Tuesday, June 20, 2023

06/20 Links Pt1: An Inquisition, Not an Inquiry; 27 states call out bias of UN's Inquiry; Four dead, four wounded in West Bank gas station shooting attack

From Ian:

An Inquisition, Not an Inquiry
The first interim report, published in May 2022, concludes that “prima facie evidence… convincingly indicates that Israel has no intention of ending the occupation.” It’s an odd assertion to make in light of historical evidence. In all three rounds of final status talks since the Oslo process began (2000-1, 2007-8, 2013-4), Israel made its willingness to withdraw from nearly all occupied territory in exchange for peace public and known, but all three rounds ended with Palestinian rejections of mediated offers for Palestinian statehood, without any real pushback from Arab public opinion or from the various international bodies aligned with the Palestinian cause.

But nowhere is rejection of Israel mentioned in either the reports, the terms of reference, or in any of the hearings. And for a commission so keen to find evidence of “systematic discrimination and repression based on national, ethnic, racial or religious identity,” they are surprisingly silent on antisemitism in the Arab World as a cause, or even an effect, of the conflict. Nothing about the pogroms of Arab masses against Jewish minorities in the first half of the twentieth century, nothing about the Arab attempt to wipe out the Jewish state in 1948 and 1967, nothing about the mass expulsions and ethnic cleansing of Jewish minorities that had lived in the Middle East for millennia in the middle of the twentieth century, and nothing about the decades of violent attacks on Jews and Jewish targets throughout the world in the name of the Palestinian “struggle.” Do any of these things have any bearing on Israel’s actions or on the reasons why Jews in the Middle East feel so strongly that they need a state? The COI won’t ask, the witnesses it calls won’t say, and its reports won’t even mention.

The second mandate isn’t actually a call to investigate the roots of the conflict and the ways to solve it. It is, rather, a denial that there ever was a conflict. Not just a denial of armed action by Arabs against Jews, but a denial of the cause they fought for.

In the intellectual ecosystem of obsessive Israel-hatred, this is why the “apartheid” charge is so crucial — and why the groundwork is already being laid for the next buzzword that will inevitably be thrown at Israel within the coming decade, “genocide.”

The shift from Arab-Israeli conflict­ to Israeli-Palestinian conflict was needed to deny that a tiny minority in the middle east was being attacked by the overwhelming majority, which had mostly succeeded in wiping out that minority’s presence wherever it was unable to defend itself. The shift from Israeli-Palestinian conflict to occupation was needed to deny a conflict at all and thus any kind of reckoning with the actions of both sides rather than just the one that had won most of the wars. If the problem is just the occupation, then the whole issue is just the sin of the Israelis. The shift from occupation to apartheid means that the sin cannot be expiated. It is rather, essential to the existence of Israel. An occupation can end, but if the whole concept of a Jewish state is itself evil, then pathological hatred of it can be maintained and nurtured regardless of what it does.

In this ecosystem, the pathology that animates the Arab war against Jews in the Middle East is both unspoken and implicitly adopted. Obsessive hatred of Israel, the cause for so many pointless wars, is not only given no explanatory power for the Palestinian predicament, it is actually internalized as a normative position of human rights. Israel isn’t conceived of as a state that may do bad things, but rather as an entity whose very existence is an affront to all that is good and righteous in the world.

Sometimes this becomes almost self-parodying. The COI’s report promises that a “gender analysis is being mainstreamed throughout the Commission’s work.” To this end, every few pages there will be a random reference to Israel’s supposed crimes against women.

The non sequiturs about gender are far more revealing and informative than intended. At first glance, they are disjointed, out of context, and sometimes make improbably inferences about the actual parties in the conflict (is Palestinian society really such a feminist paradise in comparison to Israeli society?). But if you are theologically committed to the idea that one people bear the sins of humanity with them, then it is not a great leap attaching whatever the social ill of the day is to that people. Next year’s report on Israeli abuses might include a few random mentions of how the occupation contributes to climate change or racist policing in the West or whatever new issue arises without materially affecting its quality.

This is not nearly as new as it seems.


US leads 27 nations in castigating an anti-Israel UN commission
The United States issued a joint statement Tuesday on behalf of 27 countries, saying they are “deeply concerned” about a United Nations commission accused of bias against Israel and populated with members with histories of antisemitism.

The U.N. Commission of Inquiry investigating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is delivering its latest report to the U.N. Human Rights Council today in Geneva.

The Human Rights Council created the three-person commission in 2021 following an 11-day conflict (“Operation Guardian of the Walls”) between Israel and terrorist groups in Gaza. The commission was given a unique open-ended mandate: It is charged with investigating any Israeli human rights violations both inside and outside the country’s sovereign territory.

Michèle Taylor, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, said in the joint statement that the commission’s mandate, “with no sunset clause, end date, or clear limitations connected to the escalation in May 2021,” led to many of the council’s members expressing “fundamental concerns” when the resolution creating the commission came up for adoption.

“To be clear, no one is above scrutiny and it is this council’s responsibility to promote and protect human rights the world over. We must work to counter impunity and promote accountability on a basis of consistent and universally applied standards,” the statement reads. “We believe the nature of this COI [commission of inquiry] is further demonstration of long-standing, disproportionate attention given to Israel in the council, and must stop.”

The signatories to the joint statement include a diverse geographical group. Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Eswatini, Fiji, Guatemala, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Liberia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, North Macedonia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Togo and the United Kingdom joined Washington in signing on.

That is five more countries than signed on to a previous statement critical of the commission of inquiry and its members.

Disproportionate scrutiny
“We continue to believe that this long-standing disproportionate scrutiny should end, and that the council should address all human rights concerns, regardless of country, in an even-handed manner. Regrettably, we are concerned that the Commission of Inquiry will further contribute to the polarization of a situation about which so many of us are concerned,” Tuesday’s statement concluded.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen issued a statement on Tuesday calling the commission’s latest report “one-sided and false.”

UN Watch: 27 states call out bias of UN's Pillay Commission of Inquiry
“We believe the nature of this Commission of Inquiry is further demonstration of long-standing, disproportionate attention given to Israel in the Council, and must stop.

The Council should address all human rights concerns, regardless of country, in an even-handed manner.

Regrettably, we are concerned that the Commission of Inquiry will further contribute to the polarization of a situation about which so many of us are concerned.”


Palestinian terrorists shoot at journalists, Israel blamed

Haaretz reported about the clashes in Jenin yesterday, and fully accepted the idea that unseen snipers shooting towards the journalists were Israeli and not Palestinian. 

Abu Ahmed, a long-time camp resident, said he had the impression that the army was planning to undertake a large-scale operation in the city and its environs. Residents say that when the presence of Israeli forces was detected, calls went out from muezzins for armed militias to come out and confront them, which ultimately led to the heavy fire that followed. 
“I was in Al-Awdah Square on the edge of the Jenin refugee camp,” said Hafez, a journalist who was covering the raid. “I was in my car. They shot at random while I was photographing the clashes and the Palestinian fighters.” At a certain point, he said, three bullets were fired at his car. “Two of them I heard flying past me, but the third hit the car door on the driver’s side.”

He claims that the shots were not fired at him accidentally. “Our car is a marked journalist’s car and I was wearing a vest identifying me as press.”

Hafez said he was shot at a second time even though he was wearing clothing indicating he was a journalist. “We were about a kilometer away, on Haifa Street, on the road that leads to the Salam army checkpoint. We were eight journalists from the international and Arab media and we came under direct fire from a sniper in one of the buildings,” he recalled. “We were trapped there for 20 minutes and could only leave when it was all over.”

Jasmin – another journalist who was with a colleague of hers who was shot – confirmed the account. “We’re journalists and we were wearing clothing that identified us as such, [even donning] helmets,” she said. “They started shooting at us. We hadn’t done anything, we were only taking pictures. We fled but they kept shooting at us.”

She said that in the area the raid occurred there were no armed Palestinians, “just civilians, children and journalists.” Like Hafez, she said she and her colleagues were fired on “more than once on the same day.”
The journalists are implying that the snipers were Israeli and the story is being reported that way in Arab media. 

The Telegraph has video of journalists taking cover on a rooftop, although some are crouching opposite others, so there is no way to know from which direction the fire is coming. 


There appears to be some play-acting in this video - some journalists taking cover behind a wall while others stand around where they'd be seen by snipers, apparently unconcerned. But the gunfire is real, and the journalists certainly are not in a position to identify the source. 

While they are careful when speaking to The Telegraph not to claim they know the identity of the snipers, being that they are all Palestinian journalists, they of course will blame Israel when speaking to friendlier media. 

What is certain is that trained, professional soldiers do not fire wildly and randomly. They might mistake a target but they fire at targets. The random fire described in the Haaretz article is far more likely from Jenin terrorists, whom we know will fire without even looking at their target.



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Palestinians fire weapons from mosque in Jenin, then complain that "Israel damaged our holy place"




The Palestinian Waqf issued a statement yesterday:

The Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs, Sheikh Hatem Al-Bakri, denounced the Israeli occupation forces’ raid on Al-Assir Mosque in the Al-Jabriyat area, in the vicinity of Jenin camp, on Monday morning. 

Al-Bakri said in a press statement that the occupation forces blew up the door of the mosque, broke all the windows, tampered with the mosque's assets and furniture, and destroyed the devices and speakers. 

He emphasized that this violation of our sanctities and mosques is rejected by heavenly laws and earthly laws, adding that this insult to our sanctities and mosques will be confronted by insisting on our adherence to our land and our right to Palestine. 

Al-Bakri called on the international community to work quickly and seriously to end these daily violations that attack our sanctities and our feelings, and to end these attacks that harm our rights as Muslims and Palestinians.
There is something missing from this statement.

Terrorists were firing weapons from the mosque they had barricaded themselves in.


The Waqf doesn't seem too bothered by Palestinians using a mosque as a military position.

Which shows that Israel has more respect for Muslim holy sites than Palestinians do. 

But we already knew that.


In fact, the muezzin in Jenin used mosque loudspeakers to call for terrorists to come out and battle the Israelis - meaning that many mosques in Jenin became, according to international law, military command and control centers and therefore legitimate military targets. 

Of course Israel didn't attack those other mosques, but the evidence is clear that Palestinians are the ones who treat mosques as military sites - and no one from the "human rights community" nor from the mainstream Muslim community is condemning that.



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Newspapers publish Muslim prayers for Allah's revenge on Jews - who wrote them?



We have just begun the Muslim month of Dhul Hijjah, considered the holiest month of all, the month where Muslims go on Hajj to visit Mecca. 

The first ten days of the month are considered especially auspicious, and one tradition is to ask for specific requests in prayers, known as dua.

Egyptian newspaper El Balad News helpfully prints a number of duas for each day of Dhul Hijjah, and the first one is interesting:

O Allah, we ask You for all good in this year, and do not deprive us of doing acts of worship, and help us to remember You, thank You, and worship You well, O Most Generous. O God, we ask that this year be a year of goodness and peace, and that the Holy Land be purified from the hateful Jews, for they do not fail you. O children of the Jews, we have a great God.  Take revenge on them, O Subjugator, O God, O God, O God.
Not "Zionists" - Jews.

The newspaper includes the exact same text in its otherwise completely different set of duas for the second day of the month aa well. It will probably publish the prayer for all ten days this years, as it did last year. 

Jordan's Khaberni published this dua last year. 

Cairo24 published this same dua, but for the month of Rajab of last year, and repeated it this year.

I found the same text as a dua for the first day of Muharram in 2010. 

Jordan's Albawaba lists a very similar dua for the second day of the Dhul Hijjah - and since Albawaba get syndicated with MSN network, we have Microsoft spreading prayers for Allah to kill Jews.   

I am not certain who originated these antisemitic supplications, but this article appears to say that Egypt's Dar al Iftaa - governmental Islamic fatwa authority - approved them for another occasion last year.

I could be wrong about that, but if an Egyptian governmental organization has any hand in writing or approving a prayer demanding Allah destroy Israel and wipe out the Jews, it should be raised and addressed diplomatically. 

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Monday, June 19, 2023

06/19 Links Pt2: Will Anthropology Faculty Group Become a Political Tool to Boycott and Attack Israel?; UN Security Council Explicitly Condemns Antisemitism for First Time in UAE-UK Resolution

From Ian:

Will Anthropology Faculty Group Become a Political Tool to Boycott and Attack Israel?
A network of scholars (Anthropologists for Academic Freedom) has released several statements noting that the resolution is “misguided, is aimed at the wrong target, and will have absolutely no impact upon the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” Several of its members recently participated in a webinar, where they passionately implored colleagues to come to their senses.

The problem is that most of the thousands of eligible voters in the referendum probably are not aware of these materials or resources that cogently present counter-arguments. To its credit, the AAA leadership created a Resources page so that members could become better informed about the issues at stake. But this page is buried in the recently revamped AAA website, and is difficult to find.

Furthermore, the page is top-heavy in materials curated and prepared by a pro-boycott group. A letter organized by the AMCHA Initiative, signed by more than 100 organizations and submitted to over 250 university presidents, doesn’t feature on the page, nor does a warning letter issued by The Deborah Project’s legal team.

In the weeks leading up to the vote, AAA leaders have made no effort to restore balance in the debate. They ignored a reasonable suggestion to organize at least one virtual discussion where both sides could have made their case to the membership, followed by a constructive Q&A. What’s worse is that they have failed to ensure that officers of the association’s many committees present both pro and con arguments, with the result being a manifestly unfair deliberation process. For example, the chair-elect of the Archeology Division is reportedly attempting to create a “space for conversation” about the ballot measure by organizing two upcoming webinars that will only feature BDS supporters.

Now that voting on the referendum has begun, some anthropologists appear to be swayed by two of the resolution’s key claims: Palestinians have asked for this kind of support in a “call from civil society organizations,” and Israeli universities are “complicit” in their oppression. Both arguments rely on most AAA voters having little understanding of the BDS movement or the realities of Israeli campus life.

Rather than originating as a request from Palestinian civil society, BDS was rolled out by far-left European NGOs in 2001, at the infamously antisemitic UN anti-racism conference in Durban. Today, more than two decades later, Palestinian academics and human rights activists do not uniformly support academic boycotts. And Arabs who research and teach in Israel’s universities and colleges are definitely no fans of the tactic.

For example, in a compelling testimonial opposing the resolution, professor Alean Al-Krenawi, a former Dean at Ben-Gurion University and currently the President of Achva Academic College (in Yinon, Israel) pleads with AAA members not to undermine his life’s work in support of Arab scholars and students.

The AAA resolution paints a woefully inaccurate picture of Israeli higher education. The truth is that the Israeli academy is not an arm of the state, nor is it malevolently hostile to Palestinians. Like in the US, Israeli university leaders and faculty often protest encroachment of the government into the academy. They also work hard to advance diversity and inclusion as key priorities, and strive to ensure free expression and diversity of viewpoint on their campuses, including by supporting Palestinian voices.

Come July 14, when the voting period closes, it remains to be seen whether a sufficient number of anthropologists will have rejected turning their professional association into an advocacy organization that mandates absolute positions and virulently anti-Israel ideological orthodoxies, violating the intellectual autonomy of those AAA members who disagree.

But one thing is certain: If this foolhardy and detrimental resolution passes, then it will open the floodgates: pro-BDS faculty zealots at many other large and prestigious professional associations, from the Modern Language Association to the American Historical Association, which have also entertained such irresponsible boycott measures in the past, are likely to once again resurrect them, hoping that this time, they can also prevail.

Those who care about the health of the US academy, and the rising tide of vehemently anti-Israel and often antisemitic activity on campus, should hope for the best — and prepare for the worst.
France: Submission to Islamism Quickly Gaining Ground
Samuel Paty, a high school teacher [was] savagely beheaded on October 16, 2020 in... the suburbs of Paris where he taught...

The list of 14 people [indicted] does not include the murderer, Abdullakh Anzorov: he was shot dead by police.

[A]ll investigations show [that teachers] are afraid and practice self-censorship. For 10 years, teachers have not taught about the Holocaust. They have also given up on addressing the subjects that led to Paty's murder: secularism, tolerance and the right to criticize religions.

Throughout France, Muslim students openly threaten teachers by telling them that they are "risking a Samuel Paty". Many topics can no longer be addressed.... In biology class, discussing evolution or Charles Darwin is... unsafe.

Teachers have been resigning in increasing numbers, and recruiting new ones has become a problem.

Recently, anthropologist Florence Bergeaud-Backler in a book called Le frérisme et ses Réseaux, l'Enquête ("The Brotherhood and its Networks: The Survey"), explained in detail the way the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist movements in France use social media networks and mosques to incite Muslim children and adolescents to challenge the education provided in high schools to push the French educational system to submit to their vision of Islam.

The French authorities are aware of what is happening, but do nothing. Apparently, government officials are afraid, too, and do not want to take any risks. They know that more than 750 no-go zones exist in the country, and that riots frequently erupt... Most ended in violence by young people from no-go zones who burned cars and looted shops.

Macron's proposed law, called the "Law confirming respect for the principles of the Republic", has since been rewritten. All references to Islam and Islamism have been removed from the text. Passed on August 24, 2021, it does currently not contain any measure likely to combat the Islamist danger. A paragraph speaks of the need to "protect teachers", but teachers are still not protected. The Islamist movements in French high schools continue to exist.

About 400,000 legal immigrants arrive in France from the Muslim world every year, according to the latest informati0on available. These do not include the thousands who arrive illegally.

A study in September 2020 showed that 74% of French Muslims under the age of 25 placed Sharia above the laws of the republic.... Another study published a year later showed that two-thirds of Muslim high school students also placed Sharia above the laws of the Republic. The same survey showed that 9% of young Muslims said they "share the motivations" of Paty's murderer.

Latest EoZ memes, comics, posters

This is a good batch. 
















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Al Jazeera makes up a Herzl quote

Herzl postcard to his daughter from Jerusalem, October 30, 1898



Al Jazeera, which is still respected as a real news source in much of the Western world, published an article entitled, "This is how Israel plunders the antiquities of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem."

The article starts with a quote, supposedly from Theodor Herzl:

"If we ever get Jerusalem and I am still alive and able to do anything, I will remove everything that is not sacred to the Jews in it, and I will burn the centuries-old monuments."

Theodor Herzl, founder of the Zionist movement
The rest of the article goes on to falsely claim that Israeli archaeologists ignore anything non-Jewish in their digs and research, an absurd lie. 

What about this supposed Herzl quote?

Here is what Herzl really wrote in his journal on October 31, 1898, during his visit to Palestine:

If I remember you in the future, Jerusalem, not with pleasure will I remember you. The moldy residues of two thousand years of cruelty, intolerance, and filth lie in the stinking streets. If we ever get Jerusalem, and if it is within my ability, I will clean it first. I shall remove everything that is not sacred, I shall set up housing for laborers outside of the city, I shalI empty out the nests of filth, destroy them, burn those ruins which are not  sacred, and the bazaars I shall move to another place. Preserving the old building style as much as possible, I will erect a modern, convenient, clean and functioning city around the holy sites.“
At no time did he differentiate between things that are sacred to Jews and to non-Jews, and indeed the postcard that he sent his daughter pictured above shows the Dome of the Rock - certainly not something the secular Herzl wanted to destroy. 

Al Jazeera is lying, explicitly, in both the quote and the story itself. Why do people still put any trust in this propaganda rag?



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06/19 Links Pt1: U.S. Keeps Funding Palestinian Terror - in Defiance of Congress; Ehud Barak agreed to give up part of Temple Mount, Old City; 7 IDF soldiers wounded in Jenin ambush of armored vehicle

From Ian:

U.S. Keeps Funding Palestinian Terror - in Defiance of Congress
US Permanent Representative to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield rightly condemned in a recent speech Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ antisemitic statements that equated Israelis to the Nazis.

With no sense of the irony, she then called for foreign aid to the very same PA he continues to lead, 18 years into his four-year term.

An even more distressing irony: President Joe Biden recently launched a first-ever National Strategy To Counter Antisemitism amid a spike in Jew-hatred, yet at the same time — in defiance of Congress’ intent — his team continues to provide material support for the PA, even as it not only spouts antisemitic speech but funds anti-Jewish terrorism through its “pay-for-slay” program.

Congress clearly determined that PA terror payments encourage violence, which is why it passed the Taylor Force Act, barring economic assistance that “directly benefits the Palestinian Authority” until it “stops all payments incentivizing terror.”

In recent months, the West Bank has seen a spate of fatal Palestinian terror attacks, with each of the perpetrators and their families then eligible for PA payments.

In 2018, the authority’s refusal to end systematic terror funding led to bipartisan passage of the Taylor Force Act, named for a US citizen and West Point grad murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in Tel Aviv.

Among other things, the law urges our UN representative to “use the voice, vote and influence of the United States at the United Nations” and the State Department “to use its bilateral and multilateral engagements” to highlight the issue of pay-for-slay and push for governments to stop funding the PA.

The Biden administration is violating these requirements.
Khaled Abu Toameh: Why Arabs Do Not Trust the Biden Administration
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states apparently still do not trust the Biden Administration, largely because of its perceived abandonment of its traditional Arab allies in the Middle East and President Joe Biden's hostility to Saudi Arabia. This view began with then-presidential candidate Biden declaring the kingdom a "pariah" state -- and is continuing with US attempts, still ongoing, to revive a "nuclear deal" that will enable an expansionist Iran to have nuclear weapons potentially to topple other countries in the region.

Meanwhile, the same Biden Administration has continued to cozy up to the Iranian regime, which the US's own Department of State has called the "top state sponsor of terrorism" and which has, until recently, has not only been attacking both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates through Iran's proxy militia, the Houthis in Yemen, but has also been supplying troops and weapons to Russia for attacking Ukraine.

The message being sent is that being America's enemy pays handsomely, while, as with Afghanistan, being America's friend can be fatal.

The London-based Rai Al-Youm online newspaper said that Blinken's visit to Saudi Arabia failed to achieve most of its goals, including promoting normalization between the Kingdom and Israel. According to the newspaper, the Saudi media ignored Blinken's visit, while playing up the arrival of former Real Madrid soccer player Karim Benzema in the Kingdom....

"There are many obstacles to America's success in playing these roles, including what is related to the nuclear file, as a nuclear Iran remains a concern for the Gulf and for other countries in the region. The [Saudi] agreement with Iran may alleviate this concern, but it will not dispel it. Washington's success in settling this file in a way that does not threaten the security and stability of the Gulf states is the bottom line and it is what will determine the future of Washington's relations with the countries of the region." — Sam Mansi, Lebanese columnist, Asharq Al-Awsat, June 12, 2023.

"[W]hatever Blinken achieved during his visit to Saudi Arabia will remain weak and incomplete in the face of the dangers of ongoing tensions in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and other conflict areas, most notably the civil war that broke out recently in Sudan, in addition to the comprehensive challenges posed by the fraught relations between Iran and Israel, which may explode if there is no progress in the nuclear talks, and if more daring steps are not taken to limit Iran's continuation of uranium enrichment, and Iran's public support for Russia and its cooperation with it in the context of the war against Ukraine." — Sam Mansi, Asharq Al-Awsat, June 12, 2023.

Judging from the reactions of these Arabs to Blinken's recent visit to Saudi Arabia, it is clear that the Saudis and other Arabs have lost confidence in the Biden administration and are not pinning any hopes on it to bring security and stability to the Middle East.

Moreover, it is evident that the Saudis feel so offended by Biden that they are willing to move closer to Iran and Russia if that enables them to steer clear of the American president. It will take more than a visit by Biden or Blinken or Sullivan to repair the damage that has been done to America's relations with Arab countries that used to respect the US. In fact, it is safe to assume that the Arabs' attitudes toward the Biden administration will remain steady regardless of any effort that this administration might choose to make.


PreOccupiedTerritory: ‘400 Seconds To Tel Aviv’ Boast Sparks Rush To Board Hypersonic Missile, Get The Hell Out Of Iran (satire)
A billboard in the capital of the Islamic Republic touting the regime’s development of a weapon that can travel many times the speed of sound and reach Israel’s commercial hub has prompted tens of thousands of citizens in the Republic to try to find a way to get that weapon to transport them there, as well – anything to help them leave a country being run into the ground by the mullahs.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s officials hung a large banner in Tehran the week before last featuring images of what it claims is a hypersonic missile capable of reaching Tel Aviv “in 400 seconds,” a claim the banner proclaimed in Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew. Intended both as a threat against a country the mullahs consider an enemy and as a tool to distract a disaffected, restive population from the regime’s disastrous policy failures, the advertisement instead sparked a rush to find the missile, which, if its claims prove true, offers desperate Iranians a way out of Iran.

Social media reported a spike in interest among Iranians two weeks ago regarding the payload capacity of the missile. Accounts of frustrated Iranians, unable to discern where or how many such missiles exist, spread around the internet. At least fourteen cases appeared captured on video of citizens yelling at regime officials, trying to extract information on whether the missiles could take them away from the mismanaged, theocratic hell that Iran has become in the last 44 years.

Mahmoud Abbas publicly throws the Uyghur Muslims under the bus. World yawns.

By Daled Amos

Boy, was I wrong!

Writing last year about the Muslim world ignoring the mistreatment of Uyghers under Chinese rule, I suggested that critics are eager to attack Israel with use damning parallels between Uyghurs and Palestinian Arabs:

We see how there are attempts to draw parallels between Palestinian Arabs and Ukrainians on the one hand and Israel and Russia on the other.

How long before we see similar parallels of Palestinian Arabs with Uyghurs and Israel with China?
Now it seems that such a comparison is unlikely to be made -- considering that Mahmoud Abbas has joined the chorus defending China's detention centers. The Associated Press reported Palestinian leader Abbas ends China trip after backing Beijing’s crackdown on Muslim minorities:
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas wrapped up a trip to China Friday after seeking economic aid and voicing support for Beijing’s repressive policies toward Muslim minorities in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

...In the statement, the Palestinian Authority said issues regarding China’s policy toward Muslims in Xinjiang have “nothing to do with human rights and are aimed at excising extremism and opposing terrorism and separatism.”

“Palestine resolutely opposes using the Xinjiang problem as a way of interfering in China’s internal affairs,” the joint statement said.

In turning his back on his fellow Muslims, Abbas is merely joining other Muslim countries in pushing the Uyghers under the bus.

In July 2019, a group of 37 countries signed a letter claiming that criticism of China's treatment of the Uyghers amounted to “politicizing human rights.” They echoed China's claim that the detention centers were merely “vocation education and training centers.” 

Faced with the grave challenge of terrorism and extremism, China has undertaken a series of counter-terrorism and deradicalization measures in Xinjiang, including setting up vocational education and training centers.

The signatories to that letter included Muslim countries such as Algeria, Bahrain, Belarus, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates.

Abbas clearly has good company.

But some Muslim countries have done more than just support China's treatment of Uyghurs vocally. The Telegraph reported in 2020 that Turkey helped China by facilitating the return of Uyghurs back to China. And according to the BBC Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE forcibly sent Uyghurs in their countries back to China.

Fortunately, the West Bank is not noted for its Uyghur population.

By backing China, Abbas can expect the support of a major competitor to the US in the Middle East. Besides the recognition, it is not clear what kind of economic cooperation Abbas and the PA can look forward to. But Abbas should be careful about what he wishes for:

China relies on such partnerships to bolster its diplomatic posture and give large Chinese corporations a leg-up when negotiating infrastructure deals in line with the government’s “Belt and Road Initiative” that has left many struggling countries in deep debt to Chinese banks. [emphasis added]

The Arab world has become reluctant to fund the PA, seeing how the corruption of the Abbas government has turned those investments into money that merely lines the pockets of Palestinian leaders, so maybe the Chinese should be careful too. All in all, this might be a deal that will not benefit either side.



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To @AmnestyUK, swimming pools in the West Bank are apartheid. But only the ones owned by Jews.

Amnesty-UK tweeted:


Amnesty-UK is saying that thirsty Palestinians are upset by the massive amounts of water that are clearly available for their Jewish neighbors, as they stare longingly at the waste that the Jewish pools symbolize. Clearly they should be angry at the contrast between their own inability to drink a refreshing glass of water to avoid dying of thirst while the Jews frolic in wasteful swimming pools.

So Amnesty must really be upset when those thirsty Palestinians are mocked by extravagant displays of frivolous swimming pools that they see in, for example, Hebron, decorated with a Palestinian flag to twist the knife of their poverty:


.
Certainly Amnesty is condemning the huge waste of water there, right? 

Other pools in the West Bank also include very patriotic flags:



And this one in Birzeit looks like it holds a great deal of water, too.



According to Amnesty-UK, even the smaller pools are a giant waste of water that hurts thirsty Palestinians' feelings and must be condemned:


How dare these heartless people enjoy the water when their neighbors have none!

Obviously a human rights group cannot be accused of antisemitism for treating pools owned by Jews differently from those owned by Palestinians. Perhaps Amnesty-UK is upset over Jews owning private pools while Palestinians next door are deprived of their basic water needs. 

We will just have to ignore the Palestinian company Blue Blue Palestine which installs private pools for well-to-do Palestinians every day, in-ground and above ground, from small 600-shekel pools to ones costing tens of thousands of dollars.







I'm sure Amnesty is preparing a 150 page report on Palestinian waste of precious water in their many swimming pools. After all, it is the pools they are upset over, and not the religion of the owners, right? If they treat pools differently because some are owned by Jews, that is pretty blatant antisemitism - and how could that possibly be?

To Amnesty, Jewish pools are apartheid. Palestinian pools are nonexistent. And Amnesty International isn't a hypocritical, Jew-hating organization hiding its bigotry behind the fig leaf of pretending to care about human rights.



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 amazing is becoming commonplace: Israeli defense contractor to open locations in an Arab country




The Abraham Accords continue to amaze.

From Morocco World News, June 9:
Elbit Systems, an Israeli defense technology company, has announced plans to open two sites in Morocco, Shai Cohen, head of Israel's liaison office in Rabat, said during a press conference this week.

Elbit Systems is renowned for its expertise in developing and implementing advanced defense solutions. The opening of the new sites is considered as a strategic move for Elbit Systems as it aligns with the company’s commitment to expanding its global footprint and leveraging Morocco’s strategic position as a gateway to the African market.

While specific details regarding the locations and operations of the two sites are yet to be disclosed, Cohen confirmed that one of the facilities will be located in the Casablanca region. 

The move comes as a result of the renewed diplomatic and economic relations between Morocco and Israel. The two countries reinstated diplomatic relations in December 2020 under the US-brokered Abraham Accords. Since then, the two countries have been forging closer ties, fostering collaborations across various sectors, including defense.

 According to the  Hespress Moroccan news site, Moroccan experts expect that Morocco would be helping Elbit manufacture high tech weaponry like drones and radars, although they may be guessing. They note that Casablanca offers companies easy access to sea ports as well as airports to make distribution easy,. 

At the same time that protesters in the UK are trying to shut Elbit offices down there, ostensibly on behalf of Palestinians, at least one Arab nation is anxious to host that same company and strengthen ties with Israel. 

Morocco has made it clear that it wants to become an arms manufacturer and not rely completely on others for its weapons for defense. This appears to be the first major deal with a foreign arms company.

In the Hespress article, while there is the expected antisemitism, most Moroccans are pleased with the deal. They note that Morocco's traditional friends in France, Spain and the US never considered building any weapons plants in the kingdom - while Israel does. 

The move shows an enormous amount of trust in the Morocco-Israel relationship. Which is, again, astounding.


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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

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Sunday, June 18, 2023

Old anti-Zionist organizations don't die...they just fade away, slowly




Have you ever heard of the American Council for Judaism?

We've discussed it before. It was the IfNotNow of the 1940s and 1950s, holding an anti-Zionist position that it pretended was Jewish. The ACJ pretended to be loyal to "classical Reform Judaism," and insisted that Jews were a religion but not a people and that to be Zionist was to be anti-American. In 1957 the Union for Reform Judaism emphatically rejected the ACJ as having nothing to do with the Reform stance towards Zionism. 

Because it had the name "Judaism" in its name, the media loved to quote it even though it represented only a fringe of a fringe of American Jewry.  Just like "Jewish Voice for Peace" today, the early head of ACJ - Elmer Berger - managed to grab headlines and make it appear that ACJ was a major player in American Judaism. 

So whatever happened to the ACJ?

It is still around, and even more irrelevant.

It has a website, and apparently it still has some assets, but not much income. 

The website shows that there is a quarterly journal, "Issues of the American Council of Judaism." Nearly every article for the past twelve years is written by the same person, Allan C. Brownfeld. 

Brownfeld, in a good As-A-Jew tradition, also writes for anti-Israel outlets like Mondoweiss and the Washington Report for Middle East Affairs. 

If you want to know what JVP and IfNotNow will look like in ten years, look at the American Council of Judaism. 



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!
 

 

06/18 Links: Collier: The Spectator falls down an antisemitic conspiracy rabbit hole; Netanyahu: New nuclear agreement won’t stop Iranian bomb; New Iran deal meant to stop Israeli attack

From Ian:

David Collier: The Spectator falls down an antisemitic conspiracy rabbit hole
The Jews were persecuted, dispossessed, and forced out of Iraq. Most turned up as penniless refugees in Israel. This is fact, not opinion – and there is overwhelming evidence to prove that this is true. Yet Spectator Magazine has just published an article that gives legitimacy to a disgraceful antisemitic conspiracy theory – one which claims that it was the result of a Zionist plot.

The article by Justin Marozzi
The title of the article by Justin Marozzi is ‘the shocking truth behind the Baghdad bombings of 1950 and 1951‘. It is a review of a book by the anti-Zionist writer Avi Shlaim called ‘Three Worlds: Memoir of an Arab-Jew‘.

The review is gushing in clear admiration. Marozzi calls the book ‘beautifully written‘ and says it ‘carefully blends the personal with the political‘. To reinforce the narrative the journalist calls Shlaim a ‘powerful and humane voice‘. Marozzi also focuses on a key claim that Shlaim has long pushed – that a series of bombings against Jewish targets which took place in Baghdad in 1950 and 1951, were set by ‘Zionist agents‘ in order to ‘force them to flee Iraq‘.

The article also pushes Shlaim’s other anti-Zionist lies, such as the idea that the Jews in Arab lands were ‘compatriots’ of their Muslim overlords – and it was Zionism (rather than rising Arab antisemitism and religious nationalisms) which dealt their position a ‘mortal blow‘.

(editor’s note: One wonders what dealt all the other suffering minorities in the Middle East – the Christians, the Kurds, the Yazidis, Assyrians, Armenians, Bahrani, Baloch, Coptic Christians, Druze, etc., their own mortal blow, if these cannot be blamed on ‘Zionist agents’?)

Marozzi even writes that it is difficult to mount a credible argument against some of Shlaim’s ‘conclusions’. Convincing stuff!

Ending inside the rabbit hole
The Iraqi Jews were persecuted, were offered a window to leave- and despite the fact they had to leave everything behind – they almost all left. This is what really happened.

The explosions were (as Shlaim admits) set by different actors. Even if (and it is unlikely given the evidence) there was a Jewish Zionist involved in any of them – it still doesn’t mean Israel was involved. The idea that every single Zionist Jew is a puppet of the Israeli state – is a classic antisemitic trope. But most importantly – whoever set them – these explosions did not cause the exodus.

Avi Shlaim writes in his book that:
‘the question of who was behind the bombs is of crucial importance for understanding the real origins of the exodus’.

Except it isn’t important at all. He is deflecting away from everything else that was taking place. Shlaim is just spinning fairy tales – creating a straw man – and leading everyone down a rabbit hole.

To draw an analogy – Shlaim wants to spin stories about why WTC7 collapsed, rather than focus on the Islamist hijacked planes that flew into the Twin Towers.

And the Spectator has just given that unforgivable strategy a huge platform. Remember that this was not news. This was a book review – this was something the Editors at the Spectator thought would be a good idea to promote. They chose to write it – and to give antisemites the ammunition. If like me this makes you angry and you wish to complain to them, feel free to do so.
Why They Hate Israel
They grew up in an environment controlled by the PA (or, in Gaza, by Hamas). That environment was supposed to be shaped by the Oslo II agreement, signed by Israel and the PA in 1995, which states (Chapter 4, Article XXII, clause 1) that the PA is required to “abstain from incitement, including hostile propaganda” against Israel and Jews.

Yet for the past 28 years, the PA has done exactly the opposite of what it pledged to do. For 28 years, an entire generation of Arab children was raised in an environment that should have been free of incitement and antisemitism. According to the Oslo agreement, the PA was supposed to foster peace and nonviolence through its schools, news media, and popular culture.

Instead, the PA has done the opposite. It names streets and parks after terrorists. It pays salaries to imprisoned terrorists and dead terrorists’ families. PA schools teach that Arab terrorists are heroes and Jews are hook-nosed racist monsters. The PA’s official maps, in government offices and schoolrooms alike, show all of Israel as “Occupied Palestine.”

Just take a look at the invaluable website of Palestinian Media Watch for a glimpse of what Palestinian Arabs are reading, seeing and hearing on any given day.

On May 30, for example, the PA gave a full military funeral to a member of the PA Intelligence division who was also a Fatah terrorist and was recently killed after he tried to murder Israelis. Instead of denouncing Ashraf Ibrahim as an enemy of peace, the PA lionized him. The official PA newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, hailed him as a “martyr” and senior PA officials attended his funeral. One who spoke at the funeral urged the public to “confront Israel with every weapon.”

A week before that, on May 23, official PA Television broadcast an announcement by the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate that “the top priority of the Palestinian journalist is loyalty to all the Martyrs, loyalty to our people’s just cause.” So much for journalistic standards!

Go back a little further and you read that PA Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh boasted on his Facebook page on May 4 that the Palestinian Arab terrorists who murdered Rebbetzin Lucy Dee and her two daughters were “righteous martyrs” who “ascended to heaven” because they were fighting “the criminal occupation.”

So, it’s no wonder the vast majority of Palestinian Arabs support terrorism and want to see Israel destroyed—because that is what they have been taught, incessantly, throughout their lives.
How antisemitism in Arab media infiltrates the West
Tamar Sternthal, the director and founder of CAMERA (the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America)’s Israel office, said at the Begin Center, “Nearly a quarter of a century ago, CAMERA focused on ensuring that English language coverage of Israel in American media outlets put forward a professional coverage of journalistic content. Since then, the media environment in which we work shifted dramatically in the face of globalization.”

CAMERA shifted away from focusing solely on reporting in America. This led to CAMERA establishing an Arabic department to focus on “Arabic language reports on Western media outlets, like CNN, Reuters, Agence France-Press, Sky News, France 24, Deutsche Welle and more. We decided to focus specifically on Western media outlets because they are focused on journalistic codes of ethics that require accuracy, accountability and transparency.”

Sternthal said there was a huge need for this project. While she stressed how Palestinian Media Watch and MEMRI (the Middle East Media Research Institute) have done excellent work translating the content of both extremists and moderates from the Palestinian and Islamic world into English, no one was doing the same for the Arabic language websites of Western media outlets.

“There was little or no oversight, including internally. Often, English language editors were completely unaware of this information published on their own platform in Arabic. Problematic language and unfounded claims that English language editors considered unacceptable appeared unchecked in Arabic under their own brand names.”

An analyst who works for CAMERA Arabic, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted that much of the antisemitism promoted in Palestinian Authority media outlets has found its way onto Arabic language websites of Western news outlets.

“For example, the Arabic branch of the British Independent published a theater critic about a Beirut play where Anne Frank was portrayed as a vicious Zionist who came to take a Palestinian home from its original home. The play is called ‘A Letter to Anne Frank.’ It is still there. It has the Independent logo on it. If you did not know that the Independent in Arabic is a Saudi-owned subsidiary, you would think that this is content that the British Independent promotes. Obviously, they are irresponsible about their own content,” the analyst said.

According to him, many antisemites have been given positions in the Arabic language websites of Western news channels. One of them was Joelle Maroun, the Beirut correspondent of France 24, a publicly funded corporation.

“Their correspondent is a huge fan of Adolf Hitler. She publicly praised Hitler for over 10 years and nothing was done. There was no background check. Nothing of the sort. Only when CAMERA Arabic called her out, she got fired. Unfortunately, other correspondents who did likewise only got suspended for a month and they went back to work. You can still see them on the screen.”

Palestinian media today celebrating the murderous 1929 Arab pogroms against Jews


Palestinian media are celebrating the murderous pogroms that targeted unarmed and innocent Jews in Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed and elsewhere in 1929.

June 17th was the anniversary of the 1930 British execution of three Arabs who were convicted of murdering Jewish civilians during the pogroms.

Originally, the British court found 25 Arabs guilty and deserving of the death penalty; 22 of them had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. The three who remained were clearly found guilty of multiple murders and premeditation, two of them in Hebron and one in Safed.

The three murderers are being hailed as heroes in Palestinian media, in print and on video, and the murders of Jews are being called the beginning of the "Al Buraq Revolution." 

The Palestine Bulletin in 1930 noted that they were hailed as heroes then, too, with an Arab Execuitve Committee notice that looks strikingly like those of Hamas and Islamic Jihad today.

Strikingly, many prominent Jews - including Einstein - lobbied against the death penalty for the murderers, on principle against the death penalty altogether.



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!
 

 

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