Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, December 09, 2024

Upcoming Journal of Architectural Education issue romanticizes Hamas and murdering Jews. It is just the tip of the iceberg of how academia is being subverted.

The Journal for Architectural Education has an upcoming issue called "Palestine."

The Call for Papers is a case study of how modern blood libels have infiltrated every corner of academia.

It claims that the slander that Israel is a genocidal, apartheid state is an established fact:

In the face of the ongoing Israeli genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza, this issue of the Journal of Architectural Education calls for urgent reflections on this historical moment’s implications for design, research, and education in architecture. This volume will build on existing knowledge, research and publications to continue to learn from and with practices of resistance to the Zionist, militarist, carceral, and capitalist regime of Israeli settler colonialism and apartheid.....Contributors might map, represent, theorize, and historicize genocide, ecocide, spaciocide, terracide, and urbicide as practices of colonial erasure and unpack the way they appear and operate.

It gets worse. Much worse.

The call for papers celebrates October 7 as hopeful:

The Palestinian philosopher Abdaljawad Omar argues that Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza and resistance to it—“no matter how horrific, bloody, and tragic”—cannot be reduced to a “pathology of violence.” Palestinians are not hapless victims nor motivated merely by “vengeance.” Omar advocates, instead, that a “pathology of hope” in a decolonial struggle “might ultimately create the space for new possibilities.” .....A decline of imposed Western hegemony corresponds with the rise of new formations of struggle and power that draw from radical possible histories, presents, and futures. Through this call for papers, we invite authors to engage with such formations of anti-colonial struggle within and beyond Palestinian geographies, reflecting on how Palestine has inspired pathologies of hope, constellations of coresistance, and infrastructures of resistance, the world over.

This is praise for a bloodthirsty, truly genocidal, Islamist terror ideology.

The romanticizing of Hamas and its murderers and rapists doesn't end there.

Though not human-built borders, the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea form the boundaries of aquatic imaginaries of sovereignty: the latter’s shores are equal parts a respite for Gaza’s citizens and the banks of now-heavily polluted waters weaponized by Israel in counterinsurgency efforts against Palestinian military resistance and the health of its soil. ...

In addition to weaponized environments of soil, water, and air, sites of consideration include the tunnel as a route of militants’ fight and prisoners’ flight, the blockade as carceral infrastructure, the safe haven of the hospital, the intergenerational sanctity and stewardship of the olive grove, the absenting of sacred space and cultural memory, the resistive archive, the breaching of the border fence and the rupture of settler containment...

This rhetoric sanitizes and romanticizes terrorist violence as a legitimate form of political struggle. By positioning the Hamas attack within a narrative of "anti-colonial struggle" and "decolonial hope," the text attempts to provide an intellectual veneer to a brutal terrorist massacre and mass rape of civilians. The call for papers seeks to transform acts of horrific violence into an academic discourse of liberation. This represents a profound corruption of academic standards, where a scholarly publication is being used to justify and celebrate terrorist violence rather than engage in genuine scholarly inquiry.

Beyond that, by excluding any other perspectives at the outset, they are brainwashing entire academic fields. There is no space for anyone who is not supportive of terror to be seen or heard in the pages of this journal.

Fields such as gender studies, Middle Eastern studies and anthropology have already been polluted and destroyed by these anti-Israel perspectives. Here, we see how the perverters of academia are encouraging brand new methods of research and scholarship for their own political ends, across every field they can find, to the detriment of academic research itself.

(h/t JW)

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

I am pleased to announce that my long-awaited collection of the best of my cartoons has been released.

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" highlights the absurdities of Israel haters and antisemites.

This is more than a cartoon book. This is a scathing critique of the progressive Left that exposes their hypocrisy and ignorance. Their statements in these cartoons are barely exaggerated from what they really say, from cocktail parties to the newsroom to the offices of so-called human rights groups and college campuses.

Yaakov Kirschen, legendary cartoonist of Dry Bones, says,

Elder's book is a delight, I LOVED it.
The few cartoons in this surprising collection that aren't absolutely fabulous are merely really good. Amazingly, this important and insightful book about antisemitism is actually fun to read. A feel-good experience, a powerful message, and a great gift to be shared with friends (and others).

"He's a Zionist Too!" shows in a humorous way how the line between "anti-Zionism" and antisemitism is largely an illusion.

It would make a great Chanukah gift for the Zionists in your life! Buy it today!

Two notes of apology: First, I accidentally named the book incorrectly in the Amazon page, missing the "Anti." I'm hoping to get this corrected but getting hold of anyone at Amazon is not easy. (UPDATE: Mostly corrected.)

Secondly, publishing in color is more expensive than black and white. The book costs more than I intended, but it is only about 15 cents per laugh, which is still a bargain!

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

There is no doubt that Hezbollah has been planning to rebuild its forces in Lebanon, whether north or south of the Litani, with or without the Lebanese army and UNIFIL watching, as soon as the IDF is no longer physically there.

However, Hezbollah was relying on the idea that Iranian weapons would resume being imported across the porous Syrian border. While Hezbollah had some rocket manufacturing facilities, chances are that they have almost all been heavily damaged or destroyed.

That rebuild is not nearly as easy now that Assad fell. Any Iranian weapons convoys that try to cross the country would probably be confiscated by the rebel forces.

This is the most obvious way Hezbollah could be affected by the fall of Syria, but not the only one.

Hezbollah claims the Shebaa Farms area, and the basis for that claim is that it is Lebanese, not Syrian (and therefor part of the Golan Heights annexed by Israel.) Syria has not claimed that area as a favor to Hezbollah although it hasn't relinquished it, either. If the new regime claims it as Syrian territory, Hezbollah's entire claimed reason for existence as "resistance" evaporates.

Also, Hezbollah got a large amount of income from the sale of illegal drugs, particularly Captagon, and it partnered with Syria in that enterprise. Now that avenue of revenue is severely impacted.

Furthermore, the fall of Assad was celebrated by the Sunnis and Christians of Lebanon. They are now even less likely to consider Hezbollah a veto power over their desires in Lebanon, as it has far less leverage than it had before.

It is a two way street - Hezbollah's weakness means Iran no longer has the power to impose its will on Lebanon, and the Lebanese were always resentful of their land being controlled by this outside Shiite power who does not have their best interests at heart.

I had argued for months that the Lebanese people had the power to pressure Hezbollah to stand down from an imminent major escalation with Israel. They were way too frightened to do so. But that was then - now they feel far more empowered with the combination of Hezbollah's and Assad's, not to mention Iran's black eye from Israel's attack on that regime in October.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah keeps shouting to the wind that they were victorious over Israel.

Israel's victory in Lebanon was great news for the people there. Syria's fall give the Lebanese people hope that it was not a temporary reprieve in wars every decade or two, but a real chance to build their own country.

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

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12/08 Links: As Assad falls and Iran weakens, Qatar gains influence across Middle East; This is Iran’s annus horribilis; Jewish community in Australia ‘no longer feel safe’

From Ian:

Seth Frantzman: As Assad falls and Iran weakens, Qatar gains influence across Middle East

While Iran may appear cornered, there are still many wheels in motion in the region. Qatar will benefit from Iran’s weakness because it gives Doha even more influence and sponsorship space – the one Iran lost – over groups such as Hamas or the new emerging rulers in Damascus.

The system works like this: Over the past few years, Iran backed various regional groups, positioning itself in the role of hollowing out the countries these groups are based in, weakening them, and filling that space with militias.In Iraq and Lebanon, the militias are Shi’ite – like the Iranian regime; in Yemen, they also are a local sect.

In Syria, the Assad family is Alawite, a minority group. That means Iran fed off working with non-Sunni groups in the region.The exception to that rule was Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. By sponsoring these groups, Iran gained significant influence over Palestinians, enabling it to escape what was partly a sectarian ghetto.

Qatar is a different story. Doha backed the Muslim Brotherhood for years all across the region, a group rooted in Sunni Islamic politics, meaning that Doha has often found influence in civil conflicts and has been on a different path than Iran.

This was the case in Libya, Syria, and with Hamas. Qatar lost out at times, like when the Muslim Brotherhood was overthrown in Egypt in 2013. It even suffered some isolation when Saudi Arabia led several Arab countries to break ties in 2017.

Qatar and Turkey have formed an iron bond, however, and both have reached out to Iran. Turkey, Iran, and Russia were all part of the Astana process that aimed to end the Syrian civil war, and all three, along with Qatar, support Hamas.

While Israel will gain from Iran’s weakness, it is not a complete victory because Hamas continues to control Gaza, is angling for influence in the West Bank, and is holding 100 hostages. The Iranian threat was only one part of the deadly chessboard in this region, and a new threat will emerge soon.

Israel has always faced new threats. In the 1950s and 1960s, they were led by Arab nationalist regimes. Later, they were replaced by the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. Turkey, whose leading Justice and Development Party (AKP) has roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, is one of the most vicious foes of Israel.

Make no mistake, the end of the Assad regime will not likely solve all of Israel’s challenges. Qatar is angling to make itself more important, and its historic hosting of Hamas presents a challenge to Israel’s security.

On October 7, 2023, more Jews were massacred in one day than at any time since the Holocaust. So, while Iran and its axis continued to be a threat, they could not massacre 1,200 people and kidnap 251. Israel prevented Iran and its allies from such activities.

The key issue right now is preventing Hamas and its backers in Ankara and Doha from exploiting the situation in Syria for their own ends.

Jonathan Schanzer: Assad End in Syria

The Syrian border with Israel, now fortified with ground troops and air power, is one to watch in the weeks and months ahead. The Israelis have already taken the buffer zone on the Golan Heights. But Northern Syria is another flashpoint to watch. This is the Kurdish region, which is already a target for the Turks and their Sunni jihadi proxies. The Kurdish People’s Defense Units or YPG have been a consistent concern for Ankara because of the group’s close ties to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a designated terrorist group in Turkey and in the United States. Never mind that the YPG played a significant role in the US campaign to defeat ISIS. Troublingly, Turkey has unfinished business in Syria. The Kurdish people, who have suffered mightily throughout their history, are slated for more suffering.

Alarmingly, the lame duck Biden Administration looks like a bystander. The region has its eyes instead on the X feed of President-Elect Donald Trump, who has advised America to simply let the drama in Syria play out. This may ultimately be the American interest, but the incoming Trump team should warn the patrons of the Syrian rebels—Turkey and Qatar—to keep their fighters away from America’s allies. This should include both Israel and the Kurds.

Some analysts believe that a consolidated Syrian state under Sunni control, after more than half a century of dominance by the country’s Alawite minority, could portend stability. Still others believe that sectarian cantons could emerge. Still others see the eventual Balkanization of the country. It’s obviously too soon to predict, but it certainly seems as if the Sunni rebels will dominate most if not, all of the country when the guns fall silent.

Whatever the map ultimately looks like, we are watching the return of a competition between two storied Middle East empires. The Iranian aspirations for a resurrected Persian empire experienced a massive setback yesterday. But those in Turkey seeking a neo-Ottoman order in the Middle East are elated. In other words, Syria has flipped from an Iranian satrap to an Ottoman sanjak overnight.

The fight for Syria appears to be over. The end of the Assad regime is an historic event. But history is still being written. The regional war launched by Hamas on October 7 has backfired horribly on its patrons in Tehran. Whether other unintended consequences follow is yet to be seen.

Syria: Better the Devil We Don't Know

From the perspective of Israel's strategic interests, the rebel attack in Syria presents opportunities that overshadow the risks. During the years when ISIS controlled territories in Iraq, the Iranian land route from Iran to Syria was blocked. Now, a similar blockage is expected to affect the land routes from Syria to Lebanon.

The chances of the recent agreement in Lebanon to restrain Hizbullah in the long term are increasing, as the process of its military recovery, after the war with Israel, will be slowed. At the same time, Iran's appetite for continuing cycles of threats and blows with Israel is expected to wane further, after Israel's effective strikes within its territory in October, which have already cooled its enthusiasm.

Some view Assad's regime as the "lesser evil" and argue that Israel would be better off with "the devil we know." According to this view, Assad is a figure with whom Israel can engage in deterrence dialogue (allowing air force freedom of action). He suppresses the Islamist forces that are far from being "Zionist-friendly," and he maintains a certain degree of stability in Syria and control over weapons, especially unconventional ones, within its territory.

We disagree. Assad, who massacred half a million of Syria's citizens and used chemical weapons against them, is a central figure in the axis that poses the most significant strategic threat to Israel. Most of Hizbullah's weapons have come from his production lines, his warehouses, or from Iran through Syrian territory. The ties between the Alawite regime in Syria and the mullah regime in Tehran are deep, and all efforts to distance Syria from Iran have been in vain.

On the other hand, the many Sunni rebel groups in Syria are not expected to direct their weapons toward Israel, certainly not in the immediate or medium term. They have a long-standing blood feud with Assad, Iran, and Hizbullah, and also among themselves.

Israel would prefer "the devil we don't know," as long as it leads to the weakening of Iran and the Shiite axis, which would mean a dramatic and positive shift for Israel in the regional balance of power.

How did UNRWA "verify" teachers weren't terrorists? By getting a signed letter from Hamas!

"Death to You, O Sons of Zion" message from URWA doctor on Facebook, 2015

UNRWA uses signed letters from the government to verify that their employees aren't terrorists.

In Gaza, that means that UNRWA trusts Hamas to tell it that its teachers and principals aren't Hamas members.

That is only one example of how poor UNRWA's vetting and investigation process is.

It it many months too late, but The New York Times looked at Israeli evidence that many UNRWA principals and top school officials in Gaza were in also Al Qassam Brigades terrorists.

They add details that show UNRWA is irresponsible even more than we had already known.

We see an agency that downplayed all evidence of its employees being terrorists, evidence that Hamas purposefully chose schools to "protect the resistance," and that its vetting procedures to ensure that they don't hire terrorists are worse than a joke.

The most damning details are buried deep in the article.

Paragraph 11:

Among the seized records are secret Hamas military plans that show that the Qassam Brigades regarded schools and other civilian facilities as “the best obstacles to protect the resistance” in the group’s asymmetric war with Israel. The documents also list two schools in particular that were to be used as redoubts where fighters could hide and stash weapons in a conflict.

Paragraph 13:

In several cases, educators remained employed by UNRWA even after Israel provided written warnings that they were militants.

Paragraph 26:

Residents of Gaza said in interviews that the idea that Hamas had operatives in UNRWA schools was an open secret. One educator on Israel’s list of 100 was regularly seen after hours in Hamas fatigues carrying a Kalashnikov.

Paragraphs 33-34:

Seized records say that the principal of the school, Khaled al-Masri, is a Hamas member who was issued an assault rifle and a handgun, and he is pictured standing in front of a Hamas banner on Facebook.
He remains on UNRWA’s staff, the agency says, but is under investigation for a social media violation.

Paragraph 39:

Even for criminal background checks, UNRWA relies on employees to self-report and provide confirmation of a clean record by way of a letter from the “de facto authorities.” In Gaza, that means Hamas, and before Hamas took over in 2007, it meant the Palestinian Authority.

And even when the UN investigates, it doesn't bother to investigate:

Paragraphs 41-42:

For nine of the workers, the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services said there was insufficient evidence to take action. But a copy of its report, which was never made public, says it did not consider evidence that Israel provided about their “alleged membership of the armed wing of Hamas or other militant groups.”

U.N. investigators ultimately only found that the other nine “may have” been involved. (In one case, investigators were shown video of the worker throwing a dead Israeli into an S.U.V.)

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

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From the front page of Iran's PressTV:

Israeli police have detained Rabbi Abraham Katz, a prominent anti-Zionist figure from New York, for over two months under a non-departure order, demonstrating the Benjamin Netanyahu regime's hostility toward everyone opposed to their genocidal war crimes.

Rabbi Katz, a citizen of both the United States and Canada, has been languishing behind bars for his pro-Palestine and anti-genocide activism in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Many prominent Jewish organizations around the world have urged the US and Canadian governments to intervene and pressure the Tel Aviv regime to release Rabbi Katz.

Well, besides that Rabbi Katz is not "behind bars," and Israel hasn't showed any interest in his anti-Zionist opinions, and no prominent Jewish groups have urged any intervention, sure, this is accurate.

Here' what really happened:

A man in the United States has been refusing to give his wife a religious divorce for ten years, which means that she is an "agunah," or "chained" to him - she cannot marry anyone else. The man then used a sketchy loophole, apparently under false pretenses, to get a dispensation to marry a second wife under Jewish law. Rabbis that signed that dispensation have since retracted their signatures.

Nevertheless, the man then did marry a second wife, and Rabbi Avraham Katz participated in the ceremony (according to his supporters, he was honored by reading the ketubah; he did not officiate.)

When Katz visited Israel, the wife's supporters petitioned the government not to allow him to leave the country, in an effort to help pressure the husband to issue the divorce.

In November, Katz tried to leave Israel and was stopped by police and then placed under house arrest. He is not "behind bars," and in fact he spent this past Shabbat in Tiberias.

Meanwhile, the Satmar Rebbe - who is famously anti-Zionist - issued a proclamation to excommunicate the husband in his community of Monroe, NY, after the husband promised and then reneged on his promise to issue the divorce. The husband then fled to another community.

It is just a small example of how Iranian and Arab media - not to mention Neturei Karta and other anti-Zionists - will take a grain of truth and build an edifice of lies around it.

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In the Amnesty International report released last week, it claims that Israel was occupying Gaza even after it withdrew its troops in 2005.

In cases like this, where the occupying power has withdrawn its forces from all or parts of the occupied territory but has maintained key elements of an occupying power’s authority – in this case, after the 2005 redeployment of Israeli forces – this retention of authority can amount to effective control. In such cases, occupation law – or at least the provisions relevant to the powers the occupant continues to exercise – remains in force.[179]

Footnote 179 includes several sources. One of them is "Determining the beginning and end of an occupation under international humanitarian law" by Tristan Ferraro, published in the International Review of the Red Cross in 2012, after Israel withdrew from Gaza.

That article says quite clearly that the physical presence of the hostile army is one of the necessary criteria in determining whether a territory is occupied. In other words, it completely contradicts Amnesty.

Ferraro creates a legal test for determining whether a situation qualifies as an occupation for the purposes of international humanitarian law.

In light of what has been discussed above, one may infer the following test for the purposes of determining the existence of a state of occupation within the meaning of IHL. The effective-control test consists of three cumulative conditions:

– the armed forces of a state are physically present in a foreign territory without the consent of the effective local government in place at the time of the invasion;

– the effective local government in place at the time of the invasion has been or can be rendered substantially or completely incapable of exerting its powers by virtue of the foreign forces’ unconsented-to presence;

– the foreign forces are in a position to exercise authority over the territory concerned (or parts thereof) in lieu of the local government.

Not one of these were true before November 2023.

Ferraro adds, "If any of these conditions ceases to exist, the occupation should be considered to have ended."

He also addresses the claim that Israel is engaged in "effective control" because Israel controls most of the borders and airspace of Gaza:

Occupation and its related element of effective control cannot – in principle – be established and maintained solely by exercising power from beyond the boundaries of the occupied territory. The test of effective control cannot include the potential ability of one of the parties to the armed conflict to project power through its forces positioned outside the ‘occupied territory’ without stretching the concept of occupation so much that it makes any assignment of responsibilities under occupation law meaningless. Otherwise, any state capable of invading the territory of its weaker neighbours by virtue of its military superiority, and of imposing its will there, would be said to be in ‘effective control’ of that territory and considered an occupant for the purposes of IHL. Such an interpretation would be unreasonable.

Amnesty does not only rely on Ferraro, of course. Their main arguments come from the the ICJ advisory opinion issued earlier this year, "Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem," which makes up a completely new international law just for Israel, where "occupation" is not a binary of yes or no, but where Israel is considered to be an occupier for specific obligations and not for others.

As is often the case, this is a sui generis law made just for Israel.

And it also contradicts previous ICJ rulings!

Ferraro quotes the ICJ on DRC vs. Uganda (2005):

In order to reach a conclusion as to whether a State, the military forces of which are present on the territory of another State as the result of an intervention, is an ‘occupying Power’ in the meaning of the term as understood in the jus in bello, the Court must examine whether there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the said authority was in fact established and exercised by the intervening State in the areas in question. In the present case the Court will need to satisfy itself that the Ugandan armed forces in the DRC were not only stationed in particular locations but also that they had substituted their own authority for that of the Congolese Government.

The ICJ requires physical presence as well as substituting Israel's authority over the Palestinian or Hamas government in Gaza, neithr of which happened.

Furthermore, the ICJ said in DRC vs. Congo:

In order to reach a conclusion as to whether a State, the military forces of which are present on the territory of another State as the result of an intervention, is an occupying power in the meaning of the term as understood in the jus in bello, the Court must examine whether there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the said authority was in fact established and exercised by the intervening State in the areas in question. In the present case the Court will need to satisfy itself that the Ugandan armed forces in the DRC were not only stationed in particular locations but also that they had substituted their own authority for that of the Congolese Government.

Those criteria are consistent in ICJ rulings....before it looked at Gaza. In all other cases, physical presence was one criterion for occupation. In all other cases, the occupier must have substituted its own authority for the local authorities. In all other cases, occupation law was considered all or nothing, not partial.

Amnesty's acceptance of the 2024 ICJ ruling also contradicts Amnesty's previous claims that Israel is fully occupying Gaza.

The irony is that Israel still ensured that Gaza would get food, medicine, vaccines and everything else that humanitarian law requires even under occupation.

But the legal precedents before 2024 are clear: Israel did not occupy Gaza, and those that claim it did are making up new international laws just for Israel.

Something Amnesty is quite proficient at.

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

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The rapid fall of the Assad regime in Syria is stunning.

There is no shortage of analysis, but essentially every "expert" in the field is warning of things that could or might happen.

What I haven't seen is any of these experts admitting that they couldn't see this coming.

The Middle East is the most watched, analyzed and studied region on Earth. Isn't it strange that no one saw the coordination necessary for the disparate Syrian rebel groups to mount this offensive? The planning must have taken weeks, if not months. Israel's escalation against Hezbollah in September would undoubtedly have either started these plans if not accelerated already existing plans.

Where were these analysts then? And - why should we believe any of them now when they didn't see this coming?

We can expect to see analysis in the coming weeks of how the signs were there all along, all ignoring that these supposed experts missed those signs.

Lesson #1: Media and academic experts are no better at predicting what will happen than anyone else.

To be sure, Western intelligence agencies appear to have been caught flat-footed as well. Any decent intel organization must go back, look at any evidence of this development that must have been visible but ignored, and ask itself where it went wrong.

Every intelligence failure that I am aware of comes not from missing the evidence, but from not connecting the dots. Intelligence agencies have to deal with massive amounts of data that they gather from tens of thousands of sources. The challenge is being able to notice patterns and properly prioritize the data coming in.

How many times have we seen after the fact that the pieces of the puzzle were always there? From Pearl Harbor to the Yom Kippur War to October 7, the data wasn't the problem. It was the refusal to believe the data, the refusal to properly prioritize the data, the overriding of the evidence with beliefs.

Perhaps artificial intelligence can overcome these issues, which are after all human blind spots. But AI is often being programmed too often with the same blind spots, at least the AIs I've been playing with. Nevertheless, it shouldn't be hard to adjust AIs to avoid bias in the models and programming to learn to put together data. Expect to see accelerated work in that arena.

Lesson #2: Even national intelligence agencies have blind spots and they need to adjust their methods of analysis.

Some of these failures come because dictatorships, whether they are Syria or China or Iran, zealously hide their weaknesses from the world and project not the truth but propaganda. Furthermore, they end up hiding the truth from themselves as well out of desire to do what the dictator wants rather than what's best for the country.

The startling speed of the Syrian coup is because of any unique set of circumstances. It could happen in any non-democratic country. (Democracies can change quite quickly as well but they are usually open enough for people to see it coming.)

This is a sobering lesson for those who rely on dictatorships as partners. Every decision a western power makes when making deals with a Saudi Arabia or a UAE or an Egypt or a Jordan must include the non-zero chance that these regimes can be replaced tomorrow with leaders with a vastly different worldview. Weapons given to prop up these regimes can fall into the hands of those who those whom the weapons were meant to fight. Personnel posted in those countries are only a bullet away from becoming hostages.

Strongmen are often not as strong as they project, nor as strong as some want to believe. Nations rely on allies, and must make educated guesses as to whom to trust, but when it comes to even seemingly enlightened dictatorships they need to hedge their bets because their allies can turn into enemies in a day,

Lesson #3: "Put not your trust in princes."

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As the Syrian regime nears collapse, its media keeps saying it is winning. (Sound familiar?)

We saw it with Hamas. we saw it with Hezbollah. And now we're seeing it with Syria.

They Syrian regime is teetering on the edge. The soldiers in the are deserting. The combined opposition forces are entering Damascus. Reports say that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad has fled.

But the Syrian media, or what's left of it, insists that it is winning.

The official SANA news agency website seems to be down - which is itself a sign that things are going really poorly for the regime. But its Facebook page is still up, and they are saying:

=Military source: The news from some media channels about terrorists entering al-Qaryatayn area south-east of Homs is incorrect and our forces are in their positions and in full readiness.
-Military source: There is no truth to any news about the withdrawal of our forces from the Damascus countryside
-Cabinet: The government has the experience and ability to deal with emergency situations
-Syrian Army Eliminates large numbers of Terrorists, destroys dozens of their vehicles in northern Homs countryside
-President Al-Assad assumes his work, national and constitutional duties from Damascus

However, they stopped posting any updates about ten hours ago.

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12/07 Links: Why the media keep underestimating Israel; Syrian rebel commander urges Israel to support uprising; IDF assists UN forces in Syria repel attack

From Ian:

Why the media keep underestimating Israel

Most recently, Israel has confounded expectations in its war against Hamas. The IDF has ground Hamas into the rubble of Gaza, killing most of its leaders. It has wreaked sufficient devastation on Hezbollah to produce a ceasefire agreement, albeit a shaky one. Commentators warned solemnly of ‘escalation ladders’ and a ‘wider regional war’, predicting that Iran would not stand idly by as its proxies were degraded. Yet apart from a few token missile strikes, that is precisely what has happened.

Heeding caution in military matters is wise, as Iraq and other misadventures have shown. But an aversion to conflict at all costs grants bad actors free rein. As Israel’s enemies sue for peace – precisely because of Israel’s resolve in pursuing a war many deemed unwinnable – it’s clear that caution has its limits. While a decisive victory has yet to be achieved, Israel certainly appears to be winning. It has demonstrated that the murder of its citizens has dire consequences – a fact it must constantly prove to secure its survival. Israel has also shown that Iran, reportedly leaning on Hezbollah leaders to agree to a ceasefire, has little appetite to risk its neck for its proxies.

Yet many commentators continue to treat ‘de-escalation’ and an immediate ceasefire as the only viable routes to peace, scarcely hiding their disappointment when the realities on the ground suggest otherwise. After Hamas’s military leader, Yahya Sinwar, was killed by the IDF in October, Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s international editor, snarked that ‘to get a ceasefire and a deal you need every side really in it’. He thought this would be harder after the assassination. Yet since Sinwar’s death, Hamas has actually shown more interest in negotiation. Similarly, when Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was eliminated in September, journalists at Israel’s Channel 12, which has also taken a defeatist view of the war, reportedly greeted the news with ‘mournful faces and barely hidden disappointment’.

Contrast this with the elation of ordinary Israelis – and many others around the world – at these momentous victories. Such enthusiasm is well placed. Nasrallah’s policy of showering rockets on northern Israel until the IDF withdrew from Gaza has, for now, been discontinued. This is a tangible win for thousands of Israelis who can now return to their homes in the north.

The war itself enjoys widespread support within Israel. It is, among other things, democracy in action (just not the kind favoured by the media and commentary classes). Yet so many media outlets portray it as little more than a ruse by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cling to power. This narrative conveniently diverts attention from Israel’s strategic gains.

Reflecting on the Second Intifada, which broke out in 2000 and led to over 1,000 Israeli deaths, writer Pascal Bruckner remarked that journalists sympathetic to the Palestinian uprising had taken a more sanguine view of it than the Palestinians themselves. In 2004, Fatah leaders conceded that the ‘militarisation of the Intifada had been a great failure and had left society exhausted and on the brink of civil war’. According to Bruckner, this failure was a ‘disappointment for the militants, but also for the press correspondents, who thus found themselves repudiated’. The journalists, he concluded, had ‘allowed themselves to be blinded by their convictions: these men in the field had seen in reality only the projection of their own fantasies’.

Twenty years later, fantasies and wishful thinking still cloud much of the media’s judgement.

Victoria Coates: Palestinians lost battle with Israel – 'someone has to tell them'

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict ended decades ago with the country's founding and its victory in the 1967 Six-Day War, according to former U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Victoria Coates.

Speaking to ILTV on Monday at the Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy, she said the Palestinians were never told they lost. Instead, "they were encouraged, particularly after the Iranian Revolution, to continue this self-defeating, suicidal, genocidal [behavior] we saw on October 7."

"Someone has to have the nerve to say to the Palestinians, we are not negotiating a ceasefire, we're negotiating terms" to end the conflict, she added.

Coates, an evangelical Christian and staunch supporter of the Jewish state has visited Israel many times. She has held several key political leadership roles, including serving in the Department of Energy, where she advised Secretary Dan Brouillette on national security issues and acted as his representative in the Middle East and North Africa.

Today, she serves as Vice President of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundation. She recently published a book, The Battle for the Jewish State: How Israel—and America—Can Win, which focuses on October 7 and why America must stand with Israel.

She said the possibilities for the Palestinians, if they were to disarm and accept defeat, are abundant.

"You could imagine what would flow into both the West Bank and Gaza, just the offers of assistance and the enthusiasm on the part of Israel," Coates said.

She added that some actions from the Trump administration, such as cutting funding, might help deliver this message.

However, while Coates is deeply passionate about Israel, she said her book aims to address issues in her own country. "Because this [Islamic extremism] isn't a Jewish or an Israel issue. This is a Western civilization issue," she explained.

"They might be coming for Israel right now, but the United States is next, make no mistake about it," Coates said.

Caroline Glick: A coup attempt in the shadow of Oct. 7

This week, Channel 11’s journalist Ayala Hasson broadcast a two-part exposé on the Israel Defense Forces’ self-investigation of the massacre at the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, which took place a kilometer from the Gaza Strip. Hasson’s reports reinforced the fact that the IDF and Shin Bet top brass are to blame for Hamas’s successful day of genocide.

A total of 364 people were brutally murdered at the Nova music festival and along avenues of escape. Thirty-nine were taken hostage. The rave opened on Oct. 5 with 3,800 revelers.

According to earlier investigative reports, the IDF intercepted Hamas’s invasion plans a year before Oct. 7. They received multiple, rapidly escalating warnings of the impending invasion from a variety of sources in the Southern Command in the months, weeks and days prior to that day. Intelligence head Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and Shin Bet director Ronen Bar did not share the warnings or Hamas’s intercepted invasion plans with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Instead, they repeatedly briefed him that Hamas was deterred, and Israel simply needed to provide it with more cash from Qatar and more work permits for Gazans in Israel to keep the terrorist regime fat, happy and deterred.

On Oct. 10, we learned that on the night between Oct. 6 and Oct. 7, Halevi, Bar, Southern Command Chief Maj. General Yaron Finkleman, Operations Directorate Chief Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk and Haliva’s assistant (Haliva was on vacation and not answering his phone), held two telephone consultations, at midnight and 4 a.m., when they discussed multiplying indications that Hamas was about to carry out its invasion, slaughter and kidnapping plan. They chose to do nothing, told no one and agreed to meet again at 8 a.m. Hamas invaded at 6:30.

Hasson’s reported excerpts from two-and-a-half hours of recordings of a conversation between Halevi’s representative Brig. Gen. Ido Mizrahi and police commanders in the Southern District. Halevi appointed Mizrahi to conduct the IDF’s inquiry into the slaughter at Nova.

The police were the heroes of the festival. By declaring that Israel was under invasion at 6:30, Southern District Commander Superintendent Amir Cohen precipitated the Ofakim police station commander’s order to disperse the concert-goers. That decision is credited with saving the lives of 90% of the party’s attendees. According to Mizrahi, about 200 people were at the party site when the Palestinian rape, murder and kidnapping gangs arrived a bit after 9 a.m.

Forty policemen and women died staving off the invading Palestinian terrorists from the Nova festival. IDF forces didn’t show up until after the massacre was over and the 39 hostages had been taken to Gaza. All the same, Mizrahi tried to shift the blame for the mass slaughter from the IDF onto the police, asking why there were still 200 people at the party site at 9.

Surprised, the police explained that they couldn’t enforce the order because they were busy fighting Hamas since the IDF didn’t arrive.

Mizrahi disclosed to Cohen and his officers for the first time that on nighttime telephone calls, Bar, Halevi and their associates discussed the Nova festival but opted to do nothing. The police officers noted that had they known this at 4 a.m., the slaughter would have been prevented.

12/06 Links Pt2: Winners and losers in the Middle East: The story so far; No more political games: Pass the Antisemitism Awareness Act — NOW!

From Ian:

Winners and losers in the Middle East: The story so far

Dealing with the Iranian regime, whose machinations lie at the core of this conflict, will be a major focus of the next Trump administration’s foreign policy. Yet even before Donald Trump enters the Oval Office (again), Iran is already looking damaged and weaker now when compared with Oct. 7. While its missile attacks on Israel failed to dent either the IDF or the Israeli population’s resolve, Jerusalem’s responses have badly frayed Iran’s air defenses and highlighted the vulnerability of its nuclear program. As well as seeing its Hamas and Hezbollah proxies degraded, Iran is now watching as the Assad regime in Syria clings to survival. Iran still retains its proxies in Iraq and Yemen, but these, too, may also find themselves in the firing line with a new administration in Washington. “Although today’s Iran is confident that it can fight to defend itself, it wants peace,” wrote its former foreign minister in a frankly ludicrous article for Foreign Affairs. That sounds suspiciously like a plea to the regime’s adversaries to hold off because the reality is that the regime cannot defend itself from Israel—not to mention the Iranian people, growing swaths of whom truly loathe the Islamic Republic and are determined to get rid of it.

For two states in the region, the outlook is unfortunately rosier. One is Turkey, whose membership of the NATO Alliance remains undisturbed despite the increasingly unhinged attacks on Israel leveled by its autocratic president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and its open support of Hamas. Ironically, Israel’s punishing of Hezbollah has helped Erdoğan in Syria, where Turkey is backing anti-Assad forces in the north of the country, though don’t expect him to acknowledge that.

Secondly, there is Qatar, an emirate grounded in Sharia law, where a little more than 10% of the population enjoy full citizenship while the vast majority—mainly migrant workers toiling in slave-like conditions—live under a form of real apartheid. The Biden administration’s faith that Qatar—a financial and diplomatic backer of Hamas whose capital hosted the terror organization’s leaders—could act as an honest broker in negotiations to release the hostages was spectacularly misplaced, with more than a year dragging by since the one-and-only prisoner exchange that compelled Israel to release Palestinians convicted of terrorism and violence. Despite this dismal failure and its two-faced stance on terrorism, Qatar’s ruling family continues to be feted by international leaders, most recently in London, where the British Royal Family dutifully trooped to The Mall for a parade welcoming the visiting emir. For the foreseeable future, Qatar’s astonishing wealth, coupled with its financial hold over many of the world’s capitals, is a guarantee of immunity from criticism, let alone actual sanctions.

For Turkey and Qatar, then, net gains. For Iran and its Palestinian and Lebanese proxies, net losses. For Israel, the jury is out. The first year of Trump’s term in office will doubtless tell us more.

Reports: As Syrian rebels take Hama, Israel preparing for possible collapse of regime

Israel is said to be preparing for the possibility that the Syrian army may collapse in the face of rapidly advancing rebel forces, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holding security deliberations on the matter on Thursday night.

Channel 13 reported that the IDF now assesses the rebels may pose a real threat to the continuation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s rule. According to a report on Channel 12, Israel has been surprised by the weakness of the Syrian army, as it continues to swiftly lose ground to the jihadist-led fighters.

The report added that Israel has sent a strong warning to Iran not to send weaponry to Syria that could reach the hands of the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon.

Kan news reported, citing two unnamed sources, that Israel and the United States are “detecting signs of certain collapse” in the Syrian army, and that one of Israel’s main concerns is that the rebels will advance as far south as the Israeli border with Syria in the Golan Heights.

Channel 13 said Israel has conveyed messages to rebel leaders to stay away from the border.

Earlier on Thursday, Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi held an assessment on the developments in Syria, as the rebels led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) captured the key central city of Hama, a little more than a week after they launched their offensive, just as a ceasefire took hold between Israel and Assad’s ally in Lebanon, Hezbollah. Residents take to the streets of Hama, to welcome anti-government fighters after they took control of Syria’s west-central city on December 5, 2024. (Photo by Bakr Alkasem / AFP)

Last week the rebels took control of Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city, and have since pushed south, capturing Hama on Thursday and advancing further south to Homs, a key central city that functions as a crossroads connecting Syria’s most populous regions.

The Israeli military assessment was held with the IDF General Staff Forum, the military’s top brass.

“The IDF is following events and is preparing for any scenario in attack and defense,” the military said in a statement. “The IDF will not allow a threat near the Syrian-Israeli border and will act to thwart any threat to the citizens of the State of Israel.”

Amid the growing concern, two senior Israeli officials told the Axios news site that the collapse of regime defense lines in the past 24 hours had happened faster than expected.

A US official who also spoke to the site said that Israel has expressed concern to Washington over both a potential radical Islamist takeover of Syria and an increased presence of Iranian forces in the country to back Assad.

At the same time, an official told The Times of Israel anonymously that Israel’s interest in the renewed fighting in Syria is “that they continue fighting one another.”

They added: “It’s entirely clear to us that one side is Salafi jihadists and the other side is Iran and Hezbollah. We want them to weaken one another.”

The official stressed that Israel is not getting involved on either side. “We are prepared for any scenario and we will act accordingly.”

12/06 Links Pt1: Amnesty International’s antisemitic agenda; Latest attack on Melbourne synagogue 'not surprising'; Bill Clinton: Arafat turned down a Palestinian state

From Ian:

WSJ Editorial: The Propaganda War on Israel Never Stops

From the people who brought you “Israeli apartheid” comes another trendy smear: “Israeli genocide.” With a new report Wednesday night, Amnesty International assures its good standing in the anti-Israel herd. The price is to swallow an inversion of reality.

Amnesty poses as a fair-minded critic of Israeli policies, but it tipped its hand in its 2022 report that tried to claim “this system of apartheid originated with the creation of Israel in May 1948.” That’s well before any “occupation,” but it reflects the ideological obsession that treats the Jewish state’s existence, in any borders, as a crime.

Amnesty’s headline-grabbing apartheid report quietly conceded it wasn’t arguing Israel’s laws are analogous to South Africa’s. This new report uses a similar sleight of hand by redefining genocide. The case law at the International Court of Justice requires a finding that “intent to destroy the group, in whole or in part, must be the only reasonable inference which can be drawn from the pattern of conduct.” Amnesty says that’s too high a bar and looks at the “broader picture” and “context.”

By context it means apartheid and all its previous slanders of Israel. What about Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, which was genocidal in character? Here’s the report’s opening line: “On 7 October 2023, Israel embarked on a military offensive on the occupied Gaza Strip (Gaza) of unprecedented magnitude, scale and duration.”

Gaza wasn’t occupied, and Hamas, not Israel, embarked on a military offensive. But Amnesty says it will get to the Hamas mass murder later. Here it uses the Oct. 7 massacre to pathologize the Israeli “state of mind resulting from the attacks.”

While Amnesty uses the casualty figures of the “Gaza-based Ministry of Health,” aka Hamas, it never mentions that Israel says 17,000 dead Hamas fighters are among them. It omits the crucial civilian-to-combatant ratio, which would suggest Israel has done better than most in urban warfare.

The report essentially blesses Hamas’s strategy of using human shields. It suggests Israel has no right to attack in civilian areas even if Hamas is using them, just as it wouldn’t if some enemy soldiers had gone home on leave. As if that’s equivalent to terrorist headquarters in hospitals and a 400-mile, terrorist-only tunnel system beneath cities.

Ruthie Blum: Amnesty International’s antisemitic agenda

None of this is surprising. For the better part of two decades, Amnesty has been fixated on singling out Israel for condemnation.

In February 2022, Amnesty labeled Israel an apartheid state. This term, originally associated with South African segregation, has been misappropriated by anti-Israel activists to paint the Jewish state as inherently racist.

Amnesty ignored the active participation of Arab citizens in Israeli society, from serving in the Knesset to holding prominent roles in medicine, academia and law. It omitted the historical context behind Israel’s security measures, designed to thwart relentless waves of Palestinian terrorism, and distorted the legal and political realities on the ground.

During “Operation Protective Edge” against Hamas in 2014, Amnesty accused Israel of grave violations of international law. Overlooking substantial evidence of Hamas’s use of schools, hospitals and mosques as weapons depots and command centers, Amnesty decried Israel’s defensive measures. It issued reports lamenting civilian casualties and damaged buildings while downplaying Hamas’s use of densely populated areas to provoke such tragedies.

Meanwhile, Amnesty remained silent on Hamas’s brutal treatment of its own people, including executions of alleged “collaborators” and the forced recruitment of child soldiers. Nor did it acknowledge Israel’s unprecedented measures to warn civilians—via phone calls, leaflets, and “roof-knocking”—before conducting strikes.

The aftermath of “Operation Cast Lead” in 2008-09 prompted a similarly warped narrative. Amnesty’s report “22 Days of Death and Destruction” portrayed Hamas as a minor player, rather than a bloodthirsty terrorist group that had fired thousands of unprovoked projectiles into Israel.

During the Second Intifada (2000-2005), when Palestinian suicide bombers attacked buses, cafés and nightclubs, Amnesty directed its ire at Israel’s counter-terrorism measures, such as the construction of a security barrier to reduce attacks on innocent Israelis.

Despite Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, forcibly removing every last Jew from the Strip, Amnesty continues to describe the enclave as “occupied.” The pattern is undeniable: Amnesty seizes every opportunity to vilify Israel.

Founded in 1961 by British lawyer Peter Benenson to advocate for prisoners of conscience, Amnesty won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 for its defense of human dignity and a United Nations human-rights prize the following year. Once lauded for impartiality, it has devolved into a slanted advocacy group with a pernicious agenda.

Amnesty’s animus toward Israel transcends politics. Naturally. Considering the existence of the Jewish state to be illegitimate means never having to care about the ideological makeup of the ruling coalition in Jerusalem.

Lawmakers say Amnesty’s genocide report amplifies Hamas propaganda

House lawmakers are circulating a joint statement condemning Amnesty International for its report accusing Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinian people.

The statement, which is still open for additional signatories, according to a source familiar with the effort, accuses Amnesty of echoing “misinformation that has been spewed by Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran — the U.S’ shared enemies with Israel” and of “mislead[ing] the public by standing with the narratives produced and promoted by Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.”

The statement is being organized by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ). Reps. Dan Goldman (D-NY), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Max Miller (R-OH), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Shri Thanedar (D-MI), Tom Kean (R-NJ), Don Bacon (R-NE), Kathy Manning (D-NC), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) and Ritchie Torres (D-NY) had signed on as of Thursday night.

The lawmakers accuse Amnesty of making “slanderous” claims, in line with a “long-standing, historically biased position against Israel and the Jewish people.” They said the NGO had “admittedly and nefariously created its own definition of the legal term ‘genocide’ in their report simply to fit their defamatory narrative.”

The lawmakers said that Amnesty’s “[f]alse statements about Israel’s conduct in its war of self-defense rewards self-proclaimed genocidal terrorist organizations intent on destroying the Jewish state and murdering Jews everywhere” and would “embolden Israel’s enemies” in their fight against both the U.S. and Israel.

“The promotion of this misleading report will further threaten the safety of the only Jewish nation in the world and undermine those working to achieve the safe return of all hostages,” they continued.

On December 1, Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA's Commissioner-General issued a press release:

We are pausing the delivery of aid through Kerem Shalom, the main crossing point for humanitarian aid into Gaza.
....

In Gaza, the humanitarian operation has become unnecessarily impossible due to:

- The ongoing siege,
- Hurdles from Israeli authorities,
- ⁠Political decisions to restrict the amounts of aid,
- ⁠Lack of safety on aid routes and
- ⁠Targeting of local police.

The responsibility of protection of aid workers + supplies is with the State of Israel as the occupying power.

They must ensure aid flows into Gaza safely & must refrain from attacks on humanitarian workers.

Notice that all five reasons given blame Israel. Hamas and the armed gangs who steal food are nott mentioned as the problem - they are an inevitable consequence of Israeli actions. (This of course is bigotry - Lazzarini is saying that Gazans naturally steal.)

An UNRWA Director of Logistics for Gaza, Miranda Barakat, just toured an empty UNRWA warehouse in southern Gaza and she gave her own impressions of the problems for Arabic-speaking audiences.

She didn't mention Israel once.

Instead, she said that the reason the warehouse is empty is due to the danger felt by workers in transporting goods from the Kerem Shalom crossing to the warehouses as a result of the current security situation. She admitted that UNRWA has 700 lorries inside the crossing waiting to be picked up.

She said the thieves don't only take the goods but also steal the batteries and tires of the trucks.

Barakat properly blamed the thieves, not Israel. She said that those who deliberately steal aid trucks do not only aim to steal, but also to sabotage, disable and take them out of service, at a time when it is impossible to find replacement spare parts due to the war.

While she doesn't directly blame Hamas, it seems apparent that only Hamas would be interested in the batteries and tires to keep their own logistics running. The armed gangs would want to ensure that the aid keeps coming; disabling trucks hurts their entire business model.

It is still striking that the constant blaming of Israel alone is rhetoric meant for the West. Gazans know that Israel is bringing the goods to Gaza and the problems start there.

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!

Boulder CO city council is sick of anti-Israel lunatics. Is there a pattern emerging?

Boulder, CO is a heavily Democratic city - some 77% of its citizens consistently vote Democrat.

But their city council got sick and tired of lunatic wing of the party.

After nearly a year of contentious public comment periods at Boulder City Council meetings — dominated by protesters demanding the council endorse a Gaza ceasefire resolution and increasingly marred by personal attacks, including antisemitic remarks directed at City Councilmember Tara Winer, who is Jewish — the mayor and several councilmembers took a stand during their Dec. 5 meeting. Earlier this year, the council voted 7 to 2 to abstain from initiating a process to create a Gaza ceasefire resolution.

“This city council body has no role in international affairs,” Mayor Aaron Brockett said. “A ceasefire resolution has nothing to do with the business of the city. … This is not something that I’m changing my mind on,” he added, noting that he is “disturbed by some of the personal attacks that we’ve seen against other community members and individual city councilmembers.”

Brockett specifically referenced a comment from a previous meeting where someone compared the city council to Adolf Eichmann, one of the chief engineers of the Holocaust. The mayor said he had previously stayed silent during public comment periods, hoping the issue would fade.

Winer has been targeted by anti-Semitic remarks, including being called a “Jewish supremacist” during one meeting and receiving emails containing antisemitic slurs. People attending the Dec. 5 council meeting accused councilmembers of being “baby killers” and said they were “complicit in genocide.”

Last month, the Boulder campus of Colorado University was graffitied with "FUCK ISRAEL," "HAMAS IS RESSITANCE" and other slogans that the university termed antisemitic.

On the one hand, the haters have been successful in normalizing the worst antisemitic slurs like the "genocide" libel. On the other hand, they are really alienating normal people even on the Left.

But perhaps this is part of the strategy.

When they do extreme stunts like these or blocking traffic or stopping a Thanksgiving Day parade, it may be that this gives them more room for the accusations of "genocide" and calling Hamas "resistance." People only have the ability to be outraged at a limited number of things; responding to every "river to the sea" chant has diminishing returns and that ends up making the lies and calls to ethnically cleanse Israel in the name of democracy sound more reasonable in contrast.

I don't think the haters are quite that organized, but the effect is the same. Normal people might get upset at their blatant antisemitism but there has still been very little headway into pointing out that it is all antisemitism.

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!

All you need to know about the flour crisis in Gaza (Guest post by Imshin)

The wonderful Jacqui Peleg, the person behind #TheGazaYouDontSee hashtag known as Imshin, created a video describing exactly how Hamas steals aid and resells it to desperate Gazans. I asked her for the transcript to make it into a guest post.

______________________

In recent days, the media has been airing disturbing footage of massive queues outside bakeries in South Gaza, reporting terrible shortages of flour and bread.

At the same time, COGAT, the unit in the IDF responsible for coordinating and facilitating humanitarian aid for Gaza, says 18,000 tons of flour entered the Gaza Strip in November on 600 trucks.

So what’s going on? Where is all the flour?

One of the problems facing Hamas since the beginning of the war has been how to continue to pay salaries to their people, especially since the IDF has discovered and confiscated huge amounts of cash found in Hamas terror tunnels.

They’ve done all sorts of things, even resorting to robbing the banks!

But by and far the most lucrative money-making scheme has been turning a profit from the hundreds of humanitarian aid trucks that pour into the Gaza Strip weekly, and also dozens of private sector supply trucks.

Hamas regularly steals humanitarian aid trucks, taking what they need, and selling the surplus for exorbitant prices in the markets. They have even created a special unit of enforcers, the Saham Unit, ostensibly to prevent stealing of trucks, but in fact believed by many Gazans to be doing a lot of the stealing itself.

Hamas also “taxes” private sector food imports for half of their worth and more. By “taxes” I mean that armed Hamas forces stop the trucks at gunpoint and force the drivers to either pay or hand over the merchandise.

Between 16th– 17th November, 109 flour trucks were reportedly stolen after entering South Gaza via Kerem Shalom crossing. Hamas claimed the trucks were stolen by “criminal gangs”, but Gazans on social media said that the only criminal gang, capable of pulling off such a large-scale heist, was Hamas itself. This is because Hamas continues to control the population and resources in the Gaza Strip with an iron fist.

Gazan activist and journalist Hamza al-Masri commented a few days ago that one sack containing 25 kg of flour pays the salary of one Hamas Nukhba terrorist for a month.

Although food prices in general had been going up before the heist - and why this is happening is a subject for a separate article - this 109 flour truck heist was the trigger that started the so-called flour crisis.

With the heist, Hamas in effect created an artificial flour shortage, putting severe pressure on the population, and this lead to the creation - or perhaps continuation on a higher level - of yet another Hamas money-making scheme. This scheme involves running what Israeli commentator Abu Ali has called “a bread cartel” with the big bakeries.

According to COGAT, twelve big bakeries are operating in Gaza, four in North Gaza and eight in South and Central Gaza, producing close to three million pita breads a day.

The bakeries receive free flour and fuel and are supposed to sell each bag of ten pita breads for three shekels. That’s the equivalent of 83 US cents.

Descriptions I’ve seen of how the bread cartel works suggest two options:

The first option is that the queues outside the bakeries are policed by gunmen who make sure that those buying the three shekel bags are children and young girls belonging to certain families and crime gangs. The bags are then sold on for thirty to forty shekels each. That’s between eight to ten dollars.

The second option is to sell a small amount of the three shekels bags at the bakeries. Of course, everyone converges on the bakeries to try and get a bag of the subsidized bread, creating a massive crush that makes for great propaganda, for the “The Gazans are Starving” lie.

Now, I‘ve seen enough queues in Gaza to know that when they want to, the Gazans are quite capable of enforcing orderly queues, and standing patiently in line for hours on end. So, when I see one of these shocking massive crushes, I can usually tell by the source that it has been manufactured to shock and manipulate a Western audience. What’s more, it is more often than not filmed and photographed by Hamas mouthpieces, such as Hasan Eslaiah, who you may remember also participated in the October Seven Massacre.

To continue, in this second option, a large proportion of the bread is smuggled out of the back, and sold, again, for thirty to forty shekels for a bag containing ten pitas, ten times and more above the official price!

My guess is that both option one and option two are used by the bakeries in tandem.

Unsurprisingly, Gazans are tired of these games. After the heist they started to buy sacks of 25kg of flour to make their own bread, which many Gazans have been doing all along, using traditional clay ovens.

At first, the prices skyrocketed – you could pay anywhere between 600 to 1000 shekels for a sack of flour. That’s between $165 to $280. That’s if you could even find any. But relatively quickly, as additional flour trucks entered, prices started to come down again. The last I saw were around 280 to 300 shekels. That’s $78 to $83. But it’s probably come down more, and I just haven’t seen it.

Now the strange thing is that while all this fake crisis has been unfolding in South Gaza, in North Gaza there has been no flour shortage at all. On the contrary, there has been a surplus, and since prices remain low, some flour shipments to the North have even been thrown away, perhaps to keep the price up.

A few days ago, I even came across 25 kg flour sacks being sold in North Gaza for 5 shekels each! That’s $1.40 each for 25 kgs of flour! For the benefit of American readers, 25 kg are just over 55 lbs.

My message to people watching the heartbreaking footage of desperate Gazans being crushed in bread lines in Gaza, is that I’m afraid to say you are being conned. This is not to say that the Gazans in those crushes are not suffering, but that it is not the result of any real shortage, but of a manipulation to exploit both the ordinary Gazans, and you.

__________________

Kan TV also had a story on how Hamas steals aid into Gaza.