RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.jns.org/opinion/may-dvir-soreks-legacy-be-a-lesson-to-the-jewish-left/

Faced with what they clearly viewed as a contradiction in terms, Israel Prize laureate David Grossman and his fellow peace fantasists were stunned.

The slaughter last week of 19-year-old yeshivah student and Israel Defense Forces’ recruit Dvir Sorek from the Judea and Samaria community of Ofra was not exceptional. Palestinian terrorists with hatred in their hearts and weapons in their hands are integral to the Jewish state’s otherwise vibrant landscape.

But this particular tragedy struck a nationwide nerve even among those who blame the so-called “occupation” for Palestinian violence, and consider citizens like Sorek to be illegally and immorally living in territory that should become part of a future Palestinian state.

One detail of Sorek’s slaying that caused even hard-core leftists to pause was the fact that this “religious settler” was found clutching a book by internationally renowned author David Grossman. The book was among others that Sorek had purchased prior to his brutal murder as end-of-the-year gifts to his rabbis at the Machanayim seminary, an institution that combines Torah study with military service.

Unarmed and in civilian clothes, Sorek was ambushed by his knife-wielding killers as he made his way on foot from the bus stop to his evening class. His failure to arrive sparked the search that led to the discovery of his body six hours later.

http://www.mythsandfacts.org/

Palestine is a name coined by the Romans around 135 CE from the name of a seagoing Aegean people who settled on the coast of Canaan in antiquity – the Philistines. The name was chosen to replace Judea, as a sign that Jewish sovereignty had been eradicated following the Jewish Revolts against Rome. 

In the course of time, the Latin name Philistia was further bastardized into Palistina or Palestine. During the next 2,000 years Palestine was never an independent state belonging to any people, nor did a Palestinian people distinct from other Arabs appear during 1,300 years of Muslim hegemony in Palestine under Arab and Ottoman rule. During that rule, local Arabs were actually considered part of, and subject to, the authority of Greater Syria (Suriyya al-Kubra).

Historically, before the Arabs fabricated the concept of Palestinian peoplehood as an exclusively Arab phenomenon, no such group existed. This is substantiated in countless official British Mandate-vintage documents that speak of the Jews and the Arabs of Palestine – not Jews and Palestinians.

In fact, before local Jews began calling themselves Israelis in 1948 (when the name “Israel” was chosen for the newly-established Jewish State), the term “Palestine” applied almost exclusively to Jews and the institutions founded by new Jewish immigrants in the first half of the 20th century, before the state’s independence. 

https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/The-Palestinian-war-of-attrition-598436

Before treating the symptoms of a disease, one must understand what caused it.

Writing in The Jerusalem Post on July 12, in an article titled “Lessons from Israel’s most forgotten war,” Amotz Asa-El offers an insightful explanation.

“Wars of attrition are not decided by their parties’ balance of troops, arms or resources, but by their balance of spirit,” the article said. “The winner will not be the one left with more land, population or treasure, but the one whose spirit will last longer.”

This explains why Arabs and Palestinians continue to reject Israel’s legitimacy, regardless of the negative consequences and contrary to attempts to “make a deal” to resolve the conflict. The conflict itself defines their raison d’etre, their attempts to destroy Zionism and the State of Israel.

Seen as a “Palestinian war of attrition,” therefore, the conflict is not simply over land or people; it’s about essence – and spirit. For Arabs and Palestinians, any concession is an admission of defeat, humiliation and surrender. It means that all of their sacrifices were in vain, and that the ideal of being a “martyr” (shahid) was false. It means that the Palestinian narrative – “Free Palestine” and “End the occupation” – is a fraud, and that all the resources that were poured into supporting that ideology by the international community – e.g. UNRWA and the “two-state-solution” – were a waste.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/aug/12/bds-war-against-israel/

In July, when Rep. Ilhan Omar unveiled her plan to visit Israel, she also introduced a resolution that supported the so-called Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that has, as its first goal, to delegitimize Israel.

Later that month, the House voted 398-17 to oppose the BDS and other efforts to delegitimize Israel. Among the 17 votes opposing condemnation of BDS were three members of “the Squad,” Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. The latter two are the most anti-Israel and anti-Semitic members of Congress.

Since it was founded, the BDS movement hadn’t previously attracted much attention here. Created in 2005 by Palestinian activist Omar Barghouti, BDS demands that every nation and business boycott Israel, divest all Israeli assets and impose economic sanctions on the Jewish state. Mr. Barghouti’s book, “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions: The Struggle for Palestinian Rights,” argues falsely that Israel is a fascist, racist and apartheid state and a menace to international peace.

The BDS movement should have as its motto a quote from Mao Zedong — “A lie repeated a hundred times becomes the truth.” 

Mr. Barghouti, the principal spokesman for BDS, often states that the movement’s principal demand is for Israel to give back the land it seized during the 1967 War, including Jerusalem and the West Bank. BDS supporters in Hollywood, the media and academia have based their support on that point alone. 

https://www.jns.org/opinion/shameful-comparisons-in-the-name-of-politics/

Referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the same breath as Kim Jong-un and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan goes beyond the pale.

Is it too much to ask of Israeli politicians that they take a pause before providing priceless ammunition to the Jewish state’s worst enemies?

Clearly, the answer is “yes.”

In what can only be described as a frenzy to finalize party lists and mergers before the Aug. 1 deadline (and ahead of the Sept. 17 Knesset elections), the already disturbing rhetoric used by candidates and wannabes against one another in general, and against Prime Minister Benjamin (“Bibi”) Netanyahu in particular, has sunk to new lows.

This is no small feat, considering the vile name-calling that characterized the previous campaign, which culminated in the coalition stalemate responsible for the current re-do.

Until Sunday, when Yisrael Beiteinu’s Avigdor Lieberman called Netanyahu’s style of running the ruling Likud Party “North Korean,” the most egregious crossing of ethical red lines came from Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz.

In an interview on April 7, exactly one week before the last Knesset elections, Gantz had the gall to compare Netanyahu to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and to express “deep worry” for the future of Israeli democracy.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/50269/bryen-trumps-middle-east-plan-undermines-shoshana-bryen
The Trump administration’s presentation of an economic plan — rather than a political plan — for the Palestinians was generally mocked or dismissed. As it percolates, however, it appears the administration, as is its habit, was reading trends. The formulation takes an axe to the notion that all plans, politics, money, and political benefits have to be filtered through the “Sole Legitimate Representative of the Palestinian People” — i.e., the PLO or its successor, the Palestinian Authority (PA).

This plan, unlike then-Secretary of State John Kerry’s idea to funnel $6 billion in “investment” through PA strongman Mahmoud Abbas, acknowledges that the PA is a terrible steward of its people and their lives. Inviting individual Palestinian businessmen — even if they didn’t show up — and Arab state representatives and businessmen, instead of the PA, may have evinced proper judgment.

In a recent poll by the Palestine Center for Public Opinion, published by The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, only about one-third of respondents supported the a priori rejection of President Trump’s plan by PA officials. And 86% of respondents in Gaza, along with more than 60% of respondents in Jerusalem and the West Bank, favored Arab government participation in the process. The president himself did not poll well, indicating that those polled differentiated between the individual and the process.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/24263

The idea that there is “an Auschwitz in every city in Palestine” may puzzle some people, because every major Palestinian Arab city (and most minor ones, too) are under the exclusive rule of the PA, not Israel.

A senior Palestinian Authority official is claiming that there is “an Auschwitz in every city in Palestine.” The revelation is shocking—and it’s also timely, since Congresswomen Rashid Tlaib and Ilhan Omar will be able to investigate the situation during their upcoming visit to the Palestinian Authority territories.

When Tlaib and Omar recently announced that they wanted to visit Israel and the PA, it seemed as if their purpose was just to do some old-fashioned Israel-bashing. But now their trip will take on a much more urgent mission: to see all of the Auschwitzes there, and then share their eyewitness testimony with the outside world.

The Auschwitz allegation was leveled by Palestinian official Jibril Rajoub in a July 8 interview with the Kuwaiti television station Sawt Al-Arab. He said that as a result of Israel’s “barbaric and racist” policies, “Auschwitz is here in every city in Palestine.” (Thanks to Palestinian Media Watch for the translation.)

Lest you think Rajoub is some just some run-of-the-mill lunatic, note that he holds a number of senior positions within both the PA and the PLO. To begin with, he is secretary-general of the Central Committee of Fatah, which is the PA’s ruling party (chaired by PA head Mahmoud Abbas). 

With all the possible pressure, the BDS, the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, sanctions movement could not convince Jennifer Lopez, Bon Jovi and Lionel Richie to cancel their concert in Israel. Nurit Greenger

Enjoy:

1/ Lopez and family in Israel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgsXlBnFIvw

2/ Bon Jovi Shows His Love to Israel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuDmrVHBsds

3/ Lionel Richie: When they tried blocking @LionelRichie from coming to the#Israel – he blocked @codepink right back!

Haters gonna hate, and sometimes it ain’t worth your time to chat with them…