tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90433423609898416812024-03-13T11:32:46.554-04:00Black Hat ConservativesA group of ragtag ultra-Orthodox Jews who love the State of Israel, the United States, its constitution and the values they stand for...Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.comBlogger1167125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-88072338679965237072019-08-23T10:31:00.003-04:002019-08-23T10:31:18.263-04:00Jews No Longer ‘At Home’ In America - Irving Moskowitz<br />
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: "Calisto MT",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">October 18, 1991<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ONE MINUTE TO
MIDNIGHT – Dr. IRVING MOSKOWITZ<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Jews No Longer
‘At Home’ In America<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Calisto MT",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Not a long ago, a prominent Jewish
professor authored a history of American Jewry entitled <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">At Home in America</b>. Certainly, it is true that for most Jews, the
phrase “at home in America” was precisely how they have felt about the United
States. But now that an American president has, for the first time, openly
attacked the American Jewish community, perhaps the time has come to reconsider
just what that phrase “at home” really means.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Calisto MT",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Jewish tradition, of course, utterly
rejects the concept that Jews could be “at home” anywhere outside of the Land
of Israel. Judaism, in contrast to other religions, is very much a land-centered
faith. Many of the Torah commandments are dependent upon Jews being physically
resident in the land. Many of the prayers are for the reconstruction of the
Temple in Jerusalem, or for the return of the exiled Jews to their homeland.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Calisto MT",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“At home” in Crown Heights or the Valley?
Impossible, say the classic Jewish texts. The Diaspora – or, more accurately,
the Exile – is depicted as a punishment, a curse, a tragedy – not an
opportunity to grow fat and comfortable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Calisto MT",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Still most American Jews have never paid a great
deal of attention to those texts, and even some of the observant Jews who are
familiar with them prefer to skip over those “Land of Israel” – related
passages whose implementation would be especially inconvenient.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Calisto MT",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So feeling right “at home” in America, Jews
set to work contributing their talents and energy to making it a better
country. They succeeded as no other ethnic minority group has ever succeeded.
Their contributions have been unparalleled. Who can count the Jewish comedians
who have made Americans laugh, the Jewish playwrights who have moved audiences
to tears, the Jewish Hollywood producers who have entertained millions, the
Jewish doctors who have healed, the Jewish lawyers who have pleaded, the
industries built by Jewish sweat and Jewish brains...?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Calisto MT",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">All of this was possible because anti-Semitism
in the United States, while always present, never reached the levels of intensity
that it reached elsewhere. Certainly, this country has had its share of
“American First" rallies, Ku Klux Kim torching’s, and neo-Nazi marches,
but in American political life they have always been the exceptions, not the
rule. Anti-Semitism was always regarded by the governmental authorities as
illegitimate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Calisto MT",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Now all of that has changed. For the first
time in this county’s history, a president has publicly attacked the American
Jewish community for the “crime" of exercising its democratic right to
lobby. Let nobody be fooled by his use of euphemisms like “the Pro-Israel
lobby." That phrase means <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Jews</b>.
He knows we know it, and they know it. The “they” to whom I am referring are
the millions of potential anti-Semites in this country who will interpret the
president’s words as a declaration that it is open season on the Jews. These
potential Jew—haters range from the editors who immediately filled their
newspapers with wildly exaggerated stories about the amount of aid America has
given Israel (read: the Jews) to the blue—collar workers in the neighborhood bars
who nodded and grumbled about "the Jews" getting $10-billion while other
Americans struggle to make ends meet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Calisto MT",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">If Jews begin to feel like they are no longer
really “at home in America," it is with good reason. It used to be that
the only time one would discover anti-Semitism in the White House was long
after the official in question had retired — for example, former Vice-President
Spiro Agnew’s rantings about the “Zionist lobby," or former President
Richard Nixon's taped remarks about Jewish anti-war protesters. How times have
changed. Now even the occupant of the White House can go after the Jews,
provided only that he use the appropriate euphemisms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Dr. Irving
Moskowitz is a Member of the Board of Governors of Americans For a Safe Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-27342614164780551412019-08-15T18:09:00.003-04:002019-08-15T18:10:00.316-04:00The Enemy Within: Jewish Turncoats, Then And Now - Dr. IRVIN MOSKOWITZ<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><b>August 23, 1991 - Still very relevant today as it was then</b></i><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>ONE MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT – Dr. Irving Moskowitz</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i>The Enemy Within: Jewish Turncoats, Then And Now</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
The tragedy of individual Jews
siding with their people’s enemies is a phenomenon well known to anyone
familiar with Jewish history. From the medieval Jewish converts to Christianity
who became prominent anti-Semites, to the pro-PLO Jewish radicals of our own
time, those renegades have caused untold damage to Jewish interests. It is no
wonder that the verse in Isaiah, “Your destroyers shall come from among you,”
is interpreted by most biblical commentators as refereeing to Jewish traitors
who wreak havoc upon their people.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Time after time throughout Jewish
history, Jewish turncoats have joined forces with the enemies of the Jews and
played important roles in the formulation of anti-Jewish policies. During the
Spanish Inquisition, some of the fiercest Christian fanatics involved in the
torture and murder of innocent Jews were former Jews who had converted to
Christianity in order to escape their Jewishness and find material security in
the Christian world.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
In other European countries during
the Middle Ages, individual “Court Jews” curried favor with the ruling
authorities at the expense of the local Jewish community. In some instances, of
course, Court Jews played a necessary and even valuable role as intermediary
between the Jewish community and the local king. But all too often, Court Jews
misused their positions to gain personal advantages, while the rest of the Jews
suffered from poverty and oppressions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Entire books have been written
about the role of Jewish "Kapos," or collaborators, during the
Holocaust. There can be no doubt that local Jewish leaders were in many cases
forced into impossible situations by the demands of the Nazi occupiers: nobody
should be quick to judge or condemn them. for in many cases they truly did
their best to assist their fellow-Jews, despite the extreme circumstantiates in
which they were trapped. Yet there can be no denying that some Jewish leaders
went too far, becoming actual collaborators with the Nazi enemy in order to save
their own skins. Ben Hecht's powerful book Perfidy (first published in 1962)
told the horrifying tale of one such traitor. Rudolf Kastner, who deliberately <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hid news of the gas chambers from the
Hungarian Jewish community In exchange for a promise by the Nazis to spare him
and a handful of his friends and relatives. After the war Kastner actually
signed an affidavit on behalf of a Nazi war criminal with whom he had become
friendly, resulting in the Nazi being set free by the Allies.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
In this context, one cannot help
but think of the role currently being played in the formulation of U.S. Middle
East policy by President Bush’s handful of Jewish advisers. The
Administration’s ferociously pro—Arab slant has been shaped to a large extent
by Jewish turncoats like Dennis Ross, the Director of the Policy Planning for the
State Department; Aaron David Miller, a senior member of the State Department’s
Policy and Planning Staff, and Daniel Kurtzer, the Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Near East and South Asian Affairs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
These Jewish Arabists operate
almost entirely behind the scenes, so the Jewish community is generally unaware
of the nature of their actions. But two years ago, the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">New York Times</b> revealed that it was Kurtzer who, more than anyone
else, had been the architect of the U.S. decision to recognize and negotiate
with the terrorist PLO. This past April, a stunning expose of Bush’s Jewish
henchmen, which was published in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Moment</b>
magazine, detailed how Kurtzer and company have continued to push the pro-Arab
line in U.S. foreign policy. The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Moment</b>
article is must reading for every Jew who cares about Israel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Kurtzer’s background will no doubt
rai<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">se some eyebrows. He claims to be an Orthodox Jew, and at one time he
actually served as a dean at Yeshiva University. One might think that in a view
of Kurtzer’s anti-Israel activity, the Yeshiva University administration would
forcefully criticize him. Instead, however, Y.U. president Norman Lamm has been
quoted in the </span><b style="text-indent: 0.5in;">New York Times </b><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">as praising and defending Kurtzer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Jewish turncoats who help plot the
U.S. abandonment of Israel do not deserve to be praised or defended; they
deserve to be condemned, forcefully and unequivocally, and made a persona non
grata in the American Jewish community.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<i>Dr. Irving Moskowitz is a Member
of the Board of Governors of Americans For a Safe Israel.</i><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-9443074451670047532019-08-15T16:05:00.002-04:002019-08-15T16:05:45.262-04:00JEWS WITH PRIDE, AND JEWS WHO LACK IT – Dr. IRVING MOSKOWITZ<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Editors note: this is very </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">relevant</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> to today as well</span></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">One Minute to Midnight - March 9, 1990</span></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: right;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<b style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">JEWS WITH PRIDE, AND JEWS WHO LACK IT – Dr. IRVING MOSKOWITZ</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
There are Jews with pride. But is Efraim Zuroff one of them?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Zuroff, the Jerusalem representative of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, lives in the Jewish settlement of Efrat, which means that he and his family are the potential targets of Arab rock-throwers every time they leave home. Yet in a recent interview with the <b>Jerusalem Post</b>, David Horovitz writes that Zuroff is extremely unhappy with “the stereotypical image of the settler with his bushy beard, his gun in his belt and his eternally pregnant wife.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Zuroff seemed to be echoing the sentiments of Shimon Peres, who in a 1988 outburst declared that “the appearance of the settlers, with their <i>kippahs</i> and beards, invites contempt, and ridicule.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Self-hatred" may be too strong a characterization for such expressions, but it is clear that Zuroff and Peres share a sense of acute embarrassment, even shame, at the thought that such Jews might be seen by the outside world as representatives of Israel.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
What is not clear is exactly why Zuroff and Peres should be so perturbed. The kippahs and beards of the settlers are traditional signs of pride in one's Jewish identity. The settlers' guns are evidence that Israeli Jews have learned the bitter lesson of Diaspora Jewish history — that it is better to be armed and alive, than vulnerable and victimized.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
And what in the world is wrong with a pregnant wife? Zuroff‘s profession involves documenting Nazi war crimes, so surely he must appreciate the devastating impact on World Jewry of the Nazis‘ murder of two million Jewish children. Jewish settlers who choose to have many children are patriots who are fulfilling the Jewish religious obligation to replenish the shrunken ranks of our people. In this era of “me-first” Yuppies and abortion-on-demand, we should welcome the sight of Jews who are prepared to sacrifice their personal material comfort for the sake of a higher goal. They deserve to be praised, not mocked.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
If the Simon Wiesenthal Center wants to continue its world-wide reputation, and maintain its credibility, perhaps those in the leadership positions of the Simon Wiesenthal Center should give some in-service preparatory training to their representatives before sending them out to represent the Simon Wiesenthal Center.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
The origin of the Zuroff-Peres line of thinking is no mystery. The ceaseless barrage of international criticism aimed at Israel has made some Jews excessively sensitive to world opinion. But being ashamed of the traditional symbols of Jewishness will not impress non-Jews. One must have some self-respect before it is possible to win the respect of others.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<i>Dr. Irving Moskowitz is a Member of the Board of Governors of Americans For a Safe Israel.</i></div>
Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-31907103343926529762018-01-15T22:24:00.002-05:002018-01-15T23:16:57.641-05:00The Battle for The Legacy of Martin Luther King vis a vis Israel<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container tr_bq" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKw_fpCK_OaiEufGATmENEpPs_zTlIg_EPc1Iq_EMUdoaW2mZ7pGvWq0XzpU1xjOJOqQDvLdPHhRA7qgJUn2HitGO_EvQOPdsUA9LPlib1WnkV8HRuOVwdPe8JBdUX_0MXnf5CcUsSNdw/s1600/MLK+and+rabbis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="640" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKw_fpCK_OaiEufGATmENEpPs_zTlIg_EPc1Iq_EMUdoaW2mZ7pGvWq0XzpU1xjOJOqQDvLdPHhRA7qgJUn2HitGO_EvQOPdsUA9LPlib1WnkV8HRuOVwdPe8JBdUX_0MXnf5CcUsSNdw/s640/MLK+and+rabbis.jpg" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. King and the Rabbis</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">It goes without saying that one of the most recognizable names in American history (of the last hundred years or so) is none other then Dr. Martin Luther King. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Dr. King, to many, represents the pinnacle of courage against adversary as he has become known for his courageous efforts on behalf of the <span style="background-color: white; color: #281e1e;">US civil rights movement. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #281e1e;">The movement, pioneered by</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #281e1e;"> Dr</span>. King, <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #281e1e;">pressured the American government to end legalized segregation in the United States and bring about a truly free United States where all people were created equal on paper - but in practice as well</span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #281e1e;"><br></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #281e1e;">With such an outlook reflecting the dream of Dr. King, it would only make sense that Dr. King had been supportive of the Jewish cause and its fledgling Jewish State. This would be the case simply based on the reality that the State of Israel, since its inception, had been the one country in the middle east where all individuals were able to live (in Dr. Kings time as well as today) in a democratic society, with freedom of religion and without the concern for </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #281e1e; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">racism or </span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #281e1e; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">oppression...</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #281e1e; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/I5ElO70rPpY/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="766" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I5ElO70rPpY?feature=player_embedded" width="720"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #281e1e; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #281e1e; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">If the above video is of any indication, then the above presupposition was exactly what Dr. King felt regarding the State of Israel and its standing within the greater middle east community. </span><br>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #281e1e; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br></span>
<br>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #281e1e; font-size: large;">Yet despite of the video above, it would seem that when it comes to the legacy of Dr. King and State of Israel matters may not be as clear cut as we would like..</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #281e1e; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">. </span><br>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #281e1e; font-size: large;"><br></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #281e1e; font-size: large;">This is not only best illustrated in an <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/fierce-tugs-in-the-war-over-martin-luther-kings-legacy-on-israel/">interesting write up Times of Israel</a> but further solidified in articles on the <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/israels-apologists-and-martin-luther-king-jr-hoax/4955">Electronic Intifada</a>, where many anti Israel groups have been calling Dr. Kings perceived viewpoint into question and as pointed out by </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/fierce-tugs-in-the-war-over-martin-luther-kings-legacy-on-israel/" style="background-color: white; text-align: center;">Lebovic</a> in the Times of Israel, </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #281e1e; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">seems that the view point of Dr. King on Israel is stuck in a constant tug-a-war between the strong pro Israel voices in the black com</span><span style="color: #281e1e; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">munity. Voices such as those of </span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dumisani Washington of the </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/IBSIfanpage/">Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel</a></span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #281e1e; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> an<span style="color: #281e1e;">d those in support of the Black Lives Matter movement seem rather contentious on whether or not Dr. King was pro Israel or rather one of its vehement opponents.</span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><br></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoI-JSghyphenhyphenK8DcXLHkGMgZoodg-qxyUVRgFtaBMHvNx2gXuAUUvSzxhzBvU7M0JWYeLdCkU-WKe8KfnpsrEeR4sxm0jM3qAS7Ukyb_9hvo8X2O5dx6lf4f-S34F15V7XReKY_8r6uj8F2o/s1600/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="901" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoI-JSghyphenhyphenK8DcXLHkGMgZoodg-qxyUVRgFtaBMHvNx2gXuAUUvSzxhzBvU7M0JWYeLdCkU-WKe8KfnpsrEeR4sxm0jM3qAS7Ukyb_9hvo8X2O5dx6lf4f-S34F15V7XReKY_8r6uj8F2o/s640/maxresdefault.jpg" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Intersectiontality at work</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Interestingly however, the</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"> oft-quoted statements attributed to King on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict come from a Q&A session in which Dr. King participated during the </span><a href="http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/resources-ideas/cj/classics/1-4-12-civil-rights/conversation-with-martin-luther-king.pdf" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3b8bea; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">annual convention of the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly</a> in 1968<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333;">. As alleged by Lebovic, "Dr. King was </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">to consider the questions ahead of the event, and it is clear King had carefully considered both sides of the ongoing conflict." thus making his statements in this session the most accurate portrayal of his outlook and views...</span><br>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">With that said, Dr. Kings statements take a rather politically correct prose and in some ways even reflect to some extent his pacifist nature - Dr. King's comments at the assembly where as follows: </span></div>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 26px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><br></span>“<b>I think it is necessary to say that what is basic and what is needed in the Middle East is peace.</b> Peace for Israel is one thing. Peace for the Arab side of that world is another thing,”</i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 26px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“<b>Peace for Israel means security</b>, and we must stand with all of our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. <b>I see Israel, and never mind saying it, as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world</b>, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land almost can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy. <b>Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality.</b></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b>”</b></span></i></blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 26px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“On the other hand, we must see what peace for the Arabs means in a real sense of security on another level. <b>Peace for the Arabs means the kind of economic security that they so desperately need</b>. These nations, as you know, are part of that third world of hunger, of disease, of illiteracy. I think that as long as these conditions exist there will be tensions, there will be the endless quest to find scapegoats. <b>So there is a need for a Marshall Plan for the Middle East</b>, where we lift those who are at the bottom of the economic ladder and bring them into the mainstream of economic security.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">”</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">It would seem that Dr. King viewed<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333;"> Israel, "as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world" but nonetheless, somewhat naively I might add, viewed the Arab world as a third world population, which desperately needed the assistance on the international community htrough the implementation of some kind of iteration of the Marshall plan. </span></span></span><br>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333;">In other words, it is a safe bet to speculate that Dr. King held of the viewpoint that the Arab community and the Palestinians specifically, we're not only an oppressed people, but a people which - with the intervention of the global community - are able to rehabilitate themselves as a people with the right to self determination. This outlook of Dr. King is rather u</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">topian as history has proven time and time again. Namely the Palestinian people have no interest in living side by side with their Israeli cousins in spite of the many efforts and offers to improve and rehabilitate their lives.</span></span><br>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Interestingly, Dr. Kings pacifist and apolitical outlook on the matter can be solidified from excerpts of a </span><a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/martin-luther-king-and-israel" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">phone call to confidants in 1967</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> where Dr. King was rather skeptic of the possibility of visit to Israel after the six day war. In the </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">conversation he was quoted to say as such: </span></span><br>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">"I'd run into the situation where I'm damned if I say this and I'm damned if I say that no matter what I'd say, and I've already faced enough criticism including pro-Arab. I just think that if I go, the Arab world, and of course Africa and Asia for that matter, would interpret this as endorsing everything that Israel has done, <b>and I do have questions of doubt... </b> Most of it [the pilgrimage] would be Jerusalem and they [the Israelis] have annexed Jerusalem, and any way you say it they don't plan to give it up... </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In other words, Dr. King did not want to get stuck between a rock and a hard place feeling that either side would not be placated by his actions. However, this does beget the questions whether Dr. King understood the historic significance of the six day victory or the true unjust that was undone as a result of the young states miraculous survival. Seemingly, this is simply because of the perception that not only does Dr. King seem to express his reservations about the actions of the Israelis during the six day war but was apparently opposed, or at least held strong reservations, to the annexation of Jerusalem and its reunification as the capital of the Jewish state and people. </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">In essence, it would seem that Dr. King - due to his reportedly pacifist nature - was not willing to recognize the Jewish people's (and by proxy the state of Israel) aboriginal rights to the land, despite of the totally justified circumstances, as such an action - allegedly - was done in spite of the rights of the so called Palestinian people.</span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sadly Dr. King is not the only one, with such a perception, many both gentile and Jew, choose to ignore the historical truth that the land of Israel (in its post 1967 expanded borders) and have thus not not accepted the universal truth that the the territory of the historic kingdom of Israel is not only in the land of Israel but its political capital was and always will be in Jerusalem. Viewing the reality in any other way is not only a blatant disregard for the historic truth but emboldens the oppression those who live in Gaza and Judea and Samaria by Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.</span></span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This brings us back to Dr. King. as the questions remains on where he would stand in present times on the issue of our day, namely would Dr. King support the State of Israel or the Palestinian people and the BDS movement.</span></span><br>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">With some reflection, and due to the lack of evidence it is indeed hard to tell but one thing is certain Dr. King viewed criticism of Israel as Anti Semitism and perhaps that can give us, although a not definitive, hint in the proper direction. </span></span>Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-29084064480825994072017-11-05T15:13:00.003-05:002017-11-05T15:13:33.756-05:00Rep. Ron DeSantis: Hollywood Sexual Misconduct Must Be ‘Thoroughly Investigated’<header class="articleheader" style="background-color: white; color: #111111;"><div class="byline" style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; outline: 0px; padding: 15px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="by-author" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="by" style="border: 0px; color: #777777; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">by</span> <a class="byauthor" href="http://www.breitbart.com/author/daniel-nussbaum/" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-right-style: dotted; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 1px 0px 0px; color: #0088bb; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 7px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 7px 0px 0px; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">DANIEL NUSSBAUM</a></span><span class="bydate" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-right-style: dotted; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 1px 0px 0px; color: #777777; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 7px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 7px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2 Nov 2017 over at Breitbart</span></div>
<div class="byline" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; outline: 0px; padding: 15px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<img alt="Weinstein DeSantis" src="http://media.breitbart.com/media/2017/11/DeSantisWeinstein-640x480.jpg" /></div>
<div class="byline" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; outline: 0px; padding: 15px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-style: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) joined Breitbart News Daily on SiriusXM Thursday morning to discuss the Republicans’ newly released tax plan and Hollywood’s still-developing sexual misconduct scandal with Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief and show host Alex Marlow.</span></span></div>
</header><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">During the interview, Marlow asked DeSantis whether the misconduct scandal surrounding Hollywood — first sparked by an October <em style="border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">New York Times</em> report about decades of sexual harassment and assault allegations against move mogul Harvey Weinstein — might become the subject of an official Congressional inquiry.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">“Look, Hollywood is a cesspool. The idea that Weinstein is alone, or even that conspicuous, I don’t think is true,” DeSantis told Marlow. “I think this is pervasive behavior in Hollywood, and I think it does implicate the media. I think they’ve been complicit in it, I think businesses have been complicit in it.”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">“I think the issue for [Congress] is, is there a jurisdictional hook for government activity, that government has been involved with regulating or not, and I don’t know the answer to that,” he added. “It definitely needs to be throughly investigated, so I think we just have to figure out whether Congress is the appropriate venue. But I think whatever we’ve seen come out of the woodwork, I think it’ll be exponentially greater if we, or some entity, actually brought in witnesses to testify about all the filth that happened there.”</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">LISTEN</strong> [Discussion on Hollywood begins at 16:40 mark]:</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<iframe frameborder="no" height="400" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?visual=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F350121283&show_artwork=true&maxwidth=990&maxheight=1000" style="border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="990"></iframe></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">DeSantis’ comments come as at least one Republican lawmaker has called for Congressional hearings on Hollywood’s treatment of women.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) told Breitbart News in an <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2017/11/02/exclusive-rep-ken-buck-calls-congressional-hearings-hollywood-sex-misconduct-scandal/" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">exclusive interview</a> Thursday that Congress should help expose the widespread “criminal conduct” in the entertainment industry.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">“Now that we are discussing the tax bill, I think our leadership should make it absolutely clear that we are not going to allow deductibility of settlements for the conduct of sexual predators and give a tax benefit to the entertainment industry for criminal behavior,” Buck said.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">More major Hollywood figures were accused of sexual misconduct this week as the scandal has continued into a second month. Actor Kevin Spacey was <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2017/10/29/kevin-spacey-comes-out-as-gay-after-being-accused-of-making-sexual-advance-on-14-year-old-actor/" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">accused</a> Sunday of making a sexual advance on a then-14-year-old actor at a New York City party in 1986, while director Brett Ratner was accused of misconduct by at least <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2017/11/01/brett-ratner-harassment-justice-league/" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">six different women</a>.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">In all, <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2017/10/25/hollywood-accused-harassers-molesters-rapists-rap-sheet-far/" style="border: 0px; color: #0088bb; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">more than 50 prominent figures in Hollywood and media</a> have been accused of sexual harassment, assault, or other misconduct in recent weeks.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Listen to Rep. DeSantis’s full interview above.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><em style="border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern</em>.</span></strong></div>
</div>
Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-9131280155694882552017-11-01T09:31:00.002-04:002017-11-01T09:31:54.983-04:00FOOD FOR THOUGHT!!!<img alt="Israel,Balfour Declaration, Zionism, angels, " height="612" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEioJ4XWiFbr8HOt-8ZsJFzMwdcNsescsglL8kKxgL-Kr0U3xUb5LXFN_D7xYa13pRqxxNTbxZBmPNfk1-vTnLp7KqSvg9nZoAf8EYhrGTb6dQC8Q8KREgK7Lauq7Z_8pDG6J-U78UQBLPKNhIHsoarB=s0-d-e1-ft" width="640" />Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-13130694131950495932017-11-01T08:41:00.001-04:002017-11-01T08:41:04.760-04:00UN Launches ‘Unprecedented’ $1.3 Billion Legal Campaign Against Israel <span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_1883144988267939900aolmail_mcnImageCardBottomContent" style="background-color: #404040; border-collapse: collapse; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px; width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left" class="m_1883144988267939900aolmail_mcnImageCardBottomImageContent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" valign="top"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://israellawcenter.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D3e7e2c5a9ce7856f4b1195a01%26id%3Dbceeb071a7%26e%3Df6a21cdb81&source=gmail&ust=1509626386011000&usg=AFQjCNEaF3ovdHuU4mJz4QIWj1CAoAAheA" href="https://israellawcenter.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3e7e2c5a9ce7856f4b1195a01&id=bceeb071a7&e=f6a21cdb81" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" title=""><img alt="" class="m_1883144988267939900aolmail_mcnImage CToWUd" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEgT_NlDJGQNKLHYAP6KK0GBhxasYMdaAUsJDLv6ODcY4C0KNw_B7-zKJ0OngAZ7ysgGz0jl0W5kvLa6yWlEs3UPAeKn1wrkzKeGWrUlaXHma63tft4HhN-2rSvUK1w7lE81JWVumd4m6sKlhQxyGQKFywMit_6CbKFBjepV2TWC8Qe92_tnKuhe3po2aIgASeOGMTSWkITaf57NbDHiuoqhpAP1SkPA-A=s0-d-e1-ft" style="border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 500px; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: bottom;" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="m_1883144988267939900aolmail_mcnTextContent" style="color: #f2f2f2; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 9px 18px; text-align: center; word-break: break-word;" valign="top" width="546"><div style="line-height: 21px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;">
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (in front, at left) sits across the table from United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in Geneva on Feb. 27, 2017. Credit: U.N. Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré.</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"> <br /><br /><br /><br />The United Nations has earmarked some $1.3 billion to fund Palestinian legal campaigns against Israel and to support the creation of an independent Palestinian state, in what experts are calling an unprecedented act singling out the Jewish state at the world body. <br /><br />A document that was recently signed between the U.N. and the Palestinians outlines a “strategic programming framework” in the disputed territories from 2018-2022, and states that the U.N. will work to advise the Palestinian Authority on how to exploit “international accountability mechanisms” in order to hold Israel accountable for alleged violations of international law. The document is set to come into effect Jan. 1, 2018. <br /><br />The document makes no references to Palestinian violations of international law and human rights, nor does it specify that the $1.3 billion in funding should be applied to humanitarian assistance. Rather, the U.N. document states that the money should be used for developing programs that support “Palestine’s path to independence.” <br /><br />“The funding of this unprecedented and prejudicial aggression against a member state by the U.N. is clear evidence that the international body’s goal and solution is for a single Palestinian state to replace Israel,” Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, president of the Tel Aviv-based civil rights organization Shurat HaDin - Israel Law Center, told JNS.org. <br /><br />“It’s a new form of anti-Semitic aggression and terror by other means, and it plainly violates the U.N.’s own charter,” she said. <br /><br />Sixteen U.N. agencies appear as signatories in the document, including the OHCHR human rights office, the UNESCO cultural body and the UNRWA refugee agency. In signing the document, the agencies pledged to hold Israel accountable for its alleged violations and to document the purported abuses while simultaneously strengthening Palestinian groups’ “ability to advocate effectively for rights to be respected.” <br /><br />In the document, the U.N. also pledged to monitor “the impact of Israeli violations” as well as how purported Israeli “breaches of international law” hinder the development of “Palestine.” <br /><br />“There is no other example or precedent of the U.N. funding, training and advising one side of a conflict to pursue legal advocacy against another side,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of Geneva-based UN Watch, a group whose stated mission is to “monitor the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of its own charter.” <br /><br />“For some reason, however, when it comes to Israel, the U.N. development agencies cross the bright red line from humanitarian assistance to political advocacy,” he said. <br /><br />Although the amount of funding allocated by the U.N. towards overtly anti-Israel initiatives is unprecedented, Shurat Hadin’s Darshan-Leitner said the world body’s singling out of Israel and misuse of funds were “no big surprise.” <br /><br />“The U.N. is misappropriating, once again, its donors’ funds and directing them into projects that help the PLO target and attack the Jewish state, instead of for humanitarian causes,” said Darshan-Leitner. <br /><br />“After all, it’s the U.N.’s raison d'etre at this point,” she added. “We have seen a massive increase in these baseless lawfare suits being filed without any merit in the American federal courts in the past few years. The unilateral encouragement of these frivolous harassment suits against Israelis and Jewish individuals, which are obviously being funded and fanned on by foreign bodies, is a new Palestinian strategy to try to bedevil and deter support for Israel.” <br /><br />Darshan-Leitner underscored that the U.N. “does not care one iota about justice for the so-called ‘victims’ it’s pretending to assist,” and that it uses Palestinian initiatives as a vehicle for turning Israel into an international pariah. <br /><br />“It’s policies like this that display so clearly why the United States was moved to quit UNESCO, and is considering resigning [from] and defunding other U.N. agencies,” she said. <br /><br />Prof. Avi Bell, a member of the faculty of law at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University and a senior fellow at the Kohelet Policy Forum think tank, voiced similar sentiments, telling JNS.org that the U.N.’s newly revealed strategic document “highlights the degree to which many organs of the United Nations are actively involved in diplomatic, legal and financial warfare against the state of Israel.” <br /><br />“We often fail to appreciate the degree to which the U.N, supports, or even directs, anti-Israel propaganda and political activity,” said Bell. “This kind of activity obviously violates the U.N. Charter by infringing upon Israeli sovereignty and denying Israel the right of sovereign equality.” <br /><br />Bell added that these actions “undermine international institutions by subordinating their legal roles to a political agenda [and] corrupting them in the name of anti-Zionist ideology….Unfortunately, the U.N.’s decades-long war on Israel is nowhere near ending.”<br /><br /><br />Copyright © 2017 Shurat HaDin, All rights reserved</span>Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-71394951031598337312017-08-20T18:28:00.002-04:002017-08-20T18:28:38.460-04:00Mudar Zahran interviewed by Israel Radio <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vA21KVIopqw/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="666" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vA21KVIopqw?feature=player_embedded" width="920"></iframe></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Jordan's Opposition leader's interview with Israel News Talk Show: Our aim to topple the regime peacefully and to establish a state built on citizenship, we will ends the king's theft of public funds and improve the living conditions of all Jordanians, and we shall enhance Jordan's strategic partnership with the US and Israel</span>Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-17965499758680100382017-08-20T18:03:00.000-04:002017-08-20T18:03:07.360-04:00Quo Vadis the Arab Tsunami (a.k.a. "the Arab Spring")?<div border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_7428766929902241780bb m_7428766929902241780bbi" dir="rtl" name="image" style="background-color: white; color: #606060; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: right;" width="100%">
<div class="m_7428766929902241780bbc">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" dir="rtl" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_7428766929902241780bbc-table m_7428766929902241780bbdr" style="margin: 0px;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_7428766929902241780bbcr m_7428766929902241780bbcfr m_7428766929902241780bbclr" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr class="m_7428766929902241780bbcr-outer"><td align="left" class="m_7428766929902241780bbcri" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-top: 9px; width: 600px;" valign="top" width="600"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_7428766929902241780bbccl m_7428766929902241780bbc-new-column m_7428766929902241780b1c" style="width: 600px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_7428766929902241780bp1c m_7428766929902241780bcw" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 18px; width: 600px;" valign="top" width="600"><div class="m_7428766929902241780bbci m_7428766929902241780bbcii m_7428766929902241780bl-in-edit-mode-single" style="color: #606060; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><img alt="LOGO" border="0" class="CToWUd a6T" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEgseojLocgCH_v_2d-baaN62c7z1IcKxDLvtd_UcUWYZEZHGnoLAaib3_ibJVWtOyQOiSWthvGvZuHSnDXdlMblAELuAQQR3-U5EabbhE0uK6XW7-tckWY833vkCXld9lDfFlcncUizRtP46e6XUVTHSDbYKZU2bndfJ2iUvZkcP60vCNol7-kdVTr9JA_J1UF0A0VOorw=s0-d-e1-ft" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; height: auto !important; max-width: 851px; outline: none; vertical-align: top; width: 564px;" tabindex="0" width="564" /></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
<div border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_7428766929902241780bb m_7428766929902241780bbt" dir="rtl" name="text" style="background-color: white; color: #606060; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: right;" width="100%">
<div class="m_7428766929902241780bbc">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" dir="rtl" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_7428766929902241780bbc-table m_7428766929902241780bbdr" style="margin: 0px;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_7428766929902241780bbcr m_7428766929902241780bbcfr m_7428766929902241780bbclr" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr class="m_7428766929902241780bbcr-outer"><td align="left" class="m_7428766929902241780bbcri" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-top: 9px; width: 600px;" valign="top" width="600"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_7428766929902241780bbccl m_7428766929902241780bbc-new-column m_7428766929902241780b1c" style="width: 600px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_7428766929902241780bp1c m_7428766929902241780bcw" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 18px; width: 600px;" valign="top" width="600"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_7428766929902241780bbcic" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_7428766929902241780bbcici" style="direction: rtl; margin: 0px;"><div class="m_7428766929902241780bbci m_7428766929902241780bbcitx m_7428766929902241780bl-in-edit-mode-single" style="color: #606060; direction: rtl; line-height: 1.2; min-height: 8px; text-align: right;">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Yoram will be in the US from mid-October through mid-November, 2017, available for speaking engagements.</span></div>
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
<div border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_7428766929902241780bb m_7428766929902241780bbt" dir="rtl" name="text" style="background-color: white; color: #606060; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: right;" width="100%">
<div class="m_7428766929902241780bbc">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" dir="rtl" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_7428766929902241780bbc-table m_7428766929902241780bbdr" style="margin: 0px;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_7428766929902241780bbcr m_7428766929902241780bbcfr m_7428766929902241780bbclr" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr class="m_7428766929902241780bbcr-outer"><td align="left" class="m_7428766929902241780bbcri" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-top: 9px; width: 600px;" valign="top" width="600"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_7428766929902241780bbccl m_7428766929902241780bbc-new-column m_7428766929902241780b1c" style="width: 600px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_7428766929902241780bp1c m_7428766929902241780bcw" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 18px; width: 600px;" valign="top" width="600"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_7428766929902241780bbcic" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_7428766929902241780bbcici" style="direction: rtl; margin: 0px;"><div class="m_7428766929902241780bbci m_7428766929902241780bbcitx m_7428766929902241780bl-in-edit-mode-single" style="color: #606060; direction: rtl; line-height: 1.2; min-height: 8px; text-align: right;">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>Quo Vadis the Arab Tsunami (a.k.a. "the Arab Spring")?</strong><br />Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, "Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative"<br />"Israel Hayom," <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1188714657" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">August 20, 2017</span></span>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0XF31D965976DD281DB960F52D3F15712537C97A20139B6E9B7ACB25E55085FD6366A387ADD5701F1BAC92E100B2FD3D8CB554B8B08F405EEFE304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm&source=gmail&ust=1503351017878000&usg=AFQjCNFtkHnzZZyFiBWZ8e5qgL_8paManA" href="http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0XF31D965976DD281DB960F52D3F15712537C97A20139B6E9B7ACB25E55085FD6366A387ADD5701F1BAC92E100B2FD3D8CB554B8B08F405EEFE304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm" style="border: 0px; color: #00008c; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word !important;" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/2vewFWi</a></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /><span style="font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif;">Where is the Arab Middle East heading following the 2010-2017 disintegration of Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen and Sudan; the toppling of several Arab regimes; the estimated toll of 400,000 fatalities and six million refugees, resulting from intra-Arab conflicts; the proliferation of Islamic Sunni terrorism; the unprecedented power-projection surge by Iran's Shiite Ayatollahs; the approaching Sunni and Shiite terrorist machetes to the throat of the House of Saud and all other pro-US Arab regimes; and the intensified squashing of human rights in every Arab country, all ruled by minority-regimes?<br /><br />The raging Arab Tsunami of the last 6.5 years – referred to by the Western establishment as the Arab Spring – has further destabilized the one-bullet, provisional, Arab regimes, characterized by tenuous policies and uncertain bilateral and multilateral intra-Arab agreements.<br /><br />This has added much fuel to the fire – raging since the 7<sup>th</sup> century – of the inherently unpredictable and intensely complex, non-nation-state, non-democratic Middle East, which has been systematically misperceived by the Western establishment.<br /><br />Where is the Arab Tsunami heading? The chaotic intra-Arab roller-coaster may have shifted, temporarily, to a relatively-lower gear, but it is surging on brutally! <br /><br />While the US has dealt a severe blow to ISIS terrorists in 2017 – without clipping the wings of Iran's Ayatollahs - it has, therefore, provided a tailwind to Iran's entrenchment in Syria, and increasingly in Lebanon. It has advanced the Ayatollahs' domination of the critical area from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean, which is a prelude to their megalomaniacal vision of denying the US "modern-day-Crusader" regional and global preeminence.<br /><br />This could be a repeat of the US toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003, when the US elevated Iraq's Shiites to the helm, dumping Iraq's Sunnis, which reinforced the ranks of Sunni terrorism. This paved the way for the Ayatollahs' dominance in Iraq – which intensified anti-US terrorism – and created a clear and present danger for every pro-US Arab regime in the Persian Gulf and beyond.<br /><br />In 2011, a US-led coalition, toppled Gaddafi's rogue regime in Libya, in spite of the fact that Gaddafi was involved in a ferocious war on Islamic terrorism in Libya and Africa. Moreover, in 2003, Gaddafi transferred his infrastructure of weapons of mass destruction to the US. The toppling of Gaddafi accelerated the disintegration of Libya, transforming the huge country (680,000sqm, three times larger than Texas) into a major safe haven and breeding ground of Islamic terrorism.<br /><br />While the US military power-projection and posture of deterrence are prerequisites for the western battle against Islamic terrorism – and keeping Islamic terrorism away from the US mainland – a misguided US policy has tolerated the Ayatollahs' imperialism, subversion and terrorism, allowing them to surge on the coattails of the 2015 non-ratified(!) Iran nuclear deal, further destabilizing the Middle East.<br /><br />For example, tectonic developments simmer below the seemingly stable surface in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. These developments are generated and bolstered by the 60% Palestinian majority (e.g., the 1951 murder of King Abdullah by a Palestinian, the 1970 civil war, the 1980s Hashemite-Palestinian confrontations); the unpredictable Muslim Brotherhood terrorists; the importation of additional Islamic Sunni terrorist sleeper cells; the historical divisiveness between the Hashemite migrants from the Arabian Peninsula and the indigenous Bedouins; the 1.5MN Syrian refugees; the boiling borders with Iraq and<br />Syria, which increasingly accommodate the anti-Hashemite Ayatollahs.<br /><br />A volcanic eruption in Jordan could spillover, swiftly, into neighboring Saudi Arabia and other pro-US Arab countries, which are threatened by the Ayatollahs and home-grown terrorists. This would impact the life expectancy of the Khalifa regime in Bahrain, as well as the level of violent Muslim Brotherhood opposition to the General Sisi regime in Egypt.<br /><br />Where is the Middle East heading? <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0X1F5E3F6580A081C9631839C5F8DE841AD3484D5A69359E85AC7E65325F5130D5F956F1BDC69995B8AC92E100B2FD3D8CB554B8B08F405EEFE304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm&source=gmail&ust=1503351017878000&usg=AFQjCNHliAojwCJw5bEpddNHp_E4gj39VQ" href="http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0X1F5E3F6580A081C9631839C5F8DE841AD3484D5A69359E85AC7E65325F5130D5F956F1BDC69995B8AC92E100B2FD3D8CB554B8B08F405EEFE304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm" style="border: 0px; color: #00008c; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word !important;" target="_blank">According to Amir Taheri</a>, the veteran Iranian writer, researcher and expert on Islam, the Persian Gulf and the Middle East: "'modernization' is spreading…. I saw a 'modernized' Middle East with armies marching across scorched plains, soldiers and mercenaries cursing in a dozen different languages, the choir of cannons and the choreography of armored cars and tanks. I saw refugees and displace-person camps, barbed wires, watch-towers, loudspeakers spreading the latest version of truth. There were minefields and grieving mothers, naked children and victims of gas attacks and chemical weapons. The skies were dotted with warplanes dropping more bombs on Syria and Iraq than on Germany during WWII. The landscape of ruins, reminding one of Berlin, Warsaw and Leningrad in 1945…. This looked like Europe in 1918 or 1945, only magnified many times over thanks to the superior power of destruction we now have…."<br /><br />Acquaintance with Middle East "modernization" is a prerequisite for a realistic national security policy, devoid of wishful-thinking and oversimplification-driven hopes.<br /><br />Acquaintance with Middle East "modernization" highlights the critical role of the posture of deterrence – while avoiding appeasement and retreats in the face of temptations and pressure, which triggers more pressure and terrorism – in shaping homeland and national security policies.<br /><br />Acquaintance with Middle East "modernization" underlines the unique role played by Israel - as long as it controls the high-ground, rather than withdrawing to the pre-1967 sliver along the Mediterranean - in extending the strategic hand of the US in the face of mutual threats.<br /><br />Acquaintance with Middle East "modernization" clarifies the nature of the primary threats to regional stability and the survival of pro-US Arab regimes – posed by the rogue Ayatollahs and Islamic Sunni terrorism - and the limited regional role played by the Palestinian issue.</span></span></div>
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-64453705472702400472017-08-20T17:52:00.002-04:002017-08-20T17:52:45.056-04:00What will happen to Jordan? Q&A Mudar Zahran<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OeDCuRxUQ2c/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="666" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OeDCuRxUQ2c?feature=player_embedded" width="920"></iframe></div>
<br />Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-46568769657364148542017-08-18T10:39:00.003-04:002017-08-18T10:39:59.291-04:00INTO THE FRAY: Neo-unilateralism – Futile, fatal folly<span style="font-size: x-large;">By Martin Sherman</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">New calls for unilateral withdrawal are both pernicious—because of the calamitous consequences it will precipitate—and puerile—because of the naïve hope that it will not</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">I can even pin dates on it. In 2007 or 2008 we will have another major disengagement in the West Bank. And within a decade, we will unilaterally repartition Jerusalem along lines we will unilaterally select … What Israelis have understood – and this is the underlying feature of the disengagement – is that we need to leave Gaza and Nablus, not because it will bring peace, but because there will be perpetual terror…</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">–Dan Schueftan, then one of the principle advocates for the 2005 unilateral evacuation from Gaza, predicting it would be only a first step in a “wider historical process” of further unilateral Israeli withdrawals, The Jerusalem Report, September 2005.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">…it [unilateral withdrawal] promises no solution, no peace, no regional or international legitimacy, no alleviation of hostility, no end to terrorism, not even a respite [and] threatens to tear political and social systems apart…-Dan Schueftan, today director of the National Security Studies Center, University of Haifa, on the impact of unilateral withdrawal from Judea-Samaria, which he urges Israel to adopt(!), in Tablet Magazine, August 8, 2017</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">The proposal for (re)adoption of unilateral withdrawal—this time from Judea-Samaria—began to emerge in the public discourse over four years ago.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Foreseeable fatal flaws</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Since then, I have warned, insistently and incessantly, of the glaring defects in the rationale of this resurgent recipe for foretold failure– see: </span><a href="http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/The-coming-canard-Constructive-unilateralism-310333" style="font-size: xx-large;">The coming canard: ‘Constructive unilateralism’</a><span style="font-size: x-large;">; </span><a href="http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Stupendously-stupid-or-surreptitiously-sinister-311146" style="font-size: xx-large;">Stupendously stupid or surreptitiously sinister</a><span style="font-size: x-large;">; </span><a href="http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Into-the-fray-Infuriating-insidious-immoral-335612" style="font-size: xx-large;">Infuriating, insidious, immoral</a><span style="font-size: x-large;">; </span><a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/19013" style="font-size: xx-large;">Imbecility squared – Part 1</a><span style="font-size: x-large;">; </span><a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/19050" style="font-size: xx-large;">Imbecility squared- Part 2</a><span style="font-size: x-large;">; </span><a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/20068" style="font-size: xx-large;">Generals, gimmicks and gobbledygook</a><span style="font-size: x-large;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Yet despite its clearly discernible flaws, which virtually ensure disaster if it were to be (re)adopted, this ill-conceived idea not only remains stubbornly on the national agenda, but—almost inconceivably—is gaining increasing support from an alarming number of well-funded organizations and influential individuals.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">It is, in many ways, the flagship project of the well-endowed </span><a href="http://www.inss.org.il/" style="font-size: xx-large;">Institute for National Security Studies</a><span style="font-size: x-large;"> (INSS). It is also championed by what is effectively INSS’s public advocacy arm, </span><a href="http://bluewhite.s158.upress.link/?page_id=560" style="font-size: xx-large;">Blue and White Future</a><span style="font-size: x-large;">. Likewise, it is endorsed by </span><a href="http://en.cis.org.il/" style="font-size: xx-large;">Commanders for Israel Security</a><span style="font-size: x-large;"> (CIS) an organization reportedly comprising over 200 former high-ranking officers in the IDF, intelligence services and police.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Not ad hominem attack</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">The most recent call for “unilateral disengagement from the overwhelming majority of the West Bank…and massive rooting-out of Jewish populations” comes from none other than the Director of the National Security Studies Center, University of Haifa, Dr. Dan Schueftan.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">In a </span><a href="http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/241025/what-israel-should-do-next" style="font-size: xx-large;">rambling essay</a><span style="font-size: x-large;">, over 3000 words long, in Tablet Magazine, replete with internal contradictions and riddled with non-sequiturs, Schueftan sets out his “rationale” (for want of a better word) for Israel to adopt a policy, which, in his own words, “promises no solution, no peace, no regional or international legitimacy, no alleviation of hostility, no end to terrorism, not even a respite[and]threatens to tear political and social systems apart…”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Although I shall have decidedly harsh criticism of Schueftan’s policy prescriptions, I should like to make it clear: This is not an ad hominem attack on the author, but a resolute repudiation of his ideas.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">I have been acquainted with Schueftan for years, and have found him to be a very affable individual, a learned scholar and a gifted—albeit not always the most genteel—orator. However, as someone who holds a prestigious position in academe and is responsible for molding the strategic perspective of a large number of students, the doctrines he expounds cannot go un-scrutinized, and, if found defective, unchallenged.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">The fact that he may genuinely believe that what he is proposing is in the national interest should not shield him from censure if it can be plausibly demonstrated that it will precipitate precisely the opposite.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Pernicious puerile prescription</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">All the proposals of the various proponents of renewed unilateral withdrawal embrace the same principle–with only shades of nuance differentiating between them.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">This involves Israel’s forswearing all sovereign claims to any territory beyond a line that approximates the route of the current security barrier and acting to remove Israeli civilian presence from this territory. In light of the disastrous results similar measures produced in Gaza, “neo-unilateralists” attempt to assuage public concern by stipulating that the IDF will remain deployed in the areas over which Israel eschews sovereignty.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Thus, CIS proposes that IDF deployment will continue until the emergence of “a permanent status agreement with the Palestinians [which] ushers in alternative concrete, sustainable security arrangements.” Closely mirroring this idea, Schueftan, peppering his concessionary prescription with machoistic rhetoric, suggests: “…the mainstream majority can be expected to consider a unilateral move positively if they know that the IDF will remain in overall charge of security, unless a dependable Arab army replaces it, if and when Israel sees fit”. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">This of course is a prescription that is, at once, pernicious—because of the predictably calamitous consequences it will precipitate—and puerile—because of the naïve hope that it will not…</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Entrapping the IDF in open-ended occupation</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Inevitably, the proposal for ongoing deployment of the Israeli military in territory over which Israel makes no sovereign claims would, in a stroke, convert Judea-Samaria from “disputed territory” to “occupied territory” and the IDF from a “defense force” to an “occupying force”. Worse, it would do so by explicit admission from Israel itself!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Moreover, by conditioning the end of IDF deployment on the emergence of “alternative concrete, sustainable security arrangements” or in Schueftan’s words, leaving the IDF in overall charge of security, unless a dependable Arab army replaces it, if and when Israel sees fit”, the neo-unilateralists are, in fact, promoting a formula for open-ended occupation, whose duration is totally dependent on the Palestinian-Arabs.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">After all, if the IDF is to remain deployed in the “West Bank” until some “dependable” Palestinian counterpart appears, sufficiently pliant to satisfy Israel’s demands, but sufficiently robust to resist more radical domestic rivals that oppose those demands, what happens if such a counterpart fails to emerge?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Clearly then, all the Palestinian-Arabs need to do to ensnare the IDF in what will inevitably become an increasingly unpopular “occupation”, making it an easy target for guerilla attacks by a recalcitrant population, backed by armed Palestinian internal security services, is…well, nothing.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">All they need to do is wait until mounting IDF casualties in a “foreign land” create increasing domestic pressure to “bring our boys back home”, and mounting international impatience with unending “occupation” create growing external pressure, which will make continued IDF deployment untenable. Withdrawal will then become inevitable, without any “permanent settlement” or “sustainable security arrangements”.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Unsustainable strategy </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Schueftan is caustically critical of Palestinian society in Judea-Samaria, characterizing it as “a profoundly irresponsible society [with] elites who are unwilling to engage in constructive nation-building [who] prefer to glorify and finance terrorists and perpetuate narratives of unlimited grievance vis-à-vis the Jewish state”.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">So even in the unlikely event that some Palestinian-Arab partner could be located, who would, in good faith, agree to conclude a permanent status agreement and implement acceptable security arrangements allowing the IDF to evacuate Judea-Samaria, how could Israel ensure this agreement will be honored and these arrangements maintained over time?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Clearly it could not!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Once the IDF withdraws, Israel has no way of preventing its Palestinian co-signatories from reneging on their commitments—whether of their own volition, due to a change of heart, or under duress from extremist adversaries.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Even more to the point, barring intimate involvement in intra-Palestinian politics, Israel has no way to ensure that their pliant partner will not be replaced—whether by bullet or ballot—by far more inimical successors, probably generously supported by foreign regimes, who repudiate their predecessors’ pledges. Indeed, it is more than likely that it would be precisely the “perfidious” deal struck with the “nefarious Zionist entity” that would be invoked as justification for the regime-change.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Certainly, given Schueftan’s own uncomplimentary description of Palestinian society such an outcome can hardly be dismissed as implausible</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">What is the neo-unilateralist’s “Plan B”?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Accordingly, no matter which of these outcomes—a change of heart or a change of regime—emerges in practice, Israel is likely to be confronted with a situation where it no longer has security control in Judea-Samaria and a hostile regime perched on the hills dominating the coastal megalopolis—overlooking its only international airport, adjacent to its major population centers and abutting principal transportation axes.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">It would be intriguing to learn what neo-unilateralists, such as Schueftan, propose as their “Plan B”, should the realities precipitated in the South following unilateral withdrawal, emerge along Israel’s eastern border. Clearly anything approaching those realities on the fringes of Greater Tel Aviv would make the maintenance of any socio-economic routine impossible—since it could be disrupted at will by hostile forces, renegade or regular, deployed on the commanding highlands evacuated by the IDF.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">So how would Schueftan and his fellow neo-unilateralists recommend responding? A massive punitive attack along a 500 km front, with difficult terrain and inevitable “collateral damage”, likely to dwarf anything incurred in previous campaigns such as “Protective Edge”? And to what end? To withdraw once again behind the security barrier? Or to withdraw and repeat the same “experiment”, hoping for more fortuitous results next time? Or the time after that?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Touting a giant South Lebanon on fringes of Tel Aviv </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Of course, the basic elements of the new unilateralism— forswearing of claims to sovereignty over Judea-Samaria, on the one hand; and continued deployment of the IDF in that territory, on the other—replicate precisely the same conditions that prevailed in South Lebanon until the IDF’s hasty retreat in 2000.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Clearly, under these conditions, any hope that the conflict can be officially resolved with some negotiated final-status agreement is hopelessly detached from reality. After all, why should the Palestinians offer any quid pro quo to negotiate the withdrawal of the IDF when Israel has a-priori conceded sovereignty to them and ceased all civilian construction, condemning the settlements to inevitable decay and disintegration?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Moreover, what would be the justification for continued IDF deployment in the sovereign territory of others—especially as that deployment itself is likely to be cited as the major grievance sustaining the belligerency between the sides?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Accordingly, proposals for deploying the IDF for an indeterminate period, in territory over which it lays no sovereign claim—and hence, by implication, acknowledges that others have such claims to it—will create an unsustainable political configuration, which, sooner or later, will generate irresistible pressure on Israel to withdraw—just as it did in Lebanon—leaving the country exposed to the very dangers the IDF deployment was intended to obviate. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Futile folly </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">As mentioned, Schueftan concedes that his prescribed unilateralism “promises no solution, no peace, no regional or international legitimacy, no alleviation of hostility, no end to terrorism… Accordingly, he asks: “why embark on an extremely painful process” which, by his own admission will traumatize “hundreds of thousands of Israelis…and threaten to tear…Israeli society apart.”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">His answer, in a nutshell , is that it will, allegedly, free Israel from the burden of “dominating and caring for them [the Palestinian-Arabs] for over half a century” which is precisely what we were told about unilateral disengagement from Gaza –which is still, a decade later, critically dependent on Israel for a wide range of goods and services.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Of course, to believe that Schueftan’s prescription will achieve such freedom is a futile and forlorn hope. Indeed, the very fact that the IDF is to remain deployed in Judea-Samaria with overriding authority for security, will impose very similar burdens and responsibilities to those it bears today. It will need to exert authority over local law enforcement organizations, and perhaps countermand any decisions they make if considered detrimental to Israel’s security. It will have to regulate and inspect a wide range of civilian activities, such as the management of dangerous industrial pollutants, sewage flows into Israel, and the inspection of usage of dual purpose material like steel, fertilizers and cement to ensure that are not diverted to manufacture weapons or tunnels…</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">And I have only begun to scratch the surface…</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Epilogue</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">In February 2004, prior to the Gaza Disengagement, Schueftan, gave an interview to “New York Magazine”, where he was billed as “the highly regarded Israeli analyst and academic whose concept of unilateral disengagement now dominates debate in Israel”. In it he proclaimed: “The Israeli public wants to be completely cut off from the Palestinians, and as a result nobody can be prime minister without going in this direction. It’s not even an option if they want to stay in power.”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Of course, since then, Benjamin Netanyahu seems to have disregarded Schueftan counsel–only to become the longest serving prime minister in decades…which might be a good indicator of merit with which Schueftan’s prognoses/prescriptions should be credited…</span><br /><br /><i><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.martinsherman.org/">Martin Sherman</a> is the founder and executive director of the <a href="http://www.strategic-israel.org/">Israel Institute for Strategic Studies</a>.</span></i>Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-49850210359595115532017-08-18T10:36:00.000-04:002017-08-18T10:36:04.488-04:00Another Hit by Latma "All About The Facts"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vjq7Cha_Rpk/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="666" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vjq7Cha_Rpk?feature=player_embedded" width="966"></iframe></div>
<br />Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-21183413847922991912017-08-11T14:15:00.002-04:002017-08-11T14:40:42.440-04:00Sorry Ms. Wise, there is no occupation in the land of Israel - and you are not welcomed!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimBd70Feioa8_0_Fgp3Y-YKV-ZxW0JXo_vyW5K4JzOQ0b6P1Cid3ABKFRrQjXaX7Ygr5suXv3gf7XJbkcOVqYuS5E9zxKgM-HjZS2DiwDg2f32DENCUkorP0sLcA8gmN6LEEMA4mvSfW8/s1600/Israel-AFP-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="564" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimBd70Feioa8_0_Fgp3Y-YKV-ZxW0JXo_vyW5K4JzOQ0b6P1Cid3ABKFRrQjXaX7Ygr5suXv3gf7XJbkcOVqYuS5E9zxKgM-HjZS2DiwDg2f32DENCUkorP0sLcA8gmN6LEEMA4mvSfW8/s640/Israel-AFP-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.jpost.com/BDS-THREAT/BDS-activists-prevented-from-boarding-flight-to-Israel-500653">As reported in the Jerusalem Post</a>, five members of an interfaith delegation to Israel were prevented from boarding their flight from Washington, DC, becasue of their activism on behalf of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. </span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">This came into play after</span><span style="color: #5f5f5f; font-size: 20px;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">the Israeli parliament (or Knesset), amended the Law of Entry in March, to prevent leaders of the BDS movement from being allowed into Israel in the future... </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />According to the report, the amendment specifically applies to organizations that take consistent and significant action against Israel through BDS, as well as the leadership and senior activists of those groups - <b><i>a move which mind you, I totally agree with...</i></b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">As you can imagine, these liberal Rabbis are pretty upset, including JVP activist Alissa Wise - who said in the JVP statement that Israel denied her the ability to travel to the state because her work for justice for Palestinians poses a danger to Israel's security - which in fact it does...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">According to Wise "the mussernik" this outrageous becasue she is Jewish and a Rabbi, which apparently gives her the carte blanche to promote Jewish blood shed in the name of resistance - I might be missing something, perhaps someone can explain her logic to me... </span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“I’m heartbroken and outraged</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">”</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">said Wise</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">. </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">“</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">This is yet another demonstration that democracy and tolerance in Israel only extends to those who fall in line with its increasingly repressive policies against Palestinians”...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">As expected, the Israeli government's decision and actions have irked quite a few liberal Jews, including a small group of at least two hundred liberally progressive Rabbis who joined together once again to stab Israel and its Jewish population in the back and sign a </span><a href="https://medium.com/@rabbisagainsttheban/rabbis-against-the-ban-17585c59c74b" style="font-size: xx-large;">"Rabbinic Letter Against Israel’s Travel Ban"</a><span style="font-size: x-large;">...</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />According to the press release of this unholy gathering... </span><br />
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><br /><b>“A controversy for the sake of Heaven will have lasting value, but a controversy not for the sake of Heaven will not endure” (Pirkei Avot 5:17).</b></i></span></blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">We, the undersigned rabbis, stand with our colleague, Rabbi Alissa Shira Wise, who was denied entry to Israel because of her support for the Palestinian civil society call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) of Israel.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"> ...the decision to bar Rabbi Wise from visiting Israel is anti-democratic and desecrates our vision of a diverse Jewish community that holds multiple perspectives<i>.</i></span></blockquote>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Wow...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">It is so rich, it is disgusting, I am truly at a lost for words with rage. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The fact </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">that these Rabbis have a lot of chutzpah to quote Perkei Avot as if they - you know, individuals who've sanctioned all indecency and immorality under the banner of the Jewish faith - have any</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> fear of God, is prosperous. Seriously, who gave these laymen and women (I cringe just writing that) the ability </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">to discern what exactly is considered a dispute which is not for sake of heaven...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Apparently, as per Wise and her ilk, one can commit murder (which make no mistake, support for palestinian cause is exactly that) and at the same time be doing so for the sake of heaven - imagine that...</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /><b>Lets talk to the facts, the bottomline is that any rational person</b> - that is not consumed with the mental illness called progressive liberalism - <b>knows very well that there is no occupation...</b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Anyone who says otherwise, is not only denying history and how the state of Israel came to be - but is in fact denying what is written in the Torah. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Yes! you know, that Book of Moses, on which the entire Jewish faith is based upon...</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Within, one will find - stated black on white - that the land of Cenan, (now Israel) was to be our inheritance, given to our forefather Avraham by the one and only God over four millennia ago...</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Denying such a fact, I believe, strips an individual from any right they might have had in the past to represent the Jewish people and the land of Israel - and certainly strips them from the so called right to call themselves a Rabbi...<br /><br />But what I fear the most is not as much the actions of these individuals as much as our community's apparent silence in the face of the aggression of these self hating Jews...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Babalonian Talmud, 87B tells us that </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">"he who is silent is taken to agree" can it truly be that the words of individuals as Wise do not hurt us to our core? do they not cause us to break into a stupor of rage at the blatant desecration of our Torah and its values on a regular basis?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">God forbid can we remain silent to this onslaught on the basic tenets of our faith, the importance of the land of Israel to our faith, our heritage and our day to day lives...</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">As such, I think it is appropriate to call on the greater Jewish orthodox community to unite together and make our voices be heard... </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Let it be known</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> from this lowly earth to the heavens, that we the people of God and his Torah will not stand idly by to such such a desecration of His name...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Let it be known that as the people of faith, we affirm that while we might be in exile, there is no doubt that the land of Israel is our inheritance from all those years ago, and it is our possession for all eternity without a doubt and with the merit of such an action may we merit the coming of the Messiah speedily in our days. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Amen!</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-50858060000815071382017-08-11T13:41:00.005-04:002017-08-11T13:41:40.954-04:00 INTO THE FRAY: The Humanitarian Paradigm — Hobson’s Choice for Israel (Part II)<i>By MARTIN SHERMAN</i><br /><br /><img height="480" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*ZBVDuc-xWJyOMfEEGDRIXQ.jpeg" width="640" /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">By rigorous process of elimination, we are left with the Humanitarian Paradigm, as the only possible policy prescription able to adequately address the imperatives needed to preserve Israel as the nation state of Jews.<br /><br />O, who can hold a fire in his hand; By thinking on the frosty Caucasus? <br />Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite; By bare imagination of a feast? <br />Or wallow naked in December snow; By thinking on fantastic summer’s heat? <br />- William Shakespeare, in Richard II, Act1 Scene 3, on the futility of self-deception<br /><br />There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.– Sherlock Holmes, “The Boscombe Valley Mystery”<br /><br />Last week I began a <a href="http://www.strategic-israel.org/2106/into-the-fray-the-humanitarian-paradigm-hobsons-choice-for-israel-part-i/">two-part analysis</a> of the policy paradigms that have emerged in the public discourse for dealing with the more-than-century old dispute between Jews and Arabs over control of the Holy Land as the conflict approaches its third post-Oslo decade.<br /><br />In it, I identified four such archetypical paradigms for its resolution — and one for its “management” (a.k.a. its perpetuation). Moreover, I undertook to demonstrate that only one of these alternatives, the Humanitarian Paradigm, advocating funded emigration of the Arab residents of Judea-Samaria (and eventually Gaza) — is consistent with the long-term survival of Israel as the nation-state of the Jews. Accordingly, for those dedicated to the preservation of the Zionist ideal, it is nothing less than “<a href="http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/hobson-s-choice">Hobson’s choice</a>”.<br /><br /><b>To recap briefly</b><br /><br />Readers will recall that I confined the analysis last week to those policy proposals that eschew full or partial Israeli annexation of territory, deferring analysis of those that endorse such annexation for this week’s discussion.<br /><br />To recap briefly: In the aforementioned prior analysis I dealt with the (a) idea of “managing the conflict” and (b) the two-state formula.<br /><br />As for the former, it was shown to reflect disregard for the fact that, without appropriate decisive proactive initiatives, Israel is facing a growing threat and decreasing freedom to deal with it. Accordingly, “managing the conflict” is little more than a pretext for backing away from confrontations in which Israel can prevail, while backing into a confrontation in which Israel might not prevail — or do so only at ruinous cost.<br /><br />As for the latter, it has shown to be a fatally flawed formula, devoid of any sound theoretical foundation or empirical evidence on which to base its naïve prognoses for resolving the conflict by means of Palestinian statehood. Indeed, given the past precedents, there is little reason to believe — and two-state proponents have never provided one — that any future Palestinian state will not rapidly become a mega-Gaza on the fringes of Greater Tel Aviv, precipitating all the harrowing realities, wrought on the hapless residents of the South on those of the coastal megalopolis.<br /><br />So having dealt with the policy paradigms that eschew annexation — whether full or partial — it is now time to assess those that endorse it.<br /><br /><b>One-state: Lebanonization of Israeli society</b><br /><br />Some pundits on the Israeli “Right”, keenly aware of the infeasibility of the two-state paradigm, have in large measure adopted — albeit for very different reasons — a prescription very similar to that touted by their radical Left-wing adversaries — that of a single state stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.</span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><img height="359" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1200/1*3vuQ-CAhhHpNJ2x3AWftRA.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Sectarian Violence in Lebanon</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />According to this proposal, Israel should extend its sovereignty over the entire area of Judea-Samaria and offer immediate permanent residency to all its Palestinian-Arab residents, as well as the right to apply for citizenship at some undefined date, via some undefined process to ascertain loyalty — or at least the absence of disloyalty — to Israel as the Jewish nation state.<br /><br />The rationale, allegedly underpinning this ill-conceived proposal, is the new, optimistic demographic assessments suggesting that even if Israel were to enfranchise the Muslim population of Judea-Samaria, it would still retain a more than 60% Jewish majority.<br /> <br /> Even conceding that this may be true, such a measure is likely to herald disaster for the Zionist enterprise and the future of Israel as the nation-state of the Jews. For the initial electoral arithmetic is hardly the defining factor in assessing the prudence of this approach, but rather the devastating effect it will have on the socio-economic fabric of the country and the impact this will have on preserving Israel as a desired/desirable place of residence for Jews inside and outside the country.<br /><br />It would take considerable — and unsubstantiated — faith to entertain the belief that Israel could sustain itself as a Jewish nation-state with a massive Muslim minority of almost 40% — as the societal havoc that far smaller proportions have wrought in Europe indicate.<br /><br />Indeed this is a clear recipe for the Lebanonization of Israeli society with all the inter-ethnic strife that tore Israel’s unfortunate northern neighbor apart.<br /><br /><b>Lebanonization of Israel (cont.)</b><br /><br />Any forlorn hope that life under Israeli sovereignty will somehow “domesticate” the Palestinian-Arabs into reconciling themselves to life in the Jewish nation-state should have been well and truly dashed by the behavior of Israel’s Arab citizens.<br /><br />After all, despite living (and prospering) for seven decades under Israeli sovereignty — and more than a half-century after military rule over the Arab population was abolished — they not only voted, almost en-bloc, for the vehemently anti-Zionist “Joint List” in the 2015 elections, but displayed great empathy in a mass funeral for the terrorists, from the Israeli town of Um-al Fahm, who murdered two Israeli police officers on the Temple Mount.<br /><br />Once the Arab population of Judea-Samaria becomes incorporated into Israel’s permanent population, at least two crucial elements of national life are almost certain to be dramatically — and in Zionist-compliant terms, negatively –impacted. The one is the distribution of national resources; the other is population flows into, and out of, the country.<br /> <br /> With regard to the former, clearly once the Arab residents of Judea and Samaria — whether enfranchised or not — become incorporated into the country’s permanent population, Israel will not be able to afford the kind of socio-economic disparities that prevail between the pre- and post-annexation segments of the population.<br /><br />Accordingly, huge budget resources will have to be diverted to reduce these disparities — siphoning off funds currently spent on the Jewish population (and Israeli Arabs) in terms of welfare, medical care, infrastructure, education and so on.<br /><br />Indeed, if enfranchisement (eventual or immediate) is envisaged, the electoral potential of the Arab sector is liable to be elevated from its current 13–15 seats in parliament to 25–30. This will not only hugely bolster its ability to demand enhanced budgetary allotments, but also make it virtually impossible to form a governing coalition without their endorsement.<br /><br />Moreover, collaboration on various ad hoc parliamentary initiatives with radical Jewish left-wing factions is likely to nullify any formal calculations of an ostensible “Jewish majority”, and lead to legislative enterprises that ultra-Zionist proponents of annexation would strongly oppose — in an ironic manifestation of unintended consequences.<br /><b><br />Partial Annexation: The Balkanization of Israel</b><br /><br />Thus, while full annexation of Judea-Samaria will almost inevitably result in the Lebanonization of Israel — i.e. create a single society, so fractured by interethnic strife that it would be untenable as the nation- state of the Jewish people; proposals for the partial annexation of Judea-Samaria will result in the Balkanization of Israel — (i.e. dividing the territory up into disconnected autonomous enclaves, which will be recalcitrant, rivalrous and rejectionist, creating an ungovernable reality for Israel.)<br /><br />Proposals for partial annexation appear to be fueled by (a) concern that total annexation would be too drastic a step for the international community to “swallow”, and (b) a sense that some semblance of self-rule must be facilitated for the Arabs resident in Judea and Samaria. As will be shown, partial annexation will address neither of these issues effectively. Indeed quite the opposite is true.</span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><img height="214" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1200/1*BrjFzpmlxc_qTa38prt2mA.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Dr. Mordechai Kedar (L) & Education Minister Naftali Bennett</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Proposals for partial annexation are commonly of two types: Those that prescribe including selected areas of Judea-Samaria under Israeli sovereignty (such as Area C as <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Bennett-Well-annex-Area-C-and-offer-the-Palestinians-autonomy-on-steroids-350790">advanced by Education Minister Naftali Bennett</a>) ; and those that prescribe excluding certain selected areas from Israeli sovereignty such as the large urban centers in Judea-Samaria (such as advanced by <a href="http://www.cijr.com/eight-state-solution-mordechai-kedar">Dr. Mordechai Kedar in his “Emirates” plan</a>)<br /><br />Sadly, neither of these paradigms will solve any of the diplomatic or security problems Israel faces today, and will in fact exacerbate many.<br /><br /><b>The Balkanization of Israel (cont)</b><br />It is hardly necessary to go into the intricate details of the individual proposals for partial annexation to grasp how impractical they really are.</span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><img height="359" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1200/1*ivlWrcYTcxv1mwpE97sCJQ.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Violence in the Balkans</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />For whatever the configuration of the un-annexed areas left to Arab administration –whether the disconnected enclaves of Areas A and B, or the micro-mini “city states” — they will leave the sovereign territory of Israel with dauntingly long and contorted frontiers, making it almost impossible to delineate and secure. Clearly if one cannot effectively demarcate and secure one’s sovereign territory, there is little meaning to one’s sovereign authority over that territory.<br /><br />Although Haaretz is not my preferred source of reference, I find it difficult to disagree with the following <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.762302">assessment</a> of Bennett’s plan for annexing Area C:<br /><br />“… Bennett’s plan is groundless from the security, diplomatic, legal and, especially, physical angles. It’s easy to discern that, contrary to what was presented in a video produced by Bennett’s…party recently, Areas A and B in the West Bank are not contiguous blocs, spreading over 40 percent of the West Bank. Instead, they consist of no less than 169 Palestinian blocs and communities, cut off from one another by innumerable Israeli corridors and unused IDF firing zones that are together defined as Area C”.<br /><br />It correctly pointed out: “… in fact, Bennett is proposing to increase the length of the Israeli border from 313 kilometers to 1,800 kilometers (194 to 1,118 miles). If [one] believe[s] Bennett, he will doubtless back the dismantling of the security barrier that Israel has built to the tune of 15 billion shekels ($3.9 billion), but [one] will have to accept that annexing Area C means Israel will have to build a barrier along the new border at the cost of 27 billion shekels and allocate another 4 billion shekels per year for maintenance purposes.”<br /><br /><b>Partial Annexation: Full political price</b><br /><br />Similar criticism can be leveled at Kedar’s proposal for setting up an array of up to eight micro-mini “emirates” or city states. It is not difficult to envisage the problems of future expansion beyond the highly constricted confines of disconnected enclaves, and of the need to severely curtail the authority of the local administration to deal with cross border issues such as pollution (particularly the<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/ministry-shuts-32-charcoal-operations-in-samaria-1.369162"> carcinogenic emissions</a> of the wide spread charcoal industry), sewage, pollution from industrial effluents, agricultural run-off, transmissible diseases and so on.<br /><br />Of course, any hopes that partial annexation, which entails extending Israeli sovereignty over about 65–75% of the territory, leaving the Palestinian-Arabs with an emasculated 25–30%, in a quilted patchwork of disconnected enclaves and corridors, will in any way diminish international censure, are utterly unfounded. The political “pain” involved in such schemes would be no less than annexing 100% of the territory — without having to deal with the attendant chronic problems associated with partial annexation (as detailed above).<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cijr.com/eight-state-solution-mordechai-kedar">Fanciful suggestions </a>that Nablus and Hebron might flourish into entities like Monaco and Luxembourg are as risible as those which, in the heady days of Oslo, predicted that Gaza would become the Hong Kong of the Mid East — and would be rightfully rejected as such.<br /><br /><b>Humanitarian Paradigm: Hobson’s choice</b><br /><br />Even from the far-from-exhaustive analysis conducted over the last two weeks, it should be clear that an indisputable picture emerges as to the Zionist-compliant feasibility of the various policy paradigms proposed for dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.<br /><br />Thus:<br /><br />- The attempt to manage the conflict is little more than a formula for backing away from confrontations in which Israel can prevail, while backing into a confrontation in which Israel might not prevail — or may do so only at ruinous cost.<br /><br />- The two-state paradigm will almost inevitably result in the establishment of a yet another homophobic, misogynistic, Muslim-majority tyranny, which will rapidly become a mega-Gaza on the fringes of Greater Tel Aviv, menacing the socio-economic routine in the commercial hub of the country.<br /><br />-Full annexation of Judea-Samaria together with the Arab population will result in the Lebanonization of Israeli society and thrust the country into ruinous inter-ethnic strife that will imperil it status as the nation-state of the Jewish people.<br /><br />- Partial annexation of Judea-Samaria will result in the Balkanization of Israel, dividing the territory up into disconnected, rivalrous, recalcitrant and unsustainable autonomous enclaves, which will create an ungovernable reality for Israel.<br /><br />Thus, by a rigorous process of deductive elimination we are left with the Humanitarian Paradigm, advocating funded emigration for non-belligerent Palestinian-Arabs to third party countries, as the only possible paradigm that can adequately address both the geographic and demographic imperatives needed to preserve Israel as the nation state of Jews. <br /> <br /> As such, for Zionists, it is Hobson’s choice. Anything else is self-deception</span><br /><br /><i><a href="http://www.martinsherman.org/">Martin Sherman</a> is the founder and executive director of the <a href="http://www.strategic-israel.org/">Israel Institute for Strategic Studies</a>.</i><div>
</div>
</div>
Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-45397865538106869362017-08-07T12:22:00.001-04:002017-08-07T12:22:22.284-04:00ZOA Launches ‘Comprehensive Review’ of H.R. McMaster Israel History<span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/08/07/exclusive-zionist-organization-of-america-launches-comprehensive-review-of-h-r-mcmaster-israel-history/">By Matthew Boyle, BREITBART</a></span><div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQBLGuup5rgRcMeS2tewnPiphOktPUDJG1nCVoIfWSCQwEt4Z4RpGBzZy2Y03gfj-DcdAJo5B1VfhEWnHJrV_jChfLbXE2tvVz4PhuvoKAYejlkL1j4nQQxrD6zieuUXn_wZx7G8mB_pM/s1600/mort-1-e1393990236986.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="1016" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQBLGuup5rgRcMeS2tewnPiphOktPUDJG1nCVoIfWSCQwEt4Z4RpGBzZy2Y03gfj-DcdAJo5B1VfhEWnHJrV_jChfLbXE2tvVz4PhuvoKAYejlkL1j4nQQxrD6zieuUXn_wZx7G8mB_pM/s640/mort-1-e1393990236986.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />Following troubling revelations and concerned raised about National Security Adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) announced it has undertaken a review and analysis of the top White House official’s positions, actions, and statements on Israel.<br /><br />“Zionist Organization of America (‘ZOA’) issues the following statement in response to several media inquiries regarding General Herbert Raymond ‘H.R.’ McMaster’s tenure as President Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor,” ZOA said in a statement on Monday morning. “ZOA’s leadership is currently undertaking a comprehensive review of all publicly available facts and statements. Morton Klein, national president of ZOA, will be issuing a full statement later this week.”<br /><br /><br /><br />ZOA is the oldest pro-Israel organization in America which has been a reliable supporter of President Donald Trump and his administration. The group, and its president Morton Klein, have fought back against phony allegations of anti-Semitism against former Breitbart News executive chairman and current White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon and former Breitbart News national security editor and current Special Assistant to the President Dr. Sebastian Gorka. ZOA is backed in substantial part by GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, an ardent defender of Israel and a confidante of President Trump.<br /><br />While ZOA’s statement has not indicated where the powerful pro-Israel organization will come down in its review of McMaster’s activities and statements, there are many reasons to believe that ZOA may not have a favorable view of his positions on Israel. A source close to ZOA cautioned Breitbart News, explaining that ZOA’s review would be “limited in scope to analysis of McMaster’s performance and positions on issues related to Israel and the scourge of radical Islamic terrorism.”<br /><br />It is worth noting that it has been widely reported that McMaster has a serious problem with the term “radical Islamic terrorism.” It’s also worth noting there are reportedly serious concerns with McMaster’s positions on Israel, as <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/08/03/national-security-council-mcmaster-purging-pro-israel-staff-undermines-trumps-agenda/">raised in part by Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post last week</a>.<br /><br />“According to senior officials aware of his behavior, he [McMaster] constantly refers to Israel as the occupying power and insists falsely and constantly that a country named Palestine existed where Israel is located until 1948 when it was destroyed by the Jews,” Glick wrote of McMaster. “Many of you will remember that a few days before Trump’s visit to Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – ?????? ?????? and his advisers were blindsided when the Americans suddenly told them that no Israeli official was allowed to accompany Trump to the Western Wall. What hasn’t been reported is that it was McMaster who pressured Trump to agree not to let Netanyahu accompany him to the Western Wall. At the time, I and other reporters were led to believe that this was the decision of rogue anti-Israel officers at the US consulate in Jerusalem. But it wasn’t. It was McMaster. And even that, it works out wasn’t sufficient for McMaster. He pressured Trump to cancel his visit to the Wall and only visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial — ala the Islamists who insist that the only reason Israel exists is European guilt over the Holocaust.”<br /><br />What’s more, a piece out Sunday evening by Breitbart News’ Aaron Klein–this outlet’s Jerusalem Bureau chief–<a href="http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2017/08/06/mcmaster-worked-think-tank-backed-soros-funded-group-helped-obama-sell-iran-nuclear-deal/">discovered deep troubling ties</a> between McMaster and leftist billionaire George Soros.<br /><br />Now, the oldest and strongest pro-Israel group in America is conducting its own probe to get to the bottom of it.</span></div>
</div>
Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-89062928270640345142017-08-06T21:48:00.000-04:002017-08-07T10:01:57.196-04:00NY Democrat Senator Gillibrand’s Backtracks on Israel Anti-BDS Bill - Breitbart<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">By Adelle Nazarian</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEgYMZjug9i2DnPjeAgemdnE95HMT9qxzu_IK5VXMQQx-jsv-br-By1N8TGO6zlr8ilt1hZoQMJitfDA-ib0vdtcMeNUDgvAIdToHozlP1SRYv22QM9k8qFQ-rPaEvVv3lp7WSD213sV6ItHHlmsEb61ZhEQ9qJW-DnegzJUvY79_odzlHlUPgLFdJM=" /> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is under fire from World Jewish Congress president Ron Lauder, who said he was “deeply disturbed” by her decision to withdraw her backing for anti-BDS legislation introduced by a fellow Democrat, citing the First Amendment as the basis for her choice.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">On Monday, Gillibrand said she was withdrawing her name from the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/720?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Israel+Anti-Boycott+act%22%5D%7D&r=1">Israel Anti-Boycott Act</a>, introduced by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) in March and supported by 45 additional senators from the Republican and Democratic parties.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">On Thursday, Lauder said he was “deeply disturbed” by Gillibrand’s announcement and noted that this bill was “aimed at combating the BDS movement which is spreading virulently in the United States and throughout the world.” <a href="https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/08/03/prominent-us-jewish-leader-slams-new-york-senator-gillibrands-backtrack-on-israel-boycott-bill/">According to</a> the Algemeiner, he added, “I would urge Senator Gillibrand to instead add her name back as a co-sponsor for this legislation and reaffirm her commitment to opposing the international campaign to de-legitimize our democratic ally in the Middle East, Israel.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Israel Anti-Boycott Act “opposes the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution of March 24, 2016, which urges countries to pressure companies to divest from, or break contracts with, Israel” and “encourages full implementation of the United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2014 through enhanced, government-wide, coordinated U.S.-Israel scientific and technological cooperation in civilian areas.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Gillibrand reportedly announced that she was withdrawing her support for the legislation at a town hall meeting in Queens where she cited the First Amendment — a position also held by progressive groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">In an op-ed last month, the ACLU <a href="https://www.aclu.org/blog/speak-freely/how-israel-anti-boycott-act-threatens-first-amendment-rights">wrote</a>, “Last week, the ACLU came out against a bill that would criminalize constitutionally protected boycotts and certain speech targeting Israel. The <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/720/text">Israel Anti-Boycott Act</a>, which was introduced in both the House and Senate earlier this year, would expand a 1970s-era export law and expose a range of activity to sweeping penalties, including criminal prosecution.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Cardin’s Israel Anti-Boycott Act seeks to amend the 1979 Export Administration Act “to include in the prohibitions on boycotts against allies of the United States boycotts fostered by international governmental organizations against Israel and to direct the Export-Import Bank of the United States to oppose boycotts against Israel, and for other purposes.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">This is not the first time the ACLU has targeted members of the Democratic Party over their support for Israel.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Last month, they <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2017/07/27/left-eating-its-own-aclu-attacks-progressive-senator-hassan-for-supporting-anti-bds-legislation/">went after</a> Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) for supporting the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, accusing her of stifling free speech.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“Senator Hassan strongly opposes the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel and believes that it harms efforts to secure enduring peace through bilateral negotiations toward a two-state solution,” Ricki Eshman, Hassan’s press secretary, said in a statement, <a href="https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/07/26/progressive-democratic-senator-maggie-hassan-under-fire-for-supporting-anti-bds-legislation/">according to</a> the Algemeiner.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">During Monday’s town hall, Gillibrand reportedly said, “I am against BDS, but I feel that anybody who’s in favor of it should feel very comfortable speaking on any stage, anywhere in America.” However, the Algemeiner notes that she specifically “avoided any mention of the link between the BDS movement and anti-Semitic statements and actions.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">In response to this, Lauder reportedly said, “Supporters of the BDS movement shield themselves by claiming that their movement is anti-Zionist, not anti-Semitic, but let me be crystal clear, anti-Zionism is no different than anti-Semitism. When you hold the only Jewish state to a different standard than every other nation, when you lie about its past and its present, that is old fashioned, unadulterated anti-Semitism.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
<i>Adelle Nazarian is a politics and national security reporter for Breitbart News. Follow her on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AdelleTruthBomb/">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/AdelleNaz">Twitter</a>.</i><br />
<div>
<div>
</div>
</div>
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.breitbart.com%2Fmedia%2F2016%2F04%2FKirsten-Gillibrand-ap-640x480.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEgYMZjug9i2DnPjeAgemdnE95HMT9qxzu_IK5VXMQQx-jsv-br-By1N8TGO6zlr8ilt1hZoQMJitfDA-ib0vdtcMeNUDgvAIdToHozlP1SRYv22QM9k8qFQ-rPaEvVv3lp7WSD213sV6ItHHlmsEb61ZhEQ9qJW-DnegzJUvY79_odzlHlUPgLFdJM=" -->Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-10869731758218514162017-08-06T21:38:00.000-04:002017-08-07T10:07:25.975-04:00According to Roger Stone POTUS Trump Never Approved White House Statement In Support of McMasterWith reporting by Joshua Caplan, of the GATEWAY PUNDIT<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">On Friday evening, the New York Times published a statement allegedly issued by President Trump in support of H.R. McMaster after the National Security Advisor came under heavy fire for his anti-Israel views and firing Trump loyalists. Former Trump campaign manager, Roger Stone, says the White House issued the statement without President Trump’s approval.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div>
<div class="content clearfix" style="color: #14171a; font-family: "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-left: 58px;">
<div class="permalink-header" style="align-items: center; display: flex; height: 48px; margin-bottom: 15px;">
<a class="account-group js-account-group js-action-profile js-user-profile-link js-nav" data-user-id="47253057" href="https://twitter.com/RogerJStoneJr" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #2fc2ef; flex: 1 1 0%; text-decoration-line: none;"><img alt="" class="avatar js-action-profile-avatar" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/881721994328363008/FxyU1qMF_bigger.jpg" style="border-radius: 50%; border: 0px; float: left; height: 48px; margin-left: -58px; margin-top: 0px; width: 48px;" /><span class="FullNameGroup" style="display: block; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px;"><strong class="fullname show-popup-with-id " style="color: #14171a;">Roger Stone</strong><span class="UserBadges" style="font-size: 0.9em; position: relative; top: 1px;"><span class="Icon Icon--verified" style="color: #1da1f2; display: inline-block; padding-left: 4px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="u-hiddenVisually" style="border: 0px !important; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px) !important; font-size: 1px !important; height: 1px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute !important; width: 1px !important;">Verified account</span></span></span><span class="UserNameBreak"> </span></span><span class="username u-dir" dir="ltr" style="color: #657786; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">@RogerJStoneJr</span></a><br />
<div class="follow-bar">
<div class="user-actions btn-group following not-muting including " data-name="Roger Stone" data-protected="false" data-screen-name="RogerJStoneJr" data-user-id="47253057" style="align-items: center; display: flex; position: relative;">
<span class="user-actions-follow-button js-follow-btn follow-button"><button class="
EdgeButton
EdgeButton--primary
EdgeButton--medium
button-text
following-text" style="background: rgb(88, 206, 242); border-color: transparent; border-radius: 100px; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; min-width: 105px; overflow: visible; padding: 6px 16px; position: relative; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out; white-space: nowrap;" type="button">Following</button></span></div>
</div>
<div class="ProfileTweet-action ProfileTweet-action--more js-more-ProfileTweet-actions" style="display: inline-block; float: right; margin: -2px -9px 0px 0px; min-width: 0px;">
<div class="dropdown" style="position: relative;">
<button class="ProfileTweet-actionButton u-textUserColorHover dropdown-toggle js-dropdown-toggle" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #657786; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 0px 9px; overflow: visible; padding: 2px 9px; position: relative; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out;" type="button"><div class="IconContainer js-tooltip" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: middle;" title="More">
<span class="Icon Icon--caretDownLight Icon--small" style="background: transparent; display: inline-block; line-height: 15px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span class="u-hiddenVisually" style="border: 0px !important; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px) !important; font-size: 1px !important; height: 1px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute !important; width: 1px !important;">More</span></div>
</button></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-hidden="true" class="u-hiddenVisually" data-aria-label-part="1" style="border: 0px !important; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px) !important; color: #14171a; font-family: "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1px !important; height: 1px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute !important; width: 1px !important; word-wrap: break-word;">
Roger Stone Retweeted Corryn <span aria-label="Emoji: Flag of United States" class="Emoji Emoji--forLinks" style="background-image: url("https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/1f1fa-1f1f8.png"); background-position: 0.1em center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 1.25em 1.25em; letter-spacing: 1.1em; line-height: 1.25em; padding-top: 0.15em;" title="Flag of United States"> </span><span aria-hidden="true" class="visuallyhidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">🇺🇸</span></div>
<div class="js-tweet-text-container" style="color: #14171a; font-family: "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<div class="TweetTextSize TweetTextSize--jumbo js-tweet-text tweet-text" data-aria-label-part="4" lang="en" style="font-size: 27px; letter-spacing: 0.01em; line-height: 32px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">
McMaster must go - Statement of support put out by WH was never seen or approved by <a class="twitter-atreply pretty-link js-nav" data-mentioned-user-id="25073877" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #2fc2ef; text-decoration-line: none;">@realDonaldTrump</a></div>
</div>
<div aria-hidden="true" class="u-hiddenVisually" data-aria-label-part="3" style="border: 0px !important; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px) !important; color: #14171a; font-family: "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1px !important; height: 1px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute !important; width: 1px !important; word-wrap: break-word;">
Roger Stone added,</div>
<div class="QuoteTweet
u-block js-tweet-details-fixer" style="border-radius: 4px; border: 1px solid rgb(230, 236, 240); color: #14171a; cursor: pointer; font-family: "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 20px;">
<div class="QuoteTweet-container" style="position: relative;">
<a aria-hidden="true" class="QuoteTweet-link js-nav" data-conversation-id="893887398316302337" href="https://twitter.com/Corrynmb/status/893887398316302337" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #2fc2ef; height: 126px; left: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration-line: none; top: 0px; width: 558px;"></a><br />
<div class="QuoteTweet-innerContainer u-cf js-permalink js-media-container" data-conversation-id="893887398316302337" data-item-id="893887398316302337" data-item-type="tweet" data-screen-name="Corrynmb" data-user-id="24233697" href="/Corrynmb/status/893887398316302337" style="padding: 12px;" tabindex="0">
<div class="tweet-content">
<div class="QuoteMedia" style="float: left; height: 102px; margin-right: 12px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; vertical-align: top; width: 102px;">
<div class="QuoteMedia-container js-quote-media-container" style="height: 102px; width: 102px;">
<div class="QuoteMedia-videoPreview" style="height: 102px; width: 102px;">
<img alt="" data-aria-label-part="" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/893885581695909888/pu/img/3UVjA1D4IHJrplFy.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: 102px; left: -39px; position: absolute;" /><br />
<div class="AdaptiveMedia-badge" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25); border-radius: 3px; bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; height: 20px; left: 8px; line-height: 1; padding: 0px 5px; position: absolute; z-index: 1;">
<div class="AdaptiveMedia-badgeText" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 2px 0px 1px;">
1:36</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="QuoteTweet-authorAndText u-alignTop" style="vertical-align: top !important;">
<div class="QuoteTweet-originalAuthor u-cf u-textTruncate stream-item-header account-group js-user-profile-link" style="max-width: 100%; overflow: hidden !important; position: relative; text-overflow: ellipsis !important; white-space: nowrap !important; word-wrap: normal !important; z-index: 1;">
<b class="QuoteTweet-fullname u-linkComplex-target" style="display: inline-block;">Corryn <span aria-label="Emoji: Flag of United States" class="Emoji Emoji--forLinks" style="background-image: url("https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/1f1fa-1f1f8.png"); background-position: 0.1em center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 1.25em 1.25em; letter-spacing: 1.1em; line-height: 1.25em; padding-top: 0.15em;" title="Flag of United States"> </span><span aria-hidden="true" class="visuallyhidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">🇺🇸</span></b><span class="UserBadges" style="font-size: 0.9em; position: relative; top: 1px;"></span><span class="UserNameBreak"> </span><span class="username u-dir" dir="ltr" style="color: #657786; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;">@Corrynmb</span></div>
<div class="QuoteTweet-text tweet-text u-dir" data-aria-label-part="2" dir="ltr" lang="en" style="direction: ltr !important; margin-top: 1px; max-height: 80px; max-width: 100%; overflow: hidden; unicode-bidi: embed; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">
H.R. McMaster Cleared Susan Rice & gave her access to classified info-Despite <span class="twitter-atreply pretty-link js-nav" data-mentioned-user-id="822215679726100480" dir="ltr">@POTUS</span> being vehemently vocal in his condemnation for her! </div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="js-tweet-details-fixer tweet-details-fixer" style="color: #14171a; font-family: "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<div class="client-and-actions" style="clear: both; margin-top: 10px;">
<span class="metadata" style="color: #657786; line-height: 24px; overflow: hidden;">7:05 PM - 5 Aug 2017</span></div>
<div class="js-machine-translated-tweet-container">
</div>
<div class="js-tweet-stats-container tweet-stats-container">
<ul aria-label="Retweeted and favorited by" class="stats" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(230, 236, 240); border-top: 1px solid rgb(230, 236, 240); list-style: none; margin: 10px 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; width: 560px;">
<li aria-hidden="true" class="js-stat-count js-stat-retweets stat-count" style="display: block; float: left; margin-right: 10px; overflow: hidden;"><a class="request-retweeted-popup" data-activity-popup-title="2,285 retweets" data-compact-localized-count="2.3K" data-tweet-stat-count="2285" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" role="button" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-left: 0px; color: #657786; float: left; line-height: 16px; padding: 12px 0px 0px; width: auto;" tabindex="0"><strong style="color: #14171a; display: inline; line-height: 20px;">2,285</strong> Retweets</a></li>
<li aria-hidden="true" class="js-stat-count js-stat-favorites stat-count" style="display: block; float: left; margin-right: 10px; overflow: hidden;"><a class="request-favorited-popup" data-activity-popup-title="3,145 likes" data-compact-localized-count="3.1K" data-tweet-stat-count="3145" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" role="button" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #657786; float: left; line-height: 16px; padding: 12px 0px 0px; width: auto;" tabindex="0"><strong style="color: #14171a; display: inline; line-height: 20px;">3,145</strong> Likes</a></li>
<li class="avatar-row js-face-pile-container" style="display: block; float: left; overflow: hidden;"><a class="js-profile-popup-actionable js-tooltip" data-original-title="jeanne pinkman" data-user-id="1853199265" href="https://twitter.com/iikelizardsalot" original-title="jeanne pinkman" rel="noopener" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-left: 1px solid rgb(230, 236, 240); color: #657786; cursor: pointer; float: left; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; padding: 11px 0px 11px 12px; text-decoration-line: none; width: auto;"><img alt="jeanne pinkman" class="avatar size24 js-user-profile-link" src="https://abs.twimg.com/sticky/default_profile_images/default_profile_normal.png" style="border-radius: 50%; border: 0px; float: left; height: 24px; margin-right: 5px; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out; width: 24px;" /></a><a class="js-profile-popup-actionable js-tooltip" data-original-title="Jon T" data-user-id="3410604801" href="https://twitter.com/Jon32264" original-title="Jon T" rel="noopener" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-left: none; color: #657786; cursor: pointer; float: left; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; padding: 11px 0px; text-decoration-line: none; width: auto;"><img alt="Jon T" class="avatar size24 js-user-profile-link" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/753290408420077568/J5K0Ljl5_normal.jpg" style="border-radius: 50%; border: 0px; float: left; height: 24px; margin-right: 5px; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out; width: 24px;" /></a><a class="js-profile-popup-actionable js-tooltip" data-original-title="Shirley Friday" data-user-id="2279890250" href="https://twitter.com/shirley_friday" original-title="Shirley Friday" rel="noopener" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-left: none; color: #657786; cursor: pointer; float: left; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; padding: 11px 0px; text-decoration-line: none; width: auto;"><img alt="Shirley Friday" class="avatar size24 js-user-profile-link" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/810689225192411136/hNVFRFVl_normal.jpg" style="border-radius: 50%; border: 0px; float: left; height: 24px; margin-right: 5px; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out; width: 24px;" /></a><a class="js-profile-popup-actionable js-tooltip" data-user-id="866658567675400192" href="https://twitter.com/thewzedd" original-title="Bill Hogan" rel="noopener" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-left: none; color: #657786; cursor: pointer; float: left; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; padding: 11px 0px; text-decoration-line: none; width: auto;" title="Bill Hogan"><img alt="Bill Hogan" class="avatar size24 js-user-profile-link" src="https://abs.twimg.com/sticky/default_profile_images/default_profile_normal.png" style="border-radius: 50%; border: 0px; float: left; height: 24px; margin-right: 5px; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out; width: 24px;" /></a><a class="js-profile-popup-actionable js-tooltip" data-user-id="757748391602368512" href="https://twitter.com/pianosaves" original-title="Albion W. Tourgee" rel="noopener" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-left: none; color: #657786; cursor: pointer; float: left; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; padding: 11px 0px; text-decoration-line: none; width: auto;" title="Albion W. Tourgee"><img alt="Albion W. Tourgee" class="avatar size24 js-user-profile-link" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/812352723060277248/qg4NGPff_normal.jpg" style="border-radius: 50%; border: 0px; float: left; height: 24px; margin-right: 5px; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out; width: 24px;" /></a><a class="js-profile-popup-actionable js-tooltip" data-user-id="33570399" href="https://twitter.com/OBXRealty" original-title="Steve Blaisdell" rel="noopener" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-left: none; color: #657786; cursor: pointer; float: left; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; padding: 11px 0px; text-decoration-line: none; width: auto;" title="Steve Blaisdell"><img alt="Steve Blaisdell" class="avatar size24 js-user-profile-link" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/2939458713/e1965ebdd1355686b8dba32be50503d7_normal.jpeg" style="border-radius: 50%; border: 0px; float: left; height: 24px; margin-right: 5px; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out; width: 24px;" /></a><a class="js-profile-popup-actionable js-tooltip" data-user-id="139817281" href="https://twitter.com/calebleeclardy" original-title="Caleb Clardy" rel="noopener" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-left: none; color: #657786; cursor: pointer; float: left; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; padding: 11px 0px; text-decoration-line: none; width: auto;" title="Caleb Clardy"><img alt="Caleb Clardy" class="avatar size24 js-user-profile-link" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/850794679822155777/nHXCQgu6_normal.jpg" style="border-radius: 50%; border: 0px; float: left; height: 24px; margin-right: 5px; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out; width: 24px;" /></a><a class="js-profile-popup-actionable js-tooltip" data-original-title="ballpoint" data-user-id="426604849" href="https://twitter.com/ballpointmf1" original-title="ballpoint" rel="noopener" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-left: none; color: #657786; cursor: pointer; float: left; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; padding: 11px 0px; text-decoration-line: none; width: auto;"><img alt="ballpoint" class="avatar size24 js-user-profile-link" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/804346767684665344/xwMiTupN_normal.jpg" style="border-radius: 50%; border: 0px; float: left; height: 24px; margin-right: 5px; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out; width: 24px;" /></a><a class="js-profile-popup-actionable js-tooltip" data-original-title="Deplorable Alan" data-user-id="2355258770" href="https://twitter.com/AlanInRonan" original-title="Deplorable Alan" rel="noopener" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-left: none; color: #657786; cursor: pointer; float: left; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; padding: 11px 0px; text-decoration-line: none; width: auto;"><img alt="Deplorable Alan" class="avatar size24 js-user-profile-link" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/436956578097287168/_O1NWP_a_normal.jpeg" style="border-radius: 50%; border: 0px; float: left; height: 24px; margin-right: 5px; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out; width: 24px;" /></a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div class="stream-item-footer" style="color: #14171a; font-family: "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; padding-top: 1px;">
<div class="ProfileTweet-actionCountList u-hiddenVisually" style="border: 0px !important; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px) !important; font-size: 1px !important; height: 1px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute !important; width: 1px !important;">
<span class="ProfileTweet-action--reply u-hiddenVisually" style="border: 0px !important; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px) !important; height: 1px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute !important; width: 1px !important;"><span class="ProfileTweet-actionCount" data-tweet-stat-count="315" style="color: #657786; display: inline-block; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1; margin-left: 6px; position: relative; vertical-align: text-bottom;"><span class="ProfileTweet-actionCountForAria" data-aria-label-part="" id="profile-tweet-action-reply-count-aria-893971313345392640">315 replies</span></span></span><span class="ProfileTweet-action--retweet u-hiddenVisually" style="border: 0px !important; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px) !important; height: 1px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute !important; width: 1px !important;"><span class="ProfileTweet-actionCount" data-tweet-stat-count="2285" style="color: #657786; display: inline-block; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1; margin-left: 6px; position: relative; vertical-align: text-bottom;"><span class="ProfileTweet-actionCountForAria" data-aria-label-part="" id="profile-tweet-action-retweet-count-aria-893971313345392640">2,285 retweets</span></span></span><span class="ProfileTweet-action--favorite u-hiddenVisually" style="border: 0px !important; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px) !important; height: 1px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute !important; width: 1px !important;"><span class="ProfileTweet-actionCount" data-tweet-stat-count="3145" style="color: #657786; display: inline-block; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1; margin-left: 6px; position: relative; vertical-align: text-bottom;"><span class="ProfileTweet-actionCountForAria" data-aria-label-part="" id="profile-tweet-action-favorite-count-aria-893971313345392640">3,145 likes</span></span></span></div>
<div aria-label="Tweet actions" class="ProfileTweet-actionList js-actions" role="group" style="font-size: 0px; height: 18px; line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 2px; margin-top: 10px;">
<div class="ProfileTweet-action ProfileTweet-action--reply" style="display: inline-block; min-width: 80px;">
<button aria-describedby="profile-tweet-action-reply-count-aria-893971313345392640" class="ProfileTweet-actionButton js-actionButton js-actionReply" data-modal="ProfileTweet-reply" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #657786; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px 2px; position: relative; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out;" type="button"><div class="IconContainer js-tooltip" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: middle;" title="Reply">
<span class="Icon Icon--medium Icon--reply" style="background: transparent; display: inline-block; font-size: 18px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span class="u-hiddenVisually" style="border: 0px !important; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px) !important; font-size: 1px !important; height: 1px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute !important; width: 1px !important;"><br /></span></div>
</button></div>
<br />
<div class="ProfileTweet-action ProfileTweet-action--dm" style="display: inline-block; min-width: 26px;">
<button class="ProfileTweet-actionButton u-textUserColorHover js-actionButton js-actionShareViaDM" data-nav="share_tweet_dm" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; color: #657786; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px 2px; position: relative; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out;" type="button"><div class="IconContainer js-tooltip" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: middle;" title="Direct message">
<span class="Icon Icon--medium Icon--dm" style="background: transparent; display: inline-block; font-size: 18px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span class="u-hiddenVisually" style="border: 0px !important; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px) !important; font-size: 1px !important; height: 1px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; position: absolute !important; width: 1px !important;">Direct message</span></div>
</button></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<br />
<b style="font-size: x-large;">Oy Vay, Let that sink in...</b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /><br />As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, President Trump defended McMaster using the same, vague and cryptic terms used to describe his feelings on Reince Priebus after he was fired. “He is a good man and very pro-Israel,” said President Trump. Priebus was called a ‘good man,’ as well. <br /><br />New York Times reports:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">President Trump defended Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, his embattled national security adviser, on Friday in the face of a full-bore campaign by the nationalist wing of his political coalition accusing him of undermining the president’s agenda and calling for his dismissal.<br />General McMaster has angered the political right by pushing out several conservatives on the national security staff and cautioning against ripping up the nuclear agreement with Iran negotiated by President Barack Obamawithout a strategy for what comes next. His future has been in doubt amid speculation that Mr. Trump might send him to Afghanistan.<br />But after two days of unrelenting attacks on General McMaster by conservative activists and news sites, complete with the Twitter hashtag #FireMcMaster, the president weighed in to quash such talk. “General McMaster and I are working very well together,” he said in a statement emailed to The New York Times. “He is a good man and very pro–Israel. I am grateful for the work he continues to do serving our country.”</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />Coincidentally, here President Trump was describing Priebus, much like he describes McMaster, as a “good man.”<br /><br />Real Clear Politics reports:<br /></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">President Trump gives a brief statement to the media about his decision to replace Chief of Staff Reince Priebus with Secretary of Homeland Security Ret. Gen. John Kelly. The president said Priebus was a “good man” and called Kelly a “great, great American.<br />Trump had just returned from New York and exited Air Force One.<br />“Mr. President, why Secretary Kelly? Why John Kelly?” a reporter asked Trump at Joint Base Andrews.<br />“Reince is a good man. John Kelly will do a fantastic job. General Kelly has been a star, done an incredible job thus far, respected by everybody. A great, great American. Reince Priebus, a good man. Thank you very much,” Trump responded.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /><br />As you probably know, National Security Advisor, H.R. McMaster took a beating this week from conservative media online following news of him purging Trump loyalists while praising Susan Rice and granting her access to classified information.<br /><br />Rumors are swirling that President Trump is furious about McMaster’s decisions in his recent firings. Steve Bannon is reportedly also at odds with McMaster, causing a schism in the White House. It is a fight between the Trump loyalists and Deep State operatives still buzzing around attempting to unseat Trump.<br /><br />TGP reported Thursday, McMaster might be shipped off to Afghanistan to oversee the war. The news also comes amid reports McMaster was caught leaking internal White House politics to now former Acting FBI Head Andy McCabe.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>So will McMaster be the next Deep State Neocon on the chopping block - that is, while the President learns how nasty Washington truly is?</b><br /><br /><br /><b><i>Hell, we can only hope...</i></b></span></div>
Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-68900328307783220372017-08-06T21:29:00.001-04:002017-08-07T10:13:26.822-04:00INTO THE FRAY: The Humanitarian Paradigm- Hobson’s Choice for Israel (Part I)<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i>By MARTIN SHERMAN</i></b></span><br />
<br />
<img height="301" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*JlzQGWQFIZdmYhy04Drjfw.jpeg" width="640" /> <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />Only one policy paradigm can sustain Israel as the nation-state of the Jews and prevent it becoming untenable either geographically or demographically — or both.<br /><br /><br />…when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth, — Sherlock Holmes in “The Sign of the Four”<br /><br /><br />Hobson’s Choice: a situation in which it seems that you can choose between different things or actions, but there is really only one thing that you can take or do — Cambridge Dictionary<br /><br /><br />As the more-than — century old dispute between Jews and Arabs over control of the Holy Land nears its third post-Oslo decade , four archetypical approaches have emerged in the public discourse for its resolution — and one for its “management”(a.k.a. its perpetuation).<br /><br /><br />In this two-part series I will assess the merits (or lack thereof) of these various approaches –both those which endorse (full or partial) Israeli annexation of territory across the pre-1967 Green Line and those which eschew it.<br /><br /><br />Indeed as I will show — barring divine intervention (something only the more pious than myself can rely on as a policy input — of these five (four plus one) options, all but one are demonstrably incompatible with the long-term survival of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. All but one — demonstrably — do not address adequately either the geographic imperatives and/or the demographic imperatives that Israel must address to avoid becoming either geographically untenable or demographically untenable (or both).<br /><b><br /><br />Israel as the nation-state of the Jews</b><br /><br /><br />It is — or at least should be — manifestly self-evident that for Israel to endure over time as the nation-state of the Jews, it cannot (a) withdraw to geographical/topographical confines that make it impossible to maintain ongoing socio-economic routine in the country’s major commercial centers, or (b) allow the Jewish majority to be so diminished that maintenance of the Jewish nature of the state is imperiled.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="516" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1200/1*sln7uQ6LSraEXjTsVVoqjQ.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Body and Soul — The State of the Jewish Nation (New York Times, April 23, 2015)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />Accordingly, it is in terms of their ability to contend with these undeniable imperatives that the alternative proposals for resolution/management for the conflict must be evaluated as appropriate policy prescriptions for Israel if — at the risk of appearing repetitive — it is to retain its status as the nation-state of the Jewish people.<br /><br /><br />I belabor this point of the long-term preservation of Jewish sovereignty, as a necessary precondition for the acceptability of competing policy proposals, because if one is prepared to forego it, other proposals, which are unable to ensure such an outcome, may well be acceptable — like for instance the post-Zionist call for a non-Jewish state of all its citizens.<br /><br /><br />Bearing this brief introductory clarification in mind, let’s begin the critical analysis of the proffered alternatives, which this week I shall confine to policy proposals that eschew full or partial Israeli annexation of territory — deferring analysis of those that endorse such annexation for next week.<br /><br /><br /><b>Managing the Conflict: Mowing the lawn won’t cut it</b><br /><br /><br />The conflict management approach — as opposed to conflict resolution — is ostensibly the least proactive, least provocative — and most pessimistic — largely reflecting the recent assessment of <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/I-dont-know-Kushner-says-on-Mideast-peace-There-may-be-no-solution-501339">Jared Kushner</a> that there may well be no solution to the Arab-Israeli confrontation.<br /><br /><br />In a <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/19394">column</a> written last August, I pointed out the grave detriments this approach entailed, detailing how, over the last two-and- half decades, the military prowess of the terrorist organizations have developed far beyond anything imagined, and how Israel’s political positions have been drastically eroded.<br /><br /><br />Thus, when Israel left Gaza (2005), the range of the Palestinian rockets was barely 5 km., and the explosive charge they carried about 5 kg. Now, their missiles have a range of over 100 km. and warheads of around 100 kg. Likewise, when Israel left Gaza, only the sparse population in its immediate proximity was threatened by missiles. Now, well over 5 million Israelis, well beyond Tel Aviv, are menaced by them. Moreover the terror organizations have exploited periods of calm to further enhance their infrastructures and other abilities, which were barely conceivable a decade ago — including a massive tunneling enterprise and the development of naval forces, commandoes and underwater capabilities.<br /><br /><br />But it is not only in the exponential growth of the terror groups’ martial prowess that the endeavor at conflict management has been a resounding failure. The same can be said — arguably even more so — with regard to the ever-tightening political constraints Israel faces.<br /><br /><br /><b>Mowing the lawn won’t cut it (cont.)</b><br /><br /><br />Perhaps one of the most dramatic and disturbing indications of just how far Israeli positions have been rolled back over the last two decades is reflected in the views articulated by Yitzhak Rabin, in his last <a href="http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/mfa-archive/1995/pages/pm%20rabin%20in%20knesset-%20ratification%20of%20interim%20agree.aspx">Knesset address</a>(October 5, 1995), a month before his assassination. In it he sought parliamentary ratification of the Oslo II Accords, then considered by much of the Israeli public as excessively dovish and dangerously concessionary.<br /><br /><br />There can be little doubt that if today, Netanyahu were to embrace, verbatim, Rabin’s 1995 prescription for a permanent accord with the Palestinian-Arabs in the “West Bank , he would be dismissed — scornfully, disparagingly and angrily — as an “unreasonable extremist”.<br /><br /><br />It of course requires little analytical acumen and a mere smidgeon of common sense to grasp that–whatever one may believe the real size of the Arab population of Judea-Samaria to be — Israel cannot keep an increasing and increasingly recalcitrant and irredentist population indefinitely in a state of suspended disenfranchised political limbo.<br /><br /><br />In this regard, it should be remembered that, today, with the changing nature of Arab enmity, the major existential challenge to Israel’s existence as the Jewish nation-state is no longer repulsing invasion, but resisting attrition — both militarily and politically.<br /><br /><br />Accordingly, by eschewing decisive proactive measures to contend with a predicament that entails a mounting threat and decreasing freedom to deal with it, “conflict management” has become a prescription for avoiding immediate confrontations that can be won, thereby risking having to contend with later confrontations that cannot be won — or can be won only at ruinous cost.<br /><br /><br /><b>Two-States: A mega-Gaza overlooking Tel Aviv?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="285" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*5Ds_HjtUfpB4makM7fmm1w.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tel Aviv skyline — as see from territory designated for Palestinian state</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /><br /><br />Of course, the policy paradigm which, for decades, has dominated the discourse on how to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict is that advocating a two-state outcome. Bizarrely, support for this formula has always been the sine-qua-non for admission into “polite company” while opposition to it was the perceived hallmark of the uncouth and ignorant.<br /><br /><br />Just how perverse this situation is can be gauged from the fact that there is no persuasive reason to believe — and certainly none has ever been provided by two-state proponents — that a Palestinian state will be anything other than a homophobic, misogynistic, Muslim-majority tyranny, whose hallmarks would be: gender discrimination, gay persecution, religious intolerance, and political oppression of dissidents — and which would rapidly become a bastion for Islamist terror.<br /><br /><br />After all, one might well ask, why would anyone purporting to profess to liberal values, wish to endorse the establishment of such an entity — which is clearly the utter negation of the very values invoked for its establishment?!<br /><br /><br />Readers will recall that it was in Gaza that the initial optimistic attempts to implement the two-state idea were made. So, how events unfolded there should be instructive as to how they may be expected to unfold in Judea-Samaria. For in the absence of a compelling argument to the contrary — and as mentioned, none has ever been presented — there is little reason to believe that if Israel were to evacuate the “West Bank” the outcome would not be largely similar to that which followed Israel’s evacuation of Gaza.<br /><br /><br />Indeed, unsubstantiated hope aside, there is neither sound theoretical foundation nor empirical evidence on which two-state proponents can base any prognosis for the success of their political credo.<br /><br /><br /><b>A mega-Gaza (cont.)</b><br /><br /><br />Accordingly, the prudent working assumption must be that any attempt to implement the two-state principle in Judea-Samaria will result in a “mega-Gaza” — and that measures, similar to those required to protect the Israeli population in the South, would be required as well on Israel’s eastern border.<br /><br /> But unlike Gaza, which abuts sparsely populated, largely rural areas, the “mega-Gaza” that almost certainly will emerge in Judea-Samaria would abut Israel’s most populous urban areas. Unlike Gaza, which has no topographic superiority over adjacent Israeli territory, the prospective “mega-Gaza” in Judea-Samaria will totally command the adjacent coastal megalopolis, in which much of Israel’s vital infrastructure (both civilian and military) is located, where 80 percent of its civilian population resides and 80% of its commercial activity takes place.<br /><br /><br />But perhaps most significantly, unlike Gaza, which has only about a 50-km. front with Israel, the envisioned “mega-Gaza” in Judea-Samaria would have a front of up to almost 500 km!<br /></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1200/1*qrDGnNk5oWrIVpTc-NzekA.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Construction of Gaza security barrier:above and below ground</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Accordingly, what might be expected to concentrate two-staters’ minds, more than anything is that, after evacuating Gaza, Israel is now undertaking what IDF Chief-of Staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisencott, </span><a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4851494,00.html" style="font-size: xx-large;">called</a><span style="font-size: x-large;"> the “largest project” ever carried out in the history of the IDF — a wall along the entire Israel-Gaza border, not only several storeys above ground but — to contend with the tunnel threat — several storeys below it !! Now imagine a project over ten times that scale along a “mega-Gaza” in the east…</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Next week: Analyzing Annexation</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">As mentioned, next week I will focus attention on those approaches which advocate full or partial annexations of the territories across the 1967 Green Line. In the analysis I will demonstrate that without an operational plan for dramatically reducing the Arab presence east of the Jordan River, the former will result in the Lebanonization of Israel, creating a single society so fractured by interethnic strife that it would be untenable as the nation- state of the Jewish people; while the latter will result in the Balkanization of Israel, dividing the territory up into disconnected autonomous enclaves, which will be recalcitrant, rivalrous and rejectionist, creating an ungovernable reality for Israel.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Accordingly, by a logical process of elimination, I will show that the Humanitarian Paradigm, advocating funded emigration of the Arab residents of Judea-Samaria (and eventually Gaza) is the only policy paradigm consistent with the long term survival of Israel as the nation-state of the Jews, and hence — for those dedicated to the preservation of the Zionist ideal — Hobson choice.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /><a href="http://www.martinsherman.org/">Martin Sherman</a> is the founder and executive director of the <a href="http://www.strategic-israel.org/">Israel Institute for Strategic Studies</a>.</i></span></div>
Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-32624137518338214032017-08-06T21:17:00.000-04:002017-08-06T21:17:00.281-04:00Arabs marginalize the Palestinian issue - The Ettinger Report<div border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-1479999179352542186bb m_-1479999179352542186bbt" dir="rtl" name="text" style="background-color: white; color: #606060; text-align: right;" width="100%">
<div class="m_-1479999179352542186bbc">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" dir="rtl" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_-1479999179352542186bbc-table m_-1479999179352542186bbdr" style="margin: 0px;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-1479999179352542186bbcr m_-1479999179352542186bbcfr m_-1479999179352542186bbclr" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr class="m_-1479999179352542186bbcr-outer"><td align="left" class="m_-1479999179352542186bbcri" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-top: 9px; width: 600px;" valign="top" width="600"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-1479999179352542186bbccl m_-1479999179352542186bbc-new-column m_-1479999179352542186b1c" style="width: 600px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_-1479999179352542186bp1c m_-1479999179352542186bcw" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 18px; width: 600px;" valign="top" width="600"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-1479999179352542186bbcic" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_-1479999179352542186bbcici" style="direction: rtl; margin: 0px;"><div class="m_-1479999179352542186bbci m_-1479999179352542186bbcitx m_-1479999179352542186bl-in-edit-mode-single" style="color: #606060; direction: rtl; line-height: 1.2; min-height: 8px; text-align: right;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCq1rtXk82SwbifG37l8iBaxNcgxg_tNwmLyk8QiMPTVUT5XM0NCapnPd6Cd9QStS7oynz4LpjaQa42utjFI_njD92XRPaqOM-JkPO_9U0Hb4WAYB8iunv-zSgKv0vM_14J4p7AxaJ3J4/s1600/Ettinger+Report.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="108" data-original-width="269" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCq1rtXk82SwbifG37l8iBaxNcgxg_tNwmLyk8QiMPTVUT5XM0NCapnPd6Cd9QStS7oynz4LpjaQa42utjFI_njD92XRPaqOM-JkPO_9U0Hb4WAYB8iunv-zSgKv0vM_14J4p7AxaJ3J4/s640/Ettinger+Report.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Yoram will be in the US in October/November, 2017 available for speaking engagements.</span></div>
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
<div border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-1479999179352542186bb m_-1479999179352542186bbt" dir="rtl" name="text" style="background-color: white; color: #606060; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: right;" width="100%">
<div class="m_-1479999179352542186bbc">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" dir="rtl" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_-1479999179352542186bbc-table m_-1479999179352542186bbdr" style="margin: 0px;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-1479999179352542186bbcr m_-1479999179352542186bbcfr m_-1479999179352542186bbclr" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr class="m_-1479999179352542186bbcr-outer"><td align="left" class="m_-1479999179352542186bbcri" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-top: 9px; width: 600px;" valign="top" width="600"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-1479999179352542186bbccl m_-1479999179352542186bbc-new-column m_-1479999179352542186b1c" style="width: 600px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_-1479999179352542186bp1c m_-1479999179352542186bcw" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 18px; width: 600px;" valign="top" width="600"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-1479999179352542186bbcic" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_-1479999179352542186bbcici" style="direction: rtl; margin: 0px;"><div class="m_-1479999179352542186bbci m_-1479999179352542186bbcitx m_-1479999179352542186bl-in-edit-mode-single" style="color: #606060; direction: rtl; line-height: 1.2; min-height: 8px; text-align: right;">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>Arabs marginalize the Palestinian issue </strong><br />Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative”<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0XE17F7874FDD85924BB1B73603D276F5195552A27EAF4A3309A248AF3C2DEF2BDB69C7E74DA532FD075F3AA33F20C627DD24C57D3B2B3F309E304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm&source=gmail&ust=1502154889500000&usg=AFQjCNEpwQHiTdcIIqTkFyh8Iy_YHTy_Qw" href="http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0XE17F7874FDD85924BB1B73603D276F5195552A27EAF4A3309A248AF3C2DEF2BDB69C7E74DA532FD075F3AA33F20C627DD24C57D3B2B3F309E304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm" style="border: 0px; color: #00008c; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word !important;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1;">www.TheEttingerReport.com</span></a>, August 4, 2017, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0XBF9F01FCC9305B5720C28EC4D1909FD89BA85C4798353DE7029719C87C0A681D4D010758EAA911A375F3AA33F20C627DD24C57D3B2B3F309E304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm&source=gmail&ust=1502154889500000&usg=AFQjCNHEB93YNzPMqPENq_XSNCa9YKLWdA" href="http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0XBF9F01FCC9305B5720C28EC4D1909FD89BA85C4798353DE7029719C87C0A681D4D010758EAA911A375F3AA33F20C627DD24C57D3B2B3F309E304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm" style="border: 0px; color: #00008c; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word !important;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1;">http://bit.ly/2huIdD4</span></a><br /> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0X1DE8B46A4810516C878B6295895031DD8397B0566E37D33DEAC139DE4A9A010FEB2048304184B59975F3AA33F20C627DD24C57D3B2B3F309E304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm&source=gmail&ust=1502154889500000&usg=AFQjCNHeGkmVyzuLGPjRGHhZ7zkhpk5ruQ" href="http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0X1DE8B46A4810516C878B6295895031DD8397B0566E37D33DEAC139DE4A9A010FEB2048304184B59975F3AA33F20C627DD24C57D3B2B3F309E304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm" style="border: 0px; color: #00008c; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word !important;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1;">Al-Aqsa Mosque controversy</span></a> has exposed, once again, the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0X5D4D1B61B39001546DD601C5E51744738BCED3ECC65F8B3321DC6D2D0ACB7FE44C7D08136377AFAD75F3AA33F20C627DD24C57D3B2B3F309E304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm&source=gmail&ust=1502154889500000&usg=AFQjCNGwtDktY0LIkTB2t87E9i-fKbc3Yw" href="http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0X5D4D1B61B39001546DD601C5E51744738BCED3ECC65F8B3321DC6D2D0ACB7FE44C7D08136377AFAD75F3AA33F20C627DD24C57D3B2B3F309E304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm" style="border: 0px; color: #00008c; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word !important;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1;">non-centrality of the Palestinian issue</span></a> in the overall Arab order of priorities.<br /><br />Contrary to Western media headlines, Arab policy-makers and the Arab Street are not focused on Palestinian rights and Al Aqsa, but on their own chaotic, raging local and regional challenges, which are not related to the Palestinian issue.<br /><br />For example, while the top Palestinian religious leader, Mufti Muhammad Hussein, castigates Arab leaders for their inaction on behalf of the Al Aqsa Mosque, Egyptian President General Sisi, and the Egyptian street, are preoccupied with traumatizing economic and social decay and challenges; the dwindling level of tourism, which is a main source of national income; the lethal, domestic threat of Muslim Brotherhood terrorism; the Libyan chaos and its effective spillover into Egypt; the entrenchment of Islamic terrorism in the Sinai Peninsula, across the Gulf of Suez; the Gaza-based terrorism; the threatening collaboration of Turkey-Qatar-Iran and Turkey’s support of Hamas; the potentially-explosive border with Sudan; etc. <br /><br />General Sisi invests much more time in geo-strategic coordination with Jordan, Saudi Arabia, other Arab Gulf States, the US and Israel – which are perceived as critical allies in combatting terrorism - than with the Palestinian Authority, which is perceived as a destabilizing entity.<br /><br />According to the July 20, 2017 issue of the London-based <em>Middle East Monitor</em>, “<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0X2E14813069CC1CE9EF6F1BA285060A153DACEB1F11FC09AA5742A074BA301A0A7D760FD4070F477F75F3AA33F20C627DD24C57D3B2B3F309E304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm&source=gmail&ust=1502154889500000&usg=AFQjCNFmQX2e3FTba_Bh4ITTT2xHJdP7lw" href="http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0X2E14813069CC1CE9EF6F1BA285060A153DACEB1F11FC09AA5742A074BA301A0A7D760FD4070F477F75F3AA33F20C627DD24C57D3B2B3F309E304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm" style="border: 0px; color: #00008c; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word !important;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1;">Al Aqsa has been abandoned</span></a> by those who profess the leadership of the Muslim World…. [Egypt’s and Saudi Arabia’s] cold indifference…is unworthy of institutions that profess to be the preeminent leaders of Muslims around the world…. The religious institutions in Makkah, Madinah and Cairo have gone absent without leave despite the dangerous situation at the Noble Sanctuary in occupied Jerusalem…. Both countries are spearheading a regional drive for full normalization of relations with Israel. Their reasoning is that friendship with Israel is the best guarantee of US support for themselves….” <br /><br />The London-based Palestinian newspaper, Al-Quds Al-Arabi, published a cartoon, depicting the Arab World as an ostrich burying its head in the sand, while the Al Aqsa Mosque bleeds.<br /><br />Since 1948, and in defiance of Western foreign policy, academia and media establishments, the Arab/Islamic agenda has transcended the Palestinian issue.<br /><br />While showering the Palestinian issue with substantial talk, the Arab/Islamic walk has mostly been directed at other issues: the 1,400-year-old regional, intra-Arab/Islamic unpredictability, fragmentation, instability and intolerant violence; the Islamic Sunni terrorist machete at the throat of all pro-US Arab regimes; the clear and present danger, posed by Iran’s Ayatollahs, to the same regimes; the destructive role played by Qatar in the context of – and in assistance to - the Ayatollahs; the lethal, regional ripple effects of the disintegration of Iraq, Syria and Libya; the inherent, tectonic (disintegration) potential in every Arab regime; the impact of the global energy revolution on the potency of the Arab oil producing regimes; and the enhanced role of Israel in the battle against the aforementioned threats. <br /><br />The dramatic gap between the Arab walk and talk on behalf of Palestinians was particularly noticeable during the Israel-Palestinian wars of 1982 (in Lebanon), 1987-1991 (the 1<sup>st</sup> Intifada), 2000-2003 (2<sup>nd</sup> Intifada) and the Israel-Hamas wars of 2009, 2012 and 2014.<br /><br />Arabs have never shed blood – nor have Arabs dedicated their economic power - on behalf of Palestinians.<br /><br />Moreover, current Iraqi policy-makers and the Iraqi Street are well-aware of the intense Palestinian collaboration with the repressive regime of Saddam Hussein, which caused the Palestinian flight from Iraq following the fall of Saddam. The Syrian Street has not taken kindly to the Palestinian support of the Assad regime, which has produced an expanding Palestinian emigration from Syria since the eruption of the civil war in 2011.<br /><br />Furthermore, most Arab policy-makers consider the well-documented <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0X7EA4B2CA1A80E48090A90FD4FC408BFE711E0EC6EA529DBD9270086ECEAAF348575F7B0010BA7C2B75F3AA33F20C627DD24C57D3B2B3F309E304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm&source=gmail&ust=1502154889500000&usg=AFQjCNGpopqNKbx9hvWQAbofcugm1nQfMA" href="http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0X7EA4B2CA1A80E48090A90FD4FC408BFE711E0EC6EA529DBD9270086ECEAAF348575F7B0010BA7C2B75F3AA33F20C627DD24C57D3B2B3F309E304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm" style="border: 0px; color: #00008c; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word !important;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1;">subversive, terroristic Palestinian track record</span></a> - against fellow Arabs - to be a potential threat to domestic and regional stability. The Arab aim has been to reduce the number of stormy spots in the Middle East, realizing that each eruption of violence resembles a rock thrown into a pool, generating ripple effects throughout the pool, as has been documented by the Arab Tsunami, which is simmering in every Arab country. Thus, violence west of the Jordan River could have an infectious impact east of the river, posing a deadly threat to the pro-US Hashemite regime, which could spread southward to Saudi Arabia and other pro-US Arab Gulf states.<br /><br />In 1948-49 – as was the case in succeeding Arab-Israeli wars - Arab countries did not fight Israel on behalf of Palestinians. Therefore, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt did not share the spoils of the 1948-49 war with Palestinians, prohibiting Palestinian activities in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and Gaza. In fact, a Palestinian Department was established, by the Arab League, in 1949, to be dissolved in 1959.<br /><br />Sacrificing the complex reality of Israel-Arab relations on the altar of simplistic solutions – suggesting that the Palestinian issue is a core cause of Arab policy-making - has failed to advance the cause of peace.<br /><br />In order to advance the cause of Israel-Arab peace, one should study the lessons of the Al Aqsa Mosque controversy, which highlight the limited (and negative) role played by the Palestinian issue in Arab policy-making and the pursuit of peace.</span></div>
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-39298646314205348832017-08-01T14:53:00.001-04:002017-08-01T14:53:06.295-04:00Washington Post whitewashes California imam’s “Annihilate the Jews” sermon<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br />BY <a href="https://www.jihadwatch.org/author/samir">ROBERT SPENCER</a><br /><br /><br />The Washington Post gave Linda Sarsour space to exonerate herself after she called for jihad against Donald Trump. And now it runs interference for Ammar Shahin. But would the Washington Post ever give a foe of jihad terror a chance to rebut charges from, say, the Southern Poverty Law Center? Not on your life.<br /><br />“Washington Post whitewashes California Imam’s ‘Annihilate the Jews’ sermon,” by David Gerstman, <a href="http://legalinsurrection.com/2017/07/washington-post-whitewashes-california-imams-annihilate-the-jews-sermon/">Legal Insurrection</a>, July 30, 2017:</span><div class="entry-content" itemprop="text" style="box-sizing: border-box;">
<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 24px 40px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /><br />There are few things less ambiguous than a call to kill another person. Except, apparently, at The Washington Post.<br /><br />On July 21, imams <a href="http://legalinsurrection.com/2017/07/not-just-one-but-two-california-imams-pray-for-annihilation-of-jews-over-al-aqsa-mosque/">Ammar Shahin of the Islamic Center of Davis (ICD) and Mahmoud Harmoush of Islamic Center of Riverside</a> gave speeches calling for the destruction of the Jews in the context of the recent violence centered around the Temple Mount. Both imams called on Allah “to liberate Al Aqsa from the Jews.”<br /><br />The speeches were brought to light by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which picked them up from the YouTube channels of both Islamic centers.<br /><br />After exposure by MEMRI, news of one or both of the offending sermons were picked up The Jerusalem Post, the <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/449822/anti-semitic-imam-uc-davis-annihilate-filthy-jews">National Review</a>, <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/California-Imam-calls-on-Allah-to-annihilate-Jews-500676">The Times of Israel</a>, the <a href="http://jewishjournal.com/opinion/222272/memo-jewish-community-imams-incite-murder-american-muslim-leaders-silent/">Jewish Journal</a>, the <a href="http://freebeacon.com/issues/california-islamic-center-under-fire-imams-sermon-calling-annihilation-jews/">Free Beacon</a> and various pro-Israel blogs, including <a href="http://legalinsurrection.com/2017/07/not-just-one-but-two-california-imams-pray-for-annihilation-of-jews-over-al-aqsa-mosque/">Legal Insurrection</a> and <a href="http://www.thetower.org/5256-another-california-imam-accuses-jews-of-plot-to-take-over-mecca-medina/">The Tower</a>. There appears to be little or no national coverage given during the week to the sermons. (The local Davis Enterprise <a href="http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/davis-imam-insists-sermon-wasnt-anti-semitic/?preview_id=740359">reported</a> on it in middle of last week, but most national news <br /><br />organizations didn’t touch the story until Friday.)</span></blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 24px 40px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"></span><div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; margin-bottom: 26px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1" frameborder="0" height="338" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qOMqK7Anlwc" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%;" width="600"></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br />Ignoring the Controversy<br /><br />On Friday, Michelle Boorstein, the Post’s religion reporter <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/07/28/did-a-california-imam-call-for-violence-against-jews-faith-leaders-meet-to-calm-tensions/?utm_term=.0545c5b657a8">covered</a> the apology of Sheikh Ammar Shahin, the imam of the mosque, at the Islamic Center of Davis (ICD), in California, for giving an anti-Semitic sermon a week earlier.<br /><br />For a full week The Washington Post was silent about this crude anti-Semitism. Only a week later did the Post cover it and a number of things are readily apparent.<br />The Post only reported once Shahin offered a dubious apology.<br />The Post never reported on Harmoush’s sermon. Harmoush did not apologize.<br />The Post reported uncritically a false claim made by Shahin and one of his supporters.<br />The Post got an expert to reinterpret part of his sermon so that it was somewhat less offensive.<br /><br />The first two items are related. The news, which was first reported by MEMRI, on July 21 was that two California imams gave virulently anti-Semitic speeches calling for the killing of the Jews. That was the news.<br /><br />The Post had a whole week to be aware of this news before Shahin’s “apology” press conference, but only reported on the sermon once an apology was in hand and damage control effort had begun. The fact that the speech by Harmoush, who to the best of my knowledge never apologized, was ignored makes it less likely that this was an accident.<br /><br />Reporting the Apology with Sympathy, and Ignoring Root Causes<br /><br />In the course of the article Boorstein reported ,”In the hour-long sermon, the 31-year-old Shahin focused on the standoff at the site and called Muslims to come together to protest the closure there.”<br /><br />Later she quoted a worshiper from the mosque who said that he was disgusted “by the action of the Israeli government in preventing Muslim people from doing their prayers in the Masjid Al-Aqsa.”<br /><br />But it wasn’t the Israeli government that closed the mosque (except in the immediate aftermath of the killings of two police officers there by a gang of three terrorists), Muslims stayed away from the mosque on account of <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/waqf-urges-muslims-to-boycott-temple-mount-over-metal-detectors/">boycott</a> called by the head of the Waqf, the Jordanian religious trust that administers the site.<br /><br />(I <a href="https://twitter.com/soccerdhg/status/891049929724088320">pointed</a> this out to Boorstein on Twitter, she <a href="https://twitter.com/mboorstein/status/891050944166756352">responded</a> that it wasn’t her job to correct the inaccuracies as she linked to the reporting from Israel and this story was about what happened in Davis. Shahin, as her own reporting attests, made the false claim, so its inaccuracy is central to the story and should have been reported on.)<br /><br />In case people were unconvinced by Shahin’s apology:<br /></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">A Northern California imam whose widely distributed sermon about Jews in disputed Jerusalem set off controversy and fear of violence apologized at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzHQVJ6BAGk&feature=youtu.be">a Friday news conference</a>, saying his words were hurtful and “unacceptable.”</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-large;">“To the Jewish community, here in Davis and beyond, I say this: I am deeply sorry for the pain that I have caused. The last thing I would do is intentionally hurt anyone, Muslim, Jewish or otherwise. It is not in my heart, nor does my religion allow it,” Ammar Shahin said in <a href="http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/local/imam-ammar-shahins-statement/2515/">his statement</a>. …</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-large;">“Commitment to defending religious rights in Jerusalem should not cause division or fan the flames of anti-Semitism,” Shahin said at Friday’s news conference. “Today, I commit to working harder and will join efforts for mutual understanding and building bridges. As a young religious leader, this has humbled me.”</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Boorstein got an expert to re-translate part of Shahin’s speech so it would fit the imam’s new interpretation:<br /></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Nazir Harb Michel, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in Arab and Islamic Studies, translated one passage in the imam’s sermon this way:</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br />“O God, liberate the al-Aqsa mosque from the desecrations of the Jews. O God, upon you is the handling of those who closed the al-Aqsa mosque. O God, defeat each of them and count them all, and don’t leave any of them out.”</span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 24px 40px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">That’s certainly not as offensive as:</span><blockquote style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 24px 40px;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 26px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Oh Allah, support the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the rest of the Muslim lands. Oh Allah, liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews. Oh Allah, destroy those who closed the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Oh Allah, show us the black day that You inflict upon them, and the wonders of Your ability. Oh Allah, count them one by one and annihilate them down to the very last one. Do not spare any of them.</span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">but I suspect that Michel is taking a good deal of literary license with his interpretation. Is it a reporter’s job to seek advocates of a controversial figure and republish those remarks uncritically?<br /><br />What no one seems to dispute is that elsewhere in the speech Shahin spoke in very unambiguous terms about the destruction of the Jews.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 24px 40px;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">When that war breaks out, they will run and hide behind every rock, and house, and wall, and trees. The house, the wall, and the trees will call upon the Muslims. It will say: Oh Muslim… It will not say: Oh Palestinian, oh Egyptian, oh Syrian, oh Afghan, oh Pakistani, oh Indian… No, it will say: Oh Muslim. Muslim. When Muslims come back… ‘Come, there is someone behind me – except for the Gharqad tree, which is the tree of the Jews. Except for a certain tree that they are growing today in Palestine, in that area, except this form of tree, which they are growing today… That’s the tree that will not speak to the Muslims.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /><br />This hadith (saying attributed to Mohammed), along with some embellishments added by Shahin, is one that is cited in the Hamas <a href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp">covenant</a>, saying that all Jews will be destroyed on Judgment day.<br /><br />Furthermore, it may be possible to excuse Shahin if all he said that his call for Allah to deal with the Jews. But he said more than that. Shahin also prayed, “Oh Allah, make this happen by our hands. Let us play a part in this.” This isn’t simply a prayer for God to settle accounts with the Jews, it is literally a call to arms of his listeners to physically take part in liberating Al Aqsa.<br /><br />It looks like Boorstein did her best to reduce Shahin’s inflammatory sermon to a political commentary delivered by someone who was understandably upset by the actions of the Israeli government….</span></blockquote>
</div>
Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-25994980637116283862017-08-01T14:48:00.003-04:002017-08-01T14:57:08.849-04:00Egypt: Muslim military officers beat soldier to death upon learning he was Christian<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">BY <a href="https://www.jihadwatch.org/author/samir">ROBERT SPENCER</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Imagine the outcry, the entirely justified international uproar, that would ensue if Christian officers had beat a Muslim soldier to death. But this incident will pass largely unnoticed.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://cdn.jihadwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/The-body-of-Joseph-Reda-Helmy.-screenshot.jpg"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><img src="https://cdn.jihadwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/The-body-of-Joseph-Reda-Helmy.-screenshot.jpg" /></span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“Soldier Beaten to Death for His Christian Faith, Relatives Say,” <a href="http://morningstarnews.org/2017/07/soldier-beaten-death-christian-faith-relatives-say/">Morning Star News</a>, July 27, 2017 (thanks to the <a href="http://pamelageller.com/2017/07/christian-solider-beaten-to-death.html/">Geller Report</a>):</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">CAIRO (Morning Star News) – Egyptian military officers beat a new soldier to death on July 19 upon learning that he was a Christian, relatives said.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Joseph Reda Helmy of Kafr Darwish village, Beni Suef Governorate, had just completed training at Mobarak military training center and was transferred to Al-Salaam special forces police unit, where three officers killed him, relatives told Middle Eastern media. The Egyptian army told relatives Helmy died of an epileptic seizure.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">His father, Reda Helmy, told Al Karma TV by phone that his large, strong son had arrived at the camp at 2 p.m. and was dead by 8 p.m. In the same program, the deceased’s cousin, Youssef Zarif, said he received a message at 2 a.m. on July 20 from the Ministry of Interior to come and retrieve Helmy’s body.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">When Zarif arrived, he asked to meet an officer and was initially rebuffed. Eventually he met with an officer who told him that Helmy had died of an epileptic seizure. Zarif refused to believe the army explanation, saying Helmy was a healthy, quiet person loved by all in his village of Christians and Muslims. The heavily Muslim country has population that is about 10 percent Christian.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">He told Al Karma that the extensive bruising he found on the body did not look like those of an epileptic episode. He said Helmy had bruises on his head, shoulders, neck, back and genitalia, with the worst injuries occurring on his back.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The doctor who examined the body refused to bow to pressure from those who brought it and reported that the cause of death was not natural, Zarif said. A prosecutor accompanying the family firmly concurred and demanded an investigation, he said.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Zarif said he thanked the doctor and prosecutor for not trying to cover up the truth.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The three officers who attacked his cousin are in custody and under investigation, he said.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Zarif said he learned from police and other soldiers that the three officers began to harass Helmy because of his Christian faith, and that the marks on his body indicate they kicked him with their boots and hit him with heavy instruments.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Another cousin, Malak Youakim, confirmed the killing to Alhorreya.TV. Youakim also said Helmy was attacked for his Christian faith.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">A Christian leader in Helmy’s home village said many there are in mourning.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">“Many women are wearing black, a sign of mourning for the death of one of their Coptic youth,” he told Morning Star News. “Many are sharing the graphic pictures of the bruised body of Joseph Reda Helmy, a new draftee doing his military service.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">He said Helmy had been in the army for only month when he died on July 19.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Several other Coptic Christians have died for their faith while serving in the Egyptian military. On Feb. 17, 2016, the Egyptian military informed the family of Michael Gamel Mansour that the 22-year-old conscript from Assuit had committed suicide. Authorities claimed Mansour, who was assigned to a unit that guards El Gomhoreya Stadium in Cairo, shot himself with a rifle. They asserted that moments before his suicide, Mansour became despondent after a telephone conversation with members of his family….</span></div>
Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-54424524857642132292017-08-01T14:41:00.000-04:002017-08-01T14:41:02.638-04:00Is Tillerson Protecting the Muslim Brotherhood - BREITBART<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/07/28/clarion-tillerson-standing-muslim-brotherhood-terror-designation/">BREITBART</a><br /><br />The Trump Administration hasn’t designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization as it was expected to do.<br /><br />Designation falls under the purview of Secretary of State Tillerson, who has chosen the Muslim Brotherhood;and its backers in Qatar and Turkey over their Arab rivals.<br /><br />Tillerson recently <a href="http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/blacklisting-muslim-brotherhood-would-complicate-us-relations-mideast-tillerson-says-1917776395">signaled his opposition</a> to designating the <a href="https://clarionproject.org/glossary/muslim-brotherhood/">Muslim Brotherhood</a> in mid-June. He only has negative things to say about the idea.<br /><br />His main point is that the Brotherhood’s political parties have representatives in governments like those in Bahrain and Turkey. That is irrelevant. If it was such a problem, Bahrain itself wouldn’t have banned the Brotherhood and the U.S. wouldn’t be dealing with the Lebanese government that has Hezbollah in it, which is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.<br /><br />Tillerson also repeated the “non-violent” and “moderate” <a href="https://clarionproject.org/glossary/muslim-brotherhood/">Muslim Brotherhood</a> propaganda. He claimed that the Brotherhood’s political parties in governments “have become so by renouncing violence and terrorism.” That was <a href="https://clarionproject.org/white-house-label-brotherhood-non-violent-patently-false/">false when the Obama Administration said it</a>, and it is false now.<br /><br />The disappointment in Tillerson’s position is made exponentially greater by the fact that now is an optimum time to designate the group.<br /><br />The Arab world is putting <a href="https://clarionproject.org/questioning-qatars-terror-financing-facts/">unprecedented pressure on Qatar</a> over its support of the Brotherhood and other jihadists in the Islamist swarm. Muslim foes of the Brotherhood are left wondering where the U.S.stands because Trump and Tillerson aren’t on the same page.<br /><br />Counter-terrorism expert Patrick Poole goes so far as to <a href="https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/2017/07/17/rex-tillerson-secretary-of-state-sabotage/">assert</a> that Tillerson is “sabotaging” Trump’s foreign policy and urges his departure from the administration.<br /><br />While President Trump expressed his support for the Arab measures against Qatar and unequivocally described Qatar as a major terrorism-financier, Tillerson did the opposite. He <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/top-us-diplomat-heads-to-qatar-hoping-to-help-end-gulf-rift/2017/07/11/dd2ace12-660e-11e7-94ab-5b1f0ff459df_story.html?utm_term=.20b78e94a9f0">described</a> Qatar as “very reasonable” in its reaction to the Arabs’ pressure.<br /><br /><i>Read the <a href="https://clarionproject.org/secretary-state-disappoints-muslim-brotherhood-qatar/">full story</a> at the Clarion Project.<br />Ryan Mauro is ClarionProject.org’s Shillman Fellow and national security analyst and an adjunct professor of counter-terrorism. He is frequently interviewed on top-tier television and radio.</i></span>Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-79460517072081913222017-07-28T13:55:00.004-04:002017-07-28T14:07:28.103-04:00How Were the Temple Mount Killings Reported in America’s Media?<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://forward.com/scribe/378232/what-the-american-media-got-wrong-about-the-temple-mount-killings/">by Dr. Eric Mandel, MEPIN</a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.israpundit.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/stone-throwers-678x381.jpg" /><br /><br />Israel has been getting some bad press recently in the United States, much of it self-inflicted by the decision to halt the expansion of the pluralistic prayer area near Robinson’s Arch on the Western Wall.<br /><br /><b><i>Editor's note: this is thanks to American Jeary not taking a firmer stance on safeguarding the status of the Western Wall for three thousand years...</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><br />Fair enough, but much of the reporting on Israel and its neighbors by mainstream media sources is factually inaccurate, misleadingly out of context or editorialized to promote a view.<br /><br />The reporting on the Temple Mount violence is a good case in point.<br /><br />NPR News Now morning report on July 24th told its listeners three Palestinians and three Israelis were killed in the aftermath of new Israeli security measures relating to the Al Aqsa Mosque. The killings of the Israeli police that precipitated the security measures, or the massacre of Israeli civilians during a Shabbat dinner in the aftermath of the highly charged incitement didn’t merit a word for context.<br /><br />It really is quite a feat to put both moral equivalence and overt bias all into one short report.<br /><br />Not to be outdone, PBS Newshour anchor Judy Woodruff said the (Jordanian) “dispute added to tension over new security measures at the al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, they sparked protests on Friday and several Palestinians were killed.”<br /><br />Again, there was no mention of the root cause of the violence that began with the killing of two Israeli Druze police officers by Israeli Arab citizens who smuggled weapons onto the Temple Mount, breaking the fragile peace in this religiously charged site.<br /><br />CBC Radio perversely reported that “three Israeli settlers also died in a separate incident in the west bank” insinuating it’s always open season to kill settlers, i.e., trespassing occupiers.<br /><br />The NY Times headline “Deadly violence erupts,” as if de novo Palestinians and Jews kill each other with no one to blame. The Palestinians killed were described as “protesters.” There were five photos accompanying the article that were good examples of editorialized photojournalism, a fraud perpetrated on the public, who understandably expect news reporting, including its choice of pictures, to be fair and unbiased in context.<br /><br />The Times web page shows Palestinians cowering and screaming as they run away from Israeli tear gas. Muslims are seen in respectful peaceful prayer. There are two photos of Israeli police in riot gear dragging away a single pitiful Palestinian protester, and one photo of heroic-appearing rock-throwing Palestinians in the image of David vs. Goliath. Mind you, this was in a news article, not an editorial.<br /><br />The Times continues its long history of finding the good side of Palestinian terrorists, in this case that the terrorist signed off on his Facebook page with emoji hearts before massacring a family enjoying a Sabbath dinner.<br /><br />The Wall Street Journal news section, not to be confused with its consistently more pro-Israel editorial page, joined the moral equivalence crowd writing, “A weekend of violence left three Israelis and at least three Palestinians dead.” Again there was no differentiation made between violent protesters and innocent Israeli civilians.<br /><br />Nowhere in the mainstream American media was there any sensible investigative reporting regarding the placement of metal detectors at other Muslim sensitive sites, the question being whether the Israeli decision was egregious or overly provocative.<br /><br />As any freshman journalism student could have easily found all over the internet, metal detectors and all kinds of security devices are used at Muslim holy sites all around the Arab world, since Muslim-against-Muslim violence is ubiquitous at Muslim holy sites throughout the Middle East, even at Islam’s most holy site in Mecca, where scores of people have been killed, one segment of Islam warring against another.<br /><br />As Jonathan Tobin wrote in JNS, “To an objective observer, the crisis…makes no sense…. How could putting metal detectors to protect a holy site be considered a casus belli …the answer is that this isn’t about metal detectors. It’s about something much bigger: the right of Jews to be in Jerusalem.”<br /><br />The media have ignored the larger issue that President Abbas may be imitating his mentor Arafat, who used the Temple Mount as a starting point for Intifada.<br /><br />Abbas has decided to “ride the recent wave of unrest…and lead the struggle against Israel over the Al Aqsa Mosque” reports the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Instead of defusing the situation after the metal detectors were removed, Abbas continued his incitement saying, “Jerusalem is ours and it is our capital. What you are doing is correct and…(I) support all that you did and are doing.” There were no calls for only exclusively peaceful protests.<br /><br />Abbas is mobilizing the anger on the Palestinian street to deflect attention away from his Fatah rival Mohammed Dahlen and from Hamas, who is still seen as a less corrupt alternative to the Palestinian Authority.<br /><br />Abbas is also using the unrest to turn the attention away from Congress’ demand (the Taylor Force Legislation) that the PA stop funding Palestinian terrorists, i.e. martyrs, who are incentivized with more money, the more heinous the terror they commit.<br /><br />The decision to install metal detectors after a terrorist incident seems obvious to any Western observer who is forced to go through them all the time. I go through a metal detector to enter my Conservative synagogue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan every time.<br /><br />However, in this part of the world sensibilities are distorted, and respect for differing narratives is in short supply, especially after generations of incitement and brainwashing in the Arab population.<br /><br />It is ironic that the main impetus for the use of metal detectors has been Palestinians themselves, who hijacked scores of airliners in the 1960’s through the 1970’s, with death and mayhem accompanying their “freedom fight.”<br /><br />As Beni Avi wrote in the NY Post, “Are they really going to start World War III over metal detectors? Mecca, which is a holy site, has metal detectors. And the Vatican. And many buildings in Manhattan and around the U.S. Yet on Monday the UN Security Council convened an “emergency” session on this new “threat to international peace and security.”<br /><br />American democracy is an ongoing experiment, and an unbiased media is essential for its continued vitality. Picking and choosing which facts to report based on a viewpoint is fine for editorials, but not in a news article.<br /><br />In the 1990’s I interviewed a Pulitzer Prize winner journalist who told me that injecting your own opinion into news stories is now considered good journalism. I was appalled. When I asked one of the leading writers of Haaretz if he was against editorialized news in his paper, he told me that if I didn’t like it I should read another paper!<br /><br />Americans and Israelis deserve and require factually accurate and in-context news reporting on all topics, especially on the hotly charged topic of Israel, where bias against Israel is a given throughout most of the world.</span>Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-28308508638516503612017-07-28T13:54:00.003-04:002017-07-28T13:54:56.231-04:00The Ninth Day of Av guide for the perplexed <div border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-1759920781363318981bb m_-1759920781363318981bbt" dir="rtl" name="text" style="background-color: white; color: #606060; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: right;" width="100%">
<div class="m_-1759920781363318981bbc">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" dir="rtl" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_-1759920781363318981bbc-table m_-1759920781363318981bbdr" style="margin: 0px;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-1759920781363318981bbcr m_-1759920781363318981bbcfr m_-1759920781363318981bbclr" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr class="m_-1759920781363318981bbcr-outer"><td align="left" class="m_-1759920781363318981bbcri" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-top: 9px; width: 600px;" valign="top" width="600"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-1759920781363318981bbccl m_-1759920781363318981bbc-new-column m_-1759920781363318981b1c" style="width: 600px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_-1759920781363318981bp1c m_-1759920781363318981bcw" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 18px; width: 600px;" valign="top" width="600"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-1759920781363318981bbcic" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_-1759920781363318981bbcici" style="direction: rtl; margin: 0px;"><div class="m_-1759920781363318981bbci m_-1759920781363318981bbcitx m_-1759920781363318981bl-in-edit-mode-single" style="color: #606060; direction: rtl; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.2; min-height: 8px; text-align: right;">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">
Yoram will be in the US in August and October/November, 2017, available for speaking engagements.</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
<div border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-1759920781363318981bb m_-1759920781363318981bbt" dir="rtl" name="text" style="background-color: white; color: #606060; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: right;" width="100%">
<div class="m_-1759920781363318981bbc">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" dir="rtl" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_-1759920781363318981bbc-table m_-1759920781363318981bbdr" style="margin: 0px;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-1759920781363318981bbcr m_-1759920781363318981bbcfr m_-1759920781363318981bbclr" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr class="m_-1759920781363318981bbcr-outer"><td align="left" class="m_-1759920781363318981bbcri" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-top: 9px; width: 600px;" valign="top" width="600"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-1759920781363318981bbccl m_-1759920781363318981bbc-new-column m_-1759920781363318981b1c" style="width: 600px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_-1759920781363318981bp1c m_-1759920781363318981bcw" style="direction: ltr; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 18px; width: 600px;" valign="top" width="600"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-1759920781363318981bbcic" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_-1759920781363318981bbcici" style="direction: rtl; margin: 0px;"><div class="m_-1759920781363318981bbci m_-1759920781363318981bbcitx m_-1759920781363318981bl-in-edit-mode-single" style="color: #606060; direction: rtl; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.2; min-height: 8px; text-align: right;">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><strong>The Ninth Day of Av guide for the perplexed </strong>(August 1, 2017)</span><br />Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative”<br />Based on ancient Jewish sages, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0XCF90A56E41C167CFE13F5290D3181AA5A033D58ACA9EDB6F718684CABF2862074A6B660FEA35293075F3AA33F20C627D5E2AD1D154E47B11E304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm&source=gmail&ust=1501286958919000&usg=AFQjCNHChGPFjgCNSHGqnEmogwU7bVzTpg" href="http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0XCF90A56E41C167CFE13F5290D3181AA5A033D58ACA9EDB6F718684CABF2862074A6B660FEA35293075F3AA33F20C627D5E2AD1D154E47B11E304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm" style="border: 0px; color: #00008c; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word !important;" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/2tNw81q</a><br /><br />More information: <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0XEBC809FB8AAE75A22AD8F666EDDDD44881ADE97799080C4489840048DD64FA56975B559C1A790EF575F3AA33F20C627D5E2AD1D154E47B11E304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm&source=gmail&ust=1501286958919000&usg=AFQjCNHa7J4v4Va08D4E-1HfaYHQWycHkg" href="http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0XEBC809FB8AAE75A22AD8F666EDDDD44881ADE97799080C4489840048DD64FA56975B559C1A790EF575F3AA33F20C627D5E2AD1D154E47B11E304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm" style="border: 0px; color: #00008c; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word !important;" target="_blank">https://www.smashwords.com/<wbr></wbr>books/view/499393</a> (pdf)</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">
<br /><span style="font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">1. <strong>Forgetfulness feeds oblivion; remembrance breeds deliverance.</strong><br />According to a legend,<strong> Napoleon</strong> was walking one night in the streets of Paris, hearing lamentations emanating from a synagogue. When told that the wailing commemorated the 586 BCE destruction of the First Jewish Temple in Jerusalem he stated: “People who solemnize ancient history are destined for a glorious future!” The verb "to remember" (<span dir="RTL">זכור</span>) appears almost 200 times in the Old Testament, including the Ten Commandments. Judaism obligates parents to transfer tradition/memories to the younger generation.<br /><br />2. <strong>The most calamitous day in Jewish history</strong>. The 9<sup>th</sup> Day of Av (the 11<sup>th</sup> Jewish month) is first mentioned in the book of Zechariah 7:3. One of four Jewish fast days, it commemorates dramatic national catastrophes (related to the destruction of Jerusalem), in an attempt to benefit from history by avoiding – rather than repeating – critical, moral and strategic missteps. It concludes the 21 days of predicament and lamentation, which began when the walls of Jerusalem were breached by Nebuchadnezzar (1<sup>st</sup> Temple) and Titus (2<sup>nd</sup> Temple), launching a seven-week period of consolation, ingathering and renewal.<br /><br />3. <strong>Major Jewish calamities</strong> are commemorated on the 9<sup>th</sup> Day of Av:<br /><br />* Unlike Joshua & Caleb, the other "ten spies/tribal presidents" slandered the Land of Israel, preferring immediate convenience and conventional "wisdom" over faith and long term vision, thus prolonging the wandering in the desert for 40 years, before settling the Promised Land;<br />*The destruction of the First Temple and Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (586 BCE) resulted in the massacre of 100,000 Jews and a massive national exile;<br />*The destruction of the Second Temple and Jerusalem by Titus of Rome (70 CE) triggered the massacre of 1 million Jews and another massive national exile, aiming to annihilate Judaism and the Jewish people;<br />*The Ten Martyrs – ten leading rabbis – executed by the Roman Empire;<br />*The Bar Kokhbah Revolt was crushed with the killing of Bar Kokhbah, the fall of his Beitar headquarters (135 CE) - south of Jerusalem in Judea and Samaria - the plowing of Jerusalem, and the killing of 600,000 Jews by the Roman Empire;<br />*The pogroms of the First Crusade (1096-1099) massacred tens of thousands of Jews in Germany, France, Italy and Britain;<br />*The Jewish expulsion from Britain (1290);<br />*The Jewish expulsion from Spain (1492);<br />*The eruption of the First World War (1914);<br />*The beginning of the 1942 deportation of Warsaw Ghetto Jews to the Treblinka extermination camp.<br /><br />4. <strong>From Auschwitz to the Jewish State</strong>, from exile to the ingathering/liberty in the Land of Israel. A key message of the Ninth Day of Av, personally and collectively/nationally: sustain faith and hope, and refrain from forgetfulness, despair, fatalism and pessimism, irrespective of the odds, which may seem – through conventional, short-term lenses – insurmountable.<br /><br />5. <strong>The centrality of Jerusalem</strong> in Jewish history is commemorated on the 9<sup>th</sup> day of Av. It is highlighted by Psalm 137:5 – "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." According to the Babylonian Talmud, Ta’anit 30: “He who laments the destruction of Jerusalem will be privileged to witness its renewal.”<br /><br />6. <strong>From destruction to deliverance and renewal.</strong> The Book of the five Lamentations (The Scroll of Eikhah which was composed by Jeremiah the Prophet, who prophesized destruction, exile and deliverance) is read during the first nine days of Av. The numerical value of the Hebrew letters of Eikhah (<span dir="RTL">איכה</span>) is 36, which is equal to the traditional number of righteous Jewish persons. The Hebrew meaning of Eikhah (<span dir="RTL">איכה</span>) could be interpreted as a reproaching "How Come?!", as well as, "Where are you?" or “Why have you strayed away?” The term <span dir="RTL">איכה</span> features in the first chapter of Deuteronomy and the first chapter of Isaiah, which are studied annually in conjunction with the book of Lamentations on the 9th day of Av. Thus the 9<sup>th</sup> day of Av binds together the values of Moses, Jeremiah and Isaiah. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">
<br /><span style="font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">7. <strong>Humility – a prerequisite for worthy leadership</strong>. Fasting on the 9<sup>th</sup> day of Av expresses the recognition of one’s limitations and fallibility, and the constant pursuit of moral enhancement The four Jewish days of fasting commemorate the destruction of the two Temples: the 10th Day of Tevet (the onset of the Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of Jerusalem); the 17th day of Tamuz (the day the walls of Jerusalem were breached); the 9th day of Av (the destruction of both Temples); and the 3rd day of Tishrei (The murder of Governor Gedalyah - who maintained a level of post-destruction Jewish autonomy - which led to a murderous rampage by the Babylonians and to exile).</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">
<br /><span style="font-family: tahoma, geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">8. <strong>A crisis is a launching pad to growth</strong>. The month of Av launches the transformation from curse and decay to blessing and renewal. The Hebrew spelling of Av (<span dir="RTL">אב</span>) consists of the first two letters of the Hebrew alpha-Beth, the spelling of “father” and “bud,” and the first two letters of “spring” (<span dir="RTL">אביב</span> which also means “the father of twelve months”). The numerical value of Av, <span dir="RTL">אב</span>, (<span dir="RTL">א</span>=1 and <span dir="RTL">ב</span>=2) is 3, the combination of the basic even and odd numbers (“A cord of 3 strands is not easily broken,” Ecclesiastes <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1485649934" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">4:12</span></span>). The zodiac sign of Av is a lion, representing the Lion of Judah, rising from the ashes of the destruction caused by Nebuchadnezzar, whose symbol was the lion. The fast of the 9th day of Av is succeeded by the 15th day of Av – a holiday of love and reconciliation.<br /><br />9. For more information on Jewish holidays, in general, and the Ninth of Av, in particular:<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0X1EB8B088680345987EE7BAA5C5A29FD5CA20CA006274643EBCD668B1E96EE192229EEB752830069275F3AA33F20C627D5E2AD1D154E47B11E304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm&source=gmail&ust=1501286958919000&usg=AFQjCNFlfNhZQ2Bp6gN-z0jJRezGwSMxLg" href="http://trailer.web-view.net/Links/0X1EB8B088680345987EE7BAA5C5A29FD5CA20CA006274643EBCD668B1E96EE192229EEB752830069275F3AA33F20C627D5E2AD1D154E47B11E304CA8A6C04DAF7F865465AA68E69EA.htm" style="border: 0px; color: #00008c; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word !important;" target="_blank">https://www.smashwords.com/<wbr></wbr>books/view/499393</a></span></span></div>
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
<div border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-1759920781363318981bb m_-1759920781363318981bbd" dir="rtl" name="divider" style="background-color: white; color: #606060; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: right;" width="100%">
<div class="m_-1759920781363318981bbc">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" dir="rtl" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="m_-1759920781363318981bbc-table m_-1759920781363318981bbdr" style="margin: 0px;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-1759920781363318981bbcr m_-1759920781363318981bbcfr m_-1759920781363318981bbclr" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr class="m_-1759920781363318981bbcr-outer"></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043342360989841681.post-30932274754397120892017-07-28T13:51:00.003-04:002017-07-28T13:51:53.210-04:00INTO THE FRAY -The Temple Mount: No longer in our hands?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3x_7SHAnVC_p0PZ57q0oLzvtPgEt-umICwUXtP3Cz9TPm7M_I2LORZ9WSDWGhgVC2fu7Af-L_6z4bAQc2Np934-qfcCIF4_5RR2jbFqZsMcsio_YRfFaWGvzcmhQSaZiiBkoPG007gjM/s1600/MartinSherman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="119" data-original-width="907" height="82" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3x_7SHAnVC_p0PZ57q0oLzvtPgEt-umICwUXtP3Cz9TPm7M_I2LORZ9WSDWGhgVC2fu7Af-L_6z4bAQc2Np934-qfcCIF4_5RR2jbFqZsMcsio_YRfFaWGvzcmhQSaZiiBkoPG007gjM/s640/MartinSherman.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<h1 class="graf graf--h3 graf--leading graf--title" id="7e22" name="7e22" style="--margin-top-multiplier: 0; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 40px; letter-spacing: -0.028em; line-height: 1.04; margin: 0px 0px 0px -2.5px;">
<span class="markup--strong markup--h3-strong">INTO THE FRAY -The Temple Mount: No longer in our hands?</span></h1>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--h3" id="e905" name="e905" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 10px;">
<span class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="font-weight: 700;">By MARITN SHERMAN</span></div>
<figure class="graf graf--figure graf-after--p" id="c68f" name="c68f" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-ui-sans-serif-text-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 43px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; position: relative; user-select: auto; z-index: 100;"><div class="aspectRatioPlaceholder is-locked" style="margin: 0px auto; max-height: 468px; max-width: 700px; position: relative; width: 700px;">
<div class="aspectRatioPlaceholder-fill" style="padding-bottom: 468.297px;">
</div>
<div class="progressiveMedia js-progressiveMedia graf-image is-canvasLoaded is-imageLoaded" data-action-value="1*Ane7RFjvfWFM3r-s67ue6A.jpeg" data-action="zoom" data-height="523" data-image-id="1*Ane7RFjvfWFM3r-s67ue6A.jpeg" data-is-featured="true" data-scroll="native" data-width="782" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; height: 468px; left: 0px; margin: auto; max-width: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background 0.2s; width: 700px;">
<canvas class="progressiveMedia-canvas js-progressiveMedia-canvas" height="50" style="backface-visibility: hidden; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: 468px; left: 0px; margin: auto; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: visibility 0s linear 0.5s, opacity 0.1s 0.4s; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: hidden; width: 700px;" width="75"></canvas><img class="progressiveMedia-image js-progressiveMedia-image" data-src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*Ane7RFjvfWFM3r-s67ue6A.jpeg" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*Ane7RFjvfWFM3r-s67ue6A.jpeg" style="backface-visibility: hidden; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: 468px; left: 0px; margin: auto; opacity: 1; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: visibility 0s linear 0s, opacity 0.4s 0s; visibility: visible; width: 700px; z-index: 100;" /></div>
</div>
<figcaption class="imageCaption" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.157; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'lnum' 1; font-size: 14px; left: 0px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 0px; width: 700px; z-index: 300;">The Temple Mount complex</figcaption></figure><h4 class="graf graf--h4 graf-after--figure" id="18da" name="18da" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.157; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; letter-spacing: -0.018em; line-height: 1.22; margin: 39px 0px 0px -1.5px;">
<span class="markup--strong markup--h4-strong" style="font-weight: inherit;">As a non-observant Jew I was always skeptical towards the claim of my more devout kin-folk that the Temple Mount was the key to the maintenance of Jewish sovereignty over Israel. I was wrong!</span></h4>
<div>
<span class="markup--strong markup--h4-strong" style="font-weight: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--h4" id="eede" name="eede" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 6px;">
<em class="markup--em markup--p-em" style="font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'salt' 1;">It is extremely important that a solution to the current crisis be found by Friday this week…The dangers on the ground will escalate if we go through another cycle of Friday prayer without a resolution to this current crisis, Events in Jerusalem have the potential to have catastrophic costs well beyond the walls of the Old City, well beyond Israel and Palestine, well beyond the Middle East itself </em>— <span class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="font-weight: 700;">Nickolay Mladenov, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, January 24, 2017.</span></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="38c1" name="38c1" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
<em class="markup--em markup--p-em" style="font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'salt' 1;">When we indulge Arab (and jihadi Muslims’) concerns for honor by backing off anything that they</em> <em class="markup--em markup--p-em" style="font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'salt' 1;">claim offends them, we think that our generosity and restraint will somehow move extremists to more rational behavior. Instead, we end up muzzling ourselves and thereby participating in, honoring, and confirming their most belligerent attitudes… And there is nothing generous, rational, or progressive about that.</em> <span class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="font-weight: 700;">— Prof. Richard Landes, Tablet Magazine, June 24, 2014.</span></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="75a5" name="75a5" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
The chain of bloody events that took place over the last week defies both belief and reason. A series of unprovoked Arab assaults on Israelis, inexplicably, inconceivably and infuriatingly triggered a wave of international criticism of …Israel’s defensive responses?</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="3ac3" name="3ac3" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
<span class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="font-weight: 700;">Israel’s regrettable reticence</span></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="f785" name="f785" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
Of course, in a world where fairness and reason dominated the conduct of international affairs, Israel would have won wall-to-wall sympathy and support — or at the very least, tacit understanding — for its position. After all, the security measures adopted by Israel in the wake of the murderous attack on its law-enforcement officers in the Temple Mount complex were neither extreme nor excessive. To the contrary, they were entirely reasonable, appropriate — even, one might have thought, unavoidable. Indeed, what could be more natural than enhancing security measures in the wake of a deadly terror attack?</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="dbb5" name="dbb5" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
Regrettably, however, international reaction was far from what should have been expected in an imaginary world of fairness and reason. In the real world, very much the opposite was true — with the onus being placed on Israel to defuse the allegedly explosive situation that the threatened aggression of its foes conjured up.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="d656" name="d656" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
But no less regrettable was the self-effacing Israeli response to the ridiculous recriminations, which merely helped fan the flames of this absurdity.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="a13c" name="a13c" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
Thus, rather than robustly and resolutely repudiating the preposterous accusations concocted against it, Israel endeavored to play the “responsible adult”, in effect, acknowledging that it should shoulder the burden for preventing any violence the Arabs/Muslims might decide to instigate.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="813d" name="813d" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
<span class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="font-weight: 700;">Invitation to extortion</span></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="fdad" name="fdad" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
Of course, this implies — paradoxically and perversely — that the target of aggression is to blame for whatever befalls him/her, while exonerating the perpetrators of all responsibility for any malfeasance they may choose to initiate.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="7705" name="7705" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
Unsurprisingly, this ostensibly “mature” and “moderate” behavior won Israel little credit.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="016c" name="016c" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
Thus, rather than being warmly commended it was roundly condemned.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="e3d0" name="e3d0" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
Indeed, instead of being seen as far-sighted statesmanship and enlightened largesse, it was perceived as a tacit admission of guilt. With a little forethought this should not have been surprising. After all, if one believes that the measures one has taken are just and proper, why back away from them? Seen in this light, backing away can only be construed as conceding wrongdoing.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="3e71" name="3e71" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
So, by capitulating to threats of violence, the Israeli government has issued a clear invitation for further extortion. For it has conveyed an unequivocal message of weakness to both friend and foe. Either it is incapable of dealing with threatened Muslim violence or it is unwilling to deal with the consequences of choreographed Muslim ire. But whether it is the lack of ability or the lack of will, there is little difference in the conclusion that will, inevitably, be drawn: There is nothing to prevent further threats to extort further and more far-reaching concessions.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="aa72" name="aa72" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
<span class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="font-weight: 700;">Full disclosure: I was wrong</span></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="02d3" name="02d3" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
As a non-observant Jew, whose relationship with the Almighty has been, to say the least, uneasy, I was always skeptical towards my more devout kin-folk’s claim that the Temple Mount was central to the maintenance of Jewish sovereignty. Although I opposed any Israeli territorial concessions — including on the Temple Mount — I held the belief that the struggle for Jewish control of the site was more incidental than central.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="24b8" name="24b8" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
I believed — and in many ways, still do — that the major thrust for presenting Israel’s requirements to endure as the sovereign nation-state of the Jews should be to underscore the vital strategic importance of the entire territory across the pre-1967 “Green Line” — and the perilous situation that Israel would be in, should any substantial withdrawal be undertaken.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="8a28" name="8a28" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
Accordingly, I felt that there was no need to single out the Temple Mount since it would be self-evident that it would be included in the rest of the territory that Israel needs to retain control over. Indeed, I thought perhaps that it was better not to give prominence to control of the Mount, so as to prevent rational strategic arguments for retention of territory from being dismissed as tainted with “religious fanaticism”.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="7086" name="7086" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
Turns out I was wrong!</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="9d59" name="9d59" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
<span class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="font-weight: 700;">I was wrong (cont.)</span></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="7e58" name="7e58" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
Although I still hold the view that, if Israel is to remain viable as the nation-state of the Jews, it cannot agree to surrendering sovereignty over Judea-Samaria, I am today far more open to the claim that control over the Temple Mount is the key to sustaining Jewish sovereignty. Not because of any strategic imperative but because of a pyscho-political one; not because Jewish zealots see it that way, but because Muslim zealots do.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="5b98" name="5b98" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
Nothing will do more to sustain the Muslims’ belief that they can uproot the Jewish presence in all of the Land of Israel, or at least eradicate Jewish sovereignty over it, than successfully challenging Jewish control over the Jews most sacred site. In Muslim eyes, if they can prise loose the Jews’ hold over the Temple Mount, they can prise it loose over any other site in the land.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="2b15" name="2b15" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
For them, if the Jews are willing to forgo control over the Temple Mount to avoid an outburst of Muslim rage, they will be just as ready to forgo such control over Haifa and Tiberias. For if the Jews are perceived as unwilling to take a stand over their most sacrosanct location, in the heart of their capital, why would they be willing to make a sustained stand over any other, less sacrosanct, location whenever a pretext for conflict arises?</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--p" id="6a9d" name="6a9d" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px; text-indent: -0.4em;">
<span class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="font-weight: 700;">“If I can’t bring my machine gun, no point in praying …”</span></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="1450" name="1450" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
The insufferable absurdity of the opposition to enhanced Israeli security measures — together with the blatant hypocrisy of their coverage by mainstream media — was vividly brought home in a hard hitting <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryKeoZaipDs" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryKeoZaipDs" rel="nofollow noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.44); background-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-position: 0px 1.07em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">video clip</a>presented by Daniel Pomerantz, Senior editor of “Honest Reporting”.</div>
<figure class="graf graf--figure graf--layoutOutsetLeft graf-after--p" data-scroll="native" id="4cbc" name="4cbc" style="--margin-top-multiplier: 0; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); float: left; font-family: medium-ui-sans-serif-text-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 43px 30px 0px -150px; outline: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; position: relative; user-select: auto; width: 525px; z-index: 100;"><div class="aspectRatioPlaceholder is-locked" style="margin: 0px auto; max-height: 339px; max-width: 525px; position: relative; width: 525px;">
<div class="aspectRatioPlaceholder-fill" style="padding-bottom: 338.625px;">
</div>
<div class="progressiveMedia js-progressiveMedia graf-image is-canvasLoaded is-imageLoaded" data-action-value="1*azW1lSn5x40qy5YcR8oUyA.jpeg" data-action="zoom" data-height="480" data-image-id="1*azW1lSn5x40qy5YcR8oUyA.jpeg" data-scroll="native" data-width="744" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; height: 338.625px; left: 0px; margin: auto; max-width: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background 0.2s; width: 525px;">
<canvas class="progressiveMedia-canvas js-progressiveMedia-canvas" height="47" style="backface-visibility: hidden; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: 338.625px; left: 0px; margin: auto; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: visibility 0s linear 0.5s, opacity 0.1s 0.4s; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: hidden; width: 525px;" width="75"></canvas><img class="progressiveMedia-image js-progressiveMedia-image" data-src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1200/1*azW1lSn5x40qy5YcR8oUyA.jpeg" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1200/1*azW1lSn5x40qy5YcR8oUyA.jpeg" style="backface-visibility: hidden; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: 338.625px; left: 0px; margin: auto; opacity: 1; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: visibility 0s linear 0s, opacity 0.4s 0s; visibility: visible; width: 525px; z-index: 100;" /></div>
</div>
<figcaption class="imageCaption" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.157; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'lnum' 1; font-size: 14px; left: 0px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 0px; width: 525px; z-index: 300;">Metal detectors on temple mount</figcaption></figure><div class="graf graf--p graf-after--figure" id="d1b1" name="d1b1" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 38px;">
Pomerantz expressed his bewilderment at the Muslim response to the setting up of metal-detectors after three Arab terrorists emerged from the Al-Aksa mosque and gunned down two Israeli police officers, with automatic weapons they had smuggled into the compound: “<em class="markup--em markup--p-em" style="font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'salt' 1;">I don’t quite understand the logic in refusing to pass through a metal detector”, </em>adding bitingly — but aptly: “<em class="markup--em markup--p-em" style="font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'salt' 1;">It’s like saying ‘Well, if I can’t bring my machine gun then there’s no point in praying at all’</em> .”<br /><br /> Pomerantz deftly repudiates Muslim claims that the metal-detectors constitute an Israeli attempt to change the status quo on the compound, pointing out that the status quo had been violated a day earlier by the terror attack itself. Indeed, as he rightly remarks, the metal-detectors in fact were intended to reinstate the status quo ante, and restore Al-Aksa as a place of worship, rather than an armory.<br /><br /> But of course this meant nothing to the instigators of Arab unrest. For them, any measure, no matter how appropriate or essential for legitimate security exigencies, was merely an opportunity to mount a challenge to Jewish sovereignty.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="6d91" name="6d91" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
<span class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="font-weight: 700;">Appeasement never satiates, only whets, appetites</span></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="b04f" name="b04f" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
In a recent opinion piece, instructively entitled <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-problem-with-the-metal-detectors-is-that-they-are-jewish/" href="http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-problem-with-the-metal-detectors-is-that-they-are-jewish/" rel="nofollow noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.44); background-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-position: 0px 1.07em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The problem with the metal detectors is that they are Jewish</a> Fred Maroun, an Arab, resident in Canada, succinctly summarized the underlying motivation for the Arab resistance to the Israeli security measures: “Sadly, most Arabs still see Israel as the “Yahudi” enemy that must be vanquished at any cost. Therefore, when Israel backs down from making a change that is rational and reasonable, it constitutes appeasement…” He warns: Appeasement of people who hate you beyond any common sense does not work.”</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="7f0b" name="7f0b" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
He is of course right. As history has shown repeatedly, appeasement never satiates the appetites of an aggressor. It only whets them –with each placatory gesture heightening expectations for additional — and more substantial — concessions in the future.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="90ee" name="90ee" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
Similar sentiments were expressed this morning by Education Minister, Naftali Bennett.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="2e66" name="2e66" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
To be sure, I have had — and still have — some serious policy disagreements with Bennett, but his<a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://glz.co.il/%D7%92%D7%9C%D7%A6/%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9F-%D7%93%D7%A7%D7%9C-%D7%95%D7%A2%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%A1%D7%92%D7%9C/%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9F-%D7%93%D7%A7%D7%9C-%D7%95%D7%A2%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%A1%D7%92%D7%9C-270717/%D7%94%D7%A9%D7%A8-%D7%91%D7%A0%D7%98-%D7%94%D7%A1%D7%A8%D7%AA-%D7%92%D7%9C%D7%90%D7%99-%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%AA%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%9E%D7%97%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%94-%D7%90%D7%95%D7%AA%D7%A0%D7%95" href="https://glz.co.il/%D7%92%D7%9C%D7%A6/%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9F-%D7%93%D7%A7%D7%9C-%D7%95%D7%A2%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%A1%D7%92%D7%9C/%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9F-%D7%93%D7%A7%D7%9C-%D7%95%D7%A2%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%A1%D7%92%D7%9C-270717/%D7%94%D7%A9%D7%A8-%D7%91%D7%A0%D7%98-%D7%94%D7%A1%D7%A8%D7%AA-%D7%92%D7%9C%D7%90%D7%99-%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%AA%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%9E%D7%97%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%94-%D7%90%D7%95%D7%AA%D7%A0%D7%95" rel="nofollow noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.44); background-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-position: 0px 1.07em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> comments</a> this morning (July 27, 2017) were spot on. He lamented <em class="markup--em markup--p-em" style="font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'salt' 1;">“…Israel has come out of this crisis considerably weakened. Instead of strengthening our sovereignty in Jerusalem, we sent a message that our sovereignty can be appealed — not just on the Temple Mount, but in other areas as well.</em>”</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="788c" name="788c" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
He continued: “<em class="markup--em markup--p-em" style="font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'salt' 1;">The decision to remove the magnetometers [metal-detectors] was definitely the wrong decision. Israel came out of the whole issue weaker…Every time Israel bows to strategic pressure, it harms us in the long run. It harms our ability to deter attacks.</em></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--p" id="2431" name="2431" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px; text-indent: -0.4em;">
<span class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="font-weight: 700;">“When they smell weakness…”</span></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="f95f" name="f95f" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
Ominously he warned “<em class="markup--em markup--p-em" style="font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'salt' 1;">I expect to see an increase in violence in the next few weeks. We live in the toughest neighborhood in the world. When they smell weakness, they rise up</em>”.<br /><br /> Bennett then urged the PM to rescind all programs designed to improve conditions for the Palestinians and to initiate an assertive plan to combat terror: “<em class="markup--em markup--p-em" style="font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'salt' 1;">The PM must instruct the Defense Minister to take all plans for promoting the Palestinians and offering them ‘carrots’ off the table, and put in their place plans for operations which will end terror</em>.”<br /><br /> It, of course, remains to be seen how firmly and effectively Bennett will insist on implementation of his robust prescription. However, it is clear that he seems to have wide public support for tough measures.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="1bbf" name="1bbf" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
Thus, “Israel Hayom”, usually strongly supportive of Netanyahu, published a blistering condemnation of his performance by its<span class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="font-weight: 700;"> </span>political correspondent, Mati Tuchfeld,<span class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="font-weight: 700;"> </span>entitled <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=44135" href="http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=44135" rel="nofollow noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.44); background-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-position: 0px 1.07em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The metal detectors debacle: Netanyahu’s feeble response</a>. In it, Tuchfeld cites a Channel 2 poll according to which, on Tuesday evening, after the removal of the metal-detectors, 77% of the Israeli public felt that the government caved in to pressure, while 67% believed that Netanyahu did not handle this situation well. Moreover, 68% thought that the initial decision to install the metal-detectors was correct.<br /><br /> All of this seems to indicate that the normally hyper-savvy Netanyahu is seriously out of step with his political base — who appear to be demanding a far more vigorous approach to the emerging challenge to Jewish sovereignty.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--p" id="883a" name="883a" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px; text-indent: -0.4em;">
<span class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="font-weight: 700;">“Only way Islam can live with Israeli sovereignty…”</span></div>
<figure class="graf graf--figure graf--layoutOutsetLeft graf-after--p" data-scroll="native" id="f6d8" name="f6d8" style="--margin-top-multiplier: 0; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); float: left; font-family: medium-ui-sans-serif-text-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 18px; margin: 43px 30px 0px -150px; outline: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; position: relative; user-select: auto; width: 525px; z-index: 100;"><div class="aspectRatioPlaceholder is-locked" style="margin: 0px auto; max-height: 322px; max-width: 525px; position: relative; width: 525px;">
<div class="aspectRatioPlaceholder-fill" style="padding-bottom: 322.344px;">
</div>
<div class="progressiveMedia js-progressiveMedia graf-image is-canvasLoaded is-imageLoaded" data-action-value="1*AgY4pNB4JNYiG2TFByikdg.jpeg" data-action="zoom" data-height="383" data-image-id="1*AgY4pNB4JNYiG2TFByikdg.jpeg" data-scroll="native" data-width="624" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; cursor: zoom-in; height: 322px; left: 0px; margin: auto; max-width: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background 0.2s; width: 525px;">
<canvas class="progressiveMedia-canvas js-progressiveMedia-canvas" height="45" style="backface-visibility: hidden; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: 322px; left: 0px; margin: auto; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: visibility 0s linear 0.5s, opacity 0.1s 0.4s; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: hidden; width: 525px;" width="75"></canvas><img class="progressiveMedia-image js-progressiveMedia-image" data-src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1200/1*AgY4pNB4JNYiG2TFByikdg.jpeg" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1200/1*AgY4pNB4JNYiG2TFByikdg.jpeg" style="backface-visibility: hidden; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: 322px; left: 0px; margin: auto; opacity: 1; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: visibility 0s linear 0s, opacity 0.4s 0s; visibility: visible; width: 525px; z-index: 100;" /></div>
</div>
<figcaption class="imageCaption" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.157; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'lnum' 1; font-size: 14px; left: 0px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 0px; width: 525px; z-index: 300;">Thousands attend Umm Al-Fahm funeral for dead terrorists</figcaption></figure><div class="graf graf--p graf-after--figure" id="e85c" name="e85c" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 38px;">
But perhaps the gravest threat of all entailed in a sense of Jewish lack of resolve is the prospect of insurrection and revolt by the Arab citizens of Israel. Indeed, it was a threat clearly evident on Wednesday night (July 26, 2017) in the Israeli town of Umm al-Fahm, where thousands attended the funeral of the three terrorists who recently murdered the two police officers on the Temple Mount. The participants <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/thousands-attend-funerals-of-terrorists-who-killed-two-cops-at-temple-mount/" href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/thousands-attend-funerals-of-terrorists-who-killed-two-cops-at-temple-mount/" rel="nofollow noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.44); background-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-position: 0px 1.07em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">reportedly</a> praised the killers as <em class="markup--em markup--p-em" style="font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'salt' 1;">Shahids</em> (martyrs) of Al-Aksa, vowed to follow in their footsteps and defiantly flew the Palestinian flag.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="35d7" name="35d7" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
Clearly, this threat will undoubtedly materialize unless the Arabs are convinced the Jews will brook no challenge — from within Israel’s borders or from without — to their national sovereignty and political independence.<br /><br /> Accordingly, what is called for today is not a repetition of reticent restraint, but the demonstration of ruthless resolve. For unless the Jews convey the unequivocal message that any such challenge to their sovereignty will be met with overwhelming lethal force, they will inevitably be the victims of violent insurrection at the hands of their Arab adversaries.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="d163" name="d163" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
Allow me to conclude with the <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/20790" href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/20790" rel="nofollow noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.44); background-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-position: 0px 1.07em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">words of the learned scholar</a> of Islam, and former IDF intelligence officer, Dr. Mordechai Kedar:</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="0f5e" name="0f5e" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
<em class="markup--em markup--p-em" style="font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'salt' 1;">The only way Islam can live with Israeli sovereignty is by recognizing that Israel is strong and invincible, so that any attempt to overcome it is sure to end in defeat… The possibility of a permanent European-style peace with the Jews does not exist in the Middle East, meaning that only power and a willingness to use it will give Israel a temporary peace that will last forever — that is, if Israel is invincible forever.</em></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="2e24" name="2e24" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
Amen.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p graf--trailing" id="d952" name="d952" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.179; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
<a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="http://www.martinsherman.org/" href="http://www.martinsherman.org/" rel="nofollow noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.44); background-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-position: 0px 1.07em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em" style="font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'salt' 1;">Martin Sherman</em></a><span class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="font-weight: 700;"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em" style="font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'salt' 1;"> is the founder and executive director of the </em></span><a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="http://www.strategic-israel.org/" href="http://www.strategic-israel.org/" rel="nofollow noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.44); background-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%); background-position: 0px 1.07em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 0.1em; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em" style="font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'salt' 1;">Israel Institute for Strategic Studies</em></a><span class="markup--strong markup--p-strong" style="font-weight: 700;"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em" style="font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'salt' 1;">.</em></span></div>
Yechezkel Moskowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280234685861669720noreply@blogger.com0