Truth be Told, Anti-Zionism isn’t Antisemitism – but it Doesn’t Matter - by Victor Rosenthal

Antisemitism, Jew-hatred, gave rise to pogroms wherever Jews were found from time immemorial, including the biggest pogrom of all, the Holocaust. Misoziony has so far failed in its grand ambition, because its target, the State of Israel, possesses the military power to prevent it. But just because it hasn’t (yet) proven its malignity in blood doesn’t mean that it is morally acceptable, any more than any other bigotry.

Victor Rosenthal..
Abu Yehuda..
23 August '20..
Link: http://abuyehuda.com/2020/08/anti-zionism-isnt-antisemitism-but-it-doesnt-matter/

There has rarely been a more pointless dispute than the one over whether anti-Zionism is antisemitism. The answer is easy, and it has two parts: a) no, they are not the same, and b) it doesn’t matter.

What is anti-Zionism? The denial of the proposition that the Jewish people ought to have a state in their historic homeland, Eretz Yisrael. Right away, there is a problem: there has been a Jewish state since 1948, and its right to be there is guaranteed by international law. So it doesn’t make sense to argue this point today.

But that isn’t what they mean, they say. They maintain that what they are doing is criticism of Israel. They argue that Israel violates the human rights of Palestinian Arabs (even accusing her of genocide and apartheid), and provide remedies which usually imply the replacement of the state of the Jewish people by a state of its citizens, a “dezionized” entity of some kind, or simply an Arab state. But there’s no Jew-hatred involved, they insist.

Now as a matter of fact, very often the same people who “criticize Israel” in this way also believe that Jews control the world economy and media, profit from wars and plagues, and bleed little non-Jewish children to make matzot. In logical terms, the two classes are coextensive. But the “responsible” critics of Israel distance themselves from these people. Their position is entirely political. They hold no animus for individual Jews. Some of their best friends are Jews.

Let’s look closely at their “criticism,” and their proposed solutions. Both are very special. Natan Sharansky noted three characteristics of anti-Israel discourse, which he called the “three D’s”: Demonization, Delegitimization, and Double standard.

The demonization of Israel and the IDF needs no elaboration. Israel’s actions in self-defense are presented as aggression, atrocities are invented, false themes – the IDF “targets” children – are promoted, and no context is provided (e.g., news stories headlined “Israel strikes Gaza” to describe retaliation aimed at empty buildings following a Hamas rocket barrage against Israeli towns). There is the whole phenomenon of “Pallywood,” the comparisons to Nazi Germany, and over all the attribution of the most malign motives imaginable for every Israeli action.

Delegitimization is all-pervasive as well. Israel is excluded from UN bodies, sporting competitions, and artistic festivals. Israel is removed from maps, and its capital is not recognized. It is often argued falsely that the land of Israel was “stolen” from the Palestinian Arabs and that therefore the entire enterprise should be abolished.

A Miracle w/Grit: How Israel rescued the Promised Land from devastation and neglect - by James Sinkinson

Part of the Israeli miracle is the restoration of a depleted, deteriorating land through determination, ingenuity and back-breaking work.

James Sinkinson..
FLAME/JNS..
07 July '20..

Last week I toured much of northern Israel, from the Jezreel Valley and the Lower and Upper Galilee regions to the Golan Heights. The natural beauty of this part of Israel, as well as the explosive proliferation of agriculture, was striking and inspiring.

The abundance of flora in Israel today makes it easy to forget that this land at the turn of the 20th century was a parched wasteland. It also raises the questions: How did this miraculous transformation take place, and who was responsible?

On his visit to Palestine in 1867, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) called the Sea of Galilee “a solemn, sailless, tintless lake, as unpoetical as any bath-tub on earth.” On the other hand, last week I found the Kinneret (its Hebrew name) a sparkling blue jewel surrounded on its north, south and west by vegetable fields, orchards and forests.

Traveling by horseback through the Jezreel Valley, Clemens noted: “There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent—not for 30 miles in either direction. There are two or three small clusters of Bedouin tents, but not a single permanent habitation. One may ride 10 miles, hereabouts, and not see 10 human beings.”

Clemens continues, “Of all the lands there are for dismal scenery, I think Palestine must be the prince. … Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes. Over it broods the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies.”

(Continue to Full Column)

James Sinkinson is president 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.

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. 

Question. What would the world be like with no State of Israel? - by Jonathan S. Tobin

After 72 years, many take its existence for granted. But with so many still wishing it dead, it’s worth thinking about how dangerous life for Jews would be without it.

Jonathan S. Tobin..
JNS.org..
27 April '20..

What scholars like to call counterfactual history is science fiction for those who prefer to ponder the implications of things turning out differently in the past rather than speculating on the future. Such “what if” scenarios are behind television shows like “The Man in the High Castle,” which imagined life after the Germans and Japanese won the Second World, or “The Plot Against America”—the dramatization of the Phillip Roth novel that imagined isolationists led by Charles Lindbergh keeping America out of the war and then instituting state-sponsored anti-Semitism in the United States.

But as Israel celebrates its 72nd birthday this week, it’s relevant to point out that a lot of people have spent the entire period of its history wishing that the outcome of the 1948-49 War of Independence had turned out differently. At the heart of the nakba or “disaster” narrative and core principle of Palestinian nationalism is a belief that the creation of Israel was a crime that should have been stopped and without which the world would have been much better off. The debate about the future of the West Bank often causes observers to lose sight of the fact that the basic demand of Israel-haters is not a Palestinian state alongside a smaller Israel, but no Israel at all.

What would a world without Israel look like?

(Continue to Full Column)

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.  

A first Passover in Israel that was one, both of disappointment, but also profound revelation - by James Sinkinson

As devastating as the coronavirus pandemic is, it may bring the benefit—as it seems to have already done in Israel—of inspiring greater appreciation of one’s home country.

James Sinkinson..
Flame/JNS.org..
14 April '20

My first Passover in Israel was one both of disappointment and profound revelation. This conflicting combination, especially in the throes of the coronavirus crisis, served to underscore the strength of the Jewish people—and that of the world’s only Jewish state.

The coronavirus dampened the traditional excitement around Passover in Israel for everyone here, because each household was for the first time forced by government order to celebrate on its own. Zero visitors—no grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins or good friends—were allowed to attend seders outside their own homes.

Think of Thanksgiving dinner with no guests. Bizarre. The sense of isolation here was palpable, for us and everyone we spoke to, as well as on local social media. Remember, too, that Israelis have for the past two weeks been restricted to within 100 meters (328 feet) from our homes, except to buy groceries or medicine, or to get medical attention, under penalty of stiff fines—which are being aggressively dispensed.

On the other hand, my moving Passover revelation was born of the opportunity to see Jewish Israelis pull together in inspiring solidarity, with our people, our story and our nation.

(Continue to Full Column)

James Sinkinson is president 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. 

Ibn Saud, the Jews and FDR’s dog - by Rafael Medoff

“The choice of the desert king as expert on the Jewish question is nothing short of amazing,” Colorado Democrat Sen. Edwin Johnson declared. “I imagine that even Fala [the president’s dog] would be more of an expert.”

Rafael Medoff..
JPost/Opinion..
05 April '20..
Link: https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/The-Saudis-the-Jews-and-FDRs-dog-623617

Seventy-five years after president Franklin D. Roosevelt’s controversial embrace of the king of Saudi Arabia, FDR’s grandson has become part of a Saudi-financed public relations campaign to celebrate his late grandfather’s pro-Saudi policies.

Hall Delano Roosevelt has been working with the LS2 Group, an Iowa-based public relations firm, to draw attention to the recent 75th anniversary of FDR’s meeting with King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, according to documents released by the Arab-American news site Al-Monitor. In the LST Group’s Foreign Agents Registration filings last year, it stated that it was being paid $126,500 monthly by the Saudi Embassy in Washington to provide “public relations and media management services.”

The FDR-Ibn Saud meeting took place on February 14, 1945, on the deck of the USS Quincy. The king came aboard “with his whole court, [black] slaves, taster, astrologer, & 8 live sheep,” FDR wrote to his cousin, Margaret Suckley. “Whole party was a scream!” The president does not seem to have expressed concern about the slaves.

The US ambassador to Riyadh, William Eddy, was the official note-taker. He wrote down the two leaders’ remarks in the form of a “Memorandum of Conversation,” which both the president and the king signed. One of the topics they discussed was whether or not the Arab world could accept the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Roosevelt asked Ibn Saud for his view of “the problem of Jewish refugees driven from their homes in Europe.”

Ibn Saud responded that he opposed “continued Jewish immigration and the purchase of land [in Palestine] by the Jews.” The king insisted that “the Arabs and the Jews could never cooperate, neither in Palestine, nor in any other country.”

President Roosevelt “replied that he wished to assure his majesty that he would do nothing to assist the Jews against the Arabs and would make no move hostile to the Arab people.”

The king asserted that the Jews should be “given living space in the Axis countries which oppressed them,” rather than Palestine.

In response, “The president remarked that Poland might be considered a case in point. The Germans appear to have killed three million Polish Jews, by which count there should be space in Poland for the resettlement of many homeless Jews.”

(Important Read) The Struggle for Israel’s Jewish Soul - By Prof. Efraim Karsh and Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen

The possibility of an Israeli minority government that relies on the Joint Arab List underscores the clear and present danger of accommodating political parties and movements that reject the existence of the Jewish state and propagate Israel’s transformation into a Palestinian Arab (Muslim) state.

Prof. Efraim Karsh and Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen..
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,486..
16 March '20..
Link: https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/israel-jewish-soul/

From its outset, the Zionist movement was committed to full civil and religious equality of the non-Jewish minority in the future Jewish state (as stipulated in the 1917 Balfour Declaration and the League of Nations mandate). According to a draft constitution of the prospective Jewish state, prepared by Ze’ev Jabotinsky in 1934, Arabs and Jews were to share all rights and duties including military and civil service; Hebrew and Arabic were to enjoy the same legal standing; and “in every cabinet where the prime minister is a Jew, the vice-premiership shall be offered to an Arab and vice versa.” Echoing this vision, about a decade later David Ben-Gurion avowed that “one should not even contemplate a Jewish state that lacks full and absolute equality, political, civil, and national, for all of its residents and citizens…. In a Jewish state, an Arab could be elected prime minister or president, if suitable for the post.”

Manifested inter alia by Israel’s Proclamation of Independence (May 14, 1948), which granted “complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex” and urged the nascent state’s Arab citizens “to participate in the upbuilding of the state on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions,” this ultraliberal and inclusive outlook was predicated on the assumption—underpinning the essence of all nation-states—of its citizens’ acceptance of its legitimacy and their abidance by its laws, rules, and regulations. In the case of the Arab-Jewish conflict this meant acquiescence of Israel’s Arab citizens to their minority status in Israel; that is, in the national home of the Jewish people as postulated by the 1922 mandate of the League of Nations—the UN’s predecessor as representative of the will of the international community—which tasked Britain with facilitating the establishment of this national home. In Ben-Gurion’s words: “A Jewish state does not only mean Jewish majority in that state—it also concerns the state’s purpose: it will be a state not only of and for its citizens, but a state whose mission is to ingather the exiles and to concentrate and ensconce them in the homeland.”

By way of attaining this goal, Israel passed the Law of Return, which grants Jews, wherever they are, the right to citizenship should they choose to make Israel their home, as well as specific legislation aimed at safeguarding Israel’s Jewish character, notably Basic Law: The Knesset (Article 7A). It stipulated that:

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:

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

2. incitement to racism;

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

Indeed, when in 1965 the Central Elections Committee disqualified the Arab Socialist List organized by the irredentist al-Ard movement, which rejected Israel’s very existence, from running for the Knesset, the Supreme Court ratified that measure under the doctrine of “defensive democracy.” As the court stated in a majority opinion: “There can be no doubt that the state of Israel is not only a sovereign, independent state, which cherishes freedom and is characterized by the rule of the people—but also that it was established ‘as a Jewish state in the Land of Israel’.”

Question. Have you given up on the Jewish state? - by Dr. Limor Samimian-Darash

The attempt to present opposition to relying on the Joint Arab List as racist – is contemptible. Neither religion nor skin color forms the basis of this opposition, rather an ideology that strives to erase the existence of the Jewish nation-state.

Dr. Limor Samimian-Darash..
Israel Hayom..
11 March '20..
Link: https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/have-you-given-up-on-the-jewish-state/

The past election year presented us with no shortage of important issues, beyond partisan divisions and the question of who Israel's next prime minister will be. The recent election was over the defense of democracy against the courtacracy, the public's trust in the legal system, and also about the application of sovereignty versus the idea of territorial disengagement.

But the uproar to emerge in recent days over Benny Gantz's intention to establish a government with the support of the Joint Arab List, crystallizes the essence of the battle, perhaps the most significant Israeli society is facing. We've again reached a junction where the arrows pointing Left or Right are unclear, leaving us only with the fundamental argument about the very Jewishness of the Jewish state.

What began as slanderous campaigns decrying "religious coercion," which continued with blatant anti-religious propaganda and assurances of a "secular and liberal" government – now appears to be a type of abdication of the country's Jewish character, rather than its supposedly religious character. This is undeniably a fight over the very existence of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. A democratic state that espouses human and civil rights for all its citizens, but a state whose national identity is singular: Jewish. A country which promotes and ratifies the right of Jews to return to their homeland, encourages their arrival and grants them immigration benefits and support. It is a country whose national flag is with the Star of David and whose national anthem specifies the "Jewish soul" and "an eye toward Zion."

Apparently, what seems natural to so many Israelis is perceived by others as discrimination or racism. Whether we are headed to a fourth election or not, this is a fundamental question that demands an answer: Is Israel a Jewish state or a state of all its citizens? And the question isn't new; for years it served as the basis for various arguments, for example over the policies the country adopted to combat illegal immigration or disqualification of a Knesset candidate or another. This time, however, the question appears as an explicit argument, almost as a blunt accusation against those who support the state's Jewishness. In just one example, political pundit Amnon Abramovich told viewers this week that if we don't include the Joint Arab List in the next government, we are no longer a democratic state. In other words, if we reject a government that rests on anti-Zionist views and opposes Israel's Jewish character, we have reached the end of democracy.

Occupation? There are no Jewish settlers on the West Bank - by Jason D. Hill

If there are occupiers in Judea and Samaria, then we may ostensibly point to them as the war settlers who are the Jordanian-Palestinians. They are the real occupiers and improper settlers of the land.

Jason D. Hill..
JNS.org..
27 November '19..

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently announced that America would no longer consider civilian settlements in the occupied territories of the West Bank as a violation of international law. Many Israelis have warmly embraced this move as a great moral victory for the Jewish state. And to be sure, Pompeo’s declaration reversed a 40-decade-old policy that regarded the settlements as a violation of international law.

The only proper response to Pompeo’s announcement is that it’s a long time coming. And, along with the U.S. announcement, moral citizens of the world must begin a radical reversal of certain anti-Israeli and anti-Jewry references to the so-called “settlers” of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and what has been mistakenly referred to as “Occupied Territory.”

To begin with, the Israeli Jews are not settlers in Judea and Samaria. From here on, they should be referred to as “heroic pioneers” on re-founded land in Holy Israel.

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Jason D. Hill is professor of philosophy at DePaul University in Chicago and a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. His areas of specialization include ethics, social and political philosophy, American foreign policy and American politics. He is the author of several books, including “We Have Overcome: An Immigrant’s Letter to the American People.”

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 State of Israel continues to survive because we defeated those who sought our annihilation - by Nave Dromi

The Jewish refugees from the Middle East know the truth: Only a sovereign people seen as invincible and indestructible are secure in this region.

Nave Dromi..
JNS.org..
24 November '19..

Ever since the Muslim conquest, occupation and colonization of the Middle East and North Africa in the 7th century, the region’s Jews, among others, lived under a dhimmi status. While the Arabic term “dhimmi” has been translated as “tolerated,” the actual meaning is far more sinister.

Under Islamic law, Jews were less than second-class citizens. They were a brutally oppressed minority, forced to pay special taxes called jizya, frequently forced to place distinctive signs on their houses and clothing and sometimes brutally humiliated in other ways.

The Egyptian-born British author Bat Ye’or wrote that the dhimmi status was a “relationship between conqueror and conquered” and that “the dhimmi peoples bore the role of victim, vanquished by force; and indeed, it is after a war, a jihad, and after a defeat, that a nation becomes a dhimmi people.”

The Jewish people had lived in the region for millennia before being expelled and forced to flee by Arab leaders in the 20th century. Almost a million Jews had lived in the Middle East and North Africa before their status turned from perilous to entirely unwanted around the middle of the past century, most fleeing to the nascent State of Israel.

On Nov. 30, we will remember them on the Day of Commemoration for the Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries and Iran. We will remember their history, culture and tradition, maintained under difficult circumstances, and also their ethnic cleansing.

However, there are also lessons we need to learn.

Those of us whose origins are in lands now known as Arab countries and whose families were dhimmis understand well this history of defeat.

(Continue to Full Column)

Nave Dromi is the director of the Middle East Forum in Israel. She previously served as the manager of the Blue and White Human Rights movement, founded by the Institute for Zionist Strategies. She holds a B.A in Political Science and Middle Eastern studies from Ben-Gurion University and a masters degree from the Ruderman Program for Israel and American Jewish Studies.

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 attempted war of extermination against Israelis is more than a land dispute up for negotiation - by Melanie Phillips

The only way to end what is essentially an Arab war of extermination against Israel is to call out the Palestinians on their fundamental lies and to treat them not as statesmen-in-waiting, but as international pariahs.

Melanie Phillips..
JNS.org..
21 November '19..

The statement by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that Israel’s settlements “are not inconsistent with international law” has been predictably greeted with adulation by Israel’s defenders and denunciation by its enemies.

Both sides, however, are once again missing the elephant in the room—as the Trump administration itself is also doing.

In its own terms, the statement certainly should be warmly welcomed. It is a remarkable stand for the truth against the unanimous endorsement by the Western world of the big lie about Israel that has done so much to demonize and delegitimize it: the claim that its occupation of Palestinian territories and Israeli settlements there are illegal.

Every part of that claim—that Israel is in “occupation,” that the land it is “occupying” is “Palestinian territory,” and that Israel is acting illegally—is false.

Israel isn’t occupying the disputed territories because, under international law, only land that belongs to a sovereign state can ever be “occupied,” and the territory in question has never belonged to any sovereign country.

It has never been “Palestinian” territory because it has never belonged to the Palestinians—for the very good reason that there never was a Palestinian nation to which it could have belonged. Palestine was merely the name contemptuously given by the Romans to Judea when they conquered it and tried to erase its Jewish identity.

(Continue to Full Column)

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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US Secretary of State Pompeo’s statement on Israeli settlements is truly a diplomatic turning point - by Caroline Glick

President Trump's extraordinary gesture of support for Israel and the rights of the Jewish people was evident in the historic statement. The US has rightly concluded that falsely calling settlements illegal is not helpful for peace.

Caroline Glick..
Israel Hayom..
18 November '19..
Link: https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/pompeos-statement-on-israeli-settlements-is-a-diplomatic-turning-point/

Monday will long be remembered as a turning point in Middle East history. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s statement Monday that Israeli settlements are not illegal per se is the most significant shift in US Middle East policy in the past generation. Jerusalem’s status as Israel’s capital has been a matter of US law since 1996.

There was little interest in Washington in recent years in pressuring Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights. But the issue of the legality of Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), has been the defining issue of much of the international discourse on Israel for a generation.

In the vast majority of cases, the discourse has revolved around the widely held allegation – with no basis in actual law – that Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria are illegal.

This allegation has served as the justification for a continuous barrage of condemnations of Israel in the international arena and for anti-Israel legal verdicts in international courts including the International Court of Justice at the Hague in 2004 and the European Court of Justice last week.

The unsupported allegation that Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria are illegal was also the basis for UN Security Council Resolution 2334 from 2016 and is a basis of the International Criminal Court’s ongoing probes of Israelis.

Pompeo made two revolutionary assertions in his statement. First, he said that “after carefully studying all sides of the legal debate,” like the Reagan administration before it, the Trump administration has concluded, “The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law.”

Second, Pompeo noted, the near ubiquitousness of the false assertion that settlements are illegal has not advanced the prospects for peace. To the contrary, it has harmed the chances of getting to peace.

In his words, “calling the establishment of civilian settlements inconsistent with international law has not advanced the cause of peace.”

And of course, it hasn’t. Placing a lie in the center of the discourse on the Palestinian conflict with Israel is no way to promote understanding and coexistence.

In the interest of promoting peace, Pompeo instead told the truth. Not only are Israeli settlements not illegal. Pompeo noted that they are arguably more justified than civilian settlements built in other disputed territories.


In his words, the administration’s determination “is based on the unique facts, history, and circumstances presented by the establishment of civilian settlements in the West Bank.” That is, it is based on the historic ties of the Jewish people to Judea and Samaria. These ties lay at the heart of Jewish history and religion.

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:

The Arab List, Israel’s Nationality Law and UN Resolution 181 - By Prof. Hillel Frisch

For many years, General Assembly Resolution 181 was the document the Palestinians cited most frequently to buttress two of their major claims. They no longer do so because the document stipulates for the creation of a Jewish state, as emphasized by the nationality law they now decry.

Prof. Hillel Frisch..
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 955..
21 September '18..

Ever since 1988, when, after 40 years of rejection, the PLO feigned acceptance of General Assembly Resolution 181 on the partition of mandatory Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, the resolution has been the document used most frequently by Palestinians to underscore two of their major claims – the right to statehood within borders that were larger by far than those envisaged by the Oslo “peace” process, and the supposed “right of return.”

For these reasons, it holds center stage in one of the PLO’s most famous documents – the Palestinian declaration of independence, which was approved by the Palestine National Council (PNC), the PLO’s legislative body, in Algiers in 1988.

It can be self-defeating to cite documents without having read them. The Palestinians learned this in their attempts to mobilize Resolution 181 behind the Palestinian cause.

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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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Actually, For Israel These are the 'Good Old Days' - by Douglas Altabef

Israel is an extraordinarily diverse country composed of Jews from every corner of the Earth, and non-Jews that cover much of the spectrum of the 70 nations of the world.

Douglas Altabef..
JPost/Opinion..
04 September '18..
Link: https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/These-are-the-good-old-days-566495

One of the central tenets of how we as Jews are supposed to encounter life is captured in the concept of hakarat hatov (recognition/appreciation of the good). The idea is to perceive the blessings in our life, to see the good that has been bestowed upon us and, critically important, to find the good, the silver lining in any situation.

There is no question that those who are able to go through life infused with this sense of gratitude and appreciation have greater resilience, emotional fortitude and probably live longer – and certainly happier – than those for whom the glass is always half empty.

The exhortation for us to perceive and appreciate the good is not just an individual responsibility, but also a communal one. We, the Jewish people, as citizens of Israel, have, I believe, a collective obligation to seek out the good that surrounds us.

Sadly, there is a pronounced strain of some, particularly those who are paid to opine about our society, to perceive things quite differently. The mindsets range from a critical eye towards pretty much everything, to a sense that we have been corrupted and distorted.

To many of these pundits, we are constantly sliding, we have fallen far from where we were in previous times, which in the glow of hindsight, seem positively Edenic.

Such criticisms and perspectives can apply to tolerance, our economy, and to most everything that would comprise the soul and spirit of our society. To read otherwise intelligent observers lamenting that Israel has become a racist, bigoted, hateful society, unmindful of those who are struggling economically, is to enter a world view that can seem positively surreal.

Fact: we are a society that is replete with problems and challenges. Those seeking our imperfections will find no shortage of material.

However, for those of us who are striving for the betterment of society, focusing on the good rather than the ideal, there is oh so much to be grateful for.

The Israel they are seeing is just the tip of the iceberg, but is something that truly speaks to their sensibilities - Dror Eydar

Israel and China are two ancient, glorious civilizations, but unlike the Jews, the Chinese remained in their land throughout their history. In order to truly understand a nation, we cannot go just by headlines – we must learn its history and aspirations.

Dror Eydar..
Israel Hayom..
24 August '18..
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/2018/08/24/the-tip-of-the-iceberg/

I have had a number of opportunities to meet and chat with Chinese people – students, business women, researchers and members of academia, to name a few. I was told to talk to them about Israel, the Jewish people, our history and our culture. I automatically assumed that we did not have very much in common, aside from the fact that both our civilizations are ancient and glorious.

Imagine that we are looking at the sea right now, I would say to them. We are looking at waves, sea spray, birds flying overhead. And then, right in the middle of this giant body of water, we spot an island. Would it be wise to focus only on the island and ignore everything that surrounds it? The depths of the ocean are far greater and more powerful than this tiny piece of land that we discovered.

The renowned psychoanalyst Carl Jung once compared consciousness to an island in the ocean of the subconscious. The information we can glean from what our eyes can see is not enough to fully judge a person. A person's deeds and words are also insufficient to provide a complete picture. These things are too superficial. A person's history, biography, family, social background and education all come into play. A person's dreams and secret passions are also an important component that cannot be immediately seen. These are immensely important elements of any human being's personality and are therefore the key to understanding them.

As much as this holds true for human beings, it is even more applicable to nations and peoples. Newspaper headlines and politicians' speeches are certainly not enough to form a well-rounded opinion. Even the actions of individual members of a nation are not enough to formulate an accurate idea, whatever their prominence. These things are, again, too superficial. The nation's history, its religion, its mythology, the oral history that has been passed down through the generations for thousands of years, its customs, its heritage, its language and so many other factors are what make up the DNA of a nation.

When it comes to ancient cultures, this comprehensive view is even more important. I always tell my Chinese conversation partners that our two peoples survived the test of time. We created glorious civilizations. But there is one key difference: You stayed in one place and developed for yourself, generation after generation. Invaders who came in and thought they defeated you ultimately became a part of you. You endured catastrophes, no doubt, but your land was never destroyed, and you were never exiled the way the Jews were.

Unlike you, I tell them, we spent a significant portion of our history in exile. We twice endured great destruction, we were exiled again and again, and we were subjected to countless national tragedies. Hundreds of us wandered from place to place across the globe, looking for a place to rest. Many times we imagined that we had found a home, where we could settle and forget our troubles – each time we contributed to the local economy, culture and scientific community and even tried to adopt the local patriotism – but every time, we were eventually expelled. So we continued to wander in hopes of finding a better place.

The (Not So) Secret Reason Arabs Reject the Jewish Nation-State Law - by Bassam Tawil

The "dirty little secret" is that even if the words about equality for all citizens were added to the new law, Bahloul and some of his Arab colleagues in the Knesset would still have opposed it. They are simply vehemently opposed to the very idea of Israel being a Jewish state.

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

The hypocrisy of the leaders of the Arab citizens of Israel, who are now crying foul over the new Jewish Nation-State Law, has, in the past few days, reached new heights.

These are the same leaders whose words and actions for the past two decades have caused serious damage to relations between Jews and Arabs in Israel, and to the interests of their own constituents, the Arab citizens of Israel.

Israeli Arab leaders, specifically the Knesset members, say they are outraged not only because the law defines Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people, but also because the new legislation does not include words about full equality of rights for all citizens.

If there ever was a tempest in a teapot, this is it. It would have been redundant to add those words: the new law does not rescind any previous law or Israel's Declaration of Independence, which already encompass all that. In Israel, there are also other Basic Laws that guarantee equal rights to all. For example, the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, passed in 1992, stipulates:

"The purpose of this Basic Law is to protect human dignity and liberty, in order to establish in a Basic Law the values of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state."

...

"Fundamental human rights in Israel are founded upon recognition of the value of the human being, the sanctity of human life, and the principle that all persons are free; these rights shall be upheld in the spirit of the principles set forth in the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel."

Israel's Declaration of Independence from 1948, which obviously is not affected by the new Jewish Nation-State Law, also promises equality to all citizens, irrespective of their religion or color or race. It states:

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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 National Law and Lessons Learned From Christian Lebanon - by Shadi Khalloul

...What is the lesson to be learned from Lebanese history with respect to the National Law in Israel? As an Israeli Maronite Aramaic Christian, belonging to the minority and enjoying freedom in Israel, I actually understand the importance of this Law. Yes, our forefathers supported, for ideological reasons, the realization of the Jewish nation in the Land of Israel. But my support of the National Law arises as well from the bitter Lebanese experience.

שאדי ח'לול

Shadi Khalloul..
Israel Diaries..
Translated by Sheri Oz..
26 July '18..

The modern State of Lebanon was established by Maronite Christians, as a shelter for them and other persecuted Christian communities in the Middle East. The goal of the founders of the State of Lebanon, experienced with persecution and genocide, was to protect and cultivate, in their own state, their language, Aramaic, and their unique Phoenician-Aramaic culture. The Muslim population of Lebanon was not a partner to this national vision, and due to differences of opinion, the Maronites were compelled to abandon their national ambitions. With no other choice, they agreed to the establishment of a state of all its citizens that, to their chagrin, joined the Arab League.

Unfortunately, not only did this solution not bring peace and calm, but it created tensions among the major national and ethnic groups within Lebanon until the situation finally deteriorated into bloody war. The Muslims did not at all see themselves as part of an independent Lebanese country and instead they nurtured their dream of uniting with their brothers while cooperating with the Arabs in the surrounding region.

These processes brought about increased extremism in the Muslim Arab population in Lebanon, weakening state institutions and causing many Christians to emigrate from the land of their forefathers in which they had thrived for generations. Furthermore, the religious-national tensions in Lebanon created discord among the Christian communities, themselves, that until the 1950s had comprised the majority of the population and today — after innumerous wars and tragedies – they have become a persecuted minority in their own country: from 80% in the 1930s Christians now make up only 35% of the contemporary Lebanese population.

What is the lesson to be learned from Lebanese history with respect to the National Law in Israel? As an Israeli Maronite Aramaic Christian, belonging to the minority and enjoying freedom in Israel, I actually understand the importance of this Law. Yes, our forefathers supported, for ideological reasons, the realization of the Jewish nation in the Land of Israel. But my support of the National Law arises as well from the bitter Lebanese experience: I believe that Jewish Nationalism declared by Israeli law in fact guarantees that she will continue to be a democracy, and it also promises me that I will remain secure as a member of a religious minority.

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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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Hatikvah is Our National Anthem - by Sheri Oz

...If every country has the right to select its own anthem and vote the anthem into law as is customary to do, then Israel has that same inalienable right. Jews have the right to sing out about our nationalistic pride without that reflecting badly on our democracy. And each and every non-Jewish citizen of this land has the right to decide how to position himself or herself among us.

Sheri Oz..
Israel Diaries..
21 July '18..

There are some Israelis – Jews and Arabs alike – who over the years have argued that Hatikva is abhorrent to our non-Jewish citizens and should be changed. It is (bad) enough we are a Jewish country, they seem to imply; no need to add insult to injury by vocally and emotionally proclaiming our eons-long Jewish dream to be free in our own land. Where does that leave the Arabs and other non-Jews? How can we resolve that tension between being a Jewish country (and trying to be proud of that) and still be democratic and not discriminate against our non-Jewish citizens?

Well, too late! It is now fixed in law. Hatikva is our national anthem.

In any case, in a separate article, I discussed the issue: I argued that as sovereigns in our own indigenous homeland, we are free to write our future according to our values. If our values are Jewish supremacist, then that is the way the country will grow, but if our values are moral and inclusive, that means that all our citizens, Jews and non-Jews, will continue to have equal rights to pursue their individual and family goals (but not national goals that would undermine the nation of Israel).

For those who contend that non-Jews cannot stand up and sing Hatikva, let me present you with one Druze man’s feelings about HaTikva:

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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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In a word, the secret is Zionism - by Vic Rosenthal

...PM Begin realized that we need more than military strength to survive – we need to care about each other and our nation. And despite the sometimes deafening disagreements, we do.

Vic Rosenthal..
Abu Yehuda..
18 May '18..
Link: http://abuyehuda.com/2018/05/the-secret-is-zionism/

I attended a lecture on Monday by Moti Toledo, who participated in Operation Solomon, the 36-hour airlift of about 15,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel while Ethiopia was in the throes of revolution.

Religious people can be excused for believing that miracles occurred during the operation. An El Al 747 with all its seats removed set the world record for number of people on a commercial aircraft, carrying 1088 passengers (two or three of them were babies born on the flight to Israel). According to the secular Toledo, the runway at that time was not considered long enough for even a normally-loaded 747, and the plane struggled to get airborne before it ran out of runway. An unexpected gust of wind came along from precisely the right direction, just in time. Make of this what you will.

This was after several covert operations had brought thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel, including the fascinating “Operation Brothers,” a Mossad-operated diving resort in Sudan (a country as hostile to Israel as any you can think of) which operated during 1981-5, and succeeded in rescuing some 12,000 Jews.

The efforts to get the Ethiopian Jews to Israel began after then Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef wrote a letter to Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Supposedly, Begin then called the head of the Mossad, and told him “Bring me my brothers, the Jews of Ethiopia.”

Toledo said that the story of the Ethiopian Jews illustrates the connection between the State of Israel and the Jewish people. Israel is and will always be a place of refuge and a protector of Jews everywhere. I can’t think of another country that has this kind of relationship with its people (and I am using “people” in its tribal sense). Perhaps if there will be an independent Kurdistan, there could be one more.

He also mentioned that when he gave a presentation in Europe, a non-Jewish person said to him that they too wished they had a place of refuge, the way Jews did. It reminded me of what an African-American Muslim said to my wife and I when we were about to make aliyah in 1979: “I wish we knew where our home was.”

In Israel, the equation is very clear, but if we must walk the tightrope, why not dance across it? - by Rain Forest

...We didn’t ask to live with the sharks swimming below us. Every time one of us falls, we all fall. The pain is devastating… there really are no words to describe it. At the same time, if we must walk the tightrope, why not dance across it? What could be more glorious?

Forest Rain..
Inspiration from Zion..
28 April '18..

I’ve heard that people who are bipolar often go off their medication because, although the lows of depression are difficult and sometimes even dangerous, the highs they experience are so thrilling, they don’t want to give them up for the sake of being normal. The highs open the door to genius, to creativity, to the sublime.

And it is impossible to attain the high, without also experiencing the low.

The Israeli experience is something like this. I hesitate to compare my beloved country to a disorder but like the bipolar person, our “normal” isn’t normal.

Everyday life in Israel is about as normal as casually making sandwiches for the kids while walking on a tightrope, with no safety net, over a sea of blood-thirsty sharks. We do make fabulous sandwiches – as well as self-driving cars, solutions for world water shortages and cures for cancers – with a smile and full of joy for life – on the tightrope, over the sharks.

Some days are more intense than others. Probably (unless there is a war), the most intense day of the year is the day of Yom Hazikaron, IDF Memorial Day, which at night becomes Israel’s Independence Day.

On Yom Hazikaron my family attends the ceremony held at the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa. The children of the school attend as well as many of the school’s alumni. There is something special about generations of alumni coming together, on this important day.

The Reali was founded in 1913. The State of Israel had not yet been formally re-established but this did not stop the Jewish community in Palestine (Eretz Yisrael) from building institutions of education for the next generations, the new Jews who would be free in their homeland and be educated in Hebrew, the language of their ancestors.

The ceremony at the Reali is probably the most impressive and moving Yom Hazikaron ceremony in the country. Israelis are notoriously bad at ceremonies. Pomp and circumstance is a foreign concept, there is something about focusing on the way things look (rather than their content) that goes against Israeli nature.

The Reali ceremony is simple, yet profound.

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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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