Now investigative reporter Alana Goodman has shown that there were numerous Zionist groups in addition to Z Street that were improperly targeted by the IRS. It also turns out that the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and even Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Querya — as well as Jewish groups like J Street, the New Israel Fund, and the Union for reform Judaism, along with administration-friendly journalists — all called for IRS investigations of Zionists who might be funding settlement activities.
Yes, it’s all about a few Jews living in a place that the administration — like the Jordanians in 1948 and the PLO today — believes should be free of them. Transferring these Jews out has been a top priority goal of US policy for decades.
“These experts believe we will increase the Palestinian GDP by as much as 50 percent over three years,” Kerry told the closing session of the World Economic Forum meeting on the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan.
“The most optimistic estimates foresee enough new jobs to cut unemployment by two-thirds to eight percent down from 21 percent and to increase the median wage by 40 percent,” said the top US diplomat.
Some 100,000 jobs in home construction alone could be created in the next three years, while tourism could triple.
The economic predictions are ridiculous, but never mind. What I find interesting is that this is precisely an attempt to create Arab ‘facts on the ground’ in Judea and Samaria — to create a Palestinian state by simply building it, on disputed land.
In other words, at the same time that the administration is trying to choke off Jewish building in the territories, by pressuring Israel (there is an unannounced freeze on construction in effect since Obama’s recent visit) and by using the IRS against private parties that might assist ‘settlers’, Kerry plans to finance a massive building campaign for Palestinian Arabs!
So while the administration does all it can to stop Jews from building on land within existing settlements, because they say it will hurt the peace process by foreclosing options, it finds nothing wrong with encouraging extensive Arab construction in the same disputed territory.
This is just another illustration of the way our government has swallowed the completely false story that the Arabs are the default owners of all the land outside the Green Line.
This is beginning to look like a Marx Brothers movie. Several days ago, immediately after a meeting between PM Netanyahu and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, the Russians made it known that they would not deliver the S-300 air defense system — this is the one that can hit Israeli military and commercial aircraft as they take off from Israel — to Syria after all.
But then, the very next day, the EU announced that it was really, really tired of Bashar al-Assad and would, in principle, allow its members to sell weapons to his opposition (these are the guys that cut the hearts out of their enemies and bite them).
Of course, they also indicated that they will not be providing said weapons any time soon, nor have they explained how they will tell the ‘good’ opposition from the ‘bad’ opposition from the heart-biting opposition.
Nevertheless, this apparently caused the Russians to say that after all, they would too deliver the S-300. But it’s not that simple.
Israel has read Moscow’s insistence on pursuing its deal to supply Damascus with the powerful missile systems as part of a “cold war” power struggle between the US and Russia playing out in the theatre of the Syrian civil war in which it wants no part.
“We are unhappy with the prospect of these very serious weapons arriving in Syria but we cannot stop Russia delivering them to the Middle East. We would not strike a Russian target – our egos are big but they’re not that big,” one senior Israeli diplomat told the Guardian on condition of anonymity.
The Israeli military will not hesitate, however, to take any steps necessary to prevent the transfer of this sophisticated Russian anti-aircraft technology to Hezbollah militants or other hostile groups.
“I don’t know how upset the Russians would be if, at some point between payment and the installation of this technology in Damascus by Russian experts, something was done to damage the weaponry. As long as no Russians were hurt and they got paid, I don’t think they would care,” the diplomat added.
There may be other obstacles to the Syrians getting the systems operational. Like this news item suggests:
National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror told EU diplomats that Israel would prevent S-300 missiles sold by Russia to Assad from becoming operational.
Diplomats reported they believed this was not necessarily a threat to use military force, rather an Israeli assessment that Assad would simply not get around to putting the Russian missiles together, since they are delivered with assembly required.
FresnoZionism’s undercover Syrian correspondent has sent us the following transcript. Of course we can’t guarantee that it is 100% correct.
Ahmad: Hurry up, Nizar, let’s get this crate containing the S-300 system unloaded. Soon we can deploy it against the Zionist and imperialist terrorists who are trying to overthrow our great leader and his attractive wife!
Nizar: (grunting as he pushes large crate emblazoned with a large red bear logo down a ramp from a truck) It’s heavy, Ahmad!
A: Of course it’s heavy, dolt, you can’t expect to crush Zionist and imperialist terrorists with light stuff! Hurry up, and then get the crowbar.
N: (pushes crate onto the ground) There!
A: Let’s get it open.
N: (picks up big crowbar and starts prying open the crate. The sides fall away, revealing several bags of small parts, screws and bolts, hanks of wire, various tubes and boxes, a large can with a hazardous material symbol on it, some rubber tires, and what appears to be a fat instruction manual) Allahu Akbar, the S-300!
A: Hmm… there seems to be some assembly required. Give me the book, Nizar. Let’s see… Crap, it’s all in Russky! What does пошёл нахуй,товарищ mean?
N: I don’t speak Russky. But maybe some of those Hizballah volunteers sitting around picking the lice out of their beards while I work do.
A: Hey you — Hizbaloon — what does пошёл нахуй,товарищ mean?
Hizballah terrorist: (squinting at book) Er, it says “Congratulations on your purchase of this fine Russky air defense system.”
A: Keep reading. We need to put this together before the Zionists find out we have it and bomb us!
H: “You will need a few simple tools like a horizontal milling machine, a 5-axis lathe, and a screwdriver Feeloops to assemble your S-300.”
A: (sweating) Nizar, do we have a screwdriver Feeloops? What is a screwdriver Feeloops, anyway?
N: I don’t know, but that looks like a Zionist F-15 over there (runs away).
When we think of warfare, most of us think of tanks roaring across the desert, dogfights in the air, infantry battles, or even guerrilla war, in which shadowy figures strike and then melt away. But when enemy populations are closely intermingled, then warfare can also comprise what we normally think of as crime. So when one population deliberately targets another in order to damage morale, to increase insecurity and even to drive them out, and when they do it for nationalistic motives, it can be more than a nuisance — it can be war.
This kind of warfare is traditional in the Middle East, where simple banditry is often more than that. I’ve written about how thefts and vandalism in the Galilee and the Negev have given rise to vigilante groups to protect farmers from wholesale loss of animals, machinery and crops to Bedouin and Palestinian thieves.
But today a far worse situation has arisen in Judea and Samaria where attempted murder — and sometimes the attempts are successful — is a daily occurrence. Although one often hears that terrorism in Israel has become far less frequent recently, this is simply not true. It is just much less likely to make the news if it occurs in Judea and Samaria, or if it happens to that less-than-human being, a ‘settler’.
There are multiple reasons for this. Palestinian Arab ideology encourages them to see themselves as oppressed, so anything they do is ‘justified’. Parents often encourage their children to act out their feelings of victimization, or at least accept their behavior, even when it’s violent. Official Palestinian media and schools continually glorify all forms of ‘resistance’, even murder.
The Israeli police are in general ineffective and outnumbered. The IDF operates with strict rules of engagement, and anyway is the not the best tool — after all, armies are, or should be, designed to kill people — to deal with theft, arson, vandalism and harassment (which, nevertheless, often turns into murder).
And then there is most of the Israeli and international media, which seem to believe that if a ‘settler’ gets hurt, it’s his or her own fault for living in a place where, “Palestinians want the land for their future state.” According to them, the solution to the problem is ‘peace’ and a ‘two-state solution’.
Anyone with sense enough to listen to what the Palestinian Arabs themselves say knows that they consider Haifa, Acco, Yafo, Lod, etc. Arab land too. I suspect that if the Jews abandoned everything but downtown Tel Aviv, the violence would follow them there.
Here is a report, provided by Yisrael Medad, which lists some of the violent acts carried out by Arabs against Jews in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem over the past two weeks. That’s it — two weeks. Could you live with this level of violence in your community?
Low-Intensity Conflict Report #79 May 13-26, 2013
These reports are translated and publicized by Yehudit Tayar for Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron with the clearance and confirmation of the IDF. Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron is a voluntary emergency medical organization with over 500 volunteer doctors, paramedics, medics who are on call 24/7 and work along with the IDF, 669 IAF Airborne Rescue, the security officers and personal throughout Yesha and the Jordan Valley, and with MDA [Magen David Adom]. …
From the reports which we received here is a partial summary of the hundreds of attempts to murder innocent Jews during the past week;
3 IDF soldiers, 9 civilians, and 3 policemen were injured:
• Civilian injured from rocks a Sinjal, child injured moderately from bottle thrown on bus at the Mt. of Olives, young civilian injured from rocks near Ofra, 5 children moderately from rocks between El Hadar and Efat,
• IDF soldier moderately [injured] from rocks near the Tunnel Road, IDF soldier moderately in his head from rocks near T Junction in Etzion, IDF soldier moderately at El Fuar, Border policeman moderately from rocks at Abu Dis, 2 policemen moderately at the Temple Mt., Fireman moderately injured from rocks at Issawiya during attempt to extinguish a fire at Opharin Base.
We received reports of at least 143 Molotov Cocktail attacks:
100 at Azoria, 6 Abu Dis, 9 Shuafat Refugee Camp, 1 at bus at El Arub, 5 at car and 1 at security vehicle near Ofra, 4 Kever Rachel, 3 at security force at Tunnel Road checkpost, 4 at security force El Fuar, 3 at security force at Parsa Junction,1 thrown by rioters at Shuafat which caused a fire to break out near Pisgat Ze’ev, 1 at Ophrit Base, 2 at the security fence near Ja’ama. [Molotov cocktails, of course, are gasoline bombs that can and have burned people to death or scarred them for life — ed]
10 explosive devices at Azaria
5 Arab rioters attacked a yeshiva student on his way to the Kotel (Western Wall)
3 PA policemen were apprehended who were involved in the murder of Ben Zion Livnat HY”D, after they had been released from prison by the PA after serving short sentences.
Arab with improvised weapon caught in his car at Bene Naim
This week also there were scores of attempted murder of innocent men, women and children by Arabs attacking with rocks thrown on the roads at the cars as they drove in their vehicles:
A partial list of the places where the attacks occurred:
160 turn – Hevron, Policeman checkpost – Hevron, Adoriam Junction Southern Hevron Hills, El Fuar, near the Tunnel Road checkpost, Har Homa-Tekoa Highway, near the Spring by Hevron, El Arub, H Junction, T Junction by Tekoa, Arab Tekoa, between Efrat and El Hadar, Halhul, luben A-Shrakia, Postmans Junction Benjamin Region, Ras Karkar, Wadi Haramia, Sin’jil, Dir Abu Mishal, Nebe Zalah, near Ofra, Abud bypass, near Na’alin, Betliu, El Moyar, near Ba’al Hazor, Shokba, Abu Dis, Azaria, the Temple Mt., A’Zaim checkpost, Ras hamis, Issowiya, at the almond grove in Yitzhar, between Ariel and Nofei Nechemia, a rock barricade between Tapuah and Migdalim, Pundok, Gat Junction, this week also Beduin damaged property near Retamim. [This is the kind of attack that killed Asher Palmer and his son in 2011 and critically inured a young girl this March — ed].
Here is a short video to give you a taste of what ‘stoning’ is like:
The naivete of the Left is sometimes almost touching (almost, but not quite). Here is a clip from a Ha’aretz article written by a young woman named Or Tshuva, a postgraduate student in the department of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths University of London.
Left-wing Israeli academics have in the past few years faced a great challenge. Threatened with censorship, prosecution and ostracism in their home universities, they have been subtly forced to hold their tongues when it comes to publicly expressing their political opinions. In 2009, Neve Gordon nearly lost his job as a politics professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev after writing an op-ed arguing that Israel has become an apartheid state that can only be saved by an international boycott. One year later, in 2010, world-renowned art theorist Ariella Azoulay was denied tenure by Bar-Ilan University apparently due to her pro-Palestinian political views. These incidents send Israeli academics a clear message: tolerance of critical opinions is running out.
It is for exactly this reason that many Israelis pursue academic careers abroad. But in the international academic community, they often find that no matter how far left or pro-peace they are, their “Israeliness” remains an obstacle. Universities and scholars that explicitly support boycotting Israeli academic institutions are still relatively rare, but it seems that to avoid undesirable political rows, many universities choose not to collaborate with their Israeli counterparts or offer scholarships to Israeli students. In many cases, Israelis looking to participate in student-exchange programs or pay for postgraduate studies in Europe, and especially the United Kingdom, are unable to find any opportunities. When it comes to funding, they tend to discover Israel is neither part of the Middle East nor of Europe. Israelis are usually not entitled to apply for the scholarships available to other foreign students.
While their Palestinian fellows enjoy the political and financial support of active pro-Palestinian university societies and generous scholarships designed specifically for them, the implicit message to Israelis is often: “It doesn’t really matter what you say or think, because we simply don’t want to hear from you.” For example, British Member of Parliament George Galloway walked out a debate at Oxford University three months ago simply because he learned that his student opponent was an Israeli citizen. The fact that the student was about to explain the necessity of an agreement recognizing both Israel and a Palestinian state did not matter.
What will it take for you to understand? They don’t want you. Not the Brits, not the academic world in general, and certainly not the Palestinians. It doesn’t matter how far you go in negating your own people’s right to self-determination, no matter how much of a good Jew you are, you will not be good enough.
Thus it always has been for Jews in the Diaspora. Your experience is the best argument for the Zionism that you despise. (h/t Israel Academia Monitor)
The lamed hey — the Thirty-Five — the heroes of Gush Etzion
Gush Etzion is an area southeast of Jerusalem, which contains several ‘settlements’. One of them is Kibbutz Kfar Etzion. Part of the Palestine Mandate from 1917 to 1948, and the Ottoman empire before that, it was purchased from local Arabs and settled by Yemenite Jews in 1927. They lived there on and off (they were driven out several times by Arab ‘riots’) until May 1948 when the invading Jordanian army overran it and massacred all but four of its defenders. All of the West Bank and East Jerusalem were made Jew-free by the Jordanians, who illegally occupied the area until 1967, when the kibbutz was reestablished.
The Haganah sent thirty-five men to relieve the besieged kibbutzim of Gush Etzion in January 1948, following an Arab attack. They were wiped out and their bodies mutilated after an Arab shepherd, whom they unwisely set free after encountering him on the way, reported their presence. They are referred to as the lamed hey, “the thirty-five.”
Let me spell it out more clearly: Jews lived there on land they owned. The kibbutzim of Gush Etzion (there were four of them) represented the realization of the promise made by the world to the Jewish people in the Palestine Mandate, that there would be a national home in the land of Israel. Arabs violently resisted their presence, and when Jordan violated the UN charter by invading and occupying Judea and Samaria in 1948, Jews were murdered or expelled. Not one Jew was allowed to remain on the Jordanian side of the cease-fire line. Because they were Jews.
But in the eyes of the ‘international community’, the ethnic cleansing of the area east of the 1949 armistice line and the 19-year Jordanian occupation thereof transformed Gush Etzion into Arab land, land that today ‘belongs’ to the new non-member-state of the UN, ‘Palestine’.
Apparently this magical transmutation was recognized by Google, because when Jewish residents of Gush Etzion tried to use Google’s search engine this month, they received a message suggesting that they switch to the appropriate page for their location, Google Palestine (Google.ps), in Arabic, rather than the Hebrew-language Google Israel (Google.il) they had been using. This follows Google’s recent decision to re-title Google.ps ‘Palestine’ instead of ‘Palestinian territories’.
Some people think this is much ado about nothing, and at a time when nobody knows if Israel will be at war with Hizballah, Syria and Iran tomorrow, they have a point.
But it is indicative of a much bigger problem. In its desire to present itself as a peace-loving member of the ‘international community’, Israeli governments have not asserted the historic right of the Jewish people, guaranteed in international law, to the land of Israel. They have not challenged the UN’s abdication of its responsibility, inherited from the League of Nations, to preserve this right. They have allowed the Arab position, that the Jews are colonialist interlopers occupying Arab land, to become the conventional wisdom.
I am not saying that it isn’t possible for Israel to agree to a negotiated settlement that would transfer some part of the area of the original mandate to Arab sovereignty, assuming that it could be consistent with Israel’s security. But this has to be negotiated from the starting point that the Jewish people have prima facie rights to Judea and Samaria, not the Palestinian Arabs.
This distortion underlies the position of the US that Israel should withdraw to the 1949 armistice lines “with land swaps.” In other words, the US believes that the armistice lines represent the boundaries of ‘Arab land’ and so if Israel annexes any of it, the Arabs must be ‘compensated.’ Why? the land wasn’t theirs to begin with!
Recent Israeli governments have argued for holding onto parts of the territories for security reasons, an argument which makes eminent sense. But they have generally avoided firmly asserting that Israel, on behalf of the Jewish people, holds the legal title to the land and has the right to dispose of it as it sees fit. The Arabs, of course, aren’t shy in saying that it’s all theirs, and that in addition, Jews aren’t allowed to live there.
So we shouldn’t be surprised when Google follows the lead of the corrupt UN and declares that Gush Etzion is in ‘Palestine’. No Israeli Prime Minister since Yitzhak Shamir has contradicted them!
What do you think the defenders of Kfar Etzion and the lamed hey would have said?
