After UNRWA

Posted on February 16, 2024 by First.One.Through

People are trying to figure out what to do with UNRWA, the troubled United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. The organization has long perpetuated the Arab-Israeli conflict, fomenting hatred for Jews in its schools, and promising millions of Arabs that their future is in Israeli towns and villages where grandparents who had wished for the destruction of the Jewish State once lived.

The temporary agency is funded by voluntary contributions from UN member states, so can be dissolved very quickly, as was always intended. The issue at the moment is that the hospitals and schools still need to operate, with or without the existence of UNRWA. The five regions where UNRWA operates – Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon – all have different dynamics, politics and infrastructure, and the future will be different for each.

The best solution is for UNRWA to be dissolved and its personnel and infrastructure to be handed to proper authorities: operations in Lebanon and Syria would shift to the UNHCR, the UN Refugee agency; Jordanian operations to the government of Jordan; and operations in the West Bank and Gaza to the Palestinian Authority, in a staged process.

Syria and Lebanon to UNHCR

There are approximately 581,000 descendants of 1948 Palestinian Arabs in Syria being cared for by UNRWA in 2022, and another 93,000 people for whom the agency also gives free services. The numbers are 487,000 and 70,000 in Lebanon for refugee descendants and other wards, respectively. All of them have been denied citizenship by their host countries.

These people and the associated infrastructure should be handed over immediately to UNHCR which cares for over 89 million people as of 2022. UNHCR would try to settle the 1.23 million people either in those host countries or find them citizenship elsewhere, just as it does with millions of other stateless people.

Jordan

Jordan was part of the original Palestine Mandate of 1922, and England separated the land east of the Jordan River to become a new country known as Transjordan in 1923. After Transjordan attacked Israel at its founding and illegally seized the eastern part of what remained of Palestine, it illegally annexed that land and renamed itself “Jordan.” It ethnically cleansed all Jews from the region, including eastern Jerusalem, and granted citizenship to everyone in 1954, as they long as they weren’t Jewish (Nationality Law Article 3).

Not surprisingly with such deep history with the land “between the River and the Sea,” roughly half of Jordan is “Palestinian”, approximately 2.6 million people including Queen Rania. These “UNRWA refugees” in Jordan have Jordanian citizenship and have zero need to collect global charity under the false notion that they are stateless and lack self-determination.

The schools and hospitals should be transferred to the government of Jordan’s control immediately. Some countries may want to continue to voluntarily contribute to the Jordanian king for some time to help absorb the hit to the country’s budget, and then slowly wean the king from the global money teat.

West Bank to the Palestinian Authority

Palestinians declared a state in 1988, and most non-western countries have recognized its independence. It is ruled by the Palestinian Authority, which elected a president from the Fatah Party in 2005 and a parliament in 2006 with a majority from Hamas.

The PA operates from the West Bank city of Ramallah and has responsibility for the vast majority of Palestinian Arabs living in the West Bank. The Authority is viewed as weak and corrupt by Palestinians and others. It supplies money to terrorists and their families in a program alternatively called a Martyrs’ Fund / Pay-to-Slay program, which is popular amongst Palestinians and detested by civil societies for directly supporting terror. The PA has failed on all fronts, not being able to show the ability to govern internally nor to advance a future of coexistence with the Jewish State.

Alas, it’s much better than the alternative Hamas which has ruled in Gaza since 2007 when it seized control of the region from the PA. Perhaps with greater focus on good governance with western oversight, the PA can be reformed.

Handing the 96 schools and 43 health facilities operating in the West Bank to the PA should happen immediately. Funding for the operations should cover only six to nine months and a cohort of countries led by the United States, which is UNRWA’s principle benefactor, should use the time to stabilize the transition. That includes ensuring that no hatred for Jews or teaching about the destruction of Israel is found anywhere in the facilities or educational materials.

Continued funding for the schools and hospitals after the initial transition period should be captured under the United States Taylor Force Act. Just as the PA is denied getting any US monies as long as it pays terrorist salaries in the Pay-to-Slay program, it would also lose funding that used to come through UNRWA for the schools and hospitals. The historic backdoor circumventing American laws would be sealed closed, and the US and PA would need to work together to ensure that supporting terrorism comes to a definitive end for any monetary support to come to the PA.

Gaza, At Some Point, to the Palestinian Authority

While UNRWA’s West Bank operations should move to the PA immediately, UNRWA in Gaza is a different story. Not only must the PA prove it can absorb the many facilities and cleanse them of their toxic hatred, the PA will be tested as to whether it can take control of Gaza after 17 years of Hamas rule.

Hamas’s complete rule of Gaza since 2007 brought the region complete destruction. It focused all of its energies on building a war infrastructure to destroy the Jewish State next door, rather than build a functioning economy and society. It left the schools and hospitals for the world to fund and run, so cared little about letting them get destroyed while its leaders hid like cowards underground.

Neither Hamas nor the PA can take over the rebuilding of the schools and health care facilities. Over the next several years, another global cohort, perhaps similar to the one easing the UNRWA transition in the West Bank, should be tasked with building institutions anew. Basic humanitarian values and rights must be incorporated into the very foundations to chart a path for a future when the PA may be able to take over Gaza as well as the new former-UNRWA infrastructure.

*UNRWA camp with a keyhole and key on top symbolizing the false promise that through UNRWA, Palestinian Arabs will get to move into homes in Israel*

These actions, if properly executed, should empower and moderate a new Palestinian Authority which can take over Gaza at some point, and ultimately negotiate peace with Israel.

The first step in ending the Arab-Israel conflict is for the United Nations and Saudi Arabia to clearly state that there is NO RIGHT OF RETURN FOR PALESTINIANS TO GO TO GRANDPARENTS’ HOMES IN ISRAEL. Immediately thereafter, the dismantling of UNRWA should commence.

There is a pathway to coexistence, and it must be built on truths and respect which Arabs and Jews fully acknowledge and internalize.

Speaking Honestly About Lies In The Israel-Palestinian Conflict (November 2023)

“Two States For Two People” And An Arab “Right Of Return” Are Mutually Exclusive (September 2023)

UNRWA Is A Prison (November 2021)

Help Refugees: Shut the UNRWA, Fund the UNHCR (September 2014)

Associated Press Inverts Facts And Promotes Hamas Narrative In Defending Progressive Radicals

Posted on February 9, 2024 by First.One.Through

The Associated Press produced one of its most lopsided articles when Iranian-American journalist Farnoush Amiri wrote “Progressives in Congress spoke up for a cease-fire in Gaza. Now they’re breaking fundraising records.” The article inverted fact and fiction in several ways.

SMEAR: AIPAC Targeting Progressives of Color

The journalist echoed a theme throughout her piece that the far left-wing ‘squad’ is using as a smear campaign that AIPAC is racist and a far right-wing group. Amiri’s comments included:

“Members of the “squad” — a group of liberals in the House — are being singled out by pro-Israel PACs like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee”
“turning the otherwise safely Democratic districts into election battlegrounds”
“cohort of Black and brown lawmakers is facing what they see as an “existential threat””
“Muslim community has felt erased and dehumanized throughout this process”
“In 2022, AIPAC spent around $27 million targeting progressive candidates.”
““(Muslim and Arab groups) are building an infrastructure that is financial and political and social, to fight back against AIPAC and to fight back against entities that continue to demonize them as Muslims as Arabs and as brown people,” Bowman said.”
““This is versus candidates, black and brown candidates, who come from working-class backgrounds, who represent working-class districts, who do not take corporate PAC money, who rely on grassroots fundraising. So this is not a fair fight,” said Usamah Andrabi, the communications director for Justice Democrats.”

That several extremists make the statement is one thing; for a journalist to repeat the slander that AIPAC is racist without any fact-checking is dishonest journalism. It’s not even journalism; it’s simply platforming alt-left political propaganda, which in this case is purely untrue slander.

Extreme Leftists Lie That This Is AIPAC vs. Bowman

AIPAC has a long list of endorsement to women, liberals, Blacks and Hispanics and Asians. They include: Pete Aguilar (D-CA); Gabe Amo (D-RI); Nanette Barragán (D-CA); Joyce Beatty (D-OH); Stephanie Bice (R-OK); Sanford Bishop (D-GA); Marsha Blackburn (R-TN);
Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR); Shontel Brown (D-OH); Kat Cammack (R-FL); Maria Cantwell (D-WA); Yadira Caraveo (D-CO); Tony Cárdenas (D-CA); Kathy Castor (D-FL); Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR); Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL); Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ); Katherine Clark (D-MA); Yvette Clarke (D-NY); Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO); Jim Clyburn (D-SC); Angie Craig (D-MN); Henry Cuellar (D-TX).

And that’s just some of the women and minorities through the letter C!

Of of the AIPAC’s champions in Congress is a progressive Black-Latino gay man named Ritchie Torres. AIPAC was his largest backer in the 2022 election cycle.

*AIPAC featuring a talk by Rep. Torres about the Iran Nuclear deal*

Israel and other pro-Israel groups were enormous backers of Shontel Brown, a Black Democratic woman in Ohio. The race was widely covered in the media – but not in the latest AP hit piece smearing AIPAC as racist.

To state over-and-again that AIPAC is a racist organization without sharing some plain and public facts that show the defamation to be without merit is complicity in the slander.

SMEAR: AIPAC is an Outside Influence While The Squad Is Grassroots

The AP piece made it sound like AIPAC is a nefarious outside actor while the squad is raising money locally in a grass-roots effort to fight off a foreign evil giant.

“It’s a struggle that raises significant questions about who can be a Democrat in Congress, what positions are permissible about Israel and the Palestinians, and what role outside groups should have in determining both.”
“Candidates being targeted by the group are trying to raise awareness for what they say is AIPAC’s toxic role in Democratic primaries.”
“In the last quarter alone, the group was the largest donor to George Latimer, Bowman’s opponent in the Democratic primary. AIPAC gave the Westchester County executive more than $600,000, representing more than 40% of his $1.4 million in contributions so far, according to campaign finance reports filed Wednesday.”
“Bowman, meanwhile, managed to raise more than $730,000 in total last quarter — the majority of which his campaign says came from grassroots Arab and Muslim groups and individual donors.”
““This is versus candidates, black and brown candidates, who come from working-class backgrounds, who represent working-class districts, who do not take corporate PAC money, who rely on grassroots fundraising. So this is not a fair fight,” said Usamah Andrabi, the communications director for Justice Democrats.”
“Tlaib’s massive fundraising haul can largely be attributed to a grassroots effort,”
““We are proud of our grassroots campaign that is bringing people together to fight for justice for all, no matter where you live or who you are,” said Carolina Toro-Román, Tlaib’s co-campaign manager.”

AIPAC is a bipartisan group and gives to both Democrats and Republicans. In 2022, it gave much more money to Democrats – an average of $38,730 per candidate in the House, compared to $20,700 on average to Republicans according to OpenSecrets. It’s a PAC like any other PAC, and there’s absolutely no issue with a bipartisan group giving money in primaries.

Further, the idea that Rep. George Latimer is taking “outside” money and not Rep. Jamaal Bowman is a complete lie. According to the latest filings, Latimer received 73% of his donations from inside the district while Bowman only received 9% locally.

The reality is that many locals gave to the Latimer campaign through the AIPAC donation portal, inflating what might be perceived as PAC money from around the country. While Bowman was collecting money from Muslims in Virginia and California, Latimer was collecting money from his constituents in Westchester.

To underscore the point, just last week, Bowman and Rep. Cori Bush reportedly teamed up to raise money in Los Angeles with people who praised the October 7 massacre of Jews as “a desperate act of self-defense.” The high-ticket affair held 3,000 miles from Bowman’s district is a sign of Bowman’s desperation for external extremist forces to drown out the moderate voices of his constituents.

IN FACT: Israel is a Liberal Cause

The reality is that Hamas is a genocidal antisemitic organization as proven by word and action. Meanwhile, Israel is a beacon of liberal values in the illiberal Middle East. Its rights for gays, minorities and women are unique in the region. It’s a leader in animal rights and the environment. In regards to freedoms, including speech, religion and assembly, it has no peers for a thousand miles.

IN FACT: Bowman Is Disliked for Many Reasons

Quite contrary to the AP article which led “They were warned that criticism of Israel’s conduct during its war on Hamas in Gaza could cost them politically,” Bowman is deeply disliked by people in his district for a wide variety of reasons and for a long period before October 7. He voted against the Infrastructure Bill, after he lambasted another Congressman for being against it. Unsatisfied with only being a hypocrite, he lied to his constituents that he voted for it.

His radical calls to “Defund the Police,” Abolish ICE,” pack the Supreme Court, push the most extreme forms of Critical Race Theory in public schools, ban charter schools, destroy the economy through issuing $14 trillion dollars of ‘reparations’ to Black people, taxing unearned capital gains and a host of other domestic policy issues have made him deeply unpopular.

Bowman’s bellicosity and race-baiting have made toxic. It was no surprise that he pulled a fire alarm, lied about it and was then appropriately censured by a bipartisan Congress.

The AP published a vile dishonest hit piece on AIPAC to platform left-wing anti-Israel propaganda. The editorial board should investigate and issue an apology.

Be A Proud DINO And Expunge Extremists

Jamaal Bowman’s “Good Trouble” Is All Out War With Zionists In Israel and America

Jamaal Bowman Is Unfit To Serve In Congress (November 2023)

Israel Teaches The World About Democracy (March 2023)

Israel’s Peers and Neighbors (March 2016)

A Flower in Terra Barbarus (December 2015)

Jamaal Bowman’s “Good Trouble” Is All Out War With Zionists In Israel and America

Posted on January 28, 2024 by First.One.Through

Rep. Jamaal Bowman, the two term far-left extremist now serving New York’s 16th Congressional District touts himself as pushing for “good trouble.” As he launched his reelection campaign this week, he made very clear that it means war with supporters of Israel.

Bowman yelled to his crowd about the pro-Israel lobbying group that “AIPAC is one of the most powerful lobbies in America. Well you know what we have got to say to AIPAC? Bring it on, y’all. AIPAC, bring it on, y’all! We are not scared of none of that! I’m from the streets of New York…. I was a middle school principal. Taught kids in the South Bronx. Hey y’all, this is New York. AIPAC, we’re ready for all of that. If you wanna support a corporate career corrupt pay-to-play politician, you go ahead and do that…. Our movement is much more powerful than they can even imagine!“

The reelection event included a handful of other speakers including Nada Khader, Executive Director of the WESPAC Foundation, a highly controversial organization. The Anti Defamation League has flagged WESPAC for funding a range of antisemitic and anti-Israel organizations including the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Palestinian Youth Movement, US Palestinian Community Network, and Within Our Lifetime. Those organizations have become infamous for many violent incidents since the October 7 Hamas massacres.

Immediately after the October 7 atrocities, USPCN issued a statement which called the brutal massacre “self-defense operations,” and that “today’s attacks from the Palestinian Resistance should be understood as a legitimate response to unending violence from Israel’s extreme right-wing, racist, white supremacist, zionist government and settler movement.” According to ADL, “At a USPCN rally on October 18, a protester held a sign with paraglider imagery, reading, ‘We will redeem you, oh Palestine.’ Paraglider imagery has been popular because some of the Hamas terrorists used paragliders to invade Israel. At the same rally, another prominent sign was seen reading ‘Zionism racism,’ with an image of blood and dollar bills in the shape of a snake.”

ADL adds that “Within Our Lifetime-United for Palestine (WOL) is a radical New York-based anti-Israel organization led by Nerdeen Kiswani that routinely expresses support for violence against Israel. Kiswani has called for all “Zionists” to be vilified and expelled from community spaces, and both she and WOL explicitly call for the complete eradication of Israel, including for Israel to be “wiped off the map.” After the October 7 massacre, WOL posted “We must defend the Palestinian right to resist zionist [sic] settler violence and support Palestinian resistance in all its forms. By any means necessary. With no exceptions and no fine print.”

Palestinian Youth Movement has long plastered posters of a Palestinian takeover of Israel through the blood of “martyrs.” At a protest after the October 7 slaughter, one member of PYM suggested that the Israel-Hamas war will come to New York, “We want to show the world that when Palestine rises up in resistance, the diaspora rises with it.”

*Members of WESPAC-backed PYM affix billboards of “Glory to Our Martyrs” poster covering the entirety of Israel in New York.*

The theme of threatening Jews in Israel and the diaspora echoed at the Bowman event.

Khader said to a roaring crowd and an applauding Bowman (29:10) “You [Israeli Jews] get safety when Palestinians are free. You get safety when Palestinians have equality. You get safety when Palestinians have self-determination. And we have the right of return to our homeland!” In other words, Hamas’s actions in Israel on October 7 were justified because even though Gazans have self-determination, they still live in Gaza, and as long as they don’t get to move into Israeli towns where grandparents lived decades ago, they will continue to hunt down, rape, burn and brutalize Jews.

*Nada Khader of WESPAC threatening Jews with more attacks if Palestinians do not get to move into Israel, with Rep. Jamaal Bowman cheering “Free Palestine”*

This event was not an outlier.

Just a few nights earlier, Bowman spoke at a rally with noted anti-Zionist Norman Finkelstein who had said “Israel has no legal right to use any kind of force in Gaza — under any circumstances.” Bowman said he watched Finkelstein all of the time on YouTube and was “a bit starstruck” to be with him.

While Bowman continues to rail against AIPAC and aligns himself with a host of people who believe that all Zionists should be subject to attack, he claims that he’s for love and peace in a weak attempt to shield him from charges of antisemitism. He contemporaneously falsely claims that AIPAC is racist and targets people of color, as the best defensive is a good offense. Fellow squad member Alexandria Ocasio Cortes echoes her socialist comrade and said that AIPAC is “more racist and bigoted PACs in Congress as well, who disproportionately target members of color.” It’s a complete lie and attempt to divert attention from an extremist member of congress who was censured in a bipartisan vote.

The truth is that AIPAC backs many people of color including Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY15) in the neighboring district and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY8). Many others include Gabe Amo (D-RI1), Nanette Barragán (D-CA44), Joyce Beatty (D-OH3) and Shontel Brown (D-OH11) to name a few.

Bowman’s anti-Israel vitriol and associations have become so aggressive that even far left-wing group J Street has pulled its endorsement of him after saying it would not do so a few weeks ago.

To be clear, this not just about Israel and AIPAC. Bowman has repeatedly voted against resolutions condemning antisemitism such as H. Resolution 894. Meanwhile, his opponent, Westchester County Executive George Latimer endorsed the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

Bowman’s rants have made the Jewish constituents fearful. Just hours after his challenge to brawl with AIPAC, someone defaced two Jewish stores in Scarsdale, including an ice cream store frequented by teenagers. Latimer showed up to a rally at the store a few hours later. He came to the Westchester Jewish Council dinner a few days later, standing before a diverse multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-religious assembly of local politicians and told the audience over and again “you are not alone.”

*County Executive George Latimer before a diverse group of politicians at the Westchester Jewish Council dinner, January 2024 (photo: First One Through)*

Bowman did not attend the rally confronting the vandalism. He did not attend the WJC dinner.

New York’s Congressional District 16 has many Jews and Israel supporters who are angry and frightened by Bowman’s bellicosity. There are dozens of reasons and tens of thousands of people who want Bowman out of congress and hope to achieve that in the 2024 Democratic primary by backing George Latimer.

ACTION ITEM

Donate $20 to George Latimer campaign

Follow George Latimer

The Re-Introduction of the ‘Powerful’ Jew Smear (March 2021)

Antisemitic Wind Chill, Now In Westchester

The Normalization Deformity: No To Zionism and Peace; Yes To Massacres and Terrorism In a Global Intifada

Jamaal Bowman Parrots Iran That American Exceptionalism Is A Lie Based In Racism

WESPAC, The Charitable Terrorist Supporters In Your Backyard

Extreme Leftists Lie That This Is AIPAC vs. Bowman

Jamaal Bowman Is Unfit To Serve In Congress

Palestinian Authority “Martyrs Fund” May Soon Fund Killing Jews in the US and UK (August 2023)

Don’t Let AOC Buy Another Squad Seat

Has The UN Secretary General Finally Ended The Palestinian “Right Of Return,” Preparing To Dismantle UNRWA Facilities In Gaza And The West Bank?

Posted on January 25, 2024 by First.One.Through

The United Nations has long been a terrible actor in the Israeli-Arab conflict, perpetuating the conflict through terrible policies and procedures. One of the worst offenses which contributed to the October 7 massacre and the current Gaza War was backing the “right of return” for millions of Arabs into Israel.

The United Nations agency, UNRWA, services roughly 7.5 million people of which 6.7 million are registered as refugees, with another 763,000 on the global dole. The vast majority of the 7.5 million are descendants of people who used to live in Israel in 1947. Amongst these so-called “refugees,” approximately 1.8 million live in Gaza and 1.1 million in the West Bank, a total of 2.9 million, or 43 per cent of UNRWA “refugees” live inside of 1947 Palestine.

These 2.9 million have been told by the United Nations that they will get to move into Israel for the last 75 years, based on a single line in UN General Assembly Resolution 194 of December 1948, that has long passed its expiration date. With that false promise, Gazans spend their time and money building a war infrastructure rather than an economy as they don’t imagine a future in their current neighborhood of historic Palestine, but in the Jewish State.

On January 23, 2024, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres may have laid the groundwork to finally end the dream of these 2.9 million Palestinians that their future homes will be in Israel.

In his remarks to the UN Security Council he said “The right of the Palestinian people to build their own fully independent State must be recognized by all. And any refusal to accept the two-State solution by any party must be firmly rejected. What is the alternative? How would a one-State solution look with such a large number of Palestinians inside without any real sense of freedom, rights and dignity? This would be inconceivable.”

The first part of Guterres’s comments is simply wrong. No state has a right to exist. None. Not Portugal, not China, not South Sudan, not Kurdistan. Individuals have a right to self-determination and there are many ways for that to be realized which do not create another Arab and Muslim country.

The second segment of his remarks, marked in bold above, is an important milestone for the UN. It is the first time Guterres essentially rejected the notion of Arabs swarming Israel – either in a one state solution or as part of a two-state solution in which 6.7 million Arab “refugees” enter the Jewish State.

Finally acknowledging that this will not happen, Guterres should make an unambiguous statement that there is no “right of return” for Arabs into Israel, a stale idea floated over 75 years ago in the midst of the 1948-9 Arab-Israeli War. In addition to such proclamation, he must follow up with actions to dismantle the “refugee” camps which dot Gaza and the West Bank, where UNRWA schools teach young Arabs that they will move into Israel and where UN facilities have keys above the portal to emphasize that the doorway for Palestinians to move into Israel is via the United Nations.

*Entrance to Aida Refugee Camp (مخيم عايده) in Bethlehem with keyhole gateway and key on top to symbolize that UNRWA is the pathway for Palestinians to return to ancestors’ homes.*

The United Nations finally said the obvious, that millions of Palestinian Arabs moving to Israel is “inconceivable.” It is time to explicitly state that there is no “right of return” and to dismantle the “temporary” refugee camps in Gaza and the West Bank which have long served as incubators for extremism and terrorism.

The “Context” For October 7 Is Palestinians Prioritize Destroying Israel Over Getting Statehood (January 2024)

The Only Way The Conflict Can End (November 2023)

Israel, Ceuta and Melilla: Third World Escape Hatches (November 2023)

“Two States For Two People” And An Arab “Right Of Return” Are Mutually Exclusive (September 2023)

Gaza, The Terrorist Enclave (December 2021)

UNRWA Is A Prison (November 2021)

Shut UNRWA in Gaza Immediately (August 2018)

When the Democrats Opposed the Palestinian “Right of Return” (August 2018)

A “Viable” Palestinian State (March 2015)

Help Refugees: Shut the UNRWA, Fund the UNHCR (September 2014)

Gaza Swag

Posted on January 22, 2024 by First.One.Through

Swag is commonly thought of as customized merchandise which people take from parties or conventions. The actual definition is illegally taken booty or loot.

Swag from Gaza comes in both varieties.

Israeli soldiers operating in Gaza are obviously confiscating weapons that they find throughout the territory. As Gaza is a densely-populated civilian area, these weapons of war are found in many homes, schools and mosques. Soldiers find many other items in those locations which they also bring back to Israel.

A favorite item are the Hamas headbands. These are found throughout Gazan homes, as the group which governs Gaza is very popular. Some Israelis bring these back as souvenirs. Israeli soldiers are reported to have taken Hamas patches and logos on other items as well.

*Young Gazan child with Hamas headband, cool shades and a machine gun.*

Hamas posters in UNRWA schools are also a favorite. Some are handed to the Israeli government along with school textbooks which call for the genocide of Jews to press the case for reform at the United Nations. Others are keepsakes to hang on the soldiers’ own walls when they come home, to remind them of the barbarity of Hamas.

Al-Qassam Brigades logo, the military wing of the Hamas movement

Many soldiers have reported seeing screensavers on computers of Adolf Hitler as well as his book “Mein Kampf” written in Arabic in people’s homes. Some of those things have found there way into Israel as well.

Palestinian Arabs also took swag from Israel: Jewish bodies.

Israeli soldier Cpl. Adir Tahar, 19, was decapitated by Palestinians on October 7 after he was killed in an explosion. His father found out from an interrogation of captured Hamas fighters that Arabs took his son’s severed head to Gaza and tried to sell if for $10,000.

Hamas also took many whole Jewish bodies to Gaza. The corpses were beaten and spat upon by dozens of Palestinians as the dead Jews were driven through the streets. It is unclear if the dead were marketed to the locals or held for ransom, as Hamas has said that they do not know the location of many hostages. Many were alive, some children to poke and prod. Grandparents and peace activists pulled from their homes. To shouts of “Allahu Akbar!“

*Dead Israeli woman, killed by Hamas in a dance festival, being taken into Gaza*

Israelis are bringing Hamas swag to Israel as evidence of the United Nations’ complicity in the war against Israel and reminder that the evil ideology extends well beyond 30,000 fighters. Meanwhile Hamas hauls Jews to Gaza – alive and dead, in whole or in parts – as a form of income and satisfaction.

There is a profound political deformity and moral depravity in Palestinian society today. When governments demand that Israel ignore both and discuss enabling a Palestinian state next door at this very moment in time while Jews are still trapped in captivity is a cruel form of psychological torture.

The Asynchronous Audience At Jihadists’ Auto-da-Fe (November 2023)

Abbas Pays Tribute To Murderers Of Jews Before The United Nations General Assembly, To Applause (September 2023)

Gaslighting Gas Chambers and Indigenousness (September 2023)

Palestinian Authority “Martyrs Fund” May Soon Fund Killing Jews in the US and UK (August 2023)

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

Parshat Zachor: Defeating the Scar (February 2021)

Quantifying the Values of Gazans (May 2019)

Politicians React to Vile and Vulgar Palestinian Hatred (May 2017)

Grading Evil and Evil Doers (December 2015)

I’m Offended, You’re Dead (February 2015)

The “Context” For October 7 Is Palestinians Prioritize Destroying Israel Over Getting Statehood

Posted on January 21, 2024 by First.One.Through

The disgusting defenses of Hamas and its sadistic brutality committed on October 7, 2023 come in a number of varieties. Some people openly support the killing of Jews and desire to see the destruction of the Jewish State. Others excuse Hamas’s atrocities by stating that the actions require “context,” meaning Israeli activities limiting movement and denying Palestinian Arabs a nation. This is a discussion on the second group, as the first are obviously vile and dangerous antisemites who should be driven from the public square.

Denying Versus Not Declaring A Palestinian State

Apologists for Palestinian terrorists include Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York’s 16th District, who argue that Palestinians have been denied their rights for 75 years, as Bowman recently said at a Yonkers event with notorious anti-Zionist Norman Finkelstein, who had described the October 7 massacre as “heroic resistance.” Bowman’s statement is a complete lie.

It was Palestinian and regional Arabs who rejected forming an Arab state during the November 1947 United Nations partition plan. It was Palestinian and regional Arab countries that waged a war to destroy Israel in 1948-9 and not form a State of Palestine in the aftermath. It was those same groups that again tried to destroy Israel in 1967 rather than declare a Palestinian State.

Again and again, Palestinians themselves did not declare a state as they wanted the entirety of the land “from the river to the sea” to be the State of Palestine, so focused their efforts on destroying Israel. When they made moves to accept a state on part of the land in the Oslo Accords, they once again opted for war in 2000 rather than forge a final settlement.

The Independent Gaza Strip

After Israel put down the multi-year Two-Percent Palestinian war waged from 2000 to 2004, Israeli leaders decided to give Palestinians more independence and self-determination. With assurance from President George W. Bush in an April 4, 2004 letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israel disengaged from Gaza, knowing that the U.S. was committed to backing Israel on key points that deadlocked the Oslo agreements: that final borders of Israel would not be along the 1949 Armistice Lines / “1967 borders” and would prioritize Israeli security and facts on the ground; and that Palestinian “refugees” (mostly descendants of Arabs who once lived in Israel) would settle in a new Palestinian State and not have a “right of return” to towns grandparents once lived in in Israel.

Israel withdrew all civilians and military from the Gaza Strip in September 2005. Palestinians were elated. According to a poll Palestinians conducted of themselves on the eve of Israeli withdrawal, “84% see it [Gaza withdrawal] as victory for armed resistance,” meaning that they saw the terrorism waged from 2000 to 2004 as forcing Israel to leave the region unilaterally. As opposed to the Oslo Agreement in which they would have needed to recognize the Jewish State but gotten most of the West Bank too, they got independence and self-determination just in Gaza without acknowledging Jewish rights to anything.

With their newfound freedom, Palestinians went to the voting booths in January 2006 to vote in a Palestinian parliament. Hamas, with its violent and antisemitic jihadi charter which calls for killing Jews and destruction of Israel, trampled the more secular Fatah, winning 58% of the parliamentary seats. (The last time the US Congress was so dominated by a single party was 2009 when Democrats had 59%).

The sentiment and quest for Jewish blood similarly rose.

When Israel pulled out of Gaza in September 2005, 46% of Gazans said that they supported killing Jews inside of Israel. By March 2006, that percentage rose to 64% and continued to rise.

In June 2007, Hamas violently threw out the Palestinian Authority and took over full control of Gaza. At that point, 74% of Gazans supported terrorism against Jews in Israel, even before Israel imposed a blockade on the strip. During the roughly two years that Palestinian Arabs had independence and self-determination – the only time in history when they had such freedom – their thirst for violent jihad INCREASED.

Palestinians have shown repeatedly that the desire to eliminate Israel dwarves their goal of self-determination and a state. Discussions of handing Palestinians more territory to rule after their sadistic savagery is not just blind to history and Arab sentiment, but dismisses the humanity of over 7 million Jews in Israel living in their ancestral homeland.

And those who argue that Hamas’s massacre has “context” are correct but facts and history prove the exact opposite point they claim: Palestinians are determined to wage war against Jews regardless of the cost of lives and irrespective of the level of their freedom.

ACTION ITEM

Email Rep. Jamaal Bowman “Palestinians commit and support terrorism because they have prioritized the destruction of Israel over statehood. A new Palestinian state will only come with recognizing the Jewish State and accepting that there is no “right of return” of millions of Arabs into Israel.”

Email Sen. Kirsten Giilibrand

Email Sen. Chuck Schumer

“Two States For Two People” And An Arab “Right Of Return” Are Mutually Exclusive (September 2023)

Palestinians Are Still Actively Fighting The 1947-9 War Against The Jewish State. They’re Losing Again (September 2022)

Gaza, The Terrorist Enclave (December 2021)

Enduring Peace Requires Unity AND Tolerance (August 2021)

To Answer the Question Tying Anti-Semitism, Understand The Two Types of Anti-Zionists (July 2021)

Hamas’s Willing Executioners (July 2021)

No One Mentions Actual Palestinians’ Sentiments (May 2021)

The Parameters of Palestinian Dignity (August 2016)

UN’s Confusion on the Legality of Israel’s Blockade of Gaza (July 2015)

NO Country Has A Right To Exist. Israel SHOULD Exist

Posted on January 18, 2024 by First.One.Through

When the congressional hearing about antisemitism at universities asked three university presidents whether they believed that Israel has a right to exist, they all answered in the affirmative, either believing so or feeling the pressure to state that they did. In fact, these educational leaders should have known that NO country has an inherent right to exist.

Not Turkey, not Colombia, not Japan and not Israel.

Countries have rights to secure borders and other matters, however there is nothing inherent that they must exist or that such existence cannot be dissolved.

For example, did Yugoslavia have a right to exist and does Macedonia have such right now? Did South Sudan have a right to a country before its creation? Do the Kurds have a right to a new Kurdistan in eastern Turkey together with sections of Iraq and Syria? Countries may opt to break apart into more regional tribal countries as was the case of Yugoslavia, or merge for particular political, demographic or ethnic reasons like Egypt and Syria in 1958.

But there is no inalienable right for any country to exist.

PEOPLE have a right to self-determination. Every person should be allowed to have citizenship in a country, participate in elections and have freedom of speech, religion and movement within such country as basic human rights.

It was a missed opportunity for the university presidents to educate the world on some fundamental realities but their failures were so profound, that this one was minor, especially in failing to clearly denounce repulsive calls for the genocide of Jews.

A more nuanced and interesting question is whether a country SHOULD exist. Does a country have a sound moral basis, a common sense of community and purpose? Does it have a functioning judicial system and ability and desire to govern and be governed? Is it willing to live at peace with its neighbors?

Israel meets every criteria. It has built a thriving economy and a liberal democracy in the heart of the illiberal Middle East. It has worked to forge peace agreements and engage in trade with its neighbors.

And even more, Israel built a safe haven for the most persecuted people in the world in their ancestral homeland. In their holy land. In their Promised Land.

*Morning over Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan (photo: First One Through)*

The answer is not clearcut regarding a Palestinian state.

The most compelling argument for a State of Palestine is that the Palestinians are stateless, Stateless Arabs from Palestine (SAPs). They should have self-determination and citizenship somewhere, whether in their own country or others like Jordan and Egypt. Many of the Palestinians have lived in the area for generations and share a language and culture, and can either unify in a single entity or be part of other Muslim Arab countries nearby.

There are many arguments against Palestinians having a country. They have consistently favored killing civilians in Israel next door and celebrate their sadistic slaughter. They have spent time and resources devoted to building a terrorist infrastructure rather than an economy. They focus their education on demonizing Jews and the destruction of Israel. On a basic political front, they have been unable to reconcile between the two dominant political factions and territories.

The United Nations continues to push for a new Palestinian State, perhaps to balance supporting Israel’s creation in 1948. In the November 1974 General Assembly Resolution 3236 (XXIX), the UN claimed that Palestinians had “The right to national independence and sovereignty;” which is a bold falsehood as described above. No nation has such right and it is highly questionable as to whether Palestinians should have a country.

While no country has an inherent right to exist, the only country which SHOULD definitely exist is the Jewish State of Israel.

When Founding Fathers Are Psychopaths And Cowards (January 2024)

The Failed Palestinian State (December 2023)

Israel Teaches The World About Democracy (March 2023)

Israel And Jews Everywhere Must Be Protected As An Ethnic, Religious And Linguistic Minority (September 2022)

The Lies Conflating the Holocaust and The Promised Land (January 2021)

The Palestinian State I Oppose (April 2018)

Time to Dissolve Key Principles of the “Inalienable Rights of Palestinians” (December 2017)

Considering a Failed Palestinian State (July 2015)

The Israeli Peace Process versus the Palestinian Divorce Proceedings (June 2015)

Murderous Governments of the Middle East (August 2014)

It Is Not 1947 And We Don’t Make Policy As If It’s 1947

Posted on January 15, 2024 by First.One.Through

The global population was roughly 2.5 billion people in 1947. Less developed countries had a population of roughly 1.75 billion, and there were about 800 million in the developed world. Back then, the populations of China, India, the USA and Russia were about 570 million, 360 million, 150 million and 100 million, respectively.

Quite a different world then today.

The world was once much more regionalized. In 1947, there were fewer than 25 million international tourists; that figure was nearly 1.5 billion in 2019 before the pandemic, and has slightly rebounded to just under 1 billion in 2022. There were only about 10 million foreign-born people in the US in 1947, a number closer to 45 million in 2018. The figures are similar in Europe.

Computers were just starting to be used 75 years ago, with today’s pocket smartphones having more capabilities than those gigantic governmental ones. International calls cost a fortune as opposed to today’s free over-the-top calls made to people everywhere in an instant.

Technology and transportation have made the world smaller and people migrate much more than they did 75 years ago. Just since 1990, Europe went from having a foreign-born population accounting for roughly 5.5% of the population to nearly 10.5% in 2015. In the United States, it went from 7.9% to 13.9% over those same years.

Laws and regulations changed over the past 75 years which contributed to global migration patterns beyond technology and transportation. Many more immigrants from Latin American countries come to the United States now, whereas they used to come from Europe (75% in 1950s). Countries pass laws based on current realities and desires for the future. They tinker with immigration policy based on global demand as well as their own demographic needs for labor.

No country enacts policies to RECREATE A REALITY that existed in the past. They do not pretend that it’s 1947 and that laws passed back then have relevance to today’s reality.

Except for the United Nations as it relates in Palestinian Arabs.

The UN continues to bless the Palestinian desire for a “Right of Return” to homes that grandparents once lived in inside Israel based in a resolution passed in December 1948 when the Arab war to destroy the new State of Israel was still being waged. While the UN and Palestinians ignore most of Resolution 194 as it obviously has no bearing on today’s reality, they continue to prop up a single provision, article 11 which states:

“Resolves that refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.“

Supporters of Hamas express their solidarity with the Jenin refugee camp, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 10, 2022. Days before, gunmen from Jenin went on a shooting rampage in Tel Aviv killing three Israelis and wounding more than a dozen others. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)

People correctly point out that almost all Palestinians today are not refugees and are unwilling to live at peace with Israel as demonstrated time and time again. More basically, today is not 1947, and the same way that UNGA Resolution 194 calling for the internationalization of Greater Jerusalem and Greater Bethlehem is no longer contemplated, so has the concept of a “right of return” long passed its expiration date.

The UN may advocate for Palestinian self-determination but cannot demand a right-of-return to Israel. All nations must make clear that they support terminating a concept which was captured in a single line in a resolution passed in 1948 in the middle of a war.

ACTION ITEM

Email White House “Make clear that our country opposes the idea that descendants of Palestinian refugees have a “right of return” to towns inside Israel which was contemplated as part of a broad end to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It continues to foment frustration, hatred and encourages war in the region.

The Toxicity of The Latest “Nakba” Resolution

Palestinians Are Still Actively Fighting The 1947-9 War Against The Jewish State. They’re Losing Again

Israel, Ceuta and Melilla: Third World Escape Hatches

Does the UN Only Grant Inalienable Rights to Palestinians?

The Only Way The Conflict Can End

The Fourth ‘No’ of the Khartoum Resolution: No Return of Palestinian Refugees

“Two States For Two People” And An Arab “Right Of Return” Are Mutually Exclusive

There Is No Backing For A Palestinian “Right Of Return”

There Is No ‘Genocide’ Against Infrastructure

Posted on January 12, 2024 by First.One.Through

South Africa’s Case For ‘Genocide’

South Africa put forward the charge of ‘genocidal conduct‘ against Israel for its actions in Gaza since October 8, 2023. The reported figure of over 23,000 deaths, over one percent of the population of Gaza, is claimed to show a deliberate intent to wipe out all Arabs in the region. The use of heavy 2,000-pound bombs in civilians neighborhoods is alleged to show a complete disregard for non-combatants as well as a disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force.

Lawyers prosecuting Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) quoted members of the Israeli parliament after the October 7 attack in which they said they wanted to flatten Gaza, encourage a ‘voluntary emigration’ of Arabs from the region, and treat them like the biblical ‘Amalek’, a people for which Jews are commanded to wipe out completely. Counsel argued that comments from leaders shows the government’s official policy for the annihilation of the region’s Arabs.

The United Nations’ International Criminal Court has disallowed Israel from bringing any evidence of the Gazans’ October 7 massacre and brutalization of Israelis, mostly civilians. It contends that even if Hamas committed crimes against humanity, Israel must still adhere to basic rules of war.

The Case Against ‘Genocide’

Genocide involves the deliberate mass killing of an ethnic group or particular nation with the goal of annihilation or ethnically cleansing them.

It is bizarre to bring the charge against Israel based on the situation before even considering the prosecution of the war.

Israel’s attack on Gaza was both reactive and defensive. It had a ceasefire agreement with Hamas which rules Gaza, which Hamas broke with its invasion and sadistic slaughter.
Hamas leaders have pledged to commit the October 7 massacre “again and again.” Israel is compelled to not only bring the estimated 3,000 Gazan perpetrators of the October 7 massacre to justice, as well as the leaders who commanded and supported the operation, but to prevent the atrocities from happening again.
Hamas continues to fire at Israel. Hamas and various factions of this Gaza army continue to fire rockets and wage war against Israel. This is not a situation of a military aggressively hunting civilians but an active battlefield.
Hamas fires from civilian neighborhoods. The battlefield is the neighborhoods of Gaza from which Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other factions of the Gazan army shoot rockets and attack Israel.
Civilian infrastructure is part of the Gazan war effort. The Gazan army and infrastructure is embedded in civilian homes, hospitals, mosques and schools. Arms are stored and tunnel-openings begin in these locations, and are therefore part-and-parcel of the Gazan war effort.
The core Gazan army infrastructure is beneath civilian neighborhoods. The Gazan army runs the majority of its operations below ground, underneath civilian neighborhoods.
The Gazan army doesn’t wear uniforms. Many Palestinian fighters do not wear uniforms to clearly distinguish themselves from civilians, blurring the battlefield between military and civilians.
Israel unilaterally left Gaza completely in 2005. Israel does not covet the land and wanted the region to be a peaceful neighbor where Arabs would have complete self-determination. Instead, Gaza became a terrorist-ruled strip which has waged repeated wars against Israel targeting civilians.
Israel is attempting to save hundreds of hostages. Hamas and other Gazans took 240 hostages, mostly civilians into Gaza, many of whom are children, elderly and infirm. Saving them requires quick action.
The United Nations made no effort to prioritize Israeli hostages. The UN made clear that it would prioritize Gazans from the first day of the war, and would not help Israel in checking on the hostages well being or securing their release, further necessitating immediate and unilateral actions.

Those are just the basic facts which set the scene for which Israel has to prosecute a difficult war. Even with such impossible backdrop, Israel has attempted to avoid the loss of civilian lives.

Millions of text messages sent to Palestinian Arab civilians to get out of harm’s way
Leaflets dropped over neighborhoods to make sure civilians got the message to leave active battlefields.
‘Safe zones’ and escape corridors created for civilians to flee hot spots.
Israel telegraphed its intentions of where it was prosecuting the battle – starting in northern Gaza – to allow civilians to leave, putting its own Israeli soldiers at risk.
The world begged Israel to not launch a ground invasion of Gaza and so relied on air power to start the retaliation against known military targets. It is those aerial assaults that the world now criticizes.

While the world may appreciate the need to dismantle Hamas and the impossible task facing Israel of fighting an enemy which is deeply embedded with civilians, it doesn’t really care. It has no proposals or gameplans to prosecute the war any better, other than demand Israel do so.

*A view of the rubble of buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, October 10, 2023. (Fatima Shbair/AP)*

In regard to Israeli leaders’ commentary that Gazans are like Amalek, a metaphor is not a call to action. Amalek was called out because they attacked the weakest Jews as they left Egypt, just as Hamas and its horde brutally butchered women, children and elderly in 2023. Other Israeli comments that all Gazans are culpable have been made by Palestinian advocates, such as James Zogby, head of the Arab American Institute who told the United Nations on June 27, 2023 that there is “tragic deformity in Palestinian political culture,” as the majority of the people prefer violence.

Most importantly, Israel has said it will end the campaign immediately if Hamas surrenders and returns all of the hostages.

Israel is now going house-to-house to rescue its captives and destroy Hamas’s army and infrastructure amid a population which supports Hamas and terrorism. Hamas has 58% of the seats in the Palestinian Authority parliament from democratic elections held in 2006. The majority of Gazans support killing Jewish civilians in Israel and supported the October 7 massacre. They are family and friends of Hamas fighters, their teachers and students, donors and recipients of Hamas aid. When Israelis go through the Gazan neighborhoods in this tight battlefield, the civilians which surround them are the soft layer of the Hamas military which Hamas exploits, not uninvolved spectators.

It is likely that any other army would have killed five times as many Gazans as Israel at this point of the war. It is impossible to know because this war is like no other.

As to the charge of genocide, Palestinian Arabs are not confined to Gaza. Over half the population lives in the West Bank and Israel has not launched a massive campaign there, as Hamas doesn’t have a strong presence and there are no Israeli hostages in that region. On a macro level, 23,000 Gazans out of 1.8 billion Muslims is a 0.001% figure. By way of comparison, 63% of Europe’s Jews were killed in the Holocaust, and about 39% of global Jewry, an actual premeditated deliberate genocide of unarmed civilians.

There are therefore only two considerations to possibly judge Israel: the terrible loss of children’s lives, and the massive destruction of Gazan infrastructure.

Children are innocent by definition. They have no say in the war and not responsible for the terrible actions of adults. Close to 50% of Gazans are under the age of 18, so one would imagine indiscriminate bombing would cause close to 50% of the 23,000 dead to be children, or around 11,500 people. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the number of children killed is about 8,000, or 30% less than expected. While a tragic figure, it defends Israel’s prosecution of the war as being targeted against military targets.

There is no question there is widespread destruction of Gazan infrastructure. Neighborhoods have been leveled all around the Strip. That is a function that those neighborhoods are, and are above, the battlefield. It is actually surprising that a relatively low number of deaths have occurred with so many bombs dropped on the small territory, suggesting a targeted military campaign.

Hamas is sworn to the destruction of Israel and has ruled Gaza unilaterally since 2007 enabling it to embed itself throughout the region. Despite the hostile neighbor next door, Israel has limited its activities against the strip to a blockade to limit the flow of weapons, and to respond when attacked. It has never targeted the region or its residents for annihilation.

It is a tragedy for Palestinian Arabs, for Israel, and the world that so many children in Gaza have died. But the fault remains with the Arab rulers who teach their children death and martyrdom, while they attack Israel from those children’s homes. Israel is trying to minimize those casualties in an impossible battle, and the figures show that it is doing so.

The smoldering rubble of the Gazan battlefield is shocking but there is no genocide of buildings. However, the overall architecture of Gaza’s war mentality and machinery has been enabled by the United Nations, the entity which now sits as judge of Israel’s actions. It is a morbid farce, and must be confronted and rooted out for there to be a prayer of coexistence.

Israelis Targeting Terrorists, Palestinians Targeting Civilians

The Death of Civilians; the Three Shades of Sorrow

Hamas Is The Very Definition Of A Genocidal Group

The Only Way The Conflict Can End

Gazans Support Killing Jewish Civilians

The War Against Israel and Jewish Civilians

Vastly Different Reactions To Two Proposals For “Voluntary Emigration” From Gaza

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

University Presidents’ Congressional Hearing On Antisemitism Prioritized Muslim Community

Posted on January 11, 2024 by First.One.Through

The December 5, 2023 Congressional hearing about antisemitism on college campuses was about a very serious and obvious dynamic: Jew-hatred. It was right there in the title, and was called for in response to widespread attacks against Jews on college campuses.

Three university presidents attended: from Harvard, University of Pennsylvania and MIT. Elizabeth Magill of UofP resigned shortly after the hearing after smugly responding to the question of whether calling for the genocide of Jews was against university policy that “it’s a context-dependent decision.” Claudine Gay of Harvard also resigned for a different reason even though she offered a similar response; she stepped down because of allegations of plagiarism.

*Claudine Gay of Harvard, Elizabeth Magill of UofP, Pamela Nadell of American University and Sally Kornbluth of MIT*

The “context” comment was defended by university-backers as whether such calls for genocide were directed at individuals or were severely harassing to step beyond the bounds of free speech. However, the opening comments of each university president reveals a very different context orientation.

Gay shared in her opening comments that she appreciated the need for the hearing “on the critical topic of antisemitism,” as the world had seen a dramatic spike in antisemitism after the brutal Hamas massacre, including at Harvard. She then added “At the same time, I know members of the Arab and Muslim communities are also hurting. During these past months, the world, our nation and our campuses have seen a rise of incidents of Islamophobia.”

Why were these statements about Muslims inserted into a hearing about Jew-hatred?

She was not alone.

Magill spoke and about Hamas’s October 7 massacre and the targeting of Jewish businesses near the school. She added “we are seeing a rise in our society in harassment, intimidation and threats toward individuals based on their identity as Muslim, Palestinian or Arab.” Again, why did a university president’s prepared opening remarks discuss hatred for some non-Jews – particular non-Jews – when the hearing was on Jew-hatred?

Pamela Nadell, a professor of Jewish history at American University then addressed the panel. She concluded her remarks “I urge congress to do everything in its power to support the national strategy [against antisemitism] and also the forthcoming national strategy to counter Islamophobia.”

The trend was clear. One needn’t have listened to MIT’s president’s opening remarks.

Sally Kornbluth of MIT talked about new initiatives launched to fight hate on campus. “In addition to fighting antisemitism, it will address Islamophobia, also on the rise and also underreported. MIT will take on both. Not lumped together but with equal energy and in parallel.”

Every one of the speakers could not focus on the dedicated topic of Jew-hatred in scripted remarks to a congressional hearing about antisemitism at their institutions, and each mentioned “Islamophobia.” Racism persists at the schools but went unmentioned. Slurs against the LGBT community on campuses continue but were not called out.

Palestinians, Muslims and Arabs were specifically highlighted because the October 7 massacre was committed by Islamic extremists in the Palestinian Arab community. The “context” for university presidents was how to handle Jew-hatred on their campuses from a campus community which approved of and celebrated the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

It was as though the heads of American universities would have called out Germanophobia during World War II when discussing Jew-hatred emanating from German students and Nazi-supporters on campus.

It was a sad spectacle in American history but at least members of congress still cared enough about Jews to call for such hearing.

That is not the case on the world stage, where the United Nations’ adoption of Palestinians as permanent wards ensures that the global body always takes their side and only finds fault with Israel. The U.N.’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) will now narrowly focus on Israel’s actions in Gaza and provide no “context” that Israel is responding to Hamas’s massacre of civilians and threats to repeat the attacks “again and again,” whose soldiers hide like cowards beneath their families.

University presidents and the United Nations are telling all of us clearly that there are reasons people hate Jews before, after and while they are slaughtered. And most importantly, those antisemitic grievances should confine Jewish activities and constrict sympathy for Jewish suffering.