Thursday, February 28, 2019

Haaretz and Menachem Begin

Those following Israeli politics in an historical perspective are aware of the Hypocrisy Principle.

The Hypocrisy Principle is employed by the Left and what it does is act as a weapon against the Right.  How it works is whenever a current right-of-center nationalist politician is to be criticized, a position, a statement or an action by either Ze'ev Jabotinsky or Menachem Begin is exemplified as the 'proper thing' whereas the current politician is portrayed as in error.  The hypocrisy is that at the time, the very same positions, statements or actions were severely criticized but now, they are held up as a paragon of proper conduct.

An example:

'He's a Crazy Man': Decades Before Netanyahu Welcomed Heirs, Begin Warned of 'Dangerous' Kahane

In a secret meeting with the U.S. ambassador in 1980, former Prime Minister Menachem Begin voiced loathing for the racist rabbi

The context:

...Lewis asked Begin whether he would consider allowing two Palestinian mayors living in the United States to return to the West Bank. The two had been deported because Israel said they were inciting to violence. Begin was vehemently opposed to that idea. And to justify his position, he noted that Israel had also taken steps against Rabbi Meir Kahane, the leader of the Kach party. Begin then told Lewis why he nevertheless used a law he despised against Kahane. “We undertook measures against Rabbi Kahane and his friends,” he said. “Having agreed to his administrative detention I had no peace with myself for days. I believe in due process. The High Court eventually confirmed the legitimacy of our action. But still, it was not easy on my soul. I agreed because he could have brought disaster – not on our people but on Arabs. We had no choice. He is a crazy man. He could have brought on us disaster. He is a dangerous man.”
 ^

Saturday, February 23, 2019

'Saving Private David Ben-Gurion'

From this academic paper:

Sedjera has been the first Jewish village in the East of the Lower Galilee, from the very begining they turned to us to help protecting the village. They hired a guard from Kfar Kama, Daot Gorkhoz (...) One night at Sedjera, while everything was calm and quiet, and while everyone was asleep (...) Daot noticed that there was some light in house, and that it was unusual for that hour. Suddenly, he saw a shadow, he loaded his gun and aimed the target. He said: "Stop, who are you?", in order to know if it was someone from the village, he asked the password. The person answered correctly and when he approached, Daot realized he was one guard from the village. The guard asked Daot why he was here, Daot answered that he had hear a noise and that he wanted to know where it came from. The guard ordered him to return to his position, Daot obeyed. 

Less than an hour later he heard shouts and cries, he came back to the  place, there were some gunfires. All the guards rand and Daot told them: "some people attacked the village, there was a fight between them and David". David was lying on the ground, he was bleeding. Daot took him on his shoulders and carried him to the house next door to Moshe Korakin's one. He ran to the infirmary of the village to prevent the auxiliary, they returned together to David with a bag ful of drugs in order to treat him. The auxiliary said: "we must go for medical assistance immediately, we need to go to Yavnel to advise the doctor, David is going to die". Daot suggested to go there, the guards told him "do not go alone, take someone with you" but Daot told them that it would be better to use all the guards to protect the village and that he was not afraid to go there alone. He jumped on his horse and went right to Yavnel, not by the road, like people usually do, but through the fields because it was faster even if it was dangerous because of the gangs who were helding the fields. But Daot knew he could not waste time (...) nobody was daring to go out at night because everyone was afraid of the gangs. 

When he arrived at Yavnel, he knocked on the door of the doctor but all the family was deeply asleep. The he shouted "open, open" until the doctor opened. Daot explained him that there was an emergency case in Sedjera and that he had to come right now in order to prevent the guard diying in the night. The doctor mounted his horse and asked Daot which way he took to arrive to Yavnel. Daot answered "by the fields", the doctor told him that it was too dangerous and that they should go through the road of Kfar Kama, in order to be secured. When they arrived at Sedjera, the doctor examined David and said that his state of health was very worrying and that he had to  be brought to the hospital, in Tiberias (...) David was saved.

^

Thursday, February 21, 2019

"From the Breasts of the Youth": Poland 1922

In November 1922, Gabriel Narotuwicz was elected President of the Polish Republic. He was eventually assassinated a mere five days later, accused among other claims that he was too sympathetic to the Jews..

On the background of the remarks of Acting Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz, quoting Yitzhak Shamir, "that Poles 'suckle anti-Semitism with their mothers' milk'” it is historically necessary to note this:

From the breasts of the youth a spontaneous call went forth: ‘We don’t want this kind of president! We don’t know him! Down with the Jews!’ This chant echoed through the streets of Warsaw and spontaneously a march was formed. (p. 2 of this doctorate)

As explained there


When the Bloc’s votes tipped the scale in favor of Narutowicz, the candidate of the left, a violent and fiercely anti-Semitic campaign was orchestrated against the new president. It was waged jointly by the National Democratic press, parliamentary deputies, and demonstrators in the street, all of which claimed that only a “Polish majority” had the 2 right to elect the president of Poland.

Jews were always "aliens" in Poland. No matter what other charge Polish nationalists make, justified or not during the interwar period and just entering the Holocaust period - about Jewish Bolsheviks, about part of the Soviet oppression, economic exploitations, etc., at the end, Jews were not real citizens. And so, ghetto benches were set up, kosher ritual slaughter was banned partially, pogroms took place and other violent actions.

UPDATE

Background on the new Polish controversy:-
"Zimmerman finds, among other things, that the attitude of the Polish underground toward the Jews reflected the prewar political views of its individual officers, commanders, and major constituent bodies. Those who had been open to a more pluralistic Polish society—one that accepted minorities as part of the landscape of Poland—had a radically different attitude toward Jews than those whose orientation as narrowly nationalistic.
Attitudes toward the Jews not only mirrored prewar political stances, but also were shaped by geography and the progress of the war. Why geography? Attitudes common in eastern Poland—the territories first occupied by the Soviet Union after
September 17, 1939—were strikingly different from those common in territories occupied at that time by Germany. Zimmerman’s findings correlate with Timothy Snyder’s description of “double occupation” and “double collaboration” in the zones first occupied by the Soviets and later, after the June 1941 invasion, by the Germans. Poles in the East generally did not grasp that Jews may have been more
welcoming to Soviet occupation because the alternative was German occupation; for Jews, the Soviets represented protection from ghettoization and persecution, though few could as yet conceive of the coming annihilation. Similarly, many Poles were ready to identify Jews with Communism, but less willing to understand the impact that Communism had had on Jews as individuals—merchants and religiously observant Jews, for example...

...Those who argue that many Poles were not unhappy about the elimination of Jews from Poland—even if they were revolted by the Germans’ means—will find substantiation of their views in Zimmerman’s work. Yet, those who take note of Polish sympathy toward the Jews can point to other compelling and competing evidence."
From Michael Berenbaum's review of The Polish Underground and the Jews, 1939–1945 by Joshua D. Zimmerman

^

Who Wrote: "We must be free of the Arabs"?

Who wrote this?


“Sir, you should end the quarrel which divides the world in two. Our ancestors described a man like you as the one who will do it. We must be free of the Arabs—with air we can breathe, a view of the horizon around us clear of Arabs, no cries of pain from a sheep which an Arab has knifed, and every animal should die peacefully and be left undisturbed for us to drain it empty and clean it right down to the bones. Cleanliness—that’s what we want— nothing but cleanliness.” Now they were all crying and sobbing. “How can you bear it in this world, you noble heart and sweet entrails? Dirt is their white; dirt is their black; their beards are horrible; looking at the corner of their eyes makes one spit; and if they lift their arms, hell opens up in their arm pits. And that’s why, sir, that’s why, my dear sir, with the help of your all-capable hands you must use these scissors to slit right through their throats”. 


Answer.

^

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

David Blatman's Call for Violence

On January 31, 2019, Haaretz published an op-ed authored by Daniel Blatman.

Entitled "Who Will Lead the Revolt?", Blatman raises a dark spectre.  However, since it seems not to have appeared other than in the Hebrew original, it has not drawn enough attention, if any, I assume.

Blatman bemoans the lack of a proper response to the Netanyahu threat. Netanyahu supposedly accuses journalists as "traitors" according to Blatman. He is leading Israel to a apocalyptic breakup.

Therefore, organization is required.

Yet, there is no real worthwhile political figure to save Israel.

One. Lapid it seems, is a journalist celebrity with a huge ego.

Another is a general, presumably Gantz, who is proud of what he did to Gaza.  Blatman then adds,


as if he were General Jurgen Stroop, who prepared a grand album to mark his victory over the Warsaw Ghetto.

Comparing the IDF Commander-in-Chief to a Nazi is, well, breathtaking. Of course, Haaretz saw nothing wrong in that.

Blatman then devotes most the rest of the article to John Brown.  The American Abolitionist. He is Blatman's hero. Now do you realize why the title is "Who Will Lead the Revolt?"?

In the penultimate paragraph he writes that several of the speech Brown made in the courtroom should be embedded in the minds of


all who seek the proper ways to confront the darkness descending upon us

In case you missed that history lesson, John Brown  was an American abolitionist who believed in and advocated armed insurrection as the only way to overthrow the institution of slavery in the United States. He led the Pottawatomie massacre in 1856. He was in charge of the raid on Harper's Ferry.

Blatman ends his op-ed with a call:


Would that there arise among us a leader that would speak such words in that spirit [of Brown - YM], he would be worthy more than anyone to stand at the head of the camp of John Browns that will go out to struggle for the existence of Israeli democracy"

This is what Blatman wrote and what Haaretz printed.

Support for insurrection.

Labeling Gantz a Nazi.

Suggesting Netanyahu is destroying Israeli democracy.

Think about that.

___________________

For those who cannot access the original, I reproduce it below:


מי ינהיג את המרי
31.01.2019
כמה שורות בניתוח הפוליטי של יוסי ורטר ("הארץ"', 25.1) היו צריכות לחולל השבוע מהפכה בתפישתם של אלה שמתיימרים להציב אלטרנטיבה לשלטון בישראל. וכך כתב ורטר על הרגע שבו יבין בנימין נתניהו שאין עוד סיכוי למנוע את סילוקו מראשות הממשלה והעמדתו למשפט בגין עבירות שהרשעה בהן עלולה לשלחו לכלא: "אז יגיע השלב שבו נתניהו יודיע לבייס שלו: זהו, אין אלוהים. ביום הזה, הדמוקרטיה הישראלית תועמד בסכנה של ממש... כשיכלו כל הקיצין יהיה מי שייתן את האות להמון המוסת, שמוחו כבר יהיה רווי במסרים של שנאה ונקם, לקום. להסתער". הכתובת הזאת רשומה כבר על שלטי חוצות עם דיוקנאות של עיתונאים המסומנים כ"חורשי מזימות", ועל קיר הפייסבוק של נתניהו, שמסמן בקביעות את מערכת המשפט ואת "השמאל" כבוגדים.

לו היה היום משמאל לליכוד מנהיג בעל שיעור קומה, הוא היה יוצא אל מול המחנה הגדול של חרדי קריסת הדמוקרטיה הישראלית ואומר דברים ברורים: אנחנו בדקה ה–89 שלפני השבר האפוקליפטי שאליו מוליך נתניהו את ישראל. אם לא נתארגן מבעוד מועד, מה שהיה לא יהיה עוד. ואם הדרך לשם מצריכה תובנה שמשמעותה שבירת כל הכללים הישנים והתארגנות למאבק שונה מכל מה שידענו בעבר — יש להתארגן לכך מבעוד יום. אבל במקום זה, יש לנו חבורה עלובה ומבולבלת, הכוללת עיתונאי־סלבריטאי נפוח אגו, מחפשי פלטפורמה פוליטית שתביאם לכס המיניסטר, או גנרל המתגאה כי החזיר לתקופת האבן עיר נצורה, שבורה, מוכת רעב ומחלות, משל היה הגנרל יורגן שטרופ, שהכין אלבום מפואר לציון ניצחונו על גטו ורשה.

אברהם לינקולן, מדמויות המופת של ההיסטוריה המודרנית, הוביל את עמו למלחמת אזרחים עקובה מדם, ועדיין, הנשיא שהביא על המדינה הצעירה יחסית, בשנות ה–60 של המאה ה–19, את המשבר הגדול בתולדותיה, והעמיד בסכנה את עצם קיומה, נחשב היום לאחד מגדולי מנהיגיה, דמות מופת שדורות של אמריקאים מתחנכים לאורה. ולא, אין זה רק משום שמחה את כתם העבדות, שהיתה גוועת ממילא במרוצת השנים. לינקולן נהפך לסמל חשוב משום שניחן ביכולת שאין היום לאף מנהיג פוליטי בישראל, המבין את הסכנה הגדולה העומדת בפני הדמוקרטיה החבוטה, אך אינו מעז לומר את הדברים האלה בפני המחנה הגדול שהיה מוכן לצאת ולהגן עליה — לומר אמת לבני עמו.

נאום ההשבעה של הנשיא האמריקאי לקדנציה השנייה, ב–4 במארס 1865, ראוי שיילמד על ידי מי שמתיימרים להציג אלטרנטיבה לחבורת החושך המנפצת את הדמוקרטיה הישראלית לרסיסים. לינקולן קבע, כי הרצון של מצדדי העבדות לשמור על המוסד הזה הביאם עד כדי נכונות לפרק את הברית בין מדינות ארה"ב, גם אם הדבר כרוך במלחמה קשה. מתנגדיהם, במקרה זה הממשל, רצו למנוע את ריסוק ארה"ב. אבל בעצם, שואל לינקולן, מהי סמכות הממשל לכפות נורמות מוסריות על חלקים בחברה השוללים את הנורמות האלה ולצאת למלחמה בשמן? ובהשלכה למציאות כאן: מהי סמכותם של שומרי הדמוקרטיה הליברלית הישראלית לקום ולהיאבק, גם במאבק אלים, נגד אלה הרוצים לכונן נורמות אחרות, לשבור ולשנות את המציאות שהתקיימה ב–70 שנותיה של המדינה?

לינקולן, הנוצרי האדוק, קובע ביחס למצדדים בעבדות: "לכאורה מוזר הוא, שבני אדם יעזו לבקש מאלוהי הצדק שיסייעם להוציא לחמם מזיעת אפם של בני אדם אחרים". אבל הוא מוסיף, בהסתמכו על הברית החדשה: "אַל תִּשְׁפְּטוּ לַמַּעַן אֲשֶׁר לֹא תִּשָּׁפְטוּ" (מתי, ז, 1). כלומר: אין אנו יכולים לדעת מה כוונתו של האל, והתפילות של אף צד לעולם לא נענות במלואן. אבל כאן לינקולן עושה את ההכרעה הגדולה שלו כמנהיג בעל שיעור קומה היסטורי: "אם ברצון האלוהים שהיא (מלחמת האזרחים, ד"ב) תימשך עד שכל העושר שנערם ב–250 שנים של עמל ללא תמורה של המשועבד (העבדים, ד"ב) יחרב כליל, ועד שכל טיפת דם שהוקזה בשוט תיפרע בטיפת דם שתוקז בחרב, כמו שנאמר לפני 3,000 שנה, עדיין יש לומר: 'מִשְׁפְּטֵי ה' אֱמֶת צָדְקוּ יַחְדָּו'" (תהילים, יט, 10). כלומר, מכיוון שאין אנו יודעים מה רצונו של האל, ומכיוון שנכפתה עלינו המלחמה הנוראה הזאת, חובה מוטלת עלינו להמשיך בה עד שעוול העבדות יגיע אל קצו. לינקולן מאמץ את המסקנה הפרשנית לפסוק הזה, שלפיה הכרעות בני האדם, בניגוד למשפט האל, אף אם הן נעשות על פי הדין והיושר, אינן יכולות להיות נקיות לחלוטין מעיוות ועוול, שכן בן אנוש אינו יכול לשקול במדויק כמו האל בהכרעות של חטא ועונש. ובכל זאת, מוטל על האדם להכריע בהתאם למיטב הבנתו את צו האל. וכך הוא עשה.

כל קונפליקט אלים בחברה שמתפתח למלחמת אזרחים, יסודו במאבק על נורמות וערכים, שבו צד אחד מערער על הקיים ומנסה לנטרל את יריבו. קונפליקטים חברתיים כאלה יכולים להסתיים ללא אלימות, כל עוד שני הצדדים מקבלים את נצחיותן של הנורמות שהיו קיימות בחברה מאז שכוננה כמסגרת קולקטיבית, שכל חבריה שותפים וולונטרית לאותה מערכת ערכים. אבל כשצד אחד מדיר קולקטיב גדול מנורמות היסטוריות מקובלות ומנסה לקבע במקומן הגדרות חדשות, תוך כדי עשייה אלימה, חייבים אלה המאמינים כי "מִשְׁפְּטֵי ה' אֱמֶת צָדְקוּ יַחְדָּו", כפי שהאמין לינקולן, לקום ולעשות מעשה.

מלפיד, גנץ, גבאי, לבני, ברק, יעלון או כל מנהיג/ה אחר/ת שטרם יצא לפני המחנה ואמר את שצריך להיאמר, יש לצפות שיפסיקו להתבזות ולהטעות את כמחצית מהישראלים. אלה מרגישים, בתסכולם הרב, כי הם עומדים למצוא את עצמם בקרוב במדינה שבה חלומם יתמצה בתקווה שילדיהם ונכדיהם יהגרו לאוסטרליה, לאנגליה או לקנדה. אבל לא יודעים באמת כיצד לעצור את הקטסטרופה המתרגשת עליהם.

מהמשבר הגדול בסוגיית העבדות בארה"ב נחרת בזיכרון במיוחד המקרה של ג'ון בראון, מתנגד קיצוני של העבדות. ב–16 באוקטובר 1859 הוא פרץ, בראש 22 מאנשיו, ובהם ששת ילדיו, למחסן נשק בווירג'יניה, במטרה לצייד בנשק את תומכיו ולהקים בהרים מחנה מקלט לעבדים. הוא נתפס, נשפט והוצא להורג בדצמבר 1859. בראון הפך במורשת האמריקאית לדמות מופת של איש הנוקט אקט של מרי אזרחי למען הגשמת מטרה נעלה. כמה משפטים מנאומו האחרון בבית המשפט ראוי שייחרתו במוחו של כל מי שמחפש את הדרך הראויה להתייצב מול האפלה היורדת על חיינו כיום: "אילו התערבתי כך (במרי האזרחי, ד"ב) למען העשיר, התקיף, המשכיל, הגדול, וסבלתי והקרבתי כפי שסבלתי... לא היה איש פוצה פה; וכל אחד בבית משפט זה היה רואה במעשה זה דבר הראוי לפרס ולא לעונש. (אבל, ד"ב) כאשר התערבתי למען הענווים הבזויים לא עשיתי אלא צדק. עכשיו, כשאתם רואים צורך לגזור עלי כי אקפח את חיי למען קידום מטרות הצדק, שאערב את דמי בדם ילדי ובדמם של מיליוני ארץ העבדים הזאת, שזכויותיהם נדחקות על ידי חוקי אוון רשעים ואכזריים, אני מקבל עלי: יהי כן!".

לו יקום בינינו מנהיג שיידע לדבר דברים ברוח זאת, הוא יהיה זה הראוי מכולם לעמוד בראש מחנה הג'ון בראונים, שייצא למאבק על קיום הדמוקרטיה הישראלית.

פרופ׳ בלטמן הוא היסטוריון באוניברסיטה העברית

^


Tuesday, February 19, 2019

The Infamous Palestinian Authority Disappearing Act

Following up on this story

PA deletes Jewish history from key sites in Judea and SamariaNew signs and website ignore Jewish roots to key archaeological sites and nature reserves, Regavim reveals • Concerted effort, which includes renaming of sites, is in clear violation of 1995 interim agreement with Israel • Regavim: Israel must act.

I ended up here.

And not only is it history, but anything currently Jewish like my home village of Shiloh.




It isn't anywhere on that map. Not to mention that "Beverly Hills" description.

Here's from Google Earth:




Shiloh's been 'disappeared'.

Hello? Emek Shaveh. Amnesty?

________________________

UPDATE

I see now that if you enlarge the map, you will get Jewish locations:



However, since technically, tourists can visit Jewish locations and there are Arab artifacts at and near Shiloh, it still is odd that the location gets no mention in the description.


^

From A Locked Gate to a Synagogue at the Temple Mount

Yesterday's events are reverberating.

After a Muslim pray-in at the Golden Gate along the eastern wall of the Temple Mount compound, towards the north, last Thursday, the police locked the entrance gate at the top of the stairs.




Yesterday, Muslims tried to break in and there was pushing and shoving.  Here's extract from Wafa's account:

Israeli police broke into Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City this afternoon after closing all gates leading to it and arrested individuals inside the compound after people removed chains and gates the police had earlier placed at the Golden Gate building in the compound.to prevent its use, according to witnesses.

They said a number of Palestinians removed the metal gates and chains the police had on Sunday placed at the stairs leading to the building adjacent to the closed Golden Gate, also known as Bab al-Rahmeh, considered a property of Al-Aqsa Mosque, following calls for holding the Muslim prayers at the building in defiance of the Israeli police decision.

Immediately after this, police closed all gates leading to the Muslim holy compound as its forces carried out arrests among those present inside it while forcing the Muslim worshippers to leave it.


There's a video clip here.

Here's the reaction of Mahmoud Abbas

The Palestinian presidency strongly condemned the Israeli closure of the Golden Gate (Bab al-Rahmeh) with locks and chains, warning against Israeli plans aimed at imposing the temporal and spatial division of the mosque.

He is demanding that Israel preserve "the mosque’s status quo of 1967".


The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the Israeli police closure of al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem and the assaults on worshipers.

The ministry's official spokesman, Sufian al-Qudah, demanded that Israel, as the occupying power, "act in accordance with international law and immediately reopen the gates, respect the sanctity of the holy place, not hamper the entry of worshipers, withdraw security forces at the holy compound and respect the feelings of Muslims," according to Jordan news agency, Petra.

The spokesperson slammed the Israeli measures at al-Aqsa as "a flagrant violation of the historical and legal status quo and Israel's obligations under the international law and the international humanitarian law, as the occupying power, and held it fully responsible for the safety of the mosque."

(UPDATE: On the Jordan/PA coordination now)

Here is the Golden Gate or Mercy Gate (Sha'ar HaRachamim) in green




Another Wafa report raises a suspicion:

Officials have expressed concern that Israel may allow Jews to hold prayers in the Golden Gate area and possibly build a Jewish temple there after separating it from the rest of Al-Aqsa compound.

It would be a wonderful site for a synagogue.  In fact, it is a two-halled structure that would easily divide, and equally so, for a men's and women's section each. It is also located way below the level of most of the Temple Mount esplanade as can be seen in the first picture above.

The blue area I marked in the photo above is where this structure is:


Seems to be a storeroom. Not a religious building.

That would fine for a temporary synagogue. It's quite near the Children of Israel Gate, off on the side, would not interfere with Muslims.

Five years ago, I suggested a site right next to the Hallel Gate (formerly Mughrabi Gate).

The Waqf has added at least two new mosques since 1967 (and are working on a third) so actually, there is no status quo regarding buildings and construction.  A small synagogue, quite unobtrusive, is feasible and would fulfill the terms of the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty's Article 9:

Each party will provide freedom of access to places of religious and historical significance...The Parties will act together to promote interfaith relations among the three monotheistic religions, with the aim of working towards religious understanding, moral commitment, freedom of religious worship, and tolerance and peace.

For My House is a house of prayer for all peoples (Isaiah 56:7).

And that should include Jews.


P.S.  For a Hebrew-language background, see here.

________________

UPDATE: Israel seems to have capitulated.  

Gate removed altogether.





Report.

Another report.


The Western Wall As A symbol for Western Media Bias

I've heard and read a lot about the Western Wall Plaza but this is remarkable:

Visually, anyone who’s ever been to Israel and been to the Wailing Wall has seen that the women have this tiny little spot in front of the wall to pray, and the rest of the wall is for the men. To me, that’s a great representation of the American media, is that in this tiny little corner where the women pray you’ve got Breitbart and Fox News and a few others, and from there on, you have CBS, ABC, NBC, Huffington Post, Politico, whatever, right? All of them. And that’s a problem for me, because even if it was reversed, if it was vastly mostly on the right, that would also be a problem for me.
My experience has been that the more opinions you have, the more ways that you look at everything in life — everything in life is complicated, everything is gray, right? Nothing is black and white.

That was from an interview with  Lara Logan, foreign correspondent for CBS’s 60 Minutes.

Her interviewee 

characterized U.S. news media as “absurdly left-leaning” and supportive of Democrats, further describing the status quo of American news media’s left-wing and partisan Democrat biases as a “huge f***ing problem” and “disaster for this country.”

and


Logan concurred, “I agree with that. That’s true.” She described U.S. and international news media as “mostly liberal,” adding, “most” journalists are left.
“The media everywhere is mostly liberal, not just the U.S.,” assessed Logan.

Shall we pray?

Friday, February 15, 2019

A Wales of a Pogrom

I was sent this:

The Times, 15 February 2019:

Sir, Winston Churchill’s detractors need to recall that in August 1911 the Jewish communities of the “Western Valleys” (West Monmouthshire and East Glamorgan) were subjected to a week of brutal, premeditated assaults, robbery and looting by coal miners and their wives, whipped up by socialist propaganda. Only the troops deployed by Churchill, who was then home secretary, protected them. Churchill quite correctly referred to these incidents as a “pogrom”. Professor Geoffrey AldermanUniversity of Buckingham

Professor Alderman authored "The Jew as Scapegoat? The Settlement and Reception of Jews in South Wales before 1914", Transactions & Miscellanies (Jewish Historical Society of England), Vol. 26 (1974-1978), pp. 62-70.

I admit I was unaware of this event.  I am going to guess most of you are as well. So, a bit of history -

Information is here:


anti-Jewish riots...swept the valley communities of Monmouthshire and Glamorgan in August 1911, leading to the temporary imposition of military rule – Churchill ordered detachments of the Worcester Regiment to patrol the affected areas - and to the wholesale evacuation of Jewish families by special trains that conveyed them to the relative safety of Cardiff, Newport, Aberdare and Merthyr. These riots - a week-long orgy of attacks on Jewish property - began in Tredegar during the evening of Saturday, August 19, and spread rapidly to Ebbw Vale, Rhymney and other industrial centres of the Western Valleys. Wherever Jews could be found, the rioters struck. 

And

At Tredegar only Jewish shops were attacked, while at Ebbw Vale, the Daily News reported, "the cry of the mob was … one long denunciation of Jews." The view of the presiding magistrate at Tredegar was that "the first disturbances were no doubt anti-Jewish," and the chief constable of Monmouth, in a report to the Home Office (August 21), gave it as his opinion that there was "a determination expressed by the inhabitants [of Tredegar] to get rid of them," meaning the Jews.

There is compelling evidence that the attacks were planned. According to the Rev Harris Jerevitch, minister at the Cardiff synagogue, "There is no doubt that the attacks were planned. Some of the Jewish inhabitants were informed a day or two before the outrages that people intended to wreck and loot their shops."

And here.

Churchill in Parliament

There were in several places gross instances of incendiarism, and in two cases in South Wales, at any rate, of wholesale loot by persons previously of good record. That is an amazing feature in the recent disturbances. I was told that at Tredegar there had been a case of anti-Semitism; and, quite peculiar and quite unknown in this country before, persons hitherto respectable were seen going home with bundles of clothes which they had taken from shops and which they were taking away as if they were not in the least ashamed of what they had done.

And Liberal MP Sir Arthur Markham

...The letter which I received states that serious rioting took place at Tredegar. [An HON. MEMBER: "Read it all."] You shall have it all if you wish it. The letter, dated August 21st, says:— Serious rioting took place at Tredegar on Saturday and Sunday night. It would appear that on Saturday night, between 11 and 12 o'clock, an attack was made upon shops owned by Jews in the main street of the town. There can be no doubt that this had been pre-arranged, although the police had no knowledge that such an attack was likely to take place. There were only eight constables available, and they were quite inadequate to deal with the disturbance, and could do little more than look on at the wrecking and looting or eighteen shops owned by Jews or persons of Jewish extraction. At an emergency meeting of the magistrates held on Sunday afternoon, it was decided to ask the Home Office for military protection, as there were strong rumours of a recurrence of the riots that evening. About 200 military arrived in the town about 10.30 that night from Cardiff, but previous to their arrival a few scuffles had taken place with the police, and the wrecking and looting of two other somewhat large business premises owned by Jews was commenced. Fortunately the arrival of the military prevented further grave disturbances, but the two premises I have previously referred to were looted of everything they contained; respectable people to all appearances carrying off bundles of clothing quite openly, and apparently without shame. 
At one time a serious conflict seemed imminent, but by appealing to the crowd a large number were prevailed upon to go home, with the result that by the aid of the military patrolling the town and by police rushes, the streets were eventually cleared without serious mishaps other than broken heads and cuts from the baton charges. Had I not seen it myself, I would not have believed that such an occurrence could have taken place in Tredegar, and I am sorry to say that although undoubtedly started in the first stage by hooligans, there were a large number of respectable working men taking part in the disturbance…. As previously stated the feeling in the first case was against the Jews, but now it appears to be an outburst of lawlessness in all directions, and threats have been used against respectable tradesmen who have been in the town for many years." 

^

Thursday, February 14, 2019

A Historical Note On That Accusation of "Privilege"

Should Jews being angry at being accused of possessing "white privilege"?

Or any privilege that seems to justify hate and anti-Semitism?

Sure.

Look what I found in this book:




Think about that.

Nothing new.

^

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Expanding Shiloh with US Senate Approval

Using "Shiloh" and "expansion" without referring to Zionism, the Land of Israel, "settlement", "colonialism" or whatever:-



^

Monday, February 11, 2019

Jabotinsky Led Off to Prison

As a result of Ze'ev Jabotinsky's activity during the Passover 1920 murderous pogrom by Arabs in defending the Jewish population, a task to which he was appointed in late 1919 by the Zionist Commission, he was arrested. Eventually, a British military court found him guilty of possessing and using illegal arms and sentenced him to 15 years imprisonment. He was led to Akko Prison.

The way he was accompanied to Akko became a subject for a Parliamentary Question. Two, in fact:

1.

HC Deb 10 June 1920 vol 130 cc628-9W 628W

§ Brigadier-General COLVIN asked the Secretary of State for War whether Mr. Jabotinsky, who did service for this country during the War, was marched to gaol in company with Arabs who were sentenced for violating Jewish girls; and whether he is still confined in the gaol at Acre?

§ Mr. CHURCHILL According to the latest information in my possession, Mr. Jabotinsky is still confined at Acre. I will inquire of Lord Allenby the exact conditions of his imprisonment.

2.


HC Deb 29 June 1920 vol 131 cc232-3 232

§ 19. Brigadier-General COLVIN asked the Secretary of State for War whether he can now state under what circumstances Mr. Jabotinsky was conducted to prison and the conditions of his imprisonment?

§ Mr. CHURCHILL I am informed that Mr. Jabotinsky was conducted to prison under the escort of a British officer, and travelled first class by rail to Haifa. He walked from the station to the civil gaol, which is quite near, and there spent the night in separate quarters. He proceeded by train the following morning to Acre, and then in a motor ambulance from the station to the civil goal, where he was handed over to the civil authorities by the British officer escorting him. He is confined in division 2 (simple confinement), and is in separate quarters. He is allowed to wear his own clothing and has his own bedding. Any food he wishes may be sent to him. He is allowed exercise in the open every two hours under supervision; facilities for bathing and medical treatment by a doctor from outside the prison if necessary. He has facilities for reading and studying. His wife visits him twice a week, and he is allowed interviews with Zionist friends at any time.

§ Brigadier-General COLVIN Is it not the fact that Mr. Jabotinsky rendered great service to this country during the War, both in the field and on the platform, and was he not quite justified in taking steps to protect himself and the Jews in Jerusalem from threatened attacks of the Arabs?

§ Mr. CHURCHILL A British tribunal has found otherwise, and that has been the opinion of Lord Allenby. The sentence of fifteen years' imprisonment has been reduced to one year, and is being served under the extremely modified conditions which I have described in detail to the House, and which I took the trouble to have telegraphed to me.

Hadar.

Sunday, February 10, 2019

When A Congressman Compared the Jordan River to the Mississippi

When the US Congress had no problem supporting Zionism, criticizing pro-Arab diplomacy and...comparing the Jordan River to the Mississippi River:-

Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives joined today in condemning on the floor of their respective Houses the granting of independence to Transjordan. One Congressman suggested that the matter to placed before the Security Council of the UNO by the U.S. delegation.

Senator Claude Pepper, Democrat of Florida, sharply attacked British policy in Transjordan and Palestine, in a general statement in the Senate on foreign policy with particular reference to the Iranian situation. The British Mandate over Palestine “should have been repealed a long time ago,” he said.

Rep. Gordon McDonough, California Republican, urged the State Department to consult with the British Foreign Office “to assure the British that the heroic and creative Hebrew people, who have already worked such marvels in transformation in the insert of Palestine, can, by their friendship and trust, be infinitely better guarantors of western principals of peace and freedom in the Near East than can illiterate, comedic Bedonine,” McDonough asked that the American delegates to the UNO be instructed to investigate this matter in the Security Council.

Rep. Angnatua Bennett, New York Republican, compared the separation of Palestine and Transjordan to a situation that might develop should the U.S. be divided at the Mississippi. He recalled the treaty of 1924, in which Great Britain promised not change the status of Transjordan under the Mandate without the approval of the U.S. Government. “To my knowledge,” he said, “that approval has not been granted.

Senator Owen Browster, Republican of Maine, told the Senate that the State Department should “investigate the sudden creation of this new independent state of Transjordan.”

JTA, April 4, 1946.

Background.

Friday, February 08, 2019

It Is Now "Now" But Then It Was "Here"

The slogan "Peace Now", while not specifically Jewish as evident in the phrase 'peace in our time', has always perturbed me, as if only the "now" counts. Not the past nor, actually, the future.

And then I came across this and I grasped how non-nationalist, aka Zionist, Jews, performed semantic acrobatics to avoid the true essence of Jewish communal identity:

As a legal party in the independent Polish state, the Bund sharpened its ideological positions. While the party had always been opposed to Zionism (considering it to represent only the interests of bourgeois Jewry), the movement responded to the increased appeal of Zionism after the Balfour Declaration of 1917. At this point Medem strengthened a central component to the ideology of the Bund, doikayt (hereness), and made this concept the trademark of the movement during the interwar period. Supporters of doikayt insisted that the future of the Jewish people would best unfold in the same places in the Diaspora in which it had experienced its past, and where it had developed and created its cultural resources. The party began to portray itself as the guardian of secular Yiddish Jewish culture, fighting against what it perceived to be an irresponsible illusion that would concentrate all Jews into a national homeland in Palestine, and vigorously warding off attempts to cultivate Hebrew culture in Poland at the expense of the original Yiddish culture.

^

Thursday, February 07, 2019

Jews in Judea, Samaria and Gaza: Pre-1948

Jews lived in the heartland of the Jewish historic homeland, Judea, Samaria and Gaza, until Mandate times, when Arabs engaged in a terror campaign to ethnically cleanse them from their homes and livelihood. And then, during the 1947-1948 war, uprooted them from Jerusalem and its neighborhoods as well.

Jews live in Nablus and Gaza?

Yes.

Exhibit One: 1922 British Census



^

The UN Goes "Tuches Backwards"

The United Nations has a unit that takes care of the Arabs of Palestine (actually many).

It's called OCHAopt, part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). As explained,

In 2002, OCHA established its Country Office in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), occupied by Israel since the 1967 war, to support international efforts to respond to the humanitarian situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and in the Gaza Strip....OCHA oPt works to ensure a coordinated and effective response to humanitarian needs stemming from the conflict, the occupation and other policies, as well as from natural disasters or extreme weather events.

However, one need be careful. Take a look at this "reporting":




I ask you: which came first - Arab violence and terror or Jewish responses?

Yes, I am aware that "Jewish responses" in too many cases were criminal.  But that is not my point.

OCHAopt is simply playing a propaganda game and supporting the narrative of blaming "settlers". It is engaged and embedded with the Arab side. 

That is not being humanitarian.  And it will not contribute to resolving problems.

Presenting things backwards is unethical and unhelpful.

^

Tuesday, February 05, 2019

Palestine on A Plate

I previously blogged on how the Arabs-called-Palestinians have turned cuisine into a major issue of ethnic and national identity within the context of the Arab conflict with Israel and Zionism.

Who created falafel.

Which humus is the best.

But now I see this matter has morphed into a sub-issue which I'll call "cuisine geography".

Here:


Palestinian food can be sorted into three categories, she explained: There is the bread- and meat-based cooking of the West Bank, which includes East Jerusalem and stretches to the Jordan River. The food of the Galilee, which sits inside Israel and includes cities like Nazareth, closely resembles Levantine cuisine, with its tabbouleh and kibbeh. The cooking of the Gaza Strip, a dense patch bordering Egypt, is largely fish-based and fiery. 

First of all, Chef Kalla would be upset that there's no maqloobeh in there.

More importantly, what happened to Jordan?  It's not part of 'historic Palestine'?

Most importantly, according to this "Palestine-on-a-Plate" geographic cuisine, the borders of "Palestine" seem to be defined as what one cooks. And food becomes soothing:
“Seeing the physical apparatus of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank was very hard to witness,” she said. She found that food soothed the frenzy in her mind. 
Maybe the desire of Arabs-called-Palestinians to eradicate Israel, erase the Jewish people's national history in the Land of Israel and deny any Jewish cultural attachment to the land is just a matter of...hunger? 

___________________

UPDATE



^




Monday, February 04, 2019

Brainwashed and Lied To

You are asked to believe this:

“Tourists coming here are brainwashed, they are lied to, they do not know this is our land”, said a Palestinian farmer living next to Shiloh settlement, where the Israeli government is funding a large visitor centre to draw tourists to an archaeological site.

Don't.

There are no lies at Shiloh.

We do know whose land this is.

We know what the Arabs did to the site before Jews returned.

We know exactly what Arab period remains are at the site.

Come and judge for yourself.

Friday, February 01, 2019

'Palestine is Southern Syria', The Map

I have blogged multiple times that the Arabs called today as "Palestinians", originally demanded not to be known as such and that the territory all called "Palestine" should be called "Southern Syria", not specifically "Palestine".

In other words, there was no unique Palestinian national identity among Arabs residing in the territory of what was accepted to be Palestine.  They were Syrians.

Here.

And here.

And also here.

And now, the map:


Take note.

So, is it the "Heritage of Palestine" or, the "Heritage of Southern Syria", etc.?

______________

UPDATE

...In line with the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916...the French occupied the northern Levant, from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates River and beyond...The French quickly realized that their Syrian dominion – two millions inhabitants in 1920 – was a patchwork of conflicting communities. Charles de Gaulle, who was stationed as a young staff officer in Beyrouth from 1929 to 1931, dryly observed, “The people who live here never contented themselves with anything nor anybody.”...According to Viscount Robert de Caix de Saint-Aymour, Syria did not exist and would never exist. It had to be partitioned into smaller but more homogeneous entities...The State of Lebanon was created in 1920, and turned six years later into the semi-independent "

^