Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, June 23, 2014

06/23 Links Pt2: CNN Rips Presbyterian Official Over BDS; A ‘new anti-Semitism’ rising in France

From Ian:

Can Palestinians humanize 6 million living Jews when they won’t sympathize with 6 million murdered Jews?

UK media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict typically imputes good faith to Palestinians – operating under the premise that most truly want a peaceful resolution with the Jewish State.
However, what if this assumption is misplaced?
How would media coverage of boycotts, lawfare and other forms of Palestinian ‘resistance‘ change if journalists took seriously the possibility that the Palestinians’ end goal was not to live in peace with their neighbors, but, rather, perpetual war, the only desirable end result being the elimination of the Jewish state?
Well, an independent Catholic news site asked that very question (Do Palestinians Want Peace?, June 19), in the context of linking to a Guardian report by their Middle East editor Ian Black about the forced resignation of a Palestinian professor who led a group of his students on a trip to Auschwitz.
Black – as Guardian editors are wont to do – framed the depressing episode, in which a Palestinian professor was vilified for merely attempting to evoke sympathy amongst Palestinians for Jewish victims of Hitler’s genocide, as a story of ‘competing narratives of victimization.

JPost Editorial: Presbyterian mistake

It is dangerous to allow irrational theologies of any kind to inform one’s politics, whether these politics are pro-Zionist or anti-Zionist. Christians of all stripes should, instead, inform themselves about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and reach their own conclusions based on reason, not theology. Intellectual honesty will lead any inquirer to admit at the very least that the issues are complicated.
By taking a stand in favor of divestment the Presbyterians of America are saying that they have figured out who is right and who is wrong in the conflict. And they have done this based either on the influence of irrational theology or a biased, radical left-wing agenda. As a result, some of the worst human rights offenders go unpunished by the mainline churches, while Israel is singled out for special censure.

Netanyahu slams ‘disgraceful’ US Presbyterian divestment

“It’s so disgraceful,” Netanyahu said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” news program. “Most Americans understand that Israel is a beacon of civilization and moderation.”
He said that while much of the Middle East was “riveted by religious hatred, by savagery of unimaginable proportions,” Israel is “the one democracy that upholds basic human rights, that guards the rights of all minorities, that protects Christians.”
Netanyahu advised the Presbyterians to “fly to the Middle East, come and see Israel for the embattled democracy that it is, and then take a bus tour, go to Libya, go to Syria, go to Iraq, and see the difference.”
“I would give them two pieces of advice — one is make sure it’s an armor-plated bus, and second, don’t say that you’re Christian.”

PCUSA's New Moderator Unsettled by CNN Scrutiny

Things got even uglier when the host asked about Zionism Unsettled, a hateful and dishonest text produced by the Israel Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (USA), a group of so-called peace activists with a long history of demonizing Israel and American Jews. The host asked how the PC(USA) can profess its love for its Jewish sisters and brothers in light of some of the rhetoric in Zionism Unsettled. “It seems as if the rhetoric at least, does not speak to your love for, as you say, your Jewish brothers and sisters,” he asked.
In response Rada invoked a overture passed by the General Assembly in Detroit that stated that Zionism Unsettled does not represent the viewpoint of the PC(USA). Interestingly enough, the overture initially instructed the denomination to stop selling the text, but this section was removed in committee and approved as amended by the General Assembly. Rada said:
“Our General Assembly distanced itself, saying we do not support the statements that were made in Zionism Unsettled. We as a denomination do not affirm that terminology.”
The host responded, “But you’re still selling it on the Presbyterian USA website. It still is a teaching guide on your website. I looked at it this morning.

CNN Anchors Rip Presbyterian Official Over BDS Vote (quoted part starts at 5min)

(This post will remain on top for much of today. New posts can be seen below.)

Things have remained very busy at EoZ since my last appeal.

The biggest event over the past few months has been the Beitunia incident, where I analyzed and (in my opinion) proved that the bullet that killed at least one of the youths during the Nakba Day incidents was not fired by Israeli forces, as it was a rubber-coated bullet. Many hours were spent doing the work that "human rights" organizations and the media didn't bother to do, with exclusive videos and analysis way beyond nearly anyone else's coverage.

Over this past weekend there were also many posts about the Presbyterian Church USA general meeting and resolutions, again going beyond the coverage of most other media, following up on what can only be considered antisemitism by the leaders of that organization.

During this quarter I passed the 7000 mark in Twitter followers. I tweet far more often than I post and it is worthwhile to follow my Twitter feed.

I also have nearly 1800 Facebook Likes on a page I spend no time on besides automatically posting my tweets. Even my Google+ page, which I don't push at all, has a couple of hundred followers. In addition, about 2000 people follow EoZ on RSS readers or via email subscription (there were some hiccups in the RSS feeds and emails, which take a fair amount of time to debug.)

It has been harder and harder to keep up with the demands of the blog but so far I've managed to maintain the pace of at least five new posts a day besides Ian's stellar linkdumps. I am looking to add more columnists to broaden the conversation; Mike Lumish's Sunday columns have caused much thoughtful discussion in the comments and PreOccupied Territory is an often hilarious weekly addition to the blog.

I've been writing here for nearly ten years and have almost 20,000 posts since August 2004. My goal, as always, is to have every one of those posts inform you of something you didn't know about before.

All of this takes up time and money. So if you find this blog to be an invaluable resource, as thousands of daily readers do, please consider donating to keep things going. The PayPal buttons on the right hand sidebar of this main page are the easiest way to donate or (better) to create a monthly subscription. Otherwise you can send Amazon gift cards.

As always, thanks for your support!

Gaza to run out of fuel tomorrow, again

Arab media is reporting that the Gaza power plant will run out of fuel tomorrow. Apparently the fuel donation from Qatar that has been transferred from Egypt to Israel through the Kerem Shalom terminal is about to run out.

We've seen this film before. Even though Israel is willing to sell Gaza all the fuel it wants at market prices, and indeed Kerem Shalom has never reached the capacity of fuel it can transfer, Hamas refuses to pay the amount needed. The PA balks at subsidizing the fuel. Egypt has all but shut down the illegal trade of subsidized fuel, not able to afford to give enough to its own citizens.

And Israel will be blamed by Hamas, the media and so-called "human rights organizations."

In a few days we will see photos of Gaza kids walking around with candles. The stories of how horrible Ramadan is in the summer heat without fans or air conditioning will start coming out of wire services. "Human rights groups" will use it as an excuse to bash Israel. And each of these articles will mention the "Israeli siege" or "blockade" saying either explicitly or implicitly that Israel is at fault.

The lying is shameless, but since it is anti-Israel, it is accepted uncritically.

PA official trashes Hanin Zoabi

This is too funny:

Balad MK Hanin Zoabi accused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas over the weekend of "betraying the Palestinian people" by cooperating with Israeli security forces.

Appearing on "Meet the Press" on Channel 2, Zoabi voiced her malcontent with Abbas. "I do not agree with him. I disagree with the positions he takes and his strategy, if he even has one. Abbas has reached a point of not just coordinating security but coordinating politically as well. His and the Palestinian Authority's goal is to strengthen their hold on power. My fight as a Palestinian is to end the occupation. We do not agree with Abbas' path on political grounds," she said.

The Palestinian Authority refused to release an official response to Zoabi's statements. However, a senior official from Abbas' office told Israel Hayom, "This is populist demagogue at its lowest level. We do not comment on what she says because she is not worth a response or attention. She is a sad person and there is nothing to do but feel sorry for her, she should be happy that she is your problem and not ours. She was never a welcome guest for the Palestinians and never will be. Even her 'beloved' Hamas sees her as a [Israeli] collaborator and nothing more."

Even Palestinian Arabs consider Zoabi to be beneath contempt.

(h/t Yoel)

06/23 Links Pt1: Mother of kidnapped teen to address UN; New Palestinian Intifada - Against Abbas

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: New Palestinian Intifada - Against Abbas

Hamas and other Palestinian groups are now talking about preparations for a third intifada against Israel. "We are headed toward a third intifada and a direct confrontation with the Israeli occupation," said Hamas spokesman Hussam Badran.
But the truth is that in the West Bank there already is an intifada against Israel. Palestinians call it a popular intifada, which they have been waging since long before the abduction of the three teenagers. This is an intifada that consists of daily confrontations between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians, who have also been targeting Jewish settlers in several parts of the West Bank.
The incident in Ramallah and increased criticism of Abbas and the PA leadership show that the Palestinians are also close to declaring another intifada, this time against their president and his "treacherous" security forces.
To avoid such an uprising against his regime, Abbas will most likely try to divert the anger on the Palestinian street toward Israel, thus paving the way for a further escalation of the anti-Israeli intifada.
This explains the strong condemnations in recent days, from Abbas and his senior officials, of the ongoing Israeli security crackdown in the West Bank. The rhetorical attacks on Israel embolden Hamas and Palestinian extremists and drive more Palestinians into their open arms.

Expert: Abbas is Only Paying Lip Service

Middle East expert Dr. Mordechai Kedar dismissed on Sunday the comments by Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas condemning the kidnapping of three Israeli yeshiva students.
Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Kedar said that Abbas was simply paying lip service, similar to that of former PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, who would often make the right statements at the right time in order to appease the United States or Israel.
"He says what is expected of him to say," noted Kedar, adding that Abbas’s remarks were nothing more than a meaningless word game. "The question is what does he do with [Hamas]. Whether they continue to be in the same coalition and the same government."
He further predicted that Hamas and Fatah, despite the unity agreement, will continue to separate from one another and would have done so regardless of Abbas’s condemnation of the kidnapping which resulted in a condemnation of him by Hamas.

Peres: Abbas ‘risking his life’ in stance against terrorism

President Shimon Peres on Sunday hailed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as a great leader, calling him the best peace partner Israel has ever had, and saying he was “risking his life” to take a principled position against terrorism.
Peres’s comments in praise of Abbas contrasted starkly with a far more wary assessment delivered earlier in the day by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mother of kidnapped teen to address UN

The mother of kidnapped teenager Naftali Fraenkel is to address the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday and call for the immediate release of the three Israeli boys.
Rachel Sprecher Fraenkel may be accompanied by Iris Yifrach and Bat-Galim Shaar, parents of Eyal Yifrach and Gil-ad Shaar, but the two are not slated to speak at the summit.
Fraenkel is expected to appeal for international condemnation of the abduction and call for pressure to urge the kidnappers to free the yeshiva students.

IDF discovers underground Hamas weapons bunkers in West Bank

From YNet:

The IDF has discovered dozens of suspected terror tunnels in the Hebron area during Operation Brother's Keeper. Members of Israel's elite engineering unit Yahalom uncovered the tunnels and hiding holes while searching for the three teens kidnapped in the West Bank ten days ago.

Some of the tunnels were found by soldiers inside the homes of Palestinians, under large pieces of furniture and laundry machines. According to one senior officer in the engineering corps, the IDF had no prior intelligence reports regarding the tunnels.

Using their specialized equipment, Yahalom (diamond in Hebrew) forces participated in dozens of raids on the homes of Palestinian activists across the West Bank, confiscating caches of weapons and explosives.

The unit's forces discovered close to 20 laboratories for manufacturing improvised explosives devices hidden in homes they searched. "We would arrive at a suspicious home and find a family living on the first floor and a laboratory with explosives on the third floor," said a senior officer in the unit.

"We also discovered underground spaces in the Hebron area which we had not known about previously. Because of the intensive operations, we have had to cut short the advanced training for some of our soldiers in order to reinforce the units in the field, even as we continue our operations in the Gaza sector and GOC Northern Command," he added.

IDF forces continued to comb the area north of Hebron on Sunday, searching wells, water reservoirs, pits and ditches on agricultural lands, and homes in order to find the kidnappers or a clue that will lead Israeli forces to them.

Absurdly, "human rights organizations" are regarding the operation that is uncovering this huge terror network as "collective punishment." Under international law, however, they are wrong:

Amnesty and other civil rights groups are arguing that Israel can look for the missing teenagers as long as it does not inconvenience anyone, said international law professor Eugene Kontorovich, who teaches at Northwestern and Hebrew universities. But that has little to do with international law, he suggested.

“Rounding up suspects, or potential witnesses, is not punishment, but rather rudimentary investigative process,” Kontorovich said. “Especially when the crime is thought to be committed by a complex terror organization, the number of potential witnesses is high. There is no evidence whatsoever that the Palestinians are being rounded up just to get back at Palestinians, without any regard to their having potentially useful information.”

Collective punishment means targeting the broader community for the crimes of an armed group, Kontorovich added. “However, members of a criminal group can be punished for each others’ crimes as part of joint criminal enterprise. This is widely used against everyone from the Nuremberg defendants to drug dealing gangs.” Police often round up gang members after a crime hoping they can shed light on the perpetrators or that they themselves might be liable for offenses committed in furtherance of the joint criminal enterprise, he said.

(Video of the operation is at the YNet article)

Over 550 Coptic girls have been kidnapped in Egypt since revolution

This is horrific:

Since 2011 to date at least 550 Christian girls have been kidnapped by Muslim men in Egypt, forced to convert and marry their abductors, often after suffering violence at the hands of their captors, the Association of Victims of Abduction and Forced Disappearance (AVAFD) reported earlier this month.

Echoing AVAFD report, the Pontifical foundation Aid to the Chuch in Need emphasized that the kidnapping of young Coptic Christian girls is no new phenomenon. During the presidency of Anwar el-Sadat (1970-1981) several cases were reported to authorities. Nevertheless, after the fall of toppled dictator President Hosni Mubarak at the beginning of 2011, there has been a rash of kidnappings reported.

“Before the revolution five or six girls would disappear each month. Now the average is 15,” Ebram Louis, founder of AVAFD (AVAED in Egyptian), said.

According to AVAFD, in 40 percent of the cases in which the girls and women abducted are between 14 and 40 years old, they are raped and subsequently forced to marry their captors after being converted to Islam. The organization says that other victims are instead coerced by young Muslims, who first gain their trust, then force them to convert and marry. During wedding preparations, the traditional cross that the Coptic minority tattooes on their wrists, a symbol of the Christian faith carried with pride by many members of the minority, is erased with acid.

The high number of missing girls and the repeating identical operating patterns have convinced lawyers, activists and priests — long engaged in the battle against the terrible practice — that there is an organized network behind the kidnappings. According to some, there are Islamic cells dedicated exclusively to the abduction of Coptic women.

Aid to the Church in Need cites the example of a young girl, Nadia Makram, who was kidnapped in 2011 at age 14. Nadia's parents knew the name of her kidnapper — Ahmed Hammad, a 48-year old Muslim — and turned to the police immediately. The man was not arrested. According to numerous documented episodes by the organization, the police often refuse to search for missing girls, claiming that they voluntarily abandoned their parents’ home. Often, if the young girls are found, they are almost always accompanied to the police station by their new Muslim "relatives", even during questioning to determine if the girl was forcibly abducted. In these circumstances, many of the girls and women say that they voluntarily left the family home.

The story of Nadia, and other girls kidnapped and forced into the marriage, gets even more serious for some. Egyptian law forbids the marriage and conversion of minors, even if they claim to be consenting. Yet in 2012, when Nadia was just fifteen and had already given birth to her first child, authorities closed the case acquitting the husband. For the man, it was sufficient to show a marriage certificate attesting to the ‘legal’ union with his underaged wife.

This means that far more girls have been kidnapped in Egypt in the past few years than the number of girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria.

This study was cited in the Huffington Post a few days ago, along with other alarming statistics of the number of Copts murdered and churches attacked since the revolution.

(h/t Irene)

The Presbyterian Church USA has a prominent supporter for its anti-Israel resolutions - white supremacist David Duke:

“The [sic] tried to threaten the voters by saying that “David Duke” supports this policy and that the Church will get a bad name by supporting something that Dr.Duke has been tied to in the media,” Said Melissa Anderson who was there with close friends who voted on the divestment. “But, people are just not listening to the Jewish racist threats anymore, they are starting to stand up for real justice.”

Dr. David Duke, currently on a lecture tour, was reached for and he made this official comment:
..[T]hrough ethnic racism and tribalism they discriminate against Gentiles and take over media and other institutions.

Their racist power over the media and government is why Israel can get away with it all.

But people can stand up.

Bravo to the Presbyterian Church for standing up to Jewish racism and supremacism!

The world is waking up to Jewish supremacism!”

PCUSA must be so proud!

(h/t Will Spotts)

Now, there's a vote of confidence!

Funny typo headline in Ya Libnan:

The newest UNRWA head, Pierre Krähenbühl, wrote an essay for World Refugee Day where he takes no responsibility for the problems of "refugees" who would not be considered refugees if they weren't considered Palestinian:

Beyond Syria, unsustainability confronts Palestine refugees living in the West Bank where the human impact of the Israeli occupation and settlement expansion is multi-dimensional and profound. ...In Gaza, unsustainability has many yardsticks. One in particular has struck me profoundly. The number of Palestine refugees coming to UNRWA for food handouts has increased from 80,000 in 2000 to over 800,000 today.

For comparison, let's see how UNHCR describes itself:

The 1951 Refugee Convention spells out that a refugee is someone who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country."

Since then, UNHCR has offered protection and assistance to tens of millions of refugees, finding durable solutions for many of them.

By definition, Palestinian Arabs living in the areas of British Mandate Palestine are not refugees. But when the UNHCR was established, a loophole was established for them as well to keep UNRWA in existence, for as long as needed. A tiny paragraph in the UN Refugee Convention that was meant to be temporary has been greedily used by UNRWA to build a giant bureaucracy meant to perpetuate the problem.

While UNHCR tries - and succeeds - in finding durable solutions to the refugees under their control, UNRWA works to increase the problem, by defining descendants of refugees to be considered refugees as well.

While UNHCR convinces host countries to provide citizenship for those who cannot return to their homes, and removing them from refugee status, UNRWA does not lift a finger to request that Egypt or Libya or Lebanon allow the "refugees" to become citizens.

UNRWA created the anomalous definition of "refugee" in such a way that the problem will only get worse unless Israel voluntarily decides to commit suicide.

UNRWA doesn't even ask the Palestinian Authority to dismantle the "refugee" camps under its control and to mainstream the residents into society. The PA, of course, doesn't want to act as if their people are any of their concern. UNRWA doesn't give a damn. It wants more "refugees," not less, so it can demand more money from the West (Arab countries generally ignore UNRWA's pleas for funds.)

Of course the problem is unsustainable - because UNRWA has set up the rules of the game to keep it that way, and to only blame Israel for the fact that Arab leaders have purposefully used Palestinian Arabs as pawns for 65 years.

Indeed, UNRWA is the problem. And the only possible way to fix the situation is for UNRWA to be phased out and the funding going to Arab governments to treat their Palestinian Arab "brethren" like human beings, with full human rights.

What the PCUSA is saying (Zvi)

I noted on Friday that PCUSA had passed a resolution that included this language:

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.

Derfner, of course, is the columnist who was fired from the Jerusalem Post for writing that Palestinian Arab terror is justified.

It would be hard to imagine PCUSA saying that African Americans must stop whining about racism because Zimbabwe is racist against whites, or that Muslims must shut up about Islamophobia as long as Bibles continue to be confiscated in Saudi Arabia. For some reason, PCUSA is only interested in attacking a single ethno-religious-national group.

Zvi commented:

They are saying that destroying Israel takes precedence over fighting hatred and anti-Semitism.

What the Presbyterian Church leadership has just demanded is that American Jews:

* Stop trying to fight against hate-mongers who preach hatred against us because we are Jews, and
* Stop trying to prevent people from spreading anti-Semitic blood libels in order to cause naive idiots like the PCUSA leadership to hate us because we are Jews, and
* Stop trying to prevent deranged followers of anti-Semitic ideologies from gunning us down in the streets because we are Jews, and
* Stop disputing their hateful fictions about our history, which we are better qualified to discuss than they are, and
* Instead, to help hate-mongers in the US to destroy the world's only Jewish state, and
* Instead, to support thugs in the Middle East whose goal is the obliteration of the world's only Jewish state and the slaughter of its people.

06/22 Links: It's time to stop infantilising the Palestinians; Blame Terrorists, Not the Victims

From Ian:

It's time to stop infantilising the Palestinians

And yet, despite all this whooping and cheering about the trauma and possible death of Naftali Fraenkel and Gilad Shaar, both 16, and Eyal Yifrach, 19, the Palestinians will likely pay a very small price in the international community or global public opinion. Why?
In part, because an anti-Zionist mindset that has taken root in the West, and at its heart is unexamined assumption – that Israelis and Palestinians are different kinds of people. Israelis have agency, responsibility and choice, Palestinians do not. In short, the world treats the Palestinians as children – ‘the pathology of paternalism’ it has been called
The unarticulated assumption of anti-Zionism is that Palestinians are a driven people, dominated by circumstances and moved by emotions; qualities associated with the world of nature. Israelis are the opposite; masters of all circumstances, rational and calculating; qualities associated with the world of culture.

Israeli boy, 15, killed in Golan Heights attack

A 15-year-old Israeli boy was killed in the Golan Heights Sunday morning in what the IDF said was a missile attack from Syria, just south of the Quneitra crossing. Three others were hurt, including his father, a civilian contractor, who sustained serious injuries.
A vehicle that was delivering water to the contractors, who were working on the fence that Israel is building across the plateau, was targeted with an anti-tank missile fired from the Syrian side of the border, military officials said.
The IDF responded with tank fire at “Syrian military posts in the immediate vicinity,” IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said. The IDF was weighing a further response to what was regarded as a deliberate attack, military sources said later Sunday.
“This is not a case of errant fire but of an intended attack,” he said. “The IDF will continue to watch the northern border and react to developments in the field accordingly.”

They Killed A Minor

This is the news item from Ma'an on the incident this morning:
Israeli killed, 5 injured in Golan Heights blast
Published today (updated) 22/06/2014 14:24
Why "updated"?
Because this is how it originally appeared:
Israeli settler killed, 5 injured in Golan Heights blast
Published today 22/06/2014 12:32
If you missed it, the term "settler" is now missing as is the reference to a "civilian" (as if the victim was really a soldier in disguise).
The dead person is Mohammed Karaka
Being Arab changes everything except for the fact that Syrian-based terrorists killed a minor.

EyalGiladNaftali: Blame Terrorists, Not the Victims

The Failures of Progressive-Left Zionism: Jewish Pioneers (Michael Lumish)

Michael Lumish, of the Israel Thrives blog as well as a regular blogger at Times of Israel and Jews Down Under, continues his weekly column here at EoZ.

Thus far, I have developed six main criticisms of the Jewish left, particularly the diaspora Jewish left.

These include:

1) A general disinclination to publicly discuss the rise of political Islam and the role of the Obama administration within that political development.

2) A tendency to demean and denigrate those Jews who choose to live beyond the "green line" in the land of Israel, which is what I will address today. The reason for that, as people like John Kerry constantly tell us, is because the "settlers" are viewed as an obstacle to peace.

3) The tendency to forever play defense. This was a criticism that I had even before my Daily Kos departure. The pattern was almost always the same. They attack. We defend. They attack. We defend. This is true throughout western-left venues, more generally. It is not merely a matter of Daily Kos, but of the western-left political media, including places that I tend to highlight like the Huffington Post and the Guardian.

4) The inclination to buy-into what I call the "moral equivalency canard." The idea is that Israel's measures of self-defense are painted as reprehensible as Arab efforts to kidnap or kill Jews.

5) Ignoring Jewish history. I am a broken record on this issue. We must place our discussion of the conflict within thirteen centuries of Jewish submission to Arab-Muslim and Turkish imperial rule until the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Discussing the Arab-Israel conflict without that frame of reference would be like discussing the history of African-Americans without reference to either slavery or Jim Crow. Lacking the necessary historical context, the entire discussion becomes incoherent, unhelpful and unjust.

6) There is the very strange and unique tendency among diaspora left Jews to partner with those who spit hatred at the Jewish State while contemptuously disdaining those who are terrific friends. Maybe we should call this the Obama Syndrome. The Evangelicals, of course, immediately leap to mind. While I disagree with them on... well... practically everything, I definitely acknowledge that they are true friends to Israel. The reason that I acknowledge that they are true friends to Israel is because they are true friends to Israel, although recent reports suggest that may be changing.

I do not expect that these concepts are the least bit unfamiliar to the Elder's readership and they are hardly original to me.

Nonetheless, this Sunday I want to talk about number two, the tendency among western-left Jews to demean and denigrate our friends and family that live in Judea and Samaria. One of the pleasures that I have as a pro-Jewish / pro-Israel blogger and writer is that I get to promote others.

The Jews of the Middle East are a people under siege and we are only now beginning to grapple with the kidnapping of Naftali Frenkel, Gil-Ad Shaer, and Eyal Yifrach.

What I truly resent, however, is the defamation of our fellow Jews in Judea and Samara by progressive-left disapora Jews who blame Arab intransigence on people like my friends Yosef and Melody in Hebron.

This was originally cross-posted at Geoffff's Joint, Bar and Grill.)

Progressive-left Jewish Zionists are failing the Jewish people.

If the first way in which progressive-left Zionism is failing is in its ostrich-like reluctance to acknowledge, and seriously discuss, the rise of the Jihad throughout the Muslim Middle East, another way is through their justifying bigotry against their own people.

Progressive-left Jews are encouraging hatred toward their fellow Jews. Jews who dare to live in Judea and Samaria are targets not only of Palestinian terrorists, but of progressive-left diaspora Jews who spit hatred at those people. What is most galling, perhaps, is that these "settlers" are living under exceedingly difficult circumstances, while their Jewish persecutors usually live in clean, safe apartments and houses in Europe, Australia, and North America. Those of us who live in the United States need not worry that a crazed Jihadi will sneak into our 3 month old baby daughter's room and chop off her head. Yet, progressive-left diaspora Jews feel free to malign these people.

If Israel is the Jew among nations then the settlers are the Jew among Jews. I think that it is a disgrace and I've written about this before in a 2010 piece entitled, Liberal Jewish Suckers:

I personally do not care whether Jews live there or not. I am not in favor of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Nor do I oppose Jewish settlements in the West Bank. For that matter, I also do not oppose Episcopalians living in Skokie, Illinois, nor Rastafarians living in Kathmandu, Nepal, nor Ethiopians living in Walla Walla, Washington. What we are being told, though, is that Jews living, and thus building, in the West Bank is an impediment to the peace process. This is nonsense. How can the mere presence of Jews in the West Bank prevent Mahmoud Abbas from sitting across the table from Benjamin Netanyahu? All they need to do is agree on Israel's final borders, and thus the borders of the forthcoming Palestinian state, and then those Jews who live in the newly formed state of Palestine will be living under Palestinian rule. Presumably many will leave under those conditions because, or so I guess, most would prefer not to live under Palestinian sovereignty. But should that not be up to them?

Of course, it should. The problem is that when Barack Obama demanded "total settlement freeze" then Mahmoud Abbas was put into the position in which he could demand nothing less, thus ruining any potential there may have been for a negotiated peace. Now, this is, of course, terrible enough, but what compounds the problem is progressive-left Jewish hatred toward those very people who Abbas and Obama do not want living, and thus building, on historically Jewish land.

To my mind there are few things in this world more revolting than Jews who whip up hatred toward other Jews. I do not like it when anti-Semitic Jewish Israel Haters spit poison and hatred at the Jewish state of Israel and I do not like it when progressive-left diaspora Jews spit poison and hatred at the so-called "settlers." It creates bigotry and it justifies violence against us. It gets used by anti-Semites to justify the very hatred that necessitated the creation of the Jewish state to begin with.

Why must any future state of Palestine be Judenrein? Israel does not demand that their Palestinian population pack up and move out, yet not only does Abbas and the PA insist upon the dismantling of Jewish settlements in their areas of jurisdiction, but even liberal American Jews do so. This is not only a form of unjust bigotry, it is, itself, an impediment to the peace process. Let me be clear. It is not Jewish settlements in the West Bank that are an impediment to the peace process, but the insistence that Jews must not be allowed to live, and thus build, in the West Bank that is the impediment to the peace process.

In this way progressive-left diaspora Jews, who complain bitterly about Jews building housing for themselves in Judea, end up justifying the conflict. If the very idea of Jews building housing for themselves in Judea is so horrendous, and if diaspora Jews whine and bitch and moan about it, how can we blame the Palestinians for refusing to accept Jewish people on that land?

I know that some will say that it's not about Jews, per se, but about Israeli nationals. This is nonsense. Does anyone honestly think that anyone else would care if those people were Muslim? Of course, not. The problem here is not that they are Israelis, but that they are Jews.

Pretending otherwise fools no one.

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.