Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Intrafada: Hamas youths attack Ramallah police station (video)

Rock throwing, Molotov cocktails and police firing in response against civilians.

But this is after the IDF withdrew troops from Ramallah.

A Fatah spokesman blamed Hamas for instigating these riots,saying "Hamas is seeking to create chaos in the West Bank in order to pave the way for a coup."

No Jews involved, so it isn't news:

PCUSA passes resolution that includes "the map that lies"

Perhaps the most problematic resolution passed by the Presbyterian Church USA was not the divestment resolution that has received all the headlines, but this one that calls for for the church to revisit whether they support a two-state solution at all.

Part of its rationale:

B. The Two-State Solution Then and Now

[See Map 1 and Map 2 under “Additional Resources.”]

These maps clearly delineate the present status of the so-called “two-states” of Israel and Palestine. Map 1 shows the erosion of the Palestinian territory, over six decades, which was to provide for a viable state. In the panel outlining the U.N. Partition Plan in 1947, as well as the panel showing a significant loss of territory from 1949–1967, a two-state solution still appeared viable. As can be seen in the panel showing the present state of Palestine since 2005, it is hard to look at this portion of the map and think that a two-state solution can ever be achieved. It is important to remember that all the white space in what once was a contiguous West Bank (named because it is west of the Jordan River) represents land now controlled by the Israeli military. The green splotches (often referred to as Bantustans or cantons) are separated by thirty foot concrete walls, electrified and barbed wire fencing systems, and checkpoints managed by the Israeli military through which all Palestinians, as well as others (tourists, for instance), must pass to travel between Palestinian cantons or into Israel proper. Tourists pass through easily, of course, as they go to visit holy sites on the Palestinian side of the walls (Bethlehem, for instance). Palestinians do not. They are prevented from visiting friends and family in other regions, conducting business, receiving adequate medical care, pursuing an education, or even getting to their olive groves for planting and harvest. As it presently stands, the “Palestinian state” has no contiguity and the matrix of Israeli occupation prevents free movement among Palestinians.

Here is PCUSA's version of "the map that lies":

As I've discussed in much greater detail in the past, the first three maps are complete lies.

The white sections in Map 1 were privately owned Jewish land but the green portions were not Arab-owned land by any definition; most of it was state land.

Map 2 shows the UN partition plan, though of course the UN didn't refer to the green areas as "Palestinian land" but as "Arab." Either way, the Jews accepted it, the Arabs didn't, and it has no importance except for what could have been if Jews had been accepted as a nation that deserves self-determination.

Map 3 shows no "Palestinian" land since the green areas were either annexed by Jordan or taken over by Egypt. At the time, virtually no Palestinian Arabs demanded an independent state in those territories - but they did demand that Israel be destroyed, as the majority do today.

So what does it mean when a resolution is based on lies?

It means that PCUSA cares as little for the truth as they do about Jewish national rights - something that this resolution will try to undermine even further.

PCUSA considered replacing "Israel" in prayers and hymns - too inflammatory

There was another resolution that was considered by the Presbyterian Church USA that did not pass, but the comments to that resolution show that they took it very seriously:

The Presbytery of Chicago overtures the 221st General Assembly (2014) of the Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.), to

1. distinguish between the biblical terms that refer to the ancient land of Israel and the modern political State of Israel;

2. develop educational materials, with the help of our Presbyterian seminaries, for clergy, church musicians, worship leaders, and Christian educators regarding the “ancient Israel/modern Israel” distinction; and

3. inform our ecumenical partners of this action, nationally and globally—particularly within Israel and Palestine.

Rationale
This overture was prompted by the publication of the beautiful new publication of Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal, 2013, which has a section of hymns under the unfortunate heading: “God’s covenant with Israel.”

The use of the phrase “God’s covenant with Israel,” is open to interpretation by the reader/singer. Is this “biblical Israel”? Is it the “modern State of Israel”? As one Palestinian American Presbyterian who is a ruling elder said in a letter to those responsible for the publication of the new hymnal:

“Because I am a Palestinian Christian, I am uneasy with the word “Israel” in “God’s Covenant with Israel”—I am always told, however, that what is meant by “Israel” is Biblical Israel and not today’s Israel; but do all Christians know this? With the prevalence of Christian Zionism, which the G.A. repudiated in 2004, I highly doubt it. Even if not intentional, this language is inflammatory, misleading, and hurtful” (Open Letter, October 2, 2013).

One response would be to rephrase it as “God’s Covenant with Ancient Israel,” or, as Thomas Are, retired Presbyterian minister, said in a recent blog, “God’s covenant with the Poor, or even “Our Covenant with the Oppressed” [11.26.13; http://thomas-l-are.blogspot.com/2013_11_01_archive.html], but there are other examples of the problem. In Advent, we sing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel. …” Does that justify the modern political State of Israel? At the least, it is confusing and unclear. Our Christian Palestinian brothers and sisters call us to make this distinction clearly.

Mitri Raheb, pastor of Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, says: “The establishment of the State of Israel created … an intended confusion. … Huge efforts were put by the State of Israel and Jewish organizations in branding the new State of Israel as a “biblical entity” (The Invention of History: A century of interplay between theology and politics in Palestine, Mitri Raheb, editor, 2011; Diyar Consortium, pp. 18–19).

While it was rejected, the underlying theme was considered a major issue:

The Advisory Committee advises that this overture be answered with the following action:

“The 221st General Assembly (2014) instructs the Office of Theology and Worship of the Presbyterian Mission Agency to develop a short insert or sticker for publications used in congregational worship and study with wording similar in meaning to the following:

“‘Please note in using these texts that the biblical and liturgical “land of Israel” is not the same as the State of Israel established in 1948, which is a contemporary nation state. The Bible contains differing descriptions of the parameters of Israel. Promises of land generally come with obligations to God for justice to be practiced with all inhabitants. Later in Scripture, the Gospel is to be preached to ‘all nations’; in Jesus Christ all peoples are included in God’s promise. Similarly, ‘Zion’ is frequently used in the Bible as a reference to the city of Jerusalem, but in Christian tradition this does not refer primarily to a specific geographical location or political entity but to ‘the city of God’ found throughout history and to the completion of God’s purpose in the age to come. Presbyterian General Assemblies have affirmed the principle that the current physical Jerusalem be shared by Jews, Christians, and Muslims, both Palestinians and Israelis, living in peace with justice.”

“Further, the General Assembly directs that the Office of Theology and Worship and the Office of the General Assembly share the insert language with an explanatory letter encouraging its use within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and among our church partners internationally, particularly in Israel and Palestine, noting where fuller treatment of the concern may be found.”

(h/t Irene)

06/21 Links: Mother of missing teen appeals for world help; In memory of Col. Ramon

From Ian:

Mother of missing teen appeals for world help

The anguished mother of one of the missing Israeli teens believed kidnapped by Hamas on June 12 spoke to CNN Friday, appealing to the world for assistance in bringing the three home.
Rachel Frankel told the American news channel that anyone who’s listening should do anything they can to bring the teens back home. “They are boys, they should be brought back to their families,” she said.
She called on “anybody in the world that’s listening… to do anything they can to get our children back home. We just want them back in our homes.”
“Any decent person would do anything they can to get them back,” she said.

Chloé Valdary: Hashtag Diplomacy, Or: How We Learned to Stop Worrying And Love Apartheid

Usually, when a foreign government engages in corrupt, pernicious activity — like embezzling billions of dollars per month, promoting racism in its official news media outlets, teaching children that they were born superior to those different from them and denying basic civil liberties to the inhabitants they’re governing — the West responds with, at the very least, righteous indignation.
Yet, in the Middle East, the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) and Hamas, two genocidal racist regimes that preach a doctrine of Arab and Islamic supremacism to their people, are both allowed to perpetuate this same vitriolic racism without consequence. Indeed, the USA in particular has given its approval — in the form of billions of dollars and military training — to the Palestinian Authority, which just recently signed a unity deal with Hamas. This makes the two organizations one and the same.

Palestinian Authority police assault CNN reporter, cameraman during pro-Hamas rally

Members of the Palestinian Authority security services assaulted a CNN reporter and his cameraman on Friday in the West Bank town of Hebron.
Ben Wedeman, the US news network’s correspondent who covers events in Israel and the Palestinian-administered territories, said that he was accosted by PA policeman who ordered that the cameraman cease filming a pro-Hamas demonstration.
Wedeman later told CNN that he came away with “a couple of bruises and a few scratches,” though there was damage to the camera.
Hamas had organized the demonstration as a show of solidarity for Palestinian prisoners languishing in Israeli jails.
“The Palestinian Authority doesn’t like press coverage of pro-Hamas protests, since these demonstrations are always aimed against the PA,” Wedeman told CNN. (h/t MtTB)

CNN reporter roughed up during protest (h/t Yenta Press)

PCUSA passes resolution that calls on ADL to stop fighting antisemitism

The Presbyterian Church USA has passed Resolution 04-09, "Resolution on Equal Rights for All Inhabitants of Israel and Palestine and on Conversations with Prophetic Voices."

Essentially calling Jews in Israel racists, the resolution cherry picks Haaretz quotes to prove its point. One of the quotes comes from Larry Derfner writing in the Forward:

In The Jewish Daily Forward, August 2013, Larry Derfner writes on racism in Israel:

The ADL [Anti-Defamation League] goes after anti-Semitism with a fist, it goes after Israeli racism with a sigh. As a matter of fact, the ADL and the entire American Jewish establishment should suspend their campaigns against anti-Semitism indefinitely and take a look at what’s going on in Israel. http://forward.com/articles/182171/israels-everyday-racism-and-how-american-jews-tu/#ixzz2xdzNqUEV

Yup...that passed, including that section.

(h/t Will Spotts)

06/20 Links Pt2: With Iran, my enemy’s enemy is still my enemy; Israel Launches Nano-Satellite

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: As I See It: With Iran, my enemy’s enemy is still my enemy

To give Iran the edge will not produce regional stability. The more Iran is empowered, the more Saudi Arabia will fight it. The outcome will be a hugely increased likelihood of war and endemic tribal conflict engulfing the region.
In addition, both Iran and Saudi are working not just against each other but to destroy and dominate the West. As such, both should be seen as the West’s mortal enemies. The Western aim, therefore, should be to defeat or at very least box in both of them.
Iraq has turned into a catastrophe because, when the US pulled out, the Obama administration left a vacuum in which Maliki pumped up tribal conflict and paved the way for the ISIS insurgency.
Iran, the most manipulative and sophisticated geopolitical strategic player in the world, understands that Obama’s desperation to turn his back on the threats from the Islamic world has left the US weakened and exposed. Whatever its origins, the Iraq crisis offers Iran an opportunity to exploit that weakness, a threat with which the West now seems too paralyzed to deal. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

Caroline Glick: The threat is blowback

The first step the US must take to minimize the Iranian threat is to walk away from the table and renounce the talks. The next step is to take active measures to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power.
Unfortunately, the Obama administration appears prepared to do none of these things. To the contrary, its pursuit of an alliance with Iran in Iraq indicates that it is doubling down on the most dangerous aspects of its policy of empowering America’s worst enemies.
It only took the Taliban six months to move from the Bamiyan Buddhas to the World Trade Center. Al-Qaida is stronger now than ever before. And Iran is on the threshold of a nuclear arsenal.

In 2002, during Ramadan, Arab TV stations broadcast a 41-part miniseries called "Knight Without a Horse" that was based on proving that the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" is legitimate.

One of the driving forces behind it was actor/comedian Mohamed Sobhi, who starred in the series.

Today, he is telling Egyptian media how important that series was.

He told Youm7 that the success of the series "Knight Without a Horse" is not in the number of people who watched it, but in the fact that (he claims) the series caused two million Egyptian citizens to purchase copies of the book "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," to see for themselves whether Sobhi's thesis - that Jews have already succeeded in 19 of the 24 protocols, and the rest are being implemented at this very moment - is true.

Hamas digging out explosion victims - with Caterpillar equipment

Yesterday, an explosion in a Hamas bunker (or possibly a kidnapping tunnel) killed 5 terrorists and a rescue worker.

Hamas is still digging out the bodies, as this photo from Felesteen shows.

Yes, that is Caterpillar equipment that Hamas is using.

Should we call to divest from Caterpillar because a terror organization uses its equipment (and in all likelihood, used it to help build the tunnels to begin with)?

It would confuse the hell out of the hypocritical Israel-haters.

06/20 Links Pt1: Col. Kemp: Europe's and U.S. Complicity in Kidnapping and Violence

From Ian:

Col. Richard Kemp: Europe's and U.S. Complicity in Kidnapping and Violence

Just the day before the three boys were kidnapped, the EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, welcomed Hamas into the Palestinian Authority government while lambasting Israel for detaining terrorists and taking action to prevent Hamas terrorist attacks from Gaza and the West Bank. Ashton, though never slow to condemn Israel, took five days to denounce this kidnapping. Both her words and her actions have legitimized and encouraged Hamas.
Both the U.S. and the EU have paid the salaries of Palestinian terrorists by means of grants to the PA; they also fund this propaganda and incitement.
Like every government, Israel has an absolute duty to protect its citizens, and undermining this terrorist threat is an essential part of that responsibility.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Has Abbas Lost His Credibility?

Another senior Fatah official, Jibril Rajoub, who regards himself as a successor to Abbas, decided to take advantage of the anti-Abbas fervor by defending the abduction of Israeli soldiers to force Israel to release prisoners. Rajoub, in an interview with a Ramallah-based news website, said that while he was opposed to the kidnapping of civilians, he supported the abduction of soldiers "because this is the only language that Israel understands."
Rajoub's remarks are seen by Palestinians as a direct challenge to the embattled Abbas, who has repeatedly affirmed his opposition to "all forms of violence" against Israel.
Some Palestinians see Rajoub's remarks as the "first shot" in his campaign to succeed Abbas. Rajoub, a former Fatah security commander in the West Bank, knows that statements supporting the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers would turn him into a popular figure and improve his chances of becoming the next Palestinian Authority president. Given the widespread support and jubilation among Palestinians over the kidnapping of the three Israeli youths, Rajoub is not wrong in believing that he could replace Abbas one day.
The anti-Abbas campaign provides additional evidence that Palestinians have been radicalized to a point where it has become dangerous to denounce the kidnapping of Israelis or even refer to them as human beings.

Mahmoud Abbas has made a pact with devil: kidnaps are but one outcome

Peace is not merely the absence of conflict, but also requires the presence of goodwill. By siding with Hamas, Abbas has made a pact with the devil, and must now face the consequences. While Israel regrets the President’s decision to choose an alliance with terror over negotiation, the world community must hold the Palestinian Authority and Abbas responsible for any attacks that emanate from Palestinian-controlled territory.
I applaud the efforts of so many to bring our boys back, and hope and pray that they will be found quickly and safely. But our hopes must not stop there. We must instead strive to vigorously pursue the promise of peace that is possible only if we reject Hamas. The Palestinians deserve a government that will represent their needs and aspirations, and this is not a one with Hamas as a core element.
As an Israeli, parent and diplomat my personal aspirations and professional goals are identical: lasting peace. If Abbas can rejoin the international community consensus on the dangers of Hamas, he will find a willing partner for peace in Israel. I hope and pray that this will happen before another tragedy.
*Shmuel Ben-Shmuel is Israel’s ambassador to Australia.

Iranians at World Cup love Israel (video)

Maariv quotes Iranian media as saying that MP Hussein Azin has gone to Brazil to ensure that Iranians visiting the World Cup don't behave in ways contrary to the morals and ideals of the Islamic Republic.

He is apparently not having much luck in keeping the women properly covered up.

But the news is even worse than that, as you can see from this video from Israel's Channel 2:

(h/t/ Yenta, Israelftw, Yoel)

Labeling goods isn't good enough for haters like Stephen Sizer

Stephen Sizer is a prominent Israeli-hating minister in England.

His most recent blog post accuses UK supermarket Tesco of lying in its labeling of goods from Israel and the territories. The labels on some of their Medjool dates say "Produce of Israel, Packed in the West Bank (Israeli settlement.)"

He writes:

Without saying so explicitly, Tesco is admitting the dates are packed in Palestine. So where are they grown? In Israel and then shipped to an illegal Israeli settlement in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank? Unlikely. More likely, they are grown and packed on the settlement, which makes them Palestinian dates. If so, Tesco is not only mis-labelling the dates but supplying stolen goods.

Now where did he get his images of the packaging from? They came from a November 2013 post in the Boycott Israel UK website.

On that same website they show the labeling from other Tesco products. For example, these dates are labeled as being grown and packed in the West Bank:

These are also grown in Judea and Samaria:

These dates, however, were grown and packed within the arbitrary 1949 armistice lines:

We can see that Tesco has been labeling produce grown in Judea and Samaria since at least 2009:

It is obvious that Tesco is being accurate in its characterization of the produce Sizer is so upset about. And all this information is on the website that Sizer apparently reads.

So from this little episode we can learn a few things:

Clearly Tesco has been consistent about labeling its goods and has done so for over five years. When it says that the goods were grown in Israel and packed in Judea and Samaria, they are telling the truth.
Sizer is a liar in his accusations of Tesco. This was in all probability a conscious lie, since he seems to have taken the photos from a site that shows his accusations to be lies.
Sizer's regard for the truth is nil.
Even after five years of labeling, Tesco still sells goods grown by Jews in Judea and Samaria. None of the boycotts and efforts by haters like Sizer has caused the supermarket to abandon selling these goods.
Sizer is frustrated that the labeling isn't having the desired effect, because he really wants a full boycott of Israel - something that British consumers clearly don't desire.

Readers of this blog know that Arabs have long been floating rumors that Tzipi Livni has had sex with Arab leaders for the purpose of blackmailing them when she was with the Mossad. (Livni had said the opposite, that she never slept with the enemy as an agent.)

Soon the rumor morphed into Livni sleeping with Saeb Erekat and other Palestinian Arab negotiators, with the Mossad threatening them with revealing their sweaty naked bodies on YouTube.

A couple of months ago, George Galloway renewed and upped the rumor, now claiming that Livni bragged about sleeping with hundreds of men while with the Mossad to blackmail them.

Now, a Palestinian Arab newspaper has figured out why Israel can broadcast the World Cup for free - causing an estimated 10 million Arabs to watch the Hebrew version rather than paying for the Al Jazeera version. And Livni's supposed voracious sexual habits are a part of it.

According to Shfa News, the only way that Israel can afford to broadcast the tournament is because Israel cut a deal with Qatar, which owns Al Jazeera, which owns NBN, which is the exclusive provider of the video feed for the Arab world.

The story is that Israel is getting the rights to broadcast the World Cup directly from Al Jazeera for free, because Tamim bin Hamad, the leader of Qatar, wants to humiliate the Arab world into watching the Hebrew broadcast instead of paying Al Jazeera.

And why is Qatar providing the feed to Israel for free? Because Tzipi Livni used to sleep with the former Foreign Minister and Prime Minister of Qatar, Hamad bin Jassim al Thani, and he instructed Al Jazeera to do so!

An "informed source" confirmed that Al-Jazeera has decided to give Israel the right to broadcast World Cup matches on the IBA channel for free to be beamed from the Amos satellite.

Ah, but you may ask, if Al Jazeera is providing the feed to Israel, then where is its logo? The answer is that the Qatar leaders are so eager to humiliate Arabs, that they are sending a "clean feed" without their logo, so Israeli networks can put their own logo on instead!

While Doha is giving the feed to Israel for free, the source says, it refused huge sums of payment from Arab countries for them to broadcast it to their citizens gratis. Egypt offered 20 million Egyptian pounds, and was turned down, this source says.

Obviously, this is all because of Livni's blackmail of her former lover al-Thani.

It is all so clear!

Jew-haters upset that there isn't more Jew-hatred in the US

Redress Online, a hate site that pretends to be against bigotry, reports on a new study of Southern US employers:

American, out of work and looking for work?

If the answer is yes, then you had better claim that you are a Jew the next time you apply for a job.

Far from the Israeli propaganda mantra that “anti-Semitism” is growing worldwide and that Jews had better make their way to the racist Zionist ghetto known as Israel, it turns out that being Jewish significantly boosts your job prospects.

According to a new study, reported by the Washington Post,

[W]hen you’re Jewish and searching for a job, you’re not just one of the chosen people, you’re one of the more chosen people, at least in the modern American South. The study of religious discrimination in hiring recently published in the journal Social Currents found job applicants whose résumés betrayed a religious affiliation were 26 per cent less likely to be contacted by an employer – except for Jewish applicants.

Researchers Michael Wallace, Bradley R.E. Wright and Allan Hyde of the University of Connecticut sent 3,200 fake applications to 800 jobs within 150 miles of two major Southern cities through a popular employment website. Each employer got four résumés with comparable job qualifications. The only thing that set the fake job candidates apart was whether their résumés mentioned involvement with a religious group – such as membership in the Muslim Student Association or Hillel House, a Jewish organization…

Muslims were least likely to be contacted by employers, receiving 38 per cent fewer emails and 54 per cent fewer phone calls than the control group. Atheists and pagans were also unpopular and, to a lesser extent…

“Only Jews escaped totally unscathed,” researchers said, reporting “no statistically significant evidence of discrimination against this group across all eight indicators in the study.” In fact, researchers found that some employers seemed to favor Jewish applicants, as they were more likely than any other religious group to get an early or exclusive response from an employer.

So, there you have it! No “anti-Semitism” but, rather, special treatment for the chosen ones – chosen not only in the diabolical book of myths known as the”Old Testament”, but also when it comes to finding a livelihood.

It's quite clear that Redress is trying to stoke Jew-hatred with this article.

The funniest part is when you look at Redress' page header:

A glance at the regular writers for this rag - a number of whom are also writers for Iran's PressTV - shows rather convincingly that injustice, disinformation and bigotry is exactly what this website is all about.

06/19 Links Pt2: Chloe Valdary: Native Son; Arab and Muslim Antisemitism: A Muslim Perspective

From Ian:

Chloe Valdary: Native Son

I have been through far worse than you could ever put me through. I was beaten and bruised by oppressors throughout millennia; Yet, I am still here, bold and beautiful as the day I was born.
So you can try to lynch my brothers if you want. You can kidnap my sons but, I assure you, they will return. We will go on loving humanity so fiercely, you’ll be begging us for more, because that is simply what we do. My children will grow up to beome the 8th wonder of the world, because we just got it like that.
So please pardon me, dear world. I simply do not have the time to prostrate before your hollow thrones of sanctimonious chitchat. I’ve got things to invent, laws to create, mysteries to discover, and kingdoms to establish. And while I am busy I am sure you will concern yourself with whether you really can bring about my demise but rest assured that this much is true:
I have risen before and I will rise again.

Over Arab objections, Israel to vice-chair UN panel on Palestinian refugees

Israel overcame a coordinated effort by Arab states on Wednesday to thwart its appointment as vice chair of a UN committee dealing with issues such as Palestinian refugees and human rights, and will serve in that capacity at the 69th session of the UN General Assembly.
Mordehai Amihai won the appointment to represent the Western European and Other Groups voting bloc on the 4th (Decolonization) Committee with 74 votes, while candidates from Belgium and Norway each garnered one vote. He received staunch backing from Britain, Canada and the US, all of which expressed disappointment with the decision to call the vote. (h/t messy1a)

Arab and Muslim Antisemitism: A Muslim Perspective

Islamism is a pathology propelling a significant segment of the global Muslim population into conflict with others – most prominently the Jews – all of whom are viewed as enemies. What seems like an inner compulsion of Islamists to wage war has also historically turned into Muslim-on-Muslim violence: a raging sectarian conflict of Sunnis against Shi'ites, tribes against tribes, and nations against nations. Islamists have shredded their "thin veneer of Islam" and displayed their "jihad" as a neo-pagan belief in a capricious tribal god governing a cult of violence. It was from such a pagan belief that Muhammad sought to lift the Arabs of the desert by having Islam bear the universal message of belief in one God, merciful and compassionate; but it is precisely this pagan cult of tribal violence that Islamists have resurrected or which, it might be said, they never entirely renounced.
The world at the end of the twentieth century was not prepared to encounter Islamism as an ideology of hate and terror. The terrorist acts of war unleashed by Islamists on September 11, 2001 came as a shock. Since that day, the world has been informed about Islamists and now needs to recall from history how violence born of Jew-hatred or anti-Semitism does not end with the Jews; nor is it only about the Jews. Anti-Semitism was, and remains, a plague that endangers us all. There is an urgent need to quell, rather than appease, Muslim anti-Semitism. The suicidal acts of terrorism, in which Islamists have engaged before and since the 9/11 attacks, demonstrate their willingness – should they acquire the weapons – to bring about their own version of Götterdämmerung in their fanatical and pagan desire to destroy the enemy. The world stands warned.

Iran looking to the Golan to confront Israel

From Now Lebanon's Tony Badran:

As Washington's anxiety grows over the territorial gains made by the jihadist outfit, the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), the White House showed its cards when it immediately announced that it would turn to Iran to deal with the situation in Iraq. The administration had to downplay its initial declarations about military cooperation with Tehran, especially after the Pentagon publicly rejected it. Nevertheless, the impulse behind the administration's statements and its preoccupation with Sunni jihadists carry implications for Syria, where the US is focused not only on ISIS, but also on Jabhat al-Nusra – particularly in the south of the country.

The conventional view holds that Nusra poses the biggest emerging threat to Israel, Jordan, and, ultimately, to the West. Addressing this threat, in Washington’s view, is the foremost priority. To do so, some prefer Assad regime institutions controlling the border to the volatility in place today. The problem is, more than three years into the war, that's not a real option. It is, rather, nostalgia for a status quo that no longer exists. According to Dr. Shimon Shapira, a retired Brigadier General in the IDF, that status quo is irretrievable, even if Assad were to regain control once more. “If Assad survives, things will not be like before,” Shapira told me. “We have newcomers. It will not be the same.”

The newcomers, of course, are the Iranians. Put differently, pressuring moderate rebel factions to open a new front against Nusra at this time would fragment their resources with the result that Iran will come out the winner, positioning itself on another of Israel's borders as well as Jordan's.

In fact, the Assad regime's counteroffensive to reclaim lost ground in the south is being spearheaded by Iranian assets like Hezbollah. In a recent article, Shapira outlined how Tehran's strategy is to set up a Hezbollah structure in Syria. In particular, he pointed out how “[i]n the buds of 'Hizbullah Syria' lay the infrastructure for enhanced Iranian subversion in the Golan Heights, which is perceived by Iran as a new and extended confrontation line with Israel in light of the changing regional landscape.”

This, in part, is why Shapira thinks that the focus on Nusra as the principal threat in the Golan and southern Syria “is a mistake.” Shapira sees that the Iranians are behind “a new phenomenon” which he calls the Soleimani plan, named for Revolutionary Guards Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani. The plan, hatched during Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah’s visit to Iran last year, consists of establishing a sectarian militia, backed by imported Shiite groups, that would be integrated with the regime’s army.

The idea of force integration is already evident in Lebanon and Iraq, where Iranian assets maintain a synergy with so-called state institutions. This Iranian set-up is why the former status quo in Syria – what is sometimes euphemistically referred to as “the devil you know” – is gone. Should the regime reestablish control over the border region with Israel, it will bring with it this Iranian force, which, Shapira adds, “will operate from the Golan” against Israel.

Hezbollah propaganda has been zeroing in on the prospect of “resistance” operations in the Golan, supposedly by “unknown parties,” and Nasrallah announced in May his readiness to support such operations. Nasrallah had taken credit for a roadside bomb attack against the IDF in the Golan back in March, which underscored this emerging reality. For this reason, Shapira says, “Iran won’t let the rebels control Quneitra.” Indeed, Hezbollah has been leading the charge in southern Syrian towns like Nawa as well as in Quneitra.

As a result, late last month an unnamed Israeli military officer was quoted as saying that the IDF was closely monitoring the presence of Hezbollah elements in the Golan, particularly after Nasrallah’s threat. The officer added that this state of alert was also the result of “Hezbollah dispatching, in recent months, elements of an unknown group to carry out operations against the Israeli military along the border.”

The precedent of Hezbollah using an unknown group is well established. The group has done it repeatedly in Lebanon when it needed to carry out operations and maintain deniability, often pinning it on obscure “Sunni jihadist” outfits. The added benefit was that Hezbollah could also claim to be the preferred alternative to such jihadist groups. But more importantly, as Shapira noted, an operational base in the Golan would add to Hezbollah’s deterrence. This way, Hezbollah hopes to introduce new rules of engagement, reminiscent of those that prevailed in Lebanon prior to 2006, enabling it to strike at Israel while avoiding devastating retaliation in Lebanon.

This assessment raises interesting questions about priorities in southern Syria so long as Assad remains in power. If the White House hopes to push the Syrian rebels to open another front against Nusra under the existing dynamics, it is misguided. For one, the rebels have resisted this proposal, despite some recent tensions with Nusra. But more importantly, such a step would come as a net gain for the Iranians. The reality is that a nostalgic return to the old status quo is no longer an option. Rather, the actual choice at this time in southern Syria is between the rebel conglomerate of local rebels and Nusra, and Iran’s militia force setting up shop in the Golan.

Iran is not only outmaneuvering Washington. It knows exactly what buttons to push to cause the White House to react in ways that would help the regime and solidify its intention of becoming the world's Muslim superpower.

IDF creates its own three-finger symbol

The IDF's Arabic spokesperson, Avichay Adaraee, tweeted this cartoon making fun of the three-fingered salute that Arabs are using to celebrate the kidnapping of the three Jewish teenagers. I translated it.

To add insult to injury, Adraee tweeted Koranic verses with the photo, from Sura 83:

Woe to those who give less [than due], who, when they take a measure from people, take in full, but if they give by measure or by weight to them, they cause loss.

Arab media noticed and reported on it.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

06/19 Links Pt1: US State Dept. Doesn’t Even Know His Name; Pat Condell: Why I support Israel

From Ian:

A Point of Light in Downtown Jerusalem

Today in downtown Jerusalem, I saw a point of light.
A handful of concerned Israelis came together to put up a small tent and a couple of tables in a busy square in the center of the city. They hung up an Israeli flag and unrolled a banner: “Help Our Soldiers Help Our Boys.”
Passersby were invited to contribute food items to be taken to Hebron, which is currently hosting thousands of Israeli soldiers involved in the search for the kidnapped Israeli teens. Though the soldiers have field rations, the local community has mobilized to provide them with snacks and comfort foods to thank them for their efforts and give them a taste of home. Today in Jerusalem, those who didn’t have food to donate were invited to give cash, and paper and markers were made available to anyone who wanted send the troops a message of support.

Pat Condell: Why I support Israel

ISI LEIBLER: Our Islamic fundamentalist adversaries are inhuman barbarians

Fears for the well-being of our abducted teenagers dominate our minds and prayers and we share the pain of their parents and families.
And the nation as a whole is displaying the unity that has always been the hallmark of the Jewish people when confronted with such situations.
However there are a few demented Israelis, exemplified by Yediot Aharonot journalist Ra’anan Shaked, who blame the tragedy on “these nut jobs [who] take the kids with them to live in the territories.”
The Alice in Wonderland nature of our democracy also enables Balad MK Haneen Zoabi to deny that the abductors were terrorists and shamelessly justify the kidnapping as an act of resistance to “Palestinian suffering.” She was supported by Avram Burg who, in Haaretz, attributed the abduction to “the suffering of a society, its cry, and the future of an entire nation that has been kidnapped by us”.
But the overwhelming majority of our politicians, whose despicable behavior reached an all-time low during the course of the presidential elections, are united and compassionate in their handling of this ongoing crisis.

She Doesn’t Even Know His Name

An American citizen was kidnapped by terrorists a week ago. It took 6 days for the White House to offer a supportive comment to the family members of the three kidnapped boys.
And the spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, Jen Psaki, couldn’t even name the U.S. citizen held captive by Hamas terrorists, one full week after the fact, at yesterday’s press briefing.
QUESTION: Can I ask if you have a privacy waiver for the – one of the teenagers?
MS. PSAKI: We do, yes. So we can confirm that one of the kidnapped was an American citizen.
QUESTION: Which one?
MS. PSAKI: I believe his name has been reported. I don’t have it in front of me right now.
She doesn’t know his name. She doesn’t know his NAME.

While the UN was denying that it considered the three Israeli students to be "abducted," a Hamas leader bragged about it.

Ma'an Arabic reports that Hamas leader Salah Bardawil said that the "Palestinian resistance" carried out the kidnapping.

Hamas is an acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement, so he may have been referring to Hamas directly although obliquely. While this is not quite an admission, it is close.

He added, "We are able to ignite a third intifada and no one can cancel this right, which will explode when the pressure increases on the Palestinian people."

Of course, Hamas is both part of and separate from the "unity" government, depending on who is asking.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

file image

A massive explosion in a Hamas weapons bunker has injured some and more are feared dead inside according to Arabic media reports.

The bunker was east of Gaza City.

Security sources said that the huge explosion was in a tunnel belonging to the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement.

The sources said that a large number of fighters from the al-Qassam Brigades were inside the tunnel, and that the number of victims "may be great." Twitter and Facebook rumors said 5 were killed.

Initial reports are that the explosion was caused by a "technical malfunction."

There have been, by my count, at least 22 Arabs killed this year by terrorist organizations in the territories. There is no official count because "human rights" groups don't consider Arabs killed by other Arabs to be worth following.

UPDATE: Five Hamas members confirmed killed. An additional person was killed while trying to dig the bodies out .That makes a death toll of at least 28 from internal terrorist-sourced actions this year.

In other news:

Two Palestinian Arabs were killed in a family feud in the Shuafat camp.

A university student from Gaza was found murdered in Egypt, handcuffed and stabbed twice using a kitchen knife.

Three more Palestinian Arabs were killed in Syria.

And in a horrific story, a four month old girl was mauled to death by a wild dog near Ramallah. So far I have not seen anyone claim that the dog was purposefully released by Jewish settlers, but in the past no less than Mahmoud Abbas has accused Israel of purposefully releasing wild dogs to attack Palestinians.

UN backtracks on whether #EyalGiladNaftali were even kidnapped to begin with

On Saturday, the UN released this statement:

The Secretary-General condemns the abduction on 12 June of three Israeli students, including two minors, in the West Bank. He expresses his solidarity with the families of the abducted and calls for their immediate release.

The Secretary-General again expresses his deep concern about the trend toward violence on the ground and attendant loss of life, including today of a child in Gaza as a result of a recent Israeli airstrike. He expresses his condolences to the bereaved family.

The Secretary-General urges all to exercise restraint and lend their urgent support for the release and safe return of the three youths.

Probably under pressure from the Arab world, this flat statement that the boys were abducted has now been walked back by a spokesman for Ban Ki Moon, Farhan Haq.

Farhan Haq

Question: Following on the late Saturday condemnation by the Secretary-General of the abduction of three Israelis, has there been any attempt by the UN office in Jerusalem, East Jerusalem to help Israelis find the abductees and mediate between two sides?

Deputy Spokesman: Well, we stand ready to help as needed and as requested. If we have a request from the Israeli authorities for their help in this matter, of course we’re ready to provide that help as needed.

Question: Follow-up on that, how has the United Nations established that they have been abducted and whether they were abducted by adversary elements?

Deputy Spokesman: We have no information to confirm an abduction.

Question: But you condemned abduction when you don’t know whether there is abduction or not?

Deputy Spokesman: No, look back at the statement. If any parties can be helpful for the safe return of these boys, of these three youths, that would be appreciated. But in terms of that, we have no confirmation that we can independently make about an abduction.

Question: But there… are you ruling out any… probably criminal activity within the Occupied Territories?

Deputy Spokesman: We would have to see. I don’t want to prejudge the information that may come out. We do not, like I said, we don’t have any information, specific information about the nature of what’s happened. We are simply hoping for their safe return.

Question: But you condemned the abduction?

Deputy Spokesman: I would just refer you to the language of the statement.

...Question: Wait, Farhan, I didn’t get it what you told Nizar. Are you saying that you don’t have any confirmation that there was an abduction?

Deputy Spokesman: We don’t have specific information on this.

Question: So why do we have a UN office in there? I mean, you don’t talk to the Israelis, to the Palestinians. We have a big UN office out there. You don’t even know there was an abduction?

Deputy Spokesman: We’re talking with the sides. Obviously, we are not investigators on the ground. We don’t have any specific first-hand information to confirm what’s taken place. Our views are contained in the statement that we issued over the weekend. And beyond that, we’re urging all sides to do what they can to secure the safe return of these three youths.

Question: So I don’t understand why the Secretary-General is saying he is against this abduction of two minors indeed. I mean how does he know that there are two minors? How does he know anything?

Deputy Spokesman: We know what the details are of the case. What Nizar was asking about was whether we could confirm something. We’re not investigators. We have not… we don’t have an investigative team on the ground, and we cannot confirm it in any sort of first-hand way. We’re dependent on the authorities on the ground.

Question: Yet… sorry, follow-up on that, yet of course you can confirm that there’s collective punishment to the Palestinian population as a result of this? And this is a crime, as I believe, by all standards.

Deputy Spokesman: As the Secretary-General said in his statement over the weekend, he called both for joint efforts, for efforts by all to retrieve the three youths and for restraint, and he continues to call for both things.

Question: Would he issue a statement condemning collective punishment?

Deputy Spokesman: The statement that we’ve issued is the one that we have.

The UN is happy to split hairs when Palestinian Arabs might be blamed for something but hands out blanket condemnations of Israel for breakfast.

(h/t Irene)