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Sunday, March 31, 2019

FDR's letter to the Palestine Pavilion at the World's Fair and the legality of Jewish settlements

In 1939, this letter by President Franklin Roosevelt was published by the organizers of the Palestine Pavilion at the New York World's Fair:



THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
Out of the world War came a matter of great spiritual significance — the establishment of a Homeland for the Jewish people, recognized as such  by the public law of the world. In the realization of this aim the United States played a leading role.  I know how close it was to the wish of President Wilson. The formal terms of its expression during the War, the so-called Balfour Declaration, had his personal approval, and he did much to have it written into the peace treaty. The subsequent unanimous endorsement or the Balfour Declaration by both Houses of the United States Congress gave further proof of the deep interest or the American people in the purposes of the Declaration and in the fulfilment the moral obligation which it involved.

Jewish achievement in Palestine since the Balfour Declaration vindicates the high hope which lay behind the sponsorship of the Homeland. The Jewish development in Palestine since the Balfour Declaration is not only a tribute to the creative powers of the Jewish people, but by bringing great advancement into the sacred Land has promoted the well-being of all the inhabitants thereof.

I shall personally watch with deep sympathy the progress of Palestine.

Franklin D. Roosevelt
It looks like most of this letter was actually written in 1932, with the last paragraph perhaps added for the exhibition.

In this letter, FDR confirms that the building of a Jewish homeland in Palestine was enshrined in international law. This means building through the entire area of the British Mandate.

Has the status of the land changed since then?

The areas illegally seized by Jordan in 1948, now known as the "West Bank," did not change their status since Jordan's annexation was not recognized by the international community. In 1967, when Israel gained those lands back, nothing changed from the San Remo conference and other nations' recognition of all of British Mandate Palestine as being the area where the Jewish homeland should be built - which of course includes towns and villages.

The first change to the status of those territories came during the Oslo process when Israel apparently gave Area A to the PLO. The areas where Jews have moved to live are still fully within the areas covered by San Remo and international law since the early 1920s.



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03/31 Links: Dershowitz: Trump Is Right about the Golan Heights; PA prioritizes salaries to terrorists over medical care for Palestinians; Shapiro: America Still Needs Athens and Jerusalem

From Ian:
Alan M. Dershowitz: Trump Is Right about the Golan Heights
I had the opportunity to discuss this issue with U.S. President Donald J. Trump two weeks before he announced his decision. I provided him with the battleship analogy, which he seemed to appreciate. I told him that I thought the Sunni Arab world might complain, but that they really do not care about the Golan, which has no religious significance to Islam. There were in fact, some minor protests, but nothing of significance.

Predictably, the European Union opposed the U.S. recognition of the annexation. But it provided no compelling argument, beyond its usual demand that the status quo not be changed. Israel's control over the Golan Heights has been the status quo for more than half a century; and Israel's legitimate need to control the heights has only increased over time, with war in Syria, and the presence of Iranian and Hezbollah military in close proximity. Would the European Union demand that Israel now hand over the Golan Heights to Assad? Has any European country ever handed over high ground, captured in a defensive war, to a sworn enemy?

Recall that at the end of the first and second world wars, European countries made territorial adjustments to help preserve the peace. Why should the European Union subject Israel to a double standard it has never demanded of itself? The answer is clear: The European Union has always acted hypocritically when it comes to Israel, and this is no exception.

So three cheers for President Trump for doing the right thing. I will continue to criticize him if and when he does the wrong thing -- such as separating families at the U.S.'s southern border.

That is what bipartisan means: praising the President I voted against when he does the right thing, and criticizing presidents I voted for (such as Barack Obama) when they do the wrong thing (such as abstaining on the Security Council Resolution declaring Jewish holy places to be occupied territory).

Israel's continuing control over the Golan Heights increases the chance for peace and decreases the chances that Syria, Iran and/or Hezbollah will be able to use this high ground as a launching pad against Israelis. That is good news for the world, for the United States and for Israel.

Amb. Alan Baker: U.S. Recognition of Israeli Sovereignty over the Golan Heights, March 2019: Some Legal Observations
This legislation was accompanied by an assurance, conveyed in Israel’s Knesset by Prime Minister Begin,12 as well as by Israel’s UN ambassador in a communication to the Secretary-General of the UN, according to which:
The government of Israel wishes to reiterate that it is willing now as always to negotiate unconditionally with Syria as with its other neighbors for a lasting peace in accordance with Security Council Resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973). The Golan Heights Law does not preclude or impair such negotiations.13

While the laws of armed conflict address situations in which a state, in exercising its inherent right of self-defense, takes control of, or occupies territory of the offensive state, the question of the length of time such a situation of control or occupation may last is not addressed. Furthermore, a long-term continuation of belligerency, an ongoing threat of aggression by the state concerned, and a lack of any foreseeable chance of peace negotiations all generate a unique situation facing the state controlling the territory, with no foreseeable chance for a peace settlement.

In his publication “Justice in International Law:” “What Weight to Conquest? Aggression, Compliance, and Development” (1970) Stephen Schwebel, former judge in the International Court of Justice, refers to the situation of the Golan Heights as follows:
…as regards territory bordering Palestine, and under unquestioned Arab sovereignty in 1949 and thereafter, such as Sinai and the Golan Heights, it follows that no weight shall be given to conquest, but that such weight shall be given to defensive action as is reasonably required to ensure that such Arab territory will not again be used for aggressive purposes against Israel.14

The recent civil war in Syria, the continued lack of any stable government, the flagrant and willful crimes committed by the Syrian president against those elements opposing his regime and against Syrian civilian population, as well as the emplacement of Iranian armed facilities on Syrian territory directed against Israel, all serve to indicate the utter lack of any hope that Syria will in the near future be prepared to recognize Israel as a legitimate neighbor, accept a common border, and enter into a peaceful relationship with Israel.

These factors are also indicative of a total lack of reliability by the Syrian leadership, and capability of genuinely taking upon itself any international responsibility, especially vis-à-vis Israel.

With this background, the proclamation by the U.S. President recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights is logical and necessary.
Map proves Syria recognized Banias as Israeli before 1967
Following U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights, researchers at Tel-Hai College have discovered that prior the 1967 Six-Day War, even Syria recognized the Banias plateau – the site of a spring at the foot of Mount Hermon that feeds one the main tributaries of the Jordan River – as belonging to Israel.

The researchers discovered a map drawn by Syria's planning and construction agency in 1965, two years before the Six-Day War, which places Banias on the Israeli side of the border.

"Even before Israel was founded, Banias was part of the British Mandate in Palestine, flush up against the border of the French Mandate in Syria," explains Shalom Tarmachi, head of the Tel-Hai College map collection.

The 1965 Syrian map shows the Banias plateau in red

"In 1939, the Jewish National Fund purchased land in the area of Khan a-Duar at Banias, so the area belonged to Israel, both legally and politically. The cease-fire agreement of 1949 that ended the War of Independence decided that the area would be demilitarized, under the assumption that its status would be regulated in a future peace treaty. But until 1967, communities in the Hula Valley suffered heavy Syrian fire from Banias, and it became part of [Syria's] attempt to divert the sources of the Jordan River," Tarmachi said.

Tarmachi said that before the college's map archives began working with an advanced system that allows multiple maps to be overlaid on top of each other and adjusted to the same scale, it was "very hard" to identify to whom the Syrians assigned the territory in their maps. Now, he says, the new system makes it "very clear that the Syrians did not consider the demilitarized area as theirs, even though they used it for military activity."

Israeli maps, he explained, show Syrian tank posts, minefields, and attempts to divert the sources of the Jordan River, but it is actually the Syrian map that shows that the Banias plateau lies on the Israeli side of the border. (h/t Elder of Lobby)



America Still Needs Athens and Jerusalem
Ben Shapiro's 10th book, The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great, concerns itself with Western history, where it came from and where it's going. It's the latest in a line of recent releases from public intellectuals, all troubled by the same paradox: We live in the wealthiest and most technologically advanced society in recorded history, and, at the same time, one of the most unhappy ones.

Books in this genre tend to blame the West's woes on one of two failings. Some say Western society is ailing chiefly because of a departure from its religious roots in the Judeo-Christian tradition. These include such polemics as Rod Dreher's The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation (2017), Cardinal Charles J. Chaput's Strangers in a Strange Land: Living the Catholic Faith in a Post-Christian World (2017), and Anthony Esolen's Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture (2017).

Then there are the more worldly pundits, arguing that the West's problems flow from an abandonment of a political tradition born in Periclean Athens and baptized in the miracle of Washingtonian America. Jonah Goldberg's Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy (2018) makes this case in its purest form, and, as if held to a kaleidoscope, produces a number of near reflections: on the left, Steven Pinker's Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress (2018), and on the right, Nebraska senator Ben Sasse's The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis—and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance (2017).

Shapiro throws his lot in with both major narratives. But rather than simply lamenting the loss of religion and a shared political tradition, he upholds the "twin poles" of Athens and Jerusalem for making the West great in the first place—and says that they can continue to keep it great. The God of Judaism and the God of Christianity coupled with the wisdom of Aristotle, according to Shapiro, form an outline for human flourishing: "Happiness, then, is comprised of four elements: individual moral purpose, individual capacity, collective moral purpose, and collective capacity," Shapiro writes. "If we lack one of these elements, the pursuit of happiness becomes impossible; if that pursuit is foreclosed, society crumbles."
Honest Reporting: Book Review: The Rage Less Traveled
The Rage Less Traveled tells the real-life, horrific and occasionally absurdly hilarious story of Israeli tour guide Kay Wilson, who cheated death after a brutal Palestinian terror attack. The Rage Less Traveled showcases the best and worst of humanity, and epitomizes the defiant triumph of the human spirit over those who seek death and destruction.

In December 2010, Kay Wilson’s life changed irrevocably.

As the British-born Israeli tour guide showed her friend Kristine Luken around one of Israel’s national parks on a glorious Saturday afternoon, two Palestinian men lurked nearby, crouching in the bushes.

After making a seemingly innocuous approach, the men launched a savage attack on the two women that left Luken dead and Wilson teetering on the precipice of death.

In her account of the horrendous attack, Wilson describes how after being repeatedly knifed to within an inch of her life, she summoned up incredible will-power to remain motionless as her attackers continued to strike her. The Rage Less Traveled, however, is not just the story of the incident itself, but a testament to Wilson’s unbreakable spirit and sense of wonder at the world’s beauty, despite all its evils – after dragging herself to her feet, Wilson remains remarkably attentive to the vivid colors of the flowers and the trills of the birds around her, fully appreciating the miraculous beauty of life.
Nathan Thrall’s Propaganda Welcomed at the New York Times
It’s amazing that Thrall can jam so many material falsehoods and deceptions in just a single paragraph. Thus:

1. Was the land more than 95 percent Arab in the late 19th century, and more than 90 percent Arab in 1917?

Only if you assume – falsely – that the Arabs owned whatever land the Jews didn’t. But about half of the land that became Israel in 1948 was the Negev desert, and in Mandate Palestine, and before that under Ottoman Turkish rule, and in most countries today including the US, the desert belongs to the government. For example, in Nevada the US government alone owns 84.9 percent of the land, and even in California Federal lands total 45.8 percent.

Under the Ottoman Land Code desert land was classified as mewat (or dead land) and was the property of the Sultan. The Ottoman Land code was maintained by the British when in 1922 they established the British Mandate of Palestine, with the role of the Sultan passing to the British government in the person of the High Commissioner.

So right from the start, Thrall makes a vast error. But what about land outside the desert? Did the Arabs own whatever the Jews didn’t own there? Again no – most of that land was agricultural land, and under the Ottoman Land Code was almost entirely miri land, or the land of the Emir (the ruler). The farmers who worked this land it did not own it, they merely got the right to use it (usufruct) from the state in return for paying taxes on what they produced from the land. As long as they were using that land productively and paying taxes, no one else could use it.
PMW: PA prioritizes salaries to terrorists over medical care for Palestinians
Until now Israel has been giving medical treatment in Israel to thousands of Palestinians every year. But this humanitarian program will now come to an end, as the Palestinian Authority has decided to stop sending its citizens in need of medical treatment to Israel. The PA's explanation is as follows: Since Israel is refusing to transfer approximately $138 million to the PA this year that the PA spends on salaries to terrorists, the PA will no longer permit Palestinians to travel for medical treatment in Israel, for which the PA has to pay. Until now, it has been costing the PA about $100 million a year to cover the medical costs. In essence, the PA has decided to punish its own citizens in need of medical treatment which costs $100 million a year, because it lost $138 million that it pays to terrorists in Israeli prisons and released terrorist prisoners. Israeli law is explicit that should the PA stop paying salaries to terrorists, Israel could release and return all this money to the PA.

In 2015, the last year for which there are public records, over 102,000 Palestinians were granted permits to enter Israel for treatment, including over 20,000 Palestinians who received medical treatment in Israeli hospitals.

PA Ministry of Health Spokesman Osama Al-Najjar explained the cessation of medical referrals to the Israeli hospitals, starting from March 26, 2019, as follows:

"This decision was made in response to the deduction of sums [Israel transfers] from the taxes that [Israel] collects each month for the Palestinian coffers. He added that the cost of the referrals to the Israeli hospitals is $100 million a year." [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 27, 2019]

Stressing that the change of policy was not based on the desire to improve the medical care for Palestinians, Al-Najar added that: "The decision is political par excellence, and comes in response to Israel deducting sums from the money that it collects for us."
Led by Saudis, Arab leaders unite against Trump’s recognition of Golan Heights
Leaders meeting in Tunisia for the annual Arab League summit on Sunday were united in their condemnation of Trump administration policies seen as unfairly biased toward Israel but divided on a host of other issues, including whether to readmit founding member Syria.

Representatives from the 22-member league — minus Syria — aim to jointly condemn US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Israeli control over the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 war, and Trump’s decision last year to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

At the opening of the summit, King Salman said Saudi Arabia “absolutely rejects any measures undermining Syria’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights” and supports the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

He added that Iran’s meddling was to blame for instability in the region.

One of the few things that have united the Arab League over the last 50 years is the rejection of Israel’s control of the Golan Heights as well as East Jerusalem and the West Bank, which Israel also gained control of in the 1967 war and which the Palestinians want for a future state.

The international community, including the United States, largely shared that position until Trump upended decades of US policy by moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem last year and recognizing Israel’s 1981 extension of Israeli law to the strategic Golan plateau earlier this month.

The Arab leaders meeting in Tunisia are expected to issue a statement condemning those moves but are unlikely to take any further action.
Brazil’s Bolsonaro, arriving on first visit, declares in Hebrew: ‘I love Israel’
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro landed in Israel Sunday morning for the start of a two-day trip seen as a boost to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the April 9 elections.

Bolsonaro, a right-wing firebrand who had made headlines for playing down the brutality of the country’s past military dictatorship, opened his comments in Portuguese at the reception ceremony at Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday with the Hebrew phrase “Ani ohev et Israel,” or “I love Israel.”

He was expected to announce during the visit whether he will move the Brazilian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

In his own comments, Netanyahu praised the Brazilian leader for his “faith in our shared heritage” and his commitment to improving Israeli-Brazilian ties.

“When you entered your post in January, we opened a new era in Israel-Brazil relations,” he said. “On your first visit outside the American continents, you’re in Israel to bring our relations to a new high.”
Brazil to open trade office in Jerusalem ‘as a part of its embassy’
Brazil on Sunday announced it would open a trade office in Jerusalem, joining a growing list of countries seeking to boost their ties with Israel while stopping short of relocating their embassies from Tel Aviv.

The new office in Jerusalem will “promote trade, investment, technology and innovation as a part of its embassy in Israel,” the Foreign Ministry in capital city Brasilia said in a statement.

Acting Foreign Minister Israel Katz was the first to break the news Sunday after meeting with his visiting Brazilian counterpart Ernesto Araujo.

Welcoming Araujo on his two-day trip to Israel along with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Katz thanked Brazil “for opening a diplomatic office in Jerusalem.”

“Israel and Brazil are true friends sharing common values and we will strengthen the cooperation between our two countries,” Katz tweeted.
IDF Spokesman: Hamas Acted With ‘Restraint’ During Weekend Gaza Border Riots
An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said on Saturday that Hamas had acted with unprecedented restraint during the weekend Gaza border riots, helping to contain what was feared to be an exceptionally violent event.

A massive crowd was expected on the border, as it was the first anniversary of the weekly riots. The anniversary coincided with the Palestinian “Land Day,” which marks demonstrations against what Palestinians claim is Israeli seizure of Arab property.

In the end, some 40,000 people rioted. Palestinian sources reported that two were killed by IDF fire and 316 wounded.

According to Hebrew news site Walla, spokesman Ronen Manelis said that Hamas had displayed “restraint that we haven’t seen the likes of which over the last year.”

“There were hundreds of Hamas people with orange vests who separated the crowd from the [border] fence,” he noted.

However, he added, “It wasn’t hermetic. There were places where violence was carried out against those who arrived at the fence.”
Israel reopens Gaza border crossings despite overnight rocket fire
The two crossings between the Gaza Strip and Israel reopened Sunday morning despite rocket fire from the Palestinian territory overnight.

The Erez pedestrian crossing and the Kerem Shalom commercial terminal were both shuttered last Monday after a rocket fired from Gaza toward the central Israeli village of Mishmeret destroyed a home and left seven people wounded.

A fishing ban that has been in place since then was also lifted on Sunday morning.

Israel committed to reopening the crossing after Hamas reined in a massive border protest on Saturday, under an informal ceasefire deal brokered by Egyptian mediators after a violent week in the coastal enclave.

The new commitment to calm was challenged early Sunday, when five rockets were fired from Gaza at Israel, officials said, triggering sirens in the Eshkol region starting at about 12:40 a.m.

There were no reports of injuries or damage from the rocket fire, the Eshkol Regional Council said in a statement.
5 rockets fired from Gaza despite supposed 'understanding'
Palestinian terrorists fired five rockets from Gaza into Israel early Sunday, the IDF said, following a day of Palestinian mass protests along the Israel-Gaza border fence. Four Palestinians, including three teenagers, were killed and dozens were wounded by IDF soldiers.

The rocket fire threatened to undermine Egyptian-mediated efforts to cement a deal that the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers hope will ease an Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the territory.

No casualties were reported from the rockets and no Palestinian group claimed responsibility.

Despite the rocket attack, meanwhile, Israel reopened the two crossings with the Gaza Strip after days of hostilities in a sign that cease-fire talks may be advancing.

Israeli and Hamas officials confirmed Sunday that the Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings were opened for the first time since Monday.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of Palestinians rallied in the Gaza Strip to mark the one-year anniversary of their mass protests along the Israeli border.

Most demonstrators kept their distance from the border, though crowds of activists approached the border fence and threw stones and explosives toward Israeli troops on the other side..

Hamas had pledged to keep the crowds a safe distance from the fence to avoid inflaming the political atmosphere during negotiations of a possible easing of the blockade.

Hamas officials said that Israel is offering a package of economic incentives in exchange for calm along the volatile border.

IDF: Mortar shell fired from Gaza, fails to clear border
Air raid sirens sounded in southern Israel on Sunday afternoon, sending residents of nearby communities rushing to bomb shelters, less than a day into a reported ceasefire between Israel and terror groups in the Strip.

There were no reports of injuries or damage.

The Israeli military said the sirens were triggered by the launch of a mortar shell from the Gaza Strip, which failed to clear the border and landed inside the coastal enclave.

It marked the second round of air raid sirens of the day.

Shortly after midnight on Sunday, five rockets were fired at southern Israel, landing in open fields in the Eshkol region, causing neither injury nor damage, officials said.

Israel Defense Forces planes struck at Hamas posts on the border in response, though the Israeli military believed the rockets were likely launched by the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad organization.
IDF apprehends, sends back 8-year-old Gazans who crossed into Israel with knife
The IDF on Saturday morning apprehended two young boys from Gaza who managed to cross the border fence, with one of them in possession of a knife.

The army said it briefly interrogated the eight-year-olds before sending them back into the coastal enclave through the Erez crossing.

During their questioning, the children said that they had been hoping to get caught and serve time in Israeli prison, according to a Hebrew IDF statement.

In an English tweet, the IDF said that “these eight-year-old children were forced to cross into Israel with a knife. We returned them safely to Gaza.”


German journalist says Israelis can get used to Hamas rocket fire
A controversial left-wing German journalist is under fire for writing a Tuesday commentary declaring that Israelis on the border to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip can “comer to terms” with jihadi rocket attacks on their communities.

In response to the left-wing journalist’s editorial, Israel’s embassy tweeted on Wednesday: “We will never come to terms with such journalistic standards @susanneknaul @tazgezwitscher @PresseratDE.”

The embassy included the Twitter handles for the journalist Knaul, the left-wing paper taz, where she wrote the commentary, and the German Press Council.

The embassy embedded a 59 second video in the Tweet showing footage of Israelis running into bomb shelters and a resident from Sderot speaking about rushing to get babies into shelters. The clip shows the quote from Knaul's commentary about coming to terms with jihadi rocket fire. The video noted the Israelis have 15 seconds to make it to the bomb shelters. The embassy's Tweet was re-tweeted 431 time and liked 959 times as of Sunday.


BBC News sticks to year-old formula of reporting on ‘Great Return March’
BBC audiences were not informed that Hamas had ordered schools closed and a general strike on March 30th in order to boost participation in the event.

Hamas was misleadingly portrayed in this report as being designated only by Israel.

“The Israeli government designates Hamas a terrorist group which it says has been seeking to use the protests as a cover to cross into its territory and carry out attacks.”

The violent coup in which Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 was erased from audience view.

“This day of protests is a serious test of the fragile calm between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist group that runs the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip, says the BBC’s Yolande Knell in Jerusalem.”

The terror group’s operatives were, as usual, portrayed by the BBC as “militants”.

“They came after a tense week in which Palestinian militants fired rockets at Israel and Israel’s air force struck dozens of sites in Gaza.”

One year on, the BBC’s reporting on this story has not improved at all and it continues to promote the same jaded themes and euphemisms while denying audiences vital context. A year ago the organisers of this agitprop stated that its aim is to create photo-ops which – in their words – “the whole world and media outlets would watch” and the BBC has played its part in ensuring that would be the case.


Congressional Black Caucus Blasts Trump’s “Silence” on White Nationalism, Ignores Its Own Complicity in Rise of Anti-Semitism
Thirdly, who is Bass to condemn anyone else’s supposed silence on the rise of hate-filled ideologies? The Congressional Black Caucus has had an up-close and personal relationship with the Nation of Islam’s anti-Semitic leader Louis Farrakhan for decades and refuses to cut ties with him. Select members have condemned him in the past, but until the group severs ties with him altogether, it’s just lip service.

In fact, in an interview last year, a spokesman for the NOI told the LA Sentinel that while some members of the CBC sometimes disappointed Farrakhan, he was always open to receiving calls from Bass and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA):

However, Min. Tony did speak highly of two Black congressional representatives, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (California) and Congresswoman Karen Bass (California).

“I have to say, I thank God for {Congresswoman} Maxine Waters and Congresswoman Karen Bass,” said Tony. “I think our Black politicians should stand down. Minister Farrakhan will take a call from a Maxine Waters or Karen Bass. He will stop what he’s doing… come and correct him, he’s told them. But don’t let anyone tell you I’ve done something wrong without checking.

Also, Bass said in a statement on behalf of the CBC that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) should be able to keep her position on the sensitive House Foreign Affairs Committee in spite of her repeated use of anti-Semitic tropes. In the same statement, Bass condemned anti-Semitism but—again—it’s lip service. Her actions in defending Omar betray any declarations she, as the leader of the CBC, makes against anti-Semitism.

When it comes to condemning the rise of hateful ideologies in America, Bass should look at her own caucus members instead of Trump. He’s not the one rubbing elbows with Louis Farrakhan and turning a blind eye to anti-Semitism. Just ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who earlier this week said “Israel has never had a better friend than” Trump.
CA Dems Party Arab American Caucus Chair Accuses Schumer of Allegiance to ‘Fascist Israel Lobby’
Iyad Afalqa, the chairman of the Arab American Caucus of the California Democratic Party, accused Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) of having allegiance to the “fascist Israel lobby.”

On March 27, Afalqa posted a link on his Facebook page to an article titled “Senate Democratic Leader Schumer Compares Ilhan Omar to Trump in AIPAC Speech.” Schumer said during his March 26 speech, “When someone says that being Jewish and supporting Israel means you’re not loyal to America, we must call it out. When someone looks at a neo-Nazi rally and sees some ‘very fine people’ among its company, we must call it out.”

Afalqa wrote in his post, “Shmuck Schumer the traitor whose allegiance is for Fascist Israel lobby who called himself the Guardian of Israel in Congress is attacking Rep Omar who hinted at the big elephant in the room: treason of the Fascist Israel lobby that Schumer belongs to.”
Ken Livingstone reportedly tells Corbyn fans “it’s not antisemitic to hate the Jews of Israel” and crisis is manufactured by “tax-dodging” elite
The disgraced former Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has reportedly told a meeting of pro-Corbyn activists that the Labour Party’s antisemitism crisis is driven by “lies and smears” manufactured by the “elite” wishing to protect their “tax-dodging in the Cayman Islands”. According to the Daily Mail, he also blamed “bloody corporations” and “ghastly old Blairites”, but did not appear to have acknowledged that there was any real problem in the Party.

Instead, it is claimed that he added a new antisemitic remark to his repertoire, reportedly telling the gathering: “It’s not antisemitic to hate the Jews of Israel and you can’t have a proper functioning democracy in a world in which the media, whether it’s the press or internet, can just spread lie after lie after lie.”

Under the International Definition of Antisemitism, antisemitism often involves “the targeting of the State of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity” and states that “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions” is antisemitic.

Mr Livingstone reportedly made his comments to a meeting of Labour Against the Witch-Hunt, which claims that Labour’s antisemitism crisis is a witch-hunt. The group includes various antisemites but in a strange turn of events last year, the group expelled one of its founders over antisemitism, leading to claims that Labour Against the Witch-Hunt was conducting a witch-hunt.

If true, the claims would mark a new low for Mr Livingstone, who has consistently claimed that the antisemitism crisis in Labour was a “smear”, even appearing last year on banned Iranian television station Press TV in a debate about whether Holocaust commemoration has become an industry “exploited” by “Zionists”.
Corbyn’s senior aide Laura Murray said Corbyn instructed her to stop suspension of activist now arrested on suspicion of incitement to racial hatred
Jeremy Corbyn’s disgraced senior parliamentary aide, Laura Murray, has now been exposed intervening to prevent the suspension of Pat Sheerin from the Labour Party.

In leaked e-mails, she said that she intervened on behalf of Mr Corbyn himself.

Ms Sheerin is one of three former Labour activists who have been arrested on suspicion of incitement to racial hatred. The arrests were made after Campaign Against Antisemitism reported a secret Labour Party dossier to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick live on air, after it was exposed on LBC radio.

In e-mails leaked to The Sunday Times, Ms Murray intervened to stop the suspension of Ms Sheerin. Ms Murray has previously been revealed interceding to stop disciplinary action against antisemites.

Ms Murray wrote in one e-mail that Ms Sheerin should not be suspended after Labour Party staff pleaded to suspend her because Ms Murray claimed that she was anti-Israel but not against “Jews or Jewishness”.

The material that Ms Sheerin is now being interrogated by police about is decidedly antisemitic.
University of Cape Town blocks academic boycott of Israel
Africa’s top university, the University of Cape Town has, for now, blocked a senate resolution to cut ties or boycott with Israeli academic institutions.

Last week, the university’s Senate, which is predominantly made up of academics, voted in favor of a motion to academically boycott Israeli institutions. The decision was passed in the Senate by a small margin of 62 in favor, 43 against, and 10 abstentions. According to a university statement, “the University of Cape Town Senate took a resolution in favor of a proposal for UCT to not enter into any formal relationships with Israeli academic institutions operating in the occupied Palestinian territories as well as other Israeli academic institutions enabling gross human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories.”

The decision was made on Saturday by UCT’s Council, which governs the university.

In a statement Royston Pillay, the Registrar and Secretary to the Council, said that UCT “did not adopt this resolution of the Senate. It was the view of the Council that a number of issues required clarification.”

He added that this includes a “full assessment of the sustainability impact of the Senate resolution” and “a more consultative process was necessary before the matter could be considered any further.”

Pillay said the Council resolved separately to reaffirm its commitment to supporting the rights and freedom of all people as universally recognized under international law. Condemn any acts that violate those rights and freedoms. Condemn the atrocities and human rights violations perpetrated in the occupied Palestinian territories, and elsewhere in the world; and call on all academics and academic institutions to support this resolution.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post on behalf of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD), National Director Wendy Kahn congratulated the UCT Council “for rejecting the Senate resolution on their proposed academic boycott of Israel.”










Forbes rings opening bell on Global Women's Summit in Tel Aviv
The first-ever Forbes Under 30 Global Women’s Summit started in style in Tel Aviv on Sunday, as representatives of Forbes and leading summit attendees opened the trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

The four-day summit, which will welcome business and civil society leaders from across the world to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, will focus, organizers say, on women in leadership and entrepreneurship.

More than 200 people attended the opening bell ceremony, including the young men and women who have been named as bright business talents in various categories of the Forbes “30 under 30” list. This is the fourth consecutive year that Israel has played host to one of Forbes’ signature “30 under 30” summits.

“Over the next four days at the Forbes Under 30 Global Women’s Summit, we’re bringing together 500 visionaries from around the world: the US, Europe and Asia, the Middle East, Africa and, of course, Israel,” said Moira Forbes, executive vice president of Forbes and president of Forbes Women.

“Supporting the future aspirations of female leaders and breaking down systemic barriers to achieve those aspirations is critical to achieving greater economic vitality around the world and driving greater prosperity not just for women, but for everyone.”


Shulman the flamingo blown out of safari, struts down highway
Travelers along one of Israel’s busiest highways on Sunday morning encountered an unusual fellow road user — a flamingo strolling among the rush hour traffic.

Drivers posted videos to social media showing the bird plodding along Route 4 — forcing cars to maneuver around it — and occasionally breaking into a run when startled by passing vehicles.

Members of the public correctly assumed that the bird was from the Ramat Gan Safari, which borders part of the highway, and reported the stray, who is named Shulman, to staff.

Keepers quickly went out to look for Shulman and, with the help of the public and police who arrived to help, were soon able to locate him. (h/t Elder of Lobby)


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NYT claims separation barrier meant to imprison Palestinians, and other lies in Nathan Thrall's love letter to BDS



Nathan Thrall has written a 11,000 word article in the New York Times magazine today that is essentially a huge rose bouquet to people who want to boycott the world's only Jewish state.

The article is filled with slanted and often wrong reporting.

Here's an example of an outright lie:

Last October, nearly a year after the University of Michigan’s divestment vote, there was an “apartheid-wall demonstration” co-sponsored by the campus Latinx group, La Casa. Pro-Palestinian students erected two cardboard walls, modeled after the 25-foot-high concrete slabs that intertwine with fences and barbed wire to encircle Palestinian communities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. 
Really? The fence is meant to encircle (i.e., imprison) Palestinians?

The only communities in the territories that are encircled by fences are the Jewish villages and towns who are trying to avoid their residents being murdered by Thrall's wonderful Palestinian muses.

Palestinians claim that the barrier "encircles" Bethlehem or parts of Jerusalem, but it isn't true.

Here's an example of the more popular of Thrall's methods of bias - to say something that the BDSers claim which isn't true and pretend that there is no counterargument:

The B.D.S. movement casts the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a struggle against apartheid, as defined by the International Criminal Court: “an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.” (The United Nations defines racial discrimination as directed at “race, color, descent or national or ethnic origin.”) B.D.S. leaders often cite South Africa’s sixth prime minister, Hendrik Verwoerd, who likened Israel to South Africa in 1961: The Jews “took Israel from the Arabs after the Arabs had lived there for a thousand years. In that, I agree with them. Israel like South Africa is an apartheid state.”
But given that the definition of apartheid means domination of one racial group over another, and Israel doesn't discriminate against its Arab citizens, Israel cannot be an apartheid state. Every nation discriminates against non-citizens!

Thrall doesn't bother to point that out and the NYY editors didn't insist that he give another point of view that would demolish the argument.

Even more egregiously, Thrall uses the insane argument that BDSers like to use to support the idea that Israel loves white nationalist antisemites:

To bolster the argument that the Palestinian struggle is a fight against racism, B.D.S. leaders have highlighted the support for Jewish ethno-nationalism by far-right European politicians like President Viktor Orban of Hungary, alt-right figures like Steve Bannon and white supremacists like Richard Spencer, an organizer of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va. That year, Spencer told an Israeli television interviewer: “You could say that I am a white Zionist in the sense that I care about my people. I want us to have a secure homeland that’s for us and ourselves, just like you want a secure homeland in Israel.”
It is elementary logic that A liking B doesn't mean that B likes A. It is outrageous to quote the antisemite Richard Spencer's support for the idea of a Jewish state as evidence that Israel supports Richard Spencer.

Far-right websites love to quote BDS leaders - does that mean that BDS is far right? By Thrall's logic, sure. But for some reason this travesty of an argument is only used to damn Israel.

If one believes that connections like these prove how people think, then the fact that Thrall works for the International Crisis Group which is funded by Qatar - a major supporter of Hamas - means that, by Thrall's own logic, he is a Hamas supporter.

I could fisk the entire piece. One last example:
Ben-Youssef said most of the members of Congress and staff members she spoke to were aware of Israeli human rights violations against Palestinians under blockade and occupation but were largely uninformed about Israeli discrimination against Palestinian citizens. It was news to many that tens of thousands of Palestinian citizens live in villages that predate the creation of Israel and are unrecognized by the state, receiving little or no water and electricity. 

Is the fact that Israel doesn't provide electricity to unrecognized Bedouin villages in the middle of the Negev evidence of apartheid? Israel has tried for decades to organize and improve the lives of Bedouin by building towns for them with schools and water and electricity. If Israel is against providing electricity to Arabs, why on earth would they spend tens of millions to build entire communities for them with full infrastructure instead of trying to criss-cross the Negev with pipes and wires to scores of tiny villages, almost all built illegally?

How many examples of lies and bias does one need to know that this article does not illuminate anything but is meant to obscure the truth about Israel?

The problem isn't Thrall, whose bias is obvious. The problem is that the New York Times publishes his "reporting" without informing their readers of his obvious bias, as well as without fact checking even the basics of what he wrote.


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Amazing Biblical archaeological finds in City of David




From Times of Israel:

Two minuscule 2,600-year-old inscriptions recently uncovered in the City of David’s Givati Parking Lot excavation are vastly enlarging the understanding of ancient Jerusalem in the late 8th century.

The two inscriptions, in paleo-Hebrew writing, were found separately in a large First Temple structure within the span of a few weeks by long-term team members Ayyala Rodan and Sveta Pnik.

One is a bluish agate stone seal “(belonging) to Ikkar son of Matanyahu” (LeIkkar Ben Matanyahu). The other is a clay seal impression, “(belonging) to Nathan-Melech, Servant of the King” (LeNathan-Melech Eved HaMelech).

This burnt clay impression is the first archaeological evidence of the biblical name Nathan-Melech.

The inscriptions are “not just another discovery,” said archaeologist Dr. Yiftah Shalev of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Rather, they “paint a much larger picture of the era in Jerusalem.”

According to Shalev, while both discoveries are of immense scholarly value as inscriptions, their primary value is their archaeological context.

“What is importance is not just that they were found in Jerusalem, but [that they were found] inside their true archaeological context,” Shalev told The Times of Israel. Many other seals and seal impressions have been sold on the antiquities market without any thought to provenance.

This in situ find, said Shalev, serves to “connect between the artifact and the actual physical era it was found in” — a large, two-story First Temple structure that dig archaeologists have pegged as an administrative center.\
This video shows much more:



The name of Nathan Melech  as a high officer of the kingdom is found in in 2 Kings Chapter 23.

First Temple-era finds that confirm Biblical accounts are rare but not unheard of. Still, Arabs will often pretend that there is no archaeological evidence of an ancient Jewish kingdom in Israel, and the Givati parking lot and City of David finds show that they are not only lying, but know they are lying.

(h/t Yoel)
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Saturday, March 30, 2019

03/30 Links: Ben Rhodes Blames Jewish Donors for Obama Not Being More Anti-Israel; NYTs Anti-Israel Writer Works for Qatar Funded Group; The ‘Wag the Dog’ conspiracy that never happened

From Ian:
Ben Rhodes Blames Jewish Donors for Obama Not Being More Anti-Israel
Ben Rhodes, a former national security aide to President Barack Obama, told the New York Times this week that the “donor class” had prevented Obama from taking more anti-Israel steps than the administration had wanted to take.

Rhodes spoke to author Nathan Thrall for a feature article titled, “How the Battle Over Israel and Anti-Semitism Is Fracturing American Politics.” The headline describes “politics,” but Thrall focused on policy debates within the Democratic Party, which has seen the rise of an assertive anti-Israel constituency in recent years. That constituency has included overtly and unabashedly antisemitic critics, largely but not exclusively from the Muslim community.

Thrall writes about the “boycott, divestment, sanctions” (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel as apartheid South Africa was once isolated — a comparison that BDS critics find not only factually wrong, but also offensive.

Enter Rhodes — one of the architects of the Iran nuclear deal, which was vehemently opposed by Israel and by pro-Israel Americans. He blamed Jewish donors for the Obama administration’s supposed restraint towards Israel:

According to Ben Rhodes, a former deputy national-security adviser and one of Obama’s closest confidants, several members of the Obama administration wanted to adopt a more assertive policy toward Israel but felt that their hands were tied. “The Washington view of Israel-Palestine is still shaped by the donor class,” Rhodes, who does not support B.D.S., told me, when I met with him at the Obama Foundation in October. “The donor class is profoundly to the right of where the activists are, and frankly, where the majority of the Jewish community is.”

Rhodes’s claims were echoed by “[a]nother former member of the Obama White House,” who told Thrall that the Obama administration had prevailed upon the United Nations Security Council to delay a vote against Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) to after the 2016 election. (The resolution also declared Israel’s presence in eastern Jerusalem — including the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, inhabited by Jews for millennia — to be illegal.)

Thrall noted: “The fear of losing Jewish donors as the party moves left on Israel may well be overstated.” He also observed that many Jewish donors to the Democratic Party have left-wing views on Israel. Yet the antisemitic canard that Jews use money to control U.S. foreign policy persists within the Democratic Party at the highest levels, and is used by insiders like Rhodes as an excuse — a scapegoat — to deflect criticism of insufficiently radical policy stances.

Notably, Rhodes was appointed by President Obama to the board of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council in the closing days of his administration. It was a controversial appointment, given Rhodes’s role as the “Iran deal salesman,” and Iran’s leading role in promoting Holocaust denial worldwide as an official ideology.



Author of NYT Anti-Israel Piece Works for Group Funded by Qatar
The author of this Sunday's New York Times magazine cover story about the campaign to boycott, divest, and sanction the state of Israel works for an organization whose major donor, Qatar, is also the largest state funder of the terrorist group Hamas. Other significant donors to the author's organization, the International Crisis Group, are leading supporters of the anti-Semitic boycott movement the author describes in his piece.

The publication of the article, "How the Battle Over Israel and Anti-Semitism Is Fracturing American Politics," represents another salvo in the New York Times‘ continuing promotion of anti-Israel writers and views.

The author, Nathan Thrall, is tied to a large network of BDS supporters that are funded into the millions by the Qatari government, which has long been engaged in efforts to spy on the American Jewish community and pro-Israel officials. Qatar's foreign influence operations in Washington, D.C., have flown mostly under the radar, but are part of a larger proxy battle being waged by wealthy Middle Eastern governments eager to peddle influence in powerful D.C. circles.

Thrall, who the Times presents as a disinterested expert, serves as director of the Arab-Israeli Project at the International Crisis Group, or ICG, a left-leaning advocacy organization that has received around $4 million from the Qatari government in the just the last year. Qatar's donations represent around 23 percent of ICG's total budget. Qatar is not mentioned in Thrall's 11,500-word piece.
Is The Left's Anti-Semitism A Problem For Leftist Jews?


The Economist apologizes for headline tagging Ben Shapiro as 'alt-right sage'
The Economist labeled Ben Shapiro an “alt-right sage” in a headline, then apologized after the right-wing pundit protested the characterization.

The British weekly’s apology was added Thursday to a profile about Shapiro that originally carried the headline “Inside the mind of Ben Shapiro, the alt-right sage without the rage.” It also called Shapiro “a pop idol of the alt right.”

After an exchange on Twitter between Shapiro, an Orthodox Jew, and Anne Mcelvoy, one of the article’s two authors, The Economist changed the headline to “Inside the mind of Ben Shapiro, a radical conservative.” The apology said the references to the alt-right — a loose right-wing movement that includes white nationalists and anti-Semites – was made “mistakenly,” adding “In fact, he has been strongly critical of the alt-right movement. We apologize.”

Founded in 1843, The Economist is one of the world’s most reputed [and anti-Semitic] periodicals.

In the exchange, Shapiro wrote: “This is a vile lie. Not only am I not alt-right, I am probably their leading critic on the right. I was the number one target of their hate in 2016 online according to ADL data. I demand a retraction.”

He added: “If you lump me in with people who are so evil I literally hire security to walk me to shul on Shabbat, you can go straight to hell.” (h/t Elder of Lobby)
The ‘Wag the Dog’ conspiracy that never happened - analysis
The 1997 movie Wag the Dog stars Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman as a political strategist and a film director enlisted to do damage control in light of a sex scandal involving a president running for reelection. They concoct a fake war in Albania, releasing footage of fictional battles, destruction and a photogenic orphan.

When Palestinian terrorists shot rockets into central Israel and completely destroyed a house in Moshav Mishmeret, injuring all three generations of one family, some thought that instead of condemning Hamas for targeting infants, toddlers and their grandparents, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the real problem here.

A conspiracy theory in the style of Wag the Dog began to be floated in news outlets of varying levels of respectability – like the UK’s Independent – and on the social media accounts of anti-Israel organizations that Netanyahu wants a war, because it’ll somehow help him ahead of the April 9 election. They claimed that Netanyahu intentionally sparks wars right before elections to help him win.

“History shows a terrible pattern of Netanyahu heightening violence right before Israeli elections,” Jewish progressive group IfNotNow tweeted.

“We cannot give in to this pattern of fear – it keeps fascist leaders like Netanyahu in power.”

This claim is not only false, but is preposterous for many reasons.

First, the dry facts: the only wars – really operations – that have taken place while Netanyahu was in power were Pillar of Defense in 2012 and Protective Edge in 2014.

Protective Edge began eight months before the 2015 elections. It’s true that in Israel’s chaotic political system, an election could break out at any time, but July 2014 wasn’t a time when it seemed particularly likely. And the coalition was relatively united after the operation, reflecting a public rallying around the flag. It took a few more months for Netanyahu to summarily fire ministers in his coalition and trigger an election.




Quit Harping on U.S. Aid to Israel
America’s military commitment to its Asian allies, like its commitment to its European allies, requires more risk and sacrifice than its arrangement with Israel. Because the post–World War II Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security Between the United States and Japan prohibits the latter from having offensive military capabilities, the U.S. is pledged to protect the nation from attack. The United States made a similar pledge to South Korea following a war in which 30,000 Americans died defending it from an invasion by the Communist North Korea. (No “American blood” was expended to save Israel when a coalition of Arab armies attacked it in 1948. Indeed, not a single American soldier has ever died defending Israel, something that cannot be said about many of our allies). The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act compels Washington to “maintain the capacity of the United States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan.” That stops just short of an outright commitment to defend the island from an attack by mainland China, but ensures enough strategic ambiguity to keep Beijing at bay.

Finally, Israel is hardly the only American ally in the Middle East to receive military aid. Egypt is the second-largest non-NATO recipient after Israel, and Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are beneficiaries as well.

Unlike U.S. aid to Israel, most of which is funneled back to the American defense sector, U.S. defense spending toward its forward-operating presence in Europe and Asia is composed of hundreds of thousands of “boots on the ground,” soldiers whose lives would be at stake in any scenario involving an attack on treaty allies. And these allies lie under our nuclear umbrella, meaning that conflicts on either continent could theoretically ensnare the United States in nuclear war.

Viewed in this light, U.S. military aid to Israel looks less like the special dispensation of a powerful ethnic lobby and more like the logical extension of America’s postwar power projection. It is not all that spectacular compared with U.S. defense arrangements with the dozens of countries it is obliged to defend, up to and including with weapons of mass destruction. Of course, U.S. support for Israel has an emotional dimension, as the passionate speeches at AIPAC invoking the Holocaust attest. But much the same can be said for the United States’ military arrangements with Estonia, South Korea, and Taiwan: All are small, vulnerable democracies facing authoritarian, rapacious adversaries, and this underdog quality animates American public support. Yet for some reason, none of these alliances engenders anywhere near the same sort of antipathy as does the one between the United States and the world’s only Jewish state.
Intelligence Squared: Anti-Zionism is Anti-Semitism
Who’s right and who’s wrong? On June 17th, join the debate and hear leading experts including Mehdi Hasan, Ilan Pappe and Einat Wilf go head to head.

Is there a country in the world that attracts so much criticism as Israel? Studies consistently show Israel to be one of the most disliked nations in the world (along with Iran and North Korea). But how much of this is to do with genuine concern about Israel’s actions, and how much is actually a cover for the age-old hatred of the Jews? Is what we are seeing here anti-Zionism – broadly understood as opposition to the existence of a Jewish state in the territory of Israel – or is it anti-Semitism?

Many people who have been accused of anti-Semitism argue that the accusation is deeply unjust: what enrages them is not the Jewish people per se, but the nature of Israel, the Jewish state. Israel, they say, is a country based on ethnic nationalism, designed to privilege the Jewish majority at the expense of the Palestinians. Israel’s critics claim that its creation in 1948 led to more than 700,000 Palestinians fleeing or being expelled from their land, and that today’s Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are still denied their basic rights. Israel’s immigration policy allows any Jew in the world to gain automatic citizenship, yet Palestinian immigration to Israel is virtually impossible. The Israeli flag features the Star of David and its national anthem refers to the ‘Jewish soul’, but over 20 per cent of its citizens are Arabs. To be anti-Zionist isn’t to be anti-Semitic – it’s to take a legitimate moral stand against Israel’s discriminatory practices.

But others see anti-Zionism as a fig leaf for old-fashioned anti-Semitism. Yes, of course it’s possible to be a staunch critic of Zionism and not to be anti-Semitic, but mostly you find that the two go together. Despite being the only functioning liberal democracy in the region, Israel is fanatically singled out for criticism by its enemies. Anti-Zionists, it is said, often rehash ancient anti-Semitic tropes, using phrases like the ‘Israel lobby’ as a racist dog whistle to signify an all-powerful Jewish conspiracy. Attacks against Jews are on the rise across the world, with many of their perpetrators claiming they are responding to Israel’s policies, but in fact they are disguising their hatred of Jews in the garb of anti-Zionism – in France, anti-Semitic acts increased by 74% last year. And when anti-Zionists talk about Israel’s founding and its impact on the Palestinians, they conveniently omit the fact that in 1948 Israel was immediately attacked by its Arab neighbours who sought to wipe it off the map. It’s the only Jewish-majority country in the world, a homeland and haven for the Jews created in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Sure, you can criticise the policies of Israel’s government, but if you deny its right to exist you are inescapably an anti-Semite.
Anti-Semitic Lefty Hero Valerie Plame to Run for Senate in New Mexico
Perfect timing.

Just as the Dems were recovering from their anti-Semitism controversy with Rep. Omar, they've got an anti-Semitic bigot with name recognition running for Senate in New Mexico.

It's yesterday's lefty heroine, Valerie Plame, covert secret agent and inspiration for James Bond who inspired one of the more unintentionally hilarious lefty Bush era movies (one that Aaron Sorkin would probably like to forget.)

Plame was force to apologize after sharing on Twitter an anti-Semitic article from the UNZ Review entitled "America's Jews Are Driving America's Wars." The article stated that Jews "own the media," that they should wear labels while on national television, and that their beliefs were as dangerous as "a bottle of rat poison."

Her initial response was: "First of all, calm down. Re-tweets don't imply endorsement. Yes, very provocative, but thoughtful. Many neocon hawks ARE Jewish."

Funny how these scandals just "vanish" when they involve lefties.

Post-Bush, Plame had been flailing. She had a brief moment in the sun defending the Iran nuke sellout for Ploughshares. But that ended when her anti-Semitism became a little too public.

Her anti-Trump lobbying has been shambolic and futile. The Twitter gimmick was particularly pathetic. So she's hoping to ride the #Resistance wave some more. And while any normal person would have been out after posting anti-Semitic content from a hate site, lefties have different rules. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the media kept right on touting her. And ignoring the whole anti-Semitism issue.
Bernard-Henri Lévy on Anti-Semitism, the Diaspora and the ‘Miracle’ That Is Israel
War correspondent, philosopher, activist, TV star: Bernard-Henri Lévy is among the world’s most prominent — and controversial — public intellectuals. He’s searched for Daniel Pearl’s killers, followed in the footsteps of diplomat and historian Alexis de Tocqueville, staunchly defended Israel. His latest, “The Empire and the Five Kings: America’s Abdication and the Fate of the World,” takes on the implications of 21st-century American Isolationism. David Suissa, the Journal’s publisher and editor-in-chief, spoke with Lévy for his “Suissa” podcast, from which this interview was condensed.

Jewish Journal: I’ve been fascinated by your journey. You studied philosophy and you end up going for the adventure. You’ve been in so many places in the world where they had conflicts and wars. At which point did you realize that you were not just going to be a person of the mind?

Bernard-Henri Lévy: Immediately. I decided since the very start that the best thought is the thought which can be proved by experience; and the best way, the most honest way to speak and to make philosophy is to go and check with your own eyes.
MEMRI: Yemeni Academic Dr. Arwa Al-Khattabi: ISIS Represents Islam; We Must Discuss This Honestly And Take Responsibility For What Is Happening In The World
On March 16, 2019, BBC Arabic (U.K.) hosted a debate about extremism and Islam. Dr. Makram Khouri-Machool, the director of the Cambridge-based European Centre for the Study of Extremism, said that most Muslim societies are peaceful and that Islam should not be accused of extremism. He said that there had been no killing of Arab Christians in the Middle East until American and Western occupation. Dr. Arwa Al-Khattabi, a Yemeni expert in European and German history, said that the Islamic State (ISIS) represents Islam and that it has attempted to implement it by the book without distorting, changing, or adding anything. She said that Arabs and Muslims must discuss the matter honestly and take responsibility for what is happening in the world rather than act like victims and blame others.

"ISIS Has Come To Implement Islam As It Is, By The Book – It Has Not Come Up With Anything On Its Own"

Dr. Makram Khour-Machool: "This is an important point for everyone to understand – the matter is between extremist forces in the West and the Muslims.

"This is why we say that most Muslim societies in the world are peaceful societies, and Westerners cannot look at the religion of Islam and accuse it of extremism in the world. This must stop – from a scientific, legal, practical, and procedural perspective."

Host: "Okay let's hear from..."

Dr. Makram Khour-Machool: "Just one more thing... The problem is that the Arab regimes do not have the power to stand before the European regimes and tell them: 'What you want to apply to us – you must apply to yourselves.'
[...]
"We had not seen the killing of Arab Christians and easterners until the intervention and occupation by America and the West in the Arab east and in our Arab world. The Arab Christians lived with their Muslim brothers in security in their countries, and there were no problems until the invading Western powers came in and nurtured the hatred and supported it financially, as they still do. Thus, there is no connection or correlation between Western terrorism and Christianity in the East."
Germany's Ambassador to U.N. compares Israel to Hamas
Germany’s best-selling newspaper Bild published a scathing editorial on Wednesday accusing the country’s UN Ambassador Christoph Heusgen of betraying Chancellor Angela Merkel’s security pledge to Israel by comparing the Jewish State to the terrorist organization Hamas.

The editorial, authored by Filipp Piatov, took Heusgen to task for comparing Israel’s security measures against Palestinian terrorists with Hamas rocket attacks.

In response to Heusgen’s statement that “Civilians must live without fear of Palestinian rockets or Israeli bulldozers,” the Bild journalist wrote: “After 130 missiles in a week, pure malice. Murderous rockets are not bulldozers. The Israeli government is not a terrorist militia. This comparison has nothing to do with the promise of Chancellor Merkel.

In 2008, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Israel’s Knesset: “For me as German chancellor, Israel’s security is non-negotiable.”

The Bild journalist wrote ”At the UN Security Council meeting, German UN Ambassador Christoph Heusgen compared Hamas rocket terrorism with the demolition of houses without a building permit – a means that Israel uses against buildings illegally built by Palestinians (but also Israelis).”

The journalist further noted that Heusgen’s parallel between Hamas and Israel came after “In recent days, the radical Islamic Hamas has fired more than 130 missiles at Israel... injuring seven people, including two small children.”

The US government, the European Union and Israel classify the Sunni Jihadi organization Hamas as a terrorist entity.
Piatov concluded his editorial: “When Islamist terrorists fire rockets at Israeli children,” the German government should be “crystal clear about standing on Israel’s side.”

Germany voted 16 times in 2018 to condemn the Jewish State at the UN.
German police arrest 10 suspected of planning terror attack
German police say they have arrested 10 people in the west of the country on suspicion of planning an Islamic extremist terror attack.

The dpa news agency reported the suspects were taken into custody on Friday and Saturday in the towns of Essen, Duesseldorf, Wuppertal, Moenchengladbach, Duisburg and Ulm, citing a spokesman for prosecutors in Duesseldorf.

The prosecutors’ spokesman was quoted as saying Saturday that the group was suspected of a connection to the Islamic State group, either as sympathizers or a splinter group, and of planning a “serious act of violent subversion,” although there was currently no indication of a specific target. Prosecutors were not yet certain if criminal cases would be brought against all those taken into custody.

Officials said one of the suspects was from Tajikistan but provided no information about the nationality of the others.
Too many chiefs Israel’s faltering sovereignty and the ‘mukhtar protocol’
If we ever needed proof of the old adage, “He who hesitates is lost,” the mukhtar protocol is a perfect example.

In many areas in east Jerusalem, no survey or registration of ownership was conducted after the Six Day War. Instead, the operational guidelines that enabled the authorities to grant building permits gave local mukhtars (chieftains or village dignitaries) sole authority to decide who the legal owners of the land in question are – in effect reaffirming the Ottoman Empire’s traditional method and circumventing the procedures that normally regulate land registry under Israeli law.

In practice, the “mukhtar protocol” spawned a massive industry of wholesale land giveaways and illegal land deals, forgery of documents and deeds, under-the-table payments, false testimony, and more. And it has created devastating results for the rightful owners of property, Arabs and Jews alike.

What, you might wonder, allowed this bizarre, backward system to override normal procedures of land registration? The answer is as pathetic as it is predictable: The State of Israel preferred to self-impose restrictions on its own sovereignty in Jerusalem, in the hope that undercutting its sovereignty would appease its critics. But by failing to clearly assert and enforce Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem, the government handed those seeking to deny Israeli sovereignty the perfect opportunity to do so.

Beyond the devastating practical results of the mukhtar protocol for the rule of law, for property rights and for Jerusalem’s delicate demographic balance, the political implications are a self-fulfilling prophecy: When sovereignty is not exercised, it is lost. A government that does not enforce the law does not govern, and the vacuum is filled immediately – and often, irrevocably.
IDF tank strikes Hamas post in response to explosive devices thrown
An IDF tank struck a Hamas position in the northern Gaza Strip Friday night in retaliation for explosive devices thrown across the security fence during violent riots.

The strike came after violent night time riots broke out across the Gaza border which saw several Palestinians wounded by IDF gunfire. Loud explosions were also heard through the night in communities in southern Israel after explosive devices went off in the Strip.

The violence on Friday night comes as the IDF prepares for thousands of Palestinians to violently riot across the fence to mark Land Day.

The military warned Palestinians not to approach or cross the security fence or risk being shot.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi examined the readiness of troops ahead of the expected violent riots on the Gaza border fence, the military said Friday evening.

“The Chief of Staff examined the preparedness in the Gaza Division area along the border fence and the main centers of disturbances in the area,” the IDF said in a statement, adding that during his visit Kochavi was presented with assessments of the troops and their response to various scenarios which could occur during the Land Day on Saturday.








Over 40,000 protest at Gaza border; 2 Palestinians said killed in violence
Over 40,000 Palestinians took part in protests at the Gaza border Saturday afternoon, the Israel Defense Forces said, with some rioters throwing grenades and explosives toward the security fence as well as lobbing rocks at troops and burning tires.

The army said soldiers responded with “riot dispersal means” and live fire in accordance with IDF regulations, noting that most Palestinians attending the one-year anniversary of the “March of Return” protests remained at a distance from the border.

The coastal enclave’s Hamas-run health ministry said two Palestinians were killed during the protests, while at least 200 were injured. Most of those hurt were lightly wounded, but three were said to be in critical condition.

The dead Palestinians were 17-year-old Adham Nidal Sakr Amara, who was apparently shot in the head, and another 17-year-old, Tamer Abu Khair, who was shot in the chest.

The Hamas-run interior ministry said it had deployed 8,000 security personnel along the border to prevent demonstrators from approaching the fence, Army Radio reported. Channel 12 said this was the first time in a year that Hamas had acted in this way to keep a check on the protests.

But warnings to stay far back from the heavily fortified fence that marks the border were not being heeded by all.

“We will move towards the borders even if we die,” said Yusef Ziyada, 21, his face painted in the colors of the Palestinian flag. “We are not leaving. We are returning to our land.”


Hamas Plans to Use Children as Human Shields in Mass Border Riots This Weekend, Israeli UN Envoy Warns
Hamas plans to use children as human shields during mass border demonstrations planned for Saturday, Israel’s UN envoy warned on Friday.

In a letter to the UN Security Council and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon wrote, “Hamas has cancelled school on 30 March so that children will be free to attend the riots. As always, Hamas will exploit these children as human shields and compensate the rioters and their families, should they suffer injuries.”

Danon continued, “There can be no doubt that in the upcoming riots, Hamas will seek to fulfill the words of Yahya Sinwar, its leader in Gaza: ‘We will take down the border and tear out their hearts from their bodies.’”

“But we will not tolerate any action that threatens our people, our sovereignty and our borders, whether it comes from terrorists, violent rioters or so-called ‘peaceful protesters,’” Danon concluded.

Meanwhile, seven Palestinians were reportedly wounded on the Gaza border on Friday.
IDF Spokesperson to mothers in Gaza: Protect your children
The IDF's Arabic spokesperson released a video in which mothers in the Hamas-controlled territory of Gaza were called to "protect the lives of their children."

As mass protests erupted along the Gaza Strip border on Saturday, the video warned against incitement, stressing that "a child who throws stones [on IDF troops] is not a hero."

Forty thousand protesters gathered along the Gaza border on Saturday afternoon as a part of the "March of Return" protests, inciting violence with stone-throwing and tire-burning.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh joined the riots along with members of the Egyptian intelligence, Palestinian media reported.


Gaza factions: Protests will continue despite 'ceasefire understandings'
Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials said on Saturday that the weekly protests near the Gaza-Israel border will continue despite Egypt’s ongoing efforts to reach ceasefire understandings between the Palestinian factions and Israel.

Palestinian sources claimed that the Egyptian intelligence officials who have been mediating between the Palestinian factions and Israel in the past few days have made progress towards reaching new ceasefire understandings. The Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip are now waiting for Israel’s final response to their demands, the sources added.

The sources claimed that Israel has accepted most of the Palestinian factions’ demands, including the expansion of the fishing zone, the reopening of the border crossings, the delivery of additional Qatari funds to the Gaza Strip and creating job opportunities for thousands of unemployed Palestinians there.

The Egyptian team, headed by senior General Intelligence Service official Ahmed Abdel Khaleq, met on Thursday and Friday with leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian factions and discussed with them ways of achieving a new truce with Israel.

Khalil al-Haya, member of the Hamas “political bureau,” said that the Egyptian intelligence officials carried “positive responses” from Israel. The Egyptian officials, he said, will return to Israel on Sunday to receive timelines for the implementation of the reported understandings.

Haya said that the weekly protests along the border with Israel, which are called “Great March of Return and Breaking the Siege,” will continue until they achieve their goals. “In the past year, the weekly marches achieved some of their goals,” he added. “They will achieve more goals.”
Iran’s Ruling Mullahs Issue ‘Land Day’ Call for ‘Resistance’ Against ‘Illegal Zionist Regime’
Iran’s rulers issued yet another chilling call for Israel’s elimination on Friday, as the Tehran regime vented its anger at US President Donald Trump’s decision recognize the Jewish state’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

The call for what Iran’s Foreign Ministry described as a “complete end to the occupation of Palestine” was timed to coincide with “Land Day,” an annual day of protests and commemorations among Arab citizens of Israel for the six Arab protesters killed in violent clashes with Israeli soldiers and police on March 30, 1976.

“The US president’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital…and the occupied Golan Heights as part of the illegitimate Zionist regime…shows clearly that Palestinian resistance and perseverance as symbolized by ‘Land Day’ is the right path,” the Foreign Ministry said on its website.

The statement continued: “The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that the establishment of sustainable and fair peace in the region will only be possible through the continuation of resistance until the complete end of Palestine’s occupation.”
U.S. Ambassador and sanctions cause drop in German-Iran trade
An assertive anti-Iranian regime policy by the US Ambassador to Germany and American sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic of Iran’s economy caused a 9% decrease in German exports to Iran in 2018.

According to Ulrich Nussbaum, a state secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, German exports plummeted from €3.15b in 2017 to €2.7b in 2018.

The German weekly Die Zeit first reported on the drop in German exports to Iran. The governments of Germany, France and the United Kingdom created a financial mechanism called Instex to circumvent US sanctions against Iran. Nussbaum said Instex is “at this time in the phase of being operationalized.”

Major German financial institutions including Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank have declined to conduct business with Iran because of exposure to US sanctions. As a result, according to an early March article in the Hamburger Abendblatt, for companies in the German state of Lower Saxony this presents a “big challenge.” The paper wrote “since November, virtually no transfers of funds from Iran to the house banks of the Lower Saxony companies have taken place.”

Mid-level German companies have over the years exported engineering equipment to Iran. Tilman Brunner, a foreign trade expert for the chamber of commerce in the capital of Hanover in Lower Saxony, said: “Many companies would like to do more Iran business,” adding they have contracts, but could not process the payments. He said that’s why there are many requests for the chamber of commerce and a lot of business frustration.
BBC News framing of Iranian activity in Syria continues
That framing was again promoted by the BBC’s US State Department correspondent Barabara Plett Usher in several recent reports concerning US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

In an article titled “Trump: Time to recognise Golan Heights as Israeli territory” that appeared on the BBC News website on March 21st, readers saw superfluous scare quotes attached to the phrase military entrenchment.

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who has warned about the “military entrenchment” of his country’s arch-enemy Iran in Syria and has ordered air strikes in an attempt to thwart it…”

Subsequent analysis from Plett Usher suggested to readers that the subject of the Iranian build-up of force in Syria is not only open to debate but a tactic used by Israel to advance its interests. [emphasis in bold added]

“Israel has gained traction in the White House and parts of Congress by arguing that Iran is using Syria as a base from which to target Israel, with the Golan Heights as the front line.”

The same ‘analysis’ from Plett Usher appeared in a report published on March 22nd under the title “Golan Heights: Syria condemns Donald Trump’s remarks”.

“Israel has gained traction in the White House and parts of Congress by arguing that Iran is using Syria as a base from which to target Israel, with the Golan Heights as the front line.”
Omar Refuses To Condemn Gays Being Stoned To Death Under Sharia Law, Violence Against Israel From Hamas
Following Omar's remarks, The Daily Wire reached out to her office via phone and email to get her thoughts on two recent news items.

The first story comes from Brunei, where Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah has said that new Sharia laws that are going into effect are a form of "special guidance" from God, according to Sky News.

The nation is going to introduce death by stoning as a punishment for gay sex and "amputation for those guilty of theft under sharia law, with both penalties to also apply to children once implemented."

The second story comes out of the Middle East, where the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas recently fired 20 rockets into Israel and destroyed the homes of innocent civilians.

The Daily Wire asked Omar if she could provide comment on either story and if she found either of these acts to be "abhorrent and inhumane."

The Daily Wire also asked Omar if she would say that these acts are due to radical Islam.

Omar and her office refused to respond to multiple requests for comment.

The Daily Wire again contacted Omar's office on Friday via phone and email to give them another chance to respond and notified them that a non-response would be considered a "refusal to condemn" these acts. Omar's office again did not respond to the inquiries.

Later on Thursday, Omar tweeted from her official Congressional Twitter account a condemnation of "conversion therapy."
Pitzer College Students Look to Oust President Over Refusal to Cut Ties With Haifa University
The president of Pitzer College is facing calls for resignation by student leaders over his decision to maintain the California school’s relationship with the University of Haifa, despite calls to end it by faculty and students opposed to Israeli policy.

President Melvin Oliver vetoed a resolution passed earlier this month by the Pitzer College Council — which includes faculty, students, and staff — to suspend its only study abroad program in Israel.

In a message announcing his decision, Oliver pointed out the lack of consensus behind the politically-driven measure, the “harm” it would have on the academic freedom of individual students and “the free exchange of ideas,” and the prejudiced stance it took by singling out Israel while maintaining cooperation with universities in other nations.

The measure was introduced by Professor Daniel Segal, who has a record of supporting the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, which calls for an end to all academic cooperation with universities in the Jewish state.

Anger over Oliver’s decision has led members of the Pitzer Student Senate to draft a resolution declaring no confidence in the president, and — if “Oliver does not retract his anti-democratic decision by the end of the day on April 11, 2019” — urging his immediate resignation or removal from office, the student-run Claremont Independent reported.
Part 3: UNC-Duke Conference on Gaza Whitewashes Hamas, Blasts Israel
When we returned from a free catered lunch, Shai Tamari, the conference organizer, announced that audience members were no longer allowed to record the conference. A few minutes later, Tamari leaned over me to tell the person sitting next to me to stop recording – my neighbor had been taking photographs of each slide. Then, Tamari sat down in the aisle next to me and kept looking our way for about 30 minutes.

The next speakers were Mohammed Eid (a UNC Rotary Peace Fellow from Gaza studying Global Studies) and Tania Hary (an Israeli activist) on “In and Out: Gaza and Freedom of Movement.” An audience member asked Eid if he is able to lobby Hamas on issues such as human rights and corruption the same way that Hary can safely lobby the Israeli government on these issues. Eid responded, “As far as I know we don’t have that tradition.” Eid’s response may qualify him for the understatement of the year.

Eid continued his response by providing the example of a family in Gaza going to the Palestinian police station to complain and the Palestinian government then “bombed everyone” and killed them. Eid added that when Palestinians protest their government, “We get whipped on our backs for doing that, we get shot, we get killed, we get dragged down the streets.”

An audience member then asked, “Ninety-eight percent of the conversation today has been about Israel. Why is there not more pressure on Egypt to open its borders [with Gaza]?” Eid responded that it was an important question but that discussing the Palestinian-Egyptian relationship would be best for a different panel or conference. In other words, Eid was saying this is a conference for bashing Israel, not Egypt.
A JTA reporter encounters anti-Semitism on the streets of New York
Evidently I’m a “f***ing Jew bastard.”

Earlier this month I had just arrived in this city on a visit and was walking along the street in the downtown Chelsea neighborhood chatting with Eddy Portnoy, a Yiddish scholar and the author of the wonderful book “Bad Rabbi,” when a homeless man approached us and began screaming. At first I brushed it off. While I have lived in Israel for the past 14 years, I grew up in Manhattan and such behavior was just the background hum of life in the big city. As such, it took a second for his words to penetrate my brain.

“F***ing Jew bastards,” he ranted. “Heil Hitler.”

I was shocked but also, in a perverse way, comforted. As a journalist, I have written about anti-Semitism for years. I’ve had coffee with Hamas members, chatted with European ultranationalists and have written a soon-to-be-published book on the instrumentalization of anti-Semitism in modern hybrid war. But I’ve never experienced anti-Semitism aimed at me personally. It was as if, as a journalist, I was exempt.

As Eddy and I continued walking, my anger warred with my relief that my first experience of anti-Semitism was so innocuous. I felt as if I were overdue. It wasn’t a particularly memorable experience, we both decided, but it seemed significant in that the homeless man’s words seemed a bit like a mirror reflecting the current zeitgeist.
‘Intolerable’: In Picturesque French Town, Local Jewish Politician Defies Antisemitic Daubings
Local politicians in the Loire region of central France rallied on Friday in support of a Jewish deputy mayor who was personally targeted by violently antisemitic graffiti earlier this week.

Antisemitic inscriptions including, “Death to the Jews,” and Nazi swastikas were discovered on the walls of municipally-run nautical club in the town of Roanne on Thursday morning. One inscription specifically threatened Roanne’s deputy mayor, who is Jewish, with the words, “Death to the Jew Sophie Rotkopf.”

The latest outrage came just one week after Roanne’s public prosecutor, Abdelkrim Grini, announced an investigation into a similar antisemitic incident on March 18. Swastikas and inscriptions including, “Death to the Jews,” were found daubed at the town’s sports stadium.

Local police said on Thursday that no arrests had been made in either of these incidents.

Rotkopf, a member of the center-right Republicans (LR), said in a statement carried by local media outlets that the French people should not permit what she called “the ordinary hatred of everyday life” to enter into “our house.”

“When the Jewish community is attacked, France, its citizens and the Republic are attacked, and this is intolerable,” Rotkopf declared.
For First Time Since Holocaust, Kosher Restaurant Opens in German City of Leipzig
For the first time since the Holocaust, a kosher restaurant opened on Tuesday in the German city of Leipzig, Deutsche Welle reported.

Cafe Salomon serves fish, as well as dairy, vegetarian and vegan options. Dittrich and Gabriele Goldfuss, from the local Rahn high school, are responsible for international collaboration in Leipzig and had the idea for the restaurant. The school has a close partnership with a high school in the Israeli city of Herzliya, DW reported.

“I hope that guests from all over the world come here,” Goldfuss told the Leipziger Volkszeitung (LVZ) newspaper. “I am proud that the Jewish community has become a part of the living identity of this city.”

Gotthard Dittrich, head of the Rahn school, added, “We are trying to close a gap in Leipzig.”

The IRG, a Jewish community organization in Leipzig, said more than 15,000 Jews living in the city were persecuted after the passage of the antisemitic and discriminatory Nuremberg Laws in Nazi Germany in 1935. Leipzig now has the most active Jewish community in Saxony, with around 1,300 members.
Israeli Technology Helps Sierra Leone Schoolchildren Drink Clean Water From Air
The St. Joseph’s girls’ school in Sierra Leone’s capital of Freeport has received Israeli technology that produces fresh, safe-drinking water out of air.

The technology, which comes in the form of an atmospheric water generator known as the “GEN-350,” offers the schoolchildren a source of clean water that can produce up to 900 liters of water per day.

Water pollution is one of the leading causes of death in the West African country, which has an average life expectancy of 56 years, one of the lowest in the world. Approximately half of the population has no access to clean drinking water, and a little less than three-quarters of urban dwellers have a safe water supply available for use.

Sierra Leone’s water sources, which primarily consist of ponds, unprotected wells and freestanding water, have been contaminated by mining and chemicals used in the agricultural industry. Water-borne infections and parasites have increased the probability of Sierra Leoneans contracting diseases such as typhoid fever and Hepatitis A.

The GEN-350, which offers the school a supply of fresh water on site, is a technological innovation of the Israel-based company Watergen, led by its president, Dr. Michael Mirilashvili. It was purchased from Watergen USA by the local company, SL Watergen.

With a weight of just 800 kilograms, the GEN-350 is easily transportable and can be installed easily. The GEN-350 units are provided with an internal water-treatment system and need no infrastructure except a source of electricity in order to operate.
The World's Longest Salt Caves at Mount Sodom
After initially discovering the salt caves of Mount Sodom decades ago, Hebrew University officially unveiled their findings on a tour for the press, inside Mount Sodom. Our Shelby Weiner has the story. Story: Deep inside Mt. Sodom on the coast of the Dead Sea lies a newly revealed secret. In the heart of the geological formation, water and the passage of time have slowly carved out what is now the world’s largest salt cave. The Dead Sea is famous for its high salt concentration and the hills surrounding it are formed of salt deposits layered with dust and cap rock rising from the ground. These hills are famously peppered with networks of caves -- most famous of which are the Qumram caves which for centuries housed the Dead Sea scrolls. But the Malham cave, just off of Highway 90 along the coast of the Dead Sea, is home to a different kind of secret. Dated at some 7,000 years old, a network of cave chambers and channels have slowly been carved out of the mountain by rain water dissolving the salty layers of the hill. A scarce 50 millimeters, just under 2 inches of rain falls in the area annually. But that small amount of water has hollowed out a spectacular space beneath the earth’s surface.


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