Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, July 18, 2016

07/18 Links Pt2: Breaking the Silence Fails Fact-Check; Beinart joins Jews confronting IDF in Hevron

From Ian:

Breaking the Silence Gets Failing Grade in Channel 10's Fact-Check

Once described as the "most hated group" in Israel, few NGOs evoke the same level of raw emotion as "Breaking the Silence" (BtS). The European-funded Israeli organization publishes testimony, in Hebrew and in English, of Israeli soldiers with the stated aim to "expose the Israeli public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories."
Although leading international media outlets have in the past cited and relied upon the organization's material, at the core of the controversy surrounding this group is the question of whether the published testimonies are reliable. A July 12 investigative report by "Hamakor," Israel’s Channel 10's flagship news magazine, suggests that the answer is a resounding "No."
BtS: Highest Professional Standards?
Since a group of Israeli soldiers who served in Hebron launched the organization in 2004, BtS has published dozens of soldiers' testimonies documenting "everyday life in the Occupied Territories" in order to “demonstrate the depth of corruption which is spreading in the Israeli military.” Defending themselves from critics' accusations that they are merely peddling in gossip and unconfirmed reports, BtS argues "its personal testimonies have all been crosschecked, verified and passed through Israeli military censorship before publication."
Some defenders of the organization have claimed that so far not one serious error has been found in their published testimonies.
"Hamakor" Investigative Report
BtS's claim of nearly infallible standards took a big hit this week with Channel 10's broadcast. While largely sympathetic to the BtS activists whom it depicted as idealistic and motivated by good intentions, Channel 10 reporters Anat Goren and Itay Rom found their investigative standards to be lacking. Under rigorous scrutiny, a large percentage of the group’s accounts which Channel 10 reviewed proved to be either false or exaggerated.

New Israel Fund Supports Organization That Calls Israeli Heroes Murderers

B’Tselem, which has received $2,202,381 over the last 10 years from the the New Israel Fund (NIF), recently published a document providing data on casualties caused by Israel since Operation Cast Lead (2008-2009).
The document also includes a list of Palestinians killed by Israeli citizens in the West Bank during that period. The document indicates that the vast majority of casualties were terrorists killed by security forces or armed civilians — either after or during attacks on IDF soldiers or innocent Israeli citizens.
B’Tselem chose to merely describe the circumstances in which Palestinians were shot, while refraining from noting that they were killed while trying to commit terrorist attacks. Instead, B’Tselem vilifies the people who tried to stop the terrorists and save lives.
Some examples:

Muhammad Zaharan Abd El-Halim Zaharan: Age 22, inhabitant of A-Dik village in the Salfit district, was killed on December 24, 2015 in Ariel, in the Nablus District, shot by live bullets. Additional details: Was shot to death by a female security guard in the industrial zone, after he had stabbed her and an additional security guard.

Fadi Muhamad, Mahmud Hsiv: Age 30, inhabitant of Ramallah, was killed on November 27, 2015 in the vicinity of Kefar Adumim shot by live bullets by an Israeli citizen. Additional details: According to the police announcement, he was shot after running over two persons who were waiting at a hitchhiking stop, wounding them slightly, then emerging from his car and running towards them with a knife in his hand.

Shadi Mahmud Khsiv: Age 31, inhabitant of Ramallah, was killed on November 22, 2015 in the vicinity of Kefar Adumim shot by live bullets. Additional details: According to the announcement of the police spokesperson, he was shot after attempting to run over people waiting at a hitchhiking stop; then he emerged from his car and stabbed and wounded one of them slightly.

Muhammad Abed Mussah Nimmer – Age 37, inhabitant of Al-Isawiyah in Jerusalem was killed on November 10, 2015 shot by live bullets. Additional details: He was shot to death by a security guard of the Jerusalem Light Rail system, when he attempted to stab him.

Fadel Muhamad Awad El-Kawasami: Age 18, inhabitant of Hebron, was killed on October 17, 2015 in Hebron, shot by live bullets. Additional details: According to the announcement of the IDF spokesperson, he was shot while attempting to stab an Israeli civilian.

The Uri Weiss Affair and Bar-Ilan’s Cowardice

For years, the anti-Israel academic Left in Israeli universities has defended the “right” of anyone and everyone to boycott Israel. The BDS terrorists are just exercising freedom of speech. So are those who organize conferences on why Israel needs to cease existing. Every antisemitic loon has the “right” to appear on Israeli campuses, from neo-Nazi Norman Finkelstein to Mister Khmer Rouge — Noam Chomsky. In addition, the Left wants everyone to have the right to boycott “settlers,” which is why artists and performers who refuse to work across the Green Line must not be denied their cushy governmental subsidies. And of course Ariel University must be boycotted!
The one thing the Left will never tolerate is a boycott of violently anti-Israel left-wing academics. Students at Israeli universities must themselves never be allowed to boycott tenured traitors or radical anti-Israel howling pseudo-academics. That would be anti-democratic!
All of which brings us to the Uri Weiss Affair at Bar-Ilan University last week. Bar-Ilan is usually not the campus of choice for the left-wing ultras in Israel, although it does have a few, like political science prof Menachem Klein, who thinks Sephardim are Jewish Arabs and who wants the Old City of Jerusalem to be judenrein.
Another faculty member at Bar-Ilan is one Uri Weiss, who studied law at the radical leftist law school of Tel Aviv University and teaches a course in the Bar-Ilan business school. To clarify, Weiss is not a tenure-track appointee but an outside adjunct, which in the world of academia makes him well below the janitors in terms of status or importance. More to the point, adjuncts who do not have a quorum of students for their course get that course cancelled and they do not get paid.
Now Komrade Uri has been in the news a lot in recent days. In particular, he published ghoulish attacks against settlers whose children were murdered by terrorists. The settlers not only deserved to see their children murdered, but are themselves guilty of psychosis for living in places the Palestinians want. Never mind that the Palestinians also want the Sarona Market in Tel Aviv. (h/t YOSEF22ADAR)

EoZTV: Ben Dror Yemini interview part 3

EoZ and BDY discuss how out of proportion the criticism of Israel is compared to what Western democracies practice, Amnesty's lies and the definition of "children" killed in war.

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“The Jews are our misfortune” – 21st century edition (Petra Marquardt-Bigman)

By Petra Marquardt-Bigman

The slogan “Die Juden sind unser Unglück“ – i.e. “The Jews are our misfortune“ was popular in Nazi propaganda. It appeared prominently on displays of the weekly magazine “Der Stürmer” and was regularly printed at the bottom of the publication’s title page.

Quite obviously, this slogan could also serve as a concise summary of the antisemitic world view: whatever is wrong or bad in your life and in your world must somehow be the fault of the Jews. The Hamas Charter reflects this view perfectly in Article 22, illustrating at the same time how the Nazi slogan was adapted for contemporary politics with an updated version: “The Jewish state/Zionism is our misfortune.” While the relevant paragraphs clearly echo popular anti-Jewish stereotypes about scheming Jews with lots of money and monstrously evil designs, they are also a bit evasive about who exactly “the enemies” are, though the parts I emphasized (bold & underlined) are clear enough:

“For a long time, the enemies have been planning, skillfully and with precision, for the achievement of what they have attained. They took into consideration the causes affecting the current of events. They strived to amass great and substantive material wealth which they devoted to the realisation of their dream. With their money, they took control of the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting stations, and others. With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the world with the purpose of achieving their interests and reaping the fruit therein. They were behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard and hear about, here and there. With their money they formed secret societies, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, the Lions and others in different parts of the world for the purpose of sabotaging societies and achieving Zionist interests. With their money they were able to control imperialistic countries and instigate them to colonize many countries in order to enable them to exploit their resources and spread corruption there.

You may speak as much as you want about regional and world wars. They were behind World War I, when they were able to destroy the Islamic Caliphate, making financial gains and controlling resources. They obtained the Balfour Declaration, formed the League of Nations through which they could rule the world. They were behind World War II, through which they made huge financial gains by trading in armaments, and paved the way for the establishment of their state. It was they who instigated the replacement of the League of Nations with the United Nations and the Security Council to enable them to rule the world through them. There is no war going on anywhere, without having their finger in it.”

Indeed, a “Stürmer” cover from May 1934 that features a story about a murderous Jewish plan targeting all non-Jews would make a good illustration for this section of the Hamas Charter.

Even though it should be obvious enough that the Nazi slogan has been updated to “The Jewish state/Zionism is our misfortune,” there are endless debates about how to define contemporary antisemitism, and the question what, if any, anti-Israel activism should be regarded as antisemitic remains particularly contentious. But as I have argued elsewhere, there are countless examples that illustrate “that antisemitism is not a bug, but a feature of BDS: if your mission is to mobilize public opinion against the world’s only Jewish state in order to bring about its elimination, you will inevitably end up producing new versions of the Nazi slogan ‘The Jews are our misfortune.’”

Indeed, if one had to describe the output of professional anti-Israel activists like Ali Abunimah or Max Blumenthal and the sites they are associated with in one sentence, the most fitting one would be: “The Jewish state/Zionism is our misfortune.” And their audiences are certainly getting the message, as illustrated nicely in one minor recent example: in the wake of the coup attempt in Turkey, Twitter user Hadi Syed saw an article in Ha’aretz that emphasized that one of the suspected coup leaders had served as Military Attaché to Israel from 1998 to 2000. So Syed promptly tweeted the article and tagged Max Blumenthal and Ali Abunimah, because he apparently knows full well that they are always interested in an Israeli angle if anything untoward is going on anywhere in the world.

Syed made a good bet: even though he has only 166 followers, his tweet got 95 re-tweets and 39 “Likes,” doubtlessly boosted by a retweet from Max Blumenthal as well as Ali Abunimah’s posting of the tweet together with the remark “Interesting.”

While Blumenthal and Abunimah may not find it worthwhile to promote this particular conspiracy theory now that the Hamas-friendly Islamist government in Turkey is mercilessly wiping out its opponents, they have often been determined to promote even the most absurd conspiracy theories in order to demonize Israel as the cause of everyone’s misfortune. One notable example is their promotion of utterly baseless claims that US police forces are brutal and abusive because they are inspired and trained by Israel. This particular subject is the specialty of their esteemed colleague Rania Khalek, who has produced numerous articles for Abunimah’s Electronic Intifada and other outlets implying that if it wasn’t for the world’s only Jewish state, the US and the world at large could be a much better place. The underlying message is indeed always the same: “The Jewish state is our misfortune.” And this lasting legacy of the “Stürmer” is by no means confined to the far-right.

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07/18 Links Pt1: Can We Just "Live With" Terrorism?; EU: Israeli occupation is 'root' cause of violence

From Ian:

PMW: Another PA monument dedicated to “heroic” murderer

The Palestinian Authority went through with its plans yesterday to establish a monument honoring the terrorist Ahmad Jabarah Abu Sukkar, who planned the detonation of a bomb-laden refrigerator in the center of Jerusalem, murdering 15 people in 1976. A few days ago, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu publicly asked Mahmoud Abbas to cancel the event because of the negative impact terror glorification has on children:
Netanyahu: "Rather than dedicate a statue to a mass-murderer, I ask that you consider honoring a champion of co-existence. This will help educate future generations to love peace over war, compassion over violence.”
[Israeli Prime Minister's YouTube channel, July 15, 2016]
As seen in the above picture, the Palestinian Authority ignored Netanyahu’s request. Palestinian Media Watch exposed the PA's plans on July 13.
Text on the monument: “Monument for the heroic Martyr Prisoner Ahmad Jabarah Abu Sukkar 1936-2013
Arrested in 1976 Sentenced to life Released in 2003”
[Official Facebook page of Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate, July 18, 2016]

NYTs Special: Can We Just "Live With" Terrorism?

We Can’t Prevent Terrorism But We Can Minimize Its Effects
The prospect of stopping every attack approach zero. Successful attacks are inevitable. The reality of that prospect isn't pretty; nor is it something that the American public will accept gladly. But that is the new doctrine we must accept: Prepare to fail and stress resiliency.
The grim reality is that we can no longer expect to succeed in preventing terrorism – so we must develop tactics to minimize its effects and recover from it quickly. The author is a former deputy assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security.
Don’t Live With Terrorism, Go on the Offense
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, stated that France "will not give in to the terrorist threat," but then added, "Times have changed, and France is going to have to live with terrorism, and we must face this together and share our collective sang-froid...."
Quel dommage; quelle absurdite.
Terrorism - of the Islamist variety - results from the purposeful conduct of people who are motivated by two things: an overly literal reading of Islamic scripture, and success. Their goal is to impose their will on the world by shaking the confidence of citizens that their governments can do what governments principally are there for, which is to keep them safe.
We can gather intelligence not simply to strengthen our defenses, but to go on offense. If we don't do anything, we can take Valls's advice, and learn to live with terrorism until we learn to die with it. The author served as United States attorney general from 2007 to 2009, and as a U.S. district court judge from 1988 to 2006.
As Israelis Know, Live as If There Is No Terrorism, but Deal With Its Reality
In response to horrors like the Nice massacre, some will want to lash out at particular ethnic groups and limit individual rights and freedoms. Israel has imposed many tough defense measures in response to the continual terror threat it faces.
But while these means of self-defense are understood to be necessary and justified, the public also wants to live. It wants to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. It wants not to be burdened by the realities of terrorism and the costs it imposes. That does not reflect callousness in the face of human suffering nor disregard of the pain of others but does reflect a mature response.
The most effective societal response to a terrorist attack is to continue living. Sitting at home, with a "woe is me" attitude is to give in to terrorism. Not to continue living is exactly what terrorists want. The author, a former commander of the Israel Defense Forces' School of Military Law, is a professor of law at the University of Utah.

Bibi isn't the only person who has been looking to Africa for support.

PA president Mahmoud Abbas addressed the 27th Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly which was attended by over 35 heads of state in Rwanda.

His speech included the usual lies.

He attempted to blunt Bibi's visit to African nations by claiming that he can also offer scientific expertise to help Africa reach its development goals.

Abbas addressed the Nice attack, saying "I call on everyone to stand united against terrorism, which has no religion; at the same time, we condemn all acts of terrorism that have occurred recently in various parts of the world." Except for those where Jews are killed, where the terrorists are heroes.

Abbas attacked the Quartet report that ascribed a small amount of responsibility to Palestinians for their incitement to terror, saying "The international Quartet mechanism has once again failed to carry out their duties in accordance with the 2003 road map. It has recently issued a report that detracts from the resolutions of international legitimacy, and twists the neck of the truth, it does not reflect the reality of our people under Israeli occupation, it has equated the victim and the executioner, which would encourage Israel, the occupying power, to proceed with the tyranny and violations of international law."

"Any negotiating process is useless," he added, before insisting that Israel must release terrorists from prison to achieve his idea of "peace."

He also presented the president of Rwanda and, I believe, the AU president with the "Star of Jerusalem" award that he gives to every major politician that deigns to meet with him.

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Around 30,000 boys are participating in Hamas paramilitary summer camps this year.

Here are some photos from the Al Qassam Brigades.

It is hard to use the viewfinder when you wear a mask.

Hold on - you mean my biggest goal in life is to end up dead like him?

I can't wait to grow up and smell like these guys in the summer heat

Our holiest site now available as a kitschy cardboard cutout

And here is the official video celebrating teaching the next generation to murder Jews.

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The newest human right: Free transportation to visit terrorists in prison

Palestinian Arabs have added a new "human right" to their ever-expanding list to stay way ahead in the world's entitlement sweepstakes.

For years, the International Committee for the Red Cross had arranged transportation for Palestinians to visit their family members in Israeli prisons twice a month. This month, however, they have reduced the number of visits to only once a month.

And the families now have to pay their own transportation costs to see their terrorist sons or fathers.

The Red Cross cited budget problems for the change, but the families could not conceive that there is any more important function of the ICRC than giving them transportation to visit convicted terrorists in prison.

The ICRC-sponsored visits to prisoners who are women or youths below 18 continue twice a month because there are relatively few of them. According to B'Tselem, there are 414 minors in prison as of the end of April.

The number of Palestinians in Israeli prisons have gone up from around 5,200 to around 6.300 since the "knife uprising" started in September 2015.

Palestinians have consistently been, by far, the largest recipients of international humanitarian aid per capita year after year. As a result they have built an entire society based on entitlement, where they believe that they deserve free services from the world forever. Whenever an aid program gets cut they start protests, often violent, and often they end up getting their way, taking money away from real humanitarian crises.

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As we continue with the video of the Hasby Awards ceremony...

Avi describes the difference between bloggers like EoZ who explore stories in-depth and tweeters like the winner, Arsen Ostrovsky, who gets his messages aimed right at the "kishkes."

Arsen says that he tweets so much because he wants to talk about more than just the conflict, but about the larger narrative of Israel altogether. Twitter has no prerequisites to get onboard and can have a tremendous impact.

Check it out:

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07/17 Links: Terror attack thwarted in J'lem; Where is the feminist outcry?; The Erdoğan-Did-It Conspiracy

From Ian:

Netanyahu: PA blasts ramming attacks in France, while encouraging them in Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the Palestinian Authority for condemning the ramming attack in Nice on Friday, while encouraging such attacks in Israel.
“We experienced over the last few few days a shocking attack in Nice, which again shows the need for a united and aggressive position against the murderous terrorism that is striking the entire world,” Netanyahu said at the outset of the weekly cabinet meeting.
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He said that he sent a letter of condolences and support to French President Francois Hollande in the name of government and the people of Israel.
“The Palestinian Authority also sent condolences and condemnations, but with one difference,” he said. “Here not only do they not condemn ramming attacks, they encourage them. They praise the murderers and support them and their families in case the murderers are killed.”
Terrorism is terrorism whether it takes place in France, or in Israel, Netanyahu said, adding that a united approach both to condemn and battle terrorism is needed in Israel and everywhere else.

CAIR Chief’s Reflexive Terror Denial Stands Apart

Before the bodies of all the victims had been removed from the streets of Nice, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Executive Director Nihad Awad insisted that religion had nothing to do with the terrorist attack that killed at least 84 people.
A French resident of Tunisian descent rammed a truck into a crowd of revelers gathered to watch fireworks commemorating Bastille Day. The truck traveled as much as two kilometers, leaving twisted bodies in its wake.
French President Francois Hollande described the “undeniable terrorist nature” of the attack, which was further established by the presence of guns and explosives inside the killer’s truck.
“All of France is under the threat of Islamic terrorism,” Hollande said. “Our vigilance must be relentless.”
To Awad, this was reckless and inflammatory.
“French President #Hollande is pouring oil on the fire by describing the #Nice crime as Islamic terrorism and subjects France’s Muslims to danger,” Awad wrote, in Arabic, on Twitter. “What is Islamic about this crime?”

Daily Freier: Electronic Intifada Says Tomorrow’s Suicide Bomber “Not Even Very Religious” (satire)

Chicago: Electronic Intifada says that they don’t have all the details about tomorrow’s suicide bomber, but they are “like totally positive” that he will definitely not commit his act in the name of a certain monotheism.
“This guy is not a Jihadist.” explained Electronic Intifada editor Ali Abunimah “C’mon, he drank in college. What kind of extremist does that? Really, I mean calling this terror is just Hate Speech.” Ali shifted in his seat slowly and looked into the distance. “I mean, like, if this thing actually goes down tomorrow”
The reporter challenged Mr. Abunimah on this premise, and he countered “The guy goes to Strip Clubs. Strip…Clubs. Please stop trying to make this into something it isn’t.”
When the Daily Freier asked Mr. Abunimah how he deals with the avalanche of ~~tough questions about Terrorist’s motives and ideology~~ Neo-Con vitriol, he admitted that Electronic Intifada now utilizes a Microsoft Word template that allows it to quickly publish a proper explanation for the “context” of future attacks….like tomorrow…..or like whenever these things might happen.

Writing in the Algemeiner, Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) president Morton Klein tells us:

#BlackLivesMatter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, and over 1,000 black “social justice” activists, including other leading #BlackLivesMatter activists and allies, signed a vicious antisemitic, anti-Israel manifesto called the “2015 Black Solidarity Statement with Palestine,” falsely accusing Israel of “ethnic cleansing,” “brutality,” “massacres,” “apartheid,” “theft,” and “one-sided slaughter.” The “Black Solidarity with Palestine statement” also “wholeheartedly endorsed” BDS. The statement also touted international trips by “representatives of Black Lives Matter, Ferguson and other racial justice groups to Palestine” to strengthen their “joint struggle.”

JEWS

It is clear that the Black Lives Matter movement, whatever else it may be, is definitely no friend to the Jewish State of Israel and, therefore, no friend to the Jewish people, in general.

No other ethnic group in the United States, outside of black people, themselves, supported the Civil Rights Movement more than Jewish people.

Yet the Black Lives Matter movement supports BDS which means seeking to undermine Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people. What this means, of course, is subjecting the tiny Jewish minority in the Middle East to the tender mercies of their not-so welcoming neighbors who just happen to outnumber them in that part of the world by a factor of 60 or 70 to 1.

The bottom line, however, is that any group that supports BDS - or defames Israel by flinging around hate-filled propaganda like it is confetti - should not get the support of any self-respecting Jew.

"Ethnic Cleansing"!

“Brutality”!

“Massacres”!

“Apartheid”!

“Theft”!

“One-sided slaughter."!

There is something absolutely Medieval about all this.

This constant harping on the alleged misdeeds of the Jews has a very long and ignoble lineage. They might as well accuse us of killing Jesus or rolling non-Jewish babies around in barrels filled with spikes for the purpose of gathering the delicious goyisha blood to be employed in the ancient art of matzoh-making.

Every generation they tell one another just why it is that the Jews deserve a good beating. I mean, what kind of human beings would support one-sided slaughter? What does it say about the Jews of Israel that they practice land theft and apartheid? What does it say about them that they seemingly delight in the massacre of innocent children?

And what does it say about diaspora Jewry that they support such evil crimes against the innocent indigenous population?

Thus, what BlackLivesMatter is screeching to the world is that the very people who stood with African-Americans in solidarity, as they were breaking the shackles of Jim Crow. are, if not as oppressive as Nazis, at least as oppressive as Afrikaners during the period of South African apartheid.

{Thanks, guys. Much appreciated.}

Another question to ask, obviously, is where does all this leave American Jewish liberals?

BlackLivesMatter has the support of the president of the United States and, therefore, pretty much by definition, has the support of the Democratic Party.

This means that American Jews have the choice of either supporting a domestic political party that provides venues and financial assistance to anti-Semitic anti-Zionists or not supporting a domestic political party that provides venues and financial assistance to anti-Semitic anti-Zionists.

I, you will be shocked to learn, am going with the latter.

COPS

Morton Klein writes:

The #BlackLivesMatter movement’s incitement of anti-police violence helped create the environment that led to the Dallas massacre of police officers, according to experts including former New York City Police Commissioner Howard Safir; US CENTCOM official Colonel Derek Harvey, and National Association of Police Organizations Executive Director William Johnson. Johnson stated:

“It’s a war on cops. . . . I think their [the Obama administration’s] continued appeasement at the federal level with the Department of Justice, their appeasement of violent criminals, their refusal to condemn movements like Black Lives Matter actively calling for the death of police officers, that type of thing, all the while blaming police for the problems of this country has directly led to the climate that has made Dallas possible.”

I agree.

In just the same way that unjust anti-Semitic anti-Zionist rhetoric tends to result in the murder of Jews, so anti-cop rhetoric from Left organizations like BlackLivesMatter tends to result in dead cops.

This notion that white officers are running around the streets of America shooting up young black guys strictly for the hell of it is pernicious, wrong, entirely unjust, and results in violence against those who risk their necks on a daily basis to protect the American citizenry... including black people.

Black Lives Matter

According to a recent study by The National Bureau of Economic Research in a piece entitled, "An Empirical Analysis of Racial Differences in Police Use of Force", by Roland G. Fryer, Jr, the assumptions of BlackLivesMatter and their progressive-left allies are false.

The study did show some differentiation on how police around the country tended to deal with black people versus how they dealt with white people. So, for example, black people were 16 percent more likely to be placed in hand-cuffs upon arrest and 18 percent more likely to be pushed into a wall in the event of resistance.

However we also read this in the New York Times piece examining the story:

But when it comes to the most lethal form of force — police shootings — the study finds no racial bias. (My emphasis.)

“It is the most surprising result of my career,” said Roland G. Fryer Jr., the author of the study and a professor of economics at Harvard. The study examined more than 1,000 shootings in 10 major police departments, in Texas, Florida and California.

All this national chaos and mayhem and marching and rioting and, now, in Dallas, the murder of five innocent cops and for what?

What we are seeing in terms of this vile anti-Semitic anti-Cop movement is not grounded in anything that resembles reality.

What it really is is a chimera; it is the last gasp of 60s radicalism seeking to remain relevant... and innocent people, like those officers in Dallas, will die to feed this hungry ghost from the past.

Michael Lumish is a blogger at the Israel Thrives blog as well as a regular contributor/blogger at Times of Israel and Jews Down Under.

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The universal human right to steal and destroy Israeli cars

Yesterday, Palestinian police arrested 11 people who were allegedly involved in a car theft ring in the village of Tarqumiya west of Hebron.

Residents pelted the police with stones, who responded with tear gas and with firing live rounds into the air. Scores of cars were identified as illegal and destroyed.

Two people were injured and went to the hospital, but the police announced that their claims of injuries were lies. However, they assured citizens that they would investigate any claims of ill-treatment.

We are always assured that when Israeli forces use tear gas or injure rioting Palestinians that there is no possible justification for it. The rioters are simply protesters who have every right to express their opinions and Israeli security forces must not respond.

But we see that Palestinians respond violently even when trying to stop police from arresting common car thieves. The police respond with live fire and tear gas and by assaulting the rioters.

Is stealing cars a new human right? Do Palestinian police have the right to arrest car thieves and to respond to stone throwing with tear gas and riot dispersal methods? Because from reading the media, Israeli authorities certainly don't have that right.

91 illegal vehicles were destroyed in the same village only last month, meaning that Tarqumiya is known as a center for stealing cars, which must be a large source of income for the residents. This is why they riot at arresting their citizens - crime is the backbone of their village. No doubt they would blame the "occupation" if any Western reporter would bother to ask them about this.

Where do they steal these cars from?

This photo of Palestinian authorities destroying the cars shows the answer.

The license plate shows that it is an Israeli car being destroyed.

Instead of returning the vehicles to the Israeli owners, the Palestinian authority routinely destroys them.

Because in this whole litany of human rights as practiced by Palestinians, there may be a right to steal Israeli cars, and there may be a right to assault those who protest crackdowns on the stolen car ring. But the only people whom everyone agrees have no rights whatsoever are Israeli car owners.

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The Guardian correction that reveals the antisemitism of the Left

A correction at an article in The Guardian:

This article was amended on 15 July 2016 to reduce from 840 to 240 the reported number of newly approved Jewish homes in East Jerusalem. The difference, 600 newly approved Arab homes in the neighbourhood of Beit Safafa, had been mistakenly included in the total of new Jewish homes.

(This correction was prompted by UK Media Watch.)

With a stroke of a pen, 600 "illegal Jewish settlements" approved by the Israeli government turned into 600 well-deserved homes for Arabs in Jerusalem.

Even though they are also across the Green Line.

All of the new housing is in what would be considered "East Jerusalem" by the UN, EU, US and Palestinians.

Al Jazeera tried to hide that fact by calling the location of the homes "southern Jerusalem," while Jewish neighborhoods in the northern and southern parts of Jerusalem are routinely considered as to be in "east Jerusalem" because "east Jerusalem" implies "illegal."

UPI called it " a neighborhood within Jerusalem, bordering East Jerusalem."

All of this hand-waving is meant to hide the simple fact that according to the international community, the only thing that makes new housing "illegal" is if the intended residents are Jewish. (Israeli Arabs can and do move to new homes in Jerusalem across the Green Line without anyone calling them "illegal settlers.")

If international law says that Jews, and only Jews, cannot live in these homes, then international law is antisemitic.

Since that is impossible, this reveals the reality that the interpretation of international law that allows Israel to build houses for Arabs in the exact same area that Jews are not allowed is what is antisemitic.

Not anti-Zionist: antisemitic.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

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