Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, March 22, 2019

03/22 Links Pt1: Israel's Sovereignty on the Golan Heights: Why Now?; Denmark, Austria, UK, Australia to oppose anti-Israel resolutions at UNHRC

From Ian:

Israel's Sovereignty on the Golan Heights: Why Now?

The restoration of part of the Jewish people to part of its historic, indigenous territory did not need ratification by the League of Nations or the U.N. Jews lived there from the beginning – sometimes only a remnant, and after 70 C.E. under various occupations, and in increasing numbers beginning in the 19th century. Its capital was never anyone else’s capital. To be a modern, independent state, however, the Jewish people accepted the international standards of the 20th century – the Balfour Declaration, with an endorsement by the U.S. Congress in 1922, the League of Nations, and the United Nations – in support of its sovereign status.

That’s it. The fact that the Arab States not only did not accept those standards, but went to war more than once to turn the clock back has nothing to do with anything.

As we mourn the passing of Moshe Arens — Israeli patriot and diplomat, defense minister and aeronautical engineer, we quote him. “According to the second law of thermodynamics there are no reversible processes in nature. Nothing can return exactly to its original state. This law may not hold in international relations, but the exceptions are few and far between.”

The U.N. may have a better chance of reversing the laws of thermodynamics than of bringing Syria to accept its obligations under U.N. Resolution 242.

But in 1967, the U.N. was smarter than that. Resolution 242 did not confirm some nebulous “right to exist” for Israel; that was established. It didn’t even call for “peace” as its ultimate aim. Instead, it required “a just and lasting peace in which every State in the area can live in security.” Peace was the condition that would provide security – and security for a sovereign Israel was the endgame.

How long is Israel required to wait? It has been almost 52 years since Syria lost the Golan Heights as a result of aggression from that space that began before the independence of Israel. It is 45 years since Israel repulsed the aggression of the Yom Kippur War.

It is appropriate for the world to ratify Israel’s right, not to minimal or shaky “existence,” but rather to “secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force” on the Golan.

Trump's Golan Announcement Was No Impulse Tweet

Donald Trump once again overturned decades of U.S. policy via Twitter when he declared on Thursday that the United States should recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a disputed territory Israel seized in the 1967 war with Syria. The area, he wrote, is “of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!”

The timing of the announcement, ahead of Israeli elections on April 9, drew immediate accusations that it was aimed to benefit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces a competitive campaign as well as a looming indictment over alleged corruption. Following the move of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem last May, this was the second time that Trump reversed long-standing U.S. positions on Israel, appearing to offer a major gift to the Israeli prime minister without any obvious concessions in return. Yet the push for Trump to make such a move has been going on for more than a year, due to parallel efforts by Israeli officials and members of Congress.

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas was already drafting a plan to reinforce Israel’s control over the territory, which it effectively annexed in 1981, last summer. The rationale at the time had less to do with Israeli politics than with Iran, which was consolidating strength in Syria via its proxy Hezbollah and directly threatening Israel’s borders. The issue was also being discussed at the highest levels of the State Department and the National Security Council, according to Mark Dubowitz, who co-wrote a February 2017 op-ed calling for the Golan recognition and was engaged in the discussions. The National Security Council would not comment on internal discussions, and the State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the meantime, the Cruz plan was rolling along, and it was introduced as a Senate resolution co-sponsored by the Republican Tom Cotton in December. That was only days before Trump announced, also via tweet, his intention to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. Trump has since partially reversed that policy, and the administration now says it intends to keep about 400 troops in Syria.

Trump's support for Israel's sovereignty over Golan Heights expected to make waves at UN

Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon wrote, "We are at the beginning of a historic moment for the State of Israel. President Trump once again proves the strength of the alliance between the US and Israel. The time has come for the world to recognize that the Golan Heights is an inseparable part of the State of Israel."

A spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres responded with no comment when asked for reaction to Trump’s tweet.

Last month Guterres’ Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen was dismissive when asked about a push by Congress to recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli territory. He told reporters, “Obviously the Security Council is very clear that Golan is Syrian territory.”

Under former Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, passed a law in 1981 that officially annexed the Golan Heights. Begin cited serious security threats from Syria including the threat of missile attacks. Days later the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution that condemned the move, adding to its resolution 242 of 1967 that called for the removal of Israeli forces from its recently conquered territory during the Six-Day War.

U.N Security Council Resolution 497 from 1981 stated in part “that the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights is null and void and without international legal effect.”

Eugene Kontorovich, a professor of international law at George Mason University in Washington, D.C., and director of international law at the Jerusalem-based Kohelet Policy Forum, told Fox News the resolution, “is not binding and has no legal force; it was merely a statement of the Council’s opinion. The U.S. has a sovereign right to disagree.”

Kontorovich, who has advised senior members of the U.S. administration on the Golan Heights, praised what he described as Trump’s courage. “Only a clear statement that the Golan is part of Israel can deter Iranian and Syrian attempts to challenge Israel’s control. While American politicians of all stripes claim they support Israel’s control of the Golan, most lacked the courage to translate this into the necessary diplomatic language of sovereignty - until Pres. Trump.”

Daily Kickoff: The drive to dominate the pre-AIPAC convo — Trump’s Golan gift

Prof. Eugene Kontorovich tells us: “I think it’s quite clear it’s not about the Israeli elections. And one reason it’s not about the Israeli elections is because support for Israeli sovereignty over the Golan is across the board. Bibi gets a lot of credit for this result, but so does Yair Lapid and people from Gantz’s party have worked hard for this result. This is truly a national project in Israel. And it’s good for everyone in Israel, it’s not a partisan issue in Israel.”

“Trump could have waited just a few days and announced this during the AIPAC conference, which would be a feather in AIPAC’s hat. But there’s a reason he didn’t, and I think the reason is that AIPAC was actually not pushing for a recognition of sovereignty. AIPAC was pushing — and you can see from their statement about this — for something that every last Democrat would approve of, a statement that Israel should retain control of the Golan Heights, which is a big difference. And what I think Trump is showing is that he is adopting a position that is more favorable to Israel than what AIPAC encouraged, and he is stealing AIPAC’s thunder by doing this before their conference.”

Another wonderful gift from Pennsylvania Avenue

The day on which we read the eternal sentence from the Book of Esther (8:16): "The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor," which was uttered when salvation arrived after great despair – on that very day, Purim – we learned about another wonderful gift from the 45th president of the U.S., Donald Trump. He was recognizing Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights. Trump, as usual, put the news out on Twitter. A tweet of new heights!

After President Trump's historic tweet, I couldn't help but remember the funeral of former Syrian President Hafez Assad, which I covered in 2000. In the streets of Damascus, I saw Syrian women mourning the dead president, crying, "Who will hold onto the Golan for us?" I'm sorry to disappoint you, Syrian people, it looks like no one will give you back the Golan.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman was interviewed in the Israel Hayom Rosh Hashanah supplement and told diplomatic correspondent Ariel Kahana that he believed the Golan Heights could remain in Israel's hands forever and certainly wouldn't be returned to the current president of Syria, Assad's son Bashar.

I can't imagine a circumstance where the Golan Heights will be returned to Syria. I cannot imagine, frankly, a circumstance where the Golan Heights is not a part of Israel forever. There's not even an indigenous population in the Golan Heights seeking autonomy. … You'd put Israel at a great security disadvantage by giving up the high ground of the Golan Heights. … I can't think of a less deserving person to receive this kind of reward than Bashar Assad," Friedman said.

The beauty of Machtesh Ramon (with #Digitell19)

Last week during the #Digitell19 conference, we went to Mitzpe Ramon to see the largest "erosion cirque" in the world (all of them are in Israel or Egypt:)

From Wikipedia:

Makhtesh Ramon (Hebrew: מכתש רמון; lit. Ramon Crater/Makhtesh ; Arabic: وادي الرمان‎) is a geological feature of Israel's Negev desert. Located at the peak of Mount Negev, some 85 km south of the city of Beersheba, the landform is not an impact crater from a meteor nor a volcanic crater formed by a volcanic eruption, but rather is the world's largest "erosion cirque" (steephead valley or box canyons). The formation is 40 km long, 2–10 km wide and 500 meters deep, and is shaped like an elongated heart. The only settlement in the area is the small town of Mitzpe Ramon (מצפה רמון, "Ramon Lookout") located on the northern edge of the depression. Today the area forms Israel's largest national park, the Ramon Nature Reserve.

Click on each panorama to see the real beauty in the Negev. The first two are from the middle of the crater:

The next two are from the edge of the crater, including a view of the attendees of the conference:

It is quite breathtaking.

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Amnesty International issued a press release demanding that Hamas end its crackdown on protesters in Gaza.

Hamas has attacked protesters many times throughout the past decade, and Amnesty was silent. Amnesty only seems to have gotten upset because one of its own members was detained and interrogated by Hamas.

Today, an Amnesty International Research Consultant, Hind Khoudary, has been detained and interrogated by the security forces of the Ministry of Interior for working with Amnesty International. Her interrogation lasted for three hours during which four male interrogators subjected her to ill-treatment. The interrogators used abusive language and warned her not to carry out human rights research and threatened to prosecute her for spying and working as a foreign agent.

“The crackdown on freedom of expression and the use of torture in Gaza has reached alarming new levels. Over the past few days, we have seen shocking human rights violations carried out by Hamas security forces against peaceful protesters, journalists and rights workers,” said Saleh Higazi, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International.

The only times that Amnesty has ever used the word "shocking" about Hamas is now, and when Hamas executed "collaborators" in Gaza.

Compare this language to how Amnesty chided Hamas after a bus bombing in Israel in 2016 - and tried to exonerate it at the same time:

After the Hamas movement in Bethlehem claimed the person who detonated a bomb aboard a Jerusalem bus earlier this week as a member, Amnesty International reiterates that deliberate attacks on civilians can never be justified, and calls on Hamas to condemn all such attacks.

On the evening of 18 April, 20 people were wounded when a Palestinian man detonated a bomb on an Israeli bus in Jerusalem. As of the evening of 21 April, three of those injured were still in intensive care, according to the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz. Abd al-Hamid Abu Srour, a 19-year-old Palestinian man from Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem who was identified as the attacker, succumbed to his wounds late on 20 April.

On 21 April, the Hamas movement stated that the attacker was a member and one of its “committed activists” in Bethlehem. Israel police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld stated that a “Hamas terrorist” carried out the attack, and the Israel Security Agency announced the arrest in the Bethlehem area of several “Hamas activists” suspected of involvement in the attack. While it does not appear that Hamas’ leadership or its military wing in Gaza ordered the attack, the involvement of the Hamas movement, possibly including members of its military wing in Bethlehem or elsewhere, is a worrying development. Hamas, including its political leadership in Gaza and elsewhere, must clearly condemn all attacks targeting civilians. Such attacks can never be justified and represent a serious violation of international humanitarian law.

This is a perfunctory demand for an absurd result - that Hamas condemn its own people. There is no passion when Amnesty reports on Hamas outrages against Israelis. The only language showing anger at the movement is when it attacks other Palestinians and internationals. And even that mild wrist slapping of Hamas in the bus bombing was accompanied by accusations of Israel extrajudiciously killing Palestinians (during the "knife intifada") - effectively neutralizing any tiny demand on Hamas by saying that Israel is worse.

This week's press release is, as far as I can tell, the only time Amnesty didn't mention Israel when saying Hamas did something not completely in line with human rights.

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From Wafa:

Human rights advocates slammed Vienna museum, Volkskundemuseum, for cancelling an event on Palestinian rights where former minister in Nelson Mandela’s government Ronnie Kasrils, a renowned South African anti-apartheid activist of Jewish descent, was scheduled to speak on the March 29 event as part of the annual Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) and called for the event to be reinstated.

A press statement by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement said the museum caved to pressure from Austria’s Israel lobby. Two other IAW events scheduled in France this week were also canceled.

European officials have finally woken up to the antisemitism that the "Israel Apartheid Week" activities represent, and the Israel-haters are on the defensive - a position that they are not used to dealing with.

They absurdly blame that "Israel lobby" - but what kind of Israel lobby does Austria have?

BDS Twitter accounts do not point to any recent victories. Instead. they are filled with useless calls for people to boycott specific things, or for people not to accept Israeli awards (see tweet below), along with tweets about other losses for the movement like the Swarthmore student government voting down a BDS resolution last month. (That vote, organized by Students for Justice in Palestine, was supposed to be secret and the BDSers were upset that somehow the Zionist students found out about it and had time to organize against it.)

50+ Indian academics & cultural figures urge Sanjay Subrahmanyam to reject Israel's Dan David prize.

"[Y]ou would be lending your name & academic distinction to institutions deeply invested in Israel’s settler-colonial, occupation and apartheid project. https://t.co/61ril4hVwh pic.twitter.com/jZUjX9Pbq8
— PACBI (@PACBI) March 21, 2019

BDS is finally being recognized for what it is, and as European nations this week have started to realize the bias in the UN Human Rights Council against Israel, the IAW activities are being seen for what it is - nothing to do with solidarity and everything to do about hate.

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03/21 Links Pt2: Trump says time has come for US to ‘recognize Israel’s sovereignty’ over Golan; The Anti-Semitism Apologists; Israel Ranks 13th in Annual UN ‘World Happiness Report’

From Ian:

Trump says time has come for US to ‘recognize Israel’s sovereignty’ over Golan

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that the time has come to “fully recognize” Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, in another monumental shift in US Mideast policy by his administration.

“After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!,” Trump tweeted.

Following the announcement, Prime Minister Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Trump by phone to thank him. “You made history,” his office quoted him telling the US president.

Netanyahu also put out a tweet welcoming Trump’s statement.

“At a time when Iran seeks to use Syria as a platform to destroy Israel, President Trump boldly recognizes Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Thank you President Trump,” he said.

Though Trump said it was “time” for action, it was not clear that his statement constituted official recognition.

On Wednesday, Israeli and US officials had said they expected an announcement on US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan could come next week.

Trump’s tweet came just hours after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was joined by Netanyahu for a visit of the Western Wall, the first time that Washington’s top diplomat has visited Jerusalem’s contested Old City accompanied by a senior Israeli official. (h/t NormanF)

After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 21, 2019

A Purim Message from the White House (h/t Jewess)

Bonus Purim cartoon of the day - Bias

Continuing my re-captioning of single-panel cartoons....

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Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

I think my interest in J Street could once have been called “obsessive.” I wrote numerous blog posts a few years ago, pointing out that the supposedly “pro-Israel, pro-peace” organization received financing from George Soros, mysterious billionaires in Hong Kong, and people associated with Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the Arab-American Institute. I noted – along with then Ambassador Michael Oren – that it consistently (one could say always) took positions opposed to almost any reasonable interpretation of Israel’s interests. I objected to its guiding principle, which seemed to be that it knew what was good for Israel far better than Israelis did, especially since following its recommendations would negatively impact Israel’s security. I wondered at the close coordination between J Street and the Obama Administration, which tried to anoint it as the voice of American Jewry toward Israel. And more.

Since I moved back to Israel in 2014, I’ve been less concerned with J Street, which is, after all, an American phenomenon. We have plenty of “interesting” politics right here. But recently I became aware of a new J Street initiative, targeting PM Netanyahu, just before the election:

WASHINGTON, DC — The pro-Israel, pro-peace group J Street launched a new series of videos today highlighting the dangerously similar rhetoric and ideology shared by President Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu. Released as targeted digital ads just a week before the two leaders are expected to meet in Washington, DC on the sidelines of the AIPAC conference, the videos urge pro-Israel Americans who are opposed to Trump to also speak out against Netanyahu’s similar bigotry and anti-democratic tendencies.

“By attacking democratic institutions and targeting vulnerable minorities, Trump and Netanyahu are borrowing from the same far-right playbook — undermining the core values and interests of both the US and Israel,” said J Street’s president Jeremy Ben-Ami. “Patriotic Americans have mobilized impressively against Trump here at home. Those of us who care about Israel’s future need to speak out against Netanyahu’s destructive leadership as well.”

Over the past two years, both the president and the prime minister have incited against vulnerable minorities, attacked the free press and de-legitimized the judiciary and the rule of law. Both face serious investigations into alleged criminal conduct. …

There’s no doubt that liberal and progressive American Jews hate Trump passionately, and there’s no better way to attack Netanyahu among that group than by associating him with their bête noire. The first J Street video is here. It’s very professional and probably didn’t come cheap. The question is, why did J Street spend a considerable sum of money on such a campaign? Americans don’t vote in Israeli elections (although J Street probably wishes they did). Why attack Netanyahu in the USA?

It’s not a simple question and I don’t have a simple answer. Unfortunately, the position papers of J Street’s psychological warfare experts aren’t public. But I have some ideas.

J Street’s primary goal, like that of the numerous other anti-Israel organizations in the US, including the nominally “Jewish” If Not Now and Jewish Voice for Peace, as well as explicitly antisemitic ones like If America Knew, is to create antipathy and distrust for Israel, so that Americans will oppose pro-Israel actions by the US government – for example, the recognition of Israel’s possession of the Golan Heights that is rumored to be on the table now.

In the event of war, they want to prime Americans to believe Palestinian atrocity propaganda against Israel, to make it more difficult for a pro-Israel administration to support Israel, or easier for an anti-Israel one to criticize her or even cut off critical supplies – as Obama did during the 2014 Gaza war.

How does attacking PM Netanyahu accomplish this? The answer has several parts.

First, J Street presents Netanyahu as anti-democratic and dictatorial, as if he is entirely responsible for Israeli policy; so it becomes possible for an American Jew who still feels some loyalty to Israel to separate the country from its Prime Minister, and blame him for supposedly anti-democratic or racist policies, without being forced to make the jump to disliking Israel the nation.

Second, and conversely, Netanyahu has been PM since 2009 and – at least as of today – it is likely that he will receive yet another term. He is Israel in the minds of many Americans, just as Stalin was the Soviet Union and Hitler the Nazi regime. An attack on Netanyahu as racist and anti-minority, and in other ways that particularly resonate in America, also creates negative perceptions of the state of Israel herself.

Third, attitudes in America, as expressed in the media, do have some influence on Israeli elections. There is no doubt that the forces behind J Street would like to see Netanyahu defeated in the coming election. Netanyahu’s political opponents can point to anti-Netanyahu expressions in the US and say, “look, Netanyahu has wrecked our relationship with the US.” J Street’s theme that Netanyahu and Trump are both corrupt, anti-democratic racists will find a fertile field in the progressive media such as NPR and the NY Times that are favored by J Street’s constituency. Because the campaign bashes both Trump and Netanyahu, it will certainly be amplified in those media, which are always ready to take a swipe at Trump.

Fourth, closely associating Trump with Netanyahu minimizes the significance of Trump’s pro-Israel actions like moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem, cutting funds to the Palestinian Authority, downgrading the East Jerusalem consulate, and – I devoutly hope – recognizing Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights.

J Street’s attack on both Trump and Netanyahu is couched in the universalist, anti-nationalistic (and therefore anti-Zionist) language that finds favor with the progressive Left:

The politics of these two leaders is part of a broader global challenge to liberal democracies rooted in respect for civil society and tolerance of ethnic diversity. Now, the world faces a wave of rising right-wing ethnonationalism with anti-democratic tendencies.

The xenophobia and authoritarianism that the two leaders are fanning is anathema to millions of Americans and American Jews. “While Netanyahu, Trump and their allies may get standing ovations at AIPAC, their views and actions couldn’t be more out of touch with most of the American Jewish community,” Ben-Ami said.

This exposes the true agenda behind J Street, which is actually only one piece of a much larger enterprise opposing nationalism and ethnic particularism, favoring open borders and multiculturalism, and proudly trumpeting extreme cultural relativism. If you think that agenda is a positive one for civilization, look at the ongoing destruction of native European societies like Sweden, for example.

Netanyahu – and Israel, an ethnic nation-state – represent the precise opposite of the agenda, and as such have drawn down upon themselves the wrath of J Street and other such groups, which tendentiously accuse them of being “undemocratic,” “authoritarian,” “racist,” and more. But in fact the “ethnonationalism” that J Street so decries stands opposed to a non-ethnic but much more vicious Islamofascism, which is far less democratic, more authoritarian, and viciously bigoted along religious lines.

The “global challenge to liberal democracies” does not come from nationalism, either in Israel or Eastern Europe, or from Americans who support Trump. It comes from Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the Muslim Brotherhood, and so on. Netanyahu has a sense of history, and understands all this. And I think that Trump, for all his flaws, does too.

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03/21 Links Pt1: Palestinian Lives Don't Matter unless Israel Is to Blame; UK, Austria to oppose UN Human Rights Council condemnations of Israel; Fatah honors this week’s terrorist murderer on Facebook

From Ian:

Meet some of the people the UN calls “civilians” killed in Gaza border clashes

Joe Truzman presented his findings, which are at odds with a UN Report, on the identity of many of those killed — they were military members of terrorist groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

We have extensively documented how the supposedly “peaceful protests” at the Gaza-Israel border fence are, in reality, Hamas and Islamic Jihad military terror operations using some civilians as cover, including women and children.

The so-called ‘Great March of Return’ is turned on and off by Hamas as its needs require.

Over 80% of the Gazans killed at the border have been military members of terrorist groups, the best evidence that these are not really civilian protests. Even some of the “children” involved, and who have been killed or injured, were teenage military members of terrorist groups.

Joe Truzman has been a leader in documenting the identity of the terrorists involved at the border, and the violent actions directed at Israel, as we noted in Meet Joe Truzman, our go-to source on Gaza and Palestinian terror groups.

Increasingly, Joe is being recognized for his work, including by UN Watch, which fights anti-Israel bias at the UN, including the UN Human Rights Council. UN Watch organized an alternative program on the day the UN Human Right Council was holding another on of its anti-Israel hatefests. This most recent hatefest included release of a biased report about the Gaza border protests and the death of Palestinians, portraying the events as civilian protests.

One-sided UNHRC report ignores Hamas' Aggression

Instead of condemning Hamas as the prime source of violence and instability in Gaza - the United Nations Human Right Council is blaming the victims of Hamas terrorism for acting in self-defence.

Any council member which holds peace dear must REJECT this resolution!

UK, Austria to oppose UN Human Rights Council condemnations of Israel

The United Kingdom said Thursday it will automatically oppose all proposals made to the United Nations Human Rights Council under a fixed item exclusively devoted to Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.

The announcement came as Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz declared that his country will vote against a key resolution lashing Israel, which is up for a vote this week.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the council’s so-called Agenda Item 7 “undermines the credibility of the world’s leading human rights forum” and “obstructs the quest for peace in the Middle East.”

As a permanent item on the agenda, Item 7 means no session of the Geneva-based council can be held without specifically discussing Israel.

The council was set to vote on four resolutions Friday condemning Israel for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“Two years ago, the United Kingdom said that unless the situation changed, we would vote against all texts proposed under Item 7,” Hunt wrote in an op-ed published Thursday in the UK’s Jewish Chronicle weekly.

“Sadly, our concerns have not been heeded. So I have decided that we will do exactly what we said: Britain will now oppose every Item 7 resolution. On Friday we will vote against all four texts proposed in this way.”

Jeremy Hunt: The UN Human Rights Council ignored our concerns on its Israel approach. Now we must act

In some countries in the Middle East, the result of the next election is a foregone conclusion. Yet on April 9, millions of voters in Israel will decide the fate of their leaders – and no-one can predict the outcome.

A fair-minded observer would find it curious that, of all the situations in the world, only Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories are permanently on the agenda of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC).

The horrors of Syria’s civil war, the brutal detention camps in North Korea, the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma – all these human tragedies have been the subject of important HRC Resolutions, passed with Britain’s full support.

But amid such catastrophes, a dedicated place on the HRC agenda - known as Item 7 – is reserved solely for Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This means no session can take place without a specific discussion of this subject.

By any standard of fairness or proportion, elevating this dispute above all others cannot be sensible; indeed it is an unhelpful illusion to suppose that Israel’s conduct deserves special scrutiny.

When Item 7 was first introduced, Ban Ki-Moon, then UN Secretary General, voiced his disappointment “given the range and scope of allegations of human rights violations throughout the world”.

Far from serving any useful purpose, I fear that this dedicated place obstructs the quest for peace in the Middle East.

The text, entitled "Accountability," also invokes the discredited 2009 Goldstone Report, and seeks to cast all Israeli defense against Hamas terrorism as "war crimes."

The UK voted No on this absurd text last year & we urge @Jeremy_Hunt to vote No again.https://t.co/O2PTusATza pic.twitter.com/cn4aVsRkwh
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) March 21, 2019

Jeremy Hunt's move today shows Britain has failed to reform the UN Human Rights Council from within

When the United States stormed out of the UN Human Rights Council over its treatment of Israel last summer, Britain’s then chief diplomat Boris Johnson vowed to stay put.

Washington’s view in June 2018 was that it was plainly unjust for Israel to be only country whose alleged human rights abuses are discussed at every regular meeting without fail.

“The world’s most inhumane regimes continue to escape scrutiny,” one American official said as her country ended its HRC membership 18 months early.

But the United Kingdom — which became a member at the same time at the US — said it would not be staging a walkout of its own.

Mr Johnson said the HRC had many failings and Israel’s permanent place on the agenda was one of them. A “disproportionate and damaging to the cause of peace”, he called it.

But, he went on, the world needed a forum where countries could talk to each other about human rights abuses.Thus the HRC was the “best tool available...to address impunity in an imperfect world and to advance many of our international goals.”

Bonus Purim cartoon - Had to block her

Continuing my re-captioning of single-panel cartoons....

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San Francisco State University agrees to settlement to safeguard Jewish students’ rights

California State University, of which San Francisco State University is a part, settled a lawsuit this week where they pretty much admitted that their campus was a hotbed of antisemitism.

As a settlement in a lawsuit brought by the Lawfare Project and another law firm, SFSU agreed to take Jewish student complaints seriously using an outside investigator, to hire a coordinator for Jewish life at the university, to fund viewpoints usually not allowed to be freely expressed at the university like Zionist perspectives, and a couple of other things to enhance the comfort of Jewish and Zionist students from the daily assaults they labored under.

Here's most of the press release:

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The Lawfare Project and Winston & Strawn LLP today reached a landmark settlement in their lawsuits against the California State University (CSU) public university system.

The settlement in Volk v. Board of Trustees comes ahead of this month's scheduled trial for a lawsuit brought by two Jewish students who allege that San Francisco State University (SFSU) and the Board of Trustees of CSU discriminated against them.

As part of the settlement, SFSU agreed to:

Public statement: Issue a statement affirming that
"it understands that, for many Jews, Zionism is an important part of their identity";

Coordinator of Jewish Student Life: "Hire a Coordinator of Jewish Student Life within the Division of Equity & Community Inclusion" and dedicate suitable office space for this position;

External review of policies: "Retain an independent, external consultant to assess SFSU’s procedures for enforcement of applicable CSU system-wide anti-discrimination policies and student code of conduct";

Independent investigation of additional complaints: "SFSU will, for a period of 24 months, assign all complaints of religious discrimination under either E.O. 1096 or E.O. 1097 to an independent, outside investigator for investigation";

Funding viewpoint diversity: "SFSU will allocate an additional $200,000 to support educational outreach efforts to promote viewpoint diversity (including but not limited to pro-Israel or Zionist viewpoints) and inclusion and equity on the basis of religious identity (including but not limited to Jewish religious identity)"; and

Campus mural: Engage in the SFSU process to allocate "space on the SFSU campus for a mural to be installed under the oversight of the Division of Equity & Community Inclusion, paid for by the University, that will be designed by student groups of differing viewpoints on the issues that are the subject of this litigation to be agreed by the parties (including but not limited to Jewish, pro-Israel, and/or Zionist student groups, should such student groups elect to participate in the process)."

"California State University’s public recognition that Zionism is an integral part of Jewish identity represents a major victory for Jewish students at SFSU and across the country. Today, we have ensured that SFSU will put in place important protections for Jewish and Zionist students to prevent continued discrimination. We are confident that this will change the campus climate for the better," said Brooke Goldstein, Executive Director of The Lawfare Project. "The Lawfare Project was proud to play a role in securing justice for Jewish and Zionist students at SFSU. We commend the student plaintiffs who showed the courage to stand up and advocate for their civil rights."

"We are incredibly happy with this result," said Ross M. Kramer of Winston & Strawn LLP. "Our clients' goal was to bring about meaningful, lasting change at San Francisco State University and throughout the California State University system, and to make sure that the rights of all Jewish students are safeguarded now and into the future. That's what this settlement achieves."

(h/t MtTB)

Recently, a fascinating study was published in the British Journal of Psychology on what exposure to conspiracy theories does to people.

The experiments, done in the UK, were divided into three parts. In the first, it was shown that exposure to conspiracy theories involving Muslim immigrants increased prejudice towards Muslim immigrants, which is not too surprising.

The second part exposed people to anti-Jewish conspiracy theories. It went a little beyond the first to determine that after exposed to anti-Jewish conspiracy theories (Jews were responsible for 9/11) the subjects indicated that they are less likely to vote for any Jewish candidate, meaning that it not only affected their perceptions but also their actions.

The third part is the most interesting. After the subjects were exposed to anti-Jewish conspiracy theories, their attitudes towards other unrelated groups became more prejudiced. In other words, what starts with Jews doesn't end with Jews.

In Study 3, we provide the first evidence that exposure to conspiracy theories not only increases prejudice towards the outgroup implicated in the alleged conspiracy but also towards other, uninvolved outgroups. Specifically, our results point to an indirect effect, such that exposure to conspiracy theories relating to Jewish people increases prejudice towards secondary outgroups via increases in prejudice towards Jewish people. This spreading of prejudiced attitudes was apparent across a range of different outgroups including Americans, Arabs, the elderly, poor people, and people on benefits. Previous findings suggest that transfer effects emerge most strongly for groups that are perceived to be similar to the primary outgroup, and least strongly to dissimilar groups (Harwood et al., 2011). Interestingly, if we adopt a stereotype content model perspective (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002) we can see that, generally, indirect effects were strongest for groups that, along with Jewish people, are classified as high in competence (e.g., Asians, Irish, Americans, Australians) as opposed to low competence groups (e.g., the elderly, poor people, people on benefits). Ultimately, however, findings suggest the consequences of exposure to conspiracy theories for intergroup relations may be much broader than originally conceived, and capable of reducing more widespread intergroup tolerance.

If I may take these conclusions a bit further, it would indicate that conspiracy theories about Zionists or Israelis cannot but increase antisemitism, because Jews are the closest outgroup to Zionists. Indeed, AMCHA has found a correlation between BDS on campus and antisemitic activities on campus, and while that study did not center on conspiracy theories, it did indicate that the "outgroups" of Zionists and Jews are considered closely related by people and therefore the effects of hearing lies about one will affect attitudes towards the other.

The relevance, of course, is that the idea that - for example - AIPAC controls Congress, which is a conspiracy theory, will inevitably increase prejudice against not only Zionists but towards Jews. This is instinctively felt by most Jews which is the reason for the outrage over Ilhan Omar's comments, but worse than that is the sober-sounding articles that followed the news story where the New York Times and other news outlets "confirmed" the conspiracy theory of a shadowy group of people controlling and manipulating the US government, ignoring the many other interest groups that are far more effective at lobbying than AIPAC.

The long term effects of both that conspiracy theory as well as Omar's other charge that Zionists have dual loyalty will inevitably mainstream and increase antisemitism across the board in the US.

Beyond that, this study shows that those who become prejudiced against one group as a result of exposure to conspiracy theories generally become prejudiced towards other groups as well. No matter what political party or philosophy you belong to, exposure to hate affects one's attitudes across the board.

(h/t MtTB)

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03/20 Links Pt2: The Strange Alliance between Progressives and Islamists; Corbyn after ME trip: Britain ‘conceded to Zionist forces’; 9 in 10 French Jewish students suffer campus antisemitism

From Ian:

The Strange Alliance between Progressives and Islamists

While Islamists’ positions on homosexuality, the role of women, and religion would seem to place them on the American right, in fact politically involved American Muslims sympathetic to Islamism have tended to align themselves with the hard left. Sam Westrop explains:

Prominent radical Muslim voices now argue for “intersectional feminism.” Groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)—just ten years ago named by federal prosecutors as part of an enormous terror-finance network—rally for Black Lives Matter and campaign for “social justice,” prison reform, and a minimum-wage hike. Leading Salafist clerics protest President Trump’s immigration policies at the border. And the prominent activist Linda Sarsour dreams of “a world free of anti-black racism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, ageism, sexism, and misogyny.” . . .

[A] rising group of activists from Islamist circles genuinely seem to believe in a progressive-Islamist alliance. Branches of CAIR are increasingly staffed with young, hijab-wearing graduates of Muslim Student Associations, who appear to have reconciled working for an extremist-linked organization with publishing transgender-rights petitions on their social-media accounts. . . .

Other Islamists who have embraced and adopted progressive rhetoric are clearly being duplicitous, however. The Texas-based cleric Omar Suleiman, for instance, has been vocal in protesting the Trump administration’s immigration policies. . . . And yet, speaking before an Islamist audience, Suleiman has warned Muslim girls that if they are “promiscuous,” they may face death at the hands of a family member. [Still] other Muslim thinkers have begun to regret their forays into progressive politics. . . .

British Invasion

The milieu Corbyn emerges from is embodied in the Stop the War Coalition, which he headed from 2011 until he became Labour leader. While the SWC actually is a merger of what the shah of Iran used to call “the Black and the Red,” Islamists and Communists, the support the SWC and its fellow travelers extend to Islamism has less to do with Islamism per se, and much more to do with the doctrines of new Left anti-Americanism.

The opposition to labeling Hezbollah a terrorist group is, in the SWC mind, equivalent to opposing such a label for the African National Congress in its struggle against apartheid South Africa. The “anti-Zionism” promoted by the Soviet Union, which portrayed Israel as racist by nature and exercising tentacular control over American foreign policy, was imbibed at the source by most of the leaders of the SWC, and handed down to the newer cadres as an explanation for the Iraq War that galvanized many of them into politics.

Corbyn’s voters are not uniformly, or even primarily, extremists and terrorist sympathizers. But the longer this vanguard remains in place at the top of the party, the wider its ideas will filter down. For the majority, who grew up under the post-Cold War liberal consensus, there is simply no memory or experience of socialism’s failure. Thus the common radical ideological thread that connects Labour and Democratic leadership to their followers and to each other.

The rise of Omar, Tlaib, Ocasio-Cortez, and others with radical associations and support for socialism was facilitated by well-organized, young, ground-level activists, who circumvent the traditional party structures. In the American case, social media has played the key role, allowing these junior figures to have an influence far beyond their positions and enabling, too, very much in the manner of Corbyn, something like a personality cult to develop, raising the cost for anyone who ventures a criticism.

Beyond this, there are signs that the pillars of Corbynism, such as unworkable economics, anti-Americanism as the guiding principle of foreign policy, and anti-Semitism, are taking root. Let’s take each in turn.

JCPA: A (Euro)vision for the Future

Israel’s cultural image is in dire need of improvement. The Best Countries Index shows that Israel scored a 1.4 out of 10 in terms of cultural influence in 2019.1

The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), which is scheduled to take place in Tel Aviv in May 2019, allows Israel to enhance its cultural image through civil society initiatives centered around the arts.

The ESC is set to attract approximately 20,000 international tourists to the city. Most of these tourists will belong to the “millennial” generation. This generation does not view Israel as positively as other generations do. As such, Israel has a unique opportunity to directly engage with the millennials who will be attending the contest, and who are seen by many as trendsetters and influencers.

A successful image-building campaign can drastically increase the international public’s perception of Israel, as occurred with Azerbaijan when it hosted the ESC in 2012.

Some will accuse Israel of “pinkwashing” and promoting propaganda. They will claim Israel is exploiting the ESC to divert attention away from its alleged human rights violations. These accusations are totally false. Rarely has a country been accused of promoting propaganda simply because it exhibits its widely acknowledged expertise in a certain field. Israel should be held to the same standard as every other country.

Israel must emphasize that the ESC is an event meant to celebrate the diverse cultures of Europe. The ESC should avoid attempts by others to politicize it for their selfish gain.

On March 14, Islamic Jihad fired rockets at Tel Aviv.

The Islamic Jihad charter, it is important to note, calls for the ethnic cleansing of Jews in Israel, which it refers to as "Jihad against the Jewish existence in Palestine."

This stated objective says nothing about Israel or Zionism. It speaks only of killing the Jews who insist on living in territory they want Judenrein. Territory that according to a reasonable reading of international standards is Jewish indigenous territory.

The sole motivation for the attack on Tel Aviv, in other words, is pure antisemitism.

On March 15, a white supremacist killed dozens of Muslims at prayer in two mosques in Christ Church, New Zealand. The Jews of Pittsburgh seemed to rise from their somnolence, from their indifference to their brethren in Tel Aviv, rushing to support the people they saw as their Muslim counterparts, victims of an atrocious xenophobic attack on people of a certain faith. The Jews shared memes on Facebook and set to raising funds.

They probably didn’t even know about Tel Aviv. Or about all the nights my grandchildren have spent in a sealed room, waiting for the missiles to stop. They probably don’t know about the balloons that tempt my grandchildren with their bright colors, attached as they are to incendiary devices with the intent of maiming or better yet, murdering the smallest, most innocent Jews in Israel, who “occupy” only a fragment of land, and only because they live where their parents live.

Two incidents, only one day apart. One incident a crime against Muslims, the other a crime against Jews.

An outpouring of support for the one, silence in response to the other.

In part, the Jews of America, of Pittsburgh, are not to blame. The media doesn’t care about the Jews of Israel except to demonize them. So the attacks on Tel Aviv, if they were covered at all, were not covered in the same sort of emotional language as the attacks on the Muslims in Christ Church.

Then too, we could say that the attacks on Tel Aviv didn’t actually kill anyone. But there is damage, nonetheless. There always is. And it is collective, and cumulative. And we surely could use the support of the Jews of Pittsburgh, every bit as much as the Muslims of New Zealand.

The thing is, the Tel Aviv attacks were a big deal here in Israel. It is rare for the city to be under attack. Also, Tel Aviv is the big city. It has a liberal zeitgeist. Tel Avivians see themselves as an island of normalcy. They see themselves as living on uncontested land. They aren’t settlers occupying someone else’s land, so they don’t expect, or as they might put it, deserve to be targeted.

My son and his wife and children, on the other hand, live under fire in the town of Netivot, which is located in the “peripheria” as Southern Israel is known to Israelis. The people of the periphery are poorer. They receive fewer services. They are, in some respects, perceived as second class citizens even to their own people: the rest of the people of Israel.

The periphery has seen many more attacks than Tel Aviv. But when Tel Aviv is hit, it makes the headlines.

My daughter in-law wrote a poignant and sympathetic post in the aftermath the attacks on Tel Aviv. She wrote her post from the perspective of someone who lives in the periphery.

A translation:

Tonight's incidents made me understand that my friends from outside our area aren't always able to understand our lives. Therefore, with much support and a hug (whom other than us, knows how stressful an alarm in the middle of the flow in your life?), here are a few anecdotes from my life in the Gaza Envelope.

Life here... It's a bit more than just alarms.

It’s hearing explosions all night, trying to figure out their source. At a certain point you can tell which ones are from Israel, and which are from Hamas. If you're a real expert you can differentiate between tank and fighter jet.

It's going to sleep and not knowing what the coming day will bring.

It's planning a house in which you leave the shelter unfurnished, so that the whole family can cram in.

It's canceling work days because the Home Front Command decided so, and nobody has to compensate you.

It's business owners who can't get businesses up and running, as even when times are quiet, one missile comes and destroys the work of many months.

It's students who won't be going to school tomorrow, because the alarm in Tel Aviv made them anxious or afraid.

It's a poor little girl, a student who was injured by a Qassam rocket that fell on her house without any advance warning alarm, and you want to support or demand and can never find the balance.

It's knowing at all times where there's a shelter, including at the market, the playground, and in a car on the road. It's even choosing to drive close to shelters rather than taking a faster route.

This is what I pray with all my heart will stop, and I hope it doesn't spread towards the center of Israel and further. I wish for quiet for everyone

These attacks on ordinary people, whether in Netivot or Tel Aviv, Pittsburgh or Christ Church, stem from hatred. They come from xenophobia, from an inability to accept the other. This hatred has an effect far beyond the bloodshed. These insistent expressions of hatred makes life painful and difficult.

Yes. It is the choice of Tel Avivians to live in Tel Aviv, the choice of the people of Netivot to live in Netivot, just as it is the choice of Pittsburgh Jews to be in Pittsburgh and Christ Church Muslims to be in Christ Church. In a society free of hate, people can coexist, and share spaces. Jews and Muslims, in a society free of hate, can live side by side, no matter who sits at the helm.

But hatred makes living side by side impossible.

This is our situation in Israel. We are the hated ones. We are hated by the PA, by Hamas, by Islamic Jihad, and those under their sway. The world supports this hate--in Europe, at the UN, in the media-- and tells us we have no right to exist.

The world doesn’t distinguish between Netivot and Tel Aviv. It hates us just the same. We are hated by people from within and from without and they attack us on a daily basis whether with rockets or on websites. No part of the country is immune from the terror and the criticism, though some, for instance in Tel Aviv, live under the illusion that they are different, until the rockets hit.

But here’s the thing, as a country under constant attack by murderous antisemites, we deserve, from the wider Jewish community, greater knowledge of our situation and support, too.

We deserve your interest in our plight. At least as much interest as you extend to the plight of the Muslims in New Zealand.

We deserve a more nuanced and intensive look at what is happening to us. We deserve an effort to educate yourselves beyond what the media is willing to show you. And more sympathy than the media is willing to show us.

We deserve a modicum of recognition that the constant rockets, missiles, car rammings, petrol bombs, kidnappings, and stonings are born of antisemitism. Hatred is hatred, no matter where or how it rears its ugly head, and no matter how it is covered in the media. And we expect you to know that and to reach out and be a comfort to us in our travails.

Just as you comforted New Zealand.

Just as we reached out to you.

h/t Yitzchak Epstein for translation help.

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In Response To Holdomor, Democrats Blast Islamophobia (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

: Holodomor memorial, Kiev (Pensées de Pascal via Wikimedia Commons)

Washington, DC, March 20 - Millions of famine-related deaths in the largely-Christian Ukraine and Moldavia Republics of the Soviet Union that many scholars understand as an engineered policy by Stalin to destroy the Ukrainian nationalist movement has prompted Congressional Democrats to propose a sweeping condemnation of anti-Muslim bigotry.

Collectivization of agriculture and a poor harvest in 1932-33 led to the death by starvation of anywhere from 3-12 million Ukrainians and Moldavians, the outcome of what numerous historians and critics of the Soviet Union have described as a genocide, targeting as it did a specific ethnic group. While other regions of the Soviet Union suffered hunger during that time amid poor harvests and incompetent management of resources, Moscow's treatment of Ukraine involved disproportionate harshness as Stalin sought to suppress independence movements from his regime. Senior Democratic Party in the Senate and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senators Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders, responded to the horror with a resolution that denounces any manifestation of prejudice against Muslims.

"The Holdomor demonstrates the dangers of Islamophobia," declared Schumer (D-NY), standing next to Pelosi and Sanders at a press conference. "Other Congresses may have been lax about the proper reaction to such developments, but that must not serve as a pretext for similar inaction in the face of a genocide of Ukrainians of all stripes. Islamophobia has no place in our world."

The involvement of Senator Sanders (D-VT), a declared socialist, carries significance, observers note, in that the senator has seldom, if ever, chosen to criticize the Socialist paradise of the Soviet Union that he seeks to emulate. "Obviously in the hierarchy of groups with whom to show solidarity, Muslims rank higher than Stalin," remarked Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN), "as it should be, but I understand for Bernie it was a close-run thing. My only objection to the resolution in its current form is that it does not call out Israeli abuses against Palestinians." The Holodomor took place between two major Arab revolts against British administration in Palestine, both of which saw large-scale rioting and the targeting of Jews for violence and displacement from places they had lived for centuries, such as Hebron.

Ukrainian nationalists were unavailable for comment, as they were occupied with trying to trade trinkets, religious icons, sexual favors, and any merchandise they could get their hands on for food to give to their starving children at Kiev's main train station where foreigners disembark.

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03/20 Links Pt1: Kushner peace plan once urged huge Palestinian-Jordanian-Saudi land swap; The PA has chosen terrorism over US foreign aid; Oz PM pillories Erdogan for ‘vile’ Christchurch comments

From Ian:

CAMERA Op-Ed: The Palestinian Authority has chosen terrorism over US foreign aid

In March 2018, the U.S. Congress passed the Taylor Force Act, which proposed to halt American aid to the P.A. until it ceased sending money to terrorists and their families via the so-called Palestinian Authority’s Martyrs Fund. P.A. President Abbas responded in a July 2018 speech, swearing: “Even if we have only a penny left, we will give it to the martyrs, the prisoners and their families.” He added: “We view the prisoners and the martyrs as planets and stars in the skies of the Palestinian struggle, and they have priority in everything.”

But those “stars” make for a pretty dim future. While journalists and analysts are right to highlight how the loss of aid can hinder social welfare projects, they should be contemplating what the Authority’s decision reveals.

The P.A. refusal to quit paying terrorists for killing people is an outright violation of the 1990s Oslo peace process that created the P.A. in the first place. In exchange for committing the PLO to recognizing “the right of Israel to exist in peace and security” and renouncing “the use of terrorism and other acts of violence,” Palestinian leadership was allowed to return from Tunisia and given a base for limited self-rule in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Importantly, the P.A. also became a significant beneficiary of international aid — much of it from the United States, which sought to make the Authority a “peace partner” for Israel.

But nearly a quarter century after the P.A.’s May 1994 creation, it’s apparent that Palestinian leadership has chosen a different path. The P.A. stands to lose much by choosing terror over U.S. aid. And both the Palestinian and Israeli people stand to lose even more.

Muslim stands up for Israel at UN Human Rights Council

Kasim Hafeez, a British Muslim and former Islamist who is now a proud Zionist who stands with Israel, spoke out at the United Nations Human Rights Council against their condemnation of Israel’s actions in Gaza.

WASHINGTON – On Monday, Kasim Hafeez, Christians United for Israel’s (CUFI) Middle East Analyst, addressed diplomats at a meeting of the United Nations Human Right Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Switzerland. Hafeez spoke about the rampant anti-Semitism driving the UN body. pic.twitter.com/SmAR3E7TMl
— CUFI (@CUFI) March 18, 2019

“As this body recently displayed by brazenly lying about Israel’s actions in Gaza, hatred towards the Jewish state persists,” Hafeez said. “This council has repeatedly demonized Israel while ignoring Palestinian terror attacks and the real victims of human rights abuses across the globe.”

Referring to his own background, Hafeez mentioned that hatred was so ingrained in his identity “that in my early 20s I decided that terrorism, murdering civilians who did not see the world as I did in order to advance my agenda, was my calling.”

A trip to Israel gave Hafeez a new perspective and showed him “that the media reports and international condemnations of the Jewish state were lies. Israel is a free and democratic state.”

Last week, Hafeez took part in the #DigiTell, a gathering of 100 pro-Israel bloggers and social network managers from all over the world.

Hafeez grew up being exposed to radical anti-Western, antisemitic and anti-Israel ideas on what he describes as a daily basis. During his teenage years, Hafeez embraced a radical Islamist ideology and became very active in the anti-Israel movement.

But in the early 2000s, he came across Alan Dershowitz’s book, The Case for Israel.

Melanie Phillips: The New Zealand mosque attacks

Following the appalling New Zealand mosque massacres, I published here a blog post expressing my horror and unequivocal condemnation. Immediately I was plunged into a surreal storm of grotesque abuse, being held responsible for the atrocity (yes, really!) and blamed for hypocrisy. Why? Because over the years I have called out Islamist extremism for what it is, pointed out that Islamophobia is a term invented solely to silence criticism of the Islamic world and warned that the west was sleepwalking into Islamisation.

I have also consistently drawn attention to the fact that most victims of radical Islam are Muslim, that many Muslims are not extreme and that we should do everything possible to protect, support and promote courageous Muslim reformers. No matter. It’s apparently not permissible to oppose both fanatical Islamist hatred and fanatical anti-Islamist hatred. So I became the object of a Twitter frenzy and, along with others, attacked and smeared in newspapers and even in parliament.

I shall be writing about all this elsewhere in due course. For now, though, please join me below as I discuss with Avi Abelow of Israel Unwired the implications of both the mosque atrocity and the reaction.