Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, November 08, 2018

11/08 Links Pt1: Dutch MPs call to cut PA funding, following terror survivor’s testimony; The U.S. Must Punish Iran for Its Human-Rights Violations

From Ian:

PMW: Dutch MPs call to cut PA funding, following PMW and terror survivor’s lectures

Palestinian Media Watch director Itamar Marcus spoke to members of Dutch Parliament yesterday documenting the many ways in which the Palestinian Authority in itself is the fundamental impediment to peace. Marcus documented PA’s vicious Antisemitism, its indoctrination of children to hatred and terror, as well as the PA's continued monthly payments to terrorist prisoners and families of killed terrorists.

Members of Dutch Parliament expressed their condemnation of these PA activities and discussed steps that should be taken to stop the funding by their own government.

MP Kees van der Staaij: “I think it’s also important to have now further steps [by the Netherlands] and to stop each payment to Palestinians as long as there is no real progress.”
[Parliament of The Netherlands, Nov. 7, 2018]

The MPs were also addressed by Kay Wilson, a British-born Israeli tour guide who survived a brutal terror attack in 2010. Kay was bound, gagged, and stabbed 13 times with a machete and left for dead, while her Christian friend, Kristine Luken, was murdered.

Kay Wilson: “I watched in horror as a Palestinian terrorist butchered my Christian friend to death right in front of me only because he thought she was a Jew. A second Palestinian terrorist stabbed me 13 times with his machete, snapping my ribs and shattered more than thirty bones. The PA’s rewarding of those two killers and all the other thousands of terrorists in prison is both morally abhorrent and incomprehensible.”
[Parliament of The Netherlands, Nov. 7, 2018]

MEMRI: Contrasting Reactions In Arab World To Gulf States' Harbingers Of Normalization With Israel

Three events in three Arab Gulf states in the past week have reflected these countries' process of normalization with Israel. On October 26, 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Oman, accompanied by the head of the Mossad; the visit was extensively covered by Omani media. Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi declared on several occasions that Israel is a Middle Eastern country that must be accepted as such.

On October 25, Israeli Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev arrived in Abu Dhabi to join the Israeli judo team participating in the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam; while Israelis had previously participated in this competition, it was the first time their national symbols were allowed to be displayed. The Israeli anthem was even played twice when Israeli judokas won two gold medals. During Minister Regev's stay in the country, she visited the Sheikh Zayed mosque, named for the founder of the UAE.

The previous week, an Israeli gymnastics team had competed in the 48th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Doha, Qatar, under the Israeli national flag.

Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit to Oman took place a few days after a similar visit by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud 'Abbas. Omani Foreign Minister bin Alawi stated that 'Netanyahu's visit was aimed at presenting the Israelis with ideas to help renew the political process with the Palestinians, but stressed that his country had no intention of serving as a mediator, since that role was reserved for the U.S. Following Netanyahu's Oman visit, the Omanis sent several messages to 'Abbas about it. On October 28, Omani Sultan Qaboos' envoy Salim bin Habib Al-'Omeiri arrived in Ramallah with a letter for 'Abbas, and three days later, on October 31, 'Abbas met with the Omani foreign minister, who conveyed to him a "direct message" from the sultan. The London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported that Oman wanted to play an important role in settling both the Palestinian-U.S. and the Palestinian-Israeli disputes.[1]

Additionally, it has been assessed that Netanyahu's visit also concerned the issue of Iran. The Omani daily Oman reported that Netanyahu and Sultan Qaboos discussed kickstarting the peace process and also "several issues of shared interest that serve security and stability in the region,"[2] perhaps hinting at discussions on that subject.

MEMRI: Kuwaiti Journalist Calls On Arabs To Change Their Attitude Towards Minorities

n a column titled "The Christian Here and the Muslim Over There" in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas, liberal journalist Ahmad Al-Sarraf called for greater tolerance towards religious minorities in the Arab world. He recommended to learn from countries like Senegal and Ethiopia, in which members of religious minorities served as heads of state, and from Europe and America, where Muslims serve in prominent positions.

The following are translated excerpts from his article:[1]

"The following text is attributed to the late Sudanese MP Muhammad Ibrahim [Nugud]: 'If a Muslim governs me, this will not guarantee me a place in Paradise; if an infidel governs me, he will not keep me out of Paradise, and if I am governed by one who guarantees employment, freedom and self-respect for me and my children, I will stand up to show him my respect and appreciation.

"'The issue of [attaining] Paradise depends upon my faith and my actions. [So] stop fighting for power in the name of religion, believing that this will lead you to Paradise. The government's job is not to get people into Paradise, but to provide them with a Paradise here on earth, which may help them attain the heavenly Paradise.'

"Reading this text, I remembered the great African poet Leopold Senghor, who served as President of Senegal for 20 years, from October 1960, when [Senegal received its] independence [from France] until 1980, at which time he voluntarily stepped down in favor of his successor, President Abdou Diouf. Senghor is widely regarded as a world-renowned writer and one of the most important African thinkers of the 20th century. Although 94 percent of the Senegalese are Muslim and only 5 percent are Christian, they elected the Christian Leopold Senghor (b. 1906) to be their president, and reelected him several times before he stepped down of his own accord, and died in France in 2001.

One of the issues in Tuesday's midterm elections was the prominence of Democratic candidates who are anti-Israel, thus raising with it the question of Antisemitism. That latter issue was all the more prominent following the massacre of 11 Jews in Pittsburgh.

Perhaps with that in mind, Tablet Magazine concentrated on 8 candidates a week before the election in an article analyzing "eight candidates who have expressed blatantly anti-Semitic views, or who openly associate with anti-Semites." Tablet focuses on 4 Republicans and 4 Democrats and followed up with a second post, reviewing how the 8 candidates faired.

Here are the candidates that Tablet selected:

John Fitzgerald
Republican, California's 11th Congressional District

Fitzgerald made the list because he is a Holocaust Denier:

“Everything we've been told about the Holocaust is a lie,” John Fitzgerald told the Hitler-glorifying radio host Andrew Carrington Hitchcock. “My entire campaign, for the most part, is about exposing this lie.”

Arthur Jones
Republican, Illinois' 3rd Congressional District

Jones was put on the list for the same reason:

A frequent speaker at KKK and Aryan Nation events, Jones isn't as layered and intricate as the other candidates on this list: He's a neo-Nazi who openly celebrates Adolf Hitler, denies the Holocaust, and disapproves of Donald Trump because of the Jewish members of his family.

Rep. Danny K. Davis
Democrat, Illinois' 7th Congressional District

David is one of the 8 because he is a vocal supporter of Farrakhan

“I personally know [Louis Farrakhan], I've been to his home, done meetings, participated in events with him,” Democratic Rep. Danny Davis told The Daily Caller's Peter Hasson. “I don't regard Louis Farrakhan as an aberration or anything, I regard him as an outstanding human being who commands a following of individuals who are learned and articulate and he plays a big role in the lives of thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of people.”

...Under pressure from J Street and other progressive organizations, Davis condemned Farrakhan. But it was forced and disingenuous—not least of all because he has in fact been defending Farrakhan and his acolytes since he was an alderman in Chicago

Rep. Andre Carson
Democrat, Indiana's 7th Congressional District

Carson is another supporter of Farrakhan:

Carson is reported to have attended multiple meetings with Farrakhan and has met with the Nation of Islam hate-group leader while in Congress. He also joined New York Rep. Gregory Meeks and current deputy Democratic National Committee chair Rep. Keith Ellison, then a congressman from Minnesota, at a 2013 dinner hosted by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Farrakhan was also present at that dinner.

Carson also joined Ellison in visiting Farrakhan at his hotel room, Farrakhan said in December 2016, and he appears to look forward to continuing his visits.

Rep. Steve King
Republican, Iowa's 4th Congressional District

Tablet links King's racism to his support for the mayor of Toronto:

His bigotry knows no borders, as evidenced by his endorsement of a virulent anti-Semite named Faith Goldy for mayor of Toronto...
In an April interview, she recommended For My Legionaries, a book by a Romanian fascist that repeatedly assails the alleged “parasitism of the Jews” and calls to combat “the Jewish menace.”

Lena Epstein
Republican, Michigan's 11th Congressional District

Epstein's claim to the list lies not on what she said, but on what she did in addressing the massacre of Jews in Pittsburgh:

It was Lena Epstein who chose to invite a non-Jewish “messianic” rabbi to her campaign event outside Detroit on Monday to pray for the victims of Saturday's massacre in Pittsburgh. She has since doubled down on defending that decision.

Ilhan Omar
Democrat, Minnesota's 5th Congressional District

While referencing Omar's comments about Israel, Tablet focuses on her tweet from 2012:

As a Minnesota state representative, Ilhan Omar was a fierce and consistent critic of Israel as well as an enthusiastic advocate of restoring America's diplomatic ties with Iran. Neither of these positions is inherently anti-Semitic, and Omar enjoys the support of leading Democrats, including Sen. Chuck Schumer.

But in May, a conservative political writer from Minnesota resurfaced a noxious 2012 tweet of Omar's:

The language here is of vital importance since the idea that Jews, or Jewish entities, control the world via mystical, dark powers is a staple of anti-Semitic conspiracy thought, as illustrated by these bigoted cartoons from different anti-Jewish sources in the last century:

...But, again, narrowly political positions about how to address the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians—including Tlaib's—are not inherently anti-Semitic. But it is textbook anti-Semitism to attribute supernatural—and thus unseen, and consequently terrifying—powers to Jews or the Jewish state.

Leslie Cockburn
Democrat, Virginia's 5th Congressional District

Cockburn is on the list because of her husband, an anti-Israel conspiracy theorist, whose book she co-authored:

Leslie Cockburn is the co-author, with her husband, the notorious Israel-hating British conspiracy theorist Andrew Cockburn, of Dangerous Liaison: The Inside Story of the U.S.-Israeli Covert Relationship.

The book accuses Jews of global power and influence, involved in everything evil that occurs in the world.

Bottom line we have:

2 Holocaust Deniers
2 Farrakhan Supporters
1 White Supremacist
1 Supporter of a Messianic Jew
1 Anti-Israel Muslim
1 Conspiracy Theorist

How do you think each of them did?

Keep in mind that the selection of 8 candidates is itself a small pool and Tablet does not claim their list is exhaustive. Clearly, they wanted to show fairness and selected an equal number of Republicans and Democrats.

Also, one can question who was included in -- and excluded from -- the list.

For example, while the Republican party withdrew its support from Steve King in October, his racism seems more obvious than his Antisemitism. It is odd they can only prove his Antisemitism from his association with Goldy, who forms the bulk of Tablet's proof of his Antisemitism, and not from his own consistent statements. But a racist is a racist.

Lena Epstein seems an odd choice among Holocaust Deniers and Farrakhan Supporters. The title of the Tablet article is "Citizens Must Know if Their Political Candidates Hold Hateful Views," and adding Epstein to the list seems a bit of a stretch.

Tablet does add Ilhan Omar, who belongs on the list based on her tweet. They are careful to make the point that not all anti-Israel criticism is automatically Antisemitism - and of course, they are right. But it is a fine line, all the more so when they refer to the controversial Rashida Tlaib as an example of someone who is anti-Israel but not Antisemitic. Many will argue on applying that distinction to Tlaib.

Let's get to the election results.

Trying to tie how each did in the election with their Antisemitism obviously requires a good deal of generalizing. We are not taking into account important factors such as their party, the state they campaigned in and obviously who their opponent was.

But maybe we can still tease out some patterns.

Name	Party	Form of Antisemitism	Won/Lost
John Fitzgerald	Republican	Holocaust Denier	Lost
Arthur Jones	Republican	Holocaust Denier	Lost
Danny K. Davis	Democrat	Farrakhan Supporter	Won
Andre Carson	Democrat	Farrakhan Supporter	Won
Steve King	Republican	White Supremacist	Won
Lena Epstein	Republican	Gave Platform to Messianic Jew	Lost
Ilhan Omar	Democrat	Anti-Israel Muslim	Won
Leslie Cockburn	Democrat	Conspiracy Theorist	Lost

Some conclusions we can draw:

o Holocaust Denial is still not fashionable.

o Farrakhan is still made of Teflon, and no matter how vicious his Antisemitic statements get, both he and those who praise and associate with him are immune from the consequences.

o Being a White Supremacist may rankle, but apparently, if racist statements are not constant enough to make a negative impression, and they are made in the context of policy and politics - it is possible to get away with it.

o I doubt that Epstein's misstep was responsible for her loss - it was perceived more as a careless mistake and not as an actual attack or statement. Besides, people were more eager to blame Pence.

o An Arab making anti-Israel statements gets a certain degree of Proteksia. People will bend over backward defending her right to attack Israel.

o Finally, a conspiracy theorist is still a conspiracy theorist. It may not have hurt her that much in the election, but it did not help.

One thing seems clear.

We can see what kind of politics are not trending.
But we can also see what politicians can get away with.

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.

There are more photos of new member of Congress Rashida Tlaib with a Palestinian flag than with an American flag

Here is every photo I could find of Rashida Tlaib, newly elected member of Congress for Michigan’s 13th Congressional District, with any flag:

Screenshot of video of her victory celebration, wearing a Palestinian flag

I could not find a single depiction of an American flag on her campaign page for Congress.

Antisemites routinely accuse Jews of dual loyalty, no matter how much they show their love for the United States.

It will be interesting to see if the same people make similar accusations against Rashida Tlaib.

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.

J-Street U at University of Vermont posted this on their Facebook page this week:

J Street U UVM opposes the University's decision to allow Catamounts Supporting Israel to fly the Israeli flag on the Davis Center flagpole to try to honor the victims of the shooting in Squirrel Hill and support the Jewish community.
As a group of Jewish students who are critical of some of Israel's right-wing government's policies, especially its policies of Occupation and siege towards Palestinians in the West Bank and in Gaza, we know that Israel and its flag are not synonymous with Judaism or the symbol of all Jewish people. We further see how this action harms students affected by the structural forms of oppression that Israel's actions bolster and we view this politicization of a tragedy as disrespectful and divisive both in the Jewish community and in the wider campus community. As such, we support this petition's call for the flags removal and urge our supporters to sign it and share it widely, for more information on the reasoning behind this position please see the text of the petition itself.

The petition itself is, as one might expect, filled with lies about how Israel engages in "ethnic cleansing," is homophobic, transphobic and a uniquely disgusting violator of all human rights of past, present and future. It appears to have been written by Students for Justice in Palestine.

So this purportedly "pro-Israel" organization showed that it was not merely against Israeli government policies, as it claims, but against the very flag of Israel. And it opposed a pro-Israel student group to fly the Israeli flag.

That is pretty much the definition of anti-Israel.

After complaints, J-Street U removed this post, and them posted this non-apology apology:

Yesterday, J Street UVM shared a post expressing concerns and frustrations with the some of the ways in which UVM has responded to the horrific terror attack in Pittsburgh. That post shared a petition, which was not created by our chapter, that opposed our university’s decision to respond to the Pittsburgh attack by allowing a campus group to fly the Israeli flag from a campus building. We regret that the wording, tone and arguments of the post were hurried, were not fully considered, and did not adequately or fully reflect our views and values as pro-Israel, pro-peace, anti-occupation activists who work towards a secure, just and peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians and for vulnerable minorities here in the US, including our own Jewish community. We have therefore removed the post.

We know that the appalling attack in Pittsburgh and the question of how best to confront white nationalist xenophobia and anti-Semitism are deeply sensitive, emotional and complex questions, for us and for many others. Moving forward, we will continue to seek to engage in discussion and productive activism on these subjects with our fellow members of the UVM community.

This "apology" does not in any way say that J-Street U does not oppose the flying of an Israeli flag. It does not say that it was inaccurate in describing the flying of the flag as "harm[ing] students affected by the structural forms of oppression that Israel's actions bolster." It does not say that flying an Israeli flag is not "disrespectful and divisive both in the Jewish community and in the wider campus community."

It just said that the wording was not quite as sensitive as it could have been, but it does not rescind a word of it. It many not have "fully" reflected J-Street U's position - but it partially did.

Without them saying otherwise, J-Street U still opposes anyone on campus even seeing the Israeli flag.

J-Street U is a hate group. It hates Israel, it hates all symbols associated with Israel, it hates the idea that Israel is a Jewish state. It claims to be "pro-Israel" in order to attract Jewish students whose minds it can then poison with rhetoric and lies that are identical with Palestinian propaganda.

(h/t Lenny)

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.

11/07 Links Pt2: The Democrats’ dismal failure to stamp out anti-Semitism; Haters Fall For Obviously Fake “IDF Testimony” Video; Alyssa Milano Refuses to Speak at Next Women’s March, Cites Anti-Semitism

From Ian:

The Democrats’ dismal failure to stamp out anti-Semitism

A common theme here is hostility towards Israel or Jews. This isn’t all that new on the American left. Louis Farrakhan (who refers to Jews as ‘termites’) and Congressman Hank Johnson (who compares Israeli settlements to the same) are both embraced by the Democrat mainstream. As is Al Sharpton. After an African-American boy was killed in a 1991 car accident by a Jewish man in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights, Sharpton was arguably one of the foremost inflamers of the situation, announcing at one point: ‘If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house.’ In the riots that followed, student Yankel Rosenbaum was stabbed to death.

Until now, anti-Israel bigotry was shunned by the Democrat Party establishment, even as it indulged some of the bigots themselves. This is changing, and changing fast. Following in the footsteps of the Labour party, the Democrats are becoming less welcoming for mainstream Jews, whom the new radicals see as symbols of ‘white privilege’, and for Zionism, which the leftists see as a racist, colonialist and imperialist enterprise to rival America itself. At least British Jews have the relatively benign Tory Party to turn to. The alternative in the United States is the Trumpified GOP. Republican John Fitzgerald, who is contesting the California 11th district, is an unabashed Holocaust-denier who rails against ‘Jewish supremacism’. While Steve King, hoping to retain the Iowa 4th for the GOP, recently endorsed white nationalist Faith Goldy for Toronto mayor.

Whichever party holds the balance in the House and Senate after tonight, the United States is becoming, like Europe, fertile ground for anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.

Poll: 40 Percent of British Jews Considering Leaving UK Over Antisemitism

A new survey has found that British Jews are growing ‎increasingly concerned over antisemitism in the ‎country. ‎

According to data presented by Gideon Falter, ‎chairman of the Campaign against Anti-Semitism NGO, ‎‎90 percent of British Jews believe the Labour Party is ‎antisemitic and 40 percent are considering leaving the UK ‎over the rise in antisemitism.‎

Falter presented the data Tuesday at a European Jewish ‎Association conference in Brussels, during a session ‎on the challenges facing British Jews. ‎

The British police on Friday launched an official ‎investigation into alleged antisemitic hate crimes ‎in Labour, whose leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has faced ‎growing criticism about his tolerance of racism and ‎antisemitism in the party. ‎

The conference is expected to dedicate Wednesday’s ‎session to a proposal by EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem ‎Margolin detailing Jewish communities’ “red lines” ‎with respect to various agenda items Jewish ‎candidates wish to ‎promote as part of their ‎political activities in Europe.‎

This includes, among other things, ensuring freedom ‎of religion and worship across Europe, fully ‎adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance ‎Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, a commitment ‎to exclude antisemitic parties from coalitions, and ‎calling on all political parties to designate the ‎boycott, divestment and sanctions movement as antisemitic. ‎

Alyssa Milano Refuses to Speak at Next Women’s March, Cites Anti-Semitism

Actress Alyssa Milano said in a recent interview that she does not intend to support the Women’s March so long as it defends "bigotry or anti-Semitism."

In an interview with The Advocate, a gay community magazine, Milano condemned Women’s March organizers Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory for supporting Louis Farrakhan. The Nation of Islam leader has routinely made misogynistic, homophobic, and anti-Semitic comments. "Any time that there is any bigotry or anti-Semitism in that respect, it needs to be called out and addressed. I’m disappointed in the leadership of the Women’s March that they haven’t done it adequately," Milano said.

Milano gained national attention through the #MeToo movement. Founded by Tarana Burke, the movement won household recognition after Milano encouraged followers on Twitter to reply "Me too" if they had been "sexually harassed or assaulted."

Milano, a Hollywood actress, has strong bona fides as an activist California Democrat.

A Saturday night vigil for Pittsburgh with Carlebach music? Nah, I thought. It’ll be maudlin kumbaya stuff. Not at all my kind of thing. And certainly not my kind of music.

But after the fifth ex-Pittsburgher in Israel forwarded me the same invitation from Dr. Robert (Reuven) Schwartz, I began to have a change of heart. I did need a way to process the event. I’d found myself a bit weepy from time to time as I read the various news items relating to the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.

I’d spot my next door neighbor in a photo, a pallbearer at the funeral of one of the Rosenthal brothers, and a tear would leak out. I’d see the name of the guy who is being inundated with orders from all over the world for deli trays for the shiva homes (London, Paris!), and I’d be like, “Oh my God. I KNOW that guy. And he’s in the Wall Street Journal.”

I was seeing photos of my innocent little neighborhood, which no one had heard of before, splashed all over the media. There were all the places I’d known so well: Pinskers, Beth Shalom, Murray Avenue Kosher, the library I’d frequented growing up. It was unending. It was everywhere. The effect was of cognitive dissonance.

I just couldn’t put the two together: Squirrel Hill/Bloodshed.

Maybe before, you didn’t know Squirrel Hill was Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. But I did. My childhood home was equidistant between Mr. Rogers’ house and the Tree of Life Synagogue, two blocks in either direction. And so I found myself caught somewhere hanging in between that innocence and that bloodshed all the way here in Israel.

Fred Rogers, late 60's.

I was not at all able to shake off the shock of it all, or the sadness.

Well, it’s the prerogative of a woman to change her mind, and so I let Reuven know I’d be there.

I had never met Reuven before, but I have to give the guy kudos, he put the vigil together quickly and he did a great job. The crowd at Pardes was overflowing. Reuven’s wife Amy opened the event by lighting 11 candles and reciting the names of the victims. Then we viewed the CNN clip of Anderson Cooper remembering the victims, one by one.

There’d be two speakers, then a couple of songs, then two more speakers, and so forth.

Dr. Robert (Reuven) Schwartz, Pittsburgh Vigil in Israel, Pardes, Yerushalayim (credit Esther (Bobbi) Wasserman Gordon)

Each speaker chose a different focus. One spoke of her childhood, others read essays from friends and family members of victims in Pittsburgh. Another gave a helpful update on the conditions of the wounded. But each returned to the same theme: how unbelievable it was that such a thing happened in “our” neighborhood. Even here in Israel, so far away, it was a terrible violation.

When it was my turn at the podium, I began by offering the crowd my Pittsburgh creds: “I’m a third-generation-born Pittsburgher. My maternal grandmother was born there. And I’m the niece of Myron Cope,” an excited murmur swept the crowd.

“Hence, the colors,” I continued, motioning to my outfit.

They laughed. I was in black and yellow, the colors of the Steelers, the colors of Pittsburgh.

I guess I should explain. Because at this point, you must be wondering. Who the heck is “Myron Cope?”

Myron Cope

Myron Cope was color commentator for the Steelers. His radio broadcasts of the games were so popular that Pittsburghers watched the games on television with the sound turned off, their radios tuned to “Mahrn,” with his excited Pittsburghese, rolled ‘l’s, and exclamations of “Double Yoi!” and “Hmm HAH!”

A young Myron Cope playing saxophone, front seated, right (family photo: Varda Epstein)

A young Myron Cope (family photo: Varda Epstein)

Myron Cope is the guy who invented the Terrible Towel and then donated the proceeds to a special needs school. Today lots of sports teams wave towels, but it all began with my uncle and the need to create a gimmick that would play well with Pittsburgh sports fans. And everyone in Pittsburgh is a sports fan.

He’s the most famous man in Pittsburgh, though he’s been gone a decade.

In Israel, meanwhile, no one has ever heard of the guy. And so the first thing I do when I meet a Pittsburgher, is name drop. And I’m telling you, they go NUTS.

It makes me so proud. And it gives me something nice to tell my mom in our phone conversations. It’s her little brother, she keeps a file of Myron memorabilia, all his clippings, and articles about him. She has a signed, framed Terrible Towel, hanging in the hallway.

And she misses him. We all do. So did the people in that room in Jerusalem on a Saturday night.

It was right that his name be spoken at that vigil. It fit. But I wasn’t there to talk about Myron. I was there to talk about Rose Mallinger, my neighbor. Here is what I said that evening:

Jewish continuity. That is what the evil monster saw that day when he walked into the sanctuary and aimed his gun. That was what he meant to destroy. He knew it when he saw it. Saw an elderly mother and grandmother, her daughter alongside her in shul and understood the power of that scenario. The refusal of our people to give up our heritage, no matter what they do to us, in every generation.

Rose Mallinger, 97, was my neighbor. She lived on Ferree, just up the street from my childhood home on Asbury, all the years of my childhood. When I picture her, I see a be-aproned woman in middle age, spry and quick, a woman with presence, a mom. I can hear her the particular quality of her voice, a little throaty, on summer nights, calling her kids in from the street, where we all played stickball or waited in line for ice balls.

When I heard the dreadful news, and it was still in the stage where we didn’t yet know the names or many of the details, three horrible thoughts percolated through my mind. First, that it happened in Squirrel Hill, a place that had always been a warm and safe Jewish haven. Second, the thankfully unfounded fear that a newborn infant might be among the victims. Finally, the idea that a senior had been brutally murdered, someone well up into her 90s, a woman.

There’s a horror connected to that fact that stings us particularly hard: the idea that someone could pick up a gun and target and shoot an elderly woman who never harmed a flea. Rose was murdered for one reason only: because she was a Jew in shul.

To her family, she meant everything. To her murderer, her life meant nothing. But her presence there signified Jewish continuity: a woman who strove to go to shul on Shabbos, even at 97. Her daughter there beside her, was proof that her offspring would continue in her heritage, continue in her faith.

And that could not be countenanced.

I knew most of this a week ago tonight. What I did not know was that the senior would turn out to be Rose Mallinger, my neighbor. A good woman who was part of the fabric of my childhood, my neighborhood of once upon a time. Part of what made Squirrel Hill so Jewish, made me so Jewish and want to come live in Israel.

We can only imagine how difficult it would be for a woman of 97 to get around, let alone go to shul. Yet Rose Mallinger used whatever strength was left in her elderly bones to go and spend time with her Creator in the Beit Knesset every single week. And when the murderer saw her sitting there with her daughter Andrea beside her, he knew he was seeing Jewish continuity, something he could not abide.

I always knew that the people of Squirrel Hill were special. But the way Rose Mallinger was stolen from us, a 97-year-old woman who took pains to pray in the synagogue on Shabbat, alongside her family, proves that she, at least, was extraordinary. A soul now purified by fire.

Just as Rose Mallinger pulled herself up at 97 to go to shul, “rose” to the challenges of being elderly with all its aches and pains, so I pray that we as a people, will follow her example and remember to rise up to challenges, both big and small. Rose Mallinger rose to the ultimate challenge, because of the smaller challenges she embraced all her life, the everyday challenges of living life as a Jew, even at the age of 97.

May her memory be a blessing for all Klal Yisrael.

Women took my hands as I left the podium, thanking me as I made my way to my seat. After the event, a woman came up to me with tears in her eyes, thanking me for my words, then she blurted out, “I’m not even from Pittsburgh. I’m from Oregon!”

“We are all one people,” I said. I held out my arms and we hugged each other tight, rocking there for a minute.

I am somewhere in this sea of Pittsburghers. Pittsburgh Vigil in Israel, Pardes, Yerushalayim (credit Esther (Bobbi) Wasserman Gordon)

I’d been gone from Pittsburgh a long time. I only knew a handful of the people in the room. But there was an immediate connection with the others. A lot of the women asked for copies of my speech, so I pulled out some business cards so they could be in touch. Reuven told us to let him know if we want to add our email addresses to a Pittsburgh contact list to be in touch with the victims’ families and with each other. I opted in and have enjoyed the items shared so far very much.

The evening was, in fact, cathartic. It made me feel better being with other Pittsburghers and having a way to talk about how we felt in the wake of the tragedy. It was ours and yet not ours, so far away.

But then, I always tell people: you can take the girl out of Pittsburgh, but you can’t take Pittsburgh out of the girl.

Painting by Rose Lauer

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Report: Furbies, Bell-Bottoms Now More Relevant Than Palestinians (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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Vienna, November 7 - A new assessment of emerging global trends has found that the Palestinian national cause now ranks as less pertinent and important than fads that faded years ago, in some cases decades ago, scientists report.

Researchers at the Academy of Sciences have determined that the once-universal Arab quest to destroy the Jewish State under the pretext of defending Palestinians from Jewish aggression issued their annual assessment of how important given issues are to international stability, both objectively and in popular conception. This year's numbers indicate a continuing shift, they wrote, of the Palestinians' standing in comparison to various ideas or objects whose time came and went long ago. According to their study, Palestinian relevance now ranks as less relevant than forgettable 1980's sitcoms, but on par with such notions as trousers that spread as they approach the hem and stuffed animal toys that resemble a magwai from Gremlins, but without the charm.

The researchers noted that the shift in Palestinian relevance continues a pattern that began in the 1970's but proceeded at a comparative snail's pace until the first decade of the twenty-first century, when larger swaths of humanity realized the Palestinian cause constituted more of a distraction than an actual core issue of concern to the Middle East and the world. Whereas in 1973 Palestinian ambitions and demands ranked alongside disco music in the top issues plaguing human civilization, in 2018 Palestinian ambitions and demands rank alongside disco music in the issues plaguing human civilization.

Lead researcher Dr. Pearl Clutching explained that the trend reflects a "correction" of a distorted picture that resulted from misplaced political and media focus. "Some of it can also be attributed to fatigue," she acknowledged, "but primarily, we keep finding that entire societies are simply waking up to the reality that no one really gives a damn about Palestinians as such, and all the attention they have received to date was simply a function of their being a convenient to bash Israel, to distract from other issues, or some combination of the two. Already in 2001, Rainbow Brite and Pet Rocks were viewed as more pertinent to world affairs."

"The gradual correction we're seeing will probably continue for some time," she predicted. "Progress hasn't been consistent, but with the trend of Palestinian relevance maintaining its general course, in the next five years we will probably see it surpassed in relevance by the short-lived Body Buddies breakfast cereal from General Mills and the film career of O. J. Simpson."

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11/07 Links Pt1: Both Republican and Democratic Jewish groups hail election results as a win; On ‘Pay for Slay’ the UN and Abbas are misleading the world

From Ian:

Here are the results in Tuesday’s races that matter most to Jews

Democrats took control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections held Tuesday, with Jewish Congress members poised to take key leadership roles. Republicans looked to increase their majority in the Senate.

Five Jewish Democrats are set to chair key House committees, including three representatives from New York: Jerrold Nadler, the Judiciary Committee; Eliot Engel, Foreign Affairs; and Nita Lowey, Appropriations. Adam Schiff of California will head the Intelligence Committee and John Yarmuth of Kentucky will lead the Budget Committee.

Democrat Jared Polis will be the first Jewish and first gay governor of Colorado, and J.B. Pritzker, a Jewish Democrat, will be the next governor of Illinois. And two Jewish military veterans won upset Democratic victories in House races: Max Rose in New York and Elaine Luria in Virginia.

In the Senate, U.S. Rep. Jacky Rosen, a Democrat and a former synagogue president, defeated the incumbent Republican, Dean Heller.

Here are more results in races of significance to Jewish voters:

House of Representatives
In Michigan, Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American, handily won her race in District 13. Tlaib favors a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has opposed U.S. aid to Israel. She will also be one of the first Muslim women in Congress, along with Ilhan Omar, who won in Minnesota.

Both Republican and Democratic Jewish groups hail election results as a win

The Republican Jewish Coalition praised the Republicans for expanding their majority in the Senate, while the Jewish Democratic Council of America congratulated their party on regaining control of the House of Representatives.

The RJC’s executive director Matt Brooks regarded the Republican victories in Tuesday’s midterm elections as a sign of “the strong approval of the American people for the Republican policies that have substantially improved our economy, our national security, and our standing abroad.”

While Democratic control of the House will pump the brakes on President Donald Trump’s agenda and will shift the terrain in Washington, Republicans were relieved that a so-called “blue wave” of Democratic victories appeared to fall short, especially in at least three key Senate races — in Indiana, North Dakota and Texas.

“Historically, the party holding the White House loses seats in Congress during the midterm election,” said Brooks. “This year Republicans did well in a tough environment and increased their share in the Senate. And while we lost seats in the House, it should be noted that Democrats gained far fewer seats in the House this year compared to Republicans in recent history. Republicans gained 63 House seats in the 2010 midterms during President Obama’s first term and 52 in the 1994 midterms during President Clinton’s first term.”

Tablet: Voter Education: Eight candidates who have expressed blatantly anti-Semitic views, or who openly associate with anti-Semites
Results for the eight candidates:
John Fitzgerald R Cal 11th LOST
Arthur Jones R Illinois 3rd LOST
Danny K. Davis D Illinois 7th WON
Andre Carson D Indiana 7th WON
Steve King R Iowa’s 4th WON
Lena Epstein R Michigan 11th LOST
Ilhan Omar D Minnesota 5th WON
Leslie Cockburn D Virginia 5th LOST

Others of interest:
Rashida Tlaib D Michigan 13th WON
Ammar Campa-Najjar D California 50th LOST
Stacey Abrams D Georgia Gov LOST
Dana Rohrabacher R California 48th LOST
Kyrsten Sinema D Arizona Senate D UNDECIDED
Andrew Gillum D Florida Gov LOST
Keith Ellison D Michigan AG WON
Scott Wallace D Pennsylvania 1st LOST

An article in Egyptian news site DMC News mentions as an aside that "Arabs are bored and tired of the Palestinian cause."

The Palestinians can no longer count on the Arab world to wholeheartedly support them. They complain about the supposed pro-Israel bias of the US and even the UN. All they have left are biased human rights NGOs and the EU.

And the latest HRW report about human rights abuses by the PA cannot make them feel more secure.

It is no wonder that Palestinians, who are perhaps the least self-aware people on Earth, believe that they are doing nothing wrong and there is no reason for them to change their positions in response to the entire world turning against them. Instead, they continue to threaten those who upset them, pretending that they still have leverage of the oil weapon of the 1970s.

PLO executive member Hanan Ashrawi met with a European delegation yesterday and seemed almost desperate as she repeated her normal talking points.

"We appeal to the European countries to play an urgent and decisive political role by taking concrete and serious measures according to a binding timetable to force Israel to abide by international law and stop its violations and crimes and to ensure the end of the military occupation and the urgent protection of the Palestinian people," she said. In addition she urged European countries to recognize the "state of Palestine."

Ashrawi also invoked the suffering in Gaza, which is not a smart move because even the Europeans are recognizing that the PA is the party primarily responsible for the problems in Gaza over the past couple of years.

As with the Arabs, the Europeans are not going to support a kleptocracy and dictatorship like Abbas' forever, when the Palestinians have been vocally proud of their refusal to budge from their positions since 1988.

The world sometimes throws the Palestinians a symbolic bone, like allowing them to become members of some international organization. These moves inevitably backfire and cause the Palestinian leadership to become even more intransigent and convinced that the world is still on their side.

The crash is coming. Maybe before Abbas dies, maybe afterwards when his successor is even worse. But the Palestinian leadership is simply too obtuse to see the writing on the wall.

(See also this Hebrew Mida article about how Israel and Bulgaria are closer than ever. h/t Yoel)

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Last month, Israeli diplomats fumed as the head of B'Tselem, Hagai El-Ad, went in front of the UN Security Council to demonize the State of Israel.

El-Ad described Gaza as an "open air prison" and hurled other accusations against Israel.

“You’re a wretched collaborator,” Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon responded, as well as “You are a citizen of the State of Israel who is serving our enemies. They are using you against us. IDF soldiers guard you, and you came here to defame them. Shame on you.”

Now, El-Ad and B'Tselem are whining that they took such risks for their Palestinian friends, and they didn't get anything in return.

B'Tselem spokesperson Karim Gibran bitterly criticized Palestinian media for not highlighting the Israeli anger at El-Ad. In a radio interview for an Arab station, Gibran asked, "Why is this an ignored subject? Shouldn't we get support from the Palestinian media when we are attacked so fiercely from the right?"

Gibran said he is ashamed of the topic being disregarded in Palestinian media. Bizarrely, Gibran said "I don't know what I will tell Hagai when he asks about it."

B'Tselem's complaints included no coverage from Palestine TV and no official statements from the PA on El-Ad's speech.

The complaints imply that B'Tselem knows that Palestinian media is controlled by the PA and is not truly free. But why should a human rights organization care about that?

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Here is a tweet from Israel's Minister of Transportation Yisrael Katz showing his reception in Oman with a traditional Arab sword dance.

כך התקבלתי כשר ישראלי בקבלת פנים חמה ופומבית ״במחול החרבות״ בעומאן, חזון אחרית הימים וביטוי לחיזוק מעמדה של ישראל באזור. מחר אציג את תוכנית ״מסילות לשלום״ בפני שרי האזור. pic.twitter.com/MdkoBTaEaC
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) November 6, 2018

I don't get the impression that the dance is meant to be an insult or a threat.

Katz is expected to present a plan for a railway that would link the port in Haifa to existing railways in the Gulf.

The astounding thing about both this and the videos of Sports and Culture Minister Miri Regev also in Oman touring the Sheikh Zayed Mosque is that Israeli officials are being treated with more respect and less fear of public backlash in Oman than in the states that Israel has official peace agreements with, Egypt and Jordan.

It is widely expected that the next Arab country that Israeli PM Netanyahu will visit is Bahrain.

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11/06 Links Pt2: The Future of the Pittsburgh Synagogue Massacre; On Bari Weiss, Franklin Foer and the Values that Sustain Our People; 4,000 college students from 60 nations sing as one in TLV

From Ian:

The Future of the Pittsburgh Synagogue Massacre

In America, Jews have always been able to fight back against anti-Semitism freely. Never having received their emancipation as an “award” (which was the case in Europe), Jews have had no fears of losing it. Instead, from the beginning, they made full use of their freedom, especially freedom of speech. As early as 1784, a “Jew Broker,” probably the famed Revolutionary-era Jewish bond dealer, Haym Salomon, responded publicly and forcefully to the anti-Semitic charges of a prominent Quaker lawyer, not hesitating to remind him that his “own religious sectary” could also form ”very proper subjects of criticism and animadversion.” A few years later, Christian missionaries and their supporters faced Jewish polemics no less strident in tone. Where European Jews often prided themselves on their ”forbearance” in the face of attack, Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, the great Reform Jewish leader, once boasted that he was a “malicious, biting, pugnacious, challenging, and mocking monster of the pen.” In more recent times, Jewish defense organizations have taken on anyone who maligned Jews, including national heroes like Henry Ford and General George S. Patton, as well as presidents of the United States.

American anti-Semitism has always had to compete with other forms of animus. Racism, nativism, anti-Quakerism, Anglophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Catholicism, anti-Masonry, anti-Mormonism, anti-Orientalism, , anti-Teutonism—these and other waves of hatred have periodically swept over the American landscape, scarring and battering citizens. Americans have long been extraordinarily pluralistic in their hatreds. Precisely because the objects of hatred have been so varied, hatred has generally been diffused. No one outgroup experiences the full brunt of national odium. Furthermore, most Americans retain bitter memories of days past when they or their ancestors were themselves the objects of malevolence. The American strain of anti-Semitism is thus less potent than its European counterpart, and it faces a larger number of natural competitors. To reach epidemic proportions, it must first crowd out a vast number of contending hatreds.

Anti-Semitism is more foreign to American ideals than to European ones. The central documents of the Republic assure Jews of liberty; its first president, in his famous letter to the Jews of Newport, conferred upon them his blessing. The fact that anti-Semitism can properly be branded “un-American,” although no protection in the formal sense—the nation has betrayed its ideals innumerable times including in our own day—still grants Jews a measure of protection. Elsewhere anti-Semites could always claim legitimacy stemming from times past when the Volk ruled and Jews knew their place. Americans could point to nothing even remotely similar to that in their own past.

America’s religious tradition—what has been called “the great tradition of the American churches”—is inhospitable to anti-Semitism. Religious freedom and diversity, church-state separation, denominationalism, and voluntarism, the key components of this tradition, militate against the kinds of us-them dichotomies (“Germans and Jews,” “Poles and Jews,” etc.) so common in Europe. In America, where religious pluralism rules supreme, there has never been a single national church from which Jews stand apart. People speak instead of American Protestants, American Catholics, American Jews, American Muslims, and American Buddhists—implying, at least as an ideal, that all faiths stand equal in the eyes of the law.

American politics resists anti-Semitism. In a two-party system where close elections are the rule, neither party can long afford to alienate any major bloc of voters—another reason why it is so critical that everyone take the time and trouble to actually vote. For the most part, the politics of hatred have been confined to nonvoters like African Americans, until they won the vote, or to nonvoting immigrants, or to noisy third parties like the anti-Catholic Know Nothings in the 19th century, or to single-issue fringe groups. America’s most successful politicians, now and in the past, have more commonly sought support from respectable elements across the political spectrum. Appeals to national unity, even in the era of Donald Trump, win more elections than appeals to narrow provincialism or to bigotry.

Of course, the fact that America has been “exceptional” in relation to Jews should not obscure the sad reality that there has always been anti-Semitism in America, as well as violence directed against other minority faiths. That history, as I read it, gives cause neither for undue celebration nor for undue alarm.

Alan Dershowitz on Trump, Israel, and Antisemitism

I recently spoke with Alan Dershowitz at the ZOA Gala at the Marriott Marquis in Manhattan, where he was set to make a prominent speech.

Below is an edited transcript of our conversation.

Hannah Grossman: Mr. Dershowitz, can you give us a little preview of what you will be talking about tonight?

Alan Dershowitz: I’m talking about how important it is to have dialogue among people who may not agree. Mort Klein and I don’t agree about a great many things. He’s way to the right of me, but we talk to each other. We dialogue with each other. And I’m here to promote dialogue between the right, the left, [and] the center — not only within the Jewish community, but the more general political community. It’s a tragedy that we now shout at each other, demonize each other, [and] yell slogans instead of having reasoned discourse. We can learn from each other, and I think we ought to.

HG: Where do you think that changed, between the right and left, where the divide became so extreme that it seems that it is impossible to have some dialogue or commonality?

AD: Well, I think there a lot of contributing factors. I think the movement of the left to the hard left in the Democratic Party. I think the movement of the right to the hard right within the Republican Party. I don’t think President Trump has helped with his choice of language, and I don’t think that some of the Democrats have helped with their choice of language. I crave the old days when my friends Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch could sit together, and when Senator McCain could sit and work together with Joe Biden. Those days seem long gone, and I want to do everything in my power to bring them back.

HG: Bret Stephens said today at a panel that Donald Trump’s rhetoric has an effect on the culture. Can you describe that; what you think that is?

AD: I think that’s right. Look, I think President Trump has a mixed record. I think he’s done some very good things. Moving the embassy to Jerusalem was a terrific thing. I think his tough negotiating stance toward Iran has been very good. I don’t approve of his policies toward immigration. I certainly don’t approve of separating families the way he did early on, but you know, I’ve never agreed with anything any president did 100 percent.

I disagreed with a great deal of what President Obama did and if Hillary Clinton had been elected, I’m sure I would’ve disagreed with a lot of what she would do. But you don’t demonize, and he’s still the president, and you respect the office of the president. I was appalled at the so-called leaders in Pittsburgh who refused to welcome the president. I think everybody should welcome the president when there’s a tragedy and allow him to serve in his role as a mourner or bereaver-in-chief.

Qanta Ahmed: The ECHR’s ruling on defaming Mohammed is bad news for Muslims

In a monumental irony, the ECHR’s agreement with an Austrian court that offensive comments about the Prophet Mohammed were ‘beyond the permissible limits of an objective debate’ has handed a big victory to both Islamists and Islamophobes – while infantilising believing Muslims everywhere.

The case concerns an unnamed Austrian woman who held a number of seminars during which she portrayed the Prophet as a paedophile. After she was convicted by an Austrian court of ‘disparaging religion’ (and fined nearly €500), she appealed to the ECHR claiming the punishment breached her right to free expression. The court disagreed.

As a practising Muslim, I find this notion – that the Prophet was a paedophile – to be as abhorrent and nasty as they come; not to mention completely false. Yet I could not disagree more with the ECHR’s ruling.

For a start, it implies there is somehow a balance to be struck between people’s freedom of expression and the right of Muslims not to be offended. I just don’t understand this: how can the views of another individual possibly affect my faith or beliefs? Her ignorance – or anyone else’s for that matter – does not equate to my persecution.

Pallywood in Middle East Monitor

From Middle East Monitor:

Israel settlers dump sewage on Palestinian school in Qalqiliya

Israeli settlers dumped their sewage on a Palestinian school in the northern occupied West Bank district of Qalqilia yesterday.

The Azzun Beit Amin School playground was flooded with sewage for the second time in two months as a result of the settlers’ actions.

Principal Alaa Marabeh said it would take more than ten days for the sewage water to dry and this has caused a foul smell to spread across the school building and risks damaging the students’ health.

The settlers live in the nearby illegal settlement of Sha’arei Tikva which is home to some 4,000 Jewish settlers.

They even have a picture of the flooded students!

Only one problem.

The photo is of Gaza and it is from 2013.

The sewage comes from Gaza, not Israel.

But when one needs a photo to back up the lies of Israel drowning Palestinians in sewage, one needs to be creative as to the sources of the photos.

(h/t Tomer Ilan)

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Sick "scholarly" paper of the day says that Israel must be destroyed - and academics must do their part

This academic journal article, in Settler Colonial Studies, was just published last week.

Here's the abstract in academic gobbledygook:

Seeing Israel through Palestine: knowledge production as anti-colonial praxis
Yara Hawari, Sharri Plonski & Elian Weizman
Published online: 31 Oct 2018
ABSTRACT
Knowledge production in, for and by settler colonial states hinges on both productive and repressive practices that work together to render their history and present ‘normal’ by controlling how, where, to and through whom they tell their story. This makes the production and dissemination of knowledge an important battleground for anti-colonial struggles. The State of Israel, in its ongoing search for patrons and partners, is focused on how to produce and appropriate ‘knowledge’, and the arenas in which it is developed and shared. In so doing, it works to reshape critique of its political, social and economic relations and redefine the moral parameters that inform its legitimacy and entrench its irrefutability. Inspired by existing literature on and examples of anti-colonial struggles, this paper challenges the modalities through which Israel produces and normalises the colonial narrative. By critiquing existing representations of the Israeli state – and the spaces and structures in which these take hold – our article contributes to the range of scholarship working to radically recalibrate knowledge of ‘Israel’ and ‘Palestine’. As part of this work, the article purposefully centres indigenous anti-colonial frameworks that reconnect intellectual analysis of settler colonial relations, with political engagements in the praxis of liberation and decolonisation.

The paper takes it as a given that Israel must be destroyed ("liberation and decolonisation") and wants to ensure that no one looks at it as anything other than an evil, artificial colonialist entry.

The paper starts off with a quote from Benjamin Netanyahu at the UN that it regards as the perfect example of how Israel is trying to fool the world into thinking that it is a liberal, normal state:

Ladies and gentlemen, we live in a world steeped in tyranny and terror where gays are hanged from cranes in Tehran, political prisoners are executed in Gaza, young girls are abducted en masse in Nigeria, and hundreds of thousands are butchered in Syria, Libya and Iraq, yet nearly half – nearly half of the UN Human Rights Council’s resolutions focusing on a single country have been directed against Israel, the one true democracy in the Middle East; Israel, where issues are openly debated in a boisterous parliament, where human rights are protected – by independent courts, and where women, gays and minorities live in a genuinely free society.

The paper doesn't even attempt to refute Netanyahu's words. In the circles that these academics travel, facts aren't important. It is so axiomatic that Israel is inherently, uniquely evil that Netanyahu's words do not evoke the desire to argue with it as much as the desire to show that they prove that Israel is so bad that its prime minister is forced to divert the world's attention from its evil.

As with "pinkwashing" - the absurd concept that is roundly rejected everywhere outside the anti-Israel and academic worlds - anything that Israel does that is consistent with liberal values is really immoral, they just have to figure out how.

The article is also concerned that the field of "Israel Studies" helps to make Israel sound like a normal state. The authors are very concerned that academia itself cannot be objective in describing how evil Israel's colonialism is:

Given our discussion above of counter-hegemony – and the fact that hegemony is a field of struggle – can we then consider all spaces as potential sites for contestation? What tools do we have to turn the study of Israel into a platform for transforming settler colonial relations, when we are working from within one of the key centres of colonial hegemony, the academic arena? Again, this involves challenging how we work, whose voices are centred, and the connection we make between scholarship and praxis, between understanding settler colonialism and resisting it.

The point of these academics isn't to understand Israel - but to resist it.

The strategy of fomenting Indigenous studies as a starting point for studying the Israeli state and society (as part of critical Palestine Studies), is also a political endeavour.

Throughout this article, we have been working towards a re-reading of Israeli state and society as part of critical Palestine studies; an epistemological starting point that would make visible and disrupt the hegemony increasingly held by Israel Studies in its reproduction of Israel as a ‘normal – if complex – modern state’, as posited in the quote that introduced this article. We have drawn on Indigenous studies and anti-colonial scholarship to make the point that the only way to do this, is to ensure that when we investigate the Israeli state and society, it is with the goal of its transformation. This is informed by a political commitment, requiring not simply that Israel is understood, but that scholars are in solidarity with its decolonisation.

If you are a scholar of Israel and not actively working to dismantle it, then you have no legitimacy in today's academic environment.

This paper freely admits that when the topic is Israel, academia is part of the "resistance" - meaning exactly what Hamas means when they use the term. There isn't even the pretext of objectivity or scholarship where Israel is concerned.

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