Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, August 19, 2018

08/19 Links: On the 25th anniversary of the Oslo Accords; Top 70 Moments of BDS FAILS in 2018; UNRWA Has Changed the Definition of Refugee; As Gaza truce talks falter, Israel closes border crossing

From Ian:

On the 25th anniversary of the Oslo Accords

For its initiators, the agreement served as leverage to gradually build trust between the sides. It was designed so that both sides would profit from the agreement and receive compensation that would make continuing the negotiations worthwhile, and in this manner, was aimed at accustoming both the Israeli and Palestinian public to a path to a resolution of the conflict, as envisioned by its authors.

But the experiment failed. As could be expected, the Palestinian leadership found it difficult – and quite possibly never even intended – to meet the commitments it took upon itself. The PA never tried to prepare the Palestinian public for the concessions that would be necessary in order to make peace. Worse still, it refused to abandon the use of violence and terrorism as a means to achieving its goals, leaving many Israelis skeptical of the plan.

An interview that Mohammed Dahlan, seen by many as a possible successor to Abbas, gave at the height of the Second Intifada illustrates this point quite well. When asked whether the Oslo Accords had been a mistake, Dahlan replied that the agreement had laid the groundwork for the struggle against Israel. As proof, he said hyperbolically, the number of Israelis killed in the Second Intifada was "100 times higher" than the number of Israelis killed in the first. (In fact, it was about three and a half times higher.)

This is all water under the bridge, but from Israel's standpoint, the problem lies in the reality created by the accord; a reality that, while meant to be temporary in nature, has become permanent. The Palestinian Authority and the Hamas regime in Gaza have become faits accomplis and bones in Israel's throat it can neither throw up nor swallow. This is a problematic reality, which continues to present endless political and security challenges for Israel.

A quarter of a century after the signing of the Oslo Accords, it seems it would be fitting for Israel to look for out-of-the-box solutions and find a way to escape the uncomfortable reality it has since found itself in.

Top 70 Moments of BDS FAILS in 2018

On August 8, 2018 the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS) published a list of what is claimed were the “Top 70 Moments of Solidarity & BDS for Palestine in 2018” and stated that “together, we grow it stronger every day”. The list can be found here – https://bdsmovement.net/news/top-70-moments-solidarity-bds-palestine-2018

North West Friends of Israelhas put together a BDS FAIL list of our Top 70 Moments, showing that Israel remains as strong as ever and that right minded people understand the need to support the ONLY democracy in the Middle East. The BDS movement, as can be seen below, is failing economically to hurt Israel. The danger with BDS lies in its inherent antisemitism, which seeks NOT to help the Palestinians but to delegitimise and ultimately destroy the only Jewish state in the world – Israel. That is why they must be opposed and exposed.

1 On May 14, 2018, the US Embassy in Israel officially moved to, and opened, its new embassy in Jerusalem, declaring that Jerusalem IS the capital of Israel.
2 On May 17, 2018 the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign LOST its case against the UK government. The Court of Appeal ruled that it was indeed illegal for local councils & their pension funds to pursue boycott, divestment and sanctions against foreign nations. The PSC was left with £100,000 of costs to pay.
3 On May 21, 2018, Paraguay opened its new embassy in Jerusalem. The Paraguayan leader Horacio Cartes called it a “historic event,” adding, that this occasion “is of special significance because it expresses the sincere friendship and brave solidarity between Paraguay and Israel.” rHe continued “From the depth of my heart, I appreciate this country that courageously defends its right to live in peace and it is building a praiseworthy, economically prosperous state that ensures its future and that of its children.”
4 On May 16, 2018 Guatemala opened its new embassy in Jerusalem. President Morales said his country, Israel and the United States “share friendship, courage and loyalty”.
5 On May 23, 2018 the State of Louisiana issued an executive order preventing the state to do business with entities boycotting Israel. They became the 25th state -- 50% of the U.S. – who have now said NO to the antisemitic BDS campaign.

UNRWA Has Changed the Definition of Refugee

Last week, Foreign Policy published a story about Palestinian refugees that claimed I am among the “activists trying to strip Palestinians of their status.” The article obscured basic facts about the matters at hand—both my own role as a policy advocate and the questions that lawmakers in Congress are presently considering that pertain to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). I feel compelled to correct the record on both points.

This requires first understanding the legal facts. UNRWA was founded in 1949 through U.N. General Assembly Resolution 302 at the conclusion of the Arab-Israeli conflict of 1948, aiming for “the alleviation of the conditions of starvation and distress among the Palestine refugees” from that conflict. The agency defines Palestinian refugees as “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict.”

In 1965, UNRWA changed the eligibility requirements to be a Palestinian refugee to include third-generation descendants, and in 1982, it extended it again, to include all descendants of Palestine refugee males, including legally adopted children, regardless of whether they had been granted citizenship elsewhere. This classification process is inconsistent with how all other refugees in the world are classified, including the definition used by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the laws concerning refugees in the United States.

Under Article I(c)(3) of the 1951 U.N. Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, a person is no longer a refugee if, for example, he or she has “acquired a new nationality, and enjoys the protection of the country of his new nationality.” UNRWA’s definition of a Palestinian refugee, which is not anchored in treaty, includes no such provision.

Last month, members of Congress introduced a bill asking that with respect to refugees under UNRWA the policy of the United States should be consistent with the definition of a refugee in the Immigration and Nationality Act, such that “derivative refugee status may only be extended to the spouse or minor child of such a refugee” and “an alien who was firmly resettled in any country is not eligible to retain refugee status.”

Foreign Policy’s article includes a claim that deserves closer scrutiny and reflects the sleight of hand often performed by UNRWA.

Rashida Tlaib’s primary victory in Detroit’s 13th Congressional district is daunting for Israel supporters in the US and abroad. In a matter of months, Tlaib will have sizable influence to effect change on an issue central to her heritage (she is a “Palestinian-American”), the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with a voice infallibly slated against Israel.

Following her primary victory and piquing national and international attention, Tlaib regularly lambasted Israel on a slew of topics. In the past few days alone, she’s called for US aid to Israel to be cut, expressed support for BDS, and endorsed a one-state solution.

I spoke with Tlaib’s campaign manager, Steve Tobocman, ahead of the primaries, and he asserted that Tlaib supports a two-state solution, which she now has contradicted. He also stated that Tlaib supported a foreign aid budget to Israel, another position she changed after the election. Tobocman did not immediately respond to my request for clarification on Tlaib’s policies.

Yet Tlaib’s recent rhetoric and past actions are indicative of her genuine beliefs on the conflict.

Tlaib was a keynote speaker at one of Detroit’s largest BDS rallies in 2014, long before her Congressional bid. The rally drew tens of thousands chanting “Free Palestine!” while touting Palestinian flags. Also speaking at the event was Dawud Walid, who heads up the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and publicly discusses his woes with Jews and Zionists.

“Who are those that incur the wrath of Allah? They are the Jews, they are the Jews,” Walid said in a 2012 sermon, one of many anti-Semitic comments he’s made in the past.

Tlaib is also well acquainted with Linda Sarsour, notoriously recognized by the pro-Israel lobby for her contempt of Israel and as supporter of anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan. During the campaign, Sarsour spoke at a Tlaib campaign event giving her endorsement. The relationship between Tlaib and Sarsour dates back years, to the point where Sarsour described Tlaib as a mentor and role model, a disconcerting sign given Sarsour’s track record on Israel. When I asked Tobocman about Tlaib’s relationship with Sarsour, he shifted the subject of the conversation, which he soon after ended.

Tlaib has also expressed sympathy for terrorist and murderer Rasmea Odeh on Twitter.

This is the quality of character chosen by Michiganders to represent them. They chose someone with a vengeance against the State of Israel and who stands by such people as Odeh, and who reverses her position on numerous critical policies following the primary election.

So why has Tlaib garnered so much support despite her evident character flaws and poor choice in associates?

The answer largely has to do with the race for diversity for the sake of diversity, to the point where politicians are elected largely on the basis of their racial and ethnic group. Whether intentionally or not, Tlaib banked on being the first Muslim women to potentially reach Congress in order to grasp voter attention. And Tlaib had significant help from media outlets covering the primaries. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a fact, that the vast majority of headlines about Tlaib read along the lines of ‘First Muslim-American Women Makes Run for Congress,’ entirely ignoring her policies, her questionable friends, and her as a person, beyond being a member of a religion and female. But people love a pioneer—and that’s precisely what Rashida Tlaib represents.

However this isn’t true diversity, and this isn’t the diversity needed in today’s world. Instead, it’s putting the faith of a candidate before the quality of their ideas, a phenomenon which is discriminatory in and of itself.

Diversity is an incredible thing, and initiatives for diversity in institutions have the potential to bring inclusivity and tolerance that has been lacking so heavily in recent years. But when diversity is misconstrued in such a way that Rashida Tlaib is acclaimed in spite of her demagoguery towards Israel, it’s purpose is entirely defeated.

As a result of this pseudo-diversity, Tlaib’s dangerous associations with anti-Semites and Israel-haters, as well as her unconscionable rhetoric are overshadowed by her pioneer-status as a Muslim-American woman.

In this regard, Tlaib resembles another starlet of the 2018 primary campaign: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another harsh critic of Israel, who spoke at a campaign event promoting Tlaib. Cortez fired up the crowd when she exclaimed that “2018 isn’t the year that we get our first Muslim woman to Congress. It’s that we get our first class of Muslim women to Congress.” Cortez would better serve the country if instead of placing the religion of Islam on a pedestal, she spoke to the policies of Tlaib and other Muslim candidates, which are what truly need the attention of voters.

And as per usual, Israel is caught directly in the crosshairs of the pseudo-diversity phenomenon. The blatant distaste for Israel presented by Tlaib as well as Cortez and others, is reprehensible to say the least. Yet we see weak secular media coverage of this and no voter outcry condemning the outrageous beliefs and actions of Tlaib.

This is not a denigration of Islam, or any other minority group for that matter, but a critique of how politicians are nowadays evaluated first and foremost, as a race, an ethnicity, a gender, and a religion, all before being assessed as future lawmakers and leaders of society.

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.

There is literally nothing that Palestinians don't politicize.

On Saturday evening, at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah, 500 grooms and brides got married in a mass ceremony sponsored by Mahmoud Abbas.

Even on this supposedly happiest day of the lives of the thousand celebrants, they had to endure speech after speech about the "occupation" by government and Fatah officials.

"Our people rejoice despite the suffering of the occupation, our conflict with the occupation is long can not stop life, at the same time we stand up and fight and defend our land," said deputy head of Fatah Mahmoud Alalul.

He added, "The fighter is a dreamer and seeks hope, he smiles and marries."

Jamal Moheisen, member of the Central Committee of Fatah, said, "In Palestine, where children throw their stones on the occupation and adorned their streets with images of martyrs, joy dwells beside the pain...we are in support of the young men and we're proud of them because they are the pillars on which to build the nation by pumping new blood in its veins to create a demographic balance in the face of the settlements.

"The president resolutely addresses the biased US policy that wants to impose its will on the world to contravene international law and international legitimacy, in addition to confronting the occupying state and its extremist government which is trying to settle the Palestinian issue through the Trump deal.... We tell the world that our people offer martyrs every day and put their best sons in prison, yet we are still committed to love, joy and high values," he added.

"Here we are, and here we resisted and we are still here, and here we will resist, and from here our martyrs have risen, and here we will remain steadfast in life and send greetings to our prisoners in Israeli prisons."

Of course, the wedding as also a huge advertisement for Abbas himself. Singers sang songs about "Abu Mazen" (see around 14:00) and the banners showed his picture prominently.

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.

Israelis taking over the world, just like the Protocols said they would (updates)

Netta's Eurovision winning song Toy is now at #2 in the Billboard Dance Club Chart.

Last week it was #3.

UPDATE: This week it is set to be #1!

__________________________________________

Israeli gymnast Linoy Ashram on Saturday broke the world record in the clubs-handling round at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup in Minsk, and went on to win the gold medal in the all-round phase of the competition.

The 19-year-old Ashram received a score of 20.65 for her clubs demonstration, surpassing the 20.05 record set at the 2018 European Championships by Russian Dina Averina.

The Israeli Olympic Committee noted that Ashram is the first person in the history of the Challenge Cup to win two gold medals in one season, after she won a gold in the competition in Spain in May.

Ashram hopes to improve her results later this year at the World Championships in Bulgaria. Last year she finished third in the all-around competition at the Championships in Italy, making her the first Israeli to ever win a medal in the category.

(h/t Yoel)

UPDATE 2: Yoel reminds me that the Israel Under-20 Basketball National Team are champions of Europe!

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.

08/18 Links: Democrats Are Bringing a New Anti-Israel Caucus to Congress; UN chief proposes military force to protect Palestinians from Israel; Abbas calls for intensifying 'popular resistance' against Israel

From Ian:

As pro-Palestinian pols win primaries, US Jews ask if it’s ‘a wave or a ripple’

This summer has been a good one for pro-Palestinian candidates running for the US Congress.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has slammed Israel’s West Bank occupation, shocked the political world with her upset victory over veteran congressman Joe Crowley for his New York House seat.

Illhan Omar, who has called Israel an “apartheid regime,” won the Democratic nomination for a Minnesota House seat.

And Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American who calls for a one-state solution that would spell the end of Israel as a Jewish state, and for gutting US military aid to Israel, won her party’s nomination for a Michigan House seat.

All of these candidates are heavily favored to win the general election in their reliably blue districts. And they are posing a question for Washington’s pro-Israel establishment: What does their collective ascendance forebode about the future of US-Israel relations?

The answer depends on who you ask. Pro-Israel operatives who focus on maintaining bipartisan support for the Jewish State insist it means very little. Presuming they go to Capitol Hill, they will be just three of 535 members of Congress.

Joel Pollak: Democrats Are Bringing a New Anti-Israel Caucus to Congress

Despite Israel’s socialist roots, the far-left now identifies with the Palestinians, overlooking the brutality of Palestinian terror, the pervasive antisemitism of Palestinian society, and the authoritarian rule of both the Islamist Hamas regime in Gaza and the secular Palestinian Authority.

In May, after Hamas used a phony “mass protest” to in an effort to breach the Gaza border and attack Israeli civilians, AOC sided with the terrorist group, calling the Israeli response a “massacre” — even though nearly all of the 62 killed were Hamas operatives. In July, she stated that while she believed “absolutely in Israel’s right to exist,” she was opposed to the “occupation of Palestine.” She could not, when pressed, explain what she meant by the term, which the far-left often uses to refer to all of the State of Israel.

But there are two incoming representatives even more hostile to Israel than AOC.

One of them is Ilhan Omar, a Somali-born state representative who won the Democratic Party primary for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district — the seat being vacated by Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) — this week. In the past, Omar has referred to Israel as an “apartheid regime.” In 2014, during a war in Gaza, Omar tweeted: “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.”

More recently, like AOC, Omar has deployed pro-Israel boilerplate to placate voters, donors, and critics. Earlier this month, she told a candidate forum: “I support a two-state solution. It is going to be important for us to recognize Israel’s place in the Middle East and the Jewish people’s rightful place within that region.” She also said that she opposed the “Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions” (BDS) movement.

But in the state legislature, she opposed a bill against boycotts of Israel and urged divestment from Israel bonds.

The other is Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American who won the crowded Democratic Party primary for the 13th congressional district of Michigan last week. She promptly launched a series of anti-Israel tweets, apparently in response to events in the Middle East, where Hamas launched nearly 200 rockets at Israeli civilians and the Israeli air force responded by targeting Hamas military infrastructure.

In the past, Tlaib supported Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh’s bid to fight deportation, and is backed by anti-Israel Palestinian-American activist and Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour, who called for “jihad” against the Trump administration.

Curiously, Tlaib seems to be facing an onslaught of criticism from within the Palestinian-American community, for whom ordinary participation in American politics is seen as a form of selling out. One of her defenders tweeted that for Tlaib, “The first fight was for Palestine, always Palestine.”

J Street drops endorsement of Michigan candidate for backing one-state solution

J Street has withdrawn its endorsement of Rashida Tlaib, a Democratic candidate for Congress in Michigan who recently called for a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Tlaib, who is the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, also called for a reduction in foreign aid to Israel. She is likely to win her Detroit-area district.

J Street, the liberal Mideast policy organization, advocates for a two-state solution to the conflict, among other things. Tlaib had previously received the endorsement of the lobby’s JStreetPAC based on her support for two states.

“After closely consulting with Rashida Tlaib’s campaign to clarify her most current views on various aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we have come to the unfortunate conclusion that a significant divergence in perspectives requires JStreetPAC to withdraw our endorsement of her candidacy,” read a statement from J Street Friday afternoon.

“While we have long championed the value of a wide range of voices in the discussion of the conflict and related issues, we cannot endorse candidates who come to the conclusion that they can no longer publicly express unequivocal support for a two-state solution and other core principles to which our organization is dedicated,” the statement said.

Morton Klein: Jonathan Neumann's Epic Takedown of 'Tikkun Olam'

Jonathan Neumann’s new book, “To Heal the World?: How the Jewish Left Corrupts Judaism and Endangers Israel,” is an important examination of the distorted theology employed by the radical left to lead many Jews astray.

Neumann describes how radical Jewish leftists distorted and turned a minor phrase, “tikkun olam” (repairing the world), into a left-wing political “social justice” universalist theology that is hostile to Israel and traditional Judaism, and which sympathizes with the Jewish people’s enemies.

Neumann explains that “tikkun olam” theology is relatively new, and is not grounded in traditional Judaism or an honest reading of Jewish sources. “Tikkun olam” is never mentioned in the Torah/Bible. The left takes occasional, insignificant mentions of the words “tikkun olam” in other Jewish writings out of context and reinterprets them.

For instance, a prayer (the “Aleynu“) that expresses the hope that G-d will establish his kingdom over the whole world, and that one day everyone will praise G-d and obey G-d’s laws, is reinterpreted by the left as a call for man to engage in left-wing political activism.

Neumann recounts how the Jewish Reform, Reconstructionist, and Renewal movements have rejected traditional Judaism in favor of universalist, left-wing “social justice.” However, their departure from tradition repelled some Jews who had a connection to or understanding of traditional Judaism. Thus, leftist leaders adopted a different approach: They falsely and deceptively claimed that revolutionary, left-wing “social justice” was really always part of the Jewish tradition. Thus “tikkun olam” theology was adopted by the liberal Jewish movements, and succeeded in turning many American Jews against the actual teachings of their own faith, and against the Jewish state.

“Tikkun olam” theology fixates on the Biblical creation story to support universalism above all else. Under this theology, there is nothing unique about, or even a need for, the Jewish people, because everyone came from the same creator.

08/17 Links Pt2: Glick: Peter Beinart’s latest publicity stunt; Farrakhan the Fraud; FP Mag Does PR for UNRWA; The Corbyn Challenge for Progressives

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Peter Beinart’s latest publicity stunt

There has been a lot of hand-wringing in official Israel over the brief questioning of anti-Israel author Peter Beinart at Ben-Gurion Airport this week. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement on the episode calling it “an administrative mistake.”

Netanyahu added, “Israel is an open society which welcomes all – critics and supporters alike.”

Deputy Minister for Public Diplomacy Michael Oren said Beinart’s questioning is grounds “for an immediate examination of all policy towards the entry of political activists.”

Speaking to Israel National News, Oren said, “Detaining American Jewish reporter Peter Beinart is an example of how acting unwisely causes both strategic and PR damage.

“Beinart is a top-rate American media person. Most of his opinions about Israel disgust me, but he does not support BDS, and in fact defines himself as a Zionist.”

Oren’s position is problematic first and foremost because it is factually wrong.

Beinart is a major supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. Indeed, he is a central figure in the movement. This mere fact renders Beinart’s protestations of Zionism disingenuous, to put it mildly.

Douglas Murray: What’s the truth about the Manchester bomber’s mosque?

The BBC seems to be getting it from all sides these days. So it should also be praised when it does the sort of journalism which is praise-worthy.

Yesterday, the BBC revealed that they had got hold of a tape recording from a mosque in Didsbury. Not any old mosque, but the mosque that the Manchester Arena bomber – Salman Abedi – attended. The recording is from Friday prayers at the Didsbury mosque just six months before the Ariana Grande concert bombing. It is possible, indeed likely, that the bomber who killed 22 people and gave lifelong injuries to many more was sitting in the congregation during this sermon. Abedi apparently bought a ticket for the Manchester Arena concert just 10 days after the sermon was given.

In it the imam prays for the ‘victory’ of ‘our brothers and sisters right now in Aleppo and Syria and Iraq’ and clearly calls on his listeners to stop using just words and commit to action in the name of what two Muslim scholars who have listened to the tapes confirm to be ‘military jihad’. The imam who gave this sermon – Mustafa Graf – denies that he called for armed jihad. Presumably, once again, in the portion in which he said ‘Jihad for the sake of Allah is the source of pride and dignity for this nation’ he was talking about inner spiritual struggling and by ‘nation’ meant the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

It all brings to mind something that happened in the immediate aftermath of the Manchester attack. I wrote about it here at the time.

‘On Question Time when an audience member, who happened to have the triple disadvantages of being white, male and not being young, waved an anti-Western leaflet he said had been handed out at an open day at the Didsbury mosque where Salman Abedi worshipped. This significant revelation mainly attracted awkward shuffling. By contrast, a young woman in a headscarf in the audience immediately dismissed the man’s leaflet as probably not from the mosque and in any case ‘taken out of context’. Along with the programme’s chair, David Dimbleby, she implied it was possible the man had made the leaflet up himself, leaving the poor man spluttering, waving his leaflet and clearly wondering why he wouldn’t be believed.’

Farrakhan the Fraud

To the Editor:
James Kirchick correctly portrays Louis Farrakhan as perhaps the most popular and dangerous anti-Semite in America (“The Rise of Black Anti-Semitism,” June). While neo-Nazis and white supremacists drummed up a few hundred people at their “national” rally in Charlottesville, Farrakhan’s recent rant in Chicago excited an adoring crowd more than three times that size.

Unlike what happens at alt-right rallies, no toughs will ever shut down a Farrakhan event. And unlike other anti-Semites, Farrakhan has open sympathizers in positions of power—especially inside the black community and on the left. What Louis Farrakhan says about Jews will only reach more and more people.

It may seem difficult for Jews to press liberal and black activists to renounce the Nation of Islam leader given the widely held belief that, his offensive views aside, Farrakhan is a legitimate leader of an oppressed people who gives voice to black liberation and black pride.

That is why it is important to understand precisely how this is untrue: Farrakhan has covered up and sought to deny the enslavement of Africans by Arabs and Muslims. He has been and continues to be an obstacle to their liberation.

Weeks after her lies about alleged Israeli crimes were thoroughly debunked, Bishop Gayle Harris has finally issued an apology:

I am very aware of the dismay resulting from my statements on the floor of the House of Bishops at the General Convention in July relating to Israel and Palestine.

For my entire adult life I have maintained that the State of Israel must exist, with safe borders and the establishment of respectful relationships by and with neighboring countries. I have strongly condemned the actions of extremists and bigots against Jewish people in the United States. I also hold that within any country's borders justice and the respect for the dignity of every human being is paramount. I have not, nor would I ever, condemn the whole of any people or ethnic group by criticizing the actions of a few, whether as individuals or as agents of any government.

After reviewing my words in the House of Bishops from a transcription, I now acknowledge that I reported stories which I had heard and unintentionally framed them as though I had personally witnessed the alleged events. I sincerely apologize. I now understand how the framing of my words could and did give the wrong impression. The fault is solely mine. I acknowledge also that I did not take the opportunity to verify these stories. I was speaking from my passion for justice for all people, but I was repeating what I received secondhand. I was ill-advised to repeat the stories without verification, and I apologize for doing so.

Our society is experiencing a rise in public slander, anger and bigotry, where civility and respectful dialogue on different perspectives has been sidelined for invective and condemnation. In this context, I am now painfully aware that my words in the House of Bishops caused pain for many. I am committed to share my concerns in ways that do not simplistically demonize others and cut off discussion, and I hope for the same in return.

Again, for the hurt I have caused, I do apologize. It is my hope, and my commitment centered on our baptismal vows to continue to "strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being" (from The Baptismal Covenant, The Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer). May there be such equality and respect between Israelis and Palestinians, and may there be among us all justice, in order to bring God's peace.

Shalom and Salaam,
The Rt. Rev. Gayle E. Harris, Bishop Suffragan, Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts

Notice that nowhere does she say that the stories were false, even though the story about the Temple Mount is clearly impossible and the other one was not reported in any media ever.

She doesn't want to alienate her anti-Israel fans by flatly saying that she did investigate and could find no evidence that the stories were true.

The apology is better than nothing, but it is not what it should have been if she really learned her lesson. It isn't enough to admit that she didn't verify the stories - she should admit that they are false.

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 puff piece in WSJ includes almost certainly fabricated quote from a child

The Wall Street Journal has a puff piece about UNRWA, which is opening all of its schools next week despite lots of warnings a couple of weeks back that the schools might all be shuttered forever.

The WSJ does not quote a single critic of UNRWA. But it also includes this highly unlikely quote:

Nagham Abu Amra aspires to be a doctor, but she said she is worried she won’t have other options if the schools, which educate about half the students in Gaza, shut early.

“If the school closes, how will we acquire knowledge?,” said the 13-year-old, who lives with her family in Deir al-Balah, a town in central Gaza. “We won’t be able to fulfill our dreams,”

Sounds like a perfectly natural thing for a 13 year old to say.

By the way, there are just about as many government-run schools in Gaza as there are UNRWA schools. The public schools are also free (although there are charges for books, which UNRWA gives out for free.)

The world is paying for an entirely separate, parallel school system that uses the same curriculum as in the host countries. And somehow this is considered a good thing.

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.

08/17 Links Pt1: The Jewish State Declares Itself a Jewish State; Trump, Putin agree on getting Iran out of Syria; Palestinians use indications of media affiliation to protect themselves during terrorist attacks

From Ian:

The Jewish State Declares Itself a Jewish State

Israel’s more mainstream left, and the major Jewish organizations who criticized the bill, do say they support Israel as a Jewish state. Livni and others were understandably peeved when Netanyahu called for the left to engage in introspection over its opposition to the new law and implied that it is “embarrassed by Zionism.” This is what led her to accuse Netanyahu of incitement.

To say that mainstream Israeli leftists, like the more centrist Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party and much of Labor, are embarrassed to be Zionists or don’t want a Jewish state does take things way too far. Since its merger with Livni’s party in 2014, the Labor Party is now literally called Zionist Union. And on a less superficial matter, these are people who strongly advocate for a two-state solution, not on the grounds of peace but because they believe that is the only way to keep Israel Jewish in the long run.

The most resonant argument for a two-state solution is the “demographic threat.” If Israel and the Palestinians don’t separate from each other, the thinking goes, there will eventually be an Arab majority, and Israel will cease to be either Jewish or democratic. The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the IDF unit implementing government policy on civilian matters in the West Bank, reported this year that there is population parity between Jews and Arabs between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. Many dispute these numbers, pointing out that they are based on the Palestinian Authority’s data, and even the COGAT representative speaking in the Knesset admitted that there is evidence that the PA is inflating the figures. The concern of many on the mainstream left with the demographic threat is a mark of seriousness about Israel’s Jewishness; they are willing to concede a large, strategic swath of land and provoke an almost certain threat to the country’s security in order to maintain it.

And yet they have aligned themselves with a group of lawmakers who openly disdain the Zionist vision of a Jewish state, in order to state their opposition to the idea that Israel is the Jewish state.

Zionist leftists’ focus on equality and civil rights is admirable, and in general, their role as a loyal opposition is important in a democracy. They keep the government in check. But in this case, they need to take a step back and realize that this law is not what their fellow travelers are making it out to be.

The Misrepresentation of Israel’s Democracy

Denying Arab agency is a longstanding habit of Israel’s critics. And that is what’s noteworthy about these often-hysterical reactions to the nation-state law: The stories use the legislation merely as a jumping-off point for larger complaints about Israel’s Jewish character. For these writers, this isn’t a debate over the Israeli flag. It’s a debate over Jewish nationalism and a proxy for the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

In a July 24 “Ideas” piece for Time, Ilene Prusher wrote, “It’s not clear that the equality outlined in the founders’ vision statement”—that’s progressive-speak for “Declaration of Independence”—“remains a goal. It’s certainly far from reality.” Prusher continued, “The new law provides legal teeth for discrimination that is currently de facto” and, citing a left-wing law professor at Hebrew University, “essentially makes discrimination constitutional.”

No, it doesn’t, actually. Rather than speculate, the nation-state bill’s opponents might try examining the actual text, which says absolutely nothing about discrimination. As Eugene Kontorovich of Northwestern University said during a recent episode of the Jewish Leadership Conference podcast, “Anything can be perverted—but that does not mean everything is perverse.”

The truth is that democracy is thriving in Israel. So are many of the values one normally associates with (egad!) the New York Times. Last I checked, Israel is the one country in the Middle East where you can attend an LGBT Pride parade. Noah Ephron, a critic of the nation-state law, points out that the proportion of women serving in the Knesset is higher than in the U.S. Congress or average EU parliament. There is universal health care. “Alone among Western democracies,” Ephron adds, “labor unions have grown bigger and stronger in Israel over the past decade.” Minority citizens are guaranteed the same rights as Jewish ones. And it is precisely these achievements that are sustained by Israel’s Jewish character and traditions.

The Times quoted Avi Shilon, a historian at Ben-Gurion University, who said dismissively, “Mr. Netanyahu and his colleagues are acting like we are still in the battle of 1948, or in a previous era.” Judging by the fallacious, paranoid, fevered, and at times bigoted reaction to the nation-state bill, however, Bibi may have good reason to believe that Israel is still in the battle of 1948, and still defending itself against assaults on the very idea of a Jewish State.

If Israel has such bad PR, why does it remain so popular?

The first mention in JTA of the Hebrew word “hasbarah” was in 1988, at the height of the first intifada. The article focused on Israelis and American Jews and their deep concern that the media were distorting the unrest and showing the Israeli military in a bad light.

The answer, interviewees agreed, was better “hasbarah” — a Hebrew word, explained the author (OK, it was me), “whose meaning falls somewhere between information and propaganda.”

“Israel has never actually looked at hasbarah as an integral part of policymaking,” said Dan Pattir, a former press secretary to prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Menachem Begin.

Fast forward 30 years. Writing last week in the Los Angeles Times, Noga Tarnopolsky makes a convincing case that Israel’s public diplomacy efforts are flawed, unprofessional, scattershot and out of touch. Critics tell her that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu relies too much on social-media videos to defend Israel. They say its military spokespeople are ill prepared to answer questions about controversial events, like May’s deadly riots on the border with Gaza.

““There is … no single authority that coordinates and supervises these various activities,” complains Michael Oren, who is (wait for it) Israel’s deputy minister in charge of public diplomacy.

The critics, however, don’t make a convincing case why any of this matters.

Complaints about Israel’s hasbarah efforts are as regular and ritualistic as the Jewish holidays. Without answers from a strong PR campaign, the theory goes, the litany of anti-Israel charges gains traction.

The real story behind the false "Israel blocked mail to the PA for 8 years" story (Tomer Ilan)

Here's how the world media reported the story this week:

Here's the truth, from Tomer Ilan (I modified it slightly in point 4 to conform with Haaretz' reporting):

A small story showing how world media twists facts and propagates anti-Israel propaganda, generating more and more hatred towards Israel.

In the last few days, the world’s leading media outlets are engulfed by the headline “Palestinian mail blocked by Israel arrives eight years late”.

Originally released by the French news agency AFP, it has been published again and again in BBC News, New York Times, NBC News, The Guardian, The Independent, Daily Mail and many others.

The article make it look like Israel has cruelly blocked *all* Palestinian mail from being delivered for 8 years and highlights that the “blocked” mail includes a wheelchair, showing just how evil these Israelis are, even towards people with disabilities. While blaming Israel, the article says the mail had been held in Jordan, but never explains how it got there in the first place. All these outlets just republish the AFP article.

Here’s the full story:

1. As agreed in the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians, international mail to the Palestinian Authority must be sent via Israel’s Postal Service.

2. Mail is delivered to the PA from all countries of the world without any problem, except mail from Arab countries that boycott Israel’s Postal Service and sent it to Jordan instead.

3. Jordan was not authorized to transfer mail to the PA, so any mail that was sent to the PA via Jordan was stuck there.

4. Israel, Jordan and the PA have negotiated since 2009 on an agreement to allow Jordan to transfer mail to the PA. In 2016 an MOU was signed and while there hasn't been a full agreement yet, according to Haaretz, Israel allowed the 10 tons of mail stuck in Jordan to finally be delivered as a goodwill gesture while negotiations continue.

The PA confirms the above. Hussein Sawafta, director of the Palestinian postal service, told Haaretz that “Israel held up the mail because it was not properly addressed to the Israeli postal service”.

So world media makes it looks like all mail was blocked, not just mail from Arab countries.

And instead of blaming Arab countries who caused the whole problem by refusing to use Israel’s Postal service, they blame Israel.

And just to make sure hatred to Israel will be generated, they put a wheelchair into the story.

Comments on Facebook show just how successful this propaganda is.

For example on BBC News Facebook page, 1500 comments were posted, 99% of which are hateful to Israel.

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.

In The Palestine Papers, the PLO officially argued against the existence of the Jewish people:

Recognizing the Jewish state implies recognition of a Jewish people and recognition of its right to self-determination. Those who assert this right also assert that the territory historically associated with this right of self-determination (i.e., the self-determination unit) is all of Historic Palestine. Therefore, recognition of the Jewish people and their right of self-determination may lend credence to the Jewish people’s claim to all of Historic Palestine.

Palestinians have made this lie into a major theme. For example, earlier this year the editor of Ma'an wrote, "The Jews are not a people and they are not a nation.....If we say that the Jews are a people, then there is no place for the Palestinian people on the land of Palestine."

However. Mahmoud Abbas once admitted that the Jews were a nation - when talking to an Israeli newspaper and defending himself against his Holocaust-denying book written in 1984.

In 2003, in an interview with Akiva Eldar in Haaretz, Abbas said, "The Holocaust was a terrible, unforgivable crime against the Jewish nation, a crime against humanity that cannot be accepted by humankind. "

So is there a Jewish people and a Jewish nation, or not, according to Abbas?

Unfortunately, there are very few reporters willing to ask him about his contradictions and lies, of which there are many - including about the Holocaust itself, where he called the murder of six million Jews a "myth" and "a fantastic lie" before condemning it to Israeli reporters.

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.

Today, Hamas is scheduling the 21st weekly "return" protest along the Gaza border. The theme today is "Revolution for Jerusalem and Al Aqsa."

It is for the "49th anniversary of the burning of Al Aqsa Mosque by Zionist gangs." They are referring to the burning of the pulpit of the mosque in 1969 by a crazed Australian Christian.

Ma'an reports that Israeli officials are calling today a "test day" to see if Hamas is serious about a truce.

An Israeli military official said that Hamas was interested in maintaining calm, saying that the Israeli army would not intervene if the protests were held away from the border with no one going up to the fence.

It is unclear how Israel would respond to flaming kites and balloons launched during the protest.

The protests are scheduled from 3-7:30 PM, which is an indication that the Gaza side is attempting to tamp down the violence without losing face by abandoning the protests altogether.

It is notable that the spokesman for the weekly protests Ahmad Abu Rutema, recently said that "we have lost the battle for public opinion in the Return March," and that "there is nothing wrong with a tactical withdrawal" when it makes sense.

Right now, it is the Arab sense of "honor" keeping the weekly protests going. The only question is whether that will manifest itself with violence.

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.

08/16 Links Pt2: Glick: Left Pushing Fake News to Smear Israel’s Nation-State Law; Europe’s War on Israel; Corbyn pictured with mastermind of Har Nof synagogue massacre

From Ian:

Israel vs. BDS

Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser led the Israeli government's efforts against the BDS movement until 2014. He now works for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He headed the research division of IDF military intelligence during the Second Intifada, has good Arabic, and was appointed director general of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs in 2009.

Kuperwasser says the threat BDS poses to Israel is very real. "The core issue is not whether they are going to boycott us or not boycott us. The core issue is whether they are going to be successful in implanting in the international discourse that Israel is illegitimate as a Jewish state."

"The Palestinians are taking a very big risk," he said. "Because, in my mind, there is a good chance that the world will deny their conceptual framework. People will say: 'This is what the Palestinians want?! We are totally against it. They are crazy; they want Israel to disappear.'" In Kuperwasser's view, the BDS movement and the Palestinian leadership share the same goals; the differences between them are merely a matter of tactics.

"Abu Mazen [Abbas] understands more than the BDS movement that you have to be subtle." The PLO's acceptance of a two-state solution was merely a subterfuge designed to obtain a West Bank-Gaza state, which would then serve as a launching pad for continued struggle. "The Palestinian idea of struggle is so deeply embedded in their mind that they cannot actually think about the possibility of giving up the struggle in order to make peace."

"We are saying there is no difference between a settlement boycott and a boycott of Israel. If you want to promote the boycotting of Israel, any part of Israel, you are not a friend of Israel. You are actually an enemy of Israel."

Kuperwasser was confident that Israel was taking the right approach and would succeed, as it had against past assaults: "We won the war on the conventional battlefield. To start with, our chances were very slim. We won the war on terror. Again, it wasn't easy."

"I remember when we went to the big battle - the Second Intifada - and many generals around the world were telling me, 'Listen, Kuper, you're wasting your time: nobody ever won a war against terrorism,' citing Vietnam and other cases. And I said: 'No, we shall win this war as well. We are innovative and determined enough. And unlike many other battles, we don't have a second option, an alternative. We have to win.' The same goes here. We shall win."

Naftali Bennett [NYTs]: Israel Is Proud of Who We Are

We Israelis are proud of who we are. We are proud of our Jewish traditions and identity, and we are proud of the equality and freedoms for all our people. Last month our government passed the Nation State Law, which reaffirms the centrality of the Jewish identity and nature of the State of Israel. Our self-identification as a Jewish homeland will never change. It is a central tenet of Zionism.

Some critics argue that somehow the addition of such a law to Israel's robust judicial system, and political checks and balances, poses a threat to the future of the Jewish people and to Jews the world over. This is preposterous.

Keeping Israel as the Jewish nation-state does not threaten the future of the Jewish people; it safeguards it. Protecting Jewish traditions, just as they safeguarded our people through two millenniums of exile, is the only way to be sure that Israel can continue to be a strong and vibrant democracy in a very difficult region.

Caroline Glick: Left Pushing Fake News to Smear Israel's Nation-State Law

In his [Netanyahu's] words, as quoted by the Times of Israel, “Yesterday we saw PLO flags in the heart of Tel Aviv. We heard the calls: ‘With blood and fire we will redeem Palestine.’ Many of the demonstrators want to abrogate the Law of Return [which gives Jewish immigrants automatic Israeli citizenship], cancel the national anthem, fold up our flag and cancel Israel as the national state of the Jewish people and turn it – as their spokespersons said – into an Israeli-Palestinian state, and others say: A state of all its citizens.”

“It is for precisely this that we passed the nation-state law. We are proud of our state, our flag and our national anthem. Israel is a Jewish and democratic state. The individual rights of its citizens are anchored very well in the basic laws and other laws. Now it is clearer than ever that the nation-state law is also necessary… to ensure the future of the State of Israel as the national state of the Jewish people. We passed this law and we will uphold it.”

In other words, the protest movement that the center Left politicians instigated against the law that codified Israel’s national foundations has placed the Netanyahu government in the position of defender of Israel’s very existence. The political opposition, from the center-Left to pro-Hamas Arab factions, is united in its opposition to the law that does nothing more than state the obvious.

The overwhelming majority of Israelis are hardcore patriots. They do not take well to people who undermine Israel’s national identity. Indeed, every leftist government in Israeli history has been elected by running on right-wing platforms. The battle the center-Left parties have led against the Jewish Nation State law has potentially doomed them to the political desert for the next generation.

This brings us back to Trump.

Israel’s current fight over the Nation State Law shows that as the Left throughout the Western world becomes ever more radicalized, Trump’s confrontational strategy for contending with the phenomenon is proving itself not only politically wise, but also vital for preserving the free nations of the Western world as a whole.

Remembering Munich (Forest Rain)

By Forest Rain

At the Munich Olympics of 1972, less than three decades after the Holocaust, Jews were murdered on German soil – because they were Jews. Because they were Israelis.

The Olympics has historically been a place of peace where even warring nations could come together and compete in the sports arena, rather than on the battlefield. On September 5th, 1972 that changed with the first ever international terrorism spectacle that unfolded on live tv as frightened people around the world watched.

PLO Black September terrorists broke into the Olympic Compound, taking 11 Israeli athletes hostage. During the 22 hour standoff the hostages were beaten. Champion weightlifter Yossef Romano who had tried to fight off the terrorists and save his friends, was shot, castrated and left to bleed to death in front of the other, helpless, hostages.

The German authorities failed to rescue the hostages and, in the end, came the words of Jim McKay, the anchor for ABC’s Olympics Coverage:

“When I was a kid my father used to say ‘Our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized.’ Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They have now said there were 11 hostages; two were killed in their rooms yesterday morning, nine were killed at the airport tonight. They're all gone.”

Repeated attempts to give the athletes the recognition they are due have fallen on deaf ears. In 2012, in honor of the 40th anniversary of this tragic event, organizations, communities, families from around the world sought recognition of this event by requesting that the International Olympic Committee approve 1 minute of silence in their memory at the opening ceremony of the 2012 games. The request was denied.

That’s why the Israel Forever Foundation created the Munich Memory Project.

It cannot be that this picture has become iconic

While the faces and names of these men are forgotten:

It is up to us to make sure this event is not swept under the carpet of history.

When UK’s Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn honors terrorists that committed this atrocity saying “he was present but not involved at a wreath-laying”, it is not up to us to change Mr. Corbyn. At the same time, it is up to us to question what is happening in the UK that enables antisemites to take on prominent political roles. It is up to us to wonder, to ask, to demand answers why so many British feel it appropriate to elect such a man.

It is up to remember the athletes, to learn their names, to honor their legacy. It is up to us to make sure it is known, that like the Israelis of today who use their own bodies as human shields to protect friends and loved ones from terrorists, the Israeli athletes in Munich also fought to save their friends, endangering themselves to save others.

In Munich it was Moshe Weinberg who, sensing the danger, threw himself up against the door, screaming at his friends to escape before the terrorists could enter. Gad Zavarj survived because Moshe blocked the terrorists, giving him enough time to jump out of the window. Yossef Gutfreund did the same, blocking the door so his roommates could escape.

Their legacy is not the ugly death at the hands of vile terrorists, their legacy is the sublime gift of life they gave their friends.

It is up to each and every one of us to remind first ourselves, and then the rest of the world that Munich was the beginning, not the end of terrorism spectacles. First came Munich, then came hijackings, then came 9/11, bombings, car rammings and knife attacks. London, Paris, Bali, India, Mombasa and Russia. What terrorists did to their victims in the Bataclan is what they learned from what the Black September terrorists did to Yossef Romano.

What starts with the Jews does not end with the Jews.

The horror of the Munich Massacre is not an Israeli problem or even a Jewish problem. It’s a human problem.

All decent people should be able to easily say that kidnapping, torture and abuse is wrong. All decent people should be able to easily say that there is no place for politics (or terror tactics meant to influence politics) in sports.

But what happens is not up to “all people”, it is up to each and every one of us, as individuals to choose if and how we will respond.

I’m pleased to be a part of the Israel Forever Foundation where we have chosen to honor the legacy of the murdered – as athletes, friends, family stolen from our people.

We will stand for them – even if no one else will.

Remembering Munich isn’t just about commemorating a past tragedy, it’s about protecting our future. It’s a statement that murdering Jews just because they are Jews, just because they belong to the Nation of Israel is totally unacceptable. It’s a statement that the Jewish right to life is the human right to life.

Please visit the Munich Memory Project and make sure others remember too:

https://israelforever.org/programs/Munich11Memory/

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.