Wednesday, July 31, 2024


Dr. Carole Lieberman, AKA The Terrorist Therapist®, has provided expert advice to readers of my parenting columns since 2016. In all that time, we never met face to face, and I never told her where I lived. It was all by email.

Not long after October 7, however, I decided to tell Dr. Carole that I live in Israel and was worried about my grandchildren, whose home had taken a hit from a rocket on the first day of the war. I even sent her a photo of rockets flying over my son’s home in Netivot in southern Israel.



I guess I just felt a need to connect. Dr. Lieberman’s gig was, after all, terror, and my grandkids had been directly affected. Plus, my Jewdar told me Dr. Carole was a safe place to confide the reality of my life—where I actually live—after working with her remotely all these years.

Carole was quick to offer help. She took my address and told me that her book, Lions and Tigers and Terrorists, Oh My! How to Protect Your Child in a Time of Terror, was on its way to me here in Israel. Now that she knew where I lived, however, Carole wondered if there was something I could do for her.

Lions and Tigers and Terrorists, Oh My! How to Protect Your Child in a Time of Terror (photo: book cover, by permission) 

Dr. Carole Lieberman wanted to find an organization to work with to bring her book and her expertise in terror to Israel to help children and families affected by the war. I was so touched by Dr. Lieberman’s desire to help us—help Israel—in our time of need, and was thankfully able to put her in touch with the right people.

Carole’s book arrived some time later, and I was immediately impressed that it was a beautiful book, bright, colorful, and printed on quality stock—something you don’t often see these days. Then too, the book was well written—frank and filled with good, solid, honest advice. I wanted to review the book for this column. But I wasn’t sure that would be a good move for Carole Lieberman.

I put it to Carole straight: "I want to interview you and review your book, but EOZ is right wing on Israel. Would the politics of this blog space harm you by association? I don't want to negatively impact your book sales."

I sent her some samples of past interviews.

Carole responded, “You don’t have to worry about me being offended by anything right-wing. I am a Trumper all the way. If he doesn’t win it will be a disaster for America and Israel.”

The things you find out about a person after kinda sorta knowing them for almost a decade . . .

***
Varda Epstein: What made you decide to place a focus on terror and children in your professional life? Did you have a mentor who influenced your work—or a body of literature to guide your way? It really seems as if you pioneered this work, at least in the United States.

Carole Lieberman: I’m a born and bred New Yorker, so when 9/11 happened, it broke my heart because, although I had moved to California, my heart was still in New York – and so was my daughter. She gave me a minute-by-minute description of what was happening – from the gray smoke that drifted all the way from lower Manhattan’s World Trade Center-Twin Towers to the upper tip of Manhattan where she was attending Barnard College. While the tragedy was happening, I was overcome by a strong sense, a premonition perhaps, that terrorism was going to be the worst threat that the world would have to cope with and I asked myself, ‘What can I do – as a psychiatrist, author, talking head in the media - to help?’ From this, I formed the concept of devoting myself to work as The Terrorist Therapist® and have continued doing this to this day. I did not really know much about terrorism when I began, but I quickly began attending conferences and have been researching and studying it ever since.

My work has evolved quite a bit since 9/11 and taken me on a journey of a lifetime. I am honored to do this work because no one else has ventured this deeply into helping people and warning them about terrorists’ jihadi goals – especially not since America has become so ‘woke’ and some consider it offensive to tell it like it is – by calling ISIS, Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups “terrorists.”

I started by creating an audio-video program that was played on airlines’ inflight entertainment to relax passengers who had become nervous after the four planes attacked America on 9/11. I used guided imagery and called it “Shrink on Board.”

Since then, in addition to working 1 on 1 with people, I’ve written two books on terrorism; host a podcast called “The Terrorist Therapist Show;” do media interviews; and speaking engagements. I also created a music video that I play on a mobile billboard going around Manhattan and Washington D.C. each 9/11 anniversary, to remind people about the tragedy and terrorism in general; how to talk to kids about it; psychological symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; how terrorists are determined to create global jihad; and how those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

Dr. Carole's mobile billboard

Varda Epstein: You’re based in California. How many children are you currently working with who have experienced terror, either firsthand or second hand? Can you give us some idea of what these children have gone through and how it affects them? What is the age range of the children you work with?

Carole Lieberman: As a psychiatrist, I do therapy with children, teens and adults in California and New York – since I am licensed in both states. I’ve also helped families in London and Paris, in regard to the trauma they feel from their terror attacks. I’ve lived in these cities, so it was especially heartbreaking to see the damage terrorists had done. London’s “9/11” was their 2005 attacks on the Tube and on one of their iconic double-decker buses. My first book about terrorism, Coping with Terrorism: Dreams Interrupted, was published by a London publisher in 2006, as the 1st anniversary edition of 7/7. I spent two weeks in London, when the book came out and helped families, especially those who had lost loved ones in this attack, to heal. When my second book about terrorism, Lions and Tigers and Terrorists, Oh My! How to Protect Your Child in a Time of Terror, won an award from the London Book Festival, I returned to London and went to Manchester as well, because there had been a terror attack on the concert hall there. I met with people in a floating bookstore on the Thames; libraries; cafés; and at Anna Freud’s Hampstead Clinic, where I had studied years ago. I helped families process the increasing threat of terrorism and found that children were especially hungry for an opportunity to talk about their feelings and to hear the truth instead of being told not to worry about it. Grownups were surprised at their questions: how much they knew, how many misconceptions they had, and – how eagerly they expressed their feelings, despite the usual British stiff-upper lip.

Paris has suffered several terror attacks. Their ‘9/11’ was the 2015 attack on Le Stade soccer stadium, restaurants, bars, and Le Bataclan concert venue. When Lions and Tigers and Terrorists won the Paris Book Festival, it was another opportunity for me to help, since I spoke French. I went to a concert at the Bataclan to try to better understand what it was like for the audience when they were attacked. It was chilling to see that they were easy prey for the terrorists because it was like ‘shooting fish in a barrel.’ I met with people at the Café Bataclan who were clearly still traumatized. I met with teachers at a school; a parents’ group; librarians; and doctors at the American Hospital in Paris, encouraging them to express their feelings about terrorism. I also met with a group of writers at Shakespeare and Company, the iconic French bookstore on the Left Bank. It was fascinating and rewarding to talk with so many different people about the impact of terrorism on their lives. Parisians are very proud of their beautiful ‘City of Light,’ so they were pained, not only by the deaths and injuries, but by the destruction of their surroundings.

As the years since 9/11 have passed, many Americans who weren’t living near the sites of the attacks in New York City, Washington D.C., or Pennsylvania have pushed their memories of that day into their unconscious mind or gone into denial. So, patients in America don’t necessarily say that 9/11 is the reason they’re coming into therapy. Yet, the problems they have – depression, anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and so on – have a connection to 9/11. It is always fascinating to see how that date coincided with something significant in their lives, in addition to the attack.

Depending upon the age of the children, teens and young adults who I work with currently, they either weren’t born yet by 9/11, or were children during that time and in the aftermath. What has been most striking and very worrisome is the powerful and lasting impact of terror attacks. Even if the person wasn’t alive at the time of the attack, but they were raised by parents who were alive then, they absorb the “terror” from their parents by osmosis. In other words, the trauma that the parents experienced gets inadvertently communicated to their children and makes them feel fearful of the outside world; feel more amenable to having “Big Brother” take care of them; and feel less ambitious because they have a sense of uncertainty and impending doom. These effects can be mitigated by parents and families who recognize these dangers and actively seek to soothe and counteract them.


Speaking at Route 91 Survivors (Las Vegas shooting) on recovering from trauma

Varda Epstein: Tell us something about your book, Lions and Tigers and Terrorists, Oh My! How is it structured—is it for parents or for children? Can you talk about the use of The Wizard of Oz as a frame of reference, or metaphor for terror?

Carole Lieberman: My book, Lions and Tigers and Terrorists, Oh My! How to Protect Your Child in a Time of Terror, was written to help grownups talk to their kids about terrorism and to help kids learn the truth about terrorism without feeling terrified.

The first half of the book, for parents and teachers, answers kids’ most common questions (including the ones they don’t ask aloud); provides guidelines for how to make kids become more resilient; and how to process the experience of terrorism so that it leaves the least scars. Too many grownups are afraid to talk to their kids about it because they say they, “don’t want to scare them.” But they don’t realize that kids have seen and heard so much about terrorism that already scares them because they don’t understand it. They get snippets of news and may even have seen an attack at their front door. Their friends tell them stories, too, and it all becomes a muddle of confusion. Kids can handle a lot if grownups explain it to them calmly and provide a way for them to digest it. The most important role that parents can play is to get kids to express their feelings so that they don’t just swallow them and develop psychological problems later on. The grownups part of the book concludes with 88 ideas that parents and teachers can do with kids to help them grow up healthy and happy, despite it being a time of terror.

The second half of the book is an interactive picture book for kids. This is best read together with a grownup, so that kids can ask questions as they go along. For example, in answer to the question, “What is a terrorist?” the book shows a picture of a bully on the playground with the words, “A terrorist is like a big bully on the playground,” and goes on to explain more.

Before the page with Osama Bin Laden’s picture, kids are asked to draw what they imagine a real terrorist looks like. There are pictures of terrorists in the Middle East, too, along with answers to why terrorists are trying to hurt people. There are opportunities for kids to draw how they’re feeling and point to emojis that match their feelings; draw their “safe place” and so on. The children’s part of the book concludes with 10 lessons or activities kids can do to make themselves safer.

The overall idea is to turn homes and classrooms into more nurturing and comforting nests to nourish and develop kids into more resilient beings who can cope with terrorism.

The Wizard of Oz is the story from which the book title comes. It describes Dorothy, the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow skipping off to find the Wizard. When night falls, the forest becomes a scary place, especially when the Tin Man says they might meet “lions and tigers and bears.” But, since they each want to ask the Wizard for something important, they find the courage within themselves to continue, now singing, “Lions and tigers and bears, Oh My!” The Tin Man wants a heart, the Scarecrow wants brains, and Dorothy wants to go home. Later, the Lion joins their quest because he wants courage. So, the moral of the story is that we each have enough heart, brains and courage to see us through scary times and there’s “No place like home.”

Carole in Paris, helping teachers talk about terrorism with their students


Varda Epstein: Do you think the experience of terror is universal? Do children in the United States, for example, experience terror differently, and if so, how so? Are their needs in the aftermath of terror different?

Carole Lieberman: To some degree, the experience of terror is universal, but different societies raise children with different tolerances and strengths to withstand it. For example, in America these days, many children are coddled too much and aren’t given enough opportunities to build character by being put into character-building situations – such as learning to be independent in summer sleepaway camps. The more challenges children have, that they are helped to overcome, the more confidence they have in themselves for dealing with future challenges – including terrorism. The only caveat to this is that children who already have psychological problems before terror attacks are often less able to cope with the added stress of terror. In the aftermath, every child needs a loving support system to see them through.


"The Terrorist Therapist®" on Good Morning Britain 

Varda Epstein:  Your book, published in 2017, tells parents to “teach tolerance.” You write, for example, “Explain that most Muslims, believers in Islam, are not terrorists or ‘bad guys.’ They want to live peaceful lives, too.” Do you still believe this, even in the wake of what happened on October 7, when ordinary Gazans and UNRWA teachers joined in the rape, sexual violence, and massacre of peaceful Israelis? How can one know that most Muslims are not terrorists? Are there statistics? Is this a helpful thing to teach Israeli children as well as American children?

Carole Lieberman: It is very tricky to walk the fine line of not teaching kids to be Islamophobic while giving them a true picture of Muslims and Radical Islamist terrorists. All Muslims have the potential to be or become Radical Islamists because they believe in the Koran to a greater or lesser extent and most belong to a mosque. In America there are fewer madrassas than in the Middle East, so there are fewer children who are taught to become terrorists from the time they are toddlers. Israel, on the other hand, is surrounded by countries that do have madrassas which teach children that the holiest life they could lead, and for which they would be rewarded in the afterlife, is to devote themselves to destroying Israel and killing Jews. This puts Israel in greater danger.

Certainly, there have not been many Muslims – anywhere in the world - who have spoken out against terrorists and terror attacks, so they seem to be giving tacit approval by quietly condoning them. Still, there are Muslims who don’t approve and want peace. It’s safe to say that, “Not all Muslims are terrorists, and not all terrorists are Muslim.”

It's hard to know percentages as to how many Muslims are radical Islamists. Some radical Islamists can be said to “misinterpret” the Koran in a way that gives them the right to kill Jews or even encourages them to kill Jews. Radical Islamists claim that they are not “misinterpreting” the Koran – but that all Muslims are commanded by Allah to not only destroy Israel and Jews, but to perpetrate global jihad against ALL infidels – Jews, Christians, anyone who doesn’t worship Allah as their only God.

Of course, it is hard to explain why children (or adults) in Israel should not be terrified of all Muslims, no less open their hearts to them, after October 7. The terrorists acted like primitive animals, driven by their religious zeal, believing that they were doing the most honorable acts – even as they were raping and murdering. But, on the other hand, Israelis and American Jews have the most open hearts on earth, so it is not good to teach them to harden their heart to anyone, but rather to be very careful.

 

Dr. Lieberman is a highly sought talk show guest for her expertise on children and terror

Varda Epstein: Reading your book after October 7, while Israel still has captives in Gaza, I found myself nodding at some parts of your book, while other parts distressed me, because they didn’t seem like they made sense for the children directly affected by Israel’s “Black Sabbath.”

This part, for example:

Child: What will happen to me if you don't come to pick me up at school or you don't come home? What if you get hurt?

Parent: you don't have to worry about being left alone to take care of yourself. If you are at school, the teachers will take care of you until someone from our family or one of our adult friends comes to pick you up. If I don't come home because I am hurt, then someone in our family or one of our adult friends will come home to take care of you. I will be in a doctor's office or in the hospital getting well. If you ever get scared because I am not where you think I am supposed to be, then ask a teacher, or your babysitter, or some other adult taking care of you, if you can call me. If you can't reach me, then call the people on the list of family and friends we made together. These people will take good care of you. You will always have someone to love you, no matter what happens.

Things didn’t exactly play out this way for the children of Be’eri, Nir Oz, Kfar Aza, and other places that came under attack. What should Israeli parents be telling their children to do if their mommies don’t pick them up from school or don’t come home because they are being held hostage in Gaza? What do you tell Israeli children who saw atrocities visited on their siblings, parents, and neighbors?

Carole Lieberman: Although it is true that many of the children of Be’eri, Nir Oz, Kfar Aza and other places that came under attack lost parents and siblings, and were plunged into chaos on October 7, they were eventually rescued by friends, family, or social agencies who tried to comfort them and help them get back to as normal a life as possible. These children who saw atrocities and lost loved ones will be more traumatized than children in parts of Israel that were not attacked. The best way to help them is to gently get them to express their feelings – not to hold them in, and to provide food, shelter and caring people around them, as well as a simple and steady routine of school, mealtimes, bedtimes, and so on.

 

At Bataclan in Paris

Varda Epstein: Is there a right or wrong way to teach children about a loved one’s death due to terror? For example, on October 7, there were children whose parents and/or siblings were killed or brutalized in other ways in front of them. How can we explain to them why this happened, or the nature of what happened, and why it had to happen in front of them? Is there a way to make them feel safe going forward?

Carole Lieberman: The way to teach children about a loved one’s death due to terror will depend upon the age and psychological maturity of the child. If they are younger than 7 or 8 or so, they are not usually able to understand the permanency of death. If a child saw their loved one killed, in some ways it is easier to explain death, but harder to erase the memory of how they died. Ask them what they believe happens to someone after they die. If what they believe comforts them, such as their mommy or daddy being up on a cloud in heaven, listening to angels play harps and eating chocolate-covered macaroons, there’s no reason to take this away from them. It’s especially helpful to point out signs that their loved one is still with them in spirit, such as when they see something that had special significance to their loved one – like an animal or poem, or when something good happens to them. If possible, it’s comforting for them to carry with them a photograph, an article of clothing, or something else that belonged to their loved one. It’s important to encourage the children to talk about good memories they have of their loved ones, and to write these down in a diary, so that they can think of the good memories whenever the bad memory of their death comes to their mind.

You can explain that the people who brutalized or killed their loved one were driven by a false belief that they were going to be rewarded for killing people who don’t believe in the same religion that they do – radical Islam. For some, you can explain that terrorists were taught from the time that they were little, in schools called madrassas, that their goal in life should be to kill all the people who don’t believe in their god, Allah, and to start with Israel first. It wasn’t because their loved one was bad or did anything to deserve being killed. If it happened in front of them, it was because this gave the cruel terrorists pleasure and they wanted to warn others that they had better follow their rules in the future.

To reassure these children, you can tell them about all the people, organizations, the IDF and so on, who are working to keep them safe all the time. It often helps to tell them that their lost loved one has become their guardian angel and will try to guide them to keep safe.


Varda Epstein: There was a recent story about a social worker who stayed on the phone with the Idan children (ages 6 and 9, the siblings of released 4-year-old hostage Abigail) for 12 hours as they hid in a closet from terrorists who had infiltrated their kibbutz on October 7. Their mother had been murdered and her body was right outside the closet door. How would you grade this social worker’s performance? 



The Idan children hid on the shelves on this closet for 12 hours until they were rescued, with their mother's body right outside the door.

Carole Lieberman: I think this social worker did an excellent job of keeping the Idan children comforted and safe. Her instincts told her when they shouldn’t open the door to terrorists or be seen by them from the window. She also realized how important it was for the phone to have enough charge to keep her connected as their lifeline. She made sure that the little boy was able to bear the sight of his deceased mother, who he would have to see if he made his way to get the charger. She kept her voice calm and soothing and promised that she would stay with them until they got rescued, which turned out to be 12 hours later. But she kept her promise.


Book talk at the Hollywood Book Festival

Varda Epstein: How should Israeli parents talk to their children about October 7th and the hostage situation? What can we say or do for children whose loved ones are still held hostage? For very young children, is it better to distract them from the subject of an absent, hostage parent or sibling, or is it preferable to help keep their memories of these loved ones, alive? 

Carole Lieberman: It is important not to pretend that a child’s loved one, who is still being held hostage, hasn’t been taken by Hamas. On the other hand, this isn’t something that needs to be spoken about 24/7. Children can be comforted by knowing that there is still a chance that their loved one may survive and be returned to them, as they have seen in the news happen for other families. Of course, they want to know why their parent or sibling hasn’t returned, but at least there is still hope. It’s important to reassure them that their loved one isn’t choosing to be away from them, but that the “bad people,” the terrorists, are holding onto them to try to get what they want from Israel.

Families should not promise children that their loved one will absolutely return home in case this doesn’t happen. But you can keep a photo or an object that brings back memories of the hostage in a visible place, and pray together for their safe return. You can also ask the child to talk about what they would like to do with their loved one when they get back. The most important thing is to get the child to express their feelings: sadness, anger, longing, hope, and so on.

Varda Epstein: Should all Israeli children, in general, be considered to be affected by terror? What should Israeli parents be on the watch for with their children? What are the warning signs that a child affected by terror needs help from a mental health professional? 

Carole Lieberman: All Israeli children are affected by terror – whether they have seen it up close and personal, or in the media, or have just absorbed the terror from those around them. Some children won’t show it and will try to pretend that nothing is different or wrong, especially if they get the message from others that they’re not supposed to talk about it.

Terror often makes children regress, behaving as they did when they were much younger. For example, they may wet the bed, be afraid of the dark, or suck their thumb. It’s important not to shame them for these signs that they need more comforting. If these behaviors persist, they need help from a mental health professional.

The four basic reactions children have to terror are feeling scared, sad, mad, or bad. It’s natural to feel scared after October 7, but parents need to be on the lookout for symptoms that this has progressed from reasonable fear to more serious anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It’s also natural for children to feel sad, knowing terrorists have hurt people or taken them as hostages, but parents need to be aware that this can turn into more serious depression. It’s also natural for children to feel mad about what happened on October 7, and that their life has still not been able to return to normal. But parents should get professional help if their child starts acting out their anger. Feeling bad happens when children can’t distinguish exactly how they feel. They feel a muddle of scared, sad, mad and perhaps other emotions, too. If their confusion and malaise persists, they, too may need professional help.

Book launch at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.


Varda Epstein: What about the Israeli children who were held captive, and then released? What should we expect to see, and how can they be helped? Will they ever experience complete healing—is that possible?

Carole Lieberman: The Israeli children who were held captive and then released will have psychological scars, the gravity of which will depend upon their age, their psychological stability before they were held captive, and how they were treated in Hamas captivity. Of course, they’ll be happy and excited to return to their families, but this should not be interpreted as their having no scars. All of them need to be in intensive psychotherapy – at least for a few years – depending upon the severity of their trauma. The biggest risk, when families are so thrilled to have them come home, is to overlook the deeper wounds inside and pretend that everything will be okay just because they’re back home. These children won’t want to worry their families by telling them about the worst atrocities they’ve experienced as hostages. So, they need a professional therapist to gradually allow them to talk about it, or to express their feelings through play therapy, and eventually heal.

Varda Epstein: I have heard it said, even before October 7, that there is not a person in Israel who is not suffering from PTSD as a result of terror, even when the terror is only something they hear about or read about happening to others. Do you think there is any truth to this idea? 

Carole Lieberman: In America, studies show that people who weren’t anywhere near sites of 9/11 attacks, but who watched news reports of that day over and over again on television, developed PTSD. So, it is likely that there’s not a person in Israel who is not suffering from some degree of PTSD as a result of terror, even when the terror is only something they hear about or read about happening to others. This is especially true for those Israelis who have endured many terror threats and attacks beginning way before October 7th.

Varda Epstein: How should parents talk to kids about terror? What are some common misperceptions children may have about terror and how can we help clarify things for them in a helpful way?

Carole Lieberman: The two most important things that parents must remember when talking to kids about terror are to tell them the truth (though softening the roughest parts is allowed, especially for young children), and to prioritize getting them to talk about their feelings, so that they don’t swallow them and hold them inside, or else they’ll have psychological problems down the road.

The most damaging misperception that children have about terrorism is that they, their family or their country as a whole, must have done something wrong to deserve the punishment dished out by terrorists. This is why it’s important to explain that terrorists are taught - from the time they are toddlers - to hate everyone who doesn’t believe in their God, Allah, and to wage war (jihad) on them. Grownups need to reassure children that there are many people who are aware of this and who work every day to protect them.

Route91Strong Anniversary Fundraiser For Victims Of The October 1st, 2017 Las Vegas Shooting, with Lisa Vanderpump

Varda Epstein: What advice can you offer to Israeli parents and children at this difficult time?

Carole Lieberman: Israelis have some advantages over Americans when it comes to coping with terrorism. For one thing, Israeli children are raised to value becoming resilient. For another thing, there is a stronger appreciation of God than in some American homes. It is comforting to remember that God has always looked out for Israel and Jewish people. He is more powerful than terrorists. With His help, you can turn all the evil that has happened, from October 7th on, into something good: making your home an even more loving and nurturing nest that provides even more comfort and strength for all family members. Am Yisrael Chai.

***

Carole Lieberman, M.D., M.P.H. is a Board-Certified Beverly Hills psychiatrist who treats patients; testifies at trials as an expert witness; and is a regular, three-time Emmy Award-winning guest on such top TV shows as Oprah, the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, FOX News, HLN, ET, ABC, CBS, NBC, Oxygen, Court TV, and Law and Crime. Lieberman received her training at NYU-Bellevue and at Anna Freud's London Clinic and has served on the Clinical Faculty of UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Institute. She hosts “Dr. Carole’s Couch” on VoiceAmerica and the “Terrorist Therapist Show” podcast.

Known worldwide as The Terrorist Therapist®, Dr. Lieberman is also the bestselling award-winning author of four books, two of them on terror. Dr. Lieberman’s book, the first of its kind on children and terror, can be purchased on Amazon at the following link: Lions and Tigers and Terrorists, Oh My! How to Protect Your Child in a Time of Terror



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!

 

 

  • Wednesday, July 31, 2024
  • Elder of Ziyon
We have reported before that since the middle of the 1950s, UNRWA has insisted that Palestinian refugees refused to become citizens of their host countries or other Arab countries because it might affect their "right to return" to Israel.

The UN agency swallowed the lie that they prefer statelessness - and misery - to security.

In reality, every time they had the opportunity to become citizens, in Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt, they took advantage of it. But for their leaders, keeping them in camps was ideal, because photographs of the poor refugees were felt to help the cause, causing world sympathy to Palestinians and anger towards Israelis who are blamed for their problems.

Sound familiar?

The idea that Palestinian Arabs prefer misery in camps to security has been an UNRWA theme - one that still exists.

In 2018, UNRWA hired a consultant to write a report about the pros and cons of switching aid to Gazans from direct provision of food and medicine into a cash-based system, where UNRWA would directly pay Gazans - either in dollars, in vouchers or electronically - and they could decide what they can buy. 

The report noted that one drawback of paying cash was what they euphemistically called "leakages," meaning "misappropriation, fraud, corruption, double-counting and any irregularity considered as a diversion of cash grants or vouchers from legitimate uses. " As we've mentioned, part of these "leakages" comes from money changers in Gaza who are skimming money in their charges to give to Hamas. Presumably digital payments would fix that problem. Nevertheless, it mentions that giving cash directly to women would be problematic because Gaza men are sexist: "Programmes targeting women and youth, for instance, can lead to intra-household or intra-community violence. "

The consultants asked UNRWA workers their opinion of the plan. The responses are remarkable in how little they are about the people they are supposed to be helping:

The use of CBA [cash based assistance]  and more specifically the potential transitional period from in-kind to CBA was seen as risky for UNRWA staff safety. There are a lot of concerns among UNRWA staff, not only that their jobs become redundant, but equally for their safety if a shift of modality were to occur. Numerous mentions of “conspiracy” or “the use of cash is the beginning of the end of UNRWA assistance in Gaza” were made during the interviews conducted for this study. Interviewees, working with UNRWA largely feared that shifting from in-kind to CBA could be perceived as an obstacle to the beneficiaries right to return or as a way to make the dire situation of the Palestinian refugees less visible. “Refugees want to be seen queuing and carrying heavy bags of foods as a result of the blockade”. 
Cash would make their lives easier - they could choose to buy goods in markets when they need them, rather than waiting in lines to get huge bags of flour from UNRWA. But UNRWA workers claim that the people they pretend to help prefer to be seen waiting in these lines and carrying heavy bags of food - all to make Israel look bad during the "blockade'!

Public relations of making Palestinians look needier than they are has been the guiding principle for how to deal with them for 75 years. What was true in 1957 was true in 2018 and s true today - anything that makes Palestinians look like they have agency is silenced, and anything that makes them look helpless is highlighted. 

Of course, things really are bad in Gaza now, because Hamas decided to turn the entire area into a huge shield for their underground tunnels. But the news coming out of Gaza is skewed towards making things sound even worse. That is the way things have been for Palestinian Arabs for 76 years, and everyone plays this game. 

(h/t Irene)






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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

  • Wednesday, July 31, 2024
  • Elder of Ziyon

The apparent Israeli assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah's top  military leader Fu’ad Shukr must be viewed on two levels. 

One is, obviously, to cause the death of the leader of Hamas, ultimately responsible for the massacres and rapes and kidnappings of October 7.

But no less important  is the messaging this assassination sends to Israel's enemies in the region.

1. No one who harms Jews and Israelis is safe from retaliation anywhere in the world.

Chances are Israel did not plan to kill both Haniyeh and Fu’ad Shukr within 12 hours of each other in two separate capitals, but that message is unmistakable. Anyone who attacks Israel is subject to attack themselves, no matter where they are. 

They may be relatively safe in Turkey and Qatar for now, but even the leaders trying to take refuge in those places have to look over their shoulders. Every hour they spend on protecting themselves is an hour that they are not plotting to kill Jews. 

2. Israeli intelligence is even better than they think.

And this has an important corollary: terrorist leaders cannot trust even their own top advisers.

Israel seems to know exactly who is where, and not only in Gaza but everywhere. Signals intelligence only goes so far - Israel has spies on the ground who have infiltrated the highest levels of terror groups and enemy states.  When the leaders cannot trust their own people, they cannot get anything done.

3. Israel is no longer frightened of international reactions, not anymore. Not even from allies.

October 7 changed the rules against Israel, so it also changed the rules for Israel. Despite massive international pressure, both public and private, both from Israel's enemies and friends, Israel is not letting up. 

Part of Hamas' calculus behind October 7 was that world pressure would force Israel to stop fighting and keep Hamas in power, as it did on previous wars.  But the old rules no longer apply. And it was Hamas that changed the rules, not Israel.

4. Israel is not afraid of escalation either.

Another assumption that has been behind Hezbollah's and Iran's calculations is that Israel does not have the stomach for a wider war. Obviously, Israel would prefer that tings do not escalate, but when events occur that give Israel a choice of living with terror indefinitely or doing what it can to eliminate it, Israel now believes that waiting is not always the wisest choice.

5. If you love death and martyrdom as much as you say, Israel is happy to help you.

The people under the control of the terrorists and mullahs see how they are treated as disposable. Most of them are not happy with how they are being treated and they have some schadenfreude at seeing that these leaders hiding in their opulent hotels or underground bunkers are just as vulnerable as they are. 

One lesson is clear: the people who claim to love martyrdom only love it when it happens to other people. And the people see this clearly. 

6. Being a bodyguard for a targeted terror leader is not a job one will likely retire from.

The only two killed in Tehran were Haniyeh and his bodyguard. A bodyguard does not help much against sa missile.  It may be a little harder to recruit people willing to die for...nothing.






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

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  • Wednesday, July 31, 2024
  • Elder of Ziyon
Iran's PressTV wrote in 2022 that now-dead Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh warned Middle East nations about the consequences of Israel assassinating Hamas leaders:

Ismail Haniyeh, who heads the Political Bureau of Hamas, has written to leaders of countries in the region and beyond to warn against the consequences of any targeted assassination by Israel of the Palestinian resistance movement’s leaders.

In the letters, Haniyeh said Israel’s resumption of policies to eliminate Hamas leaders will have “repercussions beyond estimation,” his media adviser, Taher al-Nunu said on Wednesday.

Earlier this month The Times published a report, alleging that Israeli authorities had informed Western allies that the occupying regime was preparing hit squads to target Hamas leaders living abroad.

Al-Nunu said Haniyeh warned in the messages that targeted assassinations of Hamas leaders will bring the people and the resistance into a full-scale conflict and the “Zionist regime will pay an unknown price.”

The Hamas chief, Al-Nunu added, urged the leaders to note Israeli regime’s statements and more aggressive tone while working out plans to assassinate Hamas leaders namely Yahya Sinwar, Zaher Jabarin, Saleh al-Arouri, Mohammed Deif.

Haniyeh also called on these countries to convey the message to Israel and warn the regime against the consequences of acting on such criminal threats.

Nah, these letters weren't self-serving at all.

There have been many similar warnings to Israel over the years, saying that if the Jewish state does something the terrorists don't like, it will "open the gates of hell."

Here's the thing about those gates of hell.

Hamas already opened the gates of hell on October 7.  It wasn't in response to any of the many Israeli actions they had warned about - it was just a pogrom meant to terrorize and murder the maximum number of Israelis and kidnap hostages to make a prisoner swap.  

There are two attributes about those gates of hell that Haniyeh and Hamas altogether did not think through.

One is that the gates of hell, once open, cannot open them any wider.

The other is that once they are opened, they are opened in both directions. 

Since Haniyeh's warning, most of Hamas' leaders have been eliminated. France24 wrote an article in November listing the Hamas leaders in Israel's crosshairs, and since then, most of them - Haniyeh, Arouri, Deif, Marwan Issa, Zakaria Abu Maamar, Jawad Abu Shammala, Merad Abu Merad, Ali Qadi, Ayman Nofal and others - have been killed.

Israel isn't "escalating tensions." Israel is responding appropriately and proportionately to Hamas doing everything it can to destroy Israel.  Killing leaders is the most efficient way to defeat the enemy. 

Haniyeh was one of the few people who knew about October 7 ahead of time and approved it. He apparently helped plan it. He richly deserved to die.

And whenever Hamas threatens repercussions for Israeli actions, that is a pretty good indication that those actions are exactly Israel should be doing.

 




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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

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  • Wednesday, July 31, 2024
  • Elder of Ziyon
Already, Western media is calling Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas head who was eliminated this morning, a "moderate."

The Guardian says, "Haniyeh ...was seen as a moderate figure within the movement, one whose role had become vital in sustained diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire."

Reuters says, "He was seen by many diplomats as a moderate compared to the more hardline members of the Iran-backed group inside Gaza."

OK, let's look at some of his "moderate" statements, from MEMRI.

2010: ""The strategic option of Jihad was determined by Allah for this nation... At no time may Muslims – especially under occupation – negotiate whether there should or shouldn’t be resistance or Jihad. This cannot be discussed by a group of believers, a Muslim people, especially a people under occupation. This is inconceivable. We have no choice in this matter."

2011: "Regardless of the different views in Arab and Islamic circles, we, of course, condemn the assassination or killing of a Muslim mujahid and an Arab.[Osama bin Laden]"

2011: "Today, we say, in a clear and unambiguous fashion: The armed resistance and armed struggle are our strategic choice and our path to liberate the Palestinian land, from the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River, and to drive the usurping invaders out of the blessed land of Palestine....The principles [of Hamas] are definitive and non-negotiable: Palestine means Palestine in its entirety, from the River to the Sea. There will be no concession of a single inch of the land of Palestine. The fact that Hamas, at one stage or another, accepts the goal of gradual liberation – of Gaza, of the West Bank, or of Jerusalem – is not at the expense of our strategic vision with regard to the land of Palestine. We will work with our people with regard to the things upon which we agree politically, and we will exert all our efforts and our power of resistance to achieve this common goal. However, we maintain two conditions – as I am sure do many of our people, as well as the factions of the mujahideen and the resistance: first, that we will not concede a single inch of the land of Palestine, and second, that we will not recognize Israel." 

2014: "Yes, we are a people that yearn for death, just as our enemies yearn for life. We yearn for martyrdom for the same goal for which our leaders died"

2023: ""The blood of the women, children and elderly […] we are the ones who need this blood, so it awakens within us the revolutionary spirit, so it awakens with us resolve." 

2024: "Brothers, we should build on this steadfastness. We should hold on to the victory that took place on October 7 and build upon it."

Can't you just feel that moderation?




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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

Tuesday, July 30, 2024

From Ian:

Trump: ‘We’re going to save Israel’
Speaking to Syrian Jewish real estate developers and others on the Jersey Shore, Trump claimed Vice President Kamala Harris ‘hates Israel,’ said Schumer ‘became a Palestinian’ and slammed Biden on Iran

Trump spoke at a large outdoor tent in front of American flags, approaching the stage to the song “God Bless the U.S.A.” by Lee Greenwood, and proceeded to riff on Israel, Iran, Jewish voters, Vice President Kamala Harris and more for 36 minutes.

Here are some of the highlights:
On Israel: “We had a little pre-meeting of 25 people, and a couple of them were talking about the problems we have with China, problems we have with other countries. I said, ‘Well, we have a problem with Israel. We have to say this. Israel is in big trouble.’ All the things you see happening would not have happened. Oct. 7 would not have happened if I were president.”

“We’re going to be fine with China. We have a bigger problem with Israel. Israel is under siege. Israel is under attack. That was a big weapon that came yesterday and killed 13 beautiful children and I’ve never seen such graphically displayed death not on a battlefield. They showed these young children … in a position that – I’ve never seen anything like it … It’s going to wake people up and they’re going to do something about what’s happening.”

“Israel is under attack. Israel – I don’t know if I should say it, but it’s true – it does not get good public relations. I had a meeting with Bibi in Mar-a-Lago. We had a good meeting, had a strong meeting, and he wants to be able to win this war. … He’s getting tremendous kickback, and when you see a thing like what happened yesterday, you realize something is going to happen very, very fast. We have to do one thing, we have to get me elected because if I’m elected, it’s all going to come to an end.”

“I got the Golan Heights for you. They didn’t even ask for it. I recognized the capital of Israel. I recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Just so you know, the Golan Heights, they’ve been after that for 81 years [Israel conquered the Golan Heights in 1967 – LH] … I asked [former ambassador to Israel] David Freidman and I asked some other people to give me a lesson, five minutes or less, on the Golan Heights, and they did. They said it’s very important for security because of the height. It’s a very large parcel of land, a very important location. I said thank you and I thought about it for a day. No one asked me. I got Golan Heights.”

“I got the capital of Israel, Jerusalem, and very importantly, I got the embassy built.” Trump went on an extended riff about lowering the costs of constructing the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and the beauty of Jerusalem stone, and concluded: “It’s beautiful and we got it done. We only spent $500,000, we renovated a building and we got it open. If I didn’t get the building open, this administration would have changed it and taken the capital away.”

“None of this would have happened, the attack yesterday, Oct. 7, if I were president. They didn’t play games with me. I almost used a very foul word, I was going to use the F word but I decided not to because there are children here.”
Lee Smith: How Barack Obama Ended Normalcy in American Politics
The end of normalcy in American politics has left Americans in a daze, unable to accurately grasp the new reality or to recognize its alien features. Some say Biden was toppled in a coup, but that’s wrong. It was never truly his presidency in the first place. He was serving in a ceremonial role on behalf of a politburo, and thus his executive authority owed less to his total 81 million votes, 58 percent of which were mail-in ballots harvested on his behalf, than to his former boss who saw him as the most plausible vehicle through which to exercise power. But Oct. 7 and the aftermath showed that Biden couldn’t be trusted to balance the appearance of normalcy with the psychopathy of the faction’s priestly warrior class. So his time was up.

It was Obama’s voice you heard when Harris spoke after her meeting with Netanyahu. One day after pro-Hamas mobs desecrated the American flag, Harris lectured Americans on the dangers of “Islamophobia.” But what does that mean? No one is going to the streets to beat up Muslims or burn Palestinian flags or celebrate the slaughter of Arab infants. “Islamophobia” is a made-up concept, designed to give cover to the terror adjuncts laying waste to American cities and college campuses. Criticize them or their historic cause—i.e., murdering Jews—and you’re Islamophobic. And that, as Obama likes to say, is not who we are as Americans.

Harris’ speech was filled with Obamaisms: pairing antisemitism with Islamophobia and “hate of any kind,” foisting responsibility for “Palestinian self-determination” on Israel, and urging Americans not to see the war in Gaza as a “binary issue.” That is, Americans should forsake the moral clarity that comes naturally to them because, as Obama said in November, we have to “admit” that “nobody’s hands are clean.” Americans have to take in “the whole truth.” See, it’s nonbinary.

Harris is ridiculed for her vacuous rhetorical style, but Biden was never a good stand-in for Obama’s gaseous speechifying, and the dissonance has long unnerved the new Democratic base. Never mind the habits and ticks that stuck to the old man after nearly half a century in Washington; by 2020, he could barely string two sentences together no matter who typed his speeches into the teleprompter. With Harris, however, Obama has an ideal instrument through which he can speak directly and in his preferred prose. She’s an empty vessel. What listeners hear in her is the immediacy of Obama, which is precisely what the party—the people—crave.

The opposition, meanwhile, is struggling to recognize the contours of the new political anatomy. Those who can are often hesitant to call it what it is, for fear of being called a bigot for recognizing that normalcy in American politics came to an end with Barack Obama, who happened to also be the country’s first Black president. Discretion is laudable, up to a point. But when Obama lieutenants leak to the media that Obama is calling the shots, as they have been since the debate, it’s clear that fear of being called a racist has nothing to do with it. The failure to frankly identify the source of our political abnormality is a cause for concern.

We are now in the second decade of a phenomenon previously unknown in American politics. Instead of identifying it, dissidents have devised formulations to avoid naming it, like the deep state or wokeness or DEI, etc. But these are just the adornments of a deracinated regime, and to cast an amorphous leviathan in the role of adversary is to commit to a never-ending and ultimately unwinnable struggle. It is in this space where people lose hope, for it’s a vacuum that engenders the culture of the conspiracy theory—elaborate and colorful accounts of despair explaining that we have no control over our lives, our fate, the future of our families, communities, or our country because of hidden forces that are too big and too entrenched.

The truth is that an American political faction is employing third-world tactics—surveillance, censorship, election interference, political prosecution, and political violence—to put the United States under the thumb of a single party led by a man who in his mind has become the people.
WSJ: Antisemitic Protesters Make the Case for Zionism
The antisemitic demonstrators roiling our campuses and cities certainly don't mean to, but they're making a powerful case for Zionism. In 1896, Theodor Herzl, a Viennese journalist and very assimilated Jew, published The Jewish State, a manifesto calling for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in the biblical land of Israel. That set into motion the modern Zionist movement.

Herzl had awakened to his Jewish origins when he covered the trial of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer falsely accused of betraying France. Dreyfus was an assimilated Jew and a proud Frenchman. Yet he was being treated as a traitor because he was a Jew, with cries of "Death to the Jews" reverberating on the streets of Paris. Confronted with this, Herzl came to the reluctant conclusion that Jews, observant or assimilated, needed their own nation to be safe from persecution.

In the wake of Oct. 7, we can't deny being witness to a worldwide paroxysm of hate against Israel, which has steadily morphed into classic antisemitism.

Since its founding, the U.S. has been a most extraordinary haven for Jews. Yet today, even in the halls of Congress, antisemitism has dramatically surfaced, and Jews are being intimidated. It turns out that Herzl was right about the need to re-establish the Jewish homeland.

Those in the forefront of the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish demonstrations are giving full credence and impetus to the Zionist dream. Even in the most welcoming nation on earth, Jews feel at risk. Only in a secure Israel can Jews be certain that they won't be persecuted by reason of who they are. The purveyors of anti-Israel and antisemitic propaganda are the best recruiters any Zionist could ever want.
From Ian:

The West’s betrayal of Israel is shameful
When the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor announced that he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned the decision and said the UK would lodge a legal challenge. In a shameful abnegation of Britain's moral duty to an ally engaged in an existential war, the new Labour Government has now cast this policy aside. It amounts to an appalling betrayal of Israel in its hour of need.

There can be no lasting peace in the Middle East without the destruction of Hamas. The terrorists started this war when they launched a murderous pogrom on Oct. 7, and the extent to which this has been forgotten in the West is shocking. Israel remains under attack, including from Hizbullah. If Western leaders are unable to rediscover their courage, our enemies will be left in no uncertainty about how weak we have become.
Richard Kemp: Hezbollah has exposed the West’s fatal cowardice
This is not a matter of retaliation but of deterrence. A strong Israel benefits us all. Jordan is also in Iran’s sights, with Tehran actively seeking to destabilise the country using its militias in Syria and Iraq. Jerusalem plays a key role in bolstering Jordan against Iran, so any weakening of Israel will harm our wider interests in the region.

Assuming that the strategic importance of backing Israel is still understood in Labour’s Whitehall, it seems to be trumped by anti-Israel propaganda that paints the Jewish state as illegitimate. This false narrative is also being stoked by institutions such as the International Criminal Court, whose prosecutor wants to issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant. The Tory government recognised the gross injustice of this and applied to make formal objections to the court. Labour has now, shamefully, withdrawn them.

The political warfare campaign against Israel includes lies such as that it is an apartheid state. In reality, Israel is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious democracy, where minorities are far better treated than anywhere else in the Middle East. Arabs are represented everywhere, including in the Supreme Court and the Knesset, and many have joined the fight against Hamas.

The other day, I was briefed by a Druze colonel in Gaza, a member of the same community that was torn apart by Hezbollah’s attack on Majdal Shams. He is responsible for co-ordinating humanitarian aid to the population in Gaza. Denial of aid is the central element of the ICC’s case against Netanyahu and Gallant. Yet I and the group of former generals from Nato countries who accompanied me had never before seen such monumental efforts to get aid into a combat zone by an army fighting an active war.

The Government must see through the lies that are impairing its decision-making and fully support Israel in this fight. Like it or not, it is a fight for the West as well.
Biden, Blinken, and blinking on Iran
It would have made more sense if the protesters in their cars were driving past Blinken’s house in Virginia to thank him. For he is doing his best to push President Joe Biden’s policy that Israel should not “escalate” the conflict in response to this latest genocidal outrage perpetrated against the Jewish state. That means “not retaliate,” in other words, let the bastards get away with it.

The opposite would be a better idea. Although Israel has promised retaliation, it has indicated that Hezbollah will be its target. And sure, both of Iran’s proxies, the one on Israel’s northern border as much as the one on its southern border, should be destroyed.

But the real target for Israel and for the United States, if the latter had a less incompetent and feckless federal government, should be Iran itself.

The H&H proxies are just military pawns, cannon fodder, being manipulated by the mullahs in Tehran. And it is the mullahs, the brains — if that is the right word — behind the incessant killing who should be made to pay most.

Sanctions against their oil exports and international financial participation would be a good start, for they yield some $100 billion that pays for mass slaughter and destabilization of the Middle East. But sanctions and financial punishment should be only the beginning of a proper response.

What is really needed is not an effort to avoid escalation but a determined and concerted effort toward escalation — action by the civilized world to inflict much greater punishment on Iran, to rattle its leaders, and to stoke popular unrest against a regime detested by Iran’s suppressed citizens. Bombing Iran’s oil industry and military installations should be part of this, sending a clear message that we will return and inflict greater damage if the clerical tyranny continues its dastardly work.

The West needs to stop treating Hamas and Hezbollah as though we believe they are independent organic groups that sprang naturally from popular Arab outrage over Israel’s heinous crime of existing. They are subordinates of the biggest terrorist state in the world, well-funded by money we have allowed them to receive by not imposing sanctions. Their controlling power aims to destroy the Jewish homeland and, more ambitiously, to inflict mortal wounds on our own civilization.

We are at war with Iran. We should try to win it.
  • Tuesday, July 30, 2024
  • Elder of Ziyon
The Palestinian Miftah NGO, which highlights women's rights, has an article from one of its English-speaking employees, Joharah Baker.

This world that really is callous, watching the slaughter of innocent men, women and children without blinking an eye. Or worse, they justify the rivers of Palestinian blood as “concerning” but immediately follow this up with the hackneyed phrase: “Israel has the right to defend itself,” or, “…but Hamas.” Where is the argument for the Palestinians’ right to self-defense against a brutal military occupation that has stripped them of rights and dignity for decades? Does that never calculate into the equation? Apparently not.  

To moral midgets like Baker, the "calculation" of rape is justified by a fictional occupation of Gaza that ended nearly 20 years ago. 

The same Baker was outraged when singer Bono expressed sadness at those slaughtered at the Nova Music Festival on October 7:

My 20-year old heart is broken. Since October 7, I have been glued to the television, to my computer and my phone, watching the news, video clips and Tiktoks. To my chagrin, I happened upon a video of Bono, the lead singer of U2, my most loved rock band back in the 90s. Socially and politically conscious, hailing from Dublin, Ireland, I loved them, not only for their incredible music and lyrics, but for the fact that they come from a place that knows what longing and fighting for freedom means.

This paper-mâché image was abruptly torn to pieces, splintering into a million shards of disappointment. During a performance in Las Vegas on October 9, Bono broached the topic of the hour. ‘Our hearts and our anger, you know where that’s pointed”, he said.

But he was not talking about Gaza. He barely mentioned it actually, except in the context of ‘what is happening in Israel and Gaza.” Instead, he sang for the “beautiful kids at that music festival’, in reference to the Israelis killed in “Re’im”, adjacent to the Gaza border, on October 7

It blows my mind, really. ... How could he not mention the ‘beautiful kids” who were born and raised under a brutal, military siege and a colonialist occupation that has cut them off from the rest of the world for their entire lives? 
This "human rights" NGO - which is no fan of Hamas when it fights Fatah, or when it treats Gaza women poorly - is suddenly siding with Hamas when they murder and rape Israeli women, to the point that Miftah is angry at anyone who even expresses sympathy for Israelis. 

I could not find a single word on Miftah that even said "Of course we condemn Hamas' brutality against Israeli civilians but...." No, to them, Hamas' massacre, kidnapping  and sexual abuse of Jewish civilians was justified self-defense.  

And this group gets funded by European countries.




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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

  • Tuesday, July 30, 2024
  • Elder of Ziyon
The Times of London had a column last week from Neta Heiman Mina that said something that has flown under the radar (except for Melanie Phillips):

Despite the insistence in the declarations, UNRWA is only indispensable to Hamas. Beyond the weapons, rocket launchers, tunnels, dead hostages and server farms found in and underneath their facilities, and octogenarians held captive by their employees, UNRWA has been funnelling significant sums of cash straight from donors to Hamas for years.

The money laundering works like this: UNRWA insists on distributing cash aid to Gazans in US dollars, a currency they have to convert to shekels in order to use locally. In the West Bank, Jordan and other countries, UNRWA distributes cash aid in the local currency. Hamas, controlling the only licensed money changers in Gaza, charges Gazans a 10 to 20 per cent commission to convert their dollars to shekels. For more than a decade, over a billion dollars in cash from donations has been diverted into Hamas’s coffers.
I've been talking about NGOs providing cash directly to Gazans as a more efficient mechanism for aid than building an infrastructure of aid distribution, but was not aware that many of them use dollars and then money changers take part of the funds.

A lawsuit filed against UNRWA last month gives more details, as the NYT reported:
According to the complaint, the agency each month would ask JPMorgan Chase to wire millions of dollars to the New York branch of Arab Bank, which has its headquarters in Jordan and is one of the region’s largest financial institutions. The Arab Bank then transmitted the money to its branch in Ramallah, in the West Bank.

There, the money earmarked for UNRWA operations in Gaza was transferred to the Bank of Palestine in Ramallah and then withdrawn as U.S. dollars in cash, loaded onto trucks and driven across Israel to Gaza.

The suit argues that if UNRWA paid its Gaza staff in shekels, the money could be sent electronically, reducing the need to pay fees to Hamas-affiliated money changers. “Only Hamas benefits from UNRWA’s current cash-handling practices,” according to the complaint.

The complaint says the group used the money “to buy via smugglers its weapons, ammunition, explosives, construction materials for the tunnels and rocket-making supplies.”

The plaintiffs’ lawyers said the sources they used to establish details of the money trail included U.N. audits of UNRWA’s finances and an U.N. investigation of the agency, as well as press reports that include comments from UNRWA about the movement of money from New York into Gaza and the allocation of those funds.

The idea that Gaza money changers give a cut of all funds to Hamas is quite plausible. Every money changer in the West Bank must be licensed by the Palestine Monetary Authority, and it is likely that those in Gaza cannot work without permission from Hamas. 

The same Palestinian Monetary Authority has provided millions in dollars and Jordanian dinars to Gaza, making those funds ripe for skimming. 

It looks like both the PMA and NGOs are trying to switch to digital means for money transfer, which should cut out the Hamas money changers. Then again, Hamas has probably already come up with ways to take some of the digital cash as well. 

Because using Gaza civilians as pawns is an integral part of Hamas entire strategy.

(h/t Irene)




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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

  • Tuesday, July 30, 2024
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Al Jazeera:
Gaza’s health ministry has declared a polio epidemic across the Palestinian enclave, blaming Israel’s devastating military offensive for the spread of the deadly virus.

In a statement on Telegram, the ministry on Monday said the situation “poses a health threat to the residents of Gaza and neighbouring countries” – the latest sign of a worsening public health emergency caused by Israel’s genocidal war since October.

Calling the epidemic a “setback” to the global polio eradication programme, the ministry called for an “immediate intervention to end the [Israeli] aggression and find radical solutions” to lack of potable water and personal hygiene, damaged sewage networks and removal of tonnes of rubbish and solid waste.
This must be the first time in history an epidemic was declared without a single case of the disease.

NGOs discovered the poliovirus in areas of Gaza in samples taken over a month ago, and they have been looking for specific cases since then. 

So far, they have not found any.

But the Gaza health ministry saw an opportunity to politicize this news to demand Israel stop attacking its Hamas bosses. The declaration they issued demands an end to the "brutal Israeli aggression"  yet does not demand an increase in vaccines. 

To be sure, the discovery of the virus in wastewater is not something to take lightly. At first I thought that it could have come from aid workers who took the polio vaccine before entering Gaza, which sheds the weakened virus in their waste. Indeed, the type of polio discovered is a vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2. But type-2 polio has not been part of vaccines since 2015 when the wild type of type-2 polio was declared eradicated. 

99% of Palestinian children were immunized in 2022, and 89% in 2023. Young children who have not finished the series of vaccines are at risk. It appears that it is possible that the virus was spread from Egypt, where the polio virus was detected last year (although no evidence of an outbreak there, either, that I can find) and it may have entered Gaza before October. 

It is important to note that most forms of polio that spread today are the weakened types that originated from oral vaccines taken before 2015 that have not mutated into something deadly. Over 95% of those with the virus do not exhibit any symptoms at all (75%)  or only exhibit mild symptoms that appear like any other virus. Ironically, sometimes the spread of these weakened viruses cause a community to have passive resistance to more dangerous forms of polio even without immunization. In other words, the existence of the virus is not at all evidence of an epidemic or outbreak. 

Make no mistake, this is still a serious finding and requires a serious response. Israel is working with international organizations to bring millions of vaccines into Gaza. It is also vaccinating its own soldiers out of caution. 

But when the health ministry declares an "epidemic," it is not a serious response. There is no epidemic. It is anti-Israel propaganda and an attempt to allow Hamas to win the war. 




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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

  • Tuesday, July 30, 2024
  • Elder of Ziyon
Rowan Greywolf Moore is a graduate student at Arizona State University in sociology. He is one of the founders of "Students for Justice in Palestine" at ASU.

And he is accused of stealing tens of thousands of dollars that had been raised for Gaza and for protesting Israel.

The students behind the Arizona State University encampment issued a statement saying that one of their leaders appears to have absconded with $30,000 they raised for "Palestine."

Rowan "Ro" Greywolf Moore, who also goes by the name Gramps, was a trusted part of the Palestinian solidarity movement in Phoenix. He was a founding member of SJP at ASU. He was also part of ASU's graduate student government. I say was, because after the following events, he left every group he was a part of (or claimed to). 

In May, Ro was entrusted with over $30,000, intended to support movement arrestees and Palestinians facing genocide in Gaza. The money, far more than we expected, was raised through grassroots donations from social media and the generosity of our network of communities. Because of the unusual circumstances and the urgency that we felt, when Ro offered to hold the money in his account, it seemed like the best option available. In hindsight, this was a mistake. 

...He decided that he was the only person capable of managing the funds, through the nonprofit that he is the executive director of (and as far as we are aware, is the only member of) "Mujtamae Mutual Aid." 

... He has continuously acted as if our requests [for the funds] are impositions on his time and self. As of now, July 29th, Ro has not sent the money to Maher and has refused to even have a phone call with him, claiming the funds are his personal property and there was no agreement the funds belonged to any other person or organization. 
But hey, he's an expert in Black feminism and intersectionality, besides signing pro-Hamas open letters, so on balance, he's still a good guy in his circles. 

(h/t Andrew)





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Monday, July 29, 2024

From Ian:

For Anti-Semites, a Jew Doesn’t Have to Live in Israel to be a Settler Colonialist
Anti-Israel radicals, especially those shaped by academia, love to call Israel a “settler-colonialist” state. Benjamin Wexler examines the background of the phrase, and the ways in which is applied. Consider, for instance, an anti-Israel resolution the University of British Columbia’s student council was ready to put to a student-wide referendum.

Alongside much more expansive demands for BDS, the referendum called for the university to “end Hillel BC’s lease on unceded Musqueam territory.” There were other reasons given for the targeting of the campus’s main Jewish student organization, but the emphasis on unceded land should not be overlooked as a justifying factor. Other UBC locales did not receive such a disclaimer in the same referendum. The Nest Building is merely the Nest Building; the AMS Food Bank is merely the AMS Food Bank. But the Jews squat on unceded land.

The resolution was rescinded after a general outcry, but the accusation is significant: Jews aren’t just settler colonialists if they live in Israel; they (and not descendants of immigrants from the Middle East, Pakistan, Britain, or France) are settler colonialists even in Canada:

At McGill, pro-Israel counter-demonstrators were met with the chant: “Settlers, settlers, go back home.” Where is home? Not Israel, but not Montreal either, apparently. A prominent student activist with the McGill encampment . . . wrote online: “would just like to remind Quebec that the Zionist community is overwhelmingly Anglophone,” winking to the Quebecois nationalist idea of Jews as an outpost of Anglophone hegemony. Universite de Montreal instructor Yanise Arab only made the logic explicit by shouting: “Go back to Poland!”

The claim—made even more explicit by a megaphone-wielding protester outside a Montreal synagogue—that every Jew is a settler in whatever country he lives in is thus akin, Wexler argues, to the old Christian idea that the Jew “is cursed to wander the earth” as punishment for the rejection of Jesus. Such a doctrine has good use:

By way of anti-Zionist critique, a Muslim Arab finds another group to call invaders. By way of anti-Zionist critique, a white settler transforms her Christian name into an embodiment of multiculturalism. Indeed, multiculturalism itself is rescued from disrepute in the Canadian academy, ceasing to be a settler-colonial ideology justifying Canada’s land theft so long as it excludes “Zionists.” By way of anti-Zionist critique, a student union of settlers can finally make authoritative decisions over unceded indigenous land.

For all Wexler’s insight into a leftist milieu with which he is intimately familiar, he is willing to accept some of its most foolish conclusions, e.g., that Israel has taken a “fascist turn.” Yet he is clear-eyed enough to see that whatever turns the Jewish state has taken, the anti-Israel movement is rotten to the core.
The dangerous myth of ‘Arab unity’
Like any other global civilisation, sectarianism and division are the very substance of Arab and Muslim history. It is only in the recently invented fictional narratives spun by Islamists, Baathists and leftists that Arabs and Muslims have ever been peacefully ‘unified’. Indeed, it was not some imaginary unity against outsiders, as defined by modern ideologues, that allowed Arab and Muslim civilisation to flourish. Instead, it was the openness to outside influences and global trade, the reverence for knowledge built on translations of Greek, Persian and Indian works, and the impulse to build and beautify that led to the justifiably named Islamic ‘Golden Age’.

Guterres’s comments not only ignore this history, but also placate the most regressive and reactionary forces in Arab society. Groups like Hamas and Hezbollah are not defined by what they wish to build and achieve, but by what they want to oppose and, in the case of Israel, destroy. They do not look to the future, but rather – like the Nazis that inspired them – to some imagined past glory destroyed by scheming outsiders.

Worse still, Guterres’s comments are out of date. Much of the Arab world is increasingly disdainful of the old, sectarian resentments of those generations that initiated botched wars against Israel in 1948, 1967 and 1973. After the Arab Spring in 2010, many Arabs are now acutely aware that Islamists are not democrats, but dictators in waiting. Groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, and their leftist allies in the West, might still flog the dead horse of ‘Islamist democracy’, but a new generation of Arabs increasingly wants to build alliances with Israel and the West. They want to break free from the repressive darkness and endemic failure that Islamism offers.

Fear of this awakening in Tehran and Doha is why Hamas unleashed the horrors of 7 October. This is not speculation: the head of Hamas’s political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, has repeatedly condemned Arab attempts at normalising relations with Israel. Following 7 October, he even celebrated the role of Palestinians deaths in derailing this, saying: ‘The blood of the women, children and elderly… awakens within us the revolutionary spirit.’

Likewise, the late president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, openly praised the deaths of Palestinians in the Gaza conflict earlier this year. In a televised address, he claimed that these Gazan deaths were a necessary sacrifice toward ending Israel’s ‘shameful normalisation operations’. He was referring, of course, to the 2020 Abraham Accords: a series of bilateral agreements on Arab-Israeli normalisation mediated by the Trump administration. Since these accords were initiated, Israel has established diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.

Despite its best efforts, Hamas and its sponsors have failed to kill off the momentum for peace that these accords set in motion – and it’s not hard to see why. Many in the Middle East are sick of the politics of grievance and desperate for a positive vision of the future. They also don’t want to live under the suffocating, enforced uniformity of Islamism. Most Arabs see their religion as a common cultural thread, weaving through a vast range of national and personal identities. They do not view it as a barrier to engagement with the Western world.

The forward-looking vision of this new Arab generation stands in bright contrast to the stuffy, disempowering grievance narrative of Guterres’s speech. More power to them.
Jake Wallis Simons: The world should learn from Israel’s Olympic courage
With the Olympics in full swing in a blizzard of medals, flags and kitsch, spare a thought for Eden Nimri, a 22-year-old swimmer who competed for Israel on the international stage. On the morning of October 7, she woke up at Kibbutz Nahal Oz, where she was serving as commander of an all-female drone unit.

When the sirens sounded, Eden was asleep. Still wearing her pyjamas, she grabbed her rifle and took up a position at one of two entrances to a bomb shelter where many unarmed people were hiding, including members of her team.

Hamas soon arrived with grenades and automatic weapons. Eden opened fire on the leading terrorist but was overwhelmed and killed by those that followed. While the swimmer sacrificed her life in the fighting, 11 others, including four women from her unit, fled to safety from the second entrance. We will never know if Eden would have made it to the Olympics.

Also spare a thought for 23-year-old Karina Pritika, a former gymnast from the town of Ariel who, like Eden, had competed for her country. Last October, she was working at the Mena restaurant in Tel Aviv with her friend, Maya Haim, saving up money to travel to South America (Karina had been born in Portugal). They both lost their lives in the butchery at the Nova music festival.

The story of Jewish athletes is a pendulum that swings between acceptance and discrimination, accomplishment and bloodshed. This is a microcosm of Jewish history itself. While our people through the ages have simply craved an equal existence alongside all other nations of the world, this has been uniquely denied them.

My colleague, Keren David, has been spending some time in the JC archive. Jews were not allowed to compete in the notorious 1936 Berlin Olympics. According to the JC at the time, a “hymn of hate” became common in Germany, vowing to do away with the Jews altogether once the Games had passed. A few lines in rough translation: “When once Olympia is past, / Then, boys, the spring-clean comes at last… We’ll have one more glorious go / And set about the Jewish foe.”

Before the war, Jews had been prominent in European sports. Take Austrian athlete Otto Hershmann. In the first modern Olympic games of 1896, he won silver in the 100 metres freestyle swimming. “It was the happiest moment of my life when, amidst the strains of the national hymn, the Austrian flag was hoisted,” he commented.
From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Terrorists and Diplomats Are Trying to Redraw Israel’s Borders
“One of the reasons that we’re continuing to work so hard for a ceasefire in Gaza,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken after Hezbollah murdered twelve children in northern Israel, is to create “an opportunity to bring calm, lasting calm, across the blue line between Israel and Lebanon… We want to see Israelis, we want to see Palestinians, we want to see Lebanese live free from the threat of conflict and violence.”

I have no doubt Blinken really wants peace, and I know that the Israeli political opposition, specifically Benny Gantz, has been tempted into making similar remarks. But this attitude erodes Israeli sovereignty—and a state is nothing without its sovereignty.

Tying Gaza and Lebanon together is reminiscent of the long-debunked “linkage theory” of the Middle East, in which a peace deal with the Palestinians is considered a prerequisite to solving any other conflict in the region. The idea here is that Israel does not deserve peace with Hezbollah/Lebanon until it has first made peace with Palestinians.

No other country is made to follow such inane rules of engagement. Were the U.S. to be at war with Mexico, we would not countenance the idea that Canada can bomb us until we reach a truce with Mexico. Once again, putting any other country in Israel’s shoes reveals just how ridiculous are the standards to which the Jewish state, and no one else, is held.

But there’s a more serious erosion of sovereignty at play if Israel cannot deter Hezbollah and quiet its northern border.
Brendan O'Neill: Why is it only ‘escalation’ when Israel retaliates?
We see this time and again in the discussion of Israel. Attacks on Israel by Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis are seen as bad, sure, but it is Israel’s response that is truly feared, that is fretted over as potentially apocalyptic. Even following Hamas’s pogrom of 7 October, in which it slaughtered more Jews in one day than anyone else had since the Nazis, the woke lost more sleep over Israel’s promise of ‘mighty vengeance’ than they did over Hamas’s fascistic terror. When, earlier this month, Israel attacked Houthi bases in Yemen following a Houthi attack on Tel Aviv that killed a 50-year-old man, the UN droned on about the ‘urgent need to avoid regional escalation’. And now it is Israel’s response to Hezbollah’s barbarism, rather than Hezbollah’s barbarism, that seems to exercise the angst of the righteous of the West.

The truth is that it is Hezbollah that ‘escalated’ tensions – and ruthlessly so. Since the 7 October pogrom, Hezbollah has fired an untold number of missiles at Israel in solidarity with its fellow anti-Semitic Iranian stooges in Hamas. Swathes of northern Israel have been set alight by Hezbollah rockets. An estimated 60,000 Israelis have had to evacuate their homes. And now we’ve had the deadliest Hezbollah assault of the post-October moment. Israel should ‘show restraint’? It has. If it now decides not to, if it now decides that the displacement of tens of thousands of its citizens and the massacre of a dozen of its kids is something that must be forcefully confronted, could we blame it?

The treatment of Israel as the only true escalator of tensions in the Middle East is so telling. It speaks to the double bigotry of Israelophobia, where Israel is viewed as the region’s sole autonomous actor whose every military antic threatens to unleash apocalypse, while the other side is infantilised, reduced to the level of missile-firing overgrown children who cannot truly be held responsible for what they do. Even when what they do is escalation. It is this dual demonisation of the Jewish State and infantilisation of its enemies that gives rise to the skewed discussion we see today. Which leads to a situation where even Israel’s response to the murder of its children is seen as more troubling than the murder of the children. The West’s viewing of the Middle East through identitarian goggles has blinded it to the truth – and to morality.
Ruthie Blum: En route to Beirut?
When 12 kids were slaughtered Saturday in the Golan Heights town of Majdal Shams by an Iranian missile supplied to Hezbollah, Israelis were horrified but not surprised. Given the incessant bombardment of northern Israel—leading to the evacuation months ago of hundreds of families from their homes—mass murder was just a matter of time.

That’s what happens with a policy of containment—a key element of the very “conceptzia” that enabled Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre. If an enemy assault fails to be as deadly as it could have been, Israel doesn’t treat it with the response it deserves. Instead, it prides itself on preventing more casualties thanks to Iron Dome defenses and public obedience to Home Front Command directives.

These include: informing us of how many seconds we have to enter a bomb shelter or safe room when an air-raid siren goes off; instructing us to exit and clear away from our cars when caught by an alarm while driving on the highway, then lie on the asphalt with our hands on our heads; warning us not to photograph interceptions, which can result in injury from falling shrapnel; admonishing us to lock our doors, turn out our lights and close our shutters at the first sign of a potential terrorist invasion; and assuring us that we’ll be the first to know if we need to stock up on supplies ahead of a greater, less temporary threat.

It’s no wonder, then, that our military is called the Israel Defense Forces. Considering the fact that we are surrounded by foes both bent on our destruction and equipped by Tehran to carry it out, one would have thought it appropriate to replace the word “defense” with “offense.”

But no. The IDF boasts of being the most moral army in the world, with a code of ethics fit for local and international kangaroo courtrooms, not soldiers risking their lives to protect the country.

Though it was crafted by Asa Kasher, a far-left activist working to topple the government and undermine Israeli efforts at victory over Hamas in Gaza, it’s still touted as a holy guide, rather than tossed in the trash where it belongs.

Another part of the “conceptzia” that hasn’t been discarded despite the Oct. 7 atrocities is the principle of “legitimacy.” Rather than responding to every rocket launch as though it had succeeded in its aim of mass murder, the government and IDF top brass treat each failed attempt as a statistic—a number added to the spreadsheet of projectiles emanating from one of the many entities in the region working to wipe Israel off the map.

The most egregious example was on April 14. Since the Iranian launch of hundreds of drones and ballistic and cruise missiles left only a seven-year-old Bedouin-Israeli girl injured and caused minor damage to two Israeli airbases, Israel and the “coalition” of countries that assisted it in intercepting the bulk of the projectiles left it at that.
  • Monday, July 29, 2024
  • Elder of Ziyon
The BDS group on Reddit is an endless source of all the proof you need that BDS is antisemitism.


Here are some of the answers, after people said specific answers like "anything with Gal Gadot" or "I read some article somewhere saying that Dune's producers donated to Israel, so avoid that movie."

Jazzlike-Ad1184
All of the big five production companies: Walt Disney, Paramount, Universal Studios, Warner Bros, and Sony. Pretty much every big studio supports Israel, as they have always been owned and run by Zionists.
Stream or pirate.

Indels
I only watch anime now and older ones. No more supporting Hollywood

YourGalMal
Quentin Tarantino's movies definitely. Dude is a raging zio.

SkillNo4559
All of them. All run by dual Israeli citizens

CambionClan
Any money paid for Hollywood movies is going to ultimately go to the Zionists who run Hollywood. Ideally, don’t pay money for any movie, especially not at the movie theater.
It is pretty obvious that they are using "Zionists" (or the KKK-inspired "Zio") as shorthand for "Jew." 

Here's a graphic from the Tehran Times, clearly originally made by neo-Nazis,  that illustrates this better than I could.






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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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