Who's Afraid of Israeli Democracy?

Daniel Greenfield
Sultan Knish
28 December '10

Haven't you heard, Israeli democracy is in danger. That's the latest media talking point on Israel. And where is the threat to Israeli democracy coming from? From its democracy. Confused? That's probably because you think that the word 'democracy' has something to do with the popular vote and the right of every person, irrespective of their religion, country of origin or accent to vote for the party of their choice. As misguided as the vote may be. When it actually means the right of media pundits, academics and elitist judges to dictate how the country is run based on the values of a entitled upper class scrambling to hold on to power.

Out of their concern for Israeli democracy, the American media and the Obama Administration have been pressuring Netanyahu to "broaden" his coalition by replacing the Shas party of Middle Eastern Jews and the Israel is Our Home party of Russian immigrants, with the Kadima party. Traditionally calls for a broader coalition usually mean one that represents more of the country. But due to their fear for "Israeli democracy", this is actually a call for a coalition that represents fewer sectors of the country.

Liberals who usually value diversity in everything, want to close the door on a broad coalition in Israel. Why? Because Middle Eastern Jews and Russian immigrants tend to be right-wing, and diversity is only a legitimate value when it serves to promote the left. But when the right wins elections, suddenly the pundits rush to their keyboards to type out an urgent telegraphic warning. DEMOCRACY THREATENED BY DEMOCRACY. STOP. DEMOCRACY MUST BE ABOLISHED TO PRESERVE DEMOCRACY. STOP. But if democracy threatens democracy, it's not democracy that's under fire. It's the insistence of a small group of powerful people on getting their way regardless of what the public wants.

(Read full "Who's Afraid of Israeli Democracy?")

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Mr. Netanyahu, Just What Is "Clear", And To Whom?

Yisrael Medad
My Right Word
28 December '10

From PM Netanyahu's Channel #10 Interview (as communicated by the Prime Minister’s Media Adviser)

Following are excerpts from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's interview yesterday evening (Monday), 27.12.10, with Israel's Channel 10 News:

...Prime Minister Netanyahu: "I have set very clear policy; I did this in my 14.6.09 Bar-Ilan University speech. There I said as follows: If the Palestinians recognize a Jewish State, if they shelve the idea of the Palestinian refugees' right of return, if they have a demilitarized Palestinian state that recognizes the Jewish state – I tell you here and now that I will go with this to the end and that no coalition consideration will stop me, and I have no doubt that a majority will support me."

I think the opposing side has been very clear in its opposition to this policy, its refusal to acknowledge Israel's inherent Jewish character, its refusal to permit Jews to reside in "Palestine" if it will ever be established, their refusal to yield on a supposed 'right of return' that doesn't exist, their unwillingness not only to become demilitarized but to surrender to terror option.

Mr. Prime Minister, isn't that clear?

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Should we have stayed in Egypt?

Fresnozionism.org
28 December '10

I have a problem with this.

Gil Troy denounces what he calls “Zionist racism”:

…in a strange perversion whereby victims of a smear absorb some characteristics bigots attribute to them, an ugly strain of Israeli racism is festering, threatening to delegitimize Zionism from within. Silent centrists must not stand by, idly watching racist rabbis in Tsfat ban selling houses to Arabs, young Jewish hooligans in Jerusalem beat Arabs, and loud bigots rally against Arabs and immigrants in Bat Yam and Tel Aviv. Zionists must reject these immoral and outrageous acts as unwelcome in our otherwise big broad Zionist tent devoted to building a thriving, democratic Jewish state in the Jewish people’s traditional homeland.

Jewish racists betray Judaism and Jewish history. Having taught the world how humane and open religion can be, we must never forget Judaism’s sensitivity to others. Having suffered from discrimination, we must never practice it.

Similarly, Zionist racists betray Zionism and the Zionist mission. Zionism’s rise is intertwined with liberal democratic nationalism, mixing ethnic and civic nationalism. And Zionism’s mandate to end anti-Semitism must never degenerate into discrimination against others.

First of all, I want to say that Troy is a Zionist and I often entirely agree with him. But this is unhelpful.

(Read full "Should we have stayed in Egypt?")

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The Two Essential Questions Regarding Palestinian Statehood

Moshe Dann
pajamasmedia.com
28 December '10

When the PLO was founded in 1964, “liberation” included all of Israel. In 1974, the UN granted the PLO non-state diplomatic status; its mission was, and is, to “liberate Palestine.” All of it. That goal has not changed.

In 1988, when the Palestine National Council on behalf of the PLO — “the sole representative of the Palestinian people” — declared a state of Palestine, they referred to UN Resolution 181 (passed in 1947) which suggested a division of British Mandate Palestine. Arabs had refused to recognize Israel then, and still do.

Palestinian leaders say that they recognize the fact of Israel’s existence, but not its right to exist as a sovereign Jewish state; they reject not only the idea of Jewish nationalism but its historical, ideological, and legal basis. This is explicit in the PLO and Hamas charters and the “temporary Basic Law” of the Palestinian Authority, which affirms “the national and historical rights of the Palestinian people” according to the PLO.

(Read full "The Two Essential Questions Regarding Palestinian Statehood")

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The Holocaust's Boomerang Effect On Public Diplomacy

Honest Reporting/Backspin
28 December '10


I was never comfortable with the way Israel has over-emphasized the connection between the Holocaust and the founding of the state. Benny Levy's compelling commentary in YNet News strikes a chord with me:

When President Obama asserted in his Cairo speech that the aspirations for a Jewish homeland originated in our undeniably tragic history, many around here were insulted. “Why did he say that? After all, we’re not here because of the Holocaust.” Yet Obama is not at fault. After all, the Holocaust is the narrative presented by Israel itself to its guests (and to its own sons.)
. . . .

The custom of bringing Israel’s guests to Yad Vashem first carries a loud message. It creates the impression that the Holocaust is the reason and justification for the state’s existence; it places Israel on a podium of victimization, refugees, and the quest for a shelter.

However, Israel’s pillars were laid dozens of years before the Holocaust. Its cornerstone is the Zionist idea. Israel is first and foremost a national revival enterprise. Israel is first and foremost a national revival enterprise. Historian Barbara Tuchman once wrote that Israel is the only nation in the world “that is governing itself in the same territory, under the same name, and with the same religion and same language as it did 3,000 years ago."

Indeed, plenty of Western journalists assume that Jewish connections to the Holy Land began only date back to 1917, 1948, even 1967.

There are connections between the Holocaust and Israel's founding. But years of over-emphasis are having a boomerang effect on Israel's public diplomacy.

Read the whole article

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How many governments or terrorist movements on your national border openly seek your country’s annihilation?

Adam Levick
CiF Watch
28 December '10


If your answer is “None”, then:

- You’re not a citizen of Israel
- You’re more likely to view the Israel section of the Guardian as serious reading

Muhammad Deif, the commander of Hamas’ military wing, said, on Christmas Day, that the Palestinians will not give up their struggle until Israel ceases to exist.

Meanwhile, a collective yawn was heard emanating from the offices of the Guardian.

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The Phantom Palestinian State -- Some Questions

Daled Amos
28 December '10

by Jonathan Rosenblum
Yated Ne'eman
December 22, 2010

Three South American countries – Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay -- have formally recognized a Palestinian state defined by the 1949 armistice lines, and the European Union has expressed its intention of doing so at the appropriate time. The Palestinian Authority claims that ten European states have already committed to full diplomatic relations with the phantom state of Palestine.

The Palestinians have been down this road before. In 1988, before Oslo and before the Paletinian Authority, they persuaded over 100 nations to duly recognize a Palestinian state, with precious little to show for it. What more do the Palestinians hope to achieve this time? And what claim do they have to such recognition?

The answer to the first question would seem to be: To further delegitimize Israel in the West. The Palestinians have always viewed time as on their side. They trust that their growing numbers and arsenals, coupled with Jewish weariness, will eventually allow them to destroy the Jewish state. And every diminution of Western support for Israel, every successful effort to portray Israel as a rogue state denying the Palestinians their legitimate rights, encourages the Palestinians in their belief that the future is theirs and further demoralizes Israelis.

(Read full "The Phantom Palestinian State -- Some Questions")

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Iranians stir up hatred with invented massacre

Bataween
Point of No Return
27 December '10

Point of No Return has already flagged the worrying threats by Iranian fundamentalists against the Jewish holy shrines of Esther and Mordechai. Now condemnation comes from an unexpected source - The Guardian. In a post on the Comment is Free website, Meir Javedanfar shows how the Ahmadinejad government has been resurrrecting Orwellian fabrications and inversions last used against the Jews by Iranian pro-Nazis in the 1940s.

On 10 December, 250 Basij students from Abu Ali Sina University in the Iranian city of Hamedan gathered in front of the mausoleum of two Jewish saints and threatened to tear it down, in revenge for what the students claimed were Israeli threats to infringe on the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

The graves are those of Esther and Mordechai. Esther was the second wife of Xerxes I (the Great) (486-465BCE, also known as Khashayarsha in Persian), the fourth Zoroastrian king of the Achamenid Empire. Esther was a Jew who moved to Persia after the Babylonian captivity of the Israelites (6th century BCE). King Xerxes also appointed Mordechai, who was Esther's cousin and had raised her, as a royal court adviser. The king's vizier, Haman, plotted to kill Mordechai, who refused to bow down to Haman, and all the Jews of Persia. That plan was foiled and King Xerxes, who wanted to protect his country's Jews, hanged Haman and his 10 sons instead.

Since then, every year on the 14th day in the Hebrew calendar month of Adar, Jews everywhere celebrate the deliverance of Persia's Jews from death. Children and adults go to synagogues and read the Book of Esther all over the world, including in Iran.

The hostile act of tearing down part of the tomb is unprecedented in the modern history of Iran, as graves of Jewish saints in Iran (which also include Daniel) have always been considered holy and respected by Jews and Muslims alike. In fact, many Muslim families go to such graves to pray for the health of their loved ones, alongside their Jewish compatriots.

(Read full "Iranians stir up hatred with invented massacre")

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Evil Zionist Jellyfish terrorize Egyptians

Elder of Ziyon
28 December '10

From MEMRI:

Following is an interview with Mustafa Ismail, an Egyptian diving instructor, which aired on Egyptian TV on December 5, 2010:

Interviewer: What do you think are the reasons for [the Sinai shark attacks]? I am concerned resident of Sharm Al-Sheik.

Mustafa Ismail: You want me to be frank?

Interviewer: Yes.

Mustafa Ismail: The fish that caused the problem is not a sea fish. This type of shark is not a sea shark.

Interviewer: What kind of shark is it?

Mustafa Ismail: An ocean shark. This type of shark migrates from South Africa all the way to the top of the Earth. They don't enter alleys. The Red Sea is an alley compared to the ocean.

Interviewer: That much we know. What made it go into this alley?

Mustafa Ismail: The real question is: Who made it go into the alley? I will talk about something else, and then come back to this. Do you remember that when we were kids, the jellyfish in Alexandria would sting? Back home, in Al-Ghardaqa and in the Red Sea, you could roll the jellyfish in your hands and nothing would happen. Okay? There are all kinds of jellyfish. We would cut them up with a knife and use them for fish bait.

(Read full "Evil Zionist Jellyfish terrorize Egyptians")

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Who Is Really Trying To Kill The Peace Process -- and Why

Khaled Abu Toameh
Hudson New York
28 December '01

The Palestinian Authority is threatening that the peace process would be harmed if Israel launched a military operation to stop the rockets and missiles that are being fired from the Gaza Strip.

In other words, the Palestinian Authority leadership is warning Israel against defending itself from the attacks carried out by Hamas and other radical Islamic groups in the Gaza Strip.

Apparently, the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank believes that the rockets and missiles that have been pouring on Israel in recent weeks are beneficial to the peace process.

There is no doubt that another war in the Gaza Strip would be disastrous for the Palestinians living there. But the best way to avoid such a war is by calling on Hamas and the other radical groups to stop the attacks.

There is, additionally, a large degree of hypocrisy in the Palestinian Authority's position regarding the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks have shown that the Palestinian Authority leadership actually appealed for Israel's help to get rid of Hamas: there were countless reports indicating that the Palestinian Authority -- expelled by Hamas from the Gaza Strip in 2007 -- had actually assisted Israel during Operation Cast Lead against Hamas two years ago.

Once attacks stopped, Israel would have no excuse to wage another war in the Gaza Strip.

Those who are firing the rockets and missiles are trying to drag Israel into another confrontation that would undoubtedly claim the lives of many Palestinians.

It is possible that those behind the attacks on Israel are seeking to divert attention from Iran's ongoing efforts to destabilize the region. The upsurge in the attacks on Israel come as an international tribunal prepares to hold Hizbullah responsible for the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

(Read full "Who Is Really Trying To Kill The Peace Process -- and Why")

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Avigdor Lieberman is right again

Fresnozionism.org
28 December '10

News item:

In the harshest public words by an Israeli minister toward Turkey in months, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Sunday that Ankara’s demand for an apology over the Mavi Marmara incident is “beyond chutzpa.”

“There will be no apologies, and if so, we’re waiting for one from Turkey,” Lieberman said at an annual gathering of Israel’s ambassadors and counsel-generals at the Foreign Ministry. Ankara needed to apologize for its cooperation with terrorists, such as the IHH – which organized the violent incident aboard the Mavi Marmara – Hamas and Hizbullah, he said…

Lieberman’s comments came on the same day that some 10,000 people welcomed the Mavi Marmara back to Istanbul. Hundreds of balloons were released as the ship sailed into Istanbul’s Sarayburnu port, following repairs at a port on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. The activists, mostly members of pro-Islamic groups, waved Palestinian and Turkish flags and chanted “Down with Israel” and “Allah is Great” as they greeted the vessel. Protesters also boarded boats to welcome the approaching ship, which was adorned with a poster of the nine Turks killed during the raid.

Welfare and Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog [Labor Party] took issue with Lieberman’s comments, issuing a statement saying that as foreign minister Lieberman does not understand that his job was to “open doors,” not slam them shut.

Herzog said that [Turkish FM] Davutoglu’s comments in their entirety showed that he was interested in reconciliation with Israel and indicated that a “window of opportunity has been opened to renew relations between the two countries.”

Herzog said Israel did not have the “privilege” to miss this opportunity, even if it “demands Israeli flexibility,” and that a way to repair ties with Turkey needed to be found, even if it entailed “bypassing” Lieberman.

In many ways nations aren’t like people. Applying ideas that normally apply to relations between individuals to relations between nations can be what philosophers call a ‘category mistake’.

(Read full "Avigdor Lieberman is right again")

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"Built in a Day" (1938 video)

Elder of Ziyon
27 December '10

A video showing the building of Kibbutz Tirat Zvi, a tower and stockade settlement that had to be built in a single day to defend itself against terrorists and robbers.

Note that the Jews are greeted warmly by their new Arab neighbors.



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AP recasts Palestinian terror war as 'Israeli-Palestinian violence'

Leo Rennert
American Thinker
27 December '10

The Associated Press, in a post-Christmas dispatch, distributed an article from Jerusalem about 2010 turning into a record tourism year for Israel.

One would think that since this calls for a simple rewrite of a Tourism Ministry press release that only deals with numbers of visitors to Israel, the AP would play it straight.

It does not.

Even in what seems at first an innocuous, straightforward bit of news, leave it to some reporter and editor at the AP to inject an anti-Israel poison pill into the dispatch, which found its way into hundreds, perhaps thousands, of media outlets around the world.

In accounting for the upsurge in tourists, the AP contrasts recently improved security with waves of "Israeli-Palestinian violence" in the last decade.

What a neat way to sanitize a Palestinian war terror war against Israel.

At the AP apparently, "intifada" -- a gentle Arabic euphemism for a Palestinian "uprising" that killed more than 1,000 Israeli civilians post-2000 -- is no longer a sufficient disguise to let the Palestinian side off the hook.

(Read full "AP recasts Palestinian terror war as 'Israeli-Palestinian violence'")

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Remembering The War Hamas Declared On Israel--3 Days Before Operation Cast Lead

Daled Amos
27 December '10

Three days before Israel's Operation Cast Lead on December 27, 2008--Hamas declared war on Israel:
From Ma'an:

Hamas: 87 shells fired at Israeli targets in 24 hours


Published Thursday 25/12/2008 10:19

Gaza - Ma'an - The military wing affiliated to Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades released a statement on Thursday morning briefing the group's military activities over the first twenty four hours of an operation they called "Oil Stain" which started Wednesday morning.

According to the statement, a total of 87 shells have been fired at Israeli targets bordering the Gaza Strip including 54 mortar shells, 31 homemade projectiles which Hamas calls "Qassam", and two Soviet-made Grad missiles.

Al-Qassa Brigades threatened to enlarge the "Oil Stain" to get more thousands of Israelis "under fire". The group asserted that its fighters are "far greater than surrendering to Israeli threats and that they became much more prepared to counter Israeli aggression and to defend themselves than in the past."

(Read full "Remembering The War Hamas Declared On Israel")

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The wars of 2011

Israel must be prepared for two things this upcoming year: A missile war with Hamas and a political war with Fatah.

Caroline B. Glick
Column One/JPost
28 December '10

On Sunday thousands of Israel haters gathered in Istanbul to welcome the Turkish-Hamas terror ship Mavi Marmara to the harbor. Festooned with Palestinian flags, the crowd chanted “Death to Israel,” “Down with Israel” and “Allah akbar” with Hizbullah-like enthusiasm.

The Turkish protesters promised to stand on the side of Hamas when it next goes to war with Israel. They may not have to wait long to keep their promise. Over the past two weeks Hamas has steeply escalated its missile war with over 30 launches. Last week, a missile that narrowly missed a nursery school wounded a young girl.

Since Operation Cast Lead two years ago, Iran has helped Hamas massively increase its missile and other military capabilities. Today the terror group that rules Gaza has missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv. It has advanced antitank missiles. As Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said Saturday, “We are now stronger than before and during the war, and our silence over the past two years was only for evaluating the situation.”

That evaluation has not tempered Hamas’s aim of annihilating the Jews of Israel. As Obeida’s colleague Ahmed Jaabari said Saturday, Israel’s Jews have two choices, “death or departing Palestinian lands.”

IDF commanders are taking Hamas’s new brinksmanship seriously. In recent days several have said that Israel’s deterrence has eroded. Another Cast Lead is just a matter of time, they warn.

In the meantime, Fatah – Hamas’s sometime rival and sometime brother – is preparing its next round of political warfare with its many friends around the world. Despite some recent tactical repositioning, its goal is clearly to proceed with its plan to declare statehood with maximum international support within the next nine to 12 months.

(Read full "The wars of 2011")

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Post-Christmas Morning In Silwan

Honest Reporting/Backspin
27 December '10

After seeing this AFP/Getty photo (via IsraellyCool), my first impression was that the photographer in the foreground was likely to get hit by a recoiling slingshot strap. Such is post-Christmas in Silwan.

But on closer look, the slingshot seems too small; the other kid clutching a rock in the background looks more likely to hit any Israeli policemen. At least the mask is an age-appropriate size.

A photographer take photos of Palestinian youth using a slingshot during minor clashes which erupt in the East Jerusalem's Silwan neighborhood on December 26, 2010, as Israeli police increased security in the area to avoid clashes following a municipality order to evict a Palestinian family from their house.

What kind of deliveries is Santa making in eastern Jerusalem?

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Rewriting history: Palestinian history fabricated

Palestinian Media Watch (PMW)
(This topic will be expanded
and updated regularly)

Rewriting the history of the Land of Israel in order to deny Israel's right to exist is central to Palestinian Authority (PA) policy. Long before it started the Terror War in 2000, the PA was fighting a history war – erasing Jewish history and replacing it with a fabricated Palestinian history. This rewriting has two central goals:

1- Erase the Jewish nation's 3,000 year history in the Land of Israel;
2- Invent ancient Palestinian, Muslim and Arab histories in the land.

The goal of this historical revision as a political strategy was first expressed publicly at a conference of Palestinian historians in 1998, when rewriting history was linked to the political goal of denying Israel's right to exist:
"Dr. Yussuf Alzamili [Chairman History Department, Khan Yunis Educational College] called on all universities and colleges to write the history of Palestine and to guard it, and not to enable the [foreign] implants and enemies to distort it or to legitimize the existence of Jews on this land... [History lecturer Abu Amar] clarified that there is no connection between the ancient generation of Jews and the new generation." [Al-Ayyam, Dec. 4, 1998].



Erasing Jewish history in the land of Israel is followed by the PA’s invention of ancient and modern histories that support its political ideology and claim to the land of Israel. The Holocaust and other aspects of Jewish history are alternately denied, downplayed or distorted. Another distortion is to hide from Palestinians that Jesus was a Jew who lived in the Land of Judea/Israel. PA leaders repeatedly define Jesus as a Palestinian who preached Islam, thus denying not only Jewish history, but also the history and legitimacy of Christianity.

Citing numerous examples, this section will document that these and other historical revisions are an integral part of Palestinian policy and are used to create political ideology.

(Read full "Rewriting history")

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The false framework of the Gaza war

Elder of Ziyon
27 December '10

Today is the second anniversary of the beginning of Operation Cast Lead - but it is not the anniversary of the beginning of the Gaza War.

On the very first day of OCL, I pointed out something that has been all but ignored by the media (but that I had mentioned earlier): Hamas declared war on Israel on December 24th, a full three days before Cast Lead.


From Ma'an, December 25th, 2008:

The military wing affiliated to Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades released a statement on Thursday morning briefing the group's military activities over the first twenty four hours of an operation they called "Oil Stain" which started Wednesday morning.

According to the statement, a total of 87 shells have been fired at Israeli targets bordering the Gaza Strip including 54 mortar shells, 31 homemade projectiles which Hamas calls "Qassam", and two Soviet-made Grad missiles.

Al-Qassam Brigades threatened to enlarge the "Oil Stain" to get more thousands of Israelis "under fire". The group asserted that its fighters are "far greater than surrendering to Israeli threats and that they became much more prepared to counter Israeli aggression and to defend themselves than in the past."

Even after Cast Lead started, Hamas - in Arabic - continued to call the war "Oil Stain." For example, on December 30th, an article in the Palestine Today website brags that "Operation Oil Stain" had been expanded and a Grad rocket had reached Beersheva for the first time.

(Read full "The false framework of the Gaza war")

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Palestine Is Like Facebook (But Gaza Is Like Twitter)

Daled Amos
27 December '10

I like this comparison that Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon in response to the recent spate of South American countries that have come out in recognition of a Palestinian state. Ayalon compares recognizing a Palestinian state with 'liking' in Facebook:

"Facebook is the 'like' state, and so is the Palestinian state recognized in Brasilia and Buenos Aires," said Ayalon. "Irresponsible governments are quick to 'like' the Palestinian state without actually checking out its profile: an authority without sovereignty, with no borders or territorial continuity, no economic ability or democratic culture."

Pursuing the comparison one step further, it only makes sense to compare Gaza with Twitter--
both are prone to outages.

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Those Contradictory Militants

Eric Rozenman
CAMERA Media Analysis
21 December '10


I Say Terrorist, You Say Militant ... Let’s Call Reporting Off.

A caution signal about news media reliability regarding Arab-Israeli coverage has long been the use of "militant" as a sanitizing substitute for "terrorist" in describing attackers of Israeli non-combatants.

Terrorism, defined by the U.S. Law Code, Title 22, Chapter 38, Paragraph 2656 f(d) and used in the State Department’s annual reports to Congress is "... premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents ...." The Department of Defense definition recognizes that terrorism is a crime: "The calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear, intended to coerce or intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious or ideological." No cause, leaders as different as Pope John Paul II and former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan have asserted, justifies terrorism.

Regardless, journalists reporting on news that meets the definition — civilian bus bombing or school shooting, for example — but committed by members of a group about which they are poorly informed or sympathetic too, have been prone to see not crime but protest. Hence the formulation, subscribed to by former National Public Radio Jerusalem correspondent Linda Gradstein, among others, that "one person’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter." Thus, over decades of Arab-Israeli coverage, terrorists often became militants.

(Read full "Those Contradictory Militants")

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