Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, April 24, 2021

04/24 Links: To combat Holocaust denial, call out Arab antisemitism; Biden SBA Pick Serves on the Board of Anti-Israel Group; Rocket sirens sound in Gaza border area as attacks launched into Israel

From Ian:

Lyn Julius: To combat Holocaust denial, call out Arab antisemitism

As a result of Palestinians' failure to defeat Israel militarily or through terrorism, their intention to commit genocide has morphed into politicide, through the demand of the "right of return" of Palestinian "refugees" to Israel proper, "lawfare"' to delegitimize Israel in international fora and the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.

Satloff's strategy has been to create empathy among Arabs by attempting to find Muslims who saved Jews. But this approach has its pitfalls: Holocaust education has been manipulated to confirm Palestinians in their victimhood. Spurious, morally equivalent comparisons are made between the Nazi victimization of the Jews and the "Nazi-like" behavior of Israelis towards Palestinians.

A Holocaust museum set up in Nazareth by Khaled Mahamed, an Arab Israeli, was initially praised by Yad Vashem until he displayed a Palestinian flag, photos and posters of the so-called nakba, the "catastrophe" of the exodus of Palestinian refugees from Israel in 1948. Yad Vashem condemned Mahamed for "conflating the Holocaust with other events and contributing to the misappropriation of the Holocaust as a tool against Israel."

The Anti-Defamation League spokesman in Israel pronounced himself "troubled" that Palestinians were said to be paying the price for European guilt over the Holocaust.

Professor Mohammed Dajani won praise as one of the few Palestinians to campaign against Holocaust denial. He led a group of students from Al-Quds University on a visit to Auschwitz in 2014. Consequently, he found himself in hot water with his own people, and promptly lost his job; he went to work for Satloff at the Washington Institute.

On a previous visit to Auschwitz, however, he had said: "We do not compare the nakba and the Holocaust as if the atrocities that occurred are on the same level." But he made just such a comparison when he stated: "I feel we must have empathy for each other, in the sense that I, as a Palestinian, must understand what the Holocaust meant to a Jew and a Jew must understand what the nakba is to a Palestinian."

The best way to prevent distortion and manipulation is to raise awareness of antisemitism in the Arabs' own backyard – eliminationism against Israel and the Jewish nakba of almost a million Jews from the Arab world, who now comprise more than half of Israel's Jewish population. The Jewish nakba has been thought of as collateral damage of the Arab failure to destroy Israel, yet we know that the Arab League drafted a plan to persecute and dispossess their Jewish citizens before a single Palestinian refugee had fled Israel.

The League states applied Nuremberg-style laws, criminalizing Zionism, freezing Jewish bank accounts, instituting quotas and imposing restrictions on jobs and movement.

The path to true reconciliation surely lies in a balanced view of history, where Jewish victims of Arab antisemitism are allowed to tell their stories, and Arab states are called to account for their own actions.

Liat Collins: Justice for Sarah Halimi and justice for all

In a recent incident caught on security cameras in a Jewish neighborhood in London, a man crept up on a pregnant ultra-Orthodox woman, placed a bag over her head and punched her in the stomach. A vile hate crime – or just high jinks by somebody who can’t be considered responsible for his actions?

In Jerusalem, there has been a string of assaults by Muslim youth on ultra-Orthodox Jews since the start of Ramadan last week in what is being called “TikTok Attacks.” Far from denying the crimes, the perpetrators have posted them on social media, particularly on the TikTok platform. This leads to copycat attacks. And it can quickly spiral out of control from there.

Hate crimes are exactly that – crimes. They are not carried out by bored kids just looking for a bit of fun. No responsible parent, educator, religious or community leader – of any religion or community – can condone such attacks (or revenge attacks).

The cannabis excuse is a smoke screen. A murderer is hiding behind it and the smoke will allow more attacks to take place. No one will be safe – the young, the old, the disabled, people of every skin shade and religion are at risk.

Sarah Halimi’s family is reportedly now considering an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights after the Cour de Cassation in the Palace of Justice in Paris proved that it couldn’t distinguish between human rights and wrongs.

Last week’s verdict is not good for France and it’s not good for the world at large. Several protest rallies are being organized on Sunday, including in Paris and outside the French embassies in London and Tel Aviv.

It has become almost trite to hold a sign saying “Je suis Sarah Halimi” or with the names of other victims of hate crimes. But unless the severity of the incident is recognized the fact remains that we will all be potential Sarah Halimis – from a criminal’s hash to a victim’s hashtag. Where’s the justice in that?

Biden SBA Pick Serves on the Board of Anti-Israel Group

President Joe Biden’s nominee for a top Small Business Administration job sits on the board of a group that lobbies in favor of the anti-Israel boycott movement and describes Israel as an "apartheid" state.

Dilawar Syed, Biden’s pick for deputy administrator of the SBA, has served on the board of the Muslim-American advocacy group Emgage Action since 2017, according to his public financial disclosure form submitted as part of his nomination process. Emgage Action is a staunch defender of the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS) that seeks to hurt Israel with economic pressure.

The stance could be an obstacle for Syed ahead of his confirmation vote by the Senate Small Business Committee, which is chaired by Sen. Ben Cardin (D., Md.), one of the Democratic Party’s most vocal opponents of BDS. Emgage Action denounced Cardin's 2017 anti-BDS legislation as "unconstitutional."

Emgage Action has described the BDS movement as a "constitutionally protected nonviolent response that seeks to end the occupation" and says it "support[s] the right to boycott, divest, and sanction, as well as the Right of Return of Palestinians." The organization also describes Israel as an "apartheid" state, stating on its website that Palestinians "continue to suffer under racist, undemocratic Israeli apartheid rule that steals their land and destroys their homes to make way for illegal Jewish settlements."

Syed is CEO at the health care company Lumiata. He served on the White House Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders under President Obama and as a liaison with the SBA and the Department of Commerce, according to the White House.

Kudos to the 20 senators standing up to Biden’s play to send $150M to the corrupt Palestinian organization, UNRWA. We should not give a dime unless it:

-Stops employing terrorists
-Stops promoting anti-Semitic textbooks
-Releases the true number of “refugees”

Common sense. pic.twitter.com/kp3ZAX4zSZ
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) April 23, 2021

04/23 Links Pt2: Meir Y. Soloveichik: The Nation of the Dry Bones; Melanie Phillips: The delirium of Jew-hatred; Can J Street stoop any lower in backing anti-Israel views?

From Ian:

Meir Y. Soloveichik: The Nation of the Dry Bones

In April 1945, the BBC’s Patrick Walker described to the world one of the most remarkable Jewish prayer services in the history of Judaism. It took place on a Friday afternoon, on the eve of the Sabbath in Bergen-Belsen, only days after the concentration camp had been liberated. The worshippers, survivors all, had not participated in a minyan in years. The prayers concluded with words Walker assumed were standard Sabbath liturgy but were actually the words of “Hatikvah,” the anthem of the Zionist movement, and later of the State of Israel. As their voices faded, one of the chaplains leading the service declaimed three Hebrew words, a clarion call that can still be heard on the recording of the broadcast: Am Yisrael chai, the people of Israel liveth!

Walker was witness to what would become the perfect embodiment of the current period of the Jewish calendar, when Israel and world Jewry mark, one week apart, the worst and then the most miraculous moments in Jewish Diaspora history: first Yom Ha’shoah, the commemoration of the Holocaust, and then Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day.

In order to understand why this is so, we can begin with the Jewish chaplain whose final words defined the service, and whose later recollections and obituaries allow us to see the moment through his eyes. Leslie Hardman, staffed to Britain’s second army, had not been with the troops when the camp was liberated but was told two days later, “Keep a stiff upper lip. We’ve just been into Belsen concentration camp and it’s horrible; but you have got to go there—you’ll find a lot of your people.” He first encountered a Jewish woman whose decrepit appearance was so horrifying that he instinctively backed away, provoking her to cry out in Yiddish, “Farloz mir nit!! Geh nit avek fun mir!” Do not leave me! Do not go away from me!

Hardman walked with her and then saw the others: “Towards me came what seemed to be the remnants of a holocaust—a staggering mass of blackened skin and bones, held together somehow with filthy rags,” he recalled. “‘My God, the dead walk,’ I cried aloud, but I did not recognize my voice.”

Melanie Phillips: The delirium of Jew-hatred

The reason for this indifference is obvious. The murder of Sarah Halimi and the attacks on other French Jews over the past few years tread heavily on some neuralgic left-wing toes.

To acknowledge that people in France are being repeatedly attacked and murdered simply because they are Jews destroys the all-important fiction that attacks on Jews are motivated principally by hostility to Israel.

To recognise the motivation for these French attacks means acknowledging something that the left refuses to say and punishes others for saying: that antisemitism is rooted in Islamic religion and culture.

One further aspect of the court’s ruling has a baleful significance well beyond French society. The court held that cannabis-induced delirium precludes an antisemitic motive because delirium wipes out an individual’s “discernment or control.”

But antisemitism is itself a form of delirium. Those in its grip are innately and inescapably delusional. They believe that the Jews possess diabolical and cosmic powers, that they are a secret conspiracy to control global affairs in their own malign interests, that they are responsible for all the ills in the world.

Does anyone seriously suggest that this is not a form of lunacy? Those in its grip cannot discern the reality of Jewish existence and as a result are sometimes unable to control their aggressive behaviour towards Jews. Antisemites are fundamentally irrational.

And yet, whether dealing with the Iranian regime’s genocidal clerics who declare almost daily their hatred of the Jews or with the Nazi-worshipping Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, the west treats such delusional individuals as if they are rational actors. It refuses to acknowledge that antisemitism is itself the infallible marker of a deranged personality.

What the French courts have done is not merely to thwart the delivery of justice for a terrible murder. By stating in effect that antisemitism requires the “discernment and control” negated by delirium, they have also reinforced a far more widespread failure to understand the crucial point about antisemitism and so have also reinforced the resulting failure by the west to stem its terrifying rise.

Halimi Family Lawyers Announce Bid to Extradite Antisemitic Killer of French Jewish Woman for Trial in Israel

Lawyers representing relatives of Sarah Halimi — the French Jewish woman brutally murdered in her Paris apartment by an antisemitic intruder in April 2017 — say they are launching an effort to have her accused murderer extradited to Israel to face trial, following the decision of France’s highest appeal court on April 14 to excuse him from legal proceedings on the alleged grounds that his consumption of marijuana had rendered him temporarily insane.

The decision meant that Halimi’s killer — Kobili Traore, a 31-year-old petty criminal who frequented an Islamist mosque near the Paris housing project where he and Halimi both lived — would never have to face trial in France, causing a furious reaction among French Jews.

Speaking to the newspaper Le Monde on Thursday, Halimi family lawyer Francis Szpiner argued that the legal foundations were in place to try Traore in an Israeli court.

“Israeli criminal law provides that when the victim is Jewish and the crime is of an antisemitic nature, Israeli justice has jurisdiction, regardless of the country where the events took place,” said Szpiner, who represents Esther Lekover, the sister of Sarah Halimi and an Israeli citizen.

Israel’s Penal Law of 1977 contains a provision to extend Israeli criminal justice, under certain circumstances, to offenses committed abroad. This includes antisemitic attacks against “the life, body, health, freedom or property of a Jew, as a Jew, or the property of a Jewish institution, because it is such.”

French Jews Plan Mass Rally in Paris to Demand Justice for Sarah Halimi

The Jewish community in France is planning a mass rally in Paris on Sunday afternoon to demand justice for Sarah Halimi, a 65-year-old French Jew who was murdered in her home by a Muslim neighbor in 2017.

France’s high court ruled last week that Halimi’s killer, who shouted “Allahu akbar” and threw her from her apartment window, could not be prosecuted because he had taken marijuana before the assault and was therefore not in control of his actions. The ruling was met with derision from many corners and has led French President Emanuel Macron to call for changes to his country’s laws.

For the Jewish community in France, it was the latest blow in their fight against antisemitism. According to a report released earlier this month by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, 95 percent of Jews in France said antisemitism is a big problem, and that the true numbers of such attacks may not be known because people are hesitant to report them, in part because they don’t believe that police will act effectively.

In addition to the rally in Paris, a simultaneous one will be held in London in front of the French embassy there. Due to coronavirus restrictions in the United Kingdom, all participants must pre-register and attendance will be limited.

Those who can’t attend the rally are being urged to show their support via social media using the hashtags #JusticeForSarahHalimi and #JeSuisSarahHalimi.

B'Tselem makes a new, wrong definition of "apartheid" and bases a poll question on it

B'Tselem polled Israelis about a number of topics, and it heavily publicizing one result.

The question was:

“A regime in which one group controls, and perpetuates its control over another, through laws, practices and coercive/forced means is considered an apartheid regime. In your opinion, does this description fit or it doesn’t fit Israel?”

25% of Israeli Jews said it fits (8%), or somewhat fits (17%.)

So the headlines are saying "25% of Israeli Jews Acknowledge Israel’s Apartheid."

Only one problem: B'Tselem made up that definition for this poll. You can't find that as a definition of apartheid anywhere.

Dictionary definitions of "apartheid" vary between a specific reference to South Africa's racist system of discrimination against Blacks, or a very general definition of segregating groups. None of them say that treating non-citizens differently from citizens is apartheid - which would be absurd, since every nation on Earth does that.

The Rome Statute defines it as "an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime." It specifies racial groups - not national groups.

Israel's laws that specifically prohibit discrimination against any citizen shows that the "other group" B'Tselem refers to cannot refer to anything religious or racial, but only national.

We have a classic case of a leading question. The people answering didn't have a choice to say "I disagree with your premise." This pressures the people being surveyed to accept the definition as stated, and base their answer on that - and some did. But changing the question even slightly would result in a very different result.

Anyone can make surveys to make people say what they want them to say. Anti-Israel groups do this all the time. And here's a perfect example.

(h/t YMedad)

04/23 Links Pt1: David Singer: Two-state solution sinks as Biden tries to resurrect it; Caroline Glick: For Progressives Netanyahu isn't the problem, Israel is

From Ian:

Two-state solution sinks as Biden tries to resurrect it

Postponement of the upcoming Palestinian elections on 22 May for the 132-member Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) seems virtually assured with the report from an “unnamed US source” that Washington would not object to any such postponement.

The potential boost to Hamas’s power in winning this election at the expense of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) would spell the death knell for the creation of an independent Palestinian State located in all of Gaza, Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and East Jerusalem (“target area”).

Amazingly this failed solution still continues to be pushed by the international community 40 years after the Venice Declaration first embraced it.

President Trump’s plan to create another Arab State in about 70% – rather than 100% – of the target area – was effectively discarded by President Biden from the day he became President – rewarding the PLO for its unequivocal rejection of Trump’s proposal by resuming much of America’s financial largesse to the PLO and international organisations withdrawn by Trump.

Particularly shareworthy has been Biden’s failure to demand that the PLO end its “pay for slay policy” that rewards the killing and maiming of Jews with substantial payments to the perpetrators or their families – currently running in excess of $300 million per annum.

In agreeing to postpone the May 22 PLC elections – Biden is trying to keep alive the failed 40 years-old “two-state solution” that realistically has never had any chance of succeeding.

Caroline Glick: For Progressives Netanyahu isn't the problem, Israel is

As an anti-Israel Jewish-led lobby, J Street operates much differently than AIPAC did. J Street's job isn't to initiate anti-Israel policies as a counterpart to AIPAC. J Street's job is to serve as a Jewish fig leaf for anti-Israel Democrats.

Warren doesn't seek to block Israel from defending itself against Palestinian aggression because J Street asked her to. J Street supports placing conditions on US military aid to Israel because Warren and her comrades wish to condition the aid. The anti-Israel Democrats come to the J Street conference every year to receive J Street's Jewish stamp of approval for their anti-Israel policies. It can be assumed that the more powerful Warren and her comrades become, the less need they will have for their Jewish fig leaf. Over time, the rise of the progressives is likely to render J Street even more irrelevant than AIPAC.

The second lesson from Warren's speech and the J Street conference more generally is that the era of bipartisan support for Israel is essentially over. Israel has become a partisan issue.

The Republican Party is a pro-Israel party. Republicans, almost to the last want to maintain and strengthen the US-Israel alliance. While a majority of Democrats will still support US military aid to Israel, most Democrats prefer to keep their positions quiet because the Democrat base opposes Israel. The Democrat leadership in both houses not only refuses to take any steps against the Israel hating progressives. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and Pelosi are promoting them even as the push policies openly geared towards empowering Israel's enemies and weakening Israel.

For many years, leftists in Israel and the US accused the Israeli Right – and Netanyahu in particular – of making US support for Israel into a partisan issue. But Warren's address and those of her colleagues this week proved that neither the right in Israel nor Netanyahu is responsible for what has happened.

In her 15-minute speech, Warren referred to her demand that Israel withdraw from Judea and Samaria as a "moral" imperative five times. As she and her camp see it, anyone thinks Israel should maintain its presence in the areas is immoral. And if withdrawal opponents are immoral, it follows naturally that they do not share the values of Warren's America. And since they do not share progressive values, they cannot be allies with the America of Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders.

As for President Joe Biden, so far, the difference between him and them is hard to find. While he may not be going down the anti-Israel path as quickly as Warren, Sanders and their comrades would wish, Biden has done nothing they disagree with. His trajectory, like theirs, is clear.

HRW has a rich history of antagonism toward Israel & Jews. This report is the worst yet, accusing Israel of crimes against humanity, specifically “apartheid” & “persecution.” Could have been written by @nadplo. 2/9
— NGO Monitor (@NGOmonitor) April 23, 2021

The Caroline Glick Show: Episode 2: The Rise of Israel's NeverNetanyahus

In the second episode of the Caroline Glick Midest News Hour, Caroline and co-host Gadi Taub discuss the pathological state of Israeli politics in the wake of the country’s fourth stalemate election. They take a deep dive into Senator Elizabeth Warren’s anti-Israel screed at the J Street conference and they consider the implications of the woke revolution on America and its relations with the outside world.

Does Israel Lie America Into Wars?

Colin Kahl’s creepy insinuation was debunked last week. The question is why Biden’s Pentagon pick said it in the first place.

How can we understand that Kahl’s response to reported news of Israeli spies uncovering a “huge amount of new and dramatic information on the Iranian nuclear program” was to publicly retail a patently false anti-Semitic conspiracy theory? The possibilities are finite, and they all come with the same appendix. Maybe the top-secret U.S. government intelligence that Kahl was privy to before 2018 was in fact blind to Iran’s nuclear program, and really did make it seem reasonable to assume that the Iranian documents were forgeries. If not, and U.S. intelligence had long corroborated Israel’s eventual findings, then Kahl’s use of an anti-Semitic canard to deflate the new revelations was viciously cynical.

Kahl is now Biden’s nominee for the No. 3 position at the Pentagon. To support Kahl’s stalled confirmation, Obama’s former ambassador to Israel, Daniel Shapiro, and his former special envoy for Middle East peace, Martin Indyk, have spearheaded a letter in defense of the embattled nominee that attempts to portray him as a friend of Israel based on his 13 visits there while carrying out Obama’s policies. “Kahl has been unfairly and ludicrously smeared as anti-Israel,” Shapiro insists.

Really? A hallmark of the Obama years was the corruption of language—sometimes referred to as gaslighting—wherein people were asked to accept constantly evolving word definitions while rejecting contradictory evidence that they might have previously seen as clear-cut. In this case, the evidence suggests that Colin Kahl is a nuclear archive truther who deflected against unwelcome news by spreading anti-Semitic falsehoods. How friendly is that?

From an American national security standpoint, Kahl’s inability to tell the difference between friends and foes would appear to be matched by his failure to correctly analyze intelligence material, which might ordinarily seem like a prohibitive defect for the guy in charge of policy at the Pentagon. But these are not normal times. For Kahl’s brazen public supporters, the nominee’s empty toolkit must come second to his allegiance to the party line—which now apparently includes the idea that Israel lies America into wars.

The Tikvah Podcast: Jonathan Schanzer on the Palestinians’ Political Mess

To understand the Palestinian people and the region, one must understand the enduring cleavages and party affiliations that make up Palestinian politics.

In 2007, shortly after legislative elections that led to a surprising victory for the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas, Palestinians fought a brief civil war. By the end of the conflict, Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party retained power in the West Bank, while Hamas controlled Gaza. Today, the Palestinians remain divided along those same factional and territorial lines—lines that are now front and center, since Palestinian elections are once again being called for next month. If the elections go forward—and it’s now looking unlikely that they will—they will feature the first presidential election since 2005, when Abbas was elected for a single four-year term that’s now entered its sixteenth year.

To help us make sense of what’s happened and what’s likely to happen, we asked Jonathan Schanzer, a senior vice president at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the author of Hamas vs. Fatah: The Struggle for Palestine (2008), to join our podcast this week. In conversation with Mosaic‘s editor Jonathan Silver, Schanzer outlines the history of Palestinian politics and brings listeners inside the vigorous competition for power taking place at this moment.

The ultimate goal of the Oslo Accords is self-determination for Palestinian Arabs, culminating in statehood -- contingent on certain benchmarks being fulfilled. It's been a long wait since 1993, when Oslo I was signed, but the accords are still in force, as the continued existence of the Palestinian Authority attests.

Yet people seem to take Oslo for granted.

Or ignore it altogether.

Especially when they attack Israel.

Betty McCollum's Congressional Bill

Be tty McCollum is the first US lawmaker to ever publicly accuse Israel of apartheid. This year she is introducing the “U.S. Commitment to the Universal Human Rights of Palestinians Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act” -- similar to the previous iterations of this bill that she introduced in 2017 and 2019. In it, she repeats claims of military detention, interrogation, abuse, torture, and prosecution of Palestinian children by Israel.

In its critique of the bill, NGO Monitor notes that this year the bill adds a reference to house demolitions by Israel. The bill claims that “Israel’s drive to perpetuate its control over the occupied West Bank results in other serious violations of international law, including the unlawful demolition of Palestinian homes and the forcible transfer of Palestinian civilians.”

NGO Monitor points out:

The bill fails to explain that Israel’s actions in this regard derive from the provisions of the Oslo Accords, under which Israel has responsibility for the administration of Area C. As such, and even under the rules of occupation that the NGOs and McCollum apply, Israeli authorities must approve all construction, and they are permitted to demolish structures that are built illegally.

Additionally, the issue of illegal homes is subject to judicial review, including by the Israeli Supreme Court, which has been known to issue injunctions against demolition, even when the homes have been constructed illegally.

The key point is that in accordance with the Oslo Accords, Israel retains authority in Area C, a point that McCollum's bill fails to take into account.

The Covid Vaccine

Back in November, Israel made a deal with Pfizer and Moderna to acquire 18 million shots, taking a leading role in the fight against the coronavirus. Israel was in the spotlight for its aggressive approach towards attacking the virus and returning life to normal.

Then in March, accusations came out that Israel was negligent in fulfilling its obligations as an 'occupying power' to innoculate the Palestinian Arabs. Eventually, left-wing members of Congress came out publically repeating the claims that Israel had an obligation under international law, specifically Article 56 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, to innoculate the Palestinian Arab population in addition to its own and was allegedly putting Palestinian Arab lives at risk.

In an article, Fake International Law Is the Newest Anti-Israel Libel, Eugene Kontorovich debunked this claim, pointing out the text of the Oslo Accords:

Powers and responsibilities in the sphere of Health in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will be transferred to the Palestinian side...The Palestinian side shall continue to apply the present standards of vaccination of Palestinians and shall improve them according to internationally accepted standards in the field, taking into account WHO recommendations.

Self-proclaimed experts on international law went so far as to proclaim the supremacy of the Geneva Convention over the Oslo Accords -- neglecting the fact that the full name of the Geneva Convention is "The Convention Relevant to the Protection of Civilians in Time of War," and that according to Article 6:

in the case of occupied territory, the application of the present Convention shall cease one year after the general close of military operations.

That would be 1968, 53 years ago.

But if the sourcing used to attack Israel is suspicious, so is the timing. Kontorovich points out:

The claim of Israeli responsibility for vaccinating the PA's populace was never made before Israel achieved global renown for its rapid vaccine rollout program. The accusations against Israel now are designed to besmirch and belittle this remarkable achievement. [emphasis added]

This point, that the goal of the accusation is being made more as an attempted smear of Israel than out of genuine concern for Palestinian Arabs, is similar to a suggestion Elder of Ziyon makes in a post about Betty McCollum's congressional bill, mentioned earlier.

The bill includes restrictions on Israel as to what it is allowed to do with the money it receives from the US. Its provisions

would restrict Israel from using US funds to detain Palestinian minors, appropriate or destroy Palestinian property or forcibly move Palestinians, or annex Palestinian areas.

The post goes into detail about the safeguards that are normally included to ensure the proper use of US aid. In fact, in 2016 in response to questions by Congressional critics of Israel, there was an investigation by the State Department into how Israel in fact used US aid -- and Israel was cleared of any wrongdoing.

So if safeguards are already in place, what is the point of McCollum's bill?
Elder of Ziyon writes:

The bill is meant to do only one thing: to demonize Israel...It is a PR move to get headlines in newspapers that indicate that Israel is an untrustworthy partner, that it is an enemy and not an ally.

This is reminiscent of the boycotts of the BDS movement, which urges others to divest their money and protest against buying tractors that only companies are going to use -- while BDS members are caught using Israeli products like Wix and others that contain parts manufactured in Israel.

Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Denver defend this apparent hypocrisy by claiming

Boycotts therefore form a limited but necessary component of the BDS campaign. For supporters of the Palestinian call for BDS, boycotts serve as a tactic within a wider strategy...

And SJP Cornell follows suit:

“BDS is not abstention, nor an absolute moral principle … it is a tactic.”

A tactic in an overall smear campaign against Israel and not a principled mission.

The ICC

This year, the other shoe finally dropped as the ICC issued its decision as to whether The Hague would investigate Israel for war crimes allegedly committed in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

In a 2-1 decision, the court decided it would.

Beyond the question of whether there was reason to believe that war crimes had been committed, there was the complex question as to whether the ICC actually had the jurisdiction to step in.

On the one hand, Israel is not a party to the ICC -- unlike the PA, which joined in 2015.
On the other hand, there is the question of whether the Palestinian Authority even has the criminal jurisdiction that it could then delegate to the court to investigate on its behalf.

The logic behind the court's jurisdiction is that the alleged crimes took place on Palestinian soil, so the ICC can investigate, regardless of whether Israel is a member or not, since the Palestinian Authority itself is a member.

This is far from clear cut, and ignores international law, as Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit points out:

Mandelblit noted that only sovereign states can delegate criminal jurisdiction to the court, claiming that the Palestinian Authority did not meet the criteria; asserted that Israel too had “valid legal claims” over the territory in question; and added that the sides had agreed in the past “to resolve their dispute over the future status of this territory in the framework of negotiations.”

The issue of "valid legal claims" goes back, again, to the Oslo Accords.

Dennis Ross served as the lead US negotiator on Middle East peace and participated in both the Oslo talks as well as other Israeli-Palestinian discussions from 1993 to 2001. In an article, Why the ICC Prosecutor Is Wrong on Oslo, Ross writes that based on his personal and detailed knowledge of the Oslo Accords, he submitted an amicus curiae brief to the ICC, outlining his belief that "the OTP [Office of the Prosecutor] has misrepresented the terms and meaning of these agreements in a number of ways."

Ross quotes from Fatou Bom Bensouda, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, who wrote that the purpose of the Oslo Accords was “to give effect to the Palestinians’ right to self-determination,” a fact that outweighs the lack of effective control over a well-defined territory.

Ross responds that it is a mistake for the prosecutor to assume that the "object and purpose" of the Oslo Accords was self-determination --

But that is inaccurate; the accords had several equally important goals, including Israeli security, peaceful coexistence, education for peace, and the development of effective Palestinian governance. Self-determination could not be fully advanced beyond Oslo’s interim self-governance arrangements unless these other goals were fulfilled. [emphasis added]

In the drive for Palestinian self-determination and sovereignty, these issues of importance to Israel are ignored, if not forgotten.

Instead, Bensadou thinks that Palestinian self-determination is an independent end in and of itself, if not the whole point of the agreement.

This is a fundamental error by the prosecutor that is shared by many who tout the virtues of a two-state solution. They ignore the fact that the Oslo Accords address the needs of both parties, the Palestinian Arabs and Israel. Instead, there is a readiness to assume that as a result of Oslo, Israeli rights really have been waived.

A key right that Israel never waived is jurisdiction over area C. Because Israel retains that control and since the Palestinian Authority has only limited control over areas A & B and none over area C, the PA cannot delegate any authority over to the ICC to investigate alleged crimes in Area C.

The accords state unmistakably that Palestinian criminal jurisdiction is circumscribed, that it does not include jurisdiction over Israelis, and that any jurisdiction not explicitly transferred to the Palestinians rests with Israel.

In an article published in the Journal of International Criminal Justice in 2013 entitled "Israel, Palestine and the ICC — Territory Uncharted but not Unknown," Eugene Kontorovich delineates the 2 sides of what Oslo establishes.

On the one hand:

Within the context of Oslo, a Palestinian government has been created which controls the vast majority of the Palestinian population, enjoys direct foreign relations with most countries in the world, and, of course, has recently been welcomed as a sovereign state by the GA. All of these developments are a direct consequence of Oslo.

However:

On the other side of the coin, Oslo established the principle of negotiated final borders and the interim maintenance of settlements. Israeli jurisdiction over settlements is as much a part of the peace process as Palestinian control of Ramallah and Jenin, even if it is not the expected ‘final status’. [emphasis added]. [pp. 991-2]

For all the talk about a "two-state solution," there is a tendency -- if not an outright desire -- to forget that there are 2 states at stake and instead think of it as "the Palestinian-state solution". That second state, Israel, has not only interests represented by the Oslo accords, but binding legal rights as well that preserve jurisdictions while at the same time placing limits on the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.

It is because of the rights retained by Israel that, as Ross notes, "if the Oslo Accords were actually terminated, the legal result would not be more expansive Palestinian authority. Rather, authority would revert back to Israel, as stated explicitly in the accords."

Just as Jews in the Diaspora have historically been forced to fight for their rights, Israel today continually finds itself having to rebut attempts to deprive it of the rights and sovereignty other states take for granted.

Last night, mobs of Arabs targeted religious Jews - while others took videos and laughed.

The man being kicked repeatedly while on the ground was driving in an Arab neighborhood where his car was pelted by rocks. He tried to escape and this is what happened. His car was later set on fire.

There were unforgivable acts by some bigoted Jews who chanted "Death to Arabs" in Jerusalem as well, apparently in response to the rash of Arab attacks on Jews. Here are some of them throwing objects at an Arab house while kids are crying inside:

יהודים תוקפים בית בעיר העתיקה. אם תדליקו את הרמקולים תשמעו את הבכי של הילדים. pic.twitter.com/lgR5HaXe1s
— نير حسون Nir Hasson ניר חסון (@nirhasson) April 22, 2021

This is disgusting and inexcusable.

But here is the difference:

The comments in Hebrew for the video of Jews attacking Arabs are filled with condemnations. They are angry and ashamed.

The comments in Arabic for the video of Arabs attacking a Jew are filled with joy.

These are situations (though limited in their impact) that make us feel proud.

Finally, God is pleased with the issuance of a people of believers, Lord of your victory, which you promised

Heroes, God bless you, O Lord

May God protect the heroes 🙏

One of the best things I have seen

God lives them, and God our heart and our prayers are with you♥️

May God grant us victory over the darkness (the Israeli occupation). Long live Arab Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Palestine ✌✌🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

God God ... and God made us happy ... God bless you

😂😂👍👍👍🤩🤩

May the strength of you😂❤️❤️❤️❤️

Hahaha long live the heroes

God strengthens them

🤣🤣🤣👍👍👍👍👍👍👍🤣

By God, I laughed at him. I said, but God proves you

Oh God, give victory to our brothers everywhere against the occupying Zionists

The vast majority of Arabic-speaking people who react to a video like that support attacking random Jews. There are even articles supporting the violence.

This is the antisemitism that people are afraid to speak about.

From the Australian Jewish News:

AUSTRALIA Post has pulled a world globe from sale at its outlets and issued an apology after The AJN alerted it to the fact that Israel was labelled as “Palestine”.

The globe, produced by the Discovery company, was bought at Australia Post’s Bentleigh East branch in Melbourne last Friday by a Jewish man as a birthday present for his grandson.

After noticing the error, he contacted the Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) to express his shock and anger and has vowed to return the product.

In another blunder, the name Israel did appear on the globe but it was in Lebanon, above the region identified as Palestine. It was also printed across a border line, so all that is visible is “Isra”.

Speaking to The AJN on Tuesday, an Australia Post spokesperson said, “We are aware of this issue and have suspended the sale of this product and apologise for any offence caused.”

The spokesperson added that Australia Post “stocks a range of Discovery products in our stores, including this one, which was purchased in good faith”.

Stating, “Accuracy is of the utmost importance across all areas of the Discovery business,” a Discovery Australia spokesperson told The AJN, “We have immediately consulted our production partner of the 2-in-1 World Globe Light to rectify the geographical error relating to Israel. We apologise for any offence caused to our customers.”

Meanwhile, ThreeSixty Group, Discovery’s production partner for the product, blamed “a factory misprint error” for the mistake.

“As such we will be working with the factory to immediately correct this and to ensure that our teams more closely check this item for accuracy going forward,” a spokesperson said.

“We are currently working with our retail partners to immediately remove this item from shelves. We deeply regret that this mistake was not caught sooner.”

This is a popular globe, sold all over the world.

The manufacturer was clearly not too invested in accuracy or clarity altogether. One would think that Cyprus is part of Syria and the actual island is underwater.

Not all Discovery globes have the same map and error. It is hard to see but this video of Discovery's "World Globe for Students" shows the names of the Levant countries much larger, and Israel is in the right place; Tel Aviv is mentioned as well as Jerusalem.

From a different company, the Little Experimenter Illuminated Globe for Kids says "Palestine" without distinguishing it on the map from Israel.

At least one globe company doesn't even make a pretense admitting that Israel exists.

Here's the region shown on the KINGSO globe - where Israel is not mentioned at all, and is fully replaced with "Palestine."

KingSo is based out of Hong Kong.

(h/t Martin)

04/22 Links Pt2: BHL: Sarah Halimi’s Law; JDA is an attempt to gaslight Jews and protect anti-semites; COVID vaccine saved 6,000 Israelis' lives

From Ian:

Bernard-Henri Levy: Sarah Halimi’s Law

Everything about this case is heartbreaking.

The fate of a retired kindergarten teacher, beaten and then thrown from a window.

The evasiveness about whether a murder committed to cries of “I’ve killed the devil!” was or was not an anti-Semitic act.

The silence of the feminist groups that typically do such remarkable work in support of battered women and victims of domestic abuse, but who had nothing to say about this case.

The December 2020 decision of the court of appeals, confirmed by the high court on April 17, that Kobili Traoré, the killer, whose criminal record contains 20-odd convictions, was, in this instance, overcome with a delirious episode and thus could not be held criminally responsible.

Not to mention the good souls who, clearly perceiving that the courts have spoken but justice not done, keep repeating that they “understand the feelings of the Jewish community,” as if it were the latter alone, and not the French nation as a whole, that had reason to feel cheated by a trial that was whisked away, making it impossible to reach closure.

In the face of this legal and moral defeat, I offer three observations.

First, since judges are ordinary mortals, subject to prejudice, errors of judgment, and even emotion, it is not inappropriate, contrary to ubiquitous assertions to the contrary, to “comment on a court decision.”

Indeed, the derailment inflicted by the high court is revolting.

Indeed, we live in a country, France, where a man who throws his dog from his fourth floor is sentenced to a year in prison, whereas if he murders an old Jewish woman, he may face no consequences whatsoever.

Indeed, it is worrisome to know that the murderer, who had no history of psychiatric problems, who suffered and suffers from no pathology, and who, since his hospitalization, has received no medication, will soon regain his freedom.

And, no, it is not inappropriate to worry about the state of a legal system that is too often the prisoner of the culture of excuses: In Sarcelles, we witnessed the inability to call by its proper name the act of an individual armed with a knife who attacked three people leaving a synagogue wearing yarmulkes.

JPost Editorial: Sarah Halimi murder: No excuse for killing, hating Jews - editorial

The fact that the man shouted religious slogans during the killing provides evidence that this was not just a random drug-fueled murder. Throughout history Jews have been murdered for blood libels, hacked to death by Crusaders, and stuffed into gas chambers and crematoriums. In recent years, France’s Jews have often been targeted by Islamist extremists. For instance, in 2012 a Jewish school in Toulouse was targeted by a murderer who filmed the killing of a teacher and children. Mohammed Merah, the murderer, shouted “Allahu akhbar” while killing others during his campaign of terror.

Then, in 2015, four people were killed at a kosher supermarket in Paris. That attack was also mistakenly dismissed as “randomly shoot[ing] a bunch of folks in a deli” by former US president Barack Obama. One wonders again whether, had they not been Jews but another minority group, and had they been targeted in a unique traditional food store, it would have been labeled “random.”

It was not random when France’s “Gang of Barbarians” murdered Ilan Halimi in 2006. He was targeted for being Jewish, and during the trial the ringleader of the murderers claimed “all the Jews in the world are enemies,” a statement we Jews have heard before.

Unfortunately, in France there is a long list of wannabe Hitlers who have targeted our people, from Ilan Halimi, to Sarah Halimi. The difference is that the law has now decided in France that so long as people have taken a bit of drugs, they are no longer responsible for their murderous actions. Any “angry” person can now murder a Jew in France and claim he took drugs beforehand and have a reasonable chance of walking free.

While it is a positive step that Macron has called for the law to change, it is years too late. Macron has said that he wants to assure the family and relatives of the victim and all fellow citizens of the Jewish faith that they have his support. Then why do they keep getting murdered in France?

Jews make up a small, historic minority in France. Many have left the country over the years for Israel, the United States or Canada, seeking to build a new life. They shouldn’t have to flee for safety or put up more bars and walls around their synagogues to feel safe. It’s not enough to change a failed law that enables people to murder so long as they are “high.” Society in France should have been educated long ago not to hate Jews and not to call Jews “Satan.” Crimes of people shouting “God is great” while killing members of another faith should be prosecuted as religious-inspired hate crimes. The excuses have to stop.

Many ppl joined me at the French consulate to demand justice for Sarah Halimi because if this judgment is allowed to stand, then murder has become legal in France so long as a murderer gets high on marijuana first and their victim is Jewish!

READ LETTER:https://t.co/Y5PQDn5c7e pic.twitter.com/kJ0m6P7Y46
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) April 21, 2021

Sarah Halimi's family to seek Israeli trial, lawyers say

Sarah Halimi’s sister is set to file a legal complaint in Israel against her killer who was recently found criminally not responsible by a French court.

Ms Halimi died in 2017 aged 65 after being pushed from her Parisian apartment window by her neighbour Kobili Traoré, who has since remained in psychiatric care.

He had shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ before the attack.

Lawyers representing the victim’s Israeli sister, Esther Lekover, said they will lodge a complaint in Israel where some antisemitic offences committed abroad may also be prosecuted.

Gilles-William Goldnadel and Francis Szpiner said they “deplored” having to take the step but “could not accept a denial of justice which offends reason and fairness far beyond France’s Jewish community.”

They also expressed their “consternation” at the cour de Cassation’s recent ruling.

France's Jews Outraged After Sarah Halimi Murderer Acquitted

Just HOW bad is Jew hatred in France?

SO bad that Uber needs to advertise in public subway platforms there's no antisemitism allowed in their cars.

Is it any wonder Jews are fleeing France in records numbers for Israel? pic.twitter.com/pkkCnwtwMv
— StopAntisemitism.org (@StopAntisemites) April 21, 2021

Get Rid Of Slimy girlS Club Narrowly Defeats BDS Motion (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

GROSS Chagrin Falls, OH, April 22 - A spokesman for the local chapter of the Get Rid Of Slimy girlS club (G.R.O.S.S.) announced today that the group had voted down a proposal to boycott Israeli cultural, political, commercial, and academic entities to put pressure on the Jewish State to alter its policies toward the Palestinians. Witnesses put the margin of votes at a mere two.

"G.R.O.S.S. has voted not to adopt the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions motion," stated Dictator-for-Life Calvin at a post-vote press conference. "A majority of the voters decided against it. Our club invited input from numerous sources and engaged in its customary lively debate, followed by a show of hands. Two votes against the measure made the difference."

"Now I hope G.R.O.S.S. can return to its core activities," added El Tigre Numero Uno Hobbes. "Whatever the merits of BDS - I happened to have voted against - the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has little or no bearing on the business of this organization. We focus on combating the pernicious influence of girls, chief among them our arch-nemesis Susie Derkins. Now THAT is an entity to boycott."

"Oh, some boycott," sneered Chief Strategist Calvin. "Is that what you were doing in Susie's arms yesterday? 'Boycotting' indeed! I move to censure Hobbes for canoodling with the enemy!"

"I did no such thing!" insisted G.R.O.S.S. Cartographer Hobbes. "It was an infiltration mission to map the hideout of our main opponent! In fact you knew that, because you sent me on that mission in the first place, you chowderhead! This is a naked attempt by Head Scout Calvin to frame me for his own dismal failures, such as when he saved a winter snowball in the freezer to throw at Susie during the summer, when she would least expect it - and he missed! And then, while he was focused all on himself, loudly lamenting his catastrophic failure, she simply gathered up the pieces, pressed them together, and pelted him! Right in the kisser! Which is what he probably wants to do right now! He planned this all. Treason!"

"I'll give YOU treason!" bellowed King and Tyrant Calvin, taking a swing at Special Agent in charge of munitions Hobbes. A dusty mêlée ensued, featuring further mutual recriminations, half-a-dozen scratches, one bruise, and some pulled hair and fur. All parties to the fracas agreed to a truce, whereupon Most Highest, Grandest, Exalted Supreme Dictator-For-Life Calvin proposed to Club Secretary Hobbes that the minutes show a dignified discussion of the pros and cons of adopting a BDS motion, and Hobbes observed that no coherent case for BDS had ever been offered, in G.R.O.S.S. or anywhere else.

04/22 Links Pt1: What Does the Return of the “Two-State Solution” Mean?; 328 Congress members support full funding of Israel security assistance; Biden to Appoint Former HRW Official State Dept. Post

From Ian:

Amb. Alan Baker: What Does the Return of the “Two-State Solution” Mean?

With the advent of the new Biden administration in the United States, the phrase “two-state solution” appears to have returned to the forefront in the new U.S. administration’s “reset” of its policy priorities regarding the Palestinian-Israeli dispute.2

The phrase is repeated daily by administration officials as well as by international leaders and organizations, as it was during the Obama and previous administrations.

However, as in the past, the phrase is again being bandied about as a form of collective and generalized “wishful thinking,” as the only panacea to the Palestinian-Israeli dispute, but without a full awareness of its history, its practical implications, and the feasibility of its implementation amidst the realities of that dispute.

It is repeated despite the fact that the “two-state solution” has never been accepted by the parties to the dispute as the agreed solution, and despite the fact that the permanent status of the territories, as agreed in the Oslo Accords, remains an open negotiating issue between the parties. As such, repetition of the call for a “two-state solution” would appear to be an attempt to prejudge the outcome of that negotiating process.

Clearly, any concept of a “two-state solution” that would include the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel could only emanate from direct negotiations between Israel and a unified Palestinian leadership. This would not be a result of a partisan political resolution issued by the UN or any other source, or from vague and generalized calls from international leaders for a “two-state solution” as a form of collective wishful thinking.

Any such outcome must include the recognition of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people by a Palestinian state, in the same manner in which Israel would recognize a Palestinian state as the nation-state of the Palestinian people.

Amb. Dore Gold: Defensible Borders for Israel: An Updated Response to Advocates and Skeptics

Despite intense efforts in Western capitals to second-guess Israel's security requirements, the top Israeli leadership has been remarkably consistent about what Israel requires to protect its vulnerable borders. The architects of Israel's national security have insisted on retaining "defensible borders" for assuring a stable peace.

In the aftermath of the Six-Day War in 1967, Gen. Earle Wheeler, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted: "From a strictly military point of view, Israel would require the retention of some captured Arab territory in order to provide militarily defensible borders."

In 2004, President George W. Bush wrote to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon: "The United States reiterates its steadfast commitment to Israel's security, including secure and defensible borders to preserve and strengthen Israel's capability to deter and defend itself, by itself."

IDF Maj.-Gen. Shlomo Yanai published a study on Israel's "Core Security Requirements" in 2005 and concluded: "Despite the technological advances of modern defense systems and warfare, controlling the high ground remains an essential part of basic security doctrine." Similarly, former IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Gadi Eisenkot wrote Guidelines for Israel's National Security Strategy in 2019 and included "defensible borders" among the seven principles for the military security of Israel.

The West Bank mountain ridge, together with the Jordan Valley, constitutes a strategic barrier reaching more than 4,600 feet in some places to protect Israel against threats from the east on its longest land border.

In the face of threats from Iran and Muslim terror armies equipped with state-of-the-art conventional weapons systems, terrain, topography, and strategic depth remain critical, as does Israel's need for defensible borders.

Caroline Glick: The Thomas-Greenfield Doctrine of U.S. Foreign Policy

Taken at face value, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield's condemnation of the United States in a speech last week before Al Sharpton's National Action Network was one of the most bizarre statements made by a diplomat—from the U.S. or, indeed, from anywhere—in recent years.

In her remarks, Thomas-Greenfield castigated the U.S. as inherently, irredeemably evil. "I have seen for myself how the original sin of slavery weaved white supremacy into our founding documents and principles," America's woman at the United Nations said.

While bizarre to the uninformed, it turns out Thomas-Greenfield's remarks were simply her stump speech. She gave the same one—nearly verbatim—at the UN last month.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly's meeting marking the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Thomas-Greenfield insisted that America's "original sin" of slavery has not been expunged from American life. It has simply morphed into a new form.

There is "a direct line from slavery to lynchings to segregation to mass incarceration," she alleged. So as far as Thomas-Greenfield is concerned, slavery didn't end when hundreds of thousands of Union soldiers gave their lives to end slavery in the Civil War. It didn't end through constitutional amendments, or even during the civil rights movement. America's "original sin of slavery" continues to have a terrible impact "on our people today," she insisted.

The most basic job of a diplomat—for any country—is to put a good face on his or her country before the nations of the world. At the UN, an institution dominated by tyrannies, the U.S faces isolation as a matter of course. For the most part, the only U.S. initiatives at the UN that have succeeded have been those that directly support rogue actors—like then-President Barack Obama's decision to rejoin the dictator-controlled, anti-American and anti-Semitic Human Rights Council, as well as his decision to legitimize Iran's nuclear program.

Palestinian Authority is hacking journalists - and Syrian opposition. (But Hamas hackers are much better.)

Yesterday, Facebook announced that it has been tracking two different Palestinian hacker groups.

One was associated with Palestinian Preventive Security Services, the official internal intelligence agency for the Palestinian Authority - which gets funded by Western dollars.

This activity originated in the West Bank and focused on the Palestinian territories and Syria, and to a lesser extent Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Libya. It relied on social engineering to trick people into clicking on malicious links and installing malware on their devices. Our investigation found links to the Preventive Security Service — the Palestinian Authority’s internal intelligence organization.

This persistent threat actor focused on a wide range of targets, including journalists, people opposing the Fatah-led government, human rights activists and military groups including the Syrian opposition and Iraqi military. They used their own low-sophistication malware disguised as secure chat applications, in addition to malware tools openly available on the internet.

It is not surprising that the Palestinian Authority targets journalists and human rights activists - they have laws against publishing anything negative about themselves. Going after the Syrian opposition is a little more interesting; it hints at some intelligence sharing between the Palestinian Authority and the murderous government of Syria.

The PPS hacks relied primarily on social engineering, often posing as women and gaining the trust of their targets to get them to install "secure chat" applications on their phones and computers. But they also created fake web pages that would attract people they want to spy on, like Hamas members. In addition, they created fake Facebook Pages that "posted memes criticizing Russian foreign policy in the Middle East, Russian military contractor Wagner Group and its involvement in Syria and Libya and the Assad government."

The PPS is funded by Western dollars, and in the past it has cooperated with both Israel and the CIA.

Today, however, it seems more aligned with Syria's Bashar Assad.

At the same time, Hamas has a extensive hacking operation, known in the security community as Arid Viper. It would install spyware on victims' phones, turning them into remote surveillance devices.

The Arid Viper hacks are far more sophisticated than the ones from the Palestinian Authority. It was previously known to have attacked Israeli targets. In this case, the targets seem to be pretty much Fatah and the Palestinian Authority.

For example, it created a fake webpage spoofing the Palestinian Central Elections Commission site, tricking people into entering their social media credentials.

Like the PSS hacks, Hamas would use social engineering, convincing targets to install supposed dating message apps on their phones.

Facebook wrote an entire 40 page report analyzing Arid Viper's methods.

One must assume that some of the Hamas expertise comes courtesy of Iran, although they have been doing this for years and are certainly learning some methods on their own.

In response to Betty McCollum's annual bill designed to slander Israel under the pretense of adding audit mechanisms that already exist for US aid, a group of more than 75% of all members of the House of Representatives have signed a letter to the chair and ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee supporting continued, unconditional security assistance to Israel.

Jewish Insider reports that the signers are roughly split between Democrats and Republicans.

Signatories include House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and GOP Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), and run the ideological gamut from progressive Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) to arch-conservative Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

J-Street's support for the McCollum bill shows that the organization is not at all in the mainstream of even Democratic party thinking, but is just as much a far-Left group as Jewish Voice for Peace. Its claims to support a secure Israel are a fig leaf for its extreme anti-Israel positions. Which explains why Mahmoud Abbas was a featured speaker at their conference - he shares their desire for a defenseless Israel while pretending to support a two state solution that he has opposed every time it was presented as a plan.

Here is the full text of the letter.

Dear Chair DeLauro and Ranking Member Granger,

As you begin your consideration of the Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations bills, we know you face many conflicting demands on this year’s budget. As the United States meets pressing global challenges, we strongly believe that robust U.S. foreign assistance is vital to ensuring our national security interests abroad.

One program that enjoys particularly strong bipartisan backing and for which we, Democrats and Republicans, urge your continued strong support is the full funding of security assistance to Israel as authorized in the 2016 U.S. - Israel Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Foreign military financing and security assistance are provided by appropriations and are subject to Congressional oversight. In addition, our assistance to Israel is governed by the terms of the U.S.-Israel MOU. The expected Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Request of $3.8 billion in security assistance for Israel - $3.3 billion in foreign military financing and $500 million for cooperative missile defense programs - constitutes the fourth year of the ten-year 2016 MOU. This assistance was approved overwhelmingly by Congress in 2020 in the U.S. - Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act (UISAAA), which became law as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. The Act codified the levels of funding set forth in the 2016 MOU. In that spirit, we urge you to support foreign assistance funding, including full funding for Israel’s security needs.

Israel continues to face direct threats from Iran and its terrorist proxies. In February, an Israeli-owned ship in the Gulf of Oman was hit by a mysterious explosion that Israel has attributed as an attack by Iran. In 2019, Hizballah launched three anti-tank missiles at an Israeli Defense Forces vehicle in Israel. Hizballah is estimated to have an arsenal of over 130,000 rockets and missiles, and is believed to be developing new precision-guided munitions to be deployed in Lebanon. American security assistance to Israel helps counter these threats, and our rock-solid security partnership serves as a deterrent against even more significant attacks on our shared interests.

Congress is committed to maintaining Israel’s qualitative military edge and its ability to defend itself, by itself, against persistent threats. Our aid to Israel is a vital and cost-effective expenditure which advances important U.S. national security interests in a highly challenging region. For decades, Presidents of both parties have understood the strategic importance of providing Israel with security assistance.

As America’s closest Mideast ally, Israel regularly provides the United States with unique intelligence information and advanced defensive weapons systems. Israel is also actively engaged in supporting security partners like Jordan and Egypt, and its recent normalization agreements with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco will help promote regional stability and deal with common challenges from Iran and its terrorist proxies.

We recognize that not every Member of Congress will agree with every policy decision of every Israeli government. However as President Biden has stated, “I’m not going to place conditions for the security assistance given the serious threats that Israel is facing, and this would be, I think, irresponsible.” Reducing funding or adding conditions on security assistance would be detrimental to Israel’s ability to defend itself against all threats. We urge you to fulfill our commitments as agreed to in the 2016 MOU as codified by the UISAAA, and in accordance with all U.S. laws.

Just as foreign assistance is an investment in advancing our values and furthering our global interests, security aid to Israel is a specific investment in the peace and prosperity of the entire Middle East. U.S. support for Israel makes the region a safer place and bolsters diplomatic efforts aimed at achieving a negotiated two-state solution, resulting in peace and prosperity for both Israelis and Palestinians. We appreciate your leadership on this issue, and we urge your full support for this continued critical investment.

As I have shown, there are already conditions of US aid to Israel and every other nation. No one is demanding a blank check, and those who pretend that that is the current situation are simply liars.