Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

The Arab world has an empathy problem (Forest Rain)

The Arab world has an empathy problem.

Yes. I said it.

Don't jump on me, hear me out. This is not about being derogatory to an entire culture, this is about a little discussed but very dangerous trend that is effecting the entire world.

Yes. This is a generalization. Again - this is NOT about individuals, it's about a culture.

To clarify (because many people find this confusing):
Not all Arabs are Muslim, there are Arab Christians too. In addition, not all Muslims are Arabs; for example the Muslims in Iran, Indonesia and Africa (who are converts to Islam). Arab culture stems from Islamic domination but is not consigned only to people of Muslim faith. There is an empathy problem in the Arab world. People of Arab decent raised in Western cultures will have more difficulty identifying with what I am writing. Looking to the Middle East (and ideology exported from the Middle East) things become more clear.

Empathy: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. To be moved by the joy of another, to feel someone else's pain. A word seldom used, an idea seldom discussed... where does empathy come from? What happens when it is missing?

Nature abhors a vacuum. Where there is a lack of empathy, something else will enter the void and take its place.

In recent years it has become impossible to ignore the violence that seems to permeate the Arab world. 9/11, 7/7 and an ever increasing list of terror attacks have brought Arab violence in to focus: violence against women, animals, gays and the handicapped – violence against anyone weak. 'Honor killings,' fathers killing their own daughters, sons killing their own mothers in the name of 'honor'. Violence against Christians, Jews… Muslims killing Muslims that are not the right kind of Muslim. Muslims killing Muslims, killing their own neighbors. Trading in slaves. Terrorism: Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Al Qaeda, ISIS, Jabat Al Nusra, Boko Haram, Al Shabab, Hezbollah, Hizbut Tahrir… Did I miss anyone?

Even the most politically correct amongst us have difficulty explaining it away: "its workplace violence," "because poverty," "because Israel." None of these often postulated "reasons" stand up under scrutiny. Others, knowing there is no excusing the inexcusable, often go to the other extreme, saying that the solution is to ban all Arabs (i.e. all Muslims). There are those who add all kinds of unhelpful descriptions, the most popular being "monsters" and "in-human animals".

None of this does any good. In fact it is exactly the opposite: BOTH attitudes create a lot of damage. Turning a blind eye to atrocities does not make them go away. Defining people as monsters is equally damaging. Monsters can only be expected to behave in a monstrous fashion.

The true horror is that we are talking about people. It is people that are hurting other people (and animals) in atrocious, sickening ways.

The real question is: how can people commit acts of unspeakable violence and cruelty?

And the very politically incorrect but oh so crucial question: Why are atrocious acts so common in Arab society?

How could 17 year old, Muhammad Tarayra, sneak in to Hallel Yaffa Ariel's bedroom, look at the sleeping 13 year old and think it reasonable, even honorable, to slit her throat? How could his mother declare that she is proud that her son is a murderer?

How? Why?

It is not enough to say: "hatred flamed by incitement". There is something sacred about the life of a person. It takes an enormous void, a deep darkness inside to get to the point where it feels right to take the life of a child. Something is terribly wrong with the mother that rejoices in the death of her son, rejoices that he ripped away the life of someone else's child.

Neither saw Hallel as a person. To them, no life is sacred. Not hers or their own. There is no horror in slaughtering a child in her own bed. That was only a means to an end and thus both justifiable and praiseworthy.

This is not the existence of hatred for hatred burns itself out. Hatred can be transformed in to love – both are strong emotions, passions that are flipsides of the same coin. This is the lack of emotion, the inability to identify with emotions – not Hallel's, nor those of the people who loved her or even their own.

Empathy starts with small things. Early in life.

I have Arab friends (does that surprise you?). They are good, decent people. They aren't terrorist or violent, they are just normal people trying to live normal lives. With all that, it was in their home that I recognized the empathy problem.

A small incident connected the dots for me, something most people would probably overlook. It happened when they were playing with their grandson.

Their first grandson, a boy named after the grandfather, is a source of extreme pride and joy. They love the boy very much, spoil him rotten and would do practically anything for him.

I watched the grandmother take the grandson, a toddler about one year old, lift him high in the air and then roll him down her chest in a kind of summersault. The grandmother was laughing at the game she invented. The baby, frightened by the height and being turned upside-down began to cry. She knew it was just a game, nothing bad would happen so she continued – up in the air, flip upside-down, laughing while he cried.

The grandmother, did not feel the fear of her beloved grandson. A woman who would never purposely hurt this child in any way, scared him and laughed while he cried. She could not feel his pain. She had no empathy for him.

This is just a tiny incident but it is one amongst countless incidents in a life. A message from the people closest to this child, the people who will be the most influential in forming his personality.

If the people closest to him do not recognize his pain, if they laugh when he cries, what will he learn?

If, when he grows a bit older, he hurts an animal and it cries out in pain, will it be so strange for him to respond by laughing? (This too, I have seen far too many times.)

When he grows up and gets married, if he hurts his wife, emotionally or physically and she cries, how will he respond? Will it be strange if he does not see a reason to reach out in compassion?

Remember, this is a good family. A kind and decent family. What happens in families that are cruel and violent? In families that pro-actively support violent activities?

Most people are focusing on the manifestations of violence. I think we should take a good hard look at their source. Understanding the cause is the beginning of the solution.

It's all about empathy.

It begins with small incidents, very early in life. The void created by the lack of empathy is an open door, beckoning for violence to enter. The problem begins small but it is like a vacuum in space that pulls everything in to it. Light does not shine in the vacuum, everything implodes inwards.

The Arab world has an empathy problem. A big problem. And we are all suffering from the consequences.

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07/19 Links Pt1: Israel’s Counterterrorism Lessons for Europe; ISIS, Nazism and Iraq destruction

From Ian:

Ron Prosor: Israel’s Counterterrorism Lessons for Europe

As the terrorist threat evolves, so, too, must our response. In Nice, the use of a truck as the murder weapon shows how terrorism is constantly developing new ways to inflict mass casualties.
Israel has bitter experience of this. The method of attack is painfully familiar. Since October, 44 terrorist attacks have used motor vehicles as a weapon against Israelis.
In recent months, a new generation of terrorists radicalized on social media has launched more than 300 attacks in Israel using knives, guns and vehicles. Palestinian social media, and sometimes even official media, have published a flood of material glorifying the knife and the car as a weapon. The same is true of the jihadist groups murdering civilians in France and elsewhere around the world.
In this digital age, terror cannot be met with an analog response. We need to keep up, and Israel has experience and expertise to share.
Critics complain that such defensive actions compromise civil liberties and feed an atmosphere of fear. Yet the threat cannot be wished away, not when the ultimate civil liberty—the right to life without fear of death—is under attack. Preserving these freedoms and civil liberties while responding to terror is a challenge for any country, especially a democracy.
In an age when the internet has turned yesterday’s disturbed loner into today’s radicalized sleeper cell, social-media companies must also take responsibility and play a role.
Muslim, Christian and Jew must be engaged in the defeat of terrorism. Cooperation already takes place under the radar between Israel, Western countries and Arab states. In a fight that is as much a war of propaganda as it is of weapons, the open involvement of Arab and Muslim countries would send a powerful and timely message.

ISIS, Nazism and Iraq destruction

There was a clear progression in intolerance and mass murder leading to ISIS in Iraq. This is similar to how everyday anti-semitism and hatred of Jews helped lay the foundations for mass society accepting Nazism. The ability of many in places like Mosul to turn their backs on persecutions of their neighbors in 2014, is also similar to the way many people were quiet collaborators with Nazism.
There is also quiet collaboration in Western countries.
When I posted a video over the weekend of a peshmerga firing a sniper rifle at ISIS positions, one American intellectual commented that it was “imperialism.” Imperialism to defend against ISIS? To defend minorities, women, to fight against intolerance? There has been a quiescence in almost all wealthy western states to the mass murder and cleansing of minorities in northern Iraq. There are no student movements protesting for these minorities, not one protest, or college-student-led campaign to aid the victims. More than 5,000 Europeans are estimated to have traveled to join ISIS, which is more than ever protested against ISIS. Perhaps that reminds us of so many who willingly joined the Nazis as collaborators in the war, and the few who took up arms as partisans.
It is marvelous that Kurds were able to blunt the ISIS blitzkrieg in 2014. But it is an enduring tragedy that Iraq has been permanently altered and its diverse fabric destroyed in these two short years.
It is unlikely it will recover, even if some minorities return. There is no humanitarian plan for aiding these people, rebuilding their villages, restoring their temples and monuments. It illustrates that while you can defeat genocidal groups, such as what happened in Rwanda or Cambodia, you can never return what was lost.

On Lebanon war anniversary, PM vows ‘iron fist’ response to attacks

Israel will offer a “powerful response” if it is attacked by terror groups Hezbollah or Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Tuesday at a ceremony marking 10 years since the Second Lebanon War.
Netanyahu described the 2006 war as “a clash between an extremist terror organization with an Islamist ideology and a free democratic Israel.”
“We are in a global battle. We are aware of the nature of the threats we face, and are preparing for any scenario,” he said at a ceremony at the Mount Herzl military cemetery.
Hezbollah and Hamas, he said, “have established forward bases of Iran on our border. Everything that has happened in the Middle East in recent years is part of the same trend: radical Islamic terror that seeks to shatter liberty and culture with its sword thrusts.
“This terror strikes not only Sarona or Otniel — it strikes in Paris and Nice, Brussels and Orlando. We are in a global campaign. Just as we are well aware of the character of the threats, so we are preparing for every contingency.”

Oxfam cooks the books, credits Palestinians for hosting 2,000,000 refugees

Oxfam has a new report on how Western nations aren't doing enough to address the worldwide refugee crisis.

The responsibility for providing refugees with shelter, food and health care, as well as jobs and education, is falling disproportionately on poorer countries, which are often struggling to meet the needs of their own people or are at risk of compromising their own stability.

The world’s six richest countries, which make up more than half the global economy, host just 8.88 percent of the world’s refugees and asylum seekers. Among these countries Germany alone hosts over 736,000 people, while the US, UK, France, China and Japan are hosting the remaining 1.4 million between them.

In sharp contrast, half the world’s refugees and asylum seekers – almost 12 million people – are hosted by Jordan, Turkey, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Pakistan, Lebanon and South Africa, whose economies collectively account for less than two percent of the world’s total.

Here are the numbers they give:

These numbers are completely distorted by the addition of Palestinian "refugees."

The "refugees" in the West Bank and Gaza are not refugees by any sane definition, since they are living in the same land from which they are supposedly refugees from.

The vast majority of the "refugees" in Jordan - over two million - are Palestinian citizens of Jordan!

200,000 of the Palestinian refugees supposedly in Lebanon do not exist, and the rest are descendants of refugees - although Lebanon treats them exceptionally poorly.

Oxfam had some reason to fudge the numbers to include refugees who aren't refugees. If you would remove the 5 million fake Palestinian refugees from the calculations, then the number of refugees hosted by these six poor states (and quasi-states) goes down from nearly 12 million to around 7 million,

This doesn't really explain Oxfam's decision to include Palestinian "refugees" in the report, though.

The latest UNHCR trends report, from mid-2015, already lists the top host countries of real refugees - and they are mostly still poor countries: (note how the numbers in Jordan and Lebanon compare with Oxfam's numbers:)

Oxfam could have made its point about poor countries bearing the brunt of hosting the bulk of refugees without adding the fake UNRWA refugees.

Apparently, Oxfam wants to build a halo around Palestinians and act as if they are some kind of humanitarian powerhouse for being so magnanimous in allowing their own people to live in their land until they figure out a way to destroy Israel.

Using UNHCR's figures, the percentage of refugees hosted by the six richest countries goes from 9% to 14%. They could have made the point they wanted to make with the real numbers but the fake Palestinian "refugees" juice up their statistics.

At the very least, this exposes how NGOs are more than willing to fudge statistics, knowing full well that the news media will blindly accept their figures.

(h/t Gastwirt)

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The EU Observer reports:

EU states, in an internal report drafted last year, have said the outbreak of Palestinian knife and car-ramming attacks against Israelis in Jerusalem is due, in large part, to Israel’s occupation.

The report, drafted and endorsed in December 2015 by all the EU countries that have embassies in Jerusalem and Ramallah, said the Temple Mount developments were the “proximate cause” for the upsurge in violence that began after summer last year.

But it said the “heart of the matter” was “the Israeli occupation since 1967 and a long-standing policy of political, economic and social marginalisation of Palestinians in Jerusalem”.

Both the "proximate cause" and the "heart of the matter" are utter rubbish.

There had been no changes whatsoever on the Temple Mount and no plans at all for any changes.

The Jerusalem municipality has been pouring money into the Arab sectors of the town - housing, schools and infrastructure - for years.

However, the idea that Jews are responsible for Arabs deciding to murder Jews is just too attractive for supposedly sophisticated Europeans to pass up. After all, any "objective" inquiry must ask the Arabs why they are discontented, and they will always get a long list of perceived injustices that justify murdering Jews.

The fatal assumption is that this list has a basis in truth.

If you look at history, however, you can see many excuses given for Arab violence by similar committees.

In 1921 in Jaffa, "Arab men bearing clubs, knives, swords, and some pistols broke into Jewish buildings and murdered their inhabitants, while women followed to loot. They attacked Jewish pedestrians and destroyed Jewish homes and stores. They beat and killed Jews in their homes, including children, and in some cases split open the victims' skulls."

The Haycraft Commission of Inquiry report on the riots said "The fundamental cause of the Jaffa riots and the subsequent acts of violence was a feeling among the Arabs of discontent with, and hostility to, the Jews, due to political and economic causes, and connected with Jewish immigration, and with their conception of Zionist policy as derived from Jewish exponents."

British High Commissioner Herbert Samuel Samuel declared shortly afterwards that Jewish immigration to the region would be allowed "only to the extent that it did not burden the economy." In other words, Jews had to pay the price for being murdered.

In 1929, Arabs again massacred Jewish men, women and children throughout Israel in the most gruesome ways. The Shaw Commission went beyond the Haycraft Commission in blaming Jews for both the "fundamental" and (some of) the "immediate" causes:

The fundamental cause, without which in our opinion disturbances either would not occurred or would not have been little more than a local riot, is the Arab feeling of animosity and hostility towards the Jews consequent upon the disappointment of their political and national aspirations and fear for their economic future. ... The feeling as it exists today is based on the twofold fear of the Arabs that by Jewish immigration and land purchases they may be deprived of their livelihood and in time pass under the political domination of the Jews.

In our opinion the immediate causes of the outbreak were:-
-The long series of incidents connected with the Wailing Wall... These must be regarded as a whole, but the incident among them which in our view contributed most to the outbreak was the Jewish demonstration at the Wailing Wall on 15 August 1929.

Again, the recommendations were to penalize the Jews by limiting both immigration and land purchases, eventually resulting in the disastrous White Paper that sealed the fate of hundreds of thousands of European Jews who had no place to go to save their lives - thanks to Europeans accepting Arab excuses for murdering Jews.

When seen in this context, the secret EU report is part of a century-long European tendency to blame the Jewish victim for having the audacity of wanting to live in a Jewish state. The common denominator is the Arab demand to keep Jews away from having any political power. The Arabs will use any convenient event to justify the outbreak of violence - but the net conclusion by these pompous Europeans in their reports is that Jews must give away all of their political rights, their land and ultimately their right to self-determnation in order to appease the Arabs.

There is no desire by these commissions to go beyond taking Arab complaints at face value. There is no desire to learn from history and see that there is a consistent pattern that is much more expansive than the identified pseudo-root causes.

Above all, there is no desire to tie the Arab demands for Jewish second-class citizenship with the Islamic demand that Jews be always considered humiliated, second-class citizens. "Dhimmis."

Islamic supremacist ideology, combined with traditional Palestinian Christian antisemitism, is the fundamental cause for Arabs wanting to massacre proud, unapologetic Jews, whether it is by sword, dagger, gun or rocket. It is the "heart of the matter." Blaming the "occupation" or "settlements" or the Jewish desire to visit holy places or the placement of a movable partition in the Western Wall on Yom Kippur in 1928 are simply excuses created by Arabs in the service of taking away Jewish human rights. And the Europeans are more than happy to accept their myriad excuses for terror at face value.

All the proof you need to know that "occupation" is not the "heart of the matter" is to read the many pre-1967 British reports recommending that the Jews knuckle under to Arab demands. It didn't appease the Arabs then and it wouldn't appease them now, because the Western world simply does not want to look at the real root cause of Islamic supremacism.

That willful blindness not only affects the Jewish state, but the entire world.

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Hanan Ashrawi's hypocrisy, illustrated

Here is what Hanan Ashrawi said about the terror attacks in Nice:

“The Palestinian leadership and people stand in solidarity with France and remain committed to nonviolence; we are opposed to any acts of extremism or terror targeting innocent civilians.”

Yet Ashrawi's Miftah organization praises suicide bombers:

Palestinian women have also participated in the resistance. As the conflict grew more intense and young men were recruited to carry out military operations against Israeli targets, several young women also decided to join the ranks of the resistance movement. In January 2002, 28-year-old nurse Wafa Idrees, detonated a bomb in Jerusalem’s Jaffa Street, killing one Israeli and injuring 150 others. She was also killed in the blast.

This marked the beginning of a string of Palestinian women dedicated to sacrificing their lives for the cause. Over the next two years, seven other women carried out similar operations, the most deadly of which was carried out by Hanadi Jaradat, a 29-year-old attorney from Jenin. Hanadi detonated explosives strapped to her body in a busy Haifa restaurant, killing 19 Israelis and injuring 50 others.

Miftah also published on its website, without any caveat, a report on the "General Arab Conference to Support the Resistance" which extols suicide bombers by referring to the "Blessed Al Aqsa Intifada."

Miftah condones terror today (cached here):

Resistance in all forms against the armed colonial settlers and the army of occupation is a legitimate form of the struggle for freedom...Suicide bombing is the ultimate cry of help....

13-year old Hillel Yaffe Ariel, murdered in her bedroom, was one of those "armed colonial settlers" Miftah is referring to.

Miftah has also published an article calling terror attacks "a moral duty" - an article that is still on its website today as well: (cache)

Many of our efforts to defy the arbitrary rules of the occupier are reflexively dismissed as “terrorism,” and we are always expected to apologize for and condemn Palestinian resistance—despite the lack of agreement on a definition of terrorism, and the fact that the right to self-determination by armed struggle is permissible under the United Nations Charter’s Article 51, concerning self-defense.

There also is a trend among those who oppose Palestinian resistance to use the term “jihad” as a synonym for terrorism. In doing so, they reduce the meaning of jihad to mere death. Jihad is a rich concept which includes struggling against one’s lesser self, the effort to do good deeds, actively opposing injustice, and being patient in times of hardship. It is not about violence against God’s creatures, or not fearing death in defending the rights of God’s creations. Violence can, however, be a rational human’s means of defense. When a woman reacts violently when threatened with rape, that is a form of jihad.

Moreover, jihad is an Islamic value—and not all Palestinian fighters are Muslims. The reason why young, sincere altruistic Palestinians blow themselves up is a secret they take with them to the grave. Perhaps it is the strange fruit of revenge growing in the fertile soil of oppression and occupation, or their profound protest against merciless cruelty; or a desperate attempt at attaining equality with Israelis in death, since it is impossible for them in life.

Blowing oneself up to kill Jews is poetry.

Even though Miftah says that of course they are against killing innocent civilians, their website sure seems to bend over backwards to make those who do that seem as wonderful as possible.

And this is Hanan Ashrawi's organization, still including these paeans to terrorism on its website three years after I first exposed them.

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EoZTV: Hasby Awards Part 9: William Daroff presents to Alexandra (Lex) Markus

Best Young Defender of Israel award (part 1)

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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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