UNESCO's cultural war on Hebron

This is a great article in Huffington Post.

Anav Silverman, Huffington Post:

Beyond the rather picturesque scene in Hebron today, conflict rears its head elsewhere. Now that the Palestinians have been accepted as UNESCO's 195th member in late October, they can now apply for World Heritage classification for cultural sites they deem exclusively theirs. Such sites would be protected by the UN and could receive funding from UNESCO for restoration.

The Israeli minister's visit last Monday came in light of Palestinian attempts to persuade UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) to declare the Cave of Patriarchs as a World Heritage Site belonging to Palestinians only.

Also known as Ma'arat HaMachpela in Hebrew and the Ibrahim Mosque in Arabic, Edelstein declared that Israel "was now more motivated than ever to show that the connection of the Jewish people to the site goes back thousands of years ago."

The cave houses the tombs of the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Jewish people; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah. According to the Bible's Book of Genesis, Chapter 23, Abraham purchased the cave and the adjoining field from Ephron the Hittite, to bury his wife Sarah there.

This past weekend marked the anniversary of Sarah's death as recorded in the Biblical portion read in synagogues across the world. Over 20,000 Jews from Israel and abroad, visited Hebron to pay homage to the first matriarch of the Jewish people.

UNESCO has worked tirelessly to undermine Israel's cultural and historical connection to holy sites. In November 2010, the agency classified Rachel's Tomb, the third holiest site in Judaism as a mosque, Bilal bin Rabah Mosque, "an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territories." A study of Palestinian Authority school textbooks in 2008, however found that the site was never referred to as such, and instead was known at the "Dome of Rachel," until 2001, when the term, Bilal bin Rabah Mosque suddenly emerged in new educational textbooks.

According to the Palestinian Minister of Tourism Khouloud Daibes Abu Dayyeh, in addition to Hebron, the Palestinians are also asking UNESCO to recognize 19 other sites in the Holy Land to be incorporated as Palestinian World Heritage Sites including Jericho and Bethlehem.
Franciscans in charge of Bethlehem's holy places do not want UNESCO to designate Christian shrines in the city as Palestinian World Heritage Sites. Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa told the Italian bishops' news agency, SIR, that the Greek Orthodox and Armenian patriarchates have asked the Palestinian Authority to exclude the Church of the Nativity from the UNESCO application. "The holy places may be used for political reasons...we do not want to be exploited for issues in which the holy places must not be involved," Pizzaballa was quoted as saying.

The Catholic Franciscans fear that UNESCO recognition will make it difficult for the church to run the holy sites because the sites would be under the jurisdiction of UNESCO and would have to abide by the agency's rules.

Meanwhile Edelstein believes that the current Palestinian Authority government is trying to excommunicate Israel from the Jewish site. "They want to wipe out our ties, and any Jewish trace from this area," he said.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, during his address to the UN General Assembly in September, referred to the entire Holy Land, as the "land of Palestine, the land of the Prophet Muhammad and the birthplace of Jesus."

"We don't want to exclude anyone from holy sites in Israel," Edelstein emphasized. "Under Israeli policy, Christian, Muslim and Jewish sites have always been open to people of all faiths."

For about 700 years, Jews were forbidden to enter the Cave of Patriarchs, following a Muslim Mameluk decree which restricted Jews from praying past the seventh step leading to the entrance. The Mameluks, who capture Hebron following the Byzantines and Crusaders in the 13th century, declared the structure a mosque which non-Muslims could not enter.
During the British mandate, the Jews were still forbidden inside the tombs to pray, although a Jewish presence had always been maintained in the city prior to British rule. When Jordan seized control of the area in 1948 during Israel's War of Independence, the Jordanians forbade the Jews from even living in the city and built an animal pen on the ruins of the ancient Avraham Avinu Synagogue built in the 16th century by the Jewish community. It was only in 1967, after Israel's Six Day War that Jews were allowed into Hebron again.

Following Israeli control of the Tomb of Patriarchs, arrangements were made which enabled both Muslems and Jews to worship and pray in an orderly manner on the basis of mutual respect. The tomb's Isaac and Rebekah Hall, the largest and most important hall to Judaism and Islam, as it contains the Imam's Pulpit (Mimbar) is kept exclusively for Muslim prayers. Jewish services cannot take place in that particular hall except for 10 days during the year.
"Only under Israeli rule can we be sure that this open policy continues," said Edelstein. "We want to continue to ensure that people of all faiths have access to holy sites here in Israel and can worship freely at them."

Walid, the local Palestinian tour guide in Hebron on the day of Edelstein's visit, however thinks differently. "We will have peace here once we get the Jews out of this city," he adamantly declared, as his group of German tourists lingered in the pottery shops a few feet away from the Cave of Patriarchs.

While a few comments were bigoted hatred, there were some very good commments on the first page, which I would like to attach below.  These comments hit the nose right on the dot, and further show the duplicity of UNESCO and the Palestinians.  I have attached some of them below (they are photoshopped to appear one below the other, although other comments may in reality seperate them).

Anti-Humanitarian Flotidiots Whine

Jonothan Kay, National Post:

Foremost among these is David Heap, a University of Western Ontario faculty member who claims to have been “tasered” and “bruised” as Israeli soldiers hauled his unco-operative self from the high seas. From the title of the article he wrote for the left-wing site Rabble.ca — “I write from cell 9 in the Apartheid State of Israel” — you would think he was Martin Luther King with a Twitter account, penning manifestos from a Birmingham jail. But even by his own morally self-aggrandizing account, he is “basically ok” after his high-seas experience.

But “basically ok” doesn’t get you on the front pages. So now a Toronto Star writer has gassed out the story for another day by reporting that Heap’s friends and family are “outraged,” “scared” and “worried” by his “brutal” treatment.

No one else in Canada seems to care much, though: Even among protest junkies, flotilla theatrics now play a distant second to the ongoing Occupy phenomenon. In fact, as far as “brutality” goes, the troops who ushered Heap into Israel don’t have a stitch on cops in Oakland.

“Outraged,” “scared” and “worried” would be good words to describe our thoughts about captured activists who did something that was actually brave and useful — like bringing aid to protesters in, say, Syria, just a few hundred kilometers up the Mediterranean coast. Instead, Heap and his friends set their compass for a confrontation with the Israeli Defense Forces, the most humane and professional military in the Middle East. And their only real punishment for trying to bring material goods to a terrorist-controlled regime in Gaza is to spend a few days in climate-controlled, Internet-equipped Israeli jails complaining about their ordeal to journalist pals back home.

Mr. Heap’s whining campaign isn’t nearly as dangerous as the tactics used by other activists, but it certainly is far more annoying.

These so-called "peace activists" and "Free Gaza humanitarian activists" really don't care about human rights.  If they did, then they wouldn't be sending a flotilla to Israel to protest the legitimate blockade (see Palmer Report) on the terrorist organization Hamas.  Instead, they would be sending a flotilla to protest Hamas' bombardment of rockets into Israel, ruining life for the million Israelis living in southern Israel.

If they really cared about human rights, as they claim by strapping the words "humanitarian" and "peace" to their name, they would be protesting Hamas' cruel and repressive treatment of Palestinians in Gaza.  If you're a Fatah member in Gaza, you don't stand a chance of surviving.  If you disagree with Hamas, expect a visit.  And if you dare criticize Hamas, off with your head.

If they really cared about human rights, they would've sent a flotilla to Turkey, where just a week beforehand, an earthquake shook Turkey and devastated the lives of hundreds.  If they really cared, they would've sent aid to Turkey, instead of trying to provoke Israel's legitimate blockade.

If they really cared about human rights, they would've sent a flotilla to Syria to help the protestors who are just fighting for "freedom" from Dictator Assad's rule.  But they didn't.

Oh, and if they really cared about the Palestinians in Gaza, they would've carried aid on their ship.  The IDF reported that they did not.  Which leads us to question - did they care about the Palestinians at all, as  they claim, or did they just hate Israel so much out of baseless hatred that they wanted a confrontation?

You decide.

Blaming the Jews - Nothing Comparable in History

So many great articles today!

A recent post discussed why Israel differs from Europe.

A writer for Asia Times wrote this great article - at least Asia gets it!

Here's your final exam question in Middle Eastern studies:

A mass of Coptic Christians marches through Cairo to protest the military government's failure to protect them from Muslim radicals. They are attacked by stone-throwing, club-wielding rowdies. Armed forces security personnel intervene, and the Copts fight it out with the soldiers, with two dozen dead and scores injured on both sides. Who is to blame?

The full credit answer is: Benjamin Netanyahu, for building apartments in Jerusalem. If that's not what you wrote, don't blame me if you can't get a job at the New York Times.
Rarely in the course of human events have so few been blamed by so much for so many.

There are precedents, for example, when Adolf Hitler claimed that a Jewish "stab in the back" lost World War I for Germany. The notion that the problems of three hundred million Arabs revolve around the governance of a few million Palestinians has the same order of credibility.
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations always presumed that Israel's peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan would remain intact - that Egypt would interdict terrorists infiltrating Israel from the Sinai, stop weapons from reaching Hamas in Gaza, and otherwise fill its obligations. But Egypt is dissolving. The Egyptian army crossed a red line on October 9, according to Egyptian blogger Issander al-Armani. [1] Soldiers attacked Coptic demonstrators who were demanding protection from the army, The military not only shut down news coverage of the massacre, but used state television to call on Egyptian Muslims to "defend the army from the Copts".

On September 19, the Egyptian army showed that it could not protect Israel's embassy in Cairo; on October 9, it showed itself ready to murder members of the country's Christian minority. Egypt is dissolving because it can't feed itself, and it can't feed itself because it is going bankrupt. Former International Atomic Energy chief Mohamed ElBaradei, now a candidate for Egypt's presidency, warned last week that Egypt would run out of money within months, according to the English-language edition of Almasry Alroum:

Egypt might face bankruptcy within six months, Egyptian reform advocate and presidential hopeful Mohamed ElBaradei warned on Monday. During a meeting with labor leaders at the Center for Trade Unions and Workers Services (CTUWS) in Helwan, south of Cairo, ElBaradei attacked the "failing" policies of Egypt's ruling military council.He criticized the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) for what he called incompetence and lack of experience, saying that experienced government officials don't have enough power. Egypt is currently relying on its cash reserve with no gross domestic product, he said [2].

ElBaradei, the undeserved winner of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize (he helped Iran cover its tracks en route to enriching uranium to near weapons grade), nonetheless is the closest thing to a responsible figure in Egyptian politics. His warning that Egypt is burning its cash reserves is accurate. On October 5, the Financial Times reported that Egypt's foreign exchange reserves had fallen from $35 billion in January to only $19.4 billion, [3] enough to cover less than five months' worth of imports.

The central bank had reported $25 billion of reserves in August, [4] so the monthly decline appears to be around $6 billion; it is hard to tell precisely because the Egyptian central bank publishes contradictory data about its reserve position. The earlier $25 billion figure might have counted loans expected from the Gulf states, but as the FT explains, "Only $500m of some $7bn of promised aid from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have arrived so far."

Almost 60% of Egyptians live in rural areas, yet the country imports half its caloric consumption and spends $5.5 billion a year in food subsidies. When it runs out of money, millions will starve. Many already are hungry. The state-controlled newspaper al-Dostour warned on October 9 that an "insane" increase in the price of food - up 80% so far this year - has left citizens "screaming". [5]

The newspaper added that the "current state of lawlessness has left merchants and businesses with no supervision", leading to hoarding, price-gouging and shortages. This was evident at the outset of the uprisings, [6] and a breakdown of the country's food distribution system was evident by May, as I wrote at the time. [7]

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces appears baffled. Its leader, Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi, does not appear in public. Previously he ran Egypt's military industries. Prime Minister Essam Sharaf was briefly transportation minister, having taught highway engineering for most of his career.

He has spoken publicly about only one topic of political importance, namely the peace treaty with Israel, which he proposes to change, as he told Turkish television on October 8. [8] Egypt's leaders face a crisis brewing for two generations in which the Egyptian government kept half of its population illiterate and mired in rural poverty as an instrument of social control. As ElBaradei warns, they have no idea what they are doing.

Syria, meanwhile, is in civil war, which may turn into a proxy war between the Sunni powers and Iran. And Iraq's leader Nuri al-Maliki, the leader of the supposed Iraqi democracy we spent a trillion dollars and 4,000 lives to put in place, is backing the Bashar al-Assad regime in alliance with Iran. [9]

Turkey, the self-styled rising power in the region, is about to get its come-uppance in the form of a nasty economic downturn. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's belligerence has risen in inverse proportion to the market price of the Turkish lira:

...In short, there is not a patch of ground in Israel's proximity that is not roiling and boiling with political and economic turmoil. Echoing in the ears of Israel's leaders are the words of Isaiah (57:20-21), which Jews around the world read on October 8 on the Day of Atonement: "The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."

Spengler's corollary states: Neither is there peace to the stupid. We have Nicholas Kristof writing in the October 6 New York Times: "Now it is Israel that is endangered most by its leaders and maximalist stance. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is isolating his country, and, to be blunt, his hard line on settlements seems like a national suicide policy. Nothing is more corrosive than Israel’s growth of settlements because they erode hope of a peace agreement in the future."

Kristof is talking about the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo, which was undeveloped land before 1967 and which every conceivable peace agreement would assign to Israel.

Nothing will appease the liberals, because if liberal social engineering can't fix the problems of the Middle East, the world will have no need of liberals. The New York Times will demand [14] that Israel concede and apologize, as surely as a gumball will roll out of the machine when I crank in a quarter. Existential need trumps rationality, most of all among the self-styled priesthood of rationality.

For extra credit, class: If 15 million Egyptians starve to death, and all the Copts are murdered, and Syria plunges into a genocidal civil war, and Turkey kills another 40,000 Kurds, and the Iraqi Shi'ites and Iraqi Sunnis all fight to the death, whose fault will it be?

I bet you guessed right this time. Israel's, for building apartments in Gilo.

Spengler is channeled by David P Goldman. Comment on this article in Spengler's Expat Bar forum.

And an attempted massacre at Cave of Patriarchs... By an Arab

Look at my previous post to learn about the stabbing of a young man in Jeruaslem.

And now, the "peaceful resistance fighters who only want peace and nothing but peace" bring you this latest story.

JPost:

Police denied a renewal of terror attacks as being part of a greater struggle amid another attempted stabbing attack near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron on Sunday, the third stabbing incident in five days.

In the most recent incident, a Palestinian armed with a 14- centimeter-long knife was arrested by Border Police, who took the suspect into custody for questioning, said he had intended to launch a knife attack on Israelis on the site.

Police continued their investigation into the stabbing of 17- year-old Jewish resident of the Jerusalem neighborhood Ramot on Saturday. Based on eyewitness accounts, after the suspect stabbed Yehuda Ne’emad, who was sitting on the street with a friend, the suspect fled into the wadi toward the neighboring Arab village of Beit Iksa.

Ne’emad was in moderate condition on Sunday, after being evacuated to the hospital from the site of the attack in serious condition. His sister, Yael Nikar, told Army Radio it was “miraculous” Ne’emad had not been stabbed to death.

Last Wednesday, a Palestinian woman was arrested at the Gush Etzion Junction after charging a group of soldiers and civilians waiting at a bus stop and brandishing a knife while yelling “Death to Jews!” There were no injuries.

A defense source said the security establishment was not viewing the recent stabbing attempts and incident as a coordinated wave of attacks.

“They’re not planned or directly related,” the source said Sunday.

Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police stepped up Border Police patrols throughout Jerusalem following the stabbing attack Saturday, adding that with the first day of school after the holidays police are “taking no chances whatsoever.”

A Jerusalem Youth is Stabbed

One of my friends is this victim's cousin.

In [ ___ ] is my own comment in the article.

Ha'aretz:

Police suspect that the stabbing of a 17-year-old in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem yesterday afternoon was done by a Palestinian, and a manhunt is underway for the attacker. The youth was taken to Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem, in serious condition.

The youth, Yehuda Ne'emad, lives in one of the streets near the area where the stabbing took place. At about 3:30 P.M., he and a friend from the neighborhood were sitting on a stone fence that divides Ramot from the West Bank village of Beit Iksa. The friend, A., said that suddenly a person came from behind them and began stabbing Ne'emad. A. said the attacker tried to stab him too but he managed to evade him and ran toward the neighborhood.

"He [Ne'emad] told me: keep running. And he yelled out that he was in pain," A. said. "The attacker chased me but then he saw people coming ahead of him, which made him turn around and head for Jerusalem Forest, into the nearby wadi."

... The youth was operated on and doctors managed to stabilize his condition. His injuries are not life-threatening.
Ya'akov, the victim's father, said: "My younger son came and told me that Yehuda had been stabbed. These are good kids and this is a quiet neighborhood. You don't expect this to happen in this neighborhood. It caused a great scare but we are dealing with it and praying for his recovery."

The right-wing [normal, sane] parties claimed yesterday that the stabbing in Jerusalem, as well as the arson in the Galilee and the attempted terrorist attack on Gush Etzion last week, are the result of the Israeli "capitulation" to Hamas, and last week's release of hundreds of security prisoners as part of the deal for freeing Gilad Shalit [indeed, it has definitely motivated them, but one should keep in mind, these terrorist attacks have happened before and will always happen - it is merely the release of 1000 terrorists that is motivating it now].

MK Danny Danon (Likud ) said: "This despicable attack is an example of the Palestinians' culture of terrorism. We must find the terrorist and destroy his home. Only a firm response will succeed in stopping these events in the future.

"Following the generosity [shown] in the Shalit deal, the time has come to show determination in containing terrorism, and I turn to the prime minister in order to take action in razing the homes of terrorists," he added.

MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union ) echoed Danon's comments. "We are witnessing a new wave of terrorism, which stems from the encouragement of such actions. This resulted from the release of hundreds of murderous terrorists," he said.

Eldad added that he wanted to see Israel "quickly restoring the deterrent against Hamas by killing its leaders in Gaza, and first [Ahmed] Ja'abari - who had Gilad Shalit [kidnapped]. Only action now - and not in response to an attack with many victims - will be able to fend off the anticipated wave of terrorism and save lives."

We're rounding them up already!

After we just released 400+ terrorists, we've begun to round up some already!

JPost:

An IDF force from the Kfir Brigade prevented a stabbing attack in the bloc of West Bank settlements called Gush Etzion by a Palestinian woman in her twenties Wednesday.

The Palestinian woman arrived at the the Gush Etzion Junction Wednesday afternoon and crossed the road, approaching soldiers and Israeli civilians standing at a bus stop. She then brandished a knife and ran towards the soldiers and civilians, screaming "Allahu Akhbar" and "Death to Jews," Channel 10 reported.

One of the soldiers at the junction who identified the situation as a possible attack pointed his weapon at the woman and shouted in Arabic for her to stop. The woman dropped the knife and dropped to the ground.

Soldiers detained the woman and she was subsequently arrested. No injuries were reported in the incident. According to the report, the woman told security forces who arrived on the scene that she had come to the junction with the intention of stabbing soldiers. She had waited until the release of Palestinian prisoners in the Gilad Schalit deal before attempting to carry out the attack.

There are a few possibilities about why this happened:

1. She was informed by one of her released terrorist relatives about the great treatment in Israeli jail (aka 4 star hotels), and how you can go there just for killing some Jews.  This immediately grabbed her attention.
2. She wanted to kill Jews anyways, and attempted to do so, but failed.
3. All of the above.

Now's a great time to start implementing the death penalty on terrorists.

Palestinian Children Following the Path of Would-be Suicide Bomber

JPost:

GAZA - A would-be Palestinian suicide bomber freed by Israel in the prisoner swap for soldier Gilad Schalit told cheering schoolchildren in the Gaza Strip the day after her release on Wednesday she hoped they would follow her example.

"I hope you will walk the same path we took and God willing, we will see some of you as martyrs," Wafa al-Biss told dozens of children who came to her home in the northern Gaza Strip.

Biss was traveling to Beersheba's Soroka hospital for medical treatment in 2005 when Israeli soldiers at the Erez border crossing noticed she was walking strangely. They found 10 kilograms (22 lbs) of explosives had been sewn into her underwear.A member of al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's party, Biss was sentenced to a 12-year term for planning to blow herself up.

After she spoke, the children cheered and waved Palestinian flags and chanted: "We will give souls and blood to redeem the prisoners. We will give souls and blood for you, Palestine."

Biss said she had planned to blow herself up at the checkpoint but her detonator malfunctioned.

I'm still waiting for condemnation that will never come from the Western world, from the U.N., and from Czar Morally Bankrupt UN Human Rights High Commissioner Navi Pillay.  You see, the Palestinains can get away with whatever they want - including brainwashing children to become suicide bombers (you still realistically expect peace? Look at how the future generation is brought up) - and the world won't even mention it.

It's disgusting.  If the world would wake up and see who the Palestinians are, they'd understand the conflict so much better, and maybe would actually be able to come up with something instead of failed negotiations for decades.

What do do About Palestinian Aid?

National Interest:

But this doesn’t mean the Palestinians should get a free pass. Specifically, Abbas’s recent diplomatic adventurism should not go unpunished. He manufactured the recent crisis at the UN. He also has presided over a corrupt political and economic system.

Until now, fear of an ascendant Hamas has prevented Washington from challenging Abbas. Because the Obama White House cannot identify a legitimate and moderate successor to Abbas, and because Hamas appears to be the only alternative, the PLO journeyman has been free to consolidate power—and, according to some, abuse it.

One egregious example is the Palestine Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund that Abbas controls through a board he handpicked and whose by-laws he rewrote. Since 2006, the PIF has awarded contracts exclusively to Abbas’s cronies, including his sons, Yasser and Tareq.

The Abbas family is now said to be worth millions, with lavish property holdings and investments throughout the Middle East.

Moreover, the Abbas machine quietly enriches Hamas as it enriches itself. According to a former Palestinian Authority adviser, Yasser Abbas staffed the Karni Crossing cargo terminal in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip with the stated purpose of ensuring that goods and aid reached Gaza without reaching Hamas. But the customs and border unit at the crossing is not on the Palestinian Authority payroll, and it abuses its monopoly on Gaza’s only cargo terminal to pocket fees and kick them back to Hamas.

The PA also funds an electric power plant in Gaza but allows Hamas to collect the bills. In other words, Hamas raises funds for its operations by billing Gazans for electricity generated by the PA.

What’s needed here is not a wholesale cut in aid, which would punish the Palestinians who have been powerless under Abbas, but a concerted effort to root out PA corruption. This would include U.S. Government Accountability Office audits of Abbas’s presidential budget, international oversight of the PIF, and a much closer look at the troubling financial relationship between the Abbas machine and Hamas in Gaza.

Such an effort would not necessarily mean the end of Abbas’s rule—though his term ended in 2009—but it would entail curtailing his personal power while excising the cancerous parts of Palestinian aid. It would also put Washington back in the driver’s seat during an era of waning American power, keeping Europeans and other regional actors at bay.

Most importantly, it would give the White House and Congress what they both seek: new leverage over the wayward Palestinian leadership.

A Shortlived Gain for Hamas

 JPost:

... But observers of the Palestinian scene say Hamas’s victory will likely prove ephemeral as the Palestinian public quickly forgets the achievement and the age-old debate remains unresolved among Palestinians – whether to achieve their state through negotiations, as Abbas advocates, or through armed struggle, as Hamas wants.

“Twenty days ago, Abbas gave a speech at the UN General Assembly and he was very popular. Nowadays, now one talks about that speech. No one talks about Palestine at the UN,” Mkhaimar Abusada, professor of politics at Gaza’s Al-Azhar University, told The Media Line. “The same thing will happen to Hamas.

The Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority ruling in the West Bank has been leading a drive to have the United Nations recognize a Palestinian state, a move its leaders say will enhance their standing and pressure Israel into peace talks. Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip four years ago, rejects Israel’s existence and insists Palestinians can defeat it militarily.

While the prisoner swap doesn’t quite fit the description of armed struggle – Hamas negotiated the terms through Egyptian and German intermediaries – analysts and PA officials say that it does demonstrate the value of persistence and the refusal to compromise. They say it undermines in eyes of the Palestinian public the advantages of a negotiated solution.

Abusada said Hamas may enjoy a second wave of public adulation when a second group of 550 prisoners is released in two months, but the impact of that will also fade away, short of a more comprehensive answer to solving the Palestinians’ problems.

Although Hamas leaders have said the prisoner swap includes promises by Israel to ease the blockade it imposed on Gaza when Hamas took over in 2007, the movement can only suggest to Palestinians patience as a timetable to military victory. Hamas has stockpiled missiles and other weaponry in anticipation of another conflict with Israel, but its last fight with the Jewish state in the 2008-2009 Cast Lead Operation ended badly for it.

More recently, Hamas has seen its popularity slip amid a failure negotiate a national unity government with Fatah this year or to improve living conditions in Gaza. Its early hopes that the Arab Spring would improve its standing have been dashed. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who was cool to the Islamic movement, was ousted from power, but Bashar Assad, a key ally, is beset by popular rebellion at home.

...

What Hamas may not be able to do, however, is rebuild its organization with the released prisoners heading back to the Fatah-ruled West Bank, where Israeli and PA security forces have decimated the movement, analysts said. Their identities are already known and their movements are likely to be restricted.

Yoram Cohen, the head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency and a supporter of the swap, said the number of prisoners being released was too small to change the balance of power between Israel and Hamas or between Hamas and the Fatah.

“The risk we are taking is on a level and a security challenge we will be able to deal with. There are 20,000 Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam fighters in Gaza, and another 200 terrorists won't make the world crash down upon us," Cohen told reporters last week, referring to the military wing of Hamas.

Hamas has also diminished the PR impact of the swap by failing to free some of the most high-profile Palestinians held by Israel and focusing on its own members at the expense of Palestinians affiliated with Fatah and other movements.

"This is not a deal," Fatah's Kadura Fares, who heads a Palestinian prisoner activist group and is a close associate of jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti. Fares told the Israeli daily Ha’aretz, "This agreement does not come close to respecting the principles and criteria which Hamas itself promised."

Among the celebrity prisoners still behind bars in Israel are Ahmad Sa'adat of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, jailed for his role in assassinating Minister of Tourism Rehavam Ze’evi in 2001; and Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, who is serving multiple life sentences and is regarded as many as a possible successor to Abbas as Fatah chief.

Islamists also have their complaints about the prisoner list, said Zelkovitz. Abbas Al-Sayed, who helped plan to 2002 bombing of the Park Hotel in Netanya, was not released; nor were Abdullah Barghouti, a Hamas official in Gaza responsible for dozens of murders; or Ibrahim Hamed, the head of the movement’s military wing in the West Bank.

You hear that? It's not a good deal because only 1027 terrorists and murderers are being released... Pathetic...

Gilad Schalit, Hamas Captivity vs Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons

A new video I created.  Pass it on and subscribe to the Israel Awareness YouTube channel.

Why are Palestinians celebrating murder?

Jonothan S. Tobin, Commentary Magazine:

... The impending release of so many murderers is nothing to celebrate. That is, unless you are a Palestinian.

Mass rallies and celebrations are being planned in Ramallah to celebrate the freedom of those who were convicted of mass murders. Who will they be cheering? As the New York Times reports:

Those being freed include the founders of Hamas’s armed wing and militants who kidnapped and killed Israeli soldiers and civilians. A mastermind of the 2001 bombing of a Jerusalem pizzeria who killed 15 will walk out of prison, as will a woman who used the Internet to lure a lovesick Israeli teenager to a Palestinian city and had him murdered.

Most of the prisoners were serving life sentences, some for being involved in attacks like the 2001 bombing of a Tel Aviv nightclub that killed 21 people and a suicide bombing a year later of a Netanya hotel in which 29 died.

Apologists for the Palestinians will argue those in Israeli jails were resisting the “occupation” of the country, though few will own up to the fact that as far as the prisoners are concerned, the territory of pre-June 1967 Israel is just as “occupied” as the West Bank. But even if you think the Palestinian cause is just, how can anyone justify the slaughter of innocents such as at the Sbarro bombing in Jerusalem? Even if you think Israel should withdraw back to the 1967 lines, how can any civilized person condone the Palestinian decision to treat those who committed such atrocities as heroes?

... What ought to be discussed is the upside-down ethos of Palestinian political culture in which the spilling of Jewish blood grants the killer not only absolution but also heroic status.

The world turned away in horror a decade ago when a photograph captured the moment when one of the ringleaders of a Palestinian lynch mob showed his bloodstained hands to a cheering crowd after he had helped murder an Israeli. Yet today, the Palestinian political elite, including many whom our government deems “moderates,” will not only facilitate the release of this miscreant but treat him like a conquering hero.

The prisoner swap has unfortunately reminded us of the depths of degradation to which the Palestinian political culture sank during the second intifada, as mass slaughter became not merely a tool of war but the touchstone of a people’s identity. We would have hoped the passage of years and the realization of the cost in Palestinian suffering that this terror war incurred would have sobered them up. It would be one thing if these murderers were taken back in an atmosphere that showed some recognition their crimes were nothing to emulate. But instead, the release is proving to be yet another indication nothing has changed.

Those, like the Obama administration, who repeat tired clichés about the need for Israel to take risks for peace, never seem to own up to the costs of those risks. The second intifada and the 1,000 Jewish lives lost to terrorists were the price of earlier risks previous Israeli governments took in the hope of securing peace. The celebration that will convulse Palestinian society tomorrow is sad proof that similar risks taken today will also be paid for in blood.

Rather than ask why Israel is willing to trade so many terrorists for one soldier, the world should be asking why the Palestinians are cheering the release of sociopaths.

Agreed 100%. "Resistance fighters" is the common excuse.  Mind you, Martin Luther King Jr and Gandhi took to nonviolent protests (and they had a real, legitimate case - they didn't attack a country and then complain when they lost).  But ok, the Palestinians aren't doing that.  Still, they're "resistance fighters," no?

No.  Not at all.  If you really think that blowing up children eating pizza or young adults sipping coffee - innocent civilians - is "resistance fighters," then you're an insane, lunatic, morally bankrupt person. 

Or you're the U.N.

Last time I checked, Hamas doesn't give warnings when they launch rockets intentionally at schoolbuses and hospitals.  Last time I checked, Israel distributed 2 million leaflets, 100,000 phone calls, sound bombs, text messages, etc, before operations in the Gaza War, in order to minimize civilian casualties, and called off certain airstrikes on Hamas officials because of the fear that civilians would die.

Great video by a British colonel saying that the IDF did more to safeguard civilians than any army in the entire world can be found here.

"Resistance fighters" don't do that, and they don't strap explosives on 3 year olds and have them parade around town with joy.

As I quoted Alan Dershowitz in a previous post:

Contrast the pleas of the Shalit family with the plea of Zahra Maladan. Maladan is an educated woman who edits a women's magazine in Lebanon. She is also a mother, who undoubtedly loves her son. She has ambitions for him, but they are different from those of most mothers in the West. She wants her son to become a suicide bomber. At the funeral for the assassinated Hezbollah terrorist Imad Mugniyah -- the mass murderer responsible for killing 241 marines in 1983 and more than 100 women, children, and men in Buenos Aires in 1992 and 1994 -- Ms. Maladan was quoted in the New York Times offering the following admonition to her son: "If you're not going to follow the steps of the Islamic resistance martyrs, then I don't want you."

Nor is Ms. Maladan alone in urging her children to become suicide murderers. Umm Nidal, who ran for the Palestinian Legislative Council, "prepared all of her sons" for martyrdom. She has ten sons, one of whom already engaged in a suicide operation, which she considered "a blessing, not a tragedy." She is now preparing to "sacrifice them all."

"Resistance fighters" don't honor the deaths of innocent civilians eating pizza at Sbarro's.

Quite simply, they want it all

Barry Rubin, JPost:

No matter what the Palestinian Authority is offered – money, concessions and even steps toward statehood– the response is always “no.” Media, academic “experts” and governments seem to find this amazing phenomenon very hard to understand.The answer is simple, but a lot of the people paid to deal with this stuff don’t get it. So let me elucidate: The Palestinian Authority (PA) wants everything.

The PA wants an independent state on all the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem with no restrictions, no recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, no serious security guarantees, no limits on militarization, no agreement that this means an end to the conflict, no insistence that Palestinian refugees be resettled in the state of Palestine, and nothing to prevent them from pursuing a second stage of wiping Israel off the map entirely.
Now, one could say it’s common for people to want everything and to give nothing in exchange but that certain factors – missing in this case – push them toward compromise.

These factors include:

• Knowing they can’t get a better deal. The Palestinians know the West will always offer more if they are intransigent.

• The impasse favors your adversary because your intransigence will gain it international support. In this case, the more stubborn the Palestinians are, the more Israel is blamed.

• Economic pressure. Since the PA is almost completely supported by foreign aid that is not threatened by its hard line, this pressure does not exist.

• Public opinion pressure to change the situation. In this case, Palestinian public opinion is relatively radicalized and ideological and does not demand a compromise settlement.

• Concern that your political rivals will “outmoderate” you and win by offering to make a deal. In this case, the opposite is true: rivals “out-radicalize” one another and threaten to destroy you politically (and perhaps even physically) if you make a deal.

• Belief that time is not on your side. Due to religious and nationalist ideology, along with misperception of Israel, the PA (and even more so Hamas) believes that time is on its side.

That’s not a complete list. But the point is that the world in general – the United States and Europe, the UN, Arabic-speaking countries and Muslim-majority states – have created a “perfect” system.

Here’s a brief description:

• The PA has no incentive to make compromises for peace, so it won’t.
• The world insists that “peace” is an urgent top priority.

• The only variable is Israel, which must be made to give way. But Israel won’t because of past experience and the fact that the risks are now too high.

Deadlock.

So nothing will change. There will be no peace process, no Palestinian state. No “progress” will be made.

...

This is not left-wing or right-wing but merely an explanation as to why all the schemes and theories of those who do not see these facts never actually take wing. It may not be politically correct, but it is most definitely factually correct.

Now, you might ask, do I just criticize or do I have constructive policy advice?

I do. Here it is: When the Palestinian Authority rejects the Quartet proposal for negotiations, the United States, European Union and anyone else who wants to go along tells them, “We’ve tried to help you and you don’t want to listen, so since we have lots of other things to do, we’ll go do them. Good luck, and if you ever change your mind and get serious about making peace you have our phone number.”

The previous paragraph would send shock waves throughout policy circles, right? But why? If you can’t solve a problem and – let’s be clear here – the problem doesn’t need to be solved immediately, then you work on other problems. There are no shortage of those! I hope you have enjoyed this article and found it useful. We are left, however, with the following problem: Those in positions of political, media and intellectual power don’t get it.
The writer is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center. He is a featured columnist at Pajamas Media and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) journal.

Hypocrisy: Kurds, Syrians, and Palestinians

Jonothan S. Tobin:

The assassination of a Kurdish opposition leader in Syria may lead to more violence as protests against the Assad regime escalate. But it should also serve as a reminder of the hypocrisy of much of the world’s attitudes about the Middle East.

While most of the world has been obsessing about the alleged wrongs of the Palestinians, few seem to think it’s worth caring about the fact Kurds remain the object of violent suppression in both Syria and Turkey. Yet as we saw this past week, when Russia and China vetoed United Nations resolutions condemning the crackdown against dissent in Syria, few among the globe’s chattering classes seem willing to condemn any nation in the world other than Israel. Nor do many seem concerned with the plight of any national or ethnic group demanding sovereignty or rights other than those seeking to do so at the expense of the globe’s only Jewish state.

The focus of global attention in recent weeks has been the attempt of the Palestinians to get the United Nations to give them statehood without first having to make peace with Israel. This has resulted in an orgy of rhetoric about the right to self-determination of all peoples. But the plight of the Kurds, who have arguably suffered far more than the Palestinians or any other stateless people, doesn’t move the international community. Indeed, the only reason this latest outrage committed against the Kurds in Syria is getting any attention at all has been because it comes in the context of efforts by the Assad clan and its Alawite allies to hang on to power in Damascus.

...

Unlike Turkey and Syria, Israel has repeatedly stated its desire to negotiate a two-state solution to the conflict with the Palestinians. And unlike the situation of Kurds in most of the Middle East, Arab citizens of Israel also have full civil and legal rights. It should also be stated that, whatever crimes have been committed in the name of Kurdish independence, the goal of Kurdish groups is not the eradication of other nations. The same cannot be said of the Palestinians. But no one should hold their breath waiting for the UN or its misnamed Human Rights Council to give the Kurds’ far more grievous wrongs the same hearing they give the Palestinians.

Tobin's just saying it as it is.

Read the rest here.

Double standards in vandalism: Mosques vs Synagogues

Jonothan S. Tobin:

The arson attack against a mosque in the village of Tuba Zanghariya in Northern Israel has been widely condemned throughout the world. Israel’s government and the Jewish state’s president also condemned the despicable incident, which has garnered wide attention in the international press, and both of its chief rabbis have gone to the mosque to express their sorrow.

But a Jaffa synagogue that was struck by a Molotov cocktail on Saturday after Arab protests against the Netanyahu government cannot expect the same solicitude. Nor should we anticipate a similar outpouring from Palestinian Authority figures after swastikas were painted on the Jewish shrine of the Tomb of Joseph in Nablus last week.

The willingness of a tiny minority of Israelis to engage in violence against Arabs is reprehensible. The so-called “price tag” assaults on Arab targets in the West Bank are an outrage and have rightly engendered a full-scale effort from Israeli police and military officials to find and prosecute the perpetrators. But the fact Arab violence against Jewish targets is not considered worthy of much indignation is of great concern.

Read the rest here.

The shock and outrage that the Israeli community has sent when dealing with these "price tags" and vandalism against mosques shows that Israel has no tolerance for thugs who do that, and it is shocking that this has happened.  Those who did it will be put to justice.  But by contrast, the periodic vandalism from Arabs warrants no international condemnation, no apology from the Palestinian Authority to Palestinians, and often not even to Israelis unless they're urged to (Abbas and other Palestinians even had the nerve to say that Palestinains couldn't have done the Fogel family murder, it's not representative of the Palestinians, and then a few weeks later they found out it was Palestinians indeed who did it), and instead, you get chants of "We'll Fogel you."

Why doesn't the world say anything about this?  If you're going report about one, then report on the other.  And make sure it's clear that Israel has no tolerance for this vandalism, as opposed to the Palestinians praising violence and martyrdom and the PA expressing no apology over vandalism or attacks.

65.6% of Ma'an readers are anti-peace talks

Ma'an News Agency (a Palestinian media outlet) has a poll on the right side of their website that says:

Peace talks with Israel are:

Essential to achieving statehood

Counterproductive, power imbalance too great

Necessary, but only with unbiased mediators

The answers goes as follows:

Essential to achieving statehood -89 (23.2%)

Counterproductive, power imbalance too great  - 252 (65.6%)

Necessary, but only with unbiased mediators - 43 (11.2%)

I can't really tell the difference between the first and third option, so I'll count them together as a total of 34.4%.

That still leaves 65.% of Ma'an readers believing that peace talks are counterproductive.  Ah, because you know, peace talks between the two parties that will have to live together in any final agreement are somehow counterproductive.  So what's productive? I can only assume bypassing these peace talks, violating the Oslo Accords, and following their plan of unilateral statehood bid at the U.N.

The U.N. can't make a state.  The U.N., over the past few decades, has lost every shred of legitimacy, and most people will tell you that.  But when it comes to Israel... OH!!! All of a sudden you have people shouting at you "Resolution BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH."  The U.N. won't be the ones who will be forced to make peace with the Palestinians.  It's the Palestinians and Israelis who will have to live side by side.  Netanyahu has been speaking on Arabic media to ensure Arabs that the Israelis are prepared to make peace.  But Abbas, and the Palestinians, don't care for talking with their Israeli neighbors, but would prefer to bypass this.

Because direct peace talks would have to lead to a final agreement.  Something no Palestinian leader has been prepared to do.  Oslo? Sure, it's an interim agreement.  That's perfectly fine.  But a final agreement to end the conflict which still leaves Israel standing? No way.

I have attached a picture of the poll:

Let the world remember this poll when they complain that there is a lack of peace.  Let them know who is causing it.  Let them know who opposes peace.

There's nonsense, and then there's Nakba nonsense

It seems like the only good things in the news right now are lies, hypocrisy, double standards, and combatting lies, hypocrisy, and double standards.

After all, where is that diplomatic tsunami everyone predicted would come?

Noveeeeeeeeeeeeeeember?

Anyway, on May 15th, the Palestinians (and many Arab countries) hold what is known as Nakba day.  Since this is a Palestinian annual event, it usually results in clashes with IDF troops, stone throwing, arrests, and then complaints that they're being put in a 4 start hotel prison instead of a 5 star hotel prison.  Because Gilad Shalit is in a 5 start hotel prison, right?

As Palestinian history goes, they allegedly claim that Israel displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in 1948, and therefore hold this annual event.  While indeed, 700,000 Palestinians were "displaced," they claim that ISRAEL displaced them.  They refuse to put the blame on themselves - both on the fact that they refused multiple treaties and partitions and negotiations, but more so on the fact that a vast majority of this 700,000 fled voluntarily.  The link I provide later down explains all this (note: this isn't anything new or recent, or some crazy conspiracy theory designed to combat the Nakba day.  These are known facts for decades, and you can find all kinds of books and articles on it, but this link that I show later on is a very nice, comprehensive, historical guide).

Of course, there are no annual events over the millions of Jews living in Arab countries who faced discrimination, persecution, had their businesses shut down, had property seized by the government, were killed, and millions were expelled or fled.

Because after all, they're only Jews.

A movement called Im Tirzu (based on Theodore Herzl's quote, "Im tirzu ein zo agadah" or "If you will it, it is no dream") have released a booklet that explains Nakba day, its outrageous lies, and the historical context and what happened.

Check it out here.  It's a very comprehensive, historical guide, that offers a lot of information.

Also, I stumbled across this short article from frontpagemagazine that was written a few years ago that also talks about Nakba, its origin, and how it does the exact opposite of proving Palestinian nationality.

The following quote comes from the great-grandfather of the current Syrian dictator, Bashar Assad:

“Those good Jews brought civilization and peace to the Arab Muslims, and they dispersed gold and prosperity over Palestine without damage to anyone or taking anything by force. Despite this, the Muslims declared holy war against them and did not hesitate to massacre their children and women…. Thus a black fate awaits the Jews and other minorities in case the Mandates are cancelled and Muslim Syria is united with Muslim Palestine.”

Americans for a Safe Israel also talk about the Nakba in this article, what happened, quotes from the time period, and how the Palestinians could've avoided what they claim as "Nakba."

This JPost blog article also talks about Nakba nonsense.

Oh, and let's not forget about the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians, which is related to Nakba Day.  The CIA World Factbook reports that the numbers of death in Gaza per 1000 Gazans is one of the lowest in the world - lower than Israel even.

In November 2002, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) produced an article on Arab population growth and density in Israel. The study was conducted in 2001, and compares the Arab population in Israel between 1948 and 2001.

According to the study, 156,000 Arabs lived in Israel in 1948. They comprised approximately 19% of the population. In 2001, 1.2 million Arabic people populated the area. Because of increased Jewish immigration to Israel, the proportion of Arab residents remained at 19% in 2001. On average, the proportion of Arabs increases 3.4% each year.

In 2001, 82% of the population was Muslim, 9% were Christians, and 9% were Druze. According to the CBS, the proportion of Muslims will increase to 85% by 2020.

Some ethnic cleansing!  Where the population rises!

But of course, if you want ethnic cleansing, then just look at Nazi Germany or any Arab country in the modern day.  Do you see any Jews in Jordan? Or Syria? Or Egypt? If so, how many? 10 in each, if you're lucky?  An estimated 900,000 lived in these countries before 1948.  And most of them didn't go to Israel because they wanted to move to their homeland - most of them were persecuted and expelled or fled due to persecution.

That's ethnic cleansing.

That's Nakba.

How many times do Palestinians need to shout?

How many times do the Palestinians have to explicitly state their goal before the world wakes up?

Evelyn Gordon of Commentary Magazine:

If anyone still thinks the Palestinians seek a state that will live alongside Israel in peace, they should examine the map broadcast by the Palestinian Authority’s

official TV station the day after PA President Mahmoud Abbas formally applied for statehood at the UN. The station, as Palestinian Media Watch notes, is directly controlled by Abbas’ office. And here is its idea of statehood: a map showing all of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza wrapped in a Palestinian flag, with a giant key stabbed through it.

The dual message of the flag and the key – both symbols of ownership – couldn’t be clearer: It’s all ours, and we intend to take it back. But lest anyone have doubts, there are also Arabic words alongside to explain: According to PMW’s translation, they read “expelled,” “resolve” and “right to return.”

That map really says it all. But if anyone needs more convincing, they should visit the website of the PLO’s official UN mission. Since the statehood application was filed by the PLO, not the PA, what the PLO thinks matters. And lo and behold, it thinks its 1968 charter remains valid: Under the headline “Decisions and Actions Related to the Palestine National Charter” – where you’d expect to find the vaunted decision of the late 1990s to revoke the clauses that negate Israel’s existence – you instead find the unreconstructed 1968 version.

Read the rest here.

PMW is a great organization filled with tons of videos from Palestinian T.V. (including those that have to be approved by the PA and Abbas) that demonstrate the Palestinians' inner feelings and goals.  It really isn't so "inner" when they're explicitly stating it, but alas, the world refuses to listen to them.  Perhaps if the world would wake up - starting with Western journalists and media outlets - we'd actually be able to advance somewhere and realize what's the obstacle to peace instead of launching peace agreements that the Palestinians will always refuse.

Palestinians' Shoe-Throwing Extortion

Khaled Abu Toameh:

American diplomats who arrived in Ramallah this week were greeted by angry Palestinian protesters who shouted anti-US slogans and hurled shoes -- the Palestinian Authority claims it was only one pair of shoes -- at their armored vehicles.

The message that the Palestinian Authority is hoping to send through this message to the Americans and others: If you do not endorse our position and if you cut off financial aid, we will turn against you. In one word, it is called extortion.

The problem is not so much with the diplomats as with their governments that allow themselves to be exposed to this extortion time and again. Apparently they like being blackmailed. Instead of demanding changes in behavior, then paying only after the changes have been successfully completed, the governments always seem to pay up front with no demands, and then look surprised when there are no changes and each time the ransom demand goes up.

The US diplomats came to Ramallah to hold a reception in honor of Palestinian partner organizations and US Government exchange program alumni. The American diplomats who were targeted this week were naive enough to think that Palestinians in Ramallah would welcome them with roses and a red carpet.

If anything, this incident shows that US government officials have not been reading the writing on the wall -- namely that the US is viewed by many Palestinians as an enemy, mainly because of its support for Israel. In this specific case, the writing was so big that most Palestinian journalists knew in advance about the planned anti-US protest outside the restaurant.

Scores of Palestinian protesters who gathered outside the Snowbar Restaurant where the reception was being held hurled abuse also at Palestinian journalists who had been invited to the event, urging them to boycott it in protest against the "hostile" policy of the US Administration, and to let the diplomats know that unless their demands were met, there would be more shoe-throwing.

Maybe it's genetics (I mean, what else could it be?) that causese them to think they can tell America how much money to send them, and when America doesn't send all of that because they're planning on embarrasing America at the U.N., they decide to act hostile towards America, thinking that will get America to give in to their demands and once again join hands and sing Kumbaya around a campfire.

"Booo!!!! Death to America! Send us an extra $200 million please!"

Double Standards against Israel - Seven Manifestations

Yup... Continuing from yesterday's posts about lies, hypocrisy, double standards, and anti-Semitism.

Interesting article in JPost:

The use of double standards against Israel has permeated large parts of the world’s mainstream. One finds this phenomenon at the United Nations and many of its affiliates, among governments including Western ones, in major media, academic institutions, NGOs, liberal churches and so on.


The definition of a double standard is rather simple. The Cambridge dictionary online puts it succinctly: “A rule or standard of good behavior which unfairly some people are expected to follow or achieve, but others are not.” That the use of double standards against Jews was at the heart of anti-Semitism throughout the centuries has often been recognized.


Natan Sharansky, when defining how to investigate anti-Semitism concerning Israel, invented the “3D test” - Demonization, Double Standards, Delegitimization. The definition of the FRA, an EU affiliate, mentions that manifestations of anti-Semitism which target Israel include applying double standards by requiring behavior of it that is not expected of any other democratic country.


Double standards can be broken down into seven categories, some of which overlap. A major one is one-sided declarations or biased reporting. The recent third Durban Conference in New York was a further example of the frequent use of double standards against Israel in the UN environment.


One additional example: The targeted killing of Osama bin Laden by the US in 2011 was praised by Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. The killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Yassin in 2004 by Israel was condemned by then-Secretary General Kofi Annan. The European Commission, along with British and French governments, as well as many others, reacted with similar duplicity.

Read the rest and learn about the 6 other categories here.

Very great article.  Don't stand up for double standards and hypocrisy.  Combat it wherever you can.  Make sure people know how totally wrong they are acting, and what double standards - and often lies - they were brainwashed to believe.

"P" for "Provocation" and "DD" for "Double Standards"

Today, my posts focused on lies, anti-Semitism, and conspiracy theories.

This post will deal with an offshoot of this, which is double standards & hypocrisy.  This post is in response to the condemnation over Israel's building in (East) Jerusalem.

Excerpt from JPost:

Clearly, both Clinton and Hague are suffering from “selective provocation syndrome,” which is when one deems Israel’s actions to be provocative while ignoring similar moves by the Palestinians.

Consider the following. According to data compiled by Peace Now, since the government ended the building freeze on Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria last October, there have been a grand total of just 2,598 buildings started.

It is this small number of new Jewish homes in the territories that has the critics up in arms.

They claim that by expanding Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, Israel is prejudicing the outcome of any final-status negotiations.

And yet, when it comes to Palestinian efforts to create facts on the ground, these very same critics inexplicably fall silent.

Indeed, this past Sunday, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) released data indicating that the number of Palestinian homes in Judea, Samaria and Gaza has soared by over 25% in the past four years.

This year alone, the Palestinians will build more housing units than Israel did in all of last year, even though our population is more than three times the size of theirs.

According to the PCBS, in 2011 the Palestinians will finish a whopping 33,822 dwellings, or 13 times the number currently being built by Jews in Judea and Samaria.

There is no doubt that this feverish building activity by the Palestinians will have an enormous impact on the ground, greatly expanding their presence in the “disputed” territories.

So why, then, is this too not regarded as a “provocation” that undermines peace efforts? Or is it only when Jews lay down cement that construction suddenly becomes confrontational? I guess not all “provocations” are created equal.

The fact is that it is neither logical nor fair to expect Israel to freeze building in Judea and Samaria or anywhere else while the Palestinians are busy at work.

Read the full article here.

Check out my previous post in response to this condemnation.

Gilo is a neighborhood, not a settlement.  Saeb Erekat even offered Gilo to Israel in 2008, although this offer led to nowhere, mainly because of the prospect of a divided Jerusalem.  Why now are the Palestinians and the world growing so upset over the natural building in a neighborhood, which would remain part of Israel in any peace agreement, and when the Palestinians build much more in the disputed territory?

In 2009, France stated that settlement building in Gilo is not an obstacle to peace.

I can't fully explain why countries like America and the U.K. are condemning this.  Perhaps they want to appease the Palestinians too, or they just don't know that much about Gilo.  Maybe it's become so implanted in their brains that when an Israeli builds a home, it's gotta be provocative and terrible and worthy of condemnation.

But I can answer you why the Palestinians are condemning it.  They're condemning it because otherwise they'd have no excuse as to why they can't return to the negotiating table.

Mind you, asking that Israel give up everything prior to negotiations/negotiating over negotiations isn't really a good excuse either...

Nor is asking for a freeze to settlement construction when Netanyahu did precisely that - an unprecedented 10 month settlement freeze.  What does Abbas do? Refuses to negotiaties, walks to the negotiating table in the tenth month, and when the month is over, and the freeze is lifted, leaves the table. 

If they don't even care about negotiating - as seen by the settlement freeze and Abbas walking in on the tenth month - then how can the world expect them to make peace?

Peace requires two parties.  But it requires more than that.  It requires two parties who are willing to make peace.

Israel has shown that multiple times - whether when giving back Sinai Peninsula to make peace with Egypt, when making peace with Jordan, when accepting Oslo Accords, during Camp David Accords, during Taba Accords, when they uprooted their own citizens from Gaza and got 12000 rockets in return, and when Prime Minister Olmert offered the most generous offer in 2008 which Abbas refused.