On the Sabbath just before the Jewish holiday of Purim, Jews around the world read a short story from Deuteronomy 25:17-19 about remembering the ancient people of Amalek who attacked the Jews as they left Egypt:
Therefore, when the LORD your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!
The beginning of the reading and the end have seemingly conflicting commandments. At first we are commanded to remember what Amalek did, however, the end of the reading instructs us to block the memory of Amalek. Further, the final instruction is reinforced by “Do not forget” to wipe out the memory, another layer of conflicting commands.
Are Jews ordered to remember or to forget?
A closer reading of the verses reveals how to satisfy each commandment and the important unifying message.
The first sentence is a command to remember “what Amalek did,” their ACTIONS. Those people committed a horrific attack and that assault should not be forgotten.
The latter verse is to “blot out the memory of Amalek,” to block the IMPACT ON THE PYSCHE that the attack left on the Jewish people. The Jewish people were just getting to know the first tastes of freedom after generations of slavery, and were set upon by Amalek. The emotional and physical scars left on the Jews would be carried for the rest of their lives. But God made them victorious and He does not want the memory of the pain to overshadow that victory. More specifically, once Jews are situated in “safety from all your enemies” in the land of Israel that God gave “as a hereditary portion,” it is important that past victimhood not continue to negatively color the Jewish outlook on the world.
The message of Parshat Zachor is to remember past atrocities of evil nations but to not let the scars from those encounters cloud the vision of the peaceful present which God has provided.
“Victory O’ Lord” painted by John Everett Millais (1829-1896) depicting Moses, Aaron and Hur during the battle with Amalek
The San Francisco School Board met on May 22, 2018 with a goal of ridding the school system of any signs of racism. It took two actions which showcase how liberals view Zionism as a racist endeavor.
The board decided to establish a panel to rename schools in the district which are “named for historical figures who engaged in the subjugation and enslavement of human beings; or who oppressed women, inhibiting societal progress; or whose actions led to genocide; or who otherwise significantly diminished the opportunities of those amongst us to the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” In January 2021 the panel put forward its recommendation to rename 44 schools, including those named after George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Abraham Lincoln, among others.
Abraham Lincoln school in San Francisco school district to be renamed
Upon announcing the selection of the schools to be renamed, School Board President Gabriela López said “we are working alongside the rest of the country to dismantle symbols of racism and white supremacy culture.” The fact that she endorsed renaming schools named after Lincoln who led the United States in a bitter civil war to end slavery did not seem to make her consider her actions or comment. Lopez added in an interview that “the criteria was created to show if there were ties to these specific themes, right? White supremacy, racism, colonization, ties to slavery, the killing of indigenous people, or any symbols that embodied that. And the committee shared that these are the names that have these ties.“
It is therefore curious – or telling – that at the same May 22 school board meeting, the school board voted to permit the actively anti-Zionist Arab Resource and Organizing Committee (AROC) to begin teaching Arabic and “cultural empowerment” to students in the schools. AROC’s anti-Zionist activities included blocking Israeli boats from docking and calls to destroy Israel with chants “from the river to the sea.” The group calls Israel an “apartheid” state that engages in “colonialism,” outright lies and smears which dovetail perfectly with the woke San Francisco School Board. These are the messages that San Francisco wants taught to its schoolchildren.
The reality is that schools in Gaza and the West Bank – seemingly strongly supported by AROC – promote its own form of “cultural empowerment” and are named after terrorists like Dalal Mughrabi, who led the murder of 37 civilians, including 12 children, in a bus hijacking. The murder of those civilians and young children are seemingly viewed as “anti-colonialism” “resistance” for the woke of San Francisco.
The Martyr Dalal Mughrabi Center with the logos of the Palestinian Authority, UN Women and The Norwegian Representative Office to the PA
When Belgium learned of its donor dollars going to fund Palestinian Arab schools after murderers, it froze funding which made the Palestinian Authority change the name. Alas, it took less than a month for the PA to then name two schools after the same terrorist.
San Francisco is stripping its schools of the names of American presidents who were instrumental in bringing democracy to America and the world, while simultaneously tacitly approving the naming of schools after the murderers of Jewish children, in hiring AROC to promote a twisted version of Arab “cultural empowerment.” Even the anti-Semites in Belgium do not stoop so low.
San Francisco is not only canceling America’s founding fathers but is simultaneously endorsing terrorism against America’s principal ally in the Middle East, the only Jewish State. It does this with the misguided woke self-righteousness of believing Israel shares the same “imperialist” and “racist” attitudes as the Unites States of America.
The generals of the Intersectional Army have begun a carpet gaslighting campaign and it is incumbent on all decent people to “rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
While the Arab-Israeli Conflict has been going on for 100 years, there have been notable breakthroughs. Peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan in 1979 and 1994, respectively, were watershed moment which were unfortunately followed by the Two Percent War/Second Intifada (2000-2004), 2006 Lebanon War and Gaza Wars of 2008, 2012 and 2014. But in the waning years of the Trump Administration in 2020, Israel forged normalization agreements with several Arab countries including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.
Democrats offered a tepid reaction to the new Arab-Israel peace announcements because there was no similar announcement with the Palestinians. However, a review of how Palestinians viewed their Israeli neighbors over the past several years shows interesting movements precisely when such archaic negative thinking is rejected.
Gazans consistently view Israel as an enemy. Palestinian polls show Gazans in favor of armed attacks inside of Israel against Jewish civilians by a majority ranging from two-thirds to over three-quarters, a shocking figure which should alarm the world (imagine if 75% of Pakistanis were in favor of killing civilians in India).
Arabs from the West Bank have a more nuanced attitude towards Israel. Their opinions change depending on current events.
results from Palestinian polls since mid-2015
The chart above shows how West Bank Arabs changed their attitudes in regards to launching an armed “Intifada” (blue line) and supporting the killing of Jewish civilians inside of Israel (orange line).
The “Stabbing Intifada” which included running over soldiers and civilians in the summer/fall of 2015 was popular among West Bank Arabs and saw a peak support level for terrorism at 47%.
The Trump administration announcement of its intention to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem saw an uptick supporting terrorism that had been dropping since the 2015 peak.
The lowest support for terrorism occurred after Trump cut funding for UNRWA. UNRWA is much more popular in Gaza where roughly 85% of Gazans get service from the UN agency, compared to only roughly 35% in the West Bank.
Support for Hamas and attacks against Israel spiked shortly thereafter, when Israel botched a military operation in Gaza. Palestinian Arabs widely viewed Hamas as being the victor in the contest, and with that perceived win, support for terror rose.
Support for attacking Israelis among West Bank Arabs declined since then and reached a low with the signing of the Abraham Accords
Interestingly, the Trump years saw a sharp decline in attitudes among West Bank Arabs supporting “lone wolf” attacks against Israeli Jewish civilians. Those four years saw the lowest Israeli death toll from terrorism in modern Israeli history. Meanwhile, the West Bankers support for an armed “Intifada” held somewhat constant.
Ending UNRWA’s mandate and fostering peace with more Arab nations seemingly directly impacts West Bank Arabs abandoning terrorism. Conversely, perceived “wins” for HAMAS in battles with Israel breathes new life for armed conflict. The path towards peace is clear: international peace brings peace while international meddling brings terror.
The International Criminal Court decided last week that it has jurisdiction to try Israel for its actions in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel disputes the claim as it is not a member of the ICC and the Palestinian Authority is not a state so should not be able to submit claims in such forum.
The PA had asked the ICC to investigate Israel for war crimes, particularly for Israel’s actions during the 2014 Gaza War. The PA hopes to win on multiple fronts with its action, both against Israel and its political rival in Gaza, Hamas.
Hamas is a designated terrorist organization by the United States, Israel and several other countries. Its 1988 foundational charter remains the most anti-Semitic ruling document ever written, including that of Nazi Germany in the 1930’s. Unperturbed, Palestinians voted Hamas to a majority of parliament in 2006 with that charter in the hopes of destroying Israel as the Two Percent War/ Second Intifada which started in 2000 came to a close.
The people of Gaza lust for Jewish blood has not abated. In the latest Palestinian poll conducted on December 15, 2020, a remarkable 77% of Gazans responded that they very strongly support (30.8%) and strongly support (45.9%) armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside of Israel. The fact that such a question can even be posed should be viewed as incitement to violence and a crime against humanity. That more than three-quarters of Gazans support killing Jewish civilians inside Israel should settle any discussion about the nature of the Hamas ruling authority and the people who live in Gaza.
Results of PCPRS poll 78 of December 2020. The first column shows overall results, the second shows results from the West Bank and last column is Gaza
The United Nations and liberal media falsely state that Gazans are “resorting” to violence and that Gaza rocket fire into Israel is “indiscriminate” but the will of Palestinian Arabs is clear that their aim is to kill Jewish civilians. The appropriate response from Israel – and from the ICC should they pursue the matter – is also abundantly clear.
While the U.S. liberal media has tried to paint the coronavirus as a matter which only countries led by Socialists and/or women can navigate, they have ignored the country immediately to the south which is fairing horribly.
Mexico ranks as number 18 in the world in the number of deaths per million (number 16, ignoring small Gibraltar and San Marino), with 1,330. The country is led by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador who had COVID some weeks ago, who is a Socialist pushing for higher wages, free internet, absolution for drug criminals, while driving away private investment. He has no grasp for the situation.
Putting aside his refusal to wear a mask, his administration is not testing anyone. To date, Mexico has only tested 38,925 people per million. That compares to Hungary (1,414 deaths and 348,124 tests per million), Spain (1,384 deaths and 765,137 tests per million), Peru (1,308 deaths and 206,862 tests per million) and Panama (1,284 deaths and 409,116 tests per million). The country is testing at rates that are 10 to 30 times LESS than countries with similar death tolls. The countries with so few tests have a fraction of the death rate and include Uzbekistan (40,804 tests with 18 deaths per million), Honduras (40,661 tests with 385 deaths per million), Pakistan (37,576 tests and 55 deaths per million) and Indonesia (36,414 tests with 120 deaths per million). That’s Mexico at 1,330 deaths per million and other countries ranging from 18 to 385, three to 74 times the rate of death.
Socialist Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador refuses to wear a mask as his country climbs to #3 in total deaths from the coronavirus
Despite these numbers, and only 86,000 people fully vaccinated in a country of 126 million, Mexico just announced it is reducing the COVID-19 alert in half of the states.
President Joe Biden has opted to ignore his own past comments by proposing to hire into his administration someone who attacked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In November 2015, Biden berated Israel about aprospectivemember of the Israeli administration who had said derogatory things while he was a private citizen, about US President Obama (that his actions are akin to “modern anti-Semitism”). Biden waved his finger and scolded Israel: “There is no excuse, there should be no tolerance for any member or employee of the Israeli administration referring to the president of United States in derogatory terms. Period, period, period, period!”
Yet today, Biden has proposed hiring Matt Duss, a foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, to a senior post in the U.S. State Department. Duss has a long history of anti-Israel and anti-Netanyahu statements including his criticism of the Abraham Accords which ushered in normalization agreements between Israel and several Muslim Arab countries. Duss’s 2020 tweets read:
“Netanyahu is right at home among these authoritarian rulers, who openly express disdain for liberal principles and incite against internal enemies supposedly plotting against them.“
“It was unsurprising that Netanyahu’s advocates would hail the deal, since they’re all basically racists who see despotism as Arabs’ natural state. What was disappointing was seeing how many liberal Democrats who should know better joining in.“
Duss had called Netanyahu a racist several times before, including his 2019 tweet:
“Netanyahu’s racist campaign now includes this ad about how he disrespected the first black president in his own house,” seeking to inflame the Black community against Israel.
In 2017, Duss said that U.S. President Donald Trump and Netanyahu were two racist peas in a pod in a tweet:
“Let’s be fair: Trump is America’s Netanyahu. Bibi has been a racist demagogue his entire career. Trump just makes it safe to point this out.“
Matthew Duss, Israel critic, being considered for position in Biden Administration’s State Department
Netanyahu pulled his candidate from assuming a role in the Israeli government so as to not to offend a key ally. Should Biden welcome a fierce critic of Israel who has insulted the leader of Israel many times into his foreign policy team, he is either a hypocrite or doesn’t view Israel as an ally anymore.
Palestinians polled themselves in December 2020, as they do every quarter. The differences between the West Bank and Gaza continued to be consistent in several areas such as Gazans favoring Hamas much more than West Bank Arabs.
The poll noted that more Gazans think that Hamas is not corrupt (45.3%) versus 8.3% of Arabs in the West Bank; Gazans back Hamas for president (64.4%) versus only 37.9% of West Bank Arabs; and 53.9% of Gazans believing fair elections can be held while 58.2% of West Bank Arabs think otherwise. When it comes to the Palestinian Authority (PA), almost everyone agrees that it is hopelessly corrupt (88.9% and 84.5% for Gaza and West Bank Arabs, respectively).
The latest poll also asked if people wanted to get the coronavirus vaccine. In Gaza, 50.5% and 31.6% stated they certainly did and thought they wanted to be vaccinated, respectively (82.1% in favor of vaccination), while 49.8% and 19.4% of West Bank Arabs said they certainly and probably DID NOT want to be vaccinated, respectively (69.2% against vaccination).
That is a remarkable difference in attitudes towards vaccination between the two regions which begs the question as to why Gazans want the vaccine while West Bank Arabs do not.
Two possible reasons: population density and trust in institutions.
Gaza is an extremely compact area with over 13,000 people per square mile. That compares to 759 people per square mile in the West Bank (17 times less). As the coronavirus spreads from person-to-person, it stands to reason that Gazans are more nervous about the virus rapidly spreading.
As relevant, is the fact that Gazans trust the Hamas authorities to look out for them. Both the Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza do not trust the PA in any matter. With Hamas ruling Gaza and in charge of coordinating a vaccination program with the United Nations, Gazans are much more comfortable getting the vaccine than West Bank Arabs led by the PA with zero credibility.
Meanwhile in the United States, several far-left members of Congress including Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Rep. Marie Newman (D-IL), Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) criticized Israel for not vaccinating Arabs in Gaza and the West Bank, even though the PA took on the responsibility for healthcare in the Oslo Accords and does so together with the United Nations. To suggest that Israel should re-enter Gaza, which it left in 2005, to vaccinate people who have gone to war with Israel three times since 2008 is both illogical and dangerous. To push Israel to vaccinate West Bank Arabs who don’t want the vaccine would be an assault. If West Bankers do not trust the Palestinian Authority, why would anyone think they would trust Israel?
The PA stated publicly that it was not asking Israel to secure vaccinations for them and are coordinating efforts with the World Health Organization. Members of the PA Health Ministry were insulted by the suggestion that they work with Israel adding “We are not a department in the Israeli Defense Ministry. We have our own government and Ministry of Health, and they are making huge efforts to get the vaccine.“
The concern of the American “progressives” uniquely for Palestinians is puzzling as they are faring better than most. According to the current information from Worldometers:
Country
Cases per 1M
Deaths per 1M
Bulgaria
32,321
1,346
Belize
29,947
761
Ukraine
28,491
540
Albania
29,282
503
Jordan
32,527
426
Denmark
34,660
382
Palestinians
31,327
362
Turkey
29,744
314
UAE
32,463
92
countries with roughly 31,000 cases per 1M population
The Arabs in Gaza and the West Bank rank 62nd globally in frequency of cases and have far fewer deaths than other countries with a similar positive infection rate. Yet there has been no outcry from those same Democrats about the situation in Bulgaria or Belize who are dying at rates multiples higher than Arabs. It seems to suggest that the left-wing Americans are using the coronavirus dynamic merely as a cudgel against Israel.
Israeli Arab receiving coronavirus vaccination
There is a significant gap in the attitude of Gazans and West Bank Arabs regarding the coronavirus vaccine as well as among far-left politicians regarding their concern for Palestinian Arabs and Albanians who are fairing much worse in the pandemic. The gap is one of trust, with Palestinians trusting Hamas but not the PA, and “Progressives” singularly not trusting Israel among all the nations.
In general, the world knows little about the desires and prayers of the common man who lived a few thousand years ago. While archeologists piece together how people lived, the prayers and thoughts of only the most powerful leaders and religious figures have been captured in ancient bas reliefs and religious texts.
There are exceptions. Roughly 3,000 years ago, a group of artisans who decorated the tombs of the kings of Egypt prepared their own modest burial chambers about a kilometer away from the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, in Deir el-Medina.
Sennedjem, the owner of what became known as “tomb 19”, was ensconced for three millennia with his wife, children and grandchildren in that tomb until it was discovered at the end of the 19th century. Unlike the government officials who featured artwork related to their government functions in their tombs, Sennedjem and the other artisans of Deir el-Medina had painted scenes of their family and idealized world.
Sennedjem’s tomb walls and arched ceiling were completely covered in ornate paintings which reflected scenes from the Book of the Dead. The yellow background paint gave the walls the feel of papyrus, the ancient Egyptian paper, and allowed the strong colors of the painted subjects to stand out.
The western wall of the tomb painting included two jackals which guarded the road to eternity along with Sennedjem and his wife, Iyneferty, and several gods. The southern wall featured a banquet with the parents and children of Sennedjem and Iyneferty, while the northern wall showed the mummification process together with text from the Book of the Dead, and an appeal to the god Osiris that the deceased, who led a good life, should be granted passage to paradise.
The eastern wall is the last wall to be “read” in the tomb. On top, two baboons surround the falcon-headed god Horus with a sun and protective cobra over his head, depicting the god of the rising sun. It is meant to convey a prayer for a successful journey to paradise and the beginning of a peaceful eternal life.
Below the tympanum are five rows which highlight that view of paradise.
The East Wall of the tomb of Sennedjem, Deir el-Medina, Egypt
The top register, read from left to right, includes the couple kneeling before five Egyptian gods followed by one of the couple’s sons facing them in a bark (boat) who escorts them to paradise. Another son is seen opening the mouth of the mummified Sennedjem, an important action to help the body survive and enjoy food and drink in the afterlife.
The following four registers show scenes of paradise. First they arrive in the Field of A’aru, the Field of Reeds. Egyptians believed that it is there that all of one’s possessions and family which were lost are returned (think of the death scene in the movie Gladiator). In this after-world, harvesting is as easy as pulling the grains from the ground or using animals to work the land. Blue water envelopes the entire scene (much like the Nile and canals during life), feeding plants, fields and trees. The bottom row features poppies and mandrakes, showcasing plants used in making drugs for sleep and aphrodisiac for love-making (see Genesis 30:14).
Paradise in ancient Egypt was an idealized version of life on Earth, focused on physical pleasures together with one’s spouse.
Shalom of Safed
Shalom Moskovitz (1896-1980) was commonly known as Shalom of Safed. He was an artisan for most of his life, including in watch-making and silver, and took up painting at the age of 55. He mostly painted scenes which were important and close to his heart such as the events of Jewish history, the Bible and the Talmud.
Shalom’s painting “Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem,” is a classic example. Like the Egyptian painting described above, Shalom used a muted old paper-like yellowish background for a story with multiple scenes. The registers were not neatly aligned in rows, and show a number of locations from around Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The borders showcase grains and fruit trees, bringing to mind the sheva mi’nim, the seven species native to Israel: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates.
“Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem” by Shalom of Safed
Shalom replaced the semi-circular Egyptian tympanum which had been used because of the arched ceiling of the burial tomb (and later copied by churches in Europe above their portals) with a few of the notable monuments in Jerusalem’s skyline: the Tomb of Absalom, the Mosque of Omar (Dome of the Rock) and Tower of David. Further down are two gates of the Old City of Jerusalem with the Kotel, the Western Wall in between. To the left is Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem. Other churches, mosques, homes and fields give the painting a calm feeling.
The painting highlights diversity in sharp contrast to the Egyptian tomb which focused on the deceased couple. The people in the painting are assembled in two groups with one in the lower left ascending a hill (and holiness metaphorically) passing graves and the tomb of the Jewish matriarch, Rachel, and the second group to the right praying at the Kotel. All of the men are wearing different hats showing their different backgrounds, but stand together in their prayers. Similarly, the Jewish, Muslim and Christian sites are shown coexisting in harmony. They dwarf the people as opposed to the Egyptian tomb in which the people dominate the scenes.
The people of ancient Egypt worshiped idols and their art showcased those many gods to whom they prayed for an afterlife of physical enjoyment. The Jews of modern Israel pray to an invisible God, and their art reveals an inconsequential physical man before dominant religious monuments with prayers for abstract harmony.
The January 22, 2021 article (24th in the print edition) in The New York Times “What Zoom Does to Campus Conflicts Over Israel and Free Speech” could have been an interesting discussion about the ongoing role of big media companies and censorship. Remarkably, the Times opted to tackle an easy and extreme case – the dissemination of terrorist propaganda and calls for violence – and decided the answer was sure, if the target is Israel.
The opening sentences of the article made it clear that the author understood the subject to be used as a foil in the discussion:
“Leila Khaled is a two-time hijacker, a member of a Palestinian group on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations. So it came as a shock to Javier Cohen, a senior at New York University, to find her speaking on an N.Y.U. webinar last semester.“
From such factual clarity, it is frightening that the Times would follow:
“In a conflict that has divided campuses in recent years, here was a new dimension: A commercial technology company [Zoom], under pressure from pro-Israel groups, was controlling content at a major American university.
“We’re usually not in the position of having campus speech being adjudicated by outside agents,” said [NYU Professor] Mr. Ross, arguing that criticism of Israel was being labeled anti-Semitism. “But Zoom is in the position of doing that right now. ”
This is preposterous and incendiary. Saying that pro-Israel groups are shutting down “content” through the guise of charges of “anti-Semitism” completely misses the mark that the university invited a terrorist who calls for violence onto the college square on the basis of free speech. In no civilized society does free speech cover such activity. To blame the target of the vitriol for shutting down discussion adds to the delusion and reeks of fanning more anti-Semitism.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) had written about Leila Khaled a few months ago when she was due to speak at San Francisco State University (SFSU):
“In some anti-Israel circles, PFLP terrorists Leila Khaled and Rasmea Odeh have drawn particular admiration. Leila Khaled took part in the hijacking of two civilian aircraft in 1969 and 1970. In recentinterviews, she has remainedunrepentant for her role in the hijackings and continues to hold the view that the Palestinian national movement is justified in using all means of resistance, including armed struggle.”
At the same time in September 2020, Colorado Congressman Doug Lamborn wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General William Barr outlining the criminal charges that should be brought against SFSU which had invited Khaled and possibly the technology companies like Zoom for hosting such discussions which “appeared to be [for the purpose of] the promotion of the PFLP’s [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine] terrorist agenda to a wider audience.“
While the Times did not quote the ADL or Lamborn’s letter, it seemed to acknowledge the issue of promoting terrorism but then it quickly shifted gears back to anti-Israel free speech:
“A spokeswoman for Zoom, Colleen Rodriguez, said Ms. Khaled’s association with a terrorist group violated the company’s terms of service. The company also banned three other colleges’ webinars featuring Ms. Khaled.
“As schools around the country have shifted to virtual learning, the battles over Israel and the Palestinian territories — with opponents accusing one another of anti-Semitism or suppressing free speech — have migrated with the technology, evolving from campus demonstrations and fliers to social media and Zoom.”
It is as though the article was written by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in acknowledging the problem of promoting terrorism but then excusing it as a matter of “suppressing free speech.” The article would go on for another 37 paragraphs – three pages including large color pictures – about whether criticism of Israel is a matter of free speech.
The 2,000-word article ended with an exchange that suggested the public square deserved to hear from Leila Khaled:
“The history is “messy,” he said, with “justice on both sides, and injustice on both sides.”
“Even without remote learning, students have little incentive to see the other view and strong support for hardening their own side’s.
“Mr. Stern said, mildly, “That makes conversations very difficult.””
One cannot imagine that the Times would go to such lengths to defend a university inviting a member of al-Qaeda onto campus to discuss the evils of the United States and its desire to continue an armed struggle against the western world. Maybe an alt-left university in California or New York would entertain a member of ISIS delivering a lecture under the banner of the university but hopefully law enforcement would shut it down.
The New York Times spent considerable ink over this past week saying that the new Biden Administration will help unify the country. That will only happen if he sends the attorney general and law enforcement after the alt-left universities and media companies like The New York Times which continue to promote terrorism and terrorists.
The New York Times once again wrote an article about Palestinians considering holding elections that could only be called #AlternativeFacts if one wanted to be charitable.
Page A10 of The New York Times of January 16, 2021
The article wrote that “Mr. Abbas was now seeking to renew his legitimacy in the eyes of the international community, especially with the imminent arrival of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the White House, which they said Mr. Abbas hoped would herald a return to negotiations with Israel.”
Nowhere in the article did it state that Abbas has no legitimacy with Palestinian Arabs.
The Palestinians poll themselves every quarter and the last results were released on December 15, 2020. There are important results to share with the public which were omitted by the Times:
86.3% of Palestinians think the Palestinian Authority is corrupt
That 86.3% compares to 63.4% who think Hamas-led institutions are corrupt
64.4% of Palestinians are not satisfied with the job of Abbas as president
66.0% of Palestinians want Abbas to resign
If Abbas was in an election against the leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, he would lose 42.8% to 50.2%
If it were a three-way race including jailed terrorist Marwan Barghouti, Abbas would place third, with Barghouti at 41.2%, Haniyeh at 32.3% and Abbas at 24.5%
75.9% of people polled do not expect Abbas’s Fatah party to accept the results if Hamas wins
37.7% and 21.0% of Palestinians in Gaza and West Bank, respectively, seek to emigrate
The number one concern for Palestinians is unemployment and poverty. The “occupation and settlements” was number two
Marwan Barghouti, a convicted terrorist, is the leading contender to win Palestinian presidential elections, yet his name did not make it into the Times article at all. How not surprising – on both fronts.
If the authors had read the poll results, they would have known that the Palestinians are more concerned with their economy than negotiations with Israel.
The Times called Abbas’s Fatah as “the mainstream Palestinian party,” even though it is highly unpopular and likely to lose the elections.
The Times continued that “The United States and much of the west refused to work with the unity government [of Fatah and Hamas] because Hamas, which they consider a terrorist organization, would not accept international demands such as renouncing violence and recognizing Israel’s right to exist.” There was no commentary on how Biden would work with a PA president who was either a convicted killer (Barghouti) or leader of a terrorist group (HAMAS).
Making sure Israel could be cast in a negative light, the article added that “Israel may also decide to bar Palestinians from voting in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem.” The December poll states that 56% of Palestinians favor such people being able to vote in West Bank polling stations, if Israel does not allow a foreign election to take place on its soil.
The Times coverage of the Palestinians is an alternative universe of peaceful Democracy-loving people being unfairly cast in a negative light by right-wing Israeli and American governments. It will be interesting to see how the paper’s language evolves during a year in which the U.S., Israel and Palestinian Authority might all change administrations.
First One Through 