Sunday, March 13, 2016

03/13 Links: Abbas: Killed terrorist “Watered the Pure Earth of Palestine with Her Blood”

From Ian:

New Year's Day terrorist planned to attack Tel Aviv daycares

Terrorist Nashat Milhem had planned an attack on kindergartens in Tel Aviv, Police said Sunday, as they released their findings of an investigation into the attacks on New Year’s Day in Tel Aviv.
News of the Milhem’s plan to attack daycare centers was included in a 6-part Police report sent by power point to reporters on Sunday, which was compiled in cooperation with the Shin Bet. The report covered a series of controversial aspects of the week-long manhunt for Milhem, including police failure to put out a picture of Milhem until 36 hours after the attack, the shortage of clear messages to the public from the senior police leadership, and news that the police failed to properly heed a 100 dispatch call from witnesses who stated they saw Milhem heading north on a bus to Wadi Ara shortly after the killing.
Police said in their findings that they did determine there were deficiencies in how the 100 dispatch center handled calls by two sisters hours after the attack who said they saw Milhem heading north to Wadi Ara on a bus, but that it didn’t negatively affect the investigation. According to a senior police official, by then police were already searching for Milhem and his accomplices in his Wadi Ara village of Ar’ara. That said, he did admit that they were only able to actually confirm he was there on Tuesday, meaning that it was only five days after the 100 calls were placed that they were able to prove he was in the village.
The report added that they learned that there were failures in how the 100 dispatch centers from different areas share information, and that they need to improve their technology in order to make the system more effective.
The police report said they did insufficiently inform the public about the ongoing manhunt and how they should conduct themselves, but said it was only a matter of hours, not days. On the day of the shooting, no police briefing was given by a senior officer at the scene of the attack until hours later, which police admitted Sunday was problematic.

Abbas: Attempted Killer of IDF Soldier “Watered the Pure Earth of Palestine with Her Blood”

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas hailed a Palestinian who attempted to kill an Israeli soldier with her car as a “martyr.”
“We see in her a martyr who watered the pure earth of Palestine with her blood,” Abbas wrote in a letter to the parents of Amani Husni Sabatin, who was shot after she rammed her vehicle into a soldier in the Gush Etzion Junction near Jerusalem on March 4. Her funeral in the town of Husan near Bethlehem was reportedly attended by hundreds of Palestinians.
A similar condolence letter sent in 2014 by Abbas to the family of Mu’taz Hijazi, the Palestinian suspected in the attempted assassination of Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick, described Hijazi as a “martyr” who died “while he was defending the rights of our people and our holy places.”
Leading PA officials, including Abbas, have often been accused of inciting violence and glorifying Palestinians who carry out attacks against Israelis. Abbas consoled families of terrorists—including the relatives of a man who hacked a Jerusalem rabbi to death in October—during two separate meetings last month, calling the attackers “martyrs.” The first meeting took place hours after three Palestinian men gunned down an Israeli policewoman in Jerusalem. Fatah, the party led by Abbas, praised the shooters as “role models.”

PA official to terrorists: "You are heroes, crown on our head"

Deputy Secretary of the Fatah Central Committee, Jibril Rajoub:‎ "I say to the Israelis first of all: You sons of bitches, we will not accept less than a ‎Palestinian state. We are the owners of the land, and we are the residents of the land ‎and you are strangers in the land... Our relations with the occupation need to be first of ‎all on a basis of clashes – until a Palestinian state is established. Do not believe in ‎‎[Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu, he is a liar and a scoundrel, and he’s a Fascist and ‎represents the new Nazism... From here we say to the 145 Martyrs (Palestinians killed ‎in the Oct. 2015 - Jan. 2016 terror wave, most during terror attacks –Ed.) – You are ‎heroes and we bless you and strengthen your families, and say to you: You are a ‎crown on our heads.‎" [Official PA TV, Jan. 6, 2016‎]

Lapid blasts foreign press support for terror-linked TV station

Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid has called on a global press union to apologize for censuring Israel over the closure of a West Bank TV station.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on Friday condemned Israel’s closure a day earlier of Palestine al-Yawm (Palestine Today), a station Israeli officials say is linked to the Islamic Jihad terror group and incited against Israelis.
The Brussels-based IFJ, which claims to be the largest organization of its kind, slammed what it called “the brutal attack against free press” and asked the UN for an “immediate reaction to the escalation of attacks against the press in the occupied territories.”
IFJ President Jim Boumelha said “We cannot tolerate these continuous attacks from Israeli authorities to muzzle Palestinian press. Incitement of terror is a dangerous accusation to make against a media and a decision to close it down cannot occur without due process.”
In a letter to Boumelha on Saturday, Lapid wrote: “Yesterday, after the channel was closed down members of the military wing of Islamic Jihad held a rally protesting the closure. Islamic Jihad used Palestine Today to incite against Israel and encourage others to carry out attacks. The manager of station has been convicted of being a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The connection is so patently obvious that it calls into question your motives in condemning Israel’s actions.”

Qatari educational software teaches Arabs to hate Jews (MEMRI)

I've seen all kinds of Arab antisemitism, but I admit that this shocked even me.

Any "pro-Palestinian" activist who claims to be against antisemitism but who doesn't condemn this is a hypocrite.

Go ahead - ask them.

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This is the Children's Intifada.

"Knife Intifada" or "Stabbing Intifada" does not cut it.

This is the Children's Intifada.

It is, perhaps, the most insidious thing that I have seen in my lifetime. Outside of the various fun-filled activities of, say, the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the 1970s, I can think of no more vile political movement than the Jihad, as expressed within organizations like ISIS or Hamas or Hezbolah, and the never-ending effort to screw around with the Jews of the Middle East and Europe by Jihadi Muslims for religious reasons... and coming, I suspect that you know, to an American theater near you.

I know that it makes me a "racist" to oppose being targeted for death... but I suppose I can live with it, at least for awhile.

Meanwhile, Palestinian-Arab society, via its media, is actually encouraging their children to chase after Jews with knives or scissors or hand-axes in the hope of killing those Jews or dying as beloved "martyrs" with the blessings of Allah. Meanwhile their allies throughout the West honestly want Jewish kids to believe that we are the source of the violence against us.

Throughout western college campuses and the western media, elite progressive intellectuals and activists tell one another just what the Nazis told one another: the Jews are bad. Of course, they're not actually brave enough or honest enough - within living memory of the Holocaust - to blame Jews directly, so instead they use the Jewish state as a stand-in for the Jewish people or they conjure up Zionism as some sort-of essential evil that is responsible for everything from global warming to the misery and violent pathologies of the Arab world. Some Arabs even believe, as EOZ readers are undoubtedly aware, that Israel has created Zionist sharks and terrorist Zionist puffer fish and crazed Zionist squirrel spies, or whatever.

The Elder of Ziyon actually put together a referenced list that includes heinous Zionist eagles, Zionist rock hyraxes, Zionist boars, Zionist storks, Zionist super-rhinos... "super-rhinos"? - Zionist vultures, European Zionist bee-eaters, Zionist puffer fish, Zionist dogs, Zionist jellyfish, Zionist sharks, Zionist cows, Zionist wolves, Zionist lions, rats, sheep and squirrels.

I have to say, if I actually thought that the Jews were so capable of making alliances with so much of the animal kingdom, I might be inclined to think that we must be doing something right!

Worse, yet, young impressionable Jewish teenagers believe the libels and slanders against their own people because they are told that those who are doing the libeling and slandering to be humanitarians who want nothing so much as peace and social justice. They may be sophisticated enough not to believe in Zionist attack jelly fish, but they are definitely gullible enough to believe that Israel is a racist, colonialist, imperialist, militaristic, settler-apartheid, racist country that wants nothing so much as to brutally oppress, for no particular reason, the largely innocent, bunny-like, indigenous Palestinians who merely want to tend their Sacred Olive Groves in peace.

And that is perhaps what is most insidious about this series of efforts against Jewish well-being, including BDS, the Children's Intifada, and the ongoing international effort to delegitimize Israel for the purpose of robbing Jewish people of self-determination and self-defense. The Arab governments and many of the Arab people have convinced well-meaning, but uneducated, westerners in the universities, through the work of people such as Rabab Abdulhadi at SFSU, that the Jews of Israel are a violent and terrible people who deserve whatever beating the Arabs care to dish out.

If the Arabs of Israel send their kids out with knives to kill Jews, or if the sweet-hearted humanitarians of Hamas shoot Qassams and Katyushas into southern Israel thereby giving the children of S'derot and Ashkelon Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), it is because those Jews have it coming for supporting the "Occupation"... with the Big O. The Arabs and their western allies do not believe that Israel is conducting an occupation of native land. No. What they believe is that Israel is conducting The Occupation of native land. In other words, Jews building housing for themselves in Judea and Samaria, on land that was bought and paid for - on land that Jews have lived upon for something close to four thousand years - is not a mere occupation, but the Big Occupation. It is the Mother of all Occupations and the very source of human misery not only throughout that part of the world, but throughout much of the world, in general.

If an Arab rapes and murders a Swede, this is because of The Occupation. If a cop shoots a criminal dead in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, this too - we are to believe - is related to the criminal Occupation of Jews on Jewish land. In fact, we are even to believe that racist, fascistic Zionist-Jew cops in Israel are teaching their racist, fascist American counterparts how to be particularly brutal to anyone who is not of the white persuasion.

And it all relates back to the Children's Intifada.

It all relates back to mellennia of Koranically-based Arab-Muslim hatred for Jews due to that Mohammad fellow.

As I have said before, if Israel were exactly as it is now in terms of human rights, but if it were the 23rd Muslim country, it would be considered a light unto the nations.

Instead what our friends and family get is contempt by those who think of themselves as our moral superiors.

Michael Lumish is a blogger at the Israel Thrives blog as well as a regular contributor/blogger at Times of Israel and Jews Down Under.

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It took a week, but the Electronic Intifada hate site finally found out about the McGraw-Hill textbook story and went nuts.

Rania Khalek, a self-styled "journalist" whose Twitter autobiography used to say "objectivity is bullshit," uses the usual EI playbook to paint anyone who is pro-Israel as ethnic cleansers, racists and - in my case - even worse.

Here is what they said about the publications that republished my scoop:

The first criticisms of the textbook came from the virulently anti-Palestinian and pro-settlement blogger Elder of Ziyon.

Within hours, the post was republished by The Tower, a self-styled Israel and Middle East-focused magazine and website run by The Israel Project.

TIP is a right-wing pro-Israel lobbying outfit that specializes in crafting and supplying anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim propaganda to journalists and policy makers.

TIP receives funding from major bankrollers of the Islamophobia industry and is headed by Josh Block, former spokesperson for the powerful Israel lobby group AIPAC.

Many of the EI articles I've seen - no matter who the writer - spends an inordinate amount of time attacking any pro-Israel voices by whom they have associated with, accepted funding from, partnered with, spoke at the same conference as, or whatever they can throw to distract from the actual things that these people say. Because EI knows it is intellectually bankrupt and its only tool is the smear tactic.

So how did Rania attempt to smear me?

Inspired by anti-Muslim hate group leaders like Robert Spencer, Elder of Ziyon is dedicated to demonizing Palestinians and Muslims, and even argued that the paranoid manifesto of Anders Behring Breivik is “not all crazy sounding - it is scary how sane much of the document seems to be.”

“Some of [Breivik’s] political analysis is actually on target,” Elder of Ziyon stated after Breivik massacred 77 people in Norway, supposedly in an attempt to rescue Europe from what he viewed as the dark forces of Islam and Marxism.

Breivik drew inspiration for his violent ideology from the US Islamophobia industry of which Elder of Ziyon is a part.

She actually attempts to link me with a mass murderer, by referring to an article (which she knows her readers won't bother to read) where I condemn him in no uncertain terms!

Khalek even retweeted Max Blumenthal's description of me as having praised the disgusting mass murderer:

She knows very well I did no such thing. I said that the fact that his manifesto has some correct information is what makes it so scary - how any ideology, including right-wing, can be twisted into unimaginable evil.

I was saying that the devil can quote Scripture for his purposes. Khalek's logic is that this is simply proof that the Pope must be a Satan-worshiper.

Why do Rania Khalek and Electronic Intifada spend so much time trying to smear their ideological opponents? Because they have no facts on their side!

Khalek pretends that there is no possible logical reason for McGraw Hill (and, last year, MSNBC) to denounce the maps as false propaganda.

Her conclusion is very revealing:

Asked who carried out the review of the book, [McGraw-Hill's] Mathis told The Electronic Intifada that it “was conducted by independent academics who determined that the maps were not accurate.”

Mathis did not respond to a follow-up query seeking more details about who carried out the review and how they reached such a conclusion.

As for who pressured McGraw-Hill about the maps, Mathis would only say, “We heard about this from multiple sources.”

Given the highly politicized nature of all discussion related to Palestine in the United States, the definition of who is an “independent academic” would vary widely depending on the perspective of who is making the assessment. And if the “experts” are indeed independent, they should be willing to provide an explanation of how and why they deemed the maps to be inaccurate.

The only way that McGraw-Hill’s credibility can be assessed is with some transparency about the groups or “experts” who made this recommendation.

Otherwise, we are left to assume that McGraw-Hill is effectively burning books to placate the censorship demands of right-wing anti-Palestinian bigots.

But the propaganda Map The Lies has been thoroughly debunked by many people, myself included, even within my original post about the textbook. There is no reason for McGraw-Hill to explain itself further to a group of people who defend lies.

Here is a very abridged debunking:

Khalek and her mud-throwing, hateful pals do not attempt to defend the maps based on actual criticism - because they have no defense. Instead, they use misdirection by saying (in this case) that since McGraw Hill didn't answer their insipid questions, then this major textbook publisher must be controlled by me and my fellow pro-Israel bloggers.

Think about this for a second. The idea that MSNBC and McGraw Hill, two media giants, saw very quickly that the maps have no factual basis does not - and cannot - enter the discussion. Rania Khalek and Electronic Intifada and the thousands of haters know that they are an effective propaganda tool for their lies and they must do everything they can to minimize the possibility that their cherished propaganda is debunked. But they cannot argue against the debunkings - because of those pesky things known as "facts." And, after all, in Khalek's world, objectivity is bullshit and lying propaganda is the truth. Hand waving, misdirection, labeling their opponents as evil incarnate is their stock in trade, but the truth must be avoided at all costs.

So the only alternative explanation that the haters can accept as and tell each other to explain why media companies retract the maps is that there is a shadowy group of ~~Jews~~ Zionists who effectively control the media and textbook industries.

Elder of Ziyon is, according to Rania Khalek, one of the real Elders of Zion.

Thanks, Rania, for thinking that I have so much power. You must be very frightened of me.

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A new book issued by a division of Egypt's Ministry of Culture claims that Jews "stole" Coptic music and passed it off as their own in order to help uproot Egyptian culture.

The author of "Coptic music and Jewish music in the Arms of the Nile," says that "Israel is trying to penetrate Egyptian art and Egyptian culture in any way possible" by pretending that Egyptian tunes are really Jewish.

A number of examples are given of music that the Jews allegedly stole. I believe this is one of them, which was attributed to a Jewish composer:

And another:

These were both apparently popular Egyptian tunes in the past, so while perhaps a Jewish composer used elements from Coptic music to write them, they were not described as "Jewish music" by Egyptians who enjoyed them on the radio.

The book says that Coptic music is linked directly to ancient Pharaonic Egyptian music so it is the closest that one can hear the music of ancient Egypt. Therefore, presumably, it is an affront for Jews to borrow influences from there.

There is no doubt that much of Jewish music is derivative - being in the Diaspora for 2000 years will tend to do that to a people. And it happens today as well. (The music introducing a new bride and groom in Orthodox Jewish weddings before the first dance is invariably and hilariously taken from popular rock artists like The Scorpions or Ozzy Osbourne to the complete ignorance of most of the celebrants.) But to ascribe this to a conspiracy theory that Israel is attempting to destroy Egyptian culture by "stealing" their songs is as bizarre as, well, being upset over Jews "stealing " falafel and hummus.

Those who are secure in their own culture and historical accomplishments are not upset when others adapt it.

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Palestinian Red Crescent hosts Fatah celebration of a mass murderer Mughrabi (EoZTV)

The latest episode of EoZTV talks about how even Palestinians whose jobs are to save lives are involved with celebrating the murder of Jewish children.

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03/12 Link: Gerry Downing’s ‘Jewish Question’; Israel Is Building a Secret Tunnel-Destroying Weapon

From Ian:

Gerry Downing’s ‘Jewish Question’

Gerry Downing is an aging Trotskyist from the Socialist Fight organisation who has been expelled, re-admitted to, and now re-expelled from, the Labour Party. Amongst his many statements and ideas that have caused outrage is his belief that there is a ‘Jewish Question’ that needs to be solved.
The Labour Party isn’t the only organisation with housekeeping to do. Both Downing and his Socialist Fight comrade Ian Donovan were at the AGM of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in January, and Donovan spoke in one of its policy debates. If antisemitism truly has no place in PSC, as it regularly states, then Downing and Donovan should not be involved with that organisation either.
One of the curiosities of the Labour Party under its current leadership is that pundits need to familiarise themselves with Marxist theory that many assumed had become obsolete a long time ago. In that spirit, this blog post will provide a (very) brief guide to what Trotskyists mean by the ‘Jewish Question’.
This isn’t the same as the Nazi’s Jewish Question which led to the Final Solution. Trotskyists do want Jews to disappear, but not via genocide. Instead, they have theorised Jews out of history, and get upset that Jews refuse to go along with this theory and perform their historical function by disappearing.
The key Trotskyist text is The Jewish Question: A Marxist Interpretation, written by a wartime Jewish Trotskyist called Abram Leon. Leon wrote The Jewish Question while in hiding in Belgium during the Nazi occupation, before being caught and deported to Auschwitz where he was killed. The book built on Karl Marx’s original On The Jewish Question (written a century earlier) by coming up with the concept of the “people-class”: a distinct ethnic, religious or racial group, such as Jews, whose characteristics become effectively synonymous with their economic function in society. Using this theory, Leon explained that Jews survived in European history because they were traders and moneylenders and therefore had value in medieval society.
According to Leon’s theory, Jews should have disappeared under capitalism as they became a “declassed element” with no place in modern society. However, antisemitism had prevented them from fully assimilating. Zionism, Leon predicted, would fail because it was an attempt to “resolve the Jewish question independently of the world revolution.” Only socialism could provide a solution, by offering Jews “The end of Judaism” – something that Leon welcomed.

Nawi-Gate: the self-immolation of the Israeli far-left

The exposé shows Ezra Nawi of Ta’ayush being contacted by ‘Musa’, a Palestinian who wishes to sell land to Israelis. Nawi and B’Tselem activist Nasser Nawaja conspire to lure ‘Musa’ into the custody of Palestinian forces. For his part, Nawaja later claimed that ‘Musa’ had been trying to fraudulently hawk land belonging to the Nawaja family. But Nawi appeared to boast, on hidden camera, that this was not his first rendition: ‘I hand over their photos and phone numbers to the Palestinian security forces … [The PA] catches and kills them,’ he says. ’Before it kills them, it beats them a lot, tortures them,’ he adds with a smile.
As the programme concluded, it was possible to believe that in question were the actions of two rogues. However, as the dust cleared, parts of the Israeli left begun digging themselves into a deeper hole.
Immediately after the screening, anchor Ilana Dayan interviewed Haaretz journalist Gideon Levy in the studio. ‘A few things here disturbed me very much,’ Levy said, ‘but more than that … I was deeply disturbed that you broadcast this feature.’ Perfunctorily condemning Nawi’s actions, Levy stressed that they were the deeds of ‘one man’ who ‘got carried away.’ He simultaneously downplayed the problem as ‘Ezra Nawi’s big mouth,’ quipping: ‘that’s just how he talks.’
B’Tselem’s response was no less galling: ‘Informing the relevant authority,’ it said, ‘cannot be considered “rendition” in any sense.’ This, despite knowing that the ‘relevant authority’ considers such deeds a capital offense and despite the stern disagreement of one of its key funders, the New Israel Fund, who told the press: ‘handing over people to places where they are liable to be exposed to torture and physical harm is grave and forbidden, and cannot be defended.’
In a further statement, B’Tselem stressed its blanket opposition to ‘torture and execution, extrajudicial or after a trial, in all circumstances,’ but defended actions liable to facilitate precisely such crimes. Moreover, in failing to even mention Nawi and Nawaja, B’Tselem ignored the elephant in the room: that human-rights activists stood accused of complicity with such crimes. Instead, it accused the show’s producers of sloppy journalism, under the slogan ‘Uvda[Fact] for Hire.’
The reaction from some other figures on the Israeli far-left was no less depressing.

IsraellyCool: Know Your History: The Jewish And Arab Reactions To The Partition Plan, 1947

A series where I bring to you news from the newspaper archives and historical documents to debunk common misconceptions about the Middle East conflict.
This post is for dedicated to Roger Waters, who just lamented the fact a palestinian state did not arise from the 1947 UN Partition Plan, without explaining what happened.
We can see what happened by looking at some old New York Times reports from after the UN voted in favor of the plan. The Jewish reaction is one of acceptance of the plan (even though it encompassed way less than our ancestral lands) and unbridled joy, with Chief Rabbi Herzog proclaiming it as “an outstanding epoch of Jewish history” “after a darkness of 2,000 years.”
The Arab reaction? Anger, rejection of the plan…and terrorism in Palestine and overseas, as well as threatening a Holy War. Note also the Arab threat to crusade against the “Jews” – not the “Zionists.”

Know Your History: The German Nazi Templers Of Palestine

A series where I bring to you news from the newspaper archives and historical documents to debunk common misconceptions about the Middle East conflict.
Did you know there were German Nazis living openly in “Palestine”, even after the war?
Via JTA, 1946:
March 24, 1946
Jerusalem (Mar. 22)
Gotthilf Wagner, former mayor of the German colony of Sarona, near Tel Aviv, and one of the leading Palestine Nazis, was today shot to death as he journeyed from Sarona to Wilhelma, another German community. Before the war he was a S.S. group leader.
The attack took place on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. One man alighted from a taxi and approached the car in which Wagner and a police escort were sitting, and opened fire. No one else in the car was hurt. The attacker immediately re-entered the taxi and fled. Although Wagner was carrying over $3,000, no money was taken.
Note how no money was taken from him. The Haganah wanted the Nazi dead, plain and simple.
But the elephant in the room is how on earth were Nazis living there, openly, while owning land and paying taxes?
Apparently, there was a messianic Templer community in Palestine, and they owned much property

03/11 Links Pt2: The Legal Case for Israel’s ‘Settlements’; The Disappointment of Barack Obama

From Ian:

The Legal Case for Israel’s ‘Settlements’

Most people around the world firmly hold to the view that Israel’s residential housing communities built in Judea and Samaria/the West Bank are “illegal”.
For years, this fictitious claim has fed a wild campaign of incitement and ‘lawfare’ against Israel, based on the myth that Jews have no legal right to live or make their homes on Palestinian-claimed lands in the West Bank.
But the truth is that Israel isn’t an unlawful occupying power—certainly not according to any binding international laws.
Now, Northwestern University Professor of Law Eugene Kontorovich, a leading expert in the fields of constitutional law, international law, and the intersection of law and economics, is on a speaking tour of universities and colleges to explain why.

International Law Issues in the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict, with Eugene Kontorovich

Eugene Kontorovich is a professor at Northwestern Law whose research spans the fields of constitutional law, international law, and law and economics. He has authored a series of papers that extend "transaction cost" analysis from private law to constitutional law. He speaks and writes about contemporary law issues in the Israeli/palestinian conflict, including the BDS Movement, Palestinian statehood, and Israel's borders.

UC-Davis: Protesters shout “Allahu Akbar” and “Long Live Intifada” at Israeli speaker

Disruption of Israeli or pro-Israel speakers and events is becoming all too common on college campuses, including by groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and similar groups. The purpose is to make sure that Israeli and pro-Israel points of view cannot be presented without incident, and to create a campus climate of intimidation.
We have reported on several such recent disruptions, including at University of Minnesota Law School, UT-Austin, Kings College (London), U. Windsor, University of South Florida, and an LGBTQ Shabbat Event in Chicago. Even events that are not disrupted are protested, such as the appearance of actor Michael Douglas and human rights hero Natan Sharansky at Brown University
The latest was the disruption of an appearance at UC-Davis by Israeli diplomat George Deek, who also happens to be an Arab Christian.
Israel On Campus Coalition reports:
Earlier this week, Israeli-Arab diplomat George Deek was shouted down by students affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine at UC Davis. The SJP members, who called out “Long live the Intifada,” refused to engage with George, who came to Davis to discuss the need for mutual respect, dialogue, and understanding.
Legal Insurrection obtained the following video from someone in the room:

You’ll Never Guess Who’s Advising the New Herzl Biopic

Good news! A biopic of Theodor Herzl, Zionism’s founding father, is in the works, and Variety has reported that Sidney Blumenthal will be an advisor to the film “in order to deal with potentially incendiary nature of the subject matter.”
In other Hollywood news:
— In order to deal with potentially incendiary nature of The Revenant, the producer assembled an advisory board for the project that includes an angry bear.
— In order to deal with potentially incendiary nature of a new documentary about empowering women, the producer assembled an advisory board for the project that includes Bill Cosby.
— In order to deal with potentially incendiary nature of Bowling for Columbine, the producer assembled an advisory board for the project that includes Ted Nugent, Charlton Heston, and a .45 Colt.
— In order to deal with potentially incendiary nature controversial nature of Selma, the producers have hired Uncle Tom as a consultant.

It's Adar (II) - joke time!

I am having a hard time finding new, funny Jewish jokes to post about now that we are in the month of Adar II, with Purim coming up.

It is quite disappointing to go to "Jewish joke" sites and see some of them filled with jokes from 50 years ago that don't even make sense anymore.

But how about really old Jewish jokes?

I decided to find jokes from before the year 1900. Some of them are outright antisemitic but some are witty. Either way, it is an interesting history lesson.

This first one is unusual, coming from an article called "In Defense of Jewish Wit and Humour" by the Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, published in Review of the Churches, 1893. The joke shows that Jews believed Jewish stereotypes:

A Mr. Goldsmith became a convert to Christianity. He thought it advisable to adopt a name with a more Gentile ring, and dubbed himself Mr. Smith.

"What a fool!" exclaimed a member of the congregation on hearing of the change; "this is the first Jew who has thrown away his gold."

The joke that came after it is one I may have published in years past but it stands the test of time.

At a festive banquet, representatives of the Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish clergy had been invited, and were engaged in pleasant converse.

The Rabbi, faithtul to the dietary precepts ot his religion, partook of only a few of the dishes.

An appetising joint of roast pork was set on the table. The Catholic priest turned to his neighbour, and asked, "When will the time come that I may have the privilege of serving you with a slice of this delicious meat?"

"When I have the gratification of assisting at your Reverence's wedding," the Rabbi rejoined, with a courteous bow.

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Arab intransigence, 1923

I just saw three consecutive articles from JTA in October 1923 that were illuminating.

Says Jews Plan to Set Up an Independent State in Irak

October 4, 1923
JERUSALEM (Oct. 3)

That the Jews are obtaining the best land, buildings and houses in Mesopotamia and that the Zionist movement is making great headway there is the contention of a writer in the Arab organ “El Carmel”.

The writer warns that the Jews in Mesopotamia may intend to set up a state of their own there and urges the Arabs to build up their country with their own resources exclusively.

Urges Prayer As Means to Fight Zionism

October 4, 1923
JERUSALEM (Oct. 4)

The use of prayer to combat the Zionistic movement is being urged by the Arab organ “Miraat el Shark”. The Moslems are urged to repeat daily in their prayers specified forms of anti-Zionistic statements. The following sentences should be said seven times daily:

“We do not recognize the Balfour Declaration” “We want full liberty” “We want full freedom without any mandates” “We hate the British” “We hate the Palestine government” “Down with Zionism”.

“We do not want Zionism”, the paper urges should be given an additional recitation or a total of eight times.

The article concludes as follows: “Say, dear readers, this prayer ten times a day and after this if you had sold your lands to Zionists, if you have acted as Zionist agents or received Zionist pay, if you have made the national question a personal one only, if you have been a Zionist or government spy, if you belong to those who let their good houses to Jews and themselves live in bad houses, say this prayer and we are sure that you will be freed of the taint of Zionism and treachery and will become a good and devoted nationalist.”

Protest Jews’ Entrance to Holy Places

October 4, 1923

JERUSALEM (Oct. 4)

Protest against allowing Jews to visit the Holy Places is voiced by the Bethlehem Arab paper “Sut el Shaab” in a recent issue.

The paper declares that by the terms of the treaty between Moslem rulers and the great powers. Jews were barred from the Holy places. Yet it declares notwithstanding this agreement, the government allows the Jews to enter and even gives them a military escort.

Conspiracy theories, antisemitism, Muslim fundamentalism. It is not exactly new, nor the result of "settlements" or "ethnic cleansing."

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03/11 Links Pt1: UNHRC 'diagnosed' with Israeli obsession; How Peace Now is fueling the PA libel factory

From Ian:

Candidate for UN’s Palestine observer compares Israel to Islamic State, watchdog says

The United Nations Human Rights Council has tapped a British professor, who has accused Israel of apartheid and compared it to the Islamic State, to be its investigator into human rights violations in the Palestinian territories, a UN watchdog group reported Thursday.
A committee charged with reviewing candidates to replace Makarim Wibisono, who will leave the position at the end of March, has recommended Penny Green — a professor of law and globalization at Queen Mary University of London — as its first choice for the role.
In response, UN Watch said it had submitted a report to the UNHRC against the “radical” Green’s appointment, citing her apparent bias against Israel.
The watchdog first spoke out against the position itself, charging that “while the title of the mandate implies that the special rapporteur monitors ‘the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories,’ this is false. In fact, the text of the mandate… makes clear that the rapporteur is charged with investigating only ‘Israel’s violations.'”
Not only does the rapporteur’s mandate not cover Palestinian actions against Israelis, it also ignores rights violations by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas against other Palestinians, the report said.
Meanwhile, a look at the Twitter feed of the top candidate for the post shows her to be vehemently anti-Israel. Green, UN Watch said, “accuses Israel of ‘criminal state practices,’ ‘ethnic cleansing,’ and ‘apartheid.'” She has lamented that the US and UK haven’t yet started “bombing Israel for its massacres,” as they have the Islamic State.
She also supports the total boycott of Israel and has posted tweets in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. (h/t Yenta Press)

UNHRC 'diagnosed' with Israeli obsession

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva Eviatar Manor issued strong criticism Thursday against the UNHRC for its biased stance towards the Jewish state.
Speaking before the UNHRC, Manor said, "I have by now realized that this Council suffers from an Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder with Israel, which it cannot control, and that it repeatedly produces reports, resolutions and ID’s on my country."
"I should remind you that associated with this disorder is an increased risk of suicide. This Council will bring upon itself its own demise," he warned.
"What this Council needs is behavioral therapy. The treatment includes exposure and ritual preventions. I suggest the Council exposes itself to some other pressing conflict areas with increased attention and a parallel reduction of the level of anxiety with which it considers Israel."
Manor referenced statements made last Monday by the High Commissioner to the Council, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, saying, "he pointed you clearly towards your real priorities."
"UNHCR numbers are staggering: 4.8 million Syrian refugees, 13.8 million IDP’s (internally displaced persons - ed.) in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. OCHA reports that 7.6 million people in Yemen have no food security and 14 million do not have access to medical facilities."
Quoting Al Hussein, he said, "ten hospitals and other medical units have been damaged or destroyed in Syria since January - and this Council will consider 6 reports and 5 resolutions on Israel? This is nothing but shameful and demonstrates total disregard for the human rights of millions."

Revealed: How Hamas exploits Gaza to harm Israel

Aside from siphoning off international aid for its missile and tunnel programs, Hamas has been cynically manipulating the residents in Gaza by imposing unreasonable taxes to prop up its terror activities, even while deceiving the world into blaming Israel for the bleak situation.
Hamas continues to complain of the "Israeli blockade" in the international press and accuse it for Gaza's economic crisis, but meanwhile the terrorist organization is fleecing its residents in various forms of taxes and funneling tens of millions of dollars into its "military arm" every month. Meanwhile the international community continues to ignore the duplicity of Hamas and condemns Israel's legal naval blockade.
Several of Hamas' methods of ripping off Gaza residents were exposed by Walla on Friday, which reported that nearly 100,000 residents in the coastal enclave remain homeless since Operation Protective Edge in summer 2014, Hamas' third war against Israel.
Qatar has been donating enormous funds to rebuild Gaza, and slowly new homes are being built for the 17,000 families whose homes were completely destroyed.
Recently Hamas held a raffle for 1,040 housing units built by Qatar in Gaza, promising Gazan homeless who signed up that they would receive the homes for free.
However, Walla reports that those who won in the housing lottery found that Hamas demanded that they pay $40,000 for each "free" house. The terror group claimed the expenses were required to hook up the houses to the various infrastructure systems such as water and electricity.

Palestine Press Agency has an article listing out the size of the major militias in Gaza.

According to the article, there are over a million weapons in Gaza and over a million land mines. That means more than one weapon for every man, woman and child in Gaza. But these are spread out among some 50 militias, causing fears of a massive bloodbath should a civil war break out.

The Hamas al Qassam Brigades has between 18-24 thousand fighters. (The article lists some of the weapons Hamas has and includes the fake tank!)

Islamic Jihad's Al Quds Brigades has between 8-14 thousand fighters.

The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades (PFLP) has 3,000 fighters.

The National Resistance Brigades (DFLP) also has 3,000 fighters.

They do not list the numbers of members of the Al Aqsa Brigades, the Brigades of the Mujahideen, the Dughmosh clan, or the Nasser Saladin Brigades, among many others.

There are perhaps 275,000 men in Gaza between the ages of 19-40. This means that one in six men of fighting age is a member of a terror group.

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US embassy in Israel now creating old-fashioned newsreels

I laughed at this video just released by the US embassy in Tel Aviv. Its style is almost exactly that of old-fashioned newsreels that used to be shown before movies in the 1940s and 50s before TV.

The only differences (besides being in color) was that the announcer wasn't as enthusiastic, and they didn't tend off with a pithy phrase at the end. But the use of music, style of filming and editing is straight out of the World War II era.

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The Gaza ministry of agriculture has announced that during 2015 it exported over 13,000 tons of produce, and an additional 3700 tons of exports this year.

During 2015 the sector exported 105 tons of vegetables to Europe, 3700 tons to Arab countries, 3460 tons to Israel and 5750 tons to West Bank Arabs.

This was all announced at an internal Gaza website.

But yesterday the minister of agriculture repeated these statistics to reporters, which would seem unusual. Why have newspapers publish the exact opposite of the impression that they try to give to the world of a suffering, besieged population?

The answer is that this press conference was meant to bash Israel anyway.

You see, the rates of cancer in Gaza have increased in recent years. Palestinians of course blame Israel (pretending that Israel used depleted uranium weapons), an easily provable falsehood, but the media also mentions inconvenient facts like the rate of smoking and the amount of pesticides used in Gaza.

Hamas' Ministry of Agriculture does not want to be blamed for any of the cancer increases in Gaza, so they staged this press event to say that the cancer in Gaza is strictly due to Israeli "experimental weapons". Their proof is that their produce goes through strict Israeli food safety checks before being allowed to be exported!

Mohammed Jadallah, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, said "We took samples of the soil with radioactive material and gave them to international organizations asking them to send us the test results, but they refused to help us and this shows the extent of their collusion with the occupation."

What more proof do you need?

In order to avoid being shamed, the ministry was forced to contradict the meme of the siege.

Officials also bragged that chicken farming in Gaza is so successful that they refuse to import any chicken from Israel. Although if the Gaza chickens are eating grain that is contaminated with radiation from Israeli weapons that they claim permeates Gaza, then this means that the ministry is knowingly exposing its residents to cancer.

Too bad none of the reporters, eagerly drinking the Hamas Kool-Aid, thought to ask about that.

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Israel closes office of Islamic Jihad terrorist newspaper, Erekat whines

Ma'an reports:

Israeli forces during predawn raids on Friday ordered the closure of Falastin al-Yawm (Palestine Today) and TransMedia Production Company in the occupied West Bank hub of Ramallah.
Locals told Ma’an that forces stormed the media outlets’ headquarters in al-Bireh and detained two journalists, confiscated property, and delivered military orders for the offices to be shut down.
The journalists were identified as Muhammad Amro from Hebron and Shbeib Shbeib from Burqa near Nablus. Both were taken to the Israeli miltiary base in the nearby illegal settlement of Beit El.
Israeli forces also detained head of the Falastin al-Yawm Faruq Elayyat from his home in Birzeit, a town near Ramallah.
An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an the closure order was issued against the media outlets owner for “incitement,” adding that the station was “associated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, an illegal terror organization.”
The raid was carried out through a joint operation between the Israeli military and Israel’s security agency Shin Bet, the spokesperson said, confirming that technical equipment and broadcast equipment had been confiscated.
The spokesperson was unable to confirm if the closure was permanent or temporary.

Palestine Today is indeed an Islamic Jihad newspaper; I've been reading it for many years. From a journalistic perspective it is one of the better Palestinian Arab media outlets although the quality went down in the past year as funds from Iran dried up and they had to make some budget cuts.

So why was this done now?

According to Palestine Today itself, the reason given was because the paper encouraged the current wave of terror attacks. It prominently features this graphic on its homepage:

The hashtag is "#Alquds_Intifada."

It has created featured graphics like that during every flareup of hostilities for years, but in this case an argument could be made that it is directly encouraging killing Jews. The hashtag is a call to action.

Islamic Jihad itself has a "media war" division that runs its media empire.This includes the Saraya.ps website for the Al Quds Brigades, which often shares articles with Palestine Today. The purpose of the division is indicated by its name - to use the media as a means to wage war on Israel.

Saeb Erekat of course chose to defend the newspaper that is owned and controlled by a terrorist organization. Suddenly he is an advocate for free speech even though the PLO has arrested journalists that it didn't like plenty of times.

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