Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, June 26, 2023

06/26 Links Pt2: Senator Cruz: 'Joe Biden is pathologically obsessed with undermining Israel'; Challenge to Georgia BDS Law Loses; Robbie Keane joins Maccabi Tel Aviv as coach

Analyzing the White House’s newly released strategy for countering anti-Semitism, and maintaining “an appropriate skepticism of government programs and their tendencies to create unwanted and unintended consequences,” Tevi Troy looks for concrete policies that would in fact make American Jews safer and more secure. First and foremost, Washington should stop exacerbating the problem:

[T]he American government does not intentionally target Jews, and even tries to combat anti-Semitism. Yet several government-funded programs could be subsidizing anti-Semitism anyway.

Many if not most of these funds are given to anti-Semitic individuals and programs in educational institutions, including anti-Semitic professors, extremist anti-Israel speakers invited to campus, and public universities that form hostile environments for Jewish students. Title VI of the Higher Education Act provides funds to anti-Israel Middle East Studies programs, academic departments that have issued extremist anti-Israel statements, and public institutions that pay membership dues to the virulently anti-Israel Middle Eastern Studies Association. At the K-12 level, federal funds may go to public schools that assign textbooks containing anti-Semitic materials, encourage anti-Jewish attitudes through ethnic studies or anti-Israel programs, or pay for anti-Semitic critical-race-theory training.

In addition to these education-related expenditures that may have the unintended impact of increasing anti-Semitism, we should also consider cutting off certain types of foreign aid that have a similarly destructive effect. These include contributions to the UN Human Rights Council, UNESCO, UNRWA, and any funds that go to programs that subsidize anti-Semitic textbooks or Palestinian terrorism.

Eliminating these programs would not only save taxpayers money and reduce funding to those who purvey anti-Semitism but also send the strongest possible signal that the federal government does not tolerate this animus, whatever its source may be.

Senator Ted Cruz: 'Joe Biden is pathologically obsessed with undermining Israel'

United States Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a Senate Foreign Relations Committee member, released a statement on Sunday after the Biden administration reinstated a boycott against scientific and technological cooperation with Jews living in Judea and Samaria.

“Joe Biden and Biden administration officials are pathologically obsessed with undermining Israel. Since day one of their administration, they have launched campaigns against our Israeli allies that are granular, whole of government, and done in secret," the Senator stated.

“This new boycott of Israeli Jews is yet another example. The State Department is telling the entire US government not to cooperate with Jews in Judea and Samaria. And, of course, it was sent to Congress in secret and only revealed because reporters found out," he added.

According to Cruz, “The Biden administration defends funding scientific research in Wuhan with the Chinese Communist Party, but they’re discriminating against and banning cooperation with Jews based on where they live."

The Senator concluded: “I will do everything possible to reverse this decision and prohibit such antisemitic discrimination by the US government in the future.”

RELEASE: My statement on the Biden administration instating a boycott against scientific and technological cooperation with Jews living in Judea and Samaria.https://t.co/l9QVJ7aABY pic.twitter.com/qoLBAMs4C4
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) June 25, 2023

Challenge to Georgia BDS Law Loses on Qualified Immunity Grounds

I think they are facially constitutional, and Arkansas Times LP v. Waldrip (8th Cir. 2022) (en banc) was correct in upholding them (see also Prof. Michael Dorf's, Prof. Andrew Koppelman's, and my amicus brief on the subject, as well as Prof. Dorf's follow-up post). At the same time, they, like other antidiscrimination laws, might be unconstitutional as applied in certain situations, perhaps including selection of speakers at an academic conference (though the question is complicated when the government is acting as contractor). But yesterday's Eleventh Circuit decision by Judges Wilson, Branch, and Luck in Martin v. Chancellor avoids the question:
Abby Martin appeals the district court's dismissal of her 42 U.S.C. § 1983 suit … on the grounds of qualified immunity. She argues that the district court erred in dismissing her claim that Defendants violated her First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by refusing to contract with her to speak at an academic conference unless she signed a clause, required by Georgia law, promising she would not participate in a "boycott of Israel" for the duration of the contract. Specifically, Martin argues that, because it was clearly established that Defendants should have known that Georgia's law requiring the clause violated the Constitution, they are not entitled to qualified immunity.

The court disagreed with Martin's position; here's an excerpt:
While Martin argues that Waldrip was erroneously decided, she misses the point—even if it was erroneously decided, the fact that a sister circuit distinguished [Claiborne] and held that a law similar to O.C.G.A. § 50-5-85 is constitutional reinforces the reality that [Claiborne] did not establish with "obvious clarity" that the implementation of such anti-boycott clauses into contracts is unconstitutional.}

So, while Claiborne did find that the plaintiffs there were engaged in a constitutionally protected activity with regard to their boycott, it did not speak to a state's ability to regulate anticompetitive behavior by state employees via statutes like O.C.G.A. § 50-5-85. Thus, it did not craft a "broad principle" that established with "obvious clarity" that Defendants would know that "every objectively reasonable government official" implementing their state's anti-"boycott of Israel" laws, as Defendants did so here, were violating federal law in doing so….

Finally, Martin argues that "Defendants' conduct was so obviously unconstitutional that no specific case is needed to establish it." We disagree.

11th Circuit disagrees with the Squad and other progressives, who claim they aren't against anti-BDS laws because the support BDS, but because the laws are are obviously unconstitutional. Not at all, says the Court of Appeals https://t.co/Zi075RUh1D
— Eugene Kontorovich (@EVKontorovich) June 26, 2023

The number of mega-large families supported by UNRWA is ballooning. Something isn't adding up.

The more you dig into UNRWA's own website, the sketchier it looks.

UNRWA has a population dashboard showing statistics of those it gives services to (much more than their already wildly inflated "registered refugee" count.)

It shows the size of families that it helps. And some of them are unusually large.

As of the first quarter of this year, UNRWA supports 1642 families of size 15-19, 167 sized 20-24, 36 sized 25-29 and 4 with over 30 members.

The number of mega-families supported, with more than 14 members, has skyrocketed since 2020, going up an astonishing 17%, from 1585 to 1851! The number of families from 10-14 members also went up a great deal, by 14%. At the same time the number of "refugees" only went up by 4.5%.

So what's going on?

There is an outside possibility that there are a few families with over 25 members, because UNRWA allowed men with multiple wives to register. And if the patriarch is a "refugee" then his wives and children are all considered "refugees" as well.

But there is also a good chance that families simply do not tell UNRWA when family members die. Why would they? UNRWA doesn't check, as far as I can tell - they seem to ask people to register deaths on the honor system using an app. Palestinians have been known to not report deaths of family members since the agency began.

Looking at it another way, the population dashboard claims that there are 480461 "refugees" over the age of 70 today (not counting the many non-refugees receiving UNRWA services.) The total number of UNRWA refugees in 1953 was 900,000.

Does it make sense that half the people of all ages living in 1953 are alive today?

They are saying that about 9% of all "refugees" receiving services alive today are over 70, when the population of Palestinians within the area of the British Mandate over 70 stands at about 2%.

UNRWA is not reporting anything close to accurate numbers, and they are exaggerating the number of people they serve a great deal.

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This story was written as an appendix to "AN INFORMATION, CONCERNING The Present STATE OF THE JEWISH NATION IN EƲROPE and JƲDEA," probably written by Henry Jessey of England in 1658.

The state of the Jews at Jerusalem hath been many hundred years of late such, as that they ever lived of the supply and Contributions from their brethren abroad; because the place doth yield but little occasion for them to maintain themselves: and besides those that betake themselves thither, are either Old men or Women, only to do penitency and lay down their bones near the Sepulchers of their fore-fathers: or of younger men that for respect to the holiness of the place (as supposing God to be nearer there, and that all prayers must needs ascend that way into heaven) come thither, there to ply devotion and penitency for the sins of themselves and the whole Nation: and therefore cannot attend any trading, but all their time is taken up with praying, reading and hearing Sermons; as also with fastings and watchings and the like penitential Exercises: which intent and endeavours their Brethren abroad amongst the Nations well knowing, and with all desiring to keep (as it were) possession, or at least a footing in Jerusalem, and to shew their holiness till a full restitution come, have been ever willing to uphold them in it: and to that purpose, wherever any Synagogues of Jews are, on every Sabbath-day a Collection is made for the poor at Jerusalem; and what so is gathered, they are to send thither every year., therefore the Jews of Poland, &c. By the Turks (and especially their debts made for want of supply amongst the Citizens) being rigorously exacted, they were haled into prison, &c.

An Instance hereof is this, that in the year 5399. from the Creation, which is now nineteen years ago, there was a great drought in Jerusalem, which had put all Inhabitants to prayers, the Necessity being extream: but the worst of all was this, that an apostated Jew going out to the Turks, persuaded unto the then Bassa, the Lord Mahomet Bassa, that the sole cause that the heaven were shut up, were the Jews by reason of their disobedience unto God; whereupon an Edict was put forth, commanding all Jews, great and small, young and old, to be cast out of the Town presently.

Whereupon some eight of their Eldest were sent up to the said Bassa: which Eldest with great Expences bestowed partly on the Bassa, and partly on his Consellours, had much to do, to crave only three dayes delay: If perhaps within that time the Lord should accept of their prayers and penitency: If not, and that the Lord gave no Rain, he might do with him what he pleased.

This being so stated, it was proclaimed throughout the City, that if within three days no rain came, all the Jews should be expelled, and their goods made prize to the Turks: and whosoever should be found remaining, was to be killed.

Hence arose a doleful lamentation amongst the Jews: a continual fasting for those three nights and days was put upon all, except Babes and Women with Child or in Child-bed, who were bound only to one day and night: So they prayed and humbled themselves all that while with great Cries and Weepings, so that the voice of it was heard throughout the City; and on the Evening on the second day, they seeing no likely-hood their prayers should be heard, and judging their sins to be too great, they took a Resolution, like to Saul, rather to kill one another, one Brother the other, the Father his Children, the Husband his Wife, &c. then to suffer themselves to be polluted by the merciless Turks.

Yet one thing they would first request of the Bassa. viz. That they might all go out to the Sepulchre of the Prophet Zacharia, which was out of the Town, and whither they could not come without his consent. So one R. Emanuel Albachry was sent unto him, who hearing of their desperate Resolutions pitied them and said, Go ye and make your prayers there, if perhaps God might hear you and save you from being killed.

So on the morning of the third day early, all went forth and laid themselves down at the Sepulchre of Zacharia, and there wept bitterly. One R. Asaria made a very pathetical Sermon, and caused all the people to weep, and so did R. Meyer likewise. And at Length arose one R. Samuel, who put the people in mind of the sins of their forefathers, and against this Prophet, at whose Tomb they now were prostrated, how they arose against him, and stoned him most cruelly: how (said he,) shall we here obtain mercy at his feet, seeing our Fathers had no mercy on him? At which words the people wept bitterly, and struck their hands together, and poured out tears as water, and lift up their voices, men and women, young and old: and the Lord remembered.

These are the words of R. Samuel Ben Seth, as the next page show his surety: and he made this R. Samuel to think on the words of the Prophet Elijah on the Mount Carmel, when he said to his man go up and see, &c. and therefore commanded the people to go seven times round about the Sepulchre, at the first Circuition he ordained Psalm 24. and certain prayers to be pronounced; at the second he assigned Psalm 48. and other prayers, and so at each of the seven Circuits some peculiar Psalm and prayer till the Vespertime came. And then the people going forth saw a little Cloud on the West side of Heaven as large as the palm of a hand.

That very day it had been very hot, even as it had been Mid Summer, so that no man could have believed any rain could have fallen that day; which made that the Turks had already gathered up stones, wherewith they thought to have stone the Jews at their return into the City: But such was God's providence that even that day before Sun-setting the said Cloud grew thick, and a wind began to blow, and then came Thundering, and Lightning, and such a blessed shown of Rain, that in two or three hours all the Cisterns were brim-full; so that for the Rains sake the Jews were forced to remain that whole Night in Holes and Concavities of the Sepulchre. And when on the next morning the Women went first of all toward Jerusalem, the Turkish Women met them by the way, and Congratulated them, that God had heard their prayers; and so likewise many of the Chief Turks met with the men, and brought them some presents of fruits and Confitures; and the Bassa bestowed a suite of apparel on every one of their Rabbis.

This is an extract drawn out of an Authentique Copie, written by the said R. Samuel, and signed by all the Elders of the High-Dutch Synagoge at Jerusalem, 1657. April. 22. An other Instance of the same kind we could add of the year (as we count) 1651. and another yet since while Rab. Nathan was here; but this afore mentioned being most Considerable and most Authentical, and exactly pend, whereas the others are but received by word of mouth, we shall here desist. This being sufficient to manifest unto us, that however despised this people is by men, yet that the Lord doth yet own them and accept of their prayers, when none but he can help, when ever with a penitent and contrite heart they repent of their sins and call for mercy, as we have seen here at the Sepulchre of the Prophet Zachary.

Some say the events happened in 1651, others say 1639 which seems more in line with this narrative (5399 Hebrew year.)

The book also describes how poverty-stricken the Jews of Jerusalem were, relying on charity from Jews in Europe. It describes how Christians contributed to their welfare one year when they were punished by the Ottoman authorities for not coming up with the amount of taxes they normally were able to raise because of a war in Poland, causing controversy since the Christians were known for wanting to convert all the Jews, but the fundraiser rabbi assured Jerusalem's Jews that this was voluntary - he hadn't asked for the money - and there were no strings attached.

[S]ince the desolation, brought by war upon Poland, and the other parts, whence that supply was sent unto them, they have been in great extremity of want; insomuch, that in the year one thousand six hundred to death, and the taxes laid upon them by the Turks, being rigorously exacted, they were haled into prison, their Synagogues were shut up, their Rabbi's and Elders beaten and cruelly used. So that to find relief, because none came from Poland, Lithuania, and other parts of Europe, by the late war, and none could be had in those parts form their own, by reason of the general Pressures, which the Turks without Mercy laid upon them all, they send two of their chief Rabbi's to their Brethren in Europe, to acquaint them with their state, and to desire some help from them. The chief of the Rabbi's was called Nathan Saphira, son to the high Lord, Ruben David Tavel, a man of great learning, and skill in their Cabala, and of a very pious, holy and humble disposition, who coming with his companion from Jerusalem upon this errand, and finding at Amsterdam little relief from the Portugal Jews, became accidentally acquainted with some of our Christian friends, who pitied their Condition, and were of their own accord moved to procure some relief unto them among their other Christian friends...

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

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06/26 Links Pt1: Anne Bayefsky: Shocking UN ‘inquiry’ promotes terror; Destroying the myth of Israel’s impermanence; Rocket found in Eastern Jerusalem on Jerusalem Day

From Ian:

Anne Bayefsky: Shocking UN ‘inquiry’ promotes terror

On the morning of June 20, a U.N. Commission of Inquiry greenlighted Palestinian terror. That afternoon, Palestinian terrorists killed more Jews.

Hamas praised its operatives. Congressional inaction has left U.S. taxpayers paying the U.N. inquiry’s bills.

The members of the inquiry—more accurately an inquisition—were presenting a report to the current session of the U.N.’s top human rights body, the Human Rights Council in Geneva. The call for Palestinians to “resist” came from inquisition member Miloon Kothari.

Kothari analogized Israeli self-defense to Russian aggression and said that Ukraine and “Palestine” should be “dealt with” in the same way. In his words, “International law uphold[s] correctly the rights of Ukrainians to resist and we would like to see the same standards being applied to the case in Israel and Palestine.”

Hamas, for its part, had “welcomed the decision” to create the inquisition on May 27, 2021. At the same time, Hamas called its own actions “legitimate resistance” and urged “immediate steps to punish” Israel.

Hamas even issued a statement in response to the inquisition’s first report to the Council in June 2022, saying, “The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas welcomes the report issued by the international commission of inquiry formed by the U.N. Human Rights Council” in response to Israeli “crimes.”

The symbiosis between an internationally-recognized terrorist organization and the U.N. inquisition is impossible to miss.

Hamas and the inquisition also bond over antisemitism. The same Miloon Kothari now promoting Palestinian “resistance” claimed last summer that the “Jewish lobby” controls social media and Israel ought to be kicked out of the U.N.

Kothari isn’t the only inquisition member with such a bent.

In June 2022, inquisition member Chris Sidoti belittled Jewish victims of antisemitism, telling the Human Rights Council that “accusations of antisemitism are thrown around like rice at a wedding.”

The chair of the inquisition, Navi Pillay, has repeatedly referred to “the extremist Israel lobby.” She responded to criticism of Kothari and Sidoti by defending them.

In Oct. 2022, Pillay sneered at the U.N. press corps in New York in response to questions about antisemitism. “This is always raised as a diversion,” she claimed.

Destroying the myth of Israel’s impermanence

Since the early 1990s, Israel has shown that it is desperate for peace. As a result, it has taken actions that actually harmed the safety of its citizens and showed that Israel is prepared to concede and compromise on its national security.

The Palestinian Arab leadership has shown that, if it stands firm, it will receive more and more from Israel. The Oslo process, which we are still trapped in 30 years later, demonstrated to the Palestinian Arabs that we have given up trying to win the war against their rejectionism.

Palestinian Arabs see Israeli decisions to give away major parts of Judea and Samaria, disengage from Gaza, release thousands of terrorists, hand suitcases full of protection money to Hamas and promise to divide Jerusalem and give up control of the Temple Mount as proof of this.

They see that the “strongest military in the region” runs with indecent haste to Cairo every time Hamas or Islamic Jihad fires a volley of rockets at Israel’s south.

They see a Palestinian Authority leader who says he will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state, embraces and financially rewards mass murderers, and compares Israel to Nazis with no response from Israel apart from the odd press release.

They see an Israel uninterested or unable to achieve victory in this long-standing conflict.

Thus, the Palestinian Arabs believe the Jewish state will soon cease to exist. This provides the motivation and incentive for ongoing terrorism.

Every Palestinian Arab terrorist who picks up a knife or a gun, or launches a rocket, believes that their actions are hastening the end of Israel. Our response, or lack thereof, merely confirms this belief.

For Israel to stop the violence, it must show that it has the will to survive and achieve ultimate victory. It must show the Palestinian Arab population in actions and deeds that Israel is strong, robust and enduring.

It must convince the Palestinian Arabs that Israel is permanent and break their will to carry on fighting by forcing them to accept that they cannot achieve their war aims.

Once the Palestinian Arabs have been disabused of their belief in Israel’s temporary nature, our leadership can take steps towards accommodation and peace, but not before.

The only way to do this is through a decisive Israeli victory.

Daniel Greenfield: Twice as Many Israelis Died in One Month of Biden than in One Year of Trump

Each year that Trump was in office, fewer people in Israel were killed by terrorists while every year that Biden has been in office, the number of people killed by terrorists has increased.

2023 looks on track to be the deadliest year in Israel since 2015, under Obama, and the bloodshed is an eightfold increase in Israeli deaths since Trump’s last year in office.

The Biden administration restored Obama’s old policies and doubled down on them. And the death toll in Israel looks the way that it did under Obama. Under Biden, Israelis are dying at similar rates to the way that they did under Obama, but not at all as they did under Trump.

The foreign policy establishment claims that the Trump administration’s foreign policy toward Israel was a failure. And yet during Trump’s last year in office, when all the pro-Israel policies had been implemented, the fewest Israelis were killed in at least a generation.

In one of the least reported events in the region, the violence had all but ended with only three Israeli deaths in 2020. By contrast under Biden, 7 Israelis were killed in just January 2023.

Twice as many Israelis died in one month of Biden than in one year of Trump.

What was the secret to peace that had eluded every previous administration? Simple. The Trump administration stopped funding terrorists. And the terrorists stopped killing people.

This is not speculation. All anyone has to do is look at the death toll year by year.

The killings in Israel mostly held steady from Obama’s final year in office to Trump’s first year in office, but fell 18% in 2018 as the Trump administration began to pull away from the old failed policies of the Democrats and the Bush Republicans.

Lebanese still hate Israel - but they also hate Iran

The latest poll from the Washington Institute of Lebanese people shows that while they still hate Israel (and probably Jews,) they are not fans of Iran,. either.

The poll, taken in April, shows that more Lebanese classify Iran as their enemy than any other Arab country.

Even the Shiites of Lebanon are ambivalent about Iran.

Among these Shia respondents, only 58% classify Iran as primarily a friend of the country. Meanwhile, a quarter see Iran as either an enemy or a competitor. In the case of Sunni and Christian respondents, those who see Iran as an enemy jumps to 66% and 83% respectively. Notably, the proportion of Lebanese overall who see Iran as an enemy is effectively the same proportion as in Saudi Arabia or the UAE—and a larger proportion than in Egypt, Jordan, or Kuwait. Just 18% of Lebanese overall characterize Iran as first and foremost a ‘friend.’

Also notable was that 54% of Lebanese Sunnis disagree that “a major American or Israeli military strike on Iran would be too dangerous, and a bad idea for our country.”

The poll also noted:

The vast majority of Lebanese remain staunchly opposed to relations with Israel, either in the case of humanitarian aid or economic ties. And in contrast to those in the Gulf, a large proportion of Lebanese (62%) believe that Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza on their southern neighbor are a positive development for the region.

Iranian proxy Hezbollah might still have veto power over Lebanese politics, but their strength among the Shiites is not resulting in any sympathy from the Lebanese population as a whole.

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!

Haaretz reports:

A Reform synagogue in the southern U.S. state of Georgia hasn't experienced an antisemitic incident in its nearly 165-year history – until this weekend, when it was one of two congregations targeted by a neo-Nazi hate group.

“This is a congregation has been around since 1859,” said Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar, the spiritual leader of Temple Beth Israel in Macon, Georgia, in a phone conversation with Haaretz. ...

On Friday morning, she said, members of the congregation living in the nearby city of Warner Robins found antisemitic flyers outside their homes. They had been distributed by an organization called the Goyim Defense League, a white supremacist hate group active mainly on social media. According to the Anti-Defamation League, the GDL's main objective is “to cast aspersions on Jews and spread antisemitic myths and conspiracy theories.”

Later in the day, 15 members of the hate group held a demonstration outside the synagogue, where they had hung a life-sized doll in effigy from a street sign, wrapped in a rainbow flag, with a kippa on its head. According to Bahar, at least one of the demonstrators was wearing a t-shirt with a Nazi insignia on it and another had an Israeli flag tied around his foot.

Police arrived at the scene not long thereafter and arrested GDL leader Jon Minadeo II on charges of disorderly conduct and public disturbance after he continued shouting obscenities through a bullhorn despite being ordered to stop. He was released the following day.

On Saturday, a group of about 150 residents of Macon gathered outside the Reform synagogue, and in a show of solidarity and support, they held hands and surrounded Temple Beth Israel. “It was an impromptu gathering,” recounted Bahar, who said she was deeply moved. “We did not organize it.”

The GDL group showed up once again and tried to hold its own demonstration, which was soon broken up by police. From there, the group headed to the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, where it held another demonstration, brandishing Nazi flags, outside the local Chabad synagogue.

One reason it is important to define antisemitism accurately is because to combat it, one must understand the motivations of the antisemites and respond only in ways that dissuade them

In this case, nothing happened that would stop the Goyim Defense League. On the contrary, the community holding hands outside the synagogue, the police releasing their leader after less than a day, the outrage from the community, the media coverage, and the police breaking up the second demonstration on Saturday morning might have made the Jewish community feel somewhat better but it didn't do a damned thing to make the antisemites think twice about driving to a Chabad and resuming their public hate.

If anything, the GDL is enthusiastic over the media coverage - they only have a handful of followers yet they have made international news, again. More antisemites would want to join the GDL after the events of this weekend.

The responses are well meaning but ultimately they are counterproductive.

The GDL delights in using laws that protect free speech to spread their hate. They dance close to the line of legality and mock those who try to use those same laws to silence them. They know that, at worst, they might spend a night in jail - and as a result they will recruit many new members who are itching to publicly scream obscenities at Jews.

In 1938, Nazis in America were way ahead of where the GDL is today. Also using freedom of speech, they held huge public marches and rallies, spouting off against Jews.

A judge named Nathan David Perlman realized that the law was not an impediment to this incitement. So he decided to go outside the law.

Perlman called Meyer Lansky, New York’s famous Jewish gangster.

“You got some boys who might want to punch a Nazi?” he asked.

“I do, Judge,” Lansky replied. “Respectfully, you understand we can do better than punch? I know just the crew — in Brownsville. The boys in the press call them Murder, Inc.”

“I want you to do anything but kill them,” Perlman said.

And that's what the mobsters did. Baseball bats, pool cues, throwing them out of windows - whatever was needed short of killing them. And the Jewish mobsters spread their campaign throughout the US, wherever the Nazis gathered.

The American Nazis cowered in fear and the attendance at their rallies evaporated (for the most part - they managed to have thousands of New York police protect them in their 1939 Madison Square Garden rally.)

Right now, the GDL is laughing at any legal efforts to stop them and residents holding hands in solidarity with Jews. They know that they are winning.

But if they are beaten up, they won't be laughing. And more importantly, they won't attract more members.

Let the Jews attacking them be arrested. Let there be arguments in court as to whether someone screaming "Sieg Heil" into a microphone is tantamount to assault and reacting with violence is self-defense. There is even scientific evidence that hatemongering is more harmful than actual assault in the victim's brain - let them battle that out.

Whether they win or lose is immaterial. The results are the important thing. And like their American Nazi forebears, these GDL thugs are cowards at heart.

Find out where the GDL is planning to spread their antisemitic flyers and get ready for them beforehand, beating them up and chasing them out of the neighborhoods they are polluting. Let them call the police.

Beating up the neo-Nazis gives them a direct message that they will pay a real price for intimidating Jews. And doing it now ensures that we will not see them strengthen enough to hold mass marches down the streets of major cities in five years.

Some things are worth literally fighting for.

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!

Document at UNRWA site admits UNRWA's definition of "refugee" is not valid in international law

The UN Human Rights Council issued a document last week by its reliably anti-Isrsel team of "experts" demanding that Palestinian "refugees" have the right to "return" under international law.

Right of return of Palestinian refugees must be prioritised over political considerations: UN experts

2022 marked the largest ever increase in the number of forcibly displaced persons worldwide, with over 108 million people across the globe uprooted from their homes, more than half are women and girls....

This reality is all too familiar for the Palestinian people, 75 years since the Nakba - the event that shattered Palestinian lives and severed their ancestral connection to their land during the establishment of the State of Israel. Since then, they have endured forced displacement, dispossession, and disenfranchisement, with their rights to self-determination, restitution, and compensation repeatedly denied. For 75 years, their cry for justice, embodied in the demand for the right to return, has resounded with unwavering determination.

For Palestinians, forced displacement has become part of their life for generations, tracing back to 1947-1949 when over 750,000 Palestinians were forced to flee massacres and mass expulsions and forcible transfers during the birth of the State of Israel. The majority, along with their descendants, are still in neighbouring Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, while 40 per cent of them remain under occupation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 1967. Progressively, Palestinian exile has scattered them across various nations globally.

Since 1948, both the General Assembly and the Security Council have consistently called upon Israel to facilitate the return of Palestinian refugees and provide reparations. Despite these repeated appeals, Palestinian refugees have been systematically denied of their right to return and forced to live in exile under precarious and vulnerable conditions outside the borders of Palestine.

The thing is, even the UN admits that these Palestinian Arabs are not legally considered refugees.

The UNHCR's Refugee Survey Quarterly in 2010 has an article by Riccardo Bocco, a professor at the University of Geneva, looking at the history of UNRWA. It is hosted at the UNRWA website, today. ASnd it admits what we have been writing here for years: the UNRWA working definition of "Palestine refugee" has nothing to do with international law.

In looking at who is a Palestinian refugee, there is no definitive response. The definition and the number of Palestinian refugees can differ according to the approach (administrative, juridical, political) used to define Palestinian refugees and also according to the social context of interaction between Palestinians (registered refugees or not) and others and the actors defining them. UNRWA, particularly at the beginning of its mandate, lacked a fixed definition; this changed mainly due to a need to delimit the number of relief recipients. When the Agency began its activities, it inherited a legacy of inflated registration: the United Nations Economic Survey Mission recorded approximately 720,000 people, while the number of recipients on the ration rolls of the United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees (UNRPR) surpassed 950,000. It is the 1952 definition that has become the accepted one and has remained virtually unchanged: “a Palestine refugee shall mean any person whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period June 1, 1946 to May 15, 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict”.

Some remarks should be noted.... [T]he descendants of original registered refugees inherited UNRWA’s administrative title independently of the fact that they may have obtained a nationality and/or left the Agency’s fields of operation.

It is important to emphasize that the UNRWA definition of a Palestine refugee is an administrative one and does not translate directly into recognition by international law. Furthermore, a tacit understanding seems to prevail: UNRWA’s continued existence (and the associated Palestine refugee status) is directly linked to the realization of a permanent resolution to the Palestine refugee issue.

Four crucial facts are listed here:

1. Over 30% of the original "refugee" population UNRWA registered were not refugees, and took that status illicitly. They have never been purged.

2. The UNRWA definition of "refugee" is administrative, not legal, and has nothing to do with the legal definition of refugee under international law and the Refugee Convention.

3. UNRWA "refugees" and their descendants are still considered "registered refugees" even if they move away from UNRWA areas, even if they obtain citizenship elsewhere - not only Jordan but also EU countries and the US. This is a truly absurd situation that is impossible for any real refugee; it is axiomatic that one cannot be a refugee while simultaneously being a citizen of a state. But millions of Palestinians are. So we have an absurd situation where American multi-millionaire supermodels (whose father's family voluntarily walked away from their home in Safed in 1948) are still considered "Palestine refugees."

4. UNRWA has a conflict of interest between staying in business and a sane definition of "refugee." . This is a major reason why it does not have any cessation clauses as UNHCR does. "Palestine refugees" are forever.

All of these facts are damning,. And they are on UNRWA's own website, today.

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Arabic media has been calling Israel weak and about to disappear since 1948

You can see daily articles in Arabic-language media about Israel's weakness and imminent demise, often with graphics like the one above.

This has been a theme since 1948.

The June 23, 1948 Palestine Post has two articles that discuss how Arab claims on the weakness of the new Jewish state spread quickly, even to the West, and how they were all baseless.

The first comes from an Australian reporter, Douglas Brass. Note that this was written during the first cease fire of the 1948 war (a cease fire that was repeatedly violated by Egypt and Syrian troops.)

The other was in a report from Dorothy Bar Adon, who was a very amusing columnist for the newspaper:

This continued through the beginning of the Six Day War with reports of huge Arab victories - such reports may have induced Jordan to join the war, which led to its losing the Old City of Jerusalem and the entire west bank of the Jordan.

The irony is that the sources for the modern versions of "Israel is weak:" comes from Israelis who are sounding alarms for potential issues to be addressed by Israeli society. In other words, the self-criticisms that show the strength of Israeli society are seen by Arabs who have no such concept as evidence of weakness.

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06/25 Links: David Collier: Three Worlds by Avi Shlaim – a proper review; Iran terror cell in Cyprus that planned attacks against Jews; US: No scientific cooperation beyond Green Line

From Ian:

David Collier: Three Worlds by Avi Shlaim – a proper review

In chapter eight Avi Shlaim finally addresses his core allegations — the bombings in Baghdad and his ‘undeniable proof‘ that ‘Zionist agents were responsible for targeting the Jewish community, forcing them to flee Iraq and settle in Israel‘.

The first bombing of a Jewish target took place on 8 April 1950 (page 126). Shlaim claims that this created a flood and by the end of the month, 25,300 Iraqi Jews had registered to emigrate. We can assume that this incredible rate continued for a while because Shlaim then goes on to say that by the middle of the year (June/July) ‘the paced had slowed’.

In other words, even if the bombs caused the exodus (which they didn’t), then whoever planted that first bomb most certainly was responsible for the momentum behind the exodus. Shlaim clearly says (p141) that those responsible for the first bomb (because it was publicly admitted in 2013) were the Islamist Istiqlal Party which wanted to force Jews to leave Iraq. The group felt that bombing Jewish targets would overcome any Jewish ‘hesitancy’ vis-avis emigration. In his own words Shlaim ‘concludes’ that the April 1950 attack was not carried out by Zionists.

Avi Shlaim and his evidence
Shlaim then turns to his ‘evidence’. They are the words of an 88-year-old man (Yaacov Karkoukli) and lots of assumption and hearsay. No academic would regard oral history of this type as reliable. Karkoukli even changes his story while talking to Shlaim on the bombing of the synagogue – giving two separate versions.

Shlaim then says (page 142):
‘Karkoukli (his main witness) was inaccurate on the back story of the bribe and the bombing of the synagogue‘.

Shlaim is literally admitting that the man upon whom he has built the entire theory is an unreliable witness. You don’t get to hang on to the bits you like because you want them to be true. This is not how historians should work.

And much of this is not even new. Karkoukli gave an interview in Hebrew in 2020 in which he talks about the deadly bombing of the Synagogue – that was organised by the Iraqi police (timestamp 42:30).

This means that both the first bomb, and the deadly bomb attack on the synagogue, were carried out by forces hostile to the Jews in Iraq.

Shlaim’s only other piece of evidence is an undated and unsigned document that is apparently tied to the same Iraqi police division that tortured and forced confessions out of Jews whom they arrested and executed over the bombings. If so, then this was written by a police force with a vested interest in placing the blame for the Jewish exodus back onto their ‘Zionist enemy’.

Far from offering undeniable proof, Avi Shlaim is effectively taking his readers for a ride.

Don’t be taken in by Avi Shlaim’s view of Zionism

The Jews and Arabs were friends really. It was only Zionism, a Eurocentric import, that poisoned the relationship between them.

So says Avi Shlaim, Emeritus Professor of International Relations at Oxford, in his new book, recently reviewed in gushing terms in the Spectator. Of course, he should know, being the son of Iraqi Jewish parents who left for Israel in 1950. He’s also a well-known Corbyn supporter and one of the many hard-left academics who vociferously accused anti-Corbyn campaigners of weaponising antisemitism — the type of view that Sir Keir Starmer has spent the last few years trying to get rid of in the Labour Party.

Shlaim focuses on the well-worn accusation that a series of bombings in 1950 and 1951 in Baghdad (which caused one fatality overall) were in fact a plot orchestrated by Israel to make the Jews leave. It’s a ludicrous proposition that has never had any proof behind it. It has echoes of Ken Loach and Ken Livingstone’s pernicious proposition that the Zionists were in cahoots with the Nazis. It’s the kind of thing antisemites love to come up with: it’s the Jews who are really to blame for their own fate, rather than the centuries of Arab persecution.

The fact that for centuries they had status as second-class “dhimmi” who, if they looked at a Muslim the wrong way, could be murdered for it, had nothing to do with it. The 1941 Nazi-inspired Farhud antisemitic pogrom, when 180 Jews were murdered, was of no consequence. The arrests, confiscations and worse in the wake of 1948 had no impact. The Arabs loved the Jews and it was all the fault of Zionism.

Except it wasn’t. One hundred and twenty thousand Jews left Iraq for Israel between 1950 and 1952. As Shlaim points out, life in Israel for these refugees was deprived and difficult. Many who had arrived told their friends and relatives still in Baghdad that they should not come. Yet mostly they still did. Not because of an illusory non-existent plot by Israel but because their fellow citizens had just murdered 180 of their community, following on from a long history of persecution and second-class citizenship, and they realised, perhaps, that to be safe they needed to be somewhere else. Somewhere that would take them in, like the Jewish state. They did not need “Eurocentric Zionism” to make this clear.

Those who stayed had in store for them the hangings of nine Jews in Baghdad in 1969 and other atrocities in revenge for the defeat of the Arab armies 1967.

Mossad helped crack Iran terror cell in Cyprus that planned attacks against Jews

The Mossad helped Cyprus crack an Iranian terror cell, according to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday.

The spy agency said that it had assisted Cyprus with thwarting Iran’s plot in order to solve the puzzle of the underlying crimes and method of operation of the terror organization involved.

"Israel praises the thwarting of an Iranian terrorist attack on Cyprus's territory against Israeli targets," the Prime Minister's Office stated. "Israel acts in a variety of ways everywhere to defend Jews and Israelis, and will continue to act to cut off Iranian terror wherever it raises its head, including in Iran, the chief spreader of terror in the world."

Earlier Sunday, Phile News reported that Cyprus thwarted a planned Iranian terrorist attack on Jews on the island state. That initial report said that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps planned the attack, which was stopped in cooperation between Cyprus and Western partners, which named the US and Israel as among the likely partners.

Jerusalem and Nicosia have worked together to foil Iranian plots to attack Israelis in the past. In 2021, they arrested a Russian-Azerbaijani hitman hired by the IRGC to kill Israeli businessmen in Cyprus. Billionaire Teddy Sagi, among others, were evacuated to Israel at the time.

Channel 12 added that the terror cell targeted a Jewish real estate businessman, a Chabad site, and hotels that Israelis tend to visit.

Seven members of the cell were arrested, with one having escaped.

Here is a TikTok video, via the incomparable Imshin, unfortunately not translated, from an Egyptian tourist visiting Ramallah. He's mostly complaining about the high prices of everything from groceries to gasoline, claiming it is the most expensive Arab city in the world, even more than cities in the Gulf.

But the luxury he shows is commensurate with the expenses.

He features luxury mansions and apartments, the construction constantly going on, and the gorgeous Birzeit University (2:50) as well as the large amount of empty space and breathtaking scenes of the hills surrounding Ramallah.

This is luxury that Egyptians only see on TV. And it is all under "occupation."

This is a slight detour from Imshin's usual beat of showing "The Gaza You Don't See" such as this video posted also today of a luxury Gaza holiday chalet that can be rented .

Somehow, these parts of Ramallah and Gaza City have escaped the attention of the hundreds of western reporters on the scene. You never see these scenes from Reuters, CNN and the New York Times.

(h/t Yoel)

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Cyprus' Philenews reports:

A terrorist act was prevented on the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, which was aimed, as estimated, at killing citizens of Jewish origin.

The perpetrators, according to reports, were apparently intelligence services linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). This, informed sources say, was achieved by coordinated actions and operations of our country's intelligence service, in cooperation with Western partners, believed to be the respective American and Israeli agencies. This is the second such operation, after the arrest, two years ago, of an Azeri with a Russian passport, who also appears to have been acting on behalf of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

In this case, ...a network of terrorists, who seem to make full use of the occupied territories from where they send their recruits to the free areas from places that the Republic of Cyprus does not control.

...Although the main perpetrator escaped the equipment he would have used was located.

An official noted to "Filelefthero" that with this development the Republic of Cyprus is sending the message that it shows zero tolerance for such terrorist acts and actions. Furthermore, he declares that no illusions should be created that Cyprus is the weak link due to the "security hole" created by the occupied territories.

Two things are clear: Iran planned to attack Jewish targets, and they tried to use Muslim Turkey's occupation of parts of Cyprus to stay off of the radar of Cypriot intelligence.

There has been a steady stream of such attempts in the region, all linked to Iran.

In 2021, Cypriot authorities arrested a terror cell linked to Iran, planning to attack Israeli businessmen in that country.

Earlier this year Greek authorities arrested a cell that planned to attack a Chabad in Athens as well as businesses linked to Israelis in another Iranian plot.

In 2022, an Iranian terror cell was caught in Turkey attempting to assassinate an Israeli businessman in Istanbul.

There is no doubt about Iran's direct involvement in terrorism. Apparently, that isn't even a factor with the Biden administration's desire to come to agreements with the Islamist terror regime reportedly on the cusp of testing nuclear weapons.

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Times of Israel reports:

Israel Defense Forces chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, and Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai in a joint statement on Saturday strongly condemned an ongoing series of settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, branding them as “nationalist terrorism in the full sense of the term.”

In the wake of a deadly terror attack carried out by Hamas-affiliated gunmen in the West Bank on Tuesday, in which four Israelis were killed, the past five days have seen hundreds of settlers rampage inside Palestinian towns and villages, setting fire to homes, cars, and even opening fire in some cases.

“In recent days, violent attacks by Israeli citizens against innocent Palestinians have been carried out in the Judea and Samaria area,” the security chiefs’ statement read, referring to the West Bank by its biblical name. “These attacks are against every moral and Jewish value and are also nationalist terrorism in the full sense of the term, and we are obliged to fight them.”

It then later reported in a headline, "Far-right ministers reject criticism of settler attacks on Palestinians as ‘terror’" - but I couldn't find in the text of the article where they said that. They complained about placing an equivalence between the settler attacks and Palestinian attacks, which is not how I interpret the joint statement.

Whether they said it or not, it is important that the Israeli side not engage in what the Israel haters do all the time - redefine terms for political purposes. Israel-haters do it with "apartheid" and "ethnic cleansing" and many other accusations against Israel, ignoring the real meaning of the terms, and the Zionist side must not do the same.

While there is no single agreed upon definition of terrorism, here are some.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2005 said that "terrorism is any action intended to cause death or serious harm to civilians with the purpose of intimidation."

A 2018 UN report on terrorism included in its definition, “any action...that is intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants, when the purpose of such act, by its nature or context, is to intimidate a population, or to compel a Government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act.”

The US Department of Defense says it is "The calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological."

While one might argue whether the rioters intend to cause death to the members of the Arab villages they rioted in, there is no doubt they intend to use violence to intimidate them. The violence is targeting people who are not known to be involved in attacks.

Israel is subjected to double standards all the time. If we are against such double standards, we must enforce a single standard ourselves, no matter what.

The riots are illegal, immoral, and collective punishment. They are indeed terror. Beyond that, they are counterproductive and hurt the State of Israel, especially among its newest peace partners in the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco, not to mention its relations with Europe and the US. The anger might be understandable but the actions are not justifiable.

The IDF, Shin Bet and Israel Police are correct in their statement, and the rioters are hurting the State of Israel they claim to support. Unlike what Smotrich said, clearly condemning the rioters' crimes in no way lessens the horror and depravity of Palestinian terrorism.

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06/24 Links: The Democratic Party’s anti-Zionist wing is growing. Here’s how; BDS Calls For Boycott Against UN Climate Summit in UAE Over Ties To Israel

From Ian:

Activist Org Calls For Boycott Against UN Climate Summit Over Ties To Israel

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is calling for a boycott of the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) due to its ties with Israel, according to an Instagram post.

The group is protesting the U.N. for allowing the annual conference in November to be held by “one of the world’s largest fossil fuel producers,” and argued that the move undermines the fight for “climate justice,” according to the post. BDS’ Arab account posted on Wednesday that it would be organizing a boycott against the summit because of the UAE’s “military-security alliance with the enemy,” the enemy being the state of Israel, the group claimed.

“Our call is in line with the call issued by boycott groups, parties, unions and civil associations in the Arab region, which calls for the boycott of the authoritarian Emirates region because of its military-security alliance with the enemy and its conspiracy on the Palestinian issue, the war crimes committed in Yemen and its violent suppression of freedoms in the UAE,” the post reads.

The group argued that protesting the “apartheid” state of Israel is in line with the fight for “climate justice,” according to the post.

“The struggle against the Israeli colonialist and apartheid system in Palestine is organically and intermittently related to the struggle for political and civil rights, social, economic and climate justice in the Arab world and around the world and against all systems of oppression and persecution.”

The Democratic Party’s anti-Zionist wing is growing. Here’s how

In recent weeks the New York political scene roiled in the wake of three separate but significant controversies revolving around American support for Israel: city and state legislatures divided over two separate votes relating to antisemitic violence and charities supporting Jewish victims of terror, and a City University of New York Law School valedictorian delivered a fiery polemic against Israel, the United States, and the rule of law itself. Each of these controversies derived from a growing split within the Democrat Party between older, moderate liberals who have traditionally supported the Middle East’s strongest democracy, and an ascendant, far-left wing of younger Democrats opposed in principle to Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.

New York is seen by Jews all over the world as a kind of second home and major center of Jewish life. Yet while Israelis and diaspora Jews may think of New York as a place where Jews may live safely and unapologetically both as Jews and fully invested Americans, the rise of hardline leftist in New York politics, and their views regarding Israel, challenge these assumptions and have serious implications for the future of the Democrat Party.

‘Personnel is policy’ is a familiar axiom in politics. Today’s leftist city council and state assembly members are tomorrow’s mayors, governors and members of Congress. And there are strong indications that the Democratic Party’s foot soldiers — staffers, campaign workers, and activists — who will eventually run for lower-level positions are even further left than their bosses. While the aging old guard of the Democratic Party at the national level has tamped down some (but not all) of the anti-Israel stridency of Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Ilhan Omar and the rest of the “Squad” for the time being, their young Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) cohorts at the state and local level in New York are emboldened, with indications that their hostility to Israel extends to even liberal Jews who dare support the world’s only Jewish state.

End Jew hatred…
In the wake of antisemitic attacks in the city, the New York city council recently passed a resolution establishing April 29 as “End Jew Hatred Day,” a perfunctory, procedural gesture of support for a community alarmed by an uptick in antisemitic violence. While this might seem to be uncontroversial and worthy of unanimous support by design, it was passed in spite of direct ‘no’ votes from two council members and four ‘abstentions,’ from Democrat council members who concluded that fighting antisemitism was a controversial position unworthy of their unqualified support.

Two progressive Democrats, Shahana Hanif (co-chair of the council’s “Progressive Caucus”) and Sandra Nurse, directly opposed the bill, while four others (Rita Joseph, Charles Barron, Alexa Avilés and Jennifer Gutiérrez) in the progressive camp chose to abstain from a declaration of support for ending the hatred of Jews. All six represent districts in Brooklyn, home to almost half of the city’s Jews.

Hanif refused to support a bill that was also supported by Republicans, on the grounds that they had not done enough in support of trans issues and the BLM movement. Barron gave a meandering speech about Israel’s support for South Africa, though the legislation did not mention Israel at all. The others all made clear that their support for the notion of ending anti-semitic violence was contingent on who else was opposed to it or the actions of Israel as some sort of context.

This was followed in May by five Democrats (all DSA endorsed) in the New York State Assembly introducing a bill, “ Not on our dime!: Ending New York funding of Israeli settler violence act,” to prohibit New York nonprofits “from engaging in unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity,” violation of which would provide authorization EMPOWER? to the State Attorney General to revoke tax-exempt status. This activity could include support for victims of terror attacks occurring in the West Bank or East Jerusalem.

??????This includes cooperation with BSF , Bird & Bard .

This was the policy before 2020 & #Trump administration changed it .

Story to follow on @AsharqNews .
— Hiba Nasr (@HibaNasr) June 23, 2023

Team Obama-Biden is explicitly trying to undo Trump's and @TedCruz's moves to hollow out and reverse UNSCR 2334--Obama's pathological adoption of anti-Israel rejectionism. The admin has been trying to revive it from day 1. See: https://t.co/ldF6DG5wXm; https://t.co/FMIlJ3YlMP https://t.co/IzBlt9dwzq pic.twitter.com/hz0GGgXXwi
— Tony Badran (@AcrossTheBay) June 23, 2023

06/23 Links Pt2: Netanyahu says US-Israel ties as strong as ever; Giving ‘progressive’ antisemites the benefit of the doubt; Florida to investigate Morningstar for potential BDS practices

From Ian:

What Avi Shlaim gets wrong about the persecution of Jews in Iraq

According to Marozzi’s piece ‘although Israel has consistently denied any involvement in these attacks, suspicion has hung over the clandestine activities of Zionist agents tasked with persuading the Jewish community to flee Iraq and settle in Israel.’

They needed no such persuading. The Jews of Iraq had been subjected to persecution for years. In 1941 they suffered the horrific Farhoud pogroms: over 180 Jews were murdered, hundreds injured and hundreds of Jewish homes destroyed. But even before the Farhud, Jews were targeted: 1938 saw a documented bombing campaign against Jews in Iraq ‘that cannot be explained away on ‘Zionist agents’; and in 1947 a Jewish man was lynched for ‘giving kids poisoned candy’ and the Jewish quarter of Fallujah was ransacked.’

Before the partition vote, the Iraqi foreign minister threatened the expulsion of Iraqi Jews, and by 1948, on the hearsay of two Muslims, any Jew could be thrown into jail for years as a ‘Zionist’. Throughout the land, Jewish banking rights were restricted, Jews were banned from most civil service positions, Jewish businesses were boycotted and countless Jews were arrested and dispossessed. Also in 1948, Iraq’s richest Jew, Shafiq Ades, was executed after being found guilty of selling weapons to Israel without evidence and refused a defence. Such levels of anti-semitism are not dissimilar to what happened in the early phases of Nazi Germany.

By the time of the 1951 bombings, most Iraqi Jews had already registered to leave, yet according to Esther Meir-Glitzenstein’s Zionism in an Arab Country, ‘Israel had only managed to evacuate some of them, which meant 10,000s of Jews were already trapped in no-mans-land’.

By September 1950, only 10,000 Jews had left; 60,000 of the 70,000 registrants were still in Iraq. By mid November the backlog was 65,0000. Why – even leaving aside the moral monstrosity of the process by which Shlaim alleges it did so – would Israel seek to speed up a flow of immigrants it was already struggling to process?

Netanyahu says US-Israel ties as strong as ever in exclusive 'Post' interview

The past six months have been exceedingly turbulent, even by Israeli standards. Between repeated, disruptive mass protests against the government, a judicial reform aiming to overhaul an entire branch of government, rookie cabinet ministers with unorthodox views shocking allies and threatening rebellion, a defense minister fired and unfired, terrorism in the West Bank, another mini-war with Gaza and attacks from Lebanon, plus the prospect of a new agreement between the US and Iran, Israel has felt like it is on the brink.

And then there’s the mainstay: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He returned to the premiership late last year after a little over a year leading the opposition, a brief interlude in his 16 nonconsecutive years of power, the longest for any Israeli prime minister.

Speaking in a small studio in the Prime Minister’s Office set up to look like his actual office, Netanyahu seemed determined to give the impression that everything is normal – or, at the very least, that he has a steady hand steering the Israeli ship.

The economy is doing great, he said, despite credit agencies’ lowering Israel’s outlook; they didn’t lower Israel’s rating and investments are flowing into the country, evidence, he suggested, that the judicial reform is actually helping Israel economically. The absence of a White House invitation belies how close the Biden administration is with Israel, and how much more transparent he and US President Joe Biden are with one another, compared to his relationship with Biden’s predecessor, Barack Obama. Even a new Iran deal didn’t raise Netanyahu’s hackles.

The Jerusalem Post is the first Israeli media outlet to interview the prime minister since his comeback, other than the overtly pro-Netanyahu Channel 14, and the first newspaper to do so. The Post agreed to film this interview and make it available in full to the public as a video; it is available on our website, JPost.com.

The wide-ranging interview took place before the IDF raid on Jenin or the deadly Palestinian terrorist attack outside Eli this week, though he dropped a hint that there were dramatic days ahead.

The Netanyahu Doctrine - opinion

Like Netanyahu, Herzog said this week that the sides were unable to reach understandings on any of the issues under discussion. Unlike Netanyahu, however, he called on the parties to return to the negotiating table and seek to reach an agreement. “I believe a large majority of the public wants that,” the president said.

Netanyahu, for his part, seems to feel that the talks have run their course. This week, he announced that his government would move forward with parts of the judicial reform, starting with changes to the so-called “reasonableness clause,” an effort to curtail the Supreme Court’s ability to intervene in government decisions.

“Last week it was proven that [Opposition Leader] Lapid and [National Unity Party leader] Gantz played a game,” he said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, one day before our interview. “It was a smokescreen of pretend-dialogue. We gave a month and then another, and their representatives did not agree to minimal understanding. Their intention was to waste time and delay every amendment, while a large majority of the public believes that there needs to be changes in the judicial system. Therefore, this week we will convene and begin practical steps in a balanced and responsible manner, but according to the mandate that we received, to change the judicial system.”

Having tried, in his telling, to reach consensus, Netanyahu is now determined for his government to proceed alone.

The Netanyahu Doctrine is most evident, however, in his approach to Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and how it has evolved over the years.

In his first-ever address to a joint session of Congress, less than a month after first entering office in 1996, Netanyahu cautioned his audience against allowing Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, which would, he said, “presage catastrophic consequences, not only for my country, and not only for the Middle East, but for all mankind.”

“Only the United States,” he continued, “can lead this vital international effort to stop the nuclearization of terrorist states… We are confident that America, once again, will not fail to take the lead in protecting our free civilization from this ultimate horror.”