Tag Archives: Palestine

If Even Ken Roth Can’t Criticize Israel, No One Can

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The Palsbara Buster: Zionists and "Criticism" : IsraelPalestine

They work on each and every US  state

BRANKO MARCETIC

Ken Roth, the ex-head of Human Rights Watch, recently had his hiring at Harvard vetoed by administrators.

Because when it comes to criticism of Israeli apartheid, even a notorious friend of the powerful like Roth can’t get a pass from the establishment.

In American politics, elections come and go, but some things stay the same: criticizing Israel remains the ultimate taboo.

As yet further evidence, take what recently happened to former Human Rights Watch head Kenneth Roth.

After resigning from the organization last April, the Nation reported last week, Roth was offered a fellowship at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Someone with a nearly three-decade-long tenure leading a prestigious human rights organization joining an Ivy League human rights research center — what could possibly be controversial about that?

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The fact that Roth and his organization had the temerity to treat Israel like every other repressive, rights-violating government they scrutinized, it turned out.

Roth was never explicitly told why, after a round of interviews and being sent a formal proposal to join, the Kennedy School’s dean Douglas Elmendorf decided not to approve his hiring, reportedly an unprecedented situation for the Carr Center.

But Elmendorf did tell Kathryn Sikkink, a high-profile human rights professor associated with the center, who relayed to the Nation on the record that Elmendorf claimed Human Rights Watch had an “anti-Israel bias” and that Roth’s tweets about the country’s conduct were a problem.

As the author of the Nation report, Michael Massing, points out, the charges defy credulity.

Israel and its treatment of the Palestinians is just one of the many, many instances of human rights abuses around the world that Human Rights Watch regularly documented under Roth, which included abuses by Palestinian groups.

And its characterization of Israel’s abuses has not been materially different from other vaunted human rights organizations like Amnesty International, whose alumni the Kennedy School has never had a problem hosting before.

As for Roth’s Twitter feed, it’s presumably his repeated references to Israeli apartheid that drew the ire of whoever intimidated Elmendorf into taking this step.

Yet Roth was, at different times, quoting everyone from the late archbishop Desmond Tutu to the UN special rapporteur for Palestinian human rights to Israel’s own former attorney general in using that word.

Is one of the leading academic human rights institutions seriously accusing the UN and a former Israeli official of being biased against Israel?

As Katie Halper pointed out last year, that Israel is an apartheid state on account of its treatment of the Palestinians is a view that has been expressed by Amnesty, Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, and prominent Israeli political leaders, including a former education minister, a former environment minister, and even two former prime ministers, to name a few.

Halper, by the way, was abruptly fired for daring to point this out.

Roth is just the latest to join the long list of people who have faced censure at the hands of prominent institutions for criticizing Israel.

In recent times that list has included, besides Halper, Current Affairs editor Nathan Robinson, who was fired from the Guardian for an offhand joke critical of Israel, Marc Lamont Hill who was fired from CNN for uttering a slogan of Palestinian liberation, and a long list of academics like Steven Salaita who have had their careers ruined for criticizing Israel’s conduct.

What’s novel here are Roth’s impeccable establishment credentials. Roth was dubbed the “godfather” of the human rights movement in a praiseful New York Times tribute to his career last year, and he usually tends to voice conventional wisdom that fits comfortably within the narrow spectrum of Washington foreign policy establishment discourse.

He has expressed the view that “the biggest threat to human rights is China” and that “the US government remains the most powerful proponent of human rights.”

He’s backed everything from the coup in Bolivia to regime change in Libya while keeping mum about the US-backed Saudi war on Yemen, and he and Human Rights Watch have been repeatedly criticized for their closeness to the US political and corporate establishment, right down to a well-documented revolving door for alumni of the US state department and even CIA.

At one point, Roth signed an agreement with a Saudi real estate magnate agreeing to take his money as long as it wasn’t used for LGBTQ advocacy in the Middle East.

The point here isn’t to run down Roth. It is that, if someone with this record and connections can’t make reasonable, factually accurate criticisms of Israeli policy, then who can?

This isn’t so much a problem of a distorted political climate surrounding Israel as it is of power and money.

As Massing points out, it’s the Kennedy School’s own revolving door between government officials, like former CIA director Michael Morell and disgraced former Iraq and Afghanistan commander David Petraeus, and its reliance on funding from pro-Israel donors — including Les Wexner, the oddly generous friend and benefactor of late child-sex-trafficker-for-the-elite Jeffrey Epstein — that ultimately made Roth persona non grata at the Carr Center.

Predictably, the usual, cynical voices are already declaring this piece of reporting an antisemitic “conspiracy theory.”

It’s in the interests of even the most establishment-friendly liberals to push back on all of this, beyond the fact that such cynical abuse of that accusation empowers actual antisemites by cheapening it.

Such accusations against the Left have been intensely weaponized both in the United States and, to an even more extreme extent, across the pond in the UK, where they have been used to delegitimize and even purge the Left from political power, including Jewish activists.

Liberal voices were silent or even joined in on this shameful display.

But the Roth episode shows that it’s only a matter of time before that kind of thing creeps closer to the political center.

And when that happens, it undermines everyone’s ability to have a rational debate about foreign policy and human rights.

“Israel” in Palestine: Making the Desert Bloom

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“It doesn’t even enter their heads to build up a Jewish state in Palestine for the purpose of living there; all they want is a central organization for their international world swindle, endowed with its own sovereign rights and removed from the intervention of other states: a haven for convicted scoundrels and a university for budding crooks.” ~ Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Chapter 11

The relationship that enabled Arabs and Jews to live together for centuries as neighbors and friends has been destroyed by Zionist ideas and actions.

Ehud Olmert said in 2003, “We are approaching the point where more and more Palestinians will say, ‘There is no place for two states between the Jordan and the sea. All we want is the right to vote.’ The day they get it, we will lose everything.” (One Country, p. 55)

From Glorious Millennia To Death And Destruction.

The Zionist Narrative Is Arguably Responsible For The Welcoming And Forgiving Attitude The Entire World Has Towards The Horrendous, Unforgivable Crimes Committed By Israel Since Its Founding In 1948.

Palestine – As these words were being written, the final two Palestinian freedom prisoners who escaped from Gilboa Prison were caught by the Israeli authorities.

Palestine is still reacting to this courageous escape and the consequent re-capture of the six political prisoners who escaped and defied the entire Israeli security apparatus.

However, even though they managed to free themselves from this high-security prison, they found a world that doesn’t care.

The rest of the world did not step up to save these brave men and did not provide them with sanctuary, and so they were caught.

One of the great tragedies of Palestine is that almost every day there is a commemoration of one massacre or another, the death of a child or destruction of a home or village, leading one to think that the Palestinian narrative is one of death and destruction, which is what Israel wants people to think.

But the truth is that this is not the case.

The Palestinian narrative is one of a glorious history with periods of great sadness and tragedy.

It is the Zionist story that is full of killing, stealing and destruction and not, as they try to sell it, one of creation and growth.

September 16, 2021, marked 39 years since the massacres at Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon.

As people remember and mourn the thousands of unarmed civilians who were butchered and the countless who survived suffering terrible injuries and emotional scars, we must also remember the man that stood behind this bloodbath.

This was a man whose complicity even the Israeli authorities could not ignore, the former general and renowned war criminal Ariel Sharon.

And although he was momentarily penalized and banished from politics, he very quickly returned, and for a quarter of a century, he was the most powerful and influential man in Israeli politics.

Narratives

At the end of the day, it is all about the narrative, and we know all too well that Israel has done an outstanding job of erasing the Palestinian narrative and injecting its own mythical, false narrative in its place.

In the media, in movies, in literature, in public education, and in politics the false Zionist narrative rules supreme and we who oppose racism and violence are faced with an enormous task as we engage in the work of reversing the narrative – a task without which it is hard to imagine Palestine ever becoming free.

Over the last 100 years, the Zionist movement managed to take the truly incredible history of Palestine and turn it into a historical footnote, replacing it with a mythical story that relies heavily on a Protestant-Zionist, literal reading of the Old Testament, which allowed them to create what is known as “return history.”

In other words, the Zionist version of the history of Palestine creates the impression that the Jews returned to their ancient homeland after 2,000 years, making it an unprecedented historical event that overshadows anything else that occurred in Palestine over that bimillennial span.

The Zionist narrative is designed to turn the ancient history of Palestine into a small, unimportant story that cannot be compared with the grandeur of the narrative that is presented by the Old Testament.

This is highlighted when Israeli politicians like the current prime minister, Naftali Bennett, refer to the Bible as the source of legitimacy for Israel.

A Four Thousand-Year History

Thanks to the historian Nur Masalha, we now know that the name Palestine goes back close to 4,000 years.

We know that the name Palestine was used in Egyptian sources going back to the Bronze Age, more than 1,000 BCE.

Later, the name was used by the Assyrians in inscriptions from that era.

The Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century BCE and who is considered to be the father of history as we know it, visited the country and referred to it as Palestine.

The Greek scientist and philosopher Aristotle also refers to Palestine by name in his writings.

The cities of Lyd, Ramle, and Yaffa all had remarkable histories, as did the cities of Akka, Haifa, and, of course, Nablus, Gaza, and Al-Quds-Jerusalem.

Throughout the Muslim rule of Palestine, cities grew, cultures flourished, economic conditions and trade with Europe allowed people to prosper.

 Dhaher Al-Umar, who ruled over large parts of Palestine during the 18th century, is seen as the founding father of Palestinian modernity and, according to Nur Maslaha, he was the most influential figure in the modern orientation of Palestine towards the Mediterranean.

During his reign in Palestine, there were agricultural and technical innovations introduced that “benefited the majority of Palestinian peasantry.”

White Slaves of Israel* - RadioChristianity

White slavery and prostitution in Israel? That’s right! All perfectly legal! Let’s send them more billions this year! That way the Israelis can renovate their brothels and the poor, duped, White Ukrainian shiksas can be fucked and violated all day in luxury! (Sorry, but harsh facts call for harsh language.) And let’s be clear: it is called “White” slavery for a reason. Today, at this very moment in history, raping goyim is the chosen fetish of the Chosen people. “It’s no secret,” an article reports, “that the highest prices now go for the White women.” And it’s no surprise either.

Thanks to Dhaher Al-Umar, there was considerable growth in the export of cotton, olive oil, wheat and soap.

Other, lesser-known parts of Palestine also flourished throughout history, such as the Palestinian town of Khalasa, which was founded by the Nabatean Arabs in the fourth century and then depopulated by the Zionist militia in 1948.

It was known to be on what is called the “Arab incense route” and, according to Nur Masalha, under Arab-Islamic rule, the town, which sits just southwest of the city of Bi’r Al-Saba, was a major urban center.

According to Mansur Nasasra, the Palestinian Bedouin in the Naqab had a very profitable export of barley to England for the production of beer.

Aerial photos from the early British occupation of Palestine also show large tracts of cultivated land in the Naqab.

These lands are now mostly depopulated and the Palestinian Bedouin in the Naqab are prohibited from cultivating their ancestral lands.

All of this stands in the face of Zionist claims that they came to a barren land and made it bloom.

The Zionist narrative is arguably responsible for the welcoming and forgiving attitude the entire world has towards the horrendous, unforgivable crimes committed by Israel since its founding in 1948.

In order to prevent the next massacre by Israel, a state that seems to have an insatiable thirst for Palestinian blood, we have to reverse the narrative and delegitimize Zionism.

Israel ‘afraid’ to reveal looted Palestinian documents fearing debunked Zionist myths

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December 5, 2022
Probably the first time the occupiers of Palestine get a taste of what their neighbors really think of them. They seemed surprised! And then there’s the rest of us…

Israeli historian Shay Hazkani has said that the Israel State Archive’s refusal to release written material looted from the Palestinians on the pretext that this would “undermine national security” is actually “cover for a completely different fear”.

He believes that the tens of thousands of documents looted by Israel during the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous population in 1947/48 will, if made available, completely undermine the Zionist narrative about the founding of the occupation state.

Writing in Haaretz, the associate professor of Jewish Studies also described the impossible hurdles he has had to jump through to obtain access to tens of thousands of pages of yet to be declassified Arabic documents looted by Israel.

Read: Historians reveal Israel’s use of poison against Palestinians

Palestinians being put out to sea by occupiers

One of the many false claims spread by Israel’s founders was that the Palestinians wanted to “throw the Jews into the sea.”

Hazkani has found no calls for murdering Jews just because they were Jews in either Arab propaganda or the educational material aimed at Palestinians and Arab fighters in 1948.

“Judging by the documents I collected for my latest book, the claims about an Arab plan to ‘throw the Jews into the sea’ are actually rooted in official Zionist propaganda,” he explained.

“This propaganda began during the [Nakba], perhaps to encourage Jewish fighters to leave as few Palestinians as possible in the areas that would become part of Israel.”

A comparison of Arab and Jewish propaganda issued in 1948 revealed that the propaganda of the Israeli army and its precursor, the Haganah, was much more violent.

Hazkani was only granted permission to view documents five years after he had sought permission to examine several files that were looted from Palestinian institutions during the fighting that took place in the wake of Israel’s creation and whose existence had been concealed.

Nevertheless, full details of the information that would reveal what Palestinian intentions were, including those of the much-maligned Mufti of Jerusalem Amin Al-Husseini, remain classified until 2040.

While Al-Husseini’s correspondence with senior Nazi officials was made available, the official policy and motives of the leader of the Palestinian national movement during World War Two will remain classified for another two decades.

Read: ‘Through the process of documenting Palestine’s history, the old do not die and the young will not forget’

“There are not and cannot be any state secrets in Arabic documents written by Palestinians, such as their plans for an independent Palestinian state or documents from an orphanage in Jaffa,” argued Hazkani.

Indeed, he said that the biggest secret is the very existence of these documents, which are a memorial to a destroyed Palestinian civilization.

The reason why they remain a “secret” and why Israeli officials responsible for declassifying the documents want to keep them locked away is because they might undermine the official Zionist narrative and raise doubts among people willing to examine history with a critical eye.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is Yet Another in a Long Line of Made [Zionist] Men

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I didn’t know these particular roots of Blinken but I had him pegged as an Israeli agent for sure.

My liveliest interest is not so much in things, as in relations of things. I have spent much time thinking about the alleged pseudo-relations that are called coincidences. What if some of them should not be coincidences?’ — Charles Fort, author of ‘Wild Talents’

Newly anointed President Joe Biden chose for U.S. Secretary of State a creature from the bowels of the Crime Syndicate cesspool named Antony Blinken, who has often been described in the press as Biden’s closest and most-loyal friend.

Blinken’s stepfather, one Samuel Pisar (1929-2015), was a “long-trusted attorney” for Israeli and Soviet Union superspy Robert Maxwell (1923-1991). Based in Paris, Pisar “had become one of Maxwell’s few confidants and probably his closest business adviser,” according to reports at the time.

Robert Maxwell (left), Samuel Pisar (middle)

Antony “Tony” Blinken was born on April 16, 1962, in Yonkers, New York, to Jewish parents Judith and Donald Blinken.

He attended the prestigious Dalton School in New York City until 1971, when he moved to Paris, France, with his divorced mother and her new husband, the aforementioned lawyer Samuel Pisar.

As you may recall, the notorious Jeffrey Epstein was a teacher at Dalton School and Bill Barr’s father was its principal.

Donald Barr “hired Epstein to teach at Dalton when Epstein was merely a 20-year-old college dropout from both Cooper Union and New York University.

Epstein taught at Dalton 2 years before he was hired by the investment bank Bear Stearns.”

During the Clinton Administration, the then-assistant secretary of state for European and Canadian affairs brought Blinken into the National Security Council.

The fast-rising Blinken was well established in American foreign-policy circles.

He worked as a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies from 2001 to ’02 and then served as Democratic Staff Director of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from 2002 until 2008. During that time, he became a close friend of then-Sen. Joe Biden.

In 2006, Donald Blinken and Jeffrey Epstein were both members of the Council on Foreign Relations.

When Democratic nominee Barack Obama chose Biden as his running mate in the 2008 election, Biden gave Blinken a broad portfolio, including managing the team’s Iraq policy.

From 2009 to 2013, he served as Deputy Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor to the Vice President and helped craft U.S. policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Iranian nuclear program.

He was appointed Deputy National Security Advisor in 2014.

Blinken’s half-sister, Leah Pisar, also worked at the State Department and as communications director at the National Security Council during the Clinton administration.

Blinken’s uncle, meanwhile, served as U.S. ambassador to Belgium at the same time that Blinken’s father was ambassador to Hungary.

Six Degrees of Samuel Pisar

Most of the background on stepfather Samuel Pisar is whitewashed other than mentions that he was a “lawyer for Fortune 500 companies.” The truth is much more sketchy.

Pisar was the longtime consigliere, confidant and one of the last people to speak to Robert Maxwell (aka Ján Ludvík Hyman Hoch) by phone probably an hour before the chairman of Mirror Group Newspapers “fell off” his luxury yacht, the Lady Ghislaine (named for his daughter) on Nov. 5, 1991.

Maxwell, of course, was the father of Epstein’s madam Ghislaine Maxwell. Cozy, isn’t it?

Six serving and former heads of Israeli intelligence services attended Maxwell’s funeral in Israel, while Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir eulogized him and stated, “He has done more for Israel than can today be told.”

Read “Israel gives Maxwell farewell fit for hero” from The Washington Post on 11 November 1991- “Herzog delivered the eulogy, the Kaddish was recited by his fellow Holocaust survivor, friend and longtime attorney Samuel Pisar.”

The central organizing precept in these circles is corruption, and a singular, well understood, self righteous thirst for power and wealth.

It emerged after the funeral that, Pisar’s pal and client Maxwell had looted hundreds of millions of pounds from his companies’ pension funds to shore up the shares of the Mirror Group to save his companies from bankruptcy. Eventually, the pension funds were replenished from public funds. The result was that in general, pensioners received about half of their company pension entitlement.

Pisar was an advisor to French presidents François Mitterrand and ValĂ©ry Giscard d’Estaing.

“In Paris Pisar, was the intermediary between Epstein and the (French) cabinet.

Samuel Pisar’s name and seven phone numbers were in Epstein’s “black book.

From Epstein black book
Robert Maxwell and daughter Ghislaine in happier days

Many roads lead to Pisar and there are ample clues on the who, what, and whens of this transnational organized crime network.

Pisar represented Armand Hammer in a number of his international negotiations.

Pisar represented Sir James Goldsmith, crooked Geneva banker Bruce Rappaport and high-level members of the Bank of New York. He worked with Roget Tamraz on the BCCI bailout plan.

Bruce Rappaport and high-level members of the Bank of New York, criminal Russian (code for Jewish) organizations were able to thrive and prosper during a time when the rest of the former Soviet Union crumbled.

Samuel Pisar code name was ‘’The Phoenix’’ and to understand his role you need to look into his close friend from Harvard Ahmed Zaki Yamani. Pisar was also part of the negotiation in the Al-Yamamah arms deal.

Pisar was one of the earliest exponents of détente in the heyday of the Cold War and one of the  advisors to corporations on how to do business with the Soviet Union. The cornerstone of his reputation with the broad public was his 558 page book entitled Coexistence & Commerce: Guidelines for Transactions between East and West.

Steven Jobs spent lots of time with Pisar too. A declassified FBI interrogation statement describes Jobs as a likely intelligence asset of some kind.

Some 600 Palestinians held by Israel without charge

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So-called administrative detainees are held based on ‘secret evidence’, and are held for renewable six-month periods.

While Israel says the procedure allows authorities to hold suspects while continuing to gather evidence, critics and rights groups say the system is widely abused and denies due process.

HaMoked said 2,441 Palestinians are currently serving sentences after being convicted in military courts. A further 1,478 detainees are being held for questioning, have been charged and are awaiting trial, or are currently being tried.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

So-called administrative detainees are held based on ‘secret evidence’, and are held for renewable six-month periods.

Israel is holding about 600 Palestinian detainees without charge or trial, the highest number since 2016, an Israeli rights group said.

HaMoked, an Israeli rights group that regularly gathers figures from prison authorities, said on Monday that as of May there were 604 detainees held in administrative detention.

Nearly all are Palestinians, as administrative detention is very rarely used against Jews.

So-called administrative detainees are arrested on “secret evidence”, unaware of the accusations against them, and are not allowed to defend themselves in court. They are usually held for renewable six-month periods that often lead to years in detention.

While Israel says the procedure allows authorities to hold suspects while continuing to gather evidence, critics and rights groups say the system is widely abused and denies due process.

HaMoked said 2,441 Palestinians are currently serving sentences after being convicted in military courts. A further 1,478 detainees are being held for questioning, have been charged and are awaiting trial, or are currently being tried.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A Scarred Childhood: Israeli Attacks against Palestinian Children in the Occupied West Bank in 2022

Apr 15, 2022

The State of Palestine presents a blistering account of Israeli abuses against Palestinian children during the first three months of 2022 – adding to the growing library of reports on Israel’s human rights violations.

Reposted from State of Palestine Negotiations Affairs Dept., April 12, 2022

For over five decades, Palestinian children and their families have experienced the injustices of the Israeli occupation. To our children, this occupation has served as a school of daily experiential learning.

This happens at Israeli-monitored checkpoints that fragment our towns and restrict our movement; during clashes where Israeli occupation forces shoot and sometimes kill, unarmed Palestinians; during repressive curfews, closures, home raids, and demolitions; through settler violence, and the day-to-day humiliations faced by a people under occupation.

Undoubtedly, the occupying Power has constituted an informal curriculum, whose master teachers have instilled and cultivated existential fear, a profound sense of insecurity, loss, bitterness, and anger in the hearts and minds of our children.

The impact of Israel’s oppressive policies against our children, in violation of international law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is tremendous and far-reaching since they touch not only the five senses but leave deep physical, mental, psychological, emotional, and spiritual scars that are hard to heal given the continued occupation.

In over twenty years and based on documentation by Defense for Children International- Palestine (DCIP), more than 2,200 Palestinian children were killed by the Israeli occupying forces and settlers in the occupied Palestinian territory. At the end of 2021, the same organization conducted an investigation and concluded that last year was the “deadliest year for Palestinian children since 2014.”

Since the beginning of the year, Israel, the occupying Power, has continued to terrorize the Palestinian people, including women, children, and the elderly. As a result, many Palestinians have been killed, hundreds injured, and more than a thousand detained.

This is in addition to over 1,400 military raids into Palestinian villages and cities in the occupied West Bank, and 85 demolition operations documented by UNOCHA, which displaced almost 230 people, half of them were children, and otherwise affected nearly 1,140 Palestinians, nearly half of them are children.

On the occasion of Palestinian Child Day on 5 April and the Palestinian Prisoner Day on 17 April, this report provides an overview of the various Israeli violations committed by Israel’s occupying forces and settlers during the first three months of 2022[1] in the occupied West Bank against our children, who represent nearly  44% of the entire Palestinian population in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The brother of a Palestinian boy killed during Israel's May 2021 attack on Gaza cries during his funeral.
The brother of a Palestinian boy killed during Israel’s May 2021 attack on Gaza cries during his funeral. (Reuters)

I. KILLINGS

In the first three months of 2022, the Israeli occupying forces (IOF) killed 24 Palestinians, five of which are under the age of 18: Mohammad Abu Salah (17) from Al-Yamoun town in Jenin, Mohammad Salah (14) from Al- Khadder town in Bethlehem, Shadi Najem (18) from Jenin refugee camp, Nader Rayan (17) from Balata refugee camp in Nablus, and Sanad Abu Attiya (17) from Jenin refugee camp.

The bodies of the following Palestinian children martyrs remain withheld in Israeli custody[2]:

  1. Mohammad Nasser Trereh (17) from Hebron since 30 June 2016
  2. Khaled Abdel A’al (17) from Gaza since 2 July 2018
  3. Mohammad Dar Yousef (17) from Ramallah since 26 July 2018
  4. Mohammad Abu Mandil (17) from Gaza since 22 January 2020
  5. Mahmoud Kamil (17) from Jenin since 21 December 2020
  6. Atallah Rayyan (17) from Salfit since 26 January 2021
  7. Zuhdi Al-Tawil (17) from Jerusalem since 24 May 2021
  8. Yousef Subuh (16) from Jenin since 26 September 2021
  9. Mohammad Younes (16) from Nablus since 6 December 2021
Palestinian student Mohammed Abu Hussain from Gaza, who lost his leg after being shot by an Israeli sniper during "Great March of Return" demonstrations, sits on a chair holding his crutches at the playground of his school in Gaza City, Gaza on 3 September 2018.
Palestinian student Mohammed Abu Hussain from Gaza, who lost his leg after being shot by an Israeli sniper during “Great March of Return” demonstrations, sits on a chair holding his crutches at the playground of his school in Gaza City, Gaza on 3 September 2018. (Ali Jadallah – Anadolu Agency)

II. INJURIES

Nearly 1,600 Palestinians were injured[3], including nearly 40 children that were hospitalized according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, as well as others who suffocated from tear gas inhalation.

Many of these injuries happened during protests (in Hebron, Budrus village, Qalendia refugee camp, Jerusalem, Beita village, Kufr Qaddoum village, and other places throughout the occupied West Bank) against the IOF, who often responded with rubber-coated metal bullets, stun grenades, and tear gas canisters.

Among the young wounded Palestinians was Ahmad Thawabteh (13), who was briefly arrested and later released after being severely beaten and breaking his leg. Among the injured were 11-year-old children, including Munawar Burqan (details about the incident later in the report) with special needs from occupied Jerusalem, who was seriously injured after a stun grenade was fired at her face by the IOF.

The youngest among the wounded was a 6 months-old baby.

Below are some examples of Palestinian children injured by the IOF and later abused in prison[4]:

– Ahmad Flanna, from Safa town in Ramallah, turned 17 on 4 April. Ahmad was shot five times and abused by the IOF before being arrested on 26 February 2021. While incarcerated, Ahmad had several surgeries at an Israeli hospital without informing his family. The occupation authorities had also interrogated him while in the hospital without regard to his health condition.

Ahmed, a student in the first year of secondary school, is currently detained in “Megiddo” prison. A hearing at an Israeli court was scheduled for 12 April.

– Issa Al-Titi (17) from Al-Aroub Refugee Camp was shot by the IOF in September 2020, leaving him with disfiguring injuries to his face, a fractured skull, and severe head injuries. He stayed in an Israeli hospital for eight days before being transferred to the “Megiddo” prison and then to the “Ofer” prison.

Today, a permanent headache plagues him due to the Israeli prison administration’s indifference to providing him with necessary medical treatment. They also keep him from meeting his brothers, Jihad and Mohammad, who are also detained in Israeli jails. Issa was sentenced to 13 months in prison and was released in January 2022.

–  Mohammad Al-Sheikh (17) from Al-Ezzariya was arrested in August 2019 after shooting him with several bullets in the body. Naseem Abu Rumi, his friend, was killed by the IOF in occupied Jerusalem the same day. Mohammed underwent several surgeries in an Israeli hospital after his arrest. He stayed there for ten days before being transferred to the “Ramle” prison clinic, where he remained for four months.

Despite suffering from a bullet near his heart, and shrapnel in his body, Mohammed is currently being held under harsh detention conditions in “Ofer” prison. His health is deteriorating due to Israel’s inhumane policy of medical negligence.

Weathering the Global Storm: Why Neutrality is Not an Option for Palestinians

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Dr. Ramzy Baroud 

A new global geopolitical game is in formation, and the Middle East, as is often the case, will be directly impacted by it in terms of possible new alliances and resulting power paradigms.

While it is too early to fully appreciate the impact of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war on the region, it is obvious that some countries are placed in relatively comfortable positions in terms of leveraging their strong economies, strategic location and political influence.

  • UAE toes fine line as it navigates increasingly strong ties with Moscow amid Western fallout over Ukraine conflict, say analysts.

Others, especially non-state actors, like the Palestinians, are in an unenviable position.

Despite repeated calls on the Palestinian Authority by the US Biden Administration and some EU countries to condemn Russia following its military intervention in Ukraine on February 24, the PA has refrained from doing so.

Analyst Hani al-Masri was quoted in Axios as saying that the Palestinian leadership understands that condemning Russia “means that the Palestinians would lose a major ally and supporter of their political positions.”

Indeed, joining the anti-Russia western chorus would further isolate an already isolated Palestine, desperate for allies who are capable of balancing out the pro-Israel agenda at US-controlled international institutions, like the UN Security Council.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dismantling of its Eastern Bloc in the late 1980s, Russia was allowed to play a role, however minor, in the US political agenda in Palestine and Israel.

It participated, as a co-sponsor, in the Madrid peace talks in 1991, and in the 1993 Oslo accords.

Since then a Russian representative took part in every major agreement related to the ‘peace process,’ to the extent that Russia was one of the main parties in the so-called Middle East Quartet which, in 2016, purportedly attempted to negotiate a political breakthrough between the Israeli government and the Palestinian leadership.

Despite the permanent presence of Russia at the Palestine-Israel political table, Moscow has played a subordinate position.

It was Washington that largely determined the momentum, time, place and even the outcomes of the ‘peace talks.’

Considering Washington’s strong support for Tel Aviv, Palestinians remained occupied and oppressed, while Israel’s colonial settlement enterprises grew exponentially in terms of size, population and economic power.

 

Palestinians, however, continued to see Moscow as an ally.

Within the largely defunct Quartet – which, aside from Russia, includes the US, the European Union and the United Nations – Russia is the only party that, from a Palestinian viewpoint, was trustworthy.

However, considering the US near complete hegemony on international decision-making, through its UN vetoes, massive funding of the Israeli military and relentless pressure on the Palestinians, Russia’s role proved ultimately immaterial, if not symbolic.

There were exceptions to this rule.

In recent years, Russia has attempted to challenge its traditional role in the peace process as a supporting political actor, by offering to mediate, not just between Israel and the PA, but also between Palestinian political groups, Hamas and Fatah.

Using the political space that presented itself following the Trump Administration’s cutting of funds to the PA in February 2019, Moscow drew even closer to the Palestinian leadership.

A more independent Russian position in Palestine and Israel has been taking shape for years.

In February 2017, for example, Russia hosted a national dialogue conference between Palestinian rivals.

Though the Moscow conference did not lead to anything substantive, it allowed Russia to challenge its old position in Palestine, and the US’ proclaimed role as an ‘honest peace broker.’

Wary of Russia’s infringement on its political territory in the Middle East, US President Joe Biden was quick to restore his government’s funding of the PA in April 2021.

The American President, however, did not reverse some of the major US concessions to Israel made by the Trump Administration, including the recognition of Jerusalem, contrary to international law, as Israel’s capital.

Moreover, under Israeli pressure, the US is yet to restore its Consulate in East Jerusalem, which was shut down by Trump in 2019. The Consulate served the role of Washington’s diplomatic mission in Palestine.

Washington’s significance to Palestinians, at present, is confined to financial support. Concurrently, the US continues to serve the role of Israel’s main benefactor financially, militarily, politically and diplomatically.

While Palestinian groups, whether Islamists or socialists, have repeatedly called on the PA to liberate itself from its near-total dependency on Washington, the Palestinian leadership refused.

For the PA, defying the US in the current geopolitical order is a form of political suicide.

But the Middle East has been rapidly changing.

The US political divestment from the region in recent years has allowed other political actors, like China and Russia, to slowly immerse themselves as political, military and economic alternatives and partners.

Russia Palestinians

Putin, left, poses with Palestinian children in traditional clothes during a welcoming ceremony in Bethlehem, in 2012. Nasser Shiyoukhi | AP

The Russian and Chinese influence can now be felt across the Middle East.

However, their impact on the balances of power in the Palestine-Israel issue, in particular, remains largely minimal.

Despite its strategic ‘pivot to Asia’ in 2012, Washington remained entrenched behind Israel, because American support for Israel is no longer a matter of foreign policy priorities, but an internal American issue involving both parties, powerful pro-Israel lobby and pressure groups, and a massive rightwing, Christian constituency across the US.

Palestinians – people, leadership and political parties – have little trust or faith in Washington.

In fact, much of the political discord among Palestinians is directly linked to this very issue. Alas, walking away from the US camp requires a strong political will that the PA does not possess.

Since the rise of the US as the world’s only superpower over three decades ago, the Palestinian leadership reoriented itself entirely to be part of the ‘new world order’. The Palestinian people, however, gained little from their leadership’s strategic choice.

To the contrary, since then the Palestinian cause suffered numerous losses – factionalism and disunity at home, and a confused regional and international political outlook, thus the hemorrhaging of Palestine’s historic allies, including many African, Asian and South American countries.

The Russia-Ukraine war, however, is placing the Palestinians before one of their greatest foreign policy challenges since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

For Palestinians, neutrality is not an option since the latter is a privilege that can only be obtained by those who can navigate global polarization using their own political leverage.

The Palestinian leadership, thanks to its selfish choices and lack of a collective strategy, has no such leverage. 

Common sense dictates that Palestinians must develop a unified front to cope with the massive changes underway in the world, changes that will eventually yield a whole new geopolitical reality.

The Palestinians cannot afford to stand aside and pretend that they will magically be able to weather the storm.

Feature photo | Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas talk to each other during their meeting in the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Nov. 23, 2021. Yevgeny Biyatov | Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan PappĂ©, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak out”. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is www.ramzybarou

Zionist Power Over Washington

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 ‱ JANUARY 18, 2022

There have appeared a couple of stories recently that illustrate how there is only one “red line” that no one dares cross in Washington and that is criticism of Israel and its associated supportive mythologies of increasing “holocaust denial” and “surging anti-Semitism.”

The rule is ruthlessly enforced by the Israel Lobby, often by its redoubtable Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which is based in New York City but has a regional office in the capital, conveniently close to government offices, from which vantage point it can observe possible deviations and mete out instant punishment.

If one wants to learn how hypersensitive (and vicious) defenders of Israel and/or Jewishness can be it is only necessary to read about the recent experience of strongly pro-Israel Republican Senator Marco Rubio.

He denounced “upscale liberals who control the media” in a tweet and was immediately attacked for “the anti-Semitic trope that Jews control the media,” which of course they do, but Rubio is too stupid and too fearful of Jewish influence to be suggesting that.

So, one must conclude it is not even safe for a conservative friend of Israel to mention the “liberal media” for fear of being labeled as guilty of “coded anti-Semitism.”

Likewise, any mention of the malign influence of George Soros by Republicans is likely to bring down the wrath of the usual suspects, not because it is a fiction but solely because he is Jewish and it implies that Jews can interact conspiratorially, which is demonstrably true.

Another interesting story concerns a government institution that I had never heard of before, the US Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad (USCPAHA), and guess what?

It is nearly all about Israel, Jews and the so-called holocaust! If you don’t believe that bold assertion on my part, go to the organization’s website which includes multiple pictures of people handing out holocaust related “Cultural Pluralism Awards” and smiling for the camera.

The commission was created by Public Law 99-83 in 1985 and its ostensible purpose stated on the website is to “1. identify and report on cemeteries, monuments, and historic buildings in Eastern and Central Europe that are associated with the heritage of US citizens, particularly endangered properties, and 2. obtain, in cooperation with the Department of State, assurances from the governments of the region that the properties will be protected and preserved


The establishment of the Commission recognized that the population of the United States is mostly comprised of immigrants and their descendants.

The United States has an interest in the preservation of sites in other countries related to the heritage of these Americans.

The Holocaust and 45 years of atheist Communist governments created a critical need that led to the Commission’s establishment.”

The site also includes a list of “projects” , which are overwhelmingly Jewish/holocaust related and located in the parts of Europe where Jews settled.

Alison Weir’s “If Americans Knew” has reported how in the past congress there were 70 largely hidden bills that in some way benefited Israel, and the creation of America’s Heritage Abroad has that smell to it, yet another gift that flies beneath the radar by being attached to a larger piece of legislation.

America’s Heritage Abroad only surfaced in the news due to a stink being raised by ADL over one of the organization’s 21 commissioners, all of whom appear to be Jewish judging from their names.

He is Darren Beattie, who has been described as a “Right-wing conspiracy theorist [who] continues to occupy a position in the federal government given to him by Donald Trump, almost a year since Joe Biden took office and gained the ability to fire him.

Beattie was appointed by then-President Donald Trump in November 2020 to serve on the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad.

Its main responsibilities are seeking to preserve monuments in eastern and central Europe, many of which memorialize Holocaust victims.

He gained new prominence in recent weeks promoting conspiracy theories about the Capitol riot, earning public praise from Trump.”

Recently, the ADL criticized the appointment and said that Beattie, who describes himself as a “proud Jew” on Twitter, should not be continuing to serve on the commission.

Spokesman Jake Hyman complained that “Since Beattie’s appointment to the Commission in November 2020, he has continued to spread outrageous and deeply harmful falsehoods and misinformation, including about the January 6 insurrection, that are at odds with serving in such positions of official responsibility.

We retain our view that Beattie, who once attended an event with white supremacists and participated in a panel discussion with white nationalist Peter Brimelow, should have no place on a commission that plays a special role preserving Jewish heritage sites from before the Holocaust.”

Beattie claims that he is still on the commission even though he no longer appears on its website.

He states that “I’m proud to serve president Biden to honor the memory of the Holocaust” before criticizing ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt as a “Democrat apparatchik” who has “destroyed the reputation of the ADL during his tenure.”

So, the United States is now in the business of promoting holocaust remembrance on the taxpayer’s dime.

Another fascinating news report that just surfaced also has a holocaust plus “surging” anti-Semitism back story.

It is all about how numerous Biden nominees are stuck in the Senate waiting for approval, but it is really about Deborah Lipstadt who is described as a “renowned holocaust scholar.”

Lipstadt is the Dorot professor of Modern Jewish history and Holocaust studies at Atlanta’s Emory University, as well as founding director of Emory’s Institute for Jewish Studies.

She has also held senior positions at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, another taxpayer supported enterprise that promotes the Israel narrative. Lipstadt has sharply criticized some progressives in the Democratic Party who have dared to criticize Israel, including Representative Ilhan Omar, for describing pro-Israel Americans as a “political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country.”

Such statements are “part of the textbook accusations against Jews,” Lipstadt countered, but Omar was, of course, right, though not allowed to get away with the truth when confronted by the Democratic Party establishment led by a foaming at the mouth Nancy Pelosi.

The White House announced in late July that Lipstadt would lead an expansion of the activity of the State Department’s Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, which is tasked with tracking and countering the alleged rise of anti-Semitism abroad.

For the first time, the position will have the rank of ambassador, which makes necessary Senate confirmation.

Bear in mind that these are all mechanisms set up specifically to promote the narratives favored by international Jewry.

Apart from affirmative action for blacks and other set-asides to favor them, there exists nothing in the US government to enhance the status of any other European, Latino or Asian ethnic groups or religious persuasions that is in any way similar.

These commissions, offices and special ambassadorships were established through the assiduous marketing of their brand by Jews using their methodically exploited financial power and the political access that it buys.

To cite only one example of what all that networking produces, politically wired Jewish organizations already receive more than 90% of the discretionary grants for “security” issued by the Department of Homeland Security.

And the end result is that Washington is a helpless giant that is drawn into conflicts in the Middle East that it would best avoid while also funding the Jewish aggressors, most recently in response to a demand to rearm the Israeli military with $1 billion, conflicts which serve no US national interest.

Finally, should the United States be so obsessed with a narrative that is certainly in many respects questionable and which relates to events that largely took place many years ago overseas?

Should the American taxpayer continue to foot the bill for all these contrivances to bind the US government hand and foot to the “heritage” of a small minority of the population and to its favored foreign state?

These are questions that are almost never asked though, as Voltaire allegedly put it, “If you want to know who controls you, look at who you are not allowed to criticize.”

Jerusalem Church Leader: Zionist Entity Threaten Christian Presence in City

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The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of the occupied al-Quds says extremist Israeli groups are threatening the presence of Christians in the holy city as the Tel Aviv regime continues assaulting places of worship.

In a column in the Times of London on Saturday, Theophilos III said he believed the aim is to drive the Christian community from al-Quds Old City, which has sites sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

“Our presence” in al-Quds is “under threat,” the patriarch wrote in the article, adding, “Our churches are threatened by Israeli radical fringe groups.”

He went on to say that the Christian community in al-Quds is suffering greatly “at the hands of these Zionist extremists.”

“Our brothers and sisters are the victims of hate crimes. Our churches are regularly desecrated and vandalized. Our clergy are subject to frequent intimidation,” Theophilos said.

He further called on al-Quds to remain a diverse “mosaic community” of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Back in December, patriarchs and heads of churches in al-Quds also said extremist Jewish groups are trying to drive Christians out of the holy city, arguing that Israeli authorities have failed to curb assaults against members of the religious community and desecration of their sites.

The church leaders said in a statement that the Tel Aviv regime exhibits bias against Christians and apathy about attacks on Christian holy places and clergy, warning of the “current threat to the Christian presence in the Holy Land.”

The church leaders highlighted that since 2012, there had been “countless incidents of physical and verbal assaults against priests and other clergy, attacks on Christian churches, with holy sites regularly vandalized and desecrated, and ongoing intimidation of local Christians who simply seek to worship freely and go about their daily lives.”

Norwegian Ambassador to the UN advances Palestine-Israeli conflict to ministerial level

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By now when someone mentions the “two-state-solution” it strikes me as insincere. No one can really be that dumb. But good for the mention of Palestine…because every mention of Palestine puts a zit on the face of someone in Israhell.

January 7, 2022

Norway’s Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), pledged to advance the UN Security Council discussions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a ministerial level this month, to restore its focus on this decades-long conflict, reported Wafa news agency.

Mona Juul expressed deep concern at the lack of international attention to the issues in Palestine and Israel, which has been compromised as a result of multiple other conflicts raging across the Middle East.

“The people of Israel and Palestine do not deserve that,” she said during a press conference to discuss her country’s priorities as it assumes the presidency of the Security Council for January.

“Thirty years after the Madrid conference, the Israeli-Palestinian issue deserves more attention.”

“It’s critical to enhance the council’s focus and the need to find a political solution to this protracted conflict and make sure we avoid further actions that undermine the prospect of the two-state solution,” she added.

READ: The use and abuse of administrative detention by Israel

Juul reiterated her country’s opposition to any hostilities against the civilians, specifically referencing Israel’s illegal settlement expansion in the Occupied Territories as an obstacle to a peaceful solution.

According to data from the Land Research Centre, Israel has demolished about 950 homes and facilities, confiscated about 24,750 dunums (6,116 acres) of land, and cut down and damaged about 17,740 trees in 2021.

Moreover, data shows that as many as 55 existing settlements were expanded, about 15 new illegal outposts were erected this year, 102 plans for settlement expansion were approved, about 25 new colonial roads were established, and factories were opened to Judaise the land.

Norway intends to arrange a so-called “mini-Oslo” forum for members of the Security Council, who will be invited to meet in Oslo, and discuss “how to do better when it comes to preventive diplomacy and conflict resolution,” said Juul.

“There are examples that show it is still possible to forge dialogue and to bring people to the table but we know it costs a lot, requires a lot of resources and, not least, it requires unity at the Security Council.”

Who Really Owns the Land of Palestine?

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By Thomas Williamson

Zionism is atheistic, secular, political. 

An article entitled “Who Owns the Land?” which appeared in the August 30, 2002 issue of the Sword of the Lord and in various associational papers, made this interesting statement: “Meanwhile, the Jewish National Fund began to collect money to purchase land in Palestine for Jewish settlement, eventually purchasing 92% of present-day Israel.”

This 92% figure is quite different from the generally accepted and documented figures which indicate that by the time of Israel’s independence in 1948, the Jews had purchased approximately 6% to 7% of modern-day Israel (pre-1967 boundaries).

I wrote twice to the author of “Who Owns the Land?” inviting him to straighten me out and provide documentation for his statement that Jews bought 92% of Israel. I received no reply.

Meanwhile, I checked out the official web site of the Jewish National Fund at www.unitedjerusalem.com, a Jewish, pro-Israel, pro-Zionist web site.

This web site states that the Jewish National Fund purchased 375,000 acres of the land prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

Preparing to take over Palestine resources “The Balfour Declaration Signifies”

Based on a total of 7992 square miles in Israel (pre-1967 boundaries), this means that the Jews purchased a total of 7.33% of Palestine from its previous Arab owners, not 92%.

THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND, THIS LAND IS MY LAND . . . Other authorities agree that the amount of land rightfully purchased from the Arabs by the Jews was about 6-7%.

The article “The Jewish National Fund Land Purchase Methods and Priorities, 1924-1939” by Kenneth W. Stein states that “by May 1948 Jews acquired approximately 2,000,000 of Palestine’s 26,000,000 dunams.” 

This is approximately 7.69% of the land, not 92%.

Jack Bernstein in “The Life of an American Jew in Racist-Marxist Israel” says that “by 1920 Jews owned only 2% of Palestine.

By 1948 when Israel declared itself a state, these invading Jews had increased their land ownership; but IT WAS STILL LESS THAN 6%.”

The booklet “Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict” by Jews for Justice in the Middle East states that “in 1948, at the moment that Israel declared itself a state, it legally owned a little more than 6% of the land of Palestine.”

Robin Miller in “The Expulsion of the Palestinians 1947-1948, says, “Before 1948, Jews owned only 1.5 million of the 26 million dunams of land in Palestine . . .

After the eviction of the Palestinians, Israel controlled 20 million dunams, an increase from 6% to 77% of the total.

They simply stole an entire country.”
It appears that many Christians are being encouraged to support Israeli land claims over those of the Palestinians, based on this unsubstantiated figure of 92% of the land having been purchased by the Jews.

However, the Jewish National Fund’s own figures indicate that they claim to have purchased only 7.33% of the land by 1948.

Imperialist Crocodile says: “don’t be afraid, I will swallow you peacefully.

Any reader of this article who can document the 92% figure claimed in the article “Who Owns the Land?” is invited to write me at the above address, and submit documentation proving that the folks at the Jewish National Fund are mistaken when they say they purchased only 7.33% of the land.

. . . BUT MOSTLY, THIS LAND IS MY LAND. 

Some will say that it doesn’t matter how much of the land of Palestine was purchased by the Jews, since God has given the land to the Jews and therefore they have a right to take it from the Arab owners without paying for it.

There is no Scriptural basis for this supposition. Abraham and David, though they were Jews, paid fair market value for the land they bought from Ephron the Hittite (Genesis 23:16) and from Ornan the Jebusite (2 Samuel 24:21-24, 1 Chronicles 21: 22-25).

Paul, when asked what advantage the Jews had, replied, “Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God,” Romans 3:2. Paul does not mention expropriation of other people’s land as an advantage of being Jewish; he says that the advantage that Jews have is that they were given God’s law, which includes the commandment “Thou shalt not steal.” 

There is no Scriptural basis for encouraging Jews or Israelis to disobey that commandment that God gave them.

WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN. 

Others will say that we are obligated to support modern Israel no matter what, based on Old Testament verses where God states His intention to bless the ancient theocratic state of Israel.

Even preachers who say the Old Testament is not for today, and who militantly oppose those who believe in the Ten Commandments and tithing, will still go to the Old Testament to cite verses where God promises His blessing on national Israel.

They cannot quote any New Testament commands for us to support national Israel, because no such teaching exists.

Can we properly interpret Old Testament statements of God’s intention to bless ancient Israel, to mean that God is commanding that we unconditionally support modern Israel?

The answer is no, unless we are willing to follow the same logic with those verses where God promises His blessing on the Arab nations.

In Isaiah 19:25 the prophet says, “Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people.” 

Based on this verse, should we not be giving all-out, unconditional financial and military support to the Egyptian government and people, just like we are doing for Israel?

Where are the brigades of “Christian Egyptianists” to travel to Egypt, to plant trees there and help run off all those pesky non-Egyptian “land squatters?”

In Genesis 21:18 God promised to make of Ishmael a great nation.

Why are we not helping to fulfill that prophecy by supporting the Palestinians and all the other Arab nations that are descended from Ishmael?

Why this selective obedience to the Word of God, that causes us to support Israel but not Egypt or Palestine?

The answer, of course, is that our foreign policy in the 21st Century AD is not necessarily determined by expressions of God’s good will toward ancient nations that no longer exist in anything resembling their ancient form.

THEY FOUGHT THE LAW, AND THE LAW WON. 

Modern Israel bears no resemblance to the ancient theocratic state of Israel, which was based on obedience to the Old Testament Law and expectation of the Messiah.

Modern Israel not only rejects the Messiah but also rejects Old Testament Law.

For instance, Israel rejects the command to not oppress non-Jews living in its territory, Exodus 12:49, 22:21, 23:9, Leviticus 19:33-34, 25:35, Deuteronomy 10:18-19, 23:7, 24:17, 27:19, and the law against cutting down fruit-bearing trees, Deuteronomy 20:19-20.

It is illogical to appeal to Old Testament Law in support of modern Israel and then turn around and say, “They don’t have to obey Old Testament Law.”

Modern Israel is known for its sex industry and brothels, for its gay pride parades in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and its government-funded abortions.

According to the Jewish Virtual Library, there were 18,785 legal and 16,000 illegal abortions in Israel in 1999.

Israeli critics of abortion have estimated that 1,000,000 Jewish infants were aborted from 1948 to 1992 and have likened this to the Holocaust. 

Christian Zionists who send money to Israel, and lobby for American governmental subsidies to Israel, are helping to pay for this mass slaughter of pre-born Jewish children.

As Christians, we ought not to harshly judge or condemn Israel for faults which are found equally in all the Gentile nations of the world.

Nor should we go to the opposite extreme of glorifying the Israeli government and people as being worthy of our uncritical and unconditional support.

Nothing has changed since 1957 when Noel Smith, a leader in the Baptist Bible Fellowship movement, wrote these words in the Baptist Bible Tribune: “Zionism rejects the God of Israel, the God of the Prophets, the God of the Land. Zionism does not base its claim to Palestine on the covenant God made with Abraham.

Zionism refuses to admit that the dispersion of the Jews was an act of God because of the sin of the Jews in rejecting their own Messiah.

Zionism has no consciousness of sin and therefore feels no need of a personal Messiah to atone for sin. Zionism is atheistic, secular, political.

“Zionism, rejecting the God who gave Israel the Land, rejecting the grace which was responsible for the gift, has no valid claims to Palestine – none more than the Arabs.”

It is one of the mysteries of life that some modern evangelical Christians devote so much time, money and effort in support of this anti-God movement called Zionism.

THE LORD GAVE, AND THE LORD HATH TAKEN AWAY. 

God gave Palestine to the Jews in Old Testament times, but this did not abrogate the rights of non-Jews to own land in Israel, as we have seen from the examples of Ephron and Ornan. (See also Numbers 9:14 – one ordinance for both the stranger and the native-born Hebrew).

The divine title deed to Palestine no longer belongs to the Jews: it was conditional on their obedience to God (see Genesis 17:9-14, Exodus 19:5-6, Deuteronomy 7:12, Joshua 23:15-16, 1 Kings 9:6-9, 2 Chronicles 7:19-22, Ezekiel 33:24-27).

God finally used the Romans to expel the Jews from the land in 70 AD as a punishment for their crowning example of disobedience of the Law: the rejection and crucifixion of their Messiah (Matthew 21:33-43, 23:38).

Of course, any Jew in Israel today who has paid for his land has a right to that land.

As Christians, we should uphold that sacred property right for all Jews, and we should do the same for all Palestinians who have lawful title to their land.

We are not Communists – we do not believe in the confiscation, without payment, of anyone’s land.

Nor are we racists – we do not advocate that anyone be kicked off his land just because he is of the “wrong” ethnic group.

WHEN I CAN READ MY TITLE CLEAR.

 Do you really want to know who owns any particular parcel of land in Israel?

Then do the same thing you would do in America – find out who has the title deed and who has paid for the land.

Forget all the silly debates about whose ancestors were there first, or which ethnic group is more in favor with the Almighty.

Isaiah prophesied of a time when Jews and Arabs would be regarded as equals in the sight of God.

 “In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: Whom the LORD shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.” Isaiah 19:25-26.

We are living in that day now. The New Testament tells us that there is no difference between the Jew and Gentile (Acts 15:9, Romans 10:12, Galatians 3:28).

The Jews no longer have any advantage by being literal children of Abraham (John 8:39).

The true Israel and the true children of Abraham are those who are born again Christians, Romans 2:28-29, Galatians 3:7.

The true Israel that we are to support is the Family of God or Israel of God (Galatians 6:15-16) composed of born-again Gentiles, Jews, Whites, Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, Palestinians, Patagonians and Hottentots – not some nation of Christ-rejecting people in the Middle East.

The Bible teaches us that all men, Jews and Gentiles, are of one blood (Acts 17:26) and are equal before God.

That includes Jews and Palestinians. We need to seek justice for all Jewish and Arab property holders in the Middle East, and avoid giving the false impression that God has given any one ethnic group a license to rip off any other group.
 

A Brief History of Killing Children

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The latest Israeli Atrocities, Murders and War Crimes are nothing new. Israel has been ...

Soldiers and pilots have killed 2,171 children and teenagers, and not one of these cases shocked anyone here, or sparked a real investigation or led to a trial.

GIDEON LEVYISRAEL-PALESTINEPOSTED ON 

FIRST WE WERE ASHAMED, then we were shocked, and we even investigated.

Then we denied it and lied. After that we ignored and repressed it, yawned and lost interest.

Now is the worst phase of all: We’ve started to extol the killers of children. That’s how far we’ve gone.

The first child I remember wasn’t even a day old.

His mother, Faiza Abu Dahuk, gave birth to him at a checkpoint.

She was turned away by the soldiers from there and from two more checkpoints, until she had to carry him, all through a cold and rainy night.

When she arrived at the hospital, he was already dead.

The matter came up at a cabinet meeting.

An officer was dismissed and a mini storm ensued.

This was in April 1996, during the year of hope and illusions.

Four years later, when the second intifada broke out, soldiers killed Mohammed al-Dura in front of the cameras and Israel had already transitioned to the phase of denials and lies: Dura didn’t die.

Israeli soldiers didn’t kill him; maybe he shot himself, maybe he’s alive to this day.

Remnants of shame and guilt still clung somehow.

After that came 20 years of indifference and complacence.

Soldiers and pilots have killed 2,171 children and teenagers, and not one of these cases shocked anyone here, or sparked a real investigation or led to a trial.

More than 2,000 children in 20 years—100 children, three classrooms a year.

And all of them, down to the last, were found guilty of their own death.

Any Israeli would be happy to explain that they were terrorists and the soldiers, or the police had no choice but to execute them.

In the alternative between the lives of the children and the sacred lives of the soldiers, of course we prefer the soldiers, although there’s almost always a third possibility: for no one to be killed.

Last week the next phase was declared. Israel praises the killers of children; they are the new heroes.

This never happened before.

They were Palestinians, terrorists, but still they were children.

From now on, take the life of a Palestinian child and be a hero on the front page of the newspaper or the top item on the TV news, including your daring picture, pixilated.

“The hero from the Old City”—a Border Police officer “took out a terrorist and prevented a major disaster,” according to Yedioth Ahronoth.

No mention in the headline of the age of the dangerous terrorist, of course, but no matter.

“Remember me well,” wrote 16-year-old Omar Abu Sab before he went out with a knife to stab a Border Police officer.

A video clip released by the police shows him approaching two officers from behind and attacking them.

He was smaller and thinner than them, they could have stopped him, they didn’t have to shoot him, and they certainly didn’t have to kill him, like they needlessly killed children with knives before him and after him.

But to turn the shooting of a 16-year-old with a knife into a big story is the crossing of a moral red line.

It will encourage the needless killing of more children, if any such encouragement was needed.

The light trigger finger will become even lighter. If before this there was fear of a sham investigation, now a medal of valor is already in the works.

How words kill. When the killers of children and teenagers, even when they’re armed with a knife, are extolled by the media and the commanders, this encourages the next criminal killing.

There is no child with a knife that the well-armored Border Police can’t arrest without killing. But the police are too cowardly.

That’s how they killed Eyad al-Hallaq, an autistic teenager.

Real heroes would have arrested him, not shot him to death.

But why bother if you can kill and become a hero?

Most of the children that the army and the Border Police kill should not have been killed.

Now it’s worth it to kill them, the media will crown you “the hero of the Old City.”

These are your heroes, O Israel, the killers of children and teenagers.

Is Israel a ‘Sick Society’?

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This video is still priceless!

By Ramzy Baroud | MEMO | December 6, 2021

For whatever reason, some mistakenly perceive the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, as liberal, progressive and even ‘pro-Palestinian’.

Of course, none of this is true.

This misconstrued depiction of an essentially Zionist and anti-Palestinian newspaper tells of a much bigger story of how confusing Israeli politics is, and how equally confused many of us are in understanding the Israeli political discourse.

On November 28, newly-elected Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, stormed the Ibrahimi Mosque in the Palestinian city of Al-Khalil (Hebron) with hundreds of soldiers and many illegal Jewish settlers, including the who’s who of Israel’s extremists.

The scene was reminiscent of a similar occurrence where late Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, had stormed, along with thousands of soldiers and police officers, the Haram Sharif Compound in occupied East Jerusalem in September 2000.

It was this particular event that unleashed the second Palestinian uprising, Intifada (2000-05), which led to the killing of thousands.

Herzog’s gesture of solidarity with the Kiryat Arba settlers was identical to Sharon’s earlier gesture, also made to win the approval of Israel’s burgeoning and influential right-wing extremists.

Only a few months ago, Haaretz had described Herzog as a “centrist, soft-spoken, ‘no drama’” person who had, at times, “felt out of place on Israel’s stormy and fractured political battlefield”.

According to Haaretz, Herzog “may be exactly what Israel needs.”

A video on social media apperas to show an entire neighbourhood in gaza being destroyed in an hour.

But is this really the case? Marvel at some of the statements made by Herzog as he visited a site where twenty-nine Palestinians were massacred by a Kiryat Arba extremist, Baruch Goldstein, and where many more were shot dead by Israeli soldiers in the aftermath of the tragic event.

Not only did many Israelis celebrate the memory of Goldstein with a shrine befitting of heroes and saints, but many of Herzog’s companions during the provocative ‘visit’ are ardent followers of the Israeli Jewish terrorist.

“We have to continue dreaming of peace,” Herzog declared while marking the first night of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah inside the Ibrahimi Mosque compound, which was previously emptied of its Muslim worshippers.

New Israeli President Isaac Herzog sworn in at Knesset

Proudly, he “condemn(ed) any form of hatred or violence”. Meanwhile, hundreds of Israeli soldiers were terrorizing 35,000 inhabitants of the old city of Al-Khalil.

These Palestinians, who suffer daily violence at the hands of nearly 800 armed Jewish settlers in Kiryat Arba, along with an equal number of Israeli soldiers, were all locked in.

Their shops were closed, their life was put on hold, their walls covered with racist graffiti.

“If he had walked around the corner,” the Israeli news website 972Mag reported referring to the Israeli president, “Herzog might have seen the graffiti on the walls reading ‘gas the Arabs.’

Chances are Herzog already understands – in fact, supports – such racism; after all, he was joined by the likes of Eliyahu Libman, who heads Kiryat Arba regional council and Hillel Horowitz, the leader of the Jewish settlers of Al-Khalil.

It is these two men who preach extremism and violence against the Palestinians as a matter of course.

Aside from hosting the Goldstein grave and shrine, the settlement has a park that carries the name of Meir Kahane, the spiritual leader of Israel’s most violent extremists.

In an emotional speech given by Horowitz in the company of Herzog, the settler leader announced that the Israeli president’s violent storming of the Ibrahimi Mosque “reminds us that we did not take the land of foreigners.”

He followed with “Your visit here strengthens our mission.”

Israel Racism

A settler child with a Keffieh and fake suicide belt poses with Israeli soliders during a Jewish holiday in Hebron, March 21, 2019. Photo | Activestills

From Horowitz, Libman and their ilk’s point of view, their ‘mission’ has been a great success.

They have managed to steer Israeli politics almost entirely towards the right. Even the “centrist, soft-spoken” president is now fully embracing their sinister mission.

But will Haaretz acknowledge this reality? That the ‘liberal’ and ‘progressive’ editorial line they have allegedly championed for many years has completely failed, and purposely so, to depict the truth about Israel?

Compare Haaretz’s positive portrayal of Herzog with their coverage of the former right-wing Israeli President, Reuven Litvin.

The latter, on various occasions, and rightly so, was criticized for his pro-Likud political line and for his divisive role that contributed to an already fragmented Israeli political scene.

But when Rivlin, in October 2014, had declared that “Israeli society is sick, and it is our duty to treat this disease,” a Haaretz columnist lashed out, suggesting that “Rivlin’s comments are positively bursting with Jew-hatred”.

“First he called Jewish society ‘sick’—dredging up anti-Semitic tropes about Jews as carriers of cultural and ideological disease.

Then he asked whether Jews are ‘decent human beings’: Questioning their humanity itself,” the article argued.

Of course, the sickness of “violence, hostility, bullying, (and) racism”, that Rivlin had then pointed out, is very much real.

Other symptoms of this horrible disease also include military occupation, apartheid and genocidal violence like that frequently meted out against the besieged Gaza Strip.

While this Israeli ‘disease’ is becoming common knowledge globally, with such organizations as Human Rights Watch and many others describing it in the most honest and blunt terms, the vast majority of Israeli society, including their representatives and their ‘soft-spoken’ president, remain blind to it, shielded from the truth by their own hubris, infatuated with their military power and intoxicated by the humiliation and violence to which Palestinians are subjected to, in Al-Khalil, in Gaza, in Jerusalem and throughout occupied Palestine.

There are no indications that Israeli society, government and media – ‘liberal’ or right-wing – will, on their own, develop the necessary antibodies that will cure the disease of racism, military occupation and apartheid.

Yes, it will ultimately be the Palestinian resistance that will make the decisive difference of holding Israel accountable.

But that can only happen when the international community takes a courageous stance in advocating Palestinian rights and unconditionally supporting the Palestinian quest for freedom.

Whether right-wing, left-wing or center, Israel is committed to its military superiority, its racism and to the military occupation more than ever before.

The sooner we accept this fact, and quit subscribing to the illusion that change in Israel will happen from within, the sooner the Palestinian people will finally achieve the justice they need and deserve.