A legal team headed by US lawyer and academic Alan Dershowitz is preparing a international lawsuit to force Arab countries that host sports events to allow Israeli athletes to compete under the Jewish state’s flag and play its national anthem if they win.
Israeli athletes face various restrictions when competing in the Middle East or against Arab countries due to hostility toward the Jewish state. Gulf countries have allowed Israelis to compete, but without the Israeli flag or other symbols displayed on the athletes’ uniform or in the competition facility.
Jerusalem has long considered pursuing legal action against the practice but postponed it for various reasons. But now a legal team, assembled by Yesh Atid MK Yoel Razvozov, is working on a lawsuit on the issue to be filed at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, an international body for settling disputes related to sport.
The headline in the Arabi21 site says that Israel is not happy with mere normalization with Arabs, but wants more and more.
Obviously because insisting on being treated like any other country is simply more evidence of Jews acting above their station.
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Egypt made a big deal over opening the Rafah crossing for Ramadan.
The statistics for the first 11 days of Ramadan shows that Egypt allowed 4200 Gazans to enter, but only three of them were admitted for medical treatment. (490 people returned to Gaza.)
In that same time period, Israel allowed 30 injured people to travel to Jordan for treatment. And Israel has allowed about 1000 Gazans to enter Israel altogether for "humanitarian reasons" (which usually means the people seeking medical attention and one family member.) I count 86 ambulance crossings into Israel in that time period.
Egypt has hardly flung the gates open when less than 400 cross everyday while tens of thousands want to leave. Yet there is no criticism of Egypt as far as I can tell - after all, Rafah has been almost completely closed this year before Ramadan.
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From the Twitter account of the Government of South Africa:
Cabinet calls on the Israeli Defence Force to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and bring to an end the violent and destructive incursions into Palestinian territories. #PostCabinet
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) May 24, 2018
Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but why should that be relevant?
I looked at the minutes from every cabinet meeting this year. This was still the only statement on anything happening outside South Africa.
As hundreds are killed weekly around the world, the only people that the South African government seem to care about are the members of Hamas and other terror groups who are the vast majority of those killed in Gaza.
Priorities.
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Note: A slightly different version of this article appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune on May 20, 2018. (The commentary was written in response to an anti-Semitic Op-Ed that was published earlier in that newspaper. Following the negative publicity generated by CAMERA’s harsh criticism, the newspaper published an apology by the author.)
Honest and civil criticism based on truth is an essential component of any democracy. Bigotry is an expression of visceral hatred against a person or a people. Both are protected free speech, but the first strengthens democracy while the second erodes it.
A controversial opinion column by Michael Robinson in the May 6 Salt Lake Tribune has raised the question of what differentiates the two. The author claims his commentary simply represented criticism of human rights abuses by the Israeli government. Yet its misrepresentation of facts and reality and its inflammatory language convey undisguised bigotry, which is why it was the subject of a critique by CAMERA (Committee for Middle East Reporting in America), of angry comments and outraged letters, and of an editor’s column.
This was in reaction to the author’s self-declared hatred for Israel, rooted in misconceptions and inaccuracies about Israelis, Palestinians and the Arab-Israeli conflict. By lashing out emotionally and attacking Israel inchoately, without any facts to back up his accusations, the author precluded any rational discussion that might arise from legitimate criticism.
Many readers were appalled by the crude invoking of classic, anti-Semitic caricatures that have been used for centuries to demonize the Jews as a people possessing malign attributes — as monsters lacking human compassion. Such demonizing in the past has been the precursor to grotesque violence. Referring to “the Jews” interchangeably with “Israel” and conflating the two, the author was not criticizing specific government policies as much he appeared to be attacking “the Jews” as a people. And in dismissing the wholesale slaughter of European Jewry as akin to a child’s “owie,” the author did nothing to dispel that impression.
The blog on the Parliament Square Kaddish event was the hardest I have ever had to write. My research has taken me into some of the darkest anti-Jewish movements on the internet. I have got up close and personal with neo-Nazis, Rothschild conspiracy theorists and Holocaust deniers. I have worn a Kaffiyeh, walked with the Hezbollah and broken bread with people who think Jews are ‘evil’ and Israel needs to be ‘nuked’. Yet after all this, it was reporting on a small gathering of Jewish ‘peaceniks’ saying Kaddish for Hamas terrorists that hurt me the most.
I admit to being angry and sickened by that event in Parliament Square. The act was deliberate, public and provocative. It was designed to create a stir. Those involved have little cause to complain about the publicity they asked for, simply because the publicity they received was overwhelmingly negative. The stunt simply backfired on them.
But these people are still not ‘the enemy’. Those that really wish us harm are numerous and determined and deadly. The people at the Kaddish event are not ‘traitors’, nor ‘kapos’. Nor is there anything malicious in their activity. They are even unaware that they have been infected with a poison that is dripping from within the organisations that are supposed to ‘educate them’. These people are our kids. Our nieces and nephews and cousins and siblings and children.
Looking to put names to faces and then to find those who act as ‘influencers’ was soul-destroying. There was no joy in this. This type of research is one of the things I excel at, but there was no sense of accomplishment when I succeeded. There was only sadness.
Washington’s ambassador to the United Nations was interrupted by protesters waving Palestinians flags while speaking at the University of Houston in Texas on Tuesday.
Less than three minutes after taking the podium, Nikki Haley’s speech on US foreign policy achievements was interrupted by a male protester who accused her of sanctioning “the genocide of a native people.” She seemed startled by the exclamation, muttering, “Oh jeez.”
About two dozen students, some affiliated with the school’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter, quickly rose in unison and chanted, “Nikki, Nikki can’t you see, you are on a killing spree,” and “free, free, free Palestine.”
The disruption continued for more than two minutes, until most of the protesters were removed from the Cullen Performance Hall by police. The audience then applauded and Haley resumed speaking, only to be shouted over once again. “Any more?” she asked to loud applause after the final interruption.
“You know, while disruptive as that might have been, it’s a reason to celebrate,” she said. “Because my husband and my brother are combat veterans, and they fought for their right to be able to do that.”
The protesters continued displaying their signs outside the event hall, where SJP member Muhammed Fattoush expressed his objection to Haley’s defense of Israel’s response to recent Hamas-led riots in the Gaza Strip.
RISING UP:
Showcasing Israel and Progressive Values in Unison
by
Noah Phillips
We
were all electrified by Netta’s Eurovision
performance. Whether you were bobbing your head and clucking your arms, or,
like me, swelling with Israeli pride while partly confused with the European
infatuation with this kind of music, we loved her moment. Netta, a proud
representative of Israeli culture (“Next year in
Jerusalem!”she
declared to 180+ million viewers) and an important voice for the #MeToo
movement of female empowerment, was fantastic in all respects.
As
one of the foremost celebrities originating from Israel should, Netta embodies
the progressive and inclusive principles of Israeli society through her music
and personal triumphs. Netta’s hit song, “Toy,”is
emblematic of the #MeToo movement, embracing feminism and denouncing patriarchy
of the past. The song rejects the objectification of women and resonates with a
global audience at a time when individuals are disclosing painful past
experiences of sexual assault.
From
her various interviews, we know of Netta’s personal
struggles with bulimia and bullying from others about her weight and
appearance. In Eurovision, Netta embraced her eccentricities and quirks. Garbed
in a Japanese kimono and, at times, clucking like a chicken, Netta sang
powerfully and connected with a diverse audience.
Her
personal life story and messages conveyed through her music reach a current
audience of young progressives demanding change from ideas of exclusivity and
elitism--be it weight, size, race, or other markers. Netta’s words: “Thank you so much
for accepting differences between us. Thank you for celebrating diversity.
Thank you!”
Netta’s
messaging as a champion of diversity only bolsters Israel’s
international reputation, particularly among progressive-millennials. It’s
a stark contrast to both Israel’s general European
and American-liberal perception as a state of apartheid, utilizing differences
as divisors to further hate. To see Netta succeed while carrying her
progressive ideals brings Israel’s complex reality
and a more nuanced and positive state of Israeli society to millions of
viewers. For example, while the LGBTQ community seeks acceptance and support in
many closed, restrictive countries, Israeli society is known for embracing
LGBTQ causes, and Israel’s largest city, Tel Aviv, hosts an
annual week-long celebration of gay pride which attracts thousands of attendees
from across the world. While the United States still awaits our first female
president, Israel already reached that milestone nearly half a century ago. And
while Jews have been expelled throughout history from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq,
Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, and Spain among other nations due to
religious intolerance, Israeli-Arabs enjoy religious freedom and integration in
Israeli society, a fact often overlooked by Israel’s
detractors.
Netta
helps defy stereotypes personally and even about the State of Israel. Her
influential agendas of feminism and gender equality are timely; similarly, her
declarations of Israeli pride and inclusivity through her performances are long
overdue.
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.
I met some Sikhs in California, and had some in classes that I taught in the prehistoric 1970s. They were distinguished by being extremely hard workers who wanted to get along with everyone. The Sikh religion has a strong tradition of self-defense. They didn’t strike me as the type of folks that would be pro-Palestinian activists.
Oberoi’s photo shows a young man, probably in his 20s. He says in the article that he has lived in Canada for 8 years, having been born and raised in Punjab. He works as "a research scientist for a quantum computing company," but his recent Twitter feed is peppered with links to his Ha’aretz article; he is clearly very pleased to have been published in what he calls “Israel’s longest running newspaper.” Maybe he has a future as a journalist, and not just a blogger with a day job?
So why is he becoming a pro-Palestinian activist? In his words,
Sikhs know what it feels to be effectively shooed out of your homeland and be forced to live in exile; what it's like to be shot at "just for fun," as target practice; what it's like to be harassed daily by state security forces; what it's like to have a seven year-old arrested on charges of "terrorism"; and what it's like when the world simply ignores your plight.
One would think that such an experience would be precisely what would make someone a Zionist! But apparently that isn’t how it works.
When someone like Jaspreet Oberoi hears that some 59 “Palestinian protestors” were killed by Israeli snipers on May 14, he suffers “anguish, pain, remorse and disgust.” And later, his feelings were further assaulted by the lack of popular outcry over the “massacre” in Canada:
But after pacifying myself, when I peeked around, there was a stoic silence. At least nobody in Canada was celebrating or justifying the massacre, unlike many right-wingers across the globe, but there wasn't a strong rebuke either.
Oberoi is immediately reminded of the horrific violence in India between Sikhs and the majority Hindus that began with Operation Blue Star in 1984 and the subsequent assassination of Indira Gandhi. He tells a story of a minority’s violent persecution, and how its complaints are ignored by the majority government and the rest of the world. And he keeps asking: does this sound familiar?
I admit that I am not competent to judge whether his account of the plight of the Sikhs in India is accurate. I’m sure there are facts and interpretations that he doesn’t mention, things I would hear about if I asked a supporter of Indian PM Modi. In any event, I am not about to write an article for an Indian newspaper about the Sikhs.
And of course there are things that Jaspreet Oberoi does not know about the Israeli-Arab conflict in general and recent events in Gaza in particular. For example, he doesn’t know that 53 of the 62 dead Gazans were operatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, according to spokespersons for those organizations, and that Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, announced that “We will take down the border and we will tear out their hearts from their bodies.”
He does not understand that the “protest” was actually an attempted invasion, and that the IDF was defending Israel’s border and the people that live just a few minutes’ walk away from it, with what was actually the minimum force necessary.
Ha’aretz editors knew all this (it was in their own newspaper), even if Oberoi did not. They published his article anyway. But this post isn’t about Ha’aretz.
So we come back to the initial question: why does a young Sikh become a pro-Palestinian activist?
The cynical answer is that there is a demand for it. It is an easy way to get published in a prestigious venue, even if your writing isn’t of professional quality. Many Jews have taken this path with great success. A Jew attacking Israel has an authority that say, an Arab or European, doesn’t. But a Sikh presents an interesting, diverse, perspective too.
But I will give Oberoi the benefit of the doubt, and say that he simply doesn’t know any better. He is so deeply immersed in and affected by the real struggle of his own people, that he was triggered to write on a subject that he knew less than nothing about.
It’s a common psychological phenomenon. Each of us has his own story, and we impose it on chaotic reality that we don’t understand. To a woman who had an unpleasant divorce, every man looks like her jerk of an ex-husband. It’s not an accident that the idea of calling Israel an “apartheid state” arose in South Africa, or that Condoleezza Rice, Barack Obama, and the Movement for Black Lives have all drawn highly misleading parallels between Palestinian Arabs and African-Americans.
And why did he choose the Palestinians to identify with? Why not the Jews? Why indeed did he not end up a Zionist? Probably because he studied in Canada and that was the prevailing opinion. The easy, obvious choice.
It’s easier to apply a familiar pattern to a situation about which you are ignorant than to make the effort to learn about it. A good journalist or political analyst learns to avoid this trap. Mr. Oberoi hasn’t.
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.
In recent weeks, Israel has faced violence at the security fence separating our country from Gaza. Tens of thousands of Palestinians, incited by Hamas - some armed with guns, improvised explosive devices and Molotov cocktails - have approached the fence to tear down any obstacle in their way and infiltrate Israel.
Instead of directing their condemnations at this internationally recognized terrorist organization for their war crimes against both Palestinians and Israelis, some countries and UN bodies have not only embraced Hamas' propaganda but have even criticized Israel's right to self-defense.
Such baseless charges against Israel are morally unjust. Those who criticize Israel's legitimate actions are either unaware, or are willfully ignorant, of the clearly violent nature of what's happening at the Gaza border. Israel is defending itself from terrorists committing orchestrated attacks, not from activists leading an innocent protest.
The real tragedy is that this situation was - and remains - completely avoidable. Israel removed all Jewish communities and military facilities from Gaza in 2005. In the years following, we have facilitated the transfer of billions of dollars of aid for Gaza's local population.
Countries that criticize Israel must ask themselves how they would expect their security forces to react if terrorists armed with rifles and explosives marched on their borders.
The UN must use its power and resources to improve the situation on the ground in Gaza and enforce change. To do so it must start by condemning Hamas for attacking Israel and for holding the people of Gaza hostage.
Since the day of his arrest, the PA has paid terrorist Izz Al-Din Hamamrah a monthly salary, which by now totals $155,909 (540,600 shekels)
The Palestinian Authority and Abbas' Fatah have come up with yet a new way to honor terrorist prisoners. A huge billboard with numerous photos of so-called "fighting prisoners" was inaugurated in the town of Husan, west of Bethlehem.
PA TV News said the billboard immortalizes 17 prisoners who are serving long sentences. Among the prisoners on the billboard is terrorist Izz Al-Din Hamamrah, who is serving 10 life sentences for recruiting a suicide bomber who murdered 8.
The billboard was inaugurated at an event in which the head of the PLO Commission of Prisoners' Affairs Issa Karake participated as well as the prisoners' parents, local school students, and a scouts group. Karake stated that the billboard is a sign of the "support for the prisoners": Karake: "These [activities] are a kind of support, stand, and aid for the fighting prisoners who fought and sacrificed for Palestine. We say that the prisoners' cause is a central and main cause, and it is the criterion for any just peace in the region." [Official PA TV News, April 24, 2018]
Under Palestinian Authority law, the PA pays every terrorist prisoner a monthly salary. Since 2000, the PA has raised the monthly salaries a number of times. Currently, every prisoner's salary starts at 1,400 shekels/month and increases every few years, reaching as high as 12,000 shekels/month after 30 years. Until now, terrorist Izz Al-Din Hamamrah has received 540,600 shekels ($155,909) in reward for his crimes from the PA. His current salary is 6,000 shekels/month ($1,730).
A preacher on official Palestinian Authority TV threatened that the Palestinians or Muslims in general will "soon" conquer Jerusalem "by force," unless it is handed over "peacefully":
"The Jews are an arrogant and tyrannical enemy, occupying Jerusalem and Palestine... Allah willing, we will soon take what was taken from us, if not peacefully then by force."[Official PA TV, April 13, 2018]
The preacher called on Allah to help "drive out the Jews" from Jerusalem, using the Muslims to do so. The preacher compared this to the way Allah helped drive out the crusaders who "left it humiliated and disgraced, dragging their tails behind them": Preacher on PA TV: "The Jews are an arrogant and tyrannical enemy that is occupying the land of Jerusalem and the land of Palestine, and that they have no right to arrogance, tyranny, and occupation... Allah willing, we will soon take what was taken from us, if not peacefully then by force... How long did the European Crusaders live in this country? They lived here nearly 100 years, but by Allah's will, they left it humiliated.
They left it humiliated and disgraced, dragging their tails behind them, because Allah inscribed for this [Islamic] nation eternity and victory... Allah, protect our Al-Aqsa Mosque and our Jerusalem for us, and return it to the rule and sovereignty of the Muslims. Allah, drive the Jews out of it, humiliated and disgraced, by means of those [the Muslims] who are monotheists, humble, and purified." [Official PA TV, April 13, 2018]
The same preacher asked Allah to "punish the wicked Jews" and prayed for their genocide in another sermon, which was broadcast by official PA TV in 2016 and exposed by Palestinian Media Watch:
The Arab League on Wednesday cancelled a memorandum of understanding with Guatemala in retribution for the Latin American country's decision to transfer its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales inaugurated the country's mission in the holy city on May 16, just one day after the new US embassy in the city threw open its doors, garnering condemnation from the Palestinian leadership.
The Arab League's axing of its 2013 agreement with Guatemala "came in light of activating the [League's] decision to condemn the Central American country's relocation of its embassy and taking the suitable political and economic suitable measures in that regard," a statement from the pan-Arab body quoted by Xinhua said.
The Guatemalan government responded (autotranslated) that "it is respectful of the sovereign decisions of the States and has the interest to maintain cordial and cooperative bilateral relations with all the States with which we maintain established diplomatic relations.. So far there is no treaty of cooperation [with the Arab League.]
"The Republic of Guatemala and the League of Arab States have a mechanism of Political Consultations, which promotes coordination to carry out an exchange of information, however it is important to clarify that there is no instrument on International Cooperation and to date there is no official communication on the subject."
Essentially, the 2013 agreement was a piece of paper that no one has done anything with yet.
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The Gaza Health Ministry, run by Hamas, is complaining that its pharmacies are suffering from a severe shortage of medicines.
The director of the ministry said that there is significant depletion in their stocks of drugs, especially some antibiotics and blood dilution drugs such as Heparin and Clyxan.
"Despite the arrival of quantities of drugs donated to the ministry, but in light of the huge number of casualties and the great depletion from them these medicines do not fill the deficit," he said.
So while Hamas tries, and succeeds in telling the world that Israel is blocking needed goods to Gaza, it is in fact Hamas itself that is doing it.
Here is a cartoon from the Fatah website showing Israel locking out goods from Gaza for Ramadan:
Yet on Tuesday, despite Hamas directing Gaza youths to firebomb the Kerem Shalom goods crossing, Israel facilitated the transfer of over 14,000 tons of goods to Gaza.
Propaganda once again wins over reality, and the world is eager to believe the lies.
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Iran's supreme leader has set out conditions for Tehran to stay in its nuclear deal with world powers, including steps by to be taken by European banks to safeguard trade with Tehran after the US withdrawal from the deal.
European powers must continue buying crude oil, protect Iranian oil sales from US pressure and promise to not seek new negotiations on Iran's ballistic missile programme and Middle East activities, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's official website said on Wednesday.
"European banks should safeguard trade with the Islamic Republic. We do not want to start a fight with these three countries [France, Germany and Britain], but we don't trust them either," Khamenei said.
"Europe should fully guarantee Iran's oil sales. In case Americans can damage our oil sales … Europeans should make up for that and buy Iranian oil."
He warned if the Europeans did not meet these demands, Iran would resume its enrichment of uranium, halted under the deal to minimise the risk of Tehran developing the means to build nuclear weapons.
Khamenei isn't demanding that Europe continue buying Iranian oil, but that it increases its purchases to make up for any shortfall from the US.
The UK, France and Germany should pledge not to seek negotiations on Iran's ballistic missile programme and regional activities, both demanded by Washington
A pledge to not even bring up an issue that can directly threaten the capitals of Europe!
Khamenei knows that the EU wants to do anything to keep the deal - they've pretty much said so - so it is only logical that he adds demand upon demand.
Europe should really learn how bargaining works in a souk. Because right now, not only are they eagerly willing to accept the initial price of the item, they are happy to allow the seller to raise his prices - and for the shopkeeper to threaten them if they don't buy 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.
Anti-Semitism is the sewer, sausage factory and the boiler room of the leftist soul.
The ADL has tried to find common ground with the left. But the left is not in the common ground business. Where the left takes institutional power, in a country, a state, a college or a profession, ideological diversity quickly vanishes leaving behind its ruling activists and a silent majority.
As a liberal consensus vanishes, the ADL is becoming an organization with no base. The ADL is too pro-Jewish for the left and not pro-Jewish enough for the right. The left has its own collection of organizations that it wants to impose on the Jewish community. The Soros lobby’s JFREJ, Bend the Arc and If Not Now were hurled into action against the ADL. Eventually they will cannibalize the ADL.
The ADL failed to stand up the left. And like other liberal collaborators, it will be replaced with a leftist Yevsektsiya that will divide its time between condemning Israel and denouncing Jews as bigots who need to be reeducated about their privilege and their complicity in whiteness. And then it will get ugly.
When the ADL was founded, there was a mainstream consensus for it to influence. The consensus has been replaced by political and racial tribalism. The margins are becoming mainstream. And it’s dying.
The ADL may choose to shut down. Or like HIAS, it may jettison its Jewish identity and join the anti-Jewish left. Or it can do what it should have done all along. It tried colluding. It promoted Black Lives Matter and signaled softness on BDS. But its efforts to collude with intersectional anti-Semitism failed.
Now an irrelevant organization in its final years has one last chance to stand up to the left. (h/t steelraptor from Saturn)
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) president Morton A Klein released a statement condemning the Anti-Degfamation League (ADL) for sympathizing with terrorists following the death of Hamas rioters by the Gaza border last Monday
"it is a horrific tragedy that so many people have been killed and wounded at the Gaza border." said ADL President Jonathan Greenblatt.
ZOA President Morton Klein criticized the ADL statement for failing to distinguish between the minority of the fatalities who were innocent victims and the vast majority who were members of terrorist organizations.
"We must ask, how is the death of mostly Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists a “horrific tragedy?” In fact, the deaths of these terrorists prevented a real “horrific tragedy” – the murder of thousands of innocent Jews who would have been slain if Hamas’ violent rioters had succeeded," Klein wrote.
He noted that even Hamas admitted that 50 of the 62 people who were killed during the riots were members of the terrorist organization which rules the Gaza Strip and that the goals of Hamas were to break through the border and overrun Israeli towns nearby.
Last week on May 15th was Nakba Day, when Palestinians and their supporters mourn what they call the ‘catastrophe’ of the modern Jewish state’s establishment, mark the displacement of some 750,000 Arabs in 1948, and call for the ‘right’ of return of the Palestinian refugees to their lost homes in present-day Israel.
There are many reasons that hundreds of thousands of Arabs were displaced in 1948—but as we highlighted in a recent post, chief among them was the fear of being harmed by the approaching Zionist forces.
Basically, people fled in terror because they were led to believe, by their own leaders, that the Zionists would slaughter them like they allegedly did in the Arab village of Deir Yassin on April 9, 1948, even though no massacre ever took place there.
These are important facts for anyone interested in Nakba Day and the origins of the Palestinian refugee problem to know, and there’s a new Hebrew-language book by renowned Israeli historian Eliezer Tauber that provides them.
But, as we discussed in our prior post, American scholars and students won’t be able to learn about it. That’s because Tauber can’t manage to land a U.S. academic press contract on account of virulently anti-Israel faculty reviewers of his manuscript who don’t want the truth to come out, lest it upend their own narrative about these historical events, Silencing History: U.S. University Publishers Shun Book ‘Ending the Deir Yassin Myth’.
Tauber’s meticulous research about what really happened at Deir Yassin needs to reach a larger audience, especially because new material keeps coming to light that corroborates his central findings.
“Just in case you are in the mood to
get annoyed,” read the private message from a friend of mine in Canada, the
text accompanying a link. I clicked the link. It was to a status
from one Fran Miller, whose profile photo was her sweet-looking pet dog.
“Please inform yourself re what's
happening in Gaza. People are being MASSACRED and EXTERMINATED. Yes those words
should ring for us Jewish people. Gazans live in an "open air
prison," there is no hope for young people, 75% unemployment, no
prospects, a few hours of electricity per day, and closed borders - they can't
get out. The soil and water are poisoned b/c there is no good sewage system.
The events away from the fence were festival-like, families with food and kids
dancing. Of course there were some rock-throwers; they pose no imminent danger
to Israeli soldiers - not a one has even been injured! These were snipers
aiming slowly at people not even that close to the fence, and drones going way
beyond the fence dropping tear gas and suffocating 8 month old children.
“The shootings at the fence are being
done on Netanyahu's orders, who of course is Trump's best friend. (If you hate
Trump, please think about that if you continue to defend Israel's actions.)
Today, Democracy Now has a very strong piece on what's going on, if you want
more detailed info.”
Below the post one could see the enthusiastic response: 9
shares, 4 hearts, 8 angry emojis, and 23 just plain thumbs ups. Appearing below that was
a LONG thread of sycophantic comments thanking Miller and blessing Jesus for cluing them
into “the truth.” Miller’s people alternatively damned Trump, and cursed Israel
and its democratically elected leader, PM Benjamin Netanyahu. The words “horrific”
and “inhumane” came up as did #FASCISM.
Now pretty much, I’ve given up on
debating random strangers on the internet. It’s just a waste of time and energy. In my experience people have lost the art of genuine debate, particularly
when it comes to politics.
Most people just don’t care enough to
bring facts and sources to the table. It’s too much work. Instead, it’s about
who can twist words into the twistiest pretzel or trip up a sparring partner with
tautologies and semantics. If all these things fail, we are told that feelings
matter more than facts. And there is, of course, the last refuge of any content-less debate: impugning the
sources of the other.
Since my friend had sent me that
post, however, I stopped to consider: was my friend asking me to get involved? To say
something? To shoot down these lies with facts and truth?
Like I said, I’ve given up debating
random strangers on the ‘net, but I’m nothing if not loyal to my friends. And if
my friend needed help, I was THERE.
So I took a deep breath and jumped in.
Note that Miller brought in a lot of s**t in her post. Throw enough
of it, some of it is bound to stick. That is how people like Miller serve to confuse
the picture for their followers. They know that their readers will take away
some of it: how much, it doesn’t really matter, as long as they take away
something really ugly (and share it with their friends).
For some, that takeaway would be: If
you hate Trump, hate Israel.
For others, the message received would
be: Israel exterminates and massacres innocent brown people.
It’s all good.
When forced to confront the pathology of
these liars, I try to keep things very basic. I work to pin them down with one
or two actual facts. Which of course, leaves them with nothing left but to
impugn my sources. Because that’s what they do.
What happened in this case was
interesting, because my source was unimpeachable: a prerequisite for this sort
of internet chatter. (Go pour yourself a tall cool one, and settle in to watch
the fun.)
But then I just had to get into her pathology, because really, it is egregious.
“Actually, not one thing you've written is true. Why would you lie like this
unless you really hate your own people? Are you not aware that Jews ceded this
territory to the Arabs, lock, stock, and barrel, expelling 11,000 Jews from
their homes in a unilateral gesture of peace? Are you not aware that these
people have their own democratically elected leadership? If they live in an
open-air prison and have no electricity, complain to the appropriate address:
Ismail Haniyeh, their democratically elected leader.”
As for “open
air prison” I thought to share a link showing the luxury malls and resorts of
Gaza. I searched around on Google for a while, and then I remembered a recent piece
Elder of Ziyon had done on new Gaza homes built with German money. That should work, I thought, and wrote, “Also, I wish I had as nice a home as one of
these: http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/.../new-gaza-houses...”
I waited to see if
Miller would respond. She did, and since my points were inarguable facts, she
naturally impugned my source. Because that’s what they do. (She was running
true to type.)
“i
guess we will have to agree to disagree since i believe not one thing you've
written is true. look at your sources - elder of ziyon? ‘For virulent
pro-Zionism (and plain straightforward lies of course) there is nothing much to
beat it,’” she quoted at me from the Mondoweiss commenter's comment on the right side of Elder's home page.
“Fran
Miller," I wrote. "All his blogs are sourced. Check the sources. All factual. If you prefer
not to believe the truth, it's because you prefer the lie. Why is that?
I
waited a bit. Miller didn’t respond. Because really, what could she say?
Elder had only cited Maan, the Palestinian news service. It was the same exact story;
the same photos of the same gorgeous homes the wonderful German people had built for the
Arabs of Gaza, only in English instead of Maan’s Arabic.
If Miller persisted in
impugning my source, Elder of Ziyon, she would be impugning the Palestinian
news service, Maan. And she couldn’t be seen to impugn the Palestinians, God
forbid.
So she
shut up.
Since I
had successfully shut up her stupid, ugly trap, I decided to deliver one more
broadside.
“So
peaceful,” I wrote, delivering the coup de grâce, this clip of Hamas Yahya Sinwar describing the true aim of "The March of Return," to tear out the hearts of the Jews.
To her credit, Fran
Miller didn’t block me nor resort to ad hominem insults.
I went back to my
friend. “Who is Fran Miller? Is she important?” I asked.
“She is with the JVP
(Jewish Voice for Peace), a virulent antisemite,” said my friend. “What she
does is bordering on criminality; she spreads Nazi-like propaganda while
claiming to be Jewish. I have no idea if she is important, but people seem to
be inspired by her and share her posts.
"I have a friend in New York who has
been manipulated by her," said my friend. "That really upset me."
I could only hope her friend had read the exchange between me and Miller.
Such debates are a dime a dozen
really. I shared it here only because clearly it was one for our side: Fran
Miller got trounced by the truth. And when that happens, it’s always a
win.
Especially when the sycophants are watching.
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Friday, May 25, 2018
Elder of Ziyon
