Surprise? BBC News amplifies church leaders’ Nazi analogy yet again - by Hadar Sela

...The fact that those “Christian leaders” chose to make such an unfounded and abhorrent analogy is of course deeply worrying. The fact that the BBC chose to uncritically amplify that statement twice in the space of three days is of no less concern.

Hadar Sela..
BBC Watch..
01 March '18..

The re-opening of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after a three-day closure was the topic of a report that appeared on the BBC News website on February 28th under the headline “Jerusalem: Christianity’s ‘holiest site’ Holy Sepulchre reopens after protest“.

“The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem has reopened, three days after Christian leaders closed it in protest at plans to tax Church properties in the city. […]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday there would be negotiations to try to resolve the dispute, prompting the mayor [of Jerusalem] to suspend changes.”

The report goes on to mislead readers by stating that:

“Church officials also objected to a bill the Israeli government was considering, which they feared would let the state claim Church-owned land.” [emphasis added]

The bill concerned does nothing of the sort.

(Continue to Full Post)

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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J Street, hypocrisy and Holocaust analogies: you can’t have it both ways - by Stephen M. Flatow

...So pardon me if I'm not impressed by J Street's indignation about David Friedman. When it consistently speaks out against Holocaust analogies—including those made by its executive committee member, Aaron Rice; its donor, George Soros; and its endorsee, Keith Ellison—then J Street might be taken a little more seriously. But I’m not going to hold my breath.

Stephen M. Flatow..
JNS.org..
21 December '16..

J Street and like-minded groups are denouncing Donald Trump’s ambassador-designate to Israel, David Friedman, over a comment Friedman once made comparing Jewish advocates of the Palestinian cause to Jews who collaborated with the Nazis.

I'm not particularly comfortable with Holocaust analogies. But I'm also not particularly comfortable with hypocrisy. In a fundraising email this week, J Street denounced Friedman's "horrifically offensive rhetoric." Yet just days ago, the same J Street publicly endorsed a candidate for the chairmanship of the Democratic Party who compared President George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler.

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), who is seeking to head the Democratic National Committee, made his Hitler remark in 2007, so J Street can't dismiss it as something he said when he was in college. And Ellison's remark was videotaped, so nobody can claim it was edited or taken out of context.

(Continue to Full Post)

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

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 Moral Emptiness of Those Who Misappropriate the Holocaust to Libel Israel

...Sanctioning such propaganda by stamping it with the moral authority that supposedly belongs to Holocaust survivors does not turn these lies into truth. What it does instead is expose as fraudulent the claims of certain Holocaust survivors and their kin to possessing an enlarged moral and political consciousness.

Stephen Stotsky..
CAMERA Snapshots..
28 August '14..

Alvin Rosenfeld, professor of English and Jewish Studies and director of Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism at Indiana University, addresses the disturbing phenomenon of self-proclaimed Holocaust survivors arrogating moral authority from their status as victims to turn public opinion against Israel. In his piece, "Moral Emptiness of Holocaust Survivors Who Took on Israel," appearing in the Forward, Rosenfeld discusses the recent advertisement in The New York Times by a group of "Holocaust survivors and descendants of survivors" who cast Israelis as the new Nazis, threatening genocide against the Palestinians.

Rosenfeld establishes that "Jews deriding and defaming other Jews" is not new and provides an anecdote about Hitler and his cohorts taking pleasure in observing such a spectacle.

Rosenfeld gets right to the point in exposing what motivated the Times advertisement,

Israel’s war with Hamas has exacted many casualties, but nothing remotely like “genocide” is taking place in Gaza. Why, then, charge Israel with a crime of this kind and magnitude? Those who are on to the rhetoric of “anti-Zionism” will instantly recognize this language for what it is: a collection of familiar political clichés employed time and again by the purveyors of anti-Israel vilification.

It is important to point out that only a portion of the 327 signators to the letter accusing Israel of Nazi-like aggression are actually Holocaust survivors, many more have tenuous connections.

Rosenfeld offers sage advice on how one can be alert to such twisted moral posturing,

Hyperbole and the "Holocaust in Gaza"

...Another way of putting this: African-American residents of many major American cities experience about a 3 to 5 times higher risk of dying from random urban violence than a Palestinian in the West Bank or Gaza from Israeli military responses to terrorism. When was the last time someone - who was taken seriously - invoked incendiary terms like "genocide" "massacre" or "ethnic cleansing" to describe the level of violence visited upon African-Americans in urban America ?

Stephen Stotsky..
CAMERA Snapshots..
25 August '14..

According to Yahoo News, "The political chief of Hamas has called on President Barack Obama to intervene with the Israeli government ... to stop a 'holocaust' against the Palestinians."

Meshal's alarming statement might go unrecognized as the moral perversion that it is if one only read the The New York Times, with its flow of news dispatches and Op-Eds devoted to the situation in Gaza. Even the slaughter in Iraq and Syria and numerous seething conflicts from Ukraine to Africa do not slow the deluge of articles and opinion pieces conveying the message that Israel is guilty of reckless destruction and probably war crimes in its response to Hamas's rocket fire.

In such an environment emerged the outrageous paid advertisement appearing in The New York Times National edition on Aug. 23, 2014, bearing the signatures of some 300 individuals wrapping themselves in the mantle of "Jewish survivors and descendants of survivors of the Nazi genocide" and accusing Israel of committing a "massacre" and of ongoing "occupation" and "colonization of historic Palestine."

Leave aside for the time being this grotesque abuse of the historical consciousness of the genocide of the Jewish people in order to promote a new campaign to isolate and demonize Jews and set the stage for a repeat of past horrors. It is also instructive to look at the raw numbers of real campaigns of massacre and genocide and contrast them to the situation in Gaza [and the West Bank] in order to comprehend the deceit, the anti-historical mendacity of those who would use the language of mass murder and victimization to promote a new blood libel against the Jewish state and people.

Here are some numbers to digest:

From June 22, 1941 until May 8, 1945, about five and a half million Jews perished as a result of the German-inspired genocide against the Jews. That calculates to 3,890 Jewish children, women and men put to death every single day for 1414 days. This slaughter was in turn a hot spot within a conflagration driven by German supremacism that took 35 million lives in Europe alone, amounting to nearly 25,000 war-related deaths every single day for 1414 days.

Now if this comparison seems too jarring for New York Times' cultivated readers - let's not forget the Times never gave the Holocaust of European Jewry the sort of front page coverage it gives to Gaza - let's turn the dial down two orders of magnitude and look at the most violent conflict currently raging in the Middle East. In Syria and Iraq over the past three and a half years, at least 250,000 children, women and men have perished in civil conflicts, amounting to nearly 200 human beings per day for 1260 days. Low by World War II standards, but still an alarming number.

Slander on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day - Dissecting a piece of trash

Ray Cook..
As I See It..
26 January '13..



David Ward MP is in a spot of bother with the Liberal Democrats.

On the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day in the UK he chose to make the following slanderous comparison between Israeli Jews and Nazi Germany:

” [he was] “saddened that the Jews, who suffered unbelievable levels of persecution during the Holocaust, could within a few years of liberation from the death camps be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians in the new State of Israel and continue to do so on a daily basis in the West Bank and Gaza”.

Even to rebut this piece of trash is like trying to respond to a ‘when did you stop beating your wife’ question, but here goes.

There are about a hundred things wrong with this statement so let’s dissect it.

Firstly he makes the telling conflation of Jews and Israelis. Is he really saying that, given his statement that ‘atrocities’ are and have been visited upon Palestinians that the Jews are responsible wherever they are in the world? Israel may be the nation state of the Jews but not all Jews live there or even identify with it.

Second: he uses that trick which others have used before; to be ever so sorry about the Holocaust and to tell us how awfully the Jews were treated and then go on to accuse them of ‘not learning the lesson’ of the Holocaust as if it’s the victims who have a lesson to learn and not the perpetrators. it also conveniently avoids the fact that it is Israel’s and the Jews’ enemies who daily proclaim their wish to annihilate Israel and the Jewish people: Hamas, Hizbollah and the Iranian regime.

Third: He says ‘within a few years’ of the lesson that the world taught the Jews, they were themselves perpetrating atrocities. Oh, really. In the 19 years between the declaration of the State of Israel when it was attacked by armies of the Arab League intending to finish Hitler’s work, until 1967 when the same Arab League lost a war in 6 days and had to concede territory after attacking Israel once again, all the ‘atrocities’ were against the Jews.

PA Hits the September Hatred Jackpot - Israel "more loathsome" than Nazis

Itamar Marcus/Barbara Crook..
Palestinian Media Watch..
23 September '12..



Israel's treatment of Palestinians is worse than anything carried out by Hitler and the Nazis during the Holocaust, according to the official Palestinian Authority daily newspaper.

Three recent articles in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida claim that Israel's behavior is worse than that of the Nazis. The articles use such terms as "loathsome," "dangerous and criminal" and "despicable" to describe Israel's treatment of Palestinians and Arabs.

Palestinian Media Watch has documented PA Holocaust denial and distortion.

The following are excerpts from the three articles:

"It looks like the Palestinian National Authority is simultaneously facing war on a number of fronts...
Among the volatile topics is the insane settlement enterprise that the Netanyahu government continues, using racist settlers, who behave more like wounded and mad wolves aroused by the smell of blood, and whose actions against our people are more loathsome than any Zionist story about the Nazi Holocaust."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 6, 2012]

Frantzman - Victims of unoriginality

Seth J. Frantzman..
Terra Incognita/JPost..
20 March '12..

‘The perception of Israeli-Jewish victimhood, which was always present in the Jewish narrative and Jewish thought, became even stronger after the Holocaust and serves to give Israel political legitimacy.”

These were the words that Haaretz columnist Akiva Eldar used in a recent oped praising a book – The Israeli Victim-Perpetrator Dichotomy – by Emek Yezreel College’s Ruth Amir.

“Israel sees itself as a victim [which] justifies its aggression and injustice. With the help of guilt-neutralizing mechanisms, Israelis... absolve themselves of responsibility. That is why they aren’t interested in trying to correct injustices and reconcile with their neighbor,” wrote Eldar.

It is a highly appealing argument. In it, the nefarious Jews who have always constructed this fake narrative of “victimhood” exploit it in order to justify their misdeeds.

Too bad this argument is at least 50 years too late.

Film Review: Defamation

Steven Stotsky
CAMERAMedia Analysis
17 January '11

Defamation (2009)
Directed by Yoav Shamir Hebrew and English
Produced by SF – Film Production – Kopenhagen, Reveal Productions Inc.– Los Angeles, Cinephil – Tel Aviv, Knut.Ogris.Films – Wien
Distributed by Cinephil – Tel Aviv
91 minutes


Israeli filmmakers often subject their country to hypercritical scrutiny, baring every wrinkle, real or imagined. Such a no holds barred approach can serve a useful purpose by calling attention to injustice and misconduct, but in irresponsible hands it can also be abused. Many recent Israeli documentaries exhibit a troubling indifference to factual accuracy as they vie with each other to deliver the most damning rebuke of their country’s policies and intentions.

One explanation for this tendency is that Israeli filmmakers must contend with widespread sentiment in the independent film community that views Israel as a pariah state. Some filmmakers join Israel’s detractors, tapping into popular fascination with seeing Jews assail and malign other Jews. It is through this distorting prism that Yoav Shamir's documentary, Defamation, should be understood.

The film purports to be an investigation of contemporary anti-Semitism by an Israeli who says he has never personally experienced anti-Semitism, yet he notices that three words - anti-Semitism, Holocaust and Nazis - "always seem to be in the air." Puzzled by this contradiction, Shamir explains, "I decided I wanted to learn more about the subject."

It does not take long for this seemingly valid facade to fall away. Through a series of vignettes, Shamir unveils his agenda. At first it is done with some cleverness, but eventually the film reverts to a blunter approach intent on persuading viewers that anti-Semitism no longer really exists and that Jews exploit remembrance of the Holocaust for self-serving and illegitimate purposes.

Shamir elicits the image of Jews as shysters. Playful Klezmer music introduces a scene in which Shamir's grandmother affirms that "a Jew is a crook" and "they love money." This serves as a launching point for a series of vignettes featuring the staff of the New York Anti-Defamation League (ADL) along with interviews of other recognizable Jewish figures from New York. They appear preoccupied with exaggerating trivial incidences, leaving the impression that it is essentially a business scheme. Shamir even managed to find an orthodox rabbi named Shia Hecht to willingly disparage ADL chief Abe Foxman, describing him as someone who exaggerates anti-Semitism because he "needs a job."

Although the presentation is heavy handed, if the film was limited to raising questions about organizations that monitor anti-Semitism, it could be viewed as within the bounds of a provocative work.

(Read full "Film Review: Defamation")

Barack Obama’s top ten insults against Israel

Nile Gardiner
The Telegraph
26 April '10

Last week Israel celebrated its 62nd year as a nation, but there was major cause for concern amid the festivities as the Israeli people faced the looming menace of a nuclear-armed Iran, as well as the prospect of a rapidly deteriorating relationship with Washington. The Israel-bashing of the Obama administration has become so bad that even leading Democrats are now speaking out against the White House. New York Senator Chuck Schumer blasted Barack Obama’s stance towards Israel in a radio interview last week, stating his “counter-productive” Israel policy “has to stop”.

At the same time a poll was released by Quinnipiac University which showed that US voters disapproved of the president’s Israel policy by a margin of 44 to 35 percent. According to the poll, “American voters say 57 – 13 percent that their sympathies lie with Israel and say 66 – 19 percent that the president of the United States should be a strong supporter of Israel.”

I recently compiled a list of Barack Obama’s top ten insults against Britain, America’s closest ally in the world. This is a sequel of sorts, a list of major insults by the Obama administration against America’s closest ally in the Middle East, Israel. As I wrote previously on Obama’s treatment of both Britain and Israel:

In the space of just over a year, Barack Obama has managed to significantly damage relations with America’s two closest friends, while currying favour with practically every monstrous dictatorship on the face of the earth. The doctrine of “smart power” has evolved into the shameless appeasement of America’s enemies at the expense of existing alliances. There is nothing clever about this approach – it will ultimately weaken US global power and strengthen the hand of America’s enemies, who have become significantly emboldened and empowered by Barack Obama’s naïve approach since he took office.

The Obama presidency is causing immense damage to America’s standing in the free world, while projecting an image of weakness in front of hostile regimes. Its treatment of both Israel and Britain is an insult and a disgrace, and a grim reflection of an unbelievably crass and insensitive foreign policy that significantly undermines the US national interest.

So here’s my top 10 list of Obama administration insults against Israel after just 15 months in power:

(Read full article)

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