"Palestine Belongs To Us ... Jihad & Resistance Are The Path" (video)

As BBCWatch details here, Britain's despicable "national broadcaster" has been

 "all agog at the visit of Khaled Masha’al to the Gaza Strip for the occasion of events marking the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the terror organization Hamas – brought forward from the actual date of its establishment in order to coincide with the anniversary of the beginning of the first Intifada on December 9th.

So, whilst Syria slaughters and Egypt writhes, the BBC News website’s home page has for two consecutive days been running the Khaled Masha’al/Hamas rally story as its lead item, with a level of enthusiasm nearing that usually reserved for a Royal visit."

As one commenter aptly observed:

"From the tone adopted by the bbc newsreader [make that successive newsreaders on successive bulletins - D.A.] covering this story on News At Ten on Friday you would have thought the story was about the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet, The tender, affectionate style would equally have suited a piece about a child reunited with distraught parents after going missing in, say, an earthquake."

And, as demonstrated here, the BBC's enthusiasm for Hamas's birthday celebrations shows no sign of abating.

Here, from Memri.org, is the blood-curdling pro-Jihad speech that the antisemitic Islamofascist object of the BBC's reverential tones and grotesquely misplaced affections delivered to his followers in Gaza on 7th December, declaring that all the land from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea "belongs to us and to nobody else ... Palestine ... is the land of Arabism and of Islam" and consequently there will be no recognition by Hamas of Israel.

"All That Intensive Training And They Run Like Little Girls" (video)

Here's how members of the IDF responded last week to provocation by Arab youths in the disputed territories throwing bricks and stones and yelling "Allahu Akbar".  They raised their shields to protect themselves from the relentless barrage of missiles and then fled for cover.

Although the missiles hurled at them had the potential to kill, they did not raise, let alone fire, their weapons.

"All that intensive training and they run like little girls; I'd be ashamed to be in the IDF after that," grumbles a commenter called Pesach on YouTube after watching the clip.

But it's that reaction on the part of the soldiers that bears out Colonel Richard Kemp's assertion that the IDF is an exemplary force: it's that army which, he testified following Operation Cast Lead, "did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare".

"Do these Islamist fighting groups ignore the international laws of armed conflict?" he has written.

"They do not.  It would be a grave mistake to conclude that they do.  Instead, they study it carefully and they understand it well.

They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it.  They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy’s main weaknesses."

Not that the soldiers' forbearance in the above video is appreciated by Israel's enemies: "Hitler 4 ever" is a recent comment beneath it on YouTube, for example.

Reports the Arutz Sheva news outlet:

'The incident in the video took place in recent days in Shechem. Three IDF soldiers were injured in the incident, with one sustaining an injury to his hand, and another a wound to his head. A third soldier was injured when a smoke grenade he was about to throw blew up in his hand. The three were being treated at a hospital in Petach Tikvah.

The incident was similar to another one that took place in Hevron last week, when IDF soldiers battled Palestinian Authority police and rioting Arabs. IDF officials said they considered the incident “serious,” and that an investigation had been opened.

Officials said that the level of Arab rioting in Judea and Samaria has climbed significantly since Operation Pillar of Defense ended, and that there were more reports of rock throwing and other terror incidents. Officials said that they had also been prepared for an increase in violence after last week's UN General Assembly vote raising the status of the PA in the world body. Many of the rioters are new Hamas sympathizers, the officials said, who have become supporters of the terror group in the wake of Operation Pillar of Defense.

Commenting on the Shechem video, the IDF said that the incident was being investigated. “This riot occurred during an illegal gathering last Friday in Kaddum, one of the most violent towns in Judea and Samaria. In the wake of the riot the IDF has updated its instructions for riot control by soldiers, using select, but moral, means to dispel riots but without using excessive force."

Viewers of the video expressed shock at the images, and many demanded that the IDF adjust its policies to enable soldiers to respond more effectively to situations like the one portrayed.... Commenting on the video, one viewer said that "the government is playing with fire. There is only so much patience that these soldiers can have in the fact of provocations like this. When a soldier picks up his weapon to defend himself and the hand-wringers all of the sudden ask why, they can watch this video to get their answer."'

Read more here

An Australian Lynching For A Jerusalem Academic (plus videos)

How low is the anti-Israel movement capable of sinking, how mean-minded and downright ridiculous it can be!

The Australian newspaper in its Wednesday "Higher Education" pages last week reported that Associate Professor Jake Lynch, head of the pro-BDS  Cen­tre for Peace and Con­flict Stud­ies at the University of Sydney, rebuffed Hebrew University of Jerusalem academic Dan Avnon's request "for as­sis­tance with study­ing civics ed­u­ca­tion in Aus­tralia under a fel­low­ship agree­ment be­tween the two in­sti­tu­tions".

Professor Avnon, the report explains, "is cred­ited with de­vel­op­ing and im­ple­ment­ing the only state pro­gram in civics writ­ten for joint Jew­ish-Arab high schools".  In turning down his request, Lynch cited the Centre's espousal of BDS as the reason, telling Avnon:

"Your re­search sounds in­ter­est­ing and worth­while. How­ever, we are sup­port­ers of the cam­paign of Boy­cott, Di­vest­ment and Sanc­tions, and that in­cludes the call for an aca­d­e­mic boy­cott of Is­raeli uni­ver­si­ties."

 Responded Avnon:

"I find it ironic that you pro­mote a pol­icy of boy­cott that does not dis­tin­guish one in­di­vid­ual from an­other. It is ironic be­cause, like my­self, many (prob­a­bly most) in­tel­lec­tu­als and schol­ars in rel­e­vant fields are doing our best to ef­fect change in Is­raeli po­lit­i­cal cul­ture. We pay prices for going against the in­sti­tu­tional grain. And then we turn around and meet such a ‘blind to the per­son’ pol­icy."

He added:

"One com­mon ten­dency that must be changed if we ever want to live sane lives is to de­bunk cat­e­gor­i­cal and stereo­typ­i­cal think­ing when deal­ing with human be­ings."

No reply from Lynch (who in 2009 vainly called for the University of Sydney to sever ties to the Hebrew University and the Haifa Technion) was forthcoming.

But in a subsequent report the following day the newspaper quoted him as defending his rejection of Avnon's request:

'In a sting­ing cri­tique of Aus­tralia’s for­eign pol­icy, Jake Lynch said the cen­tre boy­cotted Is­raeli in­sti­tu­tions "be­cause of the de­fi­cien­cies of of­fi­cial for­eign pol­icy and diplo­macy by Aus­tralia and other in­flu­en­tial states".

He said sup­port­ing the Boy­cott, Di­vest­ment and Sanc­tions move­ment against Is­rael sent a “mes­sage of un­ac­cept­abil­ity for Is­rael’s ex­pan­sion­ist poli­cies and mil­i­tarism”. “The mes­sage has not been clear enough from many gov­ern­ments, in­clud­ing Aus­tralia’s, and that has con­tributed to the prob­lem,” Mr Lynch said.

"By with­hold­ing our co-op­er­a­tion on an in­sti­tu­tional level, we are doing our bit to make up for that."

  To its credit, the University of Sydney distanced itself from Lynch's attitude, while Oppostion foreign affairs spokesperson Senator Julie Bishop made the reasonable point that the Centre's decision

 "to put a ban on con­tacts with Is­raeli aca­d­e­mics is com­pletely at odds with the aims of a cen­tre that pur­ports to be ded­i­cated to stud­ies in peace"

and queried whether Cen­tre de­clared its pro-BDS stance be­fore it re­ceiv­ed a $A47,000 grant from Au­sAid a couple of years ago.


So that's the latest on BDS in Sydney.  Now for the latest on BDS in Melbourne.

Hat tip to reader Shirlee for the following footage of BDSers ("Students For Palestine") there wearing Santa hats warbling bad cheer towards the Zionist Entity; here, it's evidently not going to be over because the fat lady, instead of singing, is taking pictures:

Those dodgy choristers and their fellow activists were attending a "Don't Buy Israeli Apartheid for Christmas" rally on 7 December in  City Square,  bent on spreading their Israel-demonising messages via alternative lyrics to Christmas carols, and wielding props bearing such slogans as "Israel is a terrorist state" (what, nothing about Syria?):

 Hullo 'ullo 'ullo, do I see the long arm of the law? – what's this all about, then?:

"And so this is Christmas, let's boycott Israel" ...  Not over yet; the fat lady's still not singing:

Oy!

Update: Another in the series (arguably the "best" in its horribly fascinating way of all).  Eardrum warning: screeching female demoniser at large:

Thanks, Shirlee!

Happy Chanukah! (video) Plus A Little Light On The PSC

Chag sameach to all to whom Chanukah is relevant.

 And, incidentally, thanks to reader Ian for the link to this intriguing exposing the Palestine Solidarity Campaign site

Living In Denial? Anglo-Jewish Leaders Walk Out On Speakers Warning Of Islamic Antisemitism

"I am touching upon the taboos that have to be broken, because a totally false narrative has been created in Europe

The idea that all cultures are the same is absurd. If there is no hierarchy in culture, then Nazi culture is equivalent to democratic Western culture.

There are Islamic groups which are equivalent in their language and ideology to Nazis. And I have no problem in saying that, because it is true."

That, according to a report in the Jewish Chronicle, is what Dr Manfred Gerstenfeld, an acknowledged expert on antisemitism in postwar Europe, and a founder of the Journal for the Study of Antisemitism, said following a walkout of some of the Anglo-Jewish communal personalities (notably from the Community Security Trust ) who, citing "Islamophobia" on the part of Dr Gerstenfeld and Egyptian-born author and activist Bat Ye'or (Gisèle Littman), walked out on a symposium on combating antisemitism that took place at London's Wiener Library recently.  (See Jonathan Hoffman's interesting and illuminating blog on this matter here)

One of the communal figures who reportedly walked out is quoted as explaining:

 "I was appalled by Gerstenfeld’s characterisation of Muslim culture as inferior. Nearly all the speakers on the day, including me, stressed that antisemitism must be understood and opposed within an anti-racist framework"

Bat Ye'or, widow of the late lamented David Littman, and author of Eurabia: The Europe-Arab Axis (2005) and other works including an article entitled "The Palestinization of UNESCO" that I mentioned here, reportedly told the symposium

 "The source of antisemitism is the organisation of the Islamic corporation"

and when the deputy communications director of Anglo-Jewry's Community Security Trust objected to the Islamophobic tone of such remarks, she responded:

"Islam is denying the root of Judaism and Christianity with a profound belief in Jihad."

Since I was not present at the symposium and did not hear the observations that led to frequent interjections and the walkout it would be quite wrong of me to characterise the reaction as that of "Trembling Israelites" or dhimmis.

Yet I'm worried that mainstream communal leaders appear to be echoing the mantra of the group Independent Jewish Voices:

"There is no justification for any form of racism, including anti-Semitism, anti-Arab racism or Islamophobia, in any circumstance."

Fine sentiments in the main: it's the bit about Islamophobia that's the bugbear.

 I'm worried that their evident ensnarement by the very dodgy school of thought that insists that "Islamophobia" (dislike of certain illiberal, antediluvian tenets of a particular worldview) is another side of the coin to the racism that is  antisemitism will blunt their responses to danger, a very real danger posed by radical Islam in Europe.

It would lead them to dismiss as mere hate-speech such warnings as this by the Arab-Christian scholar Raymond Ibrahim:

'These [persecuted] Christians [in the Islamic world] are often identical to their Muslim co-citizens in race, ethnicity, national identity, and language; there is no political dispute, no land dispute.  The only problem is that they are Christian—they are the other—and so must be subjugated, according to Sharia’s position for all “others,” for all infidels—including Israel and the West.

Such is the true nature of Muslim rage throughout the world: it is a byproduct of doctrinal intolerance if not downright hatred for the other, who must always be kept in a state of subjugation and humiliation, according to the letter of the Quran.

Accordingly, while Christian persecution is the clearest example of this hate, it also explains why others are so despised, for example, Israel.

Consider: Christians and Jews are both constantly castigated in the Quran: Muslims are admonished not to befriend either of them (5:51) and to fight and subjugate them “until they pay tribute with willing submission and feel themselves brought low” (9:29).  Christians under Islam are suffering accordingly—as despised dhimmis, abused and “brought low,” routinely plundered of their lives, dignity, and possessions.

On the other hand, Israel—the dhimmi that got away—actually has authority and power over Muslims.  Now, if dhimmis are supposed to be kept in total submission to Muslims, how then when one of them actually lords over Muslims?

Hence Islam’s immense and existential rage against the Jewish state."

As Isi Leibler has observed:

'It is surely high time for Diaspora leaders to stop living in denial and get their act together. Instead of competing with each other in oozing political correctness, they should display some backbone and call a spade a spade.

 We are currently witnessing the greatest revival of global anti-Semitism since the Middle Ages. This permeates all classes of society, and, ranging from academics to illiterates and European leaders who retain office despite making unabashed neo-Nazi remarks about Jews to mobs at anti-Israeli demonstrations carrying placards "gas the Jews".

It encompasses the entire political spectrum, but is spearheaded by liberals and Muslims. Muslim radicals relate to Israel in a manner reminiscent of the Church’s medieval attitude toward the Jews. They promote popular TV programs depicting the blood of Muslim children being used for baking matzot, and have revived The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a best-seller. They certainly compare favorably with the worst Nazi Jew baiting, with imams quoting genocidal religious texts to the faithful, inciting them to murder Jews, "the descendants of apes and pigs".

It is macabre to observe the alliance between liberals and jihadists who represent the antithesis of everything the Left purports to represent. The extremist Islamists are the most reactionary elements in the world. They reject fundamental human rights, proscribe freedom of expression and religion, promote the degradation of women and, to this day, implement barbaric laws including stoning of adulterers and homosexuals and the amputation of limbs for petty crimes. More than 50 Muslim countries deny Judaism or Christianity equal standing with Islam....

Alas, Jews who exaggerate the presence of Islamophobia become leading proponents of the campaign to sanitize and understate Islamic extremism. This is especially bizarre, given that Jews, especially in Europe, but also increasingly in the US, are facing far greater threats of violence than Muslims. It is also synagogues, rather than mosques, which are continuously being desecrated and vandalized, in many cases by Islamists....

This is an area in which Jews, who have the most to lose, must surely stand up and be counted."

 [Emphasis added]

And while we're on the subject of antisemitism in Britain see the sad report on the plight of Jewish students at Edinburgh University  here

"The Jew-hating Genie Has Been Spectacularly Unleashed Onto The World Stage Once Again"

Writing from Jerusalem about the Netanyahu government's defiant settlements policy, Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard notes the "white-hot fury"  there regarding the UN General Assembly  vote to give the Palestinians "non-observer state" status and potential access to the International Criminal Court:

"The  feeling in Jerusalem is that, no matter what agreements are signed between Israel and the Palestinians, the international community refuses to acknowledge Palestinian infractions.

Instead, the argument goes, no sooner has Israel thwarted attempts to perpetrate a third intifada mounted by the Palestinians, than the United Nations rewards the Palestinian president ....

[E]ven those in Israel who are unhappy about their government's settlement policy feel that the entire nation is being punished by the international community — over breaches of agreements perpetrated by the Palestinians..."

That feeling of betrayal is also seen in the latest article, entitled  "Palestine – Hands Up Those Who Hate Jews," by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.


He writes:

'The Jew-hating genie has been spectacularly unleashed onto the world stage once again following the decision by 138 of the 193 member states of the United Nations General Assembly to accord non-member observer State status to the non-existent state of Palestine.

That vote also ominously endorsed another paragraph contained in the Resolution reaffirming

 "the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to independence in their State of Palestine on the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967;"

Such majority consensus supporting the view that all of this territory – not just some part of it  - should comprise the State of Palestine – is destined to cause untold suffering among Jews, Arabs and other states caught up in the ensuing turmoil and conflict that is set to follow the passing of this insidious resolution - unless it is quickly reversed.

There are several reasons to justify this gloomy prediction.

First: these 138 States were effectively signing the eviction notices for 600,000 Jews who have been legally living in these areas for up to 40 years pursuant to the rights conferred on the Jewish People under Article 6 of the Mandate for Palestine and Article 80 of the United Nations Charter.

Jews had been living in these same areas for many decades and in some cases centuries until they were driven out by six invading Arab armies in 1948.

Jews  had returned there to settle after the Six Day War in 1967 – ending 19 years of uninterrupted occupation by Jordan and Egypt.

8000 Jews moved or were forcibly removed from Gaza in 2005 in a fruitless effort to advance the peace process.

Now all Jews in these territories will once again have to voluntarily pack up and get out or be forcibly removed by the Government of Palestine.

Palestinian President and PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has made this Judenrein (Jew-free) objective  and its successful implementation very clear – telling reporters in Ramallah on 25 December 2010:

"We have frankly said, and always will say: If there is an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, we won’t agree to the presence of one Israeli in it,”

Supporting the current Resolution without seeking a specific retraction has effectively given Abbas the green light to pursue his racist policy.

Secondly: there is no mention in the Resolution of the recognition of the right of the Jewish people to self-determination and independence in their own State - and for good reason – since President Abbas is not prepared to countenance a Jewish State alongside the State of Palestine.
He has made this position manifestly clear on many occasions.

On 1 December 2007 he declared:

 "Historically there are two states, Israel and Palestine. Israel is inhabited by Jews and others. We are willing to recognize that and nothing else."

His view was supported by his prime minister, Salam Fayad, who said in an interview at the time with Al-Arabiya TV, that:

 "Israel can call itself whatever it wants, but the Palestinians will not recognize it as a Jewish state."

On 28 August 2011 during a speech to Islamic clerics in Ramallah Abbas defiantly stated:

 "The international community cannot force us to recognize the nature of the Israeli state. Do not force us to recognize a Jewish state. We will not accept it."

His statement provoked Israel's Foreign Minister Lieberman to declare:

 "Countries around the world must make it clear to Abbas that the only way the Palestinians will be able to have a state is by stopping their attempt to destroy the only Jewish state in the world,"

Those countries around the world had their opportunity force Abbas to recognise  the Jewish State before casting their votes – yet failed to do so.

Thirdly: this infamous Resolution negates the decision of the very same General Assembly in 1947 recommending the creation of one Arab State and one Jewish State in Palestine.

Indeed the refusal to recognize Israel as the Jewish State has been one of the principal stumbling blocks to the successful conclusion of negotiations under the Oslo Accords and the Bush Roadmap.

The majority vote has – deliberately or unwittingly  –given oxygen to those who continue to deny the right of the Jews to have their own State – 65 years after the United Nations had first recommended it.

Fourthly: this Resolution makes a mockery of the United Nations Charter which aims:

 "To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace;"

How any member State can believe these objectives can be advanced by supporting a resolution that will result in Jews being denied any right to live in the State of Palestine as equal citizens in that State and the Jewish People being denied the right to independence and self-determination in their own State alongside the State of Palestine is totally beyond comprehension.

The passing of this Resolution is bound to set in train acts of aggression and breaches of the peace as the State of Palestine and its supporters - armed with the text of this Resolution - flex their collective muscles to undo decisions and actions undertaken pursuant to:

    ·    the San Remo Conference and the Treaty of Sevres in 1920,
    ·    the Mandate for Palestine in 1922,
    ·    The granting of independence to Transjordan by Great Britain in 1946
    ·    Article 80 of the United Nations Charter
    ·    The United Nations decision to partition Palestine in 1947
    ·    Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338
    ·    The Oslo Accords1993
    ·    The Bush Road Map 2004

Abbas says he now wants to resume negotiations with Israel after his unilateral and ill-advised foray into the United Nations.

What is there to negotiate about but the terms on which those 600,000 Jews must leave the State of Palestine and their possible relocation to a State where the Jewish people has no right to independence and self determination.

That is the political and diplomatic nightmare that 138 countries have foisted on the world.

Hopefully those 55 nations that failed to swallow this poisoned pill will take steps to have the General Assembly negate this Resolution - as happened when a Resolution equating Zionism with Racism was rescinded.

The sooner this latest Resolution endorsing policies of hatred against Jews is reversed – the better.'

[Emphasis added]

"If You Just Keep The Pressure On, The United States Will Deliver Israel For You" (video)

That in effect characterises, argues America's former ambassador to the UN John Bolton, the message that the Obama administration's policy, expressed at the start of this video by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, sends to the Palestinian Authority and especially to Hamas.  And, he adds, the Obama-Clinton advice to Israel "Just appease the Palestinian Authority a little bit more and everything will be fine" is "a very dangerous game"...