Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East.
(From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Tuesday 28 February 2017

An Aussie Israel-Hater's Finest Moment (LOL)

This video hasn't been on YouTube long and already it's attracted "death to Bibi" comments.


The heckler is being described excitedly as a hero by the usual suspects on social media.

 Just shows how frustrated the Israel-haters in Australia are at the moment, to take comfort in so little.

Monday 27 February 2017

"Ridiculous", Rant the Routed

Amid wailing and whimpering and gnashing of teeth and tugging of hair in the wake of Bibi Netanyahu's spectacularly successful visit Down Under, the routed forces of Bishop Browning's APAN (which sought to keep him out) limply regroup and rally, in response to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald by Dr Colin Rubenstein, executive director of the Australia/Israel Public Affairs Council (AIJAC) and Jamie Hyams, a senior policy analyst at AIJAC. 

It will indeed be difficult to represent as "ridiculous" the eminently justified and sensible points made in the articleInter alia:

 'Israel captured the West Bank in a defensive war in 1967 and, when its offer to exchange land for peace was unequivocally rebuffed by the Arab League, began establishing settlements in the area.
This was partly for the need for security, given the hostile intentions and actions of its neighbours, and partly to allow some Jews to live in places that had Jewish communities going back hundreds if not thousands of years, until the Jordanians ethnically cleansed them in 1948.
Jordanian troops expelling Jews from their Jerusalem homes



 Jerusalem, which has always had a substantial Jewish population and been the centre of the Jewish world, was annexed.


 The United Nations passed the pivotal Security Council resolution 242, requiring Israel to withdraw from territory in return for peace, with the borders to be negotiated.
 Under the 1993 Oslo accords, the Palestinians finally accepted Israel's existence, and the Palestinian Authority was formed. Ninety-five per cent of West Bank Palestinians now live under the authority's rule. Travel between Israel and the West Bank was relatively unfettered, and many Palestinians worked in Israel, travelling home to the West Bank each night. In 2000, then authority president Yasser Arafat infamously refused the Camp David offer of a Palestinian state and launched the second intifada, characterised by widespread terrorism inside pre-1967 Israel, most notably suicide bombings. The terrorism killed more than 1000 Israelis and maimed thousands more.
Some Israeli child victims of Palestinian Arab terrorism


 It was in those circumstances that Israel set up the checkpoints to monitor the movement of terrorists, and the security barrier, which for most of its length is a fence, and is only a wall where Palestinian terrorists were in the habit of taking pot shots at Israeli civilians.... The barrier was erected to save lives by keeping terrorists out, and has been markedly successful. The Berlin Wall was to keep a captive population in. The checkpoints between Palestinian towns are now largely non-existent – they are just at the entries to Israel.
Despite the rebuff at Camp David, and the terrorism, Israel again offered the Palestinian Authority a state on increasingly generous terms in 2001 and 2008, only for the authority to again walk away. A unilateral total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, intended to allow the Palestinians there to rule themselves as a peaceful entity alongside Israel, instead resulted in a Hamas takeover, more than 10,000 rockets and mortars, terror tunnels and three wars.


 Since Benjamin Netanyahu resumed power in 2009, he has repeatedly offered to negotiate without preconditions, repeatedly confirmed his support for a two-state peace, and instituted goodwill measures including an unprecedented 10-month freeze on building in settlements and releasing Palestinian prisoners who have killed Israelis. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, however, has refused to negotiate in good faith. US Middle East envoy Martin Indyk has said that, in 2014, Netanyahu was sweating bullets to make peace, but Abbas just walked away.

The settlements, as even Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat has admitted, occupy less than 2 per cent of the West Bank. Furthermore, the vast majority of settlers live in blocs that it is generally accepted Israel will retain as part of land swaps in any peace deal. Israel has not established a new settlement since 1999, and the settlements have hardly expanded beyond their geographic boundaries since 2003, while population growth has not even kept pace with natural growth. Settlements did not prevent the previous Israeli offers of statehood, and they would not prevent a two-state outcome if the Israelis had a genuine peace partner....

 The Netanyahu government still supports a two-state peace, but its concerns about the present circumstances are understandable. If Hamas was to take over the West Bank as it did Gaza, the rockets would hit Israel's population and economic heartland, and its airport, and the country, would be shut down.
 Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority, Israel's supposed peace partner, demonises Israel internationally, incites its people against Israel with false claims of Israeli intentions to take over the Temple Mount, and rewards terrorists by lionising them and giving them and their families generous lifetime pensions.

[P]ressure must be brought to bear on the Palestinians to cease their destructive behaviour, to genuinely accept Israel's right to exist in peace and to negotiate in good faith, if they are genuine about wanting a two-state outcome.'

Sunday 26 February 2017

Au Revoir, Bibi! We Love You Heaps!

If there is one thing that has come over with crystal clarity in the footage of Mr Netanyahu's visit to Australia, it is the obvious genuine delight that Mr Turnbull has shown as the Israeli prime minister's host.  That he has a deep emotional investment in the welfare of Israel is palpable.  It is written on his face.  It is heard in his voice.  This has been an extraordinary state visit; the welcome accorded Bibi and Sara and the entire Israeli delegation by Malcolm Turnbull has been almost over the top!

The Australian prime minister has spoken in the past of his belief that his mother, Coral Lansbury, cousin of the actress Angela Lansbury, was of Jewish descent on her mother's side, and although that belief appears to be misplaced, he can claim, through the Lansbury family, mishpocha of sorts, in the person of his great-grandfather George Lansbury's son Edgar's first wife, suffragette and social reformer Minnie Glassman.  (George Lansbury, to whom Mr Turnbull as he ages bears a striking physical resemblance, was of course leader of the British Labour Party between the wars, and had spent some time in Queensland.)

What a pity that all of Australia's Jewish day school children  could not have met  Bibi, like these lucky children at Moriah College in Sydney.



Before Bibi flew out of Sydney today he met with Aussie Foreign Minister Julie Bishop:

 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LoX8vx4Ze4

An interview by ABC journo Stan Grant with Zionist Federation of Australia president Mark Leibler and an Israel-hater here


As the president and the executive director of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry have said of the visit:
“The historic visit to Australia by Benjamin Netanyahu, the first by an incumbent Israeli Prime Minister, was of tremendous positive significance to the Australian Jewish community and to Australia as a whole.
Australia’s Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, made a point of attending and speaking at every official and non-official function that was addressed by his Israeli counterpart, and of aligning Australia with Israel at every opportunity.   A highlight was Prime Minister Turnbull’s declaration that Australia would have voted against UN Security Council resolution 2334, and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s response praising the “down-to-earth Australians” for “puncturing UN hypocrisy”.
Despite the inordinate focus of some sections of the media on the conflict with the Palestinians and the settlements issue, it quickly became clear that the priorities of the two leaders and their respective governments lay elsewhere.  They discussed issues of vital concern to the national interests of both nations – intelligence sharing, counter-terrorism, thwarting Iran’s aggression, cyber-security, science, agri-tech, energy and resources and the environment.
The events organised by the Jewish community at Central Synagogue and at Moriah College, and the speeches made there by both Prime Ministers, were unforgettably moving and uplifting.  These events further galvanised the already-strong support for Israel among Australian Jews, and left an indelible impression on everyone who attended them.  Surveying the capacity audience at Central Synagogue, crammed with political and communal leaders and other dignitaries, Prime Minister Netanyahu was moved to begin his speech with a simple exclamation: “Wow!”.”
This best sums up his entire visit to Australia.  It was an outstanding success, and a great morale booster for the Jewish community and Israel’s many other friends in Australia.'
For more Jewish communal summations of the impact of the visit see J-Wire here

Friday 24 February 2017

Bibi Down Under: These don't like it up 'em

Unhappiness is being an Israel-hater and viewing something like this:


And being an Australian Israel-hater and seeing the warm, wonderful welcome that the Turnbull government has given to Bibi and Sara Netanyahu.

This unhappiness means that if you're the ABC (Australia's equivalent to the BBC, and just as left-oriented) you do all you can to undermine Israel on your news website by giving inordinate space to Israel- and Netanyahu-bashers, and you spruik for outraged Guardianistas for your flagship current affairs discussion program Q&A (the ABC's equivalent to "Question Time") by linking to an article by Bishop Browning, the chap from APAN who got 60-odd like-minded "prominent" Aussies to demand, to no avail, that the government in effect show Bibi a red card, not a red carpet:


As a fair and honest bloke (hounded by an anti-Israel mob) has commented below this pimping propaganda on Facebook:
"More ABC bias..Its appalling and they no longer seem to care.[ the wider public notices though] ..Notice the ABC never seems to report on the vile anti-Semitism of the Palestinian side [ or Muslim Jew hatred generally ]and its supporters among the far Left including the Greens..And yet the ABC has no qualms in employing a Sharia Law supporter..Well there you go..Citing The Guardian on this issue is a joke"
More unhappy Israel-haters, snapped by a representative of Green Left Weekly at an anti-Bibi demo  on Thursday evening in Sydney Town Hall Square:

Photo credit: Peter Boyle
Photo credit: Peter Boyle
Photo credit: Peter Boyle

Why, it looks as if what I believe was originally the ScottishPSC's slogan has traversed the world:

Photo credit: Peter Boyle


Click here for PressTV footage of the Sydney demo.

Together with antisemitic comments such as these:
Aussie Observer
Netanyahu represents the fake Semites that down through the ages have been kicked out of every country on our planet... And those of us a brain know exactly why!
Rahul Sharma
Australia has a Jew PM and a puppet of Zionism. Nutter Yahoo is a terrorist war criminal and so scared that he flew around Malaysia and Indonesia so that his plane is not brought down and arrested. Australia should be ashamed for letting this evil sick criminal spout Islamophobia and Iranophobia on national TV.
justice and independence
NAZI = Nationalist Zionist.
 Meanwhile, in Western Australia, a chum of Jenny Tonge:

Thursday 23 February 2017

Bibi in Australia: "Standing Up for Israel Means Standing Up for Simple Truths"

Early on Wednesday evening, 22 February, at the Central Synagogue in Sydney, in the presence of a large, enthusiastic and appreciative crowd that included two former Liberal prime ministers of Australia and staunch friends of Israel John Howard and Tony Abbott, a marvellous speech from current Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull followed by a marvellous speech from the prime minister of Israel.

The warmth between the two leaders, and Mr Turnbull's delight in being there and in addressing Bibi was palpable, even to people not fortunate enough to be at this unforgettable event in person, who watched the live-stream instead. 

 Malcolm Turnbull:

'I came here to the shul with a message, a message of absolute solidarity for the state of Israel.
I came here with a message of solidarity on behalf of the Australian Government in the wake of that UN resolution [SC 2334] which was so regrettable. A resolution we would never support.
My Government will not support any more than the government of John Howard would, or the government of Tony Abbott would a resolution so one sided, attributing fault only to the state of Israel. That has no contribution to make to the peace process.
It was an unfortunate resolution. We regret it and we disassociated ourselves from it in our public statements and here, right here in this shul.

You know we’ve spoken of security a lot today, both at the lunch and of course Bibi and I have spoken about that in our meetings and it is plainly simple. The first duty, as I said out our press conference, the first duty of every government, of every prime minister, every president, is the safety of the people of the nation they lead.

And so the fundamental requirement of what we hope will be a negotiated outcome between Israel and the Palestinians, a two-state solution negotiated between the parties, but the fundamental condition, the foundation of that must be the safety, the security of the state of Israel and its people.
We do deplore the efforts that de-legitimise the state of Israel. We deplore the boycott campaigns. We stand with Israel. We are a committed and a consistent friend. We have been so, from the beginning [see here] and we will always be so.

Now, I want to say, however, as I observed in the article that was published in ... The Australian today – it is easy to see Israel and its situation entirely through the prism of security.
That is inevitable, I suppose, given the existential threat that Israel faces.
And given the miraculous success of Israel brought by the determination, the enterprise, the indefatigable courage of its people, not simply to establish the state of Israel – that a miracle in itself – but to maintain it, to continue it, to enhance it for it to succeed again and again against extraordinary odds. That has been an extraordinary achievement. Wondrous, miraculous and now we see the state of Israel leading the world in the most important technologies of the twenty-first century.

As I said today at the luncheon which I know many of you have been at, which we were at earlier today in the city, I said that plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery and indeed it must be that Israel should be sincerely flattered because so many countries, including our own seek to capture some of that extraordinary innovative chutzpah which enables Israelis, in a nation, until the recent discovery of gas I might add, but until then, absolutely devoid of natural resources other than the brilliance and the enterprise of its people enabled Israel to develop that culture of innovation to lead in technology, to recognise, as Bibi said today, that once a nation has achieved that middle-income status, to get from there to great success and greater heights, you need to be competitive, you need to be productive and the key to that is innovation.

That is why it is an essential part of my Government’s economic plan because I know, we all know, that is the key to our success. And it is not a theoretical thing anymore than free trade is a theoretical thing which we also strive for. All of those open markets, innovation, productivity, competitiveness – all of that enables us to deliver the greater and greater opportunities for our children and grandchildren in the years ahead.

We have so much to work on together. So much more collaboration to undertake. We stand together in the battle against terrorism. We are on the front line, each of us in our own theatres and each of us indeed in the Middle East.

We stand in the front line against terrorism, we are united by shared values, democracy, freedom, the rule of law. They tie us together and of course all of you, the extraordinary people to people links. The Jewish Australian community without who we could not imagine modern Australia. As I said 
today, I salute you and I thank you. You have been remarkable. You have helped us make Australia the extraordinary nation that it is. We could never have done that without the brilliance and the enterprise of the Australian Jewish community.

So, here, in the mishpocha of Wentworth [Turnbull's constituency], so many visitors, including we have Julian Leeser, my federal parliamentary colleague who is one of our distinguished Jewish parliamentarians.

Photo credit: Henry Benjamin/J-Wire
And then coming up from mishpocha of Melbourne, we have Josh Frydenberg. We have Mark Dreyfus and of course we have Michael Danby as well. I see Richard Marles has joined us as well, also from Melbourne, so that is good.  And we have our remarkable talented premier, Gladys Berejiklian.

We are all here to hear from you. Bibi, prime minister, it has been a very productive day and we have more discussions to go over the next few days. But we have a lot of work to do together.
[Zionist Federation of Australia president] Mark Leibler asked the question at the lunch about how important were people to people links in collaboration, in technology, in innovation. And the truth is that they are absolutely critical. There is no substitute for them and that is why this visit is so important. It has taken seventy years. Mark has been uncharacteristically passionate. But he may not be, he certainly won’t wait another seventy years. So we’ll have to increase the tempo of business. But we will be there in Beersheba in October, we will be there.
And Bibi has promised everybody a horse, so –'

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4otJmdCi7xs

Bibi Netanyahu:

Bibi at Central Synagogue: photo credit: Haim Zach/GPO
'It’s an honour to be the first Israeli prime minister to visit Australia. I have to say that I hope the next trip doesn’t take another sixty-eight years. I agree completely with Malcolm Turnbull that people-to-people contacts, that the ability to meet, see each other, hear each other, talk to one another is crucial, and for this we need a Dreamliner and I’ll say it five more times before I leave because you in Australia are used to flying in your own country for several hours. It takes four minutes to cross the State of Israel so we’re not used to it. A Dreamliner would help us acclimate.

I want to salute this Jewish community, which is unusually committed to the State of Israel, to the Jewish people. You’ve shown it time and time again, you show it here today even though I think we’ll have some problem with the Jewish community in Melbourne, but that’s for the next trip, for the next trip. They’re wonderful people and you have been stalwart champions of our alliance. 


Israel and Australia are two vibrant democracies. This is not something that is self-evident. Democracy has to be nourished; it has to be protected; it has to be maintained. In the nineteenth century, the great English writer George Eliot [author of Daniel Deronda] wrote, “There will be…” she said, “…in the van of the [Middle] East… amid the despotisms of the East… a great beacon of freedom.” 

"A great beacon of freedom", she said prophetically. And indeed this is exactly what has happened. Israel is a beacon of freedom, of tolerance, of progress in a very dark expanse that I hope and I believe will change as many Arab countries understand that Israel is not their enemy, but their vital and indispensable ally in warding off the barbarism that threatens all of us.

There is, I think, an opening, as Malcolm and I discussed, for the first time in my lifetime, because the Arabs understand that Israel could be a key to their future. I’m not looking at reality through rose-colored glasses. I’m, I think, a realist.   But as a realist, I see not only challenge but opportunity that grows from this challenge. And I think that if anyone understands the hopes of the people of Israel for peace and security it is you. \


You have shared this hope and this dream with us day in, day out. And you have this strong bond with Israel. You have relatives and you have friends, I have friends and relatives here, believe it or not. And you have them in Israel in abundance, so I want to thank you for your consistent support over the years.

A few days ago I visited the Jewish community in Singapore. There’s a Jewish community in Singapore. And like the joke, they have two synagogues – one they go to and the one they don’t go to. An amazing community.


And a few months ago, I visited Jews in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, two Muslim countries. They sang Jewish songs in Muslim countries and that’s the kind of coexistence and tolerance that we’d like to see everywhere.

 Jewish customs vary but the spirit of our people is universal and there’s a question that many people ask: “Why did the Jews survive? What is the secret of their survival and their success?” Well, I had an inkling of that when I was first elected prime minister and I visited a small country, China. And the President of China, the leader of China at the time, Jiang Zemin, he said to me: “You know, I really admire the Jewish people.” And I said, “I really admire the Chinese people.” And he said, “Well, the Jews and the Chinese are two of the oldest peoples on Earth.” And I said, “That’s true.” And being not that experienced, I added the Indians too, but, you know, it goes back 5000 years, in our case almost 4000 years. And he said, “Yes, this is true.” 

And I said, “But there is a difference.” He said, “What’s the difference?” I said, “Well, how many Chinese are there?” He said, “Well, 1.2 billion.” And I said, “How many Indians?” He said, “About one billion.” And then I said, “How many Jews?” And he said, “I don’t know.” I said, “Well, there are about 13 million Jews at the time, 13 million Jews.” And there was absolute silence in the room, you could hear the jaws drop because that’s, you know, a suburb of Beijing. 

And I said, “Mr. President, isn’t it odd? We’ve been around for thousands of years; you exceed a billion and we’re only 13 million.” He said, “What happened?” And I said, “A lot of things happened.” But they boiled down to one thing. You, the Chinese, have kept China. The Indians kept India. And we, the Jewish people, lost our land and were scattered to the far corners of the Earth. And for the last 2000 years, we’ve had one goal: To come back to our ancient homeland and reconstitute our life, build our own state, define our own future, control our own destiny.

This is the source, this is the thrust of Jewish history.

Now, by all accounts we should have disappeared, because most nations in antiquity do not exist anymore. There are exceptions, but they’re very large exceptions and very few. Most nations disappeared. Nations go through predictable cycles: they’re born, they flower, they shrivel, they die. But the Jews are different. The Jews refused to die. They’re reborn again and again and again. And throughout the centuries, our people never succumbed to their fate, no matter how large the oppression, no matter how great the oppression and the persecution. Generation after generation, Jews said, “Next year in Jerusalem. Next year in Jerusalem.” We never gave up the dream.

And finally, after twenty centuries, led by a modern Moses named Theodor Herzl – changed our history, a prophet of old reemerged and worked for a brief eight years and changed the course of the Jewish people. We came back to our land, reconstituted our sovereignty; built an army second-to-none in its courage, its ability to defend our people, its willingness to step into the breach; built an economy that is now becoming an innovation nation, an example for the entire world.

And you know, there used to be a joke when I was a young man in Israel, growing up: How do you make a small fortune in Israel? You start with a big fortune.


No longer. Some big fortunes are made in Israel, because of the ingenuity of our people. And guess what? We liberated the economy and allowed the natural enterprise, the natural capabilities that are inherent in our history, in our traditions, to burst forward.

So we’ve built this future and I was approached by African diplomats in the UN a few months ago. You know, I give a speech at the UN every year, but this year was different because so many of the African countries want to partake of our experiences, of our innovation, and we had an exhibit there of Israeli technology – absolutely amazing, amazing stuff. And one African leader said to me, “Can you tell me? Can you tell me the secret?” He wanted to know the secret. And I said, “You mean the secret of our success?” And he said, “I want to understand how Israel is able to do what it does.” 

And I said, “Look, it’s a combination of two things: a continual quest for the future with a deep regard for the past, a deep regard for our roots. It’s like a tree that has deep roots in the land and yet seeks to grow the branches all the time, reaches upward.” And it’s that combination of tradition and innovation that makes Israel what it is, and make the people of Israel what they are. And make you the community that you are.

We respect our traditions, we respect our roots, and yet we are constantly inquisitive, constantly seeking to improve the life of our people and the life of all mankind. This is what characterises the Jewish People; this is what characterises the Jewish State.

Now, I know that we are much maligned in the United Nations. I salute you, Malcolm Turnbull, and the governments of Australia who have stood up time and time again against this demonisation, including recently. 


You ... refuse to accept this hypocrisy. And standing up for Israel means standing up for simple truths. It doesn’t mean that we don’t have our imperfections. Which country is perfect? Well, Australia is pretty close, but none of us are perfect. But we seek all the time to improve. We seek all the time to do better. We seek to do better for all our peoples and we also want Israel to be the home of all Jews. I want every Jew in the world, every Jewish man and woman, to feel comfortable in the State of Israel.

I also think that we have a battle against those who seek to demonise our people and the resurgent antisemitism that we see in many parts of the world. It is something that we need to fight together. I think this is important in Europe. It’s important in America. It’s very important that President Trump took a strong stand against antisemitism. And it’s important that we all continue to do so in the years ahead.

So we have performed miracles, but we have performed miracles because we’re committed to our destiny. I want all of you to come to Israel. I want you to visit your friends and your families. I want you to walk the streets of the Old City in Jerusalem, hike in the Golan. By the way, the Golan will never go back to Syria. It will always be a part of the State of Israel. 


Spend time with our brave young soldiers. Get to know the land. See this miracle. See the Land of Israel. See the people of Israel.The State of Israel lives. The people of Israel thrive. Am Yisrael Chai.

We are part of you.  You are part of us. 


Thank you for this warm welcome, and This Year in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Turnbull in Be’er Sheva. We’ll get a horse for every one of you. Thank you very much, thank you.”

Bibi at Moriah College, Sydney (Henry Benjamin/J-Wire):

  
And:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNudmRg5fUg

More:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMZi5gb6228

See also here

Wednesday 22 February 2017

David Singer: While in Australia, Netanyahu Needs To Expose PLO Hoax

Here, on the day of Bibi Netanyahu's arrival in Sydney for his four-day visit Down Under, is the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

The first visit to Australia by a sitting Israeli Prime Minister – Benjamin Netanyahu – has been preceded by a statement signed by 65 prominent Australians on the initiative of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network.

That statement declares:
“The Australian Government needs to rethink its one-sided support for the Israeli Government. We are appalled that our Government opposes the recent UN Security Council resolution supporting the application of international law to Israel and Palestine, when most nations, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France and New Zealand, support it. Even the USA did not oppose it. It is time for the suffering of the Palestinian people to stop and for Australia to take a more balanced role in supporting the application of international law and not supporting Mr Netanyahu and his policies.” 
Signatories to this statement include:
* senior legal professionals – including former Solicitor General Gavan Griffith QC, and former Federal Court judge Murray Rutledge Wilcox
 * former parliamentarians –and diplomats including Jon Stanhope, former ACT Chief Minister, former ALP Minister The Hon Alan Griffin, and Ambassador Bruce Haigh
 * senior clergy – including Bishop George Browning, Bishop Pat Power and former Uniting Church President Rev Gregor Henderson AM
 * Artists – including actor Miriam Margolyes, writer and commentator Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah, artist Luke Roberts, and filmmaker Christina Wilcox
 * Academics – including Dr Susan Carland, Emeritus Professor Stuart Rees AM and Associate Professor Peter Slezak, and many others
Their signatures are a sad testament to their embrace of Security Council Resolution 2334 and to its claim that the Jewish Quarter, the Kotel and the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and the Machpelah in Hebron are “Occupied Palestinian Territory”.

If they did not understand that is what they were endorsing then they should withdraw their signatures immediately.

Interestingly they also signed up to “supporting the application of international law to Israel and Palestine”

International law indisputably establishes:
1. The right of the Jewish people to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in Jerusalem, Hebron and Judea and Samaria (West Bank) pursuant to the provisions of the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine
2. The preservation of such vested legal rights under article 80 of the United Nations Charter.
The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) – Israel’s “partner for peace” has:
1. declared this established international law to be “deemed null and void” under its Charter
2. claimed in its 1964 Charter:
"Article 24. This Organization does not exercise any regional sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or the Himmah Area. Its activities will be on the national popular level in the liberational, organizational, political and financial fields."
This article remained unamended when UN Security Council Resolution 242 was passed after the Six Day War. Article 24 was removed from the Charter in 1968 but no claim to sovereignty replaced it.

The PLO claim in 2017 to a separate State where sovereignty still remains unclaimed under its own Charter has been one of the greatest scams perpetrated on and swallowed by the international community during the 100 years conflict.

That persons of the quality and calibre of these 65 prominent Australians should have signed this declaration is testament to the stunning inroads that false Arab propaganda has been used to influence public opinion over the last fifty years.

The idea of two Arab states in the area covered by the Mandate for Palestine has been offered to – and rejected by – the Arabs on many occasions since 1922.

Prime Minister Netanyahu should take the opportunity to say a few words on this PLO hoax during his visit to Australia.

Tuesday 21 February 2017

Bibi: "This is a battle for the future of humanity. That future is represented in Israel"

At the Maghain Aboth Synagogue in Singapore, to about 200 members of Singapore's 
Jewish community of about 2500 people, Bibi Netanyahu has declared:
Image credit: Haim Zach/GPO
“I feel that Singapore and Israel are kindred nations. I find it a special privilege and an honour to be the first Israeli Prime Minister to make an official visit to Singapore. This follows the visit of Premier Lee to Israel, the first official visit of the Prime Minister of Singapore to Israel and it’s an obvious bond, a growing bond.
Seventy years ago, if you looked at Israel and you looked at Singapore, there wasn’t much to see. But there’s a lot to see and it’s not, I think, accidental that our two nations formed this bond between us because we are both inspired to do things, to punch above our weight.
 Israel is the innovation nation, we’re both entrepreneurial centres. We have innate talent and we have great drive to succeed.
I believe that great powers around the world look at Israel and Singapore today and see tremendous economic opportunities. Tremendous. And one reason that that is the case is that we have an unbridled spirit and we put it to use. That spirit is something that we’ve enshrined in our peoples for a long time, for a long time. The Jewish People have passed learning from one generation to another, an inquisitive mindset and the ability to produce new things.
I don’t have to say that to the Jewish community in Singapore because you’ve been here for almost two centuries and you have that entrepreneurial quest for many, many decades, and I think that you serve as a human bridge between Singapore and Israel. I know that you care for the State of Israel. I know you care for Jewish traditions. This gathering is an indication of that concern and that passion.
I also want to point out to you that I recently visited two Muslim countries, one is Azerbaijan and the other is Kazakhstan. And in those Muslim countries, in Kazakhstan I visited a synagogue.
 And Jewish children in Kazakhstan were singing Hebrew songs, as they sang here, in a Muslim state and that reflects the kind of world we’d like to see: a world of tolerance; a world of diversity; a world that is opposed to the world that is being challenged today by the forces of barbarism and intolerance.
 This is a battle for the future of humanity. That future is represented in Israel, which also is a diverse country, which also has minorities, which respects peoples. And we see that same respect here in Singapore. So it’s not only that we’re both innovation nations, it’s not only that we’re small people and have defied the limitations of our size. It is that we are committed to a better world, a world of diversity, a world that follows the values that we as a people have held for so many years, for so many decades and in fact, for a millennium ...."
(Hat tip: http://www.jewishpress.com/)
For more on Bibi's visit to Singapore see here
Since it has Singapore as part of its title, see too this good article re Hamas

A Picture Paints 1000 Words

I can't resist sharing this one:

(Hat tip D.S.)

Meanwhile, in Oz ...

Monday 20 February 2017

North of the Border, Up Montreal Way (video)

"Destroy the accursed Jews! ... Allah, kill them one by one ... Grant victory to our brothers waging jihad in Palestine ..."

Here's one of those barmy Olde Tyme preachers, spewing some bloodcurdling sentiments.

But this youthful representative of the 7th century-inspired antisemitic species calling for genocide of the Jews  is not doing so in some Middle Eastern backwater.

He's doing it in Trudeauland.

His name's Imam Sayed al-Ghitawi and his hangout is the al-Andalous (here's looking at you covetously, Spain!) Islamic Center, Montreal:

 
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eegxySP2jIU)

To quote the uploader:
"Brad Trost issued a statement opposing Motion M-103 in Canada's House of Commons. The Motion calls for Parliament to study and take action against Islamophobia. In his statement Trost reminds people that it is Jews, not Muslims, who remain the REAL targets of hate in Canada. This video illustrates why Trost is right."
As Toronto Sun columnist Tarek Fatah observed, inter alia, a few days ago:
'In the wake of the tragic massacre at a Quebec City mosque that killed six Muslims, a motion will be debated in the Canadian Parliament Wednesday asking MPs to “condemn Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination.”
Many in the mosque establishment and right-wing Islamic groups in Canada are celebrating this as a victory.
But Muslim critics of the so-called “Motion 103”, which mentions only Islamophobia by name and not any other form of religious persecution, are in disbelief that so few members of parliament have objected to this giant step backward and the watering down of our freedom of expression.
Perhaps, since the motion is being put before the Commons by Liberal MP Iqra Khalid, a Muslim Canadian, MPs don’t want to be seen as insensitive to Muslim victimhood, or oppose the motion, lest they be labelled racist, misogynist and, of course, “Islamophobic”....
[P]erhaps MP Khalid will have the courage to amend her motion and include a denunciation of this prayer, variations of which are read at most mosques every Friday.
Will she label such hateful statements as an example of systemic racism that is anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, anti-Hindu and anti-atheist?'

Ahead of His Visit Down Under, Prominent Australians Sign Anti-Netanyahu Petition

On a current "as-a-Jew" petition
I recently blogged about APAN (the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network) and its president Bishop Browning.

Aussie Israel hater friend rants
APAN works assiduously to undermine Israel's cause in the public arena, and the bishop has succeeded in getting three score prominent and so-called prominent Australians to sign a statement opposing Bibi Netanyahu's imminent visit to Australia.

This motley assemblage includes campaigning (New Matilda, ABC) Israel-basher Michael Brull, lefty feminist Sara Dowse, actress Miriam Margolyes (who has dual British/Australian citizenship), academics Peter Slezak and Marcelo Svirsky, and Marrickville Council BDSer Cathy Peters  (all of Jewish background and all with form regarding Israel), and  personages from various fields including mega-wealthy businesswoman Janet Holmes à Court, former Labor politician Laurie Ferguson and academics Stuart Rees and Jake Lynch, both of whom need no introduction to this blog's readers. An assemblage of persons "prominent" for anti-Israel activity and sentiment for the most part, though to me Janet comes as a surprise.

Aussie Bibi/Israel-hater friends rant
More here

And here


"Apartheid ... BDS ... Colonisation".   Those well-worn words waft into the eardrums from this speaker at today's "Melbourne Says No to Netanyahu Rally" outside the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne.

Endorsed by a network of usual suspects including leftist as-a-Jews (Palestinian Community Association (PCA); Australians for Palestine;Women for Palestine; Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA); Australian Jewish Democratic Society (AJDS); Casey for Palestine) the demo's more than a tad redundant, since, to the disappointment of his many fans in "The Shtetl by the Yarra," Bibi will not be visiting Melbourne during his imminent visit to Australia.

 
 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-eGCUVguGI)
  
The odious AJDS has started an "as a jew petition" protesting Bibi's visit Down Under which as well as those of Miriam Margolyes and the usual crowd contains the signatures of a curious number of ostensible Anglo-Celts and persons living in tiny outback towns that it takes an atlas to locate.  It seems that even the AJDS smells a rat or two, since it stresses that the petition is for Australian Jews only and that persons who are not Australian Jews should remove their names.

Great speech (as usual) from Bibi:

 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boZZEGFJBik)

Friday 17 February 2017

David Singer: Bush, Obama, Russia, EU and UN buried under Trump Landslide

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

President Trump has buried the Bush Roadmap and any lingering hope for the creation of a second Arab State (“the two-state solution”) – in addition to Jordan – in the territory designated under the 1922 Mandate for Palestine.

This inevitability follows Trump’s failure at a White House joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on 15 February to reaffirm the written commitments made by President Bush to Israel in his letter dated 14 April 2004 – overwhelmingly endorsed by the Congress by 502 votes to 12 (“Bush Congress-Endorsed Commitments”).

President Bush had been urged to do so just the day before by veteran US peace negotiator Dennis Ross – who stated it would have: 
“significant implications, both because it was recognizing settlement blocs referred to in the letter as major population centers, but also because it said that no agreement can involve going back to the 1949 Armistice lines or the equivalent of June 4, 1967.” 
Similar calls had also been made by:
* Michael Oren - Israel’s former Ambassador to Washington and currently Deputy Minister in Netanyahu’s Prime Minister’s office
* Tzipi Livni – former Israeli Foreign Minister who had led negotiations for Israel with the Palestinian Authority in the peace talks brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry from July 2013 until April 2014.
* Danny Ayalon – Former Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister.
Former Israeli United Nations ambassador and until recently the Director General of Israel’s Foreign Ministry,  Dore Gold, had been concerned as far back as 9 June 2009 that President Obama was not going to reaffirm the Bush Congress-Endorsed Commitments:
"For example, it still needs to be clarified whether the Obama administration feels bound by the April 14, 2004, Bush letter to Sharon on defensible borders and settlement blocs, which was subsequently ratified by large bipartisan majorities in both the US Senate (95:3) and the House of Representatives (407:9) on June 23-24, 2004. Disturbingly, on June 1, 2009, the State Department spokesman, Robert Wood, refused to answer repeated questions about whether the Obama administration viewed itself as legally bound by the Bush letter. It would be better to obtain earlier clarification of that point, rather than having both countries expend their energies over an issue that may not be the real underlying source of their dispute."
Obama’s clarification never came.

Even Netanyahu – just before boarding a plane to see Obama in the White House in May 2011 – had said he expected: 
“to hear a reaffirmation from President Obama of American commitments made to Israel in 2004 which were overwhelmingly supported by both Houses of Congress.” 
Netanyahu never received that affirmation then – nor did he from Trump now.

Their reasons however are very different.

Obama proceeded to trash those commitments made with one of America’s closest allies with disastrous consequences for America’s foreign policy, its reputation and integrity.

Trump however had difficulty in reaffirming all of Bush’s commitments because one of them stated: 
“ the United States remains committed to my vision and to its implementation as described in the roadmap. The United States will do its utmost to prevent any attempt by anyone to impose any other plan” 
Trump doesn’t like long negotiations without any deal – and Trump wants to cut a deal.

Trump has accordingly ditched the Bush two-state solution – endorsed by Russia, the European Union and the United Nations. It now joins the diplomatic graveyard housing other two-state solutions proposed by
* the 1937 Peel Commission
* the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan,
* the 1993 Oslo Accords and
* Israel in 2000/2001 and 2008.
The Arabs have missed yet another opportunity to end the 100 years old Arab-Jewish conflict.

Wednesday 15 February 2017

David Singer: Trump and Congress Can Make America Great Again

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

President Trump and Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders this week have the last opportunity to resuscitate the two-state solution laid out in President Bush’s 2003 Roadmap adopted by the Quartet – America, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations (“Bush-Quartet Roadmap”).

This can only happen if President Trump and the Congress re-affirm the commitments made to Israel by President Bush in his letter to Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dated 14 April 2004 – as overwhelmingly endorsed by the House 407:9 and the Senate 95:3 (“Bush-Congress Commitments”). Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu reportedly sees this outcome flowing from his White House visit on 15 February:
“Trump believes in a deal and in running peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians,” the prime minister was quoted as saying. “We should be careful and not do things that will cause everything to break down. We mustn’t get into a confrontation with him.” 
The last six years have seen those negotiations teeter on the brink of total collapse because the framework for such negotiations - the Bush-Quartet Roadmap and the Bush-Congress commitments – has been successively trashed by President Obama, the European Union and the United Nations.
President Obama’s failure to honour the Bush-Congress commitments first emerged on 19 May 2011 –  when he stated: 
“We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states.” 
Obama’s statement put him on a collision course with America’s position as laid out in the Bush-Quartet Roadmap and the Bush-Congress Commitments.

Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had declared before an international meeting of world leaders called by President Bush in Annapolis on 27 November 2007 – including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas – that negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority would resume on the basis of UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, the Bush-Quartet Roadmap and the Bush-Congress Commitments.
Land swaps from Israel’s sovereign territory for any territory Israel retained in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) was never mentioned or contemplated in the Bush-Congress Commitments or indeed the Bush-Quartet Roadmap.

Certainly Israel might decide to make land swaps if deemed to be in Israel’s national interest – but that was for Israel to decide – not for Obama or Bush to influence or impose. Obama appeared to flip flop during his speech on 21 March 2013 at the Jerusalem International Convention Centre:
"I know Israel has taken risks for peace. Brave leaders – Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Rabin – reached treaties with two of your neighbors. You made credible proposals to the Palestinians at Annapolis. You withdrew from Gaza and Lebanon, and then faced terror and rockets." 
However those “credible proposals at Annapolis” had never suggested that the “1967 lines” and “land swaps” be the starting point for negotiations.

Yet Obama, the European Union and the United Nations persisted with these demands until the dying days of Obama’s Presidency – when America abstained – rather than veto – Security Council Resolution 2334 which expressed: 
“grave concern that continuing Israeli settlement activities are dangerously imperilling the viability of the two-State solution based on the 1967 lines” 
The Bush-Quartet Roadmap and the Bush-Congress Commitments is the only mutually agreed two-state negotiating process.

President Trump and the Congress can ensure the survival of that process – though not necessarily a successful outcome of any negotiations to be conducted under that process – by reaffirming the Bush-Congress Commitments.

Trump and the Congress in so doing would be meeting Netanyahu’s expectations.
America’s restored reputation for keeping agreements made with its closest allies would resonate with Trump’s campaign promise to “Make America Great Again”.

Tuesday 14 February 2017

Swedish Feminista Politicians Obey Male Iranian Masters

Self-abasement bigtime!  In a spectacular display of the hypocritical feminism that blasts President Trump and other Western men for misogyny real and supposed, these Swedish feministas bow their hijabbed heads to the leaders of a country known for very real and hideous oppression of women.

In the process these whacky Swedish hypocrites (whose own country, now the rape capital of Europe owing to Islamic mass migration , betrays its women and girls) have betrayed Iranian women, for whom encasement in body sacks is compulsory, despite the pleas of Iranian feminists fighting the hijab whom they have blatantly ignored.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpOpZ3W9zSk)

Hillel Neuer of UN Watch has the lowdown on these wicked women.  Inter alia:
'In a statement that has gone viral on Twitter and Facebook, UN Watch, a non-governmental human rights NGO in Geneva, expressed disappointment that Sweden’s self-declared “first feminist government in the world” sacrificed its principles and betrayed the rights of Iranian women as Trade Minister Ann Linde and other female members walked before Iranian President Rouhani on Saturday wearing Hijabs, Chadors, and long coats, in deference to Iran’s oppressive and unjust modesty laws which make the Hijab compulsory — despite Stockholm’s promise to promote “a gender equality perspective” internationally, and to adopt a “feminist foreign policy” in which “equality between women and men is a fundamental aim.”
In doing so, Sweden’s female leaders ignored the recent appeal by Iranian women’s right activist Masih Alinejad who urged Europeans female politicians “to stand for their own dignity” and to refuse to kowtow to the compulsory Hijab while visiting Iran.
Alinrejad created a Facebook page for Iranian women to resist the law and show their hair as an act of resistance, which now numbers 1 million followers.“European female politicians are hypocrites,” says Alinejad. “They stand with French Muslim women and condemn the burkini ban—because they think compulsion is bad—but when it happens to Iran, they just care about money.”
 The scene in Tehran on Saturday was also a sharp contrast to Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lövin’s feminist stance against U.S. President Donald Trump, in a viral tweet and then in a Guardian op-ed last week, in which she wrote that “the world need strong leadership for women’s rights.[Emphasis added]
"Trade Minister Linde, who signed multiple agreements with Iranian ministers while wearing a veil, “sees no conflict” between her government’s human rights policy and signing trade deals with an oppressive dictatorship that tortures prisoners, persecutes gays, and is a leading executioner of minors.
 “If Sweden really cares about human rights, they should not be empowering a regime that brutalizes its own citizens while carrying out genocide in Syria; and if they care about women’s rights, then the female ministers never should have gone to misogynistic Iran in the first place,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer...."

See also Neuer here

Sunday 12 February 2017

The Windmills of the BBC Mind

Ah, the crafty BBC.  If they can't get their leftist propaganda across by one route, they'll get it across by another.

"We did this," the BBC's fictional lady doctor says (in an indictment of Western policy) during the year's first episode of Silent Witness. "Make beasts." 


Propaganda to soften up the public regarding mass Muslim immigration, from the drama department of the BBC  

The plot  focuses on the plight of "desperate people".  But the traumatised "Syrian refugee girl" is hardly  representative of the testosterone-fuelled so-called "asylum seekers" in the "camps" across the Channel waiting to be smuggled into Britain.

Another propaganda piece, courtesy of Al Beeb's Travel page recently, entitled "What can Albania teach us about trust?":
".... Little known to most, Albania was one of a few European countries to emerge with a larger Jewish population by the end of WWII than at the start, saving nearly all of its original Jews while offering refuge to more than 2,000 others from surrounding countries. Despite pressure from Italian fascists and occupying Nazi soldiers, Albanians refused to yield their guests, as doing so would not only result in great shame but would bind the master of the house to  “clean the blood”, meaning to take vengeance.
 More recently, Albania has again found itself offering besa, this time to those travelling from the Middle East. Hundreds of Iranian exiles are currently residing within the country after having been relocated from Camp Liberty in Iraq. Albanian prime minister Edi Rama has also expressed an intent to aid Syrian refugees, provided a collaborative agreement is reached with other European nations, saying that Albania will not ignore its duty.
Despite all these heroic instances, unassuming Albania remains unrecognized for its great services to the huddled masses of the world. The truth remains that this Balkan nation is small and poor, and as such, it hardly receives international attention for its exploits. Yet, at a time when refugees are being turned away at borders all over the world, it seems that there is a lot to learn from Albania’s penchant for hospitality...."  [Emphasis added]
An earlier attempt at this propaganda went slightly awry, leaving the propagandists with egg on their face:
"EDITOR'S NOTE: A previous version of this story stated that hundreds of Iranian refugees were residing in Albania. We've updated the text to explain that these Iranian refugees had been relocated from Camp Liberty in Iraq. We’ve also clarified that the refugees from Kosovo were mostly ethnic Albanians."
From EdgarDavidson's blog here

And then, of course, there's the direct approach at propaganda, brazenly thumbing the nose at Al Beeb's obligations to be objective required of it by its Charter and its Producers' Guidelines.

On a recent Newsnight the BBC's John Sweeney  displayed a shamefully naked piece of bias in his piece about Geert Wilders, whose policies he attacks and whom he belittles and vilifies  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6z0XZMvdD8):

 

To quote Al Beeb:
"Populist parties are growing in strength across Europe - emboldened by both Brexit and Trump. There's Marine Le Pen and the National Front in France of course. But there's a critical election before that: next month, in Holland. Geert Wilders - who leads the anti Muslim Freedom Party is hoping to top the ballot. He wants to take them out of the EU, and to 'de-islamise the Netherlands' with a ban on immigration from Muslim countries. In 2016 he was convicted of inciting discrimination. The Dutch coalition system means it's unlikely Wilders will be crowned Prime Minister. But he could end up leading the largest party which would chill European centrists and boost other populist movements throughout the continent. We sent John Sweeney in pursuit."
Towards the beginning Sweeney waits for an opportunity to "have a natter" with Wilders, and when he gets the chance to buttonhole him he tells him "Some people say you're a bit of a fascist""Well, don't talk to those people" is the reply.

Wilders later grants an interview to the sneering BBC man, who says with regard to the Dutchman's concerns regarding mass Muslim immigration into Europe (it's not Muslim individuals he's against but rather the ideology of Islam which is "incompatible" with Western freedoms, he explains): "Aren't we going back to 1939?"   It's less a question than a reflection of Sweeney's own views.

"People are equal.  Ideologies, values ... religions are not equal" observes Wilders, who speaks at some length about "cultural relativism".

Sweeney's mind is already made up, and avoiding the role and contribution of The Elephant in the Room he concludes the program, funereal tones to the fore: 
"There is no doubt that this man is changing what was once the most liberal country in Europe into something quite different." 
Not an iota as different as what these charmers have in mind:

Friday 10 February 2017

David Singer: Trump-Netanyahu Meeting Set to Expose Obama’s Collusion on Resolution 2334

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

One of the intriguing aspects of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to the White House on 15 February will be the evidence he produces to President Trump to establish former President Obama’s collusion in promoting Security Council Resolution 2334.

America abstained from voting on Resolution 2334 – but the language used in that Resolution was inimical to the national interests of Israel and the Jewish people by declaring that:
* the establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, had no legal validity and constituted a flagrant violation under international law
 * Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem
This language identifies as “Palestinian territory”:
* the centuries old Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem,
* the site of the First and Second Temples
* the Western Wall
* the Mount of Olives Jewish Cemetery
* Rachel’s Tomb
* the Machpelah, and 
* Judea and Samaria
–  and seeks to erase the legal rights vested in the Jewish people to reconstitute the Jewish National  Home in these areas under the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine.

Such language gives credence to the PLO claim that the Mandate – a critical building block in the 100 years old Arab-Jewish conflict – is null and void.

Resolution 2334 contravenes Article 80 of the United Nations Charter - exceeding the Security Council’s powers and condemning the hypocrisy of the Security Council which sanctimoniously professes to be concerned about “legal validity” and “international law”.

The Egyptian newspaper Al-Youm Al-Sabea was the first to allege American collusion in promoting Resolution 2334  – claiming to have a transcript of a meeting in December – prior to the passage of Resolution 2334  – between Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, US Secretary of State John Kerry, and US National Security Advisor Susan Rice in which Kerry said the US was prepared to cooperate with the Palestinians at the Security Council.

White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price claimed no such tripartite meeting took place and that the "transcript" was a total fabrication – although he admitted Erekat had met with Kerry and Rice separately.

Netanyahu issued a Press Release on 28 December 2016 declaring:
“We have it on absolutely incontestable evidence that the United States organized, advanced and brought this resolution to the United Nations Security Council. We'll share that information with the incoming administration. Some of it is sensitive, it's all true. You saw some of it in the protocol released in an Egyptian paper. There's plenty more; it's the tip of the iceberg.”
Netanyahu’s claim that some of the information is sensitive suggests that there has been an interception of emails or other classified American documents emanating from Obama or Kerry’s offices.

America’s cybersecurity record has been appalling – as the hacking of the Democrats web site and Hillary Clinton’s emails and private server has shown.

Netanyahu’s description of the transcript held by the Egyptian newspaper as “the tip of the iceberg” suggests Israel holds a Wiki-style treasure trove of incriminating documents.

Sensational claims of Israel-hacking will doubtless fuel the media.

There appears to be no evidence that this material has yet been given to the Trump Administration. If it had – some leak would surely have emerged by now.

Netanyahu’s visit to the White House presents the perfect opportunity to personally hand his evidence to President Trump - enabling him to decide whether to disclose such evidence publicly or not.

Netanyahu’s moment exposing Obama’s betrayal of Israel is fast approaching.

[Author’s Note: The Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry was asked to confirm or deny some of the facts in this article but no response was received]