David Singer: Macron, Merkel and May Should Adopt Trump Policy on Jerusalem

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

He writes:

The opening of the American Embassy on 14 May in Israel’s capital – Jerusalem – should be replicated by fellow-democracies France, Germany and The United Kingdom (“the Democratic Trio”) without delay.

President Trump’s policy on Jerusalem was set out by him on 6 December 2017 (“the Trump Declaration”): 

“STATUS OF JERUSALEM: President Trump recognises that specific boundaries of sovereignty in Jerusalem is highly sensitive and subject to final status negotiations.  

President Trump recognises that the status of Jerusalem is a highly sensitive issue, but he does not think the peace process is aided by ignoring the simple truth that Jerusalem is home to Israel’s legislature, supreme court, President, and Prime Minister.

President Trump recognises that the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem are subject to final status negotiations between the parties.  

President Trump reaffirms United States support for the status quo at the Temple Mount, also known as Haram al Sharif.”

This policy should be perfectly acceptable to the Democratic Trio – yet they have so far baulked at following Trump’s principled stance.

French President Emmanuel Macron has adopted the following position:

“The status of Jerusalem is a question of international security that concerns the entire international community. The status of Jerusalem must be determined by Israelis and Palestinians in the framework of negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations”

Waiting for these stars to align is like hoping to win the lottery.The Trump Declaration provides sufficient guarantees to ensure that should Macron’s wish-list ever eventuate – the United Nations will be sufficiently seized of the situation to ensure the status of Jerusalem is finally determined between Arabs and Jews.

Refusing to move the French Embassy to Israel’s designated capital now – whilst negotiations to determine Jerusalem’s future have been suspended by the Palestine Liberation Organisation since April 2014 – is bowing to the dictates and diplomatic blackmail of an illegal and undemocratic entity.

France – a bastion of democracy – is being incredibly naïve in not following in the footsteps of the Trump Declaration.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has issued a public statement assuring Germany will not relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem:

“We have to work for the two-state solution, and according to that, the status of Jerusalem should be clarified.”

The “two-state solution” has been the subject of unsuccessful negotiations for the last 25 years.

East Jerusalem was never suggested or declared as the capital of Jordan or another independent Arab state during the years between 1948 and 1967 when East Jerusalem was:

Illegally occupied by Jordan;

All Jews living there were forcibly expelled from their homes;

Centuries-old synagogues and Jewish cemeteries were desecrated and destroyed;

Jews were denied access to their remaining holy sites

Merkel needs to reject this dark period in Jerusalem’s history by adopting the reality expressed in the Trump Declaration.

Britain’s prime minister Theresa May has stated:

“We disagree with the US decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem and recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital before a final status agreement. The British Embassy to Israel is based in Tel Aviv, and we have no plans to move”

Moving the United Kingdom’s Embassy to West Jerusalem on the identical basis enunciated by Trump will not prejudice future negotiations between Jews and Arabs to resolve East  Jerusalem’s final status.

France, Germany and the United Kingdom need to get on the Trump bandwagon and move their Embassies to Israel’s declared capital – Jerusalem –  following  their own worldwide well-established diplomatic practices and precedents.

Disagreements between democracies play into the hands of unelected and unaccountable regimes.Bowing to these regimes’ unjust and unreasonable demands is a sure-fire recipe for disaster.

(Author’s note: The cartoon – commissioned exclusively for this article—is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators –  whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His cartoons can be viewed here)

In London, A Tonge-Lashing for Pro-Israel Protesters (video)

Outside the Israeli Embassy in London on 11 May, an anti-Israel "Solidarity With Gaza" rally staged by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (and others) is challenged by vociferous pro-Israel counter-demonstrators.

At 8:50 on the video enter, stage right, none other than the loathsome Baroness (Jenny) Tonge, whose tongue-lashing of the pro-Israel crowd is barely audible, since they all but drown her out.

                             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vcKjhJolOQ

Video by Alex Seymour aka Seymour Alexander (whose sentiments regarding this event are, of course, very different from mine).

Meanwhile, in the Emerald Isle:

Well, Flamin' Kites! Corbynista Shadow Minister Makes "Three Solemn Guarantees"

From IDF video

Emily Thornberry, a lawyer and Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, who's Corbyn's Shadow Foreign Secretary, has been the focus of my blog once before.

Last week she posted the following rosy-eyed declaration on Facebook:

"I had the privilege these past few days of representing the Labour Party at the conference of the Palestinian National Council in Ramallah, the PNC’s first official meeting in more than two decades, and one that comes at a crucial time.

The recent actions of the Netanyahu and Trump governments have displayed a blatant contempt for the interests of peace in the Middle East and the chances of making progress towards a two-state solution.

From the Netanyahu government, that includes the expansion of illegal settlements, the crippling blockade against Gaza, the brutal and lethal suppression of protests on the Gaza border, and the unlawful detention and ill-treatment of Palestinian children.

And from the Trump administration, it includes the reckless and irresponsible decision to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, and the cruel cuts in funding for the UN agencies providing healthcare, education and humanitarian relief to Palestinian refugees.

In response, some rogue Palestinian voices have urged its leadership to abandon all peace talks, reject a two-state solution, and return to the hopeless tactics of armed struggle, which would only cause more bloodshed and fear on all sides.

However, during my two days at the Palestinian National Council, I found firm rejection of that approach. Yes, there was considerable anger – which I shared – particularly at recent events on the Gaza border, the devastating humanitarian crisis caused by the blockade, and the wilful aggravation of tensions and hardship by the Trump administration.

But despite that, there were strong and unanimous declarations that this was no time to succumb to exhaustion and despair, but instead to re-state more clearly than ever their commitment to a two-state solution, with a viable, secure Palestine living alongside a secure Israel, both sides recognising each other’s right to exist, and to live in peace.

It was recognised that remained not just the right course of action from a principled and practical standpoint, but also the right thing to do in the court of international opinion, and the best way to put moral pressure on the international community to act.

And it was on the latter point that I provided my hosts with strong reassurance that – if they stuck to the path of peace – they would receive strong support from the British Labour Party, and from a future Labour government, and I made three solemn guarantees of the action we would take as soon as we are in office again.

First, as we rightly mark this month the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the State of Israel, I said it is also right – and long overdue – for the United Kingdom to formally recognise the State of Palestine, and urge other countries to do the same, not in due course, not when the time is right, but now and without delay.

Second, I said that as a matter of urgency, a Labour government would host an international funding conference to address the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people, and the millions of Palestinian refugees across the region, in particular to plug the gaps in funding caused by Donald Trump’s cruel and spiteful cuts.

And third, I said a Labour government in Britain would immediately review the sale of arms by the United Kingdom to Israel to ensure that none of the weapons sold by our country are being used by the Netanyahu government to attack innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza or anywhere else.

But it was not just in London that I said a future Labour government would make a difference, but in New York, at meetings of the United Nations, and in Washington DC, in our talks with the Trump administration.

At the UN, I said we would be a constant voice on the Security Council urging action when Israel breaks international law, and exposing the hypocrisy of the United States and others who demand tough action and independent investigations when other countries break those laws, but turn a blind eye when it comes to the Netanyahu government.

I told them we would say out loud that it shames the United Nations, and the Security Council, that – for decades – successive Israeli governments have been allowed to ignore, with impunity, all the resolutions the UN has passed with regards to the Occupied Territories and the expansion of illegal settlements.

And finally, in New York, I said we would also demand a new independent investigation into the Netanyahu government’s breaches of international law when it comes to the detention, ill-treatment and unfair prosecution of Palestinian children, an issue on which we have already led the way in demanding action in the UK Parliament.

We have also led the way since the day Donald Trump was elected in demanding that the UK government stands up to his reckless and damaging policies, especially when it comes to Israel and Palestine. It was not good enough for the Tories just to say they disagreed with Trump over his Jerusalem move, they should have condemned him for doing so.

And while we of course want to see the resumption of meaningful peace talks, I said President Abbas had been quite right to argue that the Trump administration cannot act as a mediator for peace when they themselves are sowing the seeds of discord, and making a negotiated peace ever harder to achieve....' [Emphasis added]

It's wonderful to see so many pro-Israel people responding, with comments such as:

"[H]ow many Palestinian Arabs live in Israel? 1.8 million. How many Jews live in Jordan? Zero! How many Jews live in Gaza? Zero! Where in Israel can Jews be arrested for praying? The Temple Mount!"

"Whose  [sic] going to deliver this secular, democratic state with equal rights for all? Hamas and the Naturei Karta guys?"

 'You should be publicly apologising for attending such a conference where nothing but antisemitic garbage was spewed out by a holocaust denier. You should be ashamed to represent the British people. I'm sure you applauded when Abbas claimed that the holocaust and anti semitism were caused by Jewish "social function". Disgusting.'

"This is ACTUALLY what's happening at the Hamas led 'Great March of Return', Emily Thornberry, you gullible fool..."https://www.facebook.com/StandWithUs/videos/10155650800537689/

 "Does she not understand that help and materials sent from Israel to Gaza has been used to buy more weopens [sic] and materials that could have been used to improve their lives have been used to build tunnels to get into Israel. She hasn't deemed to have grasped that until the Palestinians accept Israel's right to exist there will never be peace. Why hasn't she condemned the so called peaceful protest from Pallestinians [sic] which Hamas and Hezbollah have encouraged. Would she happily accept other people to encroach on our borders? No doubt Labour would not mind if they were antisemitics."

 "Were an Arab state to declare war on Israel, the Palestinians would take the opportunity to uprise, and it would none of it end well. The Israelis would be well within their rights to drastically change their current rules of engagement. There is no scenario which does not play out badly for the Palestinians, who are being used as pawns by the Arab states."

As for the IDF, this tribute to the past 70 years is rather satisfying.

David Singer: PLO Dumps Trump Easing Way for Jordan-Israel Negotiations

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

He writes:

President Trump’s soon-to-released proposal on resolving the Jewish-Arab conflict will be more readily achievable following the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) confirming it will not participate in implementing Trump’s peace plans.

Secretary General of the PLO Executive Committee Saeb Erekat led the charge:

“No one will deceive us and we will not fall into the illusion that the United States can have any balanced ideas that could lead to the achievement of a real and just peace. Washington has become part of the problem and not the solution”

PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas backed-up Erekat a few days later  – censuring Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and stating  Palestinians believe the US can no longer be the sole mediator in the decades-long conflict with Israel due to America’s pro-Tel Aviv bias.

Abbas declared Trump’s plan would be:

     “an end to the peace process in the Middle East”

Erekat and Abbas’s acts of  political hara-kiri coincided with Trump’s newly-appointed Secretary of State – Mike Pompeo – visiting Jordan

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi welcomed Pompeo with the decades-old Arab mantra:

“[The Palestinian -Israeli conflict]  is, we believe, the main cause of instability in the region, and its resolution is the key to achieving the lasting and comprehensive peace that we want. The two-state solution remains the only path to that peace, as we believe in Jordan, and it is the solution that would allow for the emergence of an independent, sovereign Palestine state with East Jerusalem as its capital in the lines of June 4, 1967.

Yes, that – the two-state solution is being challenged. Yes, there are many obstacles. But I think what is – what is the alternative? We cannot give up in our efforts to achieve peace, nor can we say that there is any viable alternative that we can sustain.”

Pompeo begged to disagree:

“ We’re certainly open to a two-party solution. That’s a likely outcome.”

Another likely outcome will doubtless be revealed in Trump’s proposal.
Pompeo deferred answering whether the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the most serious threat to stability in the region. He would have been derided had he agreed – given the conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and Libya.

On Trump’s ultimate deal – Pompeo asserted: 

“We understand that ultimately this deal will be agreed to between the Israelis and the Palestinians, but certainly it’s the case that as America continues to be involved in facilitating such an arrangement, we’re doing so in close alignment with Jordan and the Jordanian people so that we’re working together …”

Any PLO refusal to agree to the deal will receive the Trump treatment meted out to Trump-defiers – reduced funding and diplomatic downgrading. Jordan – working in close alignment with Trump – will reap substantial dividends.

Pompeo referred to the five-year Memorandum of Understanding signed by the United States and Jordan in February  committing the US to provide over $6.3 billion in bilateral foreign assistance to Jordan over the next five years – a powerful incentive for Jordan to help Trump bring his proposals to fruition.

Pompeo –  significantly – provided two additional substantial sweeteners: 

“We’ll continue to work with Jordan to help the Kingdom defend its borders, always.”

Pompeo was signaling that any PLO attempt to overthrow 95 years of unbroken Hashemite rule in Jordan – unsuccessfully attempted by the PLO in September 1970 – would be rebuffed by American military force.
Protecting the Hashemite regime and Jordan’s borders  –  coupled with massive injections of American financial aid – could see  Jordan replacing the PLO as  Israel’s Arab partner in implementing Trump’s peace proposals.
Trump – the master deal-maker – may  have just pulled another rabbit out of his magic hat.
(Author’s note: The cartoon – commissioned exclusively for this article – is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones” – one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators –  whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.)

Sizer Hertz

How myriad are the ways in which Israel-haters try to undermine the Jewish People's time-honoured associations with Eretz Israel by seeking to prove that there was a sovereign state of Palestine that the Jews stole from the, um, autonomous "Palestinians".

As I've showed several times on this blog a number of artefacts have been trotted out by the ill-willed and the ignorant to "prove" the absurd and shameful thesis: 17th, 18th and 19th century maps marked "Palestine", the "Palestinian" bird, coins, postage stamps, an orchestra, a newspaper, an airline, and a football team  ...

All this, despite the fact that so many of those developments were initiatives of the Yishuv, in other words the Jewish community of Mandate Palestine, and others, of course, of the Mandatory power, Great Britain, itself.

As a man of the cloth our old friend the ex-vicar of Virginia Water cannot be ignorant of the fact that the Romans imposed the name Palestine on Eretz Israel in order to drive home the fact that they had conquered the Jewish homeland and to eradicate the name Judea.

Still, he's posted about that airline (the above screenshot dates to 2014), and now he's endeavouring, it would appear, to recruit a one-liner by the great Joseph Herman Hertz (1872-1946), Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the UK and the Commonwealth from 1913 until his death, to undermine the Jews' claim to Eretz Israel.

Voilà!

It hurts, it must do, for a man (Sizer) who must know better to pretend to be quite that stupid! The reward must be in watching his followers lap it up.

Obviously, Hertz used the term "Palestine" because it was the term prevalent in his day.  He was not giving the nod to the anti-Zionist cause.  Far from it.

Sizer's trotted out the wrong man in Chief Rabbi Hertz, that's for sure.  As ably and succinctly put here:

 'Whilst many in the Orthodox world stood aloof from Zionism, Hertz was a robust champion of the cause. In answer to leaders of the organized community who were opposed, Hertz brought the prestige of his office to bear on the side of Zionism.

On May 28, 1917 he wrote a letter to The Times in which he rejected the notion that the recent attack in the newspaper on Zionism by Claude Montefiore of the Anglo-Jewish Association and David Alexander of the Board of Deputies reflected “the views held by Anglo-Jewry as a whole or by the Jewries of the overseas dominions.”

On October 6, 1917 the War Cabinet led by Prime Minister David Lloyd George decided to send out the ‎draft of a planned government statement about a Jewish homeland in Palestine to eight Jews—four anti-Zionists and four Zionists—for ‎comment.

Chief Rabbi Hertz, along with Lord Walter Rothschild and Zionist statesmen Nahum Sokolow and Chaim Weizmann all submitted supporting letters. ‎

Hertz was associated with the Mizrachi Orthodox stream of Zionism which saw the return of the Jewish people to Palestine as part of a Divine plan. In worldly affairs he criticized the British Government’s Mandatory policies as a reversal of the spirit of the Balfour Declaration.

A frequent visitor to Palestine, Hertz took part in the 1925 opening of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Mount Scopus. He went on to serve on the university’s Board of Governors.'

And lest the CEO of the so-called Peacemaker Trust tries to claim that he stands for the Two State Solution, he doesn't, as certain posts of his I've drawn attention to in the past, and this current post, show. 

This, by the way, is not the first article from the antisemitic Mondoweiss site to which our old friend has linked, and it's already not his last.

Posh Spite?

As we see here, Mahmoud Abbas, who's already on record as denying the Holocaust, has made despicable remarks regarding Jews in a long rambling speech:

Part of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1tATSiX_wI

I happened to notice this exchange on Facebook regarding Mahmoud Abbas's remarks between Professor Kamel Hawwash of the University of Birmingham in the UK and one Giles Leveson-Gower, whose posh surname (pronounced Looson-Gore) grabbed my attention because I'm a naval history buff and John Leveson-Gower was a well-known officer in George III's Navy.

And then I remembered that some of the Leveson-Gowers benefitted from, er, land occupation and a sort of, um, ethnic cleansing.

Remember reading in the history books about the dastardly Highland Clearances (1811-20) that dispossessed thousands of Scottish crofters, forcing many of them in desperation into exile across the Atlantic, and Down Under too?

Who was one of the principal architects of the Highlanders' forced evictions?

Why, none other than the snooty-looking chap above, aristocratic and plutocratic English MP Granville Leveson-Gower (eldest son of the first Marquess of Stafford), who added to his already abundant riches when in 1785 he married the Scottish Countess of Sutherland in her own right and then conceived the idea of moving the peasantry, ending up as the first Duke of Sutherland.

Ah, well.

Funny old world innit.

Bibi Discloses Iran's Nuclear Goals (video)

Bibi on the incriminating evidence:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=UCbIignSeTo