Love of the Land: March 2019

Sunday, March 31, 2019

Reality Check Time: Goal of Gaza Rioters Is Expedite Growth of Military, Not Improve Quality of Life - by Dr. Aaron Lerner

From a long run perspective, the most humanitarian step Israel could take today would be to significantly reduce the security cost of dual use materials by decimating the armories, weapons factories, etc. in the Gaza Strip followed by a policy that any armories, weapons factories, etc. discovered after the operation are also destroyed rather than recorded in a "target bank".

Dr. Aaron Lerner..
IMRA..
30 March '19..
Link: http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=73483

The goal of the organized Gaza rioters is to pressure Israel to increase the supply of dual use material to the Gaza Strip to expedite the construction of yet more attack tunnels and other military structure along with the production of weapons.

To be clear.

That's not to say that Israel should not be interested in finding ways to improve the living conditions of the Gazans.

Just that in the absence of a departure from the current "quiet for quiet"arrangement, any Israeli concession regarding the supply into the Gaza Strip of dual use material - cement, rebar, other metal , fiberglass roving and associated resin, etc., that can be used in the construction of military facilities or weapons production - will ultimately cost Israel as these materials are used to help prepare Hamas and others for war against the Jewish State.

From a long run perspective, the most humanitarian step Israel could take today would be to significantly reduce the security cost of dual use materials by decimating the armories, weapons factories, etc. in the Gaza Strip followed by a policy that any armories, weapons factories, etc.
discovered after the operation are also destroyed rather than recorded in a "target bank".
________________________________________

IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis: Since 1992 providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus on Arab-Israeli relations
Website: www.imra.org.il

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.

Friday, March 29, 2019

Finally a real election issue - demilitarizing Gaza by force despite human shields - Dr. Aaron Lerner

There is no telling how long this window of opportunity to essentially demilitarize the Gaza Strip will remain open. I fervently hope that this idea gets traction in the remaining days of the campaign.

Dr. Aaron Lerner..
IMRA Weekly Commentary..
28 March '19..
Link: http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=73482

After weeks of a campaign focused on various aspects of the party heads, New Right leader Naftali Bennett has pitched a tangible actionable proposal for dealing with a pressing critical national security issue which challenges the current "quiet for quiet" policy - the kick-the-can-down-the-road policy which the leaders of Blue White also embrace.

Under the quiet for quiet policy, Hamas and other military forces in the Gaza Strip can prepare for war against the Jewish State without interference as long as they don't get too "noisy". And even in those instances that they are "noisy" and fire rockets at Israel, Israel's choice of targets in the target bank does not seek to wipe out the enemy's weapons producing capabilities or armories but instead only provide an Israeli "tat" for the enemy "tit" to complete the round of "noise" and return to quiet.

Speaking this week at Maariv's National Security Conference, Bennett described a plan to destroy the weapons factories and armories in the Gaza Strip and then follow up with a policy of destroying any new factories or armories the moment that they are discovered.

Frankly speaking, if that's all Bennett said I would not have been impressed.

That plan would be empty words if the issue of human shields is ignored.

But Bennett addressed the issue head on.

"Launch first step crushing from the air and clearing the rocket capability of Gaza.

And that means seeking and destroying every missile warehouse and factory.

I don't care if its under a residential building, it's a military base

A house that's a source of fire towards the State of Israel loses its right to be a house.

Surprise? BBC News glosses over repeated Palestinian violence at holy site - by Hadar Sela

Despite its public purpose obligation to provide audiences with “impartial news and information to help people understand and engage with the world around them” the BBC chooses to euphemistically frame regular breaches of that agreement as “friction” attributed to the site itself rather than to the Palestinians actually throwing firebombs, explosives or rocks.

Hadar Sela..
BBC Watch..
27 March '19..

Visitors to the BBC News website on March 20th found a report titled “Two Palestinians killed in clashes in Nablus” which opened as follows:

“Two Palestinian men have been killed in clashes with Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli military said explosive devices were hurled from a car at troops guarding Jewish worshippers at Joseph’s Tomb in the city of Nablus.

The troops opened fire, killing two assailants, it added.”

The report later went on to inform readers that: [emphasis added]

“Joseph’s Tomb – which is revered by Jews and Muslims as the burial place of the son of the biblical patriarch Jacob – has been a source of friction in the past.

It is in an area under Palestinian civilian control, but Jewish pilgrims are permitted to visit several times a year under Israeli military protection.”

Also of significance to Christians, the site is in fact:

“…located inside Area A of the West Bank, under complete Palestinian Authority control. The IDF bars Israeli citizens from entering Area A without prior authorization.”

The BBC did not bother to explain to readers of this report the meaning of the phrase “a source of friction in the past”. The last time audiences saw any BBC reporting on such so-called “friction” was in October 2015 when Palestinian rioters set fire to the tomb. Since then repeated attacks on both the site itself and security forces guarding visiting worshippers have gone unreported. For example:

(Continue to Full Post)

Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Dear BBC, Hamas is not ‘seen’ as a terrorist group, it is a terrorist group. - by Karen Harradine

The BBC is out of step with what many know to be true – that Hamas is a terrorist organisation which is happy to sacrifice its own people in its genocidal attempts to destroy Israel. Should war happen, we can count on the BBC to blame Israel for any loss of life while making excuses for the jihadists who terrorise not only Israelis but their own people. Most of the Arab world, and indeed the Gazans, are furious with Hamas. Yet the BBC would have us believe they’re freedom fighters.

Karen Harradine..
Conservativewoman.co.uk..
27 March '19..

THE people of Gaza have had enough. They are tired of having their homes, schools and hospitals used as launch pads for Hamas’s endless war against Israel, and tired of subsisting in abject poverty while their leaders live in luxury.

Since seizing power from Fatah in 2007, Hamas has controlled the Gaza strip. It uses Gazans as human shields in its attempts to destroy Israel and turn it into another Islamist state. Hamas leaders are millionaires, grown rich on stealing from their own people billions of pounds in donations from the UN and Western governments.

Two weeks ago Gaza residents took to the streets shouting the slogan ‘We want to live’. Their protests were ignited by Hamas’s planned tax increases which will increase hardship for most Palestinians already dealing with exorbitant living costs, poverty, high unemployment rates and poor infrastructure. The protesters put the blame for their plight solely on Hamas. In response, Hamas security forces beat and arrested dozens of demonstrators, including students and human right activists, and in some instances used live fire on them.

According to reports by the Fatah media, Hamas targeted 17 journalists during the protests and arrested seven. Several were beaten and had their phones confiscated. Hamas is also suspected of breaking the fingers of a Palestinian writer and beating him so badly that he had to be hospitalised.

Almost a week later (19 March) the BBC finally decided to report on the uprising against Hamas. Trying her best to blame Israel and downplay Hamas culpability, the reporter, at 20.30 minutes in, describes Hamas as ‘widely seen as a terrorist group’. But Hamas is not ‘seen’ as a terrorist group, it is a terrorist group.

(Continue to Full Column)

Surprise? Israel-Bashing Season Re-Opens in Turkey - by Burak Bekdil

"What," asked a puzzled European diplomat, a newcomer to Ankara, "does Israel have to do with Turks' choice of metropolitan, small town or even village mayors?" A colleague answered with a smile: "A lot. Anti-Israel rhetoric is now an indispensable part of every Turkish election, including one to elect a village headman."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently threatened
his own citizens -- citizens who practice a different faith,
of course -- Turkey's already dwindling Jewish community,
now at around 16,000. "Do not provoke [us]," he said.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. (Photo by Elif Sogut/Getty Images)

Burak Bekdil..
Gatestone Institute..
27 March '19..
Link: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13962/turkey-israel-bashing

Another round of Turkish elections and another wave of Israel-bashing at election rallies. This has become a pattern since 2009 and Turks have not shown any sign of frustration: They simply love it.

Blaming the man who brought Israel to public rallies is the easier thing to do, a kind of intellectual laziness. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been correct in thinking that his diplomatic wars with Israel, his more than undiplomatic language and outright anti-Zionism would work like a ballot box cash machine. It did.

A deeper look, however, should investigate why in the 1970s and 80s, when Turkey did not have full diplomatic relations with Israel, the name of that country or any politician there was never mentioned at Turkish election rallies. Why would the average Turkish voter, three or four decades ago, find the State of Israel totally irrelevant but today show up and cheer at every possible Israel-bashing election rally? How did Turkish politicians who in the mid-1990s spearheaded efforts to build an alliance with Israel, keep winning votes despite their pro-Israel policies? What took place to move the Turkish mindset to its present, deeply anti-Israeli point?

What took place was the not-so-creeping Islamization of Turkish society since 2002, when Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power. A Turk who is now 27 years old was only 10 at that time, and has not seen any other leader of Turkey since. Erdoğan's political and social engineering has changed the way the average Turk identifies himself: Most Turks used to identify themselves as "Turks first." Now they identify themselves as "Muslims first" -- the way Erdoğan seemingly wanted them to.

It is not surprising then that passionate fans of the Justice and Development Party often hear the words Israel, terror state, tyrant, dictator and so on at public rallies as Turkey heads toward its local elections on March 31. "What," asked a puzzled European diplomat, a newcomer to Ankara, "does Israel have to do with Turks' choice of metropolitan, small town or even village mayors?" A colleague answered with a smile: "A lot. Anti-Israel rhetoric is now an indispensable part of every Turkish election, including one to elect a village headman."

America’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights versus the Gang of Six - by Stephen M. Flatow

Because they live in the safe and comfortable suburbs of New York City and Washington, D.C., Ross, Indyk, Makovsky et al have the luxury of pontificating about the need for Israel to give up territory without ever having to deal personally with the consequences of such withdrawals. But for the Israelis who now live within missile range of Gaza—and who could have been within missile range of the Syrians if they were on the Golan Heights—the consequences are very real.

Stephen M. Flatow..
JNS.org..
25 March '19..

America’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights is supported by a broad cross-section of the American Jewish community—with the glaring exception of six Jewish ex-State Department officials who always manage to find a way to criticize Israel.

Dennis Ross, Daniel Kurtzer, Richard Haas, Aaron Miller, Martin Indyk and Indyk’s assistant, David Makovsky, have all retired from the “peace-processing” business and are now busying themselves posing as Mideast “experts” on talk shows and op-ed pages.

This Gang of Six, who spent so many years trying to convince us that Yasser Arafat was moderate and that parts of Jerusalem should become the capital of “Palestine,” are now trotting out all the reasons why the United States should not recognize the legitimacy of Israel’s control of the Golan.

Dennis Ross said in an interview with Foreign Policy magazine that the U.S. action will “make it harder” for the Arab world to support peace with Israel. That’s dumb, but at least it’s not weird. His colleagues’ comments, by contrast, have been downright bizarre.

(Continue to Full Column)

The State of Israel is at a fateful crossroads - by Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen

The State of Israel is at a fateful crossroads. The unending necessity to safeguard the state’s secure existence ensures that its leaders will face complex and painful decisions. But there are other, no less critical considerations that must be factored into the decision-making equation...

Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen..
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,121..
25 March '19..
Link: https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/israel-security-not-enough/

David Ben-Gurion was the only Israeli PM to make a point of stressing that the state of Israel has a higher purpose than providing a safe haven to persecuted Jews. During the first decade of statehood, he repeatedly emphasized:

“Security is but a condition for our existence and our independence. The state of Israel has a special mission. Every state must ensure the wellbeing, welfare, and progress of its residents. Our state, too, is obligated to do so, but it is not the cardinal concern. The supreme task of the state of Israel is the redemption of the People of Israel through the ingathering of the exiles.”

On the national level, the problem of security reflects the inextricable link between the spiritual and the physical aspects of the country’s existence. Yet the political-security conversation guiding Israel for years has been reduced to an excessive, if not exclusive, focus on physical security – a point well understood by Israel’s Palestinian “peace partners.” Prominent PLO leader Abbas Zaki explained the organization’s feigned endorsement of the two-state solution this way: “If we divest the Jews of Hebron and Jerusalem, from which they draw their inspiration for their national existence, what will remain for them? What bond do they have to Jaffa and to Haifa? They will then collapse of themselves.”

Ben-Gurion, recognizing the spiritual calling of the People of Israel in its ancestral homeland, asserted during the early critical phase of the War of Independence that the struggle over Jerusalem was the key endeavor:

Indy evokes ‘wag the dog’ conspiracy vs. the Ireland Israel Alliance. One of them gets it right.

UK Media Watch does an excellent job dismantling Bel Trew's ‘wag the dog’ conspiracy to explain Israeli wars with Hamas, however the concept does have an appropriate place, as the Ireland Israel Alliance twitted after this morning's rocket attack. If the shoe fits...

Love of the Land..
25 March '19..

From UK Media Watch

The Independent’s Mid-East correspondent Bel Trew makes the following claim in an article on recent US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights (“Golan Heights: How Donald Trump’s tweet saved Netanyahu’s re-election”, March 23).

Normally known for launching wars ahead of elections to ensure the security vote, Mr Netanyahu was also batting off stinging criticism from all sides for not ordering a full military operation in Gaza

This is actually the second time in a week that Trew made some variation of the allegation that Israel’s prime minister launches wars against Hamas in order to secure electoral victories. A March 18th article by Trew on fears that a (evidently accidental) Hamas rocket attack on Tel Aviv could lead to all out war argued that “Israeli incursions into Gaza have been launched ahead of the last three elections…often winning incumbent prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu additional votes on a security ticket.”

Trew’s narrative is completely counter-factual. (Continue to Full Post)

*******************************************

On the other hand, not to abandon the concept of 'wag the dog', the following was posted by Ireland Israel Alliance

Air raid sirens sound north of #TelAviv this morning. Rocket from #Gaza demolished house injuring 7 inc. 2 infants. A cynical attempt by #Hamas to deflect outrage of their own people rioting against them in Gaza? @rtepolitics @rtenews @VirginMediaNews @IrishTimes @irishexaminer pic.twitter.com/jFXRvWxjBS
— Ireland Israel Alliance (@irlisrAlliance) March 25, 2019

*auto-correct? deflect outrage in place of deflect overage

Sunday, March 24, 2019

Forty years on, thoughts on the Sinai withdrawal's dangerous legacy - by Michael Freund

So when we look back on the peace treaty with Egypt, we need to do so with our eyes wide open, cognizant of the fact that since relations between states can be ephemeral, territory is not something Israel should ever consider abandoning.

Michael Freund..
Pundicity/Jerusalem Post..
22 March '19..
Link: http://www.michaelfreund.org/22492/sinai-withdrawal-dangerous-legacy

If you open Google Earth and search for "Yamit, Sinai," the globe on your screen will slowly spin its way to the Middle East before zooming in on a small area in the northern Sinai Peninsula, just west of Gaza (though it comes up as "Yammit").

There, amid the sand dunes, one can still see the bare and bulldozed ground where the town of Yamit, a thriving Jewish community of 2,500 people, once stood, until it was uprooted and destroyed in 1982 as part of the peace treaty with Egypt.

The contours of various structures are still visible, paying silent testimony to the traumatic removal of Jews from their homes that was carried out by a Jewish government.

As Israel marks 40 years since the signing of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty on the White House Lawn, it is worth recalling the expulsion that was wrought in its wake, as more than a dozen Jewish communities in Sinai, numbering a total of 7,000 people, were compelled to disband and depart.

While forgoing Sinai might have brought us four decades of a cold peace with Egypt, it also elicited a heavy price from the Jewish state, one that continues to haunt us until the present day.

After a century in which the values of Zionism and settling the land had prevailed, Israel suddenly took a sharp U-turn, conferring legitimacy on the illegitimate idea that peace must necessarily entail withdrawal and retreat.

In the miraculous victory of the 1967 war, the Jewish people were granted a Divine gift. Over the course of just six days, we were reunited with the Temple Mount, the hills of Samaria and the streets of Hebron.

And in reclaiming Sinai, where our ancestors wandered for decades after the Exodus from Egypt, Israel was blessed with priceless strategic depth, along with military installations, oil fields, and an untamed desert waiting to be developed.

But just 12 years later, acting as though it was in a rush to unload the peninsula, the Jewish state gave in to Egyptian demands and turned over the Sinai's 61,000 sq.km. (23,550 sq.mi.) to foreign control.

In one fell swoop, Israel had given away more than 90% of the territory it had liberated during the 1967 Six Day War.

SIMPLY PUT, the withdrawal from Sinai laid the groundwork for later expulsions, heralding decades of further Israeli territorial concessions.

Wow! J Street uncovers a secret about Netanyahu and Trump - by Victor Rosenthal

...J Street’s primary goal, like that of the numerous other anti-Israel organizations in the US, including the nominally “Jewish” If Not Now and Jewish Voice for Peace, as well as explicitly antisemitic ones like If America Knew, is to create antipathy and distrust for Israel, so that Americans will oppose pro-Israel actions by the US government – for example, the recognition of Israel’s possession of the Golan Heights...

Victor Rosenthal..
Abu Yehuda..
22 March '19..
Link: http://abuyehuda.com/2019/03/j-street-uncovers-a-secret-about-netanyahu-and-trump/ (If you would like to repost this article to Facebook, please use this link as LOTL's url is currently blocked from FB)

I think my interest in J Street could once have been called “obsessive.” I wrote numerous blog posts a few years ago, pointing out that the supposedly “pro-Israel, pro-peace” organization received financing from George Soros, mysterious billionaires in Hong Kong, and people associated with Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the Arab-American Institute. I noted – along with then Ambassador Michael Oren – that it consistently (one could say always) took positions opposed to almost any reasonable interpretation of Israel’s interests. I objected to its guiding principle, which seemed to be that it knew what was good for Israel far better than Israelis did, especially since following its recommendations would negatively impact Israel’s security. I wondered at the close coordination between J Street and the Obama Administration, which tried to anoint it as the voice of American Jewry toward Israel. And more.

Since I moved back to Israel in 2014, I’ve been less concerned with J Street, which is, after all, an American phenomenon. We have plenty of “interesting” politics right here. But recently I became aware of a new J Street initiative, targeting PM Netanyahu, just before the election:

WASHINGTON, DC — The pro-Israel, pro-peace group J Street launched a new series of videos today highlighting the dangerously similar rhetoric and ideology shared by President Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu. Released as targeted digital ads just a week before the two leaders are expected to meet in Washington, DC on the sidelines of the AIPAC conference, the videos urge pro-Israel Americans who are opposed to Trump to also speak out against Netanyahu’s similar bigotry and anti-democratic tendencies.

“By attacking democratic institutions and targeting vulnerable minorities, Trump and Netanyahu are borrowing from the same far-right playbook — undermining the core values and interests of both the US and Israel,” said J Street’s president Jeremy Ben-Ami. “Patriotic Americans have mobilized impressively against Trump here at home. Those of us who care about Israel’s future need to speak out against Netanyahu’s destructive leadership as well.”

Over the past two years, both the president and the prime minister have incited against vulnerable minorities, attacked the free press and de-legitimized the judiciary and the rule of law. Both face serious investigations into alleged criminal conduct. …

There’s no doubt that liberal and progressive American Jews hate Trump passionately, and there’s no better way to attack Netanyahu among that group than by associating him with their bête noire. The first J Street video is here. It’s very professional and probably didn’t come cheap. The question is, why did J Street spend a considerable sum of money on such a campaign? Americans don’t vote in Israeli elections (although J Street probably wishes they did). Why attack Netanyahu in the USA?

It’s not a simple question and I don’t have a simple answer. Unfortunately, the position papers of J Street’s psychological warfare experts aren’t public. But I have some ideas.

Love of the Land and Facebook Community Standards

Dearest Love of the Land Readers and Friends

To my surprise, or maybe not, Facebook has blocked the url for Love of the Land due to an unspecified "community violation" and at least at this time there is no solution in sight. The question is whether or not it is productive to continue posting on Love of the Land as a blog when the pieces will not be able to be reposted to FB. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I will continue posting, FB willing, at https://www.facebook.com/yosef.hartuv, https://www.facebook.com/LoveOfTheLand, and Twitter at https://twitter.com/LoveoftheLand

Purim Sameach - Yosef

Gazans want to live....but - by Edy Cohen

Israel would be wise not to intervene in Gaza’s internal affairs at this time, in order not to provide Hamas with an excuse. Gaza is now a powder keg, and no one knows exactly when things will explode. In this current situation, past desires to transform Gaza into Singapore—and establish a port and airport in the enclave—can only be described as preposterous. Proceed with caution.

Edy Cohen..
JNS.org..
19 March '19..

In recent days, we have been witness to unprecedented demonstrations against the cost of living in the Gaza Strip. The demonstrators, mostly young people, initially took to the streets in the Jabalia refugee camp and Deir al-Balah in the north of the enclave, and later in Khan Younis in the south. This is a “popular movement” whose slogan, “We want to live,” quickly developed into a hashtag on social media.

Their goal is simple: to improve the economic situation. On social media, there have been calls and images of graffiti in Gaza blaming Hamas for the dire economic situation. The terrible state of affairs in Gaza is reflected in limited electricity, high unemployment, high living costs, poverty, overcrowding, lack of salaries and a terrorist regime, among other things.

Hamas officials tried with all their might to thwart the protests, even resorting to using live fire on demonstrators. Dozens of videos documenting Hamas violence against Gazans were posted online. In one such video, an 11-year-old boy with signs of violence on his back says he was badly beaten by Hamas officials. In another video that went viral, a female resident of the enclave accuses Hamas of shooting at young people. This brave woman wonders aloud if this is the regime promised to them by senior Hamas military leader Yahya Sinwar and Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh. “My husband is employed, as are my four children, while the 20-year-old son of a Hamas commander drives a private jeep and has an apartment,” she laments.

These statements indicate that the residents of Gaza have broken through the barrier of fear that has prevailed in Gaza since Hamas expelled the Palestinian Authority and took control there.

(Continue to Full Column)

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

The American anti-Zionists of Palestine Live: An industry of antisemitism denial - by David Collier

...I also captured an anti-AIPAC demonstration in 2017. Analysed the people present and the findings are truly horrific. When you remove Jewish people and Palestinians from the crowd, what is left is a mob of rabid antisemites. This is what those Jewish activists hold hands with when they attack the Jewish state. These people are their allies. Remember this when you see angry crowds outside AIPAC next week.

David Collier..
Beyond the Great Divide..
19 March '19..

I have just spent several dark weeks back inside Palestine Live. Today I publish a new report that focuses on the activity of American anti-Zionists, many of them Jewish (download link below). It is impossible to do a 262-page report justice in a small blog. The catalyst was the unfolding events in the United States. Jewish life for American Jews is different to the experience of Jews in the UK. Yet there are also similarities. I read an interesting article by Jonathan S Tobin, editor in chief of JNS.org, that was titled ‘How progressives are destroying the Jewish ‘big tent‘.

The subject matter will be familiar with Jewish people in the UK – Tobin discusses fringe organisations and where you draw the line when deciding which Jewish groups can be allowed in the ‘big tent’. Tobin had written the article because the week before, the Boston Jewish Community Relations Council voted to start a process to by which one of their constituent organizations might be booted out – why? Because they had indicated support for the Boycott movement, BDS.

I see the daily news in the US and it reminds me of the UK a few years ago. There are signs they are on a similar divisive path. Antisemitism rises and Jewish anti-Zionists leap into action, claiming it is about ‘criticism of Israel’. Creating an industry of antisemitism denial that legitmises antisemites. They write articles, they sign petitions, they appear on TV. In the States they have vocal anti-Zionist Jewish activists running organisations such as JVP and Codepink. Did you see the way they ran to protect Ilhan Omar? They create an environment within which antisemitism is given protection. Just like the anti-Zionists of Jewish Voice for Labour did in the UK. Only in the US, both anti-Zionist Jews and antisemites are more numerous.

(Continue to Full Article)

Question. Does Ofer Cassif belong in the Knesset? - by Victor Rosenthal

...Does Cassif meet the criteria for disqualification? It seems incontrovertible. He explicitly opposes the Jewish nature of the state, and the implications of his support of a right of return for Arab “refugees” cannot be imagined as anything but a call for the “negation of the existence” of the state. He supports terrorism directed at soldiers in the territories, which certainly counts as “armed struggle” by an enemy of the state. And yet, the Supreme Court – by a majority of 8 to 1 – does not feel that there is sufficient evidence to keep him out of the Knesset!

Victor Rosenthal..
Abu Yehuda..
18 March '19..
Link: http://abuyehuda.com/2019/03/does-ofer-cassif-belong-in-the-knesset/

You shall do no injustice in judgment: you shall not be partial to the poor, nor show favoritism to the great; but you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness. – Lev. 19:15

From Israel’s Basic Law: The Knesset,

1. A candidates’ list shall not participate in elections to the Knesset, and a person shall not be a candidate for election to the Knesset, if the objects or actions of the list or the actions of the person, expressly or by implication, include one of the following:

2. negation of the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state;

3. incitement to racism;

4. support of armed struggle, by a hostile state or a terrorist organization, against the State of Israel.

a1. For the purposes of this section, a candidate that was at a hostile state unlawfully within the seven years preceding the date for submitting the candidates’ list, is deemed a person whose actions express support of armed struggle against the State of Israel, as long as he has not proven otherwise.

b. The decision of the Central Elections Committee that a candidate is prevented from participating in the elections requires the affirmation of the Supreme Court of Israel. …

The Elections Committee ruled on several petitions prior to the upcoming election. It rejected a petition against the Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party which accused its members of anti-Arab racism, and it disqualified the Balad-Ra’am party, a joint list composed of the Balad (land) party and several other Arab parties. It also ruled against the candidacy of Ofer Cassif, a Jewish member of the mostly Arab Hadash (Communist) party.

To nobody’s surprise, the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the committee. It decided to disqualify Michael Ben Ari of Otzma Yehudit, and to reinstate Balad-Ra’am and Cassif.

The Supreme Court has always been loath to allow the disqualification of candidates, and has always reversed such decisions, with only a few exceptions. In 1988, Meir Kahane’s Kach party was disqualified for racism (as well as its successor, Kahane Chai in 1992), and in 1965 a far-left Arab party was ruled out for negating the State of Israel. On several other occasions, the Election Committee tried to disqualify various Arab or right-wing Jewish parties, but it was always overruled.

I’m not going to discuss the case of Michael Ben Ari in detail. He has certainly made anti-Arab statements, as Arabs often make anti-Jewish ones. But I believe the concept of “racism” is vague and unclear, especially in the context of the conflict between Israel and the Arabs (and I would have said the same about Meir Kahane, whose ideas Ben Ari embraces), and it’s unfortunate that it is included in the law.

I am also going to leave aside the case of the Arab parties, which do their best to skirt the letter of the law while at the same time vying with each other to present themselves to the Arab public as the most anti-Zionist. Balad, in my opinion, has crossed very far over the line, including having members of the Knesset who engaged in criminally subversive activities (and have even been imprisoned for it).

But I do want to talk about the Jewish communist, Ofer Cassif.

Cassif is a teacher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who also lectures at several other Israeli colleges and universities. He enjoys insulting his political enemies:

Cassif, who was one of the first Israeli soldiers to refuse to serve in the territories, in 1987, gained fame thanks to a number of provocative statements. The best known is his branding of Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked as “neo-Nazi scum.” On another occasion, he characterized Jews who visit the Temple Mount as “cancer with metastases that have to be eradicated.”

On his alternate Facebook page, launched after repeated blockages of his original account by a blitz of posts from right-wing activists, he asserted that Culture Minister Miri Regev is “repulsive gutter contamination,” that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is an “arch-murderer” and that the new Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, is a “war criminal.”

His insults may rise to the level of incitement to violence, which warrants criminal prosecution.

UN human rights "experts" vs. Hamas War Crimes against Israel, Palestinians - by Bassam Tawil

Perhaps a small step, such as viewing easily available material, would set the record straight. These UN human rights "experts" might, for a change, glance at the videos and photos coming out of the Gaza Strip to see who is really responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity: Hamas. Its members are opening fire at peaceful protesters, who are taking their lives in their hands to end the harsh economic conditions created by their rulers' catastrophic policies in the Gaza Strip. It is the leaders of Hamas, and only Hamas, who are committing war crimes in and around Gaza. They are committing war crimes against Jews and they are committing war crimes against their own people.

Bassam Tawil..
Gatestone Institute..
18 March '19..

Hamas has again proved that it really is a terrorist group that oppresses its people and prevents them from expressing their opinions. It has also shown that when it is in trouble, it will do its utmost to divert attention from the problems it is facing at home.

As far as Hamas is concerned, one of the best ways to divert attention from the growing frustration with its rule is by attacking Israel and Jews. Then, Israel is forced to respond to defend itself. That will allow Hamas to tell its people that there is no room for internal fighting and disputes "because we are under attack by the Jews." No Palestinian would dare to criticize Hamas while Israel is supposedly "attacking" Hamas. Anyone who did so would be accused of being a "traitor" and "collaborator" with the "Zionist enemy."

That is exactly what happened this week, when two rockets were fired at the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. The rocket attack came shortly after thousands of Palestinians had taken to the streets of the Gaza Strip to protest the horrific economic situation there -- that funds intended for them had apparently been diverted to finance terrorism -- and demand an end to Hamas's repressive measures against its people.

The leaders of Hamas were apparently disturbed by the large protests that took place in the Gaza Strip. Hamas leaders also seemed disturbed by the photos and videos showing Hamas members beating, shooting at and arresting hundreds of peaceful Palestinian protesters whose only "crime" was to demand a dignified life, jobs and a better future for their children.

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Important First Steps in Resolving the Question of Galilee Green or Metallic Green - Regavim

Following Regavim's petition against an illegal, highly-polluting scrapyard in the Israeli Arab town of Rameh, the Israel Police carried out enforcement measures last week, an important first step in protecting Israel's delicate and highly vulnerable ecosystem.

Regavim..
17 March '19..

******
"The illegal scrapyard at Rameh has been in operation for years, causing massive environmental damage, polluting our groundwater and soil, and blighting the landscape of the Galilee. Our repeated protests, inquiries, and letters to the local authoritןes and the Ministry of Environmental Protection got us nowhere, and we eventually had no choice but to take the matter to court," says Hezi Eyal, Regavim's Field Coordinator for the Northern Region.

TELEVISED NEWS COVERAGE (Hebrew with English subtitles) OF THE PROBLEM OF PIRATE SCRAPYARDS: http://bit.ly/2JsRIAW

Israel and the intensifying dilemma of Hamas controlled Gaza - by Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen

...Over the past year, in deciding on policy and actions regarding Gaza, Israel has had to grapple with the basic question of whether a war to defeat the Hamas regime in Gaza is in its own interest. Events of recent days have added another aspect to the deliberations. When he was defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman repeatedly explained that Israel should bide its time until the people of Gaza rose up against Hamas, which is responsible for their hardships. Now, as we see the first glimpses of mass popular protests, Israel's dilemma is thrown into sharp relief – should it continue the money transfers to the Hamas government, thus helping it secure its rule there, or do the opposite – block the transfer of funds, hoping that the popular distress will cause the situation to shift in Israel's favor?

Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen..
Israel Hayom..
17 March '19..
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/israels-increasingly-tough-dilemma

It is too soon to assess the potential of the demonstrations in the Gaza Strip over the past few days to take a sharp turn. Even without knowing how things might develop, it is clear to everyone that as of now the extent of the demonstrations and the civilians' daring indicate the cumulative distress of the population in Gaza.

Eight years after the initial shock of the Arab Spring, the Hamas government in Gaza understands the potential threat that could turn into an actual one as the rage among the public increases.

As of now, even if the fury of the Gazans isn't leading toward a direct threat to Hamas' rule in Gaza, it certainly demands that the Hamas leadership recognize that it must find a solution, even a symbolic one, for the mass distress.

From that perspective, recent events can shed new light on the various considerations that come to bear on the Israeli government's measured military responses to provocations from Gaza.

Over the past year, in deciding on policy and actions regarding Gaza, Israel has had to grapple with the basic question of whether a war to defeat the Hamas regime in Gaza is in its own interest.

It’s All a Charade, a Propaganda Event. Deadly Pallywood. - by William Jacobson

...Like a spigot, Hamas turns the ‘protests’ on and off to fit its military and political objectives, and ramps up the violent intensity as needed.

William Jacobson..
Legal Insurrection..
15 March '19..

The so-called ‘Great March of Return’ was launched in late March 2018.

Palestinian propagandists and western anti-Israel activists, amplified by the international media, routinely depict the ‘protests’ as a spontaneous civilian uprising caused by Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

But as we have shown in dozens of posts, the protests are violent riots, often under cover of huge clouds of burning tires.

The participants are led by Hamas and Islamic Jihad military operatives. It is no coincidence that at least 80% of the Palestinians killed were terrorist group members.

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The New York Times’s false claims about ethnic cleansing in Jaffa - by Petra Marquadt-Bigman

...I wrote a post on Jaffa’s relevant history a few years ago in response to similarly false claims by veteran Israel-hater Ali Abunimah, who insisted that “Zionist gangs perpetrated the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian coastal city of Jaffa.”

Petra Marquadt-Bigman..
The Warped Mirror..
17 March '19..

A recent article in the New York Times (NYT) travel section described Jaffa as “Tel Aviv’s Unexpected Luxury Hotspot” and included several photos that should make everyone want to visit. Unsurprisingly, it also drew the ire of anti-Israel activists, who claimed the piece ignored Palestinians. The NYT responded to the resulting fury by revising the article and appending a contrite “Editors’ Note” that was promptly mocked. As leading anti-Israel activist Yousef Munayyer put it: “Ooops, we forgot Palestinians exist!”

According to the editor’s note, the revision also included mentioning “the expulsion of many [Jaffa] residents in 1948.” Indeed, the article now includes a sentence that claims: “In 1948, when the State of Israel was founded, most of Jaffa’s Arab residents were forcibly removed from their homes.”

So I’m afraid another correction is necessary.

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Saturday, March 16, 2019

Introducing J Street's ‘Birthwrong’ project - by Stephen M. Flatow

...So by all means, J Street leaders, bring your students to Palestinian cities. They might actually learn some of the painful facts that you keep hidden from them.

Stephen M. Flatow..
JNS.org..
14 March '19..

J Street thinks that “Birthright” trips are too pro-Israel. So it has announced that it is launching some trips of its own. Perhaps they should be called “Birthwrong” since their purpose is to convince young American Jews that Israel is wrong and the Palestinian Authority is right on pretty much every issue.

Jewish control of united Jerusalem? Israel is wrong, J Street says; the city should be re-divided, with the eastern portion turned into the capital of “Palestine.”

Allowing Jews to build homes in Judea-Samaria, just as Arabs do? Israel is wrong about that, too, says J Street; those territories should be Arab-only.

And opposing the P.A.’s payments to terrorists? Wrong again, according to J Street; complaining about pay-for-slay could “harm the peace process.”

Israel is wrong, wrong, wrong. And the Palestinian Authority is always right, which is why J Street never criticizes it.

Despite all this, there actually might be some value in the Birthwrong trips. Here’s why.

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Friday, March 15, 2019

Sending a Clear and Unequivocal Message - Take Back the Temple Mount - by Michael Freund

The latest crisis surrounding the Gate of Mercy compound presents the Jewish state with an opening to turn the tide of the past few decades, and send a clear and unequivocal message as to whom the Temple Mount truly belongs. One can only hope that this opportunity, like others before it, will not be squandered.

Michael Freund..
Pundicity/JPost..
15 March '19..
Link: http://www.michaelfreund.org/22456/take-back-the-temple-mount

With predictable petulance, the Palestinian leadership has been deliberately raising tensions on the Temple Mount, seeking to exploit the sensitive preelection season in Israel to further strengthen its hold on the holy site.

In recent weeks, both in word and deed, the Palestinian Authority and the Jordanian-Palestinian Wakf Islamic religious trust have engaged in a reckless campaign of incitement and slander against the Jewish state that culminated in a fire-bomb attack on an Israel Police station on the Temple Mount on Tuesday.

This latest escalation, coupled with the Wakf's repeated flouting of Israeli law, warrants a quick and firm response by the government to bolster Israel's sovereignty at the Jewish people's most sacred site.

The trouble began anew last month, when thousands of Palestinians forced their way into a compound near the Gate of Mercy, or Golden Gate, on the Temple Mount, with the aim of turning it into a mosque. The area had been sealed by court order in 2003 to prevent the Wakf from carrying out illegal construction at the site and destroying priceless Jewish artifacts from the period when the Temple stood.

After the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court said last week that it would issue another order empowering police to close the site, Wakf chairman Sheikh Abdelazeem Salhab defiantly vowed to ignore the ruling, and said the new mosque would "remain open for Muslims to pray."

This brazen violation of the status quo on the Temple Mount was accompanied by vicious vitriol aimed at sparking acts of violence by Palestinians.

Two years after Federal charges are unsealed, Ahlam Tamimi remains free. How is this happening? - by Arnold Roth

...Tamimi has become an iconic figure, a person of huge influence in a region where terrorism is a daily and manifest threat to public stability. She lives a life to which no one with a violent history of savagery like hers should ever be entitled. And while we believe in the importance of a peace-oriented strategic relationship with Jordan and its ruler, we also believe in the central and pre-eminent role of justice. We continue to hope we will still see it in the case of our child’s killer.

Arnold/Frimet Roth..
This Ongoing War..
14 March '19..

Two years ago today, on March 14, 2017, the United States Department of Justice made an official announcement about the legal status of the woman who for years has boasted of bombing Jerusalem's Sbarro pizzeria and everyone in it.

Fifteen people were killed there that hot summer afternoon in 2001. One was our daughter, Malki. A sixteenth victim has been alive but unconscious all these years. Many more people were left maimed with injuries of a hideous nature.

We - Frimet and Arnold Roth who write this blog - campaigned for years for charges to be brought against Ahlam Tamimi after her freedom was extorted by Hamas in the catastrophic Shalit Deal. We even took it to the US Congress.

And then, with almost no advance notice, serious terrorism charges against her were suddenly unveiled.
Tamimi, a woman of 21, is Hamas’ first female terror operative. Today she is 39, married (to another convicted and unrepentant murderer), a mother, a Jordanian celebrity, a prominent spokesperson for Islamism and jihad. She does not live in hiding, and is frequently interviewed by the media; not only by the Jordanian media or the Arabic media but by respected news agencies like Associated Press that have sent reporters to her home to interview her on video.

She has boasted publicly, repeatedly and on the record that she had the central role as the mastermind of the massacre. She has claimed credit for the fact that so many of those killed were children.

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