Daphne Anson: Pollard on Palileaks and Sacerdoti on Israel, the PA, and Current Middle East Developments

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)

Sunday, 30 January 2011

Pollard on Palileaks and Sacerdoti on Israel, the PA, and Current Middle East Developments

Full marks to Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard for his robust denunciation, in the 27 January issue of his paper, of the despicable way in which the Guardian spun the leaked memos by PA negotiators with Israel that comprise the so-called “Palestine Papers”.

‘The Guardian's behaviour this week, even by its own often disreputable standards over Israel, has been simply shocking,’ Mr Pollard writes, inter alia.

‘Not presented them so much as lobbed them, doused with petrol, into a tinderbox – and hoped for a result....

What is very wrong is the way the paper chose to present its story: the distortions, the bias, the agenda, the spin and the breathtaking arrogance of its handing down instructions to the Palestinians of how they should behave. Make no mistake: the Guardian's presentation was, as David Landau puts it, "intended to poison the Palestinians against their leaders". And to poison the world against Israel....The Guardian crossed a line this week. It has not practised journalism but rather hardcore political activism, playing with people's lives.’

See the entire editorial here: http://www.thejc.com/blogpost/guardians-shame

And here’s Jonathan Sacerdoti, executive director of the UK Zionist Federation, in a discussion with Guardian journalist Polly Toynbee, London-based Palestinian editor Abdel Bari Atwan, and others on BBC News 24's "Dateline London" programme today.

(Hat tip: Jonathan Hoffman)

4 comments:

roger30 January 2011 at 09:20
The ventriloquists's dummy and sock puppet Abdel Bari Atwan, who Al-Beebzeera love to roll out to cause those of us who honour truth to become apoplectic, reminds me of a taxi driver I encountered last year in Bethlehem who said ''I give you good Arab price, good Palestinian price'' and then charged me 10 times the going rate. As for Polly Toynbee, she should stick to hosting tupperware parties.
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Rob30 January 2011 at 12:21
Daphne,

I very much doubt that the PA ever made the offer that the Palestine Papers claim they did. There's just no logic to it. They would know they could never sell that deal to the Palestinians or the Arab world in general. And they would know that the Israelis could blow the fact that they'd made the offer any time they wanted to and kill their credibility with their people - and hand the latter straight over to Hamas. They would be hostage to potential blackmail forever.

I think these papers were doctored - as Abbas himself said, they switched the speakers around, so what was the Israeli position was attributed to the Palestinians. Abba was quoted as saying something like, 'Of course there can be no right of return. That would mean the end of Israel and that's unacceptable'. Now an Israeli would say that, but it's quite unfeasible that Abbas would - and on the record to boot.

The worst part of this is that what was alleged (I believe falsely) to be the PA's position is realistic and pragmatic and what most reasonable people would recognise as the only possible final settlement.

Now, thanks to al Jazeera and al Guardian, the Palestinian leadership will never be able to walk itself to that position, nor attempt to take its people there.
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Rita30 January 2011 at 18:30
Even if I was not on the Side of Israel, against anti-Semitism, against the vilification of Jews, against the global Islamisation that is happening, even then I would find the way in which the anti-Jewish/pro Arab/Islamist lobbyists interrupt and shout over their protagonists*, extreeeemly irritating . And they do it each time. Here in France at the moment, being a political animal, I am in heaven with their nearly wall-to-wall political discussion programmes on TV, but that irritating modus operandi above is so much in evidence that I often simply switch off in frustration.

*) in this discussion above (although for a BBC person, the moderator here seemed surprisingly even-handed and in control), you still see the that Arab editor rudely interrupting Mr. Jonathan Sacerdoti and talking over him when he mentiones "neighbourhoods", while no-one interrupted his tirades.
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Daphne Anson30 January 2011 at 19:18
Thanks, Roger, Rob, and Rita!
I haven't blogged re Palileaks - nothing I could possible say would improve on the great coverage and analysis on CiF Watch.
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'For as long as these antisemites wrap themselves up in the Palestinian flag, too many people are willing to turn a blind eye. Only against Jews is this type of racism openly tolerated. It is flourishing in schools, colleges, universities, unions and in city councils. In fact, so rampant is the disease now, in some settings you can be ostracised if you do not partake in the frenzy yourself. Bashing Jews has becomes a trendy position for the ignorant social justice warrior. "Palestinianism" is a viral "ponzi scheme" and as it spreads, it carries antisemitism in the undergrowth.' David Collier (2017)

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If you take a stand that is based on a lie, then that stand cannot succeed. If you try to oppose antisemitism but pretend it is the same thing as "Islamophobia," then the structure on which you have made your stand will totter and all your aspirations will fail. If you try to make a stand based on the idea that settlement construction rather than the intransigence of the Palestinians to the existence of a Jewish state is what is holding up a peace deal, then facts will keep on intruding.' Douglas Murray (31 December 2016)
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9685/britain-little-lies

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Islamophobia is a false allegation of prejudice which is deployed to silence rational criticism based on actual facts about attitudes and practices within the Islamic world.
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Europe is today facing a crisis as serious as the confrontation with Nazism. If Western leaders continue behaving like Chamberlain and fail to stand up to this global threat, it could usher in a new Dark Age in which the Judeo-Christian culture is subsumed by primitive barbarism. The writing is on the wall Isi Leibler (12 January 2015)

Expose The Lies!

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The "Apartheid" Slur

The division of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) into three separate areas “A”, “B” and “C” was agreed on by Israel and the PLO pursuant to the Oslo Accords.
95% of the West Bank Arabs live in Areas A and B and their daily lives are under the total administration and control of the PLO since the Palestinian Authority was disbanded by Abbas in January 2013. The PLO has total security control in A and shares security control in B with Israel. Israel has total administrative and security control in C.
Israel is entitled to and will continue to take responsibility for the security of Jews living in the West Bank.
Jews were given the legal right to settle in the West Bank under article 6 of the Mandate for Palestine and article 80 of the UN Charter. They did so for decades until they were driven out in 1947 and not able to return there until 1967.
There are Arab roads only in the West Bank that Jews are not allowed to use. Jews are also forbidden from entering Area “A”. Selling land to Jews is forbidden by the PLO under pain of death. The PLO runs the daily lives of 95% of the West Bank Arabs and Hamas runs the daily lives of 100% of the Gazan Arabs. They have been under occupation – and subjugation – by these two evil groups for the last ten years and given no say in their future or any opportunity to elect others to lead them following the disastrous political decisions of their leaders over the past ten years. Hamas and the PLO do not accept the continued existence of a Jewish State and call for its disappearance.
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Israel is, for us, a normal and a special country. A normal country, because it is just like any other democracy. A special country, because the Jewish culture, which eventually became the Judeo-Christian culture of the dignity of man, is the conceptual foundation of liberalism and democracy. This is why attacking Israel is tantamount to attacking Europe and the West. This is also why disputing Israel's legitimacy and its right to existence means questioning democracy. And this is why we are Friends of Israel. By defending Israel, we are defending ourselves. Marcello Pera

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I am duty-bound to defend freedom, culture, peaceful coexistence, the civic education of children, and all the principles that the Tablets of the Law have rendered universal. Principles which Islamic fundamentalism systematically destroys. This means that, since I am a Gentile, a journalist and a leftist, I have a triple moral commitment to Israel. Because, if Israel were to be vanquished, modernity, culture and freedom would also be crushed. Even though the world has failed to wake up to this fact, Israel's struggle is the world's struggle. Pilar Rahola

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