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ISRAEL

Normalization With The Saudis…At What Price? by Gerald A. Honigman

There’s much talk now, in the wake of other Gulf Arab breakthroughs, that Saudi Arabia is being heavily courted to join the normalization/peace movement regarding Israel. 

While shalom/salaam is good, it’s important to realize that, as with another alleged soon-to-be Arab or Arabized nation–the Sudan–Saudi Arabia comes into this with its own severe baggage  https://ekurd.net/what-arab-nation-next-israel-2020-09-29.  And yes–it would be nice for Israel to be able to cut travel time and save fuel by being able to fly over Saudi air space…etc..

For starters, however, let’s just say that the much-touted, decades old Saudi peace (of the grave) plan must be dropped like a nuked potato.

As a reminder, back when he was still a senator, a Times Of London story on November 16th, 2008, reported that President-elect Obama stated that Israel would be crazy (exact words) not to accept the resurrected, alleged Saudi “Peace Plan.” 

A bit earlier, a stop along President George W. Bush’s Middle East trip–after further pressuring Jews to accept his State Department’s vision of Fatah’s Mahmoud Abbas’s latter day terrorist Arafatians as being the good cops as opposed to simply more honest Hamas bad cops–took President Bush to the sands of the Saudis and other Arabian Peninsula nations.

A photo was published worldwide of the President wielding a sword along with Bahraini hosts, and Dubya brought along a New Year’s present — tens of billions of dollars in military aid…

Hey, if we don’t sell it to them, the Brits, Germans, French, and so forth certainly will. So goes the argument…And with Bahrain now opening doors to Israel, perhaps it wasn’t a bad decision after all.

The EU’s Discrimination Against Israel An inherited instinct to scapegoat the Jews. Fri Oct 16, 2020 Joseph Puder

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/10/eus-discrimination-against-i

The European Union (EU) discriminating policies against Israel are not new. The EU court approved the labeling of products from Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem. This labeling is reminiscent of the “Yellow Star of David” Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany and in Nazi occupied Europe. Israel considers the EU court decision to be unfair and discriminatory. It pointed out that other countries involved in land disputes are not similarly sanctioned. Now the EU has come up with a new discriminating formula in which to single out Israel. It is spelled by the EU as “housing demolitions” in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria for most Israelis).

According to Professor Hillel Frisch of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University, “Entering the phrase ‘housing demolition’ in the EU’s official website yields a shocking result: 18 of the first documents to appear concern Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes in the West Bank. In other words, 80% of the EU reports on this worldwide phenomenon involve a population and an area less than one-tenth of 1% of the world’s population or landmass.”

Ironically, an EU report from 2005, acknowledge widespread discriminatory demolition and eviction within the EU against Gypsy, Roma, and Sinti populations in such countries as Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Portugal.  Housing demolition as a punitive practice occurs throughout the world.  India accuses Pakistan of the practice in Hindu areas in Pakistan’s Punjab region. Egypt evicted thousands of Bedouins in the Sinai to clear the way for housing projects for Egyptians from outside the Sinai Peninsula. In the U.S., likewise, evictions and demolition of homes occur for the purpose of urban renewal.

Israel has continued a practice that dates back to the British Mandate, when British authorities demolished homes of terrorists. Israel has continued the practice as a deterrent against would be terrorists. These terror practitioners know that it would cost their family their home. Moreover, Israel, in following the rule-of-law, has the right to demolish illegally built homes whether the occupants are Arab-Palestinians or Jews.

Why Palestinians Will Not Accept Advice from Arabs by Khaled Abu Toameh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16555/palestinians-advice-arabs

Palestinian leaders are continuing to act not only against the advice of [former Egyptian President Hosni] Mubarak and other Arabs, but also against the interests of their own people.

“The Palestinian leadership has lost its credibility in the eyes of the new Arab generation, which is a generation of technology….” — Abdullah Al-Ghathami, professor of criticism and theory at King Saud University, Twitter, September 25, 2020.

Pointedly,…. the Fatah delegation in Istanbul last week met with officials from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, as well as Turkish and Qatari intelligence officers…. and discussed… ways of “coordinating positions to direct blows to the interests of the Arab countries, especially the Arab Gulf states and Egypt.”

The report added that “analysts specializing in the Palestinian issue commented that Qatar and Turkey will use Abbas to harm the interests of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Sudan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.”

The report also revealed that Qatar recently gave Abbas and some of his aides more than $50 million for their personal bank accounts inside banks in Israel and the Palestinian Authority areas.”

Shortly after Mahmoud Abbas was elected president of the Palestinian Authority in January 2005, Egypt’s then President Hosni Mubarak was asked what advice he would give Palestinian leaders.

Mubarak, in an interview with the Al-Arabiya television network, replied:

“There has to be a new thinking about the Palestinian issue. Otherwise, we [Arabs] will continue to say no. We have been saying no for the past 50 years, and that is why we missed many opportunities. We said no to the [UN’s 1947] Partition Plan, and in 1967 we said no to recognizing Israel in return for a withdrawal [to the 1949 armistice lines]. At the time, we said that what was taken by force can only be restored by force.

Time to end this culture of impunity No wonder anti-Israel activists plot ever more brazen outrages Melanie Phillips

https://melaniephillips.substack.com/p/time-to-end-this-culture-of-impunity?token=

Anti-israel “hacktivists” create propaganda on vandalised bus

In the Middle East, with hitherto unimaginable overtures of peace and reconciliation being made towards Israel by certain Gulf states, there are hopes of a potentially momentous change for the better in the century-old Arab war of extermination against the national homeland of the Jewish people.

Clearly, however, those in the west still committed to Israel’s extermination haven’t got the memo. Indeed, they are now ramping up their hate-mongering activities to ever more alarming levels.

Last Saturday, five people were arrested for criminal damage and assaulting the police after Palestine Action protesters threw red paint at the London office of Elbit, the Israeli defence electronics company which helps equip Britain’s armed forces.

In recent months, Elbit has become the cause du jour for Israel-bashers. Huda Ammori, a prominent member of Palestine Action, said it was “up to the people to take direct action to shut Elbit down for good.” The group, which was launched earlier this year, said it had targeted Elbit sites across the country “over a dozen times”.

Maurice Hirsch on Stopping the Palestinian Authority’s “Pay-to-Slay” Program by Marilyn Stern

https://www.meforum.org/61637/hirsch-on-palestinian-pay-to-slay-program

Maurice Hirsch, director of legal strategies at Palestinian Media Watch, spoke to participants in an August 17 Middle East Forum webinar (video) to discuss efforts to abolish the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) “pay-to-slay” system of financially rewarding terrorists.

Hirsch recounted dedicating his two-decade career in the IDF to prosecuting Palestinian terrorists only to realize that the lengthy jail sentences he meted out were “mak[ing] the terrorists rich” due to the PA’s pay-to-slay program.

Under this system, which began with the PA’s inception in 1994 and was further codified in 2004, 2006, and 2011, Palestinians who carry out acts of terrorism against Israelis receive financial rewards, payable to their families for those killed or in prison. Every terrorist serving time in an Israeli prison is “entitled to a monthly cash reward” that gets higher the longer he or she is behind bars. The average base salary a terrorist earns jumps considerably after three years in prison. After five years, benefits are added and the terrorist receives a pension for life. Those who serve ten years are guaranteed a highly paid position in the PA.

The pay-to-slay system has actually led some captured terrorists to reject shorter jail sentences in plea negotiations so as to qualify for more money. Hirsch recalled a defendant’s lawyer rejecting a 52-month sentence in a case he prosecuted, demanding 60 instead. “Why spend 52 months in jail and be released just having received your salary, when at the price of just another eight months you can receive a pension for the rest of your life?”

Saudi Arabia: We, Too, Are Fed Up with the Palestinians by Khaled Abu Toameh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16622/saudi-arabia-fed-up-palestinians

M]any Saudis and other Gulf citizens expressed support for Prince Bandar bin Abdulaziz’s criticism of the Palestinians, with some saying the time has come for a new Palestinian leadership that prioritizes its people’s interests and does not pocket the financial aid sent to them by the Arab countries and the West.

“Palestinian leaders stole the aid sent to the Palestinian people and built mansions in Washington, Paris and London, while ignoring the suffering of their people.” — Saudi political analyst Abdel Rahman Al-Mulhem, Al-Yaum, October 9, 2020.

According to Fahd Al-Shoqiran, a Saudi researcher and columnist, Palestinians “must be reminded that the hundreds of billions of money their leaders received to support their cause from Saudi Arabia throughout its history were capable of building the Palestinians huge cities.” Instead, Al-Shoqiran said, Palestinian leaders used the money to buy private planes and luxurious buildings in Europe and the US… “The prince’s speech was clear, direct, accurate and frank. The speech is a wake-up call. Things have changed….”

What is evident, meanwhile, is that, where Saudi Arabia is concerned, the Palestinians are on very thin ice. In fact, they may wake up to discover that the ice is melting all over the Arab world.

Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz’s scathing and unprecedented attack on the Palestinian leadership, during an interview aired by Saudi Al-Arabiya television station on October 6, adds Saudi Arabia and its citizens to the growing list of Arabs who regard the Palestinians as “ungrateful.”

During the interview, the prince, a former Saudi ambassador to the US, said that “the Palestinian cause is a just cause, but its advocates are failures, and the Israeli cause is unjust, but its advocates have proven to be successful.”

He accused the Palestinians of cozying up to Saudi Arabia’s foes, Iran and Turkey, and criticized them for accusing the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain of betrayal for agreeing to establish relations with Israel.” He also accused the Palestinians of “ingratitude or lack of loyalty” toward Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries that supported them for decades.

After the interview, many Saudis and other Gulf citizens expressed support for Prince Bandar bin Abdulaziz’s criticism of the Palestinians, with some saying the time has come for a new Palestinian leadership that prioritizes its people’s interests and does not pocket the financial aid sent to them by the Arab countries and the West.

“I believe that the time has come to form a permanent Arab committee under the umbrella of the Arab League to manage the Palestinian issue and conduct face-to-face dialogue with Israel,” said Emirati columnist and political analyst Abdullah Nasser Al-Otaibi. “Today, after this very revealing and frank talk (by the Saudi prince), I strongly believe in the need for the Arabs to find a way to manage the Palestinian issue.”

Palestinian Education Mirrors Policy and Vision Ambassador (Ret.) Yoram Ettinger

https://bit.ly/3lkaKHy, https://bit.ly/30HZ8Gw   

The 2020 Palestinian Authority’s Arabic Language, Vol 2, Grade 5, pp 51-61 and Social Studies, Vol. 1, Grade 9, p. 40 herald Dalal al-Mughrabi, who led – and participated in – the March 1978 massacre of 38 Israeli civilians (mostly passengers of two Haifa-Tel Aviv buses), including 13 children and wounding 72. The 5th and 9th graders are encouraged to become “martyrs” and follow in the footsteps of “the crown of the nation” and “the role model of Palestinian resistance… whose struggle portrays challenge and heroism, making her memory immortal in our hearts and minds.”

Education mirrors leadership and society

Education is the most authentic reflection of the identity, core values, culture, track record, worldview and vision of the architects of the education system and (subsequently) the society at-large. 

Education plays a major role in shaping the personality of individuals and society at-large, especially in non-democratic societies, such as the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian education system has been overseen by Mahmoud Abbas since 1993, when he established it in his capacity as Arafat’s deputy. The Palestinian education system is a byproduct of the 1959 and 1964/1968 Fatah and PLO Charters and the 1974 Palestinian Phased Plan, which stipulate the Palestinian vision.  

Education in non-democratic societies mirrors the worldview of its leaders much more credibly than diplomatic statements, briefings and media interviews. The latter constitute “screen savers,” aiming to conceal the real vision, which is lucidly expressed by the educational curriculum.

While free societies promote education in order to enhance enlightenment, expand information and upgrade the standard of living, rogue regimes employ education as a means to advance their brutal goals and brainwash the younger generation into full-submission, including the perpetration of terrorism.

While free societies foster education as a hothouse of tolerance, peaceful-coexistence and innovative ideas and technologies, rogue regimes exploit education as a hothouse of fanaticism and violent intolerance, as well as terrorism and suicide-bombing.

The 2020-2021 Palestinian school curriculum highlights

Is It Possible to Curb the Extreme Bias of the BBC? By Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld

https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/bbc-bias-israel/

For decades, there has been a steady stream of complaints about the BBC’s anti-Israel bias. Yet other than criticize the BBC publicly, there was little anyone could do. That may have changed. In June 2020, Tim Davie became the BBC’s new director general. He wants to make the BBC’s reporting impartial. This would be a good occasion for the publication of the secret 2004 Malcolm Balen report about BBC reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Former Israeli ambassador to the UK Zvi Shtauber told me in an interview in 2005:

The BBC is a problem in itself. Over the years I had endless conversations with them. Any viewer who looks at the BBC’s information on Israel for a consistent period gets a distorted picture. It doesn’t result from a single broadcast here or there. It derives from the BBC’s method of broadcasting. When reporting from Israel, the mosque on the Temple Mount is usually shown in the background, which gives viewers the impression that Jerusalem is predominantly Muslim.

Shtauber summed up his remarks by saying it was almost a daily task for him to react to BBC distortions about Israel.

There has been a steady stream of complaints for decades about the BBC’s anti-Israel bias—more than enough to fill a book. Camera UK maintains a special monitoring site solely to focus on the BBC’s anti-Israel bias.

Here are a few recent examples. Senior BBC producer Rosie Garthwaite is working on a new documentary critical of Israeli actions in East Jerusalem. She has admitted to sharing inaccurate pro-Palestinian propaganda on social media. She deleted a false map from her personal Twitter account that greatly overstated alleged Palestinian land loss to Israel, and she has been accused of sharing other false or controversial claims about Israel on social media. Garthwaite has wrongly suggested that Gaza has only one border, and that that sole border is controlled by Israel. This is just a sampling of her anti-Israel propaganda.

Ruthie Blum The ‘chemistry’ of anti-Israel propaganda This is not the first time that Ariel University has been targeted by left-wing academics who toe the Palestinian line.

https://www.jns.org/opinion/the-chemistry-of-anti-israel-propaganda/

 When the prominent Switzerland-based chemistry journal Molecules recently announced that its special January 2021 issue would feature a paper from a researcher at Ariel University in Samaria, a group of scientists immediately protested.

Their response had nothing to do with the content of Mindy Levine’s study, however. No, the academics—led by 2018 Nobel Chemistry Prize laureate George Smith and Royal Society of Chemistry fellow Malcolm Levitt—did not concern themselves with their colleague’s work.

All that mattered to them was the mailing address of the institution of higher learning, where Levine heads a lab that engages in toxicant detection, environmental remediation and supramolecular organic chemistry.

In their letter to the editors of Molecules, the group—made up of academics who support Palestinian academics’ non-recognition of Ariel University—demanded that Levine’s article be nixed unless the location of her academic affiliation is “correctly and factually” edited.

But Levine, a new immigrant to Israel from the United States with a background from the University of Rhode Island, Columbia and MIT, had listed the school’s address as “Ariel University, 65 Ramat HaGolan Street, Ariel, Israel.”

The “chemical reaction” on the part of Smith, Levitt and their followers was rage born of believing that their scientific credentials award them automatic knowledge in fields far beyond their purview. They insisted, thus, that the address be changed to read: “Ariel University, illegal Israeli settlement of Ariel, Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

Netanyahu Warns the Mullahs “To the people of Lebanon, Israel means you no harm. But Iran does.” Joseph Puder

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/10/netanyahu-warns-against-irans-aggression-joseph-puder/

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the annual forum of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Tuesday, September 29, 2020. In his speech from Jerusalem (due to Covid-19, worldwide leaders delivered their speeches via videos, not in person in New York City), he devoted the lion’s share of the time to the threat Iran poses to the international community and especially in the Middle East. He said that, “Iran is the greatest enemy of peace.” He also pointed out on a large map, the location in Beirut where Iran and Hezbollah placed their missile depot in the middle of a civilian neighborhood, next to gas works. Thus, using Lebanese civilians as “human shields.” He warned the Lebanese civilians of another impending tragedy as a result of Hezbollah’s actions, and urged them to demand that the Hezbollah remove the missiles from civilian homes and neighborhoods throughout Lebanon. Netanyahu added, “To the people of Lebanon, Israel means you no harm. But Iran does.”

Reflecting on the recently concluded peace treaties between Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, Netanyahu said that, “Israel and the states across the Arab world not only stand together in advancing peace, we stand together in confronting the greatest enemy of peace in the Middle East – Iran. Iran wantonly and repeatedly attacks its neighbors, and its terror proxies are directly involved in violence throughout the Middle East, including in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Gaza, and of course Lebanon.”

Netanyahu reminded the leaders of the UNGA member states that in 2015, he stood alone among world leaders opposing the nuclear deal with Iran, arguing that the nuclear deal doesn’t block Iran’s path to the bomb, it actually paved its way to it. He stressed that the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program were only temporary and were not tied to Iran’s change of behavior. He then proclaimed that, “Iran has violated even those temporary restrictions.” Netanyahu warned that Iran will have enough enriched uranium in a few months for two nuclear bombs. He proceeded to call on all the members of the UN Security Council (UNSC), to stand with the U.S. against Iran’s aggression.