US Bans Iranian Media But Israel Shouldn’t In The Middle Of A War?

Posted on May 7, 2024 by First.One.Through

On September 15, 2023, the United States Treasury Department sanctioned 29 individuals and companies in Iran. In taking the action, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson said “As we approach one year since Mahsa Amini’s tragic and senseless death in the custody of Iran’s so-called ‘Morality Police,’ we recall that the movement of men and women across Iran, inclusive of different faiths and ethnic groups, was met with horrific violence, mass incarceration, and systemic internet disruption by the Iranian regime. The United States, alongside the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and our other international allies and partners, will continue to take collective action against those who suppress Iranians’ exercise of their human rights.”

On June 21, 2021, the United States seized 33 websites used by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union (IRTVU) and three websites operated by Kata’ib Hizballah (KH). The Department of State designated KH a Foreign Terrorist Organization. According to Reuters, “the sites seized included Press TV, the Iranian government’s main English-language satellite television channel, and Al Alam, its Arabic-language equivalent. Both came back online using Iranian domain addresses Alalam.ir and Presstv.ir.”

There was no brouhaha about the US actions against the lead state sponsor of terror. American media accepted the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)’s position that “that components of the government of Iran, to include IRTVU and others like it, disguised as news organizations or media outlets, targeted the United States with disinformation campaigns and malign influence operations.”

But the US government and media reveal blatant hypocrisy when it comes to Israel’s actions against Qatar’s Al Jazeera, which Israel is closing after the Qatari-backed terrorist group Hamas savagely massacred 1,200 people in their homes.

The New York Times’ Serge Schmemann wrote an opinion piece on May 7, 2024 that started with “the Israeli government’s decision to kick Al Jazeera out of Israel says more about the government than the TV network.” This is the mantra of the Times: vilify the Israeli government as right-wing fanatics and don’t write about the antisemitic terrorism of Arab Muslims in the region, and their backers.

The piece would go on to belittle Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin’s Netanyahu’s worries about the security threat of Hamas by stating “the network was hostile to the messaging of Netanyahu’s right-wing government.” This is an insane inversion, turning the mouthpiece of a terrorist group which is waging a genocidal war against Israel, into a condemnation of Israel’s “right-wing government.”

*New York Times opinion piece on May 7, 2024*

Israel is engaged in an active war against a number of terrorist groups supported by Iran, Qatar and Turkey. In addition, roughly 25% of Israel’s population is Arab. It is fully understandable that the country would try to stop the “disinformation campaigns and malign influence operations” of terrorist groups to avoid a multifront war, including from supporters inside of Israel.

When people hold Israel to a wildly different double standard it is the mark of antisemitism. When they do it about a terrorist group in the midst of fighting a genocidal war against the Jewish State, it’s the sign of dangerous antisemite.

New York Times’ Muslim Anti-Semitism Washing (October 2022)

What Do The New York Times And Vladimir Putin Have In Common? Both Accuse Jews Of Meddling In Elections (July 2022)

The New York Times Continues ‘Powerful Jew’ Myth (June 2022)

No Jews Killed In New York Times Telling Of Palestinian Terror Wave (May 2022)

Excerpt of Hamas Charter to Share with Your Elected Officials (May 2021)

Bad Education: Al Jazeera (September 2020)

For The New York Times, “From the River to the Sea” Is The Chant of Jewish and Christian Zealots (May 2020)

Even The New York Times Needs to Fire David Halbfinger (May 2020)

The New York Times Excuses Palestinian “Localized Expressions of Impatience.” I Mean Rockets. (May 2019)

Al Jazeera’s Lies Call for Jihad Against the Jewish State (November 2017)

Al Jazeera (Qatar) Evicts Jews and Judaism from Jerusalem. Time to Return the Favor (October 2016)

An Easy Boycott: Al Jazeera (Qatar) (April 2015)

The Gaza Red Herring Covering Iran’s Nuclear Breakout

Posted on January 10, 2024 by First.One.Through

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the rounds around the Muslim Middle East and Israel to declare that everyone in the region wants to avoid seeing the Israel-Palestinian War from Gaza spiraling into a regional conflict.

He is completely wrong. It is very much a regional conflict with Iran, and the region wants the Iranian threat addressed.

*Secretary Antony Blinken’s X post that countries want the conflict contained*

Iran has been actively stoking the conflict for years. The Islamist regime has backed the Houthis in Yemen stoking a civil war there, a war against Saudi Arabia next door, and assaulting shipping in the Red Sea. Iran backs Hezbollah in Lebanon which is shelling Israel. It is also one of the main backers of Hamas in Gaza which launched the sadistic atrocities of October 7.

The United States was on the cusp of brokering a deal with Saudi Arabia before October 7, which would have included the United States bringing the oil-rich nation nuclear capabilities, as the U.S. utterly failed to contain Iran’s nuclear program. Saudi Arabia had long made clear that if Iran got nuclear weapons, it would pursue them as well. The U.S. decided to make the best of a horrific situation, and rather than watch the Saudis secure nuclear blueprints and material from North Korea, it offered to supply the Islamist kingdom with the know-how, provided that the kingdom also normalize relations with Israel.

Iran’s nuclear break-out led directly to Saudi’s launching a nuclear program with America’s assistance.

When Israel called up a fighting force of roughly 350,000 people after October 7, it sent 200,000 of them to the Lebanese border, not Gaza. Roughly 100,000 were stationed around the West Bank to contain the various Hamas-allied terrorist groups like Lion’s Den and Jenin Brigades. The smallest segment went to Gaza.

Similarly, Israel did not only evacuate Israeli civilians from the entire area near Gaza on October 8. It also pulled all civilians away from the Lebanese border.

Israel readied for war on many fronts, not just Gaza, to confront Iranian proxies on every side.

Many Israeli military leaders are pushing to launch the battle against Hezbollah in Lebanon now, while 200,000 troops are stationed at the border and the civilians in the region have been evacuated south. They argue that the Iranian proxy with 150,000 missiles pointed at Israel is a threat which must be dealt with proactively and not according to Iran’s timetable.

This war started from Gaza but the conflict centers around Iran. Blinken may believe that the conflict is local and to be contained as he broadcast, or perhaps – hopefully – he toured the region to prepare for destroying Iran’s nuclear weapons in the very near future.

Will US-Israel-Saudi Arabia Play Godfather And Kill Heads Of The Crime Families

On 9/11, Commit To Blocking Iran and Saudi Arabia From Ever Possessing Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Will Biden Enable Hamas’s Sponsors of Iran, Qatar and Turkey

Paying to Murder Jews: From Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran to the Palestinian Authority

Some Global Supporters of the P5+1 Iran Deal

Israel: Security in a Small Country

Seeing Security through a Screen

Islamic and Alt-Left Extremists Declare that Normalization With Zionists Is Against Sharia Law

Posted on June 14, 2022 by First.One.Through

The Islamic spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, addressed the Muslim world on May 7, 2021 to inspire them to reject any peaceful relations with the Jewish State and its supporters. He said that “Israel is not a state, but a terrorist camp against the Palestinian people and other Muslim peoples” and that “Muslim and Christian scholars must declare that normalization is forbidden by Sharia.” He encouraged Palestinian youth to battle the “usurping entity” and urged the 14 million Palestinians around the world to return to “the Holy Land” to decide “the fate of the [Jewish] foreign settlers.“

The focus of this [Muslim] unity should be internal jihad and distrust of enemies. And Palestinian politics should not depend on the main enemy of the Palestinians, namely America, the British and the vile Zionists.
Islamic spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, May 7, 2021

Khamenei concluded his remarks calling for waging war: “The Palestinian Mujahideen [militant jihadists] must ably continue their legitimate and moral struggle against the usurping entity [Israel] until this entity acquiesced [surrenders].“

These sentiments were echoed in California by the San Francisco Executive Director of the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Zahra Billoo, six months later. While addressing the American Muslims for Palestine conference, she made clear that all Zionists are enemies. “Know your enemies, and I’m not going to sugar-coat that. They are your enemies. There are organizations and infrastructure out there who are working to harm you. Make no mistake of it. They would sell you down the line if they could, and they very often do behind your back. I mean the Zionist organizations, I mean the foreign policy organizations that say they’re not Zionists but want a two-state solution. I’m not a Palestinian myself but it’s my understanding that that is laughable. So know your enemies.” Billoo listed some of them: “We need to pay attention to the Anti-Defamation League. We need to pay attention to the Jewish Federation. We need to pay attention to the Zionist synagogues. We need to pay attention to the Hillel chapters on our campuses. Because just because they’re your friend today, doesn’t mean that they have your back when it comes to human rights. So oppose the vehement fascists but oppose the polite Zionists too. They are not your friends.“

Billoo continued that “We have to connect the dots between the organizations that promote Zionist agendas, materials, marketing and legislation are the same ones that want to ban Muslims, are the same ones that want to pass anti-sharia legislation.“

CAIR came out strongly to support Billoo’s remarks, stating it “continue[s] to proudly stand by Zahra and all American Muslim leaders who face smears and threats because they dare to express an opinion about Palestinian human rights.”

*CAIR Executive Director Zahra Billoo addressing American Muslims for Palestine, November 27, 2021*

A Massachusetts-based socialist extremist group that stands against “the colonization of Palestine, US imperialism, policing, displacement, and other interlocking systems of oppression” produced an anti-Semitic “Mapping Project,” which embraced the anti-normalization of any Zionist – person or organization. The group falsely claimed that “institutional support for the colonization of Palestine is structurally tied to policing and systemic white supremacy.” It listed names and addresses of organizations like Yachad New England which helps individuals with disabilities. The site called out this aid organization as “complicit in propaganda/normalization of Zionism.” It included Yachad’s address so extremists can easily track down and target disabled Jews.

Amalek would blush.

Socialists have bonded with Islamic extremists in Iran and the United States in calling for a jihad against anyone who supports the rights of Jews to live in the Jewish holy land and to have self-determination. These jihadists are branding Zionists and their supporters as enemies not just to Palestinians, but to the entire world.

Anti-normalization is now enshrined in Sharia and Progressive law, and is coming to a community near you.

Attacking Jews & Zionists: Arabs and Muslims

The Insidious Jihad in America

Is Ilhan Omar’s Mentor the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei?

The Banners of Jihad

Pick Your Jihad; Choose Your Infidel

80 Years After Wannsee Conference, Arab/Muslim Anti-Semitism Dominates

Posted on January 23, 2022 by First.One.Through

On January 20, 1942, Germans met in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee to develop the “Final Solution to the Jewish Problem.” The persecution of Jews was already well underway, and on that day, the Nazi regime put into place a program to push the Jews to extinction. They succeeded in wiping out nearly all of the Jews in Europe, about one-third of global Jewry.

Since the end of World War II, the Arab and Muslim world picked up the fight to “the Jewish Problem.”

The Arabs in Palestine were successful in lobbying the British in impeding Jewish immigrants desperate to leave the Holocaust in Europe with the “White Papers”, likely causing well over 100,000 Jewish deaths. The remaining Holocaust survivors landing on the shores of Palestine after World War II were very vulnerable targets. The Palestinian Arabs enlisted the help of neighboring Muslim countries to complete the genocide of the Jews, killing nearly one per cent of the region’s Jews in the 1948-9 Arab-Israeli War. The Arabs then ethnically-cleansed all Jews from the lands they seized, and forbade Jews from visiting their holiest locations in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Angry at the survival of the Jewish nation, Muslim Arab countries purged their Jews. Roughly 99% of the region’s Jews were forced out, an estimated 850,000 Jews, a total which excludes the Jews who fled Afghanistan and Iran.

Algeria 140,000
Egypt 75,000
Iraq 135,000
Lebanon 5,000
Libya 38,000
Morocco 265,000
Syria 30,000
Tunisia 105,000
Yemen 55,000

Arab countries attempted to kill all of the Jews in Israel again in 1967, though they failed spectacularly. Stinging from the loss, the Arab League adopted the Khartoum Resolution which called for “no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel and no negotiations with Israel.” The Arabs soon launched another war against Israel – during Judaism’s holiest day, Yom Kippur – in 1973, while pushing the noxious idea that “Zionism is a form of racism” at the United Nations under the watch of former Nazi, Kurt Waldheim, who was serving as the UN Secretary General.

Meanwhile, Christianity rethought its complicity in the European Holocaust and declared in 1965 that Jews were no more responsible for the death of Jesus than anyone else, and declared clearly that Jews should not be persecuted. Less than 25 years later, the “Iron wall” in the Soviet Union crumbled and allowed thousands of Jewish “refuseniks” to leave the country to Israel and elsewhere.

But the bile in the Arab Muslim world did not let up during this time, even as Egypt made peace with Israel in 1979.

The Palestinians declared themselves to have an independent state in 1988 on all of the land of Israel including the “West Bank” and Gaza, a move which was rejected by much of the western world. At the same time, Hamas introduced its foundational charter calling for the death of Jews and complete destruction of the Jewish State. The group (and other Palestinian terrorist groups) became immensely popular and received funding from Iran and Syria.

Iran and its proxies like Hezbollah, together with Palestinian Arabs, targeted and killed thousands of Jews around the world in the following decades. Iranian leaders have continued to hold Holocaust denial conferences, call for the destruction of Israel and pursue nuclear weapons and long range ballistic missiles.

On the 80th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference, the United Nations approved a resolution condemning Holocaust denial, with only Iran standing in opposition. The story was covered by The New York Times and other media outlets which wrote about the resolution and described today’s prevalent “right-wing” anti-Semitism and completely ignored that the vast majority of anti-Semitism stems from the Islamic world.

Not only will Muslim anti-Semitism not go away by ignoring it, but it may enable the leading state sponsor of terrorism and Holocaust denial to obtain weapons of mass destruction to carry out another genocide of the Jews.

Hamas’s Willing Executioners

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

Reuters Can’t Spare Ink on Iranian Anti-Semitism

Paying to Murder Jews: From Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran to the Palestinian Authority

Democrats Run To Countries Advancing Holocaust Denial

Posted on April 8, 2021 by First.One.Through

The evil of the Holocaust has no comparison. An elected government systematically targeted and killed a defenseless minority in its midst and enlisted its citizens and allies to participate in the atrocity.

The Jews were vilified by the Nazis and deemed guilty, guilty of an ever-evolving list of charges ranging from being dirty and lazy to infecting Aryan purity and stealing precious resources. The verdict was degradation, dehumanization and destruction. The Germans constructed an enormous infrastructure to annihilate the Jews under their sphere of influence, even importing Jews for slaughter.

While Nazi Germany was ultimately defeated in the battlefield, they were largely successful in the genocide of European Jewry. Six million souls were extinguished. World Jewry has still not replenished that number, and the world will never realize the value of their contributions, including those from their unborn descendants.

After the war, the United Nations established the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to address the depravity. It took roughly sixty additional years for the global body to take a stand against Holocaust denial as a critical component to “prevent genocide from occurring again.“

But shortly after the UN General Assembly’s adoption of that November 1, 2005 resolution, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the Holocaust a “myth” and a “fairy tale.” In March 2006 he said

“They have fabricated a legend under the name Massacre of the Jews, and they hold it higher than God himself, religion itself and the prophets themselves. If somebody in their country questions God, nobody says anything, but if somebody denies the myth of the massacre of Jews, the Zionist loudspeakers and the governments in the pay of Zionism will start to scream.“

In December 2006, Iran hosted a Holocaust denial conference. Speakers included American Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, French Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson and Australian denier Frederick Toben. Coupled with Ahmadinejad’s statements that Israel should be “wiped off the face of the earth,” the tether connecting the denial of genocide and the call for genocide was abundantly clear.

In response to the Iranian screed, in January 2007 the United States advanced a resolution before the UN General Assembly to confirm the November 2005 resolution on Holocaust denial. It called for all countries to “reject any denials of the Holocaust as a historical event, either in full or in part, or any related activities” because “humankind must remember to ensure that such events were never repeated.“

Iran used the opportunity at the global platform to continue to attack the Jewish State, stating that “the Israeli regime, [leverages the Holocaust] to exploit past crimes as a pretext to commit new genocide and crimes.” It added that “the Israeli regime had manipulated the sufferings of the Jewish people as a cover for crimes committed against the Palestinians, including ethnic cleansing and State terrorism. The international community should take strong action against such atrocious crimes,” attempting to turn the victims of genocide into the perpetrators – yet another form of Holocaust denial.

The speaker from Venezuela supported the Iranian position adding that the Holocaust was not unique and the resolution should “cover the deaths of those killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the Palestinian people, who were the victims of excesses perpetrated under the pretext of self-defence and security, as had occurred in November 2006 at Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip,” belittling the Holocaust and attempting to keep Israel from protecting itself from terrorism.

The United States condemned the statements and sentiments of Iran and Venezuela at that time. But lately, the US is warming up to both.

The United States had concluded that Iran was developing a secret nuclear weapons program in October 2003 and the Bush Administration initiated an effort to halt it in 2006. The Obama Administration continued those efforts and ultimately reached a deal in 2015 (known as the JCPOA) which simply paused the Iranian nuclear program for a decade, after which time, Iran would have the legal path to nuclear weapons. The Trump Administration pulled out of the JCPOA noting that the leading state sponsor of terrorism and country which called for the destruction of an ally should not have the capabilities to cause nuclear mayhem. Ever.

The Biden Administration disagrees.

In February 2021, the Biden team said it wanted to rejoin the JCPOA and would join the European Union in talks with Iran. It also moved to curtail the sanctions imposed by the Trump Administration.

Several Democratic politicians are also coming to reverse Trump era sanctions imposed on other Holocaust deniers like Venezuela. In March 2021, Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), a member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged Biden to change course on the socialist country. Perhaps not surprisingly, Murphy is also leading the charge (along with Senator Tim Kaine) to pressure Biden to engage with Iran and reenter the JCPOA.

On this Holocaust Remembrance Day, call the offices of Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy at (202) 224-4041 and (860) 549-8463 and demand that he stop supporting countries which actively deny and belittle the Holocaust which also seek to promote another genocide of Jews today.

Every Picture Tells a Story: Israel Is Scared of Female Iranian Shoppers

Posted on February 20, 2021 by First.One.Through

The New York Times has begun its latest battle with Israel and other Arab countries which seek to ensure that Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons and threaten the region, now that Joe Biden is president. The paper’s game plan is seemingly to make Iran appear as a benevolent actor, akin to other nuclear powers like France.

The February 20, 2021 print edition of The New York Times had an article called “Israel Reacts to U.S. Strategy on Iran Quietly, but Warily.” The article contained two black and white pictures with the larger top picture featuring two Iranian women shopping, while the bottom picture featured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu surrounded by security people. The caption read “Above, a bazaar in Tehran. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, avoided direct comment on the U.S. plan to reopen negotiations with Iran.“

For a story about the Iranian nuclear deal, the “news”paper opted to showcase a couple of women shopping to “educate” its readership about the nature of Iran. It declined to use footage which would have actually added context to the story such as:

a map of the Iranian nuclear sites and enrichment facilities
pictures of the Iranian centrifuges enriching uranium
a picture of Iran’s “supreme leader” together with his quote that Israel is a “cancerous tumor” to be “wiped out“
a picture of Iran’s proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon next to Israel
a picture of the bus carrying Israeli tourists in Bulgaria which Hezbollah blew up, killing five Israeli civilians
a picture of the Jewish community center in Argentina which was blown up by Iran and Hezbollah, killing 85

There are many pictures which would have been appropriate to include with the article as to why Israel is against the leading state sponsor of terrorism which threatened to wipe it off the map, gaining nuclear weapons. However, The NY Times wants to portray Israel as unduly nervous and paranoid about Iran, perhaps even racist. For the Times, Iran is much like France where women like to shop for handbags. Perhaps the Times will re-launch its tourism junket to Iran (which it billed as a “powerful country [which] has entranced, mystified and beguiled the world. Discover the ancient secrets and modern complexities of this influential land”) as soon as the pandemic winds down.

NY Times Tries Hard to Paint Obama/Biden as Pacifists and Trump as Mercenary

Posted on September 25, 2020 by First.One.Through

It must be especially galling to the left-wing media that an outlandish person like Donald Trump could forge peace deals in the Middle East while its patron saints in the Obama administration could not.

Consider the deliberate twisting of facts in The New York Times on September 24, 2020 about U.S. arm sales to Saudi Arabia. In a “News Analysis” section called “A Fraying Rationale for U.S. Aid to the Saudis in Yemen,” the Times wrote that

“Mr. Trump decided in early 2017 to restart arms sales to the Gulf Arab nations that President Barack Obama had halted in late 2016.”

The sheer audacity of this line in the Times is outrageous.

Obama’s term ENDED in “late 2016.” From 2009 to 2015, the Obama administration sold more weapons to foreign countries than any administration in U.S. history – particularly to Saudi Arabia. Obama’s penchant for arms sales was so egregious that even liberal media firms like Vice were appalled, writing an article as Obama left office in January 2017, “Obama’s Administration Sold More Weapons Than Any Other Since World War II.” The sub-header to the article was “Many were sold to the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia.” The article noted that “Under Obama the overall sales, pending delivery of equipment and specialised training for troops, to Saudi Arabia alone has ballooned to $115 billion.” At the time of the article, the war Saudis were participating in in Yemen was well under way with “over 10,000 killed, 2.2 million displaced and nearly half a million children on the brink of famine from the ensuing crisis.”

While the Times was factually accurate that in Obama’s final month of his presidency he halted the sale of precision-guided munitions, it was only of that particular weaponry and only after eight years of selling the Saudis over $100 billion in arms!

New York Times article written to paint Obama and Biden as pacifists and Trump as a mercenary on September 24, 2020, coupling a picture of destruction in Yemen with one of Trump with the Saudis sitting comfortably in the White House striking deals.

The Times article stated that “current and former administration officials, as well as former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic presidential nominee, say American involvement [in selling Saudi’s weapons] must end.” That’s quite a bit of “malarkey” as Biden would say, having been second in command in an administration that sold $115 billion in arms to the Saudis.

The Times added that “the State Department, starting in the Obama administration, sent a senior level official, Larry Lewis, on frequent trips to Saudi Arabia to advise on civilian harm,” making the Democrats appear worried about the death to civilians, but “the next year Trump administration officials pushed him [Lewis] out of the agency,” making Team Trump appear callous.

The attack on Trump continued to cast him as a simple arms merchant and uncaring of the damage done by the weapons: “Mr. Trump has offered a more transactional rationale [for selling arms to the Saudis]: that the United States should continue to sell weapons for the money. “They have nothing but money. Nothing but cash, and they pay us now.“”

The foreign policy failures of the Obama administration in the Middle East were plentiful, ranging from giving Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, a legal pathway to nuclear weapons; selling more weapons to Arab countries that any administration in history as a counter-balance the blessing of a nuclear-emboldened Iran; watching the arms sales be used to pound Yemen, the poorest country in the world, into sand; watching the plane-loads of cash sent to Iran get funneled into terrorist groups; failing miserably in negotiating between Israel and the Palestinians leading to Gaza wars in 2012 and 2014 and the stabbing intifada of 2015, to name but a few.

While U.S. voters don’t rank foreign affairs high on their priority list, The Times doesn’t want to take a chance.

During this particularly contentious election, The Times is actively recasting Obama and Biden as pacifists and Trump as a cold mercenary when in fact it was the Obama administration which enabled death and destruction in the Middle East and Trump who forged peace agreements in the region.

Israel Has Much Higher Claims to The West Bank Than Golan Heights

Posted on March 22, 2019 by First.One.Through

On March 21, 2019, US President Donald Trump said that it was time to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. The nature of the timing was viewed by cynics as a nod to help Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu win the election happening in a couple of weeks. For people who understand the nature of the strategic security need for the Golan, the timing had much more to do with the ending of the eight-year civil war in Syria and the rapidly expanding deployment of Iranian forces into Syria. An Iranian-Syrian axis in the Golan Heights would certainly lead to a war with Israel which would kill tens of thousands of people, conservatively.

While there was certainly some benefit politically to Netanyahu for the gesture, the rationale for Israel’s control of the plateau is definitely about security. But the arguments applied to the Golan are relatively weak compared to all of the reasons Israel should have sovereignty over the “West Bank.”

History

Jews lived in the Golan Heights for thousands of years. The ancient Kingdom of Israel occupied most of southern Lebanon and Syria and dozens of synagogues over 1000 years old can be found in the area. But most Jews did not live in that area, certainly compared to the West Bank, over the past 100 years.

Religion

There are no particularly important religious sites for Jews in the Golan. However, almost all of the sacred sites for Jews are located in the “West Bank,” which the Jordanians seized in 1949 including Jerusalem, the Cave of the Jewish Patriarchs in Hebron, Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem and Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus/Shechem.

Legal

When the global powers opted to divide the Ottoman Empire after World War I, they set some arbitrary lines. The French took the mandates of Lebanon and Syria and the British took Palestine. While the Syrians wanted control of all of Palestine, the global powers allotted Syria the Golan Heights, and Syria controlled the area until Israel attacked it in a preemptive defensive war in 1967.

The situation could not be more different regarding the “West Bank.” That area has always been a core part of the Jewish holy land for thousands of years. It was set as an integral part of the Jewish Homeland in international law in 1920 and 1922, specifically stating that no person should be denied the right to live there based on their religion.

The Jordanian army seized the land of Palestine and annexed it in 1949, contrary to all international laws, and evicted all of the Jewish inhabitants. The Jordanians then attacked Israel again in 1967 and lost the land for which they never had any rights.

Security

The security situation in the Golan is extraordinary, due both to the height and reach of the area which can cover all of northern Israel, as well as the military operation of an Iranian-Syrian pact.

But the security situation from the West Bank is also severe. The spine of the western West Bank is very high and overlooks all of Israel’s major population centers and airport. The miles of borders dwarf the size of borders in the Golan and Gaza.

The contrast between the Golan Heights and the West Bank is striking:

Original rights: Syria was allotted the Golan Heights roughly 100 years ago, while the West Bank was allotted to the Jewish homeland at the same time.
Rights of holder: Israel took the Golan from Syria which had rights to the land, while Israel took the West Bank from Jordan which had NO RIGHTS to the land.
Method of acquisition: Israel took the Golan in a preemptive attack, and took the West Bank in a DEFENSIVE ATTACK.
History/connection: While Israel has a connection to the Golan Heights, it pales compared to the eternal connection to the “West Bank” and Jerusalem.

It was President Barack Obama who saw the Israeli-Arab Conflict as one based purely on security. If he were president today and saw Iran embedding itself into Syria, he might have sought to help secure Israel’s rights and defenses in the Golan, just as Trump announced.

But Trump sees the Jewish State from more than just a security or political standpoint. As he appreciates the long history, deep religious connection and legal rights of Israel to the West Bank, one must foresee Trump embracing Israel’s annexation of that region as well.

Related First.One.Through articles:

Recognition of Acquiring Disputed Land in a Defensive War

I call BS: You Never Recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital

The Many Lies of Jimmy Carter

Obama’s “Palestinian Land”

Israel was never a British Colony; Judea and Samaria are not Israeli Colonies

Maybe Truman Should Not Have Recognized Israel

The US Recognizes Israel’s Reality

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Reuters Can’t Spare Ink on Iranian Anti-Semitism

Posted on February 18, 2019 by First.One.Through

There are very few news services that remain unbiased in the Arab-Israel Conflict. Progressive media like The New York Times report over and again that Israel is a far right-wing racist country while the Arab countries are moderates. Meanwhile, Fox News will forever take Israel’s side in the conflict. It often seems that the only party to report on the news while providing context in a neutral fashion is Reuters.

That had been the hope anyway.

On February 16, 2019, Reuters posted an article called “Iran Rejects Anti-Semitism Allegation by Pence.” In the first two paragraphs, Reuters relayed the charge by the US Vice President against Iran, without including a single word of an actual quote. Over the next three paragraphs, the media outlet relayed the response by Iran that the Pence accusation was ridiculous and quoted two Iranian officials, using 71 of their own words.

US Vice President visits Auschwitz Death Camp in Poland

Reuters had quoted a few words from Pence a few days earlier when he made the comments about Iran after to visiting the Auschwitz Nazi Death Camp in Poland. In that article, Reuters sought to give some context to the state of Jews in Iran:

“Iran’s ancient Jewish community has slumped to an estimated 10,000-20,000 from 85,000 at the time of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but it is believed to be the biggest in the Middle East outside Israel.”

It would repeat the exact sentence in the February 19 article.

How is a drop in the Jewish population by 82% over the past 40 years not underscored with horror? Why did Reuters add the word “but,” to make it sound that the Islamic Republic of Iran isn’t ruthless and horrible in its treatment of the minority Jewish population? First, the only reason why Iran has more Jews than other Arab countries in the region including Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Iraq was that those countries wiped out their ancient Jewish populations between 1948 and 1978, while the pre-1979 Islamic Revolution Iran (headed by the American ally, the Shah) retained most its Jews. But once Iran declared war on the West in 1979, it has been rapidly ridding its Jews. Second, to put the 82% decline of the Jewish population in perspective, the Arab population in Israel over the past 40 years has grown by 166%, from 706,000 to 1.88 million. If the Israeli Arab population had gone the way of Iranian Jews for the past 40 years, the current Arab population in Israel would be just 127,000, less than 7% of the current total. Where is the false outcry of ethnic cleansing and where is it actually happening, and why is Reuters failing to point it out?

The February 19 article went on to quote an Iranian leader that “the Holocaust was a disaster,” seemingly refuting Pence’s charge. However Reuters would write nothing about the annual Holocaust cartoon contest that Iran holds each year. It made no mention of the Supreme Islamic Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei questioning whether the Holocaust ever happened. A curious omission, considering the basis of Pence’s comment stemmed from his visit to a Nazi Death Camp.

The February 19 article would continue with another paragraph meant to provide context for the reader, this one about the nature of Iran’s threats against Israel:

“A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander in January threatened Israel, which Iran does not recognize, with destruction if it attacks Iran, state media reported.”

Note that Reuters wrote that Iran said it would destroy Israel as a matter of self defense, seemingly a reasonable stance. Reuters neglected to write about Khamenei’s comment that Israel is a “cancerous tumor” that must be fought and removed to realize the “complete liberation of Palestine.” Those vile Iranian comments from its Supreme Leader have absolutely nothing to do with Iran responding to an Israeli attack; they were simply threats of destruction.

Biased reporting against Israel is a hallmark of outfits like The New York Times and CNN. It is distressing to see more balanced media like Reuters whitewashing the genocidal calls and actions from Iran. #AlternativeFacts

Related First.One.Through articles:

Paying to Murder Jews: From Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran to the Palestinian Authority

In the Shadow of the Holocaust, The New York Times Fails to Flag Muslim Anti-Semitism

The Holocaust and the Nakba

Abbas’s Speech and the Window into Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism

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

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BDS is a Movement by Radical Islamists and Far-Left Progressives to Block Your Freedoms

Posted on November 27, 2018 by First.One.Through

In countries that embrace both capitalism and democracy, there is an appreciation of the ability to buy any legal product from any vendor within the country and from an allied country. That freedom is under assault by radical Islamists and far-left progressives.

Full Personal Freedom to Buy/
Limits on Selling Preferences

The ability to purchase legal goods from a company in good standing from an ally is natural. It is up to the individual – say an American citizen – to choose to buy an item to his liking – perhaps Droste Chocolate from the Netherlands or an Audi automobile from Germany. People are not compelled to purchase the item either because of a preference regarding the item (maybe they don’t like the taste of Droste Chocolate) or because they have an issue with the government (not buying anything German because of the Holocaust.) The legal structure of the society enables each person to make a buying decision on their own.

However, such rights are not so absolute when it comes to SELLING something. As examples, a person cannot decide to only sell their home to a white person any more than a store owner can prevent a gay person from buying a soda. Anti-discrimination laws specifically disallow such actions. A business or individual can decide not to sell something, but once a decision is made to sell a product, everyone must have equal access to acquire the item.

BDS

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel portrays itself as a human rights effort to pressure Israel to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority. It is not. It is an anti-Semitic movement designed to eradicate Zionism launched by Radical Islamists that has begun to co-opt far left-wing Progressives (RIAPs, Radical Islamists and Progressives).

The RIAPs often compare Israel to the apartheid regime in South Africa in their quest for BDS, which has many flaws:

There are two parties in this conflict. As opposed to the apartheid regime in South Africa which limited freedoms for its own citizens, the Israel-Arab conflict is between distinct parties.
The United Nations and dozens of Arab and Muslim countries back the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority has tremendous support from many countries around the world, including the United Nations itself. The blacks in South Africa were an isolated minority trying to fight for rights against its own government.
Israel has attempted to forge a peace agreement. For several decades, the Israeli government has tried to reach a peace agreement with the Arabs in the region. The dynamic here is not one of desire to reach a settlement, but a gap between the positions of the Israelis and PA.
The Israeli government has a good track record. The Israelis gave up land for peace with Egypt and were able to reach a peace agreement with Jordan. Israel gave control of Gaza and sections of the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority. For their part, the PA has not even been able to reach any settlements with rival parties.

Which party really needs pressure / help in getting to a peace deal?

Protesters hold signs calling for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS)
in Washington, D.C., August 2, 2014.
(photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

More to the point being addressed here, BDS prevents ordinary people from buying the Israeli products they desire.

As noted above, any individual can make a personal choice to avoid buying products made in Israel or the Israeli territories in Judea and Samaria. But establishing a boycott infringes on the rights of other people who very much want to purchase the products and services from the leading liberal democracy in the Middle East and North Africa.

If progressives really cared about human rights, shouldn’t they have lambasted the Obama Administration for not only handing $150 billion to Iran, a country that hangs gays by cranes in the middle of Tehran and executes minors? Shouldn’t the progressives have been further incensed with Obama for promising to import Iranian rugs, caviar and pistachios (see page 67 of the JCPOA).

How can progressives approve of the importation of goods from a country that executes gays and minors, but seek to boycott a country which has only reached a peaceful settlement with some of its Arab neighbors?

It is because the RIAPs believe that Israel is a completely illegal Zionist Project. Iran and other regressive Islamic societies like Saudi Arabia may be vile, but they are viewed by the extremist groups as legitimate. Meanwhile, they contend that Israel is illegal at its core and should cease to exist.

Consider the platform in Black Lives Matter “Invest – Divest” which declared America’s support for Israel, its “Global War on Terror,” and AFRICOM as simply tools of colonialism under the mask of combating terror. Under the BLM worldview, Israel is an extension of the racist American colonial project, putting Jews in homes where they do not belong, stealing from people of color.

These extremists do not simply have their own disturbing anti-Semitic worldview in which Jews are uniquely denied their history, heritage and basic human rights, but want to force every person to comply with their anti-Semitic agenda. They seek to rob every American of their choice of doing business with Israel.

BDS is the toxic combination of stealing individual freedom and forcing people to participate in antisemitism. Organizations that participate in BDS should be fined in the same manner as those that have policies that discriminate against any group.

Related First.One.Through articles:

The Three Camps of Ethnic Cleansing in the BDS Movement

J Street: Going Bigger and Bolder than BDS

BDS and Christian Persecution

Please Don’t Vote for a Democratic Socialist

When Power Talks the Truth

Denying Entry and Citizenship

Ending Apartheid in Jerusalem

The Personalisation of War

Iran’s New Favorite Jewish Scholars

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