Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, January 23, 2023

Lebanese condemn a book about Chanukah that was distributed in a Christian school. Nah, nothing antisemitic here.

A picture of a booklet titled “Hanukkah” was circulated on social media, distributed by UNIFIL forces to the students of Our Lady of the Annunciation School in Rmeish, south Lebanon, on the occasion of Christmas. .

Indeed, it is stated in the pamphlet that Al-Akhbar reviewed, under the title Facts, that “thousands of years ago the Jewish people lived in a land called Judea (now Israel) and there were rulers who were not kind and respectful to the Jewish people... In about 165 BC, The king of Syria destroyed the temple of the Jewish people in Jerusalem, although he knew that this building was the cradle of the Jewish people, and he was deliberately trying to disturb them and make them feel despair.

According to an informed source in the town, “the Irish battalion distributed it,” describing the matter as “very dangerous, because it comes in the context of attempts to normalize relations with the occupying enemy, and it includes a denial of the right of the Palestinian people to their land, and it is a kind of introductory cultural normalization because it was distributed to students.”

A source in the school administration, who refused to reveal his name, ... reduced the seriousness of what these books contained, stressing that he burned them or what was left of them, “to avoid any problem.”

The story of Chanukah is a serious danger to Palestinians because it proves that Jews lived there first and that the Temple existed.

Better to burn it than to expose children to a story about fighting for religious freedom!

In case you don't think that Lebanon is institutionally antisemitic, the earliest tweet about this story I could find was from Mays al Jabal News, which was aghast that the book "talks about the Jews, and asks the student at the end to color elements symbolizing the Jews!"

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!

Forward op-ed: Zionists complaining about death threats are "snowflakes"

Rob Eshman writes in The Forward:

The way Jewish institutions reacted to a few dozen pro-Palestinian students protesting at the University of Michigan last week exemplifies an unwelcome trend in pro-Israel advocacy: the rise of Snowflake Zionism.

The protesters marched through campus on Jan. 12 behind a woman who shouted into a bullhorn, “There is only one solution!” They chanted back, “Intifada! Revolution.”

The protest prompted a storm of outrage from some Jewish organizations, right-leaning Jewish outlets and social media, amplifying concerns that college campuses are not welcoming to supporters of Israel.

“We’re outraged by the chants calling for a violent intifada and demanding ‘Zionists have got to go’ by SJP at @UMich,” tweeted Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League. “Let’s be clear: this is a direct call to violence and the university must investigate this as a possible violation of Jewish students’ rights under #TitleVI.”

Such responses have now become a kind of Palestinian-Jewish Kabuki. Students march. Jewish organizations swoop in, hurling accusations of antisemitism, demanding investigations and threatening to strip away federal funding.

There are plenty of real antisemitic threats, as well as vandalism and assaults, committed on campuses and off. . But by intervening in every campus display of anti-Israel activity — and attempting to defund schools over it — in the guise of making campuses “safe” for pro-Israel Jewish students, are we are creating a generation of fragile Zionists unable to stand up for what they believe in the face of fierce criticism?

Calling for a new intifada is not exactly "fierce criticism." It is incitement to murder.

The earliest I can find the "Intifada Revolution" chant documented is from 2016, in the Twitter account of Nerdeen Kiswani, founder of Within Our Lifetime. Kiswani openly cheers murdering Jews and had perself made direct physical threats against Zionists. There is no way to misinterpret "Intifada Revolution" as anything other than a direct call to violence.

Are Jews who fight back against being directly threatened "snowflakes"?

I think the anti-Zionists are doing our kids a favor. They are provoking those who disagree to marshal their best arguments, to figure out ways to inform and persuade others, and maybe, just maybe, to consider the merits of other points of view.

If the anti-Zionists were open to debate, maybe. But they are not. They try to shut down any Zionist activity, they promote bullying Zionist Jews, they consider dialogue to be a form of "normalization." So when students on campus are confronted with the most fanatic, pro-terror elements who shut down any chance for a meeting of minds, what option do they have to stand up for themselves? Should they also incite to murder? Should they march around campus calling for a new Nakba to finish the job (and then claim that they mean a "peaceful Nakba")?

I'm all for college students knowing how to answer anti-Israel arguments. That's part of the purpose of this site. But Eshman is telling Jewish students not to fight back when they are directly threatened, and that is completely wrong.

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!

01/22 Links: Jerusalem's Jewish majority has been restored after 100 years; US must reverse the damage the Iran nuclear deal has done; PA broadcasts 'Music to Murder by' - to welcome 2023

From Ian:

Honest Reporting Canada In National Post: As Israel Turns 75 Years Old, A (Selected) List of 75 Facts & Accomplishments About Israel

Israel turns 75 years old this spring, but despite being three-quarters of a century old, the modern Jewish state is more than merely surviving; it’s thriving.

In 1948, when Israel became an independent state, its population was only a few hundred thousand people; today, it’s home to well over nine million. Israel was conceived not only as a place of refuge for Jews seeking safety from persecution, but as the modern-day manifestation of an ancient dream; the Jewish people’s desire to fulfill their self-determination in their historic homeland.

In 2023, Israel — like all countries — is not without challenges, some of them quite serious. But it’s well-equipped to handle them. Despite being largely devoid of abundant natural resources — or perhaps, as a result of that shortage — Israel has become a world leader in environmental protection and the preservation of finite natural resources. The country has become known globally as the Startup Nation, famous for its innovative culture and growing number of startup companies.

For many years, Israel’s growing success nevertheless did not translate into widespread acceptance in the Middle East, but even that may be changing. The Abraham Accords shone a spotlight on a fast-changing reality in the region, namely that Israel is being increasingly seen as a valuable partner, not just a country to grudgingly accept as a fait accompli. Israel now enjoys diplomatic relations with Sudan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Morocco, Kosovo, and others. Even Saudi Arabia, the most influential Sunni Islamic state and the home of Islam’s two holiest cities, Mecca and Medina, may be next.

What 2023 brings for Israel is anyone’s guess. But one thing is certain: the country is likely to hit new heights and achieve new dreams.

To help celebrate the Jewish state’s diamond birthday, here’s a list of 75 of some of Israel’s incredible achievements and relevant facts to give appreciation for all that the country is, and for all that it has accomplished.

1. Israel is a bastion of religious freedom where people of all faiths (and no faith) can practice (or not worship) as they see fit, without persecution.
2. Israel is a world leader in protecting natural resources and the environment, recycling as much as 90 percent of its wastewater.
3. Israel is the only place in the Middle East with a growing Christian population, expanding by roughly two percent annually.
4. Israel is the only place in the Middle East where members of the LGBTQ+ community can live without fear of oppression.
5. Israel is the freest country in the Middle East, according to Freedom House.
6. Israel is the only country to be home to more trees in 2000 than in 1900.
7. Israel is a world leader in high-tech and research and development, spending nearly 5 percent of GDP on innovation.
8. The Israeli military has been called “the most moral army in the Middle East.”
9. Israel is the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people.
10. Israel represents not colonialism, but the return of an indigenous people to their own land.

Jerusalem's Jewish majority has been restored after 100 years - opinion

One hundred years ago this past week, British census takers announced remarkable news: Jerusalem’s Jewish majority had been restored, despite long centuries of anti-Jewish persecution by the city’s foreign occupiers and in defiance of conventional wisdom about the future of Jews in Israel.

How fitting that the centennial of that revolutionary event in the history of Jerusalem coincided with the latest call by a Palestinian Arab advocate, in the pages of the New York Times, to tear Jerusalem away from the Jewish people.

The Times op-ed, which was published on January 17, was authored by Rashid Khalidi, a Columbia University professor and strident opponent of Israel. Khalidi began the article by expressing his objections to the planned construction of a United States embassy in western Jerusalem, claiming that his family owns a piece of the land in question.

But later in his essay, Khalidi made it clear that his rejectionism is not confined to that particular tract of land, he opposes building a US embassy in Jerusalem on this site or any other.

In other words, the question of whether he really owns any of that land is actually irrelevant to Khalidi’s agenda. He is saying that the Jewish people have no right to any part of Jerusalem and that neither the US nor anybody else should recognize such a Jewish right. The embassy construction issue is just a pretext for Khalidi and his camp to carry on their war to take Jerusalem – all of Jerusalem – away from the Jews.

Jerusalem has been the center of Jewish national and spiritual existence since time immemorial. It was the capital of sovereign Jewish kingdoms for many centuries in biblical times and the site of the holiest place in Judaism, the Temple Mount, where the First Temple and Second Temple stood.

I want to become a member of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine. Where do I sign up?

On August 1, 2022, the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine issued its 76th report to the UN.

Seventy-sixth report of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine

In paragraph 2 of its resolution 76/77, the General Assembly requested the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine to report to the Assembly as appropriate, but no later than 1 September 2022. The Commission recalls its report of 10 August 2021 (A/76/282) and observes that it has nothing new to report since its submission.

The UNCCP was created as part of UN General Assembly Resolution 194 in 1948. It has had nothing to report for over twenty years.

During the 1980s, it still pretended to try to implement UNGA 194. Well, not really: from the 1960s to the 1980s, it pretended that UNGA 194 had only the first part of one paragraph, Paragraph 11, that supposedly gives Palestinians the "right of return" to Israel.

It ignored most of the other part of Paragraph 11, which urged the UN to find permanent homes for Palestinians in other Arab countries: "Instructs the Conciliation Commission to facilitate the repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation of the refugees and the payment of compensation." The UNCCP indeed worked with Israeli authorities to document and calculate the value of properties that had been owned by Arabs before 1948 but it had not, since the 1950s, tried to resettle Palestinian Arabs nor help them with social rehabilitation in Arab countries.

Another paragraph the UNCCP has ignored since its early years (if even then) was Paragraph 7 that is meant to guarantee access to holy places by all. That isn't even mentioned in its 1951 reports.

Despite decades of inactivity, the Commission still exists.

Which, I suppose, one can say about the UN altogether.

In fact, it is one of only seven Commissions that report to the General Assembly - two of which have "Palestine" in their titles.

What would it take to become a member? I'd love to have a full time salary, with benefits and pension, for doing literally nothing for the next few decades.

I cannot figure out how many members it has now - the UN isn't very transparent about this - but by definition a commission must have more than one member, right? How hard can it be to join? What possible disqualifications do I have to copy and paste last year's report to this year's?

I have great plans for the UNCCP. I would create a Twitter account for it, and proudly report on that accomplishment. I would email to the PLO and Jordan asking how they are implementing Paragraph 7. I would ask Lebanon and Syria how they are resettling Palestinian "refugees."

I would do more in an hour than the UNCCP has done in 22 years.

If any existing members retire or die, I want to be at the top of the list. Who can I talk to?

(h/t Irene)

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!

Fozi Mozi and Tutti is a hugely popular children's show on YouTube and on digital platforms, with billions of views.

Most of their videos are in Arabic, although they have branched out into English, Turkish, Hindi, Spanish and other languages.

It was founded by Fawzi Saeid, who calls himself a Palestinian on his LinkedIn page.

The characters have played to large audiences worldwide - and even went to Gaza recently to perform for children there.

Fozi Mozi is a true Arab success story.

But the Ultrapal news site has uncovered some shocking news - Fozi Mozi is partially owned by Mememe Studios which is owned by Dori Media which was founded by Nadav Palti - an Israeli Jew!

Horrors!

Naturally Ultrapal discovered that Palti was in the IDF decades ago.

The partnership between Saied and Israeli distributors is not surprising and it is probably the reason for Fozi Mozi's success. Fawzi Saeid is almost certainly an Israeli citizen; he is an Arab Christian who lives in Haifa and attended schools in Israel from his youth.

The Ultrapal expose doesn't talk much of that. They are far more upset over Palti's involvement than Saied's being a citizen of Israel.

And this is the way things work. Ultrapal's problem with Fozi Mozi isn't that Saeid is Israeli himself; it is that he partners with Jews.

This is the same as BDS as a whole, one doesn't boycott Israeli Arabs, only Israeli Jews.

The antisemitism is as obvious as it is denied by the BDSers.

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!

Can “The Whole World” Be Wrong?: Lethal Journalism, Antisemitism, and Global Jihad, by Professor Richard Landes, is a hard but important book to read.

Landes does no less than directly taking on the orthodoxy of the liberal world that regards Israel as one of the worst human rights violators, that regards supporting the Palestinian cause as the archetype of progressive values, that regards the West as Islamophobic and institutionally racist. He challenges the reader - what if everything you have read is wrong, and I am right?

The first part of the book goes into some detail on four episodes from the early 2000s.

It is no surprise that one of those episodes is the Al Dura affair, which Landes is one of the world's experts in. It was indeed the first blood libel of the new millenium, where the media unquestioningly accepted and promoted the idea that Israeli forces murdered the child Al Dura on TV and in cold blood. The French reporter, Charles Enderlin, who spread the libel wasn't there and he trusted the reporting of a Palestinian cameraman. Hours of footage from the same scene showed it was essentially a soundstage, where Palestinians were play-acting injuries. Yet almost no Western reporters questioned the story, as the Arab media ran the footage non-stop for days.

Occuring only two days after Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount in 2000, the incident inflamed the Palestinians and the Arab world. Indeed, it would not be inaccurate to call the second intifada the "al-Dura intifada," as it almost certainly was the spark that kept the brand new riots going.And it was all a lie - it is impossible that the IDF could have shot the child from their position.

The other incidents that Landes examines from the early part of the millenium are 9/11, the Jenin "massacre" that wasn't, and the Muslim world's reactions to the Danish cartoons of Mohammed. Landes uses each of these incidents as springboards into examining the West's reactions, which often were, as he notes repeatedly, stupid. On page after page, Landes gives scores of examples of this stupidity: the reluctance by media to use the term "terrorism," the constant repetition that Islam is peace, the bending over backwards to find fault with Western and specifically Israeli actions and ascribing them the responsibility for Islamist violence.

It is easy to forget the early aughts of this century, but Landes reminds us that just as today we will see Western progressives justify Hamas rockets by asking "what choice do they have?," the reaction to the tsunami of suicide bombing attacks in Israel during the bloody years of 2000-2004 prompted the exact same justifications by the same crowd.

The other two major parts of the book examine the key players in pushing the bizarre mindset of Western self-blame and bending to the will of the Islamists (whom Landes terms "Caliphators") and the current outlook on the war between the West and apocalyptic Islam - and how the Islamists are winning the battle by disabling their enemy. On the way, Landes expertly analyzes the honor-shame culture and the zero-sum thinking of the Islamists as well as the stupid western tendency to project our own mindset onto them, even as they use our own strengths of self-criticism against us.

Throughout the book, Israel is the canary in the coal mine. By any objective standard, Israel is the most progressive and liberal state ever in an extended state of war. Its successful integration of a 20% Arab population as equals is far more successful than what we see in Paris or Malmo with a much smaller Muslim minority. Yet Israel is regarded, even by those other "enlightened" progressive European elites, as a "shitty little country" that has no right to exist.

As I said, it is a hard book to read. The amount of information is sometimes overwhelming - and often infuriating. Landes also often peppers the text with gems that demand to be re-read. Happily, he chooses to use footnotes instead of endnotes so one can dig deeper into his often offhand examples.

I have some nitpicks too. I didn't see that he has a glossary of terms, many of which he created, until I finished the book, so one often sees his coinages like "Y2KMind" or "Caliphator" a hundred pages before he defines them in the text. I'm not as convinced as Dr. Landes of the millennialist component of Islamist thinking.

The tone of the book is often more strident than objective, but it is hard to fault Dr. Landes for that, since the reader is apt to be upset along with the author. There is ample excuse to get angry while reading it. And while Landes gives some general advice on what the West needs to do in order to recognize and defeat the enemy of Islamism, I wish it was more actionable. (I have written and spoken about how I think the Arab honor/shame culture can be used to Western advantage.)

In general, though, this is an important book to read, and even those of us who are immersed in these topics will learn a great deal and see connections that we hadn't thought of before.

Disclosure: I am friends with Richard, and this site is mentioned at least three times in the book.

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!

01/21 Links: Harvard surrenders to the antisemites; The Biggest Massacre of Jews You've Never Heard Of Before; How the ‘Jewish Kennedys’ helped save 200,000 Jews in WWII and delayed Iranian nukes

From Ian:

Jonathan Tobin: Harvard surrenders to the antisemites

The willingness of The Boston Globe, The New York Times and other liberal outlets to skew their coverage on the issue by falsely describing Roth as a “critic” of Israel is equally depressing. Israel’s government, like that of any other country, may be criticized for this or that policy. But those who label it an “apartheid state” and seek to haul it into international kangaroo-court tribunals are not “critics.”

Since they aim to deny to Jews that which they would not deny to anyone else—the right to self-determination, sovereignty in their ancient homeland and self-defense against terrorists bent on its annihilation—are practicing a form of discrimination that is rightly defined as antisemitism. That major publications believe such anti-Zionist incitement constitutes legitimate criticism is a sign of just how far mainstream journalism has gone in normalizing Jew-hatred. It’s a function of the acceptance of false intersectional myths deeming Israel a “white” colonialist state that persecutes “black” Palestinians.

Just as disturbing is the way that Roth and his supporters were able to make an issue of Harvard donors who had understandable qualms about his appointment. In a commendable, but rare, instance of the Anti-Defamation League calling a leftist antisemite to account, CEO Jonathan Greenblatt correctly accused the skewed coverage and editorials of being rooted in antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jewish money buying influence and silencing objective scholars. The American Jewish Committee also opposed the appointment. Yet, to its shame, the Boston Jewish Community Relations Council chose to remain silent in the face of the disgrace.

Still, the conclusion to be drawn from this depressing incident is that it’s high time for Jewish groups and individual Jewish donors to stop supporting schools and institutions where antisemites such as Roth are honored and allowed to spread their bile, while cloaked in the dignity and legitimacy that comes with a Harvard or University of Pennsylvania fellowship.

Any money given to these schools, whether out of misplaced alumni loyalty or a foolish belief in their past history of educational excellence, is not just wasted. It’s a contribution to making the world a less safe place for Jews, as well as one in which learning is replaced with woke indoctrination.

The Kenneth Roth controversy ought to cause the Jewish community to rise up in disgust and begin to treat places like Harvard as hopelessly compromised by fashionable ideological hate. Most American Jews—either too besotted by the idea of their children attending these schools, or so beholden to mainstream culture or liberal politics that they think there’s nothing wrong with backing leftist politics and anti-Israel incitement—aren’t likely to do so.

Still, the Roth appointment should shift our discourse about academia. The time for pretending that Ivy League venues are worth our respect and financial backing is long over.

The ugly reappearance of Jew hatred - opinion

Recently, there has been a spate of literature devoted to examining why Jews today are once again facing both verbal and physical antisemitism. David Baddiel, an author, comedian, presenter and screenwriter, wrote a book, Jews Don’t Count, in 2021. His message is that because Jews are not physically different, they do not count as being separate from the average white person.

Jonathan Freedland, a journalist for the UK’s Guardian newspaper, was approached by London’s Royal Court Theatre to write a play that would give the Jewish perspective on antisemitism. The request followed complaints against the theater for having been the venue for a number of productions considered antisemitic. One production, in November 2021, was Rare Earth Mettle. The theater had to apologize publicly for the play’s antisemitic overtones.

Last September, I saw Freedland’s play, Jews in Their Own Words. It was an attempt to show how antisemitism has pervaded every aspect of life. The actors represented politicians, playwrights and ordinary folk. The London production, while meaningful, had a very short season yet produced antisemitic reactions.

To find out how antisemitism is being dealt with in the UK, the Magazine spoke to Dave Rich, director of policy at the Community Security Trust (CST). The Trust works in cooperation with the government and the police to protect British Jews by providing security services to schools, synagogues and manifold Jewish events.

Rich said there were 2,255 cases of reported antisemitism in 2021 – the highest number ever recorded. While this figure is disturbing in itself, even more worrying is that in 2018, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights carried out a survey asking Jewish individuals how many had actually reported their experience of antisemitism. For the UK, the answer was just 21%.

Social media is a prolific vehicle for spreading antisemitism far and wide. Addressing how to counteract this vicious platform, Rich said that while the online bodies have excellent rules meant to prevent antisemitism, the problem is that they are not being enforced. On a positive note, the UK government is currently working on an Online Safety Bill to compel companies to control what appears on the Internet.

CST, founded in 1994 as one of the earliest associations offering security for the Jewish community, is in regular touch with Jewish communities in other countries. It recently helped thwart a major attack in New York through online intelligence.

On the question of campus antisemitism, Rich said he believes it is projected in the form of anti-Zionism, noting that the number of reported antisemitic incidents increases when there is conflict in Israel. Another factor is that many people have never met Jews; their image and understanding of Jews are based on the negative model projected on social media networks.

Lord John Mann, the British government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, recently proposed that schools include the teaching of contemporary antisemitism as part of the secondary education curriculum. Rich noted that “there can be no doubt that starting thoughts on antisemitism with the younger generation is likely to be far more effective.”

How the American cultural establishment submits to Islam

I repeat: The university editions of Yale have decided not to publish the Mohammed cartoons in a book that speaks, strange but true, precisely of the Mohammed cartoons. Not even the illustration of Dante's Inferno by Gustave Doré.

In the case of Yale there is the aggravating circumstance of money. At Yale, Saudi Arabia has donated $10 million to create a Center for Sharia Studies. The Wahhabis, the custodians of Islam in Mecca, have funded chairs of Islam at Harvard, Georgetown, Columbia, Rice University, Arkansas and Berkeley, the major American academic centers. Saudi Arabia alone donated $650 million to American campuses from 2012 to 2018. Then there are funds from Qatar, the Emirates, Kuwait and other Muslim states.

Flemming Rose, the Danish journalist who first published the Mohammed cartoons and who has lived under guard ever since, took years to find an American publisher for his book, "The Tyranny of Silence". He had to settle for the small Cato Institute. He said: "They hesitated because they were afraid of what would happen."

No wonder the American academic world has shown no sympathy for Salman Rushdie, who lost an eye and a hand in a bombing last summer.

And just see what happened to Molly Norris, the Seattle Post cartoonist guilty of having published a cartoon about Mohammed, who became a "ghost". She changed her name, and has never showed herself in publiic again. Nothing more is known about her after the FBI placed her in a witness protection program. One of its employers wrote to the Seattle Weekly: “She compares it to cancer. It could be nothing, it could be urgent, it could go away and never come back, or it could pop up again when one least expects it..." .

After the Rushdie case, we live in a new era, in which every publisher, academic, journalist, writer, editorial director and politician is self-censoring on Muslims. The "rules of Regensburg" and of the Pope who quoted a phrase from a Byzantine emperor about Mohammed and was lynched worldwide.

Clearly, Islam is winning.

01/20 Links Pt2: Tom Friedman’s lies, damned lies and statistics; Welsh politician plans Holocaust memorial, without mentioning Jews; The Sun publish far-right Syrian Girl

From Ian:

Dore Gold: The Israeli-Palestinian fight for Jerusalem's history continues

This past week, Haaretz ran jointly an article with the New York Times calling on Washington to refrain from building a new embassy in Jerusalem “on land stolen by Israel.” The New York Times used a slightly more delicate title referring to the land in question as confiscated Palestinian land.”

The article was plastered on the front page of their joint publication. The author of this thesis was Professor Rashid Khalidi, a noted Palestinian academic at Columbia University. It quickly became evident what the author was trying to do.

Khalidi’s central argument in his writings is that Israel is a form of settler colonialism that fought against the authentic national movements in the land. In his article this week, he reminds readers that his family’s roots in Jerusalem go back more than a thousand years. According to the website of the al-Khalidis, their lineage in Jerusalem can be traced back to the 14th and 15th centuries, though some tie the family to Khalid ibn al-Walid, the Muslim commander in Byzantine Syria.

The Khalidis date back roughly to the time of Nachmanides (the Ramban), who re-established the Jewish community in Jerusalem after the Crusaders destroyed it, in 1099. The Jewish people have demonstrated a propensity to return to their historic homeland after disasters, like the Crusader conquests and even the Roman occupation.

A battle is being waged over historical narratives
Rashid Khalidi has no interest in reminding his readers of these Jewish connections to Jerusalem. There is a useful survey of the land from the Jerusalem District Committee, which handles the granting of approvals for projects of this scale. It includes the area’s recent history. Khalidi, who uses this survey, reminds his readers that the land in Jerusalem on which he is focused was known as the Allenby Barracks. An aerial photograph of this area from 1917, before the British developed it, shows that it had no buildings and the land was barren. Indeed, the Ottoman Empire used it as an airstrip for a while before World War I.

What is going on here is not so much a battle over Jerusalem’s history as much as a battle over historical narratives. Its purpose is to move readers to adopt highly politicized positions and influence governments on critical questions, including the future of Jerusalem. It sets the stage for advocating that an American decision to build an embassy in Jerusalem would constitute “a legal and moral offense.” What is he talking about?

Ruthie Blum: Tom Friedman’s lies, damned lies and statistics

THE PRESENT demonstrations illustrate that nothing has changed. Nevertheless, according to Friedman: “The Israel Joe Biden knew is vanishing and a new Israel is emerging. Many ministers in this government are hostile to American values, and nearly all are hostile to the Democratic Party.”

To justify the first part of this ridiculous assertion, he tacked on the second part. None of the ministers in question is “hostile to American values.” But many correctly view today’s Democratic Party as hostile to Israel.

“Netanyahu and his minister of strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, had plotted with Republicans to engineer Netanyahu’s 2015 speech in Congress against Biden’s and president Barack Obama’s wishes and policies,” Friedman wrote. “They would like to see a Republican in the White House and prefer the support of evangelical Christians over liberal Jews and that of [Saudi King] Mohammed bin Salman over [New York Rep] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.”

By referring to Netanyahu’s effort to persuade American lawmakers not to back the nuclear deal with Iran as an example of his “plotting with Republicans,” Friedman was simply reiterating his longtime loathing for the Right, in Israel and the US.

Why can’t he realize that, just as he identifies with the Israeli Left, Netanyahu supporters feel a greater affinity for American Republicans, regardless of their religious affiliation? The answer is that he’s a Bibi-hating Democrat.

But stating this directly would be unseemly and make for a very short article. His solution was to quote and paraphrase similarly leaning Israelis, as though their stance – and standing – constitutes the kind of objectivity that puts them above the partisan fray.

Talk about laughable, especially when one such source, whose antipathy to Netanyahu grew so great that he did a political about-face, was in charge of organizing last week’s demonstration in Tel Aviv.

Friedman’s obfuscation of the above was blatant in the following passage: “Early this month, a former Netanyahu right-wing defense minister and former chief of staff of the IDF, Moshe Ya’alon, tweeted that Netanyahu’s judicial ‘reforms’ revealed ‘the true intentions of a criminal defendant’ who is ‘ready to burn down the country and its values… in order to escape the dock. … Who would have believed that less than 80 years after the Holocaust that befell our people, a criminal, messianic, fascist and corrupt government would be established in Israel, whose goal is to rescue an accused criminal.”

The Left’s constant invoking of Hitler’s genocide of the Jews to disparage Netanyahu – whose prosecutors are emerging as the corrupt witch hunters they’ve been all along – is not only immoral. It’s particularly appalling in light of the open goal of Israel’s external enemies to finish where he left off. Interestingly, neither Friedman nor his bleeding-heart Israeli counterparts use Nazi imagery when discussing the Palestinian Authority. Heaven forbid.

Oy Vey! Thomas Friedman is upset with Israel!

In his column, Friedman calls on Biden to get tough with Netanyahu. No more fooling around, and if Netanyahu keeps it up, namely, the effort to revise the high court, plus even an inkling to annex Judea and Samaria, the so-called 'West Bank', he should realize that the United States will cut off relations with Israel, and will no longer support or be a friend of the Jewish State.

Israel’s democracy, says he, is severely at risk. Biden must to act to save Israel…as he is saving America?

That’s Friedman today…and that was Friedman yesterday, last week, last month, last year, 10 years ago.

But this time, calling on Biden to intervene, he really means it, as do his fellow Leftists in America, Israel, everywhere.

You can practically hear their Gevalt.

So I asked one of my relatives in Jerusalem how he feels about the situation.

“What situation?” he asked.

“You know…Bibi…the high court…”

“Oh, well, here we call it just another day in Israel.”

“So what’s all that commotion I hear in the background…a riot no doubt against Bibi and his ministers.”

“Not quite. Yossi won his wings for the Air Force. So we’re having a party. Our family, as you know, does get loud.”

So they do. God bless them.

From 2019

75 years ago: Palestinian Arabs delight in murdering Jews

From the Palestine Post, January 19, 1948:

This is not just killing a Jew. This is taking delight in murder. This is a ritual. Not just stabbing him to death, but burning his body afterwards - they didn't want to merely murder but to quench a bloodlust of hate for Jews.

Notice also that the victim was not a "European invader." He came from Yemen, spoke Arabic - supposedly one of the Jews whom Arabs were not prejudiced against. But on the contrary, Menahem Manmuni was deliberately subject to mutilation because he was supposed to be a meek, weak dhimmi and didn't play the role assigned to him by Muslim supremacists.

The next day, other Jewish civilians were murdered as well.

Here is an interesting Arab analysis of the future of a Jewish state in the region, and the Arab prediction that eventually, terror attacks will wear down the Jews.

Which remains the strategy of Palestinian terror groups today, 75 years later, to the detriment of their own people.

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01/20 Links Pt1: Melanie Phillips: The unhinged reaction to the new Israeli government; 'London office' of Iran terror Guards in heart of Jewish neighbourhood

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: The unhinged reaction to the new Israeli government

Progressive American rabbis and a number of Jewish philanthropists and organisations are now threatening to withdraw funding and support from Israel.

Their arrogance is astounding. From their safe distance thousands of miles away, they have no understanding of the realities of life in Israel. What has brought this government to power is the deep desire by Israelis for a more robust defence of Jewish identity and security.

Moreover, given the rapid disappearance of progressive diaspora Jewish communities through massive intermarriage and assimilation, it ill behoves liberal Jews to blame the Netanyahu government for breaking the link between Israel and the diaspora. It is these liberal Jews who are breaking the link with Judaism.

Both in Israel and the diaspora, liberal Jews want Israel to be like any other country. They have a horror of Judaism’s core principles because they have a horror of being different.

But difference defines Judaism. And the western values for which they are screaming are currently destroying the west through the intolerant, illiberal and nihilistic agenda of identity politics.

As Maghen wrote: “We know that unless we keep present in our minds our polity’s Jewish nationalist raison d’être, and keep at bay those universalist, Western-based notions that are geared by definition to undermine nationalism in all its forms, this country is done for.”

It is not the Netanyahu government that is causing a crisis for the Jewish world, but those Jews who are undermining both Israel and Judaism itself.

JPost Editorial: Israel's judiciary keeps the Jewish state democratic

Thankfully, all indications point to Netanyahu deciding to remove Deri from the government, because he has no choice.

Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara made that clear in a letter to the prime minister after the ruling in which she wrote: “According to the ruling that was given today... MK Deri cannot continue serving as a minister in the Israeli government. Consequently, and according to your authority... you must act according to the ruling and remove him from his roles in the government.”

The ruling demonstrates that Israel’s system of checks and balances has worked to exemplary effect, and it should be a source of pride for all Israelis. It’s a system in which the High Court constantly reviews the actions of the government and protects civil rights and minority rights. This is what keeps the Jewish state democratic.

With such an overwhelming consensus from a panel of judges whose political views range widely, there can be no doubt that politics didn’t play a role in their decision.

However, by doing what’s right, trouble lies ahead for the High Court. The coalition is going to push its proposed judicial reforms harder than ever urged on by those who support Deri and who see the High Court’s ruling as an attempt to bring down the coalition. The ruling will be exploited as a prime reason for judicial overhaul.

But, we can take solace for now, and even revel in the court’s decision, which shows that the legal system in Israel is alive, well and doing its job.

David Friedman: Israel, it's time for a grand bargain on judicial reforms

The Israeli Supreme Court has arrogated to itself all of the powers of the US Supreme Court with none of the corresponding limitations, restrictions or burdens. The Israeli Supreme Court also has far exceeded the powers that most parliamentary democracies afford their courts. It’s a serious issue and those who seek change in good faith should not be assaulted by other leaders who should know better.

THERE IS no inherently right or wrong way for Israel to tackle this issue, although I would agree with those who say that overturning an act of the Knesset – that is, negating the will of the majority – ought to be an extremely rigorous process that is rarely implemented. Reasonable people can differ but still come to a fair conclusion on the necessary legislative thresholds to protect certain laws and the judicial thresholds to overturn them, along with a process for judicial appointments that is more responsive to the public will.

This should be done on the basis of good faith efforts to achieve a national consensus. Unfortunately, the pursuit of those efforts is completely undermined by the hyperbole exhibited today in Israel’s public square.

As one who knows Israel as well as any outsider, I see the current path as dangerous and untenable. The intellectual dishonesty permeating many of the arguments is quite harmful and the shrill rhetoric is breeding internal disunity and external embarrassment. There needs to be more adults in the room and fewer (or maybe none) on the street.

There is a wise paradigm, “be careful what you wish for.” Judicial reforms achieved without a meaningful consensus could easily be reversed by the next government, or, worse still, maintained by the next government and deployed to take Israel in the wrong direction. I have learned the hard way how quickly the political winds change course.

A sensible, practical and predictable legal system is essential to good government, justice and prosperity. Israel deeply deserves such a system and needs to carefully balance the “anarchy vs tyranny” issues just as Hamilton and Jefferson did three centuries ago. This American is rooting for Israel in that effort and hoping for a grand bargain that stands the tests of time and politics.

The new insane meme that academia is anti-Palestinian

In the wake of the Ken Roth Harvard fellowship episode, the anti-Israel crowd - led by Roth himself - has been pushing the meme that academia is anti-Palestinian and that pro-Palestinian academics must worry that their viewpoints will harm their careers.

And if anything that absurd lie has accelerated since Harvard caved!

Roth doubled down on the lie that Harvard originally caved to evil Zionist forces:

Omar Shakir, the former BDS activist who is now a Human Rights Watch researcher, tweeted:

Palestine Legal said:

Is there even a shred of evidence that "pro-Palestinian" academics are being silenced?

The Middle East Scholar Barometer has serious methodological problems, but it is a decent measure of self-selecting academics who have strong opinions on the Middle East - and it shows that they are overwhelmingly anti-Israel. They support efforts to boycott Israel. 90% describe Israel even within the Green Line as "a democratic state with deep structural inequality (61%)" or "A state akin to apartheid (29%)."

Far more of them support holding academic workshops in Qatar (80%) than in Israel (48%), and the reason they opposed holding workshops in Israel was overwhelmingly "principled or ethical concerns." Meaning far more consider Israel illegitimate but hardly any say that about terrorist-supporting Qatar.

Middle East academia is strongly anti-Israel. And academia, at least in the social sciences, in general tends to share the same political opinions as the rabid anti-Israel crowd.

What Roth and Shakir and Palestine Legal are really saying is that the <1% of Middle East academics who answered the question saying that Arab citizens in Israel have the same rights as Jews is still too many for them. To them, a single pro-Israel academic is too many, and evidence of anti-Palestinian bias because a university hired them.

Here's a question that I'd love to see answered in a future survey: Ask how many academics oppose a Palestinian state that defines itself as Arab, and how many oppose an Israel that defines itself as Jewish. That will tell you everything you need to know about this fictional "Palestine exception to academic freedom."

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If you are Jewish, it is really easy to get major media coverage in the Arab world.

Just dance.

A group of about ten Jews danced at Damascus Gate yesterday. This huge news was published by the UAE71 news site:

On Thursday evening, a number of Israeli settlers stormed the "Damascus Gate" area in the center of occupied Jerusalem, raised the Israeli flag, and performed provocative dances.

The witnesses indicated that "the Israeli police were present at the site to protect the settlers."

In turn, the Palestinian Hamas movement considered the settlers' storming of Damascus Gate Square in Jerusalem "a dangerous step and playing with fire."

"The occupation is escalating its attacks on Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, and we are facing an unprecedented attack by the occupation on Al-Aqsa Mosque," said Hazem Qassem, the movement's spokesman, in a statement to the media.

The occupation authorities are intensifying their efforts to Judaize Jerusalem and obliterate its Arab and Islamic identity.

Meanwhile, last night, an Arab woman threw a bag full of garbage at a group of Jews in Jerusalem. Here's video (from Yedidya Epstien*, who is pictured in the top photo):

Assault seems a little more newsworthy and provocative to me than dancing, but the Israeli police on the scene didn't even arrest her - let alone there being any news coverage of the incident.

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* Yes, that's how he spells his name.

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Last week, a 21 year old Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades gunman named Ahmed Abu Junaid was killed while shooting at IDF soldiers in Balata.

The Palestinian preference for terrorism over peace can be seen from this article in Safa News celebrating his death:

Only one year separated Ahmed Abu Junaid from graduating from university and obtaining a journalism certificate to join his fellow journalists, but he preferred to carry a gun instead of a camera in order to obtain the highest degrees.

Abu Junaid, 21, was martyred hours after he was critically wounded, in an armed clash with Israeli special forces that stormed Balata camp, east of Nablus, in the northern occupied West Bank, at dawn on the eleventh of January.

Ahmed's mother, who attended his funeral and showed a great deal of patience and perseverance, did not hide her pain at his separation.

She tells Safa news agency: "Praise be to God who honored me with the martyrdom of Ahmed. Praise be to God that he was martyred while resisting and defending his land. He was martyred while carrying the gun."

The accounts of his family and friends reveal an aspect of Ahmed's life, who wished for martyrdom and worked hard for it until he deservedly obtained it.

And his mother adds, "Ahmed did not want to get married. I told him I want to marry you. He told me, I do not want to get married.. I want a martyrdom."

Amer Abu Junaid, the father of the martyr Ahmed, said with tears filling his eyes: "He asked for martyrdom and obtained it. He lived his life honorable and pure and died like that."

Ahmed was on the verge of his academic achievement and was interested in developing his capabilities in the field of journalism, and his classmates saw him as a promising journalistic project, but nevertheless he saw himself as a martyr's project and his resistance work took priority over any other interests.

And he used to talk to some of his companions about his desire for martyrdom and tell them: My blood is for Palestine, and he asked them not to grieve over him, and they tried to dissuade him, but he had made up his mind and chose his irreversible path.

He wanted to be killed by Israel. He told everyone of his desire, including his own mother. And this person who worshipped death is regarded as a hero.

There are no stories, ever, that say that if Palestinians would prefer to become coders and doctors and writers instead of terrorists, they would be in much better shape.

Their choice of heroes, and their choice of what makes someone admirable, tell you everything you need to know about Palestinian society. And it is a story that the Western media studiously keeps from its consumers.

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!

01/19 Links Pt2: Anti-Israel Politics Is Soaked in Jew-Hate; New poll reveals rising antisemitism in the Democrat party; NYC's Top Prosecutor Lets Violent Jew-Haters Off Easy

From Ian:

The Wages of Online Antisemitism

When it comes to social media, the reality is: if it enrages, it engages. Stigmatizing content attracts a high degree of attention and is widely circulated because it elicits a visceral reaction and triggers emotions such as contempt and disgust. Those who subscribe to extremist and fringe beliefs will be exposed to increasingly more radical content as they follow a rabbit-hole of increasingly radical content fed to them by recommendation algorithms.

This isn't accidental. Eliciting outrage drives user engagement, which in turn drives profits. This helps explain why so little has been done to mitigate the explosion of online hatred impacting vulnerable communities. It simply doesn't pay.

Yet, the propagation of conspiracy theories and online outrage threatens to undermine many of the American values we cherish, including the duty to protect minorities, the right to speak freely, and the ability to seek truth and acquire knowledge.

Some believe that interventions designed to keep people safe from online-instigated violence will interfere with the right to freedom of expression. These voices confuse freedom of speech with "freedom of reach." Purveyors of hate have no right to be handed an ever-louder megaphone to disseminate their messages of intolerance and bigotry.

There is enormous power in having a wealth of information, connectivity, and entertainment in the palm of our hands. But we can no longer ignore the unchecked harm being inflicted by the technology companies that develop and manipulate their algorithms. In an environment of feeble accountability, hate and disinformation will continue to spread, amplify, and encourage real-world violence. In time, these runaway processes could escalate into digitally inspired pogroms.

As ancient hatreds meet new technological frontiers, there must be far more transparency around algorithms and oversight if lawmakers, law enforcement, and civil society leaders are to defend our values and keep our communities safe—from real-world violence, not merely from words.

Anti-Israel Politics Is Soaked in Jew-Hate

Rebecca Tuck's report on antisemitism in the National Union of Students is precise, carefully distinguishing between legitimate political opinion and prejudice, between mischance and intention, and giving the benefit of the doubt wherever she can. But when she's done, we're still left with a mass of unambiguous bigotry. Most of it comes from NUS elected officers, candidates and volunteers. If there was ever any doubt that the demonization of Israel leads to the demonization of Jews, the report should put an end to it once and for all, but it won't.

The vast bulk of the episodes in the report are case, after case, after case of Jews being targeted in the context of anti-Israel activism - and being ignored, dismissed, gaslit or piled on. People are allowed their politics. The problem is that good people find themselves acting hatefully toward Jews because anti-Israel politics itself is soaked in Jew-hate.

The NUS, and students in general, need to think seriously about the implications of data that say 90% of British Jews support Israel's existence, because it means either 90% of British Jews are for apartheid and baby-killing or anti-Zionists have embraced a lie.

I'm pessimistic because a voluntary mass opening of minds is not consistent with anyone's experience of human nature. It's not going to arise by itself from well-meaning seminars about the history and appearance of antisemitism. Separating people from their beloved prejudices is traumatic, the more so when it pulls the rug out from a self-image of moral superiority.

New poll reveals rising antisemitism in the Democrat party

It was, therefore, inevitable that, as the left indoctrinated young Americans in socialism, these same young people would be more open to antisemitism. The trajectory was to side with the “oppressed Palestinians,” then to hate Israel and, finally, to hate all Jews.

American Blacks have been getting antisemitism from two directions. The first is the Democrat party’s open embrace of socialism. The second is the rise of two antisemitic sects within the Black community.

American Black communities used to be very Christian. It was the Black Christian church that was the foundation for Martin Luther King’s bully pulpit. (Incidentally, King was hugely philosemitic and a big Israel supporter.)

That changed with Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. Farrakhan is openly antisemitic, and his church reflects that. Although only 1% of American Blacks are Muslim, they account for 20% of the Muslim population in America, and they are a vocal minority. Given those numbers, the fact that Muslims have openly genocidal attitudes toward Jews is invariably going to help fertilize the growing antisemitism that leftism is bringing to the Black community.

It doesn’t help that the Black Hebrew Israelites (“BHI”), an openly antisemitic group that claims to be the true heir of the Biblical Jews, is also ragingly antisemitic and gaining traction.

With these vicious influences within the Black community (socialism, Islam, and the BHI), it’s not surprising that physical attacks against Jews tend to come from Blacks.

Jews understand that this rising antisemitism from the left carries the risk of turning into the same existential threat that almost wiped out Europe’s Jews in the 1930s and 1940s. Some of them are finally wising up enough to become conservatives. Let’s hope that my Facebook friend and his pro-Israel, Democrat followers eventually make the same choice.