tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52370223052270426072024-03-13T07:06:29.728+02:00Love of the LandFor those who are home, and for those who are on the way. For those who support the historic and just return of the land of Israel to its people, forever loyal to their inheritance, and its restoration.Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.comBlogger19828125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-91975578940029179022020-09-14T09:58:00.003+03:002020-09-14T10:08:14.675+03:00To my Dearest Love of the Land/An Eye That Gazed Towards Zion Readers, Subscribers and Friends<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrMJTK97xCpteU7K0TXK0lzZK1sZocphFnv9WoGdUZaD8W5rpOd7SXh4JloaPuNqMwZ8SP0eaW9odsalYW73YvUoF75Vk8ZIqZDwB7vnUdIjyrTItNBnuO137twDwUoHq-jOZh79yQQa6a/s1600/IMG-1220.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrMJTK97xCpteU7K0TXK0lzZK1sZocphFnv9WoGdUZaD8W5rpOd7SXh4JloaPuNqMwZ8SP0eaW9odsalYW73YvUoF75Vk8ZIqZDwB7vnUdIjyrTItNBnuO137twDwUoHq-jOZh79yQQa6a/s200/IMG-1220.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>
<i>To my Dearest Love of the Land/An Eye That Gazed Towards Zion Readers, Subscribers and Friends,</i><br />
<br />
First of all, wishing one and all, a Shana Tova, an amazing year ahead, a year of health and growth, a year where more and more light shines forth in the world, where love becomes the significant driving force for our fulfilling our purpose in this world. May G-d's blessings rest upon our efforts to make this happen.<br />
<br />
After 10 years, almost 18,000 posts and a little over 4 million reads, I am going to be putting aside my blogs, Love of the Land as well as An Eye That Gazed Towards Zion as there are now many others doing an excellent job out there, more proficient with the changes in social media and general audience. The blogs themselves will remain available to read, so much material still relevant and new to many future readers.<br />
<br />
Thank you once again for all your encouragement over the years, and of course I will still be staying active on Facebook and Twitter both as an admin and poster.<br />
<br />
Last but not least, in the world of who to follow, I have never ceased being amazed by <a href="http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/"><b>Elder of Ziyon</b></a>.(<a href="http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/">http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/</a>) Both in quality and quantity, first in my world as the #1 go to.<br />
<br />
All My Love Shana Tova<br />
<br />
<i>Yosef</i>Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-39207705701488584072020-09-13T06:35:00.006+03:002020-09-13T06:44:07.512+03:00About That Rhetoric of Incitement From The 'Merchants of the Palestinian Issue' - by Khaled Abu Toameh<b>By offending the Gulf states and depicting their residents as backward illiterates, Abbas and the leaders of the Palestinian factions are convincing yet more Arabs to stay as far away from Palestinians as they can. </b><br />
<div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgri_Bc-qJPs2rVHXlD2CUM5cxJZWnjsZDHOvBWcCuYCEuIzP8y1llqhU-DrsnNdbYiSkvB914lnEfwhmWbu7jH3ZKLJbfA8NwHsUxCHHluScDFXD_4oDgsQrKmixS0ufDqu5MJbZm-8sM8/s1600/More+Rhetoric+of+Incitement+From+The+%2527Merchants+of+the+Palestinian+Issue%2527.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="1024" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgri_Bc-qJPs2rVHXlD2CUM5cxJZWnjsZDHOvBWcCuYCEuIzP8y1llqhU-DrsnNdbYiSkvB914lnEfwhmWbu7jH3ZKLJbfA8NwHsUxCHHluScDFXD_4oDgsQrKmixS0ufDqu5MJbZm-8sM8/s200/More+Rhetoric+of+Incitement+From+The+%2527Merchants+of+the+Palestinian+Issue%2527.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b>Khaled Abu Toameh</b>..<br />
Gatestone Institute..<br />
11 September '20..</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Palestinian leaders are continuing to show contempt for other Arabs, including those who for many years provided them with financial and political aid. Some Palestinian leaders are even indirectly inciting their people to carry out terrorist attacks against Gulf countries that engage in normalization with Israel. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
On September 3, during a videoconference meeting of leaders of several Palestinian factions, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas poured scorn on the Arabs of the Gulf states by hinting that they are illiterate and uneducated. "There are 13 million Palestinians, and they are all educated," Abbas said in a speech he delivered from his office in Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinians. "We don't have illiteracy like others." </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Mueen Hamed, a representative of As-Sa'iqa, a pro-Syria Palestinian Ba'athist group, is one of several faction leaders who spoke at the conference from Beirut. Hamed, too, mocked the Gulf Arabs. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Referring to the recent normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, he said:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
</div>
<blockquote>
<div>
<span style="color: #660000;"> "We blame the United Arab Emirates and the [Arab] countries that support it. As our comrades said, the Palestinian people were responsible for the advancement of all the Gulf states from 1948 and until today. Everyone acknowledges that the Palestinian worker is the most active in the Gulf. [The Palestinians] taught them how to read and write and lead." </span></div>
<div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Hamed pointed out that there are 400,000 Palestinians in the UAE "who are capable of changing the society of the Emiratis." "Why shouldn't these Palestinians play a role? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
</div>
<blockquote>
<div>
<span style="color: #660000;">Why shouldn't the Palestinian factions be in contact with all these Palestinians so they could play an active role in preventing any country from following suit with the United Arab Emirates? The situation is dangerous." </span></div>
<div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The statements of Abbas, Hamed and other Palestinian faction leaders drew strong condemnations from many Gulf Arabs, who denounced the Palestinians as arrogant liars. Many Gulf citizens described the Palestinian leaders as "merchants of the Palestinian issue" and accused them of financial corruption and the embezzlement of public funds. The Arabs also rejected the Palestinian leaders' claim that it was the Palestinians who contributed to the advancement and development of the Gulf states in the past five decades. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
(<a href="https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16486/merchants-palestinian-issue" target="_blank"><b><i>Continue to Full Post</i></b></a>) </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica, arial, verdana, "trebuchet ms", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1600053312891000&usg=AFQjCNERVi46t-6Hdp4X19q8ALy9jDl_bA" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1600053312891000&usg=AFQjCNHjEDmS9Kgj3kkz8XSGqLqiCFDuag" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1600053312891000&usg=AFQjCNG9Fl427oqmE6mbyS12FEnZf7d9lg" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i> </div>
Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-1565126428590654822020-09-11T06:19:00.001+03:002020-09-11T06:19:16.436+03:00Saeb Erekat is an excellent choice to teach students how to prevent the achievement of peace - by Mitchell Bard<b>Yes, Harvard students can learn a great deal from Saeb Erekat. The rest of us have discovered how little value Harvard places on scholarship, morality, and honesty. </b><div><br /></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPgRUx_d2NXKCvNtHZ2nM7oWx5u-AcZrBSBRe3aqn4JwlLl4nVAbY7GZKiCoOXSQlwTZU7ncnBeSUW2zVYOJVL5ejGBVxxd0JXcOk-lrxhsVblbRoJ-tfE8KuBO8v-3AOPB1_BC26evhsi/s720/Saeb+Erekat+is+an+excellent+choice+to+teach+students+how+to+prevent+the+achievement+of+peace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="720" height="82" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPgRUx_d2NXKCvNtHZ2nM7oWx5u-AcZrBSBRe3aqn4JwlLl4nVAbY7GZKiCoOXSQlwTZU7ncnBeSUW2zVYOJVL5ejGBVxxd0JXcOk-lrxhsVblbRoJ-tfE8KuBO8v-3AOPB1_BC26evhsi/w164-h82/Saeb+Erekat+is+an+excellent+choice+to+teach+students+how+to+prevent+the+achievement+of+peace.jpg" width="164" /></a></div><br /><b>Mitchell Bard</b>.. </div><div>Algemeiner.. </div><div>10 September '20.. </div><div><br /></div><div> The standards of academia continue to slide, as “academic freedom” and tenure have increasingly been used to shield faculty from accountability. The result has been widespread abuses that include the substitution of propaganda for scholarship, the misuse of the classroom to promote personal agendas, and the normalization of antisemitism on campus. </div><div><br /></div><div> Some people may believe universities are interested in education, but they are even more interested in money. It is therefore not surprising they are solicitous of Arab states and individuals who have donated more than $5.1 billion dollars to influence their curricula and faculty. Harvard has raked in more than $100 million. </div><div><br /></div><div> The sellout of academic values is exemplified by Harvard’s acceptance of $1.6 million from the “State of Palestine.” Could it be a coincidence that, in a case study of the university’s decline in standards, it hired Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians’ chief negotiator, to mentor students and give virtual seminars as a fellow in The Future of Diplomacy Project at the Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs? He is among the new fellows who faculty chair Nicholas Burns said “will strengthen our capacity to learn the lessons of effective diplomacy and statecraft.” </div><div><br /></div><div> One hardly knows where to begin in digesting this astounding example of moral and academic myopia.
Given that Burns was among the peace processors with a career history of failure at the State Department, it may not be surprising that he would choose someone to teach diplomacy who has also been a failure as a negotiator. </div><div><br /></div><div> If Harvard is interested in teaching students how to prevent the achievement of peace, they have picked the right man. </div><div><br /></div><div> (<a href="https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/09/10/harvard-reaches-a-new-low/"><b><i>Continue to Full Column</i></b></a>)</div><div><br /><div> <i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1599449834816000&usg=AFQjCNEmigJbLLoJWMnG_k-MxkKbIWCK6A" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1599449834816000&usg=AFQjCNFiWNn9ojsF7KOeurebr5RDzlkNLw" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1599449834816000&usg=AFQjCNGuW8Li3LVpQ8VMDS9JckT8-Nt5kQ" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i> </div></div>Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-19357390467208866592020-09-10T06:21:00.002+03:002020-09-10T06:21:35.500+03:00The Arab League has now opted out of the Palestinian’s century-old battle against the idea of a Jewish state - by Jonathan S. Tobin<b>The Arab League’s rejection of their rejectionism should have forced them to rethink their strategy, rather than double down on it. Joe Biden should take note.</b><div><br /></div><div><b>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFRAwTtls1A_pCn67J2XtJsofnfCBphGlTcHL43Sxu5uXo0DuH2DXOz8-UdklAMs8pgaUx_SbS2CVnJSiCAyeJHMVLNuRctMNFezKql3nMv4uq3N0h7ocjQDiq9v6J035mb5-f2yy3t5xQ/s880/The+Arab+League+has+now+opted+out+of+the+Palestinian%25E2%2580%2599s+century-old+battle+against+the+idea+of+a+Jewish+state.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="880" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFRAwTtls1A_pCn67J2XtJsofnfCBphGlTcHL43Sxu5uXo0DuH2DXOz8-UdklAMs8pgaUx_SbS2CVnJSiCAyeJHMVLNuRctMNFezKql3nMv4uq3N0h7ocjQDiq9v6J035mb5-f2yy3t5xQ/w250-h141/The+Arab+League+has+now+opted+out+of+the+Palestinian%25E2%2580%2599s+century-old+battle+against+the+idea+of+a+Jewish+state.jpg" width="250" /></a></div><br />Jonathan S. Tobin</b>.. </div><div>JNS.org.. </div><div>09 September '20.. </div><div><br /></div><div> If you had any doubt that the era in which the Arab world would continue to grant a veto over Middle East peace to the Palestinians was over, this week’s drama in Cairo put an end to it. In a meeting in the Egyptian capital, the Arab League, an entity that was founded in 1945 in order to help coordinate the war on Zionism, has made it clear that it is opting out of the Palestinian’s century-old battle against the idea of a Jewish state. </div><div><br /></div><div> The Arab League’s rejection of Palestinian efforts to condemn the United Arab Emirates’ decision to normalize relations with Israel is almost as much of a milestone as the agreement that was pushed by the Trump administration. The Palestinian Authority and their Hamas rivals raged against the UAE’s decision as a “betrayal.” But the Arab states will no longer be dragged into supporting such a pointless conflict. </div><div><br /></div><div> Predictably, the Palestinians are reacting to their defeat not by drawing conclusions from events and rethinking their approach. Instead, they are doubling down on rejectionism and damning their one-time allies. </div><div><br /></div><div> But they aren’t the only ones who should be assessing whether their ideas have been rendered obsolete. Americans who have spent decades trying to pressure Israel to enable a two-state solution that would end the conflict should also recognize that the reaction to the normalization agreement demonstrates that their assumptions about the Palestinians’ willingness to make peace have also been finally demolished. </div><div><br /></div><div> (<a href="https://www.jns.org/opinion/more-than-a-missed-opportunity-for-palestinians/"><b><i>Continue to Full Column</i></b></a>)</div><div><br /></div><i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1599449834816000&usg=AFQjCNEmigJbLLoJWMnG_k-MxkKbIWCK6A" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1599449834816000&usg=AFQjCNFiWNn9ojsF7KOeurebr5RDzlkNLw" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1599449834816000&usg=AFQjCNGuW8Li3LVpQ8VMDS9JckT8-Nt5kQ" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i> Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-23533131857725252092020-09-09T06:15:00.001+03:002020-09-09T06:15:33.232+03:00This is the nightmare of Israel boycotters everywhere - by David Suissa<b>No wonder Israel-haters are unhappy. Their lie is crumbling. The Zionist state is turning into a source for solutions and hope rather than hatred.</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuYAjPc2dEOIS4PSXPDAmd91KZpyVJGmcDqzq7QLGJuWAH9v1MfpnDGXelh1goSCMLFjAFFupT-rpqwqFyJIk-MegNeoeo48U-fUMMxOUIdF8jS_BtXLsJ9zT6k3WeeYtNZtqPh0YFPYwe/s1600/This+is+the+nightmare+of+Israel+boycotters+everywhere+-+by+David+Suissa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="880" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuYAjPc2dEOIS4PSXPDAmd91KZpyVJGmcDqzq7QLGJuWAH9v1MfpnDGXelh1goSCMLFjAFFupT-rpqwqFyJIk-MegNeoeo48U-fUMMxOUIdF8jS_BtXLsJ9zT6k3WeeYtNZtqPh0YFPYwe/s200/This+is+the+nightmare+of+Israel+boycotters+everywhere+-+by+David+Suissa.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b>David Suissa</b>..<br />
JNS.com/Jewish Journal..<br />
08 September '20..<br />
<br />
Israel-haters must not be very happy these days. All of a sudden, the big lie that nourished their anti-Zionist venom for so long is slipping away.<br />
<br />
For more than 50 years, diplomatic geniuses kept telling the world that “the key to peace in the Middle East is to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” The convenient corollary was that the solution was in Israel’s hands, which kept the Jewish state constantly on the receiving end of global condemnation. <br />
<br />
This brilliant maneuver sought to camouflage the plain truth that the deepest ills of the region have absolutely nothing to do with Israel or the Palestinian conflict.<br />
<br />
Consider just a few: centuries of conflict between Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims; brutal dictatorships that have led to general misery and despair; a predatory Iranian regime seeking domination of the region; civil wars in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen; the rise of terror groups like Islamic State; and a gross absence of civil liberties that results in the routine jailing of dissidents.<br />
<br />
When the Arab Spring erupted in 2011 and millions poured out onto the streets to demand those very liberties, many of us thought the big lie would be exposed. After all, what were these desperate protesters demanding if not the same rights, freedoms and opportunities that their Arab and Muslim brethren already enjoyed in Israel?<br />
<br />
Turns out it took a little longer, about nine years.<br />
<br />
One can’t overstate the paradigm shift represented by the decision of the United Arab Emirates to go public with its open relationship with Israel. Here is the dreaded Zionist enemy, the scapegoat exploited by countless dictators over the decades to distract from their own failures, being publicly legitimized and validated by a powerful Arab nation.<br />
<br />
(<a href="https://www.jns.org/opinion/why-this-is-the-ideal-time-for-a-zionist-spring/"><b><i>Continue to Full Column</i></b></a>)<br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1599449834816000&usg=AFQjCNEmigJbLLoJWMnG_k-MxkKbIWCK6A" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1599449834816000&usg=AFQjCNFiWNn9ojsF7KOeurebr5RDzlkNLw" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1599449834816000&usg=AFQjCNGuW8Li3LVpQ8VMDS9JckT8-Nt5kQ" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i>Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-56095746871718057902020-09-08T06:13:00.001+03:002020-09-08T06:13:29.095+03:00Oh my! Unpleasant news for Thomas Friedman - by Stephen M. Flatow<b>Does the level of the Kinneret have anything to do with the prospects for peace in the Middle East? He’d like you to think that it does.</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrrzkcIRcZFqYP90hTuyuA85Oo0AEd7hQY3Jis2TdiN4_yUhUyxT_RsER_q4_ex1iskXs5H-Kd6wx0Uc2kqAlukGzwCeiwRVwiu9s8c8HWqYsXCWpCq2eFwLWnnelDcXgbqgdxAZ3hvpJO/s1600/Earlier+this+year%252C+Friedman+wrote+that+climate+change+should+be+the+urgent+new+factor+in+Mideast+diplomacy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="177" data-original-width="284" height="124" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrrzkcIRcZFqYP90hTuyuA85Oo0AEd7hQY3Jis2TdiN4_yUhUyxT_RsER_q4_ex1iskXs5H-Kd6wx0Uc2kqAlukGzwCeiwRVwiu9s8c8HWqYsXCWpCq2eFwLWnnelDcXgbqgdxAZ3hvpJO/s200/Earlier+this+year%252C+Friedman+wrote+that+climate+change+should+be+the+urgent+new+factor+in+Mideast+diplomacy.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b>Stephen M. Flatow</b>..<br />
JNS.org..<br />
07 September '20..<br />
<br />
When I’m not in Israel, I don’t usually pay much attention to its weather. But an item last week about rainfall in the Holy Land caught my eye. It deserves the attention not only of geologists and meteorologists, but those who are concerned about Israel’s political and diplomatic situation as well.<br />
<br />
The Israel Water Authority announced that there has been so much rainfall during 2020 that the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) is now at its highest level for this time of the year in nearly three decades. The last time it was this high at the end of August was 1993. “Another surprising phenomenon,” the Authority reported, “is a steady flow in the Dan spring, which has increased slightly.” The Kinneret and the Dan River are two of Israel’s most important sources of water. <br />
<br />
Does the level of the Kinneret have anything to do with the prospects for peace in the Middle East? Thomas Friedman would like you to think that it does.<br />
<br />
Friedman has been the foreign affairs op-ed columnist for <i>The New York Times</i> since 1995. That means that for the past 25 years, he has enjoyed one of the most prominent and influential platforms in public discourse. Not only are his columns read by movers and shakers around the world, but he is also frequently interviewed on national television and radio shows, and invited to speak at major public forums and events hosted by Jewish organizations that should know better.<br />
<br />
I say “that should know better” because in his writings about Israel, Friedman sometimes crosses the line in ways that would earn other pundits pariah status in the Jewish world. In 2004, he wrote that Israel “had George Bush under house arrest in the Oval Office.” In 2011, Friedman claimed that the standing ovations Israel’s prime minister received in Congress were “bought and paid for by the Israel lobby.” In 2013, he asserted that “many American lawmakers [will] do whatever the Israel lobby asks them to do in order to garner Jewish votes and campaign donations.”<br />
<br />
Despite those Pat Buchanan-like sentiments, Friedman has managed to maintain his status as a prominent opinion-shaper. <br />
<br />
(<b><i><a href="https://www.jns.org/opinion/unpleasant-news-for-thomas-friedman/">Continue to Full Column</a></i></b>)<br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1599449834816000&usg=AFQjCNEmigJbLLoJWMnG_k-MxkKbIWCK6A" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1599449834816000&usg=AFQjCNFiWNn9ojsF7KOeurebr5RDzlkNLw" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1599449834816000&usg=AFQjCNGuW8Li3LVpQ8VMDS9JckT8-Nt5kQ" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i>Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-71793774928157203512020-09-07T06:16:00.002+03:002020-09-07T06:16:42.298+03:00The Egyptian-Israeli Peace Accord, Expectations and the Plight of Egyptians Living in Israel - by Dr. Edy Cohen<b>Decades after the achievement of a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, the peace remains cold. Egypt continues to be institutionally hostile to Israel. Egyptian citizens who reside in Israel, be they students or small business owners or simply spouses of Israeli Arabs, face discrimination and suspicion at home.</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWkM6x35MmBbLz5oYhyUivhYsd81IImwwDZZwckQ_jAkqTqizk0CzKFqEIoibMt-jrw7E7PgnN6cwyqHyUKPCBsu1YTFI7xK207909OcfGTY0vS-pj2OeqAI39Kt8O-YAqCudoazSTDqT7/s1600/The+Egyptian-Israeli+Peace+Accord%252C+Expectations+and+the+Plight+of+Egyptians+Living+in+Israel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="215" data-original-width="300" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWkM6x35MmBbLz5oYhyUivhYsd81IImwwDZZwckQ_jAkqTqizk0CzKFqEIoibMt-jrw7E7PgnN6cwyqHyUKPCBsu1YTFI7xK207909OcfGTY0vS-pj2OeqAI39Kt8O-YAqCudoazSTDqT7/s200/The+Egyptian-Israeli+Peace+Accord%252C+Expectations+and+the+Plight+of+Egyptians+Living+in+Israel.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b>Dr. Edy Cohen</b>..<br />
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,731..<br />
06 September '20..<br />
<b>Link</b>: <i><a href="https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/egyptians-living-in-israel/">https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/egyptians-living-in-israel/</a></i><br />
<br />
Israelis often say, “There is peace between the governments of Egypt and Israel, but not between the peoples.” I beg to differ. Many Egyptians have no problem with Israel, and a few thousands of them even live in Israel, peacefully. Egyptian citizens are deterred from visiting Israel and establishing any kind of warm relationship with it for fear of the wrath of the government, which views any such attempts as potentially traitorous.<br />
<br />
Forty-one years have passed since the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli peace accord between Israeli PM Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. The agreement established certain guidelines, including mutual non-aggression in the media and reciprocal visits by tourists.<br />
<br />
Article 3 of the peace treaty says:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #660000;">The Parties agree that the normal relationship established between them will include full recognition, diplomatic, economic and cultural relations, termination of economic boycotts and discriminatory barriers to the free movement of people and goods, and will guarantee the mutual enjoyment by citizens of the due process of law.</span></blockquote>
<br />
Article 3 encourages normalization of relationships between the two nations:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: #660000;">The Parties agree to establish normal cultural relations following completion of the interim withdrawal.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: #660000;">They agree on the desirability of cultural exchanges in all fields, and shall, as soon as possible and not later than six months after completion of the interim withdrawal, enter into negotiations with a view to concluding a cultural agreement for this purpose.</span></blockquote>
<br />
Unfortunately, none of that happened. In the 41 years since the agreement was signed, not a day has gone by in which Israel or Jews in general have not been attacked in the Egyptian media. For many deeply rooted reasons, Egypt has the most antisemitic media of any Arab country. No matter what the peace treaty says, the Egyptian leadership did not and still does not want to normalize relations with Israel, and it punishes anyone who tries to do so.<br />
<br />
Thankfully, there is no open military hostility between Egypt and Israel these days, and there are some economic and diplomatic relations. Egypt also helps mediate between Israel and Hamas. According to several media sources, Israel is helping Egypt to eliminate ISIS in Sinai. That would testify to political security coordination existing between the two countries.<br />
<br />
However, there is still no cultural relationship between the two countries, nor freedom of movement. On the contrary: there is discrimination and punishment for anyone who tries to normalize relations, and it does not come from the Israeli side.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Egyptian PM Mustafa Madbouli, who is in charge of the Citizenship Law, recently revoked the citizenship of three Egyptians who live in Israel. Their only crime was having received Israeli citizenship. The official reason given for the revocation of their Egyptian citizenship was that they had not sought prior approval, but there is no such requirement for Egyptians seeking to attain dual citizenship with any other country. The more likely reason is found in the Egyptian Citizenship Law, which stipulates in Section 16, Subsection 10 that Egyptian citizenship may be revoked if the person has been identified with Zionism.<br />
<br />
Most Egyptian citizens who receive Israeli citizenship are not Zionists. Many are married to Israeli Arabs and live a normal life in Israel. They do not work for the Israeli security services or the civil service. The revocation of their Egyptian citizenship is simply punishment for their living a normalized life with Israel.<br />
<br />
The Egyptian model for Israeli-Egyptian relations is a cold peace between governments and no peace at all between the peoples. Every Egyptian who wishes to visit Israel as a tourist must first contact Egyptian intelligence for permission. He will then be humiliated, warned, and — if he made the mistake of contacting the Israeli embassy beforehand — possibly even jailed on suspicion of espionage.<br />
<br />
There is a phobia among Egyptians when it comes to relations with Israel. It is not acceptable to have cultural connections, tourist visits, or any form of relationship with Israelis. The only Egyptian allowed to be in contact with Israel is President Sisi.<br />
<br />
Four years ago, Egyptian MP Tawfiq Akasha visited the home of the Israeli ambassador to Egypt. Following the visit he was attacked in an unprecedented commotion. He was even physically assaulted in parliament.<br />
<br />
As for Egyptians living in Israel, they are reluctant to return home to visit family because of the harassment they will inevitably receive from the Egyptian authorities. They would also be subjected to long delays when they tried to return to Israel. In conversations I had with Egyptian citizens, I learned that they need a special permit to return to Israel, even though they live there.<br />
<br />
The special permit is often delayed for many months, which is a serious problem for Egyptian citizens who have jobs, businesses, or studies to return to back in Israel. They also have to put up with daily interrogations throughout the time they are in Egypt. All this harassment stems from the government’s fear that the citizen in question might be an agent of the Mossad.<br />
<br />
The Cairo government has a deep fear that Egyptians might spy for Israel. The recent book The Angel documents the story of the number one Egyptian spy, Ashraf Marwan (it has been made into a Netflix movie). He was no less than the son-in-law of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser. The Egyptians deny to this day that Marwan was a spy.<br />
<br />
Over 6,000 Egyptians live in Israel. Most are married to Israeli Arabs and work in Israel. Most have legal visas, pursue business or studies, and have children or grandchildren. However, they do not live normal lives. They live in distress, as they are effectively barred from their home country.<br />
<br />
The Egyptian treatment of its citizens who associate with Israel echoes that of Saudi Arabia. Saudi journalist Abdul Hamid-Ghabin was arrested in Saudi Arabia because he crossed “red lines” by appearing in Israeli media. Egypt is no more tolerant of any sign of accommodation by an Egyptian citizen with the state of Israel.<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: #660000;">Dr. Edy Cohen (Ph.D. Bar-Ilan University) is fluent in Arabic and specializes in inter-Arab relations, the Arab-Israeli conflict, terrorism, Jewish communities in the Arab world. He is a researcher at the BESA Center and author of the book The Holocaust in the Eyes of Mahmoud Abbas (Hebrew).</span></i><br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1599449834816000&usg=AFQjCNEmigJbLLoJWMnG_k-MxkKbIWCK6A" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1599449834816000&usg=AFQjCNFiWNn9ojsF7KOeurebr5RDzlkNLw" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1599449834816000&usg=AFQjCNGuW8Li3LVpQ8VMDS9JckT8-Nt5kQ" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i>Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-32223142921809458122020-09-06T06:36:00.002+03:002020-09-06T06:36:49.193+03:00The West's continuing blind eye to Palestinian incitement - by Melanie Phillips<b>The latest incompetence, reviewing the wrong textbook used for children, seems hard to believe. Why do people find it so difficult to acknowledge Palestinian violence and bigotry against Israel and the Jews?</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6vFmZysv03_63bnGK_zOTlf-LU3vyLFD_Ak9KmrFHJ7AchL5APbTorLvhDP8_3-Hctoky6V-Gswen_jNvYSc44RnZ3cJM50dl7BF9iktoquHgBbMYUu3GLcFnvvLN5HiZjeyPyoa0MVP-/s1600/The+West%2527s+continuing+blind+eye+to+Palestinian+incitement+-+by+Melanie+Phillips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="173" data-original-width="291" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6vFmZysv03_63bnGK_zOTlf-LU3vyLFD_Ak9KmrFHJ7AchL5APbTorLvhDP8_3-Hctoky6V-Gswen_jNvYSc44RnZ3cJM50dl7BF9iktoquHgBbMYUu3GLcFnvvLN5HiZjeyPyoa0MVP-/s200/The+West%2527s+continuing+blind+eye+to+Palestinian+incitement+-+by+Melanie+Phillips.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b>Melanie Phillips</b>..<br />
Israel Hayom..<br />
04 September '20..<br />
<b>Link</b>: <i><a href="https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/the-wests-blind-eye-to-palestinian-incitement/">https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/the-wests-blind-eye-to-palestinian-incitement/</a></i><br />
<br />
Why do so many well-meaning people committed to ending abuses of power ignore the evidence of who is actually committing these abuses and blame their victims instead?<br />
<br />
An official investigation funded by Britain and the European Union into textbooks used in Palestinian schools has descended into farce.<br />
<br />
In April 2018, finally responding to concerns about anti-Israel incitement in Palestinian-Arab schools, the United Kingdom pushed the EU to commission a report on Palestinian textbooks from the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research in Germany.<br />
<br />
In April last year, the Institute published as a preliminary what it called its "Inception Report." This, it said, developed a framework for "an academically rigorous review" of "how peace, tolerance and an understanding of the other are incorporated into Palestinian textbooks."<br />
<br />
This report, however, was itself riddled with so many mistakes that the European Union ditched it. Bafflingly, however, the EU has continued to use the Georg Eckert Institute to finish the project.<br />
<br />
Its final report is due out next month. But it has now produced an interim report, which the EU is choosing to keep secret.<br />
<br />
Marcus Sheff, chief executive of the Jerusalem-based Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education, managed to obtain a presentation of this interim report. This has shown the project lurching from bad to worse.<br />
<br />
Calling the review "a comedy of errors from start to finish," Sheff says the researchers have looked at the wrong textbooks. They have actually used as examples textbooks that are used in Israel's Arab schools in Jerusalem, praising them and presenting them falsely as part of the Palestinian Authority's curriculum.<br />
<br />
On the basis of this egregious mistake, the researchers have claimed that the Palestinians' educational materials have been "transformed" for the better.<br />
<br />
They make no mention of the vile language and images used in many of the Palestinian textbooks, such as describing the burning of Jewish bus passengers with Molotov cocktails as a "barbecue party," or teaching Arabic through a story promoting suicide bombings and illustrated by a Palestinian gunman shooting Israeli soldiers in a tank.<br />
<br />
The incompetence seems hard to credit. Why do people in the West appear to find it so difficult to acknowledge Palestinian hatred and incitement against Israel and the Jews?<br />
<br />
Clearly, they resist acknowledging anything that will undermine the narrative on which EU and UK foreign policy has been based for decades – that giving the Palestinian Arabs a state would end the "Middle East conflict."<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>But this gives rise to deeper questions. Why do they believe that the Palestinians are entitled to a state of their own? Why do they claim that, aside from the extremists of Hamas, the Palestinian Authority's leaders are legitimate statesmen-in-waiting?<br />
<br />
Because these Western supporters refuse to acknowledge the murderous incitement against both Israel and the Jewish people that routinely emanates from the supposedly moderate PA.<br />
<br />
They don't just ignore its repeated calls for Israel's destruction and support for the murder of Israelis. They also ignore the grotesque anti-Semitism that pours out of PA-backed preachers, publications and TV.<br />
<br />
As painstakingly documented by Palestinian Media Watch and the Middle East Media Research Institute, the PA presents the Jews as possessing inherently evil traits. It regularly describes them as treacherous, corrupt, allied with the devil and the descendants of apes and pigs.<br />
<br />
It has claimed Jews are "thirsty for blood to please their god [against the gentiles], and crave pockets full of money;" that the Jews were forced out of Europe in the past because of the threat that their "evil nature" posed to Europeans; that these Jewish "traits" and "ways of behavior" constitute a danger to all humanity. And so on, and so on.<br />
<br />
The Palestinians' supporters, who are so quick to damn any Western figure suspected of the slightest historic connection with far-right movements, also totally ignore the history of Palestinian Nazism.<br />
<br />
In the 1930s, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj-Amin al-Husseini, made a pact with the Nazis and turned the Palestinian Arabs into Hitler's army in the Middle East.<br />
<br />
More than that, as detailed by Barry Rubin and Wolfgang Schwanitz in their book Nazis, Islamists and the Making of the Modern Middle East, al-Husseini was no less committed than Hitler to the extermination of the Jews. He pledged to achieve that infernal aim throughout the Middle East and was highly influential in encouraging Hitler to adopt the specific extermination strategy of the Final Solution.<br />
<br />
This still matters today. While the Palestinians in general shouldn't be tarred with the Nazi brush, al-Husseini is revered and extolled by the Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, a Holocaust denier who openly draws on the former Grand Mufti for inspiration.<br />
<br />
So why are Western progressives so attached to the Palestinian cause that they ignore such evidence of its noxious characteristics?<br />
<br />
One answer is the anti-Semitism that courses through the West itself. Another is the realpolitik that has caused Western leaders to cozy up to the Arab world.<br />
<br />
There's a deeper reason. Acknowledging the toxic reality of Palestinian Jew-hatred would up-end the entire moral and political universe that the left have constructed around the narrative of the "oppressive" West and those it has "oppressed."<br />
<br />
Left-wing idealists need to reflect this dogma in a cause with which they can identify. All of their previous causes have either ended or gone belly-up: Soviet communism, South African apartheid, Irish republicanism.<br />
<br />
The Palestinians have been portrayed as oppressed victims by fiendishly effective propaganda that has rewritten a history of which the left remain almost wholly ignorant. So they've made the Palestinians into their poster cause of conscience.<br />
<br />
Moreover, the overriding preoccupation of progressives is never the actual condition of the oppressed for whom their hearts bleed. It is instead how noble and virtuous such support makes them appear, both to themselves and to others.<br />
<br />
If they had to acknowledge that the Palestinian cause is inextricably intertwined with murderous anti-Semitism – and that its current leader hero-worships a man who had sought to achieve victory for fascism and the extermination of the Jews – then their entire moral and political universe would implode.<br />
<br />
This is also why the same kind of people refuse to acknowledge the anti-white, anti-Jew, revolutionary agenda of Black Lives Matter, telling themselves instead that it's a noble campaign against racism.<br />
<br />
When incontrovertible facts about Palestinian anti-Semitism or BLM are pointed out, not only do progressives deny this noxious agenda, but they smear as racist anyone who dares point out these inconvenient truths.<br />
<br />
That's because progressives believe they stand for everything that's good in the world. So anyone challenging their position is assumed to be bad, anything they say is automatically dismissed as a lie, and they are assumed to have the worst possible motives.<br />
<br />
This is why support for the Palestinians is both symptom and cause of the West's moral collapse; and both Jew and non-Jew are involved in its disintegration.<br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1599424513696000&usg=AFQjCNFPxxMKX7_OFYtsjmEABzy0hJrc6w" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1599424513696000&usg=AFQjCNGx5br4xSlI-h22BqgMmUXWK89Agw" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1599424513696000&usg=AFQjCNH95fq9kmB4Fjz0e2LDHe14RfMuEw" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i> Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-70125746879865128562020-09-04T06:11:00.001+03:002020-09-04T06:11:09.133+03:00Those who actually strive for peace and progress and human rights in the Middle East - by Richard Kemp<b>We are fortunate that the true leaders of today understand how breathtakingly unimportant are both the Nobel Committee and the EU. For all their self-importance, both groups, sadly, end up shaming themselves and working against peace, prosperity and human rights.</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtg4A0L5F7bXCN_eyemDWLLus2iVnOsIvft-hSzZ6Ba02xZJG1gC5BzNRDuiio4YEAqDj4pjTvVN11yHnYM8jCmTt2YyilFYpnYa5mCihTtzwjxk0IpBaOBranFn8jh3eveobkJKajXlFH/s1600/Those+who+actually+strive+for+peace+and+progress+and+human+rights+in+the+Middle+East.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="678" data-original-width="1024" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtg4A0L5F7bXCN_eyemDWLLus2iVnOsIvft-hSzZ6Ba02xZJG1gC5BzNRDuiio4YEAqDj4pjTvVN11yHnYM8jCmTt2YyilFYpnYa5mCihTtzwjxk0IpBaOBranFn8jh3eveobkJKajXlFH/s200/Those+who+actually+strive+for+peace+and+progress+and+human+rights+in+the+Middle+East.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b>Richard Kemp</b>..<br />
Gatestone Institute..<br />
03 September '20..<br />
<br />
This week, we witnessed a symbol of perhaps the greatest step forward in world peace for decades. The first-ever direct passenger flight from Israel to the United Arab Emirates flew down the length of Saudi Arabia's airspace. After Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994, the UAE has become the third Arab state to normalise relations with the State of Israel under the new Abraham Accord.<br />
<br />
Next month, the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize winner will be announced in Oslo. Will it go to the architects of the Abraham Accord, a momentous achievement in itself, and also a major development in a regional geopolitical realignment that is not only good for peace and prosperity in the Middle East but in the world? We knew what the answer would be to that question even before it arose. (Those who point out the deadline for 2020 nominations has passed need not expect to see it in 2021 either.)<br />
<br />
Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, might well have caught the eye of the Nobel selectors, but unfortunately his partners in this enterprise are US President Donald J. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both are despised figures for the wokerati in Oslo and the fellow travellers they are desperate to impress. Compared to the perceptions of these leaders among the hard left who dominate all discourse on "peace", their achievements on the world stage are irrelevant.<br />
<br />
Their fingerprints on the Abraham Accord ensured it also received a cool reception in much of the US and international media and in the chancelleries of Europe — more closely aligned with the hostile and backward-looking regimes of Iran, Turkey and Qatar than with those who actually strive for peace and progress and human rights in the Middle East; "the men in the arena", to borrow from former US President Theodore Roosevelt.<br />
<br />
Yet, the developing relationship between Israel and the UAE is at least as significant as the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt that deservedly led to Nobel Peace Prizes for Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat. It paves the way for further leaps forward, with potential for similar normalisation between Israel and other countries in the region such as Bahrain, Oman, Sudan, Morocco and even Saudi Arabia. The UAE would not have acted without Saudis' blessing. Although publicly understated, the opinion in Riyadh is clear. Some months ago, in talks with leaders there as part of a delegation from former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Friends of Israel Initiative, together with their Executive Director and former Spanish National Security Adviser Rafael Bardaji, I heard firsthand how open the Saudis were to the prospect of embracing Israel in the future.<br />
<br />
(<a href="https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16448/israel-uae-world-peace"><b><i>Continue to Full Post</i></b></a>)<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Colonel Richard Kemp is a former British Army Commander. He was also head of the international terrorism team in the U.K. Cabinet Office and is now a writer and speaker on international and military affairs.</span><br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1599164311531000&usg=AFQjCNFaHBGyHzzNdaIPAR0K6Hw0XQN_EA" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1599164311531000&usg=AFQjCNHNJTgEYwT7uOpt74m5RJRREQ-6UA" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1599164311531000&usg=AFQjCNFFMDX5oC0Fm2M0xA7jIuGE7irkjw" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i> Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-46713733798752686052020-09-03T06:11:00.004+03:002020-09-03T06:11:56.277+03:00C'mon, 1, 2, 3, Hurray for the New Middle East - by Ben-Dror Yemini<b>We wanted a shift in the region and here it is taking shape right before our eyes; yet the detractors, even those on the Israeli side, continue to stamp their feet, demanding we continue down a path that has failed the Palestinians for decades</b><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxaCOsndiYTKihQBI3f_foKuPTrp2usKmPjWEMgkUMgeY85Hov-zwggvy0BBcO1P6tGQE_t0_Ipp35WNjK1Tlpy1El2juGE1SXbkN-og40-maWJPkf7iqCXjsypnsfR11QtxO04GYNLT5A/s1600/C%2527mon%252C+1%252C+2%252C+3%252C+Hurray+for+the+New+Middle+East.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="490" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxaCOsndiYTKihQBI3f_foKuPTrp2usKmPjWEMgkUMgeY85Hov-zwggvy0BBcO1P6tGQE_t0_Ipp35WNjK1Tlpy1El2juGE1SXbkN-og40-maWJPkf7iqCXjsypnsfR11QtxO04GYNLT5A/s200/C%2527mon%252C+1%252C+2%252C+3%252C+Hurray+for+the+New+Middle+East.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Photo: Ofir Malka</i></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Ben-Dror Yemini</b>..<br />
Ynet/Opinion..<br />
01 September '20..<br />
<b>Link</b>:<i> <a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rJ5Tq5sXP">https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rJ5Tq5sXP</a></i><br />
<br />
We often trouble ourselves over trivialities to the extent that we struggle to see the bigger picture.<br />
<br />
The Israeli delegation's official visit to the UAE - flying in Saudi Arabian airsace on an El Al plane with the kingdom's permission - is a day of celebration for Israel.<br />
<br />
We wanted a new Middle East and here it is taking shape right before our eyes.<br />
<br />
We would have been happy if the Palestinians could also have joined us. We would have been happy to see Israeli flags hoisted across Ramallah.<br />
<br />
This has yet to happen, but it is also not enough of a reason to lament that the Israeli flag "only" flew over Saudi territory and not on it.<br />
<br />
Critics insist that nothing too dramatic has happened since Israel has had clandestine ties with the Gulf states for many years.<br />
<br />
I have already visited two Gulf states - Bahrain and Qatar - in the 1990s, and I have even traveled to Yemen, but then the second Intifada erupted, and everything came to a screeching halt.<br />
<br />
All overt ties became covert or simply ceased to exist. The enemies of normalization ruled and the perennially stubborn Palestinians dictated policies.<br />
<br />
Now everything has changed, and we have told them: "no more."<br />
<br />
The proponents of normalization have raised their heads, not because of their love for Israel, but due to their own interests.<br />
<br />
This is wonderful. I wish the Palestinian could also join the party and act in their own interests, but they much prefer to act against themselves. It has become second nature to them - and while it hurts us, but it hurts them much more.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
"What’s all this ruckus about? After all, the UAE is a dictatorship," some critics shrieked.<br />
<br />
I find their claim funny since they were the same ones to disparage and belittle former U.S. president George Bush as he tried to spread the good gospel of democracy and pondered who had put him in charge.<br />
<br />
Now, the eternally discontent are asking the same question of Israel.<br />
<br />
So what do they suggest we do? Break ties with Egypt and Jordan as well? They're also not democracies, after all.<br />
<br />
These are the same people who roll in the Palestinian mud and preach to us about the need to reconcile with Hamas, because this is important, and claims about their lack of democracy are just a poor excuse to avoid compromise and peace.<br />
<br />
They actually do make a good point about the Palestinians. We shouldn't trouble ourselves too much with the Palestinian entity's ranking on the democracy scale. So they should do us all a favor and quit whining over other Arab regimes.<br />
<br />
Is this trend within the Arab world real, or is it simply an agreement between leaders that has nothing to do with Arab public opinion?<br />
<br />
There is still no polling to back this assumption but scouring through Arab media clearly shows that something is going on over there and it didn't begin with the Israel-UAE deal.<br />
<br />
Those who followed the Middle East Media Research Institution (MEMRI) down the years know it is a process.<br />
<br />
Articles we would not have dreamed of reading two or three decades ago are published today not only on sites operating in the West but in leading newspapers in Arab countries.<br />
<br />
Prominent Saudi journalist Mashari Althaydi wrote that the UAE reached an "historic achievement."<br />
Yemeni economist Manahel Thabet published an article praising Israel's scientific achievements and called on Arab countries to cooperate with Israel.<br />
<br />
They are not backing away from the Palestinian cause. This is something much more important. It is a change in attitude – peace through mutual interests and normalization, not through boycotts.<br />
<br />
The detractors, even those on our side, continue to stamp their feet, demanding we continue down the path that has failed the Palestinians for almost a century, demanding more boycotts and recalcitrance.<br />
This has never worked, but what difference does it make? They are so blind in their antagonism toward Israel that even supporting the Islamist Qatar-Turkey-Hamas-Iran coalition seems normal to them.<br />
<br />
We need more such breakthroughs with Sudan and Saudi Arabia, with Bahrain and Oman. Maybe even Morocco, where Israeli tourists were already traveling nonstop before COVID-19 struck.<br />
<br />
This new agreement will not push peace with the Palestinians any further away. Quite the reverse: it will make it clear to them that they must change direction too.<br />
<br />
There are many good people on the Palestinian side who understand that they need change and this agreement with the UAE and relations with other countries strengthen them. <br />
<br />
So in historic terms, the visit that started on Monday is definitely a holiday, and hopefully, more days like this are yet to come.<br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1599164311531000&usg=AFQjCNFaHBGyHzzNdaIPAR0K6Hw0XQN_EA" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1599164311531000&usg=AFQjCNHNJTgEYwT7uOpt74m5RJRREQ-6UA" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1599164311531000&usg=AFQjCNFFMDX5oC0Fm2M0xA7jIuGE7irkjw" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i> Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-63100294338384623012020-09-02T06:22:00.002+03:002020-09-02T06:23:33.703+03:00“Hebrew Year Abroad”? Bashing opportunities to study Hebrew in Israel - by Ethan Dayan<b>A university that succumbs to the pressure of students making a claim based on a proven lie to serve a greater motive is not a stable one.</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZN_DEPCDF_-F6ixF88rHhOP73pQaCz4GcEj6vxCUZ8FI3qD_hZajp-ykVUn6arvBGD9ruTykKypxNNq2wf2WfUJW4mFIq1y3fIG83CxMbx8RjPgowN9PXq6bx4QQMRNWNa16Lr8ePAbvy/s1600/BDS+activists+can%25E2%2580%2599t+celebrate+because+Haifa+is+still+an+Israeli+university%252C.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="189" data-original-width="267" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZN_DEPCDF_-F6ixF88rHhOP73pQaCz4GcEj6vxCUZ8FI3qD_hZajp-ykVUn6arvBGD9ruTykKypxNNq2wf2WfUJW4mFIq1y3fIG83CxMbx8RjPgowN9PXq6bx4QQMRNWNa16Lr8ePAbvy/s200/BDS+activists+can%25E2%2580%2599t+celebrate+because+Haifa+is+still+an+Israeli+university%252C.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b>Ethan Dayan</b>..<br />
JNS.org..<br />
01 September '20..<br />
<br />
This month it was revealed that the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) moved its “Hebrew Year Abroad” scheme from Hebrew University in Jerusalem to Haifa University. The University of West London has also severed ties with Hebrew U and is yet to announce a replacement Hebrew program. If British universities continue to contribute to this wave of capitulation to anti-Israel activism, students may not have the opportunity to learn Hebrew abroad at all.<br />
<br />
Many observers blame a recent open letter signed by more than 100 Students’ Union Officers that condemned all 11 universities in the United Kingdom partnered with Hebrew U. The letter claimed that its Mount Scopus campus trespassed Israel’s 1949 Armistice line with Jordan and was therefore “participating in the illegal occupation of East Jerusalem.” However, the European Union embassy in Israel has affirmed that the campus is in “Israel proper,” and consequently, “not located on occupied territory.” <br />
<br />
SOAS’s divorce from Hebrew U following this letter was met with robust backlash from pro-Israel organizations such as Israel Academia Monitor, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Pinsker Centre, which reported on the decision before the official announcement. They suggested that the timidity of the Academic Board and the Hebrew professors reporting to it were responsible.<br />
<br />
Anti-Israel activists remain conflicted about the outcome. Although Yara Derbas, a member of the pro-BDS campaign group “Apartheid Off-Campus” focused on the territorial issue specific to Hebrew U, another article from the same group framed Haifa as a lateral move. They claim that “both institutions are equally complicit in Israel’s occupation. … The fight must continue until SOAS is no longer affiliated with any complicit universities.” They used the guise of international law to intimidate the university into a separation yet only succeeded in moving the chessboard. It will be harder for them to do the same with Haifa.<br />
<br />
In summary, the open letter was based on factually invalid premises attached to controversial international legal theories. The authors admit their objection is inconsequential to their goals because any other Israeli university is considered equally guilty of colonial occupation. They likely knew that such a sentiment would be regarded as too extreme to be effective. Judging by the result, their math checked out.<br />
<br />
(<b><i><a href="https://www.jns.org/opinion/bashing-opportunities-to-study-hebrew-in-israel/">Continue to Full Column</a></i></b>)<br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1598855801970000&usg=AFQjCNHOez7dcGcMOIPHM9w6mKb2TguhuQ" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1598855801970000&usg=AFQjCNEEE8C4ohLSNct6B6p2twPffQ65dw" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1598855801970000&usg=AFQjCNFafJ258kHukW_2o6ELEY4ixYFsgA" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i>Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-66353759770744433722020-09-01T06:28:00.003+03:002020-09-01T13:09:32.513+03:00Partners for Progressive Israel and its decision to print the PLO emblem with the no-Israel map - by Stephen M. Flatow <b>It’s more than about a map. Entire generations of Palestinian-Arab children have been raised on an image with a powerful message: All of Palestine belongs to the Arabs. None of it belongs to the Jews.</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjThl87Yn335BDGa4_pqzBJeZKXudKd8mr-whjdYlscUSZy_3Yr-QA_OSAqa7IjjwXQLrpzGksKi5rXgnCjwXoglENimWX5CGxH1kJ-Tkuzvo7ELohH8fhQfyjYQo9irnE6gTJs0C0YaHFN/s1600/Partners+for+Progressive+Israel+and+its+decision+to+print+the+PLO+emblem+with+the+no-Israel+map.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjThl87Yn335BDGa4_pqzBJeZKXudKd8mr-whjdYlscUSZy_3Yr-QA_OSAqa7IjjwXQLrpzGksKi5rXgnCjwXoglENimWX5CGxH1kJ-Tkuzvo7ELohH8fhQfyjYQo9irnE6gTJs0C0YaHFN/s200/Partners+for+Progressive+Israel+and+its+decision+to+print+the+PLO+emblem+with+the+no-Israel+map.png" width="100" /></a></div>
<b>Stephen M. Flatow</b>..<br />
JNS.org..<br />
31 August '20..<br />
<br />
Partners for Progressive Israel, a left-of-center group that is part of the American Zionist Movement, is in the midst of a 12-session “digital excursion to Israel and Palestine.” Session No. 3, which was held this past week, consisted of virtual meetings with officials of the Palestinian Authority.<br />
<br />
The Partners’ official program booklet, describing the contents of the sessions, includes a photo or illustration for each one. For the session with the P.A. meetings, the booklet reprinted the official logo of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which is the parent body of the P.A. The emblem features a map of all of Israel, emblazoned with the words “Palestine From the River to the Sea.” <br />
<br />
Why does that matter?<br />
<br />
Here’s why. Beginning in the mid-1970s, Israeli left-wing activists started pushing the idea called “the two-state solution.” The premise is that Israel would withdraw to the nine-mile-wide 1949 armistice lines, or “Auschwitz lines” in the memorable words of the diplomat Abba Eban, and a sovereign state of “Palestine” would be established in the vacated areas. The argument is that if the Palestinian Arabs are given their own state in those territories, then they will live in peace with Israel.<br />
<br />
The major obstacle to the proposal is that Palestinian-Arab spokesman keeps saying that they will not be satisfied with a state in the territories, but will continue to regard all of Israel as “occupied Palestine” and will fight to “liberate” Palestine.<br />
<br />
That’s what makes it so hard to convince a majority of Israelis to support creating a Palestinian state. Most Israelis see the evidence before their eyes, and they don’t believe that the Palestinian Arabs will live in peace. They see the bombings and the shootings—the way Palestinian society glorifies the bombers and the shooters. They hear the speeches calling for jihad and blood. Their blood.<br />
<br />
And they see the maps.<br />
<br />
By now, the Israeli news media has widely publicized images of the map that appears on the PLO’s letterhead, on the walls in P.A. offices and, most of all, in textbooks in P.A. schools. A map that shows all of Israel as “occupied Palestine.”<br />
<br />
(<a href="https://www.jns.org/opinion/symbols-and-symbolism-reveal-a-bitter-mideast-truth/"><b><i>Continue to Full Column</i></b></a>)<br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1598855801970000&usg=AFQjCNHOez7dcGcMOIPHM9w6mKb2TguhuQ" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1598855801970000&usg=AFQjCNEEE8C4ohLSNct6B6p2twPffQ65dw" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1598855801970000&usg=AFQjCNFafJ258kHukW_2o6ELEY4ixYFsgA" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i>Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-74812911688244845942020-08-31T06:39:00.000+03:002020-08-31T06:39:18.369+03:00Surprised that Palestine has not been Arab/Moslem from time immemorial? Don't be. - by Yoram Ettinger<b>Contrary to Palestinian claims and myths, Palestine has not been Arab from time immemorial</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHYBdGzoqbk_0mg-IvSiU2D83Mp5Ukt8jdrSpu87M3RRTQJKZZ4jyOFzfwBx2YSK6WwWJrCmhvYaMXpki3TK0RUWtxzjhz9VCSgFCq71dLlhgANgodNtMt2jtUe2u6dja2AaBKUCTALCa0/s1600/Palestine+has+not+been+Arab-Moslem+from+time+immemorial.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="944" height="87" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHYBdGzoqbk_0mg-IvSiU2D83Mp5Ukt8jdrSpu87M3RRTQJKZZ4jyOFzfwBx2YSK6WwWJrCmhvYaMXpki3TK0RUWtxzjhz9VCSgFCq71dLlhgANgodNtMt2jtUe2u6dja2AaBKUCTALCa0/s200/Palestine+has+not+been+Arab-Moslem+from+time+immemorial.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b>Yoram Ettinger</b>..<br />
MiDA..<br />
28 August '20..<br />
<br />
Have Arabs been in the area west of the Jordan River from time immemorial?<br />
<br />
In 1881, Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, a leading British cartographer and Dean of Westminster Abbey, reported that “in Judea it is hardly an exaggeration to say that for miles and miles there was no appearance of life or habitation” (<i>Sinai and Palestine in Connection with Their History</i>, New York 1895, pp. 184-186).<br />
<br />
<b>The Egyptian immigration</b><br />
<br />
According to Arieh Avneri, a ground-breaking historian of Arab and Jewish migration to Palestine (<i>The Claim of Dispossession, 1980), during the Egyptian conquest (1831-1840)</i>, “there was a limited influx of some thousands of [Egyptian] immigrants, whom Ibrahim Pasha [the ruler of Egypt] brought in to settle the empty stretches of the country. Before them, a goodly number of Egyptians had fled Egypt, seeking to evade the military draft…. They sought sanctuary with the governor of Acre, who granted it readily.”<br />
<br />
The French-Egyptian scholar, Muhammad Sabry [<i>The Egyptian Empire under Mohammed Ali and the question of the Orient, 1930</i>], confirmed that “the Governor of Acre encouraged the migration of fellaheen [peasants] from Egypt and gave them shelter…. In 1831, more than 6,000 fellaheen crossed the Egyptian border…. After he conquered Palestine, not only did Mohammed Ali [Ibrahim Pasha’s father] refrain from sending back the draft evaders to Egypt, but he sent new settlers to consolidate his rule…. The Egyptian ruler also brought the Bedouin slave-tribe, Arab ed-Damair….”<br />
<br />
Avneri highlights (ibid.) many documents published by the British Palestine Exploration Fund. For instance:<br />
<br />
(<a href="https://en.mida.org.il/2020/08/28/palestinian-false-claim-of-continuity/"><b><i>Continue to Full Article</i></b></a>)<br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1598855801970000&usg=AFQjCNHOez7dcGcMOIPHM9w6mKb2TguhuQ" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1598855801970000&usg=AFQjCNEEE8C4ohLSNct6B6p2twPffQ65dw" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1598855801970000&usg=AFQjCNFafJ258kHukW_2o6ELEY4ixYFsgA" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i> Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-51104440548432405772020-08-30T06:28:00.002+03:002020-08-30T06:28:47.142+03:00#BDSFail - by Mitchel Bard<b>Failure and rationality have never been deterrents to Israel haters, however, so the antisemitic BDS campaign will endure until it is replaced by a new, but equally futile effort to delegitimize Israel. By that time, the Palestinians will be isolated and may be forced to accept that no one will save them from themselves.</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCG_7eXEGm5-j4pPClEzdQGWH7OutzuYROhcHm4s4e_vUilYNlniS1DvpBXOFby2aD59Hxs74IFw-sbgDqe0919ePjCh5b7uRpukMBLF0HciHZjwumaaLqacJMVS4EHgmIcv4YSnS6WYNX/s1600/the+Palestinians+will+be+isolated+and+may+be+forced+to+accept+that+no+one+will+save+them+from+themselves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="720" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCG_7eXEGm5-j4pPClEzdQGWH7OutzuYROhcHm4s4e_vUilYNlniS1DvpBXOFby2aD59Hxs74IFw-sbgDqe0919ePjCh5b7uRpukMBLF0HciHZjwumaaLqacJMVS4EHgmIcv4YSnS6WYNX/s200/the+Palestinians+will+be+isolated+and+may+be+forced+to+accept+that+no+one+will+save+them+from+themselves.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b>Mitchell Bard</b>..<br />
Algemeiner..<br />
26 August '20..<br />
<br />
The normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates may be one of the biggest and final nails in the coffin of the antisemitic BDS movement. The truth is that the movement has been a failure from the outset, and while it continues to attract a lot of attention, it has proven to be far less successful than the Arab League boycott, which crumbled long ago.<br />
<br />
Many people do not realize that the Arab League initiated its boycott in 1945 before Israel existed, demonstrating, like the newer boycott, it was fundamentally antisemitic rather than anti-Israel.<br />
<br />
The original boycott had a minimal impact despite the blacklisting of hundreds of companies, including major US brands such as Ford, RCA, and Coca-Cola. It began to crumble, however, when the United States passed anti-boycott legislation in 1978, and it became toothless after Egypt signed its peace treaty with Israel.<br />
<br />
The BDS movement is an outgrowth of the UN forum held in Durban, South Africa in 2001. The “Durban Strategy” — called for “complete and total isolation of Israel … the imposition of mandatory and comprehensive sanctions and embargoes, [and] the full cessation of all links (diplomatic, economic, social, aid, military cooperation and training) between all states and Israel.”<br />
<br />
On the diplomatic front, Israel has relations with more countries today than it did in 2001. The leader of Sudan backed recognizing Israel in a historic shift. The decision of the UAE, most importantly, broke the longstanding taboo among Gulf states against normalizing ties before the Palestinian issue was resolved.<br />
<br />
The Palestinians themselves have rejected the boycott. Prior to the pandemic, more than 100,000 of them had jobs inside Israel — and an estimated 10,000 worked in those “obstacles to peace” settlements.<br />
<br />
Some Palestinian leaders still give lip service to the boycott. And to the extent they’ve tried to enforce it, only the Palestinians have suffered. This has been particularly obvious as the Palestinian Authority has denied Palestinians access to health care in Israel and rejected shipments of vital medical supplies to fight the coronavirus because they were flown on UAE planes that landed in Israel.<br />
<br />
(<a href="https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/08/26/whither-the-bds-movement/"><b><i>Continue to Full Column</i></b></a>)<br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1598815888401000&usg=AFQjCNHoWzVILkJ2sca644Qy_vAVhNa_sw" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1598815888401000&usg=AFQjCNF6C0YjT-HGD7jWpxSaByVIw8LUCg" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1598815888401000&usg=AFQjCNGoF9l3ziXOojzEoVf8LRr4u3IGtA" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i>Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-65921449559585807272020-08-28T06:13:00.000+03:002020-08-28T06:13:02.291+03:00The Palestinian Authority and its leadership cannot continue to hold the Arab world hostage - by Mendi Safadi<b>The Palestinian issue has become more of a campaign to collect donations from the international community than a political issue involving disputed land and a so-called occupation. Numerous Palestinian leaders and organizations have made money off of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the suffering that it has caused to both peoples. Numerous international organizations have made millions off of this conflict, while in reality doing nothing except fostering hatred.</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPrWiWXipTvWuQjqmSW10WcWGpBT3QOf6Zed5dIt_u2gzXjgGT-P8iYkb64d9ruB3h-THvGe7BABM8Z1lvFWq8tptEZqDAQKQf_V3WSbt8Is7QtqBjLbkK25eCdQxOLyjV0jxYs4jJFbed/s1600/The+Palestinian+Authority+and+its+leadership+cannot+continue+to+hold+the+Arab+world+hostage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPrWiWXipTvWuQjqmSW10WcWGpBT3QOf6Zed5dIt_u2gzXjgGT-P8iYkb64d9ruB3h-THvGe7BABM8Z1lvFWq8tptEZqDAQKQf_V3WSbt8Is7QtqBjLbkK25eCdQxOLyjV0jxYs4jJFbed/s200/The+Palestinian+Authority+and+its+leadership+cannot+continue+to+hold+the+Arab+world+hostage.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
<b>Mendi Safadi</b>..<br />
Israel Hayom..<br />
27 August '20..<br />
<b>Link</b>: <i><a href="https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/uae-israel-peace-deal-exposes-true-face-of-palestinian-authority/">https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/uae-israel-peace-deal-exposes-true-face-of-palestinian-authority/</a></i><br />
<br />
Since the establishment of the country, all Israeli governments have pursued peace with its Arab neighbors. The late Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed a historic peace treaty with Egypt and the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed a similar peace treaty with Jordan. The State of Israel is proud of both peace agreements and has sought to replicate these agreements with other Arab states. However, over the past decade, no one has pursued peace with the greater Arab world more aggressively than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<br />
<br />
The establishment of peaceful relations with the United Arab Emirates surprised many people. However, at the same time, it revealed the true face of the Palestinian Authority. Instead of signing peace agreements, the PA encourages its citizens to attack Border Policemen in Jerusalem; glorifies the dispatching of incendiary balloons and Qassam rockets into the Israeli communities near Gaza, and systematically incites violence and terrorism.<br />
<br />
In the same spirit, Palestinian leaders and PA media outlets have described UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed as a "traitor," "collaborator," and even a "tumor" for making peace with the State of Israel. Since 1993, the Palestinian Authority has rejected every peace offer that came their way. Simultaneously, they have actively attempted to maintain the Arab world's opposition toward Israel and have worked against other Muslim countries making peace with the Jewish state.<br />
<br />
The Palestinian Authority and its leadership cannot continue to hold the Arab world hostage. The PA wants the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to continue and to take precedence over other things happening in the Middle East.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
The Palestinian issue has become more of a campaign to collect donations from the international community than a political issue involving disputed land and a so-called occupation. Numerous Palestinian leaders and organizations have made money off of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the suffering that it has caused to both peoples. Numerous international organizations have made millions off of this conflict, while in reality doing nothing except fostering hatred. These organizations are anti-Semitic and hate Jews, always hiding under the Palestinian cause in order to promote bigotry via the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. Naturally, these international organizations are not interested in ending the conflict and continue to fund the Palestinians.<br />
<br />
For this reason, the Palestinian Authority has a financial incentive to oppose peace, for the day that they become a state will be the day that the free handouts from their donors will end and they will have to build up an economy in order to finance their people.<br />
<br />
The Arab countries in the Persian Gulf have also now seen the true face of the Palestinian Authority. After they invested heavily in the Palestinian cause, they have watched the PA support Iran and Qatar against their strategic interests.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, the leaders of the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf have not betrayed the Palestinian people. On the contrary, the United Arab Emirates secured from Israel the concession of the Jewish state halting the application of Israeli sovereignty over 30% of Judea and Samaria. However, this did not stop the Palestinian Authority from attacking the UAE, even before they had a chance to examine the details of the agreement.<br />
<br />
The Palestinian response was reckless and hasty, which greatly damaged how the international community views them. It would have been more prudent for PA President Mahmoud Abbas or one of his ministers to travel to Abu Dhabi in order to clarify matters, before slandering the UAE in front of the entire Arab world and the international community.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, PA policy has always been guided based upon hatred, not based upon logic and reason. For this reason, they opposed the UAE-Israel peace agreement before reading it, just as they opposed the Deal of the Century before Trump even issued it to the public.<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: #660000;">Mendi Safadi, head of the <a href="https://safadicenter.com/en/homepage/">Safadi Center for International Diplomacy, Research, Human Rights and Public Relations</a>, is a lecturer on Islamic affairs, terrorism, and the Middle East. Previously, he was chief of staff in the Office of the Deputy Minister for Development of the Negev and Galilee and Regional Cooperation, and served as a liaison between Israeli officials and the Syrian opposition. </span></i><br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1598645070100000&usg=AFQjCNGs9fOb8_n7FFKaoKsP4dn9w9Np-Q" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1598645070100000&usg=AFQjCNHHCzFPXT2JXzdEHYg_UjxmbIV7Iw" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1598645070100000&usg=AFQjCNFLk6pDHa1IDebJrmTBzBi6jBnMFQ" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i> Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-53995848375308174382020-08-27T06:07:00.001+03:002020-08-27T06:07:40.827+03:00Fighting the narrative war: Occupation vs the ‘Abraham Accords’ - by Yishai Fleisher<b>Indeed, the UAE has every incentive to normalize relations with Israel—from the common danger of Iran to the interest in prosperity and progress. Hopefully, the Abraham Accords can start a cascade that will lead the Arab world out of the regressive Dark Ages of hate and into an embrace of Israel as an important member of the Semitic family and a fellow regional tribe. But it won’t be easy to let go of a thousand years of Muslim prejudice and 100 years of open war against Israel.</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlA5jaiGy0DQ9iaLO51CeIVesKR2v2AYBEGa5e5j6b5nvBvDzhNOPhkbIgAPI-LvAA71f_x8KdB4i8-m7QQ6_YMhjG7VlPwur44u6OKTifUvwV2NfDgZmzC8T1UZYinKZm8-7jVG88srXI/s1600/Fighting+the+narrative+war+-+Occupation+vs+the+%25E2%2580%2598Abraham+Accords%25E2%2580%2599+-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="162" data-original-width="220" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlA5jaiGy0DQ9iaLO51CeIVesKR2v2AYBEGa5e5j6b5nvBvDzhNOPhkbIgAPI-LvAA71f_x8KdB4i8-m7QQ6_YMhjG7VlPwur44u6OKTifUvwV2NfDgZmzC8T1UZYinKZm8-7jVG88srXI/s200/Fighting+the+narrative+war+-+Occupation+vs+the+%25E2%2580%2598Abraham+Accords%25E2%2580%2599+-.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b>Yishai Fleisher</b>..<br />
JNS.org..<br />
26 August '20..<br />
<br />
One of the greatest successes of the “Abraham Accords”—the nascent diplomatic relations deal between the United Arab Emirates and Israel—is just the name itself.<br />
<br />
The name implicitly indicates that the agreement is between descendants of the children of Abraham—Arabs and Jews—and for Israel, this is a crucial identification in its quest for normalization in the Middle East. <br />
<br />
<b>Occupation or ancient nation?</b><br />
<br />
Having lost hope of military victory, anti-Israel forces are conducting a narrative war against Israel. They seek to erase the intellectual foundations of Zionism, which assert that Israel is the ancient home of the Jewish nation, who have had two commonwealths on this same land, and to which Jews have an unbroken historical and spiritual connection.<br />
<br />
One of the main avenues of that attack, coming out of the Palestinian camp, has been the buzzword “occupation,” which has become the default association for the Jewish state on campuses, at international organizations and in left-leaning media. The sinister term “Israeli occupation” says all that the enemies of Israel want to say: that Israel is a white colonialist interloper in the Middle East, a European holdover, a foreigner grabbing Arab lands and an abuser of the human rights of the true indigenous people—the Arabs.<br />
<br />
The occupation narrative machine has many arms. For example, using UNESCO, the United Nations body in charge of recognizing world heritage sites, the anti-Israel crowd has asserted that integral Jewish sites like Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron are actually Palestinian cities under—you guessed it—“occupation.” Any campus protest against Israel will feature the word “occupation” and most <i>New York Times</i> articles will throw in a jab like “Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem” etc.<br />
<br />
Indeed, the classic Israeli narrative—that of an ancient people repatriating their land in a miraculous story of faith, tenacity and survival—has been replaced by the occupation-narrative which paints Israel as a greedy land thief and victimizer.<br />
<br />
<b>Forefather in faith</b><br />
<br />
Political buzzwords surpass their literal meanings and signal value-laden political positions which divide between political camps. The word “occupation” is meant to convey the illegitimacy—and even the evil roots—of Israel. If you are anti-Israel, you will embrace this word and this narrative.<br />
<br />
But what is the counter-word to “occupation”? How do you convey Israel’s deep history in the land and the Jewish people’s indigeneity to the Middle East? How do you invoke the flavor of ancient history without sounding like a Bible-thumping extremist? What word can bridge the Arab-Jewish divide?<br />
<br />
The answer, which the new accords have found, is “Abraham.”<br />
<br />
(<a href="https://www.jns.org/opinion/the-narrative-war-occupation-vs-the-abraham-accords/"><b><i>Continue to Full Column</i></b></a>)<br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1598540046473000&usg=AFQjCNEncRVth32Y1TcOrUuW6U_W03CO-A" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1598540046473000&usg=AFQjCNHPI3mSKidRa9Qj9CurkF3mAzkjFQ" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1598540046473000&usg=AFQjCNE0OqdbESnrariE_QuMiObu2pjLeQ" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i>Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-71523159256116296962020-08-26T06:26:00.002+03:002020-08-26T06:26:23.209+03:00Actually, old terrorists do not die, they just move to Turkey - by Stephen M. Flatow<b>I welcomed the idea of putting Sami Al-Arian on trial. Let Americans and the world see the lengths that terror’s supporters go in order to murder civilians riding a public bus.</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd_J0KqqcWcV1aRbuFe6oJvpFhCHnU0QcfvBhjFsw2PHnTRETFKRqp3LRXmZKW3nffp7TxIS4nihwPa-OK4hQSWETdV_dn1E329WWr0ERATncTxHP87kJg5bpkLbDcgEaN0o_c8lucVbNa/s1600/Actually+old+terrorists+do+not+die%252C+they+just+move+to+Turkey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd_J0KqqcWcV1aRbuFe6oJvpFhCHnU0QcfvBhjFsw2PHnTRETFKRqp3LRXmZKW3nffp7TxIS4nihwPa-OK4hQSWETdV_dn1E329WWr0ERATncTxHP87kJg5bpkLbDcgEaN0o_c8lucVbNa/s200/Actually+old+terrorists+do+not+die%252C+they+just+move+to+Turkey.jpg" width="200" /></a><b>Stephen M. Flatow</b>..<br />
JNS.org..<br />
25 August '20..<br />
<br />
Condemnation of Israel and Jews from terrorists and their supporters is not new, it just comes from different directions. One case in point is Sami Al-Arian, who was deported from the United States following a prison sentence for his guilt as a sponsor of the terrorist organization, Islamic Jihad.<br />
<br />
Today, the Kuwaiti-born Al-Arian lives in Turkey, the only country that would accept him after his deportation, where he heads the Istanbul-based Center for Islam and Global Affairs. He’s often interviewed and quoted by Arab news outlets—most recently, about the announcement of the normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. <br />
<br />
To many in the United States, Sami Al-Arian was the victim of a U.S. government conspiring with Israel to punish him for his pro-Palestinian views. To those of us who have suffered the loss of loved ones because of his support—financial and moral—of terror, he is an unrepentant murderer.<br />
<br />
America’s attention was first called to Al-Arian in 1994 by Steven Emerson in his documentary, “Jihad in America,” where Al-Arian’s links to Islamic Jihad were outlined. But it was 1995 that would be the terror group’s defining year. It was in that year that Islamic Jihad conducted a series of deadly suicide bomb attacks in Israel, one of the victims being my 20-year-old daughter, Alisa.<br />
<br />
(<a href="https://www.jns.org/opinion/old-terrorists-do-not-die-they-just-move-to-turkey/"><b><i>Continue to Full Column</i></b></a>)<br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1598422703451000&usg=AFQjCNHPqV-Ss9VAjhWDxVhUjB2bp78zEw" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1598422703451000&usg=AFQjCNFA26MNzfFqx4GVwTdRFdhBc1hcKw" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1598422703451000&usg=AFQjCNExC3ZNd1CwleQIQycq2tOQU9gr1A" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i><br />
<br />Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-41521837101617104002020-08-25T06:18:00.002+03:002020-08-30T10:14:24.273+03:00With a dogma shattered, finally, embracing the Israelis on the other side - by Sara Al-Nuaimi<b>Our relationship with Israel is one of timeless harmony. My caring for Palestinians means urging to stop trying to destroy Israel and instead come to terms with it.</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XChR5iuIFhSJ8LF50L4fAw5V3ugtFqQGPuFSjoUY2I14mjBLbsr3IOtyNwvwRriQByfWxZtQBwauAPv8jUbb9K_i9-dnfh91SVNcDDsqVpKJH55naPZg9yrk3V8flgC_QsQ1xI5R1iIC/s1600/With+a+dogma+shattered%252C+finally%252C+embracing+the+Israelis+on+the+other+side.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="193" data-original-width="262" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XChR5iuIFhSJ8LF50L4fAw5V3ugtFqQGPuFSjoUY2I14mjBLbsr3IOtyNwvwRriQByfWxZtQBwauAPv8jUbb9K_i9-dnfh91SVNcDDsqVpKJH55naPZg9yrk3V8flgC_QsQ1xI5R1iIC/s200/With+a+dogma+shattered%252C+finally%252C+embracing+the+Israelis+on+the+other+side.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b>Sara Al-Nuaimi</b>..<br />
Guest Columnist/Israel Hayom..<br />
24 August '20..<br />
<b>Link</b>: <i><a href="https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/finally-embracing-the-israelis-on-the-other-side/">https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/finally-embracing-the-israelis-on-the-other-side/</a></i><br />
<br />
It has always been my dream to visit Israel, the mystical, forbidden, and imaginative place. What would it feel like to enter a synagogue, to see a candle-lit menorah, to hear the psalms, to get inspired by a new language, to allow new words and new creative emotional experiences to take place? To sing, dance the horah, and celebrate with Israelis the remarkable turn of a new millennium?<br />
<br />
As an Emirati woman, in the past, some would react with, "Are you okay? What's wrong with you?" Perhaps the oddest response I have received was, "Are you a Shiite?" (I am Sunni.) Thinking of all the positive aspects of Israel in a way disintegrated all the false beliefs pounded into society that limited my immersive being.<br />
<br />
When Arabs deny the Holocaust, they in some way deny my own existence that upholds an identity that wants to be everything Arab, but also everything new, expanding, global, universal. There is an elated feeling of inspired hope, of love and freedom when parts of an old traditional construct start to melt away, yet there's also a safe deep current of satisfaction in knowing that Israel's narrative is also built on traditions like our own, and there's no more the fear of having to cut cords with our past in order to look ahead.<br />
<br />
Our relationship with Israel is one of timeless harmony. The richness in knowing that we are larger than belief is the greatest richness in life. This is what acknowledging Israel means to me. Carrying a heart free of enmity is the most meaningful thing in life. I marvel at the possibilities and the consequences. If only I can stand right in front of an Israeli bakery right now and enjoy a freshly baked bagel.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
This reminded me of meeting an openly gay Israeli man exactly one year ago in Turkey. I was excited to learn more about life there. He reacted somewhat apprehensively and cautiously, brushing me off as an Arab who wanted to have an impossible experience with him, completely misunderstanding my interest in him. I was happy to meet him as an Israeli artist, even if arrogant, and enjoy a conversation, new ideas. I was all ears until he lost his temper. My overtly keen excitement irritated him, apparently.<br />
<br />
I was always curious to see the other side, in part because I met Israelis and Jewish people along the way who shared ideas, songs, books, thoughts, times, and friends. My image of Israel changed over time from a place of dark austere beauty like a faraway castle on a mountain top encircled by flying dragons to one of a real sense of the hustle and bustle of a cosmopolitan city.<br />
<br />
This transformation namely began from conspiracy theories that were hard to swallow about monsters, Jewish demons, anti-Christs, and Messiahs (in the plural sense because the stories come in different dizzying forms).<br />
<br />
Eventually, my desire to suspend negative feelings towards Israel or Judaism liberated my inner being from a thorned cage: my mind. I was no longer pricked, depressed, or argumentative when the subject presented itself; rather, I was sensitive and curious in finding a way out through the prejudice.<br />
<br />
The legacy of a millennium of antisemitic ideas still lingered in our beliefs, they were never really gone. How could I myself ever end them? Would I ever see Jerusalem, that center of three worlds? Would I ever see a place where miracles happened?<br />
<br />
Then it happened, on Aug. 13 with the unexpected joint UAE-Israel statement. The miracle to see the miracle. A decaying tooth that brought much pain was plucked and replaced.<br />
<br />
Having said that, it must be clearly noted that my thinking openly about Israelis does not mean that I have stopped caring about Palestinians. My caring for Palestinians means urging to stop trying to destroy Israel and instead come to terms with it.<br />
<br />
As we get to know each other in realtime these dark times will end, our human encounters in art, tourism, and trade will bring the light. A dogma shattered means a new philosophy will arise and only God knows how wonderful these times will unfold.<br />
<br />
I send my warmest regards to Israel and the Israeli people and with much hope and certainty, I look forward to being on the other side. Looking at life from a completely different angle means a new life altogether.<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: #660000;">Sara Al Nuaimi is an Emirati actress and businesswoman who lives in Abu Dhabi. Follow her on @saranuaimi.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1598411109715000&usg=AFQjCNGIXap0G1MxuS6d5DIQkHXy0ecFhg" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1598411109715000&usg=AFQjCNF6SHWPOKJdoSVBQMtliPufC9BGmA" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1598411109716000&usg=AFQjCNHSFutMoD9uh717mr5DqF5gbm1Bag" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i>Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-89586887475606203012020-08-24T06:30:00.001+03:002020-08-24T06:30:53.402+03:00Truth be Told, Anti-Zionism isn’t Antisemitism – but it Doesn’t Matter - by Victor Rosenthal<b>Antisemitism, Jew-hatred, gave rise to pogroms wherever Jews were found from time immemorial, including the biggest pogrom of all, the Holocaust. Misoziony has so far failed in its grand ambition, because its target, the State of Israel, possesses the military power to prevent it. But just because it hasn’t (yet) proven its malignity in blood doesn’t mean that it is morally acceptable, any more than any other bigotry.</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLUhQqa5FH9YcCqVdUhZ_djktz_bFWG4O6BgItVYwG_ncgqDUz2hZxd1jbBsE01Dd_sTAH3hP8e0vY4HZBlS-2npUoD5Yd8Feu3x3wpMFgbMl2ufqHva61M9i8IqhrOcjff8S9fUuFXhKI/s1600/Truth+be+Told%252C+Anti-Zionism+isn%25E2%2580%2599t+Antisemitism+%25E2%2580%2593+but+it+Doesn%25E2%2580%2599t+Matter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLUhQqa5FH9YcCqVdUhZ_djktz_bFWG4O6BgItVYwG_ncgqDUz2hZxd1jbBsE01Dd_sTAH3hP8e0vY4HZBlS-2npUoD5Yd8Feu3x3wpMFgbMl2ufqHva61M9i8IqhrOcjff8S9fUuFXhKI/s200/Truth+be+Told%252C+Anti-Zionism+isn%25E2%2580%2599t+Antisemitism+%25E2%2580%2593+but+it+Doesn%25E2%2580%2599t+Matter.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b>Victor Rosenthal</b>..<br />
Abu Yehuda..<br />
23 August '20..<br />
<b>Link</b>: <i><a href="http://abuyehuda.com/2020/08/anti-zionism-isnt-antisemitism-but-it-doesnt-matter/">http://abuyehuda.com/2020/08/anti-zionism-isnt-antisemitism-but-it-doesnt-matter/</a></i><br />
<br />
There has rarely been a more pointless dispute than the one over whether anti-Zionism is antisemitism. The answer is easy, and it has two parts: a) no, they are not the same, and b) it doesn’t matter.<br />
<br />
What is anti-Zionism? The denial of the proposition that the Jewish people ought to have a state in their historic homeland, Eretz Yisrael. Right away, there is a problem: there has been a Jewish state since 1948, and its right to be there is <a href="http://abuyehuda.com/2020/08/who-owns-the-land/">guaranteed by international law</a>. So it doesn’t make sense to argue this point today.<br />
<br />
But that isn’t what they mean, they say. They maintain that what they are doing is <i>criticism of Israel</i>. They argue that Israel violates the human rights of Palestinian Arabs (even accusing her of genocide and apartheid), and provide remedies which usually imply the replacement of the state of the Jewish people by a state of its citizens, a “dezionized” entity of some kind, or simply an Arab state. But there’s no Jew-hatred involved, they insist.<br />
<br />
Now as a matter of fact, very often the same people who “criticize Israel” in this way also believe that Jews control the world economy and media, profit from wars and plagues, and bleed little non-Jewish children to make matzot. In logical terms, the two classes are coextensive. But the “responsible” critics of Israel distance themselves from these people. Their position is entirely political. They hold no animus for individual Jews. Some of their best friends are Jews.<br />
<br />
Let’s look closely at their “criticism,” and their proposed solutions. Both are very special. Natan Sharansky noted three characteristics of anti-Israel discourse, which he called the “three D’s”: Demonization, Delegitimization, and Double standard.<br />
<br />
The demonization of Israel and the IDF needs no elaboration. Israel’s actions in self-defense are presented as aggression, atrocities are invented, false themes – the IDF “targets” children – are promoted, and no context is provided (e.g., news stories headlined “Israel strikes Gaza” to describe retaliation aimed at empty buildings following a Hamas rocket barrage against Israeli towns). There is the whole phenomenon of “Pallywood,” the comparisons to Nazi Germany, and over all the attribution of the most malign motives imaginable for every Israeli action.<br />
<br />
Delegitimization is all-pervasive as well. Israel is excluded from UN bodies, sporting competitions, and artistic festivals. Israel is removed from maps, and its capital is not recognized. It is often argued falsely that the land of Israel was “stolen” from the Palestinian Arabs and that therefore the entire enterprise should be abolished.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Double standards, too, stand out. The behavior of the UN, which constantly issues resolutions condemning Israel for human rights violations while ignoring actual violators is well-known. Numerous cases of territory taken by force that are entirely unjustifiable (northern Cyprus, Crimea, Tibet) are ignored, while’s Israel’s legitimate possession of Judea and Samaria is a cause célèbre for the UN, the EU, and the international Left. Israel’s military actions are subject to a far higher standard of scrutiny than those of any other nation, including the most developed Western countries.<br />
<br />
Sharansky argues that these characteristics mark discourse as antisemitic. Certainly it is often suffused with antisemitic themes, like the accusation that the IDF targets children. But the <i>object of hatred</i> is not the individual Jew, or even the Jewish people: it is the Jewish state. And this makes it something different than antisemitism or Jew-hatred, even though the “critic of Israel” often <i>is</i> an antisemite.<br />
<br />
The discourse in question is irrational and extreme, just like Jew-hatred, or anti-black racism, or any of the countless forms of bigotry that divide people and lead to violence. Because it is closely tied to Jew-hatred, gains strength from it, and is contagious in a similar way, it can be conflated with it. But it is logically distinct.<br />
<br />
I’ve given it a name. I call it <i>misoziony</i> (mis-OZ-yoni), defined as the extreme and irrational hatred of Israel. Sharansky’s criteria are useful, but they characterize misoziony, not antisemitism.<br />
<br />
This is not a distinction without a difference. Jeremy Corbyn, Lara Freedman, Simone Zimmerman, Peter Beinart, and countless others will argue until the cows come home that they are not antisemites. Perhaps some of them have a case, and perhaps not, but it is much harder for them to establish that they are not misozionists.<br />
<br />
Misoziony is not somehow less reprehensible than antisemitism. It is just as irrational, just as bigoted, just as hateful, and just as likely to bring about violence. It’s possible to look at misoziony as a mutated form of antisemitism, a meme that was more adapted to survive in the climate that followed the shock of the Holocaust. Classical antisemitism was paused in the West after the war, because responsible elements in Western society would not permit its public expression. Misoziony, masquerading as “criticism of Israel” had an easier time. Today, both Jew-hatred and misoziony flourish around the world, each giving strength and encouragement to the other.<br />
<br />
The Western Left is prepared to denounce all forms of bigotry, including some that had never been heard of until recently. To some extent it is becoming ambivalent about antisemitism, because so many of its clients are antisemites; but in its more sophisticated circles, antisemitism is still taboo (although they only can see the antisemitism of the right). But it embraces misoziony with gusto.<br />
<br />
Antisemitism, Jew-hatred, gave rise to pogroms wherever Jews were found from time immemorial, including the biggest pogrom of all, the Holocaust. Misoziony has so far failed in its grand ambition, because its target, the State of Israel, possesses the military power to prevent it. But just because it hasn’t (yet) proven its malignity in blood doesn’t mean that it is morally acceptable, any more than any other bigotry.<br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1598325232423000&usg=AFQjCNHNaPU4bMOnNLusLBjS1KLs0zBBHA" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1598325232423000&usg=AFQjCNHKMBdsGcSEvCasB_UpPYES4l44VA" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1598325232423000&usg=AFQjCNFiBJPCqwIIF4Sx_F2-iqNaeJ6gXg" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i>Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-46743915537347483832020-08-23T06:28:00.002+03:002020-08-23T12:11:35.759+03:00Question. Is It Only in Israel Where Human Rights Activists Fight Against Human Rights? - by Sheri Oz<b>...Close to two million people of all religions, from Israel and around the world, visit the Cave of the Patriarchs each year. There is no other site like it in the world that is not accessible! This situation is a disgrace. And it is a serious infraction of human rights.</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbUAnoaiO8QTGtL0bZp-Jx3FTHdAYDjRoczgjW0aKpRhmKNrFZTQ-ylch0J4TDzqSIkvlC5Iz7x78JcgyUW3GrCgDhyT9qsISRgnW-Cr7rV0NUapwQzj9YV6unmfmPclVuzpb9iOSPQ3E0/s1600/Question.+Is+It+Only+in+Israel+Where+Human+Rights+Activists+Fight+Against+Human+Rights.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="170" data-original-width="297" height="114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbUAnoaiO8QTGtL0bZp-Jx3FTHdAYDjRoczgjW0aKpRhmKNrFZTQ-ylch0J4TDzqSIkvlC5Iz7x78JcgyUW3GrCgDhyT9qsISRgnW-Cr7rV0NUapwQzj9YV6unmfmPclVuzpb9iOSPQ3E0/s200/Question.+Is+It+Only+in+Israel+Where+Human+Rights+Activists+Fight+Against+Human+Rights.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b>Sheri Oz</b>..<br />
Israel Diaries..<br />
21 August '20..<br />
<br />
I wonder if it is only in Israel or concerning Israel that we find human rights activists fighting human rights. And our government does not seem to know how to deal with it. In this case, we have a supposed human rights organization fighting the human rights of the disabled, the elderly and young children to pray in the Cave of the Patriarchs; currently the prayer halls are totally inaccessible to them. In fact, Moti Ohayon and others have been seriously injured from falls while being carried up the steps in his wheelchair when all they wanted to do was pray at the site of the graves of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah, and even, it is believed, at the burial places of Adam and Eve.<br />
<br />
The committee responsible for overseeing the project to build an accessibility elevator is dillydallying and not convening to deal with the delay. And this is after all the documents were signed by the Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and Finance Minister.<br />
<br />
What a disappointment to all who saw their ability to safely pray at the holy site just over the horizon!<br />
<br />
<b>Background to the Elevator Project</b><br />
<br />
In an article published in November 2019, I wrote:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The request to make the site accessible to all was first submitted in 2003 by the Hebron Jewish Community Committee to the military authority. This was followed by repeated attempts by a number of organizations to raise awareness of the dire need for an elevator. When no action was taken, supposedly because of security issues and concerns of changing the status quo between the Jewish and Palestinian populations in the city, Btzalmo took up the mantle and, for the last few years, [campaigned] tirelessly by writing letters to those with the power to carry out the project and by ensuring that the media keep the topic alive.</i></blockquote>
<br />
The Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee is responsible for the project. At their meeting in July 2019, committee members agreed that this was a humanitarian project of utmost importance. It was also clear that the elevator was required in order to be in compliance with international law stating that all public buildings must be accessible. Repeated requests for coordination with the Hebron municipality, which was given authority over building permits as per the 1997 Hebron Agreement signed by Netanyahu and Arafat, were ignored. (Israel had offered to make the Muslim entrance accessible at the same time as they were working on the Jewish entrance.) At the committee meeting, members wondered aloud how long they would wait for the Hebron mayor to respond before deciding to proceed without his involvement. It was hoped that the prayer halls would be accessible by Passover 2020.<br />
<br />
Finally, in February 2020, all the documents approving the project were signed by the requisite ministers — the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister and the Finance Minister. After years of attempting to coordinate the accessibility project together with the Hebron municipality and being ignored, the only way to move forward was for Israel to expropriate the land required to build the elevator (about 4-10 square meters) and a path from the parking area up to the base of the site (about 150 meters long).<br />
<br />
(<a href="https://www.israeldiaries.com/only-in-israel-human-rights-activists-against-human-rights/"><b><i>Continue to Full Post</i></b></a>)<br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1598212155118000&usg=AFQjCNEfzreg4K3NC-pAwIxwChf0_TeVEg" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1598212155118000&usg=AFQjCNEsC0Knq9WF5RTQ2nradYedkQtC2g" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1598212155118000&usg=AFQjCNHbuuAUr0lcAOdijXinHTHEfhuHww" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i>Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-30750068442457135332020-08-21T05:52:00.002+03:002020-08-21T05:52:59.940+03:00PA World of Make-Believe: Israel supplies weapons to Palestinians to fight one another and illegal fireworks to cause injuries - by Nan Jacques Zilberdik<b>What does the civilian say? Journalist Omar Nazzal said that ‘the harming of the other has become a culture that is not limited just to celebrations of success at the matriculation exams, but rather prevails in all the phenomena of harassing the other on the claim that it is only [for] a day or an hour… Many who have an event, whether it is an engagement party, a release from the occupation’s prison, or success in the matriculation exams, hold these celebrations in a manner that disturbs others.’An El-Bireh Municipal Council member… said that: ‘The responsibility is on everyone. We have failed in assimilating a civil culture within us.’”</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHKfkmfIDLMyOz4XEfZOELURQ8NwqMPQ6fEXzU8v8cffZP9om-5DIE7Ll1LM125vTD-etEnLjiOWq3MZn1n5Ze4aVNz4daX_mEflMHmLK7Q-eUhWhBRDclbSX7q-_DD4YEnpbaxgb-oEj/s1600/Israel+supplies+weapons+to+Palestinians+to+fight+one+another+and+illegal+fireworks+to+cause+injuries.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="431" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHKfkmfIDLMyOz4XEfZOELURQ8NwqMPQ6fEXzU8v8cffZP9om-5DIE7Ll1LM125vTD-etEnLjiOWq3MZn1n5Ze4aVNz4daX_mEflMHmLK7Q-eUhWhBRDclbSX7q-_DD4YEnpbaxgb-oEj/s200/Israel+supplies+weapons+to+Palestinians+to+fight+one+another+and+illegal+fireworks+to+cause+injuries.png" width="183" /></a></div>
<b>Nan Jacques Zilberdik</b>..<br />
Palestinian Media Watch..<br />
18 August '20..<br />
<br />
As the Palestinian Authority is struggling with increasing internal violence, what better way to deal with it than to blame Israel? As Palestinian Media Watch has documented this is the PA’s modus operandi whenever bad things happen.<br />
<br />
Thus, PA Police Spokesman Col. Luay Erziqat blamed Israel for the rise in violence in Palestinian society, claiming Israel “encourage[s] violence and murder in the Palestinian society” and is “supplying” arms to Palestinian weapon dealers:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #660000;"><b>PA Police Spokesman Col. Luay Erziqat:“There are elements of the occupation (i.e., PA term for Israel) that have begun to raise their voices and have begun to spread crime and to help spread crime</b>… We have found suspicious and funded [internet] pages, we have found ‘mouthpieces’ and <b>elements of the occupation that encourage violence and murder in the Palestinian society</b>. In Area C (i.e., West Bank areas under full Israeli administration according to the Oslo Accords), at the basic level, <b>the Israeli occupation is preventing the [PA] Security Forces from acting there, and is transferring supplies to the weapon dealers</b>. If you look for example at the southern areas like Hebron – <b>there are weapons there, 250, 500</b> (rifle models –Ed.)… <b>It is clear who is supplying these weapons, and who is transferring the supply to the dealers of these weapons.”</b><br />[Official PA TV, <i>Directly With the Police</i>, June 1, 2020]</span></blockquote>
<br />
In the same way, the PA blamed Israel for accidents caused when Palestinians use fireworks for celebratory occasions, for example when they receive the results of the matriculation exams. The PA’s official news agency claimed Israel deliberately supplies fireworks to Palestinians to “destroy the Palestinian society”:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #660000;">“The main source of the fireworks is the settlements and the occupation, <b>whose goal is to destroy the Palestinian society</b>, and therefore it allows their entry into the Palestinian market, and simultaneously bans their sale in the 1948 territories (i.e., Israel) except through companies that specialize in the field of fireworks… The usage of fireworks in Palestine is one of the serious phenomena… that has contributed to turning parties and joyful occasions into sad events… and this constitutes a danger to the social well-being, and threatens the stability and the social ‘domestic peace.’”<br />[WAFA, official PA news agency, “Negative Social Phenomena” section, accessed July 16, 2020]</span></blockquote>
<br />
Manager of the PA’s Import Tax Administration Public Relations and Communications, Ibrahim Ayyash, supported this allegation, saying that “most of the explosives and fireworks are smuggled from the settlements… as well as fireworks that are imported from China, and the Israeli authorities turn a blind eye knowing that they are meant for Palestinian markets.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 13, 2020]<br />
<br />
(<a href="https://palwatch.org/page/18160"><b><i>Continue to Full Post</i></b></a>)<br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1597980520139000&usg=AFQjCNHxOr2LV1Xk2PrSAtGqc3ScsXLQWg" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1597980520139000&usg=AFQjCNHvVw1HZ9RqKRGAvpB_4d17C5Y1ng" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1597980520139000&usg=AFQjCNENnE2W0iAqsS3d1T8_4gdsN-n2NA" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i> <br />
<br />Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-75858241491894200342020-08-20T06:22:00.001+03:002020-08-20T06:22:52.144+03:00This is an earthquake, a call to Israel’s Arab neighbors to look to the future rather than the past - by David Suissa<b>After UAE deal, will liberal Zionists stand on the right side of history?</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgalA-Tnn6yagrXmvEZORdCt_FAjrg0RG3VQa3nEdx2GhNxrVFBdkd1SgC3myqSIr8ayzKRsfQnDyJ3BHOg9ldeXrK39Ogr8LZDVC0ztVIBQTCOhbmrgCO1nzb_YE0CgXk5VTACVCfM7Cls/s1600/After+UAE+deal%252C+will+liberal+Zionists+stand+on+the+right+side+of+history.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="210" data-original-width="240" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgalA-Tnn6yagrXmvEZORdCt_FAjrg0RG3VQa3nEdx2GhNxrVFBdkd1SgC3myqSIr8ayzKRsfQnDyJ3BHOg9ldeXrK39Ogr8LZDVC0ztVIBQTCOhbmrgCO1nzb_YE0CgXk5VTACVCfM7Cls/s200/After+UAE+deal%252C+will+liberal+Zionists+stand+on+the+right+side+of+history.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
<b>David Suissa</b>..<br />
Israel Hayom/Jewish Journal..<br />
19 August '20..<br />
<br />
The forces of darkness in the Middle East are panicking. One of the most powerful Arab countries in the world has made peace with the dreaded Zionist enemy. <br />
<br />
For these forces of darkness, anything that challenges the demonization of the Jewish state is a disaster. In order for these regimes to survive, Israel must remain the irredeemable sinner, the evil oppressor of Palestinians, the Jewish invader who took over holy Muslim land.<br />
<br />
This dark view of Israel has long been the mother’s milk sustaining the dictators of the region, keeping attention away from their own corruption, incompetence and oppression of their people.<br />
<br />
Subscribe to The JNS Daily Syndicate by email and never miss our top stories<br />
Your email<br />
The problem is that in the long run, any model based on lies and manufactured hatred is not sustainable. At some point, people wake up. People have to eat and make a living. People have to envision a better future.<br />
<br />
This opens them up to other truths.<br />
<br />
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), in making a historic deal with Israel, woke up. In fact, they woke up a while ago. The difference is that now, they’re coming out. They’re not hiding it. They’re telling the world and the people of the region: Israel is not our enemy. Israel doesn’t want to invade us. Israel has a lot to offer.<br />
<br />
(<a href="https://www.jns.org/opinion/after-uae-deal-will-liberal-zionists-stand-on-the-right-side-of-history/"><b><i>Continue to Full Column</i></b></a>)<br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1597914164687000&usg=AFQjCNGF0rmfXHBnVT-MFHbJK4OBktKOAw" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1597914164687000&usg=AFQjCNFzE95tsnZH4UUuWquJhJjB-su4VQ" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1597914164687000&usg=AFQjCNHMRYbQHcrA5_FBSmpKA9tUA8uXcw" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i>Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-1382663654908550972020-08-19T02:00:00.000+03:002020-08-19T02:00:01.279+03:00PM Netanyahu’s bold move - by Ruthie Blum<b>The Israeli right is wrong to see the prime minister’s deal with the UAE as a capitulation to foreign pressure. He is creating optimal conditions for the Jewish state’s road ahead.</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgljUKau7o2h_KzwmPui66o6TCrbjq1yw8u70NusLIcGpfnQrFU8igVVDTQNpRz_c5q7ncGavaLKptXo81rjJJDokwXdAkDT8xIkBDjlxMgUKuhH0m4xIsovwcvPxumjw6XZ6haYPdFKUQ-/s1600/PM+Netanyahu%25E2%2580%2599s+bold+move+-+by+Ruthie+Blum.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="880" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgljUKau7o2h_KzwmPui66o6TCrbjq1yw8u70NusLIcGpfnQrFU8igVVDTQNpRz_c5q7ncGavaLKptXo81rjJJDokwXdAkDT8xIkBDjlxMgUKuhH0m4xIsovwcvPxumjw6XZ6haYPdFKUQ-/s200/PM+Netanyahu%25E2%2580%2599s+bold+move+-+by+Ruthie+Blum.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b>Ruthie Blum</b>..<br />
JNS.org..<br />
18 August '20..<br />
<br />
Anyone wondering what had become of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ostensible July 1 target date to begin the process of extending sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria received an answer last Thursday.<br />
<br />
U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement on Aug. 13 that Washington had brokered a peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates—and accompanying reports that the deal precluded “annexation of the West Bank”—put the question to rest. <br />
<br />
Once it emerged that Netanyahu had been busy for the past few weeks negotiating the terms of the treaty with Trump and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, his sudden silence on sovereignty became clear. Ironically, the weekly protests outside of the Israeli premier’s official residence on Balfour Street in Jerusalem included the chanting of slogans and waving of banners decrying his “annexation” plans.<br />
<br />
The cessation of these plans—derived from the “Peace to Prosperity” vision that Trump unveiled at the White House on Jan. 28—have not assuaged the anti-Netanyahu camp, however. The demonstrators in the capital and elsewhere across the country have other bones of contention to keep their Woodstock-like festivals going.<br />
<br />
What they consider to be the prime minister’s poor handling of the current so-called “second wave” of the coronavirus crisis is one such issue. Another is his heading of the government while under indictment for corruption. Calling him “crime minister,” they scream and shout that he should resign.<br />
<br />
Never mind that they have been complaining about his reluctance to open the economy completely while gathering in massive numbers and huddling together, many without masks, as though Health Ministry warnings and regulations don’t apply to them.<br />
<br />
Forget about the fact that Netanyahu not only was re-elected to head the Likud Party in a democratic primary, and that his remaining at the helm is the result of democratic Knesset elections and coalition-building.<br />
<br />
Leave aside the fact that he, like every other Israeli citizen, is innocent until proven guilty. The loud crowds urging his ouster are angry at their lot and hold him responsible for it.<br />
<br />
It is natural for an anxiety-ridden population with an uncertain financial future and bleak present to blame its leader. People all over the world are doing just that, accusing their governments of failing to prevent COVID-19 deaths on the one hand and of killing the economy on the other.<br />
<br />
Netanyahu, thus, is in good company. But he possesses abilities that few of his counterpart heads of state can match. The deal that he reached with the UAE is but one example among many. His engaging in political clashes while managing a low-intensity conflict against Hamas in Gaza and launching repeated mini-strikes on Iranian facilities is another.<br />
<br />
The two are connected, and not only because the Sunni Gulf states now see in Israel a staunch ally in their mutual battle against the mullah-led Shi’ite regime in Tehran, but due to Netanyahu’s knowledge that holding off on his promised sovereignty moves would arouse the ire of many of his supporters, without gaining him any brownie points from his detractors—at least not those on either side of the Israeli spectrum.<br />
<br />
Indeed, none of the current protesters will stay home next weekend,<br />
<br />
(<a href="https://www.jns.org/opinion/netanyahus-bold-move/"><b><i>Continue to Full Column</i></b></a>)<br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1597459152886000&usg=AFQjCNFerD-l3NzTWn7-34M-i2xxEUbWmQ" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1597459152886000&usg=AFQjCNFh-t0oII3W4qgqYapxwl6MgqRITw" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1597459152886000&usg=AFQjCNHL4n9tNLd3FkRXfbDsk7ZeXWEtmw" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i>Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-57803765292672912372020-08-18T06:25:00.001+03:002020-08-18T06:26:31.285+03:00A unique opportunity to improve security in the North: UNIFIL has directly or indirectly hurt Israel's defense and security interests in the area - by Prof. Eugene Kontorovich<b>Cancelling or cutting back the mandate will be helpful to Israel's strategic interests in the region and will illustrate the defense ethos that Israel defends itself, by itself.</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig7qa8sZf8DPtZuX1RTwynP1el4hr-VhXoArk5rr7ceNEHAHbGuXqOZWKlJSiwFywQNBrRWHKy52h6v2RziKJ6gL70t6l00I_3TdZtDEtW43SyzmpEBwNSggaF9Vyc-C2AW7yzpOadXe73/s1600/UNIFIL+has+directly+or+indirectly+hurt+Israel%2527s+defense+and+security+interests+in+the+area.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig7qa8sZf8DPtZuX1RTwynP1el4hr-VhXoArk5rr7ceNEHAHbGuXqOZWKlJSiwFywQNBrRWHKy52h6v2RziKJ6gL70t6l00I_3TdZtDEtW43SyzmpEBwNSggaF9Vyc-C2AW7yzpOadXe73/s200/UNIFIL+has+directly+or+indirectly+hurt+Israel%2527s+defense+and+security+interests+in+the+area.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<b>Prof. Eugene Kontorovich</b>..<br />
Israel Hayom..<br />
17 August '20..<br />
<b>Link</b>: <i><a href="https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/unifil-an-opportunity-for-change/">https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/unifil-an-opportunity-for-change/</a></i><br />
<br />
On Oct. 7, 2000, an IDF patrol vehicle was attacked by a powerful bomb near Mount Dov. Hezbollah operatives crossed the border fence and abducted soldiers Adi Avitan, Omar Souad, and Benny Avraham. The attack was carried out with the help of a distraction from protesters on the border near Moshav Zerit, and mortar fire on IDF positions. An investigation of the incident discovered that surprisingly, Indian UNIFIL soldiers who were on duty at nearby outposts had filmed the events in real time and even opted not to report it to the IDF. The footage was discovered eight months after the incident. In addition, the UN troops also filmed the transfer of the kidnapped IDF soldiers some 16 hours later, and again, did not hand the footage over to Israel in time for it to take action.<br />
<br />
There are other instances in which the UN temporary peacekeeping force – UNIFIL – has directly or indirectly hurt Israel's defense and security interests in the area and limited the IDF's ability to respond. The main claim voiced in the defense establishment at the time was that the forces had no real power and were too small to carry out their mandate of restoring peace and security and helping restore control to the South Lebanese Army.<br />
<br />
But in 2006, after the Second Lebanon War was over, that idea crashed on the rocks of reality. The UN Security Council resolved to increase UNIFIL forces nearly fivefold, to 10,900 personnel, and expanded both its enforcement mandate and budget. Nevertheless, the increased forces failed in both motivation and efficacy when it came to taking action against violations on the Lebanese side of the "Blue Line." Since then, Hezbollah has dug attack tunnels under the border into Israel under the very noses of the UN troops, with the hope of carrying out a mega-terror attack against communities in northern Israel.<br />
<br />
In biased reports to the UN Security Council and by its very presence in the region, UNIFIL "whitewashes" violations by Hezbollah and the Lebanese army, allowing them to act freely. If another war in the north takes place, UNIFIL's presence will likely hamper the IDF's ability to maneuver in south Lebanon, and serve as a de facto human shield for Hezbollah.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
The next few weeks will bring a unique opportunity to improve security in the North and reduce the UN's biased intervention against Israel. This has to do with the nature of the UNIFIL mandate, which is extended on an annual basis in the Security Council. The next date for an extension is Aug. 31. Our leaders would do well to take advantage of the window of opportunity in which our friends in the Trump administration still have diplomatic influence and demand the cancellation of the mandate or that the forces be cut significantly. This request would fall in line with the Trump administration's aspiration of cutting back on bloated, ineffective international missions.<br />
<br />
It would be a mistake for Israel to trust the illusion of stability created by the UNIFIL forces. The reality is fluid, Hezbollah is sedulously preparing for the next war, and the IDF needs to be ready for a rapid strike, without having its maneuvers restricted by UN soldiers. Cancelling or cutting back the mandate will be helpful to Israel's strategic interests in the region and will illustrate the defense ethos that Israel defends itself, by itself.<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: #660000;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1597459152886000&usg=AFQjCNFerD-l3NzTWn7-34M-i2xxEUbWmQ" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1597459152886000&usg=AFQjCNFh-t0oII3W4qgqYapxwl6MgqRITw" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1597459152886000&usg=AFQjCNHL4n9tNLd3FkRXfbDsk7ZeXWEtmw" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </span></i>Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237022305227042607.post-44808693389288520392020-08-17T06:43:00.001+03:002020-08-17T06:43:36.980+03:00Will we spend decades regretting the day when the chance for sovereignty was at hand – and we said no? - by R. Uri Pilichowski <b>Meanwhile Palestinians laughed at the settlers, with one PA official saying, “The settlers’ opposition to the plan is doing our work for us.”</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ViR-3i_ZgheY206TedV4ytvRqYLxCyfmEND2-F_LeLuBhhSxy0TeJx2oBCrH4Lxp_yQg_c_4T7XGnh2NN5_QiYv-BNReuYJb4Mz7UrE97HwV4RInLaJ5lkF_0SO5-tk68gRra6Bgj9i4/s1600/Will+we+spend+decades+regretting+the+day+when+the+chance+for+sovereignty+was+at+hand+%25E2%2580%2593+and+we+said+no.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="268" data-original-width="188" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ViR-3i_ZgheY206TedV4ytvRqYLxCyfmEND2-F_LeLuBhhSxy0TeJx2oBCrH4Lxp_yQg_c_4T7XGnh2NN5_QiYv-BNReuYJb4Mz7UrE97HwV4RInLaJ5lkF_0SO5-tk68gRra6Bgj9i4/s200/Will+we+spend+decades+regretting+the+day+when+the+chance+for+sovereignty+was+at+hand+%25E2%2580%2593+and+we+said+no.jpg" width="140" /></a></div>
<b>R. Uri Pilichowski</b>..<br />
TOI Blogs..<br />
16 August '20..<br />
<br />
As a settler in Judea and Samaria, I’m supposed to tow the line that any plan that mentions a Palestinian State is to be rejected. A Palestinian State was called for in President Trump’s “Peace to Prosperity” plan and settlers were put in a quandary. The plan called for Israel extending sovereignty to 30% of Judea and Samaria yet the plan also called for a Palestinian state.<br />
<br />
A few miles from my house, well within smelling distance, construction has begun on a waste-to-energy incinerator. These incinerators are notorious for their bad smells, environmental destruction, and air pollution. Israel’s new Environmental Protection Minister, Gila Gamliel, has halted construction on three of these plants, but has allowed the one near our town to continue. The difference between the three that she stopped and the one near our town is the green line. The three that were stopped are within Israel’s green line, and ours is over it, in Judea and Samaria (The West Bank). Since Israeli sovereignty hasn’t been extended to our area, the air polluting incinerator is going forward. It will severely affect our quality of life. This is just one of many examples of how Israelis who reside in Judea and Samaria, settlers, live different lives than Israelis within the green line.<br />
<br />
For fifty two years, the sovereignty movement, led by Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, advocated for extending Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria. Like many settlers, with images of uprooted settlements like Yamit, Gush Katif and Homesh engraved in our hearts and minds, I thought extending Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria was a dream. I was satisfied with settlements being allowed to grow.<br />
<br />
When President Trump announced his plan, and included in it the promise of American support for extending Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria, I was shocked. Like many skeptics, I read the plan looking for the catch. When it called for a Palestinian state I was initially disappointed but when I read the conditions for American support for the plan, I quickly came to two realizations. First, there was no way the Palestinians could or would meet these requirements, and second, any reasonable reading of the plan should recognize the dream come true of sovereignty and the impossibility of a Palestinian state coming to fruition.<br />
<br />
Settler leaders like Efrat Mayor Oded Revivi recognized the benefits of the plan immediately, writing, “It is now our responsibility to embrace the Trump program – and apply Israeli law according to its framework throughout Judea and Samaria.”<br />
<br />
Unfortunately other settler leaders objected and publicly criticized the plan. They lobbied Prime Minister Netanyahu to reject the plan, even at the cost of sovereignty. Objections ranged from the plan not calling for sovereignty on all of Judea and Samaria to a comprehensive map not having been released, unfounded worries about certain settlements being left alone in danger, and chief among them, the plan’s call for a Palestinian state.<br />
<br />
(<a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/settler-leaders-have-failed-the-settlers/"><b><i>Continue to Full Post</i></b></a>)<br />
<br />
<i style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #634320; font-family: helvetica,arial,verdana,"trebuchet ms",sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand&source=gmail&ust=1597459152886000&usg=AFQjCNFerD-l3NzTWn7-34M-i2xxEUbWmQ" href="https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>LoveoftheLand</b></a> as well as our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/&source=gmail&ust=1597459152886000&usg=AFQjCNFh-t0oII3W4qgqYapxwl6MgqRITw" href="https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Love of the Land</b></a> page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/&source=gmail&ust=1597459152886000&usg=AFQjCNHL4n9tNLd3FkRXfbDsk7ZeXWEtmw" href="http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.co.il/" style="color: #bf4e27; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">This Ongoing War</a> by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. </i>Yosef Hartuvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02953012080767839213noreply@blogger.com0