Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

The coordinated NGO initiative to demonize Israel as "apartheid"

The word "apartheid" is becoming a standard part of NGO discourse on Israel, with the new Human Rights Watch report I've been critiquing, the B'Tselem report from January, and the recent dishonest B'Tselem "poll" attempting to prove that Israelis agree.

One question that no one is asking: what is different today than in, say, 2000 - or even 1975?

The name of the HRW report is "A Threshold Crossed," meaning that Israel has reached the point of apartheid, implying that up until now it hadn't.

What threshold are they talking about?

The "occupation" isn't new. The Oslo Accords that say where Israel has security control isn't new. Settlements aren't new. The actual physical area taken up by Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria is nearly identical to what it was 25 years ago. The number of physical settlements is pretty much the same as they were in 1993 at the onset of Oslo. (Actually less, because there are no Gaza settlements.)

As recently as 2017, the Arab dominated UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia issued a report that accused Israel of apartheid - and the UN distanced themselves from it and removed it from the ESCWA webpage, as well as forced the resignation of the ESCWA head who spearheaded the report.

If anything, from a legal perspective, things are far better for Palestinians now then they were before Oslo - after all, they now have large areas that they govern themselves where Israeli security do not enter. They have a government (or two) that some 95% of Palestinians live under.

Some will say that what's new is the Israeli policy of separation from Palestinian areas, which they claim is analogous to apartheid. Yet Israel's policy was a direct result of the terrorism from the second intifada - the spree of attacks targeting Jews and Jews only. It is perverted to say that Israel's successful attempts to save Jewish lives is apartheid.

So what has changed? Why didn't the "legal experts" at B'Tselem and HRW say Israel was guilty of the crime of apartheid before 2021?

Because Israel never was guilty of the crime of apartheid.

These NGOs know nothing has changed, and the apartheid slander is just as much a lie now as it was in decades past. They instead choose to change the definition of "apartheid," or cherry pick arguments that seem to support that definition and ignore all counter-arguments.

They twist international law to absurd lengths, making up definitions that - if applied to other nations - would indicate that every nation on Earth is guilty of persecution and apartheid and racism.

They won't write those reports, of course.

Their goal isn't the truth, and it never was. Their goal is to demonize Israel and only Israel by making up international laws that only apply to the Jewish state and no one else.

This is what modern antisemitism looks like.

In a stunning change of US policy, the Biden administration has issued a statement of support for the notoriously antisemitic Durban Conference of 2001.

The UN World Conference Against Racism held in 2001 was an antisemitic hatefest.

Flyer handed out at Durban

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion were distributed at the conference by the Ahlul Bait Foundation of South Africa. Antisemitic flyers literally supporting Hitler and banners supporting terrorism against Israel were featured.

The conference had two elements, an NGO Forum and a Governmental Conference.

The NGO Forum - with the enthusiastic participation of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch - was where the BDS strategy started. It attacked every Jewish organization in attendance. Its final declaration called Israel a "racist apartheid state" guilty of "war crimes, acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing." Statements denouncing attacks on Jews and synagogues were removed from the final declaration.

The Governmental Conference was not as explicit in its antisemitism but it was no better. Its final declaration singled out Israel, listing only Palestinians specifically under the 45 paragraphs in the section of "victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance."

Paragraphs against antisemitism were removed in the final statement.

The United States and Israel walked out of the conference because of its explicit antisemitism.

The UN tried to organize a celebration on the tenth anniversary of the conference, called Durban III, in 2011. The US, along with thirteen other countries, boycotted the conference because it would have restated the antisemitic and bigoted final statement. The Obama White House issued a strong statement describing why:

Several months ago, the United States announced that we would not participate in the 10-year commemoration of the 2001 Durban Conference. Consistent with that decision, we are not attending today’s high level event in New York.

Since its inception at the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, the Durban process has included ugly displays of intolerance and anti-Semitism. In 2009, after working to try to achieve a positive, constructive outcome in the Durban Review Conference that would get past the deep flaws of the Durban process to date to focus on the critical issues of racism, the United States withdrew from participating because the review conference’s outcome document reaffirmed, in its entirety, the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) from 2001, which unfairly and unacceptably singled out Israel. The DDPA also endorsed overbroad restrictions on freedom of expression that run counter to the U.S. commitment to robust free speech.

Last December, the United States voted against the resolution establishing the commemoration because we did not want to see the hateful and anti-Semitic displays of the 2001 Durban Conference commemorated.

Because of this US stance, many other nations boycotted Durban III: Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Poland, besides Israel.

Last month, the principled US position against Durban was changed.

The US, which just rejoined the UN Human Rights Council, led an effort to write a statement against racism that included this paragraph:

Recalling the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action, we are committed to working within our nations and with the international community to address and combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance, while upholding freedom of expression.

This pro-Durban paragraph was completely unnecessary in the context of an anti-racism declaration. But it ensured one result: Israel cannot possibly sign this letter.

Every other nation that boycotted Durban III signed this letter supporting the original Durban Declaration that attacked Israel and only Israel, thanks to US efforts to get signatories.

Israel is isolated - by the US.

This coming September, the UN plans to hold a 20th anniversary meeting for Durban, Durban IV, where the original anti-Israel statement will be reconfirmed. The General Assembly resolution for the meeting says:

Decide to hold a one-day high-level meeting of the General Assembly to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, at the level of Heads of State and Government, on the second day of the general debate of the seventy-sixth session, on the theme “Reparations, racial justice and equality for people of African descent”, consisting of an opening plenary meeting, consecutive round tables and/or thematic panels and a closing plenary meeting (para. 28);

By only mentioning that the meeting will concentrate on discrimination against Black people, the organizers are attempting to get around the objections to Durban III. However, this is a smokescreen, because it also says:

Also decide that the meeting will adopt a short and concise political declaration aimed at mobilizing political will at the national, regional and international levels for the full and effective implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and its follow-up processes.

Based on the pro-Durban letter by the US at the Human Rights Council, it appears entirely possible that the Biden administration will attend the September farce and put on a fig leaf of "trying to change it from within." However, that cannot work: the conference says its entire purpose is to confirm and implement the original Durban declaration in full. Objections to one paragraph do not get attached to the declaration, which is approved by consensus.

The only way to deal with Durban IV - the 20th anniversary celebration - is to completely boycott it as was done for Durban III - the 10th anniversary celebration. Anything less than that it condoning the message of Durban. The US, in its zeal to appear like a leader in the anti-racism movement, appears to be willing to change its principled position that Durban was wholly unacceptable.

No one ever thought that the Biden administration would be worse than the Obama administration concerning Israel. This is worse.

One other thing: The date of the Durban commemoration at the UN is September 22 - which comes out on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which precludes practicing Jews from protesting.

Projection time: Palestinians accuse Jews of creating 100,000 fake graves - including at the Mount of Olives

The Jordanian Al Ghad newspaper claims that there are thousands of mock Jewish graves surrounding Jerusalem as a means to control lands.

In occupied Jerusalem and the vicinity of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, thousands of phantom Jewish graves that were planted by the Israeli occupation are spreading with great frequency and still are, surrounding and besieging the blessed mosque with imaginary symbols that are not found in history, to fully control the Waqf and Palestinian lands in the city.

After 1967 and the occupation of Jerusalem, the occupation authorities seized dozens of additional dunams of land, and turned them into modern Jewish cemeteries, and new ones that were not there before, that did not contain tombstones or remains of dead bones, in order to serve settlement and Judaization.

Over the past years, the occupation carried out massive falsifications of history, archeology, geography, and Arab-Islamic names in Jerusalem, in order to legitimize fake Jewish graves and create a sacred Jewish region.

Specialist in Jerusalem affairs, Fakhri Abu Diab explained in his interview with Safa agency that more than 100 thousand fake graves have been planted so far on large areas of green lands, specifically in the towns of Silwan, Al-Tur and the vicinity of Al-Aqsa.

The imaginary graves extend - according to Abu Diab - from the southern and eastern wall of the Al-Aqsa Mosque to as far as the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, through the town of Silwan, Wadi al-Rababa, Ras al-Amud, and the Shayah area.

The story is true - about Palestinians.

While Palestinians have made these claims before, in fact the only people who have ever erected fake graves were Palestinians, most notably in the Mamillah cemetery in 2010 when they were discovered to have hastily placed hundreds of fake gravestones on top of nothing but trash.

The most disgusting thing about the Arab charges is that they are claiming that the Mount of Olives, the oldest Jewish cemetery in the world with over 100,000 graves, whose gravestones were stolen by Jordan between 1948 and 1967 and used to pave roads and build latrines, where my own ancestors and other relatives are buried - is all a lie.

Here are a couple of photos of Jordan's using ancient Jewish gravestones for building.

Palestinians upset at AFP photo showing IDF soldier protecting an Arab woman

AFP photographer Hazem Bader took these photos with the caption that says, "An Israeli soldier escorts a Palestinian woman to safety as Palestinian youth clash with Israeli security forces in the center of the occupied West Bank town of Hebron on April 24, 2021."

Palestinians are livid that this photo exists. Imagine, a wire service photographer - a Palestinian, no less - who chooses to show something that doesn't portray every Israeli as a monster!

A number of articles and Facebook posts are quoting another journalist, Saeed al-Tawil, saying "The Syndicate of Journalists, the Ministry of Information and the Government Media Office are required to withdraw and freeze the membership of Palestinian ”photographer Hazem Bader, a photographer for the AFP, after he described a photo as 'an Israeli soldier escorting a Palestinian woman to safety during the clash of Palestinian youths with the Israeli security forces in Hebron on April 24, 2021" .. Hazem forgot the entire scene and the crimes of the occupation throughout the days and even previous years, and decided to take advantage of his image that shows the occupation with an angelic face."

It seems that 99% media bias against Israel isn't enough for Palestinians.

(h/t Yoel)

04/26 Links Pt2: Israel enters top 20 club with highest GDP per capita; Jews, Muslims in Gulf hold festive event as holidays coincide; Human Rights Watch Endorses Palestinian Terrorism

From Ian:

Amid COVID, Israel enters top 20 club of nations with highest GDP per capita

For the first time in its history, Israel ranks among the top 20 economies based on GDP per capita, Forbes Israel reports, based on International Monetary Fund data.

GDP per capita breaks down a country’s economic output per person and is a global measure for assessing the prosperity of nations. Small, rich countries and more developed industrial countries tend to have the highest per capita GDP.

According to the data compiled by the publication, with GDP per capita of $43,689 for 2020, Israel ranked 19th out of the top 20, above No. 20 Canada, with per capita GDP at $43,278; No. 21 New Zealand, with $41,127, and the UK with $40,406 at No. 22.

Luxemburg tops the ranking with GDP per capita of $116,921, followed by Switzerland, with $86,849, and Ireland with $83,850. Norway comes in fourth at $67,176, and the US fifth, at $63,416, the data showed.

In 2019, Israel ranked 21st, and a decade ago it wasn’t even in the top 30 leading economies, Forbes said. In 2010, Israel was ranked 32nd globally for per capita GDP.

Israel seems to be emerging from its battle against the deadly coronavirus pandemic with a battered economy and massive unemployment, but still in better shape than other developed nations. The nation’s gross domestic product shrank by 2.5% in 2020, its worst contraction on record, compared to an average 6.6% drop last year for the European Union, a 3.5% decline in the US, and a 5.5% contraction on average in OECD countries.

French Magazine Devotes Cover Story to ‘Post-COVID’ Israel

Israel’s success in beating back the COVID-19 pandemic continues to attract attention in international media outlets and this weekend, the French magazine Le Parisien devoted a cover story to Israel as an example of life “after” COVID.

The feature article, which interviews numerous Israelis and includes colorful descriptions of a busy Tel Aviv and Israel’s unprecedented national vaccination operation, is titled “A Taste of Life After [COVID].”

“Tel Aviv is no longer hiding its face behind a mask. It is now open to the air and to people on the street, even though sometimes a mask hides under a chin,” the article informed readers.

The article attributed Israel’s success to its digitized healthcare system, the relative discipline of its population, and efforts by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who the magazine said “Fought tooth and nail for the vaccines … harassing the Pfizer CEO 30 times with phone conversations into the night.”

A separate article posted on the magazine’s website reported that Israel had marked the first day in months without a single COVID-19 fatality and said that since January, Israel had the lowest percentage of serious COVID-19 cases in the world.

Jews, Muslims in Gulf hold festive event as holidays coincide

A joint interfaith event celebrating both the Jewish holiday of Lag B'Omer and the daily breaking of the fast in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan (Iftar) will be held this week in Dubai, marking the first occurrence of such a collaboration. The event was announced by the Association of Gulf Jewish Communities (AGJC), the people-to-people network of Jewish communities from the Gulf.

"The event will include a panel discussion with Jewish and Muslim ambassadors focusing on how interfaith and co-existence is propelling the GCC region forward," the organization said.

Israel, the UAE and Bahrain have recently signed peace deals known as the Abraham Accords as part of a larger normalization process orchestrated by the Trump administration in 2020. This has paved the way for official ties between Israel and those countries, as well as with Morocco and Sudan, and has improved Arab-Jewish relations in the region.

During the event, the AGJC will host a webinar moderated by the American Jewish Committee's International Director of Interreligious Affairs Rabbi David Rosen featuring Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United States Abdulla Rashed Al Khalifa; Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United States Yousef Al Otaiba; and Ambassador Marc Sievers, who is the former Ambassador of the United States to the Sultanate of Oman. Bahrain's Ambassador Houda Nonoo will speak during the program as well.

"Both Sefirat HaOmer and Ramadan share a common theme as they are a time for reflection. As we celebrate the Lag B'Omer holiday and Iftar dinner together as the AGJC with our Muslim neighbors, it's a time for us to reflect on where the region is today and the role that interfaith diplomacy has played in getting us here," AGJC's Rabbi Dr. Elie Abadie said in a statement.

"Interfaith dialogue and co-existence is the catalyst for change in the Gulf and it was very important for us to host a program during this time when both Jews and Muslims celebrate holidays in order to further this important conversation," AGJC President Ebrahim Dawood Nonoo added. "Living in the Gulf, we are blessed to share and experience many holidays with our Muslim neighbors and to host them at our tables for our holidays. This virtual celebration will continue to bring us all together."

In biggest-yet Israel-UAE deal, Delek to sell stake in Tamar gas field for $1.1b

Israeli energy giant Delek Drilling announced Monday that it had signed a memorandum of understanding to sell its entire stake in Israel’s Tamar offshore gas field to the Abu Dhabi government-owned Mubadala Petroleum, potentially handing the United Arab Emirates a major share in one of the Jewish state’s key strategic and economic assets less than a year after the countries established diplomatic ties.

The deal for the 22 percent stake is worth $1 billion, with an additional $100 million conditioned on certain terms and goals being met, according to a notification about the agreement sent by Delek Drilling to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and the Israel Securities Authority. The companies said they aim to finalize the deal by May 31.

If completed, the deal will be the biggest commercial agreement made so far since Israel and the UAE signed a normalization pact in August 2020, brokered by former US president Donald Trump.

“This transaction has the potential to be another major development in our ongoing vision for Natural Gas commercial strategic alignment in the Middle East, whereby Natural Gas becomes a source of collaboration in the region,” Yossi Abu, CEO of Delek Drilling, was quoted as saying in the statement. “The development is not only a significant endorsement of the quality of the Tamar reservoir and the Levant basin but also a major support for the East Mediterranean Natural Gas sector.”

Under the terms of the so-called gas framework, drawn up by the Israeli government in 2015 to regulate the domestic natural gas market and allow a competitive and decentralized structure, Delek — owned by tycoon Yitzhak Tshuva — was required to sell off its non-operated stake in Tamar by the end of 2021.

A columnist at Jordanian news site (that is popular in Egypt) Sawaleif showed yet again that anti-Zionism and antisemitism are identical.

The wicked, unclean Jews, God cursed them in many verses, their ancestors were monkeys and pigs metamorphosed physically, and their offspring was metamorphosed as a moral metamorphosis, they all have the characteristics of monkeys and pigs. F

Then Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, described them in the Great Qur’an that they have no covenant, and despite that, you find among us those who pledge to them, trust them, and coordinate with them. We know from the Noble Book of God that they are the killers of the prophets like Yahya (John the Baptist), peace be upon him, as they tried to kill Jesus, the son of Mary. peace be upon him and his mother. These demoralized Jews who were planted by Britain in our country and supported by America with money and arms, they kill Palestinian children and burn them with gasoline and fire while they are alive and attack women and defenseless sheikhs and uproot olive trees and they defame the sanctities morning and evening.

It is known to all that the Master of Creation and Beloved of Truth Muhammad, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, the prophet of all humanity and the gifted mercy, he and his companions moved with their weapons against the Jews of Banu Qurayza by order of God Almighty brought by Gabriel, peace be upon him, to punish them for their treachery and breach of the covenant, and we all know how their punishment was, and God bequeathed the Muslims their lands and homes.

The Companions and Followers agreed to expel all the Jews from all of the Arabian Peninsula for their misfortune and treachery, and in the age covenant it is written that they have no place in Palestine, according to the testimony of the bishops of Jerusalem, who handed over its keys to the Commander of the Faithful.

With all this being brought up, how do Muslims today accept Palestine, in which a Muslim people live from the sea to the river, to be ruled by a Jewish state ? Woo! From Zion's neck ... let the red blood come.

The author seems like such a likable chap.

As is always the case, there is not a peep of anger or annoyance from Arab media at this explicit antisemitism.

As is always the case, Arab antisemitism is not considered antisemitism by the self-declared experts on the topic from the Left.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Mahmoud Abbas' "political party" Fatah, took credit for some of the rockets that were shot to Israel over this past weekend.

These are the "moderates" who are eagerly taking credit for war crimes.

“Redeem you, Jerusalem.” The leadership of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades - Palestine, the Brigade of the Martyr Commander Nidal Al-Amoudi, is following the escalation of events in the city of Jerusalem, moment by moment, and instructing its fighters to avenge the attacks of the Zionist enemy against the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy sites.
The video documents the launching of the blessed rockets by our triumphant brigades towards our occupied towns last Saturday night, in response to the enemy's continuing violations in the city of Jerusalem, and the next is greater.

Sorry, did I call it a war crime? I think the people who call Israel an apartheid state refer to these as blessed resistance rockets.

04/26 Links Pt1: Israel Issues Ultimatum to Hamas: ‘Stop the Rocket Fire or We Will Hit You Hard, Tonight’; Biden’s Team of Israel-Haters; Iran FM: Kerry informed us of hundreds of Israeli covert actions

From Ian:

Jpost Editorial: How can Israel respond to rocket fire? - editorial

Jerusalem is a handy battle cry and rallying point in the Muslim world. As The Jerusalem Post’s Khaled Abu Toameh noted yesterday, both Fatah and Hamas are seeking to use the issue of Jerusalem to distract from the internal problems and challenges they are facing ahead of the PA elections scheduled next month.

Israel so far has refrained from stating outright that it will not permit the Palestinian elections to take place in east Jerusalem, but this possibility is already being used as a way to justify both the current violence and Abbas’s possible postponement of the balloting altogether.

Hamas has a history of using rocket attacks on Israel to get what it wants, be it a cash inflow from Qatar, to divert attention from domestic problems, or this time, as an election ploy.

The situation is a tricky one for Israel. On the one hand, it does not want to risk an escalation that could so easily spiral out of control into a full-blown war; on the other, if Israel does not respond to a massive rocket barrage on its sovereign territory, it will lose its deterrence.

Hamas needs to learn that terrorism doesn’t pay, and the international community needs to convey that message. There is no excuse for firing 40 rockets on a civilian population; not riots in Jerusalem and not the Ramadan festival.

Residents of the Negev cannot be held hostage in the political battle between Fatah factions and Hamas in their election campaigns.

Similarly, the renewed protests on the Gaza border must be halted at this early stage. As we enter into the hot summer season, care must be taken also that the “balloon” fire attacks and “incendiary intifada” are not resumed.

The peace agreements recently signed between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan show that Israel has no argument with the Muslim world. It seeks peace, not war. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of terrorist organizations like Hamas. They should not be rewarded for their constant threats and belligerence.

Israel Issues Ultimatum to Hamas: ‘Stop the Rocket Fire or We Will Hit You Hard, Tonight’

After days of absorbing rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Israel’s military and political leaders finally seem to have lost patience, presenting the terrorist group with an ultimatum.

“If the rocket fire from the Strip does not cease,” it warned, “we will hit you hard, tonight.”

Jihadist groups in Gaza — not all under the control of Hamas — have fired more than 40 rockets toward Israeli territory since Friday. Most have landed in open areas, the Iron Dome aerial defense system has shot several of them down, and the rest did not make it out of the Strip

Israel has retaliated with limited airstrikes on Hamas targets as well as the rocket launching sites. Jerusalem reiterated that although not all of the groups firing rockets may be connected to Hamas, they rule the Strip and will be held accountable.

According to sources from Hebrew outlet Walla!, Israel passed the message to the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland to transmit to Hamas and the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah.

Israel does not want to deal with a Gaza battle right now, and Hamas knows it

The IDF has also been fighting Iran at sea, conducting strikes and raids on its oil tankers, delivering fuel to Syria in violation of international embargoes. On Saturday, one such ship was reportedly attacked off the Syrian coast, though it was not immediately clear if Israel was involved.

In addition, Israel has its gaze fixed on Vienna, Austria, where US President Joe Biden is negotiating with Tehran through European intermediaries over a mutual return to the 2015 nuclear deal, a move that Jerusalem vehemently opposes.

On Sunday night, an Israeli security delegation — now not including Kohavi — took off for Washington to meet with American counterparts over the course of the week in a highly improbable effort to keep the United States from rejoining the Iran nuclear deal or at least to make the agreement more robust, with improved oversight.

The Gaza-ruling Hamas, which has for years worked out precisely how far it can push Israel before it triggers a major response, likely knows that Jerusalem is not interested in getting roped into a conflict in the Strip — meaning it can afford to allow terror groups to launch some 40 rockets at southern Israel, knowing that the IDF will keep its retaliations limited.

And indeed this was the case this weekend. After 36 rockets were launched toward Israel on Friday night and early Saturday morning, several of which actually struck inside Israeli communities, the IDF responded with a tank strike on an unmanned Hamas observation post and air raids targeting launchpads and other infrastructure — far from a major blow to the terror group. When four more projectiles were fired at southern Israel on Saturday night, the Israeli military refrained from retaliating at all.

Since then, both sides have put out both reassuring and threatening messages to one another, publicly and through the Egyptian military, making it clear that neither side wants a larger conflict but that each was prepared to fight if one were to break out.

It is a situation that Israel has found itself in many times before, often resulting in multiple days of intense fighting and with little to show for it at the end.

Report: Hamas rejects ceasefire offers, threatens 'major conflict' over Jerusalem

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said overnight that he would not agree to hold Palestinian legislative elections, scheduled to take place on May 22, if Israel will not allow east Jerusalem residents to participate.

"We will not agree to hold elections without Jerusalem and without its candidates, because it is our eternal capital. We are calling on the international community to pressure Israel to live up to the agreements," Abbas said.

Meanwhile, mediated attempt to deescalate violence from the Gaza Strip, led by a senior official in Egypt's security apparatus and diplomatic officials in the US, continued over the weekend.

The Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, identified with Hezbollah, said Hamas officials had told it that there had been contact between Hamas and Israel in the past two days, via a third party, and that Hamas had rejected any proposal to reinstate calm as long as Israel continued its "current policy" in Jerusalem.

Al-Akhbar reported that Hamas wants to "prevent any incursion by settlers to Al-Aqsa mosque, and stop the plans to 'Judaize' the city, and [for Israel] to allow Palestinians in east Jerusalem to take part in the Palestinian elections."

According to the sources quoted, Hamas issued a warning to Egypt that if Israel continued its current policies, it would "lead to an explosion in various areas, especially Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza, even if that drags down the situation in Gaza and things develop into a major conflict."

Marc Garlasco, relaxing in Nazi Iron Cross sweatshirt

Marc Garlasco was the Human Rights Watch researcher and supposed expert on military matters who was forced out of his job in 2009 when a group of bloggers, myself included, publicized his obsession with collecting Nazi memorabilia - to the point that he wrote an entire book on the subject.

Garlasco had already used his vaunted "expertise" to blame Israel for the deaths of Palestinians who were killed by hidden Hamas ordnance on a Gaza beach. The extent of his military experience was to identify "high value" military targets for the US in Iraq, and he admits that the attacks to kill those people had a zero percent success rate - but killed about 200 civilians!

He spent his entire time at HRW blaming Israel for being infinitely better at hitting targets then the US military while he was there.

Anyway, this supposed expert on human rights and military matters - who once said, "That is so cool! The leather SS jacket makes my blood go cold it is so COOL!" - seems to have found quite a career after leaving HRW.

The Nazi memorabilia enthusiast naturally went to the UN - and also consulting with the US Defense Department!

I guess that hanging out with Nazis isn't enough to cancel you when you are a human rights researcher.

(h/t MtTB)

Times of Israel reports:

The Palestinian Authority has decided to postpone the upcoming elections and has informed representatives of the international community as well as Egypt of its decision, Army Radio reported Monday.

It is expected there will be an official announcement from Ramallah in the coming days, and the Kan public broadcaster reported that the Palestinian leadership was set to meet on the matter on Thursday.

Army Radio reported that the official reason to be given for the delay was Israel’s refusal to allow East Jerusalem residents to vote in the May 22 elections, the first Palestinian legislative elections in 15 years.

Let's remind everyone of some facts.

First of all, Israel hasn't refused to allow Arabs in East Jerusalem to vote. In previous elections, Israel allowed "ballot boxes" to be placed in some post offices, where they would be transported to the West Bank to be counted. It has not yet made a decision on whether to allow them in this election, although given that this is included in the Oslo Accords, chances are very good Israel would have allowed them in the end.

Secondly, those "ballot boxes" are purely symbolic. Every single Arab in Jerusalem who wants to vote needs only to travel a short distance to the suburbs where they can vote freely. Only some 6000 Arabs in Jerusalem are served by those post offices, out of around 150,000 of voting age who live there. If Palestinians are interested in a democratic election, there is no difficulty in everyone being able to vote.

Thirdly, Fatah is now split into three parties, weakening its chances of winning the election. It is convenient that this issue is suddenly considered important enough to postpone the vote (although Abbas has been threatening this from the beginning.)

Interestingly, a recent poll by a group I had never heard of before put the Fatah list way ahead of all others with 32% of the vote, while Hamas and the Fatah offshoots each had about 10%. A March poll by a much more respected organization gave Hamas about 30% of the vote, so my guess is that the methodology of the new poll is suspect.

On Sunday we began our look at Human Rights Watch's latest anti-Israel screed.

The 223 page Human Rights Watch report that is being published Tuesday completely hinges on defining Israel as being guilty of apartheid. In order to do that, it has to become very creative in its definitions.

It says, accurately:

The Apartheid Convention defines the crime against humanity of apartheid as “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them.” The Rome Statute of the ICC adopts a similar definition: “inhumane acts…committed in the context of 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.”

But HRW has a problem. Both definitions are very specific that the crime of apartheid depends on one racial group oppressing another, which means that the liberals of HRW are saying that Jews are a different racial group from other humans. That is a little problematic for those who know a little history of what happens when Jews are considered a distinct race.

HRW therefore tries to fudge things:

Both the Apartheid Convention and Rome Statute use the term “racial group,” but neither defines it. The development of the Apartheid Convention against the backdrop of events in southern Africa in the 1970s, as referenced in the text of the Convention, as well as the non-inclusion of other categories beyond race, and the rejection of proposals by some states to expand the treaty’s scope, could lead to a narrower interpretation focused on divisions based on skin color. While discussion of the meaning of “racial group” during the drafting of the Rome Statute appears to have been minimal, its inclusion in the definition of apartheid, after the end of apartheid in South Africa and when international human rights law had clearly defined racial discrimination to include differences of ethnicity, descent, and national origin, indicates that “racial group” within the Rome Statute reflects, and would likely be interpreted by courts to reflect, a broader conception of race.

HRW makes an assumption that the definition of apartheid not only includes racial groups but also groups that share descent, national or ethnic origin. It's entire argument rests on the idea that Israel discriminates against Palestinian Arabs based on their national origin, which is interesting for a people who have literally no national origin.

For HRW to make its argument, it further has to prove that Israel systematically oppresses Palestinian Arabs.

Now, let's look back at the definitions of apartheid, and do a test based on HRW's assumptions.

Is Lebanon guilty of apartheid based on its laws that limit where Palestinians can live and what jobs they can have? Sure it is.
Is Jordan guilty of apartheid based on how it treats Palestinians who never lived in the West Bank, denying citizenship and its benefits? Sure it is.
Is the PLO guilty of apartheid based on its laws that anyone who sells land to a Jew is liable to the death penalty? Sure it is.
How about Kuwait, which expelled over 400,000 Palestinians because they were Palestinian? Or Libya,
Is Hamas guilty of apartheid for shooting rockets (inhumane acts) with the purpose of destroying Israel and replacing it with an Islamic state (committed with the intention of maintaining that regime)? Sure it is.
What about the US, with its spate of police killing people of color? HRW's American friends would be the first to say that this is systematic oppression and domination meant to maintain the US racist regime.

So not only is everyone racist, but everyone is guilty of apartheid!

Yet only Israel is given that description by Human Rights Watch.

HRW needs to go through additional rhetorical hoops in its zeal to pretend that Israel is guilty of apartheid. It needs to prove that Israel is discriminating against Palestinians who live under the government of the Palestinian Authority, which is recognized as the "State of Palestine" by 138 members of the UN. Since it is obvious that people who live under a completely different national government are not victims of apartheid by a different government, HRW needs to airbrush the Palestinian Authority out of the story.

Indeed, it does - the PA is not mentioned once in terms of Palestinians living under that authority.

Then HRW has to pretend that Arabs who live in Israel are discriminated against because they are Arabs. As we showed yesterday, like many nations, Israel gives preference to its own people for citizenship, but HRW twists that into discrimination against Palestinians - and implies that any state that does that is racist. (Sorry, Italy!)

The rhetorical knots the report is forced to tie itself in gets almost humorous:

Israeli policies have also denied residency rights to thousands of Palestinians in East Jerusalem and left many without nationality. Since its annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967, it has applied its 1952 Law of Entry to Palestinians from there and designated them as “permanent residents,” the same status afforded to a foreigner who wants to live in Israel. Permanent residents may live, work, and receive benefits, but that status derives from their presence, can be revoked at the Interior Ministry’s discretion, and does not
automatically pass to one’s children or non-resident spouse even if they have lived in Jerusalem for years. A path to citizenship exists for Palestinian Jerusalemite permanent residents, but the vast majority have chosen not to pursue it, as it involves recognizing Israel, the occupying power, as the legitimate sovereign.

So first HRW says it is terrible that they are not citizens, then says they can become citizens if they want to, but most don't want to, and who can blame them for not wanting to?

It goes on:

The vast majority of those who applied did not receive citizenship. Authorities rejected many applicants for failing to demonstrate that Israel, and not the West Bank, was their “center of life,” or for their having a criminal record, insufficient knowledge of Hebrew, or “lack of loyalty [to Israel].”

Does any other country allow people to become citizens without a vow of loyalty to the state? Only for Israel does the ordinary become criminal.

Of course, HRW doesn't address the fact that if Israel allows thousands of Arabs to become full citizens even today (and it doesn't mention the many Arabs in the Golan Heights that are now seeking citizenship,) then Israel clearly does not discriminate against Palestinians as a national group!

Its historic review likewise does not mention that Israel gave citizenship in the early 1950s to tens of thousands of Palestinians who managed to get back to their previous homes and offered citizenship to 100,000 more, and some 20,000 more in the 1990s and 2000s under "family reunification." This again is inconsistent with "systemic oppression and domination."

This report characterizes itself as a "detailed legal analysis" on the question. However, any real legal analysis looks at both sides of an issue. This report most emphatically does not do that - on the contrary, it tries mightily to lead the reader away from any other arguments, let alone debunkings.

In summary, Human Rights Watch will grab onto the most tenuous threads to pretend that Israel is guilty of apartheid, and it will go to great lengths to avoid any proof that shows it isn't.

Which makes this book-length report nothing but propaganda.

HRW's new report, accusing Israel of apartheid, a perfect example of the new antisemitism

Human Rights Watch is releasing a new report on Tuesday that is over 220 pages long, all meant to demonize Israel.

The report, called "A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution," tries to prove that Israel is guilty of apartheid - by both twisting what Israel does and what apartheid means.

I'm only starting to go through it, but its intellectual dishonesty is stark and clear.

Here's only one example, where HRW attacks the very reason for Israel's existence:

The 1950 Law of Return, which guarantees Jews the right to immigrate to Israel and gain citizenship, defines “Jew” to include “a person who was born of a Jewish mother,” embracing a descent-based, as opposed to a purely religious, classification.

Of course, the Law of Return says "For the purposes of this Law, 'Jew' means a person who was born of a Jewish mother or has become converted to Judaism and who is not a member of another religion."

In other words, the Law of Return is echoing the definition of a Jew in Jewish law. HRW, in its zeal to call Israelis racists, refers to the beginning of the definition but not the entire thing.

Most significantly in demonstrating Israel’s demographic goals is the 1950 Law of Return. It guarantees Jewish citizens of other countries the right to settle in Israel, and its 1952 Citizenship Law entitles them to citizenship. 96 The same Citizenship Law, by contrast, denies Palestinian refugees and their descendants, 5.7 million of whom were registered as of February 2021 with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), 97 the ability to enter and live in areas where they or their families once lived and have maintained links to.

Every nation has the right to determine who is eligible for citizenship, and many countries favor those whose ancestors belong to the same nation. This is not racism.

Throughout the report, HRW asserts that Israel's laws that give preference to Jews - as one would expect in the world's only Jewish state, especially when most of its neighbors are irredeemably antisemitic - are not pro-Jewish laws, but anti-Palestinian laws. This is absurd, because no non-Jew can receive automatic citizenship. The entire basis of the report is that Israel is discriminating against Palestinians and it simply does not allow that it is moral for Jews to have and maintain their own state where they can be safe from persecution.

This law creates a reality where a Jewish citizen of any other country who has never been to Israel can move there and automatically gain citizenship, while a Palestinian expelled from his home and languishing for more than 70 years in a refugee camp in a nearby country, cannot.

And every single Arab country has laws banning Palestinians from becoming citizens - laws that were on the books since the 1950s, ostentibly to "support" Palestinians. Unlike Israel's laws that give preference to Jews becoming citizens and that do not discriminate against Palestinians specifically, the laws in all Arab League states say that all Arabs can become citizens except Palestinians. For over 70 years, they have been languishing in the countries they were born in and have not had a path to citizenship.

If Israel's laws giving positive preference to Jews (similar to laws in Spain, Italy, Poland and many other nations) is "apartheid" and "racial discrimination," then most certainly every Arab country whose laws specifically discriminate against Palestinians is guilty of the same.

But HRW never says that. Isn't that interesting? The epithet "apartheid" only applies to the Jewish state. Isn't that a super interesting coincidence?

HRW has a problem with the entire concept of a Jewish state, and by extension with the idea of a Jewish people:

Demographic considerations, in particular the quest for a strong Jewish majority, have long underlined Israeli government policy. The key declarative line of Israel’s Proclamation of Independence proclaims the “establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel.” The proclamation largely narrates the history of the Jewish people and twice in the short document underscores the centrality of Jewish immigration. While the proclamation does commit itself to “complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants,” it presents the newly established state as belonging to the Jewish people, describing Israel
as “their state.”

And here is the best evidence that Human Rights Watch has a problem with Jews. Throughout its mentions of the Law of Return and Israel's Citizenship Law that favors Jews, not once in 220-odd pages does it mention a possible reason why Israel might want or need to have a state of its own. It goes through the history of these laws without once mentioning the word "Holocaust." Not a single mention of "antisemitism." The word "persecution" is only mentioned as an accusation against Israel of persecuting Palestinians. To HRW, the entire purpose of the Jewish state is to discriminate against Palestinian Arabs.

Yes, that is antisemitism. There is not even a pretense of being even-handed, of explaining things from Israel's viewpoint, or even pretending to care that perhaps Jews have a reason for wanting to be free from antisemitic hate - hate that Palestinian Arabs have had throughout their own brief history of nationalism.

As I hope to show more clearly in future posts, HRW twists laws and definitions to put Israel in the worst possible light, ignoring any other interpretation or context. Any counterexample, or any example that shows that Israel is acting like other nations, is ignored or downplayed.

Because Human Rights Watch has a problem with Israel - and a problem with Jews who dare to assert their own national rights on par with every other people.

04/25 Links: Protesters mass in France, Israel, UK to demand justice for Sarah Halimi; Palestinian factions call to escalate Jerusalem ‘intifada’; Rashida Tlaib lies about Jerusalem riots

From Ian:

Protesters mass in France, Israel, UK to demand justice for Sarah Halimi

Protesters gathered in Paris, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and London on Sunday to demonstrate against the ruling of France’s highest court that the killer of a Jewish woman in the French capital was not criminally responsible because he had smoked marijuana before the crime.

Sarah Halimi, a 65-year-old Orthodox Jewish woman, was pushed out of the window of her Paris flat to her death in 2017 by neighbor Kobili Traore, who shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great” in Arabic).

But in a decision earlier this month, the Court of Cassation’s Supreme Court of Appeals upheld rulings by lower tribunals that Traore cannot stand trial because he was too high on marijuana to be criminally responsible for his actions.

Thousands of protesters, many of them Jewish, gathered in Paris to demand justice for Halimi.

Under the banner of “Justice for Sarah Halimi,” the rally at Trocadero Square overlooking the Eiffel Tower reflected the widespread indignation of many French Jews at the April 14 ruling by their country’s highest court.

It was held under tight security arrangements in a cordoned-off enclosure where the Jewish umbrella group CRIF played a video on a giant screen in which French Chief Rabbi Haim Korsia demanded another “trial of facts,” even if it ends without sentencing of Traore.

The rally Sunday was the first time in decades that a large number of French Jews gathered to protest against organs or actions of the French state.

#JeSuisSarah: Social media campaign launched demanding justice for Sarah Halimi

The Combat Anti Semitism Movement launched a social media campaign Sunday to protest what it called the “unfathomable” decision of France’s highest court that the murderer of Sarah Halimi was not criminally responsible because he had smoked marijuana before the crime.

The umbrella organization of various groups tacking anti-Semitism said that the campaign, which utilizes the #JusticeForSarah and #JeSuisSarah hashtags, is aimed at showing solidarity with Halimi’s family and France’s Jewish community, whose leaders have called for a mass public rally in Paris Sunday afternoon in protest of the ruling.

Halimi, an Orthodox Jewish woman in her sixties, died in 2017 after being pushed out of the window of her Paris flat by neighbor Kobili Traore, who shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great” in Arabic).

But in a decision earlier this month, the Court of Cassation’s Supreme Court of Appeals upheld rulings by lower tribunals that Traore cannot stand trial because he was too high on marijuana to be criminally responsible for his actions.

Traore, a heavy pot smoker, has been in psychiatric care since Halimi’s death. The court said he committed the killing after succumbing to a “delirious fit” and was thus not responsible for his actions.

“The recent legal ruling in France sets a dangerous precedent that murderous anti–Semitism can go unpunished. It is a shocking blow not only to the family of Sarah Halimi and to French Jews, but to anyone who cares deeply about combating racism, anti–Semitism and intolerance. It must not go unchallenged,” said Sacha Roytman-Dratwa, director of the Combat Anti–Semitism Movement.

“By bringing our voices together and speaking in one unified voice, we can make a powerful statement to the world that anti–Semitism will not be excused or tolerated,” she said.

#JusticeforSarahHalimi:

How many more rallies do we have to see until the French Authorities understand the message: 'Enough is enough,' says Arsen Ostrovsky @Ostrov_A, CEO of The International Legal Forum pic.twitter.com/Xe12zyn7xn
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) April 25, 2021

Massive Protest in Paris Over Ruling in Murder of Sarah Halimi

Massive rally in Paris, where the Jewish communities are demanding justice for Dr. Sarah Halimi (65) who was murdered in her sleep and thrown out of the window by an assailant screaming Allahu Akbar. Kobil Traorw (27) was later released due to “mental disorder. “ pic.twitter.com/rVEVqQN4yA
— Adam Milstein (@AdamMilstein) April 25, 2021

Rally for #SarahHalimi in Tel Aviv: 'French Jews Feels Abandoned'

So inspiring, so moving! The #JusticeForSarahHalimi rally in Tel Aviv, outside @ambfranceisrael, ends with the singing of ‘Hatikvah’, Israel’s national anthem. #PourSarah 🇫🇷 ✡️ @Le_CRIF @CombatASemitism @CotlerWunsh @michaeldickson @Le_Figaro @HaimKorsia @JoelMergui @The_ILF pic.twitter.com/IcKK3OCTim
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) April 25, 2021

A video is being shared showing members of a Jewish organization giving out food packages at a synagogue to a long line of destitute Moroccans for Ramadan, under police supervision.

Most of the comments in YouTube are quite negative. While a smattering praise the Jews, most of the commenters say that they are ashamed that these people are taking charity from Jews and that the people accepting the aid are filled with shame and humiliation.

Oh God, hunger and humiliation 😂😂😂
The culture of humiliation and begging of foreigners is entrenched among groups in society.
The deadly person has made his people a prey for the people of Zion
There is an old Algerian proverb that says: Shame is longer than life Lives perish, but shame is passed on to generations 🤮🤮🤮
My Algerian brothers, as Muslims, we must send planes packed with Ramadan stands to our free Muslims fasting brothers in Morocco. So that Allah's enemies would not humiliate them.

The themes of the critics are that Jews are not true Moroccans, and that their intent in handing out food is to shame and humiliate Muslims.

It is interesting that accepting charity from Jews is utterly humiliating but accepting aid from UNRWA or the EU is not at all problematic for people who are supposedly so sensitive to shame.