Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

01/13 Links Pt1: Michael Oren: The Death of the Arab-Israeli Conflict; The Vaccine Blood Libel; UNRWA's education filled with hate, calls to jihad and violence

From Ian:

Michael Oren: The Death of the Arab-Israeli Conflict

The Abraham Accords merely dealt a coup de grace to this myth, but it had in fact been dying for decades. The process began with the Egypt-Israel peace treaty of 1979, the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and the PLO and the following year, Israel’s peace agreement with Jordan. Two Gulf wars, in 1991 and 2003, proved once again that the Arabs had faced bigger threats than Israel, and the Arab Spring of 2011 demonstrated that Middle Easterners had other things on their minds, such as democracy and freedom.

Yet still the myth persisted, albeit in a pared-down form. If, in the past, regional stability was only attainable through Arab-Israeli peace, now that peace could be achieved solely through Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation and the creation of a Palestinian state. This notion was enshrined in numerous organizations such as the U.S.-based Alliance for Middle East Peace and the European Union’s Middle East Peace Projects, which were not really dedicated to regional peace but almost exclusively to an Israeli-Palestinian accord. “Recognizing that the Israeli-Palestinian issue was at the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict,” the Foundation for Middle East Peace was established in Washington.

Not surprisingly, then, Palestinian-Israeli linkage became official American policy. “Of all the problems the administration faces globally ... This is the epicenter,” President Obama’s National Security Adviser, Jim Jones, declared in 2010. “If God had appeared in front of the President and said he could do one thing on the planet it would be the two-state solution.” Six years later, Secretary of State John Kerry insisted that “There will be no ... Separate peace with the Arab world without ... Palestinian peace. That is a hard reality.”

Like the Arab-Israeli linkage concept, the reduced Israeli-Palestinian version was disproved by the Abraham Accords and the agreement between Israel and Morocco. Though the Arab signatories continued to pledge fealty to the Palestinian cause, they effectively sidestepped the issue and even hinted that the Palestinians themselves were to blame. After rejecting three offers of statehood in the West Bank and Gaza—in 2000, 2001, and 2008—and then failing to take advantage of the eight years of Barack Obama’s highly sympathetic presidency, the Palestinians could no longer wield a veto power over peace. Eager to access Israeli technology and to ally with Israeli military strength, many Arabs states were ready to move on.

Their decision has irrevocably changed the region and created numerous opportunities. In addition to wedding the world’s most innovative state with some of the most affluent, the treaties will help erect a united front against common threats. They will also alter the peacemaking paradigm. If, in the past, the assumption was that Arab countries would first sign peace agreements with Israel and then only gradually normalize their relations with it, now normalization comes first with peace rendered largely a formality. If formerly Israel enjoyed peace with the leaders of Egypt and Jordan but not with their citizens, now the peace is not only between governments but peoples.

But there is one achievement that these diplomatic breakthroughs have not produced: an end to Middle Eastern conflict. On the contrary, such disputes will continue to plague the region and even proliferate. In place of the Arab-Israeli conflict, there is now a broader and potentially more explosive showdown between the Sunnis supported by Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and the Gulf states, and the Shiites backed by Iran. There is battle between moderate Sunnis and Islamic extremists, many of them embraced by Turkey. And there will still be civil wars in Syria and Yemen and chronic instability in Iraq. And there will be an unresolved conflict between Israel and the Palestinians waged in the U.N. and in the international courts but also, occasionally, on the battlefield.

UNRWA's education filled with hate, calls to jihad and violence - report

Educational content produced by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is filled with hate and encouragement to jihad, violence and martyrdom, and entirely devoid of any material that promotes peace and peace-making, according to the research institute IMPACT-se based out of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

IMPACT-se describes itself as a “research, policy and advocacy organization that monitors and analyzes education,” according to “international standards on peace and tolerance as derived from UNESCO declarations and resolutions.”

According to the report, children in the Gaza Strip are called upon to "defend the motherland with blood."

It can take the form of a math problem asking students to identify the correct number of martyrs from the First Intifada, to the complete eradication of Israel, a UN member state, from any maps featured in UNRWA-created books, with the entire territory being labelled as a modern-day Palestine with no demarcation lines.

When it is mentioned, Israel is usually referred to as “The Enemy” or the “Zionist Occupation,” a clear violation of the UN’s principles of neutrality that UNRWA is expected to prioritize, explained IMPACT-se in the research.

JCPA: An Israeli Official’s Meeting with Moroccan King Hassan II in 1993

From 1992 to 1994, I served as political advisor to the late Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, In that capacity, I was sent by Rabin to brief the King of Morocco, Hassan II, on Israel’s positions on the peace talks in 1993 with PLO leader Yasser Arafat after a bitter crisis over security responsibilities in the Judea, Samaria, and Gaza territories.

In view of the renewal of relations between Israel and Morocco, it is important to recall the 1993 encounter with the King and to take notice of his attitude towards Arafat and the Palestinian issue. The following appears in the book Between Rabin and Arafat, published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs in 2016.

On December 15, 1993, while Prime Minister and Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin was touring Gaza, Military Secretary Danny Yatom called me from the front and informed me that I was supposed to travel the next day with Member of the Knesset Rafi Edry to Morocco – and possibly to Tunis – in order to enlist the support of the King of Morocco and the President of Tunisia in the Israeli position in the negotiations with the PLO.

The meeting with King Hassan II of Morocco took place on December 18, 1993, at his Rabat palace. The King received us cordially in his grand chamber, and the conversation lasted about an hour – that is 20 minutes beyond its allotted time. The meeting was also attended by General Qadiri and Morocco’s Foreign Minister Abd al-Latif Filali. The conversation flowed, mostly in French and a bit of Arabic.

MK Edry opened and gave the King the Prime Minister’s blessing and explained that we had been dispatched to update His Majesty on the latest developments in negotiations with the PLO. He noted that the Prime Minister regularly briefs world leaders, especially President Clinton, President Mubarak, President Mitterrand, and him.

King Hassan II said, “Let me tell you first all I know. I met yesterday (December 17, 1993) with Mahmoud Abbas and told him that I was going to meet MK Edri and Dr. Neriah tomorrow. Abbas expressed warm words about Neriah and said he was a serious interlocutor. In truth, the Palestinians are frustrated with Arafat’s positions.

The clock is ticking.

The Iranian regime and Ayatollahs are waiting and watching.

Patiently, watching, as the pattern of a Persian rug is spun and woven to completion.

Let's imagine: Iranians in the United States conducting online reconnaissance of university professors, then sending “phishing” emails to get their credentials to obtain unauthorized access to victim professor accounts to steal intellectual property, research, and other academic data.

Only this is not the plot of a new best-selling fiction novel or cable tv thriller. It has happened in the United States and around the world.

In Section 117 of the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, the United States Congress requires U.S. colleges and universities to report twice a year to the U.S. Department of Education all foreign gifts and contracts over $250,000. While Section 117 does not prohibit institutions from taking foreign money, it does mandate accurate and transparent disclosures of amounts and sources.

In June 2020, the Section 117 information reporting portal was upgraded. It yields significant information on compliance and showed 7,000 transactions and approximately $3.8 billion of foreign gifts and contracts from institutions, including 60 institutions previously not reporting.

Twelve compliance investigations revealed $6.5 billion in previously unreported foreign money to the following twelve institutions: Georgetown University, Texas A&M University, Rutgers University, Cornell University, University of Maryland, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and recently, Harvard University, Yale University, University of Texas, Case Western Reserve University, Fordham University, and Stanford University.

"For at least two decades, the industry has been on direct notice that at least some of these foreign sources are hostile to the United States and are targeting their investments...to project soft power, steal sensitive and proprietary research, and spread propaganda," stated a 34-page report of the US Department of Education General Counsel, published in October 2020.

The concern is that foreign money buys influence or control over teaching and research.

Donations from Arab countries for a Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University was one of the reasons for the HEA statute. Other concerns at the time included Japanese companies partnering with the U.S. The idea was transparency in reporting could counteract the distorting influence of foreign money on teaching and research. The Chinese influence has grown over recent years. Beginning in 2009, the flow of foreign money, sourced from the governments of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and China rose substantially.

In 2008, a Senate committee expressed new concerns over national security and domestic policy impact with post 9/11 Saudi Arabian conditional and substantial donations to Middle Eastern studies centers. However, the Education Department and Congress did not take action.

The FBI has warned, "Foreign adversaries and competitors take advantage of” the American higher education and research enterprise to “improve their economies and militaries by stealing intellectual property to gain advantages over the United States.” These nations “use varied means to acquire information and technology to gain political, military, and economic advantages” including recruiting individuals for “espionage,” exploiting the student visa program for “improper purposes,” and spreading false information for “political or other reasons.”

The higher education sector self-reported over $6.6 billion from Qatar, China, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, with the most recent July 31, 2020, reporting period yielding an additional $1.05 billion reported from these countries alone, concluded the US Department of Education.

Returning to Iran, in March 2018, the Justice Department charged nine Iranians affiliated with a Tehran-based company, the Mabna Institute, with hacking into 144 American universities to steal sensitive data and intellectual property on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Gholamreza Rafatnejad and Ehsan Mohammadi, two of the defendants, founded the Mabna Institute in 2013 to assist Iranian universities and scientific and research organizations in stealing access to non-Iranian scientific resources. The defendants targeted data, including science and technology, engineering, social sciences, medical, and other professional fields around the world. Approximately 31 terabytes of US academic data and intellectual property was reported stolen according to the Indictment. United States v. Rafatnejad et al., No. 18-cr-00094 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 7, 2018).

After multiple examples of serious breaches of political and intellectual security with a lack of oversight, the DOE report concludes: "U.S. institutions are technological treasure troves where leading and internationally competitive fields, such as nanoscience, are booming. For too long, these institutions have provided an unprecedented level of access to foreign governments and their instrumentalities in an environment lacking transparency and oversight by the industry, the Department, and our partner agencies."

"Iran's decision to continue violating its commitments, to raise the enrichment level and advance the industrial ability to enrich uranium underground, cannot be explained in any way except as the continued realization of its intention to develop a military nuclear program. Israel will not allow Iran to manufacture nuclear weapons," announced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Will a Biden administration monitor foreign government influence in the US? Will the US be prepared for future cyber attacks from Iran and other hostile regimes?

Should we hold our breath for the new US Congress to follow up on the important issues affecting institutions of higher learning and demand full disclosure of foreign funding as Section 117 requires?

Haaretz reports:

Israel has provided coronavirus vaccines to the Palestinian Authority, the government said on Tuesday, rolling back its previous claim that the Palestinians have not received any vaccines.

The government told the High Court of Justice that a shipment of 100 vaccine doses was provided in response to the Palestinians' request and that another shipment is expected to arrive in about a week and a half. The delivery was approved by Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, according to the government.

According to Ma'an, the vaccines went to medical workers in Palestinian hospitals.

Which means that Israel is acting exactly as international law demands under the laws of belligerent occupation, which Israel's High Court uses as a basis for its rulings.

Israel doesn't have to provide vaccines unless the local authorities ask. When they asked, Israel responded and gave it to them.

Practically every article about Israel not providing vaccines, and everything that NGOs accused Israel of, are lies.

The Palestinians don't want to publicly ask for vaccines, and they are set to get large quantities over the next two months. Israel transferring the vaccines publicly is also politically sensitive - the family of Hadar Goldin is suing for Israel not to provide any aid to Gaza until his body is returned by Hamas.

And the Palestinian political leaders are taking propaganda advantage of the worldwide condemnation of Israel scrupulously adhering to international law. This article in Palestine News Network shows that their primary concern isn't actually procuring vaccines, but castigating Israel and recruiting celebrity Westerners to help:

Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative Movement, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti confirmed that, thanks to the Palestinian efforts to expose Israeli policies, a major global campaign was launched against the Israeli policy of apartheid and racial discrimination aimed at denying Palestinians access to vaccines against Corona disease.
Barghouti confirmed the launch of a global signature campaign against the Israeli policy of “ Medical”, demanding the immediate provision of safe vaccines for the Palestinian people.
Tens of thousands of internationals have signed the campaign petition so far, including prominent international doctors and scientists, thinkers and artists such, including Judith Butler, Daniel Barenboim and Noam Chomsky.
He affirmed that the solidarity committees with the Palestinian people have been mobilized in various parts of the globe to participate in this campaign, which is taking place under the slogan of condemning this type of apartheid.
Dr. Barghouti added that the gravity of the Israeli crime of racial discrimination in the matter of providing vaccines and protection from the dangerous Corona disease revealed the reality and truth of the Israeli apartheid regime, which will pay dearly for its criminal denial of human rights and for the necessity of unity and solidarity with humanity in facing epidemics.

Does this sound like their priority is Palestinian lives, or attacking Israel?

All lies. And none of the "progressive" groups that claim to "care deeply about Israel" will apologize for spreading these lies.

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"Progressive" Jewish groups are against IHRA working definition of antisemitism because it could be "misused"

A progressive Jewish coalition of Ameinu, Americans for Peace Now, Habonim Dror North America, Hashomer Hatzair World Movement, Jewish Labor Committee, J Street, New Israel Fund, Partners for Progressive Israel, Reconstructing Judaism and T'ruah issued a statement against the IHRA working definition of antisemitism that has been accepted by much of Europe, many universities in the US and Canada and the US Government:

As organizations that care deeply about the State of Israel and about the wellbeing of the Jewish people, we are deeply committed to the struggle against antisemitism. We are thus obligated to share our concerns about ways in which the effort to combat antisemitism is being misused and exploited to instead suppress legitimate free speech, criticism of Israeli government actions, and advocacy for Palestinian rights. In particular, the effort to enshrine in domestic law and institutional policy the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, with its accompanying “contemporary examples,” risks wrongly equating what may be legitimate activities with antisemitism.

This effort has created opportunities for abuse and politicization by the outgoing Trump administration and others, undermining the moral clarity of the effort to dismantle antisemitism.

We respect the original creation of the IHRA Working Definition as an illustrative tool and as part of a larger and ongoing conversation about the nature of antisemitism. While we maintain no substantive objection to the core definition itself, our concern with its adoption as a legal tool is with the IHRA definition’s “contemporary examples,” which have been included as integral to the definition. We fear its adoption in law or policy at the state, federal and university level and in corporate governance has the potential to undermine core freedoms, and in some cases already has. For this reason, the Progressive Israel Network opposes the codification in US law or policy of the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism.

This is disingenuous. If they really cared about antisemitism, they would lobby to modify the definition and examples, not throw it out.

This next sentence proves it:

There can be no doubt that some anti-Zionists and critics of Israeli policy can sometimes cross the line into antisemitism — and they must be confronted when they do.

If the definition doesn't include any examples of anti-Zionism crossing the line into antisemitism, then how can people who cross the line be confronted? They will just say they are merely anti-Israel and no one can touch them! (And these "progressives" will happily defend them!)

After all, when so-called progressives are confronted with antisemitism from their political allies, they aren't in the forefront of condemning it - they are almost always silent.

Yet, Secretary Pompeo’s State Department’s unambiguous declarations that “anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism” and that “the Global BDS Campaign [is] a manifestation of anti-Semitism” represent a harmful overreach. This overreach, which is primarily aimed at shielding the present Israeli government and its occupation from all criticism, is made possible by the use of the Working Definition’s “contemporary examples.” The examples regard as antisemitic the claim that “the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor” and the application of “double standards” to Israel “by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”

Here we see how the "progressive" groups are knowingly lying. They cannot find an example of how the IHRA working definition has been used for overreach, so instead they quote Pompeo, who was expressing his opinion, not a definition.

Practically every single time a critic of the definition writes their objections, they ignore the critical part of the definition that proves they are wrong: "Criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic." No one defines any other nation as racist, or apartheid. Comparing Israel to Nazis is only done because the accusers are aiming at hurting Jews.

Here, these people are explicitly saying that Israel should be judged more harshly than other nations who do the same or worse.

And it is what they believe!

The fact is that they are against virtually every example in the working definition that mentions Israel, because they admire the people who say those antisemitic tropes.

Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.

They don't want this example because that would show that Norman Finkelstein spouts antisemitism.

Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.

This would show that Ilhan Omar spouts antisemitism.

Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.

The entire staff at Mondoweiss, +972, Electronic Intifada, IfNotNow, Jewish Voice for Peace, Peter Beinart....

Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.

Everyone who ever claimed that Gaza was a concentration camp. Carlos Latuff. Eli Valley.

These "progressives" don't want to tar Finkelstein and Omar and Mondoweiss, so they justify treating Israel with double standards, comparing it to Nazis, saying that Jews have no national rights.

But one thing the critics never do - they never put forth their own "better" definition.

If the working definition is flawed, then fix it. If they are afraid it can be misused, then add verbiage to ensure that doesn't happen. Show which examples you would remove and justify how those examples don't single out the Jewish state for special opprobrium.

They can't. They know they can't.. They know they are lying when they say the definition equates criticism of Israel with antisemitism. So they write essays filled with doubletalk to hide the fact that in the end, they want to justify and support people who demonize Israel.

They know - and everyone knows - that the only reason that Israel is demonized and treated with double standards is because it is the Jewish state.

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01/12 Links Pt2: What the world can learn from Israel's vaccination drive; Israel to provide COVID vaccines for Holocaust survivors around the world

From Ian:

Seth Frantzman: What the world can learn from Israel's vaccination drive

Where Israel gambled — and where it has succeeded so far — is in investing in vaccines. It scrambled to acquire Pfizer and Moderna vaccines by the millions of doses, enough to provide the necessary two doses to the entire adult population. This process has put the country far ahead of its neighbors, with the exception of wealthy Gulf states Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). There are still questions about how Israel will vaccinate public sectors that are suspicious of the vaccine. This has been an issue throughout the campaign against the virus. Local media have reported that Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Israelis and some in the Arab minority are either ignoring guidelines or suspicious of the vaccine. In general, though, the national effort has not met with conflict, despite Israel being a divided society in other ways. Every country has minority groups and making sure they feel confident in health guidelines is important.

Perhaps the main lesson from Israel is to deal with the pandemic as if it is a national security issue, not just a health issue. This has reduced problems because it has been viewed as an across-the-board fight. Not every country has the conscript army that Israel has to do things such as this, but many have civil emergency forces. Countries can prioritize health as a national security issue for the future. Second, Israel has been flexible, self-critical and willing to change. That means not discarding vaccine doses just because you don’t have precisely the right set of people waiting in line, and instead giving them to people waiting on stand-by. Flexibility, combined with a mass effort, works wonders.

Where Israel and other countries still need to improve is in explaining what comes next. When will the airports facilitate tourism again, and when will costly quarantines end? What is the exit strategy? In December, 50,000 Israelis flew to Dubai because the UAE, which just signed a peace deal with Israel, was labeled a safe country to travel to. Weeks later, the government reversed course and started quarantining those returning. People are hungry to travel again, and opening up corridors of safe travel with clear and efficient testing is necessary.

The battle against the virus has been viewed as a war effort in Israel, and the battle to get things back to normal should be launched with the same urgency.

Israel to provide COVID vaccines for Holocaust survivors around the world

Israel will work to provide coronavirus vaccinations for Holocaust survivors both in Israel and in the Diaspora, according to Israel Hayom.

The complicated, international logistical operation is only in its beginning stages. Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevitch tasked the Shalom Corps organization with coordinating bureaucratic procedures.

The organization has approached several large medical shipping companies about the logistics of the project, and the Diaspora Affairs Ministry is working with the Health Ministry to coordinate with Pfizer and Moderna.

The campaign will be conducted through vaccination centers in a number of different countries. Survivors who cannot leave their homes will have medical staff and volunteers come to them.

The Ministry intends to recruit Jewish philanthropists to help fund the operation and intends to order additional vaccines for the survivors and not take from the quota allocated for the State of Israel.

"In a time of acute global crisis in the face of the coronavirus, we have the privilege to repay, if only slightly, Holocaust survivors who survived the inferno of the Nazi oppressor and, thanks to their courage, managed to protect the embers of Judaism," Yankelevitch told Israel Hayom. "We have the privilege to provide them with protection against the coronavirus. This is the moral order that every Jew carries in his heart - to make sure that they never walk alone."

Col. Richard Kemp: Media: Israel Must Be Denigrated for Its World-Beating Vaccination Programme

The same negative policy [by the press and many purported human rights groups] extends to other major benefits that Israel has brought to the world, including scientific innovation, medical technology and life-saving intelligence. It goes against editorial agendas to report on the Jewish state in a positive light unless they can somehow twist a good story to turn it bad.

Under the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians in the 1990s, which created the Palestinian Authority (PA), it alone and not Israel, is responsible for their health care, including vaccinations. Nearly 150 UN members recognise "Palestine" as a state, yet these media and human rights bodies, displaying deplorably predictable bias, cannot bring themselves to allow it agency.

Contradicting allegations of a racist or "apartheid" policy, Israel has been vaccinating its Arab citizens since the programme began. Given some reluctance to be vaccinated among these communities, the Israeli government, in conjunction with Arab community leaders, have been making concerted efforts to encourage them, including a visit by Prime Minister Netanyahu to two Arab towns in the last few days for this purpose.

The same approach can be seen over the Abraham Accords of 2020, historic achievements in a hitherto elusive peace between Israel and the Arabs. These have often been received with callous cynicism in the media as well as among veteran peace processors, whose own prescriptions have repeatedly failed.

[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is the driving force behind the Abraham Accords, whose origins date back to his speech to a joint session of Congress in 2015, when he made a stand against Iran's nuclear ambitions. Netanyahu's solitary stance was seized on by Arab leaders, who began to realise they had common cause with the State of Israel, which could lead to a brighter future for them than one encumbered with unnecessary animosity.

Well done BBC NEWS stopping Rachel Shabi Guardian from getting away with Guardian vaccine Jew hate lible . pic.twitter.com/9dAsf4aFYM
— Jewish Human Rights Watch (@jhrwatch) January 11, 2021

Cartoon of the Day: It's only a war crime if....

Continuing my series of recaptioning cartoons....

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Major US BDS group seems to have gone silent

The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, the major US BDS group, seems to have gone virtually silent.

Its last press release was from July 1, 2020. Its last news update on its website was a couple of weeks before that.

It still has a Twitter account but it shows almost all of its posts are retweets.

In December, it created a new website for its annual report that seems to cover 2019-2020. There is very little there; it discusses some online lobbying initiatives.

It pays its executive director Yousef Munayyer about $95,000 a year on total donations of a million dollars.

It will be interesting to see its 2020 tax forms to see where its money is going.

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01/12 Links Pt1: Sheldon Adelson, Iconic Jewish Philanthropist and Political Donor, Dies at 87; Guardian op-ed Israel is a 'Jewish supremacist' state with no right to exist; Abbas rival oversees UAE medical aid to Gaza

From Ian:

Miriam Adelson: With Great Sorrow: Sheldon Adelson, 1933-2021

It is with unbearable pain that I announce the death of my husband, Sheldon, of complications from a long illness.

Sheldon was the love of my life. He was my partner in romance, philanthropy, political activism, and enterprise. He was my soulmate.

To me — as to his children, grandchildren and his legions of friends and admirers, employees and colleagues — he is utterly irreplaceable.

Much has been written and said about how Sheldon, the son of poor immigrants, rose to the pinnacle of business success on the strength of grit and genius, inspiration and integrity. His was an all-American story of entrepreneurship. When Sheldon launched a new venture, the whole world looked on with anticipation.

In our amazing 32-year adventure together, I was fortunate to witness the beauty of Sheldon’s private side.

He was an American patriot: a US Army veteran who gave generously to wounded warriors and, wherever he could, looked to the advancement of these great United States. He was the proudest of Jews, who saw in the State of Israel not only the realization of a historical promise to a unique and deserving people, but also a gift from the Almighty to all of humanity.

And Sheldon was kind. He gave readily of his fortune to charitable causes that may literally be countless, as he expected no credit and often preferred anonymity. Although bluff in build and speech — and, in the last two decades, beset by painful sickness — Sheldon was always sensitive to the needs of others.

Visit any of our hotels and you will immediately notice the extraordinarily high ceilings, exquisitely designed by Sheldon at a sacrifice of lucrative story-space. He wanted all of our guests — no matter their means — to feel like kings, to breathe free in gorgeous tranquility. When the COVID-19 crisis hit and those hotels went dark, he insisted that our tens of thousands of team members continue getting their wages and medical insurance.

Each of those people, and millions of other beneficiaries of Sheldon’s largesse, are his testimonials.

Sheldon Adelson, Iconic Jewish Philanthropist and Political Donor, Dies at 87

Sheldon Adelson, a casino-resort billionaire who funded Jewish charities and political causes in both Israel and the United States, died on Monday night of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, at the age of 87.

The son of a Lithuanian Jewish immigrant, Adelson became one of the world’s richest men as the founder of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, with an estimated net worth of $35.9 billion. He donated huge sums to causes like Birthright Israel, which finances trips to Israel for young Jews, the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jersualem, and medical research into cancer and other diseases.

He also spent heavily on politics, becoming one of the largest backers to President Donald Trump and the Republican Party in the US, and to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In 2007, he created the Israeli daily Israel Hayom, and also owned the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

American and Israeli officials and Jewish leaders began commemorating Adelson’s life Tuesday.

Netanyahu mourns Adelson as ‘champion of the Jewish people,’ as tributes pour in

The death of Jewish-American billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson at the age of 87 drew a flood of eulogies Tuesday, as politicians and other public figures in Israel, the US and elsewhere remembered the powerful political donor and philanthropist as a prominent champion of the bond and alliance between Jerusalem and Washington.

Adelson, who used his vast fortune to push conservative policies in both countries, was also remembered for his support for West Bank settlements and right-wing Jewish organizations.

A major patron of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, Adelson was confirmed by his company, Las Vegas Sands, to have died from complications related to treatment for non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

Netanyahu said in a statement that he received the news of Adelson’s death with “deep sorrow and heartbreak.”

“Sheldon’s tremendous efforts to strengthen Israel’s position in the United States and to strengthen the connection between Israel and the Diaspora will be remembered for generations,” said Netanyahu, calling Adelson “an incredible champion of the Jewish people, the Jewish state and the alliance between Israel and America.”

“Along with his wife Miri, Sheldon was one of the greatest contributors in history to the Jewish people, Zionism, settlements and the State of Israel,” he said, listing among those causes his support for Taglit-Birthright, which funds trips to Israel for young Jews from around the world, and Ariel University in the West Bank.

President Reuven Rivlin also expressed sorrow and condolences to the family, saying that Adelson was “a great American patriot who saw it as his mission and goal to strengthen the alliance between Israel and the US” and made “groundbreaking” contributions.

Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer tweeted that Adelson was a “true giant” who “devoted himself to strengthening his people, his homeland and the bonds between his beloved America and Israel.”

Saddened by the passing of Sheldon Adelson, who loved the Jewish people and Israel, was a great American patriot, and who strengthened the bonds between Israel and America with boundless generosity.
Condolences to Miriam and to the whole family.
May his memory be a blessing. pic.twitter.com/8BR3QfCot7
— Reuven Rivlin (@PresidentRuvi) January 12, 2021

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
"Sara and I are heartbroken by the passing of Sheldon Adelson.

He was a wonderful friend to us personally and an incredible champion of the Jewish people, the Jewish state and the alliance between Israel and America.
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) January 12, 2021

Before @RVilkomerson regains a shed of decency and deletes this abominable tweet, here is screenshot of what a sick, disgusting, truly vile person she is, rejoicing in the death of #SheldonAdelson, who passed away from cancer, as 'birthday present' she calls! pic.twitter.com/PSKhg7er9T
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) January 12, 2021

One of the things Adelson dealt with was the nauseating hypocrisy of the political class. When anybody said anything remotely like this about Soros, they were accused of rank antisemitism by anyone who could find a mic. But Buttigieg could say the same and get crickets. pic.twitter.com/ltBElMVpiV
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) January 12, 2021

Palestine Today reports that Palestinian social media has shown practically no interest in the announcement that Hamas and Fatah have agreed on elections later this year.

Why? because they've been lied to for so long, they don't believe a word that their leaders tell them. They don't believe that there will be elections, they don't believe that Hamas and Fatah have any interest in respecting the results, they don't believe that there will ever be unity between the West Bank and Gaza.

The article listed all the previous failed attempts to get Hamas and Fatah on the same page:

Cairo Declaration Agreement, 2005
The Prisoners Document, 2006
The Mecca Agreement, February 2007
Sana'a Declaration, March 2008
Talks after Gaza war, 2009
2010 talks
Cairo Agreement, May 2011
Doha Agreement, February 2012
Cairo Agreement, May 2012
Talks after Palestine's being called a "state" at the United Nations, January 2013
Beach Agreement 2014
Talks in Doha, 2016
Cairo Agreement, 2017
Al-Arouri and Rajoub agreement, May 2020
Istanbul meeting, September 2020
Cairo meeting, November 2020
January 2021 Hamas agrees to Abbas' terms

The Arab world is sick of Hamas and Fatah. Palestinians themselves are sick of Hamas and Fatah. No one regards either group as being capable of any leadership.

And yet the EU, the UN and the US Democrats keep pretending that they can be peace partners.

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The Palestinian Authority has given emergency authorization to Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, Health Minister Mai al-Kaila announced on Monday. They are the first Middle Eastern government to approve the vaccine

The Russian Direct Investment Fund, which financed Sputnik V, said that the first batch of vaccines are expected to be sent to the Palestinians in February.

And major "human rights" organizations who have embarked on a huge publicity campaign to smear Israel have publicly opposed Palestinians receiving the Russian vaccine.

Let me repeat that: organizations like B'Tselem and Amnesty International, who pretend to care about human rights, are dead-set against Palestinians using the Sputnik vaccine.

Last month, ten supposed human rights organizations signed a letter opposing Palestinians using the Russian vaccine. They are Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Amnesty International Israel, B’Tselem, Gisha, Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights, Medical Human Rights Network IFHHRO, MEDACT, Physicians for Human Rights Israel and

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights.

In their letter, they wrote:

We express grave concerns about media reports that the Russian-developed vaccine will be delivered to the Palestinian Authority (PA). The PA has not fully indicated which vaccines it aims to purchase and distribute, although it has made clear that it does not have sufficient funds and capabilities to purchase the necessary vaccinations. Israel cannot transfer a vaccine which is not approved for its own citizens. Such a step would violate the Paris Protocol on Economic Relations and the long-standing policy of the Israeli Ministry of Health to only allow the distribution of medicines in the OPT which have undergone the necessary scientific and regulatory procedures. Although the Paris Protocol has come under criticism in the past for, inter alia, obliging the PA to import medications that are beyond its financial reach, as long as it is binding, Israel cannot import a vaccine that it has not approved for its own population and send it to the occupied population. Israel must ensure that the vaccines delivered to Palestinians in the OPT, also meet the approvals of the Israeli health system, and that these vaccines be purchased and delivered as soon as possible.

As I mentioned previously, the Paris Protocol would not be violated at all by Israel allowing the Russian vaccine to enter Palestinian territories.

But the problem here is much more basic. We have supposed human rights organizations who actually want to impede Palestinians from taking life-saving vaccines. And the only reason is because they loathe Israel enough to be willing to sacrifice Palestinian lives.

This is behavior one would expect from Hamas or Al Qaeda, not respected NGOs.. Their position is the exact opposite of human rights.

Beyond that, they are saying that the Palestinian Authority is too stupid and ignorant to do the research and decide which vaccines are appropriate for their people.

While Amnesty and B'Tselem have managed to convince world media that Israel is somehow violating he Geneva Conventions (it isn't,) there is a much bigger problem here where respected human rights groups are taking positions that not only endanger Palestinian lives, but that treat Palestinians as children who have no agency over their own lives and cannot be trusted to make their own decisions.

Amnesty, B'Tselem, PCHR et. al. are engaged in bigotry against the very Palestinians they pretend to defend.

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Kristen Clarke was nominated last week to serve as Joe Biden's assistant attorney general for civil rights.

If confirmed by the Senate, she will lead the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

A 1994 incident makes one wonder how committed she is to civil rights for all.

As the Harvard Crimson reported then, Clarke, as president of the Black Students Association, invited rabidly antisemitic Wellesley Professor Tony Martin to speak at Harvard:

Martin, the author of an anti-Semitic tract entitled The Jewish Onslaught, used his Harvard forum to denounce the Jewish tradition and the Jewish people for holding a "monopoly" on centuries-worth of the notion of divinely ordained African inferiority. Repeating his belief that the "so-called Sages" of the Babylonian Talmud were the earliest racists of recorded history, Martin urged Harvard students to consider The Bell Curve, a controversial new book linking race and intelligence, as only the latest manifestation of a racist tradition spawned by Jews.

Martin also taught in his own class a course that included the Nation of Islam antisemitic tract claiming that Jews controlled the slave trade, "The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews."

Kristen Clarke defended the hater, telling the Crimson that "Professor Martin is an intelligent, well-versed Black intellectual who bases his information of indisputable fact."

If she considers the Nation of Islam's antisemitic screeds to be indisputable facts, it is hard to imagine that she can be an effective advocate for civil rights for all.

It gets worse, though.

1994 was the year that The Bell Curve was released. It was a controversial book that claimed that intelligence was in large part (between 40% and 80%) a genetic trait and further claimed that Black people were, on average, less intelligent than white people.

The Black community was justifiably outraged, and many others showed serious errors in the book. At the time, however, it was taken seriously and some students at Harvard defended it.

Kristen Clarke weighed in on the controversy in a letter to the Crimson, where she put forth an alternative theory that Black people were superior to whites because they have more melanin:

In response to those who defend The Bell Curve ("Defending The Bell Curve," Opinion, Oct. 24, 1994), please use the following theories and observations to assist you in your search for truth regarding the genetic differences between Blacks and whites.

One: Dr. Richard King reveals that at the core of the human brain is the "locus coeruleus" which is a structure that is Black because it contains large amounts of (neuro) melanin which is essential for its operation.

Two: Black infants sit, stand, crawl and walk sooner than whites.

Three: Carol Barnes notes that human mental processes are controlled by melanin--that same chemical which gives Blacks their superior physical and mental abilities.

Four: Some scientists have revealed that most whites are unable to produce melanin because their pineal glands are often calcification or non-functioning. Pineal calcification rates with Africans are five to 15 percent, Asians 15 to 25 percent and Europeans 60 to 80 percent. This is the chemical basis for the cultural differences between Blacks and whites.

Five: Melanin endows Blacks with greater mental, physical and spiritual abilities--something which cannot be measured based on Eurocentric standards.

If the Bell Curve is racist - and it is - this melanin theory is far, far worse.

And it is still believed by prominent Black celebrities and their followers today who also happen to be antisemitic, as we saw last summer.

Yes, this was 26 years ago. And yes, Clarke has since forged ties with liberal Jewish groups. But has she ever disavowed her praise of an antisemitic professor? Has she changed her mind about melanin making Blacks superior in all ways to whites?

She says now, “We will turn the page on hate.” At college, she promoted hate. If Kristen Clarke is going to be effective in her job, she needs to address these concerns now.

(h/t Shoshana Dreyfus)

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You've heard of "Pay for Slay" - how about "Masters Degree for Butchery"?

The Hebrew version of Palestinian Media Watch (not yet translated as of this writing) has an expose on how the worst terrorists in Israeli prisons are getting free education - a prospect so attractive that some want to avoid early release to get their degrees.

Here are excerpts:

Imprisoned Palestinian terrorists, including murderers, receive free university education in Israeli prisons - which are generously funded by the Palestinian Authority, and in cooperation with Palestinian universities and even UNESCO organization! All this in addition to many other benefits the PA gives terrorist prisoners.

Palestinian law provides a series of benefits, including an exemption from tuition fees at schools and universities.

In 2011, Israel decided to cancel access to higher education. Several appeals were filed by some of the imprisoned terrorists, but their petitions were rejected after the courts ruled that imprisoned terrorists do not have a specific right to participate in higher education.

Obtaining university degrees, which only a minority of Palestinians can obtain outside of prison, may be, in the eyes of some Palestinians, an incentive for terrorism.

Since this court decision was made, Israel has never lifted the ban on university studies for imprisoned terrorists. At the same time, the reality looks quite different.

In a recent interview, the Vice President of Open Al-Quds University, Muhammad Shahin, described in detail the thriving university programs for terrorists in prison. He explained who is involved, how the system works, and how the funding is done. The program includes a number of degrees, "teaching" and "academic supervision" within the prison, as well as examination committees to ensure everything is done according to "academic standards."

Describing the University Program for Prisoner Terrorists - which are "a crown of honor on our heads" - as "part of the university's social responsibility," Shahin provided the following facts about the university's program, which has existed in one form or another since 2000:

The current program was established in 2014, in an agreement between the Open Al-Quds University, the PA Prison Ministry at the time (now called the PLO Prisoner Authority), and the Ministry of Education.
Tuition is free of charge. 30% of the costs are covered by Al-Quds University "as a scholarship for all prisoners," and the rest is paid by the Prisoner Authority in the PLO.
Senior terrorist Marwan Barghouti, who was convicted of planning 5 murders and sentenced to 5 life sentences, is leading a master's degree program in "Israeli Studies" for his fellow prisoners, as part of the Al-Quds Open University program.
The Curriculum for Prisoners of the Open Al-Quds University is held in 5 prisons: Rimon, Ketziot, Gilboa, Nafha and Shikma.
Every prison has an "academic committee" made up of inmates with a master's degree and a doctorate. The committee oversees examinations, grades, transfer of grades - "All procedures, and especially academic ones, so that questions are within the rules and criteria found at the university."
A lawyer on behalf of the Prisoner's Authority in the PLO passes the tests from the prisons and "submits them to the dean of admission and registration of the university."
[PA official TV, "Patience Giants", 8/10/2020]

The illegal university programs in Israeli prisons continue unabated , despite the prison service's denial that such studies take place. In fact, Kadri Abu Bakr, head of the PLO Prisoners' Authority, admitted this year that the PA owes more than $3 million to Palestinian universities for tuition expenses for terrorist students.

Prison degree programs are independent or "stand-alone," in the sense that "academic staff" members come from among the inmates themselves. A prisoner-killer terrorist with an academic degree can be appointed a lecturer in a university course. In this way, Marwan Barghouti, who has been convicted of planning 5 murders and is serving 5 life sentences, and allegedly holds the title of "Doctor of Political Science", can head the "Israeli Studies" program for fellow prisoners:

Marwan Barghouti's program, including the possibility for Palestinian terrorists to study for free in prison, is so popular that the father of one of the imprisoned terrorists told his son to stay in prison and complete his academic degree, and not ask for early release:

It is not just the open Al-Quds University that offers degrees to terrorists. Al-Najah University in Nablus does as well. This university even has three convicted murderers in the "faculty" who teach in the track of international law and human rights!

When family members presented certificates and credentials of their terrorist-prisoner relatives, one of them was a graduation certificate from a course on international law and human rights, given by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the National Al-Najah University.

A UNESCO certificate mentions the names of the course facilitators, which include three killers responsible for the deaths of 25 Israelis: Yasser Abu Bakr - responsible for 3 attacks in which people were killed; Nasser Avis - responsible for attacks in which 14 people were killed, and Izz A Din Hamamara - Involved in terrorist attacks in which 8 people were killed:

(h/t EBoZ)

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