On Tuesday , at Brooklyn College, the Brooklyn College Socialists held a vigil was held in solidarity with the Muslim victims of the massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand.
A small group showed up to show solidarity.
Then, as the Brooklyn College Student Union Instagram shows, people started chanting for an Intifada - effectively calling for people to kill Jews in Israel, as the two previous intifadas had done. The leader of the chants is holding the sign shown above that says "Standing with Muslims against Islamophobia and Racism" so it was certainly at the same gathering.
Yes, a rally to support Muslims against violence ended up becoming a public call to kill Jews.
In Brooklyn.
The chanters don't exactly sound like white supremacists.
(I believe, but I'm not sure, that the chanter was "chrismjia" based on the sign, the bag and the jeans which match the chanter.)
(h/t Melissa)
UPDATE: I originally posted that this was a rally from the YPA Brooklyn College on Thursday instead of the socialists' rally on Tuesday. I regret the error.
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At Yale Insights, Ian Shapiro, Sterling Professor of Political Science, professor of management, and Henry R. Luce Director of the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, talks about the potential of economic conditions laying the groundwork for peace between Israel and Palestinians.
This mirrors a lot of what Israeli leaders have said, and I have no problem with helping Palestinians gain economic advantages that may lead to them having something to lose if they decide on another intifada. But his even-handedness strays into fantasy in this section of the interview:
SodaStream is very interesting because the original idea was to create employment for Palestinians in the West Bank. It immediately got attacked. The BDS [Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions] movement aims to use activism to get Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories. It was really aimed at pressuring business tied to the Jewish settlements in the West Bank, not at ventures like this, but SodaStream was attacked.
At the same time, the Jewish settlers don’t like SodaStream either, any more than they like Rawabi. So with pressure from both sides, SodaStream moved back into Israel.
It’s one of very few ventures in which you have Palestinian managers supervising Israeli line workers. There are even now Bedouin managers in supervisory roles. It’s a kind of microcosm of cooperative production in the Middle East, and of course extremely successful. It’s just been bought out for billions. It’s sort of a demonstration project of the possibilities that can actually occur.
I have never heard about any Jewish settlers being against Sodastream, or being against economic benefits to Paletinians. Perhaps a fringe element were but they have no political clout at all - later on Shapiro makes this claim as well:
The far right-wing Israeli settlers would really like the Palestinians to go to Jordan, so they don’t want a thriving Palestinian economy. They’re worried that far from Palestinians going to Jordan, Jordanians might start coming into the West Bank.
The "Jewish settlers" I know want to be friendly with their Palestinian neighbors, they have no problem when (properly vetted) Palestinians come into their communities to work, and they fondly remember the days before the first intifada when they could freely go into Ramallah or other Arab cities in the West Bank without fear to go shopping or get services done by Arabs.
Shapiro is not terrible - he shows that BDS is meaningless to Israel economically - but his desire to say that settlers are as bad as BDS in wanting to hurt ordinary people on the other side is simply not true.
The author of the piece also tries to be even-handed when the facts do not back it up, from the first sentences of the article:
Israel has controlled Palestinian territories, including the West Bank and Gaza, since the Six-Day War in 1967. The roots of the conflict date even further back, to the founding of Israel and to the emergence of the Zionist and Arab nationalist movements in the 19th century.
Funny how in 1967 no one - and I mean no one - ever referred to the territories as "Palestinian." And there was no Palestinian nationalist movement to speak of until after the Six Day War.
This is the sort of subtle bias that one can see even in articles that aren't bad. But Yale should strive for accuracy, not political correctness.
(h/t Shmuel Yosef)
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The first BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) resolutions were proposed in student governments in 2005-6, of the four introduced, two passed and two were defeated. Only five other resolutions were proposed in the following five academic years combined and three of those were defeated. The campaign began to take off in 2012-13 with 10 resolutions (six were defeated), followed by 19 in 2013-14 (12 were defeated) and 27 in 2014-15 (20 were defeated). Since that upsurge, the movement has shown signs of petering out.
In the last 14 years (2005-2019):
A total of 127 BDS measures have been considered – 83 were defeated (65%).
Those votes were limited to a total of 68 schools, less than 3% of America’s four-year colleges. (The California Community College Association is counted as one college and the UC Student Association, which has no power and represents no individual schools is excluded as were four graduate student programs).
A total of 38 schools have approved a BDS resolution in the last 14 years, which represents about 1% of universities.*
A total of 54 schools have rejected BDS (there is some overlap as some of these have adopted BDS in other years) .
A total of 28 schools had two or more votes; 9 schools had three or more (Ohio State, Berkeley, Davis, Riverside, UCSB, UCSD, UCSC, Michigan, Dearborn), and 5 schools had four (Michigan, Michigan Dearborn, UC Riverside, UCSD, Ohio State)
Only 5 schools (Michigan Dearborn, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, and UC Davis) have passed BDS more than once.
Of the 68 schools that voted on BDS, 11 were ranked in the top 20 and 11 of 15 (73%) resolutions were defeated.
A total of 22 schools in the top 50 entertained BDS initiatives and 30 of 46 were defeated (65%). In 2019, Brown became the first Ivy League school to pass a divestment resolution.
Even the handful of divestment resolutions that were adopted by students have no authority and administrators have repeatedly made clear they have no intention of divesting from Israel. In fact, many of the same schools (e.g., UCI) dramatically increased cooperation with Israel after the votes. Overall, about 97% percent of American campuses have had no divestment votes and have little or no BDS activity.
A number of Democrat politicians are boycotting the 2019 annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
But there are 18,000 pro-Israel Americans attending, many U.S politicians, and foreign leaders as well.
Three of those leaders just announced their respective countries would follow the U.S. lead and relocate their embassies to Jerusalem. They join not only the U.S., but also Guatamala. Other countries, such as Brazil, have indicated an intention to relocate their embassies, but not on any definite timeline.
Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández delivered the announcement, Israel National News reports: Honduras announced plans to move its diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, opening a new embassy in the Israeli capital city.
President Juan Orlando Hernandez made the announcement Sunday, during the 2019 American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington DC.
Speaking at the opening meeting of the conference, Hernandez said his country would “immediately” open an “official diplomatic mission” in the Israeli capital city.
Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă made her announcement during her speech, as The Jerusalem Post reports: “I, as prime minister of Romania, and the government I lead, will move our embassy to Jerusalem,” Dăncilă said. “Our support of the State of Israel and the Jewish community is constant. I am determined to contribute to closer relations between Israel and the entire European Union, particularly now, when Romania is holding the presidency of the Council of the European Union.”
She promised that Romania would “remain the same loyal friend and the strongest European voice in support of the Jewish people and the State of Israel,” concluding with the words, “shalom chaveirim (Peace friends), see you in Jerusalem.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the exceptionalism of US-Israel relations as he headed early Sunday morning to Washington, where he will meet with US President Donald Trump and deliver an address at AIPAC’s annual Policy Conference two weeks before Israeli elections.
Addressing reporters as he boarded his Boeing 777 en route to Washington, Netanyahu said his relationship with Trump surpassed his ties with any world leaders and with any bond between Israel and the US before.
“Never — never — has there been a relationship like this between an Israeli prime minister and an American president. It’s a very, very important asset for the State of Israel, and it is important that [this relationship] continues to serve us.”
Netanyahu traveled to Washington two weeks before Israeli voters will head to the polls on April 9, after a campaign that has seen Netanyahu tout his diplomatic successes and his close bond with Trump.
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Last week, the indefatigable David Collier released a book-length report on "Americans in Palestine Live," a closed Facebook group that is a major gathering place for big-named Israel haters.
I see the daily news in the US and it reminds me of the UK a few years ago. There are signs they are on a similar divisive path. Antisemitism rises and Jewish anti-Zionists leap into action, claiming it is about ‘criticism of Israel’. Creating an industry of antisemitism denial that legitmises antisemites. They write articles, they sign petitions, they appear on TV. In the States they have vocal anti-Zionist Jewish activists running organisations such as JVP and Codepink. Did you see the way they ran to protect Ilhan Omar? They create an environment within which antisemitism is given protection. Just like the anti-Zionists of Jewish Voice for Labour did in the UK. Only in the US, both anti-Zionist Jews and antisemites are more numerous.
News outlets such as Mondoweiss push their propaganda at an alarming rate. This air of legitimacy is attracting people. Yet I know the truth.
I know that these people ally themselves with hard-core antisemites. I have watched as they have organised petitions, events and demos with people who share neo-Nazi and white supremacist material.
Ariel Gold, Rebecca Vilkomerson, Medea Benjamin, David Mivasair are just some of the key American activists who have played inside the antisemitic swamp that is Palestine Live. A group that contains other members such as Greta Berlin, Cynthia Mckinney, Miko Peled and Alison Weir. Daniella Ravitzki, Larry Derfner, Ofer Neiman, Pam Bailey, Jonathan Ofir, Jennifer Loewenstein, Mark Levine, Seth Morrison and many more.
I’ve watched people like Codepink’s Ariel Gold deploy her Jewish identity, time after time, just as she aligns with people who push the ideology of the Renegade Tribune in a fight against Israel. Several key JVP figures are inside the group, people from the Rabbinical council, academic council and the JVP Board. Almost the entire front line of Codepink are inside too. Why are Amnesty personnel inside a secret antisemitic Facebook group?
In public they put pretty profile pictures up suggesting they stand ‘together against antisemitism’. They adamantly suggest they fight against it. In private the bitter truth is revealed. Time after time, these actvists are found alongside people who share rabid white supremacist or neo-Nazi material. Not once, not twice, but EVERY time. These people have created an industry of antisemitism denial to protect their precious cause, no matter who they need to align with.
David Mivasair, from the JVP Rabbinical council was in one thread with FIVE people who share material from neo-Nazi or white supremacist websites. FIVE. He conspires with them to weaken Israel, jokes about antisemitism with them and then in public he sings a different tune. Almost NONE of the activists were EVER seen confronting any antisemitism, inside a group that is overburdened with hard-core antisemites. All they did is engage in joint initiatives to attack the Jewish state. The antisemites and the anti-Zionist Jews. Attacking Israel together.
To say that the report is damning is a huge understatement. Major figures in the anti-Israel movement, from CodePink and Mondoweiss and Jewish Voice for Peace to Amnesty International, consistently post in this group and yet are silent when the most vicious antisemitic material gets shared, or when antisemitic material is used in responding to their posts. (Amnesty's Edith Garwood, among others, is an active member of the group, and never says a negative word towards any of the Jew-hatred shared.)
Moreover, the people who post in Palestine Live often directly posts the most vile Jew-hatred in their own timelines. In Facebook, they are "friends" with the Jews and supposed "progressives" who are in the group, their opinions are known and they remain friends.
Even Richard Falk, formerly of the UN, has commented on posts in the group and remained silent when antisemitic material was shared. As was virtually everyone else.
What this research shows is that when these these anti-Israel groups claim to be against antisemitism, they are lying. The antisemitic materials shared by members of Palestine Live come from right wing websites, often with direct links. Yet the only opposition comes from people who think that this is not the right venue for, say, Holocaust denial, or a Jew who helpfully suggests that the words "Jew-Nazi" be replaced with "Zio-Nazi" so the message can go further.
The private anti-Israel groups as a cesspool of anti-Jewish hate, but the people who claim that they are so brave for speaking out against Israel in public are not brave at all in fighting antisemitism - more often than not, they are enabling and spreading it, as Collier shows masterfully.
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Al Arabiya, the Saudi-owned pan-Arab news site, tries to embarrass Qatar in this article about an Israeli athlete winning gold in a competition in Doha.
The World Gymnastics World Cup held in Doha has been largely ignored by Qatari media while the Israeli national anthem was played and the country’s flag raised following the gold medal win by Israeli athlete Alexander Shatilov.
Shatilov won a gold medal on the first day of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) ART Individual Apparatus World Cup finals in Doha.
A video of Shatilov receiving his gold medal while the “Hatikvah” was being played was shared by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Twitter account in Arabic.
“Watch: the Israeli national anthem in Qatar… This is a great achievement for Israeli sports,” the tweet read.
شاهدوا: النشيد الوطني الإسرائيلي في قطر
رياضي الجمباز الإسرائيلي أليكس شاتيلوف فاز اليوم بميدالية ذهبية في كأس العالم في الدوحة، قطر 🇶🇦
Last year, Qatar permitted the display of Israel’s national symbols during the 2018 Artistic Gymnastics World Cup.
The news that the Israeli national anthem would be played in an Arab country drew criticism on social media at the time, with many calling it a “declared normalization.”
Qatari news outlets have accused Saudi Arabia of normalizing ties with Israel. However, no official Israeli delegation has ever visited the Kingdom and there are no diplomatic relations between the two countries.
In August, UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said that “Doha spreads and promotes normalization rumors about its neighbors while its contacts are documented and ongoing (with Israel).”
Israeli sources said Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman met secretly with Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani last June.
Old habits die hard, but the idea that one can shame a fellow Arab country by exposing that they have relations with Israel is becoming rapidly extinct, as every moderate Arab country is trying to get closer to Israel one way or another.
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Israel had no choice but to give up on the idea of withdrawing from the Golan Heights. But this reality involves a complete overhaul of the way the international community thinks not just about the Golan Heights but also about all the lands Israel occupied in 1967. The “land for peace” formulation for the past five decades has been a basis of all peace processes between Israel and Egypt, Syria and the Palestinians. Mr. Trump seems to have accepted the position of Israel’s government and given up on the idea that Israel has to withdraw to a decades-old line to get peace.
Withdrawal worked for Israel once, in 1979, when it signed a peace agreement with Egypt and left the Sinai Peninsula, which was also occupied in 1967. But that set a problematic precedent. President Anwar Sadat of Egypt insisted that Israel hand back the entire peninsula to the last inch. Israel decided that the reward was worth the price, as a major Arab country agreed to break with other Arab states and accept Israel’s legitimacy. But there was a hidden, unanticipated cost: Israel’s adversaries, in future negotiations, would demand the same kind of compensation. The 1967 line — what Israel controlled before the war — became the starting point for all Arab countries, including Syria. It became a sacred formula, worshiped by the international community.
What Mr. Trump is doing extends far beyond the ability of Israel to control the Golan Heights, to settle it and invest in it. The American president is setting the clock back to before the peace deal with Egypt, to a time when Israel could argue that the reward for peace is peace — not land.
Syria, of course, is unlikely to accept this. At least not in the short term. But maybe someday, a Syrian leader will come along who doesn’t entertain the thought that Israel might agree to return to the pre-1967 line and who will accept a different formula for achieving peace.
In the meantime, the Golan Heights news is another clarifying moment in Israel’s election. Yes, there is a fierce fight between Mr. Netanyahu and his opponents. Yes, the stakes seem at times high. But Israelis agree on much more than many outside observers imagine. And one of the things they largely agree on is that the 1967 line is no longer relevant.
Mr. Hauser started fighting for recognition of Israel’s sovereignty in the territory when he was an ally of Mr. Netanyahu. Now he is fighting for the same thing as the prime minister’s opponent. There is nothing unnatural or strange about this. On days like these, he told me, “politics is dwarfed amid the call of history.” (h/t Elder of Lobby)
In the ensuing "search for peace", America put heavy pressure on Israel to withdraw from the Egyptian Oil fields in Sinai.
What I (in 2008), and apparently President Ronald Reagan (in 1981) forgot was that Israel had received something tangible from the Americans in return for the unilateral withdrawal from the oil fields: "the tangible benefit for Israel from its agreement to a unilateral withdrawal from the Egyptian oil fields was a presidential letter from President Ford concerning the vital importance of Israel holding on to the Golan Heights, which Israel had taken from Syria in 1967 following 19 years of Syrian shelling on Israel’s northern communities from the towering Golan Heights, and Syria’s incessant attacks from the Golan on the Sea of the Galilee – Israel’s only fresh water resource, from where Israel’s National Water Carrier pumps water to the whole country."
In the letter, Gerald Ford, 38th President of the U.S. gave an assurance that "The U.S. will support the position that an overall settlement with Syria in the framework of a peace agreement must assure Israel's security from attack from the Golan Heights. The U.S. further supports the position that a just and lasting peace, which remains our objective, must be acceptable to both sides. The U.S. has not developed a final position on the borders. Should it do so it will give great weight to Israel's position that any peace agreement with Syria must be predicated on Israel remaining on the Golan Heights."
.@SecPompeo: “Tonight President Trump made the decision to recognize...[the Golan Heights] is proper to be a sovereign part of the State of Israel. The people of Israel should know the battles they fought, the lives that they lost on that very ground, were worthy and meaningful.” pic.twitter.com/o7K3il7mKk
Faith in ancient promises, wonder at modern miracles, and a deep conviction that evil forces must not prevail against the Middle East’s most vibrant democracy
It never fails. Whenever a Republican president makes a controversial or contentious move to support Israel — such as moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, or yesterday’s decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights — you’ll see various “explainers” and other stories that purport to inform progressives why the American Evangelical community is so devoted to the nation of Israel.
The explanation goes something like this — Evangelicals believe that the rebirth of Israel is hastening not just the second coming of Christ, but a particular kind of second coming, one that includes fire, fury, and war that will consume the Jewish people. The pithy, tweet-length version of this analysis comes from progressive Young Turks host Cenk Uygur:
You know what's REAL anti-semitism? Right-wing Evangelical Christians supporting Israel because they think it will bring about the End Times where all of the Jews die. Worst anti-Semitism in the world!
Thus, the political marriage between American Evangelicals and Israelis represents a cynical form of mutual exploitation. Evangelicals support Israel to hasten the apocalypse, while Israelis (who obviously don’t believe Christian eschatology) are happy to humor the Evangelical community and milk that support for tourist dollars and political power.
But the true narrative of American Christian support for Israel is substantially different. The intellectual and theological roots of Christian Zionism do not rest in end-times prophesies but rather in Old Testament promises. Last month Samuel Goldman at Tablet wrote an outstanding piece explaining the centuries-old history and legacy of Christian support for Jewish claims to the Holy Land. After tracing Christian support for a Jewish Israel to the Reformation, he writes this:
These arguments were products of the emphases on the plain meaning of Scripture and the theological significance of covenants that characterized Calvinism. Before the Reformation, most Christians read prophecies like Ezekiel’s as allegories for the transformation of the “carnal” Israel descended from the patriarchs into the “spiritual Israel” represented by the Church. Calvin and his followers, by contrast, insisted that allegorical interpretations were permitted only when literal ones made no sense. But why was it nonsensical to believe that the Jews might be reconstituted as a nation and return to their own land?
Jerusalem Dateline: CBN Exclusive with Secretary Pompeo in Jerusalem 3/22/19
Israel celebrates Trump's decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over Golan Heights; plus CBN News exclusive interview with US Secretary of State Pompeo - from geo-politics to faith; and Purim, the Jewish people celebrate deliverance then and now. (h/t Elder of Lobby)
When faced with these allegations, Israel-haters’ turn to one of
their favorite conspiracy theories - “Israel created HAMAS” – and try to use it
blame Israel for HAMAS wrongdoings.
This theory is pushed by the PLO, blaming Israel for the divide
in Palestinian society between PLO and HAMAS. PLO leader Arafat said
"Hamas is a creature of Israel".
In fact, before Hamas came into existence, an non-violent
Islamic charity operated in Gaza. Israel did not object to it nor did it have
legal justification to ban it.
Once the charity morphed into the terrorist organization Hamas,
Israel banned it and arrested and deported its leaders.
1984 – Ahmed Yassin and others were jailed by Israel
1985 - Yassin was released as part of the Jibril Agreement
1987 - Yassin co-founded the "paramilitary wing" of
the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood, becoming its spiritual leader
Aug 1988 – Paramilitary wing is renamed Hamas and Hamas Covenant is published
May 1989 - Yassin was arrested by Israel and sentenced to life
in prison
Oct 1989 - Israel declared Hamas an illegal terrorist
organization
Dec 1992 – After a murder of an Israeli policeman by HAMAS,
Israel arrests 1200 HAMAS activists and deports 415 of them to Lebanon.
The Islamic charity Mujama al-Islamiya was established in Gaza
by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 1973, and started to offer clinics, blood banks, day
care, medical treatment, meals and youth clubs, playing an important role for
providing social care, particularly those living in refugee camps. It also
extended financial aid and scholarships to young people who wanted to study in
Saudi Arabia and the West. Mujama al-Islamiya was quiescent and
non-confrontational towards Israel. In 1979 it was recognized by Israel and
allowed the organization to build mosques, clubs, schools, and a library in
Gaza.
At this point in time, Israel had no evidence of terrorist
activities that would justify banning the charity organization.
Even those testimonies brought as support for the theory, e.g. Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Segev (Israeli
military governor in Gaza in the early 1980s) and Avner Cohen (former
religious affairs official in Gaza) say that Israel tolerated or even
encouraged the Islamic charity in the 1970’s and early 1980’s before it became
HAMAS. Those same officials who implemented that tolerant policy, think it was
a mistake. Most of them admit they realize that only in retrospect and all
agree that even if Israel didn’t fight the Islamists at that early stage, it
was due to negligence, not an attempt to strengthen them.
- David Hacham, an Arab affairs
expert who worked for the Israeli military in Gaza in the late 1980s and early
’90s, said: “When I look back at the chain of events I think we made a
mistake…But at the time nobody thought about the possible results.”
- Brig. Gen. Shalom Harari, a military intelligence officer,
says that warnings were ignored due to neglect, not a desire to fortify the
Islamists: "Israel never financed Hamas. Israel never armed Hamas."
- Roni Shaked, a former Shin Bet officer and author of a book on
Hamas, says Sheikh Yassin and his followers had a long-term perspective whose
dangers were not understood at the time.
In other words, at worst, Israel may be guilty of negligence, by
failing to predict that the innocent-looking Islamic charity would, several
years later, turn into an Islamist jihadist terrorist organization. At that
stage Israel didn't try to ban it which may or may not have been successful
even if Israel tried to.
That’s a far cry from the false claim that “Israel created
HAMAS”.
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David Collier on the antisemitism denial industry
Independent writer and researcher David Collier has released a new 270-page report in which he went undercover into a secret Facebook group to expose key Jewish anti-Zionist and antisemitic activists and their relations with people who share materials from Neo-Nazis and white supremacist websites.
“These Jewish activists are most vocal at suggesting there is little or no antisemitism,” Collier explains. But in private, “They belittle or joke about the allegations.”
Who are they joking with about antisemitism?
According to Collier, these activists are laughing about antisemitism with people who post white supremacist material, Holocaust denial and take their keys from Holocaust denial websites.
“They say that as a Zionist, I am the enemy,” Collier notes in a film on the report. “But these Jewish activists spend time attacking Israel alongside people who share material from Nazi sites. Those people are their allies, and I am the enemy.”
He cites several examples, such as BDS activist Ariel Gold. She is a member of Code Pink. In a Facebook post, independent journalist, researcher Ariyana Love is complaining about being called an antisemite, “Ariel jumps in to calm her down.
“She doesn’t ask what happened or what was said,” notes Collier.
Then he demonstrates that Love shares antisemitic content, including from the “Renegade Tribune,” a well-known white separatist, Holocaust denying, historical revisionist, neo-Nazi website established in 2012 by Kyle Hunt. In one post, she said that 6 million Jews dying in the Holocaust was a hoax.
In a room below the United Nation Human Rights Council which once again condemned Israel and the IDF one day after a deadly terror attack in the West Bank, sat a number of IDF reservists who wanted one thing: To tell their side of the story which has been ignored by the world body.
“We are here not for the State of Israel, but for us,” said Eli Bogdan, a former squad commander in the IDF. “In many combat operations civilians are being used by militants in order for them to carry out attacks and escape. How come the IDF is being condemned and not Hamas which uses their own women and children as human shields?”
Bogdan is part of My Truth, an organization established following Operation Protective Edge in 2014 by Avihai Shorshan, which collects signed testimonies and photographs from combat operations between 2004-2018 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that attest to the use of human shields and other human rights violations by Hamas and other terror groups.
The organization has documented testimonies from dozens of former combat soldiers, including several who just recently finished their military service and were posted along the Gaza border fence during the “March of Return” protests.
For these soldiers, who still serve in their reserve duty, the front lines are not only in the West Bank or Gaza Strip. It’s everywhere they go, and against everything they hear.
Several volunteers of the organization – who continue to do their reserve service in the IDF – flew into Geneva on Sunday with the goal of sharing their stories from the front lines.
“The war we are fighting where Hamas takes the fight towards civilians is a very hard war to fight,” Bogdan said at a panel alongside NGO Monitor and UN Watch. “They hide not because they have nowhere to hide, but because they know how the IDF acts. This is the worst violation of human rights in the world, they are using their own women and children.”
Twenty eight per cent of British Jews say that antisemitism is now the single most important issue in deciding which party to vote for — nearly double the next issue, Brexit, on 15 per cent with the economy on 13 per cent.
The poll, conducted by Survation for the Jewish Leadership Council and given exclusively to the JC, also found that 96 per cent say antisemitism is “important” in deciding which party to support.
Despite claims by Labour to be making progress on dealing with antisemitism, the poll shows that attitudes among British Jews have solidified and are effectively unchanged since a similar JC poll last August.
In that poll, nearly 40 per cent said they would “seriously consider” emigrating if Jeremy Corbyn became Prime Minister. That number has now risen to 42 per cent.
In this latest JC poll, of 757 British Jews conducted between February 18 and March 15, 86 per cent say they believe there are significant levels of antisemitism among Labour’s members and representatives — the same figure as in August 2018.
Similarly, 87 per cent of the Jewish community believe Jeremy Corbyn is himself antisemitic, up from 86 per cent in August 2018.
Only one per cent believe the Conservative leader, Theresa May, is antisemitic. (h/t Zvi)
If you search for "Jewish peace organizations" on Google, its algorithm provides you with all the groups it feels you are most likely asking for, based on Google's analysis of their websites and articles.
Here's what Google provides as the answer:
After "Jewish Voice for Peace" and J-Street, it lists the Palestinian National Authority - and Hamas.
If you look at the Hamas webpage in English, it looks startlingly like one of the Jewish "peace groups." And it is no coincidence that Hamas in English emphasizes "rights" and "justice" while in Arabic it stresses martyrdom and violence.
Indeed, these "peace organizations" have a lot in common with Hamas. They all cynically use the language of "rights" and "justice" to weaken or destroy the Jewish state.
They don't care about peace or rights or justice for Jews in Israel. They only care about rights and "justice" for Palestinian Arabs - where the Palestinians themselves are the judge and jury, ready to veto anything but their maximal demands. Of course Hamas has a lot in common with these pseudo-Jewish "peace" organizations!
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The restoration of part of the Jewish people to part of its historic, indigenous territory did not need ratification by the League of Nations or the U.N. Jews lived there from the beginning – sometimes only a remnant, and after 70 C.E. under various occupations, and in increasing numbers beginning in the 19th century. Its capital was never anyone else’s capital. To be a modern, independent state, however, the Jewish people accepted the international standards of the 20th century – the Balfour Declaration, with an endorsement by the U.S. Congress in 1922, the League of Nations, and the United Nations – in support of its sovereign status.
That’s it. The fact that the Arab States not only did not accept those standards, but went to war more than once to turn the clock back has nothing to do with anything.
As we mourn the passing of Moshe Arens — Israeli patriot and diplomat, defense minister and aeronautical engineer, we quote him. “According to the second law of thermodynamics there are no reversible processes in nature. Nothing can return exactly to its original state. This law may not hold in international relations, but the exceptions are few and far between.”
The U.N. may have a better chance of reversing the laws of thermodynamics than of bringing Syria to accept its obligations under U.N. Resolution 242.
But in 1967, the U.N. was smarter than that. Resolution 242 did not confirm some nebulous “right to exist” for Israel; that was established. It didn’t even call for “peace” as its ultimate aim. Instead, it required “a just and lasting peace in which every State in the area can live in security.” Peace was the condition that would provide security – and security for a sovereign Israel was the endgame.
How long is Israel required to wait? It has been almost 52 years since Syria lost the Golan Heights as a result of aggression from that space that began before the independence of Israel. It is 45 years since Israel repulsed the aggression of the Yom Kippur War.
It is appropriate for the world to ratify Israel’s right, not to minimal or shaky “existence,” but rather to “secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force” on the Golan.
Donald Trump once again overturned decades of U.S. policy via Twitter when he declared on Thursday that the United States should recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a disputed territory Israel seized in the 1967 war with Syria. The area, he wrote, is “of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!”
The timing of the announcement, ahead of Israeli elections on April 9, drew immediate accusations that it was aimed to benefit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces a competitive campaign as well as a looming indictment over alleged corruption. Following the move of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem last May, this was the second time that Trump reversed long-standing U.S. positions on Israel, appearing to offer a major gift to the Israeli prime minister without any obvious concessions in return. Yet the push for Trump to make such a move has been going on for more than a year, due to parallel efforts by Israeli officials and members of Congress.
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas was already drafting a plan to reinforce Israel’s control over the territory, which it effectively annexed in 1981, last summer. The rationale at the time had less to do with Israeli politics than with Iran, which was consolidating strength in Syria via its proxy Hezbollah and directly threatening Israel’s borders. The issue was also being discussed at the highest levels of the State Department and the National Security Council, according to Mark Dubowitz, who co-wrote a February 2017 op-ed calling for the Golan recognition and was engaged in the discussions. The National Security Council would not comment on internal discussions, and the State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the meantime, the Cruz plan was rolling along, and it was introduced as a Senate resolution co-sponsored by the Republican Tom Cotton in December. That was only days before Trump announced, also via tweet, his intention to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. Trump has since partially reversed that policy, and the administration now says it intends to keep about 400 troops in Syria.
Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon wrote, "We are at the beginning of a historic moment for the State of Israel. President Trump once again proves the strength of the alliance between the US and Israel. The time has come for the world to recognize that the Golan Heights is an inseparable part of the State of Israel."
A spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres responded with no comment when asked for reaction to Trump’s tweet.
Last month Guterres’ Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen was dismissive when asked about a push by Congress to recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli territory. He told reporters, “Obviously the Security Council is very clear that Golan is Syrian territory.”
Under former Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, passed a law in 1981 that officially annexed the Golan Heights. Begin cited serious security threats from Syria including the threat of missile attacks. Days later the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution that condemned the move, adding to its resolution 242 of 1967 that called for the removal of Israeli forces from its recently conquered territory during the Six-Day War.
U.N Security Council Resolution 497 from 1981 stated in part “that the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights is null and void and without international legal effect.”
Eugene Kontorovich, a professor of international law at George Mason University in Washington, D.C., and director of international law at the Jerusalem-based Kohelet Policy Forum, told Fox News the resolution, “is not binding and has no legal force; it was merely a statement of the Council’s opinion. The U.S. has a sovereign right to disagree.”
Kontorovich, who has advised senior members of the U.S. administration on the Golan Heights, praised what he described as Trump’s courage. “Only a clear statement that the Golan is part of Israel can deter Iranian and Syrian attempts to challenge Israel’s control. While American politicians of all stripes claim they support Israel’s control of the Golan, most lacked the courage to translate this into the necessary diplomatic language of sovereignty - until Pres. Trump.”
Prof. Eugene Kontorovich tells us: “I think it’s quite clear it’s not about the Israeli elections. And one reason it’s not about the Israeli elections is because support for Israeli sovereignty over the Golan is across the board. Bibi gets a lot of credit for this result, but so does Yair Lapid and people from Gantz’s party have worked hard for this result. This is truly a national project in Israel. And it’s good for everyone in Israel, it’s not a partisan issue in Israel.”
“Trump could have waited just a few days and announced this during the AIPAC conference, which would be a feather in AIPAC’s hat. But there’s a reason he didn’t, and I think the reason is that AIPAC was actually not pushing for a recognition of sovereignty. AIPAC was pushing — and you can see from their statement about this — for something that every last Democrat would approve of, a statement that Israel should retain control of the Golan Heights, which is a big difference. And what I think Trump is showing is that he is adopting a position that is more favorable to Israel than what AIPAC encouraged, and he is stealing AIPAC’s thunder by doing this before their conference.”
The day on which we read the eternal sentence from the Book of Esther (8:16): "The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor," which was uttered when salvation arrived after great despair – on that very day, Purim – we learned about another wonderful gift from the 45th president of the U.S., Donald Trump. He was recognizing Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights. Trump, as usual, put the news out on Twitter. A tweet of new heights!
After President Trump's historic tweet, I couldn't help but remember the funeral of former Syrian President Hafez Assad, which I covered in 2000. In the streets of Damascus, I saw Syrian women mourning the dead president, crying, "Who will hold onto the Golan for us?" I'm sorry to disappoint you, Syrian people, it looks like no one will give you back the Golan.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman was interviewed in the Israel Hayom Rosh Hashanah supplement and told diplomatic correspondent Ariel Kahana that he believed the Golan Heights could remain in Israel's hands forever and certainly wouldn't be returned to the current president of Syria, Assad's son Bashar.
I can't imagine a circumstance where the Golan Heights will be returned to Syria. I cannot imagine, frankly, a circumstance where the Golan Heights is not a part of Israel forever. There's not even an indigenous population in the Golan Heights seeking autonomy. … You'd put Israel at a great security disadvantage by giving up the high ground of the Golan Heights. … I can't think of a less deserving person to receive this kind of reward than Bashar Assad," Friedman said.
Last week during the #Digitell19 conference, we went to Mitzpe Ramon to see the largest "erosion cirque" in the world (all of them are in Israel or Egypt:)
Makhtesh Ramon (Hebrew: מכתש רמון; lit. Ramon Crater/Makhtesh ; Arabic: وادي الرمان) is a geological feature of Israel's Negev desert. Located at the peak of Mount Negev, some 85 km south of the city of Beersheba, the landform is not an impact crater from a meteor nor a volcanic crater formed by a volcanic eruption, but rather is the world's largest "erosion cirque" (steephead valley or box canyons). The formation is 40 km long, 2–10 km wide and 500 meters deep, and is shaped like an elongated heart. The only settlement in the area is the small town of Mitzpe Ramon (מצפה רמון, "Ramon Lookout") located on the northern edge of the depression. Today the area forms Israel's largest national park, the Ramon Nature Reserve.
Click on each panorama to see the real beauty in the Negev. The first two are from the middle of the crater:
The next two are from the edge of the crater, including a view of the attendees of the conference:
It is quite breathtaking.
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Sunday, March 24, 2019
Elder of Ziyon
