Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Temple Mount "status quo" gets more absurd

Felesteen reports that 108 "Jewish settlers stormed the Al Aqsa Mosque" this morning.

The Waqf issued its usual condemnation, but this time it said:

This escalation by the settlers with the presence of the Israeli police is a "change of the status quo in the historic Al-Aqsa Mosque," and they play to their detention Bahath unilaterally and under police guard and special forces.

The Waqf emphasized that the 144 dunums of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is for Muslims alone, and under the care and guardianship of King Abdullah II of Jordan, and flatly refused to allow the entry of settlers to al- Aqsa, or anything that affects change the existing historical situation before the occupation of the city of Jerusalem in 1967.

If it is for Muslims alone, then why has the Waqf historically published guidebooks for non-Muslims that are visiting the site?

Ah, when they say it is for "Muslims alone," that is a codeword meaning it is "not for Jews." Which really was the "status quo" during the 19 anomalous years of Jordanian rule.

Here's the guidebook from 1950, when it was under the "status quo", and when the guidebookt still said that there is no doubt that this was the site of the Jewish Temples.

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The hidden annex to the Oslo Accords (ElderToons)

From Al Jazeera:

A senior member of President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party has threatened to withdraw the Palestinian Authority's recognition of Israel in response to the planned relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

During his electoral campaign, US President Donald Trump pledged to move the embassy to Jerusalem despite reluctance to do so by past administrations.

Speaking to the Voice of Palestine radio station on Tuesday, Azzam al-Ahmad, a member of Fatah's Central Committee, said the Palestinian Authority, or PA, planned to adopt a raft of retaliatory measures in the event of the embassy’s relocation.

"[We would also] demand that Israel recognise Palestine as a state with Jerusalem as its capital."

Yes, he really said that the PLO would withdraw recognizing Israel while at the same time insisting that Israel recognize a state that doesn't exist.

Azzam wasn't the first to make this threat. Abbas said it in November, Saeb Erekat said it in December along with Mohammed Shtayyeh and Hanan Ashrawi, Shtayyeh repeated it earlier this month.

Apparently, the PLO regards signed agreements with Israel as only binding on Israel.

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For those who don't think the PLO and PA support terror...

The New York Times reports:

The Trump administration is preparing executive orders that would clear the way to drastically reduce the United States’ role in the United Nations and other international organizations, as well as begin a process to review and potentially abrogate certain forms of multilateral treaties.

The first of the two draft orders, titled “Auditing and Reducing U.S. Funding of International Organizations” and obtained by The New York Times, calls for terminating funding for any United Nations agency or other international body that meets any one of several criteria.

Those criteria include organizations that give full membership to the Palestinian Authority or Palestine Liberation Organization, or support programs that fund abortion or any activity that circumvents sanctions against Iran or North Korea. The draft order also calls for terminating funding for any organization that “is controlled or substantially influenced by any state that sponsors terrorism” or is blamed for the persecution of marginalized groups or any other systematic violation of human rights.

We know that terror apologists will attack this by claiming that the PLO and PA aren't terror groups.

So, just to make sure they have up to date information, here's a screenshot from the official PLO webpage showing part of a video they have in honor of the anniversary of the death of Ali Salameh, the "Red Prince," who was the leader of the Black September terror group that was behind the Olympics massacre.

I had already shown that the PA officially mourned Salameh.

But this video starts off with photos of lots of other terrorist "martyrs" from many terror groups, not only Fatah. For example, PFLP founder George Habash - who was responsible for numerous airplane hijackings in the 1970s - is featured.

In the place of honor next to Yasir Arafat (the founding father of modern terrorism) is the founder of Hamas, Sheikh Yassin. No matter what Jimmy Carter may believe, Hamas is universally recognized as a terror group, today.

So, yes, the PLO supports terror. Just because the West has gotten used to sending them money for the past few decades doesn't change that fact.

Any objective observer would know that the Oslo process was essentially abrogated by the PLO's decision to start a war against Israeli Jewish civilians in 2000 instead of negotiate peace.

It is more than acceptable to stop treating the PLO like they are honored members of the world community - it is mandatory.

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01/25 Links Pt2: After Eight Years with a Friendly White House, J Street Has Little to Show

From Ian:

After Eight Years with a Friendly White House, J Street Has Little to Show

The self-styled “pro-Israel, pro-peace” lobbying group is now in its tenth year; during most of this time it has benefitted from having a White House supportive of its goals. Indeed, its director stated that he and his colleagues saw themselves as the president’s teammates. Yet, writes Gregg Roman, J Street has precious little to show, especially since peace between Israel and its neighbors, let alone Palestinian statehood, seems as far off as ever:
J Street’s continued criticism of the Israeli government created a pseudo-Zionist political shield on the Jewish community’s left flank that the Obama administration used to blame Israel for actions largely caused by Palestinian obstinacy.
For eight years J Street supported President Obama’s destructive policies toward Israel, like the unilateral settlement freeze, nuclear détente with Iran, and his allowance for international condemnation of Israeli communities in the West. . . . At the end of 2008, when Israel decided to defend itself against incessant rocket attacks from the terrorist organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip, J Street attacked Israel’s defensive actions. . . .
J Street also placed itself out of mainstream pro-Israel circles when it invited prominent activists in the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement to its conferences and claimed that George Soros had not funded the organization until it became a matter of public record that he had in fact provided significant donations, especially during its formative years. All of these hits have left J Street and its combative but rarely reflective president Jeremy Ben-Ami’s reputation battered and bruised.

Maajid Nawaz: Students are sleepwalking into anti-Semitic hysteria

How did it all come to this? The perfect storm: Islamist theocrats, their regressive left apologists and right wing populists.
Though they may hate each other, they agree to hate on Jews more. I call this Europe’s triple threat, and it is tearing our political culture asunder, poisoning our discourse and leaving a nasty aftertaste to campus activism.
No surer sign of rising fascism have we had in our history than the scapegoating of our Jewish communities. Alarm bells should be sounding, and yet they are not.
This week, we remember the tragedy that was the Holocaust. An atrocity made so easy because Europe was allowed to sleep walk into anti-Semitic hysteria.
So ponder this. Last month the government’s first higher education adjudicator, cross-bench peer Baroness Ruth Deech, warned that certain UK universities are becoming no-go zones for Jews.
No-go zones, she said. Never again, we had promised.

Douglas Murray: Nomination for Nobel Peace Prize: Reverend Gavin Ashenden

The section of the Quran that a Muslim student recited at the church service points out the Islamic belief that Jesus was not the Son of God. Even in today's Britain, this does not seem quite the view that leaders of the national church are supposed to propagate.
"The justification offered that it engages some kind of reciprocity founders on the understandable refusal of Islamic communities to read passages from the Gospel in Muslim prayers announcing the Lordship of Christ. It never happens.... apologies may be due to the Christians suffering dreadful persecution at the hands of Muslims in the Middle East and elsewhere. To have the core of a faith for which they have suffered deeply treated so casually by senior western clergy such as the Provost of Glasgow is unlikely to have a positive outcome." — Reverend Gavin Ashenden, The Times.
"I resigned in order to be able to speak more freely about the struggle that Christianity is facing in our culture. I had no idea that there were plans afoot by a Scottish Cathedral to 'reach out to Muslims' by scrapping a Bible reading from their worship on the Feast of the Epiphany (when Christ's Lordship is celebrated as the Light of the World) and replacing it with a part of the Koran that denied Jesus was the Son of God.... it represented one more step along a road, which if the Church continues to follow, will speed up the destruction of Christianity in our country." — Reverend Gavin Ashenden, The Times.

It's that time of the week again where a topic must be chosen for this week's column. There's some great material this week, but each topic has its weaknesses and pitfalls. There is, for instance, the matter of the $221m that Obama gave the Palestinian Authority as his final eff you to the Jews the morning he left office, the last act before Trump became president. It's money that will be used to pay pensions to the families of both jailed and dead terrorists, people who killed Jews. Indeed it is money that will be used to buy the weapons that will be used to kill Jews.

We know that, because hey. It's going to the PA (and that rhymes).

He knew that, Obama. He approves of that. He circumvented Congress to help underwrite that, Obama.

Yeah. I could probably find a few hundred more (steaming, seething) words to say about that. But then I'd have to give up on writing about the suspicious and possibly titillating behavior of Sonja Maria Jetter, an activist with Women Wage Peace. (Is this organization really about peace? Or is it just one more antisemitic organization posturing on the order of J-Street or Jewish Voice for Peace, claiming to want what's best for Israel while giving an assist to the murderers of Jewish Israelis?)

It is Sonja Maria Jetter, you see, who confides to near strangers in lurid detail the story of an orthodox rabbi sexually assaulting her, but refuses to name him. Meantime, she is quite happy to pound the flesh with Mahmoud Abbas for a photo opp. That would be Abbas the mastermind behind the Munich Massacre, a man whose doctoral dissertation was a study in Holocaust denial, a man who incites his people to murder Jews on a daily basis.

Ah yes, the story of Sonja and Women Wage Peace might titillate a few readers, while sending a few others to toss their cookies.

Alas it's a weak story. I can't actually prove that Women Wage Peace is antisemitic or that Sonja has it in for the Jews even if she's one herself. There's just the lingering stench of that ugly, detailed, lewd story, with no name attached hence lacking all credibility, plus the photo of the handshake with Abu Mazen. It's like Potter Stewart and porn. You know it when you see it. But write about it? Not much to say.

And of course, if I write about Sonja Maria Jetter and Women Wage Peace, I won't get to the story about the Women's March on Washington, all those Jewish women marching for free tampons and abortions, when their beloved Obama just slipped the PA $221m to kill the Jews. All those women who closed their eyes as Obama did nothing about rebels in Iran, the Yazidi women, Syria. All those women who are wearing pink hats and dressing up like vaginas. . .

but who won't say boo about Bill Clinton.

Meanwhile, if I write about the pink-hatted women and their non-violent protests . . .

. . . then I won't get to write about Ivanka and Jared riding in a car; going into a church; the matter of his bare head; her bare head (and arms); and the fact that they call themselves orthodox. But everyone and his dog is writing about that. And anyway, who wants to walk into a minefield? You just know you're going to get attacked if you write about that. People will say you're judging them. People will say it's not being nice to the stranger, the convert.

People will say that if we criticize them, they might leave the faith altogether—better we should be warm and embracing. Others will quote Halacha until their faces turn blue, while me? All I have is my common sense. I'm no rabbi. But if I didn't know a thing about Ivanka and Jared and ran into them at a party, what would tell me they are Jewish, let alone orthodox?

But if I were to say that, then readers would jump down my throat telling me that orthodox isn't a look. That there are all sorts of ways to be orthodox. And I'll be left looking rigid and unkind and judgmental when all I want to say is:

"You had a chance. You could have been this wonderful example for your people. You could have been orthodox out loud and proud, not just by giving lip service to hanging out with your family on Shabbos but by wearing the trappings of orthodoxy, you know, the fringes, the skullcap, the um, sleeves."

But if I say that, then people will say, but a rabbi said it was pikuach nefesh, saving a life, for them to ride in a car. A rabbi said they are karov l'malchut close to the kingdom, and therefore they must do what they must do to fit in so they can ultimately help their people in ways we cannot foretell.

And then I'll be left saying, "Okay, okay, but just think what an opportunity they had. What if they hadn't asked a question and had just stayed home, or slept over somewhere close by, or had the ball postponed until after Shabbos. Would it really not have been well received? Would they really have jeopardized something by doing so? And would the negative impact of that really have been greater. Would they really have been putting their lives in danger? Our lives in danger here in Israel?"

But you know: who wants to walk into a minefield, be called judgmental, blind, unkind to converts, ignorant of Halacha, intolerant, and so forth and so on.

So I'm not really sure what to write about this week. So many stories, so little time.

Maybe I should just pack it in and call it a day.

BBC Server Crashes After Story Filed With No Reflexive Israel-Blaming (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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London, January 25 - The main computer handling incoming dispatches from British Broadcasting Corporation journalists around the world was forced into automatic shutdown this afternoon after a correspondent covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict included no assumptions of Israeli guilt.

A four-minute clip and a condensed, two-minute version of a report on corruption rampant in the Palestinian Authority arrived at the London server of the BBC just after 1 pm Wednesday, and within seconds, the system had crashed, a development that technical staff at the institution are attributing to the report's lack of anti-Israel slant or implications. The server was never configured to handle such content, and the resulting processing error caused a deactivation of the system.

"The system just isn't set up to deal with that kind of anomaly, I'm afraid," explained IT specialist Amin Husseini. "We're still looking into what went wrong in the filing process, when the app our correspondents use to upload is supposed to scan the content for all the elements the server requires to properly process the submissions."

Husseini offered no concrete thoughts on what might have malfunctioned, but would not rule out foul play. "There is already one automatic suspect when anything untoward happens, so at least we have that avenue of investigation if all else fails." He added that the default finding for that internal probe would remain unless evidence emerged of some other cause, but that mention of the possibility of Israeli culpability in the incident would automatically be included in any report.

Unfortunately for the BBC team, all content on the server has been unavailable since the shutdown, and the backup server that came online in the wake of the crash was missing several reports that had been filed in the moments before the shutdown was triggered. Attempts to contact the journalist who submitted the faulty report have so far failed, leading to concerns that the problem may have originated with, and continues to compromise, the user-end of the app.

Corporation executives promised a thorough review of training to ensure the incident is not repeated. "We have strict guidelines, and the tools we employ to enforce those guidelines have functioned well, to date," stated Vice President for Operations Sir Shea Getts. "This is merely a technical matter, but it goes to the very root of this organization's mission. Noble Palestinian innocence and victimhood versus sinister ~~Jewish~~ Israeli conquest must shine through every news item we bring from the region. The most basic values of journalism are at stake here."

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01/25 Links Pt1: WH to review $221m. to Palestinians in Obama’s last hours; Giuliani: Trump backs Jerusalem embassy move

From Ian:

PMW: Fatah already planning terror campaign to prevent US embassy move

Abbas’ Fatah Movement has already held meetings in preparation for a terror campaign against Israel should the United States decide to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, according to Deputy Secretary of Fatah’s Jerusalem branch, Shadi Mattour.
Mattour told official PA TV that Fatah is holding meetings with “all the field leaders in the branches and the Shabiba (Fatah’s youth movement)... in preparation for a fierce popular intifada.” He declared that Fatah “won't hesitate to take to the streets and return to confronting the occupation using all means."
The term “using all means” is a Palestinian euphemism for violence and terror. Already last week, Palestinian Media Watch reported that PA and Fatah leaders are preparing the population for a violent response to a decision to move the embassy by threatening that an embassy move will lead to bloodshed .

Trump administration to review $221m. payment to Palestinians in Obama’s last hours

The State Department is reviewing a last-minute decision by former Secretary of State John Kerry to send $221 million dollars to the Palestinians late last week over the objections of congressional Republicans.
The department said Tuesday it would look at the payment and might make adjustments to ensure it comports with the Trump administration’s priorities.
Kerry formally notified Congress that State would release the money Friday morning, just hours before President Donald Trump took the oath of office.
Congress had initially approved the Palestinian funding in budget years 2015 and 2016, but at least two GOP lawmakers — Ed Royce of California, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Kay Granger of Texas, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee — had placed holds on it over moves the Palestinian Authority had taken to seek membership in international organizations. Congressional holds are generally respected by the executive branch but are not legally binding after funds have been allocated.

Republicans Plot Retaliation to Kerry's 'Closing Act of … Lawlessness'

Congressional leaders are moving to respond to a last-minute transfer of millions of dollars to the Palestinian Authority by the Obama administration with a range of measures, including a possible total freeze of funds to the PA, according to senators and other sources who spoke to THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
Former Secretary of State John Kerry endangered future funding to the PA by orchestrating the $221 million release in the final hours of the Obama administration, according to a report published Monday by the Associated Press and additional details provided to TWS. The release was made in spite of holds that had been placed on the funds by a number of lawmakers.
“I don't know if we can recoup that money, but I intend to suspend future funding to the Palestinian Authority until they change their laws that reward young Palestinians for killing Israelis and Americans," South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham told TWS.
Graham said he will reintroduce the Taylor Force Act, named after an Army veteran who was stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist last March, which cuts funding until the PA stops directly or indirectly financing terrorism. The PA set aside roughly $140 million to support imprisoned terrorists and their families in 2016, according to experts who spoke to Congress in July.
"I find that cruel and unacceptable," Graham said. "I will be pushing to stop those payments."
A congressional advisor who is working with Congress on Israeli-Palestinian issues in the aftermath of the $221 million release told TWS that lawmakers will retaliate against the move.

A Tunisian MP has apologized for using an offensive word to describe Jews during a parliamentary session.

MP Abu al-Hanaa, during a debate over a 1964 land law, said something like some of the land was for the French and the rest for the "Hashakim" Jews, which I believe translates roughly to "shitty."

(UPDATE: The word Hashak is used as an apology for mentioning something disgusting in conversation, like feces or spit or dogs.)

Immediately, the chairman of the parliament Abdul Moro said that such language was unacceptable and that Jews were respected members of Tunisian society.

Other Tunisian groups - not Jewish groups, but other NGOs - also called on al-Hanaa to apologize for the slur.

And she did, saying it was a slip of the tongue and she did not mean to offend.

This is a remarkable story for the Arab world and I do not recall ever seeing anything close to this happening before. Tunisia and Morocco have been far more tolerant to Jews than most Arab states (which can be seen by the fact that there are simply no Jews to speak of in Arab countries outside those two states.) But immediate censure for an antisemitic slur, not being prompted by the West, is as far as I can tell unprecedented.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

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Hamas has announced that 150 homes in the area of the old "American School" in Gaza will be razed.

2500 people will become homeless.

The neighborhood will be bulldozed and the land given for free to Hamas employees, probably in compensation for not receiving their full salaries. Hamas has done that before.

For comparison, Israel demolished 125 illegally built homes in the West Bank in all of 2015, according to B'Tselem, with far fewer people becoming displaced. (The counts of the homes Israel demolishes are often counted several times over the years as NGOs, often from Europe, rebuild the same illegal homes multiple times.)

The many NGOs who monitor the horror of Palestinians having their homes demolished have very little to say when they are not demolished by Israel.

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Yasir's Girls

I found a Facebook group called "Yasir Girls Forum."

It is essentially a group to promote Fatah propaganda to Palestinian girls.

That propaganda includes imagery of rifles and guns.

Here they praise terrorist Dalal Nughrabi for killing 37 Israelis.

And here's another photo they highlight.

Yes, Fatah brainwashes kids to support terror, today.

Here's a terrible slide-show video they made.

The way we know that Fatah is behind it is the many photos of Mahmoud Abbas intertwined with Arafat. Fatah always tries to associate Abbas, who has no charisma whatsoever, with Arafat, to increase his popularity.

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Fatah continues to orchestrate anger over proposed embassy move

Architectural drawings for "US Consulate Annex" in Jerusalem, 2003

After weeks of shouting in the wind, the PLO finally managed to get some Arab threats going against a possible move of the US Embassy to Jerusalem.

On Tuesday, Azzam al-Ahmad of Fatah's Central Committee said that the PLO has a 21-point plan on how to respond to such a move. He didn't elaborate, but part of it is clearly to recruit whatever Arabs they can to justify the threat that Muslims worldwide will want to go to war over this.

In other words, since no one has made a big deal over this so far, the Palestinians must resort to ever-increasing incitement among Arab masses who are, frankly, too stupid to know the difference between moving an embassy into an area that the the entire world recognizes as Israeli and a "declaration of war against Islam."

After all, the entire issue is symbolic, and the Palestinians want a monopoly on symbolism. Losing this would be a severe blow to their own sense of honor.

Jibril Rajoub last week ranted:

This is a confrontation with the whole world and a declaration of war against it - against the Palestinians, against the Arabs, against the Muslims, against the Christians, and against UN resolutions....I hope we build a strategy to muster all these forces. In Jerusalem there are places that are sacred to 2.5 billion Muslims and Christians. What gives him the right to hand it over to the 13 million Jews in the world half here and half abroad?! Why does he think that he has the right to give them the keys to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher?!

Fatah Central Committee member Nabil Shaath said also on Tuesday, "We will not allow Trump to achieve peace through his support of Israel and the settlement process."

Hamas happily jumped on the threat train, saying Tuesday that Palestinians do not accept Israeli rule over a single inch of "Palestine," and that an embassy move would inaugurate a new phase of the conflict with Israel that the US administration would be responsible for.

And the Palestinians received a boost from Iraqi militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr, who said, "Transferring the US embassy to Jerusalem would be a public and more explicit than ever declaration of war against Islam."

That's funny - those were almost the exact same words that Mahmoud Abbas' aide Mahmoud Habash used earlier this month.

As I mentioned, the entire issue is symbolic. The best description of why Palestinians are risking everything on this can be seen from an interview with an Egyptian General Mahmoud Abdel-Latif , who explained the symbolism: "He who owns Jerusalem owns Palestine."

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01/24 Links Pt2: The Holocaust’s unlearned lessons; The Western Wall is an Illegal Settlement

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: The Holocaust’s unlearned lessons

Europeans have been schooled to view the Nazi period as a unique phenomenon unrelated to anything that happened either before 1933 or after 1945.
But the opposite is true.
Adolf Hitler and his Nazis and their collaborators throughout Europe didn’t spring from nothing. They were the natural outcome of centuries of European antisemitism. Their genocidal obsession with the Jewish people was a natural progression of a hatred that predated Christianity, and was an integral part of Europe’s development through the ages.
The way to block the Nazis from rising on the Right is to correct both Merkel’s mistake and the larger mistake of the leaders of Europe since 1945.
Merkel empowers Nazi forces by preventing liberal democracy, predicated on limited government, individual freedom and equal protection under the law, from developing in Germany. By demonizing and criminalizing her critics, she forces lawful citizens into the open arms of the political fringe, which resonates their concerns.
More generally, Europe itself facilitates the rise of antisemitism as a political force on the Right and Left by conflating European rejection of Jews with a more general, and less meaningful, problem of racism. You do not fight hatred of Jews by pretending away its significance and its roots that go back as far as European civilization itself. You do not block the resurgence of Nazism by pretending that European antisemitism was born the day Adolf Hitler came to power.
There is a tendency to believe that all nationalist movements are alike. But this is not true. Each nationalist movement is a reflection of the specific nation it represents. For European nationalists and globalists alike to avoid the fascism that captivated their grandparents, they need to embrace liberal values and meaningfully reject Jew hatred in all its forms.

Brussels airport bombers targeted Jews, Americans, investigators say

The Islamic State suicide bombers who attacked Brussels airport last year targeted Jewish people and passengers travelling to the United States, several sources told AFP.
The Belgian-led investigation believes a check-in counter for an American carrier was one of the targets in the March 22, 2016 attacks, the sources said on condition of anonymity.
They also suspect that travelers to Israel may have been in the crosshairs. Airport security camera footage shows one bomber apparently pursuing Hasidic Jews seconds before one of the blasts.
Islamic State (IS) bombers Najim Laachraoui and Ibrahim El Bakraoui killed 16 people at Zaventem airport. Around an hour later Bakraoui’s brother Khalid attacked a metro station near EU headquarters, killing another 16.
One source close to the investigation told AFP, which contacted investigators in several countries, that one of the airport bombers “attacked the Delta Airlines check-in”.
“We know they wanted to target Americans,” said the source, who asked not to be named. “It’s clear they had quite specific targets.”

BESA: Jerusalem is the Center of Gravity

Making strategic choices requires distinguishing which issues are urgent and which are important. Right now, the securing of Jewish control over Jerusalem is both urgent and important. Jerusalem carries great symbolic and strategic value for Israel, and Israeli control of the city must be protected.
Israel’s control of a united Jerusalem is challenged now more than ever. UN Security Council Resolution 2334, adopted on December 23, 2016, declared the Jewish Quarter, the Western Wall, and the Temple Mount occupied territory and any Jewish presence there illegal if it is without Palestinian consent. This followed the October 2016 UNESCO resolution ignoring Jewish links to the Temple Mount. Moreover, US Secretary of State John Kerry announced on December 28, 2016 that for the first time, the US supports the idea that Jerusalem should be the capital of two peoples.
Many Israelis console themselves that President Donald Trump will move the US embassy to Jerusalem, signaling a new era. Even if the move takes place, and even if it goes smoothly with few repercussions, it is not at all clear that the rest of the world will fall in step.
In all probability, most of the world will refuse to come along, despite the fact that West Jerusalem is not disputed territory. It will not help that there should be no legal or political problem moving an embassy to the Western part of the city. There was great reluctance to move embassies to pre-1967 Jerusalem long before the Palestinians issued any demands for parts of the city. No particular sensitivity to the Palestinian issue was displayed during the 1948-67 period.

The Western Wall is an Illegal Settlement

United Nations Security Council Resolution #2334 is worded in a way that creates some very odd results. Yes, the Western Wall is now an "illegal settlement," and any Israeli activity there is a "flagrant violation of international law."

On Sunday, the Jerusalem municipality issued this announcement (via UK Media Watch):

Today (Sunday), the Local Building and Planning Committee in Jerusalem approved the construction of 671 housing units in various neighborhoods whose approval had been delayed for several weeks: 324 units in Ramot, 174 units in Ramat Shlomo, 68 units in Pisgat Ze’ev, 49 units in Beit Hanina, 14 units in Wadi Joz, 24 units in Umm Lison and Umm Tuba, 7 units Jabel Mukaber, 4 units in Beit Safafa, 3 units in Sur Baher and 4 units in A-Tur. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said: “The past eight years have been difficult with pressure from the Obama administration to freeze construction. While the Jerusalem Municipality did not freeze construction, pressure from the American government meant that national approval was often not granted, and sometimes the publication of new plans was delayed. I believe that we are entering a new era, in which we will be able to continue to build and develop the city for the benefit of all residents, Jews and Arabs alike, This will enable us to the right thing – to strengthen our sovereignty, to provide housing solutions for young people, and to develop Jerusalem – Israel’s indivisible capital.”

667 units were approved, 566 in existing Jewish neighborhoods and 101 in Arab neighborhoods.

The mainstream media has a meme that Israel only approves "Jewish" settlement construction and withholds any approvals for Arab homes in Jerusalem. We've seen before how the media and diplomats ignore the approvals in Arab neighborhoods, or even count them as "illegal settlements." How did they report on this story?

UK Media Watch reported on British media. How about everyone else?

Reuters ignores the Arab homes, but it clearly read the announcement because it quoted Barkat:

Jerusalem's City Hall approved the building permits for more than 560 units in the urban settlements of Pisgat Zeev, Ramat Shlomo and Ramot, areas annexed to Jerusalem in a move unrecognised internationally.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said in a statement that the eight years of the Obama administration had been "difficult with pressure ... to freeze construction" but that Israel is now entering a new era.

Germany's DW.com said "Israel approves 566 new homes in east Jerusalem settlements," ignoring the Arab homes.

Vox ignored the Arab homes.

Russia's RT.com said "Israel approves 560 new illegal homes in E. Jerusalem as Trump takes office."

Haaretz' headline said,"After Trump's Swearing-in, Jerusalem Approves 566 Homes Beyond Green Line." No, it approved 667 homes. In the article it mentioned the Arab homes.

Most outrageously, the Jerusalem Post had the worst headline: "JERUSALEM MUNICIPALITY APPROVES 560 ISRAELI HOMES OVER GREEN LINE." No, it approved 667 Israeli homes. It did report on the Arab homes in the article.

Israeli newspapers have given license for world media to distinguish between homes built for Muslim and Christian residents of Jerusalem and homes built for Jewish residents. Not that world media and leaders need the excuse.

The same government approves both kinds of homes. The only difference is that homes built for Jews are "illegal" and homes built for Arabs, including Israeli Arabs, are considered both legal and not worth reporting.

Because reporting the truth would upset the overarching narrative of Israeli evil and subjugation of Arabs. And in this era of fake news and "alternative facts," some facts are simply too inconvenient to bother reporting.

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Jerusalem, above all joys (Forest Rain)

The debate about moving the American embassy to Jerusalem emphasizes, once again, the lack of comprehension of the importance of Jerusalem to the Nation of Israel.

The destruction of the Jewish Temple meant the destruction of the most holy, pivotal location to the Jewish religion, culture and people. Destruction of the Temple was an attempt to destroy the Jewish nation – take out the cultural linchpin, the one element that ties everyone together and everything will fall apart.

It is written:
As the navel is set in the centre of the human body,
so is the land of Israel the navel of the world…
situated in the centre of the world,
and Jerusalem in the centre of the land of Israel,
and the sanctuary in the centre of Jerusalem,
and the holy place in the centre of the sanctuary,
and the ark in the centre of the holy place,
and the Foundation Stone before the holy place,
because from it the world was founded.
(Roman-Era Midrash Tanchuma)

It is believed that the Foundation Stone is the foundation God used to create the world. Around this stone the Temple was built and within the Temple, on the Foundation Stone, the Ark of the Covenant was placed. This is the source of the holiness of the Temple and its importance to Judaism.

The image people around the world today have of the Temple Mount is that of the golden domed mosque which was built on the ruins of the Temple in 691 C.E. Since that time the Dome of the Rock has been a holy place for the Moslem people – although not central to their religion. Considered the third holiest location in Islam, it is not mentioned a single time in the Koran.

It was once common practice for a conquering people to build holy sites on top of existing holy places. Historically this was a successful way to both show domination of the location as well as a way to incorporate the local population in the new religion.

The Temple has been central to the Jewish people since the construction of the first Temple (957 B.C.E.). To this day, Jews around the world pray facing the direction of the site of the Temple Mount.

The Kotel is the Western Wall of the Temple which remains standing (an external supporting wall). The wall is so important that it has become in Jewish consciousness THE Wall. It needs no other name. Millions of Jews come to the Kotel every year, it is always open and people can be found there, every day, 24/7, around the clock. The Kotel is never empty and it is in fact one of the most frequented locations in the world, seeing approximately 11 million guests each year.

Jews in exile in Babylon are described in Psalm 137 as stubbornly remembering the full glory of Jerusalem, explaining to their captors that they would always look towards the holy city: “May my tongue cleave to my mouth, if I ever think not of thee, if I ever prize not Jerusalem above all joys!”

To this day, in Jewish weddings, before the couple is formally married, the groom proclaims this statement before the guests and breaks a cup with his foot to symbolize sorrow for the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.

On what is supposed to be the happiest day in the life of the couple, they stop, putting sorrow and longing for the Temple first. This is a powerful statement.

The 9th day of the month of Av (Jewish calendar) is the day when both the first and second Temples were destroyed, the first by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E.; the second by the Romans in 70 C.E. It is a day of fasting and mourning for religious Jews around the world.

Thinking about the meaning of Tisha B’Av, the day of mourning, I am beginning to see, (or maybe feel is a better word) that this is symbolic of all our problems – Israel’s and those of the world.

The Foundation Stone of the world, the site of the Temple mount, is dominated by a mosque. It is known that active destruction of antiquities has been occurring since the Waqf was given control of the Temple Mount. Dr. Mordechai Kedar, (Department of Arabic, Bar-Ilan University) explains: “These actions are being carried out in the context of a practice known in Arabic as Tams al-ma’alem, an expression that means ‘erasing the signs’ in the sense of destroying the relics of all cultures that preceded Islam.”

Jews are allowed to enter the site of the Temple but ironically are not allowed to pray there. In fear of Moslem rioting, to avoid violence, Jews who enter the Temple Mount must not be heard praying or show any signs of prayer. If they bow to the Holy of Holies, they are escorted out of the site.

Imagine having other people in your home who, because they had been there for so long, you do not attempt to evict, but only request to share the space with them. Imagine being told that you are allowed to stand outside the back door, outside the cellar, that you can watch while others enter and leave, doing as they please in your home…

Secular Jews do not fast on Tisha B’Av and though most Israelis have visited the Kotel, only a minority has actually ascended to the Temple Mount. The drifting away from putting Jerusalem above all other joys has significance that surpasses religion, encompasses history and has direct influence on our future.

The spiritual explanation says that ramifications of being disconnected or even barred from the source of the holiness of the world deeply impacts not only on the Jewish people but the entire planet as well.

History says that the cultural significance of Jerusalem and yearning for the Temple was a key factor in keeping the Jewish people intact over the centuries. When other nations rose and fell, the Nation of Israel remained, stubborn in their focus, insisting on returning to Israel and to Jerusalem – no matter how long it took or how much suffering was experienced along the way.

The Temple is what ties us to Jerusalem and Jerusalem is what ties us to Israel. Without either of these, we risk losing all.

This is an issue of priorities, of belonging, respect and freedom. These are magnified to extreme intensity here, at the navel of the world, but they have direct impact on the lives of all people, everywhere.

America under Obama, with the support of the UN and their latest anti-Israel resolution has done much to damage Israel’s connection to Jerusalem. America under Trump can help amend this. Moving the US embassy to Jerusalem is a good start.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

01/24 Links Pt1: Obama sent $221 million to PA before leaving office; Yazidi Girls Sold as Sex Slaves while Women March against Trump

From Ian:

Report: Obama sent $221 million to PA before leaving office

The Obama administration in its waning hours defied Republican opposition and quietly released $221 million to the Palestinian Authority, Washington officials said Monday.
The funds were being held up by Republican members of Congress.
An unnamed State Department official and several congressional aides said U.S. President Barack Obama's outgoing administration formally notified Congress it would spend the money Friday morning, just before Donald Trump became president.
More than $227 million in foreign affairs funding were released at the time, including $4 million for climate change programs and $1.25 million for U.N. organizations.
At least two GOP lawmakers had placed holds on the Palestinian funds. Congressional holds are generally respected by the executive branch but are not legally binding. (h/t Yenta Press)

Obama Uses Last Hours As President To Funnel Money To Palestinian Authority, Which Incites Murdering Jews

Beyond the corruption of the PA, its involvement in inciting Palestinians to murder Jews has been widely documented, from publications as leftist as Newsweek to the Gatestone Institute to Christians United for Israel.
In September, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Senator Dan Coats of Indiana introduced the “Taylor Force Act,” named after the graduate of West Point who was stabbed to death on the Tel Aviv beach promenade by a Palestinian terrorist in March The bill would cut off US funding to the Palestinian Authority if it continued to pay monetary rewards to terrorists and their families.
Graham said bluntly:
We’ve got to go ahead and put sunlight on this problem. The PA incentivizes young Palestinians to commit acts of terror…I hope Congress will understand that this is inconsistent with the two-state solution and that we’ll build support [for the legislation] over time . . . there has to come a point of awakening here within Palestinian society. I want the Palestinians to make a decision as to what kind of people they are going to be. I know they’ve got problems, I’ve met [PA President Mahmoud] Abbas many times. I know Hamas is an out and out terrorist organization and the PA has a fairly good working relationship with the Israelis when it comes to security, but we’ve got to cross this bridge…American dollars are going to a government that literally rewards people for killing their neighbors. And until we get that addressed, I don’t think the peace process will ever move forward.
But Obama, ever desirous of mortally wounding the Jewish state, used his last hours to try to come closer to his goal one last time.

Ex-Israeli Official Reveals Never Before Told Story Highlighting Fraught Obama-Netanyahu Relationship

A former top Israeli diplomatic official revealed a never-before told story that shed further light on the fraught personal relationship between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former US President Barack Obama, in an interview published Friday.
Dore Gold — who was until recently the director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry — told the Hebrew newspaper Makor Rishon that after the September funeral of the late Israeli statesman Shimon Peres, someone from Air Force One — on which Obama, then-Secretary of State John Kerry and former President Bill Clinton were aboard — called Netanyahu’s chief of staff Yoav Horowitz and told him, “Tell your boss if he wants a funeral like Peres’, he should begin to move, to go forward,” the implication being that Netanyahu should be more flexible when it comes to the peace process with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu, according to Gold, told Horowitz to respond, “Tell him that I give up the honor because I have no intention of participating in the funeral of my country.”
Later in the Makor Rishon interview, Gold accused the Obama administration of having demonstrated a “kind of arrogance” when it came to its Middle East policies.
“They developed a vision, according to which no matter what the Arabs say or what the Israelis say, they know better the needs of both sides,” Gold said. (h/t Elder of Lobby)