David Singer: Sanders and Bloomberg Boost Hopes for Netanyahu Election Win

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

He writes:

Democratic Party contenders for the American Presidency – Bernie Sanders and Michael Bloomberg – have unwittingly given Israel’s Prime Minister – Bibi Netanyahu – an unexpected boost to becoming Israel’s next Prime Minister on 2 March.

During a nationally-televised Democratic Party Presidential contenders’ debate – Sanders made this inflammatory claim:

 “I am very proud of being Jewish. I actually lived in Israel for some months. But what I happen to believe is that, right now, sadly, tragically, in Israel, through Bibi Netanyahu, you have a reactionary racist who is now running that country.”

This “reactionary racist” just happens to be Israel’s longest-serving Prime Minister – victorious after six election campaigns conducted in fully democratic and openly transparent elections. Sanders’ comment doesn’t say much for his opinion of the majority of Israelis whose votes have kept Netanyahu there.

Bloomberg was motivated to chime in with his take on Israel:

“Well, the battle has been going on for a long time in the Middle East, whether it’s the Arabs versus the Persians, the Shias versus the Sunnis, the Jews in Israel and the Palestinians, it’s only gone on for 40 or 50 years.
Number one, you can’t move the embassy back. We should not have done it without getting something from the Israeli government. But it was done, and you’re going to have to leave it there.
Number two, only solution here is a two-state solution. The Palestinians have to be accommodated…”

• The conflict between Jews and Arabs in former Palestine has been going on for 100 years – not 40 or 50 years. Brainwashed by Arab propaganda, Bloomberg had erased the origins of the conflict which began with the San Remo conference and Treaty of Sevres in 1920 and the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine.

Bloomberg – in mentioning the need for a two-state solution – was apparently ignorant of the fact that the Palestinian Arabs had been allocated 78% of Palestine in 1922 – which subsequently became a sovereign state renamed the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan in 1946 – today called Jordan.

For someone aspiring to be America’s next President, Bloomberg displayed an appalling lack of knowledge about this long-running and unresolved conflict.

• Had President Trump obtained a quid pro quo from Israel for moving America’s Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem he would have risked impeachment by the Trump-hating Democrats. The Embassy was moved because American embassies are always located in the capitols of each country.

One major policy difference between Netanyahu and Gantz makes this Israeli election an especially historic and momentous one:

• Netanyahu is offering – if re-elected and with Trump’s approval – to immediately extend sovereignty into the Jewish People’s heartland – Judea and Samaria – after a 3000 years absence
• Netanyahu’s chief rival – Benny Gantz – will not do so until the Arab States and the international community agree.

Sanders and Bloomberg’s disparaging anti-Zionist rants could prove to be the catalysts needed to see the Jewish People turning this 3000-year dream into a living reality.

Sander’s and Bloomberg’s comments could galvanize tens of thousands of angry Israelis – who don’t usually vote out of sheer apathy – into voting for Netanyahu.

Voter turnout at Israel’s last election in September 2019 was a disappointing 69.83% – only slightly higher than the 68.46% in the February 2019 elections – given the huge incentive to vote to break the unprecedented February deadlock.

Latest polls indicate Netanyahu has now moved ahead of Gantz for the first time.
Sanders and Bloomberg have ensured Netanyahu’s late momentum continues – which could indeed see Israel finally ending the political stalemate that has marked the previous two deadlocked elections.

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 at Drybonesblog

David Singer: Voter Apathy Threatens Reunion of Judea and Samaria with Israel

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

He writes:

Crunch time has come for approximately 6.5 million Jews and Arabs to vote on Israel regaining immediate sovereignty in parts of the Jewish People’s biblical and ancient heartland in Judea and Samaria – 3000 years after its loss.

Voter apathy could possibly see this historic opportunity being lost because of these existing political realities:

• Current Prime Minister and determined proponent for claiming immediate sovereignty in Judea and Samaria – Bibi Netanyahu – could lose voter support as corruption charges against him have been fixed to commence just fifteen days after the 2 March elections
• Netanyahu’s challenger as Israel’s next Prime Minister – Benny Gantz – wants to maintain the current status quo in Judea and Samaria pending agreement in tandem with Israel’s Arab neighbours and possibly in co-ordination with the international community – which could mean never.
• These upcoming elections will be the third held in the last 12 months since two earlier elections in April and September 2019 – which resulted in deadlocks that prevented either Netanyahu or Gantz being able to acquire the 61 seats required to form government.
• Voter turnout at the April 2019 election was only 68.46% and only slightly higher in September 2019 at 69.83%
• Support for the major Arab political parties has risen from 7.82% in April 2019 to 10.6% in September 2019
• Gantz has refused to have any televised debates with Netanyahu.
• Gantz is now facing a probe by the Attorney General into the affairs of a bankrupt company – The Fifth Dimension – of which Gantz himself was Chairman

Voters might be tempted to throw up their hands in despair at this seeming turmoil in Israel’s political system and simply not turn up to vote – thereby possibly denying the fulfilment of a dream that was reborn 100 years ago at the San Remo Conference  in April 1920 and sealed with the Treaty of Sevres in August 1920 – culminating with the League of Nations unanimously creating the Mandate for Palestine in July 1922 recognizing the Jewish People’s right to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in Palestine.

100 years later the Jewish National Home exists – but sovereignty in its ancient and biblical heartland – Judea and Samaria – does not.

President Trump’s Peace Plan released on 28 January 2020 recognizes Israeli sovereignty being extended into parts of Judea and Samaria whilst recognizing the creation of a 22nd Arab State in the residue for the first time in recorded history.

Rejection of Trump’s Plan by the Arab League on 1 February has led to the formation of a joint American-Israel Mapping Committee which is expected to produce a map in two months designating the areas of Judea and Samaria where Israeli sovereignty can be extended immediately.
Gantz has not embraced Trump’s Plan with the same enthusiasm as Netanyahu – choosing to maintain the existing status quo in Judea and Samaria for an indefinite period of time.

Had Gantz and Netanyahu agreed – voter apathy would not have mattered. Both major political parties would have been locked in to immediately implementing sovereignty in Judea and Samaria with America’s approval. Lack of unanimity demands condemnation by Jews worldwide.
The portents for another low voter turnout have been signalled by the announcement that only 66% of eligible Israeli diplomats, members of official delegations and their families abroad have voted – a decline from the 69.5% turnout in the September 2019 election.

Hopefully, the historic significance of these elections will generate a much larger local turnout of at least 75-80%. The future of the Jewish People’s heartland deserves this level of minimum participation from those Jews and Arabs blessed to have been chosen to make this momentous decision.

Author’s note: The cartoon – commissioned exclusively for this article 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 at Drybonesblog

"One Foot in al-Andalus and Another in China"

Three weeks ago, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, since 2010 grand imam of Egypt's leading Islamic scholarly institution,  Al-Azhar, and portrayed as a voice of moderation, responded forcefully to a speech by Professor Mohamed Othman Elkhosht, president of Cairo University.

To quote the uploader and translator, Memri TV:

'Professor Mohamed Othman Elkhosht, the President of Cairo University, said at a January 28, 2020 conference that was streamed live on Al-Azhar University’s YouTube channel that the religious sciences are in a state of stagnation, and he criticized the fact that critical analysis, scientific analysis, and methodologies from the humanities and social sciences are not used in this field.

 He said that Islamic scholarship has failed to enter a new era and called for interdisciplinarity.

 Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, the Sheikh of Al-Azhar, responded that shari’a law, Islamic jurisprudence, and the Islamic heritage that Professor Elkhosht criticized were the same things that united a bunch of warring Arab tribes that “couldn’t tell right from left” and enabled them to expand as far as Al-Andalus and China.

 Sheikh Al-Tayyeb also said that Islamic heritage barely plays a role in people’s lives today and that the Arab and Muslim identity is meaningless.

 He further argued that Western leaders such as Trump and Netanyahu make all the decisions for the Arab world, that the conflict between modernity and the Islamic heritage is made up by the West in order to hold the Muslim world back, and that there is an “accursed and vicious machine” directing the way people view Islam.'

Read Raymond Ibrahim on this topic here

David Singer: Netanyahu Goes into Judea and Samaria where Gantz Fears to Tread

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

He writes:

The formation of a joint America-Israel committee to map out the areas of Judea and Samaria within which Israel’s sovereignty will be recognized by America  – has presented Israeli voters with a real choice between the policies of Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and his rival Benny Gantz at the upcoming elections on 2 March.

Addressing Likud Party supporters at a campaign launch event in Jerusalem on 21 January – Netanyahu promised to “impose Israeli sovereignty on the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea” and to all Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria “without exception.”

Netanyahu’s proposal to take such unilateral action was tempered with the release of President Trump’s deal of the century on 28 January containing the following conceptual map indicating those areas of Judea and Samaria where America would recognize Israel’s claim to sovereignty:

America’s Ambassador to Israel – David Friedman – warned Netanyahu against precipitately undertaking his own sovereignty plan – explaining there was a waiting period before sovereignty could be extended:

“The waiting period would be the time it takes for them to obtain internal approvals and to obviously create the documentation, the calibration, the mapping, that would enable us to evaluate it, makes sure it’s consistent with the conceptual map. If they wish to apply Israeli law to those areas allocated to Israel, we will recognize it.”

Both Israel and America would have probably prepared their own maps already.  Jared Kushner – chief architect of the Trump plan – has virtually confirmed this – saying it will take only “a couple of months” for the Committee to complete its work. Marrying the two maps to achieve this truly historic outcome is that close.

Ambassador Friedman heads the three-man American delegation now sitting down with the three-man Israeli delegation on the Mapping Committee.

Gantz has been powerless to stop the formation and work of the Mapping Committee. Indeed Gantz urged Trump to release his peace plan before the elections. Gantz has not even requested that one of his nominees be part of the Israeli delegation on the Mapping Committee.

In ignoring the Mapping Committee – Gantz is signalling the continuation of his policy opposing Israel extending its sovereignty into Judea and Samaria with America’s approval.
Gantz has made his own policy very clear:

 “After the elections, we will work to apply [Israeli] sovereignty on the Jordan Valley. We will do this in a nationally agreed process and in coordination with the international community.”

Believing the international community would ever agree to Israel extending its sovereignty into any part of Judea and Samaria – without swaps of existing Israeli sovereign territory – is totally unrealistic. The international community has been fixated for decades on seeing another Arab State created in the entirety of Judea and Samaria – or in an area of the same size including land currently part of Israel.

Gantz – in limiting sovereignty to just the Jordan Valley – is dashing the hopes of an estimated Jewish population of 464,353 in 131 settlements seeking unification with Israel.

Israeli voters now have a clear choice to end the political deadlock that has followed two indecisive elections held in the past twelve months:

Is it Netanyahu – promising the restoration of sovereignty in parts of the heartland of the Jewish people’s historic and biblical homeland for the first time in 3000 years?

OR

Is it Gantz – promising more of the same in Judea and Samaria that has been going on for the last 53 years?

A third deadlocked election result now seems increasingly unlikely.

The choice is stark and the direction Israel will take for generations to come is at stake.

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 at Drybonesblog.

Woke Fake Racism

In a lively guest appearance British journalist Brendan O'Neill tells Rita Pahani and the rest of the "Outsiders" panel on Australian Sky TV just why everyday Brits are sick and tired of being tarred by Woke folk with the false charge of "racism", and how fear of accusations of racism have prevented the police adequately responding to the menace of Pakistani grooming gangs targeting non-Muslim girls.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbqhmBKqqy8

"Cohenopolis"

Jesse Jackson notoriously dubbed it "Hymie Town", and of late antisemitic incidents there have disgustingly been on the rise.

As in certain other American cities (check out this video, and not least some of the comments below it.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlOJeT1WG6M

But to a humorous writer in the Chicago Tribune just over 100 years ago New York City had become so synonymous with Jews and they so comfortable in it that "Cohenopolis" seemed an apt name.

Here's the article, as reprinted in the Melbourne-based Jewish Herald (5 October 1917): 

Muddy Waters

"I'm also clearly not an antisemite" says aged band frontman and veteran Israel knocker Roger Waters straightfaced, alleging an unwarranted smear campaign "beyond belief" against Jeremy Corbyn, and remarking that the "rich and powerful" who own the media may be on their way to controlling "everything".

Whatever can he mean?

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWSvG8vO0ls&feature