Those who actually strive for peace and progress and human rights in the Middle East - by Richard Kemp

We are fortunate that the true leaders of today understand how breathtakingly unimportant are both the Nobel Committee and the EU. For all their self-importance, both groups, sadly, end up shaming themselves and working against peace, prosperity and human rights.

Richard Kemp..
Gatestone Institute..
03 September '20..

This week, we witnessed a symbol of perhaps the greatest step forward in world peace for decades. The first-ever direct passenger flight from Israel to the United Arab Emirates flew down the length of Saudi Arabia's airspace. After Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994, the UAE has become the third Arab state to normalise relations with the State of Israel under the new Abraham Accord.

Next month, the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize winner will be announced in Oslo. Will it go to the architects of the Abraham Accord, a momentous achievement in itself, and also a major development in a regional geopolitical realignment that is not only good for peace and prosperity in the Middle East but in the world? We knew what the answer would be to that question even before it arose. (Those who point out the deadline for 2020 nominations has passed need not expect to see it in 2021 either.)

Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, might well have caught the eye of the Nobel selectors, but unfortunately his partners in this enterprise are US President Donald J. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both are despised figures for the wokerati in Oslo and the fellow travellers they are desperate to impress. Compared to the perceptions of these leaders among the hard left who dominate all discourse on "peace", their achievements on the world stage are irrelevant.

Their fingerprints on the Abraham Accord ensured it also received a cool reception in much of the US and international media and in the chancelleries of Europe — more closely aligned with the hostile and backward-looking regimes of Iran, Turkey and Qatar than with those who actually strive for peace and progress and human rights in the Middle East; "the men in the arena", to borrow from former US President Theodore Roosevelt.

Yet, the developing relationship between Israel and the UAE is at least as significant as the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt that deservedly led to Nobel Peace Prizes for Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat. It paves the way for further leaps forward, with potential for similar normalisation between Israel and other countries in the region such as Bahrain, Oman, Sudan, Morocco and even Saudi Arabia. The UAE would not have acted without Saudis' blessing. Although publicly understated, the opinion in Riyadh is clear. Some months ago, in talks with leaders there as part of a delegation from former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Friends of Israel Initiative, together with their Executive Director and former Spanish National Security Adviser Rafael Bardaji, I heard firsthand how open the Saudis were to the prospect of embracing Israel in the future.

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Colonel Richard Kemp is a former British Army Commander. He was also head of the international terrorism team in the U.K. Cabinet Office and is now a writer and speaker on international and military affairs.

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.  

Anyone surprised that clueless Europeans muddle the Middle East again? - by Ken Cohen

If America and Israel have the energy and creativity to adapt the Europeans’ deluded Middle East blueprints to today’s reality, a simple “thank you” from the Europeans would be nice. In the meantime, the European Union should turn inward to confront its own problems—which, by the way, include rampant anti-Semitism and related anti-Zionist passions across the continent. Europe has little concern for Israel’s security, and is advancing tired positions on the Middle East and peace that are long past their sell-by date.

Ken Cohen..
FLAME/JNS.org..
10 February '20..

The world would be much better off if the Europeans focused on the myriad problems on their own continent. Instead, the national and trans-national institutions of Europe insist on inserting themselves gratuitously into distant problems of which they have little understanding and zero political standing.

Exhibit A: The present map of Middle East, reflecting dysfunction within nearly all its borders, is largely the work of the nations that comprise today’s European Union (E.U.). France in particular, along with its World War I ally Great Britain, drew the boundary lines of the Middle East, creating new states and states-to-be under the aegis of the post-war League of Nations.

All evidence is that they made a hash of it, and the turbulence that has wracked the Middle East for decades is attributable to European ham-handedness and cultural ignorance in creating its boundaries and ethnic compositions.

Sadly—but unsurprisingly—the Europeans are still at it, most recently opposing central elements of President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan. Rather than help, the E.U.’s posture is more likely to exacerbate one of the key messes it has sustained year after year.

With the E.U. still in disbelief over the exit of the United Kingdom, E.U. foreign policy chief Josep Borrell nevertheless found the time to critique the Trump plan, stating that “the U.S. initiative departs from internationally agreed parameters.” He singled out the need to address the unresolved final-status issues, like agreements on borders, the status of Jerusalem, and the alleged Palestinian right of return.

In other words, Borrell basically demands that the catastrophic policies of past decades be perpetuated. He may not have noted this, but every prior attempt to address these “final-status issues” has resulted in abject failure—often accompanied by massive bloodletting, as in the case of the second intifada at the beginning of this century.

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Ken Cohen is editor of Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME), which publishes educational messages to correct lies and misperceptions about Israel and its relationship to the United States.

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. 

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Elections, the Palestinians and Europe's Not So Secret Agenda - by Khaled Abu Toameh

The European Union is said to be pressuring the Palestinians to hold long overdue presidential and parliamentary elections. It is not clear, however, how the Palestinians would hold new elections at a time when the PA and Hamas are busy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip locking up their political opponents.

Khaled Abu Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
16 January '20

For many years, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and other Palestinian parties have been reporting on a daily basis about Palestinians who are arrested by the Israeli authorities in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. These Palestinians are arrested on suspicion of involvement in anti-Israel security offences. There is nothing unusual about these arrests, which have been taking place for decades and are even publicly announced by the Israeli authorities.

While Israel apprehends Palestinians suspected of involvement in various anti-Israel activities, including terrorism, many other Palestinians are being arrested on almost a daily basis by the PA security forces in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. These arrests, however, are infrequently publicized by the PA and Hamas. Palestinians learn about the arrests by the PA and Hamas from social media postings or non-Palestinian news websites.

The PA and Hamas do not like to talk about the Palestinians targeted by their security forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Why? Most of these Palestinians are arrested for their political affiliation and opinions, and not for violating the law or involvement in violence and terrorism.

Palestinian human rights organization and activists describe the detention of these Palestinians as "political arrests." That means that the Palestinians are being arrested by the PA and Hamas only for "politically motivated" reasons.

A recent report by the Human Rights Institutions Association (HRIA) revealed that in the past three months, the PA security forces have stepped up politically motivated arrests in the West Bank. The group noted that the arrests came despite PA President Mahmoud Abbas's initiative to hold new Palestinian general elections.

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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. 

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Israel and the EU’s Misuse of Language for Diplomatic Advantage - by Barry Shaw

...many countries and leading institutions say that UNRWA have gone beyond their sell-by date decades ago. Why should this UN body maintain its existence in perpetuity when there is another UN refugee body whose role has been to implement the reduction of refugees globally Why must Palestinians, living under Palestinian rule, be nurtured into their fifth generation by the UN and EU?

Barry Shaw..
TOI Blogs..
13 January '20..

I have recently been offering a presentation on the Strategic and Diplomatic Challenges for Israel 2020.

In this presentation I include the linguistic trend, used by the international diplomatic community, away from Israel’s original territorial legitimacy through the term “disputed territory” and arriving into “occupied Palestinian land,” an incorrect, devious and dangerous change of language to suit a narrative.

And, lo and behold, this morning I read that the EU just changed their official definition of Judea & Samaria from “occupied or disputed lands” into a shorter, simplistic “occupied lands.” This fails to admit that Israel is occupying its legitimate land. On the contrary, it is part of the push to delegitimize Israel on its ancestral land in favor of an amorphous, undefined, “Palestinian” entity.

This is the new, contrived, anti-Israel definition of EU foreign policy under its new foreign official, Josep Borrell.

The bias against Israel has been a noticeable feature of EU foreign policy for several years, particularly emphasized under the foreign policy leadership of Federica Mogherini, a former Arafat groupie and disciple of Italian Communist, Massimo D’Alema. Mogherini rose through the rank of the Italian DS party, which emerged out of the Italian Communist Party. As such, her political dogma included sympathy for arch-terrorist, Yasser Arafat and a desire to reduce Israel’s legitimacy in order to create a balance favorable to a belligerent Palestinian ideology.

This EU formula continues to today.

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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. 

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Surprise? The UK and EU build an illegal road on an IDF training ground - by Naomi Kahn

The Arab takeover of IDF training grounds in the southern Hebron Hills continues: The British government and the European Union are paving an illegal road through the very same training ground that was the subject of Regavim's recent Supreme Court petition.

Naomi Kahn..
JNS.org..
07 January '19..

The Arab takeover of IDF training grounds in the southern Hebron Hills continues: The British government and the European Union are paving an illegal road through the very same training ground that was the subject of Regavim’s recent Supreme Court petition.

The UK and the EU recently began paving a road on land in IDF Firing Zone 917 in the southern Hebron Hills – despite the Israeli government’s recent claims that it is enforcing the law there.

In recent weeks, illegal roadworks have been conducted in the heart of an IDF training area. The road is scheduled for completion in mid-February of this year, only weeks from today, and the signs along the route of this illegal roadway leave no room for doubt: “This project is funded by the UK through the European Union and the Municipal Development and Lending Fund.”

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Naomi Kahn is director of the International Division of Regavim, a research-based think tank and lobbying group dedicated to preserving Israel’s resources and sovereignty.

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. 

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Good Question. Why is the EU so scared of a peace plan? - by Elder of Ziyon

These EU nations have already consciously chosen to be against the most comprehensive peace plan ever devised by any nation. They need to explain why they are against even trying.

Elder of Ziyon..
19 December '18..

From The Jerusalem Post:

Any Israeli-Palestinian peace plan not based on the pre-1967 lines will fail, eight European Union member states warned US President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening.

“We, the European Union members of the Council, would like to reiterate once more and emphasize the EU’s strong continued commitment to the internationally agreed parameters for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, based on international law, relevant UN resolutions and previous agreements,” ambassadors from the eight nations said in a joint statement they read to the media.

“Any peace plan that fails to recognize these internationally agreed parameters would risk being condemned to failure,” they said.

Let's understand this.

If anything can be considered a failure, it is the "everybody knows what peace will look like" formulas of all the previous peace plans from Camp David through John Kerry.

Every single one of those plans were rejected out of hand by the Palestinians.

The EU's faith in peace being realized by a tweak of those failed plans (one that pressures only Israel) is not rational.

It borders on religious fanaticism.

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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. 

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Who Said UNIFIL is Totally Useless? It Does Deter the EU from Banning Hezbollah - by Evelyn Gordon

...So the international community is spending $500 million a year on a “peacekeeping” force that hasn’t stopped Hezbollah’s military buildup, hasn’t even reported it in an effort to mobilize international action and serves as a deterrent to a measure that really would hurt Hezbollah: being blacklisted by the EU. Its only useful function is serving as a communications channel between the Israeli and Lebanese governments, and one man with a cellphone could accomplish that. To call this a waste of money is a colossal understatement. And it’s not likely to change, given that efforts to reform UNIFIL have repeatedly failed.

Evelyn Gordon..
Analysis from Israel..
16 December '18..
Link: http://evelyncgordon.com/unifil-deters-eu-from-banning-hezbollah/

It’s no secret that UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, has never done the job it’s supposedly there to do. But this week, we learned that UNIFIL isn’t merely useless; it’s counterproductive. By the very fact of its existence, the organization deters the European Union from listing Hezbollah as a terrorist organization—something which, unlike UNIFIL, would genuinely impede Hezbollah’s operations.

This dirty little secret came out after Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini called Hezbollah “Islamic terrorists” during a visit to Israel on Tuesday. The Italian Defense Ministry promptly issued a press statement blasting Salvini for “embarrassing” Rome by calling a spade a spade. “These statements obviously put in a very difficult position our men who are deployed on that southern border,” the statement warned, referring to the Italian contingent of UNIFIL deployed along Lebanon’s border with Israel.

It doesn’t take an Einstein to realize that if Italy’s Defense Ministry fears repercussions to its troops from a single minister daring to call Hezbollah “terrorists,” it would be terrified of the consequences should the EU ever formally declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization. Thus, Italy’s significant involvement in UNIFIL—it currently contributes over 10 percent of UNIFIL’s manpower, including its commanding officer—constitutes a major deterrent to consenting to such a step.

Nor is Italy unique in this regard. Several EU countries make significant troop contributions to UNIFIL, including France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Austria, and Greece. Europe also usually supplies the force’s commander. The previous commander was Irish, the two before him were Italian, the one before that was Spanish, etc.

It’s no coincidence that the major contributors to UNIFIL also oppose listing Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization. The only EU country that does blacklist the entire organization is Holland, which has exactly one soldier in UNIFIL.

The EU and its other member states blacklist only the military wing, not the political wing. And that’s fine by Hezbollah because, as the organization itself admits, any distinction between its political and military wings is purely fictitious. Thus as long as the political wing is legal, Hezbollah can still fundraise and recruit freely in Europe.

What's Taking Root in Israel's Heartland? - by Regavim Advocacy Project

The PA's "Roots Project," funded by the EU and other foreign concerns, is a systematic program of land theft that is creating irreversible facts on the ground in Israel's heartland.

Olives, pomegranates - and annexation:
A deadly cocktail!

Regavim Advocacy Project..
08 November '18..








In the past five years, the Palestinian Authority has seized 146,500 dunams of Israeli state land through “agricultural” projects: New roads, planting, plowing, and more.

European funding: €45,608,214 in only 5 years!



Continue to the Full PDF Report: The Roots of Evil

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. 

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Jews Defending Themselves Seems to Be What Bothers the UN and Europe - by Judith Bergman

The UN and EU, who completely ignored terrorist arson, missiles and general destruction aimed at Israel for the past eight months, have now suddenly woken up. The prospect of Jews defending themselves is more than they can bear.

Judith Bergman..
MiDA..
23 October '18..

As Hamas violence along the border with Israel intensified, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay E. Mladenov, tweeted on Friday that “In light of today’s planned Gaza march, I urge all to exercise restraint, to proceed in a peaceful manner, and to avoid escalation. The UN is working with Egypt and its partners to avoid violence, address all humanitarian issues and support reconciliation”.

The day before, EU ambassador to the UN, Joanne Adamson, said at the UN, “We expect the de-facto authorities in Gaza to do their utmost to prevent further escalation. The EU urges all actors concerned to act with utmost restraint to avoid further loss of life, to prevent any escalation, to not encourage resort to violence, and to not exploit the demonstrations for other means. While recalling Israel’s right to self-defense, we expect the Israeli authorities to respect the principle of necessity and proportionality in its use of force. Serious questions have risen about the proportionate use of force which must be addressed through independent and transparent investigation …Facts must also be established regarding reports about violent attacks against Israel under the guise of the protests”.

“Reports”? The EU apparently thinks that Israel is making it all up, even while acknowledging, a little earlier in the statement that “Launching of incendiary kites and balloons has now continued for over half a year”. Now, they are demanding investigations into whether Israel has used ‘disproportionate force’ against this jihadist attack storm and are calling for Israel to show ‘restraint’?

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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. 

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The Goal of Those European Union and Palestinian Illegal "Facts on the Ground" - by Bassam Tawil

The coming weeks will be a test of Israel's sovereignty and resolve. At the same time, the weeks ahead will also expose the real intentions of the PA and the European NGOs and governments who continue to bankroll illegal construction and land seizure in areas recognized by international law to be under Israeli jurisdiction.

Bassam Tawil..
Gatestone Institute..
31 May '18..

What the Palestinian Authority, the European Union, Israel's High Court of Justice, three Israeli towns, and the Jahalin tribe have in common is the Bedouin settlement of Khan al-Akhmar.

The battle for this Arab settlement has been waged in the international media and the Israeli Supreme Court for more than a decade, and its story is a microcosm of the Arab-Israel conflict, complete with alternative narratives, shifting alliances, unclear lines of responsibility and murky vested interests.

The first problem is that Khan al Akhmar is located in an area, unpoetically named Area C, where, according to the United Nations, "Israel retains near exclusive control, including over law enforcement, planning and construction."

This small cluster of Bedouin homes is actually sitting on land in an Israeli township, Kfar Adumim, at a strategic crossroads between Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, and the outlying Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem, making it crucial both to the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Until fairly recently, the residents of the Arab settlement -- a branch of the Jahalin tribe of Bedouin -- had lived in southern Israel. At some point in the 1970s, a feud broke out between different branches of the tribe, and the Jahalin fled northward, and arrived in the Maaleh Adumim region in the late 1970s, where they have remained ever since.

Like almost all other Bedouin in the Middle East, they began to abandon their nomadic lifestyle in favor of more permanent settlements and livelihoods not dependent on shepherding. Unfortunately, this branch of the tribe set up camp in a strategically critical area near a major highway, and began tapping into municipal water and electricity lines for subsistence.

Here is the other problem: since the 1980s, when their squatter's camp began to take shape, it has always been illegal as well as impractical. Its proximity to the highway has been posing a safety hazard for the Bedouin children who play alongside it, as well as for the motorists who must avoid being hit by the rocks thrown at their vehicles. Out of literally dozens of these incidents reported in the press, here are a few examples:

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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. 

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Seems the EU continues to build illegal settlements, just to complain when Israel demolishes them - by Elder of Ziyon

...The irony is that the UN is saying what a terrible crime it is to relocate a few dozen families who are nomadic anyway, but it insists that over a half million Jews who have lived in the same area for decades (and many of whose ancestors lived there much longer) must be ethnically cleansed from the area they call "Palestine."

Elder of Ziyon..
05 February '18..

From the UN yesterday:

Statement by acting Humanitarian Coordinator for the OPT, Roberto Valent, on the Israeli authorities’ destruction of donor-funded classrooms in the Palestinian community of Abu Nuwar I am deeply concerned by the Israeli authorities’ demolition this morning of two donor-funded classrooms (3rd and 4th grade), serving 26 Palestinian school children in the Bedouin and refugee community of Abu Nuwar, located in Area C on the outskirts of Jerusalem. The demolition was carried out on grounds of lack of Israeli-issued permits, which are nearly impossible to obtain.

Abu Nuwar is one of the most vulnerable communities in need of humanitarian assistance in the occupied West Bank. The conditions it faces also represent those of many Palestinian communities, where a combination of Israeli policies and practices –including demolitions and restricted access to basic services, such as education – have created a coercive environment that violates the human rights of residents and generates a risk of forcible transfer. This is the sixth demolition or confiscation incident in Abu Nuwar school by the Israeli authorities since February 2016.

This means that for the past two years, every four months, the EU builds an illegal school building and Israel tears it down.

Does it sound like the EU really cares about educating the kids? They could arrange transportation to another school if they wanted, for example.

These games are clearly meant not to help Palestinians but to embarrass Israel, with photos of demolished buildings that they claim were schools that probably never had any classes.

Abu Nawar is located in the E1 section that connects Ma'ale Adumim with the rest of Jerusalem. That is really what this is all about - the international community is hell bent on stopping Israel from connecting the two.

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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. 

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EU report portrays Jewish development of Jerusalem historical sites ‘touristic settlement’

Report claims that development at the City of David, and a planned cable car to bring tourists to the Western Wall are “a political tool to modify the historical narrative and to support, legitimize, and expand settlements."

JNS.org..
02 February '18..

A European Union report leaked to The Guardian newspaper expressed ire over Israeli tourism in and around Jerusalem’s Old City, calling the ongoing development of Jewish infrastructure a form of “touristic settlement.”

The EU Heads of Mission in Jerusalem issued a report warning that the development of Jewish tourism in the ancient City of David, currently located within a heavily populated Palestinian neighborhood, and a planned cable car that would transport tourists from the Western sections of the city to the Western Wall plaza within the Old City, were “a political tool to modify the historical narrative and to support, legitimize, and expand settlements.” The report asserts that the projects promote the “historic continuity of the Jewish presence in the area at the expense of other religions and cultures.”

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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. 

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The EU’s Most Precious Terrorist - by Judith Bergman

While moral narcissism might make Europe feel good about itself, continuing to side with Abbas against Israel and the US places it solidly on the wrong side of history as usual

Judith Bergman..
MiDA..
28 January '18..
Link: http://en.mida.org.il/2018/01/28/eus-precious-terrorist/

When US Vice President Mike Pence visited Israel last week, PA President Mahmoud Abbas chose to flee to Brussels to be with the European leadership that continues to stand by its favorite Arab terrorist in the manner of the sea captain, who refuses to abandon his beloved ship, even as it is sinking fast.

In the parallel reality that the leaders of the EU inhabit, Abbas was received as a grand statesman, instead of the utterly corrupt arch-terrorist parading as president of a state that does not exist and never has.

The EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, planted tender kisses of affection on the aging terrorist criminal’s cheeks, before she went straight to the podium to reassure the professional Holocaust denier of the EU’s completely committed and continued support, including financial support. Mogherini continued to brag that, “the EU and its member states are collectively by far the largest donor, the largest supporter of the Palestinians and our support will continue, including to UNRWA…” Despite this massive support, she announced that the EU is looking into ways to strengthen its support even more. Mogherini also stressed the opposition of the EU to Israeli “settlement activity”, which the EU considers “illegal under international law”.

She never mentioned the lethal terrorism that Abbas continues to instigate and richly reward with the EU funds that Mogherini is so proud of pouring into the black hole of terrorism and corruption that is the PA and UNRWA on behalf of European citizens, who continue to put up with the misappropriation of their tax money. It seems that the EU views Abbas’s jihadist terrorism as legal under international law, because it is seen as legitimate ‘resistance’ against the Jews.

For over a decade, this kind of ‘resistance’ has ricocheted right back into Europe in the form of first Al Qaeda terrorist attacks and later ISIS atrocities. Because when you choose to kiss a terrorist frog, as Mogherini seems to enjoy doing, instead of turning into a prince, it just might detonate in your face instead.

Nevertheless, political figures such as Mogherini, cushioned as they are from reality by private chauffeurs and rosters of bodyguards, appear entirely unfazed by the surge of jihadist terrorism in Europe.

In fact, less than a year before jihad struck at the very heart of the EU with the ISIS attacks on Brussels airport and the Brussels Maalbeek metro station in March 2016, Mogherini opined that, “The idea of a clash between Islam and ‘the West’… has misled our policies and our narratives. Islam holds a place in our Western societies. Islam belongs in Europe…. I am not afraid to say that political Islam should be part of the picture.”

Actually, as willfully blind and hopelessly politically correct, as that statement was, the way things are going in Europe, in the foreseeable future it will be far more correct to claim that Europe belongs to Islam.

Despite the very direct way in which the EU continues to support Abbas’s enduring struggle to destroy the Jewish state, the EU sanctimoniously continues to wallow in commemorations of the Jews that Europe killed in the Holocaust on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. There is a very nauseating aspect to the International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorations in Europe, when that same continent is by far the greatest sponsor of the terrorist entity of the PA. Why bother to commemorate the dead Jews of the Shoah, when you are sponsoring Arab terrorists to perform the same job?

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.

Europe's Collusion in Palestinian Brazen Stealing of Arab-owned Land - by Ruthie Blum

...It takes particular gall for European Union representatives to express "humanitarian" outrage at Israel for razing illegal structures in the West Bank -- while the EU is in league with Palestinian criminals who have been brazenly stealing Arab-owned land.

Ruthie Blum..
Gatestone Institute..
15 November '17..

In what is being called an "unprecedented move," eight European countries -- members of an initiative called the West Bank Protection Consortium -- recently announced that they had drafted a formal letter to the Israeli government, demanding the reimbursement of €30,000. According to Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Luxembourg, Ireland and Denmark, this was the sum spent by the Consortium on materials provided for two structures (modular classrooms equipped with solar panels) erected for Palestinians and Bedouin in the West Bank, and dismantled by Israel at the end of August.

What these EU countries failed to mention, however, is that the structures were illegal, and therefore should not have been built in the first place. Instead, in its letter, the Consortium accused Israel of causing "suffering to Palestinian civilians," through its "practice of coercive measures such as demolitions and confiscations of humanitarian supplies as well as infrastructure for schools," and of "contradict[ing] Israel's engagement according to the international point of view..."

This is worse than disingenuous.

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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. 

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Boycotts of Israeli products from Judea and Samaria no longer satisfy Brussels - by David M. Weinberg

...In short, the EU's support of the Palestinians has graduated from passive diplomatic and financial assistance to subversive participation in the Palestinian Authority's illegal construction ventures. The explicit EU intent is to erode Israeli control of Area C and east Jerusalem while promoting Palestinian territorial continuity leading to runaway Palestinian statehood.

David M. Weinberg..
A Citadel Defending Zion..
October '17..
Link: http://davidmweinberg.com/2017/10/20/mind-blowing-european-union-chutzpa/

Israel should repulse the escalating European Union campaign of intimidation.

You see, boycotts of Israeli products from Judea and Samaria no longer satisfy Brussels. Ramping up its confrontation with Israel, the European Union has gone into the business of establishing "settlements" for the Bedouin and Palestinians in Judea and Samaria, tower-and-stockade style.

This includes the wild Bedouin building spurt that the EU has insolently funded in the strategic E1 quadrant between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim, in entirely purposeful defiance of Israel.

The IDF defines the area in question as a pivotal part of Israel's strategic depth and essential to defensible borders for Israel. It is also Area C under the Oslo Accords, which means that Israel holds exclusive civilian and military control.

Yet illegally established Palestinian villages and Bedouin shantytowns have slowly closed the corridor between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim, where a major highway runs, crawling to within several meters from it. These illegal outposts steal electricity from the highway lights and water from Israeli pipelines.

Civil Administration data, presented last year to the Knesset's subcommittee on Judea and Samaria, showed that 6,500 Palestinians were living in some 1,220 illegally built homes in the area, and the number undoubtedly has grown since then – thanks to the EU.

The imperious EU has poured perhaps 100 million € into EU-emblazoned prefabs, EU-signed roads, and water and energy installations – in E1, in Gush Etzion (near Tekoa), in the South Hebron Hills, and even in the Negev.

The Not-Surprisingly Devious European Union-Palestinian Authority Plan for Area C - by Josh Hasten

...these aren’t just small herding communities as they would appear, but strategically placed mini-towns set up by the Palestinian Authority and financed by the European Union to the tune of hundreds of millions of euros, with the explicit goal of taking over strategic lands in Area C with the aim of creating a de facto Palestinian state.

Josh Hasten..
Opinion/JPost..
13 March '17..
Link: http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/The-diabolical-PAEU-plan-for-Area-C-484098

Now I don't want to ruin anyone’s vacation, but the next time you are heading for some R&R at the Dead Sea via Jerusalem, pay close attention to the scenery on the sides of the road.

Over the past decade there has been a huge upsurge in the number of structures going up in illegal Beduin villages and encampments on both sides of Highway 1, from the entrance to the city through what is known as the “E1” area between Jerusalem and the “Adumims” all the way down the mountain toward the Dead Sea.

So why should some illegal Beduin structures spoil your trip? Because these aren’t just small herding communities as they would appear, but strategically placed mini-towns set up by the Palestinian Authority and financed by the European Union to the tune of hundreds of millions of euros, with the explicit goal of taking over strategic lands in Area C with the aim of creating a de facto Palestinian state.

This plot is clearly outlined in a lengthy 2009 policy paper by then Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad. Known as the Fayyad Plan, the logic was that by creating substantial facts on the ground, the PA with the support of the international community would lay claim to those areas, and demand that they be part of “Palestine” in any future negotiations with Israel.

And that’s where the EU comes in – to serve as the key financier of the project. Over 1,000 illegal structures – including houses, bathrooms, storage spaces, etc., with more being erected nearly daily throughout Judea and Samaria, now proudly bear the EU flag. The EU’s false claim is that it is involved in these building endeavors for “humanitarian purposes” to provide for the Beduin in these areas.

Ironic though, that the EU symbol can only be seen on structures in Area C; none can be found in areas A or B, nor can they be found in Beduin communities throughout the rest of the Middle East. It makes you wonder.

Europe's Compassionate Hatred of Israel - by Bat Ye'or

...The people of Europe will regain their freedom and identity by extricating themselves from this Euro-Arab alliance that joins them in a genocidal scheme against Israel and the West, in which they themselves are both protagonists and victims. Then and only then will they be able to help those Muslims who are bravely struggling to release their brethren from the hatred disfiguring the human face -- jihadi hatred -- and persuade them to accept human diversity. We have neglected these Muslims. They have been fighting alone for both them and us. It is imperative to help them.

Bat Ye'or..
Gatestone Institute..
22 December '16..

Today we are witnessing the coming of the worldwide caliphate. This expression means that the Muslim view of history is currently prevailing in international institutions. We see it with the Jerusalem Declaration of UNESCO, this palace of revisionism. The Jerusalem Declaration seeks to Islamize, with the help of many governments in Europe and other Christian countries, the ancient history of the people of Israel.

The Venice Declaration of 1980, issued by the European Community, which tried to force Israel to survive in an indefensible territory, already prescribed its disappearance and replacement with a people that had never even manifested itself before 1969 -- and all with the assistance of the Soviet Union and especially France. The Islamization of Jerusalem and the delegitimization of the State of Israel were already set out in the Venice Declaration, which to this date the European Union has continued to view as valid.

The Venice Declaration of 1980 was a gift from the European Community to the Arab League, aimed at reestablishing good economic relations with Arab countries, which had been angered by the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in 1979, a peace Europe had not been able to prevent. Jewish holy sites and the survival of the Jewish State were sacrificed by the European Community in exchange for petrodollars.

Since that time, the European Union has expressed remorse for the Holocaust and love and compassion for Israel, but has continued to support, fund and encourage a population whose mission is the destruction of Israel, as proclaimed in its doctrine, and with which Europe is quite familiar...

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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. 

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When and if the EU topples, it will give us all reason to rejoice, including Israel - by Michael Freund

...the demise of the EU will mean a return to the idea of the nation-state, which has served as the basis of modern Western civilization. Drunk with the idea of a United Europe with a continental identity, many Europeans openly disdained Israel as a relic of the past because it had been established based on the "archaic" notion that the Jewish people required a country of their own. But as the British, the Hungarians and possibly others go their separate ways, and reassert their own independence, the nation-state will be restored to its proper place in the international system, hopefully divesting some haughty Europeans of their self-righteousness vis-a-vis Israel

Michael Freund..
Pundicity/JPost..
06 October '16..
Link: http://www.michaelfreund.org/19267/eu-israel

Barely a week has passed since the start of October, but this month is already shaping up to be a disaster of epic proportions for the architects of the European Union.

Over the course of just a few hours this past Sunday, the continent's supranational superstructure suffered two damaging body-blows – one in the UK, the other in Hungary – which have further eroded its already shaky foundations.

Like a tower of blocks teetering on the brink of collapse, the 28-nation alliance appears doomed to have a past that is far sturdier than its future, and this is great news as far as Israel is concerned.

Why it is always worth remembering Willy Brandt 1970 and Willy Brandt 1973 - by Ron Jontof-Hutter

...At the end of the day, it should be remembered that the hidden agendas of many of these NGOs ‎have little to do with human rights, per se, but more to do with providing conditions that would ‎end the State of Israel, by stressing the Nakba, hope, resilience and the "right of return" of ‎refugees and their descendants.‎ That is why it is always worth remembering Willy Brandt 1970 and Willy Brandt 1973. It sums up ‎Europe perfectly.‎

Ron Jontof-Hutter..
Israel Hayom..
14 September '16..

On the December 7, 1970, German Chancellor Willy Brandt knelt solemnly before the Warsaw ‎Ghetto in contrition. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when Israel faced annihilation, the same ‎Willy Brandt denied German landing rights to U.S. planes carrying emergency supplies to Israel. ‎

Chancellor Angela Merkel occasionally says that Israel's "right to exist" is Germany's raison d'etre.‎

Like Brandt, Germany appears to be two-tongued when it comes to anti-Semitism. Like the ‎EU, Germany makes a distinction between anti-Semitism and objecting to Israel's policies, which on ‎paper seems to be fair. Thus, giving the Hitler salute and denying the Holocaust are illegal. On the ‎other hand, the annual Iran-sponsored Al-Quds March through downtown Berlin, calling for the ‎destruction of Israel, is legal. Berlin constantly turns a deaf ear to appeals to ban that march.‎

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action -- the Iran nuclear deal -- was enthusiastically supported by Germany, enabling Iran to fully develop ‎its nuclear program after a decade, while currently testing missiles marked "Death to Israel." ‎However, the same Germany decided that nuclear facilities for peaceful purposes were too risky ‎for Germans. They are to be phased out by 2022.‎

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Ron Jontof-Hutter is a fellow at the Berlin International Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism. He ‎recently authored the satire "The Trombone Man: Tales of a Misogynist."‎ This article originally appeared in the Jewish Journal.

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. 

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