Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, May 29, 2022

More information on Abu Akleh: Reporters KNEW there were Islamist snipers ALL OVER Jenin right before she was shot (video) (UPDATE)

I just got part of the translation of the conversation between reporters (and I think a resident) in the minutes before Shireen Abu Akleh was shot. (I'm trying to get more.) The video comes from Middle East Eye, and is unlisted at the moment.

The transcript is a little muddled, but they are talking about the Palestinian snipers all over Jenin, specifically pointing to the southeast where I have been saying was the source of the gunfire that killed Abu Akleh.

Not just one - multiple snipers. In buildings.

Transcript that I received of the translation:

3:00 There is the sniper, there, there

3:01-3:03 There, that’s the sniper, there…

3:03-3:05 There, those…

3:07-3:08 Listen, there is a sniper in that house, there…

3:12-3:14 There are more than that, there (is one or there are some) above, there (is or are) right in the middle of the house, there…

3:14-3:15 (different person): There is (or are) in the house, and there is (or are)…

3:15 There, on the what’s it’s called…

3:17-3:18 The two that are…

3:18-3:20 yes, yes…

3:19-3:20 On the house that they were on…

3:20-3:25 (Single shot in the background and someone says) Are those the shabab (who shot?)

3:24-3:25 There is a house that is under construction

(Someone answers) There is (or are) here, and there is (or are) here (unclear if he means house/s under construction or snipers)

If the snipers were in (or on top of) buildings, they are the ones who shot Shireen:

* They are known to be in the "Goldilocks zone" of the exact distance away from the camera that would fit the audio of the shockwave and gunshot sounds;

* Their pattern of firing was not at all like the IDF's

* Their line of sight towards Shireen and the tree is far more credible than the IDF's,

* They are not as disciplined as the IDF would be.

_______________________________

As far as distance is concerned, the original Bellingcat analysis found the gunshot to be between 177 and 184 meters from the microphone. CNN, quoting the same acoustics expert, says it is between 177 and 197 meters. That's a big change from the same scientist!

(UPDATE) I asked the academic how he came up with his numbers, and he very nicely explained it to me (and now I see my earlier estimates were wrong.) There are still some assumptions, and Bellingcat mentioned muzzle velocity as if it was average velocity which is wrong. Dr. Maher assumed an average velocity at 100 yards of 762 - 884 m/s and under those conditions it comes to between 171-191 meters for 306 ms delay.

I will ask him where these assumptions came from and what kind of gun.

UPDATE: Middle East Eye mentioned the terrorists walking around the southeast of Abu Akleh on the day of the shooting, and even drew a map showing where they were!

Why in the world didn't Bellingcat and CNN mention these other gunmen when doing their analysis? At first I thought that the source was simply overlooked, but MEE is a major anti-Israel publication. Their existence seems to have been widely acknowledged in May 11, and then they disappeared from the scene.

(h/t Jonah B)

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

05/28 Links: Palestinianism: The global Intifada; Israel shouldn't let the US dictate its final borders, Friedman; Yehuda Glick: We should restore the sounds of holiness to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount

From Ian:

Palestinianism: The global Intifada

Palestinianism, therefore, is a threat to the ideals of Western civilization. It promotes violence against Jews as a value, and one which justifies suicidal attacks as a worthy ideal. That includes attacks against those who support Israel, and targets like New York City. It is what inspired Islamic leaders, such as al-Husseini, to instigate pogroms against Jews during the 1920s, 30s and 40s, and why he supported the Nazis and their “Final Solution.”

It was a way of turning Arab nationalism (as it was known before 1948) into a destructive force. It was and is the basis of the PLO, Hamas and other terrorist organizations. And it is the basis of “Jihad.” Palestinianism seeks to turn the world against the Jewish people, especially those in Israel. That is the meaning of Intifada.

Palestinianism promotes the “Nakba” narrative: that Israel’s establishment in 1948 was and continues to be a catastrophe; that Israel expelled and slaughtered Arabs in the war that resulted when it was attacked by five Arab countries, supported by Britain; that those who became refugees and their descendants are entitled to return to Israel; and that Jews who live in areas conquered by the IDF in 1967 must be expelled.

This, however, is only the first step in the crusade to destroy Israel, now supported by Iran and Arab countries such as Qatar – and, of course, global jihadists, like ISIS and al Qaeda.

Those who support “Palestinian self-determination” and the two-state solution, therefore, must consider what that means and understand why all efforts to resolve the conflict have failed. How would a second Palestinian state, in addition to Jordan, resolve the Arab refugee problem?

How would such a state resolve the issue of millions of Arabs living in UNRWA towns and villages, in addition to millions who live in the region and around the world and consider themselves to be Palestinians? Why shouldn’t Jordan be recognized as the “Palestinian homeland?” What is a humanitarian solution? What makes sense?

Israel shouldn't let the US dictate its final borders, Friedman says

Israel shouldn’t allow the United States to dictate what its final borders should be in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley, former American ambassador David Friedman told the Tivah Fund’s Conservatism Conference in Jerusalem.

“Israel must decide this issue. Because I can guarantee you that if any other body decides this issue, very few in Israel will be happy with the outcome,” said Friedman, who was the Trump administration’s envoy to Israel.

The administration had secured Israel’s agreement to suspend its plans to annex West Bank settlements in exchange for the Abraham Accords, under whose rubric it normalized ties with four Arab states.

But on Thursday, Friedman urged Israel not to abandon its sovereignty plans and to begin to prepare a national consensus for what its final borders should be, based on former US President Donald Trump’s peace plan. That plan placed all the West Bank settlements and most of east Jerusalem within Israel’s final borders.

Friedman recalled that Israel had annexed the Golan Heights in 1981 and eventually received US recognition of its sovereignty there. Similarly, he said, the US recognized Israel’s sovereignty in Jerusalem.

“When the nation of Israel said ‘Haam eem Hagolan,’ [the nation is with the Golan] the government responded, just as it did with Jerusalem, Israel’s eternal and undivided capital,” he said. “And the world respected Israel even if it didn’t agree. Then we came along and agreed with Israel on both Jerusalem and the Golan and the UN condemned us. But the sun rose the next morning, Israel continued to flourish and we even managed to achieve the Abraham Accords.”

Now, he said, Israel should do the same thing in the West Bank, regardless of US opinion.

81 members of Congress say US must stop Israeli eviction of Hebron Hills' Palestinians

A group of 81 Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging him to “immediately engage with the Israeli government on the potential evictions of more than 1,000 Palestinians from their homes in Masafer Yatta in the West Bank.”

The bicameral letter was led by New Mexico Rep. Melanie Stansbury and Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley.

“We write with urgent concern over the decision by Israel’s High Court to allow the military to evict approximately 1,000 Palestinian people from their homes in the Masafer Yatta region of the occupied West Bank,” they wrote on Thursday.

They spoke out after the High Court of Justice ruled earlier this month that Palestinians living in some eight to 11 herding villages of modular homes, such as huts and tents, could be evicted because they were located in an IDF firing zone.

The court said the Palestinians had failed to make their case that they had lived there prior to its declaration as a firing zone.

The members of Congress who signed the letter sided with the Palestinian claim that their presence there predated the creation of what is known as Firing Zone 918 in the South Hebron Hills.

“We are deeply concerned that this relocation of Palestinian families from homes they have lived in for generations could spark violence, is in direct violation of international humanitarian law, and could further undermine efforts to reach a two-state solution,” they continued. “As supporters of a strong US-Israel relationship, we believe such evictions undermine our shared democratic values, imperil Israel’s security, and disregard Palestinian human and civil rights.”

Yehuda Glick: We should restore the sounds of holiness to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount

As Israel celebrates Jerusalem Day (Yom Yerushalayim), commemorating 55 years since the city’s miraculous reunification in 1967, I question the current status quo in Jerusalem and at the holiest of sites: the Temple Mount.

What has happened to the Zion (the Temple Mount) in Zionism? What has happened since God gave us the biggest gift at the end of the shortest and most miraculous war that Israel and the world had ever witnessed, the 1967 Six Day War?

Violence. Hate. Curses. Vandalism on Zion – the Temple Mount. The desecration of God Almighty.

In April alone, during the Jewish holiday of Passover, Israeli newspapers reported violence on the Temple Mount from “suspects who barricaded themselves inside the mosque, causing severe damage, throwing thousands of stones, launching fireworks, and violently rioting for many hours.”

How many more years will it take? How much more will we allow this to happen before we wake up and change the music?

On Sunday, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ruled that Jews are permitted to recite the “Shema” prayer (Deuteronomy 6:49) and bow during visits to the Temple Mount. This ruling came in response to an appeal made by three teenage boys arrested after bowing on the Mount and reciting Shema, one of the basic tenets of the Jewish faith.

05/27 Links Pt2: Melanie Phillips: No rainbow’s end for the Jews of Oz; 6 ways the world changed after the 1967 Six Day War; Meet Rashida Tlaib’s Favorite Anti-Israel Publisher

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: No rainbow’s end for the Jews of Oz

Australian Jews woke up this week to a new and unsettling reality. Scott Morrison’s conservative, pro-Israel Liberal Party government was defeated, and the new prime minister is the Labour Party leader, Anthony Albanese.

Albanese has a history of anti-Israel positions. He has declared himself a “strong advocate of justice for Palestinians,” called Israel an “oppressor” and accused it of collective punishment against the Palestinian Arabs.

In 2019, he traveled to Britain, where he met the British Labour Party’s hard-left former leader Jeremy Corbyn. Afterwards, he posted a photograph of himself and Corbyn smiling together with the caption: “Great to catch up with @jeremycorbyn today in #Westminster at a critical time in British politics.”

Like his friend Corbyn, Albanese is rooted in radical socialism. He would have taken note, however, of how Corbyn and his hard-left cronies made the British Labour Party unelectable through their extremist policies and omnipresent anti-Zionism and antisemitism.

So Albanese has now taken care to tone down his Israel rhetoric. Earlier this month, he declared that “Israel will have Australia’s friendship and support” from a Labour government, and said he was “passionate” about opposing the movement to boycott Israel.

Yet last year Penny Wong, who is expected to become the new government’s foreign minister, moved an amendment at a special platform conference cementing a 2018 commitment for “the next Labour government to recognise Palestine as a state,” and expecting “that this issue will be an important priority for the next Labor government”.

This means that Albanese’s party supports the unilateral denial of political and legal reality with which the Palestinians seek to establish a terrorist state on Israel’s doorstep working for its destruction under the imprimatur of the west.

It means that Albanese’s party supports the agenda of a Palestinian Authority that pumps out incitement to kill Israelis and steal their land, teaches its children to hate Jews and rewards the families of those who murder them.

Yisrael Medad: An Historical Desecration of the Haram A-Sharif

In January 1939, the London Times published documents such a letters and reports of Arab terrorists found at Bani Naim by British forces. The Palestine Post then republished the story on January 25, 1939.

The highlight was the extensive use made of the Haram A-Sharif compound as a base for the terrorist gangs, sniping positions, arms storerooms, etc. as well as the presence, within the compound, of security personnel of the Mandate.

An extract:
Rebel Arab documents seized by the troops in some recent engagements,, particularly that at Beni Na'im on December 15, when the Worcestershires. with R.A.F. cooperation, engaged a large band, provide sensational proof that the sacred Haram esh-Sharif has been the scene of murder, bomb-throwing, and rebel courts-martial, and evidence that even the rebels themselves are disgusted and alarmed at the terrorism of Arabs by Arabs which has marked the lateit stages of the campaign.

The documents are from the files of 'Abu Mansur," the nora de guerre of Abdel Khader Husseini. With such evidence as this of the Moslems' violation of their own sanctuary, and the proof , witnessed by members of the Moslem Supreme Council , after the recapture' of the old city of Jerusalem on October 19, that the Haram has been used as a vantage point for snipers. As the sheikhs have locked the old police post next to the Dome of the Rock, the present post has been placed in a sheikh's room farther from the sacred rock...

The following day, the paper's editorial read, in part:
the desecration of the Haram esh Sharif for terrorist attacks both against individual Arabs and against the police and the troops.The propaganda agents of the Mufti and their helpers in the foreign press launched a wide campaign of insinuation and slander against the security authorities in this country when the latter found themselves obliged to station a small post of Moslem and British police in the Haram area in order to prevent its being used as a point of vantage for gunmen. It is now revealed from the files of the terrorist leaders themselves that not only was the Haram turned into a haunt of snipers, but that it also served as a venue of trials by terrorist "courts" and that the "holy warriors" murdered fellow Arabs within its sacred precincts.

6 ways the world changed after the 1967 Six Day War

The actual State of Israel was established 74 years ago in 1948. However, the modern State of Israel as we know it was launched in 1967. The Six Day War was so revolutionary and so transformative, that in many ways, it surpassed the achievements of 1948. Thousands of years ago, God created our natural world in six days. Fifty-five years ago, He reshaped history in six hurried days. Here are the six major revolutions of those stunning days in June 1967:

1) The return to the biblical “corridor”
In 1948, Jews were graciously “permitted” to return to a carved-up parcel of Israel. The formation of a homeland for the Jews soothed the world’s conscience after the horrors of the Holocaust. Additionally, it solved the prickly issue of unwanted Jewish refugees. By contrast, in 1967, we returned to the biblical corridor – a passage of land that cuts through the heart of Israel and the heart of Jewish history.

This territory stretches from Nablus in the North, snakes its way through Jerusalem, bends toward Bethlehem and Hebron, finally leveling off in Beersheba. Our history, narrated in the book of Genesis, was launched in these lands, and our return to this biblical passageway signaled the resurgence of the Jewish history in a manner that the important but indefinite events of 1948 did not.

2) An emergent superpower
Life in Israel between 1948 and 1967 was spartan and unforgiving. Riddled by food rationing, strafed by numerous wars of attrition, and stifled by diplomatic isolation, life in Israel was harsh. Our beloved state provided a respite from the tumult and tragedy of the Holocaust, and it certainly fulfilled a centuries-long dream of resettling our homeland. However, reality in Israel still left a lot to the imagination.

The miracles of 1967, the courage of our soldiers, and, of course, the palpable divine intervention created a swell of national pride or komemiyut, which transformed the fabric of Israeli society. Ironically, the War of Independence in 1948 is sometimes referred to as komemiyut because, for the first time in thousands of years, Jews defended themselves from military aggression.

In truth, the miraculous events of 1967 established far more significant komemiyut than the ambiguous victory of 1948.

The Israel Guys Daily: The Untold Story of a Paratrooper Who Captured Jerusalem in 1967

This is an incredible story that has never been told - until now. You will be with Shlomo as he walks through Lion's Gate, which he has not entered in almost 39 years, and in places in Jerusalem that he has never been. Relive the moment when he called his father to tell him that they had liberated the Temple Mount and Kotel. Feel the emotion with Shlomo as he steps back in time to the War of 1967.

Originally filmed and released in 2016, this video was part of our TV series The Joshua and Caleb Report. We are rereleasing it now in honor of Jerusalem day coming up, and in honor of this incredible hero of Israel.

Summing up Abu Akleh and the mistakes of the investigators

This is mostly a Twitter thread I wrote earlier today.

Here is a summary of what @bellingcat and @CNN got wrong with Shireen Abu Akleh's death:

The only way they have any clue of the distance of the gunshots that killed her came from is the audio study. It is accurate. But they assume that fire can ONLY have come from due south.

They make the basic error (and I did too!) that since the only videos they had seen showed only the IDF at (roughly) that distance, that the fire MUST have come from the IDF.

And since it appeared that it was directed at the reporters, they assumed it was purposeful.

It didn't QUITE add up - the IDF was further away than their estimate (and their estimates were about 20 meters off) but since there was no other possible gunmen in that area south, it MUST have been the IDF. Everyone else made LESS sense. So, assume it is the party whose guilt requires the least amount of twisting facts - even though facts still needed to be twisted.

The fact that the IDF is a professional army, with great disincentive to fire on reporters, did not enter their thinking. This could be because of subconscious bias, or assuming that evidence at hand is all the evidence.

IDF professionalism and the fact that Jenin fighters are trigger-happy amateurs did not enter their parameters. Find the best fit, gloss over the inconsistencies, and voila! We solved it!

So they fit the conclusions with what they knew, not with what was possible. This is a basic error Sherlock Holmes would call out in an instant.

But they didn't know about the group of 15 Jenin gunmen to the southeast.

So they didn't consider that a possibility.

That changes EVERYTHING. Suddenly, when we KNOW there was another group, a whole new range of ideas that were not considered make MUCH more sense than the IDF acting like a spoiled teen or despot who wants to get rid of critics.

What do we know about these gunmen?

1) They WERE walking within the range of the audio estimate of distance to Shireen.
2) They AREN'T professionals. They love to shoot guns. They don't learn military discipline.
3) They can EASILY make mistakes in shooting at people from a distance.

Also, the firing patterns of the shots that killed Shireen did not sound like the IDF's way of doing things, but they sounded - undisciplined.

Did the militants shoot Shireen?

If I am seeing this video accurately, showing reporters dodging a bullet minutes before Shireen was killed, and then pointing to a building while saying that there were Palestinian militants there, it sure seems possible or likely.

And if they could see a gunman in a building from where they point, that indicates a line of sight from the gunman to Shireen.

This brings up the possibility of gunmen on upper floors in buildings, which definitely solves the line of sight problem. This building would be ideal:

It would have a straight shot west if the IDF convoy went one block north, it is camouflaged with trees, - and it happens to be the exact distance that the bullet traveled to kill Shireen Abu Akleh.

It also fits the bullet patterns of the tree perfectly.

It's just a theory. There might be sections of the wall on the ground that provide line of sight. This is something CNN could have checked and it wasn't interested.

A militant could have hopped on top of a wall, too.

The IDF wasn't in the southeast so any bullet that came from there was from a militant. And we have evidence of at least one that reporters seemed to think did, in fact, come from the southeast.

Does everything add up perfectly yet? No, of course not. But they didn't add up perfectly to indict the IDF, either. We need the bullet. We need Shireen's helmet. We need the bullet that hit the other reporter. But there is enough evidence that there was another group, who were undisciplined, and who were not at all excluded as suspects by the evidence we have.

Perhaps Bellingcat will have the intellectual honesty to look at these other possibilities - they fit in better with the tree bullet holes, they fit better with the reporters in the video, and they fit better with basic logic if you know anything about the IDF beyond BDS lies

And you KNOW CNN will never admit they are wrong unless the evidence becomes overwhelming. They care more about reputation and ratings than the truth.

That's where we are at. There is a compelling alternate theory that was NEVER considered. When you compare the chances of an IDF mistake (or assassination, in the middle of a street battlem turning their backs on the terrorist to their south in order to kill a reporter that would backfire spectacularly) with the chances of a Jenin terrorist making a mistake, there is really no comparison - unless you think the IDF is a bloodthirsty, vindictive army before you start looking at the evidence.

Not considering alternate theories, and thinking that the open source media gives a complete picture of the facts, is a recipe for failure.

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

There was gunfire before Abu Akleh was killed - including one towards reporters, seemingly from the southeast

Middle East Eye released an entire seemingly unedited video of the scene in Jenin before and during Shireen Abu Akleh's death. (They mislabeled it as May 13, but it is clearly May 11.)

It provides additional evidence that the Jenin militants to the southeast shot and killed Abu Akleh, not IDF soldiers.

Here is a crucial 90 second excerpt that ends about three minutes before Shireen is shot:

It starts off with three gunshots that the reporters don't seem too concerned about (2:41 in MEE video). There are occasional gunshots audible throughout the video, so the widespread reporting that there was no gunfire in the area before she was shot is not true.

At 0:15 (2:55 in MEE) the camera looks up the street. There is the lead IDF armored car there, although a little hard to see.

At 0:21 (3:01) we hear a gunshot. The reporters duck, unlike the earlier three gunshots, so they heard the bullet shockwave.

This gunshot has a similar audio signature as the gunshots that were analyzed in the Bellingcat and CNN reports that they claim came from the from the IDF. But the sound gap between the shockwave and muzzle shot is a bit longer.

Although we have not verified that the militants to the southeast were videoed at this exact time, they were walking north. Also, they were coming down a hill - it looks like higher up the hill was a pretty good line of sight towards the reporters.

Without a real reporter going to Jenin and photographing this street and the surrounding areas, we cannot know for sure if there was a line of sight. But the next thing that happens in this video is most interesting.

Unlike the later gunshots, the reporters seem amused at this gunshot. You can hear them laughing. Then, at 0:34 (3:14) one points to the southeast, where we have seen the militants, apparently to show where the gunshot came from.

My source tells me that the journalist is saying that there are both IDF snipers and "shebab" - the "youth" militants - shooting.

My other source thinks that they are talking about Israeli snipers in a building, but the other one corrects him and says, no, those are Palestinians.

It sure looks like he is pointing to militants who are in their line of sight (otherwise, why point?) at that time. And when the reporter is pointing, he is referring to the "shabab" according to my source.

If they are referring to someone in a building, presumably on an upper floor - and there were no Israeli troops in that direction - then there was definitely line of sight from a building to the reporters.

Other gunshots are heard in the seconds after this as you can hear them again say "shebab."

Afterwards, they return to the street Shireen ended up on, and zoomed in on the IDF vehicles. I'm still not certain that the lead vehicle had a clean shot at where Shireen was, here's the best I could do from the angle of where the tree is, compared to what it looked like from the middle of the street. In the first picture from the street corner, even the taxicab was not visible, and I cannot see the IDF vehicle unlike the shot from slightly further east. It doesn't look like we can even see the corner of the block in the first shot. (There are artifacts from the camera moving.)

I'm not as certain that the IDF had no angle - we don't know how far in the street Shireen was, although we know where the tree is, and of course bullets could go through foliage but I'm still convinced that the bullet hole at the top of the tree (see my previous post, update 1) would not look like that from that angle.

There is at least one other gunshot to be heard in the MEE video, whose source seems to be more than twice as far away as these, at 5:02 of the MEE video, with 800 ms between the shot and the muzzle blast. There may be an additional gunshot at 6:38, less than 30 seconds before the shots we've all seen.

In short, this video shows that:

* There were other audible gunshots in the minutes before Abu Akleh was killed, not as wass reported.

* At least one was recognized by the reporters as being shot near them, and it came from around 220 meters away.

* There were no IDF soldiers anywhere near the reporters, which means that it is entirely possible that the militants saw figures moving, perhaps some with helmets, and took a shot directly towards them.

* The reporter referred to the "shebab" and pointed towards the southeast, seeming to point where the shots came from. (And any reporter and witnesses who know this will never, ever admit it to CNN.)

The idea that Shireen was shot by trigger-happy terrorists to the southeast is not only plausible - it is likely.

(h/t Ibn Boutros, DigFind, Gail Ellis)

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

05/27 Links Pt1: Palestinian Arabs Never Qualified as “Refugees”; Ruthie Blum: The Abu Akleh report is CNN's latest anti-Israel hit job; The Real Purpose of the Iran Nuclear Deal

From Ian:

Mark Regev: Do Palestinians prefer united Jerusalem under Israeli rule?

THE PALESTINIAN leadership sees all of formerly-Jordanian Jerusalem, including the Western Wall, as territory illegally occupied by Israel and demands recognition of east Jerusalem as its capital, while contending that the status of west Jerusalem is a matter for permanent status peace talks. And although the Palestinians have signaled a theoretical willingness to accept west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, whenever the issue arose in actual negotiations – Israeli prime ministers Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert tabling concrete ideas to redivide the city – such proposals never proved acceptable.

To buttress its position, the Palestinian leadership claims that Jerusalem’s Palestinians are united in demanding an end to Israel’s rule. But though widely accepted across the globe, this narrative is not reflected in a series of public opinion surveys of Palestinian Jerusalemites.

In December 2021, the Palestine News Network (SHFA) released a poll that found an astonishing 93% of Jerusalem’s Palestinians prefer Israeli to Palestinian rule.

These results were significantly higher than a previous survey done by the Bethlehem-based Palestinian Center for Public Opinion released in August 2015, which found that 52% of Jerusalem Palestinians would choose “Israeli citizenship with equal rights,” while only 42% would want to become citizens of a future Palestinian state.

Do Palestinians want to move to Jerusalem?
A November 2011 poll by the same organization discovered that an amazing 42% of Jerusalem Palestinians would want to relocate into Israel if their present neighborhood became part of a Palestinian state.

Considering that the hegemonic political environment among Palestinians would tend to discourage the overt expression of such views, these results speak to a grossly under-reported reality. Though by no means Israeli patriots, Jerusalem’s Palestinians – like Arab Israelis – see the advantages of living in a successful, pluralist democracy with a Western standard of living and social services, over those of the authoritarian, corrupt and poorer Palestinian alternative.

In contrast to the much-propagated narrative, while not publicly celebrating 55 years from to the unification of the city, most Palestinian Jerusalemites would nonetheless elect to remain under Israeli jurisdiction. Of course, those who champion Palestinian rights are under no obligation to take into account the views of Jerusalem’s Palestinians.

Happy Jerusalem Day!

Caroline Glick: Time to stop lying to ourselves about Qatar

On the one hand, Doha plays a pivotal role in waging the global jihad against the US and the free world. On the other hand, it showers them with gifts. Qatar opened campuses for US universities and think tanks in Doha. It opened factories that hire thousands of American workers in key states. It regularly invites influential communal and thought leaders on all-expenses paid luxury tours of Doha. It spends millions on lobbyists in Washington.

During the George W. Bush administration, the US's dependence on Al Udeid base saved the regime from criticism and sanction after the 9/11 attacks and during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. During the Obama administration, ties reached new heights as Barack Obama and his advisors worked to realign the US towards the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran and away from the US' traditional allies, Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

The Trump administration had a golden opportunity to cut off ties with Qatar. In 2017, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain cut off ties with Qatar and blocked all air and land traffic to the emirate due to its alliance with Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, which both pose existential threats to those countries. Rather than side with its allies, the Trump administration first sat on the fence and later mediated "peace" between the sides. The Biden administration, which is restoring the Obama administration's sought for realignment towards Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood is also expanding US-Qatari ties.

This brings us to Israel. This month, Al Jazeera used the death of its journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during a firefight between Palestinian terrorists in Jenin and IDF forces to create a new blood libel against the Jewish state. The network's actions served as a reminder of the just how poisonous a role Qatar plays in the war against Israel. Yet rather than respond with a full-throated assault on the jihad network and at the regime that controls it, Israel's government is following the Biden administration's lead and treating Qatar as a "moderating force" in relation to Hamas and more generally.

Later this year, Qatar will host the World Cup Soccer Championship. Qatar allegedly paid FIFA officials millions in bribes to buy their votes to beat the US in the contest to host the games. Rather than tell Israeli soccer fans that with all due respect to their love of the game, Qatar is Hamas' headquarters and Iran's best friend, and they should watch the games on TV rather than risk a trip to the terror capital, Israel is trying to organize direct flights to Doha during the games. Moreover, government official enthusiastically parrot the absurd claim that Qatar may soon join the Abraham Accords, despite the fact that the Qataris have done everything possible to undermine Israel's peaceful ties with its neighbors.

Reaboi notes, "But for Qatar's sponsorship, the Muslim Brotherhood movement would be dead in today's Islamic world."

It's all as clear as day. Qatar is a bitter enemy and a danger to Israel. It is time that we see the light and act accordingly.

Palestinian Arabs Never Qualified as “Refugees”

An Obama-era report found that, years ago, there were only about 20,000 Palestinian Arab refugees from the 1948-1949 Arab war against Israel – instead of the 5.3 million that UNRWA was falsely claiming at that time, by fraudulently padding numbers and improperly including descendants. (See “U.S. Report Finds Only 20,000 Palestinian Refugees in the World,” Israel Hayom, July 18, 2018.) The alleged numbers are even fewer or non-existent today – yet Rashida Tlaib’s resolution now absurdly claims that there are 7 million Palestinian Arab refugees today – including 5.7 million (illegitimately) supported by UNRWA. (See also “Morton Klein: Trump Wisely Ends U.S. Funding to UNRWA,” by Morton Klein, Breitbart, Sept. 6, 2018.)

Tlaib’s resolution also ignores the Egyptian, Syrian, Algerian and other Arab national origin of “Palestinian Arabs.” Arabs flooded into Israel in pre-state years to enjoy Jewish pioneers’ development of the previously barren land; to escape Egyptian military drafts and Algerian wars; and to work for the British mandatory government (which discriminated against Jews and instead imported Arab workers). Common “Palestinian” Arab last names are al Masri (meaning from Egypt) and Mughrabi (meaning from North Africa).

Under the U.S. and International Definitions of “Refugees,” Palestinian Arabs Never Qualified as “Refugees”: UNRWA’s unique definition of Palestinian Arab “refugees” counted any Arab who lived or worked in Israel for a mere two years as a “refugee.” UNRWA’s definition is contrary to U.S. law (8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)) and all other international definitions, which require that a refugee must have “habitually resided” in a country to count as a refugee; two years of residence or work does not qualify. In addition, corrupt UNRWA added to its relief rolls hundreds of thousands of Arabs who never lived or worked in Israel, to try to justify contributions to UNRWA and protect thousands of UNRWA jobs. Under a normal definition of refugees, which does not include descendants, there are virtually no Palestinian Arab refugees today.

In addition, the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act’s “persecutor exception” (also known as the “persecutor bar”) declares that “The term ‘refugee’ does not include any person who ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in the persecution of any person on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.” 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101(a)(42). International refugee law contains a similar persecutor bar. Thus, no Arab who participated in, incited or assisted in persecuting, attacking or inciting hatred against the Jewish people, at any time, qualifies as a refugee. Arab rioters who attacked their Jewish neighbors in pre-state Israel; government officials, Imams, and teachers who incite or pay Arabs to murder Jews cannot legally be refugees. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists who fire rockets at Jews indiscriminately cannot be refugees. Nor can tens of thousands of Hamas-incited Gazans who attempted to breach the border fence with knives and maps showing the routes to Jewish kindergartens in their hands, who were attempting to slaughter Jewish children.

Further, in order to legally qualify as a refugee, one must have left a country due to “persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution.” (8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)) Because Palestinian Arab refugees left Israel at the request of Arab leaders and governments, to enable the slaughter of Jews, and because while Israel urged the Arabs to remain and live together in peace, the “Palestinian refugees” also do not meet this legal requirement.

In sum, there are no valid Palestinian Arab refugees today.

There have been a wave of antisemitic attacks in Brooklyn over the past few years, and for the most part the media has been ignoring them - because the attackers don't fit the racial profile of white supremacists.

We've seen these videos way too often - a Hasidic man, walking along the street, being randomly attacked by a Jew-hater.

Like this one that seem to have happened yesterday:

Luckily, we have video of what happened right afterwards, thanks to a Hasidic truck driver on the scene:

This needs to happen more often. And in such a way that there is active disincentive for the potential attackers, who think they can punch and hit Jews with impunity.

I'll definitely buy more Golden Taste dips and salads!

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Remember when the Palestinian coroner said that Shireen Abu Akleh was shot in the forehead?

The results of the initial forensic medicine report indicate that the direct cause of death was brain damage caused by a high-velocity bullet. The bullet penetrated the skull cavity causing an entry wound and then exited from the cavity causing another wound. Following that, the bullet hit the internal side of the protective helmet, ricocheted and lodged in the damaged tissues inside the skull.

The bullet hit her in front, exited the back, hit the helmet from inside and ricocheted back into her brain.

Al Jazeera even said she was shot in the face.

Apparently, the Palestinian prosecutor didn't like that story. Because the "investigation" has concluded something different:

Palestinian Attorney General Akram Al-Khatib said today that based on the Public Prosecution’s report on the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, it was established that the veteran Al Jazeera journalist was killed by an armor-piercing projectile fired directly at her head by an Israeli sniper.

According Al-Khatib, an autopsy and forensic examination conducted in Nablus after Abu Akleh’s death showed she was shot from the back, indicating that she was attempting to flee as Israeli forces continued to fire towards the group of journalists.

Apparently the coroner didn't know what he was talking about. Or the Palestinian Authority decided that shooting her from the back makes Israel sound worse.

No wonder the Palestinian Authority doesn't want anyone to see her helmet, either.

Another indication that this report is filled with lies:

He added that the bullet had general and specific markings that match a Mini Ruger semi-automatic sniper weapon.

The IDF doesn't use Rugers.

One more thing that they claim:

Al-Khatib said the facts on the ground confirm the absence of any armed clashes at the time when the crime occurred, stressing that the investigation carried out by the Public Prosecution will be the cornerstone in the prosecution of the Israeli killers. “The only source of firing was by the occupation forces with the aim to kill,” he said.

I plan to prove that this is a lie in the next post.

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Al-Alam of Iran starts off an article in a notable way:

The occupation yields to threats and prevents Jews from performing their rituals in Al-Aqsa

The threats made by the Palestinians not to allow the Jews to perform their rituals in Al-Aqsa Mosque have paid off.

In addition, the US embassy warned its citizens not to reach the Old City of Jerusalem on Sunday, in conjunction with the flag march, according to the Hebrew channel Kan.

The channel said that the US embassy in Israel decided to prevent US government officials, diplomats and their families from visiting the Old City of Jerusalem, starting from this evening until next Monday, due to the holding of the flags march next Sunday.

The message is clear: When Palestinians threaten violence, the weak Israelis cave.

The secondary message they are trying to tell all Palestinians: Not only is threats of violence effective, but you can win as long as you keep hammering away at the insecure, spineless Jews.

The article ends off with another threat:

It is noteworthy that the Islamic Jihad and Hamas have threatened the "Israeli" occupation of the consequences of allowing the flags march to be carried out on Sunday.

Palestinian groups have threatened attacks for Sunday's Jerusalem Day for over a week now. It is almost like they would lose face if they don't manage to kill a Jew or shoot some rockets.

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

05/26 Links Pt2: Kontorovich: "Israel Apartheid" Is the New "Zionism=Racism"; In 1925: The Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound's 'Identity With The Site Of Solomon's Temple Is Beyond Dispute'

From Ian:

Prof. Eugene Kontorovich: "Israel Apartheid" Is the New "Zionism=Racism"

The coordinated reports by European government-funded NGOs accusing Israel of the crime of apartheid are an example of a "Big Lie." The Amnesty International apartheid report claimed that Israel since its founding was an apartheid state. Thus, it is not any policies of Israel's but the idea of a Jewish state that is apartheid.

The reports treat the Palestinians as silent objects, rather than political actors who have shaped their own destiny. In particular, the reports ignore the reality of Palestinian self-government and systematic Palestinian efforts to murder Israeli Jews. Since 1993 the Palestinians have had their own government, which regulates almost every aspect of their lives. Unlike South African Bantustans, the PA government is recognized by most countries of the world and functions outside of Israeli control.

Under the Oslo Agreements, the PA government and Israel agreed on a framework for dividing authority and jurisdiction in areas where their governments and populations are intertwined. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) report cites those very features as evidence of apartheid - in effect saying that the internationally-backed Oslo Accords, for which several Nobel Peace Prizes were awarded, is equivalent to apartheid.

All of the movement restrictions and the separation wall were established not as part of a policy of racial separation, but only in response to the murderous wave of terror unleashed by the PA in 2000, which killed over 1,000 Israelis. HRW tries to paint self-defense as subjugation, and thus makes no mention of the mass-murder of Israeli civilians.

"Israel apartheid" is not just a lie, it is an inversion of the truth. In all areas controlled by Israel, Jews and Arabs mix freely and openly. Yet all the areas under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority are Jew-free. The Palestinian constitution defines "Palestine" as an exclusively "Arab nation," makes Islam the official religion and Arabic the sole official language.

Yisrael Medad: 'You Do to Us What the Nazis Did to You'

One of the central propaganda lines of the pro-Arab Palestine school of misleading misinformation is that the establishment of the state of Israel was made, and ageed to by Europe and America, as a form of an assuaging of their guilt for their responsibility for the Holocaust.

The line continues that the Arabs are being forced to pay for the sins of Europe which is unfair. Europe wants to placate their consciousness over the year 1939-1945, do it somewhere else.

Of course, that ignores 3000 years of Jewish national identity bound up with the Land of Israel - which the Arabs turned into 'Palestine" after conquering it and then occupying it.

But I have now found a pre-war claim on that theme in the Palestine Post's review on January 26, 1939 of Arnold Toynbee's volume Survey of international Affairs, 1937 in which he asserts the Mandate of Palestine "pays for Europe's sins".

MEMRI: Jerusalem's Supreme Muslim Council, Headed By Grand Mufti Hajj Amin Al-Husseini, In 1925: The Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound's 'Identity With The Site Of Solomon's Temple Is Beyond Dispute'

The Haram Al-Sharif Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the old city of Jerusalem, known to Christians and Jews as the Temple Mount, is a focal point of tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.

In 1925, the Jerusalem-based Supreme Muslim Council,[1] which was headed by Grand Mufti Hajj Amin Al-Husseini, published a 16-page informational booklet about the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound titled A Brief Guide to Al-Haram Al-Sharif. The booklet establishes that the site is holy to Jews and that the ancient Jewish temples had stood there (contemporary Palestinian figures often reject such claims about the Temple Mount and about its historical and religious significance to Jews – see Appendix I).

Following are the quotes from the booklet (see Appendix II for the full booklet).

Excerpts From The Booklet
Page 4:
"The site is one of the oldest in the world. Its sanctity dates from the earliest (perhaps from pre-historic) times. Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to the universal belief, on which 'David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings [2 Samuel 24:25].'"

"[The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound's] identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute."

Page 16:
"Little is known for certain of the early history of the chamber itself. It dates probably as far back as the construction of Solomon's Temple."

"[The Solomon's Stables chamber] dates probably as far back as the construction of Solomon's Temple."

The Jordanian Government Erases Mention Of The Temples In The 1966 Updated Version Of The 1925 Booklet

It should be noted that in 1966, the Jordanian Ministry of Awqaf (to which the Supreme Muslim Council's functions were transferred in 1951) published a new version of the Supreme Muslim Council's booklet, titled A Brief Guide to the Dome of the Rock and Al-Haram Al-Sharif.

In this new version, there are very few mentions of the compound's pre-Islamic history, and not one mention of the Jewish Temples. The term "temple" was only used twice in the 1966 booklet, on pages 20 and 60, in reference to when the Crusaders dubbed the Dome of the Rock "Templum Domini" ("The Lord's Temple") and the adjacent Al-Aqsa Mosque "Templum Solomonis" ("Solomon's Temple," a term that also refers to the First Temple).

Today, construction started on an elevator at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.

It took years any many court cases. The Jewish community offered to work with the Hebron municipality on the design, only to be refused. The elevator will be available to Jews and Muslims. Up until today, people who are wheelchair bound had to be literally carried up in order to see the holy site.

In other words, this is a no-brainer.

Except - anything Jews do is automatically awful.

Palestine Today describes it this way:

The attempts of the “ Israeli ” occupation to Judaize in the Ibrahimi Mosque in the city of Khalil al-Rahman never stops. The installation of the metal structure of the electric elevator comes within the framework of strengthening the comprehensive Jewish grip on the city, including the Ibrahimi Mosque , and transforming the Islamic aspect into a Jewish one.

The Mufti of Jerusalem also says this is a Judaization crime:

The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories and the preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, affirmed that the occupation authorities yesterday removed parts of the Ibrahimi Mosque, the “White Staircase”, as a “racist Judaization crime.”

In a press statement, Sheikh Hussein said: "What is happening comes within the framework of the occupation authorities' plans to change the landmarks of the archaeological site and complete the "electric elevator" project, which it intends to build to serve the settlers' incursions."

He explained that these measures of the occupation authorities lead to depriving Palestinian citizens of performing their religious rites in their mosques....

The funny thing is that the exact types of people who support disability rights will be the ones who are the most adamantly against this.

In the hierarchy of social justice issues, Jew-hate is at the top.

UN Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Tantalus Glad At Least He Not Yair Lapid Chasing Premiership (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

Tantalus Tartarus, May 26 - A Greek demigod sentenced to have the objects of his fondest desires always eluding his grasp took solace today upon realizing that the fate of Israel's current Alternative Prime Minister outstrips his own in intensity: whereas the demigod suffers the constant deprivation of the delicious fruit above and the refreshing water below him always moving away when he reaches for them, the head of the Yesh Atid Party suffers even more, by having the helm of the Jewish State within his reach twice already, only to have the government collapse once and on the verge of doing so again - when the coalition agreement calls for him to assume the office of prime minister late next year.

Tantalus, the forever-tormented son of the god Zeus and the nymph Plouto, conceded Thursday that he does not envy Yair Lapid, who will, it appears, be denied his long-coveted opportunity to become Prime Minister of Israel because the current government of Naftali Bennett hangs by a thread that weakens each day.

"Oh, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes," remarked the mythological figure whose name gave English the word "tantalizing." "That level of seeing something you've been working toward for years and years, only to watch, helplessly, as it slips away from you not once, but twice, perhaps more... Well, as Count Rugen put it in The Princess Bride, when he thinks he's just fatally wounded Inigo Montoya and foiled the lifelong vendetta, 'I think that's the worst thing I've ever heard.'"

Lapid, the son of the late kingmaking centrist politician Yosef Lapid, and a former television personality, launched his political career during the previous decade and in the interim has formed a series of alliances that he parlayed into a succession of power-sharing arrangements, the latest of which has him assuming the premiership in late 2023 - but, like the previous governments that Yesh Atid has helped form, the current one drifts ever-closer to collapse: a razor-thin majority in the 120-seat Knesset degraded even further last month when one lawmaker defected to the opposition; the only reason for the government's survival lies in the fractured nature of that opposition and its inability to unite around an alternative. Continued dissatisfaction among the Coalition members, whose ideologically-diverse composition prevents significant legislation on a range of critical issues facing the country and contributes to mounting frustration that experts predict will topple the government within the next several months - and deprive Lapid of yet another opportunity to rule that he has coveted for so long.

"Yeah, I've got it bad, but Zeus must really, really have it in for old Yair," mused Tantalus. "I wonder what Lapid did to rouse such Olympian ire?"

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

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!