Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, July 26, 2019

07/26 Link Pt1: Nikki Haley Blasts UN Council for Condemning Israel’s Record on Women’s Rights; PMW: "Auschwitz is here in Palestine" says PA leader Jibril Rajoub; Is Boris Johnson 'good for the Jews'

From Ian:

Similarly, the fact that Judea and Samaria have always been considered by Jews to be part of their patrimony of the Land of Israel; or that they were an undisputed part of the territory promised to the Jewish people as its “national home” by the 1917 Balfour Declaration, subsequently ratified by the League of Nations; or that the 1949 armistice line between Israel and Jordan, drawn at the end of Israel’s War of Independence, was never recognized by Jordan as more than a makeshift demarcation that would be erased by Israel’s destruction; or that it was Jordan that started the 1967 fighting; or that the UN’s post-1967 resolution 242 did not require Israel to withdraw from all of the West Bank; or that Jordan ceded its claim to the area to the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1988; or that many of the administrative powers there have been delegated by Israel to the Palestinian Authority (PA); or that the PA itself has not taken the kind of steps that might enable the “Occupation” to end—all of this, though true, doesn’t change the letter of the law.

Indeed, starting with 1967, Israel itself repeatedly invoked the Fourth Geneva Convention as a legitimation of its presence in Judea and Samaria, and Israel’s High Court of Justice has accepted this as the basis for various rulings on Israel’s actions there. This was a convenient position for Israeli governments to take. On the one hand, it made it easier for Europe and the United States to accept Israeli control over the West Bank while objecting to some of its features, such as the settlements. On the other hand, it served as an excuse for government after government in Jerusalem to put off making politically difficult decisions about the ultimate disposition of Judea and Samaria by postponing those decisions to a theoretical day when a peace settlement could be negotiated with the Palestinians and the Arab world.

But how long can a “temporary” occupation last? The French and Belgian occupation of the Rhineland after World War I lasted twelve years. The British occupation of Iceland during World War II lasted five years. The postwar U.S. occupation of Japan lasted seven. So did the Allied occupation of Germany. The Israeli “occupation” of Judea and Samaria has lasted 52 years. This strikes the world, not entirely unreasonably, as a perversion of the concept and contributes to giving “the Occupation” its bad name.

It is interesting to compare Israel with some other countries in this respect. India, when it took possession of Kashmir in its 1948 war with Pakistan, didn’t invoke the Fourth Geneva Convention or claim to be “occupying” the territory it conquered. Nor did the Turks in invading Cyprus in 1974 or the Russians in Crimea. All behaved according to the right of conquest. Although all have been or are accused of human-rights violations in these areas, none is today cowering in fear of the wheels of international justice. Nor can they be charged, as Israel repeatedly has been, with hypocritically violating the Fourth Geneva Convention’s provisions, which they never agreed to apply.

Perhaps it is indeed time to begin to “end the Occupation”—not by Israel’s acceding to the demand that it engage in an impossible and undesirable withdrawal from all of Judea and Samaria as demanded by its enemies (with whom IfNotNow needs to be classed) but by its confronting the need to decide, or at least seriously and openly to debate, the area’s permanent future in a way that its governments have avoided doing until now. A 52-year-old occupation, whatever its excuses, is indeed a bit too long.

NGO Monitor Analysis: 41st Session of the UN Human Rights Council

The 41st Session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) (June 24 – July 12) continued the bias and hypocrisy that has come to define the UN in general and the UNHRC in particular. NGO Monitor was present, speaking before the Council and documenting the numerous false accusations made by self-proclaimed human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The statements made during the session and side events by NGO officials, many of which receive large portions of their funding from European governments, are summarized below, highlighting the inflammatory and false allegations.
Item 7

UNHRC Permanent Agenda Item 7, purporting to address Israeli human rights violations, is the only permanent agenda item targeting a single country. Numerous Western countries democracies boycott this agenda item because of this discrimination.

In contrast, NGOs used Item 7 as a platform to promote demonization and BDS. In particular, Human Rights Watch (HRW), Defense for Children International (DCI), and Palestinian groups reinforced and echoed the rhetoric of the “vital importance of item 7” promoted by the dictatorships on the Council.

For example, HRW called for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to publish the discriminatory database of companies doing business over the 1949 Armistice line, which is being prepared by the Council’s bureaucratic arm – the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The purpose of the list is to bolster BDS campaigns against Israel. HRW also delegitimized the concerns raised by Western countries regarding Item 7.

DCI read a statement prepared by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)-linked Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P), calling on the UN to include the IDF on the UN Secretary-General’s list of the worst violators of children’s rights. Offenders currently on the list include Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, and ISIS. (See NGO Monitor’s report “UNICEF and its NGO Working Group” for more on this campaign).

Finally, Palestinian NGOs BADIL and Al-Haq claimed that Israel is preventing Palestinians from adapting to climate change.

Nikki Haley Blasts UN Council for Condemning Israel’s Record on Women’s Rights

Former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley blasted a UN council on Thursday for singling out Israel for alleged violations of women’s rights.

The UN Economic and Social Council resolution was approved by a 40-2 margin, with nine abstentions. Among the countries voting yes were Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Pakistan, all notorious for often misogynistic policies and denying basic rights to females.

“It amazes me how the U.N. condones votes like these,” Haley tweeted. “It is a total mockery of human rights to allow Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, and Yemen to name Israel as the world’s only violator of women’s rights.”

Much of the resolution — which only the US and Canada voted against — did not deal with women’s rights at all, but rather parroted generic anti-Israel rhetoric, accusing the Jewish state of numerous crimes and alleged violations of human rights.

One clause, however, “[r]eaffirms that the Israeli occupation remains a major obstacle for Palestinian women and girls with regard to the fulfilment of their rights, and their advancement, self-reliance and integration in the development of their society.”

LEFT: Morris Abram, civil rights leader & founder of UN Watch, member of UNHRC sub-commission, 1964.

RIGHT: Jean Ziegler, founder of the Moammar Qaddafi Human Rights Prize, member of same body (now called UNHRC Advisory Committee), in session this week.https://t.co/uVAjFGI8Jv pic.twitter.com/uMNUlM5L3I
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) July 25, 2019

Palestine Today has an article about Joseph's Tomb in Schchem (Nablus) and how the semi-regular Jewish pilgrims that visit the site have "turned it into a place that spreads death and blackness to the villagers" who live nearby.

Jews cannot visit without an army escort because otherwise they'd be lynched.

The article goes through a history of the site, saying that Palestinians are divided between believing that it is the tomb of the Biblical Joseph or of an Arab named Yusuf Dweikat.

It quotes a researcher of archeology from An-Najah National University named Louai Abu al-Saud. Al Saud.

Abu Al-Saud did not deny or confirm that the "Prophet Joseph" is buried in this grave, but he said that in case that is proven - from an archeological point of view - that this grave is the grave of Joseph, "then we Palestinians, as Arabs and Muslims, are worthier of ownership of it than the Jews."

Palestinianism is now a replacement theology for Judaism.

(h/t Ibn Botrous)

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Ken Roth, the director of Human Rights Watch, tweeted this yesterday:

Trump blocks a UN Security Council condemnation of Israel's demolition of ten Palestinian apartment buildings. And then Israel complains that the UN Human Rights Council, where there is no veto, is forced to spend more time on it. https://t.co/SxhjetPBbX? pic.twitter.com/ya3tBwvXV5
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) July 25, 2019

Really? The UNHRC was "forced to" write more resolutions against Israel than all other countries combined in its first decade because of the US veto of the UN's one-sided hate of Israel? Is the UNHRC "forced to" create its only permanent single-country agenda item to be aimed at Israel, a practice that has been condemned by other Western nations?

Does Roth think that the recent UN ECOSOC condemnation of Israel as the only country in the world violating women's rights is also a direct result of the US veto in the Security Council?

Of course, Roth has it backwards. The US veto is precisely because of the obsessive bias against Israel in the UN, which predates the UNHRC by decades. Roth has a truly twisted view of the world where he claims that the bias is a result of the US acting morally.

A real defender of human rights would rightfully wonder why the UNHRC ignores so many human rights violations worldwide while singling out Israel every year. A real defender of human rights would notice that UNHRC members are often the worst violators of human rights, and their membership gives them impunity.

But Ken Roth is not a real defender of human rights. He is an obsessive hater of Israel, as this tweet shows.

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Survey of "experts" says the US is one of the worst countries for women

The headline and graphic from Big Think:

Given that it is insane to claim that the US is one of the worst countries on Earth for women, the next question is what was the methodology of the survey.

The article tells us:

Conducted online, by phone and in person between March 26th and May 4th, the survey polled 548 experts on women's issues spread evenly across Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific. Those surveyed included academics and policymakers, healthcare staff and NGO workers, aid and development professionals and social commentators.

They were asked which five of the UN's 193 member states they thought were the most dangerous for women in six areas:
healthcare,
economic resources,
cultural or traditional practices,
sexual violence and harassment,
non-sexual violence, and
human trafficking.

Which means that a significant percentage of the "experts" said that the US was one of the top five worst countries for women, enough for the entire ranking to reach #10.

All this proves is that too many "academics and policymakers, healthcare staff and NGO workers, aid and development professionals and social commentators" are completely useless idiots who have no business calling themselves experts on anything.

Those of us who have observed how "experts" speak about Israel are not too surprised that the US can get the same treatment from clueless academics and NGO workers. The difference is that most people can recognize that this survey is bogus because so many people live in or visit America. In Israel's case, constant exposure to anti-Israel messaging makes the pundits who hate Israel sound more reasonable to those who don't know any better.

The antidote, of course, is to have more people visit Israel and wander around on their own instead of going on tours with an agenda - right or left wing.

Maybe I should lead a tour of Israel where all we do is take a bus to the middle of Ashdod or Abu Ghosh or Nazareth or Bet El and let people go to supermarkets, restaurants, take taxi rides and just hang out and talk to whomever they want for a couple of hours at each site.

Anyone interested?

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07/25 Links Pt2: Peace doesn't exist; neither do the Palestinians; UN Singles Out Israel as World’s Only Violator of Women’s Rights; New PA textbooks are worse than the old ones

From Ian:

Peace doesn't exist; neither do the Palestinians

The pattern here is so obvious that it would take a diplomat or a politician to miss it. That’s why we’ve been mired in it for so long. And the billions of dollars wasted and thousands of lives lost could have been saved if only our leaders had questioned their premises by asking three simple questions.
1. What if the Palestinians don’t want peace?
2. What if there are no Palestinians?
3. What if there’s no such thing as peace?

The three assumptions, that the Palestinians exist, that they want peace, and that enduring peace is an attainable condition in the region, are at the root of the senselessly Sisyphean peace process.

The peace process was launched under the assumption that the PLO really wanted peace. Or at least a deal. Surely, our best and brightest agreed, they couldn’t possibly want an endless war.

And so, the truth was dismissed out of hand. It was too horrible to believe.

Decades of failed negotiations, rafts of Israel concessions, personal involvement by five presidential administrations, billions of dollars, with nothing to show for it, and the truth is still dismissed.

Instead, the official story is that Israel doesn’t want peace. The media echo chamber resounds with a narrative in which Israel has moved sharply to the right and is run by ultra-orthodox religious fanatics.

And Netanyahu, who is hardly anyone’s idea of an ultra-religious fanatic.

UN Watch: UN Singles Out Israel as World’s Only Violator of Women’s Rights; Iran, Saudi Arabia & Yemen Among the Voters

Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Pakistan were among members of the UN’s 54-nation economic and social council, a principal organ of the world body, who voted to single out and condemn Israel yesterday as the only country in the world that violates women’s rights.

The Jewish state was harshly and repeatedly condemned in a resolution, adopted 40 to 2 with 9 abstentions and 3 absent (see breakdown below), for allegedly being the “major obstacle” for Palestinian women “with regard to their advancement, self-reliance, and integration in the development of their society.”

Out of 20 items on the UN Economic and Social Council’s 2018-2019 agenda, only one — Item No. 16 against Israel — focuses on condemning a specific country. All the other focus areas concern global topics such as disaster relief assistance and the use of science and technology for development.

The resolution completely ignores how Palestinian women’s rights are impacted by their own governing authorities—the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and Hamas in Gaza—nor does it mention how women are discriminated against within patriarchal Palestinian society.

Moreover, ECOSOC concluded its annual session by ignoring the world’s worst abusers of women’s rights, refusing to pass a single resolution on the situation of women in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, or DR Congo, all of which ranked in the top ten worst countries in last year’s Global Gender Gap Report, produced by the World Economic Forum.

Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch, condemned the delegates’ abuse of the UN body as a forum to target Israel.

New PA textbooks are worse than the old ones

Since – according to the Palestinian textbooks – there were never any Jewish Temples in Jerusalem, the Western Wall is clearly another recent Zionist-Jewish invention.

The Palestinian “phased plan” to eliminate the "Zionist cancer" from Palestine – which is still in the PLO charter – is diligently taught throughout the curriculum.

Yet the primary concern of PA Education Minister Sabri Saidam is that Israel refuses to use these Palestinian textbooks in Arab-majority schools in Israel or the disputed territories, particularly in Jerusalem. Saidam insists that Israel’s use of versions of the Israeli curriculum for Arab-Israeli kids is “an ugly crime of counterfeit” perpetrated by the “Zionist oppressors.”

Great Britain and the European Union have contributed hundreds of millions to the development and propagation of the Palestinian textbooks and curriculum, but that may be drawing to a close. Both are doing their own reviews of the Palestinian textbooks; each has laws outlawing aid in furtherance of terrorism, incitement, violence and hatred. Their reports are due later this year, and by all rights should spell the end of UK and EU furtherance of this despicable educational charade.

Those who doubt any imminent resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict need look no further than these Palestinian textbooks to become even more pessimistic about a new Palestinian generation leading the way – at long last – to a peaceful future for Arabs and Jews alike. These unfortunate children are being brainwashed by their elders to seek no compromise, but to continue on the suicidal path of terror, hate and ignorance so well established by past generations of Palestinian Arabs and their leaders.

Lebanon's Al Akhbar reports that Lebanese security forces have been chasing after any cars that display the Palestinian Arab flag and arresting their drivers.

The security services have been arresting Palestinans who have been protesting the new draconian laws that make it even more difficult than beforefor them to find jobs in Lebanon.

Al-Akhbar found a police report about a Palestinian arrested in Sidon for displaying the Plaestinian flag and "playing revolutionary songs." He was fined 150,000 Lebanese pounds, equivalent to $100.

There is no law in Lebanon banning flags from car windows.

Rampant discrimination against Palestinians in the Arab world is simply an unreported story in the West, because so many reporters are invested in the idea that only Israelis can be blamed for Palestinian misery.

(h/t IINZ)

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NGOs Attend Wrong Rally, End Up Protesting Demolition Of Security Barrier (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

Jerusalem, July 25 - A mix-up in communication this morning resulted in several groups issuing loud demands that contradict every other demand they have ever made.

A cluster of activists opposed to the existence of Israel's security barrier and to the demolition of Palestinian-built structures wound up demonstrating against the destruction of the barrier instead of against the demolition of Palestinian buildings after they received confusing instructions via other activists on social media.

Placards decrying "wanton destruction," "violations of human rights," and "disregard of people's need to live a normal life" appeared near the barrier just south of Jerusalem Thursday. Small knots of protesters yelled slogans and urged authorities to "just let people live," bearing a message that at first appeared to support the continued existence of the barrier, which has saved thousands of Israeli - and Palestinian - lives since its construction last decade.

"We're not used to protesters encouraging us to keep doing what we're doing, so that was refreshing," admitted an IDF officer who gave his name as Captain Giladi. "It's good to see some consistency from self-proclaimed human rights activists, to see them acknowledge the lives this barrier has saved on both sides of the conflict: Israelis directly through the prevention and deterrence of attacks, and Palestinians indirectly through the consequent avoidance of military action. Kudos."

Witnesses reported that it took nearly an hour for the protesters to realize they had not arrived at the site of a planned demolition, with the realization occurring only after the dozen or so participants ran out of steam and began texting with friends, family, and other activists wondering where they had gone. A scheduled demonstration against the destruction of a Palestinian-built structure - built without a permit and in violation of Civil Administration security procedures - fizzled because most of the activists ended up at the security barrier instead, calling for it not to be destroyed.

"Well, this is embarrassing," muttered a protester who declined to be identified. "We're not taking money from foreign governments so we can uphold the human rights of Jews, I'll tell you that. This particular use of European Commission and Government of the German State of Hesse funds is not going in the annual report."

"I was wondering where all the journalists had got to," recalled another. "We had arranged with people from Haaretz, AP, BBC, the works - probably at least as many reporters and camera people were going to show up as participants, but I admit sometimes the line is fuzzy between those categories. Took a while till the penny dropped - we thought at first traffic held people up, but, well, oops. We won't make that mistake again."

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07/25 Links Pt1: Palestinian journalist tells how Hamas brings kids to front line to die; Iran fueling friction on the Golan Heights; House Overwhelmingly Passes Multiple Pro-Israel Bills

From Ian:

Palestinian journalist tells how Hamas brings kids to front line to die

A Palestinian journalist has described in detail how Hamas operatives take children in buses to protest against Israel on the Gaza border.

In a new documentary released by TPS, the journalist, whose face is blurred and his voice distorted for security reasons, says he has witnessed Hamas operatives taking chairs and sitting nearby the fence eating seeds and watching people die.

“They bring children to the playgrounds and let them play and then encourage them to do whatever they can to get close to the fence,” the journalist told TPS.

The documentary focuses on the March of Return riots, which started in March of last year. Some 2,200 terror-related incidents have been reported since the start of the riots - a combination of gunfire, explosive device and molotov cocktail attacks.

Not Only in Summer Camps - How Hamas Exploits Children During the Riots on the Gaza Border

Iran fueling friction on the Golan Heights

After its success in pushing the Iranian forces away from the Israel-Syria border in the Golan Heights, Israel is stepping up its efforts against Hezbollah’s attempts to further entrench itself in the sector.

Tuesday’s airstrike on Tal al-Hara, a strategic hill south of Damascus, was the third to be attributed to Israel by the foreign media. All of the airstrikes targeted Hezbollah assets, mainly observation posts that the Shiite terrorist group is trying to form along the border as part of a wider lineup of weapons. These posts are intended to serve Hezbollah and its Iranian and perhaps Syrian patrons to gather intelligence and, in the future, as a potential platform for terrorist activity.

Hezbollah’s efforts in the sector have known their ups and downs. Under the auspices of the war in Syria, the Shiite terrorist group tried to set up an extensive terrorist grid in the area, but the elimination of two of its leaders, Samir Kuntar and Jihad Mughniyeh – also attributed to Israel – considerably slowed it down.

The end of the Syrian war, and especially the pause placed on Iranian militias’ efforts to establish themselves in the Golan Heights, brought Hezbollah back into the picture. The organization's activities in the Golan are encouraged and financed by Iran, and the Syrian regime, by means of tacit consent.

Israel Hayom has revealed in the past that the organization's senior commander in the Golan Heights is Munir Ali Naim Shaito, known as Haj Hashem, a veteran of the organization and a key player in Hezbollah’s assistance to the Syrian army during the civil war. Subsequently, the IDF also exposed details on Hezbollah’s secret plan to establish terrorist infrastructure in the Golan using Syrian civilians, mainly Druze.

Things are heating up between Israel and Hezbollah in the Golan - analysis

Smyth told The Post that while “Trump’s statement has sent some signals to Iran,” Tehran has “upped the ante because of the situation on the ground, not because of Trump’s statement. They know that their goals will outlast the Trump administration. But if it rallies the troops, they will use it. They are very pragmatic.”

While the “Iranians have been following the same program in southern Syria for years, now they're trying to secure and resecure their gains,” Smyth said. “There’s a lot more opportunity, it’s a net gain no matter how you look at it.”

The attack on Tel Haara on Wednesday was not the first.

The site has been used by the Syrian army for years to observe Israeli movement, and since the Assad regime re-took the area from rebels last summer, there have been several strikes on the site blamed on Israel.

While the base, which has electronic surveillance capabilities, was supposed to be manned solely by regime troops, pro-Iranian militias including Hezbollah are known to be stationed in it.

According to Smyth, Hezbollah and Iran “have been at the forefront of using electronic means to counter their foes, its existed for decades and it wouldn’t shock me if they were testing the waters there.”

The opportunity was there for the taking.

The retaking of the Syrian Golan by Assad also forced Israel to end Operation Good Neighbor, where Israel provided humanitarian and, according to foreign reports, military aid to rebels in the Syrian Golan.

Israel also treated thousands of Syrians who arrived at the border,both combatants and civilians. According to officials some 70% of the wounded treated by Israel were men of fighting age while the other 30% were women and children.

A year later, “times have changed,” Smyth told the Post. “Not everyone has switched over but if your stuck in Syria and you have no options...and you can’t run into Israel...you have to back the strongest horse.”

From LPH Info:(French)

As part of the second round of playoffs of the Europa League football, Racing Club Strasbourg hosts on Thursday night team Maccabi Haifa.

In a highly questionable decision, the Strasbourg police imposed restrictions on supporters of the Israeli team, "for the sake of their safety and due to fears of violence from local elements". On Wednesday already, the Strasbourg police had announced some exceptional measures: absolute prohibition for supporters of Haifa to walk in the parks and public spaces from noon until the day after the match; the obligation for them to move only in the vicinity of the stadium of Meinau, and limiting to 600 of the number of Haifa supporters admitted to the stadium.

And Thursday morning, the Strasbourg police issued a new restriction: the absolute prohibition to brandish flags of Israel in the perimeter of the stadium and throughout the city.

This unprecedented decision prompted a reaction by the Israeli ambassador to France Aliza Bin-Noun who wrote on her Twitter account: "The demonstrations for the boycott and the BDS are allowed in Strasbourg in the name of the freedom of expression, but the authorities forbid supporters of Maccabi Haifa to brandish flags of Israel. What hypocrisy! This is unacceptable! "

Let's rephrase the police position:

"Hey, we have a lot of Jew-haters and Muslims in our town. They are animals who cannot control themselves. Best act as if you are in a zoo where gorillas are trained to attack you if they see a Star of David or hear Hebrew."

UPDATE: The flag ban has been lifted before the game. (h/t Tomer, see comments)

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A group of prominent New York rabbis have met with and written a letter to Rep. Jerrold Nadler and the House Judiciary Committee to enforce the extradition of Ahlam Tamimi from Jordan.

Here's the letter:

Hon. Jerrold Nadler
Chairman, U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary
House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.

Subject: Extraditing FBI Most Wanted Terrorist Ahlam Tamimi

Dear Hon. Mr. Nadler,

The 2001 Sbarro Massacre in Jerusalem has traumatized the Jewish community worldwide. A suicide bomber entered the crowded Sbarro pizza shop and blew himself up, murdering 15 civilians, including 7 children and a pregnant woman, and wounding 130. Malka Roth and Judith Greenbaum, pregnant with her first child, were US citizens and were killed in this senseless act of violence. A third US citizen, Joanne Chana Nachenberg, was left in a vegetative state in the bombing and remains unconscious. She is not counted among the dead. Her toddler daughter has been raised these past 17 years without a mother. It was one of the most vicious and heartless attacks modern society has seen.

Two years ago, on March 14, 2017, Department of Justice officials announced federal charges against Ahlam Tamimi, who took an active role in this horrific massacre. The DOJ announcement says Tamimi, now a Jordanian national, is charged under US federal law with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against US nationals outside the US, resulting in death. It calls Tamimi “an unrepentant terrorist who admitted to her role in a deadly terrorist bombing” that resulted in a massive number of casualties.

Despite being listed on the “FBI Most Wanted Terrorist” list, with a $5 million bounty on her head, Tamimi is living fearlessly, in Jordan, taking great pride in the crimes she has committed. Family members of Americans massacred with Tamimi’s help have repeatedly reached out to the DOJ and State Department officials on this matter and have yet to receive a meaningful reply.

We, the undersigned rabbis and community leaders from across the 10th District of New York, appeal to you in your role as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee to seek the enforcement of DOJ policy and demand the enforcement of the 1995 Jordan-US Extradition Treaty. We demand the DOJ stand by its word and enforce its own policies. We are asking your Committee to inquire into whether the State Department is properly coordinating with the Justice Department as well as taking appropriate action necessary to bring Tamimi to America for justice.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Allen Schwartz, Congregation Oheb Zedek
Rabbi Menachem Genack, Congregation Shomrei Emunah
Rabbi Jason Herman, Hudson Yards Synagogue
Rabbi Dovid Zirkind, The Jewish Center
Rabbi Elchanan Poupko, Congregation Ramath Orah
Cantor Zev Salomon Muller, West Side Institutional Synagogue
Rabbi Gideon Shloush, Congregation Adereth El
Rabbi Mark Wildes, Manhattan Jewish Experience
Rabbi Chezky Wolff, Tribeca Synagogue and Chabad of Tribeca
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Founder, Chancellor Emeritus and Rosh HaYeshiva of Ohr Torah Stone; Founding rabbi of the Lincoln Square Synagogue
Rabbi Shaul Robinson, Senior Rabbi, Lincoln Square Synagogue
Rabbi Aaron D. Mehlman, Senior Rabbi Congregation Ohav Shalom
Rabbi Zvi Farber, Congregation Beth Israel
Rabbi Shlomo Kugel, Chabad of the Upper West Side
Rabbi Steven Eisenberg Eisenberg, Director, Jewish International Connection New York
Rabbi Yehuda Lipskier Chabad of Lincoln Center and Riverside South.
Rabbi Avrohom Marmorstein, Congregation Minchas Chinuch of the West Side
Rabbi Moshe Snow, Senior Rabbi, Young Israel Beth El of Borough Park

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The "objectivity" of @HRW and @Amnesty

Yesterday, Kenneth Roth of Human Right Watch told Haaretz, in context of Israeli courts looking at the legality of not renewing the work permit of anti-Israel activist and HRW researcher Omar Shakir, that “This is a campaign by the Israeli government not only to shut down human rights activity, including by our Israeli partners, but also to deprive Israelis of information about what is happening around them. Whatever happens, we will continue to report objectively on human rights violations here and elsewhere.”

Omar Shakir is objective?

Even if we ignore his pro-BDS activities before joining HRW (and he was obviously hired because of them, not in spite of them,) since he joined he tweeted this antisemitic cartoon about ISIS in Syria attacking Palestinians that claims that Jews are behind the terror group, and called the cartoon "powerful:"

OK, so Shakir is not very objective, even when he is supposedly tweeting against Hamas.

But what about HRW (and Amnesty International) as a whole? Are they objective when it comes to Israel and Palestinians?

Today, the top stories at both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty websites are both about Israel.

HRW's is about this court case:

Amnesty is still pushing its months-old campaign against TripAdvisor allowing Jewish-owned tourist spots to be mentioned, clearly the top human rights issue of our time based on its website:

What a coincidence that while there are still human rights crises worldwide, both of the major human rights organizations are obsessing over Israel!

Amnesty's headline, "Stand With Palestinians," implies that these groups are not so much interested in bashing Israel as in protecting the human rights of Palestinians. Is this true?

No.

For the past few weeks, Palestinians in Lebanon have been loudly protesting laws that penalize any businesses that either employ Palestinians or are owned by Palestinians, making their already precarious existence in Lebanon even worse.

Yet the Lebanon pages at Amnesty and HRW still don't mention a word about it.

Their purported concern for Palestinian human rights seems to end where Arab country borders begin.

I'm not even mentioning the hundreds of examples of anti-Israel bias by Amnesty and HRW in the past. This is bias you can see today by just going to their websites.

When Ken Roth claims that human rights NGOs report "objectively" from the Middle East, he is either delusional or knowingly lying.

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Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

When the muhtasib or his agent comes to collect the jizya, he should stand the dhimmi in front of him, slap him on the side of the neck and say: “Pay the jizya, unbeliever.” The dhimmi will take his hand out of his pocket holding the jizya and present it to him with humility and submission. – al-Shayzari, The Book of the Islamic Market Inspector, quoted in Lindsey, Daily Life in the Medieval Islamic World, p. 121

The Jews Race typically had eight contestants, or sometimes 12, according to Cassiano. They would be required to run naked through the streets, covered only by a loincloth. On their forehead would be painted the letters SPQR, the abbreviation for the Latin Senatus Populusque Romanus, the official name of the city government, both ancient and modern. Since Carnival is in February, it was cold, often wet, and frequently muddy. To make the race more arduous for the runners – and more entertaining for the public – the contestants would also often be required to gorge themselves before taking off, with the result being that sometimes they would vomit, or even collapse, during the race. The spectators were also permitted to throw rotten oranges and mud at the runners. – David B. Green, “1668: Pope puts a stop to Rome's sadistic 'Jews Race'.”

Examples of Jewish humiliation in the diaspora abound. In the Middle Ages in some parts of Europe, Jews were required to wear special pointed hats or badges, supposedly in order to “reduce the likelihood of sexual intercourse between Jews and non-Jews.” Later, in the 18^th and 19^th century, many countries limited where Jews could live, what professions they could practice, whether they could study at universities, own land, serve in the military, and so on. There were supposed justifications for some of these restrictions, such as protecting the opportunities available to “native” Europeans, but the effect was to always send the message that the Jews were morally inferior beings that deserved punishment. The Nazis publically humiliated Jews even before they began to systematically murder them. Photographs of Jews being paraded through the streets in a state of undress, being forced to clean gutters on their knees, and so on are common.

The antisemitism of the Christian world can perhaps be traced to the refusal of the Jew to accept the “good news” that the Mashiach had arrived. Among Muslims, it was their stubborn refusal to accept Mohammed’s prophecy. Jews in 19^th century Morocco were forced to live in ghettos, and were required to go barefoot or wear shoes made of straw when walking outside of them. Muslim children threw stones at Jews as a matter of course. Like Europe, the treatment of Jews in the Muslim world was dependent on the whim of the ruler, sometimes being quite harsh and sometimes less so. But the inferior position of the Jews, based on Koranic principles, was no less evident than in the Christian world. And that often expressed itself in acts of humiliation.

I grew up in the US, where the kind of murderous Jew-hatred my grandparents experienced in the Russian Empire was mostly just a story. But when I did encounter antisemitism, it was always in essence the expression of the non-Jew’s need to demonstrate to the Jew, to bystanders, and to himself, the inferior social status of the Jew. In my grandparents’ day, Jews had no choice but to accept humiliation, because it was the price of avoiding far worse punishment – murder or rape could follow if the Jew resisted being put in his or her place.

Centuries of diaspora life habituated the Jewish people to humiliation. The founders of the state of Israel realized this, and the “New Jew” that they wished to create in Eretz Yisrael was a person who would no longer accept it. And in a Jewish state, a Jew wouldn’t have to choose between shame or death.

Of course there were times that it seemed that way, like when Ben Gurion decided to accept German reparations in order to finance the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Holocaust, and in fact, refugees from the Arab world as well. Menachem Begin chose honor over practicality, and vehemently opposed the deal (to be fair, perhaps in addition to honor he preferred not to see all that money flowing into government and Histadrut-owned enterprises).

Unfortunately, it hasn’t been so easy to breed the tolerance for humiliation out of the Jewish people, even in a Jewish state. When someone treats us unjustly, we often prefer to just take it rather than to stand up for ourselves. This attitude continues to surface in relations between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs, as well as our old nemeses in Europe.

The most important issue toward the Palestinians is the question of sovereignty in Jerusalem and over the Temple Mount and other sites. They understand very well that Jerusalem is the spiritual center of the country, and they keep pushing to make the Mount a no-go zone for Jews. “Who needs that Vatican?” said Moshe Dayan, but he failed to see that it is important not just as a religious symbol, but as proof that the roots of the Jewish people are here in the land of Israel, in our capital. Over time, we’ve allowed fear of “disturbances” and foreign pressure to force us to give up, little by little, the practical control of the Mount and eastern Jerusalem that we won at great cost in 1967. Our collapse over the installation of metal detectors may have been the low point.

But lately there have been some bright spots, like the demolition of illegally-built structures in the southeastern part of the city, and the excavation of the City of David despite Palestinian objections. I hope that these are demonstrations of a new seriousness and not just pre-election posturing.

Things are as bad or worse in our relationship with the European Union. It and its members, particularly Germany (!) have been trampling on our sovereignty by funding illegal Palestinian construction in Area C, the part of Judea/Samaria that is supposed to be under full Israeli control – including matters of zoning and construction. They support left-wing “Israeli” NGOs which intervene in our politics, try to embarrass the IDF in the territories, and harass the government and IDF with frivolous “lawfare.” We have taken only the mildest steps to rein them in.

Until President Trump came along, the US Department of State maintained the absurd fiction that no part of Jerusalem belonged to Israel, despite the fact that it had been the seat of our government since the founding of the state. No other country has been denied the right to determine its own capital, and if Trump had done nothing else for Israel (and he’s done a great deal), he would be remembered for ending the long humiliation that was foisted on us from the very beginning of the state.

The Arabs and Europeans are not forcing us to clean streets on our knees like the Nazis, but by ignoring our sovereignty over the land, especially in our capital, they are reaffirming their belief – both the Muslim and Christian versions – that Jews do not have the same rights as others. Like the demeaning jizya payment and associated slap, their actions both punish us in a practical sense and humiliate us. But we are out of the diaspora and back in our home, where we do not have to accept humiliation. Both Ben Gurion and Begin understood that. I wonder about today’s leaders.

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