Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Algeria bans Jews from pilgrimage to holy site. Not Israelis - Jews.

For the 12th straight year, Algerian authorities have banned Jews from visiting the grave of Rabbi Ephraim Alnaqua, a 14th century Jewish leader, philosopher and physician.

I found the background in this recent article in Raseef22, a liberal Arab publication.

Darb al-Yahoud, or the Jews’ Path, is one of the most prominent neighborhoods in the Algerian city of Tlemcen that lies on the border with Morocco. The name of the neighborhood is no coincidence; it reflects a history that was once the reality of the area, though one that is today ignored by most Algerians, who have collectively forgotten that one of the most renowned Jewish rabbis in the world is buried there.

Not far from Darb al-Yahoud, on the eastern front of Tlemcen, lies a Jewish synagogue, surrounded by a high wall that can only be crossed through a large metal gate. Inside the wall is a garden with trees bearing various fruit, peering over the height of the wall.

A family lives in the garden, tending to the property. “This is an Arab Muslim family, and the father guards the tomb and the mausoleum,” Shawi Boudaghn, the tour guide, tells Raseef22.

Near the synagogue, behind yet another metal gate bearing the Star of David, lies a graveyard. The graves are emblazoned in Hebrew lettering, with the names of the dead. There is a nearby well, holding what many Jews consider to be holy water.

However, the most important relic is the mausoleum of the Rabbi Ephraim Alnaqua, considered one of the most prominent rabbis in Jewish history. Entry to the mausoleum is forbidden without prior permission granted by the governor (wali) of Tlemcen.

After the independence of Algeria, Jews were forbidden from pilgrimage to most of the holy sites in North Africa. In 2003, under the rule of current President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, a plan was set, in collaboration between France and Algeria, to reopen the Jewish synagogues and burial sites in Algeria.

In 2006, the Algerian parliament passed a law guaranteeing freedom of religion, which led to the authorization of an official Jewish association in Algeria.

Moreover, in 2005, in response to a request from France, the Algerian authorities permitted the relaunching of the pilgrimage season for Jewish delegations from Europe. Jewish delegations began pouring in to visit the various historical and religious sites, and to perform the pilgrimage to the mausoleum of Ephraim Alnaqua.

Those would mark the last of the publicized pilgrimages, as Algeria once again suspended them during the Israeli war on Gaza in 2006 [sic]. In the meantime, the locals in Tlemcen had not taken well to the initial decision to allow Jewish visitors in. Instead, they organized large marches in protest, and threatened to burn the remaining Jewish properties in the city.

The veto of Jew-hating Islamists continues:

In 2014, Minister of Religious Affairs Mohamed Eissa declared his intent to reopen the closed Jewish synagogues. Against the outcry by Salafis, who considered this an act of provocation, he affirmed that the Algerian constitution guarantees the freedom of belief, and that the authorities would provide security protection to these areas. He later backtracked, stating that there was no clear timeline for reopening the synagogues, and claiming that the Jewish representatives themselves were not enthusiastic about the reopening, as they feared potential tensions.

Israel has nothing to do with this. It is naked, explicit anti-semitism. And the lack of pushback from the Arab community shows (as if we need more proof) that Arab antisemitism is endemic and condoned.

Whenever Arabs claim they have nothing against Jews, ask them what they are doing about Algeria.

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Miri Regev wore a dress featuring the Old City of Jerusalem skyline at Cannes, to celebrate 50 years since its liberation.

Arabs are freaking out.

Alahed News reports:

The most recent form of transgression on Palestinian heritage is a dress!
The “Israeli” entity’s so-called “Culture Minister” Miri Regev attended an event at the Cannes film festival in a designer dress dong the skyline of the Old City of al-Quds [Jerusalem], Western Wall and al-Aqsa mosque included.

The Palestinian "Islamic and Christian Association for Jerusalem" condemned the dress saying that it shows the "Judaization" of Jerusalem.

The "Secretary General of the Palestinian National Committee for Education, Culture and Science: condemned the dress.

Twitter is going crazy with Israel-haters Photoshopping the dress to make it look like the security fence or other places.

As we've noted before. Palestinians spend more time on symbolism than substance. The honor/shame culture values appearances over facts. So when an Israeli does something symbolic on turf that they consider their own, they go crazy.

Because deep down they know that Jerusalem is Jewish and always will be. And when Israel emphasizes that fact even in innocuous ways, they simply cannot deal with it.

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Remember a couple of weeks ago when Mahmoud Abbas said at the White House "I affirm to you that we are raising our youth, our children, our grandchildren on a culture of peace"?

Here it is:

A poem which encourages Palestinians to go to "war" and "destroy the Zionist's soul" has again been recited by a child on official PA TV, this time on the children's program The Best Home. When the boy finished the poem, the studio audience stood and cheered while the host congratulated him:

Boy: "I am a Palestinian, my name is Palestinian
I've etched my name on all the town squares...
Saladin (i.e., Muslim conqueror of Jerusalem), calls to me from the depths of my heart
All my Arabness calls me to vengeance and liberation...
Thousands of prisoners and thousands who are jailed
call to this great nation and call to the millions
They say: To Jerusalem, the [first] direction of prayer in the faith [Islam]
To war that will smash the oppression and destroy the Zionist's soul
and raise the banner in the world's sky.
Palestinian, Palestinian, Palestinian. "
Official PA TV host: "Bravo."
[Official PA TV, The Best Home, March 17, 2017]

Palestinian Media Watch has documented four other children reciting this poem on PA TV in recent years.

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The Wall Street Journal reports:

The Trump administration on Wednesday announced new sanctions against Iran aimed at its ballistic missile program.
At the same time, the administration is taking a step to adhere to the 2015 deal to restrain Iran’s nuclear program by signing a sanctions waiver for Tehran, as stipulated in the pact, a senior administration official said.
Also on Wednesday, the State Department released its report on Iran’s human-rights record, emphasizing abuses in the country’s prison system and its detention of foreign nationals, including American citizens, the official said.
The moves come just days ahead of Iran’s elections and before President Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to the Middle East to meet with America’s Gulf allies and Israeli officials to discuss new measures to counter Tehran’s influence in the region.
“The actions that the administration is taking today are intended to highlight that the U.S. moving forward intends to address all the various aspects of Iran’s destabilizing and hostile behavior,” the official said. “So the message today is that we continue to take action against these and other aspects of Iran’s negative behavior that affect the U.S.’ security and that of our allies.”
The sanctions target seven individuals and entities, including two senior Iranian defense officials and a China-based network the U.S. says has supported Iran’s ballistic missile program, the official said.
The official said the U.S. had notified China of the pending sanctions.
One Iranian defense official who is sanctioned facilitated the sale of explosives and provided other support to Syria, the official said. Another is the director of an Iranian organization that is responsible for the Iranian regime’s ballistic missile program.

One would think that J-Street would be thrilled that, at least for now, the Trump administration is keeping the Iran deal, and instead is working on other Iranian outrages against human rights and peace.

But, no.

J-Street has officially outed itself as an explicit supporter of the Iranian regime, no matter what it does.

The organization claims otherwise, but read this letter they sent supporters:

There's a lot going on in the news, and this may not be on your radar this week, but Congress is considering legislation that risks killing the Iran deal.

The Countering Iran's Destabilizing Activities Act (S.722) has the worthy goal of putting pressure on Iran to combat some of the truly despicable activities of its authoritarian regime. Unfortunately, the bill -- as currently written -- is so broad in its language that many experts see it as undermining or even violating the nuclear deal President Obama achieved to block Iran's pathways to nuclear weapons.[1]

The footnote points to an article in Foreign Policy from March by Antony J. Blinken, Avril Haines, Colin Kahl, Jeff Prescott, Jon Finer, Philip Gordon and Robert Malley.

It talks about the Corker-Menendez bill, which does some things similar to the sanctions announced by the White House.

Here's what the FP article says:

[T]he bill adds new conditions that must be met before Washington can lift sanctions on certain Iranian parties in the future, including sanctions we are already committed to remove if Tehran continues to comply with the nuclear deal. According to the draft legislation, lifting sanctions on such Iranian entities would require a certification that they had not supported or facilitated ballistic missile or terrorist activity. This provision is unnecessary and could give Iran an excuse to undermine the deal. It is unnecessary because once nuclear-related sanctions are removed years from now, as required by the JCPOA, nothing in the deal prevents the administration in power from immediately using legal authorities already on the books to re-designate any individuals or entities that support terrorism or Iran’s ballistic missile program. And it is problematic because gratuitously adding new conditions could be read by Iran as unilaterally altering the terms of the deal, casting doubt on our future compliance. This could provide Iran a pretext to take reciprocal action — such as adding conditions to the performance of its own commitments. If our Chinese, European, or Russian negotiating partners agree that we are altering the deal, the international consensus necessary to keep pressure on Iran to abide by the deal could erode.

[Also], by mandating sanctions on any person or entity that “poses a risk of materially contributing” to Iran’s ballistic missile program, the bill introduces a standard that is overly broad and vague. Such a loose definition could potentially be used to impose sanctions in violation of the JCPOA — particularly when in the hands of an administration that is overtly hostile to the deal.

J-Street's "experts" are arguing that any sanctions being lifted against Iran must be lifted no matter what unsavory non-nuclear activities the sanctionees are doing, like supporting terror, or building ballistic missiles, or anything else. Protecting the holy JCPOA is a "get out of jail free card."

To J-Street and the JCPOA's supporters, seemingly anything that might upset Iran is off the table. And Iran should have the veto power over any US legislation that might hurt its feelings, because it can retaliate by claiming the US is altering the JCPOA.

Anti-semites claim that Jews control America. Here, the supposedly Jewish J-Street group is saying that Iran should have an implicit veto over any legislation that might upset it and give it a hissy fit.

All while J-Street claims that the US should be tough on Iran.

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05/17 Links Pt2: New Film ‘In Our Hands’ brings Six Day War to the big screen; Holocaust protest Linda Sarsour at CUNY event

From Ian:

Holocaust survivors attempt to prevent Linda Sarsour from CUNY event

A group of about 100 Holocaust survivors wrote a letter to New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo asking him to stop anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour from speaking at a City University of New York graduation next month.
Despite a public outcry and strong opposition from Jewish leaders, CUNY has chosen to maintain its invitation for Sarsour to speak to graduates of its School of Public Health and Health Policy, scheduled for June 1.
Sarsour, who was among the organizers of January’s Women’s March on Washington, has stirred controversy by speaking against Israel. In a recent interview, she said one cannot be part of the feminist movement unless he or she is critical of Israel’s “occupation” of the West Bank. Sarsour was also highly criticized for publicly supporting convicted Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh at a conference advocating for the boycott of Israel last month.
“What Linda Sarsour advocates for – boycotts against Jewish businesses in Israel and random acts of violence against the innocent – are no different than the things that we personally experienced,” the survivors wrote in their letter. “This is a frightening reality that we hoped we would never see again.
“But what makes matters worse is to again see good people and respected institutions responding with indifference,” they added.
“Nothing good can come of Ms. Sarsour telling young people, with CUNY’s imprimatur, that violence against the innocent for any reason at all is acceptable or courageous.”

JPost Editorial: Tempest in tea pot?

What happened to all the criticism of Sebastian Gorka, President Donald Trump’s senior adviser on counterterrorism? Why have all his critics disappeared?
We ask, because for the last month this paper has come under a fierce volley of criticism for agreeing to host Gorka – who holds the title of deputy assistant to the president – at its annual conference in New York City last week.
The attacks came from across the political spectrum, but mostly from left-wing, progressive organizations whose criticism was based on a series of articles in the Forward that alleged Gorka had secret ties with a far-right Hungarian group and neo-Nazi affiliate.
One head of a US-based Jewish organization told the paper that hosting Gorka made The Jerusalem Post no better than Jews who acquiesced to the rise of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s in Germany. No less.
As the Post’s editor-in-chief Yaakov Katz wrote a few weeks ago, the paper had asked the White House to send an official representative to its conference. Gorka was selected, and because of the reports about him and the emotions he stirred within the Jewish community, the paper felt it was not only appropriate to have him speak, but also its duty.
During his on-stage interview, Gorka dismissed the allegations against him and challenged his critics to find even “one sentence that is antisemitic or anti-Israel” that he, himself, ever uttered. “Nobody,” he said, “has found one [such] sentence that I have said in the past 46 years.”
Gorka then told how his father helped Jewish neighbors throughout World War II. In 1944, during Germany’s occupation of Budapest, Gorka said his father “escorted his fellow Jewish schoolmates – who were forced to wear the Star of David – to school every day and back to stop local German forces from assaulting or spitting on them.”
The week before the conference, reports surfaced that Gorka was on his way out of the White House. Gorka’s dismissal – according to The New York Times, The Daily Beast and CNN – was imminent.
But he is still in his position; still working in the White House. As he said at our conference: “The White House works like a well-oiled machine... I will be there for as long as the president has use for me.”

The 2016 African Debate Champion shares his thoughts on Israel

We Need to Stop Talking About the Wall (Judean Rose)

While everyone else was worried about the perceived status of a retaining wall, Michael Miller was more concerned with a different piece of Jerusalem real estate, namely the real estate that retaining wall is meant to protect.

Michael wrote:

“Even he sadly make the most common, serious mistake: the Kotel is the holiest site in Judaism, totally disregarding the Temple Mount. We've truly forgotten about the Beit HaMikdash.”

The “he” referred to in this comment was no less than Ambassador David Friedman.

Friedman’s first trip to Israel in his official capacity as American ambassador to Israel began with a visit to the Western Wall. “Well, it was a long trip,” said Friedman, flanked by his wife and daughter. “We’re a bit tired, but we wanted to come straight to the holiest place in the entire Jewish world, the Kotel HaMaaravi, the Western Wall, straight from the airport.”

Miller, one of the admins of the Facebook group, Take Back the Temple Mount, despaired that Friedman, an orthodox Jew, would publically refer to the Wall as the holiest Jewish site “in the entire Jewish world,” since this is a false and misleading statement. Yes, Friedman meant well, but it’s a statement that stains the honor of the true owner of that title of holiest Jewish place, the Temple Mount, and effectively relegates it to the ash heap. Friedman’s statement tells the world, “We don’t care about the Mount, just let us keep our remnant of a retaining wall and we’ll keep quiet about the rest—keep our heads down, like good little Jews.”

And of course, since this symbolic visit to the not holiest place in the entire Jewish world was followed by the fuss with the consulate figure, the probable Obama holdover who said that the Western Wall doesn’t belong to Israel (thank you UNESCO), the Temple Mount got completely lost and buried in the shuffle. No one thought about it.

No one thought about the Temple Mount.

Not Friedman. Not the Israeli organizers of Trump’s trip who took umbrage at being told they don’t have ownership of the Wall.

Because why worry about the Temple Mount when you can worry about a fragment of one of its retaining walls?

(That’s what the Western Wall is, in case you didn’t know it, or haven’t figured it out from the preceding paragraphs of this blog piece—a partial remnant of one of the Temple’s retaining walls.)

To be perfectly clear, in no way is the Western Wall the holiest place in the entire Jewish world.

Only the Temple Mount has that honor.

The Temple Mount was built on Mount Moriah, the place where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his only son Isaac.

It’s the place we turn toward as we pray.

It’s where the Cohen Gadol, the High Priest, prayed for the Jewish nation every Yom Kippur.

The Temple Mount is not just our holiest place, rather, it is the very epicenter of the Jewish universe.

And presently, we Jews are not free to pray there, for complicated reasons that make absolutely no sense. We recaptured our Temple Mount in 1967. But then that shtunk, Moshe Dayan, gave custodianship back to the Waqf, the Muslim Authority.

He had no right to do that and in so doing, he blackened his name forever.

Back in 1967, we still knew what was precious. Rabbi Shlomo Goren, the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem tells the story in his autobiography, With Might and Strength,* in such a way that you can actually feel the power and majesty of that moment: the moment when we took back our holiest place, the Temple Mount:

I began running toward Lions’ Gate. The battalion of paratroopers was spread out on both sides of the road, because artillery fire was raining down incessantly on the road itself. Stranded at the entrance to Lions’ Gate was a bus engulfed in flames; one of our tanks was also stuck at the gate.

Suddenly, I heard the battalion commander shouting at me, “Rabbi Goren, you’ll get yourself killed. Come with us and stick close to the wall.”

I felt as if I were flying. I walked out into the middle of the road. To my right, paratroopers from one company hugged the wall, and to my left, paratroopers from another company hugged the other.

“Go to Rabbi Goren and force him against the wall,” I heard the battalion commander ordering his company commander.

“I am the highest ranking officer here,” I told them. “Don’t force me against anything.”
I took [my father in-law’s shofar] and rushed back in the direction of the Rockefeller Museum, and from there I began to climb toward the Old City.

According to Jewish law, when Jews go out to battle they blow trumpets or shofars to assure their victory, as the Torah states: “And if you go to war in your land, against the enemy that oppresses you, then you shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and you shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies.”

It was for this reason that I had brought a shofar with me. The moment we drew close to the gate, I began blowing the shofar, sounding it loudly in this war for the liberation of Jerusalem. I continued to blow the shofar repeatedly until we reached the truck that was stuck at the gate, blocking the entry to the Temple Mount. I quickly climbed up onto the tank and slid down the other side, finding myself at the entrance to the Temple Mount.

As I made my way forward, I began to utter a prayer in between shofar blasts and shouted to the soldiers, “In the name of God, take action and succeed. In the name of God, liberate Jerusalem, go up and be successful.”

I kept shouting the entire time, until we were right on top of the Temple Mount, where I found Motta Gur standing surrounded by his soldiers. I had prepared a proclamation which I then recited on the Temple Mount:

In honor of the liberation of the Old City, the Kotel, and the Temple Mount from the enemy legions, on 28^th Iyar, 5727 on the Jewish calendar. Israeli soldiers, beloved of the nation, decorated with courage and victory, may God be with you valiant heroes. I am speaking to you from the plaza of the Kotel, the remnant of our holy Temple. (Comfort my people, comfort them, says your God.)

Here Goren goes on to tell how the area was administered in the early days after the war. Sifrei Torah were brought in and a study hall was established.

I appointed ten officers to be in charge of the Temple Mount and gave them armbands bearing the words, “Temple Mount Officer.” They controlled the area throughout that period, which lasted about 40 days after we liberated the Temple Mount, until Dayan went and transferred it to the Muslims.

One day, Dayan came to me and told me that I had to pack up and leave the Midrasha [a study hall that Goren had established on the Temple Mount], take out all the books and everything we had put there, and reassign the officers, because he had handed control of the Temple Mount to the Waqf. Those words were like a clap of thunder on a clear day.

Why did Dayan give the Temple Mount to the Waqf? For one thing, he, being a secular man, did not see the significance of this holy place. When the IDF was contemplating its recapture, Dayan was said to remark, "What do I need all this Vatican for?"

Dayan? As he handed over the keys to the Waqf, he was thinking more about the Arabs than his own people. Did he think losing the Jews' holy place would be too much of a blow to their Arab Muslim manhood for them to survive?

A misplaced mercy?

Surely misplaced. Because all these years later, our rights to our holy places and to Jerusalem itself are in danger. It is because of Dayan and our lack of will to fight him. It is our willingness then and now to turn our back on the Temple Mount that is the beginning of all that causes us to slowly lose hold of everything else. If we won’t fight for the jewel in the crown, who will see us as a worthy contender to the crown itself?

It’s an affront to God, what we did then. What we do now. He, God, gave us these beautiful gifts and made miracles happen that these gifts would be restored to us after thousands of years of loss and so much blood spilled and then we simply gave back the keys and said, “Here. You take them.”

A kind of shrug.

That is what has led to Friedman and everyone else saying the Wall is our holiest place, because we've already given up on the Temple Mount. It doesn't even rent space in our conscious mind.

That is how we cherish our holy places. And if this is how we cherish our holy places, what then will be the fate of Jerusalem?

(And do we even deserve to have the American embassy relocated there?)

*With Might and Strength: An Autobiography

Rabbi Shlomo Goren

Edited by Ari Rath

Hardcover: 457 pages

Publisher: Maggid (July 3, 2016)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1592644090

ISBN-13: 978-1592644094

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Popular New 'Barghouti Diet' Ignores Calories Eaten In Secret PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

Savyon, May 17 - Trendy Israelis have begun to embrace a new regimen for controlling food intake, inspired by the discipline of a prominent Palestinian prisoner, that only reckons calories from food not eaten on the toilet, in the closet, slouching down in the car, or otherwise concealed from view.

The Barghouti Diet, as it has become known, is gaining popularity among those who keep up with the latest in culture and fashion, according to social commentators, and appeals to a growing segment of the population looking for a way to balance nutritional and fitness needs with the fact that dieting sucks. Its source is Fatah terrorist Marwan Barghouti, currently serving five life sentences for his involvement in attacks that killed Israelis during the Second Intifada, and who was filmed consuming snacks in the toilet stall of his cell after announcing a hunger strike on the op-ed page of The New York Times.

Local Nutritionist Ivana Binge has noted numerous new inquiries from clients in the last two weeks regarding the Barghouti Diet, asking whether the regimen can be tailored to their lives. "It started about a week and a half ago," she recalled. "My clients were buzzing with talk of this new trend, and it turns out the eat-all-the-junk-food-you-want-as-long-as-you-think-nobody-is-looking diet is the latest thing."

Binge noted that variations of the Barghouti diet have existed for centuries, but have been dismissed as diets by most researchers, who tend to insist on some semblance of discipline in order to warrant the term. New research, however, points to a parallel between the diet and the political hunger strike, in which a Palestinian prisoner is still referred to by the news media as conducting such a strike even after repeated and consistent eating.

"I have advised my clients to adopt it gradually, as I do with any new diet," offered Hertzeliya-Pittuach dietitian Heidi Snackbeiter. "It's not healthy to go full-bore right away. You have to ease into it week by week. For the first week, only chocolate-covered-wafers and some cookies are to be eaten in the toilet stall, but within a month, I'm counseling my clients to mix it up, perhaps gorging on a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream in a back stairwell at work, or shoveling an entire can of sour cream and onion Pringles down their gullets in the coat closet while trying to muffle the sound of the crunching by rustling a newspaper."

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05/17 Links Pt1: Haley: ‘I Believe the Western Wall Is Part of Israel’; Boteach: We Do Not Forget -- President Trump Promised Jerusalem;

From Ian:

PMW: "To war that will smash the oppressor and destroy the Zionist's soul"

Once again, a young child recites poem calling for war on PA TV kids' program
A poem which encourages Palestinians to go to "war" and "destroy the Zionist's soul" has again been recited by a child on official PA TV, this time on the children's program The Best Home. When the boy finished the poem, the studio audience stood and cheered while the host congratulated him:
Boy: "I am a Palestinian, my name is Palestinian
I've etched my name on all the town squares...
Saladin (i.e., Muslim conqueror of Jerusalem), calls to me from the depths of my heart
All my Arabness calls me to vengeance and liberation...
Thousands of prisoners and thousands who are jailed
call to this great nation and call to the millions
They say: To Jerusalem, the [first] direction of prayer in the faith [Islam]
To war that will smash the oppression and destroy the Zionist's soul
and raise the banner in the world's sky.
Palestinian, Palestinian, Palestinian. "
Official PA TV host: "Bravo."
[Official PA TV, The Best Home, March 17, 2017]
Palestinian Media Watch has documented four other children reciting this poem on PA TV in recent years.

Boy recites poem on PA TV children’s program: “To war that will … destroy the Zionist's soul”

Bereaved Israeli Families Urge Trump to Pressure Palestinian Authority to End Payments to Terrorists

Ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to the Jewish state next week, hundreds of family members of Israeli terror victims have signed a letter to the American leader that urges him to pressure the Palestinian Authority (PA) to stop giving money to terrorists and their families, the Hebrew news site nrg reported on Tuesday.
Before peace talks can be renewed, the letter said, the Palestinians “must demonstrate good faith and show that they are truly willing to change their ways by stopping incitement and halting all payments to terrorists who murdered Israelis.”
Furthermore, the letter’s signatories asked for a meeting with Trump during his time in Israel.
“We are the voice of the terror victims and bereaved families in Israel, and unfortunately, our number and pain are great,” the letter said.
Last week, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon called on the Security Council to “act immediately” to halt the flow of money from the PA to jailed terrorists.

Arab Bank settlement over Israel attacks may hit snag in US appeals court

A settlement between Arab Bank Plc and Americans who accused it of facilitating militant attacks in Israel is in jeopardy after US judges said they may not have jurisdiction over an appeal that would determine how much the bank should pay.
Judges of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York raised the jurisdiction issue during an oral argument on Tuesday.
Jordan-based Arab Bank is appealing a September 2014 jury verdict in a Brooklyn federal court finding it liable for facilitating two dozen attacks linked to Hamas by handling financial transactions.
Following the verdict, Arab Bank reached a settlement covering 527 plaintiffs. Under the deal, the bank would appeal the verdict, and the amount it would pay was left subject to whether or not the appeal was successful, lawyers for both the bank and the plaintiffs said during Tuesday's arguments.
Arab Bank said in January 2016 it had accumulated $1 billion in provisions for the case that would cover "expected obligations" under the settlement.
But 2nd Circuit Judge Lewis Kaplan said he was concerned that the court did not have the authority to decide an appeal of the merits of the jury's verdict merely to help the parties determine a settlement payment.
"We don't sit here to provide opinions to fit into some settlement agreement that the parties have," he said.

UN Watch Gala Dinner '17 Israel Video

“What’s his name?”

The women whisper between themselves, not sure they heard correctly: “What’s his name?”

“Shimon? Ah, Shimon… that’s a good name.”

“Shimon, because of Lag BaOmer. That’s a good name.”

Repetition registers his name. Eight days old, he is now known to the community, part of the collective memory - the newest member of the tribe.

Satisfied, the women move to congratulate the mother, ignoring the men who are still in the midst of the ceremony. Everyone says “Mazal Tov!” to everyone else. It’s not just the parents who are congratulated on the birth of their son, it is the community that congratulates itself, rejoicing and celebrating the addition of a new member.

A new Jew. That’s not something to be taken for granted.

I started the day with a brit and ended it with a wedding.

The “brit milah” is the covenant of circumcision, commanded of every Jewish male, since Abraham. The circumcision is performed by a mohel ("circumciser") on the eighth day of a male infant's life. Modern medicine has discovered that this ancient tradition helps preserve physical health, promoting cleanliness and preventing disease. This is a side benefit to fulfilling the ancient covenant.

The brit is meant to be an undeniable, permanent symbol of the bond between God and the Jewish people. Often this was used against the Jewish people. Enemies searching out Jewish men for destruction could simply force the suspects to undress. No man could deny his connection to the Jewish people. The difference between him and every other man was inescapably obvious.

Throughout the centuries, the Nation of Israel has kept our covenant, for better and for worse.

Not something to be taken for granted.

A wedding is also a covenant. Bride and groom stand in front of the community and join themselves to each other. Different cultures consider this occasion one that is sanctified, viewing both the ceremony and the union that is created as holy.

The Jewish wedding has more layers. Here too community has a unique role as does Jewish history - our unbreakable connection to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.

The Jewish wedding celebration does not belong just to the couple and their families. The community attending is part of the event, tasked with the job of making sure that the celebration is full of joy.

Bringing joy to the bride and groom is a task that is considered so important that even people in mourning (who are not allowed to attend or participate in celebrations) are permitted to come to the event to congratulate the couple and witness the ceremony (after which they should leave so as to not take part in the actual celebrations).

You might wonder, isn’t celebrating a wedding obvious? Of course, that’s a joyful time! Why should you need to be commanded to be happy?

How many times throughout Jewish history has it been difficult to celebrate? Was it easy to find joy during the Holocaust, when neighbors were disappearing in the night, when family was murdered in front of your eyes? When you don’t know if you or your loved ones will live to see another day, how do you celebrate?

Then again, how do you not?

Through pogroms, exile, wars and terror attacks, despite enemy after enemy rising up to destroy us, the Jewish people have carved out niches of joy – determined to celebrate new Jewish life. A wedding, a promise of a new Jewish home, a new family, children. A brit, a new member of the community. These are not to be taken for granted.

And then there is Jerusalem.

The Jewish wedding is not complete without the additional layer of our history, our bond to Jerusalem. On what is supposed to be the happiest day of their lives, the couple must pause and put Jerusalem first. The community listens in silence as the groom declares: “May my tongue cleave to my mouth, if I ever think not of thee, if I ever prize not Jerusalem above all joys!” (Psalm 137). After this the groom breaks a glass, symbolizing the destruction of the ancient Jewish Temple that once stood on the Temple Mount in the heart of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is held up, above all other joys.

I began the day with a brit and ended it with a wedding. A day of expanding the Tribe of Israel, welcoming a new Jew, just eight days old in to the community, cheering the creation of a new Jewish family who, in turn, will add their children to the tribe.

Not something to take for granted.

Our tribe is unusual. We are bound to each other, individuals and community. We are bound to God, as individuals and as a nation. And Jerusalem pulses through our veins and memory, binding it all together.

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Arab states dropping even "full settlement freeze" demand to establish closer ties with Israel

This Wall Street Journal story is a bombshell that was drowned out by the many other bombshells that come out of Washington these days.

Arab Gulf states have offered to take concrete steps to establish better relations with Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will make a significant overture aimed at restarting the Middle East peace process, according to people briefed on the discussions.

The offer to the U.S. and Israel comes ahead of President Donald Trump’s trip to the Middle East. The potential steps include establishing direct telecommunications links with Israel, allowing overflight rights to Israeli aircraft, and lifting restrictions on some trade, said these people.

The Gulf countries, in turn, would require Mr. Netanyahu to make what they would consider to be a peace overture to the Palestinians. Such steps could include stopping construction of settlements in certain areas of the West Bank and allowing freer trade into the Gaza Strip.

The Arab states’ position, outlined in an unreleased discussion paper shared among several Gulf countries, is aimed in part at aligning them with Mr. Trump, who has stressed his desire to work with the Arab states to forge a Middle East peace agreement, the people said. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have informed the U.S. and Israel of their willingness to take such steps.

The Gulf states’ initiative, according to the people briefed on it, underscores the vastly improved relations between Israel and the Gulf states in recent years, driven by their shared concerns about Iran and Islamic State.

“We no longer see Israel as an enemy, but a potential opportunity,” said a senior Arab official involved in the discussions.

The article goes on to list many under-the-table examples of cooperation between Israel an the Arab world happening now.

The Gulf states have dropped their longstanding demand to wait for a "peace agreement" before establishing relations with Israel. They just want Israel to make some essentially moves to provide cover for the closer cooperation they want with Israel anyway.

In fact, they are no longer even demanding a full settlement freeze.

The Arab nations are more pro-Likud than Obama!

Stopping settlement activity in "certain areas" of the West Bank? Israel already severely limits new construction almost everywhere outside existing blocs. Check.

Allowing freer trade into Gaza? Israel's already doing that too. Check.

Israel just has to provide yet another peace plan - one that everyone knows the Palestinians will refuse. But it will be enough for the Arab states to have diplomatic and public-relations cover to do what they want to do anyway.

The Arab states are slowly but surely signalling that they are more aligned with Israel's interests than with those of the Palestinians. The Palestinian issue is being crowded out. And the Palestinians see this very clearly. The only quote from a Palestinian official in the entire article was a very muted reaction:

“We don’t mind a good relationship between Israel and the Arab world,” said Husam Zomlot, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s representative in Washington. “[But] is this the entry to peace? Or is it the blocker?”

For all the the mixed messages coming from the White House about the Middle East, many of them troubling, a lot of this is because of Trump's acceptance of Netanyahu's vision of a broader coalition of Sunni Arab states and Israel. For better or worse, Trump's shakeup of the US foreign policy is prompting moderate Arab allies to want to be on his good side. In this case, it could pay off, "big league."

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Silence is consent: "Pro-Israel community" supports terrorist Rasmea Odeh's right to speak at Northwestern U

From the Daily Northwestern:

Palestinian organizer Rasmea Odeh and University of Illinois at Chicago Prof. Nadine Naber spoke Monday about the Palestinian experience in both the Middle East and the U.S., saying Palestine supporters must continue to fight for liberation.

The talk, held in Technological Institute and attended by more than 70 people, was part of a series of events hosted by Students for Justice in Palestine for Israeli Apartheid Week. The week aims to “shed a light on the settler colonial project,” according to SJP’s Facebook page. Monday also marked the 69th anniversary of Nakba, which many Palestinians observe as a forced eviction from their homes following the creation of the state of Israel. Others refer to the 1948 signing of the Israeli Declaration of Independence as Israel Independence Day.

Israeli Apartheid Week has now been extended from February to May, apparently.

Now "Nakba Day" is the primary definition of Israel's Independence Day, according to this reporter.

And only in the third paragraph does this report grudgingly bring up Odeh's history, only to dismiss it.

Odeh was convicted by the Israeli government in 1969 for participating in bombings that killed two Israeli college students. However, she said she was convicted after being tortured into making a false confession.

The fact that her torture claims are an easily proven lie is not even worth mentioning.

However, the obvious bias is not the most disturbing part of the article. (Another student newspaper reporting was even worse.) The pseudo-response from the organized "pro-Israel" community is.

Half an hour before the event in Tech began, a group of students from Fiedler Hillel, Wildcats for Israel and J Street U organized a vigil to mourn the two students who were killed in the 1969 bombing. More than 120 people, including University President Morton Schapiro, attended the vigil.

Hillel president Samantha Max said the vigil was not pro-Israel or a direct response to anything Odeh would say during the event.

“We wanted to offer space for people to decompress and we wanted to really focus it on the victims, these two people who were killed in the 1969 bombing attack,” the Medill junior said. “And really just offer an alternative space for people that would in no way disrupt the event.”

It is nice that the number of people who attended the vigil outnumbered the number who attended Odeh's talk. And it is also nice that it attracted the University President.

But it is nevertheless a poor response to a convicted, admitted terrorist being allowed to be given a place of honor and an opportunity to spout lies about both Israel and the US (she called the Justice Department "racist") on campus.

Sure she has a right to free speech. And that right extends, beyond this silent vigil, to create a noisy, outraged protest outside the actual talk.

Hillel appears to have been rendered impotent by its strange desire to partner with J-Street U in an action that their president is seemingly proud to label "not pro-Israel." But Wildcats for Israel should have skipped this and protested Odeh directly.

The lack of an organized expression of anger at a murderer and terrorist on campus is more of a statement than the silent vigil. After all, the anti-Israel side doesn't afford pro-Israel speakers the same courtesy. In February, Bassem Eid was forced to cancel his speech at Northwestern after he saw the same hecklers who disrupted previous Chicago campus speeches.

I am not saying that Odeh's actual speech should be disrupted. I'm saying that there should have been a noisy protest outside her venue with flyers and signs telling the truth about her. The vigil didn't serve that purpose, and the articles about her appearance are therefore unabashedly anti-Israel since there were no voices opposing her - only organized silence.

As the Talmud says, silence is consent. And this vigil was a tacit acceptance of Odeh's right to slander and lie about Israel and the US.

Rasmea Odeh murdered two people. The facts are undisputed for anyone who bothers to find them. Holding a vigil in the victims' memory is nice, but allowing Odeh's presence and lies to be unopposed on campus sends a much more powerful message of acceptance than any silent vigil can.

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ICRC closes office in Ramallah because of violent break-in and threats over hunger strikers

Since the Palestinian Arab prisoner hunger strike is getting no results and nearly no coverage outside the territories, Palestinian supporters of the imprisoned terrorists are getting frustrated.

So they broke into the International Committee of the Red Cross offices in Ramallah and threatened the staff there because they say that the ICRC isn't doing enough for the prisoners.

The office is closed until further notice.

The ICRC visited terror leader Marwan Barghouti, the cheating hunger striker, but that apparently isn't enough.

In 2016, the ICRC helped arrange 114,000 visits to Palestinian Arab prisoners. But apparently that isn't enough.

So Palestinians who pretend to care about "human rights" of terrorists (getting more satellite TV channels) close down the major organization that helps prisoners.

This is Palestinian logic.

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