Forsaking the Material Legacy of our Forebears

 Video Of The Week - Nikki Haley blasts Biden and Democrats on Israel - https://tinyurl.com/tb5k4ttk 

The threat to the archaeological record in the heartland of Israel, Judea and Samaria, the cradle of our civilization, is untenable, and cannot be subject to political persuasions.

By ILAN POMERANC, from the JPost -  https://tinyurl.com/2s4xf4pv

A muted but persistent cultural cleansing and destruction of immense proportion is occurring throughout Judea and Samaria. 

Historic sites, antiquities, and artifacts are being plundered, damaged, pilfered, or simply erased.  

In certain instances, illicit development work by Arabs in the area, such as the paving of pirate roadways or illegal mining operations, causes the unintentional destruction of rare and indescribably important antiquities. In other cases, it is the desire for looting and profit that causes intentional and irrevocable damage to archaeological sites in Judea and Samaria. 

Further still, and perhaps most egregiously, is the willingness of Arab leadership figures in Judea and Samaria to erase or culturally appropriate the history and archaeology of the Nation and Land of Israel fuel and intensify this cultural cleansing. After all, a rich archaeological record and abundant historical texts are the most conspicuous and potent testaments to the falsehood of Arab narratives concerning Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael. 

These attempts at cultural appropriation and expunction are also a critical aspect of the global campaign waged by many against Israel’s legitimacy and its very right to exist. The farcical proclamations made by UNESCO, the ethically bankrupt international body with a contempt for historical fact regarding anything to do with Israel, is one illustration of this campaign.

There is a troubling lack of awareness among the general Israeli public of the size and scope of the wanton destruction of antiquities in Judea and Samaria and its repercussions. 

Outside of Israel, awareness is almost non-existent except in archaeological and academic circles, and even then, it is limited. In recent years, a number of Israeli NGOs have been working hard to identify and publicize the ISIS-style damage and destruction. 

Addressing the problem properly will only come about with a sea change in the policies of the State of Israel toward archaeology as a whole in Judea and Samaria. A public outcry and the political pressure it can create are necessary to have the required policy changes enacted.

Currently, the Israel Antiquities Authority, one of the leading, if not the leading organization of its type in the world, is severely limited both in resources and in freedom of action in Judea and Samaria.

Given the Arab authorities’ facilitation as well as subtle and not so subtle support for the destruction and cultural appropriation of historic sites, diplomatic agreements on the subject have been contravened and so should be null and void. As such, the IAA should be empowered and have its mandate expanded in Judea and Samaria.

The threat to the archaeological record in the heartland of Israel, Judea and Samaria, the cradle of our civilization, is untenable. It cannot be subject to political persuasions. When the Taliban blew up the Buddhas of Bamiyan, outrage and condemnations were not based on whether one subscribed to leftist or rightist political ideologies. 

So too, politics are absent when we oppose the construction of a new parking lot or shopping mall over a two or three-century-old exilic cemetery on foreign soil in Europe or elsewhere.

It should then go without saying that there be no politicking when it comes to stopping the looting and destruction of the ancient tombs of our nation’s vaunted freedom fighters, the Hasmoneans, on our native soil at Jericho or at any other site in Judea and Samaria. 

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UAE and Morocco Commemorate Holocaust

Video Of The Week - Palestinians throughout Gaza and the West Bank Celebrating the Massacre https://tinyurl.com/bdd7yby8

For the full article from theMedialine go to - https://tinyurl.com/2p9fz65j

Dubai’s Crossroads Museum of Civilizations to hold special event Saturday night remembering the victims of the Nazis and honoring the Muslims who saved Jews; Moroccan city of Tangier to host official ceremony in presence of dignitaries 

For the second consecutive year, two of the Arab countries that signed the Abraham Accords normalization agreement with Israel will hold events around International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Friday to remember the six million Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis.

The Crossroads Museum of Civilizations in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates will commemorate the Holocaust at a ceremony on Saturday night organized in cooperation with the Israeli and German embassies there.

The UAE became the first Arab country to officially commemorate the Holocaust at a similar ceremony held last year.

The Crossroads Museum of Civilizations in Dubai was also the first museum in an Arab nation to include a special exhibition that commemorates the Holocaust and tells the stories of its survivors.

“It is very important to us that we focus on educating people about the tragedies of the Holocaust because education is the antidote to ignorance,” museum founder Ahmed Obaid Almansoori said in 2021.

The exhibition also has a section dedicated to the Arabs and Muslims who helped save the Jews from the Nazis.

The exhibition includes pictures and paintings identifying personalities such as Selahattin Ülkümen, the Turkish consul-general in Rhodes who saved the Jews of the Greek island from deportation to Nazi death camps, and Dr. Mohamed Helmy, the Egyptian physician who saved many Jews from Nazi persecution in Berlin. Helmy had been studying in Berlin and remained there throughout the Second World War, where he saw what happened to the people around him and decided to save Jewish families.

Also in the exhibition is a historical section in which rare collectibles are on display, such as a facsimile of the Worms Mazhor, a Jewish prayer book from the German city during the Middle Ages.

The museum will allow attendees to tour the Holocaust exhibition, and the event will be streamed directly via YouTube for those who cannot attend in person.

The museum told The Media Line that there will be recorded and live speeches about the Holocaust delivered during the event, as well an introductory tour on the Holocaust exhibit.

The UAE was the first Arab country to officially include the events of the Holocaust in the curriculum for students across the Emirates, where more than 200 nationalities reside.

In Bahrain, the King Hamad Center for Peaceful Coexistence has not announced any events to remember the Holocaust this year, but did host a commemorative event last year. 

Sources familiar with the center told The Media Line that its representatives were currently in the Italian capital Rome, to inaugurate the Declaration of the Kingdom of Bahrain – the founding manifesto of the work of the King Hamad Global Center for Peaceful Coexistence.

Morocco is holding a Holocaust commemoration in the city of Tangier, with the participation of some of the country’s dignitaries. A similar event was held last year at the Moshe Nahon Synagogue in Tangier.

While there is no official event this year, Ibrahim Robin, a member of the Bahraini Jewish community, told The Media Line that they hold an annual a Holocaust remembrance ceremony at the Ten Commandments Synagogue in the Bahraini capital of Manama. 

“There is great sympathy on the part of the Bahraini people for what the Jews have gone through. Bahrain is a peaceful people and does not accept any kind of injustice or criminality,” he said. 

“After the Abraham Accords [were signed], we have seen a greater light on the Jews in the Gulf, but the reality of coexistence with the Jews in the Gulf predates these agreements.”

Egypt and Jordan, the first two Arab countries to sign peace agreements with Israel, have not held any commemorations of the Holocaust in the decades since they signed those treaties.

Sudan, which is the fourth signatory of the Abraham Accords, will also not hold any events to mark the day. 

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Israel to Boost Arab Employment in High-Tech

Video Of The Week - “Iran’s Threats are Escalating - ”https://tinyurl.com/bdh33hwr

 For The full Article By Sharon Wrobel go to - https://tinyurl.com/24ktf7th

Israel will fund a NIS 21.6 million ($6.1 million) program to train and integrate more than 2,000 Arab Israeli women and men into the local high-tech industry over the next two years as part of a continued effort to narrow the employment and income gaps between Jewish and Arab Israelis.

 The Israel Innovation Authority (IAA) together with the labor division of the Economy and Industry Ministry selected 12 programs for the training and placement of 2,239 people from the Arab population. The 12 selected programs will receive an aggregate government grant of NIS 12 million and the remainder is to be financed by private funds.

 Participation rates of the Arab population in the tech employment market remains low despite numerous government initiatives.

 Long touted as the growth engine of the Israeli economy, the tech sector accounts for around 25% of the country’s total income tax revenue and constitutes about 10% of the workforce. Arab Israelis make up some 20% of the population but just 2% of Arab men and 1% of Arab women working in the tech industry, according to government data. That compares with 12% of secular Jewish men and 8% of secular Jewish women.

 At the same time, the tech industry is facing an acute shortage of skilled engineers and programmers. This scarcity could cause the engine to stall, and the country is seeking to tap into new populations sectors to keep it going.

 Low-income populations have largely been left on the sidelines of the nation’s high-tech boom, including the ultra-Orthodox, Arab Israelis, and women, resulting in large income gaps. The ultra-Orthodox and Arab populations, among the poorest in Israel today, are expected to constitute half of the population by 2065, according to the OECD.

“This reflects a lack of the skills needed for them to get high-productivity and well-paid jobs,” according to the OECD report. “Integrating the Arab-Israeli and Haredim into the labour market remains one of the key challenges for the Israeli economy.”

 This year, over 10,000 workers from the Arab population were employed in the tech industry, but half of them were in non-technological positions, according to Tair Ifergan, director general of the labor division at the Economy and Industry Ministry.

 “Although the percentage of Arab citizens employed in the tech industry is still below the national average, in recent years, we have seen an increasingly positive trend of integration of the Arab population and a significant increase in the number of Arab students studying tech-related subjects in academia,” said IIA CEO Dror Bin. “We aim to increase the number of Arab citizens employed in tech and create a significant economic, social and regional change as part of the strengthening and diversification of the Israeli tech sector.”

 “Rapid and proper integration of graduates of these programs will be one of the significant steps toward reducing the shortage of tech personnel in the long term,” Bin noted.

 More than half of the selected programs in the project will train for advanced development positions in the tech sector, such as programming, and include theoretical and practical on-the-job training. Soft skills will also be part of the training to expand the candidates’ skill set and boost their chances of getting a high-quality job in tech.

 One of the funded programs will provide training and help in the job placement in the following four tech areas: robotics and automation, verification, DevOps and data analytics. Another program focuses on career development and promotion to managerial positions for tech workers in Arab society.

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Commemorating The Jewish Nakba

Video Of The Week “75 years Self-Inflicted Arab Tragedy” https://tinyurl.com/yc233mjj

 A pro-“Palestinian” resolution at the UN recently declared Israel’s founding unjust passed 90-30 at the UN.

 The resolution was made to commemorate Nakba day, which means calamity – referring to the founding of the State of Israel.

 The UN resolution calls for a “commemoration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Nakba, including by organizing a high-level event at the General Assembly Hall” in May 2023. It also urges the “dissemination of relevant archives and testimonies.”

So why is there no voting commemorating the Jewish Nakba when almost 1 million Jews were kicked out of Arab lands?

 

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Nablus, Hub of The Terror Triangle

Video Of The Week - Into the "Lions’ Den” - https://tinyurl.com/m9c2svhx 

The Terror Triangle: What You Need to Know About the West Bank City of Nablus

Akiva Van Koningsveld, HonestReporting.

 For the full Article go to - https://tinyurl.com/yjket6t9

An elite Israel Defense Forces soldier died on October 12 after being shot near the community of Shavei Shomron in the northern West Bank. Staff Sgt. Ido Baruch, 21, was attacked by gunmen who opened fire from a passing vehicle as his unit was “conducting operational security activity in the area,” the IDF said. 

A relatively unknown Palestinian armed faction operating out of the nearby city of Nablus, the Lion’s Den, soon claimed responsibility for the killing of Baruch, warning Israel that “the volcano of our operations has begun and only God will extinguish it.”  Tuesday’s deadly shooting was the latest in a string of recent attacks carried out by terrorists from Nablus that targeted Israeli security forces and civilians. On October 2, the Lion’s Den in two separate West Bank shootings injured an Israeli taxi driver and a soldier. 

Nablus (identified with the ancient Jewish city of Shechem) is home to about 150,000 people, making it the second-largest locality under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction.  Nablus’ history as a hub for anti-Jewish terrorist activity far predates the founding of the modern State of Israel. In a 1921 report, a British Mandate official already denounced the Nabulsi attitude as “fanatic” and “bigoted,” citing, in particular, the city’s “hostility to the Jews.” Notably, the bloody Arab riots of 1936-39 were in part triggered by the slaying of two Jewish men near Nablus at the hands of Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam supporters.

Soon after the attack, on April 20, 1936, the Arab National Committee of Nablus declared a general strike and boycott of Jewish goods, a call heeded by Arabs throughout the Mandate’s territory. During the six-month strike, some eighty Jews were murdered in terror acts, with a total of 415 Jewish deaths recorded during the entire 1936-1939 Arab Revolt period.  Together with Jenin and Tulkarem, Nablus comprised what London at the time dubbed the “Triangle of Terror” or “Triangle of Fear.”

When Palestinian arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat set up Fatah terror cells in the West Bank after the Arab armies’ ’67 defeat, he chose Nablus as the location for his first secret headquarters, before relocating to Ramallah.  Some of the most horrific terror attacks during the Second Intifada (2000-2005) were likewise carried out by Nablus residents, including a December 2, 2001, bombing of a Haifa bus that killed 15 Israelis and injured 40. The day after the attack, thousands of Hamas followers marched through Nablus in support of suicide bomber Maher Habashi.  The explosive belts used in the March 2002 Passover massacre (30 dead) were also produced by Hamas in Nablus.

During Operation Defensive Shield (March-May 2002), IDF troops uncovered hundreds of rifles and improvised firearms in Nablus, in addition to 18 explosives laboratories and a factory producing Qassam rockets.

Fast forward 20 years, the successes of Operation Defensive Shield have apparently been undone, and Nablus’ reputation as an epicenter for Palestinian terror has been firmly re-established.  Nablus initially resurfaced in the international press on February 8, 2022, after IDF forces neutralized three Palestinians during an operation in the al-Makhfiya neighborhood. Israeli officials said the targets belonged to a terror cell that had conducted shooting attacks against Israeli military positions and personnel.

Six months later, following a Palestinian terror wave that left 19 Israelis dead, Israeli troops during a raid killed Ibrahim/ Nabulsi, the fourth member of the cell suspected of being a commander of the terror group’s Nablus brigade. Nabulsi was wanted for numerous attacks in the West Bank, including shooting attacks against Jewish worshippers visiting Joseph’s Tomb just outside of Nablus.  After Nabulsi’s death, a cadre of young Palestinian terrorists took it upon themselves to carry on his violent legacy. This summer, Ibrahim Nabulsi helped found a new coalition of armed groups modeled after the Jenin Battalion; Areen al-Usood (the Lion’s Den). According to Israeli data, the number of drive-by shootings targeting Israeli military positions near Nablus has more than doubled since 2021.

The Lion’s Den has also attacked civilians, for instance by firing at the Jewish community of Har Bracha, located south of the Palestinian city. On September 9, Israeli security forces thwarted a large-scale attack in Tel Aviv, arresting an operative linked to the Nablus group. All in all, the group is estimated to consist of some 100 Palestinians under the age of 30. Although the alliance includes members of Fatah, PIJ, Hamas and the PFLP, it has no clear affiliation with any specific terror organization.

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Obstacles To Peace In The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

 Israel's WATER Surplus, First in The Region - https://tinyurl.com/ytv7x3x6

For the full article by Mordechai Kedar go to - https://wheredowestand.org/mordechai-kedar/

I don’t believe in the word narrative. I believe in facts. The Jewish claim to this country is based on facts, while the Palestinian claim is based on lies. There is no such thing as a narrative— there is truths vs. lies, falsification of history and creation of a new people which had no existence until the mid-1900s. The British Mandate revived the name Palestine, which was given to this country by Hadrian, the Roman Emperor in the second century in order to denigrate Jews who rebelled against him in 136 CE. In order to punish them, he named it according to their enemy, the Philistines, who were not Arabs. They were Greek. Meanwhile, this name was almost abandoned. The British renewed it when they came here and established the Mandate of Palestine in 1923. So, Arabs who lived here adopted this epithet of Palestinians because of this mandate.

Arabs who lived in the Land of Israel (between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean Sea) have never referred to themselves as Palestinians. Between 1517 and 1917 they were Ottoman citizens of Arab ethnicity, and the area was called Sham, or Greater Syria, including what today is Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel. The British and French divided the area to states artificially, but none of these states created a nation. Ethnically, all the citizens of these states are Arabs. 

In Jordan, because people who lived in cities and villages didn’t want to associate with the Kingdom of Jordan, they continued to call themselves Palestinians. This is one of the reasons why 80% of Jordanians still call themselves Palestinians. To be called Jordanian means that you are a Bedouin, and for them it is some kind of insult to be viewed as a Bedouin.

With regards to the “Palestinians” being indigenous, for many, their names testify that they are not indigenous. There is a big family in Qalqilya named al-Horani. This means they came from Horan, which is an area in present day Syria. Within Israel there is al-Masri (Egyptian). There are many other names that testify that they are not originally from here.

The ones who were here for longer can have the Emirates in their family name. But look, not every group has a state in the world. Many democratic states have minorities, and in some states minorities have autonomy. How much autonomy varies from place to place. The Arab emirates are emulating the same paradigm as the minorities of almost every state in the world. Therefore, the situation of Palestinians living in Israel is similar to the many other countries in the world that have minority groups living in them.

Zionism is the Jewish national movement. Most other nations in the world have a national movement and it is as legitimate as every other national movement. Those who deny the right of the Jews to be a nation and to have a state on their ancient soil are Jew haters because they want to deny Jews a right from which they would give to any other nation in the world.

In summary, many Muslims—Palestinians and others—do not want Israel to exist altogether, and do whatever they can in order to hurt it. Unfortunately, there are some people who sympathize with this Arab/Muslim desire and take part in acts against Israel in various arenas, including the academic, political and public.

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Nakba the Big Myth

 Video Of The Week- The Nakba - the Truth about the Arab Palestinian Myth - https://tinyurl.com/3wnjaz73

For the full article go to - https://tinyurl.com/yc4fhnzn

The historical discourse on issues of the War of Independence, the Israeli-Arab conflict and the Nakba has become so false and distorted – it is a collection of tall tales and myths. . Nobody claims that the Arabs of the Land of Israel did not experience a catastrophe at the end of the 1940s. Yes, they did experience a catastrophe, a Nakba, as they call it.

However, the concept of "the Nakba" does not seek to express a personal catastrophe, it seeks to establish a false political myth, a myth which is an unprecedented and unabashed misrepresentation that aims at rewriting history.

According to this fictive version of history, the aggressor is represented as the victim, and the side that defended against massacre is accused of having committed war crimes. In the name of the Nakba it is considered fair to falsify facts, to concoct fictive fables, to elaborate lies and to invent blood libels that accuse Israel of having committed the most heinous crime – the crime of ethnic cleansing.

The myth of the Nakba is a bluff. It's an enormous lie which is meant to undermine the international recognition of Israel's right to exist within secure and defensible borders. It is meant to criminalize Israel and to frame Israel of having perpetrated a crime which it did not commit. It's an attempt to shirk the responsibility of the Arabs for the results of their own aggression and to whitewash the crimes of the Palestinian national movement with the aim of justifying its struggle to destroy Israel.

A large part of the hundreds of thousands of the "Palestinian refugees" came here in the wake of the prosperity which the Zionist movement brought to the region. These were migrant workers who had arrived here in the 1920'-40's. Some came before that. Where did  the family of the man called El Masri who is building a new city near Ramallah come from? El Masri means "the Egyptian" and this family originated from Egypt. And the large clan named Haurani originally came from the Syrian region of Hauran, and became one of the most well known and established of the Palestinian clans.

In 1947 the UN General Assembly's approved the  partition plan to establish in the Land of Israel - a Jewish state and an Arab state. The Arabs rejected the plan. Immeduatly afterwards, , the Arabs in the land of Israel initiated a campaign of murder and mayhem. Upon the Israeli declaration of independence in May 1948, the Arab armies of the neighboring countries joined the fray in an attempt to destroy the Jewish community in Israel.

”This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be remembered like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades”. Azzam Pasha, Secretary-General of the Arab League, May 15, 1948 - the day that Israel proclaimed its independence.. Azzam Pasha,  was not the only murderous psychopath among the Arab leaders of 1947 who declared their intent to liquidate the Jewish community in Israel . 

Because the Arabs countries attacked they  are responsible for creation of the Refugee problem.

 Only in a post-modernist world where historical and intellectual discourse has been corrupted thus becoming superficial, shallow and trendy, after so many years of propaganda, deceit and misrepresentation, the extreme left has succeeded in taking over the historical discourse on the Middle East conflict in the media and in academic circles.

Once they achieved that, historical facts became irrelevant and the false Arab narrative gained traction through the power of Arab propaganda and the enormous resources that have been invested in its dissemination.

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Israel and Abraham Accords: A Tale of two Parallel Universes.

 Video Of The Week - Israeli-Arab Summit in the Negev - https://tinyurl.com/2xcn7kwt

For the full article by David M. Weinberg go to https://tinyurl.com/2p8bw8k8

Israel seems to exist in two parallel, contradictory worlds. One is a false, hackneyed, out-of-date, and threatening universe where recalcitrant and violent Palestinian leaders are venerated, and admirable Israeli leaders are criminalized. The other universe is real, promising, forward looking, and stabilizing, and is marked by a peace dynamic that runs from Jerusalem to Dubai, Manama, Rabat, Cairo and Amman; and from Jerusalem to the most important leaders in the world.  Consider the following very recent happenings.

GENEVA and NEW YORK: A new UN Human Rights Council (HRC) report this week accused Israel of apartheid, just in time for the annual debate on “Agenda Item 7,” the permanent council item reserved for Israeli “human rights abuses” against Palestinians and other Arabs.

“The political system of entrenched rule in the occupied Palestinian territory which endows one racial-national-ethnic group with substantial rights, benefits and privileges while intentionally subjecting another group to live behind walls, checkpoints and under a permanent military rule… satisfies the prevailing evidentiary standard for the existence of apartheid,” said the ugly report.  The report was the latest in a litany of one-sided, baseless reports, vilifying Israel and engaging in a full-scale lawfare assault on Israel’s very existence as a Jewish state.

Saleh Higazi, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International praised the HRC report as “an important and timely addition to the growing international consensus that Israeli authorities are committing apartheid against the Palestinian people.” In February, Amnesty International released its own tendentious report accusing Israel of apartheid.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett conducted two days of discussions this week to solidify their new regional alliance for peace and security. They discussed energy, market stability, and food security, as well as development of a regional radar security umbrella against Iran.

The Crown Prince also unfroze $10 billion in investments in Israeli companies that he promised former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The UAE’s large sovereign funds will divide the investments between them. The first fund to enter the Israeli market is the ADG (Abu Dhabi Growth) Fund, which plans on investing $200 million in 2022 in Israeli companies, and a similar sum each year over 10 years.

Also this week, Sheikh Mansoor Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum visited Israel’s national pavilion at the GISEC Global cybersecurity fair in Dubai; an Emirati think tank published book on Zionism written by Tel Aviv University researchers; the UAE-based retail giant Lula began talks on operation in Israel; Morocco signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for a joint research and engineering center; and the Israeli navy took part in another joint Red Sea naval drill with the US, UAE, and Bahrain, under auspices of the US Fifth Fleet (which is headquartered in Bahrain).

UNFORTUNATELY, Israel seems to exist in two parallel, contradictory worlds.

One universe, dominated by so-called Western “progressives” in cahoots with Arab/Islamic radicals, disses rather than embraces the Abraham Accords and is stuck in a time warp where Israel is an evil actor.. It is a tragic, forlorn universe.

The other universe – real, promising, forward looking, and stabilizing! – is marked by a peace dynamic. The discourse about Israel in corrupt international institutions and in some aspersive Western campuses and capitals couldn’t be more different than the discourse in Arab capitals and other calm and considered decision-making centers. It’s confrontation versus cooperation, demonization versus solidarity.

 

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Israel's rescue of Arabs from Ukraine

 Video Of The Week - Justice, Justice Shalt Thou Pursue https://tinyurl.com/4uwf4ys3 

Israel has done what it can to help its Arab citizens and other Arabs to whom it owes nothing to find safety in the conflict.

For the full Article By David May go to - https://tinyurl.com/mxmc83f8

  Russian invasion of Ukraine has given us an unexpected snapshot of the dueling realities and propaganda surrounding Israel. The truth: Israel has done what it can to help its Arab citizens and other Arabs to whom it owes nothing to find safety in the conflict. And yet for a substantial slice of the Left, Israel is South Africa reborn, a racist state segregating Arabs out for inhuman treatment. What actually happens on the ground – see Ukraine – doesn’t seem to dent this alternate reality.

What’s actually happening:

On February 12, with tensions mounting in Ukraine, Israel warned on its Arabic Twitter account, known as Israel in Arabic, that Israelis should not travel there. Two days later, the Arabic spokesperson for Israel’s Foreign Ministry tried to expedite the evacuation by announcing that five Ukrainian universities will allow Israeli students to study via Zoom amid the turmoil. Israel’s Arabic language social media messaging made sure its Arabic-speaking minority would face no language barriers while escaping Russian aggression.

Israel in Arabic’s pinned tweet from February 24, the start of the invasion, warns Israelis that the situation is dangerous and that they should leave Ukraine. The post linked to a website with specific instructions on how to exit. Israel in Arabic also tweeted the preferred border crossings Israelis should use, which crossings had Israeli officials stationed at them and how to reserve spots on buses to the border. To assist in evacuating Arabic-speaking Israelis, Israel dispatched its deputy consul in Turkey, Yara Shibli, a Bedouin, to the Ukrainian border.

Israeli-Arab parents have enjoyed tearful embraces with their children safely back in Israel. Popular Arab-Israeli media personality Eman Kassem Slimani praised Israel for rescuing hundreds of its Arab citizens from Ukraine, including many Bedouin.

And Jerusalem helped others. Israeli medics assisted a Gazan who approached them after seeing the Israeli flag. Israeli medics aided an Iranian. Israel also facilitated the evacuation of east Jerusalemite students fleeing Ukraine, most of whom are Israeli residents but not citizens. A Syrian sent Israel a thank you note for helping him. In another instance, an Israeli official invited a Lebanese citizen to board an Israeli bus headed for the border. Similarly, Israel helped individuals from Morocco escape.

But then there’s the alternate world of Israeli villainy: On February 1, Amnesty International held a press conference in the posh St. George’s Hotel in east Jerusalem to announce the release of its report condemning Israel for practicing apartheid. Even though Israel allowed this event to take place in its capital, Amnesty’s secretary-general, Agnès Callamard, called Israel a repressive regime. Leaders and officials in Israel, Germany, France, US and other countries have rejected Amnesty’s findings. But two weeks into Russia’s brutal campaign, Amnesty International’s Facebook banner photo still presents a call to end Israel’s apartheid.

In an interview after the launch of Amnesty’s report, Middle East and North Africa research and advocacy director Philip Luther acknowledged that Israel is democratic, but called it a smokescreen. In this view, Jerusalem’s rescue of its Arab citizens in Ukraine is just a ploy to whitewash its record and score points in the West.

What Amnesty doesn’t want to deal with: Israeli Arabs have full voting rights, serve in all professions, including as Supreme Court justices, and are treated equally in Israel’s hospitals. An Arab party is currently part of Israel’s governing coalition. And Israel has none of the separate beaches, bathrooms, water fountains, benches or other facilities that were the hallmarks of the South African regime. Nevertheless, Luther, Callamard, and their comrades argue that Israel need not resemble South Africa to be guilty of the crimes against humanity forever associated with South Africa.

Israel constantly wrestles with its identity as the world’s only Jewish state and its responsibility to represent its entire population, Arabs included. Jerusalem’s efforts to rescue its Arab citizens and fellow Middle Easterners from Ukraine are part of that struggle, even if they inconvenience certain narratives.

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The Real Enemy of Islam

Video Of The Week - Jeremy Corbyn Suspended https://tinyurl.com/y3mftt7v

For the full Article from Gatestone by Khaled Abu Toameh 3-11-2020 https://tinyurl.com/y3t3krk2

a)     "The beheading of the French history teacher proves that political Islam has become a real threat to world peace in light of its expansionist tendency, which is currently embodied by Erdogan's project, which not only targets the societies of Muslim countries, but also other societies that incubate important Islamic communities." — Al-Habib Al-Aswad, Tunisian journalist, Al-Arab, October 28, 2020.

b)     He wants to represent himself as a defender of Islam. Which Islam does he speak for? Erdogan has committed crimes in Libya, Syria and all Arab countries. He is the one who is offending Islam." — Mustafa Bakri, Egyptian media personality, Al-Dostor Studio, October 30, 2020.

c)     The reactions of many Arabs and Muslims show that they view Erdogan as a more serious threat to Islam than Macron or others in the West.

Turkish President Erdogan is not authorized to speak on behalf of the Muslims, especially regarding the current controversy surrounding France's attitude toward Islam and Muslim terrorist attacks. That is what many Muslims are saying these days in the aftermath of Erdogan's attempt to present himself as the grand defender of Islam in a conflict that recently erupted between Muslims and France.

According to several Muslim political analysts and writers, Erdogan is trying to take advantage of the anti-France campaign in the Muslim world for his own political gain. The message the Muslims are sending to France and the rest of the world is that Erdogan is a hypocrite and opportunist, who is acting from personal interest and not out of concern for Muslims or Islam.

Last week, France condemned Erdogan for comments he made about French President Emmanuel Macron's mental health and treatment of Muslims. Erdogan had suggested that the French president needed "some kind of mental treatment" because of Macron's attitude toward Muslims in France. "What else is there to say about a head of state who doesn't believe in the freedom of religion and behaves this way against the millions of people of different faiths living in his own country?" Erdogan said in a speech at a meeting of his Justice and Development Party. He also called on Muslims to boycott French goods.

Erdogan's remarks came in response to Macron's pledge to crack down on radical Islamism in France after a Muslim terrorist beheaded history teacher Samuel Paty on October 16. Paty had taught a class on freedom of expression during which he used cartoons of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed from the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. Even before Paty was murdered, Macron defended the right to caricature the Prophet Mohammed. In September, he described Islam as a religion "in crisis" and announced that he would present a bill to strengthen a law that separates church and state in France.

Some Muslims see Erdogan's attacks on France as an attempt to divert attention from the growing criticism in the Arab world toward Turkey's meddling in the internal affairs of a number of Arab countries. Saudi Arabian activists have called for a boycott of Turkish products to protest Erdogan's repeated attacks on Arab leaders and countries.

"Erdogan's statements and his defense of Islam do not bear in their essence any religious dimensions, but rather an attempt to win the friendship of the angry street and also to save his country's economy, which is suffering badly after the success of the Arab boycott of Turkish goods."

Noting that Arab business executives and others have called for a boycott of Turkish products to protest the "hostile policies of the Erdogan regime," the newspaper quoted Egyptian political analyst Tareq Fahmi as saying:

"Erdogan's talk about adopting the defense of Islam has become unacceptable after everyone realized that the matter is purely political and has nothing to do with the religious dimension. The issue is also related to addressing Arab and Islamic public opinion so that Erdogan appears in the image of the great Arab and Islamic leader. Erdogan aims to ride the current wave and try to employ and invest it politically in his battles against Europe and France."

Lebanese journalist Joseph Abu Fadel scoffed at Erdogan's call for the protection of Muslims in France:

Abbas pointed out that Erdogan was also motivated by his concern over the decline of his popularity in Turkey:

"The beheading of the French history teacher proves that political Islam has become a real threat to world peace in light of its expansionist tendency, which is currently embodied by Erdogan's project, which not only targets the societies of Muslim countries, but also other societies that incubate important Islamic communities... When the Turkish president incited against France and President Macron, his primary concern was not religion or the Prophet Mohammed, but rather his geopolitical struggle with the French in the eastern Mediterranean, Libya, and generally North Africa and the Sahara region. Erdogan is convinced that Macron is a declared ally of countries that Ankara considers its enemies."

Egyptian media personality Mustafa Bakri said that Erdogan was taking advantage of various crises and cannot be sincere in his defense of Islam. Erdogan, he added, "is not an honest man."

"He took advantage of the situation against France and claimed to be defending Islam. He wants to represent himself as a defender of Islam. Which Islam does he speak for? Erdogan has committed crimes in Libya, Syria and all Arab countries. He is the one who is offending Islam."

"Some populist politicians think only about achieving their personal victories by using powerful and extremist rhetoric... What Erdogan came out with cannot be considered an endeavor to defend the interests of Muslims and the Prophet Mohammed, and he knows more than others what the consequences could be for the Muslim communities living in Western societies."

The reactions of many Arabs and Muslims show that they view Erdogan as a more serious threat to Islam than Macron or others in the West. The voices of Erdogan's critics, however, rarely find their way to the mainstream media.

Ironically, Erdogan, who is currently calling for a boycott of French products, is himself being boycotted by a growing number of Arabs and Muslims. It is Erdogan, bemoaning the "insults" to Islam made by Westerners, who is himself being accused by Muslims of killing Muslims and occupying their lands.

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