The New Antisemitism & The Duty Of Hasbara (video)

This interesting interview with the articulate Dr Dvir Abramovich, director of the Centre for Jewish History and Culture at the University of Melbourne and chair of the Anti-Defamation Commission in Victoria (about which, with examples of its work countering antisemitism, he talks here), took place towards the end of last year against the background of Operation Pillar of Cloud (Defence).  His opinions are well worth heeding, not least by the kind of Jew alluded to (by the wonderful Ben Stein) in my previous post.  But not by Jews only, for as Dr Abramovich says, both Jews and non-Jews who value liberty should advocate for Israel, a beacon of liberty in the Middle East.  And though in some quarters Hasbara has become a pejorative term, interpreted (I suppose) as "spin," it should be remembered that it means "explaining," and that explaining the truth about Israel to counter misconceptions should be seen as a necessary obligation.

"Poor Israel ... Abandoned By So Many People Who Call Themselves Jewish"

"Poor Israel, poor beleaguered Israel, abandoned by so many people who call themselves Jewish, so alone, so terribly alone."

The words are those of the multi-talented  Ben Stein.

Mr Stein, remembered by an entire generation of now 30-somethings as the soporific economics teacher in the 1980s teen flick Ferris Bueller's Day Off,  is so much more than the sum of the parts he's played in Hollywood.  A Yale-educated lawyer and an economist, he's a prominent Republican writer and speaker.

His latest column in the American Spectator, which concludes with the sentence quoted above, slates Barack  Obama's nomination of Chuck Hagel: "one of the most clearly anti-Israel, anti-Semitic members of the Senate (or ex-members in his case) to be Secretary of Defense".

Mr Stein finds "heartbreaking" the fact that

"Most American Jews clearly supported Mr. Obama in his bid for President against a GOP that has been an incomparably stronger supporter of Israel than the modern-day Democrat party.... Barack Obama’s most productive fund-raisers, especially at the “millionaires and billionaires” level that Mr. Obama supposedly hates so much, were almost unanimously Jews. How they are going to square this with Senator Hagel’s nomination to a post that is of life or death importance to Israel is anyone’s guess.... "

He goes on to observe:

"But here is a clue: the really committed left-wing Jew does not care much about Israel. Jews in many cases have loyalties that trump their interest to Israel. Their support of Mr. Obama is a case in point.

You are going to see this in the immediate future, as Mr. Obama lines up his many Jewish friends and supporters to back Mr. Hagel.

 I hope the people who are supporting Chuck Hagel know that by confirming him, they are cementing at 100 percent that odds that Iran will get a nuclear capability without U.S. interference....

As a student of anti-Semitism in Europe before, during, and after the Holocaust, no amount of hatred and loathing for Jews surprises me. Americans who do love Israel should be aware, though, that it is growing much more likely by the moment that there will be a second Holocaust. The only real friends that Israel has on this earth, evangelical Christians, will take note. Whether anyone else will is a big question."

Read all of Ben Stein's article here

A Former Muslim Brotherhood Member On Egyptian "Apartheid" & On Abbas

Regarding the fall-out from the call of an Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood offiial who called last month (see video below) for Jews of Egyptian background to return to Egypt to "make room for the Palestinians," some pertinent observations appear on the blog of a Palestinian former Muslim Brotherhood member, Walid Shoebat (hat tip: Assad Elepty).

Shoebat observes, inter alia:

'Apartheid is a term the Islamists and the left love to use to demonize the right....

Last month, Essam El-Erian – who has since resigned (allegedly for these unpopular comments), called for all Jews who were kicked out of Egypt under Gamal Abdal Nasser to return:

“The greatest study on the source of all evil. How to identify evil even when it is cloaked in “righteousness” click her for more information.”

A problem for El-Erian was an inherent admission that Egypt was an apartheid state because its Jewish population was expelled. Making his truthful charge – and subsequent implication of his country’s past – even more egregious were his reasons for wanting the return of Egyptian Jews.

 Uh, that would be so that the Palestinians could implement an Apartheid state where Israel currently exists. Though he didn’t use those words, that’s clearly the implication.

The mask slipped and [Mahmoud] Abbas had to issue a flat-out lie ...:

"What Erian said about the return of the Jews to Egypt or that they have a right to obtain compensation or that they were expelled by President Nasser is not true. Abbas pointed out that the Jews deported from Egypt willingly and through conspiracies carried out by the Zionist movement."

.... Take a look at Abbas’ statements.

Didn’t he say Egypt’s Jews have no right to obtain compensation? Is that not ‘reparations’? If the Jews were forcibly removed from Egypt and their property was indeed stolen, wouldn’t they be entitled to reparations based on the standards set for Palestinians and blacks in America, for example?

As for the notion that Egypt’s Jews left ‘willingly’ as part of a broader, Zionist conspiracy, who is it that is conspiring to eliminate Israel? That would be the same Muslim Brotherhood to which El-Erian belonged when he made the charge.

It’s quite likely that El-Erian’s call for the return of Egypt’s Jews was intended to entice them back, subjugate them, and see the vacuum in Israel filled by Palestinians in some twisted form of a win/win scenario. If that was his intention, what likely got him in the most trouble was an admission that Egypt was an apartheid state under Nasser.

 .... Here is what Mohamed Abou Samra, the leader of the Islamic Jihad movement, said about the Jews while denouncing El-Erian’s suggestion:

 “They will destroy the economy and foment sedition. Their return will be over our dead bodies.”

Uh, aside from that being a statement that wholly endorses both Nasser’s expulsion of the Jews as well as an Apartheid government in Egypt, how about the notion that Jews in Egypt would lead to the destruction of the Egyptian economy?

Through Sharia law, the Muslim Brotherhood is doing quite a job on that economy all by itself....'

Read and see more here

A Romp In The Jerusalem Snow (video)

What spiffing fun this group of Arab youths had a few days ago, assaulting Charedi passers-by with snowballs.  One of the Charedim has his hat pulled from his head.  Imagine the publicity this would have got in sections of the western media had the boot been on the other foot (so to speak!)

Great pictures here of snowmen during the recent cold snap in the Middle East.  My favourite is the not-unfamiliar-looking chap in Fatah gear locked in a melting embrace with a Hamasnik.

Courtesy: Elder of Ziyon blog

"Islamic Culture Is Spreading In An Extraordinary Way" Boasts Australia's Mufti

In this video (hat tip: Ian and Shirlee; through some glitch or other I'm unable to load it onto this blog), Ibrahim Salem, the Mufti of Australia, having waxed enthusiastic about the state of Islamic studies in the Lucky Country ("Islamic culture is spreading in an extraordinary way..."), accuses his adopted country and its ilk of  mendacity ("The West produces lies as much as it produces technology").

Meanwhile, here is Ismail Al-Wahwah, spokesman for the Islamic extremist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir in Australia, explaining recently what will happen when the reins of government are taken from the kuffar:

Videos by MEMRI.org

Jews Far More Likely Than Muslims To Experience Hate Crimes In America

An online article by David J. Rusin examines FBI statistics for hate-crimes over the period 2002-2011 directed against Jews. Muslims, blacks, Hispanics, and gays in the United States.  It concludes:

'Of the five main minority groups discussed above, Jews were most likely to experience hate crimes, with 14.8 incidents per 100,000 Jews annually. Homosexuals and bisexuals (combined) came next (11.5), followed by blacks (6.7), Muslims (6.0), and Hispanics (1.1). Rates for majority whites and Christians were much smaller.

With hate crimes befalling Muslims far less often than they do Jews or homosexuals and bisexuals and slightly less often than they befall blacks, it is clear that anti-Muslim incidents are disproportionate to those targeting other minorities only in terms of the hype generated on their behalf....

As the usual voices fault “our oversaturated Islamophobic environment” and “growing anti-Muslim hate,” they neglect to mention how rare it is for an actual or perceived Muslim to die in a hate crime. By the FBI’s count, 74 people were killed in hate crimes (“murder and nonnegligent manslaughter” in Table 4) from 2002 to 2011, but not a single one in an anti-Muslim incident. Indeed, the FBI lists no anti-Muslim fatalities since 1995, corresponding to the earliest report available.

Why do Islamists obfuscate? The false picture of an epidemic of physical assaults on Muslims distracts Americans from Islamist hatred and enshrines Muslims as the country’s leading victim class, a strategy intended to intimidate citizens into remaining quiet about Islamic supremacism and lay the groundwork for granting Muslims special privileges and protections at the expense of others. In short, anti-Muslim hate crimes are a powerful Islamist weapon.

At its extreme, the desire to achieve victim status in this manner has fueled the phenomenon of fake hate crimes, through staging, blatant misrepresentation, or both....

Genuine hate crimes committed against any group are deplorable, but they must be placed in the proper context. First, hate crimes are uncommon across the board. Second, despite hyperbole about “anti-Muslim violence spiralling out of control in America” and producing “one of the most hostile moments that the Muslim American community has ever experienced,” the real story is the amazing tolerance and restraint of the American people. Imported Muslim fanatics murdered thousands on 9/11, the threat of homegrown jihad has crystallized, and Islamists abroad continue to slaughter innocents daily. Though Americans could find no lack of excuses to strike out at their Muslim neighbors, almost nobody does – and thankfully so. As such, the annual victims of anti-Muslim hate crimes average between three and four per U.S. state and would have trouble filling a decent-sized jetliner.

Many Americans take a critical view of Islam, but virtually all restrict their negative sentiments to the domain of words and ideas, as civilized human beings should. People are free to have opinions, including anti-Islamic ones, regardless of how Islamists long to muzzle them. Islamists, in turn, are entitled to their own opinions about life in America. But they are not entitled to their own facts.'

Read David J. Rusin's entire article here 

Hamas Against The Zionist Enemy & Western Racism Towards The Palestinians (videos)

The first of these two recent videos is an insightful look at the evil that is Hamas and the existential threat posed to Israel by Islamic extremists (hat tip: reader Shirlee).  The second makes many pertinent points, at least as far as Hamas is concerned; although grateful for his unswerving support of Israel, I'm uncomfortable with the speaker's strident tone and sweeping condemnation of all Arabs.