| Iraq shooting itself in the foot with anti-normalization law noreply@blogger.com (Unknown), 26 Jun 04:45 AM A week ago, the Iraqi parliament unanimo | | A week ago, the Iraqi parliament unanimously passed a law criminalising any form of normalisation with Israel. The law threatens the death penalty or life imprisonment for anyone calling for normalisation.
The law says that any Iraq who visits Israel will be sentenced to life imprisonment, and those who establish any political, economic, or cultural relations with Israel institutions, even through social media, will be sentenced to death. An analysis in The New Arab - which is very anti-Israel - indicates that Iraq might suffer from this law if it enforces it, which it might not do: The new anti-normalisation law could also be weaponised against Sunni Arab dissidents, warned Tallha Abdulrazaq, an expert in Middle Eastern strategic and security affairs, in an interview with The New Arab. "I'm a British-Iraqi and in my academic work I engage sometimes with Israeli academics, policymakers, and even lawmakers on occasion…I'm exactly the kind of target whom they'd like to sweep up in this sort of thing because I'm a dissident of the political process and I'm a Sunni. There's a political aspect and a sectarian aspect to this…So, if you have any interactions with an Israeli entity, they can target you with this law." He added that "this is going to have a chilling effect on academics...Read More |
From Ian: Under the Biden Administration's Watch, Iran Sanctions are Violated with Impunity The Biden administration's weak leadership -- to hold accountable those who are violating Iran sanctions -- is likely a critical reason the Iranian regime is flamboyantly ignoring the US and forging ahead -- soon, most likely, to become a nuclear state. Presumably to take even further advantage of the Biden administration's weak leadership, the Iranian regime is also signing long-term agreements with its oil clients to permanently insulate its economy from the US sanctions. The ruling mullahs are now producing more oil and selling it at levels close to the pre-sanctions era to countries such as China, which desperately needs more oil, while the Biden administration has cut off US oil exploration. One of its terms [of the deal recently signed between China and Iran] is that China will invest nearly $400 billion in Iran's oil, gas and petrochemicals industries. In return, China will have priority to bid on any new project in Iran that is linked to these sectors. China will also receive a 12% discount and can delay payments by up to two years. China will also be able to pay in any currency it chooses. It is also estimated that, in total, China will receive discounts of nearly 32%. The Biden administration must impose drastic economic sanctions on Iran's energy and financial sectors: that would threaten the...Read More |
From Ian: Whatever Happened to the 'Pro-Jewish' Left? The disengagement from Jewish life by some on the left is neither novel nor especially surprising. After all, there's a long history of Jews identified with the far left who have rejected religion and feeling responsible for the Jewish people. But the masses of American Jews who identified with political liberalism thought differently. They saw no tension between their commitments to aid fellow Jews while also supporting non-sectarian causes. Nor did they indict their religion as the source of human failings. Twentieth century Jewish liberals often were leaders of federations of Jewish philanthropy, defense organizations, social service agencies, and Jewish educational and religious institutions. During the 1960s, baby boomers seeking to make their mark on American Jewish life were committed to anti-war protests and the Civil Rights movement, as well as labor unions—even as they marched to free Soviet Jewry and defend the embattled State of Israel. While in our time it is not uncommon for Jewish progressives to ridicule efforts to ensure "Jewish continuity," youthful activists in the early 1970s critiqued Jewish organizations for investing too little in Jewish education and too much in Jewish health care facilities that no longer served a primarily Jewish clientele. In that era, too, the Jewish left produced the Havurah...Read More |
* * * * * * Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon! Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. Read all about it here! ...Read More |
On Thursday, Mahmoud Abbas led a meeting of the PLO Executive Committee, for which he has been the chairman since 2004. Here is what the meeting looked like as they prayed to open the session: Sixteen older white men, almost all Muslim.
Hanan Ashrawi, a Christian woman, was a member of this committee but she resigned in 2020 - partially because all the decisions were being made by old men.
Keep in mind that the Palestinian Authority (or, as they call it, the "State of Palestine") reports to the PLO. This non-elected organization is what really makes the decisions, not the PA. So for example, in 2009 the PLO Executive Committee - headed by Abbas - voted to allow Abbas to remain the president of the PA indefinitely, even in the absence of elections. This power also allowed Abbas to dissolve the High Court and replace it with his own appointees, and to sideline the legislative branch of the government when Hamas won those elections.
This is dictatorial power, and the Western media just shrugs - or pretends that the PA is a democracy because it sometime stages meaningless elections. * * * * * * Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon! Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. Read all about it...Read More |
From Ian: UN Watch: Exposed: UN Teachers Call to Murder Jews As the U.S. and other Western states gather today at the United Nations in the presence of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to pledge funding for the UN agency that runs schools and social services for Palestinians, a watchdog group urged democracies to stop funding hundreds of UNRWA teachers and other employees who call to murder Jews. UN Watch today exposed antisemitism and incitement to terrorism propagated recently by 10 UNRWA teachers and other employees. This is in addition to more than 100 UNRWA educators and staff previously exposed published by the non-governmental organization UN Watch, an independent human rights monitoring group based in Geneva. The latest 10 UNRWA teachers and other staffers to be exposed are:
1. Nihaya Awad, Computer Teacher at UNRWA West Bank, Praises Hamas
2. Abu Muhammad Fathi Bahar, UNRWA Lebanon Employee, Promotes Violence
3. Elham Mansour (Teacher, UNRWA Lebanon), Incites Killing Israelis and Jews
4. Hana'a Daoud (Teacher, UNRWA Jordan), Advocates Killing Jews
5. Sameer Abo Ayyash (Social Worker, UNRWA Jordan), Admires Taliban
6. Majed Zaben (Teacher, UNRWA Jordan), Incites Against Israel
7. Adel Torbani (Math Teacher, UNRWA Jordan), Rejects Israel's Right to Exist and Posts Antisemitism
8. Qusai Mansi (Employee, UNRWA Jordan), Equates Zionists with Nazis
9. Rula Om Mo'awia (Teacher, UNRWA Jordan), Incites...Read More |
When Gaza suffers from environmental catastrophes, Israel is blamed because it supposedly blocks lifesaving infrastructure from being set up.
Yet this year, Gaza's beaches have re-opened after being closed due to tons of sewage being dumped into the sea.
AFP reports: Palestinians in the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip are rediscovering the pleasures of the Mediterranean Sea, after authorities declared the end of a long period of hazardous marine pollution. Marine pollution has worsened in recent years in Gaza, where insufficient wastewater solutions have turned the Mediterranean into a dump. The problem has been further exacerbated by the dilapidated infrastructure of the impoverished and overcrowded enclave. [S]ix months ago, a German-funded plant began operating in central Gaza, and now treats 60,000 cubic metres (more than 2 million cubic feet) of wastewater per day, which is half the enclave's sewage, according to Mohammed Masleh, an official at Gaza's environment ministry. This is just the first phase of the project, and eventually, the plant could treat all wastewater in the territory. The quality of marine water in Gaza has already improved significantly. Now, according to samples collected by Gazan authorities, two-thirds of the enclave's beaches are...Read More |
The UN High Commissioner of Human Rights pretended to investigate the death of Shireen Abu Akleh, and it came to its pre-ordained conclusion with a minimum of pretense that it was being objective. In accordance with our global human rights monitoring methodology, our Office inspected photo, video and audio material, visited the scene, consulted experts, reviewed official communications and interviewed witnesses. As with the other faux investigations, they never seriously considered that there were any Palestinian militants around, even though they were pointed out at the time.
The most obvious proof that the UN did not do any sort of serious investigation comes from this laughable lie: At around 06h30, as four of the journalists turned into the street leading to the camp, wearing bulletproof helmets and flak jackets with "PRESS" markings, several single, seemingly well-aimed bullets were fired towards them from the direction of the Israeli Security Forces. There are between 12 and 18 sounds of bullets audible on the videos of the scene. One hit Abu Akleh. One grazed the shoulder of Ali Samoudi. Three hit a tree. No one seems too interested in what happened to the rest of them - there has not been a word about the PA investigating it, and the scene was never closed...Read More |
From Jewish News (UK): Anti-occupation group Na'amod have claimed they are opening a "conversation on anti-Palestinian racism" within the UK Jewish community after publishing a series of testimonies that are alleged to shed light on the scale of the problem.So what are examples of the "anti-Palestinian racism" that they are so horrified at? The article lists: Among a series of 18 personal testimonies from young members of the community, is a claim that a peaceful pro-Palestine protest at Bristol University was disrupted by a group of students hailing from north west London who "stormed the peaceful protest, sporting large Israeli flags as they frantically ran through the crowds of protestors." Holding an Israeli flag is racist? I'm not sure of when this happened, but perhaps it was this incident, which shows who the racists are: However, the protest attracted a degree of controversy from fellow students. One group of Zionist Jewish students objected to the protest and stood by the marchers holding an Israeli flag. They reported that marchers shouted at them saying, 'you are murderers'. Second-year Languages student, Talia Rack said, 'No side is blameless but it didn't feel appropriate to counter-protest this march on Nakba day, in light of what happened on Monday in Gaza'. So holding an Israeli flag is racist, but holding Palestinian flags and...Read More |
From Ian: NGO Monitor: Promotion of Apartheid Rhetoric and BDS at the UNHRC 50th Session The 50th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), held in June 2022, perpetuated the bias and hypocrisy that has come to define the UNHRC specifically and the United Nations in general. NGO Monitor was present, speaking before the Council and documenting the false accusations made by self-proclaimed human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Several statements made during the session by NGO officials, many of which receive large portions of their funding from European governments, promoted the apartheid canard and advocated for BDS. Item 2: Commission of Inquiry
In May 2021, the UNHRC established a permanent Commission of Inquiry (COI) tasked to "investigate" crimes allegedly committed by Israel since April 13, 2021. Fuelled by disinformation provided by NGOs, the COI is yet another UN body marred by secrecy and tainted by conflicts of interest, whose objective is to target Israel and disseminate false and antisemitic narratives about the conflict. On June 14, the COI presented its first report to the UNHRC, perpetuating outright falsehoods and relying on information provided by terror-linked and anti-Israel NGOs. During the debate, the Commissioners, who were appointed despite conflicts of interest and prejudicial backgrounds, made statements illustrating these biases. Navi Pillay...Read More |
A couple of weeks ago, a stone fell out of the wall in the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount.
Naturally, the Jews are being blamed.
The Islamic Information issued a press release: According to the chairman of the Palestinian Legislative Council's al-Quds and al-Aqsa Committee, Mohammed Abu Halabiya, the Israeli underground tunnels, and diggings beneath the Aqsa Mosque pose a real threat to the future of the mosque. MP Abu Halabiya announced on Monday that stones recently fell from an Aqsa Mosque wall as the result of Israeli digging underneath the area called the Umayyad Palaces, which stretches over 800 meters between Ein Silwan and the Buraq Wall. As a result of Israel's refusal to allow the Islamic Awqaf to perform renovation works in al-Quds, the recurring fissures and cave-ins at the Aqsa Mosque endanger the entire holy site. Palestine Today adds: Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, the preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque, confirmed today, Thursday, that the foundations...Read More |
Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory. Check out their Facebook page. Berlin, June 23 - German government officials announced today that henceforth, the country will observe the ninth of May to highlight the displacement and suffering of Germans that occurred in the aftermath of German surrender to the Allies in the Second World War and of the Holocaust, following the Palestinian model of a national day of grief and vengefulness on the day after the anniversary of Israel's declaration of statehood in 1948 that also resulted in massive displacement amid a regional effort to exterminate Jews. The Federal Republic's Minister of Interior Affairs Krei Bulli convened a press conference to inform journalists and the public of German Nakba Day. "We have deemed it appropriate to emulate the reaction of others who have undergone similar experiences," he stated. "Others have brought calamity on themselves by attempting to eliminate Jewry, even if those others did not succeed in making the impact that the Third Reich did manage to achieve in that respect. Palestinian Arabs, with whom Nazi Germany allied during the war, and whose other Arab allies enjoyed close ties and training with the Nazi military apparatus, underwent experience that resonates with us as perpetrators of such a genocide; the Palestinian Arab reaction has inspired...Read More |
From Ian: JPost Editorial: US-Israel relations boosted by Biden refusal to delay visit Despite the turmoil, uncertainty and instability caused by the current political crisis in Jerusalem, it's encouraging that US President Joe Biden is still planning to visit Israel next month. Biden's trip to the region – scheduled for July 13-16 and including visits to the Palestinian Authority and Saudi Arabia – had already been postponed by a month, due to domestic considerations. Back then, the Biden administration expected to be meeting with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who visited the White House once as prime minister last August. With the process of dissolving the Knesset and declaring new elections well underway, it wouldn't have been surprising for the White House to decide to postpone the July trip. All indications are that Biden will be greeted in Jerusalem by caretaker prime minister Yair Lapid who would serve as Israel's leader until the next elections, likely in October. However, as a National Security Council spokesperson said this week, "Israel is a strategic partner and fellow democracy. We respect its democratic processes. We have a strategic relationship with Israel that goes beyond any one government. The president looks forward to the visit next month." Former US ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro told The Jerusalem Post's Omri Nahmias on Tuesday that the impending Israeli election will have little impact...Read More |
Should someone tell him what the purpose of a green screen is?
The editor of Ma'an, Nasser Al-Lahham, recently took ill. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas called him up to wish him a full recovery. Ma'an, while independent, is largely aligned with Fatah.
And two recent editorials by al-Lahham are quite insane.
In one rant where he says that all Israeli natural gas is really Palestinian, he starts off saying that Israel is erasing the name "Yafo" (Jaffa) from the map and replacing it with Tel Aviv.
When the Zionist gangs occupied Jaffa in 1948, the name of the city remained Jaffa until now, but Israel continued to expand its settlement construction in Tel Aviv , to the point of saying that it is the city of Tel Aviv in order to cancel the name of the Arab coastal city, which is Jaffa. Tel Aviv merged with Jaffa (Yafo) in 1950, and over seven decades later, the official name of the city remains Tel Aviv Yafo. That's not a very good erasure.
Al-Lahham wrote something even more bizarre recently, claiming there is a "Palestinian curse" that is destroying the United States: I am convinced that Palestine has a stronger curse than the curse of the Pharaohs. And that everyone who attacked the people of Palestine and their just cause became an example for those who are considered. And after the United States...Read More |
From JTA: A US federal appeals court upheld an Arkansas state law requiring all public contractors to promise they won't boycott Israel in a Wednesday ruling, overturning an earlier decision that had said the contract violates the First Amendment. The ruling by the St. Louis-based US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit was a major victory for pro-Israel activists who have pushed around 30 states to adopt so-called "anti-BDS" laws — intended to strike back against the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement targeting Israel — in recent years. The plaintiffs say they plan to appeal to the US Supreme Court, a process that could result in a nationwide showdown over the constitutionality of all anti-boycott laws. It was the first time a federal appeals court ruled in favor of laws forbidding public contractors from being involved in any Israel boycott movements. Such laws have been heavily opposed by civil liberties groups and press freedom advocates, who say they violate free speech. Federal courts have previously ruled that similar anti-boycott state laws in Georgia, Arizona, Kansas and Texas are unconstitutional. But the Eighth Circuit, minus one dissenting judge, found that an anti-boycott contract provision does not infringe on the signer's free speech rights because it "does not require them to publicly endorse or disseminate a message." Instead...Read More |
Jezebel had an article recently about Palestinian female prisoners and how awful their lives supposedly are behind bars. Written by Wafa Aludaini, a Gaza activist, the entire article praises these prisoners as it describes their supposed plight. And they are all wonderful people: Far from the eye of international media, 32 Palestinian women are currently political prisoners languishing in Israeli occupation prisons, according to Addameer, a Palestinian NGO that monitors the treatment of Palestinian prisoners and offers legal support. Behind the walls of Hasharon and Damon in Israel wait mothers, students, journalists, teachers. Oh, they also happen to be terrorists.
The article never describes the crimes that put them in prison to begin with. They are innocent lambs, all 32 of them.
There is one exception, which shows how little Jezebel cares about fact checking- the story of Israa Jaabis: On October 11, 2015, Israa was transporting some household items to her new home near her place of work in Jerusalem. On that fateful day, she was carrying a gas cylinder in the car, according to her sister Mona Jaabis. As she headed down the road towards an Israeli checkpoint, the gas canister burst into flames. The car's airbag activated, causing an explosion. Israa ran out of the car, calling for help from the Israeli police manning the checkpoint. But the police summoned more security, and asked...Read More |
From Ian: The BDS Mapping Project targets every Jew in the US Alarm bells recently went off among American Jews when Boston BDS, a shadowy group that has no identified members, published a detailed, interactive Mapping Project report online. The report is a roadmap to anti-Jewish violence: The Mapping Project brazenly and openly maps and promotes "dismantling" and "disrupting" long lists of Boston-area Jewish institutions across the political spectrum, synagogues throughout Massachusetts, staff members, Jewish family foundations, schools and numerous other entities that allegedly have some sort of connection, past or present, real or imagined, to American Jews, Judaism, Jewish charities, Jewish education, Jewish donors or Israel. Congressman Seth Moulton (D-MA) aptly called the Mapping Project a dangerous "antisemitic enemies list with a map attached." The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) sent a detailed letter to the US attorney-general and FBI director, urging them to investigate, monitor and where appropriate, prosecute the Mapping Project and other groups, such as Within Our Lifetime (WOL), which are mapping, promoting and inciting violence against American Jews and Jewish organizations. WOL mapped and threatened Jewish organizations in New York City, and calls for "globalizing the Intifada" – meaning, expanding to the United States and the rest of the world the horror of the Intifada terror wars, in which...Read More |
Naftaly Yeffet, also known as Jachnun Supremacist or @JachnunEmpire, is one of a select group of pro-Israel advocates using their skills in their free time, to fight against the lies about Israel. Some of us share important content about Israel that regular people might otherwise not see. Others write blogs, covering what the media will not, at least not with any objectivity. Then there are those on Twitter, who hunt and expose anti-Israel propaganda and attitudes for what they are. Naftaly Yeffet, a resident of Toronto and a dual citizen of Canada and Israel, would be in this latter category. Photos are a primary vehicle for antisemites to spread lies about Israel. Images work because they have emotional impact. A tweeted photo of an Iraqi soldier holding a gun to the head of an elderly Kuwaiti woman in a jalabiya, for example, can be presented as cruel IDF soldier about to shoot old woman from the Dheisheh refugee camp. Yeffet, a former IDF combat soldier, finds the haters and their photos, and uncovers them both for what they are. The format Yeffet has settled upon is tweeting their photos alongside the originals, captioned "shot" and "chaser." There is a whole underworld of haters out there, who will use any means toward their work of driving the Jews into the sea. Poisoning minds is one step in that direction. Picture, if you will, a hater at his work, late at night, sorting...Read More |
Next month, for the first time, the Maccabiah Games - a sort of Jewish Olympics - will be held in Jerusalem, along with Haifa and Netanya.
Even though the Games have been held in Jerusalem before (2001, 2013, 2017), Israel haters are trying to frame this is a new horrible Judaization of Jerusalem.
Palestinian news site Daf interviews an "expert" to describe how awful this is: In this regard, Jerusalem researcher Fakhri Abu Diab says that this Judaization event will be attended by 10,000 Jewish athletes from 60 countries around the world. In his interview with Safa Agency, he explained that this marathon differs from the previous flag marches because the last marches were attended by settlers from inside historical Palestine only. He added, "According to the path and plan specified by the occupation municipality, this march or marathon will not enter the Islamic Quarter and the Old City in order to avoid the anger and reaction of the Jerusalemites and to convey a message to the Jewish arrivals that Jerusalem lives in peace and security." You get that? When Jews march through Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem, it is "provocative" and meant to insult local Arabs. But when Jews avoid marching through Arab neighborhoods, it is because they are lying schemer who want to give a false impression of the city. In short, no matter what Israel does, it is doing it to hurt Arabs. Which is what this "expert" goes on to say: Abu Diab asserts that the aim of this event is purely political...Read More |
From Ian: Jonathan Tobin: The fatal contradictions of Biden's Middle East trip If the administration was really committed to stopping Iran, then it would be increasing its efforts to expand former President Donald Trump's Abraham Accords to other Arab and Islamic countries to shore up a regional alliance against Tehran. Hopes that the Saudis will swap their under-the-table alliance with Israel for a full-fledged normalization are probably misplaced. As the self-styled guardians of the Muslim holy places, the odds that the Saudi regime – whose legitimacy is rooted in its own peculiar brand of religious extremism – would ever fully embrace the Jewish state are slim and none. But as they did in 2020 when the Trump foreign-policy team made the first real breakthrough for peace in a generation, their acquiescence to other countries normalizing relations with Israel is key. But Biden's disinterest in widening the circle of peace is painfully obvious. His priority is keeping Israel and the Saudis from taking any actions that will undermine his hopes of a new deal with Iran, which means that it would be extremely foolish for either Jerusalem or Riyadh to place much trust in any assurances the president offers to them. That is a painful dilemma because as much as the Saudis can flirt with trying to come to some sort of arrangement with Iran and its terrorist proxies, that isn't...Read More |
From Israel21c: More than 300 Arab and Jewish Israeli children recently joined forces to create a sustainable garden at the Al-Hayat School in the Arab town of Kfar Qassem in central Israel. The Kfar Qassem kids were joined in the project by children from the nearby Jewish community of Kfar Saba. The "Green Roofs" project, under the auspices of the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, was funded by USAID. For several months leading up to the planting of vegetables, spices, perennials and hydroponic plants, the seventh-graders learned about sustainability, environmental responsibility, climate crisis and consumer culture. The program also served to connect the two neighboring communities, create understanding among the youth and encourage activism to promote coexistence. The shared garden, which is open to the public, "deepens the connection between Kfar Qassem and Kfar Saba residents even further," says Kfar Qassem Mayor Adel Badir. Countering the negative images in the media, the mayor said the garden "symbolizes both cooperation and shared existence." This isn't the image of Israel in most Arab media (although a couple of websites...Read More |
As we've seen, all of the "investigations" of Shireen Abu Akleh's death that blame the IDF hinge on a single piece of evidence: audio analysis of the bullet sounds on different videos to determine the distance from the shooter to the camera. Every single analysis makes the same wrong assumption: that the estimates by the experts consulted has some wiggle room that would allow the IDF to be within the range of the source of the gunfire.
Every investigation noted that the IDF was outside the range of what they had asked their experts to determine. Every one fudges the data from the experts to indict the IDF. Crucially, not one of them went back to these experts and asked whether their calculations could possibly support the IDF shooting Abu Akleh. Here is a short lesson of the physics and assumptions made by the experts to calculate the distances.
The guns used by both sides shoot bullets much faster than the speed of sound. Objects that travel faster than the speed of sound create a shockwave (in the case of aircraft, a sonic boom) that can be heard by those near the path of the object. This is an illustration of a shockwave for something traveling 1.4 times the speed of sound: Most bullets travel significantly faster than the speed of sound. Here's a photo of the shockwave from a bullet. The easiest way to picture this is to think about the wake of a speedboat on a lake. The faster the bullet, the narrower the "wake." When the wake passes by one's ear or a microphone, you...Read More |
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