Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, July 28, 2017

07/28 Links Pt2: A tale of 2 Israeli heroes; What kind of society has the PA created?

From Ian:

Last Friday night, an Israeli soldier on leave for the weekend acted coolly and courageously, ‎rushing to the rescue of neighbors he heard screaming. "Sgt. O.," whose full name cannot be ‎disclosed due to the sensitive nature of the elite IDF special forces unit in which he serves, ran to ‎the home of the nearby Salomon family to investigate. When he saw through their window that ‎they were being butchered, he promptly grabbed his rifle and shot the perpetrator.‎
By the time the scene was over, Yosef Salomon, 70, his daughter Chaya Salomon, 46, and son ‎Elad Salomon, 36, were lying in pools of blood on the kitchen floor. Tova Salomon, 68, would ‎only learn of the death of her husband and two of her children upon awakening from the surgery ‎she underwent to repair the multiple injuries she sustained in the knife attack.‎
The terrorist who maimed and murdered the Salomons was evacuated to an Israeli hospital, ‎where he was treated for the bullet wound from Sgt. O.'s weapon.‎
Sgt. O. is an Israeli hero whose identity cannot be published, but whose life is intact. A ‎different Israeli hero -- one who has been a household name in the country for his decades of ‎musical prowess and gay-rights activism -- was not so fortunate last weekend.
Amir Fryszer Guttman, 41, died on Saturday of organ failure, after rescuing his 9-year-old ‎niece from drowning off the coast of Atlit. Fryszer Guttman held the flailing child, his brother's ‎daughter, above the surface of the waves, forcing himself to stay conscious while bobbing up and ‎down in the water until help arrived. It was not until he was told that the little girl was safe that ‎he passed out for good. He was rushed to the hospital in a coma, and died the following day.
Fryszer Guttman's story gripped the nation more profoundly than the international crisis ‎surrounding the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The ongoing chaos, sparked by an Arab terrorist ‎attack on July 14 -- in which two Druze Israeli Border Police officers were killed outside Al-‎Aqsa mosque -- feels like yet another chapter in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. By now, the ‎matter-of-fact heroism displayed by people like Sgt. O. is something that the public has ‎come to take for granted.‎
But Fryszer Guttman's death caused everyone -- even the most secular of his peers in the ‎entertainment industry and LGBT community -- to gasp at its eerily divine significance. This is ‎because he lost his life on the very day that he and his friends and family were celebrating the ‎anniversary of the beginning of his new life.‎

David Harris: Stop Infantilizing the Palestinians

It's high time for the international community to wake up to certain Palestinian realities that many would rather avoid. I write as the representative of an organization, AJC, long committed to the search for an enduring two-state agreement, coexistence between Muslims and Jews, and friendly ties with moderate Arab countries.
An obsession with Israel and what it should (and should not) do blinds too many observers of the region to the other side of the equation - what the Palestinians should (and should not) do. Why doesn't the international community show more backbone in insisting that Palestinians take responsibility for their own behavior?
The Palestinians could have had a state on more than one occasion between 1947 and 2017, yet they rejected each opportunity. The price was recognition of Israel as a sovereign nation alongside the Palestinian state, a price they have been unwilling to pay.
While Israel has come to accept Palestinian nationalism, there has been no reciprocal movement on the Palestinian side to accept Jewish self-determination as its complement.
Moreover, the popular Palestinian belief that Jews are "outsiders," "interlopers," "colonialists," and "crusaders" must be confronted. Jews are indigenous to the region. The age-old link between the Jewish people and the land is documented and irrefutable.
Indulging the Palestinians in their fanciful history allows them to live in an alternate universe, one where Israel doesn't exist, or, if it does, is only a "temporary and illegitimate" phenomenon.
Ending the infantilization of the Palestinians - and beginning to hold them responsible for their actions - could be one promising way forward for the peacemakers.

What kind of society has the Palestinian Authority created?

On July 14th, Palestinian terrorists smuggled guns into their own holy site, then used those guns to murder two Israeli Druze police officers guarding one of the entrances to the al-Aqsa Mosque. Yet, it's the installation of metal detectors and cameras - nothing more nothing less, not the heinous use of a holy site as a launch pad for murder and terrorism that has the Palestinians enraged.
To an objective observer, the crisis that erupted in the aftermath of a bloody terror attack makes no sense. Israel’s placing security devices at the entrance to all al-Aqsa entrances was a preventive security matter plain and simple and designed to detect metal objects being carried onto the Temple Mount to prevent a recurrence of the crime and to protect worshipers coming to pray.
Sadly, mere rumors by Palestinians regarding al-Aqsa are enough to ignite a conflagration. In effect, by pretending that the al-Aqsa mosque is under Israeli attack, Palestinian political and religious leaders have deliberately drummed up senseless violence. Nor is this sham new. Palestinian leaders have been making false claims of Jewish threats to the al-Aqsa mosque since 1929.As a result, the predictable response from Palestinians was general outrage and mass riots if the security devices were not removed. So the question arises, how could the installation of metal detectors and high-tech cameras to protect a holy site be considered a cause of war or worse - a new holy war?
Even the King of Saudi Arabia said he saw no problem with the installation of electronic means of inspection, which are the same ones used at Islam's holiest shrines in Mecca and Medina. In Mecca, for example, there are 5,000 closed-circuit television cameras (overseen by a British company, G4S) and, as a security measure, an electronic bracelet is attached to each of the millions of pilgrims throughout their entire stay in the kingdom, allowing the authorities to monitor them. That hasn’t stopped the pilgrimage.

You learn interesting Jewish history from Arab websites

Here's what I learned today:

Jerusalem among the Jews is the capital of the Messiah of salvation coming from the descendants of David. In the Talmudic textbook, "The Jews will come to Jerusalem and take it, and its borders will be filled with wealth." In the interpretation of the Kabbalah, it was portrayed as a place that would flow from the sky and spread to the rest of the world.

The demolition of Al-Aqsa Mosque is an integral part of Zionist ideology. Christ will not return to battle (Armageddon) at the end of time except by the demolition of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the establishment of Solomon's Temple. And of course we know that this doctrine has loyal followers of the United States Christians, fanatical and red-headed Protestants called Jesus Freaks. Let us know from a long history of excavations and tunnels that the land under the mosque became like an ant house.

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Another Hamas "martyr" has ascended to Paradise.

Omar Abu Nimah was electrocuted while working in a terror tunnel in southern Gaza.

He was such a happy terrorist, too.

Here is the uncorrected, autotranslated eulogy from the Hamas Al Qassam website.

"We ask Allah to accept him and to make him live in peace, to make his struggle pure for his holy face, to persevere his people and his loved ones, and to improve their consolation, and the blood of our martyrs will remain a shining light in the path of liberating Palestine and burning the occupiers until they are defeated from our land." On the road of the thorn, the Mujahideen of the Qassams spend the heroes, do not know to rest or sit in a way, their silence is only a jihad and preparation for as long as the enemy and the friend saw his fruit in the battlefields of the battle, from training to industrialization to digging tunnels of pride and dignity to the positions of the homeland, some, the young believer dedicated himself to God sacrificing all dear and precious, dug in the rock despite the blockade and restrictions near and distant and give up, held out the promise of the afterlife , which is coming inevitably on getting worse Mujahdona faces of the Zionists , God willing, and expel from the land of Isra ' submissive and they are humble. " She continued:" We ask Allaah to accept Him and dwell in Him Melt downpeace, and make his struggle purely for His sake, and that patient and his family loved ones and improves find relief, and blood our martyrs will remain guiding light in way liberation Palestine and fire burn until occupiers from our land Andhroa God willing. "

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07/28 Links Pt1: The ‘Al-Aqsa libel’ lives on; The Palestinian plot to end-run Trump at the UN

From Ian:

Ben-Dror Yemin: The ‘Al-Aqsa libel’ lives on

As the years went by, the format of “an external enemy with self-killing” exacerbated, and not just among the Palestinians. The Muslims are regularly furious with the West. In the past few decades, the “forces of progress” have been adding fuel to the fire. Thousands of academics, journalists and human rights activists are pointing an accusing finger at the West, at the United States, as the Great Satan, and at Israel, as the Little Satan. Everything the Islamists say the ultra-enlightened people say a bit better.
But the rage against the West, which is mostly based on lies and self-deception, is entering an improved format of “an external enemy and self-killing,” because in recent decades the Muslims have mainly been massacring themselves. The massacre exists wherever there are Islamists, and they always find excuses to invigorate the “industry of death”—the title of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna’s article.
From 2002 to late 2016, 202,697 people were murdered in acts of terror. I’m not talking about the casualties of war in the Muslim world, where the death toll in that period almost reached one million. I’m talking about the victims of terror, the absolute majority of whom are Muslim, in Muslim countries or in Muslim population centers. Iraq, Afghanistan and Nigeria top the list. Israel is almost at the bottom. So with all due respect to the sensitivity towards the Temple Mount, which does exist, it’s the Muslim world’s last problem.
Terror doesn’t appear because it wants to improve something. It doesn’t seek peace. And in our case, it doesn’t seek two states for two people, it doesn’t want an end to the occupation. Terror appears because of incitement and hatred and blood libels. It seeks destruction and ruin, and it will find any excuse to reappear.
When the Palestinians suffer because of the occupation—they have an excellent reason, and one can be confident that the representatives of the forces of progress will turn into terrorism’s propaganda and justification arm. When things are good, despite the occupation—and in the past two years there have been signs of prosperity—it makes the jihadists’ blood boil even more and they rise up against the normalization. And, in the background, there are always the instigators and the agitators and the funders. The young man who went out to murder on Friday night believed that the Jews are desecrating one of Islam’s holiest symbols. He believed the campaign of lies, beginning with al-Jazeera and Hamas to Sheikh Raed Salah and the Palestinian media.
That doesn’t mean that our decision makers did the right thing. But before pulling out knives, and before starting an argument between the Shin Bet and the police, and before pointing an accusing finger at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, we must remember that we are talking about a much deeper problem. A problem which the Arab world must solve with itself, because the Muslims are an absolute majority of the victims of Islamic terror. The Temple Mount, with all due respect, is not a jot of this problem. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

Israel must disabuse Abbas of the delusion he can bully Israel

Then Israel should stop facilitating the business interests of Abbas’s cronies, whose cartels control the Palestinian economy. The international donor community, too, might usefully rethink the huge sums of cash it pours into Abbas’s coffers every year.
Then Israel can and should revoke the VIP permits that allow Abbas and his ministers to fly in and out of Ben-Gurion Airport on their luxury private jets. Let them beg King Abdullah in Amman for travel privileges.
Simultaneously, Israel should clamp down on the activities in eastern Jerusalem of rabble- rousers like Sheikh Ekrima Sa’id Sabri, the lead agent in the city for Erdogan’s Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood; Sheikh Issam Amira, the lead agent in the city for the Islamic Liberation Party (Hizb ut-Tahrir); and Abbas’s hand-picked henchmen, the intemperate Temple Mount Mufti Muhammad Hussein and the fanatic former chief justice of the PA’s religious court, Sheikh Tayseer al-Tamimi.
Their sermons, “charitable” enterprises and educational programs glorify terrorists and explicitly call for violent resistance to Israel. Their networks (along with Fatah social media) also are the source for the libel that al-Aksa is in danger from Israel. It would also not be too hard to arrest their key street-activists, who are leading the riots in the city.
Israel should unsheathe its sovereign power and put the extremists down. This is the decisive action that one day might allow for Palestinian moderates to emerge.

Arab humiliation and the Temple Mount

With Donald Trump’s electoral victory, Palestinian hopes of luring the international community into a dictated agreement suffered an enormous setback. Meanwhile the Gulf states have come to view Israel as an ally against Iran, while Egyptian security cooperation with Israel is stronger than ever in history. The Palestinians are the odd man out. And President Trump himself went to the Western Wall of the destroyed Temple in Jerusalem, the first US president ever to do so – as a private citizen, to be sure, and without any Israeli official presence – in a powerful gesture of sympathy for Jewish national aspirations.
The last wedge that the Palestinians can drive between Washington and its Arab allies is the Temple Mount itself. This is not a matter of Muslim theology, nor a question of sentimental attachment: rather, it is the embodiment of the last hope that the hated Zionist presence will be temporary, and the prayers of a billion and a half Muslims for “success” eventually will be granted. Whether last week’s murder of Israeli policemen with guns hidden on the Temple Mount was a fortuitous pretext for the protests, or a provocation intended to produce a wave of outrage in the Arab world, is unclear.
That explains why Arab governments were “conspicuously silent” on the matter, as the Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported July 24. One can only imagine the content of the telephone traffic between Washington and Arab capitals over the weekend. Israel at length removed the metal detectors to the official praise of the White House.
Washington and Jerusalem only have unpleasant choices in the short term. The so-called Arab Street has been quiet for several years. But life in the Arab world remains difficult to bear, and the danger of an eruption of popular rage is ever present. The Israelis (and above all the Israeli security services) do not want another Intifada and hope the issue will go away. Feeding the Arab’s refusal to admit defeat, though, will only encourage behavior that has come to resemble the Black Knight’s one-sided battle with King Arthur in Monty Python’s Holy Grail film. Peace isn’t made when one side is defeated, but when one side admits that it is defeated. Delaying this admission keeps the war going. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

While Mahmoud Abbas' media is praising him for his "victory" over Israel, others are claiming that they are the ones who were instrumental in Israel's decision to take down the metal detectors outside the Temple Mount.

One of them is King Salman of Saudi Arabia, who took credit for the decision in a press release:

PROTESTS and pressure from world leaders, led by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, forced Israel to remove all security measures at Al-Aqsa Mosque. The move felicitates the return of Palestinian worshipers to the mosque, in what may be a turning point in the two-week standoff.

King Salman had a telephonic conversation with several world leaders in order to resolve the Al-Aqsa Mosque impasse after Israel’s security measures last week.

During the calls, King Salman asserted the rights of Palestinian Muslims to access Al-Aqsa Mosque. According to a Royal Court statement issued on Thursday, King Salman’s communications with world leaders succeeded in resolving the Al-Aqsa confrontations.

The Saudi government contacted the US administration and urged it to facilitate the opening of Al-Aqsa Mosque to Muslims, and for allowing them the right to worship after restrictions on access to the mosque were imposed by Israeli forces, the Royal Court statement said.

The statement added that King Salman’s efforts have been successful in a way that contributed to restoring stability and provided reassurance to the worshipers. It helped safeguard their dignity and security.

There are two messages here. One is the normal attempt by any national leader to make themselves look more important than they are by taking far more credit for world events than they deserve.

But the other is to downplay the political importance of Mahmoud Abbas.

A real ally would be sensitive to how a statement like this would play in the territories. King Salman doesn't really care.

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Amnesty International continued its anti-Israel bias, contradicting every non-Arab eyewitness account on the events on Thursday:

Israeli forces attacked peaceful crowds of Palestinians as they gathered at al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem this afternoon for the first time since Israel lifted recent security measures imposed at the site, according to Amnesty International staff at the scene.
“Israeli forces started firing stun grenades, tear gas and sponge-tipped bullets into a peaceful crowd as they stood at the entrance of the al-Aqsa mosque compound and inside. It appeared to be an entirely unprovoked attack. Some Palestinians threw empty water bottles in return. Others, began to throw stones as well,” said Magdalena Mughrabi, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International.

Freelance journalist Jake Hanrahan tweeted in response:

I was there. There wasn't one single vantage point where you could tell either way who started it.
— Jake Hanrahan (@Jake_Hanrahan) July 27, 2017

Even Asaf Ronel, Haaretz' World News editor and an avowed anti-Zionist, took issue with this description:

It's a complex scene. Fact that from point of view of @amnesty staff it seemed unprovoked doesn't mean nothing happened somewhere else https://t.co/uFWbybjY1z
— Asaf Ronel (@AsafRonel) July 27, 2017

Amnesty's bias is even more egregious when you consider that for the past two weeks Israel has done everything it could to calm things down while the Palestinian leadership has done everything it could to inflame and incite.

Such background is irrelevant to Amnesty, which is wedded to its own anti-Israel narrative that trumps facts, so much so that it ignores proof that it is wrong.

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A new DNA study has just been released that says that ancient Canaanites were not annihilated by the Children of Israel, but are the ancestors of today's Lebanese.

A new genetic study from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute has found that far from being destroyed, the Canaanites morphed into the inhabitants of modern Lebanon.

Scientists in the United Kingdom-based genetic research center sequenced the genomes of five 4,000-year-old Canaanite individuals and compared them to other ancient and present-day populations, including a sample of 99 modern Lebanese.

The results, published July 27 in the American Journal of Human Genetics, show that 93 percent of the ancestry of modern Lebanese ancestry comes from the Canaanites.

Had they been destroyed by the Israelites, though, it would have been a form of patricide.

The study took the DNA of human remains in Sidon and compared it to those of modern Lebanese:

Uncertainties also surround the fate of the Canaanites: the Bible reports the destruction of the Canaanite cities and the annihilation of its people; if true, the Canaanites could not have directly contributed genetically to present-day populations. However, no archaeological evidence has so far been found to support widespread destruction of Canaanite cities between the Bronze and Iron Ages: cities on the Levant coast such as Sidon and Tyre show continuity of occupation until the present day.

We sampled the petrous portion of temporal bones belonging to five ancient individuals dated to between 3,750 and 3,650 years ago (ya) from Sidon, which was a major Canaanite city-state during this period.

Only one problem: the Children of Israel never conquered Sidon, or many other Canaanite cities, nor did they destroy the Canaanites - according to the Bible.

God indeed commanded the destruction of the Canaanites (Deuteronomy 20:17) but the beginning of Judges shows that it never happened (NIV translation, easier to understand than JPS)

27 But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land. 28 When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely. 29 Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them. 30 Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, so these Canaanites lived among them, but Zebulun did subject them to forced labor. 31 Nor did Asher drive out those living in Akko or Sidon or Ahlab or Akzib or Helbah or Aphek or Rehob. 32 The Asherites lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land because they did not drive them out. 33 Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath; but the Naphtalites too lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, and those living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became forced laborers for them. 34 The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain. 35 And the Amorites were determined also to hold out in Mount Heres, Aijalon and Shaalbim, but when the power of the tribes of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labor.

Indeed, David bought cedar trees from Sidon and Tyre to build the Temple. Queen Jezebel was the daughter of the king of Sidon and swayed her husband Ahab into worshiping false gods.

All the study proved is that Sidon was never destroyed and today's Lebanese descended from ancient Phoenicians, which everyone pretty much knew already.

The DNA tests actually prove the Biblical account that the Israelites never conquered Sidon. These scientists had an agenda beyond science.

(h/t Phil)

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07/27 Links Pt2: PM seeks US okay to annex settlements, cede Arab cities to Palestinians; This Is a Safe Space. No Jews Allowed

From Ian:

Report: PM seeks US okay to annex settlements, cede Arab cities to Palestinians

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a proposal to the United States under which Israel would annex West Bank settlements and in exchange relinquish some Arab cities in Israel to Palestinian control, Channel 2 reported on Thursday.
Netanyahu reportedly suggested that jurisdiction of several Israeli Arab villages in the Wadi Ara region could be transferred to Palestinian control in exchange for Israel annexing Jewish settlements in the Gush Etzion bloc in the West Bank.
Netanyahu discussed the plan with US President Donald Trump’s special adviser Jared Kushner and special envoy for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt, the report said.
The TV report did not specify when the proposal was raised or when Israel sought the exchange to take place. The television report said there was no confirmation of the report from the prime minister or the US administration.
A White House official indicated the ideas detailed in the report were raised, but only within the context of a final peace accord.
“This may have been one of many ideas discussed several weeks ago in the context of a peace agreement and not in the context of a separate annexation,” the official told The Times of Israel. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

IsraellyCool: MUST WATCH: The Ex-Hamas Radical Who Now Preaches Peace

The following aired on Israel’s Channel 2 a few days ago. It is quite extraordinary, but also mandatory viewing for anyone wanting to know the truth about this conflict.
Meet Sheikh Muhammad Jaber, an ex Hamas terrorist who saw the light and now preaches peace, even though it endangers his life. Note in particular what he says about the kindness of IDF soldiers he encountered, the incitement palestinian children are subjected to, their antisemitism, and what the palestinian man at the end says.
Note: this is edited from the full report shown here, solely because I did not have time to translate the entire report. Ensure captions are enabled to see the English subtitles.

This Is a Safe Space. No Jews Allowed

Why are some American progressives embracing overt anti-Semitism?
re you a Jew in Chicago who’d like to march for LGBTQ rights and gender equality? You’ll have to follow a few rules, helpfully laid out in recent weeks by the Chicago Dyke March and the Chicago SlutWalk.
First, you must not carry any “Zionist displays.” What are Zionist displays? That’s for others to decide. A Star of David might be OK. But if it’s on a rainbow flag, it probably isn’t because “its connections to the oppression enacted by Israel is too strong for it to be neutral.”
Second, you must express solidarity with Palestine. Marching in a parade with a pro-Palestinian stance is not sufficient, nor is advocating for a Palestinian state. As an openly Jewish person, you’ll need to satisfy more heightened scrutiny; other marchers may repeatedly demand that you disavow Israel and swear allegiance to the Palestinian cause. You must comply with these demands or else you will be expelled.
Want to listen to this article out loud? Hear it on Slate Voice.
Third, you must renounce any previous connections you have had with Israel. Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of a group with ties to Israel? Repudiate and repent. Openly Jewish marchers are presumed to be in league with the Israeli government unless they can prove otherwise.
One final note: If you are a journalist who covers the implementation of these rules, you deserve to lose your job.

Record number of antisemitic incidents in England

From the CST:

CST's Antisemitic Incidents Report January – June 2017, published today, shows that in the first six months of this year, CST recorded 767 antisemitic incidents, which was a 30% increase from the 589 incidents recorded during the same period in 2016. This total of 767 incidents is a record for the first six months of any year. A further 483 reports were received by CST in the first six months of 2017, but were not deemed to be antisemitic and are not included in this total. CST saw over 100 antisemitic incidents recorded for every month so far this year. This continues an unprecedented pattern of monthly totals higher than 100 incidents for every month since April 2016. The average monthly incident totals recorded by CST are now roughly double the level they were at five years ago.

It is likely that the incident totals recorded by CST reflect a general, sustained rise in the number of antisemitic incidents in an average month. Jewish communal concern about antisemitism and consequent better reporting, in addition to increased reporting from commercial security guards, may contribute partly to the rise in recorded incidents. However, these factors alone do not explain the scale and breadth of the increase.

The most common single type of incident recorded by CST in the first half of 2017 involved verbal abuse randomly directed at visibly Jewish people in public. In at least 203 incidents, the victims were visibly Jewish.

CST recorded 80 violent antisemitic assaults in the first six months of 2017, the highest number CST has ever recorded for the January to June period. None of these violent incidents were classified by CST as ‘Extreme Violence’, which would mean they involved potential grievous bodily harm (GBH) or threat to life.

Almost three-quarters of the 767 antisemitic incidents were recorded in Greater London and Greater Manchester, the two largest Jewish communities in the UK. CST recorded 425 antisemitic incidents in Greater London, a rise of 10% from the 387 incidents recorded in Greater London during the same period in 2016. In Greater Manchester, CST recorded 145 antisemitic incidents, an increase of 84% from the 79 incidents recorded there in the first six months of 2016. Beyond these two centres, CST recorded 197 antisemitic incidents in 66 locations around the UK, including 22 in Hertfordshire, 22 in Gateshead, 10 in Brighton & Hove, 9 in Leeds and 7 in Birmingham.

Most of the incidents reported that were categorized by offender were right-wing antisemitism:

Of the 767 antisemitic incidents reported to CST during the first six months of 2017, the offender or offenders used some form of political discourse in 220 incidents, or 29 per cent of the total. Of these, there were 148 incidents in which far right discourse was used; 55 in which reference was made to Israel, Zionism or the Middle East; and 17 in which Islamist discourse was used. In 45 incidents, more than one type of discourse was used.

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Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

The Temple Mount crisis is a perfect example of what has been called “Israel Derangement Syndrome:”

Arab Muslim terrorists murder a couple of Israeli police officers with guns they took onto the Mount. The terrorists are shot dead.

Israel takes the most minimal security measures, closing the site for a short time while they search it, and installing metal detectors (like the one I go through at the mall every day when I pick up my newspaper) and security cameras.

Palestinian Arabs and pretty much the whole Muslim world go insane, staging violent riots that include attempts to murder more policemen (which end in death for 3 rioters). The waqf that controls the Temple Mount orders Muslims to refuse to go through the detectors and to pray in the street outside.

A 19-year old terrorist leaves a Facebook post in which he explains that he is compelled to act as a result of the humiliation visited on his people by the Jews, butchers a 70-year old man and his two children, and seriously wounds his wife. Only the prompt arrival of an armed off-duty soldier prevents the terrorist from trying to murder the man’s daughter-in-law and 5 grandchildren. The terrorist is lightly wounded and is shown grinning from his hospital bed (where he is being treated by Israeli doctors).

Another terrorist stabs an Israeli Arab bus driver in a shwarma restaurant in Petach Tikva, mistaking him for a Jew. After he is subdued by several citizens (including one who hits him with a wooden pizza tray), the terrorist tells police that “he did it for al-Aqsa.”

A 17-year old Jordanian moving furniture in the Israeli embassy in Amman stabs a security guard in the stomach with a screwdriver. The guard shoots and kills him in self defense (and also accidentally kills another person in the room). Anti-Israel agitation in Jordan is at a high level, with a major demonstration in Amman taking place two days before the incident. The Jordanians refuse to release the guard despite his diplomatic immunity, and he is only freed after a high-level agreement that involves American officials and includes the removal of the metal detectors and cameras at the Temple Mount.

Israel removes the metal detectors and cameras, but increases police presence. Riots continue and the waqf maintains its boycott on the grounds that everything must be returned exactly to the state it was in before the murder of the policemen that started it all, or it will consider the “status quo” breached.

During all of this, the international media have consistently presented the issues on a spectrum ranging from “it’s a cycle of violence” to “Israel is guilty of terrorism against Palestinians.” Headlines like the Guardian’s “Six dead as Israeli-Palestinian tensions boil over” suggest that Arabs killed while throwing firebombs at police are equivalent to Jews stabbed at their dinner table. NPR explains that the rioting did not stop after the detectors and cameras were taken down because “plans for a new security system have prompted more protests.” How dare we make plans to protect ourselves!

Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, members of the Islamic Movement in Israel and some Israeli Arab members of the Knesset blame Israel for the violence, with some of the Arab MKs’ statements rising to the level of incitement to violence.

Rallies and demonstrations in favor of the Arabs are held all over the world, many in Muslim countries but also in South Africa, the UK and the US. Israel is found guilty again of “provocations.”

Nobody seems to notice, or care, that in every case the violence has been initiated by Arabs against Israelis. Israeli actions have been limited to self defense, and very limited self-defense at that. From the beginning, Israel has projected weakness. Rather than try to assert Israeli control over the site, PM Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have said over and over that there is no intention to change the “status quo,” the humiliating unwritten agreement that we imposed on ourselves in 1967 that gives “religious control” of the site to the waqf and specifies that while non-Muslims are permitted to visit the Temple Mount, only Muslims may pray there.

After various officials said that the metal detectors and cameras would remain in place no matter what, they were removed in response to what was arguably a hostage situation in Jordan.

The removal of the metal detectors was a serious mistake. Although it is far from the first time that Israel folded in the face of threats of Arab violence or American pressure – often, as probably happened in this case, applied at the same time – the messages sent by this incident were all the worst possible ones:

Israel indicated that she would not, now or in the future, try to readjust the unbalanced “status quo,” which flies in the face of the accepted principle that all religions should have access to their holy places. The “access” granted to non-Muslims is far inferior in every way to that of Muslims, and this reinforces the Muslim belief that they deserve more rights than non-Muslims.
The one who controls access to a place is the owner of a place. The abortion of the attempt by Israel to control access confirmed the Arabs in their belief that they are the owners of the Temple Mount, and indeed all of the city and ultimately the country.
The fact that violence and hostage-taking caused Israel to immediately give in despite the repeated assertions of Israeli officials that they would not, proves that the strategy of violent “resistance to occupation” combined with international pressure and exploitation of every opportunity (the incident in Amman) works. It proves to them that if they only persevere, their dream of expelling the Jews is not impossible to achieve.

PM Netanyahu and most of his cabinet understand this. They also understand the issues relating to the religious and national aspects of the conflict with the Palestinian Arabs. They understand that nothing in the Middle East is more important than symbolism, and they understand that control of the Temple Mount is a stand-in for sovereignty in Jerusalem. So if they understand all this, why did they fold?

There is a problem for leaders of democratic countries, which is like the similar problem faced by business executives who have to answer to stockholders. In business, there is tremendous pressure to meet next quarter’s goals, even if the company’s future suffers. In politics there is always the next election to worry about, and there is pressure to deliver peace and quiet now. There are rioting Arabs on TV every night and there is a hostage in Amman, he has a family, and these are problems that have to be solved now. Possibly the long-term consequences of solving them in the easiest possible way will not be so good, but they will be dealt with later. The can is kicked down the road.

Today’s Israeli leaders, like most in the West, are pragmatists. They do what works, and ideology is much less important than in the past. Bibi’s pragmatism would be foreign to Begin or Ben-Gurion. Not that they couldn’t compromise their ideologies to some extent when they had no alternative, but because ideology always guided their actions toward long-term goals. They had a direction and strong (although different) visions of what the state of Israel should be. Today things are different. The Prime Minister, the Defense Minister, the head of the Shabak, the IDF Chief of Staff, and the police chief all have their priorities. Within the framework of those priorities, they solve problems. Perhaps they are too busy to worry about visions.

In this case the government chose to be submissive and to ignore the humiliation inherent in its posture, because that seemed to be the quickest and least costly way to solve today’s problems. But at best it is a short-term solution, and even that is not certain, since disturbances are continuing despite our backing down.

The Arabs have a vision for the future, and although they have so far lacked the means to make it real, they have the will to do so. We have more power today than we’ve had since the days of King David¸ but our national will is fragmented. We have the ability to create the future, but we don’t agree on what future we want to create. So we elect pragmatic politicians, who know how to solve problems.

Is this crisis just another bump in the road, or is it a turning point? I am not sure, but I’m certain that we would be better served by leaders that not only can solve problems, but who have a clear idea of our ultimate destination.

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07/27 Links Pt1: Clashes erupt at Temple Mount as Muslim worshipers return; Qatar's 'press poodle'

From Ian:

Thousands attend funerals of terrorists who killed two cops at Temple Mount

Thousands of people attended the funerals overnight Wednesday of the three Arab-Israeli terrorists who carried out a terror attack at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem two weeks ago, killing two Israeli Druze police officers with weapons they had smuggled onto the holy site.
Some 3,000 people were at the funerals in the northern Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm, according to Hebrew media.
The three terrorists, Muhammad Ahmed Muhammad Jabarin, 29, Muhammad Hamad Abdel Latif Jabarin, 19 and Muhammad Ahmed Mafdal Jabarin, 19 — all relatives — were residents of the city.
The burial processions included cheers and celebratory chants, Hebrew media reported, as attendees vowed to become “martyrs for al-Aqsa,” in reference to the mosque that sits on the Temple Mount along with the Dome of the Rock sanctuary.
Some flew the Palestinian flag, according to Channel 2.
An unnamed member of the Jabarin family praised the attackers, telling Channel 2 they were “shahids” (martyrs), and saying “they received the respect they deserved with a mass funeral the area has not seen before.”

Watch: PA ambassador to UN justifies slaughter of Israeli family

Palestinian Authority Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour refused to condemn the brutal slaughter of three Israelis at their Shabbat table last Friday and justified the murders in a statement at the UN headquarters in New York Monday.
An Arab terrorist entered the home of the Salomon family in Halamish as they ate their Shabbat evening dinner and murdered Yosef Salomon (70), and his children Haya (46) and Elad (35).
Mansour responded to a reporter's query that the PA cannot condone such an attack by telling the reporter not to "expect all Palestinians to be angels."
"If people think that the Palestinian people are going to live that situation without any form of resistance to it, that is not realistic and that is not fair."

Clashes erupt at Temple Mount as Muslim worshipers return to site

Thousands of Muslim worshipers entered the Temple Mount on Thursday for the first time in nearly two weeks, many shouting in delight as they did so, and violent clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli security forces at the compound.
A police officer was lightly injured after a rock was thrown at his head, police said.
Some 46 Palestinians were hurt in the clashes both inside the compound and in the surrounding area, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Police said worshipers began hurling rocks at security forces upon their reentry to the compound.
Some stones fell at the Western Wall plaza below, causing no injuries, a police spokesperson said.
The police responded to the stone-throwing with riot dispersal methods and vowed to forcefully combat any violence.
After Israel removed the metal detectors and other security measures around the compound installed by police after a July 14 terror attack, Palestinians were given the all-clear by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Jerusalem’s Muslim religious authorities on Thursday to end their 12-day boycott of the holy site.

Israel removes more security installations outside Temple Mount

Israel late Wednesday removed minor security installations, including fairly flimsy metal railings, from an entrance to the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, a sensitive holy site that has been at the center of violence over the past two weeks in the wake of a terror attack in which two Israeli police officers were killed near the compound. The Muslim authorities who administer the site had demanded that the railings be removed, among other steps, in a list given to Israel Police earlier Wednesday.
In response to the July 14 attack, in which three Arab Israelis killed the two officers near the Lions Gate with guns they had smuggled into the holy site, Israel installed security measures at the entrances, including metal detectors, which set off protests and deadly unrest in and around East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Early on Tuesday, Israel had removed the metal detectors. Late on Wednesday night, newly installed railings and scaffolding where cameras were previously mounted were also removed from the Lions Gate area near the entrance to the Mount.
The removal of the railings and scaffolding late Wednesday prompted celebrations by Palestinians, who danced, whistled and honked their horns near the site.

Palestine News Network, which is funded by the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation among others, has an article - by a lawyer -about how any security measures Israel takes in Jerusalem are against international law.

The author, Samir Dweikat, has three points, each one more ridiculous than the last.

The first is that international law guarantees freedom of religion. Muslims have always been so willing to allow other religions to practice under benevolent Muslim rule. The Jews, however (and he always says Jews and not "Zionists") "did not respect this and kept Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque locked up with false arguments about their false history."

We all know how tolerant the Jordanians were towards the Jews and synagogues and cemeteries in Jerusalem when they controlled it.

The second point is that metal detectors, like the ones at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, prove that Jews do not respect themselves and human rules. "Jews are like stray animals." Yes, that's what he says.

His third point is that Jews will never give Palestinians a state. Only violent actions got the Jews to remove the metal detectors, and that type of "resistance" is what is necessary until the "liberation of Palestine."

I can't quite find the citations of international law here, but I'm sure it is there somewhere.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

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