The Balfour Declaration: how Abbas thinks of peace

Later this week (May 3, 2017) Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to meet with US president Donald Trump in Washington, DC. It will be their first face-to-face meeting. 

Everyone knows their agenda. They will discuss how to bring peace to the Arab-Israel conflict.

In the weeks leading up to this meeting, Abbas has made several statements about peace, including one that already credits Trump with success ("Historic peace deal is possible under Trump's leadership, PA's Abbas says,", jns, March 16, 2017). But  Abbas has also made other comments during this same time period (March 6, 2017-present). These 'other comments'  suggest that peace isn't really on his mind.

Consider his comments (both last year and now) about the 1917 Balfour Declaration. This document was written 100 years ago. It helped pave the way for the United Nations (in 1947) to vote to create the State of Israel.  So much has happened since 1917, most people have forgotten about it. But not Mahmoud Abbas.

Abbas is so incensed that Britain should have issued that document in 1917, he has sought to sue Britain over it (Lizzie Dearden, “Palestinian president plans to sue Britain over 1917 Balfour Declaration and support for 'Israeli crimes'”, independent.co.uk, July 27, 2016).  That didn’t go anywhere. It failed. But Abbas didn’t give up.

After his lawsuit gambit failed, Abbas changed his approach. He demanded an apology from Britain (Bethan McKernan, “Palestinians demand UK apology for 1917 Balfour Declaration that pledged British support for the creation of Israel”, independent, November 1, 2016). Regarding this ‘apology’, Abbas said Britain should not only apologize for the Declaration, it should also rectify the damage it did by writing it (ibid).

For rectification, Abbas demanded that Britain recognize the state of ‘Palestine’ (ibid).

I’m not making up this stuff. It’s real. The Palestinian Authority will hold you responsible for something you did 100 years ago. It will not forget anything you did. 

In fact, this nonsense is so serious that Britain has now formally addressed Abbas’ demand for that apology.

The British will not apologize (“Britain refuses to apologize for Balfour Declaration”, arutzsheva, April 25, 2017). It stands up for the document. It states it is proud to have played a role in the creation of Israel.

The Palestinian Authority still won’t give up. It now says, if Britain will not apologize, the PA will go back—literally—to square one: it will sue Britain in ‘some’ international court (Patrick Goodenough, “Palestinians Fume After UK Gov’t Rules Out Apology For Jewish Homeland Declaration”, cnsnews, April 26, 2017).

This call to sue, then demand an apology over something that happened 100 years ago, then recommitting to sue all raise a question: what in the world is Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority (PA) doing? Do they want to think about peace, or about attacking everything and everybody associated with Israel? These three actions (lawsuit, apology demand, lawsuit) do not suggest a search for peace. They suggest a spiteful demand to humiliate someone for a perceived wrong from 100 years ago.

That's not going to bring peace. It'll just get Britain's hackles up (which is exactly what happened). 

How can anyone be serious about 'peace' today when he's focusing on 100 years ago? He can't.

If ever you wanted proof that the Palestinian Authority has absolutely no interest in peace with Israel, this is it. The PA is fuming over something that happened in 1917? Really?

The world looks for peace between Arab and Jew in 2017. What’s Abbas and his PA looking for? It’s looking to settle a pro-Israel score with Britain from 1917.

Friday cartoon: April 28, 2017

It's Friday again. It's time for another cartoon from Israel. 

Today's cartoon comes from 'overseas'. It's inspired by France. But it's got an 'Israel connection', which you'll discover below. 

This week in France, the French people went to the polls--to elect a new President. The way the French work this process, if no one candidate reaches a certain threshold of votes, there's a run-off. 

This year, there'll be a run-off. It will take place May 7, 2017. Two candidates will face off: Emmanuel Macron, considered to be a Centrist, and Marine Le Pen, considered to be Far-Right.

Some say Le Pen will not be good for the Jews of France. Perhaps one reason for such an assertion are statements Le Pen has made about Jewish practices. For example, just after finishing second on the April 23, 2017 vote, she announced that, if she became President, she'd ban the Jewish ritual slaughter of animals (for food consumption) (Le Pen says she's ban shechitiah", arutzsheva, April 25, 2017). Her reasoning was simple: to preserve the principle of equality (ibid).

Ah, the French. They do so believe in 'equality'. Apparently, they'll do anything for 'equality'.

Le Pen has already explained that she wants to "facilitate a ban on Muslim clothes" (ibid).  In order to do that, she argues, she must be fair. She must treat all 'equally'. 

Do you see where this is going? If Le Pen wants to ban the burqa, she's got to ban the Jewish kippa (small head covering worn by religious Jewish men).

That's called 'equality'.

Now,  it appears she wants to expand that sense of 'equality' by banning Jewish ritual slaughter. She also wants to ban French citizens from holding Israeli passports.  

She has called upon French Jews to make these 'sacrifices' in order to "curb radical Islam" (ibid). She doesn't explain how radical Islam can be 'curbed' by such Jewish 'sacrifices'. 

Is this how France is going to solve its 'Muslim problem'? (Henry Samuel, "France has 'problem with Islam' and there is 'too much unwanted immigration', says Hollande in  explosive book", telegraph, October 12, 2016; and, "The Islamisation of France in 2016: 'France has an Islam problem '", breitbart, January 18, 2017).


Le Pen has a chance to be President of France. If she is anything, she is Politically Correct. She sees only moral equivalence between the Jewish and Muslim presence in France. 

-Do Jews and Muslims in France behave the same way? No. 

-Do they make an equal contribution to France's welfare? No. 

-Do both groups equally seek to integrate into France's Western culture? No. 

Doesn't matter. To Le Pen, they're equal. She's French. She  believes in the foundation of Political Correctness: 'equality'. She will lead France, in other words, carrying the sword of Political Correctness held firmly and proudly.

How's that going to work out, you ask? Try this:

From: Steven Hayward, "The week in pictures", powerline, April 22, 2017

This is modern France. It will destroy itself on the sword of Political Correctness. Perhaps that will be France's ultimate contribution to the world.

You ask, where's the 'Israel connection' here? That's simple: Israel is where French Jews are going to end up should Le Pen win--and enforce her 'equality'.

This week's fake news from Israel

Today is Thursday. It's time for fake news.

This edition is about US President Donald Trump. Of course, because Donald Trump is at the heart of this fake story, we can't tell at all if this news is really fake.

President Trump has been keeping everyone busy about fake/-not-fake stories since at least January 20, 2017, when he first took office. For example, in February, 2017, the Guardian of England reported that Trump was abandoning the 'two state solution' (Peter Beaumont, "Abandoning 'two state solution' is no joke, Palestinian officials say", guardian, February 15, 2017). Then, six weeks later, the Boston Globe reported the exact opposite story (Daniel Estrin, "Dershowitz says Trump 'clearly' endorsed Palestinian state", bostonglobe, March 30, 2017).

Since both stories can't be true, one has to be fake. But which one? Only Trump knows.

Or, if you're anti-Trump--Trump is the only one who doesn't know which of his stories is fake (anti-Trumpers believe Trump is 'mental'). 

For news critics and other important people, this fake/not-fakery is terribly upsetting. Politicians aren't supposed to be so unpredictable.

But then, if you've been following the Trump Presidency, you already know that 'unpredictable' is Trump's middle name. That unpredictability means that just when you think you know what direction he's going in, he goes in another direction (Bernard Goldberg, "He was against military action in Syria until he was for it", townhall, April 11, 2017). 

For example,in January, 2017, Trump announced he was going to move the US Embassy in Israel from its current location in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, its capital (Jay Caruso, "Breaking: Reports coming in Trump will announce move of US Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv", redstate, January 22, 2017). Now, it looks like that's not going to happen (Asher Schechter, "Get over it, Mr. Adelson: Jerusalem's embassy isn't happening", haaretz, April 25, 2017). 

One of these stories is fake news. Which one is the fake? Only Trump knows--or, as some suggest, doesn't know.

On another topic, Trump was going to build a wall at the Mexican border to keep out illegal immigrants. The Mexicans, he said, were going to pay for it. Then they weren't. Now, there's a new suggestion about paying for that wall (Aidan McLaughlin, "Make El Chapo pay for it: Ted Cruz offers up proposals for funding the Wall", mediate, April 25, 2017). 

The US government is attempting to seize some 14 billion dollars of assets from a Mexican drug lord called, El Chapo.
US Senator Ted Cruz suggests using that money for the Wall. 

What's fakery about the Wall story? What's truth? Only Trump knows--or...

It's this US suggestion of having someone outside the US government pay for a big ticket item that triggers today's fake news edition. Senator Cruz isn't the only one thinking about someone else paying for a 'grand prize'.

Here's today's fake news headline:

"Trump Will Buy Dome Of The Rock, Get Waqf To Pay For It".

The Dome of the Rock is an Islamic religious building that sits atop the Jewish Temple Mount. It's the scene of much conflict in the Arab-Israel conflict.

Here's the fake news story (edited to fit my format):

"Amid rumors of US President Donald Trump planning a visit to Israel at the end of May, 2017, reports have also emerged that the US chief executive will purchase the gold-topped Dome of the Rock Shrine on the Temple Mount--and add it to his Trump real estate portfolio. It’s rumored Trump will also have the Muslim religious council that administers the site to pay for the acquisition…much as he sees Mexico paying for a border wall to keep Mexicans out of the US.

“Regarding a visit to Israel by the president, I can neither confirm nor deny at this stage,” cautioned one White House official. “Of course the president intends to go to Israel at some point. The main question is one of timing. What I can disclose, however, is that the Dome of the Rock will soon be called something else, and it will not cost the American taxpayer a dime, because the president will have the Waqf cover the costs”…

The administration’s relative silence on the visit, and on the purchase, has fueled further speculation as to what Trump will rename the site. “We more or less know that it will include the name ‘Trump,’ of course,” acknowledged Larry Silverstein, a real estate developer. “But beyond that, it could be anything from an understated ‘Dome of the Trump Rock’ to ‘The Trump Dome of the Rock,’ which I would say is more in keeping with his style.”

“One thing is for sure, though,” added Silverstein. “He won’t need to plate the whole thing in gold, because that's already been done – by Saudi Arabia” (source: preoccupiedterritory, dated April 26, 2017).

Naturally, this is fake news. Donald Trump is not going to buy the Dome of the Rock. He wouldn't try to do that, would he? 

As for having the Waqf pay for Trump's purchase, well, that's really fake news. It's a ridiculous suggestion. That would be like, well, building a wall at the border with Mexico--and then getting the Mexicans to pay for it. 

Oh. Wait...Trump's already working on the Mexicans to pay for that wall. He wouldn't try that with the Waqf, would he?

Would he?

Will Israel remains dry amid massive weather 'chaos'?

I am not a scientist. I am no weather expert. I know nothing about climate predictions.  

Personally, I couldn't care less about climate aberrations. I've got more pressing issues to worry about right now--like, my 3-year old granddaughter just put what into her mouth?  

Nevertheless, my attention will occasionally be attracted by some odd report or other. This post is about such a report.

What attracts me in this instance is the fact that this particular report comes with a prediction. Predictions are always good: you get to test them against reality.

Fortunately for us, the prediction in this report won't take 30 years to test. This prediction will be tested between April 27, 2017-April 30, 2017.

A reader has sent to me the video below. It's from a site called, 'Planet X News'. I know nothing about this site. On some of the other videos associated with 'Planet X News', one might find a pseudo-religious reference--or not. It's hard to tell. 

All I can say is that this specific video below seems to have no religious suggestion whatsoever to it. It appears to be simply an interesting software-based weather projection.

Take a look. This video is 4:12 in length. Watch for the prediction in the presentation. I'll offer some comments below:

 According to this video, a massive, perhaps even chaotic weather event will soon spread across the world. The planet could be filled will storm.

In this 'chaotic' weather scenario, there will be pockets of calm. A good chunk of that calm will surround Israel--the Holy Land--and what was once called the 'ancient world'. The potential dry area seems large. It includes parts of Africa, the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and India--even, possibly, parts of Iran, Afghanistan,Turkey, Russia and China: the bulk of the once-known 'ancient world'. 

Does this calm-surrounded-by-storm mean anything? Well, it might--if the predictions here are accurate.

Wait until May 3, 2017--you know, to give the projection a little extra time to kick in. Perhaps then you can ask if this video has meaning. 

After all, it might be completely wrong. 

Just for information purposes, you should know the weather forecast right now for New York City, for Friday-Sunday, April 28-30, 2017, is, essentially, partly sunny, with morning thundershowers Friday. There is no 'heavy/stormy rain' in the forecast.

What will happen between now and May 3rd? Stay tuned. We'll all find out together.

Netanyahu was correct to cancel meeting with German FM

Early Monday morning, April 25, 2017, a news report surfaced in Israel that Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to cancel a scheduled meeting with visiting German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel (Itamar Eichner, "Netanyahu warns German FM against meeting left-wing NGOs", ynetnews, April 25, 2017). The German Minister seemed puzzled. He said,  "You can't get a proper and comprehensive picture in any country on Earth if you only meet in government offices" (ibid). He considered the planned 'encounter' with two left-wing NGOs to be "completely normal". 

A couple of hours later, Gabriel declared that it was okay if the Prime Minister wanted to cancel their meeting--but he would not change his plans (Raphael Ahrens, et al, "German minister (sic) says Netanyahu 'regrettable', won't cancel plans", timesofisrael, April 25, 2017). Gabriel added that it was normal ("usual") for him to speak with 'civil society organizations'--even those critical of a government--during trips abroad (ibid). 

Some five hours later, Netanyahu canceled his scheduled meeting with Gabriel ("Netanyau carries out ultimatum to German Foreign Minister", arutzsheva, April 25, 20-17. 

I suspect Netanyahu will get trashed for refusing to meet the visiting dignitary. The Left in Israel will no doubt call him either incompetent--or, no longer qualified to be Israel's Prime Minister. I wouldn't be shocked if someone demanded new elections immediately.

Netanyahu was correct to confront the German Foreign Minister. He was also, in my opinion, correct to follow through on his demand. Here's why.

The two leftist NGOs in question are called, B'Tselem, and Breaking The Silence. These NGOs receive large donations from EU countries, including Germany (Yoel Domb, "German government to terror-supporting NGOs", arutzsheva, April 25, 2017). They are not exactly 'civil' societies. They are not honest critics of Israel. 

During the two-year period, 2015-16, B'Tselem received from Germany just under 1,360,000 NIS, and another 1,860,000+NIS from the EU, to which Germany contributes ("B'Tselem", ngomonitor, November 24, 2016). For the same time period, Breaking the Silence received 1,008,000 from German sources, and another 518,000 from the EU ("Breaking the Silence", ngomonitor, July 12, 2016).

This is serious money--more that 4,700,000NIS. Some comes from the German Foreign Ministry itself (ibid). Much of it is used to make war crimes and human rights charges against Israel. All of it promotes and supports the 'kill-Israel' agenda of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.

These two NGOs act like paid foreign lobbyists who advance a foreign agenda in Israel. Their work dovetails perfectly into the EU's hostility towards Israel--and supports Hamas ("Liberman: B'Tselem, Breaking The Silence are traitors", timesofisrael, January 16, 2016). They use often misleading and false 'testimony' to delegitimize the State of Israel. Their anti-Israel work has become so egregious Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman has called them traitors (ibid).

The question here shouldn't be why Netanyahu would cancel a meeting with a visiting dignitary over a simple meeting. The question is, why would a foreign dignitary insult his host State by meeting with such aggressively hostile, anti-State organizations (which, unconscionably, his government and his country support)? 

How dare a foreign dignitary come here and consort with those who aid the enemies of the State?

Late in the afternoon, Netanyahu called Gabriel to explain why he had cancelled the meeting. Gabriel refused to take the call (Gary Willig, "German FM refuses to talk to Netanyahu", arutzsheva, April 25, 2017). Netanyahu's office then released a statement that dropped any reference to B'Tselem. Instead, the statement focused on Breaking The Silence:

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policy is not to meet with diplomats who visit Israel and meet with organizations that defame IDF soldiers and seek to prosecute them as war criminals...

"The same diplomats will not consider meeting in the US or Britain with representatives of organizations calling for the prosecution of American or British soldiers. The Israel Defense Forces and its soldiers are the basis of our existence. Relations with Germany are very important to Israel and will continue" (ibid).

This statement may not end of this incident. But even if it doesn't, as Prime Minister, Benjamin Natanyahu is supposed to stand up for his country. He did.

He was correct to do so.

      

Regarding Holocaust Day in Israel, 2017

Today in Israel is Holocaust Day. This is the one day each year we make sure to think about the horror Nazi Germany perpetuated against the Jewish people.

It is very difficult to write about the Holocaust in 800-1,000 words. The subject is too large. There are simply too many horrors to consider.

Six million Jews were murdered for no reason other than they were Jews. These murders weren’t an accident. They weren’t coincidental to World War Two. They were deliberate.

The seeds of the Holocaust were sown six years (1933) before World War Two (1939-45). It became a state-sponsored, state-run systematic persecution and process of annihilation developed to fulfil an ideological goal—to purify Germany (S.D. Stein, “Statements by Hitler and Senior Nazis Concerning Jews and Judaism”, phdn.org, 03/04/00).

Germany’s Adolf Hitler invented the mass extermination of Jews. He began the journey down that road slowly. He argued his case before the German public. He said that, if Germany was to get healthy once again (after being both devastated and humiliated in World War One), it had to rid itself of a poison called, ‘the Jew’. For example, less than two years after World War One had ended, Hitler was already arguing that the only way for Germany to become once again the “captain of her soul and master of her destinies” was, among other things, to turn against the Jew (D. Irving, The War Path: Hitler's Germany 1933-1939. Papermac, 1978, p.xxi). In August, 1920, he gave this speech in Salzburg, Austria, saying:

“…it is a problem of whether our nation can ever recover its health, whether the Jewish spirit can ever really be eradicated.  Don't be misled into thinking you can fight a disease without killing the carrier, without destroying the bacillus.  Don't think you can fight racial tuberculosis without taking care to rid the nation of the carrier of that racial tuberculosis.  This Jewish contamination will not subside, this poisoning of the nation will not end, until the carrier himself, the Jew, has been banished from our midst (Applause)” (ibid).

Jew-hate was one of the favorite themes of Nazi discourse. It appeared in Hitler’s Mein Kampf. It showed up in Nazi speeches. It was a major theme of Nazi propaganda (Karthik Narayanaswami, “Analysis of Nazi Propaganda”, HIST E 1572: Holocaust in History, Literature, and Film, blog.harvard.edu, no date).

Adolf Hitler wanted to cleanse Germany of the last Jew (John Toland, Adolf Hitler. London: Book Club Associates, 1977, p.116). Between 1933-1945, he passed “More than 2,000 racist laws and decrees” (“The Nazi Rise to Power”, The Nazi regime, projetaladin.org, no date) to do that. The Nazi killing machinery showed everyone he meant what he said.

Some say the fate of Europe’s Jews was sealed at a place called, Wannsee, just outside Berlin, in early 1941 (Carla Brewington, “70 Years Later, Still No Answers on the Holocaust”, algemeiner, February 24, 2017). It was here that the Holocaust’s ‘Final Solution’ for the Jews is said to have been officially created.  But that fate was presaged years earlier--the moment Hitler got elected in the 1933 Reichstag elections.  

By 1945, Hitler had brought to the world a modern, mechanized Jew-hatred never seen before. He had instituted an anti-Jew racism more sophisticated than anyone have ever experienced. He had made that anti-Jew racism especially toxic because he linked it to the very survival of Germany: he declared that “the primacy and self-preservation of the German race” would, essentially, forever be stillborn so long as the Jew existed (Walter Zwi Bacharach, “Antisemitism and Racism in Nazi Ideology”, yadvashem, 2007).

Hitler spilt the blood of six million Jews—including more than a million children—trying to cleanse Germany’s soul. His obsession (to ennoble Germany primarily through murdering Jews) turned the most civilized nation in the world into its most brutalizing nation. That was the Holocaust.

On April 24, 2017, all of Israel pauses to remember what Hitler wrought. The entire civilized world would be wise to remember, too. Hitler’s Jew-hate hasn’t gone away. It’s become the driving feature of the ‘Palestinian Cause’. 

One might argue that murderous Jew-hate was originally planted into the Arab-Muslim psyche through Haj Amin al-Husseini (1897-1974), a vicious anti-Semite who became Islam’s Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in 1921. During World War Two, Al-Husseini spread his vicious anti-Semitism (“Slaughter the Jews wherever you find them”) from Nazi Berlin. He collaborated with Hitler. He gave Nazi-style anti-Jew radio speeches to Arabs back home. He helped Hitler organize Muslim SS units.

He hated the Jew with a true Nazi passion. The Nazis are said to have called him, “the Fuhrer of the Arab world” (“Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini”, palestinefacts.org, 2011). He more than lived up to the title.

Between 1920 and his death in 1974, al-Husseini was “unrelenting in his espousal of a virulent Judeophobic hatred as the focal tenet of his” Arab nationalism (“Voices of Palestine: Haj Amin al-Husseini”, frontpagemag, November 7, 2011). That hatred became the foundation of the ‘Palestinian Cause’. It remains the favorite theme of the ‘Cause’.

When we remember the Holocaust, we must remember that virulent, Nazi-like anti-Jew hate is still alive and well.  It lives in the ‘Palestinian Cause’, where Jews are still targeted for extermination (Cheryl K. Chumley, “Hamas cleric tells Jews: ‘We will exterminate you’”, washingtontimes, July 31, 2014).

Do not forget that.

--

Why the Great Final Arab War against Israel will fail

When it comes to Jewish Israel, Arab politics is only about hate. That hate is so great that, even today, Fatah and Hamas (Israel's supposed 'peace partners') continue to protest that Israel has no right to exist (Itamar Marcus, Nan Jacques Zilberdik, "Fatah leader: Fatah and Hamas agree Israel has no right to exist", palwatch, April 21, 2017).

Jew-hating Arabs have been talking about the violent destruction of the Jewish community in Israel since at least 1920, when the soon-to-become Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, began instigating anti-Jew violence in the-then Jewish Palestine (Edy Cohen, "How the Mufti of Jerusalem created the permanent problem of Palestinian violence", thetower, November 2015).  He was anti-Jew, anti-Jewish nationalism and pro-violence against all Jews in Palestine (ibid).

His Jew-hate has left a legacy. That "legacy of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism...remains an enduring element of Palestinian and Arab politics" (Jeffrey Herf, "Hal Amin al-Husseini, the Nazis and the Holocaust", jcpa,org, January 5, 2016). Because of that legacy, Arab leaders still echo his anti-Semitic rhetoric 43 years after his death. His vitriol set the standard for Arab political attitudes towards Israel. His hatred is still the main nutrient that feeds 'Palestinianism'—the drive to replace Israel with an Arab ‘Palestine’.

Today, there is no one like al-Husseini on the Arab stage. This is why the Great Final Arab War against Israel stagnates. There's no one to step into his shoes.

Yassar Arafat was close, but too interested in dealing with Westerners who didn't share Husseini's vitriol. Mahmoud Abbas is not in the same league as Arafat. He clearly isn't in the same league as Husseini.

Hizbollah's Nasrallah in Lebanon, however, is another matter. Unlike so many others in the Palestinian Authority, he's got a truly vicious anti-Semitic resume. Like al-Husseini, he breathes 'hate-Israel'. He's got the potential to become al-Husseini's replacement. But he lacks one important characteristic: he’s not 'Palestinian'.  

'Palestinians' will not start their Great Final War Against Israel with a non-'Palestinian' leader. They’re too tribal to do that: they won’t tolerate an ‘outsider’. 

Among 'Palestinians', then, Hamas remains most loyal to al-Husseini's Jew-hate. Hamas loves that hate. Just read the Hamas Charter.

Within Hamas, Marwan Barghouti seems the leading candidate to step into al-Husseini's shoes. He's got the resume: a mass killer of Jews and a vitriolic anti-Semitism; best of all, he's a hero to 'Palestinians'.

But if he's the main man right now, he's got a problem. He's in an Israeli prison. He’s not likely to get out anytime soon.

Many share the dream to step into his shoes. But that won't be easy. Anyone in Hamas who aspires to replace al-Husseini has to survive long enough in the Hamas hierarchy to grab power. This will be difficult. The competition is tough and the competitors are ruthless enough to kill their political 'foes'.

These are not civilized people. They are barbarians. Each is willing to kill his way up the ladder. The struggle to lead could get all potential Hamas leaders murdered, thereby emasculating Hamas forever.

 

Haj Amin al-Husseini no doubt thought he'd created a winner when he stoked Jew-hate. What he didn't account for was the consequence of such hate—a kind of ideological/emotional cancer that always poisons its own before it destroys its enemy.

That’s the ultimate tragedy. Hate consumes the hater.

Hate will not be the reason 'Palestinianism' wins. It will be the reason it fails.


(I will post an essay for Holocaust Day, tomorrow)

Friday cartoon

Today is Friday. It's time for a cartoon.

Earlier this week, a man in Fresno, California set out to kill as many white people as he could ("Suspect in custody after three people shot dead, Fresno police say", cbsnews, April 18, 2017). The suspect, Kori Ali Muhammad (sic) has admitted to the shootings (ibid).

But as news outlets spread the word of this incident on their websites, one stood out--the Associated Press (AP). It didn't report, as other had, that, just before shooting, Mr Muhammad had shouted, 'allahu akbar'. 

Yes, the Fresno police chief had told reporters that Mr  Muhammad had used the exact words, 'allhu akbar (Caleb Parke, " 'allahu akbar' vs 'god is great': the AP cover-up on recent Fresno attack and why words matter", bcnnews, April 19, 2017). But the AP had reported him as saying, 'god is Great!'--an inaccurate English translation of allahu akbar (ibid).

Some point out that there's a significant difference between god-is-great vs allahu-akbar, especially when it's used in front of a Catholic Charities facility moments before the one using those words starts killing people (ibid).

allahu akbar doesn't simply mean, 'god is great', it means allah is greater (ibid). It's an assertion of religious supremacy used in many circumstances, but almost always shouted before one, essentially, kills for Islam. Reporting that a killer like this said, 'god is great' does not capture the Supremacist intent of the words.

Besides, no one in the world would claim, 'god is great' is a traditional war cry. Most everyone who reads, however, knows that allahu akbar is a war cry, typically used in a 'war' moment when one's intent is to murder. The AP not only did a disservice to its followers. It completely misrepresented the nature of the shooting. It misled the reader. It turned a news moment into a fake news moment.

Our cartoon today shows how Leftist progressives choose to read the words, 'allahu akbar':

from: ronbosoldier.blogspot, no date

I suggest that the picture speaks for itself. When one shouts 'allahu akbar', one is not looking for excuses. We shouldn't give him any.

When Mr Muhammad used these words (above), he was professing also a murderous intent. No one should ever make excuses for murder, especially murder in the name of a religion--and most especially murder in the name of what we are told is 'the religion of peace'. 

Fake news round-up from Israel

Today is fake news day. It’s the one chance you have each week to read news knowing that what you read really is fake.

This week’s edition looks exclusively at that gospel of truth, Aljazeera news. Here are some recent headlines from that Sourcepool.  Take a look:

-Nadim Nashif, “Facebook vs Palestine: Implicit support for oppression”, April 16, 2017. This op-ed essay explored how Facebook has become complicit with the crimes of the oppressor Israel.  Shockingly, Facebook cooperates with Israeli authorities. It believes Israel's lies when Israel says it has found 'incitement' on 'Palestinian' Facebook pages. Because of this criminal cooperation, 'Palestinians’ are routinely arrested by Israeli security forces. 

Of course, Israelis also commit acts of 'incitement' on Facebook. In 2016, for example, Israelis posted more than 675,000 inflammatory posts themselves. But no Israelis were arrested.  Can you imagine that?

The writer failed to state how many inflammatory posts came from ‘Palestinians’. But then, he didn't need to note that number because 'Palestinians' weren't the bad guys to this essayist. Facebook was.

--

-“Israeli soldier killed in 'car attack' near Ramallah”, April 6, 2017. This news story apparently didn’t report news—just  ‘alleged’ news.  For example, in this alleged story, 23-year-old Ahmad Moussa Hamed allegedly drove his car into an alleged concrete barrier, behind which stood two Israeli soldiers, allegedly on duty. The car allegedly rammed into the two soldiers. One soldier was allegedly killed. The other soldier was, allegedly, lightly injured. The driver was allegedly shot, but not allegedly killed.
---

--Shaeen Nassar, “Zionism's problem with intersectionality”, April 6, 2017. This opinion piece told us there was an 'organic' connection between all peoples of color. All such people--including 'Palestinians'--suffer from Apartheid. They experience ethnic cleansing, racial hate and race-based oppression. Because of such shared experiences, all people of color are just like 'Palestinians’.

The essayist talks about 'intersectionality'. But he never gets around to defining what that is. He simply states that intersectionality unites all oppressed people. Through intersectionality, he says, these oppressed groups can share “racial subjugations, humiliation, and exploitation” which is, the essayist seems to assume, exactly what people of color everywhere want to do every day, all day.

The essayist doesn't explore how intersectionality--whatever that is--could be used to make life better for oppressed people (Helen Lewis, "The uses and abuses of intersectionality", newstatesman, February 20, 2014). Instead, this essayist is more interested in using 'intersectionality' to blame 'Zionism' for all suffering and oppression--everywhere.

That's not philosophy. It's propaganda. Nevertheless, in the fake news world, this is a good piece of work. It sounds intellectual, it blames the Jews--and it leaves you feeling educated (because of the big word). 

This might be fakery at its best.
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-Nigel Wilson, “Israeli army 'among world's child rights violators'”, April 11, 2017. This essayist uses an old Al Jazeera tool--the anecdotal--and often fake--testimony of a child (youth aged 17 and younger). According to this writer, 'Palestinian' children are shot and killed by Israeli soldiers while engaged in purely innocent activities—like strolling outside during a nearby clash between dozens of ‘youth’ stoning IDF soldiers on a patrol across a nearby dirt road. Indeed, based upon this--and other, similar--essays, one could easily conclude that strolling is a leading cause of death among 'Palestinian' children.

These anecdotes appear on Al Jazeera all the time. You've probably seen them. They go something like this: Question: tell me, what was your child doing near that wild riot against the IDF before he was killed? Answer: He was strolling. 

One learns from this story that nearly all the children killed in October, 2015 (a particularly high-casualty month for Arab youth in Israel) were killed either during a self-initiated attack against Jews, or while participating in large, wild clashes with Israeli soldiers. This writer fails to see any connection whatsoever between a child’s death and any riot-participation or knife attacks upon armed soldiers. Apparently, for this journalist—as for many others—wilfully stoning armed soldiers or openly attacking them has nothing to do with being killed. The children were killed only because IDF soldiers used an indiscriminate shoot-to-kill policy.

It’s all fakery. Here’s the real story: unfortunately, ‘Palestinian’ parents encourage their children to get themselves killed by IDF soldiers, as if that’s the greatest accomplishment a parent would want for his/her child.  Children should die so essayists like this can propagandize against Israel?  Yes, that’s it exactly.

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That’s it for today’s fake news round-up. Come back next week. I have every expectation there’ll be more fakery to share with you.

An Arab prisoner hunger-strike, the UN--and dead Jews

Perhaps I've missed something important, but the last time I looked at the concept of 'justice', I read that one who kills another deliberately in cold blood and then gets convicted of murder in open court is one who has received 'justice''. After conviction, that justice requires the killer to suffer the consequence of his evil deed. He goes to prison. He does not go to a youth hostel.

But what happens if convicted murderers claim to be victims themselves? For example, more than 1,000 Arab terrorist prisoners in Jewish Israeli jails have recently begun a hunger strike to gain what some call their 'basic rights' (Zena Tahhan, "Palestinian prisoners launch mass hunger strike", aljazeera, April 17, 2017). In this instance, imprisoned murderers of Israeli Jews cry that Israel's jail conditions have hit such a 'new low' (ibid), initiating a mass hunger strike is the "only door they can knock on to attain their rights" (ibid).

According to Arab sources, this appears to be a dangerous situation--so dangerous that the President of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mahmoud Abbas, has called out for international assistance to save the prisoners ("President Abbas calls on international community to save the life of striking prisoners", english.wafa.ps, April 17, 2017). The unstated message Abbas sent out was, Israeli prisons are so horrific, these men will surely die (from prison conditions and the hunger strike) if the world doesn't intervene to make sure prisoner demands are met. 

There's just one problem here. It's a lie. 

These prisoners are not as 'deprived' as Mahmoud Abbas would lead you to believe. Do you know what these prisoners want? 

Their demands reveal the lie. Here's a list of some of the more, uh, interesting demands. Remember, these are demands for what aljazeera calls, 'basic rights'. These demands are not basic at all: 

-prisoners want a second monthly 'family visit' (perhaps a euphemism for 'conjugal visit) reinstalled ("Abbas: World must intervene to save hunger-striking prisoners", timesofisrael, April 17, 2017).    

-they want academic studies and matriculation exams (to be provided free by Israel) (ibid);

-they want more TV channels to be made available in their cells (ibid);

-they want a public phone in 'security' wings--where the most violent terrorists are kept.

-they want visits from both first-level and second-level relatives ("Demands of prisoners who went on hunger strike", english.wafa.ps, April 17, 2017); 

-they want transportation provided by Israel for all those visiting relatives (ibid).
  

These prisoners protest their prison conditions (timesofisrael). They claim Israel's (inhumane) prison conditions have hit a 'new low' (aljazeera)--and we assume that these demands are to be the remedy for those 'new low' conditions. 

Listen, these men aren't hostel guests on an extended stay at a Middle East hostel (a hunger-strike against some Middle East hostels might be a rational action). These prisoners are murderers. They killed with knowledge aforethought. They're now in jail. They do not express remorse. They do not offer to change their murderous ways. Many have been incentivized to kill because their families receive a  lifetime monthly benefit from the PA, based upon the 'horrorificness' of their crime. These are not civilized people.

Nevertheless, they serve prison time in what is probably the Middle East's most humane prison (see, for example, Khaled Abu Toameh, "Palestinians' fort of torture", gatestoneinstitute, January 30, 2017). One could argue that they are treated better than Hamas and Fatah would treat them for similar crimes in the PA against PA residents. 

Yet because Abbas and aljazeera claim Israeli prison conditions are, supposedly, so terrible, the world has to watch a hunger-strike. What this means is, 'Palestinians' have created another self-induced crisis--and now demand the world save them from the crisis they've created (William Jacobson, "Palestinians demand world save terrorist hunger strikers from their own hunger strike", legalinsurrection, April 18, 2017). 

These 'Palestinian' prisoners are serious: they want those extra TV channels, public phones and, yes, special satellite TV programming (english.wafa.ps, above). 

The UN worries about these prisoners. Presumably, the UN takes this hunger-strike seriously. Apparently, it's a humanitarian outrage that Israel won't provide more TV channels--and free phones--to its Arab terrorist-prisoners. 

The UN monitors 'with  concern' how these unrepentant, Israel-hating, Jew-hating killers are doing (Ben Ariel, "UN closely monitoring terror hunger strike", arutzsheva, April 19, 2017). The UN shows a lot of compassion for these Jew-killers. How nice. 

What about the Jews these killers have murdered? Where is the UN's compassion for the Jewish victims?   

The Power of HaShem in defense of Israel?

April 17, 2017 is the 7th Day of Pesach (Passover). In Israel, it will be the final Day of this Holiday. In exile, it will be simply the 7th day of Pesach; in exile, the last day of holiday will be April 18, 2017.

On April 17th this year, Jews around the world will read an excerpt from our Torah as part of the day's morning prayer service. That excerpt will be about the Biblical episode of the splitting of the Sea that occurred within the Biblical story of the Jewish Exodus (Sh'mot, 14:26-31).

I want you to consider something that appeared in a Hollywood film about that Biblical episode. The film is called, "The Ten Commandments". I want you to look at a large dark cloud that appears in the film. I will then ask you to compare that Cloud to another, more recent large, dark Cloud.   

The Hollywood film stars Charlton Heston as Moses. What you'll see in a moment is short, only 2:25 long. It's an excerpt from the movie.

This short clip shows the scene where the Sea splits for the Jewish people, Heston looks especially 'Biblical' (as Hollywood might define it). The other actors you'll see--including, briefly, Yul Brynner and Edward G Robinson--look wooden. So do the extras in the film.

The movie was made in 1956. Perhaps a 61-year old movie looks dated. Perhaps actors that long ago always look corny. 

Ignore it. The actors aren't the reason I'd like you watch that 2:25 minutes. I want you to watch what Hollywood suggests is a Biblical 'Pillar of Cloud'. The Pillar of Cloud seems to be a fictionalized version of what the Bible describes (Sh'mot, 13:21-22).  

Watch, then I'll comment: 

In this movie, that Pillar of Cloud is fiction. It's a 'special effect' from a different generation of movie-making. Last December, however, I wrote about a different Pillar of Cloud ("A storm in Israel: is it miracle or windy mirage?", tuviabrodieblog, December 7, 2016). In December, 2016, the Pillar of Could I described wasn't fiction. It was real.

As you might remember from that December essay, this modern Pillar of Cloud appeared just outside the northern border of Israel. You'll see it again in a  moment. It appeared at the Syrian side of the Israel-Syria border, at a place where the armies of Syria and Israel have been trading shots for some time. 

Watch how this modern Pillar of Cloud behaves. It's noisy. It's extremely large. Does it remind you of that Cloud in the Hollywood film? 

The video below is 0:44 in length: 

As you can see, this Pillar of Could didn't just appear at the border. It sat on the border. It shut out the Syrian side of the border. It hid what was in Syria from what was in Israel. 

It didn't enter the Israeli side of the border, where the soldiers were standing. It blocked the border. 

In its own way, it stood just outside Israel remarkably like a Biblical Pillar of Cloud. Was it Biblical in nature?

What does that modern Pillar of Cloud mean? Does it give us a hint of what the Hand of HaShem can do in the natural world to protect the Jewish nation?

Stay tuned.