Tuesday, July 16, 2019
Elder of Ziyon
cartoon of the day
Tuesday, July 16, 2019Elder of Ziyonolive oilPalestinian solidarity activists in North America are accustomed to being abandoned by many of their “progressive allies”, be it church officials or municipal councils or politicians. This is the sad reality of working in today’s political landscape, where opportunism runs rampant and the pro-Israel lobby has often succeeded in dominating the agenda with its relentless smear and intimidation campaigns. But the cut runs deeper and is profoundly more devastating when it is a long-time genuine ally that enables the Zionist settler colonialist narrative; such is the case with the recent visit of a Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) delegation to Cuba and their presentation at a climate conference in Havana. A visit that besmirches the long history of joint struggle and solidarity between the Cuban and Palestinian peoples.It is funny that the only place to find good news about Israel is in a virulently anti-Israel publication. As the good guys despair over the gains that seem to be made by the Israel haters, the haters are despairing more over how they have lost their previously-reliable allies!
The land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea has been inhabited for millennia, this much is indisputable. Jericho, Jerusalem, Jenin, and Jaffa are all some of the oldest cities in the world, having been continuously settled since before 2000 BCE.
However, just about everything else about this land is contentious, right down to the name. Palestinian historians such as Nur Masalha and key members of the Palestinian leadership as high as Mahmoud Abbas have claimed that the Palestinians are descendants of ancient peoples such as the Canaanites and Philistines, and that it is from this connection that the name “Palestine” is derived.
Bearing in mind that nationalism as we understand it is in and of itself a 19th-century phenomenon, it’s worth asking if the Palestinian claims are true.
Did the name Palestine come from the people, or did the people take their name from the place?
There are two primary sources for the region which is variously known today as Israel, Palestine, the Levant, and Canaan: archaeology and the Bible. While there are differences between the two, archaeologists and historians agree that the general narrative of the Bible is correct: Canaanites ruled the Levant before being pushed out by the ancient Hebrews, who then fought with the Philistines until invading empires conquered both tribes.
The name “Palestine” first appeared in Herodotus’ 5th century BCE histories to describe the coastal area of the Levant where the Philistines lived, before Romans applied it to the whole of the area following the suppression of the Bar Kochba Revolt of 132 CE. Thereafter, the word Palestine applied to the whole of the land, and subsequent rulers identified it as such.
Welcome to the wounded world of George Orwell’s Winston Smith: “War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.” Add to this – “Jesus was a Palestinian.” This Palestinian Jesus is a distant cousin of Nazi Germany’s Aryan Jesus. I never believed Jesus was my savior. He was a failed messiah. I respect Christians for their beliefs. But Jesus was born a Jew, was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth, lived and preached as a Jew in the Galilee, and was executed by Rome as a Jewish rebel. Those who deny that Jesus was a Jew are engaged in “Land of Israel Denial.” These are the same folks who erase from the history books the Hebrew Bible, the Merneptah Stela, Jerusalem’s City of David, the Tel Dan inscription, the Shalmanesser III Obelisk, the stela of Mesha the Moabite, the Hasmonean coins, the Western Wall, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Bar-Kochba letters, the Beit Alpha synagogue mosaic, the Mishna, the Midrash, the paytan cantorial poets. And of course, the clay stamp of Baruch ben Neriyah. Deny the Holocaust. Deny the ancient origin of our people in Eretz Yisrael. Deny Jewish history. Deny literary and archaeological evidence. Deny history and prostitute it to ideology.HonestReporting: Do Arab Israelis Really Suffer From Apartheid?
Add to Orwell’s newspeak: Zionism is imperialism. This lie equates Jews fleeing the pogroms and poverty from the Russian Pale of Settlement with the colonial ambitions of great empires in India, the Congo, and Algeria. I am not the descendant of Khazars whose elite converted to Judaism in the eighth century. This is yet another lie that epitomizes “Eretz Yisrael Denial.” The overwhelming proof from the Bible, historical scholarship, and archaeology is that the origin point of the Jews is the Land of Israel. Ben-Tekoa writes: “The re-birth of the Jewish commonwealth is a direct slap in the face to Islam’s plagiarized image as Allah’s chosen people who are destined to rule the world – versus the millions of Christians whose faith has survived and even been energized by the return of the Jews to their common bible’s promised land. Under Islam, by contrast, the existence of Israel is a mortal threat to the very existence of Islamic belief.” Ben-Tekoa’s most interesting theme is the role that the Algerian war to throw out the colonial French only a few years before the emergence of the PLO and al-Fatah played a central role in transforming a Muslim struggle to destroy the Jews into the rebellion of a Palestinian nation against Zionist occupiers. This is not about a 100-year political struggle between two nations. It is grounded in religion and history dating back 1,400 years.
My given name includes the title of the chief deity of the ancient Canaanites, a name that was transformed into one of those of the God of Israel. The relationship between Canaanite culture and religion and that of ancient Israelite religion and culture is still being debated. But the point is moot. If the Canaanites are, indeed, the original denizens of the Land of Canaan – that was thousands of years ago and does not reflect today’s reality. My name says more about “indigenous peoples” than any propaganda spewed at the UN. How many more lies will the world embrace? This attack on the Jewish people – on the reality of the existence of Jeremiah and his scribe Baruch ben Neriyah – is the product of a false narrative that is worthy of George Orwell’s ministry of truth.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines apartheid as “a political system in which people of different races are separated.” Oxford defines it as “a policy of system of segregation on grounds of race.” Two dictionaries specifically relate this word to South Africa. Merriam-Webster defines “apartheid” as “racial segregation specifically: a former policy of segregation and political and economic discrimination against non-European groups in the Republic of South Africa.” The Collins dictionary says, “apartheid was a political system in South Africa in which people were divided into racial groups and kept apart by law.”
Arabs make up about 20 percent of Israel’s population. A simple study of the Israeli political situation shows that Arab Israelis hold positions in the highest levels of legislative branch (the Knesset), the executive branch (the Israeli cabinet) and the judicial branch (the Supreme Court) something which could not happen in an apartheid society.
The only legal distinction between Jews and Arabs is that Arabs are not required to serve in the Israel Defense Forces. This policy came from David Ben Gurion’s decision not to put Arab Israelis in a position of having to fight fellow Arabs. Volunteers are accepted, and the number of Arab Israelis in the IDF is growing modestly. One can read about people like the IDF’s highest ranking Arab officer, the mostly-Arab Desert Reconnaissance Battallion (a.k.a. Gadsar), an observant Muslim woman serving in an infantry battalion, as well as Arab Christian soldiers. Six Arab Israelis have even received the IDF’s highest decoration, the Medal of Distinguished Service.
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Tuesday, July 16, 2019Elder of Ziyon
A sample exam paper for Year 12 students claimed as fact that Israel has persecuted Arabs by demolishing their homes because “they don’t follow the Jewish religion”.Before the paper was recalled, it was defended:
The Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation last night agreed to recall all copies of the practice assessment task meant for Health and Human Development students, following a complaint from a prominent Jewish school in Melbourne.
The paper, part of the council’s 2019 package of school-assessed coursework tasks, known as SACs, that are provided to schools for a fee, contains questions and answers, including one asking students to demonstrate how religious discrimination affects mental health and wellbeing.
According to the sample answer provided: “An example of an individual being persecuted for their religion could be the Arab families living in Israel who practise the Islam religion rather than the Jewish religion. Including unlawful demolition of homes and forced displacement and detainment of these families.” It claims that “when a person is discriminated against … it could push a person to become more dogmatic in following their religion, possibly leading to extremism”.
The council, a professional body representing health and physical education teachers, initially defended the document.This is the real problem.
“We make sure that for the answers we provided, there would be evidence for them,” said professional learning manager Bernie Holland, adding SACs were written by four expert teachers and reviewed by two others.
Tuesday, July 16, 2019Elder of Ziyon
I was among the handful who began seeing some awful parallels between the 1930s and today. Of course, the 21st century is so much worse because the entire world is involved in defaming Israel and the Jews; now, it is not merely one country or one continent—but via the internet, the Big lies are proclaimed 24/7, and in every language on earth.Antisemitism Is a Stain on the French Republic
History never repeats itself in exactly the same way and so I must ask: Are we really living in the 1930s? Jews are being menaced and murdered on the streets of Europe; that’s happened many times before (but not at Muslim hands which is now the case). However, Jews are also fleeing Europe and that’s new. Most Jews refused or could not do so in the 30s.
Jews are being shot down in American synagogues, cemeteries are being vandalized, young Jews are being slandered and shamed on American campuses. Black face-masked and violent brownshirt-style mobs occupy the streets, the academy, and the internet.
Just recently at the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) conference in Washington, D.C., more than one hundred angry pro-Palestine demonstrators tried to violently storm the building. They were prevented from doing so.
But there’s more. Our infra-structure has been so fully penetrated that the Jew- and Israel-hating propaganda keeps cropping up everywhere.
Unfortunately, this year, I regret to say that France sometimes finds it difficult to realize its beautiful values. Beyond the grand declarations, France finds it hard to wage an effective battle against rising antisemitism, in particular its new embodiment as hatred of Israel, which has resulted in the murder of 12 French Jews in recent years.BDS Pressure Can’t — and Won’t — Stop Musicians from Performing in Israel
On the French right, including among lawmakers from President Emmanuel Macron’s party, the hatred of Israel and the United States in general, and of Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in particular, is blatant; I experience it every day. Iran denies the Holocaust, announces its intention to develop nuclear weapons, and openly declares its desire to wipe the State of Israel — where, by the way, some 150,000 French citizens live — off the map. But Europe and France continue to respond passively.
Paris recently named a square in the center of the city after Jerusalem at a dedication ceremony attended by the mayors of both cities. Yet despite the festive atmosphere, France refuses to recognize Israel’s capital and the capital of the Jewish people, talking instead of “occupation” and supporting the city’s division. This is unfortunate because no peace can come from a historic lie.
My concern is no longer just for the Jews, but for France in its entirety. But I have hope, and I want to remain optimistic. France has proved in the past that it knows how to stand on the side of democracy and freedom. That is why I wish France a clear view of reality, and to remain loyal to the lofty ideals that make the French such a special nation.
Even when artists do succumb to BDS pressure, it does not necessarily mean they support BDS’s agenda. Many artists simply do not wish to have their art politicized. Other times, BDS has made the atmosphere so toxic with their threats and intimidation, that artists cancel because they fear BDS attacks on their physical safety or damage to their careers.
Naturally, during times of major conflict such as Operation Protective Edge in 2014, cancellations spike for safety reasons, and artists frequently rebook when things quiet down.
Certainly, however, BDS has racked up some “wins.” In 2018, both New Zealand songstress Lorde, and American singer and songwriter Lana Del Rey, canceled their scheduled concert dates under BDS pressure. By and large, however, cancellations in support of BDS remain rare.
When artists bow to BDS pressure — out of agreement or as a result of bullying and intimidation — they unwittingly become political pawns. Apolitical intentions are eclipsed, hate groups claim victory, and Israeli audiences of all faiths miss out.
To BDS proponents, however, the campaign to destroy Israel is not a zero-sum game where their nominal wins are offset by Israel’s greater wins. For BDS, much like terrorists, the occasional success sustains them and generates much sought-after publicity for their mission.
But as long as artists continue to love their fans and to place their art above politics, music will continue to be heard — and hearts will be lifted — across concert grounds in Israel.
Monday, July 15, 2019Elder of Ziyonanalysis, Divest This
Monday, July 15, 2019Elder of Ziyon
These remarks do not reflect the official stances of Hamas and its policy, which state that our struggle is only against the Israeli occupation which occupies our land and desecrates our holy places. Again, our struggle is not with Jews elsewhere or with Judaism as a religion. Hamas has condemned and continues to condemn any attacks against the Jews and their worship houses worldwide.Hamad's press release stated:
Professor Fathi Hammad, a member of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, insists on the policy of the movement to limit its resistance against the Zionist occupation, which is raping the land of Palestine and desecrating its sanctities, which is always expressed by Hamas in its political behavior.The thing is that Hamad's speech was a bit more than just the threat to worldwide Jews.
Our resistance to this tyrannical entity will continue in all forms, whether armed or through the peaceful popular struggle represented by the great return marches.
It is jihad, victory or martyrdom.
"We say to the Zionist enemy that it has exactly one week – until next Friday. If it does not lift the siege by then, and if it does not implement the understandings [with Hamas]... We have many methods and means up our sleeves, and they are just waiting for the green light to powerfully explode in the face of the enemy, Allah willing. They think that we are rational people. Well, we aren't. The people of Gaza are not rational. For 70 years in Gaza, the Zionist enemy tried to change our genes. [Our genes] have not changed. On the contrary, they have progressed even more, and they are ready to blow up in the face of the enemies, Allah willing. You have one week, oh Zionist enemy! If you do not lift the siege... Well, we will not die standing [idly by]. We will not die of starvation. If we die, it will be while we are killing you and cutting off your heads, Allah willing.Hamas and Hamad did not deny that they have people abroad, "preparing," for a year and a half, to attack foreign sites if asked.
[...]
"If you don't lift the siege, we will explode in the faces of our enemies, Allah willing. And the explosion won't just be in Gaza – it will also be in the West Bank and abroad, Allah willing. Our brothers abroad are still preparing. They are warming up... They have been warming up for a year and a half... Oh, you seven million Palestinians abroad, enough warming up! There are Jews everywhere! We must attack every Jew on planet Earth – we must slaughter and kill them, with Allah's help. Enough warming up!
[...]
"And I say to those in the West Bank: How long will you sit in silence? You can buy knives for five shekels! How much is the neck of a Jew worth to us – isn't it worth five shekels, or even less?
[...]
"By Allah, [the Jews] will be killed by our [explosive] belts, Allah willing! There are new factories for [explosive] belts and they are up and running. Anybody who wants one can wait his turn... you can have one, and you, and you... Go!
[...]
"May the mediators and the Zionist enemy hear this message! If we die, we die – but we will die with honor, while attacking, and not while retreating! We will die while exploding and cutting the necks and legs of the Jews! We will lacerate them and tear them to pieces, Allah willing."
With all of this in mind, we can now return to the question of whether international law exists. Surely it does, but not everything that is passed off as international law qualifies as international law. The UN General Assembly has, by the UN’s own Charter, no power to make any binding decisions whatsoever. The Security Council does have real power, but far less than is commonly assumed. In the case of a breach of international peace, it has the power, when acting under Chapter VII of the Charter, to authorize enforcement actions, including economic sanctions and the use of force.Khaled Abu Toameh: The Hamas March to Destroy Israel
In U.S. constitutional terms, this is essentially an executive function. The Security Council is emphatically not an international legislature: it does not have the power to rewrite international law, let alone to make a special law for a particular country. Nor is it an international court: it cannot make binding determinations about the content of international law. It is free to offer up, as recommendations, its opinions about the content of international law and its application to particular cases. But others, including Israel, remain free to test the validity of these claims. If the principles endorsed by the Security Council in the case of Israel contradict international law as it applies to other countries, they do not become more valid by dint of a vote in the Security Council.
Law, as Friedrich Hayek explained, is a system of general rules promulgated for unknown future cases. As we have seen, the UN’s judgments on Jerusalem do not comport with the general rules. Rather, they are at best fiats, particular decrees directed solely at Israel that are delivered ultra vires (beyond granted powers). In that respect, too, they are neither international nor are they law.
There is no parallel to the international fixation with the non-binding, long since moot, and moribund Resolution 181, and the same can be said for Security Council Resolution 470, cited by Gurfinkiel, that in 1980 denounced Israel’s parliament for a law enshrining Jerusalem as the country’s capital. In numerous other contexts where the UN has expressed an opinion about a desired resolution to a territorial conflict, that opinion is not regarded as a permanent divine dictate once events have rendered it moot.
Indeed, the same year the General Assembly adopted Resolution 181, the Security Council passed a resolution that, rather than merely contemplating an “international city,” actually created one: the “Free Territory of Trieste.” That “permanent” arrangement ended with the unceremonious annexation of the territory by Italy and Yugoslavia. Who today recalls Security Council Resolution 16 for the purpose of questioning Italian or Croatian sovereignty over the defunct Free Territory?
Similarly, Security Council resolutions from 1948 about the partition of Kashmir have been ignored in every respect and inform nobody’s present understanding of India’s borders. Kofi Annan himself, the former UN secretary general, noted that the Security Council’s Kashmir resolutions were not clear mandates and not “self-enforcing.” That much of the world sees a mere General Assembly resolution of the same vintage as binding on Israel (but not on the Palestinians) says a great deal about international politics, but nothing about international law.
By choosing to hold the protests under the banner of the "Three No's," the organizers of the "Great March of Return" have again proven that the weekly demonstrations are not about improving the living conditions of Palestinians or easing restrictions imposed on the Gaza Strip. Instead, the message the organizers are sending to the Palestinians and the rest of the world is: "We don't recognize Israel's right to exist and therefore we will never make negotiate or make peace with it."TIME: The Palestinians Refuse to Recognize the Jewish State in Any Borders
Hamas's two other "No's" – no to recognizing Israel and no to making peace with Israel – do not come as a surprise. In fact, Hamas appears to be reminding Palestinians of its true objectives as outlined in its 1988 charter: "There is no solution for the Palestinian question expect through Jihad (holy war). Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors...[Hamas] believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered."
This is all that Hamas has to offer the Palestinians 12 years after its violent takeover of the Gaza Strip? Sadly, thousands of Palestinians continue to heed Hamas's call for trying to breach the border with Israel every Friday while ignoring that it is their leaders who are mainly responsible for dragging them from one disaster to another.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu interviewed by Brian Bennett and Joseph Hincks
In an interview in Jerusalem on June 25, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "Everybody recognizes that under any realistic peace proposal, there are areas in Judea and Samaria that have already become basically part of Israel....It's a fact. Half of Jerusalem is beyond the proverbial green line. The '67 separation [line]. Does anyone believe that we'll tear up half of Jerusalem? Nobody believes that."
"[The Palestinians] were offered just about everything in Camp David in 2000, with President Clinton and then-Prime Minister Barak, and they walked away from that. They walk away each time. They walked away with Olmert. They walked away when President Obama and John Kerry wanted to propose a framework for negotiations....They serially walk away from any negotiations that will present a workable peace."
"The reason we can't get peace is because nobody goes to the heart of the problem, which is the persistent Palestinian refusal to recognize the Jewish state in any borders."
Monday, July 15, 2019Elder of Ziyon
Monday, July 15, 2019Elder of Ziyon
Countries like Germany, Italy, France and Switzerland, with many Jews among their population, allow their territory to be used as a base for the Jews to fight the Arabs. If Italy, for instance, is a base against the Arabs, the Arabs have a right to use Italy as a base against the Jews.Fallaci, a real reporter, responded back with, "No, Dr. Habash, Italy is not used as a Jewish base, nor is Germany, France or Switzerland. "
The attacks of the Popular Front are based on quality, not quantity. We believe that to kill a Jew far from the battleground has more of an effect than killing 100 of them in battle; it attracts more attention. And when we set fire to a store in London, those few flames are worth the burning down of two kibbutzim.In 1991, Jamal Nassar—currently a professor of political science, and dean emeritus, at Cal State-San Bernardino - wrote a book about the PLO where he changed the above quote to "To kill a Zionist far from the battleground has more of an effect than killing 100 of them in battle. "
I remember specifically discussing this issue with the late Professor Ibrahim Abu-Lughod who was a renowned expert on Palestinian affairs, a member of the Palestine National Council and former Chair of Political Science at Northwestern University. He told me that he posed the same question to Dr. George Habash who responded that everyone knows what he means, that is his use of the word Jews in that context refers to the Zionists who colonized the Palestinian homeland and those zionists (sic) in the Western World who finance and support that colonization. As such, the change of the word in the quotation was grounded in the intent of Dr. Habash. However, you are correct to point out such a change. I should have included an explanation in the reference.An academic knowingly changed an explicitly antisemitic quote by a terrorist pioneer to make it appear only "anti-Zionist." But he didn't mention in his book that he modified the direct quote, and he lamely says that he should have explained his whitewashing in the book - which he never would have done in reality because it would have only called attention to his fabrication.
Buy EoZ's book, PROTOCOLS: EXPOSING MODERN ANTISEMITISM
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