Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, November 25, 2016

11/25 Links Pt1: Israel on fire — what we know, and what we don’t; They burn, we build

From Ian:

David Horovitz: Israel on fire — what we know, and what we don’t

Since Tuesday, Israel’s firefighters have been battling an escalating wave of wildfires.
Such fires are not uncommon at this time of year, at the end of the long, dry summer, and with seasonal winds capable of quickly whipping up a casually thrown cigarette or a bonfire into a full-scale blaze. But as the number of fires multiplied on Wednesday and Thursday, allegations spread that many of the blazes were being deliberately set. Those claims were confirmed by Israel’s police chief Roni Alsheich, who said on Thursday afternoon that some, though by no means all, of the fires were the result of arson, presumably with a “nationalistic” motivation, he said.
Tellingly, while there were dozens of blazes across Israel on Thursday, in what some experts said was an unprecedented eruption of fire, there were few reports of fires in Jordan, the West Bank or Gaza, where weather conditions are similar.
By Thursday evening, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan was declaring that the situation nationwide was “under control,” but not long after, there were reports of a blaze flaring afresh in the Shaar Hagai area outside Jerusalem, and more fires in the north of the country — underlining that the danger was far from over.
Reports said up to eight people were arrested as suspected arsonists throughout Israel.

They burn, we build

Our land is burning not just because of accidents (and some of the fires were indeed caused by negligence), but also because of the behavior of arsonists who have adopted the wrongful belief: "Let it be neither ours nor yours."
We've had enough of your sweet talk, Joint Arab List Chairman Ayman Odeh. Even now, you continue to say that you are the original natives of this land, and so there is no chance that Arabs would set fire to the country: "The Carmel [Forest] is ours, this is my homeland."
What we see in between the lines of your comments is that we are only guests here. "This is my place; this is my forest; I am the one who is hurt here, not you." Like the thorn bush in the parable of Yotam, you tried to calm things down, but instead added thorns to the fire. Open a Bible and you will find the Carmel Forest starring. Some 1,500 years before the Muslim occupation arrived, it was already the Jewish homeland.
Whether by water, forest fires, the sword of the stabbing attackers; whether by strangulation or stoning or varying, strange terrorist attacks -- we have come to know all of the methods since returning home to Zion. In the Judgment of Solomon, the king ordered the baby be cut in two and shared between the fighting women. Let us remember the words of the fake mother: "Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him" (1 Kings 3:26).
But we are not only well-versed in disasters; we know well how to rise from the ashes and from the dust. They burn and we build, that is, after all, the fixed historical contract. Haifa and the Carmel Forest will be rehabilitated; the same is true for Nataf in the Jerusalem Hills and for Talmon in the Judean Hills, as well as for other places. The good land will flourish once again, despite those who rise up against it.

The calling of a firefighter

This is the essence of a firefighter's job. It is no ordinary job -- it is a calling. Being a firefighter means knowing that at any given moment, whether you are on a shift or at home, you may be called up. Being a firefighter means working nights, weekends and holidays -- when the whole country is at home. Being a firefighter means running into places that other people are escaping from. Running into the unknown. Being a firefighter means seeing tough sights, hearing screams from people who are trapped, smelling the scent of death.
But being a firefighter, more than anything, is knowing that people's lives depend only on you, that there is no one else who will do the job.
My firefighter friends have spent the last three days at a wide range of fires and other incidents. We fought to save lives. We fought to save property, and we are still fighting to save the nature and beauty of the land of Israel. For three days in a row, with almost no rest, we have been going from fire to fire, answering every call, even when we are tired, even when we have already finished our shifts, even when it seems near impossible to stop the fire due to strong winds. We do not give up. And despite the force and the danger of the fire, we win battle after battle, because we know that our loss would mean lives cut short and property burned.
And you citizens of Israel, it is important for you to know that we are here for you. Whenever you call -- we will come. Whenever you scream for help -- we will hear. We are here all year, even when we are not in the headlines, even when there are no major fires. We are here to save a baby from a burning building, or to rescue a passenger trapped by a car accident. We understand the great responsibility, and we will try not to disappoint you.

Another historic Palestinian Arab leader who admired Hitler

Awni Bey Abdel-Hadi was a major Palestinian Arab leader in the 1930s. He famously told the Peel Commission, "There is no such country [as Palestine].... Palestine is a term the Zionists invented.... Our country was for centuries part of Syria."

He was involved in the 1936-39 Arab riots in Palestine and because of that the British apparently locked him up at the Sarafand camp (later known as Tzrifin.)

From the Palestine Post, February 8, 1937.

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The PLO's '"Committee to Communicate with Israeli Society"

Part of the Fatah platform from its previous conference in 2009 calls for:

Restoring our direct and strong relations with the Israeli peace camp, and revitalizing our joint action for a just peace, without mingling it with normalization with Israel, which is rejected while occupation continues.

In other words, trying to divide Israeli society.

Fatah actually acted on this plan. The PLO created a "Committee to Communicate with Israeli Society," in 2012, headed by Muhammad al-Madani.

The committee caused some controversy because it was viewed as being a type of normalization. The PLO responds by saying that this is purely political. One official said that the committee is meant to "change this Israeli perception of the Palestinians, and try to exploit the political differences" within Israel and to "change the opinion of the Israeli voter" in any future elections. It is very much against any joint cultural or sports programs with Israelis - it is purely a one-way propaganda outfit, not a call for dialogue.

The committee has had limited success. This week, the committee arranged a meeting between Mahmoud Abbas and some unnamed leftist Israelis of Iraqi descent. Abbas said that as people who understand Arab culture, they could be key in bringing peace to the region.
.

It seems likely that one of those Iraqi Jews is Dr. Shmuel Moreh, a professor emeritus for Arabic Language and Literature at the Hebrew University and a recipient of the Israel Prize in Middle Eastern studies in 1999. He has met previously with Abbas, as recently as April, along with a delegation of Iraqi Jews. He wrote about it in an Arab newspaper.

There can't be that many leftist Israeli Iraqi Jews so chances are the Committee is recycling whoever they can find.

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Fatah realizes that celebrating fires looks really bad

Fatah issued a statement yesterday warning Palestinians not to celebrate the fires on social media.

Munir Aljagub, head of Fatah's media committee, says that it is irresponsible to give the impression that Palestinians are "dancing on the flames."

Which is of course exactly what they are doing.

After all, the statement says, the trees and stones that are burning are "Palestinian." And Netanyahu is well aware of the sanctity of the land to Palestinians as he accuses them of setting some of the fires, according to Aljagub. It is him that is politicizing the fires, not the Arabs who set some of them or the thousands of Arabs who have publicly celebrated the destruction.

The statement called on Palestinian Arabs to show "historical responsibility" and not to use language and terminology that could expose them to accusations of not loving the land they are celebrating is being destroyed.

I can show them a bit about historical responsibility.

Arabs clearly didn't get the memo. For example, prominent Arab singer Ahlam al Shamsi - with over 7 million followers on Twitter - tweeted joy for the fires, hoping that that the flames "rip to shreds" the Israelis and showing dancing emojis.

She's one of many Arab celebrities who celebrated the fires.

Or this tweet, shared nearly a thousand times, celebrating a distraught Israeli woman who wants to run into her house that is aflame because her dog is inside.

#اسراييل_تحترق
اللهم نار لا تخمد ولا تنطفئ حتى تأكل أخضرهم
واليابس،ولا تبقِ منهم أحداً ولا تذر..#الكيان_الصهيوني_يحترق #إسرائيل_تحترق pic.twitter.com/3E9t4T8Yca
— العراب (@al3raabq8q8) November 24, 2016

Notice that Fatah is not saying that it is wrong to celebrate the misfortunes of Israelis because it is immoral to be happy at the tragedies of others. The spokesman is simply saying that it looks bad to the world to publicly cheer the fires.

By the way, a two year old Arab child died in a house fire near Ramallah today. No one in Israel is celebrating.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

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David Shambadal's poem responding to Arabs burning forests, right before Arabs murdered him in 1936

David Shambadal was an electrician who went to a cafe in Jaffa to fix the lights on April 19, 1936.

He was hacked to pieces by a group of Arabs upon arrival.

Right before he was murdered, Shambadal left a message for us, today.

A few hours before his death, Shambadal wrote a stirring poem. His poem was a response to Arabs setting forests on fire and uprooting trees.

From the Bnai Brith Messenger, August 14, 1936:

But April 1936 was only the beginning of Arabs using fire as a weapon against Jews.

Arab terrorists didn't just come up with the idea of setting fires. They've been doing it a long time. But the biggest spree of arson occurred in 1936.

From JTA, April 29, 1936:

From JTA, May 6, 1936:

Palcor news agency, May 29, 1936:

Palestine Post, May 31, 1936:

Palestine Post, July 1, 1936:

Now, who loves the land - and who wants to burn it?

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11/24 Links Pt2: Why Are Palestinian Refugees Different From All Others?; Hezbollah Turkeys for Thanksgiving?

From Ian:

Shurat Hadin: International Criminal Court is useless

Shurat Hadin president Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, who is active in defending Israel from international charges of war crimes and has taken the initiative in successfully suing Arab sponsors of terror that affected US citizens,, responded to the Palestinian complaint to the Hague International Criminal Court (ICC) regarding the Gaza blockade.
The ICC accepted the Palestinian Authority, calling it "Palestine" although its members are supposed to be independent countries. Israel and six other countries never ratified the founding treaty of the court, but Israel responded that if the so-called country of "Palestine" could sue Israel now that it is an ICC member, Israel could sue the PA for human rights violations as well.
Darshan-Leitner said that "It's outrageous and cynical that the Palestinians have filed complaints against Israel in the international criminal court. The Palestinians fired thousands of deadly rockets into Israeli civilian neighborhoods trying to murder innocent Jews, and now they run to the Hague pretending that they are victims of war crimes.
"This proves how dangerous and useless the International criminal court really is.
"Recently Russia and several African countries announced that they are withdrawing their ICC membership because they saw how ineffective the court really is. The court is another failed European initiative and should be dismantled.

Thanksgiving: Butterball Turkey Shareholder Investigated for Ties to Hezbollah

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating a Kansas-based international food company that owns a 50 percent stake in Butterball, one of the largest turkey producers in the United States, for alleged ties to Shiite Iran’s narco-terrorist proxy Hezbollah, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has learned.
In central Africa, a subsidiary of the U.S. company Seaboard Corporation has reportedly done millions of dollars of business with a company linked to the Tajideen family from Lebanon, which has been accused of providing substantial financial support to the Shiite terrorist group Hezbollah.
WSJ explains:
The Justice Department, as part of a broad criminal probe, is investigating whether Kansas-based Seaboard Corp. tried to mask wheat-flour sales to firms linked to a Lebanese businessman and his family in the years after he and two brothers were put on the government’s terror blacklist in 2009 and 2010.
The brothers have allegedly given tens of millions of dollars to Hezbollah, the Shiite militant group backed by Iran, U.S. officials said. Penalties for companies working with anyone on the list range from fines to prison under laws intended to starve terror groups of cash to carry out attacks.
The Lebanese businessman has been identified as 61-year-old Kassim Tajideen. He has been added to the U.S. terror list since the spring of 2009. At the time, Kassim and his brothers operated “cover companies” for Hezbollah in Africa and provided the terrorist group with financial support.

Why Are Palestinian Refugees Different From All Others?

The answer lies in the 1979 Resolution itself. The Resolution states that “measures to resettle Palestinian refugees away from their homes and property from which they were displaced constitute a violation of their inalienable right of return.”
The “right of return” is the Palestinians’ claim that they have the right to return to their pre-1948 abodes. It is a highly debatable “right” — not least because it is based on a UN resolution that the Arabs rejected. And why did everyone criticize Israel 40 years ago? Because if the Palestinian refugees would settle in comfortable living quarters, then they may not want to return to their original villages. In the eyes of the “supporters” of the Palestinians at the UN, the Palestinians have the right of return to their original homes, but are forbidden to move anywhere else.
This absurd resolution cuts to the heart of how Palestinian refugees are different from all other refugees in the world. In the case of the latter, the focus of international organizations is humanitarian and social; the statute of the UNHCR, the UN body that deals with all refugees, explicitly states that its goals are not political. But with the Palestinians, the social and humanitarian needs of refugees and their children are of secondary importance, with the political goals being more important. If helping improve Palestinians’ lives harms the claim of a “right of return” and weakens the Palestinians’ claims against Israel — then the political goals win, and Palestinians must stay in camps for decades.
It is their goal for there to be more and more Palestinian refugees each year. For other refugees, wealthy Arab countries can offer generous amounts of money to alleviate the situation. And because the Palestinians’ refugee status has become politicized, there is no incentive for countries to do the very simple task of building permanent homes for them.
To this day, Western media will report on the squalid conditions of the Palestinian refugee camps — and indeed the conditions that many Palestinians experience in these camps are terrible. But November 23 is the time to remember why their situation has not improved. Arab leaders have always treated Palestinian refugees as a political, rather than a humanitarian issue, and have placed political attacks against Israel above the welfare of the Palestinian people.

Will Majed Faraj become Mahmoud Abbas' heir apparent?

Next week is the Seventh Fatah Conference, which many assume will be where 82-year old Mahmoud Abbas will finally choose a vice president and heir apparent.

Among the names being bandied about, like Saeb Erekat and the jailed terrorist Marwan Barghouti, is Majid Faraj, head of Palestinian General Intelligence Services, who is a frontrunner, according to some articles.

The best backgrounder on Faraj comes from Grant Rumley in this 2014 article when he was first touted as a possible Abbas successor:

Faraj’s rise has been nothing short of meteoric. Upon assuming the mantle of head of the Palestinian General Intelligence Services in 2009, he quickly gained Abbas’s trust and confidence. During John Kerry’s latest peace talks, this manifested itself in a more diplomatic form. In October of last year, Mohammad Shtayyeh, the first Palestinian to meet the Israelis at Madrid in 1991 and a perennial negotiator, resigned from the two-man negotiations team with Saeb Erekat. In his place, Abbas replaced Shtayyeh with his intelligence chief. From all accounts, Faraj was a pragmatic negotiator, earning the respect of the Israelis and Americans at the meetings.

Faraj maintains his mystique by refusing to speak with many reporters and journalists. But those around him are less media-shy. According to Amir Tibon and Ben Birnbaum, who penned the tell-all exposé of the latest talks, there might not be another official with as much of Abbas’s trust than Faraj. This type of relationship lends itself naturally to rumors that Abbas is grooming Faraj to succeed him.

Faraj has the credentials to hang with the big boys. Born and raised in the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem, Faraj has been a tried-and-true member of Fatah since childhood. He rose in the youth movement of the party during his time in university, where he cut his teeth as an organizer at Al Quds Open University. A prominent fixture in the Fatah youth shabiba movement, Faraj is often credited as one of the local leaders of the first intifada, a position that has had him imprisoned multiple times by Israel. At the onset of the Oslo Process, Faraj entered the Palestinian Preventive Security Services, eventually climbing through the ranks to become the Bethlehem division head in the heady days of the second intifada. By 2009, he was tapped to head the entire intelligence bureau.

The intelligence field has traditionally been a launch pad into the Palestinian political arena. ...

A man like Faraj, with the trust of Mahmoud Abbas, the respect of the Americans and Israelis, and the benefit of having a disproportionate amount of information on almost every political player in the West Bank, could position himself very well in the future.

Faraj made headlines when he agreed to be interviewed earlier this year by Defense News, and he said that his intelligence services foiled 200 terror attacks against Israel.

Maj. Gen. Majid Faraj is the powerful head of Abbas’ Mukhabarat, or General Intelligence Service. Born in the Dehaishe refugee camp to – in his words – “a very basic family,” Faraj rose through the ranks as a soldier in the shadows, first in the Tanzim, the armed wing of the PLO and then in the Palestinian Authority’s Preventive Security Organization (PSO) formed in the aftermath of the 1993 Oslo Accords.

Unlike Erekat, Faraj is not media-savvy. He doesn’t grant on-the-record interviews; this is a first, he says.

You’ll find no Wikipedia pages on the man who, by his account, “spent many years in Israeli jails like my brothers” before becoming a PSO commander of the Bethlehem district and then head of military intelligence.

Faraj's father was killed by Israeli forces in 2002, at the age of 62, in an operation triggered by a spate of suicide bombings throughout Israel. “He was shot in Bethlehem when he went to buy milk and bread,” Faraj recounted. “They thought he was carrying a bomb.”

Faraj, too, warns that creeping religious extremism poses a clear and present danger, not only to the PA, but to Jordan and ultimately Israel. According to Faraj’s assessment, more than 90 percent of Palestinians reject the extremism of Daesh, al-Qaida and the Nusra Front; a rejection he attributes in large part to Abbas.

“Now the number of Palestinians supporting them is very marginal, and this is a success of Abu Mazen. He changed the culture,” Faraj says. “But if Daesh or other extremist groups decide to fight Israel, they will find sympathy in the Arab street.”

As the PA’s man responsible for interlocution with American, European, regional and global intelligence and security leaders, Faraj is closely tracking the spread of regional radicalization. “Daesh is on our border; they are here with their ideology; and they are looking to find a suitable platform to establish their base. Therefore, we must prevent a collapse here, because the alternative is anarchy, violence and terrorism,” he warns.

“We, together with our counterparts in the Israeli security establishment, with the Americans and others, are all trying to prevent that collapse. The experts all know that in case of collapse, everybody will get hurt ... They’re already in Iraq, Syria, Sinai, Lebanon and Jordan, but Ramallah, Amman and Tel Aviv must remain immune from them.”

Faraj, like Erekat, insists the PA is acting in its own interests and is not doing Israel any favors by its adherence to nonviolent resistance. “We are sure that violence, radicalization and terrorism will hurt us. It won’t bring us closer to achieving our dream of a Palestinian state,” says Faraj.

Aside from the immediate threat of Hamas and other extremist groups opposed to the PLO-controlled PA policies, Faraj views security coordination as a bridge that can sustain a decent atmosphere until the politicians go back to serious talks.

He insists that since October, PA intelligence and security forces have prevented 200 attacks against Israelis, confiscated weapons and arrested about 100 Palestinians – claims that were not rejected out of hand, but could not be confirmed by the Israeli military.

But unlike Erekat, who questions the continued benefit of security coordination and fears it is serving merely as a cover for continued occupation, Faraj is a self-described fighter.

“We fought for many decades in a different way; and now we are fighting for peace … So I will continue fighting to keep this bridge against radicalization and violence that should lead us to our independence,” Faraj says.

That interview caused an uproar by Palestinians upset that the intelligence service was stopping youth from murdering Israelis, and some analysts felt that it might hurt his chances to advance his career.

It is far from certain that Abbas will anoint Faraj, but you may be hearing a lot more about him in the next couple of weeks.

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Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

Some years ago I was in New York for my brother’s wedding. On Shabbat we went to a convenient synagogue (a Chabad shul), and the rabbi held a little study session before the service. The subject was parashat ki tetse, and in particular he talked about the part that explains what you should do when you take a beautiful woman captive in war.

In the context of a world where enslavement and rape of captive women was standard operating procedure, the Torah (Deut. 10.10 – 10.14) demands  a  different form of behavior. Before having relations with her, her captor is required to take her into his house for a month, and not before the end of that time, marry her. She is to cut her nails and hair (presumably to reduce her superficial attractiveness) and is given time to mourn relatives that were killed in the battle. If he decides that he doesn’t want to marry her, he must set her free; he is not permitted to enslave or sell her.

Possibly this is not a 21^st century feminist position, but it was extraordinarily progressive in biblical times. It clearly prevents the use of rape as a weapon, which is unfortunately quite common today in conflicts around the world.

I admit that I don’t remember exactly what the Chabad rabbi said that day, but I’m sure he did not say that the Torah condones rape in wartime, as Rabbi Eyal Karim, the nominee for the post of Chief Rabbi of the IDF has been accused of saying.

Rabbi Karim was asked in 2002 (Hebrew link) whether it was acceptable to rape a non-Jewish woman in wartime. The question clearly referred to “rape” and asked whether the opinion of “some sages” that one could skip the month-long procedure found in the Torah was correct.  The question was clear, but unfortunately Karim’s answer was not. He explained the reasons that war was a special situation, and gave examples of things that were permitted during war – consuming non-kosher food or wine – that were normally forbidden. He continued that relations with non-Jewish women were in this category, under the conditions that they are allowed.

The problem is, what conditions are these? Did he mean the month-long waiting period as prescribed by the Torah? Was he saying that the special situation of wartime was such that a soldier could have relations with a non-Jewish woman – normally forbidden – if he took her home and married her a month later? Or did he mean that the “some sages” who said the waiting period could be skipped were correct? He did not elucidate.

I want to note at this point, that he did not say that a woman could be raped to satisfy the soldiers’ evil inclination, as his statement was maliciously mistranslated by Ynet.

After reading and rereading the question and his answer numerous times, I concluded that his answer was either a boilerplate response that did not speak to the actual question, or a deliberately vague answer to evade a question whose direct answer he knew would be politically unpalatable.

Ten years later (2012), after his remarks were noted and created a furor, he issued a clarification (Hebrew link), in which he at last said unequivocally that rape in battle was forbidden, and referred to the month-long procedure described in the Torah.

Although in the context of the original question, I would have to interpret his initial answer as suggesting that rape in war is in fact permissible, the clarification establishes that either he did not intend this at first, or that does not believe it now.

I must also note that even if he had not issued the clarification, there are other mitigating arguments in his favor. For one, many of the harsh pronouncements in the Torah have been canceled by the rabbis throughout the years; who stones a disobedient son or tortures a woman suspected of adultery today? And there is a difference between biblical exegesis and practical advice: soldiers do not take prisoners of war home and marry them.

Fast forward to July 2016, when Rabbi Karim was selected to become the new Chief Rabbi of the IDF. Objections were raised to his appointment on the basis of this and other statements he made that were deemed misogynistic or biased against sexual-preference or gender minorities. But Karim satisfied (the secular) Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot that his opinions on these subjects were acceptable for an IDF rabbi, and the Defense Minister agreed. After all, we are talking about an Orthodox rabbi, not a social activist.

But that wasn’t enough for the anti-religious Left, as personified by the Meretz party. They petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court to stop Karim from being sworn in on Wednesday, and the court agreed and issued an unprecedented injunction delaying his appointment “pending an affidavit from Karim on his past and current views on wartime rape and the role of women in the military.” The Court actually believes it has the right to define and enforce correct thought – in a rabbi no less!

The army acquiesced and canceled the swearing-in ceremony.

The Court, which in essence appoints its own justices and is not accountable to any other body, accepts no limits on what it can adjudicate. It does not require a petitioner to have standing (that is, he or she doesn’t have to be directly affected by the case). In short, anyone, any time, can ask the Court to take action about almost anything. And the Court isn’t shy about taking action.

The Left, having been emasculated at the ballot box, now uses the Court to achieve its aims. Recently it controversially stuck its nose into diverse issues like the proposal to develop offshore natural gas resources, a law to regulate foreign-funded NGOs, and a proposed law to compensate Arabs with claims to land on which parts of Jewish settlements stand. In every case it leaned leftward.

But interfering with the appointment of an IDF rabbi on the basis of his opinions is something new entirely.

Nobody wants to directly challenge the Supreme Court and appear to be opposed to the rule of law and the independent  judiciary, two pillars of democracy. But the Left and their legal allies may have gone too far this time. If the court can interfere in the appointment of a rabbi by the Chief of Staff, what else can it interfere in? Should it have a veto over other military appointments? Next it will decide to replace the Prime Minister!

The State Attorney’s Office said on Tuesday that the Court has no ground on which to intervene in this appointment. But there are no rules except the ones the Court makes for itself.

What is needed is a Basic Law that defines the functions and powers of the Court. Such a law should specify a way of selecting the justices so that they will represent more than one narrow ideological segment of Israeli society. It must include appropriate checks and balances so that the Court can’t become a dictator in the name of democracy.

This should happen soon, because our system is already suffering from Court-induced paralysis.

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11/24 Links Pt1: The United Nations’ Palestinian refugee industry; A Proper Contempt for the UN

From Ian:

Asaf Romirowsky and Alexander Joffe: The United Nations’ Palestinian refugee industry

This naïveté regarding “universal values of tolerance and respect” is both disturbing and far-fetched, given the kind of Hamas-style education administered in UNRWA schools, which celebrate jihadism and Islamism. More to the point, nothing has changed over the past six years to suggest that the UNRWA education system has changed even a little. UNRWA schools have long been a primary mechanism for teaching the Palestinian narrative of displacement, resentment and resistance against Israel.
What was true six years ago is still true today: accountability and transparency are hard to come by at UNRWA, given its monopoly over Palestinians. If Palestinian statehood is a real goal, then the creation of institutions that foster civil society and democratization should be a priority. UNRWA acts in direct opposition to Palestinian statehood and to the Palestinian Authority.
It is worth highlighting just how unprecedented the situation really is. On the one hand, a United Nations organization created in 1949 for refugee relief is providing an ever-increasing range of services to the third- or fourth-generation descendants some 68 years later. This is utterly unprecedented. And on the other, those descendants still demand to be regarded as refugees and supported by the international community, while still being forbidden to resettle in the Arab countries where they have lived for decades (except for Jordan). All this is expected to continue until the Palestinians’ preferred resolution to the conflict is realized — namely, the end of Israel and their return to a world that no longer exists.
If the Canadian government is truly concerned about the vitality of Palestinian society and its future, it should seriously reconsider its contribution to UNRWA. It is past time to remove UNRWA from the scene and give the Palestinians the freedom — and the responsibility — to build their own society. Western tax dollars would be better spent promoting independent Palestinian organizations and private-sector growth.

France on the Verge of Total Collapse

France did not perceive it at the time, but it placed itself in a trap, and the trap is now closing.
In the 1970s, the Palestinians began to use international terrorism, and France chose to accept this terrorism so long as France was not affected. At the same time, France welcomed mass-immigration from the Arab-Muslim world, evidently as part of a Muslim wish to expand Islam. France's Muslim population has since grown in numbers while failing to assimilate.
Polls show that one-third of French Muslims want the full application of Islamic sharia law. They also show that the overwhelming majority of French Muslims support jihad, and especially jihad against Israel, a country they would like to see erased from the face of earth.
"It is better to leave than flee." -- Sammy Ghozlan, President of the National Bureau of Vigilance against Anti-Semitism. He was later mugged, and his car was torched. He left.
Villiers also mentions the presence in "no-go zones" of thousands of weapons of war. He adds that weapons will probably not even have to be used; the Islamists have already won.
Originally, France's dreams might have been of displacing America as a world power, accessing inexpensive oil, business deals with oil-rich Islamic states, and the prayer of no domestic terrorism.

Daniel Pipes: Israel's relationship with Muslim countries

Ezra Levant of TheRebel.media asks Middle East Forum founder about Israel's relationships with its Muslim neighbours.

The Palestinians sure love J-Street's support for Arabs who steal land

J-Street's Jeremy Ben Ami visited the illegal Palestinian outpost of Susya, and was touched by how much they loved him.

I want to share with you another emotion that permeated our visit – gratitude.
Gratitude to J Street specifically.
They told us how much it means to have people from the other side of the world drawing attention to their village and their plight. They’d seen our demonstrations of solidarity – in particular the work of J Street U on campuses to draw attention to their plight – and they were deeply touched.

Here are the residents presenting him with a plaque, and the plaque itself, with the Palestinian Authority logo.

J-Street is showing support for an illegal Arab settlement.

There was no ancient Arab village of Susya. No one lived there until relatively recently. Most of the people who live there are illegal squatters who own homes in the neighboring village of Yatta and simply set up these tents in order to steal land. The Nawaja family, whom J-Street spoke to, wasn't evicted from anywhere to move to Susya as J-Street claims - they live in Yatta and their activities in Susya are nothing but an attempt to steal land. The ancient site of Sussiya was a Jewish village between the 4th and 9th centuries, whose ruins gave the name to the area.

Just because some Arabs decide to put up some ramshackle huts in Area C doesn't automatically mean that the land is theirs. And if you consider Area C occupied, then Israel has every right to uphold previous laws on land registration and zoning. Under international law, Israel is completely within its rights to demolish illegal structures.

J-Street can argue that Israel should offer more building permits, but that isn't what they are doing. They are arguing that illegal building and squatting is to be lauded and upholding the law is to be derided. They are rewarding illegal squatters with publicity and brainwashing college students to believe one side of the story and ignore anything Israel has to say on the subject. You sure won't see anything balancing the false narrative of righteous Arabs in Susya on the supposedly balanced J-Street site.

And J-Street still claims to be pro-Israel.

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Reuters' Luke Baker finds unverified Palestinian reports from a proven liar credible enough to tweet

A tweet from Luke Baker of Reuters:

The article he linked to is from Wafa, the official PA news agency:

Settlers set fire to farming land south of Nablus

NABLUS, November 24, 2016 (WAFA) – Israeli settlers from Yitzhar Thursday set fire to farming land in the town of Huwwara, south of Nablus, according to Ghassan Daghlas, an official who monitors settler activities in the north of the West Bank.

He said residents saw dozens of settlers setting fire to the land and watched from the hills celebrating as the fire raged in the area.

Fire gutted olive trees in the area, he said, as fire fighters and residents were trying to contain it before it spreads to other areas.

Weather conditions and high wind cause fires to spread fast as officials have warned against starting fire anywhere.

However, officials said the settlers took advantage of the bad weather conditions to destroy as much as possible of the Palestinian agricultural land knowing very well that the fire is going to spread fast.

As I have reported, Ghassan Daghlas is literally paid by the Palestinian Authority to lie about Israel. I've exposed his lies many times.

Shouldn't the Reuters bureau chief who has been in the region for years know this?

True, he is not reporting it as fact. He's merely trying to show a possible other side of the story. But by any measure, this Reuters bureau chief is giving credence to a proven liar being reported by an official media outlet that has no journalistic integrity whatsoever.

And Reuters has quoted Daghlas at least a dozen times in the past.

Baker is reporting unproven propaganda as something worthy of consideration to his audience without telling them that the source he is using is not only worthless, but proven to make things up for political purposes.

A real reporter would do a modicum of fact checking not only of the story but also of the source. Luke Baker prefers to spread the false propaganda rather than to even make a half-hearted attempt to verify or debunk it.

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Arabs celebrate Israeli wildfires - many of which are arson

JPost reports:

The fires that have burned across Israel since Tuesday raged on Thursday with new areas threatened by flames as other blazes have come under control. Fifty percent of these fires were caused by repeated arson, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told Army Radio Thursday morning.
Also on Army Radio, Shimon Ben Ner, a senior Haifa firefighter, said "I know for a fact that they tried to set fire to the department's station in Haifa deliberately to cause the Haifa fire department to be paralyzed."

Palestinians, and Arabs altogether, are celebrating the fires with the hashtag "Israel burns" in Arabic. At the moment, there are new posts with that hashtag every few seconds on Twitter.

This post is typical:

And this:

#اسراييل_تحترق Mood pic.twitter.com/F1EKD2bZMF
— Aboodista (@iAboodista) November 24, 2016

Among the celebrations are people are saying that this is divine retribution for the pending Israeli law to limit loudspeakers for the Muslim call to prayer.

Interestingly, Hamas' leader said explicitly that the law means that Israel is "playing with fire."

Finally, there are gleeful references to the Holocaust:

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Israeli Arab Muslim woman proudly says "Am Yisrael Chai" at the Kotel (video)

Sarah Zoabi is the mother of Mohammed Zoabi and is herself an ardent Zionist. Here is a video she made recently - at the Western Wall.

She notes that she can visit, with her hijab, this sacred Jewish spot without any objection from the Jews in the area.

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11/23 Links Pt2: Liberal/Left Leaning Jews Need to Hear This; Terror and BDS share the same ideological roots

From Ian:

Keith Ellison Headlined Fundraiser For Muslim Activist Who Called For Palestinians To Embrace ‘The Jihad Way’

Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, the favorite to take over as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, campaigned in 2009 for a Libya-born activist who once called on Palestinians to embrace “the jihad way” in order to get free of Israeli control.
The activist, Esam Omeish, a former candidate for Virginia state delegate, has also praised one of the founders of Hamas and commended the work of Palestinian suicide bombers.
Omeish’s positions had been publicized when Ellison, the first Muslim ever elected to Congress, headlined the July 2009 fundraiser for Omeish, who served as president from 2004 to 2008 of the Muslim American Society, a Muslim Brotherhood-linked group.
“The very fact that you have ran a honorable campaign in this heated primary shows victory. Don’t stop working, lay it all on the line,” Ellison said at the event, according to Omeish’s campaign website.

The American Left’s Hypocrisy on Anti-Semitism

Ellison, according to The Wall Street Journal, “has won the backing of the self-described progressive wing of the party, including Mr. Sanders. The fact that Mr. Ellison is a Muslim African-American adds to his appeal to Democrats who want to showcase their party’s embrace of diversity.”
Unfortunately, Ellison hasn’t always embraced diversity. He has admitted that he worked with the anti-Semitic Nation of Islam cult for 18 months and he even defended leader Louis Farrakhan from accusations of anti-Semitism in the University of Minnesota’s student newspaper while he was a law student there.
After receiving criticism for his stance during a 2006 campaign, Ellison finally repudiated Farrakhan and other NOI leaders: “They were and are anti-Semitic, and I should have come to that conclusion earlier than I did.”
Case closed? Not exactly. To this day Ellison continues to propagate the anti-Semitic trope that Israel is an apartheid state. He has also publicly compared the Bush administration’s actions following 9/11 to Adolph Hitler’s actions to consolidate power after the notorious Reichstag fire, in what seemed like an attempt to absolve the radical jihadists who killed thousands of Americans from blame.
Over at Commentary Magazine, Noah Rothman has a good run-down of Ellison’s noxious views on Israel:
He has accused Israel of being an apartheid state and advocated that Israel provide security concessions to Hamas, the terrorist organization that uses the Gaza Strip and its people as leverage in a perpetual war against Israel. Ellison has also voted against funding Israel’s Iron Dome, which has saved countless lives from the perpetual threat of rocket assault from Gaza. He contended that Israel’s ability to shield its civilians from Hamas terror prevents dialogue and, in the case of the Gaza War of 2014, a swift ceasefire.
Are these the accepted views of the progressive left?

Andrew Bolt: The Jews' wall is, of course, always worse

Israel builds a wall to protect civilians from Palestinian extremists. The mainstream media and the UN go nuts. Now Lebanon builds a wall to protect civilians from Palestinian extremists. The mainstream media and the UN just shrug. Why the difference?
Israel's wall was damned:
At a special meeting to mark the 10th anniversary of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory ruling declaring illegal Israel’s construction of a separation wall in the West Bank, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon today called for a halt to the current violence between Israelis and Palestinians, while also the need all Member States to comply with international law...
On 09 July 2004, the Advisory Opinion called on Israel to cease the construction of the Wall, bring down the parts that had already been built, and halt the severe restrictions on the freedom of movement of Palestinians living in the West Bank.
But Lebanon's wall?
The Lebanese military has started building a tall cement wall and watchtowers around parts of the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, near the southern city of Sidon, inspiring popular protest on social media...
The wall and watchtowers come as a part of an agreement between the military and the Palestinian factions in the camp and will take 15 months to complete..
Munir al-Maqdah, the head of the Joint Palestinian Security Forces, told Sky News Arabia that ... “the wall and [watchtowers] are being built for security concerns, which we accepted.”

There's an odd piece of news making the rounds right now. It seems that people were upset at CNN over the wording of a chyron, a type of banner or caption that appears at the bottom of a video segment. The chyron said, "Alt-Right Founder Questions If Jews Are People."

The alt-right founder was, so a CNN host claimed, Richard Spencer, a Trump supporter and white supremacist who actually coined the term "alt-right."

The twitterverse busted a gut over this chyron. So much so that CNN apologized. “It was poor judgment and we very much regret it and apologize.”

Pro tip @CNN - if they ask "are Jews people" then you can stop calling them "alt-right" and start calling them Nazis.
— John Paul Davis (@youngkingrabbit) November 21, 2016

There isn't a context that makes "Are Jews people?" an okay thing to say, kiddos.
— Ian Karmel (@IanKarmel) November 21, 2016

How did we go from almost electing our first female president to "ARE JEWS PEOPLE?" in two weeks? https://t.co/wfUvHG7dC2
— Drew Schnoebelen (@Dschnoeb) November 21, 2016

Jake Tapper, who would have hosted the segment, but was away, also felt the need to apologize. “I’m off this week and I’m furious about that chyron and my staff has heard from me. Unacceptable,” wrote Tapper on Twitter. “The chyron was abhorrent and I am trying to deal with it. Obviously I take responsibility but my being off is not irrelevant.”

@jryanlaw @katzish @mateagold @mviser the chyron was unacceptable and though I'm off today we are handling this.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) November 21, 2016

And finally, the guy who filled in for Tapper, Jim Sciutto, tweeted, "I agree with @jaketapper fully however that the banner - which we don't write from the chair - was out of line."

I agree with @jaketapper fully however that the banner - which we don't write from the chair - was out of line https://t.co/M4aV4W330S
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) November 22, 2016

So I'm reading all this stuff, the tweets, the umbrage, the apologies, and there's something I'm not quite getting. CNN wasn't questioning whether Jews are people, but reporting that some jerk white supremacist had done so. Why wouldn't it be acceptable for CNN to report this fact—and to share the substance of this jerk white-supremacist's thoughts?

That's what I couldn't figure out. For some reason, people think that CNN should have phrased the chyron differently, disavowed the sentiments expressed thereon, or not given them a platform, and I have no idea why. I can quote someone without agreeing with that person. Why does anyone think this chyron represents tacit approval to questioning whether Jews are human?? Why does anyone think the chyron says something about CNN at all?

The fact that the chyron clearly states that this is the founder of the alt-right movement who said this thing, proves the opposite is true. In putting the affiliations of the guy who said this out there for the viewers in black and white, CNN is saying, "Hey. This guy's loony tunes."

And anyway, we should know what crazy people, those with power, even limited power, are saying. That CNN reported on this story at all, is to me, a good thing.

Except, things got weirder still when I began looking for a copy of Spencer's speech. That's when I discovered that he never said this thing in the first place. And it's when I realized I'd stumbled over a case of really bad journalism. (starts at 2:32)

Sciutto completely misrepresented what Spencer said. Spencer, though a Jew-hater through and through, and a vile person, never said that he questions whether Jews are people. Or at least not in his address to the 200 attendees of the National Policy Institute conference on Saturday.

Did Sciutto even listen to Spencer's speech? Sciutto wouldn't have had to listen to the entire half hour speech to hear the relevant two paragraphs, though that would have been appropriate, if he were really meant to cover the story. Spencer said what he said, which wasn't what Sciutto said he said, only two and a half minutes into his speech.

Here is what Spencer actually said, referring to media coverage of the recent election (profanity warning):

“This was the year when random shitlords on Twitter, anonymous podcast hosts, and dissidents working deep within the beltway right proved that they objectively understood politics better than the Republican strategists and the political consultants snarking at us every night on NBC.
“It’s not just that they are leftists and cucks. It’s not just that many are genuinely stupid. Indeed one wonders if these people are people at all, or instead soulless golem animated by some dark power to repeat whatever talking point John Oliver stated the night before.”

See? He was talking about the media. He wasn't talking about Jews. At least not this time.

Spencer was saying that the media are robots that regurgitate a television comedian's political monologue from the previous evening. And you know what? He's right about that. At least if we're talking about the level of what we're seeing, the quality of the news.

Because a lot of the news we're getting is substandard, as is this CNN report that gets the facts way wrong, and skewed, as in the election coverage.

The fact that people are going nuts to screen out what they don't want to hear and see, such as, for instance, this chyron, may in fact be the reason the media is so screwed up. So filled with bias. The media is trying to give people the news they want, rather than the news that is.

Which is really messed up.

But it's even worse than that here, because Sciutto didn't actually listen to or read the transcript of Spencer's speech and then went on to completely misrepresent what Spencer said.

So what CNN is really guilty of here, is poor journalism and the spreading of false information. As opposed to being guilty of tacit approval for an idea that was never voiced.

If, however, Spencer had said that, had said that he questions whether Jews are people, I personally would have wanted to know that. I would have wanted that splashed across my television screen. I would have wanted to work up a proper fury toward the person who voiced such sentiments (and not toward CNN, who would only be the messenger, had Spencer actually said that).

So, here's what I want to say to the twitterverse, to all those people who got really, really angry when CNN tried to report the news (if badly): if you can't handle the news, don't listen to the news and don't be surprised when you're completely caught off guard by events because you haven't been following things. But don't yell at the media when they, in fact, report the news! Don't you dare do that. Instead, support them. Thank them for providing you with facts.

The news, you see, isn't all about fluffy white bunnies, rainbows, and firemen rescuing kittens from high-up tree branches. It's a harsh and nasty world out there. Spencer probably DOES question whether Jews are people, even if he didn't do so in this particular speech. )And that would be something we should know about, should want to know about.)

Just as we should have been fully informed of Hitler's Final Solution.

The not knowing, you see, was what prevented us from fighting the evil coming at us. Instead of blaring the minutiae of the genocide of the Jews across the front page of the paper, the New York Times buried the details of the Holocaust somewhere so deep into the paper we never found it. If you stumbled on it while wrapping fish, you might have thought, "Oh, this can't be a big deal, or the editor would have put it on the front page."

We need to learn a lesson from that. It's something all of us need to come to terms with and absorb: you can't do battle with what you do not know.

Stop a moment and think what this whole business with the chyron will mean going forward. The next time CNN is sitting on a story about Richard Spencer, the antisemitism of the alt-right, or a National Policy Institute conference, how will this purveyor of the news deal with the story? Will the editors give the story a smaller platform so as not to disturb the viewers, the twitterverse? Or perhaps the news conglomerate might simply fail to report the story at all?

Here is another possibility: that CNN will worry so much about the framing of the story that the real story will be buried under a thick layer of hearts and flowers hail.

Is that what you want? You want your news hid from you?

I do not. I want my news served straight. I don't want it all gussied up and prettified. I want to know what is going on in the world.

And you should, too.

If, however, you find you can't handle it, there's always this:

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Stupid 'Muezzin Law' Says Nothing About Your Goddamn Neighbor's Alarm Clock (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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Rosh HaAyin, November 23 - Examination of recent legislation to limit the amplification on the Muslim call to prayer during early morning hours has revealed that nowhere in the language of the proposed law is there treatment of the alarm clock of your neighbor who lets the goddamn thing ring over and over again each morning before finally getting out of bed and deactivating it, and that is totally f'ed up.

Legal experts conducting a review of multiple versions of the bill concluded that it contains no reference to that low-life and his inconsiderate practice, and the experts noted that given the douchebag mentality that underlies the alarm clock phenomenon, they are at a loss to explain how none of the people drafting the legislation even thought to include it.

"It's a goddamn whopper of an oversight," declared Shayna May-Aynei, a jurist from Bar-Ilan University who is overseeing the research. "What, do they not hear the same beep-beep-beep-beep every morning at five-#$&*ing-thirty? What kind of monster does such a thing, and what kind of miscreant condones it? This has to change."

May-Aynei lays partial blame at the feet of the legislators themselves, who tend to live in more spacious accommodations and hear less of the goings-on in neighbors' homes. "You won't hear that jerkwad's alarm from the next building over, through the trees," she seethed. "But let me tell you, for those of us living cheek-by-jowl in certain neighborhoods, this is vastly more urgent than the muezzin."

Some proponents of the so-called muezzin law argue that the use of loudspeakers for the call to prayer is primarily a vehicle for asserting cultural dominance over other religions, and therefore a separate issue from the question of that meathead neglecting the needs of everyone else within earshot, but not everyone accepts the distinction. "It's actually the same phenomenon," contended Aza Ka, a community activist. "Don't think for a minute that this douchebucket with the alarm clock is unaware of the impact of his behavior on everyone around him. He knows. He simply doesn't care. What's more, he's probably enjoying the fact that he can have such an impact on your life, literally by not lifting a finger. It's a power thing. It's exactly the same as the muezzin, just without 1,400 years of religious subjugation of non-Muslims in the background."

At press time the landlord of the residence where the alarm clock has been going off finally signed a contract to rent out the place, which has been vacant for two months. The alarm clock belonged to a previous tenant, who had forgotten to remove it.

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