In Australia, Some Jewish Leftists Sink Ever Lower

The far left frequently Israel-demonising Australian Jewish Democratic Society (AJDS) has dismayed even Jewish observers disposed to try to think well of it, by promoting a film called :Gaza Fights for Freedom" made by American journalist Abby Martin, who  has a history of espousing conspiracy theories and who, to quote Wikipedia (which provides sources for its comments)

"On February 10, 2020 ..., represented by the Council on American-Islamic Relations [CAIR], filed a free-speech lawsuit against the State of Georgia's law requiring contractors to sign a pledge not to boycott Israel after her booking to speak at a conference at Georgia Southern University on Critical Media Literacy was cancelled for refusing to sign the pledge. The conference was later cancelled."

 Here's some information about the film, and its sponsors:

About the film, the AJDS enthuses thus:

Not surprisingly, many Aussie Jews are wondering how much lower into the mire the AJDS might sink.

Hamas's Leftist Fans Squawk in London (videos)

Last week, in Whitehall, with their ugly Jew Israel-hatred: Greens, Sinn Fein, Socialist Workers ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chT--70aMBo

(A Mr Alex Seymour video)

Especially repulsive, indeed vomitous, obscene: this female rabbi and her cohorts in the leftist Jewish group Yachad saying Kaddish (the mourner's prayer of sanctification) for Hamas operatives:

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOKXQPFN8hY

Watch a great video here in response to Linda Sarsour's lies!

Strictly Satire

Read all about it here

(UPDATED) In Melbourne, "'The Threat of Islam to Jews' is Going Ahead and We Have to ... Tell Them to F*ck Off"

Under the presidency of Sydney medico Dr David Adler, a new Jewish communal organisation calling itself the Australian Jewish Association (AJA) has been set up "by a team including senior community members of standing in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia" unhappy at what the pervasive drift towards political correctness in the Jewish communal leadership:

'You can expect it to be more direct and outspoken on matters of principle rather than cowed by “political correctness”. AJA will speak out clearly on security issues, sources of anti-Semitism, other external threats and advocacy involving Israel,' its website avers.

Its mission statement here begins:

"The mission of AJA is to be a membership based representative organisation for the Jewish community in Australia based on genuine authentic Jewish and conservative Australian democratic values.

The AJA welcomes members from the Jewish community who support this mission.

To be guided by authentic Jewish values means having regard in policy formulation to principles of Torah. This imposes no requirement on how members conduct their lives. The organisation will welcome members of all levels of observance.

To be guided by conservative Australian democratic values means prioritising policies which support individual freedoms, self-determination, human rights, security and respect for rule of law."

Regarding Israel, it breaks ranks with the official communal leadership's position:

"Support Israel as the only nation-state and the cultural and religious home of the Jewish people. Support the right of Jews to live in security and peace in their traditional ancient biblical homeland"

continuing in the relevant clause:

"Jerusalem is the eternal undivided capital of Israel and the entire city including the Temple Mount should be administered by Israeli authorities.

The land of Israel includes the biblical Jewish homelands of Judea and Samaria.

Support policies and initiatives to further develop and strengthen the relationship between Australia and Israel."

The AJA was scheduled to be launched in Melbourne tomorrow (Sunday, 10 September) at the Beth Weizmann Community Centre, with the distinguished Anglican scholar of Islam Dr Mark Durie as guest speaker.  But when it became known to Zionism Victoria, the body that administers Beth Weizmann, that the theme of the evening would be "The Threat of Islam to Jews" the longstanding booking was cancelled.

The current issue of the Australian Jewish News (AJN; 8 September) quotes Beth Weizmann chairperson Ben Tatarka thus:

"Having just become aware of he details of the event, which had been booked as a 'public speaker', and after due consideration, we have decided that we are not prepared to have the Jewish Community Centre of Melbourne used for or associated with an event that, on its face, seeks to foment fear and hatred."

The same paper reports Dr Adler's reaction:

"It would have been expected that instead of reacting to erroneous information, that the management of Beth Weizmann would have made contact with us, the organizers, to find out the truth.

As soon as possible we gave them additional information for consideration because they had made false assumptions and we informed them that the talk, or similar ones, had been presented in NSW Parliament in March this year and at Limmud New Zealand last month."

Dr Adler went on to tell the AJN that an alternative venue had since been found, and at first he was unwilling to disclose it, being loath to

"attract the aggressive and irrational group who, without information and based on false assumptions, went off the rail." 

(That new venue hired was the Goldenberger Hall of the Mizrachi Synagogue on Balaclava Road in the heart of the Shtetl on the Yarra's "Golden Mile"; the Mizrachi Synagogue itself, the AJN noted, had not endorsed the event.)

Immediately, the name of the new venue was made known, the Jewish far-left anti-Israel movement sprang into attack mode:

(The above group loves to note that it's coming to you from "The occupied lands of the Kulin nation, Melbourne, Australia"; curiously, however, it shows no sign of preparedness to evacuate those lands.)

(The CSG is the Community Security Group.)

An urgent call to action went out from one Israel-bashing Jewish lefty to his cohorts:

'This is not a drill. You are needed.'The Threat of Islam to Jews' is going ahead and we have to turn up to tell them to fuck off.

You can expect a superchilled affair with a stack of Jewy tunes. But you need to come: to take responsibility for this in our community, to not be silent in the face of hate.

Invite your friends. Now.' [Emphasis added]

Suggestions for "Jewy tunes" with which to serenade try to shame and intimidate members of the Jewish community attending the Adler/Durie event quickly came:

By invoking the heroic Bundists and other resisters and martyrs, these "Jews Against Fascism" are, of course, implying that all who are wary of and warn of the dangers of Islamist antisemitism are comparable to Tsarist antisemites and informers and to the bestial Nazis, which, needless to say, is as ludicrous as it is obscene. 

Unfortunately, the totalitarian Left have succeeded in getting the event cancelled for a second time.

Claim and counter-claim continue to fly, as this is something of a "breaking story," with one commenter on the Facebook page of the outraged "Nothing Left" (closely linked with the AJA and the event) writing that it was cancelled owing to fears of reprisal attacks on the Mizrachi-associated Yavneh kindergarten:

"This event was cancelled because of protests from Yavneh parents who didn't want you turning our children's kindergarten into an increased risk of terror attack. It had nothing to do with politics....

You're the ones running talks about the threat they pose to Jews. As you well know, they have targeted Jewish institutions and places they perceive as insulting their prophet. It's a terrible problem that we as a community have to deal with. Why would you increase the risk of my children's kindergarten? Do it in your own home so Islamic extremists can target you."

Meanwhile one Jew who had intended to turn up to protest the event jibes:

"Nothing Left , that [the cancellation] is the best news I have had all week. You may want to check the mirror for fascist, threaten, intimidate. Not afraid of you. Disgusted is more the word that comes to mind."

And another Jewish leftist, a university academic, makes the breath-taking assertion:

"Jews have nothing to fear from Islam. Only from terrorists who kill more of their own people."

(Clearly, he could benefit from listening to Islam-expert Dr Durie on what's been going on in Europe!)

An apt retort to the leftists from a Nothing Left spokesman:

"I find it kind of ironic one of the main Jewish fascists behind the shutting down of free speech [by other Jews] is a member of a Jewish Palestinian activist group [presumably the Australian Jewish Democratic Society] affiliated with JCCV [Jewish Community Council of Victoria] and only recently some members of this same group demonstrated on behalf of Arabs in Israel outside the very offices of Beth Weizmann and these are the types B[eth] W[eizmann] Board have aligned them selves with , Crazy world we live in"

Though happy as Larry (pardon the pun) one of the activists centrally involved in the campaign to cancel the meetings has proved rather modest:

Not so modest, the Jews Against Fascism (but not Islamofascism), displaying their customarily elegant, erudite turn of phrase:

Incidentally, on leftwing hypocrisy and Islamofascism/da Joos/Zionism see two good articles here and here

UPDATE

I'm delighted to add that the launch of the AJA, and the meeting as planned, went ahead as scheduled on Sunday evening,  at another location.  Congratulations to the organisers on a terrific turnout, despite very short notice, with the venue filled to capacity.  All praise to the management of the alternative location for refusing to be intimidated by the far left and the lily-livered. Dr David Adler and the Rev. Dr Mark Durie provided disturbing evidence of the antisemitism that pervades the Quran, the Sura and the hadiths and which informs Islamic attitudes to this day.  Neither speaker indulged in any "hate speech".  The only examples of hate speech came in the examples they quoted. 

It's said that a leftist infiltrator or two were present (tasked with subsequently exposing the "hate speech" they hoped to hear from the speakers) deliberately sitting quietly so not to attract attention.

These Jewish fascists had sought in vain yesterday to get the event cancelled for a third time: 

"Many Jewish Leaders Concentrate More on Vilifying Trump Than Securing and Promoting Their Communal Interests"

Leftist anti-Zionism in Chicago

Last week, an American nutjob (I can be fairly certain that he or she is American owing to the spelling used) left a hateful comment below one of the posts on this blog:

'Why do Jews hate free speech so much? For example, Mark Zuckerberg, a jew, will censor anything politically incorrect on Facebook and block you from posting for 30 days. Or what about the so called Holocaust? Why aren't we allowed to QUESTION if this "event" actually happened? There is zero physical proof the Holocaust happened and a guy got put in jail in Germany for 7 FUCKING YEARS simply for writing a 44 page book called "Did 6 Million Really Die?"

The younger generation is not fooled by the lies of the Jews. Generation Z, that is people under 18, hang out at free speech sites like 4chan where they discuss the TRUTH. The TRUTH is that the Holocaust never happened, and that Jews control our media, educational institutions, medical industry, big pharma industry, government, and religious institutions. Basically, America and the West is living under a Jewish totalitarian state that HATES free speech.

What is going to happen when this younger generation grows up and truly realizes how badly they have been betrayed by Jews? The Holocaust never happened but already a lot of them, kids only 13 or 14 years old, are saying they wish the Holocaust did happen. You Jews are digging your own graves and the younger generation are not going to tolerate you Jewish fascists any more. Don't be surprised if a new Hitler comes into power as early as 2024 and solves the JEWISH problem once and for all, a FINAL solution. You Jews brought this on yourselves, you fascist scum.'

I allowed the post to remain, as a testament to evil. A subsequent commenter left this witty and incisive message:

'I suggest that this poster pick up his local yellow pages, turn to the section headed "Psychiatrists," and phone for an appointment.'

Yet when I showed the original comment to a friend, who yields to none in his yiddishkayt and his championship of Israel, he amazed me by expressing some sympathy for the nutjob's views.

"Not the stuff about the Holocaust, of course," my friend said hurriedly, "that's just mental, but about the suppression of free speech.  Too many leftwing Jews try to stop others expressing fear over Islam in the West, smearing them as racists, that it gets people's backs up, and creates antisemitism." 

"Well, yes," I conceded, " I myself was threatened with reporting to the Facebook authorities for a supposedly politically incorrect post about mass Muslim migration into Europe and its possible consequences, unless I deleted it." 

I added the name of the person who had made the threat, an Australian Jew who has earned himself the nickname in some circles as Kim Jong-Un for his totalitarian attitude to what others should and should not be able to say online and his aptitude with the delete button.

"And there's this guy who heads the ADL in America who tries to prevent free speech by labelling people Islamophobes", went on my friend.  

"I know! I knnow!That awful Jonathan Greenblatt," I interjected. 

"Yes, well, that attitude stokes antisemitism," my friend replied.

 He may have a point.

The destructive and dangerous leftist-impulse that impels American Jewish "leaders" such as Greenblatt to make common cause with Jewry's enemies is well-captured by the great Isi Leibler in his latest column.  He warns that if this impulse goes on the community may find itself marginalised and on the political outer altogether, this, moreover, at a time when the Trump administration seems divided over Israel.  Inter alia:

' ....Many Jewish leaders concentrate more on vilifying Trump than securing and promoting their communal interests. They unashamedly abuse their Jewish institutional roles to promote far-left and liberal agendas, even labeling their opponents as anti-Semites to achieve their goals....

Leftist antisemites and Israel-haters in Los Angeles

The threats from the radical Right must not be tolerated. Yet despite the massive exposure they received, these fascist and racist groups represent a minute segment of society and their influence is marginal when compared to the leftist anti-Semites. The latter, who are vastly understated, promote the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement and have transformed campuses into anti-Israel and anti-Semitic platforms.

Moreover, there are Jewish community leaders who have allied themselves with far-left campaigns headed by vicious anti-Israel elements, arguing that anti-Israel agitators should not be excluded as partners in broader campaigns for social justice. There are also calls for BDS proponents and anti-Israel Jewish groups to be included in the “big tent.”

The worst organizational offender in this area is the Anti-Defamation League, which lost its credibility after Jonathan Greenblatt, a former aide to President Barack Obama, became CEO and used the organization to promote his liberal agenda. He is supported by leaders of the Reform and Conservative movements who uninhibitedly pursue partisan positions, as though their followers were all anti-Trump zealots. Their toleration of leftist anti-Israel agitators is frequently accompanied by public criticism of Israeli policies....

The ADL ...has been smearing conservatives as anti-Semites ... 

There are many ... examples of acceptance of “progressive” anti-Zionists and anti-Semites ....

It is surely not surprising that, in this environment, access to the U.S. administration by Jewish leaders is lower than it has been in over 50 years....'

 Read it all, here

Misplaced Tsorres Over Soros?

See Times of Israel by clicking caption

On social media "as-a-Jew" Israel-bashers and other politically "progressive" usual suspects are heartily recommending an op-ed in the New York Times by Mairav Zonszein that's full of apologetics for George Soros.

"Israel's War against George Soros," it's called, and it begins:

 "As a Holocaust survivor, a successful financier who embraces free market capitalism and a philanthropist who champions liberal democracy, George Soros should be a darling of the Israeli establishment."

And continues:

"For years Mr. Soros largely avoided Israel-related philanthropy, but he became involved in 2008 when he contributed to J Street, a moderate pro-Israel, pro-peace lobbying group based in Washington, after it was founded. Through his Open Society Foundations, Mr. Soros also contributes to the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem and the anti-occupation group Breaking the Silence, which have been subjected to a growing delegitimization campaign by the Israeli government.

But Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, raised the stakes in this feud last week when his foreign ministry issued a statement that, in effect, backed a Hungarian government propaganda effort against Mr. Soros and joined its denunciation of him....."

But as another writer reminds us:

".... George Soros is also a “progressive” (although it wasn’t so progressive to rip off all those British working people), and viciously anti-Zionist. He donates very large sums to left-wing organizations all over the world, including many that advocate BDS against Israel. Soros and groups connected to him have given millions to J Street, the phony “pro-Israel” lobbying group in the US.

Indeed, the Soros contribution to anti-Israel incitement is probably exceeded only by what comes from European governments, Saudi Arabia and Iran..."

In essence Mairav Zonszein, who's a contributor to +972 Magazine, surely tends to underline the validity of Evelyn Gordon's recent article in Commentary magazine entitled "The Left’s Inversion of Anti-Semitism".

Evelyn Gordon concedes that

"Some attacks on Soros are anti-Semitic, like when someone at an anti-refugee rally in Poland in 2015 set fire to an effigy of an Orthodox Jew which he said represented Soros. That’s classic anti-Semitism; it implies both that the real problem is Soros’s Jewishness rather than anything he did, and that all Jews are responsible for Soros’s actions."

 And there's certainly cause for concern (see the Times of Israel here)

Yet, Evelyn Gordon goes on to observe:

'The Hungarian campaign, however, targets Soros not for his Jewishness, which it never even mentions, but for his actions: specifically, the fact that he is one of the main financial backers of pro-immigration organizations in Hungary. . . . Yet both Jews and non-Jews have risen up to declare such criticism “anti-Semitic” solely because he happens to be Jewish. . . .

Now contrast this with, say, what happened at last month’s “Chicago Dyke March,” when three people carrying rainbow flags with Stars of David on them were kicked out of the march because the flag was “pro-Israel,” and therefore unacceptable at a progressive demonstration. The Star of David is the most recognizable Jewish symbol in existence; . . . that’s precisely why Israel put it on its national flag. That’s also why the so-called “Jewish pride” flag has a Star of David on its rainbow background—not to represent Israel, but to represent the marchers’ Judaism. . . .

In other words, these marchers were expelled solely for carrying an obviously Jewish symbol at a progressive event. This is classic anti-Semitism: Jews are welcome only if they divest themselves of anything that could identify them as Jews. Yet in the progressive world, such anti-Semitism is deemed perfectly acceptable so long as you claim, as the march organizers did, that the victims were expelled for being “Zionists.”. . .

[Thus, for] the progressive left . . . targeting people for being Jewish is no longer anti-Semitic, but targeting people for being progressive activists is. . . . [I]nstead of being a shield to protect Jews, charges of anti-Semitism have become a shield to protect leftists. And thereby the left has completed the process of redefining anti-Semitism to its own benefit, to the detriment of the Jews.'

See also Breitbart here

Bibi and his wife arrive in Hungary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kwpj7EN2qg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68wlG604ShY

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

In the third of these videos Bibi speaks from about 1:26. 

Jews Against Islamofascism Brew a Brouhaha in the Aussie Shtetl

To read article click here

In the Shtetl on the Yarra (aka Melbourne, specifically the district known as Caulfield, within the jurisdiction of Glen Eira City Council) there has been a brouhaha regarding Jewish gym owner Avi Yemini's invitation to controversial One Nation party leader Senator Pauline Hanson and party member Senator Malcolm Roberts, to address interested members of the Jewish community.  When the Glen Eira Council advised that it could not provide premises for the proposed  meeting, Mr Yemini changed the location to his gym.  (Its name? "IDF Training".  Its speciality?  An Israeli martial art, Krav Maga.)

Later, the Caulfield Park Bowling Club undertook to host the event, which would be taking place now, Sunday evening, 4 December, had it not been called off owing to security concerns, those ever-tolerant types from the left having vowed to cause a rumpus outside the venue, with Jews Against Fascism (but not, apparently, Islamofascism) calling on protesters to bring

"your noisemakers: your graggers, your pots and pans, your shofars, your musical instruments"

and declaring 

“Australia’s premier fascist parliamentary party is coming to the matzah belt.”

 The curiously-named Australian Jewish Democratic Society, a body known for its anti-Israel views and for inveighing against Jews expressing "Islamophobia," was also among the protesters.

"We protested One Nation because they’re racist and fascist and their Islamophobia, antisemitism, racism and anti-immigrant attitudes are destructive and hateful...." 

 So said one of the Jewish leftists opposed to the meeting.

The charge of antisemitism is highly dubious, with both senators expressing their support for Jews and Israel.

It is, of course, to be wondered why these leftist Jews give a free pass to the antisemites on the political left: could it be because Zionists and Zionism are the target of that antisemitism, as in the case of the appalling Greens?

These  Jewish and as-a-Jew "anti-fascists" are anti-racist but forget that Islam is not a race.

During her first incarnation as a federal politician, in the 1990s, Senator Hanson's focus was on opposing mass immigration from South-East Asia into Australia.  Now, she and her party focus, inter alia, on opposing Islamic immigration and fretting about how it might impact upon Australia's security and society in the years to come.

There is no doubt that Senator Hanson is a bit of a ratbag, and that her views are typically crudely expressed, and some unfortunate.  But, like Senator Roberts, she is an elected representative of the Australian parliament, and if people wish to go to hear the two speak, than that is their right. 

It is also Mr Yemini's right to invite the senators, though obviously Jewish communal officialdom's feathers were ruffled when he issued the invitation through the "Independent Jewish Council of Australia," a body hitherto unknown.

Needless to say, Mr Yemini is not the only Australian Jew who worries about radical Islam, and it goes without saying that Jews have as much reason to worry about it as anyone else, without jibes of racism being hurled at them by the totalitarian left.

How many members of the Jewish community intended to attend the meeting is unknown.  But Senator Hanson certainly has her Jewish fans, and several of them have been articulate in her support in letters to the Australian Jewish News and on J-Wire.  For instance:

"Please be assured Senators Hanson and Roberts that not all Jewish people are so opposed to free speech, and can be intimidated into silence by hard-left bullies. I may not agree with much of your political views but you have been elected to one of the world’s most robust, democratic parliamentary systems, and so deserve to be heard peacefully in any public forum. It’s such a pity that people who want to hear what you have to say, are now just going to hear from the haters, about what you may or may not have actually said, regarding current issues facing Australia today...."

 and, from an evident non-Jew, 

"Our wonderful nation is being manipulated by leftist propaganda. The ABC is the chosen weapon. The ALP and the Greens are the perpetrators.... The media are causing total polarisation and hatred, just as they have done in the USA with the absolutely biased and manipulative coverage of the recent election. Though I do not subscribe to everything of the Hanson view point, I respect her more than ever for having the courage to stand up to a hateful, blasphemous, manipulative and corrupted media.... It is a fact that the Islamists hate Israel. They bring this hatred to our beautiful nation. They should integrate or leave. Simple as that. It would be good if they took their ABC, ALP and Green buddies with them."

But as so often (see here and here), one of the best commentaries comes from Australian Jewish News publisher Robert Magid.  He writes in the paper's latest issue, inter alia:

'To compare One Nation to Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists [as one commentator in the paper did] is totally inappropriate.  The essential element of fascism is violence and intimidation.  Mosley's troops wore uniforms, worshipped Hitler and provoked street battles with Jews and communists.  There is no resemblance to Senator Hanson of One Nation.  

As in the case of those who voted for Donald Trump, there would be some "deplorables" who support One Nation, while many others of its its followers are reacting to the perceived failure of the "establishment" and its surrender to the politically correct mindset.

If we are so broad-minded that an avowed critic of Israel, [World Vision Australia's] Tim Costello, is invited to address a Jewish organisation [Hadassah,  at Glen Eira Town Hall last month], why should we refuse to listen to someone who is sympathetic to the Jewish community but whose views we oppose?"

"This ... Is In The Same Vein Of Islamic Extremism & Incitement To Violence That Islamic State Peddles" (contains updates ... & nuts)

It seems even one or two of Australia's most ardent leftist Israel-bashers (or at any rate one or two of the Jewish ones) think the principal screecher among the mob of ferals who on Wednesday invaded Colonel Kemp's lecture at Sydney University – a female to boot – erred in condemning the recent  campus ban on speakers from the notorious group Hizb-ut Tahrir.

Watch and hear her at around 0.43 on the video (see my last post but one).

The strange leftist mindset revealed.

First, by one of the student demonstrators:

 Secondly, by the Wollongong academic who some time ago walked from Sydney to Canberra to deliver an anti-Israel petition to federal parliament:

(The latter is Jewish, by the way.)

As Sydney Daily Telegraph blogger Tim Blair has observed:

"Note the description of Hizb ut-Tahrir from the main shouter: it is merely an “outspoken Islamic organisation.” Yeah, right."

Now here's a bit of welcome sense from Larry Stillman of the leftwing Israel-bashing Australian Jewish Democratic Society, in a discussion with a bunch of fellow-Jewish lefties on Facebook (the reference to Professor Jake Lynch's wallet, by the way, concerns this alleged but perhaps misinterpreted incident)*:

Not only are Hizb ut-Tahrir "no friends of progressive women" (indeed, of any women unwilling to be demeaned and used as chattels and to be regarded as inherently inferior to men) but they are certainly no friends to Jews, as seen here as well as in this, the latest video from Sydney in which vicious antisemitism and uninhibited incitement to violence against Jews is displayed:

 No wonder, as reported here,

'NSW Jewish Board of Deputies chief Vic Alhadeff compared the rhetoric to the propaganda of the Islamic State.

He also called on the government to respond swiftly amid fears of cultivating another homegrown terrorist. “This has nothing to do with Israel and is in the same vein of Islamic extremism and incitement to violence that IS peddles,” he said. “It is another wake-up call for authorities to act before these hate-preachers inspire the next Man Monis.”'

 *Incidentally, for Colonel Kemp's letter to the vice-chancellor of Sydney University, expressing outrage at the intimidatory and offensive tactics used (including, he says, money thrust into the face of a Jewish student by Professor Lynch), and urging an investigation, see here

Bibi – Hero Of The Free World – & The Petty People

"He’s a hero not only of the Jewish People, but of people everywhere who feel themselves part of the free world, people who oppose the horrors that Islamic State is inflicting and Iran’s nuclear plans...."

So, and rightly,  Sara Netanyahu has said of her husband, in an interview with Naomi Ragen, to be carried in full by the Jerusalem Post at the weekend.

Superb, simply superb, and typically so, was the speech, punctuated by frequent sustained thunderous applause, that The Hero delivered yesterday before Congress (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRf1cdw4IAY):

As Isi Leibler predicted in the interview he gave to Mark Golub that I posted yesterday, Bibi began by acknowledging the good things that (the insultingly absent) Barack Obama has done for Israel.

He continued, inter alia, in a speech worthy of Churchill taking on the Appeasers during the Devil's Decade:

 '....  Iran’s regime is not merely a Jewish problem, any more than the Nazi regime was merely a Jewish problem. The six million Jews murdered by the Nazis were but a fraction of the 60 million people killed in World War Two. So, too, Iran’s regime poses a grave threat, not only to Israel, but also the peace of the entire world. To understand just how dangerous Iran would be with nuclear weapons, we must fully understand the nature of the regime.

The people of Iran are very talented people. They’re heirs to one of the world’s great civilizations. But in 1979, they were hijacked by religious zealots — religious zealots who imposed on them immediately a dark and brutal dictatorship.

That year, the zealots drafted a constitution, a new one for Iran. It directed the revolutionary guards not only to protect Iran’s borders, but also to fulfill the ideological mission of jihad. The regime’s founder, Ayatollah Khomeini, exhorted his followers to “export the revolution throughout the world.”

I’m standing here in Washington, DC and the difference is so stark. America’s founding document promises life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Iran’s founding document pledges death, tyranny, and the pursuit of jihad. And as states are collapsing across the Middle East, Iran is charging into the void to do just that.

Iran’s goons in Gaza, its lackeys in Lebanon, its revolutionary guards on the Golan Heights are clutching Israel with three tentacles of terror. Backed by Iran, Assad is slaughtering Syrians. Back by Iran, Shiite militias are rampaging through Iraq. Back by Iran, Houthis are seizing control of Yemen, threatening the strategic straits at the mouth of the Red Sea. Along with the Straits of Hormuz, that would give Iran a second choke-point on the world’s oil supply.

Just last week, near Hormuz, Iran carried out a military exercise blowing up a mock U.S. aircraft carrier. That’s just last week, while they’re having nuclear talks with the United States. But unfortunately, for the last 36 years, Iran’s attacks against the United States have been anything but mock. And the targets have been all too real.

Iran took dozens of Americans hostage in Tehran, murdered hundreds of American soldiers, Marines, in Beirut, and was responsible for killing and maiming thousands of American service men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Beyond the Middle East, Iran attacks America and its allies through its global terror network. It blew up the Jewish community center and the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires. It helped Al Qaida bomb U.S. embassies in Africa. It even attempted to assassinate the Saudi ambassador, right here in Washington, DC.

In the Middle East, Iran now dominates four Arab capitals, Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut and Sanaa. And if Iran’s aggression is left unchecked, more will surely follow.

So, at a time when many hope that Iran will join the community of nations, Iran is busy gobbling up the nations.

We must all stand together to stop Iran’s march of conquest, subjugation and terror.

Now, two years ago, we were told to give President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif a chance to bring change and moderation to Iran. Some change! Some moderation!

Rouhani’s government hangs gays, persecutes Christians, jails journalists and executes even more prisoners than before.

Last year, the same Zarif who charms Western diplomats laid a wreath at the grave of Imad Mughniyeh. Imad Mughniyeh is the terrorist mastermind who spilled more American blood than any other terrorist besides Osama bin Laden. I’d like to see someone ask him a question about that.

Iran’s regime is as radical as ever, its cries of “Death to America,” that same America that it calls the “Great Satan,” as loud as ever.

Now, this shouldn’t be surprising, because the ideology of Iran’s revolutionary regime is deeply rooted in militant Islam, and that’s why this regime will always be an enemy of America.

Don’t be fooled. The battle between Iran and ISIS doesn’t turn Iran into a friend of America.

Iran and ISIS are competing for the crown of militant Islam. One calls itself the Islamic Republic. The other calls itself the Islamic State. Both want to impose a militant Islamic empire first on the region and then on the entire world. They just disagree among themselves who will be the ruler of that empire.

In this deadly game of thrones, there’s no place for America or for Israel, no place for Christians, Jews or Muslims who don’t share the Islamist medieval creed, no rights for women, no freedom for anyone.

So when it comes to Iran and ISIS, the enemy of your enemy is your enemy.

The difference is that ISIS is armed with butcher knives, captured weapons and YouTube, whereas Iran could soon be armed with intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear bombs. We must always remember — I’ll say it one more time — the greatest dangers facing our world is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons. To defeat ISIS and let Iran get nuclear weapons would be to win the battle, but lose the war. We can’t let that happen.

But that, my friends, is exactly what could happen, if the deal now being negotiated is accepted by Iran. That deal will not prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. It would all but guarantee that Iran gets those weapons, lots of them.

Let me explain why. While the final deal has not yet been signed, certain elements of any potential deal are now a matter of public record. You don’t need intelligence agencies and secret information to know this. You can Google it.

Absent a dramatic change, we know for sure that any deal with Iran will include two major concessions to Iran.

The first major concession would leave Iran with a vast nuclear infrastructure, providing it with a short break-out time to the bomb. Break-out time is the time it takes to amass enough weapons-grade uranium or plutonium for a nuclear bomb.

According to the deal, not a single nuclear facility would be demolished. Thousands of centrifuges used to enrich uranium would be left spinning. Thousands more would be temporarily disconnected, but not destroyed.

Because Iran’s nuclear program would be left largely intact, Iran’s break-out time would be very short — about a year by U.S. assessment, even shorter by Israel’s.

And if — if Iran’s work on advanced centrifuges, faster and faster centrifuges, is not stopped, that break-out time could still be shorter, a lot shorter.

True, certain restrictions would be imposed on Iran’s nuclear program and Iran’s adherence to those restrictions would be supervised by international inspectors. But here’s the problem. You see, inspectors document violations; they don’t stop them.

Inspectors knew when North Korea broke to the bomb, but that didn’t stop anything. North Korea turned off the cameras, kicked out the inspectors. Within a few years, it got the bomb.

Now, we’re warned that within five years North Korea could have an arsenal of 100 nuclear bombs.

Like North Korea, Iran, too, has defied international inspectors. It’s done that on at least three separate occasions — 2005, 2006, 2010. Like North Korea, Iran broke the locks, shut off the cameras.

Now, I know this is not gonna come a shock — as a shock to any of you, but Iran not only defies inspectors, it also plays a pretty good game of hide-and-cheat with them.

The UN’s nuclear watchdog agency, the IAEA, said again yesterday that Iran still refuses to come clean about its military nuclear program. Iran was also caught — caught twice, not once, twice — operating secret nuclear facilities in Natanz and Qom, facilities that inspectors didn’t even know existed.

Right now, Iran could be hiding nuclear facilities that we don’t know about, the U.S. and Israel. As the former head of inspections for the IAEA said in 2013, he said, “If there’s no undeclared installation today in Iran, it will be the first time in 20 years that it doesn’t have one.” Iran has proven time and again that it cannot be trusted. And that’s why the first major concession is a source of great concern. It leaves Iran with a vast nuclear infrastructure and relies on inspectors to prevent a breakout. That concession creates a real danger that Iran could get to the bomb by violating the deal.

But the second major concession creates an even greater danger that Iran could get to the bomb by keeping the deal. Because virtually all the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program will automatically expire in about a decade.

Now, a decade may seem like a long time in political life, but it’s the blink of an eye in the life of a nation. It’s a blink of an eye in the life of our children. We all have a responsibility to consider what will happen when Iran’s nuclear capabilities are virtually unrestricted and all the sanctions will have been lifted. Iran would then be free to build a huge nuclear capacity that could product many, many nuclear bombs.

Iran’s Supreme Leader says that openly. He says, Iran plans to have 190,000 centrifuges, not 6,000 or even the 19,000 that Iran has today, but 10 times that amount — 190,000 centrifuges enriching uranium. With this massive capacity, Iran could make the fuel for an entire nuclear arsenal and this in a matter of weeks, once it makes that decision.

My long-time friend, John Kerry, Secretary of State, confirmed last week that Iran could legitimately possess that massive centrifuge capacity when the deal expires.

Now I want you to think about that. The foremost sponsor of global terrorism could be weeks away from having enough enriched uranium for an entire arsenal of nuclear weapons and this with full international legitimacy.

And by the way, if Iran’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program is not part of the deal, and so far, Iran refuses to even put it on the negotiating table. Well, Iran could have the means to deliver that nuclear arsenal to the far-reach corners of the earth, including to every part of the United States.

So you see, my friends, this deal has two major concessions: one, leaving Iran with a vast nuclear program and two, lifting the restrictions on that program in about a decade. That’s why this deal is so bad. It doesn’t block Iran’s path to the bomb; it paves Iran’s path to the bomb.

So why would anyone make this deal? Because they hope that Iran will change for the better in the coming years, or they believe that the alternative to this deal is worse?

Well, I disagree. I don’t believe that Iran’s radical regime will change for the better after this deal. This regime has been in power for 36 years, and its voracious appetite for aggression grows with each passing year. This deal would wet appetite — would only wet Iran’s appetite for more.

Would Iran be less aggressive when sanctions are removed and its economy is stronger? If Iran is gobbling up four countries right now while it’s under sanctions, how many more countries will Iran devour when sanctions are lifted? Would Iran fund less terrorism when it has mountains of cash with which to fund more terrorism?

Why should Iran’s radical regime change for the better when it can enjoy the best of both world’s: aggression abroad, prosperity at home?

This is a question that everyone asks in our region. Israel’s neighbors — Iran’s neighbors know that Iran will become even more aggressive and sponsor even more terrorism when its economy is unshackled and it’s been given a clear path to the bomb.

And many of these neighbors say they’ll respond by racing to get nuclear weapons of their own. So this deal won’t change Iran for the better; it will only change the Middle East for the worse. A deal that’s supposed to prevent nuclear proliferation would instead spark a nuclear arms race in the most dangerous part of the planet.

This deal won’t be a farewell to arms. It would be a farewell to arms control. And the Middle East would soon be crisscrossed by nuclear tripwires. A region where small skirmishes can trigger big wars would turn into a nuclear tinderbox.

If anyone thinks — if anyone thinks this deal kicks the can down the road, think again. When we get down that road, we’ll face a much more dangerous Iran, a Middle East littered with nuclear bombs and a countdown to a potential nuclear nightmare.

Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve come here today to tell you we don’t have to bet the security of the world on the hope that Iran will change for the better. We don’t have to gamble with our future and with our children’s future.

We can insist that restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program not be lifted for as long as Iran continues its aggression in the region and in the world.

Before lifting those restrictions, the world should demand that Iran do three things. First, stop its aggression against its neighbors in the Middle East. Second…

Second, stop supporting terrorism around the world.

And third, stop threatening to annihilate my country, Israel, the one and only Jewish state.

If the world powers are not prepared to insist that Iran change its behavior before a deal is signed, at the very least they should insist that Iran change its behavior before a deal expires.

If Iran changes its behavior, the restrictions would be lifted. If Iran doesn’t change its behavior, the restrictions should not be lifted.

If Iran wants to be treated like a normal country, let it act like a normal country....'

[Emphasis added; read the entire speech here]

Little wonder that the speech prompted a score of standing ovations.

Little wonder that very many of those who have Israel's interests at heart are hoping that Bibi will still be Israel's prime minister following the forthcoming election. (Example here)

But of course there are always the petty people who put partisan rivalries ahead of what should be a common cause:

(See here)

As well as the leftist as-a-Jews and renegades who seem to deny the real and present danger:

And who denounce not only the Hero of the Free World but others determined to keep the free world free.

Jewish hard leftists.  What a frightful strange breed they are.

Useful To The Enemy: Ben Cohen On Anti-Zionist Jewish "Dissidents"

'Throughout the greater Middle East, opposition to the concept and existence of a Jewish state is an idée fixe for hundreds of millions of Arab and non-Arab Muslims. A hatred of Jewish political sovereignty that frequently dovetails with more traditional anti-Semitism animates café discussions and street protests as surely as it prohibits regional political progress. Yet the strand of anti-Zionism that has lately come to attract the most attention in the West is the one articulated by a tiny minority of left-wing Jews at a handful of websites....' writes New Yorker Ben Cohen in a searing indictment of prominent leftwing Jews whose stock-in-trade is persistently to attack Israel.

'Dissident voices? Properly understood, the word dissident describes intellectuals and activists operating in oppressive societies. What they do frequently results in imprisonment, torture, and even death. The dissidents ... are not silenced, but rather celebrated, by media establishments ranging from the Huffington Post to the BBC.

The persistent inclusion of these "dissident voices" in discussions of America, Jews, and Israel has proven very useful indeed, since their membership in the tribe is deemed to give them special standing in presenting their indictment of Israel—and, somewhat more subtly, inoculates Gentile critics of the Jewish state against the charge that their attacks on Israel might be anti-Semitic. How can they be if they are merely echoing the arguments made by such passionate, such moral, such fearless, such dissident Jews?

In an Internet age characterized by instant, rolling comment, they have helped to reactivate a set of ideas that many thought had perished with the grubby pamphlets published in the old Soviet Union, screeds that bore titles such as "Zionism: A Tool of Reaction". Whereas the true dissidents of the Cold War era introduced words such as samizdat into the vocabulary of the West, the ersatz dissidents of the Jewish left have popularized a host of expressions—Judaization, Israel-firster, Zionist apartheid, and so forth—that were once relegated almost entirely to the openly anti-Semitic fringe....

 Mass-movement anti-Zionism will be happy to incorporate Jewish anti-Zionists and march onward. Hatred of Israel is a malleable doctrine of false justice that welcomes all comers and provides for unlikely bedfellows. These days, the burden of proof is increasingly, and perversely, placed on those arguing in Zionism’s behalf. But, ironically, charting both the writings and the career trajectories of devoted anti-Zionists makes a uniquely strong case for the continued existence and protection of the Jewish state.'

Read the entire article here

"Jewish" Book Week too is "Taking the Mick" ...

This is a cross-post by the indefatigable Jonathan Hoffman (pictured), one of the most dedicated pro-Israel activists in the United Kingdom.  The post first appeared at

http://www.thejc.com/blogpost/jewish-book-week-too-taking-mick

I have written on this blog [the Jewish Chronicle blogspot] about the folly of organisations within the Jewish community offering a platform to the enemies of Israel. In the UK, Liberal Judaism has done it (to Jeff Halper of the ICAHD) and also Limmud (to Breaking The Silence and to John Ging of UNRWA).

"Free speech" is all well and good but at a time when Israel is under pathological attack in the "war of the mind", it is barmy for Jewish organisations to put Israel's enemies on a plinth. As we saw in the Mick Davis case, it just gives ammunition to the malefactors (in his case, to the odious Gerald Kaufman - he of the £8865 TV - who cited Davis in his Commons speech against reform of Universal Jurisdiction).

The demented, deranged madness has spread to London's Jewish Book Week. It includes a session with Gideon Levy, discussing his book The Punishment of Gaza. The session is to be chaired by Johann Hari of The Independent.

Let's start with Hari. He has compared Israel to excrement, falsely accusing settlers of allowing untreated sewage to poison the water of Palestinians on the West Bank. This is a blood libel:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-har...

His columns are full of false quotes which denigrate Israel, e.g. this column:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-har...

Menachem Begin never called the Palestinians "beasts walking on two legs". Begin was talking, not about "the Palestinians" but about terrorists who target children within Israel:
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=22&x_article=775

And here Tom Gross quotes a letter from Benny Morris (which The Independent never published) picking up another false quote from Hari:
http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/000805.htmlhttp:...

More on horrible Hari here, from the admirable Chas Newkey-Burden:
http://www.oyvagoy.com/2010/03/12/intelligently-and-without-hyperbole/

Unbelievably the session is "in association with the London Review of Books"! The LRB editors are pathological Israel demonisers as shown here:
http://justjournalism.com/reports/london-review-of-books/

Look at what Benny Morris said about this Just Journalism article:

"A good dissection of the articles on the conflict that appeared in the LRB over the past decade. Many contributions are no more than pro-Arab propaganda. On the face of things, it would appear that sending taxpayers’ pounds their way is misguided if not downright hostile toward Israel – which is not British government policy."

(Benny Morris is Professor of History in the Middle East Studies Department at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel)
http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/burden/?content_id=15398

Johann Hari, who rarely saw a religion-bashing bandwagon he didn't want to hop onto, recently dismissed shechita as nothing more than barbarism originating from "some hallucinating desert nomads".

Someone just emailed me to say "I personally think with Hari that there are so many anti-Jewish dots that it is hard to not join them". S/he's dead right.
http://www.oyvagoy.com/2010/03/12/intelligently-and-without-hyperbole/

Now to Gideon Levy. Levy is discredited in Israel. He admits himself (at an Amnesty meeting I attended) that if he spoke at a meeting in Israel, only a handful of people [would] turn up.

Gideon Levy's reports often have little or no connection to the truth
http://www.camera.org/index.aspx_context=6&x_article=146


He abuses his position as a “journalist” to demonise Israel. He is a self serving propagandist who makes money at the expense of his own people.

http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=55&x_article=1016
http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2008/07/28/gideon-levy-twisted-in-knots-...
http://israelseen.com/2010/09/11/gideon-levy-and-uncomfortable-truths/

Just his disgusting misreporting of the rape case a few months ago should prove to all (except the most hardline haters) that he is driven by a hate agenda and that his journalism is therefore akin to fiction.

I urge you to protest to Book Week. The email address is info@jewishbookweek.com

I will be boycotting Book Week this year and any other year when their programming gives a platform to two such vicious mendacious enemies of Israel. Ask yourself whether you should follow suit.