The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine announced, on Thursday evening, 11/14/2024, to our great Palestinian people and to the sons of our Arab and Islamic nation, a group of the movement’s sons who were martyred in the sinful aggression that targeted the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Thursday evening.Jihad said in a statement that reached the Palestine Today News Agency: “The barbaric aggression launched by the enemy army against a number of civilian institutions and residential homes comes within the framework of its ongoing crimes against the peoples of our nation, and reflects its military failure in confronting the resistance forces on the ground, especially in Gaza and southern Lebanon.”
Friday, November 15, 2024
- Friday, November 15, 2024
- Elder of Ziyon
Thursday, November 14, 2024
Melanie Phillips: America’s electrifying counter-revolution
America is attempting to clean up its house. Europeans are burning theirs down.Exposed: Anti-Israel Group Under Fire for Using Name of Raphael Lemkin, Zionist Who Coined the Term Genocide
Within hours of his re-election as president of the United States, Donald Trump started the process of rolling back the influence of the left on American society.
In a series of uncompromising statements, Trump announced that he would reclaim the universities from “Marxist maniacs,” deport Hamas sympathizers and haters of America, and tear up the entire “climate change” agenda.
His picks for government positions have been no less uncompromising. One after another, his senior appointments have been of people who take absolutely no prisoners in their support for Israel, in their attachment to core Western values, including biblical faith, and in their commitment to uphold and defend America’s interests at home and abroad.
It’s an electrifying turnaround following four years of America’s defeatism, self-destruction and dumping on its allies. Israel is daring to wonder if, at long last, it might be allowed to win its war of survival and if, even more amazingly, an elusive peace might actually be brought to the whole region.
Others are more cautious, viewing Trump as the ultimate loose cannon and observing uneasily that a couple of his administration picks have controversial and even obnoxious records.
Nevertheless, his victory has given hope to those who have watched aghast as America has steadily immolated itself in the flames of cultural division, national self-hatred and unreason—the bonfire of Western identity and constitutional order that was lit and relentlessly stoked by the left.
In that process, the mainstream media have been active players by reflexively pushing the falsehoods and distortions of anti-American, anti-West and anti-Israel ideology.
Trump’s stunning victory was as much as anything an emphatic repudiation of those media outlets by millions of Americans who just aren’t buying it anymore and are instead getting their information—for good and ill—from X, podcasts and other social media.
Parts of the media appear to understand this and are also going in for some house cleaning. Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times, has announced that he will revamp his “very left” editorial board in order to include more conservative and centrist opinions in the paper.
And CNN is reportedly about to make sweeping layoffs, including some of its biggest stars, in a bid to save the network’s crashing reputation and ratings.
These are promising developments but will scarcely scratch the surface of the problem. The cultural malevolence in the “progressive” world, of which the media is its propaganda arm, is deeply ingrained and extends way beyond American politics.
Members of the family of Raphael Lemkin, a Jewish lawyer who coined the term “genocide” and pushed for the passage of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, say they are outraged that a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit organization is using the Lemkin name to pursue an agenda of extreme anti-Israel activism.Ben & Jerry’s sues Unilever for blocking ‘pro-Palestine’ action
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention was initially registered as a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation on Aug. 19, 2021, and won US federal tax-exempt recognition in September 2023. In recent months, it has veered into strident anti-Israel political advocacy, supporting anti-Israel campus protests and reaching millions of viewers with social media posts that falsely accuse Israel of genocide.
Less than one week after the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, the institute released a “genocide alert” calling the onslaught an “unprecedented military operation against Israel” while decrying the Jewish state’s actions against Hamas as “genocide.” The Oct. 13 message came before Israeli launched its ground offensive in Gaza.
Then on Oct. 18, 2023, the Lemkin Institute called on the International Criminal Court “to indict Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the crime of #genocide in light of the siege and bombardment of #Gaza and the many expressions of genocidal intent.” The social media post accumulated 1.3 million views, according to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
The institute’s vocal anti-Israel advocacy has continued unabated for the past year. In September, for example, it described Israel’s war against Lebanese Hezbollah as “terrorism” and “the slaughter of Arab peoples” leading to “the wanton slaughter of all mankind.” The post did not mention that Hezbollah is an internationally designated terrorist organization that began firing rockets at Israel the day after the Oct. 7 attacks.
‘Totally Outraged’: Lemkin Family Disavows Institute
Joseph Lemkin, a New Jersey lawyer who is related to Raphael Lemkin, said he was unfamiliar with the institute until being informed of it by The Algemeiner.
Lemkin, who represented the family at a UN event marking the 65th anniversary of the genocide convention, described himself as “totally outraged” to see his late relative’s name used to push an anti-Israel agenda. His father was Raphael Lemkin’s first cousin.
Ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerry’s on Wednesday sued its parent company, Unilever, for allegedly blocking its efforts to voice support for Palestinians in Gaza.
The lawsuit, which was filed in the United States, claims that Unilever had threatened to dismantle Ben & Jerry’s board and pursue legal action against its members over this issue, Reuters reported.
The lawsuit highlights ongoing tensions between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever that began in 2021 when Ben & Jerry’s announced it would no longer sell its products in Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria. Doing so ran contrary to Ben & Jerry’s values, the firm said. This decision prompted some investors to divest from Unilever.
Ben & Jerry’s has taken legal action against Unilever before, after it sold the brand’s business in Israel to a local licensee, allowing continued sales in Israel and Judea and Samaria. That lawsuit was settled in 2022.
In this latest legal action, Ben & Jerry’s accuses Unilever of violating terms of the confidential 2022 settlement. Under this agreement, Unilever is required to “respect and acknowledge the Ben & Jerry’s independent board’s primary responsibility over Ben & Jerry’s social mission,” according to the lawsuit.
“Ben & Jerry’s has on four occasions attempted to publicly speak out in support of peace and human rights,” the lawsuit states, “Unilever has silenced each of these efforts.”
Unilever did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Reuters reported.
Last year, a Manhattan judge dismissed another lawsuit against Unilever by investors who said that Ben & Jerry’s political involvement on behalf of the Palestinians was hurting Unilever, and that Unilever had failed to properly disclose details about this.
Seth Frantzman: Israel must press ahead and finish off either Hamas or Hezbollah – for peace
The IDF is now deployed on two fronts. Five divisions – the bulk of the army – is in the north. Three divisions are operating in Gaza, while two have the job of securing the Gaza border and corridors across the Strip, one of which is south of Gaza City and the other runs along the Egyptian border. In essence, this leaves the IDF with only one division that can act as a mobile hammer against Hamas. It is not hard to transfer forces from the northern to southern fronts. The IDF moved the 98th Division from Gaza to fight in Lebanon in early September. Other units have moved from one area to another.Trump admin will bring ‘new thinking’ to hostage deal stalemate, father of murdered captive says
Israel faces numerous hurdles next year. Fewer IDF reservists are turning up to their units due to the strain of being called up for ten months out of the last year. Israel’s defence budget is ballooning, possibly creating more economic challenges for the country. Essential tools for the war effort such as D-9 bulldozers from the US are also taking time to arrive. Armoured vehicles have seen so much unprecedented action that the IDF now has to outsource repairs for them. This is what a long, intense war looks like.
But for all the challenges ahead, Israel has many opportunities. The incoming Trump administration is expected to be very supportive of Israel. This may deter Iran and its proxies, or at least give Israel a blank cheque to wipe the floor with them if need be. However, a blank cheque can also be deceptive. Israel will have the support it needs but it will need to decide what to do with all these open options.
Handing Hamas or Hezbollah a clear defeat is necessary for peace. Israel has eliminated the leaders of both groups, but the groups have vowed to carry on the war. They also have backing from abroad; Russia, Iran, China, Turkey and other countries have an interest in this war continuing, each for their own reasons. A clear victory on one of the fronts is therefore a setback for Iran in the region, and would also bolster the US and the west globally.
Relatives of hostages, whom Hamas holds in Gaza, came out of a Wednesday afternoon Oval Office meeting with U.S President Joe Biden hopeful about future progress amid the lame duck period and transition of White House administrations.I am a Palestinian in Gaza. Hamas must cede control and release the hostages
JNS asked the family members if Biden had committed to do anything differently in the final two months of his tenure to secure a deal that would release the hostages.
“The fact that there is a new administration that will put new thoughts on the table, new thinking, and I think that–by itself—is a welcome progress,” Ruby Chen, the father of the Israeli-American hostage Itay Chen, whose body is being held in Gaza, told JNS. “We have been in a stalemate for a couple of months on the hostage deal.”
Jake Sullivan, the U.S. national security advisor, said earlier in the day that the Biden administration “sent a signal” to Trump’s team that it is prepared to coordinate on a hostage deal.
There has been no agreement in place since Hamas broke a ceasefire following last November’s agreement, which resulted in the release of 50 Israeli hostages over a four-day pause in fighting. Some 101 hostages remain in Gaza, 97 of whom were abducted on Oct. 7. It isn’t known publicly how many are alive.
Jonathan Dekel-Chen, the father of Israeli-American hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen, told reporters that family members “came away absolutely understanding that with that same energy and investment, President Biden and his team will continue working to gain the release” of all the hostages “every moment up until Jan. 20,” the final day of Biden’s presidency.
Dekel-Chen said that the families are also calling on the incoming Trump administration “to use these next two months not to learn necessarily about the hostages, but to take action immediately with their counterparts in the national security structure of the United States government to make it happen now—before Inauguration Day.”
Do not believe the liars who boast from hotel stages and appear on misleading satellite channels. Do not trust the pompous leaders, their assistants, the foolish drummers, or any spokesperson who lacks honor or piety. They are nothing but merchants of lies and fraud.
Believe us—the people of Gaza. We are the residents of worn-out tents, the living saints who see and witness everything. We alone know what has happened and what is happening. We feel the fire of war that was imposed upon us, on a morning we never could have imagined. It fell upon us like a day of reckoning, separating the industry of life from the game of death. We have become targets for bombings and displacement, with no one to protect or help us.
Do not believe the liars, and do not listen to those who invoke our name from afar. Do not call us heroes or steadfast. We are the unfortunate, displaced, exhausted, and suffering.
We have lost everything—everything, except our trust in our Lord to take revenge on those who brought this oppression upon us, who left us prey to be devoured by the occupation. We will also hold accountable those who kill, uproot, and rob us of our land, as well as those who profit from our pain.
This is our reality—plain and honest—not the lies of the deceitful or the claims of fools. Effective intervention must come from the Palestinian leadership led by President Mahmoud Abbas, recognized as the sole representative of the Palestinian people. Hamas must cede its control, allow a ceasefire, and facilitate the release of abductees in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The leadership must bear full responsibility, working with the world and Israel to rebuild Gaza and address all issues, paving the way for the establishment of a Palestinian state living in peace and stability alongside Israel.
- Thursday, November 14, 2024
- Elder of Ziyon
- humor, Preoccupied
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Bandar Abbas, November 17 - Escalating strikes between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Israel have leaders of the former worried about the vulnerability of its military and merchant vessels, a weak point in the regime's economic security, and as a result they have given preliminary approval to a plan that will send those vessels to the bottom of the Persian Gulf to prevent Israeli airstrikes or cruise missiles from hitting them, sources in Tehran reported today.
The Islamic Republic's continued support for various terrorist militias around the Jewish state, plus its own multiple ballistic and cruise missile attacks, prompted several Israeli reprisals and preemptive operations, the latest of which neutralized Iran's air defense systems, among other strategic targets, rendering sensitive and precarious pieces of the regime's strategic assets only one airstrike or other attack away from destruction or severe damage. Among those assets are elements of Iran's nuclear weapons program and the country's oil export facilities. Tehran will likely send those tankers and a number of both dockside and floating facilities to the sea bed, out of reach of Israeli bombs, missiles, or drones.
"Underwater environments wreak havoc with missile guidance systems," explained Iranian military expert Ayeet Mehrd. "Even pilots attempting to sight their targets visually cannot do so if the target lies below a certain depth. It makes obvious sense to protect whatever Iran can by sinking it in the Persian Gulf preemptively."
Analysts compared the move to siting important military installations or positions underground. "We know that tunnels and underground facilities are a staple of Iran and its proxies in the region," noted Mideast commentator Ahopyu Draoun. "Recent reports even have the Khamenei regime digging tunnels in Tehran itself. The principle for the maritime and naval assets is the same, but without all the digging."
Draoun also noted some potential pitfalls of the move. "Israel has a navy and even submarines," he observed. "Iran's defensive capabilities in that area are... less than impressive. Still, an Israeli operation all the way around the Arabian Peninsula, beyond the Strait of Hormuz, to hit those now-underwater targets, and back again, probably exceeds Israeli naval capabilities. Probably."
The Iranian sources further disclosed that the senior leadership of the regime had begun to lean in the direction of the submerging of the assets rather than a rival proposal involving the movement of the tankers into the interior of the country where Israeli naval assets could not reach them.
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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- Thursday, November 14, 2024
- Elder of Ziyon
What a surprise. @UNRWA schools with Hamas-linked principals taught support for terror and martyrdom
[Israel] identified twelve UNRWA employees in the Gaza Strip holding senior positions (schools principals, deputies, directors and deputy directors of training centers) as members of Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The intelligence shows that over 10% of the 510 employees in UNRWA's education system in the Gaza Strip, who hold senior positions, are members of Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, both of which are designated terror organizations.Two of the Hamas-member UNRWA employees were principals of schools under which Hamas tunnels were built, as revealed by UNRWA itself: Al-Maghazi Boys Preparatory School B, and Al-Zaytun Boys Preparatory School A. ...The report found that Al-Maghazi school produced material glorifying violence and terrorism, such as a text describing a firebomb attack on a bus carrying Israelis as a "barbecue party." The report also showed that terrorists such as Dalal Al-Mughrabi, who committed the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre, are glorified as heroes in the classrooms of Al-Zaytun Boys Elementary Schools A, an UNRWA school located in the same complex as the Al-Zaytun Preparatory School. UNRWA repeatedly claims that it does not teach content praising Mughrabi, yet these examples are clear evidence to the contrary.Furthermore, this report exposes new material prepared by and taught in three schools, whose principals were identified as Hamas operatives... Educational content prepared and adopted by these schools promotes libels against and non-recognition of Israel, and gratuitously inserts content promoting hatred and violence against Israel into grammar exercises.
An Arabic Language study card produced by an UNRWA school in the Gaza Strip contains a reading comprehension story, cynically celebrating an attack on Israeli passengers traveling on a bus, describing it as a “barbecue party” (ḥaflat šiwā’). Contextually, this story references a 1988 Palestinian attack on an Israeli school bus near the settlement of Psagot in the West Bank, which involved the use of Molotov cocktails.The 5th grade Arabic Language summary teaches a text titled "I Love My Village" (p. 8) which presents martyrdom in a positive light by praising the fact that the land—referring to Palestine—is “mixed with the blood of the martyrs.” It also teaches students (p. 15) that martyrdom and jihad are “the most important meanings of life” through an exercise practicing vocabulary and Arabic grammar.On September 9, 2023, the Telegram group for the 5th grade [of one of the Hamas-led UNRWA schools] , class 1, posted a photo of a blackboard in a school classroom in which students are taught a lesson from the PA textbook titled "Hooray for the Heroes", which glorifies individuals affiliated with war, violence, religious extremism and even terrorism, such as Izz Ad-Din Al-Qassam. Children are encouraged to see these heroes as their role models: “each of us wishes to be like them”. The blackboard shows the name of the lesson's title and questions from the textbooks discussing the importance of such "heroes".On March 2, 2022, the Telegram group for the 5th grade, class 1,144 posted images of a classroom blackboard displaying a large photo of Dalal Mughrabi, along with text venerating her from a PA Arabic textbook (Arabic Language, Grade 5, Vol. 2, 2020, p. 52.)145 The next day, on March 3, 2022, the same Telegram group posted photos of the students presenting to the class while standing in front of the blackboard with the lesson on [mass murderer] Dalal Mughrabi. [UNRWA has denied any school teach praise for Mughrabi.]On September 14, 2023, Malek al-Harazin, a teacher at the school, uploaded a summary of a lesson from the National Education textbook to a grade 5 Telegram group. The summary teaches students that Israel steals Palestinian antiquities, presenting them as Jewish,166 which implies that Israel has no historic connection to the land. The summary uploaded by al-Harazin teaches that the aim behind the robbery of antiquities is to expel Palestinians and to colonize their lands.
- Thursday, November 14, 2024
- Elder of Ziyon
- Thursday, November 14, 2024
- Elder of Ziyon
Military Imperative and the Security ExceptionThe burden is on Israel, as the occupying power of Gaza, to prove that overriding military reasons have made its repeated instructions to evacuate – which have displaced nearly all of Gaza’s population – imperative, or the evacuations were necessary for the security of the population itself. The term “imperative” sets a very high threshold – higher than an ordinary assessment of military necessity. Displacement can only be justified if it is a measure of last resort for military operations where there are no feasible alternatives. It does not suffice for civilians to be at risk from an active or reasonably expected threat from an act (the Israeli bombardment) that would deprive Palestinian armed groups of, or secure for Israel, as the occupier, a military advantage. For there to be a military imperative, the operation threatened must be one whose frustration would threaten the entire military objective in the conflict.Israel cannot simply rely on the presence of members of Palestinian armed groups, materiel, and installations in Gaza to justify the displacement of civilians. Israel would have to demonstrate that displacement of the civilians was, in each instance, its only option.Evacuating a protected population for their security refers to the temporary removal or relocation of civilians from an area of danger or imminent harm to a safer location. This can be done to protect the population from military operations, ongoing hostilities, or other risks to their safety. While it could be argued that Israel at times moved Palestinians in Gaza to areas that were safer than areas from which they were ordered to leave, this report demonstrates that evacuation routes and so-called safe zones were consistently and repeatedly bombed, undermining the Israeli military’s position that people were being moved “for their safety.” Israel cannot rely on the security and safety of civilians as a justification for evacuating people if there are no safe areas to which civilians can move. Ultimately, as this report will show, even if Israel can demonstrate that its actions fall within the displacement exception, its lack of adherence to the strict protections required to make an evacuation lawful demonstrates that its orders for people to move were a pretext for forced displacement.
- Thursday, November 14, 2024
- Elder of Ziyon
Do you know what Turkey 's new super agenda is? Jews in Trump's cabinet!So what was Trump going to do in the USA , the center of World Zionism? Was he going to have a cabinet composed of Muslims?Even in Turkey, where the overwhelming majority is Muslim, capital, media, politics, bureaucracy, judiciary, army, culture and art community, trade have been under the dominance of the Salonika Dönme Sabbatean Jewish Group for 100 years. Moreover, we are talking about the USA.The illusionist media and academia have obscured the fact that the Cabinet, established after the elections of May 14-28 in Turkey, has taken control of the state and power by the hypocritical Sabbatean Clique Oligarchy, are crowing on the screens about the Jews in Trump's potential cabinet!.....What is President Trump's crime? Appointing Jews to the cabinet! The US is already a Jewish empire. It is just a Zionist apparatus under Jewish hegemony from top to bottom.
What could be more natural than having Jewish names in Trump's cabinet? So why is the Sabbatean Jewish community in Turkey opposing this natural development ?Because the Jews in the USA are divided into two! Globalist Zionists and Nationalist Zionists. Globalist Zionists want the establishment of the Greater Kingdom of Israel and for China to be the new superpower of the world. Nationalist Zionists, on the other hand, say that Israel is now a very heavy burden for them and an unnecessary burden that they carry on their backs, they want to get rid of it and they want the hegemony of the USA to continue.The fight between the Globalist and Nationalist Zionists is now a fight to the death. The power and mind behind the Globalists is Israel; the power and mind behind the Nationalists is Turkey.The Israel-dissimulating Sabbatean Clique Oligarchy illusionist media and academia in Turkey are well aware of this fact and are attacking President Trump through the Jewish ministers in his cabinet in order to wear him down. Because the Sabbatean Jews of Salonika are also on the side of the globalist Zionists in the power struggle in the US. That is why they are at the forefront of hostility towards Trump.
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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Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Bret Stephens: A Worldwide ‘Jew Hunt’
Notice what these attackers aren’t saying. They aren’t expressing themselves in the faddish language of anti-Zionism. They aren’t denouncing Israeli policy or speaking up for Palestinian rights. They aren’t trying to make careful distinctions between Jews and Israelis. They are, like generations of pogromists before them, simply out to get the Jews — a reminder, if one was needed, of the truth often attributed to Maya Angelou: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”Natan Sharansky: We Are Never Alone
Which makes it even more remarkable how strenuously some people initially tried to obscure the nature of the Amsterdam pogrom. The media are rarely shy about calling out certain kinds of hate crimes as racist. Yet for days the word “antisemitic” was either put inside quotation marks or attributed to Dutch officials when talking about the violence. The identity of the attackers has been treated as a mystery, or a secret, beyond delicate references to people with “a migration background,” in the words of Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof.
A great deal of attention has also been paid to some Israeli fans who pulled down a Palestinian flag, vandalized a taxi and, in Hebrew, chanted ugly anti-Arab phrases. There’s no excuse for any of that. But rowdy English soccer fans in Germany have been known to celebrate German war casualties. Somehow it doesn’t lead to a frenzy of organized violence.
Nor does it add any light to provide the “context” of the war in Gaza as a way of trying to understand what happened in Amsterdam. No decent person would explain anti-Asian attacks in the United States by observing that attackers might be angry about, say, China’s human-rights abuses or its biosafety standards.
Yet so many supposedly decent people are quick to try to account for the evil that is done to Jews through reference to the evil (as they see it) that Jews do to others. As Leon Wieseltier pointed out years ago, this type of reasoning is not an explanation for antisemitism. It’s the essence of antisemitism.
Antisemitism in Europe has now reached the point where the future of many of its Jewish communities is seriously in doubt. I’m not sure most Europeans understand what a civilizational catastrophe this represents — albeit less for Europe’s Jews, most of whom will find other places to go and thrive, than for Europe itself. The fate of societies that become “Judenfrei” — free of Jews — has not, historically, been a happy one.
The United States is still a long way from this point, thanks to a larger and more politically confident Jewish community, along with a national culture that traditionally has generally admired Jews. But that culture is also under growing threat today, whether from Hamas’s fellow travelers in the Ivy League and the publishing world; Louis Farrakhan’s admirers in the Black community; or the alt-right inveighing, with a sinister wink, against “globalists” and “neocons.”
Americans (and not just Jews) should beware: If we stay on this path, the Jew hunt of Amsterdam may be upon us, too, and sooner than we think.
During a swing through California with the organization Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), Natan Sharansky addressed a private group of donors at a breakfast sponsored by the Jewish Community Foundation, the largest manager of charitable assets for Jewish philanthropists in Greater Los Angeles. Sharansky is chair of the CAM Advisory Board and held meetings in Southern California with Jewish communal leaders and grassroots activists ahead of CAM’s upcoming Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism in Beverly Hills on Dec. 11-13. More than 200 mayors are expected to attend the Mayors Summit to share best practices and discuss ways to counter antisemitism.'History is back, and the old normal isn’t returning' Bari Weiss tells young Jewish leaders
Sharansky is a modern-day hero, imprisoned for nine years in the Soviet Union for his activism on behalf of Soviet Jews trying to emigrate to Israel. He was finally freed in 1986 and reunited with his wife, Avital, in Israel, where he has lived ever since. Over the years he served in several capacities in the Israeli government, as well as the head of the Jewish Agency for Israel, promoting rights for new immigrants, religious minorities, and women. Sharansky’s most recent book is “Never Alone: Prison, Politics, and My People.” Natan Sharansky, Justin Jampol, founder and executive director of The Wende Museum of the Cold War.
At the breakfast on Nov. 7, Sharansky answered questions by moderator Justin Jampol, founder and executive director of The Wende Museum in Culver City, whose collections and programs focus on the Cold War, and then from the audience. The following are edited highlights from his answers.
Q: How can Israel continue to heal from the war?
Natan Sharansky: Oct. 7 has changed our self-image. We know we can no longer appease our enemies. Yes, mistakes were made by the government and by the military, but we are in a much better place strategically than before. We finally know the real enemy is Iran and we are much less afraid.
Israel is such a small country, and we feel the tragedy of the hostages and the many, many losses of our soldiers. Every loss is deeply felt. But we also have a deeply idealistic young generation whose readiness to continue to fight despite their personal sacrifices is unbelievable. I believe the vast majority of soldiers agree that they must fight until Hamas is destroyed and oppose a ceasefire. I have encouraged soldiers sharing the same tanks to go into politics to expand and broaden our political coalitions. They become close, sharing a tank.
“History is back, and the old normal isn’t returning,” Bari Weiss, a journalist and the founder of the Free Press, told an audience of young Jewish leaders at the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly in Washington.
Addressing over 100 participants of the Change Makers Fellowship and thousands of participants from across North America on Tuesday, Weiss urged attendees to recognize the “new world” they faced, one she described as increasingly hostile to Jewish values and identity.
In her speech, Weiss highlighted a series of recent and historical events that she believed marked a turning point for the Jewish community, including the October 7 Hamas massacre and the public displays of anti-Jewish sentiment that followed.
“If it feels like the end. That’s because all beginnings do,” she said, cautioning her audience not to grow complacent. “We bend the arc of history; it doesn’t bend on its own.”
Throughout her address, Weiss underscored the importance of resilience and vigilance in the face of rising antisemitism.
“We must learn… the resilience, the vigilance, the courage, and the pride not just to survive, but to thrive in this new world,” she said, drawing inspiration from Jewish dissidents in the Soviet Union who resisted oppression despite immense pressure.
Anti-Zionism is antisemitism
Weiss added, “The task for us at this moment is to learn from those who never had the luxury of losing their instinct for danger.”
Reflecting on recent antisemitic incidents and societal shifts, Weiss challenged the young leaders to be unafraid to speak truthfully and to hold their own communities accountable.
“Anti-Zionism is antisemitism, full stop,” she said, denouncing what she called “the perverse need to indulge in panel discussions” on the matter within the Jewish community itself.
She added, “We need to take the phrase ‘globalize the intifada’ seriously. It is not a fun rally chant. It is a call for violence against our community.”
Weiss also took aim at what she described as “the quiet purging of proud Jews” from influential spaces in art, education, and human rights groups.
CIA Officer Arrested in Cambodia for 'Deadly Serious' Leak of Classified US Docs on Israel
An overseas CIA officer was arrested Tuesday in Cambodia and charged with leaking highly classified U.S. intelligence on Israel’s military plans for a strike on Iran, according to the New York Times.British cop arrested for supporting Hamas online
The Times identified the officer as Asif W. Rahman. He was indicted last week on two counts of "willful retention and transmission of national defense information" and transported to federal court in Guam to face the charges.
The leaked documents, which showed Israeli military movements in preparation for a retaliatory strike on Iran last month, sparked an international firestorm, with both American and Israeli officials accusing the Biden-Harris administration of working to hamstring Israel’s sensitive operations. One senior Biden-Harris official described the leak as "deadly serious" and part of "a concerted campaign to leak what at least seems to be classified information by anti-Israel elements."
The materials—compiled by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency—revealed Israeli Air Force movements and munitions ahead of the counterstrike, which was delayed as a result. Israel ultimately made good on its promise to strike Iran late last month, destroying large swaths of Tehran’s air defense systems and several military installations.
Rahman held a top-secret security clearance and could access the information as part of his CIA duties. The documents first emerged publicly on a Telegram channel tied to the Iranian regime.
While the leak served to further erode already tense diplomatic relations between the United States and Israel, the Jewish state made clear that it would not be deterred from a strike on Iran as payback for Tehran's two massive ballistic missile attacks this year.
"After we attack in Iran, they will understand in Israel and elsewhere what your preparations have included," former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant said shortly after the classified documents became public. "Everyone will understand your strength, the process of preparation and training—any enemy that tries to harm the State of Israel will pay a heavy price."
The leak also ignited congressional investigations, with Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) ordering the Biden-Harris administration to brief Congress every two weeks until the leaker was caught.
"This leak is an outrageous betrayal of an ally and a breach of trust that will undermine our relationship with partners for years to come," Cotton said last month in a letter to the White House. "I am deeply concerned as to whether your administration will adequately address this serious security breach."
Counter-terrorism officers in the United Kingdom arrested a policeman in southwestern England on Tuesday on suspicion of online activity linked to supporting Hamas.Canadian teens planned to bomb pro-Israel rally at Parliament Hill
Counter Terrorism Policing South West officers arrested the man in Gloucester, the BBC reported on Wednesday. The officer, who is in his 30s, was taken to a police facility outside Gloucestershire, the BBC reported on Wednesday. It did not say how he expressed or engaged in support for Hamas.
Authorities searched the policeman’s home and vehicle to locate and analyze digital devices, according to Gloucestershire Police Assistant Chief Constable Arman Mathieson.
“The arrest of a serving officer on suspicion of such a serious offense will no doubt cause our communities concern, as it does everyone who works for Gloucestershire Police,” Mathieson told the BBC. “The arrest has been made to allow for a prompt and effective investigation to take place and we must not draw any conclusions at this stage.”
In the U.K., providing support to a proscribed terrorist group, such as Hamas, violates section 12 of the Terrorism Act.
Following the Hamas-led invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, British officials have raised concerns about anti-Israel rallies that may have promoted terrorism, urging that support for Hamas be prosecuted under the full extent of the law.
Two Canadian teens who were arrested in December and February planned to bomb a pro-Israel rally at Ottawa’s Parliament Hill, court documents obtained by Global News showed on Tuesday.
The suspects, whom Canadian police have identified only as “young persons,” are “alleged to have formed a plan last fall to violently attack Jewish persons in Ottawa, possibly through the detonation of an explosive device at a pro-Israel rally,” the Department of Justice said.
The assertion that a pro-Israel demonstration was the target of the thwarted terror attack appeared in an application by federal lawyers to withhold sensitive national security information from the criminal trials.
One accused is being charged with possessing acetone, oxidizer and metal ball bearings. All are possible components of homemade bombs.
According to the government’s Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre, the plot was allegedly linked to ISIS, also known by the Arabic acronym Daesh, and was “possibly accelerated” by Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
“At least one of the individuals was reportedly in contact with DAESH overseas and the arrests occurred during a period of DAESH calls to violence in response to the conflict,” the agency wrote.
The first suspect was arrested on Dec. 15 and charged with conspiracy to murder and “communicating instructional material related to an explosive substance.” Prosecutors also charged him with recruiting a second suspect to “carry out a terrorist activity against Jewish persons.”
- Wednesday, November 13, 2024
- Varda Meyers Epstein (Judean Rose)
- 07Oct23, elections, iran, Judean Rose, Varda, Varda Opinion
Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of
the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.
Trump trounced Harris and the next morning, she conceded. Now,
all that was left was for Dems to do grieve. Except for the small matter of
sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner with their Trump-happy relatives in just a
little over 3 weeks—less at the time of this writing. Should Harris voters be
expected to sit across the table from their cretinous MAGA cousins?
Calhoun’s advice, I’d venture to say, runs contrary to what most
of us were taught by our mothers; namely that is courteous to set aside political
differences at the holiday table for the sake of preserving family harmony. We can
agree to disagree, because presidents come and go but family is family until
death do you part. We spend time with family at the holidays not because they
are entitled to our presence, but because it’s a tradition we value and cherish
as a society.
In Israel, of course, there is no such November 28th
conundrum to worry about. For one thing, most of those celebrating Thanksgiving
in Israel are expat Americans. They left their families behind to make Aliyah,
so there’s no one to argue with at table.
Then again, Thanksgiving is something expat Americans mostly
celebrate for the sake of the food: turkey, stuffing, yams, gravy, cranberry
sauce, and pie. And guess what? Sitting down to eat that meal will be pure
pleasure not only because of the food and the lack of argumentative relatives,
but because Donald J. Trump won—which means that this year, the only
arguing around Israeli Thanksgiving tables will be over who gets the wishbone.
With our stateside cousins of course, it is a different
story. We spend time with them only virtually in fits and starts. That makes it
a little easier to avoid tense subjects. And if ever there was a tense subject
it was this election, with most American Jews wildly at odds with their
Israeli counterparts.
Our cousins care about the hostages, but not as much as they
care about domestic issues, for example reproductive rights. They care about
Iran, but they care about abortion more; they have been told that Donald J.
Trump will take away their rights to their own bodies. Kamala Harris told them
so.
Joy Reid told them so.
In Israel, we understand our Jewish cousins in America have
domestic priorities. But we have trouble understanding how they feel about
geopolitics. We don’t like to think that they are ignorant, but do they know
they voted for a woman who helped fund October 7 and all that has happened in
its wake?
Israelis are hyper-aware of these geopolitics. So much so
that in the run up to the election, all of us were tense. I was tense. My
neighbors were tense. We all knew that Israel’s enemies were watching and
waiting to see who would win the election. My personal fear was that if Harris
won, Hamas would take it as a green light to shoot all the remaining living
hostages dead.
I did not dare tempt evil by voicing my fears, but now, in
retrospect, I can talk about it because it didn’t happen—Harris lost.
But it was rough. In the run-up to the election I could literally see those
executions playing out in my mind’s eye. Over and over again. It was hard to hold down food. Hard to
breathe.
I don’t know if I was alone in experiencing these visions—but
I know my feelings of dread and terror were not exclusive to me. Everyone
around me felt the same way and we were all quietly speaking about it to each
other. The election was the Sword of Damocles hanging over not just the
hostages’ heads, but all our heads. This was something more than politics.
And it is that “something more” that makes it so difficult
to be polite as we were taught, and set aside differences for the sake of
family.
I know what you’re thinking. What’s the difference, Harris
lost. But you see, it’s the vote that counts. It’s the vote that hurt and
cut so deeply.
It’s hard to square it in our heads, how “family” could vote
for Harris, someone who sends money to Iran and ties Israel’s hands. Someone
who bears responsibility for the fact that the Jewish people are no longer safe
anywhere in the world.
Many of us have a very hard time with this. We think of what
happened on October 7, of the hostages and of the hundreds of soldiers who have
been killed since, beautiful young people, older reservists with wives and
children, and we can’t bring ourselves to agree to disagree and move on. It’s
just too hard. We can’t look the other way and call it “only politics.”
I myself think back to certain lovely childhood memories from back when I was a toddler, and I don’t know what to do. We are family and yet this "family" prioritizes something other than me, my family here, and our people. They prioritized something other than the hundreds of Israeli soldiers who died defending our people—something other than the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who can’t go home to their homes in the north.
How can I look the other way?
They put us all at risk.
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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- Wednesday, November 13, 2024
- Elder of Ziyon
Hezbollah has accused German forces within UNIFIL of shooting down a drone off the Lebanese coast on Oct. 17. The downing of the drone occurred following a series of attacks targeting UNIFIL forces in southern Lebanon.While they officially declared the drone's origin as "unknown," sources close to Hezbollah have suggested that the downed aircraft belonged to the party. An article published in the pro-Hezbollah newspaper Al-Akhbar directly accused German forces of intentionally targeting a "resistance drone," further fueling tensions.
- Wednesday, November 13, 2024
- Elder of Ziyon
New humanitarian aid crossing:-A new humanitarian aid crossing Into Gaza - the Kissufim crossing - started operating yesterday. This is part of our effort and commitment to increase the volume and routes of aid to Gaza. The aid enters Gaza after security checks at the Kerem Shalom Crossing.Aid trucks entry:-115 humanitarian aid trucks entered Gaza yesterday, 68 through Kerem Shalom, 32 via Erez, and 15 via the newly opened Kissufim crossing.-The trucks carried food, shelter equipment and medical supplies, including dialysis machines and water sanitation equipment.Aid Collection:Yesterday, only 41 trucks were collected from the Gazan side of Kerem Shalom by international organizations. Approx. 870 trucks worth of aid are waiting for collection.
Alternative and Dedicated Humanitarian Routes: Israel is constantly working to allow and facilitate aid organizations to transfer humanitarian aid within the Gaza Strip. For example, COGAT worked together with international organizations to facilitate the creation of humanitarian routes and alternative pathways within Gaza that would allow the continued coordination and flow of aid trucks within Gaza. A major route has been expanded to secure transport from northern to central Gaza, even during active, targeted operations. Additionally, subject to operational considerations, attempts are made to implement, on an almost daily basis, tactical pauses along certain routes, allowing for safer movement and facilitating that aid convoys reach their destinations without interference, as well as daily humanitarian pauses in various areas.Bottlenecks in Aid Collection: At the Kerem Shalom crossing, logistical constraints by the UN agencies have created bottlenecks of aid waiting to be collected and distributed within Gaza. In response, Israel facilitated the entry of additional empty trucks to assist with faster loading and facilitated the entry of forklifts to expedite aid handling.Assisting aid organizations with overcoming criminality: Israel has taken measures to allow and facilitate the collection of aid by the UN despite criminal elements attempting to loot aid trucks. Measures include coordinating collection from the crossing during various hours, including at night, paving alternative routes, increasing the fence road option to deliver aid directly into central Gaza, and other measures taken by the IDF against the looters.
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, November 13, 2024
- Elder of Ziyon
Yes... persecuting the inhabitants of the Jewish state wherever possible, considering them "wanted by human justice" should be the standard from the act of "human resistance" and a popular implementation of Article Seven of the United Nations Charter."The Amsterdam Leash"... Let it be a model for pursuing Jewish fascism in the journey of comprehensive confrontation... and a new symbol of human resistance that does not know defeat.