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ISRAEL

Thousands Rally in South Africa’s Capital to Demand Full Resumption of Ties With Israel by Ben Cohen

https://www.algemeiner.com/2018/07/26/thousands-rally-in-south-africas-capital-to-demand-full-resumption-of-ties-with-israel/?utm_content=news1&utm_medium=daily_email&utm_campaign=email&utm_source=internal/

Thousands of South African supporters of Israel marched through the streets of Pretoria, the capital, on Wednesday, demanding the reinstatement of South Africa’s envoy to Israel, along with an end to the efforts of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) to further downgrade diplomatic ties with the Jewish state.

Rallying on Wednesday outside Union Buildings — the seat of the South African government — the predominantly Christian marchers, totaling around 5,000 in number, carried placards reading “SA Bless Israel” and “No Cutting Ties With Israel.” South Africa’s ambassador in Tel Aviv, Sisa Ngombane, was recalled to Pretoria on May 14 as a gesture of solidarity with the violent Palestinian demonstrations on the Israel-Gaza border.

Political party leaders at the rally included Mosiuoa Lekota of the Congress of the People (COPE) and Rev. Kenneth Meshoe of the African Democratic Christian Party (ADCP), South African news outlet IOL reported. A petition with 41,000 signatures urging the restoration of ties with Israel was presented to the South African presidency’s office.

Rev. Meshoe told the crowd that the ANC’s forthcoming bid in 2019 for the votes of South Africa’s professed Christians — more than 80 percent of the country’s population of 56 million — might be rebuffed if its political and diplomatic campaign against Israel continues.

At its special conference in December 2017 where members of Hamas were honored, the ANC voted to downgrade South Africa’s embassy in Israel to a “Liaison Office.” Over the last six months, the ruling party has stepped up its anti-Israel rhetoric amid the unrest on the Gaza border, further raising the profile of the country’s vocal boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.

Dignity for the Palestinians by Denis MacEoin

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12762/dignity-for-the-palestinians

Given that all Palestinian leaderships have called for a Palestinian state that will encompass and obliterate the state of Israel, it is not surprising that they cannot bear to accept any proposal that will give them only one small state (or two small states) in the territory allotted to them by the United Nations in 1947.

Re-imposition of Islamic waqf law will not restore Spain, Portugal, Sicily, India, Greece and all the other states of the abandoned caliphal empires to Muslim rule, and it is futile to think that is nothing more than a fantasy.

A recent US report revealed that there are, it seems, actually no more than 20,000 Palestinian refugees in the world.

In the end, it is so-called pro-Palestinian activists such as Robert Fisk or writers for papers such as The Independent, The Guardian, or the New York Times who do their utmost to persuade the world to favour Palestinian intransigence over offers of upgrading lives and international law.

Anyone who cares for Israel, who aspires to peace, who has a good understanding of the historical, ethical, political, and legal facts that underpin the right of the Jewish people to a state of which they are the indigenous people, will be familiar with the name of Robert Fisk. But not in a good way.

For decades, Fisk has been one of the most unrelenting of Israel’s many haters and one of the most uncritical supporters of the rights of the Palestinians and their unending calls and actions aimed at the total destruction of Israel and the expulsion or massacre of the Jewish people living there.[1]

Fisk is a clever man. He took his PhD in 1983 from Trinity College, Dublin, an ancient and respected university. Although his doctorate was in political science on a topic related to Ireland and Britain, he has worked as the Middle East correspondent for the Times (1976-1988) and, since 1989, for the left-wing daily, The Independent.

Over the years, he has reported on many wars in many countries and has written and co-authored many books about them, all of them about their conflicts.[2]

Given his Jack-of-all trades character, it is not surprising that Fisk does not always get his facts straight, and for this he has often been criticized by people with deeper knowledge, as here or here: He is opinionated, often in an extreme way, functioning more as an activist than a reporter. According to UKMediaWatch:

Anti-Semitism On Full Display At UN Departing UN Human Rights Commissioner takes one last shot at Israel. Joseph Klein

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/270854/anti-semitism-full-display-un-joseph-klein

Natan Sharansky has written about what he called the “new anti-Semitism,” which “is aimed at the Jewish state.” He described his ‘3D’ test “to help us distinguish legitimate criticism of Israel from anti-Semitism.” The 3D’s stand for “demonization,” “double standards,” and “delegitimization.”

Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the outgoing head of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, displayed once again how he has satisfied all 3D’s that define today’s brand of anti-Semitism. In a video address to the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People on Monday, he condemned only Israel for the ongoing violence in Gaza. He blamed the “grossly inadequate living conditions” only on Israel’s 11-year Gaza partial blockade. Zeid gave the terrorist organization Hamas a free pass. For good measure, Zeid also denounced the Israeli Knesset’s recent approval of a law that declared Israel the nation-state of the Jewish people. He said the law “anchors inherent discrimination against non-Jewish communities, most notably the Arab citizens of Israel and residents of occupied East Jerusalem.”

The principal reason why Zeid’s inflammatory comments constitute rank anti-Semitism is not because they criticize Israeli government policies and actions. Such criticisms, if based on objective facts, are legitimate, as Mr. Sharansky has acknowledged. Zeid is anti-Semitic because he demonizes and spreads lies about Israel and delegitimizes its Jewish identity, while applying a hypocritical double standard in his denunciations.

Israel unilaterally withdrew its military from Gaza and dismantled its settlements there in 2005. The Palestinians then became the masters of their own fate. Israel worked cooperatively with the Palestinian Authority after its withdrawal to keep border crossings between Gaza and Israel as open and secure as possible. Once the Hamas terrorists came into power, however, and forcibly threw their Fatah rivals out of Gaza, they set about converting what could have been an economically self-sufficient, independently governed prototype of a Palestinian state, living side by side in peace with Israel, into a haven for terrorism.

The Palestinian polygraph – hate education and incitement Ambassador (Ret.) Yoram Ettinger

http://theettingerreport.com/Palestinian-Issue/The-Palestinian-polygraph-%E2%80%93-hate-education-and-inc.aspx

The Palestinian Authority’s school curriculum, dogmatic education system and controlled-media reflect its worldview and core values, as is the case in all non-democratic regimes.

The Palestinian school curriculum has been the most critical tool to indoctrinate and mold Palestinian youth – K through 12 – in accordance with the dominant ideology and policy of the Palestinian Authority, aiming to sustain the regime and advance its goals.

Anti-Israel and anti-Jewish themes, which have dominated the Palestinian curriculum and controlled-media, reflect the inherently primary geo-strategic goals of the Palestinian Authority. As documented by the Palestinian curriculum, the Palestinian Authority has not been preoccupied with the size – but with the existence – of the “infidel” Jewish State in the “abode of Islam.”

For example, “Where are the cavalrymen who will dash to liberate [the Jerusalem Al Aqsa Mosque] from the fists of the infidel aides of the devil [the Jews]” (7th grade, Arabic Language, volume 1, p. 66)? “The Jews did not honor the accord [with the Prophet Muhammad] and resorted to betrayal, treachery and hostility, which forced the Moslems to fight them” (7th grade, Islamic Education, volume 1, p. 50). “The Jews repeated their attempts to murder The Messenger [Muhammad]” (5th grade, Islamic Education, volume 2, p. 66). “Jihad [a binding Holy War] is one of the gates to Paradise” (7th grade, Arabic Language, volume 2, p.92).

The aforementioned quotes featured in a June 2018 study of over 200 Palestinian school books – many of them used in UNRWA schools – which was conducted by the veteran researcher of Palestinian curriculum, Dr. Arnon Groiss, commissioned by the Jerusalem-based “Center for Near East Policy Research” and published by Israel-based “Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.”

Donkeys, and Falcons, and Qassams, Oh My! by Gerald A. Honigman

www.geraldahonigman.com

So, the Arabs of Gaza have come up with a new method to attack Israel.

At least one dead falcon was found tied to incendiary materials to set the Jewish State ablaze–along with fire kites, balloons, and other such materials already being used. Not to mention mortars, missiles, and Qassam rockets. The latter, along with Hamas’s Qassam Brigade, are named for that late, great “native Palestinian” throat-slitter-of-Jews hero, Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam.

Like many, if not most, other alleged Arab “aboriginals,” Izzy came into the early post-World War I Mandate of Palestine from elsewhere, outside the Mandate. In his case–along with scores of thousands of other Arabs–from Latakia and other parts of Syria. Primary sources from the period such as the Minutes of the Permanent Mandates Commission of The League of Nations, are filled with such accounts. Scores of thousands of their Syrian Jewish neighbors would flee Syria as refugees a while later. They had lived in Syria since biblical times, long before Arabs conquered the land many centuries later.

Moving on to current news…

Regarding the deceased bird of prey drafted for the Arab cause (i.e., the latest Arab use of live creatures, Homo sapiens included, as ILEDs–Improvised Living Explosive Devices), one of the most vocal animal rights groups offered:

“As an animal-protection organization, PETA notes that animals claim allegiance to no nation, don’t choose sides, and can only rely on human beings to show them mercy, and it is unacceptable to use them as weapons of war.”

PETA, of course, is correct–but there’s more to this callous disregard for life than what one dead bird might suggest. So, please bear with me…

Let me begin by stating that there is a tradition in both Judaism and, much later, Islam to treat animals in a humane way. And, in the modern age of factory farming and such–with all the inhumane practices which accompany them–none but the vegetarian comes out really looking good regarding this matter. Having stated this, there are still, nevertheless, some vey real differences in general practice between adherents of those two faiths.

Palestinian Authority Silences Students by Bassam Tawil

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12753/palestinian-authority-silences-students

By targeting Palestinian journalists and university students, the Palestinian Authority shows that it has turned the territories under its control into a dictatorship that systematically grinds public freedoms into the ground.

Palestinians are permitted to badmouth Israel and the US — but that is where their “freedom of speech” ends. Let a Palestinian utter a bad word about his leaders — he will find himself (or herself) behind bars. This bodes rather poorly for the future of democracy and free speech in a Palestinian state. In fact, it discloses exactly what a Palestinian state would look like, if and when it is ever established.

Failing to hold the PA leadership accountable for its actions against journalists and university students drives Palestinians into the open arms of Hamas. Yet the international media remains mute in the face of the PA’s flouting of the right to freedom of expression. Why? Because, for the foreign media, a story that does not serve to bash Israel is not “news that’s fit to print.”

A Palestinian electric engineer from the West Bank is facing up to one year in prison and a heavy fine. Ibrahim Al-Masri, who was arrested by the Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces on June 19, is the latest victim of the PA’s continued crackdown on its political opponents and dissenters.

Al-Masri’s lawyer said that his client was taken into custody under the PA’s new controversial Cyber Crime Law, which targets Palestinian social media users. His family said they learned about his detention more than 24 hours after he was taken into custody. They pointed out that Al-Masri was arrested for posting comments on Facebook criticizing the PA security forces for beating him during a demonstration in Ramallah last month. The demonstration was organized by Palestinian activists to protest the economic sanctions imposed by the PA government on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

The Cyber Crime Law, which has drawn sharp criticism from Palestinian human rights and media organizations, states that, “Anyone who creates or manages or an information technology platform that aims to publish news that would endanger the integrity of the Palestinian state, the public order or the internal or external security of the State, shall be punished by imprisonment for a period of at least one year and no more than 5,000 Jordanian dinars (approximately $7,000) or by a combination of both punishments.”

The law effectively authorizes the PA security forces to arrest Palestinians for their activities on social media, especially if their postings are deemed “offensive” to senior Palestinian officials or harmful to the “integrity of the Palestinian state” which, one might note, remains to be established.

Palestinians are now wondering whether the Ramallah-based PA leadership has created a “Facebook Police” to monitor their activities on the giant social media portal.

Who’s Afraid of a Jewish State? The scariest thing for a fake Jewish organization is a Jewish State. Daniel Greenfield

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/270837/whos-afraid-jewish-state-daniel-greenfield

“Israel, the “Palestinians”, the two-state solution and all the rest of it was never the issue. Jewishness is. The only people who are afraid of a Jewish State either hate Jews or hate being Jewish.”

The Palestinian Authority’s basic law and draft constitution states that “Palestine” is an “Arab” entity, that “Islam is the official religion”, that “Islamic Sharia” is the basis for its law and Arabic is its official language. Unlike Israel’s nation-state bill which defines the Jewish State as Jewish, there’s been no criticism of this PLO document. And the media has not labeled it as divisive or controversial.

The constitution of neighboring Jordan states, “Islam is the religion of the State and Arabic is its official language.” “The people of Syria are part of the Arab nation,” Syria’s constitution declares. “The religion of the President of the Republic is Islam; Islamic jurisprudence shall be a major source of legislation”. That means Syria may only be ruled by a Muslim. “The official language of the state is Arabic.”

Egypt’s constitution declares it to be an “Arab Republic” and “part of the Muslim world”. You will not be surprised to learn that, “Islam is the religion of the state and Arabic is its official language. The principles of Islamic Sharia are the principle source of legislation.” These same statements, with minor variations, hold true for most of the Muslim countries in the region, and excluding Arabic, throughout the world.

All of Israel’s Arab Muslim neighbors very clearly define their countries as Arab and Muslim. Their religion is Islam, their identity Arabic, variations of the same document declare, their language is Arabic.

These assertions of Arab and Muslim national identity are not criticized by the same gaggle of organizations, governments and reporters tearing their hair out over Israel’s nation-state bill.

The nation-state bill defines Israel as the “the historical homeland of the Jewish people” and “the nation-state of the Jewish people”. Hebrew is its official language with Arabic enjoying a special status. (No Arab constitution bothers offering Hebrew a similar status.)

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the bill as “racist”. The state sponsor of Islamic terror complained that, “human civilization tends to celebrate diversity”. Qatar’s own constitution declares that it is an Arab country whose “religion is Islam” and “Sharia law” is the basis for its laws.

Haley rips Arab, Islamic states for UN posturing on Palestinian question

https://worldisraelnews.com/haley-rips-arab-islamic-states-for-un-posturing-on-palestinian-question/?utm_source=MadMimi&utm_medium=email&

Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, delivered a hard hitting speech to Tuesday’s meeting of the Security Council on the Middle East, questioning the fundamental commitment of Arab states to securing progress for the Palestinians.

Haley argued that if solidarity with the Palestinians was to be judged by the volume of words expended on the issue in the halls of the UN, “one would come away with an extremely distorted picture.”

“No group of countries is more generous with their words than the Palestinians’ Arab neighbors, and other OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) member states,” Haley told the Security Council. “But all of the words spoken here in New York do not feed, clothe, or educate a single Palestinian child. All they do is get the international community riled up.”

“Last year, while Algeria was providing nothing to UNRWA, and Turkey was providing $6.7 million, the United States gave $364 million,” Haley continued. “That’s ten times the combined amounts from every country I just named.”

She added: “And that’s on top of what the American people give annually to the Palestinians in bilateral assistance. That was another $300 million last year, and it averages to more than a quarter of a billion dollars every year since 1993.”
Speeches over action

The alleged preference among Arab states for solidarity speeches rather than practical action on behalf of the Palestinians was not limited to the funding issue, Haley said.

“Where are the Arab countries when it comes to encouraging reconciliation between Palestinian factions, which is essential to peace?” she asked. “Where are the Arab countries when it comes to denouncing Hamas terrorism? Where are the Arab countries when it comes to supporting compromises that are necessary for peace?”

Ireland’s Anti-Israel Bill and the Muslim Brotherhood by Lawrence A. Franklin

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12733/ireland-israel-boycott

The Irish bill could have a negative impact on American companies with subsidiaries in Ireland: it is illegal under US anti-boycott laws to cooperate with a ban on commerce with Israeli settlements.

What is behind the proposed bill? One possible explanation is the prominent role played by Islamic institutions and organizations in Ireland, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood. There is evidence to suggest that the Muslim Brotherhood has established its European headquarters in the Emerald Isle.

Leaked US Embassy cables indicated that even some Irish Muslims refer to a certain mosque in Dublin as “Tora Bora,” a cave complex on Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan. One of the mosques imams, Yayah al-Hussein, originally from Sudan, is a member of Hamas, and many of its congregants are Bosnian and Afghan jihadists.

On July 11, the Irish Senate approved a bill criminalizing local companies that engage in commerce with Israeli firms based in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). Introduced in the body’s Upper Chamber by independent member Senator Frances Black, the bill passed initial muster, in a 25-20 vote with 14 abstentions. The Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill, 2018 would prohibit any import of goods or services from “occupied territories,” with financial penalties of a quarter million euros in fines and up to five years imprisonment for violators.

The Great British Foreign Office Fantasy by Douglas Murray

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12755/golan-israel-white-helmets

The armies of ISIS came right up to the villages on the Syrian side along the borders of the Golan. There, they were able to bring that form of peace-through-barbarism which the world has come to know well. If ISIS had triumphed in the Syrian conflict rather than suffering repeated set-backs, would the UK Foreign Office have handed them the territory by way of reparational justice, or victor’s prize?
The painful irony of this situation should be clear to all observers. If the Israelis did not lay claim to the Golan, there would have been no means to have got the White Helmets and their families out of Syria. Had Israel not made the Golan the peaceful and thriving area it is, it would simply be another part of Syria in which different sectarian groups were slaughtering other sectarian groups.
The British Foreign Office will have to back out of its self-imposed corner regarding the Golan at some point and accept the reality on the ground. How much better it would be if it did so now in a spirit of goodwill and reciprocity, rather than later on in a spirit of inevitable and grudging defeat.

According to the British Foreign Office, the Golan Heights are ‘occupied’. They have been ‘occupied’ — according to the logic of the UK Foreign Office — since 1967, when Israel took the land from the invading forces of Syria. Ever since then, the Israelis have had the benefit of this strategic position and the Syrian regime has not. This fact, half a century on, still strikes the British Foreign Office as regrettable, and a wrong to be righted in due course.

Of course, since the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the official position of the UK government has become ever-harder to justify. For example, if the Israeli government were at some point over the last seven years suddenly to have listened to the wisdom of the Foreign Office in London and handed over the strategic prize of the Golan, to whom should it have handed it? Should Israel be persuaded to hand over the territory to the Assad regime in Damascus? It is true that, throughout the course of the Syrian civil war, the one bit of territory to which the Syrian regime has laid claim and which it has not been able to barrel-bomb and otherwise immiserate the people there has been the Golan Heights. Only in the Golan has anybody in this ‘Greater Syria’ been able to live free from the constant threat of massacre and ethnic, religious or political cleansing.