Tuesday, March 21, 2017

From Ian:

PMW: Abbas: Reason for all world’s disasters is “occupation”
In a recent speech, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas stated that the Israeli “occupation” is the reason for all disasters in the world:
“The international community is becoming more and more convinced that the occupation of the Palestinian state by Israel is the reason for all the disasters that the region and the world are suffering from...” [Official PA TV, March 12, 2017]
Abbas’ statement echoes the antisemitic teachings of a religious scholar on official PA TV, Imad Hamato, who Abbas has also endorsed by
appointing him dean of a system of schools. Palestinian Media Watch reported on a lesson in Islam where Hamato taught that the Jews are the reason for all of humanity’s problems:
"Humanity will never live in comfort as long as the Jews are causing devastating corruption throughout the land. Humanity will never live in peace or fortune or tranquility as long as they are corrupting the land. An old man told me: If a fish in the sea fights with another fish, I am sure the Jews are behind it." [Official PA TV, Feb. 27, 2015 and Feb. 25, 2016]
In another interview, Abbas recently clarified what he means by Israeli "occupation" - saying it has lasted “70 years” - i.e., since Israel was established in 1948.
“I told him [US President Donald Trump] that we hope that he will find a solution to the Palestinian issue after 70 years of occupation that will be based on two states, a Palestinian state that will live in security and peace alongside the State of Israel." [Al-Watan, (Qatar), March 16, 2017]
Again Abbas is showing that he does not recognize Israel in any borders. The entire State of Israel is an "occupation."
Israel arrests head of Turkish humanitarian group in Gaza for financing Hamas
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) on Tuesday announced the arrest of the head of a Turkish humanitarian group in Gaza for giving terror financing to Hamas' military wing in an announcement which could have broader impact on Israel-Turkey relations.
The security agency and police arrested Gaza resident Muhammad Murtaja, 39, in February while he was attempting to depart from Israel on a trip related to his position as the Gaza coordinator of the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TİKA).
Investigations revealed that Murtaja was recruited by Hamas in late 2008, and that his activity with the Palestinian terror group including funneling funds earmarked for humanitarian projects to Hamas.
According to the Shin Bet, he was also involved in Hamas militant training and exercises, manufacturing weapons and explosive devices and digging terror tunnels. Murtaja was said to have stored weapons, such as hand grenades and guns, in his home on behalf of Hamas.
Iran accused of planning attack on head of French-Israel business group
Iran's Quds Force plotted with the aid of a paid Pakistani man to surveil --and possibly assassinate--the head of the French-Israeli chamber of commerce, according to revelations from a Monday court proceeding in Berlin and German media reports.The daily Berliner Zeitung reported that the 31-year-old Pakistani Syed Mustafa spied on the French-Israel business professor David Rouach who teaches at the elite Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris (ESCP) and served as head of the French-Israeli chamber of commerce.
Quds Force, a US-classified terrorist entity, is part of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and paid Mustafa at least 2,052 euros between July 2015 and July 2016. Rouach is expected to testify on Tuesday. The federal prosecutor Michael Greven said at an earlier proceeding that a collection of surveillance activities took place to prepare for possible attacks. Mustafa amassed information on Rouach from July until August 2015. German investigators seized more than 300 photographs and 20 videos from Mustafa. The video and photographic material showed the ESCP campus and various travel distances in connection with the college.
According to German prosecutors, Mustafa's assignment was to identify Israeli and Jewish institutions, as well as pro-Israel advocates, for possible attacks. Mustafa conducted espionage in Gemany, France and other unnamed western European countries. He monitored a German-Jewish newspaper's headquarters in Berlin, and Reinhold Robbe, the former head of the German-Israel Friendship Society. Robbe told the court "I consider the regime there [in Iran] to be one of the worst dictators on the planet."
Mustafa delivered his dossiers to the IRGC. The criminal complaint said Mustafa had contact with a Quds Force agent named Mehmud since 2011. The Quds Force has a history of employing Pakistanis for their operations outside of Iran, said Greven. The trial started in early March and is slated to run until the end of the month.

  • Tuesday, March 21, 2017
  • Elder of Ziyon




In the news Monday was the decision of Jordan's highest court to uphold the ruling to deny the extradition of an admitted murderer to the US. Ahlam Tamimi orchestrated the suicide bomb attack in Jerusalem that killed 15 people, including two Americans in 2001. The fact that an extradition treaty existed between the US and Jordan since 1995 was judged to be of no consequence, because apparently it was never ratified by the Jordanian parliament, though signed by King Hussein.

But this is not the first time that Jordan has refused to extradite terrorists to face justice.

France: Jordan Finds Another Technicality


Just last year, Jordan turned down a French request that it extradite 2 terrorist suspects in the 1982 murder of six people in a Jewish restaurant in Paris. Two terrorists entered the Chez Jo Goldenberg restaurant in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Paris and murdered 6 people, while wounding 22 others.
The Jordanian government rejected extradition in that case because of a technicality. It turned out that one of the murderers, 62-year-old Zuhair Mohamad al-Abassi, a Palestinian, was arrested while he was in Jordan in 2015, before the extradition treaty between Jordan and France became valid. The other suspect, 54-year-old Nizar Tawfiq Hamada, never went to trial because the statute of limitation expired.

photo
The Chez Jo Goldenberg restaurant in Paris. Credit: © 2005 David Monniaux via Wikimedia Commons. From jns.org

An anonymous source told AFP a different reason why Jordan would not extradite the suspected terrorist:
Jordan does not usually extradite its citizens to other countries, even in the case of an extradition agreement. In such a case, they are generally tried in specialized Jordanian courts.
Apparently, the matter is a little different when the shoe is on the other foot.

United Kingdom: It's Different When Jordan Demands Extradition


Back in 1999, a Jordanian military court sentenced a radical Muslim preacher to death in absentia. Abu Qatada was suspected of being a key al-Qaida operative tried for conspiracy to carry out terror attacks, including a plot on the country’s American school in Amman. The sentence was immediately commuted to life in jail with hard labor. The following year, he was sentenced, also in absentia, to 15 years for plotting terrorist attacks on Israeli and American tourists and Western diplomats during Jordan's millennium celebrations.

But that was only the beginning.

photo
Abu Qatada. Credit: Wikipedia

Abu Qatada, accused of being bin Laden's right hand man in Europe, was in London. In 1993 he entered England on a forged passport and in 1994 he was granted asylum. In 2001, Jordan requested that Great Britain extradite Abu Qatada. But then it was the British and European courts that refused the request -- based on human rights concerns over Jordan's use of torture. In the meantime, Abu Qatada had been arrested more than once.

Finally, in 2013, Great Britain and Jordan signed an extradition treaty and Abu Qatada was sent to Jordan, with a guarantee that he would not be tortured. Apparently the fact that he had been arrested prior to the signing of the treaty was not an issue to Jordan, unlike in the extradition treaty it had with France.

As a postscript, upon his return to Jordan Abu Qatada was retried -- and cleared of all charges. Evidence used in the trials when he was tried in absentia while he was in Great Britain was ruled inadmissible in accordance with the agreement with Great Britain, because of the possibility it was obtained under torture. Abu Qatada is now free.

At the time of the deportation, Jordanian Information Minister Mohammed Momani said the kingdom “is keen on credibility and transparency” in handling Abu Qatada, and that the deportation of the Palestinian-born Jordanian cleric “sends a message to all fugitives that they will face justice in Jordan.”

No doubt.

If it's any consolation to France, Jordan is no better at extraditing terrorists when the request comes from other Arab countries.

Iraq: Jordan Does Not Play Favorites


Iraq has been requesting the extradition of Raghad Hussein, the daughter of Saddam Hussein. Known as "little Saddam," she has been a vocal supporter of Isis, accused of funding Iraqi militants and in 2010 Interpol posted an arrest warrant for her in connection with her alleged direct involvement in Iraqi terrorism.

photo
Raghad Hussein. Credit: Al Arabiya


Iraq's repeated requests that Raghad Hussein be returned to Iraq have been turned down.

Nor is Jordan's refusal to deport Tamimi the first time that it has denied a US request.

United States: Jordan Pardons An Honor Killer 


Mohammad Abequa murdered his wife in New Jersey in 1994 and fled to Jordan -- along with their two young children. Once in Jordan, he was sentenced to 15 years by a court, but then pardoned after only 5 years in prison and set free. At the time, the US had no extradition treaty with Jordan. Even after personal pleas to King Hussein by President Clinton, Attorney General Janet Reno and New Jersey's US representatives and senators, Jordan refused to return Abequa for trial.

At the trial, he faced the possibility of death by hanging, but was sentenced to 15 years instead because of his testimony that the murder was an honor killing. Abequa, whose brother was a general in the Jordanian army, claimed he killed his wife to protect his honor, which under Jordanian law is a reason for a reduced sentence. He told the courtroom he lost his temper when his wife told him the man he saw leaving her house was her boyfriend and she showed him a new tattoo on her thigh that he had given her. Jordanian law allows leniency in the case of 'honor killing' cases when the man kills his wife or sister because he suspects her of adultery or premarital sex.

It was this case that motivated the US to sign an extradition treaty with Jordan.

Jordan Will Deport Terrorists - When It's In Their Own Interests


Actually, Jordan does not always refuse to deport known terrorists out of the country -- even nationals. In 1999, Jordan exiled 4 senior members of Hamas. Khaled Mashal, now a leader of Hamas, as well as Ibrahim Ghosheh, Izzat Rushuq and Sami Khater, were released from prison and flown to Qatar. All of them had Jordanian nationality. They were accused of inciting hardline Islamist sentiment in Jordan, and the government claimed the four left willingly as part of a deal with Qatar.

photo
Mashal (left) and Ghohshe flanking another exiled Hamas activist Mousa Abu Marzouq. Credit: BBC

Also, there is also an unverified report that security agencies in Jordan at one point planned to deport 7 Libyans back to Libya. They were married to Jordanian citizens, who were legal residents of Jordan.

It's easy to forget that Jordan, for all of its supposed modernity, is really not that much different from the surrounding Arab countries. Its views on justice are not much more advanced than its views on honor killing. Even an extradition treaty is no guarantee that justice will be done, when it comes to Jordanian nationals. Supposedly in such cases, nationals can be judged in specialized Jordanian courts. However, based on Jordan's past record -- that is no comfort to the relatives of the victims of Islamist terrorism.




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  • Tuesday, March 21, 2017
  • Elder of Ziyon
When the "Green Line" between Israel and Transjordan was demarcated in 1949, there was more than one line.

Besides the major one that separated the armed forces of both sides, there was another one that completely surrounded Mount Scopus.


Mount Scopus, which housed Hebrew University and Hadassah Hospital, remained nominally under Israeli control, but in fact the Jordanians were not keen on letting that area have any Jews. Even thought the armistice agreement specifically allowed  Israel to have free access to Mount Scopus to run the university and hospital, Jordan reneged. After much negotiations, an Israeli police presence was maintained on Mount Scopus and every 2-4 weeks a convoy of fresh supplies (or police) would come, protected by the UN, while the university and hospital were abandoned.

That was the status quo of Mount Scopus for 19 years.

Which means that, today, the areas between Mount Scopus and the main Green Line are considered "occupied territory."

So if you visit the edge of the Mount Scopus Green Line today, you can see this:


The foreground is considered Israeli territory by the world. Across the street, though, are "illegal settlement structures."

As I have mentioned, the hotel I was staying at last week was in one of those "illegal settlements" a short distance from where this photo was taken, in French Hill.

French Hill was specifically created to help provide a connection between Mount Scopus and the rest of Jerusalem.


In no sane scenario could Israel ever give French Hill away in any "peace plan." The entire idea of a disconnected Mount Scopus is a travesty and anyone who says that Israel's building the neighborhood in French Hill hurts peace is using the word in a perverted way. No Arabs lived there; it was the location of a Jordanian army site.

When the EU or the UN says that French Hill is a "settlement" and any building that happens there violates international law, the facts on the ground show that they don't care about "justice" or "law." There was no justice when Jordan violated the armistice agreement that should have allowed Israelis free access to Mount Scopus (as well as the Mount of Olives cemetery.)

And no one did a thing.

Keep that in mind when people self-righteously invoke "international law" against Israel. Because these people never invoked it for Israel.




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  • Tuesday, March 21, 2017
  • Elder of Ziyon
Arab media have been celebrating the results of a survey released yesterday that showed that 27% of the Jewish population in Israel would leave the country if given the opportunity.

Among secular Jews the percentage who would leave is 36% while among the religious it is 7%.

I don't have the actual survey questions so I can't comment on how it might have been understood by the respondents. The survey was commissioned by Masa Israel, which is trying to strengthen the connections between Jews and Israel.

But while the Arab media has been emphasizing that poll, for the most part they have been ignoring another press release from yesterday, showing that Israel ranks 11th worldwide in the "happiness index."

Israel ranks higher in happiness than nearly every country that Israelis are known to like to emigrate to, like the US, UK, France and Germany. (Canada and Australia are the major exceptions.)

So putting the two surveys together, it sounds like many Israelis would want to leave - if they could find somewhere that is significantly better.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Arabs are leaving by the tens of thousands every year.

And if you compare the happiness of Israelis against her neighbors, well, there is no contest.





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Monday, March 20, 2017

  • Monday, March 20, 2017
  • Elder of Ziyon
From The Tower:
The leader of the campaign to boycott Israel was arrested by Israeli authorities on Monday for allegedly failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income, Globes reported.
Omar Barghouti, a co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement and the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, is suspected of evading taxes on some $700,000 that he earned between 2007 to 2017 while serving as the director of the Ramallah-based National Computing Resources, which markets and rents ATMs and other technology within the Palestinian Authority.
Barghouti, who resides in the Israeli city of Acre, deposited the money in a Ramallah bank account to hide it from tax authorities, according to the charges. He is also believed to have deposited income from a global speaking tour and book royalties in a bank account in the United States, which was similarly hidden from authorities.
Police say that credit cards and transaction records found at his house support their suspicions.





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From Ian:

Pro-Israel media also exists
There is no doubt that the pro-Israel news videos by Canadian journalist Faith Goldy for The Rebel media website are a breath of fresh air in the continuous heat wave of the anti-Israel global media.
The most recent video, which includes additional insight on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict gathered from Goldy's recent trip to Israel, quickly reached about a million viewers and even roused the curiosity of Channel 2, which dedicated an item to the video, even if it seemed a bit forced, during Friday night's broadcast. The viral video, which was filmed in the Golan Heights with Syria in the background, seeks, like Goldy's other reports, to challenge the average viewer -- who has been fed on a diet of fake news about Israel -- by busting common myths.
Take, for example, the myth that a "high wall divides between Palestinians and Israelis," which has recently generated buzz anew thanks to graffiti artist Banksy's Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem, which promises "the worst view in the world." Goldy addresses the barrier, saying, "It's not a wall! It's a giant fence! Only about 5% of it is a wall!" She goes on: "We found that Palestinians can actually freely come into Israel so long as they're not carrying any pipe bombs or explosive vests. They have to go through the sort of security that's akin to essentially going through an airport." She then explains to her viewers that it is the Israelis who are not allowed to cross over to the other side of the fence.
And for those who think that the difficulty in crossing over is only a problem for Israelis, Goldy clarifies that she, as a Christian, sought to visit Bethlehem, but cannot safely do so because the city is full of mosques and posters praising and sanctifying terrorists and acts of terrorism. The Western world already knows this story. And then she brings up another fact that you wouldn't hear from the media that is hostile to Israel -- the Israeli military hospital on the Israeli side of the fence treats Syrian women aged 8 to 80 who have been brutally raped by Islamic State operatives.
Barry Shaw: BDS violence in Amsterdam: I was there
When I visited Holland to speak to Jewish and Christian audiences and to have private meetings with pro-Israel leaders I was told how Dutch Jews were increasingly fearful about speaking out or showing their support for Israel. Their main fears derived from the threatening atmosphere being stoked up by anti-Israel protesters and BDS activists.
I was introduced to Rabbi Benjamin Jacobs, the head of the Dutch Jewish community, who has been the victim of five attacks as Jews have been targeted in proportion to the rise of BDS and other anti-Israel activism in Holland.
So it was surprising to find my talk to the Jewish audience in the Liberal Jewish Center in Amsterdam attended by what I was told were three of the leading members of the Dutch BDS. Here they were sitting in the Anne Frank Hall in the presence of the people who told me they are fearful of them.
I purposefully engaged one of them in a public dialogue. One openly admitted that the BDS cause was to achieve a One-State solution and not the achievement of a two-state peace deal. In other words, he was loyal to Omar Barghouti, the BDS founder, who has always advocated the end of the Jewish state of Israel. This character wearing his brown shirt emblazoned with ‘BOYCOTT ISRAEL’ stickers on a background of a Palestinian flag certainly subscribes to a Palestinian state “from the river to the sea.”
In the end I wiped the floor with him in an exchange in which I deconstructed all the emotional tropes he could hurl at Israel. I showed him, but more importantly the audience, how the insults he threw at Israel applies in spades to the Arab regimes that surround Israel and to the Palestinian themselves .
Hamas opposes changes to UNRWA curriculum
Gaza Deputy Education Minister Dr. Ziad Tabeth and a Hamas official have stated they completely oppose the proposed changes to the UNRWA textbooks, and claim UNRWA must use the textbooks provided by the "host country," the Palestinian Authority.
According to Tabeth, the PA education officials printed new textbooks for all Arab schools.
Palestin reported that UNRWA main headquarters sent a booklet to UNRWA in Gaza explaining the changes to the textbooks used in UNRWA schools.
During the first stage, the changes focus on the subjects of Islam, math, civics, and the study of Arabic in grades 1-4. The second stage of the plan focuses on the middle school curriculim.
According to Arab reports, UNRWA is trying to change chapters which deal with "violence," meaning those which address the Arab-Israeli conflict. The changes also affect chapters dealing with gender, and coed situations, and leave out any mention of the politics which make up the basis for "Palestinian" propaganda.
On Saturday, the Palestinian Authority protested the changes to the curriculum, calling the idea of change "very dangerous."

Here is part 4 of the video of last week's symposium in Jerusalem on Donald Trump that I organized.

Gidon Shaviv, an expert on "fake news" and Pallywood, disputes the premise of the question altogether.



Parts 1, 2, 3



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  • Monday, March 20, 2017
  • Elder of Ziyon
By Petra Marquardt-Bigman

Maybe I’m wrong, but when I read Rami Khouri’s recent article on an Arab Center poll that, according to him, “shows Arab realities, as opposed to US mythologies,” I couldn’t help sensing that Khouri was quite pleased with one particular result of the poll. As he put it in his column:

“It was fascinating to see that while the U.S government and Israel are seeking a mythological alliance of Arabs and Israel against Iran, the survey found that the overwhelming majority of Arabs (86 percent) reject official recognition of Israel by their governments. This reflected widespread perceptions of Israel’s colonialist policies towards the Palestinians and its expansionist threat to other Arab countries. Dr. Mohammad Almasri, Coordinator of the Arab Opinion Index, explained this Arab animosity towards Israel as reflecting political actions, rather than being framed in cultural or religious terms.”

Right: “Arab animosity towards Israel” is of course due to Israel’s evil “political actions,” and Arab Jew-hatred has nothing whatsoever to do with it. And Professor Rami Khouri – a “Palestinian-Jordanian and U.S. citizen” who is “director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut,” and who also held various academic positions in the US and is a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center – seems quite happy that his fellow Arabs oppose any official recognition of Israel because of its “colonialist policies towards the Palestinians and its expansionist threat to other Arab countries.”

So to look at just one telling example: like all people oppressed by “colonialist policies,” the Palestinians have more diplomatic missions around the world than their cruel colonial master Israel… It’s obvious: Worst. Colonialism. Ever. And then there is of course Israel’s dreadful “expansionist threat to other Arab countries” – I don’t have to give you details on that, I’m sure you heard in yesterday’s news that Israel has just conquered another Arab country; I mean, nobody can even keep count, so we can’t be quite sure for how many Arab countries Israel’s “expansionist threat” has already spelled doom. It’s really a miracle that there’s still an Arab Center that can conduct polls in Arab countries that have somehow managed to escape Israel’s “expansionist threat” – so far, at least… No doubt by the time you read that, yet another Arab country will have fallen victim to Israel’s “expansionist threat.” SAD.

But in the real world, there is something much sadder, as I outlined in a recent post on “The depth of Arab misery” – which has nothing whatsoever to do with Israel. Instead, according to the latest UN Arab Human Development Report, the dire situation and the grim prospects for the future of Arab countries are due to the misrule of autocratic governments and to factors like “high levels of social and religious intolerance” and the related disempowerment of women. The severe form of Israel Derangement Syndrome from which the vast majority of Arabs suffer is simply a symptom of a broader refusal to move into the 21st century.

But according to Khouri, “the U.S. and other Western lands … still largely deal with an imagined, rather than the actual, Arab world” – yet arguably, the problem here seems to be that “the U.S. and other Western lands” underestimate how much Arabs believe in the imaginary evil of Israel or, for that matter, the US: as the poll shows, 89% of Arabs believe Israel poses “a threat to the stability of the Arab region” and 82% also see the US as posing such a threat. Iran, which has been busy stoking murderous sectarian violence in the region for years, was seen as a threat by 73% -- which does show that despite the intense Arab hatred for Israel and the US, a bit of reality sometimes manages to assert itself.  


On the other hand, it is a telling coincidence that, while 89% of Arabs believe that Israel poses “a threat to the stability of the Arab region,” 89% also have a “negative” view of the brutal terror organization Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL). Consider these findings in light of the various available (usually partial) lists of ISIS atrocities (e.g. here); a good perspective can also be gained by reading e.g. this UN report from 2014 on the toll of the just beginning fight against ISIS in Iraq:

“Overall, at least 24,015 civilians have been killed or injured in Iraq during the first eight months of 2014. […] The actual numbers could be much higher. Additionally, the number of civilians who have died from the secondary effects of violence, such as lack of access to basic food, water or medicine, after fleeing their homes or who remained trapped in areas under ISIL control or in areas of conflict  are unknown. […] As of August 2014, an estimated 1.8 million Iraqis had been displaced due to the ongoing violence.”

That is the toll for just part of 2014, and just in Iraq, where most of the victims are Arabs – yet, Arabs think Israel is about as bad as ISIS. Moreover, as Khouri himself admits: “it is also worrying that 5 percent, or 20 million Arabs, had positive views of it [ISIS].”

I agree with him on this one: it is really worrying that about 20 million Arabs approve of a savage terrorist group like ISIS.


And, to put this into perspective: if some 20 million Arabs have “positive views” of ISIS, there are about three times more Arab ISIS fans than there are Jews in Israel. 



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From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Abbas's Empty Promises
Abbas's pledge to prevent inflammatory rhetoric against Israel seems to have missed his editors and journalists.
Take, for example, the Palestinian Authority-controlled media's response to last week's Jerusalem marathon. In the PA media, the sports event is depicted as part of Israel's scheme to "Judaize" Jerusalem and change the "Arab and Islamic character" of the city.
In addition, Abbas's media continues to portray visits by Jews to the Temple Mount as "provocative invasions" of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Jewish visitors are described as "settler gangs" who carry out "suspicious tours" of Islamic religious sites. It is precisely this kind of terminology that is driving many Palestinians to carry out stabbings and car-rammings against Israelis.
Abbas can make all the promises in the world to the new US envoy. Fulfillment of any of them, however, is a different story altogether.
Abbas has had multiple opportunities to reach a "historic" deal with Israel, yet he has never delivered. Quite the contrary: he has repeatedly rejected offers for holding direct talks with Israel, insisting instead on pursuing his campaign to internationalize the conflict with the hope of imposing a solution on Israel.
Abbas knows anyhow that he would never be able to win the support of a majority of Palestinians for any peace agreement he signs with Israel. No Palestinian leader is authorized to offer any concessions to Israel in return for peace.
The "cordial" and "positive" meeting with the new US envoy will change nothing -- certainly not Abbas's stripes.
Abbas's modus operandi is to flee from his problems at home by presenting himself to the international community as a leader who seeks peace. With every lick of the flames that threaten to engulf his palace of deception, the 82-year-old Abbas runs to seek sympathy among world leaders and international public opinion. Abbas's promises of peace are as empty as the political sway he parades to his Western donors.
Hillel C. Neuer: Why Theresa May must expel former UN official Richard Falk for ‘anti-Semitism’
Human rights organisation UN Watch, which is accredited by the United Nations to monitor the world body’s adherence to the principles of its Charter, has sent the following letter to Prime Minister Theresa May, urging her to consider expelling disgraced ex-UN official Richard Falk, who is set to speak this week at events in London.

March 19, 2017
Dear Prime Minister May
In a recent speech, you said, “I made sure we kept extremism—including the sort that peddles anti-Semitic vitriol—out of our country,” and you cited your barring of antisemites like Dieudonné, and your expulsion of terror supporters like Abu Hamza and Abu Qatada.
In that regard, we wish to inform you that Mr. Richard Falk—a disgraced ex-UN official who was officially denounced by the United Kingdom on at least three separate occasions for antisemitism, and whose glorification of the Hamas terrorist group was so severe that the Palestinian Authority sought to expel him from the UN—is currently in your country, and is planning to speak this week at various events in London.
We urge your government to examine the following facts and legal precedents, and to consider whether to expel this exponent of antisemitism and glorifier of Jihadist terrorism from the UK.
More than Just Another Anti-Israel U.N. Farce
A new United Nations report libels Israel, promotes hatred, and makes peace even less likely.
The report comes at a particularly inopportune time for those hoping President Trump’s surprising interest in reviving peace talks might bear fruit. The Palestinians rejected President Obama’s efforts to tilt the diplomatic playing field in their direction. They torpedoed the negotiations sponsored by Secretary of State John Kerry, embracing efforts to get the U.N. to grant them statehood without first requiring them to make peace with Israel. Their unwillingness to make compromises will only be strengthened by a report that encourages them to regard Israel as having no rights whatsoever. They are likely to make Falk’s and Tilley’s findings the basis for renewed efforts to sue Israel in the International Criminal Court, as well as for renewed provocations in other U.N. bodies such as the Human Rights Council or even UNESCO, which in the past year has taken up measures that denied the historical Jewish ties to Jerusalem and some of Judaism’s holiest sites.
Just as unfortunate is the way the report will be used to buttress the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement against Israel, which is one of the primary engines of anti-Semitic incitement both in Europe and the United States. While BDS claims to be merely a protest against Israel, wherever its banner is raised, anti-Jewish hate speech and actions soon follow. Those who subscribe to the notion that the Jewish state has no rights that need be respected are not merely promoting bias on the international stage, but also are part of an effort that leads inexorably to anti-Semitic hate speech.
Liberal groups have labeled President Trump as the main source of encouragement for the uptick in anti-Jewish incidents in the United States. This is due in part to his inflammatory statements during the election campaign, the support he received from anti-Semites in the small but loud alt-right and far-right elements of his base, and his refusal to quickly disavow such hate once he became president. Partisans have overstated this argument while failing to take into account Trump’s close Jewish ties, his support for Israel, and the things most of those actively promoting anti-Semitism actually care about. The U.N. report is a reminder that in our time, the singling out of Jews for discriminatory treatment is primarily driven by anti-Israel propaganda, which serves as a thin veil for a new and insidious form of anti-Semitism. Those looking for the reason behind the rising tide of hate against Jews around the globe would do better to read Falk and Tilley than to read Trump’s tweets.


I’ve frequently compared BDS to a virus that preys upon civic organizations unfamiliar with its tactics and ultimate propaganda goals. But like a virus, BDS has created its own antibodies that contribute to its rejection within whole categories of civic institution after a troubling infection breaks out and then is cured.
We’ve seen this play out at different stages with colleges and universities over the years.   In the early 2000s, for instance, petition-driven divestment campaigns were big news when they cropped up at high-profile schools like Harvard and MIT, leading to their replication at schools across the country.  But once these campaigns sprang up, so did counter-campaigns to resist them. These consisted of anti-divestment petitions that outpolled pro-BDS ones 10:1, as well as sound arguments for rejecting divestment. 
When those arguments became accepted universally by schools administrators (all but blocking off genuine divestment at colleges and universities), the battle moved to student government.  At first, BDS debates at schools like Berkeley became so ugly and divisive that other schools avoided similar fights since they tended to alienate students from their representatives, as well as invite condemnation from administrators, alumni and the media.  But, as time went on, the BDSers found a solution to representatives refusing to speak in the name of those they represented on controversial international issues: replacing them with new leaders who were BDS activists first, student representatives second (if at all).
While calls to have BDS motions passed by student government are still rare, and the boycotters lose more often than they win, new antibodies continue to spring up to protect the organism (the campus as a whole) from the BDS infection.  Most importantly, pro-Israel students have mobilized to ensure that no BDS call goes unanswered, with support from on-campus resources such as local Hillels. 
BDS excess, especially with regard to shouting down pro-Israel speakers and bullying pro-Israel students, has also led to the involvement of responsible adults in the debate.  The University of California system’s adoption of a definition of anti-Semitism that recognizes anti-Zionism as a form of Jew hatred was a huge step forward, as was this recent report from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) on the threat BDS poses to campus discourse, freedom of speech and inquiry.
As in the early 2000s, the most powerful contribution groups like UC leaders and ACTA have made are intellectual ones.  For by providing a sound set of arguments for why BDS is not just one more form of legitimate protest, and focusing those arguments not on the Arab-Israeli conflict but the threat BDS activity poses to core values of academia, they have created a foundation others can build on to continue the fight against boycott, divestment and sanctions projects.
Years ago, another institutions (food cooperatives) immunized themselves from the BDS threat by creating similar arguments that showed how boycotting Israeli goods ran counter the founding principles of the Coop movement as a whole (called the Rochdale Principles) as well as showing how boycotts might run afoul of anti-discrimination law.  As a result, today boycotts are all but dead in the coop movement.

The number of BDSholes involved with the campus branch of the global anti-Israel propaganda campaign is larger than those involved with the ultimately failed effort to turn food cooperatives into their latest weapons of war.  But our side too is mobilized and is fighting back, not with shouts and manipulative rhetoric, but with sound arguments – strongly and confidently presented – that continue to win the day.



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  • Monday, March 20, 2017
  • Elder of Ziyon


In the digital version of this high school textbook by Pearson you can look up the definitions of phrases. Here's how "Holy Land" was defined:


If the book intended to define the term as the Crusaders would have, then even this would be inaccurate. A quick look through the texts of the Crusaders does not turn up any mention of "Palestine." Jerusalem is really the goal, its country is not named.

But for something being written today this is essentially a whitewash of Jewish history. 

(h/t Andy)




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  • Monday, March 20, 2017
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Iran's Mehr News Agency:



Addressing a gathering of religious eulogists on Sunday morning on the occasion of anniversary of birth of Hazrat Fatimah Zahra (SA) as the National Women's and Mothers' Day, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei deemed actions of that great lady of Islam both is the role of a true leader as well as a great wife and mother as a perfect role model for Muslim women.

He underscored that raising certain topics in support of women’s rights will actually undermine their position reiterating that exploiting women as means of pleasure and joy in the West is most likely a Zionist conspiracy aimed at destroying human society.

“Unfortunately, sometimes inside the country and in some Islamic environments, tasks and expectations are ascribed to women which in fact collapse and humiliate their roles.”

“Today, Western scholars and those who pursue issues like gender equality all regret their actions for the corruption they caused,” highlighted the Leader expressing hope that views of those who raised similar issues inside the country were not based on the Western misconception.
Of course, in Iran women are not allowed to show their hair in public, married women cannot leave the country without their husband's permission, a woman's testimony is worth half that of a man and men can marry up to four wives.  Anyone against that is of course part of the Zionist plot to destroy human society.

Oh, and Iran is a world leader in human trafficking of women for sexual exploitation:
The Islamic Republic of Iran is a transit and destination country for trafficking in person as well as a country of origin for victims of trafficking. The Iranian state has always faced human trafficking issues due to geographical location and lack of measures by the Iranian authorities to prevent trafficking and to develop strategies that address the root causes and risk factors. The issue has been invisible by lack of official statistics and estimations, freedom of expression, freedom of associations and free press. In December 2013 the semi official Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) quoted Iran's passport issues police department chief, General Mahmoud Sadeghi: “We do not deny girls’ trafficking to Arabian countries but the number is not considerable” at an INTERPOL Regional Operational Workshop on “Combating Trafficking in Human Beings” in Tehran. At the same event Homayun Hashemi, the head of Iran’s government-run Social Welfare Organisation, was quoted: “Certain statistics have no positive function in society; instead, they have a negative psychological impact. It is better not to talk about them.” 
 Women and girls are trafficked for sexual exploitation domestically and externally into Persian Gulf countries, Pakistan, Afghanistan, more limited to European and Asian countries as well as more recently to China. Additionally Afghan, Pakistani, Eastern Europeans, Chinese and Iraqi women are trafficked into the I.R. Iran. 
There are specific vulnerability factors for women and girls of becoming trafficking victims in the I.R. Iran such as poverty, drug addiction, sexual abuse, domestic violence, pre-arranged marriages as well as divorce as case studies of “Runaway Girls in Social Emergency and Rehabilitation Centre of Shiraz, Iran” specifies. In recent years also the number of girls as well as boys on the streets has increased.

The good news is that Khamenei is clearly afraid of rights that Iranian women are demanding and how his eighth-century society looks to the world. When he calls something "Zionist" that is a last ditch effort to demonize something that even most Iranians know is inevitable.




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