Would You Buy A Mid-East Policy From This Man? (video)

Here's another video expressing understandable doubts in these perilous times about Barack Obama's commitment to Israel, this time from a young woman who voted for him in 2008:

See also here and here

There Can Be No Peace So Long As Palestinians Peddle Antisemitism Argues David Singer

Last week, CiF Watch's Adam Levick  produced a magnificent piece entitled "Jewish reaction to antisemitism in the Arab world: no riots, no injuries, no deaths" replete with pictorial examples of the antisemitism that bedevils the Muslim world.  CiF Watch subsequently cross-posted a compellingly informative article from Palestinian Media Watch regarding the routine demonisation of Jews ("depicted as beasts, evil, satanic") in the media of the Palestinian Authority.

In this, the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer, the focus is on antisemitism among Palestinian Arabs, and why it's an impediment to a true and lasting peace with Israel.  The article is entitled "Palestine: End The Jew Hatred, End The Conflict".

Writes David Singer:

'The universal international condemnation of the anti-Islamic film "Innocence of Muslims" – whilst defending at the same time the freedom of individuals to express those abhorrent views – has come in response to the anger and violence that has broken out in many Moslem populations around the world and cost the lives of the American Ambassador to Libya – J. Christopher Stevens – and three other members at the Embassy in Benghazi on September 11.

Such reactions need to be compared with the continuing failure to condemn, repudiate, and disassociate from the official policies of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Hamas when it comes to extreme vilification and denigration of Jews.

These vile statements do not emanate from individuals – but from organizations that seek to assume leadership roles in any future Palestinian Arab State.

The original PLO Charter in 1964 - contained the following provisions in Articles 7 and 18:

"Jews of Palestinian origin are considered Palestinians if they are willing to live peacefully and loyally in Palestine"

"The claims of historic and spiritual ties, ties between Jews and Palestine are not in agreement with the facts of history or with the true basis of sound statehood. Judaism because it is a divine religion is not a nationality with independent existence. Furthermore the Jews are not one people with an independent personality because they are citizens of the countries to which they belong."

In 1968 these statements were revised and the following provisions appeared as part of Articles 6 and 20 in the newly adopted PLO Charter:

"The Jews who had normally resided in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion will be considered Palestinians"

 "Judaism, being a religion, is not an independent nationality. Nor do Jews constitute a single nation with an identity of its own; they are citizens of the states to which they belong."

In 1974 the PLO was appointed as the sole spokesman for the Palestinian Arabs, and its leader,Yasser Arafat, was welcomed to the United Nations with an olive branch in one hand and a gun in the other.

Since then the PLO has progressed its above-declared racist policy of recovering every square meter of former Palestine and denying all Jews any right to Palestinian nationality in any part of former Palestine. It refuses to acknowledge Israel as the national home of the Jewish people.

The PLO is perfectly entitled to maintain and propagate its vile and racist program – but the civilized world should show its repugnance and rejection of such policy – and its refusal to recognize or endorse such a hate-filled program.

The President of the United States should refuse to welcome PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas to the White House or maintain any diplomatic discourse with the head of such an Organization. Let President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton issue such a declaration.

Other countries that have come out so strongly against "Innocence of Muslims" should be equally as responsive in rejecting the retention of these racist provisions in the constitution of an Organization they deal with.  Financial assistance – now running into billions of dollars – should be discontinued until these provisions are removed.

Should Islam, being a religion – indeed a divine religion – be treated by the world in the same way Islam seeks to denigrate the Jews?  Should the 56 Islamic member states forming the Organization of Islamic Co-Operation be denied any national identity or national recognition  as Islamic states?  Clearly  not.

At the same time, Jews need to be treated differently by these Islamic states, which – with the exception of Egypt and Jordan – still have not recognized Israel after 64 years of concerted and ongoing efforts to deny the Jews a state in their biblical and ancestral homeland since Israel was established in 1948.

The 1988 Hamas Charter is equally as virulent in its steadfast opposition to Jews, Jewish statehood and Christianity – declaring in Article 13 (among many offensive provisions):

"Now and then the call goes out for the convening of an international conference to look for ways of solving the (Palestinian) question. Some accept, others reject the idea, for this or other reason, with one stipulation or more for consent to convening the conference and participating in it. Knowing the parties constituting the conference, their past and present attitudes towards Moslem problems, the Islamic Resistance Movement does not consider these conferences capable of realising the demands, restoring the rights or doing justice to the oppressed. These conferences are only ways of setting the infidels in the land of the Moslems as arbitrators. When did the infidels do justice to the believers?

"But the Jews will not be pleased with thee, neither the Christians, until thou follow their religion; say, The direction of Allah is the true direction. And verily if thou follow their desires, after the knowledge which hath been given thee, thou shalt find no patron or protector against Allah." (The Cow - verse 120).

There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with. As in said in the honourable Hadith:

"The people of Syria are Allah's lash in His land. He wreaks His vengeance through them against whomsoever He wishes among His slaves It is unthinkable that those who are double-faced among them should prosper over the faithful. They will certainly die out of grief and desperation."

Hamas has been banned as a terrorist organization in many countries around the world.

That is not enough.

It should be similarly banned from any form of contact or receive financial assistance of any sort whatsoever whilst it retains such inflammatory and offensive statements in its Charter. 

Those who meet with its officials and representatives should be condemned for engaging in and giving encouragement to such Jew-hating and Christianity-hating incitement.

Those who have voted such an organization into power and do nothing to seek a change in its Charter or to overthrow it must bear the consequences of their decisions.

Jew-hatred – more than anything else – has been the driver in ending the 130-years-old conflict between Jews and Arabs. It did not begin in 1967.

Until it is stamped out and removed from the official policies of those representing the Palestinian Arabs - no real resolution of the conflict between Jews and Arabs can ever occur.

Band aids – yes. But a lasting peace – never.' 

Mitt Romney's Foreign Policy Adviser On Israel & The Middle East (video)

The USA's former UN ambassador John Bolton tells interviewer Lee Lazerson on Jewish Life Television that Romney's concern for Israel's security is both emotional and tangible ("The US-Israel relationship is going to be a cornerstone of his foreign policy"), talks of the significance of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and Obama's credibility problem when his record on the Middle East is examined.  Bolton goes on to discuss the dangerous current situation in that region generally and the consequent challenge for the United States and Israel. Regarding Iran's nuclear ambitions: "It's certainly not for peaceful use.... This has been a weaponisation programme from the beginning ..."  He also discusses Israel's options ...

And here's Bibi, rightly asking a pertinent question regarding Iran:

For more on that see here

Making A "Compelling Case" For Palestine At Queen's University, Belfast

Here is a lecture about the Sabra and Shatila massacres, as told to students at the Queen's University, Belfast (which became rather notorious among Israel-supporters for this unfortunate incident).

The lecturer is Richard Irvine, who introduces himself at the beginning.  As the uploader (who talks of "a 36-hour holocaust") informs us, Irvine is

"education officer for the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign and joint co-ordinator of the Palestine Education Initiative. He has taught in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and he now teaches a course exploring the Israel-Palestine conflict at Queen's University. [My emphasis] He holds qualifications in Law, History, Education and Literature."

There are other videos which show the rest of the lecture; the uploader's introductions are instructive.  See here and here and here

"Proud Jewish American" Rattles Ohio Senator Regarding J Street(video)

Here's Senator Sherrod Brown (Democrat, Ohio), who's running for reelection against a strong Republican challenger, Josh Mandel, getting rattled by constituent Joel Griffith when the latter says:

"I’m a proud Jewish American and I’m concerned that the single biggest entity funding you is J Street.  J Street has given you $60,000, and as you know, J Street is funded by an attorney for the Saudi Embassy and has also been funded by the producer of one of the most anti-Semitic films ever made …"

Read more here

Echoes Of A Shofar (video)

Not new, but worth another look, an echo of the Mandate period when the British authorities forbade Jews to blow the shofar at the Kotel on Yom Kippur for fear of offending Arabs.  It's the story of several individuals who defied the ban, and were imprisoned for their efforts.  Of course, shortly after that the Kotel fell into Jordanian hands, and was inaccessible to Jews until liberated by Israeli troops in 1967.
All of which suggests that Jews should never agree to entrust their holy places to the control of others.

Hat tip: David Singer

"The Demon" Proves His Worth Again (video)

Here's someone missing from this blog for a while.
I love his treacle tones.  I like his commonsense politics.  I admire his commitment to his native Israel.
The engaging Gene Simmons, born Chaim Weitz (some sources say Witz) in Haifa, gives a pep talk to Israeli schoolkids on behalf of World ORT.

"We Refuse To Outsource [Australian] Foreign Policy To The Lowy Institute" (video)

Here, eyes blazing and voice embittered, is veteran anti-South African apartheid activist Kolin Thumbadoo, who migrated to Australia in the 1980s, viciously maligning Israel, Sydney businessman Frank Lowy and the Lowy Institute, and H. V. "Doc" Evatt, at the Palestine Action Group Sydney's demo a couple of days ago against Max Brenner in Parramatta.  Hear the crowd whoop and call as they eagerly digest his rabble-rousing, ignorant invective.

Towards the end, to the approval of his listeners, he compares Israel with Nazi Germany, and makes the familiar-among-Israel-haters observation about "the children of the Holocaust" that was not long ago condemned so ably by non-Jewish pro-Israel blogger Chas Newkey-Burden:

'[T]here is still one anti-Israel argument that makes my jaw drop. And it is one that is made with unfortunate frequency. It is the "they-of-all-people" argument: the suggestion that the Jews, having faced extraordinary persecution, should know better than anyone not to be oppressors.

Put aside for a moment that the "oppression" which proponents of this argument are accusing Israel of committing is usually imaginary. When directed by gentiles towards Jews, the "they-of-all-people" argument is in its very essence so fundamentally ill-judged and unjust, and voiced with such a breathtaking lack of self-awareness, that my spirit flags when I hear it.

Where to begin in response? The heroic Howard Jacobson made a fine start when he proposed that "they of all people" is the natural successor of Holocaust denial. He wrote that the argument leaves the Jewish people doubly damned: to the Holocaust itself and to elevated moral scrutiny as a result of it.

I agree, and I would go further. I contend that, as a result of the Holocaust and what preceded it, it is we gentiles who should know better. The Holocaust followed centuries of slander, persecution, violence and murder committed by gentiles against Jews. So it is not you who have an increased responsibility to behave morally, but us.

For instance, something that we gentiles should know better than to do is lazily accuse Jewish people, or the Jewish state itself, of any misdemeanour. We have seen what centuries of slander against the Jewish people led to during the 1930s and ’40s. We see the hatred, heartbreak and bloodshed that such anti-Jewish libels continue to provoke, particularly in the Middle East....

Let us strip the "they-of-all-people" argument down to its very basics: gentiles telling Jews that we killed six million of your people and that as a result it is you, not us, who have lessons to learn; that it is you, not us, who need to clean up your act. It is an argument of atrocious, spiteful insanity. Do not accept it; turn it back on those who offer it. For it is us, not you, who should know better.'

Despite The BDS Campaign, Veolia Remains Inviolate (plus video)

One of the key targets of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in the UK (logo: all of Eretz Israel) and the BDS movement is the multinational company Veolia (which specialises in environmental matters such as water and waste management and transport) as this statement from the PSC's Boycott Israel Goods initiative indicates:

"Veolia, a large French multinational, is operating a tramway linking illegal settlements in East Jerusalem with Israel. Not only do the settlements contravene article 49 of the 4th Geneva Convention forbidding an occupier transferring its own civilians into the territory it occupies, but in most cases the establishment of the Israeli settlements involved war crimes too. The tramway tightens Israel’s hold on occupied East Jerusalem, ties the settlements more firmly into Israel and undermines chances of a just peace for the Palestinian people.

In the occupied Jordan Valley Veolia has been supporting illegal settlements by taking their refuse at its Tovlan landfill site. Veolia has now compounded its offence by trying to sell Tovlan to an illegal settlement, whilst maintaining an advisory role.

Veolia also operates bus services connecting illegal Israeli settlements to Israel. Palestinian use of these services is either forbidden or severely restricted.

Veolia must be made to halt these activities which enable Israel to maintain and tighten its grip on the occupation. Until then, we encourage a boycott of Veolia – a firm complicit in the ongoing occupation and dispossession of the Palestinian people." 

Activists are encouraged to lobby local councils and other organisations to boycott and divest from Veolia.

But, despite their crowing to the contrary, their efforts are proving singularly unsuccessful.  For the full details of their campaign and its abject failure see this report from Christian Middle East Watch and UK Lawyers for Israel.  (Hat tip: J. H.)

Here (hat tip: Ian and Shirlee) is an eye-opener ablot building on the West Bank:

Meanwhile, from Socialist Alternative in New South Wales, a small insight into the perverse hard-leftist anti-Israel mindset:

"....Equating the armed might of the state with Muslim protesters bearing placards is ridiculous. Yet furore has engulfed the country over the fact that some of the placards at Saturday’s protest contained clearly reactionary slogans. Some are asking why Socialist Alternative has not at least criticised the demonstration on this basis....

We ask people who consider themselves anti-racist, but who have equivocated on the question of [last] Saturday’s rally to reconsider their position. In particular consider the context: The people demonstrating have seen hundreds of thousands of their brothers and sisters across the Middle East slaughtered by US imperialism and its allies – Israel routinely and loudly celebrates every time it assassinates Palestinian activists. Muslims have endured the war on terror – an ideological offensive that has sought to denigrate their beliefs, belittle their culture, and demonise them as a people....

The Zionists in the 20th century blamed European anti-Semitism on outspoken activist Jews, and today some Australian Aboriginal leaders blame the lack of a work ethic for Aboriginal disadvantage. Their ideas are totally misplaced. The reality is that no matter what Muslims do, the establishment promotes racism against them. The only way to beat it is to fight it, not apologise for it."

 More absurdities (countered by some sensible comments) here

David Singer On Romney's Middle East Realism

My two previous posts are both, coincidentally, concerned with Australia (regarding the ABC's Rosh Hashana insult to the Jewish community, and footage of the BDS rally in Parramatta respectively). The present post consists of an Australian's opinion of what the BBC was quick to categorise in its website sidebar as Mitt Romney's "gaffe" – Romney's view of the Palestinian leadership's true attitude towards Israel.

This latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer is entitled "Palestine: Romney Recognizes Reality – Rejects Arab Revanchism".

Writes David Singer:

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has made a valuable contribution to the public debate in exposing the utter folly of those who continue to still believe in the possibility of the creation of a second Arab state in former Palestine – in addition to Jordan – for the first time ever in recorded history.

Nineteen years of intensive efforts to bring this new Arab state to fruition have seen very little in tangible returns despite the most influential negotiating team ever assembled in history  – the United Nations, the European Union, Russia and the United States – having been involved for the last nine years.

After two substantive offers by Israel to cede its claim to more than 90 per cent of the West Bank in 2000/2001 and 2008 in favour of the Palestinian Authority - and after Israel’s disengagement from Gaza in 2005 – the resumption of further negotiations without preconditions remains deadlocked.

If those negotiations are ever resumed - the likelihood of any concluded agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is very remote  – unless the Palestinian Authority recognizes Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people and agrees to any newly created state of Palestine being demilitarised.

Mr Romney seems to have concluded that such Israeli demands will never be accepted – asserting:

'… the Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish. Now why do I say that?

Some might say, well, just let the Palestinians have the West Bank and have security, and set up a separate nation for the Palestinians. And then come a couple of thorny questions. I don’t have a map here to look up geography, but the border between Israel and the West Bank is obviously right there, right next to Tel Aviv, which is the financial capital, the industrial capital of Israel, the center of Israel. It’s, what, the border would be seven miles from Tel Aviv to what would be the West Bank. Nine miles. The challenge is, the other side of the West Bank, the other side of what would be this new Palestinian state would either be Syria at one point or Jordan. And of course, the Iranians would want to do through the West Bank exactly what they did through Lebanon, and what they did into Gaza. Which is the Iranians would want to bring missiles, that armament, into the West Bank and potentially threaten Israel. So Israel, of course, would have to say, “That can’t happen. We’ve got to keep Iranians from bringing weaponry into the West Bank.” Well, that means that, who, the Israelis are going to patrol the border between Jordan, Syria and this new Palestinian nation? Well, the Palestinians would say, “No way. We’re an independent country. You can’t guard our border with other Arab nations."

 And then how about the airport. How about flying into this Palestinian nation? Are we going to allow military aircraft to come in? And weaponry to come in? And if not, who’s going to keep it from coming in? Well, the Israelis. Well, the Palestinians are going to say, “We’re not an independent nation if Israel is able to come in and tell us what to land at our airport."

These problems — they’re very hard to solve. And I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes. Committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel. And these thorny issues. And I say, there’s just no way. So what you do is you move things along the best way you can, you hope for some degree of stability. But you recognize this is going to remain an unsolved problem. We live with that in China and Taiwan. We have a potentially volatile situation, but we sort of live with it. And we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately somehow, something will happen and resolve it. We don’t go to war to try and resolve it imminently.'

Commonsense is the hallmark of Mr Romney’s reasoning – something that is lacking in those that are so blind that they cannot and do not want to see.

Negotiations under the Oslo Accords were founded on – and have foundered on – the Arab failure to reject a series of Arab fictions and falsehoods appearing in the 1964 Charter of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)

Chief among them are claims that:

1.    Only Arab – not non-Arab – residents of former Palestine are entitled to statehood

2.    Palestine within the boundaries it had during the British Mandate is an indivisible territorial unit and an indivisible part of the Arab homeland

3.    The Balfour Declaration, the Mandate for Palestine and everything based on them are null and void

4.     The establishment of the State of Israel is illegal, regardless of the passage of time

5.    Claims of historical or religious ties of Jews with Palestine are incompatible with the facts of history and the true conception of what constitutes statehood.

6.    Judaism, being a religion, is not an independent nationality. Nor do Jews constitute a single nation with an identity of its own; they are citizens of the states to which they belong.

In endorsing these fictions and falsehoods by themselves failing to recognize the State of Israel for the last 64 years, the Arab world – with the exception of Egypt and Jordan  – has ensured that any hope of Oslo leading to the creation of a 22nd Arab state located in former Palestine will ever occur.

Mr Romney still hopes against hope that something will happen to resolve this 130-years-old seemingly intractable dispute between Arabs and Jews.

Perhaps the first step in the right direction would be an earnest attempt to try and restore, as far as is now possible, the territorial status quo existing prior to the creation of the PLO Charter in 1964 – when Jordan then occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem and Egypt occupied Gaza..

That would result in the dispute between Jews and Arabs being realistically seen for what it is – a border dispute between Israel, Jordan and Egypt to resolve the allocation of sovereignty in the West Bank and Gaza – the last remaining areas of former Palestine where sovereignty remains undetermined between Arabs and Jews.

Replacing fiction and falsehood with historic, geographic and demographic facts is the ball that Mr Romney needs to pick up and kick downfield  – should he become America’s next President.

Come to think of it – President Obama should do exactly the same thing if he is returned to the White House for another four years.

Recognizing reality and rejecting Arab revanchism is certainly the only way to now score a goal.

Pizarro Presents Parramatta Protest On Press TV

More hatred against Max Brenner and "Apartheid Israel" by the usual bizarre alliance, with footage of the Sydney protest against a certain video, described by Press TV's Sydney reporter Daniel Pizarro:

Press TV is, of course, the notorious propaganda arm of the repellent human rights-denying Iranian regime.  It pimps conspiracy theories of an antisemitic kind.  Yet those facts, as we see here, doesn't prevent the western lefties whose aim is to bring Israel down giving interviews to it.

More pictorial views of the BDS protest, which I'm told "bombed," here (hat tip: reader Shirlee)

"This Was A Studied Insult": In Australia, The BBC's Counterpart Offends Jews On Rosh Hashana

Unconscionable, isn't it, how two of the world's most politically correct leftist broadcasting organisations cavalierly discard their sensitivity to the needs and feelings of minorities when it's Jews who are the group to be offended?

Can you imagine either broadcaster knowingly risking offending Muslims in similar fashion? 

Just as the BBC's "Middle East editor" Jeremy Bowen went ahead with a question and answer session on Twitter regarding the Middle East fully aware that he was doing so on Rosh Hashana, so ABC presenter Tony Jones interviewed visiting Israel demoniser Ilan Pappé on that day.

The following speech in Federal Parliament by Michael Danby, MHR for Melbourne and a veteran defender of Israel and Jewish rights, sums up the situation:

"On Monday and Tuesday I had leave for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. I thank the whips and the parliament. For 120,000 Australians of similar background, even the most secular families, this is like Christmas, a time for the gathering of the clan.

Tony Jones, the host of Q&A, explained to that segment of Australia's population that Q&A focusing half of its program on Monday night on Israel was because he could not get his guest Mr Pappe other than that night. Irving Wallach did a brave job on the program. But I question Mr Jones; the ABC managing director, Mark Scott; and indeed the new chairman, Jim Spigelman. This was a studied insult. Having an academically undistinguished extremist on Rosh Hashana is like having someone from Hizb ut-Tahrir advocate the abolition of Christianity and Australia on Christmas Eve.

Nearby to Israel, a prosperous, peaceful, democratic country, 25,000 Syrian civilians have been murdered by their own government. Come on, Tony Jones! When are you going to have a program of half an hour on the situation in Syria? Stop putting Uncle Toms like Ilan Pappe and Antony Loewenstein on your program. Let some people who speak for the mainstream, either Left or Right, both of which support peaceful evolution of the Middle East, appear on your program."

(Hat tip: reader Ian)

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

"I stitched up a comedy on the morals of the harem. As a Spanish author, I thought I could mock Muhammad without a care. Instantaneously, an envoy... from where I don't know, was complaining that I offended by my verses against the Sublime Porte [Ottoman Imperial Court], Persia, part of the peninsula of India, all of Egypt, the kingdoms of Barca, Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers [Barbary corsair ports], and Morocco. And right away, my comedy was put to the fire in order to please the Muhammadan princes, not one of whom – I believe –  knows how to read, and who harshly strike our shoulder blades, calling us: Christian dogs...."

What's that all about, then?

Click here to find out and to discover an interesting pro-Israel blog to boot.

Ilan Pappé Demonising Israel Down Under (video)

Nearly fifty minutes' worth of footage here, from arguably the doyen (so to speak) of anti-Zionist ex-pat Israelis in non-Israeli universities, for anyone masochistic enough to want to endure it.

I hate giving oxygen to guys like him, but as he's Down Under I thought I should include it for the record.

While on the subject of Jews who bash Israel, Aussie columnist Andrew Bolt has turned his attention to Antony Loewenstein (hat tip: reader Rita) 

"Death To The Jews!" Sounds No Prettier In French: Jihad on the Champs Elysées (video)

Hat tip: my gallic reader Jean, who writes:

'On September 15th, 2012, 200 extremist Muslims demonstrated violently in the 8th district of Paris and on the Champs-Elysées. They tried to attack the US embassy , offended France, roared " Allah u akbar! "And" Death  to the Jews”! five times! in Arabic  at 2.35 mn and finally prayed illegally on the most beautiful avenue of the world.'

Explains the uploader:

'Dans la vidéo, les musulmans crient "Souvenez-vous de Khaybar, Juifs !" (bataille après laquelle Mahomet et ses sbires ont assassiné tous les Juifs de la ville de Khaybar), ce qui signifie "Mort aux Juifs !", comme les musulmans et arabisants le savent.'

 Meanwhile, across the Channel:

That's the event the BBC failed to show the great British public.

"I Did Know It Was Jewish New Year": The BBC's Jeremy Bowen Escapes Jewish Questioners

"Over the past few years I have noticed how religion as a subject has crept into more and more debates and festivals with one exception, the media.

TV festivals in particular have a strange ostrich-like relationship with the subject but the country as a whole doesn't seem to agree. For them it's here in our lives and it needs to be understood, debated and packaged in a way best suited for their changing needs and tastes.

That's the genesis of BBC RE:THINK 2012. It's an attempt to fuse the growing interest in the subject if not necessarily the practise of religion with how it's reported on television, radio and online.....

 Religion and belief in the UK and how we portray it on television and radio is evolving. Old fashioned arguments about broadcast hours twenty years ago or how many ex theology students worked on a show are largely irrelevant to today's audience."

So blogged Aaqil Ahmed, the BBC's controversially-chosen Head of Religion and Ethics, ahead of that event, which took place last week.  He further explained:

"Taking part in and attending BBC RE: THINK 2012 will be other broadcasters, independent producers, journalists, academics, clergy, opinion formers and members of the public. It's a unique opportunity to bring all of us together for the first time.

Across the two days there should be something for everyone. From a must-watch conversation between the Chief Rabbi and Richard Dawkins, festival specials of The Moral Maze and The Big Questions to standing room-only master classes from Bettany Hughes and Jeremy Bowen there should be something for everyone...."

A master-class from Jeremy Bowen?  In a conference concerned with religion?

A talk entitled "Rethinking the Arab Spring" in a conference concerned with what Britons believe?

Nobody would be cynical enough to suggest that this was an opportunity for Bowen to plug the book he's just written on the so-called Arab Spring.

And nobody would be cynical enough to suggest that despite Al Beeb's bend-over-backwards attempts at inclusiveness and accommodation of all sorts of minority groups a much-touted-by-the-BBC question and answer session on Twitter regarding the Middle East with the pally title "Ask Jeremy" took place on the first day of Rosh Hashana in order to evade pesky Jewish questioners:

If you want to ask me anything about the Middle East or my BBC job I'll be live tweeting answers between 1600-1700 GMT today.

Well, nobody except the guy who tweeted:

"Why are you holding this on Rosh Hashanah, one of the holiest days in Jewish calendar? So Jews can't participate?" 

prompting the following exchange with Bowen:

"not trying to avoid qs from religious Jews. agree timing could be better. will be doing this again."

 "So did you know today was Rosh Hashanah"

"yes I did know it was Jewish New Year. And I also know it doesn't stop quite a few Jews using social media"

"Not most. So you knew it was Rosh Hashanah but went ahead anyway. What will BBC Trust think? Would you hold one during Ramadan?"

Another pesky bloke had the temerity to enquire ahead of time

"why was the Balen report not published?"

 but his question would appear to have been overlooked.

Evidently, Bowen (either blissfully unaware or dismissive of expert warnings that Iran's top leaders believe that strife and chaos is necessary for the coming of the Twelfth Imam) takes a phlegmatic view of the prospect of a nuclear Iran.

For the man who, as this post reminds us, described the Muslim Brotherhood as being "conservative, moderate and non-violent" until 'he got caught and quickly deleted the word “moderate”,' responded to the question "Could the West live with a Nuclear Iran?":

"West lived with nuclear Soviet Union. Would deterrence work with Iran? Quite likely. Iranians are rational actors. But deterrence works both ways. Nuclear Iran would be strengthened, and so would its allies. One reason why Israel so worried."

Some of the rest of Bowen's profundities may be read here

But that's a poor substitute for his Twitter page

Meanwhile ...

All the news deemed suitable for licence-payers to know.

Half the story all of the time.

Obscuring or omitting facts that fail to fit the editorial agenda.

That's the BBC for you.

True to form, it appears to have "forgotten" to report this not insignificant event in London at the weekend, though Sky News and other media outlets did so.

And note the way the BBC  in its list of most popular stories viewed on its website categorises  this statement by Romney as a "gaffe" ("Romney taped in Middle East gaffe")

Shana Tova (video)

Shana Tova to my Jewish readers.

An upbeat offering:

 (Hat tip: reader Jean)

Manchild (With Message) In The Lucky Country: Islamist Rioting Reaches Sydney (with videos)

Photo: @jttozer, Twitter

Here it is, at left, in Sydney's Hyde Park, a message put into the hands of a toddler at a rally protesting that crude stupid ill-advised video which cost Ambassador Stevens and three other blameless Americans in Libya their lives.
(Hat tip: reader Shirlee citing Joel Tozer on Twitter)

Unlike Sky News, consistently so much better than the British "national broadcaster" in just about every way, Al Beeb (briefly reporting that in Sydney there have been "clashes between police and demonstrators" as if it was all tit-for-tat) appeared reluctant to describe or show the threatening supremacist and violent slogans voiced and carried by a big mob of very angry men – many with Hamas and Islamist flags – marching to the US Consulate, or the fact that trouble-makers hurled sticks, stones and bottles at police, causing several police casualties and necessitating the use of pepper spray and dogs.

There are more photos and reports of the events in Sydney  here, here and here

This Sydney Muslim condemns the mayhem:

(For a view of what really prompted the Middle East embassy attack see here)

David Singer: "Two Peoples Need Two States – Not Three"

"Palestine - A Match Made In Heaven" is the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

'Yasser Arafat and Yitzchak Rabin were reportedly overheard having the following spirited conversation in heaven recently - frankly reflecting on the mistakes they both had made in trying to reach the "Peace of the Brave" for which they and last surviving member of the trio  – Shimon Peres – had received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.  

Yitzchak: I always thought that the way to peace between the Jews and the Arabs involved re-subdividing Palestine into two States with Jewish Israel sovereign in about 20% of Palestine and Arab Jordan sovereign in about 80% of Palestine. 

Shimon persuaded me to pursue a different path by accepting Oslo. 

In hindsight this was a terrible error of judgement by me and cost me my life, the lives of thousands of Jews and Arabs and the maiming, wounding and emotional scarring of our respective populations.

Yasser:  Look Yitzchak, I know you weren't happy with Oslo. I felt it in that famous handshake at the White House. I was aware of your comment in The Australian newspaper on May 27, 1985:

"One tiny State between Israel and Jordan will solve nothing. It will be a time bomb."

 Oslo would have created just such a State. 

Yitzchak:  I think my then prediction is more relevant today than ever - considering the collapse of Oslo, 9/11, your 2001 refusal of Barak's offer, the second Intifada, the failed Roadmap, the 2006 Lebanon War, the 2008 Abbas rejection of Olmert’s offer, the 10000 rockets fired into civilian population centres in Israel from Gaza since 2007, Operation Cast Lead in 2008, what's happening now in Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Jordan, Gaza, the West Bank and Iran’s nuclear threat to wipe out Israel.

The Quartet members are making a big mistake pursuing the two-state solution.

They supposedly respect my memory but not my opinions. They know I also said when making my prediction:

"the Palestinians should have a sovereign State which includes most of the Palestinians. It should be Jordan with a considerable part of the West Bank and Gaza. East of the Jordan River there is enough room to settle the Palestinian refugees."

Yasser:  On June 25, 1987 I myself told the New York Review of Books that before the Second World War: 

"Jordan was an emirate, completely part of Palestine."

I know my history as well as you, my dear partner in peace. We both agreed that Jordan was part of Palestine – part of the problem and part of the solution..…

Yitzchak: We really should have built on this common agreement when we finally decided to talk about peace.

Yasser: … I also told Der Spiegel in 1986:

"Jordanians and Palestinians are indeed one people. No one can divide us. We have the same fate."

Yitzchak:   Even Jordan recognised the historic and demographic reality of what you were saying. As early as Spring 1982 Crown Prince Hassan of Jordan was quoted in the Foreign Affairs Review as endorsing the words of a leading Jordanian social scientist:

"the Jordanians and Palestinians are now one people, and no political loyalty, however strong, will separate them permanently."

Yasser:   Farouk Kadoumi, the Head of the Political Department of the PLO, told Newsweek on 14 March 1977:

 "Jordanians and Palestinians are considered by the PLO as one people."

Farouk stood by my wife Suha during my dying days in hospital in France. Now there is more concern about whether I was poisoned than there is about the failed peace process.

Yitzchak: So why did you insist on separate Palestinian and Jordanian delegations at the Madrid Conference in 1991 instead of a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation?

Yasser:  Come on Yitzchak. You know there had been a power struggle between King Hussein and myself for control of Jordan. Could I ever forget or forgive how my followers and I were driven out of Jordan in September 1970 and the slaughter that was inflicted on us at that time? Do you think it was fun being shunted to Lebanon and thence to Tunisia?

Yitzchak:  But surely you could have resolved your dispute by retaining King Hussein as Jordan’s monarch and appointing yourself as Jordan’s Prime Minister. By burying your differences you could have ended up as Prime Minister of 80 per cent of Palestine instead of President of nothing.

Yasser:  That's all water under the bridge. Now that I have been removed from the scene is there perhaps something we can do to influence those left behind down there to re-subdivide Palestine along the lines you suggested 27 years ago?

Yitzchak:  Well I know Shimon is just as aware as you and I are of Jordan's role in bringing peace to the region. Shimon told the Jewish Telegraph on April 19, 1991:

"It is not obstinacy to regard the populations of Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza as having greater similarities than differences. The Jordan River is not deep enough to turn into a knife blade serving to cut one piece of territory into three slices. Most of Jordan's population are Palestinians: the residents of the West Bank are Jordanian citizens and Jordan has distributed tens of thousands of passports to residents in the Gaza Strip. Jordan is therefore an existing State. It has an army. There is therefore no need to set up another State, another army."

Yasser:  Shimon might now be President – but he is not the Israeli Government. Israel’s Prime Minister  – Bibi Netanyahu  – needs to endorse Shimon’s view and make it Israeli policy

Yitzchak:  Bibi’s view is very similar to Shimon’s. Bibi told the United Nations on 11 December 1984:

"Clearly, in Eastern and Western Palestine, there are only two peoples, the Arabs and the Jews. Just as clearly, there are only two states in that area, Jordan and Israel. The Arab State of Jordan… does not allow a single Jew to live there… It also contains 4/5 of the territory originally allocated by this body’s predecessor, the League of Nations, for the Jewish National Home. The other State, Israel …  contains less than 1/5 of the territory originally allocated to the Jews under the Mandate…. It cannot be said, therefore, that the Arabs of Palestine are lacking a state of their own. The demand for a second Palestinian Arab State in Western Palestine, and a 22nd Arab State in the world, is merely the latest attempt to push Israel back into the hopelessly vulnerable armistice lines of 1949.

Bibi eventually changed direction under extreme pressure from President Obama by proposing a demilitarized third state in former Palestine on 14 June 2009. That idea has gone down like a lead balloon.

He and Shimon need to resume enunciating their long held shared vision once again.

Shimon also needs to remind his presidential confreres what Ariel Sharon – in an induced coma since 2006 – told Time on April 17, 1989:

 "Jordan is Palestine! The capital of Palestine is Amman. If Palestinian Arabs want to find their political expression, they will have to do it in Amman."

Ariel’s unilateral disengagement from Gaza and the building of a security fence in the West Bank has effectively divided former Palestine into Jewish and Arab sections - forming the basis for calling an international conference to re-subdivide Palestine along the lines I first suggested in 1985.

Yasser: That's all fine, but what about my beloved Jerusalem? Can I ever hope that my mortal remains will be reburied there?

Yitzchak: Yes. It is possible. East Jerusalem was part of Jordan between 1948-1967 and would have been so today had King Hussein kept out of the Six Day War. The Holy Places are specifically to be dealt with in the Peace Treaty I signed with King Hussein in 1994.

We can't solve all the problems from here. Those on earth are charged with negotiating the final outcomes. Now is a propitious time for them to attempt to do so.

Yasser:  How can we get the Quartet to abandon its plans to continue pursuing the impossible? Visions have a habit of turning into the worst nightmares.

Yitzchak:  The Quartet should heed the above things we said whilst on earth, but which we unfortunately failed to try to put into practice. This will be the finest tribute they can pay to our memories and will merit the Nobel Prize that we were in truth prematurely awarded. This will be the real peace of the brave. Pressure must be put on Jordan to re-subdivide Palestine, the same kind of pressure that is being put on Israel to accept the badly flawed and thoroughly discredited Road Map. Then perhaps the peace we all desire will be attainable.

Yasser: Shalom Yitzchak

Yitzchak: Salaam Yasser.

It is hard to believe that I first published this conversation in 2004.  Everything said then still remains true today in this updated version.

Re-subdivide Palestine into two states – one Jewish – one Arab. Two peoples need two states – not three.

Hopefully another update will not be necessary in 2020.'

Don't Vote For Obama!: A Democrat Politician's Urgent Warning To American Jews (video)

"It's a disease; it has to be dealt with," says New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, himself a Democrat, of American Jewry's tendency to vote Democrat and to give priority to domestic issues such as gay marriage despite the grave danger that a second term of the Obama administration poses to Israel.

"I do not trust the President of the United States with regard to the security of the State of Israel," he tells Fox News, warning in impassioned tones that with Israel's very survival in dire peril American Jews should not vote for Obama.

This interview shocked Democrats across America.  For Israel's sake, let's hope it jolts America's Jews into taking Hikind's advice.

Myths About Palestine & The Occupation (videos)

Jacob Prasch is a Christian missionary based in Israel, and he fishes for Jewish souls, which obviously does not endear him to those he seeks to proselytise.  Regrettable and offensive though such attempts are (there were quite enough of those in the Galut through the centuries), he makes a number of pertinent points in defence of Israel, not least regarding territorial occupations around the world and and the hypocrisy of those who, having only the Jewish State in their sights, turn a blind eye to them.

Prasch's disparaging reference to the UN and its Human Rights Council reminds me that Hillel Neuer of UN Watch has just drawn attention to the anti-Israel views of official Alfred de Zayas, and has opened a petition demanding that de Zayas be stripped of his post.  Read more here (hat tip: reader Rita)

Australia, Israel, & Homeland Security Know-How (video)

Here's a video from Australia in which the Trade and Investment manager of the Israel Trade Commission is interviewed by the executive editor of Asia Pacific Security Magazine.

Explains the uploader:

"Richard Vesely, Manager, Trade and Investments, Israel Trade Commission introduces ISRAEL HLS 2012 Expo & Conference with a focus on Safe Cities & Critical Infrastructure. The bi-annual event includes keynote Israeli and International Speakers and a mock emergency incident under management. Richard also provides an overview of the Israel Trade Commission and Israel's advanced standing in the homeland security market in the Asia Pacific and why participating in delegations to Israel, as planned for 2013 is important for professional development.

Interview with Chris Cubbage, Executive Editor of the Asia Pacific Security Magazine, at Security 2012 Exhibition and Conference, Sydney. Produced in association with Diversified Exhibitions"

(Want something zippier? Click here)

"The Obama Adminstration Is The Most Hostile To Israel Since The State Of Israel Was Founded" (video)

And if you thought the first term of his presidency was bad for US-Israel relations, a second term would be even worse.  This coming presidential election is the most vital for Israel's interests and security, and the 150,000 Americans in Israel should, whatever their other priorities such as ensuring economic recovery, vote for Mitt Romney.

So says the USA's former ambassador to the UN, John Bolton:

For information on registering to vote see here

Democratic National Convention Chairwoman Regarding Obama's Stance On Israel (videos)

Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz does her best to defend the One ("He has a stellar record on Israel") in the face of Don Lemon's probing:

More Lizards In Oz

Destination Down Under.  That seems to be the motto of international anti-Israel activists this season.  The Sydney Opera House and Wollongong University await Ilan Pappé this month, and a pair of Israeli dissidents worked their mischief last month.  One of them, Micha Kurz, was instrumental in founding the NGO Breaking The Silence, and appears on this video giving aid and comfort to Israel's enemies by waxing enthusiastic about the BDS movement.

I almost posted that video yesterday, but was so disgusted that I decided not to give it oxygen.

The antipodean J-Wire service carries an article by Dr Ron Weiser, immediate past president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, and a vehement critic of the New Israel Fund and of David Landau's visit to Australia under its auspices last year, who writes in part:

'Australians for Palestine promoted a function in Melbourne on the 28th of August.

They produced a very nice flyer for the event.

NIF Australia has been desperately trying to separate themselves from the people presenting at forums under the Australians for Palestine banner.

They say that although the co founder of BtS is no longer a spokesperson for BtS, we should ignore the publicity of those who host him. They say that he has made that clear.

Well, except to his hosts apparently, or to anyone interested in attending the actual event.

So now the issue deepens, because another NIF-funded organisation is also being used in the Australians for Palestine promotion of a second function – Sheik Jarrah Solidarity.

For the Melbourne function, the cofounder of BtS is described precisely as that, without qualification.

The Australians for Palestine promotion was headed "Israeli peace activists speak out" and featured the two Israelis which also included the following descriptions on the promotional leaflet

"Sahar Vardi – is involved in the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement

 Micha Kurz – a co-founder of Breaking the Silence"

Both of these organisations received significant funds from the New Israel Fund.

Both of these organisations are political organisations who have an agenda of opposing the policies of the democratically elected government of Israel.

That is their right of course, but just because they cannot attract the support of the Israeli electorate, it does not mean that their activists or cofounders will "sensitise Israelis to the ways in which the occupation is having an effect on Israel’s values" as claimed last week by NIF Australia, by being promoted by Australians for Palestine.

..... The basic problem with NIF’s reasoning is its failure to recognise, or perhaps it is purposeful, the main complaint against them.

They like to smugly say that we should not shoot the messenger.

That they are the moral voice.

The problem is not in who is the messenger at all – the problem is the message.

The message is twisted.

The message is unproven....

This is not a debate about whether one should be washing "dirty linen" in public or not, it is about whether the "dirty linen" actually exists....'

Read and see more here

Before A Republican Jewish Audience, Congressman Allen West Lambasts Obama's Foreign Policy

Great, isn't he?

No wonder many Israel-supporters hope Allen West becomes President in 2016 ...

A Trio Of Good 'Uns

That consistently pro-Israel newspaper, The Australian, carries an article by Ian Wilcock, a former Australian ambassador to Israel, explaining why antisemitism on the part of the Palestinians is an obstacle to peace:

"An astonishing part of PA ideology is the constant use of the notoriously forged document of a century ago, the so-called Protocols of the Elders of Zion. For the PA, this is presented as proof that Jews are running an international conspiracy to conquer and divide the world and to portray Jews and Israelis as inherently evil.....

Sadly there is much more....

 And then there is Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip and which is in a declared partnership with the PA. It has signed up to every vile anti-Semitic calumny history has to offer. Its charter calls for the destruction of the state of Israel.

 ....To allow these obscenities to continue must further undermine the confidence of the only negotiating partner that could actually deliver a state for Palestinians - Israel. Not to take such action would confirm that the PA has joined with those (headed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Iran) whose objective is to threaten, demonise, delegitimise, even obliterate Israel, but who refuse to engage in the hard and even dangerous work of negotiation and compromise...."

The usual suspects are grumbling on social media about this article, which is reviving memories amongst them of how, to their anger, the Canberra Times (not known for its friendship towards Israel), carried last year an excellent article by Rev Peter Kurti in which he correctly labelled the Greens' campaign for a boycott of Israeli products antisemitic.  In the course of the article he remarked:

'An essential part of the compact of a free society is that all its citizens are afforded protection from persecution and freedom from fear....

When a segment of society is targeted by reason of its identity – be it a religious, ethnic or national identity – the right of that segment to live free from fear is compromised....

BDS states on its website that boycott targets are chosen ‘"based on their direct contribution to grave human rights abuses and international law violations of the Israeli state and military’".

BDS declares two objectives. First: compel Israel to respect international law and freedom; second: achieve justice and equality for Palestinians by ending what it describes as ‘"Israel’s systematic oppression of the Palestinian people’"....

Behind the BDS rhetoric about justice, freedom and peace lurks a much darker objective. Committed to the belief that Israel, a tiny sliver of a democratic state, is the leading threat to world peace, the boycott campaign is part of a renewed offensive to challenge the legitimacy of the state of Israel. And with that, the nature of the BDS campaign is revealed.

Far from being simply an attempt to urge the Israeli government to change its policy on the occupied territories, the campaign really amounts to a denunciation of the Jewish state itself.

After all, if BDS is so concerned about ‘"basic human rights" and ‘"violations of international law", why was it so oddly silent when Syrian forces loyal to President Assad shelled the besieged city of Latakia, forcing more than 5000 Palestinian refugees to flee a refugee camp?

And why doesn’t it threaten boycotts against any of the human rights-violating, non-democratic regimes around the world?....

"They’ve got rocks in their heads,’" union leader Paul Howes has said of BDS attempts to equate the [Max Brenner] chocolate protest with the campaign against apartheid in South Africa.

The BDS has crossed the line between a protest which is anti-Israeli policy and one which is anti-Semitic....'

For a recent typically crackerjack article by Daniel Greenfield on the hypothetical scenario of a Middle East without Israel see the Love of the Land blog, where many other interesting items are daily to be found.

Facebook Antisemitism: Please Sign The Petition

This petition speaks for itself.

The required target is 10,000.

So spread the word!

For background see my post here or Dr Andre Oboler's article in the Jerusalem Post.

Thanks!

An Uplifting Documentary (video)

The Paralympics have ended on a triumphant note, with it being widely acknowledged that the achievements of the athletes taking part has led to a discernible shift in public attitudes towards people with disabilities that, being positive, is all to the good.

With this in mind, as well as the fate of the young Christian girl in Pakistan, reportedly with Downs Syndrome, who was snatched from her family and incarcerated after being accused of defiling a copy of the Koran, here's a very beautiful and moving documentary set in Israel, showing how the lives of children with that same syndrome is being transformed thanks to the enlightened and innovative methods introduced by the wonderful Professor Reuven Feuerstein (a Romanian-born Holocaust survivor who reached Eretz Israel in 1945) and practised at the institute in Jerusalem that bears his name.

The work of the Feuerstein Institute is just another example of the many and diverse developments for the benefit of humankind (a recent one being the invention of an artificial retina designed to restore the sight of persons blinded by macular degeneration) that characterise Israel, yet which are seldom if ever acknowledged by those who seek Israel's destruction.

The NSW Greens Are Punished By Voters, But More Anti-Israel Bias From Australia's National Broadcaster

By NSW muralist Sergio Redegalli

Deservedly, the Greens in New South Wales have been trounced at the polls, pro-Israel state parliamentarian Walt Secord, Labor leader in the Legislative Council, commenting aptly:

"The stain of the illogical and antisemitic BDS campaign will forever linger over the Greens.

Voters across NSW rejected the Greens because they forgot about rates, rubbish and recycling and starting wasting resources on fringe matters like attacking Israel.

Across the State, the Greens had massive swings against them.

They suffered major swings in Leichhardt, Woollahra, Marrickville, Randwick, Sydney City, Byron Shire, the Blue Mountains, Lane Cove and Waverley; with some of the results reaching double digits.

Since the departure of former Greens leader Bob Brown, there has been a plunge in Green support; Bob Brown was a moderating force when compared to the hard-line faction associated with Senator Lee Rhiannon.

It is not surprising that one of the largest swings came from Woollahra at almost 12 per cent; Randwick at almost nine per cent and Waverley at almost seven per cent – as all three electorates have significant Jewish populations who would have despised the Greens’ stand on Israel and the BDS."

Read more here

Meanwhile, Radio National, a component of  the ABC (Australia's counterpart to the BBC) has been indulging in more one-sided anti-Israel propaganda, this time courtesy of NSW academic and veteran Israel-basher Dr Peter Slezak  who travelled to the West Bank and Gaza earlier this year and met, among others, members of the far left agenda-ridden Israeli NGO "Breaking The Silence"

(Hat tip: reader Shirlee)

BoycottIsraelNetwork Footage Of The Batsheva Disruption (video)

An outfit calling itself BoycottIsraelNetwork has uploaded this footage of the outrageous scenes outside and inside the Edinburgh theatre on the opening night of the Batsheva Dance Company's performance there.

There's manic screeching of the blood libel, the burning of tickets, and a female activist gloatingly telling a wildly receptive mob of the impact of the disruptions upon the audience...

Writes the uploader:

'Boycott campaigners turned the empty Zionist slogan "Culture unites, Boycotts Divide" totally on its head in Edinburgh last weekend, drawing some of Scotland's best known cultural figures, many theatre--goers and Ohad Naharin, artistic director of Israel's world-renowned Batsheva dance company, into public dialogue about its role as a state-funded "cultural ambassador."'

And here's a BBC2Newsnight report uploaded by BDS stalwart Alex Seymour: