Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Elder of Ziyon
Continuing our series of recaptioning cartoons...
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Elder of Ziyon
Jewish Voice for Peace, Judith Butler
Jewish Voice for Peace sent out a fundraiser yesterday written by Judith Butler, the anti-Israel professor who twists Judaism itself to justify her bizarre opinions (which include that Hamas and Hezbollah are part of the global Left.)
Butler complains about rumors that Facebook will adopt the excellent IHRA working definition of antisemitism, which is - she says - an assault on free speech. Nothing new there.
She also claims:
Apart from a chilling effect on social media, any definition of antisemitism that includes anti-Zionism would, if accepted, threaten free speech, scholarly inquiry on the Middle East, academic freedom on campuses, and the ability of nonprofits to support projects in and for Palestine, while establishing a dangerous norm for governments across the world.
According to Butler, it is impossible for scholars to discuss the Middle East or nonprofits to raise money for Palestinian causes without violating the IHRA working definition. This is patently absurd. One does not need to claim Israel is racist or that Israeli Jews are Nazi-like to be pro-Palestinian, and her assertion to the contrary proves that anti-Israel rhetoric goes way beyond what is considered acceptable discourse for any other nation on Earth - because the IHRA definition explicitly states that criticism of Israel similar to that of any other nation cannot be considered antisemitic.
Butler is saying that it is impossible to support Palestinians without holding Israel to a standard that no other nation is held to. That is quite an amazing argument.
Her next statement is even more absurd:
To dismantle antisemitism, we have to know its history, how best to identify its forms, and how to devise strategies for defeating its every instance. Conflating antisemitism with anti-Zionism makes this work impossible...
Over the past month we saw the first anniversaries of the Jersey City massacre and the Monsey Chanukah machete attack that left several Jews dead. Jewish Voice for Peace and its socialist Left allies who pretend to be against antisemitism did not say a word about them.
The reason is simple. The attackers were Black. Which means they weren't white supremacists. And to the "brilliant" Judith Butler, that means that these attacks targeting Jews weren't antisemitic!
Butler has the chutzpah to say that "we have to know its history" but she and JVP will never discuss Soviet antisemitism, or Arab antisemitism, or Muslim antisemitism, or Black Hebrew antisemitism, or Nation of Islam antisemitism, or last summer's online Black celebrity antisemitism. If it isn't Christian or right wing, it doesn't exist in their minds.
Which means that they are erasing lots of antisemitism from the history books. And they then claim that they "have to know its history!"
The hypocrisy of Judith Butler and JVP is off the charts.
From Ian:
Palestinians: An International "Peace" Conference to Displace Israel
250m coexistence initiative only whets the PA appetite for thievery and corruption
Palestinians: An International "Peace" Conference to Displace Israel
While Abbas is talking to the international community about his desire to achieve a peaceful settlement alongside Israel, his Fatah faction is sending messages to the Palestinians that glorify the "armed struggle" against Israel and that promise a "revolution until victory" -- meaning replace Israel.Jonathan Tobin: Can the Palestinians adjust to changing times?
The poster chosen by Fatah to celebrate the January 1, 1965 anniversary of the first terrorist attack against Israel depicts a map of "Palestine" superimposed over the entire state of Israel.
It is important to note that Fatah is one of the groups forming the Unified Leadership of the Palestinian Resistance. When the Palestinians talk about "resistance," they are referring to actions such as throwing rocks and firebombs at soldiers and settlers, as well as stabbings, shootings and car-ramming attacks.
Abbas has long been dreaming of a multi-party conference that will impose a solution on Israel. He does not want to hold direct negotiations with Israel.
Abbas claims to the international community that he just wants to establish a Fatah-controlled Palestinian state next to Israel, with the help of the UN, Russia, China, and the European Union.... He does not want Biden and other world leaders to hear the messages of violence that Fatah is spreading (in Arabic), including his pledge to "liberate Palestine."
What Fatah is saying in Arabic is infinitely more important than what Abbas writes in a letter to the UN secretary-general or to any world leader.... Failure to call out the Palestinians for their self-contradictory messages will not advance any cause of peace, but, on the contrary, only further embolden Palestinians to carry out more terrorist attacks and thwart the way to peace.
They'll always have the United Nations. Even as the rest of the world abandons their cause, the Palestinians can still count on the world body to be their faithful ally in their century-old struggle against Zionism. According to UN Watch, the UN General Assembly voted to condemn Israel 17 times during the current session, as opposed to resolutions noting anything happening anywhere else on the planet only six times. The international diplomatic community remains committed to prioritizing the Palestinians' grievances against the Jewish state.
But in the real world outside of the fantasy land of UN resolutions, which have no impact on actual events, the Palestinians find themselves more isolated than ever.
The Arab states, which once sacrificed their national interests, as well as much blood and treasure in the name of the Palestinian cause, have largely abandoned them. The once potent left-wing parties within Israel that championed efforts to create another independent Palestinian state in addition to the one that already exists in all but name in Gaza are now completely marginalized. And not even the most ardent American advocates of a pro-Palestinian policy and the two-state solution have the slightest expectation that the incoming Biden administration will do much to advance those goals.
In other words, after spending the last decades confident in the belief that sooner or later the international community would deliver an isolated Israel—universally branded as a pariah state—to them on a silver platter, it turns out that it is the Palestinians who are the ones without meaningful allies. Israel's critics were sure that it was running out of time to divest itself of the territories in order to prevent a "diplomatic tsunami" against them. But it now seems that the side that has run out of time is the Palestinians.
The Trump administration's successful push for the Abraham Accords meant more than just the fact that the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco have normalized relations with Israel. The tacit support for the accords from Saudi Arabia and the refusal of the Arab League to intervene against Israel's new friends demolished the assumption that the Arab world would always back the Palestinians' refusal to make peace indefinitely. And no one in the Arab world or among Israel's foes in the United States thinks even Trump's defeat by Biden will lead to another round of futile peace processing.
250m coexistence initiative only whets the PA appetite for thievery and corruption
The new Stimulus Package which President Trump isn't really keen on, is 'pork' for a people who have trusted their leaders, proven to be most unhalal in their self-induced determination not to abide by any peace initiatives between the Palestinian Arabs and Israel.
$250M. American dollars, in the name of retiring Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) is to be spent on co-existence initiatives between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs. To be sure, any monies that the Palestinian Authority leadership ever received, history has shown, has been shifty finger food, also known as, the Palestinian Authority Leadership Treasury.
In 2018, Congress signed off on the Taylor Force Act, prohibiting U.S. Taxpayer Funds from going directly to the Palestinian Autority, which enjoys writing checks to surviving terrorists and the families of those that don't survive their loved ones going to that '72 Virgin Lie In The Sky'.
It was supposed to be NO MORE U.S. 'BREAD' TO THOSE HAVING BRED TERRORISTS.
The Palestinian Arabs have been bereft of a Life Coach from anyone they counted on to lead them. Only America and Israel have ever stepped up to the plate to show the Palestinians humanity.
David Samuel, in his article, "In a Ruined Country: How Yasir Arafat Destroyed Palestine" The Atlantic, September 2005, says: "The Ministry of Finance served most of Arafat's reign as his personal cashbox through the corrupt practices of Arafat's inner circle, so staggeringly large the amounts may exceed half of the total $7B in Foreign Aid-the biggest thief Arafat himself."
The fragmentation of the right ahead of Israel elections and more with @carolineglick https://t.co/xQnglxmaVG
— President Elect Avi Abelow (@AviAbelow) December 29, 2020
- Tuesday, December 29, 2020
- Elder of Ziyon
- COVID-19
This year has seen the world hit with the Covid-19 pandemic but some Arab leaders have afflicted us with the normalisation plague as they race to be best friends with the Zionist state. This plague is deadlier in many ways than the pandemic; the coronavirus affects individuals, while normalisation affects whole nations and threatens the present and future of the Arab people.The Arab rulers have persisted in their hatred of their own people, and have joined hands with their enemies to conspire against Palestine, the cause that is central to the Muslim Ummah, not just the Arabs.These normalisers have forgotten Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third Holy Mosque and the fulcrum of the Prophet's miraculous night journey, peace be upon him. In doing so they have made it the sole responsibility of the Palestinians oppressed in their own country, that was usurped by the Zionists, where they face all types of torture, humiliation and deprivation. They stand alone in defence of the Muslim sanctities.The Palestinians didn't ask anyone to join the ranks of the resistance; they simply wanted moral support. Nevertheless, the Almighty will ask us all what we did to help them in the struggle to defend Al-Aqsa. Those who have made Israel their Qiblah and joined with the usurpers of the Noble Sanctuary have some serious questions to answer. They have given a veneer of legitimacy to the Israeli occupation and helped to strengthen Zionist control over Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque. The least they can do is spare the Palestinians from the normalisation evil.The claims that normalisation will not harm the Palestinian cause overlook the fact that Israel is nothing but a Western colonial project to divide and rule the region through client states. It is beyond comprehension to normalise relations with it, due to the nature of the Zionist project and its expansionist goals, which may include the normalising countries.Let the normalised regimes rejoice in their relations with the Zionists, while preparing for the day when their people will rise up and depose them. The day will come when the Arab people will be liberated from the tyrannical regimes occupying their lands, and from the externally-imposed occupation state. Tomorrow is just a day away.
At least this article doesn't pretend to care about Palestinians. It shows that the entire supposed Arab support for Palestinians is really just to use them to help destroy Israel.
- Tuesday, December 29, 2020
- Elder of Ziyon
From Investopedia:
Remittances are funds transferred from migrants to their home country. They are the private savings of workers and families that are spent in the home country for food, clothing and other expenditures, and which drive the home economy. For many developing nations, remittances from citizens working abroad provide an import source of much-needed funds.
The World Bank keeps track of these figures but some are only estimates. They provide a financial picture of how Israel funds, and is funded, by citizens of other countries in ways that are rarely seen.
Not surprisingly, Israelis send far more to other countries than they receive. In 2017, Israelis sent nearly $3 billion to other countries and received almost $1 billion.
The list of countries that Israelis send remittances to includes many Arab and Muslim countries. By far the biggest recipient is Morocco, with almost $400 million in remittances from Israel. But other countries on the list are even more surprising.
Egypt received $119 million - even though there are only a handful of Jews left in Egypt. Other surprises are Yemen with $68 million, Tunisia with $66 million and Algeria with $54 million. The standard concept of remittances doesn't explain these numbers at all, and perhaps they hint to an underground black market economy between Israel and Arab nations. Further evidence for this is the $166 million sent from the Palestinian territories to Israel, this might be to get around taxes or PA restrictions on businesses.
Most surprising is the $43 million sent from Israel to Iran. Not because there aren't a lot of Israelis from Iran who want to help their relatives, but how these funds are transferred in a way that the World Bank can see them but Israeli and Iranian banking regulations seem not to.
Oddly, no money was recorded between Iran and the Palestinian territories. But in 2017 some $340 million was somehow transferred from the US to Iran!
Altogether, this shows that Israel is far more economically integrated into the Middle East than most people realize.
Remittances from Israel to other countries, 2017
| Country | $ |
| France | $545,000,000 |
| Morocco | $399,000,000 |
| Ukraine | $207,000,000 |
| United States | $168,000,000 |
| Romania | $151,000,000 |
| Egypt | $119,000,000 |
| Belgium | $118,000,000 |
| Poland | $104,000,000 |
| Hungary | $103,000,000 |
| India | $98,000,000 |
| Germany | $97,000,000 |
| Russia | $89,000,000 |
| Ethiopia | $86,000,000 |
| Yemen | $68,000,000 |
| Tunisia | $66,000,000 |
| Algeria | $54,000,000 |
| Iran | $43,000,000 |
| Iraq | $32,000,000 |
| Argentina | $28,000,000 |
| Austria | $28,000,000 |
| Bulgaria | $27,000,000 |
| Georgia | $25,000,000 |
| Moldova | $23,000,000 |
| United Kingdom | $19,000,000 |
| Belarus | $18,000,000 |
| Italy | $16,000,000 |
| Spain | $16,000,000 |
| Switzerland | $15,000,000 |
| Brazil | $14,000,000 |
| Australia | $13,000,000 |
| Latvia | $13,000,000 |
| South Africa | $13,000,000 |
| Azerbaijan | $12,000,000 |
| Denmark | $10,000,000 |
| Kyrgyzstan | $10,000,000 |
| Lithuania | $9,000,000 |
| Turkey | $9,000,000 |
| Canada | $8,000,000 |
| Tajikistan | $8,000,000 |
| Netherlands | $7,000,000 |
| Colombia | $6,000,000 |
| Mexico | $6,000,000 |
| Sweden | $6,000,000 |
| Peru | $5,000,000 |
| China | $4,000,000 |
| Syria | $4,000,000 |
| Uruguay | $2,000,000 |
| Kazakhstan | $1,000,000 |
| Country | |
| United States | $408,000,000 |
| Palestinian territories | $166,000,000 |
| Germany | $74,000,000 |
| Canada | $71,000,000 |
| United Kingdom | $55,000,000 |
| Australia | $31,000,000 |
| France | $25,000,000 |
| Netherlands | $14,000,000 |
| Italy | $12,000,000 |
| Turkey | $11,000,000 |
| Switzerland | $10,000,000 |
| Russia | $9,000,000 |
| South Africa | $9,000,000 |
| Belgium | $8,000,000 |
| Austria | $7,000,000 |
| Spain | $7,000,000 |
| Sweden | $7,000,000 |
| Argentina | $5,000,000 |
| Brazil | $5,000,000 |
| Denmark | $5,000,000 |
| Hungary | $5,000,000 |
| Czech Republic | $4,000,000 |
| Jordan | $4,000,000 |
| Mexico | $4,000,000 |
| Panama | $3,000,000 |
| Chile | $2,000,000 |
| China | $2,000,000 |
| Ecuador | $2,000,000 |
| Finland | $2,000,000 |
| Norway | $2,000,000 |
| Peru | $2,000,000 |
| Philippines | $2,000,000 |
| Romania | $2,000,000 |
- Tuesday, December 29, 2020
- Elder of Ziyon
- Joseph Massad
Joseph Massad has just unwittingly published The Ugly Palestinian.
Writing in Middle East Eye, the Columbia professor complains that Arab regimes have always put their own interests above that of Palestinians:
In contrast with the Arab peoples who have ceaselessly shown solidarity with the Palestinians since Britain issued the Balfour Declaration in 1917, Arab regimes, as I have written in Middle East Eye before, have always put their own national interests first and had established ties and collaborated with Israel since 1948 - in the case of the Hashemite Amir Faisal since 1919....King Farouk of Egypt entered the war in 1948 not because he placed Palestinian interests ahead of Egypt’s, but as analysts have shown, on account of his rivalry with the Iraqi monarchy for hegemony over the post-colonial Arab world.Not only did Nasser not launch a single war against Israel, but also all of Egypt’s subsequent wars were fought to defend Egypt, not the Palestinians. In 1956 and in 1967, Israel invaded Egypt and occupied Sinai....Rather than sacrifice their national interests to defend the Palestinians, the Arab regimes have used every opportunity to sell out Palestinian rights to advance their own interests without respite.
Massad's cluelessness equals that of the American diplomats of 1950s Southeast Asia ridiculed in The Ugly American.
Of course every responsible national leader is going to place their own national interests above those of anybody else. That is their primary responsibility!
But Palestinians like Massad have drunk the Kool-Aid of the Arab rhetoric where they have claimed for the past 72 years that they put the Palestinian issue above their own. As he notes, they never have - but Palestinians like Massad act as if they should.
This has resulted in a Palestinian leadership and populace that have been taught that they can rely on others to do the hard work to get them what they want, while they just sit back and wait in relative comfort compared to much of the Arab world. Arab leaders should fight wars for Palestinians, they should exert diplomatic pressure for Palestinians, they should boycott Israel for Palestinians, they should forego the benefits of peace with Israel for Palestinians.
Arabs never cared about Palestinians. They always used them as pawns to help destroy Israel. The cynicism was obvious to all, with Syrian and Lebanese leaders pretending that keeping Palestinians stateless was for their own good, to help pressure Israel for a "return" that will never happen.
Astute Palestinians would have noticed this. They would have realized decades ago that if they want a state, they would have to actually work for it, sweat for it, negotiate for it, compromise with Israel for it - not wait for their Arab brethren to do the work for them.
But Palestinian leaders and apologists like Massad just don't get it. They think that the ICC and the ICJ and the UN and the EU will save them just like they used to think that Arab leaders will go to war for them. Instead of building the institutions of statehood, they outsourced all the hard work to Europeans and NGOs. A glance at Palestinian government websites shows that many of them are empty shells, not updated in years, because they never sowed interest in governing themselves or building a government infrastructure.
The only time the world has seen Palestinians being proactive is with terror attacks.
Arab nations finally got fed up with the Hamas/Fatah split, and doubly so when the PA rejected peace plans in the 2000s and a peace framework from John Kerry during the Obama administration - the one president who was the most friendly to Palestinians and antipathetic to Israel. They threw even that away.
Meanwhile, Israel got stronger - not just militarily but economically. Boycotting a regional superpower made less and less sense for Arabs. Jordan and Egypt needed Israel's natural gas. The UAE and Bahrain want Israel's high tech expertise. The policy of following Palestinian demands of boycotting Israel has been increasingly self-defeating.
Massad is complaining that the Arabs are not prioritizing Palestinian interests above their own. Only someone who is spoiled and out of touch would even dare make such a demand. Worse, Massad is denigrating the huge amounts of monetary and diplomatic aid that Arab nations have given Palestinians over the past 50+ years.
Even Columbia professors can have the emotional intelligence of a child, thinking that the world revolves around them.
Massad is using the old playbook, trying to shame the Arab world into giving Palestinians unlimited, no-strings attached support. He has no idea that the world has changed.
Massad's diatribe will not impress any Arab leader. On the contrary, they will be pushed even further away from sympathizing with Palestinians.
Monday, December 28, 2020
From Ian:
"Intersectionality" includes Palestinian Arabs but not minorities persecuted by Arabs
"Intersectionality" includes Palestinian Arabs but not minorities persecuted by Arabs
Intersectionality is a lie, as Daniel Greenfield shows, adding ithat "It’s not just a lie in its negative hateful aspects, but in its promise of a utopia once the 'white devils' and their 'white privilege' are out of the way."It ignores Black-Black racism in Africa. It ignores minorities persecuted by Arabs.Teacher with Mediterranean and Jewish heritage left bewildered as his trade union insists he's black Jason Wardill, who is a design technology teacher, was surprised to be invited by the National Education Union (NEU) to a meeting of black teachers last year.
"The left claims that it’s fighting for equality. What it’s actually fighting for is a tribal society where the notion of equal rights for all is as alien as it is in Iraq, Rwanda and Afghanistan, where democracy means tribal bloc votes and where the despotism of majority rule invariably ends in terror and death."
Why does intersectionality include Palestinian Arabs but not minorities persecuted by Arabs like Yazidi in Iraq, the Copts in Egypt or the Bantus in Somalia? Why does it ignore Black-Black racism in Africa where dozens of different Black ethnic groups opress and persecute other minority Black ethnic groups? Discussed here are examples of discrimination and ethnic conflict in countries like Lybia, Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Mauritania and Uganda.
In discussing slavery and state racism, our host Biram, president of the IRA (Initiative de Résurgence du mouvement Abolitionniste de France-Mauritanie), emphasised the ‘the ideological and religious foundations of slavery and racism with the state in Mauritania’....Biram returned to the central facts around slavery in Mauritania, notably the practice of guardianship – women and children are left to the cruelty of men and women, heartless masters with neither faith or reason.
"...'Where is the compassion of this community calling itself Muslim? What human values form their identity? What goes on in the heads of those men and women who exercise such cruelty, barbarism and cynicism? The inhumanity of these practices challenges our very confidence in what’s human when humanity is capable of undertaking such acts. An ideological, military and police machinery is consistently mobilised to this effect. There has never been any form of respite for the men, women and children assigned to the deadly status of slaves.'
"'Mauritanian society is deeply slavery-oriented and as such has produced deeply unjust inequalities. Certain techniques involving humiliation, torture and even being put to death are employed in the aim of keeping slaves dependent on their masters through fear, shame and submission.
"Biram explained this in strong terms; the master recognizes no right to a dignified life or free black existence as human beings. As a result, children and women remain without protection or security, being at the mercy of arbitrary, cruel and unbearable Moorish masters who defy contemporary humanity through the use of barbarous and wicked treatment and the denial of the most basic of rights. ... This system is rooted in an enduring ideological base, one which constitutes an untouchable and immutable dogma and which gives rise to a logic of extermination and annihilation of the moral and ethical character of black people.
"...Mauritania as a racist and slave state must be overcome for the purpose of building a fair, free and egalitarian Mauritanian society. This Mauritania will be one in which citizens have the rights of citizenship, rather than one in which black people are reduced to indignity under Moorish oppression..."
Black Lives Matter could make a difference in the lives of people of color if it tried to change the situation in the countries described above instead of rioting in the USA. It might do even more good if it told the Palestinian Arab advocates to fight Arab persecution of minorities and leave democratic Israel out of the equation..
A teacher has voiced his bewilderment after his Left-wing trade union insisted he was black.
Jason Wardill, who is a design technology teacher, was surprised to be invited by the National Education Union (NEU) to a meeting of black teachers last year.
Mr Wardill, 42, is of Mediterranean and Jewish heritage and has been trying to stop his union referring incorrectly to his ethnicity ever since – with no success.
He says he feels its actions are 'discriminatory' against other ethnicities and religions.
The NEU – which has been at the forefront of the campaign to keep schools closed during the pandemic – says it treats black as a political term rather than a signifier of African heritage.
Therefore the term includes 'all members who self-identify as black, Asian and any other minority ethnic groups who do not identify themselves as white'.
When Mr Wardill – who now works as an area site manager for an academy trust in Lincolnshire – contacted it to say he was not black, the NEU informed him that since he did not consider himself white, he had to be registered as such.
He told the Daily Mail: 'It made me feel pretty helpless. BAME would be absolutely fine, as it encompasses everything.'
The union has been accused of putting political battles before the interests of pupils, bragging that it had 'made the running in this crisis' when schools across the country were shut and children's education was in tatters.
Mr Wardill said when he registered to join the union and was asked for his ethnicity, he ticked 'mixed other' because it was 'the only option available for me'.
'Jewish was an option in the religion section only, which leads me to believe the NEU doesn't recognise Jewish as a race. They only appear to recognise it as a religion,' he commented.
- Monday, December 28, 2020
- Elder of Ziyon
- cartoon of the day, humor
Continuing our series of recaptioning cartoons...
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
- Monday, December 28, 2020
- Elder of Ziyon
As opposed to my last post of the best EoZ essays of 2020, here is a list of the most popular posts of the year that I wrote:
#10: Farrakhan’s hate speech, promoted by Diddy, watched hundreds of thousands of times
From Ian:
'Abrahamic' instead of 'Judeo-Christian'
Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra records Moroccan national anthem
'Abrahamic' instead of 'Judeo-Christian'
Upcoming elections in the Netherlands and Germany in 2021 will test the strength of the radical right, which has a distinct vision of European identity. In contrast to those who view democratic values as essentially secular and universal, and not tied to specific cultural or religious roots, radical right parties typically say these values are anchored by the heritage of European or western civilization. And they claim that this heritage is being threatened by non-European cultures, particularly Islamic culture.Seth Frantzman: Understanding the lobby against Israel’s new relations in the Gulf
My research into the international political world views of radical right parties reveals their widespread references to the "Judeo-Christian" roots of European values. The manifesto of the Alternative for Germany declares that the party:
"Opposes Islamic practice which is directed against our liberal-democratic constitutional order, our laws, and the Judeo-Christian and humanist foundations of our culture."
Comparable claims can be found from Marine Le Pen in France and Nigel Farage in the UK.
What do these politicians mean by Judeo-Christian? This term's definition is fuzzy at best, and historical analysis shows that it has long been used and abused for political ends.
Though the Jewish roots of Christianity are clear, Jews were pariahs in pre-modern Christian Europe. As Europe gradually left behind the identity of "Christendom" from the 18th century onwards, efforts to make Jews a legitimate part of European society were a political struggle, resisted by religious conservatives and anti-Semites. In 19th-century Europe, Jews were still commonly grouped with Muslims as non-European "Semites" or "Orientals."
It was in mid-20th century America, especially after the Holocaust, that the idea of the west as Judeo-Christian gained wide acceptance. When President Dwight Eisenhower referred to the Judeo-Christian roots of "our form of government," he chose words that embraced different Christian denominations and Jews within a shared civic identity – one which contrasted with anti-Semitic and godless ideologies of fascism and communism.
THE CAMPAIGN against Israel’s relations with the Gulf uses several talking points. Initially, they claimed that the new relationship was somehow aiding “authoritarians.” This talking point was used by people who don’t condemn “authoritarians” in Doha, Tehran or Ankara. This illustrates how much charlatanism is behind the “authoritarians” talking point. Ankara’s regime is the largest jailer of journalists in the world and sentences opposition politicians to decades in prison on mythical “terror” charges. If there is an authoritarian axis in the Middle East it is the Tehran-Ankara axis and its allies.Moroccan delegation arrives in Israel
Another argument against the Israel-Gulf ties is made by those who oppose Saudi Arabia. Of particular interest here is that most of those who make this argument are not people who historically cared that Saudi Arabia was an absolutist monarchy and conservative Kingdom. Their dislike of Riyadh is primarily anger at palace intrigue in which their allies in the Kingdom were pushed out when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman rose to power.
The arguments against Saudi Arabia don’t stand up to scrutiny because they are ostensibly made by people on “human rights” grounds when those very same voices didn’t speak out about human rights as recently as five years ago. Thus, “human rights” and “authoritarianism” became methods of critique of the new Israel-Gulf ties by those who are silent about authoritarian human rights abuses throughout the region.
The critique of Israel-Gulf ties hangs on several interrelated issues. First, the anti-Israel agenda of the 1960s and 1970s has not gone away. The dispute between the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Brotherhood, backed by Turkey and Qatar, is another layer. The Gulf crisis between Saudi Arabia and Qatar in 2017 is part of the issue. In addition, the pro-Iran crowd opposes the peace deals. These voices have ample platforms, from pro-government media in Turkey to Qatar, which mostly serve as English-speaking or Arabic platforms to influence the region and the world.
The emptiness of this critique, which reveals its more complex agenda, hangs on the fact that in no other case in the world are “authoritarian” regimes critiqued for merely having diplomatic relations with other states. For instance, the same voices who have poured cold water on the new peace deals, don’t have an issue with the UAE or Israel having relations with Denmark or China. They just don’t think the UAE and Israel should have relations with each other because they are hostile to both the UAE and Israel and have had to find some reason to excuse that hostility to make it appear legitimate.
The campaign against the peace has had its effect, either by downplaying the importance of the new peace or by sniping at it from various angles. An unprecedented level of new engagement between Israel and the UAE, in particular, has not received the attention it deserves partly because of ingrained biases against both states. Understanding the reasons for this is important because it helps explain some of the challenges that these countries – and their allies – face in the region and globally.
A Moroccan diplomatic delegation was in Israel on Monday for the first time since normalization between the countries was announced earlier this month.
The delegation, which landed in Israel on Sunday night, plans to work towards reopening the Moroccan liaison office in Tel Aviv, which it has held onto for the past 20 years since Rabat cut official ties. Israel has also retained its closed office in Morocco.
During last week’s visit to Rabat by the Israeli-US delegation led by National Security Advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat and White House Special Adviser Jared Kushner, the countries committed to reopening the offices within two weeks, which would mean next week.
Morocco is also expected to prepare for a high-level delegation to come to Israel at a later, yet to be determined date.
The Moroccan diplomats have meetings scheduled at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, but they do not have any public events or statements on their agenda.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited Morocco's King Mohammed VI to visit Israel, in a phone conversation over the weekend.
Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra records Moroccan national anthem
Immediately following the announcement of the Israel-Morocco normalization agreement, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (JSO) recorded the National Anthem of Morocco in honor of the historic agreement.
Arranged for the symphony orchestra and choir by Israeli composer and conductor Nizar El-Khater, the rendition of the anthem was performed at the Jerusalem Theater.
The Jerusalem Symphony and the Israeli Kehilot Sharot choir were joined via teleconference by Moroccan singers, a truly unique experience in honor of the normalization deal between the two countries.
3 VOIX De L’espoir (Three Voices of Hope), a Moroccan musical collective helped produce the event.
- Monday, December 28, 2020
- Elder of Ziyon
Algerian site Ech-Chaab has an article on how Jews and Zionists are infiltrating the Arab mind.
Long years ago, the great Egyptian thinker Abd al-Wahhab al-Masiri wrote his encyclopedia on Jews, Judaism and Zionism, and in a section of it he warned against Arab Judaism, saying: “From now on we will find Jews dressed as Muslims, who prays with us in the mosque, but he plays the same role that he a Jewish general is doing it, and accordingly, this phenomenon must be analyzed so that many of us do not turn into Jews without even knowing it. ”In 1977, Dr. Esmat Saif al-Dawla spoke about "Zionism in the Arab mind," and said, "Zionism and its allies, after they were defeated militarily on the battlefront in October 1973, opened holes in our foreheads and invaded our minds."
Saudi site Al Marsd has an article that praises a Jew, and an angry response. Saud Al-Fawzan describes how he rented an apartment from a Jew when he was in college, and it burned down. The Jew first told him that he was happy he was safe; he then invited him in for coffee and fixed the apartment in ten days while putting him up in a five-star hotel.
In response, Ali Al-Zamil is angry at the story: "What do these people want from the cause of glorifying the morals and exploits of the Jewish man !? ...Why not look at his intentions and what is behind his actions .. What is the point of that! ? It is naive, or even stupid, if these people think that someone will believe that good qualities and good morals are confined only to the Jewish people."
Manadrama has an article on why in Islam, Jews are compared to donkeys: because they are as stupid as donkeys. One must not compare Jews to camels, which are noble creatures.
- Monday, December 28, 2020
- Elder of Ziyon
66% of Palestinians want Abbas to resign as president of the PA while only 30% want him to remain in office.
But when it comes to who they want to replace him, the choices are pretty much all terrorists.
People who support Fatah would like to see Marwan Barghouti as their candidate, and if he would run he would handily beat any Hamas candidate. Even if Barghouti would create a new political party, he would get more votes than Fatah would under Abbas.
Barghouti is in an Israeli prison for murder and terrorism charges.
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If there was an election between Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Haniyeh would win 50%-43%. But if Barghouti would run against Haniyeh, Barghouti would handily win, 61%-37%.
Interestingly, Mohammad Dahlan, who Abbas considers his major Fatah rival, has little support within the territories, and only 7% would like to see him replacing Abbas. Current PA prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh would do much better, and an election between him and Haniyeh is a deadlock.
The split between Gaza and the West Bank continues, with Hamas supported by the majority in Gaza and Fatah preferred in the West Bank, although not overwhelmingly.
The poll also showed that 48% of Palestinians would like to see a return to an "armed intifada," meaning terrorism. Similarly, a plurality of Palestinians think the most effective means of ending the Israeli "occupation" is terror, 39% choosing "armed struggle" over 35% who chose negotiations.
The Palestinian affinity for terrorism and terrorist leaders is something that the Western media tries very hard not to report. But it is there in the surveys, consistently, month after month.
This poll was done in conjunction with German NGO Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.
- Monday, December 28, 2020
- Elder of Ziyon
The Lajee Center, an NGO centered in the Aida UNRWA camp, wrote in their December newsletter:
Palestinians grow plenty of fruits and vegetables for domestic consumption; blaming Israel for them eating junk food is yet another example of how the "progressive" Left infantilizes Palestinians and gives them no agency over their own decisions.
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On November 19, 1for3 and Lajee Center presented a webinar on Managing Chronic Disease in Conflict settings, featuring Health for Palestine Director Dr. Bram Wispelwey, Community Health Worker (CHW) Ashghan Awais, Asmaa Rimawi, an advanced medical student and Health for Palestine researcher, and 1for3 Director Nidal Al-Azraq. They presented data from a two-year study that revealed significant improvement in diabetes due to the Community Health Worker program. Palestinians in Aida and Azza Refugee Camps suffer high levels of diabetes and hypertension. Dr. Wispelwey put Palestinians’ declines in health in the context of settler colonialism, presenting on the violence of military occupation and comparing Palestinians’ health to that of Indigenous and Black people harmed by settler colonialism in the United States. Moreover, the Middle East and North Africa region currently has the highest rates of diabetes in the world. While the older generation of Palestinians has lower rates than the rest of the region, middle aged Palestinians have higher rates. Rates for diabetes in the West Bank are twice the global rate and more than twice the rate in Israel.
The video of the seminar shows Dr. Wispelway spending some 16 of his 18 minutes talking about his theories that Israel is responsible for Palestinians having high rates of diabetes, blaming everything from the "Naqba" to "settler colonialism" to tear gas to the Oslo Accords.
What he didn't spend much time on was the fact that the entire Arab world has high rates of diabetes.
Here's a map showing its prevalence in 2019:
The prevalence in the Palestinian territories are roughly what they are in Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It is a huge problem for the entire region.
Are those countries suffering from "settler colonialism?" Did they have a "naqba?"
Dr. Wispelsky went to Bar Ilan University of the Negev. But whether he is Jewish or not, his section of the seminar was effectively antisemitic, blaming Israel for Palestinian obesity and lack of exercise that lead to diabetes, a problem that is endemic in the entire region and has nothing to do with Israel.
The irony is that the seminar showed that a relatively simple and inexpensive community based health program can significantly reduce the prevalence of, and risk of mortality from, diabetes - which destroys the thesis that Israeli actions are responsible to begin with.
But the main takeaway from those who watched the seminar is that Israel is responsible for Palestinians' doing basic things for their own health.
Yes, blaming Israel for Palestinians' own poor health decisions is antisemitic.
Sunday, December 27, 2020
- Sunday, December 27, 2020
- Elder of Ziyon
- cartoon of the day, humor
Continuing our series of recaptioning cartoons...
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
- Sunday, December 27, 2020
- Elder of Ziyon
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah claims that he knows about an assassination plot against him.
In a video interview with Al Mayadeen, Nasrallah asserted that "Saudi Arabia has instigated my assassination for a long time and at the very least since the war on Yemen."
He went on, , "Our data is that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman raised the issue of my assassination during his visit to Washington," adding that the Americans "agreed to a Saudi request to assassinate me, that Israel would implement it."
Hey, you can't argue with data! Although I'm not sure why now would be a better time to knock him off than any time over the past 30 years.
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