Category Archives: Jews

Columbia University’s Latest Anti-Semitic Inanity: “Palestinian Hebrews”

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Joseph Massad teaches at Columbia University on Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History. In addition to his coursework, he publishes essays in places like Middle East Eye which give the general public a small taste of what he is teaching to students at the Ivy League institution.

Tenured Columbia University professor Joseph Massad appearing on Russian news

Massad concocted a bizarre phrase called “Palestinian Hebrews” in recent articles. In order to understand this new noun, it is best to see how Massad used his invented term.

In one article, Massad wrote “Zionists deployed this originally antisemitic claim to argue that modern European Jews are somehow rooted in Palestine in order to render them fantastically the descendants of ancient Palestinian Hebrews.“

In another article, he used the expression twice:

  • “Like France and Italy, the European Jewish Zionists claimed to be descendants of the ancient Palestinian Hebrews and to be merely “returning” to their ancient land. Israel, which established a Jewish majority by expelling the majority of the Palestinian people in 1948, voted against the 1952 UN resolution recognising Tunisian and Moroccan self-determination.“
  • “Socialist pan-Arab nationalism was castigated by the French as reactionary and seeking to re-establish “Islamic” glories. By contrast, the pan-Jewishism of European Zionism, which sought to recreate the “Judaic” glories of the Palestinian Hebrews, who were appropriated as the ancestors of European converts to Judaism, was depicted as progressive and socialist.“

The absurd phrase reveals Massad’s anti-Semitism on two levels.

The first anti-Semitic assertion of this Columbia professor is that Jews are not really Jews. According to this professor’s narrative, today’s “European Jews” who peddle “European Zionism” are not ancestors of biblical Jews but only of “European converts to Judaism.” Jews have lied to themselves and the world that they are descendants of the Jews in the bible.

Massad believes that the small number of European Jews who managed to survive the forced expulsions, conversions, Inquisitions, pogroms and the Holocaust are disgraceful liars. They’re just a band of thieves who adopted a story from the bible. The anti-Semitic world which persecuted Jews for their faith were in truth attacking charlatans according to this tenured anti-Semitic Palestinian professor.

The second anti-Semitic lie told by Massad is that the real Jews in the Old Testament are “ancient Palestinian Hebrews.” He attempts to strip the Jews out of the bible and replace them – presumably – with a new group of people who are somehow tied to Arabs.

The claim is of course, nonsense. Arabs did not come to the Jewish holy land en masse until the Muslim invasions of the 7th and 8th century, over 1,000 years from the writings of the Old Testament and over 500 years from the writing of the New Testament. The land wasn’t rebranded “Syria Palestina” until the year 135CE, well after Jesus died. The Koran, written hundreds of years later, never used the word “Palestine.”

But Massad has absurdly attempted to purge the ancient Jews from the holy land and replace them with an early version of today’s Palestinian Arabs called “ancient Palestinian Hebrews.” Not Jews of Judea, the way Roman historian Josephus wrote then (Judea is mentioned over 100 times in The War of the Jews), but Palestinian Hebrews.

The transparent purposes of stripping Jews of their history and falsely replacing them with “ancient Palestinian Hebrews” is a pathetic attempt to assert that Jews do not have thousands of years of history in the land of Israel, and that Palestinian Arabs are somehow the real biblical Jews. It is cultural appropriation of the most heinous kind, breeding lies and anti-Semitism. In its most gentle form, it presents as the idiocy behind Linda Sarsour and Bella Hadid claims that Jesus was a Palestinian. In its most violent, it manifests in the foundational Hamas Charter which calls for the destruction of Jews and the Jewish State because of their “usurption of Palestine.”

The anti-Semitic Lexicon has a new phrase, “Palestinian Hebrews”, courtesy of a tenured professor at Columbia University. Expect to see it wherever anti-Semites and anti-Zionists are found.

Related articles:

Linda Sarsour as Pontius Pilate

The Anti-Zionist Lexicon – Vilifying Israel

The Anti-Zionist Lexicon – Whitewashing Palestinians

The Cultural Appropriation of the Jewish ‘Promised Land’

A Core Tenet of Zionism Is Combatting Anti-Semitism

Is Columbia University Promoting Violence Against Israel and Jews?

Courageous Jews On Hostile Campuses

Catherine Parker Is Coming For Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s Congressional Seat

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Catherine Parker, a resident of Rye, NY, is running for Congress in New York’s newly redrawn 16th district, one of the most Jewish districts in the country. She has much to say about the district’s current representative, Jamaal Bowman, and it’s and not pretty.

Parker agreed to be interviewed about issues of concern to the Jewish community, as she gets her message out to her constituents.

Catherine Parker, active in politics in lower Westchester for 15 years, is running for Congress to unseat Rep. Jamaal Bowman

On Israel and United Nations

Among the three people running for the seat in the Democratic primary, Parker is the only one who put Israel on her website as part of her agenda. Her website specifies:

“Israel is an important ally to the United States, and in Washington, Catherine will be a steadfast ally of the Middle East’s only democracy. Unlike her opponent who has consistently opposed U.S. policy supportive of Israel, Catherine would have voted in support of Israel’s right to defend itself and protect its citizens and she would have voted for funding of the Iron Dome.

“Catherine opposes the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement which aims to end international support for Israel. She believes wholeheartedly in a two state solution. When it comes to a deal with Iran regarding nuclear – a new Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – we need to see that it will be more protective and longer, stronger and broader than what was negotiated by President Obama in 2015. And unlike her opponent, Catherine supports strengthening the Abraham Accords and would have voted in support for the Israel Relations Normalization Act of 2021.“

These very supportive statements about the Jewish State served as a basis for our conversation.

On BDS, Parker said that it’s “just a version of anti-Semitism.” She believes that it should have no standing or support in our government.

She said that aid to Israel should not be conditional, much as President Biden has stated. She offered that Israel’s security has enhanced America’s security, and with “Israel being attacked all the time from terrorist groups like Hamas, it [Israel] deserves our support.”

Parker added that she supported the Taylor Force Act which limited funds to the Palestinian Authority as long as it pays the families of terrorists. “If the PA is going to be paying stipends to terrorists, then as a country, we shouldn’t be providing economic aid [to the PA].”

Parker added that she doesn’t think that the United Nations is fair in regards to Israel. In particular, she pointed to the UN Human Rights Council which continues to target Israel, a theme the State Department discussed a few weeks ago. She had no comment about the unique perpetual agency devoted to the descendants of Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, and said she would look into it.

Parker has never been to Israel but aligns herself with the Jewish State. While she has no position on Israelis living east of the Green Line in “settlements,” she is eager to visit the country and to learn more.

Iran’s Nuclear Program

Parker called the Islamic Republic of Iran “bad actors.” She was disappointed that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s attempt at diplomacy had seemingly broken down, and said she is “open to listening” to alternatives to deal with the menace, including military action.

Anti-Semitism

Parker supports the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism. She discussed her family’s long connection to former Rep. Nita Lowey and supports having Holocaust education in every school in the country. Parker views this as important to combat anti-Semitism and to benefit all of society.

Why She’s Running: Bowman

Parker went through a lengthy list of reasons why she’s running for Congress and it centers around Rep. Jamaal Bowman.

She said that she believes that Bowman’s advocacy for “Defund the Police is absolutely ridiculous.” The country has “many wonderful people serving us” and the key to combating some rogue officers is to have “implicit bias training” for active police officers.

Parker thinks that Bowman has made terrible policy decisions for the lower Westchester district and for the country, including voting against the infrastructure bill, against aid to Ukraine, and against supporting Israel.

She contrasted her style with Bowman who has a terrible working relationship with fellow Democrats in Westchester (writer’s note: I have repeatedly heard the same criticism). Parker commented about how she strives for bipartisanship in her dealings with Republicans and Democrats in passing laws that benefit the community, and wants to bring that kind of care to Washington, DC. She pondered that Bowman seems to be driven by personal motivation or his ties to the socialist fringe of the party, and clearly not to his constituents.

Summary

Catherine Parker is a seasoned local politician who is learning about the larger national and international issues that concern her Westchester constituents, including Jews. Her instincts seem good and she avoided wading into unfamiliar topics until learning more. I would not be surprised to see her win endorsements for her positions on anti-Semitism and Israel from a variety of groups including Democratic Majority For Israel (DMFI) which normally doesn’t fight incumbents, AIPAC, America’s Pro-Israel lobby, as well as other pro-Israel Democrats like Rep. Ritchie Torres (NY-15), just to the south of her district.

By way of comparison, Bowman is supported as part of the extremist “squad” endorsed by the Sunrise Movement and the Working Families Party, which also support Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush, all of whom have cast votes and made comments deeply hurtful to the Jewish community. Consider that the DC Chapter of the Sunrise Movement actually banned progressive Jewish groups from an event, including the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC), the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) and the Jewish Council on Public Affairs (JCPA). Even far left groups like Americans for Peace Now were appalled at the Sunrise Movement’s action, as the president and CEO said “This is boycotting groups because they are Jewish and state a general … support of Israel,” even though it’s not a core component of their mission, making the action blatantly anti-Semitic.

The differences between Bowman and Parker are dramatic.

The Democratic primary will be held on August 23rd with early voting beginning on August 13.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MN), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), members of the far-left “squad.” (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Related articles:

Rep. Ritchie Torres Doesn’t Want To Be the Only Progressive Pro-Israel Unicorn

Vedat Gashi, Running To Unseat Jamaal Bowman in Congress, Talks to The Jewish Community

The Disgraceful Promotion of Refugee-Washing ‘Nakba’ In The U.S. Congress

Politicians In Their Own Words: Why We Don’t Support Defending Jews

The Right Number of Anti-Semites in Congress

Biden Enables Anti-Semitism On College Campuses

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The terrible news seems to come out daily: anti-Semitism on the rise in cities and towns across the country. One of the worst locations is college campuses, where the government has the power to reduce the scourge, and refuses to do so.

Beyond The US And Beyond This Year

To be clear, the problem is not just local and not only recent.

In March 2022, United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson said “I think that our universities, for far too long, have been tolerant of casual or indeed systemic anti-Semitism… it’s important that we have an anti-Semitism task force devoted to rooting out anti-Semitism in education,” calling out the Jew hatred in universities.

US President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13899—Combating Anti-Semitism in December 2019 to address the problem, stating “my Administration is committed to combating the rise of anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic incidents in the United States and around the world. Anti-Semitic incidents have increased since 2013, and students, in particular, continue to face anti-Semitic harassment in schools and on university and college campuses.”

The United States government was trying to tackle the issue in November 2017 when it held a hearing to consider interpreting Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect Jewish students and other religious minorities from discrimination. At that time, Rabbi Cooper, Associate Dean, Director Global Social Action Agenda, Simon Wiesenthal Center called out for the government to help combat the hatred, arguing that “The failure of schools and Federal Government to protect Jewish students on campus from harassment is one of the most pressing issues for the American Jewish Community.”

But educational institutions and the government are backing away from providing protections to Jewish students on campus.

Failure of Leadership

The City University of New York (CUNY) has seen an enormous spike in anti-Semitic incidents. To combat the menace, over 100 non-profit institutions wrote a letter on June 28, 2022 to the NYC Council Committee on Higher Education to address “the alarming rise of antisemitism on campuses across the country, and at CUNY in particular.” After being postponed once, the committee finally met to address this serious issue, but CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez did not attend. Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov was angered at the chancellor’s absence and said “last night, in a very cowardly fashion, the chancellor said he won’t appear. Instead he sent a lawyer to represent him. What a sham, what an insult to the Jewish community of New York.“

President Biden is similarly aware of the scourge of anti-Semitism on campuses and opted to delay action until after mid-term elections.

President Biden is aware of the scourge of anti-Semitism on campuses and opted to delay action until after mid-term elections.

Shortly after Biden took office in February 2021, Kara McDonald, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, embraced the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism. She said “we must educate ourselves and our communities to recognize antisemitism in its many forms, so that we can call hate by its proper name and take effective action. That is why the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, with its real-world examples, is such an invaluable tool.”

It was the logical and appropriate time for Biden to follow-through on Trump’s EO 13899 and the federal government’s efforts to apply the IHRA definition to Title VI. Title VI “prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity that receives Federal funds or other Federal financial assistance.” As most colleges receive federal funds and would collapse without them, and the fact that Jews do not fall neatly into “race, color or national origin,” Jews were counting on inclusion in the Title VI clause together with the working definition of anti-Semitism.

But Biden decided to postpone a decision on the Title VI matter until December 2022, after mid-term elections.

Biden Fears the Far-Left Anti-Zionists

While Biden was willing to champion the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, he fears members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) within his party, and the threat that they will primary incumbent party centrists out of office. The IHRA definition has several references to Israel including “Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel“, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” and “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.” These anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic statements often come from the mouths of Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Cori Bush (D-MO), members of the DSA. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY), a leading shrill voice of the DSA, has stated plainly that her squad will come after centrists if the Democratic leadership doesn’t bend to their extremist policy demands, including lambasting Israel. Biden doesn’t want to anger the squad and risk his party’s slim majority.

President Biden with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (left) and Rep. Debbie Dingell, May 2021. (photo: Evan Vucci/AP)

While studies have shown that “much of the antisemitic activity [on college campuses] was perpetrated by anti-Zionist students and student groups” at schools with “faculty academic boycotters,” and the federal government has a clear pathway to clamp down on the Jew hatred, President Biden has chosen to place party politics ahead of the safety of the young adults of the most persecuted minority in America.

Related articles:

Hamas And Harvard Proudly Declare Their Anti-Semitism And Anti-Zionism

Courageous Jews On Hostile Campuses

Hamas’s Willing Executioners

The Joy of Lecturing Jews

The Holocaust Will Not Be Colorized. The Holocaust Will Be Live.

Please Don’t Vote for a Democratic Socialist

Rashida Tlaib’s Modern ‘Mein Kampf’

Of Kings On July 4th, In Newport, RI

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The refreshing breeze came through the open windows in the Congregation Jeshuat Israel Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island on Saturday morning. Better known as the Touro Synagogue named for its first cantor Isaac Touro (1738-1783) and his son Judah Touro (1775-1854) who was its benefactor, the small building was lightly filled for Sabbath services on the July Fourth holiday weekend.

Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, July 3, 2022

America’s oldest synagogue which opened in 1763, was a logical place for Jews to come to celebrate America’s birthday. In addition to being the only Jewish temple still standing in the United States from colonial days, America’s first president, George Washington (1732-1799), wrote a letter to the congregation in August 1790 which affirmed religious liberty:

“The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.“

Washington made clear that all religious groups were not simply “tolerated” but very much a fabric of society. It was an incredible message for Jews to hear in the nascent country, as members of a persecuted faith who had first fled from Europe and then Brazil due to the Catholic Inquisition empowered by local governments.

Bima of the Touro Synagogue

My appreciation for religious liberty in this amazing country brought me to that synagogue for America’s birthday. As I climbed the few carpeted steps to recite the haftorah that Sabbath, my mind considered the text I read, which also tied Judaism to the founding of the United States.

The haftorah this July 4th was for Parshat Korach, which read from Samuel I: 11:14 – 12:22. The portion relayed how the Israelites demanded a king, and how the Prophet Samuel rebuked them for their plea. Samuel communicated that God had met their every need so it was shameful that they would seek to follow the example of other nations for a king to rule over them. Samuel anointed Saul to be the first king of the Jews but it was done reluctantly, as he admonished the Israelites that God is actually the only king.

America’s founding fathers believed as much.

Thomas Paine’s (1737-1809), pamphlet Common Sense of 1776, called on the colonies to rebel against the king of England – and against all kings. He cited the story of the Hebrew Bible above in making his case:

“As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest cannot be justified on the equal rights of nature, so neither can it be defended on the authority of scripture; for the will of the Almighty as declared by Gideon, and the prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves of government by Kings…. Near three thousand years passed away, from the Mosaic account of the creation, till the Jews under a national delusion requested a king. Till then their form of government (except in extraordinary cases where the Almighty interposed) was a kind of Republic, administered by a judge and the elders of the tribes. Kings they had none, and it was held sinful to acknowledge any being under that title but the Lord of Hosts…. Monarchy is ranked in scripture as one of the sins of the Jews, for which a curse in reserve is denounced against them. The history of that transaction is worth attending to…. The hankering which the Jews had for the idolatrous customs of the Heathens, is something exceedingly unaccountable; but so it was, that laying hold of the misconduct of Samuel’s two sons, who were entrusted with some secular concerns, they came in an abrupt and clamorous manner to Samuel, saying, ‘Behold thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways, now make us a king to judge us like all the other nations.’… That the Almighty hath here entered his protest against monarchical government is true, or the scripture is false.“

Paine argued vociferously against trading one sovereign (British) for a new one in America. He and the other founding fathers instituted a system of government where there was no place for a hereditary monarchy but a democratic republic with leaders chosen by the people.

George Washington was that first leader in this new experiment in governance. Not only did he believe that a monarchy was distasteful but also in the power of God. When he resigned his military post in 1783, he wrote of handing over “the Interests of our dearest Country to the protection of Almighty God.”

Seven years later, Rhode Island was one of the last colonies to adopt the U.S. Bill of Rights which enshrined that “all men, have an equal, natural and unalienable right to the free exercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience; and that no particular religious sect or society ought to be favored or established by law in preference to others.” Washington’s letter to the Touro Synagogue just a few months later, cemented not just the “free exercise of religion” but that Jews will be protected as full citizens as part of the nation’s foundational laws, not the whims of a monarch.

The fame of the Touro Synagogue is very much tied to Washington’s letter which affirmed religious liberty. It should not be a surprise that Washington wrote such letter to the Jews, whose bible served as an inspiration for the American constitution and views of both religion and leadership.

Related articles:

Israel & the United States Repel the Force of the World

The Haggadah as Touchstone for Harmony

“Jews as a Class”

Shabbat Hagadol at the Third Hurva Synagogue, 2010

Jews In Jerusalem Still Fighting For ‘Social Justice’

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Social justice is a concept that has been advanced by left-wing Americans into mainstream conversation. The idea covers a number of principles:

  • Access
  • Human rights
  • Participation
  • Equity
  • Diversity

The Jews in Jerusalem are slowly advancing in their movement on each of these principles, however, systemic anti-Semitism at the United Nations and for many Arab Muslim nations, has slowed progress.

Access

Despite the facts that only Jews consider Jerusalem as its holiest location and uniquely made the city its capital, Arab Muslim nations ethnically-cleansed the Old City of Jerusalem of its Jews in the 1948-9 Arab-Israeli war. Transjordan illegally annexed the eastern part of the city including the Old City and the west bank of the Jordan River, and subsequently denied any Jew the ability to visit their holiest sites.

Jordan attacked Israel again in 1967 but lost the ‘West Bank’ and eastern Jerusalem to Israel. While Israel once again allowed Jews to live and visit their holiest city, the Jordanian Waqf was given permission by Israel to administer the Jewish Temple Mount, and limits the time and number of Jews who can visit.

Human Rights

Not long after Jordan annexed lands west of the Jordan River in a move not recognized by almost every country in the world, it passed a citizenship law specifically excluding Jews in article 3. Now under Israeli rule, the Jews of Jerusalem – as well as Arabs – are afforded citizenship in a reversal to Jordan’s anti-Semitic law.

Jordan still enforces its ban on Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, a flagrant violation of the basic human rights of Jews. Remarkably, the world stays mum on the subject, fearing radical Islamic violence.

Participation

The Jews in Jerusalem are marginalized by the United Nations and much of the world. The UN Security Council passed Resolution 2334 which stated that “Israelis” could not move to eastern Jerusalem. The anti-Zionists call Jews who live and visit ‘settlers’, even if they are not Israeli, and do not use the label for Israeli Arabs who do the same, clearly demonstrating the anti-Jewish nature of the smear.

The UN has set up distinct agencies, committees and inquiries uniquely for the Jewish State and does not afford Israel an opportunity to participate on the same basis as others in a forum stacked against it.

As noted above, the administration of the Temple Mount which holds the al Aqsa mosque is administered solely by Arab Muslims of the Jordanian waqf. Such formulation does not allow Jews to participate in the administration of their holiest site, and has led to their being completely marginalized.

Equity / Restorative Justice

There has been some measure of restorative justice for Jews, in facilitating the migration of Jews back to their ancestral homeland over the past hundred years. Germany has paid the state compensation for its actions in the Holocaust. The United States has invested in the fledgling state and facilitated its ascendency out of a third world emerging state to a thriving liberal democracy. The most persecuted people who faced a genocide have established a safe haven.

But evil still lurks. The Islamic Republic of Iran has stated its desire to destroy Israel. It has several terrorist proxies abutting the Jewish State including Hamas and Hezbollah which have thousands of missiles directed at it. The world is debating how to handle the leading state sponsor of terrorism’s quest for nuclear weapons, even though the answer is obvious to any toddler.

In relation to Jerusalem, the world has done the opposite of restorative justice. It did – and still does not – facilitate and recognize Jews in the Old City of Jerusalem. Israel had to reunite the city on its own in a defensive battle. It rebuilds the synagogues (like the Hurva) that Jordan destroyed in the face of global condemnation.

The Hurva Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, shortly after its re-opening in March 2010 (photo: First One Through)

Diversity

Israel’s neighbors like Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, UAE, Iraq and others, are each over 90% Muslim. In contrast, Israel is only 73.9% Jewish and has over 26% of the population from a variety of religions including Muslims, Christians, Druze, Baha’i, Samaritans and others.

Israel’s diversity is seen in its schools and hospitals. The signs in the country are written in Hebrew, Arabic and English. Its parliament and Supreme Court have people of different religions, ethnic backgrounds, genders and orientation. All of those dynamics are lacking in the other countries of the Middle East.

Many of those same countries that lack diversity attack Israel economically, politically and militarily. They deny the history of the Jews, their rights and any acceptance of the Jewish State. They have stood against ‘normalizing’ the Jewish State in any manner in an aggressive campaign of ‘three denials.‘ These efforts are most pronounced regarding Israel’s capital of Jerusalem, which they seek to revert back to the Arab-only, Jew-free situation they enforced in the eastern half from 1949 to 1967.

Regarding the principles of access, human rights, participation, equity and diversity, Israel stands as a beacon in the Middle East. However, the country still faces many obstacles, mostly from the biased United Nations and at the Jewish Temple Mount. Hopefully those committed to social justice will engage in the hard work to end the systemic anti-Semitism, xenophobia, Islamic privilege, religious persecution and isolation of the indigenous Jewish people in their ancient homeland and in their holy capital city of Jerusalem.

Related articles:

Israel, the Liberal Country of the Middle East

The Jews of Jerusalem In Situ

Zionism is Justice

Arabs in Jerusalem

Considering Israel’s Model for Arabs Applied to Jews in a Palestinian State

Israel’s Peers and Neighbors

Examining Ilhan Omar’s Point About Muslim Antisemitism

No Jews Killed In New York Times Telling Of Palestinian Terror Wave

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As news broke on Israeli and Jewish news services of yet another act of terror committed by Palestinian Arabs against their Jewish neighbors, The New York Times had two of its journalists upload stories to the Times’ website. Its versions of the account called out “Arab” and “Palestinian” assailants but NEVER stated that the victims were Jews.

The story according to Isabel Kershner:

“Two assailants armed with a gun and an ax attacked passers-by in an Israeli town on Thursday night, killing at least three, according to initial reports from the police and emergency services.

The police described the assault as a suspected terrorist attack.

The attack followed a wave of violence by Arab assailants that had already killed 14 people in Israel since mid-March. Another Israeli man who was guarding a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank was killed by Palestinian gunmen last week.

Several more people were reported to be wounded in Thursday’s attack in Elad, an ultra-Orthodox town in central Israel.

The assailants appeared to have escaped; the police said they had set up checkpoints along several roads and officers in a police helicopter were searching for a vehicle seen fleeing the scene.

The attack took place just after nightfall, at the end of Israel’s Independence Day, marking the foundation of the state in 1948. Palestinians mark the establishment of Israel as the Nakba, or catastrophe.

Emergency responders said they found the first fatality by a traffic circle in Elad and two more in a nearby park.

“When we arrived we realized that this was a complex scene,” said Alon Rizkan, a paramedic with the Magen David Adom ambulance service. He described the three people who were pronounced dead at the scene as men, all aged around 40.

Several more wounded men were transferred to hospitals, he said.”

The Jewish victims – targeted because they were Jews – were referred to as “passers-by” or “people,” making them appear as random targets of Palestinian Arabs.

The story told by Patrick Kingsley had a similar angle:

“The surge in terrorist attacks in Israel, the deadliest wave of violence since 2016, has been framed by Palestinian parties and militant groups as a logical consequence of the entrenchment of Israel’s 55-year occupation of the West Bank, of Israel’s control over sensitive religious sites in Jerusalem, and of the dwindling commitment from some key Arab leaders to the creation of a Palestinian state.

The attackers’ diverse backgrounds, however, have left both Palestinian and Israeli analysts and officials uncertain about the relationship between the attacks, the motivations of the attackers and the timing of their attacks.

Prior to the attack in Elad on Thursday, there had been several attacks across cities in Israel, involving Arab assailants who have killed 14 people, including two Arab police officers and two Ukrainians. But beyond their lethal outcomes, the episodes have not fit easily within a simple narrative.

Two of the most recent attacks — in Tel Aviv and Bnei Brak — were carried out by Palestinians from the occupied West Bank. While praised by several Palestinian movements, no group has formally claimed responsibility for them.

Two earlier attacks were carried out by three members of Israel’s Arab minority who had known sympathies for the Islamic State, the extremist group that has no ties to the Palestinian national movement and that claimed responsibility, perhaps opportunistically, for one incident but not the other.

While the lethal outcome of the first attack, on March 22, may have inspired the others to follow suit, a senior Israeli military officer said there was no evidence that any of them were masterminded by a major Palestinian group, let alone by the same network. Analysts also noted that the attackers in the first two incidents had no ideological connection to the latest two.“

Kingsley referred to the “attacks” generally, and the only time he described the victims, he wrote there were “14 people, including two Arab police officers and two Ukrainians.” No Jews.

The New York Times tells its readers that the deliberate slaughter of Jews does “not fit easily into a simple narrative,” attempting to obfuscate the easily identifiable Jew hatred and refusal of Arab Muslims to coexist with so many Jews and the Jewish State.

Its absolution via omission, and is anti-Semitism itself.

Related articles:

Spreading “Cheer” of Attacking Israeli Jews

Will The New York Times Write About Terrorism From Israelis’ Point Of View?

New York Times Mum on Muslim Anti-Semitism

New York Times Buries Stories of Slaughtered Jews in Temple Mount Account

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

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

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

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

It Is NOT Israel Independence Day But Israel REESTABLISHMENT Day

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The Jewish calendar runs at a different pace than the Gregorian or other calendars. Based on the cycles of the moon, it starts with the creation of the world which correlates to the year 3761 BCE. That means that the year 2022 CE is the year 5782 in the Jewish calendar.

In the Hebrew Bible, the first monotheist and forefather of the Jewish people is Abraham. Born as Abram in the year 1948 in the Jewish calendar, he lived his early years in present day southern Iraq in Ur-Kasdim and then Haran. At 75 years old, in the year 2023, he heard the voice of God tell him to move to Canaan, present day Israel. It was there that God told him that the land was an ever-lasting inheritance to his descendants Isaac, Jacob (later Israel) and all of the Children of Israel.

Judaism is not like other religions or even the other monotheistic faiths of Christianity and Islam. Judaism is a particular religion for a particular group of people. It does not have designs to spread to the corners of the Earth in an effort to make others convert. It was designed to be local – to the land of Israel – for the Jewish people. That is why the Bible commands the Jews to visit Jerusalem THREE TIMES EVERY YEAR – Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot – while Islam asks of its adherents to visit Mecca only once in a lifetime. Jews were supposed to stay in the land (certainly before planes and automobiles) while Islam knew that Muslims would live thousands of miles away from its holy city.

From 722BCE onward, many invaders and colonists forced Jews out of their land of inheritance. Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs and others came into the Jewish holy land, killing or hauling Jews to foreign lands, and planting their own flag in Jewish soil.

Yet some Jews remained in the land, and a greater influx of world Jewry commenced during the 19th century. By the late 1860’s CE, Jerusalem was majority Jewish.

In 1948 CE (a curious coincident to the birth of Abraham in 1948 in the Jewish calendar) the modern State of Israel was established on the 5th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar. People often refer to the anniversary of the founding as “Israel Independence Day” but that is a misnomer, as Israel did not become independent from anyone. Jews waited for the British to leave the land and end their mandate before declaring itself a new state, the REESTABLISHED Jewish State in the Jewish homeland.

Next year, May 2023, will mark the 75th year of Israel’s Reestablishment Day, correlating to when the land of Israel was promised by God to the Children of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob/ Israel when Abraham was 75 years old in the year 2023 of the Jewish calendar. Let’s celebrate this entire year with particular revelry, as a plurality of Jews now live in the thriving Jewish State with a united Jerusalem once again as its capital.

Israeli flag at the Western Wall of the Jewish Temple Mount (photo: First One Through)

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Hamas And Harvard Proudly Declare Their Anti-Semitism And Anti-Zionism

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The toxic environment of America’s educational system was brought into sharp focus in April 2022, as Hamas and Harvard made pronouncements they wanted the entire world to hear.

The leader of the Palestinian Arab political-terrorist group Hamas, Yahya Sinwar declared “Whoever takes the decision to repeat this scene (of a deployment inside the mosque) will be taking the decision to destroy thousands of synagogues across the world.” In the proclamation, Hamas refreshed its mantra that its battle against Israel is a religious one, specifically against Jews around the world, as made clear in its noxious foundational charter statements such as “Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious,” and “Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Moslem people.”

Hamas has once again declared war on world Jewry.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, is not simply a fringe extremist militant group. It is supported by the majority of Palestinian Arabs. Perhaps it is not a surprise, as polls show that Palestinian Arabs are the most anti-Semitic in the world.

Remarkably, not every country in the world has acknowledged that Hamas is a terrorist group. In November 2021, the United Kingdom and Australia finally designated all branches of the group as such and in May 2021, the Organization of American States (OAS), stated unequivocally that Hamas is a terrorist group that targets civilians which “makes the invocation of the principle of legitimate defense by Israel essential.” Hopefully, more countries will finally join civil society and do likewise, after the latest direct threats against its Jewish citizens.

Regrettably, while the world may finally be waking up to the anti-Semitic genocidal worldview leading Palestinian Arabs, America’s liberal educational institutions are going in the opposite direction.

As anti-Semitic terrorist groups abutting Israel like Hamas and Hezbollah celebrated the murder of Israeli civilians, and liberal papers wrote about the slaughter from the terrorists point of view, Harvard University endorsed a prevailing anti-Zionist progressive stance of absolving Palestinian terrorism and supporting a boycott of Israel.

On April 29, 2022, The Harvard Crimson Editorial board wrote “In Support of Boycott, Divest, Sanction and a Free Palestine,” and opened with words of comfort for Palestinian Arabs, portraying them as non-violent victims of a brutal Israeli regime.

  • “We first and foremost wish to extend our sincere support to those who have been and continue to be subject to violence in occupied Palestine”
  • “unlawful killings that victimize Palestinians day in and day out”
  • “Israeli soldiers have killed nearly 50 Palestinians, including eight children, this year alone”

Not a word about Israelis slaughtered by Arab Muslims over the past few weeks.

Harvard proudly endorses a boycott of Israel, April 29, 2022

Not a word that Palestinian society actively promotes killing Jewish civilians by naming schools and public squares after terrorists, giving monies to the families of terrorists, promoting them on television and posters, or the polls which show that the Palestinian public favors killing Israelis, including children.

The editorial never mentioned Israel’s repeated attempts to forge a peace with Palestinian Arabs, each rejected by the Palestinians and Arab world in favor of more violence.

The Harvard piece never discussed Israel’s efforts to hand land to Palestinians.

In 1967, Israel decided not to annex the Gaza Strip or the “West Bank” in an effort to make peace but the Arab world responded with the infamous “Three No’s” of “no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it” which has become the Three Denials: to deny the history of the Jews; deny the rights of the Jews; and deny the acceptance of the Jews in their holy land.

Israel would go on to hand the Palestinian Authority several cities between 1995 and 2000 and was scheduled to do much more, but the Palestinians launched the 2000 Two Percent War which killed over 1,000 Israeli civilians because Israel was only meeting 98 percent of the PA’s stated demands.

Israel gave the Palestinians Gaza in 2005, with the express direct support from the United States that “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 that “through the establishment of a Palestinian state, and the settling of Palestinian refugees there, rather than in Israel.” Instead of using their new self-determination for peaceful co-existence, the region has become a terrorist enclave run by Hamas, which has repeatedly launched wars against Israel.

Today, 100% of Palestinian Arabs in Gaza and 86% of those in the West Bank have self-determination. Contrary to liberal and Islamic editorials, there is no inalienable right to a country, only to self-determination, which the vast majority of Palestinian Arabs already have.

These points were completely ignored. Instead, this institution of higher learning stated its “categorical imperative to side with and empower the vulnerable and oppressed” in a situation where the “overwhelming power imbalance” rests with Israel. Israel is accused of “ethnonationalist legislation” and responsible for “human rights and international law violations and of Palestine’s cry for freedom.”

The sole Jewish state with about 7 million Jews, which is surrounded by dozens of Muslim countries and 1.8 BILLION Muslims is somehow cast as the real power player. The mental gymnastics to accuse Israel of “ethnonationalist legislation,” while simultaneously supporting the creation of a Palestinian State which demands to be free of Jews (because the presence of Jews “difficults the prospect of a two-state solution“), is so outrageous that one must be part of the Harvard elite to comprehend.

Has Harvard simply become the latest progressive institution to view every situation in a narrow construct of the party viewed as powerful and the one cast as victim? Do the millions of dollars the institution receives from Muslim countries have any bearing on its twisted perception?

Harvard acknowledged it accepted $30 million from Saudi Arabia between 2013 and 2019, and another $6 million from Qatar, which openly supports Hamas. But the Department of Education noted that the school failed to report millions of additional donations beyond that and launched an investigation.

Hamas and Harvard probably sat next to each other in grade school and passed notes about “The Zionist invasion is a vicious invasion… using all evil and contemptible ways… infiltration and espionage operations on the secret organizations… aim at undermining societies, destroying values, corrupting consciences, deteriorating character and annihilating Islam. It is behind the drug trade and alcoholism in all its kinds so as to facilitate its control and expansion” (Article 28 of the Hamas Charter) and “They obtained the Balfour Declaration, formed the League of Nations through which they could rule the world. They were behind World War II, through which they made huge financial gains by trading in armaments, and paved the way for the establishment of their state. It was they who instigated the replacement of the League of Nations with the United Nations and the Security Council to enable them to rule the world through them. There is no war going on anywhere, without having their finger in it.” (Article 22)

Hamas and Harvard are attempting to educate the world that Jews and the Jewish State are powerful forces, seeking to undermine societies as they seek greater control and expansion of land and resources. If that sounds familiar, you took Holocaust Remembrance Day seriously.

Hamas and Harvard are attempting to educate the world that Jews and the Jewish State are powerful forces, seeking to undermine societies as they seek greater control and expansion of land and resources. If that sounds familiar, you took Holocaust Remembrance Day seriously.

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For Holocaust Remembrance Day, Deny There Was Black Slavery

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The willful ignorance and denial of Jewish history is systemic in virtually all countries. It very much includes the United States, and the Black community in particular.

Pew Research did a study of Holocaust knowledge in February 2019. The study showed that Black Christian Americans were woefully ignorant about the Holocaust, getting fewer than half as many responses correct as White Americans. No other group was remotely as uninformed.

It was therefore no surprise when television personality Whoopi Goldberg thought that the Holocaust of European Jewry was simply a matter of White-on-White violence, as so many Blacks know so little about the subject, and consider Jews as simply “White”.

The State of California made an attempt to improve its education for grades K-12 by instituting an ethnic studies curriculum that highlight some minority groups: Blacks, Latinos, Native Americans and Asian American. Jews, who experience the most hate crimes per capita in the Unites States every year, were described in the 2019 curriculum as “sometimes have experienced conditional whiteness and privilege.” A letter of protest from the California Jewish Caucus pushed the state to make some significant changes to the 2021 draft, but it is readily apparent as to how the liberal state prioritizes and thinks about Jews and anti-Semitism.

So as Israel commemorates Yom HaShoah, the Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust, perhaps a more controversial approach should be considered. Use the day to deny and belittle Black slavery. Pretend it never happened, or only impacted a few Black people. Maybe describe how just as many Asians were slaves at that time, or that life wasn’t really so bad for the African workers.

It should get the attention of people most ignorant about the genocide of European Jewry, much more than the far-left crafters of today’s K-12 curricula are willing and capable of doing.

Three teenagers contemplate the Holocaust after visiting Yad VaShem in Jerusalem, Israel (photo: First One Through)

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Does The United States Think That The Holocaust Relates To Israel?

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On March 21, 2022, United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken spoke at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Blinken’s remarks focused on the decision by the US government to declare that the Burmese military committed a genocide against the Rohningya. The location of the talk was consistent with the museum‘s mission to be a resource to teach “about the Holocaust and other genocides and mass atrocities.“

Blinken never mentioned Israel in his speech, yet it was featured prominently on the US embassy in Israel’s website, including a link to the video and the full text. One could not find a link to the speech on the websites of embassies to other countries (also not mentioned in the speech), except for Italy.

One must assume that the US government opted to post a speech about the genocide of the Rohingya on Israel’s website because the Holocaust was about the annihilation of Jews, and Israel is the only Jewish State. It is unclear why Italy was also selected.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken at US Holocaust Memorial Museum, March 21, 2022

In his remarks, Blinken mentioned the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya from regions of Burma but has never discussed the Jordanians ethnically cleansing the Jews from Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem in 1948-9.

Blinken talked about the Burmese military’s so-called “Clean and Beautiful Nation” activities which led to atrocities, but neglected to mention the popular Palestinian political-terrorist group Hamas’s 1988 charter (article 3) which urges everyone to “raise the banner of Jihad in the face of the oppressors, so that they would rid the land and the people of their [Jews] uncleanliness, vileness and evil.“

Blinken also discussed “Burma’s 1982 citizenship law, which effectively excluded Rohingya from citizenship and denied them full political rights, echoing the 1935 Nuremberg Laws that stripped Jews of their German citizenship,” but has thus far refused to similarly call out the 1954 Jordanian citizenship law which specifically excluded Jews.

Blinken noted the Burmese “dehumanizing hate speech,” in which “Rohingya were compared to fleas, to thorns, to an invasive species,” but hasn’t called out Palestinian Authority officials who call Israel “the greatest cancer,” and the leader of Iran who similarly called Israel “a cancerous tumor.“

Blinken knows the warning signs and said “Understanding the contours of this [genocidal] path is a core part of the Holocaust Museum’s mission.  It’s crucial to all of us who are committed to living up to the maxim of “Never again.”  By learning to spot the signs of the worst atrocities, we’re empowered to prevent them.“

The current United States government clearly understands that the Holocaust relates to Jews and the importance of the subject to the Jewish State. So one must wonder why it deliberately ignores the genocidal behavior of Israel’s Arab and Muslim neighbors.

Regrettably, it may be because the current administration is adopting the Palestinian Arabs’ false narrative that Israel was created because of the Holocaust, blinding US officials to the deeply-instilled anti-Semitism in many parts of Arab society.

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