On September 5, Papua New Guinea became the fifth country to open its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem. It joins the United States, Kosovo, Guatemala and Honduras in moving its diplomatic headquarters from the major Israeli city of Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital. Representatives of three continents now have their embassies to the Jewish State in Judaism’s holist city.
The location is in a high-rise building opposite Jerusalem’s biggest mall, the Azrieli Malcha Mall, located near former mayor of Jerusalem Teddy Kollek Stadium, west of the invisible 1949 Armistice Lines with Jordan.
Jerusalem’s Malcha Mall and Kollek Stadium
The Jordanian Foreign Minister was outraged.
Ambassador Sinan Al-Majali, the official spokesperson for the ministry, issued a statement that condemned the action as a “flagrant and significant violation of international law and international legitimacy resolutions.” He added “that any actions or decisions aiming to alter Jerusalem’s status or its legal position are null and void, holding no legal weight. He reiterated the importance of achieving a just and comprehensive peace as the sole means to attain a two-state solution based on international legitimacy resolutions. This solution should culminate in the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on the June 4, 1967 borders.”
Consider these comments coming from Jordan about Jerusalem.
Jordan illegally invaded Israel in 1948
Jordan committed a crime against humanity in ethnically cleansing all Jews from land it seized in 1949, including the Old City of Jerusalem
Jordan illegally annexed eastern Jerusalem and all of the area that became known as the West Bank in 1950, a move not recognized by the entire world other than the United Kingdom and Pakistan
Jordan issued a disgraceful citizenship law in 1954 that specifically excluded Jews
Jordan committed a crime against the basic human rights of Jews to live and pray in Jerusalem while it controlled the Old City
Jordan illegally attacked Israel again in 1967
The Papua New Guinea embassy is located WEST of the 1949 Armistice Lines, which even the Jordanian statement says will be part of Israel
Jordan is a laughing stock, issuing ridiculous and noxious statements that could emerge from a camel’s anus. It is performing a theater of the absurd which highlights its stupidity and hypocrisy. Only fools could be convinced that such inanity whitewashes Jordan’s illegal, belligerent and antisemitic acts.
Such as the Palestinian official news agency, Wafa.
Wafa is the official news agency of the Palestinian Liberation Organization established in 1972, a few months before the group killed Israeli athletes at the Summer Olympics in Munich. The agency has a mission “to influence the public opinion at the local and international levels,” to advance its cause to “ensure an appropriate information environment for decision makers to take informed decisions.”
The PLO does this by manipulating adjectives and nouns throughout its story-telling of current events.
An example can be seen in an event on August 1, 2023, when a 20-year old Palestinian Arab terrorist shot and wounded six Jewish civilians in a mall in Ma’ale Adumim, who was subsequently shot and killed. Wafa reported on the event with the headline “Palestinian youth shot and killed in an illegal Israeli settlement east of Jerusalem.”
While news agencies like AP News reported that “Palestinian opens fire in West Bank settlement, wounding 6 people before being killed,” properly reporting on the events in sequence, Wafa sought to inflame local and world opinion that Israelis are “illegal” and out-of-control, arbitrarily killing Palestinian children.
And it is effective.
When Tor Wennesland, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process addressed the United Nations Security Council last week, he said that “children must never be the target of violence, used or put in harm’s way,” never questioning the Palestinians’ mislabeling youth nor condemning Palestinian society for the prevalent recruiting, training and arming of Arabs under 18 years old. Six countries reacted to Wennesland’s report condemning the targeting of children, placing the blame on Israel.
Palestinian propaganda has deeply infiltrated the United Nations, inverting case and effect, and whitewashed Palestinian crimes against both Israel and its own children.
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Palestinian propaganda has deeply infiltrated the United Nations, inverting cause and effect, whitewashing Palestinian crimes against both Israel and its own people, in recruiting and arming children under 18 to kill Jews, and mislabeling those over 18 as ‘youths’
The brewing anger of Israeli Jews living east of the 1949 Armistice Lines (E49 / “West Bank”) started in May of 2021 principally from two events: a Palestinian-American terrorist shooting three people and killing one, and the Israeli government failing to enforce its own laws.
Palestinian-American Muntasir Shalabi, age 44, did a drive buy shooting in E49 and killed a teenager and injured two other 19-year old boys on May 2, 2021. He was sheltered by Palestinians for a few days but was ultimately captured and sentenced to life in prison. His home, in the wealthy West Bank town of Turmus Ayya, was demolished in June despite American protests.
The fact that a well-off American citizen would commit such an outrageous act of terrorism in shooting three unarmed young men standing on a road, undermined any narrative that terrorism is a matter of poverty and opportunity as opposed to an evil ideology. Israelis also saw that the new American Biden administration was going to be much more supportive of Palestinians than the Trump administration had been over the prior four years.
Just a week after the terrorist attack, the Israeli government decided to not enforce its own laws and allowed Palestinian Arab squatters to remain in homes in Sheikh Jarrah and continue to not pay their Jewish landlords any rent. The political-terrorist group Hamas launched missiles from Gaza over the threat of the squatters’ evictions, and West Bank Arab support for killing Jewish civilians inside of Israel immediately began to climb.
The message that violence trumps Israeli laws was internalized by both Palestinians and Israelis.
While Gazans always favor killing Israeli Jews, West Bank Arab support started to climb in May 2021 and escalated much further in the fall of 2022.
While West Bank Arabs had always committed terrorist attacks, the Israeli Jews in the area did little in terms of revenge.
Consider the heinous Arab murders of the Fogel family in 2011, in which the parents and three children were stabbed to death – including an infant. The Jewish residents mourned the event but did not commit revenge attacks.
That slowly started to change with young Jews living in hilltop settlements committing “price tag” attacks in which small groups would attack Palestinian Arabs in proportion to those whom Arabs had previously attacked. The extremists would sometimes also attack Israeli soldiers for failing to protect the Jewish communities in E49.
The uptick in vigilante attacks started in 2021 and 2022, as new Palestinian terrorist groups emerged in E49. In September 2021, the Jenin Brigades was formed, the Nablus Brigades in May 2022, and the Lions’ Den in August 2022. These West Bank terrorist groups led a series of mass casualty attacks between March 22 and May 5, 2022 which spread from major Israeli cities of Be’er Sheva, Bnei Brak and Tel Aviv to a smaller border town of Elad and the E49 city of Ariel. Jews on both sides of the 1949 Armistice Line did not feel safe, which helped bring down Naftali Bennett’s short stint as prime minister in June.
Things would get worse between August and October, as the Lions’ Den became a force of terror, and Israeli forces went on the offensive to mitigate the mayhem. E49 Jews stepped up their activity, taking matters in their own hands as well.
The Lions’ Den became very popular in the West Bank and polls showed that Palestinians did not want the Palestinian Authority to rein in the group. In his September 2022 address to the United Nations, PA President Mahmoud Abbas essentially said that the Oslo Accords were dead (21:30) and was abandoning security coordination with Israel. At the end of his talk (45:00), Abbas discussed the “hero martyr Nasser Abu Hamid,” heaping praise on the terrorist convicted of killing seven people, who was the founder of the West Bank terrorist group Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
These events helped usher Benjamin Netanyahu back to being Prime Minister with a more right-wing coalition in December. Yet despite the new right-wing government, Arab violence against Jews continued to increase and become more lethal, even as the United Nations looked away and vilified “Settler violence.”
Palestinian terrorist attacks were increasingly fatal in 2023.
The Israeli Jews living in E49 have become exasperated and are starting to engage in massive revenge attacks.
In February 2023, after Palestinian Arabs shot and killed two Jewish men who were driving in their car, hundreds of settlers burned dozens of cars and homes in Nablus. Netanyahu urged them to calm down, that “when blood is boiling and the spirit is hot, don’t take the law into your hands.”
In June 2023, the dynamic repeated after Palestinian terrorists killed four Jews in a restaurant and gas station. Hundreds of settlers went to Turmus Ayya – the hometown of the May 2021 terrorist – and burned dozens of cars and homes.
To be a Jew in the West Bank is to be a target, of both Arab violence and UN condemnation for simply living. The poisonous legacy of the Arab intifadas has infected the mindset of settlers, as they see an Israeli government unable to stop the murders of innocent Jews driving in cars, eating in restaurants, standing on a road or sleeping in their beds. As the provocations become incessant, the attacks of E49 Jews may naturally morph from retaliatory in nature to constant.
Israel reacted to the First Palestinian Intifada of 1987 by helping create Palestinian political institutions as part of the Oslo Accords. It reacted to the poorly named “Second Intifada” / Palestinian Pogroms of 2000-2004 which were directed by Palestinian leadership, by erecting a security barrier near the 1949 Armistice Line with Transjordan.
This uprising is being launched by nearly half a million Jews living in E49/West Bank. It remains to be seen if their actions will remain restricted to reactive attacks, and what actions the Israeli government and PA will be.
On May 21, 2023, the U.S. State Department issued a statement about Israeli “Settlements in the West Bank.” It read:
“We are deeply troubled by the Israeli government’s order that allows its citizens to establish a permanent presence in the Homesh outpost in the northern West Bank, which according to Israeli law was illegally built on private Palestinian land. This order is inconsistent with both former Prime Minister Sharon’s written commitment to the Bush Administration in 2004 and the current Israeli government’s commitments to the Biden Administration. Advancing Israeli settlements in the West Bank is an obstacle to the achievement of a two-state solution.”
There were many things covered in this paragraph:
Israeli law about whether building in the “Homesh outpost” is legal;
The 2004 exchange of letters between Israeli Prime Minster Ariel Sharon and U.S. President George W. Bush;
The current Israeli commitments to the Biden Administration; and
Whether Israeli Jews “living in the West Bank is an obstacle…to a two-state solution.”
Israeli Law
First, it’s a bit rich for the United States to make comments about Israeli law. I cannot imagine that the U.S. would take kindly to any country opining on its rulings on imminent domain, seizing land to build a wall with Mexico, or any other real estate matter.
While Israeli courts have ruled against approving building on privately owned land, the courts have also legalized previously unauthorized settlements. Countries modify their rulings depending on societal needs of the moment. For example, the Israeli courts had approved Israeli taking ownership of the homes they own in the Sheikh Jarrah section of Jerusalem but then suspended the eviction of the Arab squatters because of violence. Real estate in Israel is a matter of law as well as of security and order.
The 2004 Exchange of Letters
In the middle of the 2000-2005 Arab pogroms which killed over 1,000 Israelis, Israeli PM Sharon decided that he was going to build a security barrier to stop terrorism emanating from the West Bank, and to pull all Israelis out of Gaza. In exchange for these actions, U.S. President Bush issued a letter in support of the actions with U.S. commitments.
The State Department just referenced the 2004 Sharon letter because while Sharon understood there was no chance for peace with Palestinians at that time, he “decided to initiate a process of gradual disengagement with the hope of reducing friction between Israelis and Palestinians.” Sharon’s “Disengagement Plan” called for pulling all Israelis out of Gaza “as well as other military installations and a small number of villages in Samaria,” which included the town of Homesh and three other nearby villages.
The Israeli Disengagement Plan was not a “commitment” as described in the latest State Department statement. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Sharon made clear that it “represents an independent Israeli plan” designed to create space between the parties while terrorism was ongoing.
In addition to incorrectly calling the dismantling of Homesh a commitment, the State Department ignored U.S. commitments that Bush made to Sharon in that exchange of letters.
The Bush letter repeatedly stated that the U.S. is committed to fight Palestinian terrorism and incitement and that it will work to “prevent the areas from which Israel has withdrawn from posing a threat.” That was in 2004 and Israel left Gaza the following year in 2005.
Then what happened?
The Palestinians held elections in 2006 under America’s watch, and the terrorist group Hamas won a majority of Parliament. In 2007, Hamas routed Fatah and took control of Gaza, and proceeded to launch wars against Israel in 2008, 2012, 2014 and more recently.
So much for America’s commitment to preventing the abandoned areas “from posing a threat.”
Further, in another part of his letter, Bush stated clearly that “in light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli populations centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949.” In plain English, that meant that the United States acknowledged that Israel will annex sections of the West Bank.
Yet the Obama Administration broke that commitment to Israel when it allowed United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 to pass in 2016, making it illegal for Israelis to live east of “the armistice lines of 1949.”
In short, Israel made no commitments in the 2004 letter while the United States trampled on its commitments to Israel.
Current Commitment to Biden Administration
Israel met with the U.S. and Palestinian Authority in Egypt in March 2023 and issued a joint statement which covered a number of issues including “an Israeli commitment to stop discussion of any new settlement units for 4 months, and to stop authorization of any outposts for 6 months.” As Homesh was an existing settlement until it was dismantled in 2005, it is debatable whether allowing its redevelopment runs counter to Israel’s statement.
It should be noted that the Palestinian Authority has completely ignored its stated March 2023 commitments, as it continues to incite violence.
Jews As Obstacle to Two State Solution
Roughly 25% of Israeli citizens are non-Jews, so the notion that a theoretical Arab state of Palestine cannot be viable with a small percentage of Jews is ridiculous. It can only be viewed as an “obstacle” to two states if the Palestinian Authority refuses to have any Jews living in the country.
And if Palestine can only be created as a Jew-free state, it should never be admitted to the United Nations or recognized by any country.
Road in Judea and Samaria
The State Department is “deeply troubled” by Israeli action in the village of Homesh because its accounting of history and facts are deeply flawed. More generally, if the U.S. assumes that a Palestinian State must be Jew-free, it should adamantly oppose its existence.
Should pressure mount on Israel to evacuate Homesh again, it should turn to those agitators and get their support for the Israeli Jews to take ownership of their homes in Sheikh Jarrah.
The United Nations’ obsession for Israel does not include the Jewish State’s suffering from Palestinian Arab terrorism.
On March 22, 2023, Tor Wennesland, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (he is no such thing but the mouthpiece for Palestinian grievances), addressed the United Nations Security Council. His report gave a summary of actions between the parties from December 8, 2022 until March 13, 2023, and then offered his personal observations.
In recounting the violence, he noted that there was a “growing number of attacks by Israeli settlers” which harmed Palestinian Arab-owned property and individuals, including four people who were killed. He added that “13 Israeli civilians, including one woman and three children, and one foreign national were killed… by Palestinians in shooting and ramming attacks, clashes, and other incidents.” That means that Palestinian Arabs killed 3.5 times more civilians than Israeli “settlers” over this period according to Wennesland’s own count.
Yet in his summary remarks, Wennesland said “I remain deeply concerned by the increase in levels of settler-related violence in the occupied West Bank sometimes in proximity of Israeli security forces.” Why isn’t Wennesland outraged and calling out the more prevalent and deadly Arab terrorism?
Palestinian Arabs conducted more attacks than “settlers” in every month of 2022, and the number of murders is also rising after this report, including of the Dee family, a mother and two daughters, who were gunned down while driving in their car on holiday. According to Palestinian polls, the majority of Arabs favor killing Jewish civilians inside of Israel, so it should not be surprising that in the Israeli territory of Area C in the West Bank, Palestinians are regularly targeting Jews.
On April 8, Wennesland tweeted his objection to the killing of the Dee family, “I condemn yesterday’s terrorist attacks in the occupied West Bank and Tel Aviv. Heartfelt condolences to the victims’ families. There is no justification for acts of terrorism and they must be clearly condemned and rejected by all.” But once again, he did not specifically call out “Palestinians” in his tweets and UN reports. He solely calls out “settlers”.
Palestinians pay no price on the global stage for their terrorism, as the UN continues to ask for money for the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA, and to only condemn Israelis.
The first night of Passover is celebrated with a seder, with props designed to entertain and engage young and old. The youngest child at the table typically recites the Ma Nishtana, questioning why that night is different from all other nights of the year.
Below are some additional questions about the entire week of Passover for older people.
Every other week during the year I would never consider going away with in-laws; on Passover, I relish in the sponsored trip
During the rest of the year, I never go near raspberry jelly; for the week of Passover, I can’t get enough
For the entire year, I never pause to think about the nature of mixed or single sex swimming in the pools; on Passover, I might decide to change the country of my destination based on the response
For 51 weeks, I could go to Florida with a eight days of clothing in my carryon; on Passover I bring two oversized checked bags and a hatbox
Normally, I can go to the beach or pool without worrying about lunchtime; on Passover, I suddenly need a watch with an alarm lest I miss a piece of chremzel
When I typically go on vacation, I don’t think about who I might bump into; on Passover, I join and check the program’s What’sApp group so I can ping people twice a day whom I haven’t seen in years
When I pick a location for a holiday during the year, I focus on the location’s surroundings; on Passover, I factor in twelve other considerations like food, entertainment and who else will be there
Very few countries in the world have a position in the government for descendants of the country’s original inhabitants who live abroad. Only one also has non-governmental organizations to combat the hatred of those persecuted members in the diaspora.
Israel.
The Jewish State of Israel was founded on three central beliefs of Modern Zionism: that Jews are a people who originate in the land of Israel; they have a right to self-determination and sovereignty in their homeland; and that their country will not only be a safe haven against Jew-hatred, but will combat noxious anti-Semitism around the world.
Today, Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs is Amichai Chikli. Born in Jerusalem, he is the son of a Tunisian Conservative rabbi. His governmental position is to strengthen the bonds between Israel and Jews of the diaspora.
Israeli MK Amichai Chikli (Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Outside of the government, the World Zionist Organization promotes Zionism, and is a vehicle for world Jewry to interface with Israel. Nerya Meir assumed the head of the Diaspora Department and Raheli Baratz-Rix heads the WZO’s Department for Combatting Antisemitism. Last year, Prime Minister Yair Lapid appointed the actress Noa Tishby to a new position of Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism and Delegitimization.
This letter is for each of them.
To Israel’s leaders to Diaspora Jewry,
We know that Israel is very busy with countless issues, and the roles each of you play to ensure a strong bond between the Jewish State and Diaspora Jewry is always appreciated.
We are keenly aware of how the nature of our relationship has changed since the re-establishment of the Jewish State in 1948: from a nascent struggling country fighting for survival seeking bodies and funds from diaspora, to a thriving democracy in the heart of an illiberal Middle East with the greatest concentration of Jews anywhere for the first time in almost two thousand years. The modern state welcomes Jewish immigrants, visitors and investment, while it no longer feels they are critical to its survival.
There are a few things to keep in mind as we enter this stage of our relationship.
The United States
Since 1948, the Diaspora has changed remarkably. In 1948, at the country’s founding, there were 34 countries with over 25,000 Jews. Today there are only 17, half that number. To put that in context, the 15 non-U.S. diaspora countries with over 25,000 Jews stands in contrast to 27 U.S. cities with more than 25,000 Jews.
Two countries – Israel and the United States – account for roughly 85% of world Jewry, with the U.S. accounting for 73% of the Jewish diaspora. While the U.S. does not define the diaspora, it is the most significant country by a very wide margin.
There are eight other diaspora countries which have over one percent of diaspora Jews living there, but only two of them – France and the United Kingdom – are also significant trading partners with Israel and members of the United Nations Security Council. Some of the other countries – like Argentina and Russia – have declining Jewish populations and should be viewed as countries for Israel to target for aliyah, rather than as significant long-term outposts of global Jewry.
Diaspora Anti-Semitism and Terrorism
Historically (the 1970s through 2010s), anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist attacks occurred in world capitals such as Athens, Rome, Istanbul, Paris, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Mumbai and London. Fanatics burst into synagogues, Jewish community centers and kosher restaurants and killed as many people as possible.
While the scourge has not left major international cities, the current trend in violence is more prevalent in American cities such as Pittsburgh, PA, Colleyville, TX, Jersey City, NJ and Poway, CA. It shouldn’t be a surprise: there are three times as many Jews in Pittsburgh (42,000) than in all of Turkey (14,300).
The same is true for Jews living in the Israeli territories east of the 1949 Armistice Lines (E49AL). While there are 25 countries in the world with over 10,000 Jews (including the U.S. and Israel), there are nine cities (and growing) in E49AL with such totals. Almost all have experienced attacks.
The facts above have been true for many years but have not penetrated the minds of most people. Part of the reason is attacks on Jews in European cities and E49AL is almost always tied to anti-Zionism, easily triggered in societies with centuries of ingrained anti-Semitism. This is in contrast to attacks in the United States which arise from anti-Semitism in a country established on the basis of religious freedom.
This is changing.
While the Israel-Gaza war in 2014 saw a sharp rise in anti-Semitic attacks in Europe, there were virtually none in the United States. Not so for the eleven day skirmish in May 2021, when gangs assaulted Jews all over the country. Jonathan Greenblatt of the ADL said during that time that “the brazenness, the audacity of these assaults in broad daylight. We have seen people basically say, if you are wearing a Jewish star, you must be a Zionist and you should be killed…. we have unhinged, fictionalized conspiracies about Israel, that somehow the Jewish State is systematically slaughtering children or committing genocide. And then that leads to real-world attacks on Jewish people in the streets of America, on our campuses, in our communities.”
It is in the streets of dozens of American cities that the danger of anti-Semitism is now the most pressing, and the scourge is increasingly tied to anti-Zionism.
America’s Jewish Cities and Universities
The 27 cities in the United States with over 25,000 Jews are not only in the biggest states which are solidly Democratic as popularly believed. While many are found in New York, New Jersey, California, Massachusetts and Illinois, a growing number are in Florida, Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
As shown in the table above, fifteen of the top 27 U.S. cities are located in solidly Democratic states per the 2020 presidential election. Seven cities were found in Republican states and five were in swing states.
Beyond these major Jewish population centers, are cities with universities with significant Jewish populations, many of which are suffering from anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist violence and rhetoric.
Anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism have also spread to universities with significant Jewish populations in cities with relatively few Jews. Those include Brown University in Providence, RI (14,200 Jews) and Duke University in Durham, NC (12,000).
As an example, in February 2022, Duke passed a resolution which condemned anti-Semitism which included using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism which covered anti-Zionism. This was likely in response to vile anti-Semitic and anti-Israel speakers at the campus in 2019 as covered by a Ami Horowitz video. However, by March 2022, the Duke Student Government was sponsoring Student for Justice in Palestine events featuring noted anti-Zionist and anti-Semite Mohammed El-Kurd. The AMCHA Initiative has long tracked how universities with an SJP chapter are much more likely to have anti-Semitic incidents on campus.
College campuses have become fertile ground for extreme fundamentalist governments including Qatar and Saudi Arabia to pour over $1 billion to influence the next generation of students. Leading schools which have taken their money include Columbia University, Tufts University, the University of Southern California, George Washington University, NYU, MIT, Harvard, Georgetown and Carnegie Mellon. The Arab states have used their oil wealth to export the demonization of the Jewish State and Jews around the world.
And the impetus for exporting their hatred onto American shores is their hatred for Israel. Killing the Jewish State’s strongest supporter is a key aim of anti-Zionists.
Israel’s Fight Against Anti-Semitism in America
It is noble and appreciated that Israel is taking up the fight against global anti-Semitism.
Minister Chikli, you talked about the diaspora community and suggested that small communities might be best served by making aliyah to Israel, and plan on investing a good portion of your 500 million NIS budget in the education of the larger communities. This is wise. While it will be difficult for Israel to match the dollars of the Muslim Gulf states going into America’s leading universities, it can invest in the middle and high schools of the United States’ largest Jewish cities.
America’s Jews and communities are mostly well-off and well-organized. We have numerous Jewish schools, synagogues, community centers and Israel advocacy groups, especially compared to the other countries in the diaspora. But there are things that must come from Israel to the various cities listed above to help fight the rising anti-Semitism. Here is the start of a list:
Israelis and Israeli products in the schools and markets
Collaboration between American universities and companies and those in Israel
Eloquent and well versed Israelis on news channels
Establish pro-Jewish narratives
Bi-partisanship, connecting with all streams of Judaism
Open and clear communication between Israel and U.S. Jewish leaders
Israelis and Israeli products in the schools and markets
Getting young Israelis into cities across the United States with programs like shinshinim should be expanded. The Israelis get a better appreciation for America, and Americans get a first-hand account of what is happening in Israel, not from the news or textbooks, but from young Israelis living in the Jewish State.
The BDS (boycott, divest and sanction) movement against Israel should not only be fought legally but on the ground. Getting lots of Israeli products and brands into stores should be a priority of the Israeli government, not just the Israeli companies.
Collaboration between American universities and companies and those in Israel
Israeli universities and companies are in a good position to continue to leverage their leading research and technological prowess to collaborate with American institutions. An active bi-lateral flow of human and financial capital can cement positive long-term relationships.
Eloquent and well versed Israelis on American media
Israel must develop a comprehensive team of fluent English speakers who are adept at public relations on a range of topics. The most glaring problems are when Israeli spokespersons cannot handle basic questions on television when Israel is in a conflict. The government must have a team of people in constant dialogue with the full range of American media on political, economic, cultural, religious, historical and scientific matters.
Establish pro-Jewish narratives
It is very important to establish and correct information that is being propagated in the media and on campuses, but the Israeli government must do more to craft the narratives. For example, not only should the statistics about the Arab population in Jerusalem and Israel be laid out to dismiss the ridiculous charges of genocide and ethnic cleansing, but stories of real people should be featured. The world loves a good story, and Israel is more than capable of humanizing the liberal country it has built in the heart of the illiberal Middle East.
Bi-partisanship, connecting with all streams of Judaism
As described above, there are Democratic and Republican Jews and they live in a range of cities. It is imperative for Israel to maintain good relations with both parties, ESPECIALLY as the divide in the country grows.
Similarly, it is important for Israel to connect with all the streams of Judaism which are much more common in the United States than in Israel and the rest of the diaspora. The Reform, Reconstructionist and Conservative branches of Judaism are much larger than the Modern and Ultra Orthodox streams. Those liberals tend to be much more critical of religious and nationalistic actions by Israel, while the more Orthodox tend to be more likely to make aliyah. Israel needs to keep a good relationship with each community.
Open and clear communication between Israel and U.S. Jewish leaders
The last item on this short list is for good lines of direct communication. If the government of Israel is directly communicating with American Jewish leaders, hopefully it will prevent Jewish leaders from lobbying the U.S. government to take actions against Israel, as J Street did aggressively, in pushing the Obama Administration to allow UN Security Council Resolution 2334 to pass.
Israel is at a very sensitive moment in history with Iran on the verge of obtaining nuclear weapons capability, and the largest percentage of West Bank Arabs itching for violence against Jewish civilians in twenty years. At the same time, American Jewry is more divided as it faces growing anti-Semitism, a break from historic norms when Jews normally come together when faced with Jew hatred.
The global fight against anti-Semitism can be won with Israeli and American forces acting together with common purpose. We look forward to working together with you at this important time in history.
The Israeli Defense Forces launched a raid into Jenin to arrest Palestinian Arab terrorists who had committed and were planning additional terrorist attacks. The Arabs shot at the Israelis during the raid, and the IDF killed nine of the terrorists and one civilian woman nearby.
The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland issued a formal statement about the raid on January 26, 2023:
“I am deeply alarmed and saddened by the continuing cycle of violence in the occupied West Bank. The deaths today of nine Palestinians, including militants and one woman, during an Israeli arrest operation in Jenin is another stark example. Since the beginning of this year, we are continuing to witness high levels of violence and other negative trends that characterized 2022. It is crucial to reduce tensions immediately and prevent more loss of life. I urge, and remain actively engaged with, Israeli and Palestinian authorities to de-escalate tensions, restore calm, and avoid further conflict.”
Wennesland issued no statement after the brutal and deliberate targeting and murder of Jewish civilians outside a synagogue in Jerusalem on Sabbath, the following day.
The UN typically ignores the fact that most Palestinian Arabs killed by Israel are terrorists, and therefore the broadcast condolences appear on the surface to be warranted. But now we have entered a new level of sickness: the United Nations is stating publicly that it is saddened by the elimination of Palestinian terrorists.
The United Nations is no longer simply a biased anti-Semitic tool of the jihadist Muslim world. It is now an active cheerleader.
Tor Wennesland, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, also known as UN Coordinator for Palestinian Grievances
The top countries reading the articles this year changed a little, with Ireland moving up:
United States
Israel
Canada
Australia
United Kingdom
Ireland
South Africa
Netherlands
Germany
Switzerland
Top referrers to the articles were:
Jewish Press
Mosaic Magazine
Elders of Ziyon
Israel Unwired
Brabosh
On social media, Facebook continued to be the main driver of traffic, followed by search engines and Twitter. Quora and Freerepublic have been growing as well.
Articles were translated into German and Dutch but no other languages this year that we tracked. Hopefully it will pick up next year.
The First One Through blog does not accept donations.
It does not make money from advertising.
It is a pure not-for-profit in that there are no salaries to be paid nor income being generated. It is a site designed to educate people about Israel and Judaism. That is it.
Since May 2014, I have written over 1,200 articles, totaling almost 1 million words. That is in addition to over 100 videos produced before that time. I cannot fathom how much time I have dedicated to this effort.
I do it in the hope of that people will share the articles and take action based on what they learn. Perhaps writing an article to a senator. Maybe giving a donation to a related charity. Possibly investing time to explore an issue deeper and getting actively involved.
The site’s name, “First One Through”, is in honor of two biblical characters, Nachshon Ben Amindav and Calev Ben Yefuneh. Nachshon is credited with being the first person to enter the Reed Sea before it split open allowing all the Children of Israel to pass through. Calev was the first person to speak up in defense of the land of Israel, when ten spies reported that claiming their inheritance was too difficult. Each person took action in the face of an obstacle to advance the community.
The mission of the blog is to enable all of us to be lay leaders. We don’t have to sacrifice our days jobs or become a zealot for the cause. Just share the articles you like on social media or email them to friends. Send it to a member of Congress. Attend a rally or speaker series. Cancel subscriptions to media that despise your values. Change how you vote.
All of us can be agents for positive change.
The articles have been shared widely and I encourage it, just add a link to the original First One Through article when doing so. The articles have appeared and referenced in Mosaic Magazine, Gatestone Institute, Legal Insurrection, American Thinker, the Jewish Press, as well as blogs including Elders of Ziyon, CAMERA, JewsDownUnder, Shiloh Musings, FactsAboutIsrael and dozens of others. They have been translated into many languages including German, Dutch, Polish and Norwegian. I hope that the trend continues.
As we enter the new year, I am not asking for donations, just to subscribe to the site and get others to do the same. Let’s work together to promote truth and fight the scourge of anti-Semitism that is infecting societies around the world.
First One Through 