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Tuesday, May 31, 2022

From Ian:

CAMERA Op-Ed: The U.S. State Department and Antisemitism
On April 12, 2022, the State Department published its 2021 “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Israel, West Bank and Gaza.” As the Jewish Insider, among others, noted, the document relied extensively on Amnesty International, an NGO that has accused Israel of “apartheid.” But as the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) has highlighted, Amnesty’s accusations are steeped in shoddy research, double standards, and baseless claims.

The head of Amnesty’s US office, Paul O’Brien, has said that the organization is opposed to the existence of the world’s sole Jewish state. And, as NGO Monitor and CAMERA have documented, several Amnesty employees have made antisemitic comments and openly supported the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which singles out Israel for opprobrium and seeks its destruction.

In February 2022, the US Ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, even called Amnesty’s libel “absurd.”

Yet, none of this stopped the State Department from citing Amnesty. Indeed, in some quarters, it may have recommended it.

The American foreign service, it must be said, is filled with hardworking and talented professionals who, no doubt, reject hate in all its forms. There is no evidence to suggest that the majority hold views that are anti-Israel or even antisemitic. One must not paint with a broad brush. But there is evidence to suggest that anti-Israel bias, and even antisemitism, isn’t foreign to the US diplomatic corps. There was replete evidence of antisemitism during much of the 20th century, but it certainly still exists today.

One State Department official even has ties to an organization that propagates antisemitism. As the Washington Free Beacon reported in February 2021, the then-nominee for the post of Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights, Uzra Zeya, had previously worked for the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (WRMEA). As a WRMEA staffer, Zeya had helped compile research for a book that argues that “the Israel lobby has subverted the American political process to take control of US Middle East policy.”

Accusations of undue and pernicious Jewish power meet the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which has been adopted by numerous governments and entities—including the US State Department. She was later confirmed to her position.

As CAMERA highlighted, WRMEA has, among other things, implied that Israel was connected to the JFK assassination and the Sept. 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda terrorist attacks, and has published books with chapters that warn about “Jewish Power in the Formulation of US Middle East Policy.”

WRMEA has also accused Israel of profiting from the sale of human organs — a modern-day incarnation of the antisemitic blood libel.


US insists it’s committed to reopening consulate after officials tell ToI otherwise
The US is still committed to reopening its consulate in Jerusalem, State Department spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday, after US and Palestinian officials told The Times of Israel otherwise.

During a press briefing, Price was asked to respond to a Sunday Times of Israel report revealing that the Biden administration has settled on a number of steps aimed at boosting ties with the Palestinians in lieu of reopening the US Consulate in Jerusalem.

Price did not deny the report, but insisted that the US is still “committed to [re]opening a consulate in Jerusalem” — a line Biden officials have reiterated dozens of times since Secretary of State Antony Blinken first made the announcement over a year ago. The Israeli government has pushed back against the move, arguing that it is an encroachment on its sovereignty, and Washington has subsequently held off on the step, not wanting to engage in a fight with its Israeli allies.

“We continue to believe [reopening the consulate] can be an important way for our country to engage with and provide support to the Palestinian people. We’re continuing to discuss this with our Israeli and Palestinian partners and will continue to come up to consult with members of Congress as well,” Price said, refusing once again to offer a timeline for when Blinken’s pledge might be seen through.

“Meanwhile, at this very moment, we have a dedicated team of colleagues working in Jerusalem in our Palestinian Affairs [Unit] focused on engagement with an outreach to the Palestinian people,” he added, acknowledging that “there are some… unique sensitivities to [reopening] this particular facility.”

According to two US and Palestinian officials who spoke to The Times of Israel last week, US President Joe Biden will elevate Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr to the role of special envoy to the Palestinians. Amr will remain in Washington but will make regular trips to the region and work closely with the Palestinian Affairs Unit (PAU), which currently is a branch within the US Embassy to Israel and is housed in the old Jerusalem consulate building.
Gil Troy: Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s Silence Openly Approves Violence Against Jews
In an America wracked by violence, apparently it is okay to call people out to “fight with stones … fight with guns … fight with planes, drones, and rockets,” as long as the targets are Jews, and you end your call for bloodshed with those magic, cleansing words: “Free, free Palestine.”

That certainly is the impression Representative Rashida Tlaib, the Michigan Democrat, left by her silence on May 15 at a Dearborn “Nakba Day” rally she attended.

During the rally, the publisher of the Arab American News — Osama Siblani, clad jarringly in a fashionable Boss shirt — was not subtle at all in blessing the bloody, horrific axe murders, knifings, and shootings in Israel that have killed nearly 20 in the last few months — including fellow Arabs, although I count all the victims of terrorism as innocent, be they Jews or Arabs, Ukrainians or Druze.

“Do you see what is happening in Palestine?” he said. “They are striking them with their knives and with their bare hands, and they are victorious.”

Lovely. Some victory.

What kind of victory is it when a Palestinian in B’nai Brak aims at a two-year-old, but the dad turns the attempted infanticide into a mere homicide by throwing his body between the murderer and his toddler?

What kind of victory is it when that same shooter kills a Christian-Arab police officer with a Jewish girlfriend, who was probably doing more to cross lines and build bridges in the Middle East than the entire US Congress?

And what kind of victory is it when two Palestinians, using the same Jewish driver they have used before to get to work, pull out axes in Elad and start smashing his skull and others’ — murdering the driver and two other dads, while leaving others with shattered skulls housing wounds that will torment them for the rest of their lives?


Pakistani-American defends Israel visit amid criticism back home
A Pakistani-American woman who came under fire in the Islamic nation for leading a delegation to Israel defended the trip Monday, saying she traveled to Jerusalem with a small group of Muslims and non-Muslims to promote interfaith harmony.

Anila Ali, a Pakistani-born US citizen living in Washington, DC, responded to growing criticism from Pakistanis, some of whom questioned who was actually behind the visit. She said the goal of the visit was to seek truth and to reconcile Muslims and Jews.

“(The president) of Israel received us warmly, and the people of Israel opened up their hearts and homes to us and they knew that we were Muslims and they knew that we were Pakistanis,” she said, adding that Israelis knew that members of her delegation included Sikhs and Christians, and they were still welcomed.

Pakistan is among the countries that have no diplomatic relations with Israel because of the lingering issue of Palestinian statehood, and Pakistan says no delegation from Pakistan visited Israel.

Ali said she led a 15-member delegation made of Pakistani expatriates to Israel earlier this month. She told The Associated Press that neither Pakistan’s government nor the US was behind the trip.

The state-run Pakistan Television took to Twitter on Monday to say it fired news anchor Ahmed Qureshi, who visited Israel in a “personal capacity.” Qureshi was part of the delegation that visited Israel with Ali, it said.

The visit was confirmed by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who said he received the Pakistani expatriates. He spoke about the visit at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, saying it “showed me the great change” taking place in the aftermath of the Abraham Accords.
'Acceptable' antisemitism now targets AIPAC
Just last week, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution that condemned the rise of antisemitism and called on elected officials and civil society leaders to combat any and all manifestations of it. Yet antisemitism has become more and more acceptable in many circles, including mainstream US politics itself.

The latest wave of "acceptable" antisemitism involves left-wing politicians and liberal media pundits who demonize AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, for the heinous crime of participation in the American political process through its political action committee, the United Democracy Project. AIPAC supports candidates who are in favor of a strong US-Israel relationship and opposes candidates who are not. While the attacks on them have varied in form, the ultimate message is the same: everyone should feel free to lobby on issues they care about, unless they are Jewish and/or pro-Israel.

Some influential leaders, like "progressive" Senator Bernie Sanders, have gone full David Duke with their tropes about Jewish power. They spin stories about billionaire cabals that secretly pull strings to "buy elections and control this democracy." Sanders claims he is against all outside money involved in elections, but this appears to be the case only if the funds do not come from the Super PAC he founded or the one his acolyte founded, or any of the ones that support candidates he supports. Sanders has also called AIPAC and its supporters racist, sexist and anti-progressive – despite their clear history of support for candidates who are women, people of color and progressive, including in this very election cycle. None of these facts matter, because when it comes to groups that Sanders does not support, he doesn't care about accuracy in the least.

Other outlets have gone straight to the classic dual loyalty canard. They described AIPAC as an organization that works on behalf of a foreign country. To be clear: AIPAC is a registered American lobby with American supporters who advocate for American policies. It is funded by private donations, and receives no financial assistance from Israel or any other foreign party. There are many reasons why the vast majority of Americans in both political parties, not just American Jews, remain in favor of a strong US-Israel relationship. Perhaps first among them is the undeniable fact that supporting Israel in its struggle against Middle Eastern terrorist groups and expansionist potentates is crucial for America's own national security. To label anyone who works to protect the US-Israel relationship as the agent of a foreign state, and imply that they are disloyal citizens whose true allegiance is to the State of Israel over their own country, is just another form of classic antisemitism designed to cast Jews as the "other" or some kind of a fifth column that undermines the US from within.

Still other public figures, like former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson, were not satisfied to just describe AIPAC in anti-Semitic language. Instead, she went so far as to claim that AIPAC causes people to hate Jews. How exactly is AIPAC, a victim of anti-Semitic rhetoric, responsible for the rise in global antisemitism? Williamson explained that it is because of their "disgusting attempts to defeat candidates not in line with their right-wing policies regarding Israel." For those like Williamson who might not know which policies AIPAC supports, the lobby is in favor of "peace through a negotiated two-state agreement."
Colorado Hedge Funder: Investing in Israel Is ‘Antidote’ to BDS
“American Jews are not paying attention to what is happening in Israel when it comes to the public markets. They’re growing, there are strong returns, and plenty of good opportunities to invest in Israel,” said Brian Friedman, co-founder and Portfolio Manager of Israel Investment Advisors. “If you care about combating BDS, then the best choice is to invest in Israel.”

Friedman’s passion for Israel started in 1984, when he took part in a student exchange program. The State of Israel, at the time, was experiencing a period of hyperinflation: where it printed more and more money, and the Israeli shekel was plummeting. This inspired Friedman to later study Israel’s economy in depth. Friedman noted the collapse of the Israeli financial system in the 1980s which was perpetrated by the three largest banks ‚ Hapoalim, Discount and Leumi, who tried to manipulate their share price to maintain capital ratios, and make their shares appear as an attractive investment by both buying stocks and issuing new shares, in an attempt to control stock adjustments.

“Once the banking system failed, so did everything. Back then, the banks controlled lending, deposits, securities, and asset management,” he explained. However, once Israel adopted the New Israeli Shekel and adopted a broader change in monetary policy, inflation dropped.

Slowly but surely, the economy began to shift away from socialism and toward capitalism. And the Histadrut, Israel’s national trade union, began to privatize its businesses or list them on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. It was around that time that Friedman, working as a mutual funds analyst in Denver, Colorado began to note that Israel was an emerging market. “The selection of companies was still meager but looked very promising,” he said. “GHPIA was founded in 1999 as a wealth management firm for individuals and families, not to invest in Israeli stocks in any way at that time,” he explained, but following the financial crisis in 2008, and as more companies shifted from public to private, he began ardently investing in the Israeli market.


BBC Radio 4 news does PR for lawfare
Knell’s unqualified and unverified claim that an “armour-piercing bullet” killed Abu Akleh is taken from the statement put out the previous day by the Palestinian Authority prosecutor-general Akram al Khatib.

Knell made no effort to explain to listeners why a “news conference” was held in London or who the anonymous lawyers that she quoted represent.

That press conference was held on May 27th and the participants included people other than “lawyers”:
“Speakers at the event were from Bindmans LLP, Doughty Street Chambers, the International Federation of Journalists, Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, and Al Jazeera.”

Moreover, it was Al Jazeera that filmed the event:
“This footage was originally filmed and distributed by Al Jazeera English.”

Bindmans LLP and Doughty Street Chambers also issued press releases on the topic.

The press conference was chaired by Tayab Ali of Bindmans LLP whose previous clients have included Raed Salah, the family of a Hamas leader and the parents of an ISIS fighter. As Ali noted at the beginning of his remarks, he also represents an organisation set up in June 2021 called the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians which happens to be holding a conference on May 31st titled “Responding to Apartheid in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories”:
“This conference, hosted by the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) brings together directors of five leading Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organisations: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Al Haq, B’Tselem and Democracy in the Arab World Now (DAWN) who have recently declared that Israel is committing the crimes of apartheid according to international law. This crime against humanity is occurring ‘in a post-apartheid world,’ as the UN Special Rapporteur, Michael Lynk has recently reported.”

Speakers at that conference include two people who are on the ICJP’s advisory board: Sarah Leah Whitson (formerly of ‘Human Rights Watch’) and Wadah Khanfar (former director general of Al Jazeera). Other members of the ICJP’s advisory board include the founder of Bindmans LLP, Alan Duncan and Layla Moran MP. Its staff includes another MP – Crispin Blunt – who, in 2017, told BBC audiences that Al Jazeera “looks pretty impeccable”.


Guardian and Times make the same error over 2021 war
An article in The Times the next day, (“Violence flares as Israelis march through Muslim quarters of Jerusalem”, May 30), by Anchal Vohra, made a similar claim:
Last year the [Jerusalem Day] march led to an 11-day war between the Israeli Defence Forces and the Palestinian group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, as the latter fired rockets into Jerusalem.

However, the march did not “lead to” or “spark” the May 2021 war between Hamas and Israel.

Sirens in Israel warning of Gaza rocket fire sounded on May 9, the day in question, in the Jerusalem area moments after a 6 P.M. “ultimatum” issued by Hamas for Israel to remove police from Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. As was reported widely at the time, Israel’s refusal to heed Hamas’s demands – and the terrorist group’s subsequent decision to launch rockets at Israeli civilians – was the immediate cause of the 11-day war.

The Jerusalem Day march in 2021, which had already been re-routed to keep clear of the Muslim Quarter, was cancelled by police a few minutes after it began when, shortly after 6 P.M., Hamas began firing rockets. Further, as the march ended shortly after its start, and, again, didn’t go through Muslim areas, contrary to McKernan’s claim, there was no “violence”. (The march was rescheduled and took place in June, after the war.)

After our complaint to The Times, they corrected the sentence, which now accurately states narrowly that the march “coincided with” the war:
Last year the march coincided with the outbreak of an 11-day war between the Israeli Defence Forces and the Palestinian group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, as the latter fired rockets into Jerusalem.

Returning to the Guardian: Oddly, in the final paragraph of McKernan’s piece, she writes that “violence at [Al Aqsa Mosque] led Hamas to fire a barrage of rockets at Jerusalem, sparking last May’s war”, contradicting her earlier claim that the Jerusalem Day march was the cause.

McKernan’s piece also includes the following photo, which, the caption informs readers, depicts an Israeli attacking a Palestinian woman:

First, just looking at the still shot, it’s far less than clear that the Israeli man was “attacking” the Palestinian woman or who initiated the confrontation. Read this post by blogger Israellycool, who argues that the photo – as well as a short video of the incident – doesn’t provide nearly enough information to reach the Guardian’s conclusion that the Israeli instigated the violence.

We’ve complained to Guardian editors about McKernan’s false claim that “violence” at last year’s Jerusalem March ignited the war.
Austrian Parliament President: We have to own our history of antisemitism
Austria needs to emulate how Germany has learned from its history during the Holocaust and how it combats antisemitism, according to Wolfgang Sobotka, president of the National Council of Austria, the lower house of parliament.

“We have a lot to learn from the Germans when it comes to owning our history and taking action,” he said Monday in an interview on the sidelines of the Conference of European Rabbis convention in Munich.

“We always perceived ourselves as the victims of the Nazi regime until the election in 1986, when Kurt Waldheim was elected” president of Austria. “There was an act of changing of minds with the Austrian population: that we are not only the victims but actually also perpetrators.”

Sobotka, 66, is a member of the Austrian People’s Party. Before his political career, he was a teacher and musical conductor.

The situation in 2022 is different, but it still needs work, said Sobotka.

“Only years later do we now have a very clear view of our history, and we have our own national responsibility,” he said. “In the last couple of years, we have done a lot to improve our relations with the Jewish community – to do more for their security; to do more in combating antisemitism in total – even though our law against antisemitism is very strict and strong. But it is not enough. I think it’s really important for us to engage the civil society in combating antisemitism, because it’s a duty of the non-Jewish population.”

Austria has accepted 72,000 refugees from the Russian-Ukraine war, including 1,000 Jews who are being taken care of by the local Jewish community, Sobotka said.

“I think our [Jewish] community has done a lot for the refugees, and we’re very proud of that,” he said.
German court mulls bid to remove antisemitic ‘Jew pig’ church sculpture
A German federal court on Monday weighed a Jewish man’s bid to force the removal of a 700-year-old antisemitic statue from a church where Martin Luther once preached, and said it will deliver its verdict in the long-running dispute next month.

The “Judensau,” or “Jew pig,” sculpture on the Town Church in Wittenberg is one of more than 20 such relics from the Middle Ages that still adorn churches across Germany and elsewhere in Europe.

Placed on the church facade about four meters (13 feet) above ground level, the sculpture depicts people identifiable as Jews suckling the teats of a sow while a rabbi lifts the animal’s tail. In 1570, after the Protestant Reformation, an inscription referring to an anti-Jewish tract by Luther was added.

The case went to the Federal Court of Justice after lower courts ruled in 2019 and 2020 against plaintiff Michael Duellmann. He had argued that the sculpture was “a defamation of and insult to the Jewish people” that has “a terrible effect up to this day,” and has suggested moving it the nearby Luther House museum.

In 1988, a memorial was set into the ground below, referring to the persecution of Jews and the 6 million people who died during the Holocaust. In addition, a sign gives information about the sculpture in German and English.

In 2020, an appeals court in Naumburg ruled that “in its current context” the sculpture is not of “slanderous character” and didn’t violate the plaintiff’s rights. It said that, with the addition of the memorial and information sign, the statue was now “part of an ensemble which speaks for another objective” on the part of the parish.

Presiding Judge Stephan Seiters said at Monday’s hearing that, viewed individually, the statue is “antisemitism chiseled into stone,” German news agency DPA reported.


Heinz cites Israel as inspiration for new 'Beanz Houmouz'
Heinz UK credits Israel with being an inspiration for its new line of bean-based “houmouz,” citing a tweet in which Israel’s official account recommended that a British biscuit company upgrade its biscuits with hummus.

The bean-based product comes in three flavors: original, chipotle chile and roasted butternut squash.

“We’ve taken your upgrade advice @Israel, and present to you our new Heinz Beanz Houmouz range. Ideal for dipping (or spreading!) Would you give these a go?” Heinz UK tweeted last Thursday.

The tweet was posted as a reply to a tweet in February 2021 by the State of Israel’s official Twitter account, which is run by the Foreign Ministry. The Israeli tweet was a response to a tweet by British biscuit company Weetabix that recommended putting beans on their wheat biscuits.
10 original souvenirs to bring home from Israel
Hurray! You can now finally get on a plane and visit our tiny corner of the Middle East. Sun, sea, amazing food and incredible scenery all await you in what promises to be the best post-Covid trip ever.

To make your visit as perfect as possible, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to figure out the greatest souvenirs that you could bring back with you, so that you can enjoy your trip to the max with no worrying niggles at the back of your mind.

And, just in case you aren’t traveling here just yet, we’ve also provided you with equally wonderful alternatives that are but a click away. Rest assured, there’s no Dead Sea mud in sight.

Wine
Move over, milk and honey. Wine is what Israel is all about these days. The local wine industry has achieved even higher heights in recent years, and aficionados will have a wonderful time touring vineyards or sipping a glass or two atop rooftop bars.

We recommend bringing home a couple of crisp whites to recreate that Israeli summer vibe wherever you are. Our personal favorites are Pelter’s Unwooded Chardonnay and Flam Blanc, which you can also get here.

Hamsas
Chances are, most indoor places you’ll enter in Israel have this palm-shaped amulet on display somewhere. Popular throughout the Middle East and North Africa, the hamsa often appears in wall displays, paintings, bracelets and even keyrings and is meant to protect against the evil eye. It usually comes in shades of blue and gold or silver, but modern multicolored ones also are available. You can pick up a hamsa in most markets or homeware shops, as well as online, as in the case of this pretty one from the Israel Museum.
New segment of Jerusalem’s 2,000-year-old Low-Level aqueduct revealed
Recent excavations in Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv neighborhood are resurrecting one of the ancient city’s main water suppliers — the 2,000-year-old Low-Level Aqueduct that brought water to the Temple Mount from Solomon’s Pools near Bethlehem, 21 kilometers away.

Used until the British Mandate, when it was discarded for new electric pump technology, the newly uncovered segment of the Hasmonean-era water line — currently some 40 meters — will be conserved and integrated into a neighborhood park in cooperation with the Jerusalem Municipality and the Moriah Jerusalem Development Corporation.

“This is a real historical monument of the city,” Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Yaakov Billig, an expert in ancient aqueducts, told The Times of Israel on Sunday, Jerusalem Day.

It was used and maintained (or not) by a succession of rulers, said Billig, including those from the three major monotheistic religions, through the end of the Ottoman Empire, when it began to increasingly crack and decay.

Since it was in use until relatively recently, modern researchers have long been aware of the location of the aqueduct and it appears in maps of Ottoman-era Jerusalem. In excavations led by the IAA’s Alexander Wiegmann, all the eroded dirt and fill has been removed from the new section, which will soon be readied for tourists to visit.

Billig said that the new excavations are not being conducting merely for the sake of nostalgia, however. Rather, researchers are still amazed and even somewhat mystified by the precision technology constructed in antiquity without the aid of GPS or modern computation methods.






Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 



Felesteen, a Hamas newspaper, reports:

On Monday, a Palestinian official revealed the Palestinian Authority’s protest to regional and international parties, due to the marginalization of its role and the failure to communicate with it regarding the repercussions of the “flags march” in the occupied city of Jerusalem. 

The official - who preferred not to be named - told the newspaper "Felesteen": "The office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has contacted Arab and international bodies, complaining to them that they have made [direct] contacts with the head of Hamas' political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, to calm the situation in the Palestinian territories after the "flags march." and the provocations of the settlers. 

He added that "instructions were issued by the Office of the Presidency of the Authority to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Shtayyeh's government to intensify its efforts, in order to cut regional and international communication with the leaders of Hamas." 

Haniyeh had received several Arab and international warnings demanding calming in the Palestinian arena, and not to be drawn into an explosive situation because of the "flags march", for fear of a new military confrontation between the Gaza Strip and the occupation. 
 The Palestinian Authority is upset because they want to maintain the fiction that they are the leaders of Gaza as well and all diplomatic communications to Hamas must go through them. 

Needless to say, asking the PA government to pass a message along to their rivals would have been worse than useless. 

These warnings worked. Hamas and other Palestinian groups were inciting a "religious war" less than a week before Yom Yerushalayim. Palestinian media was filled with promises that they would attack if the Flags March went on as planned. 

It seems almost certain that Israel requested its Arab friends and contacts to warn Hamas not to attack, and that the consequences of such an attack would be severe. 

A couple of years ago, Egypt would have been the only nation Israel could ask to pass such a message to Hamas. Today, Israel could have asked Bahrain, Morocco, the UAE and even (indirectly) Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar to pressure Hamas not to start a war. 

Anti-Israel "experts" derided the Abraham Accords as a meaningless gesture when they were announced, saying that any agreement that doesn't directly include the Palestinians is worthless. They were wrong. Every month we see new direct an indirect benefits of the Accords.

This time, the Abraham Accords may have averted a war.




Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 



I have obviously spent a lot of time on the Shireen Abu Akleh story over the past couple of weeks, and I put together everything we know into this video.

The IDF could not have killed her, for reasons I describe.

It ended up taking 33 minutes but I think that it explains everything as well as possible, without getting too caught in the weeds. There are plenty of problems with the AP and CNN reports but this covers the basic issue - the distance from the gun to Shireen and who could have physically been that exact distance.  (I could have added ten minutes on the idiocy of the CNN quoted "expert" who happens to hate Israel.)

I hope it helps people understand the issues. 






Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

Monday, May 30, 2022



On May 3, Reporters Without Borders released their annual rankings of World Press Freedom.

No one seems to have noticed that the abysmal record of the freedom of media in the Palestinian territories plummeted even further.

In the 2021 rankings, "Palestine" came in as #132 out of 180 with a score of 56.82.

In 2022, it fell to #170 with a score of 28.98.

Here are the countries that it is comparable to:

166 Saudi Arabia 33.71
167 Bahrain 30.97
168 Egypt 30.23
169 Yemen 29.14
170 Palestine 28.98
171 Syria 28.94
172 Iraq 28.59
173 Cuba 27.32
174 Vietnam 26.11
175 China 25.17

The media generally regards any news that comes out from China or Yemen or Syria or Saudi Arabia as being automatically suspect because everyone knows that those countries have heavy control of the media, both direct and indirect. Their official statements are treated like the propaganda it is.

Yet statements from the Palestinian Authority - the organization that controls and limits the media - are still treated respectfully. Their media is quoted as if they are Western-style liberal outlets when in fact they are suppressed and threatened if they say the wrong thing. And the readers of these Western articles that quote Palestinian sources are never told that the media is suspect.

Even worse, the prevailing atmosphere under both Palestinian Authority and Hamas rule is that everyone knows there are certain things they simply cannot say, as a reporter or to a reporter. In recent days I showed that Palestinian journalists and eyewitnesses are well aware that there were other militants in Jenin near where Shireen Abu Akleh was - but they will never say that to CNN or AP. Once the official narrative is established, you won't find anyone to publicly contradict it. I've documented dozens of cases of "eyewitnesses" who know what they are allowed to say and what they are not. 

Also not mentioned in the report is that even foreign media is threatened to toe the government line, especially but not only in Gaza.

Perhaps the most absurd part is that the EU and UNESCO marked World Press Freedom Day with the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate in Ramallah this year, barely mentioning how terrible the situation is - but quick to blame Israel for the majority of issues with Palestinian press freedom.

The Palestinians have a narrative of blaming everything on Israel and downplaying the complete lack of freedoms under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas  - and the world happily plays along, even when they know the truth. 




Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 


For Memorial Day, I found this incredible story of bravery performed by Captain Ben L. Salomon, who was a dentist serving as a surgeon during the Battle of Saipan, Mariana Islands in World War II:
Captain Ben L. Salomon was serving at Saipan, in the Marianas Islands on July 7, 1944, as the Surgeon for the 2nd Battalion, 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division. The Regiment’s 1st and 2d Battalions were attacked by an overwhelming force estimated between 3,000 and 5,000 Japanese soldiers. It was one of the largest attacks attempted in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Although both units fought furiously, the enemy soon penetrated the Battalions’ combined perimeter and inflicted overwhelming casualties. In the first minutes of the attack, approximately 30 wounded soldiers walked, crawled, or were carried into Captain Salomon’s aid station, and the small tent soon filled with wounded men. As the perimeter began to be overrun, it became increasingly difficult for Captain Salomon to work on the wounded. He then saw a Japanese soldier bayoneting one of the wounded soldiers lying near the tent. Firing from a squatting position, Captain Salomon quickly killed the enemy soldier. Then, as he turned his attention back to the wounded, two more Japanese soldiers appeared in the front entrance of the tent. As these enemy soldiers were killed, four more crawled under the tent walls. Rushing them, Captain Salomon kicked the knife out of the hand of one, shot another, and bayoneted a third. Captain Salomon butted the fourth enemy soldier in the stomach and a wounded comrade then shot and killed the enemy soldier. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Captain Salomon ordered the wounded to make their way as best they could back to the regimental aid station, while he attempted to hold off the enemy until they were clear. Captain Salomon then grabbed a rifle from one of the wounded and rushed out of the tent. After four men were killed while manning a machine gun, Captain Salomon took control of it. When his body was later found, 98 dead enemy soldiers were piled in front of his position.    
Captain Salomon was denied a Medal of Honor for decades because a medic with a Red Cross emblem is not supposed to take arms under the Geneva Conventions, even when using them to save the lives of their patients. Finally, after years of lobbying, he was awarded the Medal of Honor by George W. Bush in 2002.

May his memory be a blessing. 



Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

On Sunday, the Palestinian "People's Democratic Party" in Lebanon organized a Palestinian flag march in Sidon, Lebanon - because they love to copy the people they hate.

The march had the slogan "Carry your flag and come, all you lovers of Palestine."

The participants in the march raised Palestinian flags, chanted in support of Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa, and concluded in the time honored Palestinian tradition of burning the American and Israeli flags.


I wonder if we can call this "provocative" and therefore justify violence in response? Or does that only work one way?




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Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

Sunday, May 29, 2022



Today is Jerusalem Day. 

Like every other Sunday through Thursday, Jews are visiting the Temple Mount, although many more today than usual.

And like every other Sunday through Thursday, both Palestinian and Jordanian media are reacting with antisemitism, although more today than usual.

Jordan's Minister of Foreign Affairs issued a statement condemning Jews visiting the site:
 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates on Sunday condemned allowing Israeli extremists and a Knesset member to storm the Al-Aqsa Mosque/Haram Al Sharif compound, warning of escalation due to permitting an Israeli march scheduled to begin today in Jeusalem.

The Ministry's spokesperson Haitham Abu Alfoul said the Israeli raids, protected by the Israeli police, are a violation of the historical and legal status quo and the international law, stressing that Al-Aqsa Mosque is purely a place of worship for Muslims and that the Jordanian-run Waqf (endowments) and al-Aqsa Affairs Administration in Jerusalem has the exclusive jurisdiction to run all the affairs of the holy site.
In short, Judaism's holiest spot must be restricted to Muslims only.

The official Palestinian Authority statement went further, saying that any Jew who stepped foot on the Temple Mount was "desecrating Al Aqsa:"
Presidential Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said that "Israel is playing with fire irresponsibly and recklessly by allowing settlers to desecrate sanctities in occupied Jerusalem and escalate the killings."

Abu Rudeineh stressed that the road to security and peace in the region passes through meeting the rights of our people, stressing that Islamic and Christian sanctities are a red line, and their desecration can never be accepted.
It is rare for news media nowadays to recall what the Old City of Jerusalem was like in the 19 anomalous years that Arabs controlled it and created the so-called "status quo" of a Judenfrei Jerusalem. 

The South China Morning Post, on July 3, 1978, journalist Barry Choi laid out the difference between how tolerant Israel is compared to how intolerant the Jordanians were:



Nothing has changed - but nowadays the news media is more likely to take the Arab side that anything Jews do in half of Jerusalem is illegal and immoral.

The antisemitism that was obvious even to a Chinese journalist in 1978 is the same we are seeing today - but the Western media take the side of the antisemites. Their coverage today says that "illegal settlement" is the lens through which to view Jerusalem - and the complete ethnic cleansing of Jews that today's Palestinians and Jordanians demand is not at all newsworthy. 

(h/t Ahron Shapiro)


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Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 




I just got part of the translation of the conversation between reporters (and I think a resident) in the minutes before Shireen Abu Akleh was shot. (I'm trying to get more.) The video comes from Middle East Eye, and is unlisted at the moment. 

The transcript is a little muddled, but they are talking about the Palestinian snipers all over Jenin, specifically pointing to the southwest where I have been saying was the source of the gunfire that killed Abu Akleh.

Not just one - multiple snipers. In buildings.


Transcript that I received of the translation:

3:00 There is the sniper, there, there

3:01-3:03 There, that’s the sniper, there…

3:03-3:05 There, those…

3:07-3:08 Listen, there is a sniper in that house, there…

3:12-3:14 There are more than that, there (is one or there are some) above, there (is or are) right in the middle of the house, there…

3:14-3:15 (different person): There is (or are) in the house, and there is (or are)…

3:15 There, on the what’s it’s called…

3:17-3:18 The two that are…

3:18-3:20 yes, yes…

3:19-3:20 On the house that they were on…

3:20-3:25 (Single shot in the background and someone says) Are those the shabab (who shot?)

3:24-3:25 There is a house that is under construction

(Someone answers) There is (or are) here, and there is (or are) here (unclear if he means house/s under construction or snipers)


If the snipers were in (or on top of) buildings, they are the ones who shot Shireen:

* They are known to be in the "Goldilocks zone" of the exact distance away from the camera that would fit the audio of the shockwave and gunshot sounds;
* Their pattern of firing was not at all like the IDF's 
* Their line of sight towards Shireen and the tree is far more credible than the IDF's,
* They are not as disciplined as the IDF would be.


_______________________________

As far as distance is concerned, the original Bellingcat analysis found the gunshot to be  between 177 and 184 meters from the microphone. CNN, quoting the same acoustics expert, says it is between 177 and 197 meters. That's a big change from the same scientist!

I calculated it the best I could. Based on an assumption that the temperature was about 15C and the time gap to the microphone as 309 ms (my calculation of the first gunshot using Audacity):

If we accept the weapons was an M16 shooting at 3150 ft/sec (Wikipedia) that indicates 190 meters distance.
An M4 at 2970 ft/sec (Wikipedia) = 173 meters.
Bellingcat said an M4 is between 2690 and 2840 ft/sec, which indicates a distance of between 147 and 161 meters.

I don't know why my calculations don't match the Bellingcat estimates.

So depending on the weapon and the speed, we are talking a much larger range than previously thought or reported, of between 147 and 190 meters - all still short of the 200 meters the IDF lead vehicle was away from the microphone.

At the low end of my estimate, this building would be a perfect fit for the sniper:














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Saturday, May 28, 2022

From Ian:

Palestinianism: The global Intifada
Palestinianism, therefore, is a threat to the ideals of Western civilization. It promotes violence against Jews as a value, and one which justifies suicidal attacks as a worthy ideal. That includes attacks against those who support Israel, and targets like New York City. It is what inspired Islamic leaders, such as al-Husseini, to instigate pogroms against Jews during the 1920s, 30s and 40s, and why he supported the Nazis and their “Final Solution.”

It was a way of turning Arab nationalism (as it was known before 1948) into a destructive force. It was and is the basis of the PLO, Hamas and other terrorist organizations. And it is the basis of “Jihad.” Palestinianism seeks to turn the world against the Jewish people, especially those in Israel. That is the meaning of Intifada.

Palestinianism promotes the “Nakba” narrative: that Israel’s establishment in 1948 was and continues to be a catastrophe; that Israel expelled and slaughtered Arabs in the war that resulted when it was attacked by five Arab countries, supported by Britain; that those who became refugees and their descendants are entitled to return to Israel; and that Jews who live in areas conquered by the IDF in 1967 must be expelled.

This, however, is only the first step in the crusade to destroy Israel, now supported by Iran and Arab countries such as Qatar – and, of course, global jihadists, like ISIS and al Qaeda.

Those who support “Palestinian self-determination” and the two-state solution, therefore, must consider what that means and understand why all efforts to resolve the conflict have failed. How would a second Palestinian state, in addition to Jordan, resolve the Arab refugee problem?

How would such a state resolve the issue of millions of Arabs living in UNRWA towns and villages, in addition to millions who live in the region and around the world and consider themselves to be Palestinians? Why shouldn’t Jordan be recognized as the “Palestinian homeland?” What is a humanitarian solution? What makes sense?
Israel shouldn't let the US dictate its final borders, Friedman says
Israel shouldn’t allow the United States to dictate what its final borders should be in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley, former American ambassador David Friedman told the Tivah Fund’s Conservatism Conference in Jerusalem.

“Israel must decide this issue. Because I can guarantee you that if any other body decides this issue, very few in Israel will be happy with the outcome,” said Friedman, who was the Trump administration’s envoy to Israel.

The administration had secured Israel’s agreement to suspend its plans to annex West Bank settlements in exchange for the Abraham Accords, under whose rubric it normalized ties with four Arab states.

But on Thursday, Friedman urged Israel not to abandon its sovereignty plans and to begin to prepare a national consensus for what its final borders should be, based on former US President Donald Trump’s peace plan. That plan placed all the West Bank settlements and most of east Jerusalem within Israel’s final borders.

Friedman recalled that Israel had annexed the Golan Heights in 1981 and eventually received US recognition of its sovereignty there. Similarly, he said, the US recognized Israel’s sovereignty in Jerusalem.

“When the nation of Israel said ‘Haam eem Hagolan,’ [the nation is with the Golan] the government responded, just as it did with Jerusalem, Israel’s eternal and undivided capital,” he said. “And the world respected Israel even if it didn’t agree. Then we came along and agreed with Israel on both Jerusalem and the Golan and the UN condemned us. But the sun rose the next morning, Israel continued to flourish and we even managed to achieve the Abraham Accords.”

Now, he said, Israel should do the same thing in the West Bank, regardless of US opinion.
81 members of Congress say US must stop Israeli eviction of Hebron Hills' Palestinians
A group of 81 Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging him to “immediately engage with the Israeli government on the potential evictions of more than 1,000 Palestinians from their homes in Masafer Yatta in the West Bank.”

The bicameral letter was led by New Mexico Rep. Melanie Stansbury and Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley.

“We write with urgent concern over the decision by Israel’s High Court to allow the military to evict approximately 1,000 Palestinian people from their homes in the Masafer Yatta region of the occupied West Bank,” they wrote on Thursday.

They spoke out after the High Court of Justice ruled earlier this month that Palestinians living in some eight to 11 herding villages of modular homes, such as huts and tents, could be evicted because they were located in an IDF firing zone.

The court said the Palestinians had failed to make their case that they had lived there prior to its declaration as a firing zone.

The members of Congress who signed the letter sided with the Palestinian claim that their presence there predated the creation of what is known as Firing Zone 918 in the South Hebron Hills.

“We are deeply concerned that this relocation of Palestinian families from homes they have lived in for generations could spark violence, is in direct violation of international humanitarian law, and could further undermine efforts to reach a two-state solution,” they continued. “As supporters of a strong US-Israel relationship, we believe such evictions undermine our shared democratic values, imperil Israel’s security, and disregard Palestinian human and civil rights.”
Yehuda Glick: We should restore the sounds of holiness to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount
As Israel celebrates Jerusalem Day (Yom Yerushalayim), commemorating 55 years since the city’s miraculous reunification in 1967, I question the current status quo in Jerusalem and at the holiest of sites: the Temple Mount.

What has happened to the Zion (the Temple Mount) in Zionism? What has happened since God gave us the biggest gift at the end of the shortest and most miraculous war that Israel and the world had ever witnessed, the 1967 Six Day War?

Violence. Hate. Curses. Vandalism on Zion – the Temple Mount. The desecration of God Almighty.

In April alone, during the Jewish holiday of Passover, Israeli newspapers reported violence on the Temple Mount from “suspects who barricaded themselves inside the mosque, causing severe damage, throwing thousands of stones, launching fireworks, and violently rioting for many hours.”

How many more years will it take? How much more will we allow this to happen before we wake up and change the music?

On Sunday, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ruled that Jews are permitted to recite the “Shema” prayer (Deuteronomy 6:49) and bow during visits to the Temple Mount. This ruling came in response to an appeal made by three teenage boys arrested after bowing on the Mount and reciting Shema, one of the basic tenets of the Jewish faith.


Two Nazi officers and a UK UN representative - opinion
Things are not always what they seem to be. Two different people can look at the same event and experience different emotions. Individuals may have the same title in a governmental office and conduct themselves in completely different ways toward the public they serve.

We all experience this kind of duplicity. We stand in line and hope to get the clerk who is compassionate. In court, appealing a large fine for a traffic ticket we didn’t deserve, we hope to get the judge who is reasonable and kind.

In today’s column, we look at two men who wore Nazi uniforms, but what a difference. But we need to view the two Nazis in the lens provided by the UN ambassador from the UK.

Major Karl Plagge, a member of the Nazi party until he quit the party in 1939, served as a Wehrmacht officer in Vilna during the German occupation of Lithuania, in the summer of 1941. Through his efforts, the lives of hundreds of Vilna Jews were saved.

Kurt Becher was an SS officer in Budapest during the German occupation of Hungary, in the spring of 1944. Through his efforts, over 1600 Jews on the Kastner train escaped to Switzerland.

But now for the comparison. Plagge is enshrined in Yad Vashem among the Righteous Among the Nations; Becher is not. Both were Nazis and both rescued some Jews from the clutches of the Final Solution.

At first glance, one might think that they complement each other in an effort to save Jews from their would-be murderers. But they do not!
California’s Ethnic Studies Curriculum is Hiding Its Anti-Jewish and Anti-Israel Teachings
Though advocates of Liberated Ethnic Studies claim the right to define both Judaism and antisemitism, they seem ignorant about both. Our case details how the commitment of the Jewish people to their return to Zion is manifest throughout the Jewish bible, its oral law, its prayer books and its calendar. And that’s true across all Jewish denominations, not just the Orthodox. The Reform movement’s official platform, for example, is wholeheartedly committed to the State of Israel. It states:

“We believe that the renewal and perpetuation of Jewish national life in Eretz Yisrael is a necessary condition for the realization of the physical and spiritual redemption of the Jewish people and of all humanity. While that day of redemption remains but a distant yearning, we express the fervent hope that Medinat Yisrael, living in peace with its neighbors, will hasten the redemption of Am Yisrael, and the fulfillment of our messianic dream of universal peace under the sovereignty of God.”

The Reform siddur includes the blessing for the State of Israel as “reishit tsmichat geulateinu” – “the beginning of the flowering of our redemption.”

No one can speak for every single Jew in the world—not even Moses was up to that job. And our case certainly doesn’t presume to take on such an impossible task. But the broad consensus among Jews that the existence of a Jewish state of Israel is a good and even necessary thing reveals just how dangerous is the falsehood that one can propose to eliminate the Jewish state without meaning to attack the Jews. After two thousand years of wandering the planet, and having absorbed the disastrous consequences of Jewish weakness and dependence on the kindness of strangers, most Jews know that the Jewish people needs a room of its own, at least one small place where they can be a free people in their own land. Denouncing that aspiration, or libeling it, is an attack on Jewish peoplehood and on Jewish people — actual flesh and blood people who will get hurt or die if the Jewish state does not defend them and their aspiration to live as Jews. That’s why it’s no coincidence that the people who claim to be outraged about Israel’s defense against the terror rockets from Gaza took out their anger on Jews. Not Israelis and not even Zionists. Just Jews. Remember last year’s attacks by Palestinian flag-wielding thugs on Jews dining at a Sushi restaurant? Before attacking, the thugs demanded to know “who are the Jews?”

In a backhanded way, the Consortium folks acknowledge that all Jews are Zionists — at least Zionist enough to be categorized as bad. As part of its effort to defeat attacks on its curriculum, the Consortium warns that its enemies—whom it refers to as Zionists—include organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Federation, the Jewish Community Relations Councils, and even the Simon Wiesenthal Center, not to mention organizations such as the Zionist Organization of America. People who actually are Jews know that there’s a very wide space between the ADL and the hawkish ZOA. But for the Consortium, all Jewish organizations look alike.

In a sense, the Consortium is right: Virtually all Jewish organizations do support the existence of the Jewish state. What the Consortium fails to accept is that this is so because, throughout the Jewish canon, customs, holidays, and history, the yearning of the Jewish people for sovereignty in the land of Israel is built into the DNA of Judaism.

As a legal matter it’s certain that what’s required in our case is a sincerely-held religious belief, which our clients in this case hold, in the idea of Zionism. Our case demands that publicly-funded California teaching materials not denounce that belief, any more than such publicly-funded materials would denounce as racist or apartheid the Muslim commitment to the holiness of Mecca and Medina, and so too the principle of sharia law that denies entrance to that city to any non-Muslim, or the imposition of sharia law by dozens of officially Muslim countries.

As a practical matter it’s hard to see what innocent explanation there can be for the Liberated curriculum’s obsession with Israel, while ignoring countries where slavery is legal; where kleptocratic dictators leave their people starving; where the internet is closed and people are force-fed a restricted diet of state-generated propaganda; or where children labor and die in mines.

Indeed, it’s hard to see quite a number of things about the Liberated Curriculum’s teachings about Israel and Zionism, because the Consortium has taken active steps to hide these elements from the public. Much of the evidence we have quoted is gone from the website. The press release issued last spring condemning Israel is gone; also gone from the website is anything to do with teaching about Palestine/Israel, including lesson plans. That’s why it’s hard to learn not only what they say about Israel and the Palestinians but also where they obtained these so-called facts. Our research also reveals that their teaching materials are verbatim copies of documents found at teachpalestine.org. That material, also since vanished from its website, was prepared by an organization called the Middle East Children’s Alliance, which is aligned with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — a designated terror organization committed to the destruction of the Jewish state. This is the source of the material that the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium wants taught to California public school children about the Jewish state.


Blinken Stresses Importance of Concluding Israeli Probe into Reporter’s Killing
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Friday to Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and stressed the importance of concluding Israel’s probes into the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

“Secretary Blinken underscored the importance of concluding the investigations into the death of Palestinian-American Shireen Abu Akleh,” the US State Department said in a statement.

The Palestinian Authority said on Thursday its investigation showed that Abu Akleh was shot by an Israeli soldier in a “deliberate murder.” Israel denied the accusation and said it was continuing its own investigations.

Abu Akleh was shot dead on May 11 while she was covering an Israeli military raid in the city of Jenin in the West Bank. She had been wearing a helmet and a press vest that clearly marked her as a journalist.

Israeli police officers, on May 13, charged at Palestinian mourners carrying the coffin of Abu Akleh, before thousands led her casket through Jerusalem’s Old City in an outpouring of grief and anger over her killing.

The Israeli army had said previously that she might have been shot accidentally by one of its soldiers or by a Palestinian militant in an exchange of fire.

Palestinian Attorney General Akram al-Khatib told reporters on Thursday that its inquiry showed there had been no militants close to Abu Akleh when she died.


Hamas attacks 'anti-Palestinian' Twitter after account suspended
Twitter has suspended the account of Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, the Gaza-based terror organization said on Saturday.

In a scathing attack on the social media platform, Hamas claimed that Twitter "insists on silencing Palestinian voices and fully siding with the Zionist narrative."

Hamas also bemoaned the "severe restrictions" put on what a statement on its official website described as Palestinian content. By contrast, the terror group said, Zionist lies are allowed "unfettered space."

"While Twitter imposes severe restrictions on the Palestinian content, it allows unfettered space for the Zionist occupation's lies" Hamas, May 28

The "double standards" set by social media platforms will not discourage Palestinians from "continuing their legitimate right to resist the occupation," Hamas vowed.

Are Facebook and Twitter pro-Zionist?

Before Hamas' criticism, social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have been accused of wrongfully removing content such as pro-Palestinian posts and tweets, both by Palestinians and their supporters and by international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW).

HRW claimed in an October 2021 report that Facebook applied censorship on the profiles of Palestinian activists. HRW warned that relying on the US' foreign terror organization blacklist for designating "dangerous" organizations, as Facebook does, is a "threat to free expression."
Erdogan-controlled judiciary releases 29 Turkish Hezbollah terrorists
Turkey’s judiciary released 29 Turkish Hezbollah terrorists who were incarcerated for their role in the murders of over 100 civilians in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey in the 1990s, according to a May report from anti-government secular newspaper Sözcü.

The story first broke in two articles. Turkey’s Hezbollah is a Kurdish-dominated Sunni terrorist organization that seeks to set up an Islamic state in southeastern Turkey based on the Iranian regime model but it is not linked with the clerical regime in Tehran or Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“The Turkish judiciary system’s release of mass murderers who acted on behalf of Turkish Hezbollah should be understood as part of the Turkish government's broader support for jihad terrorist organizations. Hamas, for instance, counts Turkey as an ally, Uzay Bulut, a Turkish journalist, told The Jerusalem Post.

Bulut, who would likely face arrest if she returned to Turkey due to her critical journalism about the country, termed the release of the Turkish Hezbollah terrorists as a “scandal” because the AKP government [of Erdogan] does not see these people as criminal.

She added the Turkish Hezbollah terrorists were released before the local elections in 2019 and this appears to be the first media coverage of their freedom. Bulut said there is “no independent judiciary in Turkey.”

Sözcü reported that “while the convicted defendants were serving their sentences in different prisons, they applied to the High Criminal Court, where they were tried collectively before the March 2019 local elections, and requested a retrial.”

The Turkish Hezbollah operatives killed a total of 114 people during the attack for which they were convicted.
How to Stop Iran’s Nuclear Program: A Bigger Carrot and Bigger Stick
The failure of the international community to stop Iran’s progress toward a nuclear weapon, should cause those involved in negotiations with the Islamic Republic to stop and rethink their strategy. The warning signs are blinking red in both Jerusalem and Washington, and to increase their leverage in the nuclear talks, the US and its negotiating partners need a bigger carrot and a bigger stick.

In an eye-opening speech on May 17 at Reichman University in Herzliya, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that Iran “stands just a few weeks away from accumulating fissile material that will be sufficient for a first bomb.”

This assessment was made by David Albright, one of America’s leading experts on nuclear weapons, and the head of the Institute for Science and International Security. On April 11, Albright wrote this chilling warning: “As soon as mid-to-late April, Iran is expected to reach a new dangerous, destabilizing threshold, having enough highly enriched uranium (HEU) to fashion a nuclear explosive, about 40-42 kilograms (kg) of 60 percent enriched uranium (uranium mass).”

It is obvious that the current negotiating strategy of the P5+1 — the United States, China, Russia, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom — has failed. It seems even the Biden administration has realized this, as it has refused to give into Iranian demands, and even issued new sanctions on the regime.

In order to deter Iran from reaching a nuclear breakout, the US and its negotiating partners must adopt a new strategy that significantly changes the cost-benefit analysis of Iran’s leaders.

We have seen signs of the beginning of a change in strategy, with Israel’s large-scale military exercise currently under way named “Chariots of Fire,” which replicates the challenges Israel would face in a war on multiple fronts.
Suicide drones launched from inside Iran said to have hit Parchin military site
A deadly explosion at Iran’s Parchin military complex on Wednesday was caused by quadcopter suicide drones, in an attack that fits a pattern of previous strikes that have been attributed to Israel, The New York Times reported Friday.

The report cited three Iranian sources along with a US official, who confirmed drones hit the site, but declined to say who was behind the attack. It said the drones exploded into a building being used for research on Iran’s drone development.

The blast killed a young engineer at the site and injured one other person.

The report noted that the strike fits a pattern of previous attacks that have been attributed to Israel, including previous strikes against Iran’s drone program.

Iranian sources told the Times that the drone attack was launched from inside Iran, not far from the Parchin military base — which the Islamic Republic uses to develop missile, nuclear and drone technology — noting that quadcopter drones have a short flight range, and Parchin is a long way from Iran’s borders.

While Iranian officials initially used the word “accident” to describe the explosion, the Defense Ministry in a later statement called it an “incident” and labeled the casualty a “martyr,” suggesting that Tehran is convinced it was an attack by a foreign entity.
Iran Seizes Two Greek Tankers Amid Row Over US Oil Grab
Iranian forces seized two Greek tankers in the Gulf on Friday, shortly after Tehran warned it would take “punitive action” against Athens over the confiscation of Iranian oil by the United States from a tanker held off the Greek coast.

“The Revolutionary Guards Navy today seized two Greek tankers for violations in Gulf waters,” said a Guards statement, quoted by Iranian state news agency IRNA. It gave no further details and did not say what the alleged violations were.

Greece’s foreign ministry said an Iranian navy helicopter landed on Greek flagged vessel Delta Poseidon, which was sailing in international waters, 22 nautical miles from the Iranian shore, and took the crew hostage, among them two Greek citizens.

It said a similar incident took place on another Greek-flagged vessel near Iran, without naming the ship, adding both actions violated international law and Greece had informed its allies, as well as complained to Iran’s ambassador in Athens.

Greece-based Delta Tankers, which operates the Delta Poseidon, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Greek authorities last month impounded the Iranian-flagged Pegas, with 19 Russian crew members on board, near the coast of the southern island of Evia due to European Union sanctions.

The United States later confiscated the Iranian oil cargo held onboard and plans to send it to the United States on another vessel, Reuters reported on Thursday.


“Blatantly antisemitic” motion rescinded
The University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU) has rescinded a motion that was labelled “blatantly antisemitic” when it passed in late April.

The motion, titled “UMSU stands with Palestine – BDS and Solidarity Policy”, called Israel a “settler colonial apartheid state”, accused it of “massacres, forced expulsion and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians”, called Zionism “a racist, colonial ideology” and tacitly endorsed terrorism in supporting the right of Palestinians “to engage in self defence against their occupiers”.

It also stated that “Judaism or Zionism are not to be conflated”.

The Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) said on Thursday that UMSU decided to rescind it “after countless meetings between AUJS and UMSU and after the legal action taken by Melbourne University student Justin Riazaty against UMSU for racial discrimination”.

“AUJS and Melbourne University Jewish Students Society (MUJSS) welcomes today’s decision by the UMSU University of Melbourne Student Union to rescind the resolution,” AUJS said in a statement.

“The original UMSU motion was put forward over the objections of Jewish students. UMSU attempted to define Judaism, Zionism and antisemitism in a way that solely reflects the views of a fringe group of Israel-haters but bears no relationship to the lived experience of the Jewish people.”

AUJS said the recent move by the ANU Students Association to support the now-rescinded UMSU resolution made it evident that it “blindly followed virtue-signalling rather than consultation”.

“AUJS calls on UMSU and other student unions to ensure that unions represent the viewpoints of all students. Universities and their student representative bodies should be places for well-informed, nuanced and open dialogue rather than hectoring polemics,” AUJS continued.

“We simply ask that student unions consult AUJS and relevant Jewish bodies on campus before putting forward motions impacting Jewish students on campus.”
Kristen Stewart directing BDS activist's memoir film
American actress Kristen Stewart is directing the film adaptation of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activist Lidia Yuknavitch's memoir The Chronology of Water, according to a report in IndieWire on Wednesday.

Stewart, who starred in the vampire romance film series The Twilight Saga, told IndieWire that she hoped to finish her new film by the end of the year.

But the Oscar-nominated actress has not yet secured the financing for the film, the report said, in part because Stewart wanted to limit the film crew to just five people, with a loose schedule.

The film highlights Yuknavitch's struggles with addiction and coming to terms with her bisexuality, as well as her activism in the BDS movement, IndieWire reported.

Stewart told the independent film review website that Yuknavitch's writing resonated with her on a personal level, saying, "She's in my blood."
Toronto Man Arrested After ‘Disturbing’ Threats to Kill Jewish Students
A delivery driver is facing possible hate crimes charges after making violent threats to Jewish students at a yeshiva in Toronto and assaulting a staffer there, a Canadian Jewish group said Thursday.

According to Yeshiva World News, the Uber Eats deliveryman showed up at Toronto’s Yeshiva Gedolah, accosting students and saying he would “kill 30 Jews today.” The disturbing scene was witnessed by the school’s cook, YWN reported, who was punched in the face after asking the man to leave. The cook then tackled the perpetrator and detained him until the arrival of police, who discovered that he was armed with a knife.

Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center confirmed Thursday that the driver now faces criminal charges, including assault and communicating threats.

“It is extremely troubling that a man with a weapon violently threatened people at a yeshiva and, even more disturbingly, yelled that he wanted to kill Jews, ” said Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, director of policy at the Toronto-based Jewish organization. “Such an attack comes on the heels of the Toronto Police Service’s most recent annual hate crime report that once again showed the city’s Jewish community as the most targeted group.”

The Toronto Police Service report found that 257 hate incidents took place in the the city last year, with 56 targeting Jewish victims.

“Jewish students deserve to go to school without fearing threats and violence,” Kirzner-Roberts continued.
Israel Hosts Its First Independence Day Celebration in Gulf Region
The Israeli Embassy in Bahrain hosted on Thursday the first celebration of Israel’s Independence Day to be held in a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country.

The GCC states include Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman.

Hundreds of Bahraini government officials and business leaders attended the event, as well as heads of major companies from Israel’s oil and gas, cyber, manufacturing, fintech, high-tech, pharmaceutical and logistics sectors. Israeli “Fauda” star and singer Tsahi Halevi gave a performance, and Israeli chef Doron Sasson prepared a special menu combining Bahraini and Israeli dishes. The band of Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior played the Israeli and Bahraini national anthems.

The evening, which highlighted the ties that have developed between Bahrain and Israel since the signing of the Abraham Accords, included a recorded message from Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who opened the Israeli Embassy in Bahrain in September 2021. There were also speeches by Ambassador Dr. Sheikh Abdallah bin Ahmad Al Khalifa, undersecretary in Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry, and Israel’s first Ambassador to Bahrain, Eitan Na’eh.

“Our Yom Haatzmaut reception shows the authentic, warm and genuine relationship between Israel and Bahrain — its leadership and people,” said Ambassador Na’eh at the event, held several weeks after Israel marked Independence Day. “The new Middle East is built upon a shared desire to cooperate in all areas from security to sustainable energy, water and food security to tourism and other areas.”






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