Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, April 03, 2025

Seven Jewish Children and Seven Arab Children

The antisemitic play "Seven Jewish Children" by Caryl Churchill has been turned into a movie.

When it first came out, I wrote a response in a similar fashion. So now is a good time to revisit the original play with all its deceptions and innuendoes, and my response that happens to be accurate.

First, Seven Jewish Children:

SEVEN JEWISH CHILDREN

a play for Gaza

Caryl Churchill

No children appear in the play. The speakers are adults, the parents and if you

like other relations of the children. The lines can be shared out in any way you

like among those characters. The characters are different in each small scene as

the time and child are different. They may be played by any number of actors.

Tell her it’s a game

Tell her it’s serious

But don’t frighten her

Don’t tell her they’ll kill her

Tell her it’s important to be quiet

Tell her she’ll have cake if she’s good

Tell her to curl up as if she’s in bed

But not to sing.

Tell her not to come out

Tell her not to come out even if she hears shouting

Don’t frighten her

Tell her not to come out even if she hears nothing for a long time

Tell her we’ll come and find her

Tell her we’ll be here all the time.

Tell her something about the men

Tell her they’re bad in the game

Tell her it’s a story

Tell her they’ll go away

Tell her she can make them go away if she keeps still

By magic

But not to sing.

Tell her this is a photograph of her grandmother, her uncles and me

Tell her her uncles died

Don’t tell her they were killed

Tell her they were killed

Don’t frighten her.

Tell her her grandmother was clever

Don’t tell her what they did

Tell her she was brave

Tell her she taught me how to make cakes

Don’t tell her what they did

Tell her something

Tell her more when she’s older.

Tell her there were people who hated Jews

Don’t tell her

Tell her it’s over now

Tell her there are still people who hate Jews

Tell her there are people who love Jews

Don’t tell her to think Jews or not Jews

Tell her more when she’s older

Tell her how many when she’s older

Tell her it was before she was born and she’s not in danger

Don’t tell her there’s any question of danger.

Tell her we love her

Tell her dead or alive her family all love her

Tell her her grandmother would be proud of her.

Don’t tell her we’re going for ever

Tell her she can write to her friends, tell her her friends can maybe come and visit

Tell her it’s sunny there

Tell her we’re going home

Tell her it’s the land God gave us

Don’t tell her religion

Tell her her great great great great lots of greats grandad lived there

Don’t tell her he was driven out

Tell her, of course tell her, tell her everyone was driven out and the country is waiting for us to come home

Don’t tell her she doesn’t belong here

Tell her of course she likes it here but she’ll like it there even more.

Tell her it’s an adventure

Tell her no one will tease her

Tell her she’ll have new friends

Tell her she can take her toys

Don’t tell her she can take all her toys

Tell her she’s a special girl

Tell her about Jerusalem.

Don’t tell her who they are

Tell her something

Tell her they’re Bedouin, they travel about

Tell her about camels in the desert and dates

Tell her they live in tents

Tell her this wasn’t their home

Don’t tell her home, not home, tell her they’re going away

Don’t tell her they don’t like her

Tell her to be careful.

Don’t tell her who used to live in this house

No but don’t tell her her great great grandfather used to live in this house

No but don’t tell her Arabs used to sleep in her bedroom.

Tell her not to be rude to them

Tell her not to be frightened

Don’t tell her she can’t play with the children

Don’t tell her she can have them in the house.

Tell her they have plenty of friends and family

Tell her for miles and miles all round they have lands of their own

Tell her again this is our promised land.

Don’t tell her they said it was a land without people

Don’t tell her I wouldn’t have come if I’d known.

Tell her maybe we can share.

Don’t tell her that.

Tell her we won

Tell her her brother’s a hero

Tell her how big their armies are

Tell her we turned them back

Tell her we’re fighters

Tell her we’ve got new land.

Don’t tell her

Don’t tell her the trouble about the swimming pool

Tell her it’s our water, we have the right

Tell her it’s not the water for their fields

Don’t tell her anything about water.

Don’t tell her about the bulldozer

Don’t tell her not to look at the bulldozer

Don’t tell her it was knocking the house down

Tell her it’s a building site

Don’t tell her anything about bulldozers.

Don’t tell her about the queues at the checkpoint

Tell her we’ll be there in no time

Don’t tell her anything she doesn’t ask

Don’t tell her the boy was shot

Don’t tell her anything.

Tell her we’re making new farms in the desert

Don’t tell her about the olive trees

Tell her we’re building new towns in the wilderness.

Don’t tell her they throw stones

Tell her they’re not much good against tanks

Don’t tell her that.

Don’t tell her they set off bombs in cafés

Tell her, tell her they set off bombs in cafés

Tell her to be careful

Don’t frighten her.

Tell her we need the wall to keep us safe

Tell her they want to drive us into the sea

Tell her they don’t

Tell her they want to drive us into the sea.

Tell her we kill far more of them

Don’t tell her that

Tell her that

Tell her we’re stronger

Tell her we’re entitled

Tell her they don’t understand anything except violence

Tell her we want peace

Tell her we’re going swimming.

Tell her she can’t watch the news

Tell her she can watch cartoons

Tell her she can stay up late and watch Friends.

Tell her they’re attacking with rockets

Don’t frighten her

Tell her only a few of us have been killed

Tell her the army has come to our defence

Don’t tell her her cousin refused to serve in the army.

Don’t tell her how many of them have been killed

Tell her the Hamas fighters have been killed

Tell her they’re terrorists

Tell her they’re filth

Don’t

Don’t tell her about the family of dead girls

Tell her you can’t believe what you see on television

Tell her we killed the babies by mistake

Don’t tell her anything about the army

Tell her, tell her about the army, tell her to be proud of the army.

Tell her about the family of dead girls, tell her their names why not, tell her the whole world knows why shouldn’t she know? tell her there’s dead babies, did she see babies? tell her she’s got nothing to be ashamed of. Tell her they did it to themselves. Tell her they want their children killed to make people sorry for them, tell her I’m not sorry for them, tell her not to be sorry for them, tell her we’re the ones to be sorry for, tell her they can’t talk suffering to us. Tell her we’re the iron fist now, tell her it’s the fog

of war, tell her we won’t stop killing them till we’re safe, tell her I laughed when I saw the dead policemen, tell her they’re animals living in rubble now, tell her I wouldn’t care if we wiped them out,

the world would hate us is the only thing, tell her I don’t care if the world hates us, tell her we’re better haters, tell her we’re chosen people, tell her I look at one of their children covered in blood and what do I feel? tell her all I feel is happy it’s not her.

Don’t tell her that.

Tell her we love her.

Don’t frighten her.

Here's my response:

Seven Arab Children
A play about Palestine

1.
Tell him that we are one big Arab nation
Tell him that we invented algebra
Tell him that we always lived here
Tell him that others can only live here if they agree to be dhimmis
Don't tell him about the Jews who used to live here
Tell him that we live in southern Syria
and that we will never be divided from our brethren
Tell him that all Arabs look out for reach other

2.
Tell him we hate the Jews because they are weak
Tell him that they they started it first
Tell him that Jews shouldn't live in Hebron
Don't tell him that they were there for millennia
Tell him that they attacked Arabs at their Wall
Tell him they wanted to kill all the Arabs
Tell him that he will be rewarded for killing them.

3.
Tell him we are on strike
Don't tell him that Arabs are killing more Arabs than Jews or British
Tell him that the British are pro-Jewish
Don't tell him about the "collaborators"
Tell him that the Mufti will lead us to a state
Don't tell him about the feuds between the clans
Tell him that the hundreds of dead Arabs are the Jews' fault
Tell him that we will never accept compromise

4.
Don't tell him that we ran away
Don't tell him that some Arabs stayed and are not in camps
Tell him that we will still throw the Jews into the sea
Tell him not to forget that he is an Arab
Tell him that we were massacred
Tell him that over and over again
Tell him he must hate the Jews
Don't tell him that our Arab brethren keep us in camps
Don't tell him that they told us to flee
Don't blame them for our troubles
We need to live with them

5.
Tell him that we are "Palestinian"
Tell him not to say "Jews" in English, only "Zionists"
Tell him that the Arabs will help us push the Jews into the sea this time
Tell him we are united
Tell him that we still have a key to our home
Don't tell him to go to Kuwait to find a job
Tell him the UN will take care of us forever
Don't tell him to blame the Arabs for our being stateless for decades
Tell him it is needed for "unity"

6.
Tell him it is not terrorism
Tell him that the martyrs are heroes
Tell him we hate the Jews because they are strong
Don't tell him that we still cannot become citizens
of the Arab nations we were born in
Don't tell him that our brethren kicked us out of Jordan
Tell him Jews massacred us in Lebanon, not Arab Christians
Tell him about Paradise
Don't tell him about Arabs in Knesset

7.
Tell him to become a Shahid
Tell him that we will never compromise
Tell him that the "peace process" is just another means to conquer land
Tell him not to say that out loud
Tell him that a child-killer is a hero for all Arabs
Don't tell him that we killed hundreds of each other in Gaza
Don't tell him we used to have jobs and work together with the Jews
Don't tell him that the intifada was a failure
Tell him to cry on top of rubble if a reporter comes by
Tell him we won all our wars with the Jews
Don't tell him why we still live in camps in Gaza
Tell him we'll be proud of him when he becomes a shahid
Tell him that his family will be taken care of after he dies
Tell him to take as many Jews as he can
Tell him he will be a hero
and we are so proud of him

This can easily be updated, and I don't know if the movie adds more lies about how Jews supposedly think and how sadistic and unfeeling and hypocritical Jews are.

The words in my play are based on things I read in mainstream Palestinian and Arab media.

Since 2009, we have examples of how Palestinians celebrated terror attacks including October 7. This makes the contrast between how Jews raise their children and how Palestinians raise theirs far starker.

But staging a play like mine would be Islamophobic or "anti-Palestinian racism" or something. It could never happen. Truth is not as important as narrative.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

The UN’s War on Jewish Success

(This is a continuation of my "Unified Field Theory of Antisemitism" series.)

Jews have been accused of the worst crimes of each era: killing God, poisoning wells, controlling governments, staging world wars.

Today the accusations are just as ludicrous, but they are mounted faster than ever. Perhaps the most visible source of antisemitism today is the international community and non-governmental organizations.

Since the United Nations was created, the world has gone through phases of condemning highly publicized crimes - and sooner or later, Israel gets accused of the same crimes.

Colonialism changed from acceptable to criminal in the years after World War II. The Arab nations accused Israel of colonialism before Israel even existed. Abdul Rahman Hassan Azzam, the chairman of the Arab League, said to the Anglo American Commission in 1946, "The Zionist, the new Jew, wants to dominate and he pretends that he has got a particular civilizing mission with which he returns to a backward, degenerate race in order to put the elements of progress into an area which wants no progress. Well, that has been the pretension of every power that wanted to colonize and aimed at domination."

Racism became the new evil in the 1960s, with the civil rights era. By 1975, UN passed a resolution declaring Zionism a form of racism.

In the 1980s, states began sanctions against South Africa for its apartheid policies. The 2001 Durban conference, organized during the 1990s, accused Israel of apartheid

More recently, the number of accusations against Israel have turned into a tsunami: if white supremacism is bad, then Israel must be guilty of "Jewish supremacism." If genocide is the ultimate evil, then Israel must be guilty of that heinous crime.

It was not only UN resolutions that have been hijacked just to be used as ammunition against Israel. International law itself has been changed just for Israel and Israel alone. The Rome Statute changed language from the Geneva Conventions to apply specifically to Israeli settlements - and in doing so it elevated the status of Jews building homes on their ancestral homeland, the most anti-colonial act one can imagine, into a war crime.

The UN Commission on Human Rights became increasingly anti-Israel year after year. From the 1970s through 2002, fully one third of its country-specific resolutions were directed at Israel, while it ignored the worst violators of human rights. In 2002, during the height of the spree of terror attacks that was murdering hundreds of Israelis, it passed a resolution not to condemn Palestinian suicide bombers but to affirm the "legitimate right of the Palestinian people to resist the Israeli occupation." The world's human rights body all but legitimized terror.

The UNCHR was disbanded in 2006, not because of its anti-Israel focus but because it consistently elected members of the worst human rights violators, including Sudan during its ethnic cleansing in Darfur. The two are related, though: when anti-Israel and pro-terror policies become normalized by international bodies, it never ends there.

The UNCHR's replacement, the United Nations Human Rights Council, is even worse. Beyond its massively disproportionate obsession with Israel in its resolutions, it also has a standing item on its agenda, item 7, dedicated to criticizing Israel. No other nation has such an item. Moreover, in 2021 the UNHRC established a permanent Commission of Inquiry (COI) against Israel that is the first and only such COI that has no time limit. Millions of dollars are spent every year by this commission alone.

The UN works closely with non governmental organizations. Human rights organizations like Amnesty and Human Rights Watch share the UN's obsession with Israel, dedicating more and larger reports accusing Israel of more crimes than any other nation over time. Amnesty's report on mass murders, rapes and displacements of civilians in Darfur in 2016 was only slightly longer than their report condemning Airbnb for allowing listings of Jewish-owned homes in Judea and Samaria in 2019. Their priorities are immoral.

There is literally no aspect of human existence that is not weaponized against Israel. The Palestinians have signed international treaties that they admit they have no interest in upholding but their meetings are ideal places to attack Israel for its supposed violations of environmental rights, women's rights, children's rights, preserving the oceans. The world soccer federation FIFA is forced by their rules to debate Israel's membership endlessly at the behest of Israel's enemies.

Institutions like the UN and major NGOs promote a universalist vision of global norms that are meant to override and supersede traditional notions of national sovereignty. They say that they must to this to enforce minimal human rights standards, but the examples of major human rights violators that can force their own agendas on world bodies prove that politics trumps the honesty, fairness and equality they claim to be fighting for.

Their disproportionate focus on Israel reveal more than this, though. Once you look past their distortions and lies, it becomes clear that Israel is a shining success story of human rights and of liberal ideals. It is especially impressive given the constant war footing forced on the Jewish state. Israel's ability to maintain its security in the face of international laws that are applied to it alone; its ability to provide equal rights to its Arab minority, its heroic attempts to minimize civilian casualties among its enemies under the most difficult wartime circumstances any Western nation ever faced, shows that it isn't Israel's failings that cause such unbridled hate - but Israeli success.

The UN and NGOs have utterly failed to change the attitudes and activities of the worst human rights violators. The are not merely impotent in the face of the crimes against humanity - they tacitly accept them.

Meanwhile, a particularist Jewish state succeeds where even the most admired countries fail. This Jewish and Israeli success is a threat to their philosophy.

Nearly every nation in the Middle East declare themselves to be Arab and/or Muslim states without any concern from the UN and NGOs. They consider the Jewish state, however, to be a violation of their ideals. The reason isn't because of Israel's self-definition but because of Israel's success at building a society of equal rights for all its citizens - something that these self-declared moral arbiters cannot accept.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

A Sunni member of the Lebanese parliament has said that he supports normalization with Israel under certain circumstances, causing his colleagues to scramble to dissociate themselves from him.

Baarini wrote on X:

Normalization cannot be resolved through outbidding and bravado. Yes to normalization if it protects us from aggression. Yes to normalization if it reclaims our land and ensures it is not occupied. Yes to normalization if it grants Lebanon the peace and prosperity we have lacked for years. Yes to normalization and no to obstinacy toward Arab paths, especially the one led by Saudi Arabia.

The statement appeared to be a response to Hezbollah's anti-normalization stance. Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad expressed on "Quds Day" last Friday the "commitment of the resistance to countering its policies and attempts to drag Lebanon towards normalization."

Baarini's statement caused a backlash from his fellow Sunni MPs.

“This is strictly a personal opinion that does not represent our bloc,” said Sajih Attieh, a member of the bloc. He emphasized that Baarini had not discussed his stance with his colleagues.

As a result, key Sunni figures washed their hands of their colleague’s comments. “Normalization should not be discussed until a just peace based on a two-state solution has been achieved,” Nabil Badr, a Sunni MP for Beirut, told L’Orient-Le Jour.

“I think Baarini worded it poorly. He should have said that he is in favor of the Beirut Arab initiative,” said another Sunni MP on condition of anonymity. “I think he expressed a personal position,” he added, stressing that the Sunni community is not in favor of this initiative at this stage, while being in favor of Hezbollah’s disarmament.

Meanwhile, Israeli officials continue to call for normalization with Lebanon.

"We want to normalize our relations with Lebanon," Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said after meeting in Paris with his French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot, at a press conference reported by the French daily Le Monde. He also announced the start of negotiations "on certain issues. "

"We have a team negotiating on ... border disputes," he added.

Saar also stated that his country wanted stability in Lebanon, but that it would not allow Hezbollah to "rearm."

Isn't it strange that the only country that consistently seeks peace since 1948 is the one that is constantly framed as the aggressor?

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

Muslim nations condemn Ben Gvir "storming Al Aqsa Mosque." Their incitement is the real violation of international law.

Turkey's Anadolu Agency reports:

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir forced his way, along with illegal settlers, into the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem on Wednesday, marking a new provocation amid the ongoing war on Gaza.

Arab News reported:

Saudi Arabia condemned the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday by Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it strongly condemns “the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque by the Israeli national security minister under the protection of occupation police.”

Jordan's Foreign Ministry stated:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned, in the strongest terms, the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif by extremist Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir today, under the protection of the occupation police.
The Ministry's spokesperson, Ambassador Dr. Sufyan Al-Qudah, affirmed the Kingdom's absolute rejection and strong condemnation of the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif by an extremist Israeli minister, in a flagrant violation of international law and the obligations of Israel, the occupying power in occupied Jerusalem, and an attempt to impose temporal and spatial division. He stressed that Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied city of Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites.

Here's a photo of this "storming" the "mosque:"

This is strolling, not "storming." He entered no mosque.

There is nothing illegal about his visit. Israel's agreement with Jordan did not give the Jordanian Waqf control over the site. On the contrary, banning Jews from the Temple Mount and other areas of Jerusalem - the holiest site in Judaism, which Jordan did when it controlled the area - is the real violation of international law.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), ratified by Jordan, says that

Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.

Jordan, by strongly condemning the peaceful visit of any Jew to the most sacred spot in Judaism, is indeed inciting religious hatred, let alone discrimination.

I myself have had the privilege of "storming" the Temple Mount twice.

This is incitement. But it isn't the kind of incitement that anyone in the international community will ever say a word against.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.

Imagine a Jewish sage, Rabbi Meir of Rothenberg, locked in a 13th-century dungeon. The Holy Roman Emperor demands a ransom—a fortune the Jewish community is desperate to pay to redeem their captive sage. Rabbi Meir, meanwhile, will not permit his flock to pay his ransom.

Why? Because the Maharam of Rothenberg knew that this would set a precedent. Pay the ransom and Jewish leaders would always be targets for kidnapping.

Rabbi Meir endures seven years in captivity, then dies in prison. And still he is not free, not even in death. The corpse of the Maharam is held captive for a further 14 years; the final, lengthy indignity done to a true holy man. As distinct from his evil “Holy Roman” captor.

Rabbi Meir of Rothenberg’s refusal to be ransomed is the story of a selfless, godly man who sacrificed one person, himself, to protect his people long-term. In their desire to redeem their sage, the Jewish community was heedless of the wider implications for the Jewish nation, as a whole. What Rabbi Meir did was beautiful and selfless. He stepped up for his people.

Now it is 2025, and Hamas is playing the same cruel stunt pulled so long ago by King Rudolf I, holding as bargaining chips an estimated 20-24 live hostages and 35 hostage corpses. The hostage families whatever the status of their loved ones, yearn for closure. Some of the hostage families already know their loved ones are dead in Gaza. They ache to bury them. Others pray their loved ones still cling to life. The not knowing is a torment. Rabbi Meir of Rothenberg would tell us not to blink—giving in only emboldens the enemy. But we blinked.

We blinked when we inked the Shalit deal. Then we set a precedent for now when we swapped over 1,000 murderers for Gilad Shalit, including Yahya Sinwar, the devious, truly evil mastermind of October 7.

It must be said: many of us were against the Shalit deal, despite the biased polls trumpeted by the biased MSM. We were way more than the measly 14% they cited. In fact, I knew very few people in favor of the Shalit deal. Why would anyone be in favor of releasing from prison a satanic monster like Ahlam al-Tamimi—someone who is gleeful to know that Jewish children died as a result of her evil machinations. Won’t she just want to do it some more? Now imagine her times one thousand.

Before we released Yahya Sinwar from prison, in that same Shalit deal, we saved his life on Israel’s dime. Fine Israeli surgeons removed his brain tumor in a world class hospital, and gave him another shot at destroying the Jewish people in a way the world would never forget. This should be a stark lesson for the Jews. Every terrorist we don’t shoot on sight, will try to do it again.

Happily, Sinwar can no longer be said to be living proof of this, because he is no longer among the living. The Jews finally did the right thing and ended him for good.

Rabbi Meir of Rothenberg did not die only because of a principle. He died to stop a vicious loop. Which is where we are right now. Hamas thrives on our concessions—just think! The Shalit deal gave them Sinwar. The Witkoff deal has already given them many Sinwars.

It must be faced. Israel has shown it will release terrorists, many of them, for a single hostage. Then it all becomes a game of how many terrorists they can get for 50 Jews, most of them dead. It’s true they prefer the live ones, but a live Jew will pay a lot for a dead Jew, too. And in fact, Israel has now released many, many terrorists from Israeli prisons—terrorists with a recidivism rate of 82%.

The Israeli dilemma, of course, is brutal: negotiate and maybe save some hostages and retrieve the bodies of the others, or fight to crush Hamas, and risk an endless round of October 7s.

If only we had someone with the Maharam’s wisdom today. Someone who could advise us what to do now that we’ve ~~effed~~ messed up and set the precedent. One that can only lead to great bloodshed. There can be no other outcome.

Each negotiation leads to a jackpot of thousands of terrorists. So why should Hamas let go the last of their bargaining chips, dead Jews and maybe two dozen live Jews. They are surely worth thousands of terrorists, many Sinwars let loose.

***
This must read from Elder speaks of a more contemporary rabbi’s take trading terrorists for hostages: The Lubavitcher Rebbe's view of hostage deals

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

04/02 Links Pt2: The Unreformable Palestinian Authority; Why the Abraham Accords still matter; Eli Lake: Orientalism: How one book fueled 50 years of campus unrest

From Ian:

The Unreformable Palestinian Authority

With Israel poised to start taking and holding territory inside the Gaza Strip, the question of how to administer postwar Gaza has become more pressing. The Biden administration had been pushing for handing it over to a “reformed” or “revitalized” Palestinian Authority (PA). The PA, however, seems fundamentally resistant to reform. For instance, last year, the PA made a written promise to the EU that it would revise the anti-Semitic and jihadist curriculum in its schools. (Similar promises were made by Yasir Arafat.) A recent study found a “complete absence of such reforms.” Elliott Abrams comments:

Donors to the PA’s educational programs should take a closer look at what they are supporting. PA schools are teaching another generation to hate Jews and Israelis and to become terrorists. And this is against the background of significant textbook reforms in numerous other Arab and Muslim countries.

Likewise, there were reports in February that the PA has taken steps to end its policy of rewarding those who commit acts of terror, and their families, with money and jobs. I was suspicious of the story at the time, and those suspicions have since been borne out:

In March, payments for February were made as usual. I am reminded of a Politico article headlined “U.S. says Palestinians are close to changing ‘pay for slay’ program.” That article was dated March 29, 2024.

The PA may have changed the agency that pays terrorists, or the bank account, but there is zero evidence that the evil practice has been stopped. So as with textbooks, the PA has given new and convincing evidence that it does not seek and will not undertake reform. Those who believe there is now, or soon will be, a “reformed Palestinian Authority” are kidding themselves. The PA today continues to teach and to reward hate and violence. There has been no change of heart.

Why the Abraham Accords still matter

As chair of Labour Friends of Israel, last week I became the first British MP to travel between Israel and the UAE – an unimaginable reality before the historic Abraham Accords in 2020.

My flight – one of 18-daily ones which now shuttle back and forth between the two countries – was chockful of young Israeli families off on holiday and businesspeople. What was so remarkable about the journey is how quickly it has become normal.

The truth is that despite the terrible war in Gaza, the Abraham Accords demonstrate how durable peace is when underpinned by shared values and a commitment to security and prosperity.

A principal goal of Hamas’ 7 October attacks was to scupper the burgeoning process of normalisation with Israel for other countries in the region, especially Saudi Arabia. Iran and its terrorist proxies are bent on Israel’s destruction and the undermining of regional security for more moderate, pragmatic Arab states. Indeed, Israel’s further integration into the region will be key to maintaining security for Israel and those moderate Arab states alike.

In Abu Dhabi, I met with Dr Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, a member of the UAE Federal National Council, to discuss the UK’s continued support for the Abraham Accords and our driving ambition to see further normalisation of relations in the region.

That’s why Labour Friends of Israel is calling on the government to create a Special Envoy for the Abraham Accords at ambassador level. We also discussed the country’s laudable efforts to promote tolerance in the face of Islamist extremism – a destabilising ideology embodied and exported by the regime in Tehran.

David Collier: I exposed Hamas links in BBC Gaza film: 'When the media spread lies it has consequences'

The BBC was recently caught publishing a documentary that secretly relied upon, and paid, the family of a senior Hamas official.

In the public outrage that followed, BBC executives were forced to take the documentary offline.

The documentary, titled "Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone," allegedly cost over half a million dollars to make, and yet the Hamas ties to the production were exposed in less than twelve hours of the show airing.

Media bias against Israel is not new, but the demographic shift in Europe has resulted in toxic anti-western ideologies being given an increasingly loud voice in many state institutions. In the UK, we see this mostly manifest itself in academia, politics, and, of course, the media.

For decades, outlets such as the BBC have used Qatari state mouthpieces such as Al Jazeera as a recruiting pool. How many ex-Al Jazeera staffers do you need to employ before you begin to look like Al Jazeera yourself?

Which means anti-Israel bias in the media is rarely an accident, it is almost always a feature of a far bigger problem.

The unique aspect of the "BBC-gate" documentary saga was that it exposed BBC anti-Israel bias across the entire news-delivery supply chain. Once it left the hands of Hamas propaganda agents in Gaza, across the fixers and journalists, all the way to the BBC executives who rubbed their hands with glee and dreamed of global awards, the failure was complete, catastrophic and inexcusable. Not one part of the system did its job properly.

The BBC’s anti-Israel bias is now undeniable. There is just nowhere left for them to hide. The BBC’s engine room is full of obsessive activists dressed in PRESS gear, all trying to find new stories and new angles that will help shift public opinion further against the Jewish state. The BBC traffic all goes one way.

I am reliably informed that for every story pitched by BBC journalists in support of the only actual democracy in the region, at least 10 are intended to make people sympathize with a Gazan population that not only voted Hamas into power, but whose families man the forces of multiple Jihadist terrorist groups.

04/02 Links Pt1: Bernie Sanders’ War On Innocent Palestinians; Exploiting Hamas’s Weakness; Fired for fairness, promoted for prejudice – UN’s moral rot exposed once more

From Ian:

Bret Stephens: Here Is the Real Route to Freeing Palestinians

The real route to freeing Palestinians, both in Gaza and the West Bank, must begin with the elimination of Hamas as a military force, something that, for now, only Israel has the power and the will to accomplish. Among other necessaries will be Israeli control of the Philadelphi Corridor separating Gaza from Egypt, to ensure that Hamas can’t resupply itself with weapons. Longer term, an Arab Mandate for Gaza, complete with a security force from moderate Arab states, may be the best solution for preventing the resurgence of Hamas and avoiding the need for a long-term Israeli reoccupation of most of the territory.

But even that won’t work if a broad majority of Palestinians isn’t willing to unshackle themselves from Hamas’s political and ideological grip. In that sense, it isn’t enough for Gazans to revolt against the group for being the prime instigator and perpetuator of the last 18 months of war and misery, a fact the Gazan protesters seem to understand far better than their mindless champions abroad.

What matters even more than overthrowing Hamas is overcoming the mentality of the so-called Resistance on which movements such as Hamas (but not only Hamas) were built. If the core Palestinian demand is not the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel but rather of one in place of Israel, then the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is bound to continue.

For Palestinians, that will mean not only abandoning terrorism or guerrilla warfare but also the more insidious forms of seeking Israel’s destruction, such as the spurious call for a “right of return” for the descendants of Palestinian refugees — a right whose main purpose is to swamp Israel demographically so that it will no longer be able to maintain a Jewish majority.

As for Israelis, last week’s protests represent both a hope as well as a challenge. Hope: Ultimately, the protests suggest the possibility that, eventually, an overwhelming majority of Palestinians will never again allow themselves to be ruled by revanchist tyrants of any shade. Challenge: If and when that happens, there will be no plausible argument against a Palestinian state.

The sooner Hamas is defeated, the sooner the day might come.

Seth Mandel: Bernie Sanders’ War On Innocent Palestinians

Hamas is playing a familiar game here. The terror group will inflate casualty figures and go so far as to “name” and “identify” each one on the list, which will be reported immediately. Following the reports, Israel will be criticized for using excessive force and for endangering civilians. After that round of reporting has faded from the headlines, Hamas will edit the list, revising the total figure down and deleting thousands of fake entries so the permanent record appears more in line with the facts. The monthly numbers that media had been using become, at that point, irrelevant—but only in retrospect. No changes will be made to stories, no corrections appended, no apologies made.

Crucially, even after the adjustments, the March numbers aren’t accurate either. For one, Aizenberg notes, they include over 8,000 natural deaths, which is around 15 percent or so of the total—a huge chunk of the list.

Further, Hamas doesn’t distinguish between combatants and noncombatants. The deaths from war, Aizenberg wrote, are about 41,000 once the natural deaths are removed. Israel has reportedly killed about 20,000 Hamas fighters, which means nearly half of the war casualties have been Hamas combatants. Last, 72 percent of fatalities aged 13-55—the traditional age range of soldiers used by Hamas—were men.

Hamas’s list is thus inaccurate in the extreme but still quite useful, if you are willing to actually read the material. Sanders & Co. are trying to ban the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel just at the moment when Hamas has proved the unprecedented accuracy of Israel’s urban warfare.

Sanders can complain about the Israeli government all he wants—Israel has been acquitted of Sanders’s charges by the Palestinian government itself.

But let’s not stop there. To speak in progressive Democrats’ own language, the vibe has shifted. Gazans are out in the streets to oppose what Sanders would most like to do: enable Hamas to survive the war and keep charge of the enclave. Moreover, Gazan clans are striking back—very publicly—at Hamas in retaliation for its violent repression and mafia-like control tactics. Bernie speaks not for innocent Palestinians but for their tormentors.

According to videos on Telegram, tens of thousands of Palestinians are demonstrating against Hamas today in Beit Lahia. Another recent video out of Gaza shows injured Gazans, several of whom are children, exiting an ambulance and shouting that Hamas were hiding among them, causing them to be in the line of fire.

Bernie Sanders and his merry band of Hamas propagandists are behind the times. Hamas is so yesterday. Bernie isn’t speaking for Palestinians, he’s speaking over them—and further endangering their lives for his own political crusade.

Nicole Lampert: Gazans against Hamas are ignored by the West and betrayed by their leaders

Just a few days ago, back when it appeared that the demonstrations in Gaza might be our first proper signs of a rebellion against Hamas rule, I spoke to two men who had been marching.

They said they wanted what we all want; an end to the war. Peace. The chance to get on with their lives. Before October 7, one had been a student, the other a legal adviser. Now they were both displaced people sick of being moved from area to area to avoid the bombs, their lives on hold.

Speaking via Zoom on a call facilitated by the Centre for Peace Communications for members of the Israel-based Jerusalem Press Club, and using the pseudonyms “Kareem” and “Saeed”, these men had plenty to say about Hamas. About how Hamas had stolen all the aid meant for the people of Gaza. “I used to see the trucks coming in and so I have seen how much food, clothes and even furniture came into Gaza but I received nothing from day one,” said one. “It was all for sale even though it was labelled ‘not for sale’.”

They talked of their fury that the Qatar-funded television channel Al Jazeera was parroting Hamas talking points and giving its huge worldwide audience the impression that their demonstrations were either aimed at Israel or being orchestrated by it.

Their demands were that Hamas disarm and leave the Gaza Strip, recognising this is the only way this war will end. But they weren’t able to offer names of anyone they thought could lead Gaza in its place. They were equally scathing about Fatah, which controls the Palestinian Authority. For them Fatah are almost as bad as Hamas – the men cited how Hamas’s rivals still encourage hatred rather than peace towards Israel.

Mostly they described their desire to get out – leave – go to a place where there wasn’t an endless cycle of death and destruction because they had no faith that a different Palestinian leadership would change things. They wanted to come to Europe.

The American far-right's desire to destroy Jews

America has never had the same level of antisemitism as Europe and the Middle East. For the most part, America has really been the "goldeneh medina" for Jews. However, like everywhere else, there has always been an undercurrent of antisemitism. In 1654, New Amsterdam (later New York) governor Peter Stuyvesant wrote to Dutch West India Company that Jews should not be allowed in the New World: “The deceitful race, — such hateful enemies and blasphemers of the name of Christ, — be not allowed to further infect and trouble this new colony,” referring to Jews as a “repugnant race” and “usurers." Jews did not receive full rights in many states until the 19th century.

The original Ku Klux Klan, founded after the Civil War, was primarily fixated on was on suppressing Black political and social advancement, particularly in the South during Reconstruction. Their hatred was deeply rooted in white supremacy and the desire to maintain the racial and social hierarchy of the antebellum South. There were very few Jews in the South at the time and they were not the primary targets of the group.

Towards the end of the 19th century, massive amounts of European Jews came to take refuge in America. Stereotypes of Jews as shifty, dishonest cheaters were a constant theme in newspapers. Popular jokes of the day accused Jewish shopkeepers of engaging in insurance fraud like burning down their own businesses. Yet there was similar bigotry against all immigrants.

The KKK was relaunched in 1915. While it was still primarily a white supremacist group, this time it was also heavily influenced by nativism, Protestant fundamentalism, pseudo-scientific racial theories and the newly popular Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This KKK saw itself as promoting a white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant America, while Jews were seen as scheming internationalists undermining Christian values. A popular 1928 pro-KKK book by Alma Bridwell White, "Heroes of the Fiery Cross," includes accusations of the Jews wanting to dominate the world, of poor Protestant girls working for Jewish rapists in clothing factories and movie studios. A plan by the New York branch of the Klan in 1921 endeavored to force all Jews to leave the country: "The Jew patronizes only the Jew unless it is impossible to do so. Therefore, we, the only real Americans (Klansmen) must, by the same methods, protect ourselves and practice by actual application the teachings of klannishness. With the policy faithfully adhered to, it will not be long before the Jew will be forced out of business by our practice of his own business methods, for when the time comes when klansmen trade only with klansmen, then the days of the Jews success in business will be numbered and the invisible emplre can drive them from the shores of our own America.

Over time, the KKK as well as other white supremacists became more and more obsessed with Jews to the point that they now spend more time on antisemitic arguments than on racial issues. They feel that Jews' influence is the major factor endangering the white Christian America they want; their previous anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic focus have faded to the background. By the 1950s, neo-Nazi concepts became popular: George Lincoln Rockwell founded the American Nazi Party in 1959.

The Institute for Historical Review was a pseudo-scholarly organization created in 1978 that questioned the Holocaust in the name of historical research. Its leader, Willis Carto, was a well-known white supremacist in the 1950s but he pivoted to heading the IHR, which was linked to various hate groups and even hosted a leading Palestinian politician, Issa Nakhleh, in one of their conferences. The IHR even created an academic style journal to give its noxious lies credibility.

The IHR may have been the first far-Right group to recognize the power of the Internet. In the 1990s it spammed dozens of Usenet newsgroups (bulletin boards on many topics) with its claims that there were no gas chambers, Anne Frank's diary was a hoax, and Jews were not systematically killed. As people argued with them the IHR modified their arguments to avoid the most egregious lies and double down on the more obscure, difficult to debunk theories.

Since then, the Internet has become a major recruiting tool for the antisemites of the Right. Andrew Anglin of the Daily Stormer spreads his bile online in a snarky manner to be able to claim that he is only joking. The only thing that united the abhorrent "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville in 2017 was the speakers' antisemitism. Most recently, in the wake of the October 7 Gaza war, anti-Jewish conspiracy theories have been spreading among more mainstream "America First"-style influencers. White supremacists like David Duke have embraced the "anti-Zionist" narrative in their broadcasts and books.

More outspoken white supremacists are even more explicit in their desire to murder Jews. James Wickstrom, a Christian Identity minister, said he wants to see Jews beaten to death with chairs and "throw 'em in the wood chipper! And from the wood chipper let the remains go into a big incinerary [sic] truck, which is right behind the wood chipper, and give them the holocaust they rightly deserve!"

The heavy reliance on spreading hate online adds a disturbing dimension to modern antisemitism. Alt-Right groups like the ‘Goyim Defense League’ (using GoyimTV to livestream antisemitic content) and far-Left groups like ‘Within Our Lifetime’ (organizing protests via online flyers to shut down Grand Central Terminal) can coordinate remotely, often evading watchdogs like the SPLC and ADL. Literature and posters can be distributed electronically and printed on personal printers, and they share tactics to provoke Jews—such as GDL’s spreading of antisemitic literature on people's lawns or WOL’s ‘Long live the Intifada!’ chants—while avoiding prosecution under free speech laws.

The styles and the media and the arguments of the Right morph to whatever is most palatable to the target audience. There is little consistent ideology or positions among the American far-Right outside of simple hate of Jews - Jews are greedy capitalists and scheming communists, they are spreaders of immorality yet impose their own morality on others, a clannish people who don't integrate into America and clever schemers who infiltrate and control American institutions, atheistic and religious fanatics. The Holocaust never happened but the Jews deserved it.

The only consistency is that Jews are a mortal threat to their vision of a white, Christian America that must be ethnically cleansed and removed.

As we have seen, this is a common theme across all modern antisemites, no matter what their political preferences.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

By Daled Amos

The right to free speech is both recognized and protected.

Since October 7, pro-Hamas protesters have been accusing universities, the police, and even the government of deliberately violating their free speech. However, emphasizing that speech rights are not absolute only illustrates the growing need to more clearly define the boundary between the right to protest and the right to be protected from the protesters.

When the ACLU brought a suit against the city of Pittsburgh during a 2009 G-20 Conference, it claimed:

Pittsburgh officials deliberately adopted a strategy to harass, intimidate, discourage, and ultimately prevent Three Rivers Climate Convergence and the Seeds of Peace Collective from exercising their constitutionally protected rights to free speech and assembly.

But now, in light of pro-Hamas protests, we are seeing the pendulum swing in the other direction in search of a balance that protects others from being harassed, intimidated, and discouraged from expressing their Jewish identity.

One step in that direction came in January 2024, when Jewish students at Harvard University filed a federal lawsuit claiming Harvard has "become a bastion of rampant anti-Jewish hatred and harassment" by failing to enforce Harvard's own rules against students who violate them -- rules designed to protect Jewish students. Instead, according to lawyer Marc Kasowitn, Jewish students have been "intimidated, harassed and in some instances physically assaulted because they're Jewish."

A further impetus for the protection of Jewish students' rights came last month when a jury found Greenpeace liable for civil conspiracy, defamation, and trespass with a verdict of $667 million in damages. The New York Post article notes the parallels:

There are similarities between the anti-pipeline protests near North Dakota’s Standing Rock Indian Reservation and other mass actions, including Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 and the anti-Israel demonstrations that erupted around the United States after the Oct. 7 attacks.

These are “hybrid protests,” in which masses of peaceful demonstrators are joined by smaller groups of trained agitators who tip the events toward violence.

The verdict also exposes how NGOs funnel money and material support to those who join the protests with the intent to harass and violate other people's rights.

Now, in a new tactic in the fight against pro-Hamas protesters, families of the victims of the Hamas October 7 massacre are bringing a lawsuit against the anti-Israel groups themselves. Groups such as Columbia University Apartheid Divest and Within Our Lifetime and leaders like Mahmoud Khalil are being sued. According to the suit:

“Their self-described acts in furtherance of their goals to assist Hamas have included terrorizing and assaulting Jewish students, unlawfully taking over and damaging public and university property on Columbia’s campus, and physically assaulting Columbia University employees.”

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The suit does more than claim that the protests exceed mere free speech. The families claim that these anti-Israel groups and leaders are coordinating with Hamas, a foreign terrorist group:

“Associational Defendants are not independent advocates; they are expert propagandists and recruiters for international foreign terrorist organizations and nation-state proxies operating in plain sight in New York City.”

The bottom line is that these groups did not just intimidate, harass, and perform acts of violence. They violated America’s Antiterrorism Act.

The families also accuse the groups of aiding and abetting the terrorist organization and having prior knowledge of the attack:

After months of dormancy, Columbia SJP allegedly reactivated its Instagram account "three minutes before Hamas began its attack on October 7," announcing a meeting and stating that supporters should "stay tuned."

Eighty-three SJP chapters, including Columbia, signed and disseminated a statement in support of Hamas at midnight at the end of the day of the attack, leading the suit to insinuate that the content must have been drafted, reviewed, and signed by dozens of organizations "before and/or during the events of October 7 themselves."

This lawsuit mirrors one by the Jewish National Fund in 2019, when it sued the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, accusing them of supporting terrorism and acting as a front for Hamas. The JNF was rebuffed at every turn:

The plaintiffs made these claims under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), which allows any U.S. national suffering injury due to an act of international terrorism to sue in federal court. Those considered to have knowingly provided “substantial assistance” to a terrorist organization can be found guilty of providing “material support” to terrorism.

Prior to the Supreme Court’s rejection, the lawsuit was dismissed by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in 2021, noting that the plaintiff’s arguments were “to say the least, not persuasive.” In 2023, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal, stating that JNF’s attempt to establish liability “fails at every turn,” calling the allegations against USCPR “nothing more than guilt by association.”

The evidence being brought in this new case may make all the difference.

This fight against protests claiming free speech protections goes beyond college campuses. The Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute filed a lawsuit last April for blockading the main entrance into Chicago's O’Hare International Airport, tying up traffic for hours and trapping innocent travelers in their cars. Among the defendants are Jewish Voice for Peace, The Tides Center, and the National Students for Justice, who "provided monetary or logistical support."

The case defends the rights of citizens unlawfully impeded by anti-Israel, pro-Gaza groups engaging in illegal acts of obstruction rather than peaceful protest. HLLI’s legal team seeks damages and a court injunction to prevent future disruptions like this.

A counterpoint to this is the case of NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co. in 1966, when the group launched a boycott of white merchants to promote equality and racial justice. While the protest relied on nonviolent picketing, the protest caused financial damage to the businesses. The businesses went to court in 1969. The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld that the NAACP could be held responsible and held the boycott to be unlawful "since the NAACP agreed to use force, violence, and 'threats' to carryout the boycott."

However, the US Supreme Court unanimously held (8-0; Justice Thurgood Marshall did not take part) that the NAACP could not be held responsible because the violence or threats of violence could not be tied directly to the financial losses.

Similarly, in Brandenburg v. Ohio, the US Supreme Court limited the punishment of inflammatory speech only where it is intended to “incit[e] or produc[e] imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such aelction.” However, in that same case featuring the NAACP, an activist who said, “If we catch any of you going in any of them racist stores, we’re gonna break your damn neck,” was found not to have gone beyond protected speech.

Of course, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits an institution receiving federal funds from discriminating based on race, color, and national origin, could add another dimension to the current cases. National origin includes shared Jewish ancestry.

At the very least, the various cases might finally get the media to correctly point out that there is more to the defense of Jewish students on campus than just free speech.

Buy EoZ's books on Amazon!

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

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)