Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, February 26, 2022

02/26 Links: As Russians assail Kyiv, Zelensky says Ukraine has ‘derailed their plan’; Delegitimization links UN Anti-Israel Commission, Vladimir Putin, Ken Roth

From Ian:

As Russians assail Kyiv, Zelensky says Ukraine has ‘derailed their plan’

Russian troops closed in on Ukraine’s capital Saturday after a night of explosions and street fighting sent Kyiv residents seeking shelter or fleeing the city. The country’s leader claimed Ukraine’s forces had repulsed the assault and vowed to keep up the struggle.

“The real fighting for Kyiv is ongoing,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video message, accusing Russia of hitting infrastructure and civilian targets.

“We will win,” he said.

Zelensky urged Russians to pressure Russian leader Vladimir Putin to stop the invasion. He accused Moscow of seeking to overthrow him and establish a puppet state in Ukraine.

“We’ve derailed their plan,” the 44-year-old leader said, stressing that the Ukrainian army was in control of the capital Kyiv and main cities around it.

A US defense official told Reuters there was growing frustration among the Russians “that they have not made the progress that they have wanted to make, particularly in the north.”

The unnamed official added: “They have been frustrated by what they have seen is a very determined resistance. It has slowed them down.”

Zelensky said Russians have deployed “missiles, fighters, drones, artillery, armored vehicles, saboteurs, and airborne forces” against Ukraine and have hit “residential areas.”

Zelensky said Ukrainians had been fighting against Russians troops in a number of cities including the southern city of Odessa, the northeastern city of Kharkiv and the capital Kyiv. The western city of Lviv and other cities in western and central Ukraine have been targeted with air strikes, he said.

CAMERA Op-Ed Delegitimization links UN Anti-Israel Commission, Vladimir Putin, Ken Roth

Since its inception, Israel has been subject to a constant barrage of delegitimization campaigns. From Arab dictators to antisemites masquerading as “human rights activists,” the right of the Jewish state to exist has been constantly called into question.

A favorite tool of the delegitimizers has been the co-opted and corrupted United Nations, used as an ostensible authoritative source to constantly put to question Israel’s right to exist. Consider, for example, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ infamous New York Times opinion piece, in which he argued for “Palestine’s” admission to the U.N. as a way to “pave the way for the internationalization of the conflict as a legal matter, not only a political one.” (Don’t worry, though – the Palestinian Authority still believes in and incentivizes violence.)

The new U.N. Commission of Inquiry (COI) is the latest and arguably most dangerous iteration of this strategy, which is why Israel has decided to refuse to cooperate with it. With an expansive and unparalleled mandate – obviously intended to engage in historical revisionism, label Israel a unique evil and absurdly accuse it of all manner of atrocities – the COI is, in the words of Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Meirav Eilon Shahar, “an effort to delegitimize and even criminalize [Israel’s] very existence.”

The purpose of delegitimization is perfectly clear. Even as Arab regimes and the Soviets manipulated and corrupted the U.N. into efforts such as declaring that Zionism was a form of racism, they were also waging military campaigns to wipe Israel off the map.

One can see the same strategy at play in another horrifying spectacle. On Monday, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin gave an hour-long sermon with singular theme: delegitimizing the right of Ukraine to exist through wild accusations of atrocities and historical revisionism.

Sound familiar?

Ricochet Podcast: #UkraineUnderAttack

Hosted by James Lileks, Peter Robinson & Rob Long With guest Eli Lake

Is anybody else wondering why we’re seeing more coverage about politicians chattering or journalists ducking from skirmishes than, you know, military movements, logistics and strategy? Our hosts sure do, and that’s why they’re eager to hear from Eli Lake, Bloomberg’s foreign policy columnist. Eli gives his take on the Russian pipe dream, Europe’s need for a wakeup call, and how Biden can get serious about his promise to stand up to Putin (hint: some crow eating would be in order).

On Thursday night, French Prime Minister Jean Castex reaffirmed that Jerusalem was the capital of the Jewish people.

At the annual dinner of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF), Castex said to a long ovation:

This fight is international. Like you, I am concerned about the United Nations resolution on Jerusalem which continues to deliberately and against all evidence discard the Jewish terminology of “Temple Mount”. You know my attachment to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people. I never stopped saying it. This in no way precludes recognizing and respecting the attachment of other religions to this city, and it is in this spirit that I myself walked through the old city in 2020 and visited each of the holy places Jew, Christian and Muslim. But erasing Jewishness from Jerusalem is not acceptable.

He then added a slam at Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and other demonizers of Israel:

As it is not acceptable that in the name of a just fight for freedom, associations misuse terms historically laden with shame as to qualify the State of Israel. How dare we talk about apartheid in a state where Arab citizens are represented in government, in parliament, hold leadership positions and positions of responsibility, where all citizens, regardless of their religion, have understood that their only hope is peace together? It is not by affirming such untruths that associations which claim to pursue an objective of peace fulfill their vocation.

And he segued from there into other issues of antisemitism:

The fight against anti-Semitism is European. As I said on January 27, on the occasion of the international day dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, France has chosen to make the fight against racism and anti-Semitism one of the priorities of its Presidency. .

The fight is and remains of course national. France, which hosts the largest Jewish community in Europe, must show the way.
...
Fight to better fight against anti-religious acts. As I made a commitment to the representatives of religions and in particular to you, Chief Rabbi, I have entrusted two deputies (Isabelle Florennes and Ludovic Mendes present this evening) with a mission on the subject. They will submit their report in a few weeks. I expect strong proposals. Because it is the honor of our Republic to protect those who believe and in particular the Jews of France.

Fight of course to fight against Islamist separatism. Let's not hide: anti-Semitism is more and more often the work of radical Islamists who make life difficult for the Jews of France, who sometimes kill. In accordance with the laws passed by Parliament, we are going to step up our strategy to fight against Islamist separatism. Dina demalchuta dina. “The law of the kingdom is the law”: this principle must once again become a rule for all citizens of France.

This is why we will hold firm on the end of the detached imams. This is also why we will be firm on the control of foreign funding for places of worship. And I will be in Toulouse on March 20, with the Israeli President, to bring to life the memory of the victims of the March 2012 killings and in particular the children of the Ozar Atorah school: Gabriel, Aryeh, Jonathan Sandlers and Myriam Mossonego, as well as soldiers Imad Ibn Zlaten, Abel Chennouf and Mohamed Legouad.

As can be expected, Palestinian antisemites are furious. Hamas condemned his statement on Jerusalem, as did Islamic Jihad, a number of French Palestinian groups, and the PLO, which said:

The statement by French Prime Minister Jean Castxx regarding Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jews during his participation in the usual annual dinner of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions In France (CRIF), it contradicts the declared French policy within the framework of the European Union policy, which considers occupied Jerusalem part of the occupied territories in 1967, which raises many doubts and questions, and requires an official clarification from France about the truth of this statement and the reprehensible position of the President its ministers.

Notice that Castex didn't say that Jerusalem was Israel's capital, but the eternal capital of the Jewish people, which is undeniable. Any group that condemns a statement like that is clearly antisemitic.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

02/25 Links Pt2: Will reverberations of Russia’s Ukraine invasion reach the Vienna nuclear talks?; Malaysian Propaganda and Fundraising Network Enables Hamas Plots Targeting Jews

From Ian:

Will reverberations of Russia’s Ukraine invasion reach the Vienna nuclear talks?

The Israeli government has made clear through its tepid and seemingly contradictory responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that this is a war it desperately would rather avoid, as it pits two allies and the interests they represent against one other.

But a deeper reason behind the Israeli preference for a swift diplomatic solution to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict is that it would allow for global attention to return to Vienna where world powers are believed to be on the verge of signing another diplomatic agreement in a deal seen as far more consequential to Jerusalem’s interests — a joint US-Iran return to compliance with the nuclear accord known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said as much earlier this month in an interview with the Walla news site when asked about the then still-brewing tensions between Moscow and Kyiv.

“It disturbs us significantly as it draws the focus away from the nuclear talks in Vienna where we would like to have much more American attention to prevent dangerous things from happening there,” he said.

At the time, Lapid was optimistic that a military conflict could be avoided. But now that Russia has chosen the path of war, Jerusalem may be forced to recalculate whether an emboldened Moscow — one further at odds with the West than in recent memory — will approach in the same way a joint agreement with those same Western powers aimed at preventing a nuclear Iran.

Relatedly, a Russia that has no qualms putting Western threats to the test could well lead to an Iran that has less of a problem doing the same by hardening its own negotiating stance in Vienna.

Washington-based Middle East experts who spoke with The Times of Israel said that Russia’s interest in preventing another nuclear power on its southern periphery will remain, regardless of how its invasion of Ukraine unfolds.

However, that interest may be eclipsed by a reticence to give the US and its allies a win, just as they are banding against Moscow with an unprecedented sanctions campaign. Moreover, the analysts explained that while Tehran may now be enticed to embolden its position at risk of dooming the nuclear accord for good, the Islamic Republic would be wise to take note of the growing reality that they will be met with an opposition in the West that is more unified than ever before.

'World becomes less safe every time the US fails to show strength'

US House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy visits Israel along with 30 freshman Republican congressmen, lauding ties between Jerusalem and Washington and cautioning against an Iranian nuclear deal.

No less than three United States congressional delegations have visited Israel within the last two weeks – two Democrat and one Republican – proving that bipartisan support for Israel is alive and kicking.

The Republican delegation, which was organized by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, was headed by Congressman Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives.

"I do this trip every two years," he told Israel Hayom. "We have 30 freshman Republican members with us. It is a binding trip. We went to the Knesset. We met with the prime minister [Naftali Bennett], with Bibi [Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu] as well, and with the speaker of the Knesset [Mickey Levy].

"There's no greater relationship than America has with Israel. There are no greater common values, and with that also common enemies. A lot of the discussion was about Iran and the potential of some type of [nuclear] agreement. The 30-member group unanimously and firmly believes that Iran can never have such a deal. Hopefully, we will be able to make sure that never happens."

Q: Since the last time you visited Israel, the state has been through a significant political change, and you mentioned you met both the previous and current leadership. What does this change look like from your perspective?

"One thing that I firmly believe is that the great thing about democracy is that a republic gets to decide in which direction it wishes to go. To have a coalition of eight different parties is pretty difficult but I think he [Bennett] is working hard. The relationship between America and Israel is based on shared values and we want to focus on that."

Thousands of people who have no ability to distinguish between completely dissimilar situations are retweeting this AP Fact Check where people passed off a photo of Gaza last May as Ukraine today.

Social media users are sharing a photo of a fiery explosion with false claims it shows Russia’s 2022 attack on Ukraine. It actually shows Israeli air strikes in Gaza in 2021. Here are the facts. https://t.co/yp8JjFNJzI
— AP Fact Check (@APFactCheck) February 24, 2022

Many people are saying that this is proof that Israel is as contemptuous of international law as Russia. Others are trying to create their own bizarre analogies.

I tweeted a response for these idiots, not that it matters. A slightly updated version:

For the idiots comparing Russian invasion of Ukraine to Israel's occasional forays into Gaza:

1) Israel has no territorial designs on Gaza.

2) Hamas starts every war.

3) Hamas attacks Israeli civilians.

4) ...And brags about it.

5) Israel never targets civilians. And it spends millions of dollars to minimize their deaths or injuries. Because it has nothing to gain by attacking civilians.

6) Although not often reported, Israel adheres to international law of armed conflict.

7) Israel warns civilians to get out before bombing a military target embedded with the innocents.

8) Israel has lots of legal checkpoints before choosing a legal target.

9) Israel is defending itself.

10) Israel doesn't want war.

11) Israel wants to see Gaza prosper and when there aren't rockets, it helps Gaza's economy.

12) Hamas explicitly wants to see Israel destroyed.

I know people who read mainstream media don't believe half of this, but it is all true.

Oh, and as of this writing, the political sites of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have not commented on the Ukraine invasion at all. Which is a tacit approval of the action. (Israel denounced the invasion.)

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

02/25 Links Pt1: Melanie Phillips: How America has empowered evil in Russia and Iran; Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the death of international law

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: How America has empowered evil in Russia and Iran

Western countries believed that buying Russian gas would cement the ties that created peace. Instead, they merely handed Putin the means to blackmail them.

The doctrine of interdependence similarly created the fantasy that empowering Iran would turn it from the west’s most lethal terrorist foe into a civilised partner in mutually profitable endeavour.

Above all, the west has told itself that war is unconscionable — even in self-defence — and can always be avoided by diplomacy. This doctrine has reached its nadir in the Iran negotiations, where American diplomacy has become a euphemism for abject surrender.

The Iranian regime’s perception that Biden would never take military action, despite repeated attacks by its proxies against the US and its allies, emboldened it to dig in its heels in the nuclear talks. Ramping up its aggression resulted in more American concessions and the conviction in Tehran that America would give it whatever it demanded.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week that he would not allow Putin’s pretence of diplomacy to obscure his aggressive acts. Yet that’s precisely what he’s been doing with Iran — as Putin will have noted.

For the Russian leader, sanctions are but a minor irritant. Serious intent against him by the west would entail putting its military boots on the ground.

Tyrants respect only power. The absence of serious intent is viewed as weakness and spurs more aggression. The only reason the 1962 Cuban missile crisis was defused was that Cuba’s prime minster, Fidel Castro, understood that the US was prepared to fight and sacrifice American lives — which it then was.

The paradox of peace is that its maintenance depends on making the credible threat of war. Western liberals reject this as “war-mongering”. For them, diplomacy has become a religion.

When it comes to resisting abuses of power, however, diplomacy is the god that fails over and over again. When used as a strategy against implacable aggression, it turns its adherents into accessories to killing.

That’s why the Israel “peace process” resulted in thousands of murdered Israelis. It’s why Iran is poised to get its genocide bomb. And it’s why Ukraine will now pay a terrible price — at the hands of a tyrant empowered by a west consumed by its own ludicrous and lethal illusions.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the death of international law

In many ways, this week saw the death of international law.

To be sure, Russia's invasion of Ukraine did not end international law's existence or its place in public debates among Western countries.

But if there was a narrative created since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the establishment of the International Criminal Court in 2002, it was that democracy and international law were on the rise. Now, that narrative seems to have been squashed.

The reasons are simple.

Two of the most important principles in international law are upholding the sovereignty of nations from an armed attack and protecting civilians from the scourge of war.

Allowing Russia to invade and trample Ukraine is essentially allowing the violation of these rules on Europe’s doorstep. The consequence is that international law appears to look today like a farce.

It is no coincidence that Chinese officials have upped their threats to conquer Taiwan and other areas in the South China Sea and many Iranian officials have also begun to express greater confidence about their hegemonic ambitions across the Middle East.

Europe can be counted on to be the loudest in condemning Israel when Jerusalem defends itself in conflict with the Palestinians, Hezbollah and other neighbors which attack it.

To many of these critics, since the Palestinians and other adversaries appear weaker than Israel, the Jewish state gets very little credit for showing restraint, trying to avoid civilian casualties, or for avoiding holding on to parts of Gaza or Lebanon once the conflict is over.

These same critics are also righteous when it comes to criticizing the United States for "war crimes" the American military makes in operational errors caused overseas while fighting terrorists.

The Caroline Glick Show Ep40 – What is Russia Doing in Syria (and what should Israel, the US and Turkey do about it)?

In Episode 40 of the Caroline Glick Mideast News Hour, Caroline was joined by Joel Rayburn who served as President Donald Trump’s Envoy to Syria and in other senior positions related to Syria in the National Security Council, the U.S. Army and the State Department. Caroline and Col. Rayburn discussed what Russia is doing in Syria against the backdrop of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and its transfer of strategic weapons to Latakia, Syria last week. They then analyzed the U.S.’s position in Syria, how the U.S. use Russia’s operations in Syria as a means to weaken Putin and his regime, and how Israel and Turkey can work together to restore their freedom of action in the region in the face of Russia’s close ties with Iran and Bashar Assad.

From the Safa news agency:

The Ateret Cohanim settlement association seized a new house in the Ras al-Amud neighborhood of Silwan, occupied Jerusalem, after it was leaked through Arab mediators.

Sources told "Safa" agency that they were surprised this morning by settlers entering the building belonging to Ibrahim Awad through the main door, and seizing it after its leakage.

She indicated that it is the second building that leaked to settlers from the Awad family through intermediaries, one was leaked about two and a half months ago, another building next to it that belonged to the same family.

The building consists of two floors and includes 5 apartments. It is located in an elevated position and overlooks all the neighborhoods of Silwan, opposite the southern side of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Awad family is now quite wealthy - and probably running for their lives.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Forensic Architecture and Al Haq team up to lie that Israel targets cultural heritage in Gaza

Al-Haq has teamed up with Forensic Architecture, a notoriously biased anti-Israel organization that uses cutting edge research techniques to "prove" whatever it wants to prove. From the Al Haq press release:

On 23 February 2022, Al-Haq launched its report titled “Cultural Apartheid, Israel’s Erasure of Palestinian Heritage in Gaza”. The report builds from an investigation by the London-based research agency Forensic Architecture using advanced technologies and ‘open-source’ techniques to reconstruct one of the most significant archaeological sites in the occupied Gaza Strip. The report draws on Israel’s strategic bombing of the Gaza coastline to exemplify the erasure of Palestinian cultural heritage and the denial of the relevant human rights. Israel’s bombardments not only breach the principle of military necessity in violation of the laws of armed conflict, but also aim at gradually erasing Palestinian cultural heritage to deny the Palestinian people of their right to self-determination over their cultural resources, and by extension threatens their existence as a people. Such bombings are a gross violation of the Rome Statute, constituting war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

In the report, Al-Haq outlines that the bombing of the site may amount to a war crime and contributes to the crime against humanity of apartheid.[1] The targeting of Palestinian cultural heritage, fundamentally affects the core of their identity and existence as a people. For example, the International Criminal Court underlines the nexus between destruction of cultural heritage and crimes against humanity, especially when the former occurs within the context of an attack against the civilian population, forms part of a state policy and is carried out in a widespread or systematic manner.[2] Additionally, under the Rome Statute, the crime of apartheid when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against the civilian population, with knowledge of the attack, amounts to a crime against humanity.[3]

This is utter garbage.

Israel never targets "cultural heritage" sites when Hamas starts its wars. Israel targets terrorists.

And terrorists tend to be in some "cultural heritage" areas. After all, they are open spaces that are ideal for shooting rockets.

The Forensics Architecture team spent lots of time and money to document Israel's bombing of the Roman-era ruins near the Shati camp. But not once did they - or Al Haq - mention that terrorists both shoot rockets from that area, and that they have even been known to shoot rockets accidentally to that area.

The areas marked by Forensics Architecture are north of the Shati camp.

Here's that same spot from a Google Maps satellite image:

Look at that open space, just begging to be used for rocket launches. And which just happen to be on top of these old Roman and Byzantine ruins. (Screenshot from Forensic Architecture.)

Palestinians shoot rockets from whatever open areas they can find that have unimpeded paths to Israel. Favorite launching sites include cemeteries for that very reason. The open areas shown here are ideal for rocket launches.

In 2014, the Al Mezan center admitted that there was a "military" site north of Shati, documented in Amnesty's Gaza Platform:

This Gaza Platform, which I've shown is consistently filled with false and provably biased data against Israel, was designed by this same Forensic Architecture. When it grudgingly admits a site was military - believe it.

More about Shati:

Senior Hamas members live in or near Shati. One was once bombed by a rival Hamas group. The Gaza Platform notes that Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar lived in Shati.

In 2014, a misfired terror rocket fell on the Shati camp, killing many children. Hamas cleaned up the site so no one could tell that it wasn't an Israeli rocket. Was that near an archaeological site? Maybe. It almost certainly left a crater. Forensics Architecture sure won't report it, even as they tacitly admit that parts of the Shati camp, like a sports stadium, are themselves built on top of some of this priceless cultural heritage they pretend to care so much about.

At 5:20 of their video, they show that buildings have been built between 2014 and 2018 directly on top of what was once a Roman-era city wall.

2014 showing outline of visible Roman wall:

New buildings on that exact spot, 2018:

But for some strange reason, these NGOs who claim to care so damn much about Palestinian cultural heritage don't say a word about how Hamas is directly erasing that heritage! (All of the "Palestinian" heritage sites mentioned in this report are actually Greek and Roman. But Hamas has destroyed Canaanite sites as well, whom Palestinians claim as their ancestors.)

In 2021, the IDF published a map showing where Hamas rockets were shot from and where they landed. While the resolution of the image isn't very good, it is obvious that some of the rockets came from, and landed in, the very areas that Al Haq is now pretending were purposefully bombed by Israel. (I added an arrow to point to where Shati is.)

The IDF published a similar map during the initial stages of the 2014 warm showing again that Hamas fires (and explodes) rockets in the very area that Al Haq and Forensics Architecture are claiming Israel targets archaeology:

Throughout the Forensics Architecture video, and the Al Haq report, not once is it mentioned that terrorist groups were ever in those areas. Not once do they even consider that the IDF was aiming at military targets. The words "rocket" or "Qassam" or "militant" or "resistance" are not mentioned once, and neither was "Hamas" mentioned in the report's body (one footnote referred to a story with Hamas in the title.) And not once do they mention that Hamas is knowingly destroying priceless archaeological treasures - which has happened many times, not just here.

This is not just bias. This is purposeful whitewashing of the truth.

Because for all the high tech, 3D models that Forensics Architecture generates, truth is the last thing it is interested in. The report and video are intended from the outset to be pure anti-Israel propaganda.

If they would even briefly mention that, sure, there are "resistance sites" in those areas - legitimate military targets - then their entire thesis of Israel violating international law disappears. It is obvious that Israel would prefer to target weapons caches, command and control centers and rocket launch sites over wasting expensive missiles on old Roman ruins at or near a beach.

There is literally no evidence that Israel targets these areas to erase Palestinian culture and plenty of evidence that there were valid military targets there. And even more evidence that Hamas doesn't care at all about Palestinian "cultural heritage." By not mentioning that, this proves that these two NGOs also don't care about cultural heritage, except as a weapon to attack Israel.

This is the state of anti-Israel bigotry. Package up half-truths, give only one possible explanation no matter how farfetched it is, and know that the audience will lap it up.

They know they are lying. They know that they are misleading their readers. And they do it on purpose.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

France moves to outlaw pro-terror Palestinian groups. They respond that calling for murdering Jews is a "human right."

The French Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin is calling for the dissolution of two hate organizations in France, the "Palestine Vaincra" collective and of the "Palestine Action Committee."

According to the Ministry of the Interior, the Palestine Action Committee is supposed to defend the rights of the Palestinians, but in fact relays press releases from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, and reports on their actions, according to the authorities. The Ministry calls for its dissolution for incitement to hatred, violence, or discrimination and provocation to terrorist acts.

Similarly, Palestine Vaincra explicitly supports terror attacks on Israeli Jews. Here's an autotranslated screenshot of one of their articles that actually celebrates Palestinian support for shooting rockets at Jewish civilians:

How much more explicit can they be in advocating murdering Jews?

Palestine Vaincra is part of the Samidoun network, which issued a truly Orwellian press release complaining about how their support and incitement for murdering Jews is a human right.

This blatant assault on freedom of expression and association once again reveals the complete disregard of the French state for the principles of “human rights” and “democracy” it claims to support.

When a group is “dissolved” by the state, it may not hold meetings or organize events. Material bearing the group’s name and logo is banned, and members and activists who continue to organize in the name of the group can be fined and even imprisoned. This is shameless political repression carried out by an imperialist power that claims to defend human rights while trampling atop them.

This action blatantly flies in the face of France’s obligations under international law, the European Charter of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is a shameless attack on freedom of expression and association and must be confronted as such.

We've seen this sort of argument before, that advocating for killing Jews is a human right. It only makes sense if the "human rights activists" do not regard Jews as being human and deserving of rights to begin with.

Incitement is not free speech. These Palestinian groups are not defending Palestinian human rights but call for Palestinians to have the "right" to target and murder Jews.

In a normal universe, major human rights organizations would denounce how their cause is being hijacked by people who clearly oppose human rights and celebrate terrorists and murderers. But we live in a universe where "human rights" organizations like Amnesty and Human Rights Watch show their full support and partnership with groups like Samidoun, Palestine Vaincra and the Palestine Action Committee.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

02/24 Links Pt2: For Israel, victory gives us a future; Keyboard Warrior; UN nominates ‘Israel apartheid’ activist to be Palestine rapporteur

From Ian:

For Israel, victory gives us a future

We are so loathe to hit the enemy hard enough to break its will to continue fighting and cause it to surrender that we run with indecent haste to the negotiating table pushing for a ceasefire, and take minimal and insufficient military steps towards the defeat of our genocidal enemies.

The result is they continue to believe that although we are by far technologically and militarily superior, we do not have the stomach for a fight. They believe that we have internalized the Western paradigm that war is always the last option with as few casualties as possible, leaving the enemy proudly standing to fight another day.

If Israel goes into a war against its enemies with the mentality that we lose even when we win, then we will never truly be victorious. Every tactic will just be seen through the prism of how much or little we can lose.

Instead, Israel needs to return to a victory mentality. The mentality that led us to victories in the War of Independence and the Six Day War. There were unbearable casualties in these wars, but they were stunning victories, and our soldiers fought gallantly, overturning strong odds.

Our leaders knew that there would be losses, but they could not be overly distracted by them if they were going to win. Victory ensured there were not even greater losses, far more bloodshed.

Victory and loss can not be compared. Our historic victories are what kept the Jewish nation intact and strong. If we would have been defeated one time, our presence here would be tenuous, and our enemies would be constantly circling, waiting for the moment to deliver the final blow.

Victory is what has held them at bay.

The victorious gains a vanquished enemy, deterrence, and safety and security for its people.

For Israel, victory gives us a future.

From Brooklyn Housewife to Zionist Lobbyist

“Irish, sympathetic, hates British, will definitely help.” So read an entry in the diary of Brooklyn housewife Esther Kaplan, after meeting with Rep. John J. Rooney, an Irish-American congressman from New York City, seventy-five years ago this week.

Mrs. Kaplan had no background in lobbying or political activism, but when her son David was arrested by the British for trying to smuggle Holocaust survivors into Palestine in 1947, she reinvented herself as a Zionist lobbyist and took her case straight to Capitol Hill.

The arrest of David Kaplan and other crew members of the S.S. Ben Hecht, and the protests that ensued in the United States, comprise a fascinating but little-known chapter in the history of the campaign by Americans to help create the State of Israel.

On a chilly morning in late February 1947, six hundred Holocaust survivors trudged up the gangplank of the S.S. Ben Hecht in the French harbor of Port de Bouc. The ship was sponsored by the activist Bergson Group, and named in honor of the journalist and Hollywood screenwriter who authored the group’s most controversial newspaper ads denouncing British rule in Palestine.

The ship’s captain was Robert Levitan, a burly six-foot-four former Merchant Marine who said he “jumped at the chance” to participate in the mission because he had “felt impotent in the 1930s and early 1940s, hearing about Hitler’s persecution of the Jews and not being able to do anything about it.”

The scene at the Bergson Group’s New York headquarters as would-be crew members of the S.S. Ben Hecht signed up to be interviewed.

“We had twenty men, with twenty different reasons for joining up,” Levitan remembered. “We had some very young boys who were reared in Zionistic homes and were gung-ho Zionists. We had an Irishman who hated the British, and he volunteered just because it was against the British. Our cook was a black man, one of the gentlest men you could ever meet, and he just liked helping out the underdog.”

Keyboard Warrior

It was a remote place to pick for a high-level strategy meeting. In late 2016, a group of activists made their way to a building on an industrial estate in west London, climbed a staircase to the second floor, and seated themselves around a few tables.

The group was a Who’s Who of the anti-Israel movement in the BDS capital of the world. Just a few months before the centenary of the Balfour Declaration — and mere miles from where British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour had written his historic letter of support for Zionism — the activists were planning to mark the occasion with a new offensive against Israel.

All except one of the assembled. Despite his kaffiyeh, BDS badges, and regular appearances on London’s pro-Palestinian scenes, “John” Collier was not all he seemed.

That’s because his real name was David, he was actually a pro-Israel investigative blogger, and he was wired up with recording devices to share details of the meeting with the world.

“I sat next to one of the key figures in the movement talking about strategy,” recalls David Collier from the comfort of his North London home, “and suddenly it occurred to me that here I was in the belly of the beast, and that if they found out, I would be in real trouble.”

Six years later, with Amnesty International — a UK heavyweight in the anti-Israel world — releasing a report accusing Israel of apartheid, Collier connects the dots between that meeting and London’s status as BDS capital of the world.

The gathering at the industrial estate was just one of a steady stream of stories about the anti-Israel scene that Collier reported. His painstakingly researched investigations lit the fuse on the scandal of Corbynite anti-Semitism that blew up in 2018, contributing to the Labour Party leader’s downfall the following year.

But as the Amnesty report shows, Britain’s anti-Israel scene is as viciously effervescent as ever. Coming just three years after Jeremy Corbyn’s close brush with power, it raises the question of why one of the most historically tolerant of countries has become a central hub of bigotry.

Nasrallah hits back at Arab demands for Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah

Last month, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah visited Beirut and told the Lebanese government the “Kuwaiti, Gulf, Arab and international message for Lebanon to not be a platform for any aggression, and for all borders to be controlled by the state.”

The Arab coalition he represented also insisted on setting a time frame for implementing UN Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 1559 from 2004 which calls for the disarmament of non-state militias in Lebanon, meaning Hezbollah.

The Arab countries pretty much told Lebanon that they won't help it through its financial crisis as long as a separate Muslim extremist movement was allowed to operate with impunity within its borders.

The weak Lebanese government mostly ignored the demands. Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told Al Jazeera, "I am not going to hand over Hezbollah's weapons. I am not going to end Hezbollah's existence, it is out of the question in Lebanon. "

A response letter from Beirut pointedly changed the language of the Arab demand for Lebanon not to be a platform for any aggression to saying that Lebanon will not be "a launchpad for activities that violate Arab countries," meaning that it might be a launchpad to attack Israel.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah yesterday dismissed the demands for his group to disarm, and - as is typical in the Arab world - he couched his refusal in terms of honor.

Nasrallah stressed that "if you remain silent and surrender your weapons, you tell your opponent that you are crushed, humiliated and weak."

"The enemy will not pity you, it will humiliate you even more," Nasrallah added.

"Let them give us one example of peoples who resisted, surrendered their weapons, and kept their dignity," Nasrallah said.

Nasrallah isn't even pretending that Hezbollah cares about the future of Lebanon. Hezbollah's "dignity" of maintaining over 100,000 missiles is more important than the country of Lebanon and the dignity of the Lebanese people themselves.

And when Lebanon implodes, Hezbollah will militarily take over the entire country as millions of Lebanese could become refugees to not live under an Iranian regime.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Religious Group That Survived Self-Sufficient For Centuries Warns Of Collapse Without Generous Gov't Subsidies (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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Moshe Gafni Jerusalem, February 24 - Legislators representing the Haredi sector of the Israeli Jewish community railed today against impending proposals in the Knesset to curtail financial assistance to large families, to limit exemptions from the military draft, and to cut back on welfare payments to able-bodied adults, arguing that such moves will undercut the Torah-study-centered lifestyle of the Haredi world, which somehow thrived for hundreds of years before the advent of welfare, child subsidies, and publicly-funded avoidance of working for a living.

MKs from the United Torah Judaism alliance's Degel HaTorah and Agudat Yisrael factions held a press conference Thursday to criticize several pieces of impending legislation that several Coalition lawmakers intend to introduce in the coming weeks, laws that would expand military service to all but several hundred yeshiva students, instead of the tens of thousands who currently study instead of train or fight; that would slash spending on monthly stipends to parents with more than four children; and that would deny financial support to those capable of gainful employment but who choose instead to devote themselves to full-time Torah study. The MKs predicted disaster for the Torah-observant world if such policies become law, as they would restore the status quo ante of early statehood and before, when, for more than two thousand years, Torah scholars and students labored to support their families in addition to mastering Jewish lore, a clearly unsustainable model.

"It's impossible to maintain a Torah-true society if everyone is forced to find a job," lamented MK Moshe Gafni. "We cannot focus on the words of ancient great men such as Rabbi Yitzhak the Blacksmith, Rabbi Yohanan the Shoemaker, or Rabbi Elazar the Pitch-Maker, if we must devote our days to earning a living. The People of the Book must study the Book and not become mired in earthly pursuits such as making good on the commitment in every Jewish marriage contract that the husband will support his wife financially."

An agreement between then-Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and Haredi groups during the State of Israel's infancy allowed draft exemptions for full-time Torah scholars, who, by the criteria in place at the time, numbered in the hundreds. High birthrates and generous government welfare programs have facilitated exponential growth of the Haredi sector in the ensuing decades, creating a drain on the state's resources as the rosters of eligible yeshiva programs have swelled more than a hundredfold. Haredi leaders continue to sound the alarm over attempts to limit the phenomenon, citing the thousands of years of Jewish life in which only the most select few advanced and gifted enjoyed communal financial support.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

02/24 Links Pt1: BHL: The Rape of Ukraine; Ukraine war reminds Israelis we can only rely on ourselves; Israel's New Strategy in a Post-American Middle East

From Ian:

Bernard-Henri Lévy: The Rape of Ukraine

No. 4: We hear this one a lot: The diplomats will have to be back on the scene to help Putin calm down, to stop him, to help him save face. Maybe. I don’t know. But one thing is sure. We should not reverse the roles and lose sight of the fact that it was Putin, and he alone, who broke the taboo over war in Europe. We must remember that it’s Ukraine, and Ukraine alone, that honor commands us to save from an atrocious and announced offensive. And, even if things end there and we can breathe a sigh of shameful relief, it behooves us to never forget how, well before today’s troubles, from last December and January, the Kremlin described Europe as a wide-ranging “theater of military conflict” (Alexander Grushko, deputy minister of foreign affairs); brandished the threat of a “preventive” nuclear strike of the kind Israel wields against Iran (Andrey Kartapolov, chair of the Duma’s Defense Committee); and let partisan and friendly media (Svobodnaya Pressa) announce that, in the case of an enlarged NATO, Russia would vitrify “all of Europe and two-thirds of the United States in thirty minutes.” No peace agreement could erase these staggering declarations, without precedent, which I assembled in a piece from Jan. 18. Or else, it would be a Munich-style peace.

No. 5: Does all this mean that we should not take into account Russia’s feeling of being surrounded, mistreated, humiliated? I think that this humiliation is a myth. I remember how NATO, since 1994, proposed to Russia a “partnership for peace.” How Russia was invited to join the Council of Europe and the G7. I remember the 2002 NATO-Russia summit in Rome. And Barack Obama’s July 2009 visit to Moscow, offering a reset of all nonconventional weaponry. And the self-imposed limits, up to and including Donald Trump and Joe Biden, on the number and reach of American weapons deployed in Europe (even while Russia violated its agreements). I can see no other example of a fallen empire that benefited from such sweet consideration from its adversaries. And I believe that the legend of Russian humiliation is the last trap that must be avoided.

This is what the next red lines should be, after the disaster in Donbass.

Beyond that would reign a diplomacy that, true to the etymology of the word, would consist of bowing obsequiously before force.

The same causes producing the same effects, it would be the return of the terrible 20th century.

Ukraine war reminds Israelis we can only rely on ourselves - analysis

Zelensky suggested active steps that the West could have taken to try to prevent an attack, instead of punishing Russia after the fact, such as more sanctions, sending more advanced weapons to Ukraine, greater financial support, and others.

A Russian invasion is not just an attack on Ukraine, but on the world, he said.

“We will defend our land with or without the support of partners,” Zelensky stated. “These are not noble gestures for which Ukraine should bow low. This is your contribution to the security of Europe and the world, where Ukraine has been a reliable shield for eight years.”

Just change the name Zelensky to Bennett, and the countries to Israel and Iran, and the messages are very similar, from the demands for more sanctions and better weapons, down to the World War II appeasement comparisons and being a vanguard against a broader threat – Islamic extremist terrorism in the Middle East and an expansionist Russia in Europe.

The comparison is not one-to-one, of course. Most importantly, the US-Israel relationship, including its military and intelligence cooperation, is very strong.

Russia already invaded Ukraine, while there is still time to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon – though Iran is already attacking Israel through its proxies. Israel and Iran are better matched militarily, while Russia overpowers Ukraine. And Israel has access to and develop its own advanced weaponry – though the US refusal to sell bunker bombers that could have helped stop the nuclear threat years ago still smarts.

Israel also seems to generally have more success than Ukraine at getting the world’s attention, for better or for worse, though it seems likely that the “shorter, weaker” Iran deal, as Bennett called it, will be completed under the radar while the focus is on Ukraine.

Regardless of the differences, it’s very clear that the West’s appetite for taking preemptive steps to stop existential threats to its allies is lacking. That is true even if they say all the right things, like that they won’t let Iran obtain a nuclear weapon.

Russian warplanes flying over Kyiv are a reminder: Israel must always be prepared to defend itself, by itself.

The Ukrainians Are Learning a Lesson that Israel Has Already Learned

The founders of Israel made the strategic choice to build and maintain a defense force capable of dealing independently with even the most dangerous threats. The Ukrainians are learning today what the Czechs learned in 1938, and what the Jews vowed never to forget: Western democracies cannot be relied upon in the face of a threat from an authoritarian regime willing to turn to military measures to enforce its will. A country that cannot defend itself will be left to its own devices at a time it needs support the most.

Israel's War of Independence victory was achieved only thanks to the mobilization of full human potential and the massive arms smuggling that took place despite the U.S. embargo. Amid the pan-Arab threat, shaped under Egyptian President Nasser's leadership, Israel was left to its fate for almost 20 years.

In the 1950s, Israel faced a critical threat when the USSR supplied Egypt (and later other Arab countries) with massive quantities of frontline weapons, while Washington refused to supply Jerusalem with defensive weapons. France, which had helped Israel deal with these dangers, betrayed Jerusalem after the Six-Day War and supported its enemies.

When Arab countries declared war on Israel again in 1973, the rest of Europe turned its back on Jerusalem by refusing to allow American planes that carried supplies for the IDF to refuel in its territories. Europe continues to support efforts to delegitimize the Jewish state in international organizations, and generously funds groups that undermine it.

Israel became a success story not only because of its freedom and innovation, but also because it chose to base its national security on self-defense. Its survival, progress, and prosperity were made possible by its strong military and determination to defend itself on its own. Israel receives assistance due to its determination to survive without it. It prevents war through deterrence, for it has learned that what triggers the aggression of authoritarian regimes is democracies' hesitance to use their power even if the avenues of diplomacy and economic means have been exhausted.

By RealJerusalemStreets

I sit here in Jerusalem, on a cold and overcast afternoon when the weather forecast was for sunny and warm, and I had planned to walk to the Kotel.

These past two corona years, I filled multiple notebooks from online sessions. However, this is one story I feel compelled to share.

Today in balmy Greece, Israeli President Herzog is officially being welcomed as previously planned.

Meanwhile, Putin goes against the "expert" predictions of only threatening but starts bombing Ukraine to provide "peacekeeping" - with China and Iran in support.

With the rumors and fake news, it is hard to know what is true according to Rabbi Johnathan Markovitch, the Chief Rabbi of Kyiv, in a Media Central press interview.

There were lines of cars trying to fill with gas and people stocking up on food in certain locations. However, the main streets in Kyiv were empty, on Thursday morning, February 24, 2022, as warning air-raid alarms sounded. The people financially and physically able to leave had gone already. By 6:30 AM, it was too late to drive out of Kyiv as roads were clogged with cars trying to flee. The Kyiv airport and Odesa Port hit by Russian airpower were no longer options to escape. Remember for weeks authorities assured, Putin would threaten, but not really attack Ukraine.

Kyiv, also Kiev, the capital and most populous city had close to 3 million people before Russian threats loomed, and was home to a thriving Jewish community. Hours after the attack on Kyiv, Chief Rabbi and his wife Inna spoke of the situation from the Kyiv Jewish Center at 67 Saksaganskova Street. The KJC prepared for a possible emergency with 50 mattresses, 6 tons of food, and water, ready to shelter the community members left behind, those who could reach the synagogue.

Of the thousands of Jews who had lived in Kyiv, Israelis, the wealthy, and the young have taken precautions and left their homes behind. The organized Jewish community before the current crisis provided food for 800 daily, mostly elderly, with two hundred residents bed-ridden. Inna told of a 104-year-old woman holding her hand on a recent visit and tearfully saying how she had survived the Nazis.

Rabbi Markovitch was born in Ukraine and came to Israel with his parents as a three-year-old. He served in the Israeli Air Force for 12 years. For the past 21 years he and his wife, parents to 7 children, have lived in Kyiv. Rabbi Ariel and Cherry Markovitch, a son and native French daughter-in-law had packed their bags in the morning and came to the synagogue. They reiterated that people who tried to get out of Kyiv after 6:00 am were stuck in traffic for hours and had no choice but to return.

More than once, it was mentioned that, unlike Israel, in Kyiv, there are no bomb shelters. The alarm this morning was a faint sound, the concerned calls from around the world woke them at 5:00 AM. The official response told people to go to metro stations below ground for shelter. However, Inna said the nearest one to them is a 20-minute walk. Imagine 20 minutes to shelter in Israel?!

For now, they are okay, but if the situation continues, food becomes scarce, and word gets out the Jewish synagogue has food stocked, they are concerned. They said they did not feel antisemitism was a problem in their time in Kyiv. If there was an issue the rabbi would contact the Ukrainian Interior Affairs or another official on the cell phone and the matter would be resolved. The main concern the couple expressed today was their armed security did not show up as planned. Plus another security company they then contacted doubled the fee.

Ten percent of the local police force is Jewish and Jews serve in the military and secret service. However, without proper security, the prospect of angry mobs is a serious concern. In 2014, there were riots and looting. We know enough history to imagine horrible scenarios. Strangers approaching KJC will be provided a food package. But for safety's sake, only known members of the Jewish community will be allowed inside.

The Jewish Agency has promised aid. The Israel Embassy has relocated a 7-hour drive away to a temporary site near the Polish border. They have been in contact and provided a map with border crossing points. However, getting out of Kyiv was the problem in the morning.

The French Embassy advised their citizens to stay. Others have said to leave. For now, the Rabbi and his family are taking the situation step by step. First, serving lunch to the 50 people, including children, who were already in the synagogue building, while praying for the best outcome in a terrifying situation.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Arab media has been keenly interested in Israeli reactions to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, especially around the fate of the estimated 200,000 Jews in that country.

Lebanon's Al Akhbar makes the reason for that interest explicit:

As usually happens with the outbreak of a war or crisis, the Israeli government exploited the tension between Ukraine and Russia to bring in the Jews of Ukraine, where the Jewish community numbered nearly 200,000.
This intersects with what was reported by the Israel Hayom newspaper today that various government ministries, the Israeli army, the Jewish Agency and other government bodies are preparing to absorb a “wave of Jewish immigration from Ukraine” and have developed a detailed “contingency plan” due to the outbreak of war there.

Wars create refugees. NGOs plead with countries to accept refugees in their borders, as nations try to find excuses why the refugees should go elsewhere.

Unlike other countries, Israel has prepared to take in many refugees ahead of time in line with its desire to provide a safe haven for Jews worldwide.

And it is being spun as an evil Zionist plot to exploit a crisis.

Yes, that is antisemitism.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Next week is the Muslim holiday of Isra and Minaj, which marks the date that Mohammed was said to have gone on his "Night Journey" to heaven and visit the "farthest mosque" with a winged steed. This mosque was later claimed to be in Jerusalem.

Egyptian newspaper Al Masry al-Youm describes a forum at Al Azhar about this story, attempting to answer any skeptics about whether Mohammed really did fly to heaven on his winged steed and then to Jerusalem. Dr. Abbas Shoman, the former Undersecretary of Al-Azhar, said that of course Allah can perform remarkable miracles. He went on to say that questioning the miracle of the Night Journey and Al-Miraj is not new, but it is something that the Jews have been doing to break the connection between the Mosque in Mecca and Al-Aqsa Mosque, by claiming that the Night Journey was not to Jerusalem. He then says that these Jews and other skeptics spread those lies to destroy Islam and he tells young Muslims to trust their scholars, and not to pay attention to those misleading cries under the pretext of freedom of opinion.

Well, for once, some of the claims about Jews are true. Sorry to say, we don't believe that Mohammed flew in one night from Mecca to Jerusalem. In fact, the Quran doesn't identify the location of the "farthest" mosque, and the Al Aqsa mosque (which means "farthest") was built decades after Mohammed died. There was no building of any sort on the Temple Mount while Mohammed was alive, except perhaps a small synagogue that the Jews are said to have built between 614 and 630 CE, while Mohammed's vision happened around 621. Some hadiths claim that Mohammed tethered his steed to a ring that was on the Temple, when there was no Temple.

But Jewish skepticism has nothing to do with wanting to destroy Islam. It's because the story is highly implausible. It's because it mirrors some legends of Jews who visited heaven (the non-canonical Book of Enoch, for one.) It's because there was no "furthest mosque" in Jerusalem at the time. And it is because the story is now being used to take away Jewish rights to the holiest spot in Judaism.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

02/23 Links Pt2: "Surplus Jews" no longer; Israeli NGO urges extradition of terrorist who planned 2001 Sbarro bombing; Government takes first historic step towards banning BDS in Britain

From Ian:

Daniel Gordis: "Surplus Jews" no longer

Eighty years ago this week, on February 24, 1942, nineteen-year-old David Stoliar was alive, alone, floating on a piece of wood in the middle of the Black Sea, surrounded by corpses, yelling all night into the dark so that he would not fall asleep and freeze to death.

He was in the Black Sea, surrounded by death, because he was a “surplus Jew,” as the British put it unabashedly. We’ll come back to David Stoliar.

Last week, the Israeli government was cooperating with relief groups to prepare for the possible evacuation to Israel of some of the 100,000 Jews in Ukraine, should the anticipated war make that necessary. Officials apparently do not expect to need a massive airlift, but they’re preparing for all eventualities, some said. Twenty-one years ago, as many of us vividly recall, Israel airlifted 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel on massive El Al jumbo jets. It was for the same reason. Ethiopian Jews, as far as Israel was concerned, were not “surplus.” Neither are the Ukrainian Jews.

And sure enough, this morning’s Israeli press announced that they had begun arriving. Dozens of olim from Ukraine arrived in Israel on Sunday as the threat of war grew ever ominous. According to the Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption, 75 immigrants arrived on an initial flight and another 22 were expected the same day. Said Immigrant Absorption Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata, “Our message to the Jews of Ukraine is very clear — Israel will always be their home; our gates are open to them during normal times as well as in emergencies.”

Israel’s most important function is not serving as a refuge for Jews who need it. Nine-million people do not go about their business of living here and building this country so that one day, if Jews need a place to go, we’ll be here. Still, though, refuge is part of why Israel is around; the fact that there is a Jewish state means that there are no longer “surplus Jews.”

Israeli NGO urges extradition of terrorist who planned 2001 Sbarro bombing

A leading Israeli lawfare organization called on the American envoy to Israel to push for the extradition of a Jordan-based terrorist who planned a deadly suicide bombing in Jerusalem in the early 2000s, during the Second Intifada.

Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center, which represents some of the victims of 2001 the Sbarro attack has called on Ambassador Thomas Nides to push the request to extradite Ahlam Tamimi from Jordan to the United States.

The Sbarro massacre took place on Aug. 9, 2001, when a suicide bomber targeted a popular pizzeria in downtown Jerusalem, killing 15 Israelis, including 7 children and a pregnant woman, and leaving 140 wounded.

The bomber was identified as Izz al-Din Shuheil al-Masri. The terrorist who made the suicide vest was later identified as Abdallah Barghouti, who in 2004 was convicted of aiding and abetting dozens of terrorist attacks and sentenced to 67 life sentences.

The investigation further revealed that al-Masri was escorted to the restaurant by Tamimi, then a 20-year-old university student, who had disguised herself as a Jewish tourist for the occasion.

Later in 2001, Tamimi, a Jordanian national, was convicted by an Israeli military court of planning the attack and was sentenced to 16 life sentences plus 15 years. She was released in 2011 as part of the Gilad Schalit prisoner exchange with Hamas and was expelled to Jordan

Soon after her return, she became a media personality. She often praises the attack she orchestrated on various platforms and has a sharp anti-Israel line in her work.

American legislators have in the past demanded that Tamimi be extradited to the US, citing the role she played in the murder of American citizens in the attack. The demand was dismissed by various US administrations who expressed concern that pursuing her extradition would destabilize King Abdullah's regime.

Shurat HaDin has rejected the American position. Organization President Nitsana Darshan-Leitner appealed to Nides, writing, "The American administration has long since announced filing indictments against Tamimi, and has made an official commitment to the [victims'] families that it would demand Tamimi's extradition so she could face trial."

Weaponizing Turkish teenage girls: What the Sbarro bomber did next

In the intervening years, Tamimi has appeared multiple times on Aljazeera's multiple media, on BBC Arabic, on lesser known Arabic news channels, on Jordan's commercial RoyaTV channel and on numerous additional platforms where she has been interviewed, showcased and glorified as an icon.

Her op-eds have appeared in the pages of multiple Arabic newspapers and news websites as well as on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and less-known Arabic-only social media sites. Arabic-language criticism of anything she has said, written or done is published nowhere.

Our occasional interactions with US government officials have been frustrating, sporadic, largely unproductive from our point of view and hard to arrange. Our experience with the US Embassy in Israel throughout the Trump years exemplifies the approach: as bereaved parents of a murdered US national expecting to be guided and assisted, we are mostly ignored. Not in a polite way and certainly not because we are rude. Persistent and raising an irksome issue, certainly. But never rude and not hostile.

Among the crumbs of information that we have gotten in these sometimes deplorable interactions is that the US government believes Jordan - because Jordan says so - has Tamimi under control. She's not inciting any more, we're assured. Her toxic influence has been neutralized. The problems are behind us.

From what we see, such claims are untrue.

In October 2021, Tamimi spoke in Arabic via video conference to an Islamist event in Istanbul, Turkey, held under the banner of الملتقى العلمي الدولي للشباب [“Gathering4youth”]. We spotted a video clip of the seminar that was uploaded to YouTube and promptly passed it along, with selected Arabic-to-English text translation, to senior US officials. If they are doing something with it, they're not telling us.

We asked a professional translator to review Tamimi's presentation. Here's the part we think captures the essence of her message:
...Allah let me have a membership in the ‘Izz ad-Deen al-Qassam battalions and [allowed me to] participate in two jihad operations that produced, by the Lord’s virtue, the deaths of fifteen zionists with 122 zionists wounded in two Jihad operations. We ask Allah to accept this.

These two jihad operations are a crown on my head. By Allah’s virtue, I entered history by doing the finest of deeds, the finest operations, in the finest of ways, which are the ways of jihad.

Praise Allah, He has prescribed me this fate. And when I met the "suicide bomber" [the Arabic expression translates literally into "the martyrdom-seeker"] ‘Izz ad-Deen al-Masri, this was not a matter of such ease to stand next to a bomber. There are many lessons I learned. Many lessons which ‘Izz ad-Deen al-Masri taught me without talking, [just by] being a road companion from Ramallah to Jerusalem, to the center of the [Jerusalem commercial] center where the Zionist entity is found, at the Jaffa and King George Avenue [corner]. This drive which lasted about an hour, from Ramallah to Jerusalem, or 90 minutes, [during] much of it I was learning from suicide bombers.

What does it mean to be a suicide bomber? It means that your spirit, your senses, your feelings, all of you, are pending against the Lord. Which is a difficult matter for us in this life to work out. But Hamas’s suicide bomber unit was able to spiritually train these suicide bombers.

What does it mean to sit for years [with] your sole mission to prepare your soul with effort, to train your soul? How do I become a spiritual character, how do I make my soul pending against Allah? And uproot all other attachments to this world. Only then shall I be worthy of the suicide bombers unit, and put my spirit forward in Allah’s path.

This is what ‘Izz ad-Deen al-Masri taught me.

However until now I have not reached even half a degree of the character of ‘Izz ad-Deen al-Masri and all suicide bombers who decided to put their souls forward in Allah’s path.”

It's hard to predict how much lethal damage is done when an eager and evidently impressionable audience of Islamist girls and young women, some of them about the age Tamimi was when she had her great moment at Sbarro, or younger, are exposed to a charismatic celebrity-jihad preacher with copious amounts of blood on her hands.

The potential is horrific. Why has this not made headlines?