Wednesday, July 05, 2023

07/05 Links Pt1: BBC apologises after presenter said 'Israeli forces are happy to kill children'; Palestinian child sacrifices; Israeli woman held hostage in Iraq by Hezbollah

From Ian:

'Israeli forces are happy to kill children,' BBC anchor tells ex-PM Bennett
A BBC anchor told former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett that "Israeli forces are happy to kill children" in an interview where Bennett responded to criticism of the Israeli operation in Jenin. The BBC interview was conducted by host Anjana Gadgil and was posted to Bennett's YouTube channel on Wednesday.

"The Israeli military are calling this a 'military operation,' but we now know that young people are being killed, four of them under eighteen. Is that really what the military set out to do? To kill people between the ages of 16 and 18?”

“Quite to the contrary," Bennet replied. "Actually, all 11 people dead there are militants. The fact that there are young terrorists who decide to hold arms is their responsibility." The former Israeli prime minister went on to explain that, of many of the terror attacks over the past year, events that have collectively ended several dozens of Israeli civilian lives, the perpetrators have come from, and we trained in, Jenin. "Jenin has become an epicenter of terror," he says. "All the Palestinians that were killed were terrorists in this case."

"Terrorists" or "children?" Bennett, BBC anchor vie over IDF actions in Jenin
“Terrorists, but children. The Israeli forces are happy to kill children,” Gadgil responded. After asking the BBC anchor how she would define an armed 17-year-old shooting at her family, she doubled down, citing the UN which has "defined [the militants] as children."

After reiterating his question for the anchor, Gadgil insisted, "We're not talking about that." Bennett affirmed that that dynamic was precisely what the conversation was about.

“No Israeli mom wants to send their boy into Jenin. We do it because we’ve got no choice,” Bennett said. “This is asymmetric. We are not targeting civilians. They are only targeting civilians.”

Penultimately, Gadgil, who remarked that actions such as the ones Israel has taken in Jenin would only serve to escalate the conflict, asked how the conflict would come to an end.

“When they decide that they accept the Jewish State in the land of Israel, it’ll end,” Bennett stated.






BBC Anchor Utters Blood Libel During Live Interview With Ex-Israel PM Naftali Bennett
“The Israeli forces are happy to kill children,” is just one of the profoundly disturbing statements made by BBC News presenter Anjana Gadgil during an interview with former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett about the IDF’s recent counterterrorism raid in Jenin.

Gadgil’s anti-Israel bias was exposed in her first question to Bennett:
First of all, the Israeli military is calling this a military operation, but we know that young people are being killed — four of them under 18 — is that really what the military set out to do? To kill people between the ages of 16 and 18?

Of course, the malicious suggestion that the Israeli army “set out” to kill children is patently false, and Gadgil’s failure to tell viewers that every single one of the Palestinians who died in the raid was claimed by a terrorist organization is tantamount to journalistic malpractice.

While Bennett deftly handled the question, including explaining that at least 50 Israelis have been murdered in attacks perpetrated by terrorists from the West Bank city that has emerged as the epicenter of Palestinian terrorism, the fact remains that such an appalling question should never have been asked in the first place.
BBC apologises after presenter said 'Israeli forces are happy to kill children'
A BBC spokesperson told the JC: “BBC News has received comments and complaints concerning an interview with Naftali Bennett broadcast on the BBC News channel about recent events in the West Bank and Israel.

“The complaints raised relate to specific interview questions about the deaths of young people in the Jenin refugee camp.

“The United Nations raised the issue of the impact of the operation in Jenin on children and young people.

“While this was a legitimate subject to examine in the interview, we apologise that the language used in this line of questioning was not phrased well and was inappropriate.”

However, the corporation stressed the BBC covered the wider events in Jenin in an “impartial and robust way.”


Rabbi Leo Dee: Ordinary Palestinians silently thank Allah for the Jenin operation
When Lucy, Maia and Rina were suddenly and brutally taken from this world during Pesach, I cried in pain. Not against every Arab, not against every Muslim, but against every terrorist.

I have Palestinian friends and acquaintances. That is the norm when you live in Efrat. Indeed it is the norm when you live in any location in Judea and Samaria (unaffectionately known as the “West Bank”).

Our local supermarket is located in Area C and I select my tomatoes and cucumbers standing next to Palestinian men and women who live in Bethlehem and Hebron. Unsurprisingly, most of these people are just like you and me. Many of them work in construction in Jerusalem or Beit Shemesh and earn more than twice what a Palestinian Authority employee (even a doctor) would earn in their own territory. This is the majority.

And then there are terrorists. They are not like you and me. They were mostly brought up in UNRWA run “refugee” towns and trained in terrorist skills during summer camps and fed hatred through Palestinian Authority textbooks that glorify past murderers of innocent civilians. That UNRWA even considers them refugees after 75 years is a direct result of United Nations antisemitism. Nobody, today, considers the millions of descendants of those 700,000 Jews expelled from Arab countries in the 1940’s and 1950’s as refugees.

What most people are unaware of is how the “good” Palestinians hate the terrorists. They despise them. However, they live in fear, in a terror state, the Palestinian Authority (PA). And the PA is funded by world governments to rule over the ten cities in the region and much of the land in between. The citizens of those 10 cities would prefer to run themselves under the protection of the IDF, but the presence of the PLO (the heavily armed PA army) is ubiquitous and feared. They unanimously describe the murderers of my family as “inhuman” and “not believing in Allah” when they see me. But only in private. A public statement would likely lead to them, and their families, being shot at in the street. And such shootings occur every day. These “good” Palestinians are the silent victims of PA terror.

"Disturbing photos show the militarization of British children" (British hypocrisy watch)

In 2014, Electronic Intifada wrote one of its most popular posts, showing photos of Israeli children at an Independence Day celebration learning about weapons.

The title was, "Disturbing photos show militarization of Israeli children, " and it showed a series of photos from AFP taken in Efrat.

Israel haters like to trot these photos out for the strangest reasons. So, for example, when I tweeted a photo of one of the Jenin "children" holding quite real weapons, without any adult supervision, one apologist for British Labour antisemitism tweeted back:


When I pointed out the obvious differences between the two situations, (you know, one of them was actually using the weapons,)  he responded  "So the glorification of weaponry with extremely young children of  is fine with you"?

Ah, yes. That's what is upsetting him. Not children actually being combatants!

OK, let's go with that "glorification of weaponry" angle.

Every year Britain holds an "Armed Forces Day." Teaching children about the British army is one of its main goals.



 So we see photos like this, every year, in British media:









What is the difference between the smiling Israeli kids with weapons and the smiling British kids with weapons?

Because the Israeli boys are wearing kippot.

What is considered horrible militarization for Jews is not a problem when the children who are fascinated by military hardware live in any other country. Kids visit military museums all around the world, they scramble on tanks and fighter jet cockpits in every country, they climb on cannons in the squares of parks worldwide. No one blinks an eye. 

In fact, arguably it is far "worse" in Britain since they have an entire day for the armed forces - there is no IDF Day in Israel. 

It's just another double standard for Jews.  And it shows, in brilliant fashion, how hypocritical the British anti-Israel Left is, feigning outrage at Israelis doing what their fellow countrymen do on a much larger scale.


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!
 

 

Despite BBC blood libel, combatants under 18 are legitimate targets in international law

Here is a blood libel from the BBC. 

In response to Naftali Bennett saying that every single person killed in Jenin was a terrorist, the presenter said, as a fact, "Terrorists but children. The Israeli forces are happy to kill children."



Bennett's answer was good, but here is another case where news interviewers are either ignorant or willfully twisting international law.

Child combatants are still combatants under international law. No matter whether they were forcibly recruited, whether they are under 14, whether they are girls - once someone is shooting at a soldier they are legitimate targets, according to every article I can find on the subject.

In 2000, a group of child soldiers in Sierra Leone known (in the West) as the "West Side Boys" captured a patrol of British soldiers from the Royal Irish Regiment along with their Sierra Leone Army liaison officer. Several of the British soldiers were held for two weeks before the British Army decided to free them in an operation that killed between 25 and 150 of the West Side Boys. 

Was the deliberate, planned killing of those children a war crime? Of course not.

Absolutely no international law scholar disputes that the British Army had the right to free their fellow soldiers because they were held by combatants under 18. And no BBC reporter responded to the event by saying on the air, "The British Army is happy to kill children."

No, only Jews are routinely accused of relishing the murder of children. The accusation is centuries old and it is as popular today in England as it was in 1144 when Jews were accused of happily murdering William of Norwich.

Unlike the West Side Boys, who were obviously children, the two "children" killed by the IDF in Jenin were heavily armed, fully grown near-adults. One was a member of Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades.


Of course soldiers in the middle of an operation are not expected to question the ages of those who are shooting at them to determine whether they've celebrated their 18th birthday yet.  The  idea is absurd to the extreme. International conventions do not distinguish between child combatants and adult combatants - anyone engaging in hostilities is a legitimate military target.

The BBC presenter is knowingly twisting the facts in ways that cannot be interpreted as anything but malicious. She says, " The UN has defined them as children and we know that four people between the ages of 16 and 18 have been killed in this targeted attack let's not forget it's a targeted attack."

Yes, the UN defines anyone under 18 as children. But the UN doesn't say that armed 16 year olds are not combatants.

And suddenly she switches from the UN definition of children to including 18 year old adults as "children," too, contradicting her own definition of children in the very same breath! Her desire to paint Israel as evil causes her to expand the definition of children to make it look like Israel "targeted" four children. 

If you think that blood libels went out of fashion in recent decades, here is an example of how they are just as malicious today as they were in the Middle Ages. 

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!
 

 

You just KNEW that Jews would be blamed for the Quran burning




From Iran's PressTV (no surprise here):
Following the desecration of the Holy Qur'an in Sweden, the leader of the Yemeni popular resistance movement Ansarullah says the West allows the perpetration of the heinous crime under the Zionist lobby's influence.

Abdul-Malik al-Houthi made the remarks on Tuesday, less than a week after two men stood outside the Swedish capital of Stockholm's central mosque and burned a copy of the holy book following a go-ahead given to them by a Swedish court.

Al-Houthi vehemently condemned Western countries' double standards vis-à-vis Muslims, saying acts of sacrilege against the Holy Qur'an amounted to insult against all prophets and holy books.

The Westerners refuse to expose Zionists' crimes, he said, adding, "This points to the Zionist lobby's influence [across the Western countries]."

"The lobby manipulates the West and infiltrates nations as it pleases. The Western world has, therefore, turned into a hotbed of the lobby's plots."

I admit I don't quite follow the logic. It seems that since the Jews control the world, then they are obviously responsible for an ex-Iraqi in Sweden choosing to burn the Quran.  

It is interesting that even though the Houthi's slogan includes "Curse the Jews," there is very little coverage of their explicit antisemitism in Western media. Moreover, the Houthi's main Shiite allies, who claim to be only anti-Zionist and not antisemitic in the least, have absolutely nothing negative to say about the Houthi's explicit (and in this case barely implicit) Jew-hatred.


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!
 

 

Tuesday, July 04, 2023

07/04 Links Pt2: American vs. Israeli Patriotism; Israel and its PA dilemma; Left-wing activists accused of ‘desecrating’ Palestinian mosque

From Ian:

American vs. Israeli Patriotism
This June, I was privileged to hear an American lieutenant-general studying at the Israel Defense College speak about American patriotism and the lack thereof. He said he was saddened that he recently read that less than a third of young Americans are proud to be citizens of the United States.

Indeed, a March poll taken by The Wall Street Journal revealed that only 23% of Americans aged 18-29 say patriotism is important to them. Of all adults, only 38% said, “Patriotism was very important, down from 70% in 1998.” Americans place “low importance on these values, many of which were central to their parents’ lives.”

In contrast, 86.2% of Israeli Jews feel a sense of belonging to the Jewish state, according to a 2022 Israel Democracy Institute poll.

As an American who advocates for American national security interests in Congress and educates young Americans at universities, I empathized with the General’s concern for our country. I worry about the long-term implications of a situation in which most of our nation’s young people have allowed policy differences to cast doubt on our nation’s founding principles.

However, this situation is unsurprising. American students from primary school through college are taught that America was born in sin—as the 1619 Project and its advocates proclaim—rather than founded on principles of liberty and justice.

America’s triumphs have greatly outweighed our failures, and the progress we have made is remarkable. Nonetheless, America is constantly disparaged by the far-left, which holds sway in academia. It is also a growing and destructive presence in our body politic.

When the lieutenant-general spoke about his time living in Israel, he expressed confidence that Israelis, despite their domestic turmoil, are more patriotic than America’s millennials or Gen Z.

Perhaps the best way to understand the striking difference between young Americans and Israelis is in the symbols they use for political protest.

American protests almost never feature an American flag, but at the Israeli protests against judicial reform, thousands of Israeli flags were proudly waved. These were patriotic protests, passionately advocating for a change in government policy. Protesters wave their flags as part of a competition over who is more patriotic and more Zionist—the current government or opposition supporters.

The Israeli right, center and left all proudly declare themselves Zionist. Young pro-Israel American progressives would never say such a thing out loud for fear of censorship or expulsion from their far-left circles.
Netanyahu hails ‘irreplaceable and indispensable’ US ally at July 4 celebration
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu feted the United States on Monday night in Jerusalem at an event marking America’s 247th Independence Day.

“I wish to express my deep appreciation and gratitude for America’s enduring support for Israel. For 75 years, the United States has been our irreplaceable and indispensable ally. Irreplaceable. Indispensable,” said Netanyahu.

“Eleven minutes after our birth, and at vital junctures throughout our history, America has provided Israel with moral and political backing against those committed to wiping us out, to wiping out the one and only Jewish state. No less important, for nearly half a century, America has given generous military assistance to Israel, helping provide us with the tools, the tools we need to defend ourselves by ourselves.

“Decade after decade, our two countries have moved closer together. I’m proud to say that today, security cooperation has never been better, intelligence sharing has never been deeper and our alliance has never been stronger. I have long said that Israel has no better ally than America, and I say to you, America has no better ally than Israel,” continued the premier.

“On July 4, all democratic countries should remember that the decisive event that ensured the rise of freedom in modern times, has been the rise of the United States of America. Time and again, America defeated the forces of totalitarianism and terror. Yet we should also remember a basic truth: Freedom is precious, and it’s never free. It often requires firm and decisive action against those seeking to spread terror and imperil free societies,” said Netanyahu.

President Isaac Herzog also addressed the event, emphasizing that Israel has “no greater friend than the United States of America.

“Our nations share a profound historical legacy and a deep, enduring faith in the values of democracy, life, liberty, and justice. There is no question that the power of our alliance is unmatched: In the goodness it has brought to the world, and the promise it holds for our future,” said Herzog.

“Our collaboration, which crosses every possible sector and sphere, has been a critical anchor of security, stability and peace for both of our nations, and has brought the promise of hope and prosperity to this region,” he added.
When Israel Showed The World The Spirit of ’76 Still Exists: The Raid on Entebbe
It wasn’t supposed to be the big story of the day, after all, July 4, 1976, was the two hundredth anniversary of the United States, the nation which became a beacon of freedom for the entire world. More than anything else that happened at any gala celebration of America’s 200th anniversary, Israel’s raid on Entebbe reminded the world of the real “Spirit of 1776”—freedom is worth fighting for.

America needed a big celebration as we were recovering from the scandal which forced a president to resign for the first and (hopefully) only time in its history.

Three years earlier, Israel came the closest it had ever come to being destroyed when their Prime Minister obeyed Henry Kissinger’s orders and did not strike first despite that they had a few hours notice that they were about to be attacked on Yom Kippur. One year before the raid, United Nations passed a resolution saying that Zionism, the movement declaring that Jews have the right to a homeland was the same as racism. On this July 4th, both Israel and America needed some good news.

America got its good news but from an unexpected place. On America’s two-hundredth birthday, the tiny nation Israel, boosted the morale of America and much of the Western world, with a daring raid.

On June 27, 1976, Air France Flight 139, carrying 248 passengers and a crew of twelve, took off from Athens, heading for Paris. Soon after the 12:30 p.m. takeoff, the flight was hijacked by two Palestinians from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and members of the German “Revolutionary Cells (RZ)” (Wilfried Böse and Brigitte Kuhlmann) The terrorists commandeered the flight, diverting it to Benghazi, Libya. The plane left Benghazi, and at 3:15 it arrived at Entebbe Airport in Uganda.

At Entebbe, the four hijackers were joined by three “friends” supported by the pro-Palestinian forces of Uganda’s despotic president, Idi Amin. The hijackers were led by the German, Böse. They demanded the release of 40 Palestinian terrorists held in Israel and 13 other detainees imprisoned in Kenya, France, Switzerland, and Germany–and if these demands were not met, they threatened to begin killing hostages on July 1, 1976. Eventually, that deadline was extended to July 4th.

The hijackers held the passengers hostage in the transit hall of Entebbe Airport and released all the hostages except for Israelis and Jews whom they threatened to kill if Israel did not comply with their demands.

Upon the announcement by the hijackers that the airline crew and non-Israeli/non-Jewish passengers would be released and put on another Air France plane that had been brought to Entebbe for that purpose, Flight 139’s Captain Michel Bacos told the hijackers that all passengers, including the remaining ones, were his responsibility, and that he would not leave them behind. Bacos’ entire crew followed suit.

A French nun also refused to leave, insisting that one of the remaining hostages take her place, but she was forced into the awaiting Air France plane by Ugandan soldiers. A total of 83 Israeli and/or Jewish hostages remained, as well as 20 others, most of whom included the crew of the Air France plane.

Early in the morning of July 4th came one of the most daring, spectacular rescues of modern times.

Jordanian media remains implacably antisemitic

Jordanian media has consistently been among the most antisemitic in the Arab world. 

Here are two examples from Ammon (Amman) News in the past couple of days.

The first is a pseudo-intellectual article titled "The power and arrogance of the Jews... A recommendation for direction and confrontation" by Dr. Dirar Mufdi Barakat. It starts off with:

What is Jewish hegemony and arrogance? According to the methodology "I shall be and others cannot be," strangeness of course, sterility of values, transcendence over the truth, and over all international norms, and blasphemy of the rights of the Palestinians, people, land and identity, without paying attention to international covenants and agreements and internationalism and organizations, both legal and humanitarian.
The second is a reaction to the Jenin anti-terror operation:

God Almighty says in the decisive revelation: "Neither the Jews nor the Christians will be satisfied with you until you follow their religion)." As usual, the descendants of monkeys and pigs carry out brutal attacks on the Palestinian people with all brutality, extremism and hatred. They do not know the difference between a civilian and a combatant. They kill children, the elderly and women without mercy. They do not have existential legitimacy in the outskirts of Jerusalem, and their criminal actions are not subject to any logic or any religion. How can someone who does not own the land kill the owners of this land?!

The ugliness of these acts is not strange, as they are planning for the Greater State of Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates....
Interestingly, the second article is the complete opposite of the first. The first portrays Jews as a super-intelligent super-villain that runs circles around the weak Arab world; the second says that the brave Palestinians are causing the Jews no end of panic as they cannot figure out how to counter their surprises. 

The common denominator, as always, is hatred of Jews. No pretense of "Zionists" here - they are talking about Jews. 


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!
 

 

Sometimes, Arab newspapers just make things up: A tale of "Greater Israel"




Usually when I see outlandish claims in an Arab newspaper, I can trace back the story to a tiny kernel of truth that the newspaper decided to twist beyond recognition. Complete fabrication is far less common.

But this week, a Nasserist Egyptian news site called Al Majd wrote about a supposed anti-Egypt speech in Knesset by United Torah Judaism's Yaakov Asher - and I cannot find anything close to these quotes anywhere.

Of course, if he really would have said these things, it would be front page news.

Here is what Al Majd "reports:"

Yaakov Asher, a member of the United Torah Judaism party, a right-wing, religious, extremist Israeli political party, spoke a few days ago in the Knesset and revealed many of the deep plans of the Jewish state and what it thinks about neighboring countries and even the media among them, 

Asher said in his speech after the martyrdom of Muhammad Salah (the Egyptian soldier [who killed IDF soldiers]), he declared that the killing of Muslims at the hands of Israeli soldiers is an act of worship. He added, with humiliating statements to the people and the Egyptian government, that this act (killing our soldiers) will lead  to happiness in this world and the hereafter, and he added, “Who came to kill you! Kill him first. Wait for the opportunity so that an incident like the Egyptian border incident does not happen again. May God curse the terrorist Mohamed Salah, may God curse the Egyptians who live in this country and this land.”

In the continuation of his speech, this hardliner touched on the Torah and added: “According to the Torah, Egypt belongs to the Greater Land of Israel as described in biblical or historical sources. The enemies of the Jews are approaching us from the north and south. We must use every opportunity to destroy the Muslims, and expel them from the land of the Jews. This guarantees the existence of Israel. The Muslims of Egypt were and still are the staunchest enemies of Israel.”

Asher adds that from 1948 until today, Israel had to expand its maritime borders to Alexandria and Benghazi. "The Israeli authorities promised us fifteen years ago that the Nile would be destroyed and dried up. But this promise has not yet been fulfilled. The process of dividing Egypt into several states should begin as soon as possible. The Egyptian border incident is a major warning that must be taken seriously."

He also confirms in his speech that the land of Egypt is the land of the children of Israel. According to this Knesset member, “the division of Egypt,” “the drying up of the Nile,” and “the expansion of Israel’s maritime borders” to Benghazi in Libya refer to the evil strategies of the Jews in the region.

The blessing and blood of the Egyptian fighter, Mohamed Salah, forced this representative of the Knesset to reveal Israel's plot against the great Egypt.
As is so often the case, there is a lot of psychological projection going on here on the part of the Nasserites.

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!
 

 

07/04 Links Pt1: Tunnel linked Jenin terror mosque to kindergarten; At least nine wounded in Tel Aviv ramming attack; The White House Is Trying to Buy Pre-Election Quiet by Paying Off Iran

From Ian:

The IDF is dismantling Jenin’s terror infrastructure
The Israel Defense Forces’ intensified security operation in Jenin entered its second day on Tuesday, and looked to be on track to achieving its goal of shattering the concept of Jenin as a terrorist haven out of reach of the Israeli military.

The operation exposed some of the systems set up by terrorists—consisting of local operatives as well as Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas members—that had made Jenin so challenging for ordinary Israeli security missions recently: War rooms where operatives received video feeds and radio communications from across the city, and coordinated the activities of gunmen; hundreds of weapons, large quantities of explosive devices hidden in underground bunkers; and the beginnings of a rocket production industry.

These threats, collectively dubbed by the defense industry as “terror infrastructure,” are being systematically eliminated by a brigade-sized IDF force comprising mostly special units, backed by unmanned aerial vehicle firepower, that moved into the city overnight Sunday.

Some 10 Palestinian combatants had been killed by Monday noon, with the majority of the remaining hundreds of terrorist gunmen choosing to go underground and avoiding clashing with the IDF, which surprised them with its entrance into the city from multiple directions. Dozens of terror suspects have been arrested.

Dozens of IEDs and other bombs were found and neutralized by special forces, as were bomb-making labs.

IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari stated on Sunday evening that precise intelligence enabled the launch of the operation, which is focused on “dismantling terrorist infrastructure, seizing weapons, apprehending terror suspects and preventing future attacks.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, there were no reports of noncombatant casualties, and the IDF has enabled civilians to evacuate Jenin Camp during the operation. Hagari stressed that air power was used in a minimal manner, precisely, to protect IDF units on the ground.

According to IDF figures, some 50 terror attacks targeting Israelis over the past 18 months can be traced back to Jenin. Twenty-five Israelis have been killed in Palestinian terror attacks since the start of 2023.
As US supports Jenin op, Arabs and int’l organizations condemn it
A spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, which advises President Joe Biden, released a statement on Monday in support of the Israel Defense Forces’ ongoing counterterrorism operation in Jenin.

“We support Israel’s security and right to defend its people against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups,” it states.

The council added that it is monitoring the situation closely.

Sources said on Tuesday afternoon that the operation was getting close to winding down. But Israeli officials said it would probably continue at least until Wednesday as security forces continue to arrest members of terrorist groups and destroy their infrastructure.

As of Tuesday morning, more than a hundred wanted suspects have been arrested, and eight confirmed terrorists have been killed.

“We have no intention of occupying the [Jenin] refugee camp, and this is not an operation against the Palestinian Authority,” said R. Adm. Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the IDF. “We will create a sequence of operations in the northern part of the West Bank.”

Tor Wennesland, the United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, announced on Twitter he had been “in direct contacts [sic] with all relevant parties” with an eye towards de-escalation.

“The current escalation in the occupied West Bank is very dangerous [and] follows months of mounting tensions,” Wennesland wrote, noting that the operation “reminds us of the extremely volatile [and] unpredictable situation across the occupied West Bank.”

Lynn Hastings, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Palestinian-controlled areas, said she was “alarmed” by the scale of the operation in Jenin and slammed Israel’s use of precision airstrikes against terrorists in the “densely populated refugee camp.”

In Brussels, the European Union’s Middle East peace envoy said he was “very concerned” and following the situation in Jenin closely. E.U. Special Representative Sven Koopmans warned in a tweet of a “real threat of a major eruption” caused by “months of elscalating [sic] violence and increasing hopelessness” and called on “all parties” to protect civilians and respect international humanitarian law.

The U.K. government, in a statement published by the British consul-general in Jerusalem, likewise expressed “deep concern” and urged the IDF to “adhere to the principles of necessity and proportionality when defending its legitimate security interest.”

“Protection of civilians must be prioritised. Essential to ensure access for medical personnel,” the short missive reads.
UN agencies 'alarmed' at scale of Jenin raid, concerned about access
UN aid agencies on Tuesday voiced alarm at the scale of the ongoing Israeli military operation in the West Bank town of Jenin, where 10 Palestinians have been killed, saying there were restrictions on medical access.

The operation, which involved drone strikes and hundreds of troops and was one of the largest of its kind in years, entered a second day on Tuesday, prompting the evacuation of thousands of people from a refugee camp.

"We are alarmed at the scale of air and ground operations that are taking place in Jenin in the occupied West Bank, and air strikes hitting a densely populated refugee camp," Vanessa Huguenin, a spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office, told a briefing, saying three minors were among those killed. She did not immediately respond to a request for the victims' ages.

Damage to infrastructure caused by air strikes have cut off most of the water and electricity at the camp, she added. The Palestinian Red Crescent previously said it has evacuated around 3,000 people.

The Red Cross said it was "extremely concerned by the alarming intensification of armed violence" in Jenin.

The World Health Organization and medical charity MSF both raised concerns about access.
Jenin operation: IDF arrests 120 terrorists as fighting continues
IDF Chief Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Daniel Hagari on Tuesday said that the military's massive operation in Jenin could end faster than initially expected, even within a matter of days.

In an update early Tuesday, Hagari described how the operation had already achieved most of its goals and with less resistance or side complications than intelligence had estimated.

According to the IDF spokesperson, the military had preselected some dozens of targets to eliminate in terms of terror command centers and weapons and explosives storage areas. IDF has '10 more targets' in Jenin

All but around 10 of those locations were already destroyed or neutralized on the first day of the operation, many within the first two hours in attacks by the air force.

All told, a mix of IDF drones have already destroyed 20 targets, while the IDF commandos, Maglan, paratroopers, regular Menashe infantry, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) forces have neutralized a variety of other targets, including a concealed hiding spot of a large cache of weapons under a mosque.

The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that there are a total of 10 Palestinians dead since the operation in Jenin started.

Pre-operation estimates were there were 150 specific wanted suspects in Jenin and an estimated total 300 potential combat fighters out of the population of 49,000.

Of those, around 120 have been arrested, though not all 120 were suspects and some have been released.

But one of the surprises for the IDF was that there have been under 10 gunbattles in Jenin as the operation enters its second day.

Whether because the IDF achieved complete surprise, because of fear of being targeted by drones or other considerations, most of the fighters in Jenin have chosen to hide, rather than confront the IDF.

In that sense and if the fighters whose identities are unknown continue to hide, once the IDF has neutralized the remaining 10 targets and sought to find some more of the identified wanted suspects, there could be little for the IDF to do, other than leave its forces exposed and be hit with global criticism for dragging out the operation.

Interview With Alex Ryvchin, Author of "The Seven Deadly Myths" (Daled Amos)

By Daled Amos


I recently had the opportunity to interview the author Alex Ryvchin on his new book which presents a different approach to addressing antisemitism.

The answers have been slightly edited for clarity,




Over the years, many books have been written about antisemitism from different perspectives. How is your book different?

Many books have addressed the ‘why’ of antisemitism. Why are the Jews so hated? Why have such things been inflicted on them? Why do they continue to be targeted? This book will go some way to explaining the 'why' but my central interest is the ‘how’? How does antisemitism function in practice? How is it transmitted around the world and generation to generation. 

This question of ‘how’ led me to the seven deadly myths. It is through this complex and well-honed mythology that antisemitism thrives. As Isaac Herzog said in reference to my book: 

By shifting emphasis from the ‘why’ of this puzzling and dangerous phenomenon to the ‘how’ of the mechanics of its transmission, Ryvchin points to the possibility of actually confronting and diffusing it.

You mention in your book that it could be used in the classroom. There is discussion about Holocaust education -- and how it has failed, both in making people knowledgeable and in changing attitudes. What do you think are some of the causes for this and how would your book and a curriculum based on it overcome these problems?

Holocaust education is vital and I support it entirely. Within the study of the Holocaust we learn not only about the process by which the European Jews were destroyed, we observe everything of which man is capable of – sadism, cruelty, heroism, strength, apathy and cowardice. But in terms of understanding the hatred of the Jews, the Holocaust answers few questions. In fact, it raises these questions to fever pitch and leaves them unresolved. This is why despite so many admirable endeavors in Holocaust commemoration and education, antisemitism has continued to rise. 

Trying to understand antisemitism through the Holocaust is also highly problematic as it positions antisemitism as a historical event and not something in the here and now. It would be like trying to teach anti-Black racism and ending the story with the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. It also falsely positions it as solely a product of race science, fascism and totalitarianism which completely ignores its political and religious sources and manifestations. 

This has all contributed to the extremely limited and poor understanding of antisemitism in society, despite it being the most lethal and persistent hatred. This is why it is essential to teach antisemitism itself, what it looks like, how it is expressed, what it continues to do to our communities and wider society.

Why do you think antisemitism persists even after the Holocaust -- why wasn't the world "scared straight" by the murder of 6 million Jews? 

Because antisemitism was too ingrained. Antisemitism was soaked into the world’s consciousness through centuries of lies, mythology and propaganda. It emanated from religious sources, nationalist heroes and popular culture. Even the horror of the Holocaust and the most devastating war in history could not dislodge it. 

As is often forgotten, Jews continued to be massacred in Europe even after liberation from Nazi occupation. To give one example, the Polish Peasants Party passed a resolution in 1946 thanking Hitler for destroying the Jews and calling for the expulsion of any survivors. Forty-two Jewish survivors were clubbed to death in Kielce, Poland. One of the heroes of the Sobibor Camp Uprising was murdered by nationalists after escaping a camp which had virtually no survivors. So of course, today, when the Holocaust is considered ancient history to many, the same myths and conspiracy theories that made it possible, are resurgent.

If, as you write, antisemitism is not just a result of bad information but is a result of "a defect in reasoning" what is the best we can hope to accomplish in the fight against antisemitism?

Our aim in fighting antisemitism is not elimination – it is a disease without a cure. Our aim is to inoculate as many people as possible from catching it. 

There are only two ways to do this. The first is education. But it must be the right education. If we can systematically debunk antisemitic mythology, as my book does, far fewer people will be susceptible to it. Once this education occurs, there has to be engagement. The mythical Jew – bloodthirsty, all-powerful, vengeful, obsessed with money cannot coexist with the real, flesh and blood Jew. The more that people see the real Jew, the weaker these myths become.

Considering the longevity and intensity of antisemitism, to what do you ascribe the survival of Jews and the Jewish identity?

Antisemitism has certainly been a contributing factor to our tenacity. It has hardened our minds and matured our souls. Being hated and excluded also makes us seek familiar company. 

But the secret to our survival, in my view, stems from our perspective on life which stems from our teachings, our traditions and national holidays. We live life as though on a mission. This gives us our restless energy, our refusal to be bystanders and our refusal to submit and die. We have important work to do.

You write that your book is not only for the classroom but also for policymakers -- how could you see your book being used? 

During my recent US book tour, I had the honor of presenting to law enforcement about my book. They were fascinated by this approach of reducing antisemitism into these 7 deadly myths. This provided them with a clear means of monitoring antisemitism, seeing the sorts of mental processes that lead to horrific acts and enabling them to prevent hate crimes in future. 

This education is really critical to understanding antisemitism, how it works and how it can be stopped. Antisemitism is so poorly understood and any plan to combat it must begin by overcoming this. This is where my book can be really helpful.








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!
 

 

European Union think tank seems think the Abraham Accords are a mistake




From the EUISS webpage:
The European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) is the Union’s Agency analysing foreign, security and defence policy issues. Its core mission is to assist the EU and its member states in the implementation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), including the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) as well as other external action of the Union.  

One would think that the EUISS' analyses would be in line with mainstream EU thinking.

Last year, Algeria hosted a forgettable Arab League summit. The EUISS used this as a springboard to evaluate how well and how poorly the League of Arab States (LAS) does what it was meant to do - avoid intra-Arab wars, for example.

But one of its threads of analysis was quite concerning:

The LAS has lost credibility in recent decades due to the weakness of its institutional mechanisms,and its failure to translate the lofty statements of its leaders into action. The inability to take a united stance on the Palestinian issue, when several Arab leaders decided to normalise relations with Israel, is probably its most profound failure, especially given that an overwhelming majority of 88% of Arab citizens disapprove of their governments’ recognition of Israel, and only 6% accept a formal diplomatic recognition.

 It sure sounds like the EUISS is saying that a unified Arab consensus against even recognizing Israel is far preferable to a situation where some Arab nations establish relations. 

An official EU organization that apparently considers  several Arab states making peace with Israel to be a "profound failure" seems to be a pretty big deal. Does this mean the EU considers earlier peace between Israel and Jordan and Egypt to have been a net negative as well?

In fact, the EUISS site does not have any analysis of the Abraham Accords at all. Even though these agreements have been perhaps the most far-reaching change in the Middle East since the Iranian revolution, they do not merit a single article. 

The longstanding EU position is that the Palestinian issue is the center of any Middle East peace (the "linkage" claim)  and the Abraham Accords showed that this assumption has never been true, and indeed the Arab League was the impediment to peace by pretending that its members were obligated to act as a single anti-Israel bloc instead of in their own self-interests.

In 2020, the EASS  - the diplomatic service of the EU - officially welcomed the normalization agreements  without using the name "Abraham Accords," but then spent more time discussing how a two state solution should be the main goal and blamed only Israel for the lack of progress on that front. Whether it is stated formally or not, the EU position seems to be that Israel has no rights or legitimate claims to the Old City, Area C or any historic Jewish sites outside the Green Line. It appears that the EU regards the Abraham Accords as a net negative because they reduced diplomatic pressure on Israel on ceding its claims and they took the focus away from the "Palestinians are virtuous, Israel is intransigent" mantra that has been its foreign policy towards the conflict since the Palestinian refusal for peace and the second intifada.

(h/t Irene) 

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!
 

 

Amnesty and HRW won't say a word about this Jenin war crime




Times of Israel reported on Monday:
The Israel Defense Forces says troops located hidden underground storage sites with weapons and explosives inside a mosque in the West Bank city of Jenin.

After lengthy gun battles with armed Palestinians who were holed up inside the mosque, Israeli forces managed to break in, the IDF says.

The IDF says that on the ground floor, troops found two underground storage sites containing explosives, weapons, and other military equipment.

Using a mosque as a military site is a war crime.

Article 53 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I says:

Without prejudice to the provisions of the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 14 May 1954, and of other relevant international instruments, it is prohibited:

…

(b) to use such objects [historic monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples] in support of the military effort

Additional Protocol II has identical language.

It was Hamas and Islamic Jihad that turned a mosque into a military target by firing from it and storing weapons within. 

The fact that most Muslims are not upset at Palestinian terror groups for treating their mosques that way indicates that hate for Israel is more important to most Muslims than the sanctity of the mosque. 

I don't see any fatwas on the topic, but my guess is that the Islamists pretend that this is a case of "defensive jihad" - defending Islam as a whole from destruction - which gives them wide latitude to even violate normative Islamic principles of war.  It appears to be the justification for suicide bombings, and female suicide bombers, for example. Under that mindset, using mosques for war transforms from something reprehensible into an obligation.

 

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!
 

 

Monday, July 03, 2023

07/03 Links Pt2: Israel Police studying France riots; California Jews Are Most Targeted Religious Group; Israel qualifies for Olympic soccer, first time in 48 years

From Ian:

Stephen Pollard: A vote against the BDS Bill is a vote to allow the boycott of Jews
Let’s make one thing clear from the start. The BDS – Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions – campaign is antisemitic. No ambiguity, no ifs, not buts. It singles out the world’s only Jewish state and demands that it – that Jews, in other words – is boycotted.

The more naïve of those who push BDS might like to think they are somehow elevated people pursuing an elevated cause, but they are not. They are no less antisemitic in their actions than skinheads and extremist Muslims who believe Jews are vermin.

That, in short, is why the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill matters. By removing the ability of local councils and organisations to set their own foreign policy, it prevents them from acting in support of a campaign which seeks to boycott Jews.

There is no room for shades of grey here. You either think it’s fine to boycott Jews – in which case you will oppose the Bill – or you don’t, in which case you will support it.

That’s why tonight’s second reading is so important. It’s a vote on the principle of the bill. Those who intend to oppose that principle are saying they have no issue with boycotts of Jews. You can pretend your vote means something else, but we see you.

Which is one reason why Labour’s opposition – not initially couched as opposition but as a ‘reasoned amendment’, tabled in the name of Keir Starmer - is so important to note. Sir Keir talks a good game of making Labour a fit home for Jews, and he has tackled some of the more egregious antisemitism in his party. But when push comes to shove, and he is presented with a clear test of his commitment to the cause of tackling antisemitism, he is on the wrong side.
It's almost certain Labour will oppose Michael Gove’s BDS ban
It now seems almost certain that the Labour Party is going to oppose Levelling-Up secretary Michael Gove’s new Bill to outlaw boycotts of Israel by councils and other public bodies.

As we report elsewhere, Gove’s shadow, Lisa Nandy, has told the party’s MPs that she has serious “concerns” about the BDS (Boycott, Sanctions, Divestment) campaign that the Bill is designed to curb.

She says she recognises that BDS often becomes a vehicle “to whip up hate against the Jewish community”, adding that “we do not support action that singles out any one country for different treatment, or any action designed to promote xenophobia and racism.”

So far, so encouraging. But Nandy – who happens to be a former chair of Labour Friends of Palestine – also thinks that Gove’s Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill goes too far. It would, she says, lead to restrictions on free speech, and make it impossible for public bodies to boycott China, in protest at its treatment of its Uyghur minority.

However, what Nandy appears to dislike most is that the Bill has teeth. It would create powers to levy fines on institutions that make procurement or investment decisions in order to sustain boycotts.

Nandy would prefer to let them continue to make whatever decisions they choose, so long as they do so “in accordance with an ethical investment framework that is applied equally across the board”.

I’m not quite sure what that means. On Friday, Labour tabled a “reasoned amendment” repeating most of Nandy’s arguments, but this said nothing to explain what this nebulous concept would mean in practice.

But if the government doesn’t accept it at the Bill’s second reading on Monday, Labour will abstain, and then vote against the Bill on a three-line whip when it comes back for its third and final reading.
Israel Police studying France riots
Israeli law enforcement is studying the riots that have swept across France following the killing of a 17-year-old youth in the Paris suburbs on June 27.

Nahel Merzouk, reportedly of Algerian descent, was shot to death during a traffic stop following a car chase in Nanterre. This led to six consecutive nights of violent rioting.

A Paris firefighter died overnight Sunday while trying to extinguish a blaze in an underground parking lot, according to French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who added that 157 people had been arrested between Sunday and Monday. More than 3,000 people have been detained since Nahel’s death.

Israel Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai at the weekly meeting of the police command on Sunday morning ordered operations, intelligence and foreign relations divisions to “examine what led to the protests and the extreme reaction of the French protesters, what the police’s orders were, how they acted before the event that led to the protest, and what during the event led to violent riots across France,” the police said in a statement.

Israel is closely monitoring and deeply concerned about “waves of antisemitism sweeping over France,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during Sunday’s weekly Cabinet meeting.

“In recent days, we have witnessed criminal assaults against Jewish targets. We strongly condemn these attacks and support the French government in its fight against antisemitism,” he added.

In May 2021 violent riots exploded in cities across Israel during the 11-day war with the Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip.

So @AmnestyUK loves boycotts. But only boycotts of Jews.

Amnesty UK tweeted:
The [UK Anti-Boycott] bill gives special status to Israel, making it the only country in the world which cannot be excluded from its provisions, and treats Israel and territories it occupies in the same way, contrary to the UK’s long-established policy and international law.

The bill is intended to stifle principled opposition to Israel’s illegal settlements and the Israeli authorities' racist system of apartheid against Palestinians.

Boycotts, divestment & sanctions are forms of peaceful protest that have been used to press for human rights change.

Think:
✊The Anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa
🚌The Montgomery Bus Boycott
🛢️The BP oil spill
In the 1890s, merchants in Butte, Montana boycotted Chinese and other Asian businesses, tried to stop customers from entering them, and threatened anyone who hired Chinese people.


No doubt they felt that they were upholding human rights - of non-Asian people. Even this flyer talks about "morals."

What, exactly, is the difference?

More the to point, Jews have been boycotted many, many times in our history. I once gave a brief list of Arab boycotts:

1891: Arabs request the Ottoman Empire not sell land to Jews.

February 1909: "In Hebron, where out of a total population of 18,000 about 2000 are Jews, the Arabs decide to boycott Jewish merchants."

January 1915: The American Jewish Yearbook reports "At Hebron, Jewish storekeepers are boycotted
by Mohammedan women."

April 2, 1920, AJC: "Rosh Pinah: Thirty Arabs attack Arab workmen in fields belonging to Jewish inhabitants in endeavor to bring about boycott by Arabs against Jews."

June 4, 1921: "Haifa: Arabs issue proclamation urging the populace to boycott the Jews and drive them out of their villages."

1922: Arab Congress calls on Arabs to boycott Jewish businesses in Palestine.

1924: MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION voted to authorize the Executive Committee to promulgate an economic boycott against the Jews. The economic boycott, however, was later abandoned.

1929: Arab Congress vows to compel Arabs to boycott Jewish merchandise. Syria prohibits import of merchandise produced by Jewish businesses in Palestine. 

1931: World Islamic Congress passes resolution requesting Muslim countries to boycott trade with Jewish businesses in Palestine. Arab Labor Federation pickets Jewish businesses in Palestine. 

1945: Arab League Council adopts Resolution 70, recommending that all Arab states establish national boycott offices. 



There was also a major boycott in Poland of Jewish businesses (accompanied by pogroms) in the 1910s.

And of course the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses (accompanied by pogroms) in the 1930s.

But the boycotts of Jews didn't end there. In the 1950s, Saudi Arabia refused to do business with any company owned by Jews or with Jews in important positions. In 1960, it weas revealed that tourist companies would not allow Jews to visit Gulf countries because they adhered to the Arab boycott, and Aramco refused to hire Jews in its New York office. In 1975, the Arab world still refused to work with Jewish bankers. 

This was all at the time of the "Zionism is Racism" UN resolution, proving that anti-Zionism and antisemitism are the same thing. 

The BDS boycott is a direct continuation of the Arab League boycotts of Jews.  Don't take my word for it: this document on the BDS Movement website gives a history of BDS, and it prominently features the Arab boycott of Jews (pretending that they were only boycotting "Zionists:") It praises the explicitly antisemitic Arab League boycott successes and mourns when it weakened in the 1980s and 90s.  It even looks at the Arab League boycott of Jewish businesses to learn lessons for BDS today. The document, written in 2007, is saddened that at that point in time, only Syria and Lebanon were still adhering to the Arab League boycott - you know, those two human rights powerhouses.

There is another reason that BDS is provably antisemitic. They do not boycott Israeli Arab businesses - only the businesses owned by Israeli Jews. 

This antisemitism is what Amnesty-UK is supporting. And it has exactly as much to do with "human rights" as the Arab League boycott - or the Butte boycott of Chinese people - did.




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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!
 

 

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