Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, August 19, 2024

The Democratic Party platform used to say Israel and the US shared common values and strategic interests. They removed that.

The draft of the 2024 Democratic Party Platform has a lot to say about Israel. "Israel" is mentioned 29 times and the platform is worded in a way that makes it sound like the Democratic Party fully supports the Jewish state.

It criticizes Israel as well. Here is one of its painstaking attempts at even-handedness.

President Biden and Vice President Harris oppose any unilateral steps by either side, including annexation, that undermine prospects for two states. We will continue to stand against incitement and terror. The Administration opposes settlement expansion. President Biden has spoken out against extremist settler violence, and in February, the President issued an executive order establishing U.S. authority to impose financial sanctions against foreign persons engaged in actions that threaten the peace, security, or stability of the West Bank. The Administration believes that while Jerusalem is a matter for final status negotiations, it should remain the capital of Israel, an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths. We support critical assistance to the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza, consistent with U.S. law. The Administration opposes any effort to unfairly single out and delegitimize Israel, including at the United Nations or through the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement, while protecting the Constitutional right of our citizens to free speech.

To trly understand the Democratic Party's evolution of its position on Israel, we need to compare the newer platforms with previous party platforms. The previous platforms are always the starting point for the newer ones, so what has been removed from the platforms it is often more significant than what is included.

aHere you can see what language has been removed from the Democratic Party platforms of years past.

2004:

Our special relationship with Israel is based on the unshakable foundation of shared values and a mutual commitment to democracy, and we will ensure that under all circumstances, Israel retains the qualitative edge for its national security and its right to self-defense.

2008:

For more than three decades, Israelis, Palestinians, Arab leaders, and the rest of the world have looked to America to lead the effort to build the road to a secure and lasting peace. Our starting point must always be our special relationship with Israel, grounded in shared interests and shared values, and a clear, strong, fundamental commitment to the security of Israel, our strongest ally in the region and its only established democracy.

2012:

President Obama and the Democratic Party maintain an unshakable commitment to Israel's security. A strong and secure Israel is vital to the United States not simply because we share strategic interests, but also because we share common values.

2016:

A strong and secure Israel is vital to the United States because we share overarching strategic interests and the common values of democracy, equality, tolerance, and pluralism.

In 2012, the Democratic Party stopped referring to America'a "special relationship with Israel."

In 2020, the Democratic Party stopped referring to America having "shared values" and "common interests" with Israel.

Before 2020, the Democratic Party always included some praise for Israel. It no longer does.

Which means that the Democratic Party no longer believe those things.

The platform shows that J-Street is now the author of the Democratic Party's position on Israel. There is no daylight between J-Street's positions and the party platform, including saying they oppose BDS but denying the inherent antisemitism of the BDS movement and supporting the rights of antisemites to copy/replace "Jews" with "Zionists" in their screeds.

J-Street and the Democratic Party are not pro-Israel. Neither of them say anything positive about Israel, instead relying on platitudes about supporting Israel's right to exist and right to defend itself. But that is their position towards every other nation on Earth, including Iran, so there is nothing "pro-Israel" about them.

They cloak their increasing antipathy towards the most liberal, democratic, progressive state in the region with platitutes but their language - both what they choose to say and what they choose not to say - tells us everything about the direction that party is going.

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

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"Reproductive justice means Palestinian liberation." Are "progressives" hypocrites, stupid, antisemitic - or all three?

Every day brings more "shaking my head" moments. Here's today's.

At a pro-abortion rights rally in Chicago ahead of the Democratic National Convention, a speaker said, "Reproductive justice means Palestinian liberation."

This is not a new thing. In fact, a letter with almost identical wording, "Reproductive Justice Includes Palestinian Liberation," was signed by dozens of so-called progressive organizations in October.

Let's set aside how there is no relationship between the two in any universe.

Palestinians are, by and large, anti abortion. Abortion is against the law except in cases where the woman's life is in danger. But beyond that, Palestinian society itself does not tolerate abortions.

An article written in August 2023 starts off this way:

“I would never accept an unmarried girl at my clinic,” Malak*, an OB/GYN from Gaza tells me firmly. “This has nothing to do with freedoms, this is religion. In all religions, adultery is forbidden.”

I was dismayed but not shocked to hear a doctor prioritise her religious beliefs over her medical ethics. I have been researching access to sexual and reproductive health services (SRHS) in Palestine for the past three years, and have repeatedly seen how norms sanctifying virginity and shaming non-marital sex are so entrenched in Palestinian society that they supersede a doctor’s duty of care. This is part of a wider pattern in Palestine, and most of the Arab world, where strict gender norms and taboos around sex limit access to SRHS, particularly for women and girls.

This is a consistent pattern. This, and other article written by liberal Palestinian women, try to blame Israel for the difficulties that Palestinian women have in getting abortions, but if you read the articles carefully you see that Israel has nothing to do with it: both legal and societal pressures make it nearly impossible to get safe abortions.

A 2018 study mentions:

By law gynecologists may not conduct an abortion in Occupied Palestine unless a recognized Muslim physician declares with reasonable certainty in a detailed medical report that continuation of the married woman’s pregnancy will endanger her life and the gynecologist has a formal certiﬁcate of approval from the Islamic mufti authorizing the abortion. The mufti may or may not accept the medical report at his discretion. He often rejects such reports, telling the woman to “trust Allah, accept His will and keep the baby.”Without a health condition that is acceptable on religious grounds, a woman seeking an abortion must look for illegal and often unsafe methods to terminate an undesired pregnancy.

Is there a single progrssive activist protesting against Palestinian laws that all but prohibit - and indeed, criminalize - abortion?

If there is, I can't find them. Not one word about existing Palestinian anti-abortion laws was mentioned in the open letter I mentioned earlier.

This article says that Arab women who live in "east Jerusalem" can utilize Israeli abortion services, but for women who are less than 12 weeks pregnant there is a cottage industry of east Jerusalem Arabs getting abortion pill Cytotec from their Israeli doctors to give to them. In Israel, abortions are easily obtained in nearly all cases, and some Palestinian women manage to get to Israeli hospitals to get abortions.

These articles include horror stories of Palestinian women who hurl themselves off buildings or down stairs, or ask their children to jump on their tummies, or who use other dangerous methods to try to self administer abortions. All the nightmare scenarios that the pro-abortion rights crowd in the US warn about are actually happening in the Palestinian territories all the time.

If Israel disappeared tomorrow, Palestinian women would have even fewer options for abortion than they do today. The fervent desire for "Palestinian liberation" espoused by the progressive crowd would result in more back-room abortions, more coat hanger abortions, more pregnant women hurling themselves belly first from heights, and more honor killings of those who bring their children to full term when not married.

But the so-called progrsssives are silent about this. Just as they are about other Palestinian laws against women, against gays, against freedom of expression.

Instead, they claim that their support for abortion, animal, gay, women's and other rights are somehow tied to "Palestinian liberation."

The Palestinian laws for any potential state have already been written and are enforced towards Palestinian Arabs in the Wes Bank and Gaza, and they are the polar opposite of what the progressives claim to support.

So are the progressives hypocrites? Or stupid? Or antisemites?

Or, perhaps, all three?

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!

08/18 Links: Israel: Leader of the Free World; Israel must give up managing the conflict and choose winning it; Mamet: ‘Assimilated US Jews gave up the Torah for NYTs’

From Ian:

Israel: Leader of the Free World

The issues in the Middle East could hardly be simpler. On one side is tyranny, dependency, and resentment; on the other is liberty - and the essence of liberty is self-government.

A self-governing people does not whine. They do not expect to be catered to like children. Unlike the so-called "Palestinians" who depend entirely on funds from Western "charities," the Israelis give back far more than they take. They assume responsibility for their own fate and flourishing. Israelis don't complain; they fight. The very essence of Zionism is that no Jew should ever again be dependent on the forbearance of some alien elite for survival.

The question is between envy and admiration of excellence. Do you view the exceptional accomplishments of others as examples to admire and emulate, and new sources of opportunity? Or do you greet these achievements with envy and hatred and charges of conspiracy, and demands for some unearned "fair share"?

A nation's reaction to Israel has become the most crucial test of a free people. Equivocation by the U.S. toward Israel and its enemies, even to the extent of tolerating antisemitic violence at home, may be the most alarming signal yet of American decline in leadership for liberty.

Israel has emerged from five deadly wars over 50 years with a per capita income - for Jews and Arabs alike - higher than the per capita incomes of Germany, the UK, South Korea, or Japan. Fully 100,000 Israeli citizens work in Silicon Valley and are indispensable to its inventive powers. Israel also is the key source of life-saving military technology for America and the Free World.

Forty-plus years after Ronald Reagan launched the Strategic Defense "Star Wars" Initiative, America still does not have a serious missile defense. The U.S. Patriot air defense system is more expensive and less effective than Israel's system. If the Iranian nuke program is terminated, it will be by Israel and not the U.S. Israel is now fighting our wars and winning. So, who is the leader of the Free World now?

Daniel Pipes: Israel must give up managing the conflict and choose winning it

From the 1880s until today, Zionist leaders have pursued a highly unusual, if not unique, policy toward their Palestinian enemy: wanting it not to suffer economically but to become prosperous, to adopt middle-class values, to settle into bourgeois good citizenry, and perhaps even to thank its Jewish neighbors. From whence comes this strange idea and how successful has it been?

I call it strange because conflict nearly always include an element of economic warfare: to weaken, demoralize, and punish the enemy, to turn the population against its rulers or to incite a palace revolt. To take a recent example, after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the West instantly minimized trade with Russia to weaken its war effort. That is the near-universal norm.

The Zionist movement and Israel, however, from the start adopted the opposite approach, seeking to enhance Palestinian economic welfare. This, what I call the policy of enrichment, represents the deepest, most powerful, and most enduring of Israeli approaches to its Palestinian foe. Founded on the assumption that Palestinian economic self-interest would push other concerns aside, enrichment hopes that gains in welfare will reconcile Palestinians to Jewish immigration and the creation of a Jewish homeland. From this emerged the Zionist hallmark, the unique idea that the movement’s progress depended not on the universal tactic of depriving an enemy of resources, but on the opposite one of helping Palestinians to develop economically.

Thus, the first modern Zionist manifesto, published in 1882 by the BILU group of immigrants to Palestine, included a promise “to help our brother Ishmael [i.e., the Palestinians] in the time of his need.” A.D. Gordon, Zionism’s early advocate of manual labor, argued that Jews’ attitude toward Palestinians “must be one of humanity, of moral courage which remains on the highest plane, even if the other side is not all that is desired. Indeed, their hostility is all the more reason for our humanity.” Theodor Herzl’s 1902 novel Altneuland, included a single Muslim Palestinian, a wealthy merchant who expressed a happy appreciation for “the beneficent character of the Jewish immigration.”

David Ben-Gurion expected that Palestinians, grateful for the many benefits Jews brought them, would “welcome us with open arms, or at least will reconcile themselves to our growth and independence.” Moshe Dayan used his power over Israel’s initial decisions in the West Bank and Gaza after the Six Day War to impose a benevolent regime, hoping (in the words of Shabtai Teveth, a contemporary observer) that “establishing mutual co-existence between Jews and Arabs” would create “a relationship of good-neighborliness” and with that, a reduction in hostility. Shimon Peres envisioned “a Jordanian-Palestinian-Israeli ‘Benelux’ arrangement for economic affairs… allowing each to live in peace and prosperity”; this then became the premise of Israeli diplomacy in the Oslo Accords.

Between Doha, Beirut, and Tehran: Israel's primary consideration is restoring deterrence

The path to an arrangement - a turning point
Entering the path of an arrangement would be a turning point in this reality. The chances of renewing the fighting afterward are slim, if they exist at all. If the "deal" is implemented as agreed, some of its components would include the withdrawal of the IDF, the release of terrorists, the rehabilitation of Gaza, and the complete end of the war. In such a scenario, Israel would find it difficult to backtrack on its commitments to the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar.

But even if only part of the deal is implemented, Israel would still struggle to resume the fighting. Hamas would continue its manipulations and psychological warfare, mediating countries would present new initiatives, the U.S. would increase pressure especially as the elections approach, the international community would join in, and domestic pressures would intensify. The de-escalation process has its own momentum. Hamas, and not just Hamas, is banking on this.

Reports from Washington about the Americans' intention to propose compromise suggestions on issues where the parties fail to reach an agreement should cause concern in Israel. The U.S.'s ability to influence Hamas to change its positions is minimal, if it exists at all. Against this backdrop, it is likely that the compromise formulas would erode Israel's positions, as Israel is more sensitive to American pressures and incentives. For Hamas, such reports are yet another reason to dig in.

Dilemmas in Israel
The dilemma in Israel revolves around two issues: the release of hostages and the connection between the Gaza war and the confrontation with Iran and Hezbollah. In both, the element of time plays a significant role. While time allows for deepening achievements in Gaza and reaching the release of hostages under better conditions, it also increases the danger to the hostages' safety. The element of time creates tension between the importance of toppling Hamas and the urgency of releasing the hostages.

There is no one in Israel who doesn't long for the release of the hostages, just as there is no one who doesn't desire the total defeat of the monstrous terrorist organization. Resolving the tension between these goals is akin to the expression "caught between a rock and a hard place." Any decision the government makes is legitimate, provided that its costs are clear and understood. In this regard, and after having been burned for years, it is not enough to rely on soothing statements or vague commitments that will sink into the sands of Rafah and the tunnels of Philadelphi.

As for the tension with Iran and Hezbollah, the very idea of offering concessions to "calm" them contradicts one of the objectives of the actions that heightened the tension: deterring these elements. In any case, it's difficult to see the Gaza war as the key to calming them. The formula that the U.S. is trying to promote—restraining Israel in Gaza in exchange for restraining Iran towards Israel—does not satisfy Nasrallah and seemingly does not address Iran's appetite for revenge.

But even if it did, from Israel's perspective, it can only be relevant if it provides a solution to the root problems with these adversaries, primarily the efforts to obtain nuclear weapons and the desire to destroy Israel. Without diminishing the importance of diplomatic efforts, it is suggested to continue focusing the majority of efforts on strengthening readiness, both in defense and offense.

Weeks after the Gaza health ministry declared an "epidemic" of polio in Gza, they claimthey have found one child with the disease.

Here is what Israel is doing to help protect the children in Gaza:

🧵All You Need to Know About Our Efforts to combat polio in Gaza:

According to the @WHO, about 90% of the population in Gaza was vaccinated against polio in the first quarter of 2024.

Since the beginning of the war, @cogatonline has coordinated the entry of 282,126 vials of the polio vaccine, sufficient for 2,821,260 doses, into Gaza. Since the discovery of the virus in July, and as part of the vaccination campaign, 9,000 vials were brought through the Kerem Shalom crossing, providing 90,000 additional doses of the vaccine.

In the coming weeks, 43,250 vials of vaccine, tailored to the virus found in environmental samples, are expected to arrive in Israel and will enter the Gaza Strip. This will be sufficient to vaccinate over one million children (in two rounds) - a total of 2,162,500 doses.

COGAT conducts in-depth situational assessments twice a week with the Ministry of Health, the WHO, and @UNICEF to understand the status of the spread of the virus in Gaza. Additionally, specific meetings are held to implement vaccinations among the population in Gaza in cooperation with @USAID.

As part of the medical response provided by the State of Israel, COGAT maintains continuous contact and conducts situational assessments with all health system stakeholders and the international community for ongoing monitoring of the medical situation in Gaza. As part of this effort, since the beginning of the war, the State of Israel has facilitated the establishment of 14 field hospitals in Gaza, alongside the entry of 2,566 trucks carrying 25,955 tons of medications and medical equipment into Gaza, which have been distributed to the population.

In all the thousands of news articles about Gaza since October, how many mention that the IDF meets regularly with every major international organization to help facilitate aid into the sector?

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

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On Friday, Hezbollah released a slickly-produced video showing what it claims is its "Imad-4" underground facility.

It shows a massive underground complex, spacious enough to accomodate large trucks carrying missiles, and underground missile launch sites complete with electrically operated steel blast doors.

It is hard to know how much of this is real. Some of the people in the video, amd some of the tracking camera shots, move in ways that indicate videogames more than actual footage. Outside of one fan, I couldn't find any ventilation system, which would be necessary.

Even so, no one doubts that Hezbollah has a large tunnel system. The question is, why would Hezbollah produce and release this very cinematic video?

The purpose is psy-ops. The primary audience is Israeli Jews. And the video actually showcases Hezbollah's fear more than its fearlessness.

The video is meant to frighten Israelis, and Westerners, into pressuring Israel to accept a ceasefire that would keep Hamas in a position of power in Gaza.

Beirut in blackout

The video was released while Israel is negotiating a ceasefire in Gaza. Hezbollah, and Iran, want a ceasefire in Gaza far more than they want to be involved in a war. As we've noted, they have been looking for any excuse not to attack Israel since the assassinaitons of Fuad Shukr in Beirut and Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran even as they have increased their rhetoric. It is now nearly three weeks, and they are now indicating that a ceasefire would shelve plans for retaliation.

The message of the video isn't "we're eager to destroy the Zionist entity." It is "please, Zionist entity, don't attack us!"

Keep in mind that right now, Lebanon has shut down its last power plant due to lack of fuel. These videos show Hamas has plenty of electricity and fuel to run these underground faciltiies. How do you think the average Lebanese citizen reacts to these videos? It isn't with pride - it is anger that its own resources are siphoned off to a terror group.

Hezbollah is not in a position of strength. This video, ironically, proves that.

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

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Today's antisemitism in Turkish media

Ankara-based news site Baskent Postasi has this as one of their top stories:

It starts off a being unsure whether Zionists of the US/UK are trying to control the world:

Right now, the 'WORLD' is under the threat of global Imperialism and Zionism!.. Imperialist/Zionist Powers are working with all their might to take over the world as a whole and to be able to rule it from the center. The reason for the 1st and 2nd World Wars is the same as the reason for the war that has broken out in the Middle East (Israel-Palestine-Hamas) and has spread to Iran-Lebanon. The sole reason/source of this war stems from the desire of the global Imperialist/Zionist power to dominate the entire world by establishing dominance in the Middle East.
...Although Israel is known to be the cause of this war, the countries that are actually provoking the war, supporting the war and wanting it to spread to the region are the US and the UK. No matter how much we call Israel just a subcontractor, puppet and pawn, we still do not understand whether the US/UK governs Israel or whether Israel governs the US/UK!..

But in the end, inevitably, it is really the Jews.

The world's 15 million Jewish population has established a system to control a world population approaching 8 billion! In other words, 15 million Jews are standing up to 8 billion people! Or 15 million Jews are fighting 2 billion Muslims!

...Since Jews dominate money in the world, they have of course also dominated production. Those who dominate production have already taken over the consumption network. In other words, they can easily control all kinds of needs of humanity. At the same time, all cashless payment systems in the world (Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay etc.) are in the hands of Zionist Jews. They can also manage and direct all the world media such as written, spoken, visual, social etc. They have practically established a global dictatorship on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc.

The CEOs or owners of world-famous companies such as Walt Disney, Time Warner, Vivendi, Redstone Universal Studios, New World Entertainment, DreamWorks are Jewish. The owners, partners or managers of many world-famous companies such as Rupert Murdoch, Fox Tv and Fox Film, Sony Picture, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, HBO, TNT, Turner, Sports Illustrated, Time Warner, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Times, Economist, Foreign Policy, Bild are Jewish… Jewish pharmaceutical companies such as Teva/Israel, Pfizer, Novarts… Among the weapons/defense companies are IAI, Elbit Systems and Rafael Advance Defense Systems…

There are 5 major companies that direct the world's agriculture/food sector and set prices. Companies such as Cargill, ADM, Bunge, Louis Dreyfus and Haifa...

This is all taken from the neo-Nazi playbook.

Except for the end, which differentiates Muslim antisemitism from the white supremacist flavor:

If Israel and those who support it have a plan, Allah (swt) also has a plan. Israel will definitely be disappointed. And those who support it will experience the same fate. One day, JUSTICE will be served. FALSE/EVENNESS can never stay in a place where Truth/Right COMES.

If this is the kind of thing being published in daily Turkish media, I would not feel safe traveling to Turkey.

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!

Doha

From The Jerusalem Post:

Multiple Hamas officials on Saturday denied US and Israeli claims that a ceasefire-hostage deal was progressing - insisting that it was an "illusion" and that parties abide by the July 2 agreement presented by US President Joe Biden.

American officials, including Biden, stated that major gaps had been bridged in the ceasefire discussions spanning from Thursday to Friday which are anticipated to continue next week.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but this time I believe the terror group.

Right now, Iran and Hezbollah are looking for ways to avoid attacking Israel without losing face. Over the past week, they have made noises that as long as the Gaza ceasefire negotiations are still going on, they will hold off on their promised attacks.

So it is in everyone's interest to make the negotiations - which, keep in mind, did not include Hamas itself - to drag on for as long as possible, and to pretend there is progress.

There probably is progress on some peripheral sissues like timing on hostage releases and the numbers of prisoners that would be released. But those aren't the key points.

Hamas wants the IDF gone from Gaza and Israel wants Hamas to be essentially gone from any political or military presence in Gaza. Neither side will agree to the other's demands unless they have no choice. And Sinwar has already said that he'll sacrifice as many people as possible to save his skin.

It seems to me that the negotiations are all theatre - Israel to show that it is serious about getting the hostages back, Qatar and Egypt to use them to forestall a larger conflict, the US to avoid getting sucked into a war with Iran especially during election season. But unless Hamas actually surrenders, nothing else will happen.

At best, there may be a limited swap of the sort that happened in November, along with a pause in fighting, but it will not be a ceasefire. That might buy a few more weeks of no Iranian and Hezbollah attacks. The mediators probably hope that the desire for revenge will die down over time.

Or it might buy time for the US to pressure Israel to turn the pause into a more permanent ceasefire that leaves Hamas in power.

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!

08/17 Links: Has Hamas lost the war?; The Anti-Israel Sanctions Machine; Why Are We Playing By Iran’s Rules?; Hamas plot to dig up WW1 war graves

From Ian:

Has Hamas lost the war?

It seems that Hamas’s old tricks are beginning to fail them. With the November election dominating the news agenda stateside, the Olympics sucking up airtime in Europe and the Gaza rallies being diverted towards the far-right in Britain, the story is getting less oxygen. The Gaza activists, whose marches were once a disturbing fixture of city life across the west, ignored the al-Taba’een attack. In fact, they have been a shadow of their former selves all summer. With the universities on holiday and their Gaza encampments either deserted or dismantled, the wind seems to be ebbing from the sails of terror.

For Hamas, this is more than simply a frustration. It represents the collapse of its main strategy for victory, by which confected international outrage is supposed to hamstring its superior democratic foe. This growing impotence comes as the group finds itself abandoned by its allies, exhausted in its fox-holes and suffering crippling military pain. For some months, it looked as if its propaganda efforts would succeed in forcing Israel not to invade Rafah in the south. To his credit, Netanyahu eventually shook off American concerns and the city fell quickly and with very few civilian casualties. As a result, the IDF now holds the Philadelphi corridor, an alley of land across the border between Egypt and Gaza.

This achievement alone is throttling Hamas. For more than a decade, arms, ammunition, cash and supplies have been smuggled through the Philadelphi corridor into Rafah from Egypt, both via subterranean tunnels and with the assistance of corrupt officials at the regular crossing. All of this has stopped. Deprived of the ability to resupply and reeling from the deaths of two of its three most important leaders, Hamas finds itself peering into the abyss. It is no coincidence that it seems to be taking more kindly to the prospect of negotiations with Israel.

For the jihadis of Gaza, the war is starting to look like a miscalculation. Israel is wounded but showing intimidating levels of resolve and military might, with much more held in reserve. For this Hamas brought itself to the brink of destruction? For this it brought such suffering upon the heads of its own people? In launching the October savagery, it aimed to drag Iran and Hezbollah into a regional conflict that would herald the fall of Jerusalem. But its allies held back from the fray and have shown no sign of changing their minds. An Iranian reprisal for the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran will come. But most analysts expect it to be calibrated to fall beneath the threshold for open war.

Small wonder. In April, after hundreds of Iranian projectiles had been fired into Israeli skies, the Jewish state showed its superiority by destroying a key strategic target with just two missiles. Last month, it clinically assassinated both Mohammad Deif in Gaza and Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, as well as Hezbollah’s number two, Fuad Shukr, in southern Lebanon. These were men who had been hunted for decades and not just by the Israelis. Jerusalem has also let it be known that any attack by Iran and Hezbollah will meet with a response commensurate to its scale rather than its effectiveness. This time, the message is clear: launch another 300 missiles at us and – even if every last one is intercepted – you’ll get pain, not fear, in response.

Guerilla warfare in Gaza will likely drag on for a long time. But Hamas is losing badly. Whereas Israeli troops can be rotated out for rest and recuperation, no such luxury is afforded the terrorist butchers as they squat in their own filth underground. Major challenges lie ahead for Israel in the form of Hezbollah and Iran. But Netanyahu’s boot is on the windpipe of Hamas and the world is starting not to care.

Seth Mandel: Why Are We Playing By Iran’s Rules?

Our regional diplomacy is a charade. And it is one that legitimizes Iranian terror groups at the expense of both the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Essentially, Mideast regional diplomacy is a relic from another era. There was a time when the Palestinians were represented by a faction in Lebanon. The PLO, led by Yasser Arafat, set up a state-within-a-state there in the 1970s after being expelled from Jordan. South Lebanon for a decade became the Palestinian base of operations against Israel. After the First Lebanon War in 1982, and the Reagan administration’s energetic diplomacy, the PLO was bounced from Lebanon, and it regrouped in Tunisia. That’s when Hezbollah moved in to fill the void. In 1983, it carried out the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241. That means for 40 years south Lebanon has been an Iranian-aligned colony and not a Palestinian one.

The Palestinians currently have two governments, and neither one is in exile in Tunis or Lebanon. Israel is at war with one of them—not coincidentally, the one that isn’t recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people. Gaza under Hamas is essentially a rogue statelet controlled by Iran in order to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

Israel is not at war with “the Palestinians” and their recognized government in the West Bank, based in Ramallah. It is at war with Iran. Throughout this conflict, Israel has been subject to coordinated attacks from four places in the theater: Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iran. Not a single one of those places, you’ll notice, is the West Bank. That is not to dismiss the Palestinian terrorism that has originated from the West Bank during this war or Iran’s attempts to gain footholds there. It is merely to point out that none of our attempts at resolving the regional conflict is geared toward anyone but Iran, and we should just say so.

Instead, we have constructed a bizarre Kabuki theater production in which resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is being billed as front-and-center, when in fact we are not currently talking to anyone who is interested in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There aren’t even any Palestinians at the ceasefire talks happening right now.

Fact is, the Iranians have systematically worked to erase the Palestinians from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to take their place. This is a war Iran has launched against the U.S. and Israel. Gaza is a front in that war.

We have let Tehran hijack the narrative and set the terms of the conflict. If we don’t reverse that, we’ll be further than ever from peace in the region.

Revealed: Hamas plot to dig up war graves of British veterans

Hamas plotted to dig up the remains of British and Commonwealth troops buried in Gaza and blackmail the Government over their return, according to documents uncovered in the war-torn enclave.

For more than a century The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), chaired by the UK Defence Secretary and supported by the Crown, has maintained a cemetery in central Gaza containing the remains of more than 3,000 Commonwealth troops from the First and Second World Wars.

Many of the soldiers buried there died fighting the Ottomans for control of the Strip in 1917, a bloody conflict that paved the way for the British administration of Palestine.

The plot to exhume the remains of the soldiers and hold them “prisoner” is detailed in a seven-page document, shared with The Telegraph by Israeli officials.

They say it was uncovered by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Jan 31 at a compound in Khan Younis linked to Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif.

The Israelis believe it was written on or around Oct 5 2022, by an unknown official, apparently in response to comments made by the then-prime minister Liz Truss on her desire to move the British Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Demands were to have included at least one of the following: a retraction of the Jerusalem statement, evacuation of the soldier’s remains to cemeteries outside Gaza or the retrospective payment of land “lease fees” for the cemeteries dating back to 1917.

“If the British government does not meet the aforementioned demands, the Gaza municipality will act to remove all the corpses from the cemeteries and collect them in a special location by judicial order, declaring that the corpses are considered captive until a solution or deal is found,” says the document.

“The British government will find itself in an embarrassing position in front of the British people, its political elite and its military if any country desecrates the corpses of its soldiers.”

08/16 Links: Trump holds event on combating antisemitism, Holocaust inversion is going mainstream, How it feels to be a British Jew after October 7

Hopefully this is the last linkdump I will do for a while! These are exhausting - and I am only linking articles I come across. Unlike Ian, I am not trying to be comprehensive and to cover all news stories. It just takes too much time, and my appreciation for him increases every day. -EoZ

Trump holds event on combating antisemitism (Jewish Insider)

Former President Donald Trump held an event on combating antisemitism last night at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., where he was joined by an enthusiastic audience of Jewish Republican leaders and top donors including Dr. Miriam Adelson.
“We’re here tonight because we believe that this vicious outbreak of militant antisemitism must be given no quarter, no safe harbor, no place in a civilized society,” Trump said during the hour-long event. “We must reject it in our schools, reject it in our foreign policy, reject it in our immigration system and reject it at the ballot box this November.”
Standing at a lectern flanked by six American flags on one side and six Israeli flags on the other, Trump accused Vice President Kamala Harris of enabling the rise of antisemitism, recent instances of which, he said darkly, have recalled the events presaging the Holocaust. “The toxic poison of antisemitism now courses through the radical Democrat Party,” Trump said in largely scripted comments. “This is a radical, radical group of people. I never thought I’d see that either.”

Israel Razes 50 Tunnels By Gaza-Egypt Border

During the past month, Israeli combat engineers have destroyed approximately 50 Hamas tunnel routes in the area of the Egypt-Gaza border, the Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday. The announcement came as Israeli and Arab leaders were due to resume ceasefire negotiations in Qatar.
The tunnels were all in the Philadelphi corridor, a buffer zone that runs the length of the 14-km Gaza-Egypt border. It was created in 2006 to prevent weapons smuggling after Israel disengaged from the Strip. Hamas violently seized control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority the following year.
The military did not specify if any of the tunnels crossed into the Egyptian Sinai. On August 4, soldiers from the IDF’s elite Yahalom combat engineering unit destroyed a three-meter tall smuggling tunnel leading into Egypt that was large enough to drive vehicles through.

Maryland AG replaces one hater with another to serve on hate-crimes panel

Over the past year, a tremendous amount of effort and government resources were expended to remove an anti-Israel extremist from a state board that monitors hate crimes and discrimination. Zainab Chaudry, who posted antisemitic comments on social media, was finally ousted in May from Maryland’s Commission on Hate Crimes Response and Prevention but only after legislation was adopted that completely restructured the commission and replaced all of its sitting members.
Now, however, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown has nominated a new commissioner to replace Chaudry, who leads extremist groups and voices antisemitic and homophobic views. Nominated on July 31, Ayman Nassar makes the disgraced commissioner he is set to replace look like an angel in comparison.

40,000 dead in Gaza? What the numbers really show

According to a new report in Haaretz by Nir Hasson, as the death toll in Gaza reaches 40,000, it's time to face facts: "the numbers show" that the Gaza war is "one of the bloodiest in the 21st Century."

They don't go by absolute numbers. Instead, they go by pace and by percentage of population.

This is not usually how we evaluate the size of a war. But it is how we evaluate the size of this war. In December, the Washington Post called the war "one of this century's most destructive," again citing pace rather than absolute numbers. It is as if these reporters are starting with the assumption that the Gaza war is the worst in recent history, and then working backwards to find out how.

Israel refutes UN claim it gives global body bad time slots to pick up aid in Gaza

The United Nations has been unable to deliver hundreds of aid trucks that have entered the Gaza Strip because Israel has given the global body inopportune time slots to collect the supplies, Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, told JNS at a press briefing on Monday.

Shimi Zuaretz, a spokesman for COGAT, which serves as the Israeli military’s coordinating body for civilian life in Judea and Samaria, and in Gaza, told JNS that Israel gives the United Nations the same time slots for aid pickup as other groups.

“We give them more time than the private sector and other organizations,” Zuaretz told JNS. “It is uncalled for to think that the private sector has one time and the United Nations has another time.”

IDF soldiers: 'Lessons of October 7 not learned in Judea and Samaria'

IDF surveillance post operators who served in Judea and Samaria say that the IDF has not learned lessons from October 7 and are warning of another horrific scenario in the near future.
'Nothing has changed since October 7. Until today, we are still digesting what we saw over two years,' said Noa and Ofri to Channel 13 News.
"Thousands of Palestinians approach the fence and the IDF does nothing. We have been seeing 60,000 people - and that is just one hole in the fence. There are many breaches in the fence, thousands could cross in one night. Maybe some go to work, beyond that we have no idea what they are doing here."

Holocaust inversion is going mainstream

Cynthia Nixon, John Oliver, Chef José Andrés. An award-winning writer with an essay in The London Review of Books. Protesters outside the Nova exhibit in Manhattan. Celebrities, faux-academics, and activists. These are some of the people who have been engaging in a particularly noxious form of antisemitism since the Oct. 7 massacre.
Lesley Klaff explained this particular phenomenon in 2014. “What has been called ‘Holocaust Inversion,'” she wrote in Fathom, “involves an inversion of reality (the Israelis are cast as the ‘new’ Nazis and the Palestinians as the ‘new’ Jews), and an inversion of morality (the Holocaust is presented as a moral lesson for or even a moral indictment of ‘the Jews’).” The Holocaust, she asserted, “is now being used, instrumentally, as a means to express animosity towards the homeland of the Jews.”

Turkey is committed to undermining NATO

Turkey is complicit in escalating violence against Israel. On July 21, Israel’s internal security service, Shin Bet, thwarted a terrorist attack that it identified as being directed by Turkey. Five students at Birzeit University in the West Bank, affiliated with a student group “Kutla Islamia,” acquired weapons and cash with the intent of murdering Israeli citizens. Although Israel’s foreign minister drew attention to and condemned the attack and Turkey’s role in it, no other Israeli ally followed suit.

In September 2023, Israeli customs authorities revealed that they had intercepted 16 tons of explosive material on its way from Turkey to the Gaza Strip two months previously. In December 2023, Israeli customs officials foiled another attempt by Turkish affiliates to smuggle thousands of weapons parts into the West Bank.

Turkey’s approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict cannot be spoken about as an ideological rift with NATO members; instead, it is an egregious example of a NATO member championing and furthering the violent interests of a terrorist entity.

Jordanian citizen arrested for allegedly attacking Florida solar energy facility, threatening pro-Israeli businesses: DOJ

A Jordanian citizen living in Florida has been arrested and charged for allegedly carrying out multiple attacks on businesses in Orlando, as well as a solar energy facility, based on their perceived support for Israel, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen, 43, allegedly made numerous threats to carry out mass violence and at one point went through with an attack in late June on a solar power generation facility in Wedgefield, Florida, where he spent hours destroying solar panels.

Biden’s refusal to act against Iran has led to the current crisis

“Don’t.” This was the message Joe Biden has once again given to Iran’s regime as it prepares to attack Israel.

I have news for Biden, however: the last time he said “Don’t”, they “did” – and because of the failure in Western policy towards Tehran, the regime will almost certainly do it again.

North Carolina Lawmaker Faces Backlash From Local Jewish Leaders, Fellow Democrats Over Attacks on Israel, Zionists

Last week, The Algemeiner reported that Mary Black, a member of the Raleigh City Council in North Carolina who recently filed for re-election, has come under fire for regularly attacking Israel and Zionists, despite her job having no apparent responsibilities concerning Middle Eastern affairs.

Since then, Black, 30, has come under increased scrutiny from the media, community members, and fellow Democrats. The North Carolina Democratic Party Jewish Caucus told The Algemeiner they have endorsed Mitchell Silver, a former New York City Parks Commissioner and Raleigh Chief Planner, who is running for the Raleigh City Council seat currently held by Black.

Why Is the BBC Promoting Hamas Propaganda as Fact?

One of many remarkable aspects of BBC coverage of the current war between Israel and terrorists in the Gaza Strip has been the media corporation’s readiness to uncritically amplify practically any claim or statement put out by Hamas, the terrorist organization that chose to initiate the conflict.

Even after 10 months during which many Hamas claims have been shown to be inaccurate — for example, the causes of explosions, casualty ratios, casualty figures, allegations of famine, and more — the BBC apparently still has not arrived at the conclusion that its own reputation as a provider of accurate and impartial reporting would benefit if its journalists did some basic fact checking before promoting assertions made by a terrorist organization.

CNN’s optical illusion

Recently, CNN published an in-depth article on the war in Gaza, claiming that while the IDF dealt a severe blow to Hamas, the organization is reorganizing on the ground.

According to the report, Hamas is recruiting new members, reviving damaged units, and regaining operational capabilities. Although it may adopt different combat tactics, its military strength remains intact and is renewing itself.

This claim reflects a fundamental misunderstanding, leading to a significant error.

Israel has had a declared strategic goal since the beginning of the war, which is clear, known, and measurable: “To eliminate Hamas’s military and governing power in Gaza.” This objective was defined for the military on the eve of the maneuver. From conversations with some of the commanders leading the IDF in Gaza, it is clear that they believe they are advancing toward its full implementation.

The first task, concerning the “elimination of military power,” is clearer and easier. This requires four efforts: eliminating Hamas fighters – its leadership, commanders, and terrorists in the field; destroying the organization’s infrastructure – mainly its command and control centers, intelligence apparatus, and everything that served Hamas in its combat; destroying all weapon production facilities in the Strip and isolating the Gaza Strip from Egypt – to prevent the smuggling of weapons in the future and to deny Hamas the ability to rearm; blowing up the tunnels – to deny Hamas a hiding place in the present and future.

All these tasks are being carried out in practice, with Hamas unable to stop them.

Why Harris’s golden boy should alarm every friend of Israel

To those who don’t follow Middle East policy closely, his name might not ring any bells. But for those of us who do, his appointment is a warning – a sign that the Biden administration might be ready to gamble with the security of Israel and, by extension, the stability of the entire region.
As specified at depth and length by The Jerusalem Post’s diaspora correspondent Michael Starr on Friday, Goldenberg’s career has been built on a specific ideological foundation: a deep, almost dogmatic, belief in the power of diplomacy, even with the most duplicitous of regimes, and a marked skepticism toward any show of strength by Israel. He’s the kind of man who, when faced with a roaring fire, would argue for a drop of water rather than a fire hose, fearing that the latter might cause too much of a splash.

How Kamala Harris Missed a Chance to Make History

By deciding not to pick Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris didn’t just miss a chance to lock up a must-win battleground state. She also missed a chance to make history.
Picking Shapiro would have made a historic statement about the aspirational greatness of both America and any political party. She would have confronted head on the dark and rising antisemitic wing of her own party with a brave and honest message that would have resonated everywhere.

Down and out at Columbia (Martin Kramer)

The resignation of Minouche Shafik, president of Columbia University, is being hailed as a victory all around. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who had called for her resignation back in April, celebrated the news.

But at Columbia, the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) also celebrated.

My personal view is that Shafik was probably as good as you could get at a university as corrupted as Columbia, and likely more than Columbia deserved.

McGill University Professors Rewrite History With Column Calling Now-Dismantled Anti-Israel Encampment A Beacon Of Tolerance And Respect (Honest Reporting Canada)

The anti-Israel occupation at McGill University may have been relegated to the dustbin of history, but the campaign to rewrite history has begun in earnest.

In a July 31 opinion column by Edward Dunsworth and Catherine Leclerc, assistant professor of labour history, and associate professor of Canadian literature and translation at McGill University, respectively, the professors attempted to erase weeks of documented hate and violence, and convince readers that none of it really happened.

Their column entitled: “The McGill Fortress,” which was published in both Le Devoir and La Presse respectively, called the motley crew of anti-Israel protesters who were formerly at McGill University a “group of young people” simply fighting “genocidal practices,” when evidence suggests, not only that most were not, in fact, students at the university, but more importantly, there is no genocide in Gaza, full stop.

ACTA Highlights Grave Danger in Caving to Protestors’ Demands for Divestment, Boycott, and Sanctions

Today, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) releases its latest trustee guide, Danger in Divestment: The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement and What Trustees Need to Know. It is a companion document to the just-released Equal Space for All: A Trustee Guide to Preventing Encampments and Occupations on Campus. Together, these guides serve as powerful, practical advisories for college trustees as they try to navigate what is widely anticipated to be a volatile fall semester on American campuses.

The anti-Israel protests in spring of 2024 were marked by obstructive encampments, illegal occupations of university buildings, shout-downs and harassment of both students and faculty. Demonstrators made demands that universities divest themselves of any holdings they have in Israel or companies that do business in Israel. Such divestment policy would damage the institution’s ability to deliver financial returns it needs to support the entire campus community and be a breach of the trustees’ fiduciary obligation to the institutions they serve. Calls for severing academic and cultural alliances should likewise be summarily rejected by higher education governing boards, since that would be an egregious violation of long-standing academic ethics.

While theBoycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement is an appropriate topic for classroom debate and discussions, it is not a topic that should come before institutional governing boards.ACTA strongly recommends that trustees reject calls by protestors for formal consideration of divestment or boycotts tagged to any political agenda and to protect their institutions from future pressure to do so by officially adopting and enforcing the Kalven Commission’s institutional neutrality principles, which means that the university will not collective adopt policy positions outside its core mission of teaching and research.

Detritus from ancient Jerusalem drainage channel captures moment of city’s destruction

An excavation at the main drainage channel that ran under the streets of ancient Jerusalem has revealed a collection of well-preserved artifacts that offer unique insights into the state of the city at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said Tuesday.

The channel “passed under, amongst other facilities, the colorful markets of Jerusalem at the foot of the Temple Mount, and along the entire length of the City of David,” the IAA said in a press release.

Among the discoveries were a delicate glass vial, nearly perfectly preserved, several small oil lamps with soot still in them from use, various coins and beads, and a collection of ceramic vessels used to hold perfume and oil.

Aviva Klompas: Fighting for Israel and the Jewish People While Telling the Bigger Story

Following Oct. 7, there was so much misinformation surrounding what really happened that day and during the war that followed. Both the mainstream media and social media were rife with it, and it was difficult to distinguish what was true and what was a lie.
One person who consistently delivered factual, up-to-date, reliable information was Aviva Klompas, an X user who had quite the impressive resume. She’s co-founder of Boundless Israel, a think tank that specializes in Israel education and combating antisemitism, she was the associate vice president of Israel and Global Jewish Citizenship at Combined Jewish Philanthropies, and she served as the head of speechwriting at the Israel Mission to the UN.

‘Friends no longer speak to me’: How it feels to be a British Jew after October 7

It wasn’t just the world that changed the day Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 last year. The world of British Jews did too, as mutating strains of anti-Semitism worked their way beyond smashed shopfronts and violent protests and into the domestic and everyday. And each witness uses the same expression. The silence was deafening.
“My whole life has changed since October 7,” says Barbara Smith*, 49, from London. “I’ve lost half my friends. I’ve lost my best friend. I don’t know how the situation will ever right itself.”
There are only 287,000 Jews in Britain, the same number as Buddhists but a tiny minority compared to the four million Muslims. There is a new political climate in which – willingly or otherwise – British Jews have become inextricably linked to the state of Israel. Across a scale of opinion that ranges from wishing Israel to be destroyed to opposing Israel’s actions in Gaza, Jewish people are an enemy – supportive of and complicit in the appropriated words “genocide” and “Zionism”.
Stemming from this, some Jews say, is hostility and suspicion that has seeped into every area of their lives, fuelling uncertainty about where it will flare up next, never being sure of the intentions of those with whom they interact daily.

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!

This week's collection of EoZ cartoons

There is still a backlog, but this gets us closer to catching up.

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!

Iran and Hezbollah looking for any excuses not to attack Israel

It's been 17 days since Iran warned that its vengeance attack on Israel was imminent. Western analysts have stated literally every day that the attack could happen within 24 hours.

It is increasingly clear that Iran - and Hezbollah - really don't want to attack Israel, and are looking for a way out that would save face without exposing their own weaknesses.

The latest reason given was by a source close to Hezbollah, saying that the terror group doesn't want to be held accountable for disrupting the ceasefire talks in Doha or a potential deal.

Iran, sensitive to how weak it looks by not responding, has been spinning the lack of response into a type of response itself, claiming that by keeping Israel on edge it is accomplishing the same result. Here is the cover of an IRGC-linked magazine yesterday:

Nearly every article and quote has the same theme: Israel is a nervous wreck and Iran is winning without firing a shot.

The top headline is "The shadow of the planes" showing a Photoshop of a cowering Netanyahu. The quote says Israel's "fear of Iran's response has become more deadly" than the response itself. The article titles are "Hasty actions of Israel out of fear of Iran," "Western analysis of Israel's situation: waiting for death is harder than death itself," "Fear of Iran; Israeli Military Sources: Stop the Gaza War," "The United States struggled to save Israel from Hezbollah's response," and "Zionist expert: We are in a nerve-wracking situation."

This is all spin to detract from the previous eagerness to attack Israel all over Iranian media two weeks ago, and last week's claims that the delay was "tactical." The main IRNA Iranian news agency and the Iran Students News Agency barely have any articles about Israel on their Farsi front pages today - the drumbeats for war have all but disappeared. (Their English editions, as well as English language PressTV, are still filled with invective against Israel, since they are intended for a Western audience. )

It is also possible that the massive cyberattack against Iran's banking system was a subtle warning from Israel that it could seriously hurt Iran's economy without any missiles or bullets. Iran's economy is in a very precarious state and it wouldn't take much to bring it down. As much as Iran seeks revenge, it is still a rational actor and does not want to end up much weaker afterwards.

I still think there will be an Iranian response. Honor demands it. I can imagine one that is aimed at Israeli interests outside Israel itself, in a third country that is not a threat to Iran (like, say, Greece or Norway.) But as time goes on, Iran's already weak justification and apparent appetite for a large scale response goes further down.

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!