Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, June 18, 2023

Once again, @AmnestyUK lies about Israel

Amnesty-UK has embarked on what I believe is at least its fourth campaign to get the UK to ban any Israeli goods from communities across the Green Line.

As far as I can tell, Israel is the only country in the world whose consumer products are targeted for boycotting by Amnesty branches.

The current campaign makes claims that are simply false:

Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria have either been built on empty areas that hadn't had any Arab residents or they were built where Jews lived before 1948 (Gush Etzion and parts of Jerusalem and Hebron.)

Israel haters love to paint a picture of Israel depopulating Palestinian communities in the West Bank and replacing them with Jewish communities - and it is simply a lie.

I tweeted Amnesty-UK asking for a list of these communities - certainly, someone must have made such a list like there are lists of communities that Arabs fled from in 1948. But no one has been able to provide the name of even one.

Because it is a lie. And the "human rights" community is not bothered by lies as long as they are lies that demonize Jews.

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

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06/17 Links: Joe Biden’s UNESCO fiasco; What George Soros's succession plan means for America; Michigan man arrested for planning mass attack on synagogue

From Ian:

Joe Biden’s UNESCO fiasco

UNESCO passes more scandalous anti-Israel resolutions
What is particularly galling about this move is that just last month, UNESCO once again passed a series of scandalous anti-Israel resolutions at the 216th session of its executive board in Paris, which was held from May 10 to 24.

Take, for example, Item 33 of the UNESCO board’s agenda, which is titled “Occupied Palestine” and reads like it was formulated by the worst of Israel’s foes.

In a subsection about Jerusalem, the Jewish state is described as the “Occupying Power” over the city, and the board’s members declare that Israel’s Basic Law on Jerusalem, which established the city as our united capital, is “null and void and must be rescinded forthwith.”

Another subsection declares that both Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, where the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Jewish people are buried, are “Palestinian sites” which are under Israeli occupation.

This is so patently offensive and insulting to Jewish belief that it borders on outright antisemitism.

Denying the Jewishness of our ancestors is nothing less than a direct assault on the very foundations of the Jewish people, and UNESCO deserves to be shunned for it, not embraced.

Regarding Gaza, the UNESCO board criticized “Israeli army violations” in the area, while failing to mention Hamas and Islamic Jihad or their habit of firing thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians. And it also bemoaned the situation on the “Occupied Syrian Golan.”

If this is what UNESCO’s director-general had in mind when she said that she had managed to “reduce political tensions and find consensus on the most sensitive topics, such as the Middle East,” then I would hate to see what a flare-up might look like.

THE FACT of the matter is that UNESCO and its obscene anti-Israel bias has not changed one whit.

As the Palestinian news agency WAFA gleefully reported on May 19, “For the first time, a symposium marking the 75th anniversary of the Nakba was hosted at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO’s) Headquarters in Paris.”

In other words, an organization ostensibly devoted to promoting the benefits of knowledge and culture instead played host to an event mourning the establishment of the State of Israel.

These outrageous positions are in line with UNESCO’s long-standing hostility toward Jewish history and memory.

Rep. Mark Green: Rejoining UNESCO ‘undermines’ US-Israel relationship

Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) told JNS that the United States must continue to stand with its ally Israel, which rejoining UNESCO undercuts.

“The Biden administration’s decision to rejoin UNESCO undermines this important alliance because of UNESCO’s history of passing anti-Israel resolutions, including one identifying Israel as ‘the occupying power’ in Jerusalem,” Green said. “Any organization that doesn’t treat Israel as a legitimate and contributing nation does not deserve U.S. support or participation.”

At a time when Washington ought to be cutting spending, Americans should be “furious” that the Biden administration is paying hundreds of millions of dollars to UNESCO, according to Green, a member of the House Republican Israel Caucus.

“The U.S. will likely return to becoming its largest funder. This is a bad use of taxpayer dollars, to say the least,” he said. “UNESCO made its stance on Israel clear. By rejoining this organization, the Biden administration is turning its back on our friend and ally.”

It had previously been illegal under U.S. law for Washington to fund any U.N. entity that bestows full membership on entities lacking “internationally recognized attributes” of statehood. In 2011, the Obama administration stopped funding UNESCO after it welcomed Palestine as a member, and in 2018, the Trump administration exited UNESCO altogether, and Israel followed thereafter.

06/16 Links Pt2: Melanie Phillips: Challenging the BBC on Israel; Extensive report details decades of antisemitism at CAIR; Israel’s World Cup Cinderella story

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: Challenging the BBC on Israel

For decades, the Western media has acted as a malevolent echo chamber for demonization of Israel. Channeling Palestinian Arab propaganda as if it were fact, the media has twisted the Western mind, inciting it to hate Israel and give Israel’s Palestinian Arab persecutors a free pass. The impact of this cannot be exaggerated.

Of all media outlets, the BBC is the most important, because it serves as the global standard of fairness, objectivity and accuracy.

At least, that’s the BBC’s historic reputation. In Britain, conservatives regularly criticize it for its leftist bias. Arguably, however, the BBC’s coverage of Israel has caused the most lethal harm.

Over the years, the BBC has broadcast and disseminated through its influential website Palestinian Arab distortions and lies, including incendiary and emotive footage that is sometimes no more than “Pallywood” fiction. It fails to report most attacks on Israelis while, at the same time, unforgivably presenting Israeli military actions to stop these attacks as if Israel were the aggressor and the Palestinian Arabs its hapless victims.

There is no other country, cause or people that the BBC misrepresents so obsessively. The outlet’s egregious bias has been painstakingly charted by media watchdogs such as CAMERA UK.

Until very recently, however, the BBC could ignore such criticisms because of the general public silence of both Britain’s Jewish community leaders and Israeli politicians about its routine distortions.

This has recently begun to change. Member of Knesset Ohad Tal (Religious Zionism), chairman of the Knesset’s Public Enterprises Committee, has waded in. In a letter to the BBC’s Director-General Tim Davie, Tal accused the corporation of “inadvertently fanning terrorism” by parroting false claims used by Palestinian Arab terrorist groups to justify their attacks.

Pointing out that such groups regularly claim that their murders of Israeli civilians are a justified response to Israel’s “crimes of the occupation,” Tal listed 11 instances of similar claims broadcast by the BBC since last November alone—sometimes two in a single day.

This incessant messaging that Jewish “settlements” in Judea and Samaria are illegal appears so often in BBC items, said Tal, because the BBC’s guidance for its journalists states: “When writing a story about settlements, BBC journalists can aim, where relevant, to include context to the effect that ‘all settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.’ ”

Yet at the same time, the BBC’s guidelines assert, “We should not use the term ‘terrorist’ without attribution, using words instead such as ‘insurgent’ and ‘militant.’ ”

Caroline Glick: Trump, Netanyahu and the renaissance of Soviet apparatchiks

Netanyahu’s supporters have expressed great anger and frustration at the prime minister and his colleagues on the political right for their failure to date to restore the rule of law through legal reform, or to either privatize state media that receive automatic public funding and are politically driven or support alternative media outlets with the same largesse.

But the real criticism has to be directed at the left. The same people falsely claiming to be fighting for “democracy” by seeking to overthrow the democratically elected Netanyahu government and block its ability to govern through demonization, media-instigated panic and mob violence, hate democracy. They know they are the minority of Israel’s citizens and under their “Democracy” banners they demand unlimited power for anti-democratic institutions of government—the state prosecution, the Supreme Court and the senior government officials in every government ministry who think it ought to be illegal for elected ministers to oppose their policy preferences.

Opposition leaders have a personal interest in maintaining these institutions’ power. Consider Stateliness Party leader Benny Gantz. Gantz dedicated his party to blocking the government from asserting its command power over the IDF General Staff or limiting in any way the powers of the Supreme Court and the state prosecution.

Gantz’s company, the Fifth Dimension, was suspected of corrupt business practices and security breaches for, among other things, its alleged effort to sell spyware to Qatar—an enemy state—allegedly without receiving export licenses from the Defense Ministry. The investigation of the Fifth Dimension was buried by the Competition Authority and never subjected to police scrutiny.

The Democrats and Israeli leftists who have been demonizing Trump as a traitor and Netanyahu as a crook since 2016 are happy with the media’s corruption. They see no flaw in the behavior of their criminal justice and legal systems. Neither sector believes that maintaining the rule of law is the responsibility of the legal system nor believes that providing accurate reporting on current events is the job of the media.

Russia never became a liberal democracy. It moved from a totalitarian Communist regime to an authoritarian kleptocracy under Boris Yeltsin to a neo-czarist dictatorship under Vladimir Putin. As for the Free World, its liberal patriots morphed into progressive post-nationalist authoritarians smitten by political correctness and convinced that all ideological foes deserve to be canceled and criminalized. In other words, they became Soviet apparatchiks.

Whether or not Netanyahu and his colleagues in Israel—and Trump and his colleagues in America—succeed in their efforts to restore the rule of law and end the news commissars’ chokehold on information, as long as the progressives continue down their current path, we will remain in perpetual danger of giving the Soviet Union an ultimate victory over the Free World.

David Singer: Google ends UN's burying Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution

Google has ended the United Nations (UN) continuing effort to ignore the existence of the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution (HKOPS) as an alternative solution to replace the failed UN two-state solution contained in UN Security Council Resolution 2334 passed on 23 December 2016 (UNSCR 2334).

A Google search of “Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine” reveals the following information - available since 8 June:

HKOPS has been amended – requiring the above entry’s following correction:
“This proposed enlarged kingdom would include present-day Jordan, Gaza, and the 'West Bank' (areas inhabited by Palestinians that border Jordan, i.e not divided into islands)”

HKOPS challenges the current solution - UNSCR 2334 - being unsuccessfully pursued by the United Nations urging:
“the intensification and acceleration of international and regional diplomatic efforts and support aimed at achieving, without delay a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East on the basis of the relevant United Nations resolutions, the Madrid terms of reference, including the principle of land for peace, the Arab Peace Initiative and the Quartet Roadmap and an end to the Israeli occupation that began in 1967; and underscores in this regard the importance of the ongoing efforts to advance the Arab Peace Initiative, the initiative of France for the convening of an international peace conference, the recent efforts of the Quartet, as well as the efforts of Egypt and the Russian Federation;”

After seven years of such intensive international and regional diplomatic efforts – the UN has achieved nothing. The conflict continues to intensify and the threat of a looming humanitarian crisis of major proportions continues to become more likely if the conflict is not resolved.

Hezbollah news site: Jews are lice

Today's antisemitism that couldn't possibly be antisemitism comes from Lebanon's Al Mayadeen, a Hezbollah linked site.

It is a recollection of a Palestinian in Lebanon of what his teacher had taught him about leaving Palestine in 1948.

He pressed the arms of the razor: "With this we will deal with lice...how? We shave our hair to nothing, and with this, young men, we prevent lice from hiding among the hair because we shaved them."

A boy sitting on a stone either side raised his finger and asked, "And the fleas, Professor?"

"Lice and fleas feed on our blood, and our blood is weak because we eat food that does not satisfy us. I mean, lice suck our blood, I mean, they don't care if we die, and so they do what the Jews did to us, who expelled us from our villages and homes and threw us under tents due to cold, hunger, and lice."

- "These days, the days of hunger, lice, and living under tents will pass, and you will grow old and fight and liberate our villages and cities. We will be victorious over lice and those who occupy our villages and cities."

* I am Rashad Abu Shawer...we have grown up with heads full of certainty of the inevitability of liberating all the villages and cities of Palestine, just as Mr. Ahmed Al-Ajouri liberated our heads from lice.....

Comparing Jews to lice? Why would anyone think that this has anything to do with Jews?

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

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Site of future Russian embassy branch

The Jerusalem Post reports:

Russia plans to open a branch of its embassy in Jerusalem, in exchange for acknowledging the boundaries of Moscow’s historic and present ownership of the plot of land on which the office will be built, the sides announced on Friday.

The “branch office of the Consular Section of the Russian Embassy in Israel,” as the embassy calls it, will be opened on the corner of King George and Ma’alot streets in downtown Jerusalem, where a parking lot is currently located, after Russia and the Jerusalem Municipality, in cooperation with the Foreign Ministry, signed an agreement clarifying the boundaries of the plot.

The Foreign Ministry said that the building complex will include a residence for Russian diplomats and a conference hall, which makes it more than a regular consulate.

While it isn't a full embassy, it is nearly as significant as an embassy would be. The Russian diplomatic building would appear to violate the 1980 United Nations Security Council Resolution 478, which called for "Those States that have established diplomatic missions at Jerusalem to withdraw such missions from the Holy City;"

It will be recalled that at the same time the world was freaking out over the US Embassy moving to Jerusalem and recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Russia said that it recognized West Jerusalem as Israel's capital as well. Yet there was practically no negative response to Russia's announcement at the time.

We can probably expect the same muted response from the Palestinian Authority now.

The Arabi21 site reached out to the PA Foreign Ministry for comment, and they punted, saying they are checking the story, "in order to verify its authenticity, because we do not base our positions on what is published in the Hebrew media."

Since then, I see nothing about this announcement on the official Palestinian news sites.

In short, no one wants to upset Russia. Attacking the US is not only accepted but almost mandatory.

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!

06/16 Links Pt1: Pittsburgh synagogue shooter found guilty of murdering 11; Biden's (Iran) Deal That Dare Not Speak Its Name; Uyghurs Condemn Palestinian 'Support for Genocide'

From Ian:

Pittsburgh synagogue shooter found guilty of killing 11 in the deadliest attack on Jews in US history

A truck driver who expressed hated of Jews was convicted Friday of barging into a Pittsburgh synagogue and shooting everyone he could find, killing 11 congregants in an act of antisemitic terror for which he could be sentenced to die.

The guilty verdict was a foregone conclusion after Robert Bowers' own lawyers conceded at the trial's outset that he attacked and killed worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018, in the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history. Jurors must now decide whether the 50-year-old should be sent to death row or sentenced to life in prison without parole as the federal trial shifts to a penalty phase expected to last several weeks.

Bowers was tried on 63 criminal counts, including hate crimes resulting in death and obstruction of the free exercise of religion resulting in death. His attorneys had offered a guilty plea in return for a life sentence, but prosecutors refused, opting instead to take the case to trial and pursue the death penalty. Most of the victims' families expressed support for the decision.

Bowers turned a sacred house of worship into a "hunting ground," targeting his victims because of their religion, a prosecutor told jurors on Thursday. Reading the names of each of the 11 victims he killed, prosecutor Mary Hahn asked the jury to "hold this defendant accountable ... and hold him accountable for those who cannot testify."

Bowers, who was armed with an AR-15 rifle and other weapons, also shot and wounded seven, including five responding police officers.

Prosecutors presented evidence of his deep-seated animosity toward Jews and immigrants. Over 11 days of testimony, jurors learned that Bowers had extensively posted, shared or liked antisemitic and white supremacist content on Gab, a social media platform popular with the far right, and praised Hitler and the Holocaust. Bowers told police that "all these Jews need to die," Hahn said.

Survivors testified about the terror they felt that day, including a woman who recounted how she was shot in the arm and then realized her 97-year-old-mother had been shot and killed right next to her. Andrea Wedner, the trial's last witness, told jurors she touched her mother's lifeless body and cried out, "Mommy," before SWAT officers led her to safety.

With Bowers' guilt established, survivors and family members of the deceased victims are expected to tell the jury about the devastating impact of his crimes. The penalty phase is scheduled to start next week.

Biden's (Iran) Deal That Dare Not Speak Its Name

This deal that dare not speak its name will have no force. It will rely entirely on the goodwill of the 84-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a grizzled trickster and ally of Vladimir Putin. The New York Times reports that Khamenei has authorized the deal because it leaves Iran’s nuclear infrastructure in place. The second Biden begins to doubt the wisdom of paying further ransom money, Khamenei will start spinning his centrifuges once more. And if paramilitaries controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fire mortars on Americans—well, he could say the bloodshed came from militants over whom he exercises no control.

Notice that the deal-that-is-no-deal says nothing about Iran’s deadliest proxy, Hezbollah, or about Iran’s drone traffic. This omission is consistent with Biden’s nasty habit of selling out America’s allies whether it be the democratic government of Afghanistan, the peoples of Lebanon, Syria, and, of course, Israel, or the Ukrainians resisting Russian occupation. Biden’s bribe—what Richard Goldberg of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies calls Biden’s "pay and pray" strategy of fueling the Iranian terror machine in the hope that it doesn’t go nuclear—is limited in scope, bereft of accountability, brazenly desperate, and lacking in strategic purpose. Its aims are political.

Biden wants to keep the Middle East quiet ahead of Election Day 2024. That is why his support for the Iranian rebellion was merely gestural. Why he allowed these talks in Oman to continue despite Iran’s assistance to Russia. Why his government welcomed the détente between Saudi Arabia and Iran that China brokered in April. And why he has submitted to the humiliation of paying off rogues for promises of good behavior in a few select areas.

This is partly a story of diminished diplomatic expectations. Biden’s old boss, Barack Obama, dreamed of subletting the Greater Middle East to Iran. Now Biden is left paying the bully to leave him alone. It is also another entry in the saga of Joe Biden’s incompetence. In his rare discussions of foreign policy, President Biden has portrayed international relations as a struggle between democracy and authoritarianism. I am inclined to agree with him. Then I look at his actions—where he has an awful tendency to give the authoritarians the upper hand.

Appeasing Iran does nothing to further the cause of democracy. Nor does attempting détente with a China that has grown in belligerence since the spy balloon incident earlier this year. Nor does slow-walking weapons deliveries to Ukraine while hemming and hawing over Ukraine’s future in NATO. If Joe Biden wanted to preserve and promote democracy abroad, he would do more than give the occasional speech on the subject. He would mobilize hard power to confront authoritarians and deter them from hostile acts.

Biden has made a career out of misjudgment. This sure-to-fail bargain with Iran is another entry in a depressing catalogue.

Israel must oppose the Iran understandings with all it's got

The Biden administration's only goal is to achieve calm through the November 2024 presidential elections. The understandings will stop all action against Iran's nuclear program, based on the mistaken assumption that it would put the nuclear issue "back into a box." Jake Sullivan and now Barbara Leaf, both high-ranking White House officials, have already stated this belief. The understandings will also make it very difficult for Israel to attack alone if it concludes that the time has come. It is true that under the "understandings" it will be a little easier to attack than under an agreement, but it is still going to be very difficult.

In the background, the Iranians continue with their attacks on American interests in the Gulf and in the Middle East; violate human rights and kill women and girls in Iran; continue lending massive support to Russia; and transfer advanced weapons that help kill Ukrainian women and girls.

Instead of reaching those flawed understandings with Iran, it would be better for the US to trigger the snapback mechanism that would reinstate all canceled Security Council sanctions – including a total ban on uranium enrichment – before this mechanism expires in 2025. Such action would hollow out the Saudi desire to seek legitimacy for an independent nuclear fuel cycle.

The agreement will once again come with a heavy price for Israel, so Israel must act against it loudly and in one voice. This critical issue must not be drowned out by the noise of political debates or be compromised by the desire to reach a Saudi deal.

Iran is trying to draw Israel into a multi-theater conflagration while staying out of direct confrontation for the time being. Israel must continue to improve its military capabilities while at the same time send a clear message against the understandings being formulated. Every hint that there is anything to talk about will convey that Israel is weak – like the US – and cannot be trusted. The message will reach our friends in the Gulf, those who have signed agreements with us, and those who may sign in the future – but only if Israel will remain strong against the Iranian threats.

Iran deal contours contain only nuclear negatives. Let us explore what's been reported thus far??

1) Political commitment only from Iran, not technical restrictions, on not enriching to 90%, which is days away now. Timeline might remain days to weapons-grade uranium for… https://t.co/KgKyoV7L0k
— Andrea Stricker (@StrickerNonpro) June 15, 2023

FDD: Don’t Stop Digging Into Iran’s Nuclear Secrets

There is no justification for the IAEA’s decision to stop any unsolved investigation instead of declaring Iran in breach of its most fundamental obligations as a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and referring it to the UN Security Council for further consequences.

And yet that’s exactly what’s happening. Why?

Rafael Grossi spent years building a reputation as a maverick and he has pressed Iran for answers since his first election in late 2019. But Grossi’s power largely depends on his board’s support. If Washington and its allies were so inclined, they could pass a resolution declaring Iran in non-compliance with the NPT and refer Iran to the Security Council.

Instead, for two and a half years, the Biden administration expressed interest in negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran. At the moment, it is reportedly moving to pay Iran to keep its enrichment below weapons-grade.

Accordingly, Iran has recognized it can push the IAEA around. Tehran has responded to IAEA requests by incrementally closing off the agency’s access and verification at known nuclear-connected sites — withholding video recordings at enrichment plants, removing cameras, harassing inspectors, and accelerating enrichment to ever-higher levels. And late last year, Iran declared the IAEA’s investigations into undeclared sites to be a stumbling block to any deal with Washington.

Grossi has been diligent and independent by the standards of IAEA director generals. But he has no answer to the pivotal question, “Or else what?” In the absence of firm US and allied support, Grossi appears resigned to follow the path of least resistance.

Still, all hope is not lost. The IAEA still has open safeguards investigations related to two secret sites in Iran where nuclear material was discovered. And Grossi was careful not to declare now-stalled investigations officially closed. Indeed, his reports are filled with indictments of Iran’s undeclared nuclear weapons work and its NPT violations. This gives an opening for Congress and presidential candidates to publicly declare their intent to hold Iran accountable for all undeclared sites and materials whenever control of the White House next shifts, or for the Biden administration to recognize its error and change course.

Abraham Accords a boon to Israeli defense industry

Reuters reports:

Israel exported a record $12.556 billion in defence products last year, with new Arab partners under the U.S.-sponsored 2020 Abraham Accords accounting for almost a quarter of the business, the Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.

It said the 2022 figures marked a 50% increase over the previous three years and a doubling in volume over the previous decade. Drones accounted for 25% of the 2022 exports and missiles, rockets or air defence systems for 19%, it said.

Without naming specific clients, the ministry said 24% of defence exports were to Abraham Accords countries. United Arab Emirates and Bahrain were signatories to those accords, and Israel often counts Morocco and Sudan as part of them as well.

Asia and the Pacific accounted for 30% of Israeli defence exports, Europe for 29% and North America for 11%, it said.

Charts released by Israel's Defense Ministry indicate that while sales have been increasing steadily throughout the years, the Abraham Accords partners have fueled the large rise in 2022.

2023 looks to be even better, as Germany is signing a $4.3 billion agreement to buy Israeli Arrow-3 missile defense systems - a higher amount than all of Europe purchased from Israel in 2022 - and the Russia/Ukraine war is making many European nations nervous.

It looks like the UAE accounts for most of the arms sales to Arab countries, although Morocco also is buying Israeli defense tech.

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!

On June 6, Iran announced that it had developed a hypersonic missile capable of speeds up to Mach-15, called the Fattah.

It made quite clear that the main target of the missile is Israeli civilians.

Throughout Tehran, banners appeared with a mock-up of the weapon and the words "400 seconds to Tel Aviv" in Farsi and Hebrew.

Even with this announcement and explicit threat against Israel, the US has been negotiating with Iran to come up with an "informal, unwritten" agreement that would be worth exactly the nonexistent paper it is written on. The only US response to the Fattah announcement was to sanction some Chinese and Hong Kong suppliers of technology to Iran.

While the news, if true, is troubling, the timing couldn't have come at a better time for Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, who created Iron Dome and David's Sling anti-missile systems. It announced this week it was building a defense for the hypersonic missiles that Iran claimed were impossible to defend against.

From Airforce Technology:

On 14 June Israeli defence company Rafael Advanced Defence Systems announced the development of a breakthrough interceptor called “Sky Sonic,” a defensive measure against the increasing danger posed by hypersonic missiles.

The system is set to be unveiled at the upcoming Paris Air Show, a premier event in the aerospace industry.

Rafael describe Sky Sonic interceptor a “major technological leap in hypersonic missile defence,” crediting its manoeuvrability and speed capabilities for its ability to neutralise hypersonic missiles – that can travel ten times faster than the speed of sound – with unmatched precision and stealth.

In recent years, the danger posed by hypersonic missiles has intensified, prompting the need for preemptive actions to protect national security. This family of weapons includes hypersonic atmospheric cruise missiles, gliders, and cruisers that are capable of travelling at extraordinary speeds, all while maintaining remarkable accuracy and manoeuvrability. Hypersonic missiles possess the unique capability to alter their trajectory during flight, a feature that sets them apart from ballistic missiles.

One of the primary obstacles to creating a complete defensive strategy against hypersonic threats is the difficulty in detecting and tracking these threats, which requires a well-coordinated sensor system that can precisely pinpoint and track the threat’s movement throughout its entire trajectory.

Accurate trajectory prediction requires an interceptor that can quickly reach the target, reducing uncertainty related to the target’s location. The interceptor, in order to effectively pursue and neutralise the hypersonic threat, must display remarkable manoeuvrability and operate on a non-ballistic trajectory.

Rafael is known for its contributions in developing advanced air defence systems including the “Iron Dome,” “David’s Sling,” and the state-of-the-art “Iron Beam” laser-based system, that are in high-demand by international customers and well regarded for their efficacy.

Defending against hypersonic missiles is difficult, but not impossible. The Rafael video is light on details but they do have an impressive track record.

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

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The 1948 Arab peace plan: First destroy Israel, then we'll talk

From AP/Palestine Post, June 17, 1948:

This is exactly what the Palestinian leaders have been proposing as well, many decades later. They just couch the destruction of the Jewish state in terms of "right to return" and releasing thousands of terrorists from prison, two of the unwavering demands by the Palestinian Authority leadership since 2000.

The intent has not changed one bit since 1948: their aim remains to abolish the Jewish state. They just learned that if they call the planned ethnic cleansing of Jews from the region "human rights" then they can attract many latent "progressive" antisemites to their position.

Notice there is no hint of compromise for peace.

Also note that they don't say that they want an Arab state there, or anything about the "rights of Palestinians." The number one demand is no Israel, and everything else is secondary.

Those haven't changed in 75 years, either.

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

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06/15 Links Pt2: Amnesty's New Israel Report Goes to War with Reality; The UN and WHO Seek to Blame Israel Above All Others; The shocking truth about Wikipedia’s Holocaust disinformation

From Ian:

Amnesty's New Israel Report Goes to War with Reality

The report singles out three IDF airstrikes that targeted three PIJ commanders who were hiding in densely populated civilian areas. One strike targeted an apartment in a two-story building. Amnesty decries that this attack killed two teenage girls living in a neighboring apartment. With dripping disdain, the report observes that the IDF used a GBU-39 bomb in the strike, a weapon "exported to Israel from the United States."

To be clear, the loss of those innocent girls is a tragedy. As are the losses of other innocent Palestinians and Israelis. It's why a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should continue to drive U.S. foreign policy. It's also true that the IDF ground forces have, on occasion, exploited their rules of engagement at excessive cost to civilians. Still, a few other points are also highly relevant here.

For one, why is it bad that the U.S. exported the GBU-39 to a close ally? That bomb is especially designed, after all, to limit collateral damage by focusing energy on a limited target radius (hence why Israel likes using it in Gaza — to mitigate risks to civilians). Israel could easily use larger weapons, which offer a higher confidence in mission success. It does not do so because more civilians would be put at more risk.

Second, why does Amnesty excuse PIJ commanders for hiding among civilians? No Israeli military officer would have such callous disregard for their fellow citizens as to hide among civilians. In contrast, PIJ commanders hide among civilians very deliberately, hoping Israeli fears of civilian casualties will deter an attack upon them. In the worst case, these commanders take solace that their death will likely join that of civilians, thus jeopardizing Israel's international standing.

The basic point here is that Amnesty isn't interested in covering this conflict seriously. We learn as much with the report's partisan conclusion. We're told that the "root cause of this unspeakable violence is Israel’s system of apartheid."

Actually, it's the PIJ's desire to push Israelis into the Mediterranean Sea.

The UN and WHO Seek to Blame Israel Above All Others

After years of Chinese influence peddling in the organization and years of obfuscation by Beijing over COVID virus origins, at the end of May, China’s sometimes-partner North Korea was elected to the Board of the WHO in a term that lasts until 2026. North Korea joins Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen among others on a board that will determine the organization’s agenda and policy prescriptions, and how to spend the organization’s $2.1 billion annual budget, about $700 million of which comes from the US.

Right on cue, according to UN Watch, “The 76th World Health Assembly held a special debate on May 24 to single out Israel, which was condemned by Iran, Syria, North Korea, Russia, Venezuela and Cuba for allegedly violating the ‘health rights of Palestinians and the Druze population in the Golan Heights.’”

How is WHO managing the “health rights” of Syrians affected by chemical attack or Uyghurs in Chinese prison camps or Afghan women or Sudanese, Tigrayans, Ethiopians, or Nigerians affected by civil wars or militia attacks? And how bad off are the Palestinians?

In terms of life expectancy, at 74.5 years, the Palestinians are above the world average of 71 years. On a graph, from 1960-65, prior to Israel’s acquisition of the West Bank and Gaza territories, the UN estimated Palestinian life expectancy at 48.7 years for both. It was 68 years in 1990. In 2010, it was 70.9 years in the West Bank and 69.9 in Gaza. (Note that women in all cases live longer on average than men.) Regarding infant mortality rates in the West Bank and Gaza, in 1975, it was 72.8 deaths per 1,000 live births. In 2002, it was 23.9. In 2021, 12.8 per 1,000 live births. (Gaza infant mortality has inched up since Israel’s departure from the Strip.)

When countries with no obligations — financial, moral or other — get together to denounce countries on a different and better trajectory, the United States should reconsider its financial and political support. Proportionate responsibility for determining the spending of proportionate contributions should be a minimal American criterion for remaining in a universal club with no rules.

Is it really antisemitic to criticise George Soros?

It’s no secret that Soros has given some $40 million to left-wing candidates in district attorney races across the country: he explained his campaign to reshape the judiciary and criminal sentencing in the Wall Street Journal.

His candidates are unanimously committed to less law enforcement and reduced jail sentences. Seventy-five of them won their midterm races. The results, a demonstrable increase in both petty and serious crime, are deeply unpopular with the taxpaying, law-abiding majority.

Again, Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, recently suggested that it was antisemitic to mention that Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney prosecuting Donald Trump’s alleged hush money payments to the porn actress Stormy Daniels, had received Soros donations.

But there is no doubt that Bragg received Soros’s money. Meanwhile, Weingarten has repeatedly alleged undue influence by the Koch brothers, libertarians who mostly donate to the right.

The taboo on criticising Soros has become so entrenched in mainstream media that the conservative lawyer and Newsweek editor-at-large Josh Hammer and the ex-prosecutor Will Scharf have launched a group called Jews Against Soros.

“We are Jews who have had enough of George Soros and his malign, leftist influence on American politics,” Jews Against Soros’s mission statement reads.

“We are Jews who are also sick and tired of the Left accusing anyone who criticises Soros of being antisemitic … Leftism isn’t Judaism, and being anti-leftist is not the same as being antisemitic. Period.”

This week, in a victory for nepo babies everywhere, Soros handed control of his $25 billion empire to his son Alexander. In a CNN op-ed this month, Alexander claimed that “charges of antisemitism” are used “as a weapon meant to stifle debate” about Israel.

The same principle should apply to George and Alexander Soros’s political donations, in the US or anywhere else.

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Hot-Dog-Suit-Wearing Biden Vows To Investigate US Funding Source For Antisemitic Palestinian Curricula (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

Washington, June 15 - The President of the United States donned a frankfurter costume today and declared his administration's determination to figure out who continually provides hundreds of millions of dollars to an organization that exists to keep millions of Palestinians stateless, radicalized, opposed to coexistence with Israel, and raised generation after generation to view violence as the only proper solution to their plight.

"We're all trying to find the guy who did this," vowed Joseph R. Biden to all those present in the Oval Office for an update meeting on his decision to fund the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, which provides employment, food, education, and social services for the descendants of Arabs who fled, mostly before Jewish fighter showed up, the British Mandate of Palestine when the establishment of a Jewish state there was imminent. Repeated studies have found that the organization uses educational public awareness materials that deny the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel, deny Jewish origins in the land, foment violence, and cultivate a zero-sum view of the conflict with Israel as resolvable only through total destruction of the Jewish State.

"As soon as we have any leads, we will be sure to let the American people know," assured Biden. "I personally guarantee that not one more cent of American taxpayer dollars will go toward incitement."

UNRWA uses a different definition of "refugee" from the other UN body - the High Commission for Refugees - that handles all other refugees from violent conflicts around the world, and it gives those "Palestine Refugees" different treatment from standard refugee treatment: the UN strives to resettle refugees in other countries where they attain citizenship and start over, whereas Palestine Refugees are kept in perpetual statelessness, often facing Apartheid in their host countries, until "resolution" of their situation. Refugees are no longer refugees once the UN resettles them; Palestine Refugees cannot be removed from the rosters. Refugees cannot, except under rare circumstances, bequeath refugee status to their offspring; Palestine Refugees and all their descendants in perpetuity gain that status at birth - meaning that each year, the number of Palestine Refugees continues to balloon.

That ballooning requires ballooning budgetary support, which in large part comes from the US - and Biden swore at today's meeting to identify and track down whichever national government, and whichever branch of that government in charge of foreign policy, keeps making the decision to provide the money that sustains the problematic UNRWA.

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06/15 Links Pt1: Israel's record exports can benefit the world in a time marked by instability; How Israel Lost the Syrian Civil War; U.S. nears unofficial deal with Iran, report

From Ian:

JPost Editorial: Israel's record exports can benefit the world in a time marked by instability

Israel now plays a pivotal role in aiding the defense of European countries. In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many nations have become acutely aware of their vulnerability. Finland has already procured Israel’s David’s Sling system, and Germany is moving forward with acquiring the Arrow-3 system – both developed in collaboration with the United States.

This demonstrates the substantial returns on investment gained from the partnership with Washington. Both countries now benefit immensely from the foreign aid provided by the US to Israel: Israeli companies actively collaborate with the US, working together on research and development and expediting the procurement of key systems that save lives in both nations.

Simultaneously, Israel is making significant progress in the Abraham Accords countries. The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco have emerged as vital partners, accounting for a quarter of Israel’s defense exports. Furthermore, there is a growing recognition in Washington regarding the importance of the accords. Congressional members Ritchie Torres and Mike Lawler have supported legislation to establish a Special Envoy in the State Department, tasked with strengthening and expanding the Abraham Accords.

Israel’s defense ties and exports serve as a critical component of its strategic relationships, not only with Gulf states but also with countries like India and Azerbaijan. Our growing relationship with Germany is also bolstered by unique trade opportunities. Israel has recently acquired new Sa’ar 6-class corvette warships from Germany, essential for protecting its Exclusive Economic Zone and the German air force bought electronic warfare systems from Elbit this week, enhancing the partnership.

The Defense Ministry notes that geopolitical changes occurring in Europe and Asia, alongside the Abraham Accords, have generated significant demand for the Jewish state’s cutting-edge systems. We now understand that the years Israel endured an acute necessity for the systems it developed will now benefit the world during a period marked by instability and global transformation.

Israel plans first-ever sale of flagship Merkava tank to European country

Israel is in talks to sell its Merkava tank to two countries, one of them in Europe, in what would be the first export of the flagship fighting vehicle, a Defense Ministry official said on Thursday.

Introduced after Israel's armored corps suffered heavy losses against Egypt and Syria in a 1973 war, and with a view to reducing reliance on foreign arms supplies, the Merkava - biblical Hebrew for "chariot" - is now in its fourth generation.

Israel exporting surplus systems it had not previously sold abroad
Yair Kulas, head of the Defense Ministry export coordination department SIBAT, said record demand for Israeli products was due in part to countries wanting to replenish their arsenals after providing Ukraine with weapons for its war with Russia.

As a result, he told Calcalist newspaper, Israel was exporting surplus systems it had not previously sold abroad, including earlier-generation Merkavas.

"There are two prospective countries with which we are in advanced negotiations (on a tank sale)," Kulas said. "I am barred from naming them, but one is on the European continent."

Israel has provided Ukraine with humanitarian and diplomatic assistance but not arms, mindful of the need to keep open channels with Moscow given Russia's clout in next-door Syria.

Seth Frantzman: US deploys its F-22 Raptors to Middle East amid Russia tensions

US Central Command deployed its advanced F-22 Raptors to the Middle East, according to a statement released on Wednesday. The F-22 is among the most advanced air superiority fighter jets in the world, but the US has generally not had advanced adversaries to use it against over the last decades.

Recently, F-22s were used to shoot down several flying objects and a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of the US in February. This was the aircraft's first “kill” against a foreign object.

“US Air Force F-22 Raptors deployed to US Central Command's area of responsibility as part of a multifaceted show of US support and capability in the wake of increasingly unsafe and unprofessional behavior by Russian aircraft in the region,” US Central Command said. The statement referenced tensions with Russia.

CENTCOM commander says Russian forces' behavior 'unsafe, unprofessional'
"Russian forces' unsafe and unprofessional behavior is not what we expect from a professional air force. Their regular violation of agreed-upon airspace deconfliction measures increases the risk of escalation or miscalculation," said Gen. Michael Kurilla, commander of US Central Command.

"Alongside our partners and allies, we are committed to improving the security and stability in the region." The F-22s flew from Langley and America says they are here to demonstrate “the US' ability to re-posture forces and deliver overwhelming power at a moment's notice.”

The statement noted that “the F-22's combination of stealth, aerodynamic performance, and mission systems make it the best fifth-generation fighter in the world.”

Waqf says entire purpose of Jews rebuilding Tiferet Yisrael synagogue is to dominate Al Aqsa's dome

There is a new Muslim campaign against the rebuilding of the Tiferet Yisrael synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, destroyed in 1948, that has been going on for many years now.

As we've seen in the past, the main objection is that it would, together with the Hurva, dominate the skyline of Jerusalem - and make the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa domes look less important.

Pride is everything.

From Safa news agency:

Deputy Director of the Islamic Endowments in Jerusalem, Najeh Bakirat, explains that the occupation authorities have conducted many excavations that have extended for many years in the depth of the targeted area to establish the "Jewel of Israel" synagogue in the Old City.

Bakirat added, in an interview with Safa agency, that the occupation deliberately erected a tall and huge building to obscure the vision of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, and it is built on land belonging to the Islamic Waqf.

According to Bakirat, the occupation government and its municipality seek to create a biblical reality in Jerusalem, in order to reduce the Islamic presence in it, and change its true Arab narrative, as it spent millions of shekels to establish this synagogue.

The aim of building the synagogue is, "to create Jewish sites in the heart of the Old City, and to plant domed buildings to prove the existence of an ancient civilization and history of the Jews in Jerusalem and to hide Islamic monuments and antiquities, so that this synagogue would be the second in terms of size and height in the Old City, after the synagogue of destruction (Hurva)," according to Bakirat. .

He confirms that Israel's attempt to build additional synagogues aims to create Jewish holiness, obscure the vision of Al-Aqsa Mosque, close the horizon in front of it, and the public space in the holy city, as well as create a Jewish population in it.

....The synagogue is topped by a dome that aims to distort and mislead, and to simulate the Dome of the Rock and the domes of Al-Aqsa.

In turn, the Jerusalem Governorate warned of the seriousness of what Israel is doing in terms of falsifying the identity of the occupied Arab, Islamic and Christian city, and attempts to impose a new fait accompli on the mental image imprinted for thousands of years in the minds of Arab and international public opinion.

And it warned that "this systematic Judaization of the mental image of Jerusalem is intended, through it, to change the stereotype with which it is known through its religious sanctity among Muslims and Christians, so that there will be a forged Jewish religious landmark, and it will be imposed in the minds of international public opinion."

She pointed out that "Israel is carrying out a brainwashing process for foreign tourists and Jews to impose the Israeli narrative on their brains and minds and change their mental image of Jerusalem, with regard to its history and identity, through tourist guides affiliated with the Israeli Ministry of Tourism and what is distributed to them in terms of forged maps and publications that narrate their false narrative." .

The earliest domes known in Jerusalem go back to the Temple period and pre-date Islam by seven centuries.

This photo shows the Old City before 1948 with the two domes of Tiferet Yisrael and Hurva synagogues.

They were both built under Ottoman rule, so the Muslim rulers weren't very concerned about the skyline then.

Here are some photos of the top of the rebuilt Tiferet Yisrael under construction:

And, yes, because the Jewish Quarter is higher than the Temple Mount, its dome is taller than the Dome of the Rock.

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One of the main arguments that Israel practices "apartheid" against Palestinians is that Arabs in Jerusalem do not get the same quality of municipal services as Jews in Jerusalem - that it is harder for them to get building permits, or that garbage collection is not as consistent as for Jews, or that their rate of poverty is worse than that of Jews in Jerusalem, and other issues.

It's true. And the people most invested in keeping it that way are the Palestinian leaders.

Recent stories about Arab participation in the political process in Jerusalem shows that it isn't the Jews who want Jerusalem Arabs to be second class citizens - but Palestinian and Muslim leaders themselves.

JNS reports:

Inspired by Mansour Abbas, the first member of an independent Arab party to join a governing Israeli coalition, Fatah activists in eastern Jerusalem are throwing their support behind the candidacy of Walid Abu Tiya in the city’s municipal election.

Originally from Nazareth, Abu Tiya, 62, is a lawyer and former Finance Ministry official who has lived in Jerusalem’s southeastern Beit Safafa neighborhood for 44 years.

Jerusalem’s Arab sector has historically boycotted the city’s municipal elections, and no Arab party or individual has ever received enough votes to secure one of the city council’s 31 seats. Historically, Arab participation in local elections has been around 5%.

“…It is becoming clear that the boycott of the elections for the Jerusalem Municipality is a mistake,” said Samer Singilawi, a Fatah activist and chairman of the East Jerusalem Development Fund.

“An Arab list has the power to scoop up 10 mandates and bring about a significant change in the situation in Jerusalem,” said Singilawi. “This is the only way we can get budgets that will allow us to establish projects in the east of the city and improve housing and education for the residents,” he added.

“But in order for us to succeed in making a real change, we need the political power of 10-13 candidates and seats in the city council,” he said.

Abu Tiya is no Zionist. He is Fatah. He wrote an op-ed in Arabic media saying that using Israeli democracy is the only way to force Israel to withdraw from east Jerusalem.

But reactions to his proposed candidacy show who cares about Arab rights in Jerusalem and who opposes them. Palestinian reaction to Abu Tayeb has been to form committees to enforce the Arab boycott of Jerusalem elections:

A group named The National Popular Conference of Jerusalem issued a new call for boycotting elections in the city. The group, dominated by members of the Palestinian ruling faction headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, warned that a vote by Arab residents in the upcoming elections would be considered a “clear breach of the national consensus.”

Similar calls were issued by a number of Palestinian factions and officials in the past few weeks.

The group described the Jerusalem Municipality as “the primary arm of the occupation to carry out settler and Judaization projects in the city” and imposing severe restrictions on the Arab residents to force them to leave.”

The group described the calls [to end the boycott] as “suspicious” and said they aim to show that Israel is a democracy. It warned that anyone who complies with these calls would be acting against the official Palestinian policy that considers Jerusalem as “the eternal capital of the future Palestinian state.”

Today, the Palestinian Supreme Fatwa Council reiterated that it is forbidden to vote in Jerusalem municipal elections or to run as candidates, claiming this is "a clear and explicit violation of Sharia and the national consensus" - because "the municipality is the first arm of the occupation authorities in implementing settlement and Judaization projects in city, restricting the means of living and housing for citizens."

See the logic? If Arabs vote, that shows Israel is a democracy; if Arabs have influence in the municipal government, then their services would improve, and then the anti-Israel crowd would lose one of its rhetorical points about how Israel is an apartheid state.

The Jerusalem Post, which no one can accuse of being anti-Zionist, wrote an editorial supporting Arab participation in Jerusalem elections, admitting that services for the Arab sector are worse than for the Jewish sections of the city and saying that the best way to improve the Arab standard of living in Jerusalem is by having the Arabs become part of the democratic process.

It is clear that the people who want apartheid against Jerusalem Arabs are Palestinian Arab leaders, and the ones who want Arabs to have equal rights are the Jews - along with a minority of Jerusalem Arabs whose lives are directly affected by boycott calls coming from Ramallah.

Of course, we do not see any calls from Amnesty or Human Rights Watch urging Jerusalem Arabs to vote and help improve their own lives. Those groups also profit from the "apartheid" slur and they, like the Palestinian Authority, want to ensure that their "evidence" for such slander remains intact.

They want to hurt Arab human rights in the name of human rights.

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