Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, December 29, 2019

Chanukah music video night 8: Disney Junior Happy Hanukkah 🕎 Puppy Dog Pals

Another new Disney Chanukah song for the year. Not the greatest but welcome!

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From JPost:

The Antiquities Authority announced Sunday that a juglet full of rare 1,200-year-old gold coins was discovered in an excavation in Yavne just before the festival.

As revealed by IAA coin expert Robert Kool, the coins date back to the early Abbasid Period, 9th century CE. The period marked the beginning of a golden age for the Muslim empire, with the Abbasid rulers acquiring international status and promoting art, science, commerce and industry. According to Kool, among the coins was a dinar from the reign of Caliph Harun al-Rashid (786-809 CE), whose court was the setting of many parts of the world-renowned One Thousand and One Nights– also known as Arabian Nights.

“The hoard also includes coins that are rarely found in Israel,” Kool said. “These are gold dinars issued by the Aghlabid dynasty that ruled in North Africa, in the region of modern Tunisia, on behalf of the Abbasid Caliphate centered in Baghdad,” he added.

But I thought Israel was weaponizing archaeology to erase all Muslim history!

It gets "worse" - the Israel Antiquities Authority even admits there was a Persian presence in the fourth century CE!

Even older artifacts were revealed in the region. According to the IAA, a large wine production installation dating back to the Persian Period (4th – 5th centuries) was uncovered in a different area of the excavation. Codirector of the excavation Elie Haddad explained that an “initial analysis of the contents of the installation revealed ancient grape pips [seeds].” Hadded added, “The size and number of vats found at the site indicated that wine was produced on a commercial scale, well beyond the local needs of Yavne’s ancient inhabitants.”

Here's the thing: Jews are secure in their own history in the land, which is why they have no problem publicizing the others who have lived there. Arabs, on the other hand, are not nearly as secure in their history, so they are the ones what need to erase the Jewish parts of history.

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12/29 Links: 5 Wounded, 2 Critical After Stabbing Attack on Jewish Worshipers at Hanukkah Celebration in NY; Obsessed: 93% of Ken Roth’s “illegal” accusations targeted Israel

From Ian:

Saturday Night Terror At Rabbi Rottenburg’s Shul, 15 Transported To Hospital, Suspect In Custody

Multiple people were stabbed Saturday night in a synagogue.

According to reports, a black male entered the home of Rabbi Rottenburg, who has a Shul in the Forshay neighborhood of Monsey. There was a Chanukah party going on in the home.

The man, whose face was covered with a scarf, immediately pulled out a machete and started stabbing people.

At least 5 people were stabbed. One of the victims was stabbed in the chest.

According to reports, 15 victims were transported to the hospital, but 5 were ultimately hospitalized. 1 victim is in critical condition.

According to individuals inside the home at the time of the attack, the attacker was fought off by Jews who threw tables and chairs at him.

The perpetrator ran out after his attack and escaped in a Nissan Sentra. His license plate (HPT 5747) was written down by a bystander who pursued him before he left.

The vehicle was then identified to have passed over the George Washington Bridge to New York City at 11:02PM.

Police initially tracked the vehicle to an address located in Greewood Lake. Police also tracked down the father of the suspect and interviewed him.

At approximately midnight, the NYPD stopped a vehicle matching the description at W 177 Street and 7 Avenue in Harlem. A suspect from the vehicle was taken into custody.

Rabbi Rottenburg’s Shul is located in the Forshay neighborhood in Monsey.

Five Wounded, Two Critical After Stabbing Attack on Jewish Worshipers at Hanukkah Celebration in New York

An attacker stabbed five people late on Saturday at a Hasidic rabbi’s home in New York state and fled before apparently being arrested, a Jewish organization said, a rampage that came after days of increased concern over antisemitic assaults.

The Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council (OJPAC) said on Twitter an attacker wearing a scarf stabbed the victims at a house in Monsey, Rockland County, about 30 miles north of New York City. The Council identified the assailant as an African American male.

All five victims were taken to hospitals, the council said, adding that two of the victims were critical, with one of them stabbed at least six times.

“The suspect fled the scene, but he is in custody at this time,” the Ramapo Police Department said in a Facebook post.

The police department confirmed that five people were stabbed and said that the investigation was going on. The department did not provide any more details.

An OJPAC official, Yossi Gestetner, told the New York Times the attack happened at around 10 p.m. during a Hanukkah celebration that was being attended by many dozens of people at the rabbi’s home.

About a third of the population of Rockland County is Jewish, including a large enclave of Orthodox Jews.

Right after the #MonseyAttack, the Rabbi and his followers gathered in the synagogue where the attack took place and continued the celebrations. Hate will not win! pic.twitter.com/DtPWElofPJ
— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) December 29, 2019

Attacker arrested after multiple people stabbed at Rockland County synagogue

A knife-wielding assailant stabbed four people in a rabbi’s basement synagogue in Rockland County during a crowded Hanukkah celebration Saturday night, according to a law enforcement source.

The suspect fled the scene in a 2015 Nissan Sentra, driving over the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan — and was promptly arrested by the NYPD at 144th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem at midnight, the source said. He was identified by a police source as Thomas Grafton, 37.

The accused attacker was transferred back to Rockland County around 4 a.m. from the 32nd Precinct by State Troopers, the lead agency on the case.

One victim was left in critical condition in the attack, which happened at around 10 p.m. when a man walked into the basement synagogue in Monsey with a machete or similarly large knife and began attacking people, the source said.

Between 50 and 100 people were inside the synagogue, which is known locally as Rabbi Rottenberg’s Shul.

Those gathered had just lit the menorah on the second-to-last night of the holiday, according to Aron Kohn, 65, who was inside.

“He just took it (the knife) out and started to run at people,” Kohn said.

Kohn described a frantic scene inside, saying he threw whatever furniture he could lay his hand on at the maniac.

“I saw him stabbing people and I started throwing chairs and tables,” Kohn said.

After slashing four people inside — a fifth person was injured in the panic — the attacker attempted to enter the temple next door to the rabbi’s house, but fled after he failed to gain access.

A suspect has been arrested in connection with the stabbing of 5 Orthodox Jews in Monsey.

But even though this attack happened in Monsey, it is part of a growing and increasingly alarming pattern inside New York City.

And no one expects these attacks to stop soon.

One reason for the pessimism is the failure by the media, elected officials and social media 'celebrities' to address the fact that, contrary to the accepted media narrative, these attacks on Orthodox Jews are being carried out by Blacks -- not by "White Supremacists."

Elder of Ziyon has posted about the reluctance among leftists to mention this common link among the majority of the attacks on Jews, either out of fear of being labeled racist or accused of inciting violence against the Black community:

Most blacks are not antisemitic, although the percentage is roughly double that of whites (in 2016, 23% compared to 10%.) No one is saying that all blacks should be blamed. But the fear of being labeled a racist is the major reason there has not been any effective outreach to the black community to help solve this problem.

But this is not the first time that the fear of addressing Black antisemitism has manifested itself and prevented the media and community leaders from speaking out.

Remember the Crown Heights Riots?

In 2016, Seth Lipsky wrote for The New York Post, 25 years later, we still haven’t learned the lessons of the Crown Heights riot -- and in the 3 years since then, matters have only gotten worse:

Crown Heights erupted after a driver in the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s motorcade lost control and killed a black child, Gavin Cato. For three days, historian Edward Shapiro would write, “bands of young blacks” had “roamed” the neighborhood, assaulting Jews. [Emphasis added]

At the time, Yankel Rosenbaum, a Jewish student visiting from the University of Melbourne, was stabbed to death -- and his killer, Lemrick Nelson, was acquitted of murder by a New York jury. Two federal civil rights prosecutions were required before Nelson would be sent to prison, and in the end, he did 10 years on civil rights charges.

What stands out most for Lipsky is that during the Crown Heights Riots, neither the political nor the private leaders in the city could bring themselves to admit that the attacks on Jews were antisemitic.

Ari Goldman, who reported on those riots for The New York Times at the time, later wrote about the experience, noting the insistence by journalists at the time to frame the attacks as a result of a "racial conflict."

In Telling It Like It Wasn't, Goldman quotes AM Rosenthal, a former executive editor at The New York Times who said what others would not:

“The press,” Rosenthal wrote, “treats it all as some kind of cultural clash between a poverty-ridden people fed up with life and a powerful, prosperous and unfortunately peculiar bunch of stuck-up neighbors — very sad of course, but certainly understandable. No — it is an anti-Semitic pogrom and the words should not be left unsaid.” [emphasis added]

Indeed, one journalist tweeted about the Monsey attack something similar - and later deleted their tweet:

The situation in NY (and let's be clear we don't know who perpetrated the Monsey attack yet) is *massively complicated* and a growing division among two communities. What we need right now is a way to find solidarity with each other against our shared enemy of white supremacy.

Other tweets, in response to steps proposed by Mayor de Blasio last week to increase police protection of the Jewish community, were worse:

This sends a pretty stark message to non-Jews living in these neighborhoods that their safety matters less to @NYCMayor than the safety of their Jewish neighbors. That's really really bad for literally everyone except our common enemies, who benefit when we're divided.

and

Worst move. One that many of us have been warning against for many months now. de Blasio has caved to the pressure of racist demagogues like Dov Hikind and now many young black men will be at risk.

This isn't about ending hate, it's transferring the violence to acceptable targets.

We are seeing the same blind eye and lack of decisive action now that we saw 28 years ago.

Two years after the riots, in 1993, an exhaustive state investigation into the handly of what happened sharply criticized Mayor Dinkins for his failure to understand and act upon the severity of the crisis.

The Jewish community now is growing increasingly concerned that the current mayor does not understand what is happening any better.

Lipsky concludes his 2016 article pointing to attempts at reconciliation within Crown Heights, yet notes:

Liberal elites have made no such progress. They have never lifted a finger for the Orthodox Jews. The animus that erupted as “Heil Hitler” in Crown Heights has broken out on some of our city’s finest campuses, which echo with “Zionists out” and “Long live the Intifada.”

And liberals are unalarmed that Black Lives Matter has begun to make common cause with the BDS movement against Israel. So 25 years after Crown Heights, it’s anyone’s guess where the next attacks will break out against the Jews. [emphasis added]

These days, there is no longer any need to guess.

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Can a new US law pressure Jordan to extradite Hamas terrorist Ahlam Tamimi?

Ahlam Tamimi is the Hamas terrorist responsible for the murder of 15 including 7 children in a Sbarro pizza shop in Jerusalem who is now living a free - and even celebrity - life in Jordan.

The US has been trying to extradite her, and Jordan has refused, even though other wanted people have been extradited from Jordan to the US.

Now there may be another way to pressure Jordan.

From JNS:

Anyone who cares at all about the pursuit of justice just got an unexpected holiday gift last week. Congress just passed a huge omnibus spending bill, which was signed by the U.S. President Donald Trump on Dec. 20 and became the law of the land: Public Law 116-94.

Tucked into this bill by an anonymous member of Congress, without any fanfare, was HR 7055, which states: “None of these funds provided by this Act, may be used to provide assistance, (here there is a reiteration of the emergency exceptions), to the central government of a country which has notified the Department of State of its refusal to extradite to the United States any individual indicted for a criminal offense for which the maximum penalty is life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, or for killing a law enforcement officer.”

Jordan receives over $1.7 billion from the US every year. Jordan's GDP is only $40 billion, meaning that US aid is a significant part of Jordan's economy.

To be sure there are loopholes, as with any budget item.

(c) Waiver.—The Secretary of State may waive the restriction in subsection (a) on a case-by-case basis if the Secretary certifies to the Committees on Appropriations that such waiver is important to the national interest of the United States.

But it just so happens we have a Secretary of State who is not an Arabist, which has been rare over the past century. And we have a President who expects recipients of aid to cooperate with the US and not to act as if the aid is a blank check.

So there is reason for cautious optimism that, finally, justice can be served.

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Leftists can fight black antisemitism if they want to - and they are choosing not to for fear of being labeled racist

I am seeing people who usually blame all antisemitism on white nationalists saying they are horrified about the machete attack on religious Jews in Monsey, NY Saturday night.

But look what they don't say:

None of them say that the attackers, here and in most of the other incidents over the past week, were black.

Mentioning that fact is Kryptonite. It is what Must Not Be Said. Black antisemitism must be subsumed under All Antisemitism which, as these people will insist, is driven by white supremacism.

But it is not true. There are at least four major types of antisemitism that are actively attacking Jews today: white nationalism, Arab/Muslim antisemitism, Leftist antisemitism (which disguises itself as anti-Zionism) and black antisemitism (which can be further broken down into Nation of Islam-type and inner city-type.)

They all have different methodologies and different philosophies. They cannot be fought as if they are the same thing. Lumping them all together is another way of downplaying them and ensuring that nothing is done.

Some are warning us to not mention the unmentionable:

It is true that there could be different motivations for black attacks on Jews - as I mentioned, Farrakhan hate of Jews is different from that of inner city blacks. Those are pretty much the only major flavors of black antisemitism I am aware of. But ignoring the commonality is a sure way to ensure that the problem is not solved. It would be foolish to assume that there is no element of copycat attacks as black people are hitting Jewish people on the head in the streets of Brooklyn and running away. Certainly the black attackers don't have the same motivations as the Arab, white nationalist or Leftist antisemites.

If someone wants to do a study on black antisemitism, by all means, we can use more data. But don't ignore the problem because we don't fully understand it. There is enough data to start fighting it.

It is most definitely not incitement to mention that blacks are attacking Jews. It is pointing out the obvious, and ignoring it is a sure way to ensure that it continues. Incitement is encouraging violence, and absolutely no one is saying or implying "attack blacks because some of them hate Jews."

But there is another problem with sweeping the fact of black antisemitism under the rug. No matter what the motivation is, a large part of the solution is for respected leaders of the black community to speak out about it - not black Republican outliers, but the mainstream political, activist and religious black leaders. If no one acknowledges that there is a definite problem in the black community in the New York area that prompts the types of attacks we have seen over the past couple of years (often on video) there is no pressure for their leaders to speak out about it and stigmatize it.

The fear of being called a racist is stopping political allies from demanding a response from the community leaders. Meaning that actually fighting antisemitism is deemed to be less of a priority than the chance of being (falsely) labeled a racist by pointing out what everyone knows but no one on the left is willing to say out loud.

Most blacks are not antisemitic, although the percentage is roughly double that of whites (in 2016, 23% compared to 10%.) No one is saying that all blacks should be blamed. But the fear of being labeled a racist is the major reason there has not been any effective outreach to the black community to help solve this problem.

Conservatives cannot do a damn thing to stop this scourge.

We need black leaders to step up. And we need their political allies on the Left to pressure them to speak up. Their refusal to admit that there is such a thing as black antisemitism is the major reason that it is getting worse. It is cowardice, pure and simple. And it reflects an unfortunate belief that it is better for Jews to be stabbed than for making black leaders uncomfortable that their communities are raising many youths to hate Jews.

Demanding that black leaders take responsibility for their own communities is a small price to pay to stop violent attacks. Anyone who thinks otherwise is enabling antisemitism. (And assuming that black leadership will lash out at anyone for bringing up the topic to save lives is itself condescending and racist.)

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12/28 Links: Israel’s James Bond - How an Iraqi-born Jew became an Israeli hero; FBI: Jews were victims in 60% of religiously motivated hate crimes in 2018; Why Are Academics Ignoring Iran’s Colonialism?

From Ian:

Israel’s James Bond - How an Iraqi-born Jew became an Israeli hero

In fact, out of an estimated 137,000 Iraqi Jews, Ben-Porat’s leadership of Operation Ezra and Nehemiah resulted in about 130,000 making their way to Israel. An estimated 111,000 came by air, the rest by way of Iran. Roughly 7,000 Jews chose to remain, hoping to protect businesses and assets. Today, however, there are no Jews living in Iraq.

Upon his return to Israel, Mordechai married his fiancé, Rivka, with whom he had three daughters, 15 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Until her death in 1995, they were married for 49 years. Today with his wife of 20 years, Nechama, he lives in Ramat Gan. In subsequent service with Mossad LeAliyah Bet, he was involved in other missions, most of which remain top-secret. Among other things, he also became an MK, a member of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament; and he founded the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center in Or Yehuda, a small city next to Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport.

In 2001, he was awarded the Jewish state’s highest civilian honor as a recipient of the Israel Prize with specific reference to his efforts rescuing Jews from Iraq. Recently, those same Jews along with their children and grandchildren gathered at the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center in Or Yehuda. Their nickname for Ben-Porat? Israel’s James Bond.

In the late 1990s, he authored a memoir called, To Baghdad and Back: The Miraculous 2,000 Year Homecoming of the Iraqi Jews.
Today at age 96, Mordechai sits at his dining room table, remembering the past but doing so as a lens for viewing the future. Reflecting on all he experienced in times of intense persecution in Iraq, he looks at developments in today’s world today’s world. His conclusion? His sober conviction is that persecution has returned and likely will appear with no less intensity throughout the world, especially of Jews, Kurds and Christians.

Should he establish a school that will teach the things he learned – how to survive, what to do, what not to do? He is giving the matter serious consideration. Perhaps the greatest mission for Israel’s James Bond is yet ahead. Perhaps in 2020, the construction of The Mordechai Ben-Porat International School of Persecution Preparedness will begin. Stay tuned!

Saudi blogger's special Hanukkah message

A pro-Israel Saudi blogger released a special video clip in Hebrew in honor of the Hanukkah festival, which began Sunday evening.

Mohammed Saud, who often speaks Hebrew in his video clips on social media, sang ‘Al Hanissim’ Sunday night in a Facebook post released in honor of Hanukkah.

Last month, Saud, a resident of Riyadh, met with former White House special envoy Jason Greenblatt, a long-time ‘Twitter friend’.

In a Hebrew tweet, Saud lauded Greenblatt, calling him an “amazing person who wants and is trying to bring peace” to the Middle East.

“I hope for peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia, that Saudis will visit Israel, and Israelis will visit Saudi Arabia,” continued Saud. “God bless Israel and the US and Saudi Arabia.”

Earlier this year, Saud released videos of himself singing both Ashkenazi and Sephardi piyyutim (liturgical poems) in honor of Rosh Hashanah.

Prime Minister Netanyahu called me, what excitement, I hope he wins and brings peace to the Middle East, Netanyahu I appreciate and admire you. God bless you and all the citizens of Israel
⁦@netanyahu⁩ pic.twitter.com/bKL2HMnRSz
— محمد سعود Mohammed Saud מוחמד סעוד (@mohsaud08) December 26, 2019

Saudi supporter of Israel claims citizenship revoked

A Saudi journalist claims that Riyadh has revoked citizenship for him and his family over his views on Israel.

Abdul Hameed al-Ghobein says that he was not officially informed about the reason, but insists that his repeated calls for the Saudi government to normalize relations with Israel were behind it.

The development comes amid reports that the Israel-Saudi relationship has been warming up.

Ghobein says he will not question the decision if it is the wish of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“We only listen and obey,” he says.

For now, there is no evidence to support his assertion, with the Saudi government issuing no official statements on the matter.

Ghobein lists journalism as one of his professions. He has written for Israeli newspapers and uses social media to praise Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I call for direct and unconditional ties with Israel. This is a strategic choice,” he says.

Chanukah music video night 7: Kosha Dillz - Schmoozin' + 8 Nights - Pinny Schachter

Chanukah is only a peripheral part of this video, but it is nicely done.

BONUS: 8 Nights by Pinny Schachter

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12/27 Links Pt2: Melanie Phillips: A Boris Bear Hug Against British Antisemitism; BBC and Sky News demonise Israel for Christmas; Assault on 2 Young Jewish Boys Among 4 Antisemitic Attacks in Nyc in 48 Hrs

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: A Boris Bear Hug Against British Antisemitism

Through such ostensible even-handedness, the British government has been supporting for years a Palestinian agenda that is predicated on the destruction of Israel. And that’s why the menace of antisemitism in Britain extends far more widely and deeply than Corbyn’s Labour Party.

A recent poll of the British public found that 21% felt warmth towards the Palestinians while only 19% felt warmth towards Israel.

This isn’t surprising at all, given the unremitting pro-Palestinian propaganda and corresponding incendiary falsehoods about Israel that are standard discourse on the BBC and other media, as well as in the universities.

Instead of fighting these untruths, the government actually reinforces the lies attempting to write the Jews out of their own history. These help fuel both anti-Israel hatred and the Jew-baiting that such discourse inevitably licenses and sanitizes.

In America, President Donald Trump is a true friend of Israel and the Jewish people. That’s because he doesn’t try to drive a wedge between the one and the other, and he recognizes the link between hatred of Israel, hatred of Jews, and hatred of America.

Johnson has yet to show he understands that those who attack Israel have the West in their sights too. He owes his large parliamentary majority to the patriotic British working class who understand precisely that. But for Britain’s intellectual governing class, hatred of Israel is a signature motif.

If Boris Johnson really wants to stand with the Jewish community against the forces of darkness, then he needs to start educating the public in the truth about Israel and its enemies.

He needs to start telling people about the Palestinians’ eye-watering antisemitism, about their repeated refusal of a Palestine state, and their real aim to exterminate Israel.

He needs to start telling the public that the Jews are the indigenous people of the land. He needs to explain to them that antisemitism is not a prejudice like any other but is unique in its deranged nature and scope.

He needs to start calling out those NGOs, universities and media that spread murderous falsehoods about Israel. He needs to start telling the truth about the lies. And he needs to change his own government’s policy that spreads them.

We shouldn’t hold our breath. But then again, given these extraordinary times, who knows?

Israel Advocacy Movement: BBC and Sky News demonise Israel for Christmas

Matti Friedman: Israel’s Sea Change

Zionism’s Maritime Revolution: The Yishuv’s Hold on the Land of Israel’s Sea and Shores, 1917 – 1948 - Kobi Cohen-Hattab

One summer day in 1947, a ship about to sail from the London docks made history when it raised a new flag: the blue-and-white pennant of the Jewish national movement. There was a commotion on the riverside. “Thousands crowded onto the shores of the Thames,” an observer recorded:
This was the first time in history that seamen’s orders were given in Hebrew at the Thames dock. The appearance of the lovely Jewish ship with the Jewish crew on the Thames made a strong impression not only on the Jewish groups but also on the British trade and shipping classes.

The ship, SS Kedmah, was the very first vessel belonging to the Zionist movement’s new shipping company, ZIM. It was sailing for the Land of Israel, still under British control, where its arrival was occasion for a national celebration in the Jewish home. Crowds came to the Tel Aviv beach to see the ship steam in, and five Piper Cubs flew an honor guard overhead (one carried Golda Meir). Children waved flags, and Zionist leaders delivered speeches praising what was then called the “conquest of the sea.”

As usual, the story—as told in Kobi Cohen-Hattab’s excellent new history, Zionism’s Maritime Revolution—wasn’t that simple. The new Zionist ship was, in fact, a refurbished English vessel with 20 years of rough service behind her, including the wartime evacuation of Singapore in 1941. She nearly broke down in the Mediterranean en route to the Yishuv. Saltwater got into the internal systems, the refrigerators didn’t refrigerate, the ovens didn’t cook, and the lights went out. The crewmen, who were Jewish, couldn’t stand the officers, who were British. The feeling was mutual, and eventually there was—inevitably, in those times of proletarian consciousness—a strike.

And yet the moment truly was historic, marking the launch not only of the national shipping company but of a significant Jewish presence in the Mediterranean. Within a year of Kedmah’s arrival, there would be a state called Israel with a navy, commercial vessels, a fishing industry, and ports—all of which would have seemed like a farfetched dream just two or three decades before, when a few Zionist enthusiasts and cranks under Turkish and British rule began promoting improbable visions of sovereign Jewish seamen sailing Jewish boats on what David Ben-Gurion once imagined as a “Jewish sea.”

The story of how this unfolded in the 30 years before Israel’s birth in 1948 is the subject of Zionism’s Maritime Revolution: The Yishuv’s Hold on the Land of Israel’s Sea and Shores, 1917 – 1948. While the early years of Zionist settlement on land have been exhaustively documented, it’s surprising to learn here from Cohen-Hattab, a professor of history at Bar-Ilan University, that so far there hasn’t been a comprehensive account of what happened on the water, no book that “has used a critical approach and the totality of existing sources to relate the story of the sea and its professions within the chronicles of the Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel in the modern age in the years prior to the establishment of the state.” The author has set out to fill the hole in the record, explaining how modern Jewish seamanship grew from a few failed fishing communes and handmade boats to the beginning of real naval power.

Honest Reporting: A Hero of Israel: Who Was Clark Clifford?

Lovett suggested that recognizing a Jewish state was nothing more than an attempt to win Jewish votes in the upcoming November 1948 presidential election. He also suggested that the new Jewish state would be filled with Jewish immigrants who were in fact communist agents working for the Soviet Union.

But there was one more person in that meeting – White House Counsel Clark Clifford, a close friend and adviser to the president. Clifford argued that a new state committed to democracy would do wonders for the chaotic Middle East. In Clifford’s memoirs he relates that Marshall was “red with suppressed anger as I set forth the case for the immediate recognition of the Israeli state.” Marshall told the president that if he followed Clifford’s advice, then “the great dignity of the office of president would be seriously diminished.” He went as far as saying that if the president supported the new Jewish state then in the November election, “I would vote against the President.”

Clifford further wrote that “When I finished, he (Marshall) exploded, ‘Mr. President, I thought this meeting was called to consider an important, complicated problem in foreign policy. I don’t even know why Clifford is here.’” According to Clifford, Truman replied, “Well, General, he’s here because I asked him to be.”

In the end, Truman recognized the newly declared Jewish state minutes after it was declared on May 15, 1948. It is clear that he did so based on his deep belief in the Bible which promises the Holy Land to the Jewish people. In fact he later said:

I had faith in Israel even before it was established, I knew it was based on the love of freedom, which has been the guiding star of the Jewish people since the days of Moses. I believe it has a glorious future before it, not just as a sovereign nation but as an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilization.

But, with his most important cabinet members being strongly against this recognition, Truman needed the voice of a trusted friend arguing that supporting a democratic Jewish state in the biblical and ancestral homeland of the Jewish people would create a beacon of light and stability in the Middle East, and that this was in America’s best interest.

And Clark Clifford was the right man in the right place to make that happen.

United States recognition of Israel was critical to its survival in the face of worldwide criticism and condemnation.

And that makes little-known Clark Clifford a hero of Israel.

Chanukah music video night 6: Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah! By Tragedy: Heavy Metal (plus bonus video)

I prefer original songs every year but this is definitely a different take on a classic.

Bonus: This is the most over-the-top dramatic rendition of "I Have A Little Dreidel" that I have ever seen.

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.

12/27 Links Pt1: The ICC, settlements and the Orwellian denial of the Jewish presence in Israel; Netanyahu vows to ‘finalize borders,’ get US to back annexation; Glick: Fighting Iran's undivided and indivisible regime

From Ian:

The ICC, settlements and the Orwellian denial of the Jewish presence in Israel

SINCE THE question in this narrative is to determine who the first occupant was, this implies that historical Jewish presence must be denied and that, as a corollary, Palestinians need to prove that they were the first occupants. The consequence of this narrative is that anything Jewish is erased from the history of the country.

For example, recently, Palestinian academics denied archaeological evidence of Jews in Israel, part of a narrative to portray Jews as recent invaders. More generally, this creates an impossible historical conundrum, since the presence of an Arab population emerged as a notable community in the territory of Israel after the Muslim conquests of the seventh Century and that, thereafter, this population always cohabited with the Jewish and Christian communities that remained after the conquests.

More specifically, the aspect of this broad narrative relating to the inherent illegality of Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria implies a certain view of the history of the past century. One could even say that this narrative requires a sort of Orwellian rewriting of the past, to erase key moments that fit uneasily with such a narrative.

Indeed, it requires a rewriting of the recognition of a Jewish right to self-determination that followed the Balfour Declaration of 1917. It ignores the conditions under which Judea and Samaria, as well as Gaza, were occupied respectively by Jordan and Egypt from 1947 to 1967. It ignores the circumstances of the 1967 Six Day War when Israel took control of this territory in a defensive war. It ignores the negotiated terms of the Oslo Agreements in relation to the distribution of authority in Judea and Samaria and the lack of final status of both borders and territories.

The wide-sweeping argument of illegality per se also ignores the diverse nature of each individual presence in these territories, in terms of where it is, how it came into existence, what legal regime applies to it, etc.

As in a courtroom, the issue comes down to the identification of competing narratives before the international community acting as a judge. Each side is therefore faced with the choice of which narrative to choose from. Some narratives can be reconciled. Others cannot.

The fact remains that the position that settlements are illegal as such serves a war-like narrative that denies any legitimacy to Jewish presence on the entire territory of Israel, as exemplified by numerous declarations, including a recent declaration by a Fatah official that Palestinian people will not relinquish a grain of soil from the land of historical Palestine from the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River.

The December 20 announcement by the ICC prosecutor that she is ready to open a formal investigation with settlement-related activities at its core will undoubtedly be seen as a first narrative victory for those challenging Jewish presence in Israel. This can only be countered if another narrative is presented, not just in public discourse, but at the ICC itself, which provides genuine procedural opportunities for participation in the judicial debate, as we noted in an editorial last September.

Col. Richard Kemp The ICC decision on Israel would make Himmler proud

The ICC prosecutor accuses Israel, during the 2014 Gaza war, of using disproportionate force, willfully killing and injuring civilians, and intentionally attacking protected individuals and locations. She also alleges that the IDF committed war crimes against Gazans violently attempting to breach the border into Israel in 2018 and 2019.

I was present during these conflicts, witnessed, and was extensively briefed on IDF operations. I was a member of an investigation into the 2014 Gaza war by the High Level Military Group, an independent body of retired generals from Western armed forces and human rights experts. The group unanimously concluded that: "The IDF not only met its obligations under the Law of Armed Conflict, but often exceeded these on the battlefield."

Gen. Martin Dempsey, at the time Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, commented: "Israel went to extraordinary lengths to limit collateral damage and civilian casualties." My first-hand observations during the Hamas-instigated Gaza border violence in 2018-19 echo these assessments.

The allegation that Israel committed war crimes by transferring parts of its civilian population into occupied territory can only be described as outrageous. The West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza are not "occupied territories." The suggestion that willing tenancy on this land by Jews is intrinsically illegal sees the ICC prosecutor adopting the Nazi concept of Judenrein, cleansing an area of Jews.

Despite situations where such crimes have actually occurred, including Northern Cyprus and Crimea, no prosecutions for war crimes in this category have ever been brought against anyone. Special treatment is reserved for the Jewish state.

"The IDF takes more steps than any other Army in the history of warfare to preserve the lives of innocent civilians on the battlefield" @COLRICHARDKEMP @i24NEWS_EN pic.twitter.com/ORw3M45Ixt
— Jeff Smith (@JeffSmithi24) December 26, 2019

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner: Israel's Defensive Arguments Fell on Deaf Ears at the ICC

Since September 2012, when the Palestinians' status was upgraded in the UN to an observer state, they have repeatedly warned that if Israel does not submit to their demands, they will turn to the International Criminal Court in The Hague and formally submit war crimes complaints.

Israel tried to persuade ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda that the tribunal has no authority to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, since Israel is not a signatory to the Court's Rome Treaty and the Palestinians are not a state. Israel correctly argued that it has a strong and independent judiciary investigating every incident, and does not hesitate to prosecute and frequently convict whenever there is even the shadow of a violation of law. As such, the ICC has no authority to act as a super-review court for the Israeli justice system.

Every IDF tank and helicopter has an on-call legal advisor who is relied upon to instruct the units whether to shoot a shell or fire a missile when there is even the slightest question concerning collateral damage to civilians. But all of these defensive arguments seem to have fallen on deaf ears. The writer, an Israeli civil rights attorney, is president of the Shurat HaDin Law Center.

Mahmoud al-Habbash is Mahmoud Abbas's adviser on religious and Islamic affairs and also the chief Islamic judge of the Palestinian Authority.

Yesterday he greeted a delegation of Christian. human rights and interfaith leaders from Belgium, where he assured them that "Palestine" has nothing against Jews and that the conflict is not a religious one.

As usual, the delegation didn't research who they were meeting with beforehand, and eagerly lapped up Habbash's words.

Habbash, who tells non-Muslims that the Palestinians are not interested in religious conflict, in 2014 he said that Jihad should be directed toward Jerusalem. "Jerusalem is still waiting. Jerusalem is the direction. Jerusalem is the address," Habbash stressed, adding that "evil hands" (Jews) were "conducting a filthy game" intended to weaken the Islamic nation and "to divert the compass away from its true direction."

In 2018 he was even more explicit that there was a coming religious war between Islam and Islam's enemies, which presumably include the people who visited him from Belgium:

As always, these delegations from around the world are so thrilled to meet with Palestinian leaders - but they never check out these very same leaders' hate beforehand. In the end, they legitimize it.

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