Thursday, September 26, 2019

Kelly Craft's pro-Israel speech at the UN (video, transcript)

Kelly Craft arrived at the UN with a bang - a full throated support and defense of Israel in her very first speech at the UN Security Council Briefing on the Middle East, delivered last Friday.

She doesn't have the passion of Nikki Haley, but still this speech did not get the publicity it deserves.

Thank you Mr. President, and thank you Mr. Mladenov, Ministers, and Ambassador Danon.

As you know, this is my first time participating in this monthly briefing. With this in mind, I would like to step back for a moment and speak broadly on how I intend to approach issues related to the State of Israel.

First—I believe it is important to be clear on serious matters. So, allow me to be clear on the relationship between the State of Israel and the United States of America.

The United States has always supported Israel in the past. The United States supports Israel today. The United States will always support Israel going forward. Israel will have no better friend than Kelly Craft.

Unfortunately, on matters related to Israel at the United Nations, many Member States do not play fair. I could speak endlessly about Member States’ excessive attention to the affairs of Israel, including complaints, unwarranted criticism, and the incessant number of resolutions condemning this great nation.

However, I do not wish to dwell on these well-worn points. As a person who finds value in emphasizing the positive, I wish to instead highlight Israel’s astonishing record of achievements.

Since its creation, Israel has served as a refuge and sanctuary for those fleeing persecution and repression. A vibrant and accomplished democracy, Israel has stood tall and steadfast, despite constant threats to its peace and security.

All the more impressive is that in this threatening environment, Israel strongly supports press freedom, defends gender equality, and houses a robust and innovative free-market economy. And in opposition as to what has been stated here, a nation that deeply respects the rule of law. Indeed, we have much to learn from her.

Further, as a hub for innovation, Israel has cultivated and earned its reputation as a startup nation. It is a global leader in research and development and has a vast network of international collaboration in this space. In fact, it is a leading investor in research and development as a percent of GDP and has been home to 5000 new startups in the past 10 years alone.

Much like the way they built their great nation, Israelis have used their spirit of courage, faith in education, and dogged determination to help their brothers and sisters around the globe.

There are many nations eager to condemn Israel that should instead study its resolve, study its constant efforts towards making the country stand as first among equals to any of the modern world, and study its benevolent pursuits in arts and sciences. In doing so, I believe a different picture will emerge—one that showcases all that Israel is and all that the world can gain from this great nation.

Please do not mistake my remarks here—my statement is not meant to indicate that other issues discussed here today, including the continued violence and terror from Hamas in Gaza as described by Mr. Mladenov in his briefing, are not important.

However, as we sit in this building that was created as a Hall of Peace, I believe it critically important that we acknowledge that no country should face the ceaseless barrage of unwarranted criticism, one-sided antagonism, or repeated negative spotlight.

The United States remains tirelessly committed to supporting Israel’s fair treatment here in this body as well as the UN system.

Further, it should come as no surprise that this is one of my chief priorities. The United States stands with our close friend and partner and will continue to oppose actions and statements that unfairly single it out. And as the Representative of the United States to the UN, I will work relentlessly to fight every effort that seeks to delegitimize Israel or undermine its security.

It is inexcusable that pervasive, anti-Israel bias still exists in the United Nations, and that we continue to witness attempts by some UN Member States to undermine Israel’s standing as a full member of the community of nations. The United States vigorously opposes all such efforts.

As I said when opening my remarks, I believe it is very important that I am clear on serious matters. So allow me to be clear on the relationship between the State of Israel and the United States of America once again.

The United States has always supported Israel in the past. The United States supports Israel today. The United States will support Israel going forward.

Israel will have no better friend than Kelly Craft.

Thank you.

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Leftist Jews fetishizing the Diaspora to justify their hate for Israel

Recently I wrote about the galut mentality that Jews have had drummed into them during centuries of living in the Diaspora. This mentality is one where the Jews know that they not truly a full member of society. They are like guests in someone else's house, and the host can choose to kick them out if they become too demanding.

The most famous joke about this mentality is: Two Jews are before a Russian firing squad, both offered blindfolds. One accepts, the other scornfully refuses. His friend urges him: “‘Shh . . . don’t make trouble.’”

This mentality is a difficult thing to get rid of. But it is worse when you embrace it.

One of Judith Butler's anti-Zionist arguments is that Jews are inherently diasporic. Basing her arguments on obscure Jewish thinkers or unknown kabbalistic interpretations, she believes that the Jew in the diaspora can be the model for how people should act, and specifically "The tradition of Jews living with non-Jews in the diaspora might well serve as a model for thinking about possibilities of co-habitation in Israel/Palestine."

To Butler, the Jews - and seemingly only the Jews - must always be subservient, undemanding of their own rights. Other peoples - devout Muslims, First Peoples, Chinese - can proudly celebrate their own culture and beliefs in front of the world, but the Jew must be quiet and deferential. This self-censorship is not considered a necessary evil, as the Disapora has long been regarded, but as an ideal.

It is notable that Judith Butler's review of Bari Weiss' book refers to her growing up in a Cleveland "shtetl."

I was thinking about this as I read the writings of professor Alan Singer, who I discussed yesterday. All of the things he dislikes about Jews are when they "make waves." He seems to believe that if only a small number of religious Jews from Poland hadn't moved to Germany, the Germans would not have slaughtered even the good assimilated Jews - like his relatives - in the Holocaust. Wearing black coats and shtreimels qualifies as "making trouble" for Jews who don't want their Jewishness to be so obvious.

For assimilated leftist Jews, proud Jewish Zionists and unapologetic Orthodox Jews are two sides of the same coin: people whose Judaism is front and center. This causes discomfort to the Diaspora Jew, and the discomfort translates into hate.

Some of them fetishize disapora Jewish culture. The foremost group keeping Yiddish alive (outside the Hasidic community) is the staunchly secular, socialist Workman's Circle. There is a restaurant in Brooklyn that serves traditional Jewish food along with shellfish and pork, that calls itself "Traif." All of these examples cultural Judaism are like a shirt that can be worn among others who share the same paper-thin affinity for their people, but that can be replaced when among the non-Jews who are the real ones that need to be impressed.

That diaspora version of Judaism is doomed. There is no reason for the cultural Jews' kids to want to care about matzoh ball soup and Seinfeld. But they do teach the next generation the mentality of "maybe if I try harder to assimilate the goyim will accept me as a true equal." Let's embrace liberal causes and call them Tikun Olam, to universalize Judaism so the assimilation can be complete with a minimum of the also-hereditary Jewish guilt.

The twin rules of the assimilated, leftist Jew is to dilute Judaism to the minimum possible and to not tolerate any Jew who actually stands up for specifically Jewish rights. The IfNotNow folks who want to march with immigrants would never be caught dead going to Brooklyn to show solidarity with the black-clad Jews that their own great-grandparents often resembled. But they use their Judaism to tell the non-Jewish world, see, there are Jews who are just like you, and even more so. We agree with you that the other type of Jew - whether religious or Zionist or, God forbid, settlers - is not to be tolerated. When there is a conflict between Israel and other countries, we will never side with Israel. If there are news reports blaming chasidim for overdevelopment or not vaccinating their children, we won't bother to find out if the reports are correct - those types of Jews are assumed guilty, because we can't stand them either.

The religious and the Zionists remind the assimilated diaspora Jews that they have abandoned what their ancestors gave their lives for.

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Lebanese President General Michel Aoun's speech at the UN made it clear that there was no difference between the Lebanese government positions and Hezbollah's. He said that the Shebaa Farms and other lands on Israel's side of the UN-drawn Blue Line is Lebanese, for example.

But his statement on UNRWA was notable. Aoun warned of the danger of curtailing UNRWA's services to Palestinian refugees, saying that "this is causing more social and financial pressure on us" and it threatens to transform the Palestinian youth from "students of knowledge to students of vengeance."

There is not a glimmer of guilt over how the Lebanese have been mistreating their Palestinian "guests" for seven decades.

And there is no outrage in the Arab world over an Arab leader assuming that Palestinian youth are inherently violent.

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09/25 Links Pt2: Israel, US urge EU to take action against anti-Semitic boycott movement; British Labour Party Adopts Anti-Israel Policies, First One on BDS; Berlin cancels Palestinian terror concert

From Ian:

Israel, US urge EU to take action against anti-Semitic boycott movement

Israeli and US officials warned Wednesday of a rise in attacks on Jews in western Europe and urged European Union leaders to stop funding organizations that support an international boycott of Israel, claiming they are encouraging anti-Semitism.

Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan said before meeting with a group of European lawmakers that the EU should make sure its money does not go to groups that support the Palestinian-led boycott movement.

In Brussels, Erdan also released a report cataloging alleged examples of BDS branches or activists using anti-Semitic content in their campaigns.

He accused movement activists of hiding their true agenda behind liberal values such as protecting human rights and freedom of expression.

“BDS leaders who use anti-Semitic language and images that also prove their principles, of boycotting the Jew among the nations, Israel, are anti-Semitic,” Erdan said.

The report included 80 examples of what Erdan called anti-Semitism by key European promoters of the BDS movement against Israel.

Behind the Mask: Denying the Jewish People Their Right to Self Determination is Antisemitism

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) defines the denial of the Jewish right to self-determination as antisemitism. IHRA is accepted in over 18 Western countries and over 30 US states. The Ministry of Strategic Affairs exposes the antisemitism of BDS leaders in a new report called "Behind the Mask".

France Welcomes the Saudis, Condemns Critics of Islam

"Mohammed Al-Issa, who heads the World Islamic League, is credited for more than 500 executions when he was Minister of Justice of Saudi Arabia from 2009 to 2015, and countless orders of torture including the conviction of the famous Raif Badawi with 1.000 lashes." — Michel Taube, Le Figaro, September 16, 2019.

Raif Badawi has just launched a hunger strike over mistreatment by the Saudi prison officials. "As part of their cruel crackdown, they've just confiscated his books & crucial medication." — Irwin Cotler, former Canadian Justice Minister and head of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, in a tweet.

How can France, the country of "liberty, equality, fraternity," welcome the former Saudi minister who was in charge of Badawi's torture and imprisonment... who condemns apostates to death and inflicts public flagellation on dissidents such as Badawi?

Right after the extremist massacre at the weekly Charlie Hebdo, then-French President François Hollande invited the Saudis to join the march of solidarity in Paris. When the Saudis returned home, they started flogging Badawi.

Among the French Muslims, political Islam is rapidly increasing. Instead of embracing the West where they were born, the youngest generations are rejecting it.

Éric Zemmour, apparently, was found "guilty" by a French court of saying that Muslims should be given "the choice between Islam and France" and that "in innumerable French suburbs there is a struggle to Islamize territory". Freedom of expression... [is] under threat in France.

Berlin cancels Palestinian terror concert

After Israel’s ambassador to Germany Jeremy Issacharoff and his counterpart US ambassador Richard Grenell urged Berlin authorities to ban a slated Wednesday event with two Palestinian rappers who glorify terrorism against the Jewish state, the government of the German capital city relented at the 11th hour on Wednesday.

Martin Pallgen, a spokesman for the city’s interior ministry senator, wrote on Twitter: ”A decision with a ban on political activity is ready and will be sent to the musicians.” However, the pro-Palestinian rally was not banned.

Issacharoff tweeted on Tuesday: “I appeal to the #Berlin authorities to prevent this disturbing event at the Brandenburg Gate featuring antisemitic rhetoric and glorification of violence against Israel. Berlin should unite, not divide!”

Grenell said that he agrees with Issacharoff’s appeal and that the “rappers sing about the annihilation of Jews.”

Berlin’s mayor Michael Müller, who is reeling from hosting an antisemitic Iranian mayor of Tehran just weeks ago, faced another crisis moment. Müller has been accused over the years of being soft toward rising Jew-hatred in Germany’s capital.

The Palestinian rappers, Shadi Al-Bourini and Qassem Al-Najjar, have sung for military action against Tel Aviv and urged the destruction of Israel.

In 2012, a video featuring a song by the duo circulated Palestinian websites threatened Israel and promised to attack Tel Aviv, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

Their music was “accompanied by still images of rockets being fired, a plane being shot out of the sky, and Israelis injured and bracing for imminent landing of rockets, among others,” MEMRI said.

The rappers sung: “Strike a blow at Tel Aviv. Strike a blow at Tel Aviv. Strike a blow at Tel Aviv and frighten the Zionists. The more you build it the more we will destroy it.”

Rosh Hashana is a’coming and I decided to do a roundup of all the random stuff that’s been floating in my head for a while. This will hopefully give you some food for thought for the new year. Included are two product recommendations, a recipe, some mussar, and of course, me being the Vard, some sarcastic political commentary, too.

In short, in this particular column, there’s a little something for everyone. So if one segment is not to your liking, by all means, skip past it to the next. I hope you’ll find some of it, useful.

Apple Noodle Kugel Recipe On An Old Orange Post-It

Last year, disaster struck and I could not find my special apple noodle kugel recipe in time for the holidays. And no wonder: it was on a teeny-weeny scrap of old stained paper, an orange post-it.

This year, I got proactive and went through every single recipe in my scrapbook, discarding any “loser” recipes. I also went through every single one of my cookbooks (there are a lot of them).

Well, what do you know: that old orange post-it turned up. But the experience prodded me to type up a fresh copy of the recipe, for posterity. I might as well share it with yinz.

Apple Noodle Kugel

Ingredients:

· 1 lb. wide noodles, cooked

· 1/4 cup margarine or coconut oil

· 1 cup yellow raisins

· 4 eggs

· 1 cup sugar

· 1 T. cinnamon

· 1 lb. apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

· 1 cup apricot preserves

Method:

1. Mix hot noodles with margarine. In separate bowl, mix eggs, sugar, and cinnamon.

2. Add apricot preserves and blend.

3. Stir in raisins and apple slices.

4. Bake in greased 9"x13" baking pan at 350° F (180 C) 75 minutes or until golden brown.

5. Cool kugel on wire rack.

Notes: To freeze, cool completely and double wrap as airtight as possible before placing in freezer. To serve, thaw overnight in fridge before reheating.

Speaking of Apples (and the Land)

It was ‘way back in August that I contemplated getting organized to bake for the upcoming High Holiday season. In our home, Rosh Hashana means apple and plum cakes, but I wasn’t so happy with the first apples coming onto the market.

I was tempted to complain, to post a status on Facebook about the crummy apples and my inability to bake as a result, but then I stopped and thought about the sin of the spies. Maybe I should better keep my mouth shut than appear to be slandering the Land of Israel and its produce?

And so I kept quiet, merely moaning to myself as I watched the days go by, calendar days wasted for not being able to bake and freeze some apple cakes. Fourteen days, to be exact.

Because only two weeks later, perfect apples began flooding the shelves of Israeli supermarkets, the kind of apples that when you cut into them, this gorgeous winy smell flies up into your nostrils reminding you of autumns past, and your family sitting around the table, dressed in their best, dipping slices of fruit into honey for a sweet new year.

These are the kind of apples that are a reward for good behavior, for not posting stupid comments about Israeli apples on Facebook for all and sundry to see.

And I only had to wait a little bit for that to happen.

Childrearing Advice from Rabbi Dr. Avraham Twerski

Rabbi Dr. Avraham Twerski is renowned for his work in the field of addiction. He’s also a Pittsburgh phenomenon, who was, in the past, known for dropping in on local AA meetings to lend moral support to those who suffer. When the good rabbi spoke at Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Center in Bnei Brak earlier this month, I was glad someone made the effort to film the talk for posterity. But I was overcome with nostalgia when I recognized two of the stories he told as stories I heard in my childhood, repeated to me secondhand by my brother, who knew Rabbi Twerski personally.

Here is one of those stories, a personal story about Rabbi Twerski and his father, on the right way to discipline a child, that I must have heard a dozen times growing up. It is still every bit as pertinent and lovely a story. It offers us a glimpse into the making of a sage.

Can Arabs and Jews Make Peace?

There’s a story in Shir Miriam, the book by Miriam Peretz who lost two soldier sons, of what it was like growing up in Morocco. As a little girl, Miriam went to the store on an errand. She waited in line and right as it was her turn, a group of Arab school children came in, rudely pushed her away, and the shopkeeper waited on them instead of her. Because she was a Jew, which meant she was inferior.

I read stories like that and I feel bad inside. But then I came across this clip shared by Miss Iraq, Sarai Idan, of two childhood friends, an Arab and a Jew, reuniting in Tunisia, and I felt much better.

An Israeli Jewish woman visited her once homeland Tunisia & met her Muslim childhood friend who she had not seen for 44 years 💕

Peace is possible if we learn how to co-exist https://t.co/T1n92nb8jc
— Sarai (Sarah Idan) Miss Iraq (@RealSarahIdan) September 9, 2019

Remember Miss Iraq? She posed with Miss Israel during a Miss Universe contest and when the photo hit the newsstands, Idan and her family were threatened. They actually had to leave the country! But Idan is still pushing coexistence on Twitter, for all that.

Now, I know I’m a starry-eyed fool, but I could watch that clip all day long. Does it change anything? Probably not. But I’ll keep watching, nonetheless, while continuing to follow Sarai Idan on Twitter.

Two Blue and White Products

Us pro-Israel people like to buy blue and white. So when I find a product that makes me happy and is made in Israel, I figure I should share this information with other like-minded souls. One product I’m currently in love with is this Even Shampoo with Linseed Oil for Dry/Damaged Hair. I found this expensive (just under $10) but amazing product at a pharmacy located at the Gush Etzion shopping center. But you can order it online at the Judaica Webstore if you don’t mind paying more.

Why do I like this shampoo? Well, for one thing, this shampoo is not like the cheap stuff that lathers up like crazy. You get this thick, velvety lather. And the smell is clean, subtle, and sophisticated. Finally, my hair looks better than it has in about 3 decades. (So sue me. I’m a toiletry snob.)

The other blue and white product I’m in love with is the signature room scent from the Carmel ForestSpa, a place I’ve always wanted to go. Well, the spa may be too rich for my blood ($10 shampoo is about as far as I go), but the room scent is divine and it’s a bargain. I first got a whiff of this air freshener when friends treated me to a facial after I quit smoking, many, many years ago. The woman who did my facial, Allegra, sprayed this stuff around the room and it smelled so good I nearly swooned. I liked it so much, in fact, that Allegra insisted on handing me her spray bottle, to keep. The only problem was that when the spray finished, short of going to an expensive spa, I had no way to get more.

Flash forward to last year, when the hubster and I visited the newish Jerusalem branch of the Isrotel chain, the Orient Jerusalem, to have coffee in the lounge (note that the coffee is excellent!). After, we took a stroll around the hotel, and in the process checked out the shops where we saw they have all the room scents for the various branches of the hotel chain in various formulations. We bought a small bottle (4.05 oz.) of the Carmel Forest scent for 100 shekels (or $28.59, as of this writing). Nine months later, the level of the liquid inside the bottle is only one-third of the way down, so it is definitely long-lasting stuff.

I looked at the website for the hotel and while you can’t order the spray online, it says they take orders over the phone. Doesn’t hurt to try giving them a call at 972 2 5699027.

It’s a luxury item, for sure. But a relatively inexpensive one. I spritz a few sprays in the air and suddenly it smells like a luxury spa. When the smell rises up, Dov always says, “Now, we’re rich,” because that’s mamash what it smells like. Like we’re rich. And sometimes illusion is everything.

Is the Poway Shooter Colorblind?

At a September 19 hearing described as “dramatic,” a judge ruled that John T. Earnest would stand trial for murder and attempted murder at the Chabad synagogue in Poway, California. Those in attendance at the hearing, were treated to a recording of Earnest’s 12-minute conversation with a 911 dispatcher, in which he said, “I'm defending our nation against the Jewish people, who are trying to destroy all white people.”

I read that and my mind flashed to the photos I’d seen of Lori Kaye, the woman he’d murdered in cold blood. She was fair and blond and absolutely white. Which had me wondering with not a little sarcasm if perhaps Earnest is colorblind and whether maybe he could use that as a defense, kind of like the insanity plea.

Lori Kaye, HY"D, who took a bullet for her rabbi.

Of course, not all Jews are white, but plenty of us are, so you have to wonder how anyone believes this stuff. (Or maybe they don’t and they just want to believe it so they can handle guns and shoot people up. Like John T. Earnest did in Poway.)

The Annoying Resurgence of Jewish Life in Europe—Next Year in Vilna??

Every time I read of the resurgence of Jewish life in Europe, I get annoyed. What? Close to 7 million of us you gassed and burned, and still we build synagogues in your cities? A lokh in kopf.

And now the latest in the rush to repopulate Europe with Jews (to kill): Vilnius is getting its first yeshiva since WWII. Now I read that and think: why would you learn Torah in the Jerusalem of Lithuania when you can learn Torah in the actual Jerusalem, in Israel? (I really don’t get this. Will someone please explain it to me. Slowly, in words I can understand.)

Wishing all of us a Shana Tova, a sweet new year.

Next year, in Jerusalem.

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Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

Start with this: Israelis really, really do not want a third round of elections.

The cost is astronomical, and the paralysis is dangerous. The Trump Administration, which has so far been in our corner, is showing frustration with our inability to establish a government that can respond to its much-vaunted “deal of the century,” and is itself under pressure as the American election draws closer. If there is any possibility for us to mitigate the threat in Gaza or to move closer to improving the situation in Judea and Samaria (for example, by annexing Area C), it will have to happen while we have a friendly administration in Washington.

The Iranian threat will not get any less urgent regardless of what the West does. If the sanctions are maintained or tightened, the regime may provoke military action against it that will drag us in; if they receive concessions, these will translate into increased pressure on us from their proxies in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. Despite Obama’s nuclear deal, Iran is progressing in the direction of nuclear capability. The actions of Western governments today can either speed this process up or slow it down, but it is very unlikely that it can be stopped by non-military means. It’s certain that we will be involved.

There are other issues that are less exciting but also important that are stalled by the present situation. Politicians like elections: they are exciting and put them in the spotlight. Advertising agencies and media elections also like them, for obvious reasons. Most ordinary citizens do not. It just brings home to us how much we are paying these prima donnas to strut around and not do the jobs that we have hired them to do.

We need a government, and we need it now. We cannot afford to wait months for another election, not to mention the additional time for coalition negotiations.

We also need a government that will understand and respond properly to the security challenges facing us. Many Israelis, especially younger ones, are tired of hearing about security all the time. But as Pericles said about politics and Trotsky about war, although you may not be interested in it, it is interested in you.

I think the politicians are smart enough to know that if they continue to stubbornly resist a solution, the people will rise up and burn down the Knesset. What can be done now to put our politicians to work?

There will certainly not be a narrow left-wing government unless Gantz is prepared to take the Arab parties into his coalition, which is very unlikely. There could be a narrow right-wing government if Avigdor Lieberman and the Haredi parties could reach agreement on drafting Haredim, which is slightly less unlikely. But probably there will be a unity government that includes at least the Likud and Gantz’ Blue and White party. Such a government would include a rotating Prime Ministership.

This will require that Gantz give up his condition that he will not sit with Netanyahu when he is under an actual or recommended [by the Attorney General] indictment, or unless the Likud puts someone other than Netanyahu at the head of its list. I am predicting that Gantz will find a way to climb down from his tree.

The next big problem will be deciding who will go first as PM under the rotation, Gantz or Netanyahu. Since a PM can continue in his position even if he is indicted, it is essential for Netanyahu that he go first. My guess is that Gantz will back down, simply because he can afford to do so and Netanyahu can’t.

Therefore, I conclude that when the smoke clears, we will have a unity government including at least Likud and Blue and White, and possibly a few others. Netanyahu and Gantz will take turns being PM, and the cabinet will be enlarged (today they are talking about an absurdly inflated cabinet of 32 ministers, 16 from each side).

Will it function? Probably. The differences between Gantz and Netanyahu are much smaller than they appear during the mud-slinging of an election. It would probably be possible for Netanyahu to bring along Ayelet Shaked and Naftali Bennett to his right, and for Gantz to include the vestigial Labor Party, led by Amir Peretz, to his left. Both sides could bypass Lieberman’s Israel Beitenu, as well as the more extreme parties on the right and the left if they wished.

Personally, I would very much like to see this happen. We need a strong ruling coalition to face the security challenge posed by Iran, as well as to be prepared for a possible American government that will be far less friendly to Israel than Trump’s has been. And a strong centrist government would not be hobbled by commitments made under pressure to the extreme Right or Left.

Can they do it? They'd better. Ordinary Israelis are stocking up on tar and feathers in case they can’t.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

09/25 Links Pt1: PMW's great success: Fatah’s terror promoting Facebook page closed; Trump at U.N.: We won’t tolerate Iran’s ‘monstrous antisemitism’; How Israel achieved the impossible at the UN

From Ian:

PMW's great success: Fatah’s terror promoting Facebook page closed

Following Palestinian Media Watch's two major reports and a two-week public pressure campaign, Fatah’s terror promoting Facebook page is closed as of this morning. PMW's campaign started in February this year when we released a detailed report about Fatah’s Facebook page documenting its terror glorification and incitement to violence during 2018. The report showed that Fatah’s content was in direct violation of Facebook’s guidelines. Inexplicably, Facebook refused to close the page at that time.

PMW followed up with a new report released earlier this month, documenting the terror promoting content on Fatah’s Facebook page during the first 6 months of 2019, which was likewise sent to Facebook. In addition, PMW also launched a public social media campaign with many partner organizations worldwide, developed by volunteers at ACT-IL, which was aimed at Facebook's directors, urging them to close down Fatah’s page. The campaign included daily tweets and Facebook posts showing Fatah’s terror promoting content on Facebook, and also included a public campaign through which individuals and organizations sent a pre-written letter of protest to Facebook. Thousands of ACT-IL activists from 74 countries and other PMW partner organizations sent thousands of emails to Facebook's policy directors, and made thousands of reports directly on the page through Facebook.

As of this morning Fatah's Facebook page is down.

PMW thanks ACT-IL and their thousands of volunteers and the many other partners, organizations, and individuals who joined PMW in this project to close down Fatah's Facebook page. With your help we eliminated the terror promotion, and saved lives.

Already yesterday, Fatah was alarmed by PMW’s campaign. Fatah posted three different items about the campaign against its Facebook page, refusing to refer to Palestinian Media Watch by name, preferring to call us "the occupation," a term it often uses to refer to Israel.

Fatah posted copies of PMW’s posts calling to close the Fatah page, in which they accused PMW of inciting against them and asked its followers to “support the page”:

David Singer: Netanyahu and Liberman Could Cut Deal if Rivlin Plan Fails

Liberman’s party did not form Government with 60 other members of the Right last April after Netanyahu refused to accept a bill drafted by Liberman calling for ultra-orthodox Jews to do military service. Netanyahu was captive to the ultra-orthodox Jews comprised in the Right bloc who threatened to bolt if he wavered. Liberman’s continuing insistence that his military service bill be legislated was countered by United Torah Judaism MK Yakov Asher declaring this the best possible get-out-the-vote campaign the religious parties could wish for.

The religious parties failed big time.

Netanyahu is now in an easier political position to agree to Liberman’s demand than he was in April – the latest voting results showing:
1. Liberman’s vote increased from 173004 to 309688 – an increase of 136684.
2. The combined votes of the religious parties – Shas and United Torah Judaism – increased from 507324 to 598522 – an increase of only 91198.
3. Likud’s vote decreased from 1140370 to 1111535 – a drop of 28835

The turnout of ultra-orthodox voters opposing Liberman’s bill did not match the turnout of new voters supporting Liberman’s bill and those Likud voters changing their votes for possibly the same reason. The religious parties are now on far weaker ground to oppose Liberman’s reform as they are locked in to a single negotiating bloc containing 55 members - presumably acting by majority vote.

Cutting a deal between Netanyahu and Liberman remains an option to prevent Israel going through this electoral agony for a third time if Rivlin’s call fails.

Columbia University Invites Malaysia's PM To Speak About The Rule of Law (Daled Amos)

By Daled Amos

Columbia University is facing criticism for inviting the controversial Malaysian Prime Minister to speak today at its World Leaders Conference.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is scheduled to speak about the rule of law and multilateralism at the conference. The controversial part is his history of antisemitic remarks about both Jews and Israel. The Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee are among those who came out and condemned Columbia University for the invitation.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Source: Youtube screencap

Mohamad’s long history of antisemitic comments is highlighted by his comment in a 2012 blog post where he announced that he’s “glad to be labeled anti-Semitic.”

His other attacks on Jews include:

o "Jews rule this world by proxy”
o “1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few million Jews. There must be a way. And we can only find a way if we stop to think, to assess our weaknesses and our strength, to plan, to strategize and then to counterattack. We are actually very strong. 1.3 billion people cannot be simply wiped out. The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million. ”
o “The Jews are not merely hook-nosed, but understand money instinctively.”

In June this year, at the Cambridge Union Society in Great Britain, Mohamad was asked: “Why do you say that the Jewish people in general are inclined towards money?” He responded:

I have some Jewish friends, very good friends. They are not like the other Jews, that’s why they are my friends.

The Malaysian leader has also gone beyond words.

In January, he banned Israeli athletes from participating in the 2019 Para Swimming World Championships being hosted by Malaysia. The tournament had to be moved elsewhere.

It should be noted that whatever one may say about preserving the right of free speech, there have been times that speakers who have been invited to Columbia University have in fact been disinvited.

Fire, whose mission is "to defend and sustain the individual rights of students and faculty members at America’s colleges and universities" keeps a database of speakers who have been disinvited by US universities.

According to that list:

In 2006, Columbia University invited Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at its World Leaders Conference. There were objections due to Ahmadinejad's and Iran's human rights record. In addition, there were objections his speech was scheduled for the day before Rosh HaShannah, effectively impeding Jewish students who wanted to protest but would be unable to because of travel and preparations for the holiday. The speech was eventually canceled due to "logistical" issues.

In 2007, after his talk in 2006 was cut short by protesters, Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist was invited back a year later -- and then disinvited. The group is a multi-ethnic civilian organization that patrols the Mexican border, looking for illegal immigrants to turn over to authorities. In the article Columbia Nixes Speech by Minuteman Project Founder, Instead Invites Holocaust Denier, FIRE notes that the Columbia Political Union, which was hosting the debate, bowed out with the excuse that because of the "complex issue, about which many people feel strongly, we felt that it was necessary to consult with other student groups and individuals on campus before making any decisions"

In 2009, Nonie Darwish was invited to speak at Columbia University, but it was canceled:

Darwish’s speech officially was sponsored by a faculty group, the Columbia Chapter of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME). SPME faculty members reserved a room holding about 50 people. Once [student Daniel] Hertz realized that there could be a security issue, he alerted campus security (about a week before the speech was to take place). On the Friday before the event, he was told that all he needed to do was reserve a larger room and all would be well. But by Monday morning, he was told that Columbia had cancelled the event because the SPME professors did not have authority to reserve rooms on campus. Apparently, they had been doing so in the past, but Columbia suddenly had decided to crack down. (I wonder why?) Not only that-Hertz was told that Columbia, miraculously, had already scheduled someone else for the original room, so he couldn’t have the event in that room even if he wanted to. (I encourage SPME faculty or Columbia administrators to contact me if they have a different version of events.) Hertz says that Campus Media Watch is now an official student organization and intends to bring Darwish to campus next semester. [Note: though this is mentioned on their site, FIRE does not mention this example on their database]

Among those who have spoken at Columbia University despite strong student objections are John McCain (too conservative), Alan Dershowitz (pro-Israel), Tommy Robinson (controversial anti-Islamist English Defence League) and Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit -- the latter in 2010 because of his alleged role in the financial crisis at the time as a banker.

But in these days of spiraling antisemitism and violence against Jews, Columbia University and its students have no problem giving center stage to a proud and outspoken antisemite.

Then there is Paul Krugman.

Back in 2003, The New York Times columnist Paul Krugman excused the Malaysian Prime Minister's antisemitism this way:

So what's with the anti-Semitism? Almost surely it's part of Mr. Mahathir's domestic balancing act, something I learned about the last time he talked like this, during the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98.

Krugman's balancing act itself is no less impressive.

It cannot be easy to keep one's balance standing on one foot with your eyes closed and your hands over your ears.

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Hofstra professor excuses bias against Jews on campus. Perhaps because he has plenty of his own.

A couple of weeks ago, Leilah Abelman, a Hofstra University student who is also a religious Jew, listed some outrageous stories of how she was a victim of antisemitism both by students and by professors.

After telling a professor I would need to miss class for the Jewish high holidays, I was told I needed to re-evaluate my religious beliefs. That same professor told the class to imagine a world without Jews in it.

Later, a student compared the Jewish tradition of marrying within the religion to Nazi eugenics. When I approached the aforementioned professor after class to tell her how uncomfortable the comments had me feel, I was essentially told to be less sensitive.

Then, just three days after the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh in which 11 Jews were shot attending services, another professor asked the class to discuss whether the shooter was “truly evil.” Many students expressed the belief that the shooter, who murdered 11 innocent Jewish people, could not be considered evil as he did what he believed was right.

I confronted this professor too, and while he did apologize to me personally, he never brought the issue up with the class. Students left thinking they had said nothing wrong.

There were plenty of other anecdotes from just a single year on campus, mostly involving students. But these examples are from two professors on campus.

Now a Jewish professor at Hofstra, Alan Singer, has responded to this article as well as to Bari Weiss' book on antisemitism in a fashion that is almost too offensive to believe.

Like Bari Weiss, I consider myself a proud Jew who recognizes the need to combat anti-Semitism. However, I think she makes a serious mistake by conflating two different phenomena. Right-wing white nationalism abetted by the Trump administration is a grave threat to Jews and to democracy in the United States and must be vigorously challenged. Urban tension in gentrifying communities where racial and ethnic minorities are being displaced by gentrification and in Brooklyn, New York, by an expanding orthodox religious group has led to anti-Semitic slurs and physical assaults on religious Jews, but they are not an attack on Judaism as a religion and on the Jewish people as a whole. This behavior can best be addressed by building an inclusive community.

Yes, Singer is excusing blacks attacking Jews in Brooklyn - often with antisemitic slurs. The Jews of Borough Park or Crown Heights, who have been there for many decades, are "expanding" and other white people are gentrifying the areas so blacks attacking identifiable Jews is a natural response for frustration - nothing antisemitic about it! The attackers aren't screaming about their philosophical issues with Judaism, they are just hitting religious Jews with bricks while yelling "Jew! Jew! Jew!" That isn't antisemitism!

If only the religious Jews wouldn't be so insular, if they cared about the blacks more - if they were more inclusive - then there would be no problem. The attackers aren't at fault, but the victims are.

This is astonishing. But it gets worse:

The author cited a series of microaggressions by what she considered to be insensitive students and non-supportive faculty and administrators and called on the Hofstra community to “confront this issue now to curb the rise of anti-Semitism, before it’s too late.”

I don’t dispute the student’s feelings, but I disagree with her accusations of anti-Semitism on the Hofstra campus. As a teacher, I distinguish between bias and racism or anti-Semitism. Everyone has biases. They are products of culture, what we are taught and our understanding of experiences. But everyone does not act on biases to restrict or hurt other people. Biases can be examined based on evidence and new experiences and be dismissed, or at least controlled. Racism and anti-Semitism belong in a separate category. Racism and anti-Semitism mean acting on biases and even promoting biases to justify discrimination against and exploitation of groups of people to achieve economic, political or social advantages. It can be a slippery slope from bias to racism when groups are pitted against each other for political power or scarce resources, but the transition is not inevitable.

Would Singer be as indifferent if professors said to their students to imagine a world without black people? If they allowed students to compare black people to slave-owners? If they asked students whether the white supremacist murderer of nine black people in a Charleston church was "truly evil?"

Singer has the right to distinguish between bias and antisemitism if he wants. But he cannot define away that at least two Hofstra professors allowed or introduced anti-Jewish bias in their classrooms. Moreover, no matter how much Singer tries to excuse these incidents as mere "bias" that does not rise to the level of antisemitism, Hofstra has policy that says "Behavior, whether physical or verbal, or in-person or through the use of electronics or by any other means, ...that is motivated by bias based on actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national or ethnic origin, physical or mental disability, or marital or veteran status, that has the effect of intimidating, taunting, humiliating, or otherwise impeding on the rights of another individual" is grounds for disciplinary action.

Not coincidentally, Professor Singer is a fan of Jewish Voice for Peace.

Most worryingly, someone who is so obviously anti-Israel has written a book on how to teach global history. In his section on how to teach about the Middle East, he writes:

Notice how he frames the conflict as between Israel and "the occupied territory of Palestine," and not as the Arab-Israeli conflict. That is bias that ignores context - to the detriment of proud Zionist Jews.

He "sought out" Israeli sources that are critical of Israel, and of course Palestinian sources that are critical of Israel. He didn't seek out any Zionist perspectives, nor does he mention Benny Morris' revised positions - based on newer archival findings - that often justify Israeli actions. That is bias.

For the other side, he uses Khalidi's "The Iron Cage." But Singer will not ask his students to look critically at that book as he asks them to look critically at the Zionist perspective. That is bias.

Singer claims that mere bias doesn't hurt people. However, generations of students indoctrinated with his form of anti-Zionist teachings, where the Israeli perspective is ignored and critics amplified, does have lasting results. Students who learn such one-sided lessons bring them into the world - they become diplomats and politicians. These lessons affect actual human lives. Teachers have a responsibility to root out their biases, not to excuse them as something that everyone has.

Singer does seem to have a particular bias against not only Zionist Jews but also religious Jews. As mentioned, Abelman is religious and her concerns are downplayed. A couple of passages in his book about the Holocaust, where he argues that traditional German antisemitism is not adequate to explain why Jews were targeted in the Holocaust, betray similar anti-religious bias.

He shows that there were prominent Jews in Germany - and points out that they were assimilated, subtly excusing bias against Jews who were not assimilated:

This is more explicit in this passage where Singer seems to unconsciously argue that if just those Jews would stop being so obviously Jewish, they might have been saved:

I do not think even Singer quite realizes the depth of his own bias. He considers himself a proud Jew, and he lost relatives in the Holocaust as well. He is certainly aware that assimilation didn't save the Jews of Germany. But there is a pattern here, where Singer seems very uncomfortable with Jews - whether Orthodox or Zionist - who do not meekly fade into the larger society, and who stubbornly hang onto their beliefs that are at odds with the prevailing liberal orthodoxy. I do not know if he has the same issues with, say, native Americans, the Amish, devout Muslims, Sikhs or any other distinctive group that hangs onto its traditions. It appears that only proud Jews are the ones who make him uncomfortable.

Perhaps Singer is willing to excuse bias against religious and Zionist Jews because he has so much of it himself.

(h/t YMedad)

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A photo essay of the British Labour Party conference filled with Palestinian - but no British - flags

This was projected on the building that hosted the Labour Party conference this week.

That's just the outside.

Here's what it looked like on the inside.

Dual-loyalty? No, it appears that the Labour Party is only loyal to one political entity, one that is 3500 km away.

Notice how many people are holding the Palestinian flag upside down. They pretend to care about Palestine but don't bother to actually learn much about their supposed cause.

Besides the utter lack of any British flag visible in the conference, one commenter on Twitter noted that if Labour really cared about a two state solution, shouldn't there be some Israeli flags as well?

Just for fun, I searched the UK Labour Party website to see if they ever said anything bad about Lebanon for their horrific treatment of Palestinians.

You already know the answer.

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Erdogan meets with Neturei Karta "rabbis" in New York - but keeps it low key

Turkish media are reporting that Turkey's president Recep Erdogan met with "Jewish rabbis" in New York, away from the eyes of journalists and the media - at his request.

The rabbis were the crazy fringe anti-Zionists of Neturei Karta, and evidently they took the photo shown here.

According to information obtained by the Zaman newspaper, Erdogan held his meeting with the nuts at the Hilton Hotel Midtown in New York City.

Why is Erdogan embarrassed? Because Muslim antisemites freak out when photos like this get out. Like this guy who says that Erdogan met with extremist Israelis, and then pretended to be anti-Israel at the UN.

العلج #اردوغان خلال 24ساعة:

اجتمع مع حاخامات اسرائيلين متشددين حيث استقبلهم في مقر اقامته وأكد استمرار دعمه للكيان الصهيوني #إسرائيل.

وبعد اجتماعه مع الحاخامات بـ24ساعة ظهر في الامم المتحدة يهاجم إسرائيل للضحك على السذج من قطيعه.

اخبث وانجس ما خلق ربي#اردوغان_يكذب_علي_العالم pic.twitter.com/TxZB5ddSgR
— سـهـم➹ (@s_hm2030) September 24, 2019

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09/24 Links Pt2: David Collier: The ‘Palestine’ obsession at the Labour Party conference; John Hagee: Why Israel’s Enemies Will Not Triumph; Ireland Ignores Palestinian Textbooks that Encourage Hatred of Israelis

From Ian:

John Hagee: Why Israel’s Enemies Will Not Triumph

Given recent events in the Middle East, our leaders would benefit from the wisdom shared in the Book of Esther. Despite the name of God never appearing in the book, Esther’s story shows us that He will always preserve the nation of Israel, no matter how grave the danger. And vitally, this history also reminds us that God calls ordinary people to help in this righteous calling.

In fact, the word of God is replete with examples of common and flawed individuals who are now immortalized as heroes of faith — all because of their willingness to be used by God for the benefit of His people. Abraham was disobedient, Moses was a murderer who stuttered, David was the youngest and the runt of the family, Esther was an orphan. All of these people changed the trajectory of the world not because they were perfect, but because they were brave and willing to go forward.

Unfortunately, the enemies of Israel did not disappear with Haman and his sons, or the Nazi cowards of World War II. The modern enemies of Israel take on more insidious forms than their predecessors, and some of them were recently granted visas to the United States in order to attend the UN General Assembly this week.

While the Book of Esther is set in ancient history, its principles remain true today. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif are modern-day Hamans. Like Haman the Agagite, they have not been discreet about their plans for Israel and the Jewish people. In fact, Iran’s weapons are emblazoned with the words “death to Israel.” So, what are we willing to do about it?

Between Two Promised Lands

In his new book, ‘We Stand Divided,’ Daniel Gordis examines the deep roots of the growing rift between American and Israeli Jews

In the book’s most stimulating and provocative chapter, Gordis presents American and Israeli conceptions of democracy as being fundamentally at odds. In the U.S., politics have been organized around the right to free and equal exchange in the public square, Gordis argues, and American Jews acculturated into this system have come to idealize a form of “naked” democracy, utterly stripped of all cultural symbols. Such “hypercivility,” as Gordis describes it, is incompatible with the Jewish particularism that is a founding mission of Israel, a nation created, after all, not to enshrine universal values but to ensure the survival of a single people. “For long before there was a Jewish state, there was an implicit understanding in the yishuv that Jewish substance should pervade Israel’s ether,” Gordis writes. Accordingly, Shabbat sirens in Jerusalem, temporary halting of bus services, strict religious conversion standards, and even forbidding the public display of hametz during Passover are seen as legitimate, and necessary, infringements on individual rights to preserve Judaism’s national identity.

To uphold the divide between Israeli and American Jews as the result of incompatible visions of Judaism and democratic politics rather than a temporary, contingent rift, Gordis can, at times, reduce the internal complexity in both of these communities to a simple binary contrast. We Stand Divided sometimes skirts around the deep divisions emerging within the American and Israeli camps by granting the two groups singular voices where they are more often characterized by a cacophonous bickering that may be unhelpful for illustrating stark themes, but are instinctively recognizable background noise to Jews all over the world. For instance, Gordis’ suggestion of consensus among Israelis regarding their nation’s ethnic democracy threatens to suffocate the great national divisions within Israel over religion’s growing political prominence and the treatment of minority groups—divisions that have animated the last several Israeli elections and contributed to the country’s political gridlock.

We Stand Divided is a natural progression from Gordis’ previous work, Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn, offering a broad spectrum of readers, from the unacquainted to the well informed, a constructive, digestible framework for interpreting recent developments in the American-Israeli relationship. Gordis succeeds in demonstrating the essential point of We Stand Divided in that today’s strained ties are neither new nor novel. “I argue that although most observers believe that the fraught relationship is due to what Israel does, a closer look at Jewish communities in Israel and the United States suggests that the real reason has to do with what Israel is,” Gordis writes. Locating the divisions over Israel as a matter of essence rather than particular actions, Gordis suggests that Israeli and American Jews are prone to misunderstand each other—but this doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to inevitably drift further apart. That remains to be seen and depends partly on whether they can look honestly at what divides them.

Ireland Ignores Palestinian Textbooks that Encourage Hatred of Israelis

I was surprised and genuinely shocked to learn that the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs has turned a blind eye to the toxic indoctrination of Palestinian children who are being fed a hate-filled version of their history. In 2010 a new initiative was launched between the Palestinian Authority and five European states to support the education sector. Ireland was to focus on curriculum development and basic education as the lead nation on textbook development. The result is that the bad old PA curriculum is now much worse.

The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE) monitors school textbooks to see how they measure up to UNESCO and UN standards for peace and tolerance. What emerged from the Palestinian Ministry of Education was filled with violent wording and is openly anti-Semitic: Jews control the world and are corrupt, there is no possibility of peace with Israel, martyrdom and jihad are the most important things in life, and "dying is better than living." Killers classified by the UN as terrorists are glorified as role models and heroes to be emulated.

Marcus Sheff, chief executive officer of IMPACT-SE, has been astounded by the silence of Ireland. "The Irish Government is involved in these textbooks to a greater extent than any other donor government," he noted.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke to the UN today and he used a prop - The Map That Lies.

🇹🇷 — NEWS: Erdogan During His UN Address Speaks About Israeli–Palestinian Conflict: "What is the role and point of the UN if it fails to implement its own resolutions against Israel...”

pic.twitter.com/wBDa31GNzm
— BELAAZ (@TheBelaaz) September 24, 2019

This is the map that Israel-haters love so much. The map that MSNBC publicly apologized for showing on the air because it does not tell the truth. The map that prompted McGraw-Hill to admit it was wrong and to destroy all textbooks that used it.

It is sort of amazing that world leaders can go to the UN, lie with impunity and most journalists don't call them on it.

(h/t Jose)

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