Sunday 16 August 2009

For Zion's Sake: Proclaiming Zionism

Proclaiming Zionism


Perusing my local bookstore, I found the shelves replete with anti-Israel books. Besides trashing Israel and its supporters, the basic idea of these books was that the concept of a Jewish state is illegitimate and that Zionism has no place in the modern world. Some even had the chutzpah to suggest that a Jewish state is against Jewish values!

Sadly, it is becoming increasingly commonplace among pseudo-intellectuals and supposedly liberal thinkers to question to right of the State of Israel to exist. Consider the recent conference at Toronto's York University, "Israel/Palestine: Mapping Models of Statehood and Paths to Peace", which, packed with anti-Israel speakers, based itself on the premise that Israel must be dismantled as a Jewish state and reconstituted as a bi-national one. In university campuses across the United States, Israel's Jewish character is constantly debated, condemned and defamed, returning us to the infamous 'Zionism = Racism' UN resolution.

Israel is the only country that 61 years after its founding, has its rights right to exist questioned. Similarly, Jews are the only people whose right to statehood and sovereignty is a matter for debate. The incredible irony is that of all the countries in the Western world, Israel is the only one that has the same people living in the same territory, speaking the same language, practicing the same faith, as it did 3000 years ago. No other country can boast anything similar. Long before Spain was Spanish and while Rome was still a collection of villages along the Tiber, Israel was Jewish and Jerusalem its capital and spiritual center. Jewish statehood and self-rule in the Land of Israel is completely natural, something that cannot be said about the other countries in the region. The modern map of the Middle-East was carved up by British and French imperialists after WWI, creating artificial countries such as Jordan (originally 'Transjordan'), Saudi Arabia, or Iraq. No Jordanian people appears in the annals of human history, having been invented when the British first carved up the Land of Israel in 1921. Iraq is simply the result of the British combining three distinct Ottoman provinces and forcing three separate ethnic and religious groups into an unwanted union.

Rather than combatting this dangerous historical revisionism, the Israeli government pursues policies that encourage, validate and exacerbate these beliefs. By dismantling outposts and evicting Jewish families from their hilltop homes in Judea and Samaria, the Israeli government sends the message that Jews are merely interlopers, with no real reason to be in Israel. As a result of Arab and Iranian propaganda, reinforced by President Obama's naivete, millions of Arabs and Muslims believe Israel to simply be the result of European guilt over the Holocaust and that it was simply luck that had the Jews set up a state in Israel rather than Uganda of Upstate New York. The Israeli government is unfortunately too blind to see that the key to peace is more, not less, Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, and a recommitment to a Jewish presence there. This would force the Arab rejection of Jewish historical rights and peoplehood, which is the heart of the conflict, to end

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For Zion's Sake: Proclaiming Zionism

Israel Matzav: Israel now issuing "PA only" visas

Israel Matzav: Israel now issuing "PA only" visas

Israel Matzav: Author of Human Rights Watch report against Israel supported Munich Olypmic Massacre

Author of Human Rights Watch report against Israel supported Munich Olypmic Massacre

I discussed Joe Stork, the author of the Human Rights Watch report that condemned Israel's actions in Operation Cast Lead here. That post included a very brief discussion of Stork's pre-Human Rights Watch career.

Sunday's Hebrew daily Ma'ariv rips the mask off Stork, showing him to be a strong supporter of 'Palestinian' terror and of Saddam Hussein (link in Hebrew).

Several times in the past, Stork has called for the destruction of Israel and is a veteran supporter of Palestinian terrorism. Already as a student, Stork was amongst the founders of a new radical leftist group, which was formed based on the claim that other leftist groups were not sufficiently critical of Israel and of the United States’ support of it. Already in 1976, Stork participated in a conference organized by Saddam Hussein which celebrated the first anniversary of the UN decision that equated Zionism with racism. Stork, needless to say, arrived at the conference as a prominent supporter of Palestinian terrorism and as an opponent to the existence of the State of Israel.

He also labeled Palestinian violence against Israel as “revolutionary potential of the Palestinian masses” – language that was typical of fanatical Marxists.

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Israel Matzav: Author of Human Rights Watch report against Israel supported Munich Olypmic Massacre

US Students Farm Land in Defiance of Obama's Israel Policy - Jewish World - Israel News - Israel National News

US Students Farm Land in Defiance of Obama's Israel Policy - Jewish World - Israel News - Israel National News

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Israel Matzav: Get off your knees Hillary and bring the President with you

Get off your knees Hillary and bring the President with you

James Kirchik and Michael Goodwin both rip Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for having adopted her boss's practice of apologizing all over the world for perceived wrongs committed by the United States. The occasion for the rants was Mrs. Clinton's little hint in Nigeria (of all places) this past week that the 2000 election was stolen by Florida Governor Jeb Bush on behalf of his brother George. Here's Kirchik:

Clinton's remark wasn't just a trivial aside, but the sort of assertion that discredits America overseas. Whether it's conspiracy theories about how the 2000 election was "stolen" by shadowy interests or how a half-dozen "neocons" tricked our government into fighting a "war for oil" (or Israel), such claims do great damage to the US by lending credibility to the false grievances of our enemies, who mock the notion that America is a beacon of liberty.

President Obama came into office boasting of how he would improve America's image in the world. How can he do that when his Secretary of State is confirming the allegations of anti-American propagandists?

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Israel Matzav: Get off your knees Hillary and bring the President with you

Israel Matzav: Saving Israel

Saving Israel

Elder of Ziyon reviews a book that I'd love to read, Daniel Gordis' Saving Israel.

So what does Gordis suggest? He wants the very definition of what it means to be Jewish to change. He wants Israel to become a central part of diaspora Judaism and he wants Judaism to become the central part of Israeli life. He is equally upset at how Israeli schools ignore all Jewish history between the Bible and the birth of Zionism as he is at how the Chief Rabbinate of Israel ignores the opportunities to lead the entire country in debates about the religion, choosing instead to concentrate only on the religious sector.

Only when Judaism returns as the centerpiece of the Jewish state can Zionists articulate the purpose of Israel. Only a people who know who they are and how they became that way can justify their existence and their self-defense.

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Israel Matzav: Saving Israel

Israel Matzav: Oren: 'Israel far from considering strike against Iran'

Israel Matzav: Oren: 'Israel far from considering strike against Iran'

Netanyahu: 'Shocked' by Arab Lynching of Jew - Inside Israel - Israel News - Israel National News

Netanyahu: 'Shocked' by Arab Lynching of Jew - Inside Israel - Israel News - Israel National News

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Negev: Secular Kibbutz Replaced by Religious-Zionist Town - Inside Israel - Israel News - Israel National News

Negev: Secular Kibbutz Replaced by Religious-Zionist Town - Inside Israel - Israel News - Israel National News


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Congressman: Let Israel, PA Talk Alone - Politics & Government - Israel News - Israel National News

Congressman: Let Israel, PA Talk Alone - Politics & Government - Israel News - Israel National News


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Hamas Ends Challenge from Al-Qaeda Group - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Hamas Ends Challenge from Al-Qaeda Group - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

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The Ambassador and the Message

The Ambassador and the Message

Regular readers may remember that I was very approving of the decision to name Michael Oren as our ambassador to the US. Here's vindication in a WSJ article about how things are getting so much better in the West Bank.
The West Bank's economic improvements contrast with the lack of diplomatic progress on the creation of a Palestinian state. Negotiators focus on the "top down" issues, grappling with legal and territorial problems. But the West Bank's population is building sovereignty from the bottom-up, forging the law-enforcement, civil, and financial institutions that form the underpinnings of any modern polity. The seeds of what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called "economic peace" are, in fact, already blossoming in the commercial skyline of Ramallah.
The vitality of the West Bank also accentuates the backwardness and despair prevailing in Gaza. In place of economic initiatives that might relieve the nearly 40% unemployment in the Gaza Strip, the radical Hamas government has imposed draconian controls subject to Shariah law. Instead of investing in new shopping centers and restaurants, Hamas has spent millions of dollars restocking its supply of rockets and mortar shells. Rather than forge a framework for peace, Hamas has wrought war and brought economic hardship to civilians on both sides of the borders.
Rational and informed observers (that sort of narrows the field, I'm aware) will have to notice that when Israel is faced with a reasonable Palestinian partner it behaves one way, even as it behaves another way when faced with an unreasonable Palestinian partner. Someday this ought to strengthen the perception that Israel, even under a right-wing government, would eagerly welcome a peaceful prosperous sovereign Palestinian neighbor; moreover, the Palestinians can impact Israel's positions. Peace seeking Palestinians will encounter different Israelis than war mongering ones.
taken from Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations

Israel Matzav: Economic recovery: Israel's economy expands in the second quarter

Israel Matzav: Economic recovery: Israel's economy expands in the second quarter

Israel Matzav: J Street Advisory Council's star member: Robert Malley

J Street Advisory Council's star member: Robert Malley

At the end of a long post analyzing J Street's taking positions that preclude its being a pro-Israel organization and members of its 'advisory council' who have questionable pro-Israel credentials, Matthew M. Housman drops this bombshell:

Perhaps most telling for J Street's supposed pro-Israel credentials is the inclusion of Robert Malley on its Advisory Council. There is simply no way to construe Malley as pro-Israel or even politically neutral. The son of anti-Israel ideologue Simon Malley, the younger Malley apparently did not fall far from the tree. As a writer, he has produced articles misrepresenting fact and history regarding Israel, including a New York Times op-ed entitled, "Fictions about the Failure of Camp David," in which he blamed Israel exclusively for the failure of Clinton's attempt to coerce a deal at Camp David [the only one present to do so. CiJ]. Malley expunged or minimized Arafat's responsibility for the Camp David fiasco and the preplanned intifada that followed. He co-wrote this article with frequent collaborator and former Arafat advisor Hussein Agha, and his revisionist account contrasts sharply with the recollections of Dennis Ross and Bill Clinton [Malley and Agha co-wrote an op-ed in the New York Times this past week the arguably advocates a 'one-state solution,' although Malley denies that's what he had in mind. CiJ].

Moreover, Malley is associated with the International Crisis Group funded by George Soros, and was alleged to have served as Barack Obama's special envoy to the Middle East, although both Malley and the President denied that he served in any official capacity. Nevertheless, he reportedly met with representatives of the Syrian and Egyptian governments and allegedly with members of Hamas (although that too was denied) despite Hamas' inclusion on the U.S. terror watch list. He is also well known as an apologist for Hamas and Hezbollah, with whom he advocates dialogue despite their continued pledges to eradicate Israel; and has been criticized for actively seeking to weaken America's relationship with Israel.

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Israel Matzav: J Street Advisory Council's star member: Robert Malley

Israel Matzav: Yes, they're anti-Semites

Yes, they're anti-Semites

Robert Fulford says what so many of us believe to be true: That those obsessive critics of Israel are anti-Semites.

What are reasonable people to think about these relentless campaigns in the universities, churches and unions?

Those involved often insist that it's not a matter of anti-Semitism. They like to say, "I'm anti-Israel, not anti-Semitic. A different thing entirely."

After decades of use, this declaration of innocence has ceased to be credible. In my personal observation, enemies of Israel often turn out to be anti-Semites as well. The true agenda of anti-Israel activists often is reflected in their style of propaganda, and in the exclusive attention they give to one particular country.

The style of the protests goes far beyond "criticism," that benign noun implying civil disputes. Often, anti-Israel propaganda distributed on campuses and elsewhere borrows the style of Nazi cartoons. As Craig Offman reported in the Post, last winter students at the University of Manitoba found themselves confronted by posters near a campus bookshop depicting, among other things, a hooked-nosed Hasidic Jew with a star of David pointing a bazooka at the nose of an Arab carrying a slingshot; and an Israeli helicopter with a swastika on top, bombing a baby bottle.

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Israel Matzav: Yes, they're anti-Semites

Israel Matzav: Malley: 'I still favor a two-state solution'

Malley: 'I still favor a two-state solution'

In Tuesday's New York Times, Robert Malley (the only man to attend Camp David 2000 and blame Ehud Barak for its failure) and Hussein Agha wrote that a two-state solution 'doesn't resolve anything,' leading many to believe that they were advocating a one-state solution.

That so many attempts to resolve the conflict have failed is reason to be wary. It is almost as if the parties, whenever they inch toward an artful compromise over the realities of the present, are inexorably drawn back to the ghosts of the past. It is hard today to imagine a resolution that does not entail two states. But two states may not be a true resolution if the roots of this clash are ignored. The ultimate territorial outcome almost certainly will be found within the borders of 1967. To be sustainable, it will need to grapple with matters left over since 1948. The first step will be to recognize that in the hearts and minds of Israelis and Palestinians, the fundamental question is not about the details of an apparently practical solution. It is an existential struggle between two worldviews.

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Israel Matzav: Malley: 'I still favor a two-state solution'

Israel Matzav: JPost slams possible Barghouti release

JPost slams possible Barghouti release

An editorial in Sunday's Jerusalem Post slams the possible release of Marwan the Murdering Moron Barghouti as part of an 'exchange' for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

Bringing terrorists to trial is no negligible matter. Members of Israel's security forces put their lives on the line to track down and capture such homicidal kingpins. What message do we send to them if we then set those terrorists free?

What of the inherent contempt for our own judicial system - one of the most autonomous, fair-minded and progressive in the entire democratic world? By overruling multiple murder convictions, we invalidate verdicts, delegitimize our courts and damage Israel's legal reputation beyond repair

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Israel Matzav: JPost slams possible Barghouti release

Israel Matzav: Nasrallah threatens to hit Tel Aviv

Nasrallah threatens to hit Tel Aviv

At a Friday rally in Beirut celebrating Hezbullah's 'victory' in the 2006 Second Lebanon War, Hezbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah threatened to hit Tel Aviv with rockets if Israel hits Beirut.

"Our position is that a unity government in which Hezbollah will be an effective player is urgently required. Hezbollah is able to hit every city in Israel, and I repeat: If they hit Beirut, we will attack Tel Aviv," he said. "We have two options. One is to succumb to Israel and let it call the shots in the region. The other is to be strong so that the Israelis would think a thousand times, even a million times, before they launch a war against Lebanon and Hezbollah. The option is ours."

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Israel Matzav: Nasrallah threatens to hit Tel Aviv

Israel Matzav: Egyptian dictator visiting Washington on Monday

Egyptian dictator visiting Washington on Monday

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will be in Washington on Monday and Tuesday. He will meet with 'American Jewish leaders' on Monday and then on Tuesday he will meet with President Obama. Mubarak will attempt to 're-set' relations with the United States. Mubarak has not been to the United States since 2004, and he blames former President Bush for the less-than-cordial relations.

The Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram reported this week that "A press statement issued this week by the Foreign Ministry squarely blamed the tensions that have marred recent relations between Cairo and Washington on the policies of the Bush administration. Egyptian officials now hope that the worst is over, and bilateral ties can be placed on a new footing."

The US is also eager to count Egypt as an ally in shaping its Middle East agenda, as it has a peace treaty with Israel and shares strategic concerns about the role of Iran and its proxies.

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Israel Matzav: Egyptian dictator visiting Washington on Monday

Israel Matzav: 7 Baha'is go on trial in Iran for 'spying' for Israel

7 Baha'is go on trial in Iran for 'spying' for Israel

Seven members of the Baha'i faith will go on trial on Tuesday for 'spying' for Israel.

Trial of seven Baha'is accused of spying and insulting sanctities will be held on Tuesday August 18 and with the presence of their lawyers however Shrin Ebadi one of their lawyers is not in Iran at the moment and the other one Abdolfattah Soltani is in jail himself(he was arrested during the post-election events) so Hasan Hadad , in charge of security affairs of Teheran's prosecutor office said other lawyer of these 7 citizens will be in court.

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Israel Matzav: 7 Baha'is go on trial in Iran for 'spying' for Israel

Israel Matzav: Assad sours on Obama?

Assad sours on Obama?

The source for this report is DEBKA, so you may want to take it with a grain of salt, but it explains some other events this week, and if it's true, it's a resounding defeat for the Obama administration. According to the report, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad cut off all negotiations with the United States this week.

Assad first knocked this plan on the head on July 26 in a long conversation he had with US Middle East envoy George Mitchell in Damascus, DEBKAfile's Middle East sources disclose. It was then that the Syrian ruler turned round and rejected an American role in the next stage of his peace talks with Israel in favor of Turkey. He said he preferred to revert to the indirect format he had followed with Binyamin Netanyahu's successor [should be predecessor. CiJ], Ehud Olmert, up until the end of 2008, using the good offices of Turkish prime minister Tayyep Recip Erdogan. The US would be allowed to step in during the final stages.

Mitchell was completely taken aback by Assad's reversal. In Washington it was taken as a death knell for President Obama's plans for Middle East peacemaking and the outright rejection of peace talks with Israel, in view of its poor relations with Ankara. All the same, it was decided to keep the setback quiet and keep going on the path of engagement with the Syrian regime.

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Israel Matzav: Assad sours on Obama?

Israel Matzav: Israeli ambassador: 'Palestinians' wrote UN report on Gaza

Israeli ambassador: 'Palestinians' wrote UN report on Gaza

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Aharon Leshno Yaar has accused the United Nations of having 'Palestinians' write the UN's report on Operation Cast Lead to appease the Arab-controlled 'Human Rights Council.'

He spoke with The Jerusalem Post by phone, a day after UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [pictured. CiJ] submitted a report on what she termed "grave violations of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly due to the recent Israeli military attacks against the occupied Gaza Strip."

Her 34-page report was created at the request of the Human Rights Council in a special session it held on Israel in January.

The report will be presented to the council on September 29, along with a separate report that is being compiled by South African jurist Richard Goldstone.

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Israel Matzav: Israeli ambassador: 'Palestinians' wrote UN report on Gaza

Israel Matzav: Spain's demolition derby

Spain's demolition derby

This past week, I reported that the Spanish government is paying for 42 'activists' to come to Israel and rebuild two 'Palestinian' homes that were demolished for being built without a permit. That act is richer in hypocrisy than even I expected says Soeren Kern at PJ Media.

The Zapatero government recently unveiled a €5 billion plan to demolish thousands of illegally built coastal homes and hotels. The Spanish Environment Ministry says it wants to protect Mediterranean and Canary Island shorelines. By some estimates, there could be as many as 100,000 houses in Spain that have been built illegally. Homes built illegally after the 1980s, when laws to protect the coast came into force, face demolition with no compensation.

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Israel Matzav: Spain's demolition derby

Stop Raping Israel: Spy Wars II

Spy Wars II

As Natan Sharansky pointed out in the essential "Case For Democracy," unfree regimes and (by dangerous extrapolation) non state and semi state intolerant militias and rocket rich 'Resistance Movements' (with an amazing ability to resist their own legit govs way more than any foreign hanky panky) need 2 things to hang on and hope for the best:

External Enemies - Like o, say - Great Satan - and her democrazy little sister - Little Satan.


And - Internal Enemies. Like girls, facebook, free choice, human rights - and spies -- real or imagined.


Like the rocket rich rejectionist control freaks in Hiz'B'Allah. Led by the creepy Body Part Collector General, HBA -- the most proficient killers and serial tormentors of Americans in history til 911 time -- recently stymied in Lebanon's electile dysfunction with yet another attempt to gain legitimacy while seducing a segue fusing a real nation state with an operational terrorist group.


So -- HBA is doing the deal about spies. Spies here -- spies there -- all working for Little Satan of course.


"Lebanese OTV network, owned by politician Michel Aoun, reported that the army had broken into a structure in Jabal al-Baruch in April and found equipment suspected of serving Israeli intelligence.


"The report said the army had intervened after receiving intelligence regarding an “illegal internet company” operating within its borders.

"The alleged discovery is the most recent victory claimed by Hezbollah in its current battle against what it claims are Israeli espionage rings operating in Lebanon.

"The organization also boasts the arrest of dozens of alleged spies, one of whom was recently sentenced to life in prison by a Lebanese military court.


Oh Snap! Illegal Internet Activities?

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Stop Raping Israel: Spy Wars II

Israel Matzav: Spain expels Hondurans from UNIFIL

Spain expels Hondurans from UNIFIL

From an IBD editorial (worth reading) on recent terrorist victories in the courts:

Also Thursday, Spain's socialist government showed its low regard for anti-terrorist peacekeeping in Lebanon, where it has a leading U.N. role. Spain declared 51 Honduran volunteer troops unwelcome to help keep peace in that terrorist-threatened nation.

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Israel Matzav: Spain expels Hondurans from UNIFIL
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