Zionism Was A Dream. Israel Is A Reality

Posted on January 5, 2025 by First.One.Through

Henri Dunant (1828-1910) was a humanitarian who created the International Red Cross in 1863 which helped lead to his selection as the first winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901. He is also known (although such mention has been stripped from Wikipedia) for being a strong Christian Zionist, as far back as 1866 when he advocated for “the re-settlement of Palestine by the Jewish people.” His advocacy led Theodore Herzl to invite him to the first Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland in 1897.

The dream of Jews returning to their homeland gathered momentum in the second half of the 19th century, despite the Ottomans making it hard for Jews to move to Palestine. In 1800, Jews made up about 3% of the region of Palestine, growing to 8% by 1882 and nearly 14% by the close of the Ottoman period in 1914.

*Jews have moved to the land of Israel in far greater percentages than either Christians or Muslims since 1800*

This predated the Balfour Declaration of 1917, when the British government appreciated the Zionist Federation’s appeal to reestablish their national home in Palestine.

“His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”

Despite Zionism being about the GOAL of creating a Jewish national home in Jews’ historic homeland, the term continues to be used decades after the modern State of Israel was established in 1948.

Gil Troy, a historian and author of “The Zionist Ideas,” explained that Zionism has three principle components: that Jews are a nation; that Jews have ties to their particular homeland in the land of Israel; and that Jews have a right to establish a state in that homeland, much like other people have rights to their own country. The first two principles are simple facts while the third is a matter of rights, not aspirations. Such definition makes Zionism an ongoing principle rather than that a mission which was accomplished in 1948.

The view of Zionism as a relevant reality or historical ideology arises in the national anthem, “Hatikvah”, written in 1877 as the Zionist movement gathered initial momentum.

“As long as within our hearts / The Jewish soul sings, / As long as forward to the East / To Zion, looks the eye / Our hope is not yet lost, / It is two thousand years old, / To be a free people in our land / The land of Zion and Jerusalem”

Today, some object to the lyrics speaking of Israel from a purely Jewish perspective when 25% of the population is not Jewish. Others do not like the fact that it has no religious foundation and only speaks of being “free” in the land. I would add that the text is inherently dated with words like “our HOPE” and “TO BE a free people” when Israel has long been a reality.

*Israeli flag at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem (photo: First One Through)*

Significantly, discussions around “Zionism” have continued in political fora as if the world is still debating the FORMATION of Israel.

In November 1975, the United Nations General Assembly passed Res. 3379 which stated “zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination,” by lumping it into a category of trespasses including “colonialism and neo-colonialism, foreign occupation, apartheid and racial discrimination.” The resolution was rescinded in 1991 through the efforts of the United States.
Keith Ellison, Minnesota’s attorney general and one-time member of Congress once said “Zionism, the ideological undergirding of Israel, is a debatable political philosophy,” making the foundation of the Jewish State a questionable endeavor.
Linda Sarsour, a member of the anti-Israel Democratic Socialists of America said that “nothing is creepier than Zionism,” invoking the old UN resolution that Zionism is a form of racism.
Steve Erlander wrote in The New York Times that “Zionism was never the gentlest of ideologies. The return of the Jewish people to their biblical homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty there have always carried within them the displacement of those already living in the land,” repeating the stale U.N. slander.
Israel’s enemies continue to call it a “Zionist entity”, refusing to mention the name of the country, as if to do so recognizes its existence or right to exist.

The continued use of the word “Zionism” today by anti-Israel agitators is not a theoretical review of Jewish aspirations to return to their homeland in the 19th century and early 20th century, but a concerted effort to demonize and/or destroy Israel today.

For starters, by attempting to define Zionism as a form of racism, people mark Israel as a racist and apartheid state regardless of its actions. While it is the most liberal country in the entire Middle East, if Israel’s underpinning ideology was built on “colonialism” and “racial discrimination,” then its existence is a continuation of the racist ideology, permeated by original sin.

Secondly, if Israel is not viewed as a functioning liberal and democratic reality but merely a vehicle of “Zionism,” its existence entails the continued “displacement of those [Arabs] already living in the land.” When Rep. Rashida Tlaib introduced a resolution in Congress about the “Ongoing Nakba,” she was not discussing 1948 history but a belief in the “ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians for illegal settlements.” She imagines the entire history and ongoing reality of the reestablished Jewish State as a “catastrophe.”

Further, anti-Israel people believe that when JEWS use of the word “Zionism,” it means that the goals of the Jewish State are far from completed. Not only does Israel seek the land east of the 1949 Armistice Lines (E49AL/ “West Bank”) and Gaza, but it seeks “Greater Israel” encompassing “the area from the Nile to the Euphrates,” as speakers at the United Nations contend. It means Jews want to see a third Temple built on the Temple Mount in place of the Dome of the Rock.

In short, when anti-Israel people use the term “Zionism,” they are discussing more than a philosophy but an evolving reality. Anti-Israel activists seek a future which resembles 1947 or 1917, when there was no Israel and no international support for a Jewish State. When those same people hear Jews use “Zionism,” they believe that Jews want a future which looks like 2,000-plus years ago, with a Jewish Temple and sprawling Jewish kingdom.

In other words, Zionism is not just a highly charged word for some, but conjures up the perception of ongoing goals as opposed to actual present facts.

The facts are that Israel is the most pluralistic society in the Middle East where Arabs have more rights and a higher standard of living than in neighboring Arab countries. Israel has shown its willingness to SHRINK its borders for peace. Israel has proven that it can create a viable, functioning economy and society, despite regional actors refusing to accept its existence.

The plain truth is that Israel is a model state to be replicated, while cast as a Zionist ideology to be terminated.

Zionism was a dream and Israel exists. The transition was marked in the last line in Israel’s Declaration of Independence, “the realization of the age-old dream – the redemption of Israel.” Israel supporters should acknowledge Israel’s declaration and stop calling themselves “Zionists” as it enables anti-Israel fanatics to whitewash their desire to destroy the Jewish State.

*A proud “Zionist” woman at the Celebrate Israel parade in New York City in 2019 (photo: First One Through)*

People are pro-Israel, anti-Israel or Israel-ambivalent today. Do not let those who seek the destruction of Israel to hide behind a “debate” about the “political philosophy” of Zionism.

Anti-Zionist Hypocrisy Ignoring The Will Of Inhabitants (May 2023)

Names and Narrative: Zionist Entity and Colonial Occupier (May 2019)

I am a Zionist. A Deep Zionist. An Amazed Zionist. A Loud Zionist. (April 2018)

Jimmy Carter Started The “Outside In” Approach To Middle East Peace

Posted on December 30, 2024 by First.One.Through

On September 15, 2020, the Trump Administration announced the Abraham Accords which included the normalization of relations between Israel and both Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Within a few weeks, Israel normalized relations with Sudan, and then with Morocco.

The agreements were mocked by socialist-jihadi media, including Al Jazeera and Vox. They maintained that regional agreements without addressing Palestinian Arabs were destined to fail. So eager to discredit Republicans Donald Trump and his champion for normalization in the region, Jared Kushner, they forgot that Democratic presidents started the “outside-in” approach, with Jimmy Carter spearheading peace between Israel and Egypt in 1979, and Bill Clinton bringing Israel and Jordan together in 1994.

Egypt’s Anwar Sadat, US Jimmy Carter, Israel’s Menham Begin

Even as the latest Palestinian war against Israel rages, the various peace and normalization agreements Israel struck with nearby Arab countries has held, to the dismay of the socialist-jihadist platforms like Time Magazine which urge the cancellation of the Abraham Accords.

Israel has repeatedly shown that it can compromise for peace while the Stateless Arabs from Palestine (SAPs) have shown themselves incapable of breaking from their toxic narrative that Israel doesn’t deserve to exist, making it an impossible negotiating party.

Democratic and Republican administrations have shown leadership in bringing Israel into the regional community withhold being held hostage to the intransigence of inept Palestinian Arab leadership. Hopefully the next Trump administration will continue to build on viable paths to stability.

A 2024 Nobel Peace Prize Shortlist Mocks The Death Of Jews (October 2024)

Coexistence Runs Through UAE, Anti-Semitism Through UN (February 2023)

Opposing Unity Bonds In The Middle East (March 2022)

Importing Peaceful Ideas to the West Bank (February 2021)

Denied No More (September 2020)

Considering Carter’s 1978 Letter Claiming Settlements Are Illegal (November 2019)

The Many Lies of Jimmy Carter (November 2016)

Banning Qatar’s Al Jazeera Is Only News Sometimes

Posted on December 29, 2024 by First.One.Through

In the middle of a multi-front war that Israel was fighting against Iranian proxies, the Jewish State decided to ban Qatar’s Al Jazeera media because of its positive depictions of Hamas and Palestinian terrorists groups, and negative stories about Israel. The New York Times ran many stories about Israel’s ban.

Last week, the Palestinian Authority also acted to ban the Hamas-supporting news company, as the PA began to arrest various terrorist groups in the West Bank in an attempt to show that it can be a trusted party to rule in Gaza. The story was picked up in a few publications, including Reuters, Variety, The Jerusalem Post, JNS and many other organizations such as i24News, Haaretz and the New Arab.

Yet The New York Times has still not covered the story, despite heavily covering Israel’s ban.

Al Jazeera has long tried to inflame a global jihad against Israel and instigate a Shiite-Sunni war in the Middle East, under the veneer of a legitimate news agency. Perhaps the New York Times is trying to both support the anti-Israel propaganda – which the grey lady echoes – by not covering the PA’s ban of Al Jazeera which would further delegitimatize AJ, and to paint Israel as anti-freedom of the press, which no one bothers to consider for the PA.

Comparing Coverage Of Golan Heights and “West Bank”

Posted on December 13, 2024 by First.One.Through

The media has begun paying more attention to Syria as the country’s 54-year old regime has fallen to insurgents tied to ISIS and Turkey. As part of its coverage, it has marked the Golan Heights on its maps. It makes this an opportune time to review the very different coverage of two contested areas – Golan Heights and West Bank – between Israel and its neighbors.

In the Media

*The Guardian’s map of the Golan Heights in December 2024*

The Guardian presented a map of the Golan Heights calling the separation between Israel and Syria as the “1949 Armistice line.” It also noted that the Heights were “captured by Israel from Syria during the 1967 Six-day war.” Both of these statements are factually correct.

And completely divorced from how the media describes the “West Bank.”

Rather than use the term “1949 Armistice line”, the press calls it the “1967 border” even though it was never a border nor meant to be a border. As described in the 1949 Israel-Jordan Armistice Agreement in Article VI, “The Armistice Demarcation Lines defined in articles V and VI of this Agreement are agreed upon by the Parties without prejudice to future territorial settlements or boundary lines or to claims of either Party relating thereto.” In other words, the lines were simply set to separate the warring parties but political negotiations would craft the contours of the land in the future.

In regards to the phrase “from Syria,” the media never notes that Israel didn’t capture the “West Bank” land from Palestine but from Jordan, as Palestine did not exist.

The media – and the United Nations – mislead people that Israel took the West Bank from Palestine in an aggressive war. That is completely untrue, and obfuscated by terminology.

Geography

The Golan Heights are an actual topographical piece of earth. The large hills and mountains shoot up from the Sea of Galilee and beyond from volcanic activity.

Not so for the “West Bank.” It has no geographical or historical significance, other than being east of the 1949 Armistice line. It wasn’t even called the “West Bank” until after the 1967 Six-day war, as Jordan had illegally annexed it in 1950 and the UN just called it part of Jordan.

Arab States Breaking the Armistice Agreements

The Israel-Syria and Israel-Jordan Armistice Agreements specifically called on all parties to not take military action against the other. Both Arab states violated those agreements.

Syria shelled the farmlands of Israel’s Galilee for years, forcing Israel to defend itself and take the Golan Heights to keep Syria from repeating the attacks. Similarly, Jordan attacked Israel in June 1967 and Israel captured the region in a defensive action during the Six-day war.

Internationally Defined Borders

International powers created the various lines for Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Palestine after World War I. Each region slowly declared independence but not without difficulties. Each has gone through several wars, including civil wars. A populace more comfortable with tribes and clans operating under the umbrella of the Ottoman Empire for centuries were thrust into statehood. While modern academics blame the regional powers for “colonialization” and “imperialism” which left the locals bereft of natural resources, it was actually the imposition of statehood that has confounded much of the Middle East. Syria, Iraq and Lebanon are perfect examples of the internal strife which has killed millions over the decades.

“Palestine” was similarly crafted by world powers, and then quickly divided further by chopping off the region east of the Jordan River for the Hashemite Kingdom to rule. The balance of the land (which most people think of as pre-1948 Palestine) was designed to be “a national home for the Jewish people,” in the Palestine Mandate as adopted by the League of Nations. While the Golan Heights was marked by the powers to be part of Syria, those same powers marked the “West Bank” to be part of the Jewish homeland.

On one hand, Israel captured the Golan Heights after Syria broke the Armistice Agreement, and on the other, Israel RECAPTURED the West Bank/ area east of the 1949 Armistice Lines, in 1967 after Jordan broke its Armistice Agreement.

Names

Republicans in the United States are putting forward resolutions to stop calling the land “West Bank” and instead refer to it as “Judea and Samaria.” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) said in introducing the resolution that “The Jewish people’s legal and historic rights to Judea and Samaria goes back thousands of years. The U.S. should stop using the politically charged term West Bank to refer to the biblical heartland of Israel.” That is partially true.

Judea and Samaria have historical context and are much bigger contours than the “West Bank.” The West Bank is an artifice of war; it is just the land the the Jordanians took in the 1948-9 war in which they attempted to destroy the nascent Jewish State. The more accurate term for political purposes would be to call it E49JAL, for the area east of the 1949 Jordanian Armistice Lines.

Conclusion

The media is correctly referring to the Golan Heights, an actual region with topographical significance, as having an Israeli side captured FROM SYRIA, across the “1949 Armistice line.” It should similarly stop using the terms “borders,” “West Bank” and “from Palestine” which are all factually incorrect and attempt to frame the conflict with the Stateless Arabs from Palestine (SAPs) in a duplicitous manner that portrays Israel as the aggressor.

On Syria’s Assad And The Former ‘Axis Of Resistance’

Posted on December 8, 2024 by First.One.Through

Media outlets will discuss the roughly 600,000 people in Syria who were killed in the civil war and the millions of people who were internally displaced. They will recount how Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons on his own civilian population. They may even trot out videos of London-educated Asma al-Assad, Bashar’s wife, on how she stood by her husband.

I would like to share one name: Hamza al-Khateeb, a 13-year old boy taken by Syrian forces in April 2011, whose corpse was returned to his family a month later.

Here is the story as relayed on May 31, 2011 by Al Jazeera:

In the hands of President Bashar al-Assad’s security forces, however, Hamza found no such compassion, his humanity degraded to nothing more than a lump of flesh to beat, burn, torture and defile, until the screaming stopped at last.

Arrested during a protest in Saida, 10km east of Daraa, on April 29, Hamza’s body was returned to his family on Tuesday 24th May, horribly mutilated.

The child had spent nearly a month in the custody of Syrian security, and when they finally returned his corpse it bore the scars of brutal torture: Lacerations, bruises and burns to his feet, elbows, face and knees, consistent with the use of electric shock devices and of being whipped with cable, both techniques of torture documented by Human Rights Watch as being used in Syrian prisons during the bloody three-month crackdown on protestors.

Hamza’s eyes were swollen and black and there were identical bullet wounds where he had apparently been shot through both arms, the bullets tearing a hole in his sides and lodging in his belly.

On Hamza’s chest was a deep, dark burn mark. His neck was broken and his penis cut off.

*Hamza al-Khateeb, 13 year old boy in Syria tortured by Syrian forces*

The scale and savagery of the attacks in the Middle East are sometimes reduced to numbers such as the million who were killed in the Iran-Iraq war. As Syria falls, it is worth remembering a single soul who was brutally maimed and killed to comprehend the deep moral depravity that permeates – and must be expunged from – the region.

Jews Know

Posted on November 17, 2024 by First.One.Through

The People of The Book know history. They read and analyze their own texts and consider what others write and say. They:

know Muslim Arab Antisemitism. They reviewed the various ADL surveys which showed Muslims are two to five times more antisemitic than Christians in European countries. They now watch Muslim mobs engaged in ‘Jew hunts‘ in those same places.

know the Genocidal Jihadists in the Middle East. They read Hamas’s 1988 Foundational charter which calls for killing Jews everywhere as an Islamic obligation. They saw local Palestinian Arabs vote Hamas to 58% of their parliament.

are seared by the October 7 Palestinian Massacre. EVERYONE in the small country knows someone who was killed, injured or abducted on that horrible day. They’ve watched the videos that Hamas took of themselves slaughtering women, babies and the elderly, and movies reviewing the rapes of Israelis by thousands of Gazans. They listened to the calls of Palestinians bragging to their parents how they killed Jews with their bare hands.

*Hamas terrorist shooting civilians in their homes*

know about the broad Palestinian support for the heinous crimes against humanity. They watched videos of dozens of Gazans hitting and spitting on a dead Israel woman being hauled into Gaza, who was later found beheaded. They’ve read the polls of overwhelming Palestinian support for the gruesome massacre.

*Hamas hauls the body of woman into Gaza where crowds cheer as they beat and spit on her corpse*

know Palestinian Arabs want to continue to kill as many Jews as possible. They watched leaders on news programs say they intend to repeat the mass atrocities “again and again.”

*Hamas leaders say they are committed to “pay the price” to commit the October 7 “again and again”*

know the United Nations supports those Palestinian goals. They have read the global organization’s condemnations of terrorism everywhere else in the world and demands for justice, but never in Israel where it immediately called for “maximum restraint.“

know the need for Justice includes accounting for every Gazan who participated in the October 7 slaughter and for bringing hostages home. They know the only way to live in peace is to be alive, at home, with enemies unable to act upon their evil aims.

know the war in Gaza taking place, intimately. Israel has a citizen army and they or members of their family have either been fighting in Gaza or participating in the war effort. They are consumed with the news from Gaza because they not only get firsthand accounts, but attacks emanating from there have not stopped, and over 100 hostages remain in captivity.

*Image released by the Israel Defense Forces on Oct 29, 2023 shows its ground operation in the Gaza Strip*

know the anti-Israel media bias. They read how newspapers constantly refer to the Israeli government as “right-wing” yet never label Hamas a “designated terrorist group by the US and many other countries.” They read opinion pieces that refer to Hamas supporters as “decent Palestinians”, “many Muslims” and “human beings,” while vilifying Israelis as cold, heartless and clueless with “heads in the sand” and “lacking sensitivity.”

Article by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times stating that Israelis have their heads in the sand about Gaza, arguing that Palestinians are decent human beings with no agency

know the desire to protect certain people – other people – involves inverting actual cause-and-effect. They read absurd claims that Palestinians are “resorting” to violence and that Muslim gangs are “reacting” to the situation in Gaza, while they know basic facts that the SAPs launched their premeditated genocidal jihad.

know the International Criminal Court has wrongly accused them of a “genocide.” They are actively engaged in a defensive war they didn’t start, don’t want, and would end immediately if the hostages were released and the terrorists would surrender. They know the steps they take to minimize civilian casualties as they prosecute a war against an enemy intent on maximizing civilian casualties, with the lowest civilian-to-combatant ratio in urban warfare.

know they are a beleaguered minority-minority with centuries of ingrained scars at the hands of wide range of attackers. They have Holocaust survivors in their families and truncated branches of the family trees due to the Holocaust and various pogroms.

The People of The Book know history. They are writing new chapters about their attackers and abetters. The testaments will act as a guide for future generations and the testimonies will beg Gd to pass judgment on the wicked and save the Jewish people today.

Hamas’s Willing Executioners (July 2021)

Jews Are Still Living, Hiding and Dying In The Dark Shadow Of Obama’s Second Term

Posted on October 29, 2024 by First.One.Through

The plight of Jews today can be traced directly to President Barak Obama’s second term from 2013 to 2016. The rampant antisemitism in the United States and death and destruction in the Middle East today stem from Obama’s failed and deliberate strategies as outlined below:

Obama’s minimization of antisemitism
Enabling Iran to have a legal pathway to nuclear weapons
Handing billions of dollars to Iran and its terrorist proxies
Not encouraging the Iranian revolution to topple the government
Throwing Middle Eastern allies under the bus
Changing Democratic Party position that Stateless Arabs from Palestine (SAPs) should move to Israel instead of a new Palestinian state
Stating that the presence of Jews in Jerusalem caused problems rather than Arab antisemitism
Making Jews living in Jerusalem illegal
Fostering the Islamic takeover of American universities
Bringing many refugees from Syria and Somalia to the US

Minimizing Antisemitism

Obama’s desire to minimize the problem of antisemitism stemmed from his focus on repairing relations with the Muslim world which he felt was badly damaged by the prior administration’s war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. It later extended to prioritizing other victims of preference, Blacks and other majority-minorities in the United States over Jews.

The most glaring example of Obama’s blindness to Muslim antisemitism was the February 2015 shooting in a kosher store in Paris, France. Obama said the shooting was “random” and his spokesperson then doubled down in clarifying the comment that there was no anti-Jewish motivation of the jihadi radicals.

At his final State of the Union address in 2016, Obama said nothing about antisemitism and only flagged ‘Islamophobia’ despite anti-Jewish hate crimes being 2.2 times more frequent than anti-Muslim hate crimes according to the FBI. Obama said nothing about the Islamic Republic of Iran’s rampant anti-Jewish smears and Holocaust denial contests as he cozied up to the Islamic zealots.

Enabling Iran to have a legal pathway to nuclear weapons

Despite aggressive sanctions which started under President George Bush in 2005, Obama signed an agreement which left Iran’s entire nuclear program intact including its uranium mines, milling and enrichment facilities and nuclear reactors. Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities coupled with its emerging nuclear weapon program has enabled it to act with near impunity throughout the Middle East. It has put the region on edge with Saudi Arabia now insisting on getting weapons of mass destruction to balance the Shiite-Sunni regional dominance.

While Israel had relative peace for the past fifty years as the only country with nuclear weapons, we are seeing the ramifications of large Muslim Arab countries also possessing such weaponry, courtesy of Obama.

Handing billions of dollars to Iran and its terrorist proxies

Iran has been using its proxies to kill and terrorize Jews for years, especially in the aftermath of Obama giving billions of dollars to Iran. The first installment of $1.7 billion in 2016 was sent in cash. Estimates for the amount of money that was ultimately released as part of the Iranian nuclear deal are as much as $150 billion from several countries according to FactCheck.org, with more conservative figures being $50 billion.

The funds released to Iran have helped fund Iranian proxies like Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. Each group has intentionally killed Israelis over the past year, with Hamas’s savage massacre of October 7, 2023 being the most heinous and gruesome.

Not encouraging the Iranian revolution to topple the government

The ascendency of the antisemitic genocidal regime in Iran was not a foregone conclusion. The Iranian people had started a ‘Green Revolution’ in 2009 with the expectation that Obama would give America’s support to install a moderate regime. Obama declined to do so, and thought he could negotiate a nuclear arms deal with the radical zealots. That decision led to Secretary of State John Kerry concluding one of the worst foreign policy deals in American history a few years later.

Throwing allies under the bus

As opposed to toppling genocidal regimes, Obama supported the ouster of friends.

Obama started his presidency with a trip to Cairo, Egypt in 2009, but ultimately stabbed the American ally in the back. When Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak faced pressure to resign in 2011, Obama let him fall. It welcomed the democratically-elected head of the terrorist group Muslim Brotherhood Mohammed Morsi instead. Saudi Arabia and other allies in the region became alarmed “with the U.S. position, publicly pushing Mubarak out. And frankly so are we—this isn’t how you handle issues in region.”

Obama made his focus on Iran known to the whole world from the outset when he first met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in May 2009 at the White House. Rather than strongly stand by his ally Israel, he used the opportunity to say “Iran is a country of extraordinary history and extraordinary potential, that we want them to be a full-fledged member of the international community and be in a position to provide opportunities and prosperity for their people.”

*President Obama meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in 2009*

This narrative of Iran being “extraordinary” has continued to be pushed by the liberal mainstream media. When the New York Times publishes articles about Israel and Iran, it doesn’t show images of Iranian missiles but female shoppers, making Israeli leaders look foolish for being alarmed for no reason.

*Screenshot of New York Times article on October 28, 2024*

The Times even had vacation packages to Iran which it advertised as “Persia. Iran. For 2,500 years, this powerful country has entranced, mystified and beguiled the world. Discover the ancient secrets and modern complexities of this influential land on a 13-day itinerary, visiting some of the world’s oldest archaeological sites and the family home of the religious leader who engineered Iran’s transition to an Islamic republic. Welcome to the once-forbidden land of Iran.” It similarly called Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Morocco amazing places to visit. But not Israel which it only promotes through a Palestinian lens as a place of “struggle” (jihad in Arabic).

Changing Democratic stance that Stateless Arabs from Palestine (SAPs) should move to Israel instead of a new Palestinian state

When Obama was elected to his first term, the official 2008 Democratic party platform had a few key statements about Israel and the region:

On Hamas: “The United States and its Quartet partners should continue to isolate Hamas until it renounces terrorism, recognizes Israel’s right to exist, and abides by past agreements.”
On “Refugees: “The creation of a Palestinian state through final status negotiations, together with an international compensation mechanism, should resolve the issue of Palestinian refugees by allowing them to settle there, rather than in Israel.”
On borders: “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.”
On Jerusalem: “Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel.”

The 2012 Democratic platform removed every one of these issues, except for the last one which was fought bitterly on the convention floor.

Hamas’s current war on Israel to descend on Jerusalem, destroy the Jewish state and bring millions of SAPs into Israel was essentially blessed under the second Obama administration.

Stating that the presence of Jews in Jerusalem caused problems rather than Arab antisemitism

In October 2014, the Obama Administration’s Josh Earnest said “The US condemns the recent occupation of residential buildings in the neighborhood of Silwan by people whose agenda provokes tensions.” The message was clear: Jews buying homes and living in eastern Jerusalem is terrible because the Jews are stirring tensions, not because Arab Muslims are consumed with Jew hatred.

The New York Times followed Obama’s lead a few days later and portrayed the residents of Silwan as peaceful Arabs who were set upon by a few crazy Israelis moving next door: “An influx of right-wing Jewish settlers who have acquired property in the area in recent years have made the neighborhood a flash point in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” The Jews were the extremists and caused violence, not the other way around.

Obama’s inversion that Jews are the racist right-wing troublemakers while Palestinian Arabs (who voted the antisemitic genocidal group Hamas to a majority of parliament) as peace-seeking individuals has become mainstreamed in the media today.

Making Jews living in Jerusalem illegal

As Obama ended his second term, he decided to cap his vilification of Jews and Israel by allowing United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 to pass in December 2016, which declared it illegal for Jews to live east of the 1949 Armistice Lines (E49AL), including in the Judaism’s holiest city of Jerusalem. It called for countries to treat E49AL/ West Bank as distinct from the rest of Israel, despite the Palestinian Authority signing the Oslo Accords which recognized Israeli control over parts of the region.

Fostering the Islamic takeover of American universities

While Obama was restricting where Jews could live in the Jewish holy land, he was welcoming tens of thousands of Muslims from the Middle East into American universities.

The Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Program was launched in 2003 to soften the image of America’s war on terror. Obama ramped up the program in 2009. By the 2015/6 academic year, 61,000 Saudi students were in American universities. That high figure represents 0.2% of the entire population of Saudi Arabia to a single country. By way of comparison, the ENTIRE American students abroad cohort all over the world is around 162,000, or 0.05% of the U.S. population. Imagine 650,000 American students all learning in India for the year!

Along with the Muslim students came billions of dollars. Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim Arab countries funded departments, handed scholarships and enabled the growth of Students for Justice in Palestine hate groups to gather strength on over 200 campuses. These groups have led the harassment and intimidation of Jews at levels over five times higher than campuses without these groups according to analyses by the AMCHA Initiative. These universities routinely teach that Israel is a “imperialist colonialist power,” as though Jews do not have thousands of years of history in the holy land.

Bringing many refugees from Syria and Somalia to the US

In addition to the influx of money and students from Muslim countries into American universities was the growth in the number of refugees from the Middle East around the United States. While prior administrations had never permitted more than 25,000 refugees into the US from the Middle East, by 2016, Obama had welcomed nearly 45,000, primarily from Syria and Somalia.

The current war on Jews in the United States and Israel, home to 85% of world Jewry, was fueled by President Obama’s push to elevate the Muslim world, and the Islamic Republic of Iran in particular. The empowerment of Iran and its proxies in the Middle East have killed thousands of Jews, while the encouragement of Islamic power in the US has fueled antisemitic hate crimes here.

Considering Campus Antisemitism (November 2023)

Obama’s Ego Came For The Jewish State and Global Jewry (December 2022)

The Obama Administration Weaponized the Jerusalem Consulate (October 2021)

The Nerve of ‘Judaizing’ Neighborhoods (January 2020)

Trump Reverses the Carter and Obama Anti-Israel UN Resolutions (November 2019)

Criticizing Muslim Antisemitism is Not Islamophobia (March 2019)

The Obama Administration Continues to Abandon Israel in Fighting Terror (January 2017)

The Liberals in Canada are Following Obama in Turning on Israel (November 2016)

Obama’s “Palestinian Land” (September 2016)

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s Foreign Policy on Israel is like the United Nations (July 2016)

Obama’s Select Religious Compassion (November 2015)

Failures of the Obama Doctrine and the Obama Rationale (November 2015)

International-Domestic Abuse: Obama and Netanyahu (April 2015)

Netanyahu’s View of Obama: Trust and Consequences (March 2015)

Obama’s Foreign Policy (January 2015)

Obama supports Anti-Semitic Palestinian Agenda of Jew-Free State (October 2014)

For Obama, Israeli security is not so time-sensitive (July 2014)

Yugoslavian Citizen Of Slovenia

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

Have you ever heard of anyone refer to themselves as a Yugoslavian citizen of Slovenia? Of Montenegro? Can you imagine the media using such language for those people?

I am sure that there are some people who live in the various lands of former Yugoslavia – the six republics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia, as well as the two regions of Kosovo and Vojvodina – who are not happy with the current configuration of the region. Some may dislike their ruling government or have been forced to relocate from one part of former Yugoslavia to another to be near kinsmen, maybe Croats moving from Serbia or vice versa.

*Former Yugoslavia before being broken up in 1992*

But no one uses “Yugoslavian citizen of Croatia” to make the point that they are an ethnic Serb living in Croatia. To do so would mean that they cannot incorporate the actual partition of the country into their worldview, and imagine that they are living in the past, in a pre-Yugoslavian break-up. Those people would be mocked as unable to deal with the dissonance of their current situation to their preferred reality.

Roughly 9% of Montenegro is Bosniak and they refer to themselves as Montenegrin or Montenegrin Bosniaks. Should they call themselves “Yugoslavian citizens of Montenegro,” people might wonder if they were rebels looking to wage war against the current government or mentally unstable.

That is exactly what anti-Israel jihadists have chosen to do, calling Israeli Arabs “Palestinian citizens of Israel.”

Before Israel declared itself a state in May 1948, there were Palestinian Jews, Muslims, Christians, Bedouins and Druze. But after the armies of the neighboring Muslim countries came to pitch battle with the local Muslim Arabs to destroy Israel, the region of Palestine ceased to exist, and became Egyptian-controlled Gaza, Jordanian-annexed West Bank, and the State of Israel. Those were the 1949 Armistice Lines until the Muslim countries waged war against Israel again in June 1967 and lost those regions.

*1949 Armistice Lines with Egyptian-controlled Gaza and Jordan’s illegally annexed western bank of the Jordan River*

People who discuss an “Ongoing Nakba” like Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) think of the 1948-9 war to destroy Israel as an ongoing project. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas calls all of Israel a “painful settlement,” an affront to Muslim-superiority. Tlaib and Abbas want Israeli Arabs to not give any legitimacy to the Jewish State, and to time travel to 1947 when the region of Palestine still existed.

Israeli Arabs aren’t interested.

According to a 2019 Israel Democracy Institute survey, over three-quarters of Israeli Arabs think of themselves primarily as Arab or Muslim, with a nationality of “Palestinian” (13%) and “Israeli” (10%) far behind, and almost indistinguishable.

*Muslim women ready to enter the Kotel / Western Wall Plaza (photo: First One Through)*

Anti-Israel troublemakers from around the world continue to deny the reality of a thriving State of Israel and use language of “Palestinian citizen of Israel” that imagines that Palestine was once a country, only consisted of Muslim Arabs and still exists underneath the racist veneer of a Jewish State. Such language is not only wildly delusional but a rejection of peaceful coexistence.

Names and Narrative: “Palestinians” versus Palestinian Arabs / Israeli Arabs (September 2016)

It Is Not 1947 And We Don’t Make Policy As If It’s 1947 (January 2024)

UN Marks Death Of Arch Terrorist Sinwar By Repeatedly Condemning Israel

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

When notorious terrorist Osama Bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in May 2011, United Nations committees issued various congratulatory statements.

UN Secretary General said “The death of Osama bin Laden, announced by President [Barack] Obama last night, is a watershed moment in our common global fight against terrorism. The crimes of Al Qaeda touched most continents, bringing tragedy and loss of life to thousands of men, women and children. The United Nations condemns in the strongest possible terms terrorism in all its forms, regardless of its purpose and wherever it is committed.”
UN Security Council statement read: “Recalling the “heinous” terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania, as well as the numerous attacks perpetrated by the Al-Qaida network around the world, the Security Council welcomed today the news that Osama bin Laden would never again be able to perpetrate such acts of terrorism.”
“The Security Council’s Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee welcomes the news on 1 May 2011 that Usama Bin Laden will never again be able to perpetrate acts of terrorism and refers to the Presidential Statement of the Security Council dated 2 May 2011 in this regard.”

Israel did not receive a similar wave of congratulations in successfully killing Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas and chief architect of the gruesome October 7, 2023 massacre. As opposed to the commentary above, the UN used its various panels on October 17 and 18, 2024 to condemn Israel.

In a discussion about “Global Poverty,” Mauritania offered “Israeli aggression in Gaza and Lebanon has led to inhuman conditions, high levels of food insecurity and extreme poverty. Israel has targeted valuable infrastructure, including schools, mosques and churches as well as water and sanitation facilities.”
In a discussion about the “Rule of Law,” Oman “condemned Israel’s bombardment of hospitals, schools and other sites in which Gazan civilians have sought refuge, also warning against pursuing a policy of collective punishment,” while the representative from Palestine said “For 76 years, the Israeli exceptionalism has haunted the development of the rule of law and the advancement of the protection of civilians in an effort to make might right.”
In a discussion about “Machine Autonomy,” the representative from the League of Arab States “proposed an embargo on arms supplies to Israel.”
In a discussion about “Internally Displaced People,” Algeria called Israel a “killing machine,” while a Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression said that Israel was killing journalists “with total impunity” and was alarmed that Israel was attempting to call anti-Zionism a form of antisemitism.
In a discussion about “Inclusive, Equal Participation in Upholding Rule of Law,” Kuwait said that Israel was engaged in a “genocide in full view of the world.”
In a discussion about “Colonialism,” Pakistan’s representative said “No Israeli massacre and brutality will extinguish the struggle for freedom and self-determination of the people of Palestine.”
In a discussion about “Food Rights,” a Special Rapporteur on the right to food said “Israel’s war proved to be a genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people.”

For those scoring at home, the Taliban in Afghanistan and China’s treatment of Rohingya were never mentioned. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was only referenced once in the report on food rights.

For his part, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres admonished Israel about the importance of UN’s military force in Lebanon, which has not prevented Hezbollah from digging tunnels to Israel or stockpiling weapons.

The UN Security Council hasn’t issued any statement since the October 17 killing of Sinwar.

No one at the UN denies that Sinwar planned and called for the massacre of over a thousand people and abduction of hostages. But since they also believe the targeted victims were Jews who perpetually carry some guilt like the mark of Cain, that he is absolved of all crime.

ACTION ITEM

Write the White House to defund the UN and expel it from the United States.

United Nations Still Will Not Call For Hamas To Face Justice (October 2024)

The United Nations Welcomes “Peace-Loving” Palestine (September 2024)

Time To Sentence The United Nations For Involuntary Manslaughter (April 2024)

Sue The United Nations For Supporting Terrorism (February 2024)

Fire United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres (January 2024)

NYTimes Says Nasrallah Was Paragon Of Coexistence

Posted on September 29, 2024 by First.One.Through

Just two months after Israel assassinated one of the leaders of a U.S. foreign terrorist organization in Iran whom The New York Times called a man of peace, the facts repeated.

In July 2023, Israel killed Ismail Haniyeh, one of the heads of Hamas, an organization sworn towards the destruction of Israel, while he visited Iran. In September, Israel took out Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon, also dedicated to destroying the “Zionist entity.” Just as the Times called Haniyeh the key towards peace in the region, it extolled Nasrallah.

The Times called Nasrallah a “towering figure… across the Middle East.” He “was opposed to Israel… and maintained that there should be one Palestine with equality for Muslims, Jews and Christians.”

I kid you not.

The Times painted a fictitious narrative that Hezbollah “opposes” Israel, maybe like dueling political parties. Perhaps the organization disliked Israeli policies on a couple of issues, or maybe simply wanted a “Free Palestine” with equality for all.

That is a disgraceful whitewashing of the genocidal intent of the jihadist group. Hezbollah wants Israel destroyed and to bring shari’a law throughout the Middle East.

As relayed in a number of articles and speeches, Nasrallah’s Hezbollah sought the destruction of the Jewish State:

“our struggle will end only when this entity [Israel] is obliterated. We recognize no treaty with it, no cease fire, and no peace agreements, whether separate or consolidated. We vigorously condemn all plans for negotiation with Israel, and regard all negotiators as enemies, for the reason that such negotiation is nothing but the recognition of the legitimacy of the Zionist occupation of Palestine.” – February 1985
“Our people in Palestine, you have the chance to decide on your own destiny, and you can get your land back. O people of Palestine, your way to Palestine and to liberty is through serious resistance and a real insurrection, not through “The Oslo Accord” or the unfair negotiations held in Stockholm. You should choose insurrection and resistance and never let go of your rights. Do what the Lebanese do: They refuse to keep even a small part of their land occupied.” – May 2000
“[Israel] is an aggressive, illegal and illegitimate entity, which has no future in our land…. It’s destination is manifested in our motto, ‘Death to Israel’.” – 2005
“Hezbollah congratulates the resisting Palestinian people and the heroic fighters of the Palestinian factions, especially our dear brothers in the al Qassam Brigades and the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, for the wide-ranging and divinely supported heroic operation, promising complete victory. This triumphant operation is a decisive response to the ongoing crimes of the occupation and continuous violations against sanctities, honors, and dignities. It is a renewed confirmation that the will of the Palestinian people and the rifle of the resistance is the only choice in confronting aggression and occupation. It sends a message to the Arab and Islamic world, and the international community as a whole, especially those seeking normalization with this enemy, that the Palestinian cause is an everlasting one, alive until victory and liberation.” – after October 7, 2023 massacre by Hamas

Nasrallah repeatedly stated that Hezbollah will never negotiate with the “Zionist entity.” That its goal was converting all Christians in the region to Islam and bringing shari’a law as soon as Islam crossed the majority. As it is not currently in the majority, the jihadi group will not force conversion by the sword and asked the Christians in Lebanon to therefore not use violence against them, even as they run a completely distinct army from the government of Lebanon.

*Part of Hezbollah’s statement of purpose from 1998*

The NY Times description of the removal of leading terrorists who were actively gunning for civilians as an unjust assassination of peace, is designed to mark Israel as blood-thirsty murderers who crave war. Expect the hashtag #HitlerWasRight to accompany reposts to Times’ articles.

The New York Times is deliberately lying to its readership that jihadi terrorist groups which seek the complete destruction of Israel are really seeking coexistence. It is a subtle incitement to antisemitism and hatred of Israel, even in the shadow of the most brutal massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and in the midst of a multi-front war.

ACTION ITEMS

Write to the New York Times to state clearly that Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorist organizations that seek the destruction of Israel, and not benign actors looking for religious coexistence.

Subscribe to the New York Post