Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, January 17, 2025

Human Rights Watch ignores international law in condemning Israeli attack on Houthi installations

Human Rights Watch issued a press release condemning Israeli airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.

Everything you need to know about how biased they are is in these paragraphs.

The Israeli military said it had struck military targets. The Hodeidah and Ras Issa ports, however, are critical for delivering food and other necessities to the Yemeni population, who depend on imports. About 70 percent of Yemen’s commercial imports and 80 percent of its humanitarian assistance passes through Hodeidah, Ras Issa, and Salif ports, which United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative Auke Lootsma said are “absolutely crucial to commercial and humanitarian activities.” Rosemary DiCarlo, under-secretary-general for the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, described the ports as a “lifeline for millions of people” that should be “open and operating.”

The Hezyaz power station is the central power station of Sanaa, providing electricity to the city’s population. After the attack, power across the city was cut for one to two days, and has been cutting in and out since according to three people who spoke to Human Rights Watch.

Deliberate attacks on objects indispensable to survival are war crimes.

This is not the first time Israeli forces have attacked critical infrastructure in Yemen. ....

The Houthis’ drone strikes and missile attacks on Israel, if deliberately or indiscriminately attacking civilians or civilian objects, may also amount to war crimes.

HRW is quite deliberately twisting and ignoring international law.

The entire text doesn't admit that Israel's targets are critical for Houthi military activity and therefore valid military objectives. That means that attacking them is certainly not a war crime - it is absolutely allowed under international law.

For example, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission wrote about an Ethiopian attack on an Eritrean power plant:

On May 28, 2000, two Ethiopian jet aircraft dropped seven bombs that hit and seriously damaged the Hirgigo Power Station, which is located about ten kilometers from the port city of Massawa. .... Eritrea asserted that the bombing of the plant was unlawful because the plant was not a legitimate military objective, and it requested that the Commission hold Ethiopia liable to compensate Eritrea for the damage caused to Eritrea by that violation of international humanitarian law. ....The Commission, by a majority, has no doubt that the port and naval base at Massawa were military objectives. It follows that the generating facilities providing the electric power needed to operate them were objects that made an effective contribution to military action.

International law goes beyond that case to even attack economic targets beyond power plants.

Australia’s Defence Force Manual includes as military objectives "power stations [and] industry which support military operations " but also adds that “economic targets that indirectly but effectively support operations are also military objectives if an attack will gain a definite military advantage”.

Belgium’s Law of War Manual says "resistance also depends on the economic power of the adversary (its war industry, its production capacity, its sources of supply, etc.); in short, its economic potential. The breaking up of this economic potential has of course a direct influence on the armed forces’ capacity to resist, so that this economic potential also becomes a war objective."

Germany’s Military Manual provides that military objectives include, in particular, “economic objectives which make an effective contribution to military action."

Sweden IHL Manual states, "How and to what extent a given object can effectively contribute to the adversary’s military operations must be decided by the commander. This need not imply that the property in question is being used by the adversary for a given operation . . . It may even be a question of . . . energy resources or factories that indirectly contribute to the adversary’s military operations."

The US Naval Handbook says "Proper economic targets for naval attack include enemy lines of communication, rail yards, bridges, rolling stock, barges, lighters, industrial installations producing war-fighting products, and power generation plants. Economic targets of the enemy that indirectly but effectively support and sustain the enemy’s war-fighting capability may also be attacked.."

Ports and power plants, along with industrial buildings, roads, bridges and anything else the military uses are valid objects for attack as long as the attacks respect proportionality. HRW is knowingly lying when it flatly accuses Israel of war crimes. HRW is twisting international law to only condemn Israel.

Furthermore, HRW claims that mentions that the Hezyaz power station is "indispensable to survival" while admitting that Yemen civilians were only without power for a day or two. It makes up a new definition of "indispensable" just to be able to accuse Israel of war crimes. (This would be part of a proportionality calculation, and attacks that are not intended to hurt civilians are not war crimes even if disproportionate, which this attack wasn't.)

It brings no evidence that humanitarian aid to Yemen was affected by the attacks on the ports.

To add insult to injury, after declaring Israel 100% guilty of war crimes, HRW offhandedly mentions that the hundreds of Houthi drones and missiles shot at Israeli civilian areas - with deadly results - only "may be" war crimes.

HRW never wrote an article solely on Houthi attacks on Israel. The only times it mentions those attacks are to add a sentence of faux objectivity to reports falsely condemning Israel.

This is not a major HRW report. But it proves that, like Amnesty, Human Rights Watch is obsessively anti-Israel to the extent that it will knowingly misrepresent international law just to damn Israel.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

Hamas issued a series of instructions to Gazans Tuesday ahead of the anticipated cease-fire.

Two of them are:

*Beware of bombed and demolished homes:* We call upon citizens to stay away from destroyed or bombed buildings, as there may be sudden collapses or falling pieces and rubble from bombed and destroyed buildings, which pose a direct threat to their lives.

*Beware of unexploded weapons:* We call upon our honorable Palestinian people to beware of the remains of bombs, missiles and unexploded ordnance, which pose a grave danger to your lives. You should not approach or touch them, and immediately report them to the competent authorities to avoid accidents that may harm you or your loved ones.

We know that Hamas set up booby-traps in virtually every house in areas of combat. As the Jerusalem Post reported two weeks ago:

As its fighters attempt to flee northern Gaza and those that are remaining struggle to maneuver in the area, Hamas has pivoted it combat strategy to booby-trapping almost every structure that remains standing.

This is typically done by hiding explosives inside closets or other furniture to harm troops conducting searches. Additionally, the buildings are stocked with weapons, including rifles, anti-tank launchers, and grenades.

The IDF discovered a Hamas video documenting the placement of explosives in a house.

Hamas themselves published a number of videos of houses that they proudly booby-trapped and they claim to have exploded them with IDF troops inside, and many soldiers did fall from booby traps.

Everyone admits that Hamas secretly wired up thousands of Gaza homes with explosives. (It's a war crime, of course, but human rights groups and the UN are quite uninterested in that.) What happens when the owners return to rebuild or retrieve their stuff? It will be very embarrassing for Hamas for the world to see their own explosives killing Gazans. Their booby traps can also kill aid workers who want to help.

We will soon be seeing more evidence of Hamas killing its own people. Hamas didn't care about them until the shooting stops - and once that happens, it makes it harder for Hamas to blame all those deaths on Israel.

No doubt Hamas will claim that they are killed by leftover ordnance from the IDF. Much of the world will believe the lie.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

01/16 Links Pt2: Where are the righteous of Gaza?; UN’s anti-Israel biases can’t hide facts of terror; The Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life, 2024

From Ian:

Where are the righteous of Gaza?

During the Holocaust, even in areas where Nazi propaganda was dominant, there emerged righteous individuals who saved Jewish lives. Israel’s major Holocaust museum and education centre is Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. It records and honours 28,217 individuals with the title of Righteous Amongst the Nations. So where are the righteous in Gaza?

There have been reports of hostages being moved through various facilities and held by different militia groups and Gazan civilians. Freed hostages report being held in the homes of a doctor and a teacher employed by Unrwa. On three occasions Israel has conducted hostage rescue raids on residential premises.

There could be many hundreds or possibly thousands of Gazans who have some knowledge of the whereabouts of hostages.

To incentivise people in Gaza to assist, Israel has offered US$5 million per hostage and safe passage for resettlement. As hostages have been held in small groups, a successful release might mean multiple rewards. To most in Gaza this would be a truly massive fortune. But there have been no takers, none.

Perhaps the reaction to the conflict by nearby Arab Muslim countries assists in understanding what’s going on. Egypt, like Israel, has a border with Gaza. It is usual practice that a neighbouring country will take refugees during times of conflict. Poland, which shares a border with Ukraine , has over 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees. But Egypt has reinforced its border with Gaza and refuses to accept refugees.

Indeed, no other Arab Muslim country in the Middle East will accept their brethren in Gaza as refugees. There is no shortage of space and some are very wealthy but no refugee program for Gazans is entertained. Saudi Arabia has facilities to accommodate over 2 million for the annual Hajj pilgrimage but is assisting no one from Gaza.

There is an interesting biblical story which occurred not far away, namely the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. God told Abraham of the forthcoming destruction and that his nephew Lot who lived in Sodom would be saved. Abraham bargained with God for the cities to be saved if righteous men could be found. The bargaining began at 50 and cascaded down to 10. Alas, righteous men could not be found.

Israel has said the war could end with the release of the hostages and the surrender of Hamas. If there were righteous in Gaza to facilitate the release of the hostages, that would be enormously positive not only from a humanitarian perspective but in neutralising Hamas’ only major strategic lever.

The Australian Labor government takes a different view to the Arab Muslim world and thinks it is a good idea to bring in thousands from Gaza with minimal screening and to actively support the creation of a state of Palestine.

Gaza has been a de facto Palestinian state since 2005 and has proved to be a massively destructive failure. Historically, there has never been a sovereign state of Palestine. Never was, and post 7 October 2023, never will be.

Two-state solution all but dismissed by Trump confidant

A senior figure within US President-elect Donald Trump's innermost circle has recently said that the establishment of a Palestinian state was not under consideration. The source, who belongs to Trump's and his family's closest orbit of confidants and has carried numerous crucial assignments for him previously, made these comments during recent private conversations at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The senior Trump-world persona offered no explanation for this position, simply stating that "it's clear this won't happen."

Notably, Trump in December spoke about what kind of Mideast peace he would back. "I support whatever solution we can do to get peace. There are other ideas other than two-state, but I support whatever is necessary to get not just peace, [but] a lasting peace. It can't go on where every five years you end up in tragedy. There are other alternatives," he said at the time.

On Tuesday, Mar-a-Lago hosted a Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast conference, bringing together Christian and Jewish participants as part of the effort to bolster Israel-US relations. American and Israeli speakers uniformly expressed firm opposition to both the establishment of a Palestinian state and any Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria. They emphasized that both religious and security considerations make it imperative for Israel to maintain its presence in these territories.

In a related development, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, during his visit to Italy on Monday, addressed the ongoing discussion about a "Palestinian state," stating that "the two-state solution is a slogan and an illusion. A 'Palestinian state' in the heart of our country would be a Hamas terror state that would undermine stability in the entire region and severely harm Israel's security."

Jonathan Tobin: The pathetic finish to Joe Biden’s failed presidency

Gaslighting, censorship and antisemitism
His subsequent farewell address to the nation from the Oval Office was in some ways even more troubling. Sounding themes that were standard Democratic campaign rhetoric these past four years, he claimed that Trump and the Republicans were threatening democracy and instituting an “oligarchy” where the wealthy ruled and took away the rights of everyone else.

This was as ironic as it was untrue since it had been during his four years in office that the Democrats had completed their journey from its old stance as the party of the working people to one that is now solely aimed at protecting the interests of the credentialed elites.

Yet in the same speech, he lamented the end of “fact-checking” on Facebook, which was supposedly aimed at stopping “misinformation” but was really a censorship regime. Indeed, in his announcement and subsequent interviews about the decision, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg confessed that it was a scheme largely driven by politics and used by the Biden administration to silence views on a wide range of issues that dissented from their policies.

As he had for four years, Biden was gaslighting the country. He claimed that his foes were against democracy. But it was his Department of Justice that prosecuted Trump, his chief political opponent. It treated Americans who differed from liberal orthodoxy on gender ideology, critical race theory or abortion as if they were domestic terrorists while largely ignoring the very real threat of Islamist terror.

Biden was no ideologue; he was an unprincipled politician who always followed his party’s fashion of the day, whether it tilted right, as it did in the 1990s, or hard left, as it has in recent years. Elected as a moderate who would restore normalcy to the nation, he took his cues from left-wingers on most domestic issues. That’s why he became a supporter of the woke catechism of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and imposition of it throughout the government.

His policies not only enabled the same leftist ideology that fueled the unprecedented post-Oct. 7 surge of Jew-hatred that happened on his watch. His inability to unreservedly condemn those who engaged in antisemitic agitation on college campuses and elsewhere was motivated by a futile effort to rally support from his party’s intersectional left wing that he previously done so much to appease.

Biden proved that having a half-century of experience in government is no guarantee of wisdom, political or ethical principles or an ability to learn from the past. He also showed what happens when weakness is treated as a virtue rather than a liability.

He leaves office as a forgotten man who, regardless of one’s opinion of Trump, was largely overshadowed by him even when his opponent was out of office. Though historians will likely treat him as an accidental president better remembered for his decline in office than any achievements, his mistakes must be remembered. As pathetic as his exit from the White House has been, the record of failure he leaves behind is his true legacy.

01/16 Links Pt1: In Israel, Rage, Disgust and Relief Follow Gaza Hostage Deal; Is Trump Pushing Israel toward a Bad Deal?; VDH: What We Have Forgotten About War

From Ian:

Aviva Klompas: In Israel, Rage, Disgust and Relief Follow Gaza Hostage Deal

Hamas is not a political organization seeking reconciliation. It is a genocidal terror group. Its charter calls for the annihilation of Israel and the murder of Jews. Can you imagine the United States negotiating with the Taliban as equals just 15 months after the Sept. 11 attacks? I can't.

For Hamas, this deal is a victory. The group will boast that it outmaneuvered Israel, extracted concessions, and reaffirmed that terrorism works.

In Gaza, people are already dancing in the streets. Khalil al-Haya, a senior Hamas leader, has already declared that the Oct. 7 attacks will "forever be a source of pride" and promised another assault. "Our people will expel the occupation from our lands and from Jerusalem in the earliest time possible," he said.

We've heard these threats before. We've seen what follows.

The grim reality is that some families will remain in agonizing limbo because Hamas knows it can ensure its survival by holding onto hostages and extracting more concessions from Israel.

Still, despite the immense cost and risk, I believe Israel must bring its hostages home.

There is no doubt that Israel has made significant military gains since the start of the war. It has destroyed most of Hamas's battalions, wiped out the top leadership of Hamas and Hezbollah, humiliated Iran, and restored its regional deterrence.

But for all those gains, Israel remains frozen in time on Oct. 7 — the day 1,200 people were slaughtered. The country is desperate to save the lives of those who can still be saved. The state has a duty to bring home the civilians who were ripped from their homes and the soldiers who were sent to protect the state. Prioritizing life is an agonizing choice, but it is the right one.

But the world must understand the dangerous precedent this deal has set. For 15 months, the terrorists watched as Israel, a democratic nation subjected to atrocities by a brutal terror organization, was castigated in international courts and demonized in the court of public opinion. Israel was restrained militarily and made to negotiate with its terrorist attackers.

This moral equivalence is wildly dangerous. Today, it is Israeli civilians. Tomorrow, it will be others. Hamas's existence isn't just a threat to Israel—it's a threat to all of us. And it will come at a cost we cannot yet fully comprehend.

The return of hostages is not a victory. It is a tragic necessity.

Victor Davis Hanson: What We Have Forgotten About War

All of Israel’s current terrorist enemies are supplied and guided by Iran. After sending 500 projectiles into Israel, and after, in response, Israel had dismantled Iran’s supposedly formidable air defenses, what might have followed had Israel invested another week in destroying Iran’s nuclear capability, with threats to continue on with its military bases and energy sector? Would Iran have been able or willing to supply any further its diminished terrorist appendages?

What if 100 percent of Gaza has been entered, disarmed, occupied, and purged of Hamas terrorists, in the manner that much of it had already? Would Israel have eventually destroyed the entire Hamas leadership, dismantled the entire subterranean labyrinth, and taught the population that Hamas would be a longer politically viable?

Would neighboring so-called “moderate” Arab countries have been more or less willing to ally with a formidable, and unpredictable Israel? And would the United States, even under the sanctimonious and sermonizing Biden administration, privately have been more willing to aid Israelis under such vast geopolitical transformations?

Would hostile enclaves and nations, whether in Egypt, Iraq, Qatar, or Yemen, been more or less willing to negotiate with Israel in a post-Hizballah, post-Hamas, and even post-theocratic-Iran era?

I believe Baratz is right not because I wish him to be, but because I think he has a better understanding of human nature than do his opponents, in that he understands that the revolution in military affairs, new weaponry, artificial intelligence, cyberwar, and smart bombs and shells have changed not the rules of war, but merely the velocity and lethality of it.

The more sophisticated we become, the more difficult it becomes to remember that war is fought collectively by humans. Human nature stays constant across time and space. And thus, it remains predictable and subject to universal laws that, if only understood, can mitigate the violence of war—through strategic victory.

Seth Mandel: A Soldier’s Perspective on the Ceasefire

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have fought in the war against Hamas since October 2003, yet the perspective of the Israeli soldier is often missing from the discussions of the conflict. A friend of mine who is serving his fourth tour in Gaza in this war alone yesterday posted his perspective on this week’s ceasefire deal, and it’s worth considering, since it addresses some of the skepticism toward the deal. G. is a master sergeant, a reservist, and makes two arguments worth grappling with.

First, he writes, “As the military campaign reaches a turning point, it is crucial for Israeli society to begin moving forward. In my opinion, the time has come to focus on healing the nation, supporting those who have suffered, and rebuilding the foundations of strength and resilience. This includes addressing the needs of bereaved families, aiding displaced communities, reuniting a society that has endured immense strain, and supporting soldiers, reservists, and their families in returning to routine, managing trauma, and recovering from life-changing injuries. The long-term stability and strength of Israel depend on repairing the societal fabric that has been tested during this prolonged war.”

That last sentence is similar to one of the practical arguments that helps explain Israel’s determination to redeem its captives even at the cost of incentivizing the continued practice of hostage-taking. Simply put, the Israeli people have made a pact with the state that they will send them their grown children when they reach the age of military service, and the state is to return them home when their service is up.

In that vein, the social fabric of Israeli society cannot be allowed to unravel, because (from a strategic perspective) it would threaten the foundation of Israel’s security. On the other hand, so would permitting Hamas to regroup. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is fond of saying that in politics, leadership often requires choosing between two bad choices. This would be one explanation for Netanyahu’s thought process behind the deal.

There is also the question of war aims: Although under the terms of the deal, Israel retains the prerogative to resume military operations if Hamas violates the ceasefire, the agreement suggests an implicit acceptance of a new policy in which Hamas’s total defeat is no longer a primary Israeli goal. But if Hamas’s continued existence isn’t a dealbreaker, why couldn’t an agreement along these lines have been signed earlier in the war? After all, the details don’t appear to have changed significantly from the outline the Biden administration first advanced in May 2024.

Supermarkets Banking A Little Too Much On Shoppers' Enthusiasm For Tu B'Shvat (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook and Substack pages.

Supermarkets Banking A Little Too Much On Shoppers' Enthusiasm For Tu BiShvat

Jerusalem, January 16 - Retail grocery stores have again decided to assume a far greater interest among Israeli consumers in dried fruits, nuts, date spread, and various fruit preserves than actually exists among the buying public, industry observers noted today, as evident in the elaborate displays of such products, either individually or in gift packages, in honor of the upcoming New Year for Trees.

At Osher Ad, a chain of large supermarkets that caters in the main to Haredi consumers, store managers at the Giv'at Shaul branch have created an elaborate spread of such delicacies in anticipation of buyers snatching them up ahead of Tu BiShvat, the fifteenth of the month of Sh'vat - a day that in Jewish tradition and law marks a new year for various agriculturally-related commandments such as tithing fruit. Tu BiShvat will occur this year in about four weeks. Whether shoppers intend to buy anything for it, however, remains a tenuous assumption.

"It's gonna be huge," predicted Polly Anna, an assistant manger. "Lots of ads mention it. Companies give their workers fruits and stuff for it. Preschools make a big deal of it. Must be a tremendous time for sales. I remember bringing home Tu BiShvat stuff from school such as dried figs and dates, and my mom would get so excited! We never ate any of it, though. Just kind of put it out with dessert over the next several weeks until acknowledging no one wanted."

The origins of the day's observance comes from ancient texts that identify the fifteenth of Sh'vat as the day by which most of the winter's rain has fallen, and thus it became a harbinger of spring and the next season's harvest - an intuitive line to draw for defining fruit-tithing seasons and for uniform determination of what year of a tree's productive life yielded fruit (the first three are forbidden, while the fourth must be eaten in Jerusalem). Later centuries saw the harbinger-of-spring aspect of Tu BiShvat evolve into both a time of hope amid cold, dark exile and persecution, and a celebration of the bounty of land to which the Jews longed to return; it sits at the annual pole opposite Tu B'Av, a day of hope and potential for love even after catastrophe.

Since the only way to obtain fruits at all, and certainly the more exotic fruits associated with the land of Israel, in climes such as Eastern Europe, involved dried figs, dates, or raisins, those items became associated with Tu BiShvat even though no one actually likes them.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

Highlights of a Visit to the War-Ravaged Galilean Panhandle (Guest post by Jerry Schwartz)

Guest post by Jerry Schwartz.

Highlights of a Visit to the War-Ravaged Galilean Panhandle

Unprovoked, Hezbollah attacked northern Israel on October 8, 2023, only 25 hours after Hamas initiated its invasion and atrocities of the farming villages of southern Israel the day before. Breaking the cease-fire that had been in effect for 18 years, Hezbollah had been firing guided antitank missiles at the northern Israeli border communities as well as longer-range rockets into the Galilee daily.

After more than a year of these attacks, a new cease-fire between Lebanon and Israel came into effect on November 27, 2024. Hezbollah’s firing of antitank missiles at Israeli border villages from southern Lebanon has finally ceased.

Taking advantage of this lull in hostilities, I joined a guided tour of the Galilean Panhandle Thursday, January 2, 2025. The purpose of this tour was to afford an opportunity to Israelis who don’t live in the border areas to see for themselves the extent of the damage to the border villages and towns, the toll on the population, and the early stages of rehabilitation.

First Stop–Kibbutz Manara

The village of the kibbutz is perched on the highest point of the mountain ridge that runs in a north-south direction along the Lebanese border (legally an armistice line). This point rises steeply 800 meters above and to the west of the Hula Valley.

Figure 1 Hula Valley from the Ridge Looking East, the Golan & Snow-Capped Mt. Hermon Opposite.

A Lebanese village, also perched on a mountaintop, is situated a few hundred meters to the west of Manara. The line of site from the Lebanese village to the houses on the kibbutz is unobstructed. This topography is ideal for Hezbollah fighters who live in the Lebanese village to fire laser-guided antitank missiles at their Israeli neighbors’ homes, and so they did 260 times during the war. Three-quarters of the houses were damaged to the point of being uninhabitable.

We were not allowed to enter the village itself because of the widespread destruction. We viewed it from a lower point from where we could see blown-out windows and rocket holes in the walls of the row of houses visible from there.

She recounted that within the first few days of the war all 260 inhabitants fled except for four who refused to leave. They fled not only because of the antitank missiles, but especially because of fear of an invasion, atrocities, and capturing of hostages such as were perpetrated on the farming villages of the Gaza Envelop in the south on October 7, 2023. Such a fear was well-founded because they knew that several thousand battled-hardened troops of Hezbollah’s Radwan Brigades were stationed just on the other side of the armistice line.

Confirming these fears were detailed plans and maps for such an invasion that were found in Hezbollah’s network of terror tunnels in South Lebanon adjacent to the border with Israel.1 Thankfully, that invasion didn’t materialize. But the threat of it was the impetus for evacuating 65000 residents of the northern border area from their homes in the first days of the war.

Another frightening finding in these tunnels was “astronomical quantities of weapons and ammunition...and they began to empty it out on us,” she said.2

A major consequence of the kibbutzniks’ fleeing was that there was no one left to work the orchards and vineyards. Making matters worse, any workers in them were sitting ducks. As a result they were able to harvest only 10% of their crops in the last year.

Regarding the future of the kibbutz, she lamented that it will take several years to bring the orchards and vineyards back into full production, and said, “We’re only at the beginning of the process of rehabilitation. It will take many months before people can begin to return to the kibbutz. I work every day with insurance assessors and tax authorities.”

The kibbutzniks and their families are now scattered all over the country. She and other responsible members of the kibbutz make sure to keep track of them all, where they are located, their welfare, any needs they may have, and any distress they might be in. Once every six weeks, they hold a kibbutz-wide meeting by Zoom in an effort to ensure cohesion among the members.

At a later stop in the tour, one of the guides commented that at the outbreak of the war there were 20 Gazan workers employed at Kibbutz Manara. The members of the kibbutz assigned the highest priority to ensuring that their workers got back home safely from Manara in the far north to Gaza in the south, by then engulfed in war, and they managed to do so.

Second Stop–Moshav Margaliot

Located a ten-minute drive north of Kibbutz Manara on the same ridge, Moshav Margaliot is a major domestic producer of eggs. Their chicken coops sustained extensive damage from antitank missiles.

Figure 2 Destroyed Chicken Coop

As opposed to a kibbutz, which is owned collectively, the families of a moshav each own their own houses and farms. This means that each family is responsible for rehabilitating its own house and agricultural infrastructure independently.

This post is public so feel free to share it.

One of the moshav’s farmers spoke to us. Standing next to the border fence, he pointed out a Lebanese village on the other side situated on a higher ridge and separated from his moshav by only about 300 meters. From there, looking down on Margaliot is like “looking down at the palm of your hand,” he said. From the elevated position of the Lebanese village, Hezbollah repeatedly fired antitank missiles down onto Margaliot and all the houses were destroyed except for a few at the far end of the agricultural village.

He reported that during this war more cross-border tunnels penetrating into Israeli territory were discovered, including at Manara. Margaliot dealt with several attempts at infiltration. In one incident an armed terrorist managed to sneak into the moshav village. Guards pursued him but couldn’t find him until the next day when they shot him.

Our “additional war” is to restore the damaged agricultural infrastructure, the farmer explained. “Feed bins were destroyed. During the war mine was completely damaged but I repaired it because I still had poultry in the structure. The assessors said because you repaired it you don’t have to replace it, so no compensation for me even though it was already 20 years old. The others will get compensation to buy new ones prorated based on the remaining useful life before the war. A feed bin today costs ten thousand shekels. Repairing the structures themselves will cost 20 to 30 thousand shekels from your own pocket.”

He shuddered at the thought of what would have happened if three or four thousand battled-hardened troops from the Radwan Brigades had crossed the Lebanese border and in the twinkling of an eye covered the short distance to the small city of Kiryat Shmona in the valley below at the outbreak of the war.

Figure 3 Looking East Over the Hula Valley with Kiryat Shmona Below and the Golan Opposite

Looking ahead, he expressed uncertainty about “what would happen six months…, four years…, seven years into the future. So far between 20 and 30% of the residents have returned to the moshav. I estimate another 30 to 40% will return. 30% are estimated not to return. This is the moshav’s most pressing problem.”

The organizers had wanted to take us to Metula, the northernmost village in Israel on the Lebanese border. Before the war it was a popular tourist destination and hosted an annual Israeli poetry festival; during the war 300 of its houses were destroyed. The mayor refused to allow us to visit because he doesn’t want his village to be seen by outsiders in the devastated condition it’s now in.

Heading back to Tel Aviv, we stopped in the town of Kiryat Shmona in the Hula Valley. It was mostly empty, just like the southern town of Sderot was earlier in the war. From a bustling town it is now a ghost town.

Conclusions

During this war the northern communities were hard hit. Of the sixty-five thousand residents from the border communities that had to be evacuated to other parts of the country, so far few have returned because of a persistent perception of insecurity. The cease-fire now in effect is scheduled to expire at the end of this month. In any case, Hezbollah has been violating it since the first hours of its coming into effect by attempting to rearm by importing weapons and ammunition through Syria. The Lebanese army, assigned the role of enforcement, has been completely ineffectual so far, as predicted. So the IDF has had to stay in southern Lebanon to ensure compliance with the terms of the agreement. But the determination of the kibbutzniks and moshavniks, as conveyed to us by the representatives of the communities we visited, gives reassurance that the area will recover from the devastation and depopulation of the war, and will flourish again as long as security can be maintained.

https://www.inn.co.il/news/649842

https://www.maariv.co.il/news/military/article-1140132

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

Interview With George Gilder, Author Of The New Edition Of "The Israel Test" (Daled Amos)

By Daled Amos

George Gilder is an American author and economist. His book, The Israel Test, was published in 2009. A new version of the book came out last year.

George Gilder (YouTube screencap)

What is so important about your book, The Israel Test, that it merits a new third edition?

The issues of The Israel Test are imperative for everyone to understand—a relaunch of the message of the essential book of my lifetime. I've been writing for nearly 70 years, and of all my books, I like The Israel Test best. It's the most personal of my books and the most fervent. It may be the most important. I write about entrepreneurship, I write about technology, I write about creativity as the paramount force in human life. It is all epitomized in the fabulous feats of Israel as the Startup Nation and now possibly the leader of the Free World.

I think Israel is transforming the world as we speak.

Briefly, what is the Israel Test?

The test is how people respond to those who excel in creativity, intellect, accomplishment, and wealth. Do you admire them and try to learn from them or do you envy them, resent them, and try to tear them down? This is the central test of the world economy and human life. When we resent those who excel us and attempt to suppress them, we doom our Human Experiment. To the extent that we admire them and emulate them, there are no limits to our achievements on this planet.

For whatever reason, most of the great breakthroughs of the century have come from Jews, and Israel now epitomizes this genius of the Jews. So when we attack Israel, we're really attacking the very source of human creativity and accomplishment in the world. That is the Israel Test.

U.S. corporations have some 70% of the global market cap and all the world's equity markets. When you examine the companies that account for this global leadership in the United States, they all have crucial, laboratories inventions, factories, research, and operations in Israel. People talk about Israel being dependent on the United States. But the U.S. is more dependent on Israel today than Israel is on the U.S. The United States is in a maelstrom at the moment, and Israel is really the inspirational leader of the world economy.

What are the biggest misconceptions about Israel's economy and the Israeli society that you debunk in your book?

First of all, the whole idea that Israel somehow is occupying something is just misconceived.

One of the reasons for the second edition of the book is that once, after I addressed a synagogue in Far Rockaway in New York, fifteen years ago, someone came up to me and gave me a beaten-up, frayed copy of a book by Walter Lowdermilk. That book is the basis for a couple of new chapters in the recent editions of The Israel Test.

Walter Lowdermilk was a Christian in the United States in the Agriculture Department under FDR. A heat wave had led to a terrible drought in the U.S. causing a crisis for US agriculture and for the West. Lowdermilk traveled around the world, in search of agricultural methods to meet this crisis. He ended up in then-Palestine and discovered amazing agricultural feats. This is back in 1938, before the establishment of the state of Israel. He found that the Jews had performed an agricultural miracle unparalleled anywhere else in the world.

Lowdermilk found that they had solved the water problem and made the desert bloom. In time, this led to desalination plants, drip irrigation, microirrigation, and the planting of a million trees. There is now an Israeli university with a Lowdermilk building because he became a hero and is recognized for his important contributions.

He reported that when the Jews moved to Palestine in the 19th century, there were only 200,000 to 300,000 Arabs in this wasteland that was really a desert. Their average lifespan was around 30 years old. When the Jews came and made the desert bloom, the Arabs crowded into Palestine to take advantage of these breakthroughs the Jews achieved. Jewish migration made a population of Palestinians possible. Without the Jewish immigration, there could not have been a sustained population because of the lack of water. Lowdermilk's book documents detailed observations and testimony about how the Jews transformed the desert and made Israel ultimately into the world's most Innovative agricultural country.

But Israel made a big mistake. They adopted socialism. By 1985, Israel was about over, approaching 1000% inflation with the economy on the verge of collapse. The Histadrut domination of banking had resulted in the bankruptcy of banks and the fall of the shekel. That was when the new government under Netanyahu led the transformation of Israel into a capitalist leader.

The real Israel Test came when Israel demonstrated that freedom, capitalism, and creativity enable human life and accomplishment. That vindication of capitalism, pioneered by Netanyahu, changed the Israel Test from a test of recognizing their agricultural changes to recognizing their technological changes. Israel was a key source of the success of Intel Corporation, the leading American semiconductor company. Nvidia achieved great success by buying an Israeli company called Melanox, making Nvidia one of the world's most valuable companies by enabling their Artificial Intelligence breakthroughs.

It begins with half the Nobel prizes and the serious Sciences and it goes on to the richest people in the world, to the most pioneering country in the world. And it's all ultimately a recognition of the incredible genius of the Jews.

The Israel Test is about how Israel's genius enriches the world.

Is the Israel Test of the Arabs different? Aside from the psychological and emotional elements of envy and hatred of the Jews, the Arab world also has a cultural aspect that you mention in your book: shame and honor. Going a step further, are those Arabs living in Israel under Jewish rule for the first time in Arab history being tested and challenged differently than any other people?

Israel is a democratic government that grants Israeli Arabs more rights than any other place in the world, except maybe the United States. Arabs do better in Israel than they do anywhere else. The million Arabs in Israel comprise 16% of all the engineers. The Arabs do well in Israel and do not support Hamas or Hezbollah activities. There are, of course, disgruntled Arabs. But I think that the Arab integration with Israeli Society and Israeli industry has been a lesson for the world and the Israel Test.

I've spent a lot of time in Israel, talking to Arab engineers. They are making crucial contributions. The ones who learn from the Jews rather than resent the Jews do brilliantly in Israel.

You write that capitalism is one of the best remedies for antisemitism. How does that work?

Capitalism is based on giving. A fundamental principle of capitalism is its dependence on the moral fabric that the Jewish and Christian traditions enabled. capitalism is the secret behind the emergence of Israel as the world's leading creative force and its world leadership. Israel did not become the Startup Nation until it adopted capitalism and they didn't employ all these Arabs either until it adopted capitalism.

Probably seven out of the ten richest people in the world are Jews. All their wealth is invested in projects and companies that employ millions of people around the world. This makes the continued triumph over human exigency possible. It explains why the genius of the Jews converges with the capitalist insights to make Israel's emergence as the leader of the West possible. Israel's amazing achievement is that this tiny country has accomplished so much, yet has only existed for 75 years. And it could only have happened with capitalism.

The American economist and political commentator Thomas Sowell makes an important observation. He studied minorities all around the globe. He acknowledges the incredible achievements of the Jews and of Israel as the spearhead. However, he also shows that a similar phenomenon exists in Asia with the overseas Chinese. There are some 40 million overseas Chinese, more overseas Chinese than there are Jews. It's not exactly comparable, but the overseas Chinese dominate the economies of Asia in the same way that Jews dominate the Middle Eastern economy--and the American economy for that matter. Millions of overseas Chinese have been killed in pogroms in Indonesia, for example. This ended up depleting the Indonesian economy for decades They imagined that the overseas Chinese were somehow stealing wealth instead of creating wealth. Wealth is created; it is not stolen.

You write that anti-Semitism withers in wealthy capitalist countries. But is that really true today?

We are slipping back into Socialism. The West is no longer so wealthy and our wealth does not distribute itself as thoroughly as in a free economy. We are socializing our economy in the name of climate change and other delusions that are inducing us to abandon capitalism. When we abandoned capitalism, people began to look for victims. They consider themselves victims and resent the wealthy. They start failing their Israel Test.

So it's not just because we're living post-October 7th?

That's right. Marxism is based on resentment of wealth. If you start resenting and tearing down wealth, you end up failing your Israel Test and bring about catastrophe. And that's our history.

One of the stories I like to tell is about World War II. It was won because the U.S. admitted Jews to lead the Manhattan Project and create the nuclear weapons that made the triumphs of the Western order possible. After the Second World War, democracy and capitalism were the fruit of the Manhattan Project, and the Manhattan Project was accomplished almost entirely by the Jewish scientists fleeing Europe.

John von Neumann is a great hero of the Israel Test. He was a pivotal figure both in the Manhattan Project and in the creation of the computer industry. He won his debate with Albert, Einstein and persuaded Israel to create a supercomputer and acquire nuclear power. Israel could not have survived without von Neumann's contributions. A Jew who fled Europe for the United States ultimately saved both Israel and The United States.

You mention the United States. Generally, antisemitism doesn't seem to be as large a problem here as it is in Europe. Why is that?

One of the reasons is that Europe accepted massive Muslim immigrants without requiring them to adopt the principles of a free society, and without requiring them to abandon their antisemitism. Europe got occupied. It's a terrible problem and it's why Trump's insight about immigration is so critical. You accept immigrants who accept the constitutional principles of your society, the key moral underpinnings of civilized society. An obsession with exterminating Jews is utterly inconsistent with the principles of any kind of free, civilized society. Europe accepted too many jihadists and it's changing their culture.

Eastern Europe is now becoming more prosperous than Western Europe because of this. It is not trivial. Eastern Europe refused Islamic migration and has managed to continue its capitalist prosperity. Poland is now one of the world's most creative and productive countries.

You write that Judaism perhaps more than any other religion favors capitalist activity and provides a rigorous moral framework for it. How so?

Capitalism is based on escape from materialism. It is based on the belief that human beings are created in the image of their Creator. These Judaic insights and principles help explain why Jews lead the world economy.

Is capitalism the escape from materialism? Some say capitalism is dependent on materialism.

No, it absolutely isn't. Many models imagine the economy is dominated by land, energy, resources, rare metals, or whatever claims they make. Actually, ideas are all the world has. As Thomas Sowell puts it, the Neanderthal in his cave had all the material resources that we have today The difference between our age and the Stone Age is entirely the triumph of intellect and ideas and the transcendence over our material bondage and our material entrapment.

What are Israel's biggest challenges in maintaining its economic growth?

Israel led the world in new venture capital in 2024. It grew its venture capital by 38% over 2024 while the U.S. expanded its venture capital, because of the advance of artificial intelligence and the transformative impact of AI on various industries. But even during this horrific war, Israel has expanded its economic leadership. That is why I say they are the leader of the West. They have to maintain their openness, creativity, and inventiveness. They can't retreat to the materialist superstition that wealth comes from the land. Israel demonstrates that wealth doesn't come from the land--it comes from the mind.

What would you like your readers to take away from The Israel Test, especially the younger readers, who may not be familiar with Israel's story?

They should understand that this is a world of abundance. They should be careful not to accept the materialist superstition that ends up resenting wealth by imagining wealth is something material that was stolen from them. And that's the crucial recognition.

We always face the Israel Test. We all have the propensity to envy people who excel us. We all feel that temptation. We must shun the material superstition and embrace the infinite possibilities of the human mind and creativity.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher Sheikh Ikrima Sabri spoke at a conference in Istanbul on Tuesday, where he made the usual antisemitic and ahistorical statements denying any Jewish history or rights in Israel.

“The occupation is trying to prevent the call to prayer, especially at dawn and evening, under the pretext that it disturbs the settlers who came to Palestine as strangers. They tried to prevent the call to prayer several times and failed. The call to God is Great will remain until the Day of Judgment. Whoever is disturbed by the call to prayer should leave, but we are rooted in our land and we are clinging to our rights," Sabri said.

One wonders how the call to prayer ever happened before electricity.

Then again, Sabri seems to say, the Palestinian cause is much younger than electricity.

"The steadfastness of the people of Palestine is a steadfastness of faith, and if the conspiracies that befell Palestine had affected other countries, they would have become extinct, but the Palestinian cause has remained for 100 years, because Al-Aqsa is in the heart of Palestine."

100 years! Since 1925! Wow, such a long time!

If Jews praying in their holiest site disturbs Sabri, by his own logic perhaps he should leave.

But he must stay to fight the latest worldwide conspiracy to help Jews:

"All current conspiracies target Al-Aqsa, even the Deal of the Century, which the US President (elect Trump) is calling for, aims to control Al-Aqsa and hand it over to the Jews," the preacher stated.

Second Temple "Trumpeting Stone"

He then added a standard Palestinian lie: "In the excavations under and around Al-Aqsa, the (Israelis) did not find a single stone related to the (alleged) temple or ancient Hebrew history. The claim is false and has no evidence, but they use unjust force to control Al-Aqsa." (Notice that the Hamas newspaper added "alleged" in parentheses, to ensure that no one thinks that Sabri believes that there ever was a Temple.)

We learned another thing from him: “The occupation authorities are restricting the Turks coming to Al-Aqsa, especially during the Gaza war, but I say do not give up, and try again and again, because you have the determination and loyalty to Al-Aqsa.”

This sounded unusual enough to be worth researching. What apparently happened is that Turks wanted to cause problems at the Mount and Israeli police got wind of it. They asked those with Turkish passports why they wanted to enter, and if they said it was to pray they would ask them to recite prayers for them. The ones that couldn't pray, or couldn't answer that they went there to pray, appear to be the ones who were restricted, meaning they were potential troublemakers and not worshipers. (I would guess that they tried to enter at the specific times Jews are allowed to visit.)

At any rate, Palestinian antisemitism is alive, well and stronger than ever.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

Amnesty International has proven its hypocrisy when it comes to Jews yet again, this time in Italy.

Amnesty Italy planned to present its "genocide report" at the Venetian Athenaeum last week under the title, “You Feel Like You Are Subhuman: The Genocide of Israel Against the Palestinian People in Gaza.”

The local Jewish community protested the title of the presentation, saying it was offensive and incited hate against Jews. It did not ask that the event be canceled.

However, the Athenaeum decided to cancel the event altogether, citing "public order."

Paolo Navarro Dina, vice president of the Jewish Community of Venice. explained, “The flyer Amnesty distributed mentioned the word ‘genocide,’ which trivializes our history. So, as the Jewish community, we asked the Venetian Athenaeum to opt for a different term, without opposing the event per se, We criticized the mention of genocide, but we had no intention of censoring or canceling the event. This was the Athenaeum’s decision, not ours, but the way it was handled suggested otherwise.”

Amnesty quickly found another venue at a university and presented the program on the original date, although the university removed the word "genocide" from its promotional materials.

Amnesty Italy's spokesperson, Riccardo Noury, says his organization is an advocate of free speech. He spoke in October about the right to protest and peaceful demonstration. But that right apparently does not extend to Jews.

“Antisemitism is a violation of human rights. It is unacceptable to accuse an organization like ours, which defends human rights, of being antisemitic,” Noury said.

Unacceptable? Whatever happened to the right of peaceful protest?

Publicly calling for a global intifada is human rights, saying one should destroy Israel "by any means necessary" is all great, but mentioning Amnesty's history of double standards towards Israel isn't? Pointing out that Amnesty's misuse of the term "genocide" in a report where the conclusion was decided before the "research" was done is unacceptable?

Noury added, “After nine months of investigation, we concluded that Israel committed three acts of genocide, as defined by the 1948 Convention. This was not a term we used lightly."

Except that Amnesty admits that it used an expansive definition of genocide just for this report, one not supported by the ICJ. That sounds like they used the term very lightly - and the expanded definition is applied only to the Jewish state.

When the Athenaeum canceled the original event, Noury said, “We deeply regret not having been able to present" their report "in the most important and ancient cultural institution in Venice." But have they ever presented any other report on any other topic in this most important institution? I cannot find a single mention of the Ateneo Veneto in the Amnesty Italy site besides this planned event. If Amnesty treats all cases of perceived human rights violations equally, why does it massively promote its anti-Israel events so much more than any other?

The Jewish community's concerns about antisemitism as a result of this incident were fully realized.

Following the controversy, the Jewish community reported receiving hate mail and threats, escalating tensions.

“We are facing hate unfairly and have received several letters. These people are not even anonymous—they write their full names – so we are still checking who they are,” Navarro Dina said.

Messages ranged from accusations of political manipulation to more serious threats.

“Some letters accused us of controlling political and economic power to silence counter-narratives, while others contained statements like, ‘You will end up in hell and be finally condemned,’” Navarro Dina revealed.

The people threatening Jews represents Amnesty's target audience. That's why it books large venues for its anti-Israel reports. Everyone knows it, and everyone denies it.

“There’s an epidemic of anger and division today, for sure, and we condemn any form of hate towards anyone. But equating our work with antisemitism undermines our pursuit of justice,” Noury said.

Those meddlesome Jews, complaining about being threatened by thugs who Amnesty fully supports. It is really unacceptable.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

This is not Los Angeles. It is Kiryat Shmona, Israel, last June.

We've all seen and been astonished at the size and ferocity of the wildfires in the Los Angeles area this month. As of January 15, the devastating California wildfires have destroyed 40,300 acres of land.

That is less than one third the amount of land destroyed by fires set by Hezbollah and Hamas rocket fire last year.

Last Thursday, Israel’s National Public Diplomacy Directorate in the Prime Minister’s Office released a summary report on attacks on Israel during the year. Among the horrific statistics on deaths, injuries and an astonishing 18,000 separate attacks counted we see the amount of devastation from fires.

Approximately 15,400 rockets were fired from Lebanon and crossed into Israel.
Approximately 700 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip and crossed into Israel.

As a result of rocket fire and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs):

610 fires were started due to rocket fire and UAVs [nearly two a day- EoZ]

As a result of the war, approximately 92,417 acres of land were burned in areas of the Nature and Parks Authority, of which 55,104 acres were in the northern part of the country.

More than 42,749 acres of agricultural land were completely burned.
More than 370 acres of crops were burned throughout northern Israel.

That adds up to over 135,000 acres burned in Israel - more than triple the amount destroyed in California at this time.

You might think it is unfair to compare the Los Angeles metropolitan area with the entire country of Israel. You would be right, but not in the direction you may think. Because the Greater Los Angeles area is nearly 34,000 square miles - and all of Israel including the West Bank and Gaza, is only 10,600 square miles.

Yes, Israel saw triple the amount of fire devastation in one third the total area. (Yes I know it was in the course of a year and not a week, but the lack of news coverage is still unconscionable.)

Israel haters have to bizarrely equate Israeli actions with the California wildfires, like they try to hijack all news stories against Israel. Yet the real analogy is to the 135,000 acres burned by terrorists in Israel.

Zionists like to use the catchy phrase "no Jews, no news" to say that when Jews cannot be blamed for awful things worldwide, coverage is scant. But here we see that it is not precise. Because victim Jews are no news, either.

(h/t Irene)

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)