RUTHFULLY YOURS

It was all so predictable: Billowing clouds of dense black smoke in Gaza, satisfaction in technicolor at the inauguration of the American embassy in Jerusalem. With varying degrees of sarcasm, on a familiar scale from naïve humanism to virulent Jew hatred, commentators commented on the contrasted images. Forcibly to the detriment of Israel. The Jews dance while Gaza burns and bleeds. Bloodbath in Gaza, broad grins in Jerusalem. Indecent! Provocation! And they deliberately chose this highly sensitive date—confluence of the Nakba and the first day of Ramadan—to dangle the red meat of their triumph in front of starving Gazans.

I don’t waste my time analyzing this discourse detail by detail. I did it in September 2000 [Al Dura: Long Range Ballistic Myth, Troubled Dawn of the 21st Century] and have followed the consequences over the years and to date. And I dare believe that my work, and that of other fearless thinkers, has not been in vain. If the adversaries pursue the same strategy and the unthinking commentators respond with the same half-truths and wholesale lies, the results on the ground are no longer in their favor. And that’s what counts.

There is another way to read those iconic images. The Gazan March of Return appears in all its nullity. Hate-filled individuals choke on their own smoke, blinded by their own stupidity, reveling in their self-imposed immobility. The very image of the slingshot-wielding shabab with his head wrapped in a keffieh is lost in the black smoke of burning tires. In civilized societies tires are made for vehicles that transport people, goods, and livestock. The invention of the wheel stands as a turning point in human history. The retrograde March of Return turns that potential for movement into volcanic self-destruction. And Israel doesn’t have the right to bask in the light of its accomplishments?

Renewed tragedy has been occurring in Gaza for weeks now. Before it’s over, there will be much destruction, and many lives will have been lost or seriously impacted in other ways.

The near-sighted blame this on President Trump’s recognition that, since King David purchased it from Jebusites three thousand years ago (with Jerusalem subsequently becoming the heart and soul of Jewish existence), he would heed Congress’s call to acknowledge Zion as Israel’s capital, moving America’s embassy there on the 70th anniversary of Israel’s rebirth, May 14, 2018. Like all other nations on Earth, Israel finally got to choose its own most important city.

Mentioned over 600 times in the Hebrew Bible, the Arabs’ Qur’an does not mention Jerusalem even once. Medieval Arab historians themselves, like Jalaluddin, admitted that Islam’s 7th century C.E. prophet, Muhammad, only paid respect to Jerusalem to gain support from influential tribes of Jews who, fleeing Roman conquest in Judea earlier, founded the date palm oasis of Medina in the Arabian Peninsula. Muhammad fled there to escape fellow pagan enemies in Mecca. After giving him refuge, introducing him to Jewish monotheistic beliefs, important human and non-human luminaries (like Abraham, Moses, the important Angel Gabriel), and such, when the Jews refused his religio-political claims, Islam’s prophet decapitated all their men and enslaved the women and children.

1. The recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish State, and the site of the US Embassy, reflects a realistic assessment of Middle East/Arab priorities, notwithstanding official Arab statements. Thus, the Arab walk – unlike the Arab talk – does not consider Jerusalem and the Palestinian issues to be nearly as critical as are the clear, present and lethal threats to all pro-US Arab regimes, which are posed by Iran’s Ayatollahs, ISIS, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic terrorists; the regional powder kegs in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya; and the inherent turbulence throughout the tectonic Middle East with many potential eruptions (in Jordan, Egypt, etc.) of devastating, anti-US lava.

2. Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and relocating the US Embassy to Jerusalem – as prescribed by the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act – represent the resolve to focus on US interests in accordance with Middle East reality, while defying Arab pressure/threats and overruling the conventional “wisdom” of the State Department bureaucracy.

3. Relocating the US Embassy to Jerusalem underscores the reassertion of the US independent and unilateral – rather than multilateral – action. It distinguishes the US President, most members of the House and the Senate and most constituents from the UN state-of-mind, the European vacillation and the worldview of the “elite” media and think tanks.

One of the enduring mysteries of modern political discourse is the way in which smart people — who are not remotely anti-Semitic — impose curious, unworkable double standards on the nation of Israel. Let’s take, for example, the response of many on the left to the so-called Great Return March, an effort by thousands of Gazans to storm the Israeli border.

After all, the international legal standards are clear. A nation has the right to protect the integrity of its border, and that right is supplemented by an inherent right of self-defense in the face of a hostile foreign power. Hamas — which rules Gaza — rejects Israel’s right to exist and remains in a state of perpetual, declared war with Israel. Any reasonable person contemplating the consequences of a border-wall breach knows that chaos and bloodshed may result.

Moreover, every reasonably informed person knows that Hamas has a long history of using human shields, including women and children, to drum up international sympathy and deceive gullible foreign critics into believing that Israel is using lethal force against peaceful protestors who merely seek a peaceful resolution to an intractable conflict. Yet still yesterday we saw tweets and articles not just from the single-minded anti-Israel Left but also from far more thoughtful observers:

In apartheid Gaza, where the remaining less-than-one-percent of the Christian population lives uneasily among the 99%+ Muslim inhabitants with absolutely no Jews allowed, there is a peaceful protest against Israel. How do we know it is peaceful? Because the New York Times, CNN and the usual complicit media say so.

Bringing guns and babies to a conflict and arming children to a declared war to overrun another country and kill all its inhabitants is peaceful because the holy Hamas Covenant, which brutally runs Gaza, clearly states:

‘The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.’ (Article 6)

On the Destruction of Israel:

‘Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.’ (Preamble)

The Exclusive Moslem Nature of the Area:

‘The land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf [Holy Possession] consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgment Day. No one can renounce it or any part, or abandon it or any part of it.’ (Article 11)…

The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them.

Obeying their holy death wish covenant, Hamas operatives posted online instructions for their duped civilian followers promising them a bonus payment of $100 a day for the peaceful privilege of killing Israelis and holy martyrdom for being killed.

But hey, as usual, Trump and the Jooos are to blame.

“The dedication of the embassy is a leap of faith. Faith in building rather than destruction. Faith in life instead of death.”

Hamas supporters in Gaza held the world’s first peaceful protest with hand grenades, pipe bombs, cleavers and guns. Ten explosive devices were peacefully detonated. There were outbursts of peaceful gunfire and over a dozen kites carrying firebombs were sent into Israel where they started 23 peaceful fires. And Israeli soldiers peacefully defended their country leaving multiple Hamas attackers at peace.

“We will tear down the border,” Hamas Prime Minister Yahya Sinwar had peacefully vowed. “And we will tear out their hearts from their bodies.”

But the only hearts his terror thugs tore out were already bleeding with sympathy for Islamic terrorists.

The Hamas mob chanted, “Allahu Akbar” and the genocidal racist threat of, “Khaybar Khaybar, ya yahud,” a reference to the primal Islamic massacre of the Jews. While IDF soldiers held back the invaders, the jets of the IAF targeted the snake’s head striking Hamas compounds and outposts. By 5.30 PM, the Hamas organizers changed course and began urging the thugs away from further fence attacks.

Hamas had offered $100 to every rioter. During previous violent assaults back in April, the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist group had been offering $200 to anyone shot by Israelis, $500 for severe injuries and $3,000 to the dead.

The United States opened an embassy to Jerusalem today at the order of President Trump, who finally fulfilled a promise former presidents made for decades.

“We will move the American embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem,” Trump said. “Therefore, I have determined that it is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. While previous presidents have made this a major campaign promise they failed to deliver. Today I am delivering.”

President Bill Clinton said in 1992 that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital, despite the U.S. embassy being in Tel Aviv. “Jerusalem is still the capital of Israel and must remain an undivided city accessible to all,” he said.

George W. Bush promised 18 years ago, “As soon as I take office I will begin the process of moving the U.S. ambassador to the city Israel has chosen as its capital.”

“I continue to say that Jerusalem will be the capital of Israel, and I have said that before, and I will say it again,” President Barack Obama said at an AIPAC conference. “And Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.”

The protests aren’t spontaneous and they aren’t’ peaceful.

hey, of course, didn’t begin today. This New York Times article from a couple of weeks ago is a pretty good guide to what we’ve seen.

The protests aren’t spontaneous:

For weeks, Palestinians protesting along the fence between Gaza and Israel have conjured up the idea of swarming across the barrier, a mass of tens of thousands of people too numerous for Israeli soldiers to arrest or even to shoot.

They aren’t peaceful:

Hamas has called the protests peaceful, despite the Molotov cocktails thrown at Israeli soldiers and firebombs attached to kites that are routinely sailed over the fence, setting fires to Israeli farmland. Israel, defending its use of deadly force, has described the protests as riots that could turn into an invasion at any time.

Israeli communities are close to the border, and Israeli forces can’t just allow them to be stormed by armed rioters:

For the first time in five weeks of protests, some reached the second barrier — a sensor-laden fence that marks the edge of Israeli territory — and tried to climb it or pull it down. A few hundred yards beyond it lies the Israeli farming community of Nahal Oz.

JERUSALEM—The U.S. cemented its ties to Israel by opening a new embassy in Jerusalem, as clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israel’s military left dozens dead and added to the Trump administration’s challenges in the Middle East.

The ceremony, held in a large tent beside the new embassy site, was attended by top Israeli and U.S. officials. “This is a great day for Israel, it’s a great day for America,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel told the attendees. “I also believe it’s a great day for peace.”

Some 50 miles away, Israeli military used warplanes to hit targets belonging to Gaza rulers Hamas and fired live ammunition, tear gas and rubber bullets at Palestinian protesters as many of them attempted to breach the fence dividing the Gaza Strip with Israel.
Deadly Move
As the U.S. opened its new embassy in Jerusalem Monday, about 50 miles away more than 50 Palestinian protesters were killed in clashes with the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip.

Protesters used explosive devices, firebombs and flaming kites, according to the Israeli military. Numerous shots were fired, and Gazans burned tires and threw Molotov cocktails at Israeli soldiers.

Gaza officials said 52 protesters were killed—among them a 12- and a 14-year-old—and more than 2,400 were injured. That marked the largest single-day death toll since the Israeli army fought a conflict with Hamas in 2014.

The unrest followed months of tension over President Donald Trump’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, where it has resided since soon after Israel’s 1948 founding. It coincided with a host of anniversaries that Hamas has used to rally support for its cause. The U.S. Embassy opening in Jerusalem—in a city that Palestinians also claim for a future capital—offered a focal point for their anger.

An Israeli military spokesman said Monday that the demonstrations by 40,000 Gazans were larger and more violent than those of the past month and a half of protests on the strip.

In the runup to the U.S. Embassy opening, Hamas has helped organize weekly protests and threatened to break through the fence dividing the strip with Israel. Fearing a mass infiltration of Israeli territory, Israel has responded with live fire, killing about 100 people since March 30. CONTINUE AT SITE

“In a long overdue move, we have moved our embassy to Jerusalem. Every nation should have the right to choose its capital,” Mr. Schumer said in a statement. “I sponsored legislation to do this two decades ago, and I applaud President Trump for doing it.”

What he didn’t say is that while Mr. Schumer talked up his legislation at fund-raising time, he muted his support during the Obama years. The embassy would never have moved without Mr. Trump’s willingness to defy political convention.

The embassy transfer is also a symbolic reaffirmation of U.S. support for Israel. Ties between the two countries frayed during President Obama’s two terms, as Mr. Obama made concluding a nuclear deal with Iran his top—really, his only—Middle East priority. One of Mr. Trump’s projects has been to restore better relations with U.S. allies, and in the Middle East that has meant Israel and the Sunni Arabs in Egypt and on the Arabian peninsula.

This is already paying dividends in confronting Iran’s attempt to build an anti-Israel front in Syria with missiles and Hezbollah militia on the northern Israeli border. Israel struck back hard last week at Iranian positions in Syria after Iran launched missiles toward the Golan Heights. The missiles were intercepted, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used the provocation to do significant damage to Iranian bases.