Author Archives: First.One.Through

NY Times Alternative Facts: Area C

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The New York Times has an aggressive re-education effort about the world. It distorts history and facts in its enterprise, particularly when it comes to Israel.

A March 21, 2021 article was designed to elicit empathy for Palestinian Arabs, which is the anti-Israel’s paper common practice and right. What is unfortunate is not simply the bias but distortion of truth.

March 21, 2021 New York Times article about Palestinian sheep hearders suffering under Israeli “occupation”

The paper’s background to the area commonly known as the “West Bank” was as follows:

“The Israeli government’s explanation for the demolitions dates back to the 1990s Oslo Accords with the Palestinians. The agreement gave Israel administrative control over more than 60 percent of the West Bank, including most of the Jordan Valley, pending further negotiations which were meant to be completed within five years.

“But over two decades of talks, the two sides have failed to agree on a deal, so Israel retains control of the lands – known as Area C – and has the right to demolish homes built there without planning permission.”

The 1993 and 1995 Oslo Accords did not “give Israel administrative control” over area C; the Accords gave the Palestinian Authority (PA) control over Areas A and B. Israel has had administrative control of the West Bank for over fifty years. The Israelis gave the Palestinians the opportunity to control an area for the first time in history.

The Israelis were willing to give the PA more lands, including the vast majority of Area C in 2000. Not getting 100% of their stated desires, the Palestinians launched what is gently described as the “Second Intifada,” a murderous guerilla war waged for four years until Israel was able to halt the Palestinian killers by constructing a security barrier.

Israel handed additional lands to the Palestinians in 2005, as it withdrew from the Gaza Strip. That action led to wars from Gaza in 2008, 2012 and 2014 followed by West Bank car ramming and stabbing attacks in 2015 and 2016. The Palestinian actions destroyed any notion of Israel ceding control of more land to an entity hell-bent on murder. This reality is a far cry from the Times narrative that “the two sides failed to agree on a deal.”

Lastly, the Times, which forever likes to use harsh terms like “occupation” and “illegal” for Israel, is loathe to point out Palestinian terrorism and illegal activities. Like “illegal aliens” in the United States being called “undocumented immigrants,” the Times sanitized the illegally built Arab structures by claiming they were simply completed “without planning permission.”

The New York Times is deliberately posting ahistorical information to sway its readership to take a positive view of Palestinian Arabs and a negative view of Israel. It is part of the left-wing mantra to engage globally by distancing America from allies like Israel and warming relationships with state sponsors of terrorism like Iran.

Related First One Through articles:

Names and Narrative: It is Called ‘Area C’

Importing Peaceful Ideas to the West Bank

The 1967 War Created Both the “West Bank” and the Notion of a Palestinian State

American Leaders Always Planned on Israel Absorbing Much of the West Bank

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

Names and Narrative: The West Bank / Judea and Samaria

Extreme and Mainstream. Germany 1933; West Bank & Gaza Today

NY Times Alternative Facts on Palestinian Elections

NY Times Will Not Write About Arab Pogroms

The NY Times Will Not Write About the Preferred Violence of Palestinians

NY Times Disgraceful Journeys

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The Re-Introduction of the ‘Powerful’ Jew Smear

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Henry Ford Sr., the founder of the Ford Motor Corporation was a well known vile anti-Semite. He published a four-volume work called “The International Jew” in the early 1920’s which encapsulated much of the bile from the Russian forgery “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion“. Both publications assert that Jews seek to control the world, as summed up in a line from Ford’s work: “If there is one quality that attracts Jews, it is power. Wherever the seat of power may be, thither they swarm obsequiously.“

This smear has been uttered from the lips of the world’s worst genocidal anti-Semites, from Nazi Germany in the 1930’s and 1940’s, to the Palestinian political / terrorist group Hamas in the present day.

It is catching on in liberal circles today as well.

Consider the March 13, 2021 New York Times article about “nearly $3 billion earmarked for private schools… which came after Mr. Schumer was lobbied by the powerful Orthodox Jewish community in New York City, riled other Democratic leaders and public school advocates.” The “powerful” Jews got a U.S. senator to funnel money to their schools “even after House Democrats expressly sought to curtail such funding by effectively capping coronavirus relief for private education in the bill at about $200 million. Mr. Schumer, in the 11th hour, struck the House provision and inserted $2.75 billion — about 12 times more funding than the House had allowed.”

New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo agrees with the Times about Orthodox Jews. In October 2020 he berated the community about their actions during the pandemic and added “these ultra-Orthodox communities, who are also very politically powerful, don’t kid yourself.“

In January 2019, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour said that the pro-Israel community controls Congress saying “that is generally sort of a right of passage for politicians in the United States and that is sort of to profess sort of fealty, or at least pay homage, to AIPAC, the pro-Israel PAC that is very, very prominent.” Newly-minted Democratic member of Congress Ilhan Omar of “it’s all about the Benjamins“-fame enthusiastically agreed. The former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke was so impressed, that he sent Omar a heart emoji.

David Duke Tweets to Ilhan Omar about the “Zionist Occupation Government”

MSNBC wrote articles about how Republican “candidates for president are trumping out to Las Vegas to go kiss the ring of a billionaire casino owner,” Sheldon Adelson. However, when MSNBC wrote about Michael Bloomberg spending $400 million on the 2020 presidential race it wrote “Bloomberg’s ambitions serve as a reminder of the limits of money.” It also wrote in a positive tone that “Mayor Bloomberg and his team are making good on their commitment to beating Donald Trump.” For the liberal MSM, it would seem that Jewish billionaires are manipulative schemers when they back Republicans but noble fighters who sometimes lose when supporting Democrats.

The media’s education about Jewish control is not limited to politicians. The New York Times bemoaned how the Metropolitan Opera House “bow[ed] to the wishes… of Jewish critics” of the ‘Death of Klinghoffer’ opera and cancelled its global telecast.

When the largest newspaper and the governor of the state with the largest number of Jews comfortably smear the Jewish community in the manner of Henry Ford, decent people must assess the state of anti-Semitism everywhere in the United States, and most definitely, the rest of the world.

Related First One Through articles:

Governor Cuomo Comes After the Powerful Black Lobby

For The NY Times, Antisemitism Exists Because the Alt-Right is Racist and Israel is Racist

Examining Ilhan Omar’s Point About Muslim Antisemitism

Between Right-Wing and Left-Wing Antisemitism

Ramifications of Ignoring American Antisemitism

Peter Beinart is an Apologist for Anti-Semites

The “Unclean” Jew in the Crosshairs

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Palestinians Want Their Young Girls To Become Terrorists

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March brings a global focus on women’s rights and issues. The media, United Nations and business community consider important issues like “women empowerment” and ways of putting women in leadership positions. Not only would women have an immediate positive impact by imparting new perspectives on issues but would further act as role models for young women.

It is therefore worth reviewing one of the United Nations and liberals favorite locales, the Palestinian Authority (PA) territories and their choices for female role models.

The Palestinian Women’s Affairs Technical Committee (WATC) is based in Ramallah, down the road from the headquarters of the PA. Its stated mission and goals are to empower women, to develop their skills and competencies and erase stereotypes about women’s roles in society. On the surface, these seem like noble goals, until one applies the “competencies” to the murder of children.

On May 15, 2017, the WATC helped open a new women’s center in the Samarian town of Burqa, near Nablus. They opted to name the center the Dalal al-Mugrahbi Women’s Center, named for a terrorist who killed 37 Israeli civilians, a niece of a U.S. senator, and included 13 children in the infamous Coastal Road Massacre in 1978.

Palestinians inaugurate a square to commemorate Dalal Mughrabi, a Palestinian terrorist who killed dozens of Israeli civilians in a 1978 bus hijacking in Israel, seen in portrait, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on March 13, 2011. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

It was reported that at the center’s inauguration ceremony, Rim Haja, a member of the Burqa village council, said the center would focus on the history of the struggle of the shaheed (martyr) Dalal al-Mughrabi and on presenting her “heritage” to youth groups. She added that naming the center for Dalal al-Mughrabi led the way for other “enrichment activities” dealing with the history of the Palestinian “struggle.”

When news of naming the square after a terrorist got out, various sponsors began to withdraw their support, including the government of Norway and the United Nations which said it “disassociated itself from the Center once it learned the offensive name chosen for it and will take measures to ensure that such incidents do not take place in the future.”

The head of the official PA-owned news outlet Wafa, Sami Daghlas said that “the center has no intention of caving in to the pressure and changing its name,” and will continue on its mission “to serve and empower young women in the village and to help them develop them to become active members in society.” The question is of course, “active” in what way?

Over the following months, additional agencies and governments withdrew their funding support. When the European Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat, a joint donor program sponsored by Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland, pulled support from the WATC for its support in the center, Samia Bamya, the chairperson of WATC issued a statement:

“Despite the damage resulting from the cessation of funding, we will never make concessions as far as our principles and national and community role are concerned for the sake of receiving conditional funding.”

Amira Haroun, the undersecretary of the Palestinian Ministry of Women’s Affairs added her own thoughts to the defunding of the WATC stating:

“All of the women institutions working in the Palestinian territories are acting in accordance with Palestinian national strategies that support the Palestinian cause and preserve the history of our struggling people. Therefore, any foreign funding that does not go in tandem with these objectives is refused… Claims whereby reviving the names of our fighters by naming Palestinian centers, squares and streets after them fall under the category of incitement to violence. They are false claims and a distortion of the truth. Israel is the one inciting countries against us and killing our people continuously.”

The Palestinians continued to dig in and celebrate the murder of a dozen children riding on a bus.

In March 2019, the PA arranged the Dalal Mugrahbi Sports Festival. The District Governor of Ramallah and El-Bireh Dr. Laila Ghannam spoke at the event, stating that Palestinian children “are determined to continue on the path.” Ghannam also praised Palestinian women for having “brought children into the world, fought, and built glory that will not be erased.”

Facebook page of the Beitunia Upper Elementary School for Girls, March 13, 2019 with girls wearing shirts featuring the murderer of a dozen Jewish children, Dalal Mugrahbi

In March 2020 the PA daily wrote “Dalal decided to join the ranks of the Palestinian revolution and to act in the ranks of the self-sacrificing fighters in the Fatah Movement while still a student…. she became known for her daring, her courage, her well-developed national sentiment, and for her devotion to Palestine and Fatah.“

This year, the Fatah (political party of PA President Mahmoud Abbas) website wrote on the anniversary of her death, “The martyr Dalal al-Maghribi is one of the most famous Palestinian activists… Dalal and her band succeeded in reaching Tel Aviv and seized the bus with all of its soldiers…. this operation resulted resulted in hundreds dead and wounded on the Israeli side… lots of schools and squares in Palestine were named for this heroin[e].”

While the PA was extolling the virtues of this female terrorist, the UN was convening a Commission on the Status of Women where the “priority theme is women’s full and effective participation and decision‑making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.” The UN has said nothing about the Palestinian continued incitement to violence marketed to young girls.

It is part of an ongoing travesty that Palestinians name schools and camps after the killers of children (the PA is actually changing history and stating that she only killed soldiers) and teach the youth to emulate murderers. Using terrorists as role models is a crime against humanity.

While much of the world seeks to empower young women to achieve equality in education, career opportunities and freedom, the Palestinians seek to empower their young women to become murderers of Israeli children.

Related First One Through articles:

The UN Never Demands Justice for Palestinian Killers

Reviewing the Rhetoric of Palestinian Arabs and Israelis

The Proud Fathers of Palestinian Terrorists

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

The UN Hates Israel More Than it Cares About Women

“Occupation”-Washing Honor Killings

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The Educated Jewish Woman

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The Pew Research Center completed a survey in 2016 comparing world religions in regards to their levels of education. To the surprise of very few, Jews were the most educated group with an average of 13.4 years of education. What was also notable, was that Jews were the only religious group in which the level of education for men and women was the same.

ReligionMenWomenDifference
Jews13.413.40.0
Christians9.59.10.4
Buddhists8.57.40.9
Muslims6.44.91.5
Hindus6.94.22.7
Pew Research Center review of average number of years of education, by religion

The educational level for all ages in each religion has been rising, with Hindus and Muslims making the strongest gains (people over age 55 in those religions have only about 3.5 years of education). Unfortunately, as younger Hindus and Muslims get educated, the gender gap remains significant. Due to a rigid patriarchal society in many poor countries, 33% of young Muslim women and 38% of young Hindu women receive no formal education.

The exact opposite trend is happening among Jews. For older Jews, men (66%) outpace women (59%) in post-secondary degrees, while for younger Jews, women (69%) outpace men (57%).

At Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women, students have been accepted to dental schools at the rate of 100 percent for three years running.

Jews have a higher level of education in every country they live in. In Brazil, Jews average 12.5 years of schooling while non-Jews average 6.8 years. In South Africa, Jews average 12.0 years in school and non-Jews average 7.2 years.

Latin America is a curious anomaly regarding educational gender gaps for Jews and non-Jews. Jewish men average 12.1 years of education and Jewish women 11.6 years, a 0.5 year gap. Meanwhile, non-Jewish men and non-Jewish women have 7.4 and 7.3 years of schooling, respectively, almost no gap at all. So while Jews in Latin America are more highly educated than non-Jews as they are in every continent, the gender gap is uniquely more pronounced in that community than in society.

Overall, Jews are the most highly educated and have achieved gender parity unlike any other group.

As the United Nations meets in March 2021 to discuss the role of women around the world, perhaps it is time for it to promote Jewish women into leadership positions at the troubled agency.

Related First One Through articles:

Israel Stands Out Regarding Equality for Women

Empowering Women… To Murder

All About the Benjamins: Jordan Sells Citizenship While Women Left In The Cold

The UN Hates Israel More Than it Cares About Women

The Misogyny of Treating Women like Victims

The Sad Assault on Women in the Middle and Far East

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3 1 4, Hebrew Pi

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The ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter is represented in mathematics by the Greek lower letter Pi. To visualize this relationship, consider using a string to make a circle, and then straighten that string to run right across the circle through its center. The ratio of the length of the entire circle to that straight diameter line is pi, constant regardless of the size of the circle.

pi, or 3.14……

Beyond the geometry, people are drawn to this figure for other reasons. The number, when represented as a decimal goes on forever. People have used modern computers to take the number out to a trillion decimals! The first numbers 3.14159265359… are often abbreviated as 3.14.

Pi can also represent fertility. A circle is often used to represent women, such as in genealogy tables. Women were likely given the circle (as opposed to men who are denoted by squares) because of the roundness of their bellies while pregnant. Meanwhile, lines are used as a connection to spouses and offspring.

pedigree table, with women represented by circles

Pi represents the intersection of these ideas – women, generations, an infinite line and constancy. They all come together in the matriarchs of the Hebrew Bible.

Genesis 15:5 tells the story of God telling Abram that his descendants will be like the stars:

יּוֹצֵ֨א אֹת֜וֹ הַח֗וּצָה וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ הַבֶּט־נָ֣א הַשָּׁמַ֗יְמָה וּסְפֹר֙ הַכּ֣וֹכָבִ֔ים אִם־תּוּכַ֖ל לִסְפֹּ֣ר אֹתָ֑ם וַיֹּ֣אמֶר ל֔וֹ כֹּ֥ה יִהְיֶ֖ה זַרְעֶֽךָ׃

He took him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He added, “So shall your offspring be.”

Immediately after this story, Abram took Hagar, Sarai’s maid because Sarai was barren, and had a child with her. Some years later, Sarai (then Sarah) was able to have a child, Isaac. After Sarah died, Abraham took a third wife, Keturah, and had six children with her (Genesis 25:1-2).

Abraham’s son Isaac had only one wife, Rebecca. The Jewish people continued its lineage through Jacob who fathered children through four women: Leah, Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah.

This is the beginning of the promise to Abraham to have offspring too numerous to count: he had children with three women, Isaac had children with one woman, and Jacob sired children with four women: 3 1 4. Hebrew pi is infinite and constant, just like God’s promise to Abraham.

Related First One Through articles:

Abraham’s Hospitality: Lessons for Jews and Arabs

The Karma of the Children of Israel

On History and Civilization from the Bible to Columbus

Prayer of The Common Man, From Ancient Egypt to Modern Israel

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Names and Narrative: ‘Slain Attackers’ and ‘Popular’

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The United States Congress passed bi-partisan legislation which was signed into law by President Donald Trump in March 2018 which limited funds to the Palestinian Authority (PA) as long as it supported terror.

H.R. 1625 included language from the Taylor Force Act, named for an American murdered by a Palestinian Arab while visiting Israel, which specifically called out:

“The Palestinian Authority’s practice of paying salaries to terrorists serving in Israeli prisons, as well as to the families of deceased terrorists, is an incentive to commit acts of terror.“

It added that Congress further

“calls on the Palestinian Authority, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and any successor or affiliated organizations to stop payments for acts of terrorism by individuals who are imprisoned after being fairly tried and convicted for acts of terrorism and by individuals who died committing acts of terrorism and to repeal the laws authorizing such payments.“

The terms “terrorists” and “terrorism” being used for Palestinian Arabs is an anathema for The New York Times. The liberal paper actively seeks to portray the Palestinian Arabs in a favorable light as much as possible and did so in a March 11, 2021 article called “Chance of Renovation of School on West Bank Hinge on Aid From U.S.”

March 11, 2021 pro-Palestinian propaganda article by The New York Times

After twenty paragraphs of describing the students in an Arab school simply wanting an education and fearful of “ultranationalist settlers,” the article described the Taylor Force Act, albeit quite differently from than the actual text cited above. The Times wrote:

“The Act restricts the U.S. government’s ability to disburse aid that “directly benefits” the Palestinian Authority as long as the authority pays the salaries of Palestinian security prisoners and slain attackers.“

The word “slain” is defined as “to kill violently, wantonly, or in great numbers.” In other words, according to the Times, it is the Palestinian “attackers” who are killed violently and wantonly by Israelis. In regards to the Palestinians, they are not terrorists, but just “attackers” who may or may not kill violently, wantonly or in great numbers. Probably not.

This is a complete inversion of the U.S. law which sought to defend basic human rights by denying the funding of terrorism, turning the killers into the victims.

The misdirection of the Times continued a few paragraphs later with:

“The Palestinian Authority hasn’t announced plans for any significant reforms to its highly popular payment system.” That’s true. Palestinian Arabs love the flow of money coming from U.S. taxpayers to terrorists even if it means that they will be denied any aid from the United States. They would rather continue funding the murder of Israelis than have money to pay for a school.

But that story is lost in the Times’ misinformation piece which made the money to Palestinians look like a convenient system set up to aid the impoverished. Instead, the article finished with the plea “Our [Palestinian] kids have nothing to do with politics… why should they pay the price?” A brilliant advertisement, making the reader adopt the first person image that their “own” children are the ones who suffer from the U.S. law.

The United States stands against terrorists and those who fund and support them – not just including, but specifically – the Palestinian Authority. It is an insult to the memory and families of the American and Israeli victims of Palestinian Arab terrorists that the Times actively inverts the killers and the victims.

Related First One Through articles:

Abbas Failed To Capitalize on Trump’s Gift

Palestinian Post-paid Terrorism

Every Picture Tells A Story: Palestinian Terrorists are Victims

Names and Narrative: Zionist Entity and Colonial Occupier

New York Times Recharacterizes Hamas as a Right-Wing Terrorist Group

The Proud Fathers of Palestinian Terrorists

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

Flip-Flopping on the Felling of Terrorist Groups’ Founders

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Media Exacerbates Minorities’ Fears of Getting Vaccinated

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The mainstream media has been advancing the notion that the United States has always been, and remains, a country entrenched in systemic racism. It uses myriad statistics to support this theory such as higher Black unemployment, poverty and incarceration nationwide.

Recently, the liberal media has used the pandemic as another example to support their belief of systemic racism. For months, they reported that more Black and Hispanic people lost their jobs, and have been infected and died from COVID-19. The media informed the public that it was because of systemic racism and rich White people taking all of the vaccines as a matter of privilege.

So it was a (momentary) nice surprise to see The New York Times finally write that a major reason that Black people have not been vaccinated is that they don’t want to be vaccinated. The March 11, 2021 Times article “Misinformation Deepens a Gap in Vaccinations” described how Black people do not trust the government and believe that the vaccines are harmful because they have been fed “misinformation”. As the Times has repeatedly described mis/disinformation campaigns as a right-wing phenomenon, it was clear that the Times was attempting to portray another right-wing racist assault on people of color.

Front page article of New York Times on March 11, 2011

The Times article described over-and-again how Blacks and Hispanics and “communities of color” were weary about being vaccinated because they distrusted the government – and for good reason. It noted that “the belief that doctors are interested in experimenting on certain communities has deep roots among some groups, Ms. Kolai said. Anti-vaccine activists have drawn historical examples, including Nazi doctors who ran experiments in concentration camps, and the Baltimore hospital where, 70 years ago, cancer cells were collected from Henrietta Lacks, a Black mother of five.” Somehow, the Times omitted that the Nazi victims were Jews (who have been getting vaccinated), leaving a reader to imagine that those in concentration camps may have been Hispanics at the Mexico-U.S. border, as liberals termed those detention facilities.

The Times went on to accuse White people because “Many Black and Hispanic people were already struggling to make appointments and reach vaccination sites that are often in whiter, wealthier neighborhoods. And officials in some cities say that people from those [whiter, wealthier] neighborhoods also have been flooding appointment systems and taking supply intended for poorer Black and Hispanic residents.” It seemed like the Times was pushing a narrative in which rich White right-wing racists convince Black people that the vaccines are unhealthy so they could then sweep in to take all of the vaccines intended for poorer neighborhoods.

Lost in all the conspiracy peddling was self-reflection. The progressive disinformation campaign about American systemic racism has further instilled the sense of distrust in the government and the medical profession, making minorities increasingly wary of signing up to get vaccinated.

Indeed there is a disinformation harming minorities, but its sources is the very media that points elsewhere.

Related First One Through articles:

Mexico’s Coronavirus Disgrace

The West Bank / Gaza Coronavirus Gap

Progressive’s Coronavirus Contagion

When Only Republicans Trust the Police

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Christians Love the Jewish State

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The Catholic Pope went to Iraq in March 2021 to visit the land that used to be home to nearly two million Christians. A country which was at one time an example of coexistence, routed its Jews in the 1940’s and 1950’s and other religious communities over the past decades. The Christian population has plummeted by 80 per cent.

Upon arriving in Iraq, Pope Francis said “Iraq has suffered the disastrous effects of wars, the scourge of terrorism and sectarian conflicts often grounded in a fundamentalism incapable of accepting the peaceful coexistence of different ethnic and religious groups.” He used the term “fundamentalism” without tying it to Islam, so as to not offend his hosts and trying to build bridges to salvage the remains of the Christian community.

No one is confused about the situation.

Open Doors, a Christian advocacy group, published its 2021 World Watch List highlighting the 50 worst countries for Christians. Other than North Korea (#1) and India (#10), all of the worst anti-Christian countries had a Muslim majority. Not surprisingly, almost all of these countries have seen their Christian populations decline.

Yet, about 500 miles away from Iraq, next to war-torn Syria, lies the new Garden of Eden, a sanctuary for Christians in the center of the Middle East/ North Africa (MENA): the Jewish State of Israel.

When the Modern State of Israel was founded in 1948, there were 34,000 Christians in the country. That number has grown by 5.2 times, to 177,000 today. It is a rate higher than the growth of the Christian population worldwide and dwarves the rate of change of Christians in the MENA region.

Christian tourists also love visiting Israel. In 2018, Christians made up 56% of the tourists visiting the modern Jewish State. The country actively encourages Christians to come visit to see the birthplace of Christianity and visit sacred sites.

Being baptized in the Jordan River are Latin celebrities, from left, Zuleyka Rivera, Luis Alfonso Borrego, Andrea Escalona, Sherlyn González, and Carlitos Perez-Ruiz (Luis Fonsi’s manager). Photo courtesy of America’s Voices in Israel

In 2015, the Christian community built a new museum in the heart of Israel’s capital of Jerusalem, the Friends of Zion Museum. It is designed to “tell the stories of both the dream to restore the Jewish people to their historic homeland and of the brave non-Jews who assisted them in the realization of this dream.” It is a feat of religious harmony enabled by the Israeli government in Judaism’s most holy city. It stands in sharp contrast to the treatment of Christians and Christianity elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa.

The Pope’s tour of the Muslim Middle East is a reminder to Christians everywhere of the uniqueness of the one Jewish State and reasons to continue its commitment to see Israel thrive.

Related First One Through articles:

The End of Together

Are Muslim-Majority Countries Anti-Christian?

The New York Times Thinks that the Jews from Arab Countries Simply “Immigrated”

A Flower in Terra Barbarus

Israel, the Liberal Country of the Middle East

The Arguments over Jerusalem

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Hasidim “Chin Masks”

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On March 1, 2021, Frontier Airlines forced a Hasidic Jewish couple to deplane a flight from New York to Miami because they allegedly refused to wear a mask. The airline stated that “a large group of passengers repeatedly refused to comply with the U.S. government’s federal mask mandate,” which led to the ultimate cancellation of the flight.

Martin Joseph, A Hasidic man on the flight disputed the airlines claim saying “[w]e understand that the mask has to be worn, and everybody has to wear a mask, and that’s the law. We comply one million percent.“

I took a flight from New York to Miami with many Hasidic families during the pandemic. In my experience, both the airlines and the passengers were correct. Hasidim do wear masks, but it only covers their necks and chins.

Related First One Through articles:

Orthodoxy in ‘Shtisel’ and ‘Nurses’

The Joy of Lecturing Jews

Why Does the New York Times Delete Stories of Attacks on Jews?

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Shooting the Mob in Gaza and D.C.

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January 6, 2021 was anything but a regular day in the United States, but it did showcase the routine and pervasive anti-Israel attitudes in the media.

D.C. Mob

The day began with thousands of Americans who were upset about both the result of the presidential election and how the vote was carried out amidst the pandemic. While the protestors filed for a permit to conduct their protest in front of the US Capital, an unruly mob soon stormed the building and pushed their way inside. In the mayhem, police opened fire on the surging crowd, killing a woman. Investigators recommended that the police officer not be charged in the shooting, as the action was deemed to be appropriate.

The media would not identify the officer. However, the woman, Ashli Babbit, was described as being consumed with “radical conservative topics and conspiracy theories” and “a loyal Fox News watcher” who “engaged on social media with the conspiracy site InfoWars.” The media called her en extremist who came to D.C. with the intent to do harm.

The media was clear as to the good and bad actors in the episode and championed the actions of the capitol police. If anything, they bemoaned there not being enough police to stop the mob infiltrating the halls of Congress.

The media took the exact opposite approach in describing Israel’s defense of its border from thousands of attackers from Gaza in 2018 and 2019.

Gaza Mob

Gaza is the home to Arabs hell-bent on destroying Israel and killing Jews.

Israel left the Gaza Strip in 2005 to local Arab rule. In 2006, the Arabs in the Strip and West Bank voted Hamas, the terrorist group sworn to the destruction of Israel, to 58% of the Palestinian parliament. In 2007, Hamas took over ruling the area from the Palestinian Authority and subsequently launched wars against Israel in 2008, 2012 and 2014. The militants also built numerous tunnels underground into Israel used to kidnap Israelis, sent fire-kites into Israel in arson attacks and launched hundreds of missiles into Israel in between all-out battles.

So when Hamas sent thousands of people – including teenagers – out to the fence which separates the Strip from Israel, with the stated desire to invade the country, Israel sent its army to confront the mob.

A picture taken on March 30, 2018 from the southern Israeli kibbutz of Nahal Oz across the border from the Gaza strip shows Palestinians participating in a protests, with Israeli military vehicles seen below in the foreground. (AFP PHOTO / Jack GUEZ)

The intent of the vicious mob was quite clear, manifest in the 1988 Hamas Charter which calls for the killing of Jews and total destruction of Israel under the banner of Islam. Armed with wire cutters to cut the fence, blazing tires to set it on fire, mines and bombs to attack Israeli trucks and rocks to pelt the soldiers, the Israeli Defense Forces opened fire, as necessary to protect the country from invasion.

The press did not write about the story that way.

The Guardian called the violent mob “protestors” who had just “turn[ed] out to commemorate mass displacement of people in 1948.” Hamas was never described as a terrorist group and their political status was portrayed as just: “Palestinian political factions and civil society groups have demanded an end to a severe Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza and for Palestinian refugees to be allowed back to their ancestral homes in Israel.” There was no description of the stated intent to destroy Israel.

TRTWorld showed pictures of Israelis with guns and wounded Palestinians in their reporting, rather than the thousands of Gazans amassed at the fence. It made light of Israeli security concerns stating “Israeli forces often fire on demonstrators, under the pretext of preventing the border from being infiltrated, but among those killed are medics and journalists.“

Al Jazeera wrote that the “protestors” were simply on a “march” as part of a “a coalition of civil organisations” when they were shot by Israeli forces. The Arabs take part in such marches because “People have lost hope. There is only despair and misery all around them.“

The United Nations once again took up the cause of their historic wards and stated that it “has found reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli security forces committed serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.“

The press and U.N. wrote that it was shocked at Israelis shooting teenagers and never wrote nor condemned Hamas for putting minors at the front of a battlefield.

The Mobs at D.C. and Gaza

The situation and reaction to the mobs in D.C. and Gaza could not have been more different.

Citizens vs. Invaders. The mob at the U.S. Capitol began the day with peaceful protests of Americans at their representative body, before mob mentality set in. The mob in Gaza were foreigners who reject Israel’s right to exist who want to kill Israelis who were seeking an invasion.

Unarmed versus Armed. The mob at the Capitol had to use poles and barricades found on site to break into the building whereas the Gazans all came heavily armed.

One day versus years. The attack on the capitol happened on a single day. The attacks from Gaza have been raging since 2008.

Vilification versus Defense. Despite the differences, the press vilified the Americans and defended the Gazans. It pointed out the conspiracy theories and hateful ideologies of some American protestors but never called Hamas a terrorist group or referenced its Nazi-themed foundational charter. The press zeroed in on Americans wearing anti-Semitic t-shirts but never on the Arabs hoisting swastikas.

Palestinian flags and a swastika are seen amid the black smoke of Gaza demonstrations, April 6, 2018 (IDF Spokesperson Unit)

More defense versus stripping defense. American politicians supported the shooting of the American mob and were furious that there were not more police officers to defend the Capitol, however, the United Nations believes that Israel has no right to self-defense and must allow these Arabs to enter Israel – which is why the temporary agency UNRWA continues to exist 70 years after it was formed.

The hypocrisy of attitudes towards condemning the mob at the U.S. Capitol and defending the rioters from Gaza once again demonstrated the systemic anti-Israel orientation of much of the liberal press, politicians and United Nations.

Related First One Through articles:

Liberal Senators Look to Funnel Money into Gaza

Quantifying the Values of Gazans

CNN Makes Clear the Attackers and Victims in Gaza-Israel Fight

Shut UNRWA in Gaza Immediately

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

Cause and Effect: Making Gaza

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