Even dressing up is considered "resistance"

Ma'an reports:

Hundreds of Palestinians wearing traditional Palestinian dress attended marches across the West Bank and Gaza on Saturday to celebrate Traditional Palestinian Dress and Heritage Day.

In Ramallah, men, women and children marched from the municipality building in the northern town of al-Bireh to the al-Bireh cultural center, waving Palestinian flags and signs while calling for the protection of the Palestinian cultural heritage.

Lana Hijazi, who coordinated the celebrations, said that the idea of a day celebrating Palestinian traditional dress came following a discussion she had with a friend from Gaza, Mai al-Li, on the importance of the Palestinian traditional dress, heritage and civilization.

"The goal of the initiative is to remind Palestinians around the world of our heritage to maintain."

Nothing wrong with this. While I have looked hard for specific examples of "Palestinian" culture and mostly came up short, Some towns had their own unique crafts (soap in Nablus, glass in Hebron, olive wood carving in Bethlehem) but these were local, not national. But if Arabs in Judea and Samaria want to dress up in costumes and claim that they are celebrating "Palestinian culture," then it doesn't bother me.

But their justification for doing it shows that this isn't cultural, but political:

Palestinians have in the past spoken out against "cultural appropriation" by the Jewish Israeli population, citing in particular the Israeli claim to traditional Palestinian foods such as humus and falafel, as well as traditional clothing, including an Israeli redesign of the Palestinian Kuffeyeh that incorporated a light blue Star of David.

"Jews are referring our civilization and heritage to them, and we have to maintain and keep our identity,"Hijazi said.

She said that the initiative was in response to fears that the Palestinian heritage is under "attack" from Israel, that is is being stolen and falsified.

"Wearing the Palestinian traditional dress is resisting the occupation," Hijaz said. "We resist and keep our cultural heritage as part of the beauty of our Palestine."

Celebrations also took place in Gaza, where people marched to the UNESCO headquarters there, demanding UNESCO and the Palestinian Authority officially recognize July 25 as Palestinian Traditional Dress and Heritage Day.

Omar Abu Shawish, from the Gaza campaign, called on the PA to support the Palestinian heritage and urged UNESCO to respond to Israeli action against it.

There is no small bit of irony in this article. The people behind this are saying explicitly that the major reason they want a "Palestinian Traditional Dress and Heritage Day" to be recognized by UNESCO is as an act of "resistance" against Israel, not as a positive step towards strengthening their own supposed heritage.

I've mentioned before that Jews, secure in our own cultural history, are not offended that Arabs love to eat matzoh and no one would mind if they started eating Bamba or gefilte fish or dancing horas. Arabs, on the other hand, freak out when Israelis - about half of whose ancestors lived in Arab lands - embrace and often enhance Middle Eastern foods or dress.

The entire reason for "Palestinian Traditional Dress and Heritage Day" is because, deep down, Palestinian Arabs know that they have little culture to call their own that is unique from surrounding areas. The entire reason they want UNESCO to recognize a fake culture is to claim that Jews have stolen it from them.

People secure in their culture have no reason to fear others.  I see no "Levant Heritage Day" or "North African Heritage Day" even though both those areas have far richer cultural influence than "Palestine" ever had.

Their framing this as "resistance" proves the exact opposite of the purported point of "Palestinian Traditional Dress and Heritage Day" - it proves that their claim to have a vibrant historic culture is bogus and nearly the entire Palestinian Arab cultural heritage is dedicated not to further one culture but to try to eliminate another.
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Fatah antisemitic cartoon, video of Jew hit in head with bottle outside Temple Mount, and more

Some random things from around the web that seem to have an underlying theme.


Here is a video showing a Jew who was walking in Jerusalem being hit in the head with a plastic bottle. He wants to go after his attackers but the police stop him.



This video shows what happened this morning before the police approached Al Aqsa Mosque - Muslims were throwing stones and possibly other things beforehand:



Other angles:






From the FatahMedia website, under the title "Judaization of Jerusalem:"

(h/t Palestinian Media Watch, whose entire article is worth reading)

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07/26 Links: Thomas Sowell: Is the Iran Deal the Worst Political Blunder of All Time?

From Ian:

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Thomas Sowell: Is the Iran Deal the Worst Political Blunder of All Time?

Distinguished scientist Freeman Dyson has called the 1433 decision of the emperor of China to discontinue his country’s exploration of the outside world the “worst political blunder in the history of civilization.”
The United States seems at this moment about to break the record for the worst political blunder of all time, with its Obama-administration deal that will make a nuclear Iran virtually inevitable.
Already the years-long negotiations, with their numerous “deadlines” that have been extended again and again, have reduced the chances that Israel can destroy the Iranian nuclear facilities, which have been multiplied and placed in scattered underground sites during the years when all this was going on.
Israel is the only country even likely to try to destroy those facilities, since Iran has explicitly and repeatedly declared its intention to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.
How did we get to this point — and what, if anything, can we do now? Tragically, these are questions that few Americans seem to be asking. We are too preoccupied with our electronic devices, the antics of celebrities, and politics as usual.
During the years when we confronted a nuclear-armed Soviet Union, we at least realized that we had to “think the unthinkable,” as intellectual giant Herman Kahn put it. Today it seems almost as if we don’t want to think about it at all.

Iranian Nuclear Deal Is a Win for Anti-Semitism

It would be a better world if anti-Semitic regimes put aside their hatreds to pursue their vital interests, but history militates against that illusion. You don’t need to invoke the famous and egregious example of Nazis diverting precious resources, trucks, and other war materials, in order to keep transporting Jews to the concentration camps. You don’t have to recall how some Nazis busily executed Jews even as they ran from the conquering allied troops. You can invoke Vichy, France, turning over the Jews who were its best and brightest, or the Soviet Union, which lost so much cultural and business acumen and capital through years of suppression. Anti-Semites cannot help themselves. To them, the injury is worthwhile if they can savage the Jews.
So without exploring the specifics of the deal, which are troubling, there is a ground-level assumption that Iran’s leaders share our fundamental interests in “having some semblance of legitimacy.” Granting that Iran is a sophisticated country, it’s also true that hatred of Israel and particularly, hatred of Jews, has proved a remarkably durable governing strategy in the modern world. How far will Iranians go, once some money is in hand, to pursue their destructive agenda? The belief that rational self-interest is a governing principle is a belief common to rational people.
In a world where countries are run by anti-Semites, being anti-Semitic is not necessarily more dangerous than misunderstanding anti-Semitism. We have just concluded a deal with people infected with the oldest and most virulent pathology of hatred the world has known. This is no time for celebration.

Jackie Mason: NYC restaurants subject to tougher inspections than Iran under nuclear deal

Legendary Jewish comic Jackie Mason joined the list of critics of the nuclear deal signed between world powers and Iran Sunday, jesting that New York restaurants face a harsher inspections regime than Iran's nuclear facilities will under the terms of the agreement.
Speaking during an interview to air Sunday night on "Aaron Klein Investigative Radio" on New York's AM 970 The Answer and Philadelphia's NewsTalk 990 AM, Mason, an outspoken advocate of Israel, quipped that US Secretary of State John Kerry should pay the American people back for the cost of his airfare to and from the Iran talks.
"This secretary of state, Kerry, negotiated with them for a year-and-a-half and accomplished nothing. He ought to give us back for all the trips he made. He cost us millions of dollars in airplane fares and he came back with nothing except a bad foot."
Mason's comments did not mark the first time he has spoken out on an issue that touched on Israel's security. He emerged during last summer’s Operation Protective Edge as one of Israel’s most outspoken defenders. The long-time Republican has also been highly critical of US President Barack Obama, whom he assailed Sunday for his handling of the Iranian nuclear threat.
"The real agreement he made, I’m sure he (Obama) said to them, 'Listen, could you keep the bomb quiet for a year and a half. Because if you don’t bomb us for a year and a half, I’ll be the big winner. Everyone will see I made a fantastic agreement. If you bomb us after I leave I could always say it’s the other guy’s fault. Because if it’s not for him, this never would have happened," Mason said.

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The last Gaon was murdered by Muslims

On this day of reciting "kinot" remembering the tragedies of Jewish history, here's something to add.

In Babylonia there were two great Jewish academies that both lasted an astonishing 800 years. They were the famous yeshivas of Sura and Pumbedita. Both were established in the third century CE, and they led the Jewish people throughout the time of the Mishnah, Gemara, and through the time of the Gaonim. They both lasted until the eleventh century.

Wikipedia, mostly quoting The Jewish Encyclopedia (1906) has a brief biography of the last leader of Pumbedita, Hezekiah Gaon:

Hezekiah was a member of the exilarchal family, son of David, who was son of Zakkai, who was the son of Avraham, who was the son of Nathan, son of David a Rabbi, whose father was Hazub. He was elected to the office of principal after the murder of Hai Gaon*, but was denounced to a fanatical government of the Buyyids, imprisoned, and tortured to death. With him ended his family, with the exception of two sons who escaped to the Iberian Peninsula, where they found a home with Joseph ben Samuel, the son of Samuel ha-Nagid. The death of Hezekiah also ended the line of the Geonim, which began four centuries before (see Hanan of Iskiya), and with it the Academy of Pumbedita.

I don't believe that Hai Gaon was murdered - none of his other biographies mention that - but Hezekiah II, who amazingly was both the Exilarch and the Rosh Yeshiva, was murdered by a Shiite caliph, and his murder ended the era of Babylonia/Iraq as a major center of Jewish studies. (Some details listed here are disputed in this book.)

Of course, as we read in the kinot today,  Christians were responsible for the deaths of thousands of Jews during the Crusades, but few recall that a Muslim ruler is responsible for the end of the primacy of Babylonian Jewry at around the same time.

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07/24 Links Pt2: Glick: The irony of the expulsions from Gaza; Phillips: Arming all sides for nuclear war

From Ian:

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JPost Editorial: Choosing sides

Different periods in history have different moral challenges. Slavery was one of the major issues of the 19th century. Abolitionists, whether of the religious or the secular variety, were on the right side of history while those who continued to justify this morally repulsive practice were on the wrong side.
Fascism, Communism and imperialism were the evils of the 20th century, from which humanity barely managed to escape. Though hindsight is 20-20, very few critics had the moral wherewithal and sensitivity to identify all three evils as misguided and immoral in real-time. Ernest Hemingway, Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells and many others failed regarding at least one of the three. George Orwell, Arthur Koestler and France’s first Jewish prime minister Leon Blum were some of the few intellectuals and politicians who were right about all three.
The 21st century has its moral challenges as well. One of them is radical Islamism. Recognizing the dangers presented by the various expressions of reactionary, nihilistic Islamic ideology is a prerequisite for fully comprehending the single biggest threat to Western civilization.
Another litmus test for moral rectitude in the 21st century is one’s position on Israel. Those who view the Zionist project favorably and are generally supportive of the Jewish state are on the right side of history. Those who are hypercritical of Israel, favor using boycott, divestment and sanctions to coerce Israel to cave in to the demands of the Palestinians and other Arab nations, or focus solely on Israeli “crimes” while ignoring the violent rhetoric and actions of Palestinian terrorist groups such as Hamas are failing the moral test of the day.

Debating Michael Walzer’s ‘Islamism and the Left’

Michael Walzer is professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and one of the democratic left’s foremost political philosophers. His recent essay ‘Islamism and the Left’ – published in Dissent, the US journal he co-edited for many years – sparked much debate on the left. Fathom invited a range of thinkers to respond critically to the essay in conversation with Michael in our offices in London.
Michael Walzer: Thank you to Fathom for organising this discussion about my essay ‘Islamism and the Left’ which appeared in Dissent earlier in 2015. I know you have all read it, so I am looking forward to hearing your critical responses.
Robert Fine (Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Warwick University): Thanks for your article. The primary explanation that you are using for the Left’s condoning of Islamism is its fear of encouraging Islamophobia. But why should there be such a fear? Firstly, the Left is not afraid in the same way of encouraging anti-Semitism. Secondly, as you showed very well in the article, there is no opposition between being sensitive to Islamophobia and being highly critical of Islamism. So, while I thought your description of the phenomenon was very good, I wasn’t immediately convinced by your explanation that the fear of encouraging Islamophobia is the driving force behind left apologetics for Islamic fundamentalism.
Michael Walzer: You could probably say that the fear of Islamophobia is related to the hostility to Israel. There is this eagerness – I’ve heard this often in the States, I don’t know if it happens here – to describe the Islamic minority in the US, or in Europe, as the ‘new Jews’. Somehow, that gives you license to ignore the ‘old Jews’, and to focus on these ‘new Jews’, and to claim that we must not repeat with them what we did to the ‘old Jews’. But that can lead to any criticism being interpreted as hostility to this minority and a way of targeting this minority. The argument becomes ‘if you are critical of Islam, you are joining hands with the new xenophobes of the West.’

Douglas Murray: Je Suis Charlie? Even Charlie Hebdo has now surrendered to Islamic extremism

Bad news from the continent. In an interview with the German weekly Stern, Laurent ‘Riss’ Sourisseau, the editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo, announced that he would no longer draw cartoons of any historical figure called Mohammed. This follows his former colleague Renald ‘Luz’ Luzier saying a couple of months back that he would no longer draw Mohammed either. ‘Luz’ announced that he was leaving the magazine shortly afterwards.
I don’t judge either of them for this decision. ‘Luz’ happened to be running late for work on the morning that the Kouachi brothers forced their way into the Charlie Hebdo offices and started shooting his colleagues. ‘Riss’ was in the office and took a bullet to the shoulder, bringing him to the floor where he lay – playing dead – while the sharia-blasphemy force finished off his colleagues. This would be enough to have made most people retreat into silence for the rest of their lives. But both men stuck with the publication through the immediate aftermath of the atrocity and asserted their right to keep publishing depictions of Mohammed.
Who knows why they have stopped now? Perhaps the jokes are a little less funny now there are so many dead bodies. The cost-benefits calculus of putting Mo in an issue would lead anyone towards wanting a slightly quieter life and wondering if it wouldn’t be better if, say, that potential Mo gag became another Pope gag. And I don’t doubt that there must be something sickening about most of the free world patting you on the back and saying ‘Je Suis Charlie’ only to show immediately and continually that they very clearly are not. But the reasons ‘Riss’ gives sound unconvincing to me. The reality is that intimidation and terrorism work. It is the reason why every major publication in the Western world failed to do what Charlie Hebdo had done. And it is the reason why, from Copenhagen to Texas, the people with guns keep making themselves felt and everyone else keeps backing down. Of course we all say that they won’t win (‘Je Suis Charlie’). But they are winning, and at this rate they will win.

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Tisha B'Av and the threat of a new Holocaust

On Sunday we will mark Tisha B'Av (pushed off a day so as not to be on Shabbat.) It is the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, one that marks several tragedies that happened on that day. mostly the destruction of the Temples.

Usually I write a historical post on Tisha B'Av.

But this year it is hard to concentrate on anything but the danger of nuclear weapons being built for the purpose of destroying Israel.

The genocidal words from Iranian leaders indicate that destroying Israel is their top priority - not the economy, not the war in Iraq, but destroying Israel. They have dedicated an annual holiday just to call for Israel's destruction. They have ensured that even during sanctions, their payments to Hezbollah remain sacred.

But Israel has a much larger problem.

The US allowed this situation to happen. It was not just naivete in negotiating skills, although that played a part. If the White House truly wanted to minimize the possibility of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, it would not have given up concessions the way it did. It would not have communicated its message that the military option is impossible. It would not have publicly defended Iran's cheating on its existing promises.

No, the Obama administration has made a conscious decision that a nation that encourages chants of "Death to America" is a better strategic partner than Israel (and the Gulf states.)

That goal of a long-term alliance with a crazed Islamic theocracy was more important than the goal of erasing nuclear weapons capability. Demands from Iran during the negotiations were not treated with derision but with the respect of a would-be suitor. "Well, of course Iran cannot be expected to cave on demand X, Y and Z - it would not be fair!"

The situation is mind boggling.  And now we are in a lose-lose situation, where the options have dwindled down to a nearly meaningless choice. Because President Obama chose the priorities, and those priorities do not include Israel.

Taking a long-term view, this is the direction that the US is going anyway. College students are being poisoned against Israel and they are the leaders of tomorrow. This blog and many others regularly point out the hypocrisy of the "liberals" who embrace Iran and Hamas but it does not make a dent - logic does not enter the picture. As mainstream media uncritically parrots the lies of the Arabs, we can expect the trend to be less and less sympathy to Israel in the coming decades - and more sympathy for those who want to destroy Israel. The US will act like Europe in the not-too-distant future.  Israel will be alone, again.

Perhaps prayer on Tisha B'Av is the most logical response.

Have a meaningful fast.


Here are my previous Tisha B'Av posts:

2005: A sad anniversary
2006: A reason to keep mourning on Tisha B'Av
2007: Tisha B'Av, 1948
2008: Weeping over the ruins of Jerusalem
2009: The Kotel, 1912
2010: A reason to cry
2011: Judaism's holiest site is being desecrated today
2012: Documentary on Israel's disengagement of Gaza
2013: The Churban underneath the Mount
2014: 2000 years of mourning for the Temple

I will not be posting anything until Sunday afternoon EDT.

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Iran claims it can use ballistic missiles under agreement

From Iran's FARS News:

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif underlined that Tehran's ballistic missile production and use is no violation of the nuclear agreement between the country and the world powers.
"Using the ballistic missiles doesn’t violate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and it is a violation of a paragraph in the annex of the (UN Security Council) Resolution (2231) which is non-binding," Zarif said in response to questions by legislators in an open session of the parliament in Tehran on Tuesday.

"This paragraph (of the annex) speaks about missiles with nuclear warheads capability and since we don’t design any of our missiles for carrying nuclear weapons, therefore, this paragraph is not related to us at all," he added

This is yet another lie.

From the Center for Strategic and International Studies:

Iran’s Shahab 3 & 3M missiles which have a diameter of 125 cm and a range in excess of 900 km with a payload of 1,000 kg would be able to deliver a nuclear warhead to many of the Middle East capitals and high-value targets. Comparison of the potential ranges of the Iran Shahab missiles versus the Israeli Jericho 2 missile is made. It was found that if Iran launches the Shahab-3M from the Tabriz missile site, carrying a 20kt warhead, it can potentially reach Tel Aviv.

And the Shahab-3 has little military value:

Deploying Ballistic Missiles against military targets would require a number that is very likely to be beyond the current Inventory in Iran. Presently the Shahab Missile is known to have a CEP (Circular Error Probability) greater than 500m, which is large compared to the lethal radius of hardened structures, a large number of missiles with unitary warheads will be required to ensure destruction of such targets. For example a psi of 40 is required to damage a reinforced command center, with a 1000 kg TNT explosive weight the weapon, lethal radius is 21 meters. For a required damage of 0.75 the number of missiles required, if the CEP of the missile is 500 meter, is 1,286.

However, if the missiles are used against large military bases and installations, even with missiles that have large CEPs they are likely to hit something or at least cause some form of damage and disrupt activities. Ballistic missiles can also be used with success against soft targets, in open areas and cities to inflict maximum human casualties and create terror. In essence what is considered as a major component in asymmetric warfare in the form of high civilian casualties.

Accuracy isn't that important for using missiles as a terror instrument- or as a nuclear weapon delivery system.

(h/t Yoel)

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07/24 Links Pt1: Israel United Against Iran Deal, So Should Those Who Claim to Be Its Friends

From Ian:

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Mordechai Kedar: How come America is Still "The Great Satan" in Iran?

Since the Iran Agreement does not provide a foolproof way to check that the Ayatollahs are definitely not developing nuclear arms, we can conclude that sooner or later Iran will develop nuclear weapons in secret, if it has not done so already. Nuclear weapons in the hands of the Ayatollahs pose a danger to the entire world because of the apocalyptic views of Shiite Islam and because of the Islamist ambition for global hegemony. Islamic religious tradition allows for the use of force and threats. Nuclear weapons will be a tool that allows the Ayatollahs to carry out their Shiite Islamist agenda and move on to control the world.
The only way to completely remove the danger of Iran's nuclear weapons is to abolish the rule of the Ayatollahs. Now that the world has done away with the economic sanctions weapon, there are only two ways left to achieve that goal: one, to encourage the young, secular adult majority to fight the regime and two, aid the minority groups in destabilizing the regime and undercutting its unity.
Iran's rulers are weak, afraid of the people, looking for outside enemies, lost in their own extremist rantings that are an attempt to hide their weaknesses. It would not be very difficult to overthrow the present regime. The moral justification for this is solid: the Ayatollah's have been undermining Lebanon's government since 1980 and recently, doing the same in Yemen. They supply arms, weapons and money to Assad, the mass murderer, and are largely responsible for the blood spilled in Iraq. They are behind terror worldwide, and have justly earned the world's desire to be rid of them and send them to a place where they cannot inflict any more damage on the human race. That, of course, would be the end of the Iranian nuclear weapons issue.
The questions that remain are straighforward. Does the world sees the dangers facing the world from the Iranian regime? Does it realize the real situation in Iran, the reality described in this article? And does the world have the courage to do what is needed to solve, in passing, the Iranian nuclear problem?

Martin Sherman: The Iran deal – moronic, myopic, malevolent, mendacious

Of course if one wishes to see a durable, non-militarized solution to the Iranian crisis, perhaps the only conceivable avenue is regime change and installation of a more moderate, Western-oriented government.
But by greatly empowering and enriching the incumbent theocracy, the deal cut last week makes such a prospect incalculably more remote.
In the words of Saba Farzan, a German-Iranian journalist and director of a Berlin think tank, published in The Jerusalem Post: “The Vienna deal bears a very grave danger for Iran’s civil society. Not only won’t we see their economic situation improve, but the regime will also have an incentive to abuse human rights more severely. A flood of cash is going into the pockets of this leadership.
It will be used to tighten their grip [on power] and to further imprison, torture and kill innocent Iranians.”
She is, of course, right – and that is one of the greatest tragedies of the travesty concocted in Vienna last week.

Jew vs. Jew (vs. Jew) on the Iran deal

The Jews of Israel oppose the agreement with Iran. The Jews of America support it. The just-released LA Jewish Journal survey turns an assumption into a fact: The two largest Jewish communities cannot agree on a major world development that could significantly change the state of the Jewish state.
Israel will discover today — much to many Israelis’ surprise (because they don’t much understand American Jews) — that it cannot count on the majority of American Jewry to fight the battle against the agreement alongside it. A majority of American Jews will discover today that amid all the noise made by opponents of the deal, not much has changed for them as a group: They support President Barack Obama; they vote Democratic; they approve of the agreement. American Jews are just like Americans, as sociologist Steven Cohen, who oversaw the survey, writes: They are all skeptical about the deal, but their politics dictate the way they ultimately see it.
There is one question that stands out in this poll as deserving the title “the most troubling.” That is, troubling for those who highly value the bond between Jewish communities. “Does the agreement make Israel safer or more endangered?” Cohen asked his Jewish-American respondents. And they have an answer for him: It endangers Israel.
So here, presumably, you have it all, encapsulated in one question: American Jews support the deal, even though they are skeptical about its outcome, and even though they understand that by supporting the deal, they contribute to making Israel less safe. (h/t Yenta Press)

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Deputy Knesset speaker slams US over false Susiya comments

Betzalel Smotrich, Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, has written a letter to US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro that is worth reading in full:

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His Excellency Mr. Daniel B. Shapiro Ambassador of the United States of America to the State of Israel

Honorable Sir:

Re: The Position of the State Department of the United States regarding the issue of the illegal Arab encampment adjacent to the town of Susiya

Last week, a statement was issued by the State Department of the United States (Mr. Kirby) relating to the issue of an illegal Arab encampment near the town of Susiya in south Hebron hills.

This statement indicates both a lack of fundamental understanding of the facts connected to the illegal encampment referred to above as well as an intolerable intervention by the US Government into judicial proceedings being conducted in a foreign country under a legal system with a longstanding international reputation of justice and fidelity to the law.

For the record, here are the true facts connected to this issue, which should dispel the lies and half-truths being spread by various factions (both from within Israel and abroad) seeking to discredit the State of Israel and the Israeli legal system.

1. First and foremost it must be clarified that the claim that this refers to an Arab village that has been in existence for hundreds of years, or even for decades, is, quite simply, a bald-faced lie. Aerial photographs attest that no settlement existed in the location where the current illegal encampment stands prior to the year 2000, apart from 4-5 structures, which were built during the late 90s.

2. Today, the encampment includes more than 64 illegal structures, with more than 54 of them having been built between 2011-2013. It is clear to any law-abiding person that this is scandalous.

3. More egregious, is that in addition to illegal building, in 2013 there was an interim order issued by the High Court of Israel forbidding this illegal construction in this place, establishing clearly that it was forbidden to carry out any additional illegal construction. After the order was issued, more than 30 additional illegal structures were built, which constitutes more than half the total number of structures currently in the encampment, in direct violation of the standing order issued by the High Court of Israel.

4. In actuality, this is a land grab by the Nuwajah family from the city of Yatta, of lands that never belonged to them, ignoring the law and building illegal structures in contravention of administrative orders issued against them by the Civil Administration, as well as explicit orders issued against them by the High Court of Israel.

5. An inspection of the Population Registry of the Civil Administration revealed that the majority of family members residing in the illegal encampment, have homes in the city of Yatta – that is, rather than talking about expulsion of people from their land of many years, this is the removal of squatters.

6. In a most distressing manner, the announcement by the State Department called upon the State of Israel to engage in dialogue with the illegal residents of the encampment for humanitarian reasons. This was stated despite the fact that the State of Israel, out of the utmost leniency and humanitarian concern, and the fact that these families have homes, has agreed to allocate to residents of the encampment an area in exchange, on State land adjacent to the town of Yatta in Area C.

There is no doubt that the State Department's announcement is based upon the lies that were presented to the American administration, since it is otherwise impossible to explain the utter disconnect between the reality of the situation and the content of the announcement.

However, while one can assume that the State Department has been misled- it still appears that the statement went well beyond that which is acceptable or appropriate. This statement was not in reference to policies (in regard to which an expression of opinion or interest by a foreign country may at times be acceptable) but rather in reference to issues and final rulings of the Israeli judicial system, as will be explained below.

The issue of illegal construction in this encampment has been adjudicated by before the High Court of Israel multiple times, beginning with a petition filed in 2001 to the High Court of Justice when the court was asked to prevent the demolition of the structures, through a petition filed against the demolition in 2012 and most recently a petition filed in 2014. In each of these petitions it was found that the claims of the residents of the illegal encampment were false and building in that location would not be permitted.

In addition, the court noted that it could not accept the fact that parallel too conducting court proceedings – massive illegal building was taking place. Because of this, and as a result of this continued illegal building, the court ordered demolition of those illegal structures built in violation and in contempt of the explicit orders of the court.

All of the above indicates that the issue of the illegal Arab encampment next to Susiya received the complete attention of the Supreme Court of Israel, which, as known, does not discriminate. Despite this, and despite the great tolerance demonstrated by the justices in humanitarian issues connected with the Arab residents of Judea and Samaria – still the court ordered the demolition of illegal structures in the encampment. The Court even refused the request of the residents of the village to prevent demolition of the structures and to issue interim orders freezing the demolition.

Subsequent to all of this, and despite the fact that it relates to a judicial decision issued in accordance with the law, the State Department of the United States does not hesitate to recklessly issue a statement calling upon Israel to prevent the demolition of illegal structures.

There is no doubt that we are speaking of an act that should not have been done, and we must object to this dangerous intervention ---- into judicial decisions of the legal system of a sovereign nation that acts in accordance with principles of justice and integrity. It is difficult to believe that the State Department is calling upon the government of Israel not to act in accordance with a decision of the High Court of Israel – but this is the reality.

It is unclear how anti-Israel groups find such a receptive ear within the State Department, which then acts without receiving true and balanced information from official sources of the State of Israel.

In light of the above, I request your immediate intervention, in your capacity as the official representative of the Government of the United States, and that you announce that the Government of the United States retract its unfounded statement and commit to a full investigation of how such a statement was issued, without checking and verifying the facts, while grossly intervening in the legal system of a foreign country.

Yours sincerely,

Betzalel Smotrich
Member of Knesset
Deputy Speaker of the Knesset

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Saudi sheikh with millions of followers writes antisemitic screed

Mohamad bin AbdelRahman al-Arefe is an Islamic theologian from Saudi Arabia. He is a professor at King Saud University. he has over 17 million Facebook followers and 12.5 million Twitter followers, making him the most popular tweeter in the Middle East.

This week, he wrote a critique of the Egyptian Ramadan TV series "Jewish Quarter", complaining that it showed Jews in a positive light, when in reality Jews are terrible people. It was picked up by Arabic media.

He brings up six points from the series that he finds problematic:

1- The Jew is portrayed as generous
The Jews are known by all nations to worship money, they came up with usury

2- The Jew is portrayed as forgiving
They are known for treachery and they never keep their promises and covenants.

3- Jews are portrayed as kind and affectionate
The Jews who defy God and hate Muslims are portrayed as kind.

4- Jews are depicted as making every effort to ward of strife and fighting
(Every time they kindled the fire of war [against you], Allah extinguished it.) Surat Al-Mā'idah 5:64

5- Jews are shown as brave
Jews are known for cowardice fighting face to face .. "they do not fight you except from fortified villages or from behind walls"

6- Jews are portrayed as righteous
It is known that Jews use their wives for any secular purpose and not so long ago Tzipi Livni, the Israeli minister, admitted that she was having sex with Arab personalities with permission from rabbis.

All the bad qualities of the Jews are mentioned in the Koran and this series tried to refute these facts, according to al-Arefe.

(h/t Shawarma News)

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The myth of Susiya

From The Jewish Chronicle:

The planned demolition of illegally built homes in the West Bank Palestinian village of Sussiya is causing the next diplomatic crisis between Israel and Europe.

Two months ago, the residents of Sussiya lost their petition requesting the High Court to block the planned demolition of the village.

Sussiya is in Area C of the West Bank, where all the planning authority is under Israeli control. The buildings in Sussiya were constructed despite the Israeli Civil Administration's refusal to grant planning permission.

Following the High Court decision, Sussiya has become the focus of an international campaign against the demolition, including multiple visits by foreign diplomats.

Wikipedia says:

Palestinian Susya, called Susya al-Qadima ('Old Susya')[48] is a centuries' old village which written records attest the existence of from 1830.[49]

The references to this belong to a 2012 article in the New York Review of Books and a 2013 article by Rabbis for Human Rights.

The NYRB article asserts, without evidence, that Susya is known as "Susya al-Qadima." I could find no reference to such a village in any sources before the 21st century.

The RHR article says:

The Palestinian village of Susya has existed for hundreds of years, long predating the Jewish Israeli settlement of Susya, which was founded in its neighborhood in 1983. Written records of the existence of a Palestinian community in its location exist from as far back as 1830, and the village is also found on British Mandate maps from 1917. The residents of Khirbet Susya, who today reside in temporary structures north of the Israeli settlement, originally lived in the village of Susya Al-Qadime, located near the ancient synagogue at Susya, where there was a settled village until the 1980s. The Palestinian residents’ ownership of this land is established in law.

Everything in this paragraph is a lie.

I did find some old maps that referred to Susiyeh but a survey of 19th century travelogues show that no one lived there, and it was only visited because of the ruins there: From Biblical Researches in Palestine and the Adjacent Regions: A Journal of Travels in the Years 1838 & 1852 by Edward Robinson, Eli Smith and Others, Volume 1:

The Palestine Exploration Fund update in 1875 likewise goes into detail on the ruins of Sussieh but doesn't mention anyone living there.

Maps from the 1940s didn't mention any village in the area Susya is. For example, a map that can be seen in the "Palestine Remembered" site to document old Arab villages has nothing where Susya is, as a comparison between Google Maps (surrounding towns circled)  and their map shows:

Regavim has the most comprehensive description of the truth about Susiya:

A historical village? Not really!    The claim that this is an Arab village which existed hundreds of years, or even decades, is completely false. According to travelers in the 19^th century, and from surveys of villages and population conducted by the British mandatory powers in 1945, which mention all of the villages in the area and even some of the inhabitants, there is no hint of the existence of a village named Susiya, except as an ancient archeological site. This rocky land on which this illegal encampment is situated served the purpose of grazing land. In those days, only during the grazing months, the caves in the area provided temporary protection for the shepherds from the village of Yatta from robbers, wild animals, and inclement weather. Aerial photographs testify that in this place, there never was any settlement before the year 2000, except for 4 or 5r structures which were built illegally during the late 1990’s.

Jewish history. In the archealogical excavations on the ancient site, there was found an ancient Jewish settlement which dated from the 4^th to the 9^th centuries of the Common Era. According to the scholars, this was a thriving Jewish community, which existed hundreds of years after the destruction of the Second Temple, and achieved the height of its development at the end of the Byzantine period, and at the beginning of the old Arab period. On the site, they discovered a large synagogue, ritual baths, homes, community buildings, and other structures. Further, in 1986, 277 dunam in the area were allocated to establish an archaeological site, and from then on, it was forbidden for the shepherds to use the old caves. At first, during the grazing seasons, the shepherds came and put up tents and —- for the period of the grazing, but in the last decade, the Nawaja family has tried to take permanent control over the area.

Not an expulsion—an eviction of squatters. Research in the population registries of the Civil Administration indicates that the majority of the families found in the illegal encampment owned homes in the village of Yatta. The Najawa family, who lives in Yatta, seized control of lands which do not at all belong to them. Thus, we are not speaking of driving people off of their lands, but of evicted illegal squatters who have put up tens of structures in violation of the law.

Susiya shows how willing Western reporters and diplomats are to believe the most outrageous Palestinian Arab lies.

The New York Times published an op-ed by one of the squatters where he claims that his family has lived there for generations, without doing any fact checking.

It is a scandal that anyone is writing about Susiya without mentioning that the Arabs are lying about its history.

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Pete Hoekstra: "Very difficult to snap back sanctions against Iran": (EoZ Interview)

During the Stop Iran Rally in New York City on Wednesday, I interviewed Pete Hoekstra, former Chair of the House Intelligence Committee on the dangers of the Iran nuclear deal.

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