Equality Now just released a report on how the world's nations and territories treat rape under the law.
The Palestinian Authority laws are among the very worst. And their laws are truly horrific.
It is legally possible for a perpetrator of rape or sexual assault to escape punishment if he marries the victim in at least 9 (out of 82) jurisdictions. These are Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Philippines, Tajikistan and Tunisia.
A perpetrator can be exempt from punishment by reaching a “settlement”, financial or otherwise, with the victim or the victim’s family in at least 12 (out of 82) jurisdictions. These are Belgium, Croatia, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Palestine, Nigeria, Romania, Russia, Singapore and Thailand.
Rape is treated as an issue of morality rather than one of violence in at least 15 (out of 82) jurisdictions. These are Afghanistan, Belgium, China, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Peru, Singapore, Taiwan and Yemen. In these jurisdictions, sexist terminology of humiliation, outrage, honour, modesty, chastity or morality is used in legal provisions on rape.
In rape cases [in Palestine] involving close relatives, if a victim is over 18 she might be charged with “criminal participation” in incest if the case of rape is not proven.
Also, under Palestinian law, if the victim is a non-virgin, the rape is not considered as heinous as when the victim is a virgin.
Astoundingly, this survey was mentioned in passing in UNRWA's Gender Bulletin - without saying a word about how the territories that UNRWA works in are the worst for women. Instead, UNRWA highlights how wonderful things are, saying things like Abbas will allow women to join security forces in Gaza.
There is literally a worldwide conspiracy to downplay Palestinian outrages because the prevailing narrative for them must be victimhood above all. The meme of Israel evil/Palestinians righteous is more important than the truth to the media, to diplomats, to "experts."
And the victims of this tunnel vision? Palestinian women, among many others.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
The hypocrisy of the Western leaders' denunciation of President Trump's recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital is naked and stunning.
French President Macron said “the commitment of France and Europe to the two-state solution, Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and safe in internationally recognized borders with Jerusalem as the capital of the two states.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May said the status of Jerusalem “should ultimately be the shared capital of the Israeli and Palestinian states.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “It is only by realizing the vision of two states living side by side in peace, security and mutual recognition, with Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and Palestine, and all final status issues resolved permanently through negotiations, that the legitimate aspirations of both peoples will be achieved,” Guterres said.
European Union Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini said, " The aspirations of both parties must be fulfilled and a way must be found through negotiations to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of both states.”
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said Jerusalem is “a final status issue and future capital for two states. ”
In the same breath as they say that recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel today is prejudging the outcome of negotiations, every one of these leaders is prejudging the outcome of negotiations - by insisting that Jerusalem will be capital of a Palestinian state! That "fact" is not even up for negotiation!
Israel exists today. Jerusalem is where its government is, today. Saying that out loud does not hurt peace. On the contrary, acknowledging the truth is the only way to bring peace. Indulging fantasies is how to avoid peace.
But this is exactly what the EU and UN leaders are doing. They "know" that any Palestinian state must have Jerusalem as its capital - even though there is no logical, historical or even security reason to insist on that.
In other words, Palestinians have veto power over declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel (because that has to be "negotiated,") but Israel has no such power over Palestinians saying that same about their future capital. The world already has given it to them.
The existing Palestinian seat of government is in Ramallah. Jerusalem is not, and never was, any Arab capital. The entire reason for that Palestinian demand for Jerusalem is to take Jerusalem away from Israel. They've said it themselves. The insistence that Jerusalem must be the capital of a Palestinian state is the real obstacle to peace.
If the EU and UN really wanted peace, instead of kowtowing to ahistorical and ultimately impossible Palestinian demands (seriously, how can a city with two sovereigns exist without dividing it again?) they would tell the Palestinians that they have a choice: a state without Jerusalem (except in a symbolic way using a suburb of the city) or no state at all.
By telling the Palestinians that they will get their prize no matter what, the world is rewarding decades of terror and intransigence. And that does not bring peace - it guarantees more violence.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education announced the closure of all schools Thursday.
It called on its staff, teachers, high school students, universities and colleges to participate in rallies scheduled Thursday at noon.
Ordinary Palestinians aren't bothered enough by the Trump announcement to "spontaneously" demonstrate. he government itself is essentially busing in students to make the rallies look much larger than they are.
Meanwhile, the lights at the Al Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock were turned off as part of the protest.
So I took some screenshots from various webcams to show the Kotel without the gold dome dominating it.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Major polls that have been quoted in the media that suggest that Americans are against the move of the US Embassy from Tel Avvi to Jerusalem are biased against the move.
Americans are more lukewarm on the subject, including Republicans. The University of Maryland’s November 2017 Critical Issues Poll found that Americans disagreed with the idea of moving the embassy immediately by a 2-to-1 margin after being offered arguments for or against doing so. Republicans were about split on the question.
While readers of this blog might know the history of the issue, most Americans don't. So pollsters will give a brief synopsis of the issues and then ask people their opinion.
If the synopsis is wrong, the poll is invalid - because for a significant number of respondents, all they know about the issue is what the poll says!
In the case of this Critical Issues Poll, the head of the organization behind the poll is Shibley Telhami, an Arab professor born in Israel.
First he asks people which of the two sides they most closely identify with, by skewing the facts:
Q60. President Trump pledged during his 2016 presidential campaign to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from its current location in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. But, like previous presidents since Congress passed the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act, he has renewed a waiver that will temporarily keep the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv, based on national security interests. Now tell me the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements.
Q60a. The U.S. should not immediately move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. The international community, including the UN and European allies have not accepted Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem, which was occupied in the 1967 War. The U.S. Government’s position has been that the ultimate status of Jerusalem has to be agreed in negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. If the U.S. were to move its embassy to Jerusalem, it would be violating international norms, harming important relationships worldwide, and generating anti-American sentiments among Arabs and Muslims globally.
The poll gives 5 reasons not to move the embassy, most of which are irrelevant to moving the embassy to pre-1967 Israel or simply not true.
Q60b. The U.S. should immediately move its embassy to Jerusalem. The Embassy should be located in Jerusalem to fulfill the president’s pledge, and there is no national security reason to file an exception to the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act. Such an act would serve to demonstrate the commitment of the U.S. to the State of Israel and to its control over a unified Jerusalem as its capital.
The main reason to support it are - to show how much the US supports Israel!
No wonder the people chose not to move the embassy by a 2-1 margin.
Now, imagine if the second part was phrased this way:
Jerusalem has been the spiritual home of the Jewish people for 3000 years. Palestinians have never ruled Jerusalem, and under Arab rule access to holy places was limited. The city that was a neglected slum under Arab rule is now a beautiful city with access to all. Every country in the world is allowed to choose where its capital would be, and Israel should be no exception. It is time that the US recognizes the plain fact that Jerusalem is already Israel's capital, where its government offices and parliament are.
All facts, all accurate - and all anathema to Shelby Telhami.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. When I came into office, I promised to look at the world’s challenges with open eyes and very fresh thinking. We cannot solve our problems by making the same failed assumptions and repeating the same failed strategies of the past. Old challenges demand new approaches.
My announcement today marks the beginning of a new approach to conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
In 1995, Congress adopted the Jerusalem Embassy Act, urging the federal government to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem and to recognize that that city — and so importantly — is Israel’s capital. This act passed Congress by an overwhelming bipartisan majority and was reaffirmed by a unanimous vote of the Senate only six months ago.
Yet, for over 20 years, every previous American president has exercised the law’s waiver, refusing to move the US embassy to Jerusalem or to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city.
US President Donald Trump holds up a signed memorandum after he delivered a statement on Jerusalem from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington, DC on December 6, 2017 as US Vice President Mike Pence looks on. (Saul Loeb/AFP)
Presidents issued these waivers under the belief that delaying the recognition of Jerusalem would advance the cause of peace. Some say they lacked courage, but they made their best judgments based on facts as they understood them at the time. Nevertheless, the record is in. After more than two decades of waivers, we are no closer to a lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. It would be folly to assume that repeating the exact same formula would now produce a different or better result.
PM Netanyahu: @POTUS Trump, thank you for today's historic decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The Jewish people and the Jewish State will be forever grateful. pic.twitter.com/6QnvGf9VGW
On Wednesday morning, in anticipation of President Trump’s expected announcement that the United States would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro appeared on Fox & Friends and was asked to comment on Trump’s decision. Shapiro lauded Trump, calling the decision “an act of not only political bravery but moral courage to move the embassy.”
Shapiro stated: It's obviously an act of not only political bravery but moral courage to move the embassy. But just to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital — the absurdity of the U.S. policy suggesting that Jerusalem is not Israel’s capital has resulted in idiocies like the fact that my niece, who was born in Jerusalem, it says on her passport Jerusalem and then it doesn’t say which country she’s from.
Jerusalem is only important to the world because of Judaism; it’s important to Christianity because it was first important to Judaism; it’s important to Islam because it was first important to Judaism. Jerusalem is mentioned hundreds of times in the Jewish texts; Jerusalem is in the Israeli national anthem. The culmination of Jewish history, really, was in 1967, with the recapture and the unification of Jerusalem under Judaic rule. The freedom of Jerusalem was only assured, by the way, because of that Jewish rule.
What President Trump is doing is not just a recognition of reality, it’s also an act of political usefulness, because all of the negotiations that have been happening for the past 20 years, for most of my lifetime, all of those negotiations have been preconditioned on stupidity, that Israel was going to give up its eternal capital, which is insane.
The Jerusalem municipality on Wednesday projected the US and Israeli flags onto the walls of the Old City in a show of appreciation over the US President Donald Trump’s expected recognition of the city as the capital of Israel.
From 7 p.m., the red, white, and blue American banner was projected next to the blue and white of the Israeli flag, celebrating the expected announcement. The flags were screened on the 16th century walls from Jaffa Gate in the direction of Mount Zion.
Trump was scheduled to make the controversial announcement recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his plan to move the US Embassy there from Tel Aviv at around 8 p.m. Israel time, shifting decades of US policy.
The move will address Israel’s long-standing claim to the city as its undivided capital, but leaders around the world have warned it could harm peace efforts and spark violence.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said that Trump’s expected announcement “is a historic declaration that sends a clear message to the entire world that the US stands with the Jewish people, the State of Israel and Jerusalem.”
Despite thousands of years’ worth of efforts to eradicate them and demonstrate the world does not want them, Jews persist in arrogant defiance of popular will by remaining in existence, and in many cases doing well, reports indicate.
Initial efforts to eliminate Jews as a people first occurred during the latter half of the sixth century BCE, historians note, and have continued on and off until the present, but have seen only mixed success at best, owing in part to what scholars call a conceited attitude on the part of Jews as individuals and as a community not to bend to the manifest preferences of those around them that they disappear or be destroyed by violence if possible.
“It’s unheard of for anyone to sustain arrogant defiance for so long,” remarked Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a leading proponent of efforts to convince Jews to consent to extermination, by force if necessary. “It has to give, since arrogance is one of those flaws that eventually destroys you. So it has to be merely a matter of time before the entire flimsy edifice of Jewish pride comes crashing down. Perhaps we can even install a countdown clock in Tehran to help anticipate that day.”
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her
cunning. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I remember thee not. If I set not Jerusalem above my chiefest joy. (Psalm 137:
5-6)
The deadline for delaying the implementation of the Jerusalem Embassy
Act of 1995, has come and gone, with no signature having been affixed to the provision. President Trump hasn't signed the waiver
that lets the U.S. off the hook for moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. It is
the first time this has happened since 1998, when the provision for what turned
out to be a permanent biyearly delay, signed by president after president, took
effect.
On Tuesday, President Trump announced he would indeed be moving the embassy, however it would take time to plan and execute the move. Four years. So he's going to sign the waiver yet again.
For technical reasons involving funding, Trump will have to sign that waiver until such time as the doors of a new embassy open in Jerusalem, the official said.
“The specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem are subject to final status negotiations,” [U.S.] officials said.
This, in other words, is President Trump saying that Jerusalem is for sale, a property that can be negotiated. Whether or not Israel agrees.
In what universe is this friendship?
This sort of "recognition" is the last thing Israel needs.
Even the president's declaration that the U.S. embassy will be moved to Jerusalem, meanwhile feels like it may be a bluff, a cover-up for kicking that can down the road.
To underscore that new policy understanding Trump [will direct] the State Department to create a plan to relocate the embassy to a site in Jerusalem, the officials said, adding that it could take at least four years to execute the move.
This is nonsense. All the talk of security needs, of finding a suitable physical
plant, and etc., is very nice and all these things can be implemented with the
passing of time. But moving the embassy technically requires only changing
a sign. The American Consulate is already in Jerusalem. The sign affixed to that building can be changed to read "embassy" instead of "consulate."
And that can be done right now. It could have been done in
May. It could have been done on the first day that Trump assumed office.
All these years, Jerusalem has been shunned. Her honor sullied. And some people think that Jerusalem has now regained her rightful place in the eyes of the world, as a result of the announcement of the intentions of a sitting U.S. president.
This man, at the same time, says that the borders of Israel's sovereignty in Jerusalem are yet to be determined. This being the case, how is it that those on the Trump Train remain gleeful? What right does anyone have to say that our capital, our holy city, is negotiable?
I am jealous for Jerusalem, as all of us should be.
Jerusalem has now been snubbed, scorned, and rebuffed every six months by
presidents Clinton (who let the Jerusalem Embassy Act pass by leaving it
unsigned on his desk) through Trump. Trump signed the waiver in May, breaking
his promise to the Jewish people. Now Trump says he will move the embassy, but will sign the waiver anyway; recognizes Jerusalem, but says it is a piece of real estate to be negotiated.
In this game of opposing statements: a capital that can be negotiated, recognition and nonrecognition, President Trump lets the State Department win, and spurns Jerusalem once more.
And still, everyone knows the truth. Which makes this worse in a way. Makes all these machinations of U.S. officials ugly and dishonest toil. Because we all know that the Jews were in Jerusalem before Christ, and before Mohammed. Before there was an Arab people.
Jerusalem is mentioned 850
times in the Torah, not once in the Quran.
The Jews have prayed for Jerusalem for generations, yearned
for it to be rebuilt speedily in our time, at weddings, holidays, and in our
daily prayers. No other people has Jerusalem playing so central a part over thousands
of years.
The Christians know it. The Muslims know it.
Everyone knows that Jerusalem is ours.
No one gets a pass. Not Donald Trump. Not anyone.
Situating and maintaining the American Embassy in Tel Aviv has
been a continuous slap in the face to America's best friend in the Middle East:
Israel. It's been an ongoing slap in the face to the Jews. And a slap in the
face to God Himself, many times over.
Europe
(plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose), which tried and failed to eradicate
the Jews, has been desperate to keep Trump from recognizing Jerusalem as a Jewish
city. Various Arab
and Muslim
entities, meanwhile, threaten
to go out and kill the Jews should the embassy be moved. And the State
Department uses these threats to pressure the president to sign the waiver once more.
It's ironic. The Arabist State Department uses terror as its cover to rob the Jews of Jerusalem. Yet terror is ever-present in Israel. So it's a very flimsy cover that doesn't make sense to any thinking person.
And if Israel is willing to take the risk of terror in exchange for moving the embassy, why should
it be any concern of the U.S.?
The State Department fears that the entire region could blow up with internecine warfare (with attendant universal fallout)?
This is not to say that moving the embassy would not bring an increase in terror. Of course it will. They'll go out and do their thing, the terrorists, if
Trump moves the embassy. That will happen even with this half-recognition of Jerusalem using mere words. The terrorists? They'll
call terror "legitimate resistance."
Which means: Kill the Jews.
But the terrorists would do that anyway. They're always doing that. Trying
to kill us and sometimes succeeding.
If we were to let that stop us, let the killing deter us
from reaching important goals, the State of Israel would not now be here. We
wouldn't be the awesome friend that we are to the U.S., sharing technology and
knowledge, and helping to defend U.S. interests.
If we allowed the terrorists to win, Israel wouldn't be, would
cease to exist.
And anyway, the State Department could, if it truly wished, put a damper
on that terror. All it has to do is close the wallet. Close the PLO office.
Here is something President Trump needs to know: Arabs respect strength. If you live in the Middle
East, you come to understand this and appreciate it. You have to meet their
bluff, even when it's not a bluff, but the real thing.
It's how you end up on top. The only way.
Weakness is the reason the Arabs hated Obama. They hated him because he actively supported terrorists, and looked away from evil.
For all that it looks as though Trump is the most friendly president ever, a good friend to the Jews, by not changing that sign on the consulate, and by saying that Israel's sovereignty over Jerusalem is negotiable, Trump is slapping
the Jews in the face, and showing weakness to the Arabs. He's giving the terrorists
a leg up, and pushing the Jews down, forcing
them to grovel for tidbits.
It's wrong. And it's no way to treat a friend.
We should all be jealous for Jerusalem's honor. We should demand that justice be done instead of congratulating ourselves over President Trump's recognition/nonrecognition of our capital.
The president should have moved the embassy
on day one of his presidency. He should have had that sign on the American Consulate changed.
He could do that today.
It is sad to say, but the president has wronged Jerusalem.
And this has been recorded in the annals of history.
For all time.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Jerusalem, December 6 - Arab threats of violence in response to possible American recognition of this city as Israel's capital has Arab leaders voicing resentment that Western media portray them as violent, local sources reported Wednesday.
Specific legal details remain unresolved, but US President Donald Trump declined to sign the six-month waiver to postpone the move of US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as per a 1995 law, leading to speculation that the administration will recognize Israel's claim to the holy city as its capital. Whereas most countries refuse to acknowledge Israel's claim and all foreign embassies are currently in Tel Aviv, the prospect of American recognition of Israel's connection to Jerusalem has Arab leaders in the region and beyond threatening an explosion of violence and the effective end of any American-brokered peace effort between Palestinians and Israel. At the same time, the leaders take offense that they are depicted in Western media and politics as violent and given to threats of violence merely because they threaten or commit violence in response to developments they dislike.
"If the US recognizes Israel's claims to Jerusalem that will mean the end of an honest role for the US in negotiations," declared Palestinian official Saeb Erekat. "The Arab street will not tolerate such an affront to its honor once the signal is given from Arab governments to riot and to target American facilities or interests in the region. One-sided acceptance of Israeli claims and policies is an affront to Arab honor, as is the expectation that Arabs resort to violence or the threat thereof as a political or diplomatic tool. What a horrible bit of prejudice."
"Western media, adopting a lazy posture, assumes that Arabs are characterized by the tendencies the media notices," lamented commentator Reza Aslan. "It just oozes bias. How do you get from the default Arab reaction to setbacks being violence - as in the response to those Danish cartoons of Muhammad; the Second Intifada; ongoing Palestinian violence; Syria; Iraq; Yemen; Lebanon; Egypt - to the idea that you can only expect Arabs to react with violence when they don't get their way?"
Arab officials warned not to underestimate the violence that will erupt if the stereotyping continues. "We have our red lines," admonished Sheikh Raed Salah of the Islamic Movement, Northern Faction. "One of those is negative portrayals of Arabs or Muslims. We will go to the greatest lengths to protect our collective honor, even violent lengths if necessary, to defend our people from being characterized as predisposed to violence."
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
US President Donald Trump will announce in a speech on Wednesday that he is formally recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, while asking the State Department to formulate a plan for moving the US embassy there from Tel Aviv, White House officials confirmed Tuesday evening. The recognition of Jerusalem, widely expected to anger the Arab world and cast a shadow over US-led peace efforts, will also be accompanied by Trump committing to support a two-state solution should both Israel and the Palestinians back it, the officials said, in a likely bid by the administration to balance the announcement seen as heavily favoring Israel. Israel’s leadership has warmly welcomed the anticipated Trump moves on Jerusalem.
Trump will stress that the “boundaries” of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem require negotiation in the context of a peace accord, the officials said, and they added that his moves do not constitute a change to the status quo at the Temple Mount.
“On December 6, 2017, President Trump will recognize that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel,” one US official said, confirming a series of reports on Trump’s planned speech from the White House, slated for 1 p.m. Wednesday ( 8 p.m. in Israel). The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The White House repeatedly referred to the recognition and embassy move, which will likely take years, as “acknowledging a reality,” noting the city’s role as the seat of Israel’s government but disregarding Palestinian claims there.
While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided not to comment on the expected American announcement Wednesday declaring Jerusalem Israel's capital, he posted a video hinting at the upcoming event, saying that on this day, Israel's national identity is "being recognized."
U.S. President Donald Trump was expected to officially announce Wednesday that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and that it is making preparations to move its embassy there, breaking with longtime U.S. policy and potentially stirring unrest.
In an impromptu video featuring the prime minister riding in his car to the Knesset, Netanyahu remarked that "our historical, national identity is being recognized in important ways every day, but particularly on this day. I will obviously have something to add to this later today on something having to do with Jerusalem."
Moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the holy city could take "two minutes," Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said Tuesday.
Senior U.S. officials have said U.S. President Donald Trump is likely on Wednesday to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital while delaying the relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv for another six months, though he is expected to order his aides to begin planning such a move immediately.
As an outcry grew across the Middle East and among world powers against any unilateral U.S. decision on Jerusalem, officials said that no final decisions had been made.
Barkat said the United States would only have to convert one of its existing assets in the city, such as its existing Jerusalem consulate. "They just take the symbol of the consulate and switch it to the embassy symbol – two American Marines can do it in two minutes, and give the ambassador, David Friedman, a space to sit in," Barkat told Israel Radio.
Barkat said that this decision could be implemented immediately, and the process of moving the rest of the employees to provide embassy services could take place in a more structured manner.
A special policy problem has developed as a result of the United Nations concern with Jerusalem. The Israel Government has proclaimed Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel, an act which, while not specifically prohibited by the United Nations, is in clear violation of the spirit of the special status recommended for the city by the General Assembly. The Department advised the Israel Government against moving its capital to Jerusalem, but without effect.
There is thus created the problem of whether the establishment of the capital in this city should be recognized by moving the United States Embassy, which has remained in Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem. Since the UN General Assembly has reach no definite decision on Jerusalem, consideration should be given to moving the Embassy to Jerusalem after consultation with other appropriate nations.
A difficult factor in the Palestine dispute is that the Arab states regard anything favorable to Israel as being unfavorable to themselves. The Department is endeavoring to convince the Arabs of US impartiality as between them and Israel, and care should be taken in dealing with Israel to avoid giving an impression of favoritism which would be resented by the Arabs.
That's been the issue for 66 years. Arabs have veto power over doing what's right because the right thing might be "resented." Therefore, the Arabs have incentive to keep resenting.
Even though, as the author of this memo observed, the Arabs don't look at the pros and cons. They believe in a zero-sum game. If Israel benefits - they lose. Therefore, anything that benefits Israel will be opposed - and therefore, in the logic of Western diplomats, it must be resisted by them as well.
So for those who claim that "now is not the right time" to move the embassy - that has been the official position of the US Government since 1951.
That excuse seems a little hollow when viewed in perspective.
----------------------------
The memo has an interesting bit on UNRWA as well:
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, set up by the General Assembly in 1949 to administer relief and to undertake development projects for the employment of the refugees, has concluded that the only hope of reintegration for any substantial number of these people lies in resettlement in the Arab countries.
But again, the Arabs considered that solution to be something that would help Israel, and therefore it must be opposed.
The result is nearly seven decades of a "refugee" problem - all because Western diplomats are too afraid to confront Arab intransigence that is meant to do only one thing, to hurt Israel, all other considerations be damned.
Only when the world calls these Arab bluffs will there be clarity on how to reach solutions to solve these problems rather than kowtow to vague fears of Arab anger.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Prime Minister Dr. Rami al-Hamdalla met with consuls, ambassadors and representatives of the European Union on Wednesday at his office in Ramallah.... The Prime Minister stressed that the insistence of the US administration on its decision to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem and recognize it as capital of the state of Israel will fuel the conflict and will lead to the growth of violence in the entire region, because Jerusalem does not only mean Palestinians but the peoples and Arab and Islamic countries that reject this decision.
Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar which is the supreme Islamic institution of Sunni Muslims, on Tuesday warned that “the gates of hell” will open if the United States goes through with plans to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move its embassy to Jerusalem. In a statement published following his meeting with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, el-Tayeb said such a move would ignite the feelings of anger among all Muslims, endanger global peace and increase tensions, divisions and hatred around the world.
Given the supposed inevitability of violence that we have been warned about for several days, you would expect normal leaders to issue calls for calm, to insist that people protest peacefully and to eschew violence.
I cannot find a single call for calm among any Arab or Muslim leaders.
I have often pointed out that what doesn't happen is as newsworthy as what does. Here we have Arab and Muslim leaders, both religious and political leaders, who are warning the West that their people will erupt.
But they aren't asking their people not to. They aren't saying that violence is not acceptable, or that they will ensure that protests don't go out of hand.
No, their warnings to the West are mirrored with a winking message to their own people: We want you to become violent.
They need violence. They need people to be killed, preferably by Israelis. Because if there are no newsworthy violent protests, then they know that they cannot credibly warn of violence the next time they insist that the world do their bidding.
This is what is not being reported by the hundreds of seasoned Middle East journalists and analysts. The warnings of violence are really calls to violence, as the absence of calls for calm proves. Frightening the West with such warnings of irrational Muslims sweeping through the streets, or possible terror attacks, is an integral part of Arab and Muslim political calculus.
Threats of violence is an essential part of Muslim nations' international politics, but it requires some actual violence for it to remain potent.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
The official Fatah Facebook page includes this poster that says "Good morning! A million martyrs marching on Jerusalem," a phrase that Arafat made famous.
It also has a letter from Fatah Youth saying that US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital would "open all the doors and options before us in defending Arab Jerusalem." - a keyphrase for violence.
The page also approvingly shows Palestinians in Bethlehem - in Manger Square, next to the Christmas decorations - burning images of Trump.
And also this violent, antisemitic cartoon showing "Palestine" cutting the arm off of a stereotypical big-nosed Jew reaching for the Dome of the Rock.
And this poster which makes it very clear that Fatah is calling for armed violence as well.
This is incitement to violence by Mahmoud Abbas is directly responsible for.
But it is incitement that the world ignores - because the idea that he is a "man of peace" cannot be contradicted, even from explicit hate like this coming from the organization he leads.
(h/t Ibn Boutros)
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Whenever Israel builds new houses or apartments in the parts of Jerusalem liberated in 1967, the world is up in arms about how Israel is building in "occupied territory."
Whatever happens in pre-1967 Jerusalem is OK - the problem, we are told, is only because Israel is building in neighborhoods that Jordan illegally occupied for a whopping 19 years.
But suddenly, when the US is poised to announce moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to the part of Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty since 1948, the Green Line has mysteriously been erased.
Instantly,, activities on the west side of the imaginary line that no one cared about become very important.
In backgrounders on why moving the embassy is considered a big deal, writers for the Guardian and AFP don't mention the Green Line once.
Ian Black at The Guardian (a visiting senior fellow on the Middle East at LSE) says, flatly, "Recognition...clashes with Palestinian demands that East Jerusalem must be the capital of a future independent Palestinian state."
I wish it did, but it doesn't. That is an Arab lying talking point, not a fact.
AFP adds its own lies in its backgrounder. It says garbage like " If the US unilaterally declares Jerusalem as Israel's capital, it would be seen as deciding an issue that was supposed to be left to negotiations, breaking with the international consensus." No one has ever suggested that pre-1967 Jerusalem was open to negotiations.
Except for now.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 19 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.
Out of the Box
-
[image: Dry Bones cartoon,War, America, Gaza, Jews, Jewish, Israel, Donate,
Oct 7, Jews, Mexico, Gaza Pier,]
* Here's an even BETTER IDEA!*
Help Dry Bones...
Hamas planned for a future without Israel in 2021
-
In a Gaza conference held in September 2021, Hamas declared that ‘victory
was nigh’ and set out its vision for a future without Israel. The event
(picke...
What’s Eating Joe?
-
Ahead of a meeting between Prime Minister James Marape of Papua New Guinea
and Chinese Communist Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Joe decided to accuse Papua
...
The Guardian Revives Its Tel Aviv Capital Offense
-
As recently as February, HonestReporting flagged a noticeable increase in
the number of publications “mistakenly” using Tel Aviv as a synonym for
Israel’s ...
The Palestinian “Two-State” Plan: Duping the West
-
One of the great unsolved mysteries of the 21st century is why, given what
a catastrophe it proved to be, anyone, much less a whole phalanx of
politicians,...
06-Feb-24: Obituary: Naftali Gordon
-
The obituary that follows was published yesterday by *Times of Israel* under
the headline "*Master Sgt. (res.) Naftali Gordon, 32: A man of ‘honesty and
...
Closing Jews Down Under Website
-
With a heavyish heart I am closing down the website after ten years.
It is and it isn’t an easy decision after 10 years of constant work. The
past...
‘Test & Trace’ is a mirage
-
Lockdown II thoughts: Day 1 Opposition politicians have been banging on
about the need for a ‘working’ Test & Trace system even more loudly than
the govern...
Thursday, December 07, 2017
Elder of Ziyon
