Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, May 15, 2017

CNN's Marc Lamont Hill vs. Israel (Petra Marquardt-Bigman)

So Marc Lamont Hill claims not to be anti-Israel…

Marc Lamont Hill has an impressive biography and record of achievements as an academic, activist and TV personality. On his own website, he describes himself as “one of the leading intellectual voices in the country.” His Facebook page has almost 72K followers, on Twitter he has 318K, and on Instagram almost 87K. So unfortunately, it matters that he seems to have a bit of a soft spot for Palestinian terrorism.

Earlier this month, Hill opined on Twitter that “Trump’s position on Israel/Palestine is repugnant. His call for Palestine to ‘reject hatred and terrorism’ is offensive & counterproductive.”

When the tweet came to the attention of Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg several days later and he professed to be a “bit flummoxed”, Hill responded somewhat defensively, suggesting that “the context is missing” and that “[p]eace will not come from demanding action from only one side.” He later stated in exchanges with other Twitter users that he found it “offensive to only call on Palestinians to ‘behave’, while normalizing/ ignoring the violence of the occupation;” he also rejected it as “offensive” to compare “Palestinian resistance to settler-colonialism to the actions of ISIS,” and he declared: “We all agree that hatred and terrorism are bad things. The issue is who gets to define each term, and under what conditions.”

Right… Obviously, it’s appallingly presumptuous of those Israelis to define it as “terrorism” when Palestinians murder and maim civilians who are having pizza for lunch, who celebrate Passover or attend services in a synagogue, who ride a bus, go out for dinner and entertainment, or just go to sleep in their bed at home. And it’s of course also terribly presumptuous of those Israelis to call it “hatred” when the murderous perpetrators of such attacks are celebrated by Palestinians as heroes, who get handsomely paid and have buildings or events named in their honor. And really – who on earth would think of “hatred and terrorism” when the Gaza-based Wa’ed Band for Islamic Art produces a cute cartoon clip “depicting Israelis trembling in fear and fleeing the country,” while the band’s great musicians sing “My rockets long for you, and they will rain down on you;” “I’m coming for you with a gun, or with an axe and a knife – or I could run over you with my car.”

Hatred and terrorism??? Nah – just funky “Islamic Art” illustrating what “Palestinian resistance to settler-colonialism” is all about, right, Prof. Hill?

After all, Marc Lamont Hill has stated very clearly that he is “not anti Israel;” and he emphasized: “I’ve fought, and continue to fight, anti-semitism my entire life. But i oppose occupation of Gaza.”

Well, actually, in August 2014, when Hill declared his opposition to the occupation of Gaza, it was just a few weeks to the ninth anniversary of Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza – which, Israelis hoped, would reduce hatred and terrorism and perhaps even be a major step towards a peace agreement. It didn’t work out as hoped: “Since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, terrorists have fired more than 11,000 rockets into Israel [until 2014].”

Of course, Hill might find it offensive to call the Palestinians who fire the rockets “terrorists;” instead, he might prefer to see them described as ordinary folks who engage in “Palestinian resistance to settler-colonialism” and thus inspire artists like the Wa’ed Band for Islamic Art.

A few months after Hill tweeted about not being anti-Israel and fighting antisemitism, while just opposing the non-existent occupation of Gaza, he joined a group of “Dream Defenders” – dreaming about “the destruction of the political and economic systems of Capitalism and Imperialism as well as Patriarchy” – on a visit to “Palestine” (he has denied ever having been to Israel). William Jacobson posted about this visit at Legal Insurrection under the fitting title: “Wow, Marc Lamont Hill drank the anti-Israel Kool-Aid.”

From a propaganda video produced by the group, Jacobson cut a must-see clip showing Hill during a “Solidarity Demonstration” in Nazareth – which is in Israel, as everyone who doesn’t oppose the existence of the world’s only Jewish state will know – with Hill speaking to the camera [my emphasis]:

“We came here to Palestine to stand in love and revolutionary struggle with our brothers and sisters;

We come to a land that has been stolen by greed and destroyed by hate;

We come here and we learn laws that have been co-signed in ink but written in the blood of the innocent and we stand next to people who continue to courageously struggle and resist the occupation;

People continue to dream and fight for freedom;

From Ferguson to Palestine the struggle for freedom continues.”

When someone who speaks these lines while standing in an Israeli city claims that he has always fought, and will always fight antisemitism, the most benevolent explanation is that this guy simply doesn’t know that for centuries, Jew-haters have invoked the greedy Jew who steals, the hateful Jew who destroys, and the Jew who is after “the blood of the innocent”. And for centuries, Jew-haters have always believed that they were just telling it as it was…

In fall 2015, Hill published an op-ed under the title “Why Every Black Activist Should Stand With Rasmea Odeh.” Again, one could note that people who fight antisemitism usually don’t advocate solidarity with a convicted terrorist murderer of two young Jews. But as far as Hill is concerned, Odeh is a “venerable woman” and “a Palestinian freedom fighter being railroaded for her commitment to justice,” whose story “must also be understood as a Black story. A story of global resistance to colonial power.” After all, as Hill emphasizes, Odeh was arrested “by the Israelis in Palestine,” and, after enduring “over 20 days of vicious rape, and other physical and psychological torture,” the completely innocent “Palestinian freedom fighter” was unfairly convicted “by the Israelis in Palestine.”

Those “Israelis in Palestine” are real evil, aren’t they.

Almost a year before Hill wrote his vile apologia for Odeh, William Jacobson had published a thorough documentation showing that “Rasmea Odeh [was] rightly convicted of Israeli supermarket bombing and U.S. immigration fraud.” Legal Insurrection published about two dozen additional posts on the Odeh case before Hill wrote his piece – that is to say, if he wanted to get information on Odeh to check the reliability of the material circulating in his activist echo chamber, he could have easily done so.

Needless to say, Hill is also an ardent BDS supporter, and the goal of BDS is of course to rid the world of its only Jewish state. As Hill’s good friend, BDS leader Omar Barghouti put it so hopefully all the way back in 2004, when he denounced the two-state solution as an immoral ploy to save Zionism and eagerly anticipated “the final chapter of the Zionist project:” “We are witnessing the rapid demise of Zionism, and nothing can be done to save it, for Zionism is intent on killing itself. I, for one, support euthanasia.”

But as far as Hill is concerned [archived], “Omar” is admirably devoted to “the work of creating peace and justice for the vulnerable.”

Perhaps we can all agree that Omar Barghouti is as devoted to “the work of creating peace and justice for the vulnerable” as Marc Lamont Hill is devoted to fighting antisemitism?

Let’s conclude with a post by Hill [archived] from last August about the man the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has described as “the leading anti-Semite in America,” while the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) calls him “an anti-Semite who routinely accuses Jews of manipulating the U.S. government and controlling the levers of world power,” heading an organization that has “earned … a prominent position in the ranks of organized hate.”

But Hill greatly enjoyed the company of Louis Farrakhan, the notorious leader of the Nation of Islam: “Been blessed to spend the last day with Minister Louis Farrakhan. An amazing time of learning, listening, laughing, and even head nodding to music. God is Great.”

However, just to be clear: among “progressives”, Hill is in good company with his admiration for Farrakhan. As I have recently documented, two leading organizers of the Women’s March are ardent fans of Farrakhan, and while their beloved “sister” Linda Sarsour hasn’t offered gushing praise for him, she has given a strident speech at one of his major events, and embraces the Nation of Islam as “an integral part” of “the history of Islam in America” and as “part of one ummah, one family. #Islam.”

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05/15 Links Pt1: Kontorovich: Russia Recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital. Why Can’t the U.S.?; Bibi: Embassy move will shatter Palestinian fantasy

From Ian:

Eugene Kontorovich: Russia Recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital. Why Can’t the U.S.?

Note what happened next: No explosions of anger at the Arab world. No end to Russia’s diplomatic role in the Middle East. No terror attacks against Russian targets. Moscow’s dramatic Jerusalem reversal has largely been ignored by the foreign-policy establishment because it disproves their predictions of mayhem.
To be sure, Russia limited its recognition to “western Jerusalem.” Even so, it shifted the parameters of the discussion. Recognizing west Jerusalem as Israeli is now the position of a staunchly pro-Palestinian power. To maintain the distinctive U.S. role in Middle East diplomacy—and to do something historic—Mr. Trump must go further. Does the U.S. want to wind up with a less pro-Israel position than Vladimir Putin’s ?
The American response to real attacks against U.S. embassies has always been to send a clear message of strength. After the 1998 al Qaeda bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, Washington did not shut down those missions. Instead it invested in heavily fortified new facilities—and in hunting down the perpetrators.
Moving the embassy to Jerusalem would also improve the prospect of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. It would end the perverse dynamic that has prevented such negotiations from succeeding: Every time the Palestinians say “no” to an offer, the international community demands a better deal on their behalf. No wonder no resolution has been reached. Only last week, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas insisted that new negotiations “start” with the generous offer made by Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in 2008. Relocating the embassy would demonstrate to the Palestinian Authority that rejectionism has costs.
If Mr. Trump nonetheless signs the waiver, he could do two things to maintain his credibility in the peace process. First, formally recognize Jerusalem—the whole city—as the capital of Israel, and reflect that status in official documents. Second, make clear that unless the Palestinians get serious about peace within six months, his first waiver will be his last. He should set concrete benchmarks for the Palestinians to demonstrate their commitment to negotiations. These would include ending their campaign against Israel in international organizations and cutting off payments to terrorists and their relatives.
This is Mr. Trump’s moment to show strength. It cannot be American policy to choose to recognize a capital, or not, based on how terrorists will react—especially when they likely won’t.

Mordechai Kedar: Increasing nervousness: Trump's approaching visit to the Middle East

If there are no last minute changes, President Trump will be embarking on a trip to the Middle East that includes Israel, the PA and Saudi Arabia. The trip has a very tight schedule because those planning it at each stop are trying to cram as many events, places and people as they possibly can into the time alloted for the President's visit.
In the nature of things, there will be long lines of people who want to shake hands with the important visitor, the most powerful man in the world. Each one of them is confident that Trump will remember the one sentence he manages to slip in between the shoves of those who are next in line and the elbows of the security detail protecting Trump from all angles. Trump's speechwriters are putting in long hours to prepare suitable texts for each stop and its audience, hoping the listeners will take his words to heart.
One thing is certain, a week affter Trump's visit, he won't remember a word of the texts he read out loud. A week? That long? I must be an incurable optimist.
Everyone knows that Trump himself knows very little about the Middle East's problems and hasn't the sliightest idea where to find a solution for them and how to go about doing so, especially when compared to the presidents who preceded him, who spent a good deal of time learning the problems involved and put much wasted effort into attempting to find solutions for them. The 100 days of Trump's presidency presented the world with a leader imbued with a feeling of power, who acts according to his own instincts and whose reactions are not predictable. As I write these lines, Trump has fired the head of the FBI and my heart tells me that this was not the result of a long, carefully considered analysis of the situation. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

PM: Embassy move will help peace by ‘shattering Palestinian fantasy’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem would boost peace efforts by impressing on the Palestinians the city is the capital of the Jewish state.
After US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said earlier Sunday that the Trump administration was evaluating whether relocating the US mission to Jerusalem would help or harm the peace process, Netanyahu released a statement arguing the move would advance peace efforts.
“Israel’s position has been stated many times to the US government and to the world,” Netanyahu said. “Moving the US embassy to Jerusalem will not only not harm the peace process, it will advance it by correcting a historical wrong and by shattering the Palestinian fantasy that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel.”
On Thursday, Netanyahu said that all foreign embassies in Israel should be located in Jerusalem, chief among them the American embassy.

A year after violent protests shut down an event sponsored by pro-Israel students at the University of California at Irvine, another threatening protest at another pro-Israel event generates questions over whether the university is willing to do more than issue statements regarding freedom of speech on campus.

After last year’s protests – which were just the culmination of a series of discriminatory attacks on Israel-supporting Jews throughout the UC system – the Regents of that system endorsed a set of Principles Against Intolerance, the last two of which - points (h) and (i) - declare that “Actions that physically or otherwise interfere with the ability of an individual or group to assemble, speak and share or hear the opinions of others…” and “Harassment, threats, assaults, vandalism, and destruction of property” would not be tolerated.

After last year’s incident, the local Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) was given a written warning and required to host an educational program related to their behavior. Apparently, this week’s decision to orchestrate the same kind of disruption they were warned about last year is their reply, and amply demonstrates what they think about the university and its rules.

Campus administrators, generally sheepish about taking on organized groups of students, are particularly cautious when confronting the violent behavior of SJP, given their understanding that once they act they can expect to hear immediately from the group’s lawyers. Which means the only thing that can motivate them to enforce their own rules is fear of lawsuits from even better lawyers representing Jewish students on campus.

As the school year winds to a close, we can expect the administration to run out the clock with deliberations that will continue after all the students involved on both sides of this week’s fiasco have gone home. One hopes that during this period they will develop the backbone required to enforce their own rules in the face of groups like SJP that have decided to demonstrate to the entire community who they think is in charge of the school. But, failing that, I have a modest recommendation for a new approach that’s not been tried yet.

Under this new proposed policy, rather than reject harassment and intimidation on campus, those kinds of activities should instead be enshrined as the new norm to be embraced and encouraged by administrators and students alike. Such a policy can be implemented by simply taking the original Chancellor’s “Principles Against Intolerance” and swapping “will not be tolerated” whenever it appears with “is both tolerated and encouraged.”

Now such a policy could discriminate against student organizations without the numbers or aggression required to put together a decent mob big enough and violent enough to shut down events put on by students with whom they disagree. But this problem could be easily solved by allowing student organizations to use part of the campus activities budget they are allocated each year to hire professional harassers to fatten up their own mobs and ensure equitable levels of aggression targeting any speaker or event on campus.

Such a policy could have positive economic impact, creating gainful employment opportunities for thugs living at or near University of California locations who can be regularly hired as members of rent-a-mobs. No doubt enterprising temporary employment agencies will spring up to facilitate the appropriate allocation of violent protesters at all controversial campus events (with “controversial” remaining a term that any student group is free to define and interpret based on its own preferences).

The only alternative I can think of to the current “all-talk-no-action” policy at places like UC Irvine and the simple alternative I propose is that the school provide students a list of which groups and issues are allowed to participate in the kinds of violent, harassing behavior now becoming standard at pro-Israel events on campus – essentially creating guidelines that says who is allowed to discriminate against whom.

Such a policy would represent an official imprimatur on bigotry, but at least it would be more honest than the de facto one currently in place.

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Dear President Trump: A peace deal isn't the same thing as peace

Donald Trump loves deals. He's made that fact the centerpiece of his career, and the title of one of his books is "The Art of the Deal."

And he has said that he wants to continue that path to make a deal between Israel and the Palestinian Arab leaders.

In November, days after winning the election, he called a peace treaty "the ultimate deal."

“I’ve always heard that perhaps the toughest deal to make is the deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians,” Trump said to Abbas when he visited the White House. “Let’s see if we can prove them wrong.”

There is only one problem.

A deal isn't the same thing as peace.

Israel brokered peace deals with Jordan and Egypt. Both of them are cold peace deals, but they have been solid for decades.

Yet Palestinians cannot be trusted to hold on to any deal, for one very simple reason.

Unlike Jordan and Egypt, they claim all of Israel as their own.

They might accept Israel as a temporary entity, but they consider all of the boundaries created by Westerners in the early 1920s for the British Mandate to be their "historic lands." (Egypt considers parts of the Negev to be its territory and Jordan might have some slight claims but they do not claim the entire Israel the way the Palestinians do.)

Yasir Arafat has remained the undisputed leader of the Palestinians even after his death. Mahmoud Abbas would never dare to do anything Arafat wouldn't do. Arafat, and the Palestinian leaders, were very consistent since 1974 with the "phased plan" which included:

The Liberation Organization will employ all means, and first and foremost armed struggle, to liberate Palestinian territory and to establish the independent combatant national authority for the people over every part of Palestinian territory that is liberated. This will require further changes being effected in the balance of power in favour of our people and their struggle.

The Liberation Organization will struggle against any proposal for a Palestinian entity the price of which is recognition, peace, secure frontiers, renunciation of national rights and the deprival of our people of their right to return and their right to self-determination on the soil of their homeland.

Any step taken towards liberation is a step towards the realization of the Liberation Organization's strategy of establishing the democratic Palestinian state specified in the resolutions of previous Palestinian National Councils.

In light of this programme, the leadership of the revolution will determine the tactics which will serve and make possible the realization of these objectives.

A PLO peace deal with Israel is not meant to be permanent. It is meant as an introduction to the next phase, whether it is "right to return" or new diplomatic pressure or increased terror or even military battles and rockets and tunnels that will be much harder to defend against.

Every Palestinian knows this. It is not a secret. Arafat said it in a speech broadcast hours after he signed the first peace agreement with Israel.

"[the agreement] will be a basis for an independent Palestinian state in accordance with the Palestinian National Council resolution issued in 1974 ... The PNC resolution issued in 1974 calls for the establishment of a national authority on any part of Palestinian soil from which Israel withdraws or which is liberated."

Arafat repeated this idea a number of times, referring to the "oath" of Arab dominance over all of Palestine. In 1996, for example, he said

"They will fight for Allah, and they will kill and be killed, and this is a solemn oath...Our blood is cheap compared with the cause which has brought us together and which at moments separated us, but shortly we will meet again in heaven...Palestine is our land and Jerusalem is our capital"

There are plenty of other relevant quotes from Palestinian officials. For example, PLO official Abbas Zaki said that a two-state solution is the spark that will lead to Israel's collapse.

The Palestinian people, when polled on the topic, admit that they only accept a two-state solution as a stage to become a single Arab state. 66% said this explicitly in a poll in 2011, and in 2014, 60% said that this should be the goal for the following five years.

To Palestinians, a deal is not final. It is a stage. Peace with Israel isn't a goal; Arab dominance over Israel and eventual destruction of Israel is the goal.

No matter how the deal is worded, and what provisions are placed inside the document to forestall Palestinians from implementing the next phases, they will continue to teach their children that all of Israel is illegitimate and stolen land from them. They did it during the optimistic days Oslo process 24 years ago and they do it today, what incentive do they have to teach peace?

A peace deal is not the same as peace, and even a cold peace is not possible with people who say, over and over, that their goal is the eventual destruction of their "peace partner." The best deal would buy a little time, but nothing else.

It would take generations to change the situation as it is.

Chasing a deal is the wrong message. In this case, where Palestinians claim the entire region as their own, a peace deal might be possible - but peace is certainly not.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

The first victims of the Nakba were Jews

In the revisionist history on Palestinian Arab sites today, "Nakba Day," it is claimed that this was the day that war broke out, when Arab nations fought unsuccessfully to protect Palestinian Arabs from Jewish militias in 1948.

But the war didn't start in May 1948. It started in November 1947 hours after the UN Partition vote.

For months before the vote, Arab terrorists held their fire, hoping that the UN would not recommend a truncated Jewish state along with an Arab state in the area of the British Mandate. But within hours of the UN partition resolution, the gloves were off.

7 Jews were murdered that first day.

Arabs threw grenades at an Egged bus traveling from Netanya to Jerusalem, and one exploded inside.

Devora Yaari was injured, and her husband Shalom Yaari rushed to her aid. He was shot dead in cold blood.

Shoshana Mizrahi Farhi, 22, was on her way to Jerusalem to get married. She was killed.

The other victims were Hirsh Starer, Mrs. Hanna Weiss, and Haya Yisraeli.

Another Egged bus was attacked a half hour later, and Nechama Hacohen, a pathologist at Hadassah Hospital, was killed.

Moshe Goldman was killed with a gunshot in the chest.

Palestinian Arabs started the war that resulted in their abandoning their supposed homeland to let their Arab brethren finish off what they started. Some of them wanted peace but their leaders did not even consider it,

The refusal of Arab leaders to accept Jews as human beings who deserve rights - the decision to oppose the Jews "by all means" - was the beginning of the Nakba.

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Mothers Day/Lag B'Omer/Administrivia open thread

A busy day at stately Elder Manor, so here is an open thread.

Also, administrivia: some people have been asking what happened to Mike Lumish's weekly column. He told me several weeks ago he was unable to continue posting here. I appreciate his writing for EoZ for over two years (and hooking me up with other columnists) and I wish him much hatzlacha!

Happy Lag B'Omer and happy Mothers Day!

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05/14 Links: The unexpected death of BDS; Bennett: Israel must ditch ‘bunker’ diplomacy

From Ian:

The unexpected death of BDS

That bastion of the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement the Electronic Intifada recently leaked a copy of a report co-written by the Anti-Defamation League and the Reut Institute. If the authors of the report had taken a look at the BDS movement in the UK they would have realised that we are watching the movement in its death throes.
People in the United Kingdom are tired. They’re tired of hypocrites saying they’re against occupation by occupying their lecture theatres. They’re tired of hypocrites campaigning for rights for Palestinians by depriving Jews of theirs. They’re tired of hypocrites claiming to be in favour of free speech while insisting Zionists be silenced. They’re tired of hypocrites telling them what they can and can’t buy or where they’re allowed to eat by holier than thou activists using Israeli made products to preach their message. Examples of this hypocrisy are everywhere.
Kamal Hawwash the Vice Chair of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign was recently in the news for being denied entry to Israel. The rights and wrongs of Israel’s new law notwithstanding how can one of the most outspoken advocates of BDS really display righteous indignation that he’s not allowed to visit the very country he’s calling on others to boycott?
Malia Bouattia the outgoing president of the National Union of Students may have eleven and a half thousand followers on Twitter but scraped only 270 votes in her failed bid to hold onto her position for another year. David Ward the one time Member of Parliament who was recently called an antisemite in the House of Commons has been sacked by the head of his party and Ken “Hitler” Livingstone the former Mayor of London can look forward to nothing more than infamy for the rest of his career. The fact that the Labour Party refused to expel him simply contributed to Britons finding the party unfit for government.

Macron expected to support two-state solution, says BDS is antisemitic

A succession of ceremonies marked the inauguration of Emmanuel Macron as France’s eighth president under the Fifth Republic. Outgoing president François Hollande received his successor at the Élysée Palace on Sunday morning and the two men spoke in private for more than an hour, after which Hollande left en route for the Socialist Party headquarters.
Guided by rigid French protocol, Macron’s day was still very much in his image. Similarly to his long walk on election evening, when he walked for several minutes, alone, across the Louvre Museum courtyard until he reached the stage, Macron walked alone on Sunday on the red carpet at the Élysée court toward his former boss and mentor Hollande.
The speech Macron delivered an hour later was sober, with the new head of state saying he is “fully aware of the high expectations of the French citizens.
“The French people has chosen hope and a spirit of achievement over a spirit of division and breaking away from the global market,” he said, adding that he now carries the responsibility of convincing French citizens that their country has all the resources necessary to once again be a leading country within the family of nations.

Anti-Semitic politician taken off En Marche ticket

The party of French President-elect Emmanuel Macron withdrew from its parliamentary elections ticket a politician who made statements deemed anti-Semitic.
Christian Gerin, a journalist, was taken off the En Marche ticket Friday, a day after he was nominated to represent the party in next month’s elections for the French parliament, in connection with messages he wrote in 2013, throughout last year and this year on Twitter.
In one tweet, flagged as “anti-Semitic” by the LICRA watchdog against anti-Semitism and racism, he wrote: “When will there be a separation between CRIF and state?”
CRIF is the umbrella group of French Jewish communities, whose critics say wields too much influence over French politicians.
He also wrote that Manuel Valls, a former prime minister under outgoing President Francois Hollande, is “virulently Zionist, racist and an Islamophobe.”
Gerin also wrote on Twitter: “The only solution: BDS.”

Daphne Anson: Brats & Braves (videos)

For anyone who has not yet seen them in all their infantile shame, Israel-hating brats at the University of California at Irvine use bully boy tactics to disrupt a meeting and silence a speaker. The totalitarian Left in action once again.
In Toronto, a chanting kid on a grown-up's back leads the anti-Israel protest. Pro-Israel demonstrators face the mob, with its obscene and very telling cries of "From the River to the Sea ..."
A brave Englishman's delicious satire on Islamofascism and its totalitarian leftists allies:

Another Arab myth exploded: Jews actually HELPED Arab workers in the 1920s

The Arab narrative is that Jews came to Palestine and took their livelihoods. But this news article from The Palestine Bulletin from exactly 90 years ago shows that the Jewish labor leaders did everything they could to aid Arab workers, to the praise of international unions.

When the article says that most of the Arabs in the transport sector are "not residents in the places they work" it is referring to the tens of thousands of Arabs, mostly from Syria and Lebanon, who worked in British Mandate Palestine (often seasonally) because the economy was booming there, and they sent money back home.

You know what those people are called nowadays? "Palestinians."

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Translated from the Turkish "Shalom" Jewish newspaper:

Israel's 69th Independence Day was celebrated with a reception and award ceremony held by the Consulate-General of Israel in Istanbul. Speaking at the reception at the Hilton Bosphorus Convention Center, Israeli Consul General Shai Cohen pointed to the rapid development of Turkey-Israel relations after the normalization treaty. Stating that they are in serious cooperation in bilateral trade, as well as bilateral developments in art, culture and academia, Cohen stated that the relations between the two countries are increasing and that efforts are being made to move to higher levels. At a ceremony where Israeli Ambassador to Ankara Eitan Na'eh was present, he stated that the situation of the Syrian refugees deeply affected the Israelis coming from a refugee community. The Consul General, in Istanbul for the benefit of Syrian children,

Chief Rabbi Rav Isak Haleva and Ishak Ibrahimzadeh, the President of the Turkish Jewish Society, were present at the ceremony attended by the representatives of the Turkish Jewish Society as well as the world of business and academia.

In the framework of the arranged reception, the institutions and persons contributing to the development of the relations between the two countries were also rewarded. Within this scope, Turkish companies including Turkish Airlines, Koç, Zorlu, and Bank Hapoalim, and Israeli firms including Netafim were awarded for their contributions to the bilateral relations.

There is clearly no love between Turkey's leader and the State of Israel. Erdogan made a speech last week attacking any Jews who visit the holiest site in Judaism and Israel responded sharply.

I don't know how large this gathering was. But as far as I can tell, this event in a major hotel in Istanbul didn't have something that you would find in nearly any similar Zionist gathering in Western Europe or the US:

Protesters.

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The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics issued a document for "Nakba Day" that proves, if anything, that Palestinian statisticians lie just as much as their politicians do.

The document starts off with "Ms. Ola Awad, President of the PCBS, reviews the conditions of the Palestinian people via statistical figures and findings, on the eve of the sixty ninth anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba."

And statistics don't lie, right?

Well, maybe, but Palestinian statistics and statisticians sure do.

It starts off defining the "Nakba" this way:

[T]he Nakba in Palestine describes a process of ethnic cleansing in which an unarmed nation was destroyed and its population displaced to be replaced systematically by another nation. Unlike a natural catastrophe, the Palestinian Nakba was the result of a man-made military plan with the consent of other states, leading to a major tragedy for the Palestinian people.

Sure, except that there was no "nation" that was destroyed, the "unarmed" people they are referring to were the ones who started the war, there was no "ethnic cleansing" (except for the Jews of Arab countries,) there was no "Palestinian people" and the vast majority of them left voluntarily to escape the fighting, assuming that their side would win.

Yeah, there is not one part of that paragraph that reflects reality.

But that is just a preamble. How about cold, hard facts?

Population Density: Gaza Strip is the most crowded place in the world

The population density in Palestine at the end of 2016 was 811 individuals per square kilometer (km²): 526 individuals/km² in the West Bank and 5,239 individuals/km² in Gaza Strip.

The most crowded countries and territories in the world are:

Territory	Density (people/km2)
Macau	55,001
Monaco	18,589
Singapore	7,797
Hong Kong	6,644

But the most crowded places are cities, with Manila at over 100,000 people per square kilometer. In fact, Gaza City itself doesn't rank in the Wikipedia list of most crowded cities - while Bnei Brak in Israel is #6 with over 70,000 per square kilometer.

The document also calls every dead terrorist a "martyr."

Oh, and for good measure, this document filled with lies says,"The Israeli Occupation narrative is based on falsification of the culture, civilization and history of Palestine."

Well they sure know about falsification.

This document comes in handy just in case anyone thought that the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics was any more dedicated to facts and truth than any other Palestinian Arab political entity.

Here's a video I made in 2009 about the "most crowded" meme:

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

05/13 Links: Pierre Rehov:The UN's Obsession against Israel; Lawsuit Targets American Muslims for Palestine

From Ian:

Pierre Rehov: The UN's Obsession against Israel

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) met once again on March 20 to debate "Agenda Item 7," a mandatory subject of debate since June 2006, the only one whose goal is systematically to condemn the Israeli democracy for crimes the existence of which remain to be proven.
The agenda, officially designed to assess the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories, in the light of the reports submitted by Fatah, the PLO and various NGOs, is part of a wider campaign, carried out by countries such as Libya, Algeria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Sudan and Yemen. Israel is thus the only country on the planet to benefit from the doubtful privilege of being scrutinized on the least of its actions, through an agenda decided by its enemies.
If it were only a question of expressing this obsession, born out of an old habit for the Arab-Muslim dictatorships to turn the Hebrew state into their scapegoat, responsible for all the misfortunes plaguing their societies, Agenda Item 7 would be a mere oddity, especially since the session is regularly boycotted by a majority of Western countries, and systematically by the United States.
Unfortunately, this Israelphobia has been spreading throughout the United Nations. In 1948, when Israel, after being officially recognized as a sovereign state by virtually all Western democracies, had just repelled the genocidal aggression of five neighboring countries, and hundreds of thousands of Jews were fleeing the oppression of Arab dictatorships, the UN gave birth to UNRWA, an organization designed to help Palestinian refugees exclusively. This was despite there already being a program for refugees at the UN, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The mandate of UNRWA was for one year. Seventy years later, the organization, now a lavish UN jobs program, continues to function within the Palestinian territories and neighboring countries, with an annual budget close to one billion dollars. Part of that covers salaries and pension funds for 25,000 to 27,000 employees (including many members of Hamas); schools in which the descendants of descendants of "refugees", in suburbs or villages called "camps", are inaccurately told that Tel Aviv and Haifa had belonged to them and should be returned to them, and where the myth of an impossible "right of return" continues to hold new generations of Palestinians hostage and inciting hatred of Israel and Jews.
As Said Aburish, one of Yasser Arafat's biographers and a former adviser to Saddam Hussein, told this author:
"In order to conserve UNRWA rations, Palestinians had become accustomed to bury their dead at night, so that no one died in the camps except when it was possible to accuse Israel of it. As a result, the refugee figures have always been distorted, with the passive complicity of UNRWA, as its annual budget depends on the number of souls for which they are responsible."

Lawsuit Targets American Muslims for Palestine

A national anti-Israel group and several of its activists are "alter egos and/or successors" of a Hamas-support network that was found liable for an American teen's death in a 1996 terrorist attack, litigation filed in Chicago federal court Friday claims.
After Stanley and Joyce Boim won $156 million in damages, defendants including the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) and the American Muslim Society (AMS) shut down and claimed to be unable to pay. It was a ruse, the Boims' attorneys claim, as many of the same people opened up American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) at a nearby address.
A subsequent criminal prosecution found that other defendants in the original lawsuit, like the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) and the United Association for Studies and Research, were part of a Muslim Brotherhood-created Hamas-support network in the United States called the Palestine Committee.
The IAP used to hold annual conventions. The year after it shut down, AMP held its first national meeting, offering the same "audience, content, management, speakers, and ... message" as the IAP gatherings, the complaint said.
Today, AMP and its financial arm, Americans for Justice in Palestine Educational Foundation, continue the work done by the defunct groups in the original Boim suit, the complaint said. AMP donors and officers "are substantially identical to the management and donors of their alter egos and predecessors, HLF, IAP and AMS."

IsraellyCool: Terror Supporters JVP and AMP Stung By Flyers Accusing Them Of Being Terror Supporters

The following flyers have been placed all over New York City.
Including the homes of Rebecca Vilkomerson, Executive Director, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), and Hatem Bazian, Chairman of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), leading to this attack by Vilkomerson, JVP and AMP.
Note how they characterize the flyers as “Islamophobic” because they “attempt to link Islam with terrorism” – even though nothing in the flyers actually suggests this.
Instead, let’s look at the accusations in the flyer to see if they are founded.
American Muslims for Palestine (AMP)
According to the ADL – which incidentally comes out hard against “Islamophobia” – AMP is not only affiliated with terrorists, but is also antisemitic.

Are Biblical scholars that ignorant? Or is it only Haaretz?

From Haaretz:

Can We Eat Bacon Now? Leviticus Was Written for Priests, Not You, Say Scholars

The Book of Leviticus, the third book in the Old Testament, is considered something of an anomaly by some scholars.

The rest of the Old Testament books are concerned with the history of the Jewish people and their belief. But Leviticus concerns itself with ritual, legal, and moral practices. It lays down the laws by which the Jewish people are supposed to live.

But, was it truly meant for the laity? Should all Jews have to adhere to its tenets, as is commonly assumed? Some Biblical scholars argue that the Book of Leviticus was not originally meant to apply to the general public: its laws were meant for the priests of the Temple.

Dr. Robert Gnuse, professor in the Religious Studies Department at Loyola University, says that historically, the rules on food and clothing found in the Book of Leviticus were meant exclusively for priests, just like the laws in the Hindu Code of Manu Smriti for Brahmin priests.

That is, until the period of the Babylonian captivity. Someone from the priestly class in Babylon found a way to encourage the Jewish people living in exile to take on these laws in order to keep them together as a community, Gnuse theorizes. This is also the view Mary Douglas took in her earlier works.

First of all, the text of Leviticus makes it clear which rules are for all Israelites and which only for priests.

Some sections start with variants of And the LORD called unto Moses, and spoke unto him out of the tent of meeting, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them:

Others start with And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: Command Aaron and his sons, saying:

It is pretty clear which sections were meant for priests and which were meant for everyone.

Beyond that, the laws of Kosher are also in Deuteronomy, where the entire book was clearly meant for the entire nation. (A little of the kosher laws are in Exodus, too, and at least one mentioned in Genesis.)

So how much is this are idiotic Biblical scholars and how much Haaretz twisting their words for the story?

I want to stress that I have respect for some non-Jewish Biblical scholars. Like George Bush. No, not that one, but a relative who wrote books about the Bible in the 19th century. Here is the first page of his commentary on Leviticus 11, the chapter that speaks about kosher laws:

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05/12 Links Pt2: The People vs. Haaretz; Comedy Central promotes Anti-Israel Linda Sarsour on ‘The President Show’

From Ian:

The People vs. Haaretz

Haaretz is an Israeli newspaper. Admired by many foreigners and few Israelis, loathed by many, mostly Israelis. Read by few, denounced by many, it is a highly ideological, high-quality paper. It has a history of excellence. It has a history of independence. It has a history of counting Israel’s mistakes and misbehavior. It has a history of getting on Israel’s nerves.
Still, it is just a newspaper. The story of the people vs. Haaretz — that is, of a great number of Israelis’ growing dislike for the paper — is worth telling only because it tells us something about Israel itself: that the country’s far left is evolving from a political position into a mental state and that the right-wing majority has not yet evolved into being a mature, self-confident public.
Consider an incident from mid-April. Haaretz published an op-ed by one of its columnists. It made a less-than-convincing argument that religious Zionist Israelis are more dangerous to Israel than Hezbollah terrorists. And yet, the response was overwhelming. The prime minister, defense minister, education minister and justice minister all denounced the article and the newspaper. The president condemned the article, too. The leader of the centrist party Yesh Atid called the op-ed “anti-Semitic.” Leaders of the left-of-center Labor Party called it hateful. The country was almost unified in condemnation.
Of course, not completely unified. On the far left, a few voices supported the article and the newspaper. Some argued that the article was substantively valid. Others argued that whether the article was substantive or not, the onslaught on Haaretz is a cynical ploy to shake another pillar of the left — maybe its most visible remaining pillar. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

Comedy Central Gives Anti-Israel Linda Sarsour Spot on ‘The President Show’

Sarsour has in the past stated that Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a victim of genital mutilation as a child, doesn't deserve to be a woman and should have her vagina taken away.
After asking Sarsour about the meaning of "intersectionality," Atamanuik turned back to Muslim issues for a joke about how the political right uses "Islam as a way to criticize female treatment in Muslim countries" even though they are "trying to kill women here by having a health care bill that basically takes out people."
"Don't you think that there's a problem that extends beyond political party or ideology in displaying Muslims as somehow rudimentary, or violent, or other, in a way that extends to commentary from the left, talking about Muslims needing to take responsibility for terrorist attacks, or on the right, using Islam as a way to criticize female treatment in Muslim countries when we actually are trying to kill women here by having a health care bill that basically takes out people," asked Atamanuik during the comedy show.
Sarsour said that she refuses to take responsibility for terrorist attacks, arguing that while they are "outrageous and horrible," it is not her responsibility.
"It's not my responsibility [as a Muslim]," Sarsour said. "Those people didn’t call me up and ask my permission for doing something horrific. I want to condemn it as a human being, as an American just like everybody else."
Sarsour appeared at an event last month with Rasmea Odeh, a convicted terrorist responsible for the death of two young students in Israel, and said she was "honored to be on the stage with Rasmea."

White House: Trump to push Palestinian ‘self-determination’ on Mideast trip

US President Donald Trump will work toward a “just and lasting peace” between Israel and the Palestinians, including the Palestinian aspiration of “self-determination” on his upcoming trip to the region, the White House said Friday.
US National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster told reporters during the daily press briefing that Trump will meet again with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, where the president will “express his desire for dignity and self-determination for the Palestinians.”
McMaster also said that Trump’s meetings with Israeli leaders would look to cement stronger ties between the two allies.
“With President (Reuven) Rivlin and Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu, he will reaffirm America’s unshakable bond to the Jewish state,” he said.

One of the more prominent (alleged) hunger strikers is Karim Younis, 59, a terrorist who murdered Avraham Bromberg in 1980. He was originally sentenced in 1983 to life in prison but Shimon Peres commuted the sentence to 40 years.

He is one of a handful of Palestinians prisoners who have been there since before Oslo.

Today, Arab media is reporting that Younis is getting weaker from the hunger strike. But they are adding a detail that Younis is the longest serving prisoner in the world.

Of course, this is a lie. The 34 years he served so far are not even in the ballpark of the longest serving prisoners in the world, several of whom have been in prison over 60 years. Francis Clifford Smith has been in prison for nearly 67 years, almost double Younis' stint.

For some reason, Palestinians always want to be known as the record-breakers. From "the only people under military occupation in the world" to the "largest refugee population in the world" they lie, exaggerate and make things up just to stay in the spotlight - a spotlight that they had for decades and whose bulb is inexorably burning out.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

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05/12 Links Pt1: Glick: The PLO’s most powerful lobbyists; Has The Red Cross Visited Israeli Prisoners in Gaza?

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: The PLO’s most powerful lobbyists

In choosing to treat anti-Israel groups like Breaking the Silence and B’Tselem with kid gloves, the General Staff is inserting itself directly into Israeli politics.
Likewise, when IDF generals lobby Congress to maintain US funding of the PA , and when “military sources” express their opposition to Trump’s plan to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem, they are behaving as political activists.
This returns us to Netanyahu and his frustration at Trump’s sudden embrace of the PLO , which places the most pro-Israel president in history on a collision course with Israel.
Netanyahu is right to be angry. But his rage at Lauder is misdirected. The real culprit is the General Staff.
Since no prime minister can dispute the holy grail of “security concerns,” Lauder got blamed.
This situation is insufferable. Our generals cannot continue to receive a pass for their political activism.
When they lobby for the PLO and against moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem they cross the line into gross insubordination. When they protect Breaking the Silence and B’Tselem rather than their soldiers, they commit a grave dereliction of duty.

Sheri Oz: Question. How Many Times Has The Red Cross Visited Israeli Prisoners in Gaza?

Tell me, Mr Barghouti – how do your prison conditions compare with those of Gilad Shalit who was abducted and held by Hamas in Gaza for five years? How do they compare with the conditions Hamas offers to current Israeli prisoners: Abera Mengistu, Israeli of Ethiopian origin being held in Gaza since September 2014, Hisham al-Syed, Israeli Bedouin held since April 2015, and Juma Ibrahim Abu Anima, Israeli Bedouin who has been held since July last year?
The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has agreed to let the International Red Cross visit you today (Thursday) in lieu of the pre-scheduled meeting with your lawyer that was cancelled since you called on security prisoners to join you in a hunger strike and you were consequently put into solitary. The reports note that you have not seen anyone from the Red Cross since before the hunger strike. That means that you HAVE seen Red Cross staff before that – and we have no idea how many times these visits have taken place but apparently the IRC visits security prisoners in Israel on a regular basis.
Out of curiousity, I wanted to know how many times the IRC has visited with Abera Mengistu so I called Uri Perednik, Parliamentary Aide to MK Avraham Neguise (pronounced Negosa), who serves as chair of the Caucus for the Return of Avraham (Abera) Mengistu. Perednik told me that the IRC has visited Mengistu a total of zero times. Furthermore, while the Israeli government and Hamas insist that Mengistu is alive, there have been no signs of life presented in fact, according to Perednik.

PM: All embassies, especially the US, should be in Jerusalem

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that all foreign embassies in Israel should be located in Jerusalem, chief among them the American embassy.
Speaking at a Likud event on Thursday, Netanyahu said Jerusalem is the “eternal capital of the Israeli people and it is fitting that all embassies, especially that of our friend the United States, be moved the Jerusalem.”
The remark came less than two weeks ahead of the expected visit of US President Donald Trump, who during his presidential campaign last year, promised to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a potential move he has distanced himself from since his election in November.
Israel considers Jerusalem its undivided capital while the Palestinians want East Jerusalem, including the Old City, as the capital of a future state. The international community has never recognized Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem after Israel captured it in 1967.
Most foreign embassies in Israel are in Tel Aviv, with some nations also maintaining consulate-generals in Jerusalem.

Egypt is hardly a paradigm of human rights, but human rights NGOs ignore some of the remarkable things that have been done under the current Egyptian leadership.

From Al Ahram:

A Cairo misdemeanor court has set 24 June to start the trial of a prominent Islamic cleric and television presenter on charges of contempt of religion, after he described Christians as non-believers on an episode of his television show.

The lawsuit filed against Salem Abdel-Geliel by lawyer Naguib Gibrail initially charged that Abdel-Geliel’s comments displayed contempt of religion, threatened national unity, disrupted public peace and incited the killing of Christians.

Abdel-Geliel, a former deputy minister for proselytisation at the Ministry of Religious Endowments, has presented a daily religious programme, Muslims Ask, on Mehwar satellite channel since early 2016.

Hassan Rateb, the head of Mehwar, said on Wednesday that the cleric’s contract with the station would be cancelled. The channel also apologised to all “Christian brothers” in an official statement.

Abdel-Geliel, who is been known for his mainstream religious views, described Christians as "unbelievers" and their beliefs as "corrupted" during his explanation of a Quranic verse on an episode of his programme earlier this week.

He said later in a statement that the description “unbeliever” was applied to Christians in the Quran in a specific context, but he apologised if he had offended Christians’ feelings.

He also stressed that describing Christians as such doesn’t carry any sort of incitement to violence against Christians or followers of any other religion, as such violence is forbidden in Islam.

Abdel-Geliel also said that he fully understood the channel's decision to end his contract.

Egypt's Ministry of Endowments had said that Abdel-Geliel would be banned from giving sermons at ministry-affiliated mosques until he issued an apology.

Defendants charged with contempt of religion are normally Christians, or others holding minority religious views, charged with insulting Islam.

But this is not the first time in recent years that an Islamic religious figure has been tried on charges of contempt of Christianity.

Controversial preacher Abu Islam, who burnt a copy of the Bible in front of the American embassy in Cairo during Salafi protests in September 2012, was sentenced in June 2013 to 11 years in jail and a EGP3,000 fine over the incident after he was found guilty of insulting Christianity.

The sentence was reduced to three years following a series of appeals.

Even Abdel Geliel's reaction is remarkable. His words were fairly mild and also pretty accurate. There is much worse incitement all over the Arab world as can be seen from five minutes at MEMRI. Furthermore, he isn't some firebrand preacher or crazy jihadist. He is popular and represents mainstream Islam.

Egypt does seem to be taking anti-Christian attitudes seriously. Perhaps it is too little, too late, but this is very welcome.

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From Arab News:

A notorious sectarian leader in Iraq has claimed that the Shiite project of encircling and dominating the Middle Eastern states is on track.
Delivering a speech in Arabic, at a graduation ceremony of Shiite clerics in Iraq on Thursday, Asaib Ahl Al-Haq militia commander Qais Al-Khazali said: “The reappearance of Imam Mahdi will mark the completion of the Shiite project. Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Asaib Ahl Al-Haq and the Houthis are working hard to make the ground fertile for Imam Mahdi.”
Al-Khazali was referring to the Shiite belief that Imam Mahdi — the 12th and last Shiite imam who disappeared in the 9th century — will one day appear in order to bring justice to earth.
Asaib Ahl Al-Haq, which Al-Khazali leads, is one of the most violent Shiite militias in Iraq. It is aided and abetted by Iran. Al-Khazali reportedly said: “We’ll continue to work toward our project of a Shiite full moon, not a Shiite crescent as our enemies say.”
The phrase “Shiite crescent” was first coined by King Abdallah of Jordan 10 years ago. At that time, he meant Iranian control over Lebanon via Hezbollah, Syria via the Bashar Assad regime, and Iraq through the new Iran-allied government in Baghdad. Al-Khazali is now talking of a “Shiite full moon.”

The topic of Iran's goal of regional dominance is rarely addressed in the media. Ironically, the Muslims accuse Israel of aspiring to regional dominance, when in fact that role has gone to Iran, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia over the past century - but never Israel.

This is the main reason why Arabs are so alarmed by Iran today. They know that between Iran and Israel, only Iran truly aspires to take over the region while Israel wants to make allies with existing states but not dominate them.

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A Palestinian Arab tries, and fails, to answer the Dry Bones quiz

Many years ago, Dry Bones published this cartoon:

Nada Elia at Middle East Eye claims to demolish this argument - and fails spectacularly.

She believes that the questions themselves are illegitimate to begin with, but pretends to show that they make no sense even within its own context. She does this by purposefully misunderstanding English.

The questions in the cartoon reveal a surprisingly shallow knowledge of history, plagued by utter disrespect for chronology and logic. I particularly like #9, which asks us to choose “any date in history” and give the exchange rate of the “Palestinian currency against the US dollar”.
What if I chose a date before 1792, when the US dollar was first created? But let’s not go so far back in history - the Deutsche Mark itself did not come into existence until 1948.
And if picking a date in history and comparing one country’s currency rate to another’s is proof that the country has historical legitimacy, what if I chose the year 1937, and asked how the Israeli currency compared to the Japanese Yen then? And if I came up blank, would that mean that neither country can lay claim to historical existence?

The phrase "choose any date in history" means that the people who claim to have a state can choose any date that the nation supposedly existed to prove their nationhood, not that they can choose a date when the state didn't exist.

Obviously there is a United States and a Japan and a Germany, and currencies are one way of showing nationhood. The Palestinian Arabs cannot point to any date in history that they had one.

This is obvious and Elia's attempt to misunderstand what the cartoon is saying shows her dishonesty.

But this isn't her main point. After quoting Zionist figures in history to prove that they were colonialist (as if they didn't also speak passionately about rebuilding Judah and Israel of old) she makes her only real point, which proves the exact opposite of what she intends:

The Zionist logic, that we did not exist because we did not have a currency, national boundaries, etc, would also deny that Native Americans existed, because they did not have nation states recognisable to the Europeans. And indeed, that is how the colonisation of the Americas happened - violently, and hinging on genocide, but above all, grounded in racism.

No one denies that Native Americans exist and existed. And no one denies that they were a set of tribes. However, no one could call them a nation. While the Incas and the Aztecs had vast empires, Native North Americans never reached that level. So, while the Incas and Aztecs could not answer all of the Dry Bones questions, they could answer enough of them to show that they were nations - they had leaders, borders, their own languages; they had a central government, they controlled territory.

The Palestinian Arabs had none of those things. None of the questions can be answered.

And Elia never tries to say what her concept of a nation is that can be twisted to allow the Palestinians to be called one. She spends her entire essay trying to prove that those who say Palestine was never a nation are wrong or Eurocentric in their logic, but she cannot come up with a single example that would put Palestinians on par with, say, the Abbasids who had a flourishing culture or the Rasulids who controlled Yemen and issued currency in the 13th century. Even in Eurocentric thinking, those Middle Eastern dynasties had the features of nationhood.

There was never a Palestinian nation, a Palestinian people, or a Palestinian political entity. Nada Elia can give her own definition of nationhood if she wants. She doesn't, because she knows that Palestinians aren't and never have fit any definition of nationhood, no matter how expansive.

The truth is, the Palestinian Arabs weren't a nation or even a people by any definition, European or Middle Eastern. And she knows she cannot prove their peoplehood so she obfuscates the truth and fails at answering the main argument - of a cartoonist.

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05/11 Links Pt2: Phillips: Change the narrative, Mr. President; Joanna Lumley condemns ‘appalling’ boycotts of Israel

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: Change the narrative, Mr. President

Trump is the ultimate big picture man.
He thinks with his gut. He doesn’t do detail.
So he should be told this simple fact: that the reason the Arab-Israel impasse continues without end is that America and the West have treated the Palestinian agenda as a reasonable basis for compromise, when in fact it has the unconscionable goal of destroying the homeland of the Jewish people. And negotiating with an unconscionable agenda encourages its proponents to twist the screw still further.
It’s possible that Trump knows all this and, having given Abbas enough rope with which to hang the Palestinian cause, will now pull the noose tight.
It’s also possible, though, that among all the pro-Israel people in his administration there isn’t one who has ever told him the inconvenient truth: that the reason the Arab war against Israel goes on and on without end is that it is the only war of extermination where the so-called civilized world has systematically rewarded and incentivized the aggressor.
Donald Trump wants to go down in history as the president who solved the Arab-Israel impasse. What the author of The Art of the Deal needs to realize, however, is that the solution lies in grasping that a deal here is impossible, and what is needed instead is to defeat the vile aim of destroying Israel.
Change the narrative altogether, Mr.
President, and your place in history will be all but guaranteed as the person who faced down an agenda of falsehood, hatred and extermination to pave the way for a more decent, stable and safer world. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

Caroline Glick's Speech at Jpost NY Conference

Popular Jerusalem Post Columnist Caroline Glick wrapped up an illustrious roster of speakers at the Jerusalem Post Annual Conference in New York City Last Week. Glick delivered her famous no-hold-barred brand of insight and analysis in front of an enthusiastic crowd.
The Conference also featured Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, intelligence Minister Israel Katz and Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon. Also on hand were Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress and Senior Trump Aide Sebastian Gorka. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

Joanna Lumley condemns ‘appalling’ cultural boycotts of Israel

National treasure Joanna Lumley has condemned cultural boycotts of Israel as “appalling”.
The celebrated actress and campaigner spoke to the Jewish News after addressing charity Tikva’s annual dinner in central London.
“I hate barriers, I hate walls, I hate boycotts,” she said when asked about cultural boycotts. “I think it’s appalling. I would never join in such a boycott.” Music stars from around the world are frequently targeted by BDS campaigners, urging them to cancel planned concerts in the country.
Lumley, who will receive the Bafta fellowship this weekend, said one of her “greatest heroes in life” is Daniel Barenboim, the Israeli conductor who established with Edward Said the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra to bring together young Israeli, Palestinian and Arab musicians.
The Absolutely Fabulous actress earlier delighted more than 200 guests at the event, regaling tales of her 40-year career from starting as a model to becoming a Bong Girl and starring in the hit sitcom opposite Jennifer Saunders. She also successfully led a campaign for Gurkha veterans who served in the British Army to have the right to settle in the UK.