Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, February 08, 2018

02/08 Links Pt2: Complicity of Poles in the deaths of Jews is highly underestimated; The West sleeps peacefully because of Israel; Ireland: The Most Anti-Israel Country in Europe?

From Ian:

Complicity of Poles in the deaths of Jews is highly underestimated, scholars say

In a 1970 article, pioneering Polish-Jewish historian Szymon Datner estimated that 200,000 Jews died at the hands of Poles during World War II. Attempting to flee the Germans’ cattle cars and camps, they found their deaths after being handed over to the authorities, informed upon while in hiding, or through murder by their Polish neighbors.

From 1942 to 1945, according to Datner’s calculations, of the 250,000 Jews who attempted to escape the Germans in occupied Poland, only 10-16 percent survived.

A Jewish Holocaust survivor himself, Datner eventually became the head of the Jewish Historical Institute of Warsaw and worked as a historian for the precursor to Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance (IPN). But were he alive today, he would potentially be prosecuted for his scholarly findings.

On February 6, Polish President Andrzej Duda signed into law amendments to the Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation Act.

Among its amendments is this controversial section of the bill: “Whoever claims, publicly and contrary to the facts, that the Polish Nation or the Republic of Poland is responsible or co-responsible for Nazi crimes committed by the Third Reich… or for other felonies that constitute crimes against peace, crimes against humanity or war crimes, or whoever otherwise grossly diminishes the responsibility of the true perpetrators of said crimes – shall be liable to a fine or imprisonment for up to 3 years.”

With its vague language, this amendment could be read as mandating that Datner, a respected historian who worked for the institute the bill is named for, be locked up.

Former Polish PM: ‘Of Course Poles Took Part in Holocaust’

A former prime minister entered Poland’s fraught debate over a new law that prohibits discussion of Polish collusion with the Nazi Holocaust, bluntly telling a leading newspaper that “of course” there were cases of Poles collaborating in the extermination of the Jews.

“Of course Poles took part,” former Polish premier Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz told the newspaper Rzeczpospolita on Wednesday.

Emphasizing that “today’s generation is not responsible for what happened,” Cimoszewicz — a social democrat politician who was Poland’s prime minister during the mid-1990s and also served as the country’s foreign minister — urged Poles to talk “openly and honestly” about the experience of Nazi occupation.

Among the historical examples he cited were the “tens of thousands” of “szmalcowniks” — Poles who informed on Jews or extorted their property. At least 60,000 Jews had been denounced by Poles to the Nazi Gestapo, Cimoszewicz said.

Ninety percent of Poland’s pre-war Jewish population of 3 million was murdered following the Nazi German invasion of September 1939.

The former prime minister also noted that more than 6,000 Poles had been honored as “Righteous Among the Nations” by Israel’s Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem. “We are all obliged to remember these heroic people, but we must not allow their heroism to cover the crimes and wickedness of a much larger group of Poles,” he continued.

“Antisemitism was and remains endemic in our country,” Cimoszewicz said.

Cimoszewicz accused Poland’s nationalist government of deliberately exaggerating the damage to Poland’s reputation through the use of phrases like “Polish death camp” to describe Auschwitz, the slave labor and execution factory constructed and operated by the Nazi German occupiers near the town of Oświęcim in the south.

March of the Living Will Continue Trips Despite Polish Bill Denying Complicity in Holocaust

The International March of the Living, an educational initiative that has brought more than 250,000 participants to visit concentration camps in Poland, has announced that it will continue its trip in 2018, despite the organization’s opposition to a new Polish law criminalizing statements such as “Polish concentration camps,” or similar statements linking Poland to the heinous crimes against Jews in World War II.

Instead, the organization is calling for “for an open discussion and dialogue on all aspects related to the history of the Holocaust in Poland and Europe, which is also the position of the government of Israel.”

In a statement, March of the Living said, “Like in years before, more than 12,000 participants, Jews and non-Jews alike, including thousands of non-Jewish Polish students, and students from other nations, will take part in the passing the torch of memory from survivors to the next generation. On each trip, the survivors share their precious stories in the very places they transpired, with their students who commit to becoming the bearers of their memories.”

Phyllis Greenberg Heideman, International March of the Living President, said, “We believe it is our sacred responsibility to carry the torch of Holocaust memory and we remain committed to teaching the importance of understanding the past as a means of protecting the future. Now, as much as ever, we believe our mission is of the utmost importance.”

The organization notes that despite the law — which has been panned by Israeli officials — that “great progress has been made in the arena of Polish-Jewish relations and in the relationship between Poland and the State of Israel,” since the inception of the March of the Living program.

Holocaust survivors break into Polish embassy in Tel Aviv

Dozens of Holocaust survivors protested outside the Polish Embassy in Tel Aviv on Thursday, demonstrating against a new law in Poland that criminalizes suggestions of Polish complicity in the Holocaust.

The demonstrators carried signs with slogans such as: “No law can erase history” and “Poles, we remember what you did.”
The demonstrators broke into the compound of the embassy singing Am Yisrael Chai, “The people of Israel live.”

The protest was organized by the Haifa-based Yad Ezer La-Haver foundation, which runs a home in that city for Holocaust survivors.

The Jerusalem Post’s Hebrew-language sister publication Maariv reported that survivor Shalom Steinberg, 95, from Haifa, shouted: “You should be ashamed. I escaped from Auschwitz and weep every night from the things I went through there. Many people like me did not survive, and we will not forget that the Nazis massacred us on your Polish soil.”

Motke Lieber, another Holocaust survivor, added: “How can it be that such a law is passed when the Poles did not help us, and certainly not the Germans?”

"Apartheid?" poster - Muslim woman first responder for United Hatzalah

Continuing the series...

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

The conflict between Israel and her enemies is both like and unlike the game of chess.

In ordinary chess there are only two players, and their objectives are identical: to checkmate the opposing king. In the Jewish/Muslim conflict in the Middle East there are a multitude of players, each with its own objective. For example, Israel’s goal is to establish herself as a stable, peaceful country. The Palestinian goal is to replace Israel with an Arab state and remove the Jews from the land between the river and the sea. The Iranian goal is to eliminate an obstacle to expanding Iran’s area of influence throughout the region, and to become a hero to the Muslim world by defeating the Jews. And there are also Russians, Americans, Turks, and others playing.

Nevertheless, chess is a game of strategy based on war – simpler than reality although complicated enough – so there are analogies that can be drawn.

For example, in the opening part of a game of chess, both sides jockey for position. Conflict is muted – a pawn here or there is traded, but the object is to arrange one’s pieces so that after the “middlegame” when the more powerful ones clash, the other side will be at a disadvantage, perhaps with holes blasted in the defenses surrounding its king, with parts of its army destroyed, and forced to constantly defend itself with no respite to develop a counterattack.

Israel and Iran are currently in the positional phase, “developing their pieces” in chess terminology, but make no mistake, what happens today is preparatory to a more violent confrontation. Iran (which did not invent chess but has been playing it since at least 600 CE) is acting systematically to prepare for the more violent middlegame. The Iranian regime is a better than average player.

Israel and the Palestinians are mediocre players, making many “rookie mistakes,” although the Palestinians play somewhat more competently than Israel. Both sides often act without sufficient consideration of the obvious moves that the other side will make in response. For example, in December of 1992 Israel expelled 400 Palestinians , mostly associated with Hamas, to Lebanon. Unfortunately, Lebanon refused to take them, and within a year all of the deported Palestinians had been permitted to return.

But that was a small mistake. The biggest and most damaging error made by Israel was the massive sacrifice offered in the Oslo Accords. It is sometimes advantageous to make an unbalanced exchange in chess, to give up an important piece in return for a great positional advantage or to make possible a “combination” in which the opponent can be forced to choose between unacceptable alternatives. Israel gave up an important piece when she allowed the dying, irrelevant PLO to come back to life, and to insert its cancerous cells into her body.

The sacrifice was supposed to bring about a change in the PLO’s objectives and to make peace possible. But it was based on a complete misunderstanding of the nature and motivations of Arafat and the PLO. The Palestinians accepted the sacrifice and ramped up terrorism and diplomatic warfare against Israel. At the same time, the PLO began its educational project which has borne fruit in today’s young “lone wolf” terrorists.

The biggest Palestinian mistake has been to never accept Israeli offers of a state, even with restrictions on militarization and lack of a “right of return” for the descendants of 1948 Arab refugees. A Palestinian state, no matter how limited, would have greatly improved their strategic and diplomatic positions, and given them time and space to prepare to strike at the heart of the Jewish state. Their ideological dogmatism prevents them from playing an innovative game.

In chess, both sides start almost even (White has a slight advantage from moving first). By 1993, Israel had developed a great advantage over most of its opponents. But much has been lost from a series of blunders, particularly Oslo and the withdrawals from South Lebanon and Gaza. And as Israel has played more and more poorly, the Palestinians have improved. They have taken advantage of the UN and the historic anti-Jewish attitudes in Europe to make significant diplomatic gains. They have not been so successful with the terrorism gambit, as Israel’s security forces have become better at counteracting it.

Iran, busy with her war against Iraq, was mostly out of the game against Israel until the 1990s. But she has recently started to demonstrate her skill. She leveraged the US to end sanctions, prevent financial collapse and provide funding for her military plans, while keeping her nuclear program and even legitimizing it. She exploited the chaos in Iraq and Syria to expand her influence in the region, and to prepare new fronts for the coming war with Israel. She even got the US and Russia to do some of the fighting for her.

Israel is hampered by the lack of a consistent strategy against any of her opponents, possibly because of her internal divisions and democratic tradition. Even when there is a strategy, there is often poor execution. Israel’s pieces, to continue the analogy, sometimes don’t move where they are supposed to! This is less of a problem for the Palestinian, Iranian and Russian players, where there is more or less dictatorial control.

The game continues, in its three (or more) dimensional, multiplayer form. Israel’s most dangerous enemy, Iran, is biding her time until she feels that she is strong enough to come out of the slashing violence of the middlegame with a winning advantage. But this phase will not continue forever.

The middlegame is preparation for the endgame, the systematic pursuit of the enemy that will result in the players realizing or not realizing their often inconsistent goals. That’s in the future. We can’t get there except through the violent middlegame. Let’s hope we have a good strategy and competent leaders to execute it.

But life isn’t chess. Life is more complicated and beset by unexpected events. And if you lose, you don’t get another chance.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

02/08 Links Pt1: Obama-era cash traced to Iran-backed terrorists; U.S. Peace Envoy Blasts Abbas for Denying Jerusalem's Jewish Connection; Glick: While Turkey Was Invading Syria, It Was Also Invading the Super Bowl

From Ian:

Obama-era cash traced to Iran-backed terrorists

The U.S. government has traced some of the $1.7 billion released to Iran by the Obama administration to Iranian-backed terrorists in the two years since the cash was transferred.

According to knowledgeable sources, Iran has used the funds to pay its main proxy, the Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah, along with the Quds Force, Iran’s main foreign intelligence and covert action arm and element of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

The U.S. money supplied to Iran as part of an arms settlement dating back to the 1970s also has been traced to Iran’s backing of Houthi rebels seeking to take power in Yemen. Iran has been supporting the Yemen rebels as part of a bid to encircle and eventually take control of Saudi Arabia.

The intelligence tracing the American funds to Iranian-backed terrorists is likely to further fuel President Trump’s effort to undo the Iran nuclear deal, the Obama administration’s main foreign policy initiative codified in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the Iran nuclear deal is called.

Despite promises to reject the deal during the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump announced in January the U.S. would not pull out of the Iran nuclear accord for now. But the president criticized the transfer of money to Tehran and signaled that Washington is going after Iran’s funding of terrorism.

“The enormous financial windfall the Iranian regime received because of the deal — access to more than $100 billion, including $1.8 billion in cash — has not been used to better the lives of the Iranian people,” Mr. Trump said Jan. 12. “Instead, it has served as a slush fund for weapons, terror, and oppression, and to further line the pockets of corrupt regime leaders.”

PMW: Official PA daily admits 161 Palestinians did carry out stabbing attacks during Palestinian terror wave 2015-2016

An article in the official PA daily acknowledged that 161 Palestinians were killed while carrying out stabbing attacks during the Palestinian wave of terror in 2015-2016 during which 40 people were murdered by Palestinians and over 500 wounded.

Palestinian Media Watch documented at the time that the PA falsely claimed that Israel "fabricated" the stabbing attacks, and "planted knives" next to the dead bodies of "innocent Palestinian victims" after having "executed" them in "cold blood."

One cartoon tweeted by Abbas' Fatah Movement in November 2015 visualized the PA libel showing an Israeli soldier dropping knives near the bodies of dead Palestinians: [Fatah Twitter account, Nov. 1, 2015]

The recent article in the official PA daily recognizes the fact that 161 Palestinians were killed while attacking Israelis with knives:
"The Al-Aqsa uprising in 2015 (i.e., Palestinian terror wave, 40 murdered) that broke out spontaneously against the Israeli occupation's insistence on interfering in the affairs of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and continuing its Judaization. It continued for approximately one year, and during that year 250 [Palestinian] civilians died as Martyrs (Shahids), 161 of them while carrying out stabbing operations against the occupation's soldiers and its settlers."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 28, 2018]

Palestinian terror wave (2015-2016) - Palestinian violence and terror attacks against Israelis, including stabbings, shootings, throwing Molotov cocktails, and car rammings. It started in September 2015 and until and including July 2016, 40 people were murdered (36 Israelis, 1 Palestinian, 2 Americans, and 1 foreign worker from Eritrea) and over 500 wounded.

Caroline Glick: While Turkey Was Invading Syria, It Was Also Invading the Super Bowl

One of the stranger aspects of the Super Bowl LII broadcast on Sunday was the Turkish Airlines sign on the NBC Sports desk during the pre-game show.

NBC also ran a commercial for Turkish Airlines. Starring television celebrity surgeon Dr. Oz, the ad, like previous years’ Turkish Airlines Super Bowl ads, was an advertising work of art. It was brilliantly written and beautifully produced. It’s hard to imagine the average viewer would feel anything other than attracted to Turkey after watching it.

There is nothing wrong with a business or civic group advertising its message. But the uneasiness the ad caused many viewers was reasonable. Turkish Airlines is not a private business. The Turkish government owns a controlling 49.12 percent of the airline. And the Turkish government is not demonstrating affinity with America, let alone with American sports, these days.

To the contrary, although it’s a member of NATO, everywhere you look, Turkey is actively harming American interests.

For example, Turkey has led the diplomatic onslaught against America since President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem on December 6.

Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan hosted a conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in December to criticize the U.S. and was an outspoken advocate of the U.N. General Assembly’s resolution to condemn the American move.

And just last Tuesday, Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) held an America-bashing conference in Istanbul.

As John Rossomando reported for the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) on Monday, the U.S. deported one of the speakers at the conference, Sami al-Arian, in 2015 after he served his prison term for funding the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terror group.

Former ICC prosecutor now helping out university linked to terror

Ma'an reports in Arabic:

Al-Quds University launched the Jerusalem Academy of International Justice as a specialized institute aimed at preparing academic and training programs in the field of litigation before the international criminal law courts and violations of human rights under the auspices of President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Academy will be based in the Old City of Jerusalem and established by the University of Jerusalem in cooperation with Judge Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, who will supervise it with his expertise in this field. He will be involved with developing and teaching the curriculum.

Al Quds University is where students regularly hold pro-Hamas, pro-terror rallies:

And it allows student groups to promote and celebrate terror, such as this one extolling car ramming attacks and the assassination attempt of Yehuda Glick:

Is this ignorance on the part of Judge Luis Moreno-Ocampo? This seems unlikely.

Because the ceremony announcing this Jerusalem Academy of International Justice made it clear that the purpose of the academy wasn't to teach international law, but to weaponize international law against Israel:

Justice Minister Ali Abu Diak, speaking on behalf of President Mahmoud Abbas on the importance of launching the academy from Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine, which comes at a crucial stage after the Trump Declaration on Jerusalem, said that the approval of Judge Ocampo to preside over this academy carries a strong message that international justice will not find resonance anywhere in the world if it does not find a place in Palestine and that the principles of justice, justice and law will be achieved only with the accountability and trial of the occupier.

Abbas' message is explicit: Judge Luis Moreno-Ocampo's involvement in this initiative is to give legitimacy to political and legal attacks on Israel, and there is no other reason that the center exists.

He is not being duped. He is complicit.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

The two top stories at the Palestinian Ministry of Information website (autotranslated above) reveals much about how the West coddles a government whose ideals are completely at odds with civilized society.

The top story threatens any Arab journalist, and their employers, who would dare to visit Israel, in the wake of reports that nine journalists from Morocco. Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and Syria are planning to come to Israel next week.

The Ministry of Information called on the Union of Arab Journalists to take punitive measures against the nine Arab journalists, the institutions they work for, their status and their institutions and place them on a blacklist if they agree to a normalization visit [to Israel.]

The Ministry affirms that tolerating Israel and its terrorism constitutes a departure from the Arab ranks and Arab consensus resolutions issued in particular by the Council of Arab Information Ministers. It is a disgrace that can not be justified, nor purged of, because it represents an departure from the official and popular position that Israel is a state of occupation, racism, ethnic cleansing and extremism. The Ministry urges them to establish controls for the non-repetition of such suspicious visits.

The Ministry reiterates that the gates of Palestine are well known to the Palestinian people, who face the worst occupation in two centuries, an occupation that violates international resolutions and laws and practices oppression and terrorism against the Palestinian people and their land and civilization. On every occasion they cry "death to the Arabs", and incite their children to terrorism and the destruction of our people. This occupation can not be supported with visits and normalization with them.

This press release, filled with absurd lies and vitriol, is the official position of the Palestinian government and this ministry, and it is typical of the statements it issues.

But there is no backlash against this call for blacklisting journalists by the Palestinian government. On the contrary - the second story is about how representative of the British consulate visited this same ministry and had a pleasant time where Palestinian officials proudly described how professional they are doing their jobs and how Israel is the state that targets journalists.

Imagine the impact to peace if just once, a Western government would cancel a photo-op visit like this because of the outrageous lies and slanders and threats that come just from this one ministry.

Right now there are no consequences to unacceptable behavior and threats by Palestinian officials. The West holds the key to ensure that they act like adults, if only the EU would express the slightest displeasure over such insane incitement and threats.

Unfortunately, the West continues to treat the Palestinian leaders like spoiled children instead. Only Israel gets chided for things its officials say, in or out of context.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Haaretz reported last week:

Representatives of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the United States participated in an emergency conference in Brussels on Wednesday of countries and organizations that provide financial support for Palestinians.

Israel presented humanitarian assistance plans at the gathering for the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip with a focus on desalination, electricity and natural gas infrastructure projects in addition to upgrading of the industrial zone at the Erez border crossing with Israel. The total cost of the projects is estimated at a billion dollars, which Israel asked the international community to fund.The plan was first reported by Haaretz.

Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, who represented Israel at the conference, presented the plans but noted that carrying them out would require that the PA take responsibility for civilian life in Gaza, which has been under the control of Hamas since the Islamist movement forcefully ousted the PA there in 2007.

Middle East Memo, a pro-Hamas site, says that anything Israel suggests must be bad for Palestinians and must be resisted.

Taking their cues from the misguided and erroneously depicted narrative about Gaza, the international community will likely acquiesce to Israel’s latest demand and thus, as a result, fund both colonialism and Israel’s security narrative which is integral to the development which Israel is allegedly envisaging for the territory.

The Israeli plan for Gaza’s infrastructure, therefore, is a step towards alienation. Ushering in a new form of dependency upon Palestinians in Gaza is not a step towards economic opportunity. This time there are many opportunities for Israel, which can extend its warped concept of humanitarian aid and development to a population which it has coldly and deliberately terrorised, murdered and maimed over many decades. Approval by the international community, including finance for the proposed projects, will allow Israel to push the limits in collaboration further. In the event that Israel decides to raze Gaza again with another brutal military offensive, the financial hits will be incurred by its international accomplices, following the established pattern of Israel’s demolition of EU-funded structures, only more severely. It is clear that Israel is seeking to inflict similar repercussions on the remaining fragments of Palestinian territory and there is no swifter way to achieve this than by inviting the international community to participate.

Somehow, helping desalinate Gaza's water and providing it with electricity and natural gas is just more Israeli colonialism. And insisting that the PA take over the territory only benefits Israeli security - which cannot be allowed.

Also, by some magic, Gaza can get its electricity and water needs fulfilled without Israeli involvement.

The best part, though, is the whining that this plan would be a "new form of dependency" for Gaza. Accepting aid from UNRWA and the EU and the US and hundreds of international NGOs, each with their own agendas, is dignified, but accepting an Israeli plan that would be funded by these same states and organizations is humiliating.

There is no better example of both the honor/shame culture and the zero-sum game mentality of the Arabs than this article.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

02/07 Links Pt2: NYT's Accuses Jewish Billionaires of Dragging US Into War With Iran; Col Kemp: Those that deny Israel’s right to exist are modern-day Nazis

From Ian:

New York Times Accuses Jewish Billionaires of Dragging US Into War With Iran

The New York Times op-ed page carries an article by Lawrence Wilkerson headlined “A Familiar Road to War.” It warns, with zero factual basis, that the Trump administration is about to invade Iran the same way the George W. Bush administration invaded Iraq.

It’s a mystery what the Times is doing running a piece from this guy in the first place. As has been noted by both Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute and Dexter Van Zile of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, Wilkerson went on television to speculate, groundlessly, that a poison gas attack on Syrian civilians “could have been an Israeli false flag operation.” (Thanks to online watchdog Mark Jacobs for tipping me off to this on Twitter.)

Second, once the Times piece went up online, it became clear pretty rapidly that there were some accuracy problems.

The website Newsdiffs tracks the changes — at least four different versions of the article. The piece originally said, “Today, the analysts claiming close ties between Al Qaeda and Iran come from the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, which vehemently opposes the Iran nuclear deal and unabashedly calls for regime change in Iran, while taking money from hawks like Sheldon Adelson and Paul Singer, who have made clear what their goals are with Iran.” About six hours after publishing the original piece, the Times stealth-edited it by correcting the name of the research and advocacy group to “the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.” If the Times is going, falsely, to accuse a think tank of dragging America into war with Iran on false pretenses, the least you can ask is that the Times would spell the organization’s name correctly. Alas, the Times couldn’t even initially manage that bare-bones level of accuracy.

Then, nearly ten hours after the original piece was published online, the Times deleted entirely the references to Messrs. Singer and Adelson, and appended a correction:
Correction: February 5, 2018
An earlier version of this article included outdated information about the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Sheldon Adelson is no longer a donor to the organization.

2013: Wilkerson’s Shame. And Colin Powell’s

On May 2, Lawrence Wilkerson, a close confidant of Colin Powell who served as chief-of-staff during Powell’s tenure as secretary of state, raised eyebrows when he told Current TV that reports of Syrian chemical weapons use might have been Israeli “false flag operations.” His pronouncement—which was part speculation and part sourced to his friends in the intelligence community—was quickly picked up and rebroadcast as fact by such outlets as Iran’s Press TV and Hezbollah’s Al-Manar.

As the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) points out, this is hardly the first time Wilkerson has made bizarre accusations, but CAMERA does not go far enough. Wilkerson acted as a definitive source for any number of stories throughout the Bush administration until now. As Powell’s chief-of-staff, journalists accepted his pabulum uncritically, never asking whether Wilkerson was at meetings for which he purported to offer first-hand accounts. The fact is that chiefs-of-staff do not go to meetings; they manage offices. Many of those whom Wilkerson pretends to have had conversations with say they never met him.

Nevertheless, Wilkerson remains central to some of the most pernicious—and false—rumors and conspiracies surrounding George W. Bush’s tenure:

Colonel Kemp: Those that deny Israel’s right to exist are modern-day Nazis

“The documentary film ‘Whose Land?’ is not intended to justify the right to exist of the state of Israel. I find such an argument abhorrent. Questioning Israel’s right to exist is pure antisemitism. Such fundamental prejudice should not be dignified by response or contrary argument. How often is the right of Great Britain to exist called into question? Or the United States, Germany, France, China, Russia, India, Saudi Arabia, Iran, any other country. How often is the right to exist of any country other than Israel questioned, argued over, debated, discussed? To do so is exceptional. Exception applied only to the Jewish State. It therefore amounts to antisemitism pure and simple.

In Nazi Germany, the right of Jews to own businesses to own property, to join the professions to go to school to receive medical treatment to live a normal life in the community. All of these were denied them.

Today, Israel’s enemies demand that the Jewish state be isolated, ostracised, banished from the community of nations. These people are the Nazis of the 21st century. Their arguments must not be dignified with a response. These modern-day Nazis are responsible for the greatest slur campaign in the history of humanity spreading false narratives, falsifying and distorting history, lying, deriding, rejecting and despising without cause and for one purpose to abolish the nation state of the Jewish people, Israel.

‘Whose Land?’ does not set out to justify the right of Israel to exist. Instead, it simply tells the truth – a truth that is clear, undeniable and unequivocal. The truth, that for the sake of human civilization and decency, must be heard above the growing cacophony of those who clamour to turn the world against the Jewish state and whose false propaganda not only maligns the innocent and brain washes the unwary but also incites violence and inflames hatred.

On January 22, I answered this question on Quora:

Why do you think there is so much violence between, the Zionist settlers and Palestinian villagers in the West Bank? Can the Ask an Israeli/Ask A Palestinian project help quell some of that violence?

I responded as follows:

The question is by way of asserting an untruth: that there is some sort of mutuality to the Arab war against the Jews (see: The Arab War Against the Jews). Jews don’t attack Arabs. The opposite is true: Arabs attack Jews.

This fact has nothing to do with settlement, which has only to do with housing. There is nothing wrong with housing, by the way, unless you believe that Jews have no right to live in homes. Which would be an extremely racist position to hold.

This project you mention is total anti-Israel propaganda because of the question it asks, which, like the question you ask, asserts an untruth, and there is no balance to the assertion. The project cannot quell what does not exist.

Even the terms used in your question assert untruths and spread bigotry. The term “West Bank” for example, asserts that Jordan is the rightful owner of Judea and Samaria (their proper geographic labels), though only two UN member states (Britain and Pakistan) accepted Jordan’s occupation of these territories between 1948 and 1967 as a legal one. The use of the word “settlers” as if it were an epithet, when all these people are doing is living on land that was acquired during a defensive war, land that belonged to their people for thousands of years. Land that shares the name of these people (Jews/Judea).

Why use the word “Zionist” in tandem with the word “settler”? Because the question asserts the untruth that there is some sort of reciprocity to the violence, using the words “Zionist” and “settler” tells anyone who reads the question to equate “Zionist” and “settler” with gratuitous violence against Arabs. Of course, there is no truth to this, as Jews are not attacking Arabs. The opposite is true and has been so for thousands of years. Arabs attack Jews. Period. There is no equivalent violent action toward the Arabs by the Jews.

The term “Palestinian” is also a piece of propaganda, as there has never been a sovereign Arab state known as “Palestine.” The term is used only to delegitimize the State of Israel, the Jewish State and in reality has no meaning.

My answer received 15 upvotes and may have received many more, except for the fact that the moderators collapsed my answer, and requested an edit, suggesting that my response violated Quora’s “Be Nice, Be Respectful” (BNBR) rule. Here is an excerpt from the official Quora explanation of its BNBR policy:

Do your best to see the world from the perspective of the person who posted the question (the original poster ["OP"]) or answer. It is often not helpful to criticize or challenge the fundamental beliefs of the OP (in an answer) or answerer (in a comment). For example, in responding to the question "Is it OK to only go to church on Easter?", the following answer would be considered disrespectful and is not allowed: "There is no God and religious rituals are a waste of time." Use good judgement and be empathetic. Answers and comments that challenge the fundamental beliefs of an OP or answerer will be held to a very high standard re: Be Nice, Be Respectful.

I knew what was bugging the Quora moderators here, I won’t pretend I didn’t. They didn’t want me speaking of “Jews” and “Arabs” but of “Zionist settlers” and “Palestinians villagers” as the OP did. They didn’t want me to challenge the assertions of the poster, but see things from his or her point of view.

Now sometimes I will edit my responses when challenged by Quora, because the whole reason I’m on this forum is to spread the truth. Why cut off my nose to spite my face? Would it have killed me to go politically correct?

Here, for instance, I might have changed the language to “Israeli Jews” and “Arab terrorists.” That might have mollified the moderators.

But this one really bugged me. The rebel in me was screaming: Since when is the truth not “nice” or “respectful?” I was only telling the truth: except for the rare exception, Jews are not attacking Arabs, but Arabs are attacking Jews. Not all of them, but a large percentage of them, and often.

It is what it is. What it isn’t, is bigotry. I used Professor Ruth Wisse’s excellent presentation, The Arab War Against the Jews, to back my assertion. I did not say that “all Arabs” attack Jews.

I believed, strongly (still do), that my answer was both fair and factual. And the curmudgeon in me was refusing to bend to an anonymous moderator’s will. To me, “Palestinian” is a propaganda term (see: Israel is Engaged in a War of Words) and it goes against my personal ethos to use the word.

So there I was, confronted with a choice of editing my answer, or appealing the moderator’s ruling. I decided to appeal, offering to edit whatever it was that was dishonest or offensive. I wrote:

My answer was factual. I see nothing in my answer that abrogates the Be Nice, Be Respectful rule. I was careful.

I would edit my answer to suit your guidelines, but see nothing to edit. If the moderators disagree, perhaps they could point to something specific in my answer that was rude or disrespectful so that I might make edits, as requested. Otherwise, I think my answer should be reinstated.

I really hoped to receive a reasonable response, explaining how I might edit my response. I must confess to feeling shocked at the ruling I instead received:

Hello Varda,

Your content was in violation of our Be Nice, Be Respectful policy. This core Quora principle requires that people treat other people on the site with civility, respect, and consideration. To learn more about this policy, please visit: https://www.quora.com/What-is-Quoras-Be-Nice-Be-Respectful-policy.

More specifically, your content contained what we consider to be hate speech:

Users are not allowed to post content or adopt a tone that would be interpreted by a reasonable observer as a form of hate speech, particularly toward a race, gender, religion, nationality, ethnicity, political group, sexual orientation or another similar characteristic. Questions and question details about generalizations in these topics should be phrased as neutrally and respectfully as possible.

Our decision is final, and your content will not be reinstated.

If you see content that is objectionable, we suggest you either report or downvote it. You can report questions, answers, comments, and messages by clicking on the "Report" link which is located underneath the content.

We appreciate your understanding.

Sincerely,

Amelia
User Operations
Quora

At this point, I was upset. Hate speech?? But okay, I was willing to try to edit my response. I didn’t want anyone to think I was spreading hate. The option to edit, however, had disappeared with the moderator’s ruling. I could no longer edit my answer, which remains collapsed to this day.

One bright note in this uncomfortable episode, a comment left by Brenda Newman:

“This is what gets collapsed these days? Answer may need improvement? I thought it one of your best. Apparently, decoding the language used in the propaganda war isn’t allowed.”

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

02/07 Links Pt1: Fatah condemns Israel for killing Hamas terrorist behind rabbi’s murder; UNRWA: The greatest obstacle to peace; Saudis to allow flights to Israel through their airspace

From Ian:

Why the Reduction in U.S. Aid to UNRWA Is Justified

Europe has ignored important reasons for the Palestinians' distress - such as Hamas' huge annual investments of hundreds of millions of dollars in the manufacture of rockets and the construction of attack tunnels, all at the expense of Gaza's needy residents. No one has ever inquired how much money from humanitarian contributions ends up in the private bank accounts of Palestinian leaders.

The Europeans started asking questions only when it was proved to them that the Palestinian Authority was using aid contributions to pay sizable salaries to Palestinian terrorists who had been convicted and imprisoned in Israel, and to build public institutions and name them after terrorists.

According to the Congressional Research Service, since the Oslo Agreement the U.S. has given the PA $5.2 billion, the highest American foreign-aid total per capita. During the same period, the U.S. gave UNRWA $4.5 billion. The Obama administration doubled American allocations to both the PA and UNRWA. In 2008, the PA received $400 million; in 2009, $900 million. In 2008, UNRWA received $184 million; in 2009, $268 million.

The reduction in aid to UNRWA is justified because this agency perpetuates the Palestinians' status as refugees. Most of its employees in Gaza are affiliated with Hamas, and its schools preach hatred of Jews and Israel. Rockets are stashed beneath the floors of these schools and fired at Israel from their vicinity.

UNRWA should have been closed down long ago and its functions transferred to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which deals with refugees on a worldwide basis.

UNRWA: The greatest obstacle to peace

The United States' definition of a refugee is similar to that of other counties. According to this accepted definition, refugee status is not passed down by inheritance and is not valid for those persons who are citizens of other countries or who live in what is supposedly their own territory. In contrast, more than 2 million Palestinian "refugees" live in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, lands they claim constitute part of their territorial homeland.

If we remove from UNRWA's list of refugees those people who do not meet any of the three criteria, we will then come back to a more reasonable number of somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 Palestinian refugees from the 1948 War of Independence. The remainder could, of course, request humanitarian aid, but they would not be considered refugees by UNRWA.

If the countries of the world are interested in funding genuine humanitarian aid for the Palestinians, this can be done through a variety of alternative channels, whose aim is to create a better future for the population. But first, they must stop using the term "refugees." This is not just a question of semantics: A change in terminology could give the Palestinians hope for a better future instead of ensuring they maintain the victimhood mentality and pass it on to future generations. Second, they must only release funds for the Palestinians on the condition they are then integrated into their host countries or alternatively, those Palestinians living outside Judea, Samaria Gaza find a third country to which to emigrate. Third, they must ensure the funds do not go toward terrorism and incitement.

The implementation of these steps will lead the PA to acknowledge its defeat in the war against the Jewish people's right to self-determination and will put an end to the Palestinian leadership's cynical use of their people and their supporters for the prevention of a solution to the conflict and finally bring about peace.

Reporter to UNRWA: 'Where has all the flour gone?'

The Israel Resource News Agency and Center for Near East Policy Research, an agency founded by American immigrant David Bedein in Jerusalem retains local professional (read that "Arabic speaking") journalists who cover UNRWA facilities in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and Gaza, producing stories about UNRWA, Hamas and the PA.

Bedein reports that a study he did of memos from UNRWA to Holland, the US, Canada, Australia and the Israel Civil Administration over last year, shows that UNRWA gave assurances that new textbooks and the atmosphere in UNRWA schools would now reflect peace advocacy. They were to be free of the indoctrination to violence which characterized both the previous UNRWA school books translated by the agency and the contents of talks with UNRWA students interviewed over the past few years.

The news agency's local journalists recently acquired the 2018 school books provided by the PA for UNRWA and have checked the contents thoroughly. A report on the textbooks and the screening of two short films of interviews with UNRWA students will take place at the Jerusalem municipality on Thursday, February 8, at 4:30 p.m.

Arutz Sheva received a preview of the report, which shows that except for two pages about peace in new PA/UNRWA school books, UNRWA indoctrination continues, in all UNRWA schools, UNRWA school books and the UNRWA public domain.

It also reveals that although 68 donor nations continue to pour food, medicine and cash into all UNRWA camps, the UNRWA workers union, under tight control of Hamas for the past 18 years, hoards all humanitarian supplies, while contracting foreign press to witness and record a staged UNRWA humanitarian crisis. "If there were a UNRWA Universal Studios, they couldn't do better," Bedein quips.

While "feminists" celebrate hijab, real Muslim women worldwide are burning theirs on #NoHijabDay

The leftist feminist movement celebrates Muslim women wearing hijab as if it is a symbol of human rights., of resistance to racism and anti-colonialist.

But real Muslim women know better:

Videos showing women burning the hijab are being posted on social media in solidarity with a protest movement against enforced headscarf in Iran.
Posted online with the hashtag #NoHijabDay, a response to last week's World Hijab Day event, the videos show women removing their headscarves and setting them on fire in front of the camera.

Anoud Al Ali, who grew up in the United Arab Emirates but is now living in France, posted a video of herself burning the hijab and called it 'true happiness'.
She details how she used to be forced to wear the headscarf by her family and in school or she would be punished with lower grades.

Here's another similar video for #NoHijabDay by an ex-Muslim Canadian woman:

#NoHijabDay

In solidarity with woman who are forced to wear the hijab.#MyStealthyFreedom pic.twitter.com/VPgLOnH1Nx
— Yasmine Mohammed (@ConfessionsExMu) February 1, 2018

This is besides the heroism of ordinary Iranian women who face jail time for taking off their hijabs:

A young woman in #Iran takes off her #hijab in front of a Basij base (Islamic Revolutionary Guard's Morality Police) to protest against forced hijab in Iran. #Girlsofrevolutionstreet #دختران_خیابان_انقلاب #قیام_بهمن #براندازم pic.twitter.com/wbYTxZp5Yt
— Armin Navabi (@ArminNavabi) February 2, 2018

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

UNRWA's straw man arguments

UNRWA flack Scott Anderson writes in Foreign Policy:

The population that UNRWA works with is highly vulnerable and dependent upon the international community to help feed their poor, educate their children, and care for their sick. One million Palestinians in Gaza alone survive on food provided by UNRWA. Our schools educate over half a million children in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank, and they have proven to be centers of excellence, consistently outperforming government schools in the region. All of our students receive education in human rights, nonviolent conflict resolution, and tolerance of differences.

It is probably true that UNRWA schools outperform government schools. The answer is to help create a good standard for all, not to treat Palestinians as different, which breeds resentment. No modern NGOs would ever consider setting up a separate school system, and there is a good reason why: it violates the basic NGO dictum of "do no harm" and 'conflict sensitivity."

And it is also true that UNRWA teaches a human rights curriculum. However, it doesn't teach that Jews have any rights to live in Israel. It hardly fosters peace. On the contrary, it teaches children that there will be no peace as long as Israel exists as a Jewish state.

A world that is willing to watch as hungry children cannot access food, students are shut out of their schools, and mothers can no longer access prenatal care is not the world any of us want to live in.

Why cannot Palestinians be fed through the World Food Programme? Why can they not attend Palestinian or Jordanian public schools? Why do they need their own medical infrastructure separate from those of their fellow Arabs? Why, indeed, does the world tolerate Arabs discriminating against Palestinians in their midst?

Just because UNRWA provides services does not mean that it is the only entity that should provide services. This is an argument to keep an agency funded against the best interests of the people of the region. It is an argument to keep Palestinian "refugees" treated differently from their neighbors, forever.

I don't think that President Trump has handled the UNRWA issue as well as he should have, but there is a chance to open up a conversation as to why a single UN agency deserves a billion dollars a year compared the much more dire needs of impoverished people across the world, why funds should be distributed so unevenly.

Most importantly, the point must be made: UNRWA wouldn't exist if it wasn't for Arab discrimination against Palestinians since 1948, and it shouldn't exist in the West Bank or Gaza at all since people cannot be considered "refugees" when they live in their own land.

That is the conversation that UNRWA is desperately trying not to allow the world to have.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Fatah and Hamas agree: Murderer of rabbi is a hero

Hamas has declared Ahmad Jarrar, the murderer of Rabbi Raziel Shevach, to be a "martyr" and a hero who followed the footsteps of his terrorist father:

But it isn't only Hamas who is enamored with Jarrar.

Fatah makes exactly the same point in this poster on its Facebook page:

The caption says "this cub is from that lion," making it clear that Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah is on the same page as Hamas in supporting the murders of Jews.

And the Fatah logo is on this poster that puts Jarrar at the center of recent "martyrs:"

Interestingly, unlike every other Hamas terrorist, Hamas has de-emphasized any photos of Jarrar holding a weapon. I found this one in a tenth of a second clip in a Hamas video, and apparently it is a photo-illustration:

It is also notable that the numbers of Palestinians who have been going in the streets to defend and support the terrorists that have murdered two Jews recently has dwarfed the number who have been attending Fatah's "Days of Rage" for Jerusalem.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

NGO Cites Poll Showing 50% Of Arabs Want Migrants Deported To Prove Jews Are Racist (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

Tel Aviv, February 7 - A human-rights-monitoring group showcased a survey today of Arabs who hold Israeli citizenship regarding the impending deportation of illegal African migrants as evidence that the Jews of Israel harbor ethnically prejudiced attitudes.

The Rights-Auditing Committee on Israeli Social Trends (RACIST) released a report today citing that because half of the Arab-Israelis surveyed in a recent poll supported the expulsion of illegal migrants from Africa to either their country of origin or a stable third state, the Jews of Israel must be racist.

A poll this week revealed that half of the Arab citizens of Israel who responded agreed with the government's stated intention to deport thousands of such migrants. In response, RACIST issued an analysis of the survey that asserts such numbers demonstrate the systemic racism inherent in Israel's Jewish majority, and called on the international community to take measures to punish Israel for such depravities.

"First, we dispute the relevance of categorizing people as 'Jewish' or 'Arab' Israelis for purposes of the poll," the report read. "Standard practice in NGO work calls for that distinction to be made only when it fits the narrative of evil-Jews, evil-Israel, victim-Arab. Methodologically, then, this poll only shows that half of Israelis want black Africans expelled, which is a bona fide indicator of racism."

"Second, even granting the validity of an ethnically specific focus for such a survey, the results provide evidence for racism," the report continued. "Why do the Arabs who hold Israeli citizenship want Africans deported? Because the Africans compete with Arabs for low-wage, low-skill jobs. There you have evidence that the Jewish majority relegates the Arab minority to poor, second-class status, forcing them to compete with migrants in the cheap labor market." The report included no discussion of the skyrocketing rate at which Arabs are earning academic degrees, and the fact that many Jewish Israelis from the Haredi sector occupy the same economic class. However, a spokesman for RACIST dismissed that data.

"You're ignoring the first methodological point," argued Kagni Tiv de Sonantz, the organization's deputy director. "You can't just cite data without filtering it through the narrative test first. If you were to cite the data in such a way that makes Israeli Jews look bad, that would be one thing, but that's not what you're doing with your question. It's disingenuous, and therefore evidence that Israeli society is disingenuous about everything, especially it's concern for non-Jews. Assuming you're Israeli. Which I am, for purposes of this analysis, because it fits the proper narrative."

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

02/06 Links Pt2: Trump Thwarts Irish Effort to Boycott Israel; The Cape Town water crisis — proudly brought to you by BDS; The radical left-wing rejectionist front

From Ian:

‘Arafat got a Nobel so BDS nomination no surprise’ say Israel activists

Pro-Israel activists have expressed contempt of the Nobel Peace Prize after the BDS movement received a nomination, pointing to the fact that late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat received the award in 1994.

The leader of the Red Party in the Norwegian Parliament, Bjornar Moxnes, nominated the International BDS movement on Friday, stating: “As a member of the Norwegian parliament, I proudly use my authority as an elected official to nominate the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights for the Nobel Peace Prize.”

“Awarding a Nobel Peace Prize to the BDS movement would be a powerful sign demonstrating that the international community is committed to supporting a just peace in the Middle East and using peaceful means to end military rule and broader violations of international law," Moxnes wrote in a statement published by Inter Press Service news agency.

Many pro-Israel activists took to social media to express their disdain of the nomination.

"The BDS movement is an anti-peace movement, they made this very clear over and over again," Israeli activist Hen Mazzig told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. "They are 'anti-normalization' of the relationship between Jews and Arabs and actively pushing Palestinians and Israelis to fight each other."

On Monday, Mazzig debated Rebecca Vilkomerson, the Executive Director of the far-left organization Jewish Voice for Peace on i24 News.

Jewish Voice for Peace is reportedly among some 20 organizations on a blacklist Israel is compiling as part of its ban on BDS activists.

The US-organization tweeted that the nomination was “wonderful news.”

The Cape Town water crisis — proudly brought to you by BDS

Cape Town 2018 is what happens when a city is more concerned about politics than people. Cape Town 2018 is what happens when national government wants to demonstrate to local government who is boss. Cape Town 2018 is what happens when local government is not equipped to deal with a real crisis. And Cape Town 2018 is what happens when communication falls apart to the point that the noise is so deafening, that no message can be heard.

Cape Town 2018 is also what happens when relevant lifesaving solutions are discarded because of BDS and anti-Semitism.

Cape Town is set to be the first major city to run out of water. The city is experiencing its worst drought in history. Residents are being asked to utilize less than 50 liters (13 gallons) per day and it is unlikely that it will avoid “Day Zero.” The day the taps run dry. It is unimaginable what contingencies can be put in place to deal with the series of events that will follow this day.

We all have that friend. Mine often sends me a WhatsApp simply saying “ITYS!” At first, I had no idea what he meant, until I realized he was saying “I told you so” (but was too busy to type out the sentence). It’s annoying and frustrating and infuriating. Especially when he is right. And maybe sometimes it’s not bad to hear it.

There is no satisfaction in the fact the residents of Cape Town are on the brink of a humanitarian crisis that could have and should have been avoided. Even if we saw it coming.

Trump Admin Thwarts Irish Effort to Boycott Israel, Criminalize Trade

The Trump administration played a key role in thwarting a recent effort by the Irish government to boycott Israel and make it a crime for Irish citizens to purchase products made in contested areas of the Jewish state, a move that would have severely jeopardized Ireland's trade with the United States, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation.

The Irish Parliament was poised last week to pass a major piece of legislation that would make it crime to engage in trade with Israelis. The bill, which was seen as part of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, or BDS, would have imprisoned Irish citizens who purchased souvenirs in Israel for a maximum of five years and subjected them to a fine of more than $310,000.

Upon learning of the effort, senior Trump administration officials in the State Department are said to have scrambled to open up channels to Irish leaders in a bid to scuttle the bill and avoid a standoff with the Irish government over the measure.

Trump administration officials are said to have made clear to Irish leaders that passage of the bill would put them starkly at odds with the United States and subject them to inclusion on a list of countries supporting boycotts of the Jewish state.

While some Irish lawmakers described the effort as a "crackpot bill," its passage through the Parliament was all but assured until U.S. officials from the Trump administration became involved, multiple sources told the Free Beacon.

This week's dead Hamas terrorists

This morning, the terrorist behind the murder of Rabbi Raziel Shevach was killed by the IDF.

Hamas took credit for the attack in their press release on his "martyrdom."

Luckily, the other Hamas "martyrs" of the week managed to die without hurting anyone.

Qassam Brigades field commander Mohammed Mousa died after a long illness.

Mahmoud Safadi "died while working in a tunnel of the resistance" last Wednesday.

May all members of Hamas get the opportunity to show how much they love death sooner rather than later.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

You can learn a lot about @HRW's Ken Roth from a single tweet

From Ken Roth:

The Shah was wrong to ban the hijab. Iran's current government is equally wrong to require it, as Iranian women are now saying. https://t.co/EEn29HDbCf pic.twitter.com/M3zA55IAvm
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) February 4, 2018

Where to begin?

Roth feels that he can only publicly support Iranian women fighting compulsory hijab after saying that the Shah was just as wrong to ban it. The issue cannot stand on its own; it has to be contextualized to say that, hey, secular people can be just as bad as Islamists.

As other tweeters pointed out, the Shah didn't ban the hijab - Reza Shah did in 1936 and the last Shah of Iran (who is the person that "the Shah" invariably refers to) dropped that ban.

Roth hasn't said a word about compulsory hijab since the Ayatollah Khomeini mandated it in 1979. Only now, after Iranian women are bravely walking bareheaded, does Roth feel comfortable enough to take a position that he otherwise would fear would sound too "Islamophobic."

And suddenly Roth seems to care about religious freedom to wear the hijab if one wants. But ask him if Jews should have the religious freedom to visit their holiest sites unmolested and ...crickets.

This is Ken Roth in a nutshell - hypocritical, not interested in facts, and not leading the fight for human rights but pretending to support them only after the real brave women of Iran make the issue safe for him.

Because the main rule of HRW isn't human rights - it is to avoid upsetting the Muslims, and only then to tentatively ask for human rights from the Islamists once he can make sure that his message is watered down to their standards.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.