Tuesday, August 03, 2021
- Tuesday, August 03, 2021
- Elder of Ziyon
Richard Goldberg: It’s Time for Biden to Leave a Bad Deal in the Past
When asked if Raisi’s selection would complicate the administration’s drive to rejoin the nuclear deal and lift U.S. sanctions on the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, Biden national-security adviser Jake Sullivan said only one person mattered in Iran: the supreme leader. How funny — that’s exactly what opponents of the nuclear deal said back in 2013 when the Obama administration was selling America on the need to embrace a flawed nuclear deal to empower “Rouhani the moderate.”Iran’s New Suitors
Of course, Sullivan is correct — and the selection of Raisi is only one of many signals the supreme leader has sent Biden this year, making clear that Khamenei fully intends to pocket any sanctions relief he receives from Washington to fuel the Islamic Republic’s war on the United States and its allies.
The Justice Department revealed last month that Iran attempted to carry out a terrorist attack on American soil, kidnapping a U.S. citizen from New York. Iran-backed proxies in Iraq have attacked U.S. forces for months with little to no response from Biden. Iran-sponsored terror groups such as Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen have lobbed missiles at Israel and Saudi Arabia. And the supreme leader has vastly escalated his nuclear provocations — enriching uranium up to 60 percent purity, producing uranium metal, and limiting monitoring by international inspectors.
In every way that matters, Khamenei is telling Biden, “We will bury you.” Biden’s response has been to offer cash. After all, the nuclear deal is fundamentally an appeasement pact masquerading as a nonproliferation deal; it offers Iran money for temporary nuclear restraint, and no restraint at all on the development of nuclear-capable missiles and the regime’s pursuit of regional hegemony.
In his first press conference as president-select, Raisi made clear that Iran would never negotiate the longer, stronger deal Biden said he could achieve by first returning to the old one. Khamenei reaffirmed as much last week. Biden should take “no” for an answer and leave a bad deal where it belongs — in the past.
King Abdullah II of Jordan has always been glorified by both the Western and Israeli media as a moderate monarch who seeks peace and even democracy for his country and the Middle East. But perhaps Abdullah should be understood more in the light of his recent trip to the Jordanian village of Kerak, 75 miles south of Amman, to visit the tomb of Ja’far ibn Abi Talib, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad and the brother of Ali ibn Talib, the founder of Shi’ite Islam. The Kingdom of Jordan has never opened this site to Shi’ite visitors.Khaled Abu Toameh: 'Violations' the UN Security Council Does Not Care About
Ja’far ibn Abi Talib is a holy figure among Shiites, one of the “rightly guided” caliphs, as the first four successors of the prophet are called. The majority of Muslims worldwide, and nearly all Jordanians—95% of whom are Sunni—consider visiting graves for prayer as an act of polytheism. But there was Abdullah, wearing his military uniform and performing prayers in a Shi’ite shrine with the Jordanian media and state cameras rolling.
In the past several decades, Abdullah has never had much patience for Shi’ites. There is not a single Shi’ite mosque in the kingdom. Jordanian intelligence keeps a close watch on Shi’ites in Jordan, as well as on any local Sunni Muslims who adopt elements of Shi’ite faith and practice. Jordanian authorities, for example, bar any Shi’ite-related religious ceremonies, especially Ashura, the mourning of the death of Husayn ibn Ali, the son of Ali ibn Abi Talib. Shi’ite clerics abroad claim that Jordanian intelligence has broken into private homes to prevent such observances. Abdullah’s sudden decision to publicly embrace the Shi’ite faith was as shocking as it would be if the president of the United States had himself filmed performing Islamic prayers at a mosque.
One day before his visit to Kerak, Abdullah flew to Baghdad on June 27 for a curious meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. All three men signed an agreement for a “New Levant,” ostensibly an economic deal for the three countries to cooperate in the fields of energy and electricity, agriculture, and the oil trade, with Jordan serving as a transit point for Iraqi oil to Egypt, and from there on to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea. The three leaders also decided to establish a single visa for entrance into all three countries. This type of European-style border arrangement is exceptionally rare among Arab countries.
The question puzzling many in the region is why Egypt, which shares a border with neither Jordan nor Iraq, is part of such a deal. One likely possibility is that el-Sissi feels isolated in general, and in particular with regard to his struggle to prevent Ethiopia from building a mega dam that threatens Egypt with drought. With very little help from the Biden administration, and the Gulf Arab states wielding almost no leverage within the Egyptian government, el-Sissi is signaling a tilt toward Iran—short of full normalization, but steps in the direction of better ties. As the Iranian regime controls the Iraqi government, military, and intelligence service, all of which are used as puppets to help Iran avoid U.S. sanctions, Egyptian participation in the export of Iraqi oil—which is also controlled by Iran—would have been unimaginable during the Trump administration. Under Biden, who is tilting toward Iran himself, it’s close to common sense. This is the opportunity Abdullah seems keen to exploit.
Such Security Council sessions have become routine and almost always end up with statements denouncing Israel after hearing complaints from PA officials about Israel's alleged "violations" and "aggressions."
Yet the Security Council meeting, which was held last week, did not hear a word about human rights violations and aggressions committed by the PA in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
[Nizar] Banat, the anti-corruption activist and vocal critic of the PA leadership, was allegedly bludgeoned to death on June 24 by more than 20 Palestinian security officers.
More than a month has passed since his brutal murder but the Security Council has not found the time to address this grave incident.
The Security Council has undoubtedly not heard of the case of Emad Al-Tawil, a 27-year-old Palestinian who died on June 25 after being beaten by Hamas security officers. Tawil was a resident of Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.
The Security Council and international human rights organizations and journalists most likely did not hear about the case of Hassan Abu Zayed, a 27-year-old Palestinian from the Gaza Strip, who was shot dead by Hamas "border guards" on July 23.
The Palestinian human rights abuses and the crackdown on political activists and journalists are ignored not only by the UN, but also by the Biden administration.
Instead of pressuring Palestinian leaders to cease imprisoning, torturing and killing their people, the Biden administration is, absurdly, searching for ways to strengthen the PA leadership.
Apparently, in the eyes of the Biden administration, strengthening PA leaders means allowing Palestinian security officers to beat political activists to death, drag women by their hair on the streets of Ramallah, and imprison and intimidate journalists. The Security Council members, meanwhile, take their unjustified obsession with Israel to new heights as Palestinians are taken to prison or the graveyard at the hands of the PA and Hamas.
- Tuesday, August 03, 2021
- Elder of Ziyon
- analysis, Daled Amos
The PA has publicly exposed, shamed, and literally endangered the life of an Arab who sold land to Jews in Jerusalem. According to the PA, Palestinians who sell land to Jews are considered “traitors” and criminals. In fact, the PA has forbidden selling land to Jews by law. Anyone who tries to sell land to Jews will be sentenced to 5 years of hard labor, and someone who actually sells land to Jews will be sentenced to life in prison with hard labor. [emphasis added]
Even before attaining a collective recognition of the Arab states as the sole representative of the Palestinian people, Fatah sought to silence local public figures (by force, if necessary) who made public statements concerning the future of the Occupied Territories, challenging the PLO exclusive authority as the ultimate Palestinian policymaker. Tensions and differences between the ‘outside’ PLO and public figures in the Occupied Territories reached a boiling point already in the late 1960s resulting in threats on the lives of Hebron Mayor Muhammad Ali al-Ja`bari, and publicists Hamdi al-Taji al-Farouqi and Muhammad Abu Shalbayah, and the lawyer Aziz Shehadeh (who was eventually assassinated)—all avant-garde advocates of the idea of a Palestinian state within the Occupied Territories [emphasis added]
In broadcasts from their Damascus exile, the [Palestinian] leadership addressed him directly: ''A.S., you are a traitor, a despicable collaborator,'' it announced over the airwaves. ''You shall pay for your treason. We shall eliminate you. Silence you forever.''
The Palestinian lawyers' union refused to practice before Israeli military courts in an act of protest against the occupation. But there were no other courts to which Palestinians could appeal, and Shehadeh felt that this refusal to challenge Israel under its own rules simply gave the Israelis a free hand. He insisted on defending Palestinians against land seizures and arbitrary treatment at the hands of the military. For his efforts, he was disbarred for life by his own union, which subsidized Palestinian lawyers on the condition that they not practice their profession. [emphasis added]
Shehadeh, whose first name Aziz means 'the dear one,' was imprisoned several times by Jordan's King Hussein because he viewed Jordanian control of the West Bank after 1948 as occupation. [emphasis added]In the end, Shihadi was killed in 1985, and it was never known whether his murder was politically motivated or because of a legal case he had taken on.
This clip of Professor Musa Mazzawi, one of Arafat's consultants, reacting to Sadat's assassination is darkly hilarious: pic.twitter.com/kOzUNlXzCX
— CasualtiesOfTheDay (@Ayei_Eloheichem) July 27, 2021
- Tuesday, August 03, 2021
- Elder of Ziyon
Recently, Lawrence J Haas of the American Foreign Policy Council took to the pages of Newsweek to publicise a dangerous phenomenon: “Western Silence as Gaza Summer Camps Train Future Terrorists”.According to Haas – whose panties have been propelled into a massive bunch by the (hallucinated) idea that Western media and academia are obsessed with a “narrative of Israeli oppression and Palestinian victimisation” – Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are teaching teenage boys in the Gaza Strip how to “shoot guns, launch anti-tank missiles and protect themselves while peering around walls”.
knickers in a twist. Don't get your ..., don't become cantankerous or contentiously touchy: both among men (implying femininity) and from men to women: since ca. 1950. (L[aurie] A[tkinson] 1976)—2. Get (one's) knickers in a twist, to get flustered, to panic: coll[oquial]: since 1960 at latest.Using that expression against women says that women are over-emotional and not to be taken seriously. Using it against a man says that the man is as bad as a woman is in not being able to look at an issue with a clear head. To use that expression against a man is to agree with its premise that women are unable to think clearly and logically and men who get upset over something are acting in an inferior "female" way.
- Tuesday, August 03, 2021
- Elder of Ziyon
Monday, August 02, 2021
Stephen Pollard: Waiting for social media companies to tackle anti-Semitism is utterly pointless
The CCDH reported 714 anti-Semitic posts, such as Nazi, neo-Nazi and white supremacist content, across a six-week period this year. The posts received up to 7.3 million views. Less than a sixth were removed.Top social media platforms fail to act on reported antisemitism, study finds
My only surprise at today’s finding that Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok refused to act on 84% of posts reported to them is that the figure is so low.
It’s not just me, of course. There is not a single ‘out’ Jew on social media who is not deluged with this stuff. It is difficult to overstate its scale and how intrinsic it is to the experience of being a Jew on social media.
It took me a while to realise this, but that’s the point. Racism, along with misogyny, conspiracy theories and the like are not a terrible by-product of Twitter and the other social media sites. They are their purpose. The CCDH’s findings are not a shocking indictment of their lax systems. They are a statement of the obvious.
Let me explain.
All these sites have one thing in common. They make almost all their money from advertising. And the sums are huge. In 2020, for example, Twitter’s revenue was $3.72 billion revenue. That advertising is dependent on users. The more users, the more revenue. What drives traffic to them? Racism. Misogyny. Conspiracies. Etc.
What happens to the sites if they leave such posts up? They get money from the users who view them. What happens if the remove such posts? They don’t get that money.
So while it is legal for them to act like this, earnest entreaties to be decent chaps and not host racists are hilariously pointless. Responding to the report, a Twitter spokesperson said the company condemned anti-Semitism and was working to make the platform a safer place for online engagement: “We recognise that there’s more to do, and we’ll continue to listen and integrate stakeholders’ feedback in these ongoing efforts.” Yeah, right. Does anyone fall for this guff? It’s like an arms manufacturer saying they condemn the use of arms.
The racism is integral to their business model.
Twitter and the other social media sites will not change voluntarily. Why would they? Opprobrium means nothing to them – and, ironically, it would largely manifest itself nowadays via their sites.
There is only one way to change this: legislation. The Online Harms Bill is promising, but seems to be continually – perhaps permanently – delayed. These are now huge vested interests. And they need to be confronted.
Social media platforms are mostly not acting against antisemitic content even when it is flagged by users, according to a new report.‘We didn’t know if they’d execute us’: Full saga of Israeli trio held in Nigeria
The Center for Countering Digital Hate, a UK and US nonprofit organization, said that over a six-week period earlier this year it used official complaint systems to report hundreds of incidents of anti-Jewish hatred it found on the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok platforms, but 84 percent of the time nothing was done about it.
The findings show a “serious and systematic failure to tackle antisemitism,” the Center for Countering Digital Hate said in a statement accompanying its Failure to Protect report, which was released Friday.
“This is not about algorithms or automation; our research shows that social media companies allow bigots to keep their accounts open and their hate to remain online, even when human moderators are notified,” said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the CCDH, in a statement.
“No one has a fundamental right to have an account on a social media platform to bully Jews or to spread hatred that we know can end in serious offline harm,” he said.
From May 18 to June 29 this year the CCDH flagged 714 posts. However, only in less than one in six cases the accounts were deleted or the content removed.
Rudy and Noam were later transferred to a larger cage, but one that contained two Nigerians held on terrorism and weapons charges.Lapid, Michaeli vow to enable gold medal winner to marry
“We were on edge in every way at all times,” Rochman said. “If they had told us at the beginning that we’d be there for twenty days, that would be much better, since at least we’d be counting down the days.”
“Still, we were not putting our heads down. We were looking for ways to make a weapon, to have something on us in case someone attacked us, to try to undo the lock, to try to find a way to steal a phone.”
Rochman managed to sneak a small pair of scissors from a toiletry bag into the cell for protection.
On the tenth day, the Israelis were on their way to the first floor of the prison to pick up their kosher food. When they passed by the lobby, they began shouting to civilian visitors that they were innocent and being held unlawfully.
They were dragged back to the cages by guards.
The trios feared for their lives during their captivity. “We didn’t know if they would execute us,” Rochman recalled. “We didn’t know if they would poison our food.”
Nigerian authorities released the trio from prison last Tuesday evening and handed them over to US custody. American embassy staff then took them to the local Chabad center to spend the night.
They were given their passports and phones just before their flight took off for Istanbul the next night.
“They wanted to try us with treason and missionary work,” said Rochman. “They were clearly trying to silence this project and send a message that no one should be documenting the Igbos.”
“We came out there to tell a story, and unfortunately we became the story,” Rochman said ruefully. “This is just a fraction and a taste of what Igbos go through daily.”
Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Labor leader Merav Michaeli both promised on Monday to take steps to enable Olympic gold medalist Artem Dolgopyat to get married in the State of Israel.
Dolgopyat is not Jewish according to Jewish law, because his mother, Angela, is not Jewish and her children are not Jewish according to Orthodox law. Artem’s father, Oleg, is Jewish. Israel has no provision for civil marriage, and citizens can only marry through established religious institutions, such as the Chief Rabbinate, which will only marry members of the same religion.
“I’ll fight with all my might for civil unions for couples,” Lapid told The Jerusalem Post. “It’s intolerable that someone can fight on our behalf in the Olympics, represent us and win a gold medal and not be able to get married in Israel.”
Michaeli said it is unacceptable that Israel does not let Dolgopyat marry in the country. She said Labor would take action to help him immediately after the state budget is passed in November.
“Just like we broke the kosher certification monopoly, the time has come to end the monopoly of marriage in Israel,” she said. “We will work in this Knesset to cancel that monopoly in Israel.”
But Shas leader Arye Deri told the Post that the steps Lapid and Michaeli vowed to take would make Israel no longer be a Jewish state.
“Even he doesn’t claim for himself that he is Jewish,” Deri said. “Winning a medal doesn’t make him Jewish. There is no discrimination against him. Our laws are consistent: For 73 years, marriage in this country has been run by Jewish law.”
Dolgopyat, whose girlfriend is from Belarus, told reporters in Tokyo that he did not want to address the subject.
- Monday, August 02, 2021
- Elder of Ziyon
UN Watch: Report: UN Teachers Celebrate Deaths of Israelis
The UN agency that runs schools and social services for Palestinians is facing calls to fire employees using social media to celebrate attacks on Israelis and promote anti-Jewish hatred.
Over 100 UNRWA educators and staff have publicly promoted violence and antisemitism on social media, according to a new report published by the non-governmental organization UN Watch, an independent human rights group based in Geneva.
The report, entitled “Beyond the Textbooks,” uncovers 22 recent cases of UNRWA staff incitement which clearly violate the agency’s own rules as well as its proclaimed values of zero tolerance for racism, discrimination or antisemitism. UN Watch is calling on the agency’s major funders — including the U.S., Germany, the UK and the European Union — to hold UNRWA accountable to its own standards and commitments.
As revealed in the report, UNRWA staff stationed in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan have publicly incited antisemitism and terrorism. Among the educators who have used their personal social media channels for such propaganda are UNRWA Gaza math teacher Nahed Sharawi, who shared a video of Adolf Hitler with inspirational quotes to “enrich and enlighten your thoughts and minds.” Husni Masri, an UNRWA teacher in the West Bank, posted antisemitic conspiracy theories according to which Jews control the world, created the coronavirus and seek to destroy Islam.
UN Watch’s report lists a total of 113 cases that it managed to capture from UNRWA employees’ public pages alone, all celebrating and promoting violence, even among young children. The watchdog group only examined a sample of Facebook users who publicly identified themselves as UNRWA employees, and estimates that the actual number of UNRWA staff who incite violence and hatred includes many more of the agency’s 30,000 staff.
UN Watch further reveals that despite its numerous prior requests and submission of detailed evidence, UNRWA has failed to fire teachers who incite to racism and terrorism, nor has it taken any other meaningful action. UNRWA should therefore be considered complicit in its staff members’ misconduct, says UN Watch. Click for full PDF report
Who funds this hate?
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) August 2, 2021
In 2020:
🇩🇪 Germany $210 Million
🇪🇺 EU $157M
🇬🇧 UK $64M
🇸🇪 Sweden $60M
🇯🇵 Japan $33M
🇨🇭 Swiss $29M
🇳🇴 Norway $28M
🇨🇦 Canada $24M
🇫🇷 France $23M
🇳🇱 Netherlands $22M
🇮🇹 Italy $18M
🇩🇰 Denmark 16M
🇪🇸 Spain $14M
🇦🇺 Australia $16M
& 🇺🇸 US just gave $318 Million. https://t.co/uXB4lGfzfZ
$92 MILLION PER YEAR to:
— StopAntisemitism.org (@StopAntisemites) August 2, 2021
???? blame antisemitism on the Jews
???? defend Hamas
???? advocate for the killing of Israeli soldiers
???? smear Israel at every turn
THIS is what Ken Roth from @hrw does with nearly ALL OF HIS TIME and money raised.
More: https://t.co/A8mn6nnrEk pic.twitter.com/Ive123xoct
Actually, no @KenRoth @hrw. The ‘bombardment’ was Hamas & PIJ indiscriminately raining down over 5,000 rockets at #Israel in 10 days. But of course, as usual, you invert perpetrator and victim. https://t.co/O78CTPNEgS
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) August 2, 2021
Reminder: Ken Roth is a Hamas apologist. He once defended the “right” of Hamas to build tunnels from Gaza into Israel to attack and capture soldiers, knowing full well how they inhumanely keep captives like Gilad Shalit incommunicado in breach of the Geneva Conventions. https://t.co/Pi6KvmgHH8
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) August 2, 2021
- Monday, August 02, 2021
- Elder of Ziyon
- Monday, August 02, 2021
- Elder of Ziyon
GARCIA-NAVARRO: So first, thousands of buildings in Gaza were damaged, many destroyed. So take us there. What's the situation like?ESTRIN: Well, a lot of the rubble has actually been cleared away. Egypt did that. Hamas has repaired roads.
Precariousness, a sense that their homes could always be taken, is a perennial condition of the Palestinian citizens of Israel. Aside from seven Bedouin towns established in the Negev desert, no new Arab towns or villages have been built since 1948. Education remains intricately segregated: Arabs overwhelmingly attend Arab schools and Jews Jewish schools, themselves split into secular and religious categories.Arab municipalities, occupying less than 3 percent of Israeli territory, are unable to expand because of land regulations and have found themselves hemmed in by more than 900 new Jewish villages and towns.
Sunday, August 01, 2021
- Sunday, August 01, 2021
- Elder of Ziyon
- book review
Now, Pessin has written a novel about the toxic atmosphere on campuses today named Nevergreen, an obvious spoof on Evergreen College. Like Evergreen, Nevergreen is in the Pacific Northwest, but it is on an island which used to house an insane asylum.
Artistic gymnast Artem Dolgopyat wins Israel’s 2nd-ever Olympic gold
Israeli gymnast Artem Dolgopyat won Israel’s second-ever Olympic gold medal Sunday, beating out tough Spanish and Chinese competition in the artistic gymnastics floor exercise competition to take the top spot on the Tokyo 2020 podium.Who is Artem Dolgopyat, Israel's Olympic gold medalist?
Dolgopyat, a 24-year-old two-time world championship silver medalist who immigrated to Israel from Ukraine at the age of 12, was considered Israel’s best hope for a gold medal at this year’s games.
His final round routine Sunday impressed judges, scoring him 14.933, giving him a total ahead of Spain’s Rayderley Miguel Zapata, who took silver and China’s Xiao Ruoteng, who won the bronze medal.
After Russian team gold winner Nikita Nagornyy was marked down after over-rotating and stumbling on his trademark triple pike tumble, Zapata looked destined for the title.
But Dolgopyat turned the Spaniard’s gold into silver when his routine matched Zapata’s score of 14.933, and with their execution mark also the same, it went down to the difficulty level, with Dolgopyat taking the title by just 0.100.
Dolgopyat had ranked first in the qualifying event after scoring 15.2.
The gold medal is only the second in Israeli history, following windsurfer Gal Friedman’s 2004 win in Athens.
Artem Dolgopyat won Israel the second gold medal in the nation's history on Sunday in the discipline of artistic gymnastics. The 24-year-old qualified for the Tokyo Games by winning a silver medal in the floor exercise at the 2019 World Championships held in Stuttgart, Germany.
Artem's passion for gymnastics goes back to the tender age of six when he first signed up to attend his local club in Dnirpo, Ukraine, as he followed in the footsteps of his father, who was a gymnast himself. In 2009, Dolgopyat’s family moved to Israel and settled in Tel Aviv, where he quickly became a standout at the Maccabi sports club.
Dolgopyat continued to compete at the top youth competitions and finally broke through in 2017 when he won a silver medal in the floor exercise at the World Championships held in Montreal, Canada.
That same year saw him also win medals at the Maccabiah Games with led him to medals in floor exercise both in 2018 and 2019 at the European Championships.
At the 2020 European Championships held in Turkey, Dolgopyat captured gold in the floor exercise and bronze in the vault as expectations were raised up a bar. He finally reached the pinnacle of his career on Sunday, winning a gold medal in Tokyo.
The gold medal winning routine. pic.twitter.com/MV7uY93Tme
— Elder of Ziyon 🇮🇱 (@elderofziyon) August 1, 2021
CEO of Israel Gymnastics Federation Talks Artem Dolgopyat's Gold Medal Win
??? ?????. ???? ??????. ?? ???? ?????? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ?????. ???? ?? ??. pic.twitter.com/jKnTGc8mYQ
— ???? ????? - Hagit Klaiman (@klaiman14) August 1, 2021
In other news, #Israeli gymnast Artem Dolgopyat Gold victory in #Tokyo2020, gives #Israel our 12th overall #Olympics medal ... equal with number of Nobel Prizes we have won. pic.twitter.com/CqiSct5XsR
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) August 1, 2021