab attackers as "Palestinians" but Arab victims (like one border policeman killed in Hadera in March) are "Israeli soldiers."

Also note that while Palestinians pretend to oppose ISIS, when the attacks are done by Arab Israeli supporters of ISIS (as the two March attacks were) they happily adopt them as their own.

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

The most important unwritten law in the West: Don't piss off irrational, extremist Muslims

It is important to examine two events in recent days, as they both severely limit the freedom of Westerners - and signal far worse things that could come.

The first is the visit by Israeli minister of security Itamar Ben-Gvir to the Temple Mount.

The second is the publicizing of the removal of an instructor at Hamline University for including depictions of Mohammed in his art history course.

In both cases, nobody did anything wrong by any reasonable metric:

- Even though many would say that he has the right to pray on Judaism's holiest site, Ben-Gvir did not. He did exactly what tens of thousands of Jews and hundreds of thousands of Christians have done in 2022 and earlier - he took a quiet stroll on the Temple Mount, without even reporters. There was no violation of the (illusory) status quo.

- In the case of Hamline University, the instructor told the class ahead of time - in both the syllabus and verbally - that two medieval images of Mohammed, painted by Muslims, would be shown to the class, and he gave any Muslims the opportunity to not look at them.

In both cases, there is no consensus that even Islamic law was violated:

- Noor Dahri, a religious Muslim and counterterrorism expert, tweeted, "The rule to allow only Muslims to pray in Makkah is conditioned by the Holy Quran, however such conditions dsn’t apply to the Temple Mount. Islam doesn’t forbid Jews to worship at the Temple Mount, [just a] political agreement which is called “Status Quo”. It is nothing but racism and religious discrimination against the Jewish people. Jews can freely worship at the Temple Mount according to Islamic rules because the land belongs to them, not Muslims - it’s only holy to Muslims."

- Muslims have included Mohammed in their own artwork for centuries, and Shiites do it today. And while mainstream Sunni Islamic law nowadays is against Muslims creating such depictions, it does not (and cannot) say that non-Muslims cannot create or view such pictures.

In both cases, ignorant Westerners who should be supporting freedom and equality are in the forefront of quashing that exact freedom in order to avoid hurting the feelings of irrational, potentially violent Muslims:

- State Department spokesman Ned Price repeatedly said in response to Ben-Gvir's visit that the US supports the "status quo," implying that the visit violated it and was "provocative:" "We oppose any unilateral actions that undercut the historic status quo. They are unacceptable.... it’s absolutely critical that all sides exercise restraint, refrain from provocative actions and rhetoric, and preserve that historic status quo at Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount, both in word and in practice....We’re deeply concerned by any unilateral actions because – precisely because they have the potential to exacerbate tensions, or worse. "

- Hamline University issued a statement claiming, falsely, that what the instructor did violated Islamic law: "Students do not relinquish their faith in the classroom. To look upon an image of the prophet Muhammad, for many Muslims, is against their faith." But it is not at all clear that Islamic law addresses viewing such depictions, only creating them. And as mentioned, the Muslim students could have chosen not to view them.

These are perfect examples of "proleptic dhimmitude," where Westerners act (often beyond what Muslims demand) in fear of anticipated Islamic responses that had not even occurred.

This illustrates the real unwritten law that has increasingly dominated the West: "Don't piss off the Muslims." All of the moral posturing about "tolerance" and "status quo" are fig leaves to obscure the fact that Westerners live in fear of Islamic terror, and are willing and even anxious to give up on our own freedoms to pander to the most extreme Muslim positions, human rights be damned.

By using the yardstick of banning anything that is "provocative," the West is allowing the most intolerant and violent Muslims to dictate Western behavior in all aspects of life. Because anything and everything can provoke Islamists.

Because in both cases the dhimmified Westerners are giving a green light for extremist, potentially violent Muslims to expand their demands ad infinitum:

- Palestinians do not only claim that Jews are violating their feelings by visiting the Temple Mount, but the Western Wall as well - which they also consider part of the "Al Aqsa complex." In fact, every single Jewish holy site, from the Tomb of the Patriarchs to Rachel's Tomb to Joseph's Tomb and scores of others - are all claimed by Palestinians to be Muslim shrines. If Israel gives in to western pressure on abandoning Jewish rights, it wouldn't be the end - it would be only the start of the bigoted, antisemitic demands that Jews have no rights in Israel altogether.

- The same Islamic law against creating depictions of Mohammed also apples to every Muslim prophet. This includes Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus and, according to many, Mary. Beyond that, depictions of Roman and Greek gods would similarly violate Islamic laws against idolatry. The exact same logic that caused Hamline to cave to Muslim intolerance can eviscerate every single art history course in the Western world.

It isn't hard to picture that as only the beginning, not the end. Imagine a world where every website, every encyclopedia, every outing, every college course, every newspaper article and indeed every activity must be approved by extremist Islamic gatekeepers. We've already seen most Western media refuse to print the Mohammed cartoons from Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 2005, even though they are undoubtedly newsworthy and important to see to understand the story. But that and similar incidents are exactly what is driving today's cowardice: the fear of pissing off Muslims, because they might murder you.

Jews will only write angry letters, so offending them is "free speech" and "brave." Muslims might kill you, so submitting to their dictates is twisted into "tolerance."

Unless there is serious pushback by those who still value freedom, this is where things are going.

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

The official Palestinian Wafa news agency reports:

The President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, decided to assign the Palestine Mission in New York to take immediate action in the United Nations and the Security Council to condemn and stop the attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque by members of the Israeli government and extremist groups, in a serious violation of the historical and legal status in occupied Jerusalem.

His Excellency stressed the importance of this international move to stop this dangerous Israeli escalation against Islamic and Christian sanctities, noting that this move is taking place in coordination with the brothers in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and working with brotherly and friendly groups in the United Nations.

Haaretz adds:

The United Arab Emirates – a member of the United Nations Security Council – is expected to call for an emergency meeting of the council in order to discuss the violation of the status quo on the Temple Mount, following Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's visit to the holy site on Tuesday.

I look forward to this.

Because either the Security Council will throw the issue out, because nothing in the status quo was violated in any sense, or it will prove itself to be an utterly worthless organization.

I am looking forward to seeing the wording of the draft resolution. It will reveal a great deal about the UAE, the larger Arab world and the Palestinians. And the vote, if it happens, will starkly show which members of the Council have any integrity whatsoever.

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!

01/03 Links Pt2: FBI Says Violence Against Jews Is in Decline. Jews Aren’t Buying It; Sweet success in Ben & Jerry’s-MDA blood donor project; Bret Stephens: Jews and Cancel Culture

From Ian:

FBI Says Violence Against Jews Is in Decline. Jews Aren’t Buying It.

The FBI’s latest annual report shows a decline in violence against Jews, findings that are at odds with Jewish watchdog groups who say anti-Semitic hate crimes have hit their highest levels in history during the past two years.

The FBI’s 2021 findings, released at the end of last year, have sparked accusations the federal law enforcement agency is deflating these statistics at a time when the American Jewish community is facing an unprecedented wave of anti-Semitism. At least one watchdog group is calling on Congress to investigate how and why the FBI underreported anti-Jewish hate crimes.

"At a time of record anti-Semitic hate crimes, it is appalling that the FBI's data-gathering has been so badly botched," said Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, a watchdog group that combats Jew hatred. "This massive failure has undermined the purposes of hate crimes data precisely when we most need the data. If the FBI doesn't quickly correct this problem, congressional committees will need to ask some serious questions."

Marcus said the FBI’s 2021 statistics on hate crimes against Jews are "essentially useless" due to new reporting procedures that omitted statistics from organizations typically included in the federal agency’s yearly assessment. While the FBI claimed that violence against Jews decreased last year, groups such as the Anti-Defamation League reported that 2021 saw the highest levels of anti-Semitic violence on record. A report from the AMCHA Initiative, a Jewish advocacy group, last year found that assaults on Jewish students and their identities doubled in the 2021 and 2022 academic year.

Marcus, an attorney and former staff director of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, said the FBI’s inaccurate reporting is likely to prompt congressional oversight.

"In my experience overseeing federal civil rights data collections, congressional committees have historically taken a keen interest in the completeness and accuracy of governmental information provided to the public," Marcus told the Washington Free Beacon. "It is hard to imagine that a failure of this scope would escape the notice of congressional oversight staff."

"I am hopeful that the Department of Justice and FBI will clean up this mess on their own," Marcus said. "If DOJ and the FBI do not fix this problem, however, by providing corrected and complete data to the public, we should not be surprised if Congress should get involved."

Sweet success in Ben & Jerry’s-MDA blood donor project

Ben & Jerry’s Israel and Magen David Adom have begun a joint project to raise awareness and encourage young people to join MDA’s regular pool of blood donors in Israel.

To sweeten the project, Ben & Jerry’s set up ice-cream carts at four blood donation stations across the country where anyone who donated blood received free ice cream.

Locations included the Dizengoff Center, where 71 units of blood were donated; in Rishon Lezion, which collected 119 units; at Rupin Academic College, where 80 people donated units of blood; and at the Knesset, which collected 120 units. The donated blood can conceivably help save the lives of about 1,000 people in less than two months.

Able to save the lives of around 1,000 people in under 2 months
MDA vice president of blood services Prof. Eilat Shanar said, “In order to maintain a proper blood supply in the State of Israel, MDA’s blood services are required to collect about 1,000 blood units from volunteer donors every day. We are very happy about the cooperation with Ben & Jerry’s and we hope to continue this activity in other places throughout the country and encourage more and more people to donate blood and save lives.”

Is the UK Turning into Something Extremely Different?

On December 1, 2022, Britain’s Office for National Statistics released the latest 10-yearly census, carried out in 2021, showing that the fastest-growing population in England and Wales is Muslims. According to the census:
“For the first time in a census of England and Wales, less than half of the population (46.2%, 27.5 million people) described themselves as ‘Christian’…”

“It’s not a great surprise that the Census shows fewer people in this country identifying as Christian than in the past,” the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, said in response to the findings, “but it still throws down a challenge to us not only to trust that God will build his kingdom on Earth but also to play our part in making Christ known.”

The Muslim community in Britain reacted otherwise. Zara Mohammed, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said:
“Whilst the Census does look at religion, the lack of wider religion-specific monitoring prevents us from fully understanding how acute the issue of under-representation of Muslims is in British society.

“These initial figures give us an opportunity to now make meaningful change and create a better Britain for all.”

In 2013, British journalist Vincent Cooper wrote: “By the year 2050, in a mere 37 years, Britain will be a majority Muslim nation.”

The census taken 2021 has revealed that while fewer than half of people (27.5 million) in England and Wales now describe themselves as Christian, those claiming “No religion” rose by 12 points to 37.2% (22.2 million). Those identifying as Muslim rose from 4.9% in 2011 to 6.5% (3.9 million) in 2021. The next most common responses were Hindu (1.0 million) and Sikh (524,000), while Buddhists overtook Jews (273,000 to 271,000).

Religion seems a far more important part of life for Muslims than for other Britons: it appears central to their sense of identity. According to a report from 2006:
“Thirty percent of British Muslims would prefer to live under Sharia (Islamic religious) law than under British law…. Twenty-eight percent hope for the U.K. one day to become a fundamentalist Islamic state.”

An article by Abdul Azim Ahmed, published by the Religion Media Centre in September 2021, admitted that within Britain all the divergent schools of Islam are present — although Salafism has grown in recent years, particularly among younger Muslims.

Trevor Phillips, former head of Britain’s Commission for Racial Equality and Equality and Human Rights Commission, found that the followers of Islam hold very different values from the rest of the society; many apparently want to lead separate lives. “Muslims are creating nations within nations,” he said.

From EanLibya:

Fathi al-Shibli, head of the People's Voice Party and the official spokesman for the Gathering of Libyan Parties, said that Libyan Jews are Libyan citizens, with no difference between them and any other Libyan citizen in terms of rights and duties.

He added in his statement: “There is a Libyan Arab, there is a Libyan Tariq, there is a Libyan Tabawi, and there is a Libyan Berber, all of whom are components of the Libyan people..and all of them have the right to live and citizenship..we never differentiate between them.”

Al-Shibli continued: “Judaism is a heavenly religion that we Muslims recognize and respect.

He concluded by saying: “As for the position on the Zionist movement, that is another matter.”

What a great guy! He emphasizes that Libyan Jews have the same rights as any other Libyan. He's so liberal!

Except for one tiny detail. There are no Libyan Jews, and there hasn't been a single one for 20 years.

They were discriminated against, slaughtered, plundered and chased out of Libya. They were placed in concentration camps during World War II, and then afterwards...

In November, 1945 there was a vicious, three-day pogrom against the Jews in Tripoli: 120 Jews were murdered, hundreds more were wounded, and at least five synagogues were completely destroyed. The rioters not only destroyed and looted the city’s synagogues, but they also ruined hundreds of homes and businesses as well.

Again in 1948, coinciding with the declaration of the State of Israel, anti-Semitism escalated and rioters killed 12 Jews and destroyed 280 homes. This time, though, the Jews fought back and prevented even more deaths and injury. As a result of the rampant anti-Semitism, 30,972 Jews immigrated to Israel.

A new law in 1961 required a special permit to prove Libyan citizenship. Virtually all Jews were denied this permit. By 1967 the Jewish population had decreased to 7,000. Following Israel’s Six Day War, antisemitic rioting began again. The King of Libya, as well as Jewish leaders, urged the remaining Libyan Jews to emigrate. An Italian airlift saved 6,000 Jews and relocated them to Rome, though they were forced to leave behind homes, businesses and possessions. In 1969, when Muammar al-Qaddafi came to power, there were only 100 Jews remaining in Libya. His government confiscated all Jewish property, cancelled Jewish debt and made emigration for Jews legally prohibited. Some Jews still managed to get out. By 2004 there were no Jews left in Libya.

So this is nothing but virtue signaling.

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!

Artificial intelligence a danger to Israel advocacy, part 2

I recently wrote about the danger that automated chatbots could have for Israel advocacy, as they can generate lies that cannot be traced back - but people will believe them.

AI-generated photos are not yet good enough to fool most eople as being real, but it will only take a year or two before they are. While photo manipulation is as old as photography, and Photoshopping has been around for years, in the not-too-distant future anyone will be able to generate a photo that could be used as "proof" of "Israeli crimes" that no one has ever captured in a real photo.

I created a few using the AI art tools that are out there.

Jews don't raise wild boars in the West Bank to attack Palestinians? Well, now they do.

Ever wonder what "Jewish settlers storming Al Aqsa" might look like?

(Notice that the AI mistakes the Dome of the Rock for Al Aqsa, as many Arabs themselves do.)

You know those nonexistent dams in the Negev that Israeli supposedly open to flood Gaza? Here's what AI thinks they look like:

Are you sure that Israel bombed a school in Gaza but you can't find any photos? Just make them up - there's an infinite supply!

This is coming sooner than you think. And it won't be only photos, but faked videos too.

We need to be educating people now that they cannot believe anything they see without knowing where it came from.

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!

01/03 Links Pt1: Israel should put an end to Palestinian diplomatic terror; The UN for Empowering Terrorists; Ismail Haniyeh’s Son Draws Scorn for Life of Luxury

From Ian:

Israel should put an end to Palestinian diplomatic terror

Palestinian Authority leaders should start to feel overwhelming pressure at every turn. They have become used to a limp response by Israel to its attacks in the international arena and have become further emboldened.

There is no better time than a brand-new Israeli government to state unequivocally that the rules of the game have changed, and there will be a strong and paralyzing response by Israel to the continued Palestinian attacks.

Israeli leaders shouldn’t just send threats behind closed doors but announce very publicly a series of steps it will take in response to the passing of the United Nations General Assembly resolution, with a further set of steps should they continue.

These steps should be designed with one singular goal in mind, to break the will of the Palestinian Arabs to continue fighting this war.

This is not just good for Israel; it will also be good for the Palestinians.

If their leaders end their obsessive war against Israel on all its fronts, legal, economic, diplomatic and of course, through violence, it will free up energy and resources for building Palestinian Arab society in all arenas, social, education and infrastructure.

The Palestinian Arab war against Israel is also a war against a decent future for the Palestinian Arabs.

Nevertheless, a more peaceful, prosperous and secure future for both peoples can only be attained once the Palestinian leaders have given up.

This can only happen when Israel forces them to do so.

It will take a change of direction by our security and political establishment, but all other paths have failed.

It is time for more drastic action.

It is time for an Israel victory against Palestinian Arab rejectionism on the front, which is crucial to ending the conflict.

The United Nations for Empowering Terrorists

Hammouri's affiliation with the PFLP and his involvement in planning terror attacks against Israelis, does not, however, seem to concern the UN Human Rights Office. Instead of condemning the convicted terrorist, the UN Human Rights Office chose to condemn Israel for daring to take measures to protect its citizens against terrorism.

This is also the same UN whose representatives have failed to condemn Hamas for building tunnels beneath schools run by its United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip.

Take note: here is a senior UN official sitting with representatives of a terror group whose charter calls for the elimination of Israel and who is expressing "concern" over the rise of right-wing parties in Israel.

The UN official appears unaware that many Israelis voted for right-wing parties because of the increased terror attacks by Hamas and other terrorist groups.

It is ironic that a UN official, whose title is "Special Coordinator of the Middle East Peace Process", sits with a Palestinian group that is entirely dedicated to sabotaging peace.

As Article 13 of the Hamas charter states: "There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."

This is hardly how to "prevent and remove threats to peace," as the UN claims in its charter. In fact, the actions of the UN clearly demonstrate that the organization is actually cozying up to terrorists while denouncing those who combat terrorism.

In its defense of, and engagement with, terrorists, the UN is boosting the ability of Hamas and the PFLP to continue their slaughter and genocide.

Ismail Haniyeh’s Son Draws Scorn for Life of Luxury As Gazans Scrape By

One of the sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is living in luxury in Turkey and even received a Turkish passport to continue his expensive lifestyle, according to an Arab media report.

Elaph, a Saudi website based in Britain reported from its sources that Maaz Haniyeh recently received a Turkish passport enabling to travel the world with his family while enjoying a rich life in Turkey.

A source in Gaza commenting on the Elaph report told the Tazpit Press Service, “The Hamas apparatus follows Gaza residents who go out for medical or commercial needs and collect sums of money from them and part of the profits, and on the other hand, Maaz was awarded a Turkish passport for free, due to his father’s status.”

The article, titled “Maaz Haniyeh: A Life of Extravagance, Alcohol and Women,” reports that Maaz is known in Gaza as Abu Al Aqarat, or “The Father of Real Estate” for his ownership of several apartments, villas and buildings in different areas of the Strip. Its sources said that outside of Gaza, Haniyeh’s sons drink alcohol — which is prohibited for Muslims — and hang out prestigious clubs accompanied by women.

A journalist who lives in Gaza told TPS, “Maaz Haniyeh was forced to leave the comfortable life in the Gaza Strip and embark on the difficult and arduous resistance missions in the streets of Turkey and in its hotels.”

Two years ago, Maaz was photographed next to his father, Ismail, when he was showing off a new luxury car on the streets of Gaza.

Maaz, one of Ismail Haniyeh’s 13 children, is not the only family member drawing scorn.