The Palestinian Authority and the US Peace To Prosperity Plan

President Donald Trump announced his so-called Deal of the Century on January 28 this year.

It is quite beneficial for the Arab side. Since then, what has been done or said by the Palestinian Authority?

The next day they had people take to the streets as part of a "day of rage". Saeb Erekat said the Trump administration had simply "copied and pasted" the steps that Mr Netanyahu wanted to see implemented. "It's about annexation, it's about apartheid.

Mahmoud Abbas declared "We say a thousand times, no, no, no. We rejected this deal from the start and our stance was correct."

Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas said he is ending "all agreements" with Israel and the United States 

The Palestinian Authority prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said it would be “buried very soon.”

At the UN in early February, Abbas announced,  "we will not accept this plan; we will confront its application on the ground.”

In May, Abbas notified all that “The Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO] and the state of Palestine are absolved, as of today, of all the agreements and understandings with the American and Israeli governments and of all the commitments based on these understandings and agreements, including the security ones.” Note: he did that last July and two years earlier.

Terror attacks continue. That the PA is creating an atmosphere of terror and war for the Palestinian street is documented.

I think things are quite clear.

So does Jared Kushner keep pushing? Was Jason Greenblatt smart to get out?

^

The Key is Reducinig The Four-Year Period

How to prevent the establishment of a second Arab state (well, third if we include Gaza) even though Israel has indicated acceptance of the Peace for Propserity Plan?

Simple.

Reduce it.

What four years?

Here is President Trump on January 28:

Perhaps most importantly, my vision gives the Palestinians the time needed to rise up and meet the challenges of statehood.  I sent a letter today to President Abbas.  I explained to him that the territory allocated for his new state will remain open and undeveloped for a period of four years.  During this time, Palestinians can use all appropriate deliberation to study the deal, negotiate with Israel, achieve the criteria for statehood, and become a truly independent and wonderful state.

President Abbas, I want you to know that if you choose the path to peace, America and many other countries will — we will be there.  We will be there to help you in so many different ways. 

How to reduce those four years?

Here are the preconditions Trump set out:

To ensure a successful Palestinian state, we are asking the Palestinians to meet the challenges of peaceful co-existence.  (Applause.)  This includes adopting basic laws enshrining human rights; protecting against financial and political corruption; stopping the malign activities of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other enemies of peace; ending the incitement of hatred against Israel — so important; and permanently halting the financial compensation to terrorists. 

No basic laws? Time reduced from the four years.

Continued financial corruption? No halt in pay-for-slay compensation for imprisoned terrorists? Time taken off those four years.

Terror continues?

Incitement continues? 

No negotiations (as at present)? Time reduced.

UPDATE EDIT

I was sent by LBD back to the full text of the plan itself so, as in Section 22,

If the PLO and the Palestinian Authority shall not refrain from any attempt to join any international organization without the consent of the State of Israel; or act, and not dismiss all pending actions, against the State of Israel, the United States and any of their

citizens before the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, and all other tribunals, more time can come off.

Those four years will become a few months or even weeks. In fact, over four months have already passed and the map has not yet been converted from a conceptual one.

This time Mr. Trump needs to hear: no four years!

^

Then and Now, A Concise Perspective: Baker vs. Trump

Then, Statement by Secretary of State James Baker to AIPAC, May 22, 1989

It is therefore high time for serious political dialogue between Israeli officials and Palestinians in the territories to bring about a common understanding on these and other issues. Peace and the peace process must be built from the ground up. Palestinians have it within their power to help define the shape of this initiative and to help define its essential elements. They shouldn't shy from a dialogue with Israel that can transform the current environment and determine the ground rules for getting to, for conducting, and, indeed, for moving beyond elections.

We should not hide from ourselves the difficulties that face even these steps here at the very beginning. For many Israelis it will not be easy to enter a negotiating process whose successful outcome will in all probability involve territorial withdrawal and the emergence of a new political reality. For Palestinians, such an outcome will mean an end to the illusion of control over all of Palestine, and it will mean full recognition of Israel as a neighbour and partner in trade and in human contact.

Let the Arab world take concrete steps towards accommodation with Israel, not in place of the peace process, but as a catalyst for it.

And so we would say, "End the economic boycott. Stop the challenges to Israel's standing in international organizations. Repudiate the odious line that 'Zionism is racism."'

For Israel, now is the time to lay aside, once and for all, the unrealistic vision of a Greater Israel. Israeli interests in the West Bank and Gaza, security and otherwise, can be accommodated in a settlement based on Resolution 242. Forswear annexation; stop settlement activity; allow schools to reopen; reach out to the Palestinians as neighbours who deserve political rights .

For Palestinians, now is the time to speak with one voice for peace. Renounce the 'policy of phases' in all languages, not just those addressed to the West. Practise constructive diplomacy, not attempts to distort international organizations, such as the World Health Organization. Amend the covenant. Translate the dialogue of violence in the intifada into a dialogue of politics and diplomacy. Violence will not work. Reach out to Israelis and convince them of your peaceful intentions. You have the most to gain from doing so, and no one else can or will do it for you. Finally, understand that no one is going to deliver Israel for you.

Today, Remarks by President Donald Trump, the White House, January 28, 2020

My vision presents a “win-win” opportunity for both sides, a realistic two-state solution that resolves the risk of Palestinian statehood to Israel’s security...This is the first time Israel has authorized the release of a conceptual map, illustrating the territorial compromises it’s willing to make for the cause of peace.  And they’ve gone a long way.   This is an unprecedented and highly significant development...We will form a joint committee with Israel to convert the conceptual map into a more detailed and calibrated rendering so that recognition can be immediately achieved.  

We will also work to create a contiguous territory within the future Palestinian State for when the conditions for statehood are met, including the firm rejection of terrorism.  (Applause.)

Under this vision, Jerusalem will remain Israel’s undivided –- very important — undivided capital.  But that’s no big deal, because I’ve already done that for you, right?  (Laughter.)  We’ve already done that, but that’s okay.  It’s going to remain that way.

And the United States will recognize Israeli sovereignty over the territory that my vision provides to be part of the State of Israel.  Very important. 

And, crucially, the proposed transition to a two-state solution will present no incremental security risk to the State of Israel whatsoever.

We will not allow a return to the days of bloodshed, bus bombings, nightclub attacks, and relentless terror.  It won’t be allowed.  Peace requires compromise, but we will never ask Israel to compromise its security.  Can’t do that.

As everyone knows, I have done a lot for Israel: moving the United States Embassy to Jerusalem; recognizing — (applause) –- recognizing the Golan Heights — (applause) — and, frankly, perhaps most importantly, getting out of the terrible Iran nuclear deal.  (Applause.) Therefore, it is only reasonable that I have to do a lot for the Palestinians, or it just wouldn’t be fair.  Now, don’t clap for that, okay?  But it’s true.  It wouldn’t be fair.  I want this deal to be a great deal for the Palestinians.  It has to be.

Today’s agreement is a historic opportunity for the Palestinians to finally achieve an independent state of their very own.  After 70 years of little progress, this could be the last opportunity they will ever have — and “last” for a lot of reasons...

This map will more than double the Palestinian territory and provide a Palestinian capital in eastern Jerusalem where America will proudly open an embassy.  (Applause.)  No Palestinians or Israelis will be uprooted from their homes.  (Applause.)

Israel will work closely with a wonderful person, a wonderful man — the King of Jordan — to ensure that the status quo of the Temple Mount is preserved and strong measures are taken to ensure that all Muslims who wish to visit peacefully and pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque will be able to do so...

Our vision will end the cycle of Palestinian dependency upon charity and foreign aid.  They will be doing phenomenally all by themselves.  They are a very, very capable people.  (Applause.)  And we will help by empowering the Palestinians to thrive on their own.  Palestinians will be able to seize the new future with dignity, self-sufficiency, and national pride.

To ensure a successful Palestinian state, we are asking the Palestinians to meet the challenges of peaceful co-existence.  (Applause.)  This includes adopting basic laws enshrining human rights; protecting against financial and political corruption; stopping the malign activities of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other enemies of peace; ending the incitement of hatred against Israel — so important; and permanently halting the financial compensation to terrorists.  (Applause.)

Perhaps most importantly, my vision gives the Palestinians the time needed to rise up and meet the challenges of statehood.  I sent a letter today to President Abbas.  I explained to him that the territory allocated for his new state will remain open and undeveloped for a period of four years...President Abbas, I want you to know that if you choose the path to peace, America and many other countries will — we will be there.  We will be there to help you in so many different ways.  And we will be there every step of the way.  We will be there to help...In truth, Jerusalem is liberated.  (Applause.)  Jerusalem is a safe, open, democratic city that welcomes people of all faiths and all places.

It is time for the Muslim world to fix the mistake it made in 1948 when it chose to attack, instead of recognize, the new State of Israel.  It’s time.  (Applause.)

...But America cannot care more about peace than the stakeholders in the region.  There are many Muslims who never visited Al Aqsa, and many Christians and Jews who never visited the holy sites in the West Bank described so vividly in the Bible.  My vision will change that.  Our majestic biblical heritage will be able to live, breathe, and flourish in modern times.

All humanity should be able to enjoy the glories of the Holy Land.  This part of the world is forever connected to the human soul and the human spirit.  These ancient lands should not be symbols of conflict but eternal symbols of peace.

 ^

The New York Times Goes Cockamamie

Only in the New York Times would one find such a cockamamie* defense of anti-Semitism

...critics have complained that such a policy could be used to stifle free speech and legitimate opposition to Israel’s policies toward Palestinians in the name of fighting anti-Semitism++. The definition of anti-Semitism to be used in the order, which matches the one used by the State Department, has been criticized as too open-ended and sweeping.  For instance, it describes as anti-Semitic “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination,” and offers as an example of such behavior “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”

If that isn't wacky enough, this follows:

opponents of the definition fear that it could be used to declare any defense of Palestinian autonomy to be anti-Semitic, with federal education funding as a cudgel.

Autonomy is granted by the sovereign power within its own territory.  By agreement. So campaigning for autonomy cannot be anti-Semitic as all it is is a political arrangement that does not deny Jewish nationality.

I am presuming that radical Jewish anti-Zionists are at work here, supplying the NYT with nonsensical reasoning. I need be careful here as anti-Semitism is actually non-sensical itself which could lead to all sorts of misinterpretations and misrepresentations.

The order, once signed, is to protect Jews and also non-Jews who seek to defend Israel on campuses without being threatened with actual violence, their events shut down, their dorm rooms targeted by fellow students, off-campus activists as well as by their own lecturers and administration officials.


UPDATE

Read Joel Pollock on another NYT cockup in reporting on Donald Trump's Executive Order.

++  What is happening is that free speech and legitimate opposition to Arab terror, incitement, defense of Zionism & Israel, etc. is being stifled by Arabs and their fellow-travelers. That is the horrific situation on campuses and what the EO will combat.

The order, I understand, prohibits discrimination based on "perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics".
In other words, the crime is what the anti-Semite presumes, not necessarily what Jews think of themselves.

SECOND UPDATE

Initial reporting indicated that the order would include language defining Judaism as a “national origin,” setting off a frenzy among major Jewish organizations, activists and lawmakers. The draft text of the order obtained by JI makes no such reference.

Of note: There is no mention of Israel in the text of the executive order draft shared with JI. However, IHRA includes as contemporary examples of antisemitism the accusation of dual loyalty, using symbols associated with antisemitism to characterize Israel or Israelis and “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.” IHRA also notes in its working definition that “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.”

______________


*  cockamamie


^

Being Religious and a NYT Letter to the Editor

I delayed responding to this letter of Leon as, to be honest, I couldn't find a reference to him on social media outlets which, for me, is a sign that a person doesn't exist.  It was the spelling, which he informs me " I have it spelled differently [Karyem] on Facebook. The Times has it how I write it in person."

But he found me.  And now to his letter in the New York Times:

Re “Israeli Wants to Name Train Station for Trump” (news article, Dec. 28):

Rarely have my religious sensibilities been so offended as they were by the Israeli transportation minister’s plan to name a new train station in the Jewish Quarter, near the Western Wall, after Donald Trump. Mr. Trump has made a political career out of closing America’s doors to the widow, the orphan and the stranger. He ran a campaign vilifying religious minorities, but as president referred to those marching alongside neo-Nazis in a Charlottesville, Va., rally last summer as “very fine people.”

As a Zionist and a current Jerusalem resident, I appreciate the president’s decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over its capital. But that does not mitigate the profanity of slapping his name on this sacred site.

The Western Wall is not a casino, and it is a desecration to associate the Temple Mount with that gilded, tacky brand that has already brought one great nation so low.

LEON KRAIEM, JERUSALEM

Leon is studying at a rabbinical seminary, and it is the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He had wanted to vote for moderate progressive New York candidate for mayor Sal Albanese, who was endorsed by the...Jewish Press! I hope he is one that Daniel Gordis would not be wary of, as a rabbinical student, or a member of Conservative Judaism.

And to Leon's letter.

First of all, congratulations on being published. I have had letters published there but my batting average is quite low.  But that is not because of my writing ability but because of my opinions.  So, Leon, take that into consideration.  If you had written in support of the naming of a train station after Trump, I'd bet you wouldn't have gotten in (there was no pro-letter, was there?).

Second, good vocabulary: sensibilities, offended the widow, the orphan and the stranger, vilifying, mitigate the profanity of slapping his name, gilded, tacky.  Good future sermon potential.

Third, writing, though, that you are "a current Jerusalem resident" is a bit of a sleight-of-hand. Really now. You were passing along a misrepresentation of your Jerusalem status? Are you earning a living here? Are you making Aliyah? Why not write "currently a rabbinical student on a year's (two years?) program"? 

Four, why at all should your religious sensibilities be offended?  What has a train station to do with religion?  It has to do with Trump's declaration regarding Jerusalem:

...today, we finally acknowledge the obvious: that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital.  This is nothing more, or less, than a recognition of reality.  It is also the right thing to do.  It’s something that has to be done.

If your religious sensibilities were offended it should have been this part of his words:

a place where Jews pray at the Western Wall...In the meantime, I call on all parties to maintain the status quo at Jerusalem’s holy sites, including the Temple Mount, also known as Haram al-Sharif.

Why cannot Jews pray on the Temple Mount, which is a religious act and some think an obligation?  If you demur, I would point out that that is probably because of a political outlook. You do know that there's a Conservative psak on the matter permitting entrance (although Reuven Hammer, supporting entrance, disagrees as to actual Jewish prayer)?  The law of Israel is on the side of those who seek freedom of religion although the High Court of Justice discriminates against Jews in this matter. Even the Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty lends support to this request (Article 9).

Fifth, is it "profanity" in naming a train station after President Trump?  Truly? Of course, if it is Trump himself that bothers you, rather than naming the station after a person, a non-Jew, then we are left with a political dispute.  But is it proper for you to disagree, in the name of "a Jerusalem resident", "Jerusalem, Israel", as if you are now representing 800,00+ Jerusalemites and millions of Israelis, without a smidgen of veracity or authority, to that act? That the NYTimes can wave you about, albeit in the letters section? After all, you must know how they would exploit that letter.

I cannot argue on the grounds of whether Minister Katz made to correct decision.  We do have a King George V Avenue - and he didn't do a thing.  He happened to be king when the Balfour Declaration was made.  There is French Hill, after a Colonel French or perhaps French nuns.

But if it is the proximity to Jewish holy sites that sets you off, you do know this, yes?

R. Johanan said: Why did Omri merit sovereignty? Because he added a region to Eretz-Yisrael, as it is written, And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill Samaria,[I Kings 16:24]  R. Johanan said: Why did Ahab merit royalty for twenty-two years? — Because he honoured the Torah, which was given in twenty-two letters...R. Judah says: Manasheh has a portion therein..."because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah" [Jeremiah 15:4], One Master  maintains, 'Because of Manasseh' who repented..."

So, from a religious, or theological Rabbinic standpoint, Trump should be thought of having some positive merit - at least as regards the train station being named after him: he made a major contribution to Israel's sovereignty and the raising up of the worth of the Land of Israel, the Jewish national home; he gave honor to the Jewish connection to Israel and Jerusalem and he still can yet repent.

In other words, you not only were interfering but your religiosity, as regards your political viewpoint is questionable, at the least.  As to the matter of your Jerusalem residency, well, maybe you will stay and not go back to the lands of Dispersion and Exile but will be a good religious Jew and stay.  And use the train.

^

Off-key Trumpeting of Trump

New York Times reports that Israel has been told to "hold off" on construction in Judea and Samaria.

That stemmed from an unnamed official in Washington via a Jerusalem Post story by a Michael Wilner on Thursday which reads, supposedly, that Israel was asked:

to cease settlement announcements that are “unilateral” and “undermining” of President Donald Trump’s effort to forge Middle East peace

The continuation of the remarks were

"While we don’t believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in achieving that goal."

So, any intelligent reader would presume:

a. Jewish communities are okay, in principle.

b. In the meantime, Israel can continue its decades-old policies.

c. For the foreseeable future, no announcements.

d. And the US administration is not sure and hasn't made up its mind as construction "may not be helpful". Which means it could be helpful.

Read these stories:

More Fake News: Trump ‘Opposes’ Israeli Settlements

Spicer: 'Trump administration has not taken an official position' on Israeli settlements

Donald Trump reversed Barack Obama’s policy toward Israel’s settlements


_________

Official Press Spokesperson statement

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 2, 2017

Statement by the Press Secretary

“The American desire for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians has remained unchanged for 50 years. While we don’t believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in achieving that goal. As the President has expressed many times, he hopes to achieve peace throughout the Middle East region. The Trump administration has not taken an official position on settlement activity and looks forward to continuing discussions, including with Prime Minister Netanyahu when he visits with President Trump later this month.”

^

The Educating of the Press

According to what I read, two dozen anchors and executives from CBS, NBC, CNN, and ABC, including Lester Holt, Chuck Todd, Wolf Blitzer, Gayle King, David Muir, and Martha Raddatz and some others (NBC’s Deborah Turness, Lester Holt, ABC’s James Goldston, George Stephanopoulos, CBS’ Norah O’Donnell John Dickerson, Charlie Rose, Christopher Isham, Fox News’ Bill Shine, Jack Abernethy, Jay Wallace, Suzanne Scott, MSNBC’s Phil Griffin and CNN’s Jeff Zucker and Erin Burnett) were invited to a press briefing and with the President-elect were his top aides including Stephen Bannon, Jared Kushner, Reince Priebus, and Kellyanne Conway (also spokesman Jason Miller, and Republican National Committee chief strategist and communications director Sean Spicer).

Trump blasted the media coverage.

The reactions?

One participant at the meeting said that Trump’s behavior was 

“totally inappropriate” and “fucking outrageous.” 

Another remarked 

“I have to tell you, I am emotionally fucking pissed,”

Another source I reviewed contained this 

“It was like a f–ing firing squad,”

and this

“Trump kept saying, ‘We’re in a room of liars, the deceitful dishonest media who got it all wrong.’ He addressed everyone in the room calling the media dishonest, deceitful liars. He called out Jeff Zucker by name and said everyone at CNN was a liar, and CNN was [a] network of liars,” the source said.

In a separate incident, an interview, I caught this exchange:

"I think we should all learn from the election that this doesn't fly with the voters," she [Kellyanne Conway] said, adding that CNN is "focusing on divisions" by calling out Trump's tweets.

"This network and other people will always be focused on divisions. How about accepting the election results,[CNN host] Chris [Cuomo], and letting him form a government?" Conway said. "He is a leader and takes the counsel of many people, and that's exactly what he's doing."

"And a leader should also have thick skin," Cuomo shot back.

My takeaways:

1. Media people use the "F" word a lot.

2. Media people do not seem to have thick skin themselves.

3. They probably still don't think they did too much wrong during the campaign.

4. This is going to be some ride. 

^

The New ADL Chant: 'Register, Register'!

Progressive and liberal America, with Jews way out in the lead, view the,selves after the election results as now living in...Nazi-land.

Really.

They even go further.  Here's a comment left at my FB account on the appointment of Stephen Bannon:

Jews who read, quote, and believe anything written in Breitbart even after Bannon said it was the platform for the alt. right remind me of the kapos of many years ago. There really is no difference

I found this:

The majority of the people who stood by and did nothing when my father and his family were in Hitler Germany were not good. They were pretty much like your friends who were Trump supporters,

This:

Welcome to Trump's fourth Reich.

And this talkback:

Trump has shown that he a racist and it is just plain silly to think he was saying and posting racist, xenophobic and anti-semitic words and symbols just to gt votes from the KKK and other white supremacy and American Nazi party supporters, he really is part of this himself. Any Jewish person who is attracted to this crap because they sympathize with the hate he spews or because they like his politics of greed is very misguided. My dad told me about Jews like this in Berlin who were looking to profit off of the misfortune of others.

Is this what mass hysteria looks like?  Are sane people going crazy?  So, it is true that, in order to be liberal/left, you need be irrationally extreme?

Now we have the ADL's Jonathan Greenblatt who, after backtracking on libelous comments he made relating to Bannon, said this:

“The new administration plans to force Muslims to register on some master list. As Jews we know what it means to be forced to register.  I pledge to you that because I am committed to the fight against anti-Semitism that if one day Muslim Americans are forced to register their identities, that is the day that this proud Jew will register as Muslim.”

As far as I know, Trump's proposal was only for people entering the US on non-immigrant visas from specific countries and it has been on the table for years, a decade, as the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System.  Did Greenblatt register then?

But more important, there are also threats from the extreme Left, an element that has caused trouble for Jews on campuses and in grocery stores when protesting Israel and is now feneigling into the Democratic Party leadership.

Like Keith Ellison and his challenge.

According to sources (see below), it seems he was involved in the Nation of Islam. He worked on Farrakhan's Million Man March (he later repudiated it). Many of his supporters hate Jews, which parallels the claim that Trump "was supported by anti-Semities, a twist on some of my best friends are...Jew haters.

He has called for white people to pay reparations for slavery, in place of affirmative action.He is also very close to the Council on American-Islamic Relations which is the Muslim Brotherhood's organisation in the US.  See A; B; C;

And Ellison has raised money for CAIR, it appears

He has spoken at ISNA and IIIT conferences.  He was associated with NAIF, the Flying Imams. People think he’s a Muslim Brother…he supported Sami Al-Arian.  And he criticized Zuhdi Jasser and spoke out against Peter King’s hearing on radicalization. He's signed onto a couple letters organized by the BDS movement.  See D; E.

And there's a Diane Feinstein, too.

As Joshua Seidel writes, 

The Trump Team Is No More Anti-Semitic Than Democrats Are

And by the way, is Greenblatt so 'in' with Obama that he won't decry the violence of some of the anti-Trump demos?

What will Greenblatt have to say about Muslim anti-Jewish preaching, attacks and other negatives signs that have already crept into the American reality?

There's also Peter Beinart who thinks Jews tribal, that Trump "began flirting with anti-Semitism" and that "America’s most influential Jewish groups have prioritized Netanyahu over U.S. Jews’ safety" and "Jewry’s two most influential groups no longer take moral responsibility for the country in which their members live."  His next step might well be that Netanyahu and/or Israel are really what anti-Semites claim is happening: ZOG.

P.S.  And now this demo:

Jewish protesters march into D.C. building hosting Trump team against Bannon's appointment

And Greenblatt now says:

U.S. Anti-Semitism Worst Since ‘30’s

_____________

P.S.

Caught this Saturday night:

^

Is There a Parallel to the Upcoming AIPAC/Trump Ruckus?

In a 2009 meeting with the  Foreign Affairs Committee of the Israeli Knesset, former President Jimmy Carter was reminded of an event 30 years previously:

...Mr. Begin said on your first visit to the Israeli Knesset on March 12 1979, "We have a beautiful democracy," and you will be witness to democracy today. This is the meaning of Knesset, the meaning of parliament, and we have many views around this table. I think that most of the people here, maybe most Israelis were, to say the least, frustrated with some of your remarks about the Palestinian issue but respect your vision, commitment and love for the state of Israel, and this is why we felt we have to listen to you and also to share our feelings and thoughts with you today. You are the first former American President visiting this committee and we look forward to a fruitful discussion.

As this newspaper report makes clear, indeed there was a ruckus going on:

Here is another account:

In Carter's speech he said pointedly: "The people of the two nations are ready now for peace. The leaders have not yet proven that we are also ready for peace enough to take a chance." Begin's speech was interrupted repeatedly by members of the right and the Communist party, and MK Geula Cohen was removed from the chamber.  Carter believed that Begin took pleasure in showing him the strength of Israeli democracy.

So I suggest to the AIPAC heads that when the ruckus breaks out, just quote Menachem Begin.

^ 

CAIR Can't Care for Historical Accuracy

CAIR, again, twists history.

In reaction to Donald Trump's suggestion that a 

"total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on."

The executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says that

Trump's ''outrageous'' comments on banning Muslims echo ''the policies enacted by nazi Germany against the Jews.''

But that's not true.

If anything, it's what F. D. Roosevelt and his cronies in government before and during the Holocaust did by refusing Jews entry to the United States.

Nazi Germany persecuted Jews, jailed them, took away their livelihoods, kicked them out of universities, boycotted their businesses and eventually killed them.  It did not ban them from entering Germany.

^