Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Why did Haaretz take down its article on Kansas killer's admiration for Max Blumenthal?

Haaretz, picking up on a piece in the Washington Free Beacon, briefly posted this article yesterday:

According to the Washington Free Beacon, an online news source that describes itself as being "dedicated to uncovering the stories that the professional left hopes will never see the light of day, Frazier Glenn Cross, the Hitler admirer and Klansman who is accused of the murders, often praised Blumenthal's work.

According to the report, a search of the VNN Forum – a prominent white supremacist website run by Cross – finds over 300 references praising Blumenthal's criticism of the State of Israel and American-Jewish support of Israeli policy.

There is no doubt that leftist Israel-haters like Blumenthal give lots of material - and inspiration - for right wing antisemites like Frazier Glenn Cross. Both groups claim, disingenuously, that their criticisms of Israel are meant to defend human rights when it is the other way around - they use the language of human rights to attack the Jewish state, a nation whose record on human rights would be the envy of any other nation at war in history.

Some antisemites see no contradiction between the extreme right and extreme left manifestations of Jew-hatred. Someone named "Rehmat1", for example, has hundreds of comments both on Cross' VNN forum and on Mondoweiss, both linking back to his own blog.

The only difference is that the right-wing antisemites are more willing to admit that they hate Jews. The leftist antisemites prefer to use Israel as a proxy for Jews and are, too often, Jews themselves, which all stripes of Jew-haters love to quote to give their hate an air of authenticity.

Haaretz took down this article very quickly after it was posted online. Why?

Perhaps the reason is that Haaretz has provides at least as much comfort and aid to the VNN antisemites as Blumenthal does!

While Haaretz doesn't seem to be as explicitly praised as Blumenthal was by Cross, according to Mondoweiss, Haaretz itself is mentioned on the VNN site over 11,000 times and Cross mentions Haaretz himself scores of times in his antisemitic rants! (I did not check either the Free Beacon's or Mondoweiss' claims about the number of citations of Blumenthal/Haaretz.)

Haaretz provides at least as much of aid and comfort to antisemites as Blumenthal does, and perhaps that is what prompted it to silently pull this story.

The UN has responded to Israel Ambassador Ron Prosor's letter I reported on demanding that Rima Khalaf be fired:

Rejecting Israeli criticism of Jordanian Rima Khalaf, Head of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), a UN official on Tuesday said Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has "full confidence" in her and in her work.

"The Secretary General has full confidence in her and her ability to do her work," UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told the daily press briefing.

Israeli UN Ambassador Ron Prosor demanded in a letter to Ban Khalaf's suspension from ESCWA, following her recent public statements and the release of a UN official report which "promotes anti-Israel incitement and anti-Semitism." The 200-page ESCWA report, Prosor claimed, "systematically mentions Israel in almost every chapter, blames it for the failings of the Arab world in all spheres of life, and claims that Israel is the main cause for the divisions among Arab states." Prosor also said the report draws an implicit comparison between Israel and Nazi Germany, arguing that "Israel propagates the concept of the religious or ethnic purity of states, a concept that inflicted on humanity the worst crimes of the last century.

"These accusations represent the epitome of modern day anti-Semitism and cannot be condoned under any circumstances. Ms. Khalaf may have a Ph.D. in Systems Science, but she deserves a Ph.D. in science fiction for her 200-page report filled with conspiracy theories," Prosor said in his letter.

He added "it is unacceptable that inflammatory anti-Israel messages continue to be produced under the banner of the United Nations and using UN resources. By demonizing Israel, Ms. Khalaf is advancing a personal agenda rather than furthering the cause of peace or advancing regional Arab development. Senior UN officials should lead by example and demonstrate tolerance rather than prejudice".

It's easy to have full confidence in her work when she is parroting how the UN has been acting towards Israel since the early 1970s.

On Wednesday, a reporter tried to follow up on the issue, only to be shot down by the open, liberal, transparent UN:

Q: Okay, so something more current, Rima Khalaf? Yesterday you said that the Secretary-General stands behind her, but her… the gist of her argument was that she objects to Israel’s definition as a Jewish State since this is a General Assembly resolution since 1947, does the Secretary-General stand behind that?

Spokesman: I have nothing to add to what I said yesterday.

Work accident! 3 Hamas members killed! Candy time!

From Ma'an:

Three Palestinian men were killed and four others injured in an explosion in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, medical sources said.

A spokesman of the Hamas-run Gaza ministry of health told Ma’an that the circumstances behind the explosion were not clear.

Ashraf al-Qidra added that ambulances evacuated two dead men and one critically injured person. The third victim was pronounced dead shortly after he arrived at the European Hospital in Kahn Younis.

Eight others sustained minor wounds caused by shrapnel. They were in stable condition.

Hamas sources told Ma'an that the victims were members of the group's al-Qassam Brigades militant wing, and were killed while preparing explosive devices.

They were identified as Rami Mishmish, Yousif Thabit and Abu Ashour Hajji.

Hamas' Al Qassam website freely admits that they were killed in a "jihadist military manufacturing unit."

Note that the Gaza ministry of health, which is run by Hamas, knows very well how they were killed but they prefer to say that "circumstances were unclear" in case they can find a way to blame Israel. Sometimes they claim that leftover Israeli ordnance causes injuries and deaths when they don't want to admit that it is from their own people.

Their faces must have been ripped apart by the explosion, because unlike in most cases of "martyrs," the photos of the bodies do not show their faces but only their weapons.

This makes at least 15 Gazans killed by work accidents or Hamas rockets this year, more than have been killed by the IDF.

Anti-Israel resolution fails - in Dearborn!

Dearborn is the epicenter of the Arab community in the US - it was 30% Arab in 2000 and estimated to have a much higher percentage today - so this is pretty impressive. And completely ignored by the Israel-haters.

From The Arab-American News:

The University of Michigan-Dearborn Faculty Congress voted on Monday, March 7 [sic, should be April 7] against a resolution that calls for forming a divestment committee to look into the human rights records of companies that do business with the Israeli military.

After a 30-minute debate, the faculty struck down the resolution in a 23-17 vote with two abstentions. Present faculty members voted via ballot box. The faculty also voted 32-7 against a resolution calling for the boycott of Israeli academic institutions. The yearly meeting, which was open to the public, was almost exclusively attended by UMD faculty.

The Student Government (SG) had passed the divestment proposal last week. [Actually, the student proposal was to create a committee to look at the topic, there was no call to divestment in the SG resolution, much to the consternation of SJP. - EoZ] According to campus newspaper, the divestment initiative was proposed by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and endorsed by eight student organizations. SG has called for divestment on four previous occasions in 2005, 2006, 2010, and 2012, according to campus newspaper The Michigan Journal.

Dr. John Poster, the chair of the Faculty Senate told The Arab American News that the resolution approved by SG is not reflective of the opinion of the student body because most students are not involved in the student government.

"It is difficult for us to focus on this, while [Syrian President Bashar] Assad has killed more than 100,000 of his own people, while the military in Egypt overthrew a democratically elected government," Poster said. "There is a number of problems in the world, and it is hard for us to focus on Israel only."

The tide has decisively turned against BDS on college campuses, venues that were considered lost causes only a year ago. It is clear that the Israel-haters are noisy and know how to get publicity, but their stunts have no substance behind them.

(h/t Dan C.)

04/16 Links:Dershowitz 'Extreme Left and Extreme Right Have One Thing in Common, They Hate Jews'

From Ian:

Lead, Netanyahu, lead

When Frazier Glenn Cross is convicted of murder for gunning down physician William Corporon, his 14-year-old grandson Reat Griffin, and occupational therapist Terry LaManno, at the Jewish community facilities of Kansas City on Sunday, he will, at the very least, be jailed for life with no possibility of parole. The capital murder charge with which he has been indicted also carries the possibility of the death penalty.
When the gunman who opened fire indiscriminately on Israeli vehicles outside Hebron on Passover eve a day later, killing Baruch Mizrahi, is tracked down and arrested — as he almost certainly will be, given the Israeli security forces’ astounding record of locating West Bank terrorists — he will face a very different set of consequences.

Alan Dershowitz: 'Extreme Left and Extreme Right Have Only One Thing in Common -- They Hate Jews'

Monday on MSNBC's "Ronan Farrow Daily," Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz discussed Sundays tragic shooting outside a Jewish community center in Kansas City:
“When we were kids we learned sticks and stones will break your bones but names will never harm you. That’s a lie, Names hurt. They are horrible, and we shouldn’t be tolerating them in society. But the law under our Constitution can’t move against people simply for expressing views.”
"They praise Hitler and they praise Farrakhan and of corse Farrakhan was one of this guy's heroes along with Hitler and David Duke. Here you have a problem with the extreme left and extreme right have only one thing in common, they hate jews. The extreme left preaches this kind of bigotry as well, people like Farrakhan people within Hamas and Hezbollah and the extreme right."

Why aren’t mainstream Israel critics defending Max Blumenthal?

Max Blumenthal is experiencing what goes around coming around.
Having blamed various critics of radical Islam as well as international Zionism for the 2011 mass murder in Norway, unfairly, Blumenthal now is in focus because the Overland Park shooter was a big fan of Blumenthal’s Jewish money and Israel Lobby conspiracy theories. The shooter was a Neo-Nazi and KKK leader for whom Jewish control of the media and international money was a core belief motivating hatred of Jews. That’s a shared space for anti-Zionists of multiple political ideologies and religions.
Specifically, the shooter focused on Blumenthal’s theory that Jewish campaign donors were trying to buy the 2012 U.S. presidential election for Bibi Netanyahu, as expressed by Blumenthal in a lengthy article and a Russia Today television interview, to which the shooter linked. It’s ugly stuff, but the type of ugly stuff for which Blumenthal has become known.

CNN National Security Analyst: Right More Deadly Than Al Qaeda

Without mentioning reports that the man accused of shooting up a Jewish Community Center over the weekend was apparently a fan of the left's Max Blumenthal, CNN National Security Analyst Peter Bergen exploited the murders to claim the American Right is more deadly than jihadists.
Today, April 15, just so happens to be the one-year anniversary of Bergen using CNN's airwaves to speculate that right-wing groups might be behind the Boston Marathon bombing. Bergen is apparently using today's hysterical piece of selective, anti-science analysis to balm that embarrassment.
By publishing this junk, CNN is merely doing what CNN has been doing all throughout the failed Zucker-era: trolling the bottom of the barrel for attention. (h/t Alexi)

Chag Sameach!

Wishing a Chag Sameach to my readers!

I will not be blogging until Wednesday night/Thursday morning.

Here is some previous original EoZ artwork from previous Passovers, usually created in less than a half hour:

Grooming Palestinian Arab schoolgirls for terror

From Palestinian Media Watch:

Girl to PA TV about her goal in life:
"My life's ambition is to reach the level that the Martyr fighter Dalal Mughrabi reached..."

The purpose of the PA TV program was explained by the TV host:
"Today we are in the Dalal Mughrabi School [in Gaza], to get to know the Palestinian Martyr and fighter..."

Other children and teachers in the school were also interviewed.

Student at the school:
"Dalal Mughrabi is a great leader, who raised more and more and worked for the Palestinian cause to protect the pure land of the homeland, by defending Jerusalem to liberate it. This fighter may have died and her soul may have ascended to Heaven, but still our mothers give birth to thousands like Dalal, and she still walks among us. Dalal Mughrabi has given us a lot, and I personally am proud to attend the Dalal Mughrabi School, which bears this pioneering name."

Teacher at the school:
"Dalal Mughrabi is a fighter who carried out Jihad and struggle from the beginning of her life. She was one of the brave female fighters who carried out Martyrdom-seeking operations (i.e., terror attacks). We in the Ministry of Education had the honor of naming our school after the Martyr Dalal Mughrabi, so that her eternal memory will stay for a long time."

Suicide attacks ("martyrdom-seeking operations") are the highest aspiration for these Palestinian Arab girls, today. Generations are being taught to join a death cult.

Yet whenever the issue of incitement is brought up, it is minimized by "progressive" Westerners. It isn't newsworthy. Plans to build houses are major headlines, girls being taught to kill themselves along with as many Jews as possible doesn't even merit a footnote.

04/14 Links Pt2: The Left Doesn’t Understand the Arab War Against Israel; The PCUSA Witch-hunt

From Ian:

Why the Left Doesn’t Understand the Arab War Against Israel

Frankly, the Palestinian Arabs should be celebrating their dumb luck that they happen to live next to and among Jews in Israel, where biology trumps ideology, and where Israel’s actions don’t mirror how they are treated by the Palestinian Arabs: with acts of terrorism, hatred, and glorification of murderers.
If the Palestinians lived anywhere else in the Arab and Muslim world they would be persecuted and the media and world would not report nor care about their fate. That is really how most of the rest of their so-called Arab brethren treat them – as political pawns and pariahs in their war on the Jews.
Peace is a long way away. It’s not helped by the moral narcissists and useful idiots on the Left. Too many on the Left, including in academia, engage in Stockholm syndrome, becoming emotionally attached to and sympathetic with the victimizers, the terrorists (who, ironically, would slit their throats if given the chance).
The status quo is terrible. But all of the alternatives to date are existentially dangerous to Israel. The onus must be on the Palestinian-Arabs to prove they truly are interested in recognition and peaceful co-existence with Israel. For the past 66 years, they have in fact proved the exact opposite.
The Left’s jealousy and envy of Israel’s amazing success and humanitarian accomplishments; their self-hatred; failure to listen to what the Judeo-Christian world’s enemies advocate; appeasing them; excusing them is breathtakingly presumptuous and arrogant.

Where is the feminist anger at Brandeis?

‘Honor Diaries” might not be coming to a theater near you, at least not if CAIR gets its way. The award-winning documentary about “honor” violence against girls and women in much of the Muslim world was released last month in honor of International Women’s Day, and it didn’t take long for the Council on American Islamic Relations to slap its all-purpose “Islamophobic” label on it. The film has been shown in dozens of venues, but CAIR has raised enough of a stink to get screenings cancelled on several college campuses, including the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois.
CAIR — a front group for Islamist extremism that masquerades as a civil rights organization (its first executive director, Nihad Awad, was an open supporter of Hamas) — is good at raising stinks. Last week Brandeis University caved in to demands that it rescind its offer of an honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a heroic defender of women’s rights in the Islamic world. With a life story that reads like a screenplay, Ali has personally experienced many of the evils she fights, including genital mutilation, forced marriage, and savage “honor” crimes. Her remarkable accomplishments should easily merit the honor of any university that upholds reason and intellectual diversity. But Brandeis apparently has different priorities now, like giving CAIR and the Islamophobia-phobes a veto over honorary degrees.
Ali was involved in making “Honor Diaries,” which goes out of its way to convey respect for moderate Islam. It spotlights nine eloquent women with roots in the Islamic world, several of whom are devout Muslims — “Islam is my spiritual journey,” says one — and all of whom are passionate about exposing the terrible abuses women and girls in many Muslim cultures suffer in the name of family honor. None thinks such horrors should be excused or neglected out of a misplaced cultural sensitivity or political correctness.

Look at how many fans Hamas' lawyer has!

Stanley Cohen, lawyer for Hamas and other terrorists, is going to jail for tax evasion. Here is his rambling description of his version of events, as he pretends to be a martyr for freedom, including his purposeful conflation of human rights and terrorism:

Whatever, dude.

But what struck me was the number of supporters he has who retweeted this self-serving piece of garbage as if Cohen is a hero. As of Monday morning, 467 people retweeted this and nearly 300 favorited it.

It truly is amazing that so many are so screwed up as to think that Cohen is a hero.

04/14 Links Pt1: Guardian plays crooked lawyer for the Palestinians; Tony Blair’s advisers tied to MB

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians' "Anti-Normalization" Movement

Palestinian Authority security forces used force to disperse and arrest Palestinian activists who tried to prevent Indians from performing a dance in Ramallah on April 12.
The activists accused the Indian Classical Dance Performance, Kathak, of appearing before members of the Indian community in Tel Aviv, saying this was a form of "normalization" with Israel.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel, an anti-Israel group that claims to be pro-Palestinian, issued a statement calling for boycotting the Indian dancers who had been invited to attend a Palestinian book fair in Ramallah.
The group said that the Indian dancers' performance in Tel Aviv came in "wake of an upsurge in the fierce onslaught against the Palestinian people by the Israeli Occupation Forces."

'A raging anti-Semite' - Who is Frazier Glenn Cross?

Frazier Glenn Cross, the man in police custody for allegedly shooting three people dead outside two Jewish community centers near Kansas City, is an avowed white supremacist who has not been shy about expressing his disdain for Jews and blacks.
According to a profile of Cross conducted by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the man who formerly ran for a Senate seat in Missouri, once held the title of “grand dragon” of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
He was also sent to prison for operating an illegal paramilitary organization and using intimidation tactics against blacks, as well as illegal weapons possession.
Cross, who did two tours of duty in Vietnam and was also a member of the elite Green Berets, said he was indoctrinated by racist newspapers which he read in his youth.

Netanyahu condemns ‘hatred of Jews’ in Kansas shooting

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday condemned the murder of three people in a shooting attack at US Jewish institutions, saying it bore the hallmarks of anti-Semitic attacks.
“We condemn the murders, which according to all the signs were committed from hatred of Jews,” said a statement from his office, which added that Netanyahu had sent condolences to the victims’ families.
“The state of Israel, together with all civilized people, is committed to fighting this pestilence,” Netanyahu said.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz also said anti-Semitism was behind the attack that left three dead.

French Jews "afraid to be Jewish" (BBC)

From the BBC:

The report is quite good.

But being the BBC, the headline skews the report:

Anti-Semitism forcing Jews out of France, says Israel

Israel has said an increasing number of Jewish people are migrating to the country from France because of a rise in anti-Semitism.

Around 3,200 people left last year, a 63% jump when compared to 2012.

Christian Fraser reports from Paris.

In the report, the Israeli representative in France said that Jews are feeling unwelcome and notes that the economy is bad as well. The first French Jew interviewed is the one who said in this report that antisemitism is the reason he and his family are leaving. And the reporter shows an explicitly antisemitic rally held this year.

In other words, it isn't an Israeli claim that antisemitism is causing the French aliyah - it is the French Jews and the objective evidence itself.

By claiming that "Israel says" rather than what the French Jews themselves are saying, the BBC's editors are subtly pretending that the problem is not real antisemitism but Israel encouraging the perception of antisemitism.

(h/t Harley)

What can Shurat HaDin do at the ICC?

Ma'an reports:

Right-wing Israeli political parties have begun a campaign to sue president Abbas for "war crimes" at the International Criminal Court in response to the Palestinian Authority's recent decision to join international conventions and treaties.

The campaign comes amid a near breakdown in ongoing peace negotiations between Israel and the PLO, and seeks to file legal procedures against Abbas accusing him of supporting "terrorism" and aiding to terrorist organizations.

Beginning on Friday, Israeli newspapers and websites have published advertisements calling on Israeli lawyers to join the campaign led by the Israel Law Center to sue Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on charges of supporting terrorist organizations.

One of the prominent leaders of the campaign is chairman of the Jewish Home party Naftali Bennett, who has been a vocal critic of peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

An ad in the Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth features president Abbas behind bars with a phrase in Arabic reading, "We will terrorize him in The Hague."

It actually says in Hebrew, "He terrorizes us the the UN....we will terrorize him in the Hague."

Palestinian officials, however, have downplayed the move, pointing out that Israel cannot pursue legal action at the international court due to its own failure to sign the treaties.

Palestinian minister of justice Ali Muhanna told Ma'an that the Israeli government had "lost balance both politically and legally."

Their response, he said, reflects the degree of rage in Israel towards the PA for attempting to join international conventions.

Muhanna confirmed that Israel "cannot engage in any legal action at the ICC because Israel is not a signatory to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court."

"Such legal proceedings are submitted through the ICC's Attorney General or through the UN Security Council."

It is true that Israel cannot file a complaint with the ICC's prosecutor, as it is not a signatory to the Rome Statute.

But Shurat HaDin can.

From the ICC (archived):

The Prosecutor may start an investigation upon referral of situations in which there is a reasonable basis to believe that crimes have been or are being committed. Such referrals must be made by a State Party or the Security Council of the United Nations, acting to address a threat to international peace and security. In accordance with the Statute and the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, the Prosecutor must evaluate the material submitted to him before making the decision on whether to proceed.

In addition to State Party and Security Council referrals, the Prosecutor may also receive information on crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court provided by other sources, such as individuals or non-governmental organisations. The Prosecutor conducts a preliminary examination of this information in every case. If the Prosecutor then decides that there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation, he will request the Pre-Trial Chamber to authorise an investigation.

So, yes, Shurat HaDin - or anyone on the planet - can request that the Prosecutor indict a party that violates the provisions of the Rome Statute.

It is important to realize that the ICC will not indict if there is a functioning court system that can do the job instead. As the ICC says:

The Preamble of the Rome Statute recognises that the Court itself is but a last resort for bringing justice to the victims of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. It therefore calls upon all States to take measures at the national level and enhance international co-operation to put an end to impunity, and reminds States of their duty to exercise criminal jurisdiction over those responsible for such crimes. Thus, the Rome Statute assigns the Court a role that is complementary to national systems.

Emphasising the primary responsibility of States to investigate and prosecute international crimes, the Statute provides that a case is inadmissible before the Court where the case is being investigated or prosecuted by a State which has jurisdiction over it, unless the State is unwilling or unable genuinely to carry out the investigation or prosecution. The Prosecutor is obliged to consider this requirement of the Statute when deciding whether or not to start an investigation.

If "Palestine" is a state - a precondition for its bringing cases to the ICC - then it presumably has a court system. If the West Bank is under occupation or disputed, than Israel's court system can be used for complaints. Either way, unless the ICC wants to become politicized, it seems unlikely that the ICC prosecutor will indict Israel just because the PLO insists it do so. (I don't think Shurat HaDin will make much headway at the ICC either, but the threat is as real as that of the PLO.)

So far most of the cases the ICC has dealt with are in Africa.

(h/t Anne)