Love of the Land: December 2017

Sunday, December 31, 2017

Al Jazeera needs some assistance to see the difference between Malala and Ahed Tamimi - by Petra Marquadt-Bigman

...I wonder when Malala (and her father) attended an event alongside a terrorist in order to campaign for another terrorist? Perhaps Shenila Khoja-Moolji will tell us in her next Al Jazeera column.

Petra Marquadt-Bigman..
The Warped Mirror..
31 December '17..

Al Jazeera – or at least Al Jazeera contributor Shenila Khoja-Moolji – is desperately clueless, stumped by the question: “Why is the West praising Malala, but ignoring Ahed?” So let’s help them out a bit.

Malala Yousafzai gained prominence as a teen blogger for BBC Urdu, where she described her life under the harsh rule of the fundamentalist Islamist Taliban. The Taliban eventually decided to target Malala. On October 9, 2012, “[a] masked gunman boards Malala’s school bus and asks for her by name. He shoots Malala in the head, neck and shoulder.”

As far as Ahed Tamimi is concerned, masked gunmen are great. In September, Ahed Tamimi posted a picture of gunmen masked with Palestinian keffiyeh scarves on her Facebook page and repeated the message written on the image in Arabic: “Tell the fighters all over the world that they are my friends.”

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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.

Marching Their People Towards Yet More Harm and Grief. How Palestinians Silence Palestinians - by Khaled Abu Toameh

...Al-Dayeh is far from the main protagonist here -- although his personal story might make for interesting reading. This is about the silencing of critics. This is about human rights violations perpetrated not only by the Palestinian Authority, but by Hamas as well. This is about how Palestinian leaders continue to march their people towards yet more harm and grief. This is also about the ongoing failure of the international community to note any of the above. Al-Dayeh is just a bit player, then, in a much, much greater dictatorial drama.

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

Most people probably do not know him by name, but the image of Mohammed Al-Dayeh was a public one for many years. The tough-looking, mustachioed man in military garb served as the trusted bodyguard of former PLO leader Yasser Arafat.

His proximity to Arafat turned Al-Dayeh into one of the most powerful figures in the PLO leadership, especially during the 1990s and 2000s. If you wanted anything from Arafat -- from money to springing your son from prison -- Al-Dayeh was your man.

He was glued to Arafat night and day. He accompanied him on his persistent globe-trotting. You can hardly find a photo of Arafat without Al-Dayeh. Insiders say Arafat "adopted" him after he was orphaned from his parents during the civil war in Lebanon.

Al-Dayeh's fall from grace was rapid once his boss, Arafat, died in 2004. This is typical for dictatorial regimes that are run as a one-man show. Arafat managed the Palestinian Authority (and PLO) as if it were his private fiefdom. When the emperor falls, so do many of those around him, particularly his personal picks.

In the past week, Palestinians were surprised to learn that the man who was an icon of power of the Arafat era was now being held in detention in a Palestinian Authority prison in Ramallah. Reports about the incarceration of Al-Dayeh first appeared on social media, and many Palestinians were convinced that these were just rumors and gossip. How could the man once so loved by Arafat be behind bars? What crime did Al-Dayeh, who holds the rank of "brigadier-general" in the Palestinian Authority, commit? It would have to have been quite a misstep on Al-Dayeh's part.

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Facing a Tamimi government in Ramallah - by Caroline Glick

For decades, by not taking a firm stand against the EU’s hostility, by going along with the fiction that there are 3 million Palestinians in Judea and Samaria, by accepting the lie that Abbas is a moderate and the PLO isn’t a terrorist organization, Israel has chosen to follow the herd. Israel has chosen not to think about its long-term interests. It has chosen not to determine its destiny. At certain points this policy of passivity made sense. But the day is rapidly approaching where the price for not choosing will far outstrip the advantages of keeping our heads down.

Caroline Glick..
carolineglick.com..
29 December '17..
Link: http://carolineglick.com/facing-a-tamimi-government/

This week, the Tamimi clan from Nabi Saleh beset Israel once again. Ahed Tamimi, the family’s teenaged golden girl, and her mother, Nariman, once again posted videos of themselves slapping and cursing hapless IDF soldiers.

The photogenic Ahed has been doing this number since she was a little girl.

There are two components of the Palestinian war to annihilate Israel: terrorism and propaganda. The two are integrally linked. The ties are nowhere more apparent than in the actions of the Tamimi family.

Six weeks after Israel signed the Oslo Accords with the PLO on the White House lawn on September 13, 1993, Chaim Mizrahi from Beit El went to buy eggs from a farmer in Ramallah, as he had every week for years.

Two of Ahed’s cousins, Said and Nizar Tamimi, were there. They stabbed Mizrahi, stuffed him in the trunk of his car and burned him alive.

In August 2001, Ahed’s aunt Ahlam Tamimi masterminded the massacre at a Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem. She chose Sbarro because it was popular among families with young children. She brought the suicide bomber to the restaurant and he blew himself up, killing 15 people, among them seven children, and wounded 130.

Today all three of the Tamimi murderers are out of jail. The Obama administration forced Israel to release Said along with several hundred other terrorists to prove it was committed to peace in 2013.

Ahlam and Nizar were released in 2011 as part of Israel’s 1,000-terrorists-for-one-hostage-soldier Gilad Schalit deal.

Ahlam and Nizar were deported to Jordan and they got married soon after. The two wed in a fancy ceremony that was posted online. Ahed, Bassem and Nariman feature prominently in the wedding.

The video shows Nariman and Ahed standing on a stage with Ahlam as Ahed gazes worshipfully at her baby-killing aunt.

Shortly after she set up shop in Amman, Ahlam began hosting a TV show on Hamas’s terror channel.

She is also celebrated by the Jordanian regime.

As Arnold Roth, whose daughter Malki was among the seven children murdered at Sbarro, reported on his website, Jordanian Prince Ali’s wife, former CNN reporter Princess Rym Ali raised donations from the governments of Europe, Australia and Canada to establish a journalism school in Amman. On every page of the Jordanian Media Institute’s website, Ahlam Tamimi is presented as a “Success Model.”

Three of Ahlam’s victims were US citizens. King Abdullah has rejected repeated US requests to extradite her for trial.

Back in Nabi Saleh, Nariman and Bassem and their kids man the barricades against Israel, for their sponsors.

Saturday, December 30, 2017

The Palestinian masquerade - by Dror Eydar

...Philistines, Canaanites, Jebusites, what does it matter anyway? The important thing is that they were already around when the father of the glorious Palestinian nation handed a match to God to spark the cosmic bang that created the world.

Dror Eydar..
Israel Hayom..
29 December '17..
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/2017/12/29/the-palestinian-masquerade/

1.

So, without anyone noticing, under the radar of Israeli discourse, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made some unbelievable remarks at the recent emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, held in Istanbul, Turkey on Dec. 13. The summit was headed by another avid Israel lover – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – with the aim of devising a plan of action after U.S. President Donald Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital the previous week.

Jerusalem has always been a kind of litmus test of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It forces us to confront the mythical, religious aspects that the West (as well as many among us) has been working so hard to escape. It touches on the issues surrounding the identity of the Jewish people, who have returned to Zion – another name for Jerusalem. This is the root of, and the engine behind, all of Zionism and the Jews' 2,000-year longing to return home. Hence the deep-seated objection displayed by Islam (and parts of Christianity).

About six months ago, Israel Hayom conducted a poll that demonstrated unequivocally that the vast majority of Israelis were not willing to compromise on Israeli sovereignty over the Old City of Jerusalem, even if it meant a signed peace agreement.

2.

I love footnotes. Treasures omitted from the main text can often be found there. As part of his diplomatic-political address, Abbas presented his captive audience with his take on the historical and theological basis for the war between Islam and the Jews. His remark, outlining the raison d'etre of this conflict, was tacked on to his main address like a footnote.

"This land is the birthplace of Jesus," he said. "Jesus Christ was a Palestinian, take note of that."

"Yes, believe in our right and God's promise to us, that this holy Palestinian city, since it was founded by the Canaanite Jebusites 5,000 years ago, was and will be the only capital of our independent state, under the sovereignty of the state of Palestine."

"This is also a good opportunity to note that I don't want to discuss history or religion, because there is no one better at falsifying history or religion than them [the Jews]. But if we read the Torah, it says that we, i.e., the Canaanites, lived here before Abraham and haven't left since that time. It hasn't been interrupted. That's in the Torah. If they want to fabricate, 'to distort the words from their [proper] usages,' as God said [a reference to Sura 4 of the Quran that mentions Jews who falsified the Torah]. I don't want to get into religion. We don't want the issue to become a religious issue. We just want to prove that we are here, and we have an eternal right to this city [Jerusalem] and to other cities."

Friday, December 29, 2017

Conflicts do not always evaporate when you make an effort to understand both sides - by Vic Rosenthal

Not everything is so complex, not every argument has two sides that are both compelling, and conflicts do not always evaporate when you make an effort to understand both sides. Some things provide clear moral choices – and this is one of them.

Vic Rosenthal..
Abu Yehuda..
29 December '17..
Link: http://abuyehuda.com/2017/12/too-much-nuance/

“Anyone who takes the approach that this is a black and white situation with a good side and a bad side clearly does not understand the conflict – nor could they have a peaceable solution in mind.” – Laura Ben-David

I took this quotation from an open letter to the singer Lorde (of whom I admit I have never heard), who recently announced that she would not perform in Israel after pressure from pro-Palestinian fans in her native New Zealand.

The letter was fine and I hope the young (21) performer reads it and pays attention. But the statement quoted above is wrong.

The conflict is “a black and white situation with a good side and a bad side.” As far as a solution, I admit that I don’t have a peaceable one in mind, but that’s because the people who have adopted the cause of the Palestinians are not going to give us one. They are preparing for war, and although we are doing our best to delay it, it’s just a matter of time.

Here is the conflict in a nutshell: Muslims cannot abide Jewish sovereignty in places that they have decided ought to be dar al islam, and that includes my country, Israel. That’s wrong, it’s racist, and it’s unnecessary.

The Palestinian Arabs, the point of the spear of the anti-Israel movement, have created a whole mythology to justify their opposition to our existence, but that’s all it is: a mythology. Their cause inflames Muslims everywhere in their genocidal racism, which they would quickly and happily implement if they weren’t afraid of us.

The Brainwash That Has Failed - by Judith Bergman

There are those in Israeli society who are severely out of touch with the reality they live in and academics, as all over the Western world, belong to the hard core of this segment.

Judith Bergman..
MiDA..
28 December '17..
Link: http://en.mida.org.il/2017/12/28/failed-brainwash/

“With spirit and blood we will redeem you, Al-Aqsa… We will fight and teach them a lesson via the sword and force,” chanted some 50 Arab students at Tel Aviv University ten days ago. “We will school them through the ways of intifada,” and “Israel is a terror state,” they continued.

The week before the calls for “intifada” (upheaval) at Tel Aviv University, Arab students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem chanted “Zionists leave,” at a demonstration, where they also screamed, “Our land is Arab and free,” and “Palestine is Arab from the river to the sea.”

Youtube-Im Tirtzu

Similar scenes took place at Ben Gurion University and Haifa University.

It was not the first time this year that Arab students called for an “intifada” at Israeli universities. In May, Arab students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem held a demonstration in solidarity with hunger-striking terrorists in Israeli prisons, led by uber-terrorist Marwan Barghouti (who broke his hunger strike, when he thought no one was watching).

During that demonstration, the Arab students howled for “intifada” and screamed, “Let’s talk exile! We don’t want to see any Zionists.” They did this while waving photos of convicted terrorists.

Apparently, however, the faculty of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is totally fine with the incitement of terrorist murder against Jews at the university. Back in May, a statement from the university backed the Arab students proclaiming that, “The student event in support of the hunger-striking prisoners was held in accordance with the regulations and there was nothing said that constitutes a violation of the law”.

Inciting the murder of Jews at an Israeli university at the heart of the state of Israel is considered legal by the top academic minds of Israel. Nowhere does freedom of speech, however, include the right to incite to violence or murder. It is bewildering why those students have not been expelled from the university.

Notably, at the time, the Hebrew university of Jerusalem did not allow a counter demonstration by the Zionist student organization “Im Tirtzu” to take place.

There are segments in Israeli society that are severely out of touch with the reality they live in and of course academics – as is the case all over the Western world – belong to the hard core of this segment.

They are of course free to say and think what they wish, but they are not at liberty to put Jewish students and citizens at risk, which is what they are doing here. Signaling Jewish students, on a Jewish campus in the state of Israel that Arabs are free to scream death to their fellow Jewish students. It takes a special kind of sick to defend such behavior.

The Fantasy of an International Jerusalem - by Martin Kramer

One-hundred years ago, over a lunch, the internationalization of Jerusalem became irrelevant—and it remains so.

Martin Kramer..
Mosaic Magazine..
28 December '17..

In the uproar over President Trump’s announcement of U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, one constant refrain has been the insistence that, by longstanding international consensus, the city’s status has yet to be decided. In the portentous words of the recent UN General Assembly resolution protesting the American action, “Jerusalem is a final-status issue to be resolved through negotiations in line with relevant United Nations resolutions.”

The most “relevant” of those prior resolutions was the November 1947 resolution proposing partition of Palestine and envisaging, in addition to two independent states, one Arab and one Jewish, an entirely separate status for Jerusalem as a city belonging to no state but instead administered by a “special international regime.”

One might have thought that the wholesale Arab rejection of the entire partition plan, in all of its parts, would also have put paid to the idea of an internationalized Jerusalem. Evidently, however, this fantasy is too convenient to lie dormant forever.

That is why it’s useful to know that, almost exactly three decades before the 1947 UN plan, internationalization of Jerusalem was killed—and killed decisively. Who killed it? Thereby hangs a tale, but here is a hint: it was neither the Arabs, nor the Jews.

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Thursday, December 28, 2017

At a Jerusalem security checkpoint, a girl with knives and stabbing victims on her mind - by Arnold Roth

On the day our 15 year-old daughter Malki and 14 other innocents were murdered in the Hamas attack on Jerusalem's Sbarro pizzeria, the terrorist bomber and her human bomb passed through this same security crossing, Qalandiya. Tragically, no one thought to stop and interrogate the young man with the guitar case slung across his back that afternoon. In those simpler times, we didn't know our neighbours included people with the monstrous capacity to conceal a massively-explosive, shrapnel-packed weapon-of-mass-destruction inside a musical instrument container and then go looking for Jewish children to kill and maim.

Qalandiya Crossing and some of its security
personnel who watch for attackers [Image Source]

Arnold/Frimet Roth..
This Ongoing War..
28 December '17..

Barely noticed by reporters and overwhelmingly ignored by mainstream news editors, there has been a non-lethal security incident at one of the main entry points through which Palestinian Arabs pass on their way into Israel's capital city, Jerusalem.

But non-lethal was not the goal of the attacker.

A Palestinian teen was arrested Wednesday after trying to illegally enter Israel and allegedly carry out a terror attack, police said. The suspect, an 18-year-old female, was turned away at the Qalandiya crossing near Jerusalem, and later tried to cross again using her 7-year-old sister’s permit. When she was refused, she began arguing with border guards and tried to force her way in, a police spokesperson said. During subsequent questioning, the teen admitted to planning an attack in the Jerusalem area. A source with knowledge of the case told The Times of Israel that the Palestinian planned to buy a knife and stab a police officer. The woman, from the town of Qataneh, was jailed, pending a remand hearing. Her name was not released by police... ["Palestinian teen caught planning stabbing attack — police", Times of Israel, December 27, 2017]

You might want to note how:

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Important Question. Land for Peace or Land for Jihad? - by Daniel Kryger

...Israel has not only been fighting for her existence since her rebirth in 1948. The Jewish state is at the forefront in the epic ongoing battle between civilization and barbarism. By betraying the sister democracy Israel, much of the West is spinelessly betraying its own fundamental values. Genuine peace based on territorial compromises is only possible when borders represent peaceful coexistence. As long as Israel’s genocidal enemies view borders as war fronts against the reborn Jewish state, only overwhelming Israeli military deterrence will keep the wolves at bay.

Daniel Kryger..
MiDA..
26 December '17..
Link: http://en.mida.org.il/2017/12/26/land-peace-land-jihad/

The conflict between Muslim Arabs and Jews over a tiny sliver of land remains the most misrepresented conflict in modern history. Headed by the EU and the UN, the world community obsessively pretends that this is a conventional conflict over land and specific borders.

The harsh reality that the world refuses to acknowledge however, is that this unique conflict is an Islamic ideological opposition to the existence of a Jewish state within any borders. Even if Israel would shrink to Tel Aviv, it would still be considered an unacceptable affront in the eyes of countless of Muslims from Morocco to Indonesia. Muslim fundamentalists make no distinction between the Jewish “settlement” Tel Aviv and Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

Many American and Israeli liberals have joined the European ideological bandwagon that regards territorial compromise and kindness as the greatest of human virtues. In a characteristic Eurocentric fashion, the European experience is mistakenly believed to fit the entire world including the Middle East.

Historically, Europe used to be the most violent continent on earth where neighbors were locked in seemingly never-ending wars over borders, resources and influence. Europe was the epicenter of two world wars. World War 2 alone claimed over 50 million lives, including 6 million murdered Jews in the Holocaust.

Post-1945 Western Europe decided to build its future based on democracy and settling disputes through peaceful means. However, this only works with a counterpart that shares your fundamental values. Sweden and Denmark fought for centuries over borders but did not oppose each other’s existence. Today, both countries are peaceful secular democracies that would not dream of waging war against each other. The same thing applies to France and Germany.

BBC’s ‘Trump Jerusalem syndrome’ plumbs new depths - by Hadar Sela

...The BBC urgently needs to get a grip on itself. While its feverish coverage of the US president’s announcement transparently promoted a politically motivated narrative from the start, the continuing frenzied portrayal of that topic is increasingly making the media organisation that describes itself as “a provider of news that you can trust” look simply ridiculous.

Hadar Sela..
BBC Watch..
27 December '17..

The BBC’s multi-platform coverage of the US president’s December 6th announcement recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city has, by any standard, been manic.

Since December 4th BBC audiences have seen dozens of articles and scores of radio and TV reports on that subject – which the corporation has also managed to shoehorn into reporting on topics including Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem and the seasonal Papal address.

However, on December 26th BBC World Service radio managed to plumb new depths of hyperbole when, in the synopsis to a clip from its programme ‘Newsday’ that was promoted on social media, it told audiences that:

“Jerusalem has arguably has never felt more divided and anxious following US President Donald Trump’s declaration that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.”

Really, BBC World Service?

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Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Does Arab Apartheid Targeting Palestinians Make You Yawn? - by Khaled Abu Toameh

...A protest of 35 Palestinians in the Old City of Jerusalem against Trump and Israel attracts more photographers and reporters than a story about endemic Arab apartheid and discrimination against the Palestinians.

Khaled Abu Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
27 December '17..

Iraq has just joined the long list of Arab countries that shamelessly practice apartheid against Palestinians. The number of Arab countries that apply discriminatory measures against Palestinians while pretending to support the Palestinian cause is breathtaking. Arab hypocrisy is once again on display, but who who is looking?

The international media -- and even the Palestinians -- are so preoccupied with US President Donald Trump's announcement on Jerusalem that the plight of Palestinians in Arab countries is dead news. This apathy allows Arab governments to continue with their anti-Palestinian policies because they know that no one in the international community cares -- the United Nations is too busy condemning Israel to do much else.

So what is the story with the Palestinians in Iraq? Earlier this week, it was revealed that the Iraqi government has approved a new law that effectively abolishes the rights given to Palestinians living there. The new law changes the status of Palestinians from nationals to foreigners.

Under Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi dictator, the Palestinians enjoyed many privileges. Until 2003, there were about 40,000 Palestinians living in Iraq. Since the overthrow of the Saddam regime, the Palestinian population has dwindled to 7,000.

Thousands of Palestinians have fled Iraq after being targeted by various warring militias in that country because of their support for Saddam Hussein. Palestinians say that what they are facing in Iraq is "ethnic cleansing."

The conditions of the Palestinians in Iraq are about to go from bad to worse.

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Jewish Jerusalem: The ultimate obsessive distraction from Muslim failure - by Daniel Krygier

...Turkey’s Sultan-aspiring leader Erdogan cynically uses Jerusalem and Israel to boost his own standing in the Islamic world. Enjoying being at the center of the Muslim summit in Istanbul, Erdogan repeated the lie that reborn Israel is built on “occupied Palestine”. It is especially ironic given the fact that Erdogan’s Ottoman predecessors occupied the land of Israel for four centuries and oppressed Arabs and Jews alike.

Daniel Krygier..
MiDA.org.il..
19 December '17..
Link: http://en.mida.org.il/2017/12/19/obsessive-distraction-muslim-failure/

Ranting about Jerusalem, Jews and the West has become the Muslim world’s mental Colosseum, where the Muslim masses are temporarily distracted from their increasingly destitute existence and self-inflicted failures.

No other part of the world shields itself more from reality than the Muslim world. It should therefore come as no surprise that the Muslim world strongly disapproves of President Trump’s recognition of reality: Jerusalem is the historic and modern capital of Israel and the Jewish people.

The leaders of 57 Muslim states representing the world’s 1.7 billion Muslims, convened in Turkey to project a unified front against Israel and America. Behind the façade of hysterical Muslim rage, Jerusalem and Jews represent a rare opportunity for the deeply fractured and divided Muslim and Arab world to divert the attention of its increasingly dissatisfied masses.

While the despots in the Muslim world enjoy a life of unimaginable luxury, the vast majority of their populations remain stuck in chronic and severe socio-economic poverty and illiteracy. Not only is most of the Muslim and Arab world not closing the gap with the developed world, it is increasingly lagging behind the rapidly growing emerging markets in Asia and elsewhere.

The Arab world’s real problems are not a tiny Jewish state but a severe deficit in three crucial areas: freedom, knowledge and gender equality. Nowhere else in the world are women and minorities more oppressed and persecuted than in the Muslim Arab world. Needless to say, a society that oppresses more than half of its citizens is undermining its potential.

No other region in the world represses knowledge and freedom with more zeal than the Muslim Arab world. Since the knowledge economy is the future, it puts the Arab world at a distinct disadvantage compared to the rest of the world.

More crucial medicines are running out. PA continues its siege of Gaza, but... human rights NGOs don't care. - by Elder of Ziyon

...Israel's restriction of materials to Gaza did not kill anyone (I did not see any such claims in Arab media) but these shortages, mandated by Mahmoud Abbas on his own people for some seven months already, are resulting in deaths. So, where are the "human rights" NGOs complaining about the humanitarian crisis? Where is the media? They are discussing how a 18 year old "child" was arrested for assaulting a soldier on video.

Elder of Ziyon..
26 December '17..

We are now more than two months into the "reconciliation" between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, much of which only occurred because the PA imposed a crippling siege on Gaza of electricity, fuel and medicines that was ignored by the world.

And yet the siege continues.

Israel does not limit medicines or medical equipment into Gaza (with the exception of a tiny number of devices that need to be approved individually because they contain radioactive material or the like.)

But the Palestinian Authority does limit them. And the world, obsessed with Israel's blockade, ignores the things that Mahmoud Abbas does to his own people, not unlike Syria's Assad.

Gaza health officials are alarmed as the shortage of medicines and other medical needs have reached a critical point.

There is now a shortage of materials needed for blood tests, such as tests for hepatitis C and B tests and HIV tests. There is also a shortage of PKU tests for newborns, and for thyroid diseases.

Also, anti-rejection drugs for people who have received organ transplants.

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Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Following the hate – an open letter to Lorde - by David Collier

...Israel has sought peace but continually faces an underlying hard-core that will not accept Israel’s basic right to exist. Given that the only options open to Israel are survive or be destroyed, Israel has resorted to conflict management until that situation changes. BDS is a response to this created by those who wish to see Israel removed from the map. A movement pretending to be it is something it isn’t. There are two choices here – recognise Israel or destroy it. BDS seeks its destruction. That is what you have chosen to side with. It is a real shame that you have aligned your music with an arm of terror.

David Collier..
Across the Great Divide..
26 December '17..

Lorde,

Last week you read and responded to an open letter asking you to cancel the gig in Israel. This letter isn’t like that one. As soon as any artist lists Israel as a tour destination, an industry springs to life to bully them into cancelling. The letter you read last week is an element of that industry. Polished, packed full of disinformation and written by both an Arab and a Jew. A letter that makes you feel that the whole world is united and only you, Lorde, stand in the way of Palestinians receiving justice.

This letter is different. It isn’t a begging letter asking you to change your mind. I accept that once you have bought into the lies, it is very difficult to shake them. After all, it is absolutely true that Palestinians suffer. The only real questions relate to why this is happening, and what can be done about it.

This letter is simply one written by a Jew who fights antisemitism, and sees the boycott movement against Israel for what it truly is.

Lorde- two simple questions

I ask you two simple questions:

Firstly Lorde, I am assuming you understand the history of antisemitism. Centuries of expulsions, persecutions, boycotts, massacres and genocide. History highlights antisemitism as a disease that mutates, with Jews caught between Christian accusations of deicide, Muslim Dhimmi status, racist ideologies and far-left communism. There can be no denial of this. So if Israel is the Jewish return to self-rule, how do you think that State would be treated? How would Israel be received in a world that cannot shake antisemitism? What manner of hate would that tiny state be subject to – if not conflict, demonisation, exceptionalism and boycott?

Secondly. ask yourself why you can go and play in Russia, and hardly anybody notices? Why is it that artists can appear almost anywhere on earth, in nations that truly abuse large segments of their own populations, or that are a cause of major conflict and loss of life, and there is no visible movement that opposes them?

Any honest answer to these two questions will contain the simple truth about the boycott against Israel. It is the ‘Jewish thing’. Everything else is irrelevant detail, set out to deceive innocent people into believing that this time, unlike all the other times, boycotting the Jews is the right thing to do.

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The quality of mercy in a culture where mercy is meaningless - by Daniel Seaman

...It is amazing that after all these years many of us still do not understand what this is all about. The conflict here is not a squabble among neighbors over borders. It is a religious battle between opposing civilizations. You don’t have to believe me. This is what they are saying. Our very presence here, let alone our defiant independence, is an affront to the Muslims, an insult to their very being.

Daniel Seaman..
Mida.org.il..
21 December '17..

It was in mid July of 1982. A lifetime ago. I was twenty one, an IDF combat soldier serving with the Israeli paratroopers battalion in Lebanon. We were stationed in the Lebanese town of Suq Al Gharb which sat en route to the Shuf mountains. It was a popular getaway destination, near the city of Aley and it offered a spectacular view of Beirut and the Mediterranean.

“Operation Peace for Galilee” as it was known, was a month away by then. We had settled into a tranquil routine, a bizarre reality so vastly different from the turmoil and anxiety we had experienced during the days of battle just a few weeks earlier. We were now more tourists than warriors and gradually began enjoying the exquisite beauty that Lebanon had to offer.

The town was predominately Christian, though the Aley district had large Druze and Muslim populations. They had all been at war with each other for generations. Now, an eerie quiet had settled over the area.

The summer was at its peak, yet the climate in the mountains was crisp and perfect. We ventured from our base to take in the sights. We hung out in cafés and restaurants and bought electronics and groceries at local establishments.

Our contact with the local civilian population increased. We communicated in English, as few of us spoke Arabic and none of them spoke Hebrew of course. In casual conversations we often heard from the locals how our presence there was a welcomed relief because, for the first time in years, they were experiencing a relative calm.

The city of Aley had a significant Jewish population at one time, but they had all fled under duress years before. All that remained was a synagogue, left to the safekeeping of a local Muslim custodian. He reached out to us one day and led us to the place. He shared with us stories of his Jewish neighbors. Most importantly, he wanted us know that he had performed his responsibilities dutifully.

It was around then that I became friends with a local Druze man of roughly my age. His family owned a store we frequented. Unlike the others, he had a marked American accent which caught my attention. He was a student of Economics at UCLA in Los Angeles and was home for the summer. We were instant “landsmen”.

We had long conversations about the situation and about the Middle East. Sometimes we would sit and watch the news of the events unfolding around us and would exchange thoughts.

Most of all, I remember one particular conversation when we discussed his observations and thoughts about us, the Israelis. It was more a warning than an exchange.

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Israeli Jews And Palestinian Arabs: So tell me again, Sarah, how will friendship bring peace? by Sheri Oz

...Sarah claims that if Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs just make friends with each other, everything will be fine. I guess she has not been here long enough to know that many of us already have made friends with each other, have been friends for decades. She thinks she knows what is going on and what we need to do differently

Sheri Oz..
Israel Diaries..
25 December '17..

Grassroots organizations and many well-meaning individuals tell us that regular people, Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs, have to dialogue with each other in order to break through the walls of hate and make bridges that can lead to peace. . . that we regular people can do what our own leaders and world leaders cannot do. Through friendship, we can bring peace to the Middle East or at least to our little corner of the Middle East.

There are some who say things like how we just have to spend time with Palestinian Arabs, for example, to have coffee with Arab shop keepers in the Old City of Jerusalem and elsewhere and listen to them and get to know them. Here is the latest public Facebook post of one well-known person who believes this (I quote and relate to the most relevant pieces of this post in the sections below the FB embed):

A brief comment on the final line in this FB embed. Most people who live in this country for more than a few hours to days to weeks know how to use some choice Arabic swear words. I do not think that merits great celebration of her burgeoning language skills — and nobody using those words would be assumed to have Arab friends. That comment seems more a gratuitous celebration of the writer’s penchant for vulgarity and inappropriateness than anything salutary.

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Monday, December 25, 2017

International law isn't in the business of choosing capital cities but apparently, the New York Times is - by Gilead Ini

...The outcome of the General Assembly vote about Jerusalem was predictable, if not surprisingly lacking the number of supporters pro-Palestinian votes tend to attract. But to the New York Times, it was astounding.

Gilead Ini..
CAMERA Media Analysis..
21 December '17..

Judging by the way the New York Times covered today's United Nations vote about Jerusalem, it would seem the outcome in favor of the resolution was an astounding rarity.

In the first paragraph of the newspaper's story on the vote, reporter Rick Gladstone called the General Assembly resolution "a stinging rebuke to the United States." In the second paragraph, it was "a collective act of defiance toward Washington." In paragraph three, the lopsided vote was no less than a sign that "the Trump administration's decision to defy a 50-year international consensus on Jerusalem's status has unsettled world politics and contributed to America's diplomatic isolation."

"Stinging" might be an objective fact in an article about bees, but not in a news story about the United Nations, where, as CNN's Jake Tapper pointed out, anti-Israeli politics are mundane and hypocrisy seems to be rampant. Indeed, in the long record of General Assembly votes related to Israel, the vote looked like more of the same, or even an erosion of the large majority that can typically be relied on to back pro-Palestinian resolutions.

Today's resolution repeated boilerplate UN language declaring any decisions that purport to alter the status of the city "null and void," while also alluding to the recent U.S. announcement that it intends to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Israel's capital city. It passed by a majority of 128 to 9, with 35 countries abstaining and 21 absent from the vote.

The numbers are hardly as shocking as the Times introduction suggested. Every November, in fact, the UN's General Assembly votes for a resolution with largely similar language about Jerusalem.

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Surprise? No BBC follow-up on story used to mislead on Gaza medical services - by Hadar Sela

...If the BBC was interested in this story per se (and not just as a hook for inaccurate and misleading messaging concerning Israeli counter-terrorism measures) we would of course have expected to see a follow-up article. No such BBC reporting has been seen to date.

Hadar Sela..
BBC Watch..
24 December '17..

Two months ago the BBC News website used the story of conjoined twins born in the Gaza Strip and needing medical treatment abroad to amplify misleading, and politically partisan messaging on the topic of Israel’s counter-terrorism measures.

Promoting links to the website of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs – UN OCHA – despite the less than neutral and impartial stance taken by that body – the report told BBC audiences that:

“Israel and Egypt have maintained a land and sea blockade on Gaza for a decade in an attempt to prevent attacks by militants based there.

The restrictions, repeated cycles of armed conflict, Palestinian political divisions and budget cuts have led to a serious deterioration in the availability and quality of health services in the territory, according to the UN.

Severe power shortages earlier this year forced hospitals to postpone elective surgeries, discharge patients prematurely, and reduce cleaning of medical facilities.”

As was noted here at the time:

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Anything New? There’s Nothing New About the Palestinian ‘Days of Rage’ - by A.J. Caschetta

...they could continue the “rage” routine. But every day wasted dreaming of driving Jews into the sea weakens their chances of attaining a real state (though not necessarily their chances of scoring a Soros grant). Meanwhile more and more of the territory they desire becomes part of Israel.

A.J. Caschetta..
Algemeiner.com..
24 December '17..

Proof that the Palestinian leadership is out of ideas can be seen in how it came to label the protests regarding President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

I was expecting something stylish and original, like the “Embassy Intifada.” Yet in choosing “Days of Rage,” Palestinian leaders went with recycled hippie-rebellion propaganda, that is filched from an American left-wing terrorist group.

In October 1969, a faction of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) — known then as the “Weathermen” — scattered pamphlets all over Chicago calling for “Days of Rage” and promising to “Bring the War Home.” Three days of protesting, rioting and car burning ensued, shocking and surprising an American public already stunned by a decade of protests and political assassinations.

Palestinians, on the other hand, have been raging for decades.

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Sunday, December 24, 2017

Nabi Saleh, the media and a Tamimi child's journey - by Arnold Roth

As to "butchered childhoods", we happen to know something about how that works. Our daughter Malki, who never thrust a fist into the face of anyone at all let alone a soldier, was fifteen when she became an unwilling participant in the explosive moment which the Tamimi clan celebrate yearly with such huge enthusiasm. Malki's picture stands for the absolute opposite of what the Tamimi propaganda machine is marketing. It's tragic how many people fail to understand that simple truth.

Arnold/Frimet Roth..
This Ongoing War..
24 December '17..

A depressingly large number of people posting in various social media channels are hammering away right now at a campaign that tries to characterize the Palestinian Arab teen Ahed Tamimi as a victim of Israeli oppression, a human rights activist and a freedom fighter.

She's the young woman many call Shirley Temper, a photogenic performer who for at least eight years now has been the central figure in a long-running propaganda performance orchestrated by her father Bassem Tamimi and his publicity business, Tamimi Press.

What others say about this is very much on our minds. What Bassem Tamimi himself says is a matter of record. Child abuse? Manipulation? Ha! The ugly child abuse in which he and his village engage chronically is dismissed in masterful fashion: "Our children are doing their duty and must be strong."

We keep running into people who think they know the story of the Tamimi clan. But it's clear to us that few understand the rich and ugly detail of their hatefulness, expressed not as mere protest and words but the kind of physical violence that has ended dozens of lives on the Tamimi side and among their many victims.

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Lights, camera, patrol and today - by Maj. Gen. (ret.) Gershon Hacohen

...This is the doctrine of proportionality in use of force as it was taught in the early years of the agricultural communities in the Galilee. This is the answer to anyone who expects the unchecked use of force. IDF soldiers and officers are trained in this approach and for the most part, work to implement it with admirable success.

Maj. Gen. (ret.) Gershon Hacohen..
Israel Hayom..
22 December '17..
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/2017/12/22/lights-camera-patrol/

Footage of run-of-the-mill clashes in the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh happened to capture an IDF officer getting smacked in the face by a teenaged girl. That night, the girl was arrested at her home. The incident could have ended there.

Neither the girl nor the camera made the incident into a hot topic for the media. It was us – our fearfulness, our inability to accept the event as another case of something we know well, like one more tree falling in a Siberian forest. The events can and should be judged as humiliating. But the moment the images were published, we could have used them to our advantage. If the soldiers should have responded differently or more effectively, the matter could have been left to the IDF and its commanders, since the incident was not a complex one and they could certainly have drawn the proper conclusions from it. What is interesting and should be examined is our response and the media's probing, sobbing focus on it that blew the event completely out of proportion.

Whoever controls the plane of consciousness has the power to shape physicality, and this is where our story begins – between ourselves. On both sides of the Right-Left divide, there are those who are trying to light a fire. One side is trying to emphasize the "laxity" of the soldiers' response as an indication of "loss of deterrence," while the other wants to underscore the pointlessness of the ongoing occupation as a burden that forces our soldiers into constant exhaustion from ongoing policing missions that it would be best not to undertake in the first place.

We go round and round this same argument. It's been 30 years since the outbreak of the First Intifada. We should admit that this challenge is not ours alone. Something fundamental and global has changed in warfare: civilians and security forces clashing; soldiers and police operating on urban turf, in full view of cameras, has become everyone's lot. While commander of the IDF Military Colleges, I and a number of other Israeli officers were guests of the Rio de Janeiro police force. The emotional and visual aspects of the struggle there to instill law and order in the poor neighborhoods seemed completely familiar.

Hamas-Fatah "Reconciliation"? Another "Reconciliation" Bites the Dust - by Khaled Abu Toameh

...This is purely an internal Palestinian affair which concerns neither Israel nor any other party. The power struggle among the Palestinians is the direct result of a dispute between corrupt leaders of Fatah and Hamas. These are leaders who are prepared to fight each other to the last Palestinian. These are leaders who insist upon indoctrinating their people and inciting them against Israel and the US as a way of distracting attention from bad government. These are the leaders who have led their people again and again, from one war after another, to the edge of devastation.

Khaled Abu Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
22 December '17..

For more than two months, the Hamas-Fatah "reconciliation" agreement that was reached in Cairo in October has been hailed by many Arabs and Westerners as a sign that the Palestinians were finally marching forward together.

It turns out, however, that the dramatic announcement of the agreement, which was reached with the sponsorship of the Egypt, was all a bluff.

Those in the know about the Palestinian world predicted that the latest "reconciliation" deal would fail. At least five previous agreements between Hamas and Fatah, reached under the auspices of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Yemen over the past ten years, likewise failed. Every one of these agreements was stillborn, not worth the time it took to uncap the pen.

The latest "reconciliation" agreement, then, has just joined this impressive list of defunct accords. Moreover, it is not too speculative to suggest that any truce struck in the foreseeable future between Hamas and Fatah would also swiftly join its predecessors in the graveyard of agreements.

So, why do these "reconciliation" agreements between the two rival Palestinian parties keep failing?

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Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist, is based in Jerusalem.

Saturday, December 23, 2017

Israeli officers turn the other cheek? Israel should take its cue from its Palestinian cousins - by Prof. Hillel Frisch

...That Israeli officers did not respond to a humiliating assault, possibly out of fear of disciplinary or legal retribution, raises doubts about the Israeli military’s resolve to stand by its rank and file. Prospective soldiers don’t want to become victims of the doctrine of turning the other cheek.

Prof. Hillel Frisch..
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 696..
22 December '17..
Link: https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/should-israeli-officers-turn-other-cheek/

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Only in the “Israeli occupation” could such an event have taken place: an Israeli officer and his NCO, standing near a home in a village near Ramallah, stood passively as they were verbally assaulted, slapped, and kicked. The IDF must not only not adopt a turn-the-other-cheek doctrine but should prosecute those involved in such provocations to the fullest extent of the law.

On Friday, December 13, an Israeli officer and his NCO, standing near a home in the village of Nabi Salih, were verbally assaulted by a young woman. Emboldened by their refusal to respond, she proceeded to shove, slap, and kick them. She was not only actively encouraged by girlfriends who were eagerly filming the event with their smartphones, but her mother – who, along with her elder sons, has a long history of violent protest – came out of the house to help her daughter assault and verbally abuse the officers. (If nothing else, this incident exposes once again the falsehoods spread by organizations such as “Breaking the Silence.”)

To add insult to injury, the girl’s father, Bassem al-Tamimi, accused the soldiers on Facebook – in excellent English – for entering his home, pillaging it, and stealing a laptop. Al-Tamimi is a professional inciter to violence who commands a salary for that purpose as an employee of the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of the Interior.

These events would be unthinkable in any Middle Eastern regime or even, dare one say it, in the states that make up the European Community, which has done so much to secularize the doctrine of turning the other cheek.

Fortunately, the Israeli authorities had the sense to return to the home and arrest the young woman and her bellicose mother for assault. But this is hardly sufficient. The young woman’s friends, all of legal age, should also be brought to court, not only for having done nothing to prevent illegal and indecent behavior but for having joined in. Even more critical is for the father to be summoned by the relevant authorities to investigate the charges he levied against the Israeli soldiers. If those charges are proven false, he should be prosecuted for slander.

At first glance, this appears to be a relatively minor event, concerning the officers, the young woman who assaulted them, and her parents and friends. However, its repercussions are far wider.