Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Israel cares about Gazan lives more than many Gazans do (UPDATE)

Times of Israel reports a sad story, if true:

The Gaza Strip’s Hamas-run health ministry said Tuesday morning that a baby was among those killed during violent border clashes along the territory’s border with Israel the previous day, bringing the overall death toll in the day’s bloody events to 58.

The baby died from inhaling tear gas fired at Palestinian protesters, the health ministry said.

Eight-month-old Leila al-Ghandour was exposed to gas fired by Israeli forces east of Gaza City, it said. It was not immediately clear how close to the border fence Ghandour and her family were.

It is entirely possible that Leila died from some other cause and the Hamas-run Health Ministry blamed Israeli actions because Hamas has been desperate to find a child to die at the protests that they can turn into another Mohammed al-Dura. Palestinians know the propaganda value of a dead child, mentioning their names constantly in articles and speeches years after their deaths, while you won't find Israeli leaders and media nowadays mentioning Shalhevet Pass, also eight months old, deliberately murdered in 2001 by a sniper's gunshot to her head while in her baby carriage.

(UPDATE: My conjecture may indeed be true, according to AP.)

A Gaza health official cast doubt Tuesday on initial claims that an 8-month-old baby died from Israeli tear gas fired during mass protests on the Gaza border with Israel.A Gazan doctor told the Associated Press that the baby, Layla Ghandour, had a preexisting medical condition and that he did not believe her death was caused by tear gas. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to disclose medical information to the media.

Assuming the baby indeed died from inhalation of tear gas, though, the fault is entirely Hamas - and her parents.

Who would knowingly take a baby to a war zone where hundreds of people have already been shot?

Who would knowingly take a baby to a place where one knows with 100% certainty that there will be tear gas?

Parents in the US are worried about when to first expose their children to cow's milk and peanuts (and even water!) at that age. At least one set of Gaza parents enthusiastically bring their baby to be exposed to tear gas.

No one in their right mind -not Amnesty, not the EU - can blame Israel for using tear gas to keep people away from its border.

If anyone is to blame for this child's alleged death from tear gas, it is her parents.

Somehow, it seems certain that the narrative from the media will be far different. I doubt that any Western media outlet will say a negative word about the reckless parents - parents whose actions are every bit as reprehensible as those locking their kids in hot cars on a summer day. Such sick parenting is given a pass - because the West expects Palestinians to act like animals, and therefore when they reach that level there is no outrage.

This is a sick society and a sick media that enables it.

Meanwhile, last Friday Palestinians - with Hamas encouragement - attacked the main border crossing for goods into Gaza and burned the pipelines that bring fuel into Gaza along with conveyor belts and other infrastructure.

Just after 6:00 p.m. Friday at the tail end of that day’s mass “March of Return” protest, a group of some 200 Palestinians broke into the Gaza side of the crossing and set fire to the Strip’s only fuel terminal and a conveyor belt used for raw construction materials. Two conveyor belts which brought animal feed into Gaza were also wrecked, according to the deputy director of the crossing.

“The people who came to Kerem Shalom and destroyed the crossing, they didn’t go there by themselves. We know that Hamas sent them,” said the COGAT officer in a conference room in the Gaza Division’s headquarters in Re’im.

The official said that during the attack on Kerem Shalom, Israeli officials watched as rioters ran back and forth between the crossing and a Hamas position a few hundred meters away.

“Then we saw about 10 Hamas people standing at the gates of Kerem Shalom,” he said.

According to the officer, the Hamas members were wearing civilian clothes but directed the events with walkie-talkies, “giving orders — what to do, where to go.”

Israel's response?

A senior officer in the Israeli military’s liaison unit to the Palestinians told reporters on Sunday, "Me and my commanders are breaking our heads trying to figure out how to get medicine into Gaza."

Israel is trying to save lives in Gaza. Hamas is trying to end them.

Everyone with a brain can see this - but the media simply will not put it in those terms, instead implying that Israel is gleefully shooting unarmed Gaza protesters. And people are believing it because few media outlets have the guts to actually tell it like it is.

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Hamas-linked "March" committee decides to extend riots for another few weeks. They must like what they see.

Ma'an reports that the committee behind the Gaza riots has decided not to finish them on Tuesday, as originally planned, but to extend them to June 5, the anniversary of Jerusalem's reunification.

The High Coordination Committee for the March of the Return says that the riots will continue as they have been, especially on Fridays.

This committee is the one that called for a general strike in Gaza on Monday and Tuesday, so it must be linked with Hamas or else no one would have listened.

By wanting to have the riots continue, clearly Hamas likes how well they are going.

Meaning that Hamas wants to see more people die.

In the cynical world Hamas lives in, people being shot is a small price to pay for a day of negative media coverage of Israel.

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05/14 Links Pt2: The Privileged Palestinian "Refugees"; When Will the Palestinians Start Holding Hamas Accountable?; Who gains from burning Gaza’s only fuel pipelines?

From Ian:

52 Palestinians said killed, including terror operatives, in Gaza border riots

Fifty-two Palestinians were killed Monday in violent clashes with Israeli forces along the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel, Palestinians said, in a burst of bloodshed that cast a cloud over Israel’s festive inauguration of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem.

It was the deadliest day in Gaza since the devastating cross-border war between the territory’s Hamas rulers and Israel in 2014.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said 52 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,2000 were wounded in the violence, amid the biggest riots and rallies in a weeks-long campaign of protests against Israel.

The Israeli army said around 50,000 Gazans were demonstrating in 12 locations along the border. It said thousands more were gathered at points several hundred meters from the fence.

At around 4 p.m., the time that the US was inaugurating its embassy in Jerusalem, military sources said Hamas-spurred groups were trying to breach the border at several spots along the Gaza fence.

The army said three of those killed were trying to plant explosives at the border fence. In two separate incidents, IDF troops opened fire on gunmen who were trying to shoot them, Hadashot TV said.

The army also said aircraft struck a Hamas post after gunmen there opened fire on troops. There were no injuries among the soldiers. Reports said the IAF also struck five targets in the Jabaliya area.

Clashes in West Bank as Palestinians mark Nakba Day, protest new US embassy

Hundreds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli troops on the outskirts of Jerusalem and in other locations in the West Bank Monday in the hours leading up to the dedication ceremony for the new US Embassy in the capital.

In addition to protesting the embassy move, Palestinians were marking the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” of Israel’s creation in 1948.

The rioting came as dozens of Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces during violent protests on the Israel-Gaza border, among them several terror operatives.

At the Qalandiya crossing, north of Jerusalem, hundreds were marching and throwing stones at Israeli soldiers, who responded with firing live bullets, tear gas and rubber-coated steel pellets. A second clash was reported between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and there were further protests in the West Bank city of Hebron. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Ahead of planned mass riots, Israel warns Gazans: 'Don't be Hamas's puppets'

Israeli military aircraft dropped leaflets over the Gaza Strip early Monday morning warning Palestinians to keep away from the fence separating the coastal enclave from Israel, the IDF said, ahead of mass demonstrations slated for later in the day.

“A few minutes ago, IDF jets once again distributed leaflets warning against approaching the security fence, attempting to sabotage it or to carry out terror attacks,” the army’s spokesperson office tweeted.

The Arabic leaflets also told residents of the coastal enclave that the Hamas terror group which rules the strip was endangering their lives.

“Hamas is trying to hide its many failures by endangering your lives,” the leaflets said. “At the same time, Hamas is stealing your money and using it to dig tunnels at your expense.”

One leaflet urged residents, “Don’t be puppets in the hands of Hamas.”

The message from Israel was that the people of Gaza deserve better.

“You deserve a better government and a better future,” the leaflets read. “The IDF is warning you against approaching the security fence.”

The last line was a strong warning to keep away from the border. “Do not approach the security fence and do not participate in Hamas’s life-threatening farce,” the army said.

A few years back, I talked about a branch of philosophy called Pragmatism, the only major philosophical school of thought to cross from the US to Europe, in the context of this analysis of Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. Quoting (briefly) from that piece:

“by ‘pragmatic,’ I don’t just mean ‘practical.’ For according to the cornerstone principle of Pragmatism (the so-called ‘Pragmatist Maxim), reality itself is defined, and thus changeable, by human action in the real world.

… consider a canonical example of Pragmatic thinking: why a knife should be considered sharp. According to the Pragmatist, the knife is sharp NOT because it possesses (or partakes in) some metaphysical form of “sharpness,” nor because the notion of sharpness can be measured empirically (through some combination of blade width and hardness, for example). Rather, a knife is sharp because any rational person seeing one sitting next to a stick of butter would use the knife to cut the butter, rather than vice versa. And an irrational person who tried to do the opposite would necessarily fail.”

While many aspects of reality are dictated by things beyond human agency (the existence of the sun and mortality, for example), not everything falls into this category. As just mentioned “sharpness” might not be an actual thing without the act of human beings interacting with objects in the world. Similarly, human political agency creates, rather than just describes, things and the meaning behind them.

As a simple example, those of you who dislike manufactured pop music as much as I probably consider the Eurovision Song Contest (presuming you consider it at all) as a punchline or musical freak show. And, as proud as I am of the Jewish state’s many, many accomplishments, the victory of a chicken-warbling circus act at Eurovision ’18 would normally not get onto my shortlist of Israeli gifts to the world.

But once BDS got into the act, spreading their bile throughout the Interwebs in hope that they could rally the world to vote down Netta – Israel’s ultimately successful entrant into this year’s Eurovision contest – suddenly Eurovision became something it wasn’t before: a global political referendum on the Jewish state’s place in the world.

Keep in mind that this was not what Eurovision was created to be, nor were the performers – including Netta – interested in turning the event into a global vote for or against the their countries. But by making votes against Netta a political act of condemnation, BDS simultaneously (if inadvertently) turned votes for her into a political act of support.

Moving onto a more serious example, think about the impending opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem. Under normal circumstances, this would be an unremarkable event, one that should have occurred decades ago.

For as long nations have established diplomatic ties, the location of embassies was not even a point of discussion. If you want to establish diplomatic presence in the US, the UK or France, for example, your only option would be to build an embassy in Washington, London or Paris. The same rule applies to every other state in the world, large and small: you build your embassy in the other guy’s capital.

But because this normal situation was denied in one special case, the idea of opening or not opening an embassy in Jerusalem city became more and more politically significant with each passing year.

If Israel’s foes had not raised this price sky high, building or moving an embassy in Jerusalem would be as un-newsworthy as every routine embassy opening in the world. But this decades-long denial of Israel’s legitimate rights turned the final, reasonable, and appropriate acceptance of those rights into a new game-changing, Pragmatic reality.

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Don’t tell me to “stay safe”

Don’t. Just don’t. Sometimes kindly meant words are the worst.

On May 8^th Trump pulled out of the disastrous Iran Deal. Almost immediately afterwards Israeli citizens were warned that there would likely be an attack from Iranians based in Syria and communities in the Golan were instructed to make sure their bomb shelters were open.

And they did attack, shooting 20 large missiles at Israel. Thankfully not a single one hit their target and instead the IAF wiped out much of the Iranian infrastructure in Syria in the largest operation in Syria in 40 years. The perfection of the military maneuver, brilliantly timed with the preceding diplomatic efforts was nothing short of stunning.

But I digress.

As soon as friends abroad heard about the instructions to open bomb shelters messages started pouring in saying “stay safe”, speaking of the threat Israelis face with missiles pointed at us.

Kind, caring people, genuinely concerned and yet very annoying.

It took me a while to figure out my reaction. Why should these well intended words grate on my nerves so much? Is it the word “safe” or possibly the word “stay”? One assumes that safety is possible in the reality we live in. The other assumes that we have been safe and can remain so. Both assumptions are completely disconnected from our reality.

I think that’s what aggravated me.

No one seems to understand the tightrope we walk. Either people see Israel as a completely normal country whose citizens live privileged lives or as a dangerous war zone of constant fear and horror. Neither is true. BOTH are true and that is a reality too complicated for most people to comprehend.

We don’t fit in the boxes that suite other people. We are a category unto ourselves.

Israelis live in the shadow of existential threat every single day. We raise kids and go on picnics with our families. We create beautiful art and world changing inventions that improve every aspect of life. We help people in trouble, all over the world, all the time WHILE our own lives are in danger.

We are happy and live life to the maximum - while people are constantly trying to murder us. This isn’t an expression of paranoia or an exaggeration. This is a simple statement of fact. In the same vein, the instruction to open bomb shelters was not a sign of a sudden escalation in danger, it was purely a logical precaution considering the immediacy of the danger that is sometimes a moment away and sometimes happening in the specific moment.

Israelis have been asking themselves when the next war will be since the last one ended. We joke about it and hope that the war won’t ruin our vacation plans (wars seem to have a way of happening in the summer, though not always).

Israelis have been discussing the massive amounts of missiles Hezbollah has received from Iran since the 2006 war. Many people in the north of Israel are certain they heard signs of tunneling underneath their homes (Hamas learned about using tunnels for fighting from Hezbollah, not the other way around). The IDF has been discussing the possibility of evacuating towns in northern Israel when the war starts. It is understood that Hezbollah might succeed in infiltrating the country and taking over an entire town creating a hostage crisis and the necessity for urban battle inside our own country.

We are not talking about IF a war happens. The only question is WHEN it will happen.

Iran on our border just made things ten thousand times worse. Thanks to Obama / Kerry / Clinton foreign policy we actually ended up with ISIS, Al Qaeda off shoots AND Iran on our border.

Which threat would you prefer? Even with the threat of ISIS, Hezbollah has been the real danger but they are only a proxy of their master, Iran, a country controlled by ayatollahs whose religious belief dictates that they must wash the world in blood for their messiah to come. What better way to do this than to begin with Israel, the Nation who originally rejected their religion?

Political adversaries can be reasoned with. Religious fanatics are a completely different story. Looking the other way when fanatics, hell bent on wiping another nation off the face of the earth races towards attaining the weapons that will enable them to achieve their goal is nothing short of evil.

Our Prime Minister has been explaining this to the world for years (take a look at this interview from 2006!). Now everyone is being forced to see how right he was all this time.

The possibilities of how horrible the next war could get are so shocking most people just blank out on the very real probabilities. We are talking about so many missiles being shot at once that our missile defense systems will not be able to protect the population, people being trapped in bomb shelters for heaven only knows how long (how does one prepare enough food, water, peace of mind to last that out?), a ground invasion, hostages and probably another front on our southern border with Hezbollah and Hamas attacking in tandem.

Our enemies will not win but the estimates of how many Israelis could die are staggering.

WE know these things when we go to sleep at night, when we get up the next morning trying to figure out how to produce clean water for people in India, cure cancer and save endangered species. We know these things when we laugh at jokes and celebrate winning the Eurovision.

We’re not safe so we can’t “stay safe.” Israel isn’t safe and frankly Jews anywhere else are not safe. Those who believe they are safe live in a comforting illusion that can pop in an instant, with disastrous results. We in Israel at least understand what we are facing… and yet we are not hunkered down in a corner, shaking with fear. THAT seems to be what the world cannot understand.

How is it possible that a nation could be so extraordinarily brave? (Remember - bravery is not the lack of fear, it is being afraid and doing what is necessary despite the fear.)

How could a people so terribly abused be so gracious and bring so much benefit to others, including to their abusers?

How could a people counter so much hate with so much love?

The dichotomy is so extreme it seems inhuman and thus impossible. That is why so many try so hard to “catch the Jew”, to discover some evil that Jews, particularly Israel is committing. The idea that Israel is just as bad as their worst (the Jew is the new Nazi syndrome) is more comforting than accepting and possibly (heaven forbid!) emulating the light of Israel.

Safety is a luxury we don’t have. We don’t expect anyone to provide us with safety. We’re not waiting to be rescued. What would be nice is if, at least, our friends and well-wishers truly understood the reality we live in.

We don’t do “safe”. (Since when have Jews, in the history of the world, actually been safe?!). That’s not what we are here for.

We do love. We protect others. We lead by example. And when we have to do it alone, we do it alone.

Eventually, I believe, others will follow.

In the meantime, don’t tell me to “stay safe.”

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05/14 Links Pt1: Kontorovich: America Recognizes One Jerusalem; NYTs: May 14, 1948 Israel Declares Independence; Eurovision: Who voted for Israel?

From Ian:

Eugene Kontorovich (WSJ$): America Recognizes One Jerusalem

The U.S. on Monday will officially open its new embassy to Israel in Jerusalem. This will correct a surreal policy whereby, since Israel’s independence 70 years ago, the U.S. and other nations have refused to recognize its sovereignty over its capital city. President Trump announced in December he would reverse the old policy. By moving the embassy he now translates words into deed.

The embassy’s exact location within Jerusalem has gotten much less attention, but it is equally consequential. It will be housed in buildings used by the American Consulate, as well as in an adjacent former hotel purchased by the State Department in 2014. Most of that complex is located on the far side of the armistice line that divided Jerusalem from 1949 to 1967. Thus the embassy site demonstrates that the U.S. not only sees Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but also—consistent with bipartisan calls from Congress—recognizes the city as unified.

The “Green Line” was created in the wake of Israel’s 1948-49 War of Independence. Upon the country’s founding, Jordan and its allies invaded, with the goal of preventing the creation of a Jewish state. Although they failed at that goal, the Arab armies did occupy significant territory when the armistice was called, including what is now widely referred to as the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Jordan subsequently expelled all Jews from the areas under its control.

In 1967, during the Six Day War, Israel recaptured these places. But in the war’s aftermath the United Nations invested the temporary 1949 armistice line with talismanic significance. The U.N. claimed Israel was “occupying” the territory that Jordan had forcibly seized not two decades earlier. Thus the international community came up with a unique demand: Israel had to keep the areas under its control, including East Jerusalem and the Old City, free of Jewish inhabitants. Any move to unify Jerusalem would be considered a war crime.

In international law, armistice lines are not borders; they merely mark breaks in the fighting. The claim that the Green Line created a permanent “Judenrein” zone in the area occupied by Jordan, or that it in any way changed the legal status of the territory on the far side, is unique and illiberal.

By ignoring the armistice line today, the U.S. is showing that it attaches no legal significance to this outdated demarcation. Having an embassy that straddles the Green Line means recognizing as Israel’s capital a unified Jerusalem that includes the Old City and other eastern areas. It means categorically rejecting the notion that Israel has no sovereign claims across the Green Line.

JPost Editorial: Game Changer

The opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem justifiably is being called a “game changer” and “historic.” Seventy years after the State of Israel was born and 51 years after the reunification of the capital, the US, the only world superpower, is not only recognizing Jerusalem’s integral importance to Israel, the Jewish state, but acting on that recognition.

This sends out several important messages, not least of which is the importance of not giving in to terror.

Some people have voiced opposition to the move on the grounds that it might give rise to a wave of Palestinian or Islamist terrorism in Israel or against Jewish or American targets abroad. Had US President Donald Trump accepted this line of thought, it would have only encouraged and rewarded terrorism instead of diplomacy. In what future scenario can negotiations take place with the Palestinians under a constant threat that they will step up terrorism if they don’t get exactly what they want?

The US Embassy move rights an historic wrong and makes clear the terms of any future peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. It removes from the agenda the question of Israel’s status regarding Jerusalem, which houses its parliament, Supreme Court, President’s Residence, almost all government ministries and, of course, the Jewish holy sites.

It is encouraging to note that now that the US has led the way, other countries are following suit: Guatemala, Paraguay and Honduras are all expected to relocate their embassies to Jerusalem in the near future.

Although European states are lagging, here, too, a change can be seen. According to news reports over the weekend, Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic apparently blocked a European Union move to release a statement unanimously condemning the US Embassy move. The official Palestinian news agency WAFA on Saturday published a warning by the Palestinian Authority Foreign Ministry that these countries would face “consequences on all levels, especially their relationship with the Arab and Islamic worlds.”

NYTs: May 14, 1948 | Israel Declares Independence

On May 14, 1948, the independent state of Israel was proclaimed as British rule in Palestine came to an end.

The May 15 New York Times reported, “The declaration of the new state by David Ben-Gurion, chairman of the National Council and the first Premier of reborn Israel, was delivered during a simple and solemn ceremony at 4 p.m., and new life was instilled into his people, but from without there was the rumbling of guns, a flashback to other declarations of independence that had not been easily achieved.”

After World War II and the Holocaust, in which six million European Jews were killed, the United Nations moved to partition Palestine into Arab and Jewish sections. The United Nations adopted the partition plan in November 1947. This plan outraged Arabs, and sparked a civil war in Palestine. The Palestinian Arabs had greater numbers, but the Israelis were better armed and organized, and were able to overcome the Arabs. During this time, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs chose to or were forced to evacuate their homes.

The violence caused the United States to withdraw its support for partition. However, when Israel declared its independence, the United States immediately recognized the new state. The Times wrote, “In one of the most hopeful periods of their troubled history the Jewish people here gave a sigh of relief and took a new hold on life when they learned that the greatest national power had accepted them into the international fraternity.”

From Ma'an Arabic:

Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, said Monday that the opening of the American Embassy in occupied Jerusalem is a new calamity for the Palestinian people and for international justice and international legitimacy. This unilateral action demonstrates the control of the logic of force and violence and the crushing of all that is legal and humanitarian.

And the sky will rain fire and the Earth will be thrust out of its orbit, turning it into a giant asteroid ready to crash into the sun, obliterating mankind forever.

She added in a press release on behalf of the Executive Committee on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the painful Nakba of Palestine and the opening of the American Embassy in Jerusalem, "The Nakba with all its racist connotations is still ongoing. Israel, the occupying power, with the support and participation of the United States, implements its deliberate plans based on judaizing the Palestinian space and place, stealing the land, history, the Palestinian culture and history. "

Forgetting the other obvious lies of Ashrawi, it is past time to look at the Palestinian claim that Israel is "Judaizing" Israel.

Israel has been the center of Jewish prayer and thought since the days of Moses. The archaeological evidence alone (which the Palestinians strenuously deny exists) is overwhelming. Way before Zionism, Jews have made rebuilding Jerusalem the central motif of their prayers. The rocks and stones of Israel are witness to the miracle of the rebirth of the Jewish nation in much of her historic lands.

When Ashrawi and Abbas and the other Palestinian leaders complain about "Judaizing" the Jewish home, they are denying Jewish history, Jewish practice and millennia of Jewish longing.

It goes hand in hand with the Arab claim that Jews are not a nation or a people, but merely a faith.

If "Judaizing" is such a crime, what is Islamicizing? Because the entire religion of Islam is an attempt to supersede Judaism (and to a lesser extent Christianity.) Every single Islamic tenet is a distortion of a Jewish law. Every single Jewish shrine in Israel, bar none, is claimed by Muslims to be their own, even though every single one of them is older than Islam. The mosques on the Temple Mount, at the Cave of the Patriarchs and at Rachel's Tomb were built deliberately to erase Jewish history and claims.

The claim of "Judaizing" is Arabs saying that Jews do not belong in the land that everyone (including the Quran) knows is Jewish. At best, the Jews should be tolerated as second class citizens under a supremacist Islamic ideology and political system.

The claim of "Judaizing" the Holy Land is pure antisemitism. And it is way past time to call this out.

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Hikmet Ajuri, who has acted as the PLO "ambassador" to Portugal and Ireland, wrote an essay for Ma'an that admits that the Holocaust was a crime against humanity - and then says that the "Nakba" was worse.

"What happened to the Palestinian people in 1948 by the Zionist gangs, which embodied ethnic cleansing, displacement and demolition of houses and killing by survivors of this Holocaust, makes the Nakba of Palestinians at least as terrible than the Holocaust because it did not stop in 1948 but remained in force. In addition they [Jews] exercise the same tools against the same people and for the same reasons without apology and without compensation as was the case for the Holocaust."

So you see, Palestinians who decided to flee their homes in order for the Arab armies to throw the Jews into the sea are victims of a much worse crime than the Holocaust because they were not compensated for their decision.

I wrote that Mahmoud Abbas, when he "apologized" for his outrageous antisemitic statements by saying that he sympathized with the victims of the Holocaust, really meant "The Holocaust was heinous because it prompted Jews to come to Palestine and the UN to allow Israel to become a state. The Palestinian Arab exodus from Palestine is the real catastrophe (Nakba.) Therefore, the Palestinians are the major victims of the Holocaust and I express sympathy for them."

It was not an exaggeration. This is how Palestinians look at the world, as if they are the ultimate victims and not the agents of their own misery. The very fact of the Holocaust bothers them because their entire existence is based on the lie of their being the world's most important victims, forever. Any tragedy worldwide is viewed as competition for victimhood.

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Arabic media are reporting that a general strike has been declared for all of Gaza today and tomorrow, to facilitate everyone to break through the border to Israel for the culmination of the "Great Return March" riots.

The "Coordinating Committee for Return and Breaking the Siege" announced the strike, issuing a statement saying that ""the strike will include official institutions, popular and commercial sites and all aspects of daily life, including the institutions of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA.)"

RT Arabic adds that the streets in Gaza towns and neighborhoods have become empty after shops, government and private institutions have closed their doors.

It seems apparent that this committee is really part of Hamas, because no one would be able to close government institutions in Gaza without Hamas support.

From what is being reported, it appears that UNRWA is indeed participating in these strikes.

This means that the UN is actively participating in Hamas-organized anti-Israel riots and that UNRWA, against its own policies, is engaging in political activity - and encouraging violent activity - against Israel.

Just another question for reporters to avoid asking during UNRWA's next press conference announcing how they managed to convince another nation to donate a couple of million dollars to an organization that violates the UN's own rules of non-partisanship every day.

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Gaza terror group releases video of blowing up Jewish houses

Islamic Jihad released a new video showing their members (fictionally) blowing up the houses of Jewish communities of Betar Illit, Ariel and others with RPGs and other weapons.

Meanwhile, the media is buzzing about how Palestinians have supposedly eschewed violence.

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I admit that I have not been keeping up with worldwide popular culture as much as I should, and I figured by the time that the New York Times has an article on something, it is already passe.

But watching this video from a popular German Jewish rapper, singing in German and proud of his Judaism, is almost surreal.

ESSEN, Germany — A yellow star of David — the sort the Nazis forced Jews to wear — on the sleeve of a white sweatshirt appears near the start of the rapper Sun Diego’s “Yellow Bar Mitzvah” video. Seconds later, a scene shows a yellow Lamborghini in the middle of a neon star of David. Jets of flame from a massive gold menorah punctuate rapid-fire rhymes about guns, drugs and money.

“Yellow Bar Mitzvah,” released last year, is a rare German gangsta rap recording in which Hebrew features prominently in the lyrics.

And while videos mixing menorahs and yellow stars of David with guns, sports cars and bikini-clad women pushing wheelbarrows full of cocaine would raise eyebrows anywhere, in today’s Germany they are particularly notable: Elements of the country’s booming rap and hip-hop scene have been criticized as anti-Semitic in recent weeks.

On April 12, a major German music prize was awarded to a duo whose album included the line, “My body is better defined than an Auschwitz inmate’s.” At the ceremony, called the Echo Awards, the rappers were booed. I n the weeks since, several prominent musicians returned their awards in protest, and the awards were canceled. The controversy sparked a national debate over rising anti-Semitism among young people and immigrants, two groups most likely to listen to rap.

Sun Diego, meanwhile, has succeeded while proudly proclaiming his Jewish identity. The rapper, born Dimitrij Chpakov, has 272,000 Instagram followers, and “Yellow Bar Mitzvah,” released last year, has racked up more than 9.7 million views on YouTube. Another track, “Eloah,” is closing in on 6 million views. Sun Diego’s autobiography, “Yellow Bar Mitzvah: The Seven Portals From Moloch to Fame,” co-authored with the German journalist Dennis Sand, spent weeks at the top of German best-seller lists after it went on sale in late February.

In his recent take on the 1980s Falco hit “Rock Me Amadeus,” he boasts in a lyric that “a Jew is making a new German wave.”

Sun Diego’s popularity shows that “You can’t pigeonhole German rap fans,” a Berlin-based hip-hop critic, Viola Funk, said in an interview. “Fans aren’t just interested in the art, but in the person behind it — that’s why it’s such a great thing when there is an unbelievably popular Jewish rapper.”

Here's his recent hit "Eloah" with unmistakenly Jewish (and gangsta) themes. Lyrics here.

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05/13 Links: After Eurovision win, Jerusalem gears up to strut it's stuff on world stage; How Much Effect Does BDS Have? Netta’s Eurovision Results Say None; Ambassadors from Albania to Zambia to fete US embassy move

From Ian:

After Eurovision win, Jerusalem gears up to strut stuff on world stage

Netta Barzilai’s Eurovision win kicked off massive street parties in Tel Aviv Sunday morning, but next year it’s expected Jerusalem will be the city celebrating the song contest.

Israel’s win, its first since 1998, means it wins the right to host next year’s finals, which has transformed in those intervening decades into a massive extravaganza with two rounds, tens of thousands of fans, and millions more tuning in around the world.

Barzilai scarcely had time to change out of her red and black kimono before city officials and politicians in Israel were crowing about plans to host the contest in Jerusalem.

“Next year in Jerusalem,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a congratulatory message, a sentiment echoed by many others, not least Barzilai.

“There is nothing like an Israeli party. You will find out next year,” Barzilai said after her win, yelling “Next year in Jerusalem.”

Speaking to Israel’s Kan broadcaster, she said she looked forward to the world seeing “the Israeli carnival” when Jerusalem hosts the contest.

People will see “how wonderful we are. What a vibe we have. Best people… the best place in the world,” she said.

Despite the win coming in the middle of the night in Israel, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat was among the many to quickly congratulate Barzilai and thank her for giving his city the chance to host the competition.

“The city of Jerusalem will grant any help needed in putting up Eurovision 2019 in the capital of Israel and together we will expose the beautiful face of Jerusalem to the whole world,” he said.

Rejoice with Jerusalem

A hundred thousand people carrying Israeli flags are expected to take part in the traditional Jerusalem Day "Flag Dance" parade around the Old City on Sunday. The procession will be led by veterans of the battle for Jerusalem and victims of terrorism.

For 30 years, crowds have been marching and dancing in the streets of Jerusalem. This year, the dancing started on Saturday and went on all night, with people flocking to the Western Wall.

For the religious Zionist movement, Jerusalem Day is a celebration in every sense of the word, almost like Independence Day. Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews alike pray and wear their Sabbath clothes. The mythological Merkaz Harav Yeshiva – where the enterprise of settling Judea and Samaria began – will be hosting a huge party, and the prime minister is scheduled to speak there. Many of the yeshiva's graduates fought to liberate Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, including IDF Paratroopers Brigade commander Yoram Zamosh, who immediately after the Western Wall was liberated in June 1967 drove Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook and Rabbi David Cohen there in a jeep, knowing the symbolic power of bringing both these great spirits of Zionism together at the remaining wall of the Second Temple compound.

"Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her," said Isaiah the prophet (Isaiah 66:10), who predicted that after the terrible exile the Jewish people would rise again. Who could have thought when Jerusalem was razed that it would rise again like this? But the prophet gave us Divine instructions: When you return to Jerusalem, you must rejoice. In current terms, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put it: Don't be sourpusses.

David Horovitz: Israel’s ‘different’ Eurovision winner has a message for Jerusalem too

As it turned out, however, the drama kicked off even earlier than expected, on Saturday night, when Netta Barzilai won the Eurovision Song Contest with a demonstrably irresistible song at least partly highlighting female empowerment amid its chicken noises. Overwhelmed by her victory but still retaining her composure, Barzilai in her moments of triumph proved an admirable Israeli icon, praising her country, showing generosity to her defeated rivals, and hailing the contest and its voters for embracing the difference and diversity she champions.

“Thank you so much for choosing difference,” she enthused to the watching world (an estimated 200 million people). “Thank you so much for accepting differences between us. Thank you for celebrating diversity. Thank you. I love my country. Next time in Jerusalem.”

Unsurprisingly, the backlash was not long in coming. Anti-Israel activists, notably from the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement, are vowing to utilize the fact that Jerusalem will now host next year’s contest to mount a major campaign highlighting ostensible Israeli “apartheid” policies regarding the Palestinians. (The charge does not withstand serious scrutiny: For all the complexity and argument surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the bottom line is that Israel does not claim sovereignty in the West Bank and Gaza, and its key caveat over partnering the Palestinians to statehood is the eminently reasonable demand that their state not come at the expense of ours.)

But Barzilai’s victory already constituted a stinging defeat for the BDS campaigners, who had urged Eurovision participants to boycott Israel’s entry by giving it zero points. In the event, the juries from the participating nations elevated Israel to an impressive third place, and it was then the viewers’ votes in those 43 countries that lifted Barzilai into top spot — a win by genuine public acclaim.