Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Havat Efraim: This Beit El Children’s Zoo Honors the Memory of a Boy Killed by Terrorists (Judean Rose)

Interview with Tuvia Victor of Havat Efraim

Havat Efraim, the Beit El Children’s Zoo, comes upon one like a surprise. My friend had said “I’m going to the petting zoo in Beit El. Do you want to come with?”

I eagerly accepted. It’s not that I cared so much about seeing a “petting zoo” but I really, really wanted to go to Beit El. Somehow in 43 years of living in Israel, I had never managed to see this important biblical city. Here was my chance and I was taking it with or without the animals.

It was a magical day.

Havat Efraim, or “Efraim’s Farm” is not really a “petting zoo” (or “pinat chai” as the Hebrew-speaking locals call it), though there is a bunny pen for this purpose. It’s a proper children’s zoo, albeit small, nestled inside a wooded area, with numerous water features and proper benches to sit on. Some of the animals roam free, while others are in cages, and the place just seems to wind on and on, as you constantly come upon yet another interesting species of animal, just around the corner.

The man who runs this impressive—and impressively-sized—children’s zoo is Tuvia Victor. It is doubtful that Victor ever expected to become a zookeeper. Born in South Africa, the

Tuvia Victor with a deer at Havat Efraim, Efraim's Farm

accountant/insurance and pension agent has lived in Beit El since he was married, now nearly 37 years ago. Today, the Victor family is a living representation of the Ingathering of the Exiles, as its ranks swell with Israeli grandchildren of Yemenite, Tunisian, Moroccan, Polish and Ethiopian ancestry.

Tuvia took time from his busy schedule to answer some questions about his labor of love, Havat Efraim, Efraim’s Farm:

Varda Epstein: What event was the inspiration for the expansion of the pinat chai? When did you become involved?

Tuvia Victor: On the last night of Chanuka in 1996, there was a terrorist attack and I went in the ambulance as a medic to the scene of the attack. A family on its return from lighting candles with family was shot, and the mother and the 12-year-old son were seriously wounded. The son died from a head wound at the site of the attack and the mother passed away later that night in the hospital. The Tzur family were neighbours of mine. The young boy, Efraim, together with his friends had tendered a spot where they kept some ducks and a goat His friends made a sign which read: “Efraim’s Farm – in memory of our friend.” I was moved by their action and started to help them improve and enlarge the cages which they had built. From there Efraim’s Farm grew and grew until it became what it is today.

The story of Efraim Tzur, HY"D. Memorial plaque at Havat Efraim.

Varda Epstein: Is there something special about the location of the pinat chai? Why do you think Efraim chose this spot?

Tuvia Victor: The pinat chai is located in the valley below the settlement—I imagine that the children wanted to tend to animals but their parents (mothers?) were not so keen for that to happen in their garden!

A boy feeds a red deer at Havat Efraim, the "pinat chai" or petting zoo of Beit El

Varda Epstein: What kind of animals do you have at the pinat chai today, and how many of them are there altogether? How big a part does your location play in determining the types of animals you bring in? How much space do you have in which to house them all?

Tuvia Victor: We have a variety of animals – mammals, birds and fowl, small carnivores, reptiles and fish. We house about 250 animals in about 12 dunam. We have deer, sheep, goats, coatimundi, horses, donkeys, peacocks, guinea fowl, a variety of ducks and geese, Sulcata tortoises and a number of species of birds.

Sulcata tortoises

Varda Epstein: What does it take the feed all those animals? Is the feed delivered?

Tuvia Victor: Each animal is fed with a diet suitable to it. We feed with hay and prepared dry feed mixtures, as well as fresh fruit and vegetables. The community leaves leftover fruit, vegetables and bread in a special crate built at the entrance to the pinat chai. The hay is delivered by truck (about 8 tons) while I collect the dry food every 2 weeks.

Cameroon sheep, goats, and horses at the Pinat Chai in Beit El

Varda Epstein: Talk to us about the expansion. Who does the work? What kind of improvements have you made?

Tuvia Victor: We employ any worker that needs work – over the years we have employed unemployed, under-employed and those needing to supplement their income. The Jewish National Fund (JNF) built the duck pond and the caves for the farm animals. Together with the employees we spoke about before, volunteers (both adult and children), and myself, we built the rest of the structures. We use recycled materials wherever possible, like equipment from children’s parks etc.

Mandarin Ducks

The duck pond

Varda Epstein: What are some of your favorite animals at the pinat chai, and why?

Tuvia Victor: Each and every one is special to me! Naturally when we get new animals they are the most exciting and challenging – learning what they need in terms of feeding, housing and "entertainment". Our latest residents are the Jacob Sheep. Some believe that the modern breed is actually the same one mentioned in the Bible (although there is little genetic evidence). We have two males and are hoping to begin breeding them by bringing female ewes. Some of them have 4 horns!

A Jacob sheep is fed a treat of lavender from a visitor

Varda Epstein: What can visitors expect to find on arrival at the pinat chai? Is there an entry fee? Is there a way to visit on Shabbat?

Tuvia Victor: Efraim’s Farm is open from dawn to dusk. The information center at the entrance offers a map of the pinat chai as well as its story. The expected code of behavior is also displayed there. The entry fee is 5 NIS per visitor. Entrance fee can be paid by bank transfer (Bank Leumi, Branch 902, Account 20880098), by credit card via the website, or cash which is fed to the stone rabbit at the entrance. Visitors on Shabbat are requested to pay on a weekday.

Kids enjoy "feeding" this stone rabbit their 5 NIS entry fee.

Me speaking bastard Yiddish nonsense to an Emu

Varda Epstein: Do you offer any activities for children? Is the pinat chai a safe place for them? Are all of the animals caged?

Tuvia Victor: We welcome schools, nursery schools and groups to visit and enjoy pita-making, a petting area, and other activities – all with prior arrangement. We also offer animal therapy for children. Although most of the animals are in their own areas, the smaller goats do wander around. We do suggest parents look after their children in the pinat chai – for both their safety and to ensure they treat the animals with the expected respect and without hurting them.

Coatimundi at Havat Efraim, the Pinat Chai of Beit El

Tuvia feeds the coatimundis

Varda Epstein: Tell us more about your location. Are there other local attractions to see in Beit El?

Tuvia Victor: Beit El is a vibrant and growing community with about 1300 families. In addition to visiting the pinat chai, one can walk back in history by visiting the spot of Jacob’s dream, the remains of Jerobam’s altar, and ancient burial caves. There are restaurants, springs and parks. A new visitors’ center is soon to be opened.

Just a rock or the rock where Jacob slept and had his dream?

Varda Epstein: What are your future aspirations for the pinat chai? What’s next on the agenda?

Tuvia Victor: Our next project is to complete a reptile house which will include snakes, iguanas, lizards etc. Donations will help us tremendously to continue employing the unemployed, providing for the animals and improving our unique place for the benefit of all the visitors – children and adults alike.

To make a donation to Havat Efraim/Efraim’s Farm, and for more information, please visit the website of the Beit El Children’s Zoo.

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!

Several weeks ago I wrote about how Saudi Arabia is positioning itself as the leader of the Middle East, and what it wants to accomplish.

Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, at the Aspen Ideas Festival this past weekend, described the vision in more detail - including where Israel fits in.

“We want to see a thriving Israel,” she said. “We want to see a thriving Palestine. Vision 2030 talks about a unified, integrated, thriving Middle East and last I checked, Israel was there. We want a thriving Red Sea economy.”

The princess continued. “We don’t say normalization, we talk about an integrated Middle East, unified [as] a bloc like Europe, where we all have sovereign rights and sovereign states, but we have a shared and common interest. So that’s not normalization. Normalization is you’re sitting there, and I’m sitting here, and we kind of coexist, but separately. Integration means our people collaborate, our businesses collaborate, and our youth thrive.”

The Saudi vision is to have a unified Middle East bloc of nations where there is not so much dependence on superpowers. It wants to eliminate the infighting. And it wants to lead, by promoting the benefits to all - under the beneficence of Saudi Arabian cash.

The new Saudi Arabia wants not to oppose states like Syria and Iran, but to subsume them.

Diplomacy with Iran, Princess Reema continued, provides “another way” to deescalate tensions in the region. “You do not want a nuclear Iran pointing itself at the rest of us,” she said. “You don’t want us poking and prodding. You don’t want Israel poking and prodding. You don’t want the Iranians aiming at Israel. You don’t want any of that.”

The ambassador defended Saudi efforts to reintegrate Syria into the Arab world, explaining that the kingdom is using available avenues to bring humanitarian relief to the war-torn country. The war in Syria, she said, has gone on for “12 years, where it’s not just a war zone, the country is [in] shambles. We cannot have another failed state in the Middle East. It is unreasonable to let it happen. And so the question is, what do you do? And that’s what we’re trying to solve for today.”

The Saudis seem to be waving the carrot of going beyond normalization to Israel's long-standing dream of being fully integrated in the region. While Reema said that Saudi Arabia would “always come to the U.S. first” when it needs for new technology, it sounds like it wants to go to Israel second, to make the Middle East an independent world power.

I do not see Egypt being included in any of these Saudi plans. Maybe they are part of it, or maybe the Saudis consider Egypt to be an African leader, not a Middle East leader.

My long-shot prediction is that Saudi Arabia will try to work on the Lebanese issue. They desperately need cash to not become a failed state, and the people dislike Hezbollah and Iran. While Lebanon's problems may seem intractable, if the Saudis could help get it over the current hump, it could marginalize the Shiite threat and even pave a way for Lebanese/Israeli peace. The Saudis might not want to do this publicly, because failure would look bad and the chances of success are low, but I wouldn't be surprised if they look at Lebanon as a key to show their leadership and their vision of a unified Middle East by unifying the most polarized nation in the Middle East.

As for Saudi Arabia's traditional Sunni Islamic conservatism and how it has been difficult to coexist with Shiites, Christians and Jews: the princess' short sleeves and leaving much of her hair uncovered is just as much a message to the other groups in the region as her words are.

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!

06/28 Links Pt1: Biden is forcing Israel to attack Iran alone; White House Hires Anti-Israel Professor From University Engulfed in Anti-Semitism Controversy

From Ian:

White House Hires Anti-Israel Professor From University Engulfed in Anti-Semitism Controversy

The White House's newest hire is a City University of New York (CUNY) professor who has accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" and "systematic genocide," a move that is raising alarms among the many people who are already concerned about the Biden administration's failure to combat anti-Semitism on America's college campuses.

Ramzi Kassem, a professor at CUNY's law school, was tapped to serve as a senior policy adviser for immigration in the White House's Domestic Policy Council. Kassem is a vocal Israel critic who spent a portion of his time as an undergrad at Columbia University writing scathing criticisms of the Jewish state, a Washington Free Beacon review found. Kassem, who helped defend terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay, charged the Jewish state with genocide and decried "unconditional" support for Israel.

Kassem's hiring comes as the Biden administration fights the perception it is feeding Israel's opponents. A closely watched White House plan on combating anti-Semitism, for instance, was recently watered down by anti-Israel activists. The State Department admitted on Monday that it is boycotting research partnerships with certain Israeli organizations.

CUNY announced that Kassem "will work to support the Biden-Harris agenda across a range of immigration issues" using his expertise as "a national leader on progressive immigration reform." Kassem enters the White House after working for more than a decade at CUNY, which has repeatedly found itself in hot water for promoting anti-Semitic hate speech and, in some cases, subjecting Jewish students to "severe and persistent anti-Semitic harassment." CUNY's law school, in particular, promotes anti-Semitic boycotts against Israel and recently featured a graduation speaker who accused Israel of sending "lynch mobs" after Palestinians.

Kassem's past writings strike a similar note. In an April 1998 article, the White House adviser claimed there is "sufficient evidence" implicating Israel in a "systematic genocide" against the Palestinians. The Jewish state's behavior, Kassem wrote in the Columbia Spectator, is "a clear-cut case of ethnic cleansing." In another April 1998 article, titled "Zionism Impedes Middle Eastern Peace," Kassem claimed European Jews came to the Middle East "with the intention of conquering the land." A two-state solution between the parties "is not viable, nor is it desirable," he insisted.

Friedman: Biden administration is ‘embracing BDS movement’

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller confirmed on Monday that the United States would be freezing scientific and technological cooperation with Israeli entities in areas over the 1949 armistice line, i.e., in Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights and parts of Jerusalem. U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller confirmed on Monday that the United States would be freezing scientific and technological cooperation with Israeli entities in areas over the 1949 armistice line, i.e. in Judea, Samaria, the Golan Heights and parts of Jerusalem.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman took to Twitter following the news of the freeze, saying: “Make no mistake. The United States, by this action, is embracing the BDS movement, violating a binding bilateral agreement with Israel, and creating a lose/lose dynamic whereby the people of the region—Israelis and Palestinians—will lose the most.”

In October 2020, Friedman, under the direction of former President Donald Trump, participated in a signing ceremony at Ariel University in Samaria with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, extending bilateral agreements between Israel and the United States to include Israeli institutions over the so-called Green Line, immediately expanding scientific and academic cooperation.

When asked by a reporter at Monday’s press briefing in Washington about the decision to reverse the Trump administration directive that had permitted such cooperation in all parts of the country, Miller stated:
“The United States strongly values scientific and technological cooperation with Israel, and robust scientific and technological cooperation with Israel continues. The State Department recently circulated foreign policy guidance to relevant agencies in the United States government, advising that engaging in bilateral scientific and technological cooperation with Israel in geographic areas which came under the administration of Israel after 1967 and which remain subject to final-status negotiations is inconsistent with U.S. foreign policy.”

Longtime ADL leader Foxman slams Biden for ‘boycotting’ Netanyahu, meeting with tyrants - exclusive

“I believe that President [Joe] Biden isolating Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu is a misguided policy and borders on what I would even call hypocrisy,” Abe Foxman, the former Anti Defamation League (ADL) head and one of the most senior leaders of the American Jewish community told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, while visiting Israel.

Foxman explained that Biden not meeting with Netanyahu “also sends the wrong message [not only] to Israel’s enemies, but also to its friends and allies.” He stressed that “when friends disagree, they need to, and should meet, speak to each other. This lack of invitation has become a politicized issue.”

For this phenomenon, he gave examples from both the Left and Right: “Republicans in the US charge the president with animus Israel, that that’s why he’s not inviting the prime minister. On the other side, some of the progressives in the Democratic party would like to isolate the prime minister, even before he was elected; before the judicial reform.“Yet in terms of liberal Democrats, they have also made it a political issue, which I believe the White House sees as part of making them happy, while the president isn’t seeing the price.”

Foxman continued, saying that having spent a week in Israel “democracy may still be under assault, but I see a robust democracy and even though some are trying to undermine it. Many in this country are exercising dynamic democratic debate, hundreds-of-thousands on the streets, in the press and on social media.

“Democracy is under assault all over the world, including in America,” Foxman added. “We almost lost democracy in the last several years.” But this American Jewish leader, who holds plenty of criticism towards the current coalition, thinks that Biden needs to stop with the animosity and create dialogue with Netanyahu. “What about the special relationship between these two democratic countries?” He asked. “This sends a bad message for Israel and for America, because that special relationship is important, both for the countries but also for the region.

In rollout of antisemitism strategy, White House steers clear of the Jewish state

The White House language led to a wide-ranging constellation of praise that served as something of a Rorschach test rather than any clear statement of policy: Mainstream Jewish organizations viewed the language as an endorsement of IHRA, while groups on the left who oppose the IHRA definition applauded the Biden administration for not fully backing IHRA.

“They can say whatever they want,” Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, said of those who celebrated that the Biden administration did not formally adopt IHRA. “But the strategy says the United States government embraces the IHRA definition,” she told JI earlier this month.

On Friday, the White House official declined to offer any further explanation of the White House position.

“It addresses this exactly the way that we want to do so,” said the administration official. “The report continues the approach of the United States government on the definition of antisemitism.”

Further, they added, “we are sticking with the approach that we’ve had on this matter, and we’re moving forward with all the agency actions to try to make a real difference in people’s lives.”

The White House’s hesitation to explain its approach to defining antisemitism stands in stark contrast to the way the matter has been discussed by the State Department’s Lipstadt. In several recent interviews, Lipstadt — a prominent historian of the Holocaust and a supporter of the IHRA definition — has continued to publicly embrace IHRA. But as a Senate-confirmed ambassador, Lipstadt has no involvement in matters of domestic policy, such as the recent CUNY commencement case.

The flip side of "pinkwashing:" In Arabic, Muslims blame Jews and Zionists for homosexuality

The absurd charge of "pinkwashing" says that Israel promotes gay rights in order to distract the world from its treatment of Palestinians. In short, the progressive argument states, when Israel does something progressive, it must be done for evil purposes.

But what about the hundreds of millions of Muslims who are explicitly homophobic?

Well, they have a different take on Jews, Zionism and gays.

The Iraq-based Buratha News Agency asked 35 Muslim writers, political analysts, and academics to give their opinions on what they called "Western countries’ calls for perversion and pornography."

Several of them blame Jews and Zionists for spreading homosexuality through the world.

Writer Adnan Jawad says that the West, "led by Washington and with the Zionist mentality," spread homosexuality to help destroy the "golden billion" Muslims in order to get to their natural resources.

Similarly, political analyst Dr. Ali Al-Taweel claimed, "The golden billion plan that floated to the forefront of the media these days through the statements of American officials and Zionists is not separate from the issue of homosexuality, which they are promoting strongly."

Political science professor Dr. Jassim Al-Hariri responded that "The Zionists encourage homosexuality, as the head of the first international group of male homosexuals was a Jew, Magnus Hirschfeld, with his Jewish assistant, Kurt Heller, as they found spreading vice the best way to deviate humanity from its human nature."

Political analyst Sabah Al-Aqili responded, "The world is going through a period of transformation on the moral level and rebellion against the natural laws that the monotheistic religions came to establish and preserve, and we find that the West and the Jews have the biggest role in overcoming those limits under the title of liberation and freedom."

Finally, we have political analyst Majed Al-Shuwaili, who says, "The Jews, who control the largest and most international banks, use this issue to guarantee hegemony and control over the world with this steady growth in the hearts of the world and Muslims in particular."

It looks like they agree with the pinkwashers that Israel promotes homosexuality. They also agree that the Jews are up to no good.

They just disagree on the specifics.

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!

No, Roseanne Barr didn't deny the Holocaust - and this is an object lesson on why you cannot blindly trust the media

In a perfect example of how the media reports what it wants to report and doesn't bother to check facts, we see these screaming headlines today:

It takes only a couple of minutes to find the podcast where she made these comments - two weeks ago - do a quick search on the transcript, back up two minutes (to about 1:12:00) and hear what the context was.

Barr was speaking about how social media and regular media is now censoring people and forcing them to only speak what they claim is "the truth."

Host: "There's always been a ceiling on speech, hasn't there?"

Roseanne: "Of course! Nobody wants to hear the real truth. They're horrified now. They're ready to go with bullshit, it's easier... you know I'm glad that they did set up all these guidelines so that we only are allowed to speak 'the truth'. And 'the truth' is that Biden got 81 million votes by winning 36 counties, and that is just incredible it really really is, and that of these 81 million supporters who gave him more votes than any president has ever gotten before. He came with a mandate from these 81 million voters. You know I'm just glad that they were very careful to make sure that nobody could detract from that proven 'truth,' you know what I mean?....You can't even speak on those platforms (like YouTube) . You can't even speak on that in those platforms, no, you can't say that's all a lie. 'The election was not rigged 36 counties can give you 81 million votes, right that's a 'fact!'' So it wasn't rigged. 36 Counties have 81 million people. Yeah, see that's the 'truth' and don't you dare say anything [else] - you'll be off YouTube Facebook Twitter and all the other ones, because we have you know there's such a thing as 'the truth' and 'facts' and we have to stick to it. You know it's scary. That is the 'truth.' And nobody died in the Holocaust either, that's the 'truth', yeah, it should happen if six million Jews should die right now because they cause all the problems in the world but it never happened, but it never happened."

While the host Theo Von seems to be not too bright - I took out an aside where he didn't understand what she meant by "mandate"- it is blindingly obvious that Barr was speaking sarcastically, and using the most egregious example of a lie - Holocaust denial - to illustrate the lies that some insist are the truth.

Anyone who follows Barr's career and interviews knows that she is a proud Jew and a proud Zionist. But the media has painted her (falsely, from everything I could see) as a racist - so they are so willing to believe that she would spout antisemitism than they eagerly report it without even spending the two minutes it takes to listen to what she says.

Not only that, but at least in some cases they spent the time to take her sarcastic comments out of context to make video clips of only the sarcastic part! That isn't a mistake .It is willful slander.

It is also not surprising that the ADL would rush in to condemn Roseanne's comments without bothering to check the context - because the ADL's head Jonathan Greenblatt is openly pro-Democrat and Barr is pro-Trump. To him, obviously all Trump supporters must be racist and antisemitic, therefore even proud Jews must be assumed to be antisemitic as well.

I don't agree with Barr's opinion that Trump won the election, but her point about how the truth is often censored is perfectly illustrated by this story itself. We see in this very episode, where Barr complains about how the media distorts the truth to fit a narrative, that the media indeed distorts the truth to fit a narrative.

Whether you are liberal or conservative, pro-Trump or a Trump hater, a fan of Barr or disgusted by her - this episode illustrates how the media itself will not bother to research and report the truth when it conflicts with their agenda. And that is damning.

Full disclosure: Years ago, Roseanne Barr donated to EoZ.

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!

UN Special Rapporteur @FranceskAlbs quotes antisemitic Hamas-linked newspaper

Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur for the territories, tweeted:

The Quds News Network is a Hamas-affiliated news site. In this case it translated the words of Ben Gvir incorrectly - he threatened terrorists, not Palestinians. Haaretz quoted him as saying, “Our government killed the most terrorists, over 120 in the past six months, but a lot of work remains – and we have to lend a helping hand to soldiers and the police to support and strengthen them.”

But an Arab or Hamas media outlet lying about what an Israeli said is hardly news. Far more interesting is that this is where a UN representative gets her news from.

Quds News is an unabashedly pro-terror site, like most Palestinian media. But it is also explicitly antisemitic.

One article denies that Jews are a people, quoting the Khazar myth and others.

This Quds News article about the Holocaust says that Jews believe "the suffering of the Jews cannot be compared to the suffering of the rest of the peoples, since the Jews are the people chosen by the Lord El, while the rest of humanity becomes in an inferior stage of this choice, - being gentiles - and therefore the suffering of the Jews - the supreme race of all - is not similar to the suffering of inferior Gentiles." In this quote, Quds News is echoing the justifications of the Nazis for genocide.

It then says that Palestinians are the primary victims of the Holocaust, not Jews.

This is all classic antisemitism. It is hate that the news site is quite proud of and not at all ashamed of. So it is no surprise that Francesca Albanese considers an antisemitic, Hamas news site to be a reliable source for her to quote.

(h/t Israellycool for Hamas link)

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!

06/27 Links Pt2: Why the Palestinian authority hates archaeologists; Glick: Biden's State Department goes BDS; Jewish National Fund marks 122-year anniversary

From Ian:

Why the Palestinian authority hates archaeologists

And you know what the archaeologists still haven’t found in any of their ongoing excavations throughout Israel? Any evidence of an ancient “Palestine” or “Palestinians.”

Palestinian Authority officials are constantly claiming—without a stitch of proof—that the Palestinian Arabs are the true owners of the Holy Land, with roots that supposedly go back thousands of years.

Last December, PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas told an interviewer from the Al-Arabiya news agency: “The Palestinian people [have] existed since the dawn of time. We have been around since the days of the Canaanites.”

Abbas has made similar outlandish claims on many other occasions. In one 2019 speech at Jalazoun, near Ramallah, he declared: "This land belongs to the people who live on it. It belongs to the Canaanites, who lived here 5,000 years ago. We are the Canaanites!”

Ironically, those darn archaeologists have also documented that the Canaanites, with whom Abbas so closely identifies, practiced child sacrifice. And, of course, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas practice various kinds of child sacrifice of their own, such as using sending children to carry out terrorist attacks and using Arab children as human shields against Israeli counter-terror strikes.

Perhaps the Palestinian Arab leaders could claim to be the spiritual descendants of the Canaanites, even though they are not their literal descendants because the Canaanites were wiped out by Assyria and others.

The Palestinian Arabs and their supporters are naturally frustrated that archaeologists have never found evidence to back up their cause. No evidence of any “Palestinian” kingdoms, no ancient artifacts showing a distinctly “Palestinian” culture or society. That’s because the Arabs in the Land of Israel arrived after Mohammed and began identifying themselves as Palestinians only in the 20th century, and even then, only as a propaganda tactic in their war against the Jews.

No wonder the European Union—which passionately supports the Palestinian cause—is so worried about the archaeologists. Last year, EU officials drew up a document outlining their strategy for helping the PA to claim territory which—in accordance with the Oslo accords—is located in the Israeli controlled region known as Area C.

One part of the EU document referred to the need “to monitor Israeli archaeological digs in Area C.” Why are the EU and the PA anxious about archaeological digs? Because, as Prof. Garfinkel has reminded us, every time archaeologists dig, they find fresh evidence of the Jews’ deep roots in the Holy Land—and no evidence of any “Palestinian” roots at all.

The Biden Administration’s Antisemitism Statement Gets Worse

CAIR is one of hundreds of organizations within the office’s remit, part of a broader constellation of groups that the White House consults on major initiatives. There are benefits to being in this club: CAIR’s head of government relations appeared at a recent White House meeting on Islamophobia that Benjamin attended, as did second gentleman Doug Emhoff and White House domestic policy director Susan Rice, whose office was in charge of formulating the antisemitism strategy. The strategy was one byproduct of the revealingly named Interagency Group to Counter Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Related Forms of Discrimination and Bias, which Emhoff and Rice helped lead.

CAIR isn’t always a team player from the center-left’s perspective—the organization recently came to the defense of Muslim parents who oppose LGBT-related materials being taught to their children in public schools without their consent. The persistence of CAIR’s mainstream credibility hints at how coalition politics now work within the Democratic Party: A single nonprofit or activist group will often be treated as the sole major representative of a certain demographic category, based on either an appearance of authenticity or the organization’s demonstrated usefulness to those in charge. The nonprofit sector often operates as a kind of junior-level government, receiving federal grants to promote and implement public policy, exerting activist and legal pressure on the business community and the rest of the private sector in support of coalition objectives, and providing status, income, and professional development for past and future public officials. In turn, these groups maintain message discipline within the coalition—anyone who opposes CAIR risks being criticized as an Islamophobe, or as a general impediment to progress.

This ecosystem is seamless enough in its current form that it is nearly impossible for an organization to become so discredited that it is dropped from the roster, at least as long as there isn’t an obvious candidate to replace it. At the moment, there is no group of CAIR’s size or profile claiming to speak on behalf of American Muslims. There is also little need among nationally prominent politicians or strategists to boost such an alternative. The ADL and CAIR might not get along, but they are protected by the same dynamic: They both provide a nearly identical service to the same larger coalition, which returns the favor by keeping both groups at a level of prominence that crowds out any potential rivals.

There are conditions under which a new advocacy group can rapidly supplant an old one for a significant portion of the political spectrum, as recent Jewish American history reveals. J Street has largely replaced AIPAC as the accepted Jewish communal validator on the center left, and there are now several notable Democratic lawmakers who align themselves exclusively with the “pro-Israel, pro-peace” camp. One key reason that shift happened was because the Obama administration was in need of a Jewish organization that could whip support for policies that AIPAC was liable to actively oppose, like an Israeli settlement freeze or a nuclear deal that allowed Iran to keep its enrichment infrastructure and ballistic missile program intact.

There is no Muslim equivalent of J Street because the political mainstream is perfectly content with what the existing political organ claiming to speak for the Muslim American community can still do for it, in spite of the group’s well-documented problems—whether with fantastical anti-Zionism or plain old sexual misconduct. Jewish concerns, much like CAIR’s attempts to sue its past employees into silence, are hardly enough to get CAIR shunned by a Democratic White House. And if Jews want to remain a comfortable part of the larger center-left coalition, they apparently have to accept CAIR as a partner in the “fight against antisemitism.”

The Caroline Glick Show: Biden's State Department goes BDS

The State Department boycotts Jews in Judea, Iran ramps up its terrorist & nuclear ambitions and Israeli official's invitations to US Embassy July 4th party get lost in the mail.

In Caroline’s Cold Open this week, Caroline Glick discusses,

- The Biden administration’s new directive banning the U.S. from carrying out scientific cooperation with Israeli Jewish institutions in Judea and Samaria that was announced last Friday night.
- Iran's efforts to acquire nuclear technology in Europe as well as its efforts to attack Jewish and Israeli targets abroad.
- The Biden administration's continued efforts to weaken the Iranian regime's opponents and realign towards Iran.
- The snub to not invite certain Israeli officials to the July 4th US embassy party.

Newest EoZ memes and comics

These have been a hit on Twitter - and they are upsetting all the right people.

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Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Cover of PCHR's "Annual Reprot" [sic]

Remember the huge amount of outrage last year when Israel shut down the offices of seven PFLP-linked NGOs? It was condemned by the UN, political leaders and human rights groups.

Well, buried in the Palestinian Center of Human Rights 2022 annual report we see something that didn't generate a single headline in the West.

This year witnessed further restrictions, including the amendment to the non-profit companies’ regulation upon a decision issued by the Palestinian Cabinet, which imposed excessive restrictions on the work and funding of non-profit companies, under the pretext of fighting terrorism.

Issuance of the Non-Profit Companies Regulation No. (20) of 2022

The Palestinian Cabinet issued a new regulation on non-profit companies, which includes many restrictions on the work and funding of these companies, which is one of the forms of the right to freedom of association in Palestine. This regulation, which was published in the issue 194 of the Palestinian Gazette on 25 September 2022, included serious restrictions that threaten the existence of CSOs registered as non-profit companies.

The new regulation, which has replaced the old one in force since 2010 and the cabinet’s decision attached to it in 2016 concerning the funding of non-profit companies, came to add more restrictions on the right to form non-profit companies, as the old regulation included many restrictions. The regulation was issued under the pretext of fighting terrorism and money laundering.

More arbitrary measures were imposed by the authorities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on associations, threatening the associations’ right to exist, practice its activities freely, and obtain funding. Most of them fully violate the fundamental rights relevant to the freedom of association, including their right to existence, free performance of activities, receipt of funds and the right to privacy and independence. Also, increased restrictive measures are imposed on the associations in the Gaza Strip due to the double restrictions imposed by the two authorities in Gaza and the West Bank.

So the PA and Hamas are also restricting NGO activity. They are also claiming that they are doing this to fight "terrorism" which is as ironic as it gets.

The Palestinian law includes a provision that the NGOs must operate in line with the plan of action of the relevant Palestinian government ministries, meaning that the takes away all independence for the NGOs. There are many other onerous provisions.

But no one has a problem with this. I couldn't find any article in Western news media that discussed this topic exclusively.

Palestinian human rights violations are simply not reported. Because if they would be, then the entire lucrative industry of anti-Israel reporting would collapse.

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

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06/27 Links Pt1: Israel is the second-most pro-America country in the world, poll finds; Ariel University decries ‘racist and BDS-like’ State Department; The Palestinians No One Talks About

From Ian:

Israel is the second-most pro-America country in the world, poll finds

Israel is the second-most pro-America country in the world and Israelis have a more positive view of the US than Americans by some measures, according to a Pew Research poll released on Tuesday.

Eighty-seven percent of Israelis have a positive view of the US; the only country in which the US has a higher favorability rating is Poland, at 93%. The lowest score was from Hungary, at 44%.

Israel's current view of the US is the most positive since 2000, and improved slightly from last year, at 83%.

That 68% of Israelis have confidence in US President Joe Biden's "leadership of world affairs," is similar to how he is viewed in Sweden, Kenya, Nigeria, Germany, and the Netherlands. Biden's highest score came from Poland and the lowest from Hungary.

Israelis' view of Biden improved eight percentage points since last year but has not yet reached former president Donald Trump's peak at 71%. Trump's high score tied with former president Barack Obama's in 2013, but they are also tied for the lowest score since 2000, 56%, which they received in 2009 and 2017. The US president with the best score among Israelis in the last 20 years was George W. Bush, with 83% approval in 2003.

Biden Administration Defends Controversial Move to Slash Israeli Research Funding

The Biden administration is defending its decision to end taxpayer funding for Israeli research projects, a move critics say alienates one of the United States' strongest allies.

The White House earlier this month moved to formally boycott all scientific cooperation with Jewish Israelis living in so-called Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Golan Heights. A State Department spokesman confirmed the policy shift in comments to the Free Beacon, saying it is "simply reflective of the longstanding U.S. position" on disputed areas of Israel.

"The Department of State recently circulated foreign policy guidance to relevant agencies advising that engaging in bilateral scientific and technological cooperation with Israel in geographic areas which came under the administration of Israel after June 5, 1967, and which remain subject to final status negotiations, is inconsistent with U.S. foreign policy," the spokesman said.

Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen said on Sunday, "I object to the decision and think it is wrong," according to the Times of Israel.

When grilled about the move during a press briefing on Monday, the State Department would not rule out declaring all so-called Israeli settlements as illegal. The United States, the State Department maintains, cannot fund programs that are being carried out in areas the administration considers to be part of negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians. Republicans disagree.

"Biden boycotting Israeli scientific projects does nothing to promote peace and is no way to treat an ally," said former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley. Haley, a Republican presidential candidate and vocal opponent of the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, slammed the Biden administration for what she sees as foreign policy hypocrisy.

"If this was scientific projects in China, Biden would be for it," Haley told the Washington Free Beacon Monday, calling the plan "Ridiculous."

Ariel University decries ‘racist and BDS-like’ State Department

A U.S. State Department decision to cease scientific and technological cooperation with Israeli entities over the 1949 armistice line, commonly known as the Green Line, is racist and smacks of a BDS-like double standard, Ariel University said on Monday.

The harsh reaction comes after the U.S. administration announced that it was reverting to a longstanding policy of restricting funding to Israeli institutions located over the Green Line, rescinding a decision by the Trump administration three years ago which removed geographical limitations as criteria for applying for U.S. government funding.

“There should be no political limitations on research that benefits society and the health, safety and wellbeing of the world’s population,” Bobby Brown, senior vice president of Ariel University, told JNS. “The State Department has revised this disgusting and anti-Jewish practice, which in effect reinstates BDS and racism,” he said.

While the U.S. administration was trying to impose peace top-down according to their political worldview, the university’s universal medical research promotes peace from society upwards, he added.

“It is time to rid the world of the racist and BDS mentality in the State Department,” Brown said. “Research, cooperation and joint projects that benefit mankind should be accepted with two hands.”

The Biden Administration’s Self-Defeating Snub of Benjamin Netanyahu

On June 18, the State Department declared that it is “deeply troubled” by Jerusalem’s decision to allow the construction of 4,000 new housing units in the West Bank. It appears that some or all of these units will be built outside the major settlement blocs, a deviation from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s longstanding policy preference. Elliott Abrams comments:

Why would Netanyahu agree to this? Because the far-right parties representing the settlers have more power in his government today than they have ever had before. Or to put that equation backwards, because Netanyahu is weaker than he was previously.

That brings me to the Netanyahu invitation to visit the White House. Presumably the Biden administration believes it is achieving something important by refusing to invite Netanyahu. What it is actually achieving, however, is to weaken him against those in the governing coalition who seek the kinds of things the Biden administration opposes—judicial reform and settlement expansion. The White House is thereby truly biting its nose to spite its face—weakening Netanyahu to somehow punish him and thereby leading to exactly the results it least wants. On these issues of settlement expansion and judicial reform, Netanyahu has long been a moderating force. Weakening him aids more extreme voices.

Perhaps denying him an invitation gives the president and White House staff some personal satisfaction, but doing so undermines U.S. policy goals. It’s a foolish, even childish, position, and reversing it will advance administration policy. It is remarkable that administration “experts” on Israel don’t or won’t see that.

Netanyahu to Visit China Next Month Amid Deteriorating Relations With Biden Administration

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit China next month, in a move that is likely to both worsen relations with the United States and open the door to a Chinese initiative for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

No official plans for the visit have yet been announced, but it is understood that Netanyahu will meet with Chinese President Xi Jingping and other leaders of the Communist Party regime. An Israeli government source told the Hebrew news outlet Zman Yisrael that Netanyahu’s arrival in Beijing signaled the Israeli leader’s desire to expand the Jewish state’s diplomatic partners.

“Netanyahu is not going to stand and wait for an invitation that is not forthcoming to visit the White House. He is also working in parallel channels,” the source said.

The election of Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition government last year has resulted in a deterioration in relations with US President Joe Biden’s Administration, which has voiced criticism of the government’s attempt to overhaul Israel’s independent judiciary as well as its settlement policies in the West Bank. In March, Biden argued that Israel could not “continue down this road” with regard to judicial reform while ruling out a Netanyahu visit to the White House in the near future.

However, historical precedent suggests that China — traditionally aligned with the Arab states in their conflict with Israel and one of the first countries to recognize the “State of Palestine” — may well be resistant to Israeli concerns during any negotiations. Moreover, the Palestinian leadership is understood to be favorably inclined towards a Chinese peace plan which Xi discussed with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas during the latter’s visit to Beijing last week.

Palestinians complain that Israel halted furniture exports from Gaza. They won't mention the reason.

On May 5, Middle East Monitor reported:

Israeli authorities yesterday banned the export of furniture products from the occupied Gaza Strip.

The economic ministry said in a statement that the Israeli move aimed at "inflicting more losses on the enclave's industries that have been suffering due to the blockade."

The ministry called on the international community "to pressure Israel to allow freedom of import and export without restrictions so that the different industries in Gaza can prosper and overcome challenges resulted from the blockade."

So according to Gaza authorities, Israel just decided to stop furniture exports to punish them for no reason. And Arabic media also complains about the ban, which continued into June, asking the international community to pressure Israel to resume the exports and stop its arbitrary punishment of a specific industry.

But there was a reason.

On May 3, Israeli authorities foiled an attempt to smuggle guns, silencers and cartridges of bullets from Gaza to terrorists in the West Bank - inside furniture.

So now, Israeli authorities must update their procedures to ensure that future attempts to smuggle weapons in furniture are not successful.

Notice that the weapons appear to have been deliberately hidden in metal components, not only wood, so standard X-ray scanning might not catch them.

It will take time to come up with a solution that would catch any attempts to export weapons inside items like furniture.

Yet there is no anger for the would-be weapons smugglers, whose decision hurts all furniture manufacturers in Gaza. On the contrary, "human rights" NGOs are saying that Israeli attempts to stop weapons exports from Gaza is "collective punishment" - after all, it isn't a big deal when Jews get shot by West Bank terrorists, right?

Murdering Jews is not a violation of human rights - but a temporary ban on furniture exports is. And Israel is expected to tolerate its citizens being murdered under the pretext of "human rights."

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

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JNS reports:

Residents of the Gaza Strip may soon be able to fly to Turkey via Israel’s Ramon Airport near Eilat.

The pilot program could start as early as July when two flights are anticipated, Channel 12 reported. The final decision is subject to approval by the security and political echelons.

Gaza sources say the flights will be available to residents ages 35 and older. They will be shuttled to the airport from the Erez crossing to the northern Gaza Strip.

At present, Gazans travel via the Erez crossing by land to Jordan and fly abroad from there.

The announcement follows a similar one from the Israel Airports Authority in August 2022 that Palestinians from Judea and Samaria would be able to take charter flights from Ramon Airport to Turkey.

The first flight from the airport with Palestinian Arabs on board departed on August 22. Its destination was not Turkey but rather Cyprus.

While the announcement is not official, Palestinian travel agencies are already advertising the trips.

Right now, for Gazans to travel anywhere, they need to get permission to enter Egypt, which is difficult to get to begin with, and then travel by bus directly to Cairo's airport - a six hour trip - and then wait hours more for their flights.

The trip from the Gaza crossings to Ramon is about three hours.

The Palestinian Authority announced that it opposes this and will do whatever it can to block Palestinians from traveling to Ramon Airport, saying that this will hurt relations with Jordan and Egypt, which would lose out on revenues from Palestinians traveling through those countries to get to Amman and Cairo, respectively.

The leftist terror groups Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which are closely linked with many "human rights" NGOs, issued condemnations for allowing Gazans to fly to Turkey through Ramon Airport.

Their reasons are a perfect example of the blind hatred that Palestinian leaders have for Israel - so much so that they are eager to make their own people miserable for nebulous political gain.

They called on Palestinians to boycott Ramon airport, saying that Israel is using this as a means to reduce terror from Gaza.

PFLP political analyst Zulfiqar Swergo said in an interview with Al-Hadaf News Portal, "This step is meant to 'neutralize' the Gaza Strip through offering political bribes to [Hamas] in order to ensure calm and not create a state of inconvenience to the occupying state."

He continued, "The Gaza government must carefully consider the strategic interests of the Palestinian people, and not forget that it is a government of resistance, and that this step will harm the idea of resistance that our people are now strongly adopting in the West Bank, and it must be aware that the 'neutralization' of the Gaza Strip It is a major blow to the escalation of resistance in the West Bank."

That's the logic. Terror is the top priority of the Palestinian people, and anything that makes their lives easier and reduces their continuous anger towards Jews is something that must be fought.

To the PFLP, it is better for Gaza to be what their NGO partners call an "open air prison" than to give travel options for residents of Gaza.

The DFLP had a different objection: using the Ramon Airport helps Israel economically, so therefore it must be boycotted, even if it costs Palestinians far more time and money.

DFLP political analyst Mahmoud Mardawi complained that “there is an economic goal for the occupation behind this matter, especially since none of the Zionists went to use Ramon Airport when it opened."

He warned about "the political motives and the affirmation of the apartheid policy that the occupation practices day and night against our people" and called for all Palestinian institutions to "thwart this racist project."

So Israel helping Palestinians travel is an apartheid, racist project.

Cutting through the doubletalk, it is clear that the Palestinian leaders want Palestinians to suffer for their own political gain - they cannot recruit more terrorists from people who aren't angry.

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

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Read all about it here!

A Saudi columnist grudgingly praises Israel and discusses the "Edy Cohen Phenomenon"

A columnist for a newspaper in Mecca writes about Israel's accomplishments - and ties them to Edy Cohen, the prolific Israeli Arabic tweeter whose writings are avidly followed by a huge Arab audience.

Over twenty years ago, we had a teacher of Canadian nationality who gained our trust easily and we all loved him, and because of this trust, he was able to enter my brain and bring me down from my ivory edifice in order to teach me the difference between the truth and what people want to be true.

We were in a discussion about the Arab-Israeli conflict, and he was very frank, so he told me: You are amazing! You love Saddam and he sent missiles to you, and you hate Israel and it did nothing to you!! I said yes it is a matter of principle, how dare you compare the two?

I was struck by the extent of astonishment in his eyes as he muttered, "poor thing, he thinks the universe revolves around him," and then said to me: "You are the victim of decades of strange information and flimsy justifications, no doubt you grew up knowing that everyone wanted to kill you.

"Listen to me well son!! If the Americans and the Israelis wanted to conspire against a country, a people, or a nation, then surely you wouldn't be here!"

...Then I asked him why America is helping Israel, and he said: Because Jews have been begging the world to put an end to the historical persecutions they faced from European societies, the last of which was what they were subjected to at the hands of the Germans in the Holocaust, and all they cared about was a piece of land where they could live in peace, and on this basis they addressed the world with a logical and rational speech of peace.

"As for your side, you had Gamal Abdel Nasser on the Voice of the Arabs radio station explaining to the world daily how he would throw the Jews into the sea, and promising the Arabs that he would return Palestine to the Arab countries.

"You were stuck in a strange ecstasy and submission behind that new Arab religion.

"Two years later, Abdel Nasser woke up to a sky full of Israeli planes, and instead of liberating Palestinian Jerusalem, he had to look for someone to liberate the Egyptian Sinai!"

A few years ago, there was a breakthrough in the relationship between the region and Israel that was not expected by everyone.

It's the Edy Cohen phenomenon. I really don't know if it was just one person working on his own?! Or an integrated social research center?! Perhaps an entire floor in the Israeli Mossad building under the name of Edy Cohen!! What we do know is that he is the owner of a Twitter account with more than half a million followers, speaks Arabic fluently, understands the dialects of some regions, knows the streets, neighborhoods, alleys, customs, social traditions, tribes, villages of each tribe and their food, knows the weather conditions, what falls in terms of rain.

He has become a more reliable source of information than some local media. We have to admit that it is a miracle that should receive due attention and study.

Edy Cohen was born in Lebanon and studied his early years there, then his father was killed at the beginning of the civil war, so he left Lebanon, leaving with his family for Israel and obtaining a doctorate.

He is fluent in Arabic and Hebrew. He was able to do with the Arab youth with his microscopic culture what all the media did not do together. I am almost certain that more than 80% of his followers are from the Arab youth.

He has managed to turn the old adage “laughter is the best medicine” into a powerful tool of diplomacy and understanding.

Cohen's unique blend of humor and sarcasm allowed him to tackle sensitive topics in an engaging, non-confrontational way. His recipe for success is no secret, attracting young Arabs who might otherwise shy away from discussions about the intricacies of Arab-Israeli relations, and his ability to make people chuckle while making them ponder his logical ideas. His jokes and witty speeches have a way of disarming even the most skeptical of audiences, paving the way for open dialogue and mutual understanding.

As if he was saying to them: "Look, I am one of you, I know more about you than you know about yourselves." It was a soft penetration in every sense of the word. He did not talk about weapons, economic struggles, or politics. He is talking about simple aspects of social life and uses humor to attract Arab youth.

It is Israel's latest innovation that we have to admit that it precedes us by hundreds of years, and we take a simple glimpse of some numbers in Israel in order to know our position under the sun: -

- Out of the top 500 universities around the world, Israel has seven universities, while the Arab countries combined do not have one.

- Israeli research centers are ranked 3 in the world.

- In 2007, Israel was the fifth country in terms of arms exports, after America, Britain, France and Russia, and in 2012 it became the second after America.

- Israel ranks 3rd in the list of countries with the most education for its citizens, according to the OECD countries index.

- Israel has more patents registered in the United States than Russia, India and China combined, and the population of these countries is 300 times that of the population of Israel.

It also made a revolution in modern medicine. Israel is a world leader in medical patents and ranks second in space sciences.

More than 90% of Israeli homes use solar energy to heat water, which is the highest percentage in any country.

Since its founding, Israel has won the second largest number of Nobel Prizes, measured by national income.

I do not say this out of praise or admiration for the Hebrew state, although it deserves it out of justice and fairness, but I was amazed that we continue with the sixties' rhetoric and Abdel Nasser's slogans.

This sect that thinks the universe revolves around us throws their failure, laziness, and disappointment on Israel, as Israel conspires against them and incites the world against them wherever they go. Instead of working and spending money on research centers and institutes of technology, they still adhere to the jealous brother syndrome, as all his brothers are doctors, philosophers, and leaders except him, because he is afflicted with the evil eye. .

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

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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

From Ian:

How to Combat Anti-Semitism

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