Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, September 07, 2019

09/07 Links: Israeli teen badly hurt in West Bank stabbing attack; Tlaib Meets With Members of Terrorism-Supporting, Anti-Israel Organization; Juan Cole: Michigan's Pontificator-in-Chief

From Ian:

Greenblatt helped change the conversation from one that was just about placing blame on Israel to one that recognized that the Palestinians were just as much to blame for the lack of progress in the peace process, if not more.

The economic summit held in Bahrain in June which was attended by Israelis – including our own Herb Keinon – showed how Greenblatt could skillfully break down barriers and help realign the Middle East with an understanding that Israel is a partner to countries in the Gulf, not an adversary.

On the other hand, Greenblatt’s role and outspoken support of Israel led Palestinians to believe that the US was no longer an “honest” broker in the region. That alone may have buried the so-called “Deal of the Century”.

What will happen with that plan now remains to be seen. Greenblatt might have been the key convener and author of the plan, but it has other architects, including Jared Kushner and Friedman. Will it really come out as the administration says it will after Israel’s election? Will it succeed in bringing the sides together? Or will it automatically be rejected by Abbas’s intransigent government in Ramallah?

Ultimately, no matter how detailed and comprehensive a deal it is, it will face two major problems from the outset. The first is that any peace plan needs to have presidential involvement, without which it will be difficult, if not impossible, to bring the two sides to the table. Trump, who is already deep into his re-election campaign, does not appear to be the type willing to invest the time, effort and personal resources.

The second problem is in Jerusalem and Ramallah, where the leaders – Benjamin Netanyahu and Abbas – do not seem interested in negotiating or working on a resolution to the conflict. Netanyahu is never in a rush to get involved in a peace process and Abbas seems to prefer to wait for November 2020 and see who wins the presidential elections. Why rush into something if Trump might be out of the Oval Office in a year?

Greenblatt has played a positive role in this process. As much as he has done though, no one can want peace more than the sides themselves.

PA: Greenblatt resignation is Trump's "opportunity to rethink" peace plan

Jason Greenblatt, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Middle East peace, has announced he’ll be leaving his post.

According to administration officials, Greenblatt’s departure will wait until the US rolls out the political part of its long-awaited peace plan between Israel and the Palestinians sometime after the Israeli national election on September 17. It unveiled the plan’s financial segment last June during a conference in Bahrain.

Greenblatt has been a main pillar of President Trump’s Mideast team. He has worked alongside Trump’s powerful son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

His resignation could throw the future of the troubled peace initiative – it has already been rejected by the Palestinian Authority – into a swirl of ambiguity. The team itself has come to be viewed by the Palestinians as an extension of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s policies.

The PA has yet to officially respond to the news, but a high-ranking official in Ramallah told The Media Line he hoped that Greenblatt’s departure would create an “opportunity” for the White House to “rethink” its policy toward the Palestinians.

“His resignation,” the official said, asking to remain unnamed, “is a result of the growing conviction by the US administration that implementing the plan as originally conceived is not going to be easy. This does not mean that America will abandon attempts to pressure the Palestinian side, but Greenblatt's flight means he does not trust all the promises he and his team have made.”

Juan Cole: Michigan's Pontificator-in-Chief

Becoming a recognized authority in any field is an admirable achievement. Yet when professors pontificate on matters far beyond their expertise, the results can be risible. That's particularly true of academics whose track record in their own field leaves much to be desired.

Which brings us to Juan Cole, Exhibit A for professorial puffery and purple prose.

Breitbart has taken note of the University of Michigan Middle Eastern history professor's latest foray into a subject well beyond his competence: climate science. Never one for wise counsel when hysteria will do, Cole called on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to resign in the wake of Hurricane Dorian because "his inaction on fossil fuels will literally sink Florida."

Moreover, Cole believes studying the Middle East qualifies him for informed comment on the underground liquid gold that made the region rich: oil and, now, natural gas. To boot, being above ground and partaking of the climate on a daily basis, he fancies himself a meteorologist extraordinaire, able to leap logic in a single blog post – a skill at which we'll concede he excels. And if that's not enough, since Florida will "literally sink," we must add geology to his conquests.

As for Breitbart, Cole wasted no time responding to its article by labeling the conservative publication "far, far rightwing reused toilet paper," a "brown shirt rag," and a "racist piece of excrement" that makes "fascist sh** up, riffing on Mein Kampf." One might suspect Cole is a bit fixated on the scatological (calling Freud), but at least the implements at hand are recyclable.

09/06 Links Pt2: What ‘Our Boys’ doesn’t want us to know; How to combat the looming perfect storm for antisemitism in America; The Arab Muslim in the Israel Defense Forces

From Ian:

David Collier: Amnesty’s human rights activist. Sorry, I meant terrorist supporter

The Amnesty report is not yet out and already Amnesty International have lost the input of a terrorist sympathiser. Yesterday, I released a teaser. The report is entering the final stage and is almost ready for final editing. With the information gathering stage behind me, I felt confident enough to release one item – about the true face of an Amnesty consultant in Gaza.
The Amnesty Consultant

Hind Khoudary worked as an Amnesty Research Consultant in Gaza:

Since the regular violence erupted on the Gaza border again, Hind has been a popular ‘journalist’, used by different media outlets worldwide. Amnesty pushed their ‘consultant’ too, using iconic images of her to turn her into some type of hero:

Like most propagandists her English output was always moderated, to show a ‘peaceful’ face to the west. She was also photogenic. Hind came across as a presentable, articulate, friendly, young, peace-seeking, progressive and is the type of ‘reporter’ western media outlets love. She spoke long and hard about the awful situation and how she just wants her ‘freedom’.

As is fitting of her role, she embellished her articles with endless tragic human-interest items which may or may not have been invented. When it came to the ‘Great March of Return’ Hind never saw a gun on the Hamas side. She spoke of the ‘tolerant’ Gazans who accept people who are different, reminding people that Palestinians are always so accommodating and peaceful. This balderdash has been swallowed whole by western media and Amnesty International are so embedded inside this false narrative, they regurgitated her poppycock verbatim.

Hind’s Arabic content was somewhat different. For example, she retweeted this which followed a thwarted terrorist attack. It talks about the Gazan casualties, but calls them ‘martyrs’. Notice the glorification of the violence. There is apparently nothing better than entering ‘paradise’ with machine guns:

There was this one too, as she retweeted the video of the Hezbollah leader Nasrallah’s when he made a recent threat against Israel.

Jonathan Tobin: What ‘Our Boys’ doesn’t want us to know

The brutal murder of Muhammad Abu Khdeir by three extremist Jews is a story that deserves to be told. The same can be said for the account of the swift and efficient manner in which his murderers were tracked down by Israel's security services, and ultimately convicted and given harsh sentences. Yet the kidnapping and murder of the Palestinian Arab resident of Jerusalem in June 2014 is the exclusive focus of the HBO series "Our Boys."

Documenting the transgressions of a few Jews, as well as the diligent efforts of their compatriots to catch and punish them, is no insult to the Jewish people. But many who usually take special pride in seeing Israeli TV shows get such wide exposure aren't cheering "Our Boys."

In June 2014, a Hamas terror cell operating in the West Bank kidnapped three Israeli teenage boys and murdered them in cold blood. The discovery of their bodies after an 18-day search was a shocking reminder of the brutality of Israel's enemies. In response, three Jews violated not merely the laws of Israel, but of their faith. They kidnapped a random Arab boy and killed him in a manner that provoked outrage and shame.

Hamas then escalated the conflict with 50 days of war that forced much of Israel's population to spend their days dashing in and out of air-raid shelters, including in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. So Israelis can be forgiven for thinking that there is something wrong with the fact that the sole focus of the only international television show that seeks to depict these events rests on the murder of Muhammad Abu Khdeir.

The point of each episode is to depict the two sides of the conflict as morally equivalent. "Our Boys" doesn't mention that while Khdeir's killers are reviled by almost all Israelis and locked away (two received life terms), Palestinians treat those who murder Jews as heroes. They even get generous pensions from the supposedly moderate Palestinian Authority as a reward for their evil deeds. That is truly outrageous.

Honest Reporting: Not a Moment of Peace: Israel’s 1956 Sinai Campaign

Nasser believed he could count on the United States for assistance with wrestling control of the canal from the British and with the finances of the project. But when the US turned him down, Nasser turned to the Soviets for help. The Soviet Union not only helped finance the project but also gave Egypt weapons for its army alongside military advisers to train the Egyptian military. Backed by the Soviet Union, Nasser evicted Britain from the Suez Canal with ease, declared it a possession of Egypt, and quickly gained fame and supremacy as a leader in the Arab world.

Armed with his alliance with the Soviet Union which was already anti-Israel, and with the sights of the Arab world upon him, Nasser quickly turned to confront Israel.

Instead of attacking Israel with his full army, Nasser came up with a tactic which is still being used against Israel today. In the early 1950s, not long after Israel thought it could enjoy a respite from the War of Independence, he organized, armed and supported terrorists, called “Fedayeen,” to cross the border and terrorize Israelis – blowing up farms, planting land mines, and even entering schools to shoot Jewish children. The philosophy was to attack, hurt and demoralize Israel without starting an actual war. Israel would have no choice but to retaliate and that retaliation would be the justification for the next terror attack as retribution for Israel’s actions. This created a “cycle of violence” which cost Israel in lives, money, and focus, and served Nasser’s plan of partnering with the Soviet Union and showing the Arab world his strength.

Egypt was not Israel’s only problem following the War of Independence. The Syrians continuously shelled northern Israeli towns from the Golan Heights, forcing Israelis to sleep in bunkers and leaving Israel with no choice but to respond – continuing the cycle of violence. Jordanian snipers would regularly shoot at Jewish civilians from the Old City of Jerusalem which they controlled. Israel even had to construct its residential buildings with no windows facing the Jordanian controlled areas.

Thus, the new Jewish state was under a continuous state of attack and to make things even worse, when Israel would respond – against Egypt, Syria, or Jordan – the United Nations would condemn Israel for instigating violence and inflaming the region.

This photo is being spread around social media by the anti-Israel crowd with different, fake backstories.

What really happened is that in January 2017 the two youths both had knives and were trying to enter the Karnei Shomron settlement. The security guard was suspicious and saw the knives, drew his gun and demanded that they drop the knives, asking "Do you want to die?" Eventually the pair did give up without being hurt at all.

Watch:

Here they are being apprehended:

(h/t Tomer Ilan)

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09/06 Links Pt1: Caroline Glick: Strengthening the US-Israel alliance; Netanyahu 'Shellshocked' by Obama's Radical Pro-Palestinian Stance in First Meeting; US nixes UNSC statement that fails to condemn Hezbollah

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Strengthening the US-Israel alliance

Should Israel and the US sign a mutual defense treaty? Every few years, this perennial question is raised. And every few years, it is set aside.

In 2000 then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak made signing a mutual defense treaty with the US a central component of his national security strategy. That year, as Barak sought to sell the public his plan to give the Temple Mount to Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat and Judea and Samaria to Arafat’s terror armies, he presented the option of signing a mutual defense pact with the US as a reasonable payoff for Israel’s sacrifice for peace.

Barak’s thinking was clear.

True, if the PLO boss had accepted Barak’s peace offer Israel would have been left without its capital and without defensible borders. But there was no reason to worry. The Marines would protect us. At the heart of Barak’s vision of a mutual defense treaty stood his unwillingness to bear the burdens of freedom, power and sovereignty.

The present round of chatter about the prospect of achieving a US-Israel defense treaty was initiated by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC). In opposition to the view of the majority of Israelis and of the 2016 Republican Party platform, Graham insists on maintaining allegiance to the so-called “two-state solution,” despite its hundred-year record of continuous failure.

Still, Graham is no foe of Israeli sovereignty and military might. To the contrary. Graham played a decisive role in convincing President Donald Trump to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. So it is inconceivable that Graham shares Barak’s post-Zionist vision of a defenseless Israel protected by Uncle Sam.

Moreover, according to media reports, ahead of the September 17 election Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making an effort to convince President Trump to make a statement in favor of a new US-Israel defense treaty. Since Netanyahu’s diplomatic policies and his strategic vision of Israel are diametrically opposed to those Barak advanced, it is impossible to imagine that Netanyahu shares Barak’s vision of the purpose of a defense treaty.

What then could be the purpose of a defense treaty? What sort of rearrangement of Israel’s defense ties with the US would advance those ties to both countries’ mutual advantage?

Make Egyptian-Israeli Cooperation Overt

Marrying Israel’s know-how, experience, and innovation with Egypt’s abundant cheap manpower (Egypt’s per capita gross domestic product is about 6% of Israel's) and its hunger to excel after generations of decline and a looming water crisis, promises to bear fruit for both countries.

Of course, cooperation to enhance security and stability will remain paramount. However, imagine the dividends in the not-distant future in tourism and trade if you combine Egypt's and Israel's abundant antiquities, beautiful beaches, delicious cuisines, and rich histories as cradles of civilization and of the world's main monotheistic religions.

Cooperation with Israel's first-rate universities and advanced hospitals could give Egypt's educational and medical facilities a significant boost. Egypt's youth are thirsty for the knowledge, training, and skills that would maximize their productivity. Moreover, because the rapidly increasing populations of Ethiopia and Sudan need more Nile water for their own agriculture and development, Egypt – which is downstream – must learn to use the river wisely. Water conservation, reclamation, purification, distribution, and irrigation techniques, as well as desalination plants on the Mediterranean, are needed to ensure that Egyptians have access to abundant, clean drinking water. Israel is the most experienced country on earth in water technology.

Unfortunately, an enduring Israeli-Palestinian peace seems far off. But ultimately, the time will come when a new Palestinian leadership realizes that Israel is a mature, respected country and a potential ally to them. Egypt could then play a pivotal role in bringing the sides together in mutual acceptance and productive coexistence.

In a world accustomed to thinking in zero-sum terms – where one side's gain is another side's loss – the time has come for a win-win proposition. But the successful implementation of cooperative Israeli-Egyptian ventures requires working diligently on the building of mutual trust. Such ventures would directly benefit both countries and, as a secondary dividend, reduce anti-Semitism and other forms of extremism and contribute to regional peace.

Bret Stephens NYTs: What Was Iran Hiding in Turquz Abad?

Buried in a recent report from the International Atomic Energy Agency is: "Iran's implementation of its Safeguards Agreement and Additional Protocol require[s] full and timely cooperation by Iran. The Agency continues to pursue this objective with Iran." That's an exquisite way of saying that Iran is stonewalling the agency.

Last September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the UN General Assembly that Iran had a "secret atomic warehouse for storing massive amounts of equipment and material from Iran's secret nuclear weapons program" on the outskirts of Tehran in a village called Turquz Abad. He urged IAEA chief Yukiya Amano to "inspect this atomic warehouse immediately."

The IAEA only got around to inspecting the site earlier this year, long after the suspicious materials had vanished. But nuclear inspectors were nonetheless able to detect radioactive particles, corroborating Israeli claims about the purpose of the warehouse.

The agency's unwillingness to follow up promptly and effectively on Israel's allegations, along with its reluctance to disclose what it found, inspire little confidence in the quality of its inspections and even less in its willingness to call out cheating.

Moreover, Iran's hiding of nuclear materials is further evidence that Tehran was in violation of the nuclear deal from the moment it was signed. "If Iranians aren't cooperating, it tells you that potentially they are hiding more," notes David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security.

If those who fear an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites are serious about averting it, they could play a helpful part by demanding more credible inspections and honest reporting from the IAEA, starting with a thorough accounting for what went mysteriously missing from Turquz Abad.

European court takes Hamas off of list of terrorist entities (UPDATE)

From Xinhua:

The Hamas movement hailed on Friday the decision of a European court to cancel the listing of Hamas and its armed wing al-Qassam Brigades from the world's list of terrorism.

Hazem Qassem, Hamas spokesman in Gaza told Xinhua that the decision to remove Hamas and its armed wing from the world's terrorist list "is positive and a right step in the right direction."
...

According to local websites close to Hamas on Friday, the movement's attorney in Europe, Khaled al-Showly, said that the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg decided on Thursday to remove Hamas movement and its armed wing al-Qassam Brigades from the world's list of terrorism.

He also said that the decision of the court is not final, but the previous decisions on the reinsertion of Hamas and its military wing on terrorist lists "are null and void."

What the hell? The Qassam Brigades, whose homepage looks like this, is not a terrorist group?

The European Court of First Instance is apparently now called the General Court, and it seems that Hamas initiated an action there to take itself off the list of terrorist entities.

Assuming Hamas is telling the truth, the actual ruling will need to be seen to be believed. I cannot imagine any logic that would allow Hamas' terror wing to not be called terrorist.

UPDATE: Shasha adds a crucial detail:

Although the new ruling overturned the decisions in some form, it does not include the decisions made in 2019, which have not been appealed, and the new provision has nothing to do with the basic case in which the first judgment of the Court of First Instance was issued on 17 December 2014, which It remains subject to appeal to the European Court of Justice.

In March 2019, Hamas was confirmed to stay on the terror list, so apparently that ruling stands. Why there are so many different rulings on the same topic that each have to be looked at separately is fuzzy.

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A small detail on a fact-sheet about the Palestinian Ministry of Education 2018 budget:

They are deliberately building schools in areas without permits, knowing that they are likely to be torn down.

This article from DCI-Palestine elaborates:

The [Ibziq Mixed Primary] school is the tenth in a string of “Al-Tahadi” or “challenge” schools established by the Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-controlled Area C of the occupied West Bank, staff told Defense for Children International - Palestine. The central goal of these schools is to ensure access to education and “support the steadfastness” of Area C residents. Al-Tahadi schools are usually small in size and placed in marginalized, rural communities or those facing large vulnerability factors from Israeli forces or settlements.

These schools are all new, within the past couple of years. Up until now, somehow the students managed to get educated at other schools. But the major reason to build these illegal schools is to make a stink when Israel tears them down, and then go to the media and whine, "Israel is confiscating the right of dozens of students from the area to receive public education."

As documented by the Regavim NGO, many times these communities themselves are built up from scratch as well, also illegally. I saw dozens of them in Area C, where they steal water from Israeli villages and build willy-nilly on hills chosen specifically to place Arabs between Jewish settlements. I once made an animation of satellite imagery showing several such Arab villages being created over only a few years.

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I reported yesterday that Palestinians in Lebanon were protesting to have the right to become citizens in Canada and the EU, since Lebanon and other Arab countries do not allow them to become citizens there.

A cornerstone of Palestinian Arab strategy since the 1950s has been to keep Palestinian "refugees" stateless and miserable until Israel is destroyed, using them as political cannon fodder and not giving a damn about their actual lives. There are lots of examples of so-called Palestinian leaders actively opposing any chance for Palestinians to become citizens of any state, anywhere.

Sure enough, after yesterday's protest, a Palestinian group has criticized not Lebanon or UNRWA for keeping these protesters in miserable conditions with no way out, but the protesters themselves!

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) called for an urgent response to the "accelerated resettlement and displacement projects targeting Palestinian camps in Lebanon," which "threaten a new Nakba and liquidation of the refugee issue."

The group called to prepare an urgent field action plan "to address all suspicious schemes that are trying to push the Palestinian refugee to call for mass migration."

The group said that the desire to become citizens of EU countries or Canada "are to serve American attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause through the final cancellation of the issue of refugees and the right of return in line with the Zionist vision."

For over 70 years, self-proclaimed Palestinian leaders have done everything possible to keep their people in misery. Nothing has changed.

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J-Street brings a delegation of Democratic Congressional aides to visit the PLO, listen to lies and ignore open PLO hatred of Jews

You won't find these photos on J-Street's Twitter account, but the PLO is very proud to have met with a delegation of Congressional aides who visited under the auspices of J-Street.

Saeb Erekat told these aides that Israel is entirely at fault for there being no peace in the region and that the PLO desires a two-state solution.

On the same PLO page header, you can see its logo, which shows exactly how interested the PLO is in a two-state solution.

I doubt any of the delegation bothered asking about that.

Similarly, today, the website of the PLO's Department of Public Diplomacy and Policy includes explicitly antisemitic content. It features this description of Jews (archived here) in a page dedicated to the major Zionists that they blame for the "Naqba" with antisemitic Quranic allusions:

انهم علو في الارض يذبحون ابناءنا ويستحيون نسائنا وما كيد يهود الا في ضلال ،الاجرام صفتهم والقتل لغتهم وهدم البيوت عرفهم وقلع الاشجار عادتهم، شخصيات يهود تجسد الاجرام والعتو ،لكن في هذه البوابة سنعرفهم عن قرب.

They acted with arrogance on earth, slaughtering our sons and leaving our women alive, and the plotting of the Jews is just delusions. Crime is their quality/attribute, killing is their language, destroying homes is their custom, uprooting trees is their habit. Jewish personalities epitomize crime and arrogance, but in this web portal we will get to know them from up close.

Is this anomalous? Of course not. Official Palestinian TV, effectively run by the PLO, has dozens of examples of explicit antisemitism - often from PLO leaders themselves - every year.

The Fatah platform of 2009 remains in force, and it says that terrorism ("armed struggle") is their right, never abandoned and allowed, they claim, under international law. It also explicitly says it wants "preserve the refugee camps as a political witness" even on its own territory, a conscious decision to keep their own people miserable as political capital against Israel.

J-Street would never mention these facts. In fact, it would do everything it could to hide it.

J-Street pretends to be even-handed in these sorts of trips. They probably had the aides visit some dovish Israeli MKs. But their website, words and actions prove that they will bend over backwards to believe every lie the Palestinian leaders say and to be critical of every word the Israeli government says. There is nothing remotely balanced about them, and the congressional aides who attended these sessions weren't learning anything but curated anti-Israel propaganda.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

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09/05 Links Pt2: Israeli leftists and ‘the occupation'; Jesus Was a Jew, Not a palestinian; NYPD: Over half of reported hate crimes this year anti-Semitic; UN censors 100 rights groups on Chinese abuses

From Ian:

Israeli leftists and ‘the occupation'

THE LEGALLY fraudulent concept of OPT was introduced by the International Committee of the Red Cross in the early 1970s and was adopted by the international community as a way of defining the status of “the territories” and denouncing “Israeli occupation.”

Rather than describe what now exists as “occupation,” however, a different terminology would be more creative and productive for both sides. One could refer to what the Torah calls “possession,” (reshut – the exercise of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel). Another possibility would be to refer to the Israeli presence, instead of to “occupation.” This would describe realistically what exists, without referring to a political term that has legal and moral implications. And, it would emphasize that Israeli Jews also have legitimate “humanitarian” and legal rights to build and protect their homeland.

Moreover, as of March 13, 2019, the US State Department erased the word “occupation” from its description of the Golan Heights and areas claimed by Palestinians. Instead, it refers to them as being “under Israel control.” Last week, the State Department also removed the Palestinian Authority from its list of countries.

The truth is that evacuating Jews and destroying Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria would accomplish nothing. It would not satisfy the PLO/PA/Hamas goal of destroying Israel. It would not change their basic narrative – “the Nakba,” or “catastrophe” – of Israel’s establishment in 1948, nor would it satisfy their demand for “the right of return” of Arabs who left “Palestine” and live in UNRWA-sponsored towns in Lebanon and Syria. It would not “Liberate Palestine, from the river to the sea!”

Creating another “Palestinian state” – in addition to Jordan – would not eliminate terrorism: It would encourage and enhance it. Another Palestinian state would not promote peace: It would provide the catalyst for war and it would destabilize the entire region. Ironically, it would prevent the emergence of any moderate, democratic Palestinian group that seeks accommodation with and acceptance of Israel.

Israeli leftists need a reality check and honest self-examination: what purpose do they serve?

UN Watch: UN censors 100 rights groups on Chinese abuses, blocks publication of joint appeal

The UN in Geneva confirmed it is censoring a human rights complaint on China’s mass incarceration of Uighurs that was filed by a cross-regional coalition of more than 100 UN-accredited non-governmental organizations from numerous countries including Brazil, Canada, France, India, Indonesia, Germany, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom and the United States.

United Nations Watch, a Swiss non-governmental organization, filed the joint complaint on June 4th to be circulated as an official UN document, following the standard protocol outlined by the UN human rights council’s guidelines on NGO written submissions.

The letter by 135 NGOs urges UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet to condemn China’s escalating abuse of UN rules to censor, interrupt and block references at the world body to its detention of an estimated 1 million Muslim Uighurs.

The joint complaint references an incident in March, widely shared on social media, in which UN Watch director Hillel Neuer took the floor at the UN Human Rights Council to condemn China’s abuses of Uighur Muslims. Neuer was interrupted three times by the Communist regime’s delegates in an attempt to shut down his testimony.

As noted in the complaint, UNHRC President Coly Seck of Senegal urged Neuer to “stick to the agenda item” on racial discrimination, implying that China’s abuses against Muslim Uighurs did not qualify. Later in the debate, however, Seck told China to “prevent disturbing the proceedings of the room the next time.”

When UN Watch submitted the joint complaint by 125 NGOs about the incident, the UNHRC secretariat—in a break from past practice—refused to publish it, together with four other submissions.

U.S. Amb. @RichardGrenell: China’s “willful disregard of its commitments” to Hong Kong, the U.N. & World Trade Organization, along with human rights abuses in Tibet and Xinjiang, show China’s communist party “stands against the values Germany cherishes.” https://t.co/bSw1FToEm2
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) September 4, 2019

PreOccupiedTerritory: China Cancels Adoption Of Judaism, Fearing Muslim Nations Will No Longer Endorse Its Repression Of Muslims (satire)

The People’s Republic of China stepped away today from an anticipated policy that would convert its 1.4 billion citizens into Jews after realizing that the numerous Muslim-majority states and entities giving its abuse of the Muslim Uighur minority political and diplomatic cover will likely withdraw their support for that abuse once the perpetrators are Jews.

The Ministry of the Interior issued a statement Thursday morning announcing the cancellation, effective immediately, of a five-year plan to impose Judaism on the entire population as a way to buttress China’s financial and banking prowess. The plan, developed in 2015, aimed to leverage the longtime association of Jewishness with money management excellence, but now the administration of President Xi Jinping has reversed course upon determining that certain unacceptable consequences will accrue from such a move, most dire among them that the many governments now endorsing China’s suppression of Uighur religious and ethnic identity will reverse those decisions when the country becomes Jewish instead of atheist and anti-religion.

“A reassessment of the risks led the government to decide against adopting Judaism for China in the end,” the statement read. “While financial and economic prowess will serve the people of China, especially in the shadow of unjust American tariffs, our strategic needs point to greater engagement with the Muslim world. Alienating those dozens of countries that produce natural resources China needs will negate, or possibly worse, whatever economic benefit the people stand to gain from Jewish banking aptitude. China will therefore continue to ‘reeducate’ Uighur Muslims, intern them in concentration camps. suppress their indigenous culture, and restrict their rights even more than other Chinese citizens, but will do so under a banner that claims no religion, no opiate of the masses.”

UN Watch: What you ARE allowed to say at the U.N. Human Rights Council

UN Watch has put together a compendium of clippings that shows actual film clips of the president of the Human Rights Council, Luis Alfonso de Alba of Mexico, thanking various diplomats for their testimony. He thanks a speaker for Zimbabwe talking about the ignorance of a delegate who has criticized human rights under President Mugabe. He thanks the delegate from Cuba for insulting a human rights expert who exposed abuses of the communist regime. When the permanent observer of Palestine asserts that the one that has a "monopoly on human rights violations" is Israel, which, he adds, is the darling of not only the ambassadors of America and Canada but also of the human rights commissioner, Louise Arbour, the observer is thanked by Mr. de Alba. On the clip one can see Mr. de Alba thanking the delegation of Sudan for a statement saying that reports of violence against women in Darfur have been "exaggerated." Then one can watch and hear an envoy from Nigeria assert that "stoning under Sharia law for unnatural sexual acts … should not be equated with extrajudicial killings …" Or watch an envoy of Iran defend the Holocaust denial conference. Or watch a defense of the Hezbollah terrorist organization.

Ma'an reports that the President of the Union of Palestinian Consumer Protection Societies and the Secretary General of the Popular Committees, Azmi Al-Shyoukhi, has revealed "a new Israeli occupation program targeting the Jordanian dinar in occupied Palestine."

Shyoukhi is claiming that Israel is flooding the Palestinian markets with Israeli shekels, pushing out the Jordanian dinars that some merchants apparently prefer.

Yes, this is written in 2019, not 1970.

Shyoukhi calls this supposed dumping of Israeli currency in the territories "Judaization of Palestinian markets" and the "destruction of the Jordanian dinar."

He goes further in saying that Israel is trying to destroy the Jordanian economy as well.

He is especially upset at rumored 500 and 1000 shekel notes being issued by Israel, all part of this nefarious scheme.

But here's the best part:

Al-Shyoukhi considered the Israeli measures against the Jordanian dinar a real massacre committed by the Zionist occupation against the Jordanian dinar and the right of its place in Palestine and the Jordanian economy and the Palestinian national economy at the same time, especially since the Jordanian dinar was the currency in our Palestinian areas before Israel occupied Palestine.

As usual, I can find no media outlet that simply calls out Al-Shyoukhi as being completely crazy. I'm sure many Palestinians feel that way, but the fear of speaking out loud and disturbing the illusion of unity (where Westerners can notice it) with the nutcases is entrenched in Palestinian society, a small fact that most journalists, pundits and diplomats simply don't think about.

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Area Boomer Finally Learns To Program VCR (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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Maale Adummim, September 5 - A resident of this town in the Judean Desert east of Jerusalem gushed with pride today upon mastering the task of setting his VHS machine in advance to record an upcoming television broadcast, a feat to which he has devoted the bulk of his spare time over the last thirty-two years.

Ofer Shaked, 70, unleashed a yelp of triumph this afternoon as he successfully programmed his VCR, a device manufactured in the 1990's to record and play video content on a television or display screen, via large cassettes with magnetic tape inside. The grandfather of eight and retired insurance agent shouted to his wife, Diklah, that he had managed to set the VCR to record the Wednesday night episode of MacGyver, a task he had been trying to accomplish, on and off, since 1987.

"I did it! I did it!" yelped Mr. Shaked, leaping to his feet despite his developing arthritis. A sudden onset of dizziness and shortness of breath from the sudden exertion prevented him from immediately answering his wife's query as to the details of his achievement.

"I programmed it! I can watch MacGyver whenever I want!" shouted the septuagenarian. "Is Airwolf still on? Remington Steele? The possibilities are endless! This is true freedom!" Mr. Shaked proceeded to call his children to inform them of the milestone, and to bask in the anticipated admiration they would no doubt display.

"Get me the TV listings!" he commanded his bemused wife, gesturing to the newspaper. "I'm going to program this thing up the wazoo. Heck, I'm going to record the evening news and watch it again just to glory in what I've finally managed to do. I better pick a good day - wouldn't want to end up rewatching coverage of some natural disaster or terrorist attack."

Shaked has, by his own admission, struggled to program the VCR since he purchased his first such model in 1984. "The instructions seemed perfectly clear for each one," he recalled with some wistfulness. "But I was never able to translate those simple directions into action. There must have been some mental or cognitive block that I've... I've now overcome. I feel so liberated. I can only imagine what I might accomplish next. That is, as soon as I finish watching all the programs I plan to record."

"Now," he concluded, "how do you connect this VCR to the new Tablet my children got me for my birthday? I don't see the right socket for the AV cord. And do you know where I can buy blank videocassettes? I can't seem to find any Radio Shacks in this neighborhood."

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09/05 Links Pt1: PA: Netanyahu “invaded” and “defiled” Hebron - it’s an “obvious war”; Erdogan says Turkey should have nuclear weapons like Israel; Sky News Arabia falsely labels murdered Israeli teen ‘a settler’

From Ian:

PMW: PA: Netanyahu “invaded” and “defiled” Hebron - it’s an “obvious war”

The Palestinian Authority continues to incite violence. Following yesterday's visit by Israeli leaders to Hebron, the PA is now saying that Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's presence there was an act of "obvious war" and that he "defiled" the city:
"The [PA] Ministry of Religious Affairs emphasized that [Israeli] occupation Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu]'s defilement of Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque (i.e., Cave of the Patriarchs) is nothing but obvious war, in which he has declared his blatant hatred towards the Palestinian presence in Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque, which is a purely Islamic mosque."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 5, 2019]

Palestinian Media Watch reported yesterday that the PA might want to launch a new wave of terror since the PA ministry, prior to Netanyahu's visit, compared it to then opposition leader Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount in 2000, which Arafat exploited to ignite the PA's 5-year terror campaign - the Intifada - in which more than 1,100 Israelis were murdered in terror attacks.

This hate speech and these messages of incitement to violence from the PA are continuing. The Palestinian Arab Front, which is a member of the PLO, called Netanyahu's visit to the Cave of the Patriarchs a "defilement" and "a clear declaration of war." The organization further incited violence, calling for "a popular response," promising that its "fighting people will not sit idly by":
"The Palestinian Arab Front said that Netanyahu's invasion of the Ibrahimi Mosque and defilement of it constitute a clear declaration of war and contempt for the Muslims' sensibilities... It called for a popular response that will be at the level of the crime the occupation forces are committing. The front added: 'Our fighting people will not sit idly by before the defilement of its holy sites. The occupation bears full responsibility for this crime. [Our people] will defend its holy sites with all its strength.'"
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 5, 2019]

Yesterday, the PA Ministry of Foreign Affairs called Netanyahu's visit "a provocative colonialist and racist visit" and "warned against the dangers and consequences" of it. [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 4, 2019]

PA's Supreme Shari'ah Judge of Palestine Mahmoud Al-Habbash likewise used this opportunity to incite violence against Israelis, and he also compared it to Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount.

Settler Intrusions and Talmudic Rituals Temple Mount Coverage in Arabic Western Media

Last month, CAMERA took Reuters to task for English-language captions which described Jews visiting the Temple Mount as “worshippers,” despite the fact that Jews are strictly prohibited from praying or carrying out any other religious rituals at the site, Judaism’s most sacred. A review by CAMERA Arabic has found that many Arabic-language reports from Western media outlets including Sky News, CNN, BBC, al-Hurra, Independent Arabia, Reuters and France 24 commonly employ even more extreme and unfounded language, falsely calling Jews who visit the Temple Mount, or intend to visit, “settlers” or “extremists.” (All translations that follow are by CAMERA Arabic.)

Thus, for example, a France 24 broadcast misidentified Jewish visitors who visited the Temple Mount on Tisha B’Av, a solemn fast day commemorating the destruction of the Jewish temples, as settlers (“Clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli police in the al-Aqsa mosque plaza coincide with the prayer of Eid,” Aug. 11, at 0:51.)

Likewise, Al Hurra, a U.S.-based public media outlet, reported that Prime Minister Netanyahu decided not to allow “settlers” to carry out an “intrusion” or “storming” of the “al-Aqsa mosque” (“Clashes in al-Aqsa between worshippers and the Israeli police,” Aug. 11). Of course, the Jewish visitors never entered the mosque itself, and only walked around the compound outside the mosque.

BBC similarly referred to “extremist Jewish groups” and “Jewish extremists (“The al-Aqsa Mosque: clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians after Eid al-Adha’s prayer”, Aug. 11) and CNN and the Independent went with the false headlines, respectively: “Dozens of settlers intrude/storm into al-Aqsa Mosque under IDF guard,” Aug. 4. and “An Israeli minister storms/intrudes al-Aqsa under guard, heading [a group] of settlers,” July 3 (screen shot at left). Reuters, a leading wire service, also employed the “intrusion/storming” language (“Extremist Jews’ visit stokes Palestinians’ anger in the al-Aqsa Mosque compound”, June 2, video, 0:51) and wrongly reported that the Jews entered the al-Aqsa mosque.

MEMRI: Saudi Writers Attack Hizbullah: It Initiated The Military Escalation Vis-à-vis Israel To Serve Iran, Is Devastating Lebanon

Following the military escalation between Israel and Hizbullah in the last two weeks – which included the August 25, 2019 Israeli drone attack on the Dahia, Hizbullah's stronghold in Beirut; threats of retaliation by Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, and Hizbullah's September 1, 2019 firing of anti-tank missiles into northern Israel – writers in the Saudi press published articles attacking Hizbullah and Nasrallah. The writers accused Hizbullah of dragging Lebanon into confrontations with Israel to serve the Iranian agenda and thereby harming Lebanon and its economy and perpetrating treason against it. They also wrote that Hizbullah has turned Beirut into a military base and taken over Lebanon's vital centers of power, and called to restore sovereignty to the Lebanese government, so that it will be the only force in Lebanon authorized to make decisions on war and peace.

The following are excerpts from their articles:
Senior Journalist 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed: Hizbullah Is The Problem, Not Israel
On September 2, 2019, the day after Hizbullah's missile attack on Israel, senior Saudi journalist 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed, formerly the editor-in-chief of the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat and currently the head of the editorial board of Saudi Arabia's Al-Arabiya TV and Al-Hadath TV,[1] published in the English-language Saudi daily Arab News an article titled "Imagine Lebanon without Hizbullah." In it, he wrote:

"I think there is a group of people who still believe the lies Hezbollah and its leader spout to justify using Lebanon in this week’s attack against Israel. At the same time, I doubt there are any people, even from within this group, who agree with Hezbollah’s actions and the damage the group causes Lebanon while using excuses that no longer convince anyone.

"Hezbollah has given years of ethnic, patriotic and religious excuses, from the liberation of the south to the protection of religious places and the Syrian Shebaa Farms. Because of Hezbollah, Lebanon is beleaguered internationally in its financial transactions and trade and tourism, while nationally it is held captive and controlled, from the airport to the house of government...

"Hezbollah is the only cause of the state’s low income and political bullying...

This is a list of the number of times Ken Roth of Human Rights Watch tweeted negatively about different countries and terror groups in August.

Anyone who thinks that Israel is the second-worst human rights abuser in the world is suffering from severe Israel Derangement Syndrome. Similarly, anyone who prioritizes Israel as a target for vitriol as a human rights abuser more than Libya, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Congo, North Korea and Afghanistan combined proves that he politicizes human rights for a decidedly non-human rights agenda.

China: 61
Israel: 40
Syria: 36
Myanmar: 28
Saudi Arabia: 26
India: 26
Russia: 23
Egypt: 15
Sudan: 10
Venezuela: 7
Libya: 7
Iran: 7
Pakistan: 5
Iraq: 5
Lebanon: 3
Australia: 3
Congo: 2
Malaysia: 2
Afghanistan: 1
North Korea: 1
Jordan: 0
Algeria: 0

Terror groups:
ISIS: 6
Houthi: 3
Taliban: 2 (neither was negative)
Hezbollah: 1
Hamas: 0

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A large group of Lebanese Palestinians held a protest outside the Canadian embassy in Lebanon today, demanding to be allowed to immigrate to Canada and the EU.

The "Palestinian Youth Commission for Humanitarian Refugees in Lebanon" and "Palestinian Youth Association for Syrian Palestinians" staged a sit-in in front of the Canadian embassy in Jal El Dib on Thursday morning to demand the opening of immigration to Palestinian refugees.

The protesters demanded "their most basic rights" and said that UNRWA is the cause of their tragedy because it has a guardianship over the Palestinian people separate from the 1951 Refugee Convention and that it behaves on the basis of "patronage and factionalism."

Last month they held a similar protest where they gave a list of demands to a representative of the Canadian embassy.

One of the speakers then said UNRWA admits its inability to assist Palestinian refugees by seeking refuge in another country, as UNHCR does. He emphasized that any support provided by the Canadian government to UNRWA remains a temporary solution, so Palestinian refugees are "asking the Canadian government to help them find a lasting solution to their suffering, and this solution is only by humanitarian asylum."

The protesters also called on EU countries to "open the doors to them, not only for them but for their children and their future."

The protesters submitted a letter to the Canadian Embassy containing these demands in addition to pressuring UNRWA "to allow the Palestinian people to immigrate Canada and the European Union countries."

Interestingly, they are not demanding the right to immigrate to Arab countries as full citizens. Nor are they protesting for immigration to Israel, which their leaders insist is the only option besides remaining refugees forever.

Unlike UNHCR, UNRWA does not help Palestinians who desire to become citizens of their host countries nor does it facilitate immigration to other countries that might accept them. UNRWA only allows them and their descendants to be considered "Palestine refugees" forever, in a permanent stateless existence until Israel is destroyed.

Palestinians almost never qualify for asylum in Western countries, since (except for those from Syria) they are not fleeing persecution or war.

Self-proclaimed Palestinian leaders have, since the 1950s, pushed the fantasy that their people have no desire to become citizens anywhere else but Israel, and any moves to naturalize them in Syria, Lebanon or Egypt have been opposed bitterly in the name of "Palestinian unity." Notably, when Palestinians fled Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, thousands were stranded on the Iraqi/Syrian border with no Arab country willing to accept them. When UNHCR found Western nations willing to accept them, Palestinian "leaders" complained bitterly, worried that Palestinians who find citizenship elsewhere will no longer be cannon fodder against Israel, which is their primary purpose according to Arab leaders and UNRWA.

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Tear down the racist Palestinian patriarchy! (Said no one, ever.)

It is curious that the progressive Left and prominent feminists are so quiet about the "patriarchy" in the Palestinian leadership.

Here is a photo of the Palestinian Authority cabinet meeting this week where the honor killing of Israa Gharib was briefly discussed.

Lots of white men - and one token woman - are visible.

And what statement was made in this cabinet meeting about Israa?

That the investigation into her death is still ongoing.

That was it - no condemnation, no expressions of outrage.

Separately, Palestinian Authority prime minister Mohamed Shtayyeh issued a bland statement about Gharib's death that proved that women are not considered full members of Palestinian society:

Israa Gharib has become a community issue, and we feel the pulse of the street towards this issue.

With our full commitment to the provisions of Palestinian law and the confidentiality of the investigation and not to rush to prejudge the outcome in respect of the spirit of the deceased and the feelings of their families, we must strengthen the system of legislation protecting Palestinian women, the protector of our national project, who are our mothers and sisters and our partners in the struggle and building society, and without her we would not be a society.

With our deep belief that no person has the right to take the law in his own hands, we will take every necessary legal action to give maximum penalties to anyone involved in the killing of any human being and we are waiting for the results of the investigation into Israa's case.

Notice that he didn't condemn Gharib's death.

Even in this statement, meant to be as liberal as possible, women are not considered an integral part of Palestinian society. They are sisters and mothers, but not leaders in their own right. They are important "partners" with the men who really run things. This statement shows how women are second class citizens and how this is accepted as perfectly normal. (None of the responses to this statement on Facebook were critical of its unconscious sexism, as far as I can tell.)

The prime minister of "Palestine" issued a sexist statement. But the people who are most sensitive to and vocal about sexism in the West remain utterly silent about it and other endemic Palestinian sexism.

Similarly, this week a 2016 survey of worldwide racist attitudes was re-publicized, and "Palestine" was rated the eighth most racist country in the world, based on how Palestinians answered a question about whether they would accept having neighbors of a different race than they were. Yet when was the last time you read an article about Palestinian racism?

Why is the progressive Left so tolerant of Palestinian sexism and racism? They will be publicly critical (if somewhat muted) of sexism in Saudi Arabia and Iran and Egypt, but Palestinian sexism and racism gets a pass. Why?

The only reason is because their hate for Israel outweighs their hate for sexism and racism.

Palestinian hate for Israel and Jews is deemed so critical and essential by these so-called progressives that everything that violates the most cherished liberal ideals is swept under the rug, excused and justified.

Even when forced to make a statement about Israa Gharib, they feel compelled to criticize Israel, because Palestinians have no responsibility for their actions and anything bad they do - including wife beating - is Israel's fault, always.

Palestinian women have been let down by the people who pretend to care most about them. The hypocrisy of the "progressives" remains off the charts.

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