Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind.(Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)
We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East.(From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948) With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last.(Friends of Israel Initiative)
"Liberal and Progressive" Rabbi Michael Lerner at Mohammed Ali's funeral, inter alia taking swipes at Israel and paying tribute to Islam and The Prophet (and looking like he was about to burst a blood vessel in the process):
You' might think, as I did, that Lerner's remarks would find favour with Israel-haters everywhere.
You might. But you'd be wrong. Just look at the reaction his remarks have drawn from (wait for it!) Jonathan Azaziah, author of the following vile article, and certain of Azaziah's Muslim (and non-Muslim) friends (including an obsessive Israel-demoniser called Andy Taylor) on Facebook.
Visceral antisemitism, so starkly expressed, so clearly seen.
Across the Pond, from our old friend Alex Seymour, Israelophobe extraordinaire, footage of members of Richmond and Kingston PSC (what a well-heeled bourgeois bunch they seem, befitting their leafy habitat) at a fair at Ham Common in Surrey on the Saturday of this Queen's Birthday weekend, displaying among their goodies those mendacious maps.
Really, might it not be time for counter-demonstrators to attend such events, bringing with them leaflets that tell the great British public precisely why those maps are deceitful. (I've linked on my sidebar to two websites that show up those maps for what they are.)
Entitled "Palestine – Politicians Peddling Propaganda Forfeit Credibility", here is the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.
Image credit: J-Wire.com
He writes:
Senator Lee Rhiannon – a member of the Greens Party holding a pivotal position in Australian politics – authorised and printed a deceptive and misleading pamphlet which was distributed at a protest rally addressed by her last Sunday in Sydney “against Israeli Apartheid and commemorating Al Nakba 68 years on.”
Image credit: J-Wire.com
The pamphlet purported to quote a statement by Israel’s then Defense Minister Moshe Dayan in 1969:
“We came to a region of land that was inhabited by Arabs and we set up a Jewish State … Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages“
What Dayan actually said – which Senator Rhiannon was apparently not prepared to disclose – was:
“We came to a region that was inhabited by Arabs, and we set up a Jewish state. In many places, we purchased the land from Arabs and set up Jewish villages where there had once been Arab villages.”
God forbid that those present should learn that Jews had actually purchased land from its Arab owners. Better to maintain the canard repeated in Palestinian text books and media that
“8.6 per cent of the land was owned by Jews and 3.3 per cent by Israeli Arabs, while 16.9 per cent had been abandoned by Arab owners who imprudently heeded the call from neighbouring countries to "get out of the way" while the invading Arab armies made short shrift of Israel. The rest of the land—over 70 per cent—had been vested in the Mandatory Power, and accordingly reverted to the State of Israel as its legal heir. (Government of Palestine, Survey of Palestine, 1946, British Government Printer, p. 257.) The greater part of this 70 per cent consisted of the Negev, some 3,144,250 acres all told, or close to 50 per cent of the 6,580,000 acres in all of Mandatory Palestine. Known as Crown or State Lands, this was mostly uninhabited arid or semi-arid territory, inherited originally by the Mandatory Government from Turkey. In 1948 it passed to the Government of Israel. These lands had not been owned by Arab farmers—neither under the British Mandate nor under the preceding regime.”
Senator Rhiannon has a Parliamentary staff to assist her in ensuring everything that issues in her name as a Senator is totally and completely accurate.
She has let her emotions cloud her judgement in what can only be seen as a deliberate attempt to paper over the fact that Jews bought land in Palestine they settled on.
Another pamphlet containing four maps was handed out at the rally – supposedly documenting Palestinian loss of land between 1946 and 2000.
Image credit: J-Wire.com
McGraw Hill Publishing only recently withdrew from sale and trashed unsold copies of one of its textbooks – Global Politics: Engaging a Complex World – containing those maps.
"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."
Senator Rhiannon is perfectly entitled to express her support for the Palestinian Arabs.
It would be encouraging to know, however, that her support is based on fact – not fiction and partisan propaganda designed to deceive and mislead and possibly incite to violence and Jew-hatred.
Senator Rhiannon has badly blotted her copybook – and credibility.
Entitled "Palestine – Perpetuating Propaganda Plagues Peace Process", here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer, who previously wrote about the McGraw-Hill maps incident here and here
He writes:
McGraw Hill’s decision to trash copies of its textbook Global Politics: Engaging a Complex World has been subjected to intense criticism on web sites propagating the “Palestinian Narrative” of the 100 years old Arab-Jewish conflict. The “Palestinian Narrative” is a concoction of lies and half-truths based on the 1964 PLO National Charter – as amended in 1968 – and the 1988 Hamas Covenant.
Catherine Mathis – a spokeswoman for McGraw-Hill – 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 follows similar criticism of MSNBC which aired the same series of maps last year on “MSNBC Live”.
Host Kate Snow and her then guest Middle East expert Martin Fletcher made a return appearance to acknowledge that they realized after they went off the air that the maps were not factually accurate and they regretted using them.
Now, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) has published a letter signed by 35 “prominent academics” attacking McGraw Hill’s “shocking and outrageous act of censorship of the Palestinian narrative from US schoolbooks”.
The fact that JVP openly acknowledges the offending maps are part of the “Palestinian narrative” is surely more than sufficient justification for trashing the text book – because no disclosure was made by the contributing editors that the maps they used were partisan in nature.
But the academics letter goes even further in claiming:
1. “The maps in question are historically accurate” – but gives no evidence to back up that claim.
2. “If there were in fact any minor errors with the maps they should have been corrected rather than removed altogether” – but fails to list such minor errors.
I contacted JVP requesting to know what those “minor errors” were. Rather than listing those “minor errors” JVP referred me to the fact sheet of another web site propagating the same maps and claiming they were accurate.
I then sent JVP my detailed reasons for questioning the accuracy of these four maps – adding:
“I know it would be very difficult to withdraw your letter signed by so many distinguished people but it needs to be qualified if their integrity and yours is to be maintained.
McGraw Publishing had the intellectual strength to remove the offending text book from sale when inaccuracies in the maps were brought to its attention.
I believe you now need to issue an appropriately worded supplementary letter that:
* errors appearing in the published maps drawn to your attention after your letter was published were regrettably incapable of being corrected thereby necessitating their withdrawal and the textbook from sale.
* McGraw Hill's decision to do so was justified.
Please give this letter your serious consideration and let me know what you intend doing.”
No response has been received to this and two subsequent e mails.
Misleading maps – like misleading statements – allowed to go unchallenged – soon become accepted as gospel truth if repeated often enough in text books and in the media.
Anti-Israel websites peddling the “Palestinian narrative” and refusing to publish comments seeking to correct unsubstantiated and untrue statements are increasing.
Jewish Voice For Peace does itself no credit in aligning with these insidious web sites by maintaining its deafening silence and knowingly propagating these totally discredited maps.
JVP types in Atlanta
Note from Daphne: the MSNBC map shown below appears several times on the JVP Facebook page.
The comments below, like the signs in the photo of JVP activists above, are illustrative of the JVP's outlook and agenda: click here for its sources of funding; (NGO Monitor has its measure)
Here, entitled "Internet Intifada Denies Free Speech," is the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.
He writes:
Many Palestinian websites are stifling free speech by refusing to publish comments answering anti-Israel articles published on their sites.
The latest example is an article written by Rania Khalek on Electronic Intifada
Responding to the decision by McGraw Hill Education to destroy all copies of its text book Global Politics: Engaging a Complex World – containing the accompanying maps – Khalek claimed:
"The maps, which appear in chronological succession on page 123, show Palestinian land loss from 1946, one year before Zionist militias initiated the displacement of more than 750,000 indigenous Palestinians from historic Palestine, to the year 2000, by which point Palestinian land had been reduced to a handful of tiny non-contiguous enclaves in the occupied West Bank and a sliver of Gaza."
I endeavoured to post the following comment in response on 21 March pointing out the misleading nature of these maps:
"Map 1:
The heading “Palestinian and Jewish Land 1946“ is misleading for the following reasons:
(i) The map excludes Transjordan which in 1946 still comprised 78% of the territory of the Mandate for Palestine until granted independence by Great Britain in May 1946.
(ii) The land described as “Palestinian land” misleadingly implies legal ownership by the Palestinian Arabs of that land when in fact about 90% of it was State land under British Mandatory control and legal power of disposition.
Map 2:
The legend “Palestinian land” is misleading.
The legend should have said “proposed Jewish State” and “proposed Arab State” - the terms used in the UN Partition Plan.
Map 3:
The heading "1949-1967" is misleading.
The map should have shown the unification of the West Bank with Transjordan between 1949 and 1967 and the change of name of Transjordan to Jordan in 1950.
It should also have designated the Gaza Strip as being under Egyptian military administration between 1948-1967.
Map 4:
One can only wonder why the year 2000 was chosen. Why not 2015 after Israel had already withdrawn from Gaza and four settlements in the West Bank in 2005 and dismantled many illegal outposts?
In any event the legend “Palestinian land” and “Israeli land” is again wrong and misleading in so far as it relates to the West Bank. The land there should have been shown as Areas “A”, “B” and “C”
As maps designed to be taught to students they are totally lacking in accuracy and ignore basic facts in their compilation.
Designating land as “Palestinian land” in any event implies that such land belongs to the “Palestinians”. Since there were no persons designated as “Palestinians” until the 1964 PLO Charter defined that term – the use of the term in maps before then smacks of an attempt to re-write history.
McGraw Hill had no option but to discard these maps"
My comments have not yet been published – and comes at a particularly sensitive time as Electronic Intifada Editor Ali Abunimah, a US citizen, has recently received a visa from the Australian Government – after waiting two months – to speak at a four day Marxism Conference and at other venues in Australia.
Abunimah posted the following tweet thanking the thousands who had petitioned the Australian Government supporting the grant of his visa:
"I'm so grateful to every person who stood up for free speech. Delighted
that I just received my visa for Australia. See you Down Under!" 4:44 AM - 16 Mar 2016
Perhaps my comment inadvertently slipped through the cracks as Mr Abunimah was busy packing his bags for his visit to Australia.
Free speech means free speech for all Mr Abunimah. Stand up, be counted, publish my comment.
The inevitable set of Mendacious Maps prominently displayed, the Richmond branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign has been making merry with all the fun of the fair.
Among the Israel-haters saying their bit to camera in the following footage by branch honcho Alex Seymour (aka Seymour Alexander) is the incorrigible Jenny Tonge, looking and sounding as sour as always.
But the "star" of Seymour's video is a bloke with a Jewish name. He's actor John Altman, best known for playing Dot Cotton's jailbird son "Nasty"Nick Cotton in the BBC TV soap "EastEnders".
The script that Altman spews is full of spite and venom, and woeful, disgusting ignorance. Shame on him.
Meanwhile, north of the Border, where the Scottish Nationalists have trounced all comers, the Israel-haters of the Argyll branch of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign have been indulging in May merriment of their own. They held a conference yesterday in Glasgow on the theme "Ending Scottish Arms Trade With Israel".
And talking of Mendacious Maps, as I noted briefly on this blog's Facebook page last week, there's a new set out. This sleight-of-hand set, presumably intended for a British audience, is from a seemingly new kid on the block. In his own way he's as ignorant as "Nasty" Nick Cotton: he claims that the Britain promised Ottoman Palestine to both Jews and Arabs. But, of course, the Mandate was for the Jewish National Home, not an Arab national home or a "Palestinian" national home, not least since nobody, including the Arabs themselves, had any notion of a separate "Palestinian people" at that juncture.
Pardon the "great Australian adjective", but that infamous set of mendacious maps which does yeoman service to the anti-Israel cause has now turned up on the side of public buses in Copenhagen:
To quote the Israel-libellers:
Copenhagen bus adverts call for settlement boycott
May the world's buses carry messages of justice for the Palestinians.
The campaign started yesterday in the Capital of Denmark.
If enough funds are collected through the website, the campaign will go country wide. Check the FB-page and website below.
In Danish it says:
"Our conscience is clear! We neither buy products from or invest in the settlement industry".
(Charlotte and Lizzie)
http://nejtaktilbsp.dk/
https://facebook.com/nejtaktilbsp
#nejtaktilbsp
I know of at least one pro-Israel activist who has sent a message of protest to Denmark's ambassador in his country, expressing disgust at the bus ad (especially coming as it does just two months after the murder of a Copenhagen Jew standing watch outside a Copenhagen synagogue during a bat mitzvah ceremony), directing the envoy to this post that shows the maps for the libels they are, and politely requesting that the ads be removed.
More BDS afoot, this time to dissuade American diva Dionne Warwick from performing in Israel next month:
Meanwhile, this latest article by the frank, fearless and free Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh entitled "The Palestinians No One Talks About" is highly recommended.
(Oh, and so is my latest Tuesday column on Elder of Ziyon!)
I've referred to Edgar Davidson's British-based blog several times in the past. Cerebral, original, and sometimes satirical, he's one of my favourite pro-Israel bloggers. His latest post is a valuable contribution to that small but vital body of internet posts that refute the mendacious, mischievous set of four map that, claiming to show Zionist land thefts of Arab land, constitutes a seemingly ubiquitous graphic corollary to the allegation of a "disappearing Palestine".
The set of maps is, it appears, an essential prop in the equipment of all anti-Israel propagandists, featuring as it does on posters pinned up during Israel-bashing meetings, intended for the sides of buses, given pride of place at Israel-bashing demonstrations (see, for instance, here), and comprising sticky posts on websites such as this one.
Notes Mr Davidson, in what should be required reading for every naive individual snared or likely to be snared by propagandistic anti-Israel malice, but of course won't be:
These maps are based on the completely false premise that, prior to 1947 there was an Arab state of Palestine. In fact the Palestine that was promised to the Jews as part of the Balfour declaration was the British mandate territory that includes what later become the state of Jordan (my map above top left). There was not – and never has been – an Arab state of Palestine even though, between 1948 and 1967 there was no 'occupied territories' of the West Bank or Gaza since these areas were then under the full control of Jordan and Egypt respectively. The Palestinian Arabs living there during that period never called for an independent state of their own.
Only the Jews of Palestine considered themselves Palestinian before 1948. The Arabs – most of whom had come to Palestine from Egypt and Syria because of the economic opportunities opened up by the Jews – considered themselves to be Syrian.
Despite the fact that 80% of mandate Palestine (not shown on the maps that lie) had already been granted to the Arabs exclusively to become the new state of Jordan, the Jews of Palestine accepted the UN partition plan of 1947. The surrounding Arab states did not accept it and launched a war of annihilation against the Jews (during and after which some 1 million Jews from Arab countries were forced to leave – most of them came to Israel).
The result of the war that was intended to murder every single Jew in Palestine was that the invading Arab armies were defeated and the Jews controlled slightly more territory overall than was part of the 1947 plan; however, they also lost some territory such as the Jewish quarter of East Jerusalem (including Judaism's holiest sites such as the Wailing Wall) and Gush Etzion that even the 1947 plan had not considered to be under Arab control.
The UN accepted the 1949 armistice line as defining the borders of Israel, while calling for East Jerusalem (now under Jordanian occupation) to be 'internationalised'.
The Arab states refused to recognise the State of Israel and have continued to this day to try to destroy it. The Jordanians who occupied East Jerusalem in 1948 expelled every Jew and destroyed every synagogue in the old city. Not a single Jew was allowed to enter Judaism's holiest sites until 1967 when, after the Egyptians, Jordanians and Syrians launched another attempted war of annihilation, Israel regained control over the old city and other areas.
Israel offered to withdraw from all the newly gained territories in return for peace but the offer was rejected by the Arab countries. With the exception of Jewish East Jerusalem Israel has essentially made the same offer over and again ever since but it has always been rejected. Despite this, Israel has returned the whole of Gaza and most of the West Bank to Palestinian control. But the Arabs continue to demand the destruction of all of Israel.
It is also important to show Israel in context with its Muslim neighbours ...
Mr Davidson's synopsis is an excellent model upon which proponents of the Israeli cause can base their responses to those who trot out those offending maps.
But that written refutation is not all. For he has done yeoman service to the pro-Israel cause in providing a comprehensive set of rival maps, eight in all, which give an accurate overview of what the situation truly was and is.
