Love of the Land: January 2017

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

The Palestinian’s 3 Denials

...Three wars against Israel from Gaza and wars spreading throughout the region under the watch of inept leadership.

FirstOneThrough..
Israel Analysis..
31 January '17..

In September 1967, the Arab States put forward the Khartoum Resolution in the wake of their defeat in the June 1967 Six Day War with Israel. The resolution set down their intransigence in accepting the nation of Israel with a call of “no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it,” in a policy that would stymie any chance of peace in the region for decades. It became known as “the Three No’s.”

Today, the Palestinian Arabs have adopted their own version of the policy which can be called “The Three Denials”: deny the history of the Jews; deny the rights of the Jews; deny the acceptance of the Jews.

It will similarly block any chance for peace in the region.

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Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. 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 LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

Back to Basics: Restoring deterrence, also preparing for the next shooting war - by Vic Rosenthal

...It’s possible to consider the conflict between Israel and its neighbors (and possibly Europe should be placed in the enemy column as well) as a long war that is essentially a continuation of Israel’s War of Independence. Like a game of chess it is in a positional phase, in which each side tries to obtain an advantage without actually taking any pieces. But the goal of checkmate is rarely achieved without some bloodletting. The stronger and more autonomous we are, the less likely it is that they will try to overcome us by force. If there is any hope for peace, it will come from deterrence. But if we have no choice but war, then it should be war that we win. Decisively.

Vic Rosenthal..
Abu Yehuda..
29 January '17..

— From a 1981 RAND Corporation report on “Israel’s Strategic doctrine.”

The authors explain that this doctrine was developed because of Israel’s small size and lack of strategic depth, her small population compared to her probable adversaries, her economic weakness and her vulnerability to superpower intervention.

With the exception of an improved economy, these factors have changed little since 1981. Israel still has to depend on a small standing army and the ability to quickly mobilize reserves in the event of war. It is still possible for a fighter jet or missile to traverse the country in a few minutes. And Israel still has to contend with interventions by external powers who, it seems, would rather see conflicts continue forever than a decisive Israeli victory. Whatever its cause, the passionate interest of the rest of the world in what happens in this little sliver of the Middle East does not tend to work in our favor.

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Some actual truth discovered in a NYT article on "settlements." - by Elder of Ziyon

...Yes, sometimes the NYT reports the truth. But even when it does, you need to discover it - it won't be in the headlines or in the first several paragraphs of text.

Elder of Ziyon..
30 January '17..

The New York Times has an article about Israeli discussions of annexing Maaleh Adumim.

Buried in the article, not noticeable unless you really pay attention, are a couple of things that the media usually ignores altogether.

Here's one, in paragraph 15:

After eight years of little building, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just allotted 100 new building units to Ma’ale Adumim, part of 2,500 new proposed housing units around the West Bank settlements, and another 560 in East Jerusalem.

For eight years we have been hearing about how Israel is building a huge number of houses in the territories and how that was preventing a two-state solution. And many of these charges came from Obama and Kerry.

Now that they are gone, the NYT admits that this is largely false - Israel hasn't built much at all during that time period.

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Monday, January 30, 2017

Do the Western governments, human rights organizations and journalists hear the screams of the tortured detainees?

...Among the thousands of Palestinians who have experienced incarceration in PA prisons and detention facilities during the past two decades, many are willing to tell their stories. But who is willing to listen? Not Western governments, human rights organizations and journalists. Most of them seek evil in Israel, and Israeli alone. Yet such a policy aids and abets the emergence of yet another Arab dictatorship in the Middle East. For now, the residents of Jericho will continue to hear the screams of the tortured detainees in their city. The rest of the world will close its eyes and ears and continue to pretend that all is rosy in the land of Abbas.

Khaled Abu Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
30 January '17..

As Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and his cronies occupied themselves in the past two weeks issuing warnings to President Trump against moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, reports resurfaced concerning the brutal conditions and human rights violations in a Palestinian prison in the West Bank.

These reports, however, were buried, along with the abuse, in favor of attention to rhetoric directed against the Trump Administration. Anything uttered by Abbas and senior PA officials regarding the possible transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem made it to the headlines of major newspapers and TV networks around the world.

At one point, it actually appeared as if the mainstream media in the West was interested in highlighting and inflating these statements in a bid to pressure Trump into abandoning the idea of moving the embassy to Jerusalem. Western journalists ran to provide platforms for any Palestinian official interested in threatening the Trump Administration.

The threats included warnings that the transfer of the embassy to Jerusalem would "destroy the peace process," "jeopardize regional and international security" and "plunge the entire region into anarchy and violence." Some Palestinian officials went so far as to state that such a move would be considered an "assault on all Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims." They also threatened to "revoke" Palestinian recognition of Israel's right to exist.

Regrettably, as Palestinian officials from across the political spectrum joined forces to broadcast sensational headlines in the mainstream media around the world, the reports about torture of Palestinian detainees in a PA prison failed to attract the interest of the many journalists covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The torture that takes place in PA-controlled prisons and detention centers is not new.

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An Israeli bus crash and the media’s obsession with settlements - by Simon Plosker

...How appalling that the deaths and injuries to Israeli travelers have been needlessly politicized.

Simon Plosker..
Honest Reporting..
29 January '17..

In a horrible and tragic incident, two Israelis were killed and several wounded when the bus they were travelling in plunged 70 meters (230 feet) down a ravine in stormy weather in the northern West Bank in the early hours of Friday morning.

The Daily Mail’s Mail Online didn’t only get the number of deaths and injuries wrong but also included this headline alluding to the location of the crash.

The bus did not land on its roof in an Israeli settlement. It ended up in a ravine.

What is it with the media’s obsession with settlements?

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Holocaust Remembrance Day and the new UNSG António Guterres. Guess why Palestinians are upset?

...He is saying the right things. The question is whether he will act on them.

Elder of Ziyon..
29 January '17..

The new UN Secretary General, António Guterres, gave a very good speech on Holocaust Remembrance Day. Here it is:

Today is a day to remember, reflect and look forward.

We are here to honour the victims of the Holocaust, an unparalleled crime against humanity.

We are together to mourn the loss of so many and of so much.

The world has a duty to remember that the Holocaust was a systematic attempt to eliminate the Jewish people and so many others.

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Sunday, January 29, 2017

What's the exchange rate for American dollars into Palestinian Arab terror? - by Arnold Roth

...The Obama administration (as distinct from the Congress) paid no noticeable attention to the impact of its Palestinian Arab foreign aid on people's lives and deaths during its two terms. Now there's a new regime in Washington. Will they do better? Will the Europeans? Much rides on the answers.

Arnold/Frimet Roth..
This Ongoing War..
29 January '17..

The underhanded attempt, in the waning hours of the Obama administration, to ship $221 million to Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority, is now - surprisingly - on ice.

As Associated Press reported on January 23, 2017

Officials say the Obama administration in its waning hours defied Republican opposition and quietly released $221 million to the Palestinian Authority that GOP members of Congress had been blocking. A State Department official and several congressional aides said the outgoing administration formally notified Congress it would spend the money Friday morning. The official said former Secretary of State John Kerry had informed some lawmakers of the move shortly before he left the State Department for the last time Thursday.

Two days later, in a report jointly attributed to its Middle East analyst Avi Issacharoff and to AP, Times of Israel said the cash transfer had been stopped:

The Trump administration has informed the Palestinian Authority that it is freezing the transfer of $221 million which was quietly authorized by the Obama administration in its final hours on January 20, a senior Palestinian source has told The Times of Israel. US officials conveyed to PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah on Tuesday that the funds were not expected to be handed over in the immediate future, said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. On Tuesday, the State Department said it was reviewing the last-minute decision by former secretary of state John Kerry to send the funds to the Palestinians despite objections to the transfer by congressional Republicans. The department said it would look at the payment and might make adjustments to ensure it comports with the Trump administration’s priorities... ["Palestinians say Obama’s last-minute $221 million payout frozen by Trump", Times of Israel, January 25, 2017]

To be clear, no one serious is saying the Palestinian Arabs don't need aid or shouldn't get it. (Without getting into the matter of their endemic and world-class corruption, anyone can see they have huge needs, massively wasted resources and a kleptocratic and vastly inadequate leadership. They ought to be getting help.) The problem is that foreign aid to the Palestinian Arab gets turned by them into something lethal and hideous.

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The Dhimmi Jews of SOAS as a Fait Accompli

...This isn’t just about presenting a case for Zionism, this is about tainted Zionist feet walking on their holy campus. Just as radical Islam seeks to limit what other identities can do, where they can go, when they are permitted to join in and when they are not, so too it now acts on the SOAS campus. SOAS is the Al Aqsa Mosque of the London university scene. There is a huge sign outside the campus now, it reads ‘Jews not wanted’. This is what is happening. Jews are now Dhimmi on campus. Let us call it out for what it is. Either the UK government takes action against it or accepts it as fait accompli. The choice is theirs to make. Us Jews? We have other decisions to make.

David Collier..
Across the Great Divide..
27 January '17..

A dhimmi ([ðimi]; Arabic: ذمي, meaning “protected person”) refers to specific individuals living in Muslim lands, who were granted special status and safety in Islamic law in return for paying the capital tax.

Almost everyone in the UK knows SOAS is a hotbed of radical Islamic hatred. Except perhaps those that are themselves beyond the edge of rational thought. So on Tuesday 24 Jan, at the Union General Meeting, I thought it wise to take a closer look at the atmosphere. They wouldn’t have wanted me there, they asked for those present to display their student cards, but with around 150 in the room, they were never going to notice one extra attendee. Anyway, this is Senate House, I’ve spent 8 years at Birkbeck. I know my way around.

I don’t like SOAS. I have seen too much extremism, intolerance and Jew hatred displayed here. I consider it a cesspit. If the government, if those in charge at the university are aware that SOAS is a hotbed of extremist hate, then it becomes their duty to protect the minorities that are at risk. None more so that the Jews. It is clear from the recent news that those responsible for upholding our rights are letting these Jews down.

Those in the room make me uncomfortable. They are bullies, the social media mob (smob), with their hashtags and hypocritical self-righteous indignation. Aggressively swarming around their targets, seeking anybody they can link with enemy number one, the greatest evil known to SOAS students, ‘Zionism’.

The three motions on discussion that were of interest where seven, eight and nine. Seven, dealing with Zionist control of the world and the fact that the NUS Vice President has now clearly been infected with Zionism. Eight was a motion seeking to make Jewish students feel more comfortable and welcome at SOAS, and nine was regarding which external groups SOAS students should welcome onto the campus.

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Punctuating History And Narratives In The Middle East: Israel Versus Palestine - by Sheri Oz

...Wherever you want to begin telling the story of the Middle East, or from whatever perspective you want to view the PWI, just know that within most of known human history, you can find recognition of an independent Jewish entity that predated almost all countries in the world and therefore is decidedly not a UN creation but a UN-recognized ancient sovereign nation. And absolutely nowhere you look will you find a Palestinian Arab entity by that name or any other, other than the modern state of Jordan that decidedly is a UN creation.

Sheri Oz..
Israel Diaries..
27 January '17..

Here is a way of looking at the history of the so-called Israeli occupation of so-called Palestinian land: History is narratives. Narratives are stories. Stories have beginnings, middles and endings. Human history has no end in sight so nobody knows how this story of our sojourn on Earth is going to end, or even if it will end. Many theories abound, all of them faith-based whether or not they incorporate God or Gods, or Holy Spirits, or vapours or black holes or nano-particles.

We have stories about how it all began and these stories are also faith-based. Every religion and every science has its story of human beginnings on Earth.

And, of course, there are stories within stories.

Israel versus Palestine is a story within the larger Middle East story. It used to be Israel versus The Arabs and then by the late 1980s this turned into Israel versus Palestine. So anyone born after 1980 probably sees the problem with Israel — let me call that the PWI — as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I wonder how many of us born in the 1960s and earlier remember how the PWI used to be the Israeli-Arab conflict. It is merely a matter of punctuation.

By punctuation I mean where we put our full stops, how we divide up our paragraphs and where we consider the story to have begun. (I know the latter two items are not considered punctuation for all you grammar geeks, but allow me some poetic license here, okay?)

Below is a list of possible punctuation marks in history. I think it becomes obvious how that changes the entire narrative.

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Saturday, January 28, 2017

Jerusalem is our capital city, historically and forever by Dr. Mordechai Kedar

It is important to remember that there were Israeli politicians who gave in to pressure and put Jerusalem on the negotiating table at which they sat with our hostile neighbors, something for which we are still sorry today.

Dr. Mordechai Kedar..
Israelnationalnews.com..
27 January '17..
Link: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/20090

From the minute Donald Trump, while still a candidate, promised to move the American Embassy to Jerusalem, I have been asked repeatedly what I think the Arab and Muslim response to that move might be. My usual answer to this kind of question is that "I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet" - in the words of the biblical Amos - and my knowledge of the future is especially limited when talking about the quixotic and crisis-filled area known as the Middle East. Still, when the subject is Jerusalem, one can predict with a fairly high degree of certainty that there will be a good many complaints sounded from the Arab and Muslim world, threats will abound, and there may even be attempts against American complexes and American citizens in countries outside the USA. This could affect ambassadors and engineers, businessmen and media teams, anyone with US citizenship.

It didn't need the embassy move for this threat to appear. There are enough people out to take revenge on the USA for the change in its attitude towards Islam since the Trump victory, especially the connection he made between terror and radical Islam, a connection whose existence Obama absolutely refused to recognize. Trump also poses a threat to Muslim immigration to the USA, expressing the fears of not a few Americans regarding Muslim immigrants. Jerusalem is not the only member of the equation appearing on the side that includes Trump and the USA, when the Arab and Muslim world are on the other side of that equation.

Actually, the most important factor in the Washington government's deliberations on moving the embassy is how Trump sees the Jerusalem issue: If he views Jerusalem as the Jewish People's eternal capital, a place many Christians are drawn to, a city that the Muslims must accept as Israel's capital whether or not they like it and especially if they do not - then he would have moved the embassy to Jerusalem unhesitatingly, on the day he entered the White House. Reality, however, is more complex: as a seasoned businessman, Trump knows how to identify a successful deal, and how to avoid a high risk deal or one whose chances of failure are considerable.

Friday, January 27, 2017

NYT Promises "Fact-Based" Journalism, the Record Shows Something Else - by Gilead Ini

...It's easy to make lofty promises about "fact-based journalism" and "truth." But an examination of what the newspaper publishes shows something else entirely.

Gilead Ini..
CAMERA Media Analyses..
24 January '17..

Fact-checking season is in full swing. Whether the conversation is about "fake news," "alternative facts," or any other euphemism for false information, there's a renewed media focus on examining the veracity of claims.

The New York Times is trying to capitalize on public concerns about accuracy with an online advertisement that states, "In a world of fake news, independent, fact-based journalism stands apart." Then, in large font, is the hard sell: "Truth. It comes at a cost."

A New York Times advertisement on Twitter promises "fact-based journalism."

The ad campaign comes in the face of a particularly costly truth: Among Democrats, Independents, and Republicans, confidence in the mass media has plummeted to all-time lows. Most Americans just don't trust that the media will report the news fully, accurately, and fairly.

The New York Times certainly hasn't been immune to those trends. So the advertisement's focus on "facts" and "truth" may be an attempt to reverse its own falling fortunes, first by branding the newspaper as a reliable and accurate source of information, and second by refocusing the public's distrust onto political discourse, and by positioning itself as a foil to perceived dishonesty in politics.

But readers, regardless of how much they trust or distrust government, should be skeptical of the newspaper's repeated assurances that it can be relied on for accurate and impartial reporting. In fact, as measured by its reporting on one particular hot-button issue, the Arab-Israeli conflict, The New York Times has if anything shown an increasing tendency to circulate fake news and alternative facts of its own.

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Meanwhile, Jewish former State Dept gang undermine embassy move - by Stephen M. Flatow

...The irony is that pretty much any taxi driver in Tel Aviv understands the Israeli-Palestinian situation far better than the self-crowned experts at Foggy Bottom, present or past. The only thing the State Department's Mideast veterans are really experts at, is getting things wrong.

Stephen M. Flatow..
JNS.org..
25 January '17..

Someday, perhaps, a team of sociologists and psychologists will examine the curious question of why Jewish ex-State Department officials are obsessed with Israel. Until that day comes, though, the rest of us will be stuck having to listen to those officials’ relentless harassment of Israel and promotion of the Palestinian cause.

With the issue of moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on the front burner, The New York Times trotted out two former State Department hands, both Jewish, to pour cold water on the embassy relocation idea.

The officials, Aaron David Miller and David Makovsky, now enjoy well-heeled positions at the Woodrow Wilson International Center and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, respectively. They are benefiting handsomely from the revolving door that shuttles State Department alumni to nearby think tanks, where they can spend their days explaining how they know what’s best for Israel.

In an endless stream of media interviews, op-eds and insufferable policy papers, Miller, Makovsky and the rest never stop reminding us that they know more about Middle East peace than do Israel’s democratically elected leaders or battle-tested generals.

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Stephen M. Flatow, a vice president of the Religious Zionists of America, is an attorney in New Jersey. He is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995.

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Hypocrisy, Zoabi and 180 of her adoring faithful in Richmond - by David Collier

...every banner that gets waved over this cause, every dollar that gets spent, every march that is made, is effort that is missing from a far worthier, far more honest cause. All those fools that stood and applauded this speech, that spend their time helping the Arabs of Gaza and Ramallah to waste another generation on a pointless conflict. Those that actually believe Zoabi needs their help. These people have had their attention taken away from people elsewhere who really do need their help.

David Collier..
Across the Great Divide..
22 January '17..

22 January 2017. I am at an event organised by the Richmond Palestine Solidarity Campaign. A big crowd, perhaps 180, have gathered to hear Israeli Arab member of the Knesset Haneen Zoabi speak. The room is full, but the demographic breakdown is simple. A large majority are white, British and over 55. It is the typical PSC crowd.

Haneen Zoabi had received a standing ovation at the PSC annual general meeting just two days before, she receives one here before she has even spoken. I am in the presence of PSC royalty.

The situation with the Arabs of Israel is complex. If Zoabi was here to fight for the Israeli Arab citizens, she would have my attention. If her aim was to improve the living standards, education and employment prospects of those who voted her into power, she would have my support. If the real goal was to reduce the inequality that minorities often experience, I’d wave a flag in her name. But Zoabi is not here to represent the needs of Israel’s minorities, she is here to perpetuate the external conflict.

When speaking of the democratic freedoms of a minority group Zoabi comments thus: “We want the opposite. Give us our land back. Give us our homeland back. Give us our people back. We don’t want to scream, we don’t need this freedom of expression”. This, as the entire Middle East burns in radical Islamic bush fires around her.

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Is There an Inadvertent Furthering of Palestinian Propaganda at the Algemeiner and JNS?

...We are fighting what sometimes seems like a losing battle (do not worry, I am not giving up on us) in the public relations sphere and I do believe that publishing outlets, especially ones so important as Algemeiner and JNS, need to be wary of contributing in any way to malicious propaganda and mis-information, .

Sheri Oz..
Israel Diaries..
24 January '17..

How can we expect the world to understand our history and the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict if our own news sites continue to use nomenclature from “theirstory”, aka, the “Palestinian narrative”?

On 16 January, I wrote the following letter in response to an article that appeared 3 days earlier on both the Algemeiner and Jewish News Service websites. I have yet to get a response from any of the addressees.

* * * * *

Dear Mr’s. Jacobson and Efune, and Ms’. McDonough and Glick:

I read the Algemeiner frequently and appreciate that it has a significant impact factor in the contemporary world of questionable journalism. I have recently learned about the work of the Jewish News Service (JNS) and understand its value. And I have long been a fan of Ms. Glick.

Given my high esteem for all of you, therefore, I was surprised when I read a recent article by Ariel Ben Solomon, entitled: “Can Israel Move Toward the One-State Solution in the Trump Era?” It was published in identical form in both Algemeiner and JNS. Ms. Glick is quoted in a way I find hard to understand. To the point: In this approximately 1000-word article, the term “West Bank” was used 9 times and “Judea and Samaria” 3 times.

Judea and Samaria was used within quotes, one from former ambassador Yoram Ettinger and one from Likud Director of Communications and International Relations, Eli Hazan. I would have expected the term to have been used throughout the article. Most disturbingly, the third use of the name of the region was in the following:

Glick [Caroline] told JNS.org that Israel now faces two questions: “The first is what to do with the PLO regime in Judea and Samaria (the Israeli government’s biblical term for the West Bank). The second is how to administer the area.” [emphasis mine]

Judea and Samaria (J&S) is NOT the “Israeli government’s biblical term for the West Bank” – the West Bank (WB) is the Jordanian occupation term for J&S on a par with the Romans having called the vanquished Jewish kingdom Palestine.

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De-legitimization, B’Tselem and the World Zionist Organization - by Matan Peleg

...Zaki’s appointment represents a microcosm of the titanic battle raging between two ideas within the WZO: the Zionist idea that strives for Jewish independence in the state of Israel; and, in opposition, an idea seeking to limit the sovereignty of the Jewish people, by encouraging foreign governments to impose their policies on Israel.

Uri Zaki

Matan Peleg..
Algemeiner.com..
January '17..

In Israel, there is a critical news story that has passed beneath the radar of public awareness. Perhaps this is not a surprise, given the high visibility of the recent UN Security Council vote, John Kerry’s speech and the Elor Azaria trial verdict.

Nevertheless, this virtually unreported story is incredibly significant, and potentially damaging, to the future vitality of the state of Israel.

In the closing days of 2016, the World Zionist Organization (WZO) approved the appointment of Uri Zaki, a former director of B’Tselem USA, to a senior position in the organization’s Department for Zionist Enterprises.

Zaki’s appointment represents a microcosm of the titanic battle raging between two ideas within the WZO: the Zionist idea that strives for Jewish independence in the state of Israel; and, in opposition, an idea seeking to limit the sovereignty of the Jewish people, by encouraging foreign governments to impose their policies on Israel.

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Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Welcome to J Street’s dead end

...J Street has now become an organization vilified by former friends, distanced from the left in Israel and distrusted by many more as a result of the mishandling of its own reputation. There is no doubt that J Street will try and reconstitute itself under the new political constellation, but it will probably turn into a sad Don Quixote type figure, dreaming of moments of grandeur while parrying against imaginary enemies.

Gregg Roman..
TheHill.com..
22 January '17..

At the end of 2017, the far-left Jewish advocacy group J Street will celebrate its 10th anniversary. At its inception, J Street promised to be the first political movement “to explicitly promote American leadership to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” However, an objective summary of the organization’s progress toward accomplishing this goal results in abject and damning failure.

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Whose Israel Coverage Is Literally Worse Than Al Jazeera’s? - by Ira Stoll

...If the Times editors there can’t comprehend this basic journalistic point, maybe they should take some time off and go work for Al Jazeera, where they can get some training in how to treat Israel-related news more objectively.

Ira Stoll..
Algemeiner.com..
24 January '17..

Just how bad is the New York Times coverage of Israel these days? How about this for an answer: worse than Al Jazeera.

“Plan approved for 2,500 new settler homes in West Bank,” is the headline over the article at AlJazeera.com, the web site of the satellite network geared to an Arab audience and controlled by the al Thani family that rules the Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar.

That kind of straightforward headline was the sort placed on the story at a wide variety of news outlets, from NBC News (“Israel Okays 2,500 New West Bank Settlement Homes”) through USA Today (“Israel approves 2,500 West Bank settlement homes”), the Jerusalem Post (“Israel announces plans to build 2,500 new West Bank housing units”), and even the Guardian (“Israel announces 2,500 more West Bank settlement homes”).

The New York Times, however, unlike the other news organizations, chose to make its headline feature not an objective number of housing units, but a subjective adjective. The Times headline reads: “Israel Approves Large Settlement Expansion in West Bank.”

“Large”?

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(Video) Treating the Western Wall as an Illegal Settlement - Honest Reporting

United Nations Security Council Resolution #2334 is worded in a way that creates some very odd results. Yes, the Western Wall is now an "illegal settlement," and any Israeli activity there is a "flagrant violation of international law."

HonestReporting..
Published on Jan 24, 2017..

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKd_a1V96nQ

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Imagine that! No outcry by the supposed defenders of international law - by Elder of Ziyon

...This isn't surprising. The people who have been manipulating international law for decades to make Israel appear guilty of war crimes have no interest in applying their new laws to any other circumstance.

Elder of Ziyon..
24 January '17..

From The Guardian, January 13:

In the valleys between Damascus and Lebanon, where whole communities had abandoned their lives to war, a change is taking place. For the first time since the conflict broke out, people are starting to return.

But the people settling in are not the same as those who fled during the past six years.

The new arrivals have a different allegiance and faith to the predominantly Sunni Muslim families who once lived there. They are, according to those who have sent them, the vanguard of a move to repopulate the area with Shia Muslims not just from elsewhere in Syria, but also from Lebanon and Iraq.

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NYT New Jerusalem Bureau Chief Passes Along Embassy ‘Speculation’ - by Ira Stoll

...The phrase “predominantly Arab East Jerusalem” is itself tendentious. When Israel recaptured it from Jordan in 1967, east Jerusalem was indeed “predominantly Arab” — but only because the Jews who had lived there for the previous thousands of years had been violently expelled or otherwise extinguished by Arabs in the 1948 war. Mr. Fisher might consult his own newspaper on this point.

NY Times new Jerusalem
bureau chief Ian Fisher

Ira Stoll..
Algemeiner.com..
23 January '17..

The newly arrived New York Times bureau chief in Jerusalem, Ian Fisher, has a dispatch reporting:

The Israeli news media was filled with speculation on Sunday that the Trump administration would immediately announce the embassy move — as a de facto recognition of Israel’s annexation of predominantly Arab East Jerusalem, which it captured from Jordan during the 1967 war.

There’s no hyperlink, so it’s hard to know to what Mr. Fisher is referring. But as a Times reader, my hope is that its journalists will try to help assess whether “speculation” is accurate or not before passing it along.

In this case, the statement’s logic leaves a lot to be desired.

If President Trump moves the American embassy to west Jerusalem — which has been under Israeli control since the establishment of Israel in 1948 and is the location of the Knesset, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Israel Museum, the Jewish Agency for Israel and a host of other institutions that have been there since before the 1967 war — how does that say anything about, let alone constitute “de facto recognition” of, Israel’s annexation of “predominantly Arab East Jerusalem”?

The phrase “predominantly Arab East Jerusalem” is itself tendentious. When Israel recaptured it from Jordan in 1967, east Jerusalem was indeed “predominantly Arab” — but only because the Jews who had lived there for the previous thousands of years had been violently expelled or otherwise extinguished by Arabs in the 1948 war. Mr. Fisher might consult his own newspaper on this point.

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Palestinians in Syria: Murdered, tortured, imprisoned and displaced. The West yawns.

...It remains to be seen whether the UN Security Council will get its priorities straight and hold an emergency session to discuss the murderous campaign against Palestinians in Syria. Perhaps, somehow, this will overtake "settlement construction" as a topic worthy of world condemnation.

Khaled Abu Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
23 January '17..

2016 was a tough year for the Palestinians. It was tough not only for those Palestinians living in the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority (PA) regime, or the Gaza Strip under Hamas. When Westerners hear about the "plight" and "suffering" of Palestinians, they instantly assume that the talk is about those living in the West Bank or Gaza Strip. Rarely does the international community hear about what is happening to Palestinians in the Arab countries. This lapse doubtless exists because the misery of Palestinians in the Arab countries is difficult to pin on Israel.

The international community and mainstream journalists only know of those Palestinians living in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. Of course, life under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas is no box of dates, although this inconvenient fact might be rather unpleasant to the ears of Western journalists and human rights organizations.

In any event, mainstream media outlets seem to prefer turning a blind eye to the plight of Palestinians living in Arab countries. This evasion harms first and foremost the Palestinians themselves and allows Arab governments to continue their policies of persecution and repression.

The past few years have seen horror stories about the conditions of Palestinians in Syria. Where is the media attention for the Palestinians in this war-stricken country? Palestinians in Syria are being murdered, tortured, imprisoned and displaced. The West yawns.

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Monday, January 23, 2017

Human Rights Watch again minimizing Palestinian crimes and exaggerating blame on Israel - by Elder of Ziyon

...This is deliberate - emphasize and exaggerate Israeli actions while minimizing and downplaying Palestinian terror and any other Arab culpability.

Elder of Ziyon..
22 January '17..

The first three paragraphs of HRW's annual report on "Israel/Palestine" reveals all you need to know about their anti-Israel bias.

Israel continued in 2016 to enforce severe and discriminatory restrictions on Palestinians’ human rights, to facilitate the transfer of Israeli civilians to the occupied West Bank, and to severely restrict the movement of people and goods into and out of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli actions are all illegal and everything that happens is because of Israeli actions, according to HRW.

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Another Shalit Deal outcome, another life sentence, another bereaved family - by Arnold Roth

...The brutal theft of Malachi Rosenfeld's life was enabled by two largely ignored realities: 1. The Palestinian Authority's appalling Rewards for Terror Scheme and - largely unwittingly - by the millions of European and American taxpayers whose funding of that terror-support mechanism allows it to continue day after day. 2. And the decision to free 1,027 terrorists, the vast majority of them killers, in the catastrophic Shalit Deal of 2011, the reverberations of which continue to bring extreme misery into the lives of innocent families.

Malachi Rosenfeld,
of blessed memory
[Image Source]

Arnold/Frimet Roth..
This Ongoing War..
21 January '17..

As reported Sunday via the Israeli web-based all-news video channel i24news.tv:

Abdullah Ishaq, a Palestinian convicted in the 2015 drive-by shooting death of an Israeli man in the West Bank was sentenced by a military court Sunday to life in prison plus 30 years for the attack. Malachi Rosenfeld, 25, was fatally wounded in the drive-by shooting attack near the West Bank settlement of Shilo on June 30, 2015. Three other Israelis sustained moderate injuries in the incident. Ishaq was given life for the death of Rosenfeld and the additional 30 years for the three injured...

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BDS: Going down, but not quite out yet - by Mordechai Kedar

The problem begins with us, within us, so the solution also begins with us. The anti-BDS struggle is no different.

Dr. Mordechai Kedar..
Israelnationalnews.com..
17 January '17..
Link: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/20061

For the last decade Israel has had to deal with the BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) Movement, whose sanctions included the pulling out of investments from the Jewish state. The movement calls for academic, cultural and economic bodies to cut off relations with Israel.

The supposed goal of the BDS Movement is to force Israel to leave the "Palestinian territories" and to establish a Palestinian state, but the basic real motivation behind the movement's activities is hatred of Israel and of Jews, and the openly expressed desire to rid the Middle East of Israel.

For years the movement seemed relegated to the sidelines and had little influence . However during the last two years, mainly after Operation Protective Edge in Gaza and the negative publicity it engendered, the movement increased its activities, its donations grew significantly and so did the number of its volunteers. The organization's success on North American, Canadian and European academic campuses was especially pronounced, due to the large number of Muslims and Arabs enrolled on campus and the current fashion of putting everything in the context of human rights (as long as we are not talking about Jews, that is), in addition to traditional anti-Semitism and the presenting of Israel as an illegitimate state, scofflaw and a danger to world peace.

The state of Israel, Jews and pro-Israel people the world over realized what the real goal of BDS is and decided to fight it. Israel's government even established official frameworks and allocated funds for this struggle. The anti-BDS activities are on different levels and in various arenas, and Israel has garnered significant successes fighting them. For example: Fifteen states in the USA have passed laws against firms that boycott Israel, in Canada similar laws were passed and in Europe there have been not a few successes in this regard. The question is who will make sure these laws are kept and how will it be done?

Despite the growing activity of the BDS Movement and its various successes, many artists refused to cancel their appearances in Israel because they felt it was wrong to connect art and politics or art and nationalist issues. Most of the economic forces who feel investing in Israel is good for their balance sheet from a purely business point of view, do not end their relationship with Israel, because what counts to them is making a profit and they ignore issues that have nothing to do with their economic activities.

The movement is still strong on campus, but has a good many problems there as well, arising - among other factors - from differences of opinion between activists and the PA about how to work and define goals. One example is what happened in Boston last November at the annual conference of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), an international academic organization with thousands of members who do research on the Middle East. As time passed, this organization adopted an anti-American political agenda as well as an anti-Zionist one - with some anti-Semitic overtones. As a result, a good many researchers left the organization a few years ago and founded the much less political and much more balanced Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA),