tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70433049457590177002024-03-14T10:26:35.637+02:00The View from Israel.Israeli advocacy in a difficult world.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.comBlogger404125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-24303781682642803272015-10-26T19:32:00.000+02:002015-10-26T19:32:00.654+02:00The immorality of media coverage of the Palestinian slaughter of Jews.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
Strange how tepid has been the Western media coverage of the stabbing deaths of innocent Jewish pedestrians in Israel -condemnations that would be less half-hearted had the acts occurred on the streets of Washington, Paris or London - and how loudly they shout about Palestinian deaths, even those of Palestinian killers.<br />
<br />
Come to think of it, there was nothing of the equivocal reaction to the recent killings and the unanimous and unambiguous international outpouring of emotion and solidarity elicited by the fatal hatchet attack on a soldier on a London street on May 22, 2013, a scenario not very different from those unfolding today in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.<br />
<br />
According to the media, a knife in the hands of a Palestinian murderer is the weapon of the poor. And when he is killed during or after his lethal attack, well, he's the victim.<br />
<br />
Strange that they take a completely different approach when the knife is in the hands of Al-Qaida and the head is that of Daniel Pearl, or in the hands of an ISIS butcher and the head is that of James Foley.<br />
No sympathetic editorial equivalence there! The victim is the murdered one, not the knife-wielding terrorist.<br />
<br />
Is it only when the head is that of an Israeli Jew that emotion and sympathy fades and an immoral equivalence between victim and killer raises its ugly head?<br />
<br />
And, heaven forbid that Israeli Jews take the initiative to stop these murderers in their tracks before they kill.<br />
<br />
It is then that biased journalist begin to keep running scoreboard on how many are dying on each side, and broadcasts the rising figures of dead killers to present them as the unfortunate victims of violence perpetrated by the perennially evil Israelis that neatly fits the editorial bias of decades of misreporting. <br />
<br />
Barry Shaw.<br />
Author of <i>'Fighting Hamas, BDS and Anti-Semitism.'</i> www.barrysbooks.info<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-85047198744954753222015-10-20T13:47:00.001+03:002015-10-20T13:47:50.432+03:00Jew hating and Jew denial. <div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Israel fighting Palestinian terror and the
Western media.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The old argument used to be that
Palestinians were fighting and demonstrating to achieve a state of their own,
and that it was Israeli obstinacy that was fermenting Arab violence against
Jews. On top of that, a misinterpreted by much of the media positioned
Palestinian rage being caused by excessive Israeli military attacks against defenseless
Palestinians. This was also known as <i>“disproportionate force.” <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Why wouldn’t a put-upon
population rise up in anger when they are so <i>“oppressed”</i> and “<i>occupied,”</i>so they say.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
When I put pen to paper to expose
the Jew hatred at the core of the Palestinian cause in my book <i>“Fighting
Hamas, BDS and Anti-Semitism”</i> I did so to expose the facts and anecdotal
evidence that this perception was dangerously flawed and the real burning rage
behind a violence that has been going on for a hundred years was primeval
anti-Semitism.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Though many were in denial, preferring
to reference Israeli policies not in line with conventional left-wing Western
thinking, the overwhelming weight of in excess of three hundred pages of
undeniable incidents, together with the eruption of anti-Jewish tirades during
the numerous pro-Palestinian demonstrations and such expressions by some
European politicians during and after the 2014 Gaza conflict, made the thrust
of my book resoundingly relevant.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
If further evidence of what lies
at the heart of Palestinian thinking and planning was needed the outpouring if Palestinian
anti-Jewish rhetoric, incitement, and the deliberate hunting and targeting of
Jews for knife, gun and rock wielding Palestinian attacks should leave nobody
in any further doubt about what is at play here.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Despite the stark reality that
the Palestinian cause was never about creating a new and peaceful state that
would instantly solve all the problems of the Middle East but rather about killing
Jews and destroying the <i>“abomination”</i> of a Jewish state,” a tiny island of
progress in the midst of a radical and bloodthirsty Islamic region, many
leading politicians and a media in denial still hold to the mistaken notion
that only by granting a volatile Palestine statehood will the area calm down.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
If there has been any recent
abomination it has been with the government of South Africa officially welcome
Hamas leader, Khaled Maashal, on the same day that this internationally
designated terrorist organization announced it would initiate renewed suicide
bombings against Israelis. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Following the
declaration from Palestinian Authority head, Mahmoud Abbas, that <i>“every drop
of blood spilled in Jerusalem is pure blood as long as it’s for the sake of
Allah”</i> and that this blood must be spilled because the Jews were desecrating
the Islamic holy places <i>“with their filthy feet,” </i>a lie so preposterously
dangerous, hordes of knife and rock wielding Arabs went in search of Jewish
victims.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
Israelis,
tense with the expectations of knifing attacks on the streets of their towns,
were subjected to world headlines defining them as the perpetrators and
Palestinians as the innocent victims. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
The Reuters bureau
chief, Luke Baker, falsely tweeted that undercover Israeli police threw stones
at Israeli security forces and incited Palestinian youth to do the same. This
was repeated by AFP and EuroNews. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
You will find
most media headlines leave the identity of the assailant anonymous as in <i>“Jerusalem
bus and car attacks leaves dead and wounded,”</i> or <i>“Jerusalem attack kills
three,”</i> or The Independent’s headline that reads as if Israelis were doing
the attacking when, in fact, they were the victims of Palestinian Arabs
attacks, <i>“Israel attacks” Guns, cars and knives are the new weapon of war in
Jerusalem.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
You would
never know that all the attacks were executed by Palestinian Arabs and all of
the victims were Israeli Jews.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
So incensed
was Lord Michael Grade, former chairman of the BBC Trust, that he wrote a
letter of complaint slamming the BBC correspondent, Orla Guerin, for her misreporting
of the ongoing violence carried out by Palestinians against Israelis. He was upset
by her <i><span style="background: white; color: #252324; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“equivalence between Israeli victims of terrorism and
Palestinians who have been killed by Israeli security forces in the act of
carrying out terror attacks.”</span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="background: white; color: #252324; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #252324; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">His letter follows an appalling BBC headline which described
a Palestinian youth who carried out an assault that killed two Jewish men,
seriously injured a woman and wounded her two year old son thus, <i>“Palestinian
shot dead after Jerusalem attack claims two.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #252324; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #252324; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The twist of this headline leads the BBC audience in to
falsely believing that the Palestinian was the innocent victim of a Jerusalem
attack by known assailants. Nowhere in this headline would an audience know
that Jews had been murdered in a vicious attack. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #252324; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #252324; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So egregiously frequent have these incident of untruthful reporting
been that a frustrated Prime Minister Netanyahu asked BBC’s Lyse Doucet at a
Jerusalem press conference, <i>“Are we living on the same planet?”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #252324; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #252324;">When much of the Western media choke on
identifying the victims of Palestinian violence as Israeli Jews you know there
is a serious breach of trust at play that must be addressed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #252324;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #252324; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sadly, these headlines are commonplace as editorial
discretion repeatedly tilts a bias that fails to allow the truth and honest
reporting to shine through.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #252324; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #252324; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">One of the truths is that there is a deliberate Palestinian
policy to incite their followers to attack Israeli Jews and deny them any
rights, not to sovereignty, not to heritage in Jerusalem, not even to life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqCSp1NRZrQx0s7-AwhMQNa2qnuHpmeNbGdfIqKnUWNlEACzIahr7VMGwGF0xjycNARFYvbfrV_l26GZTf2jWWez53kxeXENiVcx3mrUfvkkBy1NC_YugsuX4kd33vq8d9xM86VP-6hNwK/s1600/CNN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqCSp1NRZrQx0s7-AwhMQNa2qnuHpmeNbGdfIqKnUWNlEACzIahr7VMGwGF0xjycNARFYvbfrV_l26GZTf2jWWez53kxeXENiVcx3mrUfvkkBy1NC_YugsuX4kd33vq8d9xM86VP-6hNwK/s320/CNN.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8n0KyxMzqQ7ZMHaQzlzVJreSlp9bg0fb1rPti1YBYfqwyqbCHX067Rq5AVk7t40gfJvmGlvVEuGkF48eTfPApRPIxHkJTWxeprCM8ulyZRfP_g-TGrwMPtjyuXwos4JAHb5lMzlbz-4hS/s1600/BBC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8n0KyxMzqQ7ZMHaQzlzVJreSlp9bg0fb1rPti1YBYfqwyqbCHX067Rq5AVk7t40gfJvmGlvVEuGkF48eTfPApRPIxHkJTWxeprCM8ulyZRfP_g-TGrwMPtjyuXwos4JAHb5lMzlbz-4hS/s320/BBC.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #252324; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #252324; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Barry Shaw is
the author of <i>‘Fighting Hamas, BDS and Anti-Semitism.’</i> <a href="http://www.barrysbooks.info/">www.barrysbooks.info</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -.35pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="background: white; color: #252324; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">He is also the Senior Associate for Public Diplomacy at the
Israeli Institute for Strategic Studies. </span></b><i><span lang="EN"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-31261288869483339152015-10-14T18:23:00.002+03:002015-10-14T18:23:37.193+03:00The truth and implications of the “Jerusalem Intifada.”<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYm9l8GapbNEYIlxCRVlLWHBVB0HexDB4u_2oqTDJ8Zkin5xoOjjXvNTRaJijumx0Oy376VrmFMIU6XIKvh8t75B4MU-EolLOi277KgdU14iGFIt2RUmj8_RozmUj2aK8z7rch0oIR0Ahv/s1600/Jerusalem-Temple-Mount.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYm9l8GapbNEYIlxCRVlLWHBVB0HexDB4u_2oqTDJ8Zkin5xoOjjXvNTRaJijumx0Oy376VrmFMIU6XIKvh8t75B4MU-EolLOi277KgdU14iGFIt2RUmj8_RozmUj2aK8z7rch0oIR0Ahv/s640/Jerusalem-Temple-Mount.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let me put it in record. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The status quo was not changed by Israel on the Temple
Mount, despite Palestinian protests.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Since Rosh HaShana (the Jewish
New Year), when the provocations really began, not one Jew set foot inside any
of the mosques on the Temple Mount. Not one Jew or tourist spoke loudly or
started any violent act on the Temple Mount. Not one Jew did any of the
destructive acts on the Temple Mount. Those that were there walked quietly and
respectfully around the large open space that is the huge plateau upon which
the Temple was built. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
While they were doing so, they
were accosted by the paid recruits of the northern branch of the Islamic
Movement that has its center in the Israeli Arab town of Um el Fahm and is
headed by a notorious Islamic provocateur named Sheikh Raed Salah in
collaboration with the religious Wakf, the Palestinian Authority and with the
encouragement of Hamas in Gaza. They were shouted at and taunted and had copies
of the Koran pushed in their face. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
With the encouragement of the PA
and Hamas, Muslim youths brought rocks, cinder blocks and material to make firebombs
into the Al-Akar mosque. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The question needs to be asked how these weapons of
popular violence were brought onto the Mount and into the mosque. They
certainly did not bring them through the official entrances which are secured
by Israeli guards who are there to maintain law and order. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The only way they
could have got there was with the assistance of the religious Wakf, who controls
the Islamic site, in collaboration with the Islamic Movement and the PA, and
that could only have been by access through the underground excavations that
the Palestinians had burrowed illegally under the Temple Mount several years
ago and to which the Israeli government turned a blind eye. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The Islamic Movement shares the
same radical ideology as Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and ISIS, but Mahmoud
Abbas was the chief social media inciter. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
He made speeches which were
distributed over the internet in which he said <i>“the Jews are coming to
destroy our holy places and defile them with their dirty feet.” </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This
inciter in chief followed that up by saying, <i>“Every drop of blood spilled in
Jerusalem is pure blood. Every shahid (martyr) will reach paradise and every
injured person will be rewarded by Allah.” <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This was the anti-Semitic
incitement coming from the mouth of Israel’s <i>“moderate”</i> peace partner,
the so-called President of the Palestinian Authority. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Under international pressure
Abbas, after inciting the bloody violence, began calling for restraint.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
What is
interesting is that while he was calling for the Arab members of Israel’s
Knesset to lower the tone of their rhetoric, and they had been pretty extreme
in their words and actions, his call was ignored by them when they announced
they intended to go up to the Temple Mount a few days later. Not only did they
defy the Israeli Prime Minister, they also defied the Palestinian leader. While
they sit in Israel’s parliament they are encouraging violence with their words
and deeds. This surely is an act of sedition. One brave Arab mayor, Ali Salim
of Nazareth, demanded that these Arab MKs not come to his town to spread their
incitement. He accused them of <i>“ruining co-existence.”</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Hamas in Gaza began calling the
violence the <i>“Al Quds Intifada,”</i> literally the <i>“Jerusalem Intifada.” </i>They
supported the violence by organizing hundreds of Gazans to march on Israel’s border
to breach it and to attack the nearby kibbutzim and villages to kill Jews. The
threat for Israel’s security forces was that Hamas would infiltrate groups of terrorists
into these huge demonstrations to breach the border and carry out the wholesale
slaughter of Israelis. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
After three days of effort
resulted in failure, due to the determination of the IDF that resulted in
casualties the media was quick to broadcast intimate details of Palestinian
deaths, something they had been loath to do when Israeli Jews were killed, to
make their story more emotionally edible to their viewers. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The crescendo of hate and
religious emotion, generated by multiple Palestinian sources, spilled over with
deadly violence onto the street and was supported by a media buying into
Palestinian lies by condemning <i>“Israeli provocations.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Indeed, much of the media
replayed their editorial bent that portrayed Israel as the perennial bad guys
and Palestinians as the innocent bystanders and victims. There was little space
that gave Israelis and Jews the decency and truth they deserve. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Fox News, normally one of the more
balanced news outlets when it comes to Israel, got it completely wrong with a
headline dealing with the Gaza violence, </span><i><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">"Israel
security forces shoot and kill 2 Palestinian teenagers at Gaza protest."<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">To the uninformed, this headline read as if there were
only 2 teenagers protesting and Israeli soldiers brutally killed them for
simply protesting. This bad reporting reflects the poor image that faulty
journalism casts over Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent;">When a 19 year old Palestinian,
incited by repeated lies of Israeli </span><i style="background-color: transparent;">“crimes”</i><span style="background-color: transparent;"> against Islamic and
Palestinian holy places, took a knife and went to the Old City of Jerusalem to
murder Jews, he found the Benita-Bennett family walking back from prayers at
the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. His attack resulted in the murder of
Aharon and Rabbi Nehamia Lavi. He also seriously wounded Aharon’s wife, Adele,
and injured their two-year old son. He was killed by security forces before he
could continue his deadly rampage.</span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent;">But this is how the BBC News
headline put it, </span><i style="background-color: transparent;">“Palestinian shot dead as Jerusalem attack kills two.”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
There was total editorial divorce
from the facts and truth of the fatal incident.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The fact that this Palestinian
killed Jews was absent. Jews became an anonymous faceless number killed,
according to the BBC. Some wrongly interpreted their headline as that the
unnamed <i>“two”</i> had enigmatically been killed by the city of Jerusalem. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The truth is that Mahmoud Abbas
is a bankrupt <i>“peace”</i> partner. He has nothing to offer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Against the background of this
awful truth, it is demanded of Israel that we surrender the Old City and external sections to the will
and control of the Palestinians for this is what they call <i>“east Jerusalem.”</i>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
What they are demanding is that Jews must give up everything that justifies our rights for being there,
lending credibility to the Palestinian cause. What is incredible is that there
are Jewish voices that support this notion. A culture of defeatism is being
spread that allows the violent creep of Islam, dressed up in the Palestinian
cause, to take over what is ours. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The message may be promulgated in
political terms but what we are experiencing is nothing less than the
significant march of Islam in the Middle East, and the Jews of Israel are its
last bastion. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Barry Shaw is the Senior Associate on Public Diplomacy at
the Israeli Institute for Strategic Studies.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>He is also the author of <i>“Fighting Hamas, BDS and
Anti-Semitism.”</i> <a href="http://www.barrysbooks.info/">www.barrysbooks.info</a><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-69081080031214185862015-10-08T18:36:00.001+03:002015-10-08T18:36:35.977+03:00The Palestinians' New Intifada<a href="http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6651/new-intifada#.VhaNfEArB-I.blogger">The Palestinians' New Intifada</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-75259901132941878152015-10-05T10:32:00.000+03:002015-10-05T10:32:07.577+03:00Intifada.<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-align: justify;">Parts of Europe, America,
Australia, and in other parts of the world, the phenomenon of the </span><i style="text-align: justify;">“lone
wolf”</i><span style="text-align: justify;"> terrorist is a plague on society that is growing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Disaffected young men carrying
out random acts of violence at the instigation of some terror organization
located far from the locale of the local terrorist.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Often, the young men are incited
by radical imams in local mosques but mostly they are self- taught, finding
their cause on their laptops or computers before stepping out of their homes to
commit random acts of deadly violence.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
While these acts are relatively
rare and sudden, in Israel they occur several times a day on a regular basis.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Unlike other countries, these
young men are radicalized by a local leadership that the Israeli government is
restrained by international pressure from attacking or disbanding.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In Israel’s case, the tsunami of
terror is being incited by organizations ranging from Hamas, Islamic Jihad,
Fatah, and from the leadership of the Palestinian Authority.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
As a comparison, this would be akin
to Britain being infected by daily terror attacks being led by a leadership
based in Birmingham, and having the British Government prevented from acting
against the source under pain of international condemnation and punishment from
the European Union and the United Nations.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The term”<i>intifada”</i> has
been used to describe the current wave of Arab violence. Questions are being
asked if this is an intifada. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Intifada is an Arab word meaning <i>“uprising”</i>
or <i>“shaking off”.</i> It has been used to describe the desire of Palestinian
Arabs to drive out the Jews from the land.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The first <i>“intifada”</i> took
place between 1987-1993. It was a war of stones as Arabs attacked Israeli
soldiers and police with rocks and firebombs. The second Arafat-inspired <i>“intifada”</i>
became a widespread attack against all and any Israeli target, mainly civilian,
as a prolonged (2000-2003) series of suicide bombings, shootings and car bombs
killed hundreds of Israelis. This was put down when Israel launched Operation
Defensive Shield, set up checkpoints and road blocks and built a security fence
that successfully kept suicide bombers and Palestinian terrorists from reaching
central Israel. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The current violence has a
stronger religious element to it and this has been orchestrated by the various
Palestinian factions. Hamas and Islamic Jihad are strongly Islamic-based so,
when Mahmoud Abbas leapt on the Islamic theme that Jews are coming to destroy
the Islamic holy places, a competition was lit as to which faction could incite
the most violence. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
For Hamas, what is going on has
nothing to do with Gaza. It has everything to do with them asserting their
influence into the West Bank. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It was the Palestinian Authority
that purposely provoked the violence in Jerusalem around the Temple Mount, using
the Jewish high holy days as an excuse to portray Jews at prayer as trying to take
over Muslim holy places. Abbas spoke loudly, including at the podium of the
United Nations, highlighting Israeli <i>“crimes,”</i> but they found they were
losing control of the Palestinian street that identified itself with other
radical elements within Palestinian society.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
How did this play out? We saw the
spectacle of Muslim women being funded by the Islamic Movement in Israel being
bused to Jerusalem to abuse and often use violence to prevent people from
visiting the Temple Mount by endangering their personal security. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The women were banned from the
Temple Mount but have been allowed to <i>“protest”</i> in the alleyways of the
Old City and the approaches to the Temple Mount, where they continue their
provocations. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Part of a statement made by the
Israeli Defense Minister, Moshe Ya’alon, when introducing this ban, became
gruesomely poignant days later. <i>“Their activity is inflammatory and
endangers tourists, visitors and worshippers at the site, leading to violence
that could harm human life.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Their activities are fully
supported by the Palestinian Authority whose leader, Mahmoud Abbas, made
provocative statements that the Jews were desecrating Islam’s holy places with
their <i>“dirty feet.” </i>This follows the well-worn incitement that the Jews
have no heritage or history in Jerusalem, and have no right being there.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Arab violence erupted in
Jerusalem and throughout the West Bank. This is what drove a wealthy 19 year
old Arab boy to kill. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
He was caught up in a false
religious cause linked to a nationalist agenda that Jews were defiling Islamic
holy places with their dirty feet. This boy did not come from an extreme Muslim
family. The insulting incitement of Mahmoud Abbas, together with the daily news
coverage of rioting Arab youth, motivated him to take a butcher’s knife and
enter the Old City in search of Jews. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
He attacked two Jewish families
who were returning from prayers at the Western Wall, a place which, according
to Abbas, Hamas, and the rest of the Islamic world is being desecrated by Jews.
He stabbed one of the men and his wife, then grabbed the man’s gun and began
shooting. He succeeded in killing two men, leave a couple of women in critical
condition, and injuring others including a two year old baby before he was shot
and killed by security forces. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
As the badly bleeding wife of one
of the murdered men staggered away from the scene of the carnage, with the
knife still stuck in her back, she was jeered, spat on and insulted by the banned
Muslim women who had taken up positions close to the scene of the terror crime.
Several of them screamed at her to die.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
There is no differentiating women
or children as targets in the fevered mind of a radicalized Palestinian. The
three Fogel children were hacked to death in their beds, along with their
parents, when Palestinian terrorists broke into their home in Moshav Itamar in
2011. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It was by this village that four small children miraculously avoided
death under a hail of bullets when Palestinians mowed down their parents in a
drive-by shooting on 1 October. The nine year old son recited Kaddish - the
Jewish mourner’s prayer for the dead – at his parent’s graves the following
day. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In the hot-headed Middle East
environment, the pressure cooker of Islamic religious incitement is easily lit.
It spills over onto the streets as the media condemns <i>“Israeli
provocations.”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It has all the makings of an <i>“intifada”</i>
with incitement from Palestinian leadership that calls on people to use any
weapon at hand to strike at the Jewish enemy. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It is acted on by Arabs who
wander the streets with their knives, guns or vehicles to kill Jews. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The only difference between what
we are seeing today and what transpired fifteen years ago is that recent events
have been territorially limited to Jerusalem and the confines of Judea &
Samaria. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This is not to say that, if the
current outbreak is not capped soon it will not spread to other parts of
Israel. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Barry Shaw is the Senior Associate for Public Diplomacy
at the Israeli Institute for Strategic Studies. He is the author of <i>‘Fighting Hamas, BDS
and Anti-Semitism.’ </i><a href="http://www.barrysbooks.info/">www.barrysbooks.info</a><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-14244519591855027222015-10-02T18:11:00.002+03:002015-10-04T13:12:00.285+03:00Assad, Putin, and the smart move that Obama must make.<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-align: justify;">From warfare to lawfare.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The words used to describe Obama
in countries in the Middle East plus Ukraine include <i>“unreliable”,
“skittish”, “weak in negotiations”</i> and <i>“feeble in foreign policy.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Best evidence that these words
have real meaning can be seen in the <i>“words not action”</i> policy of the
Obama Administration when it comes to Syria.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
On August 20, 2012, Obama said, <i>“We
have been very clear to the Assad regime but also to other players that a red
line for us is seeing a whole lot of chemical weapons being moved around or
utilized. That would change my calculus.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Chemical weapons were moved
around and utilized by the Assad regime and Obama did nothing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
On October 22, 2012, he said that
<i>“Assad’s days are numbered.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I predict that Assad will still
be in power after Obama vacates the White House. With the injection of Russia
into Syria, it seems that it is Obama’s days that are numbered, not Assad.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The day after Obama met Putin at
the UN, Russia launched an attack on US allies in Syria that are against the
Assad regime. The result of this action was a meeting between Secretary of
State Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov in which Kerry pleased for <i>“deconfliction.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It is alleged that only an hour
prior to the attack Russia told America to get their planes out of the skies of
northern Syria. Ash Carter, the US Defense Minister’s response was to call this
action <i>“unprofessional.”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Kerry said he would discuss <i>“the
nature of the targets”</i> with the Russians and that <i>“talks will go on
about other issues.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
As the brief press conference
wrapped up, and as Lavrov walked away, he told the media <i>“Don’t listen to
the Pentagon.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In the dangerous Middle East a
favorite saying is <i>“It’s best to be feared, not loved.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Putin is fear and not loved, but
he gets respect. Obama is neither feared nor loved. As one Israeli pundit put
it to me, <i>“Obama is a bully at home, but is a coward abroad.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
As proof of his statement he
posed the following scenario; <i>“If US-backed allies, or worse American
soldiers who we are told by Obama are not in Syria, are killed by the Russians
or others acting under the military control of the Russians what, if anything,
would Obama do about it? Hit back? Highly unlikely. Complain? Absolutely. Big
deal!”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Based in this scenario, how is
the Obama Administration going to protect its allies when they are hit not by
ISIS but by the Russians as they are right now? Maybe Kerry will come up with
another new word like <i>“deconfliction.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It’s open season for contempt for
America.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Ben Rhodes, the Deputy National
Security Advisor said of Putin, <i>“It’s hardly someone who is in a strong
position” </i>to which local comment is who is strong and who is weak? He went on <i>“Iraq didn’t work out for us.
Syria will not work out for them”</i> to which I say, <i>“Ben! You want to bet
on that?”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It was clear that Rhodes was
speaking for his boss when Obama doubled down at a White House Press Conference
on October 2, 2105, by saying Russia went into Syria <i>“out of weakness.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
So here’s another prediction for
you. I predict that Russia will be in Iraq before Obama leaves the White House.
The signs are already there that ISIS will be the excuse for Russia to <i>“assist”</i>
the Iranians fight Islamic State in Iraq.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Are these <i>“weak”</i> words US
strategy, or policy? Does America have a policy or strategy? It certainly
doesn’t look like it from here in the Middle East. By simply saying that ISIS
and Assad must fall is effectual. Words don’t cut it and, in the tough worlds
of real politics, foreign policy and global strategy, Obama projects utter
weakness and incompetence. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In an election debate on October
22, 2012 with Mitt Romney who had called out Russia as being America’s worst
threat going forward, Obama scoffed Romney by saying, <i>“You said the biggest
national security threat against America is Russia, not Al-Qaida, but Russia.” </i>Three
years later it is legitimate to ask, who was right?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Obama always backs losers,
dangerous losers. Examples are the rebels in Libya who were against Gadhafi,
The Muslim Brother hood in Egypt, Iraqi forces instead of the brave fighting
Kurds, Syrian rebels. He is even schmoozing Iran. According to Middle East
strategic experts, Obama is a proven chronic loser.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Ignoring Obama’s reasons for
backing Syrian rebels and Assad’s appalling human rights record, Russia claims,
with some justification, to be the only legitimate foreign force in Syria.
Putin claims he was invited by the president of Syria to fight alongside the
official Syrian army. Putin is using the old cliché that <i>“He’s a bastard, but
he’s our bastard!”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Using this excuse, Putin and
Assad can claim that any other aircraft flying in sovereign Syrian air space
will be considered enemy and liable to be shot down. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
There is an expression which is
applied to the killing and destruction of terrorist enclaves. It’s called <i>“draining
the swamp.”</i> America was not too keen
to drain the Syrian swamp so Putin has taken it upon himself to be the
exterminator. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The Obama Administration, alarmed
that Russia said they would target ISIS and instead bombed their allies cannot
shout too loudly about it because there is more than a whiff of hypocrisy about
it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
America turned away as Turkey
promised the Administration that it would target ISIS but has been heavily
bombing the fighting Kurds in Iraq with American knowledge and silence. There
is more than a suspicion that Turkey bought American silence by allowing the US
to use Turkish air bases to fly sorties against ISIS. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
What options are open to the
Obama Administration? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
As the clock ticks down to his
departure, Obama is leaving the next US president an impossible legacy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
There remains only one avenue
open to Obama if he wants to save face and out-maneuver Putin in Syria without
enlisting military force.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
If you don’t want to use warfare,
use lawfare.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
If America does not want to get
into a military fight against Assad, it should think out of the box and apply <i>“lawfare”</i>
against the criminal head of Syria by bringing war crimes charges against him
to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is undeniable that Assad has committed both
humanitarian and war crimes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The evidence is at hand. There is no dispute
that charges can be brought against Assad to the ICC at The Hague, and there
are thousands of witnesses and compelling evidence to prove the case.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Assad is the central pawn in Syria upon which
Russia stands or falls in its ambitions there. The only way that a US
Administration that is loath to use military force to dislodge Assad from power
is to bring him to justice for crimes against his own people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
With approaching 300,000 Syrians
murdered by Assad, the international crimes are self-evident and a conviction
can be brought quite convincingly. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If the Obama Administration claims it wants to
bring down Assad for the sake of the people of Syria he is killing, this is the
way to do it and, at the same time, trump Russia's latest moves in that
country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Since
the US isn't party to the ICC statute it can't institute prosecutions against
anyone. However, the ICC statute does enable the UN Security Council to
institute proceedings. Therefore, the US should table a motion in the UN
Security Council to institute proceedings against Assad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This would place Putin in the indefensible
position of protecting a designated international war criminal. Should he
continue to support Assad, further heavy sanctions could be brought against
Russia by the United Nations.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Of course, Russia could, and more
likely would, veto such a move. But, if they did, they would be seen as
protecting a war criminal. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The smartest move would be to
have a notable American individual, preferably a renowned international jurist,
or an American-based human rights organization petition the International
Criminal Court. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This is the move to which Obama
can put Putin in a corner that it will be difficult to get out of and,
at the same time, get rid of Assad to the benefit of the Syrian people. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Barry Shaw is the Senior
Associate for Public Diplomacy at the Israeli Institute for Strategic Studies.<i><o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-44735307523070684612015-10-01T11:27:00.001+03:002015-10-01T11:27:29.395+03:00The Delusional State of Denial.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNVyNyt4Vx0XqmgVtZaKlGLF7JDsrbMWiDd4h6NvetyaTqBOKJqu6h6HQel2_uUD4Z_QJSSNrWUw_gckrPjcGHNazH9n7aYHoM_osonUDMw04ppg9NQJ2BvxUalBd91qkbjybG5AnmLruo/s1600/Abbas+flag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNVyNyt4Vx0XqmgVtZaKlGLF7JDsrbMWiDd4h6NvetyaTqBOKJqu6h6HQel2_uUD4Z_QJSSNrWUw_gckrPjcGHNazH9n7aYHoM_osonUDMw04ppg9NQJ2BvxUalBd91qkbjybG5AnmLruo/s320/Abbas+flag.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They deny our existence. They deny our heritage. They deny
out history, our belonging. They even deny the walls and shrines that scream
our name.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s not some state created in peace that they want. It is a
delusional dream in which Israel doesn’t exist.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s not Filastin. It’s Fantasy Land.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And we are expected to play along with this deception, to
ignore our own rights. Dispense with our ownership. Throw away our property
rights. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For what?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To accommodate these liars, these rogues?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What are we doing to ourselves?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are indulging in the same fraudulent delusion as our
enemy. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To what end?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To sleepwalk to our own oblivion. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is nonsense. This is madness. This is fevered insanity
to which no nation on earth has ever subscribed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For Israel, a Palestine peace is an impossible hopeless
dream with a delusional vicious rogue state bent on our destruction. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s time to call a spade the bloody shovel that it is.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As Yossi Beilin, the architect and driver of the Oslo
process, said after the ranting speech of the leader of his disarrayed people
at the United Nation General Assembly podium on September 30, <i>“I wish he
would have called for the dismantlement of the Palestinian Authority.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So ends the Oslo dream.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Abbas shattered the remnants of the illusion of Oslo. His
Authority was never a solution but always the heart of the problem. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This applies, with absolute certainty, to Hamas.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There you have the total failure of the Palestine project.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Israel acceded to international demands of allowing a
Palestinian leadership to develop. They promised us the road map to peace. They
gave us the path to our own destruction.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Palestinian leadership, in all its ugly forms, imposes
on us the infamous four D’s. Not of the creation of their own state, but the
deconstruction of ours.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Demonization. Delegitimization, Denial. Death.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How much longer must be tolerate this delusional <i>“solution”
</i>to the Israeli-Palestinian problem?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Barry Shaw is the Senior Associate for Public Diplomacy
at the Israeli Institute for Strategic Studies.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>He is the author of <i>‘Israel Reclaiming the Narrative’</i>
and <i>‘Fighting Hamas, BDS and Anti-Semitism’</i> to be found at <a href="http://www.barrysbooks.info/">www.barrysbooks.info</a><o:p></o:p></b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-9033719232178738062015-09-29T15:59:00.003+03:002015-09-29T15:59:50.125+03:00The hypocrisy (read 'lies') of Mahmoud Abbas in the face of facts on the ground.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-j1_7OtGlTW9z4KROXGJ6BbN9DbI8_JKyS3b1kbeAYrMdkFMpWSFOu1T2hxvhF-9r2ru0n0KpilHImrdRu2EI6_0sN99HTfAYKgg5ii2m37O0rebzSILhzTe-ZlAjjV-K_TG0WEjX6N6h/s1600/bethlehem+church+PA+silent..png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-j1_7OtGlTW9z4KROXGJ6BbN9DbI8_JKyS3b1kbeAYrMdkFMpWSFOu1T2hxvhF-9r2ru0n0KpilHImrdRu2EI6_0sN99HTfAYKgg5ii2m37O0rebzSILhzTe-ZlAjjV-K_TG0WEjX6N6h/s320/bethlehem+church+PA+silent..png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">The Palestinian Authority allows the desecration of mosques on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">They incite Muslims to slaughter Jews at prayer in Jerusalem synagogues.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Now they are silent over the Palestinian destruction of a Bethlehem church.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">And Abbas has the chutzpah to blame Israel.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Gabriel Naddaf, spokesman for the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, wrote on his Facebook: <i>“I call to strongly condemn the burning of the holy Church ‘St. Charbel’ burned tonight in Be</i></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><i>thlehem by Palestinian extremists. I condemn in the strongest terms the powerlessness of the Palestinian Authority in maintaining the holy places of Christians in Palestinian territories. I call PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas to handle the hazardous events seriously and with severity instead of preaching morality to Israel.”</i></span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><i><br /></i>According to Christian community leaders in Bethlehem, the fire was started by extremist Islamists who for months have been threatening community members with harm. As a result of the fire, several rooms on the church’s second floor were completely destroyed. No one was killed or injured.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><br />Sources quoted by Naddaf said that the fire was just another in a long series of attacks by Muslims against Christians in Bethlehem.<i> “The PA tries to sweep these incidents under the rug but it never condemns these acts, which interfere with freedom of religion,”</i> the sources said. </span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Before PA chief Mahmoud Abbas<i> “lectures Israel on its morality, he should look at his own responsibilities and deal with them appropriately,” </i>Naddaf wrote.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><br />Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on Facebook;<br /><i>“I am proud that the Christian community in Israel has grown each year. Unfortunately, across the Middle East, that trend happens only in Israel. In many other parts of our region, the Christian community is persecuted and attacked. Even in the territories of the Palestinian Authority, including Bethlehem, the cradle of Christianity, the Christian community is shrinking every year"</i></span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><br />Strangely silent also are anti-Israel, BDS-supporting, church leaders who attack the Jewish state at every opportunity but remain dumb when their churches under Palestinian control are destroyed and their co-religionists intimidated and attacked.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Barry Shaw is the Senior Associate for Public Diplomacy at the Israeli Institute of Strategic Studies.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-9675032763843104502015-09-25T09:08:00.002+03:002015-09-25T09:08:59.279+03:00Rekjavik - the cold capital of hypocrisy.<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 14.5pt;">The
Rekjavik mayor, when faced with global criticism and protests, backed down on
his council's blanket boycott resolution against Israel and watered it down to
a mealy-mouthed boycott on Jewish products from Judea & Samaria.</span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">I
wonder why this city exclusively targets the Jewish state above all others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">He
replaced a city vote of anti-Semitism (that’s how it looks from Israel when
your capital applies double standards) to a more localized version of Rekjavikian
anti-Semitism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Yes, anti-Semitism. That's what it is when you target the Jewish state exclusively, and against the logic that it refuses to apply to worse offenders, and without applying reason to Israel's claims for understanding or justice. </span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 14.5pt;">Let me put it
bluntly. Rekjavik’s decision was a hostile one. It was also hypocritical.</span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">As an Israeli, I may
surprise many readers by demanding that this town carry out its boycott
resolution in full.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">I
do so in the certain knowledge that Rekjavik needs us far far more than we need
them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">It
must begin by throwing out all of the city's computer network that operates by
virtue of its Israeli technology. All council members must be deprived of their
smart phones. They should also check which other Israeli technology is keeping
their city in the modern age. The hypocrites!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Rekjavik
must be punished for its hypocrisy. Any city with a mayor that visited China
yet boycotts Israel is truly the capital city of hypocrisy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Rekjavik
has no problem with China occupying Tibet, or its appalling human rights
record. No reason for Rekjavik to boycott China, or Turkey for occupying
northern Cyprus and for bombing Kurds, imprisoning journalists and opponents of
the Erdogan government, or Morocco for occupying Western Sahara, or Egypt for
blockading Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">This
hypocrisy came full circle when it was revealed that the left-wing councilwoman
who proposed the boycott motion was leaving Iceland to serve Hamas in Gaza! Not
Abbas in Ramallah. No. Its Hamas controlled Gaza that she supports. This is the
Gaza that fired thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians last year, and not
for the first time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">This
leads to my final question.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Does
Iceland and Rekjavik designate Hamas as an Islamic terror organization? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">If
so, they should boycott this council member when he returns to cold and
hypocritical Rekjavik.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Barry
Shaw is the author of ‘Fighting Hamas, BDS and Anti-Semitism.’ </span></b></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.5pt; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><a href="https://www.createspace.com/5333306">https://www.createspace.com/5333306</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-76982840185840242972015-09-24T10:27:00.002+03:002015-09-24T11:31:10.360+03:00Bassam Eid. The Palestinian human rights activist that opposes BDS and boycotts.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMc2g1cs8Aiw-232W5RFKuxeQ7L1iBPMdtIt8UvhdoOLfOyFgvw7ofnMBVvJrJXd21aF0_6jQlPjKIbukKgPve17iTgeXtCiVVl1zZq1DAb6H94zrrk5YDU-pAoZBkKEgPcZSR9VbruvKb/s1600/Bassam+Eid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMc2g1cs8Aiw-232W5RFKuxeQ7L1iBPMdtIt8UvhdoOLfOyFgvw7ofnMBVvJrJXd21aF0_6jQlPjKIbukKgPve17iTgeXtCiVVl1zZq1DAb6H94zrrk5YDU-pAoZBkKEgPcZSR9VbruvKb/s320/Bassam+Eid.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Bassam Eid is a Palestinian human rights activist. He created
Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group that focuses on human rights abuses
by and corruption in the Palestinian Authority. No other ‘human rights’
organizations focus on citizen abuses at the hands of Palestinian leadership
both in Ramallah and Gaza. He was jailed by the Palestinian Authority for his
work.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Eid's
organization focused only on human rights violations perpetrated by the
Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">"There
are many human rights organizations in Israel, whereas there are and were
hardly any organizations in the Palestinian Authority that monitored its
actions in this regard,"</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> Eid says.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Eid's
organization received significant funding from European states and managed to
employ researchers who operated in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Five years
ago, however, things changed, and the funding from Europe came to an end.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Why
should a person who bravely exposes the corruption and human rights abuses of
the Palestinian leadership against their own people be suddenly deprived of his
funding by European countries?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">"I think it happened because European policy in recent
years has been to come down hard on Israel and not the Palestinian
Authority,"</span></i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> Eid says. <i>"They view Israel as the main
obstacle to the peace process and want to support the PA. One of the ways to
show this support is to stop funding organizations that are critical of the PA."</i></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
In an interview
with YNetNews, Eid said<i>, </i><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">"I'm opposed to the boycott because it
only ends up harming the Palestinians themselves. Take, for example, the
SodaStream plant in Mishor Adumim that is now moving some of its operations to
Be'er Sheva. I've met with Palestinians who worked at the factory and were
fired because of the move. They told me they were earning an average of NIS
5,000 a month there, and that today they are being offered salaries of just NIS
1,400 in the PA.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">"People
there are deep in debt because they have taken on long-term commitments based
on the understanding that their work at the plant would continue; but reality
has slapped them in the face because of the pressure created by BDS movement.
Today, they are running between the courts and the bailiff offices and is
anyone taking any notice of them? Do you think the boycott movement cares about
them at all?"<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">For his
outspoken truth Eid was intimidated and prevented from speaking by BDS protesters
at the University of Johannesburg in March 2105.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
About the Palestinian Authority Eid told Rebel Media;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“The Palestinian Authority is living in one valley and
the Palestinian people are living in another valley. There is no communication
between the two.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“Almost not one Palestinian benefited from the money
coming from abroad to the Palestinian Authority.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“As a society we are talking a lot about the corruption of
the Palestinian Authority. Unfortunately, the international community still has
blind eyes on this corruption.“<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“Nobody is talking about the foundation of a Palestinian
state.” <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Palestinian society is split into
two main factions – Fatah and Hamas. Both openly call for the destruction of
Israel. Can these organizations co-exist?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>“Forget any kind of reconciliation
or unity between Fatah and Hamas. Although the international community is
demanding two states for two people, the Palestinians are calling for three
states for two people. Hamas is fighting
for its own interest in Gaza while Fatah is fighting for its own interest in
Ramallah, and Israel.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>“I am not sure that there is
even one Arab state that is in favor of a Palestinian state. If you take the
Palestinian case from 1948 until 1967 the West Bank and east Jerusalem was
under the control of the Jordanians and Gaza Strip was under the Egyptian
control. Did Jordan or Egypt between 1948 and 1967 try to create a Palestinian
state? If you are asking me between 1948
and 1967 I am not quite sure that the Arabs are interested in the foundation of
a Palestinian state and most of the Arab countries are stuck in their own mud.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The evidence that Arab states
really don’t care about improving the lot of the Palestinian Arabs can be seen
in the factual statistic that not one Arab country is listed in the top twenty
nations that donate to Palestinian humanitarian causes. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
To Israel, he says, <i>“You must
remember that your country is still feeding 1,800,000 Palestinian in the Gaza
Strip. The State of Israel is supplying food, medicine and fuel while 22 Arab
do nothing and watch Israeli trucks bring supplies into Gaza.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>You are still feeding us
Palestinians and, thanks to you, we are surviving.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(Acknowledgements to YNetNews and Rebel Media)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Barry Shaw is the author of ‘Fighting Hamas, BDS and
Anti-Semitism.’ <a href="https://www.createspace.com/5333306">https://www.createspace.com/5333306</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-56942444636668439532015-09-21T14:05:00.004+03:002015-09-21T14:13:25.668+03:00Mahmoud Abbas’s UN speech - Pigs might fly.<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7RX6YoXoQIJgO6xMfdH2KF44XH0vfriIsjRAWfqsnKVKN6rXuWpi4T3IZaedwtRk-skJUmq0Kr9unxHrT3UNtGKZU41tk18jkqPIgPSi_l65r-PQ_wuJRqMY-UKsS5AgjtROHEpv-X2_o/s1600/Mahmoud+Abbas+can%2527t+speak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7RX6YoXoQIJgO6xMfdH2KF44XH0vfriIsjRAWfqsnKVKN6rXuWpi4T3IZaedwtRk-skJUmq0Kr9unxHrT3UNtGKZU41tk18jkqPIgPSi_l65r-PQ_wuJRqMY-UKsS5AgjtROHEpv-X2_o/s320/Mahmoud+Abbas+can%2527t+speak.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Mahmoud Abbas, the man who was
elected to a 4 year term as president of the Palestinian Authority in 2005
liked it so much he decided to stay on unelected for another six years,
thereby displaying Palestinian-style democracy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Recently, this ancient occupier
of the presidential seat in Ramallah announced he was going to the United
Nations on September 29 to <i>“deliver a bombshell”</i> at the end of his
speech.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
As the co-founder of the Netanya
Terror Victims Organization, I can tell you that when a Palestinian tells you
he’s going to deliver a bombshell you are strongly recommended to get out of
the building as fast as possible. Don’t say you haven’t been warned, UN delegates
and workers. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Assuming he’s not going on a suicide
mission - most terrorist leaders tend to send somebody else to do the messy
stuff - what can he be possibly want to explode?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
We know he’s desperate to grab
the headlines. He and his failed cause is not even getting a yawn from a media
obsessed with a massive crisis in which migrants want to turn Europe into the
new Middle East, or an Obama feverishly trying to provide the messianic
ayatollahs in Tehran with the ultimate weapon to drop onto the United Nations
building sometime down the road, as part of his ‘best deal’ legacy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
So who’s got time to listen to
Abbas who claims that Palestinians are really Canaanites?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Assuming he wants to surprise us
with some headlight-grabbing shock and awe, what could possibly get us to sit
up and take notice? Well let’s consider
his options;.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
He could offer to resign from the
Palestinian Authority, as he does every other week. But we know he’ll have forgotten
about it by the time he gets home and find the chair’s still warm.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
He could declare that the Oslo
Accords are null and void, but he’s treated them that way for decades, so what’s
new?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Or he could declare that he
recognizes Israel’s right to exist in peace and security as the Jewish state
alongside the State of Palestine. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Pause. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
No. I’m joking. He knows he’ll be dead before he leaves the
building. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Sorry about the aberration. It
was just me thinking out loud what might be with Abbas. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
As we say in the kosher Jewish
state, and with due respect to my Muslim friends – pigs might fly!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Barry Shaw is the author of ‘Fighting Hamas, BDS &
Anti-Semitism.’ <o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-39144059340335824042015-09-17T19:56:00.000+03:002015-09-17T19:56:33.428+03:00Who will live, and who will die.<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
We are between the high holy days
of Rosh HaShana, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
They are the most important dates in the Jewish calendar. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It is the period
where Jews search their souls, a period of introspection. It is the time when G-d
reminds us how to lead our lives, and the time when G-d seals our fate for the
coming year. It is the time when G-d
gets to decide who will live and who will die. Who will prosper and who will
perish. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Nobody can deny that it was the
Jews who gave the world the Ten Commandments and the Torah, the rich guidebook
of Jewish values and morality.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Despite everything, you will hear
little, even perhaps in your own country, that we Jews of Israel know how to
guide our country by high moral Jewish values. Too many people question this
with false narratives. We do not need to be lectured on morality by those who
have lost the light of truth, or who have strayed so far from their own
origins. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
We are a nation with the spirit
of biblical heroes. Heroes like Moses who led the Jewish people out of
oppression and to the land that G-d had promised us. Heroes like Abraham to
whom G-d made a Covenant that the land would be the birthright to a mighty
nation, the Jewish nation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
He satisfied us with His
Commandment which we cherish and adhere to. But He not only insisted we live
moral lives and be a shining light unto nations. He demanded that we protect
and safeguard the land He gave us. As He tells us, it is not sufficient to
pray. He insists we become a nation of doers. This has meant that we must
maintain our guard against those who wish to destroy us, and that we must fight
to defend ourselves.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Too many people wish to deny us
that right. Look at our history and see that this is true. Today we are
threatened by people who subscribe to a hateful doctrine. Some that come to
mind are Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, the BDS Movement, ISIS, even the Palestinian
Authority.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This hatred goes back into the
dark ages of history, yet the hate festers until today. The first people that Mohammed’s
hordes beheaded were the Jews of Khaybar and Medina. Today, they are beheading
still. The Jews are always the first. They are never the last. First they come
for the Saturday people. Then they come for the Sunday people. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
If you have any doubt about aura
that surrounds the Jewish nation think on this holy decree<i>. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>“I will bless those that bless
you. And I will curse those that curse you.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
At this significant time we, the
people of Israel, ask you to join with us and pray for peace and wisdom to
descend on our neighbors so that they can reap the benefits of our bounty. But
let them be warned that we are decreed to defend ourselves. This is our G-d
given right and duty.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Barry Shaw is the author of ‘<i>Fighting Hamas, BDS &
Anti-Semitism’ www</i>.createspace.com/533306 <o:p></o:p></b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-84183334643101005322015-09-11T14:19:00.001+03:002015-09-11T14:19:33.027+03:009/7, 9/11, 9/17. Three significantly important dates.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ONdxKsdz63k_ITBsnA0QA-wwd7DzEn3R0VwvGmNOULFvv88RiJ2IcIT60wikQS9kziN-o-UfcJBO3-tSNcT3Euxpgu9gwv9tBhExQGH467HZVM8RiRIgEl3omrKrOKLknqcxrntl9vka/s1600/Nuclear+explosion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ONdxKsdz63k_ITBsnA0QA-wwd7DzEn3R0VwvGmNOULFvv88RiJ2IcIT60wikQS9kziN-o-UfcJBO3-tSNcT3Euxpgu9gwv9tBhExQGH467HZVM8RiRIgEl3omrKrOKLknqcxrntl9vka/s320/Nuclear+explosion.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Today is 9/11 and we recall the
horrors of that day when mass terror struck America.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In less than a week, the US
Congress will vote on the important Iran nuclear deal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
A few days ago, I recalled
another significant date – September 7.
Not many people remembered what happened on that date. It was the date,
in 2007, when Israel destroyed the nuclear reactor in Syria. Israel was
criticized for that air strike and punished by the US Administration who
withdrew aerial intelligence from the Jewish state. Israel was also widely
condemned when it took out the Osirik nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981 with
another air strike. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It is little known today, on
9/11, that the site of that Syrian nuclear reactor is in the hands of ISIS.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Can you imagine our world had
Israel not destroyed this complex leaving Syria with the eight year advantage
to progress its nuclear development program to completion, a nuclear facility
that has now fallen under control of the most brutal and inhuman terror regime
in the world?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Those truly commemorating the
victims of 9/11, victims of an earlier warning shot, killed by radical Islamic
terror, should acknowledge the service that Israel gave to mankind by its unappreciated
actions in Syria and in Iraq.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
As we bow in memory of 9/11 and
look at recent history, when it comes to the link between nuclear arms and
radical Islamic terror regimes, it is obvious that Israel gets it right and
America gets it wrong.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
As we head to the next significant
date of September 17, may the decision-makers on Capitol Hill do some last minute
soul searching and realize that Israel got it right on two previous occasions,
and that they are pin-point accurate in their assessment of Iran and this
deadly deal with yet another Messianic Islamic terror regime.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Barry Shaw is the Senior
Associate for Public Diplomacy at the Israeli Institute for Strategic Studies.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-52864530300793737062015-09-06T09:00:00.004+03:002015-09-06T09:00:53.813+03:00The Practical Template for Solving the European Migrant Problem.<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The problem facing Europe is not only the vast number of
migrants that are flooding that continent. It is that, from past experience,
these people do not escape the Middle East. They bring the Middle East with
them with all the baggage that contains. The social fabric breaks down. It becomes
increasingly difficult to discern the traditional and indigenous society as
governments try to accommodate the overwhelming weight of strangers that do not
know their customs and do not speak their language. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Multiculturalism was a
dream. It failed. It became a magnet for millions of unwanted migrants. In its
place is a nightmare of unmanageable proportions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The migrant problem has become a huge destabilizing headache
for Europe. It shouldn’t be. The solution should be closer the hand for the
migrants that originate in the Middle East and Northern Africa. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Had these migrants been Jewish you can be sure that Israel
would have taken emergency measures to accept and absorb them into the Jewish
State. By these migrants are not Jewish. The vast majority are Muslim and they
all speak Arabic. Therein lays the solution. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The host countries must be the rich Arab countries like Saudi
Arabia and the Persian Gulf states. They have vast stretches of land, far greater
than in Israel, for example, in which these people can be accommodated and
given productive lives. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
To the west of the Libyan ports, from where thousands of
migrants set out of a perilous Mediterranean journey, lies Algeria and Morocco.
Europe would be advised to pump large sums of money into these countries to absorb
fellow Arabic-speaking Muslims. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It must be asked why these Arab nations have remained
cynically silent. There can only be one reason. They are as equally reticent in
accepting these migrants as Europe is, but this is the point, surely? Most of
the world is reluctant to be swamped by scenes we have witnessed. It does,
therefore, lead to the need to distribute the responsibility and the Arab
world, which is responsible for the mayhem and destruction that has wrought the
migrant whirlwind, must be forced to open their gates to people of the same
faith and of the same tongue.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
While Europe agonizes over their moral conscience as they
cope with the humanitarian crisis, the Arab leaders have not expressed any
remorse or compassion over the fate of their fellow Arabs and co-religionists.
This cannot stand!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
European nations individually, or via the European Union,
must call the Arab League to demand that they accept the bulk of the
migrants. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Let the Christians be accepted into Europe. Let the Muslim
Arabs go to Muslim Arab countries, and let Israel accept the Jews, the Druze
and Kurds for permanent or temporary shelter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This division of labor is the simple and most practical way
of solving the current migrant problem. It will also be the template for
similar problems in the future. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Barry Shaw is Senior Adviser on Public Diplomacy at the
Israel Institute for Strategic Studies.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-44668831023521125262015-08-20T20:55:00.001+03:002015-08-20T20:55:45.766+03:00If you vote for the Iran deal you will have our blood on your hands, even before Iran has a nuclear bomb.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd_G9WIoFv10Lc3QYU3BcqpZG784lF07O2col2Ff2X49Ym2PsOUzfj4pdYGGZUb29swWpV4cd8PC7x5sH_jn-VH2CQt5-bn9V3LFHYA-2Q6_W5lu1VfN1m_WT1g_ZRPwJxIC8Hp9VSUI6b/s1600/Jerusalem+synagogue+massacre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd_G9WIoFv10Lc3QYU3BcqpZG784lF07O2col2Ff2X49Ym2PsOUzfj4pdYGGZUb29swWpV4cd8PC7x5sH_jn-VH2CQt5-bn9V3LFHYA-2Q6_W5lu1VfN1m_WT1g_ZRPwJxIC8Hp9VSUI6b/s320/Jerusalem+synagogue+massacre.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It seems we are living in a dangerous world that defies all
logic and common sense. I am referring to the awful Iran deal.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Following in the footsteps of admission by both President
Obama and Ernest Munoz, the chief architect of the deal, that global and
regional terrorism will increase as a result of this deal, caused by the
release of $150 Billion by the US Administration to the radical regime in
Tehran, I received, almost simultaneously, two pieces of news that left me in
shock.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One was the announcement that the Iranian Deputy Foreign
Minister, in advance of his trip to Moscow, said that Iran will be soon be arming
all its allies and groups, particularly those opposing Israel<i>. “We will supply arms to anyone and anywhere
necessary,” </i>he had said days earlier.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The other was the news that over three hundreds American
rabbis had signed on to a declaration supporting Obama’s deal with Iran.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have not stopped lobbying US Senators and Congressmen, and
persuading others to follow my lead, to oppose this deal, and I’ll tell you why
I will continue to do so, even at this eleventh hour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because my life as an Israeli Jew, and the life of my family
members and fellow countrymen, depend on it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am also not talking about the threat of a nuclear Iran. I
am talking about the death of Israelis as a result of the release (I call it
American funding) of terror dollars by the US Administration that is will hit
Israel, and that is going to kill Israelis, either here or abroad.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What I am saying has been confirmed by the Ayatollah
Khamenei. It has been confirmed by no less than the US President who is
determined to give Tehran this money, and it has now been sanctified by
American rabbis and Democratic leaders who will vote for the deal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let me put it as bluntly as I can.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To these people I say, when that day happens, when we are
hit by newly equipped Hamas, Hezbollah and other terror groups armed with the
weapons paid for by American-released money, and when we Israelis die, I will
call out the names of the rabbis and the politicians that voted for the deal
and let you know that the slaughter of Israeli Jews will be on your conscience. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You will have our blood on your hands.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By your act, in supporting this tragic deal, you are
knowingly aiding and abetting the world’s worst state-sponsor of terror now
celebrating your stupidity and announcing that it will target us Israelis. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Simply put, we do not have to wait for a nuclear cloud to
rise over Jerusalem. Whenever and where ever Iranian supported terrorists carry
out their dastardly acts and strike down my fellow Israelis, you will bear the
blame, and you will bear the shame.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remember my words!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Barry Shaw is an Israeli Jew.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>He is also the author of ‘FIGHTING HAMAS, BDS AND ANTI-SEMITISM.’
<a href="https://www.createspace.com/5333306">https://www.createspace.com/5333306</a><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-48794541545615013552015-08-13T17:20:00.002+03:002015-08-13T17:22:00.950+03:00Carter and Obama. Two Presidents making the same dangerous political mistake.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGtZDT3u_lFgN9nJhTsmEZvgn0iKwZ-Y0EKhpcZ_gtQ-PkuPkNPolJDenAqpq4URHtAJerjdYJPDHvRQnBXcIKL35Nk5FYEZVPUbiRlorocpVl7zcsUUYcO0cVVxYNL_KX8Z3cH7nyp-nq/s1600/CARTER+OBAMA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGtZDT3u_lFgN9nJhTsmEZvgn0iKwZ-Y0EKhpcZ_gtQ-PkuPkNPolJDenAqpq4URHtAJerjdYJPDHvRQnBXcIKL35Nk5FYEZVPUbiRlorocpVl7zcsUUYcO0cVVxYNL_KX8Z3cH7nyp-nq/s200/CARTER+OBAMA.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Former President Jimmy Carter just announced his to have cancer surgery.<br />
Carter was the president that allowed the cancer of the Islamic Republic of Iran to take root.<br />
<br />
When, in 1979, Jimmy Carter met the leaders of Germany, France and Britain at a summit, he informed them that he intended to support the Ayatollah Khomeini instead of standing by America's traditional Persian ally, the Shah of Iran.<br />
<br />
In essence, Carter was deserting a pro-Western ally in favor of a terrorist Muslim cleric.<br />
<br />
These leaders instinctively knew that, without US support, the shah's regime were numbered.<br />
<br />
As journalist, Mike Evans, related in a recent article, the French Premier Valerie d'Estaing was shocked.<br />
<br />
"The only way I can describe Carter is that he was a 'bastard of conscience,' a moralist who treated with total lightness abandoning an ally for a cleric Carter thought would be better for human rights."<br />
<br />
How wrong Carter was, and how badly the world is suffering for his political mistake.<br />
<br />
Now, today, we have President Obama abandoning a pro-Western US ally, Israel, in favor of terrorist Islamic regime in Tehran.<br />
<br />
How wrong Obama is, and how badly the world will suffer from his political mistake.<br />
<br />
<br />
Barry Shaw is the author of 'Israel Reclaiming the Narrative' available on Amazon or from www.israelnarrative.com<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-44797029103865019272015-08-10T09:21:00.002+03:002015-08-10T09:25:19.388+03:00THE DANGEROUSLY UPSIDE-DOWN WORLD OF OBAMA’S FOREIGN POLICY DOCTRINE.<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV0sQhY-zo5ij5yn06-RF1j-6Ura0PCdufrSJRyf5CYHrMITcIc26r6TS6cUjOTXKRl4adcyKiykvlk_33PXcaQvvVxkKuhms4B_wbY-Wm-zU1fVNZksHGv1rI5k1g4wvnPdbciVn7SiMI/s1600/Obamas+Foriegn+Policy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV0sQhY-zo5ij5yn06-RF1j-6Ura0PCdufrSJRyf5CYHrMITcIc26r6TS6cUjOTXKRl4adcyKiykvlk_33PXcaQvvVxkKuhms4B_wbY-Wm-zU1fVNZksHGv1rI5k1g4wvnPdbciVn7SiMI/s320/Obamas+Foriegn+Policy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The headline in the Jerusalem Post read <i>"Obama: Lack
of deal would embolden Iran."</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Obama has it completely the wrong way round. History shows us the opposite to be true.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When Israel evacuated Gaza as a benign peace gesture to the
Palestinians, the result was an emboldened Palestinian faction that used this
altruism as a launching base for rockets and terrorist attacks against Israeli
civilians.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When America defeated the insurgents in Iraq and contracted
to pull its troops out of that country as a benign Obama gesture, the result
has been wholesale slaughter at the hands of an emboldened ISIS.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When America negotiated a good faith nuclear deal with North
Korea the result was deception and a nuclear-rich and emboldened enemy. <o:p></o:p><br />
Wendy Sherman was the architect of both nuclear deals - North Korea and now Iran.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The result of this altruistic Obama deal will be an
emboldened nuclear Iran for sure.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Being benign to radical enemies does not get you peace or
security. This is the fault line of the Obama's foreign policy doctrine.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was true when Hillary Clinton said she had pushed the
reset button with Putin and called Assad "a reformer.' </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is even more true with Obama's dangerously
naive weakness in re-configuring Iran in the Middle East, as we will find out
to our cost.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Barry Shaw is the author of <i>‘Israel Reclaiming the
Narrative.’ <a href="http://www.israelnarrative.com/">http://www.israelnarrative.com/</a><o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-23129124001778958352015-08-04T13:01:00.001+03:002015-08-06T02:51:18.840+03:00IN SEARCH OF THE MISSING JEWS OF THE RHINE.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzxmqsgZ0psoeXiIpG9fb__Njj0eI6uTtSRDBJt2mvOh67yVMA7noh8wC4-639itVela49-EDLbreitJsNRIe3GUpQEKnojz_0EIApAv7WDBXEIDIcoIKPBhi136EudfVeljbehs5wbbfZ/s1600/Relic+of+a+Nazi+past+in+Cologne..JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzxmqsgZ0psoeXiIpG9fb__Njj0eI6uTtSRDBJt2mvOh67yVMA7noh8wC4-639itVela49-EDLbreitJsNRIe3GUpQEKnojz_0EIApAv7WDBXEIDIcoIKPBhi136EudfVeljbehs5wbbfZ/s200/Relic+of+a+Nazi+past+in+Cologne..JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5K4kw4JGZbfvGHUfsjVWv4ug-Pw_Yaqw9ReE-GG7Pxf8zZ7cQsWQJYoqBIynhim6_BVP3Yht34ba8DfUKmeLc-SyngYo6vGMGorCq41wT91xinzTekawWRzon8tE5mEH6knMxQIuy0USr/s1600/Relic+of+a+Jewish+past+in+Cologne.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5K4kw4JGZbfvGHUfsjVWv4ug-Pw_Yaqw9ReE-GG7Pxf8zZ7cQsWQJYoqBIynhim6_BVP3Yht34ba8DfUKmeLc-SyngYo6vGMGorCq41wT91xinzTekawWRzon8tE5mEH6knMxQIuy0USr/s200/Relic+of+a+Jewish+past+in+Cologne.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;">Relics of a Jewish and Nazi past in Cologne.</span></h3>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Sailing the rivers of Moselle and the Rhine is an
eye-opening experience.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ancient stony castles sit on craggy hilltops. Miles and
miles of green vineyards precariously grow on impossibly steep inclines to
produce the best Riesling wines in the world. Pleasant-looking towns and
villages dominated by church spires. The peaceful Moselle gives way to the
watery superhighway of the Rhine carrying boats ferrying unusual freight and
cargo.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While visiting peaceful and picturesque locations, and
learning of their turbulent histories, I began to notice an emptiness that was
referred to in places, and ignored in others. The emptiness was the missing
Jews of the Rhine. Who were they? What happened to them? And how are they acknowledged
by the towns that housed them, and destroyed them?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>COLOGNE (KOLN).<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There were Jews in Cologne (Koln) since the year 321, almost
as long as Cologne itself. Over history, the Jewish community suffered
persecution, expulsions, massacres and destruction. In the Middle Ages, they
were exploited by the rules and the Church and were killed in the name of
Christianity, though the real reason was, by killing the Jew, the Archbishops
were relieved of having the burden of repaying the debt.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Nazi era was the last in a long history of Jewish
persecution. Jews numbered 19,500 before World War 2. Over 11,000 were killed
by the Nazis. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is a Jewish section in the Koln Municipal Museum where
the grim story in recounted with evidence of the Nazi crime. Jewish artefacts
are on display on the first floor in this museum. When I was there, German
schoolchildren were being guided through the permanent exhibition.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Gestapo headquarters were located at 23/25
Appellhofstrasse. This building today houses the National Socialist
Documentation Center where 18,000 wall inscriptions tell of persecution,
torture and murder under the Nazi regime. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Jews of Cologne were deported to Thereisenstadt between
28 July and 5<sup>th</sup> September 1942.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In many German towns Stumbling Stones have been laid into
the sidewalks outside what were the homes of Jewish residents who were marched
to their fate by the Nazis. In Cologne, I saw the stones reminding us of Dr. Max
Goldberg and his wife, Olga, who in 1942 were deported to Thereisenstadt.
Later, I stood at the stones recalling Theo Hannes who was deported to Drancy
and then to Auschwitz where he died in 1942.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Synagogue was destroyed on 9<sup>th</sup> November 1938.
A new synagogue was built in 1959 on Roonstrasse.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today, Cologne’s Jewish community number about 4,500, mainly
Jews from Russia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>KOBLENZ.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Koblenz is pivotally located at the junction of the Rhine
and Moselle rivers. Like most German towns, strategically placed along the
Rhine, it was bombed by the Allies during the war. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Most of the buildings, which
contained architecturally picturesque buildings dating back to the 17<sup>th</sup>
century, were reconstructed after the war in the same style making them a
delight to wander along the alleyways, small streets and squares.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, it was in this town that I had an unpleasant
experience. I was in a group and our local guide, Werner, spoke excellent
English and explained things with a sense of humor and in detail. He was
extremely knowledgeable about the development of Koblenz from the Roman and
Germanic times through the ages until today. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What began to annoy me was his precision in describing the
Allied bombing. He recounted the number of planes, the tonnage of bombs that
feel on this town, the number of houses that were destroyed, and the number of
people killed. In a sympathetic voice he told us that <i>“they”</i> evacuated
the women and children to safety in advance of the expected bombing. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Something was missing in his detailed explanation of the
history of Koblenz – the Jews. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I asked him how many Jews were in Koblenz prior to the
war, he didn’t know. When I asked him if there had been a synagogue in the town
he told me that it had been located in a building he had pointed out to us in a
square more than half an hour before. His silence on these issues was troubling
to me. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We arrived in another square where he pointed out a building
with steps leading up to the entrance and an archway leading into a cellar
section. He told us that it had been the town hall up to the war but the
present town hall is located in a newer building in another part of the town. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we continued walking I asked him if the building he had
shown us had been the Gestapo headquarters. He hesitantly answered its use was
something like that. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I began to be emotional and angry. Out of a pent-up rage I
asked him if this was the square where the town’s Jews were assembled before
they were marched to the train station. He hesitated and mumbled something
oblique in a failed answer to my questioning. I pressed my point and asked him
where the train station was located and, indeed, it was not far away from that
square. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To Werner, there were no missing Jews. There was no
admission they existed at all in his town.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Shaking with fury I told my wife I was leaving this tour
group, explaining to her my anger at his failure to acknowledge this part of
his town’s history. Was I being an over-sensitive Jew? At the time I didn't think this.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was a sheer
coincidence that no sooner had we left our group that we heard voices in
Hebrew. It was an Israeli group being led by their Israeli guide. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Later, we came across stumbling stones listing the Daniel
family – Otto, Juliane, and Flora – who were deported to Sobibor on 22 March
1942 where they all died. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Koblenz had a population of 80,000 and, in 1929, the Jews
numbered barely 800. By May 1939, there were only 308. Many had fled in advance
of the rise of the Nazi regime. The synagogue was burned down in November 1938
as part of the infamous ‘Kristallnacht’ – the Night of Broken Glass. Only 22
Koblenz Jews survived the Holocaust.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is a memorial to the 6 million Jews of the Holocaust.
It is located in the old Jewish cemetery located at Schwerzstrasse 14.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>BERNKASTEL.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the traumatic experience in Koblenz, I needed a
pick-me-up and got it with a sympathetic local guide who led out group in the
delightful town of Bernkastel. This is a little jewel of a place. However, as
in all German towns, it has its black Jewish history.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first Jewish presence was recorded in 1289. Almost as
soon as they arrived they became victims of a blood libel pogrom. During the
Black Death the finger of suspicion fell on the Jews who were persecuted or
fled the town. It took until the 17<sup>th</sup> century for a permanent Jewish
presence to be established in this Moselle riverside town. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The fate of the Bernkastel Jews seemed reflected in the fate
of the town’s synagogue. A synagogue with a mikveh (ritual bath) was not
established at 77 Burgstrasse until 1852, but it was destroyed by fire in 1880.
In 1852, it was rebuilt and rededicated. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bernkastel is a small town and the peak of Jewish existence there
was in 1886 with 110 Jewish citizens. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On Kristallnacht in 1933, the SS and local citizens plundered
the synagogue and destroyed its interior. Rampaging Nazis and locals destroyed
Jewish property and attacked the small and defenseless Jewish population. 32
Bernkastel and Kues Jews escaped Germany in the early 30s. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
15 others fled to
other parts of Germany where they remained unsafe from the rise of Hitler and
Nazism. The last 4 were deported to Lodz in October, 1940. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At least 21
Bernkastel Jews perished in the Shoah.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our guide took us privately to the stepped alleyway that once
housed the synagogue. In another part of town there is a memorial plaque that
was unveiled in 1988 to Bernkastel’s Jews. A sign in German points to way to an old
Jewish cemetery outside the city walls.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>TRIER. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Trier is a town that dates back
to the Romans and archeological evidence of that abounds throughout this
town. Entrance to the town is through
the impressive Roman Porta Nigra gate. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Jews have been in Trier, on and off,
since the 3<sup>rd</sup> century. Judengasse can be found by the market
fountain. This alleyway leads into what a cramped and narrow Jewish Quarter.
The Jews of Trier had a checkered history, to put it mildly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The Jews were in trouble as early
as 1066 when they were accused of causing the sudden death of Archbishop
Eberhard. Then they were forced to provide provisions for the Crusaders for
their expedition to the Holy Land. This was a period when Jews were banned from
practicing their faith if they wished to remain under the protection of the
archbishop. This did not stop the mob from massacring many of Trier’s
Jews. This period of oppression lasted
until the reign of Henry 4th.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The Jews were attacked again during
the Black Death of 1349. The plague, caused by the unhygienic habits of the
inhabitants, was blamed on the Jews who remained free of the plague’s ravishes
due to their traditional and ritual cleanliness. Death and destruction of the
Jews and their property ensued. Even the Jewish cemetery was desecrated. The
Jews fled the town in panic and fear. They did not return until 1356 under an
edict of King Charles 4<sup>th</sup>. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
By 1418 the Jews had, once again,
been banished by order of the archbishop. The properties of the Jews were sold
or requisitioned. These included a hospital. Although some Jews drifted back
into Trier, they were expelled in 1589 only to be allowed back shortly after in
1593 on condition that they wear a yellow star to distinguish them from
Christians. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Their turmoil was not over. In
1675 the Jews were accused of giving aid and comfort to the French troops that occupied
part of Trier after the French had surrendered. Jewish homes were looted and
destroyed and several were killed or injured in the rioting against them. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Although limitations were placed
on them, Trier’s Jews enjoyed a period of tranquility from 1723. A synagogue
was built in 1762 on a house that had formerly belonged to Rabbi Mordechai
Marx, the grandfather of Karl Marx who was born and grew up in Trier. Indeed,
Karl began to develop his communist philosophy in Trier during a period a great
depression and poverty where he saw the poor workers going without food and
living in abject conditions while the Prussians flaunted their wealth and their
finery.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The rise of Hitler led to a
largescale exodus of the city’s Jews. On Kristallnacht, between 9-10 November,
1938, the synagogue was destroyed. Almost all the Jews that remained in Trier
were deported to Theresienstadt in 1941, never to return.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The Gestapo HQ on Haupmarkt is
now an H & M store. A new synagogue has been built and Jews are, once
again, returning to Trier.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>COCHEM.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
17 Jews, including 10 children
were killed in Cochem in a blood libel massacre in 1287. Cochem’s Jews were victims of slander and
death in 1337 and blamed for the Black Death and killed in 1349. They were
expelled in 1418, and again in 1589. Although the Jewish population had swelled
to over a hundred before the rise of Hitler, many escaped or were killed in the
Holocaust.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
There is a Jewish cemetery in the
woods below Cochem Castle but I could find no memorial or sign indicating the
fate of Cochem’s Jews, although there is another Jewish graveyard in Kelbergerstrasse
with grave from 1940. Cochem’s history,
it seems, revolves around other historic matters.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
What is maddening is to visit
peaceful, semi-isolated small towns far away from the major centers of Germany
that were still so fevered with Nazi enthusiasm that synagogues and Jewish
cemeteries in tiny places like Bernkastel, Cochem and Rudesheim had to be
destroyed and their local Jews beaten and dragged away to concentration camps in
a Jew hatred that infected every town and village along the Rhine and Moselle
rivers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>MAINZ.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Anne Roiphe, in a fascinating
article in The Tablet, narrates how the Crusaders slaughtered the Jews of Mainz
on their way to Jerusalem. So brutal was
this act that the Mainz Jews elected to commit a collective suicide. Read also Soloman Bar Samson’s <i>‘The
Crusaders in Mainz, May 27, 1096.’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The Jewish population and
influence in Mainz was so strong that, at the time of the Black Death, when the
Christians turned on the Jews in bloody and deadly pogroms, in Mainz, the Jews
defended themselves against the mob and killed over 200 before the Christians
could reorganize and take their revenge. On one day alone, August 24, 1349,
they killed 6,000 Jews in Mainz<span style="background: rgb(102, 153, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
There were over 200 synagogues up
to the rise of Hitler and the Nazis. Kristallnacht 1938 was the start of Jewish
destruction in Mainz. Over a thousand Mainz Jews died in concentration camps.
Synagogues were destroyed. It has to be noted that the bishop of Mainz
organized a group of people to help Jews escape from Nazi Germany.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Today, many Jews from the former
Soviet Russia have made Germany their home, including in Mainz. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Our Mainz guide told me that he
had attended and enjoyed an Israeli Film Festival that had taken place in Mainz
the evening before our tour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>BREISACH.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I found much of my attention
turning to how towns acknowledged the fate of their Jews into their narrative
of the long history of their towns. Most were respectful. Others were withdrawn
to the point of being dismissive. I was, therefore, pleased to end my
investigation in Breisach where my wife and I went on foot is search of traces
of Jewish presence in this Rhine town. At one time, 14% of the town’s
population was Jewish. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
With the aid of a city map we
made our way to the Blaue Haus (Blue House) in a tiny a street named Michael-Eisemann-platz
that, until 1940, had been a center for Jewish life in the town. Following the Shoah, it is attempting to
again attract German Jews to participate in its new activities. It was closed
when we arrived there but there was a notice advertising commemoration events
in memory of the 70<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the Nazi terrors and the Jewish
deportation to Gurs. They had used the top floor of this building for prayers
after the destruction of the town’s synagogue during Kristallnacht. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
More than 100 Breisach Jews met
their deaths in various concentration camps. Some committed suicide out of
despair. This was brought home to us as
we crossed the street and came across a corner that Breisach has dedicated to
the memory of its Jews. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
A marble tiled floor displays a
menorah on which stands an impressive brown memorial in the shape of an Aron
Kodesh – the holy ark. Engraved upon it
is Psalm 25:6 <i>“Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your loyal Covenant
as of old.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Before this memorial there is a
table with a loose leaved document file. In it are recorded the personal details
of the Breibach Jews caught up in the Nazi Holocaust. Visitors can read the
names, dates of birth, addresses in which they lived, the dates on which they escaped
or were deported and, in the case of those who perished, where they met their
fate and when. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
A sign points the way to
Synagogenplatz, a small street that leads, I suppose, to where the synagogue
once stood. It is now a commercial yard, but we did stumble across an old
Jewish cemetery at the end of this lane from the period 1755-1874. There was partial destruction of gravestones
in 1938.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It was satisfying to end our tour
in a town that knows how to respect their missing Jews.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Barry Shaw is the author of <i>‘Fighting
Hamas, BDS and Anti-Semitism.’</i> He holds various titles in the fight against
anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd8KxQ-HjNSTjj4blAqtZ_SVzRmCbUiBQjCyNIMk2g6KB9i9raiDGSldB0qmXxg_ssCv1xqd8wnbK8o6V_q7l1QGx7KyT1JklT0zHC0g_wdJYv15P3wKON73lI8E-ooKPdjv-s5nTuDHvJ/s1600/Breisach+Jewish+Memorial+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd8KxQ-HjNSTjj4blAqtZ_SVzRmCbUiBQjCyNIMk2g6KB9i9raiDGSldB0qmXxg_ssCv1xqd8wnbK8o6V_q7l1QGx7KyT1JklT0zHC0g_wdJYv15P3wKON73lI8E-ooKPdjv-s5nTuDHvJ/s200/Breisach+Jewish+Memorial+%25282%2529.jpg" width="112" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Breisach Jewish Memorial.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLKYinK3FIoDtKdvB6-JPwExTdyV5KKdAUhvRBor4_vttWrcdnpV_VQ4hRJfPMZoKmrK58u8_1w2urci9_Uvm05GMYpSTcmbJqtJfyF7BAuoZXgwgWDXz7Be4qvzCJqIAlz6FXlPy30b93/s1600/Stumbling+Stones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLKYinK3FIoDtKdvB6-JPwExTdyV5KKdAUhvRBor4_vttWrcdnpV_VQ4hRJfPMZoKmrK58u8_1w2urci9_Uvm05GMYpSTcmbJqtJfyF7BAuoZXgwgWDXz7Be4qvzCJqIAlz6FXlPy30b93/s200/Stumbling+Stones.jpg" width="112" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stumbling Stones.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-43102389609272044092015-07-30T13:43:00.001+03:002015-07-30T13:43:21.076+03:00Jonathan Pollard – Cruel Injustice.<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIbAQAr2xBaSKsS-XsNRK3roVOolRDoDjwwKxsHWOgcPPovv7mRw19csC4r9bS-gFnvbQVCAjb9GpvVspw_qPt4-FVhQwQaDaRu61CjFcrl1KZf30sYJIvUDms8khPp_G-PgTKZgtxE1i_/s1600/Pollard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIbAQAr2xBaSKsS-XsNRK3roVOolRDoDjwwKxsHWOgcPPovv7mRw19csC4r9bS-gFnvbQVCAjb9GpvVspw_qPt4-FVhQwQaDaRu61CjFcrl1KZf30sYJIvUDms8khPp_G-PgTKZgtxE1i_/s320/Pollard.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">Why is the US
justice system continuing to punish Jonathan Pollard even as they announce the
date of his incarceration?</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now that he
has served his unjust thirty years prison sentence, they are insisting that he
must remain in the states for a further five years even though his wife lives
in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. This is where he wants to spend the rest
of his life and end his days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">This is double-down
cruel justice by the US Administration heaped on top on an unjust sentence to
begin with.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If you want
to see American injustice, take the Pollard case as a perfect example.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Let’s begin
by studying the crimes that Pollard committed and compare them and his sentence
to other, more dangerous spies for the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
information he passed to Israel, an ally of America, were details on Iraqi and
Syrian weapons of mass destruction, Soviet arms shipments to Damascus and Libyan
air defenses. These are all enemies of both Israel and America and all
information that the United States withheld from Israel in violation of the
1983 Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Simply put, Pollard
did not pass damaging us military secrets. Nor did he compromise, damage or
harm CIA or other US intelligence personnel.
It was all information that America should have delivered to their Main ally
in the Middle East, Israel, according to this agreement, but didn’t!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In truth,
pollard was poorly represented by his legal team, but they did strike a plea
bargain which pointed to a 20 year maximum term, if not less.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In other
words, Pollard came clean but got clobbered with a hugely disproportionate
sentence for spying for an ally, as opposed for spying for an enemy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Aldrich Aimes,
as an example was convicted in 1994 for spying for Russia. He did betray CIA
sources and several agents were killed as a result of his betrayal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">While Pollard
remained incarcerated, the US handed back to Russia ten Soviet spies, including
Anna Chapman, Donald Howard Heathfield, Tracy Lee Ann Foley, Patricia Mills, Richard
and Cynthia Murphy in a spy exchange with Russia.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nobody has
been sentenced to such an unjustly long sentence for spying for an ally.
Usually the sentence is less than ten years. It is so outlandish that questions
have been asked. Former CIA Director, James Wolsey, has said that, in his
opinion, that Pollard was being punished excessively because he is a Jew.
Clearly there is a hint of a warning to American Jews about dual loyalties.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There is also
evidence that pollard has been cynically played by the US Administration as a
political hostage, or a pawn, against unfolding events in the Middle East.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Last year, Israel
acceded to demands to release murderous Palestinian terrorists with a Pollard
release as a sweetener. The process was disrupted by obstruction from the PA in
Ramallah. Pollard himself pleaded not to
be traded for Palestinian murderers and terrorists. As such, Pollard exhibited a higher moral
stance than the US Administration. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That Pollard
is a hostage to persuade Israel to make dangerous concessions was divulged by
negotiator, Dennis Ross, in his book <i>‘The Missing Peace.’</i> He admitted
that he advised President Clinton against releasing Pollard in the framework of
the 1998 Wye Accords negotiated by Israel’s Netanyahu. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ross argued
that Pollard was simply far too valuable as a bargaining chip with Israel to be
released so cheaply. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Israeli TV
investigative reporters told Israeli viewers that there is no law on the US
statute books that insist that a released prisoner be retained in the country
and not free to leave America. This is merely the prerogative of the parole
board of the US president.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Going
forward, it is my impression that Jonathan Pollard will continue to be used as
a political tool in the 2016 Presidential Race. If needed, the permission for
Pollard to be allowed to join his wife in Israel will be used for political
gain if it is felt necessary for the Democrats to win over more of the Jewish
vote.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Quite simply,
the details of his incarceration and further post-release punishment of Pollard
is morally repugnant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It also
serves as an example that the US will defend its perceived best interests even
if that means punishing an ally by not fully supporting Israel as it
should. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It also means
that Israel must defend its own interests for survival even if that means not
relying on our most important and major ally in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Barry Shaw is
the author of <i>‘Fighting Hamas, BDS and Anti-Semitism.’ </i>He is also the
author of <i>‘Israel Reclaiming the Narrative.’
</i>Both are available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle format.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-86043667845664237472015-07-29T09:48:00.004+03:002015-07-29T09:50:07.909+03:00The 14th European Maccabi Games. A triumph of the Jewish People over Hitler.The 14th European Maccabi Games, which opened on Tuesday, July 29, almost 70 years since the notorious Berlin Olympic Games of 1936, was a triumphal statement by Jewish sports men and women that Am Israel really is chai.<br />
<br />
More than 2300 Jewish competitors from 36 nations, including from Israel, celebrated an affirmative Jewish return to Hitler's stadium to declare the vibrancy and spirit of the Jewish People through sport.<br />
<br />
They have been joined by delegations from the United States, Canada, South Africa and Mexico making it a de facto World Jewish Games.<br />
<br />
The Maccabiah Games, held every four years in Israel, is frequently called the Jewish Olympic Games. It will be interesting to see how many of the competitors in the current European Games decide to express their talent and Jewish identity by making Aliyah to the Jewish State.<br />
<br />
Like persecutors of the Jews for centuries, Hitler is dead, the Nazis were defeated, and the Jews return to express their continuance, their determination to survive and to celebrate life.<br />
<br />
However, there remains a residue of anti-Semitism, and a revival of violent resentment against Jews, in Europe.<br />
<br />
Following a tempestuous year for the Jews of Europe, this sporting gathering is an opportunity to express Jewish solidarity and joy.<br />
<br />
For all the participants, these Games, in this place, will be a significant moment in their lives as long as they live.<br />
<br />
Let's wish them a successful, enjoyable, memorable, and safe Games.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKgDLHI3SQFXszaG8h3NyYo7GgOVeardwP18Lv7LxygfW23JJeFLuZ3IT1bKq_MpkxuBMasU3ABdz9U1WW-39l2pAvtS6ZPkVdLihyBMAKRg3MaXqTZfw7xIjK17FjBt5BwvSw-aBUmafJ/s1600/Hitler+Berlin+Olympics+1936.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKgDLHI3SQFXszaG8h3NyYo7GgOVeardwP18Lv7LxygfW23JJeFLuZ3IT1bKq_MpkxuBMasU3ABdz9U1WW-39l2pAvtS6ZPkVdLihyBMAKRg3MaXqTZfw7xIjK17FjBt5BwvSw-aBUmafJ/s320/Hitler+Berlin+Olympics+1936.jpg" width="246" /></a> </div>
photo - Getty.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc0z87YareKRD6-dHsG2ljispIV7mL5h-4Dtu4qI-vb9Un5-96vb-cu9F37mEHJMe6Ej6sBNUR_nbRgYvY7gpuL1JiOksAM5vEJno7A4knjvXxLV6Wno_whdXUJI8unnifbAvLIYGChdyT/s1600/European+Maccabi+Games+2015..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc0z87YareKRD6-dHsG2ljispIV7mL5h-4Dtu4qI-vb9Un5-96vb-cu9F37mEHJMe6Ej6sBNUR_nbRgYvY7gpuL1JiOksAM5vEJno7A4knjvXxLV6Wno_whdXUJI8unnifbAvLIYGChdyT/s320/European+Maccabi+Games+2015..jpg" width="320" /></a> </div>
photo - Rafael Herlich.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-74414555414910603852015-07-23T10:06:00.004+03:002015-07-23T10:06:52.683+03:00The Best Lack All Conviction. <div class="MsoNormal">
While I was on a speaking and book promotion tour of the
Netherlands, the Dutch Foreign Minister, Bert Koenders, was on an official
visit to Israel.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During his visit, Koenders instructed his embassy to find a
way to express the close relations between his country and the Jewish State. He
also voiced his country’s opposition to BDS.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While cultural exchanges would be a good start, a more
affirmative Dutch action against massive diplomatic injustice and damage being
caused to Israel in international forums would be far more valuable than an
occasional exchange of artists. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Much of this damage is caused by a total lack of morality by
European officials, including the Dutch government<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let me explain.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During my public speeches, I listed egregious cases of cynical
Dutch diplomatic decisions that reflected far worse against Koenders’
government than against Israel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Recently, the Dutch government decided to cut the pension of
a 90 year old Holocaust survivor who left Holland to spend her last days with
her children and grandchildren in Israel. The reason given for this pension cut
was that this lady’s family lived just over the Green Line and not, according
to Koenders’ government, in Israel proper. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This raises the questions, who gave the Dutch government the right to decide where the borders of Israel should be, or where a Dutch Holocaust survivor chooses to live?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In a talk I gave in the Anne Frank Hall of the Jewish
Liberal Center in Amsterdam, I pointed out that, had she survived, that lady
could have been Anne Frank. This act was disgracefully shameful from a Dutch government
with an appalling record toward its wartime Jews. That it would, today,
continue to punish a Dutch Holocaust survivor over its grievance or difference
of opinion with the Israeli government is shameful. Victimizing a 90 year old
Jewish woman is not way for any liberal democracy to behave.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The shame goes on. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In my talks I mentioned a recent United Nations vote on
children in warzones that condemned only Israel. With a horrendous vote of 104
nations it called Israel the worst violator of children’s rights. Only four voted
correctly in defense of Israel. They were the United States, Canada, Australia
and Israel. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Notice the total lack of European nations. Not one European
country had the moral commitment to say that this decision was wrong. Not one
European nation had the morality to vote against that motion, including a Dutch
government that so often projects itself as the high moral authority when it
comes to Israel. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This pattern was repeated when the World Health Organization
named Israel as the worst violator of health rights. Again, no European nation
had the courage to object to such a heinous charge. Holland, like all the other
cynical European nations, chose to abstain rather than stand for truth and
justice.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just before I left for my speaking engagements in Holland,
the Dutch government issued a travel advisory warning their citizens visiting
Israel to avoid rock-throwing Jews! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I brought with me a Jerusalem Post news item, dated June 26,
in which four Palestinians were convicted for throwing rocks that almost led to
the death of Ziona Kala. Kala was in a coma for weeks following this attack.
She was luckier than most, and I listed the names of Israeli Jews who have been
killed by rock-throwing Arabs. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I told my audiences, if the Dutch government does not have
the decency to stand for truth and justice and, instead, participates in the ongoing
slander against the Jewish State, then shame on them, and shame on all Dutch
people that permit their government to continue committing such an affront against
my country. I urged them to lobby their political representatives over such
injustices.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Dutch Foreign Minister said his country is opposed to
BDS, but its actions parallel some of the aims of the BDS Movement, namely the
demonization and delegitimization of Israel. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had the distinct opportunity of putting BDS activists in
their place when they attempted to intrude into my talk in Amsterdam. I find
individual BDS activists emotionally eloquent, but intellectually bankrupt.
With facts and truth, I found it easy to expose them for the liars and cheap
hypocrites that they are. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The same facts and truths must be employed by the Dutch
government, indeed every European government, when it comes to standing with or
against Israel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sadly, each and every European government in recent years has
been swayed by cynical self-interest or ignorance by leaving Israel isolated on
issues and resolutions that merit their commitment and support.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The poet, W.B.Yeats, wrote, “T<i>he best lack all
conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the halls of international diplomacy, this is true. The
worst regimes overwhelmingly pass hateful anti-Israel resolutions without
objections from what ought to be decent and moral governments.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The time had come for the European diplomatic community to counter
each anti-Israel motion with the truth and justice they deserve, and vote
accordingly. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Only then will we see the chambers of the United Nations, the EU,
and the World Health Organization, being led by so-called strong liberal
democracies, and not by Third World tyrants.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Barry Shaw is the Consultant on Delegitimization Issues to
the Strategic Dialogue Center at Netanya Academic College. He is also the
author of <i>‘Fighting Hamas, BDS and Anti-Semitism.’</i> <a href="https://www.createspace.com/5333306">https://www.createspace.com/5333306</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-78110205795213821452015-06-05T18:33:00.001+03:002015-06-05T18:37:05.035+03:00Jordanians and Palestinians. "One People. Two States."<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Jordanians and Palestinians.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">"One people. Two states." Mahmoud Abbas.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">And now they want a third state - Israel!</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRynIjudSdwYBT4RjHjVsKR9V1yqnk2fbeVtuvqhS5n7KK66X4C9O1zcAGJbaFSG31EKHUoNwMWVglzh7KUCMDGWYVmHJoxWvuMImLLSBRCsQsUD-hqIIevRmPz3culEKqPU50KtZ0exYc/s1600/Abbas+Abdullah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRynIjudSdwYBT4RjHjVsKR9V1yqnk2fbeVtuvqhS5n7KK66X4C9O1zcAGJbaFSG31EKHUoNwMWVglzh7KUCMDGWYVmHJoxWvuMImLLSBRCsQsUD-hqIIevRmPz3culEKqPU50KtZ0exYc/s320/Abbas+Abdullah.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Crisis between the Palestinian Authority and Jordan.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Jibril Rajoub, the PA Minister for Sport and convicted terrorist, the minister who attempted to get Israel thrown out of FIFA, was prevented from entering Jordan when returning on a flight from Tunisia.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">The Jordanians temporarily prevented him from entering into Jordan on his way back to Ramallah on the grounds that the Palestinian Authority had voted for Sepp Blatter to remain as President of FIFA,, rather than cast a vote</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"> for the Jordanian prince.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br />Mahmoud Abbas had to rush to Amman to make peace with the Jordanians and, at a press conference,during his apology visit, Abbas made this interesting statement;</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br />"Jordanians and Palestinians are one people in two states."</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br />Think about that for a moment.<br />One people in two states? And now they want a third state - Israel?<br />How about one people in one state - Jordan?</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br />As they say in FIFA - GAME OVER!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-39929625397386966742015-05-27T14:56:00.001+03:002015-05-27T14:56:05.398+03:00“Kick the Jewish State out of Football!” This is Racism, FIFA!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtxdSAgMwsKeeJlqe8wb3X198urpeGd_BBOGGHL8YYYKQGsWDC1G0CoRnlQnvGJC9M8lsWdIwbMfX7dgFT_rlt7IBqFAUfiWFKHWWU8VZgt4Qi7aQmXN4nzT0RM2Blckdgb7bzDLZYYFYR/s1600/FIFA+Blatter+Rajoub.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtxdSAgMwsKeeJlqe8wb3X198urpeGd_BBOGGHL8YYYKQGsWDC1G0CoRnlQnvGJC9M8lsWdIwbMfX7dgFT_rlt7IBqFAUfiWFKHWWU8VZgt4Qi7aQmXN4nzT0RM2Blckdgb7bzDLZYYFYR/s320/FIFA+Blatter+Rajoub.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
If Israel has to go that extra
mile for peace, after multiple offers of concessions were roundly rejected, then
the Palestinians, who are so far behind, have to go a full marathon distance
just to catch up.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
But they are not on the start
line. They are not even on the track. Instead, they are in the judges’ stand
screaming to have Israel disqualified and removed from the race.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In sporting terms, take FIFA, for
example. As Israel uncovers Hamas couriers and terrorist smugglers among the
Palestinian football squad, their former terrorist head-honcho, Jibril Rajoub,
exploits FIFA as a political football. He does it not to advance Palestinian
facilities or equipment but to get Israel thrown out on spurious grounds.
Cynically, he has done his math and reckons he has the votes to have Israel
boycotted.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
FIFA, once famous for its <i>“Kick
Racism out of Sport,”</i> is now being asked to adopt a new slogan, <i>“Kick
the Jewish State out of Football,” </i>on July 4.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Should that tragedy occur you
will know that the Palestinian cause has brought their anti-Semitic racism to
the pinnacle of world sport.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
If FIFA red card Israel, they
will hang the gold medal of football racism round the neck of Palestine.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Barry Shaw is the author of <i>‘Fighting Hamas, BDS and
Anti-Semitism.’ <a href="https://www.createspace.com/5333306">https://www.createspace.com/5333306</a><o:p></o:p></i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-85528152074505802042015-05-16T21:53:00.000+03:002015-05-16T21:58:00.680+03:00Which Palestine?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjOENKazRbww3-xkgQaDnWt4LdNdfk3IPkMkJYIu6RmvN4XZZWaGwq_JGEGpVBB4R_Pcp2vmW2L02awPzvr5BZaJrUOc17ug21Lt07TVUuM8zKjdfj_pva08p_6rO071GLNOkum1dOjfWw/s1600/Pope+and+Abbas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjOENKazRbww3-xkgQaDnWt4LdNdfk3IPkMkJYIu6RmvN4XZZWaGwq_JGEGpVBB4R_Pcp2vmW2L02awPzvr5BZaJrUOc17ug21Lt07TVUuM8zKjdfj_pva08p_6rO071GLNOkum1dOjfWw/s320/Pope+and+Abbas.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-align: justify;">When the Vatican joined the
chorus and announced it would sign a treaty with the Palestinian political
leadership to recognize the </span><i style="text-align: justify;">‘State of Palestine’</i><span style="text-align: justify;"> it was yet another sign
that people are so fixed on a desire for </span><i style="text-align: justify;">‘peace’ </i><span style="text-align: justify;">that it makes them
shortsighted, if not blind, to realities.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The peace camp is so myopically
short on rationale, and the power of reason is so weak, that it doesn't have
the strength to pull the peace train out of the station, let alone allow it to
reach its destination.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Allow me to highlight some simple
facts that get in the way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The Palestine envisioned by the
Vatican is not the same Palestine envisioned by the Palestinian factions. Of
course, the Vatican will say that this can only be the outcome of negotiations
with Israel. If this is the case, why are they recognizing an unknown entity
now and refusing to face the reality of Palestinian politics and ambitions?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Let me be blunt. The Vatican
takes no consideration of the rejectionist anti-Semitism of both Fatah and
Hamas or, if it has considered this malevolent and determined opposition to the
existence of Israel, has chosen to ignore it.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Israel, I suggest, deserves an
answer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It is inevitable that a State of
Palestine will be headed by Hamas which declares itself to be an Islamic
movement dedicated to jihad. How does that square with the best interest of the
Catholic Church as we witness the slaughter of Christians at the hands of other
similar radical Islamic movements?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
There are those in the Holy See
who say that Hamas does not represent peace-minded, freedom-loving
Palestinians. I respectfully remind them that every Palestinian poll and
election has proven this notion to be wrong.
In every case, Palestinian Arabs vote overwhelmingly for Hamas. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
As I repeatedly explain to anyone
capable of clarity of thought, those who vote Palestine will deliver a
Hamastan. This includes the Vatican.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The Vatican needs reminding that
Palestinians in Ramallah, Gaza, and even Bethlehem persecute Christians.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
When Israel handed Ramallah over
to the Palestinian Authority the Christians were a majority. Today, under
Palestinian repression, it is less than 20% and dwindling further. Bethlehem, a
once wealthy Christian town under Israeli sovereignty, now has a Christian
population of less than 12%, due to Muslim intimidation. Elias Frej, the
Christian mayor when Israel handed over his town to the Palestinians, pleaded
that Bethlehem would become <i>“a Christian town without Christians.” </i>Sadly,
under the Palestinians, his prediction is coming true before our eyes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Anti-Israel voices blame this
phenomenon on <i>“occupation and oppression” </i>but, like most anti-Israel claptrap,
this lie is easily exposed by the fact that while the Christian population has
plummeted under Palestinian control the Muslim population has rapidly expanded.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
My question is why the Vatican is
favoring a Palestine of disappearing Christians?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
If they really believe that
granting statehood and recognition of radical anti-Jewish and anti-Christian
regimes is the way to peace, why doesn’t the Vatican offer recognition and
statehood to Islamic State (ISIS)? After all, perhaps they too will stop their
persecution of Christians? Of course this is a ridiculous notion, but no more
ridiculous than encouraging a future state that will be dominated by another
radical Islamic jihadi rule dedicated to the slaughter of Jews and the
destruction of Israel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The Vatican’s generous offer of
signing a treaty of recognition to the State of Palestine fails to define the
borders of such a state. This is deeply troubling taking into consideration
that Palestinians regularly call for a state <i>“from the River to the Sea,”</i>
in other words, a state in place of Israel. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The Vatican will say that borders
will be settled between the parties, but surely their recognition could have
waited until the world, including the Catholic world, witness a willingness not
seen until today by the Palestinians to recognize Israel’s right to exist as
the national home of the Jewish people. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It is this myopia to grant a
generosity to the violent rejectionists that will jeopardize and set back peace
for many years to come.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Until well-wishers, like the
Catholic Church, appreciate the true nature and intent of Israel’s enemy, no
peace will come from altruistic gestures that restrict Israel’s maneuverability.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Instead, the Vatican and others
must take drastic measures to reform or change all sides of the Palestinian
political leadership into taking dramatic steps that include, first and
foremost, a commitment to recognize and live in peace alongside Israel. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
One way would be to condition
their financial and moral support on making these essential steps. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The Vatican gesture should have
been the final reward for such a Palestinian reformation, not a reward for
their recent violence and intransigence.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Barry Shaw is the Consultant
on Delegitimization Issues to the Strategic Dialogue Center at Netanya Academic
College. He is also the author of ‘<i>Fighting Hamas, BDS and Anti-Semitism.’ </i><a href="https://www.createspace.com/5333306">https://www.createspace.com/5333306</a><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7043304945759017700.post-22092393517620530802015-05-15T16:51:00.001+03:002015-05-15T16:51:36.673+03:00Anti-Semitism in the Guise of Delegitimization and Anti-Zionism.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdbyJ3AI3AB5GGDtA5lKvUkYb3t3qWCp6TxEfd6bbvZG4KdCBID0dtxfqj0BUfGkMHxzYc5Q1mtX0U9wXIYOgMnckDZcH53xdYS86luZ8VZeZ-TBH2MA70SCRzIeUNzqbaCsa1k2FbQBOY/s1600/5th+Global+Forum+on+Combating+Antisemitism+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdbyJ3AI3AB5GGDtA5lKvUkYb3t3qWCp6TxEfd6bbvZG4KdCBID0dtxfqj0BUfGkMHxzYc5Q1mtX0U9wXIYOgMnckDZcH53xdYS86luZ8VZeZ-TBH2MA70SCRzIeUNzqbaCsa1k2FbQBOY/s320/5th+Global+Forum+on+Combating+Antisemitism+logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-align: justify;">The Israeli Ministry of Foreign
Affairs staged a highly successful event at the 5</span><sup style="text-align: justify;">th</sup><span style="text-align: justify;"> Global Forum for
Combating Anti-Semitism in Jerusalem between 12-14 May.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Delegates from around the world
gathered to hear an impressive array of speakers, led by Israel’s Prime
Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. The conference was intense. Even the lunches
during the three days became platforms for keynote speakers including Malcolm
Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman of the Confederation of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organization, Robert Wistrich, Jerusalem mayor, Nir Barkat, and
US Ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The third day was taken up with
numerous working groups each delegated to address specific aspects of global anti-Semitism
and come up with solutions and action plans to counter this ongoing plague.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I joined the group discussing
Anti-Semitism in the Guise of Delegitimization and Anti-Zionism, which was
chaired by Mitchell Bard and Dr. Pascal Markowicz.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
We were presented by a screen
listing the many challenges and questions faced by everyone affected by
anti-Israel activism that morphs into expressions of Jew-hatred and Israel
denial.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It was clear, hearing the
problems faced by students of campus to the problems that heads of Jewish
communities are increasing dealing with, that anti-Semitism posing as
anti-Zionism is rampant worldwide. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Participants from North and South
America, Europe including the UK, South Africa and Australia, told of the
challenges they are trying to counter in their countries. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
True to the title of our session,
it became apparent that, although we discussed in depth the difficulties that
Jews abroad and Israel in general have been suffering from in recent times, the
big black cloud that shadows all our concerns is the anti-Semitism linked to
all aspects of the Palestinian cause. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
As described in my book ‘<i>Fighting
Hamas, BDS and Anti-Semitis</i>m,’ its fertile roots are deeply embedded in
Gaza and Ramallah. Here is the spearhead of a wider Arab malevolence against
Jews rooted in their faith and political systems. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
As the title of our working group
suggests, this strain of anti-Semitism radiates from the Middle East into
Western societies, fanned by far left
agitators, racial professors, lecturers and other voices who call and act for
the delegitimization of Israel and an end to anti-Zionism. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The excuse that <i>“we don’t hate
Jews, we only hate Israelis”</i> won’t wash anymore. We in the know are now on
the case, exposing the fraud of this lie, a lie that has replaced the older
canard of <i>“I can’t be an anti-Semite, some of my best friends are Jewish.” </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The evidence is clear and is now
being documented. It’s time the name and shame the perpetrators, and call it
for what it is.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Anti-Semitism is an international
crime. However, despite the efforts of major European Jewish organizations, the
EU has been dodging the issue of coming up with a definition of what is
Anti-Semitism. We were witness to statements made at the Jerusalem conference
by European representatives of an attempt of lumping any resolution or
definition of anti-Semitism with other issues such as Islamophobia into a broader
mix of <i>“hate crimes.” </i>We need to make the case that we deserve, especially
in Europe, a specific attention to our individual and collective predicament.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
One important outcome of the
event was a wall-to-wall affirmation that only Jews have the right to define what
is, or isn’t, anti-Semitism. As one person at the conference said, just as most
Americans accept that African Americans are the ones to recognize anti-black
racism, it is the Jews, and not the goyim who instinctively know, from
generations of bitter experience in every culture, what is anti-Semitism. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
If anti-Semitism is evil, and if
the world desperately desires peace between Israel and the Palestinians, it is
legitimate to demand that the United Nations, the European Union, the Arab
League stop supporting the development of a national movement that has the
words <i>“Oh Muslim, there’s a Jew hiding behind me! Come out and kill him” </i>as
the cornerstone of their founding charter as does Palestinian Hamas. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It is this, together with their declared
admission that the Palestinian cause is an Islamic movement of jihad in the
name of Allah, that must give every reasoning mind, let alone the political
representatives of Western liberal democracies, pause. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
How is it possible that they
invest hundreds of millions of dollars and euros in the advancement of a
Palestine that will, inevitably, be a Jew-hating, Jew-denying entity?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
How can there be any doubt of
this when the Hamas hatred and the Jewish state denial of the Palestinian
Authority spills over into the manifestos and charters of the PLO (adopted by
the Palestinian Authority) and the constitutional document of the Fatah Party?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The aims and objectives of the
Palestinian cause are blatantly defined. They are consolidated by the statements
of Mahmoud Abbas, he of the Holocaust denial doctorate, who denies three
thousand years of Jewish heritage and existence, rejects the Jewish state and the
existence of Israel as the national home of the Jewish people as legitimated in
the international treaties of the League of Nations and further enshrined in Article
80 of the United Nations Charter. In further anti-Semitic references, Abbas has
declared that Palestine will be Jew-free and that any Arab selling land to a
Jew will be executed. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This is part of the Palestinian anti-Semitism
that denies and delegitimizes Israel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
A question that usually leaves
European diplomats with a blank look in their eyes is what sort of Palestine they
are trying so hard to create. Some
mutter that they are working to develop institutes necessary to achieve a
democratic Palestine living in peace with Israel. But they are stumped when asked what
responsibility they take if Israel surrenders essential territory according to
their demands and political pressure that results not in peaceful Palestine but
a radical Hamastan? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
According to all Palestinian polls
and elections, Hamas consistently gains the support of between 64-78% of
Palestinian society. That’s a majority every time. The latest evidence that
Palestine will be Hamastan was the student elections at Bir Zeit University in
April where Hamas won 26 seats compared to Fatah’s 19. It must be pointed out that Bir Zeit is not
in the Gaza Strip but seven kilometers north of Ramallah within easy reach of
Palestinian Authority headquarters, and only 20 kilometers from Jerusalem. So a
Hamas controlled Palestine is not a guess. It’s a certainty.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This makes the US Administration
and European urging for the establishment of a Jew-hating, jihadi state
standing on territory belonging to a liberal democracy, highly disturbing. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
What is equally disturbing is the
apparition of the fevered efforts of hundreds of dubious NGOs, supported
politically, morally and financially by most European governments. Some have
politicians who are being exposed for their dislike of Jews.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Those of us active in defense of
Israel against the demonization and delegitimization campaigns that use thousands
of eager young European volunteers regularly witness their Palestinian lovefest
comes with an equal, if not more passionate, Israeli hatefest which leaves us
wondering if Jew-hatred is not at the heart of it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Therefore, we are entitled to ask
why they adopt this aspect of Palestinian concern yet ignore the abuse of
Palestinian rights at the hands of both Palestinian leaderships in Ramallah and
Gaza. They also do or say nothing about Palestinians that are suffering in Arab
lands. Their exaggeration of anti-Israel claims and insults is out of
proportion to other world crisis points that apparently do not concern them.
This obsessive behavior that targets the Jewish state points to anti-Semitism.
In fact, colleagues can attest to fairly regular outbursts of anti-Jewish
utterances from these NGO volunteers. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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And so we see the spread and
growth of anti-Semitism in the guise of delegitimization and anti-Zionism.
Once, and for a period far too long, they claimed victory with a slogan of <i>“Zionism
is Racism”</i> which won favor in the United Nations for sixteen years until,
after a prolonged struggle, it was struck down in 1991. It was struck down, but
didn’t die. It is still alive and killing. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It is the anti-Zionists who are
the racists. It is the Israel deniers who are the discriminators. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It is essential to define
anti-Semitism to include the denial of Jewish rights to freedom of expression,
freedom of religion, and the denial of Jewish rights to self-determination as
enshrined in internationally binding documents. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The delegitimization of Israel
and the attempt to deprive the Jews, and only the Jewish people, of the right
to self-determination and nationhood is anti-Semitism.</div>
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<br /></div>
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(These are the personal reflections of the author and not the official positions of the working group nor the Israeli government.)</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Barry Shaw is the
consultant on delegitimization issues to the Strategic Dialogue Center at
Netanya Academic College and the author of <i>‘Fighting Hamas, BDS and
Anti-Semitism.’ </i><a href="https://www.createspace.com/5333306">https://www.createspace.com/5333306</a>
,or in Kindle format on Amazon.</span></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07531646385405539522noreply@blogger.com0