Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, November 22, 2018

11/22 Links Pt1: PA: We Cannot Accept Anything from Trump; Fatah leader to students: “Real men approach death with a smile”; Abbas ordered crackdown on Palestinians who sold property to Jews

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: We Cannot Accept Anything from Trump

Given that strong incitement against the Trump administration and its policies, as well as the continued boycott of White House officials, it is hard to see how Abbas or any other Palestinian would be able to accept anything that comes from the Americans.

This move is precisely parallel to the one they have taken with Israel. Abbas and his representatives in Ramallah have radicalized their people against the Israeli government to a point where meeting or doing business with any Israeli official is tantamount to treason. That is why Abbas does not and cannot return to the negotiating table with Israel and also why Abbas cannot change his position toward the Trump administration.

Rather than building state institutions and imposing reforms, democracy and accountability, the Palestinian Authority leadership is now focusing its energies on foiling the US peace plan. Apparently, this effort is more pressing than improving the living conditions of the Palestinians.

Wasel Abu Yousef, a senior Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official, summed up the current Palestinian strategy when he said this week that the Palestinians were moving on three levels to thwart Trump's upcoming plan: rallying worldwide support for the Palestinian position against the plan, uniting all Palestinians, and opposing attempts to normalize relations between the Arab countries and Israel.

Were Palestinian leaders to impose a small portion of these efforts to bringing democracy, freedom and accountability to their people, the Palestinians would be further from the brink of disaster. But the two Palestinian governments -- in the West Bank and Gaza Strip -- are far from interested in doing something so positive for their own people. On the one hand, these regimes are still engaged in a struggle to the death over money and power; on the other, they agree on sabotaging a peace plan they know nothing about. A peace plan just might include something positive for the Palestinians -- something else the Palestinian leaders know precious little about.

Caroline Glick: Even with Early Israeli Elections, the Left Will Lose

The left’s ideological radicalization became undeniable over the past summer. In July, the Knesset passed a new law called the Jewish Nation State Law. The law did nothing more than give quasi-constitutional weight to Israel’s national identity as the nation state of the Jewish people, and to its national symbols, including its national anthem and flag. It declared that Israel’s national language – Hebrew – is Israel’s national language. And so on and so forth.

Rather than shrug their shoulders and vote in favor of this uncontroversial piece of legislation, Israel’s political left had a collective apoplectic fit. They insisted that Israel’s national ethos and symbols were exclusionary and therefore passing the law was a racist act.

Their position was shocking because consistent survey data of the Israeli people have demonstrated that the public is nationalist, proud, and unapologetic. A mere eight percent of Israeli Jews identify as leftists. And yet, far-left and center-left parties spent several months competing to see who could condemn the law most vociferously and hysterically. In so doing, they effectively wrote the Likud’s political campaign in the next elections.

It isn’t clear that Netanyahu’s government will live out its days or whether Israel will go to early elections. Some commentators claim that the next elections will take place in late May, after Israel’s Independence Day.

But what the political dramas of the past several days made clear is that whenever Israel holds its next elections, their results will be unlikely to deliver a new government that is significantly different from the current one.

PMW: “Real men approach death with a smile” - Fatah leader tells students

In a speech at Al-Quds Open University, Fatah Central Committee member and Fatah Commissioner Abbas Zaki urged new students to seek death for Jerusalem. Zaki shouted to the young people:

"Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Cursed is anyone who doesn't sacrifice for Jerusalem!"

Zaki continued: "What did [Arafat] say? He said: 'Rise! The gates of Paradise have opened.' He who asks for death - life will be given to him. Those who die [naturally] are the cowards. But real men approach death with a smile. Do not be afraid - death is in the hands of Allah. Rush toward death and life will be given to you!" [Official Facebook page of Abbas Zaki, Nov. 19, 2018]

This is a prime example of how the PA and Fatah poison the minds of Palestinian children and youth, teaching them to aspire to die for Jerusalem, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and "Palestine." For two decades, Palestinian Media Watch has documented these messages from the Palestinian leadership to the Palestinian people. Zaki's inciting speech shows that encouraging the young generation to seek death for "Palestine" is not merely a historical artifact from the period of the PA terror campaign (the second Intifada, 2000-2005), but rather an integral part of the Palestinian narrative, culture, and society today - and worse yet: an integral part of PA policy.

In a speech at Al-Quds University, a Fatah official urged new students to seek death for Jerusalem. This is a prime example of how the PA and Fatah poison the minds of Palestinian youth, teaching them to aspire to die for Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa.
For more: https://t.co/C9oM4izbIG pic.twitter.com/nrFW5AgyjZ
— Pal Media Watch (@palwatch) November 22, 2018

James Zogby, the founder and president of the Arab American Institute, wrote an essay earlier this month that was translated and reproduced in Arabic news sites.

Called "Normalization Doesn't Advance Israeli/Palestinian Peace," the first sentence is all you need to read: "For as long as I can recall, Israelis have sought recognition and acceptance from the Arab World without reciprocity."

He brings some bizarre "proofs" - mainly that the US promised to pressure Israel about the settlements in 1992 in exchange for Arabs ending the secondary boycott of Israel, and Israel didn't stop building (even though there have been very few new settlements since 1992.) Israel never promised anything, and Zogby knows that.

His ending is as sweeping as his beginning, as he rails against Arab nations softening their stance on Israel:

Israelis have simply never operated in good faith vis-à-vis their dealings with the Arab World, and most especially with the Palestinians. They take and they do not reciprocate. That is why I say "Don't be fooled. Normalization doesn't advance peace and it most certainly doesn't advance Palestinian rights."

Well, let's see. Egypt's economy was helped a great deal by peace with Israel, and Israel has helped it against ISIS in the Sinai. Jordan effectively uses Israel to defend itself. They both gained lots from their official but cold peace with Israel, including intelligence cooperation.

But Israel offers much more to the Arab world in exchange for peace. Israel wants to help the Arab world with water management, with setting up economic zones of cooperation, with direct trade (and there is already lots of trade under the table), and not least with defending against Iran.

Moreover, peace with Israel can result in the Arab nations having a means to trade goods with Europe through the Mediterranean, as Israel is proposing with a rail line. That is not a small concession!

Zogby is lying, and he knows it.

As a major contributor to the Democratic Party platform, he has bitterly complained that he is typecast as the "anti-Israel guy." This essay alone proves that he absolutely is.

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This video appeared on my Twitter timeline:

¿Queréis saber cómo se fabrican las noticias sobre Israel? pic.twitter.com/uUU3c7zmox
— דוד יאבו 🇮🇱 (@DavidYabo) November 14, 2018

I'm not sure if the man's fall was planned or if he merely tripped as he moved backwards over a curb.

But whether the man fell on purpose or tripped, the story still made international headlines!

A different angle of this incident was uploaded to Facebook. The Arab who made the video claimed that the man heroically prevented the soldiers from shooting Palestinian children, and that he collapsed from inhaling tear gas.

Obviously that wasn't true, but two weeks later The Independent wrote a story about the incident based on this second video that is just as grossly inaccurate.

Video has emerged of an elderly Palestinian man confronting armed Israeli soldiers, telling them "you should be ashamed," before collapsing to the ground.

Amid clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian youths in Hebron, 65-year-old Ziyad Abu Haleel was filmed asking the soldiers, "How do you fire your weapons on kids?"

As one of the soldiers raises his gun, Mr Abu Haleel is warned that he will be arrested if he does not leave. The elderly man responds by refusing to move.

After yelling at the soldiers for a significant amount of time, Mr Abu Haleel can be seen clutching his chest and then falling to the ground.

The Independent is painting a picture of a man about to have a heart attack. In fact his left hand was on his chest while he was yelling for many seconds before he tripped; he didn't "clutch his chest."

Also, the Independent implies that the IDF aimed a gun at him, when it was a tear gas gun that was being shot towards rioters regularly during the incident as the soldiers mostly ignored Mr. Haleel.

This all occurred during the height of the "knife intifada." The Facebook videographer celebrated the murder of rabbis in a Jerusalem synagogue shortly after this incident.

The Independent did not care about the truth. A propaganda video was made, and the Independent constructed a narrative around it that has nothing to do with what actually happened.

Yet even the Independent notes that Mr. Haleel did not have a coronary, and that he was treated at the hospital for minor abrasions from his fall.

Not quite as egregious as this one, though:

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BDS now going after Puma. Why not Intel, Qualcomm, IBM, Microsoft, Apple?

I received an email from a BDS group celebrating the planned boycott of Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria by AirBnB, and signalling the next corporate target:

The holiday season is prime time to push BDS campaigns for Palestinian rights and help folks learn about the oppression Palestinians are facing.

For example: Puma, the athletic wear company, sponsors the Israel Football Association, which puts on soccer matches in those same West Bank settlements that Airbnb just pledged to pull out of. The call to boycott Puma is an opportunity to tell the story of how Israel’s building of these settlements denies Palestinian rights such as restricting their freedom movement, including that of Palestinian athletes.

Puma signed on to provide training apparel, footwear and other equipment for the Israel Football Association in July, replacing Adidas, which denied any political basis for not renewing its sponsorship.

BDS is very selective in its targets. While they claim that they boycott all Israeli products, somehow they never tell their members to boycott Intel (most of the microprocessors in desktop and laptop PCs are designed in Israel and many of them are manufactured there) or Qualcomm (a huge percentage of mobile phones use Qualcomm Snapdragon chips, which use innovations from Israel as well, and next year's 5G phones were likewise designed in Israel.)

They don't say anything about companies that they use everyday that have huge operations in Israel like Apple, IBM and Microsoft.

BDS always targets peripheral companies that they deem susceptible to pressure. Now we see that they directly cooperate with Human Rights Watch, whose report on Airbnb in Israel released this week is the first time I can recall a human rights organization issuing a major report on a single company.

The fact that no one is going after Intel or IBM shows the hypocrisy in BDS, whose members will happily use equipment designed and built in Israel.

One further irony: 88% of all Palestinian exports are to Israel; 63% of Palestinian imports come from Israel.

What would happen to the Palestinian economy if Palestinian Arabs decided to adhere to BDS rules - which BDS pretends was created by Palestinians?

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11/21 Links Pt2: ‘May God Avenge Their Blood’ How to remember the murdered in Pittsburgh; Saeb Erekat, Airbnb, and BDS; For Roger Waters, Antisemitism Is Part of the Show

From Ian:

‘May God Avenge Their Blood’ How to remember the murdered in Pittsburgh

In the Jewish tradition, it is commonplace to add the words zikhronam li-vrakhah (may their memory be for a blessing) after the names of the departed, but when speaking of those who have been murdered because they were Jews, a different phrase is used: Hashem yikom damam—may God avenge their blood. Meir Soloveichik explains:

The saying reflects the fact that when it comes to mass murderers, Jews do not believe that we must love the sinner while hating the sin; in the face of egregious evil, we will not say the words ascribed to Jesus on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” We believe that a man who shoots up a synagogue knows well what he does; that a murderer who sheds the blood of helpless elderly men and women knows exactly what he does; that one who brings death to those engaged in celebrating new life knows precisely what he does. To forgive in this context is to absolve; and it is, for Jews, morally unthinkable.

But the mantra for murdered Jews that is Hashem yikom damam bears a deeper message. It is a reminder to us to see the slaughter of eleven Jews in Pennsylvania not only as one terrible, tragic moment in time, but as part of the story of our people, who from the very beginning have had enemies that sought our destruction. There exists an eerie parallel between Amalek, the tribe of desert marauders that assaulted Israel immediately after the Exodus, and the Pittsburgh murderer. The Amalekites are singled out by the Bible from among the enemies of ancient Israel because in their hatred for the chosen people, they attacked the weak, the stragglers, the helpless, those who posed no threat to them in any way.

Similarly, many among the dead in Pittsburgh were elderly or disabled; the murderer smote “all that were enfeebled,” and he “feared not God.” Amalek, for Jewish tradition, embodies evil incarnate in the world; we are commanded to remember Amalek, and the Almighty’s enmity for it, because, as Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik explained, the biblical appellation refers not only to one tribe but also to our enemies throughout the ages who will follow the original Amalek’s example. To say “May God avenge their blood” is to remind all who hear us that there is a war against Amalek from generation to generation—and we believe that, in this war, God is not neutral.

John Podhoretz: Words Spoken to My Daughter, One Week After the Horrors at the Tree of Life Synagogue

My beloved S—-, you become a bat mitzvah today, which confers upon you obligations and responsibilities as a member of the Jewish community and as an inheritor of a tradition dating back thousands of years. The haftarah you read today, from the Book of Kings, is about a struggle over King David’s inheritance. It concludes with Bathsheba speaking the words “May my Lord King David live forever.” What Bathsheba meant was that David’s line should live forever, that the Jewish people should live forever. After the unspeakable event last weekend at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue, it is an obligation upon you and upon us to do what we can, every one of us, to make sure Bathsheba’s wish is fulfilled.

The theologian Emil Fackenheim said Auschwitz had required this of us—that we were not allowed to grant Hitler any posthumous victories. He called it the Commandment of Auschwitz. It is also the Commandment of the Tree of Life. The monster who slaughtered and wounded all those people wanted to kill Jews for being Jews. “All Jews must die,” he shouted as he murdered them.

The parshah from the Torah you read today is about the very first Jews. It begins with the death of Sarah and proceeds to tell of the death of her husband, Abraham. So here is my charge to you: If you want to make Robert Bowers’s words turn to ash, follow in the footsteps of Abraham and Sarah. Live as a Jew. Have Jewish children. Try as your mother and I have with you and your sister and your brother to teach those children how to live as Jews so that they can teach their children, and their children can teach theirs, and theirs and theirs and theirs and theirs—until it is 3,600 years from now and there are still Jews on this earth just as there were 3,600 years ago when Abraham and Sarah breathed their last. Nothing could make me prouder of you than to see you pass on our heritage and continue as part of this divine legacy.

Prof. Phyllis Chesler: Imaginary "Palestine"

Even as barbarians terrorize civilians everywhere, (if not, the UK and Australia would have granted Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi asylum), the world remains divinely diverted, even obsessed by the alleged “occupation” of a country that does not exist.

I am talking about “Palestine” aka the disputed territories. And yes, I dare to surround this word with quote marks because it is a fiction, a concept that refers to an imaginary entity, an entity desired by the world, the more so because it is not real but is, rather, socially constructed.

The world’s honor is now bound up with this falsity. And why? Because this is an idea that allows Jew haters the world over to continue their genocidal lust towards Jews, both in Israel and around the world.
Although non-existent, “Palestine” is so sacred a concept that one risks being shamed and shunned for saying so. The world’s honor is now bound up with this falsity. And why? Because this is an idea that allows Jew haters the world over to continue their genocidal lust towards Jews, both in Israel and around the world. It is the way European Christian and non-Western Muslims can continue their gruesome history of pogroms, massacres, and the industrial-scale slaughter of Jews—and still virtue-signal their compassion for the other Semites: displaced Arab Muslims, a compassion they sadly lack for persecuted Arab and African Christians.

This imaginary Palestine is similar to other imagined and socially constructed realities. For example, Caucasian Rachel Dolezal believed she was an African-American. An increasing number of men believe they are, in truth, women trapped in men’s bodies; as such, they are seen as both victim and hero for embracing this destiny. A smaller number of women believe that they are really men trapped in women’s bodies. They, too, are seen as victim/heroes.

Arab “Palestinian” style Intifada and Jihad has gone global. Antifa activists in America are also face-masked, aggressive, verbally vulgar, and violent. They shout down anything and anyone with which they disagree and operate as a mob both on campuses and at demonstrations. No matter what their real issues are (Wall Street, police anti-Black racism, climate apocalypse, the prison system, women’s rights), “Palestine” is often signaled by the wearing of checkered Arafat-style keffiyehs and Hamas-style face masks.

Avi Ohayon / GPO Israel

MK Naftali Bennett threatened that his party, Bayit Yehudi, would leave the coalition if he were not appointed Defense Minister in Avigdor Liberman’s stead, after Liberman resigned. Liberman resigned because his hands were tied in making decisions about how to respond to the barrage of missiles from Gaza, or so he implied. Which begs the question: if Liberman’s hands were tied, why wouldn’t Bennett be equally held back from responding to Gaza according to his druthers, were he appointed defense minister?

The fact is that an Israeli defense minister can be overruled by a sitting prime minister. Which would not be at all unusual or out of line. Most appointments by a prime minister are relegated to silent positions and prevented from forming their own policies. So no matter how much Bennett promises to finish off Hamas for good, the promise remains an empty one. Even if Bibi were to appoint him defense minister, Bennett wouldn’t have carte blanche to make military decisions on his own. The prime minister always has the final say.

Bennett knows this very well.

Being defense minister in Israel, is in some respects like being the vice president of America. A vice president has no real power. It’s more of a stepping stone to an even higher office, the presidency.

Bennett had an opportunity handed to him with Liberman’s resignation: demand the defense ministry and use it as a stepping stone to become prime minister. If the prime minister refuses to appoint him, he can threaten to leave the coalition and bring down the government. Either way, Bennett and his party stood to gain. Bayit Yehudi would have gained from early elections. Bennett’s own star would have risen further, had this been the case, especially with Bibi embroiled in legal troubles and with the threat of war on multiple fronts.

While both Bibi and Bennett are war heroes, Bibi has come to seem more statesmanlike, while the younger Bennett retains a sort of military aura. We can see Bennett as a warrior, so that he comes off as a man of action, while Bibi is more Churchillian: great at making memorable speeches. Many of the people of Sderot and Southern Israel see Bennett as their possible savior, but it’s all a mirage. It’s all appearances.

Bennett could not actually do anything he promises to do as defense minister, because Bibi would stop him. He probably wouldn’t do any better as prime minister. It’s one thing to make promises of what one would do as defense minister or prime minister, quite another to actually carry them out. No doubt Bennett’s hand would be stayed by the same concerns that now give Netanyahu pause. Things like, for instance, Iran. The threat from Hezbollah in the North. The fact that the army doesn’t have adequate skilled manpower to handle several fronts at once.

Netanyahu works the Middle East like a giant chess board and he is a master. Bennett is very smart and has accomplished a great deal in his lifetime. He was a star in the military, in business, and in politics. Still, no one should be fooled that Bennett’s braggadocio that he knows better than Bibi—knows how to take care of Gaza—is at all meaningful. There is absolutely no reason to think that Bennett is “our only chance,” as one Southern Israeli said to me. He’s not in the driver seat and wouldn’t be in it even if he were defense minister.

As prime minister, he’d be liable to do exactly what Netanyahu is now doing. Or worse, he’d rush headlong into something we can’t handle. No one wants to see that happen. Except maybe Hamas.

In the end, Bennett backed down and didn’t have Bayit Yehudi leave the coalition. This was the intelligent move to make, especially after Bibi’s press conference the night before. Bibi made it clear that Bennett’s machinations were only grandstanding for political gain. He also made it clear that there are things we don’t know and that these games just get in the way of the real work ahead of us.

Elections are costly in terms of both money and manpower. They take the focus away from the actual running of the country. Bringing the government down at a time when there are multiple military threats is a recipe for chaos and disaster.

Had Bennett gone ahead and brought the government down, he would have looked shallow and narcissistic. It would have looked like he was exploiting a military situation for personal political gain. Which was exactly what he was doing. That is why, in the end, Bennett was smart to cut his losses and stand down.

He figured it out, as Bibi knew he would: Bennett got pwned by Bibi, the Pwn Master.

via GIPHY

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Hamas Member Dismissed For Firing Personal Rockets On Company Time (PreoOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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Khan Yunis, November 21 - A militant in the Gaza Strip lost his job with the terrorist group that employed him after supervisors discovered he misused organizational missiles for personal launches, a spokesman for the Islamist movement announced today.

Hamas issued a statement Wednesday that during the brief escalation of hostilities with Israel two weeks ago, a twenty-five-year-old fighter, whose name has not been released, misappropriated Iran-supplied rockets allocated for launch against Israeli communities, aiming them instead at targets of personal choice. An investigation of the matter concluded that the man, who holds the rank of field commander, has committed similar violations before, such as during the 2014 war with Israel.

The statement claimed that the dismissed fighter was assigned to fire rockets at Israeli farming and residential communities, but coworkers informed higher-ups that he instead directed fire toward a neighbor with whom he has long had a tense relationship. While Palestinians have for many years targeted rivals or personal enemies with accusations of collaboration with Israel, the man's behavior went beyond acceptable mores in Gaza society, and an inquiry revealed that his use of company rockets constituted only the latest in a long-running pattern of misuse of company resources for personal purposes.

In fact, continued the statement, further investigation uncovered other questionable use of Hamas resources, such as taking kites and balloons that had been earmarked to carry explosives and incendiary payloads into Israeli homes and fields, and instead using them as children's toys for his offspring. "The Islamic Resistance will not tolerate such a grave violation of these items' purpose," it concluded.

Some Gazans recalled a similar incident three years ago, when Palestinian Authority police arrested a Hamas-affiliated man for planning a kidnapping of Israelis to hold for ransom. "The guy wasn't even going to make it political," noted a shopkeeper who sells sweets. "What kind of a crazy thing is that? He was only in it for the money. Everyone knows you just don't do that. It's a good thing he was arrested before he could do it."

Hamas remains silent so far on the man's fate beyond dismissal from his job. Spokesman Marzouk intimated, however, that if circumstances allow, the victims of the man's rocket fire targeting personal enemies will be depicted as sympathetic to Israel, both to save the organization further embarrassment and to showcase for the weapons' Iranian sponsors the efficiency of Hamas use of the resources the mullahs provide.

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11/21 Links Pt1: PMW: Are terrorists good at football?; Iran’s Nuclear Archive Shows it Planned to Build Five Nuclear Weapons by mid-2003; The Depths to Which the Oslo Process Has Driven Israel

From Ian:

PMW: Are terrorists good at football?

Sports is considered a place where politics and conflict are put aside - but not in the Palestinian Authority. A football tournament for high school boys in Hebron, arranged by the local Fatah branch, named all 11 teams after terrorists - including terror leaders responsible for most of the deaths from terror Israel has suffered since its founding. Six were top Palestinian terror leaders and founders of terror organizations, while the other five were terrorists or members of terror organizations. The PA Ministry of Education endorsed the event's role modeling of terrorists with a representative who "honored the winning players and teams."

Here is the list of the teams in the President Martyr Yasser Arafat Football Championship:

The Martyr Yasser Arafat team (founder of the PLO and Fatah terror organizations in the 1960s, and former chairman of the PA),
The Martyr Ahmed Yassin team (founder of the Hamas terror organization),
The Martyr Fathi Shaqaqi team (founder of the Islamic Jihad terror organization),
The Martyr Salah Khalaf team (head of the Black September terror organization),
The Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa team (head of the PFLP terror organization),
The Martyr Khalil Al-Wazir 'Abu Jihad' team (terror leader responsible for murder of 125 Israelis),
The Martyr Marwan Zalum team (terrorist responsible for several murders),
The Martyr Abu Yusuf Al-Najjar team (commander of operations for Black September),
The Martyr Kamal Adwan team (senior member of Black September),
The Martyr Saad Sayel team (leader in Fatah terror organization),
The Martyr Majed Abu Sharar team (senior member of Fatah terror organization)
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 19, 2018]

During the PA's terror campaign - the second Intifada, 2000-2005 - the PA started naming sporting events after terrorists. For example, the Ministry of Education sponsored the Martyr Abd Al-Basset Odeh Championship - named after the suicide bomber who carried out the Passover Seder suicide bombing in Netanya on March 27, 2002, in which 30 Israelis were murdered and 140 injured.

This is a story about a young boy named Ali.
Ali can either grow up to be a functional member of society or wind up on our hit list. It all depends on how he's raised. #NoWayToTreatAChild #WorldChildrensDay pic.twitter.com/Szi4HE6xPB
— The Mossad (@TheMossadIL) November 20, 2018

David Singer: Australia's Jerusalem Embassy move sinks in a sea of Islamic threats

Forget about Australia moving its Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Indonesian threats to not sign a free trade agreement with Australia – coupled with veiled Malaysian suggestions of terrorist attacks on Australian targets if the Embassy is moved – will suffice to burst Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s thought-bubble.

Australia gave Indonesia $360 million in aid in 2016 and was the world’s 16thlargest donor in giving $15 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Indonesia gave UNRWA $5000.

Malaysia gave nothing to UNRWA in 2016.
Read on for artiForget about Australia moving its Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.Indonesian threats to not sign a free trade agreement with Australia – coupled with veiled Malaysian suggestions of terrorist attacks on Australian targets if the Embassy is moved – will suffice to burst Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s thought-bubbleAustralia gave Indonesia $360 million in aid in 2016 and was the world’s 16thlargest donor in giving $15 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Indonesia gave UNRWA $5000.
Indonesia and Malaysia – two Islamic states – flex their muscles on Islamic claims to Jerusalem – yet do not financially support their Islamic brethren.
Morrison first flagged the Embassy move on 16 October at a joint press conference with Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne:

“Now, in relation to our diplomatic presence in Israel. What I have simply said is this – we’re committed to a two-state solution. Australia’s position on this issue has to date assumed that it is not possible to consider the question of the recognition of Israel’s capital in Jerusalem and that be consistent with pursuing a two-state solution.

Now, Dave Sharma, who was the Ambassador to Israel, has proposed some months ago a way forward that challenges that thinking and it says that you can achieve both and indeed by pursuing both, you are actually aiding the cause for a two-state solution. Now, when people say sensible things, I think it is important to listen to them”

Australia’s commitment to the two-state solution– the creation of a second Arab state – in addition to Jordan – in the territory that comprised the 1922 Mandate for Palestine – is based on:

The 1993 Oslo Accords and
The 2002 President Bush Roadmap:

Guardian says Malaysian PM known for his “outspokenness”, omits what else he’s known for

A Nov. 15th Guardian article, about warnings by Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahatir Mohamad, that the Australian government’s decision to consider moving its embassy to Jerusalem would add to terror threat, began thusly:
Scott Morrison’s contentious Israel policy shift has encountered more diplomatic headwinds, with Malaysia’s prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, suggesting relocating the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would add to the cause of terrorism.

The Malaysian prime minister, known for his outspoken public interventions, raised concern in a meeting with Morrison at the Asean summit in Singapore about the prospect of Australia recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

However, in over 800 words of text, the Guardian journalist – Australian political editor Katharine Murphy – didn’t inform readers what else, beyond his “outspoken interventions”, Mohamad is “known for” – something that would provide important context to his objections to Canberra’s decision.

The 92-year-old leader has a long, well-documented history of antisemitism.

Last month, in a BBC News interview, Mohamad said Jews are “hook-nosed” repeating a variation of a charge he made in his 1970 book, where he wrote that “the Jews are not merely hook-nosed, but understand money instinctively”. He also claimed, in the BBC interview, that the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust was not six million.

In an interview with Associated Press in August, Mohamad said “Anti-Semitic is a term that is invented to prevent people from criticizing the Jews for doing wrong things”.

"Those who call me a bigot, a hater, an anti-Semite, I want you to listen to me real carefully. If anything like that comes out of my mouth I want you raise your hand and stop me."
Louis Farrakhan, October 8, 1985

Louis Farrakhan seems to have been in the news fairly often as of late -- not only for what he is saying but for what others associated with him have not been saying.

Louis Farrakhan. Screenshot of Youtube video

Seems like the antisemitism that comes out of his mouth doesn't get a reaction.
Social media platforms don't condemn it.
Politicians don't condemn it.
Black leaders don't condemn it
And of course, the leaders of Women's March don't condemn it either.

But there was a time when racist comments coming out of The Nation of Islam did draw condemnation.

In spades.

It's just that you have to go back 25 years in order to find it.

On November 29, 1993, Farrakhan's top aide, Khalid Abdul Muhammad, gave a speech at New Jersey's Kean College to about 150 students. At the time Muhammad held the positions of both minister and "national assistant" in The Nation of Islam.

And he had a mouth like Farrakhan himself.

Here is a small sample of what Khalid Abdul Muhammad said that day:

Brothers and sisters--the so-called Jew, and I must say so-called Jew, because you're not the true Jew. You are Johnny-come-lately-Jew, who just crawled out of the caves and hills of Europe just a little over 4,000 years ago. You're not from the original people. You are a European strain of people who crawled around on all fours in the caves and hills of Europe eating Juniper roots and eating each other. Who are the slumlords in the black community? The so-called Jew who is sucking our blood in the black community. A white imposter Arab and a white imposter Jew, right in the black community, sucking our blood on a daily and consistent basis. They sell us pork and they don't even eat it themselves. A meat case full of rotten pork meat, and the imposter Arab and the imposter white Jew, neither of them eat it themselves. A wall full of liquor keeping our people drunk and out of their head, and filled with the swill of the swine, affecting their minds. They're the bloodsuckers of the black nation and the black community. Professor Griff was right when he spoke here--and when he spoke in the general vicinity of Jersey and New York, and when he spoke at Columbia Jew-niversity over in Jew York City. He was right.

Khalid Abdul Muhammad. Screengrab from Youtube video

The black leadership reacted strongly.

o Benjamin Chavis Jr., executive director of the NAACP: "I am appalled that any human being would stoop so low to make such violence-prone anti-Semitic statements."

o William Gray III, president of the United Negro College Fund, deplored the "tragic and anti-Semitic comments at Kean College” and said anti-Semitism cannot be "justified as a response to repression."

o Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) condemned the speech

o Al Sharpton condemned it too

o Jesse Jackson made a point of calling The New York Times to condemn the speech as "racist, anti-Semitic, divisive, untrue and chilling...The madness of the speech is not in the tradition of our civil rights movement."

o Representative Kweisi Mfume, the Maryland Democrat who led the Congressional Black Caucus, stated that no alliance could exist between the caucus and Farrakhan's group as long as blacks in Congress had doubts about Mr. Farrakhan's tolerance toward Jews, Catholics and other groups

Even Farrakhan himself issued his own condemnation -- of sorts. But while he condemned the way the speech was given, he defended what he claimed were the "truths" it contained:

"I found the speech, after listening to it in context, vile in manner, repugnant, malicious, mean-spirited and spoken in mockery of individuals and people, which is against the spirit of Islam. While I stand by the truths that he spoke, I must condemn in the strongest terms the manner in which those truths were represented."

Farrakhan went on the attack, framing the criticism as an attack and practically called the Black leaders who participated in the criticism traitors:

And in a clear rebuff of the calls to distance himself from the Kean College speech, Farrakhan reportedly said people were using Muhammad’s words against him to “divide the house,” and that Farrakhan’s enemies “want to use some of our brothers, and some of our brothers are willing to be used” to curry favor.

He also made a point of singling out the ADL as an enemy of blacks, a tactic that has been picked up by Sarsour. Farrakhan announced

"I therefore, am calling on the Black Caucus, the N.A.A.C.P., Reverend Jackson and the Rainbow Coalition, black churches, and black leaders to review their relationship with the A.D.L. in view of its wickedness against our people."

Nevertheless, Farrakhan did demote Muhammad, who later left the group.

Reaction to Khalid Muhammad was so strong that even Congress took action.

On February 23, 1994, Congress voted on Resolution 343, "Expressing the sense of Congress on the senior representative of the Nation of Islam":

Whereas the United States House of Representatives strongly oppose racism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Semitism, and all forms of ethnic or religious intolerance;

Whereas the racist, anti-Catholic, and anti-Semitic speech given by Kahlid Abdul Muhammad of the Nation of Islam at Kean College on November 29, 1993, incites divisiveness and violence on the basis of race, religion, and ethnicity; and

Whereas Mr. Muhummad specifically justifies the slaughter of Jews during the Holocaust as fully deserved; disparages the Pope in the most revolting personal terms; and calls for the assassination of every white infant, child, man, and woman in
South Africa:

Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives
(1) condemns the speech given by Kahlid Abdul Muhammad as outrageous hatemongering of the most vicious and vile kind;

and

(2) condemns all manifestations and expressions of racism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Semitism, and ethnic or religious intolerance.

While it may be reassuring to see that there was a time when leaders were more interested in calling out the Antisemitism of The Nation of Islam than in forming alliances with the group, the fact remains that as the leader of The Nation of Islam, Farrakhan faced minimal backlash back then -- even as he resorted to antisemitic remarks to attack his critics.

And that is unlikely to change.

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Arabs unearth a secret Zionist map showing Israel's intent to take over all land from Saudi Arabia to Egypt!

The Al Jazeera Mubashir website has a hilarious article that claims to have unearthed a secret Zionist plan to take over the entire Middle East, and claims that Saudi Arabia is now cooperating with Israel in this endeavor.

The main "proof" of this nefarious plan comes from an article written by Itamar Ben-Avi, son of the famous Eliezer ben Yehuda and the first child born in the modern era who was raised speaking only Hebrew. Ben-Avi wrote this in "A Zionist primer; essays by various writers" published by the Young Judaea movement in 1917 (before the Balfour Declaration) as an introduction to Zionism for teenagers.

In the essay, Ben-Avi indeed wants Zionist youth to think not only in terms of the area of eretz Yisrael as the Jewish kingdoms controlled in the past, but a future Eretz Yisrael that would fulfill the Biblical promise of lands from the Nile to the Euphrates.

Here's his hand-drawn map:

Ben-Avi was an iconoclast, pushing the idea that Hebrew should be written in a Romanized alphabet and even once creating a short-lived journal in that transliterated Hebrew.

He was hardly a leading Zionist, and even if he was, the idea that a "secret Zionist plan" would be published in a book aimed at teenagers is ridiculous.

Nevertheless, the conspiracy-minded writer at Al Jazeera uses this map as proof of a hundred year old plan that is finally coming together. Apparently, a major Saudi tourism/smart city initiative called Neum is really a Zionist initiative, as the Ben Avi map supposedly shows:

The map explains what is going on in Sinai and the northwest of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. All the puzzles are solved. In the southwestern corner of Greater Israel, the population is being disposed of and ready to be handed over to the Israelis as a gift without war. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman plays the main role. On the Saudi side in the name of the project of Neum or Sinai with the consent of Abdul Fattah al-Sisi to buy the islands and land, and finance the so-called Deal of the Century to evacuate the area of the population.
The Neum project is an Israeli settlement on the eastern bank of the Gulf of Aqaba, which has historical and religious significance to the Jews. It is the land of Medina where our master Moses sought refuge from Pharaoh. The Jews established it after leaving Egypt according to the Jewish narrative. And the investment is to expel the Saudi population from there.
The most important observation that appears from the map and exposing what is happening is that Mohammed bin Salman when he announced the area allocated for the project "Neum" make the southern axis exactly match the line drawn in Ben Avi map, in the same place and the same angle (30 degrees) until reaching the latitude 28 Which runs east to the latitude of about 45 degrees to climb north to Samawah on the Euphrates River.

I didn't know Moses went to Medina! I guess that's where the Burning Bush was!

We learn so much from Arab media!

UPDATE: The city of Medina is not etymologically connected to Midian, where Moses fled, but Neum is indeed in the area of where scholars identify Midian. (h/t Sara)

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11/20 Links Pt2: Palestinian children's TV - a world of hate; The Truth About George Soros; Women’s March Founder Calls on Leaders to Quit, Citing Antisemitism and Bigotry

From Ian:

On anniversary of UN’s ‘declaration of the rights of the child,’ Palestinians still imbue youth with hate

Nov. 20 marks the date when the U.N. General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959) and the Convention of the Rights of the Child (1989).

While the Palestinian Authority joined the U.N.’s Convention on the Rights of the Child in 2014, the Palestinian leadership is abusing its own children, presenting terrorists as heroes, “martyrs” as role models, and glorifying the murder of Jews and Israelis.

In the decades of monitoring the Palestinian Authority’s open sources, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has exposed that the P.A. Ministry of Education teaches that terrorist “martyrs” are “heroes” and “the crown of their nation, the symbol of its glory, the best of the best.” Official P.A. TV has Palestinian children recite that “Our enemy, Zion, is Satan with a tail,” and that “Jews are the most evil among creations … they descend from apes and pigs.” TV cartoons teach young kids that “Jews work on earth for Satan, to try to destroy Muhammad.”

Sports tournaments, school books, cultural events and even music videos glorify terrorists and encourage Palestinian youth to aspire to kill and be killed.

What we have found in more than 20 years of monitoring the P.A.—through the broad range of institutions and infrastructures that they control—are messages in Arabic of hatred, indoctrination and incitement, while in English, to the world, the P..A, the ruling Fatah Party, and leader Mahmoud Abbas present themselves as moderates who are Israel’s peace partners.

Meanwhile, murderers, such as the infamous Dalal Mughrabi (who in 1978 with a group of terrorists hijacked a bus and murdered 37 civilians, including 12 children) is immortalized by the Palestinian Authortiy naming schools, town squares and community centers after her. Terrorist murderer Baha Alyan (who murdered three Israelis on a bus in Jerusalem in 2015) is used by the P.A. as a role model to promote the value of reading to children. Terrorist murderer, Ahmed Jarrar (who killed Rabbi Raziel Shevach, a father of six, in a drive-by shooting earlier this year) and 13-year-old Ahmed Manassreh, who attempted to murder an Israeli child, are glorified by having sports tournaments named after them.

The message Palestinian kids are getting is clear. If you kill an Israeli, you are a hero. If you make peace with an Israeli, you are a traitor and you are committing a crime against humanity.

Palestinian leaders actively encourage distortion of the universal platform of sporting events in this way. In September 2014, Jibril Rajoub, the P.A.’s Secretary of the Fatah Central Committee and head of the Supreme Council for Sport and Youth Affairs, stated that: “Any activity of normalization with the Zionist enemy is a crime against humanity.”

PMW: Palestinian children's TV - a world of hate

The world of hate that the PA creates for its children includes messages of violence against Israel, teaching that Israel has no right to exist and all of Israel is Palestinian, and that Israel's eventual replacement by "Palestine" is inevitable.

One recent episode of the PA TV children's program The Best Home included all of these messages.

A girl recited a poem that called for "vengeance" and "liberation" and for "war that will... destroy the Zionist's soul":

Palestinian girl Raghad: "Saladin (i.e., Musim leader who conquered Jerusalem in 1187; see note below) calls to me from my depths
All my Arabness calls me to vengeance and liberation...
Thousands of prisoners... call to this great nation and call to millions and say to them:
To war that will smash the oppression and destroy the Zionist's soul
and raise the Palestinian banner in the world's sky
And strengthen my word that goes on:
Palestinian, Palestinian, Palestinian."
Official PA TV host: "Bravo, bravo! You are very talented."
[Official PA TV, The Best Home, Nov. 1, 2018]

For years, PA TV has been inviting children to sing this song that urges Palestinians to seek "war" that will "smash and destroy" Israel.

"A Zionist stole the land of Palestine"
In the same episode of the program, a girl recited a poem denying Israel's right to exist with the words: "A Zionist stole the land of Palestine." The poem speaks of the Palestinians becoming "refugees" "70 years ago" - in other words, in 1948 when the State of Israel was created. Palestinian children are taught to deny Israel's right to exist since its creation in 1948, and not in the borders of 1967 as the PA claims in international circles. This education does not leave room for Israel in any borders. The poem encourages Palestinians to "rebel" and "shoot with your fire, like volcanoes," so that they will be "victorious" and "return." Upon hearing this poem, the PA TV host ensured her audience of children that "we are returning. Soon, Allah willing, we will return to our land":

Girl’s poem on PA TV: “To war that will… crush the Zionist’s soul”

“Death to Israel” - song on Hamas TV

From an op-ed in by Rashid Hassan in Addustour, a major Jordanian newspaper, about Mohammed's birthday:

The most stubborn enemies of Islam and the Islamic nation were the Jews, and they still are. They embraced the Zionist ideology, which is based on racism, occupation, blood-shedding, ethnic cleansing, and worshipping force. The Jews were the first ones to scheme against the new religion, and the first ones to form alliances in order to kill it in its cradle. They knew full well that the victory of this religion (i.e. Islam), with all that it represents – noble notions, lofty and noble values – is sure to finish off their influence, which is based on civil strife, spreading corruption, usury, the spreading of lies and myths, etc. Their role in supporting ISIS and the (other) terrorist organizations is nothing but the continuation of their role in supporting the pagans of Quraish (Muhammad’s tribe that tried to kill him and his religion), supporting the munafiqun (pagans in Medina that embraced Islam only outwardly, in order to fight it from the inside). Their fate will be nothing but the fate of the Jews of Bani Qurayza, Bani Qaynuqaa and Bani Nadhir (the Jewish tribes of Medina, that Muhammad either slaughtered, or drove out). These tribes were mentioned by the prime minister of the enemy, Golda Meir, one day, when she was giving a speech at Umm Rashrash, Eilat. She said: “I can smell the smell of my folk in Khaibar” And what do you know about Khaibar? It is the den of conspiracies.

But they don't hate Jews, no, no, not at all, how dare you think so? Just because their media openly publishes antisemitic lies and not one person ever seems to get upset over it, that's no evidence!

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

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