Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Iranian Jews nervous before Rosh Hashanah

The one-year anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s murder coincides with the Jewish New Year on September 16, prompting community leaders to warn Jews to stay off the streets.

In a Telegram posting from Iran’s Jewish community on Sunday, the leadership wrote “All worshipers are strongly requested to refrain from stopping and gathering in the streets for any reason during Rosh Hashanah and after performing religious duties in synagogues.”

Alireza Nader, an Iran scholar based in Washington, DC, told Iran International, “The remaining few members of the Jewish community in Iran live in constant fear. Any sort of public pronouncement or guidance from their leadership should be seen in light of the community’s extreme vulnerability.” Nader has written about the persecution of Iranian Jews.

Beni Sabti, an expert on Iran from the Israeli National Security and Strategy Institute, who first located the Telegram post, told Iran International that the Jewish leadership is “worried that Jews can be in trouble if they stay in the streets” and urged them “to rapidly go from the synagogues to their houses.”

According to the Telegram post, the Jewish community wrote: “Coordination with the police force to create security and comfort for the grand ceremony of Rosh Hashanah .Respectfully, while congratulating in advance on Rosh Hashanah and wishing you a prosperous year, we inform you that by the grace of the Almighty and with the coordination made with the respected police force of Greater Tehran, the necessary arrangements have been made for the safety and comfort of our dear fellow believers for the celebration of the glorious and fateful day of Rosh Hashanah.”

The Telegram post noted “The public relations of the Tehran Jews Association, while thanking the loved ones of the police force for their unquestionable and constant help, has no doubt that the Kalimi [Jewish] community will once again draw a line against the evil plans of Iran's enemies and celebrate the magnificent ceremony of Rosh Hashanah away from any sidelines.”

You don't have to be an Iran expert to see that this message is meant to warn Jews not to do anything that could put the entire community in danger - like walk past an anti-Iran protest.

A normal announcement would not sound this way. The audience is the Iranian mullahs at least as much as it is the Jewish community, assuring them that their dhimmis are staying in line.

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!

I wrote earlier about Palestinian rejection of the "open letter" by expatriate Palestinians in the US and Britain condemning Mahmoud Abbas' antisemitism.

A slew of additional rejections of the letter have been released, and they are most instructive.

The Secretary-General of the People's Party, Bassam Al-Salhi, said that the letter helps the Israelis. Then he said that if there is any disagreement with the Palestinian leadership, don't say it in public:

He said he statement, in terms of timing, content and purpose, is very harmful and unacceptable and should not have been issued by these circles, adding, “If these parties have any observations on internal Palestinian affairs, they must be directed within the Palestinian internal framework, so that it does not become one of the tools for exploitation.”

Al-Salhi added that World War II affected peoples in the world, and millions were lost during it, and it was not directed against the Jews, but rather a fascist imperialist war against the peoples.

A member of the PFLP's political bureau, Maher Mezher, said that the Popular Front denounces the issued statement, which does not represent true intellectuals and writers, and that the faction that issued it must essentially side with the Palestinian people.

He said that "what the president spoke represented the Palestinian narrative, while what this group spoke did not represent the people, their narrative, and their struggle."

The spokesman for the Fatah movement Mobilization and Organization Commission, Abdel Fattah Dawla, said, “What was described in the statement of expatriate academics, writers, and activists does not reflect an educated academic and research mentality that is good at reading history, texts, and speeches." he added that Israel "carried out the most horrific massacres in our contemporary history, " not the Nazis

He called on the local media not to provide any media platform for everything that might distort the Palestinian narrative, scene, and word, and to deal carefully with such statements that do not serve our people, their right, and their cause.

Writer and political analyst Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul said, “The academics’ statement is a complicit and very offensive statement to the national struggle, and whoever issued the statement is ignorant of history. Whoever condemns the president’s speech has not read history and is trying to market himself in the capitalist and Zionist West’s market.”

Al-Ghoul added, "The statement is an infringement on national rights and principles and achieves the interests of the occupation and the Israeli-American vision."

Al-Ghoul pointed out that in many studies there is “skepticism about the number of 6 million people killed in the Holocaust, as some Jews said that the number of victims of the Holocaust did not reach 6 million, and some of them said that it did not exceed a million, knowing that the victims of World War II amounted to 50 million people,20 One million of them are from the Soviet Union." He also pointed out that "there are many studies that point to the complicity of Zionism with Nazi Hitler."

Writer Nabil Dweikat said, "It has already become a well-known story that the Zionist movement itself conspired with the Nazis against the Jews of Europe in order to push them to immigrate to Palestine. "

So in short, the arguments are:

1. Pointing out Abbas' antisemitism is an anti-Palestinian position.

2. Never say anything divisive in public.

3. Abbas is right, and Jews really are responsible for the Holocaust.

4. The narrative is far more important than the truth.

5. Zionist crimes are far worse than the Holocaust.

6. Zionists conspired with Nazis against Jews.

7. You must never, ever criticize Palestinians - only Israel, constantly.

8. Any Palestinian in the West who criticizes Abbas is really a Zionist stooge trying to make money.

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!

09/12 Links Pt1: How the Oslo Accords Let Illegal Weapons Flow into Israel; US, EU condemn Israeli plans for Jewish neighborhood in Abu Dis

From Ian:

How the Oslo Accords Let Illegal Weapons Flow into Israel

In addition to the recent wave of terrorism coming from the West Bank, the past year has seen a surge criminal violence, much of it gang-related, in Israel’s Arab communities, with most of the victims Arabs themselves. Many factors account for this problem, among them the availability of illegal arms—a legacy, David M. Weinberg argues, of the Oslo Accords:

There is a direct line that runs from Oslo to the current Israeli Wild West situation. Israel provided Yasir Arafat’s police force with tens of thousands of rifles and hundreds of tons of ammunition. These weapons soon ended up in the shooting arms of Arafat’s sixteen different declared security organizations and many other declared and undeclared terrorist factions.

At first, Israel sought to monitor and therefore control the use of its weapons in the Palestinian Authority (PA) by registering the ballistic signature of every gun and rifle before transferring it to Arafat. But the Oslo-era enthusiasm for “strengthening” the Palestinian Authority led to more and more helter-skelter arms handovers, with Israel soon losing track of the weapons. The U.S. and other Western countries involved in providing security assistance and training to the PA also were supposed to have a handle on this, but they too soon lost track of the swelling armories of Yasir Arafat and his multiple organizations of gunmen.

Much of this Israeli-provided weaponry was directed at Israeli civilians and IDF troops during the second intifada, leading to the need for Operation Defensive Shield in 2002. For a while, this operation indeed led to a renewed tight Israeli grip on the flow of weaponry into and within Palestinian areas. But in 2004 then-Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz re-approved gun licenses for all PA police officers. Over the years since, and under American pressure to ease up on the PA and “strengthen” Arafat’s successor Mahmoud Abbas, the IDF has further relented, leading to the current weapons-loose state of affairs.

Thieves In the Night AP Reporting on Palestinian Smuggling of Weapons

Not only did AP’s Adwan state as fact the questionable claim that Israeli measures imposed to prevent the smuggling of weapons meant for violent attacks themselves fuel violence. He also uses qualifying language (“what [Israel] says”) to cast doubt on the purpose of the Israeli-Egyptian blockade. Readers could reasonably conclude from this formulation that Hamas’ arming is not a genuine concern. Perhaps, the uninformed could surmise, Hamas is undertaking no such effort to arm itself.

The AP, a news agency which ostensibly operates under the slogan of “advancing the power of facts,” does not freely advance the facts regarding Hamas’ efforts to arm itself in Gaza as well as in the West Bank.

Indeed, for three full days after Israeli authorities announced that the thwarting of explosives smuggling from the Gaza Strip meant for the West Bank, AP completely ignored the story, despite its stated commitment to supplying “news and services that expand the reach of factual reporting.”

US said to transfer armored vehicles, weapons to PA to clamp down on West Bank terror

The Palestinian Authority reportedly received a shipment of armored vehicles and weapons from the United States, as the Biden administration and Israel look to assist Ramallah in regaining control over West Bank areas that have become hotbeds for terror activity.

Citing informed Palestinian sources, the Jerusalem-based Palestinian daily Al Quds said Monday that the shipment was facilitated by Jordan and will be used by several branches of the PA security forces.

Notably, the shipment was approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline government, which includes representatives who have long criticized the transfer of weapons to the PA.

Netanyahu and Israel’s security establishment maintain a different approach, viewing PA President Mahmoud Abbas and his security forces as an important ally in combating terror in the West Bank.

However, as the PA faces a legitimacy crisis over its failure to deliver Palestinian statehood or even hold elections, its popularity has waned significantly, particularly in the northern West Bank where rivals have taken up weapons and challenged its authority.

Armed groups in Jenin and Nablus have carried out regular shooting attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians. Israel says the weakening of the PA has left it with no choice but to send its own soldiers into such cities in the northern West Bank to arrest those responsible for attacks and confiscate the growing amounts of weapons that are being stockpiled there.

The PA argues that such raids hamper its legitimacy further, and insists that Israel let it deal with the problem on its own.

Sheikh Najeh Bakirat, Deputy Director of the Waqf in Jerusalem, said that the upcoming Jewish holidays are just a means to promote the idea of the existence of the Temples on the Temple Mount and work to build a new one.

Bakirat told Al-Resalah, "Celebrating these holidays in the Old City and Al-Aqsa is an attempt to establish the idea of the Temple on the ruins of the blessed Al-Aqsa.”

“Everything that is happening around Al-Aqsa is for the same idea, which is to dedicate the temple. ...What is happening in terms of imposing construction, demolition, expulsion, and confiscation of lands in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa, is part of the idea of preparing for this temple.”

Bakirat claimed that these holidays combat the Palestinian existence, culture and demographics of Jerusalem, "as they bring large numbers of Jews to the city and expel most of the Palestinians from it."

He described these holidays as “a disaster for the people of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa,” calling in light of this escalation to “increase our awareness of what the occupation is doing, expose all policies, increase the presentation of our narrative, deepen the presentation of the Arab-Palestinian narrative, and convey a depth of understanding of Rabat in our homes and shops and the niches and courtyards of Al-Aqsa.”

Al Quds International issued a statement as well, saying "Jewish holidays are no longer merely religious or national occasions, but rather have become an opportunity that extremist 'temple organizations' exploit in the ugliest way to impose further progress in imposing new Judaizing realities in Al-Aqsa Mosque."

It warned that Jews plan "to mobilize the largest possible number of Jewish settlers in Al-Aqsa, and perform various Jewish rituals there, including blowing a trumpet, offering plant sacrifices, wearing the garb of priests, complete epic prostration , reading texts from the Torah, singing the Zionist anthem, raising the Israeli flag, and other attacks."

Sheikh Ikrimah Sabri, the preacher of Al-Aqsa and head of the Supreme Islamic Council in Jerusalem, called on Muslims to "thwart the plans of the occupation and settlers during the upcoming Jewish holidays."

He said that "the occupation loses its sanity when it sees crowds of [Muslim] worshipers marching to Al-Aqsa."

Hamas media quotes an official, Bassam Abu Sneineh, who calls "to increase the pace of specific resistance operations during the Jewish holiday season, to disturb the occupation and make it think carefully about the repercussions of storming Al-Aqsa."

Haroun Nasser al-Din, the official in charge of the Jerusalem office of Hamas, also called for terror attacks to stop Jews from celebrating holidays. "The battle with the occupation continues, and the operations of our heroes in the West Bank and Jerusalem will continue in response to the crimes of the occupation in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa. Our people have the full right to defend their land and sanctities by all available means."

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!

As mentioned yesterday, a group of Palestinian expatriates issued an open letter over the weekend condemning Mahmoud Abbas' antisemitic statements. but really their letter was more anti-Israel than anti-Abbas, as they accused him of toeing the Zionist line.

We the undersigned, Palestinian academics, writers, artists, activists, and people of all walks of life, unequivocally condemn the morally and politically reprehensible comments made by President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas about the Holocaust. Rooted in a racial theory widespread in European culture and science at the time, the Nazi genocide of the Jewish people was born of antisemitism, fascism, and racism. We adamantly reject any attempt to diminish, misrepresent, or justify antisemitism, Nazi crimes against humanity, or historical revisionism vis-a-vis the Holocaust.

The Palestinian people are sufficiently burdened by Israeli settler colonialism, dispossession, occupation, and oppression without having to bear the negative effect of such ignorant and profoundly antisemitic narratives perpetuated by those who claim to speak in our name. We are also burdened by the PA’s increasingly authoritarian and draconian rule, which disproportionately impacts those living under occupation. Having held onto power nearly a decade and a half after his presidential mandate expired in 2009, supported by Western and pro-Israel forces seeking to perpetuate Israeli apartheid, Abbas and his political entourage have forfeited any claim to represent the Palestinian people and our struggle for justice, freedom, and equality, a struggle that stands against all forms of systemic racism and oppression.

This letter, signed mostly by American and British citizens, was not meant for Palestinians to read. It was not translated into Arabic. It was meant for the West, as the signatories could self-righteously pretend to oppose antisemitism while at the same time attack Abbas, since they prefer Hamas and Islamic Jihad as more reflective of adhering to the Palestinian will.

The are just as antisemitic as Abbas is, but some of them try a little harder to hide it. (Some don't!) Many of them have engaged in Holocaust inversion themselves.

However, we do live in an online age, and it was inevitable that Palestinians would see this letter. And their reaction was anger at opposing antisemitism:

A statement issued by a number of expatriate Palestinian academics and activists, regarding what President Mahmoud Abbas mentioned during a recent meeting of the Fatah Revolutionary Council about the Holocaust, sparked disapproval and condemnation from various Palestinian circles, especially since the statement was fragmentary and consistent with the Israeli and Zionist campaign, and without reference to the occupation, its positions and policies announced by his senior leaders, which are based on the idea of denying the existence of a Palestinian people, in addition to the massacres committed against them.
Former Minister Hassan Asfour commented on this statement by the academics and wrote: “In a strange and surprising way, a group of Palestinian figures, including the names of ‘academics,’ ‘experts,’ and analysts, most of whom hold foreign American and British nationalities, issued a statement attacking the president’s speech about ‘Ashkenazi Jews’ and Germany...a revealing statement. Ignorance of history is not limited only to those who do not read it, but it seems that “understanding has become without teaching from the beginning of the line... Be ashamed and apologize to your people, you pretenders of knowledge.”

Notice that both the letter and the reaction by Palestinians accused their opponents of being on the same side as the Jews.

It is all theatre.

But it points to a rarely mentioned fact: the Palestinian academics in the West are eager to write papers and speak at panel discussions where they pretend to represent the majority of Palestinian. They claim to support progressive, liberal standards, but they most definitely do not. Their speeches about the Palestinian cause being liberal begin and end with the Jews; they really don't care when the Arab world shows its bigotry or when Palestinians themselves show their illiberal beliefs - anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-environment, anti-animal rights.

Like Yasir Arafat before them, they tailor their message to the audience, lying as easily as they breathe, and hoping the world won't see their hypocrisy.

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!

Lebanese Islamists blaming Israel for Palestinian infighting in Ein al-Hilweh - and prove they hate Palestinians themselves

The head of Hezbollah’s Sharia Committee, Sheikh Muhammad Yazbek, came up with a convoluted logic to explain how Palestinians fighting other Palestinians in the Ein al-Hilweh camp in Lebanon is really Israel's fault.

Al-Ahed News reports that "He said the only beneficiary of the Palestinian fighting, in the Ain al-Hilweh camp, is the Zionist enemy, which is working in various ways to end the Palestinian issue and eliminate the right of the Palestinians to return to their lands and Islamic and Christian sanctities, pointing out that what is happening inside the camp and in Syria in terms of fighting, siege, security threats and displacement is an American-Israeli decision, implemented with local tools aimed at weakening the axis of resistance and confusing it security-wise and economically to discourage it from confronting the American-Zionist project."

I think he is saying that the Fatah faction in Lebanon is a tool of Israel and the US.

But the Association of Muslim Scholars had a much better conspiracy theory blaming Israel for the infighting - one that they don't even realize shows how little they care about Palestinians.

VDLNews reports this insanity that the group issued a statement saying that what the Zionists want for the Ein al-Hilweh camp "is to destroy this camp as a prelude to displacing its people and then settling them either in Lebanon or in a country to which they emigrate, through enticement and intimidation, which leads to the complete cancellation of the right of return, which necessarily means an end to the Palestinian issue."

What this Islamic group is saying is that the worst thing for Palestinians is to become normal citizens of Arab countries. The best thing for them is to remain stuck in an overcrowded, dangerous tinderbox surrounded by a huge wall where they are not allowed to build, not allowed many jobs, not allowed to own land and at the mercy of terrorists who are trying to take over the camp.

And while the "right of return" is fiction, Palestinians in Jordan are citizens and still claim that right. Why can't Lebanese Palestinians?

No one hates Palestinians more than the Lebanese. Not the Israelis, not the Saudis...no one. And no one treats them as badly as the Lebanese do. But where the Lebanese really outdo themselves is in insisting that their maltreatment of Palestinians is for their own good. And the Palestinians themselves cannot publicly complain about their being treated like dirt, because they are at the mercy of those same Lebanese.

This is why about two thirds of all of Lebanon's "registered Palestine refugees" have left Lebanon and gone anywhere else they could.

Yet the media and human rights organizations remain largely silent. Funny how that works.

It's almost like they don't really care about Palestinians.

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!

09/11 Links Pt2: The Perennial Power of the Nakba; 9/11 and the New Antisemitism; Antisemitism is the ideology that has defined Abbas's life

From Ian:

The Perennial Power of the Nakba

With every rekindling of hostilities between Israel and Palestinian armed groups, world news is flooded with stories about refugee camps, statelessness, and the Nakba—the now-settled term for the Palestinian narrative of the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The term is usually explained as the word for the Palestinian catastrophe of 1948, in which the establishment of the state of Israel caused the destruction of traditional Palestinian society, the loss of Palestinian lands, and the displacement of 700,000 Palestinians from their homes. The term has become a reservoir of historical memory, structural guilt, and calls for justice.

Indeed, there is little doubt that the term is one of the foremost successes of Palestinian activism. Not only has it managed to enter most European languages, it has managed to establish itself as a sign of the destructiveness of not just Israel but of capitalism, colonialism, and racism too. Its mention sometimes brings with it a pantheon of associations and allusions, among them crimes against the environment, women, and indigenous people, committed by Western men, in which category Zionist Jews are subsumed.

Yet at one point the Nakba, as both word and concept, existed before these wider connotations. In fact, before the Nakba became the founding myth of Palestinian nationalism, and before it became a progressive call for human rights, justice, and equality, it was meant for something very different. It was meant neither to refer to Palestine as a lost territory nor to the Palestinians as a displaced population in need of basic human rights. It was meant for nothing less than the formation of the vanguard of Arab revolution—and then world revolution too.

This essay aims to trace the history of that idea, of how Arab thinkers and leaders settled on the Nakba and on opposition to Zionism as a way of mobilizing a post-Ottoman, post-colonial Middle East to construct new, independent, industrial societies. It aims to demonstrate how the Palestinian cause became the great rallying cry of Arab revolutionaries in the wake of 1948, how that cry echoed on long after the revolutionaries’ ideology faltered, how it developed in time into one of the most catastrophic forces in the Middle East—not so much for Israel but for the Arabs themselves—and why it might finally be losing its centrality. There have been four revolutionary waves in the Middle East over the 75 years, and all but the last have made Palestine their motivating engine. So great is the totemic power of Palestine that the history of Arab political thought since World War II can only be understood through its lens.

I. Constantin Zureiq and The Meaning of the Nakba
This history begins in August 1948, with a book called The Meaning of the Nakba by Constantin Zureiq, the most important Arab nationalist intellectual at the time. The Meaning of the Nakba was a polemic condemning the technological inferiority, social backwardness, and economic immobility that, in Zureiq’s view, were preventing the Arabs from historical self-realization. In it, he made one of the earliest and loudest calls to use the struggle against Zionism as a tool for Arab self-transformation, as a springboard into a new and brighter future.

As Zureiq employed the term, the Nakba referred to the shocking defeat—still in progress as he wrote and published the book—of seven Arab militaries at the hands of the army of the newly established state of Israel. He opened The Meaning of the Nakba with a statement of mourning. “The defeat of the Arabs in Palestine is not a small setback or a transient evil, but it is an unequivocal catastrophe,” he wrote. “Seven Arab states declared war on Zionism in Palestine, yet they stood impotent!” For Zureiq, the Arab defeat was the truest revelation of the backward and inferior conditions of modern Arabs, a revelation that called for a “fundamental transformation in the Arab conditions, and a total revolution in our thought, our action, and the totality of our life.”

To understand how Zureiq ended up at this point, and the ways subsequent Arab thinkers and politicians used his ideas, it’s helpful to take a wider look at the historical conditions from which he emerged.

Stephen Pollard: Antisemitism is the ideology that has defined Mahmoud Abbas's life

His latest Ramallah speech is a regurgitation of an earlier 2018 speech to the Palestinian National Council in Ramallah, in which he said that the pogroms and massacres which have been the fate of European Jews since from 11th century to the Holocaust were “because of their function in society, which had to do with usury, banks, and so on”. Israel, he continued, is a “colonialist project that had nothing to do with Judaism” and that Jews chose to remain in their home countries during the Holocaust rather than emigrate: “The Jews did not want to emigrate even with murder and slaughter. Even during the Holocaust, they did not emigrate. By 1948, Jews in Palestine were no more than 640,000, most of them from Europe”. He then turned the de facto expulsion of 850,000 Jews from Arab lands after Israel’s birth in 1948 into a colonialist drive: “Ben-Gurion did not want Middle Eastern Jews to come [to Israel]…but when he saw the vast land, he was forced to bring Middle Eastern Jews… that didn’t want to come. From Yemen they flew 50,000 Jews…They didn’t suffice with 50,000 Jews.

"Then they went to Iraq, which had large reserves of Jews”. He asserted that Israel agreed with Iraq “to take away the citizenship of Jews and force them to emigrate…They did not suffice with this and gathered all the Jews in Arab countries, from Morocco to Algeria and Tunis, Libya, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon”.

What was the reaction? Almost total silence.

But none of this should surprise anyone, because Abbas’s antisemitism has been the leitmotif of his adult life. In 1982 he was awarded a doctorate by the Patrice Lumumba University” in Moscow for his thesis, “The Connection between the Nazis and the Leaders of the Zionist Movement, 1933-45”.

The thesis itself has never been published or made available, but a form of executive summary of it, written by Abbas, is. In this, he writes that “The Zionist movement led a broad campaign of incitement against the Jews living under Nazi rule, in order to arouse the government’s hatred of them, to fuel vengeance against them and to expand the mass extermination.” Zionists, he continues, were the Third Reich’s “basic partner in crime”. In other words, the Zionists pushed for the Holocaust to facilitate the creation of Israel.

Jews are in any case doomed, along with Israel. “The vast majority” of Jews around the world reject Zionist dogmas.” Moreover, “The natural and objective process of Jewish assimilation” means not just the end of Jews as a distinct people but the end of Jewish emigration means the end of Israel.

In 1984, in the introduction to his book The Other Side: The Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism (based on his thesis) Abbas writes that “the number of Jewish [Holocaust] victims could be six million but could [also] be far smaller, even less than a million” - and cites Robert Faurisson (a notorious Holocaust denier) in questioning whether gas chambers were used to kill Jews. The Zionists, you see, made up the bigger figure in order to win sympathy for their nefarious project. And they only captured and tried Eichmann to stop him from revealing their role in the Holocaust.

But, this is just the tip of the antisemitic iceberg. For a full – and riveting - analysis of Abbas’ doctoral thesis I recommend this piece by Izabella Tabarovsky in Tablet (Mahmoud Abbas’ Dissertation) which superbly places it in the context of Soviet ideology, distortions, lies and KGB propaganda.

None of the above is new information. It has all been publicly available for decades. None of Abbas’s various outrageous remarks are new or surprising. They are all based on his thesis and a worldview he has spent decades acting on. And yet every time he opens his mouth the same pattern is followed. First, it is as if it is all a terrible shock to discover some of his best friends may not be Jews. Second come the ritual condemnations. And third comes the return to square one, as if nothing untoward had ever happened.

Phyllis Chesler: 9/11 and the New Antisemitism

On September 11, 2001, at about 11am, I walked over to my computer and typed the sentence: “Now we are all Israelis.”

Always, it begins with the Jews. Afterwards, Osama bin Laden called the assault on America “blessed attacks” against the infidel…the new Christian-Jewish crusade.” He explained that the Twin Towers had fallen because of American support for Israel.

War and a new kind of antisemitism had been declared. I had no choice but to write a book about it. I titled it “The New Antisemitism” and I wrote it in 2002 and published it in book form in 2003, part of which is excerpted and paraphrased here..
**********
I was not a direct victim on 9/11. I did not personally know anyone who was killed that day in the World Trade Center or the Pentagon. I was at home, in Brooklyn, transfixed before the TV set, watching it live as it continued to happen, and I did not move from my spot. I knew that when I got up, nothing would ever be the same again; I would no longer feel safe in my native city or country or in the world; I would not longer be able to assume that life as I’d known it—with all its illusions—would continue. How could it?

At 8:45 A.M. and 9:03 A.M.two planes (American Airlines flight 11 and United Airlines flight 175) hijacked by Islamic terrorists, crashed into the World Trade Center. At 9:17 A.M. the Federal Aviation Administration shut down all New York City airports, and for the first time in history, all American airports. At 9:30 A.M. President Bush announced that the country had been attacked by terrorists. At 9:43 A.M. a third hijacked plane (American Airlines flight 77) crashed into the Pentagon. At 9:45 A.M. the White House was evacuated. At 10:05 A.M. the south tower collapsed. At 10:00 A.M. a center of the Pentagon collapsed and a fourth hijacked plane (American Airlines flight 93) crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. At 10:13 A.M. the United Nations was evacuated. At 10:28 A.M. At 10:54 A.M. Israel evacuated all Israeli diplomatic missions to the United States. At 12:04 P.M. the Los Angeles airport was evacuated and closed. And at 1:27 P.M. the city of Washington declared a state of emergency.

An article in Raia al-Youm by Palestinian writer Nawaf Al-Zaro goes over the usual Jew-hating tropes, saying, "The tendency toward violence and racist terrorism is a tendency rooted in the Zionist political ideology and the Jewish Bible. "

But he starts with three supposed quotes from prominent Zionists, all obviously fake:

Herzl: "We must form a great hunting expedition, gather all the animals together, and drop deadly bombs among them."

Jabotinsky: “The Torah and the sword were sent down to us from heaven, and Zionist colonization will be achieved despite the will of the indigenous people, and the iron wall policy is our comprehensive policy towards the Arabs.”

Begin stresses the importance of violence in shaping history and existence: "The power of progress in world history is not peace, but the sword. I fight as long as I exist."

I had never seen any of these quotes even on Arabic sites, so I looked for where they came from.

Not only are all of these quotes fake, but I cannot even find an earlier Arabic source for them.

Nawaf al-Zaro made all three of them up from whole cloth!

I've seen outrageous lies in Arab media before, but usually they are based on some tenuous thread to something that is true. This must be some sort of record for sheer chutzpah.

But al-Zaro is not a random guy. He is an award-winning journalist and author, having written many books. (At least he claims to have!)

And today, writing for the Al Natour Center for Studies and Research, he claim the Jews were behind 9/11. One of the "experts" he quotes is David Duke.

For Palestinian thinkers and writers, there is no contradiction between being a respected researcher and making up lies.

UPDATE: The incredible GnasherJew actually found the fake Herzl quote from various Arabic sources in the 2000s.

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!

Palestinian media warn about dangers of upcoming Jewish holidays - including some you've never heard of

Palestine Today published this poster warning about all the upcoming Jewish holidays and how Jews use them as excuses to defile Al Aqsa Mosque.

And when they say "Al Aqsa Mosque," it is obvious that they are referring to the Kotel (Western Wall) as part of it.

The photo is a Photoshop, showing the twin threats that Palestinians see: Zionists and religious Jews.

The poster gives a description of how Jews supposedly celebrate their holidays, some of which are mysteries to me. They know some amazing things about Judaism.

Jewish holidays
An imminent danger that violates the sanctity of Al-Aqsa

Hebrew New Year's Day
From September 15-17, includes major raids with the participation of occupation leaders, during which the trumpet is blown.

Yom Kippur
From September 24 - 25, it includes massive raids into the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque, during which bird sacrifices are offered.

Throne Festival
From September 30 to October 5, massive raids take place, plant sacrifices are made, and a canopy of palm trees is set up.

Eid Simchat Torah
On October 7, the Torah scrolls are brought into the courtyards of Al-Aqsa and circulated around them

Feast of Isru Hag
On October 8, its most prominent pillar was the dining table, which is a Talmudic ritual performed by settlers in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa.

The feast of Hosea, our Lord
On October 10, the settlers hold a Talmudic ritual in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa

The Feast of Prostration
is on November 13, during which Al-Aqsa is stormed and Talmudic prayers are performed

Hanukkah
From 8 to 12 December, Al-Aqsa is stormed in large numbers, and lit by candles with huge candlesticks

Interestingly, they do not mention the tens of thousands of Jews who have gone to the Kotel every day this Hebrew month to say Selichot prayers.

It is clear that to Palestinian Muslims, a Jew worshiping at the Kotel is just as offensive as one worshiping on the Temple Mount.

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09/11 Links Pt1: Morocco earthquake: Israel is ready to help in their hour of need; Iran set up Lebanese terror airport only 20 kilometers from Israel

From Ian:

JPost Editorial: Morocco earthquake: Israel is ready to help in their hour of need

Foreign Minister Eli Cohen instructed his ministry and the Israeli embassy in Rabat to contact Moroccan authorities to see how Israel could be of assistance. The Foreign Ministry dispatched a team to Rabat to help some 500 Israelis in need of assistance. The ministry also said Israel’s consul in Rabat was heading to the Marrakech area to assess needs there.

The Health Ministry said it was planning to join the aid efforts, dispatching a delegation of doctors and nurses, together with medical equipment.

IsraAID said it would dispatch a delegation with aid to Marrakesh and the surrounding area, while Magen David Adom said it was preparing to send two rescue teams to the country – one to operate a field hospital and the other to carry out search-and-rescue operations.

Relations between Israel and Morocco have warmed significantly since the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020 and Morocco’s decision on December 10 that year to establish diplomatic relations with Israel. Then-IDF chief of staff Aviv Kohavi made the first official visit to Morocco in July last year, and in June this year, Israel participated for the first time in the African Lion military maneuvers in Morocco. The Jerusalem Post hosted a Global Investment Forum in Marrakech last November.

Moroccan House of Councillors President Enaam Mayara’s visit to the Knesset last week was unfortunately postponed after he was hospitalized in Jordan; it would have been the first visit by a Moroccan leader to the Knesset since the signing of the Abraham Accords and following Israel’s recent recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara. Mayara had been invited to Israel by Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, who visited Morocco in June.

Jews have been living in Morocco for over 2,000 years, and although the Jewish community numbers only 2,500 today, it remains significant, as it is one of the few remaining Jewish communities in an Arab country. Perhaps the most prominent member of the community is André Azoulay, an adviser to King Mohammed VI, who last week was presented with Israel’s Presidential Medal of Honor and the Torch of Abraham Award by Rabbi Marvin Hier at the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem.

“André has made an extraordinary contribution to Moroccan Jewry, the Jewish world, and the State of Israel in cultivating and preserving relations with Morocco over the years, preserving Jewish heritage in Morocco, and providing support and advice to Israeli leaders in their quest for peace in the Middle East,” Herzog said.

Azoulay cited King Mohammed V’s rescue of Jews during the Holocaust and said, “Thousands of Jews were saved by my country, my king, my people.”

As Morocco mourns, we extend our condolences to the families of all the victims and send wishes for the speedy recovery of the injured. We are proud that the Jewish state is supporting Morocco in its hour of need.

United Hatzalah on the ground in quake-stricken Morocco

United Hatzalah President and Founder Eli Beer said that the NGO was “assisting as quickly as possible both with emergency response and humanitarian aid” as the organization has done at previous disaster sites around the world.

Meanwhile, the State of Israel has offered to send search and rescue personnel and humanitarian aid to its Abraham Accords ally but has yet to receive a response from Moroccan officials.

“There is a long list of countries that offered aid as Israel did, but they are still waiting for an answer. The authorities there are making their calculations and will reach out as soon as they see fit,” David Saranga, director of the Israeli Foreign Ministry Digital Diplomacy Bureau and a member of the Israeli delegation to Morocco, told Army Radio on Monday morning.

On Sunday night, Jerusalem’s landmark Chords Bridge was lit with the colors of the Moroccan flag in a display of solidarity.

“Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, sends its condolences and prayers to the families of those affected by the earthquake, as well as wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured,” read a statement by the municipality.

“Morocco is a true friend of the State of Israel, the Jewish people and the city of Jerusalem. We will assist as much as is necessary in whatever way we can to the Moroccan people and their government.”

The aftermath of 6.8 Marrakesh earthquake

A 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck the Marrakesh region of Morocco Saturday, resulting in the death up over 2,000 people. With rescue missions till ongoing, i24NEWS Correspondent Hamdah Salhut is live in on the scene of where the earthquake took place.

Ethan Schwartz spoke with @cnni about IsraAID's initial response to the earthquake in #Morocco. "Everything we do is being led by community groups. We're following their lead and they're taking us where the needs are greatest." https://t.co/5kzTZCgZlS pic.twitter.com/41Yh2V5K8J
— IsraAID (@IsraAID) September 11, 2023

Our team in Morocco left Marrakech earlier today and headed up to the mountain villages in the region of Tizi Ouaddou where rescue teams haven't reached yet. They found devastation but also a lot of resilient and strong people. #MoroccoEarthquake #UnityInAction #AngelsinOrange pic.twitter.com/B9Y4zstEG9
— United Hatzalah (@UnitedHatzalah) September 10, 2023

Foreign Ministry representatives are on the ground in Morocco to help Israelis who want to return to Israel in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake.

Representatives in Marakkesh who are working alongside our embassy staff met with Israelis, toured the local synagogue and heard… pic.twitter.com/oQ6njqY0HV
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) September 11, 2023

Jerusalem stands with Morocco 🇮🇱🇲🇦

Our capital’s Chords Bridge is lit up tonight in solidarity with the people of Morocco.

Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion: We send from our capital Jerusalem our condolences and prayers for those affected by the earthquake and our wishes for a speedy… pic.twitter.com/YyKHkHLUie
— Israel ישראל 🇮🇱 (@Israel) September 10, 2023

Arab antisemitism, 1956

It is always interesting to trace the history of Palestinian "anti-Zionism" from the beginnings of Zionism, when its antisemitism was explicit, to today, when it is hidden behind multiple layers of pretense of not having any problem with Jews at all.

So this from an article in June 1956, by syndicated columnist John B. Crane, before the Suez campaign, is instructive.

He interviewed Palestinian refugees in Lebanon:

ACTING as spokesman, 28-year- old camp leader Mahmoud Rashid, a former railway employee in Palestine, told us with an intensity often found among inmates of concentration and refugee camps: "

If things keep on as at present and war should break out, the Arabs will fight on the side of Russians.

"You Americans are not neutral, as your government claims, but you are pro-Israel and are giving more aid to tiny Israel than all Arab countries combined.

"Do you think it wise for America to lose the friendship of 70 million Arabs and 400,000,000 Moslems to secure the friendship of 10 million Jews scattered all over the world?"

Another Palestinian refugee at the same briefing session, a former commando leader in Israel- Arab war, declared:

"The fight against Israel is not just a fight of the Moslem Arabs against the Israeli. I am a Christian Arab and I say it is the of all Christians everywhere to drive the Jews from the Holy Land, for we must not forget that it the Jews who crucified Christ.".

At the end of the article, we read:

HERE ARE some popular beliefs among the Arabs and it is these beliefs which are likely to determine future Arab behavior, whether the beliefs have any basis in fact or not:

Israel Is out to build a modern Jewish empire stretching from Baghdad to Alexandria. This is the reason for their subsidizing thousands of Jews from all over the world to come to Israel when the country is already too small to support the Jews already there.

America is determined to see that Israel survives and prospers because the millions of Jews in America--(1) control the press, (2) control the radio, (3) control the movies, (4) control the government, and (5) control the United Nations.

Most Arabs believe the above they cite these convictions to explain why their side of the Arab- Israel conflict is not given more publicity in the American press and over the American radio and why America gives far more aid to Israel than to the Arab countries. The anti-Zionism of the Arabs is as intense as the earlier anti-semitism of the Nazis.

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BBC Arabic compares Al Qaeda of 9/11 to Jewish rebels against the Romans at Masada

On the anniversary of 9/11, BBC Arabic published a list of other people who committed suicide while attacking their enemies - and naturally, Jews are the top of the list: (Google Translate)

The Sicarii, while no saints (they killed hundreds of Jews as well), did not intend to die when they attacked their occupiers, and Masada (if the mass suicide really happened) was not a suicide attack on the Romans either. There are also differing accounts as to whether the Sicarii were at Masada or another group of rebels.

Either way, this is an obscene comparison, intended to make it look like Al Qaeda terrorist are just following the footsteps of fanatic Jews of two millennia ago.

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Abbas' antisemitism gives free rein for Palestinian thinkers to justify their own Jew-hatred

It took a little longer than I expected, but Arab media is coming to the defense of Mahmoud Abbas' blaming the Holocaust on Jewish actions and his other antisemitic statements publicized last week.

Mahmoud al-Tamimi, a Palestinian writing in Oman Daily, claims that Theodor Herzl agrees that Jews bring the world's contempt on themselves with their actions. He purposefully misinterprets Herzl's words:

[T]he sins of the Middle Ages are now being visited on the nations of Europe. We are what the Ghetto made us. We have attained pre-eminence in finance, because mediaeval conditions drove us to it. The same process is now being repeated. We are again being forced into finance, now it is the stock exchange, by being kept out of other branches of economic activity. Being on the stock exchange, we are consequently exposed afresh to contempt.

Herzl is saying, correctly, that Jews were pushed into financial positions because of antisemitism not allowing them throughout history to do anything else. Tamimi changes the meaning into saying that Herzl admits that non-Jews hated Jews because of their social position, without saying that this is a damned if you do, damned if you don't position set up by antisemites.

Another Palestinian writer, Saleh Al-Shaqbawi, writes in Raia al-Youm that indeed the world hates Jews because of their usurious practices, and then implies that Jews worship money rather than God, his "evidence" that Jews ignored Jerusalem and Zion for 1400 years and instead became wealthy.

Abdel Bari Atwan, Palestinian-British former editor of Al Quds al Arabi who used to be a fixture on the BBC, says Abbas has nothing to apologize for. He simply states that Abbas was right, that Jews are really Khazars, and that criticism of Abbas shows there is no freedom of speech. He claims in his crazed rant that no one complained about Shakespeare's characterization of Jews in The Merchant of Venice, and Jews were silent when Vladimir Putin accused the West of using "the Jew Zelensky to cover up neo-Nazism in Ukraine."

I have not found a single Palestinian pundit or op-ed writer saying a word in Arabic against Mahmoud Abbas' antisemitic statements. A number of Palestinians, mostly Western-based academics, did sign such a letter in English. That letter is not even translated to Arabic, indicating it is a whitewash for the benefit of the West and not a message for Palestinians to read and consider. (Also note that most or all of the signatories appear to hate Abbas and lean more towards Hamas, whose explicitly antisemitic charter remains in force.)

In the Arabic media that the vast majority of Palestinians read, there isn't even a debate going on: Abbas is obviously right, no matter whether you support or oppose Fatah and the PA.

The West still refuses to believe that the Palestinians are taught and spread antisemitism from childhood It still refuses to note that 93% of Palestinians are antisemitic according to the ADL and 97% of Palestinians have negative opinions of Jews according to Pew. And when those inconvenient facts get mentioned, the oh-so-liberal "progressives" and "academics" justify Palestinian hate for Jews as being an outcome of their hate for Israel, instead of the other way around, even though everyone can easily see that their antisemitism pre-dates the State and Zionism.

Why is it so hard to admit that Palestinians are among the most antisemitic people in the world? Because that would upset the sacred narrative that Israel (and Jews) are at fault for the problems in the Middle East.

Palestinians' supportive reaction to Abbas' speech proves otherwise. Their hate for Jews is the obstacle to peace.

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Latest EoZ memes and cartoons

Mostly cartoons this time around.

Israel has allowed exports from Gaza to resume. Good luck trying to find that news.

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09/10 Links: Jewish Heart of Marrakesh in Ruins; The Palestinians Set Israel's Own System Against Itself; Israeli officials in Saudi Arabia for UNESCO conference

From Ian:

As crucial hours pass, Morocco yet to accept most aid offers following quake

Nearly two days after a devastating earthquake hit Morocco, killing thousands in the Marrakesh region and overwhelming the country’s rescuers, Rabat had yet to accept on Sunday afternoon most of the offers of assistance pouring in from around the world.

There were sporadic reports of teams arriving in the country: Spain said it sent 56 rescuers and four search dogs after receiving a formal request for help. Qatar also had a team on the way with specialized equipment. Tunisia also said it had dispatched a delegation of over 50 rescue experts.

But many countries were still waiting for authorization from Moroccan authorities amid growing bewilderment by some that with the hours ticking by and the chances of finding survivors dwindling, the nation did not seem to be in a hurry to accept aid.

Arnaud Fraisse, founder of French aid organization Rescuers Without Borders, told Radio France Sunday that he had a team stuck in Paris waiting for the green light, but the Moroccan government was “blocking all rescue teams.” He said he could not explain Rabat’s conduct.

“We know there is a great urgency to save people and dig under the remains of buildings,” said Fraisse. “There are people dying under the rubble, and we cannot do anything to save them.”

Aid offers have poured in from around the world. Among the many countries that have pledged assistance but have not been given the go-ahead were Israel, the US, France, the UK, Turkey, Algeria and Taiwan.

The UN said it had a team in Morocco coordinating with authorities about how international partners can provide support. About 100 teams made up of a total of 3,500 rescuers from around the world are registered with a UN platform and ready to deploy in Morocco when asked, Rescuers Without Borders said.

The United Nations estimated that 300,000 people were affected by the quake and some Moroccans complained on social networks that the government wasn’t allowing more help from outside.

Jewish Heart of Marrakesh in Ruins

Morocco’s ancient Jewish quarter was severely damaged by Friday’s earthquake.

The horrific 6.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Morocco on Friday night killed thousands of people; many more are injured or missing. International rescuers have been pouring into Morocco to help. Israel’s highly trained disaster relief experts are on stand-by, waiting for permission from Morocco to enter the country and help.

The epicenter of the earthquake was in the High Atlas mountain region, about 45 miles southwest of Marrakesh (also known as Marrakech), Morocco’s fourth-largest city. Much of Marrakesh has been damaged, including the city’s historic “Mellah,” or Jewish quarter. “It’s as if it was hit by a bomb,” explained Hafida Sahaouia, a resident of the quarter, whose own home was utterly destroyed. “We were preparing dinner when we heard something like explosions. Panicked, I quickly went outside with our children. Unfortunately, our house collapsed. We lost everything.”

Much of the Mellah is currently impassable. Once home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the Arab world, today it seems that this centuries-old Jewish quarter has been reduced to rubble.

While rescuers race against the clock to save survivors, Morocco’s Jewish community is coming to terms with incredible loss of life, as well, and the destruction of what was one of the world’s most-visited and unique Jewish quarters. Here is a brief Jewish history of the Mellah.

Ancient Origins
Moroccan Jews have long traced their history back to refugees who fled west after Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzer destroyed the first Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE. Legends also abound about Jews visiting Morocco from the Land of Israel in Biblical times to purchase gold to bring back to Israel, or to fight the Philistines who’d been driven out of the Land of Israel. The oldest archaeological evidence of Jews in Morocco is ancient Hebrew-language tombstones in the ruins of the Roman town of Volubilis in Morocco.

The Miara Jewish Cemetery.

One Medieval Islamic scholar, Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) wrote that Jews became so numerous and influential in the area that Berber tribes converted en masse to Judaism. For generations, Khaldun’s assertion was taken as fact, and it was widely assumed that many Moroccan Jews had origins in local tribes. In recent years historians have largely debunked this claim, noting that Morocco’s Jews almost certainly descend directly from visitors from the Land of Israel.

Muslim Coexistence – and Pogroms
Morocco’s territory was largely conquered in the Seventh century CE by the fearsome Muslim warlord Abu al-Muhajir Dinar al-Ansari. He and his troops pressured local Berber leaders to convert to Islam, along with their tribes. Within a generation, the area of present-day Morocco became nearly entirely Muslim. The land’s substantial Christian community largely disappeared. Morocco’s Jews, however, resisted calls to convert, maintaining their distinct beliefs and lifestyles.

Muslim leaders largely tolerated Jews, imposing a “dhimmi” status on them. So long as Jews paid special dhimmi taxes and avoided prestigious professions, they were allowed to remain in Moroccan lands. The conditions Moroccan Jews faced varied. At times, they were allowed to live in Moroccan cities; at other times they were forced to relocate. Under the leadership of Yusuf Ibn Tashfin (c1061-1106) any Jew found to have stayed in Marrakesh overnight was put to death.

For Moroccan Jews, periods of relatively peaceful coexistence alternated with horrific anti-Jewish violence as anti-Jewish pogroms broke out during times of political and social tension. One pogrom in Fez in 1033 is thought to have killed over 6,000 Jews. A major pogrom broke out in Marrakesh in 1232. Some historians believe that another pogrom in Fez in 1465 killed nearly all of the city’s Jews.

In the 1400s, the Sultan took steps to protect Fez’s Jews, inviting them to live in a royal property called the Mellah. “Mellah” means salt in Arabic, and the land he allowed Jews to settle on is thought to have once been either a storehouse for salt or a place where saltwater was stored. Soon, other Moroccan cities established “Mellahs” of their own, including Marrakesh.

Morocco earthquake damages two historic synagogues

Two synagogues in Marrakech's old city sustained damage in the recent earthquake, reports Israeli Rabbi Doron Danino, who was in the city over the weekend. He recounted his experience during Shabbat in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.

Rabbi Danino stayed at a quaint hotel in the Mellah, Marrakech's Jewish quarter. On Friday night, he worshiped at the Al Fassayn Synagogue, which he described as having suffered "significant damage". The following morning, he attended services at the Slat al-Azama Synagogue, which was "partially damaged". This historic synagogue, believed to be founded by Sephardic Jews who fled Spain in 1492, also encompasses the Jewish Museum and Jewish Center. Its architectural beauty merges a traditional Moroccan riad with elegant zellij decorations. Notably, in the 1950s, it was renovated to incorporate a distinct section for women.

Recounting the terrifying moments of the earthquake, Rabbi Danino said, "Post my dinner with the Haliva family in the Jewish quarter, as I settled in my hotel past 10:30 pm, it felt as though a speeding train was passing. Given there's no railway nearby, the sensation was bewildering. It was akin to the relentless vibrations of a washing machine in spin mode. Inside my room, furniture tumbled and cracks snaked across the walls. Peering outside, I saw debris cascading within the hotel compound. Opting for safety, I stayed put in my room. When the tremors subsided, the grim sight of crumbled structures, including the Haliva's residence where I had dined, greeted me." Damage to historic buildings

Overwhelmed by the ordeal, Danino expressed, "The buildings around me are in ruins. The quake's ferocity was unparalleled, and its duration felt interminable." He added, "Interestingly, the newer districts seemed to have weathered the quake better."