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Tuesday, July 31, 2018

07/31 Links Pt2: Carter Blocked Begin’s Citizenship Offer to Palestinians; Indy promotes Noam Chomsky’s charge on “Israeli intervention in US elections”; WikiLeaks made antisemitic remarks in private chats

From Ian:
Carter Administration Blocked Begin’s Citizenship Offer to Palestinians
Commemorating nearly 40 years since United States President Jimmy Carter initiated the negotiations that led to Israel’s surrender of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, the Center for Israel Education is incrementally releasing sensitive memoranda from the Carter administration archives detailing conversations during those negotiations.

The fourth memo in a 10-part series highlighting the Carter administration’s involvement in the Arab-Israeli conflict unveiled a March 1978 meeting in Washington between Carter’s team and an Israeli delegation led by Prime Minister Menaḥem Begin.

The conversation from that meeting shows an American administration intent on forcing Israel to relinquish not only Sinai, but also most of the West Bank, Gaza region and the Golan Heights.

In response to the American pressure, Begin expressed his willingness to offer Palestinians the option of full Israeli citizenship with equal rights but would leave the choice in the hands of individual Palestinians themselves.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carter’s national security adviser, rejected Begin’s offer of citizenship for Palestinians on the grounds that Israel would then retain control over the West Bank, revealing that from the perspective of American interests, an Israeli withdrawal was more important than addressing the actual needs of Palestinians.

Indy promotes Noam Chomsky’s charge on “Israeli intervention in US elections”
The Independent legitimised the warped political views of linguist Noam Chomsky today, in a column by their US editor, Andrew Buncombe. The article, titled “Israeli intervention in US elections ‘vastly overwhelms’ anything Russia has done, claims Noam Chomsky”, highlighted a charge made by the American academic in an interview with the fringe radical left show ‘Democracy Now’.

Here’s the Chomsky quote highlighted by the Indy journalist:

“Israeli intervention in US elections vastly overwhelms anything the Russians may have done, I mean, even to the point where the prime minister of Israel, Netanyahu, goes directly to Congress, without even informing the president, and speaks to Congress, with overwhelming applause, to try to undermine the president’s policies – what happened with Obama and Netanyahu in 2015.”

Buncombe then contextualises Chomsky’s views by uncritically citing the (widely discredited) views of John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt:

The power of the pro-Israel lobby has long been one of the contentious, and disputed, issues in Washington. In 2007, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, published The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, which described the lobby as “loose coalition of individuals and organisations who actively work to steer US foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction”.
A self-declared leftist wages war on the Palestinian ‘right of return’
Former Labor MK Einat Wilf believes the Palestinians are not ready for peace. They are, in fact, miles away from accepting the idea of dividing the land and are still hoping Israel will soon disappear, she asserts in a new book.

And yet, she insists she’s a leftist.

But the peace camp must sober up, she says, and start realizing that peace will not come as long as the Palestinians cling to their demand to “return” to areas now belonging to Israel.

“If you truly want peace, rather than just feel good about wanting peace — and there are a lot of those — and if you actually understand that at the end of the day they [the Palestinians] are the ones with whom we have to live and share the country, you need to be realistic about where they’re coming from,” she told The Times of Israel during a recent interview in a Jerusalem cafe.

“The War of Return,” which she co-authored with former Haaretz journalist Adi Schwartz, provides an in-depth analysis of the Palestinian refugee problem. It notes that immediately after the 1948 War of Independence, Arab leaders were opposed to the return of those who had left their homes in what had become the State of Israel, as this was considered a tacit recognition of Israeli sovereignty.

But a short while later, Arab leaders changed their strategy and demanded that the “refugees” return to their old homes, Wilf and Schwartz write, citing countless historical documents to prove their point.








WikiLeaks made racist and antisemitic remarks in private chats
In private chats, including the WikiLeaks + 10 chat group, the official WikiLeaks account (the only place other than the website authorized to make “official WikiLeaks statements“) establishes a pattern of making racist and antisemitic remarks.

One of the remarks was previously reported by The Intercept – an attack on Raphael Satter, where WikiLeaks went out of their way to state that Satter was Jewish and a rat.

WikiLeaks’ private use of the ((( ))) brackets was made exactly one month after WikiLeaks came under fire for appearing to suggest that their critics were Jewish.

The next day, WikiLeaks sent a tweet that echoed their denials that they referenced the (((brackets))) in an antisemitic sense, claiming it was becoming “a tribalist designator for establishment climbers.” WikiLeaks’ explicitly connecting the (((brackets))) to someone being Jewish seems to undermine this denial. While WikiLeaks may be accurate in stating that Satter is Jewish and was involved in pushing back against perceived antisemitism, WikiLeaks connected Satter being “a rat” and involved in the (((brackets))) issue to being Jewish – an association that is inherently antisemitic due to it being used to dismiss and discredit him.

This is not the only instance where WikiLeaks went out of their way to mention that a critic of theirs was Jewish or had connections to Israel. When WikiLeaks was informed that Icelandic president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson criticized their Saudi Cables, WikiLeaks responded by asserting that “his wife is an Israeli diamond miner. Connected to the arms industry.”
TIP CEO: Nations Must Stop Tolerating Anti-Israel Bias in Sports Tournaments
Israel is subjected to an unprecedented discrimination campaign in the international sports industry, Joshua S. Block, President and CEO of The Israel Project, wrote in an op-ed for The Algemeiner on Friday.

Block was referring to the case of seven-year-old Liel Levitan from Haifa, who recently won the European Chess Championship. “For the ‘crime’ of being Israeli, the little girl is prohibited from playing in the World Chess Championship, because host nation Tunisia will not allow Israelis to compete,” Block said. “If that’s not racism, what is?”

He also cited previous incidents of “horrific acts of discrimination” against Israeli athletes, including the World Chess Championship in Saudi Arabia in December from which Israel’s players were excluded because of their nationality, as well as the refusal of the Lebanese national team to share a bus with their Israeli counterparts during the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Block contrasted these vile acts of discrimination against the inclusive atmosphere at the World Lacrosse Championship, which took place in Netanya earlier this month.

“In a vibrant festival of sport, 46 teams from all over the world competed against each other across ethnic, religious, and cultural divides,” Block overserved. “Sports are a team-building exercise. They’re meant to bring strangers together in a celebration of healthy competition — and that’s exactly what happened in Netanya during the lacrosse event.”
Cruz at CUFI Summit: Israel is our friend
We would be remiss today if we did not at least pause and reflect what a difference a couple of years can make. What a difference Ambassador Nikki Haley makes. What a difference Ambassador David Friedman makes. It was just November and December of 2016, the end of the previous administration, when we saw the United Nations passing Resolution 2334 condemning – with the voice of the international community – condemning Israel as illegal occupiers. Declaring the Jewish quarter of Israel illegally occupied. Declaring the Western Wall illegally occupied. Done with the acquiescence and energetic support of the Obama administration.

It was only a year and a half ago, we had the secretary of state, John Kerry, describing Israel as an apartheid state. It was only a couple of years ago that we had members of Congress boycotting Prime Minister Netanyahu as he addressed a joint session of Congress. But oh, how the world has changed.

This has been a year of celebration. Just a few months ago, I was so incredibly privileged and humbled to be in Jerusalem for the opening of the United States Embassy. Many of you were there on the 70th anniversary of the creation of the modern State of Israel. As we stood there dedicating that embassy, fulfilling a promise that we had seen presidents from both parties make. We’d seen Republicans make that promise, we’d seen Democrats make that promise, and yet, when it came time for action, neither one followed through. But this year, America did follow through.

The joy of being in Jerusalem visiting with Israelis, visiting with Americans, particularly those of the generation that went through the Holocaust. The survivors that were still there that you would visit had tears in their eyes, as they would look at you and say, “I never ever thought this day would come.”
ALLIES: American Volunteers Join Israeli Firefighters To Battle Dangerous Blazes From Palestinian Kites
It isn’t just Israeli firefighters fighting the blazes triggered by the incendiary kites launched by Hamas over the Israeli border: American volunteers are joining in the fight, and they aren’t all Jews.

The firefighters joined the Emergency Volunteers Project (EVP), which has brought medical and rescue personnel from all over the world since 2009 to aid Israel, from the huge forest fires of 2010 and 2016, to doctors and nurses helping at Ashkelon's Barzilai Hospital during Operation Protective Edge.

The American firefighters who flew to Israel wear the uniform and carry the same gear as Israel Fire and Rescue Services to fight against the thousands of kites, balloons, and even birds that have been launched to start catastrophic fires inside Israel by cells of Hamas-aligned terrorists.

Ten firefighters arrived in Israel last week; 40 volunteers are on standby.
Mort Klein: I Read Geraldo's Anti-Israel Book So You Don't Have To
Reviewers called Geraldo Rivera’s first memoir, Exposing Myself, “gross” and “a horndog’s Bible of workplace harassment,” noting that “[Geraldo] grabs Bette Midler’s boobs, beds every conceivable underling.”

Geraldo’s recent second memoir, The Geraldo Show: A Memoir, is another horror show. He calls Israel the “Unholy Land”; describes himself as a “Palestinianist”; falsely twists the PLO/Hamas/Islamic Jihad hostage-taking and seizure of the Church of the Nativity into an “Israeli siege”; and calls his own cowardly, false attacks on Jews and Israel “courageous.”

On March 30, 2018, Geraldo told Fox and Friends that he regretted not doing more in 2002 to “back the Palestinians in their conflict with Israel, the Second Intifada.”

The Second Intifada took place over five years (2000-2005), during which Palestinian Arab suicide bombers murdered a thousand Israelis and maimed many thousands more. My organization, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), and others urged Fox to fire Geraldo for thus supporting the massacre of Jews.

Geraldo’s new book contains passages that will make any normal person nauseous, as when he fondly recalls Yasser Arafat “hand-feeding” him a pile of hummus and cucumbers (emphasis added):
“[Arafat] was so keen on making friends he hand-fed us an elaborate pita sandwich piled with cucumber and hummus.
‘Taste this,’ he said, as he [Arafat] daintily put the food in our mouths.”

Geraldo also repeatedly defends Arafat — the filth-encrusted terrorist and Palestine Liberation Organization co-founder, responsible for murdering and maiming thousands of innocent Jews.
Melanie Phillips: Labour antisemitism skies darkening even more
The Jewish community leadership has repeatedly implored Labour to start dealing properly with the antisemitism in its midst and “return to being an anti-racist party”. The Jewish community leadership can’t possibly believe this is remotely an option. Even if the Corbynistas wanted to deal with this issue by expelling antisemites from the party, as the Jewish Chronicle observed it would have to expel hundreds if not thousands of its members.

In any event, it has no intention of facing up to the true nature of this problem. How could it? For the deranged, obsessive and malevolent animosity of so many of its members towards the Jews is symbiotically and inextricably bound up with the deranged, obsessive and malevolent animosity towards Israel.

And that poisonous stain spreads far beyond the Corbynistas and far beyond the Labour party. For pathological anti-Israelism is the leitmotif of progressive politics in general.

Most people – even many of those who are generally benignly disposed towards Israel, including some Jews – have absolutely no idea whatsoever of the extent to which the bad things they may believe about Israel are the the very opposite of the truth.

By definition, they have no idea of the particularly malign role played by the BBC – which furnishes the nation’s aural political wallpaper – in this systematic demonisation, week in, week out, and with no opposing voices given a platform to point out the falsehoods.

Last week, BBC radio broadcast a five-part serialisation of a book entitled “Where the Line is Drawn” by Raja Shehadeh. You can read about it here on the excellent BBC Watch website. Suffice to say it was five episodes of noxious bilge and bile about Israel.

The serialisation drove Rod Liddle – a former editor of BBC Radio’s Today programme – to observe in fury in the Sunday Times that the BBC will never balance such stuff by providing the other side of the argument. Liddle wrote:

“The BBC and Radio 4 in particular are in the grip of what the American author Tom Wolfe called radical chic attitudinising. In other words, they are naive middle-class liberals who believe the Palestinian cause is unequivocally just and there is no real argument about that. Which is why, when Hamas rains 200 rockets and mortars down upon Israel, you hear nothing on the BBC. You hear about it only when Israel responds.
JPost Editorial: Labour pains
The Labour Party adopted the guidelines, but with some important omissions. Their reasoning? “Discourse about international politics often employs metaphors drawn from examples of historic misconduct. It is not antisemitism to criticize the conduct or policies of the Israeli state by reference to such examples unless there is evidence of antisemitic intent.”

According to the editorial by the Jewish papers, the Labour Party’s incomplete definition of antisemitism that was adopted enables party members “to claim Israel’s existence is a racist endeavor and compare Israeli policies to those of Nazi Germany, unless ‘intent’ – whatever that means – can be proved. ‘Dirty Jew’ is wrong, ‘Zionist bitch’ fair game.”

After the adoption of the guidelines, Jewish MP Margaret Hodge called Corbyn an “antisemitic racist.”

“It’s not what you say, it’s what you do. And he hasn’t adopted the full definition of antisemitism...,” Hodge said on the BBC.

The argument over semantics does not come in a vacuum. British Jewry’s main watchdog on antisemitism – the Community Security Trust – recorded 727 hate incidents through June of 2018, the second-highest total on record its record for a six-month period.

Earlier this year, the Labor Party in Israel suspended its relations with Corbyn, accusing him of showing hostility to the Jewish community and allowing antisemitic statements and actions from his party officials. Labor leader Avi Gabbay, distinguishing between Corbyn and the Labour Party, cited the party leader’s “very public hatred of the policies of the Government of the State of Israel, many of which regard the security of our citizens and actions of our soldiers – policies where the opposition and coalition in Israel are aligned.”

Valid criticism of Israel’s policies are healthy, encouraged and a welcome part of the vibrant dialogue between people living in democracies. However, when leaders like Corbyn blur the distinction between blind hatred of everything Israeli and Jew hatred, it’s time to take the gloves off and call an antisemite an antisemite.
Bombshell tape shows Jeremy Corbyn ally blamed 'Jewish Trump fanatics' for inventing Labour antisemitism
One of Jeremy Corbyn’s closest allies on Labour’s ruling body claimed Jewish “Trump fanatics” were making false claims of antisemitism in the party, a recording obtained by the JC confirms.

Explosive audio of Peter Willsman’s angry rant - at the meeting attended by Mr Corbyn where Labour’s ruling body approved a controversial new code of conduct on antisemitism – also shows he angrily demanded 68 rabbis, who warned Jew-hate had become "severe and widespread" within the party, provide evidence.

He says on the recording: "We should ask the 70 rabbis ‘where is your evidence of severe and widespread antisemitism in this Party?’”

Mr Willsman then demands those at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting raise their hands if they have “seen” antisemitism in Labour and then suggested he was “amazed” that some said they had.

He escaped formal punishment for his remarks by apologising but suggested some of his remarks had been misquoted.

But Jewish Labour MP Luciana Berger called for the party to suspend Mr Willsman and conduct a "formal investigation", after she heard the JC's audio of his rant. (h/t jzaik)
British Labour Party looking into 250 complaints of anti-Semitic abuse
The British Labour Party is investigating more than 250 complaints of anti-Semitic abuse.

The Jewish Labour Movement turned over the complaints to the party, many of them appearing on social media and related to Margaret Hodge.

Hodge, a Labour lawmaker, confronted party leader Jeremy Corbyn after the decision earlier this month to adopt a softened definition of anti-Semitism, calling him a “fucking anti-Semite and a racist” and urging him to quit the party. The party has warned Hodge that she will be disciplined.

A second lawmaker, Ian Austin, a supporter of Labour Friends of Israel whose adoptive father was a Czech Jewish refugee from the Nazis, also faces party discipline after saying in a radio interview that Corbyn has been “supporting and defending all kinds of extremists and in some cases, frankly, anti-Semites,” and called the Labour Party a “sewer.”
Jeremy Corbyn at a Labour event in Stretford, England, March 22, 2018. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Among the anti-Semitic social media posts attacking Hodge, some called her a “Zionist bitch” and accused her of being paid for her support by Israel.

Other posts on pro-Corbyn Facebook groups are alleged to have drawn parallels between Israel and the Nazis.
Latest Cadwalladr Conspiracy Bots Behind Labour Anti-Semitism
Observer rent-a-conspiracy writer Carole Cadwalladr has stuck her foot in it yet again by incredibly suggesting that Anti-Semistism in the Labour Party is the product of paid Tory trolls and her favourite bogeymen Cambridge Analytica.

She approvingly quote tweeted a conspiracy thread suggesting that Brandon Lewis has hired “a team of Tory trolls” and that recently suspended Labour members like Damien Enticott were just ‘hacked’.

This thread was written by a Labour supporter who is backing Pete Willsman for Labour NEC, a figure even too toxic for the likes of Owen Jones and Matt Zarb-Cousin.

Another brilliant piece of codswallop from Carole.

UPDATE: Carole has deleted her tweet and posted this apology…
Daily Express: classic combination of antisemitism and ignorance
Look at the photograph and caption that the Daily Express used this morning for its article by Jewish Chronicle Editor Stephen Pollard about antisemitism:

Contrary to what the caption says, the 'Jews' in the photo are the fanatics of Neturei Karta and you can clearly see their anti-Israel placards. But hey - as far as the Express is concerned - 'Jews with beards, payers, and big furry hats who hate Israel' are obviously typical of British Jews concerned about Corbyn's anti-Israel driven antisemitism.

It is also important to note that, since the Mirror group takeover of the Express, the newspaper has adopted the Hamas anti-Israel narrative (see this example) and so is a significant contributor to the anti-Israel driven antisemitism that currently afflicts the UK.
Anti-Israel conspiracy author accuses opponent of 'Bigfoot erotica'
Leslie Cockburn, a Democratic nominee for Virginia's 5th Congressional District, set off national shockwaves when on Sunday she accused Republican opponent Denver Riggleman of being a "devotee of Bigfoot erotica" based on a picture from Riggleman's Instagram account.

But Cockburn herself is no stranger to controversy, as she has been accused of harboring antisemitic and anti-Israel views of her own. Cockburn's book The Dangerous Liaison: The Inside Story of the US-Israeli Covert Relationship unfavorably characterizes Israel's relationship with the United States, claiming Israel secretly controls US policy.

"My opponent Denver Riggleman, running mate of Corey Stewart, was caught on camera campaigning with a white supremacist. Now he has been exposed as a devotee of Bigfoot erotica. This is not what we need on Capitol Hill," she wrote Sunday on Twitter.

On the official website of the Republican Party in Virginia, the party accuses the Democrats of having nominated a "virulent antisemite in the Fifth District," positing, "Cockburn has a long history of antisemitic rhetoric which can be documented over at least the past 25 years."

Antisemitic attacks are often cloaked under the veil of criticism of Israel. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance defines antisemitic attacks as ones that include, "targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity," or "accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations."
Amnesty International's ill-suited spokesmodel
Amnesty International features Gaza "social media activist' Farah Baker on its Facebook page, as an example of the deprivation and suffering in the coastal enclave. Its a curious choice.

Farah is a member of Gaza's social media club and has a highly visible presence on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

The newly engaged 20 year-old has done a fine job chronicling the life of a well-off teenager Gaza.

Farah Baker, rather than being a poster child for the impoverished of Gaza, instead is an example of the privilege and position that exist for the elite of Gaza, making it no different than any other society.

Farah and her I phone have given us a glimpse of the Gaza beyond the staged media reports

Gaza is not simply the land of eternal victimhood- of refugee camps and ruin that Amnesty International wants you to imagine. Its also a land of restaurants, resorts, and shops, as documented by Farah Baker and her I phone. Farah has inadvertently given us a rare glimpse of reality of Gaza beyond the bias of Amnesty International.
Michael Lumish: The Week on Nothing Left
This week Michael Burd and Alan Freedman begin with an interview with Salim Mansur, a Muslim commentator who is critical of Islam, and then hear (in two parts) from American author Edwin Black speaking about recent events in the United Nations.

Prof Aharon Klieman is a retired academic from the Tel Aviv University and an expert in political science with some very clear and articulate views on the relationship between Israel, the PA and Gaza, and Isi Leibler join the guys from Jerusalem with his assessment of President Trump to date.

Here is this week's episode of Nothing Left ...
3 min Editorial: Israel’s new Basic Law
9 min Alan Dershowitz on Basic law
13 min Dr.Salim Mansur, Muslim critic of Islam
38 min Edwin Black part 1, on the UN
50 min Edwin Black part 2, on the UN
1 hr 4 Prof Aharon Klieman, on Israel and Gaza
1 hr 31 Isi Leibler in Jerusalem, on President Trump
You Won’t Believe What One News Site Called the IDF
The latest Palestinian attempt to symbolically break the Israeli blockade of Gaza made news in New Zealand because a prominent union leader was aboard one of the intercepted boats. Mike Treen, the national director of Unite, says he was tasered repeatedly by Israeli forces who boarded the Al Awda. In previous flotillas, the ships were taken to Ashdod and the foreigners eventually deported, which is presumably Israel’s plan for Treen.

Israel maintains a blockade of Gaza to prevent weapons smuggling to Hamas.

NewshubUnfortunately, Newshub‘s coverage refers to the “Israeli Occupation Forces.”

In the reporter’s voice.

With further repeated references to the “IOF.”

There’s no such proper noun as the IOF. It’s just a provocative slur used by Palestinians and their supporters — including the Unite press release which was the basis for Newshub’s report.
‘Facebook allows Holocaust denial in U.S. that it bans in Europe’
Paul Packer, chairman of the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, confronted Facebook leadership last week over CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s statement that he opposed banning Holocaust denial from the social media platform.

Packer, who was appointed to head the independent government agency last year by US President Donald Trump, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that he was not satisfied with what he heard and expects Facebook to do more.

After meeting with Facebook’s vice president of global public policy Joel Kaplan to discuss his concerns, Packer said he spotted inconsistencies in the media giant’s arguments. “He said a lot, but really didn’t say anything,” Packer said of Kaplan.

“The policy will lead to more hate. And Facebook – being the community builder that it would like to be, with close to 2 billion users – by allowing Holocaust deniers on their platform is choosing not to act,” he said.

Packer said that Facebook has proven its ability to suppress Holocaust denial in Europe – where such revisionism is criminally punished in several countries – with geotagging technology. He said he encouraged Kaplan to implement a similar practice in the US.

“Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany, and a crime in France – we know its blocked in those countries by Facebook,” where they geotag, he said, questioning why they would not replicate the policy here.

“It has no place in America,” he added, “to rewrite history.”
Airbnb removes Chicago listing that would not tolerate Zionism
Airbnb removed a Chicago-area listing after a prospective renter posted its prohibition on expressions of “zionism.”

“This apartment strives to be a safe space — no sexism, homophobia, zionism, racism, classism, transphobia, xenophobia, fatphobia, or other hatred and prejudice is tolerated,” said the listing that appeared earlier this month advertising a bedroom in a “massive loft” located “at the heart of Wrigley and Boystown.”

“Guests who make the space unsafe or exhibit problematic behavior WILL BE ASKED TO LEAVE WITHOUT A REFUND,” it said.

Nick Papas, a spokesman for the popular tourism rental website, told JTA on Monday that the listing was suspended and Airbnb will investigate.

“Airbnb hosts may not decline a guest based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status,” Papas said.

The listing also said unaccompanied straight men “should look elsewhere.”
Outrage as German man acquitted over 2000 bombing targeting Jewish immigrants
An alleged neo-Nazi was acquitted by a German court Tuesday for a bombing 18 years ago targeting Jewish immigrants, in what angry victims’ advocates called a historic “legal mistake.”

Ralf Spies, 52, was cleared of 12 counts of attempted murder with a “racist” motive and a charge of causing an explosion in the attack at a commuter rail station in the western city of Dusseldorf on July 27, 2000.

The regional court in the city found him not guilty, after having released him from custody in May “for lack of sufficiently reliable testimony” from witnesses, many of whom were in prison with the defendant.

The victims were on their way back from a German language course when the explosive, hung in a plastic bag on a fence near the Wehrhahn station entrance, went off, sparking panic.

Ten eastern European migrants — six of them Jews from the former Soviet Union — were injured in the bombing, which shocked Germany and drew international condemnation.
US Appeals Court: California Museum Can Keep Cranachs Looted by Nazis
A federal appeals court on Monday said the Norton Simon Museum can keep two 16th-century masterpieces depicting Adam and Eve by the German Renaissance painter Lucas Cranach the Elder, which had been looted by the Nazis during World War Two.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 3-0 against Marei von Saher, who has been suing the Pasadena, California-based museum for 11 years to reclaim the paintings, taken by the Nazis in a forced sale after her father-in-law, Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, fled the Netherlands in 1940.

Circuit Judge Margaret McKeown said the “act of state” doctrine validated the 1966 sale of the paintings by the Dutch government, which by then owned them, to George Stroganoff-Scherbatoff, a onetime US Navy commander and descendant of Russian aristocracy.

He sold them in 1971 to the museum, which has displayed them ever since.

Lawrence Kaye, a lawyer for von Saher, said he was “obviously disappointed” and would review the decision with his client.

“Today’s decision should finally put this matter to rest,” the museum said in a statement.

Many lawsuits seek to reclaim art taken or sold after Adolf Hitler took power in Germany in 1933.

This includes the 6-1/4 foot (1.9 meters) tall Cranach panels, which had been purchased by Nazi Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring at a fraction of their value.
How a synagogue helped re-open a flooded Dallas church
With straw brooms and willpower, the pastor and a few congregants of First Fellowship Baptist Church in southern Dallas had to push out two inches of water taking over their place of worship.

A busted pipe had filled multiple rooms in the church, which doubles as a community center. The water had soaked the carpet and seeped into the two layers of tile that hid underneath. The pews, made of particle-board, were doused and destroyed.

Pastor George Gregory and volunteers have worked for months to get their church back into shape. But now Gregory won't be left a shepherd with nowhere to seat his flock.

He found out about a month ago that Temple Shalom in North Dallas was giving away its original pews. And the temple’s leaders were happy to help.

Rodney Schlosser, president of Temple Shalom, said the donation was “our opportunity to pay it forward by being hospitable to other religious institutions.”

The temple was able to spare its pews because it’s buying new ones after receiving a $200,000 donation from Raelaine and Paul Radnitz, longtime congregants of the temple.
Alanis Morissette says 'Thank U' to Israel
By the time Alanis Morissette closed out her show in Rishon Lezion on Monday night with her 1998 smash hit "Thank U," she had already uttered the words more than a dozen times that evening.

In true Canadian fashion, the singer/songwriter profusely thanked the 15,000-strong crowd between each and every song during her 90-minute show at the Rishon Lezion Live Park. Morissette just seemed to be happy to be there, happy to be performing, and happy that so many people turned out to experience it.

The evening began with an opening act by Israeli-turned-Californian Ninet Tayeb. Though Tayeb put on an impassioned and at times overwrought performance, the crowd was clearly just waiting for the main event.

In leather pants and a billowing yellow shirt - plus short hair she cropped close earlier this year - Morissette opened the show with "All I Really Want," to screams of approval from the audience.

"It's so great to be back here with you, we missed you so much," Morissette told the crowd.

More than 20 years after her most famous album - 1995's Jagged Little Pill - was released, the 44-year-old iconic singer songwriter still has what it takes. Her powerful vocals didn't falter once throughout the night, and she kept up her high energy despite the sticky summer evening. She also showed off her chops on an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar and even the harmonica on and off throughout the show.
Jerusalem welcomes the world for International Children’s Games
The International Children’s Games officially kicked off at Sultan’s Pool in Jerusalem on Monday night. Children and their coaches from all around the world socialized at the venue’s plaza to meet other kids from around the world before the games begin.

“It’s great, I’m having a fun time. We’ve been experiencing a lot of different people and languages. I’ve met a lot of different people,” said Terrion Ellis, a basketball player from the United States.

The age of the children range from 12-15 years old. The over 1,500 athletes comprise 50 percent boys and 50 percent girls. Young athletes will compete in nine sports through August 3.

“This is my first time in Jerusalem. It’s fantastic, so nice, so good,” said Lununlen Chongloi, a soccer player from India.

The opening ceremony also had a large stage with singers, dancers and performers entertaining the crowd.
Spa and game room found at 1,700-year-old pottery workshop in Israel
Third-century Roman potters were, apparently, early adopters of the elusive work-life balance. At the central Israel town of Gedera, an Israel Antiquities Authority team has uncovered an impressive 20-bath spa and robust game room alongside evidence of 600 years of a massive ceramic industry.

Boards for still-popular games are etched into large stone benches at the 3rd century CE site. Among the game boards, the IAA archaeologists identified mancala, an ancient one- or two-player game using a board and seeds or marbles that is still an international bestseller.

“People are people and the archaeology reminds us that we’re not inventing the wheel,” said IAA excavation co-director Ella Nagorsky. “Just like how Google established a play area in its workspace, so too here: We discovered a game room that was perhaps used for breaks from the potters’ intensive work.”

The entertainment complex was discovered during a salvage operation conducted ahead of the construction of a new neighborhood in northern Gedera, under the initiative and funding of the Israel Lands Authority.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

The latest "massacre" in Gaza is done by - UNRWA?

From Al Jazeera:

Currently, the blockaded strip suffers from a 44 percent unemployment rate. Last Wednesday, the agency fired a further 113 employees, all because of the United States' 80 percent budget cut.

Furthermore, UNRWA announced the contracts of 1,000 of its employees in the Gaza Strip - Abu Hashim among them - will not have their contracts renewed. This includes the termination of the mental health programme, which employs 430 people.

"This is a massacre against the employees," Amal al-Batsh, deputy chairman of the UNRWA'S staff union, told Al Jazeera. "The solution to the crisis should not be at the expense of the staff providing services to the tens of thousands of refugees in the Gaza Strip."
Palestinian are very accustomed to using hyperbole in order to whip people up into a frenzy as well as to cow Westerners into doing their will (because normal people wouldn't talk that way unless there was really a huge catastrophe looming.)

A thousand people losing their jobs is something that happens every day all over the world. UNRWA's model of an ever-increasing budget for an ever-increasing population was known for decades not to be sustainable, yet no one wanted to change it as long as the money was flowing. This sort of thing was going to happen, inevitably.

It is not a tragedy. It is not a "massacre." It is the result of a deliberate policy of perpetuating a problem.

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Netflix giving racist, antisemitic Farrakhan a platform

From Twitter:


This is pretty outrageous. I cannot imagine Netflix giving a platform to Richard Spencer - why do they give one to Farrakhan?


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07/31 Links Pt1: Syrian activists: 'Ahed Tamimi lucky not to be imprisoned by Assad'; IDF Message to Gaza: Hamas Sends You Every Week to Die on the Fence

From Ian:
More horror than heroism: Ahed Tamimi
My sweet-natured daughter Malki, brimming with empathy and generosity toward others, always with a smile on her face, was 15 when she was murdered in the Sbarro pizzeria massacre 17 years ago this week.

The experience of losing her, of trying to re-balance my life and my family’s and of trying to make sense of the reactions of other people, has shaped much of what I believe about terrorism.

We know who plotted the Sbarro barbarism. It was not Ahed Tamimi. But when her clan, the Tamimis of Nabi Saleh, get together to celebrate it, as we know they do, she is an enthusiastic participant.

In a village where almost everyone is related by blood and (yes, and) marriage, Ahed is a cousin of one of the attack’s perpetrators, Ahlam Tamimi, in multiple ways. Ahlam now lives free in Jordan. She boasts that she chose the site for the explosion, seeking to kill as many Jewish children as possible, and that she planted the human bomb. Via social media, public speeches and (for five years) her own TV program, she urges others to follow her lead.

When Ahlam married Nizar Tamimi – also a murderer from the village – a few months after both walked free in the Gilad Shalit prisoner-exchange deal, Ahed was there to dance and gaze adoringly at the bride.

But neither her gaze nor her ideas are the problem – it’s what others do with them.

Ahed’s parents make a living from propagandizing against Israel. They fashioned and groomed Ahed, leveraging her blondness, pushing her into staged conflicts with Israeli soldiers from when she was 10, deliberately putting her at real risk on a weekly basis for years – long before she had the ability to discern what was being done to her.

Syrian activists: 'Ahed Tamimi lucky not to be imprisoned by Assad'
“Israel released Ahed Tamimi full of health and without a scratch,” wrote Syrian activist and photographer Yasser Wardh, contrasting her leaving prison “while thousands of Palestinians are killed in prisons of the Assad regime.”

Nedal al-Amari, a journalist from Deraa, also contrasted the brutality of the Syrian regime with Tamimi’s treatment. “The difference between Israel and Bashar al-Assad. Ahed Tamimi lucky girl because it was in Israel’s prisons, not Assad’s prisons.”

Dozens of similar tweets in Arabic mentioned her alleged “9 kilos” weight gain. “She was not tortured. She was not raped. Her weight increased by nearly 9 kilos. Her hair and face are more beautiful,” wrote Mahdi Majeed.

Iman Kais, who has 100,000 followers on Twitter, also contrasted Tamimi’s experience with Arab prisons. “She says she learned to love life, whereas those imprisoned in our Arab countries can reach a stage where they wish their mother didn’t give birth to them.”

Many tweeted photos of Tamimi next to a dead Syrian woman, trying to draw attention to the difference. “If people in Deraa and the south were detained by the Zionist occupation and they come out 9 kilos more, instead of arrested by the Assad occupation every day a list of the souls of the martyrs, more than 3,000 now,” one wrote. This was a reference to the thousands of names of those murdered in Assad’s prisons. The regime has recently released lists of those who have disappeared or been killed in the last seven years, many of whom died in prison.
Ahed Tamimi to be honored by Nelson Mandela’s grandson
Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Mandla Mandela will invite Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi to South Africa to receive a special reward “for bravery, resistance and being a symbol of hope for millions.”

Tamimi, who was jailed for eight months after being videoed provoking and slapping an IDF soldier last year, was released on Sunday.

According to several South African media outlets and the Afro-Palestine Newswire Service, Mandla made the comments during a celebration to commemorate his late grandfather’s 100th birthday. He reportedly promised Tamimi that he will “continue to support and rally others to join in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions [BDS] campaign to isolate Apartheid Israel until Palestine is free.”

Mandla then saluted Tamimi as “a symbol of Palestinian resistance.”

Many of South Africa’s leaders, including the country’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, have been vocal about the incarceration of Tamimi.

Earlier this year, Ramaphosa, during a response to questions following his state of the nation address, called for the speedy release of Tamimi.

“At this moment, we wish to express our deepest concern about the continued imprisonment of Palestinian children in Israeli jails,” he said in reference to Tamimi. The comment received thunderous applause in the country’s parliament.



Caroline Glick: The Stakes in Syria Continue to Rise
The threat that Iran will choose to initiate a devastating war in the Middle East, from its perch in Syria, continues to rise.

Last Thursday, forces wearing Syrian military uniforms along the Syrian side of the border with Israel at Quneitra in the Golan Heights hoisted the Syrian flag at the border crossing. It was the first time the regime had asserted its control over the border zone since 2014.

The regime’s reconquest of southwestern Syria, along the borders with Jordan and Israel, in recent weeks has been accompanied by repeated penetration of Israeli territory by projectiles from Syria.

Last Tuesday, Israel shot down a Syrian Air Force Sukhoi 22 that crossed into its territory. Last Wednesday, so-called Islamic State (ISIS) forces in southern Syria shot two missiles into Israel that fell into the Sea of Galilee just a few dozen yards from beachgoers. The Israeli navy located one of the missiles, but is still looking for the other one, which reportedly failed to detonate.

Israel deployed its David’s Sling ballistic missile defense system for the first time this week against projectiles launched from Syria. The system failed to intercept a Syrian missile, which was eventually shot down by a Patriot missile battery.

Aside from the ISIS missiles, which Israeli security officials believe were shot to pull Israel into the Syrian civil war, military officials believe that the other penetrations of Israeli territory from Syria were errant events caused by navigation and firing errors, and Israel’s close proximity to battle areas.
Royal Navy Rescued Manchester Islamic State Bomber from Libya Civil War
Britain’s Royal Navy rescued from Libya the Islamic State suicide bomber who killed 22 at a concert in Manchester last year, bringing him from the war zone back to the UK, after he had been flagged as a potential threat.

Salman Abedi was born to Libyan asylum seeker parents in the south of Manchester, before returning to his ancestral homeland to allegedly engage in militant activity.

On the 22nd of May 2017, he would murder 22 at the Manchester Arena venue in his home city, many of them young children and girls, as they attended a pop concert. More than 200 were injured.

It has now emerged, reports the Daily Mail, that in 2014 Abedi, his brother Hashem, and around 100 more British citizens were evacuated from Tripoli by HMS Enterprise as the security situation in Libya deteriorated.

They were taken to Malta before returning to the UK on a flight into Manchester. His brother is now imprisoned in Libya in connection with the Manchester attack.

A Whitehall source told the newspaper: “For this man to have committed such an atrocity on UK soil after we rescued him from Libya was an act of utter betrayal.”
Family of Palestinian Youth Who Murdered an Israeli Father of Two the Latest to Benefit From the PA’s Pay for Slay Program
Last Friday, Yotam Ovadia wanted to do something nice for his wife. Cooking a surprise romantic dinner, he thought, would be a wonderful way to spend Shabbat. He bought all the ingredients, and stored them at his parents house nearby. Then, in the evening, he told his wife, Tal, that he was going out for a bit and will return soon.

He never did. Walking in the streets of his community, he ran into Muhammad Tarek Dar Yusuf, a 17-year-old Palestinian from a nearby village. Yusuf wrestled Ovadia to the ground, and then, producing a long knife, stabbed him in the head, the heart, the neck, and the lungs. Passersby managed to shoot and kill Yusuf, but Tal, running out, saw her husband and realized he wasn’t going to make it. He passed away a short while later.

But while Ovadia’s family mourns, Yusuf’s has cause to celebrate. According to Palestinian Media Watch, the Palestinian Authority’s official daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, declared Yusuf a martyr, a designation that comes with a hefty financial reward: Yusuf’s family will receive a one-time bonus of $1,643, followed by a monthly salary for life of $383, more than half the average Palestinian’s salary. According to the PA’s ghoulish pay-for-slay program, had Yusuf been successful in his quest to kill more Jews on his rampage, he would’ve earned his family more money, as Mahmoud Abbas’s government incentivizes murder by increasing the financial compensation to the families of terrorists for each Jew slaughtered.

Had Yusuf been captured and imprisoned rather than shot and killed, he might’ve taken comfort in a letter signed by 35 members of Congress and sent late last week to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Beginning with a call “to promote the protection and proper treatment of children on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the letter—spearheaded by Representatives Jan Schakowsky, David Price, Steve Cohen, and John Yarmuth, all Democrats—soon hits its real target, taking issue with Israel’s detention of minors like Yusuf who have attempted or perpetrated deadly attacks against civilians. “We encourage the State Department to stress the importance of ensuring proper treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli detention,” read the letter, “and address this matter in the Department’s next report on global human rights.”


Israel questioned Adam stabber 2 years ago over Facebook posts, family says
A teenage Palestinian terrorist who carried out a fatal stabbing attack in a West Bank settlement last Thursday was summoned by an Israeli intelligence service two years ago over Facebook posts, family members said this week.

Seventeen-year-old Mohammed Yousef of Kobar stabbed three Israelis in Adam, killing Yotam Ovadia, 31, and wounding the other two before he was shot dead.

“He and his father were summoned to a meeting with the Israeli intelligence services after he made a few posts on Facebook about the situation here,” Khalid Yousef, an uncle of Muhammed, said in an interview in Kobar on Sunday.

Yahya Yousef, Muhammed’s brother, confirmed Khalid’s comment.

Khalid and Yahya did not say which intelligence service summoned Muhammed.
Parks rangers in southern Israel watch life's work turn to ash
World Ranger Day, an international day of recognition for the men and women who guard national parks and forests all over the world, was no celebration for the rangers working in the northern and western Negev, where many thousands of acres of woodland, fields, and nature preserves have been laid to waste by the burning balloons and kites that Palestinians in Gaza float over the border fence, seeking to cause as much damage to Israeli property as possible.

"The threat here is daily – it's like a terrorist attack, you don't know where it will happen. You always have this feeling of uncertainty about how many [burning] balloons will arrive and where, and nature is paying the price," says Hanan Levavi, who for the past five years has been working as the Israel Nature and Parks Authority's chief ranger for the northern Negev. His job places him on the front lines of the fight against arson terrorism in the form of fire kites and balloons that Palestinians fly over the Gaza border fence, hoping to cause as many fires as possible in Israel.

Recently, rangers in Gaza-adjacent communities have been forced to join the effort to check the immense damage caused by the terrorist arson from Gaza. Some sites have been particularly hard hit: 80% of the foliage in Be'eri Forest has been burned down; 56% of the Nir'am Reserve is scorched black, and a third of the Karmia Reserve has gone up in flames. In total, over 11,000 dunams (2,700 acres) of nature preserves have been lost to the fires.

Levavi says that in the past four months, fires caused by the burning balloons and kites have broken out daily in the Be'eri area.

"It ranges from 10 [separate] fires to 50 on the bad days. It's inconceivable. All the land is burned up. There's nowhere for wild animals to hide," the ranger says.
IDF Message to Gaza: Hamas Sends You Every Week to Die on the Fence
“Hamas sends you every week to die on the fence, in order to use you as a human shield,” is the message of a video posted on the Facebook page in Arabic of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, directed at Gaza residents.

The video shows Hamas policemen beating Arab women violently and destroying the homes of residents of the Gaza Strip. It also shows a 32-year-old man who took his own life after Hamas members beat him and broke his stall in the market.

The video was created by Col. Iyad Sarhan, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories for the Gaza Strip, who assumed his post in February. Earlier in July, Col. Sarhan told Gaza residents on Facebook that Hamas is responsible for the closing of the Kerem Shalom Crossing. “The heavy price you are paying is the result of the balloon and kite terror; yes, we absolutely consider these incidents terrorism, and because of that our response will be harsh,” he posted.

In his latest video, Col. Sarhan says: “Hamas does not care about the residents of Gaza when it sends them again and again to the fence, and uses them as human shields, Hamas does not protect Gaza residents, Hamas exploits them!”

“Hamas sends you every week to die on the fence, to use you as a human shield, instead of investing money in workplaces, electricity and water, it exploits you and attacks you in violent ways,” Col. Sarhan says.


Arens, you're wrong about the law
A few notable personalities from the Right are joining the wave of condemnation of Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, namely former Defense Minister Moshe Arens and MK Benny Begin. In doing so, they are legitimizing those who wish us harm and who are using the "racist" nation-state law as proof that the Israeli government seeks to implement "discrimination" and "apartheid."

The main reason they were foaming at the mouth was that the law makes no mention of the equal status and rights of the non-Jewish minorities in Israel, particularly those who serve in the IDF and the other branches of the security establishment. Of course, they are talking about the Druze and the Bedouin. This is a mistake; the nation-state law contains nothing that is designed to minimize the acknowledgment of minorities' contributions to the state and its defense.

The nation-state law is intended to define the country's national identity and anchor it constitutionally. It does not address how the government is run, which is a weighty issue, but one that is unrelated to national identity. Starting in the middle of the last century, many countries made radical changes to their forms of government without it affecting their national make-up. That is what happened in Japan, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Argentina. Did the regime changes there also revolutionize their citizens' national identities?

Many of the people who criticize the nation-state law cling nostalgically to the Declaration of Independence and point it out as an appropriate, fitting inspiration for the wording of the law. They forget that although the Declaration of Independence mentions the civil rights of all the citizens in the state, for nearly two decades after it was signed, the Arab minority was under a police regime that seriously limited its liberty and civil rights.

Perhaps we should also mention that in the Declaration of Independence, the word "right" appears 10 times, nine of which refer to the rights of Jews and the Jewish people as a group and a nation. Only once is the word "right" mentioned in the context of civil rights for all citizens.
The Secret Reason Arabs Reject the Jewish Nation-State Law
Some Israeli Arab leaders speak disparagingly about Israel for publicity. They know that no newspaper would ever mention them if they were dealing with issues such as sewage or a shortage of classrooms in Arab schools. If they say something bad about Israel or provoke the Jews, however, they will certainly receive a headline in the press.

Israeli Arab leaders can incite against Israel as much as they wish. Their slander will not change the reality that Israel is the only thriving democracy in the Middle East, and treats its minorities with respect. While minorities are being persecuted and murdered in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Libya and other Arab and Islamic countries, the Arab citizens of Israel are being integrated into the state. They hold high positions in the Supreme Court, the Foreign Ministry, the health sector and even the Israel Police. The majority of the Arabs in Israel can work anywhere they wish, they can travel anywhere in the country, and they will continue to enjoy all the privileges, benefits and freedoms that Jewish citizens do.

Some Israeli Arab leaders want Israel to give up its wish to be a Jewish homeland because they are hoping that one day Jews will become a minority in their own country. For far too long, they have been inciting their constituents against Israel and Jews. If these leaders are so unhappy in Israel, perhaps they would consider moving to Ramallah or the Gaza Strip or any Arab country. Perhaps they would care to resign from the Knesset. Why do they refrain from doing so? Because it is in the Jewish homeland, supposedly so harmful to them, that they and their children can live and thrive.
Majority of Israeli Jews support Nation-State Law, polls determine
A small majority of Jewish Israelis believe the Knesset was correct in passing the Jewish Nation-State Law, two polls found Tuesday.

A Panels Research poll taken for the Walla! News website found that 58% of Israelis support the new law, 34% oppose it and eight percent had no opinion. The poll found that those defining themselves as right-wing or centrist were more likely to back the bill and self-defined leftists were more likely to oppose it.

The monthly Peace Index poll of the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University found that 52.3 percent of Jewish Israelis believe it was important to pass the law at this time, but only 7.3% of Arabs agrees.

Among Jews, 39.7% think it was not important to pass the law now, and eight percent did know or refused to answer. Among Israeli Arabs 83.8% believe it was not important, and 8.9% did not know or declined to respond.

Asked whether guaranteeing equality for all Israeli citizens should be in the law, 59.6% of Jews and 72.5% of Arabs said yes, 29.7% of Jews and 20.8% of Arabs said no, and 10.7% of Jews and 6.6% of Arabs declined to respond or said they did not know.

When asked whether the bill’s downgrading of Arabic as an official language was right or wrong, 88.3% of Arabs said no and just six percent said yes, while 5.8% said they did not know or declined to respond. Among Jews, 51.2% supported the decision, 39.6% opposed it, and 9.1% refused to answer or said they did not know.
New York Times’ Myths About Israel as a Jewish State
In any debate, opinions must be based on factual reality, not myths: a professional obligation the New York Times ignored when it published an opinion piece by Palestinian-Israeli writer Sayed Kashua.

This month Israel passed the “Nation State Law,” which among other things, officially declares that Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people. This law has generated support, opposition and legitimate debate both at home and abroad.

Here are a five myths written by Kashua along with the basic the fact checking the NYT should have done in the first place.

Myth #1: “[Israel is] a country where Jews enjoy rights that others don’t have.”

Fact: While Israel struggles with the same tensions as any ethnically diverse democracy, all citizens have equal rights under law.

Myth #2: “A state in which Judaism is the only national expression permissible by law will, by definition, reject any minority member who wishes to be part of it…”

Fact: It is unclear to which “definition” Kashua is referring, but many countries have an official religion, ethnicity, or people-hood without rejecting minorities: such as Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, Japan and many more.
If Rivlin signs in Arabic, does that mean Jewish nation-state law isn’t binding?
Don’t know about you, but I’m having little visions of President Reuven Rivlin practicing signing his name in Arabic.

What am I talking about?

The president, unhappy like so many of us with the new Jewish nation-state law, is reported to have said that he will fulfill his legal obligation to sign the legislation into law but will do so in Arabic — as a symbolic act of solidarity with Israel’s non-Jewish minority, many of whom are protesting that the law discriminates against them.

Asked by The Times of Israel whether the president is indeed going to affix his John Hancock in a language that the new law demotes from official to merely “special,” the office of the president on Tuesday refused to confirm or deny the claim.

So now I’m wondering whether, if Rivlin does indeed sign his name in Arabic, this might leave the law — already being challenged in the Supreme Court — vulnerable to a further legal threat.

How so?

Well, if Arabic is no longer an official language of Israel, and the president’s final, formal approval of the legislation is written in this non-official lettering, would that mean that the law is not, in fact, legally binding? Is it not on the books if the president’s approval is affixed in a merely “special” rather than an official language?
Catholic Church in Jerusalem slams nation-state law, urges Christians to protest
The Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem on Monday issued a statement slamming the newly passed nation-state law, which it called discriminatory, and said it violated both Israeli and international law.

The Patriarchate, which represents the Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land, called on all Christians in Israel to protest the law that reserves the right to national-self determination exclusively for Israel’s Jewish citizens.

“The law fails to provide any constitutional guarantees for the rights of the indigenous and other minorities living in the country,” a Patriarchate statement said. “Palestinian citizens of Israel, constituting 20 percent are flagrantly excluded from the law.”

The law, passed earlier this month, has roiled the country, amid mounting criticism of provisions that many decry as exclusionary toward minority groups. Supporters of the law see it as necessary to balance Israel’s Jewish and democratic characters, as well as enshrine into law the country’s status as a Jewish state.

“It is beyond conception that a Law with constitutional effect ignores an entire segment of the population as if its members never existed,” the church said. “It sends an unequivocal signal to the Palestinian citizens of Israel, to the effect that in this country they are not at home.”
Shiloh Musings: Improved US-Israel Relations Under Trump
Then over the decades, with rare exceptions, things went from bad to worse culminating in the Obama-Kerry condemnation of Israel in the United Nations barely days before Donald Trump was inaugurated as President of the United States of America.

Over the decades, like an emotionally damaged abused child, the State of Israel consistently treated the United States as a beloved friend, insisting that there was no better ally.

Israel accepted the insulting policy of the Americans leading the world in locating its embassy far from Jerusalem. No other country has had the international community veto its Capital City.

Finally, only under Donald Trump has the United States moved its Embassy to Jerusalem and stated very clearly that Israel has the right, like any other country, to chose its Capital. Also, Trump appointed the most pro-Israel and pro-Jewish Rights in all of the Land of Israel David Friedman to be his Ambassador to Israel.

Friedman paid a shiva/condolence call, to the bereaved family of otam Ovadia, who was murdered near his home in Adam. Apparently, this, too broke with previous practice, because Adam is in land liberated in the 1967 Six Days War.

We are very happy with Trump's policies towards Israel! It's about time there's a real friend in the White House!
Arab Israeli poet given 5-month sentence for poems deemed incitement
An Israeli court on Thursday sentenced an Arab Israeli poet to five months in prison following her conviction for incitement to violence over poems and social media posts she wrote during a wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

The Nazareth Magistrate’s Court also gave Dareen Tatour an additional six-month suspended term. Due to to time already served, she is expected to spend two further months behind bars.

After the sentencing Tatour, 36, said she was not surprised and did not expect justice, Haaretz reported. She added that the court process was “political to begin with” and that she was being imprisoned “because I’m a Palestinian.”

A resident of the Galilee village of Reineh, near Nazareth, Tatour was arrested in October 2015 and released after three months in detention to house arrest.

She was convicted in May of this year, with the court declaring she was guilty of supporting a terror group due to her poem “Resist My People, Resist.” She has said her poem was not a call to violence.
IDF teams participate in Russia’s 2018 International Army Games
Israel will be participating in Russia’s International Army Games for the second year in a row, sending delegations the games which will also see the participation of teams from Iran and Syria.

The games were opened by Russian Defense Minister Gen. Sergei Shoigu in Patriot Park on Saturday and will last until August 11. Participating are 189 teams from 32 countries, including for the first time personnel from Algeria, Vietnam, Sudan, Myanmar, Pakistan and the Philippines.

The games will be held at 24 training grounds in seven different countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kazakhstan, China and Russia.

Russia has been holding its annual military Olympics for the past four years with armies from around the world competing in professional fields such as tank biathlon, paratroopers, military medicine, military police, logistics and aerial maneuvering.

The 2018 program consists of 28 contests, including the tank biathlon, fighter jet maneuvering contest, a Seaborne Assault contest, a Depth competition held in Iran as well as smaller competitions like falcon hunting, military medical relay race and service dog race.
Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian fatwa bans participation in Jerusalem election
The Palestinian Islamic religious authorities on Monday issued a fatwa (religious decree) banning Arab residents of Jerusalem from participating in the upcoming Jerusalem municipal election.

The fatwa, which was issued by the east Jerusalem- based Supreme Council of Fatwa, said that the Arab residents were prohibited from voting or running in the election.

The council said that since 1967, Israel has never ceased its efforts to drive the Arab residents of Jerusalem to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the entire city. It claimed that the country has always tried to tempt the Arabs to take part in the municipal election, while also “blackmailing them by decreasing municipal services and demolishing [illegally constructed] houses” in Arab neighborhoods.

“The council sees that participation in the municipal election, either by voting or presenting candidacy, is religiously forbidden.

“The disadvantages of participating in the election are bigger and greater than any other gained interests,” it added.

The council warned that participation in the election would assist Israel in its effort to “Judaize” Jerusalem and “change its historical and religious features. The occupied city of Jerusalem is an Arab and Islamic city.”
PA TV quiz erases Israel



MEMRI: Jordanian MP Who Planned To Join Gaza Flotilla Longed To Die A Martyr During It
In a July 17, 2018 speech in the Jordanian parliament, attorney Yahya Al-Saud, who chairs the parliament's Palestine Committee, announced that he intended to join the "Freedom Flotilla" protesting conditions in the Gaza Strip that had set out from Denmark in mid-May 2018. He added that he hoped to die a martyr on the voyage. Al-Saud had previously participated in the 2015 Freedom Flotilla.

On July 29, one of the flotilla's two vessels was stopped and boarded by the Israeli Navy and towed to Ashdod, Israel.

Al-Saud's expression of his desire for martyrdom was welcomed by the chairman of the lower house of the Jordanian parliament, and in an op-ed in the Jordanian establishment daily Al-Rai by Jihad Abu-Baidar, chairman of the Jordan Press Association's Civil Liberties Committee.

About a week after declaring his intent to join the flotilla in his speech, Al-Saud stated that he would not be participating, citing health reasons, and added that he aimed to organize another flotilla.

The following report will review Al-Saud's statements and reactions to them in Jordan:
JCPA: Video: If Iran Leaves the Nuclear Deal, It Can Have Enough Material for a Bomb in Six Months
The purpose of the nuclear deal in the eyes of the Iranians is to allow Iran to have a nuclear arsenal in 15 years. The archives of the Iranian nuclear program that Israel acquired prove that it was a military program. The documents show that they were ordered by the leadership to produce five nuclear bombs in the first stage.

Notably, it was Israeli intelligence, not the IAEA, which found the trove of documents. This shows that there is no real monitoring of the agreement by IAEA. There is no access by the IAEA monitoring teams to the scientists. In addition, now that Iran controls another country that is not subject to any kind of monitoring - Syria - they can take their scientists, move them into Syria, and do whatever they like there. There's no limitation on what they can do outside of Iran.

The Obama administration said that under this agreement, it is going to take them a year before they are going to have enough fissile material for a first bomb. Yet the Iranians are now saying that within two weeks they can come back to production of 20%-enriched uranium. The Iranians had 19,000 centrifuges, 13,000 of which were put in Hall B in Natanz, which is two meters away from where they were before. They were not dismantled. They were disassembled, so they can put them all together within no time and have 19,000 centrifuges working.

The only question becomes whether it will take them six or seven months before they have enough fissile material for a bomb. They have already started developing more advanced centrifuges that will shorten the time even more.


MEMRI: IRGC Qods Force Commander Qasem Soleimani: Trump's Rhetoric Is That Of A Casino; You May Start The War, But We Will Determine Its End; We Are Near You In Places That You Can't Even Imagine, We Are A Nation Of Martyrdom
In response to U.S. President Trump's recent tweet to Iranian President Rouhani, IRGC Qods Force Commander General Qasem Soleimani warned "Trump the gambler" that "you may start the war, but we will be the ones to determine its end." In a speech delivered on July 26, 2018, in the city of Hamedan, Iran, General Soleimani said that Trump's rhetoric was "that of a bartender or a casino manager" and warned him that "we are near you in places that you can't even imagine. We are a nation of martyrdom." His speech aired on Iran's Channel 5.

"Mr. Trump The Gambler... Know That We Are Near You, In Places That Don't Come To Your Mind... In Places That You Can't Even Imagine"

Qasem Soleimani: "The U.S. president, in response to statements by our president, made some idiotic comments on Twitter. It is beneath the dignity of the president of the great Islamic country of Iran to respond, so I will respond, as a soldier of our nation. You threaten us with a measure that the world has not seen before. First of all, it has been over a year since Trump became U.S. president, but that man's rhetoric is still that of a casino, of a bar. He talks to the world in the style of a bartender or a casino manager. When he talks to China, to Russia, to Europe, or to anyone in the world, one feels that a gambler is talking.
Iran Sues U.S. to Stop Imposition of Trump’s New Sanctions
U.S. officials are fighting against a recently filed lawsuit by Iran in the International Court of Justice, or ICJ, that seeks to block the imposition of harsh new sanctions on Iran by the Trump administration, according to multiple U.S. officials who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon.

Iranian officials launched a formal complaint with the ICJ, a legal body established by the United Nations to adjudicate disagreements between member nations, against the United States earlier this month, alleging the reimposition of harsh new sanctions on Iran by the Trump administration violates international treaties created as a result of the landmark nuclear agreement.

Iran's lawsuit is reportedly gaining traction at the ICJ, which sent an official letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier this week urging him and the Trump administration to hold off on new sanctions amid an economic collapse in Iran that has ignited popular protests across the country.

Iranian officials lauded the latest development at the ICJ and lashed out at the Trump administration in public comments in which they formally rejected the U.S. president's offers for a direct meeting. The war of words follows a tense few weeks between Trump and Iranian officials, which have sparked fears of a new regional war.

Trump administration officials working on the ICJ lawsuit told the Free Beacon Monday afternoon that Iran's claims are baseless. Senior U.S. officials are now working to ensure the lawsuit is tossed from the court.
Report: Iran Illicitly Financing War in Yemen Using German Companies
The Islamic Republic of Iran is using German companies to disguise their illicit support for Shiite militia forces in the fight against the internationally recognized government of Yemen, Benjamin Weinthal reported in The Jerusalem Post on Friday.

Based on interviews with U.S. Treasury Department officials, Time Magazine revealed last week that, “The IRGC had then printed counterfeit Yemeni banknotes potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars and used the bogus rials to fund its proxy war against the beleaguered pro-US government in the capital of Sanaa. German companies were being used as a cover by the Iranians to finance the world’s worst humanitarian conflict.”

Time added: “For several years, Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had been using German front companies to buy advanced printing machinery, watermarked paper and specialty inks in violation of European export controls.”

The Jerusalem Post previously reported on German intelligence reports, which revealed extensive links between the Islamic Republic and German-based companies, including using front companies to engage in illicit procurement of nuclear and missile technology in Germany during 2017. A German intelligence report from the city-state of Hamburg charged in July that Iran’s regime is continuing to seek weapons of mass destruction.

According to Time: “The evidence, uncovered by U.S. illicit-finance investigators, was meant to sway the Germans, but not just in hopes of countering Iran’s moves on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula” but also “to convince Berlin that Tehran cannot be trusted and that the Germans should join the Trump Administration in imposing economy-crippling sanctions on Iran.”
Trump says he is willing to talk to Iran's leader without preconditions
US President Donald Trump said on Monday he would be willing to meet Iran's leader without preconditions to discuss how to improve ties after he pulled the United States out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, saying, "If they want to meet, we'll meet."

"I'd meet with anybody. I believe in meetings," especially in cases where war is at stake, Trump said at a White House news conference when asked whether he was willing to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

In response, Iran said the way back to talks was for the United States to return to the nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers that Trump exited in May.

"Respecting the Iranian nation's rights, reducing hostilities and returning to the nuclear deal are steps that can be taken to pave the bumpy road of talks between Iran and America," Hamid Aboutalebi, an adviser to Rouhani, tweeted on Tuesday.

Washington aims to force Tehran to end its nuclear program and its support of militant groups in the Middle East, where Iran is involved in proxy wars from Yemen to Syria.
As Iran rebuffs US talks, Rouhani says Europe must save nuke deal
Iranian officials reacted skeptically on Tuesday to US President Donald Trump’s comments that he’s willing to negotiate with Tehran, with the country’s president saying it was up to Europe to save the nuclear deal after Washington’s “illegal” withdrawal.

Officials said if Trump wants talks, he needs to rejoin the international nuclear deal he unilaterally pulled out of earlier this year.

Trump on Monday said he’d meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani “anytime” if the Iranian leader were willing.

In his first public remarks after the comment, Rouhani did not mention Trump at all but instead stressed the need for the other nations involved in the nuclear deal to forge ahead with their pledges of trying to salvage it.

“Now, after the US illegal withdrawal from the nuclear deal, the ball is in Europe’s court in the limited time that has been left,” he said, according to Iranian state-run media.

“Today we are at a very critical point in history regarding the nuclear deal, and Europe’s transparent measures to compensate for the United States’ unlawful withdrawal from it are very important for the Iranian nation,” he said after talks with new British Ambassador Rob Macaire.
Obama Urges Trump Not to Meet Iran without Preconcessions (satire)
With US President Donald Trump saying he would meet with Iran’s leaders “whenever they want,” former President Barack Obama is urging his successor not to sit down with the ayatollahs without first making a number of significant preconcessions.

“The key to negotiating a successful Iran deal is to not come to the table until you’ve given in on at least one key point, ensuring that you’ve reduced your leverage and weakened your bargaining position,” Obama told reporters. “Heck, we promised Iran they could enrich uranium before they even knew negotiations had started.”

Trump, however, promised to force Iran to agree to a much better deal than Obama did three years ago.

“Obama’s Iran deal was a terrible, terrible deal, believe me,” Trump told The Mideast Beast. “I will not let Ayatollah Khamenei build a nuke until he’s personally agreed to a joint photo op.”

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Netanyahu vs Trump on Social Media - No Contest (Daled Amos)


There was a time when Social Media was considered a boon to organizing mass protests. This culminated in the Arab Spring in general and in Egypt in particular with the protests in Tahrir Square in 2011.
photo
Protests in Tahrir Square in 2011. Credit: Mona Sosh
Wael Ghonim, a Google employee at the time, was one of the administrators of the Facebook page, "We are all Khaled Saeed", which was credited with helping to spark the revolution in Egypt that eventually led to the fall of Hosni Mubarak. Back then, Time magazine included him in its "Time 100" list of 100 most influential people of 2011, and the World Economic Forum selected him as one of the Young Global Leaders in 2012.

In the end, though, it turned out that the Muslim Brotherhood was equally adept at using social media to organize its followers -- Facebook and Twitter were not necessarily the powerful tools of revolution people thought they were.

But maybe it depends on how those tools are used and for what purpose.

President Trump, for instance, has been very successful with Twitter -- if his goal is to get a lot of attention, stir things up and annoy his enemies.




His use of Twitter actually became a legal issue when he tried to do what everyone else does on Twitter: block people from his account. A judge ruled that Trump could not block users from his account just because he did not agree with them because the president's account qualified as a public forum and blocking them infringed on their First Amendment rights.

Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei also enjoys using Twitter, and uses it to poke his enemies as well:



Khamenei's tweets also garner media attention but don't make the same kind of splash. He can make veiled, and some not so veiled, threats against Israel without eliciting much of a response from the Twittersphere. In an article in The Hill about Khamenei's tweets, Trolling becomes new trend in international diplomacy the article considered this to be nothing more than "Iran's supreme leader tweeted criticism of Israel."

Twitter is actually very popular in the Middle East:
Twitter is an increasingly favored form of official communication in the Middle East. A 2018 study conducted by the public relations company Burson Cohn & Wolfe ranked King Salman of Saudi Arabia as the most influential global political figure on Twitter�although he uses the service infrequently, each of his posts over the past year was retweeted more than 150,000 times on average. King Abdullah of Jordan has also made Twitter a key communication method, ranking fourteenth among global leaders in the same metric. And the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are the second and third most-followed foreign ministers in the world.
Though the article makes no mention of either Israel nor Netanyahu, the Prime Minister does appear in a chart embedded in the article:


Netanyahu is nowhere near being the leader in the number of followers among leaders in the Middle East, but he may be one of the most creative. Recently, he has been active in trying to reach out to the Iranian people.

And some of the Iranian people have reached back.


Netanyahu has not limited himself to Twitter and so far has 24 "Direct Addresses" on YouTube, a number of which address the Iranian people directly.

Some of the videos are merely friendly while pointing out the problems suffered by the Iranian people under the regime.



Others offer help and advice on dealing with the current problems and scarcities in Iran.




Journalist Eli Lake is not impressed with this "YouTube Diplomacy". He sees Netanyahu's approach not so much as an attempt to bypass the Iran regime in an attempt to address the Iranian people directly, but rather as "geopolitical trolling."
All this gets to the contradiction underlying Netanyahu�s public diplomacy, and for that matter U.S. policy as well. On the one hand, the message is correct. Israel, America and Iran�s people share a common foe: the mullahs. On the other hand, the U.S.�s current strategy is to cut off Iran�s chief export, oil. This strategy will no doubt hinder Iran�s efforts to spread terror in the Middle East, but in the process millions of Iranians will also suffer.
Instead, Lake advocates targeting individuals and institution, though it's not completely clear how targeting Iranian institutions would not still adversely affect the Iranian people.

However you want to see Netanyahu's Iran campaign on social media, it does fit in with his general policy -- and success -- addressing other countries and reinforcing, as well as creating, allies. That is no small feat for a country isolated within the UN. Obviously, all of this helps Netanyahu at home as well and helps him to continue his political future. And Netanyahu does this with a level of subtlety and with a degree of professionalism lacking in Trump's rants on Twitter.

The Israel Prime Minister is not the only one using social media.

In response to another of Khamenei's tweets threatening Israel, the Israeli Embassy responded with a tweet of their own.




The Embassy's tweet went viral:
If the Israeli-Iran war will be fought via Twitter likes, Jerusalem is the clear winner � the embassy�s tweet had close to 18,000 likes by Tuesday compared to just under 4,000 for Khamenei. 
In addition to the tweet itself, screenshots of the interaction between the two accounts also garnered thousands of likes. Yashar Ali, a writer for New York Magazine and The Huffington Post website with more than 270,000 followers, tweeted a screenshot with just the word �OMG� � and received 10,000 likes.
The article concludes with a comment from a representative of the Foreign Ministry, saying that the tweet was a "nice idea" but as the article put it, would not say whether it represented 'a new Israeli approach to digital diplomacy'.

It certainly is in line with Netanyahu's use of social media - and represents a use of it beyond what was imagined during the Arab Spring.


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