Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Director Mike Leigh, like Ken Loach, is happy to profit from Israel while "supporting BDS"

Artists for Palestine released this:

Film writer and director Mike Leigh has criticised Thom Yorke and Radiohead for ignoring Palestinian suffering, two days ahead of their controversial Israel gig.
Last week Radiohead front-man Yorke defended the band’s decision to play in Israel and ignore the Palestinian picket-line, arguing that music was about ‘crossing borders’ and ‘shared humanity’.
Today, Oscar nominated Leigh, who is in production for his forthcoming feature film ‘Peterloo’, issued the following statement via Artists for Palestine UK –

‘On Wednesday Radiohead will perform in a Tel Aviv stadium built over the ruins of the Palestinian village of Jarisha. It is a sad fact that Radiohead have failed to engage with Palestinians who have called for them not to play, and that Thom Yorke’s comments are devoid of any reference to Palestinians at all.As the lights go out in Gaza and Palestinian cancer patients die because they are denied travel permits by Israel, while a Palestinian poet in Israel lives under house arrest for a poem she wrote on Facebook, while a young circus performer from the West Bank languishes in administrative detention without charge or trial – Thom Yorke speaks loftily about ‘crossing borders’ and ‘freedom of expression’. One has to ask, freedom for whom exactly?’

Ah, another moral force for good and against Israel.

Except, as Sussex Friends for Israel noted, every single one of Leigh's films created after the BDS movement was started has been released in Israel.

Vera Drake, released in Israel on 3 February 2005.
Happy-Go-Lucky, released in Israel 19 June 2008.
Another Year, released in Israel 9 December 2010 under the title Od Shana.
Mr. Turner, released in Israel 11 December 2014 under the title Mar Turner.

This follows Ken Loach's similar hypocrisy as he scrambles to claim that his films being released in Israel over the years were all a mistake.

We reject the allegation that any of us have exempted ourselves from the cultural boycott. Our film I Daniel Blake was sold to Israel by our sales agent, and is showing there now.
We are in regular contact with the BDS movement and the issue of our films being shown there has never been raised. We will speak to them again now and seek their advice. We will guarantee that every penny from the sale of I Daniel Blake that comes to Sixteen Films or the sales company from the Israeli distributors will go to grassroots Palestinian organisations fighting oppression, after consultation with the BDS movement.

Suddenly, the BDS Movement has thrown out its own principles and ruled to their fanboy Loach that making money in Israel is OK - as long as the BDS Movement and other "grassroots" Palestinian organizations gain financially.

So Loach is no more hypocritical than the BDS Movement itself is!

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07/18 Links Pt2: Kontorovich: Canada corrects its ‘Made in Israel’ policy; There was no massacre at Deir Yassin

From Ian:

Eugene Kontorovich: Canada corrects its ‘Made in Israel’ policy. Now it is time for the U.S. to do the same.

What makes the CFIA reversal significant is it explicitly says that if the product can be considered Israeli for customs purposes, it is not misleading to the consumer to label it as such. This is somewhat consistent with the EU position — which denies both Israel customs and labeling status to West Bank products and gives both Moroccan customs and labeling status to Western Saharan products.
It is, however, inconsistent with U.S. labeling policy. Under a 1996 piece of trade legislation, the president is authorized to give Israeli products from the West Bank Israeli customs treatment, which President Clinton immediately did. Since then, such goods are considered “articles of Israel” for trade purposes. It certainly cannot be misleading to label them “Made in Israel” if they are legally called “articles of Israel.”
An independent voice on law and public policy.
Yet soon after, the Customs Service issued a notice that such products must be labeled “Made in the West Bank.” This is particularly strange because the labeling of goods does not imply any sovereignty recognition — as evident by the fact that Customs had instructed such products to be labeled “Made in Israel” for decades before that, without any suggestion that this amounted to a recognition of Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank and Gaza.
This Customs guidance has gone entirely unenforced for decades, but it was reissued — perhaps to keep it from desuetude — by the Obama administration in its final years.
The Customs directive flies in the face of the 1996 Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act and other laws. The Clinton/Obama regulations were a mistake, which helps explain why they have never been enforced (though they do have a chilling effect on importers). Yet they may be used by future administrations. Similarly, anti-Israel activists in Canada are already planning lawsuits over the revised directive.
Ottawa’s quick realization that products with Israeli customs status can and should be labeled “Made in Israel” is a wake-up call to the Trump administration to quickly revise the Clinton/Obama policies, which can be done through a simple executive action. Congress could also exercise its Foreign Commerce power to make clear in law that such goods can be labeled “Made in Israel.”
Certainly it would be incongruous for the Trump administration to find itself with a less pro-Israel policy than the Trudeau government has.

Shmuley Boteach: Canada attacks Israeli wines while exploiting occupied Tibet

For example, Canadian mining giant Hunter Dickinson sold Continental Mineral Processing, and with it the rights to its Tibetan mine, for almost half a billion dollars – the largest asset sale in its 30 years of operation.
Far worse than being complicit in theft from the Tibetan people, Canadian mining companies caused irreversible, often deadly, damage.
In 2011, the Chinese minister of land and resources warned that the ecology of the Tibetan plateau is “extremely fragile.” His warnings, however, were ignored by Canadian and Chinese companies alike, with tragic consequences. In March of 2013, a landslide at the Jiama copper and gold mine killed 83 miners. That mine was controlled by China Gold International Resources, another Canadian-based company.
This mine, it should also be mentioned, is in the Gyama valley – which the Tibetan people revere as one of their most sacred sites. They have tried, in the past, to protest the desecration and devastation caused to these sacred lands by Canadian mining companies, with similarly tragic consequences.
In 2010, four Tibetans were murdered and 30 others hurt when Chinese mining officials opened fire on crowds protesting the expansion of mine operations in their sacred homeland. In 2013, further protests saw another Tibetan activist shot to death by police.
And that’s not the end of Canadian involvement in the exploitation of Tibet; the creation of these mines was only made possible in 2006 with the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Rail Line, which allowed for the import of mining materials and machinery into Tibet. That rail line was made possible largely through the Bombardier Sifang Power Transportation company, a joint venture of three entities – two of which are Canadian.
Canadian companies seem knee-deep in some pretty serious exploitation of an occupied territory in the world today.
Yet, Canada didn’t seem nearly as worried about that as with checking the labels on Israeli wine.
While they might have failed this time around, those behind this bizarre action are likely to be back.

'There was no massacre at Deir Yassin'

In his new book, Deir Yassin: The End of the Myth, Prof. Eliezer Tauber, head of the Institute for the Study of Underground Movements at Bar-Ilan University and former Dean of the Faculty of Jewish Studies at the University, examines the events of that day in April 1948 when the Arab village of Deir Yassin was attacked by Lehi and Etzel (Irgun or IZL) fighters, and reveals step by step the origin of the myth that a massacre was committed against the villagers.
Prof. Tauber opened his recent interview with Arutz Sheva by highlighting the central conclusion of his book.
"Basically there was no massacre in Deir Yassin."
In explaining what led him to that conclusion, Tauber noted that, since the Israeli-Arab conflict by definition consists of both Israelis and Arabs, it is not possible to reach real conclusions regarding the issues related to it without carefully examining the claims of both sides. This is in contrast to previous writers who examined the Deir Yassin affair by investigating only one side of those involved in the incident.
To write his book, Tauber thus turned to both Jewish and Arab sources, to the testimonies of Etzel (Irgun) and Lehi fighters, and to the testimonies of the Arabs at the scene. Not surprisingly, he said, the testimonies sound similar and express the same conclusion: There was no massacre at Deir Yassin.
The data collection process for the book included locating documents and recorded interviews conducted by the parties over the years, as well as interviews with some of those involved in the affair who are still alive.

3 minutes on the Temple Mount (Arab video)

This video, done by an Arab filmmaker in late 2015, is very well done - and reveals interesting things.

At the beginning, the videographer runs through one of the gates to the Temple Mount - with camera equipment - without any guards giving him a second look.

Non-Muslims must wait in line, sometimes for hours, to go up. And Jews are checked for such contraband as prayer books. (When I went up I had to leave most of my video equipment behind.)

The videographer is running at top speed through the "holy site." That's what makes the video so dramatic. But it does appear that at least some of the people featured are acting.

Kids playing soccer on the platform of the Dome of the Rock (at 1:05) is considered perfectly acceptable.

Altogether, it appear to be more a park than a holy site.

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There is a dirty little secret the pro-Israel lobby doesn’t want you to know. It’s not really a secret, it’s out there for anyone to see but they distract from the issue, hoping to “maintain the peace.” Of course, this doesn’t work. Pretending the problem doesn’t exist will not make it go away, in fact it makes things worse.

There is apartheid in Israel.

Apartheid refers to the system of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination in South Africa between 1948 and 1991. These laws segregated blacks and whites in public facilities and social events, and dictated different sets of housing and employment opportunities, according to race.

Apartheid laws are a systematic way to separate, dominate and oppress a segment of society, like the laws discriminating against Jews in Nazi Germany.

Ironically, Apartheid exists in one place in Israel. The laws of separation and discrimination are blatant in the holiest place on earth for the Jewish people, in the heart of capital of the Jewish State – the Temple Mount.

And this evil is perpetrated not against Arabs or Muslims as the anti-Israel lobby would have you believe but against JEWS.

I repeat:

· There is apartheid in Israel.

· Apartheid is evil.

· Apartheid in Israel discriminates against JEWS on the Temple Mount.

There are two sets of laws on the Temple Mount: one for Muslims and one for Jews.

The laws deny Jews freedom of worship and freedom of movement on the Temple Mount and they are enforced by the Israeli Police.

While Muslims can ascend to the Temple Mount any time they please, Jews cannot.

Jews are permitted to ascend to the Temple Mount only during the specified times.

Visiting Hours for Monday through Thursday:

Winter: 7:30 am – 10:30 am and 12:30pm – 1:30 pm

Summer: 8:30am – 11:30am and 1:30pm – 2:30pm

The Temple Mount is closed to non-Muslims on Friday and Saturday. Sometimes the entrance to the site is closed without notice, even when it’s scheduled to be open.

The holiest place in the world for Jews is JUDENREIN on Friday and Saturday and can be “cleaned” of Jews without notice.

In order to enter, both men and women need to be dressed modestly. At the entrance Jews must pass through metal detectors and submit to being searched for sacred Jewish objects. Israeli police lecture Jews not to pray, not to be seen doing anything that could be construed as praying, not to rip clothing or show any other signs of mourning for the lost Jewish Temple.

When I went with my family the police instructed the boys to remove the kippot from their heads that they had been wearing to approach the Kotel. All visitors at the Kotel are requested to cover their heads in a sign of respect for the holiness of the site but the Kotel is only holy due to its connection to the Temple Mount. Walking in to the holiest place in the world, we were told to REMOVE the kippot that showed respect for the site. I was sternly warned to keep them in my bag and not to take them out at any time.

We complied in silent horror (had we been religious Jews that wore head-coverings at all times we would not have been asked to do so but we would have been watched more closely during our time on the Temple Mount). Our offense at these restrictions paled in comparison to the sickening feeling of seeing the piles of riot gear sitting next to the police checkpoint at the entrance to the Temple Mount.

Most cultures see holy sites as a sanctuary, a place of peace and certainly not a place to carry weapons but due to the frequent rioting against Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount and a few times, attacks on Jews praying below at the Kotel, it is necessary for Israeli police to bear arms within this holy compound.

The Dome of the Rock is the golden domed mosque on the Temple Mount. It is important to understand that this is NOT the Al-Aqsa mosque, that is a second mosque also located on the Temple Mount. The rock the golden dome covers is the Foundation Stone, the stone which, according to Jewish tradition God used as the foundation for creating the universe. This is where the holy of holies of the ancient Jewish Temple was, the place where the Ark of the Covenant stood. This is the source of the holiness of Jerusalem, the reason why Jerusalem is sometimes called “the navel of the world”.

And Jews are not allowed to enter. No, non-Muslim is.

While Jews are subjected to multiple restrictions on the Temple Mount, Muslims are free to come and go as they please. Until yesterday they entered the Temple Mount with no security check at all.

This is the dirty little secret the pro-Israel lobby pretends doesn’t exist – the State of Israel is not sovereign in the heart of her own capital. The Jewish State applies apartheid laws on the Jewish people in the holiest site in Judaism. Like a pitiful, cowering slave, the State oppresses its own in hopes of appeasing all those who wish the State of Israel would disappear.

On July 14^th the absurdity of this situation was blown open for everyone to see. Three Israeli Arabs attacked Israel in her most sensitive and weakest point – the Temple Mount – murdering two Israeli policemen and wounding others.

It is no surprise that the terrorists had guns on the Temple Mount. They did not have to submit to security checks to enter.

One must question their concept of holiness and sanctity as they obviously had no issue with spilling blood in this holy site.

Ironically the policemen murdered were not Jewish but Israeli Arab Druze. One of the wounded policemen is a Muslim. This underscores the fact that the lines of good and bad, righteous and evil do not divide according to race or religion. They do divide according to content of character.

These Israeli Druze policemen were murdered because they represent the Jewish State. The fact that Druze are Arabs did not matter to the terrorists that murdered them. That doesn't matter to Israeli society that mourns their death the same as the death of Jews. What matters is that these men, as is traditionally done amongst Israeli Druze, chose to honor and serve their country while the Israeli Arab terrorists made the opposite choice.

Now, under the instigation of the Waqf Authority, many Israeli Muslims are trying to create the optics of religious oppression by the State of Israel. Instead of denouncing the murder on the Temple Mount and applauding the decision to include Muslims in security checks before entry, they are refusing to pass through the newly placed metal detectors. Instead demonstrating and praying on the streets, as if they are barred from their place of worship. They are also attacking the few Muslims that dared comply with the security guidelines implemented by the State and pass through the metal detectors.

They could declare themselves to be peaceful people with nothing to hide and no intention of committing violence. Instead they declare Israel the oppressor and cause of all violence.

How many people in Europe, America and other places around the world will fall for this inversion of reality?

The facts are simple:

When Israel manages holy sites, all people are granted access.

When Israel hands over her holy sites to the management of foreign powers, be it the Waqf or the Palestinian Authority, apartheid laws are implemented.

When this happens, it is no surprise that many around the world find it easy to believe that Jews have no connection to their holy and historical sites. What nation in the world give up that which is most precious to them?

This is what the pro-Israel lobby wants to pretend doesn’t exist - Israel’s extreme weakness in the place that matters most.

This is the source of hope for all those who wish for Israel’s destruction. They believe, if they push hard enough, Israel will just leave.

Now is the time to stand up, to right what is wrong and declare:

Israel is here for eternity.

It is our duty to control our holy sites. It is our duty to ensure that all people enjoy freedom of worship and movement in our land. Apartheid is evil. No appeasement will ever bring peace.

Peace is the desire of our heart and that is why we will stop appeasing and start implementing the conditions that will create real peace.

And the first step is – sovereignty.

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.

07/18 Links Pt1: PA: "Our child Martyrs, are birds in Paradise”; Saudi King: Metal Detectors ‘Routine’ at Holy Places

From Ian:

PMW: PA official glorifies Martyrdom: "Our child Martyrs, Allah willing, are birds in Paradise”

PA official Laila Ghannam, the District Governor of Ramallah and El-Bireh, praised the "Martyrdom-death" of a 17-year-old terrorist who was shot and killed while throwing Molotov cocktails at Jewish civilians.
With a play on words, she emphasized that rather than obtaining his matriculation certificate ("shahada") this summer, the terrorist "achieved the highest Martyrdom" ("shahada".) [Donia Al-Watan, independent Palestinian news agency, July 12, 2017; Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 13, 2017]
She gave the terrorist's family a statuette of a bird, symbolizing her wish that:
"Our child Martyrs, Allah willing, are birds in Paradise."
Ghannam’s reference is to the Islamic tradition attributed to Muhammad, the Hadith, which teaches that Martyrs in Paradise reside inside the bodies of green birds:
“Narrated Ka'b bin Malik: From his father that the Messenger of Allah said: 'The souls of the martyrs are in green birds, suspended from the fruit of Paradise, or the trees of Paradise.' [Jami'at-Tirmidhi 1641]

King of Saudi Arabia Personally Intervenes in Temple Mount Crisis, Says Metal Detectors ‘Routine’ at Holy Places

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman of Saudi Arabia personally intervened in the Temple Mount crisis via the United States, according to a report posted Tuesday by the Arabic-language Elaph website, based in London.
The decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and top Israeli security officials late Saturday night to reopen the holy site to Muslim worshipers, visitors and tourists allegedly came after receiving a message from the Saudi monarch via the White House.
Advertisement
Moreover, the Saudi king expressed no reservations about Israel’s decision to upgrade security by installing metal detectors at the entrances to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount in the wake of the terror attack last Friday that left two Israeli policemen dead and others wounded.
“The issue of metal detection machines, said the source, is a matter that has become routine in the holy places because of terrorism, which strikes without discrimination and in most places regardless of the sanctity of the different religions,” reported Elaph.
The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad Hussein, warned followers that their prayers would not be accepted in Heaven if they pass through the metal detectors to enter the Temple Mount for prayers in Al Aqsa Mosque — the third holiest site in Islam.
Given that King Salman is the Custodian of the Two Mosques, Islam’s two holiest sites, one might consider his authority to overrule that of the Mufti in spiritual matters such as effect of metal detectors on the human body and its ability to convey prayer to heaven.

Article is 5 years old but....Explosives detectors to be installed at gates of Mecca's Holy Mosque https://t.co/pxnzda9OO9
— Michele Chabin (@MicheleChabin1) July 18, 2017

The first medic to respond to the Temple Mount terror attack was Muslim. Here’s his story

When Nedal Sader first heard the crackle of automatic weapon fire Friday morning, he couldn’t believe it was coming from the Temple Mount.
As a Muslim, he regarded the complex just outside his apartment as a sacred and peaceful place. He prayed there nearly every week.
But as a seasoned first responder, he knew what gunshots sounded like echoing off the stones of the Old City. He finished dressing, threw on his medic’s jacket and raced to the scene.
Sader, a 37-year-old nurse and father of five, was the first medical professional to arrive at the Temple Mount following the attack in which two Israeli Druze police officers were shot dead. The three Arab-Israeli gunmen were then killed by police on the scene.
Amid the carnage at the politically and religiously fraught complex, Sader said he simply tried to save whomever he could.
“It doesn’t matter who the person is,” said Sader, a Muslim volunteer with United Hatzalah, the Orthodox Jewish-run ambulance service. “Whoever needs help most gets help first.”

Yesterday, Jordanian soldier First Sgt. Ma’arik al-Tawayha, was found guilty in a Jordanian court for the murder of 3 American soldiers, and sentenced to life in prison.

First Sgt. Ma’arik al-Tawayha being led out of court.
Credit: Khalil Mazraawi / AFP - Getty Images

His victims, Staff Sgt. Matthew Lewellen, Staff Sgt. Kevin McEnroe, and Staff Sgt. James Moriarty were killed on November 4, 2016. Though the attack took place at an airbase less than 37 miles from Ma’an, known for its support for ISIS, the motive for the attack remains unknown. Al-Tawayha has no known ties to extremist groups and blamed the attack on a breach of protocol by the American soldiers -- despite the fact that was disproved by a video of the attack.

But this is not an isolated attack on American soldiers in Jordan.

The previous year, in November 2015, a Jordanian policeman opened fire at a police center, killing two Americans, a South African and two Jordanians. He also wounded two other Americans and two Jordanians, before he himself was killed.

According to the US Army, to date, 7 US military personnel have been killed in the Middle East since President Obama announced the anti-ISIS mission in September 2014, and 5 of them were murdered inside Jordan.

In addition to support for ISIS itself inside Jordan, the Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood is also active there and has become a force to be reckoned with as well.

After severing ties with the West Bank in 1988, Jordan held general elections for the first time since 1967, leading to King Hussein reinstating the Parliament in 1989 -- and to the emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood, in opposition to the the king.

Over the years, the Brotherhood has become popular for its network of charitable organizations, hospitals and mosques, and has won supporters in urban slums and Palestinian refugee camps.

The Brotherhood also funds Jordanian Ahlam Tamimi, the terrorist behind the 2001 Sbarro massacre in Israel, who recently lost her financial support from the Palestinian Authority.

Screenshot from the 2007 film Hot House by Israeli filmmaker Shimon Dotan.
Credit: Legal Insurrection

Arnold Roth, whose daughter Malki was one of those murdered, has noted that Tamimi

is associated with the Muslim Brotherhood...The king is very, very respectful and careful of the Muslim Brotherhood. They haven’t been banned. They haven’t been shut down. There is a background here and it’s not legal, it’s political survival.

What now links together the murderer of the 3 Green Berets and the mastermind of the Sbarro Massacre is a letter written by James Moriarty, the father of one of the 3 murdered Green Berets, to Dina Kawar, the Jordanian ambassador to the US.

In the letter, Moriarty writes that the conviction of al-Tawayha is only the first step. In addition, Moriarty requests:

o That Tamimi be extradited to the US within 30 days to face trial for the murder of Malki Roth and Shoshana Yehudit Greenbaum, who was 5 months pregnant at the time
o That charges be filed against the Jordanians who stood idly by, enabling al-Tawayha to murder the 3 American soldiers
o That the FBI be allowed to interview al-Tawayha in order to see if he is ready to admit to why he murdered the soldiers
o That the video that captured the events of the murder of the soldiers be released to the families immediately
o That following the fulfillment of all of the preceding preconditions, restitution to the families of the soldiers be discussed

The key to the extradition of the terrorist Ahlam Tamimi is that despite Jordan's claim that the extradition treaty between Jordan and the US was never approved by the Jordanian parliament, the treaty has already been used in 1995 to extradite a different terrorist to the US.

Ma’arik al-Tawayha has been successfully prosecuted for murder.
It remains to be seen whether Ahlam Tamimi will finally face justice as well.

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The UN's anti-Israel kangaroo court

Quick: Name every UN committee whose name begins with "UN Special Committee to Investigate...."

You are correct! There is only one, which is the "UN Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories."

Yesterday, they issued a report from their latest "investigation."

What, exactly, is involved with their "investigations?"

A United Nations committee* has heard serious concerns about Israel’s human rights record, including the deteriorating situation in Gaza, inadequate protection for detained children and increasing obstacles being faced by human rights defenders and journalists.
Members of the Committee also heard testimony on the expansion of settlements, the ongoing use of administrative detention, excessive use of force and possible extrajudicial killings, and lack of accountability.
During its annual mission to Amman, Jordan, the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories, established by General Assembly Resolution 2443 in 1968, heard from civil society organizations, UN representatives and Palestinian officials.
Based on this testimony, the Committee clearly observed that the Israeli authorities continue with policies and practices that negatively impact the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
The deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, compounded by the ongoing electricity crisis, was repeatedly raised as one of the most pressing issues.

They gather a bunch of people who hate Israel and those people "testify." Surprise, surprise: the "investigation" finds everything everyone says to be credible and accurate.

The committee whose entire purpose is to investigate Israel - the only such committee in the UN - doesn't even investigate Israel. It just regurgitates anti-Israel propaganda, and there is no shortage of people willing to "testify" on that score, since they know that no one will actually do any fact-checking.

So for example, some unnamed "journalists" testified that they were "targeted" by Israel while covering protests. Were they, perhaps, also participants? The UN doesn't care.

Even though Israel doesn't cooperate with this farce, that is not reason to rubber stamp any anti-Israel statement that is made without a modicum of checking newspaper accounts or official Israeli press releases. Or the veracity of the "testifiers."

This committee was created in 1968. That's Which means that there has been 49 years of obvious vilification of Israel at the UN.

But when it was created, it had a different name. The UNGA resolution that created this committee, 2443, called it the "Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories."

Because in 1968, no one - not even the UN - ever heard of the "Palestinian people."

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Here is one of those throwaway stories that shine a lot of light over how Palestinian leaders think and act.

It starts off as a routine-sounding denunciation of Israel's closing the Temple Mount last Friday, but the details are more enlightening:

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, called on all Arab and Islamic states to impose immediate sanctions against Israel and its government in response to its unprecedented practices towards the first Qiblah and the third holiest shrine, Al-Aqsa Mosque and against the city of Jerusalem and its people the Palestinians.

Bsrghouti is a former leader of the Palestinian Communist party. Suddenly, this staunch secular Palestinian cares about the "first Qiblah."

Barghouthi said Netanyahu with his ministers are hatching dangerous schemes to divide and Judaize the Al-Aqsa Mosque and if it succeeded to close Al Aqsa in the old city of Jerusalem without consequences, it would not hesitate to repeat this crime and the escalation of incursions of settlers to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and to divide it, as it did to the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.

He added that after fifty years of occupation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the seventy years of the Nakba, and after the majority of Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims are prevented from visiting, it is high time to deal with what Israel is doing, which began which the Palestinian people, but aims to devour the whole region and impose its hegemony on them.

I never understood how a nation that is so hell-bent on expansionism and hegemony has given away the Sinai, the Gaza Strip, southern Lebanon and much of the West Bank - far more than half the territory it once controlled.

But it is all part of the evil plan.

A Palestinian official can make statements like this without the slightest fear that any newspaper or politician will make fun of him for saying such inanities. On the contrary, if anyone would criticize Barghouti, they would be the ones who would be criticized and ostracized by mainstream Palestinian opinion!

It cannot be emphasized enough: truth is not a Palestinian value.

At the meeting I attended last week hosted by Phyllis Chesler, author Tuvia Tenenbom said that he once heard a Palestinian official talk about the "10,000 year history of Palestinians" in the region. Tenenbom (pretending to be a non-Jewish sympathizer) acted offended and said, "How dare you say that! It is a 30,000 year history!" The official agreed, of course, it was 30,000 years, he was sorry he misspoke.

How can one make peace with people who have literally no idea of what truth even means?

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Families of US soldiers killed in Jordan demand extradition of Sbarro terrorist Ahlam Tamimi

I received this press release from Mudar Zahran:

Families of three US soldiers killed in Jordan are officially demanding Sbarro restaurant bomber, Ahlam Tameemi, be extradited to US to face trial as a condition for settlement.
Please see this exclusive letter, attached.
Mudar Zahran
Secretary General
The Jordanian Opposition Coalition

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07/17 Links Pt2: At a meeting of the Cognitive Jewish Warriors; Dismantle UNRWA

From Ian:

Phyllis Chesler: At a meeting of the Cognitive Jewish Warriors

At an evening with well known figures in the Jewish public world, the 'small talk' revolves around the diabolical lies Jews have to face - and the black humor that helps them cope with it.
I once hosted a meeting at my home. The doorbell rang and the man who stood there introduced himself as "Daled Amos."
Okay, sure, why not?
The next gentleman who arrived introduced himself as "Elder of Zion."
At some point Sultan Knish and Ibn Warraq also joined us; Brian of London was too far away. These pseudonyms, clearly required in these times, ensure them a place in history.
Once everyone had arrived, my living and dining rooms literally vibrated with wit and brilliance and passion. The Cognitive Warriors had assembled.
Last night was a night just like that.
Yes, Elder was happily here again but this time he was joined by my dear friends Dr. Mordechai Kedar and his charming wife, the musician and singer, Rhyna; Tuvia Tenenbom and his deceptively quiet but all-perceptive wife and collaborator, Isi; and Naomi Wolinsky and her husband Steve, my beloved shul mates and Torah study partners.
Kedar held forth. Tenenbom held forth. Every word mattered.

Edwin Black: Mike Pence and Trent Franks Lead Thousands of Christians at CUFI’s Pro-Israel Event

In response to a question about his CUFI appearance, Franks asserted, “Israel is on the front lines in a battle to protect all humanity from an evil ideology that has no respect for innocent life anywhere on earth. Adherents of this ideology hate Israel’s existence – more than that, they hate Western Civilization. Israel deserves our support and respect. As co-chair of the Congressional Israel Allies Caucus, I am happy to stand with Israel at the upcoming Christians United For Israel Summit.”
Representing the White House will be Vice President Pence, whose evangelical and pro-Israel credentials have been well established. Augmenting Pence is the baritone-voiced Dr. Sebastian Gorka, President Trump’s outspoken Hungarian-born, pro-Israel security advisor.
Malcolm Hoenlein, a fiery favorite at prior CUFI conferences, will appear again this year. As CEO, of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations—an assemblage of some 52 leading communal groups, Hoenlein is the gateway to much of Jewish leadership. He is known for his passionate presentations at CUFI. Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer joins the line-up. Best-selling author Erick Stakelbeck, now hosting the CBN series “The Watchman,” will deliver remarks based on his expertise in both terrorism and ancient Israel.
The irony escapes no one in either Israel or the United States that at a time when Israel is fighting an internal battle within parts of the Jewish community, it calls upon evangelical Americans, represented by CUFI, as one of its most reliable and demonstrative blocks of support.

An exciting meeting with the diplomat who stuck to his guns

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met Monday with former Mexican Ambassador to UNESCO Professor Andrés Roemer in Paris, and thanked the ambassador for his courage and the personal price he paid to defend the truth and the history of the Jewish people.
Roemer was appointed the Mexican Ambassador to UNESCO in April 2016. He was fired from the position just two months later after he refused to vote for an Arab resolution denying the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall. Although his government instructed him to vote in favor of the anti-Semitic resolution, Roemer refused to do so. Instead he got up and left the hall. His deputy took his place and voted for the Arab resolution.
Roemer was put on disciplinary trial and dismissed for his action.
During their meeting, Professor Roemer gave Netanyahu a copy of his latest book and the prime minister promised to read it. Half an hour after the end of the meeting, Netanyahu could already relate to selected quotations from the beginning of the book.
"The past year has been very moving, because usually there is a tendency to forget things within moments, but here it is not only the Israeli ambassador who remembered me and arranged the meeting, but the Prime Minister of Israel who saw fit to find the time to do so," said Roemer.
"I am at peace with what I did. I did it not only as a Jew but as a person who believes that such resolutions have no place in the organization of education and culture, and they are harmful to everyone," he added

The hypocrisy of denouncing metal detectors at the Temple Mount(Zvi)

Guest post from Zvi:
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The Waqf officials are hypocrites, liars and rabble-rousers. Their purpose is to create bloodshed and cause conflict and murder. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan should be pressured to remove these psychopaths and replace them with sane, responsible adults. Otherwise, the responsibility for the actions of these lunatics, and the lunatics who follow them, rests with the Hashemite Kingdom. If Jordan is going to sponsor the Waqf, then it is responsible for the mistakes and the outright evil of its subordinates. The Waqf officials are a key part o f the problem in the Levant. They make it worse. Always. Jordan needs to get rid of them.

I have, for a long time, respected the Hashemite Kingdom and praised its relatively good relationship with Israel. I have generally supported King Abdullah II. But there is a limit to my support, and Jordan's absolutely atrocious response to the terror attack at the Temple Mount crosses a red line.

Muslims protest metal detectors at reopened Temple Mount (UPI)

Waqf officials, who oversee the religious management of the temple, instigated a protest outside the entrance. Dozens of worshipers instead conducted their afternoon prayers next to the gate. "This is a severe violation of the status quo," said Shikh Omar al-Qiswani, the director of the al-Aksa Mosque, said in a statement. The Waqf officials were not required to pass through the detectors.

Metal detectors are a VERY, VERY MILD RESPONSE when terrorists stash guns in y our site and use them to murder innocent policemen in cold blood. Every other government on earth would have done the same thing, and probably much, much more. And only the Waqf, Israel's Arab "leaders" and the rest of the anti-Semitic Israel-hating crowd are just plain hateful enough to portray this VERY, VERY MILD RESPONSE as some kind of "attack" on Muslims.

Terrorist attacks have consequences. Grow up.

Those entering the Western Wall Plaza and Western Wall, beneath the Temple Mount compound, for many years have been required to go through metal detectors.< /i>

Jews and Christians pass through metal detectors around the Temple Mount all the time, and have done so for years. No protests. No threats of violence by Israeli leaders.

There are metal detectors at large football stadia, government buildings, airports, concert venues, etc. all over the world. There are metal detectors at synagogues in Rome and at Coptic churches in Egypt.

In Egypt, Copts are installing metal detectors at the entrance to every church

In light of all the recent terrorism against the Coptic Church in our homeland, Pope Tawadrous II has approved a Metal Detector Project that includes installing a metal detector at the main entrance of every church in Egypt. They are fundraising in order to make it happen.

No protest there!

Churchgoers in Qatar must pass through metal detectors (Doha News, 2015)

Ahead of Eid al-Fitr, church-goers were told that due to “ongoing security concerns”, several new rules would be in place, including closing the gated parking area inside the complex, introducing metal detectors and upping the number of security personnel. The the Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church first introduced the measures at the end of June, while congregants at the Epiphany Church and Anglican Center were informed of the changes in mid-July, following a directive issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Malls and stores such as Landmark, Hyatt Plaza, Gulf Mull and Dar Al Salaam also increased their security arrangements after receiving a government directive before the holiday. They began employing more personnel and introducing checks with mirrors on the underside of cars entering the basement parking lots as well as looking in the trunks of vehicles. Newly installed metal detector at Marriott Marquis Doha. Meanwhile, hotels also stepped up their security arrangements, with some installing metal security arches in their lobbies and service entrances and paying extra attention to cars on the premises.

There are no protests about these security measures!

Explosives detectors to be installed at gates of Mecca's Holy Mosque (Guardian, 2011)

Explosives detectors are to be installed at the entrances to the Holy Mosque in Mecca

Around 180 people work on a shift pattern to man the gates leading to the Masjid al-Haram, which surrounds the Ka'aba, the black granite cube that Muslims turn to when praying.

But there are no other measures in place to screen pilgrims for weapons, explosive devices or other banned items, although there are more than 700 cameras tracking them for possible theft, pickpocketing and other criminal or immoral activity.

Lieutenant Colonel Fawaz al-Sahafi, who heads the security team at the mosque, to ld the Saudi Gazette plans to fit "sophisticated metal and explosive detectors" at the multiple gates were under way.

He also said there were proposals to monitor pilgrims' movements and have plain-clothes officers mingling with worshippers to stop them from carrying unauthorised foodstuffs into the mosque.

Another security official, Lieutenant General Saeed Bin Abdullah al-Qahtani, said cameras at pilgrims' residential buildings, traffic initiatives and crowd management plans would improve safety inside and outside the Grand Mosque.

There is a ban on private cars carrying pilgrims entering Mecca, and there will be greater intervention from guards to ease congestion and jostling.

The Saudi authorities have revamped a key element of the Hajj to minimise the potential for stampedes and expedite the evacuation of worshippers, but similar initiatives have yet to materialise at other sites in Mecca.

Islam's holiest city has not experienced terrorist activity since 1979, when hundreds of people died following an armed takeover of the Grand Mosque, with overcrowding proving to be more of a threat in recent years.

At any one time, almost 1 million pilgrims can fit into the Grand Mosque. It covers almost one-third of a square kilometre but, in the coming days, King Abdullah will lay a foundation stone marking an expansion project to accommodate more believers.

Around 4 million Muslims visit Mecca to perform the Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage, while millions more go there throughout the year.

Sophisticated explosives detectors, cameras, car bans, etc. installed in Mecca, where no terrorists murdered policemen. No protests.

That's because everybody recognizes that metal detectors are there to reduce the chance that weapons will be smuggled in. This reduces the likelihood that terrorists will gun down worshippers, spectators, concertgoers, passengers... or policemen.

Any sane person would support their installation.

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The hate preachers of Al Aqsa (Petra Marquardt-Bigman)

By Petra Marquardt-Bigman

Since the Temple Mount is in the news again, it’s perhaps time to update a post I wrote some two years ago about the hate preachers who hold forth quite regularly at what is supposedly Islam’s “third holiest” site. Unfortunately, the mainstream media seem to have little interest in covering what Muslim worshippers attending the Al Aqsa mosque are told about how their faith relates to today’s world. And once you know what they’re being told, it’s clear that reporting it would be dreadfully “Islamophobic.”

Thanks to MEMRI, there is a large collection of translated clips that provide a revealing glimpse of the intense hatred that passes for pious Islamic teaching at the Al Aqsa mosque. I think it would be a great service to peace in the Middle East and beyond if MEMRI put all these clips together into one chilling documentary that should be shown around the world in order to perhaps shame the responsible Muslim authorities into putting an end to these vile outpourings. After all, the Temple Mount has been a symbol of Muslim fanaticism for decades – indeed, it soon will be a century since Haj Amin al Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, who later gained notoriety as a Nazi collaborator, first incited murderous Muslim violence with his mendacious fabrications about “Zionist” plots to damage the site’s Islamic shrines. But when the evil Zionists took over the Temple Mount in 1967, they naively thought it would be a wonderful gesture of good will to promptly hand the control of the site back to the Muslim waqf.

Ever since, Israel has cravenly served as enforcer of a “status quo” that is dictated by frequent threats of massive Muslim violence and that helps to entrench Muslim supremacism: only Muslims can pray on the Temple Mount – which is Judaism’s holiest site – while Jews and Christians are at best allowed to visit at severely restricted hours under strict police surveillance.

My disgust with this arrangement isn’t due to any religious belief or sentiments; rather, with each new Muslim riot or act of violence justified “in defense of Al Aqsa,” it seems increasingly clear to me that peace has to begin on the Temple Mount: as long as Muslims are violently opposed to recognizing the Jewish and Christian attachment to the site and refuse to accept equal rights for Jews and Christians on the Temple Mount, there won’t be peace. And as long as Muslim leaders insist on denying equal rights for Jews and Christians on the Temple Mount, they should be denounced as supporters of a vile “status quo” that inevitably disgraces the religion which demands it.

So let’s have a good look at the “status quo” on the Temple Mount.

A perfect example is a recent speech by Palestinian preacher Ali Abu Ahmad during a rally at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in early May. The short clip – which concludes with a “prayer” imploring Allah to help Muslims to destroy whomever they perceive as enemies and to “annihilate all the Jews” – will give you a good idea about the intense hatred and the murderous incitement that is a regular feature of speeches and sermons at Islam’s “third holiest” site.

Shocking, but unfortunately, a common occurrence at Al Aqsa – in June, a very similar “prayer” was led by Palestinian cleric Sheikh Nadhal Siam (Abu Ibrahim): “Oh Allah, enable us to slaughter the Americans!” Audience: “Amen!” Nadhal Siam: “And the Europeans!” Audience: “Amen!” Nadhal Siam: “And our criminal and treacherous [Arab] rulers!” Audience: “Amen!”

Just two weeks after Ali Abu Ahmad had prayed for Allah’s help to “annihilate all the Jews” in early May, he was at it again, denouncing Trump as “the White House Satan” who is eager to talk with Arab rulers “about moderate Islam.” And once again, this hate preacher implored Allah to “bestow upon us a rightly-guided Caliphate in the path of the Prophet soon. Oh Allah, annihilate Trump and the conspirators. Oh Allah, annihilate all the Jews.”

At the end of May, Palestinian cleric Sheikh Muhammad Ayed, (Abu Abdallah) enlightened his audience at the Al Aqsa Mosque about the confessions of “Jewish schemers” from “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”: “They are behind all the strife in the world. They cause all the killing, the slaughter, and the destruction everywhere.” He also got around to contemplating America’s fate: “First, the Caliphate will clip America’s nails and then move on to chopping off its hands. After we clip its nails, we will chop off its hands, and then we will chop off its feet and drive it out of our countries.”

Also in May, Palestinian cleric Sheikh ‘Abd Al-Salam Abu Al-‘Izz gave a speech at Al Aqsa that is fascinating in the context of the controversy about the meaning of “jihad” in the wake of Linda Sarsour’s call for “jihad” against Trump: “Many people say that Islam did not spread by the sword. They try to conceal Jihad for the sake of Allah as a means of spreading Islam. They say that the Muslims were only defending themselves, and that if they conquered some country or another, it was only in order to put an end to tyranny. […] Any system of governance in the world is tyranny against humanity, except Islam. If we look at it this way, we find that there is tyranny in every country. Let us not forget that the Quran makes it incumbent upon us to spread Islam through Jihad: ‘Fight the infidels who are near you, and let them find harshness in you.’ […] the Jihad continues as long as there are infidels who are not ruled by Islam. Thus, the jurisprudents defined the reason for Jihad as the existence of infidels.”

Incidentally, another Palestinian cleric who educated his audience at Al Aqsa about the meaning of “jihad” in January 2016 concluded: “The purpose of Jihad for the sake of Allah is to make His word reign supreme, and to conquer the world. Thus, the Prophet’s companions roamed the planet Earth in order to conquer it. The Islamic State, which will be established soon, Allah willing, should do the same. It must conquer Rome, Washington and Paris, Allah willing, by means of Jihad for the sake of Allah, in order to remove oppression, and to purify the land from the filth of polytheism.”

Now let me just list a few of the examples I covered in my post two years ago:

In an address at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on February 18, 2015, Palestinian political researcher Ahmad Al-Khatwani (Abu Hamza) urged his audience to “pray that Allah will enable the Muslims to wage war on America and against its true terrorism. May He grant victory to the Muslims, and may they raid America on its own land and the land of heresy everywhere.”

In March 2015, preacher Muhammad Abed delivered two sermons at the Al-Aqsa Mosque anticipating the establishment of a global caliphate: “Oh how similar to the past is the present! Just like the ideology of the Prophet Muhammad laid siege to the Quraysh tribe, the Persians, and the Byzantines, today, the religion and ideology of Muhammad – including Islam’s men of Truth, the men of the Caliphate and of jihad – are laying siege to America […] They are laying siege to Europe and to the fabricated democracy, the great lie. […] Oh nation of Islam, only a real Caliphate is capable of satiating your hunger, of defending you and your honor, and of liberating your Al-Aqsa Mosque form the filth of the defilers. […] America will be trampled by the hooves of the horses of the Caliph of the Muslims, Allah willing. This is the promise of Allah.”

In a lecture at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on May 29, 2015, Sheik Khaled Al-Maghrabi spoke at length about Jewish evil and justified the Holocaust: “Let us consider the Holocaust of the Israelites in Germany, and all the prior problems that they experienced throughout Europe. The Israelites were expelled from all the countries of Europe, and eventually, they were burned in Germany. Ask yourselves why. […] It was not only due to (Jewish) corruption. On Passover, every Israelite community would seek a small child and kidnap him. They would bring a barrel pierced by many needles, and would place the little child inside it. That way, the needles would pierce the child’s body. At the bottom of the barrel there would be a tap to drain the blood. Why would they collect the blood of the kidnapped child? Because Satan, or one of the other higher gods, said that if they wanted him to fulfill their desires, they would have to eat bread kneaded with children’s blood. […] On Passover, when they are not allowed to eat regular bread, they make their matzos. They would knead the dough for these matzos with children’s blood. When this was discovered, the Israelites were expelled throughout Europe. That was the beginning of the calamity of the Israelites in European countries. It got to the point where they were burned in Germany. It was because of all those things, because of their multiple kidnappings of children.”

In another frightening lecture bordering on madness, delivered at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on July 4, 2015, Palestinian cleric Issam Amira told his audience: “An Islamic state is required to deliver the call for Islam to the whole world. Therefore, this state must be qualified for expansion, militarily, ideologically, economically, and geographically. […] Therefore, our main war is with whom? With the Byzantines, with America and Europe – with France, with Britain, with those places […] The Islamic Caliphate must be restored, so that it will lead the armies to war against the infidels. Then we will bring about a second battle of Badr, and a third, and a fourth… In order to achieve that, the activists must work, along with [all] Muslims, to establish the Islamic State. It also requires destroying all the entities in the Islamic world.”

In an address at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on July 6, 2015, Sheik Muhammad Abed said: “From here, from the land of the Prophet’s nocturnal journey, armies will set out to conquer Rome, to conquer Constantinople once again, as well as its [modern] symbols, Washington and London. This is Allah’s promise to His Prophet: Islam will rule the entire Earth.”

During an address on July 24, 2015, Sheik Ahmad Al-Dweik told his audience at the Al-Aqsa Mosque: “Allah has promised to restore the Islamic Caliphate […] The Caliphate will come to be, and the nuclear bomb will be produced. It will be the number one country in the world. It will fight the U.S. and will bring it down. [The Caliphate] will eliminate the West in its entirety.”

Finally, since Muslims now like to claim that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is not just the gray-domed building, but extends to the entire Temple Mount, let’s end with an example that illustrates just how holy that area is to Muslims: almost exactly four years ago, in July 2013, Islamists held a rally there proudly displaying their murderous hatred for everyone and everything they don’t like: America, France, Rome, Britain, and of course the Jews. But as the examples listed in this post show, all the hate expressed at this rally has also often been expressed inside the mosque. And if this is what’s being preached at Islam’s supposedly “third holiest” site, one can only wonder what is being preached in mosques all over the world.

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