Yet it is allowed to operate freely by the Palestinian Authority, where it is part of Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas' ruling party.
Here are photos and video from a rally in Yatta, near Hebron, on Wednesday. The terrorists are masked, openly firing weapons, and the Palestinian Authority condones this open display of violence by a known terror organization.
Most real governments would ban a separate military group from roaming the streets, masked, firing in the air. But Mahmoud Abbas' government doesn't have a problem with them. They gave permission for this rally, whether explicit or implicit.
The Aqsa Brigades have been responsible for numerous terror attacks, including some of the most heinous suicide bombings of the second intifada, killing well over a hundred Israelis.
And Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority is on their side.
So why exactly does the world consider the PA to be moderate again?
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Until now, the Palestinian Authority received fuel from Israel and sold it to the power station in Gaza, which is under Hamas’s authority. The Palestinian Authority even reduced the taxes. But financial difficulties meant other countries occasionally had to step in to cover the cost. In January, after public unrest over power cuts, Qatar and Turkey donated three month’s worth of fuel to Gaza.
But that arrangement has ended, and the Palestinian Authority has said that as long as Hamas remains in charge in Gaza, it should be responsible for paying the electricity bill — at the full cost.
The political fighting between the two Palestinian factions has left Gazans to survive with between four and six hours of electricity a day.
UNRWA-USA doesn't want to talk about the infighting between Palestinian leaders over who pays for the fuel. No one will donate to help a dysfunctional "state" which can't even get it together to help their own people.
So UNRWA-USA blames - well, you know who.
What caused the blackouts in the first place? The electricity crisis in Gaza has been ongoing since June 2006, when an Israeli airstrike hit the GPP. It was targeted with another airstrike in July 2014, temporarily shutting it down. The damage sustained in these airstrikes, combined with the chronic fuel shortage due to the blockade, has forced the GPP to operate at half its normal capacity for years.
What is the current energy crisis caused by? On April 17, the GPP was forced to shut down completely due to exhaustion of all fuel supplies and a complete lack of funds to replenish them. On April 20, the fuel supply from Egypt was also cut off due to a technical malfunction that has not been repaired.
Actually, the Gaza power plant never reached anything close to full capacity since it was built in 2002, because Gaza power lines couldn't handle that amount. The most it ever generated was 90 MW out of 140 MW capacity; recently it was generating around 70 MW while Israel supplies 120 MW directly to Gaza.
No matter what, UNRWA remains the largest humanitarian provider for Palestine refugees in the Gaza Strip, and the Agency will stop at nothing to provide critical education, health and mental health care, social services, and emergency response to the 1.3 million refugees who remain trapped under siege.
UNRWA does not buy or provide fuel for Gaza. This fundraiser is meant to appeal to the donors by saying how terrible those sieging, blockading Israelis are for making Gazan lives awful, without noting that UNRWA is not even helping them get electricity or fuel.
And all without saying a negative word about Hamas and the PA who every Gazan knows are the ones to blame for this problem.
The Palestinian Authority informed Israel that it is stopping all payments for electricity that enters Gaza through 10 electrical lines, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories said on Thursday.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas has warned over the past two weeks that he will take “unprecedented measures,” if Hamas does not concede some of its control over Gaza to the PA.
Hamas has said that it will not give in to “the threats” of the PA president.
The electrical lines entering Gaza from Israel account for some 120-125 megawatts, more than half of Gaza’s current electrical output. An electrical line from Egypt provides 27 megawatts and a power station, when fueled, delivers between 60-80 megawatts. The power station has not been working for almost two weeks for lack of fuel. Gaza needs a total of 420 megawatts.
Without the 10 electrical lines from Israel functioning, Gaza will almost certainly face a major electricity crisis.
Of course UNRWA will be silent about this as well, and only blame Israel for shutting down the electricity if it gets to that point.
If Israel were smart, it would continue to send electricity to Gaza for humanitarian reasons and withhold the equivalent tax payments to the PA the way it has done in the past.
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I suppose this is rather stupid, but I find "trolling" antisemitic Facebook pages to be kind-of a kick.
There is a page called "Israel is a War Criminal" that I recently became aware of and - as one would expect - they specialize in separating out Jewish people in Israel, if not pro-Israel Jews, more generally, as a unique evil.
Therefore this morning I dropped in briefly to say hello with this little message: Good morning anti-Zionists! How are you guys today? One of the things that give me a great deal of satisfaction is the knowledge that the Jewish people, after 2,000 years of diaspora have reconstituted our ancient homeland and reclaimed Jerusalem, the ancient capital of the Jewish people. That in itself is a very beautiful thing, I can hardly even tell you. But, y’know, when the Jews who arrived in the Land of Israel from the concentration camps nobody thought that they could actually beat the combined Arab armies. But nobody quite realized that the combined Arab armies were so feminine.
Former dhimmis, along with Jewish women and half-starved Holocaust survivors actually beat the very cream of the Arab fighting forces in 1948 to re-establish Jewish sovereignty on historically Jewish land. And then to see this small struggling country not only survive but thrive just fills my heart with joy and gladness for the redemption of the Jewish people. Now, of course, Israel is a world leader in a variety of areas including technical and medical sciences, water reclamation, agriculture, not to mention arts and letters. Some of the top universities in the world are in that country. It’s really very gratifying.
Peace to you, please, my friends.
Though, it’s rare to see this completely discredited quote appear anymore at ‘mainstream’ news outlets, on April 25th, The Irish News (of Belfast) published a letter which included the following claims: The scene was set in 1937 when Ben Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, in a letter to his son wrote “Negev land is reserved for Jewish citizens, whenever and wherever they want… we must expel Arabs and take their places… and if we have to use force, then we have the force at our disposal…”. This was, and is, the Zionist mindset before the great Estate Agent in the sky decided who really owned the land of Palestine.
In addition to the false quote concerning “expelling Arabs and taking their place”, the letter also distorts Ben-Gurion’s words concerning the Negev and the use of force. Here’s the actual sentence, again, translated into English by CAMERA. All of our ambitions are built on the assumption that has proven true throughout all of our activities in the land [of Israel] — that there is enough room for us and for the Arabs in the land [of Israel]. And if we will have to use force, not for the sake of evicting the Arabs of the Negev or Transjordan, but rather in order to secure the right that belongs to us to settle there, force will be available to us.
As you can see, the actual Ben-Gurion quote has almost no resemblance to the way it’s presented in The Irish News letter. The “Zionist mindset”, as the letter writer put it, was not that Arabs should be expelled, but, rather, that there was room for both peoples in the land.
“Every young person holding a placard to protest my parents and myself—I challenge you now: Go away and look at everything I have said and written in the last 46 years of my life and find one sentence that is anti-Semitic,” Sebastian Gorka said yesterday before walking out of a panel at Georgetown University. “You won’t find one.”
Gorka is right. But who cares? More specifically, why do I care? I’ve spent much of the last two months talking about Sebastian Gorka, and I’m tired. When I raised objections to the ludicrous assertion—repeated frequently and loudly by numerous media outlets—that the senior aide to President Donald Trump is some sort of crypto-Nazi, I was accused by many people of being a Gorka apologist.
Let’s get some things out of the way. I’ve never met Sebastian Gorka and don’t know much about his work on Islam or terrorism. I’m also not a fan of his boss, Donald Trump, which I’ve made clear in one or two or three hundred articles this past year.
What I object to—and what my interlocutors maddeningly refuse to engage with—is the effort to use history and Jewish memory, in particular, the crimes of the Holocaust, in the service of partisan political tricks. The falsification of history, in particular, the history of the Holocaust, is something that all Jews should object to because it is both the foundation and also the most frequent justification for Holocaust denialism. Indeed, it gives aid to Holocaust deniers—in Hungary and elsewhere in Eastern Europe—by using the same methods they do and giving credence to their loathsome rhetoric, which seeks to erase history by insisting that all crimes are the same, whatever their scale.
What I am asking readers to do here is to resist, for a few minutes, the social-media-driven knee-jerk outrage du jour, and instead consider the far weightier issue of how these arguments play into an abuse of history.
Just three days after Israel’s Holocaust Memorial Day,
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel refused
to abstain from meeting, at the Prime Minister of Israel's request, with so-called
“human rights” organizations dedicated to the destruction of the State of
Israel. Of course, you’d never know this from reading the news. News reporters
are smart, you see. They wait and take their cues from their guy.
And since anyone who is pro-Israel is not their guy (for
instance, the Prime Minister of Israel), in this case their guy by default is
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel.
Gabriel issued a statement and BOOM. Just like that, all the
outlets had their lead. The statement read (emphasis added):
“Imagine if the Israeli Prime Minister, who is also foreign
minister, came to Germany and wanted to meet people critical of the
government and we would say: ‘No, this is not possible’.
“Doing that, and therefore cancelling our meetings, would be
unthinkable. It works both ways.”
The German Foreign Minister makes it sound as if Israel is
trying to rob him of his freedoms. Like we’re a repressive government that doesn’t
allow for a difference of opinion. Like Israel is not a democracy.
This is a lie. It’s a brazen lie that a German has no right
to make in the days following the day on which we remember the 6 million of MY
people HIS people systematically gassed and incinerated.
How dare this man
misrepresent us as a repressive, totalitarian country! It’s appalling.
Of course, there's nothing new under the sun. Menachem Begin had the number of people like Gabriel way back when.
WATCH: Menachem Begin was NOT ahead of his time...its just that things just have not changed.
We need a leader like Begin again. #Israelpic.twitter.com/IuJkMwmNhA
Almost as bad as the articles that suggest that Israel bans legitimate criticism are those that refer to PM Netanyahu’s
warning as a “snub” (except for the Wapo piece listed above, which did both)! Outlets
referring to Netanyahu’s warning as a snub (other than Wapo) include the Times
of Israel, the Guardian, Yahoo News, and the Telegraph.
But it was not a snub. It was a warning. It was Bibi, as the
representative of the Jewish State, saying to a representative of Germany: if
you insist on meeting those bent on our destruction, I won’t meet with you.
This was a brave stance for Bibi to take (how often do we
defend ourselves like this????) and it
makes me glad I voted for him, when there are so many other days on
which I regret that vote.
Other outlets called what happened a “spat” as if that were
somehow more evenhanded: just two crazy kids fighting in the sandbox. Which is
a blatant misrepresentation of what happened here which is this: the German FM
insisted on meeting with people bent on Israel’s destruction and so Israel’s
official representatives saw no point in meeting with him.
Who called it a “spat?” The Toronto Star, SFGate,
McClatchy, and EuroNews.
We already know the end of this story, or at least some of
it. Gabriel went ahead and met with all those organizations bent on Israel’s
destruction. We just don’t have the names of all the organizations involved.
The reason? The
organizations locked the press out of the “briefing” (which some may prefer to
call an “indoctrination”). We do know that B’tselem and Breaking the Silence
were two of the organizations taking part in this meeting, thanks to the Times
of Israel.
A "spat." Just two crazy kids fighting in the sandbox
Now these two organizations, Breaking the Silence and B’tselem, are not merely
critical of Israel. If they were, no one would have a problem with them or with
a German minister meeting with them. These organizations have an agenda and
that agenda is to destroy the Jewish State. We know this because of the way
they operate and the lies they tell. Here is an excerpt of NGO Monitor’s
findings regarding the activities of Breaking
the Silence:
·Breaking the Silence (BtS)
“collects testimonies of soldiers who served in the Occupied Territories during
the Second Intifada,” claiming that the “testimonies portray a…grim picture of
questionable orders in many areas regarding Palestinian civilians [which]
demonstrate the depth of corruption which is spreading in the Israeli
military…Israeli society continues to turn a blind eye, and to deny that which
happens in its name. ·Active in promoting “war
crimes” charges against Israel. These charges were based on anonymous and
unverifiable hearsay “testimonies.” ·Although claiming to
address Israeli society, the NGO’s lobbying and media advocacy focus on
international audiences, including presentations in Europe and the United
States. Yehuda Shaul, BtS co-founder, defended this practice: “Sometimes, when
you want to deliver messages to the inside, you must go outside.” ·Between September 2012 –
June 2016, BtS held more then 80 lectures, exhibitions and events across
Europe, America, South Africa and Australia (See map below). ·In June 2016, Ben-Gurion
University canceled a NIS 20,000 reward to Breaking the Silence because it is
“not in the national consensus”. In response, the New Israel Fund published a
Facebook post announcing that it will donate NIS 20,000 to BtS and accused
Ben-Gurion University of canceling the prize because it is concerned “that it
might be the target of the next campaign”. ·In June 14, 2016, Israeli
new site NRG published a video documenting BtS co-founder, Yehuda Shaul,
telling tourists in Israel that “Yeah, One of the villages, this village
actually, its new that they came back, because few years ago the settlers
basically poisoned all the water cisterns of the village…” This allegation is
completely unsubstantiated, and was never proven. It appears to be based on a
single compliant from 2004 which investigated by the Israeli police and was
closed due to lack of evidence. (See below: Anti-Israeli campaigns using Breaking
the Silence). ·BtS refuses to comply with
the Israeli government request to provide the information on an incident
documented in a former soldier’s testimony which reflects an alleged crime.
This resulted in a court hearing in May 23 where the state sought an order that
the NGO provide all the information it has on the case. BtS argued that that
they should be allowed to “protect their sources” similarly to journalists,
despite their lack of engagement in journalistic activities. ·On January 11, 2016, Israel’s
leading nightly news program on Channel 2 aired footageof Ezra Nawi, a radical
activist from the NGO “Ta’ayush,” visiting the offices of Israeli NGO Breaking
the Silence (BtS). There, a BtS employee provided Nawi with NIS 1,400 in cash.
It is unclear what services were rendered to warrant such a payment, but
Channel 2 showed footage of Nawi writing checks for Palestinians, ostensibly
for taking part in protests that he, himself, planned. ·In summer 2015, during a
training session in BtS office, Nadav Weiman, the activists’ coordinator,
explained that “most of the Palestinians are not terrorists, but fighters for
their freedom, sometimes with means I don’t agree with. The word terrorists – I
find it hard. Although whoever murders a baby in its bed is a terrorist… If you
try to kill soldiers you are not a terrorist. This is also according to
international law”. He continued: “If there is a country that occupies your
country, in the area you live in, you are allowed to use violent means against
the occupier- only against soldiers and policemen or border police. Not against
civilians…” Weiman added that “Refusal [to serve in the army] is legitimate,
but we don’t encourage it…” ·In a video published by Ad
Kan, Weiman explains the NGO’s role in providing data to international
political actors: “You don’t understand who we are outside of Israel…the
diplomatic community… ok, Yehuda [Shaul], you won’t fund anyone who doesn’t
know Yehuda… ambassadors and parliament members… outside of Israel we are the
voice that is considered very reliable and critical that lets say if they want
information they approach us… Yehuda takes ambassadors, consuls, and parliament
members every week. Just now he was with American Congress members who arrived
in Israel… no one knows they are here. But they came and Yehuda took them on a
tour.” ·In May 2015, NGO Monitor
revealed that following the 2009 Gaza conflict, several BtS donors conditioned
the transfer of money to the group on its ability to gather a minimum number of
incriminating “testimonies” against the Israeli army. ·In 2010 BtS published a
highly tendentious book titled Occupation of the Territories – Israeli Soldier
testimonies 2000-2010, which claimed to provide a counter to the “official
Israeli position” on IDF actions in the territories. NGO Monitor analysis has
revealed that this book was rife with methodological problems and appeared to
tailor the testimonies to predetermined “analyses” that falsely claimed that
Israeli actions are not aimed at self-defense but at “terrorizing the civilian
population.” ·This book was later
re-published under the title Our Harsh Logic and translated into Swedish,
German, and Dutch. The launching of the book in the various languages served as
a platform for further demonization and delegitmization of Israel, including
accusations of “racism” and alleged “political assassinations” of Palestinians,
claims that Gaza is still “occupied,” and implying that Israel is ethnically
cleansing “area C.” ·Analysis by Amos Harel in
Ha’aretz: “Breaking the Silence…has a clear political agenda, and can no longer
be classed as a ‘human rights organization.’ Any organization whose website
includes the claim by members to expose the ‘corruption which permeates the
military system’ is not a neutral observer. The organization has a clear
agenda: to expose the consequences of IDF troops serving in the West Bank and
Gaza. This seems more of interest to its members than seeking justice for
specific injustices.” (July 17, 2009) ·BtS members and anti-Israel
activists Yonatan and Itamar Shapira were on the “Jews for Justice for
Palestinians” boat “Irene,” which sought to violate Israel’s security-based
policies regarding naval traffic into Gaza (September 2010). ·During a BtS event at a
museum in Sweden (March 2011), Itamar Shapira stated that “We [Israelis] are
creating the terror against us.” ·Conducts tours to Hebron
and the South Hebron Hills to “witness first hand the dire situation.”
Criticized by Israeli police officials for “antagoniz[ing]…settlers in the hope
that the settlers will attack them.”
Here is what NGO Monitor has to say about the employees of B’tselem:
·On January 8, 2016, Israeli
investigative news program “Uvda” featured an expose showing B’Tselem employee
Nasser Nawaja and Ezra Nawi, a radical activist from the NGO “Ta’ayush,”
discussing informing the Palestinian Authority security services about a
Palestinian man who allegedly intended to sell land to Jews in the West Bank.
The sale of Palestinian land to Israelis is punishable by death under
Palestinian law, and according to Nawi, suspects are tortured and then killed. ·In 2014, journalist Tuvia
Tenenbom published a book, “Catch the Jew,” in which he recounts a conversation
with B’Tselem “researcher” Atef Abu a-Rub, who accused Germany of “giving money
to the Jews” and then referred to the Holocaust as “a lie.” ·Former CEO Jessica Montell
has said: “I think the word apartheid is useful for mobilizing people because
of its emotional power. In some cases, the situation in the West Bank is worse
than apartheid in South Africa.” ·In April 2010, staff member
and NGO activist Lizi Sagie resigned after the organization came under pressure
for statements made on her personal blog, including: “The IDF Memorial Day is a
pornographic circus of glorifying grief and silencing voices,” “Israel is
committing Humanity’s worst atrocities…Israel is proving its devotion to Nazi
values…Israel exploits the Holocaust to reap international benefits.”
There is much more about both organizations at the NGO Monitor website. Anyone who reads
the documentation about these organizations must come away knowing that these
organizations wish Israel only harm. But in case you need further proof, let’s
talk about what these organizations said after meeting with the German Foreign
Minister. The Times of Israel has all the good, juicy, dirt in a piece
called, After meeting German FM, B’Tselem calls on world to punish Israel.
(Now doesn’t the desire to “punish” Israel prove B’tselem’s noble intentions toward
the Jewish State?)
The article in question describes the organizations and Gabriel as “defiant,”
as if it were somehow meritorious and courageous that a German met with
organizations bent on Israel’s destruction three days after Holocaust Memorial
Day in a meeting to which the press was disinvited. And of course, the
spokespeople for these organizations weren’t satisfied just with expressing
their distaste for Bibi’s actions, they had to describe him as “psychotic.”
At a Meretz party gathering in Tel
Aviv shortly after the meeting, Breaking the Silence CEO Yuli Novak said of
Netanyahu’s behavior that it was “so psychotic that a prime minister acts so
unreasonably, by any standard. Calling him a diplomatic bull in a china shop
would be a compliment.”
Yeah. It’s real “psychotic” not to hold meetings with people
bent on your destruction.
The article goes on to talk about the “occupation” (as if
Israel chooses to have these people under its rule. Feh. Let them leave), and
asks the international community to punish us
B’Tselem followed up the meeting by
issuing an English-language press release calling on the international
community to punish Israel for the continued occupation.
“There must be a price to pay for
continued military control of another people while thumbing one’s nose at basic
moral values and international law,” the statement said.
It claimed that “the Israeli prime
minister and most of his colleagues in both the coalition and opposition
parties have no intention of ending the occupation,” and added, “As long as it
does not meet the minimum conditions of democracy, Israel cannot enjoy the
privileges that go with being a card-carrying member of the club of democratic
countries.”
Oh, yeah. Can’t you see how this is just an organization
that’s merely critical of Israel? They care about us. They just want to
HELP us. Uh huh. Which is why they’re telling the world not to give us money,
arms, or have any kind of diplomatic relationship with us.
This reminds me of my brother. He used to tickle me and my
siblings mercilessly and when we’d cry he’d say in this loud, whining,
sing-songy voice, “I just want to make you happy.”
Argh.
At any rate, this business of Gabriel, well, we might
overlook it and say it was the action of one man, that it doesn’t represent
Germany as a whole. This is, unfortunately, not the case, as Merkel’s
spokesman has issued a statement repeating the garbage about it being “regrettable”
that Israel tried to stop Gabriel from meeting with organizations “critical” of
Israel.
Furthermore, Gabriel didn’t stop at meeting with
organizations bent on Israel’s destruction but then repeated the canard that, “Only
a two-state
solution will be sustainable," when no one, not Israel, not the PA, nor
Hamas, believe this to be a workable solution.
What is it with all these people who dare to tell Israel, a
sovereign nation, how to conduct its business? And how dare a German meet with
people bent on Israel’s destruction and try to characterize Israel’s reaction
as repressive.
If this doesn’t make you livid, it should. h/t Miriam Savir for the Begin clip.
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Damascus, April 26 - Syrian military officials acknowledged today that a barrage of rockets fired at the rebel stronghold of Idlib yesterday may have missed their target and hit a position of military value. Seven insurgents were killed in the blast, according to opposition sources.
General Aryuf Aqqinqiddenmi of the Syrian Army told journalists this afternoon that four Scud missiles were fired at the one remaining hospital in Idlib Tuesday morning, but a software malfunction caused them to overshoot the target and instead strike a series of fortifications used by opposition forces. He promised an investigation into the mishap, which he said does not reflect the culture or policies of the army.
Addressing a press conference at the Ministry of Defense, General Aqqinqiddenmi told attendees that the military regrets the error and will conduct a thorough inspection of remaining missile stocks to prevent a recurrence. "We regret the error," offered the contrite senior officer. "The army in no way intended to hit non-civilian targets; it is not our way."
Others in the Assad administration called for the implementation of safeguards to forestall such an outcome again. "There has to be a way to minimize these blunders," insisted Baath Party official Ayhaf Bludlust. "I hate to invoke the Zionists here, but they have a mechanism, which for some reason they use in the opposite way, under which all strike orders are first run by the Military Adjutant, who determines how the projected impact on noncombatants squares with the Laws of Armed Conflict. Of course in our case we would take a different approach to the answers. It also wouldn't prevent technical snafus such as yesterdays, but you have to take every possible measure."
Errant projectiles have killed opposition fighters instead of civilians before, noted Bludlust, but investigations determined that those incidents resulted from soldier fatigue and battlefield stress. "Soldiers make mistakes," he acknowledged. "The question is whether those mistakes point to a systemic problem. In most, of not all, of the previous cases where non-noncombatant deaths were the primary outcome, our oversight concluded that there was nothing systemic about these unfortunate incidents. But perhaps more is called for."
General Aqqinqiddenmi added that he and his colleagues had already appealed to allies such as Russia, which has extensive experience with the matter, even in Syria itself. "We've been calling the opposition 'terrorists' since this war began," he noted. "But Syria has such a long record of harboring and supporting terrorists that, despite the political disagreements, we can't bring ourselves to actually target them. So ethnic cleansing and genocide of the civilian population will have to do."
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Even those still mourning Hillary Clinton’s loss must admit: if she were US president, Israel would be drowning in peace processors. The Oslo Evangelists would return, wielding their tired ideas, their worn maps, their usual fingers pointing at Israel, their inexcusable blinders regarding Palestinian incitement – replicating president Barack Obama’s failures.
Shimon Peres, their spiritual guru, never admitted that the Oslo peace process failed, despite Yasser Arafat’s deadly tricks, despite Palestinians’ return to terrorism in 2000. By contrast, president Bill Clinton blasted Arafat, saying: “I’m a failure and you have made me one.” Those who cannot acknowledge mistakes cannot learn from them.
Those ready to escape the Oslo rut should consult the historian Daniel Pipes.
His recent Commentary essay “The Way to Peace: Israeli Victory, Palestinian Defeat,” reflects two rules of war so conventional they have become clichés: “to the victor belong the spoils,” and, as Dwight Eisenhower said, “in war, there is no substitute for victory.” Israel should do what victors do, Pipes says, crushing Palestinian hopes of destroying Israel. Only by feeling defeated will Palestinians finally accept Israel.
This Thursday, Republican Representatives Ron DeSantis and Bill Johnson will launch the Congressional Israel Victory Caucus (CIVC) boosting this plan – I wish they had bipartisan support. Oslo made Israelis diplomatic Charlie Browns, forever running to kick the football – only to have Palestinians as Lucy pull it away at the last minute, repeatedly. The Palestinians make demands as if they won.
Part of his appeal lies in the fact that he’s been in prison for the last 15 years, while the rest of his Fatah party’s corrupt leadership has been running the West Bank like mafia chieftains. Even though there’s no reason to think a former Arafat aide like Barghouti will be different, like the equally corrupt and more fanatical Hamas rulers of Gaza, the current PA leadership is entirely discredited. But Barghouti’s popularity rests on more than just the fact that he isn’t Abbas. Throughout the century-long Palestinian Arab war on Zionism, the political bona fides of that movement’s leaders have always rested on a resume including violence against Jews, not good government or a vision of independence and peace. Barghouti’s credentials rest solely on the fact that he is responsible for the deaths of Jewish men, women and children during the intifada. The political culture of the Palestinians — which is reinforced by a media and an education system promoting hatred of Jews and glorifying terrorism — is what makes Barghouti look good to the Arab street, not the hope he will rise above a record of wanton slaughter.
The reason why Abbas has been incapable of making peace, even if he really is a moderate, is that he understands Palestinians see any recognition of the legitimacy of a Jewish state — no matter where its borders are drawn — as a betrayal. The same factor argues that a man with Barghouti’s record will be expected to pursue more violence rather than become a Mandela. If the last quarter century has taught us anything, it is that the Palestinians don’t want a Mandela in the person of a transformed Barghouti. What they want is another Arafat.
Abbad Yahiya's novel takes aim at Palestinian taboos such as fanaticism, Islamic extremism and homosexuality. The novel's publisher has been arrested and a warrant has been issued for the arrest of Yahiya. The head of the Union of Palestinian Writers, Murad Sudani, attacked the writer and called for an exemplary punishment. Ghassan Khader, a Facebook user, wrote on his page that Yahiya "should be killed".
We could go on with this list of Palestinian intellectuals who paid a high price for daring to speak the truth to Mahmoud Abbas and his corrupt circle on many issues: coexistence with the Jews, secularism, sexual freedom, freedom of conscience, human rights, or telling the truth about the Holocaust. A Palestinian state created with the current Palestinian Authority would destroy freedom of conscience for journalists and writers; exile Christians and homosexuals; torture Arab inmates; impose sharia as the only law, and put people to death for "atheism" and "apostasy" (read, conversion to Christianity).
YNet interviewed Jacques De Maio, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation to Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Israel gives us—unlike the security establishments in many other countries, including Western ones—quick access to senior officials in the IDF, the Prison Service, and other security services. We have useful, productive and professional dialogue with them. We clarified with them the issue of shooting assailants who carry out terror attacks and we reached an unequivocal conclusion that there is no IDF order to shoot suspects to kill, as political officials tried to convince us. The rules of engagement haven't changed, and have actually been made stricter. It is true that individual soldiers have made the wrong decision at times and that there are many instances of outrageous behavior at border crossings—at times in complete violation of orders. We do not hesitate to report that to the IDF and we usually get a professional response. That is why we rejected the accusation, and there were immediately those who claimed we were covering up war crimes committed by the IDF, and that we were serving the Zionists.
The Red Cress was very familiar with the regime in South Africa during Apartheid, and we respond to anyone who makes the argument that Israel is an apartheid state: No, there is no apartheid here. There isn't a regime here that is based on the superiority of one race over another; there is no disenfranchisement of basic human rights based on so-called racial inferiority. What does exist here is a bloody national conflict, the most prominent and tragic feature being that it is decades long, and there is occupation. Not apartheid.
De Maio plays a little fast and loose with this part of the interview:
The most complicated thing is to maintain the Red Cross's fundamental principle: neutrality, not taking a position in a situation where each side believes its position is the most moral and just and demands us, the Red Cross, to affiliate ourselves to it and condemn the other. I am constantly asked how we could treat both the aggressors and those who are defending themselves—terrorists and those who fight against terrorism—with the same level of leniency. And I answer: We offer help to people as human beings who need our help. Almost all of our work is done quietly, without publicity, often in secrecy, and our only goal is to protect people's natural rights. Not to deal with politics. Battling politics and political manipulation takes too much time and resources from us.
Unfortunately, the ICRC's position that Gaza is still legally occupied is nonsensical and the only reason they hold that position is political.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Yesterday, Caterpillar announced much better results than expected and its stock price rose by nearly 8%.
I half-jokingly tweeted that a smart investor would look carefully at any company that the anti-Israel idiots want to boycott, because it might make a great investment.
So I decided to test my theory.
Here are all of the publicly traded companies I could find listed on the BDSList.org site, and their stock prices from a year ago and today, with the percentage gain or loss. (Some are only listed on the Tel Aviv Exchange.)
Company
4/27/2016
4/25/2017
% Gain/Loss
Afcon
114.7
165.8
45%
Bank HaPoalim
26.25
31.35
19%
Bank Leumi
13.76
17.25
25%
Caterpillar
78.68
104.42
33%
Elbit
100.21
119.19
19%
Hewlett Packard
12.76
18.61
46%
Motorola Solutions
76.04
85.39
12%
Sodastream
13.9
55.34
298%
Teva
56.23
30.76
-45%
AVERAGE
50%
If you would have invested equal amounts in all these companies a year ago, you would have made an astounding 50% profit. (The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 16% in that time period. The top funds rated by Kiplinger for the past year made about 30%.)
It is every investor's dream to beat the market. Thanks to BDS, now we can! (And Sodastream, the one company BDS hates the most, has done unbelievably well!)
By the way, this "BDS Fund" also way outperformed the Israel-specific funds I checked out for the past twelve months, so the BDS method of stock picking is truly amazing.
If anyone wants to hire me as manager of their EoZ BDS Mutual Fund, let me know!
(I probably need to add the disclaimer that Past Performance Is Not An Indicator Of Future Results)
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
On Sunday (24/4/17), the Jerusalem Municipality deposited for public review a special plan (no. 470484) for the confiscation of 1,300 square meters in the Jewish cemetery in the Mount of Olives, adjacent to the Ras El-Amud mosque. The plan, initiated by the Jerusalem Development Authority (JDA), is meant to allow the confiscation of parcel no. 10 in bloc no. 29991 for public use, in order to allow the construction of a visitor center. The area of the plan is a highly sensitive one, located at the heart of the historical basin of Jerusalem, 300 meters from the Old City and the Temple Mount/Al-Haram A-Sharif, and next to the mosque of the Ras El-Amud neighborhood.
Dragged by settler organizations, the Israeli government is willing to go out of its way to approve this sensitive plan through a highly unusual procedure. In the current political context, to establish a visitor center next to a mosque and 300 meters away from Temple Mount/Al-Haram A-Sharif is to play with fire. A visitor center in this sensitive area could have far reaching implications on the future of the two state solution and the possibility for a compromise in Jerusalem.
Peace Now admits that the site is inside the area of the ancient cemetery. No Arab land is being taken.
It shows a picture of the area, on the southwest side of the cemetery.
In an effort to anticipate Muslim rage, Peace Now helpfully says that it is next to a mosque and 300 meters (three football fields) from the Temple Mount, which makes it "sensitive" - by this definition, along with a good chunk of Jerusalem.
The idea of Israel building a visitor center in the site of the most important Jewish graveyard in the world, not to mention a hugely important Christian site, is simply anathema to Peace Now, who believes that Jews have no rights to their ancient capital and the thousands of Jewish graves should be under Muslim control, just as they were from 1949-1967, when Jordan used gravestones for walls of latrines and road construction.
Area of the planned center, facing the Ras al Amud mosque, Jewish graves immediately to the left
View from the road below the previous picture
Moreover, a visitor center in that area would help protect the graves from being desecrated by Muslims, as they are often being today. It would also provide a safer way for Jews to visit the site, which is often dangerous today.
If the unthinkable happens and Israel gives up this hugely important historic Jewish area, the visitor center would remain to be used by the new administrators, so building it doesn't affect the prospects of peace one bit anyway!
But Peace Now doesn't care about safety, or convenience, or Jewish heritage or ancient Jewish graves. It mentions how sensitive this site is to Muslims - when it is not - and doesn't bother to mention the benefits of continuing to develop Jerusalem for everyone.
In short, by Peace Now mentioning how "close" this is to the "Haram A-Sharif" it shows that the supposedly Jewish organization is trying to stir up Muslim anger at Israel, not to minimize it. It also shows how little this "human rights' organization cares about the rights of any humans who are not Arab.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Friends, members of Congress, ambassadors, veterans, and, most especially, to the survivors here with us today, it’s an honor to join you on this very, very solemn occasion. I am deeply moved to stand before those who survived history’s darkest hour. Your cherished presence transforms this place into a sacred gathering.
Thank you, Tom Bernstein, Alan Holt, Sara Bloomfield, and everyone at the Holocaust Memorial Council and Museum for your vital work and tireless contributions.
We are privileged to be joined by Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, friend of mine — he’s done a great job and said some wonderful words — Ron Dermer. The State of Israel is an eternal monument to the undying strength of the Jewish people. The fervent dream that burned in the hearts of the oppressed is now filled with the breath of life, and the Star of David waves atop a great nation arisen from the desert.
To those in the audience who have served America in uniform, our country eternally thanks you. We are proud and grateful to be joined today by veterans of the Second World War who liberated survivors from the camps. Your sacrifice helped save freedom for the world — for the entire world.
Sadly, this year marks the first Day of Remembrance since the passing of Elie Wiesel, a great person, a great man. His absence leaves an empty space in our hearts, but his spirit fills this room. It is the kind of gentle spirit of an angel who lived through hell, and whose courage still lights the path from darkness. Though Elie’s story is well known by so many people, it’s always worth repeating. He suffered the unthinkable horrors of the Holocaust. His mother and sister perished in Auschwitz. He watched his father slowly dying before his own young eyes in Buchenwald. He lived through an endless nightmare of murder and death, and he inscribed on our collective conscience the duty we have to remember that long, dark night so as never to again repeat it.
The survivors in this hall, through their testimony, fulfill the righteous duty to never forget, and engrave into the world’s memory the Nazi genocide of the Jewish people. You witnessed evil, and what you saw is beyond description, beyond any description. Many of you lost your entire family, everything and everyone you loved, gone. You saw mothers and children led to mass slaughter. You saw the starvation and the torture. You saw the organized attempt at the extermination of an entire people — and great people, I must add. You survived the ghettos, the concentration camps and the death camps. And you persevered to tell your stories. You tell of these living nightmares because, despite your great pain, you believe in Elie’s famous plea, that “For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.”
That is why we are here today — to remember and to bear witness. To make sure that humanity never, ever forgets.
The Nazis massacred six million Jews. Two out of every three Jews in Europe were murdered in the genocide. Millions more innocent people were imprisoned and executed by the Nazis without mercy, without even a sign of mercy.
Yet, even today, there are those who want to forget the past. Worse still, there are even those filled with such hate, total hate, that they want to erase the Holocaust from history. Those who deny the Holocaust are an accomplice to this horrible evil. And we’ll never be silent — we just won’t — we will never, ever be silent in the face of evil again.
‘Denying the Holocaust is only one of many forms of dangerous anti-Semitism that continues all around the world’
Denying the Holocaust is only one of many forms of dangerous anti-Semitism that continues all around the world. We’ve seen anti-Semitism on university campuses, in the public square, and in threats against Jewish citizens. Even worse, it’s been on display in the most sinister manner when terrorists attack Jewish communities, or when aggressors threaten Israel with total and complete destruction.
This is my pledge to you: We will confront anti-Semitism. We will stamp out prejudice. We will condemn hatred. We will bear witness. And we will act. As President of the United States, I will always stand with the Jewish people — and I will always stand with our great friend and partner, the State of Israel.
So today, we remember the 6 million Jewish men, women and children whose lives and dreams were stolen from this Earth.
We remember the millions of other innocent victims the Nazis so brutally targeted and so brutally killed. We remember the survivors who bore more than we can imagine. We remember the hatred and evil that sought to extinguish human life, dignity, and freedom.
But we also remember the light that shone through the darkness. We remember sisters and brothers who gave everything to those they loved — survivors like Steven Springfield, who, in the long death march, carried his brother on his back. As he said, “I just couldn’t give in.”
We remember the brave souls who banded together to save the lives of their neighbors — even at the risk of their own life. And we remember those first hopeful moments of liberation, when at long last the American soldiers arrived in camps and cities throughout occupied Europe, waving the same beautiful flags before us today, speaking those three glorious words: “You are free.”
It is this love of freedom, this embrace of human dignity, this call to courage in the face of evil that the survivors here today have helped to write onto our hearts. The Jewish people have endured oppression, persecution, and those who have sought and planned their destruction. Yet, through the suffering, they have persevered. They have thrived. And they have enlightened the world. We stand in awe of the unbreakable spirit of the Jewish people.
I want to close with a story enshrined in the Museum that captures the moment of liberation in the final days of the war.
It is the story of Gerda Klein, a young Jewish woman from Poland. Some of you know her. Gerda’s family was murdered by the Nazis. She spent three years imprisoned in labor camps, and the last four months of the war on a terrible death march. She assumed it was over. At the end, on the eve of her 21st birthday, her hair had lost all of its color, and she weighed a mere 68 pounds. Yet she had the will to live another day. It was tough.
Gerda later recalled the moment she realized that her long-awaited deliverance had arrived. She saw a car coming towards her. Many cars had driven up before, but this one was different. On its hood, in place of that wretched swastika, was a bright, beautiful, gleaming white star. Two American soldiers got out. One walked up to her. The first thing Gerda said was what she had been trained to say: “We are Jewish, you know.” “We are Jewish.” And then he said, “So am I.” It was a beautiful moment after so much darkness, after so much evil.
As Gerda took this solider to see the other prisoners, the American did something she had long forgotten to even expect — he opened the door for her. In Gerda’s words, “that was the moment of restoration of humanity, of humanness, of dignity, and of freedom.”
But the story does not end there. Because, as some of you know, that young American soldier who liberated her and who showed her such decency would soon become her husband. A year later, they were married. In her words, “He opened not only the door for me, but the door to my life and to my future.”
Gerda has since spent her life telling the world of what she witnessed. She, like those survivors who are among us today, has dedicated her life to shining a light of hope through the dark of night.
Your courage strengthens us. Your voices inspire us. And your stories remind us that we must never, ever shrink away from telling the truth about evil in our time. Evil is always seeking to wage war against the innocent and to destroy all that is good and beautiful about our common humanity. But evil can only thrive in darkness. And what you have brought us today is so much more powerful than evil. You have brought us hope — hope that love will conquer hatred, that right will defeat wrong, and that peace will rise from the ashes of war.
Each survivor here today is a beacon of light, and it only takes one light to illuminate even the darkest space. Just like it takes only one truth to crush a thousand lies and one hero to change the course of history. We know that in the end, good will triumph over evil, and that as long as we refuse to close our eyes or to silence our voices, we know that justice will ultimately prevail.
So today we mourn. We remember. We pray. And we pledge: Never again.
Thank you. God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you very much. Thank you.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 19 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.
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Thursday, April 27, 2017
Elder of Ziyon
