David Singer: Trump’s Bolton Appointment Signals Curtains for Abbas and PLO

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

He writes:

President Trump’s appointment of John Bolton as National Security Adviser flags the possibility that the centrepiece of Trump’s eagerly-awaited “ultimate deal” could involve the subdivision of Judea and Samaria (“the West Bank”) and Gaza between Israel, Jordan and Egypt.

Such tripartite negotiations would replace the stale-mated Israeli-Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) negotiations – begun in 1993 until suspended in 2014 following a PLO walk-out – at the stage where:

1. The PLO was demanding a new Palestinian Arab State with Jerusalem as its capital in 100% of the West Bank and Gaza (“disputed territories”) for the first time in recorded history – which was unacceptable to Israel.

2. Offers by Israel in 2000/2001 and 2007 to cede its claims to sovereignty in about 95% of the disputed territories had been rejected by the PLO.

3. The 1993 Oslo Accords had seen the West Bank divided into three Areas - “A”, “B’ and “C”:

· “A” (18%) - under total PLO administrative and security control.

· “B” (22%) - under total PLO administrative control and joint Israel-PLO security control

· “C” (60%) - under total Israeli administrative and security control

4. Israel and the PLO had been negotiating the final status of the disputed territories under President Bush’s 2003 Roadmap – endorsed by the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.

President Bush had given Israel written commitments on 14 April 2004 – overwhelmingly endorsed by the US Congress – to support Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza – which Israel honoured in 2005. America committed it would not expect Israel to withdraw from 100% of the disputed territories.

5. Hamas had governed Gaza since 2007 – as Egypt had between 1948 and 1967.

Abbas and the PLO have recently:

1. Rejected considering any future Trump proposals following Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital 

2. Declared the Oslo Accords “dead”.

Enter Trump-appointee John Bolton into this Israel-PLO standoff – as President Trump ponders how to fill this negotiating void.

Bolton has an answer  – provided with amazing prescience on 5 January 2009 in his Washington Post article headlined “The Three-State Solution”:

“Let's start by recognizing that trying to create a Palestinian Authority from the old PLO has failed and that any two-state solution based on the PA is stillborn. Hamas has killed the idea, and even the Holy Land is good for only one resurrection. Instead, we should look to a "three-state" approach, where Gaza is returned to Egyptian control and the West Bank in some configuration reverts to Jordanian sovereignty. Among many anomalies, today's conflict lies within the boundaries of three states nominally at peace. Having the two Arab states re-extend their prior political authority is an authentic way to extend the zone of peace and, more important, build on governments that are providing peace and stability in their own countries. "International observers" or the like cannot come close to what is necessary; we need real states with real security forces.” 

Bolton still retains these views – telling Eric Shawn on 21 January 2018:

“I hope at some point the Administration recognizes and perhaps it is already quietly – that the two-state solution isn’t going anywhere. If anything I would say to King Abdullah of Jordan – “Be prepared to reassert Jordanian sovereignty over part of the West Bank – negotiate with Israel”. I think that’s a far better outcome than the continued pursuit of a mythical – I believe – unattainable viable Palestinian state”

Saudi Arabia’s backing can be anticipated.

Bolton’s appointment is shaping up as yet another Trump-inspired circuit breaker.

Trump’s decision to accept Bolton’s advice would spell curtains for Abbas and the PLO and give Trump the momentum he needs to get meaningful Israel-Arab negotiations started. 

[Author’s note: The above cartoon – commissioned exclusively for this article – is by Yaakov Kirschen aka "Dry Bones" – one of Israel's foremost political and social commentators – whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades]

The Socialism of Fools: Hanbury Street Revisited

Back in October 2012, having read this, regarding, on the wall of a building owned by a certain Mr Hussein, a disgraceful antisemitic mural, I posted this:

Hanbury Street, in London's East End, looms large in the Anglo-Jewish story.  Among those once resident there was Chaim Reuben Weintrop, better known as comedian Bud Flanagan; a blue plaque on the wall of number twelve marks the spot.

Last week, on a wall in Hanbury Street, accompanying the message "The New World Order Is The Enemy Of Humanity," appeared this offensive image from the brush of an American muralist who believes that Jews and Freemasons rule the world.

Just fancy that! A Sizer post this January.

Sounds familiar? It is, having characterised antisemitic conspiracy theories of both left and right since the nineteenth century.

To the best of my knowledge the first conspiracy theorist to allege a sinister collusion between the two groups was the odious renegade Jew Jacob Brafman, whose pamphlet on the subject in the mid-nineteenth century anticipated the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Kalen Ockerman (aka Mear One), the muralist responsible for this excrescence, claims that it's not antisemitic but classist.  Some have accepted his explanation

But the mayor of Tower Hamlets, Luftur Rahman, told the Jewish Chronicle:

"I have received a number of complaints that the mural has antisemitic images. I share these concerns. Whether intentional or otherwise, the images of the bankers perpetuate antisemitic propaganda about conspiratorial Jewish domination of financial and political institutions.

Where freedom of expression runs the risk of inciting racial hatred then it is right that such expression should be curtailed. I have asked my officers to do everything possible to see to it that this mural is removed."

It is instructive, and somewhat disturbing, to watch this video of the mural being painted, with narration by the artist, and see how the initial antipathy by locals changes as the mural takes shape.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9p8Og6-YcY

As is well-known, Labour MP Luciana Berger has recently asked a very pertinent question of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn regarding his reaction to that mural, with some leftwing Jewish diehards rushing (as they habitually do) to defend Corbyn from charges of antisemitism:

 (to the delight of non-Jewish Israel-haters, of course).

As the Telegraph reports here, accompanied by a video featuring Board of Deputies' president Jonathan Arkush, Corbyn has belatedly apologised, echoing August Bebel in terming antisemitism "the socialism of Jews".

But words are cheap, and the antisemitic rot that bedevils the Labour Party cannot be so easily dismissed.

See this post of mine on Elder of Ziyon, for instance (illustrated here). And, well-illustrated, this

Corbyn, 1986; See HERE

Onya, international relations specialist Dr Vaughan!:

In a hard-hitting leader yesterday, The Times, calling Corbyn's excuse ("I sincerely regret that I did not look more closely at the image I was commenting on") "feeble",  and noting his links to "such preposterous figures as Stephen Sizer, an Anglican vicar who spread an antisemitic conspiracy theory that Israel was responsible for the 9/11 terror attacks", recalls the Labour leaders of the past who "understood the necessity and nobility of Jewish nationhood after the Holocaust".

Noting that on Sunday the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council issued an open letter accusing Corbyn of associating with antisemites, and that over the past few days Corbyn  "has been exposed as belonging to three Facebook groups in which antisemitic theories, including Holocaust denial, are commonplace" and which "display posts attributing nefarious global influence to the Rothschild banking dynasty and claiming that Israeli military forces harvest the organs of dead Palestinians", it concludes:

"Antisemitism is an issue beyond party and ideology.  Standing against it is perhaps the most basis test of political integrity.  Labour is led by a man who fails that test.  its many decent parliamentarians and supporters should abandon him to merited disrepute." (Hat tip: J.)

Corbyn's defence of Sizer has now been mentioned by the influential UK blogger Archbishop Cranmer here

For a highly interesting (and, like the proverbial curate's egg, good in part) analysis of this latest Corbyn affair from one leftist's perspective see here

A Warning to the Women of the Infidels

With grooming gangs such as this bunch of rotters (good article, do read it!) preying on non-Muslim girls in the UK, warnings such as this, from the inimitable Pat Condell, shouldn't really be necessary:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F61HmpL35xY

That they are necessary is a testament to the ostrich-like nature of western populations, conditioned to perceive "Islamophobia" as a far worse crime than the Islamic subjection of women.

What dopes and dupes they are, not least the Jewish "leaders" who, citing the (supposed) parallels between antisemitism and "Islamophobia", tell anyone who disagrees with them, including mothers and grandmothers who oppose mass Muslim immigration because they are worried for the futures of their female progeny, that they should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves for their  "racist" prejudice.

Yeah, right.

David Singer: Trump Takes High Road as Abbas, PLO and Hamas Implode

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

He writes:

President Trump’s soon-to-be released “ultimate deal” – aimed at resolving the 100 years old Arab-Jewish conflict – seems set to see Trump not offering the PLO a seat at the negotiating table with Israel.

This possibility follows two extraordinary outbursts by PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas:

· attacking Hamas – ending any prospects of reconciliation between the PLO and Hamas and

· publicly disparaging US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman – whom Abbas called “son of a dog”

The wheels fell off the much-publicised Hamas-PLO reconciliation at a PLO leadership meeting in Ramallah on 19 March when Abbas accused Hamas of being responsible for the assassination attempt against Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and chief of intelligence Majid Faraj in Gaza the previous week.

Abbas threatened retaliatory action against Hamas which was undisguised and unequivocal:

"I have decided to take national, legal and financial measures to protect out national project. We never thought of punishing any Palestinian citizen, not in the West Bank or Gaza. But we have to say where the wrong is and where the crime is. This situation is not acceptable."

Abbas accused Hamas of sabotaging all efforts for reconciliation – saying that either the Palestinian government takes full charge of everything in Gaza or the de facto authority (Hamas) remains fully responsible for it: 

"We did all we can to make the reconciliation a success, but, unfortunately, the result for empowering the government was zero. We have been working hard for six months and got nothing, not the government, not the crossings, not security, nothing. It's all hypocrisy. They don't want reconciliation … There aren't two sides to the division, rather only one side that is consolidating it and enforces an illegal de facto situation"

Abbas said he would not wait for Hamas' investigation into the assassination attempt "because we know that they, Hamas, are behind it" – adding that assassinations are not new to Hamas whose history is full of similar acts warning that the attempt will not go without reaction.

This latest bout of in-fighting between the PLO and Hamas highlights the bitter internecine conflict they have engaged in since 2007 for control of the hearts and minds of the Gazan and West Bank Arab populations. It underscores the continuing refusal of Hamas and the PLO to give these long-suffering populations any say in their own future for the last 11 years. It haunts the utter inability of the PLO to conclude a peace agreement with Israel after negotiations spanning the last 25 years.

Free and fair elections in Gaza and the West Bank are long overdue. Yet not a word is heard from the United Nations or the European Union calling on both Hamas and the PLO to replace bullets with ballots.

America designated Hamas as a terrorist organisation in 1987 – so believing that the PLO can play any constructive role in resolving Gaza’s future without succeeding in violently overthrowing Hamas is illusory.

Trump’s recently-assembled coalition comprising Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, and Oman offers far better hope that Trump’s proposals might be ultimately translated into a binding Arab-Jewish peace treaty – with Arab recognition finally of the Jewish State 70 years after its establishment.

Trump will not take kindly to Abbas’s personal denigration of Ambassador Friedman. Trump should not be surprised if he, UN Ambassador Haley and Trump’s Middle East envoys Kushner and Greenblatt are soon on the receiving end of similar epithets.

Trump is taking the high road to possible peace – leaving Abbas, the PLO and Hamas wallowing on the murky low road engaging in further conflict and becoming politically irrelevant.

[Author’s note: The cartoon appearing with this article is the work of Yaakov Kirschen aka "Dry Bones" – one of Israel's foremost political and social commentators – whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.]

In Australia, Sizer's Charm Offensive Rumbles On

Seen below enjoying a barbecued Bush brekkie, our old cobber the ex-vicar of Virginia Water, now CEO of the so-called Peacemakers Mediators outfit, is, as regular readers of my blog will know, on a "tour" of Australia.

Needless to say, this news from the United States, to which he alerted his Facebook faithful around the start of his visit here, has not warmed the cockles of his heart, nor of his followers:

It's precisely that sort of thing, Christian support for Israel and Zionism, that the ex-Surrey vicar has come to Oz to endeavour to prevent and undermine, for his tour is under the auspices of such groups as Palestine Israel Ecumenical Network and Fighting Fathers Ministries:

I note with interest  that he's given an interview to a Christian magazine in this country, Sight, and that the subsequent article, by David Adams, is headed 'Middle East: Anglican "Peacemaker" calls for Christians to be part of the solution in ending Israel-Palestine conflict'.  It begins:

'Christians in the West need to cease giving uncritical, one-sided support to Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and instead engage with Christians in the Middle Eastern church who are working for peace and reconciliation.

That’s according to Rev Dr Stephen Sizer, an Anglican minister and founder of the UK-based Peacemaker Trust, a non-denominational Christian charity which works with churches in East Africa and the Middle East, particularly in areas where the church is marginalized or persecuted or where there are religious tensions, on projects based around evangelism, discipleship and issues of justice and peace.'

Well, the church is hardly 'marginalised or persecuted' in Israel, so it is surprising indeed that Adams was not more searching in his interview with our old cobber, asking him why in particular he focuses so much time and effort in knocking the Jewish State.  Inter alia, Adams writes that

'Rev Dr Sizer is spending a couple of weeks in Australia speaking at a series of events on a mission to “deconstruct” how the Bible has, in his words, been "misused" to justify what he describes as the “apartheid regime in Israel today” and how Christians can be involved in bringing peace to the region.'

He can hardly be unaware of the ex-vicar's lack of impartiality on this issue, as that quoted sentence and other passages in the article make clear. Yet he naively writes of Sizer's "stance of not taking sides"!

Blithely, the article tells us that Sizer

'rejects the idea that he is anti-Israel – saying he has always been opposed to racism and anti-Semitism – and says that he wants to see Israel “survive and prosper as a nation for its citizens, for those who choose to live there or who were born there”....

He says that he prays a solution to the situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories can be reached without further bloodshed but he believes that such a solution will only came about when Israel either gives up the West Bank and allows “an independent, sovereign Palestinian state” or embraces a one state solution “whereby everyone within Israel and the Occupied Territories has equal rights and the right to vote, the right to education, healthcare and so on”....'

This presumably means that Sizer has reneged on his apparently unequivocal declaration of support for a one-state solution.

And his support for the so-called Palestinian Arab "Right of Return", which would doom Israel's existence in one fell swoop.  I mean, a man of the cloth would hardly be likely to lie, would he?


As for Adams and perhaps the majority of Christians in Australia who are coming under Sizer's current charm offensive, I've a sneaking suspicion that they are unaware of some of our pro-Iran old cobber's excesses.

Like his cosying up to Arafat:

His notorious 9/11 post:

 His vocal support in London for Al Quds Day:

Maybe Olivier Melnick's post here would be a good introductory starting point.

Betsy Childs's post here is a cracker too.

"The Israel Haters Would Never Inconvenience Themselves by a Boycott of Israeli Technology" (video)

An antidote to anti-Israel hate and lies. 

The admirable UK life peer Baroness (Ruth) Deech on all that Israel is doing for the world, and on the squalid BDS movement in the UK.

She ends on an optimistic note.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kpn1qx9S218

(J-TV. The Global Jewish Channel)

David Singer: Trump gets Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrein, UAE and Oman talking

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

He writes:

President Trump has amazingly managed to cut through 100 years of Arab-Jewish antagonism by hosting a conference at the White House on 13 March with representatives from 20 countries  – including Israel and seven Arab states (“Conference”).

Ostensibly called to discuss solutions to the worsening humanitarian and economic conditions in Gaza – this Conference also has very significant ramifications for Trump’s soon-to-be-released proposals to end the 100 years-old Arab-Jewish conflict.

Convened by White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner, Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt, and members of the National Security Council (NSC) staff and the Department of State – the Conference was attended by representatives from the United Nations, the European Union, the Office of the Quartet, and the following countries: Bahrain, Canada, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Qatar, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.

Shamefully the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) claiming to be the sole spokesperson for the Gazan Arabs since 1974 – could not set aside its enmity for Trump to attend this truly-international Conference designed to relieve the hell-hole that Gaza has become since Israel’s unilateral Disengagement in 2005.

PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas could well rue his decision to boycott this Conference following his virulent reaction to Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US Embassy there in May on the occasion of Israel’s 70th anniversary.

The White House Readout makes no bones about where Trump wanted this Conference to go: 

“The Administration of President Donald J. Trump believes that deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza require immediate attention. The situation in Gaza must be solved for humanitarian reasons and for ensuring the security of Egypt and Israel. It is also a necessary step toward reaching a comprehensive peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians, including Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank.” 

The PLO no-show at the White House could see Abbas being excluded from any new negotiations with Israel under Trump’s eagerly-awaited proposals. Trump does not take kindly to such PLO grandstanding. After unsuccessful negotiations between Israel and the PLO spanning the last 25 years – Abbas’s latest Presidential rebuff is the height of arrogance and stupidity.

Trump’s “ultimate deal” could see Israel negotiating with an Arab delegation to replace the PLO – comprising White House attendees Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrein, UAE, and Oman – Arab States that have no diplomatic relations with Israel – but who had the courage to publicly meet with – and talk to – Israel at the Conference.

They would join the other two Arab States that attended the Conference – Egypt and Jordan – who have enjoyed diplomatic relations with Israel since respectively signing peace treaties in 1979 and 1994.

For far too long the PLO has sought to define the 100 years old unresolved Arab-Jewish conflict as one involving only “Palestinians” and “Israelis”  – when no “Israelis” existed until 1948 and no “Palestinians” existed until 1964.

This false PLO narrative has been swallowed hook line and sinker by the United Nations and the European Union. Their on-going support has enabled the PLO to remain sole Arab negotiator with Israel over the last 25 years – with Arab League backing – seeking to create a second Palestinian Arab State - in addition to Jordan – in former Mandatory Palestine.

Trump’s Conference has junked such thinking, shown there are seven other Arab interlocutors ready to negotiate with Israel under American auspices and seen the PLO commit political suicide.
Those who continue to pillory Trump and underestimate his unique skills as an incredible circuit breaker are becoming increasingly irrelevant.

In Oz, Waters Drizzles & Sizer Sizzles

How odd it seems that old friend the ex-vicar of Virginia Water, now CEO of the so-called Peacemaker Mediators outfit, seems so unconcerned about the lack of churches in the land that's exported Wahhabism to the West:

But I digress.  A couple of days after posting the above, and about as long after my post here, Stephen Sizer flew into a rainy Sydney, to the delight of his Aussie counterpart, Father Dave Smith of Holy Trinity Church, Dulwich Hill, seen below at an Australia Palestine Advocacy Network function some time ago.

Incidentally, have you seen aged rocker Roger Waters's outrageous remarks at APAN's recent function, alleging Israel has never wanted peace with the Palestinian Arabs and was always intent on land grabbing?

Warning: the above's 72 minutes long, I'm given to understand.  This first still comes at around 1:30 if you want to see the outrageous bit to which I refer:

Needless to say, APAN is delighted that Sizer has come to Australia.

But again I digress.  Here are the two anti-Israel Anglican clerics all smiles at breakfast on Sizer's first day in town.

And our old friend, a seasoned traveller in spreading the anti-Christian Zionism cause, seems to have wasted little time in meeting people who matter and in attempting to widen a fan base here.

See what I mean?

And

(For Lynn Arnold see here)

I don't think this Sizer fan (below, one of the many evident antisemites among the vicar's Facebook friends) is Aussie, but he's delighted anyway:

Permit me a cynical, ironic smile while I recall that disgusting 9/11 post of Sizer's, and not only it, as so many images I've reproduced over the years indicate:

But we smile at Sizer's "Australian tour" at our peril.  In the anti-Israel propaganda stakes the urbane and softly spoken ex-vicar's a pro.  What he's spreading and who he's influencing during his time in the southern hemisphere should have friends of Israel worried.

David Singer: Israel, Trump and United Nations Should Boycott Abbas and PLO

This is the blog's second post today.

The first (click back to previous post, don't miss it!) foreshadows anti-Israel activist Stephen Sizer's (he's the clean-shaven one, at left) imminent visit Down Under, which I'll be following with interest, and of course concern.

And here's the second, the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

David writes:

Click HERE for details

Israel’s Prime Minister – Benjamin Netanyahu – has used his address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) – to savage the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) policy that rewards Palestinian murderers of Israelis and other innocent civilians with lifetime payments.


Netanyahu’s PLO-onslaught in front of 18000 people attending the annual AIPAC Conference in Washington was unequivocal and unrelenting:

“But to get peace, to get peace President Abbas has to embrace peace and to stop supporting terror. Raise your hands high if you agree with me that President Abbas should stop paying terrorists who murder Jews. You know how much he pays? He pays about $350 million dollars a year to terrorists and their families, each year. That’s about a little less than 10% of the total Palestinian budget. That’s an incredible number. He pays Hakim Awad. Hakim Awad is the terrorist who murdered this beautiful family of Ehud and Ruth Fogel and their three children, including a 3 month-old baby girl, Hadas. So he pays Hakim Awad, this murderer, and over the lifetime of this killer, he will be receiving two million dollars.”

Hakim Awad, aged 18 – and his 19-years-old cousin and accomplice Amjad Awad – each received five consecutive life sentences for murdering the five sleeping Fogel family members in March 2011.


Netanyahu’s attack on Abbas comes at a particularly sensitive time politically as:

· President Trump mulls over the final details of his “ultimate deal” to resolve the Arab-Jewish conflict 

· PLO chief – Mahmoud Abbas – has already signaled he will not enter into negotiations with Israel mediated by Trump 

· Abbas has called on the United Nations to convene an international peace conference by mid-2018 to accept the non-existent “State of Palestine” as a full UN member

 · The US Senate is currently considering the Taylor Force Act – overwhelmingly passed by the House in December 2017  – suspending US financial assistance to the PLO, and any successor or affiliated organizations until these payments are terminated. Taylor Force – a US citizen – was murdered on 8 March 2016 by a Palestinian Arab during a stabbing spree in Tel Aviv that also injured ten other people. 

· Israel’s Knesset has passed the first reading of a bill requiring such blood-money presently being paid to 35000 Palestinian families to be deducted from the US$2.1 billion in taxes and tariffs Israel presently collects for the PLO.

· Abbas - 83 and in poor health – faces challengers to his leadership

Palestinian prisoners serving 20-30 year sentences for these murderous attacks reportedly receive a monthly US$3400 stipend for life.Those receiving a three-to-five-year sentence get a monthly wage of US$570. Palestinian prisoners who are married, have children, live in Jerusalem, or hold Israeli citizenship receive additional payments.

Trump called on Abbas to abandon this immoral and heinous policy during a joint press conference in Bethlehem in May 2017:

“Peace can never take root in an environment where violence is tolerated, funded and even rewarded”

Just one month later Jared Kushner – Trump’s son-in-law and chief Middle East adviser – and Trump’s international negotiator Jason Greenblatt – met with Abbas in Ramallah.

According to reports in Arabic media, the Americans then allegedly watered down Trump’s demands – only wanting these payments stopped to some 600 prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli prisons.

Abbas defiantly rejected that proposal.


Abbas seems to believe he can publicly humiliate Trump and escape the consequences.

Monetary retaliation is a totally inadequate response to the indiscriminate murder of innocent civilians.


Israel, Trump and the United Nations should boycott Abbas and the PLO by terminating all diplomatic contact until their vile and repulsive “murder for money” policy is ended.

Stephen Sizer Goes Down Under

From the man who gave us this, screenshot by yours truly

This:

Yes, our old friend the ex-vicar of Virginia Water, CEO of Peacemaker Mediators, so-called, will come amongst his antipodean faithful at last.

Balmain Uniting Church would appear to be a typical leftist-hijacked Protestant church of which there are many like examples  in the English-speaking world.  The Uniting Church in Australia (an amalgam of Methodists and Presbyerians, but not all Presbyterians) has long been known for its antipathy to Israel.

I'll follow these developments with interest!

You'll notice that enquiries are to be addressed to Father Dave (pictured last year)

of the Anglican Holy Trinity Church in Sydney's Dulwich Hill, who's on record as declaring:

 "Al Quds Day is a day when God brings us together ... an intrinsically religious event"

I've featured him on my blog before, for example here and here

Meanwhile, as the scholar Raymond Ibrahim has observed repeatedly, the plight of Islam-persecuted Christians in the Middle East goes almost totally ignored.

Funny (Funny peculiar not Funny Ha Ha) that innit.

Oh, and speaking of Sizer, see page 56 of David Collier's stupendous research report here (Hat tip: J)

Israel/Palestine: A Swarthmore Education

Ah, left-liberals. Dontcha just, well, quake at their Mary Poppins view of the world?

Perusing the Winter 2018 (sic) issue of The Bulletin, alumni magazine of Swarthmore College, the egghead left-liberal Quaker college in Pennsylvania whose Hillel chapter caused a rumpus a few years ago, my eye fell upon a feature about a member of the class of 2007 who, to quote the item's header,

"wants to change the negative narratives about Muslims that dominate the media."

We read of this (non-Muslim) holder of a doctorate about 18th and 19th century women dramatists:

"As founding executive director of the Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil-rights group in the country, he says the importance of his work has intensified in the last year.

“The stereotypes about Muslims are around violence or lack of belonging,” says [he]. “The more that we can introduce positive stories of people who are serving their country, who are going through the challenges of adolescence, who are struggling to belong in the same way that many other Americans are, the more we are going to impact how Americans of all backgrounds view Muslims.”

In the face of ignorance and hatred, Robbins is motivated by the proactive efforts of advocacy. CAIR’s programs include anti-bullying seminars with teachers, administrators, and parents; meeting with elected officials and getting American Muslims involved in the political process; and responding to speaking requests from the community to learn who Muslims are and what they believe....

[His] team helped organize a protest in Boston’s Copley Square [to which]

“People brought hundreds of these incredibly passionate and moving signs ...Signs about their Jewish identity, or the fact that they were immigrants or refugees or children of immigrants or refugees, or that this was not the world they wanted for their kids.”

I gather these are glimpses into the demo described, replete with pacifists, placards, pussy hats, and islamophiles, ignoring what should be every left-liberal's target for excoriation, the subjugation of women in Islam.  How many adherents or supporters of the so-called highly mischievous Jewish Voice for Peace organisation are among that lot, I dread to think.

Regular readers of my blog will know that I have posted about Swarthmorean ("Swattie") campus liberalism before, in regard to Israel.  Here, for example, where I discussed the influence of alumnus ('06) and academic Sa'ed  Adel Atshan, who's on record as stating:

"It is essential to talk about Israel/Palestine, considering that Israel is the world's largest  recipient of US aid...

I dream of a binational secular democratic state in Israel/Palestine that provides equal rights to all citizens and inhabitants of the Holy Land (Jewish Israelis and Palestinian Christians and Muslims) regardless of ethno-religious affiliation.

 I believe that we can and will realize this within our lifetime."   [Emphasis added]

Since then, through popular demand, he's been made a tenure track member of the teaching staff in the Peace and Conflict Studies Program.

Among the alumna of that program are a pair of young female Jewish progressives whose website contains such propaganda as this:

'.... Human Rights Hummus: Voices of the Holy Land focuses on the personal narratives of those living within Israel and the West Bank. We do not refer to the current situation in Israel/Palestine as a “conflict.” A “conflict” implies two equal sides. Israel, however, enjoys one of the strongest militaries in the world alongside massive funding from the United States, while Palestinians maintain neither statehood nor an army. Furthermore, there is international consensus, including by the UN , that the situation in the Territories is legally characterized as a military occupation. In fact, Israel sustains the longest-standing military occupation in human history. Jewish Voice for Peace describes, “The Israeli Occupation can be understood as a system of military rule under which Palestinians are denied civil, political and economic rights and subjected to systematic discrimination and denial of basic freedom and dignity”. This podcast explores how ongoing occupation affects the everyday lives of Palestinians and Israelis alike, as well as how basic human rights have become one of the key casualties.'

And whose list of resources, singularly imbalanced, may be seen here

Perniciously,  their website also contains this message:

'We at Human Rights Hummus believe in the power of education to change the world. If you are interested in teaching the Occupation in your classroom, do not hesitate to reach out and let us know how we can help. We will post sample lesson plans and syllabi here. Check back or email us for more information.'

Meanwhile, the "education" of Swarthmore's Peace and Conflict Studies students is being supplemented by Siraj, as seen below.  Explained its Facebook page (12 January):

"Swarthmore group had the unique opportunity to visit cultural and historical sites in hebron including the Old City, Glass Factory ,kufiya factory and Ibrahim Mosque."

And at the latter, to hide their shameful female bodies, the modern young misses, obediently shunted behind the males, seem to have happily donned grotesque gowns that made them look like a cross between the Ku Klux Klan and executioners at an auto-da-fé!

That's progressivism for you!