The Arabic language media has been obsessively reporting about Yom Kippur since before the holiday.
The most insane claim came from the Jerusalem Waqf. After claiming that Jews were dancing on the graves of Muslims at the ancient cemetery on the south side of the Temple Mount, it announced that there was no relationship between Yom Kippur and the Temple:
The Council stressed in its statement that it is not possible to accept such arbitrary measures under the pretext of Jewish holidays, which have no relation, even remotely, to the history, reality and message of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. Merely linking these occasions to an authentic Islamic mosque represents for us in itself an assault and a blatant violation of its right as a mosque. Islamic, with all its squares, facilities, prayer halls, roads, entrances, and its entire area of 144 dunums.
The Yom Kippur ceremonies were the emotional and religious apex of the year at the Jewish Temples in Jerusalem on the very spot that the Dome of the rock was deliberately placed.
Egypt called on the Israeli authorities to fulfill their obligations and stop such escalatory practices because they represent a clear violation of the existing legal and historical status of the city of Jerusalem and its honorable sanctities,
What did the storming look like? Here it is:
Al Jazeera decided to highlight that some of the visiting Jews on Yom Kippur eve were barefoot. The PA's Jerusalem Governorate said, "Some settlers deliberately storm Al-Aqsa Mosque barefoot, because they see it as the alleged temple - according to their laws - and therefore it is not permissible to enter it with leather shoes , so they enter it barefoot or with slippers of other materials....This is one of the most prominent manifestations of consecrating the moral foundation of the alleged Temple."
Again, that happens every day. Religious Jews who visit the Mount don't wear leather shoes, same as on Yom Kippur.
It is deeply ironic that Muslims are complaining about Jews going barefoot on their holy site when they remove their own shoes for prayer.
The Secretary-General of the Jordanian Royal Commission for Jerusalem Affairs, Abdullah Kanaan, complained that Israel's closure of Jerusalem on Yom Kippur was an example of an "apartheid policy," and "this holiday is accompanied by religious rituals and strict measures that include preventing the movement of transportation, closing roads, and comprehensive restrictions on the Palestinians. Mercy, tolerance, respect for beliefs, and freedom of worship are deliberately absent from Jewish holidays, including Yom Kippur, which is accompanied by the occupation authorities and settlers adopting all forms and methods of racism and the policy of killing, captivity, detention, and protection of Israeli incursions and attacks carried out by settlers."
Temple denial, and denial of Jewish history, is no less antisemitic than Holocaust denial, which is something else Palestinians and other antisemitic Arabs excel at. And it happens every day.
Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!
Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.
The United States is expected to announce this week that Israelis will no longer require a paper visa to enter the country but will be able to fly to America with a discounted electronic permit, the Foreign Ministry announced Monday night.
“This is great news for all Israeli citizens,” said Foreign Minister Eli Cohen. “Within a few weeks, Israelis will be able to visit the United States without the need for a long wait for a visa from the US Embassy.”
Instead, Israelis with biometric passports will be able to secure a visa within 72 hours of submitting their online request. Visas will be valid for up to 90 days.
Implementation of the decision is expected to take place in a few weeks, though practically, it will likely begin in November.
A new "diplomatic achievement"
“Israel’s inclusion in the visa waiver program is a diplomatic achievement,” Cohen continued. “The visa waiver will contribute to the economy in general and tourism in particular, reducing bureaucracy and costs.
“I would like to thank US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State, my friend Antony Blinken, for their support and leadership in granting visa waivers to Israelis, and especially to outgoing US Ambassador Tom Nides for leading the project here in Israel,” the foreign minister continued. “I would like to especially thank the consular department of the Foreign Ministry who worked diligently in recent months to achieve this joyful outcome.”
The electronic form, priced at $21, is accessible to all Israeli citizens. To apply, individuals must complete the ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) questionnaire through the US border authorities. This form is in English and encompasses essential biographical data, including name, date of birth, and passport particulars.
The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) is a political and economic union consisting of 10 nations in Asia. Like the European Union (EU), the different nations have varying policies and laws and so does their relationship with Israel. Nevertheless most of them do have a good relationship with Israel and yet there is additional roadway to pave in terms of future cooperation.
ASEAN emerged in 1967 when 5 nations - Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore came forth together with the goal to foster trade ties and maintain peace with their neighbours in the Cold War era. Today, the bloc has doubled in size and comprises 10 nations that are a mix of governments ranging from monarchies, communist states and democracies. It has over 600 million people along with a very diverse linguistic and religious landscape.
Of all the ASEAN nations Singapore and Philippines probably have the best relationship with Israel. Singapore is a highly developed first world nation. During the early years of Singaporean independence, they sought assistance from Israel to build up their own army that has also instituted conscription.
In 1947, the Philippines was notably the only Asian nation among the 33 others that voted in favour of the resolution for the establishment of the state of Israel. Decades later, ties remain strong and The Philippines has 30-50 000 foreign workers in Israel and many work as caregivers for the elderly. Then president Rodrigo Duterte visited Israeli in 2018. The most traded commodity going both ways is electronics. In addition, the Singaporean and Philippines militaries both use Israeli military equipment
Most ASEAN nations do not have heavy involvement in the Israel-Palestine Arab conflict and seem to maintain a more neutral stance.
There is another significant difference between antisemitism in the West and outside it that further explains the Abbas and Saeid outbursts. In the West, much of the time, antisemitism is a feature of disgruntled social movements that go through troughs and peaks in terms of their popularity, but whose grasp on power is fleeting; rarely do they win a sustained engagement with genuine political power. But in the Middle East, antisemitism emanates from the corridors of power, walking hand in hand with corruption, political repression, torture, racism and other reprehensible features of authoritarian rule.
Indeed, Abbas’s response to the group of Palestinian intellectuals and influencers who publicly objected to his latest verbal assault on the Holocaust is a perfect example of this tendency. No matter that this group forthrightly condemned Israeli “occupation” and “apartheid” in its statement, thereby repeating antisemitic tropes about Israel even as they condemned antisemitism. They had the temerity to confront Abbas, the Palestinian caudillo, over his crude, cringeworthy antisemitism, and were therefore worthy of denunciation as the “shame of the nation.” Mark as well how Abbas’s antics perfectly fit the approach of Arab dictators towards the Jewish state; when you are unpopular and when your disapproval ratings are at an eye-watering 73%, as are his, point the finger at the real culprits.
Saeid, meanwhile, operates with a similar logic. A conservative legal scholar who came to power in 2019 and has stalled Tunisia’s hesitant progress towards democracy ever since, his remarks about the floods in Libya—the fruit of Storm “Daniel,” a Jewish name that was chosen, said Saeid, because “the Zionist movement has infiltrated our minds”—are the second occasion this year that he has expressed antisemitic sentiment. On the first occasion, back in May, he told a meeting of Tunisia’s National Security Council that a deadly gun attack upon worshippers at a historic synagogue on the island of Djerba was not motivated by antisemitism. Mocking those “who talk about antisemitism when we are in the 21st century,” Saeid accused those who raised the issue of antisemitism of wanting “to sow division to benefit from this discourse.” The following day, in defiance of the actual historical record, he doubled down by pointing to supposed Jewish ingratitude, insisting that the Jews of Tunisia who survived the 1942-43 Nazi occupation did so because of the goodwill of their neighbors and not because the Allied armies trounced the Germans in North Africa.
As well as being an antisemite, Saeid is also a racist who has whipped up feelings against black migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa. In a speech in February, he claimed that “hordes of irregular migrants” had come to Tunisia “with all the violence, crime and unacceptable practices that entails.” He argued that this was an “unnatural” situation, part of a criminal plan designed to “change the demographic make-up” and turn Tunisia into “just another African country that doesn’t belong to the Arab and Islamic nations anymore.” Following this rant, angry mobs attacked African migrants in several cities, while the police detained up to 1,000, deporting many of them.
This Islamist and Arabist form of supremacism—with its disdain for Africa’s black majority population and its barely concealed loathing of Jews—is no less threatening than any other form of bigotry. As long as it is left unchecked and unchallenged, we can anticipate many more “Antisemitism Months” from Arab and Muslim national leaders.
This is an update my Yom Kippur message of previous years.
I unconditionally forgive anyone who may have wronged me during this year, and I ask forgiveness for anyone I may have wronged as well.
Specifically:
-If you sent me email and I didn't reply, or didn't get back to you in a timely fashion -- I apologize.
-If you sent me a story and I decided not to publish it or worse, didn't give you a hat tip for the story -I'm sorry. I'm also sorry if I didn't acknowledge the tip. I cannot publish all the stories I am sent, although I try to place appropriate ones in the linkdumps, or tweet them.
-If you requested help from me and I wasn't able to provide it -- I'm sorry.
-I apologize if I posted without the proper attribution, with the wrong attribution, or without attribution at all, including graphics.
-I'm sorry that I usually don't give hat tips on things I tweet.
-If I didn't thank you for a donation, I'm very, very sorry.
-I'm sorry if I didn't give the proper respect to my co-bloggers Ian, PreOccupied Territory, Varda, Daled Amos and the guest posters. Also to people who send me tons of tips.
-I'm sorry if any of my posts offended you personally.
- I didn't include a thank you chapter in my audiobook and I especially forgot to mention my audio engineer, Sam G. I'm sorry.
- Please forgive me if I wrote disparaging things about you.
- I'm sorry if things got published in the comments that violated my comments policy but that I missed. I have not been able to monitor most comments for various technical reasons.
- I'm sorry that I didn't do some of the things I said I'd get done this year, like a return to video interviews or writing a cartoon book.
May this be a year of life, peace, prosperity, happiness, security, Jewish unity and good health.
I wish all of my readers who observe Yom Kippur an easy and meaningful fast.
Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!
Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.
BOSTON (AP) — A leading Egyptian opposition politician was targeted with spyware multiple times after announcing a presidential bid — including with malware that automatically infects smartphones, security researchers have found. They say Egyptian authorities were likely behind the attempted hacks.
Discovery of the malware last week by researchers at Citizen Lab and Google’s Threat Analysis Group prompted Apple to rush out operating system updates for iPhones, iPads, Mac computers and Apple Watches to patch the associated vulnerabilities.
Citizen Lab said in a blog post that attempts beginning in August to hack former Egpytian lawmaker Ahmed Altantawy involved configuring his phone’s connection to the Vodaphone Egypt mobile network to automatically infect it with Predator spyware if he visited certain websites not using the secure HTTPS protocol.
Prior to that, Citizen Lab said, attempts were made beginning in May to hack Altantawy’s phone with Predator via links in SMS and WhatsApp messages that he would have had to click on to become infected.
Once infected, the Predator spyware turns a smartphone into a remote eavesdropping device and lets the attacker siphon off data.
Given that Egypt is a known customer of Predator’s maker, Cytrox, and the spyware was delivered via network injection from Egyptian soil, Citizen Lab said it had “high confidence” Egypt’s government was behind the attack.
Notice anything missing?
Whenever the media reports on spyware from an Israeli company, they always prominently mention Israel. But when the spyware comes from a different country - in this case, North Macedonia and Hungary - no one says a word.
When Ken Roth was criticized for always mentioning Israel in connection to Pegasus spyware, when it is a private company, he justified that by saying that Israeli export laws allowed the spyware to be sold to countries that are less than paradigms of freedom and democracy. But when it comes to these other companies, the countries that allow them to sell their wares to places like Egypt are not even mentioned in the articles, or by Roth.
Today, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security
(BIS) added four entities, Intellexa S.A. in Greece, Cytrox Holdings Crt in Hungary, Intellexa
Limited in Ireland, and Cytrox AD in North Macedonia to the Entity List for trafficking in cyber
exploits used to gain access to information systems, threatening the privacy and security of
individuals and organizations worldwide.
Where were all the anguished articles about how Greece and Hungary and Ireland and North Macedonia were peddling tools to repressive governments to target dissidents?
They were never written. But the New York Times did cover part of this story - by highlighting not the countries that allowed these exports, but the Israeli connection to two of the four companies.
If spyware doesn't come from Israel, or is not connected to Israel, the media's interest in the stories plummets to practically nothing.
This is the textbook definition of media bias.
Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!
Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.
On Rosh Hashanah it is inscribed, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed: How many shall die and how many shall be born?
I was born on Rosh Hashanah, and as my mother was recovering from an emergency Cesarean section over Yom Kippur, an additional layer of shock overtook her as news of the war in Israel reached her. She was a staunch Zionist who had played an integral role in the aliyah of Moroccan Jews, facilitating passage to Israel through Gibraltar for sick immigrants.
That Yom Kippur, especially, Jerusalem – the city I would one day call home and be privileged to serve as a deputy mayor – was on her mind, and its name was on her lips in fervent prayer.
As I was taking my early breaths, the Jewish world was holding its collective breath, imagining the catastrophic scenario of Israel being decimated in a war that they did not see coming. The life of this national project, and the lives of every single Jew who called Israel home, were hanging in the balance.
Who shall live and who shall die? Who shall be at peace and who pursued?
On that day, Yom Kippur 50 years ago, the pleas of hazanim, mothers, and soldiers intermingled.
Fifty years ago, our Arab neighbors gathered against us, surrounding us in war with the aim of our complete annihilation. Almost 3,000 lives were sacrificed for that late victory, and thousands more were wounded. As I look back on those events in the history of our young state and great nation, I consider what has transpired in the 50 years since then in the life of Israel, my own life, and where I have been fortunate for those two to overlap.
Fifty years ago we had to guard our doorsteps for fear of our enemies’ encroachment.
Now, we are opening our doors to countries in the region that sought to eject us. I am planning my next trip to Dubai as a welcome guest.
REVIEW: ‘Providence and Power: Ten Portraits of Jewish Statesmanship’ by Meir Y. Soloveichik
Statesmanship, the late philosopher Isaiah Berlin argued, is more of an art than a science. And as Rabbi Meir Soloveichik demonstrates in his brilliant book, Providence and Power: Ten Portraits of Jewish Statesmanship, some of its most able practitioners have been Jewish. Soloveichik seeks to explore a largely unexamined question: What is Jewish statecraft?
Studies of statesmanship aren’t exactly new. And many famous diplomats and strategists, from Henry Kissinger to Paul Wolfowitz, have happened to be Jewish. Biographies and character studies of these figures are not uncommon. But as Soloveichik notes, "Few, however, have turned their attention to the history of Jewish leaders in particular—that is, leaders specifically of the Jewish people," as opposed to "Jews who have risen to greatness in service to non-Jewish regimes or causes."
The absence of such studies, the rabbi suggests, might be owed to the statelessness that befell the Jewish people for thousands of years. How, it might be asked, could a stateless people practice statecraft? In fact, as Soloveichik ably demonstrates, this very condition made statesmanship more essential, and its feats more remarkable.
Appropriately enough, the character studies in Providence and Power span almost the entirety of Jewish history. Nor does Soloveichik limit himself geographically; figures from ancient Israel to Victorian England are represented. To the initiated, some, such as King David or Theodore Herzl, are unsurprising. But others, such as Shlomtsion, are less known.
David, who founded the Judaean dynasty and united the tribes of Israel, is perhaps an obvious, if deeply flawed, candidate for learning lessons about statecraft. Paradoxically, it’s his flaws that make him great.
"If we wish to learn about statesmanship from a Jewish perspective," Soloveichik writes, "we must turn first and foremost to his life and legend." David’s true greatness, he argues, came not in his victories but in his defeat. In David, Soloveichik finds a leader who exhibits both creativity and political inventiveness, but also a man who becomes all too aware of the costs of his own foibles.
Palestinians have spent their energy and resources on battling the Jewish state as opposed to finding a way to end the conflict. Many observers call into question whether the Palestinians even want their own state. Their leadership’s actions and policies are completely inconsistent with working towards an independent state. They seem to sabotage any process that gets them closer to their goal of a Palestinian State.
Palestinian terrorism is at one of its highest peaks. In 2023 there is an average of more than three attempted terror attacks a day. The Palestinian glorification of terrorists, its adulation of violent resistance, and its dreaded pay-to-slay program all point to a people and culture more interested in defeating Israel through violence, than establishing its own state and ending the conflict with Israel through a peace deal. It is obvious to most Israelis, and especially Israeli leadership, that the Palestinians are more interested in ending Israel than creating their own peaceful state.
Mahmoud Abbas’s antisemitism isn’t new and contrary to Palestinian apologists’ claims it is representative of the Palestinian people’s attitudes.
Although, a few days after Abbas’s statements came to light (but a month after they were broadcast to Palestinians) a select few Palestinian academics signed an open letter condemning his “morally and politically reprehensible comments,” most of those who affixed their signatures live in the United States and Europe and don’t represent the Palestinian people.
Nevertheless, besides only issuing the letter when Abbas’s comments were translated into English and spread around the world, as opposed to when Abbas made the very public comments on Palestinian TV, the letter additionally included slanderous characterizations of Israeli treatment of Palestinians. It was also signed by some of the world’s most notorious antisemites; people like Ubal Aboudi, a PFLP member, Refaat Alareer who has said, “Most Jews are evil,” and Huwaida Arraf, who equates Israel with Nazi Germany.
Palestinians had an opportunity to condemn Abbas’s antisemitism without slandering Israel – and without cynically having the world’s worst antisemites masquerade as condemning antisemitism while practicing it themselves – and they missed it. Instead, they displayed their true hateful colors. Just as no one should have been surprised by Abbas’s antisemitism, no one should be surprised by the latent antisemitism displayed by the Palestinians in response to their president’s hateful speech.
Many characterize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a territorial dispute, but that’s far from an accurate description. The conflict is based on centuries-old hate and traditional antisemitism. It begins with a rejection of Judaism, continues with a rejection of Jewish peoplehood and their rights to their land, and exists today in violent rejection of the Jewish State.
It is naïve to think the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will come with the creation of another Palestinian State or the splitting of Jerusalem. The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians will only be solved once age-old hate is put to rest – and the prospects of that happening soon aren’t good.
The University of Pennsylvania is hosting a controversial event this weekend called the Palestine Writes Literature Festival, from Friday to Sunday. More than the topic is the list of speakers that is creating concern. The list of speakers includes Roger Waters, who wore a Nazi-style uniform during his concert in Berlin back in May; Aya Ghanameh, who has tweeted "Death to Israel" on more than one occasion, and Marc Lamont Hill, who while at the UN during its International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People spoke on behalf of "a free Palestine from the river to the sea."
From the back-and-forth on Twitter defending the lack of information on the topic of the Ph.D., it seems that people are far more interested in what Hill says than whether he is qualified to say it authoritatively.
His website indicates he is currently researching "the relationships between race, culture, politics, and education in the United States and the Middle East."
In that Twitter exchange, Hill never names books that he has read that would qualify him to speak on Israel and the Middle East. When asked if he has read from a list of authors, he replies off-handedly "of course," but when pinned down to name books, classes or degrees --
o He replies he has read "exhaustively" (whatever that means), but doesn't name any books or articles. There is no way to gauge whose work he has read or if his bothered to read different viewpoints.
o He points out that he has a "graduate degree," but does not say what it is in. His Ph.D is in Hip-Hop Lit and he has a B.S. in Spanish and Education. According to Wikipedia, Hill has a Masters, but the source it links to makes no mention of it. Apparently, people are supposed to be impressed by degrees in subjects that have nothing to do with what he is talking about.
o Finally, Hill vaguely claims to have "many years scholarly experience/study on the subject," and then resorts to claiming that this is more than the authors he was asked if he had read.
When asked further on what qualifies him to speak on Israel and the Middle East, he claims to have been "trained" in the area and to have "read widely and deeply" in the area. But trained means more than reading a lot. It implies having a mentor and teacher who himself has some sort of expertise -- someone who is directing the learning and perhaps even testing to measure comprehension.
David Horowitz has made his career calling people communists and/or anti-semites. He sees no irony in challenging credentials, while exercising the freedom to talk about whatever he wants with NO training at all. How does his Masters in literature allow him to write books on Islamic radicalism? [emphasis added]
The bottom line is there is no indication that Marc Lamont Hill has any particular qualification as an expert on the subject. He has no more expertise than the average tweeter.
Let's see what he has been saying about Israel, both on and off Twitter.
Hill’s latest excoriation of Israel, posted to his 90,000 followers [on Facebook], followed Mazzig’s argument that Israel is not a country of “privileged and powerful white Europeans.” Mazzig sought to emphasize the role of Mizrahi Jews in Israeli history and condemned the tendency of critics to define Israelis as Ashkenazi Jews alone. Hill responded that Mazzig ignores “the racial and political project that transformed Palestinian Jews (who lived peacefully with other Palestinians) into the 20th century identity category of ‘Mizrahi’ as a means of detaching them from Palestinian identity.”
Mazzig posted a screenshot of another exchange with Hill in which Hill wrote that “I literally study Yemeni and Moroccan Jews for a living.” (emphasis added)
"I can't just think about political prisoners here in the states; I have to think about political prisoners in Palestine," Hill said. "And I have to ask questions about what the face of those prisoners look like, and what legitimate resistance looks like."
Hill also said that people who struggle tend to favor a "civil rights tradition" that "romanticizes nonviolence."
"How can you romanticize nonviolence when you have a state that is at all moments waging war against you, against your bodies, poisoning your water, limiting your access to water, locking up your children, killing them?" Hill asked. "We can't romanticize resistance." [emphasis added]
Here is video of @TempleUniv university professor @marclamonthill telling the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights in September that Israel is "poisoning" the water of Palestinians
He also appears to compare himself favorably to convicted Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled pic.twitter.com/r4ryjZFr1Y
In 2018, CNN fired Hill from his position as a contributor because of his "river to the sea" comment -- 9 years after he was fired from Fox News in 2009, where he was an analyst. The reason, though, was not necessarily because of his anti-Israel or antisemitic statements:
Murdoch also said that Hill has been fired. He revealed the move after a shareholder had raised the question of how Hill was hired, citing his “reputation of defending cop killers and racists.”
Hill, a frequent guest on “The O’Reilly Factor” and other Fox News shows, has been the target of increasing criticism on the blogosphere for alleged sympathies to controversial figures including Assata Shakur and Mumia Abu-Jamal. Though Hill bills himself as an expert on hip-hop culture, he also drew fire for serving as a liberal foil for various Fox News personalities on subjects far from his stated area of expertise.
Hill supports both of them, claiming that Shakur and Abu-Jamal are heroic freedom fighters.
So it is not surprising he is a big fan of Palestinian terrorists, such as Rasmiah Odeh, Fatima Bernawi (whom he refers to as "a legend among Afro-Palestinians and a beloved daughter of Jerusalem" for trying to bomb a Jerusalem cinema in 1967).
A planned visit to Israel by US Vice President Mike Pence was called off less than two weeks before he was due to arrive, the US Embassy confirmed Wednesday.
No reason was given for the cancellation, which was first reported by the Ynet news site.
Pence was reportedly scheduled to make a number of stops on a final world trip before leaving office on January 20. Earlier this month, Politico reported that the vice president planned to take off on January 6 — the same day the US Congress is scheduled to confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory — visiting a number of countries, including Israel from January 10 to 13.
Though his stop in Israel was never officially confirmed by the US Embassy, the Israel Police and other Israeli authorities had begun preparations for the visit.
Earlier this month, Regional Cooperation Minister Ofir Akunis, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, confirmed the visit, saying, “Pence is planning on visiting Israel. I don’t want to commit to the dates. It’s likely that during the trip itself there will be a declaration of normalization” with another Muslim country.
A US Embassy spokesperson confirmed to The Times of Israel on Wednesday that the vice president would not be coming to Israel.
In its report, Politico said the trip abroad appeared to be an effort by Pence to avoid the ire of US President Donald Trump and his supporters over the vice president’s expected validation of the 2020 election results in his capacity as president of the US Senate. The president and his allies have claimed without basis that the election was stolen from him.
“I suspect the timing is anything but coincidental,” a Pence ally told Politico.
The news outlet cited a government document showing Pence was set to visit Bahrain, Israel and Poland, but said planning was tentative and that more destinations could be added.
Why was the trip cancelled at the last minute?
According to Pence's book "So Help Me God,"
I also had plans to travel to Israel and the Middle East right after the proceedings on January 6, but on that the president said, “I don’t think you should go... more important to have you here.”
That's all I can find on the reasons - an offhand comment from Trump around the 28th or 29th of December.
That comment was expensive.
Records from the US Embassy in Jerusalem show that the cancellation was not cheap: hotel cancellation fees were over $360,000 and transportation cancellation fees were $180,000.
This seems to indicate a large entourage, but I don't know if that is unusual for a vice presidential trip.
It seems unlikely that there was a plan to declare a new Abraham Accords signatory in that time period, although there were lots of rumors that something like that would happen in the last days of the Trump administration. It seems that this is just another small data point in the disorganized final days of the Trump administration.
Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!
Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.
On Saturday, over a dozen Palestinian and Arab news sites reported a story about "Talmudic rituals in the vicinity of Al Aqsa Mosque."
Not "in Al Aqsa." Not "in the courtyards of Al Aqsa." No, their complaint is Jews singing somewhere in the Old City adjacent to one of the gates leading to the Temple Mount that Jews are not allowed to enter.
Jews don't visit the Temple Mount on Saturdays, but Palestinian and Arab media publishes stories about their "Talmudic rituals" and "provocative dances" every day even on days they do not ascend.
Which means that even if Jews were completely banned from their holiest spot, the Palestinians wouldn't be happy until the Jews are driven out of the wall of the Old City altogether.
Here's the video that is so upsetting to them. The Jews are singing "Shir Hamaalot" (Psalms 126) to the tune of "Hatikvah." Notice that the Arab shopkeeper right next to them nearby doesn't seem to be bothered at all.
Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!
Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.
The Biden administration... is also financing the ruling mullahs of Iran with billions of dollars to put the finishing touches on the country's nuclear program and for delivering more weapons to Russia with which to attack Ukraine.
"We're sitting still, and the Chinese, the Russians, Iran, North Korea, and several others, are moving to shore up their relations and threaten us in a lot of different places." — Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton, The Hill, March 12, 2023.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the Biden administration seems to be allowing Iran's ruling mullahs to prosper from the war and emerge as the winners.
"I have a question for you – how does Russia pay Iran for this, in your opinion? Is Iran just interested in money? Probably not money at all, but Russian assistance to the Iranian nuclear program. Probably, this is exactly the meaning of their alliance" — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Jerusalem Post, November 4, 2022.
"Today, China, Russia, North Korea and Iran continue to invest in technologies to expand their capabilities to hit the United States with nuclear weapons. All four countries have also escalated their threatening rhetoric, indicating their willingness to use nuclear weapons in a military conflict. By expanding their nuclear programs, each has made clear that our nuclear arsenal is no longer a deterrent to their potential use of nuclear weapons." — U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, Fox News, May 4, 2023.
Thanks to the Obama and Biden administrations' monumental capitulations to Iran's regime -- and the refusal of both administrations not only to stop Iran's nuclear weapons program but also to prevent anyone else from stopping it -- the Russian-Iranian-Chinese-North Korean alliance now poses a global existential threat.
Did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turn artificial intelligence into a nuclear weapon at the United Nations General Assembly when he warned of the "potential eruption of AI-driven wars that could achieve an unimaginable scale?"
While the central focus of Netanyahu's Friday speech revolved around his vision for a "new Middle East" marked by peaceful relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, he dedicated the final third of his address to the significance of AI as the "most consequential development of our time."
The prime minister, while also addressing the issue of Iranian nuclear proliferation, devoted an even more significant portion of his speech to cautioning about the dual nature of AI, emphasizing that it holds the potential for both blessings and curses and the ultimate responsibility for determining its outcome lies in the hands of nations around the globe.
The looming perils of AI
Netanyahu highlighted the looming perils that stand before us: the potential disruption of democracy, the manipulation of minds, the erosion of employment opportunities, the surge in criminal activities, and the vulnerability of the systems that underpin modern life. Moreover, he warned of the even graver threat posed by AI-driven conflicts and autonomous machines capable of controlling humanity rather than the other way around.
"The perils are great, and they are before us," he said. "The world's leading nations, however competitive, must address these dangers. We must do so quickly, and we must do so together. We must ensure that the promise of an AI utopia does not turn into an AI dystopia."
The prime minister's remarks echoed sentiments akin to those expressed earlier this year by more than 1,000 AI leaders, including Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and Bill Gates, in an open letter in which they warned that "mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war."
They were also reminiscent of warnings made by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, during his address at Tel Aviv University in June. Altman has advocated for establishing an international regulatory body, similar to organizations overseeing nuclear power, to ensure all nations' responsible utilization of AI. Altman, too, has emphasized the imperative nature of addressing the "existential threats" posed by AI seriously.
Last week, Israel unveiled the much anticipated new Barak tank, an updated version of Israel’s successful family of Merkava tanks.
The tank had been in the work for many years led by Israel's Defense Ministry's Tank Administration (MANTAK) and local defense companies from a concept almost a decade ago to planning and testing phases over the last half-decade.
It is important to revisit some of the technology that underpins the success of this project because it is part of a wider story of Israel’s technological success, both on the battlefield and in other commercial endeavors.
Israel's world-leading super tank
Back in 2017, when we had profiled this same tank project, The Jerusalem Post that “the Merkava MK4 Barack is designed as a ‘smart tank’ with dozens of sensors to identify the enemy and rapid-fire closure that allows elimination of the target before it disappears from view.”
Over the years, as Israel had invested in this project a lot of new technology has become even more mature, whether it is the Trophy active protection system, or various sensors being used. From the point of view of the Defense Ministry and IDF, this is the most advanced tank in the world today.
That matters, because today Israeli technology is highly sought after.
The world is changing. Conventional large wars now loom large, whereas when we look back to the era when the concept of a new tank was envisioned, the world was still heavily invested in counter-insurgency. What that meant was small units, special forces, and a lot of hi-tech but not a lot of heavy platforms.
It is not lost on us now, as Israel prepares for the future of warfare, that the Yom Kippur War was fifty years ago. Indeed, this week there have been many references to that famed conflict. If we look back at that war Israel faced technological challenges from its enemies. Egypt’s army had Russian-supplied surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and some of the troops were equipped with Sagger-guided missiles, as well as RPG-7s. Israel had performed well in 1967 using masses of armored vehicles, but 1973 was not as easy going.
We know now what came of that. Israel’s investment in drones, which the country was an early pioneer, was one result of challenges faced by the SAM threat, a threat that also appeared with Syrian SAMs in Lebanon. No matter, Israel was able to overrun them in 1982. But years later in the Second Lebanon War, Israel once against faced threats to armored vehicles and its warfighting abilities in Lebanon. Years of counter-insurgency in the West Bank perhaps meant forces needed retooling to deal with the kind of threat Hezbollah has. We also know that the Hezbollah rocket threat helped lead to the development of Iron Dome.
Yet, if the Yom Kippur War was a turning point, it wasn’t as bleak as it appeared at the time.
The war ended with direct Egypt-Israel military-to-military talks. These were the harbinger of a dialogue that led to disengagement agreements and ultimately to the 1979 peace treaty – Israel’s first with an Arab country.
In the decades since, Israel has normalized relations with Jordan and Morocco, both of whom sent forces to fight the IDF in 1973 – the former to the Syrian front, the latter in support of Egypt.
And of the Arab petroleum producers who weaponized oil against Israel, the 2020 Abraham Accords saw agreements reached with the UAE and Bahrain. Today, there is even talk of a breakthrough with Saudi Arabia.
If in 1973 Israelis worried that petroleum gave their enemies a colossal advantage, it wasn’t to last. The global energy market has changed in ways that have diminished Arab ascendancy. Simultaneously, Israeli technological innovation has made the Jewish state a sought-after partner. (In the 21st century, is technology not competing with fossil fuels for being the number one driver of economic growth?)
In contrast to the diplomatic isolation of 1973, Israel has returned to Africa, augmented its ties across Asia, and built strong partnerships in Europe – as was seen in the recent $3.5 billion deal for the supply of the Arrow-3 missile defense system to Germany.
Furthermore, those who forecasted an inevitable decline in American support for Israel have, thus far, been wrong in their doomsday predictions. Over the past five decades, the trajectory of Israel-US ties has been indisputably positive, despite all the bumps along the road.
At the end of 1973, Israelis were hurting, apprehensive, and unsure. Although the country had successfully resisted a powerful assault, there was no celebration, but rather a pervasive dispiritedness.
We know today that the postwar gloominess, though certainly understandable, was unjustified in historical terms. Perhaps this fact can give Israelis a measure of succor as we deal with today’s seemingly existential divisions.
In a pre-Yom Kippur missive to IDF personnel, released to the public today, Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi reflected on the 50th anniversary of the 1973 war.
“The failure of warning on the eve of the war is the worst failure in the history of the State of Israel,” Halevi wrote. “Its roots are in arrogance, lack of understanding of the abundant intelligence information, and disregard for the enemy.”
Turning to Israel’s foes, he added: “Our enemies should know that the spirit of the IDF soldiers and the unity of its ranks do not fall short of those of the soldiers who fought in the Yom Kippur War, and that the IDF is as ready as ever for a multi-arena military conflict if it is required.”
Reassuring as his words were no doubt intended to be, that Halevi felt compelled to address the spirit and unity of the IDF and its readiness for war in a public letter marking the anniversary of the most devastating war in Israel’s history should be cause for concern, and it should drive us to reflect on the impact of the impassioned national discourse on the very body charged with our nation’s defense.
Fifty years after the Yom Kippur War, we are older, wiser, more battle-scarred, and better established as a nation than we were then. We are a technological superpower and an economic success story and our military has few peers anywhere in the world.
But as we reflect on the deep trauma of those fateful weeks half a century ago, we would do well to keep our hubris at bay. We are only as strong from without as we are from within, and we rely on our leaders to do what they must to ensure our continued ability to confront any threat.
Our enemies know those basic truths. Let us hope our leaders do, as well.
Here's the description of one of the sessions at the "Palestine Writes" conference being held at the University of Pennsylvania this weekend
The Right of Return and How to Achieve it
One of the most important lessons we have learned from 75 years of exile is that the essence of the struggle has not changed: It is the expulsion of the people of Palestine from their homes and the confiscation of their land. The implementation of the Palestinian inalienable rights is the key to a permanent peace. All else, including a Palestinian state, so-called regional cooperation or other contrived devices to obscure this fundamental issue, is peripheral.
This means that "peace," to these bigots, cannot possibly be achieved as long as there is a Jewish state in existence.
Diana Buttu, a Hamas defender and BDS bigot who is part of the session, has long advocated a "one state" Palestine solution.
It is amazing how 22 Arab states and 50 Muslim-majority states aren't enough, but one Jewish state is too many.
Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!
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As the Arab world celebrates the 50th anniversary of their "victory" over Israel in the Yom Kippur War, it is worth looking at what they celebrate as victories today. Things like Arabs at sporting events refusing to compete against Israelis.
Similarly, today Kuwait is celebrating another huge victory over the Zionist enemy.
The UN General Assembly held high-level meetings on health this week, and health minister from many countries attended. Many of them gave brief addresses.
But when Israeli Minister of Health Moshe Arbel began delivering a speech to the assembly, the Kuwaiti health minister, Ahmed Al-Awadhi, walked out.
This was covered in Al Jazeera. Here is Al Jazeera's dramatic video where it appears as if he is simply going to the restroom. But the music tells us this is an historic moment.
The video, and the article, shows four different "activists" praising Al-Awadhi on X.
One said, "An honorable position from the Kuwaiti Minister of Health, no matter how principles change and ideas change, believing that normalization is treason and there is no peace with the occupying entity.”
Another: “We are moving away from normalization and we are not getting close, praise and grace be to God, and all goodness is in moving away from the usurping Zionist entity.”
Such bravery! What a victory!
Al Jazeera does mention that some Arabs on social media questioned exactly how this helped the Palestinian cause. That part was removed from a Jordanian reprint of the story.
Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!
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A pair of events this week graphically illustrated a striking symmetry in the moral bankruptcy of the United Nations, a global body ostensibly dedicated to peace and justice.
The UN General Assembly gave a platform to Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi, whose terrorist regime has been in a state of self-declared war against the free world for more than four decades.
Raisi promptly used this platform to threaten to murder US officials in revenge for the 2020 assassination of Qassem Soleimani, head of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Yet while rolling out the red carpet for this tyrant, security officials frog-marched Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan out of the hall. He was already in the process of walking out after holding up a sign reading “Iranian women deserve freedom now” with a picture of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman who died in the custody of Iran’s “morality police” after being arrested for not wearing her hijab in the prescribed manner.
Erdan was detained by security officials for several minutes outside the chamber before being released. He protested: “It should not be possible for a vile murderer who calls for the destruction of Israel to be given a platform here at the UN.”
Not only did the UN grant a genocidal monster like Raisi the status of a world statesman, but it treated the ambassador of the country that Raisi’s regime aims to wipe off the map like a criminal.
This fits the UN’s long record of sanitising, condoning or promoting human rights abusers while singling out democratic Israel for a campaign of harassment and demonisation.
Given the Iranian regime’s record in jailing and torturing dissidents, hanging homosexuals, oppressing women and killing untold thousands of protesters, it is beyond belief that in November Iran is to chair the UN Human Rights Council’s Social Forum.
The embattled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had it absolutely right when he told the UN Security Council this week,: “Humankind no longer pins its hopes on the UN.” He pointed out that as a result of Russia’s membership on the Council which gives it veto power on binding resolutions, the UN is impotent in the face of aggression.
Raisi used his UN platform to gloat over the world’s inability to restrain Iran. He taunted America over its powerlessness in the world, claimed that the hegemony of the west is “over” and declared that the sanctions policy has “failed” and the Iranian nation has “won”.
Although this stomach-turning spectacle was staged by the UN, the real responsibility for it rests with the Biden administration which has fallen over itself to appease, fund and empower Tehran.
As a platform intended to promote international cooperation, peace and human rights, the United Nations bears significant responsibility. However, to those who closely follow the organization, it is clear that the UN has a consistent bias against Israel that undermines its credibility and ability to foster global harmony.
This bias was thrust into the spotlight once again on Sept. 20 when Israel's Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan peacefully protested a speech by Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi. During the speech, Erdan held up a picture of Mahsa Amini, an innocent Iranian woman murdered by Iran's "morality police" for allegedly wearing a hijab improperly. Amini's death set off a wave of protests against Raisi's theocratic regime.
After Erdan's protest, he attempted to leave the hall. The UN Police promptly put their hands on him and physically escorted him out. The UN should be ashamed of itself.
This appalling event is a teachable moment, an opportunity to revisit the UN's record of open hostility towards Israel.
First, there is the UN's disproportionate focus on Israel's actions compared to those of other nations. The UN's obsession with passing resolutions condemning Israel, often by an overwhelming majority, while turning a blind eye to other nations with far more egregious records, is deeply troubling. While criticism of Israel is certainly valid when warranted, the disproportionate attention it receives suggests a political agenda at work.
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a notorious example of such bias. Since its inception, the UNHRC has adopted more resolutions condemning Israel than any other country in the world. At the same time, critics have pointed out that the UNHRC has failed to adequately address severe human rights violations in countries such as China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. This inconsistency raises questions about the UN's commitment to impartiality and its ability to address global human rights abuses effectively.
A fire broke out on Friday morning in the Kissufim forest on the Gaza border according to a statement by Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), which manages the site.
Six firefighting teams were deployed to two different areas in the Ben Shemen area near the Adam IDF base in order to prevent the fire from spreading to the base, according to the Ayalon Regional Fire Brigade. Two planes were also deployed to help put out the fires.
It is suspected that incendiary balloons from Gaza started the fire. In 2018, the KKL-JNF statement said, a fire broke out in the exact same place at the outset of a string of incendiary balloon fires.
The last time incendiary balloons caused a fire in the region was in September 2021.
A group called the "Units of the Descendants of Nasser" claimed responsibility for what they called a "blast" of balloons being sent from central Gaza today.
The same group had also claimed to be behind a string of incendiary balloon attacks in 2020 and 2021, saying that "we promise you that we will not rest until the entire envelope east of our occupied territories burns."
Interestingly, in 2021, Hamas arrested members of the group for their attacks on Israeli forests. Which means that if this becomes a new wave of attacks, Hamas is allowing it to happen.
Environmental groups have been peculiarly silent about Palestinian groups deliberately setting forest fires.
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Tuesday, September 26, 2023
Elder of Ziyon
