Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

08/10 Links Pt1: Hope and Optimism: A Reflection on the Abraham Accords Anniversary; 20th Anniversary of Sbarro Terror Attacks Commemorated, Along With Demands for Extradition of Mastermind From Jordan

From Ian:

Arsen Ostrovsky: Hope and Optimism: A Reflection on the Abraham Accords Anniversary

These are truly historic times, bringing a paradigm shift in the Middle East and the Jewish state's acceptance in the region. Gone are the days of the infamous "3 Nos" of Khartoum, instead replaced with "3 Yeses"—yes to peace, yes to negotiations and yes to recognition.

There is a tremendous, palpable sense of excitement and optimism not only amongst Israelis, who yearn for peace and normalization with our Arab neighbors, but also amongst our newfound friends from the Gulf. The feeling is reciprocal.

One would imagine that, after not having formal diplomatic relations for decades, these countries would proceed to embrace each other at a steady, incremental pace. But that couldn't have been more wrong. Instead, they have moved with remarkable speed. From direct flights and the opening of embassies to the signing of new agreements, bilateral trade and cooperation on COVID-19 responses, health and education, the sky is truly the limit.

In May of this year, I found myself rushing to the bomb shelter in Tel Aviv with my family after a wave of rocket attacks from Hamas in Gaza. The first people to message me to ask "are you ok?" were my friends from the UAE. This would have been unthinkable barely a year ago, but moved me so deeply beyond words.

As the first anniversary of the Abraham Accords approaches next week, I have never been more hopeful, inspired or optimistic about the future of Israel's relations with the Arab world. This is a real friendship based on shared values and a mutual commitment to create more prosperous, peaceful and tolerant societies, both today and for future generations.

Peace is very much like a flower. Politicians and diplomats plant the seeds of peace, but ultimately, civil society, young leaders, educators and the business community are the ones who allow it to grow. That is what differentiates the Abraham Accords from past agreements—this peace is being led not by the politicians, but by the people on the ground.

Israel-Morocco Ties Deepen as Lapid Prepares for Rabat Trip

In the wake of the signing of the Abraham Accords last year, Israel’s renewed diplomatic relationship with Morocco appears to be bearing fruit, as a raft of cooperation agreements between the two countries are reportedly in the pipeline.

In July, Israel and Morocco signed a cybersecurity cooperation agreement, which was the first time the two countries had reached a deal on anything since the renewal of ties, according to Israeli outlet Globes.

The foundations for that signing were laid after Foreign Affairs Ministry director-general Alon Ushpiz’s recent trip, which mapped out the required steps to promote economic and trade cooperation.

Economy Minister Orna Barbivay is also expected to visit Morocco in the coming weeks at the head of a delegation of businesspeople and industrialists, reported Globes.

The cybersecurity deal is not thought to relate to the recent furor over Morocco’s alleged use of Israeli company NSO’s Pegasus spyware, in which the government supposedly spied on political opponents and surveilled one of French President Emmanuel Macron’s cell phones.

Despite Israel and Morocco signing last years’ accord, Prime Minister Saad-Eddine El Othmani, head of the Islamic Justice and Development Party and a supporter of the Palestinian cause, said that he would not be meeting with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid during his visit to Morocco.

20th Anniversary of Sbarro Terror Attacks Commemorated, Along With Demands for Extradition of Mastermind From Jordan

Jewish groups and Israeli and US officials marked the 20th anniversary on Monday of the infamous Palestinian terrorist bombing of the popular Sbarro pizza eatery in Jerusalem, with some calling on the US to demand extradition of one of its masterminds to face charges for the deaths of Americans killed in the attack.

The Hamas-orchestrated bombing, which took place in 2001 at the height of the Second Intifada, killed 15 innocent people and wounded over a hundred.

The World Jewish Congress marked the occasion with a video featuring testimonies from the survivors and a tribute to the victims.

Several commentators pointed out that one of the masterminds of the bombing, Ahlam Tamimi, remains at large under Jordanian protection, even though she is under indictment in the US on terror charges.

Arnold Roth, whose daughter Malki was among those murdered by Tamimi, tweeted a video from 2017 on the unsealing of Tamimi’s indictment, saying, “The tweet below is from March 14 2017, four years to the day that US terror charges against the @Sbarro bomber were finally unsealed.”

“Please honor the Sbarro victims today on the massacre’s 20th anniversary by viewing the clip,” he said. “Please help us get justice done.”

This week marks 20 years since a Palestinian suicide bombing at Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem during the Second Intifada killed sixteen people, including eight children.

When anti-Israel protesters in Brooklyn chant “Globalize the Intifada,” they call for more bloody violence. pic.twitter.com/fYakNmW0gp
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) August 10, 2021

Words cannot convey the enormity of a 20th anniversary of the massacre that took our child's life. Instead I'll focus on the ongoing travesty of justice and home in on the US @StateDept's current stancehttps://t.co/6VWL4aFzEA pic.twitter.com/EGD47JKXaE
— Frimet Roth (@FrimetRoth) August 9, 2021

I've been following the Twitter account of Ken Roth, head of Human Rights Watch, and his multiple attacks on Israel daily.

I count that he has tweeted against Israel 95 times since July 1, far more than any other nation except Myanmar and China.

Roth really emphasizes his bizarre idea that Israel is in the top tier of human rights abusers in the world. In one very telling tweet from August 4:

Biden "is preparing an overhaul of arms export policy to increase the emphasis on human rights." The real test: will that mean a cutoff of arms sales to systematic abusers like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Philippines, and Israel?

Here is Roth's list of the worst human rights abusers that buy arms from the US. However, as I pointed out then, there are a lot of countries with horrific human rights records that Roth didn't bother to mention in his list, among them Nigeria, Qatar, Lebanon, Mexico, Colombia, Tunisia, Pakistan, Kenya, Turkey, Jordan, Oman, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Niger, Morocco and DR Congo.

There is another angle that proves Roth's obsession with the Jewish state.

With most other countries, Roth concentrates on one (or two) major human rights abuses. With Israel, there is a seemingless endless list of issues that Roth feels are important enough to emphasize.

Since July 1, the top issue was the NSO Group, a private Israeli cybersecurity firm whose software is misused by autocratic customers. I count 34 tweets about NSO Group that specifically mention or blame Israel even though the countries that used the software in ways that violated the license agreement are the ones who are the actual human rights abusers.

No less than 22 tweets about Ben and Jerry's ice cream - a truly remarkable amount of time and effort for a supposed leader in human rights to spend.

But no issue is too trivial for Roth to tweet about as long as he can try to make Israel look bad: Israel dragging its feet on extraditing an alleged Mexican criminal, Israel not fielding any Arab Israelis on its Olympics team, multiple tweets about the law that didn't pass on restricting marriages between Israeli and Palestinian Arabs, settlers and "war crime" settlements, generic accusations of Israeli "apartheid," eight tweets on a property dispute in Sheikh Jarrah that shows that Roth knows nothing about the law, and others. There is no other country that gets this level of attention where so many issues are used as fodder for attacks.

Roth's obsession can only be described as antisemitism. Besides the tweet he made last month blaming Jews for antisemitism - which he took down but didn't apologize for - Roth yesterday tweeted:

"Israeli claims that Ben & Jerry’s is engaging in a boycott against Israel is untrue," say several Democratic aides. And "what right does Israel have to dictate an American’s right to decide" or "to order state governors to punish this American company?” https://t.co/55OHs4MdF9 pic.twitter.com/5lonp8KSN3
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) August 9, 2021

American Jews are the ones who are writing letters and contacting governors and representatives about this topic. Roth, by highlighting this quote, is saying that American Jews are not really Americans, and they have no right to complain about American companies. Moreover, any Americans outraged at the Ben and Jerry's boycott are - according to Roth's tweet - really acting as agents of the Israeli government.

Accusations of dual loyalty are antisemitic. Here a human rights icon is seriously pushing the same trope, and he is serious.

From Haaretz:

Dozens of Israeli organizations, both public and private, fell victim to a coordinated cyberattack that most likely originated in China, the international cybersecurity company FireEye announced Monday.

This is the first documented case of a large-scale Chinese attack on Israel. It was part of a broader campaign that targeted many other countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Thailand. FireEye has been monitoring the operation for two years.

According to the company’s report, the Israeli targets came from the fields of shipping, high-tech, telecommunications, defense, academia and information technology. IT companies are particularly sought-after targets because they are what is known as a supply chain threat – meaning that through them, the hackers can reach many other companies.

The attacks were aimed at stealing know-how, commercial secrets and business intelligence.

Sanaz Yashar, who led FireEye’s investigation into Israeli targets, said that one possible factor in the attacks is China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which is meant to create a continuous land and water route around the world for Chinese products. This initiative “is connected with huge infrastructure projects in which China is involved, including in Israel, like ports or railroads,” she explained.

“Another Chinese interest in Israel is its technology sector,” Yashar said. “There are a lot of Israeli companies that are involved in the very fields at the core of Chinese interests, as reflected in their five-year plans.

“Their goal isn’t necessarily always to steal intellectual property; it’s possible that they’re actually looking for business information,” she added. “In the Chinese view, it’s legitimate to attack a company while negotiating with it, so they will know how to price the deal properly.

“When the Chinese do business, they don’t enter the contract with their eyes shut. They examine the other offers, the board of directors’ emails, correspondence among people, what the intrigues are and who the key people are.”

Yashar said the Chinese are most likely interested in know-how in fields such as cybersecurity, renewable energy, agricultural technologies and 5G communications. “Anyone who does business with China also interests them,” she added.

The hackers mainly took email correspondence and documents, Yashar said. “This attacker was specifically interested in emails, vacuuming up huge quantities of emails. We see that immediately after entering, they mapped the network and looked for document and email servers.”

They also seized usernames and passwords – possibly to be able to reenter the same targets later on, or possibly to enable them to enter different targets.

By analyzing the hacking tools used and comparing them to similar attacks in the past, FireEye concluded that China’s Ministry of State Security was behind the attack.

From the description given, this wasn't an "attack" per se - it was a huge reconnaissance mission.

China recognizes the value of information and is not shy about using any means to obtain it. To them, stealing emails and passwords is how other people think about using search engines.

Israel is working with China on critical infrastructure projects - a new railway between Eilat and Ashdod, a private port at Ashdod, and the port of Haifa. There is no doubt that China wants to leverage those into more espionage and intelligence. Moreover, China partners with many Israeli high tech companies that they no doubt are extracting information from.

Israel must be far more cautious about partnering with China. The Haaretz article indicates that Israel may be waking up to that fact, seeming to stop a couple of major deals for Chinese companies to buy an Israeli mobile operator and an insurance company.

The FireEye report describes how China is getting more and more sophisticated at trying to hide its tracks. For example, it autotranslated some of the artifacts in its attack tools into Farsi so make Israelis think this was an Iranian attack. (The language was stilted and used terms that native Farsi speakers wouldn't use.) They also wrote tools specifically to clean up indications that they were ever in computer systems to begin with.

Arab news site claims to reveal agreement between the US, Israel and Palestinian Authority. The supposed leak might be the bigger story.

Arabi21 claims to have received details on an agreement between the US, Israel and Palestinian Authority that was hammered out by US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr during his visit last month.

The agreement includes many of the things that Israel would insist upon, so the report might be credible.

According to Arabi21, the agreement was was signed on July 14. It includes the US imposing strict control over the Palestinian media and educational curricula, and the reactivation of the tripartite American-Israeli-Palestinian committee to track and report on incitement in Palestinian media.

It is also said to address the "pay for slay" issue, where the US and Israel would modify the Palestinian Prisoners Law in ways that would be acceptable.

Additionally, the agreement is meant to strengthen the Palestinian Authority by providing strong auditing mechanisms against corruption and misuse of funds, with major US accounting firms like PriceWaterhouse performing the audits.

The US also asked the Palestinian Authority to credibly investigate the apparent murder of Nizar Banat, to be completed within three months, to regain PA credibility on the Palestinian street.

Perhaps more interesting than this story is the leaking of this story. If it is true, or partially true, it means that someone who works in the US State Department leaked it - and they chose to leak it to an Arab news site. Only an Arabic speaker would choose Arabi21, a site that is barely known to the Western world.

If the leak is legitimate, it was done to embarrass the Palestinian Authority. We know that because the end of the story quotes the source as saying "the document, with what it reveals of American and Israeli interventions, reveals the truth about who runs the Palestinian Authority."

It is also notable that the leak doesn't include any concessions to the Palestinian Authority itself, which any real agreement would do, which hints that there are other sections of the alleged agreement that were not leaked - in order to make the PA look as bad as possible.

All of this means that if it is found out that the story is true or partially true, there is someone in the State Department who is actively working to undermine the Palestinian Authority and try to boost more radical Palestinian factions.

That might be bigger news than the reported agreement itself.

08/09 Links Pt2: Melanie Phillips: The west's cultural meltdown We need allies to stop this disease; Democratic Socialists of America Host Corbyn; Farrakhan Roots Feed BLM's Anti-Semitism

From Ian:

Understanding the ‘hows’ of antisemitism

We all agree that antisemitism is bad. People are less likely to be seduced by this hate because we all know where it leads. But anti-Zionism is not perceived to be in the same category. It is sold as speaking truth to power, masked as justice.

The antisemitism we all acknowledge as bad started out looking nothing like where it led. In fact, in comparing the beginnings of antisemitism with anti-Zionism the similarities are striking. In the secular 19th century, Jews were designated as Semites, yet it was never intended to mean anything but Jew.

In the Soviet Union, which claimed to not notice differences in people or religion, Jews were designated as Zionists, and today the designation of Zionism in the West is described as having immutable loathsome qualities. To Christian Europe, we were Christ-killers. To the Nazis, we were an impure race. To the Soviets, we were capitalists. And today, when the greatest sins of the world are racism and colonialism, the Jewish collective is defined as the ultimate bastion of white supremacy, and Israel is seen as a state born in sin.

Antisemitism relies on the greatest authority of any given time. Religion in ancient times, science in the modern era and human rights today. It is only by appealing to the religious doctrine that all Jews of the 12th century could be referred to as the killers of Jesus, 1,000 years after his death. It is only by appealing to the authority of perverted science, that Jews could be accused of endangering its racial purity. It is only by appealing to a distorted version of human rights that Israel and Zionism, a Jewish liberation movement, could be considered its greatest violators. It is only by appealing to this distortion that the same people who continually agreed to partitioning the land into a Jewish state and a Palestinian state, could be the ones standing in the way of a two-state solution.

Why go to all these lengths to single out a group and distort reality?

Melanie Phillips (PodCast): The west's cultural meltdown

In a podcast, I joined the editor of spiked, Brendan O’Neill, to discuss the baleful issue which preoccupies both of us — the disarray of the western world, its decline into vicious identity politics with its gross abuse of power, and its progressive repudiation of freedom, community and reason.

Starting with the trans-gender agenda, we covered relations between men and women, the origin of the bedrock values that are currently being lost, the current epidemic of antisemitism and the undermining of what it is to be a human being. You can listen to this spiked podcast by clicking on the arrow above the picture.

We need allies to stop this disease

The impact of trigger events such as this on the Jewish community in the UK cannot be understated, and it really is the entire community that is affected. Jewish individuals are targeted regardless of age, regardless of gender, regardless of public prominence and regardless of level of religious observance. Jewish institutions are subjected to antisemitic threats and abuse, whether or not they have ever passed comment on Israel. Every time that violence in Israel and Gaza flares up, a significant spike in antisemitism is observed. It is indiscriminate. It is not a coincidence.

Of these 1,308 reports, 832 took place across May and June, in light of the conflict escalating. Of these 1,308 reports, 693 referenced the war between Israel and Hamas, were motivated by the fury it inspired, demonstrated anti-Zionist sentiment, or a mixture of the three.

When perpetrators do not separate anti-Israel hatred from anti-Jewish hatred – indeed, when they use whatever they claim Israel is doing to vindicate their prejudice towards Jews – whatever academic distinctions may exist between anti-Zionism and antisemitism become irrelevant. When a Jewish child fears for their safety in school because shouts of “Free Palestine” are repeatedly directed at them; when a Jewish university student is told that their life is worthy of being threatened if they don’t declare themselves to be anti-Zionist; when community members are scared of expressing their identity in public in case they are held accountable for Israel’s alleged actions – this is antisemitism.

CST’s mission is to protect the Jewish community, physically and emotionally, in order to facilitate the thriving of Jewish life in the UK. But this mission cannot be fulfilled alone.

It demands the support of allies, those who want to create an inclusive society that celebrates diversity and denounces racism, to stand in solidarity and call out antisemitism.

It demands the action of social media platforms to adhere to their own policies and show that their claims of zero tolerance for hate is not merely lip service. It demands that the police treat hate crime with the severity it deserves and investigate, arrest and prosecute its offenders. This is a shared responsibility.

Democratic Socialists of America Host Former UK Labour Leader Corbyn at Annual Convention

The Democratic Socialists of America hosted former UK Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn on Saturday at their annual convention.

During his tenure as head of Labour, Corbyn fostered an atmosphere of systemic antisemitism, including animus toward Israel, antisemitic conspiracy theories, harassment of Jewish members, and his own claim that “Zionists” were un-British. Several Jewish and non-Jewish Labour MPs quit the party and denounced his leadership.

The UK Jewish community, large numbers of which said they would consider emigrating if Corbyn became prime minister, undertook a concerted campaign against him and his allies, and he was eventually routed in the 2019 election by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and resigned as party leader.

During the DSA convention, held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic, Corbyn mentioned the Israeli-Palestinian conflict only once, noting that his new Project for Peace & Justice had “mobilized for solidarity with the people of Palestine during the bombing of Gaza,” an apparent reference to Israel’s 11-day war with the Hamas terrorist group in May.

Corbyn also presented a vague conspiracy theory to participants, saying, “The richest and most powerful are organized across the world. We need to be not as organized as them, but better organized than them.”

"Justice, Justice You Shall Pursue" is one of the most Zionist verses in the Torah

In this week's Torah portion, we see one of the verses that Israel haters love to quote: "Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdof" - "Justice, Justice You Shall Pursue." (Deuteronomy 16:20)

It is all over the place, as the haters love to pretend that the verse shows that Israel is violating the tenets of the Torah that they don't believe in to begin with.

You will never hear them quote the entire verse.

The verse is a promise by God to give the entire land of Israel to the Jews.

It is generally understood to mean that the Jewish nation must establish a functioning, moral legal system as a fundamental part of the nation's ethos.

Even though the modern State of Israel is not a religious state, it has an excellent legal system. People who want to denigrate Israel try not to attack Israel's justice system directly because they know that they cannot argue with their meticulous rulings that run circles around their own pathetic interpretation of the law. (All of the Sheikh Jarrah criticism boils down to "It's not fair!" Because they know that the rulings have been legal.)

By the standards of this verse, no one deserves to live on the entire land of Israel more than the Jews who have brought there the best legal system it has seen since the last time Jews lived there.

"Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdof" is a most quintessentially Zionist verse. Which is why the haters will never want to discuss the second half of it.

08/09 Links Pt1: Israel's National Security Doctrine; Bennett Cabinet Cuts Taxes Collected for PA by $31 Million Paid Out to Terrorists; Lebanon's Maronite patriarch calls on army to confront Hezbollah

From Ian:

JISS: Israel's National Security Doctrine

Israel has an unwritten but broadly accepted national security doctrine - "first principles" - which can assist in long-term planning, setting priorities and allocating resources.

Israel will forever face a yawning gap between the size of its resident population and that of neighboring countries, which have all been hostile to Israel's existence in the past, and some remain so. Israel always will be a small country in size, and hence hyper-sensitive to any loss of territory and to artillery and rocket fire - unlike most of its neighbors.

Israel can never attain a decisive victory in war - a moment which would radically transform the political culture of the region regarding the desire to annihilate it. No victory in any war would ensure, once and for all, that Israel again will not face threats to its existence. Moreover, Israel's first defeat may well be its last, if its territory ends up being conquered by Arab or Islamic forces. This is not the case for any Arab country which Israel might defeat and occupy its territory.

Thus, Israel is doomed to plan for the next war at the end of any war it fights, no matter how successful; and in every war it must prevail against all odds. In sharp contrast to its adversaries, the IDF has no option of retreat.

Israel's "center of gravity" is concentrated in a narrow geographical space in the greater Tel Aviv region - 10 miles from the Green Line, 45 miles from the Jordan River border, and 25 miles from Gaza. Keeping the enemy away from the region and defending it from attack is vital and critical for Israel's ability to survive and to function during any wartime scenario. Beyond that, due to its small size, Israel does not have much redundancy when it comes to critical infrastructure, which is a serious vulnerability.

Israel will make every effort to bolster its ability to defend itself by itself. It cannot and must not rely on others to fight its wars. Both to deter, as well as to defend effectively, and to attack and win when necessary, Israel must maintain a "qualitative edge" over its enemies, mostly using advanced technology and highly-qualified manpower. Israel will do everything necessary to sustain and increase its qualitative advantages.

Bennett Cabinet Cuts Taxes Collected for PA by $31 Million Paid Out to Terrorists

One month after the Political-Security Cabinet approved the decision not to transfer terrorist funds to the Palestinian Authority, on Monday morning Israel transferred the tax money it collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority after offsetting NIS 100 million ($31 million). The offset was made in accordance with the cabinet decision and according to a calculation presented by the IDF and the Finance Ministry as an estimate of the sums of money the PA transferred to the families of terrorists between the years 2019-2020.

According to a law passed in 2018, the defense minister is charged with presenting at the end of each year the total money paid out by the Palestinian Authority to terrorists and their families during that year, and in the following year, an equal amount shall be frozen out of the taxes Israel collects for the PA, in accordance with the Paris Agreement.

But in years past, the Netanyahu government did not keep up with the requirements of the 2018 law that it initiated, and, in fact, in March 2020 transferred NIS 800 million ($248 million) to the PA to help it deal with its economic crisis following the Corona pandemic. But as right-wing news website Hakol HaYehudi pointed out back then, the main reason that led to the PA’s economic crisis was the transfer of more than one and a half billion shekels each year as wages to terrorists who carried out attacks against Jews.

The Bennett cabinet decided to move ahead with freezing those terrorist wages and restarting the monthly payments of collected taxes sans the terrorist payments to the PA, which is facing a collapse over not paying its public employees for several months. In the past, Chairman Mahmoud Abbas refused to receive the discounted funds from Israel, but he appears to have softened over time and now he’ll take whatever Israel gives him.

According to the report that was prepared by the Defense Ministry’s Economic Warfare Headquarters, in 2020 the Palestinian Authority paid out NIS 597 million ($185 million) as indirect support for terrorism. Following the approval of the report, 1/12 of these funds will be frozen every month from the money that Israel transfers to the PA.

"Pay-for-Slay" Explained by Former Head of IDF Military Prosecution for Judea & Samaria

Lt. Col. Maurice Hirsch, former Head of IDF Military Prosecution for Judea & Samaria and current Director of Legal Strategies for Palestinian Media Watch, explains the Palestinian Authority's "pay-for-slay" program.

Lebanon's Maronite patriarch calls on army to confront Hezbollah

Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi called on Sunday for the Lebanese army to take control of the southern part of the country, Hezbollah’s stronghold, and strictly implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701, after recent clashes between Israel and Hezbollah.

“We call upon the Lebanese army, which is responsible with the international forces for the security of the South, to take control of the entire lands of the South, to strictly implement Resolution 1701 and to prevent the launching of missiles from Lebanese territory, not for the sake of Israel’s safety, but rather for the safety of Lebanon,” said Rahi during Sunday Mass, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).

The Maronite patriarch stressed that he could not “accept, by virtue of equality before the law, that a party decides peace and war outside the decision of legality and the national decision entrusted to two-thirds of the members of the government.”

On Friday, 19 rockets were fired from southern Lebanon into northern Israel, with the Iron Dome intercepting 10 rockets and six rockets falling in open areas near Har Dov, along the Lebanese border. The others fell inside Lebanon. There were no injuries or casualties.

A sampling of boycotts of Jews 1881-1920. They sure resemble BDS today.

Here are only a sampling of boycotts of Jews around the world before 1920. They have different reasons (when any reasons are given) but the bottom line is that they are simply antisemitic.

The feel just like BDS does today. The last one I list is exactly like BDS today.

Germany, reported in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, January 9. 1881:

West Fork, Indiana, from the Gazette of Cedar Rapids IA, March 1, 1893:

Algiers, reported by Western Mail of Cardiff, December 9, 1898:

This is exactly like Fatah saying that they keep track of and photograph Palestinians who shop at Rami Levy stores in Judea and Samaria.

France, reported in the Chicago Tribune, May 10, 1900:

Sounds lot like the extensive rules the BDSers have on what is forbidden.

Ireland, from Inter-Ocean (Chicago), May 8, 1904:

As always, instead of protecting the Jews, the Jews are told to run away "for their safety."

Odessa, Russia, October 1906:

Atlanta, GA, from Montgomery Times,. June 24, 1915:

Jersey City, from the New York Times, June 5, 1919, in an echo of the current Polish refusal to admit complicity in atrocities against Jews during the Holocaust:

And here was a justification for boycotting Jews in Europe, by pretending to care about a fictional Jewish boycott of Arabs in Palestine - this is pure BDS from 1894 reported in The Jewish Voice of St. Louis:

BDS isn't new. It is just like the boycotts of Jews worldwide for at least 140 years.

Hamas training kids - and old men - for the next war

Hamas has started a military training camp under the name "Sword of Jerusalem" for Gazans.

Its photos show that not only do they appear to be training children to join the Hamas Al Qassam Brigades, but also some grey-haired men.

Saudi Arabia sentences 69 Hamas members to prison

Hamas is outraged that some 69 members of the terror organization have been sentenced to prison terms in Saudi Arabia.

Those sentenced include the Hamas representative in Saudi Arabia, Mohammed al-Khoudary, and his son Hani.

The elder Khoudary is said to have been close to the Saudi royal family in years past.

Saudi Arabia arrested scores of Palestinians and Jordanians in 2019 - over a year before the Abraham Accords.

This indicates (but does not prove) that the Saudis were turning against the Palestinian terror groups independently of any potential ties to Israel.

Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Saudis have outlawed that group as a terrorist group since 2014.

Al Qaeda likewise has its ideological roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, although the Brotherhood claims to have been against violence for decades.

Obviously, Hamas does not subscribe to that philosophy. Indeed, Hamas' defense of their members in Saudi Arabia has been that they hadn't committed any crimes specifically against the Kingdom.

There are strong indications that the sentences were not handed out with what anyone would consider due process - there are reports that the defendants were denied access to lawyers. By any measure, the Saudi kingdom is one of the worst offenders against human rights in the world.

On the other hand, the Saudis have to deal with a large population of potential extremists; after all, most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi and were products of Saudi schooling. They look at Hamas as potentially disruptive to the kingdom as they want to distance themselves from terrorism altogether.

It doesn't appear that the Saudis arrested the Hamas members for Israel. They have plenty of reason to dislike Hamas anyway, and the kingdom has been steadily less sympathetic to the Palestinian cause over the years.

If Israel is in the Saudi calculus at all, it is more that the entire Gulf had been moving away from blind support for Palestinians who have been seen more and more to be the real obstacle to peace, not Israel.

If Palestinians would have accepted Israel's million vaccines in June/July, they would have thrown most out because of no demand

A writer for The National (UAE) writes, "Vaccines aren’t easy to come by in Gaza, from where I’ve just returned."

That's strange, because UNRWA announced that there are plenty of vaccines just waiting for people to come. They have COVID vaccines available in clinics in

(Sputnik)Sheikh Radwan

Shati

Al-Bureij

Rafah

(Pfizer)

Al-Fakhoura

North Gaza (Al-Saftawi)

Beit Hanoun

Jabalia

Al-Sabra

Rimal

Nuseirat

Maghazi

Deir Al-Balah

Khan Younis

Al YaBaniat

Ma'an

Tal al-Sultan

Shabura

For some reason, there has been no update on vaccination data for the Palestinian territories since August 5, but only 20,000 Palestinians altogether got their first dose in the week before that.

Palestinian health officials have the capacity to administer 50,000 shots every day.

For months we were told that the Palestinians were suffering from a severe shortage of vaccines. Now it turns out that even if they would have accepted the million Israeli vaccines offered since mid-June, they would have thrown them out anyway - very few Palestinians are interested in the shot. There aren't lines of people wanting the shot, but lines of clinics begging people to take the shot.

But the news media suddenly lost interest in the story.

08/08 Links: The PA has already paid $1,183,257 to the terrorists who blew up the Sbarro pizza shop murdering 15; For Anti-Zionists, 'Palestine' Does Not Stop at the Green Line

From Ian:

PMW: Blood money: The PA has already paid $1,183,257 to the terrorists who blew up the Sbarro pizza shop murdering 15 and injuring 130

Tomorrow, August 9, 2021, will mark 20 years since the attack on the Sbarro pizza restaurant in Jerusalem. 15 people were murdered, including 5 members of one family, and 130 people were injured.

As a reward for carrying out the attack, each month the Palestinian Authority pays a total of US$8,006 (25,800 shekels) to the imprisoned terrorists and the families of the dead terrorists, who were involved in the attack.

By now, the PA has paid Abdullah Barghouti, the terrorist who built the bomb and is responsible for the murder of 67 people in various attacks, a cumulative sum of US$285,571 (921,500 shekels). Every month, the PA pays him a salary of US$2,255 (7,300 shekels). In addition, the PA has paid the family of the suicide bomber US$68,498 (221,400 shekels). Every month the PA continues to pay his family an allowance of US$432 (1,400 shekels). The minimum wage in the PA is 1,450 shekels/month (US$44).

The monthly PA salary payments to the imprisoned terrorists are not just a whim. Rather, they are codified in the PA Law of Prisoners and Released Prisoners, No. 19 of 2004 and regulations promulgated pursuant to the law.

Thus, "Government Decision No. (23) for 2010 regarding a regulation of payment of a monthly salary to the prisoner" sets the salary scale the PA pays to imprisoned terrorists, including additional benefits for married terrorists, terrorists who have children, and terrorists who are residents or citizens of the State of Israel.

In addition to the issue of payments, section 4 of the Law of Prisoners stipulates that the PA will not sign a peace agreement "without the release of all prisoners", including terrorists like Abdullah Barghouti and hundreds of other terrorists like him, who are responsible for killing thousands of people.

The PA payments to the families of the dead terrorists (so-called “Martyrs”) is not regulated by law. Rather, these payments are made based on internal regulations of the PLO Institute for the Care of the Families ‎of the Martyrs and the Wounded, which is entirely funded by the PA.

Father dies by suicide on grave of son killed by Gaza rocket fire in 2014

Moshe Etzion, 88, the bereaved father of Ze’ev Etzion who was killed by rocket fire from Gaza during the 2014 war, took his own life at the gravesite of his son on the Hebrew anniversary of his death on Sunday.

The Etzion family lived in the southern Kibbutz Nirim, near the border with the Strip.

Moshe Etzion left his home early Sunday morning, and after he did not return for a number of hours, authorities launched a search for him.

He was found dead next to the grave of his son in the kibbutz, the Eshkol Regional Council said. He is to be buried tomorrow in Nirim.

His son Ze’ev, also known as Zevik, was a local security officer for the kibbutz during the 2014 war, as well as an emergency medic and ambulance driver.

Ze’ev was killed on August 26, 2014, when a Hamas-launched mortar shell landed in the kibbutz and shrapnel hit him. The seventh anniversary of his death fell on Sunday, according to the Jewish calendar.

For Anti-Zionists, 'Palestine' Does Not Stop at the Green Line

In the aftermath of the recent uproar over the Ben & Jerry's ice cream company announcing it would boycott the "Occupied Palestinian Territory," it is worthwhile to look closer at that term: "Occupied Palestinian Territory."

In 1964, Ahmad el-Shukairy convened a conference at which he created a terror movement called the "Palestine Liberation Organization." The PLO undertook to perpetrate terror acts against civilians to "liberate Palestine from the Israelis." At the time Jordan occupied Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank"), and Egypt occupied Gaza. Yet, none of the PLO's terror campaign was aimed at driving Jordan or Egypt out of those illegally occupied lands. Rather, to liberate the newly fabricated "Palestine," all PLO terror aimed instead at driving the Jews out of Tel Aviv, Haifa, Ra'anana, and other cities, towns, and villages in pre-1967 Israel and "into the [Mediterranean] sea."

It always has been Arab Muslim Orthodoxy that "Palestine" actually is the entire country of Israel, not merely Judea and Samaria. Just contemplate the emblems of the "Palestine" terror groups, including the PLO, Fatah, Hamas, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

That is their "Occupied Palestine Territory" – not the "West Bank" nor Gaza but all of Israel. It is as clear as day — on their flags and banners. It is their logo. There is no need to gain fluency in Arabic to grasp what is on their minds and in their attack plans.

To the degree they claim they want "back" their "Palestine territory" from which they claim they were "expelled," anti-Zionists' demands would not be resolved by telling Arabs who claim their families once lived in Akko (Acre) or Yafo (Jaffa) that, in satisfaction of their aspirations, they now may have Jenin in Samaria or Beit Hanoun in Gaza. People claiming Akko or Yafo lineage do not want Gaza. It's like a real estate agent telling a Chicago-based Midwestern American Jew seeking to relocate to the Brooklyn, NY of his childhood: "I know you have a cultural longing for Brooklyn, the sights of Flatbush, old Ebbets Field where the baseball Dodgers played, Boro Park and Crown Heights, and Irv's Knishery of Canarsie. Unfortunately, I cannot offer you that, but here is something that is basically identical: I have a listing in Chubbuck, Idaho and another in Waterloo, Iowa. Believe me, you won't know the difference."

Seeing how this picture is from 1950, we are surprised Quds News actually used "occupied West Bank" in the correct context. https://t.co/rSSjsUgweV
— The Mossad: The Social Media Account (@TheMossadIL) August 8, 2021

Biden, along with practically the entire House and Senate, supported the Bush letter saying Israel would retain parts of the West Bank

In April 2004, President Bush sent a letter to Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon supporting Israel's withdrawal from Gaza - but with a crucial addition that Sharon sought.

The letter said, "As part of a final peace settlement, Israel must have secure and recognized borders, which should emerge from negotiations between the parties in accordance with UNSC Resolutions 242 and 338. In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli populations centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949, and all previous efforts to negotiate a two-state solution have reached the same conclusion. It is realistic to expect that any final status agreement will only be achieved on the basis of mutually agreed changes that reflect these realities."

Two months later, the House and Senate voted overwhelmingly to support that position. The Senate resolution 393 said:

Whereas, in light of realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli population centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949, but realistic to expect that any final status agreement will only be achieved on the basis of mutually agreed changes that reflect these realities;

The House resolution H.Con.Res.460 was largely the same.

Among the 95 senators and 407 representatives who voted for this resolution was Joe Biden.

Everyone who looks at the situation with clear eyes knows that it is out of the question that Israel would ever move back to the 1949 armistice lines.

Yet the US contradicts that every day by treating the entire area of Judea and Samaria as presumed to be belonging to Palestinians. Joe Biden's angry reaction to the announcement that Israel would build additional units in Ramat Shlomo in 2010 is just one example - no one could possibly think that Ramat Shlomo would ever be part of a Palestinian state. We see the same absurdity today in American policy.

So is the Bush letter - and its confirmation by the overwhelming majority of Congress - just a joke? Should Israel not trust what the US has to say? Or, more specifically, the US government makes a solemn promise, should Israel assume that a later less-friendly administration will not adhere to those promises?

And should we not insist that President Biden keep his own promises?

(h/t Mitchell)

Original sources of the Arab threat to "drive the Jews into the sea"

Back in 2014, I looked at the origins of the phrase "drive the Jews into the sea," because some have claimed that the expression was a hoax by Jews and Arabs never used that phrase in reference to Jews in Israel.

I found solid evidence that it was used after 1948, and then saw that the phrase was documented in the book "O Jerusalem" as having been used first by a Jerusalem police chief Kamal Irekat, adopted by the infamous Mufti of Jerusalem and then used by Fawzi el Kaukji, an Arab League field commander.

Yisrael Medad looked at the issue and found a British memo from August 1948 from Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin:

It is quite untrue to suggest that we have let the Arabs down or failed in any obligations towards them. We did not urge them to intervene by force in Palestine, nor did we promise them support if they did so. They went in of their own accord, in most cases without telling us beforehand. Very small measure of military successes which they achieved shows that their forces, while capable perhaps of occupying friendly territory, were not prepared for and incapable of undertaking major military operations, which would have been necessary to achieve the announced object of the Arab states, namely to drive the Jews into the sea.

I wanted to see if I could find an earlier version in contemporary newspapers.

An AP dispatch from June 10, 1948, said that Jews were amused at Arab claims that they already had thrown Jews into the sea:

This article from the News York Daily News in April 1948 quotes Fawzi al Kaukji directly:

An AP analysis from February 8, 1948, uses quotation marks for the phrase referring to Arab leaders in 1947:

The earliest quote I can find is from AP from a December 19, 1947 dispatch, quoting "Arab informants:"

That is a lot of different sources for an identical expression. It sounds like this was a common Arab response to the 1947 partition plan.

Medad also found this cover of an Egyptian pamphlet literally titled "Throw the Jews into the sea" before the 1967 war:

In 2013, the EU added Hezbollah's military wing to its list of terror groups.

So why couldn't they mention Hezbollah in this press release?

The European Union strongly condemns the firing of rockets from southern Lebanon towards northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights including those for which the “Islamic Resistance” has claimed responsibility.

The European Union is following closely the developments that ensued over the last days, including the artillery and air strikes response by Israel. It is crucial for all parties to exercise utmost restraint and work towards a quick resolution of the current tensions.

For some reason, they use the euphemism "Islamic Resistance" instead of Hezbollah - which is arguably worse, since it promotes the lie that Hezbollah is "resisting" Israel even though Israel withdrew from Lebanon more than two decades ago.

(h/t Irene)

08/07 Links: Rhythmic gymnast Linoy Ashram wins Israel’s 3rd-ever Olympic gold; Beinart Tapped by Ben And Jerry’s to Defend Israel Boycott to Franchisees.

From Ian:

Rhythmic gymnast Linoy Ashram wins Israel’s 3rd-ever Olympic gold

Rhythmic gymnast Linoy Ashram won Israel’s third-ever Olympic gold medal on Saturday, beating out tough competition to take the top spot on the Tokyo 2020 podium and ending over two decades of Russian dominance in the sport.

Ashram is the first Israeli woman to win a gold at the Olympics.

“It’s what I dreamed of for all my life,” Ashram said after the win.

“It’s an amazing feeling to stand in this place, at this time, on the podium and in first place,” said the 22-year-old gymnast who has now been picked to carry the flag at the closing ceremony.

“It’s a crazy experience that I still haven’t fully digested and with peak levels of excitement,” Ashram said.

She was visibly moved as Israel’s national anthem, Hatikva, rang out through the gymnastics center as the flag was raised.

The gymnast won Israel’s third Olympic gold medal just days after gymnast Artem Dolgopyat won Israel’s second. Israeli windsurfer Gal Friedman won the first gold for Israel in Athens in 2004.

As well as the two golds, Israel’s Olympic team had already picked up two bronze medals in Tokyo — for the judo mixed team, and Avishag Semberg for taekwondo in the women’s 49kg category.

The Tokyo games are thus Israel’s most successful, since it has never previously won more than two medals at any one Olympics.

Linoy Ashram brings joy to Israel with gold medal win - comment

When Saturday’s final results were announced, placing Ashram in first place in the hoop, ball and clubs exercises, and securing her the gold with an overall score of 107.800, the ‘twittersphere’ exploded.

It wasn’t the public explosion of cars honking and joyous fans running into the street, like when Maccabi Tel Aviv won its first European basketball championship in 1977 and, as star player Tal Brody, excitedly proclaimed, put “Israel on the map.”

But it was a source of happiness in a country that could sorely use some.

“Israeli pride!” someone posted. “So proud of Linoy” wrote another.

“It’s a shame that observant people aren’t going to find out about this for hours,” piped in another.

It indeed was a shame, especially when, for the second time in a week, “Hatikva” was heard from the podium in Tokyo as the ecstatic Ashram stood with the coveted medal. Last week, of course, the anthem was played after artistic gymnast Artem Dolgopyat won gold in the men’s floor exercise on Sunday.

That was certainly an emotional moment, and even the most hardened observers could be seen with moist eyes. Saturday’s repeat performance was icing on the cake, but no less resonant in its evocation of the elation felt at witnessing the blue and white flag dominating the screen and the national anthem resounding to the world.

We Israelis can be divided about and argue about anything and everything. Politics, vaccines, traffic, neighbors and the government, and the list goes on. There aren’t many issues or events that bring us together, as a country and as a people. There’s something transcendent about seeing young men and women stretch themselves to the limit of their abilities, and then some.

Linoy Ashram and Artem Dolgopyat, along with bronze medalists Avishag Semberg in women’s tae kwon do and Israel’s mixed team in judo, did just that. Their accomplishments in Tokyo made us all proud of them and of our country. It’s no small feat and should be savored for as long as the news cycle allows.

And it’s another reminder to those that might like to think otherwise that Israel is still on the map after all these years.

Wow! ???? Hatikvah plays for our champion Linoy Ashram ?? ??

So proud! pic.twitter.com/R1EUIA47hn
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) August 7, 2021