Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, August 03, 2018

08/03 Links Pt1: Glick: Trump's Offer to Talk to Iran Was Shrewd Move in Complicated Showdown; Gaza truce proposal would ease blockade, end fire balloon attacks

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Trump's Offer to Talk to Iran Was Shrewd Move in Complicated Showdown

All negotiations have a tendency to create a dynamic in which reaching a deal – any deal – becomes more important than achieving the goals that brought the parties to the negotiating table in the first place. Western leaders, who are subject to media scrutiny and election pressures, are more susceptible to the pressure to achieve a deal than leaders of dictatorial regimes like those in Iran and North Korea.

As a consequence, the dynamic of negotiations works against the interests of the Western powers and favors the interests of the authoritarians they face at the table. In the current context of U.S.-Iranian relations, we will know that we should be concerned about this dynamic if and when the administration diminishes its public support for the anti-regime protesters in Iran.

On Wednesday, U.S. Central Command warned that Iran is about to launch a massive military exercise in the Straits of Hormuz. Suleimani and other regime leaders have threatened repeatedly in recent weeks to seal the maritime choke point through which 20 percent of world oil shipments transit if the U.S. blocks Iranian oil exports.

This Iranian move, like the missiles its Houthi proxies shot at two Saudi oil tankers in the Bab el Mandab choke point in the Red Sea least week, shows that the Iranians also know how to talk and shoot at the same time.

Obviously, it is too early to know where Trump’s offer will lead. But what is clear enough is that Trump’s offer to negotiate with Iran is no fluke. It is a shrewd, albeit high-risk move made in a complex and highly dynamic and dangerous standoff between the U.S. and its allies — and a lethal, menacing regime whose back is up against the wall.

Eli Lake: Trump’s Outreach to Rogues Follows in Obama’s Footsteps

This was a hot-button issue back in 2007 and 2008 when an upstart Democratic senator named Barack Obama proposed that if elected president, he would meet with leaders of Iran, Cuba and North Korea in his first year. His opponents pounced. Hillary Clinton said she wouldn’t want a meeting with such dictators to be “used for propaganda purposes.”

In his recent memoir, Obama’s deputy national security adviser and speechwriter, Ben Rhodes, described the reaction to his critics from inside the bubble. The campaign team was reading a news story in which Madeleine Albright, formerly Bill Clinton’s secretary of state, criticized Obama’s naive offer. Obama responded, according to Rhodes, by pounding his open palm on a table to emphasize every syllable: “It. Is. Not. A. Reward. To. Talk. To. Folks.”

Fast forward to 2018 and it’s fair to say that Trump takes the Obama view of talking to bad guys. After all, Trump met North Korean tyrant Kim Jong Un in Singapore. He met with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. If aliens threatened to vaporize Los Angeles, Trump would first tweet some threats and insults and then a few days later propose a summit on a neighboring planet.

Now the president says he is open to talks with Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, without preconditions. “If they want to meet, I’ll meet,” he said at a joint press conference with Italy’s prime minister.

Anyone who has paid close attention to Trump’s Iran policy should not be surprised. As I wrote last week, Trump has consistently said he wants to negotiate a new deal with Iran’s leaders now that he has withdrawn the U.S. from the one negotiated by Obama.

Why The United States Should Give Iranian Dissidents A Boost Via Social Media

It’s crucial to remember that even though we may share much in common, Iranian opponents of the theocratic regime may not always agree with us on foreign policy. Indeed, the intensity of the partisan divide in the United States makes it difficult to cross political aisles even here at home. Nevertheless, we can use our converging interests to mutual advantage.

While these Iranian democracy activists represent a diverse range of opinion about both the United States and its current president, they are still opponents of the theocratic regime in Tehran. Thirty-nine years after the birth of the theocratic Shi’a regime, the president reached out to the people of Iran, telling them: “The future of Iran belongs to its people. They are the rightful heirs to a rich culture and an ancient land. And they deserve a nation that does justice to their dreams, honor to their history, and glory to God.”

Young democracy activists need to hear this message on their own channels. U.S. government information, analysis, and policy branches need native Farsi speakers reading these and other social media daily, giving feedback and recommendations to policymakers.

Whether or not the opposition is in the streets doing battle with the regime, it is always online. Through a massive network of existing social media networks, we can reach this crucial group of activists both inside Iran and in diaspora communities around the world.

For those who oppose the Basic Law but support a Jewish state...

For the American Jewish Zionists who support Israel but oppose the Basic Law, what exactly would they support to make Israel the Jewish state?

Apparently making Hebrew the official language is racist, somehow. Apparently the Law of Return is problematic. Apparently supporting building Jewish communities (while not stopping Arab communities from being built) is no good, either. Obviously a state based on Jewish law is outrageous. Clearly Israel cannot claim any parts of the territories, and even saying Jerusalem is the capital is an issue to most American Jews (according to some biased polls.)

So, for those Zionist Jews - what does a Jewish state mean to you, specifically, if Israel is not allowed to do anything about it? (Except to retreat to the 1967 lines, but not include Jewish holy sites.)

(h/t EBoZ)

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Palestine Today reports that sources close to Hamas have leaked the details of the Hamas-Israel truce to the newspaper Al-Akhbar.

According to the report, the agreement involves a a five-year truce that will be implemented in stages.

The first phase, which will begin within a week, is to end the arson kites, incendiary balloons, and attempts to breach the Gaza fence in return for the reopening of the Kerem Shalom crossing and a permanent opening of the Rafah crossing (meaning that Egypt is part of the plans as well.)

In two months there would be talks about a prisoner exchange, presumably both for the Israelis held in Gaza and the remains of soldiers.

No more details were given.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was said to have canceled his trip to Colombia in order to discuss this plan, which was pushed by United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Nikolai Mladenov.

According to the newspaper, there is fear of the reaction of the Palestinian Authority, which may impede the truce. The story said that Egypt threatened the PA saying if they continue to stop paying salaries to Gazans and other anti-Gaza moves then the plan will go on without them, marginalizing their role on the world stage.

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A challenge to the UK's "Free Speech" Palestinians

The Guardian published a letter from major Palestinian leaders in the UK rejecting the IHRA definition of antisemitism that includes:

Targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity. However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.

Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.

Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.

Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.

Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.

Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.

Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.

Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.

The letter says:

Any use by public bodies of the IHRA examples on antisemitism that either inhibits discussion relating to our dispossession by ethnic cleansing, when Israel was established, or attempts to silence public discussions on current or past practices of settler colonialism, apartheid, racism and discrimination, and the ongoing violent military occupation, directly contravenes core rights.

I once made a list comparing classic antisemitic speech with contemporary anti-Israel speech.

I would like to ask the signatories of this letter to kindly inform us which of these criticisms of Israel on the right side of this list are considered OK in their view, or if they consider all of them legitimate criticism of Israel.

Antisemites	Anti-Zionists
“Jews should go back where they came from”	“Israeli Jews should go back where they came from”
“Jews control the USA”	“Israel controls the USA”
“Jews control the banks”	“Zionists control the money supply”
“Jews control the media”	“Zionists control the media”
“Jews are inferior Semites”	“Israeli Jews are not native to the region”
“Jews poison the wells”	“Israel poisons the water supply”
“Jews were behind the Black Plague”	“Israel is creating anti-Arab biological weapons”
“Jews murder Christian children”	“Israel targets and murders Arab children”
“Jews use blood of gentile children for rituals”	“Israeli doctors steal organs from gentile patients”
“Jews cannot be trusted”	“Israel cannot be trusted”
“Jews exploit their workers”	“Israel exploits Arab labor”
“The Star of David offends me”	“The Star of David offends me”
“We don't want Jews in our clubs”	“We don't want Israel in international bodies”
“Jews controlled the slave trade”	“Zionism is racism”
“Jews are not white”	“Jews are guilty of white privilege”
“The Holocaust never happened”	“Zionist Jews were complicit in the Holocaust”
“Jews are behind all wars”	“Israel is the reason for all terrorism and ME unrest”
“Jews arrogantly believe they are 'chosen'”	“Israel arrogantly believes it is above the law”
“Greedy Jews always want more money”	“Greedy Israel always wants more land”
“Jews have secret plans to control the world”	“Israel plans to expand from the Nile to Euphrates”
“Jewish businesses must be boycotted”	“Israeli businesses must be boycotted”
“Jews not allowed in this hotel”	“Israelis not allowed in this shop”
“Universities must limit Jewish students”	“Universities must not work with Israelis”
“Germans had good reasons to hate Jews”	“Palestinians have good reason to hate Israelis”
“People I don't like must be secretly Jewish”	“People I don't like must be associated with Israel”
“If everyone hates Jews, there must be a reason”	“If everyone hates Israel, there must be a reason”
“'Jew' is the ultimate insult”	“'Zionist' is the ultimate insult”

I would like to add that when anti-Zionists say anything bad about Israelis, they always only mean Israeli Jews. Israeli Arabs who live across the Green Line are not "settlers." Israeli non-Jews who service in the IDF are not baby killers. Israeli Arabs are not boycotted by universities or shops, as far as I know.

So, please, let us know which of the expressions on the right side are legitimate criticism and not hate speech. While you are at it, let us know which ones on the left are considered antisemitic to you as well, and explain the difference between the two sides.

I don't think any of the esteemed academics and entertainers who signed the letter has the guts to actually expose the specifics of that they consider acceptable. I think they are cowards.

Please, anti-Zionists, prove me wrong.

Here are the signatories:

Omar Al-Qattan Chairman of the board of trustees, AM Qattan Foundation,Atallah Said Chairman, British Palestinian Policy Council, Professor Kamel Hawwash University of Birmingham, Professor Karma Nabulsi Univerity of Oxford, Nadia Hijab Author and human rights advocate, Dr Aimee ShalanCharity chief executive, Ben Jamal Director, Palestine Solidarity Campaign,Mazen Masri Managing director, Edgo, philanthropist, Sawsan AsfariPhilanthropist, founder educational charities, Zaher Birawi Chairman, Europal Forum, Salma Karmi-Ayyoub Barrister, Professor Suleiman Sharkh University of Southhampton, Professor Izzat Darwazeh UCL, Dr Adam Hanieh Reader in development, Soas, Dr Dina Matar Soas, Feras Abu Helal Editor-in-chief, journalist, Dr Nimer Sultany Senior lecturer in public law, Soas, Dr Ghada Karmi Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, Akram SalhabRefugee and migrant organiser, Karl Sabbagh Author and publisher, Dr Ahmed Khalidi Academic visitor, St Antony’s College, Oxford, Samir Eskanda Musician, Selma Dabbagh Author, Ahmed Masoud Writer and director, Omar Shweiki Director, HE educational charity, Hanna Khalil Playwright, Kareem SamaraMusician Ahmed Ziat Humanitarian aid coordinator

(h/t Ronald)

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08/02 Links Pt2: Hamas summer camp poisons young Palestinians' minds with hatred & violence; Caving to pressure, Tunisia to host 7-year-old Israeli chess whiz

From Ian:

Radical Islamists, women and little girls are not your toys

Recently, the media reported that 14 terrified young girls and women were kidnapped by ISIS when they attacked the Druze city of Suwayda, Syria. ISIS has threatened to treat these Druze women and girls in the same manner that they have treated Yazidi women and girls should the Syrian regime not halt its offensive against the Yarmouk Valley. As a feminist and Jewish woman, I have the following to say to ISIS and other radical Islamists who have a similar mentality: Minority women and little girls are not toys with whom you can do with whatever you like.

Many young girls across the Middle East do better in school than their male counter-parts.
Women and girls, just like men and boys, are breathing living human beings and deserve to be treated as such. They have feelings and are in pain when you hurt them. They can articulate themselves just as well as a man can and in many cases, better. Furthermore, according to an article that was recently published in the Atlantic, many young girls across the Middle East do better in school than their male counter-parts. However, despite this, women only make up a tiny fraction of the work force in most Arab countries, while men who did not perform as well in school are the ones who end up with the jobs.

ISIS and other radical Islamist groups seek to allow women and girls to do nothing in addition to being wives, mothers and in the case of minority women, sexual slaves. The Me Too Movement should be up in arms but it is not, preferring to focus its wrath upon people who sexually abuse American women. To date, there is no sign of intent to broaden the movement to include minority women in the Islamic world who continue to be oppressed merely because they were born into the wrong gender and the wrong faith. Other Western feminist organizations ignore the real plight of islamic women and falsely charge Israel with suppressing them.

Hamas summer camp poisons young Palestinians' minds with hatred & violence

What are your children doing this #summer?
#Hamas in #Gaza is depriving young Palestinians of their childhood by poisoning their minds with hatred & violence.

A college textbook says Holocaust victims failed to realize their strength

An online textbook, which blames Holocaust victims for failing to tap into their strength, is required reading for nearly 19,000 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill students.

"21st Century Wellness" is part of a one-credit hour Lifetime Fitness course all UNC undergraduates have to take before graduation. The course is meant to teach students how to stay physically fit and make healthy lifestyle choices.

But along with handing out advice about leading a healthy lifestyle, the book delves into other subjects. One excerpt says Holocaust victims who died failed to find their inner strength.

"The people in the camps who did not tap into the strength that comes from their intrinsic worth succumbed to the brutality to which they were subjected," the book reads. The text was contracted for use for two years, but it is currently under review for the fall, a school spokesman said.

Ryan Holmes, who took a Lifetime Fitness weight training course last fall, was one of a number of students who criticized the book.

"Some of the stuff they said seemed almost like pseudoscience, and it kind of blurred the lines between what I recognized to be real factual information and things that may or may not be true. It put a lot of emphasis on the connection between mental and physical health, more than normal," he said. "I thought that it was an oversimplification that didn't account for situational factors."

Caving to pressure, Tunisia to host 7-year-old Israeli chess whiz

The Tunisian Chess Federation has agreed to allow a 7-year-old Israeli girl to take part in the World School Individual Chess Championships in Sousse, Tunisia, in 2019.

In response to a request for clarification from the World Chess Federation, the organization issued a letter saying players from all countries, "without exception," are invited to participate in the tournament.

The World Chess Federation had demanded that the North African country confirm it would provide visas to all participants or else risk losing the right to host the competition, following a campaign by Israel advocacy group StandWithUs.

After Tunisia initially showed no signs that it intended to let European School Individual chess champion Liel Levitan in to Tunisia to play in the tournament, the group launched a campaign called "Let Liel Play" in which hundreds of Israel supporters signed a petition demanding that she be allowed entry. StandWithUs also wrote to World Chess Federation Administrative Manager Polina Tsedenova about the matter.

Booking.com stops referring to Jerusalem as an "Israeli settlement" - but Bethlehem and Hebron are still called that

Joods Actueel uncovered an amazing example of anti-Israel bias in the travel site Booking.com in all languages.

The site referred to all of Jerusalem as an Israeli settlement.

After an inquiry from an outraged customer, Booking.com changed its designation of Jerusalem.

But it continues to use the words "Israeli settlement" for any town with any Jews.

While Ramallah is considered "Palestinian territory":

Bethlehem and Hebron, with very small Jewish populations are where the vast majority of both cities are under full PA control, are still considered "settlements."

You can see that the Arab hotels that are deeply in Area A under full Palestinian control are considered to be within "Israeli settlements."

Bizarrely, the towns most associated with being Israeli settlements like Gush Etzion or Kiryat Arba are given no country whatsoever:

This all doesn't even make business sense. People who want to stay in Arab Hebron or Bethlehem are less likely to visit the "Israeli Settlement" that Booking.com says they are in.

And if you look for hotels near Kiryat Arba, sure enough - you see the Arab hotels in Hebron.

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Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

The missiles are falling all over Israel, their multi-ton payloads blasting the Jewish state, built at such great cost in human effort and blood over the past 70 years, to bits.

I am not talking about physical missiles. They are infrequent today, as we experience a slow period in the long, traditional war that our regional enemies have been waging against the Jews of the land of Israel since the days of the British Mandate. No, I am referring to blows being struck in the cognitive war that has been going on since the 1960s. In this arena, there is no intermission. The cognitive war is raging today at white heat.

In cogwar world the enemies are not precisely the same as in the kinetic war. Here we are also fighting Arabs and Iranians, but our most serious enemies are Western European governments, forces based in the USA, like the New Israel Fund and the Union for Reform Judaism, and post-Zionist intellectuals here in Israel.

One of the central battles is over the Nation-State Law just passed by the Knesset. If you haven’t read it, you must, in order to understand the paradox of how a law with almost no practical effect can create so much fury in its opponents. What happened is that the law blew open the uneasy truce between those who aspire to fulfil the vision of Herzl to create a democratic and free state that will nevertheless be a state of and for the Jewish people, and those who want Israel to be nothing more than a modern, democratic state that happens to have (at least for a while) a Jewish majority.

This is a legitimate conversation that can and should be had. For myself, I believe that it is possible for Israel to be, in a significant and fundamental sense, the nation-state of the Jewish people, while still providing equal rights for members of minority groups. This new law, which explicates the meaning of “the nation-state of the Jewish people” is part of the answer that the majority of Israel’s Jews have given to the question.

The opposition to the Nation-State Law is couched in the most inflammatory language possible, including epithets like “racist” and “apartheid.” This is nonsense and is part of a larger campaign to paint the Likud government as made up of right-wing extremists. According to PM Netanyahu and others, the New Israel Fund (NIF) is actively encouraging members of Israel’s minority groups to oppose the law.

Many other issues are brought up for the same purpose and in the same exaggerated way. For example, the controversies about the recognition of non-Orthodox forms of Judaism in Israel have no relevance for any but a tiny fraction of Israelis; yet the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) in America has established a lobbying and activism arm in Israel which seems to exist mainly to provoke crises that can be used to vilify the government. It also is doing its best to introduce an American-style obsessionwith race and racism into Israeli discourse.

Attempts by the government to deport illegal African migrants also received the same treatment, by the same players. Again the accusation of racism was deployed, despite the very real damage that this population continues to do to the residents of South Tel Aviv, and despite the fact that Israel went to great lengths to bring black African Jews to Israel. Again, various NGOs, the NIF, and the URJ vehemently attacked the government for its policy.

Another more recent issue to explode in this way is the the law that regulates how the health funds can pay for surrogate mothers in Israel. Although the PM promised that this benefit would be extended to include gay male couples, he gave in to pressure from religious elements in the coalition and opposed it. There was a massive demonstration and even a nationwide strike in protest. The PM was denounced as illiberal, anti-democratic, and homophobic, but at worst he was pragmatically keeping his coalition intact.

Everything negative that happens in Israel is blown up and appears in the New York Times, CNN, and other liberal/progressive media as an example of Israeli depravity. The stupid arrest of a rabbi for violating a stupid law forbidding anyone from performing a Jewish marriage without approval from the Rabbinate was a top news item (Israel’s Attorney General immediately ordered the rabbi’s release, and even ultra-observant Haredi rabbis criticized the arrest).

The pattern is always the same. In each case, a coalition of the Israeli and foreign left-leaning media, foreign-funded Israeli NGOs, outside players like the URJ, J Street, and the NIF, attack Israel, her government, and the Prime Minister. Even Trump’s move of the American Embassy to Jerusalem was criticized by these groups. Going back further, many of them supported Obama’s Iran deal, which in hindsight has been exposed to be as bad as opponents said it was.

This is a coordinated assault whose objective is to convince those who think of themselves as liberal and pro-democracy that Israel is a backward, undemocratic, racist theocracy.

You say this is just rough-and-tumble Israeli politics as usual?

I disagree. Traditionally, opposition politicians criticized the government and the Prime Minister (and when speaking for foreign consumption, they rarely even did that). Sometimes they threw water on other members (video here), but they did not attack the country itself. They did not conspire with foreign elements to disseminate anti-Israel propaganda.

The media, especially Ha’aretz, are even worse than the politicians. Reading the Ha’aretz English edition – very popular among foreign government officials – one could as well be reading Al Jazeera’s website (in fact, Ha’aretz writers are far more contemptuous of Israel and Israelis than Al Jazeera’s).

The Knesset passed a law two years ago that Israeli NGOs that receive more than half of their financing from foreign governments have to report it. The law was passed against strong opposition in a form far weaker than what was originally proposed. It was in reaction to the more and more outrageous actions of several dozen Israeli NGOs that function as subversive, anti-state agents (for example, Breaking the Silence, which travels the world spreading lies about the IDF). Their money comesmostly from European governments and charities, but also from the US, particularly the Rockefeller Brothers fund and the NIF. There is also money coming into this shadowy enterprise from charities linked to George Soros, whose anti-Zionism is well-known.

Together, the foreign-funded NGOs, the NIF and URJ, the anti-Zionist media in Israel and overseas, and much of Israel’s academic and cultural elite join the anti-Zionist Arab members of the Knesset in waging cognitive warfare against the state.

Time and again polls show that the majority of Jewish Israelis support the supposedly “hard line” government, which is actually very centrist and not at all extreme. But, ironically, that doesn’t seem to matter to these champions of “democracy!”

To re-engineer an old antisemitic phrase, as a Zionist, some of my worst enemies are Jews.

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08/02 Links Pt1: Airstrike kills 7 IS gunmen who crossed from Syria into Israel; Palestinians Have an Anti-Peace Plan; Trump Should Reject PLO and UN Propaganda on East Jerusalem

From Ian:

IDF: Airstrike kills 7 IS gunmen who crossed from Syria into Israeli territory

The IDF said it conducted an airstrike late Wednesday night killing seven Islamic State fighters who had crossed the 1974 ceasefire line into Israeli territory.

The gunmen had made it some 200 meters (650 feet) past the “alpha line” but did not manage to reach the technical fence bordering the Israeli Golan Heights, IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus said, correcting an earlier army statement that said the “terror squad” had been in the Syrian Golan Heights when targeted.

A number of explosive belts and a Kalashnikov rifle were found during searches of the area Thursday morning, according to the army.

The gunmen had crossed into the Israeli territory through the Syria-Jordan-Israel border triangle.

According to Army Radio, the gunmen were en route to an attack on Israel.

The army later released a short clip showing the IS gunmen heading toward Israel and Israeli soldiers crossing into no-man’s land to search for them.

Jordan says it killed Islamic State jihadists who tried to breach Syrian border

The Jordanian army on Thursday said it had killed a number of Islamic State group jihadists who tried to approach its northern border with Syria.

The incident on Tuesday came as clashes raged between Syrian regime forces and “a gang of Daesh (IS) terrorists” in the Yarm0uk Basin region of southwestern Syria, an army statement said.

It occurred as Israel said it killed seven gunmen believed linked to IS at its own border with Syria.

IS jihadists “tried to approach our border” but Jordanian troops prevented them by pounding them “with all types of weapons” and “killing a number of them,” the Jordanian army added, without specifying how many.

The operation to secure the area continued into Wednesday, the statement said.

The Jordanian army said that on the Syrian side of the border, regime forces cornered the jihadists in a pocket of southern Syria around the Yarmouk Basin and neighboring villages.

Russia says UN peacekeepers patrol Israel-Syria border for first time in years

UN peacekeepers returned on Thursday to patrol the Israel-Syria border for the first time in years, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced — the latest development in efforts to negotiate a solution to the crisis along the volatile border.

Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy of the Russian General Staff told reporters at a press conference in Moscow that the UN peacekeepers, aided by Russian forces, conducted their first patrolling mission in the area earlier in the day.

The development also marked the first time that forces from Russia, a major ally of the Damascus government, were involved in the patrols.

The peacekeeping mission was halted on the Syrian side of the border back in 2014 amid the violence in the country’s civil war.

Rudskoy also said military police would be deployed in the border area and set up eight observation posts to prevent “provocations,” Reuters reported, citing the Russian Interfax news agency.

“With the aim of preventing possible provocations against UN posts along the ‘Bravo’ line, the deployment is planned of eight observation posts of Russia’s armed forces’ military police,” he was quoted as saying.

“As the situation stabilizes, these posts will be handed over to Syrian government forces,” he added.

“The arson terror kites and balloons come in the afternoon and the evening, sometimes in the middle of the night.”

That’s when the winds pick up, blowing from the sea, inland, carrying Hamas’s flying firebombs to the people of Israel.

Israeli firefighter Tal Goldstein stood in the sweltering heat, telling us about a more terrible heat (I had gone a special tour to see the impact of Hamas attacks on southern Israel): “It is our nightmare that a firebomb kite or balloon will land on the roof of a home in the middle of the night, when everyone is asleep. A family could be burned alive.”

Many who follow the news about Israel take note of missile bombardments that send Israelis racing to bomb shelters. How many truly understand the battle against arson terrorism?

Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist organization, openly states that their goal is the destruction of Israel.

They tried to attack Israel by land and failed.

They tried to attack Israel underground, spending millions meant to assist the people of Gaza, to build attack tunnels that would allow Hamas commandos to burst from the ground and surprise Israelis (some tunnels targeted civilians, others military installations). They failed at that too.

Plying their ingenuity to destruction, Hamas came up with an ingenious and diabolical solution – firebombs delivered by kites and balloons. Children’s toys perverted into weapons of war, to attack through the air. These weapons don’t need to be imported from Iran. They are cheap, easy to come by and to the international media, look innocent, even romantic.

Many media sources have published highly stylized photos of masked Gazans preparing kites. Who is taking note of the Israelis suffering from daily arson attacks?

https://www.facebook.com/tom.oren.denenberg/videos/10156790070427859/

There is no mention of Israeli farmers who have lost a year’s work, a year’s income in one fire.

There is no notice of the ecological disaster of torched nature reserves. The small animals, too slow or too young to run from the flames, burnt alive.

The larger animals, deer, jackals, wild pigs and even hyenas could escape the flames but have nowhere to return to – their food sources are gone, their hiding places are gone. Land rejuvenates after fires but that is when the fires are natural and singular. These are repeated fires and their damage has reached deep into the earth, burning the seed banks eliminating them as a possible source for regrowth.

Environmentalism is a popular interest but not, it seems, when it is the environment Israelis are forced to live in. Standard carbon emissions are nothing in comparison to being forced to breathe poisoned air day after day after day…

I experienced a single day of arson terrorism. The sky was full of smoke, the air in our home, although we had sealed all the doors and windows, was thick and difficult to breathe. The smoke permeated our clothes, the stench seemed embedded in our skin.

And that was just one day.

Can you imagine living in this reality day after, for months on end?! When you imagine that you will have the opportunity to begin to breathe freely again, you discover that while there is no fire in your community, there are fires raging in neighboring communities.

An air pollution expert spoke to us about the long-term effects of the fires. Unlike breathing in smoke from a bonfire or bbq where the effects are temporary, here people are breathing in microscopic particles that are so small they get embedded in the lungs and the body does not excrete them. These can have a carcinogenic effect, similar to breathing in asbestos particles. As we are still in the midst of the fires, with no end in sight, it is impossible to accurately foresee the impact this type of warfare will have on the health of the Israeli population.

What I do know now is that my friend who lives in Be’eri, near the Gaza border has reported that she is having difficulty breathing and has to use her asthma pump all the time – which she has not had to do in years. Needless to say, this kind of air quality can have immediate and possibly even deadly impact on asthmatics, the very young or the elderly.

Kite firebombs don’t sound like a real threat. Balloons sound even sillier (especially when the balloons are made from inflated condoms) but this is no game.

Kites have been found up to 40 kilometers from Gaza (24.8 miles!). Just a few days ago a balloon firebomb was found in Be’ersheba (approximately 40 kilometers from Gaza).

Brush fires occur in Israel but they are not prevalent as they are in places like Australia or California. Our homes are not made with wood, fires that do occur inside tend to be from problems in the electric wiring or with heaters in the winter. Now Israel’s firefighters are battling flames around the clock.

We laughed when, a few years ago, Israel’s firefighting service changed their name from the original Hebrew utilitarian descriptive name: “Fire Extinguishers” to the more evocative: “Fire Warriors”. Now there is no name that could be more appropriate.

Tal told us about his experiences battling flames. He belongs to the Ashkelon fire department, the biggest in the area. Most of the fires they have managed to extinguish within 15 minutes but a few they battled for three days. Thanks to the volunteers who have arrived from all over the country to assist, the firefighters have succeeded in containing most of the fires.

All firefighters risk themselves to protect others but Israel’s fire warriors have had to fight fire, under fire – with snipers shooting at them and sometimes mortar bombs falling. They have no choice but to hit the ground and cover their heads hoping the mortar bombs won’t kill them and then get up and continue to battle the flames.

Heroism doesn’t label itself heroic. There is nothing self-serving or glory-chasing in the true hero. Men (and some women), like Tal are quietly getting the job done, protecting the people, the land, our animals, trying to keep the air as clean as possible - doing the hard work because, if they don’t, who will?

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.

Abbas appoints his spokesman to be deputy prime minister and minister of propaganda

Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential decree appointing Dr. Nabil Abu Rudeina as deputy prime minister and minister of information.

Rudeina has been the long time spokesman for the Palestinian presidency and a Fatah media and culture commissioner.

This sounds like a very sudden ascension of Abu Rudeina to be the heir apparent for the aging Abbas.

I don't think Saeb Erekat looks happy:

Abu Rudeina has regularly issued mafia-style threats against the world, saying that if Abbas doesn't get his way then there will be terror attacks worldwide. Recently he called any US moves to limit free aid to the PA as long as they give salaries to terrorists a "declaration of war."

This hyperbole will now be more official. Abbas knows that the propaganda war is more important nowadays than any military war and he has chosen to elevate the lies and myths of the Palestinians by promoting the master of lies and threats.

In a normal world, the obvious lies and exaggerations by Abu Rudeina would long ago have prompted the media to accurately portray Abu Rudeina as "Baghdad Bob." But there are rules, you see. Palestinians must be treated seriously no matter what they say and how many times they are proven to have lied.

For Palestinians, the bigger the liar, the bigger the reward.

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.

Real refugees

Ma'an reported earlier this week:

A new bill was introduced in the United States Congress this past week which several US senators are attempting to pass into law that recognizes only 40,000 Palestinian refugees instead of 5.3 million refugees.
The newly introduced bill would ensure that the contributed to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) would go towards the resettlement of Palestinians displaced by the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, and not their descendants – who are a total number of 5.3 million people.
The bill was initiated by Republican Congressman, Doug Lamborn, who entitled it as "The UNRWA Reform and Refugee Support Act."
Lamborn said in a statement that the "refugee status is not something that can be handed down from generation to generation," referring to the descendants of Palestinian refugees who were born and are living in other countries.

Responses from Palestinian leaders and Arab media have been predictable - and these reactions themselves show how untenable their position is that Palestinians remain refugees forever.

Middle East Monitor dismisses the proposal this way:

The secret American proposal says the US can continue to support the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) if it reduces the number of refugees it acknowledges from 5.3 million to only 40,000. This would mean the decedents [sic] of those violently evicted from their homeland in 1948 would not be eligible for aid in spite of continuing to live as refugees in a foreign country.

If that is the criterion for being a "refugee," then there are no refugees living in Gaza or the West Bank - since it is not a "foreign country" - nor are there too many in Jordan, since most of them are citizens.

Magically, this Arab definition just eliminated 4 million "refugees."

Saeb Erekat tries another argument:

Efforts by the US Congress to pass a new law that recognizes only 40,000 Palestinian refugees instead of 5.2 million will not change anything on the ground because the rights of refugees are guaranteed by United Nations General Assembly resolutions, particularly 194 and 302, experts and officials said on Monday.

Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said US efforts to draft a new law that recognizes only 40,000 Palestinian refugees instead of 5.2 million is unacceptable and illegal and will not affect the status quo.

Erekat stressed that the rights of refugees are protected by UN Resolution 194, which cannot be bypassed. He said neither the US Senate nor Congress has the right to override international law and impose their laws on other countries.

UN General Assembly Resolutions are not international law. And 194 does not guarantee descendants of Palestinians who fled in 1948 to be refugees anyway. There is no international law that gives Palestinians refugee rights denied to all other peoples. In fact, 194 refers to "refugees" on both sides - it does not single out Arabs - so therefore does Erekat consider the descendants of Jewish refugees who were expelled from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria to have the right to return there are well, under international law?

Beyond that, 194 also calls for Bethlehem to be part of the "corpus separatum" of Jerusalem under international rule. Is that international law, too?

The PA Ministry of Information also says that treating Palestinians as refugees forever is international law, saying "attempts to manipulate the number of refugees from our people are a dangerous precedent in international relations, requiring the action of the General Assembly and organizations defending international law."

International law is clear on the definition of refugees. The 1951 Refugee Convention didn't give Palestinians a pass where their refugee status can be considered different from all others; it said that Palestinians who were getting support from UNRWA were excluded from being protected under the Convention as long as UNRWA exists.

Which is why UNRWA exists 67 years later.

But there is only one definition for refugee.

And indeed, the UNHCR lists five countries that are the source of the highest number of refugees - Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia - of which only Syria has created more refugees that UNRWA has. Yet it doesn't include "Palestine" on that list.

One gets the impression that UNHCR is almost embarrassed to be sometimes forced to include Palestinians in its count of refugees because it is dealing with people who are in real crisis, not people who live as citizens in their own lands or who have been excluded by law from becoming citizens in the countries in which they have been born, which other international conventions call for.

In short, there is no international law that singles out Palestinians to be treated differently from other people; that idea is anathema to international law. The claims that Palestinian "refugees" are refugees under international law are ludicrous.

But Palestinian leaders have no other arguments, so they have to lie.

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.

08/01 Links Pt2: Corbyn chaired antisemitic event comparing Israel to Nazi Germany in Parliament on Holocaust Memorial Day; Senior Muslim Brotherhood Official Touts Linda Sarsour’s Gaza Video

From Ian:

Jeremy Corbyn chaired antisemitic event comparing Israel to Nazi Germany in Parliament on Holocaust Memorial Day

An historian reviewing old reports has unearthed a 2010 account of Jeremy Corbyn using Holocaust Memorial Day to host an event promoting the narrative that Israel is engaged in acts comparable to Nazi war crimes. The event featured a slideshow decrying what it called the “Holocaust religion”.

The reports found by Dr James Vaughan, record that on 27th January 2010, on Holocaust Memorial Day, Jeremy Corbyn chaired and hosted an event in Parliament comparing Israeli actions in Gaza to the slaughter of Jews during the Holocaust. The event’s title, “Never again – for anyone”, appropriates the slogan “Never again”, which became the rallying cry of post-Holocaust Jewry.

Dr Vaughan, the Director or Undergraduate Studies at the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University, rediscovered a reference to the event whilst reading through an old CST report on antisemitic discourse following the 2009 Gaza War.

Investigating further he found a contemporaneous article from The JC and an account of the same presentation being given a day earlier, in which it was reported that one of the speakers said: “Judaism in Israel has been substituted by the Holocaust Religion whose high priest is Elie Wiesel, Elie Wiesel having literally said that ‘Auschwitz is comparable only to the Sinai experience’ [when Moses received the ten commandments]. Its content [Holocaust Religion] is that we Jews have the monopoly on suffering, nobody has suffered or ever will suffer like the Jews have, therefore whatever we do to the Palestinians is less than what we suffered, and can be done without feeling guilty.” The speaker also claimed that Zionists were dehumanising Palestinians in the same way as the Nazis dehumanised Jews, for example through the infamous Nuremberg laws. The talk was given by Hajo Meyer, an Auschwitz survivor who, in his latter years, turned to abusing the memory of the Holocaust in the way most offensive to Jews, by claiming that “Zionists” were the successors of the Nazis.

The International Definition of Antisemitism, which the Labour Party has refused to adopt, states that “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is antisemitic. It is little wonder that under Mr Corbyn’s leadership, the Labour Party has tried to adopt its own version of the definition which does not prohibit comparing Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.

CAA refers Labour Party to Equality Commission and issues new complaint against Jeremy Corbyn over “Holocaust religion” event and “hand of Israel” comments

Campaign Against Antisemitism has today written to the Labour Party issuing a disciplinary complaint against Jeremy Corbyn. We have also referred the Party to the Equality and Human Rights Commission over discrimination and victimisation in the Party.

Our complaint against Mr Corbyn relates to an event he chaired on Holocaust Memorial Day in 2010 which deliberately compared Israelis to Nazis, and in which a speaker decried what he called the “Holocaust religion”. We have also complained about Mr Corbyn’s paid interview on Iranian-controlled Press TV (months after Ofcom had revoked its licence) in which he blamed “the hand of Israel” for an Islamist terrorist attack in Egypt, and called a Hamas terrorist a “brother” live on air.

We have also referred the Labour Party to the Equality and Human Rights Commission over the Party’s refusal to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism, failure to investigate previous complaints against Mr Corbyn, unreasonable delay and secrecy in disciplinary investigations, bias in disciplinary matters and victimisation of Labour MPs who stand up to antisemitism, including Dame Margaret Hodge and Ian Austin who have today become Honorary Patrons of Campaign Against Antisemitism in an act of solidarity.

The moves come after Labour ignored a fresh protest by British Jews in Parliament Square, with Mr Corbyn’s office sarcastically wishing Campaign Against Antisemitism “good luck” ahead of the demonstration, and revelations that NEC member Peter Willsman will not face disciplinary action despite a shouted tirade against “Trump fanatic” Jews and “falsified” antisemitism allegations.

Corbyn sorry for ‘anxiety’ over event he hosted when Israel was likened to Nazis

Amid the ongoing UK Labour Party anti-Semitism controversy, party leader Jeremy Corbyn apologized Wednesday for “concerns and anxiety” caused by an event he hosted at the House of Commons in 2010 in which a Holocaust survivor compared Israel to the Nazis over its actions in the Gaza Strip.

“In the past, in pursuit of justice for the Palestinian people and peace in Israel/Palestine, I have on occasion appeared on platforms with people whose views I completely reject,” Corbyn said in a statement quoted by British media.

“The main speaker at this Holocaust Memorial Day meeting was a Jewish Auschwitz survivor,” he added. “Views were expressed at the meeting which I do not accept or condone.

“I apologize for the concerns and anxiety that this has caused.”

Corbyn was a relatively unknown Labour MP at the time of the talk, in which anti-Zionist Hajo Meyer also took aim at fellow Auschwitz survivor Elie Wiesel.

Corbyn’s hosting of the event was first reported by The Times, which said it was part of a UK speaking tour called “Never Again for Anyone — Auschwitz to Gaza.”

Meyer’s speech was reportedly titled “The Misuse of the Holocaust for Political Purposes.”