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)

Friday, 10 February 2017

David Singer: Trump-Netanyahu Meeting Set to Expose Obama’s Collusion on Resolution 2334

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

He writes:

One of the intriguing aspects of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to the White House on 15 February will be the evidence he produces to President Trump to establish former President Obama’s collusion in promoting Security Council Resolution 2334.

America abstained from voting on Resolution 2334 – but the language used in that Resolution was inimical to the national interests of Israel and the Jewish people by declaring that:
* the establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, had no legal validity and constituted a flagrant violation under international law
 * Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem
This language identifies as “Palestinian territory”:
* the centuries old Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem,
* the site of the First and Second Temples, 
* the Western Wall, 
* the Mount of Olives Jewish Cemetery, 
* Rachel’s Tomb, 
* the Machpelah, and 
* Judea and Samaria
–  and seeks to erase the legal rights vested in the Jewish people to reconstitute the Jewish National  Home in these areas under the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine.

Such language gives credence to the PLO claim that the Mandate – a critical building block in the 100 years old Arab-Jewish conflict – is null and void.

Resolution 2334 contravenes Article 80 of the United Nations Charter - exceeding the Security Council’s powers and condemning the hypocrisy of the Security Council which sanctimoniously professes to be concerned about “legal validity” and “international law”.

The Egyptian newspaper Al-Youm Al-Sabea was the first to allege American collusion in promoting Resolution 2334  – claiming to have a transcript of a meeting in December – prior to the passage of Resolution 2334  – between Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, US Secretary of State John Kerry, and US National Security Advisor Susan Rice in which Kerry said the US was prepared to cooperate with the Palestinians at the Security Council.

White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price claimed no such tripartite meeting took place and that the "transcript" was a total fabrication – although he admitted Erekat had met with Kerry and Rice separately.

Netanyahu issued a Press Release on 28 December 2016 declaring:
“We have it on absolutely incontestable evidence that the United States organized, advanced and brought this resolution to the United Nations Security Council. We'll share that information with the incoming administration. Some of it is sensitive, it's all true. You saw some of it in the protocol released in an Egyptian paper. There's plenty more; it's the tip of the iceberg.”
Netanyahu’s claim that some of the information is sensitive suggests that there has been an interception of emails or other classified American documents emanating from Obama or Kerry’s offices.

America’s cybersecurity record has been appalling – as the hacking of the Democrats web site and Hillary Clinton’s emails and private server has shown.

Netanyahu’s description of the transcript held by the Egyptian newspaper as “the tip of the iceberg” suggests Israel holds a Wiki-style treasure trove of incriminating documents.

Sensational claims of Israel-hacking will doubtless fuel the media.

There appears to be no evidence that this material has yet been given to the Trump Administration. If it had – some leak would surely have emerged by now.

Netanyahu’s visit to the White House presents the perfect opportunity to personally hand his evidence to President Trump - enabling him to decide whether to disclose such evidence publicly or not.

Netanyahu’s moment exposing Obama’s betrayal of Israel is fast approaching.

[Author’s Note: The Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry was asked to confirm or deny some of the facts in this article but no response was received]

Thursday, 9 February 2017

On Declaring the Muslim Brotherhood a Terrorist Organization

Image from HERE
"President Trump is considering designating the global Muslim Brotherhood organization as terrorist. It’s about time. 
Two days before he signed the Executive Order on “Protecting the Nation from Terrorist Attacks by Foreign Nationals, the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) began organizing nationwide protests against the anticipated order, which the mischaracterized the suspension of U.S. visas to Muslim refugees and travelers from only seven out of fifty Muslim-majority countries, as a “ban.” CAIR was immediately joined by progressive Left organizations that protested the election of Donald Trump as President. Thus Left-leaning ill-informed organizations, CEOs of tech companies (How many of their employees are immigrants, or Work-Visa holders from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen?)  and Democratic-run-States joined forces with MB-affiliated groups to undermine the power of the President and the security of the nation...."

So begins Rachel Ehrenfeld's long, informative, and important article on the Brotherhood and its on-going mischief,  for which click here

Here's the USA's former ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton on the same theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV6H2r3CevE) :


"A Very Shocking Signal": A Speaker's Sense on The Speaker's Nonsense (video)

Some excellent exposing of double standards here.

Mideast media analyst Tom Gross (himself an Englishman) speaking sense about House of Commons' Speaker (and former Conservative MP) John Bercow's astonishing blast against President Trump from the Speaker's Chair and avowal of his opposition to Trump, when in Britain, addressing MPs in Westminster Hall:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShN-CI-IEys)



Wednesday, 8 February 2017

Stepping Back from the Precipice ... & Towards It

A good (and my favourite) working definition of a Conservative, first encountered by me many many moons ago as a poli sci student dipping into a British book of readings on the subject, is someone who steps back when they find a precipice at their feet.

Some of us are conservatives by instinct.  Others learn to be so by experience.

One of the latter, to whom I suppose the term "mugged liberal" applies, is the man in this new PragerU.com video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiVQ8vrGA_8):

                                      
To quote the uploader:
"Dave Rubin of The Rubin Report used to be a big progressive. He even had a show with The Young Turks! But now he's not a progressive. He has left the left. Why? Dave Rubin shares his story."  Donate today to PragerU: http://l.prageru.com/2eB2p0h
Some, by contrast, seem hell-bent on opening up that precipice and falling right in, taking all that they should hold dear along with them.

British blogger Edgar Davidson gives an example of potential precipice plungers:


 Read his post with its links here

Monday, 6 February 2017

"A Killer is Coming to Town" (videos) (Updated)

In Old London Town, more public ventilating by the anti-Israel brigade.

First, in this video by our old mate Alex Seymour/Seymour Alexander:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMEEbKuqKCc)

Now, complete with an introduction invoking Holocaust Memorial Day, this venomous anti-Trump, anti-Netanyahu speech by bling-wearing socialist David Rosenberg, one of the Jewish Socialists associated with that odious Roll of Shame I blogged about earlier: 

 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9pfXtc1dtQ)

Hear that appreciative crowd roar!

Funny peculiar (not funny ha ha) that those who use sexism as a stick with which to beat Donald Trump, and who loudly affirm their opposition to"fascism," overlook the institutionalised misogyny of Islam and the threats to society posed by Islamofascism.  Innit.

Update: Footage from the Israel Advocacy Movement.  Those guys at the end, singing Hatikvah and flaunting the Israeli flag with a flourish, I like the cut of their jib!

 ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6SvM2hZsl8)

To quote the uploader:
Published on Feb 7, 2017
"Here's some footage from yesterday's anti-Israel protest. Gone are the days when thousands of antisemites would parade down Whitehall screaming for the destruction of Israel. These days the best they can rustle up is a few ageing leftists, outraged idiots and antisemitic Islamists to scream (in a barely audible tone) for the destruction of Israel.Europe is waking up to the truth that the left's obsession with Israel is antisemitic. This dear PSC, is why your ranks were swelled by "ageing" leftists - you're an antisemitic relic from another generation. Your obsessive hatred of the world's only Jewish state does not wash with the younger generation... we see through your bigoted propaganda.We would like to thank Sussex Friends Of Israel and the ZF UK - Zionist Federation for organising such a successful welcoming for the Prime Minister of Israel on such short notice. We would also like to thank the Palestine Solidarity Campaign for yet again showing us their true colours."
Meanwhile, in Stoke-on-Trent, allegations of leftwing antisemitism (Hat tip: Ian G.)

Sunday, 5 February 2017

David Singer: Australia and Israel: Concerning Trump and Obama Honouring Predecessors’ Commitments

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

He writes:

A virtual media storm has erupted at the suggestion that President Trump might renege on President Obama’s agreement to take up to 2000 refugees off Australia’s hands presently languishing on Manus Island and Nauru (“Obama-Australia Commitment”.

The Obama-Australia Commitment was made in the dying days of Obama’s eight years' reign as president in November 2016.

Yet the same media remained silent for the last eight years as President Obama reneged on President Bush’s agreement supporting Israel’s unilateral disengagement from Gaza and part of the West Bank, as well as advancing President Bush’s Roadmap designed to end the 80 years long unresolved Jewish- Arab conflict (“Bush-Israel Commitment”).

The differences between the Obama-Australia Commitment and the Bush-Israel Commitment could not be starker for the following reasons:
1. Search as you might, you cannot find what the Obama-Australia Commitment specifically states.
Dara Lind sums up this “agreement” as follows:
“The details of the agreement were a little fuzzy. It wasn’t clear how many refugees the US would end up taking, and there was some confusion about what role the UN High Commissioner for Refugees would play in the process. While Australia’s top immigration official, Michael Pezzullo, called the deal “an agreement entered into through diplomatic means,” it’s not clear whether a text was ever actually signed.”
On the other hand the Bush-Israel Commitment comprises a letter from President Bush to Ariel Sharon dated 14 April 2004 – which can be read here
2. There is a strong suggestion that the Obama-Australia Commitment was concluded in some sleazy backroom deal between the Australian Embassy in Washington and the US State Department that would see refugees from Central America presently housed in camps in Costa Rica being resettled in Australia.
On the other hand the Bush-Israel Commitment was openly discussed in the US Congress and endorsed in the House – 407 votes to 9 – and in the Senate – 95 votes to 3.
Obama had no qualms in sticking it to his own Democratic Congressional colleagues – including Hillary Clinton – voting in favour then as a Senator – by ignoring their almost unanimous support for the Bush-Israel Commitment.
Instead Obama led America down the garden path for five years to one of the worst diplomatic and policy failures of his presidency – antagonising Israel in the process.
Israel paid a huge price for its Gaza disengagement in 2005 in reliance of the Bush-Israel Commitment – including:
* the expulsion of 8000 Jews who had lived in Gaza for periods of up to forty years,
* the indiscriminate firing of tens of thousands of rockets into Israeli population centers reaching as far as Tel Aviv
* three military incursions into Gaza to try and end the violence emanating from the Hamas-controlled enclave.
Yet the media never attacked Obama for disgracefully betraying his predecessor’s commitment to a close ally.
Now an infuriated President Trump has the supposed gall to tweet:
"Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!"
An outraged media see this as a perfect opportunity to thump Trump – as do many politicians.

In doing so they betray their own appalling double standards and biases that sees so many readers abandoning their publications – and voters their political parties  – in ever increasing numbers.

Outrage at Trump possibly not confirming the Obama-Australia Commitment stands awkwardly alongside the deafening silence following Obama’s repudiation of the Bush-Israel Commitment. Both are worthy of endorsement by President Trump on his terms – assisting two tried and trusted allies in their time of need.

That’s what friends are for.

Roll of Shame

 

Whoops! Pardon me.  The roll I really have in mind is this one, which also belongs in the latrine:

'We are Jews in Britain who support UN Security Council Resolution 2334. This confirms that the establishment of settlements “has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law”. The resolution demands that “Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory”.
As President Trump takes over at the White House, it becomes ever more important for Jews around the world to stand up publicly on the side of international law, common sense and justice and to welcome this UN Resolution. We know that the great majority of American Jews supported former President Obama. His refusal to veto Resolution 2334 ensured that it would pass, with the unanimous supporting vote of the other fourteen Security Council members, including Britain. And we know that the great majority of American Jews oppose Donald Trump for his racism, sexism, promotion of hatred towards Muslims, and association with white supremacists and blatant antisemites. They will also be alarmed that Trump has appointed David Friedman, a strong supporter of the settlement movement, as the next US ambassador to Israel.
 Here in Britain we also know – from meticulous City University research, overseen by eminent Jewish academics – that the great majority of British Jews are opposed to the settlement project. When leaders of the Board of Deputies declared their opposition to Resolution 2334, they did not speak in our name.
Fifty years of Occupation represents a tragic failure: Israel’s denial of human and civil rights to millions of people; thousands of lives lost, most though not all Palestinian; many hundreds of thousands more, in both Palestinian and Israeli Jewish communities, traumatised by war, hatred and loss of hope.  We ask our fellow Jews in Britain to make our majority voice heard. We must welcome the opening of a door towards a better future for all Israelis and Palestinians by declaring:
No to continuing Occupation…….. No to settlements……… No to settlement expansion…….. No to buying settlement products……… Yes to a just peace.'
Yes, the names on the roll call are pretty well impossible to read on here, even with a magnifying glass. Trust me:   they are those of Jewish and Jew-ish  academics and fellow-travellers who can always be relied upon to malign Israel whenever the clarion call is sounded.   Some have a history of extreme activism against the little Jewish State including support for Ilan Pappe's appalling "One State Declaration". 

The three groups represented:  Jews for Justice for Palestinians (consisting of wet well-meaning dupes along with Jews for injustice for Israel), Independent Jewish Voices, and Jewish Socialists.

A member of the last-mentioned group, a London educator, tells of the ad's reception by the Jewish News, the giveaway paper in London that published my Stephen Sizer 9/11 screenshot, thus leaving the Jewish Chronicle, which had told me it was not interested, with egg on its face after that screenshot image went viral.  Seems that the Jewish Chronicle is all over the place these days: