Thursday, September 22, 2016

  • Thursday, September 22, 2016
  • Elder of Ziyon
I already showed how Mahmoud Abbas claimed, quite falsely, that Israel violated international law by defending itself in 1948 from being destroyed by Arabs - and reaching what became known as the Green Line.

But that was far from the only lie in his speech. I made a poster illustrating another one:



The entire paragraph that includes this lie among many is worth quoting:

We continue our efforts to build the foundations of a culture of peace among our people. (1) We stand against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations (2) and we condemn it by whomever and wherever (3). ...We support the efforts to confront terrorism, extremism, sectarianism and violence,(4) and appeal to stand united against terrorism, which knows no religion (5). In this context, I wish to reaffirm once again that there is no way to defeat terrorism and extremism and achieve security and stability in our region without ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine (6) and ensuring the freedom and independence of the Palestinian people. (7)

1. Look at Palestinian Media Watch. Look at Abbas' statements inciting violence against Jews who visit their own holiest site. Look at how the official PA media celebrates terror. Look at how Abbas pays salaries to terrorists. Look at how PA school textbooks do not say a word about peace with Israel.

2. See poster.

3. Abbas does not condemn Arab youths stabbing Israelis - he justifies it.

4. Abbas' Fatah still has a terror group that brags about its rockets aimed at civilians, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.

5. Virtually every terror act in the Middle East (which is the context he was speaking of) is done in the name of Islam.

6. Since every map of "Palestine" under his control shows all of Israel, he is saying that Israel has no right to exist.

7. Abbas is falsely claiming "linkage" - that ISIS wouldn't exist without Israel. He is also threatening the world by saying that unless he is satisfied with a peace plan, he will not do anything to stop Middle East terrorists from murdering their fellow Arabs.

That's a lot of lies. If only reporters cared enough about the truth to actually fact check Mahmoud Abbas with the same enthusiasm that they pretend to fact-check Netanyahu.




We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
  • Thursday, September 22, 2016
  • Elder of Ziyon
(This post is pinned to the top for the day, scroll down for more articles.)

As we approach Rosh Hashana, it is a good time to donate to EoZ and to help Israel.

During my trip in July, I found out that at least one major official Israeli institution uses my quick analysis and fisking of NGO reports to fight anti-Israel slanders. (I wish I could say more details!)

I had been told this by other members of the government as well.

My articles get noticed, by both the pro-Israel and anti-Israel media. The haters have tried to slander me because they know they cannot effectively argue with what I write (usually.)

Over time, my research and analysis has been referred to and linked to in lots of news outlets. Here's a list of the media I could think of that have mentioned the blog:



EoZ makes a difference - whether it is in media coverage, or revealing bias in textbooks, or holding NGOs to the same standards they demand of everyone but themselves, or in bringing you interviews with interesting people who have interesting things to say, or in giving talks. The things I do help Israel.

If you appreciate what I do, please consider making a donation or increasing the amount you already give. For various personal reasons, I need your help more than ever. 

You can choose to become a patron of EoZ through Patreon. This is a great option that allows you to give a set amount every month and you get some exclusive goodies in return. 

You can give through PayPal, either as a one-time donation or also as a subscription (see sidebar):



You can send me an Amazon gift card.

Or you can invite me to speak at your organization. 

But however you do it, remember that your donations actually make a difference and help Israel in the fight for its legitimacy.

Shana Tova, and thanks as always for all of your support. 




We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
From Ian:

Dershowitz: Alumni, Donors Should Divest From Universities That Boycott Israel
Attempts by universities to divest from Israel “should be met with a similar counter response from alumni and donors,” internationally acclaimed attorney Alan Dershowitz told The Algemeiner on Thursday.
In light of growing support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement across college campuses around the world, Dershowitz said, it is time to take a stand against this “dangerous force at universities.”
“The policy will be that in response to any university that divests from Israel, alumni and parents will divest from that university,” he explained. “It is important to fight economic threats with economic counter-threats.”
Recounting his own experience as a parent, Dershowitz said that when he heard about faculty at Hampshire University — the alma mater of one of his children — voting to boycott Israel, “I called up the president and said I would lead a campaign to urge all donors and alumni to divest from the school. He then assured me that Hampshire will never divest from Israel, and it never has.”
According to a 2015 report by campus watchdog group the AMCHA Initiative, 54 percent of the more than 100 US colleges surveyed reported BDS-related activity, which, it said, was “very strongly correlated with…antisemitic expression.”
Dershowitz continued, “The current student body has far too much influence on the political policies of universities. It has to be checked and balanced by people who have a more permanent interest in the university, such as alumni, donors, faculty and administrators.”

IsraellyCool: Alan Dershowitz Interview In London
I probably don’t need to introduce Alan Dershowitz to the Israellycool audience, but the one line summary is that he’s a huge thought leader for the US left leaning Jewish population. He sat down for a long interview with my friend Jonathan Sacerdoti for i24 News in London. Plenty of criticism of Obama but a balanced interview overall with some great questions.
Dershowitz was in London speaking at UJIA’s annual dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Monday.


NGO Monitor: Unraveling the Belgian BDS connection
On September 9, Brigitte Herremans arrived at Ben Gurion airport, planning to lead an “alternative tour” of political activists, as she had done many times before. But this time, the polite-sounding Belgian activist was not given the usually automatic tourist visa. Instead, by her own account, she was unceremoniously denied entry and turned back.
Brigitte Herremans is in many ways typical of Western European leaders of BDS and demonization campaigns. Her official title is Policy Officer for the Middle East at Broederlijk Delen (BD) meaning “fraternal sharing”– an influential and semi-official Belgian Flemish Catholic aid organization. (She plays a similar role in another Catholic NGO — Pax Christi.) They claim to combat poverty and inequality by working with local organizations, but are tainted with a radical political agenda that includes intense demonization of Israel. Out of the €6 million annual budget provided by Belgian taxpayers, €264,000 goes to political projects in “Israel/Palestine” that have nothing to do with aid. This is Herremanns’ radical mini-empire.
The blatant anti-Israel agenda and Palestinian victimization narrative reflects the Western European norm, including strong Christian theological echoes and a patronizing neo-colonial relationship with Palestinians. BD’s website states: “Unlike the Palestinian people, the Israeli people has more than 60 years of statehood, established on 78% of historic Palestine” a standard slogan that erases the history of wars, terrorism and hate. Herremanns is not a terrorist — she echoes the soft form of warfare, and in this spirit, BD held a public event on “Peaceful resistance in Palestine and Israel” in May 2016. “Resistance” is the goal – not peace and security based on mutual recognition and compromise.


 
 Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column


There were eight stabbing attacks by Arabs against Jews in the last four days (as of Tuesday).

News item:

Speaking to students of Palestinian origin in Venezuela, Abbas explained that incitement was not behind the decision to carry out attacks, "rather, they [young Palestinians] have lost hope."

He added that he is prepared to return to the negotiation table if Israel halts settlement construction and releases additional prisoners. Abbas went on to say that the Palestinians would not compromise on the right of return, stressing that 6 million Palestinian refugees were waiting to come home.

So this is what we are dealing with. We are in the midst of a war between peoples, a war different from most wars, where there may be various objectives like control of resources or access to transport or markets, expansion of empires, and countless others. Here there is only one simple objective: our enemies want to end our state and kill or disperse our people, while we want to survive as a sovereign state.

There aren’t many modern examples of wars between peoples, other than the wars of Israel (perhaps the 1971 Bangladesh War is one). The wars of 1948, 1967 and the ongoing Palestinian War all fit this description. The major world wars, although they may have been associated with genocides, did not have genocide as their major objective. The American Civil War and the Korean and Vietnam wars were fought for political control, but not to replace one people with another.

When WWII ended, the Allies received unconditional surrender from their enemies and occupied their lands temporarily, in order to ensure that the previous leaders and ideology would not return. Despite the horrendous violence during the war, there was no attempt to kill or disperse the Japanese or German people. Some territory changed hands, a few individuals who were judged to be guilty of war crimes were punished, and new political structures set up. But the victors did not kill, deport or enslave the vanquished populations en masse

The Palestinians are a people, a people that was created in very recent times and one that was created as the negation of another people, but despite all that, still a people. They will not go back to being Egyptians or Syrians or Jordanians as most of them would have called themselves just a few years ago. And the thing that unifies them, the main ideological principle that makes them not just Arabs but Palestinian is that they want our land, all of it, and they want us gone one way or another. That is the overriding national goal to which all the rest – economics, politics, culture, education, technology, sport – every human enterprise in which they participate – is subordinated.

I am not going to go into why they are wrong and how they got where they are or who did what to whom. I am satisfied with our moral position as Zionists. I accept the challenge of my left-wing friends who always say that they don’t want to talk about history, they want to know how to fix the situation today. Fine, let’s discuss that.

For the purpose of this discussion, it’s enough to understand that the Palestinians are our enemy in a war between peoples, like the biblical people of Israel and Amalek. Today, they have taken up the banner of Amalek. They have defined themselves as the archenemy of the Jewish people.

Have the Jews forgotten Amalek? It seems so. You can’t compromise with such an enemy because the question at issue is whether or not your people will continue to exist. He says no, you say yes. There is no common ground: the logical intersection of what he wants and what you can accept is empty. The only law that provides an answer is the Law of the Jungle.

One of the favorite plans of those who have forgotten Amalek is to divide the land. “Then they will have their own country and they will live peacefully alongside us.” But why would they, when their goal is not to live peacefully with us, but to end our existence? Dividing the land (especially given the geography of the Middle East) just makes it easier for them. Have they ever done anything with land they control than use it to make war on us? Dividing the land is the most irrational thing we could do!

If you succeed in driving Amalek out of your land, you don’t let him come back because he promises to consider living at peace with you. Of course he lies – he wants to kill you, why do you expect him to tell you the truth? You don’t sign papers or shake hands with him. You crush him.

It isn’t true that peace is made between enemies, as Rabin famously said. It is made between former enemies, when one is beaten so badly that he prefers unconditional surrender to death. If you want peace, plan to be the winner, the overwhelming winner, or it will not be the kind of peace you want.

Amalek is someone who tries to kill you however he can. He is not someone to whom you give a “political horizon.” He is not someone whose economy you try to improve, or to whom you sell electricity or water. He is not someone that you provide with food and medicines. If you take prisoners – and the fewer you take, the better – you don’t free them so they can fight again. You certainly don’t provide medical treatment for the relatives of his leaders. And above all, you don’t abandon the land and expel your own people from it.

Is it immoral to blockade civilians? What if they support the fighters? Unfortunately, this is part of war. Never forget that Amalek started the war and could choose to end it. Remember what his objective is and what ours is. Is it immoral to shoot a wounded prisoner? What if he tried to kill you and will try again if he recovers? It isn’t moral to be merciful to Amalek. It doesn’t make you a better person. It isn’t going to make him like you and it gives him another chance to kill you. 

***

Our war is special. Today’s Palestinian War (we could call it a continuation of the Oslo War as well, a name given to the Second Intifada), is a war between peoples where one side exists as a people only as an antithesis to the other. And this, in a nutshell, is why there is no compromise solution. A compromise would require that the Palestinians, as a nation, had other interests, other areas in which they could gain while giving up their hope of getting rid of us. But they don’t. Amalek is all they are.

Therefore, there is only one way to end the conflict, and it is for one side to be victorious over the other. May it be us.






We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
  • Thursday, September 22, 2016
  • Elder of Ziyon




Following is a transcript of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks today (Thursday, 22 September 2016), at the United Nations General Assembly in New York:



"Mr. President,

Ladies and Gentlemen,



What I'm about to say is going to shock you: Israel has a bright future at the UN.



Now I know that hearing that from me must surely come as a surprise, because year after year I've stood at this very podium and slammed the UN for its obsessive bias against Israel. And the UN deserved every scathing word – for the disgrace of the General Assembly that last year passed 20 resolutions against the democratic State of Israel and a grand total of three resolutions against all the other countries on the planet.



Israel – twenty; rest of the world – three.



And what about the joke called the UN Human Rights Council, which each year condemns Israel more than all the countries of the world combined. As women are being systematically raped, murdered, sold into slavery across the world, which is the only country that the UN's Commission on Women chose to condemn this year? Yep, you guessed it – Israel. Israel. Israel where women fly fighter jets, lead major corporations, head universities, preside – twice – over the Supreme Court, and have served as Speaker of the Knesset and Prime Minister.



And this circus continues at UNESCO. UNESCO, the UN body charged with preserving world heritage. Now, this is hard to believe but UNESCO just denied the 4,000 year connection between the Jewish people and its holiest site, the Temple Mount. That's just as absurd as denying the connection between the Great Wall of China and China.



Ladies and Gentlemen,



The UN, begun as a moral force, has become a moral farce. So when it comes to Israel at the UN, you'd probably think nothing will ever change, right? Well think again. You see, everything will change and a lot sooner than you think. The change will happen in this hall, because back home, your governments are rapidly changing their attitudes towards Israel. And sooner or later, that's going to change the way you vote on Israel at the UN.



More and more nations in Asia, in Africa, in Latin America, more and more nations see Israel as a potent partner – a partner in fighting the terrorism of today, a partner in developing the technology of tomorrow.



Today Israel has diplomatic relations with over 160 countries. That's nearly double the number that we had when I served here as Israel's ambassador some 30 years ago. And those ties are getting broader and deeper every day. World leaders increasingly appreciate that Israel is a powerful country with one of the best intelligence services on earth. Because of our unmatched experience and proven capabilities in fighting terrorism, many of your governments seek our help in keeping your countries safe.



Many also seek to benefit from Israel's ingenuity in agriculture, in health, in water, in cyber and in the fusion of big data, connectivity and artificial intelligence – that fusion that is changing our world in every way.



You might consider this: Israel leads the world in recycling wastewater. We recycle about 90% of our wastewater. Now, how remarkable is that? Well, given that the next country on the list only recycles about 20% of its wastewater, Israel is a global water power. So if you have a thirsty world, and we do, there's no better ally than Israel.



How about cybersecurity? That's an issue that affects everyone. Israel accounts for one-tenth of one percent of the world's population, yet last year we attracted some 20% of the global private investment in cybersecurity. I want you to digest that number. In cyber, Israel is punching a whopping 200 times above its weight. So Israel is also a global cyber power. If hackers are targeting your banks, your planes, your power grids and just about everything else, Israel can offer indispensable help.



Governments are changing their attitudes towards Israel because they know that Israel can help them protect their peoples, can help them feed them, can help them better their lives.



This summer I had an unbelievable opportunity to see this change so vividly during an unforgettable visit to four African countries. This is the first visit to Africa by an Israeli prime minister in decades. Later today, I'll be meeting with leaders from 17 African countries. We'll discuss how Israeli technology can help them in their efforts to transform their countries.



In Africa, things are changing. In China, India, Russia, Japan, attitudes towards Israel have changed as well. These powerful nations know that, despite Israel's small size, it can make a big difference in many, many areas that are important to them.



But now I'm going to surprise you even more. You see, the biggest change in attitudes towards Israel is taking place elsewhere. It's taking place in the Arab world. Our peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan continue to be anchors of stability in the volatile Middle East. But I have to tell you this: For the first time in my lifetime, many other states in the region recognize that Israel is not their enemy. They recognize that Israel is their ally. Our common enemies are Iran and ISIS. Our common goals are security, prosperity and peace. I believe that in the years ahead we will work together to achieve these goals, work together openly.



So Israel's diplomatic relations are undergoing nothing less than a revolution. But in this revolution, we never forget that our most cherished alliance, our deepest friendship is with the United States of America, the most powerful and the most generous nation on earth. Our unbreakable bond with the United States of America transcends parties and politics. It reflects, above all else, the overwhelming support for Israel among the American people, support which is at record highs and for which we are deeply grateful.



The United Nations denounces Israel; the United States supports Israel. And a central pillar of that defense has been America's consistent support for Israel at the UN. I appreciate President Obama's commitment to that longstanding US policy. In fact, the only time that the United States cast a UN Security Council veto during the Obama presidency was against an anti-Israel resolution in 2011. As President Obama rightly declared at this podium, peace will not come from statements and resolutions at the United Nations.



I believe the day is not far off when Israel will be able to rely on many, many countries to stand with us at the UN. Slowly but surely, the days when UN ambassadors reflexively condemn Israel, those days are coming to an end.



Ladies and Gentlemen,



Today's automatic majority against Israel at the UN reminds me of the story, the incredible story of Hiroo Onada. Hiroo was a Japanese soldier who was sent to the Philippines in 1944. He lived in the jungle. He scavenged for food. He evaded capture. Eventually he surrendered, but that didn't happen until 1974, some 30 years after World War II ended. For decades, Hiroo refused to believe the war was over. As Hiroo was hiding in the jungle, Japanese tourists were swimming in pools in American luxury hotels in nearby Manila. Finally, mercifully, Hiroo's former commanding officer was sent to persuade him to come out of hiding. Only then did Hiroo lay down his arms.



Ladies and Gentlemen,



Distinguished delegates from so many lands,



I have one message for you today: Lay down your arms. The war against Israel at the UN is over. Perhaps some of you don't know it yet, but I am confident that one day in the not too distant future you will also get the message from your president or from your prime minister informing you that the war against Israel at the United Nations has ended. Yes, I know, there might be a storm before the calm. I know there is talk about ganging up on Israel at the UN later this year. Given its history of hostility towards Israel, does anyone really believe that Israel will let the UN determine our security and our vital national interests?



We will not accept any attempt by the UN to dictate terms to Israel. The road to peace runs through Jerusalem and Ramallah, not through New York.



But regardless of what happens in the months ahead, I have total confidence that in the years ahead the revolution in Israel's standing among the nations will finally penetrate this hall of nations. I have so much confidence, in fact, that I predict that a decade from now an Israeli prime minister will stand right here where I am standing and actually applaud the UN. But I want to ask you: Why do we have to wait a decade? Why keep vilifying Israel? Perhaps because some of you don't appreciate that the obsessive bias against Israel is not just a problem for my country, it's a problem for your countries too. Because if the UN spends so much time condemning the only liberal democracy in the Middle East, it has far less time to address war, disease, poverty, climate change and all the other serious problems that plague the planet.



Are the half million slaughtered Syrians helped by your condemnation of Israel? The same Israel that has treated thousands of injured Syrians in our hospitals, including a field hospital that I built right along the Golan Heights border with Syria. Are the gays hanging from cranes in Iran helped by your denigration of Israel? That same Israel where gays march proudly in our streets and serve in our parliament, including I'm proud to say in my own Likud party. Are the starving children in North Korea's brutal tyranny, are they helped by your demonization of Israel? Israel, whose agricultural knowhow is feeding the hungry throughout the developing world?



The sooner the UN's obsession with Israel ends, the better. The better for Israel, the better for your countries, the better for the UN itself.



Ladies and Gentlemen,



If UN habits die hard, Palestinian habits die even harder. President Abbas just attacked from this podium the Balfour Declaration. He's preparing a lawsuit against Britain for that declaration from 1917. That's almost 100 years ago – talk about being stuck in the past. The Palestinians may just as well sue Iran for the Cyrus Declaration, which enabled the Jews to rebuild our Temple in Jerusalem 2,500 years ago. Come to think of it, why not a Palestinian class action suit against Abraham for buying that plot of land in Hebron where the fathers and mothers of the Jewish people were buried 4,000 years ago? You're not laughing. It's as absurd as that. To sue the British government for the Balfour Declaration? Is he kidding? And this is taken seriously here?



President Abbas attacked the Balfour Declaration because it recognized the right of the Jewish people to a national home in the land of Israel. When the United Nations supported the establishment of a Jewish state in 1947, it recognized our historical and our moral rights in our homeland and to our homeland. Yet today, nearly 70 years later, the Palestinians still refuse to recognize those rights – not our right to a homeland, not our right to a state, not our right to anything. And this remains the true core of the conflict, the persistent Palestinian refusal to recognize the Jewish state in any boundary. You see, this conflict is not about the settlements. It never was.



The conflict raged for decades before there was a single settlement, when Judea Samaria and Gaza were all in Arab hands. The West Bank and Gaza were in Arab hands and they attacked us again and again and again. And when we uprooted all 21 settlements in Gaza and withdrew from every last inch of Gaza, we didn't get peace from Gaza – we got thousands of rockets fired at us from Gaza.



This conflict rages because for the Palestinians, the real settlements they're after are Haifa, Jaffa and Tel Aviv.



Now mind you, the issue of settlements is a real one and it can and must be resolved in final status negotiations. But this conflict has never been about the settlements or about establishing a Palestinian state. It's always been about the existence of a Jewish state, a Jewish state in any boundary.



Ladies and Gentlemen,



Israel is ready, I am ready to negotiate all final status issues but one thing I will never negotiate: Our right to the one and only Jewish state.



Wow, sustained applause for the Prime Minister of Israel in the General Assembly? The change may be coming sooner than I thought.



Had the Palestinians said yes to a Jewish state in 1947, there would have been no war, no refugees and no conflict. And when the Palestinians finally say yes to a Jewish state, we will be able to end this conflict once and for all.



Now here's the tragedy, because, see, the Palestinians are not only trapped in the past, their leaders are poisoning the future.



I want you to imagine a day in the life of a 13-year-old Palestinian boy, I'll call him Ali. Ali wakes up before school, he goes to practice with a soccer team named after Dalal Mughrabi, a Palestinian terrorist responsible for the murder of a busload of 37 Israelis. At school, Ali attends an event sponsored by the Palestinian Ministry of Education honoring Baha Alyan, who last year murdered three Israeli civilians. On his walk home, Ali looks up at a towering statue erected just a few weeks ago by the Palestinian Authority to honor Abu Sukar, who detonated a bomb in the center of Jerusalem, killing 15 Israelis.



When Ali gets home, he turns on the TV and sees an interview with a senior Palestinian official, Jibril Rajoub, who says that if he had a nuclear bomb, he'd detonate it over Israel that very day. Ali then turns on the radio and he hears President Abbas's adviser, Sultan Abu al-Einein, urging Palestinians, here's a quote, "to slit the throats of Israelis wherever you find them." Ali checks his Facebook and he sees a recent post by President Abbas's Fatah Party calling the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics a "heroic act". On YouTube, Ali watches a clip of President Abbas himself saying, "We welcome every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem." Direct quote.



Over dinner, Ali asks his mother what would happen if he killed a Jew and went to an Israeli prison? Here's what she tells him. She tells him he'd be paid thousands of dollars each month by the Palestinian Authority. In fact, she tells him, the more Jews he would kill, the more money he'd get. Oh, and when he gets out of prison, Ali would be guaranteed a job with the Palestinian Authority.



Ladies and Gentlemen,



All this is real. It happens every day, all the time. Sadly, Ali represents hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children who are indoctrinated with hate every moment, every hour.



This is child abuse.



Imagine your child undergoing this brainwashing. Imagine what it takes for a young boy or girl to break free out of this culture of hate. Some do but far too many don't. How can any of us expect young Palestinians to support peace when their leaders poison their minds against peace?



We in Israel don't do this. We educate our children for peace. In fact, we recently launched a pilot program, my government did, to make the study of Arabic mandatory for Jewish children so that we can better understand each other, so that we can live together side-by-side in peace.



Of course, like all societies Israel has fringe elements. But it's our response to those fringe elements, it's our response to those fringe elements that makes all the difference.



Take the tragic case of Ahmed Dawabsha. I'll never forget visiting Ahmed in the hospital just hours after he was attacked. A little boy, really a baby, he was badly burned. Ahmed was the victim of a horrible terrorist act perpetrated by Jews. He lay bandaged and unconscious as Israeli doctors worked around the clock to save him.



No words can bring comfort to this boy or to his family. Still, as I stood by his bedside I told his uncle, "This is not our people. This is not our way." I then ordered extraordinary measures to bring Ahmed's assailants to justice and today the Jewish citizens of Israel accused of attacking the Dawabsha family are in jail awaiting trial.



Now, for some, this story shows that both sides have their extremists and both sides are equally responsible for this seemingly endless conflict.



But what Ahmed's story actually proves is the very opposite. It illustrates the profound difference between our two societies, because while Israeli leaders condemn terrorists, all terrorists, Arabs and Jews alike, Palestinian leaders celebrate terrorists. While Israel jails the handful of Jewish terrorists among us, the Palestinians pay thousands of terrorists among them.



So I call on President Abbas: you have a choice to make. You can continue to stoke hatred as you did today or you can finally confront hatred and work with me to establish peace between our two peoples.



Ladies and Gentlemen,



I hear the buzz. I know that many of you have given up on peace. But I want you to know – I have not given up on peace. I remain committed to a vision of peace based on two states for two peoples. I believe as never before that changes taking place in the Arab world today offer a unique opportunity to advance that peace.



I commend President el-Sisi of Egypt for his efforts to advance peace and stability in our region. Israel welcomes the spirit of the Arab peace initiative and welcomes a dialogue with Arab states to advance a broader peace. I believe that for that broader peace to be fully achieved the Palestinians have to be part of it. I'm ready to begin negotiations to achieve this today – not tomorrow, not next week, today.



President Abbas spoke here an hour ago. Wouldn't it be better if instead of speaking past each other we were speaking to one another? President Abbas, instead of railing against Israel at the United Nations in New York, I invite you to speak to the Israeli people at the Knesset in Jerusalem. And I would gladly come to speak to the Palestinian parliament in Ramallah.



Ladies and Gentlemen,



While Israel seeks peace with all our neighbors, we also know that peace has no greater enemy than the forces of militant Islam. The bloody trail of this fanaticism runs through all the continents represented here. It runs through Paris and Nice, Brussels and Baghdad, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Minnesota and New York, from Sydney to San Bernardino. So many have suffered its savagery: Christian and Jews, women and gays, Yazidis and Kurds and many, many others.



Yet the heaviest price, the heaviest price of all has been paid by innocent Muslims. Hundreds of thousands unmercifully slaughtered. Millions turned into desperate refugees, tens of millions brutally subjugated. The defeat of militant Islam will thus be a victory for all humanity, but it would especially be a victory for those many Muslims who seek a life without fear, a life of peace, a life of hope.



But to defeat the forces of militant Islam, we must fight them relentlessly. We must fight them in the real world. We must fight them in the virtual world. We must dismantle their networks, disrupt their funding, discredit their ideology. We can defeat them and we will defeat them. Medievalism is no match for modernity. Hope is stronger than hate, freedom mightier than fear.



We can do this.



Ladies and Gentlemen,



Israel fights this fateful battle against the forces of militant Islam every day. We keep our borders safe from ISIS, we prevent the smuggling of game-changing weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon, we thwart Palestinian terror attacks in Judea and Samaria, the West Bank, and we deter missile attacks from Hamas-controlled Gaza.



That's the same Hamas terror organization that cruelly, unbelievably cruelly refuses to return three of our citizens and the bodies of our fallen soldiers, Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin. Hadar Goldin's parents, Leah and Simcha Goldin, are here with us today. They have one request – to bury their beloved son in Israel. All they ask for is one simple thing – to be able to visit the grave of their fallen son Hadar in Israel. Hamas refuses. They couldn't care less.



I implore you to stand with them, with us, with all that's decent in our world against the inhumanity of Hamas – all that is indecent and barbaric. Hamas breaks every humanitarian rule in the book, throw the book at them.



Ladies and Gentlemen,



The greatest threat to my country, to our region, and ultimately to our world remains the militant Islamic regime of Iran. Iran openly seeks Israel's annihilation. It threatens countries across the Middle East, it sponsors terror worldwide.

This year, Iran has fired ballistic missiles in direct defiance of Security Council Resolutions. It has expended its aggression in Iraq, in Syria, in Yemen. Iran, the world's foremost sponsor of terrorism continued to build its global terror network. That terror network now spans five continents.


So my point to you is this: The threat Iran poses to all of us is not behind us, it's before us. In the coming years, there must be a sustained and united effort to push back against Iran's aggression and Iran's terror. With the nuclear constraints on Iran one year closer to being removed, let me be clear: Israel will not allow the terrorist regime in Iran to develop nuclear weapons – not now, not in a decade, not ever.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I stand before you today at a time when Israel's former president, Shimon Peres, is fighting for his life. Shimon is one of Israel's founding fathers, one of its boldest statesmen, one of its most respected leaders. I know you will all join me and join all the people of Israel in wishing him refuah shlemah Shimon, a speedy recovery.


I've always admired Shimon's boundless optimism, and like him, I too am filled with hope. I am filled with hope because Israel is capable of defending itself by itself against any threat. I am filled with hope because the valor of our fighting men and women is second to none. I am filled with hope because I know the forces of civilization will ultimately triumph over the forces of terror. I am filled with hope because in the age of innovation, Israel – the innovation nation – is thriving as never before. I am filled with hope because Israel works tirelessly to advance equality and opportunity for all its citizens: Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, everyone. And I am filled with hope because despite all the naysayers, I believe that in the years ahead, Israel will forge a lasting peace with all our neighbors.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am hopeful about what Israel can accomplish because I've seen what Israel has accomplished. In 1948, the year of Israel's independence, our population was 800,000. Our main export was oranges. People said then we were too small, too weak, too isolated, too demographically outnumbered to survive, let alone thrive. The skeptics were wrong about Israel then; the skeptics are wrong about Israel now.

Israel's population has grown tenfold, our economy fortyfold. Today our biggest export is technology – Israeli technology, which powers the world's computers, cellphones, cars and so much more.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The future belongs to those who innovate and this is why the future belongs to countries like Israel. Israel wants to be your partner in seizing that future, so I call on all of you: Cooperate with Israel, embrace Israel, dream with Israel. Dream of the future that we can build together, a future of breathtaking progress, a future of security, prosperity and peace, a future of hope for all humanity, a future where even at the UN, even in this hall, Israel will finally, inevitably, take its rightful place among the nations.



Thank you."



We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
  • Thursday, September 22, 2016
  • Elder of Ziyon


I'm reading the (Arabic) statement that Mahmoud Abbas gave to the UN, and it is filled with the usual lies.

But he added a new one, which is breathtaking in its chutzpah.

Abbas claims that Israel violated the UNGA resolution 181 that called for a partition of British Mandate Palestine.

The partition resolution was accepted by the Zionist leadership and rejected by the Arabs, who immediately started murdering Jewish civilians within hours of the vote.

Abbas quotes paragraph C of the resolution, which says "The Security Council determine as a threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression, in accordance with Article 39 of the Charter, any attempt to alter by force the settlement envisaged by this resolution."

Yes, the Arabs of Palestine in 1947 immediately took up arms to destroy any chance of a Jewish state emerging - and now Abbas claims that the Jews were the aggressors who scuttled the resolution!

And then he says that "Israeli forces control more than they have been allocated, a clear violation of the terms of 39, 41 and 42 of the Charter of the United Nations."

He's not talking about the 1949 armistice lines (the so-called "1967 border") - he is saying that Israel is violating the UN Charter by occupying land past the partition lines - lines that never had any legal validity!

And it was his fellow Palestinians who violated Resolution 181 and didn't accept the idea of a Jewish state that it specified - and still doesn't!

I don't believe that I have mistranslated this. Abbas is turning history on its head and lying as easily as he breathes.

As usual, no reporter is calling him on this unbelievable display of gall and lying.

UPDATE: My translation was correct. Here is what Abbas said in the official translation:
In addition, Israel, since 1948, has persisted with its contempt for intemational legitimacy by violating United Nations General Assembly resolution 181 (II), the partition resolution, which called for the establishment of two States on the historic land of Palestine according to a specific partition plan. Israeli forces seized more land than that allotted to Israel, constituting a grave breach of Articles 39, 41 and 42 of the United Nations Charter. In the preamble of resolution 181 (II), paragraph (c) clearly states: "The Security Council determine as a threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression, in accordance with Article 39 of the Charter, any attempt to alter by
force the settlement envisaged by this resolution".

Regrettably, however, the Security Council is not upholding its responsibilities to hold Israel accountable for its seizure of the territory allotted to the Palestinian State according to the partition resolution. I appeal to you read this resolution once again.
The 1968 PLO National Charter - which has never been rescinded - explicitly repudiates UNGA 181:
Article 19: The partition of Palestine in 1947 and the establishment of the state of Israel are entirely illegal, regardless of the passage of time, because they were contrary to the will of the Palestinian people and to their natural right in their homeland, and inconsistent with the principles embodied in the Charter of the United Nations, particularly the right to self-determination.
Unreal.



We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
From Ian:

IsraellyCool: Do Palestinians Deserve A State?
If you believe they deserve a state what qualities worthy of a reward do you believe they’ve shown over the last 100 years of attacking Jews and trying to prevent Jews from living in Israel? Are you rewarding reprehensible behaviour?
Which terrorist atrocity was it that finally convinced you they deserve a state?
Something old and classic like slaughtering school children in Ma’alot, hijacking aircraft or murdering olympic athletes? Or perhaps the wave of suicide bombings of restaurants, hotels, buses or queues of children waiting to party? Or something more recent, rockets indiscriminately fired at civilians, spraying passing cars with bullets or pulling out knives and trying to slash at the necks of infidels on streets all over Israel.
Which of these terrorist atrocities finally convinced you they deserve a state?
If you believe they deserve a state, they have bombed, stabbed and shot their way into your heart.
If you say out loud they deserve a state you are one of those encouraging them to do what they did this morning: send a 14-year-old child to stab a soldier with the inevitable result. One of our young people has to live with having shot their child. If you say they deserve a state, you helped create the conditions where sending a 14-year-old girl to die at the hands of the IDF is inevitable. Of course they do it: it’s a great strategy. It convinced YOU to say “they deserve a state”.
Or do you just think they should have a state despite a century of terror because if they got it they would stop doing all these terrible things? Do you think they would set aside their supremacist claims that all of Israel belongs to Allah and their repetitive Jihadi proclamations that they won’t stop killing Jews until all of the Jewish homeland falls, once again, under the command of Allah’s soldiers and everyone here bends knee and submits to Islam? Do you think they’d even apologise for all they’ve done if they were rewarded with a state?
But you think they deserve a state! Why stop now when they’ve successfully won over someone like you to their righteous cause?
JCPA: Observations on U.S.-Israel Relations
Few surprising headlines emerged from the meeting of President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on September 21, 2016, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. Reporters and commentators were almost disappointed that the two leaders had an amicable meeting where both sides spoke of the “unbreakable” bonds between their two countries and the generous American security assistance.
The differences over Israeli “settlements” in the West Bank and Jerusalem, a topic of exaggerated American concerns from the first days of President Obama’s first term, were mentioned in their publicly restrained statements. Undoubtedly, the issue was raised in the Obama-Netanyahu private talks. One minor difference of opinion that emerged was over the time the two leaders spent in each other’s company, with Israeli sources saying 75 minutes and American officials reducing the period to 35. Was it a U.S. official’s manner of diminishing the Israeli leader’s importance?
The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
The settlement contretemps is reminiscent of a meeting between then-U.S. Secretary of State James Baker and then-Minister of Defense Moshe Arens in Israel in the early 1990s. “We really laid the settlements issue on the line,” a resolute, maybe even proud, aide to Baker told me at the time. When I asked Arens about the talks, he related that the settlement issue was barely raised.

PMW: Fatah cartoon:Jews are behind world terror
Fatah has posted a cartoon that shows a Jew with a large nose and wearing a kippah (Jewish skullcap), comfortably seated in an armchair with the Star of David on it. Using a remote control, the Jew sets off an explosion in the city below, viewing the destruction as if watching TV.
The cartoon expresses a libel often voiced by Palestinian leaders that Israel and Jews are responsible for world terror. It was posted on the official website of Fatah’s Mobilization and Organization Commission. [Sept. 20, 2016]
A similar cartoon was recently posted by another Fatah commission, as documented by Palestinian Media Watch. It showed a long-nosed Jew lighting a fuse to blow up a bomb. Inside the bomb, a Shi'ite Muslim and a Sunni Muslim are both lying atop bombs, lighting fuses to blow up one other. This cartoon expresses the libel that Jews/Israel seek to destroy the Muslim world, and that they are taking advantage of internal Muslim fighting to do so.

  • Thursday, September 22, 2016
  • Elder of Ziyon
From the EU and Palestinians Facebook page:

If you are interested in participating, please send a short CV/bio with a special focus on any work you have done in the Middle East, no later than 30 September 2016.
If a European based journalist has written critically about the Palestinian Authority - its corruption, its misuse of international aid, its support for terror by paying salaries to murderers and making them into heroes - do you think he would get this free trip? Or will it only go to "journalists" who will write only positive things about the Palestinian Authority?

Do you even need to ask?

There are two ethics violations here. One is that the EU is manipulating the media for its own ends. OK, everyone tries to do that, but by creating a litmus test as to which journalists can take advantage of an all-expenses paid trip to the territories, this is a bit egregious.

On the journalist side, it is generally agreed that it is bad form to accept such a trip. The NYU Journalism Handbook for Students says "Most reputable news organizations prohibit contributors from participating in press junkets, which are trips offered to journalists that are paid for by the entities the reporters cover, i.e., movie studios, electronics companies, government agencies." The Columbia Journalism Review is a little more flexible but insists that journalists reveal that the trip was paid for along with other caveats.

It will be interesting to see what EU-based reports come out of this trip at the end of October. it will be a good opportunity to identify what EU journalists are willing to flout their ethical obligations to their readers.

(h/t Irene)





We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
  • Thursday, September 22, 2016
  • Elder of Ziyon
Dr. Gazi Hussein, writing in Maghreb news site Al Masir, says that Israel is using religion to create settler colonialism in the Middle East.

He starts off by saying that the Jewish and Zionist ideology is based on myths and legends, lies and greed, and it exploits antisemitism and the Holocaust to create a Jewish state "in the heart of the Arab and Islamic region."

Zionists were helped in this endeavor by European racist politicians, like Cecil Rhodes - and Adolf Hitler.

The transplant of the colonialist racist and terrorist Jewish entity is alien to the region, the intruders came from overseas as a tool to impose a new Middle East project and to dominate it as a prelude to the hegemony of Zionism over the world.
It is amazing how much can be accomplished by taking centuries-old claims about Judaism and magically substituting "Zionism" for "Judaism."

Hussein says that Jews should return from where they came - Germany, Russia, the Ukraine and others. Instead, he says, they celebrate their expulsion of Arabs as a national holiday.
World Zionism is successfully waging a relentless campaign against Arabism and Islam and prompted the American president and war criminal George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to launch a crusade on Islam and Arabism, and the destruction of Iraq and the deployment of the sectarian and ethnic war.

He ends off by saying that Israel is doomed to extinction, "sharing the fate of all intruders of Palestine throughout history, including princes and kings of the Crusades, and the fate of Nazi Germany and colonial French in Algeria and the apartheid in South Africa."





We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

  • Wednesday, September 21, 2016
  • Elder of Ziyon
Dimi Reider at +972 has a scoop!

Anti-Semitic, white supremacist slogans at Exeter University event

Even the most off-hand displays of white supremacism and anti-Semitism — perhaps especially off-hand, “normalized” displays — are not only deplorable in their own right, but directly affect conversation on racism, anti-Semitism and Israel-Palestine.

Students attending an off-campus Exeter University party on Tuesday were seen sporting t-shirts with anti-Semitic and white supremacist slogans, +972 has learned.

Reports of anti-semitic incidents in the UK have risen by 11 percent in the first half of 2016, according to a recent report by the Community Security Trust, a UK organization providing security guards to Jewish schools and synagogues. Anti-semitism has figured heavily in headlines over the past year, especially in the context of the Labour party leadership race. The incumbent leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has been accused of being “too soft” on anti-Semitism among his supporters. The controversy has seen the distinction between anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic comments challenged vigorously by figures from the center rightwards, and a mix of soul-searching and recriminations on the Left.

In this context, even the most off-hand displays of white supremacism and anti-Semitism — perhaps especially off-hand, “normalized” displays — are not only deplorable in their own right, but directly affect national conversation on racism, anti-Semitism and Israel-Palestine.

The Tuesday night event, hosted by the local Snow Sports society at the Timepiece nightclub, saw guests use magic markers to scribble slogans and drawings on each other’s uniform white t-shirts. Most scribbles ranged between the bantering and the generically sexist — belaboured innuendos on the word “slope” appear to have been in vogue during the evening — but two rather different slogans stood out: “Don’t speak to me if you’re not white,” and, “The Holocaust was a good time.”

Reider linked to a Facebook page where many photos from the event were published.  The pictures make is obvious that the phrases written on the T-shirts during this party were written by others, not by the wearers, and in fact the wearers may not have known what was written on their backs.

Many of the writings were crude, sexist, homophobic or otherwise obviously purposefully offensive, for example, "Free Herpes Here."

But there were other examples of personal graffiti that crossed the line besides the ones mentioned in the article. At least two party-goers had swastikas on the front of their shirts, so they cannot claim ignorance:





I did not see one photo that showed any anti-Zionist sentiment.

So why, when writing about a party where some of the knowingly offensive graffiti included white supremacism and Holocaust jokes, did Reimer bring up Israel and anti-Zionism? What relationship does it have to a story that references racism and antisemitism? And his linkage was the most important part of the story, according to the +972 editor that used that pull quote as the subheading!

+972 had a scoop: a large university event where students joked about the Holocaust and white supremacism. The story had nothing to do with Israel. But Reimer apparently is upset about antisemites who also hate Israel, because they make all Israel-haters look like antisemites.

As a result, a story about antisemitism must be contextualized to say "hey, we Israel bashers are against antisemitism too! Not only because it is deplorable, but also because it makes us look bad!"

The irony is that if +972 would have reported the story straight, it would have shown the +972 distances itself from antisemitism. By gratuitously  linking the story to Israel, the magazine shows that to some extent, its discomfort with antisemitism is not simply because of how deplorable it is in itself, but because antisemitism's very existence might blunt its own incessant attempts to smear the Jewish state.

Which is, when you think about it, kind of disgusting.

(The story shows that the offensive sayings were discovered by a Palestinian student who witnessed the party and who was sickened by them. She wrote on Facebook, " “Making light of genocide and white privilege is not ‘banter’, you f*** imbeciles." She shows far more moral character than Dimi Reider.)




We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
From Ian:

Palestinian Terrorist’s Wife to Address Clinton Foundation
Donald Trump is criticizing Hillary Clinton over the fact that the Clinton Foundation is honoring a Palestinian teacher whose husband is a convicted terrorist on Tuesday evening.
Hanan an-Hroub is scheduled to speak at a Clinton Global Initiative event in New York after winning a $1 million teaching award from another charity that donates to the Clinton Foundation. Her husband, Omar al-Hroub, spent 10 years in an Israeli prison for his role in a 1980 bombing that killed six Israelis.
The event is going ahead as planned, in spite of the recent Islamist terrorist bombings in New York and New Jersey, which injured dozens.
The Wall Street Journal noted Tuesday:
Omar al-Hroub was convicted on charges that he was an accomplice in a deadly bombing attack in Hebron that killed Israelis walking home from Friday night Sabbath prayers. According to an Associated Press account at the time, Omar al-Hroub was a chemist who provided chemicals needed for making the bombs.
Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller said:
Today’s report that the Clinton Foundation is feting the wife of a Palestinian man convicted of helping bomb innocent Israeli citizens is deeply disturbing, especially in the wake of this weekend’s attacks. The decision to honor the wife of a terrorist by Hillary Clinton’s foundation shows a complete lack of judgment and a callousness that should disqualify her from holding the presidency.
The Republican National Committee has also reportedly objected.
The biography for Hanan al-Hroub on the Clinton Foundation website does not mention the terror connection:
Trump campaign: Clinton should be disqualified for event hosting Palestinian teacher
An appearance by an acclaimed Palestinian teacher, whose husband served time for terrorism, at a Clinton Global Initiative event “disqualifies” Hillary Clinton from the presidency, according to Donald Trump’s campaign.
“Today’s report that the Clinton Foundation is feting the wife of a Palestinian man convicted of helping bomb innocent Israeli citizens is deeply disturbing, especially in the wake of this weekend’s attacks,” Jason Miller, a Trump campaign spokesman, said in a statement. “The decision to honor the wife of a terrorist by Hillary Clinton’s foundation shows a complete lack of judgment and a callousness that should disqualify her from holding the presidency.”
The emailed release linked to a Wall Street Journal story in which the Republican National Committee also condemned the appearance of Hanan Al-Hroub Tuesday evening at the final meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative.
Where Does Black Lives Matter's Anti-Semitism Come From?
Black Lives Matter has been guided to anti-Semitism by the concept of "intersectionality, which argues that all oppressions are interlinked and cannot be solved alone. Thus, women can never be treated fairly if blacks face racial prejudice, and the disabled are not given sufficient support to be equal to the abled, and unless the Palestinians are liberated from the Israelis, and the Israelis are liberated from their lives and their home.
"Intersectionality" urges us to view the world as divided into a conspiracy of oppressors and an agony of oppressed, and reduces people to a number of categories, such as gender, sexuality, race, nationality, religion, capability, etc. Differences, such as sexism, racism, nationalism and ability -- as opposed to what we have in common -- are reinforced.
Supporters of "intersectionality" cheer terrorists when they murder Jews. To them, that is just "social justice" at work.

  • Wednesday, September 21, 2016
  • Elder of Ziyon
By Varda Meyers Epstein


There's nothing quite like a rabbi who tells Jews to give services a miss at Rosh Hashana time. (Unless it's a rabbi who plans a trip to Israel for his congregants which includes a pilgrimage to Arafat's tomb, but I digress.) This time the rabbi leading sheep astray is Jay Michaelson, who, in his piece for The Forward, Why You Shouldn’t Go To Synagogue On Rosh Hashanah This Year, told Jews, Jews to stay away, come again another day.

Such as Sukkot, when we have those cool outdoor huts for instance. Because Rosh Hashana? According to Michaelson, it's an "epic fail."

Michaelson refers to Rosh Hashana services as big business, speaks of "kitschy mass performances that even your rabbi probably finds uninspiring," and urges you to stay home from shul come Hell or high water:

"There are at least three reasons for you to avoid your local temple or synagogue this Rosh Hashanah. First, the holiday’s themes and liturgy focus on the least believable, most misunderstandable aspects of Jewish theology. Sure, introspection is great, and asking for forgiveness from friends and relatives can be extremely powerful. But the Man in the Sky with the big Book of Life? The Birthday of the World? Who are we kidding here? Does anyone believe this stuff?
And yet, here we are again, listening to authority figures drone on about them, standing up, sitting down, praying to a deity we don’t believe in. No wonder half of American Jews are leaving the fold — this fold sucks."

It's kind of funny, a rabbi asking if anyone believes in this stuff. If he doesn't believe in "this stuff" and thinks our fold "sucks," then in what sense is he a rabbi? Or is there something I'm not seeing here??

To give the devil his due, it's important to point out that Michaelson specifies that the shul you should not go to is non-Orthodox. Which implies that he thinks the Orthodox have something going for them that the non-Orthodox do not. Which leads one to wonder: why is he not Orthodox?

But then, not everyone can be as wise as Michaelson, who used to write a column for The Forward called The Polymath. And then there was the column that made him (in)famous: How I'm Losing My Love For Israel. Oh woe to be Michaelson with his wrestling and his torment!

"I admit, it has become simply exhausting to maintain the ambivalence, the hugging and the wrestling, the endless fence sitting. My love of Israel has turned into a series of equivocations: 'I do not support the expansion of settlements, but the Palestinians bear primary responsibility for the collapse of the peace process in 1999.' 'The Israelis acted overzealously in Gaza, but they must be entitled to defend themselves against rocket attacks.' 'Yes, the separation wall is odious, but it is also effective and necessary.' Yes, but; no, but; defend, but. At some point, the complexity and ambiguity wears one out, particularly when the visuals on the anti-Israel side are so compelling, and so stark: walls, tanks, checkpoints."

Why must Michaelson sit on the fence? Why must he equivocate? Why would a rabbi not support the building of home in Judea and Samaria, the indigenous heartland of the Jewish people?

In what alternative world can Israel be called "overzealous" in its response to having over 10,000 projectiles shot into civilian Israel??? Why would Michaelson parrot the lies of the enemy of the Jews and call the Security Wall a "separation wall?" In what sense is it "odious" for the sovereign State of Israel to protect the lives of Israeli citizens, Michaelson's fellow Jews, with any and all means possible?

The "complexity" Rabbi Polymath sees is imagined. It's really quite simple. It's our land. They are lying and also killing us in an attempt to steal it away.

Really, really cut and dried. The good guys and the bad guys. A rabbi, of all people, should know the truth about his land and his people. And the truth about their enemies, the terrorists who murder them.

There is no need to feel or see any ambiguity here. The Torah says: "For all the land you see, to you will I give it, and to your seed forever." [Genesis 13:15]. The Talmud says, "If one comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first."

These are basic Jewish precepts. Presumably Michaelson learned these precepts in rabbi school. On what basis can a rabbi—can Michaelson—possibly see "ambiguity?" For all that there are "streams of thought" in Judaism, there is the Torah. And the Torah is perfectly straightforward on these issues, clear as cool, blue water flowing from a rock struck by a staff in the desert.

Rather it is Michaelson himself, who is ambiguous and complex. From the Wikipedia entry bearing his name we learn that Michael is "a teacher of jhana meditation in the Theravadan Buddhist lineage of Ayya Khema" and that he is  "openly gay and often works in the intersecting fields of LGBT people and Jewish traditions."

Now there's  ambiguity for you! A practitioner of a faith that sees homosexual activity as a grave sin who claims an intersection between the LGBT world and Jewish traditions. A loch in kop.

We get it: the Conservative and Reform have boring services. But why tell the people to stay home, when even you, Michaelson, acknowledge that the Orthodox have them beat. And we do.

Rabbi Michaelson, my heart breaks to think you came so close to telling them the truth. You sat on that fence and said not to go to a non-Orthodox service. What you didn't say was, "Come to an Orthodox service, if you want to see the real deal, feel the real deal."

You could have said, "If you want to feel Rosh Hashana as it is meant to be, get up while it is velvety dark, still, and quiet, to pray with the faithful at a Vatikin sunrise service. Pray alongside the serious daveners; those who care more about the quality of their prayers than their clothes. Sing jubilantly to your God with those who can sing and those who cannot and crown Him King as one. Prostrate yourself full length on the ground on a scarf you've brought with you for that purpose, so you shouldn't kneel on the ground (Jews don't do that). Cry to the sound of the shofar.

"And be home by 10:30 a.m. MAX."

Rabbi Michaelson, come to the Vatikin minyan in Efrat. God willing, I'll be there at sunrise with my black Isotoner ballet slippers (I shouldn't have my prayers distracted by aching feet). Why not join me there (but on the men's side, of course)? I promise it will all make sense. And it won't cost you a thing.

The sunrise minyan is free.




h/t Reena Ribalow for doing some of the digging on this story.



We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

AddToAny

EoZ Book:"Protocols: Exposing Modern Antisemitism"

Printfriendly

EoZTV Podcast

Podcast URL

Subscribe in podnovaSubscribe with FeedlyAdd to netvibes
addtomyyahoo4Subscribe with SubToMe

search eoz

comments

Speaking

translate

E-Book

For $18 donation








Sample Text

EoZ's Most Popular Posts in recent years

Hasbys!

Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 19 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

Donate!

Donate to fight for Israel!

Monthly subscription:
Payment options


One time donation:

subscribe via email

Follow EoZ on Twitter!

Interesting Blogs

Blog Archive