Among the Antisemitic Outrages, An Alleged Jew-Baiter Sends Jews Sends His Love

When Rabbi Y. Y. Jacobson made this very telling video for Chanukah

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

he obviously cannot have known of the very latest of the recent antisemitic outrages in the United States:

Meanwhile, across the Herring Pond in two adjoining leafy suburbs of London, including on a synagogue (see report and further photos here):

Above: How the BBC described the daubing; Sizer please note

I wonder what the Reverend Dr Stephen Sizer (the now ex-vicar of leafy Virginia Water in Surrey) who tweeted this

makes of the fact that the calumny represented (which seems to have begun with the American Far Right but which, sadly, also featured in a book of his, published in 2004 by the Inter Varsity Press) thinks of those developments in London this Chanukah.

As CEO of the so-called Peacemakers Trust, Sizer's still blazing away with his Israel-hatred

(Don't blame Israel for the plight of Gaza's Christians, vicar. Blame Hamas. For starters, see here)

Warning: sick bucket alert.

In the meantime, this old political rogue has the gall to send Jews his love!

Islamophobia? Not on Our Watch, insist the UK's Trembling Israelites

It seems hard to believe (actually, perhaps it doesn't, given today's onslaught on the Judeo-Christian tradition and the consequent neglect in schools of scriptural teaching) that people actually grew up thinking that Islam preceded Judaism and Christianity, but some viewers of this video are claiming just that!

It seems hard to believe, given the zeal with which the Left attacks male sexists of the Western kind, that they, with honorable exceptions, turns a blind eye to such excrescences as these, committed by Muslim men against non-Muslim females.

It seems especially hard to believe that in Britain Jewish leaders, with honorable exceptions, are so lily-livered that they are prepared to undermine one of the most courageous, astute and perspicacious of Jewish commentators on the current scene, namely that wonderful lady Melanie Phillips, in their anxiety not to transgress political correctness.

Cerebral British blogger Edgar Davidson pulls no punches in his indictment of such cravenness.  He calls Jewish Chronicle [JC] editor Stephen Pollard "an idiot", for instance, and thunders inter alia:

'Pollard is part of the elitist clique who think they know what’s best for British Jews (and he’s by no means the worst). We have seen with the recent decision by the Jewish 'leadership'  to demonize and silence Colonel Richard Kemp and Melanie Phillips (see articles by Jonathan Hoffman and David Collier about this), that they will not tolerate anybody who dares raise concerns about Islamic antisemitism and terrorism.

They have bought into the whole "Islamophobia" narrative in an attempt to appease people like Baroness Warsi (who claims to oppose antisemitism while being a vicious enemy of the Jewish state, whipping up antisemitic hatred of it among British Muslims).

 What started with the demonization of Tommy Robinson, Geert Wilders, Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer (all true friends of Israel and the Jewish people) and then Katie Hopkins and Douglas Murray, was never going to end with just them. Now they seek to silence anybody on the 'right' of politics who raises these concerns and even accuse anybody who supports them of being 'racists'.  So, while many of the Jewish community's best friends are shunned by the Jewish leadership, that same leadership is happy to work with (and even invite to communal events): Israel-hating agitators like Warsi, antisemitic anti-Israel leftist Muslims like Naz Shah, and any number of left-wing politicians and activists who supported both Corbyn and the boycott campaign against Israel.

The Board of Deputies, The Jewish Leadership Council, CST [Community Security Trust], the JC and even recently the CAA [Campaign Against Antisemitism] are all complicit in the "Islamophobia" narrative. They are failing Britan's Jews.'  [Emphasis added]

It might be added that realists in Australia who tell things as they are (members of the Australian Jewish Association, for example, and distinguished scholars of Islam like the Anglican clergyman Rev. Mark Durie) are also vilified as "Islamophobes" by Jewish "leaders" who should know better.

With regard to Melanie Phillips (see her article here), a thread recently appeared on Twitter, in response to this cri-de-coeur by a Scottish convert revert to Islam, "journalist" (check out the grammar!) Alex Tiffin:

Despite (or perhaps because of) British Jews' well-founded fear of the antisemitism of the hard left exemplified by Corbyn and his henchmen and henchwomen of the hard left, Tiffin attracted such replies as these:

Oh!

I almost forgot to mention that Mr Tiffin is none other than a would-be Labour MP, who caused a kerfuffle north of the Border with threats of violence against infidels a few years ago.

Nor have I yet mentioned that one of the posts above was written by someone who apparently joined in the fun and games when (years ago, on an online forum) a toxic Israel-hater abused me so viciously and in such a defamatory, antisemitic and threatening  manner, posting my contact details on pro-Arab sites, and so on,  that the dear old UK police promised to get on the case, only to botch the entire exercise, doing nothing at all, despite knowing the abuser's identity and exact whereabouts and being provided with a copious amount of screenshots that would have comfortably allowed a prosecution (the Mr Plods sat on these until the expiration of the time period in which such evidence could validly be presented in court!) 

Funny old world innit.

Light Over Darkness: Hope Raised at Chanukah

Kol HaKavod to the UAE's Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed. Happy Chanukah to my Jewish readers, and Merry Christmas to my Christian ones.

A peaceful and prosperous 2020 to all.

A tweet yesterday by that great guy Hillel Neuer, of the admirable hypocrisy-exposing UN Watch:

For Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed and others like him, all praise.

Light over darkness indeed.

BBC Bias: Where is the Board of Deputies?

Al Beeb's wonky alibi: that both sides accuse them of bias

'The BBC openly admits it is a leftist monoculture where right leaning thought is unwelcome (and unlikely to be hired). Driven by a passion for “woke” social engineering, it has lost most of its credibility hard won over many decades. I disagree strongly with being legally forced to pay for its monstrous overpaid bureaucracy and unwanted propaganda. Let it fund itself from the market and if it fails, it is no loss. It has ceased to be a credible voice for the UK and its programming has moved from exemplary to dire in a generation.'

So states, and it's spot-on, one of the numerous respondents to an apologia for the BBC written recently on Linked In by BBC newsreader and presenter Huw Edwards. 

To quote Craig, who co-runs that splendid site, Is the BBC Biased?:

'All I'll say about it in advance is:

- that Huw obviously isn't a happy bunny.

- that in Paragraph 1 Huw puts on his tin foil hat and pushes a conspiracy theory that most criticisms of the BBC over bias are part of some malign attempt to "cause chaos and confusion" and "undermine trust in institutions" rather than being manifestations of genuine anger by large numbers of licence-fee-paying (and non-licence-fee-paying) individuals. He sounds slightly hysterical and silly, don't you think?

- that Huw's tone of chippy complacency might not be the best way of winning the argument.

- that Huw seems oblivious to the point that it's actually groupthink arising from the BBC's narrow recruitment processes which is the main problem (similar backgrounds, similar outlooks); indeed, he maintains the remarkable proposition that the BBC consists  "of all backgrounds...and outlooks", which is demonstrably untrue.

- that the 'complaints from both/all sides' argument doesn't hold water, never mind how many times it's repeated by BBC supporters. Some sides may be right, others not.

- that the BBC's rage against "the social media age" is becoming ever more strident.'

There are many reasons to despise the BBC's news and current affairs output: its disgraceful flouting of its Charter and its Producers' Guidelines, which obligate it to be impartial and objective in its reportage and commentary; its smun self-congratulatory assumption that it provides the best in journalism (despite frequent lapses nowadays into dodgy grammar like the one seen in this screenshot: even not-so-young Beeboids seem to have dispensed with correct plurals); its growing obsession with jumping on anti-white and anti-male bandwagons in its choice of "news" items; its reflection of Guardianista-type concerns in its online pages; its choice of the leftist Guardian, alone of newspapers, as a vehicle in which to advertise job vacancies; its frequent anti-Israel slant.

One of the respondents to Huw Edwards' rant is none other than fellow Beeboid David Waddell, who echoes an old but discredited BBC standby:

In the lead up to Christmas, the BBC, its in-house tolerance for its own overt anti-Israel bias originating with pro-CAABU presenter Keith Kyle back in the 1960s as I show here,  has been indulging its devious habit of cramming its Yuletide content full of brazenly biased stories concerning Israel and the Palestinian Arabs Palestinians.

Some of these articles are gratuitous pieces of planted anti-Israel propaganda thinly disguised as objective news reports; others are ostensibly newsworthy items too aggressively pimped and too abundantly laced with anti-Israel propaganda to smack of objective reportage.

We haven't yet, as far as I'm aware, had a repeat of Al Beeb's much-hyped stories about Palestinian shepherds and wise men (that it has in the past had a habit of carrying along with The Guardian, no coincidence apparent).

But, that may be to come, and very shortly. 

Meanwhile, for instance, on BBC Newsround, aimed at youthful audiences, we've recently had this arboreal extravaganza, in which no less than three Palestinian Christmas trees (in Bethlehem, in Gaza, and in Ramallah) were given starring roles in a post that featured a total of just seven "around the world".  Another of the BBC's features aiming to turn youngsters against Israel, of course.

Both BBCWatch (see its post here, in the aftermath of its original, after which Al Beeb increased the total number of trees from seven to eleven!)  and David Collier highlighted that grotesque piece, most ably.

And then there was this, Barbara Plett Usher's report from a Christian Palestinian village, the supposed sanctuary of St Barbara, which as well as making a dishonestly phrased swipe at Israel happily glossed over the reasons for the diminution of the Christian minority in region; BBCWatch has the report's measure here and concludes:

'it is interesting to see that Barbara Plett Usher chose to highlight that vague and context-free story from over seventeen years ago in what was billed as a report about a Christian feast day while ignoring the fact that a church in the same village was vandalised just months ago.'

(As Barbara Plett, Usher, whose late husband Graham was an anti-Israel journalist-activist, notoriously cried for the old rogue Arafat when he was on his deathbed, of course.)

The BBC's penchant for liaising with the leftist Israel-bashing group B'Tselem for stories and for opinions regarding developments in Israel can be seen in this beat-up.

And now we have this:

'A manger scene by British artist Banksy has appeared at a hotel in Bethlehem in the West Bank.

Dubbed the "Scar of Bethlehem", the work shows Jesus's manger by Israel's separation barrier, which appears to have been pierced by a blast, creating the shape of a star.

On Instagram, the artist said the work was a "modified Nativity".

Israel says the barrier is needed to prevent terror attacks. Palestinians say it is a device to grab land.

The International Court of Justice has called it illegal.

Banksy's work is in Bethlehem's Walled Off hotel, which is itself a collaboration between the hotel's owners and the artist.

Hotel manager Wissam Salsaa said Banksy had used the Christmas story to show how Palestinians in the West Bank were living.

"It is a great way to bring up the story of Bethlehem, the Christmas story, in a different way - to make people think more," he said....'

BBCWatch does yeoman service in exposing the arrogant Corporation's frequent antipathy towards the unbiased truth regarding the Israel-Arab conflict.  But what of the official communal leadership of British Jewry?

Where, one wonders, is the Board of Deputies of British Jews in all of this?  Do they protest BBC bias as strenuously as they should? Or are they content to see public opinion influenced by Israel's foes? 

It is not pro-Israel bias that critics of the BBC's Middle East coverage seek.  It is scrupulous objectivity that they expect on the part of the licence-funded national broadcaster.

David Singer: Israel Now Needs Miracle to Set Secure and Recognized Boundaries

Internet troubles due to the installment  of the Land of Oz's National Broadband Network forced me to cool my heels for a week.  But now, with no further ado, here is the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

History will not kindly recall Israel’s power-hungry politicians who have forced a third election within twelve months on Israeli voters at a direct cost of another US$135 million.

The politicians’ inability to form a Government of National Unity is derelict – especially after Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin entreated them to do so.

The Jewish calendar is replete with both happy and sad times in the history of the Jewish people spanning thousands of years – faithfully remembered on each anniversary.

The period between 18 November 2019 and 11 December 2019 – which I call The Time of Missed Opportunity – could qualify for inclusion in that calendar.

18 November marks the day US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that the US did not regard Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) as being inconsistent with international law.

11 December marks the last day a Government of National Unity could have been formed to finally set Israel’s secure and recognized boundaries under Security Council Resolution 242 – within which the Jewish people would reconstitute the Jewish National Home 100 years after the San Remo Convention laid the groundwork on 25 April 1920.

Israel and the Jewish World have been divided as to where those boundaries should be – particularly since Judea and Samaria (the disputed territories) were conquered by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War enabling Jews to return and live there after having been expelled and driven out in 1948 by six invading Arab armies.

Israelis espouse views ranging from extending Israeli sovereignty to all the disputed territories to sovereignty over none. Compromise somewhere in between could have possibly been found with a Government of National Unity making consensus decisions acceptable to the overwhelming majority of Israel’s population.

Two deadlocked Israeli elections in April and September 2019 have exposed a very disturbing political rift among Israeli voters as Israel confronts its Arab neighbours who seek to destroy it – and its international enemies at the United Nations who seek to deny that Jews have any legal right to live in the disputed territories guaranteed by article 6 of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine and article 80 of the United Nations Charter.

This Jewish divisiveness has a bitter parallel in Jewish history – the Bible recounting that on the succession of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, around 930 BCE, the land of Israel split into two kingdoms: the Kingdom of Israel (including the cities of Nablus and Samaria) in the north and the Kingdom of Judah (containing Jerusalem) in the south. These kingdoms remained separate states for over two hundred years.

Yuval Diskin – Israel’s former internal security chief – warned in 2015 that this could happen again:

“The two-state solution is becoming true for the Jews: The State of Judea is being built de facto side by side with the State of Israel. These are two nations whose differences are eclipsing their commonalities, a condition that is growing irreversible.
The State of Judea has different standards, different approaches to democracy, and it has two justice systems, one for Jews (Israeli law) and the other for Palestinians (martial law). Whether we want it or not, these two justice systems have divergent measures to adjudicate identical offences”.

Israel’s politicians – in rejecting a Government of National Unity and opting for a third election – have not acted in the national interest. They have chosen to continue political division and pursue personal ambition to achieve political power – rather than seeking national unity.

A third deadlocked election is the miracle and opportunity Israel needs to enable a Government of National Unity to set Israel’s boundaries.

 Author’s note: The 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. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog.

David Singer: Trump, Netanyahu and Gantz Can End in 2020 What Began in 1920

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

He writes:

Designating the territory for reconstitution of the Jewish National Home in Palestine – begun with the San Remo Convention and Treaty of Sevres in April and August 1920 respectively – could finally be completed 100 years later in 2020.

Achieving this long-overdue outcome will require Israel to forma Government of National Unity by 11 December 2019 – headed initially by Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister for a minimum term of six months  – enabling the new Parliament to ratify those areas of Judea and Samaria to which Israeli sovereignty will be extended as delineated by the Government.

This Unity Government should ideally hold at least 80 of the 120 seats in the Knesset so that there is an overwhelming majority of Israel’s elected politicians supporting any determinative decisions made by the Knesset in relation to Judea and Samaria.

Israel has been presented with this amazing opportunity following President Trump’s Secretary for State – Mike Pompeo – issuing this declaration on 19 November 2019:

“After carefully studying all sides of the legal debate, this administration agrees with President Reagan. The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law.”

Pompeo’s statement followed US Ambassador to Israel – David Friedman – stating on 8 June 2019:

“Under certain circumstances I think Israel has the right to retain some, but unlikely all, of the West Bank.”

Friedman had then cautioned:

“We really don’t have a view until we understand how much, on what terms, why does it make sense, why is it good for Israel, why is it good for the region, why does it not create more problems than it solves.These are all things that we’d want to understand, and I don’t want to prejudge.”

Friedman  will get the  answers with the formation of Israel’s Government of National Unity – which hangs delicately by a thread and can vanish into thin air if it does not gain some oxygen by midnight on 11 December.

Fresh  elections  on  3  March 2020  – for  the  third time  in  a year – will then become mandatory and this wonderful opportunity will have flown out the window.

It would be a national disgrace and betrayal of Israelis and Jews worldwide if Israel’s political parties allowed their political differences and personal rivalries  to stymie the opportunity to determine the area within which the reconstitution of the Jewish National Home will be mandated after 100 years of fighting many wars and diplomatic battles.

Israel’s extended boundaries would be determined in coordination with President Trump and ratified over the next six months.

The fact that no Arab interlocutors will participate in any such decision-making process is regrettable.

However continuing Arab intransigence in refusing to commit to negotiate with Israel on Trump’s still unreleased deal  of  the  century – despite Trump’s best efforts to involve their participation in such decision-making with Israel – leaves Trump with no other option.

A Unity Government could be  reasonably  expected to agree to  extend Israel’s sovereignty  to  about 75% of Area C – about 45% of Judea and Samaria.

Gantz reportedly told close associates he is: 

“ready to make tough decisions in the coming days”.

 Hopefully Gantz as Deputy Prime Minister can rise to the occasion and allow Netanyahu – enjoying a unique  relationship  with  Trump – to  head  a  Government  of  National  Unity  to  grab  this once in  a hundred years opportunity.

An unprecedented – almost miraculous -confluence of events has emerged since Israel’s second-deadlocked September elections – that cries out for a national consensus and historic response by Trump, Netanyahu and Gantz.

Seize the moment – seize the day....

Author’s note:The 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.  His  cartoons  can  be  viewed at Drybonesblog.

At London Anti-Antisemitism Rally, a Super Hero Steals the Show (video)

An open air rally under the auspices of the Campaign Against Antisemitism has been held in Westminster near the Houses of Parliament.

The message was an honourable although distinctly anodyne one: "Together Against Antisemitism".

That great friend of Jews and Israel, Colonel Richard Kemp, had been due to speak but was declared persona non grata owing to last minute concerns that his "Islamophobic" would not reflect well on the event.   (Let's hope that this gutless development will not set a precedent.)

In Kemp's absence the star of the event was expected to be actress Tracey Ann Oberman.  But she was upstaged by a guy in a green cap.

You see, she, like the organisers, was evidently unhappy with the"politicisation" of the event by attendees holding anti-Corbyn placards.

At the organisers' request, person after person can be seen on this video meekly putting away their signs.

But the guy wearing the green cap, was, as usual, made of sterner stuff.

The "Racist Corbyn Unfit to Be PM" sign remained proudly aloft in his grasp, to the consternation of the organisers and Miss Oberman, until he was knocked about a bit.

Watch the contretemps unfold, as the guy in the green hat refuses to yield his placard ...

He is, of course,  that Zionist activist whose courage and tenacity have made him a legend on his own time, super hero Jonathan Hoffman, that's who!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QFJrWJVxjo

From Bethlehem, A Wanderer Returns

On a few-holds-barred Zionist blog, a trenchant look at recent anti-Israel bleatings of blogger Robert Cohen.  Married to an Anglican vicar, he's a favourite with certain Israel-bashing as-a-Jew Christians (should that, perhaps, be Christian as-a-Jews?) such as a certain woman who is a lay reader at her local church on Wales, and he's a favourite, too, of churchy campaigners against Christian Zionism like Jeremy Moodey and Stephen Sizer.

And now he's no longer the vicar of Virginia Water but the CEO of the so-called Peacemakers Trust, the latter (an old mate of ours, since we were the blog that broke his heinous 9/11 Facebook post) is, it seems, as peritatetic as ever in his support of Iran and derision of Israel.

No wonder he stays so slim.

Here he is (above) in the last day or so with Elias D'eis, project manager of the so-called Holy Land Trust.

That's the same Holy Land Trust (HLT), founded and directed by US-born Sami Awad, that avowedly

“Through a commitment to the principles of nonviolence ... seeks to develop spiritual, pragmatic, and strategic approaches that will empower the Palestinian community to resist all forms of oppression, and engage this same community in making the Holy Land be what it is supposed to be: a global model and pillar of understanding, respect, justice, equality and peaceful coexistence.”

Sani Awad, NGO Monitor tells us, has stated that non-violent demonstrations are  

“not a substitute for the armed struggle”. Awad has also minimized Israel’s legitimate security needs as a “manipulation” of the fear of another Holocaust. In a speech given at the “Christ at the Checkpoint” Conference in 2010, Awad stated that “the [Israeli] soldier now, who’s gone through that trauma experience [of visiting Auschwitz] now is trained in this weaponry all of a sudden is also put at a checkpoint inside the West Bank, between Palestinian areas.”In 2013, Sami Awad published demonizing rhetoric in Amos Trust’s Bethlehem Packet stating “No matter where you stand in Bethlehem, you can see the effects of the cold grip of this brutal and humiliating occupation.” 

 Moreover,  HLT, we're told, inter alia,

"Conducts highly politicized tours of Israel and the West Bank promoting the Palestinian narrative and targeting church leaders and the international community, claiming to provide “cross cultural and experimental learning opportunities in both Palestine and Israel.” Suggests that its participants “limit information” given to Israeli airport security and hide the reason for their visits.....

Supports anti-Israel BDS (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions), including signing a petition in May 2005 calling for the academic boycott of Israel.

 [Is] Signatory to the 2005 “Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS,” which calls for an end to Israel’s “occupation and colonization of all Arab lands” and promotes a right of “Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties.”

Accuses Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and signed an “Urgent call to action” during the 2014 Gaza conflict accusing Egypt of “complicity in Israel’s genocide of the people of Gaza.”...

 In 2011, HLT produced a film called “Little Town of Bethlehem,” a 77-minute documentary that tells the story “of three men of three different faiths and their lives in Israel and Palestine. The story explores each man’s choice of nonviolent action amidst a culture of overwhelming violence.” Using a façade of multiple viewpoints, however, the film actually presents a single narrative of Palestinian victimization and Israeli violence.

 In 2013, HLT sponsored a festival in London called “Bethlehem Unwrapped,” featuring “a comedy show called “Stand Up Against the Wall,” a “Bethlehem Christmas dinner,” and a debate titled “Both sides of the Barrier – Separation or Security?” that featured Jeff Halper, founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.”

 The main purpose of the barrier — to protect Israelis from suicide bombings — was erased. The festival was co-sponsored by charities that have exploited the language of morality and human rights to attack Israel for many years, including Amos Trust, Interpal, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)-UK, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, and War on Want...."

In June 2017, was a signatory to an “Open Letter” from the National Coalition of Christian Organizations in Palestine to the World Council of Churches that accuses Israel of “Discrimination and inequality, military occupation and systematic oppression.” The letter calls upon the WCC to “recognize Israel as an apartheid state,” and “unequivocally condemn the Balfour declaration as unjust, and that you demand from the UK that it asks forgiveness from the Palestinian people and compensates for the losses.” The letter also defends “our right and duty to resist the occupation creatively and nonviolently,” through “economic measures that pressure Israel to stop the occupation…in response to Israel’s war on BDS. We ask that you intensity those measures.”

HLT also supports the Kairos Palestine document.

The Kairos Palestine document calls for BDS against Israel, denies the Jewish historical connection to Israel in theological terms, and blames Israel solely for the continuation of the conflict. It also characterizes terrorist acts of “armed resistance” as “Palestinian legal resistance.”

 Its purpose is to rally churches globally to support BDS, delegitimization, and demonization directed at the State of Israel....."

 HLT partners with Amos Trust and a number of other highly politicised Israel-demonising groups including, inevitably, Sizer's Peacemakers outfit.

That Sizer has returned from Bethlehem as zealous as ever to continue the mission of weakening support for Israel within Evangelical ranks is indicated not just by that big smile under the Christmas tree but by his newly posted video here

Meanwhile:

David Singer: Trump Ends Arab Preoccupation with Occupation in Judea and Samaria

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

He writes:

President Trump’s decision to recognise the right of Jews to live in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) ends a long-running Arab political campaign accompanied by murderous terrorist attacks to drive the Jews out under the Arab mantra – “End the Occupation”. 

This mantra had become the Arabs’ rallying cry over the last 53 years as they sought to assert sovereignty over every square meter of this hotly-disputed territory.

These three little words managed to turn Israel’s miraculous victory in the 1967 Six Day War in Judea and Samaria – that saw the Jewish People’s triumphal return to the heart of the biblical and ancestral land of its forefathers - as something to be reviled and reversed.

Those mouthing the mantra did not seek to have the “occupation”ended in favour of Jordan - the previous Arab occupier between1948 and 1967.

Rather they were insisting it all be given to another group – the “Palestinians” –   who did not exist:

• In1922 – when the League of Nations created the Mandate for Palestine•In1937 -when the Peel Commission issued its Report

• In 1947 -when the United Nations recommended the partition of western Palestine into an Arab State and a Jewish State

• Between 1948-1964 – when Judea and Samaria had been ethnically cleansed of every single Jew who had been living there prior to 1948 

 The “Palestinians”only first saw the light of day in 1964 when the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Charter was promulgated and Article 1 declared:

Palestine is the homeland of the Arab Palestinian people; it is an indivisible part of the Arab homeland, and the Palestinian people are an integral part of the Arab nation.

 In 2019 the PLO’s legitimacy to rule the “Palestinians”is being challenged by Hamas.Reconciliation between these two competing power seekers is still not in prospect after 13 years of bitter internecine conflict – nor are elections anywhere in sight.

Jordan now sits on the sideline having abandoned any claim to Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) in
1988. Jordan shows no interest in attempting to try and restore – as far as is now possible – the status quo existing in these areas Jordan ruled on 4 June 1967.

President Trump is waiting patiently in the wings ready to release his “deal of the century”when Israel’s next Government is eventually formed.

It is surely time for a new mantra – “Right the Wrongs” – to enter into the lexicon of international diplomacy in the Middle East – to replace the racist and apartheid “end the occupation”.

The wrongs are the failure of the United Nations to acknowledge that:

• the provisions of Article 80 of the United Nations Charter reserve to the Jewish people the right to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in Judea and Samaria in accordance with the provisions laid down in article 6 of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine

• Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 remain the only internationally accepted bases for resolving the conflict in former Palestine. 

The United Nations' failure to insist on these binding tenets of international law being universally acknowledged has proved to be a major stumbling block in resolving the Jewish-Arab conflict.

Bowing to extreme pressure from the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference -the United Nations has succumbed to a myriad of General Assembly resolutions that have buried these pillars of international law.

The sooner they again become the foundations for peace - the sooner some sanity will return to the Middle East.Trump’s decisiveness has amazingly ended 53 wasted years of Arab preoccupation with occupation.

Author’s note:The 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. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog

A Month to Remember: Corbynism's Shameless Shame

On 1 December the London Jewish Chronicle reminded us of the results of a poll taken before this month's British General Election was called:

'Antisemitism on the far-left has "overtaken" antisemitism on the far-right according to new research. According to YouGov polling commissioned by Campaign Against Antisemitism and analysed by King's College London Jeremy Corbyn is the most popular leader for anti-Jewish racists. 

Sixty seven per cent of British adults who expressed strong support for Mr Corbyn hold at least one antisemitic view, while 33 per cent hold four or more antisemitic views ... [Emphasis added]

Researchers asked 2,040 people about antisemitism using a range of examples incorporated in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Antisemitism.Questions not only included stereotypes regarding Jewish influence, money, loyalty, trustworthiness and power, but also about ideas regarding the supposedly outsized and malign influence of Israel and its supporters, and drawing comparisons of Israeli policy to that of the Nazis. 

Results showed that  20 per cent of British people hold the view that "Jews chase after money," and when the same question was asked of a sample that identified as ‘very right- wing’ this rose to 29 per cent.

Researchers found that out of those surveyed who described themselves as ‘very left-wing,’ 42 per cent believe that Israel’s supporters are damaging British democracy, and 60 per cent believe that Israel treats the Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews....'

Read more here

And what a month for antisemitism last month alone has been.  Gathered by estimable University of Aberystwyth international relations academic Dr James Vaughan, and reproduced here from his tweets, here's a sample of villainous old Jezza's headlines from last month:

From the same source, and the same month, these examples of the British Left's shamelessly shameful sentiments:

From another tweeter with an eagle eye for leftist malevolence:

Moreover:

And this excrescence.

Little wonder that the admirable Anglo-Jewish actress and writer Maureen Lipman, a staunch and outspoken defender of Israel, has spoofingly reprised the role that years ago made her famous (Beattie, in a series of commercials for British Telecom), picking up the phone to tell friend Nora why after a lifetime on the Left she won't be voting Labour this time around!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fttknbIFiR4

The Not So Divine Miss M

British actress (I suppose it's poltically correct to say "actor") Miriam Margolyes, who has been an Australian citizen for some years (the photo shows her receiving her naturalisation certificate from no less a personage than them prime minister Julia Gillard), is an inveterate Israel hater, who can usually be relied upon to sign leftist "as a Jew" statements vilifying Israel.  This, for instance.

She is consequently a darling of the anti-Israel media including the supposed-to-be impartial taxpayer funded ABC, which as Herald-Sun columnist Rita Panahi showed brilliantly in an article this very day (behind a paywall, I'm afraid) is now more blatantly than ever  the home of leftist activism posing as journalism, a place that's nor merely a conservative-free zone but, increasingly, a centrist-free one as well.

In March 2015 Margolyes, a panellist on the ABC's Q&A program (the ABC's version of the BBC's Question Time) scapegoated Israel for antisemitism.

As former federal MP Michael Danby, observed in 2015,:

"I think it is appalling that the ABC had on its Q&A program the execrable woman Margolyes, who, of all the actors in Australia, had to be brought on to Q&A to comment on international affairs.

She who said, quite disgracefully on this program on Monday, that antisemitism is quite understandable.

It is not understandable in any circumstances.The death of those people [in Paris and Copenhagen] is not justifiable, Ms Margolyes.

You are a disgrace, and the ABC is a disgrace for putting you on..."

The latest way in which unapologetic Corbynista Margolyes has broken ranks with mainstream majority Jewish opinion is her endorsement of this despocable slur on Chief Rabbi Mirvis, who of course has, not before time, issued a statement deploring the effect of Labour Party antisemitism upon British Jews:

Pretty shameful, eh?

David Singer: Knifing Netanyahu Could Sink Release of Trump Peace Plan

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

He writes:

From most reports, Israel’s Prime Minister – Benjamin Netanyahu – will soon be finished politically – forced to resign as Israel’s longest serving Prime Minister to defend three indictments levelled against him by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit.

The first indictment involves bribery, fraud and breach of trust in Case 4000 – the Bezeq-Walla Affair; the second-fraud and breach of trust in Case 1000 – the Illegal Gifts Affair; and the third for fraud and breach of trust in Case 2000 – the Yediot Ahronot-Israel Hayom Affair.

One consequence of Netanyahu’s exit from politics – if it does happen – could see President Trump having second thoughts about releasing his long-awaited and eagerly-anticipated deal of the century to end the 100 years old Arab-Jewish conflict (deal) – which Trump had already promised to release after Israel’s next Government is formed.

A government without Netanyahu at the helm would pose a serious problem for Trump – who has forged a unique relationship of respect and mutual trust with Netanyahu that no other Israeli politician enjoys.

Trump is not in the business of seeing anything he proposes fail – especially this deal. Trump does not want to join former Presidents Reagan, Carter, Clinton, Bush and Obama – whose well-intentioned proposals to resolve the long-running Arab-Jewish conflict have ended up in the garbage bin of history.

Trump has carefully crafted the drip release of his deal over the last two years – possibly in close consultation with Netanyahu – to give Israel the best hope it has ever had of finally reaching
agreement with purposeful Arab negotiators. Trump’s failure so far to find such Arab negotiators has been a major factor in delaying the deal’s release.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) has made it abundantly clear that it will not negotiate with Israel on Trump’s deal under any circumstances.

Egypt and Jordan – the only two Arab states to have signed peace treaties with Israel in 1979 and 1994 – and the last two Arab States to have occupied Gaza and Judea and Samaria between 1948 and 1967 – still seem to be bucking at announcing their readiness to negotiate with Israel on Trump’s deal.

Trump will seemingly not release the final details of his deal unless he first receives Arab assurances to bona fide negotiate with Israel in translating those details into binding commitments to end the long-running conflict.

Trump will not release his deal only to find it is dead in the water because no Arab negotiators will sit down with Israel.

Trump is interested in winning – not losing before he even jumps out of the starting gate.

Trump will need to now be satisfied that any new Israeli Prime Minister possesses the same views as Netanyahu on the issuesTrump has already identified as integral elements of his deal:

• extending Israeli sovereignty toJewish towns and villages in Judea and Samaria,

• declaring Jerusalem to be Israel’s eternal capital

• recognising Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights

Trump will now also need to be assured that any new Israeli Prime Minister will not call on Trump to renew America’s payments to UNRWA and UNESCO, to reopen the PLO Embassy in Washington or resume funding to the PLO.

Netanyahu’s uncertain political future and the absence of Arab negotiators ready to stand up and be counted – could see Trump’s deal being put on the political back burner until Trump’s bid for re-election for another four years is known on 3 November 2020.

Knifing Netanyahu introduces yet another wild card that could sink the release of Trump’s deal – leavingthe failed leadership of the PLO cheering and heaving huge sighs of relief.

Author’s note:The cartoon —commissioned exclusively for this article —is by Yaakov Kirschenaka “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. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog

Storytelling on the Southbank

Old Father Thames keeps rolling along as a group of indoctrinated Israel haters) recite drone, on behalf of the Muslim-led Inminds group, fantastic tales about the IDF  and Palestinian Arab "children".

An Alex Seymour/Seymour Alexander video.

Corbynistas to a man and woman, I betcha.

 Meanwhile, if you have a spare 80 minutes, listen to Islam expert Dr Andrew Bostom:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_JRTxw0DFY&feature

David Singer: Israel, Jordan and Egypt Must Hop on Trump Bandwagon to Peace

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

He writes:

President Trump has now delivered the missing piece in his plan to end the 100 years old Jewish-Arab conflict – providing the incentive necessary for Israel’s warring political parties to bury their hatchets and form a new Israeli Government within the next 21 days.

This unique opportunity for peace trumps the domestic differences that have prevented Israel’s political parties forming that new Government following the elections in April and September 2019.

Trump has been progressively signposting his roadmap for the last two years:

• Moving the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

 • Declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel

• Closing down the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Offices in Washington

 • Withdrawing American funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)

• Giving a substantial aid package to Jordan

 • Recognising Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights

• Having Bahrain host the "Peace to Prosperity"workshop to discuss the economic part of Trump’s "deal of the century"

• Flagging Israel’s right to retain at least some  but – “unlikely all” – of the West Bank,.

 Now Trump has made the end goal of his “deal of the century” very clear with the following statement issued by Secretary of  State Mike Pompeo:

“Turning now to Israel, the Trump administration is reversing the Obama administration’s approach towards Israeli settlements.

US public statements on settlement activities in the West Bank have been inconsistent over decades. In 1978, the Carter administration categorically concluded that Israel’s establishment of civilian settlements was inconsistent with international law. However, in 1981, President Reagan disagreed with that conclusion and stated that he didn’t believe that the settlements were inherently illegal. 

Subsequent administrations recognized that unrestrained settlement activity could be an obstacle to peace, but they wisely and prudently recognized that dwelling on legal positions didn’t advance peace. However, in December 2016, at the very end of the previous administration, Secretary Kerry changed decades of this careful, bipartisan approach by publicly reaffirming the supposed illegality of settlements. 

After carefully studying all sides of the legal debate, this administration agrees with President Reagan. The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law.”

The right of Jews to live in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) for the purposes of reconstituting the Jewish National Home there has been enshrined in international law under article 6 of the 1922 Mandate for Palestine and article 80 of the 1945 United Nations Charter.

The United Nations, the European Union and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation have denied the legitimacy of these Jewish claims – emboldening the Arabs to claim 100% of these territories. Pompeo’s statement has quashed the Arabs’ claims.

One roadblock still remaining requires Trump to identify the Arab interlocutors prepared to stand up and negotiate with Israel on Trump’s plan. Pompeo has given the PLO one last opportunity to join the negotiations with Israel.

“The  United  States  encourages  the  Israelis  and  the  Palestinians  to  resolve  the  status  of Israeli settlements in the West Bank in any final status negotiations.”

The PLO had already unequivocally refused to negotiate on Trump’s plan – and will continue to do so.Trump should focus on Jordan and Egypt -the last two Arab States to have occupied Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza respectively between 1948 and 1967 – to fill the void.

Israel needs  a new  Government  within the  next  21  days  or  face  another  expensive  and debilitating election  in  March  2020 – just  as  Trump  is  bidding  for  re-election - when  he  might  consider  it inopportune to release his plan.

Israel, Jordan and Egypt must hop on the Trump bandwagon now.

Author’s note:The  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. His  cartoons can be  viewed at Drybonesblog

David Singer: European Union Bites Off More Than it Can Chew in Judea and Samaria

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

He writes:

France has set in train a diplomatic and politically-motivated semantic assault on Israel that could ultimately see the European Union biting off more than it can chew.

A press release noted that the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg on 12 November had found in favour of France’s determined effort to protect unwitting French consumers being possibly misled when they buy cheese, wine or other produce sold by Jews originating in Judea and Samaria:

“... the Grand Chamber of the Court ruled that foodstuffs originating in territories occupied by  the  State  of  Israel  must  bear  the  indication  of  their  territory  of  origin,  accompanied, where those foodstuffs come from a locality or a group of localities  constituting an Israeli settlement within that territory, by the indication of that provenance.”

This decision lays down stringent labelling requirements for Jewish producers in Judea and Samaria to ensure their products were kosher enough to be sold into the European Union.

The sham that this would prevent consumers from believing such products were “Made in Israel” took on a far more  sinister political resonance asthe press release continued:

“as regards the issue whether the indication ‘Israeli settlement’ is mandatory, the Court first of all underlined that the settlements established in some of the territories occupied by the State of Israel are characterised by the fact that they give concrete expression to a policy of population transfer conducted by that State outside its territory, in violation of the rules of general international humanitarian law. The Court then held that the omission of that indication, with the result that only the territory of origin is indicated, might mislead consumers. Consumers have no way of knowing, in the absence of any information capable of enlightening them in that respect, that a foodstuff comes from a locality or a set of localities constituting a settlement established in one of those territories in breach of the rules of international humanitarian law. The Court noted that,under Regulation No 1169/2011 ,the provision of information to consumers must enable them to make informed choices, with regard not only to health, economic, environmental and social considerations, but also to ethical considerations and considerations relating to the observance of international law. The Court underlined in that respect that such considerations could influence consumers’ purchasing decisions”.  

All this pompous gobbledy gook being required for labelling the source of products made in territory disputed between Jews and Arabs for the last 100 years is deeply disturbing. There is no appeal from this decision.

The European Union could be in a real political bind as a result. The labelling requirements introduced by the European Union in 2011 and interpreted in 2015 has led it down this disastrous path promising only ridicule and contempt.

To be consistent and not be subjected to charges that it is deliberately targeting Jews and inciting Jew-hatred – the European Union needs to insist on similar stringent labelling requirements being immediately applied on goods originating from more than 150 disputed territories around the world.

Alternatively – the European Union could get itself out of this embarrassing labelling war and PR disaster by simply requiring goods originating from Israeli settlements to state “Product of Judea” or“Product of Samaria”.

Judea and Samaria – the historic and geographic terms used for the disputed territories for the last 3000 years – were relabelled the “The West Bank” by Jordan in 1950 – and enthusiastically embraced by the European Union.

The chickens from Judea and Samaria have come home to roost. Truth in labelling by the feckless European Union is long overdue.

Author’s note:The 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. His cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog

Prioritising the Protection of American Muslims Over That of American Jews (video)

How the ADL's flirtation with the left and the Democratic Party has addled the ADL's agenda: Dr Charles Jacobs pulls no punches in telling how an organisation designed to protect Jews from hate and antisemitism has entrapped itself, and let down Jews, by its subservience to the fight against "Islamophobia".

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVqqPx-Cq8k