Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, October 04, 2013

100 years ago: The Beilis Trial

Menahem Mendel Beilis, 1874 – July 7, 1934, (sometimes spelled Beiliss;[1] Russian: Менахем Мендель Бейлис, Yiddish: מנחם מענדל בייליס) was a Ukrainian Jew accused of ritual murder (see Blood libel) in Kiev in the Russian Empire in a notorious 1913 trial, known as the "Beilis trial" or "Beilis affair". The process sparked international criticism of the antisemitic policies of the Russian Empire.

On March 12, 1911 (under the old Russian calendar), a 13-year-old Ukrainian boy Andrei Yushchinsky disappeared on his way to school. Eight days later his mutilated body was discovered in a cave near the Zaitsev brick factory.

Beilis was arrested on July 21, 1911, after a lamplighter testified that the boy had been kidnapped by a Jew. A report submitted to the Tsar by the judiciary regarded Beilis as the murderer of Yushchinsky.

Beilis spent more than two years in prison awaiting trial. Meanwhile, a vicious antisemitic campaign was launched in the Russian press against the Jewish community, with accusations of the blood libel and ritual murder.

The Beilis trial took place in Kiev from September 25 through October 28, 1913. The prosecution was composed of the government's best lawyers. Professor Sikorsky of Kiev State University (father of Igor Sikorsky, the inventor of the helicopter), a medical psychologist, testified as an expert witness for the prosecution that in his opinion it was a case of ritual murder.

Beilis had a strong alibi that resulted, ironically, from his habit of working on the Jewish Sabbath. Yushchinsky was abducted on a Saturday morning, and Beilis was then at work, as confirmed by his Gentile co-workers in trial testimony. Receipt slips for the shipment of bricks, signed by Beilis that morning, were produced in evidence. The prosecution was forced to argue that Beilis could have ducked out for a few minutes, kidnapped Yushchinsky, and then returned to work.

One prosecution witness, presented as a religious expert in Judaic rituals, was a Catholic priest, Justinas Pranaitis from Tashkent, well known for his antisemitic 1892 work Talmud Unmasked. Pranaitis testified that the murder of Yushchinsky was a religious ritual, associating the murder of Yushchinsky with the blood libel, a hoax believed by many Russians at the time.

Beilis was represented by the most able counsels of the Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Kiev bars: Vasily Maklakov, Oscar Gruzenberg, N. Karabchevsky, A. Zarudny, and D. Grigorovitch-Barsky. Two prominent Russian professors, Troitsky and Kokovtzov, spoke on behalf of the defense in praise of Jewish values and exposed the falsehood of the accusations, while professor of Kiev Theological Seminary Orthodox Christian philosopher Alexander Glagolev affirmed that "the Law of Moses forbids spilling human blood and using any blood in general in food." The well-known and respected Rabbi of Moscow, Rabbi Mazeh, delivered a long, detailed speech quoting passages from the Torah, the Talmud and many other books to conclusively debunk the testimony of the prosecution "experts".

The lamplighter, on whose testimony the indictment of Beilis rested, confessed that he had been confused by the secret police.

Pranaitis' credibility rapidly evaporated when the defense demonstrated his ignorance of some simple Talmudic concepts and definitions, such as hullin, to the point where "many in the audience occasionally laughed out loud when he clearly became confused and couldn't even intelligibly answer some of the questions asked by my lawyer." A Tsarist secret police agent is quoted, reporting on Pranaitis' testimony, as saying:

Cross-examination of Pranaitis has weakened evidentiary value of his expert opinion, exposing lack of knowledge of texts, insufficient knowledge of Jewish literature. Because of amateurish knowledge and lack of resourcefulness, Pranaitis' expert opinion is of very low value. Professors Troitskij and Kokovtsev, who were interrogated today, gave conclusions which are exceptionally positive for the defence, praising doctrines of the Jewish religion, and not accepting even a possibility of a religious murder by Jews ... Vipper thinks that acquittal is possible.

The prosecution's case was further undermined after it had spent a great deal of effort to link the 13 wounds which Professor Sikorsky had discovered on a part of the murdered boy's body with the importance of the number thirteen in "Jewish ritual," only to have it revealed later that there were actually 14 wounds on that part of the body.

The chief prosecutor A.I. Vipper made antisemitic statements in his closing address. There are conflicting accounts of the 12 Christian jurors: seven were members of the notorious Union of the Russian People, also known as the Black Hundreds. There was no single representative of the intelligentsia in the jury. However after deliberating for several hours, the jury acquitted Beilis.

10/04 Links Pt 1: Netanyahu on Charlie Rose, Spike in Terror Attacks, More PA Incitement

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: America and the good psychopaths

Obama wants to negotiate for the sake of negotiating. And he has taken the UN and the EU with him on this course.
It’s possible that Obama believes that these negotiations will transform Iran into a quasi-US ally like the Islamist regime in Turkey. That regime remains a member of NATO despite the fact that it threatens its neighbors with war, it represses its own citizens, and it refuses to support major US initiatives while undermining NATO operations.
Obama will never call Turkey out for its behavior or make Prime Minister Recep Erdogan pay a price for his bad faith. The myth of the US-Turkish alliance is more important to Obama than the substance of Turkey’s relationship with the United States.

Melanie Phillips: Obama is in la-la land over Iran

This was thought to be a warning to the US that Iran speaks with forked tongue. If so, the crudity of such a manoeuvre suggests a measure of desperation in Jerusalem.
Who can be surprised? Responsibility for stopping the Iranian genocide bomb rests with Obama — the man who helped put the Muslim Brotherhood into power in Egypt; the man who draws a moral equivalence between Israel and its Palestinian aggressors; and the man who is manufacturing an utterly spurious linkage between the Iranian nuclear threat and the Palestinian issue, presumably so he can blame Israel when Iran gets the bomb on his watch.

Kerry: Islamic Terrorists Only Want to Kill Us Because They Have No Jobs…

Study after study has shown that jihadis are wealthier and better educated than their peers. But we keep throwing money at the problem. The recipients, however, just think of it as jizya, the money that non-Muslims must pay the Muslims as per Qur’an 9:29, and continue waging jihad.

American Islamic Group Hiding Donations From Foreign Governments, Others

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is using a complex web of non-profit and corporate entities to keep millions of dollars in donations from foreign governments and other international donors from public disclosure, Washington’s Daily Caller reports.
“CAIR’s fundraising practices are constructed in a way that makes it impossible to trace large donations from overseas, including from foreign governments,” the story says.

September: Spike in Terror Attacks

There was a sharp rise in the number of terror attacks in Israel in September, compared to the previous month, according to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).
The Shin Bet summary for September counted 133 attacks, compared to 99 in August. Most of the attacks were in the Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria, where there were 104 attacks, compared to 68 in August.
Two soldiers were killed by Arab terrorists: Sgt. Tomer Hazan Hy”d was abducted and murdered, and First Sgt. Gal Kobi was killed by a sniper in Hevron.

Israel Hopes to Avoid Third Intifada Despite Palestinian Rhetoric, Violence

The IDF believes it can keep a lid on the violence due its strong presence on the ground in the West Bank, and Israel’s tight intelligence grip of the sector.
Israel’s firm control of the Jordan Valley, the security fence, and a level of consistent cooperation with Palestinian Authority security forces have all acted as stabilizing factors that prevent a significant deterioration.
But the risk of violence spiraling out of control remains. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Fatah-affiliated Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, and lone-wolf terrorists all have the potential to set in motion a series of attacks.

PMW: While Abbas talked peace at the UN

During the current peace talks, and on the same day Palestinian Authority Chairman Abbas asserted at the UN the Palestinians' goal of achieving peace, an Abbas representative and other PA and Fatah officials were busy honoring terrorist Abu Sukkar.
The PA and Fatah held a well-attended memorial in Ramallah for Ahmad Jabara Abu Sukkar who planned a bombing attack, using a refrigerator filled with explosives, that killed 15 Israelis and wounded over 60 in Jerusalem in 1975.

PM Netanyahu on Charlie Rose
Netanyahu talks Israeli settlements and peace with Palestinians

Netanyahu on Iran nuke ambitions evidence: "This is not a guesstimate"

The speech I want to hear from Netanyahu

Being intellectually honest means laying out the moral asymmetries between Israel and the Palestinians. The fact is that we recognize them, but they’re not willing yet to recognize our legitimate, historical rights in the Land of Israel. The fact is that Israel protects religious rights and minority rights in Israel for religions and peoples of the world, while the nascent Palestinian state already in place does not, and could very well be on its way to becoming yet another failed Arab state. The fact is that Israel proudly hosts 1.5 million Arab citizens, while the Palestinians demand a Judenrein, ethnically cleansed state in historic Judea and Samaria.

Inaccuracy and distortion in BBC report of Netanyahu’s UN speech

The article opens with a gross inaccuracy:
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned against working with the Iranian government.”
To ‘warn against’ is defined as “to advise someone against someone, something, or doing something”. “Warned against working with the Iranian government” would therefore be understood by any reasonable reader as meaning to advise not to work with the Iranian government.
In fact, a significant proportion of Netanyahu’s speech was devoted to the subject of safeguards which should be employed by the international community whilst negotiating with Iran.

JPost Editorial Party pooper

Not only does Netanyahu have the right to speak the truth in the face of misguided ideas and notions, he has a moral obligation, as leader of the Jewish state, to make this point as clear as possible in every international forum, including the UN General Assembly, even if he ruins the mood of optimism. It is, after all, in large part thanks to Netanyahu’s ceaseless diplomatic work – including threats that Israel will act alone militarily if necessary – that the US has been motivated to assemble a broad coalition of nations to adopt crippling sanctions against Iran.
As the economic situation worsens due to these sanctions, Iran may soon face the gritty question of regime change. Only this combined with a real military threat will ultimately convince Iran to abandon its nuclear program.

Iran's Rouhani Boasts: I Rejected Obama Five Times

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani told reporters on Wednesday that he turned down five requests from U.S. President Barack Obama to meet at the United Nations, according to Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency.

Bibi Speaks Rouhani's Language in BBC Persian Interview

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu mixed in a couple of expressions in Farsi, in an interview on BBC Persian Thursday aimed at the Iranian people.
Speaking with conviction, Netanyahu said: “I would welcome a genuine rapprochement, a genuine effort to stop the nuclear program, not a fake one, not harf-e pootch ['nonsense' in Farsi]. ”We are not sadeh-lowe ['suckers' in Farsi],” said the prime minister.
He said that if Iran develops nuclear weapons, it will not only threaten Israel and the United States, but spell slavery for the Iranian people themselves. The Iranian people “will never get rid of the tyranny” of the regime if it obtains nuclear weapons, he said.

Avigdor Lieberman: NY Times Editorial on Netanyahu as Delusional as 1938 Story on ‘Peace’ With Hitler

“Today, The New York Times attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his speech [Tuesday], saying he was inciting to war and thwarting chances of peace with Iran,” Lieberman wrote on his Facebook page. “In 1938 the very same New York Timesreported with excitement at the peace deal between Britain and Nazi Germany, over how Hitler got less than what he demanded. … How did this ‘peace deal’ sit with the Nazi dictator—we all know. So of course it is preferable to stand up for the State of Israel’s crucial interests, and [it is preferable] for The New York Times to attack you than it is to end up like Czechoslovakia in 1938.” (h/t Yoel)

Poll: Most Israelis Support Iran Strike

A majority of Israelis would support unilateral military action against Iran, according to a poll published Friday, after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said his government was ready to act alone.
Some 65.6 percent of 500 Jewish Israelis surveyed by the Israel Hayom newspaper said they would support military strikes to halt Iran's nuclear program, and 84 percent believed the Islamic republic had no intention of reining in its alleged drive to build a bomb.

Hamas: We're Avoiding Confrontation With Israel, But...

Abu Ubaida, the spokesman for Hamas’s military wing the Al-Qassam Brigades, said on Thursday that the terror organization is trying to avoid going to battle with Israel in order to avoid the consequences for Gaza residents.
At the same time, he said in a recorded message that the 'Hamas resistance' to Israel was in a better condition than ever before in Gaza, and that the group was ready for a confrontation if one is needed.

Elie Wiesel: Jewish Response to Syria Gas Attack Not Powerful Enough, Considering Gas Was Used by Nazis to Kill Jews

“Here I feel very bad about our own leadership,” said Wiesel, responding to a question from the event’s moderator Rabbi Shmuley Boteach who asked, “What do you think about Syria? should we punish Assad for gassing children? And for us Jews of course, gas has the worst possible connotation.”
“Jewish leadership, the moment we knew that they are using gas should have organized a mass demonstration of 500,000 people in the streets.

CIA ramping up covert training program for moderate Syrian rebels

The CIA is expanding a clandestine effort to train opposition fighters in Syria amid concern that moderate, U.S.-backed militias are rapidly losing ground in the country’s civil war, U.S. officials said.
But the CIA program is so minuscule that it is expected to produce only a few hundred trained fighters each month even after it is enlarged, a level that officials said will do little to bolster rebel forces that are being eclipsed by radical Islamists in the fight against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Assad warns Turkey of 'heavy price' for backing Syrian rebels

In an interview with Turkey's Halk TV due to be broadcast later on Friday, Assad called Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan "bigoted" and said Turkey was allowing terrorists to cross into Syria to attack the army and Syrian civilians.
"It is not possible to put terrorism in your pocket and use it as a card because it is like a scorpion which won't hesitate to sting you at the first opportunity," Assad said, according to a transcript published on Halk TV's website.

Assad: If People Object, I Won't Run for Re-election

Interviewed by Turkey's Halk TV, Assad stressed that if the Syrian people are not interested in his serving another term, he won't run.
Assad says “the picture will be clearer” in the next four to five months since Syria is going though “rapid” changes on the ground.

Syria: Rebels Seize Hundreds of Tanks

Eye witness testimonies and video footage point to a devastating blow for the Syrian army, as rebel forces claim to have captured 300 Syrian army tanks along with huge stores of ammunition.
Rebel forces have uploaded a clip to the YouTube channel presenting their control of an army base in the Rahm el Kalmon area, West of the capital Damascus.

Saudi jails, lashes “naked” dancers, reports say

A Saudi court has sentenced four men to up to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes for dancing "naked" in public, media reported on Thursday.
In a video posted on YouTube, several men appear dancing atop a vehicle in the ultra-conservative province of Qassim. None seemed naked.

Leftist professor subverts Wikipedia to attack his enemies - and promote himself

An Israeli student sent this to me. Some of the information is a little dated and Wikipedia's internal attempts to stop abuse seem to have softened some of the specifics noted here over time, but it shows in great detail how people try to use Wikipedia not only as a weapon against those they disagree with, but as an advertising medium for themselves!

The Wikipedia editor “Newmanthfc” has made approximately 80 edits to a number of Wikipedia articles since April 2008. As acknowledged by “Newmanthfc,” he is David Newman, originally from the UK and today a professor of political geography at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba, Israel.

The vast majority of Newman’s edits involve self-promotion, particularly regarding his academic career and ideological causes. Despite a warning from an administrator that “You have an obvious conflict of interest with this, suggesting that you are not the best person to write the article,” he created his own Wikipedia article. Unsurprisingly, initially it read like a “self-written bio, no sources, in style of a resume.” He presented himself as “A noted peace activist in Israel and international expert on borders”, and lavished praise on his own work (“The most comprehensive analyses of Gush Emunim have been carried out by David Newman”), celebrating what he claims is activity to counter UK academic boycotts of Israel, and referencing his own academic writings in a number of Wikipedia articles.

He even listed himself as amongst the notable alumni of two British schools.

He has also vandalized the articles of ideological opponents and academic rivals, copying content that appears repeatedly in his Jerusalem Post column. Newman has focused this activity on the Israeli political advocacy organization Im Tirzu, as well as Gerald Steinberg, a political science professor at Bar Ilan University and head of NGO Monitor.

Newman’s editing of his personal Wikipedia entry, as well as NGO Monitor’s, resulted in an edit war, in which Newman blatantly violated Wikipedia rules, and he was sanctioned with a 48-hour ban. However, he continues to refer to himself in the third-person in his edit summaries (short descriptions of edits that appear in the history pages of articles), suggesting that he is seeking to obscure the clear conflict of interest.This is reminiscent, albeit on a smaller scale, of the Wikipedia behavior of another Israeli professor, Amiram Goldblum.

A repeat offender: Edit wars and other Wikipedia troubles

Newman was called out for an “obvious conflict of interest” already in September 2008, although no sanctions were administered at that time.

In November 2008, it was recommended that the David Newman article be deleted from Wikipedia because, as written by Newman, it read like a “self-written bio, no sources, in style of a resume.” During the deletion discussion, the article was changed, and remained on Wikipedia.

More egregiously, Newman also engaged in “edit warring” - a serious violation of basic Wikipedia rules and norm of etiquette. The edit war took place on both the David Newman and the NGO Monitor articles on January 8, 2011.

The edits included Newman’s removal of any factual material that criticized Newman, even though it was sourced to reliable online publications, as per Wikipedia standards and rules. He also added unreferenced editorial comments in order to support his cause.

Newman, using the Newmanthfc username, was joined in by an anonymous internet user (194.90.167.222), whose internet address is assigned to Ben-Gurion University, where Newman works.

Both Newmanthfc and the anonymous user were warned about their abusive and unproductive edits and were reported to the Wikipedia Administrater’s noticeboard on January 10. Administrators decided on a 48-hour ban (though most first time violators receive a 24-hour ban).

Edits promoting Newman’s academic work

The very first edits made by Newmanthfc (April 19, 2008) were to Wikipedia’s Gush Emunim article, engaging in self-promotion (“The most comprehensive analyses of Gush Emunim have been carried out by David Newman”) and adding references to four of his own publications on the subject.

In September 2008, Newman listed himself in the Border article as a “leading scholar in the contemporary study of borders,” as part of “a renaissance in the study of borders in the past two decades.”

In April and June 2009, and then again in February 2011, Newman made edits to the Academic boycotts of Israel article. In April 2009, he first added a reference to an article he wrote in the Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs; seven minutes later, he included a paragraph (with a typo) on the substance on attempts to boycott Israel. On June 20, 2009, Newman added a number of sentences, basically repeating the argument of his Jerusalem Post column of June 6.

His February 2011 edits to that page consisted of more self-promoting, adding

This was particularly the position taken by the representtaives (sic) of Israel's universities in the UK, Professor David Newman who, while countering the attempts at academic boycott, did not see all such activity as being inherently anti-semitic. Newman, the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Ben-Gurion University in Israel, focused his activities on strengthening scientific and academic links between Israel and the UK, and was influential in creating the BIRAX research and scientiric (sic) cooperation agreement between the two countries - an agreement which was promoted by successive British Ambassadors to Israel, Tom Philips and Matthew Gould, and which has been funded, amongst othersm (sic) by the Pears Foundation in London.

Creation of and edits on the “David Newman” article

In October 2008, Newman created the article “David Newman (geographer),” subsequently moving it to “David Newman (Professor of Geopolitics)” because it is a “more accurate description of a person who was a geographer but has moved into the field of political science.” (Newman’s claims of expertise in this field are not supported by any evidence, such as a degree in political science.) It appears that he had tried to create a page about himself in September 2008, but was rebuffed by an administrator because “You have an obvious conflict of interest with this, suggesting that you are not the best person to write the article. This shows in unsourced claims... and non-encyclopaedic non-neutral phrases...”

Newman tried again, producing, as noted above, an article that read like a “self-written bio, no sources, in style of a resume.”

After the deletion controversy, Newman did not edit his article again until July 2009, when he made an insignificant edit related to an academic journal he edits. But, in May 2010, Newman added the following, without providing a reference, “In March 2010, Newman was elected Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences for the period 2010-2013.”

Newman’s next edits involved the abovementioned edit war, when he removed a criticism section from his own article.

His latest edits were on July 7, 2013, when he added two paragraphs, again without any citations, on “information about david Newman relating to the past 4-5 years.” As with his other Wikipedia editing, his addition included self-promotion and ideological attacks.

He writes a weekly oped column in the Jerusalem Post. Many of these articles touch on issues relating to Israeli politics, the Israel-Palestine conflict and the interface of politics and academia. During 2012-2013, Newman was active in defending his University and Department against attempts at right wing political intervention on the part of Israel's Council of Higher Education (the CHE).

He represented Israel's universities in the UK. Despite this, he has been subject to attacks by extremist right wing organizations in Israel, such as Isracampus, Academic Monitor, Im Tirzu, and the NGO Monitor, for his founding and leadership of the Department of Politics and Government at the University and for his left of center political positions on the Arab-Israel conflict. This has not prevented him from being elected, almost unanimously, for a second term of Faculty Dean for the period 2013-2016.

At the time of his edit, he promised, “references will follow in due course.” To date, references have not been added.

Attacks against ideological opponents and academic rivals

Newman’s edits have targeted Im Tirzu repeatedly, and these appear in his Jerusalem Post column as well. For instance, on January 8, 2011, Newman vandalized the Im Tirzu entry, labeling the organization as “ultra right wing anti-Zionist” and claiming that “Its objectives are to impose constraints on the freedom of speech and opinion within the Israeli academic community, through the use of threats against the faculty which do not share their extremist views.”

He has also attacked NGO Monitor, an organization headed by academic rival Gerald Steinberg, from Bar Ilan University. Newman’s violations in these edits resulted in a 48 hour ban (see below). Also on January 8, Newman sought to delegitimize NGO Monitor by labeling the think tank as “an extreme right wing NGO”, adding (with no specifics):

NGO Monitor has been responsible for indiscriminate attacks on all left wing pro-peace NGO's which support human rights and Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation. They have focused their attacks on NGO's funded by the European Union, but have refused to display a balance by investigating right wing NGO's or organizations funded by American donations, for fear of annoying their own North American right wing supporters. NGO Monitor has been responsible for damaging the image of Israel internationally and raising serious questions concerning Israel's continued comitment (sic) to values of democracy and free speech.

Similar statements were made in Newman’s January 10, 2011 column in the Jerusalem Post.

On January 8, 2011, Newman made a petty edit to the NGO Monitor page, changing the description of Steinberg, NGO Monitor’s president.

Edits on Newman’s personal life

Newman’s self-promotion extended to articles related to his personal life. He added himself to the list of notable alumni of Dame Alice Owen’s school (“Prof [[David Newman]], Professor of Political Geography and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at [[Ben-Gurion University in Israel]], and editor of the International Journal of [[Geopolitics]]. A noted peace activist in Israel and international expert on borders.”), as well as the Hasmonean High School.

Newman also added a reference in a Wikipedia article to one of his columns on his fandom of Tottenham Hotspurs Football Club (which explains his Wikipedia username).

Hamas terrorists to begin "new media" push

Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades, yesterday met with new media activists to explain how important electronic media is to the terror group's strategy.

The conference on new media was organized by Hamas' interior ministry and its national security ministry; the terror arm of Hamas seems to have been invited to speak.

Abu Obeida also said that the Brigades is ready to counter any aggression on Gaza. It is interesting to note that Arab media for the previous day talked about rumors that Egypt was prepared to attack Gaza if need be, so it is possible that this was not just one of Hamas' usual blustery warnings to Israel.

The conference was held at the five star Commodore beachfront hotel in Gaza City.

Sometimes you just have to go it alone (Tower)

A long but excellent essay by Benjamin Kerstein:

On October 1, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the UN General Assembly. His topic was, unsurprisingly, the Iranian nuclear program and the need for the world to act in order to stop it. “I want there to be no confusion on this point,” he told the assembled delegates. “Israel will not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.”

Immediately, and again unsurprisingly, he was dismissed as a global spoiler...

In 2002, with Israel deep in the horrors of the second intifada and Ariel Sharon’s Operation Defensive Shield at last fighting back against Palestinian terrorism, international condemnation of the Jewish state reached a fever pitch. Then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan summed up the general attitude by asking, “Can Israel be right and the whole world wrong?”

This was a fairly ugly question in and of itself, given that there is something unseemly about the leader of an international organization pitting the entire world against a single nation. It is also worth pointing out that even a first-year philosophy student knows that truth is not determined by crowd size.

Yet few can deny that there was something in what Annan said. Israelis, Diaspora Jews, and people from all communities who harbor pro-Israel sentiments are constantly challenged by the fact that, quite often, it seems that practically everyone in the world believes Israel is wrong. One often has the sense that politicians, NGOs, intellectuals, artists, professors, students, activists, diplomats, and experts of all political stripes agree on only one thing: Israel’s policies, society, culture, politics, and even very existence are deplorable, offensive, or evil.

As an Israeli, and thus something of an object—albeit a decidedly minor one—of all this opprobrium, I can testify to the fact that it is not an easy thing to deal with. After all, if everyone in the world tells you that you are a horrible person, sooner or later you will probably start to believe it. However strong our convictions may be, we have all, at one time or another, found ourselves asking Annan’s question: Is it really possible, we wonder, for us to be right when everyone is telling us we are wrong or worse?

For myself, I was gratified to discover that this question had already been asked and answered over a century ago, when the State of Israel was still a dream in the minds of a small group of activists and thinkers. And in one of the acerbic little ironies history periodically throws our way, it had been asked and answered in Mr. Annan’s own words.

...In the 1892 essay entitled “Some Consolation,” Ahad Ha’am asked Annan’s question in practically identical terms. “Since everybody hates the Jews,” he wrote, “can we think that everybody is wrong and Jews are right?” And like today, Ahad Ha’am noted that the question could not be easily dismissed. “There are many among us Jews,” he wrote, “on whom a similar question half-unconsciously forces itself.”

Ahad Ha’am’s answer was a simple one, but he used a very singular proof to make his case—the blood libel. It was indisputable fact, he noted, that for centuries, the overwhelming majority of the non-Jewish world believed that the Jews held hideous ceremonies in which non-Jewish children were murdered and their blood used in unspeakable demonic rites. And it was equally indisputable that, throughout all those many centuries, every Jew in the world knew this was a deranged fantasy.

“Yes,” Ahad Ha’am concluded, “it is possible” for the Jews to be right and the entire world wrong. “The blood accusation proves it possible. Here, you see, the Jews are right and perfectly innocent.”

As the title of his essay suggests, Ahad Ha’am took “some consolation” from this fact, and with good reason. But there is a darker side to this consolation, because it also reminds us that, although we may know that we can be right while the world is wrong, it does nothing to prevent the world from continuing to believe otherwise.

Everyone reacts to this in different ways. In the Diaspora, it often means a perpetual struggle against those who believe that because “the whole world” believes the worst of Israel, it must be true. A small minority simply gives in and, effectively, joins the other side, concluding that “the world,” if only by virtue of superior numbers, must be correct. Others defy it outright, insisting instead that Israel is always right while the world is always wrong. Still others simply trudge quietly on, keeping their heads down and hoping for the best, occasionally making small and private expressions of their Zionism.

For those who support Israel publicly, it is rarely much easier. Activists and members of pro-Israel groups do their best to use reason, logic, and public relations to change people’s minds, often thanklessly. ...

But perhaps the harshest effect is on Israel itself. From the average man in the street to the prime minister’s office, Israelis are, for the most part, convinced that the world has never and will never accept Ahad Ha’am’s argument. This has resulted in one of modern Hebrew’s most popular but depressing expressions: kol ha’olam negdeinu. “The whole world is against us.”

...The role of the prophet is one of the most revered in traditional Judaism, and it is, of course, the role of the prophet to stand against social consensus, denouncing injustice, idolatry, and evil however powerful its practitioners may be. Many cultures have similar archetypes, but in Judaism it is notably, perhaps uniquely emphasized. Indeed, without becoming unduly mystical, it is difficult to ignore the fact that, for the entirety of its history, the Jewish people have tended to keep their own counsel, to be a people apart, to not apologize for being different, and to “go it alone” despite the opposition and even hatred of the rest of the world. Perhaps the hope that a modern Jewish state would not have to do the same is asking too much.

But it must be admitted that there is a heavy psychological cost to never being able to fully trust other people. And having to go it alone, however necessary, is a lonely fate.

Read the whole thing. I edited out some caveats and counterexamples to keep this as brief as I could but it is really good.

I think that this dovetails with the previous link, about how Israel naturally has better intelligence on Arab matters than the US intel agencies due partially to the ability to have analysts who truly understand Arab language and, by extension, culture.

Now, Israel's critics could argue that paranoia can skew one's perspective as well. It can and does. However, as the joke goes, it is not paranoia if the world really is out to get you.

Obviously some in the international community are more sympathetic (and, more rarely, empathetic) to Israel's plight than others. The major point that Israel's well-meaning critics need to understand is that for them, being wrong is not an existential issue. For Israelis, it often is.

And that is true both when the decision is to act or not to act, whether to react or not, to decide whether a verbal threat is real or rhetoric. Israelis are keenly aware of the downside of going it alone; they have felt the consequences of their unilateral decisions for over six decades.

Critics consider Israel a cowboy, itching to pull the trigger, but they choose to forget that the calculus against action - and the international isolation that results - is factored in as part of the decision as well. Israel sometimes has to go it alone because only Israel has to suffer the consequences of choosing not to.

Conversely, critics conveniently forget that Israel sometimes chooses not to act, and it has paid the price for inaction as well. That is in Israel's DNA, but it doesn't make it into Western history books.

The antisemitic critics of Israel will never be mollified by whatever Israel does. The more friendly nations, along with organizations like J-Street, prefer to infantilize Israel as if Israelis aren't mature enough to understand the consequences of their actions, and therefore need to be pressured to do the right thing. These "friendly" critics choose not to realize that Israelis have thoroughly considered the next twelve chess moves while they are struggling to look past only one.

Israel has to think that far ahead in order to survive to the next match. And she can't choose not to play.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

The USA-Israel intelligence gap on Arabs

A short but must-read piece from Spengler:

One in five applicants for jobs at the Central Intelligence Agency have ties to Muslim terrorist organizations, according to the latest round of Snowden leaks. And Israel is a major target of American counterintelligence. Washington is insane.

Three years ago, the Washington Post sketched the elephantiasis in the U.S. intelligence establishment without, of course, access to the detailed numbers leaked by Edward Snowden last week. It doesn’t matter how much money you spend if you can’t hire people you can trust. If you spend $52 billion in the “black budget,” you create so many conflicting bureaucratic interest groups as to cancel out any possible signal with a wave of noise.

As I pointed out in a 2010 post at First Things, at last count there were fewer than 2,500 Americans studying Arabic at advanced university courses (not counting, of course, the internal training of the U.S. military). Fewer than 250 were studying Farsi. The total pool of truly competent Arab speakers coming out of American universities per year probably is in the low hundreds. How many of these can U.S. intelligence agencies recruit? If we can’t recruit translators among Americans whose background is verifiable, we rely on first- and second-generation immigrants from Arab countries whose background is not verifiable. We should assume that our intelligence services are riddled with hostiles. We are Gulliver tied down by Lilliputians.

Israel, by contrast, has a surfeit of Arabic translators — the language is taught in every Israeli high school, and is easy for Hebrew-speakers to master. Israeli friends of mine who were trained as Arabic translators for intelligence work were sent to guard duty in the Negev because the military had too many skilled linguists.

The U.S. has relied extensively on friendly Arab intelligence services, above all the Egyptians, to fill the gap — except that the Obama administration did its best to bring down the Egyptian military in 2011 and install the Muslim Brotherhood. The Israelis have plenty to tell, but little that Washington wants to hear: Israel never fell victim to the mass delusion about the so-called Arab Spring, and has warned throughout (along with Saudi Arabia) that Iran’s nuclear ambitions must be crushed. Israel therefore is treated as an intelligence target rather than as a collaborator, while the Arab intelligence services who most might help us — Egyptian and Saudi — must regard us with skepticism in the best of cases and hostility in the worst.

America is flying blind into a hurricane. Americans who write about the Middle East now depend on what other countries choose to leak to us. Washington isn’t in the loop any longer.

(h/t Herb)

Egypt sends back 100 Gaza Hajj pilgrims

Ma'an reports:

Egyptian authorities on Wednesday forced over 100 Palestinian pilgrims to return to Gaza after having entered the country to travel to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj pilgrimage.

Egyptian security officials said that the 100 or so pilgrims had entered Egypt via the Rafah land crossing and were forced to return to the Gaza Strip for security reasons, without providing further details.

Egyptian director of the Rafah terminal, Sami Mitwali, told Ma'an that around 680 Palestinian Hajj pilgrims have entered Egypt via Rafah.

In 2007, under Mubarak, Egypt allowed terrorists to go on Hajj, over Israeli protests - but gave them a hard time before allowing them back into Gaza. There were reports that Hamas members went to Iran for terrorist training and cash after the pilgrimage.

In 2008, Hamas itself banned Fatah members from going.

In 2010, Egypt banned Hamas leaders from going on Hajj.

There is a lot of history there about how Egypt and Hamas have used Hajj for political purposes, rather than it just being the purely religious experience they pretend it is.

10/03 Links Pt2: The Big Hamas Elephant, EU Funds Right of Return NGO's, BDS Fails in the UK

From Ian:

Danny Danon: Israel must be wary of those lining up to give advice

So many today treat “two states for two people,” Israel and Palestine, as a sacrosanct mission carved in stone, its outcome inevitable. I challenge these counselors to look around at how much our region has changed and ask themselves, might not fresh approaches be wiser than ritualistically repeating old slogans?
The path of least resistance always beckons Israel to take the first step, to hope that surrendering territory might result in actual peace. Yet our experience in withdrawing from Gaza has resulted only in continuous rocket attacks on innocent civilians, and our presumed negotiating partners are divided into the rejectionists of Hamas in Gaza and the feckless chiefs of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, neither group even agreeing on how or when to speak to each other.
At the end of the day, Israel has but one course – to shun the current conventional wisdom and the echo chamber of pundits and instead search for pragmatic, workable solutions to our challenges. It is the only way to ensure both the security of our people and the vibrant democracy of our society.

‘Our margin for error is so small’: An exit interview with Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren

On Tuesday, Israel’s long-serving ambassador to Washington officially stepped down after a term that witnessed the Arab Spring uprisings and most of President Obama’s first five years in office. During his tenure, Michael Oren presided over periods of unusual strain between top U.S. and Israeli officials, as well as moments of close cooperation in defense and counterterrorism. In between, the telegenic, U.S.-born historian and author was a faithful spokesman for Israeli interests on op-ed pages, Sunday talk shows and even Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.”
I sat down with Oren during his final week on the job to talk about the Middle East and U.S.-Israel relations. At one point, he pulled out a copy of his 2007 best-selling history of U.S. adventures in the Middle East, provocatively titled, “Power, Faith and Fantasy.” Here are some excerpts from the interview.

The Big Hamas Elephant

Should it do so, it will be forced to make some bold and difficult decisions. But these decisions are absolutely necessary for the West to accomplish its professed goals. If the Obama administration and other Western leaders do indeed believe that a final status agreement ending all mutual claims is the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, then they have only two policies to choose from: Pressure Hamas to recognize Israel, or remove it from power. Whichever path they choose, clarity and honesty about the realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be infinitely preferable to the West’s current policy of self-deception.

Alan Dershowitz: Netanyahu’s Powerful UN Speech is Being Distorted by the Media

I was in the General Assembly when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered his speech about Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Iran’s nuclear program. I heard a very different speech from the one described by The New York Times and other media outlets. Not surprisingly, the Iranians described it as “inflammatory.” More surprisingly, the Times described Netanyahu’s speech as aggressive, combative, sarcastic, and sabotaging diplomacy, while the only expert it quoted called the speech ineffective and pushing the limits of credibility.
What I heard in that chamber bore little relationship either to the Iranian or the Times characterizations. What the people listening to Netanyahu heard was a compellingly persuasive speech using Rouhani’s own words to prove convincingly that his friendly smile is a cover for far more malignant intentions. Herein are a few excerpts not quoted in the Times report.

Bolton: Rouhani is Playing Obama

Monday ends the worst month of the Obama presidency. The Syrian diplomatic and political debacle was bad enough, but last week at the United Nations President Obama embarked on a campaign for “progress” with Iran that will prove much more dangerous for American interests. Just as Vladimir Putin had played him for a fool over Syria, Mr. Obama was initially snubbed by Iranian President Hasan Rouhani despite frantic White House efforts to produce a handshake.

Israeli Group Supporting Palestinian ‘Right of Return’ is Funded Primarily by Europe

Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor revealed that a Tel Aviv conference held Sept. 29-30 by Zochrot, an Israeli NGO promoting Palestinian narratives including the “Nakba” (“catastrophe,” referring to Israel’s victory in the 1948 war) and the “right of return,” was funded primarily by European organizations.
On its website, Zochrot states its belief that peace will come only after Israel is “decolonized.” Conference funders from Europe included Christian Aid, CCFD, Broederlijk Delen, Oxfam GB, and others. “As an organization engaging in development and peace-building… refugee rights… are of utmost importance to us,” CCFD said in a statement.
According to Chief Programs Officer for NGO Monitor Yitzhak Santis, Zochrot’s one-state vision amounts to “a call for the elimination of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people,” the Jerusalem Post reported.

Britain's failing Israel boycott campaign

Ever keen to boycott Israeli goods, even at the expense of the Palestinians they claim to support, Britain’s anti-Israel BDS groups planned a nationwide “day of action” against the popular Sodastream last Saturday (28 September), to mark a year since the flagship “Ecostream” store opened in Brighton stocking the full range of Sodatream products.
Demonstrations were scheduled at John Lewis in London’s Oxford Street and stores in Sheffield and elsewhere, besides a march and some speeches at the Brighton store.
Maybe the supporters of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and their companions in boycott were all busy that day, or maybe the steam is running out of any enthusiasm for boycott campaigns that have zero effect on Israel’s economy! Whatever the reason, Saturday turned out to be a day of supreme inaction everywhere.

Washington Post: Forget Iran, Israeli Nukes are the Issue

Having made a false moral equivalence between Iranian and Israeli nuclear weapons, Pincus then goes on to do the same between Syrian chemical weapons and alleged Israeli chemical capabilities.
To back up his arguments, Pincus relies on quotes from Russian President Putin and Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif. Since when are these two international actors such paragons of virtue?
Referring to disarmament, Pincus asks: “Will Israel take that first diplomatic step?” Is he really so naive as to serious think that Israel proposing its own disarmament will do anything other than encourage radical forces in the Middle East to revisit their dreams of the destruction of Israel?

The LA Times' Ongoing Assault on Israel

The editorial pages of the Los Angeles Times continues its ongoing assault on the legitimacy of the state of Israel with an Op-Ed yesterday by radical academic Neve Gordon arguing for the replacement of the Jewish state of Israel with a bi-national state ("Rethinking the two-state solution"). The Times has long held that Israel's right to exist is a topic for debate. Earlier pieces arguing for the one-state solution and the dismantlement of the Jewish state include those by Jonathan Kuttab, Saree Makdisi (here and here), Tony Judt, and Ben Ehrenreich.

Thousands Gather in Jerusalem, Tell Government to Build

Thousands of people gathered on Wednesday evening at the Binyanei HaUma in Jerusalem for the “One State for One Nation” convention. Arutz Sheva was there.
The participants, which included the heads of the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria as well as prominent MKs, called on the Israeli government to ignore the pressure and threats from the world and to continue to build new communities in Judea and Samaria.

Jews Down Under: Knocking out antisemitism on Facebook

Elimihate is not your average grassroots movement.
In addition to reporting online antisemitic hate speech, we seek to question who should be held accountable for the vilifying content in an era of digital convergence.
Elimihate started as a university assignment for Sydney University but the cause swiftly turned into something much larger than we had previously anticipated.
Established in 2013, Elimihate’s key focus lies in exploring the difficulties of holding social media platforms responsible for hate speech.

Tunisian Activists Blast Government 'Harassment' of Jews

A Tunisian rights group on Wednesday accused the police of harassing the tiny Jewish community on the southern island of Djerba, whilst turning a blind eye to anti-Semitism, saying Jews there had come under a string of attacks.
"Tunisian Jews feel in danger, they are really afraid," Yamina Thabet, the president of the Tunisian Association Supporting Minorities, told a news conference after visiting Djerba.

Why is the World Silent as Christians Are Persecuted?

Yes, it is to the credit of democratic nations that they judge themselves by how they respect minorities. When we fall short, we know we must improve.
But, as former French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after meeting a delegation of Arab ambassadors who complained about the treatment of Muslims in France, France must do better, but France also expects “reciprocity.”
In other words, it is the height of hypocrisy for Arab leaders to criticize Western countries for perceived injustices, while perpetrating those very injustices – and more – in their own lands. If a mosque can be built in Paris, surely a church should not be banned in Riyadh.

'Innocence of Muslims' Filmmaker Planning New Film About Islamic Terrorism

Mark Basseley Youssef, whose Innocence of Muslims video initially was blamed for riots and the death of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, is searching for partners to make a new movie and a TV show about the roots of Islamic terrorism. In a wide-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Yousseff says that the entertainment industry is too timid to honestly explore the issue.

Israeli start-up presents an online ulpan

One method of learning Hebrew that has had some limited success has been the ulpan, the total immersion language-learning system popular in Israel. But the technique is far from ideal; a recent government study showed that as many as 60 percent of immigrants who go through the system can’t read, write, or speak Hebrew very well when they finish.
Perhaps what’s needed is something even more engrossing — like the online immersion users of Lingua.ly get when they surf the web. Using quizzes, voice-overs, practice exercises, games, and constant reinforcement, Lingua.ly — according to its developers — is a better and more effective way to learn languages.

Israel's PointGrab wins innovation prize

Israeli company PointGrab has won the 2013 European Technology Innovation Award handed out by the by Frost & Sullivan business consulting firm for its achievements in "gesture recognition for consumer electronics."
The startup develops gesture control solutions which enhance the functional capability of consumer electronic devices such as laptops, tablets, smartphones and televisions, including Samsung’s Smart TVs, Acer and Fujitsu PCs.