785 Censorship of Palestinian Genocide - Gideon Polya

Censorship of Palestinian Genocide - Gideon Polya

Newsletter published on 20 December 2015

(1) Censorship of Palestinian Genocide - Gideon Polya
(2) Torah requires the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians - Sandra Nasr
(3) Bethlehem is surrounded by the Israeli army, the Church of the
Nativity too - Francis A. Boyle (2002)
(4) Israel's Zealots threaten President Rivlin for expressing sympathy
for Gazans' suffering
(5) Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid wants a Two State solution
(6) Israel to build more Jewish communities in Negev desert, displacing
thousands of Palestinian Bedouins
(7) Bad Future For Jerusalem - Brother Nathanael
(8) Turkey holds first-ever public Hanukkah celebration; Turkish
Marranos come out

(1) Censorship of Palestinian Genocide - Gideon Polya

From: "Gideon Polya" <gpolya@bigpond.com>
Subject: zionists attack academic free speech
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 2015 08:45:10 +1100

http://www.countercurrents.org/polya161215.htm

Open Letter to VC, Notre Dame Australia & Director, LSE (UK) re Zionist
& pro-Zionist attack on academic free speech.

Dear Professor Hammond and Professor Calhoun,

Dr Sandra Nasr, lecturer in Middle East politics at Notre Dame
University, Western Australia, published an article on the London School
of Economics and Political Science (LSE)  website uncontroversially
linking Old Testament Biblical imperatives of violent occupation and
ethnic cleansing of Palestine in the first millennium BC  to Zionist
colonialism  and gross human rights abuse in Palestine today. Dr Nasr
was immediately attacked and falsely defamed by Zionists and the
Fairfax-owned  WA Today as “racist” and “anti-semitic”  and the article
was removed from the LSE website. To its shame, rather than defend Dr
Nasr, Notre Dame said it “apologizes” for her article which it is  now
“addressing”.

This is the sorry statement by Notre Dame University (Australia): “The
opinions and comments expressed by Dr Sandra Nasr were not endorsed or
sanctioned by the University and do not, in any way, represent the views
of The University of Notre Dame Australia. The University expresses its
disappointment and apologises that comments causing such offence have
been associated with it. Notre Dame is addressing this issue in
accordance with its relevant processes and will not make any further
comment until these have been duly followed" [1].

If anything, Dr Sandra Nasr's article is  remarkable for its restraint.
Thus it refers to and documents repeated expressions of “racial
superiority” and “ethnic cleansing”  in the Old Testament but in
relation to present-day Palestine merely talks of human rights abuse and
“Delegitimising through Dehumanisation: Palestinian “human” rights
denied” by the Zionists ruling all of Palestine today (plus a largely
ethnically cleansed slab of Syria) [2].

Middle East scholar Dr Sandra Nasr has written an uncontroversial,
factual and well-documented  essay on the arcane, Biblical basis for
racist Zionism but has suffered defamation, censorship and threat as a
consequence. Notre Dame Australia and the London School of Economics and
Political Science (LSE) should reverse their initial craven stances and
instead support this decent scholar whose ethical writing  embodies the
aphorisms attributed to Edmund Burke and George Santayana, respectively
, to whit:  “Evil happens when good men do nothing” and “History ignored
yields history repeated”.

Censorship of Dr Nasr's article contributes to ongoing censorship of the
awful realities of the ongoing Palestinian Genocide by nuclear
terrorist, democracy-by-genocide Apartheid Israel  – the racist Zionists
(RZs) have now ethnically cleansed 90% of the land of Palestine and  of
12 million Palestinians, 6 million are forbidden to step foot in their
own country, 4.3 million exist without human rights  as prisoners
without charge or trial in the blockaded Gaza Concentration Camp (1.8
million) or in West Bank Bantustan ghettoes (2.5 million), and only 1.7
million Palestinians Israelis (14% of Palestinians and 28% of
Palestinian subjects of Apartheid Israel) are permitted to vote for the
government ruling all of Palestine, albeit as Third Class citizens under
Nazi-style Apartheid laws. 2 million Palestinians have been killed by
violence (0.1 million) or by violently-imposed deprivation (1.9 million)
since 1936, a Palestinian Genocide that is part of an horrendous Muslim
Holocaust and Muslim Genocide  [3-7].

Genocide ignoring and holocaust ignoring  are far, far worse than
utterly repugnant  genocide denial and holocaust denial because  at
least the latter admit the possibility  of public debate. Universities
that censor are unfit for our children [8-10].

Yours sincerely, Dr Gideon Polya, Melbourne.

References.
[1]. Heather McNeill and Colin Cortbus, “Perth university lecturer Dr
Sandra Nasr in hot water over anti-semitic article”, WA Today: 11
Decemebr 2015:
http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/perth-university-lecturer-dr-sandra-nasr-in-hot-water-over-antisemitic-article-20151211-gllhqk.html#ixzz3u9GScOPO
.
[2]. Dr. Sandra Nasr, “Delegitimising through Dehumanisation:
Palestinian ‘human' rights denied”, London School of Economics and
Political Science, 3 December 2015:
https://archive.is/HSoC4#selection-167.0-445.65 .
LSE& PS: https://archive.is/HSoC4#selection-167.0-445.65 .
[3]. Richard Dawkins, “The God Delusion”, Mariner, 2006.
[4]. The Holy Bible, King James Version.
[5]. William A. Cook, “Age of Fools”, Dandelion, Mesa, Arizona, 2015.
[6]. Gideon Polya, “Book Review: “Age Of Fools” By William Cook – Stop
Neocon & Zionist Palestinian Genocide, War On Muslims & War On
Humanity”, Countercurrents, 3 November, 2015:
http://www.countercurrents.org/polya031215.htm .
[7]. “Palestinian Genocide” :
http://sites.google.com/site/palestiniangenocide/ .
[8]. UN Convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of
genocide, UN: http://www.hrweb.org/legal/genocide.html .
[9]. William A. Cook (editor),  “The Plight of the Palestinians. A Long
History of Destruction”, Palgrave Macmillan, London , 2010.
[10]. Gideon Polya, “Review: “The Plight Of The Palestinians. A Long
History Of Destruction”, Countercurrents,  17 June, 2012:
http://www.countercurrents.org/polya170612.htm .
[11]. Gideon Polya, “Horrendous Pro-Zionist, Zionist And Apartheid
Israeli Child Abuse Exposed”,  Countercurrents, 21 April, 2014:
http://www.countercurrents.org/polya210414.htm .
[12]. Gideon Polya, “Paris Atrocity Context: 27 Million Muslim Avoidable
  Deaths From Imposed Deprivation In 20 Countries Violated By US
Alliance Since 9-11”, Countercurrents, 22 November, 2015:
http://www.countercurrents.org/polya221115A.htm .
[13]. Michael Selzer (editor), “Zionism reconsidered”, Macmillan, New
York, 1969.
[14]. Neturei Karta, “Israeli Independence Day”:
http://www.nkusa.org/activities/Statements/20090429IID.cfm .
[15]. “Boycott Apartheid  Israel”:
https://sites.google.com/site/boycottapartheidisrael/.
[16]. “Gaza Concentration Camp”:
https://sites.google.com/site/palestiniangenocide/gaza-concentration  .
[17]. “Jews Against Racist Zionism”:
https://sites.google.com/site/jewsagainstracistzionism/ .
[18]. “Non-Jews Against Racist Zionism”:
https://sites.google.com/site/nonjewsagainstracistzionism/ .
[19]. “Nuclear weapons ban , end poverty & reverse climate change”:
https://sites.google.com/site/300orgsite/nuclear-weapons-ban .
[20]. Jared Diamond, "Collapse” ,  Penguin, 2011.
[21]. Iraqi Holocaust, Iraqi Genocide”:
http://sites.google.com/site/iraqiholocaustiraqigenocide/ .
[22]. “Afghan Holocaust, Afghan Genocide”:
http://sites.google.com/site/afghanholocaustafghangenocide/ .
[23]. “Muslim Holocaust Muslim Genocide”:
https://sites.google.com/site/muslimholocaustmuslimgenocide/ .
[24]. Gideon Polya, “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950”,
that includes a succinct history  of every country and is now available
for free perusal on the web: http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/  .
[25]. Naomi Klein quoted in Yotam Feldman, “Naomi Klein: oppose the
state not the people”, Haaretz, 2 July 2007:
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1097058.html .
[26]. Nelson Mandela quoted in “Nelson Mandela quotes: A collection of
memorable words from former South African president”, CBS News, 5
December 2013:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nelson-mandela-quotes-a-collection-of-memorable-words-from-former-south-african-president/
.
[27]. Sir Isaac Isaacs, quoted by Wikipedia, ”Isaac Isaacs”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Isaacs .
[28]. Bertell Ollman, “Letter of Resignation from the Jewish People”,
Dialectical Marxism, 2004:
http://www.nyu.edu/projects/ollman/docs/resignation.php .
[29].  Gideon Polya “Current academic censorship and self-censorship in
Australian universities”, Public University Journal, volume 1,
Conference Supplement, “Transforming the Australia University”,
Melbourne, 9-10 December 2001:
http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/57092/20080218-1150/www.publicuni.org/jrnl/volume/1/jpu_1_s_polya.pdf
   .

Dr Gideon Polya has been teaching science students at a major Australian
university for 4 decades.

(2) Torah requires the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians - Sandra Nasr
From: "diogenesquest diogenesquest@gmail.com [shamireaders]"
<shamireaders-noreply@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 2015 09:40:25 -0500
Subject: [shamireaders] Delegitimising through Dehumanisation:
Palestinian ‘human’ rights denied.

Delegitimising through Dehumanisation: Palestinian ‘human’ rights denied.

By Dr. Sandra Nasr*

Discussing international human rights and humanitarian law with a young
Palestinian man in Ramallah last year, I was asked about the principles
of the many human rights treaties, conventions and customs. I briefly
explained how the different components are ‘indivisible’,
‘interrelated’, ‘interdependent’ and ‘inherent’. The young man’s
clarification stopped me dead in my tracks: “so, all of these ‘inherent’
protections that international law talks about apply to everyone, no
matter what their circumstances: race, religion, etc. simply because
they are ‘human’?” Yes – just so. “Why, then, does the world think I’m
not human?”

I struggled to reassure the young man that there are many people in the
international community (and, indeed, in Israel itself) who are appalled
by the apparent hypocrisy in the enforcement of international law in
relation to the Palestinians. As I tried to explain this, I was again
conscious of the age-old tactic of delegitimising people through
dehumanisation, which is used to deny oppressed and subjugated people
their rights as human beings. By framing ‘the other’ as non-human or
less-human, the abhorrent practices of subjugation – including torture,
collective punishment, extrajudicial assassination – are viewed, and
presented, as legitimate and even necessary.

Zionism, the ideological project to secure a Jewish homeland, relies
upon notions of separateness, superiority and entitlement. It finds its
origins in the ‘promise’ believed to have been made by God to ‘His
people’ – Abraham and his descendants, the Israelites. According to this
belief, they were to take the land by force, kill anyone who resisted,
and take for slaves those who did not fight back (except in more distant
towns which should just be cleansed)[1]. Biblical Theologian Professor
Michael Prior called this ‘ethnic cleansing’, where God’s Covenant with
the Israelites “was integrally linked with the mandate to exterminate
the indigenous peoples”[2].

The narratives present in the Torah – and, indeed throughout the Tanakh
[3] – not only raise the Israelites to special status (‘a people
apart’[4]) above all other peoples of the Earth, but legitimises – and
even requires – the ethnic cleansing of non-Israelites from the land of
Canaan[5].

This narrative of a people singled out by God for special status is
further developed through the codification of the Jewish laws, in
particular the Mishneh Torah by Maimonides. Maimonides’ Code (as it is
commonly referred to) is considered a masterpiece Halachik study
reference and is widely taught and revered within Jewish scholarship and
society. Though, it is not just the formal theological Rabbinic works
which carry weight; the words of important Rabbis are also highly
influential. Maimonides in the 12th Century, who likened non-Jews to
‘beasts’[6], and Rabbi Kook Snr. (‘the Elder’ – 1865-1935), who stated
that humans and cattle have more in common than Jews and non-Jews[7],
are two such prominent Rabbis whose statements regarding the elevated
status of Jews make for disconcerting reading.

Notions of ‘racial’ superiority are contained in Jewish scriptures and
Rabbinical pronouncements have the effect of relegating ‘the other’ to a
standard which is sub-human and, therefore, not deserving of the same
considerations that are reserved for one’s ‘own kind’. The status as
God’s ‘Chosen People’, who are superior to all others, in receipt of
‘The Covenant’ and His gift of a ‘Promised Land’ cleansed of its
previous inhabitants makes for a very attractive concept, and a
dangerous one. Modern-day Israelites found practical and ideological
expression of this concept in Zionism. This is evident in the words made
famous by Golda Meir, later an Israeli PM, referring to Palestine as ‘a
land without a people for a people without a land’. This statement
clearly relegated Palestinians to a non-people. Despite challenges to
this discourse by some early Zionists (such as cultural Zionist Asher
Ginsberg – who decried the view that Arabs are ‘desert barbarians’), the
dominant discourse of disregarding Palestinians was deemed necessary if
the Jewish state was to be realised.

Given that the Zionist project is essentially a colonial plan, it is
unsurprising, as Michael Prior noted, that it drew upon assumptions of
European racial and cultural superiority. Congruent with this guiding
concept, the method of establishment and expansion of Israel has relied
upon the overwhelming use of force and terror tactics to expel these
inconvenient ‘non-people’ from their homes and villages and then prevent
their return, as articulated in Plan D (Tochnit Daleth)[8].

Although Israel is a signatory of the UN Charter, which acknowledges a
commitment to the principles of non-acquisition of territory by force
and respect for the protections afforded to all people contained within
international law, Israel continues to view itself as above such mundane
matters; particularly when it comes to the ‘non-people’ it subjugates
through its policies and practices of occupation.

We have seen recently the armed Israeli lynch mobs roaming Jerusalem’s
streets looking for anyone who looks ‘Palestinian’; onlookers baying for
blood as the Israeli Defence Force shoot to kill young men and women;
and the casual disdain for the dead and injured. However, these
persistent violations of international law remain, unfortunately,
unsurprising. Also unsurprising, are the sometimes violent actions of
young, angry, Palestinians who are tired of waiting for their human
rights to be enforced.

Israel’s ability to impose and maintain the occupation continues to rely
heavily upon tactics of delegitimation through dehumanisation as is
evidenced in the language of its leaders. Knesset member and Justice
Minister, Ayelet Shaked, during the Israeli operation in Gaza in June
2014, posted a Facebook status quoting late settler leader Uri Elitzur,
calling for the deaths of all Palestinians, particularly mothers of
martyrs who, having raised the snakes, should follow them to the grave.
It is perhaps not a coincidence that Shaked’s post appeared the day
before the gruesome burning to death of a Palestinian teenager in a
forest. The post then mysteriously disappeared. Prominent Israeli
academic, Mordechai Kedar – called for the rape of the sisters and
mothers of Hamas members as discouragement. Moshe Feiglin, Deputy
Speaker of the Knesset, declared that Gaza should be ethnically cleansed
of its people who could be relocated to Egypt or placed in concentration
camps. The Israeli military frequently adopt the historical language of
their own oppression, threatening to gas Palestinians until they die if
they throw stones.

I recently met an expat Israeli (and former IDF soldier) who earnestly
assured me that the presence of international human rights workers in
Palestine was the real problem hampering resolution. This framing of
Palestinians as non-humans, undeserving of rights is, according to
recent polls, supported by more than half of the population. It
permeates every aspect of the occupation and is, indeed, appallingly
reminiscent of the very scourge which provided the impetus for the
establishment of the United Nations.

Since 1948 the international community has, through the UN, sought to
counter this dehumanisation by asserting Palestinians’ humanity and the
applicability of human rights and humanitarian law to Israel’s
occupation of Palestine’s remnants. Whilst Israel, through its
leadership, supporters and culpable international allies, has tried very
hard to present Palestinians as sub-human, undeserving of the same
protections assumed to belong to the rest of us; the inherency of human
rights cannot be disregarded and challenging these ideas is imperative
on both political and moral grounds. Peace does not come through
dehumanisation and delegitimation, through subjugating a people into
submission. As Israeli Gideon Levy writes, “[a]s long as they are not
considered human beings, … there will be no justice, and of course no
peace, either”.

*Dr. Sandra Nasr is a lecturer in the politics of the Middle East at
Notre Dame University in Fremantle, Australia. Her research focuses on
the human rights implications of the Israeli occupation of Palestine,
with publications including ‘Israel’s other Terrorism Challenge’ in
Jackson et al (2010) Contemporary State Terrorism: Theory and Practice.

[1] Deuteronomy 20:10-16, The Jewish Bible: Tanakh. (1985) Philadelphia:
Jewish Publication Society.
[2] Prior, M. (2000, December) Confronting the Bible’s Ethnic Cleansing
in Palestine, The Link, Americans for Middle East Understanding
[3] The Torah is one of three parts that make up the Jewish religious
holy book, the Tanakh. Further references to the concepts of: ‘chosen
people’, ‘promised land’; and ethnic cleansing of prior inhabitants can
be found in: Gen. 12:6-7; Gen. 15:18-21; Gen. 28; Gen. 35:12; Exod.
2:24; Exod. 3:8; Exod. 6:2-4; Exod. 13:11-12; Exod. 19:3-6; Deut 7:3-11;
Numbers 25 & 31; Joshua 2-12; as well as in the other books of the
Tanakh. For a more in-depth look at these concepts see Prior, M. (1997)
The Bible and Colonialism, Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, pp. 16-46.
[4] For a useful consideration of this concept, see: Kovel, 2007, Kovel,
J. (2007) Overcoming Zionism London: Pluto Press, ch. 1.
[5] Prior, 2000.
[6] cited in Kovel, 2007, p. 28
[7] cited in Kovel, 2007, p. 29
[8] cited in Kimmerling, B. (2003) Politicide. London: Verso

(3) Bethlehem is surrounded by the Israeli army, the Church of the
Nativity too - Francis A. Boyle (2002)

From: "Boyle, Francis A" <fboyle@illinois.edu> Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2015
21:59:51 +0000

From: Boyle, Francis A [mailto:fboyle@illinois.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2015 10:35 AM
To: Killeacle <fboyle@uiuc.edu>
Subject: Oh Little Town of Bethlehem - by Francis A. Boyle, Professor of
International Law

http://www.counterpunch.org/2002/12/24/o-little-town-of-bethlehem-2/

O Little Town of Bethlehem!

by Francis A. Boyle, Professor of Law, University of Illinois

DECEMBER 24, 2002

It was December of 1991 and I was serving as Legal Advisor to the
Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East Peace Negotiations in
Washington DC. The Israelis were stalling, not even negotiating in bad
faith, and the Americans were doing nothing to get the negotiations
underway. This had been going on for three weeks and Christmas was fast
approaching.

Those of us on the Palestinian Team who were Christian were wondering if
we were going to be able to get home for Christmas–many Palestinians are
Christian, the original Christians, going back to Jesus Christ and the
Apostles themselves.

I would periodically check in with my wife and two sons at the
time–little boys. My poor, sweet wife had to do all the Christmas
preparations by herself without me. So the weekend before Christmas I
called her up to say I still did not know if or when I would be coming
home. My oldest son who had just turned 5 talked to me on the phone:
Daddy why aren’t you home for Christmas? Well son, I’m trying to help
the Palestinians. Daddy, why are you doing that?

Hard to explain the entire Middle East conflict to a five-year old, so I
put it into terms he could understand: Son, you know that Jesus Christ
was born in Bethlehem don’t you? Yes Daddy. Well I am here with the
Mayor of Bethlehem and some other Palestinian leaders. They are my
friends and I am their lawyer. I am working with the Mayor of Bethlehem
to help all the Palestinian Children have a merry Christmas. Ok Daddy.

We got the word we could go home for Christmas on December 23 and I got
on the first flight out of DC getting home just on time for Christmas
Eve with my Family.

Yesterday I attended UCC Church Services here with my Family. When it
came time for prayers from the congregation, I got up and asked everyone
to help the Palestinians along the following lines: Bethlehem is cut-off
and surrounded by the Israeli army–the Church of the Nativity too. The
Israelis are inflicting ethnic cleansing upon all the Palestinian, both
Muslims and Christians. They are also pursuing a policy of deliberately
forcing Palestinian Christians out of Palestine as part of a perverse
strategy to turn a war of national liberation into a religious crusade,
figuring it would play better in the United States.

And these are the original Christians, going back to Jesus Christ and
the Apostles. Meanwhile, the United States government is financing it
all to the tune of $5 billion per year. Everyone in this Congregation
has gifts given to them by God. So go out and do something to help the
Palestinians!

(4) Israel's Zealots threaten President Rivlin for expressing sympathy
for Gazans' suffering
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/12/civil-war-president-reuven-Rivlin-im-tirzu-left-traitor.html

Has Israel's civil war already started?

The incitement campaign against Israel's right-wing President Reuven
Rivlin, who dared expressing sympathy to Gazans' suffering, has broken
all records of hatred and verbal violence.

Author Shlomi Eldar

Posted December 17, 2015

Translator Simon Pompan

The incitement comes across loud and clear this time too. But the
writing on the wall is much larger now than it was prior to the
assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. This time, nobody
will be able to say, "We saw no evil, we heard no evil, we spoke no
evil." Rabin refused to wear a bulletproof jacket because he found the
idea of a Jew murdering another Jew unfathomable. However, our bitter
lesson has taught us that a Jew can murder another Jew and a bulletproof
vest will not cut it anymore. Israel is now standing at a juncture
leading to a political, social and religious rift. Violent and sharp, it
includes all of the country’s political streams. Yet, it is Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is largely to blame.

Netanyahu has set himself the goal to delegitimize Israel’s left-wing
camp. It all began during his first term in office (1996-99). While
visiting a synagogue in the Bukharim quarter in Jerusalem in 1999, he
whispered in the ear of Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri — one of Shas Party’s
spiritual leaders — “The left has forgotten what it’s like to be a Jew.”
This attitude has continued throughout his premierships.

Inspired by Netanyahu, the term “left” has become synonymous with
treason, and its use has become widespread. Every human rights
organization is stigmatized as a leftist organization. Every left-wing
organization — defined as such — is immediately suspected by those who
have been persuaded that “left” is a pejorative term as undercutting the
state’s very own foundations. And we all know what the punishment for
high treason is.

It is Netanyahu’s (commanding) spirit that lingers above. Those who have
forgotten “what it means to be a Jew” are now being accused of not being
flag-waving jingoists — of not being patriots. They are accused of
forgetting what love of the homeland means. It doesn’t matter if they
served in the military, sacrificed their lives, were wounded during
service or lost a family member — left remains left no matter what.

Netanyahu was unable to even halfheartedly condemn the ongoing
incitement campaign against President Reuven Rivlin. As Knesset member,
Likud minister and right-winger through and through, Rivlin was the
darling of the settlers, until overnight he became a traitor in their
eyes. Before long, we might start hearing chants like “With blood and
fire the president must be fired” (paraphrasing the slogan, "With blood
and fire we will liberate Palestine"). For the time being, however, his
detractors make do with the slogan “Rivlin isn’t my president.”

So what causes those inciters to foam at the mouth? They become livid at
hearing wishy-washy political statements that in the past no one would
ascribe to leftist or centrist positions. It should be recalled that the
president, who by now has become an outcast, refused to shake hands with
late PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. He is also not the one who evicted
settlers from their homes in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip. All he
did was to express sorrow and compassion for the suffering of
Palestinians in Gaza — not for the armed militants, perish the thought.
He did not express solidarity with Hamas nor with any other armed
Palestinian organization. People forget that Rivlin was vehemently
opposed to the 2005 disengagement from Gaza, and that he considered the
Jewish settlement in Hebron to be a mainstay of core Jewish existence
and of the settlement enterprise. Yet, the diatribes against the
president illustrate how Israeli society has been stirred to the right.
What was until a few years ago considered a centrist position is now
overwhelmingly defined as a radical, dangerous and surreal left.

On Dec. 15, the organization Im Tirtzu released a video clip titled
"Foreign Agents." It shows a terrorist mixing amid a crowd of Israelis
when all of a sudden he pulls out a knife. Yet, just shy of stabbing his
victims, the “defenders of terrorists” come to his rescue. Those
defenders are Hagai El-Ad, chairman of B’Tselem; Avner Gvaryahu,
director of public outreach at Breaking the Silence; Yishai Menuhin, the
chairman of the Public Committee Against Torture; and Sigi Ben Ari,
attorney at the Center for the Defense of the Individual (Hamoked). The
graphics and fonts used in the clip to depict them are usually reserved
for posters of most-wanted persons. There is only one way to interpret
the epithet “Foreign Agents” that’s been attached to them — traitors.

Viewed by hundreds of thousands as soon as it was posted, "Foreign
Agents" seeks to promote a draft bill sponsored by Knesset member Yoav
Kisch (Likud). The bill aims to label organizations receiving money from
foreign state entities as “agents” of the state that provides the
financial support. Toward the end of the clip, a female narrator is
heard saying in an authoritative and commanding voice, “While we are
fighting terrorists, they are fighting us.” It’s them and us — them
being “agents” or a “fifth column.”

On Dec. 16, the chairman of B’Tselem published a response in the daily
Haaretz, perceived by right-wing activists as their archnemesis and a
mouthpiece of traitors. “I’m afraid of the occupation, indifference to
injustice, sanctimoniousness and passing shock. I wish I could rely on
1% of the sympathetic attention I’m receiving now on just another
ordinary day in the territories, with nobody getting killed and no
headlines,” he wrote.

On Dec. 16, Menuhin filed a complaint with the police, reportedly saying
that Im Tirtzu has let his blood and that he is afraid of getting hurt.

In contrast, Ronen Shoval, one of Im Tirtzu’s co-founders, who left the
organization and currently serves as chairman of the Academic Council
for National Policy, told Al-Monitor that the incitement campaign
against him in recent days and the death threats he has been receiving
from members of the New Israel Fund and Peace Now have crossed the line.

The New Israel Fund’s Facebook page has replaced the face of the
“stabbing terrorist” from Im Tirtzu’s "Foreign Agents" clip with
Shoval’s face and a caption that reads, “Ronen Shoval, if blood is
spilled here, it’s in your name.”

“I’ve received dozens of psychopathic abuses in the past two days,”
Shoval said. “It all goes to show that the left is losing control. The
left’s violent reactions are a reaction of an elite class that is losing
its grip on power.”

Responding to a question whether both camps have not crossed the lines
and whether a civil war has already begun, Shoval replied, “I can’t say
that there’s a war. It’s very possible that a political assassination
will take place. I don’t see Peace Now phalanges marauding Beit El
[settlement] nor do I see phalanges from Beit El marauding left-wing
centers. Yet a political assassination is certainly possible. But from
this to a civil war — the distance is great.”

Is it? Fulminatory video clips, calls of treason, Nazi uniforms that
have been pulled up again in a violent campaign, all go to show that the
lesson of the last political assassination in Israel (Rabin) has not
been learned. The war in Israel has already begun. There are still no
fatalities on the ground, but soon there will be. ?

(5) Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid wants a Two State solution

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/06/Israel-Yair-Lapid-Palestinians-Iran/396803/

'Israel Cannot Absorb 3.5 Million Palestinians and Remain a Jewish and
Democratic State'

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on a pro-Israel Obama and a
recalcitrant Netanyahu

JEFFREY GOLDBERG

JUN 25, 2015

Last week, I spent an illuminating hour with Yair Lapid, the former
Israeli finance minister and now a leader of the opposition. Lapid, a
voluble former television broadcaster, is the head of the Yesh Atid
party—the name translates as, “There is a future.” This, of course, is a
very Jewish thing to name a political party, for a large number of
reasons I’ll let you figure out.

Lapid is a leader of the great mass of disillusioned centrists in
Israeli politics. He could conceivably be prime minister one day,
assuming Benjamin Netanyahu, in whose previous cabinet he served, ever
stops being prime minister. Now functioning as a kind of shadow foreign
minister, Lapid argues that Israel must seize the diplomatic initiative
with the Palestinians if it is to continue existing as a Jewish-majority
democracy, and he is proposing a regional summit somewhat along the
lines of the earlier Arab Peace Initiative. Lapid is not a
left-winger—he has a particular sort of contempt for the Israeli left,
born of the belief that leftists don’t recognize the nature of the
region in which they live. But he is also for territorial compromise as
a political and moral necessity, and he sees Netanyahu leading Israel
inexorably toward the abyss. ...

Here is an edited version of the Lapid conversation.

Lapid: Israel cannot try to absorb 3.5 million Palestinians and remain a
Jewish and democratic state. What we need to do is separate from the
Palestinians. There is a reason I’m not using the word peace. The
majority of Israel says, “You know what? If it’s about peace, we don’t
want what [former Israeli President] Shimon Peres used to call the ‘new
Middle East.’” And you look at the new Middle East, the one we have, and
I’m not very enthusiastic about it. But on the other hand, there are a
lot of possibilities that weren’t there before. I’m advocating, among
other things, a regional summit, and the fact that the Middle East has
changed has also opened up some opportunities.

We have to do something, because time is not on our side. We can’t
absorb 3.5 million Palestinians. If we won’t do anything in the next two
years or three years, they will come to us and say, “OK, we realize
there’s not going to be a Palestinian state. Let’s vote!” If we say no,
we’re not a democracy. If we say yes, we’re not a Jewish state. I want
to live in a Jewish state.

Goldberg: So far the only thing that saves Israel is shortsightedness in
the Palestinian political class.

Lapid: True.

Goldberg: Like tomorrow, they could wake up and say, “Give us the vote
in Israel,” and that would precipitate a crisis.

Lapid: And I want my country to have a policy, and it should be
proactive. I want it to be Zionist, I want it to be
security-oriented.“The fact that the superpower of the world has decided
to make us, from all nations, its ally and friend, is not to be taken
lightly.”

Goldberg: How would you feel if you were the prime minister who had to
evacuate Jews from [the West Bank city of] Hebron?

Lapid: Horrible. Horrible. This is biblical. Abraham’s Hebron. But I
also look at Hebron with 800 or 750 Israelis and 180,000 Palestinians,
and I understand the difficulty.

Goldberg: So it would be theoretically a sacrifice worth making for a
two-state solution.

Lapid: There is an unholy alliance between the Israeli left and the
Israeli right about the settlers. Both of them want to say that every
settlement is the same. There’s no difference, for example, between Gush
Etzion [near Jerusalem] or Itamar [a far-flung settlement near Nablus].
Why? Because the left wants to give away everything, and the right
doesn’t want to give away anything. I’m saying, “No, it’s not the same.”
In the future, we will not be able to be in Itamar because it doesn’t
make any sense, because of where it is. And yes, we’re going to keep the
blocs. [...]

(6) Israel to build more Jewish communities in Negev desert, displacing
thousands of Palestinian Bedouins

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/israel-displace-palestinian-bedouins-151124153132838.html

Israel to displace thousands of Palestinian Bedouins

Plan allows for the construction of five new Jewish-only communities,
two of which are on lands of Bedouin villages.

Patrick Strickland | 24 Nov 2015 19:59 GMT

An Israeli plan to build several new Jewish communities in the Negev
region of the country's south will displace thousands of Palestinian
citizens of Israel from two Bedouin villages, rights groups have said.

Approved by the Israeli government on Sunday, the plan allows for the
construction of five new Jewish planned communities, two of which will
be on top of a pair of Bedouin villages.

Bir Hadaj village is home to at least 6,000 people, while an estimated
1,500 live in Katama village, which is classified by the government as
an "unrecognised" village.

"This is part of an ongoing policy of pushing Palestinian Bedouins off
their land in the Negev," Sana Ibn Bari, a lawyer for the Association
for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), told Al Jazeera.

Israeli Minister of Housing Yoav Galant praised the government's
decision and said the government should aim "to turn [the Negev region]
into a desired and flourishing area, in accordance with the Zionist
vision".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Sunday for more
Jewish communities "to be built quickly while bypassing bureaucratic
processes".

An estimated 1.7 million Palestinians who carry Israeli citizenship live
in cities, towns and villages across the country.

"We will potentially have to deal with the eviction of thousands of
people from their homes," Ibn Bari said.

"If the government wants to establish new Jewish settlements, why are
they doing it on top of existing Arab communities?"

In a joint press release, the Israeli rights group Bimkom joined ACRI in
condemning the measure as "especially harmful for the Bedouin
community". ...

Sunday's decision was made just a month after Israel razed the Negev
village of al-Araqib for the 90th time since 2010.

Scattered across the Negev, some 80,000 Palestinian Bedouins live in 40
villages that are not recognised by the Israeli government. They are
denied access to state resources such as electricity, water, paved
roads, clinics and education.

The Israeli government claims these villages were built without permits,
while residents say most of them - including Katama and al-Araqib -
predate Israel's 1948 establishment.

In December 2013, under pressure as protests gripped the country, Israel
froze the Prawer Plan, a programme designed to forcibly relocate an
estimated 40,000 Bedouins in the Negev.

But ACRI's Ibn Bari says that village evacuations and home demolitions
have continued without pause since that time. "The government is still
not willing to find a solution," she said.

Israeli policy aims to "promote Jewish settlements and put Jewish
citizens in the place of Arabs who have already lived on these lands for
more than six decades," she added.

A diverse community of Christians, Muslims, Druze and Palestinian
citizens of Israel suffer from more than 50 discriminatory laws that
muzzle their political expression and stifle their access to state
resources, according   to the Adalah Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights.

The Israeli government has cracked down on Palestinians in Israel,
according to Yousef Jabareen, a Knesset member and politician from the
Joint List electoral coalition.

"The idea is to de-legitimise our political role in Israeli politics
[which] serves Netanyahu to go ahead with his discriminatory policy
against the Arab community in Israel, such as the demolition of these
villages," Jabareen told Al Jazeera.

(7) Bad Future For Jerusalem - Brother Nathanael

http://www.realjewnews.com/?p=1078

Bad Future For Jerusalem

By Brother Nathanael Kapner

November 12, 2015 @ 7:59 pm

Bibzy came to DC this week and he’s in our face again.

A ‘Jewish State’ is all that matters and Bibzy’s BS keeps on coming.

[Clip: “I want to make it clear that we have not given up our hope for
peace. We’ll never give up the hope for peace. And I remain committed to
a vision of peace of two states for two peoples…”]

It’s a non-starter.

The occupied West Bank is now de facto part of Israel due to settler
seizures of Palestinian properties.

This is what Moshe Dayan called ‘facts on the ground.’

There’s nothing left for a Palestinian State. The Jews stole, and keep
on stealing, the best of the land.

So it’s either going to be one ‘democratic’ state’—with two equal
peoples—or an apartheid ‘Jewish State’ with one ’special’ people whose
aim is the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

We’re now witnessing a battle for Jerusalem—with the so-called Temple
Mount at the center…now occupied by the Noble Sanctuary it’s a powder
keg with a lit fuse and Bibzy won’t let go.

[Clip: “Shana tova to all of you from our eternal capital, Jerusalem.
Since last Rosh Hashana it’s become evident to all but the most bigoted
and prejudiced, that Israel stands out like a beacon of progress of
modernity of democracy and of human rights in a region plagued by
fanaticism, by terror, by unbelievable savagery.

“I said it’s become obvious to all but the most bigoted yet we have
those people who are leveling slanderous charges against the one and
only Jewish State.”]

That’s all that matters: The ‘one and only Jewish State’ and to heck
with the rest of the world.

Jerusalem the Jews’ eternal capital? I thought Manhattan was.

[Clip: “Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for 3000
years.”]

Bull.

Under Kings David and Solomon, Jerusalem was the capital of a united
Jewish people for only 80 years.

Then under the Maccabean Dynasty, for only 89 years.

Then in 1948 only half of Jerusalem was under Jewish control.

There’s a big difference between 169 and 3000 years.

In other words, would you buy a used car or anything else from this man?

And if Jerusalem is the Jews’ eternal capital then the long-standing
Mosque on the so-called Temple Mount doesn’t stand a chance.

[Clip: “I want you to ask any of you to imagine that you would limit
construction in your own capital? It doesn’t make sense. And I think
that for us the important thing is that we are committed to our capital,
we’re committed to peace, and we’re going to build in Jerusalem.”]

How can Israel be a ‘Jewish’ State when 47% of the population are
Palestinians? In 15 years they’ll be the majority.

If Israel still exists by then, there’ll be hell to pay in Jerusalem
given the ill-fated demographics. There can even be civil war among
Jews. There’s historical precedent for that.

It’s a powder-keg ready to explode.

And there’ll be even more hell to pay if we keep swallowing the lie that
Israel and the Jews are America’s best friend.

(8) Turkey holds first-ever public Hanukkah celebration; Turkish
Marranos come out
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4739550,00.html

Turkey holds first-ever public Hanukkah celebration

Jewish community members are calling it a 'Hanukkah miracle': For the
first time in the country's history, Turkey's chief rabbi lights the
Jewish holiday's eighth candle in a public ceremony at Istanbul’s
Ortaköy Square, in the presence of senior state officials and Muslim
clerics.

Published: 12.15.15, 12:17

Itamar Eichner

A year to remember for Turkey's Jews: Jewish year 5776 will likely go
down in history as the first time in which a public Hanukkah
candle-lighting ceremony was held in the Muslim country in a
state-sponsored event.

Members of the Jewish community, who have always observed the holiday
traditions in their homes, almost secretly, are calling it a "Hanukkah
miracle" that has joined the recent Hanukkah greetings issued by
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

There are 12,000 Jews living in Turkey today, the majority of whom are
in Istanbul. In the past 30 years, most of them have changed their names
so as not to be identified as Jews for fear of harassment from the
state's authorities and local Muslim citizens. Now, they hope, the era
of fear is over.

The ceremony, which was initiated by the Jewish community and organized
by the Be?ikta? Municipality, took place on Sunday at Istanbul’s
historic Ortaköy Square. Turkey's Chief Rabbi Ishak Haleva lit the
eighth candle of Hanukkah, and the large audience was made up of both
Jews and Muslims, including Turkish and foreign state officials and
religious clerics.

Participants included officials from the Istanbul Governor’s Office,
Foreign Ministry and the mufti's office in Istanbul, the consul-generals
of Israel, the United States and Spain and Israel, the imam of the
Ortaköy Mosque, the country's rabbis and local Chabad emissaries.