If one were to be generous about the many flaws in journalism today, one could argue that the media model is so broken that the companies can no longer afford to hire enough or high quality reporters. As such, the papers simply do not do the homework required to properly educate today’s readership which already has access to tons of information online but may not be able to locate, assemble or analyze the copious volume of data.
FirstOneThrough has criticized the anti-Israel bias of The New York Times and its latest reporter on Israel, Patrick Kingsley (who is actually much better than past Times reporters), including just a few days ago regarding President Joe Biden’s visit to the Middle East. In his article “In First Visit As President, Biden Will Find Changed Middle East Political Scene.” Kingsley placed blame for the failure of peace between Israel and Palestinian Arabs squarely on the shoulders of Israeli action, absolving the Palestinian Authority of any criticism. One might assume that Kingsley was ignorant about the sentiments of Palestinian Arabs, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, the political-terrorist group which governs Gaza. It would be both pathetic and generous to consider that the journalist covering Israel and the PA didn’t know that Palestinian Arabs poll themselves every three months.
Alas, there is a reason that many Zionists shun the New York paper and describe it as a pro-Palestinian propaganda rag, as revealed on July 16, 2022.
New York Times article on July 16, 2022, page A8, which highlights select data from Palestinian polls (five red boxes with associated questions from June 2022 PCPSR poll)
Kingsley clearly read the results of the June 2022 poll, as he cited the findings of six responses about the unhappiness of Palestinian Arabs. However, Kingsley refused to mention Palestinians preference for war against Jewish civilians and the rejection of a two state solution proposed by Biden, in other responses found throughout the poll.
While The New York Times cited some responses from a Palestinian poll about Arab unhappiness (such as Q49), it neglected to mention the various responses supporting violence (including Q47, Q48/5, Q51 and Q52, above)
Poll question 64 asked people in the West Bank and Gaza “Concerning armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel, I….,” a question which should be labelled a war crime. Outrageously, 25% strongly support and 27% support the idea – a majority of those polled.
The response to Q52 had 56% of Palestinian Arabs supporting armed attacks by Arab lone wolves inside of Israel. The response to Q51 showed that 59% of Arabs think that the lone wolf attacks “contribute to the Palestinian Interest in ending the occupation.”
The responses to many questions show that a majority of Palestinian Arabs favor armed attacks against Jewish civilians and reject a two state solution (Q42 has 69% opposing two states and Q45 has 69% opposing negotiations with Israel). But Kingsley opted to not cite any of those findings.
Instead, the article titled “Biden Gives Palestinians Funding and Sympathy, But No Long-Term Plans” ended with a quote that Biden “empathized with Palestinian frustrations. ‘The Palestinian people are hurting now – you can just feel it, he said‘” echoing the statistics of Palestinian unhappiness but not their thirst for blood nor the destruction of Israel.
While Palestinians openly tell of their desire for the destruction of the Jewish State and the murder of Jews, the mainstream media and polite politicians only can see Arab “frustrations.” It’s absolution via calculated omission, and a lethal form of anti-Semitism.
It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when America became so divided as a nation. Political parties and politicians had smeared opposing sides since the founding of the republic – especially during election season – but citizens were able to sit and converse with people of a different party.
Some people have squarely put the blame on Donald Trump. The man didn’t merely have a different set of priorities and policies, but his vulgarity, misogyny and various racist and demeaning comments put him beyond the pale for many Americans. The fact that he won the presidency, did not simply upset people but made them question the moral fabric of society.
The people who voted for Hillary Clinton in November 2016 did not simply support her, they internalized her September 2016 comments about Trump supporters when she said “You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic—you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.“
Clinton took aim at half of America, and the insult felt by the targets of the attack, as well as the concurrence of her supporters, continues to be felt today in a deeply divided America.
The Jewish community may similarly have broken during the 2022 primary season.
In commenting about various Democratic primaries, Jeremy Ben Ami, the head of the far-left wing Jewish pro-Palestinian group J Street smeared Jewish moderates as racists, saying “There seems to be something particularly on the line for some parts of the Jewish community when women of color speak out.“
J Street President Jeremy Ben AmiNY Times article on July 16, 2022
The vile smear would be bad enough if Ben Ami was attacking the Republican Jewish Coalition, the opposing right-wing political advocacy group to J Street. But Ben Ami was attacking fellow Democrats who support the agenda of the moderate Democratic group, Democratic Majority For Israel (DMFI) and the bi-partisan group AIPAC.
The divide in the United States is tragically growing deeper. We may now also be witnessing the cleft in the Jewish community break open, as J Street slanders Jews to the right of their far-left ideology as irredeemable bigots.
The New York Times is obsessed with telling the world the false narrative that Palestinian Arabs are helpless victims in the Arab-Israeli conflict. It pushed the fake story again, that Israel is solely responsible for Palestinian misery, ahead of US President Joe Biden’s visit to the region later this week.
The New York Times absolving Palestinian Arabs of their direct participation in their fate.
Patrick Kingsley wrote that Biden “believes in a two state solution to the conflict.” Followed by a big “But…” which accused Israeli actions of undermining Biden’s goals.
In FOUR separate locations. the Times called out “Israeli occupation” and “settlement expansion,” including falsely alleging that Jews living in the West Bank “make a two state solution less viable.”
Another reason mentioned for the stalemate in peace discussions is “divisions within the Palestinian leadership.”
Lastly, the Times wrote that peace is far off because of “Israeli disinterest in peace negotiations.”
The Palestinian propaganda piece did not inform its readers that the PA continues to pay Arab terrorists who attack Israelis, and that funding such terrorism is a condition for the US to hand the PA any monies according to the Taylor Force Act.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. The Times refuses to accurately describe Palestinian Arabs as almost uniformly anti-Semitic, deny the history of the Jews in their holy land, have laws which prevent Jews from buying land, elected a Holocaust-denier to president, and who favor the Hamas terrorist group to lead the country now.
Palestinian Arabs are principally and directly responsible for their stateless situation, in continuing to deny Jews their human rights and dignity. But The New York Times prefers to peddle misinformation in its ardent defense of the “underdog,” even if those Arabs are anti-Semitic, Holocaust-denying terrorist-supporters. Or maybe because of it.
The terrible news seems to come out daily: anti-Semitism on the rise in cities and towns across the country. One of the worst locations is college campuses, where the government has the power to reduce the scourge, and refuses to do so.
Beyond The US And Beyond This Year
To be clear, the problem is not just local and not only recent.
In March 2022, United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson said “I think that our universities, for far too long, have been tolerant of casual or indeed systemic anti-Semitism… it’s important that we have an anti-Semitism task force devoted to rooting out anti-Semitism in education,” calling out the Jew hatred in universities.
US President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13899—Combating Anti-Semitism in December 2019 to address the problem, stating “my Administration is committed to combating the rise of anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic incidents in the United States and around the world. Anti-Semitic incidents have increased since 2013, and students, in particular, continue to face anti-Semitic harassment in schools and on university and college campuses.”
The United States government was trying to tackle the issue in November 2017 when it held a hearing to consider interpreting Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect Jewish students and other religious minorities from discrimination. At that time, Rabbi Cooper, Associate Dean, Director Global Social Action Agenda, Simon Wiesenthal Center called out for the government to help combat the hatred, arguing that “The failure of schools and Federal Government to protect Jewish students on campus from harassment is one of the most pressing issues for the American Jewish Community.”
But educational institutions and the government are backing away from providing protections to Jewish students on campus.
Failure of Leadership
The City University of New York (CUNY) has seen an enormous spike in anti-Semitic incidents. To combat the menace, over 100 non-profit institutions wrote a letter on June 28, 2022 to the NYC Council Committee on Higher Education to address “the alarming rise of antisemitism on campuses across the country, and at CUNY in particular.” After being postponed once, the committee finally met to address this serious issue, but CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez did not attend. Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov was angered at the chancellor’s absence and said “last night, in a very cowardly fashion, the chancellor said he won’t appear. Instead he sent a lawyer to represent him. What a sham, what an insult to the Jewish community of New York.“
President Biden is similarly aware of the scourge of anti-Semitism on campuses and opted to delay action until after mid-term elections.
President Biden is aware of the scourge of anti-Semitism on campuses and opted to delay action until after mid-term elections.
Shortly after Biden took office in February 2021, Kara McDonald, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, embraced the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism. She said “we musteducate ourselves and our communities to recognize antisemitism in its many forms, so that we can call hate by its proper name and take effective action. That is why the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, with its real-world examples, is such an invaluable tool.”
It was the logical and appropriate time for Biden to follow-through on Trump’s EO 13899 and the federal government’s efforts to apply the IHRA definition to Title VI. Title VI “prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity that receives Federal funds or other Federal financial assistance.” As most colleges receive federal funds and would collapse without them, and the fact that Jews do not fall neatly into “race, color or national origin,” Jews were counting on inclusion in the Title VI clause together with the working definition of anti-Semitism.
But Biden decided to postpone a decision on the Title VI matter until December 2022, after mid-term elections.
Biden Fears the Far-Left Anti-Zionists
While Biden was willing to champion the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, he fears members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) within his party, and the threat that they will primary incumbent party centrists out of office. The IHRA definition has several references to Israel including “Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel“, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” and “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.” These anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic statements often come from the mouths of Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Cori Bush (D-MO), members of the DSA. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY), a leading shrill voice of the DSA, has stated plainly that her squad will come after centrists if the Democratic leadership doesn’t bend to their extremist policy demands, including lambasting Israel. Biden doesn’t want to anger the squad and risk his party’s slim majority.
President Biden with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (left) and Rep. Debbie Dingell, May 2021. (photo: Evan Vucci/AP)
While studies have shown that “much of the antisemitic activity [on college campuses] was perpetrated by anti-Zionist students and student groups” at schools with “faculty academic boycotters,” and the federal government has a clear pathway to clamp down on the Jew hatred, President Biden has chosen to place party politics ahead of the safety of the young adults of the most persecuted minority in America.
The White House announced that President Biden “will visit the Middle East region from July 13th to July 16th with stops in Israel, the West Bank, and Saudi Arabia.” The release added that Biden would meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas “reaffirming his lifelong commitment to a two-state solution.“
The stampede of elephants in the room is that the Abbas has no authority, no mandate, no control and no abilities, and that Palestinian Arabs have no interest in a two state solution, preferring war.
Then U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden (L) shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah March 9, 2016. (photo: REUTERS/Debbie Hill/Pool)
Mahmoud Abbas – The Straw Man
No Authority. Abbas won presidential election in January 2005. That four-year term ended in January 2009, over 13 years ago. Abbas continues to suspend elections as he knows he would lose. According to a June 2022 Palestinian poll, if elections were held now, Abbas would lose to Ismail Haniyeh of the political-terrorist group HAMAS by 55% to 33%.
No Mandate. That same poll shows that Palestinian Arabs in both the “West Bank” and Gaza despise Abbas, noting that “demand for Abbas’ resignation stands at 72% in the West Bank and 84% in the Gaza Strip.” Further, “perception of corruption in PA institutions stands at 86%.“
No Control. The PA only controls Areas A and B in the West Bank. It has no control over Gaza after getting routed from the territory by HAMAS in 2007. Abbas has no control over a significant percent of his land and people, and cannot deliver anything to Palestinian Arabs or Israelis.
No Ability To Negotiate. Since 2007, Abbas has been unable to negotiate even a unity government between his Fatah party and the rival HAMAS. How could anyone imagine he has the skill or ability to negotiate with Israelis?
Why would anyone negotiate with such a person on the most fundamental principles that the person has no ability to deliver? Because it supplies multiple fig leaves: that the Palestinian Arabs have set up a government and are capable of ruling themselves to ultimately become an independent state to show the world on one hand; and on the other, to make the Palestinian Arabs feel like the world cares.
Mahmoud Abbas – Against Basic U.S. Principles and Human Rights
The United States – and the civilized world – have basic principles regarding human rights which Abbas tramples upon.
Funding terrorism. The US Congress passed the Taylor Force Act which “condition[ed] assistance to the West Bank and Gaza on steps by the Palestinian Authority to end violence and terrorism against Israeli citizens.” Abbas doesn’t care, and told the world at the United Nations that he celebrated martyrs and was commited to pay Palestinian terrorist families “even if it costs PA its last penny.”
Inciting terrorism. Abbas fans the flames of a violent jihad against Jews. He frequently lies that the Al Aqsa Mosque is in danger of being attacked by Jews to foment violence by any means.
Denying Jewish History. Abbas wrote his doctoral thesis on Holocaust denial, pretty abhorrent on its face. He further denies over 3,000 years of Jewish history in the Jewish holy land, calling Jews “colonial invaders.” He denies that the Jewish temples stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and mocks Jews that they are trying to “Judaize” Jerusalem.
The world pretends that this anti-Semitic extremist is a moderate. The sad reality is that he is a moderate, solely by Palestinian Arab standards.
Palestinian Arabs Don’t Want Two States, They Want ’48
Jews Have No Rights Whatsoever In The Land. The average Palestinian Arab in the Palestinian territories believes that the land is 100% Arab and that Jews have no rights to be there. Their position is plain that they do not want to share the land. It is founded on a national narrative that Jews are “colonial invaders” who came to the land as a function of “European imperialism.” That is why pro-Palestinian supporters shout “we don’t want two states, we want ’48,” and “from the river to the sea,” that the entirety of the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River will be Arab.
No Interest In A Two State Solution. Not surprisingly believing that Jews have no history or rights, Palestinian Arabs have no interest in a two state solution. They’ve rejected it from the 1947 Partition Plan until the latest June 2022 poll, when only 28% of respondents favored the idea, with 69% opposed.
Preference For War. Rejecting coexistence, Palestinian Arabs want either the global community to pressure Israel out of existence or to wage war for Israel’s destruction. In June 2022, 56% want the PA to join more international organizations (counter to the parameters of the Oslo Accords signed between the PA and Israel to advance peace), and 55% want to start another armed “initifada,” meaning jihadist terrorism. Currently, 56% of Palestinian Arabs favor attacking Jewish civilians inside of Israel, with 59% believing the terrorism “contributes to the national interest.“
Deeply Embedded Anti-Semitism. The Anti-Defamation League conducted a poll in 2014 about anti-Semitic attitudes around the world. Palestinian Arabs were by far the most anti-Semitic, with almost every single person – a sickening 93% – hating Jews.
It is no wonder that there are so many Palestinian terrorist groups and that the Palestinians intend on voting for one should elections ever be held again.
The US President Honors Anti-Semitism And Wastes Political Capital
Despite the plain facts that Abbas is a straw man who leads anti-Semites not interested in making peace with Israel, President Biden is going to travel to meet him. In doing so, Biden will be giving honor to this despised leader and upsetting 65% of Palestinian Arabs who don’t want the PA to engage with Biden. Even worse, decent Americans will be forced to watch their president listen to the rants and demands of an anti-Semite who supports terrorism, knowing that Biden will just smile and hand Abbas millions of dollars.
The United States invested billions of dollars in Israel and got a strong reliable ally in the Middle East with a vibrant democracy, economy and record of human rights. The US also invested billions of dollars into the Palestinian Arabs, which remains corrupt, inept and hostile to peace and decency. When will people pause to reflect on the return on investments from human and monetary capital?
The current smear against Israel being popularized by anti-Zionist organizations and people is that the country practices a form of apartheid. Specifically, they consider that Israel discriminates against and segregates its non-Jewish population.
Not only is the charge absurd, but it is a deliberate attempt to deflect the anti-Semitism and xenophobia of the Palestinian Arab population.
Ban on citizenship
At inception, Israel granted all of the people who lived in the land citizenship, and as the country annexed additional territory such as the eastern section of Jerusalem, it afforded all residents there to apply for citizenship as well, regardless of religion. Today, roughly 74% of the country is Jewish, with over one quarter belonging to other faiths. It stands as a uniquely diverse country in the entire Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
This is in sharp contrast to the Palestinian Authority (PA). The president of the PA, Mahmoud Abbas, declared that “we will not see the presence of a single Israeli (read Jew) – civilian or soldier -on our land.” Indeed, in the lands administered by the PA – Gaza and Areas A and B – the demographics is 100% Arab. Not a single Jew can be found, per the PA’s anti-Semitic stated mission.
Ban minorities buying land
Israel allows everyone to purchase homes or apartments. In Jerusalem, the Israeli government greatly expanded the number of homes for non-Jews which resulted in a +188% growth in units for Arabs between 1990 and 2019, compared to only +64% for Jews.
This is in sharp contrast to the PA which has kept in place a Jordanian law which bans the sale of land to non-Jews. The penalty for doing so can be hard labor or even death. It has produced a terrible scheme where Arabs who want to sell land to Jews are forced to use middlemen and shell companies to avoid being killed by either the government of fellow Arabs’ vigilante anti-Semitic violence.
Ban minorities voting and being in parliament
All Israeli citizens can vote and run for the parliament. There are a few Israeli Arab parties in the country’s multi-party system. In 2022, an Arab party sits in the governing coalition and can collapse the government should it decide to do so.
As the Palestinian Authority has no Jews, it is not surprising that there are no Jews in parliament.
Ban minorities being prime minister
Israel has no religion litmus test as to who can become prime minister. That is compared to surrounding Arab countries like Syria where the PM must be a Muslim.
Ban minorities being judges
Israel allows all of its citizens to be part of the legal system including being lawyers, judges and using the courts. The Jewish State has an Arab sitting on its Supreme Court.
The PA has no place for Jews. Anywhere.
Ban minorities being in army
Israel has a draft system which calls on its citizens to serve in the army at age 18. However, the country does not enforce the law for Arabs and Ultra-Orthodox Jews, but it welcomes them joining.
The PA has no place for Jews.
Ban on religious houses of worship
Israel allows all of the various religions to practice their faiths openly. There is no ban on minarets on mosques (as exists in Switzerland), no ban on halal meat (as exists in Iceland), no ban on burkas or hijabs (as exists in Turkey). The Bahai faith has major houses of worship and the Israeli government actually helped Mormons build their church in Jerusalem.
The PA is only oriented around Arab Muslims and Christians. In Jordan – which is majority Palestinian – the Bahai faith is outlawed and Jews carrying religious articles are turned away at the border.
Ban minorities visiting holy places
Israel allows people of all religions to access their holy places. The Israeli government reversed the Muslim ban on Jews visiting the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, as well as the Cave of the Jewish Matriarchs and Patriarchs in Hebron when it took the city back from Jordanian Arabs in 1967.
Palestinian Arabs (who were Jordanians from 1954 to 1967) had banned Jews from their holy sites. The PA and Jordan continue to try to limit Jews from visiting Judaism’s holiest site to this day. Palestinian Arabs have also ransacked Jewish holy sites under their control, such as the Tomb of Joseph in Nablus.
Ban minorities praying at holy places
When Israel reunified Jerusalem in 1967 after Jordan attacked it, it nevertheless allowed the Jordanian waqf to administer the Jewish Temple Mount. That decision has caused Jews to continue to be banned from praying at its site while hundreds of thousands of Muslims are able to do so multiple times a day.
When Jews visit their holy sites in or adjacent to PA-ruled territories, they must have security details or be lynched by Arabs.
Ban minorities from universities
Israel’s leading universities such as Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University have large populations of non-Jews. In sharp contrast, no Jews attend Palestinian universities, and some have a history of banning Jews – even anti-Zionist ones – from even stepping foot on campus.
Ban or limit free speech and assembly for minorities
All Israeli citizens have freedom of speech, assembly and press. Israeli Arabs often launch demonstrations against the government, as do other minorities. In Gaza, only one opinion is allowed to be expressed – that sanctioned by the Islamist regime of Hamas.
Denial of minority history and culture
The Israeli government acknowledges the backgrounds, cultures and history of its diverse citizens. It teaches various histories in its schools and posts official signs in Hebrew, Arabic and English. Meanwhile the PA only uses Arabic in all official communications and actively denies the history of Jews in their holy land, including that their holy temples were in Jerusalem.
Government inciting violence against minorities
Israel is a pluralistic society with Jews and non-Jews participating in each part of society. However, the PA is effectively at war with Jews and the Jewish State and calls on Arabs to attack Jews.
Government reward murderers of minorities
Israel prosecutes criminals that commit crimes – past presidents and prime ministers have gone to jail.
The PA actually rewards criminal activity, especially violence committed against Jews. It calls the terrorists “martyrs” and names schools and squares after them, while paying their families thousands of dollars.
Major political parties’ xenophobia
The Israeli declaration of independence welcomed all people and to this day. The major Israeli political parties including Likud, Yesh Atid, and Blue and White all have charters and position papers that advance a just society for all citizens.
The Palestinian constitution is written for Arabs, with Islam as the official religion. Hamas, a designated terrorist organization by many countries, has a charter full of anti-Semitic smears and conspiracy theories. It calls for a war between Jews and Muslims.
Xenophobia and racism of population
Palestinian Arabs voted the anti-Semitic Hamas political-terrorist party to 58% of the parliament the last time elections were held, and polls show that Hamas would win presidential elections, if held today. The Anti-Defamation League did a poll in 2014 that showed that Palestinian Arabs were the most anti-Semitic in the world, with 93% holding anti-Semitic beliefs.
Israel has created a liberal democracy in the heart of the xenophobic and anti-Semitic Middle East. Those calling the country an apartheid state are not merely engaging in anti-Semitic lies, but doing so in the hope of drawing attention away from the deeply anti-Semitic and xenophobic beliefs of Palestinian Arabs.
The United Nations has a particular narrative about the Arab-Israeli Conflict which plays out in various fora.
The anti-Zionist organization has elevated the discussion of ‘settler attacks’ in an effort to paint the Zionists as not only illegal but dangerous, thereby clear obstacles to peace.
A UN press release by the poorly-named Human Rights Council noted the following in November 2021:
“Settler violence has always been an extremely disturbing feature of the Israeli occupation, but in 2021, we are witnessing the highest recorded levels of violence in recent years and more severe incidents…. This precipitous rise in settler violence is not simply the result of a few ‘bad apples’ among the settler population. The deep state support provided by Israel to the illegal settlement enterprise, including to the more than 140 settlement outposts established throughout the West Bank in defiance of even Israel’s own laws, has fueled this coercive environment and encouraged violence.“
Tor Wennesland, the UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, has adopted this line of reasoning. Wennesland gives a monthly report to the UN Security Council where he reports on his perception of Israel’s violations and treatment of Palestinians rather than on Middle East Peace.
Consider Wennesland’s comments in his March 22, 2022 report to the UN Security Council when he went detailed specific events of Israeli settler violence but glossed over Arab terrorism. Wennesland essentially blamed all attacks on the Israeli government, parroting the UN Human Rights Group talking points:
“The announcement of Tel Aviv’s [*note the dis of stating Israel’s government being in Tel Aviv and not Jerusalem*] plans to expand settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is deeply disturbing. The continuation of settlement construction and the intention to double the number of Israelis living in the Jordan Valley and the Syrian Golan Heights by 2026 can be seen as the de facto annexation of most of the occupied Palestinian territory. Against that background, there has been a sharp increase in settler attacks, as well as the disproportionate use of force by the Israeli military against Palestinians resulting in civilian deaths and injuries.” The statement suggests that the Israeli government’s actions promoting further development in Area C and the Golan Heights encouraged “settler attacks.” All he offered about Hamas, the political-terrorist group that runs Gaza was that “Hamas also called for increased clashes with the Israeli forces throughout the occupied West Bank,” when in fact, Hamas calls for attacks against all Israeli Jews, including civilians.
After even more Arab attacks against Israelis over the following weeks, Wennesland continued to emphasize attacks by Israelis. In his April 25 report, he mentioned “settlers” five time to only twice for Hamas. He again reiterated that settler violence was principally because the Israeli government supports Jews living throughout Israel and its territories, but at least added a caveat about Arab terrorism: “Against the backdrop of continued settlement activities and ongoing pressure on Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank, as well as heightened tensions, settler-related violence remained high, particularly following the terrorist attacks in Israel.“
To be clear – according to Wennesland’s own reports – the number of Arab attacks dwarves attacks by Israelis. The monthly total for Palestinian Arabs attacking Jews ranged from 80 to 108 for the first four months of 2022, but only between 28 and 66 for “settler” attacks. Overall, there were 381 attacks by Palestinians to 210 by Israelis, or 81% more.
Israeli attacks were roughly half the number of Palestinian Arab attacks in the first four months of 2022. Israeli attacks were less than one-third the number of Arab attacks at the beginning of the year, before a wave of lethal Arab attacks prompted a response from Jews.
Wennesland remains blind to Arab incitement including naming schools and squares after murderers, governmental stipends to Palestinians who attack Jews, as well as straight out calls for violence. His jaundiced reports are fed to the waiting biased audience at the UN, with recommendation of more monies for Palestinians and fewer homes for Jews:
“Reducing violence and halting settlement activity, while shoring up the Palestinian Authority’s fiscal stability and strengthening Palestinian institutions are crucial. Steps to improve economic conditions must be implemented in a way that lays the foundations for a return to a meaningful political process.“
On one side, there is ongoing incitement to violence by Palestinian leadership which encouraged nearly 100 attacks against Jews every month. On the other, is an Israeli government which encourages Jews to coexist among Arabs, where Israelis commit roughly half the number of attacks a month, mostly in response to waves of Arab terrorism. Yet while those facts are admitted (in passing) by the United Nations, it directs blame solely on Israel, as it pushes another fund-raising appeal for the Arab government supporting terrorism.
Social justice is a concept that has been advanced by left-wing Americans into mainstream conversation. The idea covers a number of principles:
Access
Human rights
Participation
Equity
Diversity
The Jews in Jerusalem are slowly advancing in their movement on each of these principles, however, systemic anti-Semitism at the United Nations and for many Arab Muslim nations, has slowed progress.
Access
Despite the facts that only Jews consider Jerusalem as its holiest location and uniquely made the city its capital, Arab Muslim nations ethnically-cleansed the Old City of Jerusalem of its Jews in the 1948-9 Arab-Israeli war. Transjordan illegally annexed the eastern part of the city including the Old City and the west bank of the Jordan River, and subsequently denied any Jew the ability to visit their holiest sites.
Jordan attacked Israel again in 1967 but lost the ‘West Bank’ and eastern Jerusalem to Israel. While Israel once again allowed Jews to live and visit their holiest city, the Jordanian Waqf was given permission by Israel to administer the Jewish Temple Mount, and limits the time and number of Jews who can visit.
Human Rights
Not long after Jordan annexed lands west of the Jordan River in a move not recognized by almost every country in the world, it passed a citizenship law specifically excluding Jews in article 3. Now under Israeli rule, the Jews of Jerusalem – as well as Arabs – are afforded citizenship in a reversal to Jordan’s anti-Semitic law.
Jordan still enforces its ban on Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, a flagrant violation of the basic human rights of Jews. Remarkably, the world stays mum on the subject, fearing radical Islamic violence.
Participation
The Jews in Jerusalem are marginalized by the United Nations and much of the world. The UN Security Council passed Resolution 2334 which stated that “Israelis” could not move to eastern Jerusalem. The anti-Zionists call Jews who live and visit ‘settlers’, even if they are not Israeli, and do not use the label for Israeli Arabs who do the same, clearly demonstrating the anti-Jewish nature of the smear.
The UN has set up distinct agencies, committees and inquiries uniquely for the Jewish State and does not afford Israel an opportunity to participate on the same basis as others in a forum stacked against it.
As noted above, the administration of the Temple Mount which holds the al Aqsa mosque is administered solely by Arab Muslims of the Jordanian waqf. Such formulation does not allow Jews to participate in the administration of their holiest site, and has led to their being completely marginalized.
Equity / Restorative Justice
There has been some measure of restorative justice for Jews, in facilitating the migration of Jews back to their ancestral homeland over the past hundred years. Germany has paid the state compensation for its actions in the Holocaust. The United States has invested in the fledgling state and facilitated its ascendency out of a third world emerging state to a thriving liberal democracy. The most persecuted people who faced a genocide have established a safe haven.
But evil still lurks. The Islamic Republic of Iran has stated its desire to destroy Israel. It has several terrorist proxies abutting the Jewish State including Hamas and Hezbollah which have thousands of missiles directed at it. The world is debating how to handle the leading state sponsor of terrorism’s quest for nuclear weapons, even though the answer is obvious to any toddler.
In relation to Jerusalem, the world has done the opposite of restorative justice. It did – and still does not – facilitate and recognize Jews in the Old City of Jerusalem. Israel had to reunite the city on its own in a defensive battle. It rebuilds the synagogues (like the Hurva) that Jordan destroyed in the face of global condemnation.
The Hurva Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, shortly after its re-opening in March 2010 (photo: First One Through)
Diversity
Israel’s neighbors like Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, UAE, Iraq and others, are each over 90% Muslim. In contrast, Israel is only 73.9% Jewish and has over 26% of the population from a variety of religions including Muslims, Christians, Druze, Baha’i, Samaritans and others.
Israel’s diversity is seen in its schools and hospitals. The signs in the country are written in Hebrew, Arabic and English. Its parliament and Supreme Court have people of different religions, ethnic backgrounds, genders and orientation. All of those dynamics are lacking in the other countries of the Middle East.
Many of those same countries that lack diversity attack Israel economically, politically and militarily. They deny the history of the Jews, their rights and any acceptance of the Jewish State. They have stood against ‘normalizing’ the Jewish State in any manner in an aggressive campaign of ‘three denials.‘ These efforts are most pronounced regarding Israel’s capital of Jerusalem, which they seek to revert back to the Arab-only, Jew-free situation they enforced in the eastern half from 1949 to 1967.
Regarding the principles of access, human rights, participation, equity and diversity, Israel stands as a beacon in the Middle East. However, the country still faces many obstacles, mostly from the biased United Nations and at the Jewish Temple Mount. Hopefully those committed to social justice will engage in the hard work to end the systemic anti-Semitism, xenophobia, Islamic privilege, religious persecution and isolation of the indigenous Jewish people in their ancient homeland and in their holy capital city of Jerusalem.
Summary: Pause the debate on abortions on Mother’s Day, and demand justice for a woman who smiles as she slaughters children eating ice cream.
Mother’s Day 2022 was a peculiar affair as the United States debated the legal case for abortion with renewed vigor, after the leak of the Supreme Court draft questioning the validity of Roe v. Wade. Americans focused again on the rights of women on one hand and the rights of the unborn on the other, just as they celebrated the mothers who had and raised children.
While Father’s Day is definitely special in celebrating the men who raise children, the bond is a degree removed from the tether between mother-and-child. Only women can give birth. Only women can nurse a baby. The umbilical cord may only last nine months but the connection between women and child seems to carry far into the future.
Yet there are women who despise children. Jewish children anyway.
Ahlam Al-Tamimi is a Palestinian Arab who is a member of Hamas. In 2001, she walked around Jerusalem looking for a place to kill as many religious Jews as possible, “because the base of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians is a religious struggle.” She chose a Sbarro restaurant in the center of town, frequented by many Jewish women and children for pizza and ice cream. Years later she smiled when she learned that eight children were killed in the suicide bombing attack that she orchestrated.
Ahlam al-Tamimi smiling when told she killed eight children, not three as she had thought.
Al-Tamimi was released after serving several years in an Israeli jail, as part of the prisoner exchange for Israeli Gilad Shalit, and was transferred to Jordan. The FBI put her on the “Most Wanted List” and considers her armed and dangerous. As recently as October 2021, she said that she loves the “scent” of Palestine, the “scent of musk from the martyrs (who kill Jews)… this is a pleasant relaxing scent, as if it was coming from Paradise.” She considered her terrorist operations as “crowns on my head.”
That interview was posted on YouTube on the “Gathering4Youth” site based in Turkey. The site includes interviews with other terrorists from Hamas such as Khaled Mashaal. This site that features a terrorist group addressing youth with calls for violence is still operating openly.
Regarding Al-Tamimi, FBI’s most wanted terrorist similarly lives freely in Jordan.
Several Jewish groups have been pushing the U.S. to extradite this murderer for several years as two of the victims were American citizens, but Jordan has long refused to hand her over.
During his confirmation hearing, Henry Wooster, now U.S. ambassador to Jordan said he would “explore all options to bring Ahlam Aref Ahmad al-Tamimi to justice, secure her extradition and address the broader issues associated with the extradition treaty.” That remains to be seen.
On May 13, 2022, just a few days after Mother’s Day, U.S. President Joe Biden will host Jordanian King Abdullah II to “reinforce the close friendship and enduring partnership between the United States and Jordan.” If the relationship is indeed close, Biden should be able to get Abdullah to hand over the murderer of Jewish children and Americans who openly calls for the next generation of youth to continue to slaughter innocent people.
Click here to CONTACT THE WHITE HOUSE to demand Biden secure the extradition of Ahlam Al-Tamimi, and shut down the Gathering4Youth incitement to terrorism YouTube page.
The disinformation campaign from the left is torrential when it comes to Israel.
Peter Beinart, an apologist for anti-Semites, wrote in the New York Times on May 9, 2022 about a number of things that President Joe Biden should do to reverse the actions of former President Trump to make the world a safer place. The basic premise of his editorial is curious at the start, as the Obama/Biden presidencies watched the disintegration of a sovereign Ukraine, first in a seizure of Ukraine by Russia, and then an all-out war.
In regards to Israel, the Abraham Accords that Israel struck with several Arab countries under Trump, the lowest level of Israeli deaths form terrorism and the lack of an all-out war from Gaza for the first time since Hamas took control of the area were similarly ignored. Beinart measures “peace” by his perception of what Palestinian Arabs desire.
Section of Peter Beinart editorial in The New York Times May 9, 2022
Beinart took aim at the actions of Trump and Israel as it related to Jerusalem. He mentioned:
Biden’s desire to “reopen the U.S. Consulate in East Jerusalem” which Trump had closed;
That “Palestinians” live as noncitizens under Israeli control in Jerusalem;
That the U.S. needs to take “an interest in their plight”
As The New York Times does not fact-check its editorials when published by left-wing writers, here are some facts:
The U.S. Consulate in East Jerusalem was in western Jerusalem. Not only is the building west of the 1949 Armistice Line, the Obama Administration weaponized the consulate in 2015 when it decided to post armed Palestinian Arabs inside the building. When Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in accordance with Congress’s Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, he folded the consulate offices into the new embassy building. Palestinian Arab concerns continued to be addressed, contrary to Beinart’s implication, it simply lacked the symbolism of a stand-alone building.
Further, Arabs in Jerusalem can apply for Israeli citizenship, and thousands have done so. Beinart wrote that Palestinians suffer from “Israeli control in Jerusalem” when Arabs have been afforded the opportunity to become citizens for decades.
What is the “plight” of Palestinians in Jerusalem that Beinart calls out? The Arab population has skyrocketed (+3.4 times compared to +1.9 times for Jews between 1990 and 2019) as well as the number of households (+188% versus +64% for Jews between 1990 and 2019). The Arabs in Jerusalem are much the same as the ultra-Orthodox Jewish population, with similar fertility rates, age demographics, employment and poverty rates. What does Beinart think of the “plight” of Charedi Jews in Jerusalem? How does he feel about the Jews who were ethnically-cleansed from the Old City of Jerusalem by Arabs in 1949 and banned from the city, even for prayer, until 1967?
Beinart’s overall contention in his tightly-worded and factually-incorrect paragraph seems to be that Trump sided with Israel in regards to Jerusalem and left the Palestinians to suffer under the racist Israeli regime, leaving the region much more unsafe. It is an inversion of the truth, as the region was much safer under the Trump years and it is the Arabs who made the Jews suffer under their control of the eastern portion of Jerusalem.
The New York Times is manufacturing a narrative that “East Jerusalem” still exists and that it’s Palestinian. Beinart added his voice to that fiction, that the Biden administration needs to show the Palestinians that he has “an interest in their plight,” by reversing Trump’s pro-Israel actions. And even more than gestures to Palestinian Arabs (on an unmentioned murdering spree), Beinart wants Biden to give the Islamic Republic of Iran, the leading state sponsor of terrorism which has threatened the destruction of Israel, a legal pathway to nuclear weapons. Again.
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