Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, September 08, 2017

Dan Shapiro on the (alleged) Israeli airstrike

Dan Shapiro, former US ambassador to Israel, has a smart Twitter take on the presumed Israeli airstrike against a Syrian chemical weapons facility this week. Here it is in a more readable form:

The most interesting thing to me about Israel's (alleged) strikes against Syria, including this week's, is Russia's role.

Israel has long held that it will enforce certain redlines in Syria, chiefly preventing high-end weapons shipments to Hizballah in Lebanon.That policy got more complicated with the arrival of Russian troops in Syria in 2015. Bibi hustled to Moscow, met Putin, sought understandings.

Several subsequent meetings have followed, and militry to military de-confliction channels were established to avoid unwanted clashes.

The Russians sometimes feign ignorance about the weapons shipments of concern to Israel. That's laughable, given Russia's intelligence capabilities. Most of the weapons are of Iranian origin, but sometimes Russian as well. The Russians are also known to cynically fish for others' intel: "We have no knowledge of what you speak, but please share what you know."

It's a tribute to deft Israeli diplomacy and military precision that so far Russia has not interfered with Israeli air operations. It's not as though they couldn't. Russia's reported deployment of the powerful S-400 air defense system in Syria gives them the ability to disrupt air traffic throughout Syria, Lebanon, and much of Israel itself. But they don't.

Israel is incredibly disciplined in how it conducts its operations, with its aircraft rarely penetrating Syrian airspace. But the question remains: is there a red line for Russia beyond which they will try to constrain Israeli operations?

Undoubtedly, the Iranians are urging Russia to draw such a line. Assad may as well. It is fascinating that so far Russia has resisted. Again, credit to the Israelis for managing a complex situation well, and playing on Putin's complex motivations.

A statement like Trump's (US has no interest in Syria besides killing ISIS) is not helpful to Israel, as it could indicate to Russia.that the US would not object to constraints placed on Israeli ops. I hope the Russians are getting a different message privately.

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09/08 Links Pt1: Glick: When great institutions lie; Israel's airstrike message to Syria, Iran, and the US

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: When great institutions lie

In the wake of the firestorm the report provoked, the museum pulled the study from its website and canceled its scheduled formal presentation on September 11.
But the damage that the Holocaust Memorial Museum did to its reputation by producing and publishing a transparently false, politically motivated report is not something that can be mitigated by pulling it from its website.
As some of the Jewish communal leaders who spoke to Tablet suggested, the Holocaust Memorial Museum diminished its moral authority as an institution by publishing a report clearly produced to rewrite recent history in a manner that absolved the Obama administration of all responsibility for the mass murder in Syria.
While distressing, the impact of the Holocaust Memorial Museum’s action is limited to a historical falsehood. The goal of the second study published this week by an esteemed institution is to distort and indeed block discussion about a problem that is ongoing.
This week, Stanford University’s Research Group in Education and Jewish Studies published a report which purports to show that there is no significant antisemitism on US college campuses and that Jewish students do not feel threatened by antisemitism.
The Stanford’s conclusions fly in the face of a massive body of data, collected by researchers over the past decade, which all show the opposite to be the case. If the Stanford study is believed, it will discredit the work of hundreds of professional researchers and academics, journalists and Jewish and academic leaders throughout the US.
But that’s the thing of it. The Stanford study is utter nonsense.
As the researchers, led by Associate Professor of Education of Jewish Studies Ari Kelman, made clear in their report, their study is the product of interviews with a deliberately chosen, nonrepresentative group of 66 Jewish students from five California campuses who are not involved in Jewish life.
The researchers said that they deliberately chose only Jews who aren’t involved in Jewish life on campus, since they make up the majority of Jewish students on campuses. The researchers claimed that reports on campus antisemitism are generally distorted, because they generally highlight the views of the minority of students who deeply involved in Jewish life at their universities. Their views, the researchers said, are different from the views of Jews who aren’t involved.

Clifford D. May: Grim anniversary

The approach of an anniversary of the 9/11/01 attacks always concentrates my mind. It was, astonishingly, 16 Septembers ago that a team of foreign terrorists hijacked three American passenger planes and used them as weapons of mass destruction. Can anyone forget the images of people leaping to their deaths to avoid being consumed by fire and smoke, the twin towers collapsing, the ashes rising, children struggling to come to terms with the fact that they'd never see their mothers and fathers again?
Actually, some people can. The tiki-torch Nazis and the black-shirted anarcho-communist Antifa have moved on. What excites them and, frankly, too many others, is pitting Americans against Americans on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender -- whatever. As though we hadn't an enemy in the world.
Millions of lives were changed forever by 9/11 -- mine among them. A few days prior, I met with Jack Kemp and Jeane Kirkpatrick. Younger readers, if I have any, will not remember these extraordinary individuals and, given the sad state of our schools, may not have learned about them.
Kemp was a professional quarterback who went on to become a Reaganite congressman, a "bleeding-heart conservative," a presidential candidate in the 1988 primaries, the housing and urban development secretary, and the GOP's vice presidential candidate in 1996.
Kirkpatrick was the daughter of an Oklahoma oil wildcatter who never struck it rich. She became a distinguished political scientist, the first woman to serve as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and the only Democrat on President Reagan's National Security Council. She was combative, authoritative, eloquent and elegant -- an exceedingly rare combination.
I'd become acquainted with them during my years as a New York Times reporter and foreign correspondent. At that moment, however, I was doing a stint at a Washington, D.C. consultancy. They told me they were concerned that, with the Cold War concluded, the United States had taken a holiday from history and a premature peace dividend. Who attacked us in Beirut in 1983, in New York City in 1993, at Khobar Towers in 1996? Who bombed two of our embassies in Africa in 1998 and the USS Cole in 2000?

Gallery Show by Hadar Goldin, IDF Soldier Kidnapped and Killed by Hamas, Opens in Brooklyn

One of Hadar Goldin’s paintings is a beautiful nightscape, an early gift to the new girlfriend who eventually became his fiancée. Another combines elements of Johannes Vermeer and Roy Lichtenstein; it was completed as a school project during a family sabbatical year in England. There are other paintings. And then there are the comics, many of them drawn while the young artist was serving in the Israel Defense Forces. Together, these works compose an exhibition, “Hadar Goldin: Art, Inspiration, Hope,” which opened last evening at the Kings Bay YM-YWHA in Brooklyn.
Goldin, then a 23-year-old lieutenant, was kidnapped and killed in Gaza by Hamas terrorists in August 2014, just two hours after a cease-fire was declared in Operation Protective Edge hostilities. Three years later, Hamas has not returned his body. The exhibition thus not only celebrates Hadar’s life and artistic talents; it is also intended to raise awareness of his story and to compel international action to bring him—and Oron Shaul, another soldier killed in Gaza that summer whose body Hamas has not released—home to their families in Israel.
With that goal, Goldin’s parents, Leah and Simcha Goldin, attended the Brooklyn event. They were introduced by Dani Dayan, Israel’s consul general in New York. While stressing Israel’s “supreme responsibility” to bring back its soldiers, Dayan declared that the United Nations and the United States, as brokers and guarantors of the cease-fire, “cannot evade” their own obligations to facilitate that outcome.
For much of the evening, Hadar’s parents mingled with visitors among the artworks, sharing anecdotes about individual pieces and recalling their son’s boundless creativity. “Hadar painted all his life,” his mother said; his last creation was intended to adorn his wedding invitation. Undeniably, the parents’ presence deepened the evening’s emotional impact.

From Iran's Fars News:

An Israeli-US school has been set up in the terrorist-held Idlib province in Northwestern Syria, an Arab media outlet reported on Monday, adding that the school is managed by an Israeli tradesman who is a citizen of the United States.
The Arabic-language Elam al-Harbi news website quoted the Hebrew-language Maariv daily newspaper as disclosing that Moti Kahana, an Israeli tradesman who lives in the US, is the director of the Israeli-US school in Idlib province that has 90 students and 15 teachers.
Two similar Israeli-American schools had earlier been set up in terrorist-held regions near the Golan borders in Southeastern Syria, the news website reported.
Elam al-Harbi further said that the curriculum at these schools are different from those in Syria's official education program, and aims to change people's view towards Zionist regime.
The website added that the students can later study at Israeli universities after graduation.
Tel Aviv has has long been backing up various terrorist groups in Syria.

Those terror supporting Israelis opening up schools for terrorist Syrian kids intending to educated them and one day come to Israeli universities! How depraved!

The real story was in Maariv. Moti Kahane, an Israeli-American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Amaliah organization that deals extensively (but not exclusively) with Syria civilians caught in the war. Kahane has spent over $2 million out of his own pocket to help Syrian victims of Assad and of ISIS.

Yes, Amaliah is opening a school. And, yes, Kahane said that "This is not the curriculum of the Syrian regime which taught whole generations to hate Israel. Neither is it a religious school of Daesh or Al Nusra. Here we are trying to ensure a different future for children, one that is more sane."

Kahane even said that he hopes to change Syrians' mindset about Israel and to allow many more to come into the safe zone near Israel to send their kids to this and other planned schools.

No wonder Iran is upset!

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The New York Times decided to give yet more oxygen to BDSers like Roger Waters.

Waters wrote an op-ed that is so absurd and filled with lies and half-truths that it brings up, yet again, the late Senator Patrick Moynihan's dictum, " Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."

Waters claims that the Israel Anti-Boycott Act violates free speech:

Members of Congress are currently considering a bill that threatens to silence the growing support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement for Palestinian freedom and human rights, known as B.D.S. This draconian bill, the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, threatens individuals and businesses who actively participate in boycott campaigns in support of Palestinian rights conducted by international governmental organizations with up to 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.

By endorsing this McCarthyite bill, senators would take away Americans’ First Amendment rights in order to protect Israel from nonviolent pressure to end its 50-year-old occupation of Palestinian territory and other abuses of Palestinian rights.

It doesn't. The act is a mere extension of existing US law against adhering to the Arab League call to boycott Israel to include the calls by the UN to boycott a "blacklist" of companies that do business in Israel. The existing law has withstood challenges on free speech grounds.

Waters goes on:

Criminalizing boycotts is un-American and anti-democratic. Boycotts have always been accepted as a legitimate form of nonviolent protest in the United States. In 1955 and 1956, a bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala., incited by the protest of Rosa Parks and others, became one of the foremost civil rights struggles against segregation in the South.

Boycotting Israeli products is not similar to the bus boycott. The bus boycott was against the bus companies directly discriminating against blacks.

Boycotting companies that do business in Israel is more similar to KKK members boycotting black-owned businesses. It has nothing to do with the companies' actions; like KKK boycotts, it is motivated by hate, not human rights.

Waters' arguing that this is a free speech issue exactly mirrors the neo-Nazis who have been marching in America under the same guise of "free speech." In both cases, hate is being advocated under the pretense of caring for "free speech." One only has to look at how anti-Israel activists have shut down Israeli speakers on college campuses to see how little they care about free speech.

But Waters' op-ed is more insidious than its mere disregard for facts. Waters continuously pretends that BDSers are motivated by their concern for Palestinian human rights, and that they are civil rights activists.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Over 3,400 Palestinians have been killed during the Syrian civil war. Egypt has enforced a near-total blockade on Gaza for years. Lebanon places thousands of Palestinians in what can only be described as open-air prisons complete with watchtowers where their own police will not enter and where they are denied a slew of rights including what jobs they can hold and bans of building houses. Jordan has a history of taking away citizenship of thousands of Palestinians. The Arab League specifically takes away Palestinian rights to become citizens in their member countries. There are plenty of other examples of Arab discrimination and abuse of Palestinians.

BDSers, including Roger Waters, don't say a word about these.

Because their motivation has nothing at all to do with civil rights. Like the KKK, they are motivated by hate for the world's only Jewish state, not by their love of Palestinians or concern for universal human rights. They don't give a damn about Palestinians - only about punishing Jewish Israelis. (They don't want to boycott Arab Israeli businesses.)

Meaning that their fundamental driving factor really is antisemitism.

And Roger Waters' hate is a perfect topic to be pushed in the New York Times.

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Linda Sarsour does it again. "At the end of the day it's self-identification. I'm Palestinian, if I want to say 'I'm Black,' - I'm Black!" pic.twitter.com/zKrxGhIXnk
— ElderOfZiyon (@elderofziyon) September 8, 2017

In 2015, the Census Bureau held public meetings asking about new categories for the 2020 census.

At one point a panel of "experts" was called upon to answer these questions:

Linda answered that for question 2, Middle Easterners should absolutely not be considered "white."

Here is her entire answer:

So I wanted to answer question number two, and this is more actually for what I would consider our community to really think about this. I'm having a hard time understanding where the context is coming from the perspective of our community. So as a social service provider thinking about what are we going to use this information for? Like I don't really care about just counting how many people there are who are “MENA” it's how we utilize this information that can be beneficial to our community. So the answer to number two for me is no because we have to understand that the way that people respond is based on the political context that we live in.

So in 2010 we actually started a national campaign that probably made a lot more work to do for the census bureau - but we started a campaign: “Check it right- you ain't White.” And we actually asked people to go into the “other” category and identify themselves as whatever, Yemeni, Arab-American, whatever they wanted to say even though we knew eventually those others go back in the White category, but seeing the response of more people wanting to fill out the census with the understanding that they weren't White.

So I'm very personally just for the - as folks are thinking about the feedback what benefit do we get as a community from being White in the current political context as Arab-Americans in the United States of America. Does it serve us right to call ourselves White and put ourselves back in the white box and then to think about, you know, for example when we look at accessing federal - you know any types of federal support for example we lose out dramatically because we don't have the separate category to say so we end up, even in the area where I live, because of we’re “white” we're not seen as a priority area and for city or state or federal funding. So we really need to understand what we're saying and how it impacts the community on the ground. I'm just trying to push us more in a less academic conversation because I know there's a lot of academia in the room and a lot of researchers which is great and wonderful and we need that, but really understanding what the implications of the data and how it's going to be used to impact community.

So my recommendation is that MENA that we are not White and also not be dwelling too much on the categories because at the end of the day it's self-identification. I'm Palestinian, if I want to say I'm Black I'm Black - that’s on me, I can check whatever box. Getting into the nitty gritty there I don't think is really helpful for this discussion to kind of move us forward but for people to understand the political context that we live in in 2015 and understanding the benefits of being White or not White and understanding you know kind of maybe because I'm an activist but privilege that comes with being White and not having the white privilege. I mean these people really have to understand the deep impact this has by considering us being able to say I'm Palestinian but then still having to go and say I'm white, like, I'm personally not cool with that.

Sarsour is saying that race is a choice. You can identify as whatever race you want - and Arabs should never be considered white because that way they lose out on the benefits of being a minority!

So much for "white privilege." Sarsour is arguing that Arabs should do everything they can to avoid being called "white."

Sarsour, who admits that she was "white" until she put on a hijab, would probably not be thrilled if Israelis in the US - or even Jews altogether - would identify as coming from the Middle East. Because along with her "Palestinian" identity comes the narrative that Jews never lived in the Middle East and are only latecomers.

(h/t Irene)

UPDATE: Irene found an old tweet from Sarsour where she claims she used to be "white" and benefited from "white privilege." But this video is all about her wanting herself and her community to be considered non-White - she admits, to gain more privileges and benefits!

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US House advances amendment to de-fund UNRWA, UNHRC

From Jewish Insider:

An amendment from Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) that would sever U.S. aid to the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) — an agency that exclusively assists Palestinian refugees worldwide — has been advanced by the House Rules Committee. The measure for Fiscal Year 2018 will now head to a floor wide vote.

While numerous amendments are proposed to the annual State and Foreign Operations bill in the House Appropriations Committee, a select few are “made into order” by the Rules Committee and subsequently receive a floor wide vote. An informed Republican staffer told Jewish Insider that this will be the first time in many years that a floor wide vote — possibly as early as on Thursday — will proceed on defunding UNRWA.

In addition to cutting payments to UNRWA, the amendment would also end funding to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The text of the proposed amendment is simple:

None of the funds appropriated by this Act may be made available in support of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, or the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

This is definitely worth watching.

(h/t EBoZ)

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09/07 Links Pt2: Jerusalem Was Never Holy to Muslims; Yes, Julian Assange Is An Antisemite

From Ian:

The Struggle for Jerusalem in International Diplomacy

Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs president Amb. Dore Gold delivered a multi-media presentation on September 5, 2017, in London at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI), titled, “The Struggle for Jerusalem in International Diplomacy.”
After crushing Bar Kokhba in 135, the Roman occupiers decided to annihilate all Jewish hope for Jerusalem. They decided to crush historical truth. They renamed Jerusalem with a new name – Aelia Capitolina, and they also gave Judea a new name – Syria-Palestina. This is the actual origin of the name Palestine. That was the methodology then and that is the methodology being used today, attacking our very identity and twisting history. Today it’s called the delegitimization of Israel. Well, it didn’t work then and it’s not going to work now.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, Mark Regev, delivered opening remarks. Chairing the event was Col. Richard Kemp, an associate fellow at RUSI and former commander of UK forces in Afghanistan.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Jerusalem’s unification – and in response to UN resolutions that sought to deny the Jewish connection to Jerusalem – Amb. Gold created an original, world-class presentation of 3,000 years of Jewish history in Jerusalem, with the assistance of Israel’s finest, state of the art multi-media technology. This exciting sensory experience brings sacred sites and ancient documents to life while telling the story of the Jewish people’s unbreakable connection to Israel and Jerusalem through the ages.

From a multi-media presentation by Amb. Dore Gold - September 5, 2017

Jerusalem In Islam: Mordechai Kedar

In an address entitled “Jerusalem: Whose City Is It?” Prof. Mordechai Kedar (Bar Ilan University) analyses the early history of the Islamic religion and how it relates to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. From the ZOA in New York City (2017).

Exclusive – Mort Klein: Jerusalem Was Never Holy to Muslims

It’s time to end the propaganda myth that Jerusalem is holy to Muslims.
Jerusalem was the capital of the Jewish nation under King David and other Jewish kings for hundreds of years. The U.S. Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 stated: “In 1996, the State of Israel will celebrate the 3,000th anniversary of the Jewish presence in Jerusalem since King David’s entry.”
Jerusalem was never the capital of any other nation. After the Arab conquest of Israel in 716 CE, the Arabs made Ramla their capital – not Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is the Jewish people’s holiest city. Jerusalem’s Old City (in the eastern portion of Jerusalem, the real Jerusalem) contains the millennia old Jewish quarter and Judaism’s holiest site, the Temple Mount where the First and Second Jewish Temples stood, long before the birth of Islam. And eastern Jerusalem also contains the world’s oldest and largest (3,000 years-old) Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives. (Eastern Jerusalem is the real Jerusalem throughout Biblical and human history; Western Jerusalem was built in recent years.)
Jerusalem is mentioned almost 700 times in the Torah, the Jewish holy books. Jerusalem is never mentioned in the Koran – not even once.
Throughout the millennia, Jews always pray for Jerusalem 20 times each day, remember Jerusalem in holiday and wedding ceremonies, and pray facing Jerusalem. By contrast, Muslims pray facing Mecca. There are no Muslim prayers for Jerusalem.

Last month, Palestinian president wished North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "health and happiness" in honor of Korea's "Liberation Day." In the message he praised the "historic friendship" with North Korea and wished the country's people "stability and prosperity."

Today, the lovefest continued. The official PA news agency Wafa reports:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas received on Thursday a cable of thanks from the Secretary-General of the Korean Workers' Party, First Commander of the National Defense Committee of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Commander-in-Chief Kim Jong-un, in response to his congratulations on the liberation day.

Last year, Abbas sent Kim Jong Un a basket of flowers for the occasion of "The Day of the Shining Star," Kim Jong Il's birthday.

Also last year Abbas sent flowers for the "Day of the Sun," Kim Il Sung's birthday.

Another floral arrangement was lovingly hand-delivered last September for the DPRK's founding anniversary and yet another flower basket for New Year's Day this year. And last year's Liberation Day was accompanied by yet more flowers.

Yes, in one year Mahmoud Abbas sent Kim Jong Il five separate flower baskets.

Despots really look after each other, don't they?

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One of the most appealing things about Menachem Begin was his austere lifestyle. He owned a two-room apartment in Tel Aviv, which he refused to leave, until he became Prime Minister. After his resignation in 1983, he returned to live out the rest of his life there. Ben-Gurion had a nice house in Tel Aviv, but spent the last 10 years of his life in a small so-called “hut” on Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev. There was one area in which Begin spent more than Ben-Gurion – in keeping with the philosophy of hadar propounded by his mentor, Jabotinsky – his necktie budget.

Some other Prime Ministers were less appealing in this regard. Ehud Barak was born a kibbutznik, served 35 years in the IDF and then held various political positions. In 2012 he sold a Tel Aviv apartment for about $7 million. He told an interviewer in 2015 that his net worth was close to $10-$15 million, saying that he had made good investments. I’m sure an IDF Chief of Staff is well-paid, but it’s very hard to explain his degree of success convincingly.

Today the news in Israel is full of political-financial scandal. There are at least three police investigations of PM Netanyahu going on, and it is almost certain that Sara, his wife, will be indicted for misusing funds related to the management of the PM’s official residence. A number of important officials and prior officials are being investigated for bribery in connection with the purchase of submarines and other vessels from Germany, including the former commander of Israel’s Navy. Today (Wednesday) the name of an officer that has been arrested in the affair was released, the decorated former commander of the elite Shayetet 13 unit.

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, who once served 22 months of a three-year sentence for bribery, is presently being investigated by police for real estate transgressions. And of course former PM Ehud Olmert was recently released from prison after serving 16 months of a 19-month sentence for various corruption and bribery offenses.

Israel is in the Middle East, and we can blame it on that. Or perhaps we are just doing a better job of arresting and punishing corrupt politicians than some other countries. It’s hard to tell.

PM Netanyahu has maintained that the left-leaning media and legal establishment have been persecuting him, and wish to overthrow the results of a democratic election by legal maneuvers. “They won’t find anything because there isn’t anything,” he has been fond of saying. The Left insists that he deserves to be in jail and soon will be. The truth is probably somewhere in between. It will take some time before we know precisely where, in a process that is matched in its tediousness only by coalition negotiations. Personally, I think that anything he did will turn out to be small potatoes, compared to Olmert for example.

Regardless of the outcome of the investigations, I think the Israeli public is tired of Netanyahu, who has been PM since March 2009. The other day I heard a man explaining to his small child that they shouldn’t cross the street on a red light because “we are not Bibi. Bibi always crosses on red” (the child responded “who’s Bibi?”). The Right believes that he is not aggressive enough toward Hamas and Iran and that he has given in too many times to US pressure against construction in Judea and Samaria. The Left believes that he is “anti-peace,” by which they mean that he hasn’t given in enough to US pressure to make concessions to the Palestinians. Both sides are tired of his personality.

Could the corruption investigations force him out as the left-wing media hope? I doubt it. Even if the PM is indicted as a result of one or more of the investigations against him, he is not required by law to resign. And why should he? Despite the investigations, his party is rising in the polls.

Even a corrupt PM can make good decisions (consider Olmert’s bombing the Syrian nuclear reactor precisely 10 years ago). And Bibi has made a lot of good decisions, resulting in a relatively peaceful tenure, an expanding economy, and diplomatic gains. But the main thing that has kept him in power through the last couple of elections is that he is thought to be competent in matters of economics and matters of security – and his competition is not.

I think, and many Israelis agree with me, that with the war in Syria winding up, and the strengthening of Iran and its proxies – a result of the removal of sanctions and cash infusions from the nuclear deal – the chance of war involving Israel has been greatly increased. The feeling that conflict could be around the corner is widespread.

People want an experienced hand on the tiller. And security challenges tend to push people to the right. Neither Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid or Yitzhak Herzog of the Zionist Union have “security credentials.” Moshe Ya’alon, who does, launched a trial balloon to create a new party back in March, which went nowhere. Naftali Bennett, who is bound by the limited appeal of his mostly-religious party, would join a coalition with Bibi. So if a new election were called soon, the Likud and its right-wing coalition partners would probably gain seats, rather than lose them.

This isn’t a perfect world, and we don’t have a perfect Prime Minister (although he is a lot better than his opponents give him credit for).

But he may still be the best person for the job.

09/07 Links Pt1: Hijacking the Holocaust for Obama; Alleged Israeli Strike Destroys Syrian Chemical Weapons Facility

From Ian:

Hijacking the Holocaust for Obama

It was this attack that compelled Barack Obama to finally take seriously his year-old, self-set “red line” for action in Syria. In early September of that year, the president addressed the American public in prime time and made a compelling case as to why America must intervene to prevent more crimes against humanity and the erosion of the norm prohibiting the use of chemical weapons on the battlefield. Yet in that same bizarre address, the president informed America that this urgent global crisis could wait for a vote of support from a skeptical Congress. Moreover, he added, Moscow had intervened diplomatically, and no intervention was likely necessary.
The speech was a Frankenstein’s monster of last minute attempts to absolve Barack Obama from his responsibilities as president, and he’s been struggling to clarify his motives ever since. “I’m very proud of this moment,” Obama told Jeffrey Goldberg, unconvincingly, almost exactly one year before the massacre at Khan Sheikhoun. “[T]he fact that I was able to pull back from the immediate pressures and think through in my own mind what was in America’s interest, not only with respect to Syria but also with respect to our democracy, was as tough a decision as I’ve made—and I believe ultimately it was the right decision to make.”
If history was inclined to provide Obama absolution for his inaction in the face of war crimes, you might think his team would be content to allow history to run its course. They’re not.
Tablet’s Armin Rosen provided an alarming window into the Obama administration’s efforts to hijack ostensibly responsible institutions and compel them to whitewash the effects of Obama’s equivocations. As a result of Tablet’s reporting, a study of the Obama administration’s Syria policy sponsored by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has been scuttled at the last minute due to the number of eyebrows it raised. “Using computational modeling and game theory methods,” Rosen reported, the study dubiously concluded that executing strikes on the Assad regime would not have led to fewer attacks on civilians. Indeed, there might have been more as a result.
This report’s conclusion was a mystery, but the motive behind it wasn’t. The Holocaust Museum’s Memorial Council members at the time of this report’s composition included Obama administration officials who are deeply invested in ensuring history comes to that same conclusion. Among them were former Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes and several Obama-era National Security Council members.
Donald Trump did not address the nation when he executed 59 retaliatory cruise missile strikes on a Syrian airfield. Barack Obama already gave that speech. It wasn’t Obama’s lofty rhetoric but his apprehension that emboldened Assad to exacerbate the worst humanitarian and refugee crisis of the century. That’s a legacy that needs polishing. Apparently, Team Obama isn’t above hijacking the moral authority of Holocaust memorials in the pursuit of that objective.

The Ben Shapiro Show Ep. 377 - Circular Firing Squad

34:30 Obama and the Syrian Genocide
38:45 Linda Sarsour's black face

PreOccupiedTerritory: Staffer: Obama Didn’t Intervene In Syria Genocide B/c Victims Wouldn’t Vote Democrat Anyway (satire)

The former White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, disclosed the considerations mooted by the Obama team throughout the course of the Syrian Civil War, which has so far claimed close to half a million Syrian lives and displaced millions more – most of them at the hands of the Assad regime and allied forces. In addition to the president’s prioritization of the Iran nuclear deal over all other issues, the official explained, domestic political considerations carried significant weight in the administration’s decision-making.
“Of course it was important not to oppose Iran’s ambitions in the Levant so as not to give them an excuse to back out of the impending deal,” she recalled. “But the idea wasn’t so much to empower Iran and legalize its path to a nuclear arsenal as it was to enable someone – it happened to be Iran and Russia – to step into the power vacuum the president knew would arise after deliberate retrenchment of American influence in the Middle East. But it wasn’t that the retrenchment was the goal – rather, the president was aiming to focus only on domestic affairs, such as health care and politicizing the intelligence community. Syrian civilians just aren’t an important voting demographic, so they got the shaft.”
“It was actually rather responsible of him,” remarked another former adviser who sat on the Holocaust Museum board that whitewashed Obama’s record. “I mean, he could have just not invited another power to exert hegemony over the whole region, but no. He actually took the time to enable the world’s largest sponsor of terrorism to establish a corridor to the Mediterranean and threaten American allies in the Persian Gulf and beyond, to prevent some other chaotic scenario. He didn’t have to do that – he could have simply made explicit that Syrians don’t vote in US elections and are therefore of no use to him. You have to give him serious credit.”
Former members of the campaign teams of the now-minority Democratic members of Congress and of former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton were unavailable for comment.

Abbas plans to ask UN to draw "Palestine"'s borders

Mahmoud Abbas plans to ask the United Nations to draw the borders of the Palestinian state in his speech to the UN this month.

Fatah Central Committee member Dalal Salama said in an interview that Fatah's central committee will hold a meeting next Tuesday where they will discuss his UN speech.

"These borders, which are referred to by the resolutions of international legitimacy, are already known, but we look forward to a clear UN resolution which may include more specificity, to confront settlement policies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as to confront the occupation plans to separate the Gaza Strip. We want to define the borders of our independent state, " she said.

It's funny because the last time the UN created borders for a Palestinian Arab state, the Arabs rejected them. They want the UN to keep trying until they are happy. (Which incidentally is the entire Palestinian strategy - reject every peace plan by well-meaning Westerners until they get so desperate for "peace" that they offer up all of Israel.)

Salama also spoke about the Palestinian support for the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Of course, Fatah doesn't support CEDAW in order to improve the lives of Palestinian women, but to use it to accuse Israel of oppressing them.

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SJP literally calls for violence against Zionists on campus

Students for Justice in Palestine are one of the groups that held a "smash Fascism" rally at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign’ on Tuesday.

SJP, in its announcements for the rally, explicitly equated fascism and white supremacism with Zionism, and Jewish and Zionist groups raised concerns that a "smashing fascism" rally implied advocating violence against them.

SJP responded to the criticisms by saying, yes, Zionists should be attacked on campus and everywhere else.

Here is their statement:

We, the collective organizers of the “Smashing Fascism: Radical Resistance to White Supremacy” rally, are disgusted with the preemptive backlash our event has received. This opposition highlights the unholy union of American fascists, white supremacists, and Zionists which seeks to weaken and destroy intersectional movements for mass liberation. While we know these criticisms are destructive or rhetorical, we find it necessary to address them and center our narrative.

We are told that all people deserve a right to freedom of speech and expression. We are told that all have equal say in our society. This, obviously, is not the case. The white liberal establishment barely bats an eye when anti-fascist protesters are attacked by Nazis and white supremacists. The establishment is silent when it comes to the murder of black, brown, and Indigenous folks--especially queers of color, women, and femmes. The suppression and blacklisting of Palestinian voices and activism are inevitable results of the pro-Israel status quo in the West. But just as oppressed and marginalized voices are made oppressed and marginalized by unjust systems of governance and societal organization, so too do these forces seek to protect the rights and speech of literal Nazis, of white supremacists all along the political spectrum, and those who seek to implement and continue all manner of ethnic cleansing or indigenous genocide. This speech is not just expression but violence. If given the opportunity, American fascists and white supremacists would complete the settler-colonial project which enabled the founding of this country centuries ago.

We have been attacked for “advocating violence”. Apparently the language of “smashing fascism” has connotations too severe for those who believe that being nice to Nazis may curry their favor. We do not believe there is any other option when it comes to dealing with fascists and white supremacists. Granting them any platform will only lead to further normalization of their violent ideologies. Granted, violent resistance is not always the best option. Nonviolence and peaceful civil disobedience have their places and have achieved great change throughout history. However, violent resistance--whether it is a black bloc or full-scale armed conflict--also has its place. The struggle for liberation must exist on multiple levels and scales--it cannot, and will not, be confined.

...Pro-Israel campus groups have maintained contact with and may have requested an increased presence of campus and area police. This was not at the request of rally organizers and in reality runs counter to our ideals. The police, at all levels, represent white supremacy and the preservation of a racist, classist, and sexist society. Increased levels of policing at events like this present a clear danger to black, brown, poor, and queer and trans members of our community. Such actions show that Zionist campus groups do not have a commitment to fighting for justice and have no problem siding with and introducing oppressive forces within radical spaces.

We will continue to defend our communities and fight for our liberation. Our struggles are linked through shared histories and experiences of oppression. Today’s rally is not a culmination of our activism, but a beginning. We will continue to resist injustices which surround us, whether it be at the hands of the US government or this University. We will fight and we will win, by any means necessary.
In solidarity,

The Co-Organizers and Sponsors of “Smashing Fascism: Radical Resistance to White Supremacy

This is literally a call to attack anyone who is "Zionist" (which, of course, means anyone publicly identifying as a Jew, despite their protestations that they are against anti-semitism.)

This one press release should prompt every campus in the US to ban SJP as well as the other groups that sponsored this event. The alternative is condoning violence against most Jews on campus, wrapped in a robe of righteousness.

Far more coverage at Legal Insurrection and Campus Reform.

I'll leave the last word to a student at Vassar, Jesser Horowitz, who writes:

The left wants to call out other people’s anti-Semitism to make their own movement look better while ignoring their own bigotry. And although I acknowledge that the right is just as guilty, they at least do not have the gall to do so under guise of inclusivity.

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