Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

The anti-Israel “human rights lawyer” who tried to firebomb an NYPD police car

2020-06-01T09:53:00.001-04:00

She’s wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh. She’s holding a Molotov cocktail. And she’s ready to firebomb – a NYPD police car.

From the New York Daily News:

One of the two Brooklyn lawyers accused trying to torch an NYPD cruiser in Brooklyn used a Bud Light bottle stuffed with a rag as a Molotov cocktail, according to a photo obtained Sunday by the Daily News.

Urooj Rahman, 31, was snapped in a picture holding a black and white striped scarf close to her face with one hand and the potentially fiery bottle with another as she prepared to toss it out of the passenger-side window of a van.

Rahman and Colinford Mattis, 32, a corporate lawyer and member of Community Board 5 in East New York, were charged with the attempted attack Saturday night on an empty police cruiser parked outside the 88th Precinct station house in Fort Greene.

Rahman hurled the bottle, which was filled with gasoline, into the cruiser. But the Bud Light Molotov cocktail failed to ignite, law enforcement sources said.

Cops gave chase and stopped Mattis’ van nearby on Willoughby St. They found the makings of another Molotov cocktail in the back seat along with a gasoline container, authorities say.

But Urooj Rahman is not just a lawyer. She’s a human rights lawyer.

And she’s not just wearing a keffiyeh for fashion. She’s an anti-Israel activist. She spent a summer interning for an anti-Israel NGO and she wrote an article for Fordham’s human rights newsletter accusing Israel of “apartheid.”

As we have seen countless times, anti-Israel activism and support for terror is often hidden under a veneer of “human rights.” And here we see not only support for terror, but domestic terror itself by a “human rights lawyer.”

This “human rights lawyer” likes to wear a ski cap with a skull and crossbones.

In a final twist of irony, Rahman’s last name means “compassionate” in Arabic.

Will any real human rights groups condemn Rahman? More to the point – are there any real human rights groups in existence?

Is there the slightest hint of embarrassment from the far Left about a person squarely in their camp who was building firebombs to hurl in New York City?

(h/t kweansmom)

What US police can–and should–learn from the IDF to minimize injuries

2020-06-01T07:30:00.001-04:00

Social media is filled with images and videos of violence during the riots in response to George Floyds murder by Minneapolis cops – violence by the rioters and violence by the police. One egregious example of the latter is this video of New York City police cars purposefully ramming protesters who were throwing objects at them.

Wtf!!! #BlacklivesMaters #brooklynprotest pic.twitter.com/S1oet8JC0x
— Pierre G. (@pgarapon) May 31, 2020

When the murder of Floyd occurred, many anti-Israel activists and organizations were quick to tie his death to Israel, either by explicitly saying that US cops were trained in Israel to kill protesters or by claiming that they were somehow influenced by Israeli techniques of violence against Palestinians.

The claims are of course absurd. While many police departments do send representatives to Israel to learn anti-riot techniques, they are the ones responsible for their police officer training and rules of engagement, and the cops themselves are responsible for their actions. Blaming Jews for the brutality of some US cops is simply a modern form of antisemitism.

However, there is an irony there. If the US police departments had actually gone through an extensive and formal training of riot control techniques as their Israeli counterparts have, there would be far fewer injuries of protesters today than we have been seeing.

Back in 2013, B’Tselem issued a report trying to damn the IDF’s riot control techniques. The report itself highlighted how much the IDF tries to minimize civilian injuries and death.

There are two main categories of controls that the IDF uses to minimize civilian injuries during violent riots.

The first one is to try to use weapons that cannot or are unlikely to injure or kill protesters – tear gas, foul smelling “skunk water,” stun grenades, foam bullets.

Far more important, however, are the instructions and training that go along with these weapons. IDF soldiers are given very specific rules as to when each kind of riot countermeasure can be used. Practically the entire B’Tselem report is accusing the IDF of not following its own rules – many of which the NGO only guess at based on secondary sources.

For example, here is part of the section in the report on stun grenades:

Stun grenades are a diversionary device whose explosion emits a bright light and a thunderous noise. The grenades are designed to cause fear and panic, distracting individuals and allowing security forces to gain control of crowds. According to Israel Police procedure, “This device should be used for handling disturbances of the peace which endanger the police force and/or public safety and which do not enable direct contact with the demonstrators without injury to police officers. This device is designed to achieve the dispersal of demonstrators and gaining control of them.” …When used according to the regulations, stun grenades should not cause bodily harm, nor do they have any side effects. However, under certain circumstances, the noise resulting from the explosion may damage the eardrum; therefore, users are instructed to wear hearing protective equipment. In addition, the grenades’ explosion mechanism generates an extremely hot flash of fire, and the very impact of a heavy metal object hurled at a person can result in bodily injury. Therefore, police safety instructions stipulate that the grenade must be aimed at a safe distance of 30 meters from the person throwing and 5 meters from the target, and in any case, the grenade must not be thrown into a crowd. Moreover, over the years, Israeli soldiers who have taken part in dispersing demonstrations have informed B’Tselem that they were instructed to roll stun grenades on the ground, not throw them at people.

The detailed, six page IDF response emphasizes the importance it places on proper training and documentation of when and where to use its non-lethal crowd control and dispersal tools, and only mentions the actual methods peripherally:

The rules and procedures for when to engage with live fire are clearly worded and also encompass the wide array of possible security situations IDF soldiers may find themselves in. These rules clearly establish for soldiers how to respond to life threatening situations as well as riots and other disruptions of public order. Additionally, the instructions regarding proper usage of crowd dispersal equipment are also clearly worded, organized and detailed. As updated instructions are passed from the headquarter-level to the field, they are adapted for the soldiers in the field, and "responses to specific situations" are included so as to ensure that the soldiers understand what is permitted with regards to the use of force and the use of the riot control measures.

It is important to note that the emphasis that the IDF places on the proper procedure for live-fire and proper usage of crowd dispersal equipment significantly reduces the potential for casualties. The IDF emphatically denies the claim that IDF soldiers racially discriminate when engaging in crowd dispersion in Judea and Samaria or in any other location. The decision regarding which specific crowd dispersal equipment to use is based purely on security and operational considerations, not on economic or any other type of consideration.

In order to deal with violent and illegal riots or other disruptions of public order, the IDF utilizes a selection of different equipment to disperse crowds as well as prevent causalities of any kind. The IDF invests a great deal in order to acquire as well as develop effective crowd dispersal equipment that will not harm the rioters; a good example being "Ha'Boesh" or the "skunk" canister. These measures are taken in order to avoid having to employ alternative measures.

Police and soldiers are human and sometimes, in the heat of being attacked, make mistakes. The way to minimize these mistakes is to engage in training and to have specific written rules and drills on how to deal with every situation. What we are seeing in the examples of police overreaction being shown in social media is that some cops simply are not adequately trained, and (certainly in the case of the police ramming mentioned earlier) they don’t even seem to be properly equipped with proper crowd control tools and methods to begin with.

If US police were trained by the IDF the way IDF soldiers are, there would be far fewer such incidents. The “Deadly Exchange” libel is the exact opposite of the truth – if the anti-Israel Left actually cared about protecting protesters, they would want US police to act the way their Israeli counterparts do and to increase training with the IDF, which unfortunately has a great deal of experience with violent riots.

Furthermore, as Haviv Rettig Gur notes, the training programs that do exist today emphasize how to avoid situations that can bring riots in the first place: “sharing best practices in community engagement, nonviolent policing, intelligence.” It is the polar opposite of what is being described by the Israel-haters.

Of course, the socialist Left agenda has nothing to do with avoiding riots or injuries and everything to do with vilifying the police and romanticizing the violent rioters – just as they demonize the IDF and defend terrorism against Jews in Israel.

Jordan still worried about being forced to become Palestine

2020-06-01T05:45:00.000-04:00

A cartoon in Jordan’s Al Ghad shows that even today, Jordan is worried that it will be forced to become the Palestinian state, as some right-wing Israelis have suggested over the decades.

The caption says “Annexation of the West Bank” and the Jewish crocodile is thinking that Jordan is the “alternative homeland” for Palestinians.

Of course, Palestinians are widely regarded to be the majority in Jordan and if anyone who pretends to be pro-democracy would insist that the model be applied to Jordan, then Jordan would indeed become the Palestinian state. Jordanians are understandably dead-set against the idea because they remember the last time Palestinians tried to take over the Kingdom in 1970 and the Palestinian who assassinated King Abdullah I in 1953.

Notice that the artist has the Jewish crocodile eating all of Israel, implying that none of it belongs to Israel even today.

Despite the outreach to Israel, Saudis are still antisemitic

2020-05-31T16:00:00.000-04:00

Even though the news has been full of stories about how the Gulf countries have been putting out signals of friendliness towards Israel and Jews, antisemitism is still quite a part of life.

The official Saudi news agency Okaz has an article attacking Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The two main charges against him are that he is friendly to Israel – and he is supposedly Jewish:

• Who is Recep Tayyip Erdogan?
• According to the book “Sons of Moses” by Turkish writer Ergün Poyraz, Erdogan is of Jewish origin. This author Y. Küçük confirmed in a television interview with “Oda TV,” that Erdogan's lineage comes from the Jews, and that 3 of the most important pillars of his government are Khazars.

Erdogan’s enemies have been claiming this for years – see one example below - but if someone calls you “Jewish” to insult you, you can be sure that they are antisemitic.

05/31 Links: Who owns the Land of Israel?; Melanie Phillips: EU second thoughts over hostility to Israel?; Between Minneapolis and Jerusalem;

2020-05-31T13:00:00.000-04:00

From Ian:

Pastor John Hagee: Who owns the Land of Israel?

I am inspired to send this message to the 8.2 million-plus members of Christians United for Israel by the fact that months ago president trump met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington to present the administration's peace proposal. I was there!

It was a masterful proposal that gave the Palestinians the opportunity of a better life through a 50 billion dollar investment package. It was an effort that required years of work by the brilliant and talented inner circle of the president.

It was made clear at the Washington meeting that this historic peace plan could go into effect within days. If the Palestinians immediately reject the plan, the US Will be prepared to accept the enactment of Israel's sovereignty over parts of the West Bank within 48 hours.

It was made clear that this historic plan could go into effect within days. However, days have become weeks, weeks have become months.

To be clear, the Palestinians have never owned Judea or Samaria. That Israel will meet with a Palestinian leadership that still supports terrorists and incites violence against the Jewish people is a commentary on Israel's willingness to make every effort to advance peace with their neighbors, not a commentary on the Palestinians being deserving of yet another chance at the negotiating table.

Our role is to heed the commandment that we "pray for the peace of Jerusalem!" And that time is now!

Melanie Phillips: EU second thoughts over hostility to Israel?

Has the European Union reached a tipping point over Israel? Or to be more precise, is the Europeans’ bluff finally to be called over Israel’s proposal to extend its sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria?

The E.U. has been mulling over punitive measures against Israel if it goes ahead with what its western critics call “annexation of the occupied territories of the West Bank.”

A number of member states, headed by France along with Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Belgium and Luxembourg are calling for a hard line.

Measures being considered include supporting any U.N. moves against “annexation”; public support of proceedings against Israel currently underway in the International Criminal Court at The Hague; and increasing the boycott of settlements in various ways, along with increased financial support for the Palestinians.

The E.U. and Britain maintain that Israel is illegally occupying the disputed territories, and that its settlements there amount to a transfer of population into those lands in contravention of the Geneva Convention.

This is a serious misreading of international law. Israel is not “occupying” these territories. In law, occupation can only occur if the land belongs to a sovereign power, which was never the case here; and a state can also hold onto land which continues to be used for belligerent purposes against it.

It is also a gross misreading of the Geneva Convention, as the Israelis living in these territories were not transferred but moved there entirely of their own volition.

Between Minneapolis and Jerusalem

The killing of Eyad al-Hallaq in Jerusalem was unsettling, as was the horrific images of George Floyd in Minneapolis gasping for air.

Both of them civilians, both killed by police. Their tragic and outrageous deaths are part of a long history of violence.

But the similarities end there, and after observing the path social media took this weekend, maybe it needs to be said clearly: The attempt to draw parallels between Jerusalem and Minneapolis are manipulative, and in many ways irresponsible.

Joint Arab List MK Aida Touma-Sliman implored "whoever is shocked by the murder in the US, to look closely – a whole nation is choking under occupation without being able to breathe."

Leading pundits worked hard to frame the shooting of al-Hallaq as an example of systemic racism in Israel, and many even blamed the public security minister by proxy.

Others expertly determined that it was "murder", and a few self-branding mavens were quick to use the hashtag #ArabLivesMatter, the local version of #BlackLivesMatter.

That's not only self-righteous populism but a manipulative way to use conscience. The shooting in Jerusalem, as horrible as it was, did not take place on racial background, but in the context of a nationalist conflict, which unfortunately creates terror. Just this week there were those who told us an intifada was the natural and desired result of all the talk about extending sovereignty. That is the reason for police presence in Jerusalem, and that is the background for the tension.

Los Angeles Synagogue Vandalized With ‘Free Palestine,’ ‘F— Israel’ Graffiti

A synagogue in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles was vandalized on May 30 with graffiti stating “free Palestine” and “f— Israel.”

Lisa Daftari, founder and editor of the foreign policy news outlet The Foreign Desk, first reported on the graffiti on social media.

“Synagogue Congregation Beth El on Beverly Blvd in Los Angeles vandalized… Tell me this ugly hatred is still about #BLM or #GeorgeFloyd?!” she tweeted.
Synagogue Congregation Beth El on Beverly Blvd in Los Angeles vandalized... Tell me this ugly hatred is still about #blm or #georgefloyd?! pic.twitter.com/DnCiA2Zc5L
— Lisa Daftari (@LisaDaftari) May 31, 2020

Jewish groups condemned the graffiti.

“Vandalism is never ok,” Anti-Defamation League Los Angeles tweeted. “Anti-Semitism is never ok. The answer to hate and bigotry is not more hate. We are better than this Los Angeles.”

American Jewish Committee Los Angeles Regional Director Richard S. Hirschhaut said in a statement to the Journal, “It is deplorable that certain protestors in Los Angeles today resorted to violence and vandalism. Sadly, their destructive opportunism included the defacing of Congregation Beth Israel, one of the oldest synagogues in Los Angeles and the spiritual home to many Holocaust survivors over the years. The epithets scrawled on the synagogue wall do nothing to advance the cause of peace or justice, here or abroad.”

Liora Rez, director of the Stop Anti-Semitism watchdog, said in a statement to the Journal, “Once again we see vile anti-Semitism being disguised as activism. To vandalize a synagogue during this horrific time does nothing but further divide a broken country.”

Palestinian-American Owner of Cup Foods Called Cops on George Floyd over Counterfeit $20

Mahmoud Abumayyaleh, a.k.a. Mike, is the owner of Cup Foods at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He and his three sons, Samir, Adam, and Mahmoud, bought the store in 2012. Last Monday, one of the Abumayyalehs’ employees lit the match that ignited a week-long riot in 25 cities.

The employee in question (his or her identity are kept secret in light of the numerous death threats posted on social media) caught the soon-to-be-martyred George Floyd, 46, an African American customer, trying to pay with a counterfeit $20 bill. So they called the cops on him.

The rest is well videotaped history: after handcuffing him, Minneapolis police officers positioned Floyd at the curb, and one of them placed his knee on his neck until he suffocated. Floyd became one of very few Americans to receive the death penalty for passing a bad bill.

According to Ali Harb, reporting for the Middle East Eye, Arab Americans are now debating their role in the midst of African American communities where Arab small businessmen have replaced Jewish and Asian store owners. Indeed, according to Harb, some Arab Americans advocate not reporting black crime to the police because of the unknown consequences of such complaints.

“Mike” Abumayyaleh told Sahan Journal (which claims it is “the only independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit digital newsroom dedicated to providing authentic news reporting for and about immigrants and refugees in Minnesota”): “We stand for Black Lives Matter. We are against abuse of power and racial injustice. We have a system that is broken, and it must be fixed.”

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the store, Jamar B. Nelson, said “there have been countless death threats. They threatened to do harm to the store, and they threatened to do bodily harm to individuals in the store.”

Founder of IfNotNow Rebukes Minnesota Congresswoman Who Objected to Riots

Yonah Lieberman, a Brooklyn-based founding member IfNotNow, the virulently anti-Zionist US group which supports BDS and campaigns against Democrats who support Israel, on Thursday took time out of his preparations for the holy pilgrimage day of Shavuot to lambaste Rep. Betty McCollum (D., Minn.) who dared to object to the riots in her district.

McCollum tweeted: “I’m in Washington sickened by reports of the looting in St. Paul. This is not a civil rights protest. It is criminal mayhem against our families and neighbors and I condemn it.”

“Wait what…” Lieberman retorted, “Betty is a progressive champion on so many issues, but really gets it wrong here, siding with multi-billion dollar corporations over the people of color that elected her.”

Blackness Everdeen agreed: “That’s not out of the ordinary for progressive champions, sadly.”

And Lieberman agreed: “You’re 100% right!”

Following which a Jewish human rights activist named J Lee Goldstein dropped the proverbial china plate on the hardwood floor, exclaiming: “Wait…you are cheering on looting ? That’s disgusting crime…you nut…”

Not coincidentally, this is her view on Israel as well: if you want the terrorism to stop, you better support far-left demands. The far left has always romanticized violence and seen violence as a politically useful form of intimidation https://t.co/RQ32dAFCzz
— Noah Pollak (@NoahPollak) May 31, 2020

#BlackLivesMatter #Stopcooptingotherpeoplescauses pic.twitter.com/6TVUaG951y
— (((David Lange))) (@Israellycool) May 31, 2020

Not Satire

Lebanese International Affairs Expert Abdo Laqis: Race Riots Indicate America Is Heading towards Blood-Soaked Civil War, Disintegration pic.twitter.com/xMP02kLSFU
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) May 31, 2020

Qatari Sociologist Abd Al-Aziz Al-Khazraj Al-Ansari Discusses Riots in America: The U.S. Will Crumble from Within; "That Pig Trump" Is a Racist pic.twitter.com/mwwsFDsotu
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) May 31, 2020

Jerusalem students in isolation as coronavirus spreads throughout city

Several dozen if not hundreds more students and teachers in Jerusalem entered isolation on Sunday as the coronavirus continues to spread around the city – a five-fold increase in the number of people diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 in one day, according to newly appointed Health Minister Yuli Edelstein.

He said that there were 28 positive results out of 1,012 tests. The Education Ministry reported that there are 44 new students and staff sick with the virus since yesterday - around half of them from the Gymnasia Rehavia middle and high school in Jerusalem.

All of the students and staff of the Gymnasia Rehavia school are in isolation. So far, 134 students and staff have tested positive for the virus, around 8.7% of the entire school, according to an announcement by the Health Ministry,

A student at the Masorti high school in Jerusalem - the daughter of a Gymnasia staffer - tested positive, as did a teacher from the Hartman Religious Zionist boys’ high school. The math teacher also works at Gymnasia.

Additionally, an 11th grader from the Jerusalem Art School tested positive, as did a fifth grader who studies at the Zalman Aran school – also in the capital.

It was also revealed on Saturday night and Sunday that people were found to have the virus in Holon, Kiryat Ye'arim and Bnei Brak.

Ambassadors from Britain and Israel reflect on 70 years of diplomatic ties

Mark Regev, Israeli ambassador since 2016

As I approach the end of my posting here in London, I have been truly fortunate to serve during such an extraordinary time for the partnership between our two democracies. Choosing a winning moment for me is, therefore, difficult, but two stand out in particular.

The first has to be the Balfour Declaration centenary celebration at Britain’s prestigious Spencer House in November 2017. Graciously hosted by Lord Rothschild, whose predecessor was the recipient of that famous statement of British policy, and in the presence of the current Lord Balfour, the assembled great and good included Boris Johnson, then foreign secretary, and the two prime ministers, Theresa May and Benjamin Netanyahu, who was welcomed as a guest of Her Majesty’s Government.

Theresa May described the Declaration as “a letter which gave birth to a most extraordinary country”, and stressed Britain’s pride in “our pioneering role in the creation of the State of Israel”.

Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the UK for its “foresighted” declaration, for “liberating the Holy Land from 400 years of Ottoman domination”, and for “valiantly standing alone against the Nazi tyranny”. He even visited Boris Johnson’s office and saw the desk from which the Declaration was signed, used by successive foreign secretaries including Dominic Raab today.

The second moment came the next year, in June 2018, when it was our turn in Israel to roll out the red carpet for a very important guest. I was lucky enough to accompany His Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge when he made history as the first senior British royal to pay an official visit to the Jewish state. During his incredibly busy schedule, including formal meetings with Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Rivlin and Israeli innovators, he found time to get together with Israel’s then newly crowned Eurovision queen, Netta Barzilai. I understand that the two did not attempt Netta’s famed chicken dance together.

Taken together, for me, both these historic occasions symbolise the enduring strength of the partnership Israel and Britain have built, and the progress we are continuing to make. Our democracies are closer diplomatically and economically, culturally and socially than they ever have been, and I am sure there will be yet more historic occasions for the next Israeli Ambassador to London to enjoy. Perhaps one day in the not too distant future we might even see the United Kingdom open the doors of its Embassy in Israel’s capital, Jerusalem.

Starting off the week with exciting news!

We've reached 500k followers on our @IsraelPersian #Instagram account 🎉!

سپاس فراوان از 500 هزار نفر از دوستان ایرانی که ما را دنبال می‌کنندhttps://t.co/PAAxoXIccb pic.twitter.com/zJe92428nG
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) May 31, 2020

Israel lauds Austrian parliament for urging action against Hezbollah

Israel on Sunday hailed the Austrian parliament’s resolution urging the government in Vienna and the European Union to step up its actions against Hezbollah.

“This is an important decision against Hezbollah. I hope that the Austrian government will adopt their parliament’s decision and will join the UK, Germany and the Netherlands who have all recognized Hezbollah in its entirety as a terror organization,” Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said in a statement.

The non-binding motion, proposed by two lawmakers from the ruling People’s Party and its junior coalition partner the Greens, passed unanimously on Friday afternoon. It calls on the Austrian government to take “appropriate and effective measures to decisively act against terrorist and criminal activity by supporters of Hezbollah in Austria with all measures available to the state.”

The resolution further calls on Vienna to do more to fight the Lebanon-based, Iranian-backed group’s money-laundering mechanism.

Finally, the motion urges the government of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to “inspire a reassessment of the question of how to deal with Hezbollah within the EU.”

In the resolution’s introductory text, its authors, Reinhold Lopatka and Ewa Ernst-Dziedzic, reaffirm Austria’s “historical responsibility” for Israel and that the Jewish state’s right to exist must never be questioned.

“To guarantee the safety of the State of Israel in the future, the EU must again deal with Hezbollah, whose military wing has been considered a terrorist organization by the EU since 2013 and whose military activities threaten Israel’s security,” they wrote.

'The Marmara raid wasn't a failure'

Ten years after the 2010 raid on a ship trying to breach the maritime blockade on Gaza Strip, troops involved in the mission that ended with 10 dead passengers and several Israeli soldiers seriously wounded, and which all but sunk the once-close Israel-Turkey relations, insist the operation was not a failure.

The now infamous flotilla incident took place on May 31, 2010, when the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish vessel, attempted to breach the maritime blockade Israeli had imposed on the Gaza Strip three years prior, after the Hamas terrorist ousted rival Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement from the coastal enclave in a military coup.

Upon approaching Gaza's waters, the Israeli Navy hailed the Marmara several times, advising it was about to breach the blockade and ordering it to stop and turn around. The Marmara refused, leaving Israeli commandos little choice but to board the ship.

The operation was met with violence by the passengers, which clashed with the Israeli troops. Ten Turkish nationals were killed and several Israeli soldiers were seriously wounded.

Footage of the raid, especially of Israeli soldiers being assaulted and thrown overboard by the passengers, dominated the international news cycle for weeks. The incident caused a rift between Israel and Turkey, and the once warm diplomatic relations between Jerusalem and Ankara have become chilly, at best, despite Israel's $20 million reparations to the victims' families.

The experience has been etched into the memory of the Shayetet 13 Naval Special Forces Unit that led the mission.

"It wasn't the first flotilla we were required to stop, nor was it the last," one former commando told Israel Hayom.

"The unusual factor here was the number of passengers on board and the fact that we didn't know that there were about 60 IHH terrorists among them."

The Turkey-based IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, which organized the flotilla led by the Mavi Marmara, is designated as a terrorist group by Israel, Germany and the Netherlands.

"In the flotillas that preceded the Marmara we encountered peace activists – not terrorists who were paid to kill Israeli soldiers," he said."

10 Years On: A Look at the Mavi Marmara Incident

The International Criminal Court on Monday ordered the tribunal's prosecutor to reopen a probe into whether Israel should face charges over a deadly 2010 raid on a flotilla attempting to carry aid to the Gaza Strip.

Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda first ruled in 2014 that she would not prosecute Israel after ten Turkish citizens were killed when Israeli navy commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara along with a number of vessels trying to break the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip.

The case was first filed by the Comoros, where the ship's flag was registered but Bensouda ruled that it was "not of sufficient gravity," meaning the case would not be determined as inadmissible fore the ICC.

The prosecutor again affirmed the decision in 2017 after judges said she must take another look at the case.

But in a fresh setback for Bensouda after a number of high-profile failures, appeals judges ruled on Monday that she must once more examine whether to bring Israel before the Hague-based court.

Honest Reporting: Misleading Headlines Suggest Tragic Jerusalem Killing Was Deliberate

With several US cities gripped by violence following the death of George Floyd on May 25, one might think this the time for editors to show restraint from clickbait headlines adding fuel to the fire of a volatile situation.

Think again.

In a different shooting eclipsed by the furor over Minneapolis, Israeli security forces killed a Palestinian man in they mistakenly believed was carrying a gun in Jerusalem’s Old City on Saturday. When officers asked a 32-old man to stop, Iyad Halak, who is autistic, ran. Pursued by the chasing officers, he was tragically shot dead. Investigators are now questioning two members of the Border Police.

The West Bank is already combustible. A new Israeli government is weighing applying sovereignty to the Jordan Valley and settlements. The Palestinian Authority has threatened to end security cooperation. Add to that Halak’s death, and it’s easy to see how Palestinian calls for revenge could escalate.

Unlike the Minneapolis killing. the shooting of Halak took place on the backdrop of years of terrorism. With the Old City the site of repeated attacks on Israeli security forces and Jews (not all of whom were Israeli), the location is a well-known flash-point for violence. Officers stationed there are tasked with preventing the next terror attack — a question of not if, but when.

Nevertheless, headline writers opted for headlines which implied Israel heartlessly killed Halak in cold blood.

Tomorrow (1/6) we will mark 19 years since the Dolphinarium nightclub massacre which claimed the lives of 21, mostly children.
🚨The PA (@DrShtayyeh) pays the architect of the attack monthly cash rewards (at the moment 7,000 shekels). Cumulatively, the PA has paid him 756,200🚨 pic.twitter.com/z9MufN4hJ1
— Maurice Hirsch, Adv. 🇮🇱 עו''ד מוריס הירש (@MauriceHirsch4) May 31, 2020

Gaza imam gets 1 year in jail for smuggling funds from Malaysia to Hamas

The Beersheba District Court on Sunday sentenced a Gaza imam to one year in jail in a plea bargain on a conviction for smuggling funds from Malaysian charities to Hamas.

The Southern District Attorney’s Office said it had encountered various evidentiary difficulties in the case, leading to the plea deal with reduced charges and a light sentence relative to the original charges.

In February, Imam Walid Div, 43, was indicted for a range of offenses related to helping finance Hamas, including traveling from Gaza to Egypt numerous times since 2013 en route to deliver religious sermons in Malaysia.

According to the indictment, while in Malaysia, Div was asked by Malaysian charities Aman Palestine and Mapim to smuggle funds into Gaza for Hamas.

In 2013, he smuggled $3,000 on behalf of the Malaysian chapter of Aman Palestine to Hamas.

Div also worked with many of the same charities to smuggle funds to Hamas from Malaysia on other occasions, including contact with the Aman Palestine chapter in Gaza.

PMW: Fatah announces “last warning,” threatens an “explosion” and “self-sacrifice,” if Israel annexes Israeli cities and Jordan Valley

PA Chairman Abbas has announced that the PA has absolved itself from “all the agreements and understandings with the American and Israeli governments… including the security ones” because of Israel's presumed future annexation - i.e., application of Israeli law - to the Jordan Valley and Jewish cities and towns in the West Bank:
Abbas: “The [Palestinian] leadership has today decided the following: First, the PLO and the State of Palestine are absolved, as of today, of all the agreements and understandings with the American and Israeli governments and of all the commitments based on these understandings and agreements, including the security ones.”
[Official PA TV, May 19, 2020]

On the day of Abbas’ speech, the official PA daily editorial also warned of impending violence. The editorial prescribed “fighting this plan… regardless of the extent of the sacrifices and the quantity of the Martyrs’ blood”:
“The possibility that stands before Palestine with its people, its leadership, and its factions… is either treason through silence over the destructive colonialist annexation plan, or fighting this plan… on the basis of resolve and perseverance in the paths of national struggle, regardless of the extent of the sacrifices and the quantity of the Martyrs’ blood. On these paths there can be no compromises of any kind; either the free and independent State of Palestine whose capital is East Jerusalem with a just resolution for the refugees’ problem, or ‘fire from generation to generation.’”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 19, 2020]

Abbas’ Fatah Movement has also threatened violence against Israel, promising “an explosion of the situation” and “self-sacrifice”:

Fatah, Jenin:
“We hold the Israeli occupation and the current American administration fully responsible for the explosion in the situation in the Palestinian territories, and say to them that the Palestinian people will defend its land and its right with self-sacrifice… We will not allow any occupying power to expropriate our historical Palestinian right, and we will all mobilize to fight with the sword of justice against the dark forces of occupation, until the occupation is defeated and independence is achieved.” (See full statement below)
[Official Fatah Facebook page, May 20, 2020]

Fatah in Hebron “warned” Israel that Fatah “will be watching” and that “options are completely open” – a Palestinian euphemism for threatening to use violence and terror. The Hebron branch further stressed its willingness to die for “Palestine” – defending Abbas’ decisions “with our lives, our blood, and our bodies”:

Abbas: The PA is absolvedof all agreementswith the US and Israel

Abbas: We are committed to fight international terrorism “regardless of its shape or source”

Abbas: “We are against colonialist America, the America of [Trump’s] administration”

Palestinian Authority: We reaffirm our support for the right of China to preserve its sovereignty, its rejection of any foreign interference in its internal affairs, and attempts to destabilize it. We appreciate the great efforts made by #China to confront the Coronavirus.
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) May 30, 2020

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians launch campaign to boycott IDF humanitarian, economic aid

Palestinian activists and journalists have launched an online campaign to boycott the social media accounts of the Ministry of Defense’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).

The COGAT unit engages in coordinating civilian issues among Israel, international organizations, diplomats and the Palestinians. Its main mission is to facilitate humanitarian issues and economic and infrastructure projects in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The campaign comes on the heels of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s May 19 decision to renounce all agreements and understandings with Israel and the US, including security cooperation.

The campaign, titled “You are either with me or with the Munasseq [Arabic for Coordinator],” specifically targets the popular Arabic accounts of the head of COGAT, Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rukun. As part of the campaign, Palestinians are being urged to unlike and stop following the accounts.

The Arabic Facebook page of COGAT has more than 600,000 likes, while its Arabic twitter account has more than 11,000 followers.

COGAT mainly uses the accounts to inform Palestinians about the unit’s various activities, particularly issuing permits for workers, patients and merchants to enter Israel. In the past three months, COGAT also used its social media accounts to provide Palestinians with information about the coronavirus pandemic.

Iranian-backed organizations establish a foothold in the Gaza Strip

Iran is exerting its regional influence in the Middle East and Gaza is not an exception. Social welfare programs and charities throughout the Gaza Strip have been established by Iran to influence the hearts and minds of its residents.

Iran financially and militarily supports a number of its proxies in the Middle East including militant organizations in Gaza such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Popular Resistance Committees. However, Iran’s support does not solely go to Gaza’s militant groups.

During the first week of Ramadan, Harakat al Nujaba, an Iranian-backed Iraqi paramilitary group, distributed food baskets and other Ramadan gifts to the families of prisoners and those who have been killed fighting against Israel.

“A gift on the occasion of the blessed month of Ramadan, presented by al Nujaba for the families of the martyrs and captives in Palestine,” a message in the food basket read.

Furthermore, al Nujaba’s Information and Relations office stated “The staff of al Nujaba’s office in Gaza, having collected the needed medical and food supplies, distributed a package of diverse Ramadani presents among the families of martyrs and captives in ash-Shujaiyya and northern areas of the Strip, an act carried out secretly and at night for the image of the targeted families is maintained.”

The statement by al Nujaba is important because it demonstrates that an Iraqi paramilitary group funded and supported militarily by Iran has a presence in the Gaza Strip.

It is noteworthy to mention al Nujaba isn’t the first Shia movement with a military wing to operate in the Gaza Strip. Harakat al Sabireen, founded by former Palestinian Islamic Jihad members who converted to Shia Islam, operated in the Gaza Strip for some years until Hamas arrested its leader and seized the group’s weapons in 2019.

Another Iranian funded organization operating in the Gaza Strip is the Palestinian-Iranian Friendship Association (PIFA). The organization also has branches in Lebanon and Syria.

Iran FM Zarif is listed by @USTreasury as a Specially Designated Natl pursuant to EO 13876.

Americans incl companies are prohibited under IEEPA from providing him services. Penalties are criminal: 20 yrs prison and $1m fine.

Giving him @Twitter acct for propaganda is a service. https://t.co/nTYgSAGgxI
— Omri Ceren (@omriceren) May 30, 2020

.@JZarif In November your Iranian regime massacred 1500 of your own people for protesting—because you don't even believe that #IranianLivesMatter—but thank you Mr. Foreign Minister for sharing with us your passion for human rights. https://t.co/FkO3bteUkP
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) May 30, 2020

You hang homosexuals, stone women and exterminate Jews. pic.twitter.com/eip0bu8RIL
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) May 30, 2020

The nasty @RogerWaters calls @nickcave @eltonofficial @RollingStones @radiohead @PaulMcCartney "pricks" for playing in #Israel https://t.co/nXAbhpLp6Y
— (((David Lange))) (@Israellycool) May 31, 2020

Based on their first reply to our
complaint, it looks like @thetimes may be digging their heels in over this outrageous historical lie.

If needed, we'll take this to @IpsoNews https://t.co/y4EeY6Fivh
— CAMERA UK (formerly UK Media Watch and BBC Watch) (@CAMERAorgUK) May 31, 2020

Fox Sports slammed over ‘sickening’ Hitler image

FOX Sports has tonight (Sunday) come under fire after airing a photoshopped image of Adolf Hitler as a fan at an NRL match on national television.

The incident happened on the Matty Johns Show on Fox League during the Manly Sea Eagles Vs Canterbury Bulldogs match.

NRL fans have slammed the program for airing the “distasteful” and “shockingly offensive” image.

“I understand people can get precious about things and very easily offended but this is not one of those times. You can’t make jokes about Hitler,” one fan wrote on Twitter.

Another wrote, “Sickening. The NRL has really worked hard to change the culture around league and it’s definitely improving so I’m disappointed that someone in 2020 would think Hitler jokes are funny and try and dump them in it.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said this sort of “stupidity, the casualisation of Hitler, Nazis, and by extension their crimes, is what leads to swastikas being graffitied throughout our cities and school kids being harassed with gas chamber jokes”.

Ryvchin called on Matty Johns and Fox to “tell their viewers it’s not on”.

Federal MP Josh Burns tweeted, “Please tell me this didn’t actually happen.”

As of late Sunday evening, the program had not apologised over the incident.

German government urged not to honor Holocaust rescuer with murky record

More than 200 people, including a Dutch chief rabbi, are protesting plans in Germany to honor a Holocaust-era official who is said to have both saved and doomed Jews.

The call came in a letter that the German ambassador to the Netherlands received Thursday from Hans Knoop, a Dutch-Jewish journalist. It concerned the German government’s reported plans to fund a museum named for Hans Calmeyer in Osnabruck.

As a jurist for the Nazi German forces in the Netherlands, Calmeyer was tasked with reviewing ethnicity issues, primarily in appeals by people who were registered as Jews but claimed to be Aryan.

In the 1990s, Israel’s national Holocaust museum Yad Vashem asserted that Calmeyer’s actions in his post saved at least 3,000 people, or two-thirds of the applications he reviewed.

However, newly discovered testimonies and other materials suggest that Calmeyer also arbitrarily declined solid appeals by applicants who may have been spared deportation under the Nazi occupation’s own racial laws.

According to some accounts, he also reversed the Aryan status of hundreds of civilians who never contacted his office, with tragic consequences for them. Calmeyer died in 1972. Yad Vashem is reviewing the new materials.

Creating trade opportunities between Oz, Israel

ISRAEL’S Trade Commissioner to Australia Shai Zarivatch has praised Australia for embracing innovative solutions since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and said “Down Under” is becoming a particularly attractive destination right now for Israeli firms searching for new markets.

More than 200 Israeli companies have operations in the Australian market already in fields from cyber and fin-tech to agriculture and mining, but there has been a particular wave of interest since mid-March.

Zarivatch told The AJN that, in particular, Israeli tele-health firms and cyber-related companies that focus on work-from-home solutions “have been approaching our office in unprecedented numbers”.

They are seeking business development services and advice to help match and market their innovative product solutions to the needs of potential Australian businesses, major customers and investors.

Explaining this trend, Zarivatch said, “It is in no way to argue that Israel’s handling and management of its [coronavirus] crisis and its own challenges is done in any way better than any other country – rather, it is that Israel is both highly experienced and, unfortunately very adapted to, dealing with times of extreme national emergencies and crises.

“On the Australian side, there is a very strong appreciation of Israeli technology and innovation.”

TV series starring Gal Gadot as Hedy Lamarr to be broadcast by Apple

An upcoming TV miniseries starring Israel’s Gal Gadot as Jewish movie star and inventor Hedy Lamarr will be broadcast by Apple.

The eight episode drama, titled “Hedy Lamarr,” was initially expected to land at Showtime, Variety reported on Friday.

The series will air on the Apple TV+ streaming service as one of the new platform’s upcoming original series. Its expected release date has not been announced.

Gadot, best known for starring in “Wonder Woman,” is also the executive producer of the series on Lamarr. It will be written by Sarah Treem, who is best known for her work on the Showtime series “The Affair.”

Lamarr, a stunning beauty who came to Hollywood from Europe in the late 1930s, worked with top stars including Judy Garland and Clark Gable. 1940’s “Boom Town” and “Ziegfeld Girl” in 1941 were among Lamarr’s films.

But it was her work as an inventor that distinguished her, including a patented device that became a foundation for modern Wi-Fi technology.

The new series will look at feminism during Hollywood’s golden age and World War II through Lamarr’s life and work.

Pnina Tamano-Shata: From desert exodus to member of cabinet

Only three days into the job, Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata was only beginning to really internalize her new situation. More messages of congratulations came in through Whatsapp than she could keep up with. She stiffened with discomfort at being addressed as “the minister” by her staff.

“I’m just Pnina,” she said. “The girl who arrived in Israel barefoot is still me.”

“Just Pnina,” though, doesn’t do justice to the historic moment of her ascending to her new position, as the first-ever minister of Ethiopian descent.

“This isn’t just my moment,” she said. “It’s the [Ethiopian-Israeli] community’s moment… It’s an important milestone for Israel. It’s the first time there was a woman from the community, the first time there was someone black in the government.”

But she once again brushed off the honors and added: “Now I have to prove myself with hard work, with modesty – but with determination.”
TAMANO-SHATA’S story begins in 1981 in Wuzaba, a village near Gondar in northern Ethiopia.

When she was three years old, her family, like thousands of other Jewish families, was facing starvation and abuse in a refugee camp in Sudan. They began walking through the desert towards their rescuers from the Mossad. Her mother was heavily pregnant, so her brother carried her on his back.

“Israelis don’t really know the story of what happened in Sudan,” Tamano-Shata said. “It’s a heroic story of people who loved Jerusalem and were willing to do everything for it, including making the greatest sacrifices. They knew it would be a difficult journey – but they knew it was time. That’s what we need to tell as a part of the story of the Jewish people.”

Police block highways so geese families can cross

Police officers on Friday did not duck their responsibilities when they received calls from drivers at two locations about families of geese trying to cross busy highways.

Police arrived at the two locations on routes 2 and 4 and stopped traffic to protect the geese and their chicks and allow them to cross safely.

According to Channel 12, the delay did not ruffle the feathers of drivers, who understood the importance of the brief delay to their journeys.

In fact, some even exited their vehicles and flocked to help officers locate chicks that “went rogue” and took them across the road to be reunited with the rest of the family.

In an heroic operation Israeli Police and volunteer drivers halt traffic both directions in the busy Coastal Highway to save lives. pic.twitter.com/uh0GOQHozb
— Dani Dayan (@AmbDaniDayan) May 29, 2020

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.

Saudi development area is claimed to be a front for Jewish expansionism

2020-05-31T08:18:00.001-04:00

A Sudanese writer is claiming that a Saudi development initiative is actually an excuse for Israeli expansionism in the Persian Gulf.

The Saudi initiative is called “NEOM:”

NEOM is a bold and audacious dream. It is a vision of what a New Future might look like (in fact, NEOM means, “new future”). It’s an attempt to do something that’s never been done before and it comes at a time when the world needs fresh thinking and new solutions. NEOM is being built on the Red Sea in northwest Saudi Arabia as a living laboratory – a place where entrepreneurship and innovation will chart the course for this New Future. NEOM will be a destination, a home for people who dream big and want to be part of building a new model for sustainable living, working and prospering.

NEOM will include towns and cities, ports and enterprise zones, research centers, sports and entertainment venues, and tourist destinations. It will be the home and workplace for more than a million citizens from around the world.

The future has a new home

NEOM is the vision of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and is a centerpiece of Saudi Arabia’s 2030 Vision plan to grow and diversify the Saudi economy and position the country to play a leading role in global development. While NEOM is being driven and initially funded by Saudi Arabia, it is an international project that will be led, populated and funded by people from all over the world.

In Gulf365, however, writer Shihab Muhammad knows better:

This article aims to explain two facts: they revealed that the Saudi NEOM project announced by Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman is not a tourism or development investment project, but rather a revival of the biblical Kingdom of Noam, and to be the capital of the Kingdom of Israel. This is expected after rebuilding the alleged temple on the ruins of Al-Aqsa, with the approval and support of the Al Saud, in implementation of the Zionist Masonic plan…

The city of Neom is mentioned in the context of the deal of the century, which is being established in the region located on the border between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Palestine and Jordan, this name “Neom” does not mean as they say future and development, but it is a biblical word, and this name was mentioned in the Torah and means “Noam”, which is the name of a Jewish kingdom “ממלכת נוים”, which will be revived in that area of northern Saudi Arabia and Egypt, southern Palestine and Jordan.

…The NEOM project, which will be built on 26 thousand square kilometers, will be responsible for serving the Peres project, and will be based on energy, water and modern technologies, and the Israeli flag will be raised over the two islands of Tiran and Sanafir, Saudi Arabia, for their presence within the project, the government of the temple guards, meaning that the Zionist-Masonic project…

Another issue being covered up is that Egypt has leased 400 km to Saudi Arabia, regions that are filled with ancient monuments and will be handled by Jewish archaeologists, and they declare falsely that they have found Jewish antiquities, perhaps to make up for their failure to find even a shard of pottery indicating their ancient presence in Jerusalem in particular, and we have seen how Moshe Dayan, who occupied the West Bank, Sinai and the Golan in 1967, was burying some pottery and metal pieces, to say later that they found Jewish relics indicating them, and they did so in Lebanon in 1982.

Needless to say, there has never been a Biblical Kingdom of Noam, which the article helpfully transliterates into Hebrew as “Noim” to make it look legitimate.

This is definitely one of the more entertaining conspiracy theories I’ve come across.

Probable “honor killing” in Gaza

2020-05-31T06:17:00.001-04:00

A 21 year old girl was beaten to death by her father in what was probably another “honor killing.”

“M.G.” of Al Azawaida in central Gaza arrived at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah on Thursday evening in very serious condition, beaten and bruised. She succumbed after midnight.

According to the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, the cause of death is a result of severe beatings in the head and parts of the body. PCHR says that there were also signs of strangulation around her neck.

PCHR notes that “Palestine” has signed international agreements to protect women legally but has not implemented them, as we have noted previously. In fact, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have a laundry list of laws that explicitly discriminate against women, and Hamas never repealed laws that mitigate penalties against “honor crimes.”

Mahmoud Abbas says “Palestine” supports China’s suppression of protests in Hong Kong, praises its COVID-19 response

2020-05-31T00:37:00.001-04:00

From Xinhua:

Palestine on Saturday said it supports China's right to impose the full sovereignty over all its territories including Hong Kong, and maintain its territorial integrity.

"We reiterate our support to the friendly People's Republic of China's right to maintain its sovereignty, against any foreign intervention into its internal affairs and the attempts to destabilize it," the Palestinian presidency said in a statement published by the official Palestinian News and Info Agency.

Palestine values China's efforts in fighting COVID-19, said the statement, highlighting China's aid to other countries including Palestine in combating the pandemic and building a global health community for all.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also appreciated the unwavering Chinese support to the people of Palestine to achieve independence and freedom, and said Palestine is keen on enhancing its relations with China to the benefit of the two peoples.

There is not a dictatorship or autocratic state that the Palestinian leadership does not support.

And of course, the leftists who pretend that they support the people against their oppressive governments will be silent on this.

05/30 Links: Twitter censors Trump for glorifying violence, lets Iran threaten Israel; Qatar’s Al Jazeera Network Broadcasts Islamist Cleric’s Appeal to ‘Kill Jews’

2020-05-30T22:00:00.000-04:00

From Ian:

Seth Frantzman: Twitter censors Trump for glorifying violence, lets Iran threaten Israel

Twitter on Thursday flagged a tweet by US President Donald Trump for “glorifying violence,” disabling re-tweets and comments. In the Tweet Trump had written that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Yet Tweets by Iranian leader Ayatollah Khamenei calling for arming Palestinians, destroying Israel and “Jihad” remained without similar Twitter flags. The company provided no explanation for what defines “glorifying violence” and does not provide a way to report tweets specifically for this issue.

The tweet that Twitter flagged included references to “thugs” and the clashes in Minneapolis after a police officer was caught on video putting his knee on the neck of an African-American man. The man died and days of protests and increasing clashes, including burning of buildings, has resulted. Twitter flagged the tweet and provided a link to “learn more” which explained that due to “public interest” it had allowed the tweet to remain on twitter. This added to lack of clarity over how Twitter makes decisions to flag certain tweets and why it has not singled out tweets by authoritarian regimes, such as Iran, which often glorify violence.

In recent weeks as Iran’s regime sought to commemorate Quds Day it has called Israel a “virus” and “cancerous” and called for Palestinians to “liberate” the country. It has said they should be armed and that Iran supports Palestinian “fighters.” Khamenei tweeted on May 22 that “one cannot communicate with a savage enemy except by force.” A subsequent tweet urged “Jihad” against Israel, “everyone must help the Palestinian fighters.” He writes that “the struggle to free Palestine is Jihad in the way of God, Victory in a struggle has been guaranteed because a person, even if killed, will receive ‘one of the two excellent things.’” This is a reference to religious rewards for being killed fighting. He also wrote that the “Zionist regime is a deadly cancerous growth” and that it must be “uprooted and destroyed.”

Calling for a country to be uprooted, destroyed and calling it “cancerous” and urging armed fighters to be killed fighting it were not labelled as “glorifying violence” by Twitter. Instead, Khamenei’s incitement can be retweeted at will. This leads to questions about what standard Twitter uses and how it makes decisions. None of these details are provided transparently by the company. There is no way to report tweets specifically for this issue or find out what guidelines the platform uses to decide.

Qatar’s Al Jazeera Network Broadcasts Islamist Cleric’s Appeal to ‘Kill Jews’

The Qatar-owned satellite network Al Jazeera broadcast a crudely antisemitic interview with a leading Muslim cleric who called for the violent conquest of the State of Israel.

“Victory will not come on a golden platter. Victory is achieved through the blood of martyrs and over the skulls of the enemies. Victory is achieved by sacrificing money, life, and all that is precious,” Dr. Abduljabbar Saeed — head of the Quran and Sunnah Department in Qatar University’s Shari’a Faculty — declared on Al Jazeera on May 16, in a clip translated by the Washington, DC-based think tank Middle East Media and Research Institute (MEMRI).

“We will not accept the [Israeli] occupation’s existence on a single centimeter of [Palestine] under any circumstances,” Saeed said.

The cleric went on to quote a hadith (saying) of the Prophet Muhammad frequently cited by Islamists in support of their eternal enmity toward Jews: “The Prophet Muhammad said: ‘Judgement Day will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them.’ This is a promise made by Allah and His Messenger. [The Prophet said:] ‘The Muslims will kill [the Jews], until the rocks and the trees say: ‘Oh Servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.'”

Qatar launched an ill-fated outreach to influential American Jews in 2017 as it sought to change its negative image in the Jewish community worldwide. Despite the initial fanfare, the effort petered out the following year.

Phyllis Chesler on the Fight against Honor Killings

Phyllis Chesler, a Shillman-Ginsburg Fellow at the Middle East Forum, emerita professor of psychology and women's studies, and the author of eighteen books, spoke to participants in a May 18 Middle East Forum webinar (video) about the barbaric practice of honor killing and how to combat it.

Honor killing is the "cold blooded murder of girls and women by their families of origin." In a "shame and honor tribal culture, ... a girl's virginity and reproductive capacity, her fertility, are owned by her family, literally. Not by the girl herself. She represents their honor," Chesler explained. "If a girl is seen as damaged goods, her family will then be responsible ... no one will marry their other children or deal with them economically. They'll be shunned." The only way the family can "cleanse themselves of this shame [is] with blood – her blood."

The list of offenses that can trigger an honor killing is long, including engaging in sex outside of marriage, refusing an arranged marriage, marrying outside of one's religious sect or cast, having infidel friends, and becoming too Westernized. Since the aim is to recapture family honor, not punishment, it matters little whether the accusations are true. In rare cases where honor killers are prosecuted, according to Chesler, "they claim that they're only acting in self-defense, that communal norms drove them to it."

Unlike domestic violence against women in Western countries, where the perpetrators are almost exclusively men, usually acting alone and spontaneously, "honor killings are carefully planned conspiracies." Typically there is a "designated hands-on killer" acting in collaboration with other relatives, including "mothers, sisters, and aunts." The involvement of female relatives is common, according to Chesler, as
women have internalized the same patriarchal and tribal beliefs that men have and, in addition, they're responsible for keeping their daughters in line. They will pay a heavy price if their daughters dishonor the family. So very often ... mothers will lure their daughters home saying, 'It's okay, he'll forgive you, we'll work it out.' And then she dies.

Honor killing is "not based in any particular religion," said Chesler, noting that in India, the country where honor killing is by far the most prevalent, it is practiced by both Muslims and Hindus. However, Chesler's research has shown that Hindus "only do this in India ... Those who immigrate to the West don't do this." Honor killings in Europe and the United States are "mainly a Muslim-on-Muslim phenomenon."

Pandemic not behind us, next few days are a test, warns Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Saturday of “a steep increase” in new coronavirus infections in Israel in recent days, but said it was too early to tell whether there would be an upward trend that would warrant the reimposition of closures.

Israel has had some important successes in fighting the global pandemic, Netanyahu said during a televised statement, but the crisis “is not behind us.”

“We put out the flames of the coronavirus but there are still embers, and any light wind could reignite these flames,” the prime minister said.

The Health Ministry on Saturday evening said that a sharp dip in coronavirus infections was recorded over the past 24 hours, with just 25 new confirmed cases. The announcement came as authorities were voicing concerns about a possible new COVID-19 wave after a spike in new infections over the past several days, including 121 cases between Friday and Saturday morning.

Israel currently has 1,917 active cases, with a majority under medical care at home and just 116 in hospital. Of those cases, 36 are in serious condition with 34 requiring mechanical ventilation. In Israel, 284 people have died of the virus since the outbreak reached the country earlier this year.

Previously, Israel had seen weeks where new diagnoses hovered at around 20 or less a day. Friday’s announcement marked the first time that the 100 mark has been breached since May 2. That lull allowed Israel to relax most lockdown restrictions meant to stop the spread of the virus.

Condemning what he termed a “loosening” of Israelis’ adherence to social-distance rules, Netanyahu on Saturday said the coming days will be a “test” to see whether restrictions will need to be put back in place.

Moderna: First patients dosed with COVID-19 vaccine in Phase 2 study

Moderna Inc. announced over the weekend that it dosed its first participants in each age cohort with its COVID-19 vaccine in the company’s Phase 2 study.

In a release, the biotechnology company explained that the study will evaluate the safety, reactogenicity and immunogenicity of two vaccinations of mRNA-1273 given 28 days apart.

Some 600 people are expected to take part in the study (around 300 18- to 55-year-olds and the same number of people over the age of 55), who will be tracked for 12 months. Participants will be given a placebo, or a dose of 50 or 100 micrograms at each vaccination.

Earlier this month, the US Food and Drug Administration granted mRNA-1273 Fast Track designation.

The company’s chief scientist is Israeli-born Tal Zaks, who earlier this month told N12 that he is “not surprised that the vaccine works.”
He highlighted that the company has already been successful in developing vaccines for eight other viruses, including several specifically targeting respiratory infections.

Moderna released early data from its Phase 1 trial on May 18, that showed the vaccine produced protective antibodies in a small group of eight healthy volunteers.

Fauci protégé sending gallons of Israeli blood to US to probe virus mysteries

Gallons of Israeli blood will be packed in liquid nitrogen on Monday and rushed to America’s national health agency, in the hope it will help to solve some of the biggest mysteries of the coronavirus.

Daniel Douek, the scientist who collected the thousands of samples, conducted an initial analysis and prepared them for shipment, said that he is “extremely excited” that they are leaving for the US.

Douek is a principal investigator at the National Institutes of Health, America’s primary agency for biomedical and public health research. His colleagues at the Maryland HQ will be taking delivery of the samples.

As he readied them for collection, he spoke to The Times of Israel about how his sabbatical in Israel turned in to a frantic race to conduct research on protecting people from coronavirus — and said he has “no doubt” that efforts will end with success.

The NIH is determined to cast its net globally for coronavirus research. But few countries match Israel’s organized stock of blood samples from both healthy and sick citizens, and this has turned the country into an important center for NIH research, said Douek, a human immunologist.

He said that the project in progress aims to enable doctors, based on assessments of patients’ blood — cross-referenced with follow-up information on how they fare — to assess early on who is at risk of a sudden deterioration, and give them tools to intervene.

“Really understanding this would be a mark of success, and I’ve no doubt we will get there,” he said.

He called Israel a “golden source” for the samples he needs, saying: “Israel’s role is very central, because we’re getting big bleeds and there are lots of samples available and they are well stored.” This is due to the high level of blood testing and meticulous record-keeping, he added.

A Jewish and a Palestinian scientist team up for MIT at-home coronavirus test

Amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, a silver lining is that researchers from diverse cultural backgrounds are coming together to work on the response — as Jewish-American Jonathan Gootenberg and Palestinian-American Omar Abudayyeh can attest.

Gootenberg and Abudayyeh both work at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They are collaborating with the Broad Institute-based laboratory of MIT neuroscience professor Feng Zhang, which released a protocol of an at-home coronavirus test on May 8.

“I think it speaks to one of the many ways science can transcend cultural boundaries,” Gootenberg said in a Zoom call with members of the Zhang lab and The Times of Israel.

The duo, who both grew up in the United States, have worked together very closely over the last five years. Abudayyeh credited some of their productivity to their diverse backgrounds.

Their achievements include helping develop a viral detection technique called SHERLOCK, or specific high-sensitivity enzymatic reporter unlocking. Using SHERLOCK, they worked with members of the Zhang lab on the test, which they compare to a pregnancy test. It can use either a nasopharyngeal (NP) swab or saliva sample in detecting whether a person has the coronavirus.

“Our main goal is to simplify as much as possible for point-of-care, at-home testing,” Abudayyeh said.

The Morality of Israel’s ‘Annexation’

In a previous essay, I have written about Israel’s moral right to annex Judea and Samaria. I want to now turn to the actual morality of annexation of Judea and Samaria as it relates to the so-called creation of a future Palestinian state. Annexation as it applies to Judea and Samaria is simply a preposterous term. Israel cannot annex land that is indigenously the land of the Jews that was repeatedly stolen from them over millennia. It properly re-captured those lands in a 1967 offensive war against it. The term is a non-concept here—a true misnomer. Nevertheless, for the sake of expediency we will use it since it has traction in the political world. The ethical upshot of annexation is two-fold.

First, it recovers territory that is historically the property of the state of Israel. Second, it will, over time, and if applied consistently and with moral implacability, incarcerate the terrorist organization that is the Palestinian Authority. Some regimes can be politically rehabilitated, ethically placed in trusteeship, and then released back into the global commons. The PLO and then the PA have always been politically rogue institutions. The PA today betrays civilizational maturity by engaging in thuggery and terrorism that engender—among other things—national destabilization.

Rogue institutions such as the PA posing as a representative of a legitimate state or claiming the right to initiate statehood, pose threats to those who fall within their geographical ambits. They defile the individual rights of their citizen and residents in a way that undermines their legal personalities and moral integrity. The PA as a rogue governing body consciously removes the possibility of a lasting peace by subjugating human beings in the regional, local or global community to continuous fear by: a) exposing them directly to the threat of war; b) compromising or destroying those institutions that are devoted to maintaining a peaceful regional, state, and world order; and c) inflicting deliberate political, economic and general oppression against its own people. Rogue political governing bodies are not just inimical to the moral order of an existing ethical state—in this case Israel—they are political ballasts.

The morality of annexation of Judea and Samaria lies in its ability (if its architects so desire) to dissolve, over time, the PA; to show that its reach for autonomy and sovereignty was already violated before it achieved any such status: its systemic violence and reigns of terror disqualified it from any right of sovereignty. Once a rogue political body is divested of its sovereign status then it can have no political or legal standing in the international community—let alone demand right of existence within a legitimate democracy such as Israel. Should the PA seek violent reprisals against Israel’s moral right to reclaim its historic holy lands, then Israel has the right to disband the PA, incarcerate its political actors and practice a new form of political eugenics that would see the radical resocialization of the moral and political sensibilities of those Palestinians who reside within its geographical boundaries. Such individuals who have long existed outside the historical process largely because of their socialization in death cults and by soul-killing ideologies, would re-achieve their right of belonging to the state. The process could be long; it could take generations, however, the supremacy of Israel and the rise of Judea and Samaria simply cannot exist without the dismantling of the de jure and de facto sovereignty that the Palestinian Authority enjoys.

Individuals cannot be auctioned off. However, if the PA is divested of its sovereignty and recognized for what it is: a morally feral panopticon; and further, if it is divested of its sovereignty given that it has violated the conditions under which sovereignty itself is justified, then it exists in a state of nature. The vacuum left there is to be filled, and residents there re-fashioned by the state. Subjects there can re-enter the historical process and enjoy freedom in an order governed by Israeli law. So long as Israel protects the individual rights of the Palestinians as individuals and not as members of some invented group, then there can be no true ethical dilemma in regards to exercising sovereignty and rulership of individuals who, heretofore, had been living in a state of nature, one outside the historical process. Rescued from this political state of nature they would matriculate within the boundaries of a civilized nation-state in a manner subject to the procedural protocols of Israeli Intelligence and other security and defense institutions created to protect the security and eternal permanence of sovereign Israel.

Annexation not proposed but implementation of sovereignty in territory Israel already legally possesses, very few Arabs live there. Pretending this spells end of a “2 state solution” is weird when US support depends on Israel’s willingness to work to that. https://t.co/JotyUGaNRC
— Rɪᴄʜᴀʀᴅ Kᴇᴍᴘ ⋁ (@COLRICHARDKEMP) May 30, 2020

Foreign Affairs Magazine, ‘Palestinian Land,’ and the Press

A veteran U.S. diplomat has simultaneously rewritten history and, if accidentally, forsworn the need for negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Writing in Foreign Affairs magazine, Martin Indyk, a former U.S. ambassador to both Egypt and Israel, used terminology that is both inaccurate and misleading.

Indyk’s May 26, 2020 op-ed, “Israel’s New Government is a Many-Headed Hydra,” discusses obstacles that the new Israeli government might encounter. Indyk views as a positive the fact that current Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu struck a deal with his rival, Benny Gantz, allowing the latter to serve as Defense Minister for 18 months before the two swap posts. The former Clinton and Obama administration official asserts that Gantz’s influence will result in “pragmatism” that “will be critically important when it comes to annexation, the only policy issue that was written into the Netanyahu-Gantz governing agreement [emphasis added].”

Indyk adds: “Netanyahu insisted that after July 1, he have the right to bring to the cabinet his campaign commitment to annex the Jordan Valley and all 131 of the West Bank settlements, constituting some 30 percent of Palestinian territory [emphasis added].”

But both “annexation” and “Palestinian territory” are misleading.

As Eugene Kontorovich, a professor of constitutional and international law at George Mason University, has observed: “Annexation in international law specifically means taking the territory of a foreign sovereign country.” And neither the Jordan Valley nor the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) counts as belonging to a “foreign sovereign country.”

Regrettably, Indyk is far from the only person to incorrectly use the phrase “annexation” when discussing the situation—numerous news outlets and political figures, U.S., Israeli and otherwise have done so, as well. Nevertheless, the terminology is incorrect.

Perhaps I missed @NIFAustralia’s letter urging Palestinians to stop their incitement and salaries to terrorists? Maybe that’s not a concern to their grantees or they believe it is not an impediment to peace? https://t.co/40CJlzyfGi
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) May 30, 2020

Austrian MPs want Iran-backed Hezbollah banned within European Union

Political representatives from the coalition parties governing Austria in the country’s parliament introduced on Friday a resolution urging the European Union to reassess Hezbollah’s entire organization as a terrorist movement.

According to a statement on the website of the Austria’s national council, the formal name for its parliament, a number of members of the legislative body declared that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization.

"Hezbollah wants to destroy Israel and propagates antisemitism and spreads radical Islamic ideology," said Reinhold Lopatka and Michaela Steinacker, both of whom are MPs from the conservative Austrian People's party—the lead partner in the conservative and Green coalition government in Austria.

The two MPs added that Hezbollah’s entity should be classified as a terrorist organization.

Lopatka added that there is need to put an end to the formation of the legend that Hezbollah’s terror attacks are “just resistance.”

The resolution urged Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s administration to advocate on the EU level that Hezbollah’s entire organization be reassessed in connection with a full terror designation.

The Austria People’s party MP Martin Engelbert noted that the separation of Hezbollah into political and military wings is an “invention” of the EU.

IDF: Suspect tries to ram troops in West Bank, is shot and ‘neutralized’

Israeli troops on Friday thwarted an attempted car-ramming attack in the northern West Bank, shooting the assailant, the military said. There were no injuries to the soldiers.

The terror suspect was shot and “neutralized” by troops while trying to run them over near the Halamish settlement, the Israel Defense Forces said without giving further details.

Hebrew media reports said the driver, a Palestinian, was killed.

No Israeli soldiers were injured.

There have been a number of attacks and attempted assaults on Israelis and IDF troops in recent weeks, with a top defense official reportedly warning of a potential wave of violence if Israel unilaterally annexes parts of the West Bank.

According to Army Radio, Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rukun — Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians — told army chief Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi and Defense Minister Benny Gantz that annexation “was likely to lead to a wave of terror attacks.”

Last week, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced that his security forces were halting coordination with Israel over the new government’s stated intention to apply sovereignty over settlements and the Jordan Valley.

While Israeli security officials have confirmed the PA has ended security cooperation, Channel 13 reported that Ramallah had sent messages to Israel saying it would not allow terror attacks against Israelis or a mass popular uprising.

Though not widely discussed publicly, Israel’s cooperation with Palestinian security forces has been credited with thwarting many major terror attacks and being a significant factor in the relative calm in the West Bank in recent years.

Police shoot dead East J’lem man with special needs, thought he was holding gun

Police in Jerusalem’s Old City on Saturday morning shot dead a man who they said was thought to be “holding a suspicious object that appeared to be a gun.” The man reportedly had special needs and did not understand the officers’ calls to stop.

Hebrew media reported that East Jerusalem resident Iyad Halak, 32, was not armed.

Police said the man was asked to stop by officers stationed near the Lion’s Gate, a site of multiple attacks in the past, which led to a brief chase on foot. Police fired at the suspect to “neutralize” him during the chase; Hebrew media reported there were at least seven shots fired toward Halak, some as he hid in a garbage room.

Halak had been on his way to a special needs educational institute in the Old City where he studied. His father told the Kan public broadcaster he believed his son was holding his cellphone when he was first spotted by the police.

“We tell him every morning to keep his phone in his hand so we can be in contact with him and make sure he has safely arrived at the educational institution,” he said.

His father, Kheiri Hayak, told Channel 13 news that police searched the family home after the shooting, despite there being no evidence Halak was armed. “They found nothing,” he said.

Hayak said his son walked to the educational institute on the same route every morning and that police forces have likely seen him before. He told Channel 13 the incident occurred close to the entrance to the institute, about 100 meters away.

His mother claimed to Channel 12 that he was “killed in cold blood.”

Police have opened an investigation and two Border Police officers were questioned over the shooting.

Police officer under house arrest after killing of special needs East J’lem man

A Border Police officer was placed under house arrest and his commander was released from police custody under restrictive conditions as investigators probe the circumstances surrounding the shooting death on Saturday morning of an East Jerusalem man on the autism spectrum.

Iyad Halak, 32, was shot dead on Saturday morning in Jerusalem’s Old City, with police saying he appeared to be holding a gun. Halak was unarmed and had apparently not understood the officers’ orders to stop as he passed near the Lion’s Gate. He reportedly fled on foot and hid in a garbage room.

The policemen gave conflicting accounts of the events with the commander telling investigators he had urged his subordinate to cease fire, an order that was not followed, he said, according to reports in the Hebrew media.

The officer denied the commander’s account.

The two were questioned under caution on Saturday, the Kan news broadcaster reported.

Israeli soldiers point their assault rifles and desperately scream at him to take off his explosive belt. Faltering, fumbling, after an agonizing few minutes he complies. The 8kg of explosives and nails are pulled from underneath his red sweater and the mission is aborted.
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) March 26, 2019

15 years on, Israel is much safer, but checkpoints and soldiers remain in case of further attacks. When the media refer to Israeli military control, it's essential to recall the context. Such attacks have left an indelible impression on the Israeli psyche, necessitate vigilance.
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) March 26, 2019

Hamas wants 'intifadah' after Iyad al-Hallak shooting, protests expected

Hamas blamed Israel's governmment in response to the shooting of 32-year-old special needs student Iyad al-Hallak on Saturday, saying in a statement that "the execution of a Palestinian with special needs proves the sadism of the Israeli leadership."

"Such crimes are a fuel for the Palestinian people's revolution, which will not stop fighting until the withdrawal of the occupiers from all our lands," the organization said. "The response of our people, every time, will be continued resistance and intifada."

Following the incident, the gates to the old city have been closed by Jerusalem police, in fear of protests. The Temple Mount is scheduled to reopen tomorrow.

On Saturday, a protest titled "Murder in the Streets: Justice for Iyad al-Hallak" is scheduled to start in Jerusalem at 8:30 p.m., while another is scheduled to start in Jaffa at 7:30 p.m.

IDF apprehends 3 suspects caught crossing border from Lebanon

Israeli troops on Friday apprehended three suspects caught trying to cross from Lebanon into Israel, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

“IDF troops were present at the scene and monitored the suspects, who were apprehended during their attempt to cross the security fence. The incident does not appear to be an attempted terror attack,” the statement said.

The incident came after a number of recent attempts to breach the border fence, including by Sudanese migrants apparently looking for work. Lebanon is in the midst of a massive economic crisis, made worse by the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier Friday, Israeli soldiers fired warning shots after a suspect in Lebanon neared the border with Israel.

The shepherd approached the border near Mount Dov, also known as Shebaa Farms, a contested area that is claimed by Israel, Lebanon and Syria.

He was spotted by IDF lookouts before troops fired warning shots in the air.

Israel Radio quoted IDF sources saying the Hezbollah terror group has increasingly been using shepherds to gather intelligence on the military’s operations in the area. There were no reports of injuries.

'Failed cyberattack on Israel was designed to trigger disaster'

The failed Iranian cyberattack on a minor water facility in central Israel earlier this month was "designed to trigger a humanitarian disaster," National Cyber Directorate head Yigal Unna said Friday.

"The word 'fast' doesn't do justice to the hectic pace at which things are happening in the cyber sphere. We will remember this past month as a point of change in the history of modern cyberwars," Unna told a conference on cyber developments.

"The attempt to attack Israel was coordinated and organized with the aim of crippling our humanitarian water system. This is not critical state infrastructure and we were able to prevent the attack, but had it been successful, we would have found ourselves – in the midst of the coronavirus crisis – dealing with some damage to the civilian population and even temporary water shortages, or the introduction of chlorine or other chemicals in the wrong doses that could have ended with a disaster," he said.

While Unna did not name Iran as the culprit, he noted that "the attacker, according to foreign media reports, was a certain state actor. We do not comment on the aggressor's identity, but we can say that this was not a cybercrime or a ransomware attack.

"This [attack] was specifically aimed at causing damage to the physical sphere through command and control systems. This is the first time we have seen something like this, compared to attacks that target databases, which are also serious."

Anti-Semitism spreads during pandemic in Turkey, community says

As Turkey grappled with one of the biggest coronavirus outbreaks in the world, a group of Jewish Turks was noticing another outbreak in the country: one of anti-Semitism spreading through the media.

Dani Albukrek, 21, a Jewish Turk living in Istanbul, says Turkish social media users have been promoting conspiracy theories against Jews and Israel, such as the theory claiming Israel and the Jews invented the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19.

When Israel declared its first confirmed COVID-19 infection, Twitter accounts in Turkish celebrated the announcement. When the Turkish interior minister temporarily resigned over a botched lockdown, tweets accused Jews of being behind the scandal.

In another incident, a video posted online showed the driver of a minibus speaking with passengers about Jews creating viruses. Meanwhile, a prominent columnist has been writing conspiracy-filled articles on the pandemic and its connection to a wealthy Jewish family.

“In Turkey, we can see constant anti-Semitism in social media, on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram,” Albukrek says.

He insists that he and his family were not living in fear, but recognized the Jewish community in Turkey has several security concerns, as evidenced by the tight security at synagogues, which were closed due to the pandemic.

“Most of my friends, if they’re meeting someone that they don’t know in the street, will not say their names or reveal their Jewish identity," Albukrek says, "they'll simply say that they are from Spain, because we are Sephardic Jews."

Albukrek has been helping keep track of hate speech as part of a group in Turkey called Avlaremoz, which reports about anti-Semitism in the media.

Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia and Qatar form troubling new alliance

The name of fugitive Indian Salafi Islamist preacher Zakir Naik is little known in the West. Naik, founder of the Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation, is currently being pursued by the Indian authorities on charges of money laundering and hate speech.

Naik is a popular Islamist preacher in his native country. He has been referred to as “perhaps the most influential Salafi ideologue in India” and “the world’s leading Salafi evangelist.” His views on subjects such as homosexuality, apostasy and the Jews are as might be expected (the first two deserve the death penalty, the third “control America”).

The Indian authorities note evidence that two of the seven terrorists who carried out a deadly attack at a café in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on July 1, 2016, claimed inspiration from his teachings.

In himself, the fugitive preacher is of only passing interest. Naik’s activities are worthy of further note, however, because the list of his supporters and their activities on his behalf cast light on an emergent nexus in the Islamic world deserving of greater attention. This crystallizing alliance looks set to be of considerable consequence in the period opening up, not least for Israel and some of its partners in the region and beyond.

Fleeing from the Indian authorities, Naik has been the lucky recipient of permanent resident status in Malaysia. There, his case has become something of a cause célèbre. The Malaysian Islamic Party, which has four ministers in the current government, is vociferously opposed to acceding to Indian calls for his extradition.

Reports in a number of Indian media outlets claim that the (unusual) granting of permanent residency to the fugitive preacher came as a result of a request from the government of Pakistan. The reports further suggest that “Pakistan is also using its relations with... Turkey and Qatar to provide funding to Zakir Naik.”

Iran Says Nuclear Work Will Not Be Hurt by End of US Sanctions Waivers

A US decision to terminate sanctions waivers that have allowed foreign companies to do some work at Iranian nuclear sites will not affect Iran‘s nuclear program, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) said on Thursday.

The United States said on Wednesday it will terminate the waivers, which had allowed Russian, Chinese and European companies to carry out work at Iranian nuclear sites.

The role of the foreign firms was agreed in Iran‘s nuclear deal with world powers in 2015, and was intended to help ensure Iran‘s nuclear program would not be used to make weapons.

“The ending of waivers for nuclear cooperation under (the nuclear deal) will not in practice have any effect on Iran’s work,” AEOI spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said, in remarks reported by ISNA news agency. “Of course America wants its actions to have an effect in line with pressure on Iran, but in practice nothing will happen.”

Under the 2015 nuclear agreement, Iran agreed to curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 and has since reimposed sanctions. Iran has scaled back its commitments under the deal but says it still abides by its overall terms.

The waivers, which officials said expire on July 27, covered the conversion of Iran’s Arak heavy-water research reactor, the provision of enriched uranium for its Tehran Research Reactor and the transfer of spent and scrap reactor fuel abroad.

Exclusive: Cruz calls for criminal investigation of Twitter

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), in a letter Friday to the Justice and Treasury departments, is calling for a criminal investigation of Twitter over allegations the company is violating U.S. sanctions against Iran.

Why it matters: Twitter is already under fire from President Trump for adding fact checks and a warning label, respectively, to misleading and incendiary tweets he made in recent days. Cruz's letter adds another dimension to the tech company's woes in Washington.

Details: Twitter allows Iranian leaders to maintain accounts on its service, and Cruz is asking Attorney General Bill Barr and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to probe whether that violates U.S. sanctions prohibiting American companies from providing goods or services to the country's top officials.

"I believe that the primary goal of (the International Emergency Economic Powers Act) and sanctions law should be to change the behavior of designated individuals and regimes, not American companies," Cruz wrote."But when a company willfully and openly violates the law after receiving formal notice that it is unlawfully supporting designated individuals, the federal government should take action."

The big picture: Twitter has said it's in the public interest to have political figures' speech on its platform, even if some find that speech objectionable.

The company on Friday labeled a tweet from Trump about the unrest in Minneapolis as breaking its rules on "glorifying violence."

The White House and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, among other prominent conservatives, questioned why Twitter hasn't applied similar labels to tweets from Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

.@Twitter is publishing anti-Semitic threats of violence from the Ayatollah Khamenei – the world’s leading state-sponsor of terrorism – a direct violation of US sanctions on Iran. That’s why I’m calling for AG Barr & Sec. Mnuchin to open a criminal investigation into the matter. pic.twitter.com/jq7TJCXVEu
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) May 29, 2020

Iran and Turkey seek to support riots in the US

Regimes based in Turkey and Iran both sought to exploit and support violent protests in the US over the weekend. Turkey is one of the world’s largest jailors of journalists and Iran’s government murdered 1,500 protesters last year, but leaders in both countries cynically sought to exploit recent protests in the US for their own ends.

Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei tweeted that “if you’re dark-skinned walking in the US, you can’t be sure you’ll be alive in the next few minutes.”

Former Iranian president, and Holocaust denier, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed that the killing of George Floyd, the African-American man who was killed by police in Minneapolis, was “deeply disturbing and upsetting’ and that it was part of a plot by world powers and the “current world order.”

He even used the word “nigga” in his tweet, apparently trying to make his tweet seem relevant to Americans.

It is not clear who writes the tweets for Ahmadinejad and Khamenei in English, some of them appear to be taken more from college activists in the US than from the usual terminology of the Iranian regime, which is a theocratic regime with a long history of suppressing minorities and murdering protesters.

Even as Iran’s regime was supporting the protests in the US, which turned violent in many cities over the weekend, the regime in Tehran was gunning down peaceful Kurdish “kolbars” or people who move goods across the border.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is known for ethnically cleansing Kurds in northern Syria and whose army carried out a drone strike that killed two civilians on Saturday in Iraq, also supported the US protests.

He called the US “racist and fascist” and said that the US city of Minneapolis behavior was the result of a “painful manifestation of the unjust order we stand against across the world.”

FCC Chair Asks Why Ayatollah Khamenei’s Tweets Don’t Violate Twitter Guidelines

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai asked Twitter in a tweet why Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s tweets against Israel don’t violate Twitter’s guidelines.

Pai highlighted an assortment of Khamenei’s tweets stating that “the Zionist regime is a deadly, cancerous growth” and calling for “firm, armed resistance [against Israel].”

“Serious question for @Twitter: Do these tweets from Supreme Leader of Iran @khamenei_ir violate ‘Twitter Rules about glorifying violence?’” Pai asked.
Serious question for @Twitter: Do these tweets from Supreme Leader of Iran @khamenei_ir violate "Twitter Rules about glorifying violence"? pic.twitter.com/oEkCC8UzFV
— Ajit Pai (@AjitPaiFCC) May 29, 2020

Richard Grenell, former acting director of National Intelligence, similarly tweeted, “For months I’ve called on @Jack & @Twitter to remove this Islamic radical from this platform. And nothing has been done. He denies his people the right to be on twitter while Jack allows him to spew homophobia, anti-Semitism, sexism and violence.”

Pro-Israel activist Arsen Ostrovsky similarly tweeted, “Why is it that @Twitter deemed @realDonaldTrump in violation of their rules, but not Iranian leader @khamenei_ir LITERALLY calling for genocide and destruction of Israel?”

Outrage After Far-Left Pro-BDS Group Ties Israel to Minneapolis Police Violence

An attempt this week by the Democratic Socialists of America’s BDS national working group to tie Israel to recent incidents of US police violence against minorities has sparked outrage.

Referring to unrest on the streets of Minneapolis following the recent police killing of an unarmed African-American man, George Floyd, the group tweeted, “The police violence happening tonight in Minneapolis is straight out of the IDF playbook,” adding, “US cops train in Israel.”

“The racist and brutal tactics used by Israeli military and US cops are purposefully one and the same,” it charged, citing no evidence.

“So-called ‘less lethal’ weapons like tear gas are manufactured in the US and sold to Israel where they are tested and used on Palestinians,” the group claimed, before going on to say, “Surveillance tech is made in Israel & brought to the US to invade the privacy of Black, brown, Muslim, poor, and otherwise marginalized people.”

“This is the ‘special relationship’ between Israel and the United States,” it continued.

The DSA group’s statements were part of an ongoing organized campaign called “Deadly Exchange,” which posits that racist police tactics in the US are Israel’s fault.

Critics say that such claims are a blood libel and responsible for inciting incidents of antisemitic violence.

We admit it. We showed @MinneapolisPD how to identify and neutralise improvised explosives and to prevent suicide bombings which lead to a cop murdering a POC for the suspected use of counterfeit 20s 8 years later.

How'd you find us out? https://t.co/nrUAK1lD63
— The Mossad: Espionage at = 2 metres (@TheMossadIL) May 30, 2020

Glenn always was a Hamas supporter, and a supporter of terrorism against Jews in general. A lot of his new conservative fans don’t know this. pic.twitter.com/6xoFoOYf0S
— David Reaboi (@davereaboi) May 30, 2020

De Blasio on Jews attending funerals vs. De Blasio on rioters burning down NYC pic.twitter.com/pCaFFdw8Wb
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) May 30, 2020

Etan found that the picture agency that Jones' publisher used had tagged the image with 'antisemitism'. https://t.co/uMxZ9MPhRD
— Lord Matzo the Unleavened (@MatzoBalling) May 29, 2020

This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence. However, @Twitter has determined that it will allow terrorists, dictators, and foreign propagandists to abuse its platform. pic.twitter.com/5Qi0m66Vnh
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 29, 2020

Best correction ever. https://t.co/lPe5R7yS57
— The Mossad: Espionage at = 2 metres (@TheMossadIL) May 29, 2020

Trump signs the Never Again Education Act into law

US President Donald Trump signed the Never Again Education Act into law on Thursday, JNS reported, expanding the funding and educational mission of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM).

The bill requires the USHMM to create educational materials with the intention of increasing awareness about the Holocaust and its meaning among teachers across the country. For this purpose, $2 million will be awarded to the USHMM Holocaust Education Assistance Program Fund annually by the US Treasury from 2020 to 2024.

Additionally, an online data-bank with educational materials meant to teach middle school and high school level students about the Holocaust will be created to help teachers tackle the issue. The data-bank will also be created by the USHMM.

Sen. Jacky Rosen called the bill a “first step in centralizing a good quality and authentic curriculum to teach the Holocaust to future generations," the Jewish Insider reported.

Antisemitic Crimes in Austria Climb by Nearly 10 Percent: New Report

Antisemitic incidents in Austria rose by nearly ten percent in 2019, a new report issued on Thursday by the Jewish Community of Vienna (IKG) disclosed.

A total of 550 outrages targeting Jews were reported. Six of these involved physical assaults, with 239 instances of abusive behavior, 18 instances of threats, 78 instances of damage and desecration of Jewish property and 209 instances of mass-produced antisemitic literature.

While there was a slight decrease in the number of physical assaults and threats, attacks on property increased by over 50 percent.

In a statement accompanying the report, IKG President Oskar Deutsch said, “Jewish life is an integral part of Austria and most of our fellow citizens know this.”

Continued Deutsch: “Unfortunately, there are an increasing number of people in Austria who stir up antisemitism and who engage in antisemitic acts.”

Describing the capital of Vienna as “a thriving city for Jews,” Deutsch praised the close cooperation between the community and law enforcement agencies in providing “a high level of security, together with the security measures put in place by the community.”

However, he added, “law enforcement cannot be everywhere at all times. Our society should strive to ensure that one day these security measures are not necessary. Unfortunately, we are very far away from this objective today.”

In terms of the ideological motivation behind 2019’s attacks, the report noted that “268 incidents were attributed to the right-wing extremists, while 31 incidents were attributed to persons affiliated with radical Islam and 25 incidents were attributed to far left extremists.”

Police investigate antisemitic vandalism at Montreal synagogue

Police in Canada's second largest city, Montreal, Quebec, are investigating an incident of antisemitic vandalism that took place at a small, local home-based synagogue in Côte St-Luc, an on-island Montreal suburb with a large Jewish population, according to Radio Canada on Friday.

B'nai Brith Canada, a watchdog organization that monitors antisemitic activities and attitudes in Canada, said that the incident was “one of the worst such incidents to take place in Canada in years.”

The report noted that vandals damaged Torah scrolls and other religious items, which were stuffed in toilets at the Sepharade Kol Yehouda, an Orthodox Sephardic synagogue.

In addition to defacing to religious items and property damage, antisemitic graffiti was also scrawled on the walls, according to Ralph Amar, a member of the congregation who was the first to discover what took place.

He had gone to the synagogue to gather religious items on Wednesday prior to the holiday of Shavuot, which began on Thursday evening and celebrates Jews receiving the Torah and Ten Commandments.

B’nai Brith Canada said in a statement that “Torah scrolls are considered extremely sacred in Judaism, to the extent that damaged scrolls are typically buried in a cemetery, rather than disposed of in any other manner.”

German magazine Spiegel accused of antisemitism against reporter

The reportedly long-festering issue of antisemitism in the ranks of the German magazine Spiegel resurfaced on Friday in a new article that allegedly stokes Jew-hatred against a reporter for Germany’s best-selling Bild paper, according to German Jews and prominent journalistic critics.

In a Spiegel article about the dispute between the German virologist Christian Drosten and Bild over anti-coronavirus measures, Spiegel asked if the Bild reporter Filipp Piatov came to the mass-circulation paper from Israel’s embassy.

The Bild’s editor-in-chief, Julian Reichelt, wrote on twitter that Spiegel asked about Piatov coming from Israel’s embassy in Berlin, suggesting Spiegel is fostering an anti-Israel and anti-Jewish conspiracy theory. Piatov worked on an article about Drosten.

Spiegel wrote that Piatov is Reichelt’s “bloodhound” and singled out Piatov’s Jewish background in the article, writing he"came to Germany with his Jewish family" and is "unconditionally uncritical towards Israel."

Sigmount Königsberg, the representative on combating antisemitism for the 10,000-member Jewish community of Berlin, slammed Spiegel on Twitter, writing people "cannot remain silent with The Spiegel’s antisemitism against Piatov.”

80% of Dutch cities involved in theft of Jewish property have no record of it

Most Dutch municipalities were involved in the theft of Jewish-owned real estate during World War II — and most appear to have no record of it, a local report said Wednesday.

Among the 223 municipalities involved, 80 percent have no data about it, according to the report that has been generating a strong public response in the Netherlands.

The report, published Wednesday by the Pointer journalistic platform of the KRO-NCRV Dutch public broadcasting company, featured the first map of the stolen Jewish-owned assets that existed in the kingdom. Their combined worth was equivalent to $640 million today, the report said.

The team that made the map based on archived sales acts and other documents contacted the relevant municipalities to ask for further details and inquire as to their efforts to ensure compensation to the rightful owners, who were often taxed for the forced sale.

Four in five municipalities said they had not been aware of the existence of such real estate prior to the inquiry, Pointer reported. But 60% said they were open to researching the issue. Some municipalities bought or ended up owning property Jews sold under duress.

Amsterdam and The Hague in recent years offered compensation for property and other taxes they had collected from people who fled their homes and survived in hiding.

The leader of the opposition, Geert Wilders, submitted several written questions to the government on the Pointer report’s findings.

Henry Wermuth, the man who tried to derail Hitler’s train, dies at 97

A Holocaust survivor who once attempted a solo mission to kill Germany’s Nazi wartime leader Adolf Hitler by derailing his train has died in London.

Henry Wermuth was 97 when he passed away from organ failure on May 19, the Times of London reported in an obituary. He had recently recovered from a suspected bout of COVID-19. He is survived by his wife Ilana, whom he met after the war, and their two daughters.

Wermuth was the sole survivor among his family. He eventually settled in London, where he built a successful real estate business. He was also a Holocaust educator, telling his story at schools across the UK.

He wrote his memoirs during the 1980s as well as four works of fiction.

Wermuth’s most famous escapade was his attempt on Hitler’s life, for which he was awarded a medal by the German government several decades after the end of the war.

Wermuth was a 19-year-old inmate at a labor camp in Poland in 1942 when he took upon himself to change the course of history, the elderly Holocaust survivor’s daughter Ilana Metzger told The Daily Mail.

At the time, Wermuth was imprisoned, along with his father, at the Klaj ammunition camp in Poland after having been deported from Frankfurt and separated from his mother and sister. Security was not as tight as in concentration camps and he managed to befriend a disgruntled German soldier, Metzger recounted.

Red Sea Jazz Festival sets new date, new venue

Changes are afoot down South. The organizers of the Red Sea Jazz Festival – which other than the curtain-raiser back in 1987, has been an annual fixture slap-bang in the middle of the sweltering summer vacation – have announced that the 34th year will see the festival take on a new guise, and that it has been scheduled for mid-November.

Considering all the cultural calendar cancellations that have been the order of the day worldwide in recent pandemic-dominated months, with little left of the forthcoming summer jazz festival circuit anywhere, it comes as little surprise to hear the announcement from Eilat.

“The corona crisis enforced a different reality on us, and we decided to turn this crisis into an opportunity,” declared upbeat Eilat Deputy Mayor and Municipal Tourism Corporation Chairman Eli Lankari. “We changed the date, we changed the place but we will maintain the quality of the festival, and we’ll upgrade it and make it into an international event, too.”

The upcoming jazz program will be held at the former site of Eilat Airport, currently being re-crafted as the new Terminal Park. The new location is more user-friendly for visitors staying at hotels on and around the town’s northern shore. It also cuts out the need for shuttles and the gridlock that patrons of the summer event have endured over the years as they headed south to the Port of Eilat venue. The November slot also offers more comfortable weather in the bargain.

Silver Surfer as Rabbi Eliezer? Stan Lee book unmasks superheroes’ Jewish roots

When I heard that a new book about Stan Lee was nearing publication, I admit, I kinda shrugged. The late P.T. Barnum-esque head of Marvel Comics spent decades telling his story in interviews, penned an autobiography, had his “Stan’s Soapbox” columns anthologized, was the subject documentaries and DVD features, and continues to get plenty of ink in any volume about the art or business of comic books. Then I saw who was writing this new one — and for what series — and couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy. The book, “Stan Lee: A Life in Comics,” was released on April 21.

Few are better suited to look at Stan Lee’s life for Yale University Press’s ongoing Jewish Lives collection than Liel Leibovitz. The Tablet Magazine writer and co-host of their popular Unorthodox and Daf Yomi podcasts (and, I should probably disclose, friend of mine) exudes a “comic book guy” essence, which, I can not stress enough, I mean as a compliment. He also has a profound knowledge about Jewish texts, and loves nothing more than to ascribe rabbinical significance to what others might consider a piece of pop culture ephemera.

Leibovitz describes the pivotal moment when Stan Lee (born Stanley Lieber) and Jack Kirby (Jacob Kurtzburg) argue their way into crafting the first flawed, human superheroes (later known as the Fantastic Four) by drawing a direct line to the origin of the Talmud. This singularity of Jewish history and modern popular myth-making is a colorful wash of energy worthy of Kirby’s bold images and Lee’s patented patter.

While this slim volume has all the necessary biographical details, like Lee’s childhood during the Depression, his war years working on anti-venereal disease material for the Army, and his many great collaborators, the meat of this book is the well-researched and effectively argued analysis of comic book heroes in a Jewish context. The Silver Surfer as Rabbi Eliezer? I may not have bought it before, but now I’m sold.

Liebovitz earns his challah talking and talking and talking some more, and when you get him going about comic books he’s got a lot to say. As such, what follows is a greatly abridged transcript of our conversation, edited for clarity.

13 Jewish facts about ‘Hamilton’ that will make you smile

In the ultimate COVID-19 silver lining, the Broadway smash “Hamilton“ will soon be available to stream from the comfort of your quarantine couch. Huzzah!

Originally set to hit theaters on in October 2021, it was an incredible coup by Disney+ to snag rights to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical. Luckily for everyone forced to self-isolate during the pandemic — and with Broadway theaters shuttered indefinitely — there’s now something to look forward to on July 3 (just in time for America’s birthday, of course).

In honor of this most exciting news delivered at a truly hellacious time, here’s a bunch of Jewish facts about “Hamilton,” the innovative hip-hop musical that tells the tale of the Founding Father on the $10 bill.

1. Is Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator, Jewish? Nope — but he’s most certainly an honorary Jew, and we have the receipts to prove it. Born in New York City to a Puerto Rican family, the artist — er, composer, lyricist, producer, actor, singer and playwright — grew up with a lot of Jewish friends. While studying at Wesleyan, Miranda, 40, joined a Jewish a cappella group, the Mazel Tones, and sung a popular rendition of “Hinei Ba HaShalom.” He also later worked as a bar mitzvah dancer to pay his rent. Oh, to be the bar mitzvah boy!

But that’s not all, folks: In 2009, Yeshiva University gave Miranda an honorary degree, prompting him to tweet, “The day I became a Jewish doctor!” A year later, at his wedding, the oh-so romantic newlywed performed a surprise rendition of “To Life!” from “Fiddler on the Roof.” Needless to say, his new wife, Vanessa Nadal, was overjoyed. As for us? Listening to Miranda sing in Hebrew had us feeling verklempt — so you can imagine how we felt when he tweeted in Hebrew in March, shortly after coronavirus hit the US.

New ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ movie coming to big screen, with ‘Hamilton’ power

Wonder of wonders: “Fiddler on the Roof” is returning to the big screen.

MGM Studios will produce a remake of the iconic 1964 musical about the struggles and joys of Jewish life in the fictional Eastern European shtetl of Anatevka, according to Deadline.

The new film will bring some star power from Broadway: Director Thomas Kail also directed stage hit “Hamilton” and has collaborated with its creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda (famously a “Fiddler” fan), on other shows.

Steven Levenson, who wrote the acclaimed musical “Dear Evan Hansen” will pen the screenplay.

The remake will be carrying on a tradition of more than 50 years.

“Fiddler” first had audiences saying “L’chaim” when it opened on Broadway in 1964 starring Zero Mostel as Tevye and winning nine Tonys. It saw many sunrises and sunsets, at one time holding the record for longest-running Broadway musical at nearly 10 years.

Israel’s Chaim Topol starred in London’s 1967 production. The movie version, also with Topol, came out in 1971 and garnered three Oscars, as well as nominations for best actor for Topol and best picture.

Broadway brought back another revival in 2015, and a Yiddish-language “Fiddler” ran off-Broadway until this year.

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.

Chag sameach!

2020-05-28T19:30:00.000-04:00

Tonight is the holiday of Shavuot, so I will be off on Friday.

Have a wonderful Yom Tov!

05/28 Links Pt2: Questioning the Legitimacy of Israel's Existence Is Anti-Semitic; The Guardian Ignores Intifada’s Role in Ending Two-State Solution Hopes

2020-05-28T18:00:00.000-04:00

From Ian:

Questioning the Legitimacy of Israel's Existence Is Anti-Semitic

Does the U.S. have a right to exist? Is the U.S. military a terrorist organization? Most Americans would reject these questions as unreasonable and unfair. Yet the Stanford community widely accepts these questions as justified when "U.S." is replaced with "Israel."

As an Israeli-American student, I'm constantly asked to defend my nationality. Mentioning Israel, or even Hebrew, on campus immediately eliminates any of the social norms that empower us to respectfully engage in conversation. But questioning the legitimacy of Israel's very existence is anti-Semitic. Jews have a right to self-determination and national aspirations, just like all other people.

Jewish nationalism stems from the constant marginalization and forced migration Jews have faced. I am a Zionist because my grandfather deserved a safe home after he was forced to flee Iraq in 1936, because my grandmother needed security after escaping Nazi-controlled Austria, and because my other grandmother has the right to continue her ninth-generation lineage of living in Jerusalem.

The increasingly common belief that Zionism fundamentally denies Palestinians humanity or a homeland is both inaccurate and anti-Semitic. If the slander or abhorrent language were directed toward any other nationality, it would never be tolerated. Denying me, an Israeli citizen, protection from harassment and ignorance at Stanford is a tremendous oversight on the part of a community that prides itself on diversity, tolerance and open scholarly discourse.

Honest Reporting: The Guardian Ignores Intifada’s Role in Ending Two-State Solution Hopes

When it comes to media bias against Israel, often enough the problem isn’t simply in the content, but what is not in the content.

Take for example a puff piece published in the Guardian on 25 May, entitled “What else happened as coronavirus swept the globe.” The article, written by Michael Safi, brings together a variety of big stories from the last few months and attempts to repackage them so as to provide the Guardian with fresh content.

The final main item, entitled “The end of the two-state solution?” frames the impending partial annexation of areas in Samaria and in Judea, as the death knell for hopes of a peace resulting from a Palestinian state arising in coexistence alongside Israel.

The Guardian’s writers have every right to their perspective – but theirs is not the only one. One held by many Israelis, and the driving force behind the current Israeli administration’s moves to annex these lands, is that the two-state solution is already long dead.
What Really Killed A Two-State Solution?

The peace process of the 1990s initially generated huge optimism in parts of Israeli society and much of the West, especially when it resulted in Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat ceremoniously signing the Oslo Accords on 13 September 1993.

However, it’s often noted that the heady days of the mid-90s, when the hope that Israelis and Palestinians could finally move forward and make peace was pervasive, gave way to the shock and horror of the early 2000s, when wave after bloody wave of Palestinian terror left millions in Israel in utter despair.

Simplification that may be, but it neatly encapsulates the feeling in Israel after seemingly making so much headway in the pursuit of peace, only to be violently rebuffed. The prospect of a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians, once so tangible, faded into the ether and came to be treated by many as a dangerous, alluring mirage.

Without Communist China, Would Palestinian Terrorism Have Become Such a Menace?

Brief history: communists under Mao Zedong consolidate control of China by 1952. The surviving nationalists retreat to Taiwan and set up shop there as a separate country. At the same time, China was fighting on the side of communist North Korea against the United States/United Nations.

Israel recognized the People’s Republic in 1950; China did not reciprocate until 1992. In 1964, China was tilting heavily in favor of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).

Tilting is too weak a description. Communist China was the PLO’s greatest supporter outside the Middle East, according to captured files Haaretz’s Shaina Oppenheimer wrote about last August.

A few paragraphs out of Oppenheimer’s long and fascinating story drive the point home of how pivotal communist China was to the PLO and to fomenting chaos around the world.
(Historian Lillian Craig) Harris suggested that the aid provided was an overlooked point in history in which China — unlike other “half-hearted” nations such as the Soviet Union — consistently advised the Palestinians and truly invested in their revolutionary cause.

And
In the late ’60s, the attention given by the Chinese to the Palestinian struggle was the most significant of any nation other than neighboring Arab states.

As relations with the PLO were cemented, Beijing also began cultivating national liberation movements as part of a local, strategic front against imperialism, aiming to revolutionize both China and neighboring countries. Communist parties influenced by Chairman Mao Zedong began to emerge in Malaysia, Vietnam, India and, most notably, the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

Vietnam…the Khmer Rouge… The Khmer Rouge alone killed an estimated 2 million Cambodians in the 1960s and 1970s, making China responsible for murders by the millions beyond the estimated 65 million of its own people Mao’s communists murdered during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. Add North Korea into that too. China enables that regime.

Why did China support the Palestinians?
In March 1965, Mao famously told a PLO delegation: “Imperialism is afraid of China and of the Arabs. Israel and Formosa [Taiwan] are bases of imperialism in Asia. You are the front gate of the great continent, and we are the rear. They created Israel for you, and Formosa for us. … The West does not like us, and we must understand this fact. The Arab battle against the West is the battle against Israel. So boycott Europe and America, O Arabs!”
(h/t jzaik)

Coronavirus and the Middle East

The collateral damage of the pandemic will be extremely meaningful for the Middle East beyond the direct medical implications. The sharp fall in oil prices resulting from reduced demand has badly hit the economies of oil-producing Arab countries. Countries that rely heavily on tourism (Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, and, to a lesser extent, Israel) have suffered severely from the total halt in visitors.

Government credibility all over the region has been challenged because of suspiciously low official figures on coronavirus victims. In Lebanon, unemployment has passed 40%, and there is a general expectation of a Hizbullah takeover. The Turkish lira has fallen again, and President Erdogan's popularity is in sharp decline. It is almost certain that Turkey's economic problems will have a significant influence on its intervention in Syria and Libya.

The Palestinian issue has been pushed to the sidelines. One sees more and more people - mainly on social media - saying openly that they no longer care about the "Palestinian cause." The Arabic hashtag "Palestine is not my problem" has spread all over social media, though many oppose it.

Every state in the region stands alone in its struggle against the virus and its ramifications. No one speaks of an Arab - let alone an Islamic - fraternity or solidarity, ideas that have been revealed once again as hollow rhetorical slogans.

One-Minute Electro-Optical Coronavirus Test Developed at Ben-Gurion University

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev's Prof. Gabby Sarusi has developed a one-minute electro-optical test of nose, throat or breath samples that will identify both asymptomatic and affected carriers of the COVID-19 virus in under one minute with greater than 90% accuracy.

Each test kit will cost approximately $50, which is far less costly than standard, laboratory-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. The BGU test is based on an electro-optical system that detects and identifies biological samples. It does not require a lab environment so it can be deployed at critical locations such as airports, border crossings, stadiums, and other environments, as well as healthcare facilities where rapid testing is required.

Initial clinical trials completed with the Israel Defense Ministry on more than 150 Israelis had a better than 90% success rate. The ongoing trials will compare samples from COVID-19 patients with samples of patients with other diseases to detect the presence as well as the specific stage of COVID-19 infection.

"Right from the beginning of the trials, we received statistically significant results in line with our simulations and actual PCR tests that were conducted in parallel," says Prof. Sarusi, deputy head of research at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a faculty member of the Electro-Optical Engineering Unit at BGU. "We are now validating the robustness of the test and preparing to submit for FDA accelerated approval."

Tel Aviv restaurants, bars packed on first night open since virus shutdown

Thousands of Israelis flocked to Tel Aviv’s restaurants and bars on Wednesday evening, their first chance to do so since the coronavirus shutdown in mid-March.

Wednesday marked the first day since mid-March that restaurants and cafes were allowed to open after the lockdown, and virus fears remained present in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv earlier in the day, leaving some locations half empty.

But by nightfall, things picked up, with many taking the advice of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who urged people to celebrate, but responsibly.

“We want to make your life easier, to allow you to go out and get life back to normal, to have a cup of coffee and to drink a beer,” he said in a video Tuesday announcing the reopening.

More than 120,000 Israelis made reservations to ensure they got a spot on the first night, Channel 12 reported, noting that in Tel Aviv, many bars and restaurants said they were operating at 95% capacity and no reservations were to be had until after the weekend.

Higher education institutions, youth groups to restart Sunday with restrictions

Higher education institutions will reopen on a wider basis from Sunday and youth movements will also be permitted to resume operations, it was decided Thursday.

The announcement was made by Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, Education Minister Yoav Gallant and Higher Education Minister Ze’ev Elkin as the downward trend in nationwide infections continued despite an increase in cases in the reopened education system.

Universities and colleges will be permitted to operate if there are no more than 50 people at any one event or lecture, two meters distance is kept between people unless they are doing an activity requiring physical contact such as sport, and all must be wearing masks.

However, universities and colleges were said to be unhappy that the announcement that classes would resume on Sunday was made on the eve of the Shavuot holiday, meaning there would be no time to prepare.

The Haaretz daily reported that Beersheba’s Ben Gurion University said classes would continue online with the exception of laboratory work and practical training. Other universities were expected to make similar announcements.

In addition, schools and kindergartens are to reopen in areas where they remained shut due to previously being centers of outbreaks, some of which were under lockdown.

French lawmaker Claude Goasguen, staunch Israel supporter, dies of virus aged 75

Claude Goasguen, a Republican deputy and long-time right-wing Parisian figure, died Thursday morning of a heart attack brought on by coronavirus, his family told AFP.

In intensive care for the past 22 days because of coronavirus, the former mayor of Paris’s 16th arrondissement was said to have been in a “much better condition and was walking again,” but subsequently experienced cardiac complications and died at 9:00 a.m.

A supporter of an “uninhibited” right, Goasguen was chairman of the France-Israel parliamentary friendship group and was a long-time supporter of Israeli policies. In 2017, he called to transfer the French embassy to Jerusalem, aligning with the United States.

He repeatedly expressed his rejection of anti-Semitism and participated in numerous events held by the Parisian Jewish community.

“I am in total solidarity with Israel, my great regret is that I am not a Jew myself,” he said last year.

Israeli MDs fly to enemy Sudan in failed bid to save diplomat behind secret ties

Israel sent a plane with medical staff and equipment to Sudan in an attempt to save the life of a diplomat sick with COVID-19, who managed the clandestine ties between Jerusalem and Khartoum, Channel 13 reported Wednesday.

But 24 hours after their arrival, Najwa Gadaheldam passed away, just days after contracting the virus.

The plane landed in Khartoum on Tuesday carrying a senior official involved in ties with Sudan, medical staff and equipment, after hearing of her illness, according to the television report. The visiting team planned to transport Gadaheldam to Israel for treatment, but arrived too late, when she was already in critical condition.

The two countries are formally at war, and the story would likely have remained under wraps had the plane not been flagged on flight-tracking websites due to its unusual route.

During Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ministers that he had spoken on the phone with Sudan’s leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan to send holiday wishes ahead of Eid al-Fitr that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Channel 13 speculated that Gadaheldam’s condition likely came up during the call as well.

Serving as al-Burhan’s political adviser Gadaheldam had been a key figure behind burgeoning clandestine relations between Khartoum and Jerusalem which climaxed in February with meeting between the Sudanese leader and Netanyahu and in Uganda, Channel 13 said.

Netanyahu touted his meeting with al-Burhan as a major foreign relations accomplishment ahead the March election.

Israel and Sudan are “discussing rapid normalization,” Netanyahu said at the time.

Brussels Airlines, Austrian Airlines to renew Israel flights in mid-June

Lufthansa Group subsidiaries Brussels Airlines and Austrian Airlines will renew flights to Israel from June 15, the company announced Thursday.

Both carriers will operate three flights a week to and from Ben-Gurion Airport as part of parent company Lufthansa's renewal of flights to 130 destinations by late June.

From the second half of June, flights operated by Brussels Airlines between Brussels Airport and Ben-Gurion Airport will arrive and depart every Sunday, Monday and Thursday.

Austrian Airlines flights between Vienna International Airport and Ben-Gurion Airport will fly every Sunday, Thursday and Saturday.

"The renewal of Lufthansa Group activity in June, even if partial, is another step in reviving the routine of trade and tourism - which are essential and important for the Israeli economy," said Lufthansa Group Israel general manager Ofer Kisch.

"This renewal also contributes to strengthening the aviation link between Israel, the rest of the company's destinations and the world. You can already see many people who want and need to fly again, whether for vacation or business purposes."

Tonight I had another valuable discussion with leaders from Austria, Israel, Denmark, Greece, Czech Republic, Norway, Costa Rica & NZ on our fight against #COVID19. So important to come together to learn lessons & look ahead. Thanks @sebastiankurz for hosting this meeting again. pic.twitter.com/aLL112ytwH
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) May 27, 2020

MEMRI: Member Of Qatar-Supported IUMS: Coronavirus Is Divine Retribution For Oppression Of Muslims In China And Elsewhere

On March 9, 2020, the International Union of Muslims Scholars (IUMS), which is supported by Qatar, posted on its website an article by one of its members, Sheikh ‘Abd Al-Razzaq Qassoum, who is also chair of the Association of Algerian Muslim ‘Ulama. In the article he described the coronavirus pandemic as a sign heralding Judgement Day and as divine punishment for the oppression of Muslims in China, Palestine and other parts of the world. He expressed puzzlement at what he called the silence of the Muslims and their leaders in the face of the persecution of their brothers around the world, and even accused some of these leaders of encouraging and abetting this oppression.

The following are translated excerpts from his article.[1]
“These days the world and the people are shaken… by the deadly coronavirus pandemic, which killed thousands of people in China and [then] spread like wildfire to every part of the world. The pandemic confounded hospital doctors and kept laboratory workers awake at night. All of China’s abilities, economic power and technologies did not avail it, and neither did its ideologies. The pandemic confounded the planes in the skies and the harbors and airports on the ground. It forced people to wear masks, forced travelers from China to go into quarantine, and made holiday resorts irrelevant…

“The world was shaken by the appearance of the Chinese virus, as the panic spread to every country and every laboratory in the hospitals and clinics mobilized to stop it. But ideological China has suffered another plague, an ideological one, manifest in the quiet political persecution of millions of Chinese Muslims who did nothing wrong, other than be Muslim.

“Bless you, Allah, for [branding] the body of the Chinese giant with signs heralding the coming of Judgement Day. You exposed the helplessness [of this giant], as opposed to your immense power, and avenged the oppressed Chinese Muslims. Today China has two faces: the face of the Chinese plague that afflicts its body, and the face of religious persecution, which sentenced the Chinese Muslims to isolation, oppression and even arrests. So why is it that the world, with all its [different] faiths and ideologies, was outraged by this disease and set forth [to fight it] in the air and on the ground, yet did not bat an eyelash at the torment of the downtrodden Muslims?

“This is a world full of contrasts, whose power-balances, formulas and standards are awry. It is preoccupied with the ‘Deal of the Century’ instead of the ‘Trial of the Century.’ This Deal of the Century denies the rights of the oppressed Palestinians, for it robs them of their land and rips it to shreds… while pleasing the aggressive, occupying Zionists, welcoming the oppression they commit, strengthening them and encouraging their erosion [of the Palestinian land]. The ‘free’ and ‘civilized’ world also ignores all the corruption, tyranny and oppression that take place in various [other] places, in more than one country.

Is There a Campus Antisemitism Pandemic?

When Tufts SJP won the Collaboration Award for the antisemitic “Deadly Exchange” campaign, which claims that Israel’s training of US police forces in anti-terror operations harms people of color, the school’s president Anthony Monaco, Provost Nadine Aubry, and Deans James Glaser, Jianmin Qu, and Nancy Thompson issued this statement: “We strongly disapprove of this award in light of SJP’s concerning policy positions, including its association with the BDS movement, elements of which we view as antisemitic.”

Meanwhile, the BDS movement has had zero success off-campus and created a backlash, with Oklahoma this week becoming the 30th state to adopt an anti-BDS law.

Beyond BDS, certain groups have promoted the idea that Jewish students are in physical danger when only a handful of physical altercations affecting Jews have occurred in the last several years. Most incidents on campus are one-off occurrences, such as a swastika drawn on a Hillel building. These are disturbing but have little or no impact on the campus over the course of a year. Also, even as the number of antisemitic incidents surged 12% in our wider community over the last year, the number declined on campus by 7% according to the ADL.

The 186 incidents occurred in a population of 200,000 Jewish students attending hundreds of colleges across the United States, and were spread over the course of a school year. A much higher percentage of students have told pollsters that they have experienced some form of antisemitism; nevertheless, should we regard this as a pandemic?

Even the flu seems a bit of a stretch since the antisemitism virus is not physically hurting students. The current version has some distinctive aspects but differs little from the strain students have suffered with for decades. Sadly, there is no vaccine for the disease of antisemitism. We can treat it with therapeutics like education and attack it with legal measures, but we know it will strike again next year.

Former prof union president slams own org for ‘deplorable honor’ given to anti-Zionist prof accused of ‘harassing’ Jewish student

Former AAUP President and Professor Cary Nelson told Campus Reform that he “would have condemned” Abdulhadi’s “deplorable honor,” calling it a “reward for promoting hatred and discrimination.”

“But I did not have the power to stop it. I would have had one vote,” said Nelson.

Nelson added that the award “reflects the significant number of fierce anti-Zionists in AAUP leadership positions and the organization’s increasing willingness to politicize its identity and social role.”

In a Twitter thread criticizing the AAUP, American-Israeli Philosopher Judea Pearl questioned the group's tax-exempt status and called its praise of Abdulhadi a “POLITICAL statement meant to encourage such activities in the future.”

“I don’t believe such corruption would last one day had members and donors of @AAUP known what is done in their name,” he added.
I don't believe such corruption would last one day had members and donors of @AAUP known what is done in their name. I therefore retweet it to readers, in case some are still members in this hijacked organization, so called "American Association of University Professors". https://t.co/j4yDwfnmAO
— Judea Pearl (@yudapearl) May 24, 2020

As part of its mission, the AAUP states that it aims to “advance academic freedom and shared governance,” to “define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education” and to “promote the economic security of faculty, academic professionals.”

“AAUP members who violate fundamental values and standards in higher education, which the AAUP is committed to advancing, shouldn’t be winning its awards or admiration,” Elman told Campus Reform.

Academic Freedom Win: Israel Boycott Supporter Ilana Feldman Will Not Be Dean at George Washington U

Why all the fuss about Feldman?

Part of it is her support for BDS, but a larger part of it was that she was a leader of the academic boycott movement, a visible and vocal advocate pushing for the American Anthropological Association (AAA) to adopt the academic boycott. That effort ultimately failed, but not for lack of trying.

For almost a decade we have reported on and investigated the efforts of anti-Israel university faculty to coopt professional organizations to implement the academic boycott of Israel. Among the major associations we have written extensively about are the American Studies Association, American Historical Association, and Modern Language Association.

But of all the associations we have covered, the fight at the American Anthropological Association was the nastiest, dirtiest, and most vituperative. You can read our prior posts, some of which were by a graduate student using a pseudonym for fear of retribution from pro-BDS faculty, detailing the history of anti-Israel activism at AAA.

The AAA boycott effort ultimately failed a membership vote, barely. According to the announcment by the AAA leadership, the results were: 2,423 members opposed to boycott against 2,384 who voted in support.

What made the AAA boycott effort worse than the others?

It was an intangible bitter quality that was lacking even at the American Studies Association, the only major American faculty organization to adopt the boycott. There were no happy warriors in the AAA boycott push. Perhaps it was frustration among advocates who thought BDS was on the verge of breaking through, only to see defeat in a short period of time at AHA, MLA, and AAA.

One of the leaders of the AAA boycott effort was Feldman. Her activism started long before the 2015 AAA effort and 2016 vote.

Even in 2006 and 2012, Feldman was involved in anti-Israel efforts aimed at Anthropology faculty. She helped write a handbook for faculty by the AAA’s Taskforce on Middle East Anthropology about how to boycott Israel while using a claim of academic freedom as a shield. That is one of the ultimate ironies of the academic BDS campaign: The claim of academic freedom is used to justify depriving others of academic freedom.

Here is a little video I made a while back to help #Israel haters who share the 1939 Aus vs Palestine soccer match better understand their "own goal" pic.twitter.com/T54GLuIrT3
— (((David Lange))) (@Israellycool) May 28, 2020

Canada welcomes two new Jewish outlets, but COVID-19 has media on life support

Newspapers around the world are fighting for survival, but last week Canada’s Jewish community welcomed the near-simultaneous birth of two publications when The Canadian Jewish Record (CJR) and TheJ.ca made their online debut only 20 minutes apart. They rose phoenix-like from the ashes of their predecessor, the Canadian Jewish News (CJN), which recently gave up the ghost after 60 years of weekly publishing.

In April, the CJN’s demise, in parallel with the near-death of the Jewish Chronicle and the Jewish News in Britain, sent shockwaves through the world of Jewish journalism. It was a stark reminder of its vulnerable state, especially since COVID-19 dealt a gut-punch to national and local economies. A month earlier, the New York Jewish Week issued an “urgent appeal” to readers, seeking financial support to stay afloat.

These are grim times for the entire newspaper industry and the current coronavirus crisis has only intensified pre-existing problems — triggered largely by the rise of the internet and social media — to which Jewish newspapers, a niche in the journalistic ecosystem, are not immune.

The pandemic’s financial fallout has pummeled the media industry, particularly newspapers, long bedeviled by plummeting subscription and advertising revenue and rising printing and distribution costs. Since mid-March, increasingly desperate publishers have carried out drastic cost-cutting measures – layoffs, pay cuts, and furloughs – or simply shuttered publications.

Ironically, this media malaise came at a time when journalists proved their importance, covering a complex, era-defining story and its life-threatening ramifications for an anxious, captive audience, confined to home.

In Canada, the prospect of a 400,000-strong Jewish community no longer having its own media channel for news and commentary spurred the CJR and TheJ.ca to fill the void created by the CJN’s disappearance.

Trump to Sign Never Again Education Act Into Law

US President Donald Trump is expected to sign the Never Again Education Act, which seeks to expand Holocaust education in the United States, into law on Thursday, a source familiar with the situation told JNS.

The US House of Representatives passed the legislation in January, while the US Senate did so on May 13.

The upcoming official signing, which according to the source will occur in a private ceremony with no outside guests due to travel and other restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic, happens to come during Jewish American Heritage Month.

The legislation would expand the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s (USHMM) education programming to teachers nationwide, requiring the museum to develop and disseminate resources to improve awareness and understanding of the Holocaust and its lessons.

There would be $2 million allocated annually for this year and each of the next four years to the Holocaust Education Assistance Program Fund, administered by the USHMM’s governing body, the US Holocaust Memorial Council. Private donations for the fund would be permitted.

The measure would create an online Holocaust-education repository of resources for educators to teach both middle-school and high school students about the genocide that killed 11 million people, 6 million of whom were Jews.

Currently, 18 states either encourage or require teaching about the Holocaust.

Florida State Primary Opponent of Jewish Candidate Takes Antisemitic Pot Shots

A Republican primary opponent of a sitting Florida state representative has been accused of engaging in antisemitism against the incumbent, who is Jewish.

Randy Fine, who represents the Sunshine State’s 53rd district and is the only Jewish Republican in the state legislature, has faced ethnic attacks by economist Marcie Adkins and a political consultant for her campaign, Robert Burns.

In March 2019, a fake Facebook page was created called “Randy Fine Not So Fine,” trafficking in almost daily unverified allegations against him, including an antisemitic meme of Fine and Brevard County Commission chair Bryan Lober, the only other elected Jew at the county level, depicted as insects engaged in indecent behavior.

One post on the site was doctored to steal Lober’s identity and make it appear that he was behind the page. Lober filed a police report with the Brevard County Sheriff regarding his stolen identity. Neither Lober nor Fine knew who was behind the page.

On Oct. 10, Fine began receiving threatening text messages from a local cell phone number he did not recognize. The texts included “[Your week] is about to get worse,” “You should be careful where you park your car,” “Fat ass piece of s***,” “Fake ass Jew,” “You ain’t a Jew you just Jew-ish.”

These messages were forwarded to House Sergeant-at-Arms Russell Hosford, who determined they should be given to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). He was particularly concerned about the unsolicited references to Fine’s religion.

Fine had no idea who sent the messages to him.

Woman arrested in vandalism of Texas synagogue

A woman has been arrested in connection with the vandalism of a Texas synagogue and two other houses of worship.

Temple Emanuel, a Reform synagogue in McAllen, a church and a Hindu temple were spray-painted Tuesday morning with a swastika and the words “WITCH,” “HADES,” “RAPEST,” “NEW YORK KILLER” and other random phrases and words, The Monitor reported.

The unnamed suspect was arrested Tuesday afternoon and is in custody of the McAllen Police Department with charges pending.

Swastikas used to 'Zoombomb' online Torah study session

In yet another antisemitic “Zoombombing” incident, a Shavuot study session held by the Steinzaltz Center on Wednesday night was interrupted by antisemites who posted swastikas and other offensive images.

There have been numerous incidents of antisemitic Zoombombing, as the practice of gatecrashing or hacking into online video conferences has become known, since use of the Zoom video-conferencing platform became widespread following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Rabbi Menny Steinzaltz, approximately eight individuals broke into the study session and began to curse, sing offensive songs, and raise their middle fingers to the several dozen participants in the conference call.

The virtual assailants, who Steinzaltz said looked Middle Eastern, shouted “free Palestine” and “f**king Jews,” while also using a Nazi swastika as their profile pictures.

One individual also shared an image based on the poster for the movie Jaws showing the shark as Adolf Hitler and changing the word “Jaws” with “Jews.”

Comedy sketch featuring the swastika that aired on SBS show The Feed slammed as “vulgar” and insulting

Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, today slammed the “thoughtless, immoral and insulting skit” and called on SBS to apologise.

“It’s hard to believe this vulgar material actually made it to the airwaves and that it did not raise any red flags,” Dr Abramovich said. “SBS should have known better.”

He described the swastika as a “symbol of pure evil and mass murder” and said using it to generate “cheap gags” showed a lack of understanding and respect.

“The Nazi swastika represents not only the unimaginable suffering of the victims, but the industrial liquidation of six million Jews in gas chambers, in death camps, in ghettos and in open fields.

“To squeeze hurtful comedy at the expense of those who have endured enough and to place this satanic emblem of on the head of an actor playing a Jewish person is indefensible.”

The Holocaust remains a deeply painful memory for survivors and the families of those who were murdered at the hands of Nazis, Dr Abramovich said.

“This is the mocking and debasing of the Holocaust of the lowest kind, and it makes no difference that the people involved in this ‘joke’ are comedians to whom we usually give a lot of leeway.

“It is disheartening that I have to say this, this but comedy should not make fun of the unprecedented destruction sowed by Hitler and his collaborators across Europe, including the massacre of 1.5 million children.”

Czech company sells Nazi 'Personalities of the Third Reich’ 2021 Calendar

Czech publisher Naše Vojsko (Our Army) has come under criticism for selling a calendar on its website consisting of Nazi leaders.
The calendar, titled 'Personalities of the Third Reich’ contains pictures of well-known leaders including Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbels.

The calendar is on sale for CZK 499, or around $20.

Chairman of the Holocaust Victims Fund, Michal Klima, filed a criminal complaint against the publication of the calendar, claiming that Naše Vojsko breached the law banning the promotion of a movement suppressing human rights and freedoms.

Klima said in a statement that the law was "violated by the Naše Vojsko publishing house by producing and selling promotional items with portraits of Nazi leaders, war criminals convicted in the Nuremberg Trials."

Israeli Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Daniel Meron, wrote on Twitter that he was "shocked and disgusted by such a calendar."

Germany’s ambassador to Prague, Christoph Israng, also wrote on Twitter that, “Products that glorify the worst criminals in human history are unbearable. I cannot understand why someone makes, sells or buys this trash.”“I cannot understand that someone makes, sells or buys such trash.”

Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamacek called the calendar “tacky and immoral.”

Naše Vojsko is a Czech a retailer and publisher that specializes in military history and was founded in 1945.

Stolen Hebrew, Persian inscriptions returned to Jewish site in Iran

Two ancient Jewish inscriptions that were stolen from the Esther Khatoon historical complex in Iran have been discovered and returned to the Jewish shrine, Iranian news agency IRNA reported.

The discovery, in Falavarjan in the Isfahan Province, was carried out by Iranian police and the Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicraft Organization, an education and research institution overseeing numerous associated museums and historical sites throughout Iran.

The head of the public relations office of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of Isfahan, Shahram Amiri said Wednesday that the two ancient stones have both Hebrew and Persian inscriptions, IRNA reported.

Amiri said that the Hebrew inscription is around 1,000 years old and the Persian one is 400 years old.

He added that the theft was originally reported last summer but the stolen items were only found 10 days ago.

The thieves had not moved the items out of the province as they were waiting for a proper time to sell the ancient stones, IRNA quoted Amiri saying.

The Esther Khatoon complex, located in Pir Bakran, near Falavarjan, is over 2,000 years old.

DNA study supports Bible: Canaanites homogeneous group, lived in Israel

Where did the Canaanites come from?

A newly published study has shed light on the genomic features of the ancient population of Southern Levant - an area that covers modern Israel and the surrounding region - confirming that the biblical people were indeed a clear and homogeneous group and supporting the archaeological findings.

Moreover, the research showed that many present-day populations of the area have ancestries from groups whose ancient proxy can be related to the Middle East.

The beginning of the book of Genesis narrates that God ordered the patriarch Abraham (back then Abram) to leave his native land of Haram and embark on a journey to “a land that I will show you.

“When they arrived in the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, at the terebinth of Moreh. The Canaanites were then in the land,” read verses five and six in chapter 12 (translation by Sefaria.org).

Archaeologists indeed concur that around the 2nd millennium BCE, or Middle/Late Bronze Age – when according to some interpretations Abraham lived - the Canaanites had a major presence in what later became known as the Land of Israel.

“The Bronze Age was a very formative period in the history of Southern Levant, so we were curious to look into them,” Liran Carmel, a professor at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and one of the lead authors of the paper published on Thursday on the academic journal Cell, told The Jerusalem Post, explaining why the group of researchers chose to focus on this specific population.

“Six or seven years ago, the new field of what we can call ‘molecular history,’ emerged, with the idea of using ancient DNA to reveal patterns in more recent human history, the last few thousands of years,” he said. “At the beginning, the research focused on events that happened in Europe and western Eurasia. I thought that I really wanted to bring it here, to study demographic events and populations in this region.”

The study analyzed individuals who lived over the course of a significant period of time, over 1,500 years.

Congratulations to @HikindDov @benshapiro @HillelNeuer @RealSarahIdan @YoniMichanie @abouddandachi @NikkiHaley @GeraldNGOM @IdoDaniel who were awarded among 2020’s top 50 pro-Israel influencers. May you all continue to go from strength to strength. https://t.co/p81At3ZeBV
— Hannah Grossman (@GrossmanHannah) May 27, 2020

Gal Gadot surprises nurses dressed as Wonder Woman on morning talk show

Israeli actress and Wonder Woman Gal Gadot surprised Detroit nurses who were dressed as Wonder Woman on Good Morning America on Wednesday morning, telling them that they are the real superheroes.

"They're brave, selfless, they possess amazing strength, and they save lives – you know, superheroes," said host T. J. Holmes.

The show took a look into the emergency medical staff at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, who dressed up as various superheroes, many of which wore Wonder Woman medical masks, t-shirts and bandanas.

Holmes interviewed four members of the medical staff from the hospital, all of who wore Wonder Woman shirts, because, "Wonder Woman believes in people. She believes in love. She saves people when they can't save themselves. She's the strongest chick I know," said Erin Cavanagh, one of the four medical professionals brought onto the show.

The nurses explained that the outfit can be uplifting for the patients, as well as encourage the wearer. It's "a little different," Beth Gonzales, another medical professional in the Wonder Woman gear, said. "I feel a little empowered."

During their virtual conversation with Holmes due to coronavirus restrictions, the four medical professionals were joined by Wonder Woman herself, Gal Gadot.

"You are the real deal," Gadot said. "Let's just make this clear. Thank you. I salute you. Everything that you do is the real deal."
These Detroit health care heroes dress up in Wonder Woman shirts to uplift their patients and give themselves strength while on the front lines of the pandemic.@TJHolmes gave them the ULTIMATE super hero surprise with Wonder Woman herself @GalGadot! pic.twitter.com/F05QHKmv1m
— Good Morning America (@GMA) May 27, 2020

Tonight begins the Jewish festival of Shavuot, commemorating the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. Wishing a happy, meaningful and inspiring holiday to all those observing this special occasion. Chag Sameach! pic.twitter.com/QYu83kRdD9
— David M. Friedman (@USAmbIsrael) May 28, 2020

The holiday of Shavuot begins tonight

In May 1945, American Chaplain Rabbi Hershel Schaecter led Shavuot prayers for survivors in the Buchenwald DP camp, ~one month after its liberation

Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, Chairman of the YV Council (then a child) is seated in the front row pic.twitter.com/1QRRzTty9Y
— Yad Vashem (@yadvashem) May 28, 2020

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.

No news copy can make up for biased anti-Israel headlines (Daled Amos)

2020-05-28T14:00:00.001-04:00

Drunk on self-importance, the media long ago forgot that their job is to be objective in reporting the news. While the complexity and gravity of our current situation requires nuanced reporting, instead we get spin. The media prefers to curate facts in order to paint the bleakest picture possible. Chris Beck, Splice Today

Chris Beck is not referring to media reporting on Israel. He's referring to Media Manipulation Via Headlines in Coronavirus Era. One example Beck gives is a headline in The Los Angeles Times: A new high for coronavirus deaths in California as counties push ahead with reopening. As he points out, the article itself -- assuming the reader actually makes it to the 6th paragraph -- indicates the positive trends that form the basis of the decision to reopen, such as the declining number of newly identified cases and the declining number of hospitalizations -- down 15% from its peak, reached 6 weeks earlier. According to Beck,

As the media’s figured out that most people don’t read beyond the headlines, they tailor their headlines like any propagandist would. It’s more indoctrinating than informing. The trick to pulling it off while salvaging your reputation is to promote an agenda without telling actual lies.

And there is an agenda behind the headlines of stories about Israel. Back in March, HonestReporting pointed out a headline from AFP about Israel and the coronavirus:

While the headline implied that Israel had unilaterally closed the West Bank and left the Arabs to fend for themselves, anyone who actually read the article would find out that

o The closure was done with the cooperation of the PA. o They had set up a committee to cooperate on fighting the virus. o Israel still allows Palestinian Arabs to enter Israel for medical treatment. o Palestinian Arabs are allowed to continue working in the West Bank settlements.

In 2016, an attack in Tel Aviv's Sarona market left four people dead and 16 wounded. It was a terrorist attack, but CNN wanted to be "objective":

Following an uproar over the scare-quotes, CNN apologized and admitted in a press release "the attacks were, without question, terrorist attacks." It's a case of pursuing an agenda without telling actual lies -- as Beck put it. And since the media is not pursuing stories about the treatment of Palestinian Arabs elsewhere, such as in Lebanon where they are treated as second-class citizens, it seems clear the bias is not out of the media's concern for the plight of Palestinian Arabs. Rather than resorting to scare-quotes to avoid labeling Palestinian terrorists as terrorists, the more common method the media uses is to scrub from the headline any hint of wrongdoing at all on the part of the terrorist. A terrorist attack in Jerusalem during which 2 Palestinian attackers attempted to stab police and were subsequently shot, led to this grotesque headline:

In this case, CBS changed its headline not once, but twice: From: 3 Palestinians killed as daily violence grinds on to: Israeli police kill 3 alleged Palestinian attackers and finally to: Palestinians kill Israeli officer, wound another before being killed

Now is that so hard? Maybe it is. In a 2014 post, Anti-Israel Bias in One Headline (or Three), Jonah Goldberg writes about the AP headline of an article describing how a Palestinian Arab motorist, with a past history of anti-Israel violence, rammed his car into a crowded train station in Jerusalem, killing a three-month-old baby girl and wounding eight people. The headline went from:

Israeli police shoot man in east Jerusalem

to:

Car slams into east Jerusalem train station

to:

Palestinian kills baby at Jerusalem station.

As Goldberg puts it:

So it begins with the villain being the Israeli police. Then, in a nod to fairness, it’s changed to an evil car. Then finally, it’s a murderous Palestinian. It’s progress, I suppose.

Maybe. Of course, the media tactic of blaming Palestinian terrorist attacks on inanimate objects is now a common phenomenon. It's not clear how far back this kind of manipulation of newspaper headlines has been going on. Writing in 1987, in an attempt to explain The Focus on Israel, Thomas Friedman concentrates more on trying to explain the disproportionate attention paid to Israel than any kind of bias. But when he does address it, he gives an example of when

For their part, Israelis often accuse Western editors of bias, even latent anti-Semitism, for, say, putting the shooting of a West Bank student by Israeli troops on the front page, while burying the shooting of 20 Palestinian students by Jordanian troops inside the paper.

But that is a different kind of subtle bias. If Friedman didn't think biased headlines were a problem in 1987, 3 years later David Bar-Illan did. Bar-Illan wrote a column for the Jerusalem Post called Eye on the Media. Eventually, he took a collection of his posts from mid-1990 till the end of 1992 and published them in a book: Eye on the Media: A Look At World News Coverage of Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict. In his 1990 post Lying With Headlines, he notes

An American study of readers' habits has concluded that fewer than 30 percent read past the headlines of news stories. More important, the headline colors the story. Even a highly critical review of a play, for example, is perceived as positive if the headline contains the word "successful"; all the aspersions in the body of the review are then regarded as mere cavils. Conversely, a negative sounding headline taints even the most fulsome praise. [emphasis added]

The New York Times recently showed us how right Bar-Illan is on that last point:

Bar-Illan's examples are not limited to the printed media either. He writes about then-ABC-TV anchorman Peter Jennings who introduced a news story before a commercial break:

A young Arab was nearly lynched today in Jerusalem.

After the commercial, the viewer learned -- assuming he stayed tuned -- that "the 'young Arab' had stabbed to death two elderly men waiting for a bus, and was then chased, subdued and beaten by passersby."

He writes about the time London's The Independent ran a story with the headline "Five Palestinians killed in Israeli beach raid" -- the story was about an unsuccessful terrorist raid on a Tel Aviv beach.

Then there is the British Western Mail, which had the headline "Arab knifed in revenge after Israelis are murdered" - but actually the Arab was only lightly injured, after the discovery of the mutilated bodies. Bar-Illan writes, "had the considerations been purely journalistic, no editor would have let the headline lead with this decidedly minor injury, let alone describe it as a 'knifing'." He concludes with a comment on the media's habit -- even back in 1990 -- to avoid pointing out Palestinian terrorists as perpetrators of attacks:

Followers of news from Israel in the Western press must wonder about this country of unbounded miracles, in which stones are thrown, cars are torched, and Jews are shot, stabbed, and burned to death by some sort of spontaneous process, with the perpetrators unknown.

Clearly, this form of media bias -- and anti-Israel media bias in general -- is not a 21st-century phenomenon. It has been going on for a while. And the problem goes beyond just bad PR for Israel. Jonathan Tobin asks Does media bias against Israel still matter? and writes that polls indicate that a strong majority of the US still supports Israel -- even with all the media bias and distortions.

But it isn't the effect of this bias on the general population that should be the concern. Keeping in mind how much Israel's successes, such as the 1976 Entebbe rescue, encouraged Jews and made them feel closer to Israel, Tobin notes that the opposite is also true:

While some Jews are outraged by biased coverage that unfairly depicts Israel as a villain, others internalize the calumnies and distance themselves from the Jewish state. An average consumer of news may not be influenced by the Times. But a not-insignificant portion of American Jewry still regards the newspaper with the sort of veneration that observant Jews have for religious texts. The Times has been assaulting the Jewish community with the prejudices of its publishers, editors and reporters since the days when, as Dermer rightly notes, it "buried" the story of the Holocaust. Media bias may not have turned Americans against Israel, but it has been doing a bang-up job of turning Jews against each other for decades.

This is especially a concern now with the increasing strength of "progressives" in the Democratic party, where antisemitism is only called out when it comes from the extreme right-wing. Ties and support for Israel among young Jews cannot be taken for granted. Now more than ever, especially on social media, it is important to counter the bias and spin that comes from traditional media -- and now from the new media as well.

05/28 Links Pt1: Death of a dogma? After annexation, world likely to abandon two-state paradigm; Cameraman who criticized PA fired from Associated Press

2020-05-28T12:00:00.001-04:00

From Ian:

Amb. Alan Baker: If Abbas Can Revoke Solemn Obligations over a Knesset Speech, of What Value Are Any Palestinian Commitments?

On May 18, 2020, Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority and Chair of the PLO, declared that "[t]he Palestine Liberation Organization and the State of Palestine are absolved from all agreements and understandings with the American and Israeli governments and from all the obligations based on these understandings and agreements, including the security ones."

This raises several interesting legal and political questions regarding the veracity and credibility of all and any Palestinian commitments.
If the Palestinian leadership feels that it can glibly and freely revoke solemn obligations in signed agreements - witnessed and guaranteed by international leaders - merely at the whim of Mahmoud Abbas because he disapproves of speeches or Israeli policy statements, then one may ask what value or reliability do any Palestinian commitments - past, present or future - hold?

Abbas' declaration and actions are not in response to any specific Israeli action that might be interpreted as violating those agreements. The Palestinian actions are merely in response to a speech by Israel's prime minister expressing possible intentions to apply Israeli law or sovereignty to parts of the territories at a later date, but without such actions having been actually taken.

In light of Abbas' declaration, the question arises whether such abrogation, as well as the actual, unilateral violation by the Palestinian leadership of its commitments in the Oslo Accords, through actively obstructing and preventing security and other forms of bilateral cooperation, does not represent a material breach of those accords, rendering them impossible to implement, and thereby enabling Israel to declare them void.

One may even ask the international community what value exists in the continued Palestinian fixation of acceding to international conventions in violation of their Oslo commitments, when they demonstrate so assertively that they can freely violate any commitments in such conventions and agreements, for no good reason.

Death of a dogma? After annexation, world likely to abandon two-state paradigm

Critics, by contrast, anticipate not only condemnations but sanctions, and not only from Europe but also from 50 percent of the American body politic. They also worry about further alienating Diaspora Jewry, fear for the peace agreement with and the internal stability of Jordan, fret over the recent rapprochement with the Gulf states, and predict increased wrath from the International Criminal Court.

Some have argued that the plan will make a future separation from the Palestinians nearly impossible in the long run, which eventually would turn Israel into an apartheid state in which Israelis and Palestinians share the same space but have unequal rights.

One counterargument is that the currently envisioned annexation — which the Israeli government agreed would only occur in full coordination with the US administration and along the lines of President Donald Trump’s peace proposal — would apply Israeli sovereignty to about 30 percent of the West Bank.

The rest remains reserved for a future Palestinian state — hence, in this thesis, annexation in the framework of the plan would not presage the end of the two-state solution but rather be a step toward a “realistic two-state solution.” Indeed, the so-called deal of the century mentions the term “two-state solution” a whopping 86 times.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas speaks to the UN Security Council on February 11, 2020. He is holding a map included in the US proposal for Israeli-Palestinian peace, which he said he rejected and whose application on the ground would be “confronted” by the Palestinians. (UN screenshot)

But rather than embracing the plan as an outline to reach a two-state solution, many in the international community consider it the final nail in the coffin of a two-state solution. And while few officials are currently ready to depart from the decade-old diplomatic dogma sanctifying the two-state solution, there are growing indications that sooner or later they will embrace a one-state outcome.

Because once the world determines that the old “two states for two peoples” paradigm is no longer relevant, it will likely draw the logical conclusion and start advocating for one bi-national state, from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, with equal rights for all.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell during a news conference in Brussels, January 7, 2020 (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

“We agree that the annexation of the Jordan Valley would mean the end of the two-state solution,” European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on April 30 after speaking to Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi.

If annexation kills all prospects for a Palestinian state next to Israel — then what’s the alternative?

For now, most governments cling to the two-state doctrine, which has been affirmed as the “best and the only realistic chance for peace” in countless resolutions and declarations. But some officials have started saying the hitherto unthinkable.

“The principle of ‘two states for two people’ was the motto and official condition of the peace process. Let’s face it, time is running out and the situation has changed,” Radek Vondráček, the speaker of Czech Republic’s Chamber of Deputies, wrote Monday in an op-ed. The world, he added, should not force its “old schemes and the frustration that results from not fulfilling them” on the parties on the ground if they want to explore new ideas.

“The existence of the state of Israel shows that the realization of the human dream of freedom is extremely difficult,” Vondráček wrote. “The dream was not based on the dogma of a two-state solution. It is therefore time to revive the idea of the coexistence of all in one common state.”

As opposed to Vondráček — who is known as a friend of Israel — even those critical of the Israeli government say annexation would make any other outcome impossible.

Adi Schwartz and Einat Wilf: How to Solve the Palestinian Refugee Issue

The Palestinian refugee issue is not just one more issue in the conflict; it is probably the issue. The Palestinian conception of themselves as "refugees from Palestine," and their demand to exercise a so-called right of return, reflect the Palestinians' most profound beliefs about their relationship with the land and their lack of willingness to share any part of it with Jews.

The UN structural support and Western financial support for these Palestinian beliefs has led to the creation of a permanent and ever-growing population of Palestinian refugees, and what is by now a nearly insurmountable obstacle to peace. The Palestinian demand to "return" to what became the sovereign state of Israel in 1948 stands as a testament to the Palestinian rejection of the legitimacy of a state for the Jews in any part of their ancestral homeland.

The UN agency (UNRWA) charged with caring for the original Palestinian refugees in the immediate aftermath of the war, and that has been sustained for decades by Western funding with billions of dollars, has instead become a major obstacle to peace and a vehicle for perpetuating the conflict. Since UNRWA is part of the problem, and not part of the solution, we call on the international community to dismantle and replace the agency.

UNRWA's operations should be merged into those of the Palestinian Authority. From a practical perspective, nothing would change but the sign on the door. UNRWA schools would become PA schools, but the pupils, teachers, and curricula would remain the same. The same goes for hospitals. The writers are the co-authors of The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace.

Netanyahu: The Palestinians have to concede, not Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that applying Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, and in the Jordan Valley, in particular, is a historical step. This is nothing new. However, he apparently doesn't view the initiative as the end of the diplomatic process. Due to its very nature, an event such as this attracts a great deal of attention and criticism, including from the Jordan, yet Netanyahu doesn't seem overly perturbed.

It's been a turbulent week. His partner in the unity government, Benny Gantz, was stunned over the severity of the prime minister's attack on the people who led the investigations against him in the police and State Attorney's Office, standing outside the Jerusalem District Court where his trial was set to start. Recent polls indicate, perhaps contrary to the intentions of those who wished to harm the prime minister, that the right-wing bloc has ballooned to 67 Knesset seats with the Likud holding steady at 41 mandate.

"I feel well because I feel I'm fighting for truth and justice," Netanyahu tells Israel Hayom from his office in the Knesset. "Of course, also for our country. This is something I do all the time."

Q: In that speech [outside the courthouse] what you said can be taken as you saying that there's no alternative to your leadership on the Right, and all the other [politicians] are pushovers. But they were all standing beside you.

"I didn't say there's no alternative. I said they [the Left] want to topple me in order to remove the Right from power. That's how they think. And they would certainly be willing to accept someone – they wouldn't care if they got someone from the Right who was a pushover. Someone obedient. Who kowtows to all the nonsense they utter through their proxies in the media. Their mouthpieces. Absolutely.

"They've been this way before. Who uprooted communities and were handled with kids gloves. That's not me. Which is why they want to get rid of me. Because they think this is the way to take control of the right. Take control of the country. In the worst case, someone from the Right will be the one doing their bidding."

The Right's mistake
Q: The oppositionist Right is already accusing you of folding, because of the Jordan Valley issue of all things.

"Folding?! Did they deliver the prospect of sovereignty from the Americans? Who delivered it? For the first time since the establishment of the state, I've managed to secure American recognition [of our sovereignty rights], first on the Golan Heights and in Jerusalem, and then through an agreement that will facilitate American recognition in the areas of our homeland inside Judea and Samaria. These are [US President Donald] Trump's decisions, and the person who broached these matters with him was me. No one else."

Netanyahu: Palestinians in Israeli-annexed Jordan Valley won’t get citizenship

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview Thursday that Palestinians living under Israeli rule in an annexed Jordan Valley would not receive Israeli citizenship.

Palestinian towns and villages in the area will remain “Palestinian enclaves” under Palestinian rule but Israel security control, he explained.

These Palestinian residential areas, which some estimates say are home to 50,000-65,000 Palestinians, “will remain as Palestinian enclaves,” he told the pro-Netanyahu Israel Hayom. “You don’t annex [the Palestinian city of] Jericho [which has a population of some 20,000]. There are one or two groups [of Palestinian residential areas] where you don’t have to extend sovereignty; [their residents] will remain Palestinian subjects, but [overall Israeli] security control will apply there.”

In a separate interview Thursday, Netanyahu dismissed fears increasingly expressed by settlers leaders regarding the US peace plan’s vision for the West Bank, saying that the mapping process is ongoing and that they were criticizing elements of the plan that still haven’t been determined and published.

Speaking to the right-wing Makor Rishon newspaper, Netanyahu said he didn’t believe Jordan would annul the peace accord if Israel goes forward with his declared plan to annex some West Bank land including the Jordan Valley, and said any settlement construction freeze as part of the Trump plan would also apply to Palestinians in Area C — which is controlled by Israel.

Netanyahu said he was committed to extending Israeli sovereignty to parts of the West Bank in July, after a joint Israeli-US team completes a process of mapping the exact vision for the future of the territory based on a conceptual map released by US President Donald Trump’s administration earlier this year.

Former Peace Envoy Greenblatt: "Door to Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations Remains Open"

Jason Greenblatt, the architect of the U.S. Middle East peace vision, says peace is still possible if Palestinians abandon their rejection of the plan and negotiate with Israel. Greenblatt said, "The door to the White House to negotiate a peace agreement will remain open." But if the Palestinians wait too long "and annexation happens, then it happens."

"How sad that the Palestinian leadership won't even engage and see if there is something in this plan that they can help shape differently....But to refuse to engage and see if you can make it better, to simply say these are my deal points and these are the only deal points that I will accept, no deal is going to happen that way and Israel will thrive and prosper and unfortunately the Palestinians will fall further and further behind. And that is a tragedy."

"We can no longer let the Palestinian Authority have a veto on Israel's progress. I wish we could no longer let the Palestinian Authority have veto on Palestinian progress, but that is out of our hands....What they are asking for is not achievable and what they are asking for, in our view, is not grounded in rights."

Scaremongering about sovereignty

Remember the dark days of 2014, when Israel’s foreign relations supposedly were “crashing,” when the international diplomatic noose purportedly was tightening around Israel’s neck?

That was because of the looming Western boycott of Israel. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement was everywhere and overwhelming, we were told. Every day, almost every hour, Israel’s then-chief peace negotiator, Tzipi Livni, wailed about Israel’s impending isolation.

According to Livni, Israel was about to be hit with unprecedented diplomatic, economic and academic chill, with severe repercussions for business and prosperity, unless, of course, Israel snapped quickly to Livni’s tune of withdrawal from the West Bank and conceded a state to the Palestinians.

Then-finance minister Yair Lapid chimed in too with a shabbily concocted report that confirmed Livni’s premonitions. The pocketbook of every Israeli was going to be hit hard, Lapid warned, by Western BDS activity, unless Israel scurried to then-US secretary of state John Kerry’s camp and hurried to cut a deal with the Palestinians.

In fact, the “threat” of a global boycott against Israel was so obsessively talked about those days that you might have thought it a greater threat than the growth of Iranian forces on Israel’s borders.

It turned out that this was manifest nonsense. The menace of BDS was deliberately overstated and wildly overestimated. It was largely an artificial threat manufactured by the Israeli Left and magnified 1,000 times over by media repetition.

No wonder that Kerry and other Western leaders took to sternly cautioning Israel about the consequences of a breakdown in Palestinian negotiations. Kerry was merely echoing what he heard from Livni and Lapid, who deliberately prophesied unsubstantiated doom and gloom in an attempt to scare the Israeli public into retreat and withdrawal.

Zionist Federation affiliate members slam chair over ‘wholly inappropriate’ annexation comments

Affiliate members of the Zionist Federation UK have criticised its chair in a letter over what they claim were “wholly inappropriate” comments on the planned Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank.

ZF chair Paul Charney claimed that “past attempts at negotiated settlement have failed due to Palestinian intransigence, leaving Israel with little option other than to take unilateral steps to secure its borders and its future for all its citizens.

“Israel is a democratic state, led by a democratically elected government, and annexation will not change this.”

In a letter to Mr Charney and ZF’s National Executive, a group of affiliated organisations accused the leadership of “misrepresenting” the views of its constituent bodies.

“The Zionist Federation does not have a mandate to formulate policy positions in response to events taking place in Israel or the wider Middle East, or to make statements on behalf of the organisations it claims to represent,” it said.

“When the leadership of the Zionist Federation make political statements about key issues in Israel, they undermine its credibility as a representative body, and overstep the remit of the organisation, misrepresenting its constituent bodies.”

It added that social media posts by the Zionist Federation “that appeared to pledge support for settlement throughout the entirety of Israel and the West Bank” had “no place in an organisation in which there are a broad range of opinions on this issue.”

The letter urged the National Council “to reflect on what is appropriate behaviour for individuals in positions of authority in the Zionist Federation and ensure that those entrusted into these positions carry out their duties appropriately.

Why does the Israeli left always insist on badmouthing their country in the American press? If they want to persuade their fellow Israelis, they have plenty of Israeli platforms, both Hebrew and English. What do they hope to gain by this? pic.twitter.com/SgDoAZWkxa
— Mirabelle Ward (@MirabelleW18) May 28, 2020

Naftali Bennett: Trump peace plan map needs to change

As the international community is pressing Israel to back away from the Trump peace plan and its annexation intentions, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a battle against right-wing politicians who want him to apply sovereignty to West Bank settlements while rejecting the Trump plan.

They are upset in particular by the Trump map, which they argue would lead to de facto building freezes and the destruction of at least 15 settlements.

Yamina Party head Naftali Bennett has long opposed the Trump plan because it also allows for the creations of a demilitarized Palestinian state. Bennett has long argued Israel must apply sovereignty to all of Area C, while the Trump plan allows Israel to annex only half of Area C, effectively 30% of the West Bank.

He had in the past said he would support any sovereignty plan that was good for Israel, including the Trump plan. Now that he has understood the Trump map, however, Bennett said he does not believe it is in Israel’s best interest.

PLO declares agreements with Israel have ended

Palestinian officials said on Wednesday they are planning to step up their efforts to thwart Israel’s intention to apply sovereignty to parts of the West Bank, now that the Palestinians have “successfully” prevented the spread of the coronavirus.
Some officials expressed hope massive international pressure would force Israel to backtrack on its “unilateral” move.

“There’s room for optimism,” a senior Palestinian official in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post. “There’s a feeling that most of the world stands with us on the issue of annexation.”

The official was speaking as members of the PLO Executive Committee held further discussions in Ramallah to discuss ways of foiling the “annexation” plan.

Prior to the meeting, PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat said the Palestinian leadership was holding marathon discussions and intensive contacts with several countries to brief them on the “dangers” of the Israeli plan.

ICC Gives Palestinians Until June 10 to Clarify Status of Oslo Accords

The International Criminal Court in The Hague is requesting clarification from the Palestinian Authority regarding its recent announcement that all agreements with Israel and the United States had been annulled.

In a May 26 “Order requesting additional information,” a copy of which is available on the ICC website, the court’s pre-trial chamber asked the PA to clarify whether its announcement pertained to the Oslo Accords.

The request came on the heels of a speech that PA leader Mahmoud Abbas delivered in Ramallah on May 19, in which he stated: “The Palestine Liberation Organization and the State of Palestine are absolved, as of today, of all the agreements and understandings with the American and Israeli governments and of all the obligations based on these understandings and agreements, including the security ones.”

Abbas made this declaration in response to Israel’s stated intention to proceed with the part of the Trump administration’s “Peace to Prosperity” plan that allows for the Jewish state to extend sovereignty in some of Judea and Samaria.

The pre-trial chamber is seeking to determine Abbas’s intention in relation to the 1993 Oslo Accords—the PLO treaty with Israel that established the PA—in an attempt to assess the status of the war-crimes case against Israel that its chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, threatened earlier this month to pursue.

According to the ICC document, the PA has until June 10 to respond. In the event that it meets this request, Bensouda is “ordered” and Israel is “invited” to respond no later than June 24.

'Next few weeks will determine whether future decades will see peace or bloodshed'

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has "spared no effort to salvage the [Israeli-Palestinian] peace process," Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat said Tuesday, adding he was confident that the Arab world would not allow Israel to execute its plan to apply sovereignty to large parts of Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley.

He further said that Ramallah will "seek clarifications" over reports saying that many of the moderate Arab states will not challenge the Israeli plan.

"The next few weeks will determine whether the next decades will be ones of peace and coexistence or of violence and war," Erekat warned.

Arab sources told Israel Hayom Tuesday that while Arab leaders were concerned that the unilateral annexation of areas in the West Bank the Palestinians seek for a future state, would see the region plunged into a violent conflict, behind the scenes, moderate Arab leaders are in no rush to prevent Israel from pursuing the territorial bid.

The rulers of Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states have all warned Israel that a unilateral sovereignty move would foster hostilities that could destabilize the region.

Jordan's King Abdullah even warned that the move would set Amman and Jerusalem on a collision course that may even jeopardize the peace treaty the two signed in 1994.

He further warned the move could hasten the collapse of the Palestinian Authority.

Ramallah to ‘Seek Clarification’ on Arab Stance Regarding Israeli Sovereignty

PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat said on Tuesday that Ramallah will “seek clarifications” regarding reports that many of the moderate Arab states will not challenge Israel’s plan to apply its sovereignty in the Jordan Valley and parts of Judea and Samaria.

The former chief Palestinian negotiator added that he was confident that the Arab world would not allow Israel to move forward with its sovereignty plan.

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, said Erekat, has “spared no effort to salvage the [Israeli-Palestinian] peace process,”and “the next few weeks will determine whether the next decades will be ones of peace and coexistence or of violence and war.”

Arab sources told Israel Hayom on Tuesday that while Arab leaders were concerned that the unilateral annexation of areas in the West Bank the Palestinians seek for a future state, would see the region plunged into a violent conflict, behind the scenes, moderate Arab leaders are in no rush to prevent Israel from pursuing the territorial bid.

The rulers of Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states have all warned Israel that a unilateral sovereignty move would foster hostilities that could destabilize the region.

Jordan’s King Abdullah even warned that the move would set Amman and Jerusalem on a collision course that may even jeopardize the peace treaty the two signed in 1994. He further warned the move could hasten the collapse of the Palestinian Authority.

Still, senior officials in the moderate Arab countries made it clear that, despite the pan-Arab stance against the annexation plan, behind the scenes the move is not being challenged as forcibly as the Palestinians might hope.

PA Could Face Existential Threat If It Cuts Security Ties with Israel

The Palestinian Authority's security forces have ceased taking calls from the Israel Defense Forces and are not conducting security coordination with Israel, Israel's Channel 11 News reported on Monday, citing a senior Israeli defense source.

The development comes days after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared that he is no longer obligated to uphold previous agreements with Israel, including security coordination, in response to declared intentions by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to apply Israeli sovereignty in sections of Judea and Samaria.

"We've never been in a situation like this. There are no calls," the source told Channel 11 News. "But the Palestinians know well, like we do, that they can't live without us. The question is, how do they climb down from this tree?"

Col. (res.) Moshe Elad, one of the founders of the security coordination between the Israel Defense Forces and the Palestinian Authority, said on Monday that in the event that the PA continues with its cessation of contacts with Israel into the long-term future, it would place itself in existential danger.

"The PA's security forces conduct many arrests of Hamas operatives," said Elad, a lecturer at the Western Galilee College. "Last year, they shut down 300 organizations that had affiliations to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, other Islamists or ISIS. The PA closes down such organizations and institutions. Will they continue doing this? It's a given that they will," he said.

"If the PA fails to do this and gives breathing space to the Islamist organizations, the Islamists will fill that vacuum very quickly," he added.

Israel and the PA have a common interest in repressing Hamas in the West Bank; the PA benefits greatly from Israel's operations and intelligence capabilities used to prevent Hamas and PIJ from building an armed infrastructure.

"I believe that Abbas's maneuver is more declarative. I don't think he can keep this up over time because the PA has a strategic need for coordination with Israel. The chances the PA would be taking if they keep this up would be very big, including the risk of an armed coup against them. Hamas has a presence in the West Bank. Without Israel, it would grow stronger," said Elad.

Amid annexation plans, US warns its citizens against West Bank travel

As Israel continues to push US-backed plans to annex parts of the West Bank in July, Washington on Thursday issued a security alert advising its citizens to execute extra caution when traveling to the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, anticipating potential violence.

The US Embassy in Jerusalem advised US citizens to “maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness.”

It warned that “violence can occur with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, government checkpoints, markets and shopping facilities or government facilities.”

“US citizens should carefully consider risks to their personal safety and security when considering visits to sites and events that are potential targets,” it added.

The alert barred US government personnel from “engaging in personal travel to the West Bank, with the exception of the portions of Route 1, Route 443 and Route 90 that traverse the West Bank.” It said they were prohibited from traveling to Gaza.

Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians earlier this week warned the Israel Defense Forces’ chief of staff and the defense minister of a potential wave of violence if the government follows through with its plans to unilaterally annex portions of the West Bank.

Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas Ends all Agreements with Gravity (satire)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced that he is cutting off all ties with gravity. Abbas introduced the new policy in a meandering address from his palace in Ramallah. The canceling of all agreements with gravity comes days after Abbas announced that he is cutting off all ties with Israel, the two moves are interpreted as part of the same larger policy.

“I think he’s really into making big announcements that he either can’t and won’t pull through with” said Omar Rahman who researches Palestinian politics. Rahman added that Abbas has threatened to cut off relations with Israel 476 times in the past “but this is the first time we have heard about gravity; I didn’t think the old man had any new ideas in him. I’m a bit surprised.”

Hamas announced that they like the idea of cutting off relations with gravity, but the militant group did not believe Abbas had the ability to get anything done. A Hamas spokesperson said that cutting off ties to gravity would give the group an ability “to absolve ourselves of responsibility when the Islamic Jihad fires a rocket, if we have no relations with gravity how can we launch rockets?”

Similarly, the Islamic Jihad supported severing ties with one of physics’ most basic laws. “We have a lot of really embarrassing rocket launches. If we have no relations with gravity, that’s a pretty good excuse” said a spokesperson for the terror organization.

Reuters’ Annual Arabic Press Release on Behalf of Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics

Continuing a longstanding tradition, Reuters Arabic’s coverage this month of the annual “conditions of the Palestinian people” report released by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reads more like a press release for the Palestinian agency than a news report by an independent international news agency.

The Palestinian Authority’s PCBS publishes its report every year in anticipation of Nakba Day on May 15, the date that Palestinians mark as the “catastrophe” of Israel’s founding.

But the annual affair is of dubious newsworthiness. Indeed, the journalistic value of Reuters’ consistent coverage of the annual PCBS report, year after year, is highly questionable at best (2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013). Only two figures in Reuters’ 2020 coverage – those concerning the total population of Palestinians and the current number of “Palestinian refugees” – concern 2019. PCBS’s announcement also includes two 2018 figures, which Reuters had not previously reported last year. The rest of the material, which constitutes the overwhelming bulk of the report, concerns 1948 events and their aftermath. Reuters’ West Bank reporters have been covering the PCBS reports every single year since 2013 in much the same way, primarily rehashing the exact same material, in much the same language, concerning events from decades ago, and including minimal material on current data.

For instance, on a consistent basis, Reuters’ yearly article about the PCBS publication alleges, by directly quoting the unchallenged PCBS claim, that “the uprooting of 800,000 Palestinians” was carried out “from their villages and cities, out of 1.4 million Palestinians who, in 1948, resided across historical Palestine in 1300 Palestinian villages and towns.” Nearly identical quote and figures appear in Reuters’ 2020, 2019, 2018, 2016 and 2015 reports.

Recycled over many years are also the claims that “The process of this [ethnic] cleansing was accompanied with the Zionist gangs perpetrating more than 70 massacres against the Palestinians, creating more than 15,000 martyrs,” and that “During the Nakba phase, the Israeli occupation took control over 774 Palestinian villages, 534 of which were completely destroyed while the rest was subjugated to the occupying entity and its laws.” Both claims appear in all of Reuters’s coverage from 2013 to 2020 with the exception of 2018.

Germany: U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell's Legacy of Success

Richard Grenell arguably has done more than any other American official, with the possible exception of U.S. President Donald J. Trump, to call out the duplicity, hypocrisy and recklessness of Germany's foreign policy establishment.

Closely related to the defense spending issue is Germany's increasing energy dependency on Russia.... while the United States is spending billions of dollars annually to defend Europe against growing threats from Russia, German energy policies are increasing Russia's grip over Europe.

Grenell's greatest achievement during his roughly two years as ambassador was his tireless pursuit of the American interest and his unwillingness to appease Germany's anti-American establishment.

On April 30, 2020, after years of equivocating, the German government announced a compromise measure between German lawmakers who want to take a harder line against Iran and those who do not. The ban falls far short of a complete prohibition on Hezbollah and appears aimed at providing the German government with political cover that allows Berlin to claim that it has banned the group even if it has not.

"With @RichardGrenell, Germany is losing one of the best US Ambassadors to our country ever. Whether it was pressure to stop NordStream2, rethink German-Iranian regime (love) affairs or increase our defense expenditure - he was always on point and acting in the best interest of the United States and Germany. THANKS SO MUCH!" — Julian Röpke, political editor of Bild, Germany's largest newspaper

Jewish, pro-Israel groups laud US ambassador to Germany as he leaves post

Pro-Israel Jewish groups expressed appreciation to U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell as he is expected to step down from his role, which he assumed two years ago in May 2018.

The move follows the confirmation last week of former Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) as U.S. director of national intelligence, a position Grenell briefly held on an acting basis in conjunction with his ambassadorship and his role as U.S. special envoy for Serbia-Kosovo negotiations, which he will reportedly keep.

“We appreciate Ambassador Grenell’s service to our country and for standing with our ally Israel on the international stage against the threat posed by the Iranian regime and its proxies,” AIPAC spokesperson Marshall Wittmann told JNS.

“As ambassador, [he] has been a strong and clear voice against anti-Semitism in Europe, and in calling out the Iranian regime’s hegemonism and sponsorship of terrorist groups,” B’nai B’rith International CEO Dan Mariaschin said to JNS. “We are grateful for his work in Germany, including his successful push for the German government to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.”

Ruthie Blum: Right from wrong: Why we want Netanyahu’s trial televised

With few exceptions, the Israeli press is none too fond of Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu. The feeling, as a result, is mutual, with very good reason.

Acting as judge, jury and executioner, the country’s media outlets have not even tried to conceal their long-standing desire to see his dust. Imagine their delight, then, when the judicial system provided them with the perfect cover for their unbridled lack of neutrality and blatant partisanship.

Not that readers or viewers really believe that journalists are unbiased. More to the point, most people these days – including publishers, editors and reporters – seem have a hard time telling the difference between news, analysis and opinion.
Nor would this be the least bit of a problem if each outlet acknowledged its slant. There is no shame in having and promoting a worldview, after all. No, the disgrace lies in the pretense. And left-wing reporters are full of it, so to speak, which is why Netanyahu is a perfect target for them.

It is not his party, voters or even the entire Right – they claim – that is at the root of their open aggression, but rather the man himself. Indeed, they tell themselves and everybody else, the very fact that he is under indictment on charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust makes him fair game.

Never mind that Netanyahu, like every citizen in a democracy, is supposed to enjoy the presumption of innocence. The so-called “cloud” over his head is enough to demand that he disappear from the scene, if not the face of the Earth. The trouble is that huge swaths of the public clearly do not agree, and vote repeatedly with their feet to prove it.

There is one issue on which Netanyahu and his in-studio nemeses see eye-to-eye, however. Like him, they want his trial, which kicked off at the beginning of this week, to be broadcast live. They even submitted a formal request ahead of Sunday’s arraignment that it be televised. But for some reason, the Jerusalem District Court – where the arraignment took place and the rest of the trial will be held – nixed the idea.

Meir Ben-Shabbat makes decisions under pressure, with lives on the line

National Security Council head Meir Ben-Shabbat is no stranger to tough situations.

A 30-year veteran of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), Ben-Shabbat ran its highly touted intelligence operations in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009.

He has also headed the agency’s Cyber Directorate, its National Directorate for Prevention of Terror and Espionage, Research and Policy, and – before becoming NSC head in 2017 – the Shin Bet’s entire Southern Division, including Gaza.

As a result, Ben-Shabbat knows how to make decisions under pressure with human lives on the line. He also knows how to work intensively for months on end.

Yet at a recent closed meeting, he said that the last 90 days – when by virtue of his position as NSC head he served as the country’s coordinator of efforts to fight the coronavirus – were the hardest of his life.

This was not because of the intensity of the work, the difficult decisions that had to be made, nor because he had to coordinate between the health system, the intelligence community, the Finance Ministry and the legal system. Rather, the days were so difficult because they involved a crisis of a completely different kind, where the enemy was largely unknown and there was so much at stake: the physical and economic health of the country, and the fate of the most vulnerable segments of its population.

i24: Israel's Lebanese Soldiers

Throwing it back to 2015 when @OneRepublic surprised our soldiers responsible for operating the Iron Dome Aerial Defense System, capable of intercepting rockets mid-air.

While One Republic is counting stars, these soldiers are counting interceptions 💪 https://t.co/cm4pjQMupr
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 27, 2020

Cameraman who criticized PA fired from Associated Press

Eyad Hamad, a veteran Palestinian cameraman, said on Wednesday that he was fired from the Associated Press (AP) after the Palestinian Authority filed a “complaint” against him.

Hamad, 63, a resident of Bethlehem, told The Jerusalem Post that the complaint was filed against him because he had criticized the Palestinian security forces for arresting and beating a Palestinian journalist.

Hamad and several Palestinian journalists expressed outrage over the AP decision. They said they were planning a series of protests against the international news agency in the coming days.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate issued a statement in which it condemned the "arbitrary dismissal" of the cameraman. The syndicate called on AP to revoke its "unfair and unjust decision."

“I have been working for AP for 20 years,” he said. “I covered many events in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and a number of Arab countries. The decision came as a surprise to me and my colleagues.”

Hamad said he believed the decision to fire him came after he and several Palestinian journalists launched a campaign to demand the release of Anas Hawwari, a Palestinian journalist recently arrested by the PA security forces.

Because of the campaign, Hamad said, he received threats from PA security officials who told him that they would see to it that he gets fired from AP.

MADA demands the Associated Press withdraw its dismissal of journalist Iyad Hamadhttps://t.co/J1Gty6hx0Z
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) May 28, 2020

How does Saudi Arabia spend its money?

🇪🇬 Aid to Egypt $15b
🇾🇪 Aid to Yemen $8b
⛵️ A boat $0.5b
🖼️ A painting $0.4b
🇵🇸 Aid to Palestinians $0.1b

Unlike the EU, the Saudis know that Palestinian aid which doesn't bankroll terrorists is stolen by corrupt leaders.

End #PayToSlay
— Israel Advocacy Movement (@israel_advocacy) May 27, 2020

You should pay attention to tweets from Saudi Arabia…

"The Saudi neighbourhood in Gaza

These are villas Saudi Arabia built for the Palestinians whose homes were affected by the war between Hamas and Israel

From this neighbourhood insults are issued against Saudi Arabia" https://t.co/4H4EghHl2F
— Israel Advocacy Movement (@israel_advocacy) May 28, 2020

🇺🇳 GOOD: U.N. publishes report on abduction, interrogation & torture of Iraqis during October 2019 protests & calls out government's "absence of accountability" and "impunity" for rights abuses.

Statement by @UNIraq & @UNHumanRights: https://t.co/1o1a0P5yrk pic.twitter.com/UtwJhuurSJ
— UN Watch (@UNWatch) May 28, 2020

MEMRI: Iraqi TV Discussion about Flying Rainbow Flag at EU Embassy in Baghdad: This Is Cultural Invasion

On May 17, 2020, Al-Nujaba TV (Iraq) aired a discussion about flying the rainbow flag at the EU Embassy in Baghdad. Iraqi researcher Jomaa Al-Atwani said that Iraq is fighting a battle against a “cultural invasion,” that Iraq’s religious leaders are being targeted by minions of America and the West, and that “Joker gangs,” homosexuals, and their “emo types” have been declaring that nothing is sacred. He also criticized the U.S. for giving rights to homosexuals, who he said transgress the laws of nature. In addition, Al-Atwani said that the American Embassy sends Iraqi students to the U.S. in order to teach them “sex culture,” so that they return to Iraq “charged up.” He added that this danger must be confronted immediately because within a few decades, Iraqi families may not be able to prevent their children from practicing “deviant activity”. Furthermore, Iraqi political analyst Wael Al-Rikaby said that all the countries that agreed that the rainbow flag should be flown at the EU Embassy in Baghdad should apologize to the Iraqi people. He also said that homosexuals are outcasts who are rejected by their families.

US to end sanctions
waivers allowing some work at Iran nuclear sites

The United States said on Wednesday it will terminate sanctions waivers that had allowed Russian, Chinese and European companies to carry out work originally designed to make it harder for Iranian nuclear sites to be used for weapons development.

The waivers, which officials said expire on July 27, covered the conversion of Iran's Arak heavy water research reactor, the provision of enriched uranium for its Tehran Research Reactor and the transfer of spent and scrap reactor fuel abroad.

In a statement, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave no precise justification for the move, which will halt some work originally designed to make it more difficult for Iran to potentially develop fissile material for nuclear bombs.

However, Pompeo said Washington would extend for 90 days a waiver allowing foreign work at a Russian-built nuclear power plant at Bushehr to ensure safety.

The wider decision seemed aimed at tightening the US "maximum pressure" policy applied since Washington abandoned the 2015 Iran nuclear deal two years ago. That deal eased economic sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear program.

"Because of our pressure, Iran's leaders are facing a decision: either negotiate with us or manage economic collapse," US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook told reporters.

Since the US withdrawal and the revival of US sanctions to cut Iran's oil exports, Tehran has boosted its nuclear work in what analysts see as an effort to change US policy or increase Iranian leverage in any negotiation.

"The Iranian regime has continued its nuclear brinkmanship by expanding proliferation-sensitive activities," Pompeo said, adding this "will lead to increased pressure on Iran."

Today the admin took a critical step toward tearing up the catastrophic Obama-Iran nuclear deal once and for all.

The U.S. should finally end what remains of the deal & the benefits that Iran gets from it by invoking the sanctions snapback described in the deal’s UN resolution.
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) May 27, 2020

U.S. gives Iran a choice: Negotiate or manage economic collapse

U.S. President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy is giving Iran a choice between negotiating with the United States or managing the economic collapse caused by U.S. sanctions, U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook said on Wednesday.

“Because of our pressure, Iran’s leaders are facing a decision: Either negotiate with us or manage economic collapse,” Hook told reporters during a conference call.

Israeli Cyber Czar Warns of More Attacks from Iran

Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD) chief Yigal Unna said Wednesday that in April 2020 Israel faced a "synchronized and organized attack" targeting civilian water infrastructure.

He noted that when various chemicals are mixed with water in the wrong proportions - which could happen due to a hack - it "can be harmful and disastrous."

The attack was "very directly aiming to cause damage in real life in the real arena through...ICS [Industrial Control Systems] controllers, something that could have caused a lot of damage."

"This is the first time we can see something like that aiming to cause damage to real life...not to data."

"It wasn't one or two controllers. It was a... wide spectrum of attacks aiming specifically at energy and water, and the only reason it failed was...our efforts, the INCD preparedness."

"We managed to mitigate it and overcome it, but I'm afraid it's only the sign of the first major attack of a new era, on humanitarian targets.... The level of attacks will probably get more sophisticated and deadlier."

🇺🇳 Danish newspaper prints cartoons of Prophet Muhammad—swiftly condemned by UN Secretary-General, UN human rights chief & UN racism monitor.

🇺🇳 Iran's Ayatollah calls Israel a “cancerous tumor” to be “uprooted and destroyed”—the entire UN is silent. https://t.co/pCW3SYcOvK
— UN Watch (@UNWatch) May 28, 2020

Iranian Official Mehdi Taeb: The Coronavirus Is the Handiwork of America; Qom Was Targeted Because It Is the Center of the Opposition to America pic.twitter.com/iQmQXxcvYd
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) May 28, 2020

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.

Scotland newspaper says Palestinians were forced out in 1948 because of Israel’s “rape and torture” of them

2020-05-28T09:47:00.001-04:00

A Scottish MP caused controversy this week when he attempted to add language to a resolution commemorating the “nakba” saying that it was a Palestinian “self-inflicted tragedy.”

The resolution falsely said that the Palestinian exodus in 1948 was a “mass eviction of over 750,000 people from historic Palestine land, which included the destruction of over 500 towns and villages [which] led to generations of pain for the Palestinian people, who continue to live under a state of occupation”.

There was no mass eviction of 750,000 Palestinians. Most of them fled without seeing a single Jewish soldier.

But the phrasing of a resolution that was clearly false was not the cause of controversy. Richard Lyle, a SNP member of Parliament, was condemned for suggesting an addition to the text saying the exodus was “a self-inflicted tragedy, which must, after all these years, be finally resolved by peaceful means and discussions between the parties involved”.

Lyle was condemned by pro-Palestinian groups. But no one condemned the people who sponsored the bill which was completely against historical fact. Benny Morris summarized the reasons for the flight as follows: "Most of Palestine's 700,000 ‘refugees’ fled their homes because of the flail of war (and in the expectation that they would shortly return to their homes on the backs of victorious Arab invaders). But it is also true that there were several dozen sites, including Lydda and Ramla, from which Arab communities were expelled by Jewish troops."

The news media coverage of the controversy was even worse.

Morning Star Online compounded the lie by saying, as fact, “Two thirds of the Palestinian population were exiled after being violently removed from their homes during the first war of the Israel-Palestine conflict, with 450 towns and villages destroyed.” This is completely false.

But the Herald Scotland went way past lies into slander when it wrote,

Nakba, which means catastrophe, is a name used to refer to the displacement of 750,000 Palestinians during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence.

Historians report this was largely driven by Israeli aggression, including rape and torture, and to a much lesser degree by local Palestinian authorities urging people to flee.

Rape and torture? Not one respected historian reports anything like this. To report this absolute slander as fact is journalistic malpractice.

This should be corrected immediately.

Palestinian news site: “Don’t be antisemitic, because that prompts Jews to move to Israel”

2020-05-28T08:00:00.001-04:00

Tawfik Abu Shomer is a Gaza-based author and journalist who analyzes Israeli society. he has worked for the Palestinian Ministry of Information.

His most recent article describes the antisemitism that has accompanied the coronavirus, and other recent antisemitic incidents, as reported in Israeli media. He does not deny that there is serious Jew-hatred in the world today.

In the end, he urges the world to abandon antisemitism. But not because it is immoral. No, his reasons that people shouldn’t attack Jews are perfectly Palestinian:

Lastly, we, Palestinians must tell the peoples of the world: "Don't attack the Jews, don't destroy their property, respect them, don't let them be brainwashed (to think Israel will protect them) so that they emigrate (to Israel), differentiate between them (the Jews in the Diaspora) and the occupying Zionists, make them feel respected and trusted, so that they don't leave their countries of origin to become soldiers of the occupation who oppress us and settlers occupying our lands, for that is violating (our) most basic human rights.” Isn't this principle a priority for Palestinian and Arabic activity in the fields of media and diplomacy?

Antisemitism is bad because it leads to Zionism! Oppressed Jews might move to Israel, and that is the crime that must be fought against – not antisemitism itself but the possibility that it leads to aliyah.

Which means that the main victims of antisemitism are….Palestinians!

The funny thing is, much of the world is more likely to listen to this convoluted Palestinian logic than to the basic idea that hating Jews is bad in and of itself.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

Aaron David Miller gets closer to getting it, but not quite there

2020-05-28T05:55:00.000-04:00

Aaron David Miller was involved in the Oslo peace process and often seems wedded to the assumptions of Oslo that have been proven wrong time and time again. As recently as last year he was denigrating the Trump plan without admitting that every single Oslo-style two state plan has been even more doomed and resulted in the exact opposite of peace because of their entirely wrong assumptions.

Occasionally, he says things that make it appear he is starting to get it. But then he feels he must go back to showing that he really doesn’t.

In Politico, he gets closer to the truth:

Contrary to the warnings from diplomats, analysts and peaceniks who predicted Israel would become a pariah if it didn’t settle up with the Palestinians, Israel seems to be making more progress toward normalization with Arab regimes without a credible peace process than with one.

Clearly the Gulf states aren’t on the verge of full normalization with Israel; nor is the Arab world willing to untether itself from the emotional pull of Palestinian issue or its hostile and all too often anti-Semitic views of Israel. But even the most skeptical observers would have to admit something has changed.

So what explains this shift?

Three significant factors. The rise of Iran and Sunni jihadists spewing terror across the region has created a narrow but important coincidence of interests between Israel and the Arab world. Increasing exhaustion and frustration with the never-ending Palestinian cause has opened up more space for Arab states to follow their own interests. But behind it all, lay a White House enamored of Arab money for arms sales and investment in the U.S. and eager to marshal the Arabs in the service of its anti-Iranian and pro-Israeli agenda. Indeed, in an effort to court the Gulf Arabs, Trump and his Middle East envoy son-in-law Jared Kushner have given the Saudis carte blanche to pursue disastrous policies while holding their coats. And Arab nations, sensing opportunities with an autocrat-friendly U.S. president, have been only too happy to follow.

It is refreshing to see someone who has been involved in Oslo admit that Netanyahu, doing everything people like Miller have warned would be disastrous, has actually brought Israel closer to peace than all the world’s diplomats combined.

All three reasons for this that Miller brings are valid, although I don’t agree that the third is the major reason. Israel was cultivating these relationships before anyone dreamed Trump would become president.

There is a fourth reason, though, that is hugely important and unreported: Israel’s strength.

As noted in Lee Smith’s 2010 book with that name, Arabs respect “The Strong Horse.” In the years since that was written, Israel’s strength in the Middle East has become overwhelming – not only militarily but also economically, technologically, politically and even in entertainment and on social media.

Arab antisemitism is still endemic but there are millions of Arabs who admire Israel. They admire its military strength above all, as this ties into a deep Arab respect for warriors. But Arab leaders aren’t stupid – they know that Israeli scientific expertise can help them survive past the oil era. They see that Israeli TV shows are on Netflix, and they know their people are watching them. They look at Israeli newspapers and follow Israeli government accounts online. (Even when they insult Israel’s government on the “Israel in Arabic” social media sites, they admire the fact that their insults don’t get removed.)

Israel’s seeming disregard for international law (from their perspective) and willingness to “annex” parts of Judea and Samaria is not a reason for hating Israel – it is a reason to further admire Israel, because only a strong nation can stand up to the international community.

They certainly are eager to ally with the US, but that is not the main reason they are interested in Israel now. That interest won’t go away if Trump loses in November.

Israel’s Supreme Court Does it Again (Vic Rosenthal)

2020-05-28T01:00:00.000-04:00

Vic Rosenthal's weekly column

In August of last year, Dvir Sorek, an 18-year old yeshiva student walking near Migdal Oz in the Gush Etzion region was set upon by two terrorists acting on behalf of Hamas. He was brutally stabbed to death (do I need to add “brutally” to “stabbed to death?”)
The murderers, and three others who helped plan and prepare the attack, were quickly located and arrested. Four of them immediately confessed. After they were indicted, the IDF informed the families of the four that their homes would be demolished. The families petitioned the Supreme Court to prevent the demolition, but the petitions were denied, and in November, the homes were demolished.
Home demolitions are controversial. But most observers believe that the policy is effective in restraining potential terrorists, even suicide terrorists. And some 90% of Jewish Israelis support the policy.
There were five terrorists involved in Sorek’s murder. Unlike the others, Mahmoud Atawna did not confess immediately, so the IDF did not order his home demolished at the same time as the others. Finally an order was issued to do so in January, 2020. This one, too, was appealed to the Supreme Court, with the assistance of “Hamoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual,” one of many left-wing Israeli NGOs funded by the hostile-to-Israel European Union, various European governments, and the US-based New Israel Fund. But this time, a three-judge panel ruled 2-1 in favor of the petitioners, and ordered that the IDF could not demolish the home.
The Court, which had never overthrown an IDF order to demolish the home of a convicted terrorist before, gave two reasons for it: Atawna’s wife and children lived in the house, and were not involved in the murder and didn’t support him (how they established the latter, I do not know – maybe they asked her). And second, too much time had passed after the murder for it to be a deterrent to terrorism:

Justices Anat Baron and Uzi Vogelman granted the petition against the planned demolition in Beit Kahil, near Hebron, leaving Justice David Mintz in the minority. …

Baron wrote that the army didn’t issue the demolition order until five months after the attack, after the homes of other members of the terror cell had been destroyed. “The longer the gap between the attack and the demolition of the home of the attacker, the less the deterrent effect inherent in the home demolition,” she wrote. “Lacking a deterrent effect, the inevitable impression is that the home demolition is being sought as a solely punitive measure.”

The decision also noted that Atawna’s family was not accused of involvement or having knowledge of his intent to harm a soldier and did not express support for the attack after the fact.

Baron also explained why she thought the deterrent effect was reduced by the delay:

The passage of time results in disconnecting the ‘consciousness connection’ between the murder and the sanction against it, so that already at the time the demolition order was issued its deterrent power was in doubt …

The decision noted that due to the delay in issuing the order “the petitioners were left in a cloud of uncertainty about the fate of their home.” It’s hard to resist commenting that the Sorek family also will find themselves in a cloud, only it will not be five months, it will be for the rest of their lives, whenever they remember the son that was so cruelly and pointlessly taken from them.
What is interesting is that the dissenting judge, David Mintz, noted that the reason for the delay in issuing the demolition order was that since there was no confession, the IDF waited for Atawna to be convicted before issuing it! In other words, they wanted to be as fair as possible.
Until now the Supreme Court has usually avoided interfering with the IDF. But with this decision, the justices, who apparently believe that they are experts in the psychology of terrorists (“disconnecting the consciousness connection” – it sounds better in Hebrew but makes no more sense), and who base legal decisions on what feels right to them, have decided to second-guess the IDF as well.
Incidentally, I’m not an expert in psychology of terrorists either, but it seems to me that the certainty that it will occur is more important to the deterrent power of a home demolition than how long it takes to execute. And with this order, the Court has just demolished that certainty – and eviscerated yet another sanction against terrorism.

05/27 Links Pt2: Anti-Semitism examined as a social virus in new PBS documentary; Discrimination Can Be Rewarding; US Jewish Leaders Praise Oklahoma’s Adoption of Anti-BDS Law

2020-05-27T18:00:00.000-04:00

From Ian:

Anti-Semitism examined as a social virus in new PBS documentary

Meanwhile, on our shores, Goldberg, who lost extended family members in the Holocaust, takes note of how anti-Semitism in the US has been getting worse over the past dozen years. By the time 11 Jews were gunned down in October 2018 in a synagogue in Pittsburgh — “the most anti-Semitic act I’d seen in this country in my two decades as a journalist,” he said — this film project was already underway. In his view, anti-Jewish sentiment in the non-Jewish world is always “only a couple of centimeters below the surface” at any given time, though social forces may push it down.

In ‘Viral: Antisemitism in Four Mutations,’ Rabbi Elisar Admon shows the hole where a bullet pierced his prayer book during the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh. “It went right through the word for God,” he said. (PBS via JTA)

“The biggest mute button on anti-Semitism was the Holocaust itself,” he said, adding that it led to “better behavior” toward Jews in most of the Western world for more than 50 years. “And the precursor [to those prejudices surfacing] is societies becoming more polarized.” Another factor, he said, is that fewer Holocaust survivors are around to give firsthand testimony about how unchecked anti-Semitism branches off into utter horror.

In the France portion of “Viral,” Goldberg interviews a brother of the shooter in the 2015 assault on the Hyper Cacher kosher grocery in Paris. Asked to describe the motivations of his jihadist brother, Abdel Ghani Merah describes the North African immigrant milieu of their parents, who brought to France a post-colonial belief that Western nations, Israel and global Jewry were allied against the Arab world.

“Hatred of Jews was legitimate in my parents’ eyes,” he says, while distancing himself from that view (in fact, he has committed his life to countering anti-Semitism). “If they failed at something or were rejected, right away it was somehow a Jew’s fault. They owned the world.”

A final word is given to the widow of Philippe Braham, one of four French Jews killed in the attack on Hyper Cacher, a kosher supermarket in Paris.

“We don’t walk in the streets easily like we used to,” she says. “I won’t let my sons wear the kippah. I won’t say their names out loud.”

Valerie Braham then adds: “For me it’s just pointless hatred of the Jews. There are no real reasons.”

For those who see it, will this film provide some kind of vaccine, so to speak, against anti-Semitism?

That is the perennial hope — the panacea we are all waiting for.

Discrimination Can Be Rewarding

This year, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), gave Abdulhadi its Georgina M. Smith Award. The award is for a “person or persons who provided exceptional leadership in a given year in improving the status of academic women or in academic collective bargaining and through that work improved the profession in general.” The AAUP’s statement makes it clear that Abdulhadi received the award not despite but because of her approach to advancing “social change in Palestine” and elsewhere.

Perversely, she who would exclude Zionists from campus and who, as far as I can tell, has never encountered a specific charge of anti-Semitism on the left that she has not dismissed as an invention of the “Israel lobby,” is now honored by the AAUP as a builder of coalitions and a champion of human rights. She for whom the boycott of Israel is the very center of her “pro-Palestinian” activism is honored for that very activism by an organization that explicitly opposes academic boycotts.

The AAUP has been at many times in its history a vital voice in the defense of academic freedom and a thoughtful contributor to discussions of the professional standards academics can be expected to honor. As colleges and universities, facing greater and lesser financial problems as a result of the pandemic, move to eliminate faculty positions, the AAUP will be an important resource for faculty members looking to safeguard their rights. The AAUP has also struggled with, from early on, a tendency to let its commitment to academic freedom, the free exchange of ideas, and the distinctive vocation of the scholar be overshadowed by the attachment of members to the progressive cause of the day. This tendency reaches its zenith in the AAUP’s praise of Abdulhadi, who “transcends the division between scholarship and activism that encumbers traditional university life.”

In fact, as the AAUP’s own 1915 Declaration of Principles avers, the defense of academic freedom greatly depends on the perception and reality of the university as a “nonpartisan institution of learning” and on the willingness of professors themselves to police the boundaries between the spirit of scholarship and the spirit of “uncritical and intemperate partisanship.”

In offering an award to professor Abdulhadi, the AAUP has damaged its credibility at a moment when it can use every shred. Somehow, in the course of spitting in the face of those who, with good reason, consider Abdulhabi deserving of censure, not awards, the AAUP has spit in its own face.

David Collier: L’Chaim – Israel – To Haim – a story of so many lives lost

Listing Jews named Haim who were innocent victims of terrorism and the conflict. Not soldiers, but family men and children going about their day. How many can there be? Like all my research, the tragic truth is always heartbreakingly worse than the imagination.

To Haim. To all of them.

On October 13 2015 Haim Haviv was sitting on a bus in Jerusalem. He was out shopping with his wife Shoshana. He was 78 years old. Chaim had arrived in Israel from Iraq with his parents and ten siblings at the age of 11. Two Palestinian terrorists got onto the bus and started shooting and stabbing passengers. Haim was murdered by the terrorists. The attack took four lives. Haim’s wife was left seriously injured.

Chaim Yechiel Rothman was an orthodox Jew. On the morning of November 17 2014 he was praying in the Kehilat Yaakov Synagogue in Jerusalem. Two Palestinian terrorists entered the synagogue, shouted ‘allahu akbar’ and began slaughtering the Jewish congregation. One of the terrorists was shooting at point blank range, the other was hacking at people with a meat cleaver. Rabbi Chaim Rothman battled hard but never recovered. He died whilst still in a coma from his injuries in late October 2015 – almost a whole year after the attack. The attack also claimed five other victims.

On Aug 31, 2010 thirty-seven year old Kochava Even Chaim from Beit Hagai caught a lift home with her friends Yitzhak and Talya Ames. Their vehicle was attacked by Palestinian terrorists in a drive by shooting. All four passengers of the vehicle were hit by numerous shots from close range and pronounced dead at the scene. Kochava’s husband was in the initial response medical team that arrived to help the victims, only to discover his wife was amongst them.

On January 9 2007, Emi Haim Elmaliah went to work in his bakery in Eilat, the city he was born and raised in. He had opened the bakery just six months before. A Palestinian terrorist chose the bakery as a soft target for a suicide attack. The Islamic Jihad and the Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack. At the time these factions were fighting each other, and they reasoned that by joining together to kill Jews, they would help heal their own wounds. Emi was one of three civilians who died at the scene.

December 5 2005 Haim Amram, 26, went to the shopping mall in Netanya where he worked as a security guard. Haim would never return home again. A Palestinian suicide bomber attempted to enter the mall to inflict maximum carnage but alert security guards became suspicious and approached the terrorist. Haim paid with his life for his bravery. Five people died in that attack – but for Haim’s actions, it could have been many more.

On February 2 2004, Yehuda Haim, 48, got onto a 14A bus in Jerusalem. Haim was a disabled veteran. Nobody noticed the Palestinian terrorist who got on the bus. The suicide attack took place at about 8:30 a.m. as the crowded, rush-hour bus was making its way downtown. The terrorist murdered eight people, including Haim. Haim is survived by his wife and three children.

Revealed: These are the corona supplies the Mossad hunted down for Israel

The full list of medical supplies, including some 80 million surgical masks, that the Mossad hunted down and brought to Israel during the coronavirus crisis was revealed by the Hebrew website Ynet on Tuesday.

Information about the supplies the Mossad secured for the Jewish state came on the same day that Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi, outgoing Health Ministry director-general Moshe Bar Siman Tov and other top officials attended a ceremony marking the end of the IDF’s involvement with the National Coronavirus Control Center at Sheba Medical Center.

There are 14 million more masks on their way to Israel, Ynet said.

In addition, the Mossad brought 180 million pairs of gloves and hundreds of millions of medical drugs to help ailing persons and 1,300 ventilators. Another 4,700 ventilators have been ordered and are expected to arrive in the country by October, in time for a potential second wave.

Finally, the spy agency brought around two million coronavirus test kits.

At the parting ceremony, Cohen said that while he and his agents "don’t have any medical expertise,” they were able to bring “the spirit of the Mossad” into the daily operations undertaken to curb the the coronavirus health threat.

On Tuesday, the responsibility over coordinating the delivery of supplies to Israel was transferred from the Mossad to the Health Ministry.

Diaspora Affairs minister: Israel to support Jews abroad hit by COVID-19

New Diaspora Affairs Minister MK Omer Yankelevich pledged the “unconditional commitment” of the State of Israel to Jewish communities in the Diaspora, and said that both Israelis and Diaspora Jews must work with mutual respect towards each other.

Yankelevich made her comments Tuesday afternoon during a roundtable discussion conducted between officials of the Diaspora Affairs Ministry and the Jewish Agency, including its chairman Isaac Herzog, to discuss ways to assist Jewish communities around the world who have been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The discussion in which representatives from other government ministries as well as major Jewish organizations looked at five issues of concern for Jewish communities around the world in light of the public health crisis, including the need for rehabilitation and assistance, effectively collecting and distributing aid, promoting unity and mutual responsibility assessing educational needs, and tackling antisemitism.

Herzog lauded the discussion held via an online video conference, saying that it was “the first time in the history of the State of Israel, we established a formal forum to assist Jewish communities around the world,” and described it as a “paradigm shift.”

Herzog said the session was not an ad hoc emergency response to help a specific community, but rather an initiative “to assist communities through a rehabilitation period that is expected to be long and, in some cases, grueling.”

Speaking in introductory remarks, Yankelevich said generally that “There is no place for divisiveness in our Jewish world today,” during the video-conference roundtable discussion.

In virtual international hackathon, teams to tackle coronavirus challenges

Some 500 software developers from around the world are expected to work online together for 24 hours to seek ways to meet the challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic.

The World Hackathon Day, to be held on May 29-31, has been organized by Julien van Dorland from the Netherlands and Nir Kouris from Israel.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry is backing the initiative with the support of partners, startups, and firms from Israel, UK, The Netherlands, Poland, Italy, and other countries. Participants will use artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, robots and drones to try and solve a variety of challenges in a variety of fields, including health and fitness, work and economy, education, music and entertainment, travel and mobility, sustaining the elderly and protecting the environment. Microsoft is one of the sponsors of the event.

Teams will be asked to find ways to help reduce the spread of the virus, boost remote work or help small businesses with the economic challenges they are facing as a side effect of the pandemic. Creating better educational online tools will also be one of the challenges, along with finding ways for artists and musicians to find alternative ways to perform, as concerts are cancelled because of infection concerns. Finding ways to help travelers reach their destinations safely and finding ideas to help the elderly overcome isolation requirements will also be part of the challenges.

Japanese interest in Israeli startups escalates

Hosted from Tel Aviv, the "Big in Japan" webinar discussed how despite Covid-19 and perhaps because of it, Japanese interest in Israeli startups is growing.

"The need of corporations to save on costs during the coronavirus, might lead to a certain slowdown and the appetite for innovation might shrink, or on the other hand, this is an excellent time to find out who is really thinking like a major player in working with startups and who is a player that's faking it and disappears at the moment of truth," said Nobuyuki Akimoto, Managing Director of AT Partners, a Japanese venture capital fund that invests in Israeli funds. He was talking at the "Big in Japan" webinar hosted from Tel Aviv.

Akimoto added, "The money for the most part comes from corporations to venture capital funds, and so the corporations are the very important players in the Japanese ecosystem."

Yinnon Dolev, Head of the Israel Digital Lab of Japanese insurance giant Sompo, said, "There will now be pressure on the corporations to cut expenditure and to become more efficient, and consequently startups will be required to show their economic advantages and especially how with their help it is possible to streamline work and cut costs. Unfortunately, most presentations by Israeli startups focus on what we can do and how we can increase your ability and that's great. But what is your ability to help me as a corporation to cut costs? A large corporation will find it difficult to adopt any new technology without the strong marketing value and so the key to entering Japan is the need to create this effectiveness and present it to the corporations."

Dolev continued, "During the coronavirus period, there began an increase in interest by the Japanese in innovation in the health system. This is different from what we see in the American health system, which is working under pressure and must speed up regulatory procedures in order to bring things to market as swiftly as possible. Compared with the US, the cost of a home visit from the doctor in Japan is not high and so they are generally conducted face to face but at the moment, the system understands that there are efficiencies in health services through digital means. In this context, we see an increase in demand by Japan for technologies in the health sector and I assume that this will only continue to grow." (h/t Zvi)

Greece to welcome Israelis, Germans, Cypriots in first wave of visitors

Greece will allow travellers from around two dozen countries including Germany, Cyprus and Israel to visit from mid-June without having to be quarantined, government officials said, part of a gradual easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

Tourism accounts for about 20% of the Greek economy and the government sees the sector as a major engine of its recovery from a lockdown that has brought business to a virtual standstill.

“There will be some 20-25 countries whose nationals will be allowed to come,” a government source said, adding that the list would include Cyprus, Israel and countries in central Europe and the Balkans. The full list would be announced this week.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said Germans will be allowed to visit Greece from June 15. He has also said that international flights to the northern city of Thessaloniki would resume on June 15, sooner than an initial planned date of July 1.

Greece currently allows citizens from all EU countries except Italy, Spain and the Netherlands to fly into Athens but they are then subject to a 14-day confinement. Visitors from Britain and other non-EU countries are also currently barred from entering Greece.

Italy, Spain and Britain have all seen high rates of infection from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus. Greece has weathered the coronavirus crisis relatively well, with just 2,892 confirmed cases and 173 deaths.

Fake Israeli coronavirus vaccine being sold in South America

A fake and potentially dangerous coronavirus vaccine is being sold in South America, MIGAL (The Galilee Research Institute) said late Tuesday.

Boxes with MIGAL’s Hebrew logo that contain small sealed vials of the fake vaccine and a set of counterfeit instructions for use - also in Hebrew - were discovered, a company release said.

The institute immediately informed the Foreign and Health ministries of the issue, which immediately intervened. The World Health Organization was contacted, as well as the health ministries in several South American countries.

An in-depth investigation is underway. Already, according to MIGAL CEO David Zigdon, one seller in Ecuador was found to be selling the fake vaccines for $380 each.

The release added that MIGAL’s website was recently also the target of a massive cyberattack.

The research institute has been in the headlines over the past several months of the coronavirus crisis because it is working on developing a novel COVID-19 vaccine. (h/t Zvi)

SNP MSP Richard Lyle ‘insults all Palestinians’

AN SNP MSP has been accused of “vile” behaviour after he described the 1948 exodus of 750,000 Palestinians, or Nakba, as a “self-inflicted tragedy”.

Richard Lyle, deputy convener of the Scottish Parliament’s Building Bridges With Israel group, made the controversial claim in a Holyrood motion. The Scottish Greens’ Ross Greer accused Lyle of “blaming the victims of ethnic cleansing for the crimes committed against them”.

The Morning Star revealed the Uddingston and Bellshill MSP had tried to attach the phrase to a motion condemning the Nakba tabled by fellow SNP MSP Sandra White. Lyle claimed his amendment was “designed to provoke discussion”.

Nakba, meaning “catastrophe”, refers to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing or being expelled from their homes in 1948 after Israel declared independence.

Earlier this month, White lodged a parliamentary motion to mark the 72nd anniversary of the Nakba on May 15.

It said the “mass eviction of over 750,000 people from historic Palestine land, which included the destruction of over 500 towns and villages ... led to generations of pain for the Palestinian people, who continue to live under a state of occupation”.

Last week, Lyle tabled an amendment to the motion which said Nabka was “a self-inflicted tragedy, which must, after all these years, be finally resolved by peaceful means and discussions between the parties involved”.

The amendment has so far been supported by Tory MSP Adam Tomkins, and fellow SNP MSP David Torrance.

Nadia El-Nakla, convenor of SNP Friends of Palestine, said Lyle’s remarks were “not just a revision of history but also an insult to every Palestinian worldwide”.

Starmer 'ready to launch Wavertree inquiry' after Labour MP is criticised for expressing regret over Berger exit

Sir Keir Starmer is expected to launch an investigation into Liverpool Wavertree Constituency Labour Party after an email was circulated by local officials attacking their own MP for telling a Jewish newspaper that she regretted the fact that her predecessor Luciana Berger had left the party.

Paula Barker, who replaced Ms Berger as the Wavertree MP at the last general election, wrote an article in the local Jewish Telegraph newspaper last week in which she said: “Luciana leaving the Labour Party was a shock to many and I find it deeply regrettable that she felt she could no longer stay…”

The Labour MP also wrote of her hope that the relationship between her party and the local Jewish community could start to improve.

But in a furious response, published in the Wavertree CLP Members Bulletin, four members of the local executive committee put their names to a statement which accuses Ms Barker of reiterating an “inaccurate and factionally motivated position on antisemitism”.

They also write of their “disappointment and hurt” over Ms Barker’s position, accusing her of failing to mention Jewish critics of Israel in her article which they say “reflected the influence of a partial view that claims to speak for all Jewish people.”

The email - signed by CLP chair Nina Houghton, secretary Kevin Bean, and two other officials - states that the four are “deeply dismayed to be placed in the position of needing to correct the misleading impressions fostered by Paula’s article and, yet again, set the record straight about Ms Berger’s departure from our party.”

Denying any suggestion of anti-Jewish racism with the local Labour party in relation to Ms Berger, they claim “our political disagreement with her was cynically attributed to bullying, harassment and antisemitism on our part.”

Colin O’Driscoll is the Vice Chair of @UKLabour international & senior member of @PeoplesMomentum he RT this which states that Jews should “be deported to Tel Aviv”. This is the SAME rhetoric that the Nazis used.

Colin has been reported to Labour multiple times for antisemitism. pic.twitter.com/zYY0SeeDxh
— (((GnasherJew®גנאשר))) #LabourAntisemitism (@GnasherJew) May 27, 2020

US Jewish Leaders Praise Oklahoma’s Adoption of Anti-BDS Law

The passage of a bill in Oklahoma to counter the campaign to subject Israel to boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) was warmly praised by the umbrella organization representing US Jewish advocacy groups on Tuesday.

“We welcome Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt’s signing of legislation that prohibits Oklahoma from contracting with companies that boycott Israel,” a statement from Arthur Stark, chairman, William Daroff, CEO, and Malcolm Hoenlein, vice chairman, of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations declared.

Oklahoma became the 30th US state to adopt an anti-BDS law when it passed the bill on May 15 — a few days after legislators in the Missouri state assembly passed a similar measure.

In their statement, the Conference of Presidents executives added that they “look forward to the remaining states rejecting the pernicious BDS campaign in the days ahead.”

Israel is Oklahoma’s 12th-largest trading partner, accounting for nearly $104 million of the state’s exports.

Irish parties consider Occupied Territories Bill in gov't coalition talks

Fianna Fáil, a center-right political party in Ireland, and the center-left Green Party are being urged by political figures in Ireland to include the Occupied Territories Bill in its agenda, which would ban and criminalize trade and economic support of Israeli West Bank settlements, according to a Irish Examiner report.

Meanwhile, the report noted that Fine Gael, a centrist political party and coalition partner of Fianna Fáil under a rotational agreement, is opposed to the bill, saying such bans need to be implemented at the level of the European Union.

Betty Purcell, a representative Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, has suggested that public support for the bill may push the centrist party to support the Occupied Territories Bill in its current form.

"If the EU wishes to increase pressure, then that could be a 'let-out' for Fine Gael, that they may be prepared to allow progress on the bill, but up to now we have not seen any sign of that," Purcell said.

"Their policy seems to be about Europe, and we need to depend on the Irish population, and hopefully principled people within Fianna Fáil and The Greens," she added.

The Occupied Territories Bill was originally passed in the Seanad (Irish Senate) in July of 2018 by 25 votes to 20, after getting support from Independent, Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and Labour party senators.

Renewed discussions of the Occupied Territories Bill comes following the 2020 Irish general election in February that saw a surge in support for the left-wing Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party, raising concerns in Israel due to the party's close historical support of the Palestinian positions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the former military wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Canadian tax dollars may be funding groups with terrorist links through UN relief package

Canadian tax dollars may be funding non-governmental organizations that have ties to Canadian designated terrorist organizations and anti-Israel projects.

In a report prepared by the organization NGO Monitor, the Trudeau government is shown to have given nearly $1.9 million dollars to the United Nation's botched COVID-19 response plan.

With this money, the UN and the WHO have funded several groups with ties to the People’s Front for the Liberation of Palestine: a group that is recognized as a terrorist organization by Israel, the EU, the US and Canada.

As well as this, NGO Monitor claims that in some instances "existing NGO advocacy ventures, which often involve anti-Israel rhetoric and agendas, have been relabeled 'COVID- 19,' without a substantive contribution to emergency humanitarian aid."

This money was instead used to fund "anti-Israel advocacy ventures" without any substantive contributions given to people within their communities.

As a result of this, the Canadian public are indirectly funding groups that either employ anti-Israel rhetoric, or who have overt ties to terrorist organizations.

Addressing this issue, Senator Linda Frum said that "UN coronavirus aid is going to Palestinian terror-linked groups including money from Canada—for purposes not necessarily to do with virus relief but rather political activity."

ADL blames anti-Zionist student group for anti-Israel radicalism on campus

The Anti-Defamation League has pointed to the radical, anti-Zionist Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) organization as being responsible for some of the most severe incidents of vilification and demonization of Israel on US campuses in a new report released on Wednesday.

During the course of 2019, Jewish students frequently encountered allegations that Zionism is racist, a form of white supremacism, and akin to various other extremist ideologies by groups such as SJP, as well as others such as the hard left Jewish Voice for Peace group.

And college professors and lecturers were also been involved in the vilification of Israel and Zionism, contributing to Jewish students’ unease at times on their campuses.

The ADL report called on campus administrators and faculty to take a series of steps to address anti-Israel incidents and antisemitism on campus, including accurate charting of trends in the ways bias manifests on campus, establishing a reporting mechanism to assist administrators and campus leaders in preventing incidents that rise to the level of criminal or civilly liable behavior and programming to create a more equitable and inclusive campus.

The demonization of Zionism was one of the most common themes in anti-Israel incidents on college campuses during 2019.

In November 2019, SJP at California State University at Fullerton erected an “apartheid wall” exhibit that included a panel with a message reading “Zionism=racism.”

In April 2019, the New York University chapter of SJP compared Zionism to hateful ideologies, tweeting “We are UNITED against racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, Zionism, and Islamophobia.”

Oh what a surprise. Palestinian activist @YafaJarrar is slandering Israel, saying the police refused to search for a drowned Israeli dancer because he was Arab, and haters are retweeting the lies.

Police searched for 4 days with helicopters, drones, divers before he was found. pic.twitter.com/KRuYzIrzVH
— Elder of Ziyon 🇮🇱 (@elderofziyon) May 27, 2020

German MP resigns from Palestinian NGO over support for BDS - EXCLUSIVE

The Jerusalem Post can confirm that German politician Olaf in der Beek resigned from the German-Palestinian Society on Tuesday because the organization’s advisory board did not reject the antisemitic boycott campaign against the Jewish state.

In der Beek’s office told the Post on Wednesday that the Free Democratic Party (FDP) MP announced to the FDP faction in the parliament that he resigned from the German-Palestinian Society because the advisory board refuses to reject BDS.

The Post learned from in der Beek’s office that members of the advisory board of the German-Palestinian Society showed no interest in distancing themselves from BDS.

In February, in der Beek introduced an anti-BDS resolution to the German-Palestinian advisory board that was identical to the anti-BDS measure passed by the Bundestag in May 2019. The resolution declared the BDS campaign an antisemitic movement.

In der Beek’s FDP has taken the lead within the German parliament in combating contemporary antisemitism targeting Israel.

There are currently three German MPs on the board of the German-Palestinian Society, from the Social Democratic party, the Green party and the Left party.

Anti-#Israel activist @sara_vmartin from #Spain created/promoted this antisemitic GIF: https://t.co/wsyHDAKa2c

🛑Reported to @TwitterSupport/@TwitterEspana for #racism/#antisemitism,inciting hatred against Jews/Israelis/Israel,equating them to German NAZIs. @IsraelMFA @ACOM_es pic.twitter.com/LQevfkWLnY
— Shaun Murray (@BestWebEnglish) May 27, 2020

Private Eye is again clueless in Gaza

Further in the article, it asks: “Will [Israel] stop blocking foreign medical aid”?

However, other than the few exceptions mentioned by the writer (dual-use items, like radio isotopes used for certain x-ray scanners), there are no restrictions on medical aid to Gaza – and none whatsoever for COVID-19 related medical supplies. In fact, since the start of the pandemic, the United Nations reported that, as of late April, it had “delivered more than 1 million essential supplies such as lab equipment, personal protective gear and thousands of COVID-19 tests” to Gaza.

In the final paragraph, it’s suggested that Israel doesn’t allow seriously ill Palestinians in Gaza to enter Israel of the West Bank for hospitalization. But, again, this isn’t true. Even during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, hundreds of patients (and their companions) from Gaza were permitted to cross the border to get medical care in Israel or the PA – according to the most recent data from the anti-Israel NGO GISHA.

The final sentence of the piece, imploring Israel to “allow NGOs, medical equipment and food” into Gaza, represents an even more egregious lie, as there are no restrictions whatsoever on the import of food into the Hamas-run territory.

In addition to these outright errors, the article misses a broader point: that, since the outbreak of the pandemic in the region, there’s been unprecedented cooperation between Israel and the PA and, to some degree, even between Israel and Gaza. Nickolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, praised the coordination between the Israeli and Palestine authorities in reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On its website, the UN wrote the following:
Since the beginning of the crisis, Israel has allowed the entry of critical supplies and equipment into Gaza: examples of critical supplies include swabs for collection of samples and other laboratory supplies required for COVID-19 testing, and Personal Protective Equipment to protect health workers. The statement also noted Israel’s cooperation in allowing health workers and other personnel involved in the COVID-19 response to move in and out of the West Bank and Gaza.

The central argument of the Private Eye piece, that Israel is putting Palestinian lives at risk by refusing to allow COVID-19 related medical supplies to Gaza, is completely untrue.

BBC News’ Gaza Strip healthcare messaging persists

When the Coronavirus pandemic became the BBC’s lead story back in mid-March audiences saw a spate of reports warning of catastrophe in the Gaza Strip due to factors including population density, poverty and an inadequate healthcare system.

As we observed at the time, many of those reports promoted the false notion that the state of healthcare in the Gaza Strip is primarily attributable to counter-terrorism measures imposed by Israel and Egypt following the 2007 violent take-over of the territory by the terrorist organisation Hamas. Notably, the same messaging was promoted at the time in campaigns run by political NGOs.

Audiences were however not given any significant information on how infighting between Hamas and Fatah – along with Hamas’ prioritisation of terror over civilian welfare – has affected the standard of living and services such as water, power and healthcare in the Gaza Strip.

Fortunately, the BBC’s stark predictions did not transpire and that wave of reporting waned after several weeks. However messaging concerning healthcare in the Gaza Strip has not completely disappeared from BBC content.

BBC News ignores potential outcome of Abbas declaration

May 20th saw the appearance of an article headlined “Palestinians ‘ending accords with Israel and US’ over annexation plan” on the BBC News website’s ‘Middle East’ page which opened as follows:
“Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas has said he is ending “all agreements” with Israel and the United States in response to Israeli plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.”

Such “plans” have of course yet to be presented to the cabinet (with the earliest date for doing so set at July 1st) and if approved would subsequently require further approval by the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee as well as the Knesset. The BBC’s report did rightly inform readers that:
“Similar warnings in the past have ultimately not been followed through.”

The article continued with a portrayal of the US ‘Peace to Prosperity’ plan which excluded its proposed land swaps:
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to apply Israeli sovereignty to Jewish settlements and the Jordan Valley.

The move would be in line with US President Donald Trump’s “vision for peace” between Israel and the Palestinians, which was unveiled in January.

Mr Trump’s plan also envisages a Palestinian state in about 70% of the West Bank, all of Gaza, and with its capital on the fringes of East Jerusalem.”

As has been the case in all its preemptive reporting (see ‘related articles’ below) on the topic of the as yet theoretical plan to apply Israeli civil law to parts of Area C, the BBC made no effort to provide audiences with the relevant background concerning that territory, including its allocation by the League of Nations for the establishment of a Jewish homeland and its occupation by Jordan in 1948. Instead, readers found the BBC’s standard mantra in which history begins in June 1967.

US Senate committee votes to upgrade status of anti-Semitism czar

The US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee has approved upgrading the role of the US Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism to that of an ambassador.

The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations welcomes the move, which it says will provide the role “with additional prominence and visibility on the world stage.” It says the post “plays a critically important part in the global fight against the increasingly urgent threat of resurgent anti-Semitism around the world.”

The committee also passed the US-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2020, approving the allocation of $3.8 billion annually in US aid to Israel as part of a 2016 10-year memorandum of understanding between the countries.

The measures now move to the full Senate for approval.

Neo-Nazi Spotted With Antisemitic Sign at Ohio Protest Later Sought to Kill Jews at Kent State

An Ohio man who was seen brandishing an antisemitic sign at a protest in Columbus, Ohio, in April also threatened to kill Jews at Kent State University in a separate incident in early May.

The Cleveland Jewish News reported that Jackie Congedo – the director of the Cincinnati Jewish Federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council — spoke about the incident during a webinar on coronavirus-related antisemitism last week.

Describing a man at the Columbus protest who was carrying a sign that portrayed a religious Jew as a rat under the words “the real plague,” Congedo said, “Fast forward several weeks after this protest and law enforcement is actually investigating a subsequent incident where we know that he entered a convenience store around the anniversary of the Kent State shooting in that area wearing a black T-shirt with a Nazi symbol and swastika, black tactical pants and boots, a Nazi tattoo on the back of his head.”

“And he had a hatchet and a machete, and he was asking where he could find Jews,” Congedo said. “He told the clerk he was an Aryan Brother, for those of you who may not be familiar with the Aryan Brotherhood, which is a Nazi organization, and he said that he intended to go to Kent State to find Jews.”

The incident apparently took place on May 3.

Kent State University Hillel’s executive director, Adam Hirsh, corroborated Congedo’s account, saying that his organization had been notified and law enforcement had taken appropriate action to ensure the safety of Jewish students.

More than 2,000 antisemitic crimes in Germany, highest rate since 2001

Antisemitic crime was at its highest since 2001 in Germany, authorities announced on Wednesday, with more than 2,000 crimes targeting Jews in 2019. The number of antisemitic crimes in 2019 was 13% higher than it was in 2018.

The Berlin paper Tagesspiegel reported, “most offenses against Jews are assigned to right-wing offenders. The most brutal attack was the attack by Stephan Balliet on the synagogue in Halle in October. Balliet tried unsuccessfully to open the door to the fully occupied synagogue and then, in his anger, killed two passersby.”

The neo-Nazi Balliet was wedded to an antisemitic world view that included the “Zionist-occupied government” theory.

Germany’s statistical data about the causes of antisemitism have faced criticism over the years.

In 2017, German paper Die Welt reported an outbreak of Islamic-animated antisemitism was registered as right-wing extremism. According to the report, “the Islamic share of antisemitic offenses is clearly under-counted in police statistics.”

I think you should recheck the numbers... I'd start around 1933. pic.twitter.com/Ac5WkEPCcE
— Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) May 27, 2020

.@DavidIcke spreads vile antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jews on social media. With 300,000 followers on Twitter, he recently claimed Jews are responsible for #coronavirus. We call on Twitter to remove his page immediately!

Sign the petition here: https://t.co/5fJFBCi8MB
— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) May 27, 2020

Look at THIS, @TwitterUK @TwitterSupport.

You reinstated this. You ignore the reports and permit this hate.

THIS horrific abuse of Jews is entirely your responsibility. This is you. @DaraNasr @HolocaustUK @CST_UK @JewishChron @IsraelinUK @delbius https://t.co/5By8ycdNUp pic.twitter.com/BbamvR82el
— (((Neil))) 👁‍🗨 (@dungeekin) May 26, 2020

German Parliament Poised to Appoint Military Rabbis for First Time in 100 Years

The German parliament is set to approve the appointment of rabbis to provide pastoral care to Jewish members of the country’s armed services for the first time in over a century.

The parliament is expected to back the measure in a vote on Thursday, the Jüdische Allgemeine news outlet reported on Tuesday.

The anticipated move follows an agreement reached last December between the Central Council of Jews in Germany and the Ministry of Defense. Ten rabbis are expected to assume their posts later this year.

According to federal government estimates, there are approximately 300 Jews serving in the Bundeswehr, Germany’s unified defense force.

Around 3,000 Muslims are also believed to be serving, and similar plans are being made for the appointment of imams.

The 90,000 identified Christians in the armed forces are served by chaplains from several denominations.

Under German regulations, military personnel provide details of their religious affiliation on a voluntary basis only.

In memory of the El Al Captain who flew Adolf Eichmann to justice

Sixty years ago, at dawn on May 22, 1960, El Al captains Zvi Tohar and Shmuel Wedeles guided their four-engine Bristol Britannia passenger airliner out of the heavens toward Lod Airport near Tel Aviv. The plane was painted in brilliant white – dovelike. The royal blue Star of David on the tale rudder glistened in the morning sun.

When the wheels gripped the runway, both Tohar and Wedeles breathed a sigh of relief, after completing their long-distance flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, a span filled with intrigue and danger.

Probably the most famous landing in world history was the Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle’s touchdown on the moon, July 20, 1969. Just as the Eagle’s lunar landing was a triumph for technology, the landing of the aircraft piloted by Tohar and Wedeles on that May morning in 1960 was a triumph for justice; for seated aboard the plane in the first-class cabin was the notorious architect of the Nazi’s “Final Solution,” Adolf Eichmann.

The irony is that the Jews, systematically hunted down by Eichmann in every fissure and crack and ghetto in Europe, their gaunt bodies crammed and pressed by strong Aryan backs into cattle cars with no ventilation or light, not being afforded so much as a minimal mercy in their transport to the death camps, even offered Eichmann a seat at all, let alone one in first class.

The part the late Wedeles played in the Mossad’s dramatic capture of Eichmann is of particular interest to me because he was the husband of my father’s cousin, Pnina (Boxerman) Wedeles.

Texas Holocaust Survivor Celebrates 100th Birthday With Drive-By Car Parade

A Holocaust survivor in Texas was surprised with a parade of drive-by visitors on Sunday in honor of his 100th birthday.

A procession of cars and visitors — who were practicing social distancing and wearing masks — drove by Heinz Wallach’s home to help him celebrate the milestone.

The parade was organized by his daughter, Tamar Leventhal, with the help of the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum.

The gesture left Wallach “speechless,” he told CBS DFW, while Leventhal said, “I’ve been emotional the last two weeks putting it all together and realizing how many people love my father.”

Born in Kassel, Germany, Wallach’s family home was destroyed during Kristallnacht, the pogrom carried out against Jews across Nazi Germany on Nov. 9, 1938. Wallach and his father were then sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp. His mother, father and sister died in the Holocaust.

After being released from Buchenwald, Wallach joined a Zionist organization and on Aug. 15, 1940, he joined a group immigrating to pre-state Israel, according to the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum.

The journey by sea took several months, but ultimately Wallach’s ship was bombed when it was just off the coast of Haifa. More than 250 people died, but Wallach survived by jumping overboard and he was eventually rescued. After spending a year in a British detention camp, he went to live on a kibbutz.

Would-be Hitler assassin and Holocaust survivor Henry Wermuth dies aged 97

A Holocaust survivor who once attempted a solo mission to kill Germany’s Nazi wartime leader Adolf Hitler by derailing his train has died in London.

Henry Wermuth was 97 when he passed away from organ failure on May 19, the Times of London reported in an obituary. He had recently recovered from a suspected bout of COVID-19. He is survived by his wife Ilana, whom he met after the war, and their two daughters.

Wermuth was the sole survivor among his family. He eventually settled in London, where he built a successful real estate business. He was also a Holocaust educator, telling his story at schools across the UK.

He wrote his memoirs during the 1980s as well as four works of fiction.

Wermuth’s most famous escapade was his attempt on Hitler’s life, for which he was awarded a medal by the German government several decades after the end of the war.

Wermuth was a 19-year-old inmate at a labor camp in Poland in 1942 when he took upon himself to change the course of history, the elderly Holocaust survivor’s daughter Ilana Metzger told The Daily Mail.

At the time, Wermuth was imprisoned, along with his father, at the Klaj ammunition camp in Poland after having been deported from Frankfurt and separated from his mother and sister. Security was not as tight as in concentration camps and he managed to befriend a disgruntled German soldier, Metzger recounted.

One day, the soldier confided in him that Hitler was scheduled to pass through the small Polish village on a train bound for the Russian front, where he was planning to visit German troops in the wake of their devastating losses in their assault on Stalingrad.

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.

Please Don’t Use the Holocaust (Judean Rose)

2020-05-27T16:00:00.004-04:00

The Holocaust was an outsized event: comparable to no other, unparalleled in history. Perhaps that is why, more than any other catastrophe, the Holocaust gets exploited. The Holocaust is used to compare and draw parallels to whatever particular issue bugging people at any moment in time. And in one sense, exploiting the Holocaust in this manner proves the magnitude of this event: the Holocaust is the worst thing people can think of, so it is where they will always turn for inspiration and debate points.

Using the Holocaust for comparison’s sake, on the other hand, cannot help but weaken the power of this singular event in our minds. If something is as bad as the Holocaust, then the Holocaust is not the worst thing that ever was. It was just as bad as something else: whatever gets your goat at a given point in time.

A current example of how this works relates to the politicization of lockdown measures in the face of the global pandemic. Some of us see coronavirus measures as the government doing the best it can in an unprecedented situation. If lockdown measures and regulations seem contradictory at times, or even silly, we trust that the intent of these measures is to halt the spread of contagion and keep people safe.

Other people may, however, find lockdown measures arbitrary, unnecessary, counterproductive, dangerous, or a form of government oppression. They may even see some nefarious intent on the part of the government or be suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” in which they feel compelled to trash-talk every action taken by the president, good or bad. If you find yourself anywhere in this paragraph, you no doubt feel compelled to make your case, loudly and at length, to everyone in hearing/viewing distance.

And what better way to show the evil intent and oppressive nature of lockdown measures than to compare them to the Holocaust? And so it was that I butted heads with a libertarian on a Facebook group called “Corona Virus Insanity Memes.” I was there not to interact with the members of this group but to find memes to cheer up my friends during lockdown. I do this most days, sifting through lots of duds to find the best.

Sometimes the memes offend me, or fail to draw a chuckle, but rather than say anything, I simply skip past to the next one. Different strokes for different folks. No point arguing these things.

But the other day I bumped into a meme that stopped me cold. The meme, depicting Anne Frank, gazing into the distance, was captioned, “The law is not a moral compass. The people who hid Anne Frank were breaking the law. The people who killed her were following it.”

The thrust of this meme is that laws should not be equated with morality. Sometimes we have to break laws in order to do the right thing, and sometimes obeying the law is evil. In other words: just because something is lawful, doesn’t make it right.

Like I said, normally I skip past something that offends me. I don’t want to debate random people on the internet. To what purpose? But this meme pushed my buttons. I was incredulous. Is this guy really saying that being asked to wear a mask and stay indoors to avoid contagion is the same thing as being forced to hide in an attic to escape being murdered because one is a Jew?

So I told the guy: the comparison is appalling and offensive. The two situations are not at all analogous and the Holocaust should be off-limits as either a comparison point or comedy material. That such exploitation trivializes the Holocaust.

But Kiril was never going to hear me. He was hell bent on making me see that I was missing his point and on illustrating his supposed oppression. I knew it, and yet persisted in trying to get him see what he could not see. The enormity of the Holocaust. The numbers. The intent of lockdown measures versus Hitler’s Final Solution. The fact that law didn’t enter into what happened to Anne Frank. That Germany invaded Holland, where Anne Frank’s family went into hiding. That no one elected Hitler to rule over the Dutch or move the Franks to Bergen-Belsen, where Anne died of typhus at age 15.

I talked about the magnitude of the Holocaust, the over 6 million people gassed to death and burnt in crematoria and the difference between being hunted and targeted for being Jewish and being asked to stay home to contain contagion. None of this left any sort of impression on Kiril, who only doubled down, suggesting it was a good thing to use the Holocaust to shock the people and give them a rude awakening about government overreach, to learn from history whatever we can.

But this is a distortion of history. The two situations are not analogous. And to compare them weakens the impact of what the Holocaust was, and how it impacts on our lives still today and for generations to come.

It is true that in a democratic society, people vote for their leaders but don’t always like the results. But there are second chances. They can rectify the situation by voting differently in future or by resorting to the courts. Anne Frank, on the other hand, is dead, and stays dead. There are no more choices for Anne Frank or the other almost 7 million Jews murdered on behalf of Hitler’s Final Solution.

If we can compare anything to the Holocaust—anything at all—then what, exactly, is special about the Holocaust? How is it different from any other terrible situation, imagined or real?

To my mind, the main reason not to compare anything to the Holocaust is to preserve in our minds the uniqueness of this catastrophic event in all of history. The Holocaust, this concentrated effort at eliminating the Jewish people once and for all, stands at the very pinnacle of evil which, until now, and God willing forever, simply has no equal.

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.

Will Palestinian VIPs turn in their cards that allow easy travel to Israel?

2020-05-27T13:59:00.001-04:00

Israel issued so-called “VIP” cards to PLO leaders and prominent businesspeople allowing them to go through checkpoints easily without inspection. Ordinary Palestinians have long been resentful that the “VIPs” could drive through checkpoints and go to Israel easily while everyone else has to wait in lines.

The VIP system was created during the Oslo process at the request of Palestinian leaders.

Now, Hamas - which never benefitted from this VIP system – is asking, in light of the PLO announcement of ending all cooperation with Israel, whether the PLO will dismantle the system. After all, the cards must be presented to Israeli security, so they are an example of security cooperation with Israel.

Hamas is trying to embarrass its PLO rivals, of course. But that doesn’t mean this isn’t a good question. If the PLO maintains the VIP system, it means that they re being very selective in which cooperation they are willing to stop with Israel – and the Palestinian leaders aren’t likely to give up one of their biggest perks.

05/27 Links Pt1: ICC asks PA if Oslo Accords still in force; Under the Radar: Arab States Agree to Israeli Sovereignty; UAE virus aid rejected by Palestinians still at Israel’s airport

2020-05-27T12:00:00.000-04:00

From Ian:

Ahead of ruling on war crimes probe, ICC asks PA if Oslo Accords still in force

Abbas claimed Netanyahu’s remarks the day before about the planned extension of Israeli sovereignty over settlements and the Jordan Valley meant Israel had “annulled” the Oslo Accords, which established the PA and kicked off the decades-long peace process, “and all agreements signed with it.”

On April 30, ICC prosecutor Bensouda reiterated her position that Palestine is a state for the purposes of transferring criminal jurisdiction over its territory to The Hague.

It is now up to a pretrial chamber to rule on the matter. The three judges of that chamber — Péter Kovács of Hungary, Marc Perrin de Brichambaut of France and Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou of Benin — have no set deadline to hand down their decision but are expected to do so within 90 days.

On Tuesday, the pretrial chamber surprisingly issued a document saying that Abbas’s comments about no longer being bound by agreements with Israel came to its attention, and it “requests Palestine to provide additional information on this statement, including on the question whether it pertains to any of the Oslo agreements between Palestine and Israel.”

The chamber also “invite[d] Israel to respond to any additional information” Ramallah may provide by June 24.

But Jerusalem, which has long argued that Palestine is not a sovereign state and therefore cannot transfer criminal jurisdiction over its territory to the Hague, is unlikely to accept the judges’ offer, lest any formal engagement with the court be seen as legitimizing it.

Netanyahu has repeatedly denounced the ICC and declared thwarting a possible war crimes probe one of the new government’s top priorities.

The Oslo Accords were signed in Washington in 1993. A follow-up agreement two years later, sometimes called Oslo II, set out the scope of Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza. The interim pact was only supposed to last five years while a permanent agreement was finalized but it has tacitly been rolled over for more than two decades.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Daphne Anson: The Legal Status of the Territories Beyond the Green Line (video)

Avi Bell is an Israeli Professor of Law at the University of San Diego School of Law and at Bar-Ilan University's Faculty of Law, as well as a Senior Fellow at the Kohelet Policy Forum.

From that estimable organisation UK Lawyers for Israel comes this video, not quite one hour long, of the professor in conversation with Oxford-educated London barrister Natasha Hausdorf, who has a LLM from Tel Aviv University in the areas of international law and the law of armed conflict.

Using illustrative matter to explain his points, Professor Bell enlightens us on the topic "Israel, Territory and International Law".

UAE virus aid rejected by Palestinians still at Israel’s airport; UN rethinking

Fourteen tons of medical supplies earmarked for the Palestinians to help cope with the coronavirus pandemic were still sitting at Ben Gurion Airport on Tuesday evening, a week after they arrived from the UAE, as UN officials worked to find a way to distribute the aid after the Palestinian Authority announced it would not accept it.

The aid arrived on what was the first-ever direct flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel last Tuesday. The landing was celebrated by the Foreign Ministry, which notified reporters in advance about the historic route by which the supplies would be arriving.

However, the PA has insisted the UAE did not coordinate the matter and that it therefore could not accept the aid, which was seen as a step normalizing ties between Israel and the Gulf states.

The supplies — which include ten ventilators, PPE (personal protective equipment), lithium batteries for charging relevant hospital equipment and cleaning materials — were clearing customs at Ben Gurion and are slated to be transferred to a holding facility in Ashdod, a UN official told The Times of Israel on Tuesday evening.

The official did not tie the week-long stall to the PA’s announced rejection of the supplies. He said the UAE cargo flight was not the only one to have arrived at Ben Gurion, and that clearing customs and security checks takes time.

Under the Radar: Arab States Agree to Israeli Sovereignty (Hebrew)

Alongside their public rejection of the Israeli plan to extend sovereignty to the Jordan Valley and Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria, senior officials in Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States say their leaders have met in recent months with U.S. officials Jared Kushner and Avi Berkowitz and, in effect, gave them a green light to continue the work of the U.S.-Israel mapping committee to advance the sovereignty plan.

A senior Saudi diplomat close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Israel Hayom that Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE have an unofficial coordinated position in favor of the sovereignty plan.

"With all due respect to the few Palestinians who live in the Jordan Valley, Arab states like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Jordan will not endanger their relations with the Trump administration for them," he said.

"The Palestinians weren't smart enough to take advantage of the supportive Obama government and continued their rejectionism. It is time for Abbas and his veteran leadership to wake up and understand that the interests of the region and the world have changed."

"If they miss yet another opportunity to establish an independent state alongside Israel because of Israeli sovereignty in the Jordan Valley and the settlements, in another 20 years they will be left with nothing."

A senior Egyptian security official added that moderate Arab leaders headed by Egyptian President Sisi "see the struggle to block Shiite Iran's drive for hegemony over Sunni nations in the Middle East as a more important issue than that of the Palestinians."

While there's a growing trend of openness in the Arab world towards the beneficial direct relations with Israel, many there still refuse to openly admit their existence.

I'd like to ask them, why are you afraid of a normalization with 🇮🇱?

ليش بتخافوا من التطبيع مع إسرائيل؟ pic.twitter.com/iVQ8TJUe4d
— Yuval Rotem 🇮🇱 (@Yuval_Rotem) May 27, 2020

MEMRI: Saudi Writer: Israel Is A Peace-Loving Country; Iran And Turkey Are Enemies Of The Arabs

In a pro-Israeli article in the liberal Arabic website Elaph.com, Saudi writer and author Khalid Turki Aal Turki wrote that Israel is a peaceful country "by any standard", which is scientifically advanced and extends assistance in the field of health to others, including the Palestinians. In this, he argued, it contrasts with Turkey and Iran, which who spread their extremist ideologies in the Arab countries and support the militias within them, and are thus the true enemies of the Arabs. He concluded by saying that logic and reality dictate that the Arabs should forge peace with Israel for a joint fight against their common enemies, whom he called the "the forces of evil and terror."

The following are translated excerpts from his article:[1]
"If we want to be honest with ourselves, before anything else, then let us listen to the voice of logic, rather than to sentiments, which by their very nature are affected by every shrill claim in the media, be it accurate or false. Israel is a peace-loving country by any yardstick. From the day of its establishment until today, we have never heard, read or seen Israel working to spread any ideology or belief in other countries, or to support militias [within them], as Iran and Turkey are doing. Ask anyone on the street in an Arab country who is behind all the destruction and extremism in the Middle East, and he will immediately tell you: Iran and Turkey.

"In this article I will not discuss the issue of yes or no to normalization, for the newspapers and websites are full of it. Instead I will merely shed light on Israel's achievements and immense service to science and humanity, and will then let the Arab citizen judge.

"Israel dispatches doctors to treat the sick in impoverished African countries and elsewhere without recompense. It also treats many Palestinians, even some who tried to commit terror attacks to murder innocent Israelis! Israel still strives for peace with all Arab countries; it is a state that respects human rights and the sovereignty of [other] states; in the field of science, it excels on a global level and occupies a leading position in scientific research; Israeli universities are high on the list of the world's [best] universities; Israel is considered an arms-producing country and assists other countries, such as India, in their military industry; the Israeli Watergen company has managed to create a device to produce water from air; Medicine and medical research are proceeding full thrust in Israel. In fact, it has become the preferred location for medical treatment for many, to the point that senior Palestinian officials do not find a better place than Israel for receiving good medical treatment and care.

"This is but a drop in the ocean. After all this, I believe that, by any logic and in view of reality, the interest of the Arab homeland [indeed] lies with Israel, just as Israel's interests lie with the Arab homeland – for circumstances and geography have decreed that we all to join hands in order to destroy the forces of evil and terror and delineate a path to peace that both we and the future generations will enjoy.”

Caroline Glick “Israel Must Implement Trump’s Deal to Preempt a Potential Biden Administration”

PMW: Look who's talking! PA accuses Israel of planning expansion “from the Nile to the Euphrates”

Israel - “the greedy Zionist cancer” – is scheming to expand its territory to extend “from the Nile [River] to the Euphrates [River]” according to regular columnist Bassem Barhoum at the official PA daily:
“The goal is to stop the expansion of the greedy Zionist cancer, at a time when the saying ‘From the Nile [River] to the Euphrates [River]’ is still arousing the desires of leaders in Israel.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 15, 2020]

This Palestinian accusation is projection par excellence. As Palestinian Media Watch has documented numerous times, it is the PA that tells its people that their goal is a “Palestine” that reaches “from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea,” and includes – and destroys - all of the State of Israel.

Senior Fatah official Tawfiq Tirawi recently stressed this view, claiming that “our Palestinian land is from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea”:
Fatah Commissioner and Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi: “We say that Nazareth, Haifa, and Acre (i.e., Israeli cities) are Palestinian, and they will remain Palestinian! Our Palestinian land is from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea. I dare any Palestinian, any senior Palestinian official, or any Palestinian leader to reduce the Palestinian map to the West Bank and Gaza! He would not be able to walk one meter in the streets of our Palestinian cities among our people! … Arab brothers… Be with the Palestinian people, the people that lives on land that is all holy and that is all waqf land (i.e., land that is an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law.)”
[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi, Feb. 2, 2020]

Palestinian schoolbooks assure that Palestinian youth are raised envisioning a Palestinian state that erases all of Israel, as in this map defined in the schoolbook as “The geographical area of the State of Palestine”.

Jordanian Journalist Malik Al-Athamneh: We Should Consider Jordanian Annexation of the West Bank Since the Two-State Solution Is Over and the PA Is a Failure pic.twitter.com/Z9CaQJbCCE
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) May 27, 2020

PLO: The agreements with Israel have ended

Palestinian officials said on Wednesday they are planning to step up their efforts to thwart Israel’s intention to apply sovereignty to parts of the West Bank, now that the Palestinians have “successfully” prevented the spread of the coronavirus.

Some officials expressed hope massive international pressure would force Israel to backtrack on its “unilateral” move.

“There’s room for optimism,” a senior Palestinian official in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post. “There’s a feeling that most of the world stands with us on the issue of annexation.”

The official was speaking as members of the PLO Executive Committee held further discussions in Ramallah to discuss ways of foiling the “annexation” plan.

Prior to the meeting, PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat said the Palestinian leadership was holding marathon discussions and intensive contacts with several countries to brief them on the “dangers” of the Israeli plan.

“There is no possibility for the American and Israeli sides to back away from the annexation plan unless there’s an international coalition that would say ‘no’ to Israel,” Erekat told the Palestinian Authority Voice of Palestine radio station. “Everyone should take matters seriously in light of [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s insistence on implementing the annexation and settlement plan.”

After the discussions in Ramallah, the PLO Executive Committee “confirmed” PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s recent announcement on renouncing all agreements and understandings with Israel and the US.

The committee said that the Palestinians will continue to work in the international arena to urge countries to take “punitive measures” against settlements and their products.

Try as He Might, Mahmoud Abbas Can’t Do Much to End Cooperation with Israel

Almost a week has passed since Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas threatened to back out of all existing agreements with Israel if it acts on its intention to extend sovereignty over West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley.

In practice, however, relations between the Palestinian Authority and Israel are structured in such a way that leaves Ramallah with no real option of severing ties with Jerusalem and continuing to function independently.

The cooperation between Israel and the Palestinians was built gradually and with great effort since 2008 and has withstood several trials and tribulations over the years. It became suffused with both sides' organizational culture.

This mutual effort does consist of security elements, but focuses mainly on routine civilian functions, such as allowing Palestinian emergency services to travel between PA- and Israeli-controlled territories and back, and even authorizing the transfer of goods.

But under the radar, commodities continued to cross from Israel to the Palestinian Authority in recent days without much fanfare.
Business seems to be going on as usual. For now.

Several hours after news of the end of security ties surfaced, the IDF arrested over 20 Palestinians in a series of raids across the West Bank. As soon as the lull came into effect, the arrests stopped.

It is safe to assume that the two things may have a connection, but the Palestinians are also just coming out of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, and
nobody in Israel was interested in interrupting the celebrations, aside from urgent cases.

But this trend happens every year and the Palestinian threat hasn't stood up to the test yet.

After 5-day lull, IDF carries out West Bank raids despite tensions with PA

Israeli security forces arrested seven Palestinian suspects in the West Bank in predawn raids on Wednesday morning, the first such operations since the Palestinian Authority said it had frozen a vital security coordination mechanism.

The overnight operation followed a five-day lull that partially coincided with the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

The Palestinian Authority said last week that it was cutting all security ties with Israel in light of the government’s proposal to annex the Jordan Valley and Israeli settlements, in a move expected to increase tensions and possibly lead to potentially dangerous conflicts between Israeli and Palestinian forces.

Despite the PA’s assertions that it was no longer abiding by its agreements with Israel, no clashes were reported between Palestinian security forces and the Israeli troops, indicating that some degree of coordination between the two was ongoing.

The Israel Defense Forces said troops arrested seven suspects in overnight raids. According to Palestinian media, five of them were from the Ramallah area and two from Tulkarem in the northern West Bank.

In some cases, rocks and other objects were thrown at the Israeli troops’ vehicles by residents of the area.

Palestinian envoy: Biden isn’t taking strong enough stance against annexation

Palestinian Authority official Husam Zomlot decried Democratic candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday for not taking a strong enough stance against Israel’s proposed annexation of parts of the West Bank.

Zomlot, the PLO’s ambassador to the United Kingdom and a former envoy in Washington, argued that Biden’s unwillingness to threaten harsh consequences for Israel should Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extend sovereignty to the West Bank settlements will enable the Israeli premier to move forward with his plan.

“We are not seeing any new sort of policy lever on the part of the Biden campaign that would actually help in the changing of the calculus,” Zomlot said on a Zoom call organized by the US-based Israel Policy Forum, a nonprofit that supports a two-state solution. “So far, it’s nothing that would actually dissuade Netanyahu from going ahead with annexation.”

Biden has stated on multiple occasions that he opposes annexation. “It would choke off any hope for peace,” he told the AIPAC Policy Conference in March. But he has not delineated what the US policy response should be.

The former vice president has said he would not reduce US aid to Israel, if he is elected. “I’m not going to place conditions on security assistance, given the serious threats that Israelis face,” Biden said last week. “This would be, I think, irresponsible.”

On the Tuesday Zoom call, Zomlot insisted that this posturing effectively sends a message that Netanyahu could unilaterally annex parts of the West Bank without any material ramifications from the United States, no matter who wins the November election.

Israel’s ‘Destructive Policies’ Being ‘Rubber Stamped’ by Trump Administration, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar Charges

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) — known for her long history of anti-Israel statements — appeared to draw a moral equivalence between the Jewish state and Saudi Arabia.

Commenting on the Trump administration’s warm relations with both countries, Omar said, “We know the amount of money and influence and connection that the Saudis have with the administration is really the reason that everything destructive they do is nullified. And that really is no different to what’s happening with Israel.”

“There’s an alarming connection to the really destructive policies Israel is proposing and how much of it is being rubber stamped by this administration,” she added. “And how much of it is being urged by Americans who have connection and influence with this administration.”

Omar also noted she had “moved past” the controversy that erupted last year over comments she made about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) that were widely condemned as antisemitic.

“My expression of those things was hurtful to people, that has really broken my heart,” she stated. “I talk about Saudi blood money and them being bloodsuckers and no one says ‘This is Islamophobic,’ but I know if I use those terms for another country, that could be [a problem]. And so you learn what history is tied to words. As someone who didn’t have an understanding, I now do.”

Settler leaders put out map they claim shows Trump plan for Palestinian state

Settler leaders have been meeting with right-wing lawmakers over the past week and presenting them with what they claim is a map of the Palestinian state envisioned by the Trump plan, which would encircle 15 Israeli communities in a manner they say is unacceptable.

The Yesha umbrella council of West Bank mayors passed a resolution earlier this month declaring that it would not accept the Trump plan’s green-lighting of Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank if it meant agreeing to the other key part of the proposal — the establishment of a Palestinian state.

In the weeks since, Yesha officials, including chairman David Elhayani, director Yigal Dilmoni and various West Bank mayors, have been sitting down with lawmakers from the Likud, Jewish Home and Yamina parties in an effort to convince them to oppose the Trump plan, for which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has voiced his support.

To their meetings with right-wing lawmakers in the Knesset, the Yesha officials have been coming equipped with a blown-up map showing what they claim is the Palestinian state envisioned by the Trump plan in red. The map highlights the 15 settlements that would become isolated enclaves encircled by the Palestinian state and also shows that many of the key highways running into and through the West Bank, such as routes 5 and 60, would no longer be accessible to Israeli drivers.

Elhayani, however, admitted to The Times of Israel that the map is based on the conceptual version that was presented by US President Donald Trump at the plan’s unveiling in January. The administration has warned both sides against taking that map as final, noting that a joint US-Israeli mapping committee has been tasked with outlining the exact contours of the areas Israel would be allowed to annex and those set aside for a future Palestinian state.

Israel, the EU, and International Law

It is hard to take Europe's insistence on the 1967 lines as sacrosanct too seriously. EU members collectively still refuse to move their embassies to the western parts of Jerusalem, which have been part of Israel since 1948. It is a very strange formulation when land on the western side of the 1967 line - that is, land indisputably belonging to Israel for 72 years - is considered negotiable, but every inch on the other side is off the table. It is a double standard, applied to Jews but not to Palestinians.

Fifty years of propagandistic debate over Israel must not be allowed to obscure the facts. The legal disposition of all the territories defined by the League of Nations' Mandate for Palestine of 1921 is still grounded in that Mandate. The preamble to the Mandate "recognizes" that the Jewish people have an inherent right to the territory defined by the Mandate, as opposed to being "granted" that right by the international body. It essentially says that the international community cannot therefore grant to a people that which is already theirs.

That makes Israel one of only a very few nations anchored in an inherited right (which can be revoked by no one), rather than a granted right (which the giver of the right can take back).

Article 5 of the Mandate asserts the principle that the Jewish people, as the deed-holders of the land, possess the sole legal right to make any modifications to the territorial definitions (including borders) of that land.

The 1949 Rhodes Agreement, which delineated the 1967 lines, said: "The Armistice Demarcation Line is not to be construed in any sense as a political or territorial boundary." Thus, under international law, the 1967 lines cannot be considered a border and for the EU to regard the 1967 lines as some sort of legal absolute in fact has no legal foundation. The writer, a former senior intelligence officer and adviser to the U.S. National Security Council, is a fellow at the Center for Security Policy.

European leaders said to implore Netanyahu not to advance annexation

Several European leaders reportedly sent personal letters to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent days asking him not to push ahead with plans to unilaterally annex parts of the West Bank.

“I ask you, in a spirit of friendship, that your new government not take unilateral action [in the West Bank]. Such a move would destabilize the Middle East,” French President Emmanuel Macron told Netanyahu, according to a report aired Tuesday on Channel 13. “Only dialogue with the Palestinians and a just and balanced solution will provide Israel with peace, security and stability.”

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and their Italian counterpart Giuseppe Conte reportedly sent Netanyahu letters expressing similar sentiments.

Several European nations are currently considering ways to deter Israel from moving forward with its declared intention to apply sovereignty to the entire Jordan Valley and all settlements across the West Bank — territory much of the international community wants to see become a Palestinian state — and how to punish it if it ignores their warnings and carries out the annexation, according to the report.

According to the coalition agreement on which Israel’s new government was founded, Netanyahu can bring the annexation plan to a vote in the government and the Knesset as soon as July 1, as long as it’s done in full coordination with the US. The administration of US President Donald Trump has vowed to recognize Israel’s annexation as long as Jerusalem does it on the basis of the peace plan issued by Washington earlier this year.

According to the network, Palestinian leaders are concerned that leading Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Gulf states, have reacted with seeming indifference about the prospect of annexation.

While Jordan has threatened to review its ties with Israel over the annexation plans, most other Arab states have made little fuss.

Hezbollah's Nasrallah warns of 'great war' on all fronts with Israel

Marking 20 years since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel of "the great war that will open all fronts at once," saying that it would be "the end of Israel." The Hezbollah leader stressed, however, that there are "no indications that Israel intends to launch a war against Lebanon."

The statements were made during an interview with the Al-Nour Radio Station on Tuesday night, which was broadcast by the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar TV Channel.

Nasrallah warned that any Israeli air strike on Lebanon would "not pass without a response," adding that the terror group has "military capabilities that did not exist before 2006" and would respond if any Hezbollah terrorist was killed anywhere.

In reference to an airstrike on a Hezbollah vehicle along the Lebanon-Syria border a few weeks ago, Nasrallah stressed that Israel did not make a mistake in the strike and was not trying to kill the terrorists in the vehicle, because they knew that Hezbollah would respond if the terrorists were killed.

In possible reference to a series of airstrikes in recent years on Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria which were blamed on Israel, Nasrallah stated that while the Syrian leadership believes that it is not in the country's interest to be drawn into a war with Israel, the "patience and endurance of the Syrian leadership with Israeli aggression has limits."

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: The Home Demolitions No One Talks About

While international human rights groups and the European Union have also been condemning Israel, they are ignoring home demolitions carried out by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

In February, Hamas notified 50 families... that their homes would be destroyed on the pretext that they were built without a license. The families were instructed to evacuate their homes within two weeks.... Last year, Hamas demolished another house in Khan Yunis belonging to Bassam Duhan, also on the pretext that it was built without a license. Duhan, a father of eight, set up a tent in front of the demolished house. He complained that relatives of senior Hamas officials had also built homes in the same area, but no one destroyed their homes.

Last year, a youth group in the Gaza Strip called on the Arab League and other Arab and Islamic parties to launch an investigation into Hamas's crimes against Palestinians. Needless to say, the group has never received a reply from the Arab League or any other organization in the Arab and Islamic countries. The appeal came after Hamas militiamen used excessive force to prevent Palestinians from protesting economic hardship and Hamas corruption.

In the absence of an international response, Hamas continues to demolish homes in the Gaza Strip -- and other crimes against its own people -- with impunity, leaving hundreds of families without shelter.

Palestinian Soccer Star Barred From Palestinian Team After Joining Israeli Team

A Palestinian soccer star has been banned from rejoining the Palestine national team in the West Bank after he signed with an Israeli team on May 24.

The Israellycool blog first reported the player, Abdallah Jaber, had joined the Hapoel Haderas, telling Israeli radio that because he’s an Arab-Israeli, he had been unable to sign with other teams from Arab countries, such as Egypt.

“If the national team calls me again and if my current club allows me, I will go back to playing with Palestine,” he said. “At the moment, however, the respective football associations do not communicate with each other.”

The Times of Israel reported on May 25 that the Palestine team barred Jaber from rejoining the squad, as the team has rules against players joining an Israeli team. Jaber also was subjected to voluminous amounts of hateful social-media comments lambasting him for his decision to sign with the Haderas.

“It’s the political background; it is a sensitive issue,” he told Israel’s Channel 13.

Jaber added that Arab-Israelis like himself often are between a rock and a hard place on how Israelis and Palestinians view them.

“Over there [West Bank], they say we aren’t really Palestinians and here [Israel], they say we aren’t really Israelis,” Jaber said.

He had been on the Palestinian team since 2013; prior to that, Jaber had been playing for various Israeli teams.

StandWithUs Israel Executive Director Michael Dickson tweeted that the Palestinian team’s decision to bar Jaber from the team “seems more like racism than sportsmanship.”

Senior Hamas Official Mahmoud Al-Zahhar: Normalization with the Prophet-Slayers Is Treason; Islam Will Enter Every Inch of the Earth pic.twitter.com/X4YIrRKuRK
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) May 27, 2020

Palestinians welcome ease of restrictions with hope and anxiety

The Palestinian Authority announced on Tuesday that no new cases of coronavirus have been detected among Palestinians in the past 24 hours. This comes amid signs of a slow return to normalcy after the PA eased restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

PA Health Minister Mai al-Kaila said that eight patients have recovered from the disease. She said that 602 Palestinians had been diagnosed with the disease since the beginning of March – 319 in east Jerusalem and its suburbs, 228 in the West Bank and 55 in the Gaza Strip. Some 80% of those diagnosed with the disease have recovered, al-Kaila said, adding that the areas of Jericho, Toubas, Salfit, Jenin, Kalkilya, Ramallah, al-Bireh, Bethlehem, Tulkarem and Nablus were now free of the disease.

On Monday, PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh announced a series of measures to ease the lockdown imposed in the West Bank since the first cases of coronavirus were discovered in Bethlehem. Shtayyeh said that courts, ministries and official bodies will return to work regularly after the three-day Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr, which ends on Tuesday. Nurseries will also reopen according to the safety procedures, he said, adding that public transportation would operate normally.

In addition, Shtayyeh announced that all businesses would be permitted to operate as of Tuesday morning. Mosques and churches were also reopened on Tuesday morning, including the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem.

Gaza Strip: Palestinians at the beach on the last day of Eid al-Fitr. https://t.co/GIeyMCmiDa
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) May 26, 2020

Egyptian Islamic Scholar Dr. Haitham Talaat: Atheists a Thousand Times Worse than Terrorists pic.twitter.com/lh20ePEGxw
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) May 27, 2020

Lebanese Singer Ragheb Alama: The Lebanese Army Should Take Control of Lebanon by Force, Establish a Military Regime, Arrest Corrupt Officials, Interrogate Them Live on TV pic.twitter.com/pDIOzTZboh
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) May 27, 2020

JCPA: Iran Presents the “Final Solution” – to the Question of Palestine

Iran has been celebrating International Quds (Jerusalem) Day on the last Friday of the month of Ramadan since Ayatollah Khomeini began the observance in 1979, to express Muslim yearning for the "liberation of Jerusalem" and the "restoration of the legitimate rights of the Palestinians."

Khomeini's doctrine - "The destruction of Zionism and the 'Zionist entity' (Israel) is the basic condition for solving the contemporary problems of Islam" and liberating Palestine - continues to resonate and to guide even the second and third generations of the Islamic revolution, a sort of eternal precept that brooks no deviation, questioning, or disagreement and that one must strive constantly and actively to fulfill.

According to this doctrine, the ongoing struggle against Israel and the United States is not a separate phenomenon but part of the centuries-old battle against Western arrogance, domineering, and imperialism, which implanted the "Zionist entity" in the heart of the Muslim domain.

Each year the repeated call for the destruction of Israel offers Iran an opportunity to project an ongoing activist approach to the Palestinian problem. Tehran contrasts this stance with the current impotence and incompetence of the Sunni Arab leaders who, in its view, are gradually normalizing their relations with Israel and thereby betraying the Palestinians and the Muslim Ummah.

Iran is arming Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Gaza and helping them with rockets and missiles to balance forces in the armed struggle with Israel.

The Iranian regime is not likely to change its ideological conception of Israel as a foreign implantation and it will continue to market that concept in the region and in the international arena.

The meaning of the "Iranian peace plan" - or as the Supreme leader wrote in a propaganda poster ahead of Quds Day: "Palestine will be free. The final solution: Resistance until referendum" - is Israel's eradication as a Jewish state.

Iran: US Chance for a Knockout Punch

There are five actions the Trump administration must take: (1) extending the UN arms embargo on Iran; (2) snapping back economic sanctions on Iran (they were originally loosened as part of the JCPOA); (3) shutting down the smuggling and trafficking networks of Hezbollah in the Americas; (4) stopping the Chinese-Iranian oil and gas pipeline developments through Pakistan; and (5) interdicting if possible Iranian tankers filled with gasoline and headed for Venezuela.

The embargo on Iran selling or importing high-technology military equipment, especially ballistic missile technology, must also be one of the administration's highest priorities. Particularly worrisome is that Russia and China want to sell equipment to Iran that, when combined with Iran's indigenous missile capability, would greatly accelerate Tehran's ICBM development program.

The US administration has let it be known that it could still sanction any entity selling Iran advanced weapons, especially ballistic missile technology.

Iranian tankers laden with gasoline are now traveling to Venezuela. The US Navy could easily capture those tankers still at sea. There is ample precedent. Both the US and Great Britain have legally seized Iranian ships bringing missiles to terrorists in Yemen. With a similar action, the US could both deny funds for Iran's terrorist and nuclear activities and energy desperately needed by the oppressive Maduro regime in Venezuela.

Iran’s interests in the ambush targeting Gen. Michael Flynn

Gen. Flynn had a very good understanding of Iran’s threat and he was hated by Tehran apologists/lobbyists in the West; most specifically, members of Iran’s main lobby group, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) founded by Trita Parsi. They were quick to push Tehran’s narrative against Flynn following the General’s position against the mullahs’ regime.

Considering his strong position vis-à-vis Iran, Gen. Flynn would have certainly not tolerated Iran’s influence in U.S. government, especially those figures who had reached high places during the Obama administration.

Gen. Flynn would have not tolerated the likes of Sahar Nowrouzzadeh of Iran’s lobby NIAC in the White House. Nowrouzzadeh worked directly on Obama’s Iran nuclear deal. While she may deny it, this card proves her previous membership in NIAC.

Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, a former member of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), in the Obama White House and also seen with former U.S. secretary of state John Kerry

“NIAC’s most accomplished alum is Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, who is now National Security Council director for Iran in the Obama admin & the top US official for Iran policy, bringing together various departments working on US strategy toward [Iran],” reads a Daily Beast article form back in September 2015.

Nowrouzzadeh was probably effective in having NIAC founder/then president Trita Parsi & a former Iranian regime ambassador to Germany invited to the White House more than 30 times. Their objective: pave the path for the 2015 Iran nuclear and Obama providing the utmost concessions to Tehran.

“Two high-level Iranian government backers, including a former Islamic Republic official and another accused of lobbying on Tehran’s behalf, were hosted at the Obama White House for more than 30 meetings with top officials at key junctures in the former administration’s contested diplomacy with Iran, according to White House visitor logs that provide a window into the former administration’s outreach to leading pro-Iran advocates,” according to the Washington Free Beacon.

Shame on Islamic Republic state media for covering Romina’s hair by photoshop. She was 13 and murdered by her father. Now they depicting the victim of an honor killing in “appreciate hijab” for her honor. They killed her again.This is gender apartheid not cultural difference. pic.twitter.com/qMh6COeGCy
— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) May 27, 2020

On Iran TV: Black Fedoras Worn by Orthodox Jews Float over a Flooded Jerusalem; “If Every Muslim Were to Pour One Bucket of Water, Israel Would Be Washed Away” pic.twitter.com/EyX2gurW7K
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) May 27, 2020

Senior Hamas Official Mahmoud Al-Zahhar: Normalization with the Prophet-Slayers Is Treason; Islam Will Enter Every Inch of the Earth pic.twitter.com/X4YIrRKuRK
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) May 27, 2020

Honest Reporting: Twitter: Kick Out Khamenei

Why are media giants helping brutal dictators, people who are responsible for some of the worst crimes against humanity?

The media has fundamentally changed over the last decade. More than ever, people are getting their news via social media. And social media giants like Twitter are directly responsible for the spread of poisonous hate, conspiracy theories, and calls to violence. By giving Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a platform, Twitter shoulders responsibility for the violence he incites against millions of Israelis.

HonestReporting has filed a legal complaint with the US Department of Justice and sent a copy to Elan Carr, the US Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating anti-Semitism, as well as to Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey, demanding the immediate suspension of Khamenei’s account. The letter can be found here (PDF)

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.

Iran’s president will have to give up his Microsoft Surface tablet

2020-05-27T10:45:00.000-04:00

From YNet/AP:

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday approved the order banning the use of any Israeli products in the country.

The ban includes technology, such as computer hardware and software, and was passed unanimously by Iranian lawmakers last week, Fars News Agency reported.

The legislation's aim is to apparently "confront the hostile acts of the Zionist regime against peace and security."

According to the new law, any cooperation with Israel, including use of its products, will be considered an “act against god.”

Rouhani is a fan of the Microsoft Surface hybrid laptop/tablet, and it appears to be standard equipment in Iran’s parliament or cabinet.

Both the Surface and the underlying Windows software is partially designed (and possibly built) in Israel:

Say goodbye to your tablet, Mr. Rouhani!

Jordanian newspaper has proof Jews always wanted to take over the Middle East!

2020-05-27T09:25:00.000-04:00

In Ammon News, a writer names Amin Mahmoud describes an episode in the late 18th century where a “Jew” named Paul Friedmann tried to build a Jewish colony in Midian, in what is now Saudi Arabia.

The author elaborates on Friedmann’s life and emphasizes that he wanted to have the Jews involved in building a railway from Egypt to India, which is judged as proof of Jewish colonialist designs for the entire region. Mahmoud goes on to say that the initiative received widespread support and only through the determination of the Ottoman empire was this scheme foiled.

He concludes, “This Jewish settlement attempt at Midian and its counterparts from other settlement attempts in the Arab regions did not take place in ancient times, but took place in the recent past. Everyone in this country is threatened unless all of us shake off the burden of weakness and indifference and face the challenge with determination and strength. It has become imperative that the people of this nation understand the plots against it, and they defend its existence and survival, and do not depend on complacency and surrender, or it will suffer more rupture and loss and become a gossip in the mouths of the greedy and haters. The Zionist threat will not only threaten the Arabism of Palestine alone, but its danger and threat extend to the entire Arab world from its surroundings to the Gulf !!!”

What really happened?

MIDIAN PROJECT, THE, was an abortive, ill-judged attempt at Jewish colonisation in the Midian region east of the Red Sea near the Gulf ofAqaba.lt was led from Southampton 18v by Paul Friedmann, German Protestant author and philanthropist of Jewish descent, who following consultation with Sir Evelyn Baring (later Lord Cromer), Britain's representative in Egypt, purchased land in the Midian region on which to establish a Jewish colony leading possibly to a Jewish state. More than 3o continental Jews, mainly refugees from Russia, and an accompanying party including Friedmann, sailed for Suez on board a steam yacht named Israel that he had purchased in Glasgow. They set up camp in the Sinai and prepared to cross into Midian. But owing to the intending settlers' dislike (especially after an expelled member had died in the desert) of the martinet-like Prussian officer who Friedmann put in charge of the group, as well as to the hostility of nearby Turkish troops and the Egyptian government's consequent insistence that the project be abandoned, the settlement lasted only two months. In new of Baring's involvement, the Egyptian press angrily denounced the project as a British attempt to occupy Midian, and a war of words erupted between Britain and Turkey. Friedmann was left demoralised and financially ruined.

So a Jewish convert got a ragtag band of people to commit themselves to a bizarre scheme of creating a community in the desert, and it lasted two months. Not exactly evidence of Jewish designs on the entire region!

But why let facts get in the way of a good narrative?

Iranian video of "flooding Israel" is not only antisemitic - it shows that Iran doesn't give a damn about Jerusalem

2020-05-27T07:11:00.001-04:00

MEMRI translated this video from an Iranian production company illustrating the phrase, “If Every Muslim Were to Pour One Bucket of Water, Israel Would Be Washed Away.”

No media gets released from Iran without Iranian government approval.

The fedoras floating on the water show beyond a doubt that Iran is antisemitic, as they are yearning to see tens of thousands of haredi Jews - who are generally not avid Zionists - drowned.

Here's Iran's "chief Rabbi" denouncing Israel and Zionism.

He's wearing the hat of the people Iran wants to see dead.

But the scene also shows the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque along with it to be underwater. The video is essentially saying that the "third holiest site in Islam" is dispensable as long as a few million Jews are killed at the same time.

You cannot get more antisemitic than to want to sacrifice your own holy sites just to get rid of Jews.

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EoZTV: An introduction to Palestinian terror groups

2020-05-27T05:50:00.001-04:00

Mrs. Elder asked me if I would create some videos with the basics of the conflict between Israel and the Arab world, so this is the first result. I discuss with her the different major terror groups, their different philosophies, how they work together and compete, and their “specialties.”