Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, August 29, 2021

B'Tselem believes any ridiculous Palestinian lie

B'Tselem uncritically reports another dubious Palestinian claim:

On 26 June 2021, at around 4:00 P.M., we suddenly noticed settlers coming towards us. The women and children on the farm were terrified. We tried to drive the settlers away to defend our families, and tried to protect the flock, tents and fodder as best as we could. A few dozen guys from the area who heard what was happening came to help us fight them.

The settlers torched a car we used for transporting things inside the farm, well as two tons of barley for feeding the flock (a ton costs about 17,000 shekels [~5,2450 USD]), and about 50 sheaves of straw that were also intended for the flock (every sheaf costs 50 shekels [~15 USD]). They also injured two goats whose legs got broken.

June 26 was a Saturday. B'Tselem claims that the Jews cam from Adei Ad, an outpost founded by religious Jews. While it is possible that Jews violate the Shabbat and torch Arab fields as they take their Shabbat walks, it seems unlikely.

I could not find any article in Arab media about this, although there were reports of settlers attacking the same area three days later, supposedly burning fields with fires in a suspiciously straight line that would not be the most efficient way to destroy a field.

B'Tselem's report on the latter incident ignored the allegations of fires and instead claimed that the settlers uprooted 75 olive trees. Olive trees are notoriously hard to uproot or even cut down.

I'm not saying that Jews don't attack Arab fields sometimes - they certainly do. Arabs also regularly attack Jewish-owned fields, something that no international NGOs ever report on.

But it appears that many of these attacks on Arab property are false reports, and B'Tselem doesn't even pretend to verify the facts, parroting the Arab claims no matter how dubious.

(h/t Shaun Sacks)

Joe Biden hasn't exactly distinguished himself in recent weeks.

But did Biden fall asleep while Naftali Bennett spoke to him in Washington on Friday?

People are making that claim based on this video:

Another angle of the entire meeting, with a much higher resolution video, shows that Biden only has his head bowed, a position he went to as Bennett started to praise him. As this video shows, Biden goes into that position at about 12:09 and remains in that same position as he responds to Bennett at 12:43:

His eyes are more evidently open in this second video, the first one is too fuzzy to really see - and people's brains fill in what they want to see more than what their eyes are showing them.

Which is one reason anti-Israel lies are so effective: the fauxtography, deceptive camera angles and false captions only serve to strengthen the opinions of those who are already haters of Israel and they see this "evidence" as proof of their position. No one is immune to this, which is why critical thinking is such an important skill.

The main reason people believe the meme is because of Trump's highly effective "Sleepy Joe" monicker for Biden, showing how easily people can fall for persuasion techniques.

I think that Bennett's and Biden's words and mannerisms are far more newsworthy than Biden's nonexistent nap, and there is still plenty to be concerned about as far as Biden's ability to lead.

Bennett quoted this past Shabbat's haftarah as an accurate prophecy by Isaiah on modern Israel.

Bennett quotes, in Hebrew, Isaiah 60:4:

שְׂאִֽי־סָבִ֤יב עֵינַ֙יִךְ֙ וּרְאִ֔י כֻּלָּ֖ם נִקְבְּצ֣וּ בָֽאוּ־לָ֑ךְ בָּנַ֙יִךְ֙ מֵרָח֣וֹק יָבֹ֔אוּ וּבְנוֹתַ֖יִךְ עַל־צַ֥ד תֵּאָמַֽנָה׃

The translation is, "Raise your eyes and look about: They have all gathered and come to you. Your sons shall be brought from afar, Your daughters like babes on shoulders."

Bennett - who recites the Hebrew verse without notes - paraphrases it as "The sons and daughters of the Jewish people are going to come back to the land and are going to nurse our ancient land and rebuild it. This ancient Jewish prophecy is today's Israel reality."

Biden responds by referring to Bennett's earlier praise of the US giving Israel the tools to defend itself, and adds that the real credit should go to Barack Obama. His response is a bit fuzzy:

Thank you; you give me credit much of which should go to Barack Obama for making sure that we committed to the qualitative edge you would have relative to your friends in the region so he's the one that deserves the credit. Thank him as well. Thank you very much folks.

"The qualitative edge you would have relative to your friends in the region"? If they were really friends, Israel wouldn't need the weapons! Egypt is hardly a friend, although it is an ally; the US also provides some weapons to the Lebanese army which is hardly a friend, as well as Gulf states who do not have peace treaties with Israel.

Israel doesn't need better weapons than its friends, but better weapons than its enemies. Iran and its proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Gaza is the enemy that must be defeated, and the president didn't emphasize that when he had the chance.

Obama's weapons to Israel were also a set of golden handcuffs - a way to ensure that Israel doesn't have the ability to take unilateral action against Iran if it comes to that point.

Biden might feel a gentleman-like need to give credit to his Democratic predecessor that he served under, but this was a little tone deaf.

Biden's earlier statement to Bennett was not off the cuff - he read nearly every word he said. At one point he even got lost in his reading, saying "We've got a big agenda today starting with Covid, [looks up], which we've been talking about, [looks back at his text,]" and, uh, 19, in both our successful vaccination programs..." Clearly the text said "COVID-19" and Biden didn't even have enough awareness to skip the "19" part when he recovered from his tiny ad-lib.

The contrast between a US President who couldn't even properly read a statement and the Israeli Prime Minister who spoke extemporaneously was clear.

If one is going to criticize Biden, do it based on his actual words and actions. There is plenty of real material to discuss that can cast doubt on his ability to analyze, think and lead, even in an orchestrated press event.

Europe is characterized as being liberal and enlightened, and Israel is portrayed in the media as intolerant and Islamophobic.

But European countries and towns have many laws that are specifically against the practice of Islam, and Israel doesn't.

In so-tolerant Denmark, children who live in certain neighborhoods called "ghettoes" - which happen to be Muslim majority neighborhoods - are literally taken from their parents for 25 hours a week, starting at age 1:

Starting at the age of 1, “ghetto children” must be separated from their families for at least 25 hours a week, not including nap time, for mandatory instruction in “Danish values,” including the traditions of Christmas and Easter, and Danish language. Noncompliance could result in a stoppage of welfare payments. Other Danish citizens are free to choose whether to enroll children in preschool up to the age of six.

The French Senate voted to ban hijabs for children in public.

Six European nations have banned the face-covering burqa altogether.

In Moldova, several local councils banned public Muslim worship.

The European Union court has ruled that workplaces can limit Muslims wearing religious headwear.

A number of European communities ban halal (and kosher) slaughter.

Switzerland banned minarets on mosques in 2009.

Several French municipalities ban the "burkini" body-covering swimwear that Muslim women use.

None of these restrictions on Muslims exist in Israel.

By any measure, Israel is more tolerant of its Muslim minority than most European nations are.

Yet Israel is the only country tarred with the "apartheid" label, while criticism of European Islamophobia is muted..

08/28 Links: Islamism’s Brutal Face Is Back on Display; IDF strikes Gaza after violent border riots, airborne arson attack; Rashida Tlaib Promoted a Fundraiser for Group Tied to Hamas, Taliban

From Ian:

Islamism’s Brutal Face Is Back on Display

Any notion that the worst days of Islamist terrorism are long behind us was brutally shattered at Kabul Airport on Thursday, as twin bombs ripped indiscriminately through Afghan civilians and US and other foreign servicemen trying to complete the desperate evacuation of thousands of people for whom Taliban rule represents the most terrible fate.

Gen. H.R. McMaster, a former US national security advisor who served as deputy commander of the international force in Afghanistan, put it succinctly in the hours that followed the bloodshed in Kabul. “Maybe this moment is the time that we can stop our self-delusion that these groups are separate from one and other and recognize that they are utterly intertwined and interconnected, and what we are seeing is the establishment of a terrorist, jihadist state in Afghanistan,” McMaster, a visceral critic of the US withdrawal strategy pursued by both the Trump and Biden administrations, observed in a BBC interview. “And all of us will be at much greater risk as a result.”

His underlying argument is that talking up divisions between the Taliban and fellow Islamist fanatics — such as ISIS-K, the Afghan branch of the Da’esh terrorist organization in Iraq and Syria that carried out the Kabul Airport bombing — elides the point that these groups are united in their fundamental worldview. On the ideological front, the late Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s promise of a war against “crusaders and Jews” still holds firm, which means terrorism against Western interests and Western targets, most of whom will be defenseless civilians. It also means, for those unfortunate enough to live under the direct rule of the Islamists, that ordinary Muslims will continue to be their principal and most numerous victims.

The “intertwined” connections described by McMaster inside Afghanistan can be seen in the region more broadly. At the same time that the Taliban have conquered Afghanistan, Iran has appointed a new cabinet composed of men with a direct, personal role in terrorism, torture and other systemic violations of human rights, all of whom have extensive connections with Iran’s regional proxies, like Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The anti war movement has finally gotten what it wanted. They ended the forever war in Afghanistan. As a result, women will return to bondage, our allies will be murdered, America has been humiliated and Afghanistan is again a safe haven for terror.
— Eli Lake (@EliLake) August 27, 2021

Biden Admin Gives Iran's Mullahs Another Victory: Taliban Takeover

In the past, the Iranian regime used to hide its ties with Taliban; not anymore.... "The Taliban today," Kayhan wrote recently, "is different from the Taliban that used to behead people." So far, there seems insufficient evidence if that is true. At the moment, it does not look that way.

"Thinking that the Taliban will come under Tehran's command is tantamount to growing a snake up your sleeve." — Ali Khorram, former Iranian diplomat, iranintl.com.

The Iranian regime seems happy to build alliances with any government or terror group that shares Tehran's hatred towards Saudi Arabia, the Gulf countries, Israel or the US.

One of the critical opportunities that the Iranian regime sees in Taliban's takeover is that the group can once again become a safe haven for terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, or Islamic State -- called virtually identical "Pepsis" to the Taliban's "Coke" -- that attack the United States.

In 2017, a trove of 470,000 documents released by the CIA also revealed close ties between Osama Bin Laden, Al-Qaeda and the Iranian regime. A federal court ruling, found that "Iran furnished material and direct support for the 9/11 terrorists." At least eight of the hijackers passed through Iran before heading to the US. A federal US District court ordered Iran, for its role in 9/11, to pay some of its victims more than $10 billion, although there may be no way to force Iran to comply. US Federal courts have also ruled that Iran still owes Americans $53 billion for Iran having bombed the US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983, and other assaults.

What we are seeing is that the Biden administration just handed the mullahs of Iran – as well as the Chinese, the Russians, the North Koreans and the Turks -- yet another victory as they all cheer the US failure in Afghanistan and celebrate the takeover of Central Asia by terrorists.

IDF strikes Gaza after violent border riots, airborne arson attack

The Israel Defense Forces launched airstrikes in the Gaza Strip late Saturday night in retaliation for airborne arson attacks from the coastal enclave and renewed riots along the border.

The raids on Hamas targets south of Gaza City came hours after two fires were sparked in southern Israel by balloon-borne incendiary devices launched from the Gaza Strip. Hours later, Palestinians resumed clashes with Israeli forces along the Gaza border, as Hamas threatened to step up the cross-border arson attacks from Sunday.

The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza on Saturday night said 11 Palestinians were wounded in the border clashes with Israeli troops. According to the ministry, three of those wounded were hit by live fire and are in moderate condition. The other eight are said to have been lightly hurt from rubber bullets or shock grenades. It was not immediately clear if the Israeli airstrikes on Saturday night caused injury or damage.

The “night confusion units” behind the border riots do not officially tie themselves to Hamas, though their activities could not take place without the approval of the terror group that rules the Strip.

In the past, Gazans involved in such activities have burned tires, hurled explosive devices, and played fake rocket alert noises in an attempt to confuse Israeli residents living near the border and harass soldiers guarding the border.

08/27 Links Pt2: Melanie Phillips: The west's delusional fifth column; Caroline Glick: The roots of America's defeat; Quora Writers Say ‘Unchecked Jew-Hatred,’ Holocaust Denial Persist on Popular Q&A Site

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: The west's delusional fifth column

All those precious, preening, posturing personalities who cheered Biden on while demonising all who stood against the Democrats or their left-wing agenda bear responsibility for swelling the fetid cultural sea in which this administration swims.

The point of saying all this is not to point fingers gratuitously and inappropriately in the wake of a tragic and still-unfolding catastrophe in Afghanistan. The Taliban and Islamic State are responsible for the savagery there. The Chinese Communist Party, Russia’s President Putin, the Islamic regime of Iran and their Sunni jihadi counterparts, not to mention Pakistan and North Korea, are the enemies of the west and the free world.

But along with swathes of the western left, the Democratic Party is currently a fifth column in the defence of America and the west against these enemies. The point of calling this out is to warn about the supreme danger of ever putting the left into power.

The Democrats have shown themselves to be institutionally unsuitable for high office. They currently constitute a menace to the cultural integrity and continued strength of the United States, are placing individual American lives at terrible risk and are presenting a mortal threat to the security of the free world. And if Biden were to be removed, he would merely be replaced by the Vice-President, Kamala Harris, who is an even worse proposition; and after her in the constitutional pecking order comes the ineffable Nancy Pelosi. Say no more.

Unlike other societies, the people who live in democracies have a choice about who rules them. What’s happened in Afghanistan should be a graphic warning to the west to snap out of its complacency about the left. Their track record, both in and out of office, shows that they are generally as delusional as they are incompetent.

And they will never change. The notion that the Democratic Party has been hijacked by a few extremists is itself delusional. Just look at what the universities and schools are teaching the young — to hate their country and western values, to internalise the Marxist trope that all relationships are defined by power, and to believe that lies are truth and truth is lies.

These ignorant, spoiled, viciously indoctrinated young people are the future of the Democratic Party. And this educational subversion has been going on for decades — with the mainstream media its most conspicuous and degraded advertisement.

Where have all those “centrist” Democrats been all this time? Either being sucked into the madness by telling themselves that their political tribe is virtue incarnate and so everything it does is right and good; or else covering their eyes and ears and pretending that this cultural meltdown, and their side’s role in it, isn’t happening. And exactly the same thing has happened to Britain’s Labour party and wider “progressive” circles.

Biden is merely the boil that has now burst on a diseased body politic. As soon as they are able to do so, decent Americans should use their votes to remove the Democrats from office and, unless the party repudiates what it has become, prevent it from gaining power in America ever again.

Caroline Glick: The roots of America's defeat

Even before the suicide bombings outside the Kabul airport on Thursday evening, the US media was acting with rare unanimity. For the first time in memory, US media organs across the ideological and political spectrum have been united in the view that US President Joe Biden fomented a strategic disaster for the US and its allies with his incompetent leadership of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Some compare it to the 1961 Bay of Pigs; others to Saigon in 1975; others to the US embassy in Tehran in 1979. Whatever the analogy, the bottom line is the same: Biden's surrender to the Taliban has already entered the pantheon of American post-war defeats.

Biden is personally responsible for the humanitarian and strategic disaster unfolding before our eyes. He is the only American leader in history who has willfully abandoned Americans and American allies to their fate behind enemy lines. But while Biden is solely responsible for the decision to leave Afghanistan in the manner it is, it isn't Biden's fault that after 20 years of war, the Taliban was still around, stronger than it was on Sept. 11, 2001, and fully capable of seizing control of the country. The foundations of that failure were laid in the days, weeks and months that followed the Sept. 11 attacks.

In the aftermath of Sept. 11, then-President George W. Bush and his national security team put together the guiding assumptions for what came to be known as the global war on terror. In the years since then, some of the assumptions were updated, adapted or replaced as conditions on the ground evolved. But three of the assumptions that stood at the foundation of America's military, intelligence and diplomatic planning and operations since then were not revisited, save for the final two years of the Trump administration. All three contributed significantly to America's defeat in Afghanistan and its failure to win the war against global terror as a whole. The first assumption related to Pakistan, the second to Iran, and the third to Israel.

By rights, Pakistan should have been the first domino to fall after the Sept. 11 attacks. The Taliban were the brainchild of Pakistan's jihad-addled ISI intelligence agency. Al-Qaida operatives also received ISI support. But aside from a few threats and temporary sanctions around the time of the US invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, the US took no significant actions against Pakistan. The reason for America's inaction is easy to understand.

In 1998 Pakistan tested nuclear weapons. By Sept. 11, 2001, Pakistan fielded a significant nuclear arsenal. Following the attacks, Pakistan made clear its view of nuclear war, and the connection between its position and its sponsorship of terror.

In October and December 2001, Kashmiri terrorists sponsored by Pakistan attacked the Jammu and Kashmir parliament and the Indian parliament. When India accused Pakistan of responsibility and threatened reprisals, then-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf placed the Pakistani military on alert. India began deploying troops to the border and Pakistan followed suit.

Rather than side with India, the US pressured Delhi to stand down, which it did in April 2002. In June 2002, Pakistani-backed terrorists carried out suicide bombings against the wives and children of Indian soldiers. The countdown to war began again. In June 2002, again bowing to US pressure, India pledged it would not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the conflict. Musharraf refused to follow suit.

Andrew Pessin: Campus Cancel Culture, the Jewish Question, and Why I Wrote ‘Nevergreen’

As those who follow college campuses know, these are challenging times for the Jews — and, perhaps, for sane people in general.

The university has become almost unrecognizable. In place of reasoned deliberation, we find feverish activism; in place of a neutral forum for civil debate in the shared pursuit of truth, we find the enforcement of official orthodoxies. Disagreement, once the driving force of intellectual advancement, now is anathema. If you dare to differ from some particular orthodoxy, it’s because you enjoy privileges that blind you to the experiences of others. Or, worse, it’s because you, in fact, are actively defending those privileges. You are, in other words, a racist, or a homophobe, or a transphobe, or an Islamophobe, or — a Zionist.

In short, you are a hater — and hatred has no place on campus.

All of this culminates in “cancel culture”: those who disagree with the orthodoxies must be eliminated from the table of discourse, and in some cases, from the campus altogether. The National Association of Scholars currently documents some 180 cases of “cancellation” at North American universities going back to 2015, and that list does not include the increasingly frequent cancellation of Jews, especially Jews who support Israel.

Back in 2018, I co-edited a book called “Anti-Zionism on Campus: The University, Free Speech, and BDS.” That book documented several dozen episodes where pro-Israel faculty and students were targeted for cancellation.

Today, just three short years later, those seem like the glory days.

"My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish." Daniel Pearl’s last words are true for me, too. I could not be prouder to be a Jew, and I am deeply honored to be receiving this year's Daniel Pearl Award for Courage and Integrity in Journalism. https://t.co/2wk5WOXP6p
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) August 26, 2021

From TOI:

The rate of new COVID-19 patients being hospitalized in serious condition has slowed significantly as a result of the booster vaccine, experts said on Friday, anticipating that the current outbreak has been curbed.

After surpassing 700 concurrent serious cases earlier this week, Health Ministry data on Friday showed there were 689 patients hospitalized in serious condition, in what appeared to be the start of a decline in the country’s fourth virus wave.

Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem said in a Friday report that Israel’s drive to administer widespread third COVID-19 vaccine shots had caused the change of trend, along with some reimposed restrictions. They added that in the coming days, the number of daily infections was similarly expected to start slowing down.

Eran Segal, a COVID expert and one of the top government advisers to the coronavirus cabinet, said the rate of serious cases out of all new infections dropped from around 2 percent to 1.4% in recent days.

Some people - including some who hate Israel - are bitterly opposed the booster shots.

Alice Rothchild, of "Jewish Voice for Peace"' Health Advisory Council,. tweeted "As Israel ignores WHO’s plea to stop booster shots, some Israeli experts side with the World Health Organization and claim the current policy is both morally and epidemiologically wrong."

There is no doubt that vaccines need to be distributed worldwide. But it makes no sense for nations to forego booster shots for their own people, especially when evidence is mounting that the vaccines lose their effectiveness over time.

The international priority needs to be the manufacture and distribution to all who want the vaccine. Until there are enough vaccines for all, the problem of variants is going to continue no matter what. Redistribution of vaccines that only last 6-8 months from some countries to others is barely a band-aid, and every nation is obligated to help its own citizens first. (Of course, vaccines that are within a month of expiration that would go unused should be prioritized for distribution elsewhere, and no one seems to have been doing that.)

08/27 Links Pt1: John Podhoretz: As We Mourn Today; Israel’s Spy Agency Snubbed the U.S. Can Trust Be Restored?; Afghanistan's lessons for Israel

From Ian:

John Podhoretz: As We Mourn Today

As we mourn the losses of American servicemembers today in Kabul, please keep this in mind: They would not be dead if Joe Biden had not chosen to pull American forces out of Afghanistan.

The number of deaths today in Afghanistan is greater than the entire number of Americans who died there in 2020. They mark the first service deaths in Afghanistan since February 2020. The change here was the deliberate and conscious decision to “end a war” in which Americans were not suffering combat casualties.

The status quo held. And then Joe Biden, in between licks of his ice cream cones, heedlessly and vaingloriously smashed it to bits. He wanted to be the bringer of peace; he is instead the bringer of chaos. And we haven’t seen anything yet.

I am heartbroken by the news coming out of Kabul. I send my deepest condolences to the families of the Americans and Afghans who were killed. Israel honors the brave US service members who gave their lives to save so many.

Gantz Condemns Kabul Terror Attacks: ‘We Stand With Our American Partners’

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz condemned the terror attack at the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday, reiterating that Israel “stands with our American partners.”

“My thoughts and prayers are with the US troops and the Afghan people in Kabul, following the attacks that recently took place. I extend my condolences for the lives lost and pray for the rapid recovery of the injured. We stand with our American partners,” he posted on Twitter.

According to The Washington Post, at least 12 US service members and dozens of civilians were killed in the blast outside Hamid Karzai International Airport on Thursday.

“We can confirm that a number of US service members were killed in today’s complex attack at Kabul airport,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. “A number of others are being treated for wounds.”

IDF ‘Stands With US Service Members’ After Kabul Attacks

The Israel Defense Forces added to the expressions of solidarity with those affected by the terrorist attacks outside the gates of Kabul airport Thursday, which killed at least 85 people, including 13 US soldiers.

“My deepest condolences go out to the families of the victims of the horrific terrorist attack in Kabul,” IDF international spokesperson Amnon Shefler said on Twitter on Monday. “The IDF stands with the US service men and women who risk their lives to make our world a safer place.”

The extent of the casualties from the bombings, which have been claimed by ISIS, was still being assessed on Friday. The US military said that at least 18 service members were wounded in addition to the 13 killed, while the toll of Afghan deaths rising to at least 72.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who was set to meet with US President Joe Biden Friday in a meeting that was postponed due to the attacks, also gave his condolences.

“On behalf of the people of Israel, I share our deep sadness over the loss of American lives in Kabul,” Bennett said Thursday. “Israel stands with the United States in these difficult times, just as America has always stood with us. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of the United States.”

I am heartbroken by the news coming out of Kabul. I send my deepest condolences to the families of the Americans and Afghans who were killed. Israel honors the brave US service members who gave their lives to save so many.

Israel stands with the United States. 🇮🇱🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/PMDM4ffVnY
— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) August 26, 2021

A new poll published by Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD) asked Palestinians in the West Bank what they would prefer to see in a final solution with Israel.

Their preference reminds one of an earlier "final solution."

Only 36% support a two state solution. 60% support a "solution" where an Arab Palestine takes over the entire area: "a unified Palestinian state on historic Palestine."

What about that "binational state" where Jews and Arabs have equal rights that so many Israel haters like Peter Beinart are claiming would be the best solution?

Only 8% support "a one-state solution with Palestinians and Israelis living together." The question didn't even ask about equal rights - just whether they would want a state where they merely live with "Israelis" (which means Jews - they consider Israeli Arab to be Palestinian.).

This means that those who answered "a unified Palestinian state on historic Palestine" don't want any Jews in their state, certainly not as citizens with full rights.

Tell us again that Israel is the obstacle to peace.

Why the Pope's comments on the Torah are a very big deal

From Religion News Service:

Israel’s Chief Rabbinate has written a letter to Pope Francis conveying its “distress” at comments he made suggesting Jewish law, as written in the Torah, is obsolete.

The letter, first reported on by Reuters, was sent by Rabbi Rasson Arousi, chair of the Commission of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel for Dialogue with the Holy See. Arousi was referring to a homily Francis made during a general audience on Aug. 11.

In that homily, or sermon, the pope reflected on the Apostle Paul’s views in the New Testament that the Torah does not give life.

Speaking of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, the pope said: “It does not offer the fulfillment of the promise because it is not capable of being able to fulfill it … Those who seek life need to look to the promise and to its fulfillment in Christ.”

At first blush, Jews might think, "so what?" Jews don't have to believe Christian theology and every religion believes itself is the right one.

The article only gives a beginning of an answer as to why this is big deal.

That statement comes close to supersessionism, also called replacement theology— the belief that the Christian faith has replaced or supplanted Judaism, a view the Catholic Church repudiated. In a 1965 landmark Vatican declaration, Nostra Aetate, the church established a new rapport between Jews and Catholics.

“In his homily, the pope presents the Christian faith as not just superseding the Torah; but asserts that the latter no longer gives life, implying that Jewish religious practice in the present era is rendered obsolete,” Arousi wrote in the letter.

“This is in effect part and parcel of the ‘teaching of contempt’ towards Jews and Judaism that we had thought had been fully repudiated by the Church,” he wrote.

This is still a huge understatement.

Supersessionism has been the key driver for antisemitism for the past two thousand years.

As I pointed out in this 2017 article, Christian supersessionism prompted attacks on Jews. Churches throughout Europe can still be seen with carvings and stained glass images of Ecclesia, the triumphant symbol of victorious Christianity with crown and chalice, and Sinagoga, the defeated, humiliated and blindfolded Jew whose tablets of Law are slipping from her fingers.

The message wasn't merely that the Church was superior to Judaism, or even that it had superseded Judaism. The message, based on the placement of these figures in areas where there were large Jewish communities, was that anyone who clings to Judaism is willfully blind and defective.

The continued existence of a vibrant Judaism when Christian theology says that it has been replaced was a threat to that very theology. If the original Jews haven't embraced Christianity, either there is something wrong with them or something wrong with the idea that Judaism has been replaced.

Jewish communities are a source of shame for supersessionist Christians.

Some people will do anything to remove the source of their shame, from forcible conversions to pogroms and genocide.

Christian supersessionists aren't the only ones for whom Jewish existence is a source of shame. Islam also attempted to attract Jews - and responded violently when they refused to become Muslim. Muslim supersessionism is most obvious by how Muslims have consistently converted every Jewish holy place into a mosque. Muslims believe that the world is divided between "Dar al-Islam" and "Dar al-Harb" and the very existence of Israel in the heart of the Muslim world is a constant source of shame and defeat of that ideology.

Palestinian antisemitism combines the Christian and Muslim supersessionism as religious reasons to fight the Jews, minimizing the theological divide between the two to jointly attack any Jewish political power in the region.

It is also notable that Arab nations lobbied fiercely against the Vatican's 1965 Nostra Aetate that redefined the relationship between Catholicism and Judaism to be less adversarial. The Arab world supported Christian antisemitism, and the Catholic denominations in the Middle East rejected Vatican II.

Pope Francis' words indicate that while the Catholic Church has officially abandoned supersessionism, the basic theology cannot so easily be excised. His speech should have been vetted but I don't think most Catholics would disagree with his actual words - if Judaism can bring eternal life, then why believe in Jesus? This indicates that there is a slippery slope where a future Church could revert to its traditional antisemitic theology.

Al-Monitor lists lots of excuses that Algeria blames Israel somehow for its decision to break relations with Morocco.

Algeria's announcement this week that it was severing its diplomatic ties with Morocco came as no surprise — Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had issued a statement Aug. 18 saying relations with Morocco were being reviewed. Still, the depth of accusations Algeria leveled against Israel Aug. 24 did surprise Jerusalem.

More than the Palestinian issue, the Algerian anger against the Israeli-Moroccan rapprochement was fueled by the American recognition of Moroccan sovereignty of Western Sahara. .... Algeria has been supporting the Western Sahara independence movement Polisario for decades, and the new triple Israeli-American-Moroccan consensus on Western Sahara was perceived by Algeria as especially hostile.

Recently, Algeria accused Morocco of complicity in deadly forest fires where 90 people were killed. According to Algerian authorities, the fires were of criminal origin..."particularly the MAK, which receives the support and aid of foreign parties ... Morocco and the Zionist entity."

Algerian anger was further fueled by the Aug. 12 visit of Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid to Morocco. During that visit, Lapid expressed concerns over signs of rapprochement between Algeria and Iran. Algeria was furious over this statement, as clearly expressed in the Aug. 24 declaration by Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra. “Morocco has turned its territory into a platform allowing foreign powers to speak with hostility about Algeria. … Since 1948, no Israeli official made a hostile declaration to an Arab country from another Arab country,’’ said Lamamra.

It's sort of insane, but insanity is accepted as normal in certain parts of the world.

But it can get even crazier.. An Algerian paper has this article:

Jordanian writer and academic researcher Walid Abdel Hai confirmed, this Wednesday, that there is evidence of "increasing Zionist planning to create a state of turmoil in Algeria and exhaust it with the aim of dragging it into the field of normalization."

In this context, Walid Abdel Hai explained that Zionist opinion polls indicate that "the Zionists believe that the Algerian society is the Arab society that most hates the Zionists, and that it must be dragged into the field of normalization or exhausted." The Jordanian writer pointed to the role played by the Jewish lobby, especially among Moroccan Jews, in strengthening American-Moroccan relations, in return for developing Zionist-Moroccan relations

They certainly think Jews have amazing powers.

08/26 Links Pt2: Dozens of Civilians, at Least 12 US Troops Killed in Bloodbath at Kabul Airport; Why the Crown Heights Pogrom Still Matters; Dr. Fauci must apologize for comments on Hasidic Jews

From Ian:

Dozens of Civilians, at Least 12 US Troops Killed in Bloodbath at Kabul Airport

Suicide bombers struck the crowded gates of Kabul airport with at least two explosions on Thursday, causing a bloodbath among civilians and US troops, and bringing a catastrophic halt to the airlift of tens of thousands of Afghans desperate to flee.

Two US officials put the US death toll at 12 service members killed, making it one of the deadliest incidents for American troops of the entire 20-year war.

There was no complete toll of Afghan civilians but video images uploaded by Afghan journalists showed dozens of bodies of people killed in packed crowds outside the airport.

A watery ditch by the airport fence was filled with blood-soaked corpses, some being fished out and laid in heaps on the canal side while wailing civilians searched for loved ones.

Several Western countries said the airlift of civilians was now effectively over, with the United States having sealed the gates of the airport leaving no way out for tens of thousands of Afghans who worked for the West through two decades of war.

A Taliban official said at least 13 people including children had been killed in the attack and 52 were wounded, though it was clear from video footage that those figures were far from complete. One surgical hospital run by an Italian charity said it alone was treating more than 60 wounded.

The explosions took place amid the crowds outside the airport who have been massing for days in hope of escaping in an airlift which the United States says will end by Tuesday, following the swift capture of the country by the Taliban.

Israeli leaders condemn ‘horrific’ Kabul airport bombings

Israeli leaders on Thursday night expressed their condolences over the deadly attacks at Kabul airport earlier in the day, which killed at least 72 people and wounded dozens more.

“On behalf of the people of Israel, I share our deep sadness over the loss of American lives in Kabul,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett tweeted.

“Israel stands with the United States in these difficult times, just as America has always stood with us. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of the United States,” he added.

Bennett is currently in Washington and was scheduled to meet Thursday with US President Joe Biden, but the meeting was delayed to Friday because of the attack.

“I am shocked and saddened by the horrific terror attack in Kabul,” Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said.

“The prayers of the people of Israel are with the families of the civilians and soldiers who were murdered today,” Lapid said, adding that “we stand shoulder to shoulder with the United States in the fight against terrorism.”

Jonathan S. Tobin: Why the Crown Heights Pogrom Still Matters

A look back at the rhetoric used then (and even today by those who seek to minimize or rationalize the anti-Jewish violence) shows that it was primarily focused on the notion that the ultra-Orthodox, and in particular, the Chabad movement, whose members lived in Crown Heights and were the targets of the mob, possessed a degree of “white privilege” that blacks were denied.

This should sound very familiar to us in 2021. In the last year since the death of George Floyd, the idea of white privilege has not only served to justify last year’s riots, committed in the name of the Black Lives Matter movement, but remains key to understanding the dialectic of critical race theory—a toxic patent nostrum that has migrated from the fever swamps of academia to mainstream discourse.

Critical race theory divides us all into groups in which we are either victims or possessors of privilege who benefit from what we are told is structural racism embedded into everything that happens in society. Nor is it an accident that the Black Lives Matter movement and its theorists, like Ibram X. Kendi, are prominent advocates of the notion that Jews, who come in all colors and nationalities, are white, and that the State of Israel is an expression of oppressive white privilege.

Myths about Jewish privilege helped justify an anti-Jewish riot in 1991, even though that was patently absurd since the Jews of Crown Heights had so little privilege that they were not even able to get the city government and police to take their plight seriously for days. But the same myths about privilege and conspiracy theories by latter-day race-baiters helped fuel not only the appalling attacks on Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn in 2019, but also the anti-Jewish violence that took place on the streets of American cities in May of this year in reaction to the fighting between Israel and Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Some may argue that the particular circumstances that created the pogrom in Crown Heights are not likely to recur. The truth is that the same justifications for antisemitic violence used then are no longer relegated to the margins of society, and are now treated as respectable ideas taught on college campuses and given deference by the press and government. A three-day riot against Jews may not be imaginable today, but Americans witnessed weeks of riots in the name of the BLM movement last summer with police similarly unwilling to step in to stop them. Not only is it easy to imagine a new round of Jewish violence in America, we’ve already witnessed it happen again with many Jews as indifferent to it today as they were to what happened in Crown Heights.

That means that not only are we still obligated to remember the events of August 1991, but we should also understand that far from being marooned in a dark past, the lies that helped kill Yankel Rosenblum have actually gained traction among intellectuals and popular culture. We ignore the consequences of legitimizing critical race theory and its advocates at our own peril.

The Tikvah Podcast: Elliot Kaufman on the Crown Heights Riot, 30 Years Later

Thirty years ago, in August 1991, riots broke out in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights, a neighborhood shared by African Americans and Jews, the latter of whom were mostly members of the ?asidic Chabad-Lubavitch movement. During the riot, which was sparked by a car accident that killed one young black child and injured another, local black residents attacked Jews on the streets, burned their businesses, and killed one of them, often while chanting anti-Semitic slogans. For three days, local authorities looked on passively.

The episode is a sad one in the history of American Jewish-black relations. This week’s podcast guest believes that if Jews and blacks are to enjoy a fruitful and mutually beneficial relationship in the future, as they have in the past, understanding how and why events like the Crown Heights riot came about is essential. Elliot Kaufman did just that in a recent essay for the Wall Street Journal. A Canadian who is too young to remember what happened, Kaufman—in the piece and in this conversation with Mosaic‘s editor, Jonathan Silver—forensically reconstructs what happened in Crown Heights, puts together what it meant at the time, looks at what it teaches us today, and suggests pitfalls that can be avoided so that the two communities can avoid such bitter antagonism.

Melaine Phillips: The state of the Jews in Britain and the world

On a podcast with Jonny Gould for his website Jonny Gould’s Jewish State, we ranged over some of the most noxious confusions of the age. We discussed the fact that, from Margaret Thatcher onwards, Britain’s Conservative party had increasingly forgotten what conservatism was, and how this had led it into some unwitting alliances with the most destructive elements on the left.

I talked about my own Jewish background in London, how my experiences while working at the Guardian shattered my assumptions about politics and also about whether Jews can ever be truly safe in the diaspora. We discussed how the response by Britain’s Jewish community leadership towards venomous prevailing attitudes ranges from supine to venomous in itself; we pondered whether zealotry can ever be good; and I talked about my… interesting relationship with Britain’s tunnel-visioned broadcasters. And we discussed my novel, The Legacy, which deals with antisemitism and fractured diaspora Jewish identity.

Unpacked: Do Jews Cause Antisemitism? | Antisemitism, Explained

It may sound bizarre, but a shockingly large number of people believe that Jews cause themselves to be hated. For centuries, bigots have blamed racial, religious, and sexual minorities for their own persecution. If we're going to beat back antisemitism, we'll need to understand why this claim is so egregiously wrong—logically, historically, and morally.

In 2017, Jewish Voice for Peace published a document that explains perfectly what a sham the organization is.

As the majority of what makes the earth, water is in one sense an ordinary resource. As those in Palestine and Puerto Rico are denied access to adequate water, water as an extraordinary resource is amplified.

Mikveh is a simple ritual. In it’s simplicity, it is extraordinary. We hope that this ritual will bring you closer to an experience of Jewish culture. We hope this closeness fuels your work for justice in Palestine. We hope a depth is integrated between your one simple life and the extraordinary movement we are all in together.

Enjoy this mikveh guide and check out this incredible project queer Jews are doing with mikveh in the spirit of living in diaspora.

The "Mikveh Ritual Guide" is a truly bizarre mishmash of new-age nonsense that has literally nothing to do with Judaism except for its gratuitous use of some Hebrew words. In fact, parts of it are pretty much idol worship.

Excerpts:

WHO GETS TO DO MIKVEH?
Everyone! Mikveh practice is available to all of us as a healing tool at any time. You don’t need any credentials. Your own wisdom is all the power you need to be a Jewish ritual leader. We do mikvahs in lakes, rivers, bathtubs, showers, outside in the rain, from teacups and in our imaginations.

Mikveh has been continually practiced since ancient Judaism. It is an offering of unbroken Jewish lineage we have claimed/re-claimed as our own. We want to make mikveh practice available as a tool to all Jews and non-Jews who want to heal wounds caused by white supremacy and colonialism.

Queer mikveh is a ritual of Jews in diaspora. We believe the way we work for freedom for all beings is by using the gifts of our ancestors for the greatest good. We bring our rituals as gifts. It acknowledges that our path is to live on lands that are not historically our peoples and we honor the Indigenous ancestors of the land we live on, doing mikveh as an anti-colonialist ritual for collective and personal liberation....You don’t have to be Jewish. Queer mikveh is an earth and water honoring ritual.

A lot can be said about divination practices and Judaism. Using divination can assist you in setting your intention. Oracle and tarot decks are both helpful tools.

For some people, doing mikveh in drag will feel most vulnerable, with all your make-up and best attire.

HOW TO MAKE MIKVEH A NON-ZIONIST RITUAL
Reject all colonial projects by learning about, naming & honoring, and materially supporting the communities indigenous to the land where you hold your mikveh. Name and thank the Indigenous people of the land you are going to do your mikveh on. Take time to vision our world to come in which Palestine and all people are free.

SOUND MIKVEH:
One way that’s felt very meaningful for many is a “sound mikveh.” This can be a group of people toning, harmonizing or chanting in a circle. One person at a time can be in the center of the circle and feel the vibrations of healing sound wash over their body. Another method of sound mikveh is to use a shofar or other instrument of your lineage to made sounds that reach a body of water and also wash over you.

TEA CUP MIKVEH:
Fill a special teacup. If you want, add flower essence, a small stone, or other special elements. Sing the teacup a sweet song, dance around it, cry in some tears, tell the cup a tender and hopeful story, hold the teacup above the body of your animal friend for extra blessing, balance it on your head to call in your highest self. Use the holy contents of this teacup to make contact with water. Mikveh to go. We've always been people on the move.

FERMENTATION MIKVEH:
Some food goes through natural changes by being immersed in water. If we eat that food, we can symbolically go through a change similar to the one the food went through.

Jews don't worship water. They don't worship the Earth or the sun or holy teacups. Jews worship God, which JVP redefines as the "spirit of the world."

The entire point of "Jewish Voice for Peace" is to subvert Judaism for their own political purposes. Here, they are trying to attract dopey Jews and non-Jews to their anti-Israel movement by creating a new religion that they claim is a valid form of Judaism - and then they can say they oppose Israel; "as Jews."

(h/t Irina)

UPDATE: I didn't look at the end - one of their links is to "Shekinah Ministries," a Christian missionary group. Perfect.

Agatha Harkness To Deliver Every Gov't COVID Statement (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

Agnes Jerusalem, August 29 - Israeli public health officials has launched a pilot program under which a character from a television comedy series by Marvel will serve as spokeswoman each time the Ministry of Health issues new guidelines or predictions, to lend such messages the appropriate gravitas and credibility.

Minister of Health Nitzan Horowitz told reporters today (Thursday) that beginning this week, updates on restrictions and the effectiveness of COVID mitigation efforts will come through Agatha (Agnes) Harkness, who established a reputation for delivering information at face value via her appearance in Season 1 Episode 3 of the comedy series Wandavision (see photo).

"We are pleased to announce that we have teamed with the person who, we believe, embodies the proper level of seriousness we strive to convey through the information and recommendations we provide," Horowitz stated. "This initiative begins next week and will proceed as a trial phase at least through the upcoming holidays in the month of Tishrei, after which we will assess its impact on the public's adherence to constantly-shifting and scientifically-dubious policies that we always assure them will contain the spread of coronavirus."

"If it proves successful," the minister continued, "Ms. Harkness has agreed to expand the aegis of her pronouncements to include other government ministries and entities, the credibility and reliability of which she reflects so well." Horowitz encouraged those in attendance to visualize the current announcement as coming from Harkness with her characteristic mannerisms, and to observe the immediate effect on the weight the announcement carries as a result.

Analysts remarked that at the very least, the use of Agnes Harkness - played by Kathryn Hahn in the series - will finally bring the way government-provided COVID information is presented into line with the way the public views it. "Sometimes it's just a question of which personality resonates with the message, and which ones do not," explained media and politics commentator Adam Gold. "I am given to understand that the Ministry of Health conducted numerous focus groups to test various personalities and how people viewed them as appropriate for the government's COVID messaging. Apparently Ms. Harkness prevailed over other minor celebrities such as Yuval HaMevulbal, a clown; Mongo from the Mel Brooks film Blazing Saddles; the Minions; and the idea of simply rendering the text of every announcement in alternating capital and lower-case letters, the advantage of which lies in it remaining unnecessary to speak the words aloud to convey the most suitable tone."

08/26 Links Pt1: At least 13 said killed at Kabul airport in suspected IS suicide attack; Reuters Transforms Grenade-Wielding Palestinian Into ‘Anti-Israel Protester’

From Ian:

At least 13 said killed at Kabul airport in suspected IS suicide attack

Explosions went off on Thursday outside the Kabul airport, where thousands of people were gathered to try to flee Afghanistan on Western airlifts since the Taliban seized power earlier this month. Officials described the incident as deadly suicide bombings allegedly carried out by the Islamic State terror group.

The Pentagon and Russia’s Foreign Ministry said a second explosion then went off outside Kabul airport. Moscow said the twin suicide attacks killed at least 13 people and wounded another 15.

A Taliban official told Reuters children were among the killed and numerous Taliban guards were among the injured.

A US official told Fox News that the explosion near one of the airport gates in Kabul was a combined suicide bombing and firefight. The outlet said at least three US troops were injured and that there were also Afghan casualties.

A US official said on condition of anonymity that the attack was “definitely believed” to have been carried out by the Islamic State. The terror group, which is more radical than the Taliban and has carried out a wave of attacks targeting civilians, was yet to officially claim responsibility.

The US official said members of the US military were wounded in the attack, which involved two suicide bombers and gunmen.

#BREAKING : Second explosion hit Baron Hotel near #Kabul airport where Americans were rescued last week.
Reports saying now 30 killed in blasts pic.twitter.com/Et74OMlBvV
— ZionWarrior (@ZionWarrior6) August 26, 2021

Lee Smith: The Dream Palaces of the Americans

When new Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett meets with President Joe Biden and his minders at the White House today, a few things seem like sure bets. First, Bennett and his aides will lay out a scheme for keeping Iran from going nuclear, which the Americans will nod at and ignore. Second, the American side will solemnly raise the necessity of establishing a Palestinian state living side by side in peace with Israel.

Instead of nodding, smiling, and pretending to share the dream of peaceful democratic Palestinian statehood, Bennett could show true friendship to America by pointing to the example of Afghanistan. It’s clear no one in the American political establishment has yet internalized the lesson.

For twenty years, official Washington, DC dared not describe Afghanistan as it truly is and would be after America’s exit. It would have been gauche to do so— worse, it would have shown that one lacked vision, high ideals. Anyone who didn’t believe there was a democratic polity just waiting to escape its despotic chains and unleash its liberal energies was guilty of “the soft bigotry of low expectations” — that is, a racist. In this fun-house-mirror version of Afghanistan, America was building yet another city on a hill, a citadel whose government would promote Western gender theory’s latest findings, which would be enforced by elite special forces units trained by American officers and loyal to the central government in Kabul.

These elements of the Afghani dream-state were part of a bespoke tapestry spun out by and for the policy establishment and Beltway defense contractors, NGO workers, think tank experts, and the rest of the client state. So long as everyone was getting paid, the mirage never hurt anyone — unless your child happened to subscribe to the fiction and put his or her life in danger either in uniform or as an aid worker. But now, the dream palace has burned to the ground, and as the smoke clears no one can mistake the fact that authentic Afghanistan is in the hands of the Taliban.

Bennett knows it would be more polite to nod along meaningfully with his hosts and that he’d insult them by explaining Palestinian statehood is a hallucination on the level of Afghani democracy. Speaking up, however, would nonetheless help safeguard the interests of his own country, while winning the favor of an American public that has seen their elites throw away the lives of thousands of the country’s most high-spirited and honorable young men and women to satisfy their whimsy.

The Caroline Glick Show: Episode 18 – The fallout for Israel (and the world) of Biden’s destruction of U.S. credibility

Episode 18 of the Caroline Glick Mideast News Hour with Gadi Taub focused on the strategic repercussions of the U.S. defeat in Afghanistan for the U.S. and it allies in the region and the world and of course on Israel. The Israel-centered second half of the show centered in on Israel’s unelected Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s trip to Washington this week to meet with Biden and his top advisors while they oversee the abandonment of U.S. citizens and Afghan allies in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. How will the rout in Afghanistan affect Bennett’s hopes of convincing Biden to work with Israel to block Iran’s efforts to become a nuclear power?

Thanks @colrichardkemp for joining my podcast The Diplomat on @Newsweek to discuss the terrible situation in #Afghanistan. Take a listen. Episode 2 in my Afghanistan series. You can listen to all episodes on Apple, Spotify & wherever podcasts are heard.

https://t.co/HcJuz8IFJL
— Jason D. Greenblatt ???? ???????? (@GreenblattJD) August 24, 2021

Palestinian prime minister Mohamed Shtayyeh met with Sweden's deputy foreign minister Robert Rydberg on Tuesday,

He used the occasion to ask the EU to pressure Israel economically to agree to establish a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. He also thanked Sweden for its supposed support for the "right of return." (As far as I can tell, Sweden's position is for a token number of Palestinians to be allowed to move to Israel as part of a larger peace agreement, and it says "the Palestinians will have to abandon their demand for a mass repatriation to Israel itself.")

Perhaps the most absurd part of the conversation was Shtayyeh's insistence on the fiction that the PA really, really wanted to hold the scheduled legislative elections in May, but Israel's refusal to allow Arabs in Jerusalem to vote is what scuttled the plan.

Even though that was the excuse used by Abbas when he canceled the elections in April, no one believed him. His Fatah party had split into three groups and polling showed that Hamas would win handily. And the few thousand Jerusalem Arabs who used post offices in 2006 to cast remote ballots could have easily traveled a short distance into the territories to vote.

The proposed elections, from the start, were intended to establish that Jerusalem was Palestinian land. The ruling Fatah party never had any intention of giving up its rule, and as soon as the Fatah split showed it losing many seats, the elections were canceled. (The presidential elections originally scheduled for July 31 also weren't held.)