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

Posted on May 21, 2020 by First.One.Through

There has rarely been a pro-Palestinian march around the world without the chant “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free.” It is a chant for the destruction of the only Jewish State.

Pro-Palestinian protest in London

One sees the phrase on placards in Europe. One hears it in the streets of the United States.

It is the official charter of HAMAS, a terrorist organization and an official Palestinian political party, the ruling authority of Gaza.

The destruction of Israel has long been the desire of its neighbors since the state was re-established in 1948, prompting five Arab armies to invade the country to destroy it. Through wars, boycotts and terrorism, the craving has persisted in much of the Muslim world.

Yet the liberal media has decided to ignore the genocidal antisemitic intent of the chant. In Europe, the slogan is considered a pro-Palestinian anthem which has nothing to do with the destruction of Israel. In the United States, The New York Times is loathe to call any actions or comments by the Palestinians or their supporters as antisemitic.

So as Israel considers breaking the impasse in the region in which the Palestinian Authority refuses to negotiate with Israel and Hamas continues to attack Israel, it is remarkable to see The New York Times suddenly address the call “from the river to the sea” as a right-wing ISRAELI message.

On May 20, 2020, the paper published an article about acting-President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas calling to cancel security agreements with Israel because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for applying sovereignty to areas of the West Bank which were acknowledged by the PA to be under full-Israeli control in the 1995 Oslo Accords. The article wrote:

“With the peace talks non-existent for years, many right-wing Israelis have urged Mr. Netanyahu to extend sovereignty over the West Bank on ideological and religious grounds, believing the Jewish state should control the entire Holy Land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. Evangelical Christians who are key supporters of President Trump have also backed the effort.”

The article failed to mention that the Israeli government gave much of the “West Bank” to the Palestinians in 1995 and 1997 despite repeated terrorist attacks. It did not mention that Israel gave Gaza to the Palestinians in 2005. The paper did not refer to the April 14, 2004 letter from US President George W Bush to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon which stated clearly:

“In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli populations centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949, and all previous efforts to negotiate a two-state solution have reached the same conclusion. It is realistic to expect that any final status agreement will only be achieved on the basis of mutually agreed changes that reflect these realities.”

Instead, the anti-Zionist paper called the application of sovereignty a move by religious radicals, not people who seek a secure Jewish State and an end to the stalemate.

The New York Times has been an apologist for radical Palestinian antisemitism for years. It has now re-branded the anti-Zionist chant “from the river to the sea” as a Zionist one, and newly cast it as the mantra of Jewish and Christian religious zealots.

Palestinian Post-paid Terrorism

Posted on May 17, 2020 by First.One.Through

Mobile subscribers come in two general varieties: pre-paid and post-paid.

Post-paid subscribers pay AFTER they receive service each month. These customers do not know exactly how much they will pay for service due to the variability in usage but have an understanding with the wireless carrier on the basic parameters of $X for Y voice minutes and Z GB of data usage.

In contrast, pre-paid customers pay BEFORE they use the service. Sometimes this is done because the consumer wants to have a defined liability and ensure they are not burdened by overage charges. Pre-paid plans are often used by consumers with poor credit.

In the early days of wireless, there were only post-paid subscribers as the handsets and calling plans were expensive. The cost kept the marketplace limited to only the wealthy and consumers who truly needed the service. To attract the masses, carriers introduced pre-paid plans which were not only much cheaper but avoided the lengthy contracts and background checks. The mobile industry took off.

This is the template the Palestinian Authority has used with terrorism, inverting pre-paid and post-paid to attract the masses.

Post-paid Terrorism for the Masses

In the early days of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the group took a significant amount of time to recruit and train its killers. Money was spent on guns, ammunition and bombs, and considerable time was invested in surveillance, training and planning. The massacre of the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games, the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre and the numerous airplane hijackings in the 1970’s were carried out by devout fanatics. These were pre-paid terrorist activities with the terrorist group investing a lot upfront, limiting both the number of attacks and PLO membership.

The world changed after the jihadist terrorism against the United States on 9/11/2001. The U.S. pushed the world to fight terrorist groups directly with arms AND by cutting off their source of funding. Even the United Nations got involved.

The impact was felt in Israel.

HAMAS, the Palestinian jihadist terrorist group, was forced to wage war on a more limited budget and use less expensive weaponry to kill Jews including cheap and poorly constructed missiles, bombs attached to balloons and thousands of young men with rocks.

For its part, the Palestinian Authority employs a “pay-to-slay” program, a post-paid terrorism financing plan in which it needn’t directly recruit individuals or invest in armaments for attack. The PA pays the terrorists and their families based on how long they spend in Israeli jails which is correlated to their crimes – more dead Israelis equals more jail time and more money.

This contract is considered sacrosanct. Acting-President of the PA Mahmoud Abbas said “[e]ven if we have only a penny left, we will give it to the martyrs, the prisoners and their families…. We view the prisoners and the martyrs as planets and stars in the skies of the Palestinian struggle, and they have priority in everything.”

Consider Hakim Awad, just 18-years old when he burst into a Jewish family’s home one night while they slept. He stabbed the parents and three children to death, including a three-month-old infant. The PA considers his actions noble and pays his family $14,000 per year. Should Awad live to the age of 80, the PA will pay nearly $2 million to Awad’s family.

Hakim Awad leaving court. He received five life-sentences for murdering five Jewish civilians (Photo: Hagai Aharon)

This system of “pay-to-slay” works well for all the Arab parties. The terrorists and their families get the money directly rather than it going to weapons, and they have clarity that the greater destruction they can inflict, the more money will go to their families. The Palestinian Authority gains millions of terrorists-in-waiting while it maintains that it is not involved in terrorism as the world is accustomed to thinking about terrorism on the basis of pre-paid financing. This allows Abbas to stand at the General Assembly of the United Nations while playing the victim and continue to receive millions of dollars from countries.

Abbas’ post-paid terrorism has worked. Stabbings, rock-throwings and car rammings ballooned after Hamas’s failed war against Israel in 2014. Countries around the world continue to give monies to the PA considering it “humanitarian” support because they are in favor of an independent Palestinian state, even though it is clear that they are funding terrorism. The Palestinian terrorists-in-waiting read about the funds transfers and consequently know their families will be paid well and that they will be honored as heroes in their communities.

In the early days of mobile, post-paid wireless subscribers were considered much more valuable than pre-paid subscribers, as they spent much more money each month and were more loyal, less likely to leave the carrier. That has changed over time with each spending roughly the same amount today.

In terrorism, the dynamics have also converged. The loyalty of post-paid terrorists-in-waiting has matched the devoted jihadists, knowing that the monies and honor are guaranteed.

As long as donor charities and countries continue to fund the Palestinian Authority, the value of the post-paid terrorists will continue to rise and the blood of Israeli Jews will continue to flow.

Related First One Through articles:

HSBC Blocks Payments to US-Designated Terrorist Organization Fundraiser, Interpal

The UN Fails on its Own Measures to address the Conditions Conducive to the Spread of Terrorism

The United Nations Must Take Its Own Medicine Re the Palestinian Authority

Empowering Women… To Murder

The New Salman Abedi High School for Boys in England and the Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel Soccer Tournament in France

Liberal Senators Look to Funnel Money into Gaza

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

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

Related First One Through video:

The 2011 Massacre of the Fogel Family (music by Gorecki)

Subscribe YouTube channel: FirstOneThrough

Join Facebook group: Israel Analysis and FirstOneThrough

Even The New York Times Needs to Fire David Halbfinger

Posted on May 8, 2020 by First.One.Through

The New York Times has been growing more anti-Israel and anti-religion for several years. David Halbfinger, the paper’s Jerusalem Bureau chief has a long history of writing some of the most biased articles, leading his colleagues into the abyss.

But even he can stoop to the levels often reserved for Arab media.

On May 8, 2020 he wrote a piece which would have made Josef Mengele blush. The opening paragraph of the article – an article about Israel developing life saving treatments to fight the Covid-19 pandemic – accused the Jewish State of being the modern incarnation of Nazi Germany’s doctor of death. It read:

“The Israeli Defense Ministry’s research-and-development arm is best known for pioneering cutting-edge ways to kill people and blow things up, with stealth tanks and sniper drones among its more lethal recent projects.”

The IDF actually has long history of developing life saving items such as the Iron Dome which intercepts missiles fired by Palestinian and Lebanese Arabs at Israeli civilians. It has developed methods of detecting Hamas terrorist tunnels dug into Israel to abduct and kill Israelis. It’s the only military that has a deliberate missile system without warheads which it uses to warn people in a building to abandon the facility before it gets blown up. ALL DESIGNED TO SAVE THE LIVES OF BOTH ISRAELIS AND THEIR ENEMIES.

But writing a complimentary article about new Israeli inventions to help the entire world was seemingly a task too tall for Halbfinger. He needed to disparage Israel from the start and paint the country to resemble the worst mass murderers of history.

It is not enough to cancel the subscription to the Times. Decent people everywhere must demand the immediate firing of Halbfinger.

Related First One Through articles:

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

New York Times Pushes the Lie of Israeli Apartheid

The Real “Symbol of the Conflict” is Neta Sorek

The New York Times Knows It’s Israeli Right from It’s Palestinian Moderates

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

Subscribe YouTube channel: FirstOneThrough

Join Facebook group: Israel Analysis and FirstOneThrough

While Lying About Israel, Democrats Demand Nothing of Palestinians

Posted on May 8, 2020 by First.One.Through

Thirty Democratic politicians under the Obama and Clinton administrations sent a letter to the Democratic National Committee on May 4, 2020. The letter began by completely misleading its audience which led directly into slandering Israel and absolving Arabs of any responsibility.

The letter stated

“Past party platforms have rightly stated a commitment to Israel’s security and included condemnations of threats and actions against our ally, in addition to embracing a two-state outcome. Those platforms have, however, also been nearly silent on the rights of Palestinians, on Israeli actions that undermine those rights and the prospects for a two-state solution, and on the need for security for both peoples.”

The phrase “embracing a “two-state solution” completely misleads a reader to believing that the Democratic party platform as recently as 2008 (pre-Obama) supported the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative (1967 “borders”; Arab capital in “East Jerusalem,” repatriation of “refugees”). IT DID NOT. It envisioned a completely different kind of two-state outcome.

Borders: The 2008 DNC platform stated ““All understand that it is unrealistic to expect the outcome of final status negotiations to be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949.” Today, Democrats talk about the “1967 borders” as the natural orientation of the two-states, but that was not their historic vision because those “armistice lines of 1949” were never designed by the parties at that time or after to become borders.
Jerusalem: The DNC was clear in 2008 that “Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel.” But the Democrats today are pushing for Israel to hand over half of its capital including the holiest sites for Judaism.

“Israeli actions” of living beyond the armistice lines including in eastern Jerusalem was something Democrats always supported until the Obama administration changed the party platform. These Obama employees who crafted the letter claim that Jews living freely somehow “undermines rights” of Palestinians. It does nothing of the sort.

The 2008 platform continued that the United States should isolate Hamas (Jimmy Carter still loves the terrorist group) and added that all “refugees” would be settled in a new Palestinian state, not in Israel. Under Obama, the statements were removed.

In 2012 and 2016, the Democratic platform became increasing less supportive and increasingly harsh in its treatment of Israel and has demanded less and less of the Palestinians.

Consider a simple desire from 2008: “a democratic, viable Palestinian state dedicated to living in peace and security side by side with the Jewish State of Israel.” The new letter makes no requirement of Palestinians living in peace. Instead, it just holds up Palestinian rights:

“The 2020 platform should expressly state a commitment to a resolution of the conflict that ensures both Israel’s security and future as a Jewish and democratic state with equal rights for all its citizens, as well as Palestinian rights, including self-determination, security and freedom. It should include clear opposition to ongoing occupation, settlement expansion and any form of unilateral annexation of territory in the West Bank as well as clear opposition to violence, terrorism and incitement from all sides.”

Note that these Democrats seek an Israel that is “democratic with equal rights for all its citizens,” but says nothing about a new state of Palestine and demands nothing.

No demand to abolish the Palestinian law which calls for the death sentence for any Arab selling land to a Jew
No call for Palestine to be a democracy and move away from sharia law
No call for allowing Jews to live throughout the land
No call for allowing Jews to pray at their holy sites
No call for striking the Palestinian law which allows for men to get a light sentence for honor killings of women in their families

Past party platforms never used the word “occupation” as Democrats once understood that international law for the past 100 years encouraged Jews to live throughout historic Palestine, understood that the 1949 Armistice lines were arbitrary and not meant to be a border, and that Israel retook the “West Bank” in a defensive battle. It was only under the watch of these same thirty Democrats who blessed the Arab demand for a Jew-free state and therefore enabled UN Security Resolution 2334 (2016) declaring Jews living peacefully in their ancient holy land as illegal. THEY MADE a basic human right illegal, and now chastise Israel for ignoring their antisemitic actions. #ResistUN

Not only are Democrats standing tall by the horrific Obama decision at the UN, but are pushing forward with attacking Israel and asking nothing of the Palestinians: a sharia-inspired Jew-free state for Palestinians and a state with full equality and no preferences for Jews in Israel which should absorb millions of additional Arabs. It’s a two state solution based on 1.5 states for Arabs and 0.5 of a state for Israel.

Ben Rhodes, Former Deputy National Security Adviser in Obama administration

The letter penned by Obama’s politicians which argued for “a commitment to security, democracy, and human rights,” failed to seek democracy for Palestinians and human rights for Israeli Jews. It demonstrates that Israel is not becoming a wedge issue for American politicians but a symbol of Democrats abandoning the western world. Israel is just the first casualty of the their headlong embrace of non-Democratic antisemitic norms found in countries around the globe.

Related First One Through articles:

The Democrats’ Slide on Israel

The Insidious Jihad in America

The United States Should NOT be a Neutral Mediator in the Arab-Israel Conflict

The Joy of Lecturing Jews

Trump Reverses the Carter and Obama Anti-Israel UN Resolutions

The Obama Administration Continues to Abandon Israel in Fighting Terror

J Street: Home for Pro-Palestinian, Pro-Peace Americans

Obama’s “Palestinian Land”

International-Domestic Abuse: Obama and Netanyahu

Obama supports Anti-Semitic Palestinian Agenda of Jew-Free State

Related First One Through video:

The “1967 Borders” (music by The Kinks)

Trump’s “eastern Jerusalem” and Biden’s “East Jerusalem”

Posted on May 7, 2020 by First.One.Through

As people concerned about the Israel-Arab conflict consider the US presidential elections, an important understanding of the two candidates can be found in their articulation of where a theoretical capital of a future Palestinian state would be located.

President Donald Trump announced the US road map to peace In January 2020 which included proposed contours for a two state-solution, the first such third-party proposal since the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative. In regards to a Palestinian state, Trump said:

“The Palestinian people have grown distrustful after years of unfulfilled promises — so true — yet I know they are ready to escape their tragic past and realize a great destiny. But we must break free of yesterday’s failed approaches.

This map will more than double the Palestinian territory and provide a Palestinian capital in eastern Jerusalem where America will proudly open an embassy. (Applause.) No Palestinians or Israelis will be uprooted from their homes. (Applause.)”

The map highlighted areas within the eastern part of the city of Jerusalem which would become a “Palestinian capital.” The phrase “eastern Jerusalem” highlighted that the United States recognized not only that Jerusalem is a single city but that “East Jerusalem” has not existed for over fifty years; it had a brief turbulent life for nineteen years as an artifice of war in the 1948-1967 time period. Those dark years had barbed wire running through the heart of the city with the Jordanian Arabs controlling the eastern portion after they expelled all of the Jews. The Arabs would not let any Jew enter the Old City, even for prayer at Judaism holiest location.

Vice President Joe Biden sees Jerusalem quite differently as can be inferred by his recent comment in May 2020:

“I will reopen the US consulate in East Jerusalem, find a way to reopen the PLO’s diplomatic mission in Washington, and resume the decades-long economic and security assistance efforts to the Palestinians that the Trump Administration stopped.”

Biden referred to “East Jerusalem” as a proper noun as if such city exists and had any legitimacy. He spoke about it as if the United Nations had proposed splitting Jerusalem in 1947 and giving “East Jerusalem” to Palestinian Arabs. He conjured a world in which Israel hadn’t already divided the UN’s “Corpus Separatum” giving the Palestinian Authority the city of Bethlehem in 1996 while it held Jerusalem.

Biden spoke of pure fantasy. He might as well as have mentioned his Obama Administration’s permitting UN Security Council Resolution 2334 to pass which advanced a time-altering, human rights-scoffing principle that Jews living in their holiest city is illegal and an occupation of Palestinian territory.

Vice President Joe Biden addressing AIPAC in a pre-recorded message March 2020

Names highlight a particular narrative, and President Trump’s “eastern Jerusalem” and former Vice President Biden’s “East Jerusalem” underscore how each party understands the nature of the city. One party will deal with the Israel-Arab conflict on the basis of reality and the other in the construct of harmful fiction.

Related First One Through articles:

The Subtle Discoloration of History: Shuafat

“Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”

Abbas’s Harmful East Jerusalem Fantasy

“East Jerusalem” – the 0.5% Molehill

Ramat Shlomo, Jerusalem and Joe Biden

Jizyah for Jews in Jerusalem

The Remarkable Tel Jerusalem

The Jews of Jerusalem In Situ

Western Jerusalem’s U.S. Consulate and Embassy

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

The New York Times Inverts the History of Jerusalem

750 Years of Continuous Jewish Jerusalem

Arabs in Jerusalem

Related First One Through video:

I Hate Israel – East Jerusalem

Subscribe YouTube channel: FirstOneThrough

Join Facebook group: Israel Analysis and FirstOneThrough

For Ramadan and Israel’s Independence Day, Palestinians and Israelis Call For Jewish Prayer on The Temple Mount

Posted on April 28, 2020 by First.One.Through

Unfortunately, just a dream.

On April 28, 2020, as Israelis marked the solemn day of mourning for 23,816 soldiers killed in wars against Arab nations which refused to accept the country’s existence, and another 4,166 victims of terrorist attacks at the hands of Arabs who could not coexist with Jews, The New York Times wrote about a group of Palestinians and Israelis who chose to mark that day with a call for peace.

The Times piece “Palestinians and Israelis Use Mourning to Mull Peace,” described how several tens of thousands of Israelis and Palestinian Arabs came together online in a grassroots call for peace. It was written as a note for optimism in the face of mourning. The Times said that the United Nations Middle East envoy “praised the participants in the alternative ceremony.” An interesting choice of words, suggesting that mourning for the murdered is inconsistent with desiring peace. Is Israel’s Memorial Day uniquely offensive to the world and the “alternative” is praise-worthy?

I would be more optimistic if tens of thousands of Arabs used the Palestinian Authority’s “Independence Day” holiday on November 15 in such a vocal support of peace with Israel.

I would be encouraged if tens of thousands of Muslims would use Eid al-Adha, the holiday marking the day that Abraham – the father of Jews, Arabs and monotheism – went to offer his son at the place that became the cornerstone of the Jewish Temple, as a call to welcome Jewish brothers onto the Temple Mount so they could once again pray at the holiest place for Judaism.

I would be excited if hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs would use this time of Ramadan and the 72nd anniversary of Israel’s independence, to acknowledge the Jewish people’s history and rights to live throughout the holy land and call for the Palestinian Authority to abolish the law for capital punishment for any Arab that sells land to a Jew.

Until then, using this day of pain for the Jewish State as a cheap marketing ploy to wash the blood from the hands of Arab murderers to absolve their culpability is yet one more layer of callousness by the participants, the United Nations and The New York Times.

Related First One Through articles:

The Cancer in the Arab-Israeli Conflict

The Best Palestinian Response to the Trump Initiative is Welcoming Jews to Palestine

The Shrapnel of Intent

The Palestinian State I Oppose

In Defense of Foundation Principles

Dignity for Israel: Jewish Prayer on the Temple Mount

Subscribe YouTube channel: FirstOneThrough

Join Facebook group: Israel Analysis and FirstOneThrough

Conditional U.S. Support in The Middle East

Posted on April 20, 2020 by First.One.Through

In late 2019, some Democratic candidates for president stated that they would condition American support for Israel with Israel’s behavior regarding Palestinian Arabs. Former Vice President Joe Biden considered the suggestion made by Senator Bernie Sanders (as well as Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg) to be “bizarre.”

Biden seemed to further cement his position of not compromising on military aid to Israel in a recorded message to an AIPAC conference on March 1, 2020 when he reiterated that “I will never boycott [Israel]…. Israel must be able to defend itself. It’s not just critical for Israel’s security, I believe it is critical for America’s security.”

As Biden tries to court the Sanders supporters who are highly critical of Israel, it remains to be seen how far Biden will tilt towards the anti-Israel stance of Team Sanders who demand a boycott of Jewish homes and businesses east of the Green Line and funneling Israeli military aid towards rebuilding Gaza.

To appreciate the “bizarre” Sanders conditional approach to Israel, consider America’s approach to the Middle East overall.

American Blood

The United States has thousands of troops deployed throughout the Persian Gulf.

Country	U.S. Troops	Operations
Bahrain	5,000	Headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet and U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (USNAVCENT)
Qatar	10,000	Home to the Al Udeid Air Base, which includes the forward headquarters of U.S. Air Forces Central Command (AFCENT)
Saudi Arabia	2,500	Prince Sultan Air Base
Kuwait	14,500	U.S. uses Camp Arifjan, Camp Buehring, Ali Al Salem Air Field and the naval base Camp Patriot
Iraq	6,000	Remaining troops after Operation Inherent Resolve to fight ISIS
Oman	600	Relatively small footprint
UAE	5,500	Al Dhafra Air Base hosts several U.S. fighter, attack and reconnaissance aircraft of the U.S. 380th Air Expeditionary Wing.

There are over 225,000 U.S. troops stationed abroad but the United States has no permanent base in Israel and no troops are stationed there. Based on the shared principles of democracy and trust, the United States relies on Israel as a partner in the region and supplies it military aid to defend itself.

The figures of American dead and wounded reflect these facts. The data below is from October 2001 to April 18, 2020 from the U.S. Department of Defense:

Military Operation	Killed	Wounded
Iraqi Freedom	4,431	31,994
New Dawn (Afghanistan)	74	298
Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan)	2,353	20,149
Inherent Resolve (ISIS)	96	224
Freedom’s Sentinel (Afghanistan)	92	570
	7,046	53,235

No Americans have died protecting Israel.

In June 1996, a truck bombing killed 19 Americans at the Khobar Towers barracks near Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.Credit…U.S. Navy, via Associated Press

Treasure

The United States spent roughly $2 trillion to fight wars in Iraq and has spent over $2.5 trillion fighting in Afghanistan. It has spent tens of billions of dollars maintaining its various bases throughout the Persian Gulf and supporting and protecting the Arab and Muslim Persian Gulf countries.

In Egypt, the United States has provided over $40 billion in military aid and $30 billion in economic assistance since 1980. The United States also provides over $1 billion of aid to Jordan every year, in addition to billions of dollars of loan guarantees.

In total, the United States has spent roughly $5 trillion since 2001 on countries in the Middle East, excluding Israel. Almost all of that money has been expenses to stabilize failing regimes and protect U.S. interests. There has been almost no investment in technology development to advance the U.S. military.

However, when it comes to Israel, the United States has benefited from an INVESTMENT in a close ally. As described by the U.S. State Department,

“Israel has long been, and remains, America’s most reliable partner in the Middle East. Israel and the United States are bound closely by historic and cultural ties as well as by mutual interests.”

The U.S. gives Israel over $3 billion per year in military assistance, much of which is spent procuring American products. Israel shares the technological advancements that it develops to enhance America’s military capabilities. In total, the U.S. has given Israel roughly 1/80th of the funds it has spent on the rest of the Middle East, while receiving over 80 times the benefits in technological advancement.

Conditionality

The United States has spent $5 trillion this century on Middle Eastern countries that do not share American values, yet the progressive wing of the Democratic Party has been mum.

Saudi Arabia, a major trading partner, executes minors – in public. It kills people for basic human rights like converting religion. It executes men for engaging in homosexual sex (it only beats woman who are lesbians). Women are forbidden to drive and cannot leave the house without a male escort or approval.

No one seems to care.

Qatar and the United Arab Emirates also have a death penalty for apostasy, converting from Islam. Kuwait, Oman and the UAE have capital punishment for people dealing in drugs. The Palestinian Authority has capital punishment for Arabs who sell land to Jews.

Yet there have been no calls from Sanders or other Democratic Socialists to condition aid to these countries which KILL people for basic human rights. There are over 70 countries – mostly Arab and Muslim – which consider homosexuality a crime, and there is not a peep about placing any conditions on trade and assistance.

The singling out of Israel for allowing a basic human right of a family living in a home and protecting itself from missiles is both hypocritical and antisemitic. Threatening to withhold or divert military aid to Israel which directly benefits American security interests while saying nothing to spending 80 times as much on Arab and Muslim countries is insane. And putting thousands of American lives in danger for backwards regimes while denying Israel the ability to protect Israeli and American interests with ITS OWN SOLDIERS is outright un-American.

Team Sanders and the Democratic Socialists of America including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib should not be allowed on any foreign policy committee or have any hand in crafting the Democratic Platform. They are dangers to America on multiple levels.

Related First One Through articles:

Bernie Sanders’ Antisemitic and Anti-Zionist Friends

Bernie Sanders is Less Sophisticated Than Forrest Gump

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

Ramat Shlomo, Jerusalem and Joe Biden

Posted on April 18, 2020 by First.One.Through

In March 2010, Vice President Joe Biden visited Israel with the hope of pushing the Palestinians and Israelis towards a peace agreement. A 10-month settlement freeze which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in November 2009 was just drawing to an end with no engagement by the Palestinian Authority over the duration, but Biden was trying to move the parties forward.

Not long after he arrived, Israel announced the advancement of 1,600 homes in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo which is located north of the 1949 Armistice Lines. In response, Biden scolded Israel, saying “I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem.” The statement using “condemn” was shocking, as it is normally only used regarding terrorism. Netanyahu’s 10-month freeze also never included any construction in any part of Jerusalem, so the Israeli activity was not surprising.

Further, it is important to understand Ramat Shlomo.

Ramat Shlomo, Jerusalem

Ramat Shlomo is not a vacant plot of land, it is not privately owned by Arabs and it is not located in the middle of Judea and Samara / the West Bank. It is an established Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem.

This “East Jerusalem” neighborhood is located northWEST of Hebrew University which was built in 1925.
It is located southWEST of Pisgat Ze’ev, the second largest neighborhood in Jerusalem and just next to Ramat Alon, the largest neighborhood
it is located northWEST of the Jewish Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest location
It is located just on the other side of Highway 1 from Mobileye, a company which Intel bought for over $15 billion

The population in Ramat Shlomo is mostly ultra-Orthodox, and include Chabad and Litvish communities. The neighborhood has a median age among the youngest in Jerusalem and highest birth rates. Yet from 2006 to 2017, the population of Ramat Shlomo was flat at around 14,700 people. The lack of new homes and flat population growth despite the high birth rates meant that families actually had to leave their neighborhood. The Jerusalem Institute noted “The highest negative migration balance in relation to the size of the neighborhood’s population was recorded in Ramat Shlomo.”

Things finally turned around in 2018 with 500 new apartments commencing construction, the most in Jerusalem according to the Jerusalem Institute. The neighborhood also had the largest voter turnout for municipal elections in 2018, with 83% of eligible voters, indicating a highly engaged populace.

As the U.S. presidential election season moves into high gear, people will consider Biden’s relationship with Israel and the 2010 Ramat Shlomo incident will surely be discussed. It is therefore worth reviewing how Biden’s highly critical comments slowed the natural growth of that residential Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem for many years until just recently.

Related First One Through articles:

Time to Define Banning Jews From Living Somewhere as Antisemitic

Joe Biden Stabs a Finger at Israel

“Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”

The New York Times All Out Assault on Jewish Jerusalem

The Jews of Jerusalem In Situ

Ending Apartheid in Jerusalem

Arabs in Jerusalem

The Arguments over Jerusalem

The Subtle Discoloration of History: Shuafat

For CNN, The Critical Israeli Facts Have No Murdered Jews

Posted on April 11, 2020 by First.One.Through

The bias against Israel in the liberal media is no longer an accusation but established fact.

Consider the salient facts regarding Israel by the largest global media company, CNN.

Its website has a page called “Israel Fast Facts” which attempts to showcase the most relevant information about the modern state of Israel.

The “Timeline” runs from November 2, 1917 until January 28, 2020 (as of this writing). From the 1917 Balfour Declaration until Israel’s independence in May 1948, CNN wrote that there were “riots” between 1936 and 1939 due to “tensions between Arabs and Jewish settlers.”

For CNN, every single Jew who came to Palestine was a “settler.” In today’s parlance, CNN and the liberal media call any Jew living east of the 1949 Armistice Lines a “settler” committing an illegal activity. Does CNN believe that every Jew who came to Palestine did so illegally? The facts that Jews have been a majority in Jerusalem since the 1860’s and many thousands of Jews lived in the land for years is unmentioned and irrelevant.
The “riots” included massacres of Jewish civilians as in Hebron in 1929. However, no blame on Arabs or Jewish victims are noted.
The 1936-9 Arab riots resulted in the British succumbing to Arab pressure to issue a White Paper limiting the immigration of Jews into Palestine to 75,000 over five years, just as the Holocaust in Europe was starting. CNN failed to mention the Arab riots not only killing hundred of Jews in Palestine but resulting in over 100,000 dead Jews in Europe.

Two papal visits are listed in CNN’s timeline, in 1964 and 2000. It is unclear how that is critical to the history of Israel as CNN does not list papal visits to other countries like Lebanon in their timelines.

Dozens of Palestinian terrorist attacks around the world are unmentioned, and the sole attack listed by CNN was the slaughter of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games, which failed to label the terrorists as Palestinian.

There is no mention of Hamas being formed in 1987, the publication of its anti-Semitic charter calling for the killing of Jews and destruction of Israel in 1988, its election to a majority of the Palestinian parliament in 2006 or its routing of Fatah and takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007.

No mention of Israel’s peace agreement with Jordan in 1994.

While CNN mentioned the Gaza Disengagement Plan in December 2003, it failed to mention the April 2004 letter from US President George W. Bush to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in conjunction with such action, clearly stating the US position that a two-state solution would NOT run along the 1949 Armistice Lines.

The May 2010 Turkish flotilla to Gaza is referred to as bringing “humanitarian supplies,” in which “nine activists” were killed by Israeli commandos. Lost in this description was that the boat refused to dock peacefully in an Israeli port to have the supplies delivered to Gaza and that the “activists” actively beat the Israelis with the soldiers responding in a defensive action.

Continuing its theme of Israelis being aggressors, CNN wrote about Israeli confrontations with Hamas in 2008, 2014 and 2018 mentioning the number of Palestinians killed but never mentioning any Israelis killed or injured.

CNN map of Israel, referring to “East Jerusalem,” a place that only existed for 19 years as an artifice of war

CNN’s timeline of Israel’s history includes thousands of dead Palestinians at the hands of Israelis but not a single dead or injured Israeli by Palestinians. It further minimized Palestinian terrorist attacks against Jews around the world with only a solitary mention of the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Olympics and even then, refusing to state the terrorists were Palestinian.

And CNN goes further to label Israelis as militants and Palestinians as victims by describing every Jew that ever came to Israel as a “settler,” inherently deserving of Arab wrath.

Related First One Through articles:

Christiane Amanpour is More Anti-Semitic Than Ilhan Omar

CNN’s Politicization of Antisemitic Murder

CNN Will Not Report Islamic Terrorism

Social Media’s “Fake News” and Mainstream Media’s Half-Truths

Review of Media Headlines on Palestinian Arab Terror Spree

Related First One Through video:

Israel Provokes the Palestinians (music by The Clash)

Netanyahu Apology to Erdogan (music by Joe Cocker)

Subscribe YouTube channel: FirstOneThrough

Join Facebook group: Israel Analysis and FirstOneThrough

J Street: Home for Pro-Palestinian, Pro-Peace Americans

Posted on April 3, 2020 by First.One.Through

J Street is a progressive political lobbying group which bills itself as the “political home for Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace Americans.” It is a marketing ploy designed to sell pro-Arab propaganda to undermine the government of Israel.

Consider a current snapshot of the lobbying group’s current press releases:

J Street’s press most recent press releases from its website on April 3, 2020

Not one off the six articles which J Street felt were the most pressing of the day related to advocating for Israel. There was no support for the country’s battle against the Covid-19 pandemic which has shut down the country, the successful democratically-held elections in the country or America’s recent elections for the World Zionist Congress.

Instead J Street published pro-Arab and pro-Muslim press releases:

Block Israeli application of sovereignty over any part of Area C
Give financial support to Palestinians
Condition US aid to Israel on its not demolishing illegal Arab homes
No war with the Islamic Republic of Iran
A push for US Democratic presidential candidates to not be too supportive of the policies of the current government of Israel
A call to ban Jews from living in and around the Old City of Jerusalem

This snapshot is not surprising for anyone who has followed the far-left lobbying group since its founding in 2008. This group lobbied the Obama administration to censure Israel at the United Nations and to sign an Iranian nuclear deal which the government of Israel opposed. The lobbying efforts were so extremely anti-Israel with the flimsiest Jewish veneer that even devout liberal politician Gary Ackerman (D-NY) said

“I’ve come to the conclusion that J-Street is not an organization with which I wish to be associated….America really does need a smart, credible, politically active organization that is as aggressively pro-peace as it is pro-Israel. Unfortunately, J-Street ain’t it.”

There are many people who argue that one needn’t be anti-Palestinian to be pro-Israel. I would agree as it relates to Palestinian Arabs who want to make peace with Israel and respect the Jewish people’s history, dignity and security needs in their holy land. On can similarly be both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian, which is J Street’s contention.

But it shows J Street’s deliberate dishonesty to only state it is “pro-Israel” in its tagline when it is primarily focused on a pro-Arab agenda which it believes benefits Israel. Either drop the “Pro-Israel” claim or add “Pro-Arab” to be clear what the far-left lobbying group actually represents.

Related First One Through articles:

J Street is Only Considered “Pro-Israel” in Progressive Circles

J Street is a Partisan Left-Wing Group, NOT an Alternative to AIPAC

The Evil Architects at J Street Take a Bow

J Street: Going Bigger and Bolder than BDS

The Fault in Our Tent: The Limit of Acceptable Speech

J Street’s Select Appreciation of Transparency

A Review of the Fifteen US Slates for the World Zionist Congress

Subscribe YouTube channel: FirstOneThrough

Join Facebook group: Israel Analysis and FirstOneThrough