Tuesday, September 06, 2022

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Arabs to Biden: Do Not Sign the Iran Deal, It Will Start a War
"A few days ago, US officials announced that it was Iran, not America, that had given up core demands. They lie. Iran has not given up on anything essential. On the contrary, Iran has obtained the essential demands it wants." — Sayed Zahra, deputy editor of Bahrain's Akhbar Al-Khaleej, August 31, 2022.

"[T]he most dangerous concession made by the US was to waive the inclusion of Iran's expansionist terrorist role in the region, its threats to the security and stability of Arab countries, the terrorist subversive role that Iran's proxy militias play in the Arab countries, and the issue of the Iranian missile program." — Sayed Zahra, Akhbar Al-Khaleej, August 31, 2022.

"He [Obama] did not hide his hatred of Arabs and his admiration for Iran. What Biden is doing today is following the same path, with full conviction on his part." — Sayed Zahra, Akhbar Al-Khaleej, August 31, 2022.

"Syria has been taken hostage by a regime that is affiliated with the Iranians and Russians.... The Iranian regime...does not differ from the Taliban regime or from Islamic State (ISIS). Terrorism, destabilization, and domination of people are almost the only goals of such regimes." — Ibrahim Allush, Syrian author, Enabbaladi, August 28, 2022.

"Washington has been very late in holding Iran accountable, or at least trying to hold it accountable for the systematic sabotage that it has practiced and is practicing in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza. This is the largest international sabotage operation that the Security Council has not been able to consider. None of the Security Council resolutions related to the region's crises mentions Iran, even though its role is essential in tampering with the four countries and destroying their institutions." — Abdul Wahab Badrakhan, Lebanese journalist, Al-Watan, August 28, 2022.

"President Biden's administration is trying to create an image in the eyes of the Americans that Iran's return to the nuclear agreement will bring it under control. Washington appears to be in a weak and precarious position, especially in light of the absence of an armed option." — Emil Amin, Egyptian author, Asharq Al-Awsat, August 27, 2022.

"[I]f these billions flow into the coffers of the Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Quds Force, how will Washington guarantee the security of these countries [Gulf states, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen] ?" — Mashar Al-Thaydi, Saudi commentator, Asharq Al-Awsat, August 26, 2022.

The Arabs... appear convinced that that pouring billions of dollars on the mullahs will eventually bring terrorism and violence to the US and the other Western powers involved in the new deal, if not a major war.


Report: UN refugee agency accepted $50 million from US-designated terrorist group
The U.N. agency responsible for assisting refugees globally has accepted $50 million in donations from a U.S.-designated terror organization, according to a report from a pro-Israel advocacy group.

The Union of Good is a Saudi Arabia-based umbrella organization consisting of more than 50 Islamic charities and funds. It is designated by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group, which allows the United States to block the assets of foreign individuals and entities that commit, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism.

The international nonprofit Israel-education organization StandWithUs recently uncovered that member charities of the Union of Good fundraising organization, designated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in 2008 for supporting terrorism, have channeled the money to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Since 2012, the UNHCR has accepted approximately $49 million from the Qatar Charity, along with another $4.75 million from the Eid Charity over the last two years. Eid Charity founder Abdul Rahman Al Nuaimi has been designated as a terrorist by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the U.N. Security Council for his support of Al-Qaeda and its affiliates in Syria, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen.


Palestinian covid handouts for needy went to bankers, wealthy officials and Palestinian diplomats
Palestinian officials, bankers and diplomats fraudulently received Covid aid payments intended to help the poorest West Bank families.

A report by the Palestinian Authority (PA) State Audit Bureau found that some beneficiaries of the £15 million Covid relief fund — for “the neediest and most marginalised” — were working from home on £4,000 a month.

They were still in well-paid jobs at PA ministries, universities, banks and telecommunications firms.

Although the fund was set up by the local private sector and Arab donors, the revelations raise serious questions about Britain’s involvement in propping up the notoriously corrupt PA.

Since 2008, the British taxpayer has given the PA regime about £640 million, mainly through donations for spending on health and education. On top of this, since 2011, £65 million has gone to support the PA security services, the brutality of which the JC disclosed last week.

The Palestinian audit found that up to six members of the same family had received Covid payments, when only one was allowed.

Aid was also given to people registered as directors of profitable companies or who had large shareholdings in stock exchange listed enterprises.

The corruption of the scheme — known as Waqfet Ezz, or the “Stand with Dignity” Fund — has been ignored by the international media.


Last week we exposed the Nazi-level antisemitism of Jordanian news site Sawaleif and its writer Bassem Yassin.

He continues with that theme this week, where he discusses the Jordanian conspiracy theory that Jews intend to take over Petra in Jordan:

 “God’s Chosen” people believe that God did not create anyone but them, and that God gave us our necks to be their slaves, so he overwhelmed and subjugated. Their history is distorted, their religion is closed, and their book - the Talmud - is false tales and fabricated superstitions, written by rabbis to serve their world and their interests.

What is happening in Petra, and the Jewish deception that is plotting for it, must be countered with an awareness media campaign, a strict parliamentary stance, decisive official decisions, a re-reading of the Wadi Treaty - the chariot that opened the doors for the Zionists, supposedly to visit us in peace, armed with malicious intentions and Talmudic dreams.

Jordan's ostrich policy tempts the Zionists to stretch and relax. Here is our proof that the Jewish extremists perform their rituals and release their psalms in Jordan's Petra comfortably - in our ears and under our eyes?! Absolutely frankly, we feel oppressed when we see the extremists in their religious clothes, doing what they like in Petra, the jewel of the Jordanian desert.
Arab antisemitism has always been in the form of an inferiority complex. Jews like to visit Petra but no one claims it as part of Israel. Yet Yassin is not only threatened by them, but their very existence - wearing their "religious clothes" - is "oppressive" to him.

If Jordanians were confident in their own heritage, they wouldn't be bothered by Jews visiting, just as Israelis are not threatened by Muslims respectfully visiting the Kotel. 

One other interesting thing Yassin says, that the Nabateans who built Petra "spoke Arabic, not Hebrew." Actually, they spoke a version of Aramaic, and their alphabet would look familiar to any Hebrew speaker:







Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

Arutz-7 reports:

On Sunday morning, former Knesset member Yehuda Glick visited the Temple Mount and was detained by police after broadcasting the sound of the shofar (a ram's horn, blown daily in the month leading up to Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Judgment) via his cell phone.

Documentation from the scene shows Glick broadcasting the shofar blast via what appears to be a YouTube application, and a police officer approaching him just minutes later, and detaining him.

That ten second video has already caused hours of angst from Palestinian politicians and media, who are reporting the event as if Glick actually blew a shofar.

The Palestinian ministry of foreign affairs issued a statement with its usual run-on sentences:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants condemns in the strongest terms the incursions of settlers and extremist Jews into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, which take place daily and in two time periods under the supervision, organization and protection of the occupying state and its various arms, and the extremist settlement associations that boast daily and reveal their plans targeting Al-Aqsa Mosque and building the alleged temple in its place, including the storming that occurred yesterday, led by the extremist rabbi Yehuda Glick and his feet blowing the trumpet during his storming of the mosque and spreading provocative pictures on several Israeli platforms, in addition to these groups dancing and singing loudly and performing Talmudic rituals in the mosque’s courtyards, and the campaign of targeting and the continuous expulsion of his guards and the Islamic Endowment Department on the way to withdraw more of its powers and obstructing the performance of its legal, religious and administrative duties towards the mosque.The Ministry considers with great seriousness the process of blowing the trumpet and considers it a dangerous escalation in the continuous Israeli aggression on Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to establish its temporal division in preparation for its spatial division, if not an attempt to impose full Israeli control over it and demolish it and build the alleged temple in its place, it considers this escalation an integral part of the Judaization operations Jerusalem, and one of the episodes of its annexation to the occupying state, changing its landmarks and its legal, historical and demographic location, completely separating it from its Palestinian surroundings and linking it to the Israeli depth, as it is an extension of the occupation’s open war on Christian and Islamic holy sites, cemeteries, and archaeological, historical and cultural sites in the Holy City, and falls within an official Israeli policy aimed at resolving the future of the holy city unilaterally and by the power of the occupation and in favor of its expansionist colonial ambitions, which leads to stifling any opportunity for the embodiment of the State of Palestine on the ground with its capital, East Jerusalem.
Notice that they don't mention that Glick was detained for playing the recording - or that the volume of the video was minuscule compared to the Waqf loudspeakers that blast five times a day.

The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem also condemned the fictional blowing of the shofar.

Palestinian media certainly accepted the ministry's assertion that a shofar was blown along with a call to demolish Al Aqsa with these sorts of article illustrations:


In other "Al Aqsa is in danger" news, there will be a meeting between Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian president Sisi today. The Palestinian envoy to Cairo said that a number of topics will be addressed:
He stressed that Tel Aviv wants to divide Al-Aqsa in terms of time and space between Muslims and Jews, pointing out that East Jerusalem is exposed to the implementation of Judaization schemes, and Al-Aqsa Mosque is subjected to daily incursions by settlers who practice dancing and striptease (nudity) in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa.






Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 




Later this month, Ken Burns is releasing a documentary, The US and the Holocaust, on how the United States did not help Jews escape their doom. 

Here is one example of how some Americans thought on the eve of the Holocaust. 

William Bruckart was a moderately successful and influential columnist in the 1930s, who published a regular syndicated column called Washington Digest.

In December 1938, only ten months before World War II would break out and when there were no longer any illusions about Hitler's attacks on Jews, he wrote about how terrible Hitler was - but sympathy for German Jews was not enough reason for the US to allow Jews to immigrate.

Danger of 'Jewish Problem' for United States in German 'Purge' 

Opening of Gates to Refugees Might Introduce Disturbing Influence. 
By WILLIAM BRUCKART WNU Service, National Press Bldg., Washington, D. C.

WASHINGTON. — Press service wires and cables and radio from abroad have been clogged for several weeks with hundreds of thousands of words about the plight of the Jews in Germany; about the abuses visited upon the Jewish race by the European madman, Hitler, and his camp followers; about the humanitarian pleas of our own President, Mr. Roosevelt, for appeasement of the conditions. There has been what I believe to be one of the greatest waves of emotion, waves of resentful national sentiment, that this country ever has known. I recall none like it, none as overwhelming, none as deep-seated as that through which we have been passing, and in my opinion our nation should have resented such outrages. 

While no one with a heart can fail to grieve to a greater or less extent about the indescribable harshness, the unforgivable meanness of Hitler, it occurs to me that we should begin to temper these waves of emotion somewhat. There are other factors to be considered, factors and consequences of the thing that is now called "the Jewish problem," that require calm reasoning. In other words, let us say that America is and must remain for Americans, and charity, while it is sweet, cannot be exploited, or carried to extremes simply because we feel a sadness for a group upon whom an injustice has been sent. Like millions of other Americans, I am hopeful that some way will be found to aid the Jews who are being driven out of Germany, but I am unwilling that we, as a nation, shall create additional and unwarranted difficulties for ourselves by extending a helping hand. Therefore, the United States must not be the goat. 

It is one thing to render aid. It is quite another thing to inject into our own bloodstream of national life additional elements without knowing what those elements are. After all, the damage is something that we did not cause; the injured are a people who have no knowledge of our way of doing things and may never cooperate with us, and we must prevent being dragged into the other fellow's fist fight. 

I suppose there are very few persons in the United States who do not believe that Hitler's "purge" of German Jews constitutes a blot upon modern civilization. I know that leading Germans in the United States wish there were ways and means to stop the action. There can be no defense of the outright seizure of $400,000,000 of money from the Jews of Germany under the guise of a "fine" although there is a lesson of warning in it. ...
....
 The unwanted race is simply the victim and a knowledge of how its members have had the sufferings brought upon them adds little or nothing to the search for a method to protect their lives. Where are they to go? That is the real question. Hitler doesn't care where they go or what happens to them. Some one else has to lead the way. Our nation has joined in that leadership, and rightly so. But we have policies and principles and traditions which must be respected. If, in our eagerness to help the German Jews, we should transgress those established principles, then we, as well as the Jews, will have to pay a penalty.....

We ought not kid ourselves. There are many persons swearing allegiance to the United States who do not like Jews. Those persons may be otherwise good citizens, but they distrust a Jew because he is a Jew, making no distinction between individuals. It is stating nothing new to say that there has been almost a steady undercurrent of criticism of Mr. Roosevelt from certain quarters because Jews have been given prominent places in the New Deal. I think it is not stretching the imagination at all, therefore, to point to the Jewish problem as one that may become involved in politics at some future time, although I hope it never does. 

Mr. Roosevelt has proposed removal of some of the immigration restrictions as a means of bringing into this country more German Jews than our immigration laws now permit. In so doing, he verged on politics himself. Any one familiar with the debates on immigration policies in the early 1920s must recall the severity of that battle. The issue was whether we, as a nation, were going to be haven for all corners and just hope that they would do things the American way, or whether we should restrict the number coming here to live to a number which could be absorbed into our national life. Labor unions and most employers favored the restrictions, and when we think of the number of unemployed in the last five or six years—people fed and clothed by the federal government—it appears that we allowed too many to come in. It seems we could have excluded all of them to advantage. 

Behind the scenes of the immigration restriction also was a determination on the part of Senator David A. Reed of Pennsylvania, then a senate power, to prevent introduction into the United States of all kinds of "isms." The senator foresaw the spread of radicalism by means of entry of the European backwash and rubbish. There was not much discussion of this phase because our government did not want to offend any foreign nation. It was a basic reason, however, and it is too bad that it was not given more public consideration. 

Fortunately, there can be no change in the number of foreigners admitted from any nation without action by congress. The United States can take only so many—something like 30,000 a year—of those purged Jews, unless congress amends the law. And when I say it is fortunate that there must be action by congress before there can be a change in policy, I mean no inferences. 

In consideration of whether we ought to let a deluge of refugees enter, I cannot help thinking of a possible spread of trouble. For example, if our definite national position of protest against Hitler's policies should bring retaliation, every Jewish refugee allowed in this country would be clamoring for the United States to take revenge on Germany and Hitler. Their influence would be great because they could tell what happened to them and give an idea of what is happening. 

As far as relations between Germany and the United States are concerned at the moment, all that can be said is that the United States has let the world know of its disapproval. When Ambassador Wilson was recalled, it was just the same as saying to the world of nations that Uncle Sam hasn't any respect for Hitler.
Bruckart isn't an antisemite - no, he really cares about the Jews in Europe. He feels very bad about them. He hopes nothing bad will happen to them, even though it is already happening. 

But doing anything to save them? That's un-American.

His mention of Senator David Reed refers to one of the architects of the 1924 Immigration Act which was designed to limit immigration to the US, especially of Jews and Asians. There was an element of Nazi-style eugenics in that law: northern Europeans were considered more wanted and healthier than those from central and southern Europe, where most Jews were attempting to immigrate from. It reduced Jewish immigration by about 90%.

This article assumes that there were desirable immigrants and undesirable ones - and Jews were definitely on the undesirable side of the equation. Moreover, it implies that the many Jewish immigrants who had come to the US in the early part of the century were still not real Americans, and that they were radicals.

That next to last paragraph is something. Bruckart is saying that Jews who arrive in America would tell the truth about how the Nazis act, and it would be bad for "real" Americans to hear the truth because it might prompt them to do something to stop it. 

I was curious whether Bruckart would have continued his isolationist position after Pearl Harbor, but we'll never know - he died suddenly of a heart attack in 1940 at age 48.




Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

Monday, September 05, 2022

From Ian:

German president: ‘Shameful’ it took Berlin decades to agree on Munich compensation
Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier admitted shame over the decades that it took for Berlin to agree compensation for the bereaved families of Israeli victims in the 1972 Munich Olympics attack, saying Germany had avoided responsibility over the massacre for too long.

“That it took 50 years to reach this agreement in the last days is indeed shameful,” said Steinmeier, standing next to his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog, with whom he will be attending a commemoration ceremony in Munich on Monday.

A row over the financial offer previously made by Berlin to victims’ relatives had threatened to sour the ceremony, with families initially planning a boycott.

But a deal was finally agreed on Wednesday offering $28 million (NIS 94.4 million) in compensation. It also — for the first time — sees the German state acknowledging its “responsibility” in failings that led to the carnage.

In a speech at a state banquet for Herzog, Steinmeier acknowledged that “our responsibility as Germans includes shedding light on the many unanswered questions, the blind spots of the attack in Munich — and also the blind spots in our handling of the attack since then.”

“For far too long, we did not want to acknowledge the pain of the bereaved families. And for far too long, we did not want to acknowledge that we, too, had to shoulder some of the responsibility: it was our job to ensure the safety of the Israeli athletes,” he said, noting that some of the members of the Israeli team had been Holocaust survivors.

On September 5, 1972, eight gunmen of the Palestinian terror group Black September stormed into the Israeli team’s rooms at the Olympic village, shooting dead two and taking nine Israelis hostage.

West German police responded with a bungled rescue operation in which all nine hostages were killed, along with five of the eight hostage-takers and a police officer.

The Games were meant to showcase a new Germany 27 years after the Holocaust but instead opened a deep rift with Israel.

Herzog underlined the pain faced by the bereaved relatives, saying they simply “hit a wall” whenever they tried to raise the issue with Germany or even with the International Olympic Committee.

“I think there was tragic suppression here,” he said, noting the litany of failings that were “inhuman and incomprehensible” such as “the fact that the hostages were being led to slaughter and the Games went on.”

After an initial suspension, then-IOC president Avery Brundage had declared that “the Games must go on.”

Forty years later, the IOC was widely criticized for refusing to dedicate a moment of silence to the victims during the opening of the London Games
Israeli President Herzog’s speech at the 50th anniversary memorial of the Munich Olympics massacre
Below is the full text of the speech delivered by Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the 50th anniversary commemoration of the massacre of 11 Israelis at the 1972 Munich Olympics:

Dear families of the murdered athletes; survivors of the Munich massacre; Your Excellency, my friend, the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your brave and historic speech, which touched everyone’s hearts.

Your Excellencies, the Minister-President of Bavaria and Mayor of Munich; leaders and government officials from Germany and Israel; representatives and directors of the national Olympic committees; Jewish community leaders in Germany; loved ones, friends, families, and all those who cherish the memories of the murdered athletes, ladies and gentlemen.

“Why must my pain be endless, my wound incurable, resistant to healing?” So asks the Prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 15:18), and so we ask today. Even fifty years after the horrific murder of the eleven Israeli athletes here and in the Munich Olympic village, with inconceivable cruelty and in cold blood—the pain is eternal. That awful event remains a wound, resistant to healing.

All those of us who remember those dark and endless hours in that bitter September of 1972 carry in our hearts the same scar, the same moments in which we followed with excruciating anxiety and boundless concern the conflicting reports coming in every few hours from the Olympic village in Munich. We struggled to fathom that Jewish and Israeli athletes, judges, and coaches were being held by terrorists on German soil. We prayed so hard for a different ending. But our hearts were pained and broken; our hopes dashed.

Within a day, we received the most agonizing of news: ‘None survived.’ Although I was only a young boy, I shall never forget that awful morning, driving with my father to school and in the car hearing together the horrific news, and we stopped breathing. I shall never forget the tears that welled up in our eyes, the sense of total shock, the grief, the gloom, and the angst that engulfed an entire country when the so-called ‘Cheerful Games’ were instantly transformed into the darkest nadir in the history of world sports and in the annals of the Olympics.
PMW: After 50 years, Munich Olympics massacre still a “quality operation” in PA narrative
Fifty years ago today, the world was shocked when Palestinian terrorists from Fatah’s terror organization Black September broke into the athletes' village at the Munich Olympics on Sept. 5, 1972, kidnapped, and ultimately murdered 11 Israeli athletes and coaches. Still today, the attack remains a dark stain on the Olympics and has settled in the collective global memory as an illustration of the horrors of terrorism.

In Palestinian ideology and memory the attack is just the opposite. It is a source of pride and honor, and PA and Fatah leaders glorify the murderous attack and revere its planners as “heroes” and role models.

When PA and Fatah Chairman Mahmoud Abbas recently refused to apologize for the Munich massacre during a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Schulz when a journalist asked him to, Palestinian Media Watch published examples and pointed out that Abbas’ reaction was not surprising at all. Rather it was an expected expression of PA and Fatah ideology. The PA and Fatah are proud of the Munich attack, which ranks among the top “quality operations” and most “successful” terror attacks in Palestinian history.

The following are additional PA/Fatah outpourings of praise and admiration from the last 3 years for the terrorists and their act of murdering the 11 Israeli athletes:
PA: Black September terrorists “gave the revolution… sacrifice and heroism,” they “must have constant presence and special status in our people’s memory”

Official PA TV News, on the anniversary of the death of Salah Khalaf “Abu Iyad,” head of the Black September terror organization

Official PA TV reporter: “The 31st anniversary of the death as a Martyr of the three Fatah leaders Salah Khalaf, Hayel Abd Al-Hamid (i.e., one of the founders of Fatah), and Fakhri Al-Omari – who gave the Palestinian revolution a large measure of sacrifice and heroism – the Insan National Action Association, the “Set Your Goal” organization, and the Fatah Movement’s Jenin branch marked the anniversary under the auspices of the Rumana village council…

These activities were carried out with the participation of official and popular bodies and included planting olive trees named after the three Martyrs… They are among the movement’s most important patriotic schools that must have a constant presence and a special status in our people’s memory.”

[Official PA TV News, Jan. 11, 2022]


PA TV: Black September terrorists “gave the revolution… sacrifice and heroism”



Kenneth S. Stern was the lead author of the IHRA's (flawed) Working Definition of Antisemitism, and regarded as an expert on the topic. But his latest blog post at Times of Israel is incomprehensible, and appears to justify modern campus antisemitism.

What should universities do when those Jewish students who are also Zionists are told they are not welcome in progressive spaces? After all, why should any student have to choose between their identity and their desire to be part of a political community? And if that’s the “ask,” pro-Israel Jewish students, whether desiring to join a progressive group or not, get the message, hurtful to them and harmful to the academic vibrancy of the campus: they either have to self-censor what they say about Israel, or risk the ostracism and pain of social shunning.

...But groups also have a right to be selective, to set their own rules for membership. The potential benefits may include allowing members to feel they share something important (such as a women’s group or one based on ethnicity or religion). That applies to politics too. One wouldn’t want to force a Young Republican club to include a Bernie Sanders supporter (or vice versa).

...Groups – including those on campus – have a right of association. Most famously, years ago the organizers of the St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York City refused to include a gay Irish group. As much as I had wished the organizers had made a different decision, they had a right to decide what their march would stand for. Likewise Hillels have the freedom to choose what speech they will allow under their banner. 

...Universities must not tell groups what their principles have to be. If Israel/Palestine is a contentious issue on campus, there should be courses and other initiatives to encourage deep discussions of not only the issue, but why it is so divisive, and of how students might maintain their principles while avoiding the too easy temptation to paint classmates with different views as racists or antisemites. But if a group decides that in order to be a member, one has to have a particular view of Israel and Zionism, the right to make that decision must be respected. Those not invited in, even though exclusion hurts, can find other ways to express themselves, including by creating new groups and coalitions.
No.

Stern has a point that campus groups have the right to decide on the rules of membership. It makes sense that a Muslim group or a Black group or a women's group define themselves as spaces where they can feel free to express themselves and feel safe, and not have to self-censor because an outsider might be listening. The same would go for groups for victims of sexual abuse, for example.

But political groups are not the same - there should be no litmus test to join such a group. Bernie Sanders supporters should be allowed to attend the Young Republicans club as long as they are respectful and not disruptive. This is true even if they will report back what they have heard. Group meetings should be public and the speakers and attendees should not say anything that they would be embarrassed to say in public. 

Yet even if one accepts the progressive idea of "safe spaces" for political opinions,  Stern goes way beyond that. He is saying that a group about climate change or against racism and sexism can exclude Zionists, even though that is not at all what the group is about. He says that any progressive organization, on any issue, can include anti-Zionism as a litmus test for attendance and membership. 

That is absurd. If the organization whose purpose has nothing to do with Israel says all members must be anti-Zionist, they are indeed adding an antisemitic dimension to their group. The proof is that they do not have similar litmus tests for other political opinions - they do not exclude those who support the death penalty or Bashar Assad or Vladimir Putin. They don't ask prospective members their opinions on nuclear energy or Uyghurs. The only issue that they consider beyond the pale is Zionism. 

That double standard is antisemitism.

Even worse, Stern downplays the pain of Jewish students who feel unwelcome from these spaces where they have so much in common with the group members. He disingenuously says that Zionists can simply create new groups when excluded from progressive spaces. 

Really? Is it so trivial to create a competing Zionist group against sexual abuse or against racism, to get funding, to get enough members? That is nonsensical. And it is offensive.

I cannot believe that Stern  doesn't realize that. The entire reason Jews created their own hospitals and medical schools and hotels and clubs  a century ago is because they were reacting to systemic and endemic antisemitism.  Stern is saying that we should accept modern antisemitism and act the same way our Jewish ancestors did in the face of bigotry.

He is saying to accept this bigotry and work around it, rather than expose it and fight it head on.

This doesn't sound like the position that someone who fights antisemitism would take.





Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

This morning, angry protesters burned tires at the entrance of UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City, upset at the lack of compensation for the 2014 Gaza war.


As of this writing, no Western media has even mentioned this. The main UN agency that provides aid to Palestinians is shut down by Palestinians themselves, potentially affecting tens of thousands, but it doesn't fit the narrative so it doesn't get covered. 

The last such protest in Gaza was in April. But other protests against UNRWA happen often, especially in Lebanon. And they are equally underrerported.

Notice the amount of security that UNRWA uses in Gaza. Heavy metal gates, with spikes on top, and barbed wire atop that. 


This is to protect UNRWA from the people it serves!





Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

From Ian:

'Kill Salman Rushdie, not the Iran Deal!'
The response to the assault on Rushdie is especially striking when compared to that of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and former government official, who broke with the Saudi government and moved to Washington, where he became a dissident and wrote a column for the Washington Post.

The brutal killing of Khashoggi by agents of the Saudi government was front-page news for many months and continues to be mentioned whenever Saudi Arabia is discussed, and always with the allegation that the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is personally responsible for the murder. After a few weeks of denial, the Saudi government accepted responsibility and arrested and tried the perpetrators. More importantly, the Saudis promised never to engage in extra-judicial and extra-territorial killings again.

The contrast between the two cases begs the question of why Iran’s now successful sponsorship of violence against Rushdie is being glossed over, even though Tehran also recently tried to assassinate several former US government officials who are now under Secret Service protection. The silence is likely because the Biden administration is desperate to re-enter the nuclear deal with Tehran, even as Iran reportedly refuses, as part of the deal, to renounce the prospect of killing US government officials. One view is that an agreement will also lead to extra Iranian oil barrels and thus a decrease in the price of oil at the pump, which will help the Democrats in the upcoming November elections.

Another reason why the perpetrators of the attack on Rushdie are ignored is because he is seen to have offended Muslims and insulted Islam. Khomeini’s false claims about Rushdie are taken at face value and thus he deserves what he gets just as the satirical journalists of Charlie Hebdo also got their comeuppance. This ugly logic, which masquerades as respect for other cultures, is insulting to Muslims because it associates their faith with Iran’s state-sponsored campaign of violence. And, in fact, a close reading of Rushdie’s books shows that he also had deep appreciation for the beauty and achievements of Islamic civilization—see among other books his The Moor’s Last Sign or The Enchantress of Florence.

Iran’s official response to the recent attack has been to blame Rushdie and claim that he deserved what he got while coyly denying direct involvement. The death sentence is still up on the Internet and praise fills Iranian newspapers for the attempt on the author’s life. In sharp contrast, the Muslim World League’s Secretary General, Sheikh Muhammad al-Issa, called the attack on Rushdie a crime that Islam does not condone. One of the leading Islamic authorities in the world, and a cleric sponsored by Saudi Arabia, condemned the attack as a criminal act, thereby rejecting the weaponization of Islam for political ends.

The difference between the governments in Tehran and Riyadh could not be clearer. Yet because the White House is intent on reviving the nuclear deal, large sections of America’s political and media elites seem bent on erasing reality in favor of a fantasy that a peaceful Iran will emerge after the deal and will be “integrated” with its neighbors. What happened on stage in Chautauqua, New York should be a warning that deal or no deal the Iranian regime will continue to pursue violent means and use religion for its political ends.
For Iran, It Is All about the Breakout Time
Over the past 18 months, the world has been watching the U.S. play a match of regional tennis: the nuclear talks with Iran. Tehran and the West have each been hitting the ball back and forth. We occasionally get news about the deal being "closer" or that the latest draft is "the final offer" and that it is "just a matter of days" or that "the window is closing." Both sides prefer this process to play itself out forever, very much like various inconclusive sporting events.

Iran is hardly the most pressing issue on the U.S. foreign policy docket. As for Iran, time is on its side, because a protracted process allows it to continue with the nuclear program. Enrichment levels have already reached 60% purity levels; Tehran's coffers from trade have been filling up, in part because of the rise in oil and fuel prices and Chinese consumption; and Russia has been buying Iranian arms.

The talks have allowed Iran to divert attention from what it really cares about: shortening the time it would take to reach a bomb -- the breakout time -- to zero. This means it would be ready to break toward a nuclear weapon once the talks collapse, and by the time the U.S. comes up with a Plan B, it will have already gotten a bomb.

For Iran, the never-ending tennis match is just a ruse for the real game. From what has been reported in the media, the breakout time currently stands at several weeks. One can assume that Iran will not be foolish enough to show their hand, holding some cards close to the chest. Thus, when the talks are history, they will break toward the bomb, and the U.S. will face an excruciating dilemma it had wanted to avoid all along: accepting a nuclear-armed Iran or a bloody war with the murderous regime in Tehran.
WSJ: Israel Makes Final Push to Shape Restored Iran Nuclear Deal
The Israeli government has in recent days broken with its quiet approach to diplomacy on the Iran deal negotiations. "This deal isn't a good deal. It was not a good deal when it was signed back in 2015. Today, the dangers it entails are even greater," said Mr. Lapid in a briefing to journalists last week.

A U.S. official said Israel's election season was partly responsible for the more heated rhetoric coming from politicians there around the deal, which is broadly unpopular in Israel. The Biden administration has kept Israel closely informed about the negotiations, said people familiar with the discussions, allowing Israel to nudge privately against concessions and potentially heighten Washington's sensitivity to Israel's concerns, leading the U.S. to tread more carefully.

U.S. officials say a restored deal would substantially curtail Iran's nuclear program, remove most of its stockpile of enriched uranium and oblige Iran to remove hundreds of advanced centrifuges that produce enriched uranium. It would increase Iran's breakout time -- how quickly it can produce enough nuclear fuel for one weapon -- to six to seven months compared with the current time span of a few weeks.

Israeli officials say restoring the 2015 deal now is dangerous because Iran has made so much progress on its nuclear program since then. The agreement has sunset provisions that essentially allow Iran to enrich unlimited amounts of uranium by 2030.
The IDF released a report on the results of their investigation of the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh. It says,

According to all the investigations carried out, it appears that it is not possible to determine unequivocally by whom Shirin Abu-Aqla was killed, but it is more likely that Shirin was injured inadvertently [when] the IDF fired at those identified as Palestinian militants during a battle, during which a massive, indiscriminate and life-threatening shot was fired at the IDF soldiers. Along with this, it will be emphasized and clarified that throughout the incident, the fire of the IDF soldiers was aimed and intended to hit the terrorists who fired at our forces. Another possibility is that Shireen Abu-Aqla was hit by gunfire from Palestinian armed men, fired in her direction.

The materials released add very little to what we already knew.  They say, for example, that they examines the audio forensics evidence, but doesn't say what that evidence indicated. 

The only interesting detail is this diagram showing where the IDF identified incoming fire from (red dots.)


It shows only one place north of the IDF vehicles, and it is immediately north. The report indicates that the IDF responded to "massive" fire that was from the north, the direction of Abu Akleh. 

This brings up more questions than it answers - there were clearly many bullets in the general direction of Abu Akleh and the reporters. 

On the other hand, if the placement of these dots is accurate, it indicates that there were indeed terrorists firing from on top of buildings, and who had line of sight to Abu Akleh. While most are too far from Abu Akleh according to the audio analysis, chances are that there were plenty other terrorists on rooftops in Jenin to the north. (The northernmost one is about 210 meters from Abu Akleh, only a little further than the IDF.) Whether this map is meant to be comprehensive or not, I don't know - it appears to be the shots aimed at the IDF, and shots aimed elsewhere wouldn't be included.

I wish this was a more detailed report that explains the evidence that was used and the reason the IDF thinks it was likely (but not definite) to have been their gunfire that killed Abu Akleh. 





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Today is the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage crisis and massacre, in which 11 Israeli athletes were killed.

There are a number of details about the event that do not get the publicity they deserve. 

One is that the terror attack was financed by Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority. The mastermind of the Munich attack, Mohammed Daoud Oudeh (Abu Daoud), says that both Yasir Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas wished him luck and kissed him.

The second is that German security officials were tipped off three weeks before the attack by the German Embassy in Beirut from a Palestinian informant, and did not do anything to stop the attack.

The third inconvenient fact is that the Palestinian terrorists in Munich were aided by German neo-Nazis.  At the time, it was assumed that German Leftists had been involved, but in this case the Palestinians allied with Nazis.

Another is that while the organization that took responsibility for the attack is still referred to a Black September, that organization was Fatah. Black September was a front for Fatah in order to publicly distance itself from terror.  Abu Daoud was quoted in Arab media in 1972 saying,  "There is no such organization as Black September. Fatah announces its own operations under this name so that Fatah will not appear as the direct executor of the operation." The US government confirmed this in a 1973 memo.


The hijackers were not simply professionals trying to arrange a prisoner. They were bloodthirsty, and as they killed weightlifter Youssef Romano, they castrated him in front of his teammates.

A sixth, and almost unbelievable, fact about Munich is what happened to the three surviving terrorists after the botched rescue attempt at the Munich airport. They were released less than two months after the attack, before going on trial, in exchange for hostages from a hijacked Lufthansa Flight 615 flight.

But that hijacking was, according to credible accounts, arranged by the Germans colluding with Fatah to get rid of the headache of jailing and trying the terrorists.


Black September, the Palestinian terror group that killed 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, was allowed by the German government to hijack a passenger jet two months later to provide a 'cover story' for the release of the three gunmen captured at the scene.

According to One Day in September - an Oscar-nominated documentary which is to be released in Britain in May - Bonn indicated to the terrorist group that it would give in to their demands should a certain aircraft - carrying no women and children - be hijacked. The Germans were keen to release the three jailed terrorists to avoid Black September fulfilling threats to carry out a series of bombings and hijackings.

On 29 October, 1972 - not even eight weeks after the Munich attack - a Lufthansa Boeing 727 on its way from Damascus, Syria, to Frankfurt was hijacked by two terrorists as it left Beirut airport. There were only 11 passengers on board, all male. The pilot was told to fly to Munich and the terrorists' demands were relayed to Bonn. Within hours the German Chancellor, Willy Brandt, gave in and the three men were handed over. The Israelis were not consulted.
And only last month, TheJC reported:
“We have found documents that state that the German government asked the Palestinian terror organisation to fake the hijack of a German plane in order to be able to set them free — and for doing so, a month after the heinous terrorist attack, the Palestinians were paid nine million dollars,” Dutch lawyer Carry Knoops-Hamburger, one of the team negotiating with the German government for compensation for the victims’ families, told the JC.  
The final inconvenient fact about the Munich massacre is that it is still praised as "heroic" in Palestinian media and by Palestinian officials, including Abbas himself, today. It is obvious why Abbas didn't apologize for the attack when asked by a reporter last month - because he still considers it an achievement, not a source of embarrassment.

Not one of these facts were mentioned in, for example, AFP's summary of the massacre. 



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The Media Line has an article on the Oktoberfest in Taybeh, happening this month for some reason, which features Taybeh Beer:

It was the first microbrewery in the Middle East. Nadim says that, despite their great success, they operate under harsh conditions.

“We face many challenges; many stem from the Israeli occupation and the harsh restrictions it imposes on our exports and imports of ingredients we need for our operation,” he said.
Madees says her goal is to turn her family brewery into a global beer brand, and they must overcome many hurdles.

“But our biggest challenge is the occupation, it’s disruptive. We don’t have our own water, we don’t have enough water, 95% of beer is water and we can’t produce as much as we are able to because of the lack of water,” she explained.

Which is interesting, because in 2015, Eater.com had a story about Taybeh beer, where they said:
All the beers are brewed in small batches, without additives or preservatives, and using natural spring water flowing from a nearby village. The other ingredients are imported from Europe: Belgian and French malts, Bavarian and Czech hops, and yeast from London that, as Nadim says, "gives good characteristics to the beer."
It doesn't sound like they had any problems with imports then, and their access to water is from a spring, not through Israel's water carrier. 

Similarly, the Boston Globe reported about the brewery in 2014:
There is also the question of water — a scarce resource in this arid part of the world. Continued Israeli settlement expansion has led to a disparity in water access, though Taybeh is able to use fresh water from a local spring. While they are all right for now, Khoury worries that in the future there may not be enough water to meet an increasing international demand.
The Jerusalem Post identifies the spring:
Taybeh’s secret is high-quality water from the Ein Samia spring five kilometers away, explains Buthina Canaan Khoury, Nadim’s and David’s youngest sister, in charge of brewery tours during the festival.  
The "Israel is stealing our water" theme seems to have only become part of the Taybeh beer family's narrative recently, such as in this DW article from 2019:

Today, an end to the occupation seems far off. And Taybeh needs access to water from a nearby spring that has fallen under the control of Israel. Hops, malt and yeast are imported from Europe.

The Israeli authorities can shut off that water supply at any time, Khoury said; they have done so more than once in the past. "We can't work without water," he said. 

I am not aware of any changes of the status of Ein Samia in recent years. The spring itself seems to be under full Palestinian control, according to B'Tselem's map of the territories. The UN declared in 2011 that Ein Samia was at "risk" of being taken over by "settlers" but it never happened. 

Apparently, Taybeh's owners have realized that the narrative of brewing their beer under horrible Israeli occupation, with restrictions on imports and exports that seem to not affect their ever-increasing sales, is a good business move, no matter what the truth is. 

Oh, and they have a new market:

“We are in 18 countries; we started in Palestine, now we are selling in San Francisco, Boston, Denmark, Japan, Canada, all over the world,” he [Nadim] said, adding that “next week we’ll send the first shipment to the United Arab Emirates. For the first time.”

If Israel hadn't normalized relations with the UAE, that wouldn't have happened. So maybe Israel is helping Taybeh Beer more than they are hurting it

Not that the current September Oktoberfest wave of articles would mention that. 

(h/t Irene)


 



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Sunday, September 04, 2022



Way before Princess Leia, other royals adopted the famous hairdo


In response to yet another idiot claiming the British Mandate coin proves "Palestine"








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From Ian:

Soldier, civilian seriously injured in shooting attack on a bus in Jordan Valley
Two Palestinians were arrested by IDF forces after they opened fire on a bus carrying troops from the Kfir Brigade in the Jordan Valley, injuring several troops including one soldier who was seriously wounded.

According to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit and Magen David Adom, five soldiers and a civilian were injured in the attack.

One soldier was seriously injured with neck wounds and there were at least two moderately injured in the attack including the driver of the bus who had gunshot wounds to his face. Medics and paramedics treated the soldier and civilian driver at the scene before being evacuated to Rambam hospital in Haifa by helicopter.

Another three people were lightly injured by glass shrapnel and treated at the scene before being evacuated to Ha’Emek Hospital in Afula where they were treated before being released.

According to a senior officer involved in the investigation into the attack, the bus was coming from Tel Aviv to brigade regional headquarters when it was attacked, first by a flammable substance and then firing on it.

The officer said that the military is still investigating whether the terrorists, identified by Palestinian media as Muhammed and Walid Turkman from the Jenin area in the northern West Bank, knew that it was a military bus.

The three suspects, who were driving a pickup truck with Israeli license plates, followed the bus for several minutes before opening fire on the left side and windshield.

"We saw two gunshot victims outside of the bus who were being treated by IDF medics and other people who were at the scene. One is a 60-year-old male, and another who was younger. They were fully conscious and communicating with us,” said Senior MDA EMT Matti Carmi.


Gantz vows to increase West Bank anti-terror operations after Jordan Valley attack
In a tweet, Gantz said: “Security forces began pursuing the suspects immediately and got their hands on the suspected attackers in a quick and professional operation. We will continue to increase our focused operations against terror in the Judea and Samaria area.” He was using the biblical name for the West Bank commonly used in Hebrew.

Lapid, like Gantz, wished the wounded a speedy recovery. He offered praise to the “first responders and the security forces who acted with speed and determination to treat the wounded and catch the suspected terrorists.”

“We will continue to reach anyone who tries to harm the citizens and soldiers of the State of Israel,” he tweeted.

President Isaac Herzog, who is on an official state visit to Berlin, noted alongside his German counterpart on Sunday that “terror does not rest for a second, and today it reared its head again, alas, when a few hours ago, depraved terrorists perpetrated an attack against Israelis traveling by bus.”

Speaking next to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Herzog said that Israel “will not accept any attack on our citizens or soldiers. The State of Israel will defend its citizens, and the IDF and our security forces will act at any place and at any time.”

Gaza-based terror organization Hamas labeled the “Zionist bus” attack a “heroic operation,” saying that it was a “natural response to the crimes of the occupation.” Hamas did not claim responsibility for the attack.

Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu said he was praying for the recovery of the injured, adding, “Only through a strong hand can we defeat terrorism.”

According to local officials, the gunmen tailed the bus before overtaking it and opening fire from the front. They then attempted to pour flammable liquid on the bus and set it on fire, before fleeing.

The getaway car caught fire as it sped away, likely as a result of the flammable liquid used in the attack. IDF forces arrested two suspects, both of whom were said to be hurt.

The pair were taken to be questioned by the Shin Bet security agency. They were named by Palestinian media as Muhammed and Walid Turkman, apparent relatives, from the Jenin area in the northern West Bank. Several firearms were found at the scene of the arrest.

A third suspect apparently fled, according to Hebrew-language media reports. The IDF said troops continued to search the area for additional suspects.
BREAKING: Drive-by shooting attack on a bus traveling in the Jordan Valley

At least 7 injured in Jordan Valley Israeli military bus shooting



Last week, a small symposium was held at the Center for Middle East Studies in Amman titled "The Relationship Between Jordan and Hamas, Foundations, Transformations and Future Directions." 

The speakers said that Jordan must reconsider its policy of shunning Hamas that has been official since the late 1990s, when the kingdom expelled Hamas leaders.

The speakers said that a relationship with Hamas serves Jordan's strategic interests because Hamas is a major and "mature" Palestinian political force, and it is in Jordan's interests to have strong relations with all Palestinian factions. 

Professor of International Relations at the University of Jordan, Dr. Hassan al-Momani, said that Hamas' "pragmatism" at not getting involved in the August flare-up between Israel and Islamic Jihad shows political maturity that should be rewarded.

Others claimed that Hamas positions on Zionism, and on issues like the Ramon airport plan,  are more aligned with Jordan's own positions than those of the PLO. 

The symposium came only days after a visit to Amman by Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal. 

While there appear to have been only a handful of attendees, the coverage of the meeting in Jordanian and Arab media indicates that the Jordanian government is looking to normalize the idea of a warming relationship with Hamas - and by extension, the Muslim Brotherhood.






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The Hamas terror group announced on Sunday that it had executed five Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including two for “collaboration” with Israel.

“On Sunday morning, the death sentence was carried out against two condemned over collaboration with the occupation (Israel), and three others in criminal cases,” Hamas, which rules Gaza said in a statement.

It added that the defendants had previously been given “their full rights to defend themselves.”
Hamas media is reporting that "experts" and "activists" are supporting the executions. Many use a hashtag, #القصاص_حياة, "Retribution is Life," from a Quran quote.

I can find no "progressive" anti-Israel activist who is condemning Hamas' death penalty for either the Gazans convicted of murder or of "collaboration."

Moreover, the "human rights" groups that Israel has outlawed are not saying a word either. Al Haq, "Protecting and Promoting Human Rights & the Rule of Law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory," is silent.

Also silent, as of this writing, are the social media of Amnesty and Human Rights Watch, who regularly condemn the death penalty in the US. 

PCHR, a Palestinian human rights group not considered illegal by Israel, to its credit, does consistently condemn the death penalty. But B'Tselem hasn't said anything about this. 

So-called human rights groups pretend that they are even handed and condemn Hamas when appropriate. But except for rocket fire, they tacitly support everything Hamas does with their silence, while they spend thousands of hours looking for new things to accuse Israel of. 

The "collaboration" crimes occurred in 1991 and 2001.





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