Tag Archives: Palestine

The Green Line

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Much of the ongoing debate about the Israeli-Arab conflict surrounds Israel’s borders. The Arabs seek the creation of  a new state of Palestine, up to the “1967 borders.”  That term has also been used by US President Obama as a basis for a peace formula.  However, the term and plan are flawed at its core, as the “1967 borders” were deliberately and specifically never declared borders by the warring parties in 1948-9, for different reasons.

In 1922, the predecessor to the United Nations declared in the British Mandate the “establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people“.  Because of the 1936-9 Arab riots, the British back-tracked from the original international plan and began to devise a solution that created only small enclaves for Jews within an Arab state.  By 1947, their actions set in motion a compromise plan by the United Nations that would have created distinct Jewish and Arab states.  That plan was rejected by the Arabs. When the British withdrew from Palestine in May 1948, the Jews declared an independent state and five Arab countries went to war against Israel to destroy the nascent Jewish state.

The end of the war in 1949 did not fix borders, but established armistice lines where the fighting concluded. No peace deals were signed between the warring parties as each sought ultimately different borders: the Arabs still sought the complete destruction of the Jewish state; the Israelis wanted borders that were more defensible.

The 1949 Egyptian Armistice Agreement stated clearly that: “The Armistice Demarcation Line is not to be construed in any sense as a political or territorial boundary,…The basic purpose of the Armistice Demarcation Line is to delineate the line beyond which the armed forces of the respective Parties shall not move.”  The Jordanian Agreement had similar language.

From Israel’s perspective, as it was subject to constant attacks, riots, wars and blockades to destroy the country, it viewed the 1949 Armistice lines as insufficient to provide it effective security.  The sentiment was best summarized by Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eben to the UN Security Council in 1967, after the Arab armies once again set out to destroy Israel.

Why does accuracy matter?  How would a Palestinian call for the establishment of a new state of Palestine along the “1949 Armistice Lines” or the “Green Line” be any different than calling for such action along fictitious “1967 Borders”? Because the 1949 Armistice Lines underscores fundamental truths:

  • that Palestine never existed as a distinct country
  • that Palestine was not ruled by Arabs, but by the British and Ottomans before 1948
  • that five Arab armies from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq attacked Israel in 1948 in an attempt to destroy it
  • the “West Bank” is a newly defined term on newly conquered territory
  • highlights that the “Palestine Question” has always been a civil war- about the allocation of land between Jews and Arabs in an area that was once part of the Ottoman Empire
  • the “armistice lines” were never a border and never intended to be a border

The deliberate use of the term “1967 borders” gives a false impression that those lines were at any time approved and permanent. Further, using the term “West Bank” for the area east of the Green Line, makes that area appear to have been an actual Palestinian Arab entity, and as such, implies that the “occupied territory” is occupied Palestinian Arab land. Those conclusions are all false, and all fall away by using the proper Green Line/Armistice Lines terminology.

Sources:

Palestinian call for 1967 borders: http://palestinianmissionuk.com/news/president-abbas-calls-on-quartet-to-recognize-1967-borders/

Obama call for 1967 borders: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/world/middleeast/20speech.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

1922 UN British Mandate: http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/2FCA2C68106F11AB05256BCF007BF3CB

1939 British White Paper: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/brwh1939.asp

1947 UN partition plan: http://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/0/7F0AF2BD897689B785256C330061D253

1949 Egypt-Israel Armistice agreement: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/arm01.asp

1949 Jordan-Israel Armistice Agreement: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/arm03.asp

1967 Abba Eben to UN Security Council on constant threat of Arab states: http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/mfadocuments/yearbook1/pages/19%20statement%20to%20the%20security%20council%20by%20foreign%20mi.aspx

1969 Abba Eben Auschwitz borders: http://www.mefacts.com/outgoing.asp?x_id=10191

2002 Arab peace initiative does not use the term “1967 borders”: http://www.al-bab.com/arab/docs/league/peace02.htm

FirstOneThrough article on “West Bank” and “Judea and Samaria”: https://firstonethrough.wordpress.com/2014/12/08/names-and-narrative-the-green-line-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/

Names and Narrative: The West Bank / Judea and Samaria

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The New York Times has taken more concerted efforts to balance the narrative between Muslims and Jews regarding the holy city and sites in Jerusalem. It has not taken such efforts elsewhere where it only uses an Arab narrative.

JERUSALEM

The holiest site in Judaism is “The Temple Mount” in Jerusalem, due to the fact that it was the location of Judaism’s two temples which existed from roughly 954BCE to 70CE. The Jewish King Herod built the Temple Mount platform specifically for Jewish use to ease access and flow to the Second Temple. To this day, it continues to be the direction of all Jewish prayer.

In Islam, that holy site is called the “Noble Sanctuary”, or “Bayt al-Maqdes” or “Al-Haram al-Sharif”. It is Islam’s third holiest site after Mecca and Medina, both located in Saudi Arabia. The Noble Sanctuary holds the Al Aqsa Mosque and the shrine known as the Dome of the Rock.

Historically, the New York Times would reference the names that both religions ascribed to the holy site, typically with the Jewish name first (the Temple Mount), and later in the article, it would use the Islamic name (Noble Sanctuary). More recently, the Times would use both names in the same sentence, and occasionally use the Islamic name first, followed by the Jewish name.

JUDEA AND SAMARIA

However, when it comes to other sites in the region with different names from the two peoples, the Times excludes the Israeli terminology: specifically, “Judea and Samaria”. For such region, the Times will only use the term “West Bank”, except if an Israeli is quoted using the name Judea and Samaria.

Interestingly, the West Bank never existed as an entity until 1949, and was never even referred to by the United Nations Security Council until 1953. In comparison, Judea and Samaria, which cover more area than just the West Bank, have existed for thousands of years.

The “West Bank” came into existence after five Arab armies attacked Israel in 1948. The armistice lines established in 1949 at the end of the war with Jordan became known as the “Green Line” as the line was drawn in green on the maps. The haphazard demarcation did not follow any historic, political or geographic contours, but was simply where the warring parties stopped fighting. The area east of the green line eventually became known as the West Bank.

In the years following the 1948 Arab attack on Israel, every United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution regarding the “Palestine Question”, never mentioned Palestinians as a discrete people or the “West Bank” and Gaza as entities. Each resolution referred to the various parties in the conflict being Israel, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. The term “west bank (in lower case) of the Jordan” only showed up for the first time in 1953.

The term “West Bank” is an Arab artifice and highlights the short, violent and illegal Arab rule of the area:

  • It was achieved in an offensive war to destroy Israel
  • The duration of Arab rule only lasted for 18 years 1949-1967
  • Arab rule of the West Bank was never internationally approved (the UNSC never voted on the April 1950 Jordanian annexation of the area)
  • Was administered counter to the Fourth Geneva Convention (the Jordanians and Palestinians deported all of the Jews out of the territory)

The exclusive use of the term “West Bank” gives a false impression that the territory has a long history of Palestinian Arab rule. Further, in never using the term “Judea and Samaria” for the region, the UN, the New York Times and others, distance Jews and Israelis from lands that they lived in for thousands of years.

As the New York Times and other publications now give equal weight to “the Temple Mount” and “Noble Sanctuary”, they should do the same for “West Bank” and “Judea and Samaria”. Alternatively, it could use neutral nomenclature such as EGL- East of the Green Line.

judeasamaria

Source:

2014 NYTimes Noble Sanctuary first, then Temple Mount (11/19/14): http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/opinion/horror-in-israel.html

2014 NY Times mentioning Temple Mount and Noble Sanctuary at the same time (10/31/14): http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/31/world/middleeast/israel-palestinians-jerusalem-temple-mount-al-aksa.html

(11/7/14): http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/07/world/middleeast/israel-jordan-jerusalem-al-aqsa-temple-mount.html

(11/23/14): http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/world/middleeast/mistrust-threatens-delicate-balance-at-a-sacred-site-in-jerusalem-.html

Only calling it the “Al Aqsa compound” and not the “Temple Mount” (9/17/14): http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/18/world/middleeast/unrest-by-palestinians-surges-in-a-jerusalem-neighborhood.html?_r=0

2013 NYTimes mentions Temple Mount and only later Noble Sanctuary (10/15/13): http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/15/world/middleeast/ten-jewish-men-arrested-at-temple-mount.html

(9/22/13): http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/22/world/middleeast/jews-challenge-rules-to-claim-heart-of-jerusalem.html?pagewanted=all

2009 NY Times only mentions Temple Mount (10/26/09): http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/world/middleeast/26mideast.html

UN mentioning “west bank of Jordan” for the first time in 1953: http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/RES/101%281953%29

Related FirstOneThrough articles:

The Green Line

The EU’s Choice of Labels: “Made in West Bank” and “Anti-Semite”

Nicholas Kristof’s “Arab Land”

The United Nations Audit of Israel

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The obsession of the United Nations with Israel is well documented.prosor

Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor

Various UN bodies sanction Israel in every session over any real or perceived issue. Meanwhile, the organization ignores mass slaughters and human rights abuses that occur daily throughout the world. When well-meaning people point out the singular focus on Israel, the Israel-bashers contend that such complaint is not a defense- it is just “whataboutary”.

Really?

If black people in Missouri were pulled over by police at 70 times the rate of white people, the police department would come under attack for abusive and discriminatory behavior.

If a particular person with financials similar to other people, was audited by the IRS every year, the agency and government would be investigated.

Just a few examples of UN uniquely targeting Israel:

A First One Through video about the many actions and sanctions against Israel, “I hate Israel – the UN told me so”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMb4oofyVgo

 

Source:

UN Human Rights Council: 56 out of 103 resolutions against Israel. http://time.com/3060203/united-nations-human-rights-council-israel/

http://www.unwatch.org/site/c.bdKKISNqEmG/b.3820041/

UN interpreter surprised by number of anti-Israel resolutions: http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/diplomania/.premium-1.558302

An Inconvenient Truth: Population Statistics in Israel/Palestine

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The questions of word choice and chosen narrative dominates much of the discourse around the Israeli-Arab conflict. However, simple statistics do not suffer and sit in the same simmering pot as poisoned positions.

Below is a music video with music by Seal with a basic question: “Why do people get complacent with the things they’re told?”

  1. Under the Ottomans, the Muslim population in Palestine barely grew from 1800 to 1922. The rate of growth was effectively births minus deaths (meaning no Muslims moved to Palestine).
  2. Jewish population growth in Palestine BEFORE THE BRITISH MANDATE took effect was twice the Muslim population growth (meaning Jews were the only people who moved to Palestine, well before the mandate).
  3. The expanding Jewish aliyahs to Israel after the mandate came from countries OTHER THAN ENGLAND (meaning that the “creation of a Jewish homeland” as dictated under the San Remo agreement, was NOT a colonization effort, as the Jews did NOT come from England).
  4. Jews did not come to Israel as a reaction to the Holocaust- they already constituted 31% of the country in 1945.
  5. By the time World War II was over, the growth of Jews in Israel was equally from NATURAL population growth, as from aliyah (further undermining the claim that the Holocaust had anything to do with the creation of Israel).
  6. The population growth of Muslims in the region, ONLY started under Israeli rule in 1967 (the claims of ethnic cleansing are not only insulting but completely opposite the actual population statistics).
  7. Jerusalem has had a majority of Jews since 1866 (the claim that Israel is “Judaizing” the city is not simply insulting about their holiest city, it has no merit on the basis of simple numbers).
  8. The only time the Christian population in Jerusalem declined over the past century, was during the period of Jordanian/Palestinian rule 1949-1967.
  9. The Muslim population in Jerusalem exploded since Israel reunified the city in 1967. Their growth far surpasses the growth of Jews or Christians (not only has there been no “ethnic cleansing” in Israel, there has been none in Jerusalem).
  10. Compared to all of the surrounding countries which house Palestinians, the Palestinian population is not only growing faster in Israel/WB/Gaza than in any other region, it is the only place where they are growing faster than the host country.

The music video with music by Seal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI5l9V0uLEc

Sources:

FirstOneThrough article on “Who’s New?”: https://firstonethrough.wordpress.com/2014/07/03/whos-new-everybody/

aliyah1918

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

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The 78-year Civil War

While pro-Palestinians and Palestinian PR personnel describe Arabs killing Jews as a “natural” or “spontaneous” reaction to Israeli policies, the facts are clear that the Arabs are actively looking to murder Jews. Any person or media outlet that uses language that the Arabs are “resorting to violence” is simply lying.

“Resorting to violence” is something that someone does begrudgingly and spontaneously. The deliberate and celebrated killing of innocents has a different, specific name: “murder”.

  • Premeditated murder…The various attacks in the fall of 2014 by Palestinian Muslims against Israeli civilians were premeditated.
  • …as called for by Palestinian leadership… The Hamas and PLO charters and repeated incitement by the Palestinian leadership encouraged the murders.
  • …endorsed and celebrated by the Palestinian people: The murderous agenda received overwhelming support from the Palestinian people and the murders were celebrated events.

In short, the Palestinians were not “resorting” to violence; they were fighting a war that they started in earnest in 1936 when they fought to stop Jewish immigration to Palestine and to halt the Jewish state from becoming a reality.

“Resorting to violence”

The media must stop using “resorting” language on its own, and cease quoting Palestinians who use the deceitful language to both cover the intentional murder of Jews, and to reverse the fault for the murder onto the victims themselves.

Not only is the “resorting” phrase disgraceful in putting the blame onto the victim, it ignores the incessant calls from Palestinian leadership for war, the murder of Jews and destruction of Israel.

Palestinian Leadership Calls for the Murder of Jews

Yasser Arafat (fungus be upon him):

Mahmoud Abbas:

  • Described the shooter of Rabbi Yehuda Glick as a “martyr”
  • Abbas’s advisor on the murderer who ran over civilians “saturating the land of the homeland with their pure blood and igniting the flames of rage”
  • On the Temple Mount: “We have to prevent them, in any way whatsoever, from entering the Sanctuary. This is our Sanctuary, our Al-Aqsa and our Church [of the Holy Sepulchre]. They have no right to enter it. They have no right to defile it. We must prevent them. Let us stand before them with chests bared to protect our holy places.“

Sheik Ahmed Yassin (founder of Hamas):

Other Hamas & Fatah leadership:

  • Calls for “Day of Rage”
  • “move to save the Aksa Mosque and defend Jerusalem against the Israeli siege imposed on the city.”
  • Fatah Ahmed Assaf said that “the Jerusalem operation was a natural response to the Israeli violations.”
  • Fatah official Amal Hamad on TV:“It was only natural that the outcome of all that has happened would be the operation that we witnessed yesterday [murders of rabbis in the synagogue]…the natural outcome is the targeting of some settlers”
  • Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas spokesman, wrote in a Facebook post: “We have the full right to revenge for the blood of our martyrs in all possible means.”

PLO Charter:

  • “Palestine, with the boundaries it had during the British Mandate, is an indivisible territorial unit. ” (meaning all Gaza, Israel, West Bank and Jordan)
  • “It is a national duty to bring up individual Palestinians in an Arab revolutionary manner…He must be prepared for the armed struggle and ready to sacrifice his wealth and his life in order to win back his homeland and bring about its liberation”
  • “one national front working for the retrieval of Palestine and its liberation through armed struggle”
  • “Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine. Thus it is the overall strategy, not merely a tactical phase. The Palestinian Arab people assert their absolute determination and firm resolution to continue their armed struggle and to work for an armed popular revolution for the liberation of their country and their return to it”
  • “Commando action constitutes the nucleus of the Palestinian popular liberation war….in the armed Palestinian revolution“
  • “aims at the elimination of Zionism in Palestine…the Arab nation must mobilize all its military, human, moral, and spiritual capabilities to participate actively with the Palestinian people in the liberation of Palestine. It must, particularly in the phase of the armed Palestinian revolution, offer and furnish the Palestinian people with all possible help, and material and human support, and make available to them the means and opportunities that will enable them to continue to carry out their leading role in the armed revolution, until they liberate their homeland.”
  • “The Arab Palestinian people, expressing themselves by the armed Palestinian revolution, reject all solutions which are substitutes for the total liberation of Palestine”
  • “the liberation of Palestine will destroy the Zionist and imperialist presence and will contribute to the establishment of peace in the Middle East”
  • “Fighters and carriers of arms in the war of liberation are the nucleus of the popular army which will be the protective force for the gains of the Palestinian Arab people.”

Hamas Charter:

  • “They [Jews] are smitten with vileness wheresoever they are found; unless they obtain security by entering into a treaty with Allah…
  • Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious….
  • until the enemy is vanquished and Allah’s victory is realized…
  • raise the banner of Jihad in the face of the oppressors, so that they would rid the land and the people of their uncleanliness, vileness and evils…
  • raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine…
  • The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews)… O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him…
  • Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes…
  • the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf…
  • Nothing in nationalism is more significant or deeper than in the case when an enemy should tread Moslem land. Resisting and quelling the enemy become the individual duty of every Moslem…
  • so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement…
  • There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors…
  • The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In face of the Jews’ usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised…
  • the Palestinian problem is a religious problem, and should be dealt with on this basis…
  • Moslem woman has a role no less important than that of the moslem man in the battle of liberation…
  • The Islamic nature of Palestine is part of our religion and whoever takes his religion lightly is a loser….
  • Arab countries surrounding Israel are asked to open their borders before the fighters from among the Arab and Islamic nations so that they could consolidate their efforts with those of their Moslem brethren in Palestine…
  • Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Moslem people…
  • Under the wing of Islam, it is possible for the followers of the three religions – Islam, Christianity and Judaism – to coexist in peace and quiet with each other…
  • It is the duty of the followers of other religions to stop disputing the sovereignty of Islam in this region…
  • Hail to Jihad…
  • as the Moslems faced those raids and planned fighting and defeating them, they should be able to confront the Zionist invasion and defeat it”

Various comments from Palestinian leadership calling for the murder of Jews: http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=427

How has the incitement been received by the Palestinian masses? Quite well.

Majority of Palestinians Advocating and Celebrating Violence

  • Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research on October 10, 2014:“the public still favors Hamas’ “way” over negotiations, and Hamas and Haniyeh are still more popular than Fatah and Mahmud Abbas”
  • September 25, 2014 poll: “[if] presidential elections if held today: Ismail Haniyeh [of Hamas] would win a majority of 55% and Abbas 38%”
  • Palestinians have demonstrated their majority support for the rabidly anti-Semitic Hamas party (elected to 58% of parliament in 2006).
  • Over 25% of Palestinian Arabs believe the goal of the Palestinian Authority is a complete destruction of Israel (every Palestinian poll in 2014).
  • Palestinians hand out sweets to celebrate the murder of four rabbis praying in synagogue.
  • Palestinian leadership calls murderers of Jews “martyrs” and names squares and tournaments after them.

The Palestinian people have willingly embraced a culture of war and terrorism and there is nothing begrudging in their violent actions or attitudes.  A global community that supports such actions and blames the victims is complicit in the terrorism itself.

jlem attack

Sources:

Ashrawi November 18, 2014: http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/18/world/meast/jerusalem-violence/

Palestinians celebrating murder of four rabbis praying: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/187615#.VGvObd4L8mg.facebook

New York Times Hamas “resorting” editorial: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/20/opinion/hamass-illegitimacy.html?_r=0

UN Ban Ki-Moon on “resorting”: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/23/john-kerry-flies-israel-flight-ban-gaza-ceasefire-talks

Palestinian poll September 2014: http://www.pcpsr.org/

PLO Charter: http://www.iris.org.il/plochart.htm

Hamas Charter: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp

Arafat quotes: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/y/yasser_arafat.html

Abbas on shooter of Yehuda Glick: http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=12946

Day of Rage (November): http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Palestinians-again-call-for-Day-of-Rage-against-Israel-on-Friday-381091

Day of Rage (July): http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/israel-hamas-agree-12-hour-cease-fire-article-1.1879824

Amal Hamad “natural”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bn5a0o4Qbk

Other comments on murder of rabbis praying: http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/joseph-klein/palestinian-bloodlust-unleashed/

Related FirstOneThrough articles:

Mainstream and Abbas’ Jihad

Abbas’ Racism

The New Blood Libel

UN Comments on the Murder of Innocents: Itamar and Duma

Extreme and Mainstream. Germany 1933; West Bank & Gaza Today

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Many books and studies have been written analyzing Nazi Germany during the 1930s and 1940s, including the famous “Hitler’s Willing Executioners” by Daniel Goldhagen. The premise of the book revolved around the question of how Hitler – a single madman – could possibly kill millions of people. The book advanced a theory that, putting it simplistically, a single extreme individual or idea could stop being viewed as extreme if many others harbored similar thoughts. Millions of people could be actively annihilated if an entire society believed in the extreme notion that Jews, gays, gypsies and other “undesirables” should be killed. Such a society was capable – and did – murder millions. It was not a lone extremist with a gun, but a country with an army.

The dynamics of the Palestinians in 2014 runs parallel to the Germans in the 1930s in many respects.

mufi Jlem Nazi
Mufti of Jerusalem visiting Nazi troops

Position

Popularity

  • Majority support: The Nazi party won 44% of the votes in 1933. Hamas won 58% of the seats in Parliament in 2006 with their radical platform.
  • Last election. The Nazis suspended elections after the 1933 vote. The Palestinians have held neither presidential elections nor parliamentary elections since their 2006 election.
  • Popularity of Nazis: There are no polls to show how the Nazis would have fared if additional elections were held. Perhaps the Nazis feared that they could have lost an election and therefore did not allow one.
    Popularity of Hamas: There are dozens of polls that show Hamas would win the presidential elections and the parliament with over 50% of the vote, no matter what year the poll was taken. The current acting PA President Mahmoud Abbas (of the Fatah party) and the world knows this, so has suspended any new elections which would clearly show the desires of the Palestinian Arabs for war.

Pal nazi
Palestinians in Nazi Salute

As seen above, the Hamas positions are more extreme than the Nazis at the time of the respective elections. The Palestinians voted much more overwhelmingly for Hamas than the Germans did for the Nazis. Palestinian anti-Semitism in 2014 is more extreme and mainstream than the Germans in the 1930s.

As further evidence, in May 2014, the Anti Defamation League conducted a global poll of anti-Semitism. By a substantial margin, the Palestinians held the most anti-Semitic views in the world, with almost every single Palestinian Arab (93%) in the West Bank and Gaza holding anti-Semitic views. In comparison, 26% of countries outside of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region held anti-Semitic views.

Germany rose to power in the 1930s and the world did not hold the Nazi aspirations in check. As such, Nazi Germany went on to execute its plans killing millions of civilians until the world reacted.  Perhaps the world only stepped in, because Germany crossed into their backyards.

Fatah nazi
Fatah leader in Nazi Salute

Today, the Palestinians do not have significant fire power and have therefore only been able to kill hundreds, not millions of Jews.

  • Will the world encourage and embrace such a nation and leadership on the world stage?
  • Will the world enable Iran or other allies of the Palestinians to obtain nuclear weapons?
  • Does the world believe that “Never Again” only means in Europe?

Related First.One.Through articles:

Abbas’ Jihad is a move to the mainstream Palestinian opinion: https://firstonethrough.wordpress.com/2014/11/12/mainstream-and-abbas-jihad/

Why the media ignores Jihad in Israel: https://firstonethrough.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/radical-jihadists-in-europe-and-dislocated-and-alienated-palestinians-in-Israel/

Abbas’ racism: https://firstonethrough.wordpress.com/2014/10/27/abbas-knows-racism/

Antisemitism, Holocaust denial and terrorism in Palestinian society and leadership: https://firstonethrough.wordpress.com/2015/01/29/what-do-you-recognize-in-the-palestinians/

 Pal nazi2

Sources:

Nazi 1933 election: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/march_1933_election.htm

Nazi platform: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/naziprog.html

Hamas terrorist label: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas

Hamas charter: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp

Palestinian courts handing death sentence for land sale to Jews: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2009/04/2009429105147715724.html

Birzeit University banning Jews: http://www.timesofisrael.com/haaretz-writer-booted-from-palestinian-school-because-shes-israeli/

Abbas no Israelis in Palestine: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/30/us-palestinians-israel-abbas-idUSBRE96T00920130730

Palestinian poll: http://www.pcpsr.org/

Anti-Semitism poll 2014: http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/05/13/adl-global-survey-finds-anti-semitic-attitudes-are-persistent-pervasive-around-the-world-west-bank-gaza-highest-scores/

No Disappearing in the Land of the Blind

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Vacation is a time to relax; a time to turn off the work, the sights and sounds. During the terrible period of global violence of August 2014, it was a welcome chance to escape.

Traveling to a foreign country could theoretically give a person a chance to focus on just being a tourist and detach from craziness of every day. England has so many great attractions; it seemed a well planned day would keep a diligent tourist occupied. However, the walls, streets and people of England were obsessed with a perceived Israeli “occupation” and aggression that bombarded the short break.

The London subway, the “underground”, was filled with posters entitled “Crisis in Gaza”. The poster had a picture of a boy in front of what appeared to be the remains of a building. The text alongside the picture had an appeal to text in £5 to help him rebuild his destroyed home. It was endorsed by a dozen organizations including Oxfam and Save the Children. Of course, the posters did not describe how Hamas started the fighting and launched its rockets targeting Israeli civilians from Gazan civilian neighborhoods.

DSC_0418
Poster in London Underground,
August 2014

There were many stores in London with banners that called to “end Israeli apartheid” posted in the store windows. Of course, there were no notes that Israel has over 1 million Muslim citizens, but Gaza doesn’t have a single Jew.

The Saturday protest I stumbled upon had about 150 people waving Palestinian flags and yellow flags with a black four finger “R4bia” on it. The R4bia flag originated as a protest to the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, but has spread across the Middle East and beyond as a call for jihad against western values and a restoration of the caliphate. Of course, a quiet protest against the overthrow of the democratically-chosen Egyptian government masks the movement’s greater goal of a new Muslim world order.

In the town of Bath, England, a building housing the Islamist Society hung banners that read “Free Palestine” and “End the War”. It was unclear but understood that the sign “Free Palestine” was a call for war to destroy Israel which was contrary to the other sign (or more to the point, end the war in which Hamas was losing).

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Anti-Israel signs in windows of Bath England,
August 2014

In Brighton, a fruit store had two placards at the checkout counter: one read “End the Occupation” and the other read “Free Gaza”. Of course, there was no note that Israel left Gaza in 2005 and didn’t enforce an embargo until 2007 when Hamas (dedicated to destroy Israel) took control of the territory.

So much for getting away. I sought a moment to close my eyes to today’s troubles. Instead, ironically, I was constantly confronted by arguments that were blind to reality.

Sources:

Gaza Crisis poster: http://www.dec.org.uk/

Muslim state protest flag: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/media/2013/08/21/Four-finger-salute-Egypt-rivals-use-Rabaa-symbol-to-turn-Facebook-yellow.html

FirstOneThrough on Save The Children charity: https://firstonethrough.wordpress.com/2014/08/31/save-the-children/

 

Israel and Wars

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Human beings have been at war with each other for thousands of years.  The past 100 years have been particularly violent.

World War I began in 1914, and claimed roughly 16 million people (including 7 million civilians.) The years that followed saw repeated conflicts with some of the worst death tolls in human history: World War II (60+ million); Sino-Japanese war (20 million); Chinese Civil War (7.5 million); Russian Civil War (5 million); and on and on.

One hundred years on, in 2014, battles continue to rage in Syria, Ukraine and around Africa including: Somalia; Sudan; Libya; Guinea-Bissau and the Central Africa Republic. Many of these conflicts are a long way from being resolved.

There are many conspiracy theorists who believe Jews are behind all of the wars in the world. These anti-Semites have bought the lines and lies of Hamas, the democratically-elected Palestinian terrorist organization, which has stated their twisted thinking in their charter:

“The enemies have been scheming for a long time, and they have consolidated their schemes, in order to achieve what they have achieved. They took advantage of key elements in unfolding events, and accumulated a huge and influential material wealth which they put to the service of implementing their dream. This wealth [permitted them to] take over control of the world media such as news agencies, the press, publication houses, broadcasting and the like. [They also used this] wealth to stir revolutions in various parts of the globe in order to fulfill their interests and pick the fruits. They stood behind the French and the Communist Revolutions and behind most of the revolutions we hear about here and there. They also used the money to establish clandestine organizations which are spreading around the world, in order to destroy societies and carry out Zionist interests. Such organizations are: the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, B’nai B’rith and the like. All of them are destructive spying organizations. They also used the money to take over control of the Imperialist states and made them colonize many countries in order to exploit the wealth of those countries and spread their corruption therein. As regards local and world wars, it has come to pass and no one objects, that they stood behind World War I, so as to wipe out the Islamic Caliphate. They collected material gains and took control of many sources of wealth. They obtained the Balfour Declaration and established the League of Nations in order to rule the world by means of that organization. They also stood behind World War II, where they collected immense benefits from trading with war materials and prepared for the establishment of their state. They inspired the establishment of the United Nations and the Security Council to replace the League of Nations, in order to rule the world by their intermediary. There was no war that broke out anywhere without their fingerprints on it” (Article 22)

Most wars have nothing to do with Israel.  Muslim countries and territories have been in roughly 50 wars since the founding of Israel in 1948 which have killed over 8.3 million people.  Wars involving Israel account for 1% of those fatalities.  By way of comparison, wars with world powers (US, Russia and France) against Muslim countries killed over 7 times as many people as wars involving Israel.

Over 90% of fatalities in wars with a Muslim country are in wars against other Muslims.

But is it easier to blame yourself or a scapegoat?

List of recent Muslim Wars:

  • 1983-2005 Sudan (Muslim)-South Sudan (Christian)- 1.8 million killed
  • 1980-1988 Iran (Muslim)-Iraq (Muslim) 1.5 million, including 200,000 Kurdish civilians, many from mustard gas
  • 1967-1970 Nigeria (Muslim) civil war – 1.2+ million
  • 1975-2002 Angola (Muslim) civil war 800,000+
  • 1955-1972 Sudan (Muslim/christian) civil war- 500,000 killed
  • 1991-2006 Somalia (Muslim) civil war 300,000+
  • 1971 Bangladesh (Muslim)-west Pakistan(Muslim) 300,000
  • 1974-1980 Ethiopian (Muslim) civil war 250,000+
  • 1954-1962 France-Algeria (Muslim) 250,000
  • 1976-1990 Lebanon civil war (Muslim/Christian fighting) 200,000+ killed
  • 2011-present Syria civil war (Muslim) 170,000+
  • 2003-2011 US-Iraq (Muslim) 160,000+ killed
  • 1962-1970 Yemen (Muslim) Civil War/Egypt(Muslim) 100,000+, including thousands of civilians from mustard gas
  • 1979-1988 USSR-Afghanistan (Muslim) 100,000 killed
  • 1992-1995 Bosnian War  100,000 killed; 1 million displaced
  • 1975-1990 Indonesia (Muslim)-East Timor(Christian) 100,000 killed, mostly Christians
  • 1994-1995 Russia- Chechnya (Muslim) 80,000
  • 1991-2002 Sierra Leone (Muslim) civil war 50,000+
  • 2001-present US-Afghanistan (Muslim) 47,000+
  • 1984-present Turkey (Muslim)-Kurds 44,000
  • 1999 Russia – Chechnya (Muslim) 40,000+
  • 1990-1991 US-Iraq (Muslim), Kuwait (Muslim) 35,000
  • 2006-2009 Somalia (Muslim)-Ethiopia 28,000
  • 1982-1983 Israel (Jewish)-Lebanon (Muslim) 27,000
  • 1982 Syria (Muslim) Hama uprising 20,000
  • 1948-1949 Israel(Jewish) – Egypt (Muslim), Syria(Muslim), Jordan(Muslim), Iraq(Muslim), Saudi Arabia (Muslim), Sudan(Muslim), Yemen(Muslim) 18,000
  • 1973 Israel(Jewish)-Egypt(Muslim); Syria(Muslim) 18,000
  • 1967 Israel(Jewish)-Egypt(Muslim); Jordan(Muslim); Syria(Muslim) 16,000
  • 1971 India (Hindu)-Pakistan(Muslim) 13,000
  • 2011 Libya (Muslim) civil war 8000+
  • 1947-1948 India(Hindu)-Pakistan(Muslim) 7,500
  • 1965 India (Hindu)-Pakistan(Muslim) 6800
  • 2000-2008 Israel (Jewish)-Palestinians 6500
  • 2004- Shia Insurgency in Yemen 5000
  • 2009-present Somalia(Muslim) civil war 4000
  • 2001 AlQaeda (Muslim)- US 3000
  • 1999 India (Hindu)-Pakistan(Muslim) 2500
  • 1987-1993 Israel (Jewish)-Palestinians 2300
  • 2009-present south Yemen(Muslim) 1500
  • 2008 Israel(Jewish)-Hamas(Muslim) 1400
  • 2005-2010 Chad (Muslim/christian) civil war 1000+
  • 1990 Iraq (Muslim)-Kuwait(Muslim) 1000+ killed
  • 2006 Israel (Jewish)-Hezbollah(Muslim) 600
  • 1989-1991 Mauritania(Muslim)-Senegal(Muslim) 500
  • 1985 Mali (Muslim)- Burkina Faso (Muslim) 250
  • 2012 Israel (Jewish)- Hamas 200+
  • 1991-2001 Djibouti civil war 100+

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll

http://www.un.org/en/sc/meetings/records/2014.shtml

http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/www.thejerusalemfund.org/carryover/documents/charter.html?chocaid=397

The Holocaust and the Nakba

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Roger Cohen penned a piece in the New York Times Op-Ed on July 15 that suggested the pathway to peace in the Middle East is that “Jews should study the Nakba. Arabs should study the Holocaust.” Putting aside the naiveté of the suggestion, the comparison is disgusting in itself.

The Holocaust was a genocide of a people. It was a deliberate attempt of an elected government to commit genocide against a select group of its own citizens. As Nazi Germany conquered more territory, it continued to implement its plan of eradicating the Jews – which it deemed an inferior life form – in those additional lands. Not satisfied with only killing millions of innocents, the Nazis tortured and performed medical experiments on these unarmed men, women and children. It was one of the darkest periods of mankind.

The Palestinian Nakba was a civil war over control of land. Arabs in Palestine protested to the ruling authority (the British) to block the establishment of a Jewish national homeland as called for by the League of Nations (the precursor to the United Nations). The Arabs themselves initiated the fight to stop the implementation of international law, and launched multi-year riots and then a war to destroy Israel. Their Nakba was that they were not allowed to return to homes in the country they just sought to destroy.

How are these two events remotely comparable?

  • One was about life; one was about land.
  • One was about a government wiping out its citizens; one was about citizens fighting the government.
  • One was about passive unarmed civilians; one was about warring parties.
  • One left survivors scattered around the globe; one left survivors a few miles from their homes, living with the same people in a land that they wanted, which the UN had proposed to split anyway.
  • One made the United Nations call for human rights all over the world; the other had the UN create a special niche entity just for the losing party to perpetuate their civil war.

The events could not be more different. The only things they have in common is that they occurred around the same time in history and both involved Jews.

But Israel was not born from the ashes of the Holocaust and planted in the ground of a Palestinian Nakba. The only “fruit” of the Holocaust was the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The preamble of the UDHR clearly stated that the “disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous act which have outraged the conscience of mankind,” – the sickening actions of the Holocaust created the declaration meant to benefit all mankind.

Regarding Palestine, Jewish history in the land predated the Holocaust by thousands of years. The Ottomans welcomed Jews and they moved throughout the region from 1800 to 1914 at rates that dwarfed all other groups. After the Ottoman Empire broke apart, the League of Nations sought the “establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” in 1920, decades before WWII. The Arabs rioted in 1920 and 1929 against the action, and in 1936 began what has become a 78-year running civil war to prevent – and later eradicate – the Jewish State. The Arab “Nakba” – their grievance about homes destroyed and left behind – is because they lost the battle they initiated. The “fruit” of the Nakba was the establishment of UNRWA by the United Nations which has encouraged the Arabs to never abandon their civil war. The rotten fruit has left the Palestinians to fester and subject to abuse by their host countries, including Lebanon and Syria. It has benefited no one.

Perhaps the first person to learn about the Holocaust and the Nakba is Roger Cohen.

The Times should be reprimanded for continuing to print pieces that give legitimacy to those who compare Israel to Nazi Germany and Netanyahu to Hitler. It gives cover to anti-Semites in Europe and the world who paint the Jewish state in Nazi colors. The term “Never Again” born from the massacres of innocents in the Holocaust means more than not allowing genocides to happen again. Civilized people should not trivialize evil. For a global paper like the Times to do so specifically against the Jewish State is reprehensible.

Sources:

http://www.holocaustawareness.com/the-udhr-document.html

http://www.badil.org/en/youth-education-a-activation-project/item/1373-the-nakba-1947-1949

http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/San_Remo_Convention

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Every Picture Tells a Story, the Bibi Monster

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The “Every Picture” series highlights the power of photographs in the media and reviews the impact of size, color and placement of pictures along with their captions. The first installment reviewed how the New York Times painted a picture of Arab grief and suffering while portraying Israelis in a more aggressive and less sympathetic manner in a series of articles from June 30 to July 3 about the murder of three Israeli teens and a Palestinian teenager. If that article had a subtitle, it could have been “Palestinians trump Israelis”. You might think this second article in the series could be entitled: “Palestinians trump the World”, but the reality is much more subtle.

On July 7, 2014 the New York Times posted, on the top of its front page, a large color photograph of a Palestinian youth who was injured during riots against Israeli police. The bruised teenager was deemed to be a bigger story than victims of mass murders in other countries on a particularly violent day in Africa and the Middle East:

20140707_082918

On page A4, the paper posted a large black and white photograph and article about  20 people who had their throats slashed in Kenya;


On page A7, the NYT posted a black and white photograph of soldiers and militiamen in Uganda where 50 people were killed in a battle between security forces and a tribal militia;

On the bottom of that same page, a short article (with no associated picture) described how 35 to 40 people were killed in Yemen in a fight between “Shiite rebels and tribesmen associated with the government.”

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Pictures of mass murders buried in the NYT pages

While over 100 people were slaughtered in the region, the Times thought that a bruised youth was more significant than any and all of those atrocities. Could that have been because the teenager was a Palestinian Arab? That wouldn’t be logical as the Yemenis are Arab too. Could it be because the injured boy was a Muslim? That also would not make sense since al-Shabab is the Islamist terror group in Kenya that has been killing dozens of people every week, and both parties in the slaughter in Yemen are Muslim.

The difference in the dynamic of these stories lies in the counter-party – Israel – as evidenced by the other pictures in the news story. In a small picture on the (extreme right) side of the cover page, and then again in a color photograph on page A5, are close up pictures of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu. Netanyahu is possibly the only world leader who is more despised by the NYT editorial board than former US President George W. Bush. The Times often uses pictures of Netanyahu alongside stories of Israeli aggression. It does this uniquely and consistently for Bibi.

By means of comparison, imagine an article about US drones killing civilians in Afghanistan, and then a picture alongside of it of US President Barack Obama. It doesn’t happen in the NYT or liberal media outlets. You probably wouldn’t even see a picture of injured people or mourning mothers in US papers. That is because they do not want to sketch a killer in Obama’s image.

As examples, here are two NYT articles that are critical of US policy of drone attacks – but include no pictures (let alone two!) of Obama. These are attacks that Obama ordered, (compared to a general situation in Israel which Netanyahu was not directly involved). Needless to say, the articles that simply report on the use of drones have no pictures of the US Commander-in-Chief.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/world/asia/civilian-deaths-in-drone-strikes-cited-in-report.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/26/world/use-of-drones-for-killings-risks-a-war-without-end-panel-concludes-in-report.html

In another article that is completely about Obama’s war on terrorism, the picture puts Obama so far in the background you would think he was accidentally caught in the photo.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in-war-on-al-qaeda.html?pagewanted=all

However, the New York Times and various liberal publications like to paint Bibi and Israel as attackers. They use his image alongside articles which describe attacks and counter-attacks. He has been made into a caricature of war; a cartoon of a blood libel.

Every picture tells a story. It is time to ask what the artist had in mind.