Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, April 20, 2023

Gozer Begs Enlil Not To Be Sent As Marshmallow Man To Israel On Lag BaOmer (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Nippur, Sumeria, April 20 - A Mesopotamian deity known as "The Destructor" beseeched his superior in the pantheon to remain away from the Jewish State despite a mission tasking him with a visit there this coming May 8-9, having discovered what happens across the country to the constituent material of the god's "Traveler" form on the corresponding Hebrew date every year.

Supernal witnesses described a fearful, contrite, yet determined Gozer the Gozerian pleading his case again today before Enlil, who sits atop the Sumerian divine assemblage. Gozer assumed his Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man form for the encounter, to drive home the danger to him at time when every open space in Israel is expected to feature multiple bonfires, some large enough to reduce the god's entire physical essence to gooey, caramelized deliciousness.

"My Lord," implored Gozer, "I must importune His Divine Supremacy to reschedule the visit to the of the land of Canaan. His Excellency no doubt can see that the inhabitants of that barbaric locale have a festival during which it has become customary to build enormous fires and roast marshmallows. Venturing into such an environment on that day will pose a serious hazard to the success of my mission, and I humbly request to postpone or suspend it until the flames subside."

Gozer referred to the festival of Lag BaOmer, the thirty-third day of the Omer period from Passover to Shavuot. Scattered ancient and medieval Jewish sources discuss the significance of the day; over the centuries it has evolved into a celebration, using fire as a sign of spiritual and intellectual illumination, of the reestablishment of Torah education following the devastation of losing an entire generation of scholars during the second century CE.

Without the religious overtones, secular Israelis have embraced Lag BaOmer as a cultural phenomenon and an expression of pride at the final show of robust Jewish military prowess and resistance - the Bar Kokhba Revolt - before the reassertion of Jewish sovereignty in the land in the twentieth century, and therefore more in line with Zionist sensibilities regarding independence, assertive national pride, and self-defense that they contrasted with the "typical" Diaspora submissiveness of Jews in the intervening millennia.

Enlil appeared unmoved by Gozer's petition. "You show unbecoming weakness," the elder god declared. "If you cannot complete this mission, I will assign it to someone more worthy. Summon 'Uggatg'bhina, the god of cheesecake, and tell him I expect him to visit Canaan on the twenty-sixth of May!"

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!

04/20 Links Pt1: Over 100 rights groups lobby UN to not adopt IHRA antisemitism definition; UN Instructs PA to Take Responsibility for Israelis Held by Hamas in Gaza

From Ian:

Iron Dome Is Not Enough to Make Israel Safe

News of attacks against Israel and retaliatory airstrikes seem as common as the news of mass shootings in the U.S.

Since the early 2000s, Israel - in close cooperation with the U.S. - has developed perhaps the most impressive counter-missile defense system in the world: Iron Dome.

Yet Iron Dome, like any defensive system, has its limits.

Unlike past flareups between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the most recent attacks have come from Lebanon and Syria.

These areas are controlled by Hizbullah, whose 150,000 missiles represent a fundamentally different security challenge than that posed by Hamas.

This capacity enables Hizbullah to threaten Israel with a missile campaign that would rapidly overwhelm Iron Dome and necessitate prioritizing the protection of vital infrastructure at the expense of civilian exposure.

U.S. support for Israel's military readiness is critically important to ensure the protection of Israel from missile attacks and enable precise and decisive action in self-defense.

Supporting Israel's ability to defend itself from the threats from all sides should be a source of unity for Americans.

41 Senators Back Joint U.S.-Israel Missile Defense Programs

Forty-one senators from both parties have signed onto a letter, obtained by Jewish Insider, offering support for full funding — $500 million — for joint U.S.-Israel missile defense programs, including Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arrow and counter-drone programs, in 2024.

The letter, sent last week to Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Susan Collins (R-ME), the chair of the Senate Defense Appropriations subcommittee and the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, is organized annually by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Mike Rounds (R-SD).

The $500 million is guaranteed annually by the 2016 U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Understanding and was codified into law by Congress, but must be appropriated by Congress annually.

The letter — the text of which is identical to the one sent last year — highlights the critical role of joint missile-defense programs in defending Israel, as well as the importance of counter-drone programs to defending both Israel and U.S. service members from attacks by Iran and its proxies.

The communique was signed by 41 senators, three fewer than the 2022 letter, including 32 Democrats and nine Republicans. Signatories include Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ted Budd (R-NC), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Bob Casey (D-PA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), John Fetterman (D-PA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), James Lankford (R-OK), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Rick Scott (R-FL), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), Tina Smith (D-MN), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), John Thune (R-SD), J.D. Vance (R-OH), Mark Warner (D-VA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

A Gillibrand spokesperson told JI that there was a shorter turnaround time for lawmakers to sign onto the letter this year in light of tighter deadlines from the Appropriations Committee.

Sens. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Steve Daines (R-MT), Todd Young (R-IN), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Deb Fischer (R-NE), who signed last year’s letter, did not join this year.

Over 100 rights groups lobby UN to not adopt IHRA antisemitism definition

Over 100 human and civil rights organizations have signed a letter urging the United Nations not to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, warning it could impact freedom of speech and curtail criticism of Israel, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

Adoption of the IHRA definition has been a key demand by mainstream Jewish groups of governments and organizations around the world.

The letter was first sent to UN Secretary-General António Guterres on April 3 with 60 signatures and since then dozens more have added their names to it, HRW said in a statement, putting the current total at 104.

“We strongly urge the UN not to endorse the IHRA definition of antisemitism,” the letter read. “We look forward to assisting the UN’s efforts to combat antisemitism in a way that respects, protects and promotes human rights.”

It claims that the IHRA definition “has often been used to wrongly label criticism of Israel as antisemitic, and thus chill and sometimes suppress non-violent protest, activism and speech critical of Israel and/or Zionism, including in the US and Europe.”

While the letter urges governments and world leaders to combat antisemitism, it warns against action that may “inadvertently embolden or endorse policies and laws that undermine fundamental human rights, including the right to speak and organize in favor of Palestinian rights and to criticize Israeli government policies.”

It highlighted two examples of contemporary antisemitism that are attached to the IHRA definition as being problematic.

The first is “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination; e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour” and the second is “applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”

Human rights orgs like @hrwatch actively fighting to limit what counts as antisemitism is precisely why they are frequently accused of #antisemitism.

Oh, and @OmarSShakir? You advocate for a movement that calls for the end of a Jewish State. Maybe sit this one out… https://t.co/4Lrm8NmGPC
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) April 20, 2023

UN Watch: Murderous Dictatorships Exposed at UN Human Rights Council

Russia, Pakistan, China, Iran and Cuba spoke at the United Nations Human Rights Council to reiterate their commitment to promoting and protecting human rights. UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer then took the floor to call out the murderous dictatorships and repressive regimes who told shameless lies.

More Muslims visited Al Aqsa this Ramadan - under Israeli control - than any time in history

Al Quds reports:

The Director General of the Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem, Azzam Al-Khatib , said, "More than 4 million worshipers visited Al-Aqsa Mosque during the month of Ramadan , despite the restrictions and restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation authorities."

Al-Khatib added in a statement: "This number is unprecedented compared to previous years, as the Waqf managed things very well."

This means that under Israeli control, more Muslims have visited Judaism's holiest spot this Ramadan than ever in history.

But as the article goes on to say, there were restrictions:

It is noteworthy that the Israeli occupation authorities prevented, during the month of Ramadan, male residents of the occupied West Bank, between 12-55 years old, from accessing Al-Aqsa Mosque, while only allowing dozens of residents of the Gaza Strip to reach the mosque to perform prayers.

Despite this, thousands of young men were able to bypass The Israeli Forces checkpoints to reach the mosque, especially in the last ten days of the month of Ramadan, to perform i'tikaaf.

This is not quite accurate - men from 45-55 could go to Jerusalem but only with a permit.

AP reports about some of the thousands of young men who sneaked into Israel:

Others found riskier ways to get to the holy compound — scrambling over Israel’s hulking separation barrier or sliding under razor wire.

Abdallah, a young medical student from the southern city of Hebron, clambered up a rickety ladder with six of his friends in the pre-dawn darkness Monday — then slid down a rope on the wall’s other side — so he could make it to Al-Aqsa for Laylat al-Qadr. They paid a smuggler some $70 each to help them scale the barrier.

“My heart was beating so loud. I was sure soldiers would hear it,” Abdallah said, giving only his first name for fear of reprisals.

The Israeli military has picked up hundreds of Palestinians who sneaked through holes in the separation barrier during Ramadan, it said, adding that forces would “continue to act against the security risk arising from the destruction of the security fence and illegal entry.”

Photos from the prayers show plenty of men under 45 who managed to get in.

Which is frightening: if thousands can reach Israel for Ramadan, it means that terrorists can reach Israel for murder.

The articles might emphasize how much the restrictions inconvenience West Bank Palestinians, but there are daily attempts to murder Jews, all catalogued and counted by Palestinian terror supporters - shootings and firebombs and attempted stabbings and car rammings.

The security barrier slows down the terrorists but does not stop them.

Israel tries to balance Palestinian right to worship against the Israelis' right not to be killed. And most of the media simply ignores the second half of that equation.

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!

English language Iranian media has a long tradition of publishing

classically antisemitic articles under the guise of op-eds by Westerners, who are often American white supremacists. This gives them the ability to spread Jew hatred while claiming that they are only practicing freedom of speech and that Iran itself has no problem with Jews.

Today's example is a little different. Instead of publishing antisemitism from neo-Nazis, this Holocaust denial article was written by Dr. Sabir Abu Maryam, Secretary General of Palestine Foundation Pakistan.

The illustration is one of the entries in Iran's Holocaust Cartoon Contest showing a Jew sweeping the rubble of the Jerusalem he is destroying under a rug labeled "Holocast" [sic.]

It is pretty clear that this "pro-Palestinian activist" calls all Jews in history "Zionist" to avoid being called antisemitic:

The Holocaust refers to those people belonging to the Jewish religion, about whom the Zionists have propagated to the world on the basis of lies and deception that they were brutally murdered by the German Nazis between the years 1933 and 1945.

Zionists called the Nazi killing of Jews a systematic state-sponsored massacre, and hence it is now referred to as the "Holocaust."

The Zionists, who were responsible for starting the First World War in the world, have always made efforts to destabilize governments through riots in different countries around the world. The fall of the Ottoman Caliphate was also an example of the Zionist rebellion.

After the First World War, there was a number of Jews in Germany. In the First World War, Germany had to suffer a lot, which was actually the Zionist movement under the guise of which the First World War was started. In fact, the Zionists wanted to burn the world in the fire of war and implement the plan of occupying Palestine only so that their influence in the future region would be established.

But just to hedge his bets, Maryam says that if there was a Holocaust, it was a Zionist plot: "In fact, the Zionists had a hand in killing the Jews. Zionism was behind the holocaust."

Iran insists that it is not anti-Jew. The regime's own actions prove otherwise. But even more so, its media - whether state-run or merely aligned with the state, as the Tehran Times is - is unabashedly antisemitic.

While the world roundly condemned former Iranian president Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial, this explicit Jew-hatred in Iranian media today gets ignored. But it is there and it is systemic.

In this case, the link between "pro-Palestinian" and antisemitic is as clear as can be.

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!

Times of Israel reports:

An Israeli bus driver reported coming under fire near the Tapuah Junction in the northern West Bank on Wednesday night, with medics clarifying that no one was injured in the incident.

The Israel Defense Forces said it was investigating the attack. Over the past year, several buses have come under fire by Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank.

According to the Samaria Regional Council, the bus was fired at while driving between the settlement of Migdalim and the Tapuah Junction. It was unclear if there were any passengers on the bus at the time.

Images from the scene showed several bullet holes on the bus’s body, including one that penetrated through, next to a passenger seat.

It is an unfortunate fact of life that events like this do not get much attention in Western media - because no one was injured or killed. The outrageousness that a bus going through its route can be routinely shot at by Palestinians, and it requires bullet proofing to protect its passengers, is simply part of the landscape for Israelis.

But while western media ignores this story as not being newsworthy, and Israeli media reports it but shrugs it off, Arabic media is making this into a big story.

Quds News celebrated that "the resistance has renewed targeting the settlement presence in the Nablus countryside through shooting operations, this evening."

Hezbollah media published it as a breaking story. Yemen news media reported on it.

It was the top story in the Safa Palestinian Press Agency site.

It was also the top story in the Hamas terrorist Al Qassam website.

A few hours after the incident, a group calling itself the "Dawn Brigade" claimed responsibility for shooting at the "settler bus."

This is normally how the pro-Palestinian Arabic media reacts to murdering Jews. So why so much attention to this story where no one was even grazed?

Because above all, the Palestinians want to feel relevant. They need to feel important. Like a toddler who throws a tantrum, or like a third grader who acts up in class to get the teacher's attention, they hate being ignored more than anything else.

While the Saudis are playing geopolitical chess with the major players in the Muslim world (and with Israel,) the Palestinians are relegated to being treated like an old story that has no chance for resolution. They used to be on the front pages - dramatic airplane hijackings, bus bombings, massacres of rabbis at prayer. But the Arab world has been losing interest in their story and that is painful.

It isn't only this story. Any time that they prompt big Israel to react - whether it is forcing a closing of a checkpoint, or a change in defense policy, or the IDF firing back at shooters - it is a major story in Palestinian Arab media. They slavishly follow Israeli media to see if they are mentioned.

The easiest way to get Israel's attention is violence.

They have forced the Israeli adults to notice them. And this is gratifying for a group of people who are starved to feel like they are important.

According to psychologists, attention-seeking behavior can have a number of causes, usually low self-esteem. But another major cause is mental illness - histrionic personality disorder, whose symptoms include:

A “dramatic” or theatrical personality
Always craves the spotlight and needs to be the center of attention
Makes impulsive decisions
Lacks empathy and doesn’t usually show care for others
Is moody and emotional
Gets uncomfortable when attention is shifted away from them
Needs constant stimulation and validation
May be unable to maintain meaningful relationships

These sure sound like the terror-supporting Palestinians quoted constantly in Palestinian media. They threaten World War III if Israel does something they don't like; they hate when a major world event takes attention they feel should be theirs and they often try to hijack whatever the current popular craze is (like global warming or the Ukraine war), even as they pretend to be partners with Black Lives Matter it is only to take the spotlight and not to offer an iota of support, and when things are too quiet they feel compelled to start new terror waves.

The world already treats Palestinians like the eccentric uncle at a Thanksgiving meal - placating them in the hope that they won't turn violent, but showing no real respect because they have never earned any respect.

Perhaps the fastest way to reach peace is to treat the Palestinians as suffering from mass psychosis, and treating that.

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!

04/19 Links Pt2: Irwin Cotler: Yom HaShoah: The imperative to remember, the call to act; Islamist antisemitism in the US masked by alliance with far left – study

From Ian:

Irwin Cotler: Yom HaShoah: The imperative to remember, the call to act

This year’s Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day is a particularly poignant historical moment of remembrance and reminder, of bearing witness, of learning and acting upon the universal lessons of history and the Holocaust.

I write in the aftermath of the 90th anniversary of the establishment in 1933 by the Democratic Government of Germany of the infamous Dachau concentration camp – the forerunner of the deportation to Dachau of thousands during Kristallnacht – reminding us that antisemitism is toxic to democracy, an assault on our common humanity, and as we’ve learned only too painfully and too well that while it begins with Jews, it doesn’t end with Jews.

I write also in the aftermath of the oft-ignored (if it is even known at all) 81st anniversary of the Wannsee Conference of January 20, 1942, convened by the Nazi leadership to address “The Final Solution to the Jewish Question.” This blueprint for the annihilation of European Jewry was met with indifference and inaction from the international bystander community.

I write also on the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the most heroic Jewish and civilian uprising during the Holocaust, which followed the deportation of 300,000 Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to the death camp Auschwitz-Treblinka in 1942. There is a straight line between Wannsee and Warsaw; between the indifference of one and the courage of the other.

I write also amidst the international drumbeat of evil, reflected in the unprovoked and criminal Russian invasion and aggression in Ukraine, underpinned by war crimes, crimes against humanity, and incitement to genocide, which is a stand-alone crime under the genocide convention; the increasing assaults by China on the rules-based international order, including mass atrocities targeting the Uighurs, which are constitutive of acts of genocide; the Iranian regime’s brutal and massive repression of the Iranian people’s “Women, Life, Freedom” human rights revolution; the mass atrocities targeting the Rohingya, Afghans and Ethiopians; and the increasing imprisonment of human rights defenders such as Russian patriot and human rights hero Vladimir Kara-Murza – a critic of the invasion of Ukraine who embodies the struggle for freedom and – sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison for telling the truth. A re-enactment of the Stalinist dictum of “give us the person and we will find the crime.”

And I write also amidst an unprecedented global resurgence of antisemitic acts, incitement, and terror – of antisemitism as the oldest, longest, most enduring, and most dangerous of hatreds; a virus that mutates and metastasizes over time, but which is grounded in one foundational, historical, generic, antisemitic, conspiratorial trope: namely, that Jews, the Jewish people, and Israel are the enemy of all that is good and the embodiment of all that is evil, regardless of what moment in time we are experiencing or living in.

And so at this important historical inflection moment, we should ask ourselves, what have we learned in the last 80 years, and more importantly what must we do?

Antisemites are those who hate Israel, not those who love it

Presidential contenders are often tempting targets for extremist protestors. A disruption of a speech or campaign event guarantees media coverage and attention for their causes. So, it was hardly a surprise that an appearance by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in New Hampshire was targeted by a group of left-wing activists.

However, the kerfuffle caused by the storming of the stage at a Republican fundraiser during a DeSantis speech by members of the IfNotNow group was noteworthy for more than just the publicity it generated for them. The group’s targeting of the governor is in line with the desire of most Democrats to discredit him as a more formidable potential opponent in 2024 while, ironically, seeking to bolster the prospects of former President Donald Trump to win the Republican nomination.

Yet more important than the tactical games that partisans are playing in the months prior to the beginning of the presidential campaign season is the way IfNotNow’s stunt also echoes a general trend being employed by far more influential players on the Jewish left. It involves an effort to discredit those conservatives who are actually great friends of the Jewish people with false charges of antisemitism. At the same time, the same forces are attempting to portray those who are actually seeking to do harm to Jews or aiding those who do so, such as billionaire philanthropist George Soros, as victims of antisemitic incitement.

IfNotNow should count the investment it made in purchasing tickets to the Republican dinner as money well spent. The subsequent coverage in various media outlets gave their smears of DeSantis more attention than they deserved and allowed liberal journalists to mischaracterize its purpose.

The organization’s members chanted “Jews against DeSantis” and held up a sign proclaiming that DeSantis “Loves Israel, Hates Jews.” In tweets in which they boasted of the incident, the group spoke of the governor as someone who was a supporter of “apartheid Israel,” as well as an ally of antisemitic Christian nationalists and Nazis. For good measure, it also linked him to the pro-Israel AIPAC lobby, which it considers to be tainted by its willingness to embrace supporters of the Jewish state in both major parties.

Islamist antisemitism in the US masked by alliance with far left – study

As antisemitic attacks continue to rise in the United States, a growing alliance with far-left organizations has shielded US Islamist groups from scrutiny of their antisemitic statements and ideas, a study by an Israeli think tank warned.

“US Islamist groups and leaders have increasingly sought common cause with progressive left-wing groups that promote minority rights and intersectionality among racial, ethnic, and religious minorities in their efforts to build coalitions around common interests,” charged Yehudit Barsky and Ehud Rosen, authors of the Institute for National Security Studies report “Islamist Antisemitism in the United States,” set to be published Tuesday.

The “red-green” coalition is based on a narrative that portrays the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as an anticolonial struggle, and US Muslims as victims of racism on par with other marginalized minorities in the US, said the INSS study.

The alliance also seeks to delegitimize Jewish communal organizations, according to Barsky and Rosen, by portraying them as part of a white power structure in the US that is ineligible for inclusion in progressive coalitions.

“Within these coalitions,” charged the study, “US Islamists have sought to boycott and delegitimize progressive Zionists and supporters of Israel, deeming them as oppressors and illegitimate participants.”

Barsky is a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, and Rosen is a team member of the INSS’s project on Contemporary Antisemitism in the United States.

The study is the latest installment in an ongoing INSS series on antisemitism in the US.

Leading Islamist organizations like American Muslims for Palestine and the Council on American Islamic Relations, the authors argued, seek to challenge the right of mainstream Jewish and pro-Israel organizations to define antisemitism and to call themselves civil rights organizations. A campaign against the Anti-Defamation League, the leading antisemitism watchdog, called it a “silencer of free speech” and promoter of Islamophobia, and pushed for other civil rights organizations to boycott it.

The authors warned that over time, fringe antisemitic beliefs could become increasingly mainstreamed if these organizations are not challenged.

I want to talk about Noa Tishby. But not for too long. Because she doesn’t deserve that much attention and her story doesn’t deserve that much air.

Noa Tishby is an actress who used an official platform, granted her by an Israeli prime minister, Yair Lapid, to blacken the name of the State of Israel in the public sphere. She did so by writing a damning, nay treasonous article about the Netanyahu government in Ynet.

From the JNS:

Last month, Tishby wrote in a Hebrew-language article in Ynet of the reform initiative, “I will say it in the sharpest and clearest way: Diaspora Jewry and Israel’s supporters in the world are shocked. They are shocked.

“With great pain they look and see how the country they fiercely defended—in Congress, in the media, on the networks or in front of foreign—is changing its face.” This is “not a reform, but a coup,” she added.

Noa Tishby is entitled to her opinions, but not to air them. Because her appointment as “first-ever Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism and Delegitimization” was to a diplomatic position. She was/is supposed to be speaking well of the democratically elected government of the Jewish State not only for the duration of her tenure as envoy, but forever after. Once a diplomat, always a diplomat. To be or do anything else is more than just bad form—it’s to betray your country and your mission, and show yourself a fraud.

She was always a fraud. A “defender” who hands the world moral permission on a platter to engage in “legitimate criticism of Israel” thus giving license to legions of antisemites to bash Israel. And if everyone can bash Israel, why shouldn’t she, Noa Tishby, in her capacity as “first-ever Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism and Delegitimization?”

When I heard that she spoke out against judicial reform, calling it a “coup,” I said to myself, alone in the privacy of my bedroom, “FIRE. HER. A**.”

And that’s exactly what Netanyahu did. He fired an actress (Noa Tishby) who had been appointed by a high school dropout (Yair Lapid) to defend the State of Israel and the Jews.

Dear Friends,

It is with disappointment and sadness, but an enduring determination, that I can confirm that the current Israeli government has dismissed me as Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism and the Delegitimization of Israel.

It is not possible for me to know if their… pic.twitter.com/Yt4c7v5str
— (((noa tishby))) (@noatishby) April 2, 2023

Yes, it was a tall order and no. Noa Tishby couldn’t do it. She’s an actress. Not a trained diplomat. Not some great thinker—no matter how hard the Lapid government tried to rebrand her as a “thought-leader.”

To be fair, the former envoy isn’t “just” an actress. Noa Tishby is also (if one might legitimately criticize her—it’s just an opinion, that's okay, right?) a traitor, a sell-out, and a latter-day version of Benedict Arnold. Only Jewish.

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!

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!

04/19 Links Pt1: Francesca Albanese must be fired from the UN; Biden Has Abandoned the Middle East to China and Russia; Have a date with a terrorist

From Ian:

JPost Editorial: Francesca Albanese must be fired from the UN

As deadly Palestinian terrorism against Israelis continues unabated, some have tried to justify the attacks – and some have gone even further.

In a stunning exercise in victim blaming, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese has denied that the country has the right to defend itself against Palestinian terrorism.

“Israel has a right to defend itself, but can’t claim it when it comes to the people it oppresses [or] whose land it colonizes,” she tweeted on April 8.

Her grotesque tweet came in the wake of the murder of a British-Israeli mother and her two daughters. Lucy, 48, Maia, 20 and Rina Dee, 15, were killed in a shooting attack near the Hamra Junction in the Jordan Valley as they drove to Tiberias on April 7 during the Passover holiday. Later the same day, a 35-year-old Italian tourist, Alessandro Parini, was murdered in a car-ramming attack in Tel Aviv.

Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli on Friday called for Albanese’s dismissal. In his letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Dr. Volker Türk, Chikli wrote that the UN “is failing to uphold its own commitment to protect fundamental human rights for all and to apply equal treatment of all its member states by allowing Ms. Albanese to continue to spew hatred, antisemitism and incite violence.”

Far from apologizing, however, Albanese doubled down. Referring to the biblical imperative Chikli had mentioned in his letter, she responded in a sneering tweet: “I wonder how the 3,000-year-old ‘moral responsibility not to kill’ can be reconciled with the thousands of Palestinians killed since 2007 in oPt [“Occupied Palestinian Territory],” citing figures that included terrorists killed during wars in Gaza since 2008.

As Chikli noted in his letter, Albanese’s “reprehensible, irresponsible and terror-inciting remarks called into question Israel’s very right to defend the lives of its citizens” and “explicitly denies the right to life and personal security of many Jewish citizens of the State of Israel.”

Albanese violates the UN Code of Conduct for Special Rapporteurs and indeed the basic principles of human rights upon which the United Nations was founded.

This wasn’t the first time that she had openly supported Palestinian “resistance” and engaged in rhetoric viewed as antisemitic.

Fiamma Nirenstein: The UN’s top Israel-hater

It is sad that Ca’ Foscari University of Venice chose Holocaust Remembrance Day to celebrate—complete with coquettish photos and media rejoicing—an event featuring Francesca Albanese, the U.N.’s Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories. For me, it is also a pity that this notoriously anti-Israel official happens to be Italian.

The ideology that led to the extermination of European Jewry clearly resonated at Ca’ Foscari, given that the delegitimization and criminalization of Jewish existence today is generally disguised as the “damnatio” of the State of Israel.

This new guise of the old hatred portrays Israel as a colonialist, apartheid state unworthy of life, and Albanese is unquestionably one of the haters. She harbors no misgivings on this score, which shames not only the U.N. but also her home country.

Some have pushed back. Italian Senator Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata has called for Albanese’s removal. So has the International Legal forum, a global network of more than 4,000 lawyers and activists who are committed to combatting antisemitism, advancing human rights and promoting peace in the Middle East. Across the pond, a bipartisan group of U.S. congresspeople has urged her replacement. The address for these demands is Volker Turk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, who has thus far done nothing.

This isn’t surprising. The U.N.’s automatic antisemitic majority makes it a hotbed for Israel-hatred and funds for the Palestinians, who use the money to promote terrorism and hate speech. But Albanese takes this hate to another level. She stated unequivocally that Israel has no right to self-defense even as Palestinian terrorists killed Italian lawyer Alessandro Parini and young sisters Rina and Maya Dee, along with their mother Lucy, as well as numerous other innocents over the past several months.

Albanese has a long and ugly history of such behavior. She was involved in various BDS initiatives and called terror suspects “human rights defenders.” She has compared the Palestinians’ “Nakba” to the Holocaust—a stunningly inaccurate and offensive comparison. She equated Hamas in Gaza with the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto and wrote that Europe and the U.S. have been subjugated “by the sense of guilt about the Holocaust and by the Jewish Lobby.”

MEMRI: Clarification re: Even the Nazis didn’t pay a reward for murdering Jews

We sincerely apologize that the headline of yesterday’s report was not sufficiently clear and exact. Many of our readers have pointed out that PMW’s headline yesterday - Even the Nazis didn’t pay a reward for murdering Jews - was imprecise and requires clarification.

Certainly, during the Holocaust the Nazis did indeed pay rewards of various kinds for the murder or even tracking down of Jews. However, our intention was to highlight the singular methodical nature of the Palestinian Authority’s terror reward policy, which is also entrenched in PA law.

The Nazis did not adopt a law or practice guaranteeing a lifetime payment to any person who murdered a Jew or to the families of those who murdered a Jew, if the murderer died while murdering/trying to murder Jews.

In contrast, in 2004, the PA legislated the Law of Prisoners and Released Prisoners. This law guarantees a monthly salary to every Palestinian terrorist, including murderers, arrested by Israel. The salary is paid to all terrorists, irrespective of the terrorist’s terror-group affiliation and rises with time spent in prison. Murderers sentenced to life in prison receive the PA salary for their entire life. Released terrorists - including the murderers - continue receiving a payment from the PA, commensurate to their time in prison.

Alongside the payments to the terrorist prisoners and released terrorists, the PA also entirely funds the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Institute for the Martyrs, which guarantees a lifelong payment, inter alia, to the families of terrorists who died while murdering/trying to murder Jews, such as suicide bombers.

The high lifetime financial rewards passed into law by the PA and called a “monthly salary”, is in a class by itself.

If the Star of David on Israel's flag upsets you but the crescent, crosses and other religious symbols on more than 60 other flags doesn't bother you...you just might be an antisemite.

If you think that 21 Arab states isn't enough, and 1 Jewish state is too many, you just might be an antisemite.

If you show more sympathy towards the person who stabbed the Jew than for the Jew he stabbed, you just might be an antisemite.

If you have to jump through hoops to pretend to find apartheid in the Jewish state while ignoring everywhere it really is, you just might be an antisemite.

If every terrible event in world history prompts you to compare it with Israeli actions, you just might be an antisemite.

If you believe that the Palestinian Arabs, who never thought of themselves as a people until the mid-20th century, have more of a claim to nationhood than Jews who have been a nation for 3000 years, you just might be an antisemite.

If you think that Zionism is racist, but Palestinian Arab nationalism is justice, you just might be an antisemite.

If you claim that Zionism is incompatible with feminism, but have nothing bad to say about Islamism, you just might be an antisemite.

If Saudi ties to Israel upset you more than Saudi ties to Osama bin Laden did in 2001, you just might be an antisemite.

If the only democracy you want to see in the Middle East is one rigged for Jews to be in the minority, you just might be an antisemite.

If the only refugees from the 1940s that you insist "return" to where they lived previously are Palestinian Arabs, you just might be an antisemite.

If you believe that the only "settlers" in the world who must move out of their homes are all Jews, you just might be an antisemite.

If you think that the the very concept of a Jewish state is racist, but you are okay with an Arab or Muslim state, you just might be an antisemite.

If there are any parts of the world that you believe Jews should not be allowed to live, you just might be an antisemite.

If there are any historic Jewish holy places where you believe Jews have no right to pray, you just might be an antisemite.

If you call Jews who insist on praying in their holiest spot "extremists," you just might be an antisemite.

If you get a thrill comparing Israelis to Nazis, you just might be an antisemite.

If you are compelled to respond to any mention of the Holocaust with "nakba," you just might be an antisemite.

If you aren't Muslim but refer to Jewish shrines like the Temple Mount, Rachel's Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs by their Muslim names that came centuries later, you just might be an antisemite.

If you believe that it is a moral duty to boycott Israeli Jews but not Israeli Arabs, you just might be an antisemite.

If you need to believe that Ashkenazic Jews are descended from Khazars and have no Middle East ancestry, you just might be an antisemite.

If you claim that there is no archaeological proof for Jewish history in Jerusalem, you just might be an antisemite.

If you claim to be pro-Palestinian but ignore how Palestinians have been and continue to be mistreated by their fellow Arabs, you just might be an antisemite.

If you believe that "occupation" is one of the worst crimes but never said a word about any occupation that cannot be linked to Israel, you just might be an antisemite.

If you claim that the only reason Israel does anything progressive or moral is to cover up for its crimes, you just might be an antisemite.

If Jews must pass a test of being anti-Israel for you to allow them to speak publicly or join movements, you just might be an antisemite.

If you consider the word "Zionist" an insult, you just might be an antisemite.

If you are offended by the lyrics of Hatikva but have no problem with the Palestinian national anthem that extols violence and vengeance, you just might be an antisemite.

If you regard terrorists Leila Khaled, Rasmea Odeh and Dalal Mughrabi as feminist role models, you just might be an antisemite.

If your response to every terrorist attack that kills Jewish civilians is that they deserve it, you just might be an antisemite.

If you defend or excuse Arab antisemitism, you just might be an antisemite.

If you feel a burning desire to equate the Taliban with Orthodox Jews, you just might be an antisemite.

If you think putting on a hijab makes you a person of color but putting on a yarmulka makes you white, you just might be an antisemite.

If you are upset by scenes of Jews dancing in Jerusalem, you just might be an antisemite.

If you bitterly complain about how Israel's separation barrier inconveniences Palestinians, but don't mention how it has saved hundreds of Jewish lives, you just might be an antisemite.

If you go to a religious Jewish neighborhood to harass random Jews with "pro-Palestinian" slogans, you just may be an antisemite.

(This is an almost complete rewrite, expansion and revision to a 2020 post.)

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 Palestinian Press Agency Safa has an article whose own facts contradict its narrative. It is a good example of how media makes up a narrative and then pretends that even the facts that contradict it really support it.

With the approach of Eid Al-Fitr, the markets of the occupied city of Jerusalem are witnessing an active commercial movement, as a result of the revival of religious tourism, and the increase in the number of Palestinians, Christians, and tourists coming to the city, despite the continuous Israeli occupation attempts to stifle the Jerusalem economy.

And everyone who wanders in the markets of the Old City finds it crowded with shoppers, to buy Eid supplies and souvenirs from its shops, after it suffered from a commercial and economic stagnation, due to the occupation measures and its strict restrictions on the arrival of Palestinians to the occupied city.

Jerusalemite merchants are eagerly awaiting holidays and religious events in order to compensate for their losses that they incur due to the blockade and occupation measures, which aim to hit their commercial interests and increase the poverty rate in Jerusalem.

So Israel wants to hurt these Arab businesses and impoverish them - but somehow Israel is also allowing throngs of Arabs to go shopping there?

The word "despite" does a lot of heavy lifting here, similarly to the daily articles that show the Temple Mount filled with Muslims accompanied by articles that say this is "despite" Israeli restrictions.

Jerusalemite trader Habib Hroub, who owns a clothing store in Al-Wad Street in the Old City, tells Safa that the commercial activity is witnessing an economic boom with the approach of Eid Al-Fitr...He explains that the prices of clothes are commensurate with the economic conditions and capabilities of Jerusalemites, indicating that Israeli malls deliberately offer "attractive offers" to Arab shoppers, with the aim of hitting the Jerusalemite economy and influencing merchants and weakening purchasing power.

Yes, the horrible Jews offer sales to the Arabs they want to drive out of the city, just to hurt Arab businesses!

Nothing that Israel or Israelis do can just be normal economic activity - it is always aimed at hurting Palestinians (according to Palestinians.)

Jerusalem affairs researcher Fakhri Abu Diab confirms that the occupation is working by various means to stifle the economy in the city, especially its old town, given that it is the backbone of life, so it imposes taxes on Jerusalemite merchants, and tries to reduce the number of citizens coming to the city.

Do Jewish-owned businesses not have to pay taxes?

He added, "Although the occupation is working to empty the Palestinian presence from the Old City and the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and does not want any commercial movement in it, and is trying to impede the arrival of goods to shops, religious events come to revive its economy."

The Jerusalem markets are witnessing an active commercial movement throughout the holy month of Ramadan, but it has greatly increased in the last two weeks of the holy month...

What disturbs the occupation - according to the Jerusalemite researcher - is the scene of the heavy Palestinian presence in the markets of Jerusalem, who flock to it from everywhere, to shop and buy sweets and gifts, and everything related to Ramadan and Eid requirements.

He asserts that revitalizing the tourism and commercial movement in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa has thwarted the plans of the occupation, which is working to empty the city of its people, strangle its economy, and increase poverty rates.

When business is bad, it is because of Israeli measures to empty Jerusalem of Arabs. When business is booming, it is despite Israeli measures to empty Jerusalem of Arabs. And this really upsets the Israelis, they claim with no evidence.

Israel could easily simply shut down these shops or block access to them, if that was really its aim.

Clearly Israel has no problem with throngs of customers in the Arab souq of Old City.

This is a pattern of anti-Israel media - make an assertion, claim that even the facts that contradict it back up that assertion, and know that most of the audience will not look at the article critically.

Israel is not trying to shut down Arab businesses. It is not trying to get rid of Jerusalem's Arabs, whose population has increased far more under Israeli rule than any time in history. It is not taxing Arab businesses specifically. Literally every assertion in this story is fiction.

But when the aim is to demonize the Jewish state, who cares about the truth?

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 latest Pegasus story shows yet again the double standards applied to Israel

The New York Times published an investigative report into how Mexico has been using the powerful spyware tool Pegasus against its political opponents.

Pegasus is a tool. Like a hammer, a gun or a woodchipper, it can be used legally or illegally.

But its Israeli origins have made people make it sound like Israel is more responsible for its illegal use than the people who are actually using it illegally.

As the NYT notes, Pegasus helped bring down El Chapo, and the Mexican authorities have been using it to take down other major Mexican drug cartels. This is the intended use of the spyware, and in all probability it is still being used for that purpose in Mexico.

But the Mexican government has also been using it in illegal ways using it to spy on political opponentsand other human rights abuses.

NSO Group is a business. While Israel's Defense Ministry must approve any exports of spyware, refusing to sell it to a country that uses it for both valid and invalid purpose is not a clear cut decision - refusal could create an international incident. It would be the exact equivalent of the US not allowing Mexico to buy any firearms from American manufacturers.

In fact, weapons from the US have not only been linked to Mexican security forces human rights abuses, but also to the murderous drug cartels themselves.

What is the moral difference between Mexico buying spyware from an Israeli company and Mexican human rights abusers and criminals buying weapons from US manufacturers?

By any yardstick, selling weapons is worse. Spyware cannot kill anyone.

So why has the world been obsessed with Israel's responsibility to block spyware sales to countries like Mexico but there are only sporadic articles about actual weapons sales to both Mexico and countries that are far worse?

While the New York Times article castigates Mexican authorities for their illegal use of spyware, it also prominently features Israel's very indirect role in those abuses nearly as much. In fact, the featured photo at the top of the article doesn't show the Mexican abusers or victims of the spyware - but the Israeli headquarters of NSO Group.

Can you imagine a news story about a person murdered with a Glock pistol featuring a photo of the factory in Austria that manufactured it? That is what the New York Times is doing here.

In yet more evidence that former Human Rights Watch head Ken Roth prioritizes attacking Israel over combating actual human rights abuses, his tweet about this article only blames Israel for Mexican crimes:

I'm not saying that Israel is blameless. One can argue that selling to Mexico is immoral - but one can easily argue the opposite, since NSO gets signed pledges from its buyers that they would not do what Mexico is indeed doing and Mexico is also using the spyware to save countless lives from drugs. Demanding that a nation that exports tools that can be used for both good and evil should proactively distrust and police countries it has diplomatic relationships with is quite an ask, and lightyears beyond what is expected in any other context.

This story's focus, and Ken Roth's takeaway from it, proves that no nation on Earth is expected to be as responsible for their actions - even the unintended, indirect results of their actions - as Israel is.

Which is as blatant a double standard as can be.

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!

04/18 Links Pt2: Netanyahu tells survivors: ‘You chose life. You believed in good. You helped others,’; Commemoration of the Holocaust Must Involve Knowledge of the Jews—and of Those Who Hate Them

From Ian:

Herzog urges Israelis to set disputes aside in ‘sacred days’ honoring survivors

“I appeal to you, citizens of Israel, with a simple prayer: Let us leave these sacred days, which begin tonight and end on Independence Day, above all dispute,” said Israeli President Isaac Herzog. “Let us all come together, as always, in partnership, in grief, in remembrance.”

Herzog spoke at the state opening ceremony for Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day 2023 at Yad Vashem on April 17.

He referred to the time, culminating with Israel’s 75th Independence Day next week, as one of “majesty, mercy and truth,” during which “we can truly hear the heartbeats of an entire nation, standing before their ‘Days of Awe.’ ”

He cited many of the Nazi atrocities, including the aim to create a museum in France of the extinct and inferior Jewish race. “My sisters and brothers, with human courage and divine assistance, the Allies overcame the forces of tyranny,” he said. “With human courage and Divine assistance, spirit triumphed; the spirit of our people, who raised themselves up with scarred wings from the gruesome depths of the Holocaust. It was this spirit that triumphed.”

Seventy-five years ago, there was a “miracle” of rebirth and of light triumphing over darkness, said Herzog, calling Holocaust survivors heroes of resurrection who “serve us as a source of inspiration and hope. Every day, including now.”

The Jewish state provides a stable home for Jews, who no longer must depend on others for mercy, said Herzog. He added that the evil of the Nazis and the Holocaust was unique.

“Even in the grips of ferocious disagreements about fate, about destiny, about faith, about values, we must be careful to avoid any comparisons, any equivalences—not

with the Holocaust and not with the Nazis,” he warned.

“At the high point of this sacred day, it seems that even the obvious must be stated: for the Nazi monster, opinions within our nation made not the slightest difference,” he added. “None of the ideologies, beliefs or ways of life—none of the differences or varieties within our people—bore any meaning.”

‘You chose life. You believed in good. You helped others,’ Netanyahu tells survivors

A Hungarian Jew, whose whole family was killed in the Holocaust, was sent to various concentration camps. At Mauthausen in Austria, an SS officer would wake him and other prisoners up every day. “‘You dream of Jerusalem?’ the officer would yell at them. ‘You will never get to see Jerusalem. You will only see Jerusalem only through chimneys of the furnaces,’ ” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But the Jewish man never gave up, survived the Holocaust and moved to Israel. He didn’t live in Jerusalem, but he never forgot that city. He started a large family, and as an older man, began working at the Western Wall (Kotel), as Netanyahu told it, speaking at the state opening ceremony for Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day 2023 at Yad Vashem on April 17.

“That was the greatest victory over the Nazis,” Netanyahu said. Working every day at the Kotel, the man, who passed away at 95 a year-and-a-half ago, felt there was a great turn from Holocaust to rebirth and resurrection.

“A true symbol of our triumph over our enemies,” said Netanyahu.

The scars of the pain of the Holocaust remain forever, he continued. But he also said to the survivors: “You chose life. You believed in good. You helped others.” Many started large families, he noted.

“The height of this victory is the independence of our 75-year-old country. Israel is a vibrant, free, democratic country, with so many achievements,” he said.

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!

I just found this newsreel of Jerusalem that was created in May, 1967. Here is the section showing the Temple Mount being visited by some dignitaries, and the empty Western Wall.

Notice that even then, the large number of weeds outside the Dome of the Rock, indicating that there were never big crowds there as there are today under Jewish sovereignty.

And then there is the Kotel, with its narrow sidewalk in front of it, completely empty. That is the "status quo" that Palestinians want to return to.

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!