Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Elder Comix: What could make people hate Jews?

By Daled Amos

Raisi said the general [Qassem Soleimani] never feared the US even as he was fully aware of its military power, “and believed from the depths of his soul that America can’t do a damn thing against us.”
Iran's president Ebrahim Raisi, quoted in Aljazeera

Soleimani's admitted underestimation of the ability, and willingness, of the US to terminate him might be matched by the overestimation of just how popular Soleimani himself was during his life -- and now that he is dead.

Iran, of course, insists that the general was a hero beloved by his country and has declared its commitment to seeing Trump and others in his former administration brought to justice. Back in 2020 and then each year on the anniversary of Soleimani's death on January 3, Iran turns to Interpol with a request to issue a "red notice" that would make it possible for local law enforcement in the US to arrest Trump on Iran's behalf. Red notices, however, cannot force an arrest nor an extradition -- and besides, according to their policy Interpol does not get involved in issues of a political or military nature.

Iran has not stopped there. It has also called on both the UN General Assembly and the Security Council to issue resolutions against the US.

But looking at the reaction to Soleimani's death demonstrates just how hated Soleimani -- and Iran -- are in the Arab world.

An article on the website of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace notes that though Soleimani was killed at 1 o'clock in the morning in Baghdad, by 4:30am there was already a group of Iraqis running through the streets there celebrating his death. He was considered responsible for the 500 deaths of protestors against Iranian involvement in Iraqi corruption and mismanagement.

The celebrations went beyond Iraq, extending to the Persian Gulf, and parts of Syria and Lebanon where

People danced in the streets, handed out sweets, and bought cakes to celebrate the death of the man who was, to all intents and purposes, the long arm of the Iranian revolutionary regime.

According to the Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad, Soleimani was not all that loved by the Iranian people either:

One indication that she is right is that one of the statues that was erected to honor Soleimani in Shahre-Kord in Iran was set on fire hours later:

Nor was that an isolated incident:

In September 2021, police arrested a man for torching another statue of Soleimani in the southwestern city of Yasuj, not very far from Shahrekord.

A few months before that, three young men in the city of Baneh were sentenced to a total of 16 years and seven months in prison for setting fire to a banner of Soleimani.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad attended various memorials for Soleimani and praised him for his support -- and put up some banners and posters of their own. Considering the ties between Hamas and Iran, this is to be expected.

On the other hand...

Among the fierce critics of these ties is Majdi Al-Mughrabi, a Salafi sheikh from Rafah. Like last year, he defied Hamas by calling on the people of Gaza to tear down the posters of Soleimani.

Last year, some Gazans actually did tear down some poster of Soleimani, and Al-Mughrabi responded:

Praise Allah, some Muslim youths, clean of hands and pure of heart, tore down several pictures of the dead warmonger and criminal Soleimani, after biased mercenaries put them up in some of Gaza's squares…

Here is Al-Mughrabi responding to Muhammad Al-Buraim, a spokesperson for the Popular Resistance Committees, who praised Soleimani:

What resistance are these mercenaries speaking about?! Resistance [carried out] by smuggling and by expelling, murdering and imprisoning the Syrian people? Or by destroying homes over the heads of unarmed women, children and elders? When he could no longer [continue these actions in Syria, Soleimani] brought the Russian infidels into [the country]. Or perhaps they are talking about similar actions carried out in Iraq, which has been butchered, in Yemen, which has been plundered and destroyed, or in Lebanon?!

Nor did opposition in Gaza to Soleimani only spring up after his death. In 2017, in reaction to Hamas leader Yahya Al Sinwar praising Soleimani, Dr. Ibrahim Hamami, a Palestinian journalist residing in London responded:

Does Mr. Al-Sinwar, who claims that Soleimani loves Palestine, know how many Muslims and Arabs this criminal has murdered since 2012 in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon? Palestine will never be liberated by people like the criminal Soleimani. We say: Palestine loathes, hates, and curses Soleimani, and may we earn the right to see Allah do justice unto him. [Oh Al-Sinwar], if only you would shut up!

According to Jordanian journalist Luqman Iskandar, whose articles have been cited in Hamas-affiliated websites:

According to our ideology, in whose defense Hamas martyrs are killed, a Muslim does not forge an alliance with the murderers of Muslims to overcome other murderers. Distinguishing between [primary and secondary] enemies is one thing, but forging an alliance with the enemy and courting him is another… [But] the worst thing Al-Sinwar is doing is [inflicting] damage on the nation's consciousness and intensifying internal division. From what lair has this person emerged to court the murderer of our children?

There were other Palestinian Arab leaders and journalists who came out against Soleimani back then -- and, of course, many who defended Hamas ties both to him and to Iran. The fact that Hamas has only increased its ties to Iran speaks for itself.

Basically, the Hamas leadership is not much different than Arafat, who during the first Gulf War was one of the very few Arab leaders to publicly support Saddam Hussein.

As for the Arab world in general, Khaled Abu Toameh wrote about a recent poll:

Syrian-born TV host Faisal Al-Kasim recently asked his 5.9 million followers on Twitter the following: "Which is better, Israel's reputation or Iran's reputation in the [Middle East] region?" The result of the poll showed that 74.8% viewed Israel as having a better reputation as opposed to 25.2% in favor of Iran. [emphasis added]

Al-Kasim didn't stop there:

The next day, Al-Kasim, who hosts a popular debate show on the Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera network called The Opposite Direction, conducted another survey on Twitter. This time, he asked his followers: "Do you support the Israeli bombing of Iran and its militias in Syria?"

According to the results of the poll, 77.8% said they supported the Israeli military strikes, while only 22.2% voiced opposition. [emphasis added]

For all their posters and statues, Iran cannot alter the fact that Soleimani is despised in the Arab world.
Just like they are.

01/18 Links Pt1: Watchdog Sues Biden Admin Over Funding for Palestinian Government; Deborah Lipstadt: Being Jewish Today Means Training for Active Shooters

From Ian:

Watchdog Sues Biden Admin Over Funding for Palestinian Government

A watchdog group is suing the Biden administration for refusing to turn over internal documents that could show it violated a bipartisan law banning the federal government from sending money to the Palestinian government until it stops using these funds to pay terrorists.

Protect the Public's Trust (PPT), a watchdog group comprised of former government officials, is accusing the State Department of stonewalling its Freedom of Information Act request for all internal documents and communications related to the administration's decision last year to unfreeze U.S. aid to the Palestinian government. Taxpayer funds for the Palestinian Authority were stopped under former president Donald Trump due to that government's ongoing support for terrorism.

The lawsuit, a copy of which was exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, says the State Department sat on PPT's FOIA request for more than 240 days, well past the statutory period in which federal agencies like the State Department must provide the requested information. The State Department says it will not be able to turn over the relevant information until at least Dec. 16.

The information in question could show the Biden administration resumed Palestinian aid in violation of a law known as the Taylor Force Act, a 2018 bipartisan piece of legislation that bars the federal government from providing taxpayer aid to the Palestinian government as long as it continues a policy known as "pay to slay," in which aid dollars are used to pay terrorists and their families. The Palestinian Authority continues to make these payments, generating concerns from lawmakers and watchdog groups like PPT that the Biden administration violated the law.

"The American public deserves transparency around this decision, which may not only be in violation of the law but could potentially result in increased danger for U.S. citizens and their allies," Michael Chamberlain, PPT's director, told the Free Beacon. "But the State Department has yet to even give an estimate for when we will receive records, much less provide any."

Texas Synagogue Hostage Crisis: A Case Study in Downplaying Antisemitism

So, you can’t really blame some Jews for being perturbed at the FBI, recently charged with keeping an eye on “domestic terrorists” who challenge school-board members, for initially contending that the Texas synagogue attack was “not specifically related to the Jewish community.” Or, our suddenly judicious president, who only last week was smearing anyone who refused to support his power grab as a white supremacist, for now saying, “I don’t think there is sufficient information to know about why he targeted that synagogue or why he insisted on the release of someone who’s been in prison for over 10 years, why he was engaged — why he was using antisemitic and anti-Israeli comments. I — we just don’t have enough facts.”

Being vigilant is fine. In fact, it would serve the nation better if law enforcement, media, and politicians always took their time assessing these events before placing blame. This cautious approach, however, seems reserved for certain politically inconvenient crimes. Everyone knows well what will happen the next time a white male commits anything resembling a politically motivated act. The media still seem to think every conservative is somehow culpable for January 6, while liberals will never be asked to answer for the terrorist who attempted to massacre the entire Republican leadership on June 14, 2017, or for the widespread rioting of 2020.

As Batya Ungar-Sargon pointed out today on HillTV, there is no need to get hysterical about every anti-Jewish incident, as Jews in the United States are still the luckiest Jews in history — safer, freer, and better off, than at any time. That, however, goes for everyone who lives here. As Ungar-Sargon also notes, it is unreasonable to diminish the presence of anti-Jewish behavior to protect “marginalized” groups. Antisemitism is quite popular in the Islamic world. Forget the Middle East, where Pew found near unanimity among national populations on the Jewish question; look at allegedly liberal Europe. As one recent EU study found, among the most serious incidents of antisemitism in the European Union, 31 percent include someone the victim did not know, but 30 percent were perpetrated by someone with extremist Muslim views; 21 percent with someone who held left-wing political views; 16 percent by a colleague from work or school; 15 percent by an acquaintance or friend; and 13 percent by someone with known right-wing views.

And, in the historic harmony of American life, there are more anti-Jewish crimes perpetrated than all the other religiously motivated crimes combined — often at the hands of other minority groups. The habit of downplaying this kind of antisemitism, or appropriating it for partisanship, is a dangerous game.

Deborah Lipstadt: Being Jewish Today Means Training for Active Shooters

We are shaken. We are not OK. But we will bounce back. We are resilient because we cannot afford not to be. That resiliency is part of the Jewish DNA. Without it, we would have disappeared centuries ago. We refuse to go away. But we are exhausted.

Rabbi Cytron-Walker credited his survival to the active-shooter training and security courses that he and his congregants took in order to prepare for just such a moment. He knew to stay calm and knew the right moment to fling a chair at his captor and dash for the exit with the other captives. The Jewish community offers such training on a regular basis to an array of Jewish institutions, especially to our synagogues and our schools.

It is not radical to say that going to services, whether to converse with God or with the neighbors you see only once a week, should not be an act of courage. And yet this weekend we were once again reminded that it can be precisely that.

Among those morning blessings that are part of Blessings of the Dawn is one that thanks God for opening up the eyes of the blind. Jewish eyes did not need to be opened. But this week we wonder if the eyes of our non-Jewish friends and neighbors, particularly the ones who didn’t call to see if we were OK, have been opened just a bit.

There is an additional blessing during these early prayers that thanks God for allowing us to stand tall and straight. We are standing tall and we are standing straight.

But we are checking for the exits.

Just beautiful.

The (Orthodox) Rabbinical Council of America (@RCArabbinical) letter to (Reform) #Colleville Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker (@URJorg) ends with the traditional prayer of Jewish Peoplehood and Unity.

H/t my incredible (@UJAfedNY) brother @rabbicreditor! pic.twitter.com/Ms91dR8gFi
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) January 18, 2022

Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner - the Warner Brothers

Rolling Stone covers the controversy around the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures erasing Jews out of the history of Hollywood.

On Sept. 25, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures held its opening gala with a starry guest list that included Lady Gaga, Brad Pitt, Nicole Kidman, Queen Latifah, Patty Jenkins, Tiffany Haddish, Kristen Stewart, and Jurnee Smollet. ..... Donors and influential Academy members, many of whom already had received private tours, were outraged that Hollywood’s origin story — wherein a group of mostly Jewish émigrés fled persecution in their home countries to create what would become a multibillion-dollar, American-led industry — was conspicuously absent.

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, who was on hand for the gala, was immediately struck by the lapse. “I would’ve hoped that any honest historical assessment of the motion picture industry — its origins, its development, its growth — would include the role that Jews played in building the industry from the ground up,” he says. “As I walked through, I literally turned to the person I was there with and said to him, ‘Where are the Jews?’ The omission was glaring.”

That sentiment is being echoed from Hollywood’s C-suites to the halls of academia. “It’s sort of like building a museum dedicated to Renaissance painting, and ignoring the Italians,” says Hollywood historian and Brandeis University professor Thomas Doherty. “That generation of early moguls — Carl Laemmle, Jack Warner, we know all their names — is a terrific story of upward mobility, living the American dream. It’s one of the great contributions of American Jews to American culture.”

Behind the scenes, a full revolt was afoot, sources say, with some patrons threatening to pull future support for the institution. Says one prominent Academy member who declined to be named: “You left the museum with the impression that the film industry was created 10 years ago. They erased the past. And I find it appalling.”

How did this happen? The details show how "wokeism" is in fact antisemitic.

Sources say a small contingent of influential Academy members pushed hard for nonwhite cinema to be highlighted and white contributions to be de-emphasized. A review of the exhibits would seem to support this notion. Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, for example, received a retrospective, while there was no similar treatment for the genre’s godfather, Walt Disney.

The relative obscurity of others spotlighted, such as Ethiopian director Haile Gerima, who received the museum’s first Vanguard Award, left some patrons scratching their heads.

If identity was a priority in programming, Jewish identity apparently was not. There is scant mention of Jewish trailblazers.

A source who is familiar with programming decisions says it was a battle no one was willing to fight, even if that meant a skewed overview of cinema history: “A lot of people who might have fought harder for the representation of Jews were just really laying low,” says the source.

The museum will try to make up for this with a future, permanent exhibition highlighting Hollywood's history (that wasn't originally intended to be permanent.) But the damage has been done.

“By not including the founding fathers out of the gate, they were making a massive statement,” says Triller co-founder and Academy member Ryan Kavanaugh. “As the grandson of Holocaust survivors, it’s just shocking that they erased the contributions of a group who faced severe anti-Semitism — they couldn’t get bank loans, they couldn’t own homes in L.A., and yet they still created this industry that is the bedrock of the L.A. economy and touches people around the world. Instead of, ‘Look at what what they were able to do,’ it’s just wiped out. It goes against everything that our industry says they stand for.”

Hollywood was built by Jews who were marginalized by society which forced them to create an entire new industry. Now, the small but loud bullies who dominate the woke, intersectional conversation decided that Jews should be marginalized again.

It is wonderful to highlight the contributions of minorities to motion pictures. It is antisemitic to airbrush out the Jews who created the entire industry.

(h/t Brad)

I read the news today, oh boy. 4000 potential jihadists in Blackburn, Lancashire.

Malik Faisal Akram, the Texas synagogue terrorist, lived in Blackburn, England.

How many other potential jihadists might be there?

Studies have shown that Muslims in Britain are far more antisemitic than the larger population. Only 32% of British Muslims have a positive view towards Jews, as opposed to 74% of the entire British population.

What about extremist antisemitic attitudes? A 2017 study shows that 8% of British Muslims believe the Holocaust is a myth, as opposed to about 2% of the general British population.

Akram identified as a Deobandi Muslim, one of the most extreme Islamist groups in Britain. He is also a member of Tablighi Jamaat, an extremist Muslim movement popular in Pakistan.

11% of all British Muslims identify as Salafis, Barelvi or Deobandi Muslims, the three most extreme groups there. This roughly tracks with the percentage of British Muslims, 13%, who said that in at least some circumstances, Muslims who leave the religion should get the death penalty.

As of 2017, 30.9% of all residents in Blackburn were Muslim - about 46,000. Blackburn has the second highest population of Muslims in England, second only to London, and from all indications it is far more extremist than the larger Muslim population. White men fear entering sections of town they call "no-go" areas, and extremist literature is easily found in bookstores there. Blackburn is considered the global hub for Deobandis and members of the Tablighi Jamaat. The Central Masjid of Blackburn is openly associated with Tablighi Jamaat. It has a booklet discouraging women from praying in mosques. The Blackburn Markaz mosque attracts over a thousand people every Thursday night.

Remember the convoy of cars in London last May where they shouted out, "'Fuck the Jews... Fuck all of them. Fuck their mothers, fuck their daughters and show your support for Palestine. Rape their daughters and we have to send a message like that. Please do it for the poor children in Gaza."? The four arrested for that incident are from Blackburn.

From all indications, Blackburn's Muslims are more extremist than those in Britain as a whole. If 20% of them are extremists (and it seems that in Blackburn, that is a conservative estimate) that would be about 10,000 in Blackburn alone. This includes women, children and the elderly, so while the number of extremists who could become jihadists in Blackburn might not quite reach the number of holes counted in the Beatles' song, it might be close to that figure of 4000.

This week is the third annual #ShukranDruze week, when we thank the Druze community in Israel for their outstanding and essential contributions to society.

The Druze community is said to descend from the Biblical Yitro (Jethro) and the annual thanksgiving coincides with then Jews read his story in the weekly Torah portion.

The DruzeVets website summarizes how important the Druze community has been to Israel:

Valiant. Loyal. Fearless. They defend Israel daily – they deserve our thanks.

The Druze of Israel are a tiny yet fiercely loyal minority who serve with pride and dignity and have sacrificed 505 of their brethren in the defense of Israel – with over 1,500 wounded. Out of a community of just 120,000 those are huge, unfortunate, and very telling numbers.

Most of Israel’s friends around the globe do not know about the Druze community and its special relationship with the State of Israel. This recognition is long overdue, and it is the reason for the creation of the Global Week of Hakarat Hatov – #ShukranDruze.

Since even before the modern State of Israel was established, members of the Druze community have been serving proudly alongside Jews as soldiers, as first responders, and in all of the other arms of Israel’s security establishment.

In 2014, when Jews were being massacred during their prayers at a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood, it was an off-duty Druze police officer who ran in to stop the terrorist.
When Israel launched Operation Protective Edge in 2014 to curb terrorism from Gaza, a Druze commander led the ground battle.
In 2017, two Israeli police officers were killed while defending tourists on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Both officers were Druze.
Israel’s Presidential Military Liaison is Druze.
The commander responsible for cross-border goodwill with Gaza is Druze.
The Surgeon General of the Israel Defense Forces is Druze.
Many other senior leaders in Israel’s security and judiciary infrastructure, past and present, are Druze.

Shukran means "thank you" in Arabic, the Druze language. "Hakarat HaTov" is the Jewish attribute of recognizing those who help us and to thank them.

The pro-Druze community asks you to post to social media this week, ask your rabbi to craft a sermon around this theme, request a school assembly on the theme of Hakarat HaTov with the Druze as an example, or do other simple things to show our appreciation for the Druze community in Israel that has contributed so much.

The State Department didn't deny Israeli natural gas will go to Lebanon

Israeli media reported:

Israel has signed an agreement to indirectly pump natural gas to Lebanon to aid the crisis-hit nation, an unsourced television report claimed on Saturday.

Channel 12 news reported that the deal was brokered by Amos Hochstein, Washington’s special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs, and signed in secret over the weekend.

It will see Israel transfer gas from the offshore Leviathan field to Jordan, the report said. From there it will be transferred to Syria and on to Lebanon.

However, the network said, the move will require repairing and extending a gas line that flows from Syria to Lebanon, which could take several years.

The agreement was approved by the United States and was also coordinated with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the report.

Since this sort of thing makes Arabs who hate Israel go crazy, the US State Department tweeted a denial - that wasn't a denial.

Naharnet adds:

The Lebanese Ministry of Energy affirmed, for its part, that the natural gas is Egyptian, denying the media reports as well.

The natural gas from Egypt will be used to generate electrical power to the Lebanese who are currently living with only few hours of state electricity a day and are obliged to pay increasing hefty bills to private generator operators, which also depend on diesel fuel.

The deal would not have been between Israel and Lebanon - it would have been between Israel and Jordan (or Egypt) and then between Jordan (or Egypt) and Lebanon.

Israel already sells natural gas to both Egypt and Jordan. Does no one believe that some of the gas that goes to Egypt will end up in Lebanon?

01/17 Links Pt2: David Collier: Wikipedia butchers history and promotes terrorism; Tu B’Shvat: The Festival That Proves the Jewish People’s Connection to the Land of Israel

From Ian:

David Collier: Wikipedia butchers history and promotes terrorism – part 1

A stream of content-empty, repetitive books is included – but there is no entry for the blood-curdling cries of the Arab leaders. Abdul Rahman Azzam, the Arab League’s first secretary-general, said that the establishment of a Jewish state would lead to “a war of extermination and momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacre and the Crusades.“. Wikipedia editors obviously believe that the horrific and murderous ideology promoted by Arab leaders is not as worthy of mention as books that almost nobody bothered to read.

And looking at anti-Zionism today, nothing has changed. All around us we see violent threats, and antisemitism spreading through anti-Zionist thought. The false image that anti-Zionism has a friendly, peaceful face may be all you will see on the page, but as Bret Stephens pointed out in the NYT not everyone got the memo:
“Not the people who, waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Death to Jews,” according to a witness, assaulted Jewish diners at a Los Angeles sushi restaurant. Not the people who threw fireworks in New York’s diamond district. Not the people who brutally beat up a man wearing a yarmulke in Times Square. Not the people who drove through London slurring Jews and yelling, “Rape their daughters.” Not the people who gathered outside a synagogue in Germany shouting slurs. Not the people who, at a protest in Brussels, chanted, “Jews, remember Khaybar. The army of Muhammad is returning.””

These incidents are just a snippet, but provides an image absolutely representative of anti-Zionism in the modern era. Just as the Hamas Charter represents the 1980s, the three Nos of Khartoum the 1960s, and the genocidal call from the Arab leaders the 1940s. Where is all this in Wikipedia’s sanitised timeline of anti-Zionism?

This isn’t an encyclopedia – it is a propaganda site.
The timeline of anti-Zionism page is an exercise in carefully polished propaganda. It is not real – it is not history – it does not even try to be balanced. All that exists is a page for anti-Israel propagandists to use as a reference guide.

Is this really what Wikipedia’s founders imagined the website would become – and more importantly – is this really what Wikipedia donors are supporting? A Marxist / Islamist vision of the world? This is a single page – there are 1000s of them. Every page that deals with Jews, Zionism, the Palestinians, or Israel is tainted.

I cannot stress this enough Wikipedia is a hostile website that spreads anti-Jewish disinformation and hate – much of it written by the hands of Islamists. This is even more important given what will be exposed in part two of this story – evidence that ‘Wikipedia promotes terrorism’. Coming soon.

Why do neo-Nazis love ‘Haaretz’?

A neo-Nazi website claims that Orthodox Jews treat women “like filth,” and says that doing so is commanded by Jewish law. The claim is backed up with quotes from an article from the far-left daily, Haaretz, and even includes a direct link to the Israeli newspaper’s site.

Another post on the neo-Nazi forum claims that Orthodox Jews are spreading the COVID-19 virus in Australia. This, too, is backed up with quotes from and a link to Haaretz.

A third neo-Nazi post includes a call by Haaretz to reprint Adolf Hitler’s anti-Semitic, genocidal book, Mein Kampf, and put it back on sale in German bookstores. Germany currently outlaws the book.

There are actually hundreds of anti-Semitic posts on the site based on “news items” from Haaretz—1,400 references, to be precise. And if it were a little-known publication, perhaps such citing would be inconsequential. As the leading paper among Israel’s ruling elite, however—with subscribers including Supreme Court justices, government ministers, leading journalists, Israel Defense Forces generals and cultural icons—the powerful Hebrew broadsheet with an English-language edition wields enormous influence, both inside and outside the country. Nor is it only the secular elite who read Haaretz. Many left-wing religious Jews are also subscribers.

The neo-Nazi website in question is Stormfront, described by Wikipedia as a “neo-Nazi Internet forum, and the Web’s first major racial hate site … primarily focused on propagating white nationalism, anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial, anti-Catholicism and white supremacy.”

Where Haaretz goes full-blown neo-Nazi Holocaust distortion! pic.twitter.com/Yl8CeEOfnS
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) January 16, 2022

Tu B’Shvat: The Festival That Proves the Jewish People’s Connection to the Land of Israel

The Jewish calendar has many holidays. Some celebrate the survival of the Jewish people over various enemies, and some are solemnly spiritual in nature — but others exist, too. One such festival, Tu B’Shvat, is perhaps the greatest proof of the Jewish people’s deep connection with the Holy Land.

Tu B’Shvat is a Jewish holiday heralding the blossoming of trees and the beginning of the coming cycle of fruit. The name actually derives directly from the Hebrew date of the holiday, which occurs on the 15th day of Sh’vat. “Tu” stands for the Hebrew letters Tet and Vav, which have numerical values of 9 and 6 respectively, which add up to 15.

Tu B’Shvat’s roots can be traced all the way back to the Jewish Talmud. While Rosh Hashanah, the main Jewish new year festival, is familiar to many people, there are actually a number of new year dates in the Jewish tradition. The Talmud records a debate with various opinions, leading to the establishment of four new years:
- The first of Nisan as the “new year for kings and festivals”;
- The first of Elul as the “new year for the tithe of cattle”;
- The first of Tishrei as the “new year for years,” including the calculation of the calendar and sabbatical years; and
- The 15th of Sh’vat as the “new year for trees.”

Many centuries ago, a variety of different taxation methods were employed. One of the most common was called tithing. Tithing required separating percentages of produce, and handing them over to the local authorities. In ancient Israel, Tu B’Shvat marked the date when calculations of the forthcoming fruit crop would begin.

The Talmud records this date as being the point in time when trees in the Land of Israel are said to awaken from their winter hibernation and start the process of renewal. While the date can naturally only be approximate, the month was selected because “most of the yearly rainfall has passed” (Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashanah, 14a), causing the trees to renew and their fruit to ripen.

Photo from Abu Ali Express

Times of Israel reports:

A Palestinian man was shot dead as he attempted to stab soldiers at a bus stop in the central West Bank on Monday, the Israel Defense Forces said.

No Israeli injuries were reported.

“The assailant got out of a car, armed with a knife, and tried to stab an IDF soldier,” the military said.

The soldier opened fire at the man, killing him, according to the IDF. The knife was recovered at the scene.

Troops launched a search to find the car that transported the assailant to the scene, setting up roadblocks in the area. A short while later, the driver of the vehicle turned himself in to Israeli security forces, the Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration said.

The Palestinian Authority always takes the tack of "Israel killed him unjustly."

Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates today condemned in two separate statements the Israeli army killing of a Palestinian man near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem.

Faleh Jaradat, from the Hebron area town of Sair, was shot and killed this afternoon after he allegedly attempted to stab a soldier at an intersection near Bethlehem. The soldier was not hurt.

Shtayyeh called on international human rights organizations to pressure Israel to stop the killings and ongoing attacks on the Palestinian people.

He said the soldiers left Jaradat bleeding on the ground until he died, stressing that the extrajudicial execution of Palestinians reflects “the doctrine of state terrorism espoused by its soldiers.”

The Foreign Ministry, on the other hand, considered the killing of Jaradat another episode in the series of extrajudicial killings committed by the Israeli occupiers and their settlers against unarmed Palestinian civilians under flimsy pretexts and enforcement of the new shooting instructions approved by the political and military circles in the occupying state.

While it held the Israeli government fully responsible for “this crime,” it called on the international community, particularly the United Nations and its Secretary-General, to shoulder their responsibilities and initiate a system to protect the Palestinian people under occupation.

And Hamas is always proud of the wannabe murderer:

The Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas" mourned the martyrdom of Faleh Musa Shaker Jaradat, the perpetrator of the stabbing attack at the "Gush Etzion" junction, south of Bethlehem. "We mourn with pride the heroic martyr Faleh Musa Shaker Jaradat, who carried out the heroic stabbing operation at the Gush Etzion junction," the movement said in a statement. She added, "We congratulate this operation, and affirm that it comes in the context of the natural response to the crimes of the occupation and its settlers throughout the West Bank, occupied Jerusalem, and the steadfast Negev."

01/17 Links Pt1: Bari Weiss: Being Jewish in an Unraveling America; Texas rabbi says he is 'alive today' thanks to police training; Boris calls Texas attack an ‘antisemitic act of terrorism’

From Ian:

Bari Weiss: Being Jewish in an Unraveling America

American Jews have always told ourselves that we were different because this country was different—that it was exceptional. That the equivocation about Jew-hate that we are now witnessing was normal in other places but never would be so here. (I think of Sarah Halimi, a Jewish woman who was beaten and thrown out of her Paris window by a man screaming “dirty Jew” and “Allahu Akbar.” But French courts and much of the press decided that no motive could be ascertained. Ultimately, charges were dropped against the perpetrator because he had smoked weed before the murder.)

But America will only remain exceptional if Americans fight for it. And very few people in positions of cultural and political power seem to have any will to wage that battle. They believe that we are not the land of freedom, the country that abolished slavery, but one where slavery persists in more subtle form. That our army is not a force for liberation, but oppression. That our courts are not fair and blind, but prejudiced. And that this country and our ally, Israel, are not democracies but bastions of racial supremacy.

Today is Martin Luther King Day and I’m thinking of his understanding that the demand for equal treatment comes at no one’s expense because justice is not a zero-sum game. “We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity in this Nation,” he said. “When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men—black men as well as white men—would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Jews thrived in an America that had confidence in its goodness. Jews are not safe—no one is—in one which does not.

Five years ago, the rabbi’s invitation to the gun range would have shocked me. Now I think: I’m glad I saved her number.

JPost Editorial: Amid antisemitic violence, Jewish solidarity is needed

The American Jewish Committee’s 2021 State of Antisemitism in America report released in October revealed that approximately one in four US Jews was the target of antisemitism over the previous 12 months, and some 39% of US Jews changed their behavior out of fear of antisemitism.

The Colleyville attack ended without the loss of innocent lives, but it must be considered a wake-up call. The immediate crisis in Colleyville is over but the threat has not disappeared. Every Jewish community in the world needs to take the threat seriously and increase security measures.

Israel, with its experience in handling terrorism, can help by providing training and emotional trauma support. It should be stressed that vigilance does not mean vigilantism. Jews need to protect themselves, but this is not a call for violence, only for self-defense.

As well, the attack should serve as a reminder to Jews everywhere that we are one. The feeling of solidarity and support that was in evidence around the Jewish world on Saturday was real and heartfelt. It is a pity that such solidarity is mainly felt in times of crisis and is not ongoing.

The attacks are not restricted to one denomination or another, or a particular political affiliation or another. Orthodox Jews in Israel should not only stand with Reform Jews in the US when they are held hostage; they need to stand together at all times, despite political or ideological differences.

It must be made clear that Jew-hatred and antisemitism in all its forms is appalling and unacceptable anywhere and on any pretext. Indeed, it must be noted that violence against Jews is violence against all. What starts with lawless attacks on Jews never ends there. When Jews are afraid for their safety on the streets, on campuses and in synagogues, no one is safe.

This what the last 10 years has looked like for Jews in the west.#ColleyvilleSynagogue pic.twitter.com/5m8ygEJzh6
— Israel Advocacy Movement (@israel_advocacy) January 16, 2022

‘Lady Al Qaeda’ Blamed Jews for Her Conviction. Her Allies Can’t Figure Why A Gunman Attacked Synagogue In Her Name.

The Council on American Islamic Relations denied any connection between the terror attack at a Texas synagogue and its campaign to free imprisoned terrorist Aafia Siddiqui, one day after a fanatical gunman took Jewish congregants hostage to demand Siddiqui’s release.

CAIR has been a longtime advocate for clemency for Siddiqui, a terror operative who was dubbed "Lady al Qaeda" and sentenced to 86 years in prison in 2010 for trying to gun down U.S. FBI and military officials. During a joint press conference with Siddiqui’s attorney on Sunday, CAIR’s Dallas director Faizan Syed said it had no prior relationship to the the assailant, British national Malik Faisal Akram, and that his actions should not detract from efforts to seek clemency for Siddiqui.

Syed and Siddiqui's attorney, Marwa Elbially, were pressed by reporters on anti-Semitic remarks by Siddiqui that could lead her supporters to attack a synagogue. During her 2010 trial, for example, she demanded that jurors undergo DNA tests to ensure there were no Jews on her jury. In a letter to President Barack Obama from prison after the trial, Siddiqui wrote that Jewish people have "always back-stabbed everyone who has taken pity on them and made the ‘fatal' error of giving them shelter." The letter said "this why ‘holocausts' keep happening to them."

Elbially acknowledged the anti-Semitism, but suggested Siddiqui was suffering from mental illness during her trial due to alleged abuse Siddiqui was subjected to in CIA custody. When asked by the Washington Free Beacon if Siddiqui had ever renounced or apologized for her anti-Semitic views since 2010, CAIR and Elbially declined to answer affirmatively.

Elbially told the Free Beacon that "nothing excuses anti-Semitic statements," but said Siddiqui "was in a diminished state both physically and mentally when she stood trial."

Antisemites against antisemitism?

CAIR, Linda Sarsour, and her organization MPower do not stand with the Jewish people, they stand with the antisemitic terrorists who attack them, literally.#Colleyville #Texas #Antisemitism
w/ @yosephhaddad pic.twitter.com/m04RTvk8Lb
— Emily Schrader - ????? ?????? (@emilykschrader) January 16, 2022

MEMRI: CAIR-TX Panel on Aafia Siddiqui – Siddiqui’s Attorney: U.S. Government Lies on "Large Scale"

In a November 11, 2021 panel that was streamed live on YouTube by CAIR-TX and that was titled “Injustice: Dr. Aafia [Siddiqui] and the 20-Year Legacy of America’s Wars,” Aafia Siddiqui’s attorney Marwa Elbially said that the U.S. government lies on a large scale. She gave the example of the "fabricated" rescue of American soldier, who was taken hostage by Iraqi forces in 2003. She also said that the fact that Aafia Siddiqui has not become a “household name” for every American and that he has not been portrayed in “stupid TV shows” or “poorly-made movies” is proof that the government never really believed that she was an Al-Qaeda operative.

Prominent Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour, the Executive Director of Mpower Change, said that Aafia Siddiqui is a “political prisoner” like H. Rap Brown, who is serving a life sentence for the 2000 murder of two law enforcement officers, and like Leonard Peltier, who is serving a life sentence for involvement in the murder of two FBI agents. It is interesting to note that in September 2005, Iranian filmmaker Nader Talebzadeh also claimed that Jessica Lynch’s rescue had been staged (see MEMRI TV Clip No. 881.)

In 2017, a census was taken that showed that the number of Palestinians in Lebanon was 174,422.

UNRWA says that over 479,000 Palestinian "refugees" are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon.

Which means that most of those "refugees" left Lebanon - but UNRWA still counts them.

Now, The National notes that the numbers are diminishing further:

In the past two years, Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have been migrating at significantly higher rates in search of better work opportunities and a better standard of living.

Lebanon’s economic situation tightens its grasp on citizens and foreigners alike, said Abdelnaser Elayi, project manager at the inter-ministerial Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee.

“Before 2020, we would usually see about 6,000 to 8,000 Palestinians leave the country without returning, per year," Mr Elayi told The National

“Now, those figures are closer to 10,000 to 12,000. That is an increase by at least 30 per cent.”

If his numbers are right, that means that about 40,000 Palestinians have left since the census!

While between 30-50,000 Palestinians fled from Syria to Lebanon with the Syrian civil war, most of those would have been counted in the 2017 census and many cannot stay long because they have to renew their visas every three months.

This means that there may be as few as 135,000 Palestinians in Lebanon. As many as 70% of those counted by UNRWA aren't there.

No one can blame Lebanese Palestinians for wanting to leave. They are treated horribly, they cannot become citizens even after 73 years of residence, their camps are hellholes and they are not allowed to build or expand housing, and they suffer real apartheid with Lebanese laws drafted specifically aimed at them. Now with Lebanon's economy in dire straits, they are the low rung of a very rickety ladder.

One reason the world doesn't care about them is because there is a conscious decision by the Arab world to ensure that only Israel is blamed for Palestinian misery, and any other problems should not be aired.

No matter how the haters try to twist it, Tu B'Shvat is a Zionist holiday

Today is Tu B'Shvat, the traditional New Year for Trees.

Israel haters like to pretend that this is their holiday, and associate it with environmentalism, or climate change, or whatever else they can pretend to associate with it. One "Jewish Voice for Peace" event says "The event will include a group reading from Jews, Palestinians, and other activists as we acknowledge and mourn the ongoing suffering endured by Palestinians from the founding and expansion of Israel." and pay special attention to the million olive trees allegedly destroyed by Israel when building the separation barrier.

(Little reported is that when Israel uprooted those trees they replant them on the Palestinian side.)

As usual, the haters are trying to hijack something that is not only Jewish, but distinctly Zionist.

The original mention of Tu B'Shvat is in the Mishnah. The date that was designated as the "new year for trees" is meant to calculate the age of trees in the Land of Israel for various halachic reasons as to when the fruit of a tree is allowed to be eaten and for various tithes.

It only applies to the Land of Israel.

Later, the kabbalists instituted a "Tu B'Shvat seder" where they would ascribe symbolic meaning to fruits and trees...

...but only those fruits and trees that grow in the Land of Israel.

It was showing the attachment that Jews have for Eretz Yisrael.

With modern Zionism, Tu B'Shvat became a day to plant trees in Israel. The first such event was done by Rabbi Ze'ev Yavetz, an early religious Zionist, who took his students to plant trees in Zichron Yaakov.

In 1933, a tree was planted in Israel in honor of president-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, among thousands of others for a project to honor the bicentennial of George Washington's birth. He wrote back that "some day I want to see that tree in person - I have never yet been to Palestine and hope to go."

For 2,000 years, Tu B'Shvat has been linked to love that Jews have for the land of Israel. And nothing can take that away.

Last week, the Saudi English-language news site Arab News brought Rabbi Marc Schneier as an op-ed columnist.

Given that Schneier is not an Israeli citizen, this makes this a good test to see which Arabs are antisemitic. anyone who opposes this appointment has to explain their reasons why they are against a Jew.

Iran's Press TV called this a "surprising decision," and tied this to rumors that Israel and Saudi Arabia will establish relations.

The Palestinian Media Forum in Gaza condemned the move, calling it a "dangerous penetration of the awareness of Arab generations."

They called it "a promotion of intellectual poison in the Arab community, in addition to the obliteration of the crimes of the occupation against Islamic sanctities, foremost of which is the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and denying the torments of about 20 Palestinian journalists languishing in the prisons of the occupation."

They added that "opening the door for Rabbi Marc Schneier to address the Arab public constitutes a dangerous breach of the awareness of Arab generations, and provides a free service to the occupation without the slightest Arab benefit from such normalization."

In other words, Arabs might read opinions that they shouldn't be exposed to.

Palestinian news site Amad has a short commentary on the header of each page. Last week it said,

Weird and provocative to the Arab essence… An Arab newspaper that is published in English employs a Jewish rabbi as its chief editor… We would have respected the decision if (the rabbi) would be one that rejects the occupation, the ethnic cleansing and the racism… The debasement has become like a (runaway) train)… (Even) spitting on these (people) is not enough!

The thought of Jew writing for an Arab paper is really riling up some people.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

I love the Israeli series Checkout

I am watching the TV series Checkout on Chaiflicks. It is brilliantly funny.

It uses the techniques of a mock documentary like The Office or Parks and Recreation, but this is Israel - the characters don't pretend that they aren't on camera and they talk with the unseen camera operators, who sometimes add their own jokes.

You can watch the first three episodes for free.

The third episode itself is the best retort to anyone who says Israel is racist.

The episode makes fun of the subconscious racism and bigotry of the characters, as it begins with the news of a stabbing attack not far from the supermarket. A racist customer insists that the sweet, guileless Arab employee be gotten rid of. Meanwhile, a cashier is upset that her son is flirting with an Ethiopian cashier - with hilarious results.

A racist society could not produce such a show. It is beyond imagination to see a plotline like this in the Arab world. Anyone who calls Israel racist is an antisemite, period. Real racists can't make fun of their own racism.