David Singer: Trump’s Vision is a Mirage based on Shaky Foundations

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

He writes:

President Trump’s now released deal of the century – calling for the creation of a second Arab statein former Palestine in addition to Jordan (“the two-state solution”) – has predictably already been consigned to the dustbin of history by PLO President Mahmoud Abbas on the day of its publication.

Trump's solution was a mirage based on the same shaky foundations unsuccessfully pursued by the international community since the 1980 Venice Declaration. 

Trump’s failure to address the following issues ensured its collapse from the get go:

1.    The term “Palestinians” is not defined in the plan’s Glossary.

Who comprise “the Palestinians” and what constitutes their common identity?

 2.    Trump’s plan states: “Palestinians have aspirations that have not been realized, including self-determination”.

Trump ignores that the “Palestinians”' right to self-determination was realized when all West Bank Arabs became citizens of Jordan between 1950 and 1967 – then continued to retain their Jordanian citizenship until revoked by Jordan in 1988.

3.    Trump’s plan states: “The State of Israel has also exchanged sizeable territories for the sake of peace, as it did when it withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula in exchange for peace with the Arab Republic of Egypt.”

Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

Why was this not mentioned?

4.    Trump’s plan states: “One reason for the intractability of this problem is the conflation of two separate conflicts: a territorial, security and refugee dispute between Israel and the Palestinians and a religious dispute between Israel and the Muslim world regarding control over places of religious significance.”

There is only one conflict – between Jews and Arabs - fuelled by the Arab League’s refusal to recognise the State of Israel since its establishment in 1948.

The religious dispute was resolved under the 1994 Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty granting Jordan control over places of Islamic religious significance in Jerusalem.

5.    Trump’s plan states that Israel’s Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin: 'envisioned Jerusalem remaining united under Israeli rule, the portions of the West Bank with large Jewish populations and the Jordan Valley being incorporated into Israel, and the remainder of the West Bank, along with Gaza, becoming subject to Palestinian civil autonomy in what he said would be something “less than a state.” Rabin’s vision was the basis upon which the Knesset approved the Oslo Accords, and it was not rejected by the Palestinian leadership at the time.'

Rabin actually said:

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority. The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines”.

6.    Trump’s plan states: “This Vision addresses today’s realities, and provides the Palestinians, who do not yet have a state  ...”

The “Palestinians” do have a state – now called Jordan – created in 78% of former Palestine in 1946.

The key to successfully ending this 100 years unresolved conflictrequires Jordan’s borders to be extended to incorporate those areas designated as “A Future State of Palestine” in Trump’s already-defunct proposal.

President Trump needs to go back to the drawing board and persuade Israel and Jordan to urgently negotiate those new borders.

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: Gantz Faces Moment of Truth after meeting Trump

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

He writes:

Blue and White Party leader – Benny Gantz – could well see his dream of becoming Israel’s next Prime Minister on 2 March implode after meeting with President Trump at the White House this coming week.

It will all depend on Gantz’s  reaction to Trump’s long-awaited and eagerly-anticipated Deal of the Century outlining Trump’s plan for resolving the future of Judea and  Samaria (the “West Bank”) and Gaza (collectively the “disputed territories ”).

Trump’s deal represents his personal  effort to end the 100 years long-running and unresolved conflict between Arabs and Jews in former Palestine. Trump follows in the footsteps of many other American presidents whose well-intentioned proposals ended up in the garbage bin of history.

Trump’s plan will be different to previous presidents' proposals in that it will offer Israel the immediate opportunity to extend sovereigntynow – with the approval of the Trump administration in some designated parts of the disputed territories. This appears to be clear having regard to the – following pronouncement by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on 18 November 2019:

“The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law.”

PLO leader – Mahmoud Abbas   –  has made it abundantly clear that he will reject any Trump proposal that does not result in the Arabs securing sovereignty in every square metre of the disputed territories or an area equivalent thereto wth land swaps. This long-stated demand will not be shredded or be open to negotiations.

Gantz on the other hand has a real dilemma. His arch rival – Netanyahu – will accept Trump’sproposal to extend Israel’s sovereignty in any part of the disputed territories- but will Gantz?

Netanyahu has caused consternation in the Gantz camp – having already declared that a Likud-led Government would apply Israeli law to the Jordan Valley and every Israeli settlement in Judea and Samaria “without exception”.

Gantz’s response has been more confusing – stating he would extend Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley “in coordination with the international community.”. In practical terms this would be most unlikely to ever occur.

Gantz has so far remained silent on whether  he would extend Israeli sovereignty to any Trump-designated Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria.

The pressure will well and truly be on Gantz the moment he finally emerges from the White Housewith Netanyahu and Trump to face a White House press conference to discuss the details of Trump’s deal.

Netanyahu will have no choice but to accept Trump’s plan with thanks and a great deal of appreciation – even though it might not be totally acceptable to the Right-wing parties supporting him.

Gantz cannot accept the terms of the Trump plan since he will alienate those Left-wing parties  who favour Israel relinquishing all or most of the disputed territories. If he wants to have any hope of becoming Israel’s next Prime Minister, Gantz will need to clearly differentiate his policies from Netanyahu on the disputed territories.

The optics of Gantz rejecting Trump’s specific proposals in front of the world’s media will not make a pretty picture. Trying to graciously accept Trump’s proposals  –  subject to negotiations between Israel and the PLO or the international community  – will stand starkly against Netanyahu grabbing the baton and running with Trump’s proposals to take advantage of an opportunity to resolve the future of a major part of  Judea and Samaria for the first time in the last 100 years  – some might even say 3000 years.

The battle lines for the March Israeli election will be played out in the White House.

Netanyahu could  be pulling off another election win.

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.

Odious Orla: The Unkindest Cut of All

The execrable Orla Guerin, the BBC's Istanbul-based correspondent, who in her own words "continues to make detours", certainly proved her anti-Israel credentials yet again with her vile gratuitous comment (directly below, in bold font) during the BBC's News at Ten coverage of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau: 

“In Yad Vashem’s Hall of Names, images of the dead. Young soldiers troop in to share the binding tragedy of the Jewish people. The State of Israel is now a regional power. For decades it has occupied Palestinian territories. But some here will always see their nation through the prism of persecution and survival.”

To quote Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard, inter alia:

"It is difficult – no, it is impossible – to see this as anything other than Ms Guerin’s hatred of Israel spilling over into a desecration of the Holocaust. On this most solemn of occasions, linking the murder of six million Jews with Israeli occupation of the West Bank is simply obscene.

Note that ‘but’ in her final sentence. You Israelis, she is saying, are the bullies now, with your military and your occupation. ‘But’ you have the gall still to think of yourselves as being the persecuted.

Forget the historical illiteracy. Forget the self-righteous sneering. Forget everything about this despicable report except this: Ms Guerin represents the perfect distillation of the phenomenon which obsesses over Israel, the only sanctuary in the world for Jews, and does not merely decry the Jews having the right to such sanctuary – and thus, in the context of the Holocaust, the right to exist – but which turns the murder of six million Jews into an act of which it is the Jews who should somehow feel ashamed. It is the Jews, in other words, who do not live up to the memory of the Holocaust.

This attitude – never explicit, of course – is all around us. It provides the context for Labour antisemitism, for the bias of newspapers like the Guardian, and for rising antisemitism generally.

It is to the BBC’s eternal shame that it allows such a piece to be broadcast." [Emphasis added here and below]

 Gideon Falter, head of  Campaign Against Antisemitism, observes:  

“The BBC is supposed to inform the British public, not feed them propaganda. Few could imagine perverting what is supposed to be an educational piece about the Holocaust to instead fuel the very antisemitism that such education is supposed to prevent, but that is what the BBC has done. It was utterly appalling to watch Orla Guerin hijack a segment dedicated to remembering six million murdered Jews, and instead use it as a vehicle to desecrate the memory of the Holocaust with her hatred of the Jewish state. Ms Guerin and the BBC editors who allowed this to be aired must be made to face the consequences of this sick act, which is why we are now making an official complaint and will take the matter to Ofcom if necessary.”

All who are disgusted by Orla Guerin's  remarks are encouraged to complain to the BBC: see here for details.

Needless to say, there is much condemnation of Guerin from outraged Jews and non-Jews on social media.

These tweets typify the thrust:

But this one can't be beaten for cut and thrust!

David Singer: Another anti-Jewish Textbook Gets the Publisher’s Thumbs Down

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

He writes:

The decision by Pearson Education Limited (Pearson) to withdraw Hilary Brash’s text book – The Middle East: Conflict, Crisis and Change, 1917-2012 – comes after trenchant criticism by blogger David Collier.

Collier questioned  – among many other criticisms – why two timelines did not mention the Holocaust and why references to massacres of Jewish communities had been branded as "clashes".

Collier said:

"It is almost impossible for the untrained eye to pick apart fantasy from fiction."

  A spokesman for Pearson said: 

"An independent review of the texts by an educational charity found no overall evidence of anti-Israel bias. It identified some areas where the balance of sources could be improved and we are updating the texts and offering existing customers the option of replacing them for free. We always welcome feedback and are committed to creating engaging, accurate and objective content. We are the only awarding body that tackles this subject matter at both GCSE and international GCSE level. We do it as we think it is an important topic, even though it is likely to provoke emotive responses."

 Pearson is the UK's largest organisation offering academic, vocational and work-based learning qualifications.

Brash’s book was a textbook for Pearson Edexcel General (GCSE) and International (iGCSE) Certificate of Secondary Education studies.

Last year, 2,341 students took the General unit on the conflict for GCSE and 1,509 for iGCSE.

Pearson’s decision follows McGraw Hill’s decisionin 2016 to trash copies of its textbook Global Politics: Engaging a Complex World.

Catherine Mathis – a spokeswoman for McGraw-Hill –  then explained the company’s reasons for destroying the textbook – which contained four misleading and inaccurate maps of “Palestine”:

“As soon as we learned about the concerns with it, we placed sales of the book on hold and immediately initiated an academic review. The review determined that the map did not meet our academic standards. We have informed the authors and we are no longer selling the book. All existing inventory will be destroyed. We apologize and will refund payment to anyone who returns the book.”

 McGraw-Hill’s action followed criticism received by “MSNBC Live”after earlier airing the same series of maps.

Host Kate Snow and her then guest Middle East expert Martin Fletcher subsequently acknowledged that they realized after they went off the air that the maps were not factually accurate and regretted using them.

 The worst source of false information on the Jewish-Arab conflict is the United Nations Study titled “The Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: 1917-1988” (“Study”), which has disseminated false information on the Arab-Jewish conflict since its first publication in 1978.

The Study is published by the Division for Palestinian Rights of the United Nations Secretariat for, and under the guidance of, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

Educational institutions and books regurgitating the Study’s false information include:

1. “politics.ie” – claiming to be one of Ireland’s leading politics and current affairs discussion websites 

2. “Academia.edu”– a platform for academics to share research papers and claiming it attracts over 36 million unique visitors a month.

3. “iasexamportal.comhttps://iasexamportal.com/mag/vol-1/article/Israel-Palestine-Crisis”– which describes itself as “India’s Largest Online Community for IAS, UPSC, Civil Services Exam Aspirants.”

4. “UK essays”– which claims to use over 4,000 thoroughly vetted experts with the qualifications and experience to write you the best possible essay.

5. Handbook of Ethnic Conflict:International Perspectives  –  Dan Landis and Rosita D Albert.

6. Youth Citizenship and the Politics of Belonging  – Madeleine Arnot and Sharlene Swartz.

7.Bridges Over Troubled Waters – Dahlia Moore and Salem Aweiss.

 False narratives constitute a real obstacle to achieving peace between Jews and Arabs.

"Racism and Apartheid are intrinsic to the Zionist doctrine": More Hatred of Israel on "Your ABC"

The ABC, Australia's equivalent of the BBC, is publicly funded by the taxpayer, and in consequence is obligated, like the BBC, to be impartial and balanced on its coverage and commentary.

Like the BBC, however, it is unashamedly leftwing, and its current affairs programs, as well as its website, is the domain increasingly of activists and journalist-activists pushing their own leftist barrows, on a range of issues.  Theirs is a world in which traditional western values are derided and scorned,  a world in which the whackiest of gender bending is applauded and promoted, where racism and misogyny are fiercely condemned so long as the racism emanates from white people, and the sexism from men of "white privilege".

Such leftist extremism, needless to say, is a domain in which the national liberation movement of the Jewish People is depicted as colonialism and lsrael routinely demonised.  And nowhere is the latter calumny on the ABC's part better illustrated than in an excruciatingly biased piece of political propaganda on the ABC a few days ago (planted, sleight of hand, in, of all things, its Religion & Ethics page,) beginning:

'Can there really be any doubt that the creation of the State of Israel was, at its heart, a colonialist act of dispossession, and has established an “apartheid regime” that systematically discriminates against and subjugates its own citizens? The evidence is overwhelming.'

The author, Salman Abu Sitta, described by the ABC as "the Founder and President of the Palestine Land Society", is, inter alia, a member of the Palestine National Council.


Now 83, he is given carte blanche  by the odoous ABC to declare in the rant that

"It was a Zionist plan to convert Palestine into a land without (its) people. Hence the dispossession of Palestine carried out in 1948, in which 560 towns and villages were depopulated and largely destroyed. This major crime has continued to this day.

Racism and apartheid are intrinsic to the Zionist doctrine. Without the forcible expulsion of Palestinians, Israel could not have existed as it is today. There is not a single acre of land acquired by Israel in 1948 that was gained without recourse to military force...

 Zionism was a secular, nationalistic movement; many of its key advocates were atheists. These are the people who came up with the first detailed plan to colonise Palestine by expelling the indigenous Palestinian population and by delegitimating and marginalising them in their own country. The creation of the State of Israel and the expulsion of most of the Palestinian indigenous population in 1948 — the Nakba — represented the acceleration of the “slow motion” dispossession which was a feature of this Jewish Euro-colonial history...."

 I would submit that any concerned and conscientious citizen can reach this conclusion by reading about Israel’s daily violations of international law and human rights conventions in any part of Palestine under military control by Israel, and by looking at the scores of laws that specifically discriminate against Palestinians in Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

How long must Palestinians wait for the justice and freedom which has been denied them since 1948? How long will the rest of the world tolerate the flagrant and ongoing practices of apartheid and systemic racism by the Israeli state?

In Australia, politicians frequently promote the importance of a global rules-based order in the context of criticising human rights abuses and violations of international law in various countries, but Israel has never been included in these condemnations. This omission does not serve the cause of world peace, nor the rights of the Australian citizens."

This deliberately planted antisemitic propaganda by a national broadcaster out of control needs to be vigorously protested, and vigorously refuted. 

David Singer: Israeli Right Does Not Seek Overthrow of Jordan’s Hashemite Monarchy

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

He writes:

The claim that “The Israeli right has no solution for civil rights for Palestinians after annexation, except for overthrowing Jordan's Hashemite monarchy” is a canard that must be totally rejected.

This defamation of the Israeli right needs to be debunked before it is allowed to become accepted fact in the run up to Israel’s elections on 2 March.

I feel qualified to call out this baseless allegation as the founder of the “Jordan is Palestine Committee” (JIP) 40 years ago.JIP was formed to inform public opinion that:

• Jordan comprised 76.9% of the territory once called Palestine

• The key to ending the conflict between Jews and Arabs required direct negotiations between Israel -17.1% of former Palestine -and Jordan -to allocate sovereignty of the remaining 6% of former Palestine – Judea, Samaria and Gaza – between their two respective States

• Jordan’s population alone should determine who Jordan’s ruler should be. JIP constantly pointed out the role the Hashemite monarchy had played for 60 years in preserving the major part of Palestine as an exclusively Arab State in which Jews were not permitted to live. 

JIP contrasted this with the failed efforts of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) to secure sovereignty in one square metre of territory attempting to wipe Israel off the map.

JIP’s stated policy was actually challenged by one member who sought its replacement with a new policy calling for the overthrow of the Hashemites by replacing King Hussein with PLO leader Yasser Arafat.  JIP members rejected this argument and the disgruntled member quit the organisation.

However he did more – registering JIP in his name in Israel – then seeking to restrain my organisation using the name in Israel in connection with an international conference. 

This necessitated my taking Court proceedings in Israel at considerable expense.  The judge ruled in my favour.

Further sensational claims have also been made that

:•“the annexation the right plans has no chance of success without overthrowing the government in Amman and turning Jordan into Palestine.

•“Destabilising the regime in Jordan can be expected to be a joint project of the settlers, the ayatollahs and the evangelists who support Trump.”Extension of Israel’s sovereignty into Judea and Samaria can occur incrementally – starting in parts of Area C designated in the Oslo Accords which covers 60% of Judea and Samaria. 

Area C is under Israel’s full administrative and security control and 50000-70000 Arabs live there.

No Arab or Jew would have to move from his current house in Area C. Israeli residency or citizenship could be offered to those Arabs affected by Israel’s extension of sovereignty.Israel could unilaterally extend its sovereignty to all of Area C and offer Israeli residency or citizenship to the

Arabs affected – greatly enhancing their civil rights to those currently existing.

None of the above proposals requires the overthrow of Jordan’s King Abdullah or Jordan’s participation in negotiations with Israel.

However Jordan needs to negotiate with Israel on Judea and Samaria’s future after 40 years of refusing to take up the JIP solution to resolve a conflict now in its100th year – if it wishes to regain any part of Judea and Samaria that was unified with Transjordan in 1950 and then renamed Jordan  – with its Arab residents enjoying Jordanian citizenship until 1988.

Overthrowing the Hashemite sis not the stated policy of any of Israel’s major political parties although some individuals and groups espoused it at a conference in 2017 – which I strongly opposed.

Jordan is the Arab State in former Palestine -and no amount of double talk can alter this historic, geographic and demographic fact.
 
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

"You Have No Honor!"

Now here's a clip to warm the cockles of a Zionist heart!

A couple of days ago, in Tehran, university students defiantly avoid insulting  the Israeli and American flags, and express disapproval at the few who did so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C97o_tue4b0

A Memri.org video.

And here's Clare M. Lopez of the Center for Security Policy talking to Jamie Glazov on The Glazov Gang show about the elimination of Qasem Soleimani:

                                          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-rHhfewLQA

In America, Interfaith "Bridge Building" Imam Praises Soleimani, Slams Israel

According to a 2014 post on his apparently now discontinued blog here, Shi'ite Imam Ibrahim Kazerooni, born in 1958 in the city of Al-Najaf in southern Iraq, completed his theological studies in Iran and his secular studies in England.

He afterwards went to live in the United States, where he was

"the former Director of the Abrahamic Initiative Program at St. John Cathedral in Denver. Currently he serves as a member of the Board of Religious advisers to the Denver Police.

He has received a number of awards for his bridge building and peace initiative, including, Faith to Faith Award for interfaith works. (2007), Martin Luther King Award for services in peace building (2007), the “Iliff/D.U Joint Ph.D. Award for Community Service(2007), and Honored with Congressional Record for working to end the war in Iraq. (2004) ...."

Fast foreward to 2020, and this paragon of interfaith harmony has been caught on video by Memri.org (whose YouTube site has, I believe, yet again been taken down by YouTube) in a speech on 3 Janiary at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, Michigan eulogising Qasem Soleimani and deploring his death, along with that of PMU Deputy Chairman Abu Mahdi] Al-Muhandis:

'... He led a prayer for the souls of Soleimani and Al-Muhandis  and told the congregation that Soleimani had "brought hope to the marginalized [and] hatred and fear to the enemies of Islam." He explained that Soleimani had been instrumental in keeping the Syrian regime in power despite American and Zionist attempts to destabilize it, in defending Iraq against ISIS alongside the PMU, and in ultimately defeating ISIS in Iraq, which Sheikh Kazerooni described as the "extended arm of American foreign policy." He cited several examples from Islamic literature that speak of martyrdom as a virtuous act and added: "Let's wait and see what happens next."'

 See more here

David Singer: Israel’s Next Election Must Focus on Judea and Samaria – not Bibi

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

He writes:

Israel’s next election due on 2 March 2020 must focus on the future of Judea and Samaria – not the future of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi).

A window of opportunity has been granted to allow Israel to extend its sovereignty into Judea and Samaria following US Secretary of State Pompeo’s statement on 19 November 2019: 

“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 United Nations General Assembly will object to any such unilateral extension of Israel’s sovereignty. However it will unequivocally delineate the minimum area in Judea and Samaria which Israel will be claiming in any future negotiations with Arab interlocutors to end the 100 years old Arab-Jewish conflict.

For these outcomes to occur – all political parties contesting Israel’s next election need to bring before the electorate their respective parties detailed proposals on the extension of Israeli sovereignty into:

· the whole,

· part or

· none

of Judea and Samaria – accompanied by a map designating the areas in which Israeli sovereignty will be extended if they form part of Israel’s next Government.

For far too long Israelis have been at loggerheads with each other as to the extension of Israeli sovereignty into Judea and Samaria. The opportunity to resolve this political logjam during Donald Trump’s Presidency must not be lost.

Should another election deadlock occur for the third time in twelve months – the proposals presented by the respective parties for Judea and Samaria can be the basis for negotiations to form a Government of National Unity.

There will be critics who claim that Israel should not reveal its cards before negotiations actually begin with Arab interlocutors – that by doing so Israel will stymie itself from demanding more of Judea and Samaria.

All proposals should therefore include a rider that the area proposed is the minimum area of Judea and Samaria willing to be accepted in future negotiations and may be increased should changed circumstances to those now prevailing exist when negotiations are undertaken.

Political parties not prepared to inform voters of their proposals can expect to be given the thumbs down by the Israeli electorate. Those who are open and frank in presenting their proposals should find themselves rewarded by the electorate.

Politicians need to resist the temptation to focus their major attention on preventing Bibi  – Israel’s longest serving Prime Minister – from becoming Israel’s next Prime Minister as he personally grapples with three indictments laid against him by Attorney General Mandelblit.

Israel’s national interest must incontrovertibly prevail.

Crunch time for Judea and Samaria has arrived  – 100 years after reconstitution of the Jewish National Home in Palestine was first proposed internationally at the 1920 San Remo Conference.

Realising that 100 year old dream should be Israel’s paramount objective.

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.

"Are We Under Canadian Law or Sharia Law?" (video)

At a candlelight vigil in Toronto for Qasem Soleimani:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVWMR_NDMj8

Meanwhile, in London: 

See more

 

In Oz, BDS Bigots Not Playing by the Rules

Adelaide BDSers campaiging against Israeli-made irrigation systems in Oz

The Facebook page BDS Australia comes with a statement that declares, inter alia: 

"This is a page for open discussion, and comments should not be assumed to reflect the views of BDS Australia.
Comments are moderated and will be removed if they:

1. are off topic, i.e. derail discussion about the post or are unrelated to BDS and a just peace for Palestinians
2. are defamatory or inflammatory towards individuals or groups
3. are racist, sexist, homophobic or use other offensive stereotypes
4. contain threats or personal attacks, or explicit language and/or images
5. are spam, repetitive or disruptive, or attempt to close down reasonable debate
6. spread lies, misrepresentations, false analogies or stereotypes
7. are commercial in any way
Moderation is at the discretion of admins."

A cursory look at the site, however, suggests that "open discussion" attempted by pro-Israel commenters does not stay up, and it shows that comments which are covered by some of those points, particularly comments that are anti-Jewish, are allowed to remain.

Why, there are even "lies, misrepresentations, false analogies" in the shape of the "Jesus was a Palestinian" chestnut.  Just look at the contents of this egregious example, provided to the BDS site by this fella, an American!

A comment following a post regarding Bethlehem has drawn what is surely "an inflammatory" remark by this bloke from Hobart, Tasmania, who I see is a Facebook friend of British 9/11 Truther and Reading PSC founder Tony Gratrex:

 Other inflammatory comments spotted include:

Poison regarding Jews:

This, incidentally, is a recent post by Nugent in his/her Facebook page: note the scum (more of Kelly's antisemitism here as well as here, on the timeline of one of his four Facebook friends)  it's attracted:

On the BDS Australia page:

A sample of comments (note, incidentally, the odious one regarding Australia's tragic bushfires):

Rowland joins in:

Some more quick-sample smears and falsehoods on the BDS Australia page:

 

I could go on.  But I think I've made my point. Yes, it's clear that there's no "open discussion" or systematic moderation on that grubby site!

"So Why is There No Two State Solution?"

"Because the Palestinians want there to be no Jewish State more than they want a state of their own."

Now, here's a conversation worth listening to (no need to have one's eyes glued to the screen!)

The indefatigable Professor Alan Dershowitz talks, for just under an hour to Rabbi Marc Golub, about his steadfast championship of Israel,  the Six Day War, the lamentable impact of Arab rejectionism (by both the PLO and the PFLP), the difficulties he has experienced from the antisemites and anti-Zionists of the Hard Left (including the so-called "Jewish Voice for Peace"), the "very frightening" erosion of support for Israel among the left of the Democratic Party and among the party's younger elements, why Bernie Sanders is beyond the pale, the pernicious influence of J-Street ("Is J-Street Anti-Israel?"  "No. It Just is Not Pro-Israel ...It Tries to Appeal to the Extreme Left"), why he himself  remains a member of the Democratic Party, and much more.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW9cX79dPfM

However, by contrast to the Arab hardliners, Ed Husain wrote recently in The Spectator:

'A new narrative is emerging in the Middle East. New maps of the Muslim mind are being drawn and old hatreds are on the run. The anti-Semitic craze to destroy Israel was powerful in the 1960s, uniting Egypt’s President Nasser with his fellow Arabs. But now, Sunni Arab neighbours are changing course. Islamist leaders are losing their appeal — at a time when Iran, with its brand of theological fascism, poses a threat to Israel and the Arab world alike.

Polls show that the percentage of Arabs expressing trust in Islamist parties has fallen by well over a third since the uprisings of 2011. Three-quarters of Iraqis say they do not trust Islamist parties at all, and the number of young people who say they’re ‘not religious’ is also on the rise. This generation wants Arab leaders to increase economic prosperity and minimise political conflicts. And to build alliances, including with Israel.... Israel is coming to be regarded as a benign neighbour....

There are enough historical and scriptural narratives of Muslim-Jewish fraternity to form the basis for rapprochement. The enmity has, historically, been a recent blip. With an assertive Iran and an uninterested West, the Arabs and Jews have a shared interest in building a lasting alliance with each other.

 This may yet be the decade of peace.' 

Read Husain's entire article here

!n London, Corbynista Types "Stand Up to Racism"

The antisemitic daubings in Belsize Park and South Hampstead that have marred thestart of the New Year brought out, last night, an assortment of protesting Lefties, including, it seems, members of that hardcore pro-Corbyn Israel-demonising rump calling itself Jewish Voice for Labour.

Here, in this Israel Advocacy Movement video narrated by the admirable Joseph Cohen, which claims that (mainstream) Jews were "ostracised" at the event, a familiar little woman cries "Go Away!" through clenched teeth several times at the young Jewish man interviewing attendees -- attendees such as a woman who implies that pro-Israel Jews are allies of the English Defence League (EDL) for instance, and a pompous Jewish guy with a posh accent.

The Lefties demonstrating included our old friend (we've often seen her on Alex Seymour's videos) the little woman of apparent Jewish parentage who sports a baseball cap and other accessories in the Palestinian colours outside football stadiums to demand that Israel is thrown out of FIFA, and who has become a staple at anti-Israel demos by the Inminds group (again, Alex Seymour regularly captures her on video).

But the "star" (so to speak) of the Lefty  brigade has to be the guy wearing a BDS sign in his beanie. What a gymnastic display of smirks his facial muscles pull, and what nauseating ripostes he gives when challenged by his young interlocutor. Watch, too, how the woman alongside him grins in seeming triumph at his remark regarding German opposition to the BDS movement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riDP1JUmCoc

Update: For more on the despicable antsemitic behaviour at this event see David Collier here

A New Year ... & Two Past Ones

Here's a touch of 2020 vision by Israeli cartoonist Yaakov Kirchen:

And here (via the Twitter page of University of Aberystwyth international relations academic Dr James Vaughan, a specialist in British-Israel relations) is a glimpse into how the British Labour Party began to alienate Jewish supporters in the 1980s: