New Head of UNRWA is Another Hamas-Sympathizer Politician

Posted on March 19, 2020 by First.One.Through

The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced the appointment of Philippe Lazzarini of Switzerland to be the new head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Upon hearing that the head was going to be from Switzerland and not England which is forever anti-Israel, one had a moment to be hopeful that the tainted agency that prevents peace in the Israeli-Arab conflict might have a chance of reform.

Philippe Lazzarini

Lazzarini had been the Deputy Special Coordinator for Lebanon and before that served in a similar capacity in Somalia, as well as a decade at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). His work often focused on “humanitarian assistance and international coordination in conflict and post-conflict areas,” so there was hope that the U.N. was making an active step to turn UNRWA into an organization of humanitarian assistance and not a political instrument to attack Israel.

Reading about Lazzarini’s work in Somalia gave a person a measure of hope. He said that “it is important to bear in mind that the humanitarian agenda will not be subordinated to political decisions,” an important point to make to gain support of people on the ground and to be effective and supporting people in need.

But that is seemingly only his concern in Somalia.

In September 2009, Lazzarini wrote a scathing peace about Gaza and the West Bank called “Putting dignity at the heart of the humanitarian crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory.” It showed a complete deafness to the history of the region and to his own recommendations in Somalia of keeping politics out of his work.

Regarding the first “intifada” which killed hundreds of civilians in Israel between 1987 and 1993, Lazzarini wrote

“Although that period was violent, with daily mass demonstrations, confrontations,
arrests and casualties, it was at least possible to dream of a better future.”

No mention of brutal killings, bombings or the slaughter of civilians. Just optimism.

He would continue that the situation at the time he wrote (2009) was worse, as there was little cause to be hopeful.

“The current crisis in Gaza was triggered by the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 and the unprecedented blockade imposed by Israel.”

Nowhere in the nearly 2,000-word article did Lazzarini mention that Hamas is recognized as a terrorist group by a dozen countries and sworn to the destruction of Israel. As such, the blockade appeared unjustified. He would keep his audience in the dark in writing about Operation Cast Lead of December 2008 – January 2009:

“The bulk of the 1,383 fatalities were civilians not involved in the fighting, including over 330 children. Tens of thousands were injured or traumatised. Enduring three weeks of daily bombardment from land, sea and air, the population had nowhere to seek refuge: borders were sealed and safe havens non-existent since even UN premises and schools, where civilians had taken shelter, were hit by direct shelling.”

Lazzarini failed to note that Israel launched the operation to stop the constant missile attacks coming from Gaza and to destroy hundreds of tunnels which Hamas used to bring in weaponry. He also did not mention that Israel allowed the flow of humanitarian goods throughout the conflict.

Regarding U.N. schools being safe havens, the question is safety for who? Just before Operation Cast Lead, Israel killed the principal of one of those UN schools, Awad al-Qiq, who built rockets for Islamic Jihad to fire into Israeli schools and playgrounds.

Lazzarini continued:

“Locked in by a medieval siege whose enforcers decide what items will be allowed in and what people will eat, Gaza has become a ‘humanitarian welfare society’ supported by the international community.”

The author of the Goldstone Report, Richard Goldstone said unequivocally, that “Israel, like any other sovereign nation, has the right and obligation to defend itself and its citizens against attacks from abroad and within.” The “medieval” behavior is by the antisemites who seek to kill Jews, not by those seeking to defend themselves.

Lazzarini then went on to blame Palestinian Arab child and spousal abuse on Israel:

“Women and children in particular are paying a high price, as shown by a recent UN survey revealing an increase in the prevalence of domestic and gender-based violence. Possible factors behind the increase in domestic violence include the
unprecedented levels of trauma and stress that emerged after the conflict.”

The obsession for blaming Israel for the situation continued, as did false political aspersions that “East Jerusalem” is “Occupied Palestinian Territory.” Firstly, East Jerusalem doesn’t exist, it was a 19-year blip in the city’s 4,000-year history and an artifice of war. Secondly, Jerusalem was NEVER designed to be Palestinian: not in the British Mandate; not in the 1947 U.N. resolution to divide the land for two peoples; not in the post-1948/9 war which saw the Jordanians illegally annex the city; not in the post-1967 war after Jordan attacked Israel and lost the eastern half of the city; and not in the Oslo Accords of 1993 and 1995, the last agreements signed by the Israelis and Palestinian Authority.

Lazzarini concludes his article with a notion that has proven untrue:

“Poverty, isolation and humiliation are recipes for extremism. ‘Unlocking’ Gaza by opening its crossing points and freeing up space for Palestinian development in the West Bank are the first steps towards averting a future explosion of violence.”

There is no correlation between poverty and “violence” a/k/a “terrorism.” Palestinians rioted in the 1920’s and 1930’s killing hundreds of Jews without “poverty, isolation and humiliation.” The perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks were from wealthy families.

The Palestinian Arab objection is the presence of Jews and the establishment of the Jewish State as Hamas made clear in its 1988 Charter with statements “Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Moslem people,” and “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” The Palestinian Arabs voted Hamas to 58% of the parliament in 2006 with this call for a religious war against the Jews.

It was not about “poverty.”

The new head of UNRWA looked at first blush as a man who could turn a terrible agency into a constructive organization solely dedicated to humanitarian assistance. Alas, he has shown that he is another political creature born in the UN swamp who will spare no ink to defend Hamas and berate Israel.

Related First One Through articles:

What’s Wrong with UNRWA

The United Nations Once Again “Encourages” Hamas

While Palestinians Fire 400 Rockets, the United Nations Meets to Give Them Money

The Dangerous Red Herring Linking Poverty and Terrorism

The Parameters of Palestinian Dignity

Palestinian Arabs De-Registering from UNRWA

UNRWA’s Ongoing War against Israel and Jews

UN’s Confusion on the Legality of Israel’s Blockade of Gaza

The Palestinians aren’t “Resorting to Violence”; They are Murdering and Waging War

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New York Times Pushes the Lie of Israeli Apartheid

Posted on March 16, 2020 by First.One.Through

The New York Times’ jaundiced opinion in its news articles that Israel is an apartheid state treating Arabs as non-citizens without rights is advancing at an alarming pace. It is resorting to shoring up its screed with outright lies and glaring omissions with greater frequency.

Consider the article by David Halbfinger on page A16 of the March 13, 2020 paper called “Arabs’ Clout Forces Israel to Take New Look at Democracy and Identity.” For the Times, the debate about forming a new government between the two main rival political parties (Likud / Blue and White) “turns on a question at the heart of the country’s existence as a democratic and Jewish state: Are the votes of Arab citizens worth as much as those of Jews?”

That’s the crux of the Times’ view of Israel: that it considers Arabs as only partial citizens with few rights. It supports its thesis with quotes like “‘They are saying that our votes don’t count exactly because this time we are able to change the game,’ said Aida Touma-Suleiman, a lawmaker from the Joint Lists’ far-left Hadash party.”

It’s ridiculous.

Americans unfamiliar with a parliamentary system cannot appreciate that the various political parties always jockey for position as to how and whether to be part of the government or opposition. Halbfinger failed to note that it was the Arab parties that refused to join any government since 1995 when they backed Yitzhak Rabin. The Times inverted the issue making it an Israeli bias of refusing to include the Arab parties, not the Arab parties rejecting the government.

Glaringly, the Times did not mention that there are several Israeli Arabs who are members of the “Jewish” parties including Likud, Blue and White, and Yisrael Beiteinu. Obviously their votes count.

To advance its theory that Arabs are a weak minority that are systematically ignored in Israel, the Times minimized the prevailing power of Arabs in Knesset and their actual views throughout the article.

Ahmad Tibi

Ahmad Tibi has been a member of the Knesset for over twenty years and has held the title of Deputy Speaker of Knesset for the majority of them. While he has passed a dozen laws in Israel, all the Times would print about him was “Mr. Netanyahu has long used Arab lawmakers like Ahmad Tibi, a onetime adviser to Yasir Arafat, as political foils to stoke right-wing anger.” A reader would have no idea that Tibi has been a senior member of the Knesset for years with such passing reference, making Netanyahu’s dealings with him seem petty and vengeful.

The Times never mentions Tibi’s speeches in which he praised the Arabs who have died fighting Israel as “Shahids” who die for “Shahada” (Death for Allah). This is Tibi making clear that the battle against Israel is a RELIGIOUS WAR, not simply a civil war over land. As such, it should be fought by Muslims in Israel with the same intensity and purpose as by Palestinian Arabs and Muslims around the world.

Consider this sharp divide between reality and the #AlternativeFacts printed by the Times: an Arab who praised a religious war against the Jewish State while serving as Deputy Speaker of that same Knesset is simply referred to as “a onetime adviser to Yasser Arafat,” who is wrongfully used to “stoke right-wing anger.” That Netanyahu attacks Jews and non-Jews alike as part of politics was not the message the paper wanted to pass along, as it coupled “right-wing” with quotes of Netanyahu “appealing to racists” in the article.

What Israeli Arabs Desire

A complete Times piece on Israel must have #FakeNews in addition to #AlternativeFacts and inversions, so the outlet threw out this tidbit:

“And with Arab citizens eager to get back at Mr. Netanyahu over a host of matters – including the 2018 adoption of a law declaring that only Jews have a national right to self-determination in Israel – they really did come out in droves.”

This claim is completely false. A joint poll held right after the 2018 Nation-State law was enacted conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Research (PCPR) and the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research concluded that Israeli Arabs OVERWHELMINGLY support the notion of Israel as a Jewish homeland (84.8% in question 8). It was one of the only questions that got nearly unanimous support.

That same poll highlighted that it is only Israeli Arabs who are in favor the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative (82.1% strongly approve or approve) while Palestinian Arabs (60.7%) and Israeli Jews (54.2%) oppose or strongly oppose that plan (question V8-10). The Israeli Arabs are leery of Netanyahu advancing the alternative U.S. Peace Plan which would transfer blocks of predominantly Arab towns to a new state of Palestine. That is the crux of Israeli Arab concern with Netanyahu, not the Nation-State Law of which they approve.

Many Israelis oppose the Arab Joint List because of its anti-Zionist views, not because it is Arab. But for today’s New York Times, Israel will forever be a racist colonial endeavor so it will print #FakeNews and #AlternativeFacts until everyone believes so as well.

Related First One Through articles:

New York Times Lies about the Gentleness of Zionism

The New York Times All Out Assault on Jewish Jerusalem

Members of Knesset and the Jerusalem Program

The New York Times Excuses Palestinian “Localized Expressions of Impatience.” I Mean Rockets.

The New York Times will Keep on Telling You: Jews are not Native to Israel

A Review of the The New York Times Anti-Israel Bias

The New York Times Whitewashes Motivation of Palestinian Assassin of Robert Kennedy

In Inversion, New York Times Admits “The Truth is Hard to Find”

New York Times Grants Nobel Prize-in Waiting to Palestinian Arab Terrorist

Regime Reactions to Israel’s “Apartheid” and “Genocide”

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Members of Knesset and the Jerusalem Program

Posted on March 15, 2020 by First.One.Through

The World Zionist Congress just finished its elections on March 11, 2020. There were few conditions to voting in the United States such as being Jewish and 18 years old. However, there was another requirement to have one’s diaspora voice heard in Israel: a confirmation of supporting the Jerusalem Program. As detailed by the American Zionist Movement, those beliefs are:

The unity of the Jewish people, its bond to its historic homeland Eretz Yisrael, and the centrality of the State of Israel and Jerusalem, its capital, in the life of the nation;
Aliyah to Israel from all countries and the effective integration of all immigrants into Israeli society.
Strengthening Israel as a Jewish, Zionist and democratic state and shaping it as an exemplary society with a unique moral and spiritual character, marked by mutual respect for the multi-faceted Jewish people, rooted in the vision of the prophets, striving for peace and contributing to the betterment of the world.
Ensuring the future and the distinctiveness of the Jewish people by furthering Jewish, Hebrew and Zionist education, fostering spiritual and cultural values and teaching Hebrew as the national language;
Nurturing mutual Jewish responsibility, defending the rights of Jews as individuals and as a nation, representing the national Zionist interests of the Jewish people, and struggling against all manifestations of anti-Semitism;
Settling the country as an expression of practical Zionism.

Yet these same principles are not held by many members of Israel’s own parliament, the Knesset.

The Joint List – a collection of four Arab parties – received 15 seats out of the 120 in Knesset, a 12.5 per cent tally. The party is led by Ayman Odeh, a man who called on Palestinian Arabs across the Green Line to fight against Israel and refused to attend a meeting in New York City held on the same floor as the Jewish Agency, the group that helps facilitate “aliyah to Israel,” as called for in the Jerusalem Program. The party also includes Ahmed Tibi who has said that Hamas is “not a terror organization,” even with a charter calling for the total destruction of Israel and the murder of its Jewish inhabitants.

The Joint List of Arab parties celebrates its showing in the March 2, 2020 Israeli elections with Odeh and Tibi at center (Photo: AFP)

This collection of Arab parties includes people against the Jerusalem Program and Israel itself.

In the past, Arab List Members of Knesset (MKs) included people like Hanin Zoabi who said “I do not represent the State of Israel nor do I speak for the State of Israel, but rather in the name of a struggle that performs the exact opposite of the role of the Israeli Knesset, according to its vision.” Current MK Yousef Jabareen is a member of Hadash (part of the Joint List) who openly calls Israel a racist society and speaks of ending the national identity of Israel.

Israelis somehow don’t seem to mind.

Hadash-member Raja Za’atra founded the B.D.S. (boycott, divest and sanction) movement in Israel and has compared Israel to ISIS and Nazis. While not a member of Knesset he is welcomed as a member of the Haifa City Council.

The State of Israel demands more Zionist affirmation from Jews in the diaspora than from its own citizens with zero effect. The March 2020 elections concluded with openly hostile anti-Zionist Israelis securing a considerable showing in the Knesset, while the alt-left Hatikvah slate had to lie about its Zionist bona fides to participate in the United States’ WZC elections and also secured a sizable vote.

These anti-Zionists are inside the power structure regardless of approach, so a decision should be made whether the Jerusalem Program be scrapped as irrelevant or actively enforced in both Israel and the diaspora to discharge the venom within.

Related First One Through articles:

Ayman Odeh Doesn’t Speak for Arab Israelis, Jewish Israelis or Peace

“Peace” According to Palestinian “Moderates”

In Defense of Foundation Principles

Arabs in Jerusalem

Jews, Judaism and Israel

Israeli Arabs SUPPORT Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People

The Debate About Two States is Between Arabs Themselves and Jews Themselves

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Ten Good Men

Posted on March 13, 2020 by First.One.Through

This weekend, March 13, 2020, will witness the first weekend without an Orthodox Shabbat minyan in Westchester County NY in probably 150 years, as the coronavirus pandemic hit this community very directly. It is so severe, that the National Guard is being deployed in New Rochelle. Other shuls around the state, country and world are also canceling their organized services.

Quarantine zone in New Rochelle, NY, with the Young Israel of New Rochelle at center

The concept of at least ten men gathering for prayer together is considered to originate in Genesis 18, where Abraham argues with God to spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah from destruction. In verse 23, Abraham asks God “Will You sweep away the innocent along with the guilty?” He proceeds to argue that a large city should be spared if there are 50 good people living there. When God agrees, Abraham pushes further to lower the threshold to 45, then 40, 30, all of the way down to 10 people at which point he stops. He seemed to acknowledge that the minimum viability for a city is ten good people.

Sages used this story as the foundation to decide on a quorum and instituted a policy of ten men over the age of thirteen to be the baseline for a minyan where certain prayers and activities could take place, such as reading from the Torah.

But this week – the week after the holiday of Purim which saw the world turned upside down 2,400 years ago – is witnessing the flipping of a minyan on its very foundation. Whereas Abraham called for ten good men to save a city, the pandemic is prohibiting ten good men from assembling together. While the lack of ten doomed two cities, hundreds and thousands of good people are getting sick and under quarantine.

When Abraham argued with God to save Sodom and Gomorrah, he did not ask if ten people were assembled in one place together; he just cared that there was a decent number of righteous people living in the area. So we ask and pray today, at a time when people are not able to congregate at their synagogues but must daven at home, may God realize the breadth and depth of good and righteous people living in our towns and bring peace and health to everyone.

Related First One Through articles:

Abraham’s Hospitality: Lessons for Jews and Arabs

Kohelet, An Ode to Abel

The Loss of Reality from the Distant Lights

Ruth, The Completed Jew

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Defeating Haman’s Big Ten Sons and Modern Antisemitism

Posted on March 10, 2020 by First.One.Through

The Book of Esther has a protagonist and antagonist with clear pedigrees. The protagonist, Mordecai is introduced in chapter 2, verse 5 as:

“In the fortress Shushan lived a Jew by the name of Mordecai, son of Jair son of Shimei son of Kish, a Benjaminite.”

The antagonist of the story, Haman, similarly has his legacy laid out in chapter 3, verse 1:

“Some time afterward, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite; he advanced him and seated him higher than any of his fellow officials.”

Each person is tied back to their father and further to show the essence of the person and family. Mordecai’s roots are in the tribe of Benjamin, the tribe abutting the Jewish holy capital city of Jerusalem. It is the tribe whose descendants came from Jacob’s (Israel’s) favorite son.

For his part, Haman is a descendant of the King Agag, the king of Amalek (Samuel 1, Chapter 15). Some generations before the story of Esther, a fellow member of Mordecai’s tribe of Benjamin, King Saul, failed to kill King Agag as directed by the Samuel the Prophet. The Amalekites were deemed forever evil, as the nation which attacked the Jewish people as they walked in the desert hundreds of years earlier, between slavery in Egypt and freedom in their promised land in Israel (Exodus 17).

The lineages of Mordecai and Haman are an essential part of the story. Two nations in Exodus faced off, with a powerful Amalek nation attacking a weaker Jewish one, followed by two kings in Samuel 1 where the stronger Jewish king failed to kill the king of Amalek. This current story is yet a further rung down ladder, with important laymen facing off. At this time, a respected Jew without real power confronts an anti-Semite with power due to his proximity to the king.

In this third chapter, the descendants of Benjamin and the Children of Israel thoroughly defeat the descendants of Agag and Amalek with the help of the Persian king.

But is there a fourth chapter to the saga? Is the Book of Esther the conclusion of the generational battles between Israel and Amalek with the killing of Haman?

The Jewish scribes give us a clue.

The megillah, the Book of Ether, is uniquely read twice a year. It is the the only one of the five megillot that is read from a parchment like the Torah itself, and has a blessing recited before it is read. As such, the physical writing instructs the listener as much as the words.

Esther chapter 9, reveals how the ten sons of Haman are murdered after their father is killed. Scribes write the names of the murdered progeny in a unique manner:

The name of each son is written with extra large letters and each name is distinct and separated from all other words on the page. It is the only time in the story that their names are even mentioned, and after they are, the text resumes its regular style print stating

“the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the foe of the Jews. But they did not lay hands on the spoil.”

The ten sons of Haman are not tied to royalty, the King Agag, as was their father; they are simply tied to the legacy of a notorious anti-Semite. That is the summation of what defines them.

These ten Jew haters were killed by the local Jews themselves (Esther 9:5) and not by royal edict as was the case for their father Haman. While they once appeared larger-than-life for the once weak Jews, the common Jews gathered strength to defeat not royalty, but mere Jew-haters.

The battles between the Children of Israel and Amalek had four chapters: between nations, between kings, between powerful laymen and ultimately between regular people. The Book of Esther tells the story of chapters three and four, and is read twice to make sure we internalize the message of defeating antisemitism: recognize that it is neither supreme or legal by royal decree. It is just Jew-hatred which comes in various sizes and shapes, all of which must be vanquished.

Related First One Through articles:

Taking the Active Steps Towards Salvation

When Power Talks the Truth

Purim 2020, Jewish Haikus

Purim 2019, The Progressive Megillah

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Purim 2020, Jewish Haikus

Posted on March 9, 2020 by First.One.Through

While the format of a traditional haiku is seventeen syllables in a 5/7/5 format, for this Purim, I have decided to use the Jewish chai’ku which has 18 syllables in an escalating 5/6/7 format, with some license.

I don my costume
The latest from Disney.
Rabbi’s grandson wears the same.

Her name Hadassah
Later called Queen Esther
First of Her Name, Breaker of Chains.

We all hear “Haman”
The groggers fall silent
My stomach growls, loudly.

The good guys triumph!
How unusual. Ah,
Not written in Israel.

Megillah two times
Yet Chanukah has none!
Al Ha’nissim inequality.

Diaspora Purim
Large meal and much drinking
Why only a single day?

Mishloah Manot
Only need two items
But don’t want label “cheap friend.”

Stale Hamantashen
Clearly weak store-bought fare
I rummage to find homemade.

Yes, I like muhn
A single day a year
A sweeter poppy bagel.

Two weeks trapped inside
Called for “Calm” Purim shpiel.
What day is Purim Sheni?

Related First One Through articles:

Purim 2019, The Progressive Megillah

Purim 5776/ 2016 Poem

Israel Stands Out Regarding Equality for Women

Posted on March 9, 2020 by First.One.Through

March 8, 2020 was celebrated as the International Day of Women. To mark the occasion, the United Nations produced a study which tracked how women are doing regarding equality around the world. It was called “The 2019 Human Development Report” and it was produced by The Human Development Report Office (HDRO) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The study took into account a number of factors including violence against women, economic power, ability to obtain an education and political power. It tracked the results by country and region and tried to assess why certain “social norms” existed in certain societies. It did this focusing strictly on the statistical data for most of the report, but the introductory comments spoke generally about how certain societies viewed women:

“Social norms cover several aspects of an individual’s identity—age, gender, ability, ethnicity, religion and so on—that are heterogeneous and multidimensional. Discriminatory social norms and stereotypes reinforce gendered identities and determine power relations that constrain women’s and men’s behaviour in ways that lead to inequality. Norms influence expectations for masculine and feminine behaviour considered socially acceptable or looked down on. So they directly affect individuals’ choices, freedoms and capabilities.

Social norms also reflect regularities among groups of individuals. Rules of behaviour are set according to standards of behaviour or ideals attached to a group’s sense of identity. Individuals have multiple social identities and behave according to identity-related ideals; they also expect others sharing a common identity to behave according to these ideals. Norms of behaviour related to these ideals affect people’s perception of themselves and others, thus engendering a sense of belonging to particular identity groups. The beliefs people hold about appropriate behaviour often determine the range of choices and preferences that they exercise—in that context norms can determine autonomy and freedom, and beliefs about social censure and reproach create barriers for individuals who transgress. For gender roles these beliefs can be particularly important in determining the freedoms and power relations with other identities—compounded when overlapping and intersecting with those of age, race and class hierarchies.”

The study states that societies have certain normative behaviors and gender is very integral to that configuration. A break from accepted patterns risks a rupture in the community to which one belongs. As such, a seemingly small break from community norms like young Pakistani woman Malala Yousafzai insisting on going to school, got her shot.

Reviewing the study from a country and regional standpoint highlights certain trends in what are considered “societal norms.”

The leading countries in gender equality are from western Europe, North America and Australia. The worst performing countries are from sub-Saharan Africa. The Arab States and South Asia were right behind sub-Saharan Africa.

It was a curious label to see “Arab States” as a category under “Region,” (Table 1) as it is not a region the way “South Asia” and “Latin America” are. One would have expected the report to call the region “Middle East and North Africa (MENA)” the way the United Nations usually refers to that part of the world.

But it could not because of an anomaly in the MENA region in its treatment of women which broke statistically from all of the Arab and Muslim countries: Israel.

As seen in the chart above, Israel is statistically much more like the leading western countries in the world in its treatment of women and not like its neighbors in the Arab world. The western countries in the chart above include Norway; Germany; Australia; Netherlands; Canada; United Kingdom the United States… and Israel. The Arab states include The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Qatar; Iran (not actually Arab but Muslim), Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Palestinian Authority, Iraq and Syria.

The differences in every category are striking:

Maternal Mortality. The West is 7.4 and Arabs 35.4, while Israel is 5 deaths per 100,000 births
Adolescent Birth Rate. The West is 10.0 and Arabs 35.0, while Israel is 9.6 births among women 15-19 years old per 1,000
Per cent Seats in Parliament. The West is 31.6% and Arabs 13.2%, while Israel is 27.5%
Per cent of Women with Secondary Education. The West is 91.9% and Arabs 60.1%. Israel is 87.8%
Per cent of Women in Labor Force. The West is 58.3% and Arabs 22.5%. Israel is 59.2%

Israel is not only an outlier in the Middle East in being the only Jewish state in the middle of Muslim states, it is an outlier in its progressive treatment of women as well.

The UN’s Antisemitic Host

Posted on March 6, 2020 by First.One.Through

The United Nations held a two day conference on February 28 and 29, 2020 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia called the “International Conference on the Question of Palestine.” It was organized by the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, in partnership with the Government of Malaysia and the Perdana Global Peace Foundation.

The keynote remarks were given by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. The Prime Minister used the forum to talk of the Israeli government as the “Tel Aviv regime,” refusing to acknowledge Israel’s capital in any part of Jerusalem. He called the United States “dishonest” and its peace plan a “mockery.”

Malaysian prime minister, 94-year-old Mahathir Mohamad

He went on to discuss the Holocaust and the “Nakba.” As covered by the United Nations media:

“Recalling that Israel came into being in 1948 by seizing land from Palestinians, he pointed out that the Holocaust lasted six years and the Nakba has been going on for more than 70 years. The Holocaust was committed by others, he noted, asking why Palestinian have to pay the price. The pro-Israel nations were quick to hold a tribunal at Nuremberg to try Nazi war criminals, but no tribunal has been established for Palestinian victims. Malaysia’s foreign policy towards Palestine has remained unchanged, he said, recalling that when the State of Palestine was proclaimed in 1988, Malaysia promptly acknowledged it. Malaysia stands by its position that the creation of an independent State of Palestine through a two-State solution based on the pre-1967 borders, and with East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, is acceptable. He went on to express hope that the International Criminal Court will take note of that blatant case of injustice of the century and institute proceedings against Israel.”

Over and again, the host for the United Nations conference compared Israel to Nazi Germany. He said the Nakba is actually worse than the Holocaust, as the latter only went on for six years while the former is running over 70 years. Even more, the world made the Nazis pay for their actions and he is waiting for the world to similarly punish the Jewish State “war criminals.”

The revolting sentiment comparing the deliberate slaughter of millions of innocent civilians to a civil war over land is abhorrent. But the United Nations proudly posted about both days of the conference, entitling the coverage of the Prime Minister’s remarks as “Unilateral Peace Plan Is ‘Mockery’ of Global Efforts to End Israel-Palestine Conflict, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Tells International Conference.” The UN clearly believes that this is a man of “peace” seeking to end a “conflict” in a respected “international conference.”

The Prime Minister of Malaysia’s history of anti-Semitic remarks such as calling Jews “hooked nose” and that they “rule the world by proxy” – comments he defended in the name of free speech – was not the least bit troubling to the United Nations which let him host and have the keynote address at a UN-sponsored forum about the Israeli-Arab Conflict.

The UN is making clear every day that it is not just a forum for anti-Zionists but anti-Semites as well.

Related First One. Through articles:

The Holocaust and the Nakba

Time to Dissolve Key Principles of the “Inalienable Rights of Palestinians”

Is Columbia University Promoting Violence Against Israel and Jews?

The United Nations Can Hear the Songs of Gazans, but Cannot See Their Rockets

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Rumor Contagion on Coronavirus in Congress

Posted on March 5, 2020 by First.One.Through

Yes, it’s me.

Like many news articles, there are facts, assumed facts, projections and innuendo to sell papers and serve as click-bait. Because coronavirus has captured people’s imaginations, it has become a wonderful vehicle to instill fear and capture headlines.

A friend of mine – who has mostly been kept anonymous by media outlets to protect the family’s privacy – has tested positive for coronavirus. The news media is correct that he lives in New Rochelle, is a lawyer and is in the hospital. His wife and son have also tested positive but are home and feel relatively fine as does the neighbor (lives on the same street, a number of homes away) who drove them to the hospital. Only the 50-year old lawyer is in the hospital as he had some prior medical issues which made him much more vulnerable to the strain.

It is also true that he attended the Modern Orthodox synagogue, the Young Israel of New Rochelle, on Shabbat February 22 and a funeral and bat mitzvah on Sunday February 23rd. It was there that he came into contact with many people who would later attend the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference in Washington, D.C. the following week. Some of those people at the conference went on to lobby members of Congress, so AIPAC sent a warning memo to members of Congress.

This was done as an act of major precaution, and there is virtually no reason to fear.

The synagogue in New Rochelle is a large one. Many of the people who are now self-quarantined – myself included – were just in the same building or same room as the infected man. The term “contact” is sometimes used very broadly as it has been now to be the most cautious, but 99% of the people who attended services on February 22 and 23 were not within ten feet of the man and feel perfectly fine.

I attended the funeral at YINR on the 23rd, for a parent of a friend from elementary school and high school. I did not see the infected man at that time but was merely in the same 50 foot-by-50 foot room with him for an hour, as were my parents.

On Saturday February 29th, I decided last minute to go down to AIPAC when I learned of three guys from my shul in a different community in Westchester county driving down to D.C. with an empty seat. During the car ride I reached out broadly to see how I could register for the conference and find a place to stay. Coincidentally, the victim’s wife responded to me that she had cancelled her trip to AIPAC as her spouse was feeling sick; she suggested I try to book their Marriott hotel room. I was unable to get into that hotel which was adjacent to the convention center but found one a few blocks away.

No news about coronavirus in Westchester had broken at that time. I hugged, shook hands and conversed with several hundred people at AIPAC on Sunday and Monday, some of whom went to lobby in Congress. I did not lobby, and returned home Monday afternoon in the car with the same three men with whom I drove down. We got back to Westchester at 8:30pm.

Vice President Mike Pence (head of coronavirus task force) addressing AIPAC March 2, 2020 (photo: First One Through)

Initial news of the virus in the community broke the following morning just before 7:00am as my son was getting ready to head on the bus to school. Additional information would flow throughout the day about who had gotten sick and the need to self-quarantine.

I have remained at home, as have my sons who attend two of the schools which were closed because of the virus. None of us has shown any signs of illness, but we are following the guidelines of the health commissioner as a matter of best practices.

Of course, I am not the only one who attended Young Israel of New Rochelle over the weekend of February 22/23 who then went on to AIPAC but I’m sure my story is fairly common: the “contact” we had with the sick man was neither close nor direct. That is true for my interactions with most of the 18,000 people at AIPAC and, in turn, the people at AIPAC with members of Congress.

But stoking fear and the urge for ad revenue seems too great for most. Don’t fall for it.

Please pray for the people who are indeed sick, including Eliezer Yitzchok ben Shifra.

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Bernie Sanders’ Antisemitic and Anti-Zionist Friends

Posted on March 4, 2020 by First.One.Through

It is worrying when terrible people appreciate you and the things you say. It forces a moment to pause and reflect on your language and message, but, it is possible that the vile audience may be outliers who misinterpret you.

President Donald Trump disavowed the endorsement of anti-Semite David Duke but many liberals still believe that the basic fact that Duke was drawn to Trump’s rhetoric was enough of a signal that Trump traded in hate.

So how can anyone who claims to not be an anti-Semite or be pro-Israel go anywhere near Senator Bernie Sanders who WELCOMES, ENDORSES and CELEBRATES ANTISEMITES and ANTI-ZIONISTS.

Here is a selection of some of Sanders’ buddies and surrogates.

Linda Sarsour

Muslim Women’s March organizer is a proud anti-Zionist and slams anyone who takes issues with her tirades of hate. Here is a selection of some of her remarks:

“Nothing is creepier than Zionism. Challenge racism”
“We need to dismantle the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and that requires us to dismantle AIPAC too.”
“peace in the Middle East does not mean that we have to support right wing racist governments that currently exist in Israel”
“If you’re on the side of the oppressor [Israel], or you’re defending the oppressor, or you’re actually trying to humanize the oppressor”
“any visible Palestinian-American woman who is at the forefront of any social-justice movement is an immediate target of the right wing and right-wing Zionists”
“Israeli apartheid regime”
“Israel is Built on the Idea That Jews are Supreme to Everyone Else”
“Jesus was a Palestinian of Nazareth.” —– a lie, like everything else she said.

Fear not. The hater of Israel does a soft side to her. For Bernie Sanders:

“I love Bernie Sanders and want him to be the President of the United States.”

Cong. Ilan Omar

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has attacked Israel, pro-Israeli Americans and AIPAC, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee:

“Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.”
“It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” meaning AIPAC
“a lot of our Jewish constituents, a lot of our allies, go to thinking that everything we say about Israel, to be anti-Semitic, because we are Muslim.” (inverting cause-and-effect that it’s not her antisemitism, but Jewish hatred of Muslims at the root of her dislike – a double insult)
“I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country [Israel]”

Regarding Sanders, Omar said “Proud to endorse @SenSanders for President, glad that @AOC and @RashidaTlaib are on board too”

Bernie Sanders said that Omar was “one of the greatest people I know.”

Sanders is not alone. That same racist that expressed support for Donald Trump did the same for Omar. David Duke said “By defiance to Z.O.G. [Zionist Occupation Government] Ilhan Omar is NOW the most important Member of the US Congress!”

Former British MP George Galloway

George Galloway cozies up to terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas the way a newborn cub cleaves to its mother. His various forms of Holocaust denial and overall vitriol made it difficult to stay in government.

“Nazism and Zionism were two sides of the same coin.”
“the Zionist movement and the newspapers and news media which are controlled by Zionism“
“I glorify the Hezbollah national resistance movement, and I glorify the leader of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah”
“the Palestinian people in Gaza are the new Warsaw Ghetto, and those who are murdering them are the equivalent of those who murdered the Jews in Warsaw in 1943,” equating Jews with Nazis

In regards to Bernie Sanders, he offered the following tweet:

“@SenSanders represents the best hope for the people of the USA and the world”

Former British Head of Labour Jeremy Corbyn

The antisemitism that took root in the Labour Party under Corbyn was horrific. An estimated 87 per cent of British Jews consider Corbyn to be an antisemite and many Jewish members of Parliament resigned because of him. The former Chief Rabbi of Britain, Lord Jonathan Sachs said that Corbyn gives “support to racists, terrorists and dealers of hate, who want to kill Jews and remove Israel from the map,” and uses “the language of classic prewar European antisemitism.” Some of Corbyn’s comments:

“you saw apartheid being introduced all over the West Bank of Palestine.”
“I suspect the hand of Israel in this whole process of destabilization [of Egypt].”
“The West Bank [is] under occupation of the very sort that is recognizable by many people in Europe who suffered occupation during the Second World War,” comparing the Jewish State to Nazi Germany
“I think the boycott campaign, divestment campaign, is part and parcel of a legal process that has to be adopted.”

Sanders loves the man. He offered the following comments about Corbyn:

“what Corbyn has tried to do with the Labour Party is not dissimilar to what some of us are trying to do to the Democratic Party.”
“I have been very impressed by the work that Corbyn has done and the campaign he is running and I wish him the very best.”

Cong. Rashida Tlaib

Tlaib is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives who gained fame for cursing out President Donald Trump as soon as she was sworn into office. Her comments about Jews and Israel have had a similar streak of invective:

“the right to boycott the racist policies of the government and state of Israel.”
“there is continued dehumanization and racist policies by the State of Israel”
“KIDNAPPED & EXECUTED 7 year old #Palestinian child Qusai was kidnapped by a Herd of violent #Israeli settlers” was a re-tweet of a false news story about a boy who accidentally drowned. She made no apology for the post.
“it was my ancestors, Palestinians, who lost their land and some lost their lives, their livelihood, their human dignity, their existence in many ways, have been wiped out, and some people’s passports… I mean, just all of it was in the name of trying to create a safe haven for Jews.” A complete denial and inversion of facts when her ancestors fought to keep the Jews out of Palestine and conspired with the Nazis.

Regarding Sanders, Tlaib tweeted “I am endorsing Amo Bernie Sanders because he’s not gonna sell us out.”

Keith Ellison

Keith Ellison had been a Congressman before moving to a senior position at the Democratic National Committee.

“Whether one supports or opposes the establishment of Israel in Palestine and Israel’s present policies, Zionism, the ideological undergirding of Israel, is a debatable political philosophy.”
“Political Zionism is off-limits no matter what dubious circumstances Israel was founded under; no matter what the Zionists do to the Palestinians; and no matter what wicked regimes Israel allies itself with – like South Africa. This position is untenable.”
“The United States’ foreign policy in the Middle East is governed by what is good or bad through a country of seven million people [Israel]. A region of 350 million all turns on a country of 7 million. Does that make sense? Is that logic?”

Noted Democratic donor and Israeli-American Haim Saban said the following of Ellison:

“If you go back to his positions, his [Ellison’s] statements, his speeches, the ways he voted, he’s clearly an antisemite and anti-Israel individual.”

Cornel West

Sanders turned to Princeton University professor Cornel West in 2016 to help him draft the official policies of the Democratic Party. He was proud to list him as a supporter in 2016 and again in this election cycle. Here are some choice words from West on Israel:

“for too long, the Democratic Party has been beholden to AIPAC”
“the only option a desperate Palestinian counter-violent struggle against the structural and military violence of the occupying Israeli state”
“the suffering of precious Palestinians under a vicious Israeli occupation is a crime against humanity”
“settler-colonial enterprise”
“Gaza is not just a “kind of” concentration camp, it is the hood on steroids.”
“The rockets of Hamas indeed are morally wrong and politically ineffective – but these crimes pale in the face of the U.S. supported Israeli slaughters of innocent civilians”
“heroic Palestinian tradition of critique and resistance”
“‘Shame the Congressional Black Caucus’ 4 not denouncing #Israeliapartheid”
“Israeli state terrorism in action and its Jewish racism in motion.”

His long screed of attacks on Israel never made Sanders pause about embracing the man.

Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky is a linguist and a proud progressive who trashes Israel frequently.

Israel’s “escalating policy of apartheid,”
“for decades, Israel has been kidnapping and killing civilians,”
“Israel is virtually a US military base, an offshoot of the US military system”
“It [Israel] carried out oppressive, brutal often murderous policies – mainly the usual imperial techniques: humiliation, degradation”
“you can be both an anti-Semitic Christian fundamentalist and a strong supporter of Israeli oppression and atrocities.”
“Jews in the US are the most privileged and influential part of the population. You find occasional instances of anti-Semitism but they are marginal. There’s plenty of racism, but it’s directed against Blacks, Latinos, Arabs are targets of enormous racism.” Note: Jews are statistically more likely to suffer hate crimes than any other group by a wide margin.
“In the Occupied Territories, what Israel is doing is much worse than apartheid. To call it apartheid is a gift to Israel, at least if by ‘apartheid’ you mean South African-style apartheid. What is happening in the Occupied Territories is much worse. There is a crucial difference. The South African Nationalists needed the black population. That was their workforce…The Israeli relationship to the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories is totally different. They just do not want them. They want them out, or at least in prison.”

Regarding Bernie Sanders, Chomsky said “If I were voting in the primary, I would vote for him.”

Other Notable Endorsements

The Sanders campaign proudly lists many other people who endorse the Democratic Socialist.

British MP Richard Burgon makes the list. He once said “The enemy of the Palestinian people are Zionists, and Zionism is the enemy of peace and the enemy of the Palestinian people.”
Scottish MP Ross Greer proudly endorses Bernie. He also says “Israel is not a beacon of democracy and decency. It is a colonial occupier, an apartheid state and an abuser of children.”
Canadian MP Niki Ashton is a supporter of the BDS movement against Israel and attended a rally supporting Palestinian terrorists saying she “was honoured to stand with many in remembering the Nakba”
Seattle City Council Member Kshama Sawant felt it appropriate to weigh in on Israel and pushed to have all members of the city council sign a letter saying “We also call for an immediate end to all U.S. government military aid for the Israel.”
Former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner weighed in on the 2016 Democratic platform and tweeted “It’s heavy in here right now #DemPlatform debate over ending occupation and illegal settlements Israel-Palestine…heavy!!!”

The list of anti-Israel Bernie supporters goes on.

In the other direction, Bernie Sanders has endorsed some alt-leftists in their own search for political gold. Sanders endorsed Cenk Uygur saying “Cenk has been a longtime fighter against the corrupt forces in our politics and he’s inspired people all across the country.” This is the same Cenk who said “Israel is a brutal, fascist ethnostate posing as a Democracy.” Sanders must find such statements inspiring.

Bernie Sanders is very proud of his anti-Zionist surrogates who peddle in antisemitic tropes and celebrate the murderers of Jews. Are you just as proud of Bernie?

Related First One Through articles:

Bernie Sanders is the Worst U.S. Presidential Candidate for Israel Ever

An Open Letter to Non-Anti-Semitic Sanders Supporters

#NeverGillibrand #NeverSanders #NeverHarris #NeverDeBlasio

Bernie Sanders Supports America’s Targeted Killings While Banning Israel’s

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