Erev Rosh Hashana..
29 Elul 5779..
Wishing one and all,
a Shana Tovah,
a year of Besorot Tovot,
a year of redemption for Am Yisrael,
and Eretz Israel.
Uploaded by letzshmo on May 30, 2011
Al Kol Eleh Words:
Naomi Shemer
Melody: Naomi Shemer
Sunday, September 29, 2019
(Video) Over All of These - L'Shana Tova 5780!
Erev Rosh Hashana..
29 Elul 5779..
Wishing one and all,
a Shana Tovah,
a year of Besorot Tovot,
a year of redemption for Am Yisrael,
and Eretz Israel.
Uploaded by letzshmo on May 30, 2011
Al Kol Eleh Words:
Naomi Shemer
Melody: Naomi Shemer
Friday, September 27, 2019
The controversy over HBO's "Our Boys" - by Ricki Hollander
A series that exaggerates and inflates certain parts of the story while ignoring the other parts, and that misrepresents the details is one that strays far from the truth. The problem is that the series purports to represent an honest and factual history of what happened. And its deviation from that fundamental is precisely the reason for all the criticism and controversy.
Ricki Hollander..
CAMERA..
26 September '19..
CAMERA generally avoids addressing fictional TV shows, but the latest Israel-focused HBO series, “Our Boys,” claims it is “based on the true events which led to the outbreak of war in Gaza” during the summer of 2014 and interweaves truth with fiction. It has become so mired in controversy that CAMERA has reviewed the complete 10-episode series and explains why there is controversy surrounding it.
The Events of That Summer
The summer of 2014 was a traumatic time in Israel. On June 12, 2014, three Israeli teenagers – 16-year-olds Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Shaer and 19-year-old Eyal Yifrah – were kidnapped from a hitchhiking post in Gush Etzion (in the West Bank) by Hamas operatives. An extensive search operation, dubbed “Operation Brother’s Keeper,” was launched by the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet): Troops combed the area in search of the boys, targeting the Hamas terrorist infrastructure and arresting its members. Meanwhile, the nation banded together in solidarity with the families of the boys, praying for their safe return. A social media campaign, with hashtag #BringBackOur Boys, went viral, raising global awareness of the terrorist kidnapping and inspiring prayer on the victims’ behalf.
The agonizing search for Naftali, Gilad and Eyal continued for 18 days until July 30th, when security forces discovered their dead bodies buried in a field belonging to Hamas members near Hebron. After initially denying responsibility for the abduction/murders, a senior Hamas official later took credit for it, praising the “heroic action of the Kassam Brigades (Hamas’ armed wing).”
(Continue to Full Article)
CAMERA..
26 September '19..
CAMERA generally avoids addressing fictional TV shows, but the latest Israel-focused HBO series, “Our Boys,” claims it is “based on the true events which led to the outbreak of war in Gaza” during the summer of 2014 and interweaves truth with fiction. It has become so mired in controversy that CAMERA has reviewed the complete 10-episode series and explains why there is controversy surrounding it.
The Events of That Summer
The summer of 2014 was a traumatic time in Israel. On June 12, 2014, three Israeli teenagers – 16-year-olds Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Shaer and 19-year-old Eyal Yifrah – were kidnapped from a hitchhiking post in Gush Etzion (in the West Bank) by Hamas operatives. An extensive search operation, dubbed “Operation Brother’s Keeper,” was launched by the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet): Troops combed the area in search of the boys, targeting the Hamas terrorist infrastructure and arresting its members. Meanwhile, the nation banded together in solidarity with the families of the boys, praying for their safe return. A social media campaign, with hashtag #BringBackOur Boys, went viral, raising global awareness of the terrorist kidnapping and inspiring prayer on the victims’ behalf.
The agonizing search for Naftali, Gilad and Eyal continued for 18 days until July 30th, when security forces discovered their dead bodies buried in a field belonging to Hamas members near Hebron. After initially denying responsibility for the abduction/murders, a senior Hamas official later took credit for it, praising the “heroic action of the Kassam Brigades (Hamas’ armed wing).”
(Continue to Full Article)
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Saluting PMW's great success: Fatah’s terror promoting Facebook page closed
Following PMW’s two major reports and a two-week public pressure campaign, as of this morning Fatah’s Facebook page is no longer accessible. Yesterday Palestinian media accused PMW of “waging a new war against the Fatah Movement’s Facebook page,” while the editor of Fatah’s page defended its terror promotion
Itamar Marcus..
Palestinian Media Watch..
25 September '19..
Following Palestinian Media Watch's two major reports and a two-week public pressure campaign, Fatah’s terror promoting Facebook page is closed as of this morning. PMW's campaign started in February this year when we released a detailed report about Fatah’s Facebook page documenting its terror glorification and incitement to violence during 2018. The report showed that Fatah’s content was in direct violation of Facebook’s guidelines. Inexplicably, Facebook refused to close the page at that time.
PMW followed up with a new report released earlier this month, documenting the terror promoting content on Fatah’s Facebook page during the first 6 months of 2019, which was likewise sent to Facebook. In addition, PMW also launched a public social media campaign with many partner organizations worldwide, developed by volunteers at ACT-IL, which was aimed at Facebook's directors, urging them to close down Fatah’s page. The campaign included daily tweets and Facebook posts showing Fatah’s terror promoting content on Facebook, and also included a public campaign through which individuals and organizations sent a pre-written letter of protest to Facebook. Thousands of ACT-IL activists from 74 countries and other PMW partner organizations sent thousands of emails to Facebook's policy directors, and made thousands of reports directly on the page through Facebook.
As of this morning Fatah's Facebook page is down, and this is the response when trying to access the page:
(Continue to Full Post)
Palestinian Media Watch..
25 September '19..
Following Palestinian Media Watch's two major reports and a two-week public pressure campaign, Fatah’s terror promoting Facebook page is closed as of this morning. PMW's campaign started in February this year when we released a detailed report about Fatah’s Facebook page documenting its terror glorification and incitement to violence during 2018. The report showed that Fatah’s content was in direct violation of Facebook’s guidelines. Inexplicably, Facebook refused to close the page at that time.
PMW followed up with a new report released earlier this month, documenting the terror promoting content on Fatah’s Facebook page during the first 6 months of 2019, which was likewise sent to Facebook. In addition, PMW also launched a public social media campaign with many partner organizations worldwide, developed by volunteers at ACT-IL, which was aimed at Facebook's directors, urging them to close down Fatah’s page. The campaign included daily tweets and Facebook posts showing Fatah’s terror promoting content on Facebook, and also included a public campaign through which individuals and organizations sent a pre-written letter of protest to Facebook. Thousands of ACT-IL activists from 74 countries and other PMW partner organizations sent thousands of emails to Facebook's policy directors, and made thousands of reports directly on the page through Facebook.
As of this morning Fatah's Facebook page is down, and this is the response when trying to access the page:
(Continue to Full Post)
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
What should Israel’s goal in Gaza be? - by Daniel Pipes
Should Israel invade Gaza? Why Israel must map out a strategy to achieve its goals.
Daniel Pipes..
Washington Times..
23 September '19..
As Israeli frustration mounts about violence coming out of Gaza, the idea of a ground invasion, and once and for all to finish with Hamas aggression, becomes more appealing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has endorsed this approach, saying that “There probably won’t be a choice but to topple the Hamas regime.” While sympathetic to this impulse, I worry that too much attention is paid to tactics and not enough to goals. The result could be harmful to America’s foremost Middle East ally.
Attitudes toward Gaza are in flux. Efraim Inbar, the strategist who heads the Jerusalem Institute for Security Studies, for years advocated “mowing the grass” as “Israel’s strategy for protracted intractable conflict.” By this, he advocated an occasional reminder to Hamas’ rulers and other Gazans of Israel’s overwhelming power. Implicit in this approach is an acceptance that, most of the time, Israel accepts aggression from Gaza, with its attendant damage to property and life. As recently as May 2019, he dismissed the Palestinian threat to Israel as a “strategic nuisance.”
But Mr. Inbar recently recognized the high costs of this passivity and now calls for a “restricted ground invasion” of the territory: Why? Because “a short-term ground operation will bring better results than Israel’s activity thus far [i.e., mowing the lawn]. We need to maneuver inside enemy territory, locate them, and destroy them, or tie the hands of its members.”
Others agree. For example, Ayelet Shaked, leader of the New Right party, calls for a widescale military operation in Gaza: “We must choose the time that is best for us, evacuate the Israeli citizens who live in towns along the Gaza envelope in order to give us maximum flexibility, and we must uproot the terror from within Gaza.”
To these analyses, I respond with Carl von Clausewitz’ simple but profound counsel: First decide on your policy, then your strategy, then your tactics. Or, in plain English: Start by figuring out what you wish to achieve through the use of force, then decide the broad outlines of your approach, then the specific means.
Seen in this light, debating whether to engage in a ground invasion and to overthrow Hamas is debating a tactic; this should not be the topic of conversation until the goal and the means to achieve it have been decided upon. To start by focusing on tactics risks losing sight of the purpose.
So, what should Israel’s goal in Gaza be?
(Continue to Full Column)
Daniel Pipes (DanielPipes.org, @DanielPipes), president of the Middle East Forum, taught “Strategy and Policy” at the U.S. Naval War College.
Washington Times..
23 September '19..
As Israeli frustration mounts about violence coming out of Gaza, the idea of a ground invasion, and once and for all to finish with Hamas aggression, becomes more appealing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has endorsed this approach, saying that “There probably won’t be a choice but to topple the Hamas regime.” While sympathetic to this impulse, I worry that too much attention is paid to tactics and not enough to goals. The result could be harmful to America’s foremost Middle East ally.
Attitudes toward Gaza are in flux. Efraim Inbar, the strategist who heads the Jerusalem Institute for Security Studies, for years advocated “mowing the grass” as “Israel’s strategy for protracted intractable conflict.” By this, he advocated an occasional reminder to Hamas’ rulers and other Gazans of Israel’s overwhelming power. Implicit in this approach is an acceptance that, most of the time, Israel accepts aggression from Gaza, with its attendant damage to property and life. As recently as May 2019, he dismissed the Palestinian threat to Israel as a “strategic nuisance.”
But Mr. Inbar recently recognized the high costs of this passivity and now calls for a “restricted ground invasion” of the territory: Why? Because “a short-term ground operation will bring better results than Israel’s activity thus far [i.e., mowing the lawn]. We need to maneuver inside enemy territory, locate them, and destroy them, or tie the hands of its members.”
Others agree. For example, Ayelet Shaked, leader of the New Right party, calls for a widescale military operation in Gaza: “We must choose the time that is best for us, evacuate the Israeli citizens who live in towns along the Gaza envelope in order to give us maximum flexibility, and we must uproot the terror from within Gaza.”
To these analyses, I respond with Carl von Clausewitz’ simple but profound counsel: First decide on your policy, then your strategy, then your tactics. Or, in plain English: Start by figuring out what you wish to achieve through the use of force, then decide the broad outlines of your approach, then the specific means.
Seen in this light, debating whether to engage in a ground invasion and to overthrow Hamas is debating a tactic; this should not be the topic of conversation until the goal and the means to achieve it have been decided upon. To start by focusing on tactics risks losing sight of the purpose.
So, what should Israel’s goal in Gaza be?
(Continue to Full Column)
Daniel Pipes (DanielPipes.org, @DanielPipes), president of the Middle East Forum, taught “Strategy and Policy” at the U.S. Naval War College.
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Who Would've Thought? A BDS Defeat The NY Times Found Not Fit to Print - by Ira Stoll
...There’s a structural bias to journalism encapsulated in the old newsroom saying, “write about the hotel that’s burning down, not the hotel that didn’t burn down.” So to some degree the decision by Times editors to emphasize the boycott votes that pass rather than the ones that fail may be driven by a general desire to focus on news that does happen rather than news that doesn’t happen. But that’s the most generous possible face to put on what operates functionally as an anti-Israel bias.
Ira Stoll..
Algemeiner..
23 September '19..
Some of the most telling stories are the ones The New York Times doesn’t print.
In that category falls the recent decision of a section of the American Political Science Association to reject a resolution calling for a boycott of Israel.
Miriam Elman, a political scientist on leave from Syracuse University who is the executive director of the Academic Engagement Network, which opposes boycotts of Israel, wrote a Facebook post reporting, “The proponents of a discriminatory anti-Israel academic boycott resolution (and its accompanying obnoxious FAQ) experienced a colossal defeat.”
She wrote, “This spectacular fail needs to be advertised WIDELY, as we all know that BDS zealots will either try to bury it or spin this as some kind of remarkable victory”
“Bury it” was precisely the approach The New York Times took to the news.
(Continue to Full Column)
Algemeiner..
23 September '19..
Some of the most telling stories are the ones The New York Times doesn’t print.
In that category falls the recent decision of a section of the American Political Science Association to reject a resolution calling for a boycott of Israel.
Miriam Elman, a political scientist on leave from Syracuse University who is the executive director of the Academic Engagement Network, which opposes boycotts of Israel, wrote a Facebook post reporting, “The proponents of a discriminatory anti-Israel academic boycott resolution (and its accompanying obnoxious FAQ) experienced a colossal defeat.”
She wrote, “This spectacular fail needs to be advertised WIDELY, as we all know that BDS zealots will either try to bury it or spin this as some kind of remarkable victory”
“Bury it” was precisely the approach The New York Times took to the news.
(Continue to Full Column)
Sunday, September 22, 2019
The strategic price of Israel’s political instability - by Caroline Glick
Israel’s prolonged political volatility and uncertainty has had a disastrous impact on Israel’s strategic flexibility.
Caroline Glick..
Israel Hayom..
20 September '19..
Link: https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/the-strategic-cost-of-israels-political-instability/
When Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman abruptly resigned his position as defense minister last November and started the countdown to the Knesset elections in April, he plunged Israel into a state of political instability. Following the April elections, by refusing to serve in a government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and so forcing Israel into a second election, Lieberman prolonged the instability he instigated.
Tuesday’s elections ended in deadlock. Neither major party can form a governing majority. And so, there is no end in sight for the instability Lieberman provoked and prolonged.
Israel’s prolonged political volatility and uncertainty have had a disastrous impact on Israel’s strategic flexibility. Indeed, it has induced strategic paralysis. Israel cannot respond in a meaningful way to threats or take advantage of strategic opportunities that present themselves.
The implications of this dire state of affairs were brought to bear twice in one day during the campaign. In a press conference last Tuesday, Netanyahu announced his intention to apply Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley after the elections. Netanyahu’s announcement included the revelation that US President Donald Trump supports the move. American officials backed his claim after the fact.
This was a stunning development. No US administration has ever supported Israel’s right to assert its sovereign rights in Judea and Samaria without Palestinian permission until now.
But the media and Netanyahu’s political opponents on the left and right ignored this basic fact and instead derided his statement as nothing more than a cheap election stunt to rally his base.
In a way, they were right. After all, all Netanyahu did was make a promise. But it was due to Israel’s strategic paralysis that he had no other option.
Lieberman’s resignation precipitated the Knesset’s dissolution in January with called for April. Trump had planned to release his peace plan late last year. The elections compelled him to delay its release. Lieberman’s refusal to join Netanyahu’s coalition in May forced Trump to again delay release of his plan.
So long as Trump hasn’t released his plan, Netanyahu has been constrained to announce any position on the permanent disposition of Judea and Samaria. Under the circumstances, declaring his intention to apply Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley with American support was the best he could do. Anything more would have harmed Trump’s rollout. And Trump won’t present his plan so long as there is no government.
Tuesday evening, Netanyahu was delivering a speech in Ashdod when the Islamic Jihad in Gaza shot a missile toward the city. Netanyahu’s bodyguards quickly compelled him to leave the stage and seek shelter.
Islamic Jihad is an Iranian proxy. It does nothing without Iranian permission and often direction. So to all practical purposes, the missile strike on Ashdod was an Iranian strike. It was launched to advance Iran’s strategic goal of fomenting Netanyahu’s removal from office.
Blue and White party leaders Benny Gantz and Gabi Ashkenazi were happy to swallow Iran’s bait. They insinuated that Netanyahu was a coward for leaving the stage in the midst of the attack.
The public, which has grown tired of running for shelter from rockets and missiles, similarly voted, or chose not to vote, just as Iran had hoped.
Presumably recognizing the strategic significance of the attack, according to media reports, Netanyahu wished to respond with a strategic strike against Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in Gaza. But so long as Israel is in a state of strategic paralysis, there’s no point in going to war. There is no way to set, let along achieve military goals that can advance Israel’s strategic interests for the long haul.
As bad as things are in Gaza, the regional situation is many times worse, as last Saturday’s Iranian attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil processing plant at Abqaiq and its oil field at Khurais demonstrated.
Israel Hayom..
20 September '19..
Link: https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/the-strategic-cost-of-israels-political-instability/
When Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman abruptly resigned his position as defense minister last November and started the countdown to the Knesset elections in April, he plunged Israel into a state of political instability. Following the April elections, by refusing to serve in a government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and so forcing Israel into a second election, Lieberman prolonged the instability he instigated.
Tuesday’s elections ended in deadlock. Neither major party can form a governing majority. And so, there is no end in sight for the instability Lieberman provoked and prolonged.
Israel’s prolonged political volatility and uncertainty have had a disastrous impact on Israel’s strategic flexibility. Indeed, it has induced strategic paralysis. Israel cannot respond in a meaningful way to threats or take advantage of strategic opportunities that present themselves.
The implications of this dire state of affairs were brought to bear twice in one day during the campaign. In a press conference last Tuesday, Netanyahu announced his intention to apply Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley after the elections. Netanyahu’s announcement included the revelation that US President Donald Trump supports the move. American officials backed his claim after the fact.
This was a stunning development. No US administration has ever supported Israel’s right to assert its sovereign rights in Judea and Samaria without Palestinian permission until now.
But the media and Netanyahu’s political opponents on the left and right ignored this basic fact and instead derided his statement as nothing more than a cheap election stunt to rally his base.
In a way, they were right. After all, all Netanyahu did was make a promise. But it was due to Israel’s strategic paralysis that he had no other option.
Lieberman’s resignation precipitated the Knesset’s dissolution in January with called for April. Trump had planned to release his peace plan late last year. The elections compelled him to delay its release. Lieberman’s refusal to join Netanyahu’s coalition in May forced Trump to again delay release of his plan.
So long as Trump hasn’t released his plan, Netanyahu has been constrained to announce any position on the permanent disposition of Judea and Samaria. Under the circumstances, declaring his intention to apply Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley with American support was the best he could do. Anything more would have harmed Trump’s rollout. And Trump won’t present his plan so long as there is no government.
Tuesday evening, Netanyahu was delivering a speech in Ashdod when the Islamic Jihad in Gaza shot a missile toward the city. Netanyahu’s bodyguards quickly compelled him to leave the stage and seek shelter.
Islamic Jihad is an Iranian proxy. It does nothing without Iranian permission and often direction. So to all practical purposes, the missile strike on Ashdod was an Iranian strike. It was launched to advance Iran’s strategic goal of fomenting Netanyahu’s removal from office.
Blue and White party leaders Benny Gantz and Gabi Ashkenazi were happy to swallow Iran’s bait. They insinuated that Netanyahu was a coward for leaving the stage in the midst of the attack.
The public, which has grown tired of running for shelter from rockets and missiles, similarly voted, or chose not to vote, just as Iran had hoped.
Presumably recognizing the strategic significance of the attack, according to media reports, Netanyahu wished to respond with a strategic strike against Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in Gaza. But so long as Israel is in a state of strategic paralysis, there’s no point in going to war. There is no way to set, let along achieve military goals that can advance Israel’s strategic interests for the long haul.
As bad as things are in Gaza, the regional situation is many times worse, as last Saturday’s Iranian attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil processing plant at Abqaiq and its oil field at Khurais demonstrated.
Friday, September 20, 2019
When Gazan are victims of a cognitive war: Who cares? - by Arnold Roth
What happened in the end to those "wounded" Palestinian Gazan Arabs next to whose home the Palestinian Arabs rockets crashed? Hamas certainly knows. Its ministry of "health" knows too but isn't saying; that's not its job. The unfortunate family itself knows. But since they can only blame the heroes of the anti-Zionist revolution for what was done to them, their voices count literally for nothing in that blighted society. There are many such silenced voices in Gaza. In blunt terms, without intending to sound offensive or insensitive - when it comes to Palestinian Arab victims of Palestinian Arab terrorist violence, who cares?
Arnold/Frimet Roth..
This Ongoing War..
20 September '19..
Associated Press reported last night on something that happens often - much more often than even attentive followers of events in the Arab vs Israel conflict know - but that rarely gets reported even though it involves Palestinian Arab victims.
Because they're the victims of extreme Palestinian Arab malevolence, such events and their often lethal consequences go unnoticed.
We have reported on many dozens of them in this blog.We call them Fell Shorts.
The AP dateline is Jerusalem. It's worth recalling that almost everything that is reported from the Hamas-occupied Gaza Strip is based on what the Hamas regime chooses to announce. Reporters, to say it mildly, do not operate freely there.
Times of Israel bases its report of the same Fell Shorts on AP. But there are differences and they're also worth noting:
(Continue to Full Post)
This Ongoing War..
20 September '19..
Associated Press reported last night on something that happens often - much more often than even attentive followers of events in the Arab vs Israel conflict know - but that rarely gets reported even though it involves Palestinian Arab victims.
Because they're the victims of extreme Palestinian Arab malevolence, such events and their often lethal consequences go unnoticed.
We have reported on many dozens of them in this blog.We call them Fell Shorts.
Rockets fired from Gaza fall short, wound 7 Palestinians
By Associated Press
September 18 at 2:57 PM
JERUSALEM — Seven Palestinians have been wounded after a rocket barrage from the Gaza Strip exploded near a house inside the coastal enclave. Palestinian eyewitnesses said Wednesday that two of the three rockets struck outside a home in the southern city of Rafah, and a third fell near the fence separating Israel and the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said it had identified “a failed launch attempt” from the Gaza Strip, but that no projectiles entered Israel. Gaza’s health ministry said seven people were wounded, but didn’t elaborate on their condition. It wasn’t clear which Palestinian militant group in Gaza was behind the rocket fire.
The AP dateline is Jerusalem. It's worth recalling that almost everything that is reported from the Hamas-occupied Gaza Strip is based on what the Hamas regime chooses to announce. Reporters, to say it mildly, do not operate freely there.
Times of Israel bases its report of the same Fell Shorts on AP. But there are differences and they're also worth noting:
(Continue to Full Post)
Thursday, September 19, 2019
What do you call peace activists who pretend that their desired outcome is the only possible outcome? - by Elder of Ziyon
They want peace! How can that be bad? But it can be, because they do not think through the potential downsides of what they call "peace." They pretend that their desired outcome is the only possible outcome, and if they are wrong, oh well - there are no consequences to them personally. This is why they are fools.
Elder of Ziyon..
18 September '19..
Last week I tweeted:
Peace Now responded:
I find it interesting that Peace Now does not choose to use "peace" as its primary reason for a two state solution, but an appeal to democracy - "first and foremost." Maybe it should change its name to Democracy Now - oh, wait, that's already taken.
Of course, Israeli leftists said that Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and from Areas A and B would not hurt security either because Israel could use deterrence - but new Gaza wars every few years indicates that deterrence is not all it is cracked up to be.
(Continue to Full Post)
18 September '19..
Last week I tweeted:
Hey, @jstreetdotorg and @peacenowisrael:— Elder Of Ziyon ҉ (@elderofziyon) September 12, 2019
You claim, with great confidence, that if only there was a Palestinian state, then things would be much more peaceful in Israel..
What do you base that assumption on? What evidence is there are the result wouldn't be the opposite?
Peace Now responded:
2ss would save our democracy by avoiding undemocratic 1-state rule first and foremost. And a peace with deterrence would has worked in both cases where we made peace with Arab neighbors. There are different circumstances, but then there are more aggressive security measures.— Peace Now (@peacenowisrael) September 12, 2019
I find it interesting that Peace Now does not choose to use "peace" as its primary reason for a two state solution, but an appeal to democracy - "first and foremost." Maybe it should change its name to Democracy Now - oh, wait, that's already taken.
Of course, Israeli leftists said that Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and from Areas A and B would not hurt security either because Israel could use deterrence - but new Gaza wars every few years indicates that deterrence is not all it is cracked up to be.
(Continue to Full Post)
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Israel's Right and Need to Assert Sovereign Control over the Jordan Valley - by Jim Sinkison
...But if Judea-Samaria is not the territory of a foreign nation, what is it? Does Israel really have a right to claim sovereignty over this land? And conversely what rights do the Palestinians have to Judea-Samaria? A quick review of history helps clarify these questions.
Jim Sinkinson..
Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME)..
17 September '19..
Link: https://www.factsandlogic.org/does-israel-have-rights-and-need-to-assert-sovereign-control-over-the-jordan-valley/
Misunderstanding about rights and ownership of the biblical Jewish homelands of Judea-Samaria (dubbed “the West Bank” by Jordan in 1948) continues to confuse many media, politicians and pundits.
This confusion in turn, muddles discussions about peace between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as, just last week, the intention of Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu to assert sovereignty over the Jordan Valley, which is part of Judea-Samaria.
Some media and commentators have represented this intention as a “land grab”—which it is not in any legal or moral sense.
The misunderstanding stems from the “two-state solution,” which has been an article of faith of Western nations—and most Americans—for decades: Many assume without factual basis that “the West Bank” belongs to, or should belong to the Palestinians.
However—hopes and assumptions aside—history and international law show there is no justification that Judea-Samaria is or should be a possession of the Palestinians, nor is there inherent truth to the phrase “Palestinian territories.”
Another example: This week, the New York Times and other mainstream media mistakenly claimed that Israel intends to “annex” Judea-Samaria—a misnomer, since under international law annexation refers to seizure of a foreign country’s territory. Mr. Netanyahu did not use the word “annexation” in Hebrew.
But if Judea-Samaria is not the territory of a foreign nation, what is it? Does Israel really have a right to claim sovereignty over this land? And conversely what rights do the Palestinians have to Judea-Samaria?
A quick review of history helps clarify these questions. Pay close attention to how control of this territory changes hands: In 1922, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the British took over management of a huge tract of Middle East land, encompassing the current territory of Jordan and Israel, as well as Judea-Samaria. Thus, the entire “Holy Land” came under jurisdiction of the British Mandate for Palestine, under which a Jewish state and a Jordanian Arab state were specified. Jordan became a state in 1946.
In 1947, the United Nations proposed dividing up the remaining territory of present-day Israel and Judea-Samaria into a Jewish state and an Arab state—a notion the Arab world instantly rejected, since they unequivocally opposed a Jewish state.
No wonder that in 1948 five Arab armies attacked the newly declared state of Israel, resulting in Israel’s winning its war of independence. However, by the time an armistice was signed, Jordan had illegally seized and asserted sovereignty over Judea-Samaria and eastern Jerusalem—a claim only three nations recognized.
During Jordan’s control over this territory, all Jews were ethnically cleansed, and Palestinian Arabs were made Jordanian citizens.
However, 19 years later, during the 1967 Six-Day War, when Arab armies again attacked the Jewish state, Israel drove Jordan back to its original borders along the Jordan River and won back all of Jerusalem and Judea-Samaria.
Following the Six-Day War, the question arose again: Who owns Judea-Samaria?
Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME)..
17 September '19..
Link: https://www.factsandlogic.org/does-israel-have-rights-and-need-to-assert-sovereign-control-over-the-jordan-valley/
Misunderstanding about rights and ownership of the biblical Jewish homelands of Judea-Samaria (dubbed “the West Bank” by Jordan in 1948) continues to confuse many media, politicians and pundits.
This confusion in turn, muddles discussions about peace between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as, just last week, the intention of Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu to assert sovereignty over the Jordan Valley, which is part of Judea-Samaria.
Some media and commentators have represented this intention as a “land grab”—which it is not in any legal or moral sense.
The misunderstanding stems from the “two-state solution,” which has been an article of faith of Western nations—and most Americans—for decades: Many assume without factual basis that “the West Bank” belongs to, or should belong to the Palestinians.
However—hopes and assumptions aside—history and international law show there is no justification that Judea-Samaria is or should be a possession of the Palestinians, nor is there inherent truth to the phrase “Palestinian territories.”
Another example: This week, the New York Times and other mainstream media mistakenly claimed that Israel intends to “annex” Judea-Samaria—a misnomer, since under international law annexation refers to seizure of a foreign country’s territory. Mr. Netanyahu did not use the word “annexation” in Hebrew.
But if Judea-Samaria is not the territory of a foreign nation, what is it? Does Israel really have a right to claim sovereignty over this land? And conversely what rights do the Palestinians have to Judea-Samaria?
A quick review of history helps clarify these questions. Pay close attention to how control of this territory changes hands: In 1922, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the British took over management of a huge tract of Middle East land, encompassing the current territory of Jordan and Israel, as well as Judea-Samaria. Thus, the entire “Holy Land” came under jurisdiction of the British Mandate for Palestine, under which a Jewish state and a Jordanian Arab state were specified. Jordan became a state in 1946.
In 1947, the United Nations proposed dividing up the remaining territory of present-day Israel and Judea-Samaria into a Jewish state and an Arab state—a notion the Arab world instantly rejected, since they unequivocally opposed a Jewish state.
No wonder that in 1948 five Arab armies attacked the newly declared state of Israel, resulting in Israel’s winning its war of independence. However, by the time an armistice was signed, Jordan had illegally seized and asserted sovereignty over Judea-Samaria and eastern Jerusalem—a claim only three nations recognized.
During Jordan’s control over this territory, all Jews were ethnically cleansed, and Palestinian Arabs were made Jordanian citizens.
However, 19 years later, during the 1967 Six-Day War, when Arab armies again attacked the Jewish state, Israel drove Jordan back to its original borders along the Jordan River and won back all of Jerusalem and Judea-Samaria.
Following the Six-Day War, the question arose again: Who owns Judea-Samaria?
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Israel Goes to the Polls (Part 2): An Election Reality Check - by Douglas Altabef
As we go to the polls to vote, with emotions that might include confusion, revenge, and ambivalence, let us recall a Gallup poll taken in wartime Britain - a poll that has nothing to do with elections.
Douglas Altabef..
Israel National News..
15 September '19..
Link: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/24453
Every so often we are privileged to get a wake up call, a reality check designed to provide perspective, and to help order our priorities and focus.
I got one the other day as I was reading Andrew Roberts stirring new biography, “Churchill: Walking with Destiny.”
It is early 1941. All Western European countries have been overrun by the Nazis. The Russians have signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler and North Africa, and the Balkans are being overrun.
Britain stands alone. Worse, the Germans have commenced the Battle of Britain, relentlessly bombing British urban centers, killing thousands of civilians.
Churchill is everywhere, visiting bombed out areas and incessantly reminding his countrymen of the many challenges met by their island nation over the centuries.
There is imminent fear of a land invasion, the first to hit Britain since 1066.
In this context, Gallup does a poll of the British people with the simple question: “Who is going to prevail in the current conflict?”
Here are the results: 82% respond that Britain will prevail. 10% say that there will be a stalemate. Eight percent have no opinion.
ZERO PERCENT say the Germans will win.
As I read this, I was emotionally overcome. How inspiring, how brave, such conviction, such determination!
My initial reaction was that was then and this is now. Perhaps it takes an existential crisis to bring this spirit out in people. Perhaps they were responding to Churchill’s call to duty and determination.
But as I let the numbers roll over me, I asked myself, what if such a poll were to be taken here concerning who – Israel or Iran – would prevail in our own country?
My first and continuing reaction was that we would see very similar results from our own people. We would find little or no conviction that the end result would be anything but our own triumph and vindication.
I truly believe this. Living in Israel is a self-selective phenomenon. Those who choose to live here, though they might point the finger at any number of shortcomings, though they might rue the passing of the “good old days,” nonetheless believe in the destiny of the State of Israel as the right and necessary home for the Jewish People.
We cannot conceive of ourselves, we will not allow ourselves, to be uprooted once again.
Israel National News..
15 September '19..
Link: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/24453
Every so often we are privileged to get a wake up call, a reality check designed to provide perspective, and to help order our priorities and focus.
I got one the other day as I was reading Andrew Roberts stirring new biography, “Churchill: Walking with Destiny.”
It is early 1941. All Western European countries have been overrun by the Nazis. The Russians have signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler and North Africa, and the Balkans are being overrun.
Britain stands alone. Worse, the Germans have commenced the Battle of Britain, relentlessly bombing British urban centers, killing thousands of civilians.
Churchill is everywhere, visiting bombed out areas and incessantly reminding his countrymen of the many challenges met by their island nation over the centuries.
There is imminent fear of a land invasion, the first to hit Britain since 1066.
In this context, Gallup does a poll of the British people with the simple question: “Who is going to prevail in the current conflict?”
Here are the results: 82% respond that Britain will prevail. 10% say that there will be a stalemate. Eight percent have no opinion.
ZERO PERCENT say the Germans will win.
As I read this, I was emotionally overcome. How inspiring, how brave, such conviction, such determination!
My initial reaction was that was then and this is now. Perhaps it takes an existential crisis to bring this spirit out in people. Perhaps they were responding to Churchill’s call to duty and determination.
But as I let the numbers roll over me, I asked myself, what if such a poll were to be taken here concerning who – Israel or Iran – would prevail in our own country?
My first and continuing reaction was that we would see very similar results from our own people. We would find little or no conviction that the end result would be anything but our own triumph and vindication.
I truly believe this. Living in Israel is a self-selective phenomenon. Those who choose to live here, though they might point the finger at any number of shortcomings, though they might rue the passing of the “good old days,” nonetheless believe in the destiny of the State of Israel as the right and necessary home for the Jewish People.
We cannot conceive of ourselves, we will not allow ourselves, to be uprooted once again.
Monday, September 16, 2019
Ongoing Palestinian Blood Libels Against Israel, Jews - by Bassam Tawil
Instead of acknowledging their responsibility for failing to combat the drug trafficking, the leaders of Hamas have been trying to blame everyone but themselves.... These leaders are trying hard to convince Palestinians that Israel and Hamas's rivals in the Palestinian Fatah faction, headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, are responsible for flooding the Gaza Strip with illegal drugs.
Bassam Tawil..
Gatestone Institute..
16 September '19..
The Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip has long been serving as a center for various terrorist groups that are responsible for thousands of terror attacks against Israel. In the past few decades, these groups have engaged in smuggling various types of weapons from Egypt into the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian terrorists also appear to be smuggling various types of illegal drugs into the Gaza Strip. Alarmed by the increased smuggling of illegal drugs, Hamas has begun waging a campaign against the drug-traffickers.
Earlier this year, Hamas announced that its security forces seized a large shipment of hashish smuggled from Egypt into the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Later, the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Interior launched a hotline for anonymous feedback and tip-offs on drug-related crimes.
The crackdown came in the aftermath of charges that the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip were not serious about dealing with the problem of drug trafficking.
According to some reports, many of the drug dealers caught by Hamas often buy their way out of prison by paying large amounts of bail in cash to Hamas-controlled courts. Some of the drug traffickers and dealers, who are known for their affiliation with Hamas, avoid prosecution: in addition to the illegal drugs, they also smuggle weapons for Palestinian terrorist groups.
Palestinian journalist Mirvat Oaf noted that the smuggling tunnels along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt have long been playing a major role in flooding the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave with various types of illegal drugs.
According to unofficial statistics, she said, the number of drug addicts in the Gaza Strip is estimated at more than 100,000. "This is a very high number for the Gaza Strip, which has a population of two million," she added. "Three years ago, the number of drug addicts in the Gaza Strip was estimated at 200,000. These figures have shocked Palestinians."
Instead of acknowledging their responsibility for failing to combat the drug trafficking, the leaders of Hamas have been trying to blame everyone but themselves.
These leaders are trying hard to convince Palestinians that Israel and Hamas's rivals in the Palestinian Fatah faction, headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, are responsible for flooding the Gaza Strip with illegal drugs.
This accusation is part of an old blood libel frequently used by Palestinians in the context of their continued incitement against Israel. The accusation is based on the fabricated claim that Israel wants to "corrupt" young Palestinians by providing them with illegal and lethal drugs.
(Continue to Full Post)
Gatestone Institute..
16 September '19..
The Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip has long been serving as a center for various terrorist groups that are responsible for thousands of terror attacks against Israel. In the past few decades, these groups have engaged in smuggling various types of weapons from Egypt into the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian terrorists also appear to be smuggling various types of illegal drugs into the Gaza Strip. Alarmed by the increased smuggling of illegal drugs, Hamas has begun waging a campaign against the drug-traffickers.
Earlier this year, Hamas announced that its security forces seized a large shipment of hashish smuggled from Egypt into the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Later, the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Interior launched a hotline for anonymous feedback and tip-offs on drug-related crimes.
The crackdown came in the aftermath of charges that the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip were not serious about dealing with the problem of drug trafficking.
According to some reports, many of the drug dealers caught by Hamas often buy their way out of prison by paying large amounts of bail in cash to Hamas-controlled courts. Some of the drug traffickers and dealers, who are known for their affiliation with Hamas, avoid prosecution: in addition to the illegal drugs, they also smuggle weapons for Palestinian terrorist groups.
Palestinian journalist Mirvat Oaf noted that the smuggling tunnels along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt have long been playing a major role in flooding the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave with various types of illegal drugs.
According to unofficial statistics, she said, the number of drug addicts in the Gaza Strip is estimated at more than 100,000. "This is a very high number for the Gaza Strip, which has a population of two million," she added. "Three years ago, the number of drug addicts in the Gaza Strip was estimated at 200,000. These figures have shocked Palestinians."
Instead of acknowledging their responsibility for failing to combat the drug trafficking, the leaders of Hamas have been trying to blame everyone but themselves.
These leaders are trying hard to convince Palestinians that Israel and Hamas's rivals in the Palestinian Fatah faction, headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, are responsible for flooding the Gaza Strip with illegal drugs.
This accusation is part of an old blood libel frequently used by Palestinians in the context of their continued incitement against Israel. The accusation is based on the fabricated claim that Israel wants to "corrupt" young Palestinians by providing them with illegal and lethal drugs.
(Continue to Full Post)
Saturday, September 14, 2019
Dear Israeli voters – a counterpoint - by Stephen M. Flatow
My dear Israeli sisters and brothers, you are going through difficult times. I wish your American-Jewish critics would be a little more sensitive to the dangers you face, a little less eager to point out your faults, and a little less hasty to add to the pressures you face. Whatever choice you make in your next election, know this: Most American Jews will continue to stand by you. We will not go rushing to the newspapers to dissociate ourselves from you in the hope of impressing The New York Times, The Washington Post, or our friends at the country club. We will not denounce you in order to demonstrate our progressive credentials. Instead, we will respect your right to democratically choose your leaders, and we will support Israel against its detractors, whether or not it is popular to do so.
Stephen M. Flatow..
TOI Blog..
12 September '19..
Link: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/dear-israeli-voters-a-counterpoint/
Dear Israeli voters,
I know you have a lot on your minds in these tense days leading up to your next national election on Sept. 17. In addition to the stress of the campaign, you have to worry about Palestinian Arab terrorists firing rockets into your kindergartens, blowing up your children with remote bombs when they go hiking, striking you with cars as you stand by the side of the road, and randomly stabbing you and your friends in the Old City of Jerusalem.
And if all that was not enough to worry about, you now have some American Jews lecturing to you, from 6,000 miles away, as to which political parties they think are best, or worst, suited to run the country. That is, the country in which you — not they — reside.
Of course, American Jews, like all members of any free society, have a right to express their opinions. But I would like to point out that you have an equal right to ignore them.
In particular, I’m referring to Martin Raffel’s “Open letter to Israeli voters” (Sept. 5). Before you mistakenly assume that most American Jews agree with his positions, I hope you will keep two important points in mind:
First, most American Jews understand that returning to the 1967 borders would endanger Israel.
On the eve of the Six-Day War, Israeli mothers in some coastal towns kept their children home from school because they knew Arab tanks could cut the country in half at its 9-miles-wide border, thus stranding their children on the other side.
The Palestinian Arab leadership has said time and again that they will never agree to any swaps, so in practical terms, Raffel, by advocating for a two-state solution, is promoting a return, more or less, to the 1967 lines — the lines that Israeli politician and scholar Abba Eban, in a 1969 interview, said had “something of a memory of Auschwitz” because they would make Israel so vulnerable.
Second, the “occupation” ended long ago.
In his column, Raffel referred to what he called “the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian people for more than half a century.” He frets that the “occupation” is a danger to Israel’s “dual Jewish and democratic character.” I disagree.
Most American Jews know full well that Israel stopped occupying 100 percent of the Palestinians in Gaza in 2005. And Israel ended its rule over 98 percent of the Palestinian Arabs in Judea-Samaria way back in 1995; it is the Palestinian Authority (PA), not Israel, which occupies them. Anybody who has visited PA cities — as many American-Jewish leaders have done — know that there are no Israeli soldiers there, nor any Israeli military administrators or civilians.
TOI Blog..
12 September '19..
Link: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/dear-israeli-voters-a-counterpoint/
Dear Israeli voters,
I know you have a lot on your minds in these tense days leading up to your next national election on Sept. 17. In addition to the stress of the campaign, you have to worry about Palestinian Arab terrorists firing rockets into your kindergartens, blowing up your children with remote bombs when they go hiking, striking you with cars as you stand by the side of the road, and randomly stabbing you and your friends in the Old City of Jerusalem.
And if all that was not enough to worry about, you now have some American Jews lecturing to you, from 6,000 miles away, as to which political parties they think are best, or worst, suited to run the country. That is, the country in which you — not they — reside.
Of course, American Jews, like all members of any free society, have a right to express their opinions. But I would like to point out that you have an equal right to ignore them.
In particular, I’m referring to Martin Raffel’s “Open letter to Israeli voters” (Sept. 5). Before you mistakenly assume that most American Jews agree with his positions, I hope you will keep two important points in mind:
First, most American Jews understand that returning to the 1967 borders would endanger Israel.
On the eve of the Six-Day War, Israeli mothers in some coastal towns kept their children home from school because they knew Arab tanks could cut the country in half at its 9-miles-wide border, thus stranding their children on the other side.
The Palestinian Arab leadership has said time and again that they will never agree to any swaps, so in practical terms, Raffel, by advocating for a two-state solution, is promoting a return, more or less, to the 1967 lines — the lines that Israeli politician and scholar Abba Eban, in a 1969 interview, said had “something of a memory of Auschwitz” because they would make Israel so vulnerable.
Second, the “occupation” ended long ago.
In his column, Raffel referred to what he called “the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian people for more than half a century.” He frets that the “occupation” is a danger to Israel’s “dual Jewish and democratic character.” I disagree.
Most American Jews know full well that Israel stopped occupying 100 percent of the Palestinians in Gaza in 2005. And Israel ended its rule over 98 percent of the Palestinian Arabs in Judea-Samaria way back in 1995; it is the Palestinian Authority (PA), not Israel, which occupies them. Anybody who has visited PA cities — as many American-Jewish leaders have done — know that there are no Israeli soldiers there, nor any Israeli military administrators or civilians.
Friday, September 13, 2019
The Jordan Valley has been waiting for the Zionist vision for far too long.- by Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen
Not only is the Jordan Valley vital to Israel's security, it is vital to the Zionist enterprise as a potential place for a million Israelis to live and work.
Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen..
Israel Hayom..
13 September '19..
Link: https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/the-jordan-valley-is-waiting-for-zionist-action/
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's promise to apply Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley should be welcomed. The reasons to do so were apparent even to former Prime Minister Levi Eshkol in the first months that followed the 1967 Six-Day War, and were fully laid out in the Allon Plan, which states that "the eastern border of the state of Israel must be the Jordan River and the border that divides the Dead Sea … We must annex to the country, as an inseparable part of its sovereignty, a 10 to 15 kilometer [6 to 9 mile] wide strip running along the Jordan Valley."
The plan was presented to the Eshkol government, which in line with its worldview, left it as a presentation without voting it. In the spirit of the time, the plan was immediately moved ahead to the stage of laying down infrastructure for the settlements that have existed there ever since. In accordance with the plan the Alon highway was paved, and the settlements of the Jordan Valley were built in two groups – one along Highway 90 and one along the Allon Highway.
When the Knesset debated the interim Oslo Accords in 1995, Yitzhak Rabin laid out his principles and declared: "Israel's defensible security border will be placed in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest sense of the term." The process of applying sovereignty to the valley has always enjoyed broad public support. Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak was the first to draw back. The Clinton peace plan and the international community's basic approach to the peace process saw his concessions on the Jordan Valley as a fundamental element of the two-state solution.
After Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994, and even more after the army of Saddam Hussein collapsed in 2003, more people began arguing that the threat to Israel from the east had passed, and it was less vital for Israel to hold onto the Jordan Valley as a line of defense. In the words of former GOC Central Command Amram Mitzna: "When long-range missiles can be fired, there is no importance to strategic depth. [Peace] deals will give us more security than strategic depth will."
Even at the time, that argument lacked a basic understanding of war. Since then, having learned the lessons of the Second Intifada, the chaos of the Arab Spring, and seeing Hamas and Hezbollah anchor their rocket strike capabilities, along with Iran's growing regional influence that could see Shiite militias deployed along Highway 6 – the Jordan Valley is a more vital security interest to Israel than ever.
Israel Hayom..
13 September '19..
Link: https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/the-jordan-valley-is-waiting-for-zionist-action/
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's promise to apply Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley should be welcomed. The reasons to do so were apparent even to former Prime Minister Levi Eshkol in the first months that followed the 1967 Six-Day War, and were fully laid out in the Allon Plan, which states that "the eastern border of the state of Israel must be the Jordan River and the border that divides the Dead Sea … We must annex to the country, as an inseparable part of its sovereignty, a 10 to 15 kilometer [6 to 9 mile] wide strip running along the Jordan Valley."
The plan was presented to the Eshkol government, which in line with its worldview, left it as a presentation without voting it. In the spirit of the time, the plan was immediately moved ahead to the stage of laying down infrastructure for the settlements that have existed there ever since. In accordance with the plan the Alon highway was paved, and the settlements of the Jordan Valley were built in two groups – one along Highway 90 and one along the Allon Highway.
When the Knesset debated the interim Oslo Accords in 1995, Yitzhak Rabin laid out his principles and declared: "Israel's defensible security border will be placed in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest sense of the term." The process of applying sovereignty to the valley has always enjoyed broad public support. Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak was the first to draw back. The Clinton peace plan and the international community's basic approach to the peace process saw his concessions on the Jordan Valley as a fundamental element of the two-state solution.
After Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994, and even more after the army of Saddam Hussein collapsed in 2003, more people began arguing that the threat to Israel from the east had passed, and it was less vital for Israel to hold onto the Jordan Valley as a line of defense. In the words of former GOC Central Command Amram Mitzna: "When long-range missiles can be fired, there is no importance to strategic depth. [Peace] deals will give us more security than strategic depth will."
Even at the time, that argument lacked a basic understanding of war. Since then, having learned the lessons of the Second Intifada, the chaos of the Arab Spring, and seeing Hamas and Hezbollah anchor their rocket strike capabilities, along with Iran's growing regional influence that could see Shiite militias deployed along Highway 6 – the Jordan Valley is a more vital security interest to Israel than ever.
Thursday, September 12, 2019
Truth Be Told, Israel’s Sovereignty Claims Over The Jordan Valley Are Legitimate - by Erielle Davidson
...The Palestinians are the only group to say no to an independent nation. There are real consequences to rejectionism, including the current government system under which the various Areas are operating. It is an imperfect situation being reported on by an equally imperfect media. As the Western media has done so unabashedly in the past, the Jordan Valley dispute will serve as yet another arena for many to showcase their misconceptions and misinformation about the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Erielle Davidson..
thefederalist.com..
11 September '19..
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement on Tuesday regarding his plan to formalize Israeli sovereignty in Jordan Valley has sent shockwaves across the world. However, much of the outrage has stemmed from a misunderstanding about Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria and historical claims over the region. Even the standard newspaper accounts of Netanyahu’s plans as envisioning the “annexation” of territory is inaccurate.
Netanyahu never said “annexation.” Instead, he spoke of “applying sovereignty” to refer to Israel’s territorial claims over the Jordan Valley. International outlets, particularly left-leaning ones, have referred to Netanyahu’s campaign promise as a promise to annex land. But there is a reason for the PM’s careful choice of wording, and for its mistranslation and misrepresentation abroad.
A nation cannot annex land over which it already has sovereign claims. Netanyahu purposefully referred to the process as an application of Israeli sovereignty, abstaining from using the Hebrew word for annexation, sipuach. As Eugene Kontorovich, director of the International Law Department at the Jerusalem-based Kohelet Policy Forum, noted, Netanyahu’s proclamation is about “translating long-standing Israeli consensus into action.”
Foreign media is doing its best to portray the potential application of sovereignty in this scenario as far-flung or illegitimate. This interpretation is incorrect. Indeed, after Netanyahu’s announcement, the center-left Blue and White Party, which leads the opposition, sarcastically commented that they were pleased to see Netanyahu “adopting Blue and White’s plan for recognizing the Jordan Valley.”
Blue and White famously accused Netenyahu in 2014 of planning to give up Israeli control over the Jordan Valley. Thus, Israeli application of sovereignty over the Jordan Valley is not some outlandish or novel notion. In fact, Israeli control over the Jordan Valley was central to peace plans drawn up in the 1970s. For those with any familiarity of Israeli politics, Netanyahu’s announcement is unsurprising.
A nation cannot annex that land over which it already has sovereign claims.
(Continue to Full Post)
Erielle Davidson is a Staff Writer at the Federalist and a law student at Georgetown University Law Center. She previously was an economic research assistant at the Hoover Institution and a Publius Fellow at the Claremont Institute. She graduated from Middlebury College with a B.A in Russian, with a focus on Eastern European security issues. Find her on Twitter at @politicalelle.
thefederalist.com..
11 September '19..
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement on Tuesday regarding his plan to formalize Israeli sovereignty in Jordan Valley has sent shockwaves across the world. However, much of the outrage has stemmed from a misunderstanding about Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria and historical claims over the region. Even the standard newspaper accounts of Netanyahu’s plans as envisioning the “annexation” of territory is inaccurate.
Netanyahu never said “annexation.” Instead, he spoke of “applying sovereignty” to refer to Israel’s territorial claims over the Jordan Valley. International outlets, particularly left-leaning ones, have referred to Netanyahu’s campaign promise as a promise to annex land. But there is a reason for the PM’s careful choice of wording, and for its mistranslation and misrepresentation abroad.
A nation cannot annex land over which it already has sovereign claims. Netanyahu purposefully referred to the process as an application of Israeli sovereignty, abstaining from using the Hebrew word for annexation, sipuach. As Eugene Kontorovich, director of the International Law Department at the Jerusalem-based Kohelet Policy Forum, noted, Netanyahu’s proclamation is about “translating long-standing Israeli consensus into action.”
Foreign media is doing its best to portray the potential application of sovereignty in this scenario as far-flung or illegitimate. This interpretation is incorrect. Indeed, after Netanyahu’s announcement, the center-left Blue and White Party, which leads the opposition, sarcastically commented that they were pleased to see Netanyahu “adopting Blue and White’s plan for recognizing the Jordan Valley.”
Blue and White famously accused Netenyahu in 2014 of planning to give up Israeli control over the Jordan Valley. Thus, Israeli application of sovereignty over the Jordan Valley is not some outlandish or novel notion. In fact, Israeli control over the Jordan Valley was central to peace plans drawn up in the 1970s. For those with any familiarity of Israeli politics, Netanyahu’s announcement is unsurprising.
A nation cannot annex that land over which it already has sovereign claims.
(Continue to Full Post)
Erielle Davidson is a Staff Writer at the Federalist and a law student at Georgetown University Law Center. She previously was an economic research assistant at the Hoover Institution and a Publius Fellow at the Claremont Institute. She graduated from Middlebury College with a B.A in Russian, with a focus on Eastern European security issues. Find her on Twitter at @politicalelle.
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
The countdown toward a widespread confrontation between Israel and Hizbullah has begun - by Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Dr. Shimon Shapira
...The picture is more complicated because of the bottom line: it can be said with certainty that Nasrallah is an actor and a liar who has turned manipulation into an art.
Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Dr. Shimon Shapira..
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs..
09 September '19..
Link: http://jcpa.org/countdown-begins-toward-a-battle-between-israel-and-hizbullah/
Various experts have expressed admiration toward Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hizbullah. Senior military officers in uniform and retirement, researchers, and journalists analyzing every gesture, smile, outburst of anger and criticism, shout or laugh and attributing meaning to it all assert that Nasrallah is reliable. He makes promises and delivers. He is faithful to his patrons in Tehran despite Lebanon’s attempts to restrain him.
The picture is more complicated because of the bottom line: it can be said with certainty that Nasrallah is an actor and a liar who has turned manipulation into an art.
Nasrallah closely follows everything that is published about him and Hizbullah in Israel and primarily abroad. He attributes great importance to the words and commentaries of senior Israeli officers both present and past. The interpretation that he gives these reports is that Israel is afraid of Hizbullah’s military might and especially the precision missiles in Hizbullah’s arsenal with their ability to strike deep inside Israel and at strategic installations.
Nasrallah is particularly following those “experts” who provide details and outline the enormity of Hizbullah’s military threat, primarily those who mention the names of the most endangered places and sites inside Israel. Senior security officials assert that in the next war there will be no boundaries between the military front and the civilian home front due to the impressively accurate Hizbullah missiles, which blur this differentiation. The more details provided in Israel on these matters, the more Nasrallah derives more encouragement and pleasure. He believes that Israeli society is weak and unprepared for war, and it will do anything to avoid a confrontation with Hizbullah.
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs..
09 September '19..
Link: http://jcpa.org/countdown-begins-toward-a-battle-between-israel-and-hizbullah/
Various experts have expressed admiration toward Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hizbullah. Senior military officers in uniform and retirement, researchers, and journalists analyzing every gesture, smile, outburst of anger and criticism, shout or laugh and attributing meaning to it all assert that Nasrallah is reliable. He makes promises and delivers. He is faithful to his patrons in Tehran despite Lebanon’s attempts to restrain him.
The picture is more complicated because of the bottom line: it can be said with certainty that Nasrallah is an actor and a liar who has turned manipulation into an art.
 |
| Hizbullah, with Iranian assistance, brought specialized equipment to a precision missile factory in Lebanon. (IDF Spokesman Screengrab / YouTube) |
Nasrallah closely follows everything that is published about him and Hizbullah in Israel and primarily abroad. He attributes great importance to the words and commentaries of senior Israeli officers both present and past. The interpretation that he gives these reports is that Israel is afraid of Hizbullah’s military might and especially the precision missiles in Hizbullah’s arsenal with their ability to strike deep inside Israel and at strategic installations.
Nasrallah is particularly following those “experts” who provide details and outline the enormity of Hizbullah’s military threat, primarily those who mention the names of the most endangered places and sites inside Israel. Senior security officials assert that in the next war there will be no boundaries between the military front and the civilian home front due to the impressively accurate Hizbullah missiles, which blur this differentiation. The more details provided in Israel on these matters, the more Nasrallah derives more encouragement and pleasure. He believes that Israeli society is weak and unprepared for war, and it will do anything to avoid a confrontation with Hizbullah.
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Smile for the camera, Ayman Odeh! - by Yoseph Haddad
Despite the spin by Arab lawmakers, the Arab sector will benefit more than anyone else from cameras at polling stations. If there is widespread fraud, it's time to end it. If not, we will be proven innocent.
Yoseph Haddad..
Israel Hayom..
10 September '19..
Link: https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/smile-for-the-camera-ayman-odeh/
Today, every shopping center, government office, or even parking garage is covered by security cameras. Neighborhood markets, highways, street corners – we are filmed everywhere, dozens of times a day. There is one goal: to help enforce the law and maintain security. It's only natural and reasonable that the place where we choose our representatives in the Knesset and the fate of the nation for the next few years will have cameras. This is not a violation of privacy or anything else. In any case, a record is kept of every citizen who goes in to vote, so why does it matter if there is also visual documentation, in case suspected irregularities of some kind at a polling station should have to be reviewed?
Voter fraud is a criminal matter, and one that is equally relevant nationwide. In this case, there is no difference between Jews and Arabs. Cameras are necessary in every sector. Why is there such resistance to them? It's only a method of prevention and oversight – a camera won't deter anyone from voting, but it could deter people from trying to commit voter fraud.
Supporters of the bill to put cameras in polling stations argue that it will prevent widespread fraud in the Arab sector, and opponents claim that it will harm the Arab sector. But no one is talking about the root of the problem – the seemingly obvious connection the bill has to the Arab sector, which is something that makes me, an Arab-Israeli, feel particularly bad. If anyone should welcome documentation of what happens at the polls, it's the Arab public, and the truth is that we will benefit more than other sectors from the law to install cameras at the polls.
We – who cry out over the government ignoring the rampant crime and violence in our streets, who complain that our communities are the scenes of frequent street fights and gunfights – we are the ones who should support the move, whose sole purpose is to bolster security and limit crime. We suffer from prejudice and harsh accusations, so if indeed there is widespread voter fraud in Arab communities, it's time to put an end to it. If these accusations are baseless, there is nothing to fear – everything is fine, so why shouldn't we prove it? Either way, we gain.
Israel Hayom..
10 September '19..
Link: https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/smile-for-the-camera-ayman-odeh/
Today, every shopping center, government office, or even parking garage is covered by security cameras. Neighborhood markets, highways, street corners – we are filmed everywhere, dozens of times a day. There is one goal: to help enforce the law and maintain security. It's only natural and reasonable that the place where we choose our representatives in the Knesset and the fate of the nation for the next few years will have cameras. This is not a violation of privacy or anything else. In any case, a record is kept of every citizen who goes in to vote, so why does it matter if there is also visual documentation, in case suspected irregularities of some kind at a polling station should have to be reviewed?
Voter fraud is a criminal matter, and one that is equally relevant nationwide. In this case, there is no difference between Jews and Arabs. Cameras are necessary in every sector. Why is there such resistance to them? It's only a method of prevention and oversight – a camera won't deter anyone from voting, but it could deter people from trying to commit voter fraud.
Supporters of the bill to put cameras in polling stations argue that it will prevent widespread fraud in the Arab sector, and opponents claim that it will harm the Arab sector. But no one is talking about the root of the problem – the seemingly obvious connection the bill has to the Arab sector, which is something that makes me, an Arab-Israeli, feel particularly bad. If anyone should welcome documentation of what happens at the polls, it's the Arab public, and the truth is that we will benefit more than other sectors from the law to install cameras at the polls.
We – who cry out over the government ignoring the rampant crime and violence in our streets, who complain that our communities are the scenes of frequent street fights and gunfights – we are the ones who should support the move, whose sole purpose is to bolster security and limit crime. We suffer from prejudice and harsh accusations, so if indeed there is widespread voter fraud in Arab communities, it's time to put an end to it. If these accusations are baseless, there is nothing to fear – everything is fine, so why shouldn't we prove it? Either way, we gain.
Monday, September 9, 2019
The Islamic Republic's free pass to continually threaten wiping Israel off the map - by Majid Rafizadeh
For some reason, the Islamic Republic is getting a free pass for continually threatening to wipe out Israel off the map. This lopsided justice is either a case of selective amnesia or outrageous double standards by the international community.
Majid Rafizadeh..
Gatestone Institute..
09 September '19..
Malign behavior in the world today seems largely to be the result of people who have the power to correct what is wrong willfully looking the other way: hypocrisy. Currently, one of the biggest beneficiaries -- along with China, North Korea, Venezuela, Russia, Turkey and Cuba -- is the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Among other lawlessness, Iran, since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, has continued non-stop to threaten the existence of Israel in contravention of Chapter 1 the United Nations Charter -- without any reproof or rebuke from the international community.
Amazingly, Israel has been bullied and criticized by the same international community for merely taking precautionary measures to defend its citizens and territorial integrity, as any country would.
If, for any reason, the Israeli government ever issued a declaration about destroying Iran "in half an hour," as Iran recently said about Israel, we would probably never hear the end of the criticism from all parts of the world. The European Union would likely take even more measures to counter Israel. There would doubtless be an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to hurl slanders against Israel, followed by countries pledging solidarity and support for Iran.
It was Mojtaba Zolnour, chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, who issued this latest threat.
For some reason, the Islamic Republic is getting a free pass for continually threatening to wipe out Israel off the map. This lopsided justice is either a case of selective amnesia or outrageous double standards by the international community.
(Continue to Full Post)
Gatestone Institute..
09 September '19..
Malign behavior in the world today seems largely to be the result of people who have the power to correct what is wrong willfully looking the other way: hypocrisy. Currently, one of the biggest beneficiaries -- along with China, North Korea, Venezuela, Russia, Turkey and Cuba -- is the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Among other lawlessness, Iran, since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, has continued non-stop to threaten the existence of Israel in contravention of Chapter 1 the United Nations Charter -- without any reproof or rebuke from the international community.
Amazingly, Israel has been bullied and criticized by the same international community for merely taking precautionary measures to defend its citizens and territorial integrity, as any country would.
If, for any reason, the Israeli government ever issued a declaration about destroying Iran "in half an hour," as Iran recently said about Israel, we would probably never hear the end of the criticism from all parts of the world. The European Union would likely take even more measures to counter Israel. There would doubtless be an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to hurl slanders against Israel, followed by countries pledging solidarity and support for Iran.
It was Mojtaba Zolnour, chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, who issued this latest threat.
For some reason, the Islamic Republic is getting a free pass for continually threatening to wipe out Israel off the map. This lopsided justice is either a case of selective amnesia or outrageous double standards by the international community.
(Continue to Full Post)
Sunday, September 8, 2019
Surprise? Palestinian group opposes Palestinians seeking better lives elsewhere - by Elder of Ziyon
For over 70 years, self-proclaimed Palestinian leaders have done everything possible to keep their people in misery. Nothing has changed.
Elder of Ziyon..
06 September '19..
I reported yesterday that Palestinians in Lebanon were protesting to have the right to become citizens in Canada and the EU, since Lebanon and other Arab countries do not allow them to become citizens there.
A cornerstone of Palestinian Arab strategy since the 1950s has been to keep Palestinian "refugees" stateless and miserable until Israel is destroyed, using them as political cannon fodder and not giving a damn about their actual lives. There are lots of examples of so-called Palestinian leaders actively opposing any chance for Palestinians to become citizens of any state, anywhere.
Sure enough, after yesterday's protest, a Palestinian group has criticized not Lebanon or UNRWA for keeping these protesters in miserable conditions with no way out, but the protesters themselves!
(Read Full Post)
06 September '19..
I reported yesterday that Palestinians in Lebanon were protesting to have the right to become citizens in Canada and the EU, since Lebanon and other Arab countries do not allow them to become citizens there.
A cornerstone of Palestinian Arab strategy since the 1950s has been to keep Palestinian "refugees" stateless and miserable until Israel is destroyed, using them as political cannon fodder and not giving a damn about their actual lives. There are lots of examples of so-called Palestinian leaders actively opposing any chance for Palestinians to become citizens of any state, anywhere.
Sure enough, after yesterday's protest, a Palestinian group has criticized not Lebanon or UNRWA for keeping these protesters in miserable conditions with no way out, but the protesters themselves!
(Read Full Post)
Friday, September 6, 2019
Hind Khoudary, Amnesty’s human rights activist. Sorry, I meant terrorist supporter - by David Collier
A few hours after I published the teaser, Hind’s Twitter Account was no longer available. Her Facebook account has also been taken offline. It seems as if Amnesty International have lost some of their ‘reliable’ ears on the ground.
David Collier..
Beyond the Great Divide..
06 September '19..
The Amnesty report is not yet out and already Amnesty International have lost the input of a terrorist sympathiser. Yesterday, I released a teaser. The report is entering the final stage and is almost ready for final editing. With the information gathering stage behind me, I felt confident enough to release one item – about the true face of an Amnesty consultant in Gaza.
The Amnesty Consultant
Hind Khoudary worked as an Amnesty Research Consultant in Gaza:
Since the regular violence erupted on the Gaza border over the last 18 months, Hind has been a popular ‘journalist’, used by different media outlets worldwide. Amnesty pushed their ‘consultant’ too, using iconic images of her to turn her into some type of hero:
Like most propagandists her English output was always moderated, to show a ‘peaceful’ face to the west. She was also photogenic. Hind came across as a presentable, articulate, friendly, young, peace-seeking progressive and is the type of ‘reporter’ western media outlets love. She spoke long and hard about the awful situation and how she just wants her ‘freedom’. As is fitting of her role, she embellished her articles with endless tragic human-interest items which may or may not have been invented. When it came to the ‘Great March of Return’ Hind never saw a gun on the Hamas side. She spoke of the ‘tolerant’ Gazans who accept people who are different. Palestinians are always so accommodating and peaceful. This balderdash has been swallowed whole by western media and Amnesty International are so embedded is this false narrative, they regurgitated her poppycock verbatim.
Hind’s Arabic content was somewhat different. For example, she retweeted this which followed a thwarted terrorist attack. It talks about the Gazan casualties, but calls them ‘martyrs’. Notice the glorification of the violence. There is apparently nothing better than entering ‘paradise’ with machine guns:
(Continue to Full Article)
David Collier..Beyond the Great Divide..
06 September '19..
The Amnesty report is not yet out and already Amnesty International have lost the input of a terrorist sympathiser. Yesterday, I released a teaser. The report is entering the final stage and is almost ready for final editing. With the information gathering stage behind me, I felt confident enough to release one item – about the true face of an Amnesty consultant in Gaza.
The Amnesty Consultant
Hind Khoudary worked as an Amnesty Research Consultant in Gaza:
Since the regular violence erupted on the Gaza border over the last 18 months, Hind has been a popular ‘journalist’, used by different media outlets worldwide. Amnesty pushed their ‘consultant’ too, using iconic images of her to turn her into some type of hero:
Like most propagandists her English output was always moderated, to show a ‘peaceful’ face to the west. She was also photogenic. Hind came across as a presentable, articulate, friendly, young, peace-seeking progressive and is the type of ‘reporter’ western media outlets love. She spoke long and hard about the awful situation and how she just wants her ‘freedom’. As is fitting of her role, she embellished her articles with endless tragic human-interest items which may or may not have been invented. When it came to the ‘Great March of Return’ Hind never saw a gun on the Hamas side. She spoke of the ‘tolerant’ Gazans who accept people who are different. Palestinians are always so accommodating and peaceful. This balderdash has been swallowed whole by western media and Amnesty International are so embedded is this false narrative, they regurgitated her poppycock verbatim.
Hind’s Arabic content was somewhat different. For example, she retweeted this which followed a thwarted terrorist attack. It talks about the Gazan casualties, but calls them ‘martyrs’. Notice the glorification of the violence. There is apparently nothing better than entering ‘paradise’ with machine guns:
(Continue to Full Article)
Thursday, September 5, 2019
On thwarted justice, bearded women and Haaretz - by Arnold Roth
...And a lot more importantly, given its unexamined implications, Haaretz in all its various Hebrew, English, online, on-paper editions entirely ignores, just as do many other mainstream news outlets do, the much larger and weightier matter of Jordan's mendaciousness in purporting to fight terror while keeping one of its highest profile practitioners safe, well and protected in the bosom of the Hashemite Kingdom and its law courts.
Arnold/Frimet Roth..
This Ongoing War..
05 September '19..
We have devoted several years and considerable effort to generating awareness of the almost unfathomable evil of a Jordanian woman, Ahlam Tamimi.
Tamimi is a high-profile fugitive from the FBI with a $5 million reward on her head from the US State Department. She freely admits for the record and in public that she played a key role in the August 9, 2001 bombing of the Sbarro pizzeria in the center of Jerusalem. She has boasted of how she deliberately targeted and succeeded in massacring the Jewish children inside and on the street. One of them was our fifteen year old daughter Malki.
Recently, in her (since-shut-down) Instagram account, Tamimi called this Hamas attack "my operation":
She is protected by the Kingdom of Jordan which, in cynical breach of its 1995 extradition treaty with the United States, has refused since 2013 to hand her over to the US authorities for prosecution on terrorism charges. It continues to give her safe haven. But her hitherto-frequent travel in and around the Arab world, a key part of her evolution as a pan-Arab celebrity, has come to a halt as a result of an Interpol Red Notice.
What's more, for the nearly five years between early 2012 and mid 2016, it provided her with the freedom and means to have a television program of her own, "Breezes of the Free", which she recorded in Amman, Jordan every week for a global TV and Internet audience.
The purpose of the show was to encourage support for Arab-on-Israeli terrorism, to celebrate and honor the terrorists and to provide a two-way channel for communication between terrorists imprisoned in Israel and their families. It's important to keep in mind that the privilege of engaging in years of incitement to extreme violence given to a confessed mass murderer comes against a background where Jordan has one of the most tightly controlled and un-free media regimes in the world. Had Jordan wanted, Tamimi - along with her Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood sponsors - could never have gotten these hideous "Breezes" off the ground.
(Continue to Full Post)
This Ongoing War..
05 September '19..
We have devoted several years and considerable effort to generating awareness of the almost unfathomable evil of a Jordanian woman, Ahlam Tamimi.
Tamimi is a high-profile fugitive from the FBI with a $5 million reward on her head from the US State Department. She freely admits for the record and in public that she played a key role in the August 9, 2001 bombing of the Sbarro pizzeria in the center of Jerusalem. She has boasted of how she deliberately targeted and succeeded in massacring the Jewish children inside and on the street. One of them was our fifteen year old daughter Malki.
Recently, in her (since-shut-down) Instagram account, Tamimi called this Hamas attack "my operation":
 |
Instagram shut down this account, which was Tamimi's, a few days
after it appeared in August 2019
|
She is protected by the Kingdom of Jordan which, in cynical breach of its 1995 extradition treaty with the United States, has refused since 2013 to hand her over to the US authorities for prosecution on terrorism charges. It continues to give her safe haven. But her hitherto-frequent travel in and around the Arab world, a key part of her evolution as a pan-Arab celebrity, has come to a halt as a result of an Interpol Red Notice.
What's more, for the nearly five years between early 2012 and mid 2016, it provided her with the freedom and means to have a television program of her own, "Breezes of the Free", which she recorded in Amman, Jordan every week for a global TV and Internet audience.
The purpose of the show was to encourage support for Arab-on-Israeli terrorism, to celebrate and honor the terrorists and to provide a two-way channel for communication between terrorists imprisoned in Israel and their families. It's important to keep in mind that the privilege of engaging in years of incitement to extreme violence given to a confessed mass murderer comes against a background where Jordan has one of the most tightly controlled and un-free media regimes in the world. Had Jordan wanted, Tamimi - along with her Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood sponsors - could never have gotten these hideous "Breezes" off the ground.
(Continue to Full Post)
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Fires in Lebanon, Israel: Through the Smoke, One Thing is Clear - Reuters' Double Standard
Through the smoke, one thing is clear: Reuters does not apply a consistent standard in photo captions about fires resulting from conflict between Israel and its neighbors. When Israel is to be blamed for fires, Reuters says so. When the other side is culpable, Reuters frequently remains mum.
CAMERA..
03 September '19..
On Sunday, when Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles at a border post in northern Israel, Israel responded by launching 100 artillery shells into southern Lebanon, sparking fires in agricultural fields. Reuters’ brief captions accompanying photographs of the burning Lebanese fields clearly identified the fires’ cause: Israeli shelling.
In contrast, Reuters captions failed to identify the cause of scorched earth near Avivim, the Israeli border area initially targeted in the Hezbollah attack Sunday which prompted the Israeli response. Similarly, Reuters photo captions frequently omit the source of the fires that have plagued southern Israel for over a year: Gazan arsonists send flaming kites and balloons across the border. Through the smoke, one thing is clear: Reuters does not apply a consistent standard in photo captions about fires resulting from conflict between Israel and its neighbors. When Israel is to be blamed for fires, Reuters says so. When the other side is culpable, Reuters frequently remains mum.
A sampling of Reuters photos and captions about Sunday’s fires in Lebanese fields, caused by retaliatory Israeli shelling follow. They clearly report the Israeli shelling responsible for the blaze.
(Continue to Full Post)
03 September '19..
On Sunday, when Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles at a border post in northern Israel, Israel responded by launching 100 artillery shells into southern Lebanon, sparking fires in agricultural fields. Reuters’ brief captions accompanying photographs of the burning Lebanese fields clearly identified the fires’ cause: Israeli shelling.
In contrast, Reuters captions failed to identify the cause of scorched earth near Avivim, the Israeli border area initially targeted in the Hezbollah attack Sunday which prompted the Israeli response. Similarly, Reuters photo captions frequently omit the source of the fires that have plagued southern Israel for over a year: Gazan arsonists send flaming kites and balloons across the border. Through the smoke, one thing is clear: Reuters does not apply a consistent standard in photo captions about fires resulting from conflict between Israel and its neighbors. When Israel is to be blamed for fires, Reuters says so. When the other side is culpable, Reuters frequently remains mum.
A sampling of Reuters photos and captions about Sunday’s fires in Lebanese fields, caused by retaliatory Israeli shelling follow. They clearly report the Israeli shelling responsible for the blaze.
(Continue to Full Post)
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Mahmoud Abbas is right: It’s time to phase out the PA - by Gary Schiff
The next time P.A. leader Mahmoud Abbas proposes canceling security cooperation with Israel, and hence the Oslo Accords, we should take him up on it.
Gary Schiff..
JNS.org..
01 September '19..
When Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas announced in July that he was canceling the P.A.’s security cooperation with Israel, veteran Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh pointed out that it was the 58th time Abbas had made such a threat. When Abbas issues his 59th threat, perhaps Israel should take him up on it.
Security cooperation is a cornerstone of the 1993 Oslo Accords—which have proven disastrous for Israel. Thousands of Israelis have been murdered in terrorist attacks as a result of this misguided effort.
According to the Social Security 2007 “Civilian Casualties of Acts of Hatred” document, the average number of Israeli fatalities due to terrorist attacks before the accords was 12.5 per year. After the accords, that figure shot up to 106 per year.
Maybe it’s time to begin to phase out these horrendous agreements and work towards a better solution for both Palestinians and Israelis.
(Continue to Full Column)
JNS.org..
01 September '19..
When Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas announced in July that he was canceling the P.A.’s security cooperation with Israel, veteran Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh pointed out that it was the 58th time Abbas had made such a threat. When Abbas issues his 59th threat, perhaps Israel should take him up on it.
Security cooperation is a cornerstone of the 1993 Oslo Accords—which have proven disastrous for Israel. Thousands of Israelis have been murdered in terrorist attacks as a result of this misguided effort.
According to the Social Security 2007 “Civilian Casualties of Acts of Hatred” document, the average number of Israeli fatalities due to terrorist attacks before the accords was 12.5 per year. After the accords, that figure shot up to 106 per year.
Maybe it’s time to begin to phase out these horrendous agreements and work towards a better solution for both Palestinians and Israelis.
(Continue to Full Column)
Monday, September 2, 2019
How Arab migration shaped Palestinian society - by Yoram Ettinger
Arabs have not been in the Land of Israel (Palestine) from time immemorial; Palestine’s strategic location has attracted waves of Arab immigration, but has no Arab roots; no Palestinian people was ever robbed of its land; there is no basis for an Arab “claim of return”; and the pursuit of peace must dwell on reality, while rejecting misrepresentations, falsifications, hate-education and wishful-thinking.
Yoram Ettinger..
The Ettinger Report..
30 August '19..
Link: http://theettingerreport.com/arab-migration-shaped-palestinian-society/
Mahmoud Abbas promotes an egregious historical fabrication, claiming that the Palestinians are descendants of the original Canaanite peoples.
Moreover, Mahmoud Abbas’ school curriculum – which glorifies suicide bombers – reiterates this falsified history. It claims that the multitude of archeological findings of 3,000 year old Jewish roots in the Land of Israel “constitute an attempt to liquidate the Palestinian heritage…especially in Jerusalem… misrepresenting the city as a Zionist entity….” (6th grade Social Studies volume 1, page 24; 7th grade Social Studies volume 1, pages 61-62).
However, the name “Palestine” is not related to Arab/Muslim culture. It is a derivative of the Philistine people (Plishtim, Polshim – invaders – in Hebrew), who were expelled from the Greek Aegian Islands in 1300 BC and invaded the southern coast of Judea (Land of Israel) in 1200 BC. In 136 CE – upon crushing the Jewish Bar Kochba rebellion – the Roman Emperor Hadrian renamed Judea, calling it Palestina (a derivative of the Philistines, who were an aggressive enemy of the Jewish people), aiming to erase the Jewish Homeland, Judaism and the Jewish people from human memory.
Contrary to Mahmoud Abbas’ claim, most Arabs in British Mandate Palestine were migrant workers and descendants of the 1832-1947 wave of Arab/Muslim immigration from Egypt, the Sudan, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, North Africa, Bosnia, India, Afghanistan, etc. While the British Mandate encouraged Arab immigration, it blocked Jewish immigration.
The fact that most Palestinians are descendants of Arab migrants was exposed on March 23, 2012 by a former Hamas Minister of the Interior, Gaza-based Fathi Hammad, in an interview with Al Hekmat TV: “We all have Arab roots. Every Palestinian in Gaza and throughout Palestine can prove his Arab roots, whether from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, or anywhere….Half of my family is Egyptian…. More than 30 clans in the Gaza Strip are called Al-Masri (“the Egyptian”). Half of the Palestinians are Egyptians….”
Mark Twain described the state of the sparsely-inhabited Palestine in his 1869 Innocents Abroad: “The hills are barren…. It is a hopeless, dreary, heart-broken land…. Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes…. The hills are barren…. The valleys are unsightly deserts…. Palestine is desolate and unlovely.”
Prof. Moshe Brawer of the Hebrew University, a leading global authority on Israel’s geography, documented the impact of the 1920s and 1930s waves of Arab immigration on the exceptional expansion of Arab villages in the Land of Israel. This followed sustained Arab immigration during the years from 1832-1840 when the Egyptian ruler Muhammad Ali Pasha conquered the area (“Immigration as a factor in the growth of the Arab village in the Land of Israel,” Merhavim 2 periodical, 1975). Following WW1, waves of immigration were triggered by major British Mandate infrastructure construction projects, such as military bases, roads, railroad and warehouses, in addition to the expansion of Jewish commercial agriculture (especially citrus) and residential construction, which created growing demand for labor force.
The Ettinger Report..
30 August '19..
Link: http://theettingerreport.com/arab-migration-shaped-palestinian-society/
Mahmoud Abbas promotes an egregious historical fabrication, claiming that the Palestinians are descendants of the original Canaanite peoples.
Moreover, Mahmoud Abbas’ school curriculum – which glorifies suicide bombers – reiterates this falsified history. It claims that the multitude of archeological findings of 3,000 year old Jewish roots in the Land of Israel “constitute an attempt to liquidate the Palestinian heritage…especially in Jerusalem… misrepresenting the city as a Zionist entity….” (6th grade Social Studies volume 1, page 24; 7th grade Social Studies volume 1, pages 61-62).
However, the name “Palestine” is not related to Arab/Muslim culture. It is a derivative of the Philistine people (Plishtim, Polshim – invaders – in Hebrew), who were expelled from the Greek Aegian Islands in 1300 BC and invaded the southern coast of Judea (Land of Israel) in 1200 BC. In 136 CE – upon crushing the Jewish Bar Kochba rebellion – the Roman Emperor Hadrian renamed Judea, calling it Palestina (a derivative of the Philistines, who were an aggressive enemy of the Jewish people), aiming to erase the Jewish Homeland, Judaism and the Jewish people from human memory.
Contrary to Mahmoud Abbas’ claim, most Arabs in British Mandate Palestine were migrant workers and descendants of the 1832-1947 wave of Arab/Muslim immigration from Egypt, the Sudan, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, North Africa, Bosnia, India, Afghanistan, etc. While the British Mandate encouraged Arab immigration, it blocked Jewish immigration.
The fact that most Palestinians are descendants of Arab migrants was exposed on March 23, 2012 by a former Hamas Minister of the Interior, Gaza-based Fathi Hammad, in an interview with Al Hekmat TV: “We all have Arab roots. Every Palestinian in Gaza and throughout Palestine can prove his Arab roots, whether from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, or anywhere….Half of my family is Egyptian…. More than 30 clans in the Gaza Strip are called Al-Masri (“the Egyptian”). Half of the Palestinians are Egyptians….”
Mark Twain described the state of the sparsely-inhabited Palestine in his 1869 Innocents Abroad: “The hills are barren…. It is a hopeless, dreary, heart-broken land…. Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes…. The hills are barren…. The valleys are unsightly deserts…. Palestine is desolate and unlovely.”
Prof. Moshe Brawer of the Hebrew University, a leading global authority on Israel’s geography, documented the impact of the 1920s and 1930s waves of Arab immigration on the exceptional expansion of Arab villages in the Land of Israel. This followed sustained Arab immigration during the years from 1832-1840 when the Egyptian ruler Muhammad Ali Pasha conquered the area (“Immigration as a factor in the growth of the Arab village in the Land of Israel,” Merhavim 2 periodical, 1975). Following WW1, waves of immigration were triggered by major British Mandate infrastructure construction projects, such as military bases, roads, railroad and warehouses, in addition to the expansion of Jewish commercial agriculture (especially citrus) and residential construction, which created growing demand for labor force.
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Long past due to puncture the big lie of Palestinian identity - by Melanie Phillips
Their claim to be the rightful inheritors of the land represents one of the most successful, if fiendish, propaganda achievements ever to have been pulled off—to have persuaded millions of people that this ludicrous falsehood is an unchallengeable truth.
Melanie Phillips..
JNS.org..
29 August '19..
Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, recently claimed that the Palestinians were the descendants of the Canaanites. “This land is for its people, its residents and the Canaanites who were here 5,000 years ago—and we are the Canaanites!” he declared, vowing that every Israeli stone and house “built on our land” would end up “in the garbage dump of history.”
Any Western Palestinian supporter might have been left somewhat perplexed. After all, it’s an article of faith among those hostile to Israel that the indigenous inhabitants of the land are Palestinian Arabs who have been supplanted by Jewish occupiers.
Since Canaanites were said to have been conquered by the Jews, Abbas is laying claim to Canaanite ancestry to give the Palestinians a prior right to the land of Israel. But if they were actually Canaanites, then they can’t be Arabs, who many centuries later came, as the name implies, from the Arabian Peninsula, just as the Philistines, from whom in other moods the Palestinians also claim to have descended, came from Crete.
Abbas’s argument is, of course, ludicrous. The fact is that the Jews were the only people for whom the land of Israel was ever their national kingdom, several centuries before the creation of Islam.
The Jews are the only extant indigenous people of the land. Palestinian identity was invented in the 1960s in order to destroy the Jews’ claim to Israel and airbrush them out of their own history.
From time to time, this inconvenient historical truth has been blurted out by Arabs themselves.
(Continue to Full Column)
Melanie Phillips, a British journalist, broadcaster and author, writes a weekly column for JNS. Currently a columnist for “The Times of London,” her personal and political memoir, “Guardian Angel,” has been published by Bombardier, which also published her first novel, “The Legacy,” in 2018. Her work can be found at: www.melaniephillips.com.
JNS.org..
29 August '19..
Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, recently claimed that the Palestinians were the descendants of the Canaanites. “This land is for its people, its residents and the Canaanites who were here 5,000 years ago—and we are the Canaanites!” he declared, vowing that every Israeli stone and house “built on our land” would end up “in the garbage dump of history.”
Any Western Palestinian supporter might have been left somewhat perplexed. After all, it’s an article of faith among those hostile to Israel that the indigenous inhabitants of the land are Palestinian Arabs who have been supplanted by Jewish occupiers.
Since Canaanites were said to have been conquered by the Jews, Abbas is laying claim to Canaanite ancestry to give the Palestinians a prior right to the land of Israel. But if they were actually Canaanites, then they can’t be Arabs, who many centuries later came, as the name implies, from the Arabian Peninsula, just as the Philistines, from whom in other moods the Palestinians also claim to have descended, came from Crete.
Abbas’s argument is, of course, ludicrous. The fact is that the Jews were the only people for whom the land of Israel was ever their national kingdom, several centuries before the creation of Islam.
The Jews are the only extant indigenous people of the land. Palestinian identity was invented in the 1960s in order to destroy the Jews’ claim to Israel and airbrush them out of their own history.
From time to time, this inconvenient historical truth has been blurted out by Arabs themselves.
(Continue to Full Column)
Melanie Phillips, a British journalist, broadcaster and author, writes a weekly column for JNS. Currently a columnist for “The Times of London,” her personal and political memoir, “Guardian Angel,” has been published by Bombardier, which also published her first novel, “The Legacy,” in 2018. Her work can be found at: www.melaniephillips.com.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)