Links - 3rd August 2021 (2) (China's 'peaceful' rise)

How China locked down internally for COVID-19, but pushed foreign travel - "There is new evidence to show that China locked down all domestic traffic internally by end January 2020 but pushed to open foreign travel till end March. Data from Tom Tom traffic index, a traffic location site that covers 416 cities across 57 countries show that as a result of this strategy, China, intentionally or otherwise, was able to lockdown its cities unknown to the world. While this reduced the spread of the Corona virus within China, China’s aggressive foreign travel policy lead to a virus explosion worldwide... On January 22 at a meeting to decide the measures to be taken, WHO was not able warn the world of the severity of COVID-19 apparently because of resistance from Beijing. (WHO referred to it as “divergent views”)... China’s vice-minister of foreign affairs Qin Gang met Italy’s ambassador to China Luca Ferrari in Beijing following the flight ban. “Italy’s decision to stop flights without contacting China in advance caused great inconvenience to citizens of both countries. Many Chinese are still stranded in Italy,” the foreign ministry said on its website the following day. The U.S. issued a travel advisory against China travel on the 2nd of February but did not ban all services. While Chinese authorities limited domestic flights from Wuhan to other Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai in an effort to contain the outbreak in January, it urged international carriers to maintain their flying schedules... While implementing a total domestic lockdown in February, China kept assuring the world that the situation was not serious and fully under control. China kept on the facade of hiding the severity of the virus attack till mid March"
So much for the "conspiracy" that China infected the world on purpose

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent Podcast, Investigating Nigeria's protest shootings - "‘We’re in the northern Frontier Province of Inner Mongolia, which borders the country of Mongolia, because parents have been protesting outside schools and withholding their children from class. This follows the government order to reduce the number of classes taught in the Mongolian language in favor of Mandarin. Ethnic Mongolians now make up less than 20% of the population in this region, and only half of them speak their own language. The fear has been that if you reduce teaching in Mongolian, it could even further erode the level of Mongolian proficiency in the province. Some activists have gone further and said that this is a deliberate move by Beijing to hasten the assimilation of Mongolians into the dominant Han Chinese culture. The authorities however, argue that these concerns have been completely overblown. They say it's only a few subjects which will now switch over to Chinese’
First, they came for the Tibetans...

Kimchi wars: South Korean academic takes spat with China to new level with tart ad in New York Times - "A renowned South Koreanacademic activist has taken the simmering row with Chinaover which country invented kimchi to a new level – by placing an advertisement in The New York Times promoting it as a purely Korean culinary offering.Seo Kyoung-duk, a professor at Sungshin University in Seoul who specialises in publicity, said he launched the campaign announcing Kimchi as an “iconic food of Korea and its culture”, as acknowledged by Unesco, “in order to let all the peoples in the world know clearly that kimchi belongs to Koreans, pure and simple”... Seo said he felt compelled to place the ad in response to China taking credit for being the origin of the fermented vegetable dish, whose popularity is gaining worldwide... Beijing recently won certification from the International Organization for Standardisation (ISO) for pao cai, a pickled vegetable dish from Sichuan province in southwestern China, an achievement Global Times, a tabloid affiliated with Communist Party mouthpiece People‘s Daily, reported as “an international standard for the kimchi industry led by China”. That claim was refuted by the ISO, which clarified that the certification was for pao cai, not kimchi. Pao cai is a typical Chinese pickled vegetable dish, but differs from kimchi in its preparation method and ingredients used... A kimchi-making video uploaded by Chinese internet culinary sensation Li Ziqi with the hashtag #ChineseFood also added fuel to the flare-up online, with critics saying the 19-minute video insulted Korean culture.Meanwhile, China has pulled the plug on a South Korean social media influencer after she added a thumbs-up emoji to comments online criticising China for claiming to be the origin of kimchi and ssam, a pork-and-vegetables wrap.The influencer, nicknamed Hamzy, was kicked off Chinese microblogging site Weibo and video-sharing website Bilibili, with all her postings erased... The Shanghai-based company Suxian Advertising, which runs Hamzy‘s video accounts and her online shop on the e-commerce site Taobao, also said it planned to terminate its contract with her, shut down her online shop and delete her videos... kimchi is not the only Korean cultural item China claims as its own, noting that Korea‘s flowing traditional robe, the Hanbok, and its ancient solo opera form Pansori are also said by many Chinese people to have their origins in the mainland. He attributed the seeming cultural appropriation to nationalist envy. “Chinese people may feel threatened by the rise of K-pop, including boy band group BTS, K-drama and K-films such as the Oscar-winner Parasite, as Asian culture was almost synonymous with Chinese culture in the past”... “If China ends up alienating many Koreans over kimchi, it would satisfy Chinese people‘s nationalistic ego for a moment but it would not be helpful for China’s ling-term national interests”"

Dangers Of Building Ultra Patriotism As Chinese Claim Vladivostok As Haishenwai - "The Russian Embassy to China posted a video on Weibo on July 2 – the date of the anniversary, resulting in a wave of abuse from Chinese social media users across various platforms who claimed that the territory of Primorsky Krai of which Vladivostok is the administrative capital, historically belonged to China... The CPC has long encouraged a form of patriotism among its citizens as most nations do. The difficulty comes when China is faced with its own colonial past – and when that rubs up against today’s Communist Party"

Germany ends China honeymoon with new Indo-Pacific strategy - "After years of shaping its Asian strategy around China, Germany has made a sharp break and will focus instead on stronger partnerships with democracies in the region such as Japan and South Korea to promote the rule of law.The shift comes as part of a rising sense of alarm throughout Europe about economic dependence on China and the country's track record on human rights... economic growth has not opened the Chinese market as hoped. German companies operating there have been forced to hand over technology by China's government. Negotiations for an investment treaty between the European Union and China to address such issues have stalled, fueling concerns about becoming too economically dependent on Beijing... Europe as a whole appears to be reevaluating its ties to China. The European Union in 2019 labeled China a "strategic competitor," highlighting its trade and technological rivalry with the Asian giant. A shift toward a more sober strategy on Beijing has occurred, said Patrick Koellner at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies... The U.K. and France also have begun freezing Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technology out of their 5G networks"

Hillel Neuer on Twitter - "Ahead of the election, some businesses in the US are boarding up their store windows fearing post-election unrest. This kind of unrest is usually complication of elections in poor countries, but people are worried it may appear in the US. The US is in degradation." "you don't even have elections"

China Has Built a Massive Global Database for Hybrid Warfare, International Media Reports - "A major international media investigation has revealed that a technology firm linked to the Chinese Communist Party has created and mined a global database of 2.4 million individuals – many of them political leaders, scientists, journalists and others in positions of influence – based on their online presence in order to monitor them and their networks... AFR notes that out of the 35,000 Australians, the database refers to 656 as “special interest” or “politically exposed” – terms whose exact meaning remains unknown. The special tags suggest that the database was mostly likely designed to be used by the Chinese government for clandestine targeting of individuals for various intelligence operations. The database also includes names of 52,000 Americans, along with nationals from the U.K., Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia and even Papua New Guinea, AFR reports. It also notes that in one instance the database was used to monitor “the career progression of a U.S. naval officer” who was “flagged as a future commander of a nuclear aircraft carrier.” This suggests that the database was created for predictive analytics of the kind used by social media giants."
Project Insight!

Calls for UK ban on all Chinese data firms after leak reveals 40,000 Britons in intelligence files - "No Chinese company dealing with data should be allowed to operate in the UK, a senior Conservative MP has said, following revelations that a firm has collected intelligence on 40,000 people in Britain.Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, said all Chinese internet and data companies should be ejected from the UK to protect British citizens' cyber security... “Given grave concerns about the ability of the Chinese state to obtain data held by Chinese companies, it stands to reason that we should be wary of allowing any such companies to operate in the UK.""

How Chinese Officials Hijacked My Company - WSJ - "The deal was a sham. It was a trap designed to secure my intellectual property, then use intimidation tactics and lies to nullify the agreement and seize control... the joint venture applied for 510 Chinese patents for my designs, technologies, trade secrets and engineering developments. Most of the patent filings didn’t even list me as the inventor. With many of these Chinese patents approved, Rugao was ready to take over the joint venture and steal the intellectual property. Rugao is now claiming the initial valuation of my contributions was based on false information. But the city government itself requested, verified and accepted the valuation, picking at the outset three separate firms to conduct independent appraisals. The government never contested any of what these reviews found. In the past three months, Rugao has demanded the valuation companies say their findings were based on false information.You could ask Grace Yin Xu about this—if you could find her. Grace is a Chinese national who serves as the director of corporate affairs for Jiangsu Saleen. In the early stages of the deal Grace was a liaison between the joint venture and the valuation firms. Chinese law enforcement recently instructed Grace to say that my business partner provided false information and embezzled money. She refused to lie. She entered a government building in Rugao on the morning of June 22 and hasn’t been heard from since. Rugao law enforcement also detained Frank Sterzer, our vice president of manufacturing, for intimidation on June 29. Frank, a German citizen, was released after six hours with no explanation for the detention after he managed to contact the German Embassy using a cellphone the police forgot to confiscate... China’s aggressive theft of intellectual property is well documented. In a 2019 survey of the CNBC Global CFO Council, 1 in 5 North American corporations said China had stolen their intellectual property within the past year. By one estimate this stealing costs the American economy $600 billion annually.China can no longer go unchecked... The U.S. should also deny thieves access to banking systems and require the Securities and Exchange Commission to judge whether a company’s use of stolen intellectual property is a material condition that should be publicly reported. In addition to blocking such goods from the U.S. market, Congress should pass legislation to block banks, investment companies and other financial institutions and stock exchanges from using asset valuation reports prepared by any Chinese asset valuation firms. These reports are easily manipulated by the Chinese government.Such measures may not be enough to protect my 40 years of work and the brand I have built. But it isn’t too late for other American entrepreneurs whose livelihoods are at stake. Congress, and the Trump administration should send a clear message to China: If you want to be in the race, play by the rules."
The perils of doing business in China

Facebook - "I am mortified by this news.  Had no idea that the Chinese intelligence apparatus was using SINGAPOREANS to SPY here in the United States? Turns out that Dickson Yeo happens to be a Facebook friend of mine. And here is the news of his conviction by the Department of Justice for spying on behalf of the Chinese... According to court documents, he was recruited in 2015 by China intelligence operatives on a visit to Beijing where he gave a presentation on the political situation in South-east Asia. He continued to meet them during his various trips to China over the next few years, and regularly received special treatment when entering China. His Chinese handlers asked him to get non-public information about the US Commerce Department, artificial intelligence, and the US-China trade war, even instructing him to create a fake consulting company in 2018. Yeo eventually moved to Washington DC where he attended multiple events at think-tanks to network and recruit more people to write reports... While examples of how the Chinese Communist Party exploits the openness of American society abound, this time, it's clear that they are also using FOREIGN nationals (in this case, Singaporean) of Chinese descent.  Seriously this is not the first time I caught a Chinese spy lurking among my friends. Another was a friend who was in the MIT network."

Twitter removes China US embassy post saying Uighur women no longer 'baby-making machines' - "The post linked to an article by state mouthpiece China Daily, and said: “Study shows that in the process of eradicating extremism, the minds of Uygur women in Xinjiang were emancipated and gender equality and reproductive health were promoted, making them no longer baby-making machines. They are more confident and independent.”... An extensive investigation by Associated Press found authorities subjected hundreds of thousands of Uighur women to pregnancy checks, and forced intrauterine devices, sterilisation and abortion. The AP found birthrates collapsed by more than 60% between 2015 and 2018 in the mostly Uighur regions of Hotan and Kashgar, compared with a fall of 4.2% nationwide. The AP said its findings were on based on government statistics, state documents and interviews with 30 ex-detainees, family members and a former detention camp instructor... In September one Uighur woman, Sidik, told the Guardian she was coerced into having an IUD at the age of 47, and being sterilised three years later. She said a text message – seen by the Guardian – came from authorities and told her: “Do not gamble with your life, don’t even try.”"
China knows how to mobilise wokeness for its benefit

The Pros and Cons of Reparations

The Pros and Cons of Reparations (Ep. 427) - Freakonomics Freakonomics

"$14 trillion may strike you as an unrealistic amount of money. It represents nearly 70 percent of a full year of U.S. G.D.P.

    HAMILTON: The arguments that are typically made are, “Can the government afford it?” The last financial crisis is indicative of our ability to generate resources. It was something in the order of $700 billion that was passed by Congress to address the last Great Recession...

Here’s how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put it: “I don’t think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago for whom none of us currently living are responsible is a good idea.”

HAMILTON: Other critiques about reparations include, “Well, won’t it be divisive? Won’t you be creating further divisions between Blacks and whites by making the point that you’re giving a handout to Blacks?” Well, if reparations is done correctly, we would have that reconciliation.

For Hamilton, reparations being done “correctly” begins with an acknowledgment of why they are necessary.

HAMILTON: Clear-throated, full acknowledgment of the atrocities that have taken place and the fact that these were atrocities that were committed with the will of the government, the complicity of the government, and sometimes actions of the government.

But also:

HAMILTON: We would need a moral shift in our American ethos in order to enact reparations. The fact that we don’t have it now isn’t reason not to do it. It’s even more reason to do it, because we need to cleanse our soul. We need to have a more perfect union. Not only because it will lead to greater equity, prosperity, and perhaps defuse some of the cleavages that exist in America today between us versus them. It is the right thing to do. It is the just, moral-compass thing to do. That in and of itself should be reason to do it...

LOURY: The basic fact is that whites have more wealth than Blacks, however you measure. Now, partly that’s a consequence of history and partly that’s a consequence of ongoing dynamics. People inherit wealth from their forebears, from their parents, and so on. So, part of that is a reflection of the past, but part of it is also a reflection of what’s going on in terms of the creation of wealth. A lot of people will have created the wealth that they possess through years of effort and entrepreneurship and so on.

Stephan DUBNER: So, if you have that complication to deal with, right, which is that it’s not all a consequence of history, how do you start thinking about the smartest ways to shave that Black-white gap in America today?

LOURY: First of all, I would question whether or not that’s the right objective, okay? The issues that should concern us, I think, are largely issues that transcend the racial categorization. I would be thinking about people without wealth. I wouldn’t be thinking about people who are Black without wealth. There’s looking backwards and there’s looking forwards. So, we can look backward as many have done and attempt to calculate and calibrate what were the impact of redlining, of Jim Crow segregation, of slavery, of the failure to distribute 40 acres and a mule to the freedmen and so on, and we could try to do an estimate of what would wealth be but for that historical thing. But the other thing is looking forward. Wealth is a stock. Income is a flow. So, the stock evolves over time under influence from the flow. We can shift wealth around at a point in time. But we may not change the steady-state wealth holdings if we don’t deal with the flow. So, that’s why I want to say the creation of wealth deserves to be a part of this conversation. Because, thinking simplistically, but I think the arithmetic works out, if I don’t change the flows, I’m going to end up back in the same situation after a while, no matter what I do...

LOURY: I’ll just tell you one. The year is 1982. I’m in the faculty club at Harvard University. I’m a newly tenured professor of economics and John Kenneth Galbraith — the great John Kenneth Galbraith — is engaged in a conversation in the faculty club. Do you know that he extends his hand to shake without turning his head to look me in the eye? He continued his conversation and he had his hand out like this for me to shake it. And I couldn’t believe what was happening to me...

DUBNER: So, when you hear someone use the phrase “systemic racism” — a phrase we’ve been hearing much more lately in the U.S. — your response to that phrase is what?

LOURY: I think you’re playing with words and avoiding the hard work of trying to discover complex historical causal chains. It’s a slogan. It’s a bludgeon. You’re saying, “Be for motherhood and apple pie.” Who’s not against “systemic racism”? But if it explains everything, well, then at the end of the day, it doesn’t explain anything at all, does it?... let’s take the issue of school discipline. Suppose we were to discover on examination that the racial disparity in the rate of kids being suspended from school disfavored African-Americans, and we were to attribute that fact to systemic racism. But in fact, what might be happening in the schools is that for a variety of complicated social and historical, economic, and political reasons, the African-American kids on average are showing up with patterns of behavior that are disproportionately disruptive and that reflects itself in their being suspended at a higher rate.Now, of course, it might be racism. It might be that the school discipline system is systemically biased, but it might not be. And the difference between those two states of the world where racism explains everything or where complex social and historical processes are at work is the difference between solving the problem and not solving it...

Some of the problem has its roots in the dynamics internal to the African-American community, which we are responsible ourselves to address. And this is very difficult territory because it feels like blaming the victim to a lot of people. You know, if I observe that — take the cops and the problem that we have in the cities with order maintenance and profiling. So, this has now become kind of a trope. I mean, it’s now argued without any second thought. “You profiled me. That was racist.” I’m Black. I’ve got a Ph.D. from M.I.T. I’m a middle-class person, but I walk into a department store and I notice that the security person has his eye on me. I feel put upon...

I’m an economist and we believe in statistical decision theory as a reasonable model of how it is that uninformed individuals act under incomplete information. And one of the things that they do is they correlate unknown things with the known things and they use statistical frequencies. And the bottom line is my race is correlated with the behavior that they can’t observe. And so, they use my race’s information. I don’t know how you stop people from doing that.I think you can legislate against it. You can administer against it. But at the end of the day, there’s something very cognitively fundamental about that, and it’s something that would affect the behavior of everybody, regardless of their race. Anyway, that’s a digression by way of saying if two-thirds of the kids born to a Black woman are born to a woman without her husband, and if amongst African-American adolescent males, I observe a high frequency of behavioral maladaptation, of aggression, of whatever, am I entitled at all to consider the possibility that the nature of African-American family dynamics might have a role to play in the behavior problems of some male adolescents, which then reflects itself in a lot of this drama that we see between the cops and African-American men on the streets of these cities?...

Read what’s going on in Chicago on a daily basis. It’s not letting white people off the hook or America off the hook for its historical crimes to observe that some of the stuff that’s holding us back is within our reach to be able to deal with and really can’t be effectively dealt with in any other way.The indirect argument — “I’ll solve the problem of violence on the South Side of Chicago with more social spending, with more money for the schools, with more social workers, with midnight basketball, with whatever” — I don’t think the evidence is very strong that I can get all the way to where I want to go in that way. That’s the kind of thing that I’ve been feeling the need to call to people’s attention, that we African-Americans have some responsibility for how it is that we raise our children and organize our communities and so forth. I think that should be a part of the discussion...

DUBNER: I appreciate that you bring up the fact that it’s difficult to even talk about in certain circles. And in fact, if you weren’t Black, you probably wouldn’t have brought up that point, am I right?

LOURY: Yeah, well, I’m not “not Black.” I am Black. Therefore, I don’t know what I would have done. But I expect that you would not have brought up that point or many others who are not Black, and I don’t blame them because nothing but grief would come of it...

When we get into the racial-redistribution business, we really need to be careful about the business that we’re getting into. Because we are going to create precedents in our law and in our politics that may be difficult to live with. And in particular, this idea of deciding who’s a descendant of slaves entitled to benefit. Think about the West Indian immigrants. They’re Black. I’m talking about people who came from Jamaica, Barbados, and stuff. Think about the West African immigrants. They’re Black. I’m not talking about the guy that got off the boat or the plane. I’m talking about his son or his granddaughter. Now, we’re going to cut them out, you know? I mean, what about the mixed-parentage person — they have to identify as Black? So, now we leave it up to a subjective? This kind of thing, it is — and I don’t mean this pejoratively, I really don’t — but it smacks of a South Africa kind of classification scheme. We don’t want that in America, I would say. Not only is the 14th Amendment a problem here, believe me, it’s not only going to be Clarence Thomas who objects to this kind of business for the U.S. government. We don’t want it for our politics. We don’t want it for the health of our society, I would say."

Liberal logic: the government can afford to shell out a huge amount of money to prevent the country collapsing, therefore it can afford to shell out an even bigger amount of money to pander to identity politics even though we know these people will never be satisfied and will keep demanding more resources

The previous episode mentioned Germany's reparations after World War II, but doesn't note that despite Germany doing more than anyone else has ever done (and arguably could be expected to do), people today are still guilting them about World War II - proving that calls for reparations will never stop no matter how much you debase yourself and how much money you give away

If an academic is absent-minded in the presence of a black person, this must be racism!!!

Links - 3rd August 2021 (1) (Hamas 2021 Israel attack)

What Really Is Behind the Latest Burst of Hamas Terror in Israel - "The media of our day always coalesce around a narrative that fits their preconceived worldview. When viewed in a light that “Palestinians” all are “Victims of Color” and that all Israelis are White Supremacists or their next of kin, it is easy to misjudge the Mideast reality underlying present conflict coming from Gaza. That narrative thus preaches that Jews with legally valid property rights in the eastern portion of United Jerusalem are not entitled to advance their legal claims to oust trespassers, Arab or otherwise, from their homes. That same line of reasoning proposes that supposed Israeli belligerence lies beneath the barrage of some 2,000 rockets launched from Gaza and aimed by Hamas at Israel’s civilian population from Ashdod and Ashkelon to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.  The truth is that a property dispute in the Shimon HaTzaddik/Sheikh Jarrah community of eastern Jerusalem is not the cause of the present war. Jews there owned property since 1875. Their homes and land were stolen from them and their parents and grandparents in 1948, when Jordan’s armies, bent on “ethnic cleansing,” invaded and illegally drove them out. Local Arab squatters moved in, but Jordan refused to recognize the illegal squatters as the land’s new owners. After 1967, when Israel liberated east Jerusalem and reunited the city, the ousted Jewish owners went to court with their documentation to reclaim their seized property. Israel’s courts, which not only are fair but even lean over backwards to favor Arabs in such disputes, repeatedly have held that the Jewish claims are documented and legally valid. As the Jewish landowners were recognized legally, they did not try ousting anyone. Rather, the courts held they could charge rent to the squatters living in their homes, so they did.  Relatively recently, Arab squatters stopped paying rent, so the landlords went to court finally to evict. This happens everywhere in the world when tenants stop paying rent and make clear they will not resume. The verdict on the matter, which has been argued and decided on by Israel’s highest court, was set for announcement on May 10th. That is the whole dispute. This property dispute over Arab Muslims not paying their rent has nothing to do with Hamas launching their current war of more than 2,000 murderous Iranian-supplied rockets aimed indiscriminately at Jewish population centers. The notion that the long-overdue evictions for non-payment of rent caused a war is as absurd as expecting Bulgarian immigrants in California to launch 2,000 rockets aimed at destroying the entire American country in response to local court rulings in Old Town Sacramento backing landlords trying to evict 20 families who won’t pay their rent in a Bulgarian ethnic enclave.   Against that backdrop, Israel is posed with the conundrum of defending itself in a manner that accords with woke expectations of elegance...
Despite Hamas’ narrative focusing on Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa mosque and Jewish efforts to regain homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, here are a few of the less-reported causes underlying the current conflagration:
1. Ramadan comes out at a different time every year... this year’s Ramadan came out in May. Ramadan always is an occasion for Islamist terrorists to escalate tensions with Israel and with each other. This is as true in Afghanistan today and of Iraq in 2013 as it is in Israel...
2. Israel declared her independence on May 14, 1948 (5 Iyar) and that Jerusalem was liberated and reunited on June 6, 1967 (28 Iyar)... although Israel Independence Day — 5 Iyar — came a month ago on Israel’s lunar calendar, the Arab Muslim world notes it on the solar May 14 and marks the day after as a nakba, a catastrophe. Both occasions, Israel Independence and Jerusalem Day, annually give rise to Hamas upticks in terrorism aimed at spoiling Israel’s national celebrations.
3. Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) was elected president of the Palestinian Authority on January 9, 2005. Palestinian presidential elections are held every fourth year. Mazen now is in the 17th year of his four-year term.  That is, there has not been an election since 2005. Under enormous internal popular pressure, he finally acceded to holding new elections this spring. As sometimes occurs during a presidential campaign, polling turned against him and his down-ticket slate. He therefore decided — yet again — to call off elections. He sought a cover story to justify yet another cancellation. Israel, which regards all Arabs living anywhere in Jerusalem as denizens of Israel and no other polity, opposes having Palestinian Authority elections conducted in East Jerusalem. Mazen decided to leverage that issue to validate canceling the vote, saying that no elections can be held if Israel will not allow Arabs in Jerusalem to vote for the government of another polity. This is akin to an American president unilaterally canceling scheduled national November elections on grounds that Washington, D.C., residents do not get to vote for their own U.S. senator. When Abu Mazen canceled the vote, all Palestinian Arabs from Gaza to Nablus saw through the façade. To persuade Arabs that, no, really, the whole delay is only because of the Jerusalem voting issue, Abu Mazen launched a propaganda campaign encouraging Jerusalem Arabs to riot against Israel. The rioting included stabbing attacks against Jews. The Israeli police had to restore order. Quelling violence is never gentle — not in Portland, not in Seattle, nowhere.
4. As Abu Mazen sought to portray himself and his Fatah organization as the great “Defender of Jerusalem,” his main political opponents — the competing terror force, Hamas — saw themselves politically compelled to position themselves among Arab voters as even greater “Defenders of Jerusalem.”...
5. Israel — incredibly — has just gone through a series of four repeated national elections in only two years"... [An] Arab Muslim party suddenly was wielding enormous influence — something that no other Arab Muslim party in Israel ever before had attained — by playing its cards off the two contending blocs. Most Arab Muslims oppose any Arab party assisting in the formation of a Zionist coalition governing Israel, and Hamas wanted to sabotage Ra’am’s role. To force Ra’am’s Mansour Abbas (no relation to Mahmoud Abbas aka Abu Mazen) to break off coalition talks, Hamas has fired more than 2,000 rockets into Israeli civilian centers, reaching even outskirts of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv suburbs like Holon, Bat Yam, and Rishon L’Tzion"
Woke expectations of elegance are that more Israelis die than Palestinians

How Hamas became so deadly - "  More important than cash for Hamas, though, is Iranian military know-how and tech. The Iranians have a Manichean view of the world. It is Haq versus Batel, (truth and righteousness against falsehood) and Dar al-Islam (realm of peace and belief) versus Dar al-Harb (realm of war and disbelief). They perceive themselves to be underdogs in a just battle against overwhelming odds — and they fight accordingly.  This means they avoid direct conflict in favour of terror; they seek some form of deniability, and they always, always try to avoid the battlefield. Iran fights throughout the Middle East through a variety of proxy groups to strike at its adversaries: the Shia militias in Iraq to strike against the United States; the Houthis in Yemen to strike at Saudi Arabia; and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza to strike at Israel. Now the skies over Israel throb not just with rockets but drones. Last Thursday Israel said it shot down a UAV (Unmanned Aerial vehicle) that had flown over the border from Gaza. Hamas now boasts about its drone capabilities in videos online; they call them “Shebab”. But as Nick Waters, an investigator for Bellingcat has suggested, they look very much like Iran’s Ababil 2 drone, which is also remarkably similar to the Qasef drone used by Houthis in Yemen... Quds Force chief Ismail Qaani met with Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas last weekend where he claimed that Israel’s air defence systems — specifically the Iran Dome system that intercepts the rockets — are vulnerable to large barrages of rockets. Overwhelming it, he said, is the key. Not long after, Hamas launched an unprecedented rocket barrage (reports say around 150 rockets in five minutes) at Israel. “This was about as clear and direct advice as one can get,” says Frantzman. “In future wars, which could be multifront, especially if Hezbollah starts launching missiles from Lebanon, the direct message from Tehran via Iranian state media is unambiguous: we can overwhelm the Iron Dome.”"

What would it take for the Left to support Israel - "  When the United States was attacked by Al Qaeda, the international community rallied around Americans. After a string of Islamic State atrocities in France, we saw mass vigils, hashtag campaigns, and landmarks around the world lit up in solidarity.  But by stark contrast, Israel is being vilified not only for defending its population against genocidal terrorists, but for even existing as a sovereign nation in the ancient homeland of the Jews. The moral double standards, deliberate manipulation of facts, and complete distortion of reality that we see every day on television news and read in papers and on social media platforms are despicable.   Meanwhile, advocates of truth have paid a heavy price for their courage. Celebrities like Gal Gadot are being vilified for making the most anodyne of calls for peace. Congressman Richie Torres was unjustly attacked by the “woke” brigade because, in their twisted mind, one cannot be both progressive and pro-Israel. Former Miss Iraq Sarah Idan, who had to flee her country for having a picture taken with Miss Israel, received rape and death threats on Instagram for denouncing Hamas terrorism.  This begs the question of what it would take for Israel to attract the sympathy of the Western commentariat. Would Israel’s detractors be happier if they switched off the Iron Dome defence system and allowed the thousands of rockets to meet their targets? How many Israelis would need to die for virulent anti-Israel activists to call the conflict “proportionate”? 100? 1,000? 10,000? Cease to exist as a state altogether? The idea that you decide who is morally 'right' according to the death toll is abhorrent and dehumanising. It ignores the extraordinary and unprecedented steps the Jewish state is taking to minimise civilian casualties - including hundreds of leaflets, telephone calls, and text messages to warn civilians in Gaza of impending attacks aimed at ending the onslaught from Hamas.   Despite its claims to the contrary, the last thing Hamas cares about is the welfare of the Palestinian people. Hamas has invested heavily in rocket and missile production, storing them in civilian homes, using schools and hospitals as launchpads. The hardship of Gaza's residents is their lifeline. It is the fertile ground on which its extremist ideology flourishes and from which it recruits its fighters. The more misery the better. Hamas is a death-worshipping jihadist terrorist group. Israel is a democratic state that protects all of its citizens - Jews and Arabs alike - against their murderous actions."

Israel-Hamas Conflict: Biden Administration Weakness Invites Violence - "In the Middle East, he has replaced strength with weakness, moral clarity with confusion, and loyalty with betrayal... President Biden and congressional Democrats have abandoned unambiguous support for our ally Israel, emboldened our enemies, and turned their back on the policy that yielded historic peace deals in the Middle East. Under the Trump-Pence administration, we made it crystal clear to the world that America stands with Israel. We withdrew from the dangerous Iran nuclear deal brokered by the Obama-Biden administration, which put the world’s leading state sponsor of terror on the path to nuclear weapons while sending pallets of cash to the mullahs in Iran. We acknowledged Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights and the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. And President Trump kept the promise made by countless Republican and Democrat politicians by actually following through in moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, the capital of the state of Israel. Every step of the way, Democrats and self-proclaimed foreign-policy “experts” derided our administration’s approach and issued dire warnings that blood would soon flow in the streets of Israeli cities. As usual, they were wrong. In fact, last year, our administration brokered the Abraham Accords, a series of historic peace agreements between Israel and Arab-Muslim countries — the most significant breakthrough for peace in decades.  These groundbreaking peace accords happened not in spite of America’s support for Israel, but because of it. Other nations knew where America stood with absolute certainty. They knew America would respond forcefully if our citizens or allies were threatened. As a result, they responded rationally by pursuing peace and harmony.  But now, President Biden has sent the world a profoundly different message. Instead of seeking peace through strength, he has invited violence through weakness. President Biden has emboldened anti-Semitic terrorist groups such as Hamas by shunning Israeli leaders and restoring more than $200 million in aid to the Palestinians that had been canceled by the Trump-Pence administration. He unilaterally took the Iranian-backed Houthis off the list of designated terrorist organizations. And worst of all, he has announced his intention to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal, destabilizing the entire region. When asked, Biden’s press secretary couldn’t even say whether Israel remains an “important ally” of the United States.  Every tepid statement uttered by the Biden-Harris administration is built on a false equivalency between Israel and Hamas. One is a sovereign nation with a legitimate government, and a trusted ally. The other is an internationally recognized terrorist organization that has fired more than 3,000 rockets at Jewish families and businesses in the past week. There is no moral equivalency between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas. President Biden and every American leader should uphold Israel’s right to self-defense and condemn the terrorists of Hamas — as well as their supporters and apologists — in the strongest possible terms.   Apparently, Biden learned nothing from the tragic foreign-policy blunders made during his time as vice president. President Obama’s thin “red line” in Syria, his decision to “lead from behind” in Libya, and his slipshod withdrawal from Iraq each created power vacuums that were quickly filled by America’s enemies. Now Biden is repeating those grave errors by creating a power vacuum of his own"

Kyrie Irving Not Focused On Basketball, Turns His Focus to Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - "Israel confirmed their attack on a high-rise building in Gaza City which housed Palestinian terrorists... “We shared with our American friends all that intelligence,” Netanyahu said on “Face The Nation.” “Here’s the intelligence we had: it’s about Palestinian terrorists, an intelligence office for the Palestinian terrorist organization, housed in that building, that plots and organizes the terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians. So it’s a perfectly legitimate target.” “No people were killed,” Netanyahu explained, later adding: “Now imagine, ask yourself, ‘How is that possible?’ You see these highrise towers that are used by Hamas. Over and over again, they collapse and no one is killed. Why does that happen? Because we, unlike Hamas, take special precautions to tell people [to] leave the building, leave the premises.”  Netanyahu went on to describe how Israel attempts to minimize civilian casualties.  “We make sure that everyone is gone before we bring down those terrorist facilities,” he said. “And that’s the difference between Israel and Hamas. They deliberately target our cities, deliberately target our civilians. They glorify the death of children and civilians and old people. They’re happy with it. I think they are happy with any deaths that are caused [to] them. We grieve for every non-combatant loss in Gaza, and we grieve for all our civilians who die. We’re not happy with it, and we try to minimize it.”"

Mass Anti-Israel Protests Celebrated While Pastors Are Arrested for Holding Church Services - "Taking aim at the U.S. funded Iron Dome interception system, it’s not Hamas’ anti-Israel rocket diplomacy, but Israel’s successful defence against Hamas rockets that is ‘helping to perpetuate the Gaza-Israel conflict.’  According to them, the Iron Dome defence shield allows Israel not to care about civilian life, and ‘gives Israel less incentive to find a political solution to its conflict with Gaza.’  What’s telling here is the language.  WaPo or their readers shouldn’t need to be reminded that a defensive shield is for the defence of civilians against a hostile and aggressive force.  The WaPo piece frames the argument in such a way as to demonise Israel while pulling the proverbial wool over their reader’s eyes. Ironic for a newspaper with the mantra: “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”"

Why won’t Israelis let themselves be killed? - "Two weeks ago Turkish forces launched a military assault in the Duhok region of Iraqi Kurdistan. Villagers were forced to ‘flee in terror’ from raining bombs. It was only the latest bombardment of the beleaguered Kurds by Turkey, NATO member and Western ally. It did not trend online. There were no noisy protests in London or New York. The Turks weren’t talked about in woke circles as crazed, bloodthirsty killers. Tweeters didn’t dream out loud about Turks burning in hell. The Onion didn’t do any close-to-the-bone satire about how Turkish soldiers just love killing children. No, the Duhok attack passed pretty much without comment. But when Israel engages in military action, that’s a different story. Always. Every time... Why is it child-killing bloodlust when Israel takes military action but not when Turkey or India do? Why must we rush to the streets to set light to the Israel flag but never the Saudi flag, despite Saudi Arabia’s unconscionable war on Yemen? Why is it only ‘wrong’ or at worst ‘horrific’ when Britain or America drop bombs in the Middle East but Nazism when Israel fires missiles into Gaza? Why do you merely oppose the military action of some states but you hate Israel, viscerally, publicly, loudly?... Israel is now the only country on Earth that is expected to allow itself to be attacked. To sit back and do nothing as its citizens are pelted with rocks or rockets. How else do we explain so many people’s unwillingness to place the current events in any kind of context, including the context of an avowedly anti-Semitic Islamist movement – Hamas – firing hundreds of missiles into civilian areas in Israel? In this context, to rage solely against Israel, to curse its people and burn its flag because it has sent missiles to destroy Hamas’s firing positions in Gaza, is essentially to say: ‘Why won’t Israelis let themselves be killed?’ No other nation would be expected not to respond either to internal disarray – Hamas supporters have rioted in parts of Jerusalem and around Al-Aqsa Mosque – or to foreign attack... To Western activists who find the very existence of Israel abhorrent, any effort Israel makes to protect its borders or its citizens is an affront to global peace and decency. They cannot understand why Israel doesn’t hate itself as much as they hate it, and therefore will not allow itself to be punished by its righteous enemies. How dare you live?   In relation to Israel-Palestine, local context is always crushed by the narrative and prejudice of Western observers. So the current violence is seen as stemming from Israel’s ‘ethnic cleansing’ of the Arab neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem. ‘The latest Israel-Palestine crisis [is about] ethnic cleansing’, said MSNBC. First, the events in Sheikh Jarrah, while undoubtedly distressing and unpleasant, are more complex than many observers will allow. Secondly, and more importantly, the depiction of the current tensions as a battle between an expansive Israel and a beleaguered Palestinian community overlooks the intra-Palestinian conflict that is playing out right now.  Much of the current instability actually stems from Mahmoud Abbas’s announcement two weeks ago that he was cancelling elections in the West Bank. Abbas is the leader of Fatah and the Palestinian president. He has been president since 2005. It was meant to be a four-year term, but it has lasted 16 years. Democracy has disappeared in the Palestinian Territories. As one report points out, no Palestinian under the age of 34 has ever taken part in national elections. Abbas said his most recent cancellation of elections was down to the disagreements over East Jerusalem, but many suspect his real concern is that Hamas would beat Fatah and would come to dominate both Gaza and the West Bank. Hamas’s recent actions have primarily been a response to Abbas and an attempt to position Hamas as the true representative of Palestinians against Israel. And in this, Hamas has been fully and foolishly assisted by the anti-Israel obsessives of the West... some anti-Israel activists are even rallying behind the repugnant Hamas slogan ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’, which is essentially a call to wipe Israel off the map. This represents a vile consummation of the unholy marriage between the Western left and radical Islam... There is nothing positive in contemporary Israel-bashing. In its naivety, it assists the rise of Hamas. In its arrogance it empowers the West to determine the fate of the Middle East. All of this stores up more conflict and hatred for the future."
Anti-semites usually claim that the reason they protest Israel is that it's a democracy. But so is Turkey

Their reaction to conflict in Israel has shown the complete Corbynification of the Left - "In Israel, Jews – and Israeli Arabs – are being actually killed by rockets fired by a terrorist organisation, now. And what does Sir Keir have to say about the kind of anti-Semitism that murders Jews? Nothing.  On Monday, as Hamas rockets rained down on Israel, he posted a tweet that was positively Corbynesque: “The violence against worshippers during Ramadan at the al-Aqsa mosque was shocking. Israel must respect international law, and must take steps, immediately, to work with Palestinian leaders to de-escalate tensions.” Sir Keir did not consider it relevant to mention that it is those very Palestinian leaders who have been sending a barrage of rockets to Israel with the aim of murdering as many Israelis as possible.  Whatever progress Labour has made under Sir Keir in dealing with anti-Semitism in its ranks – and there has been some – was wiped out in that one tweet. The message was unambiguous: dead Jews don’t matter.   Not that anyone should be surprised. Corbyn did not emerge out of nowhere. He may have been an obscure figure to most people when he won the Labour leadership in 2015 but he was well known within the party. The members who elected him with 59.5 per cent of the vote knew what he thought about almost every major issue, because he had spent decades droning on about them. And for Labour members, and the Left generally, Israel is a major issue.   It is now an idee fixe on the Left that Israel is the cause of most of the world’s ills. In this context, it makes no difference that Sir Keir is plainly neither an anti-Semite nor an extremist – indeed his wife is Jewish. He is leader of a party in which a visceral hatred of Israel is now in its DNA and which has no interest in the murder of Jews.   This is true far beyond Labour. In the US Democratic Party, “the Squad” (a group of six Left-wing members of the House of Representatives) seize every opportunity to lambast Israel and are cheered on by the millennial base to which they pander. Rashida Tlaib, one member of the Squad, said this week that, “What they are doing to the Palestinians is what they are doing to our Black brothers and sisters here.” I wonder who she meant by “they”? The Muslim Brotherhood is in no doubt, praising “Democratic representatives” this week for demanding “the protection of Palestinians from Zionist attacks”.   Israel is defending itself from terror. But to many on the Left, it is those who attack Israel who must be defended."

Cries of 'genocide' against Israel are being used to silence debate - "A cultural revolution is underway across the West in attitudes towards Israel and the Palestinians. Anyone old enough to recall 1967 will remember the almost universal sympathy for Israel as the underdog massively outnumbered by the mortally hostile neighbouring Arab states.  Today, however, it is Hamas that counts as a plucky David versus the Israeli Goliath in a growing number of minds in Europe and North America...   Last weekend, social media was awash with rainbows flags and LGBTQI logos decrying Israel’s actions. The tragi-comic aspect of some Western protesters generously endorsing a group which would make short work of them shouldn’t distract us, however, from the rather sinister implications a disproportionate indignation been poured out over Israel.   Too many of the recent demonstrations here and in Europe and North America have put more energy into spewing out hatred for Israelis, even Jews in general, than sympathy for the victims of violence. Emoting slips into aggression and reveals prejudice. Anti-Semitic slogans and graffiti  have been heard across Europe.   Crocodile tears for Gaza can’t legitimise anti-Semitic abuse. Worse, they provoke anti-Muslim sentiment under the guise of fighting Islamophobia. The professional agitators behind many protests want to use Gaza as a battering ram to polarise Western societies. Different minorities are agitated against each other. Even public institutions take sides. The masked Met policewoman shouting “Free Palestine” to cheers from demonstrators near Israeli Embassy over the weekend was presumably expressing a sincere opinion but should police become part of protests? Which causes does the Met back and which “hate-crimes” get a free pass?... given how densely populated Gaza is, that  “only” two hundred and twenty people  have been killed there is a sign that genocide is not remotely the Israeli agenda. Yet the G-word is glibly tossed out to silence debate about how this terrible situation arose."

The media must stop demonising Israel - "Jeremy Bowen spoke to a Gazan man who, he said, is proudly ready to give not only his life for Jerusalem, but also those of his wife and child. We were left to wonder how on board with that his wife is. Certainly Bowen didn’t seem surprised by such an outrageous statement, or seem to want to question the sense and rationality of it. His report showed many hundreds of young Gazan men, parading along the streets and rubble, proudly claiming they have achieved victory over Israel – despite the considerable ruins of many buildings – and saying they will never give up until Jerusalem is theirs... Matt Frei was also in Gaza. Presenter Fatima Manji told viewers that the ceasefire had been secured, despite ‘Israeli police firing teargas and stun grenades at demonstrators holding Palestinian flags at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’. To be fair, at least Bowen, who also reported this skirmish, mentioned that it was in response to the demonstrators throwing a petrol bomb at police. Matt Frei’s report was merely simplistic and childlike. This is the same Frei who, during an interview with a Palestinian woman on LBC recently, did not once question or challenge her claim that Israel was a colonial and apartheid state.  In his report from Gaza, Frei reminded us of how many Gazans have been killed in the most recent conflict compared with how few Israelis have been killed. ‘Of course the casualties on that side [Israel] were minimal compared with the casualties on this side – 250 dead, many of them women and children’, he said. The question we seem to be asked repeatedly in the media at the moment is: ‘How can Israel justify having so few casualties?’ Frei, like almost every reporter I see on the news at the moment, either brushes aside or says nothing about the avowed murderous intentions of Hamas and its supporters. That they want to kill Jews, to wipe all Jewish Israelis off the land of Israel, ‘from the river to the sea’, is barely ever mentioned on television. What we do see thrashed out time and again is the mismatch in military strength. Why is it, in effect, that so few Israelis die? On social media the same comments are made over and over. Israel is behaving like the Nazis. Israel is an apartheid state. Israel (or the Jews) wants to grab all the land in the Middle East. Israel shouldn’t even exist. Delve a bit deeper and you’ll read about organ stealing and the drinking of the blood of Palestinian babies... We know that every time there is an escalation in hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians, anti-Semitic attacks increase in the UK. But this time, for some reason, feels a lot worse. The anti-Semitism I’m seeing feels even uglier, more threatening, menacing and intimidating than before. A young rabbi has been beaten up in Chigwell. Convoys of cars have been filmed driving around Jewish areas in north London, spouting rape and death threats to Jews. On Friday, a Jewish man was attacked outside Kosher Kingdom in Golders Green. My 87-year-old father, a Jew from Yemen, didn’t go to his synagogue last week because my mother was so afraid he might be attacked... War is ugly, heinous and horrific. Civilian casualties and destroyed buildings aren’t what any normal human being wants to see. Reporters need to stop ignoring the even uglier truth, however: that if Hamas had the opportunity, it would wipe out every Jew on Earth."

Stefanie Iris Weiss 🔥 on Twitter - Andrew Yang: "I'm standing with the people of Israel who are coming under bombardment attacks, and condemn the Hamas terrorists. The people of NYC will always stand with our brothers and sisters in Israel who face down terrorism and persevere." "As a proud Jewish New Yorker, please fuck ALL THE WAY OFF with this vile pandering to right wing zealots when most Jews are REPULSED about what the Israeli government is doing to the Palestinians. This is REPUGNANT #NotInMyName"
Condemning terrorism is bad! Israelis should just let themselves be massacred

Facebook - "The same people who think Marjorie Taylor Greene talking about Jewish space lasers is a problem (and to be fair, it is, of a particular scope) think an organization launching thousands of rockets at Jews is not."

Hamas gambles Gaza's future on rocket barrage - "“Basically Hamas in recent years was pursuing a more pragmatic strategy with regard to Israel,” said Neri Zilber, an Israeli-American journalist who closely follows events in Gaza. This week, the group seemed to throw that entire strategy of calibration to the winds. And no one is quite sure why."

FATAH: Palestinians die as hostages of Hamas - "The tragedy of the Palestinians is not that they don’t have a state of their own (which they deserve), but that they are being held hostage by a leadership that, decade after decade, does not learn the lessons of their accumulated defeat and humiliation.  This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Imagine if the Arabs had accepted the 1948 partition. Palestine would today be a modern state and the thousands who have died in the repeated folly of war as a ‘jihad’ against the ‘Yahud’ (Jews) had a chance to excel instead of being scattered across the globe.  As if the 1948 war wasn’t enough, Arabs tried to wipe out Israel from the map again in 1956, 1967 and 1973, losing every time... President Mahmoud Abbas who led Fatah after Yasser Arafat, was elected for five years but is still in office after 15 years. And when elections were scheduled for later this year, Abbas cancelled that election and all hopes for a change. In Gaza, the terrorist group Hamas killed members of Fatah and established a dictatorship of Islamists. Hamas has made common cause with the Iranian ayatollahs hell bent on eradicating the last Jew in the region as an Islamic cause.  This brings me to the Islamic angle of the dispute that attracts Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan and the Pakistani mullahs asking their leader to nuke Israel."
Or maybe the Palestinian leadership knows that while the conflict carries on they can benefit from useful idiots and get rich from their corruption while everyone hates Israel, and that if the conflict ever ends, the game will be up

Abraham Accords Are Holding Firm, One Week into Hamas War with Israel - "Not one Arab country that signed peace and normalization agreements with Israel under the Abraham Accords has withdrawn them in the week since Hamas launched massive barrages of rockets against Israeli civilians and the Israeli military responded... the Palestinian Authority complained Saturday that while several Western leaders had reached out, including U.S. President Joe Biden, no Arab leaders had contacted it during the war, suggesting that it is the Palestinian leadership, not Israel, that has become more isolated during the hostilities. (The Palestinian Authority has only controlled the West Bank since Hamas ousted it in a coup in 2007.)"

Even the Arab world is tired of Hamas - "The Palestinians, and Hamas in particular, lost the Arab world's support a long time ago. They certainly didn't have it when they initiated this most recent round of violence and wreaked havoc and destruction on the residents of the Gaza Strip territory under their control. The Arab world has come to understand what the wider world, and maybe even Israel, finds it difficult to internalize: Hamas has not and will never be interested in negotiations, agreements, or even long-term ceasefire accords. It certainly isn't interested in seeing a thriving Gaza that lives alongside Israel in peace.  All Hamas wants is the continuation of bloody instability in Gaza, Judea, Samaria, Israel, and everywhere else in the Middle East. In this current situation, in which fighting that could overtake the entire region could break out at any moment, Hamas is like a fish in water. It hopes and believes this is the only way it can achieve its long-term objectives, which were and remain the State of Israel's destruction... Arab states understand this, and they are determined not to let Hamas drag them back into the never-ending cycle of bloodshed that forces them to drop their troubles at home and ends their efforts to contend with the Iranian threat. Gone are the days when the Palestinians' relentless extremism set the tone, and the Arab world was willing to pray the price.   The Arab world condemns Israel and identifies with the suffering of the civilian population that is paying the price for Hamas' aggression. Yet the Arabs are careful not to stand behind Hamas and back it up. Even the Palestinian Authority and many of the residents of Judea and Samaria are acting in this way, to maintain peace and stability and avoid being drowned by Hamas in the Gazan swamp."

Hamas founder's son: Israel should kill leaders after ceasefire - "The son of Hamas founder Hassan Yousef urged Israel to target the terror group’s leaders for assassination, even after the ceasefire... “Assassinating Hamas leadership will not destroy Hamas, but it will teach them a lesson and hold them accountable,” Mosab Hassan Yousef told The Post in a phone interview. “Next time, before you get civilians on both sides involved in a bloodbath, you need to think 1,000 times. This is my personal suggestion.”   Mosab Yousef said top Hamas leaders like his father likely rode out the recent violence in secure underground bunkers, while using the deaths of their own people to score foreign propaganda points.  “Hundreds of children have paid the price. These type of people cannot get away with what they did. They should not feel safe for a day,” he said. “Hamas hates Israel more than they love their own children.” Mosab Yousef, 43, said he follows regional developments closely, and attributed the latest round of violence to Hamas’ growing marginalization in recent years. The real estate dispute in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood — the ostensible trigger of the current unrest — was just a pretext, he said.   “Hamas was very disappointed by the Abraham Accords that ignored them completely,” he said of the peace deals Israel signed with several Mideast states last year. “It’s the new reality that President Donald Trump made in the region. This is a new reality and Hamas is not prepared to accept it.”...   “The Middle East understood Trump’s language very well. It was the language of fire. He did not show lots of tolerance,” Mosab Yousef said. “The seventh-century mentality of the Middle East misunderstands tolerance as weakness.” Born in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Mosab Yousef was once groomed by his father to be a leader in the Palestinian terror movement. But in 1997, he began secretly collaborating with Israel’s internal security service, Shin Bet... Another brother, Suheib Youself, defected from Hamas in 2019, telling Israeli media he had become fed up with corruption and called the group a “racist terror organization that is dangerous for the Palestinian people.” Mosab Yousef said he saw the light after a stint with his dad’s comrades in an Israeli jail during the mid-1990s. At Megiddo Prison, he witnessed Hamas inmates leading a brutal year-long campaign to weed out supposed Israeli collaborators.  “During that time, Hamas tortured and killed hundreds of prisoners,” he said, recalling vivid memories of needles being inserted under finger nails and bodies charred with burning plastics. “Many, if not all, had nothing to do with Israeli intelligence.  “I will never forget their screams,” he continued. “I started asking myself a question. What if Hamas succeeded in destroying Israel and building a state. Will they destroy our people in this way?”   Though Hamas was democratically elected by the Palestinians of Gaza in 2006, Mosab Yousef said the group was not as popular as they might appear from news footage.  “The silence of the majority of Gaza is not because they support Hamas, but because they are afraid of Hamas,” he said. “The people live in fear. Hamas rules over them by the sword. If you oppose Hamas they will shoot you or hang you immediately. You and your family are finished.” Mosab Yousef said he has had no contact with his family since 2009. Though he travels frequently, he has no plans to ever make a journey home, as certain death would await him. His father has already blessed his assassination."

Media Condemns Israel For Unprovoked Attack On Innocent Hamas Rockets | The Babylon Bee

Hamas is acting as an arm of Iranian power - "Ever since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, there has been speculation about the precise connection between Hamas and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Israeli disengagement plan was supposed to produce a more stable outcome and not four Israeli-Palestinian wars. After all, the Israel Defense Forces pulled out of the Gaza Strip; all of the 9,000 settlers who lived there abandoned their homes as well. It is hard to find the basis of outstanding grievances that could justify Hamas launching salvo after salvo of rockets at Israeli population centres and devoting scarce resources to an endless war with the Jewish state.  It makes sense then to look elsewhere for Hamas’s motivation. What, for example, is the precise role of its main financial sponsor, Iran, in keeping this conflict raging? Is there an ideological imperative that everyone is missing?... An illuminating study published by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change this February asserted that “the premise that Iran would moderate its commitment to creating and sponsoring militias due to the thaw in US-Iranian relations after the 2015 nuclear deal and sanctions relief for Tehran was false”. The study added that “the number of militias created by the IRGC surged after this period…”...   The mistake of the 2015 nuclear deal must not be repeated, with billions of dollars going to Iran, fuelling the next wave of terrorism – including the terror of Hamas. Not only is the security of Israel at stake but the security of the wider Western alliance."

Black Lives Matter Sides with Iranian Backed Terrorist Organization Hamas by Katie Pavlich - "Black Lives Matter has a history of anti-Semitism and its leaders have often praised Louis Farrakahn as a mentor. When the organization was founded in 2013, it falsely accused Israel of committing genocide and upholding an apartheid state. BLM supports the Boycott Divest and Sanction movement, which seeks to eliminate Israel from existence."

BLM Sends Rioters To Gaza To Protest Israel By Burning Down Palestinian Businesses | The Babylon Bee

Until Hamas is confronted as a military force, it will go on stirring up violence in the Middle East

CNN Contributor Praises Hitler for the Holocaust – PJ Media - "a CNN contributor in Pakistan by the name of Adeel Raja declared, “The world today needs a Hitler.” Raja has a long history of supporting the late Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, sometimes explicitly mentioning what Hitler did to the Jews — a reference to the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust...   Other users highlighted many examples of Raja’s horrific pro-Hitler and anti-Semitic tweets, most of which date from July 2014. The CNN contributor proudly declared that he would support Germany in the World Cup final against Argentina because of the darkest chapter in German history.   Raja declared, “The only reason I am supporting Germany in the finals is – Hitler was a German and he did good with those jews! [sic]”...   Tragically, anti-Semitism is rife throughout much of the Muslim world. A 2014 survey from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) found that 63 percent of people in the Middle East and North Africa said the Holocaust was “a myth or an exaggeration. A full 65 percent said “Jews are responsible for most of the world’s wars.” A whopping 74 percent of those in the Middle East and North Africa harbored anti-Semitic views."
Clearly just anti-Zionism

How Hamas pierced Israel's famous Iron Dome shield - "Israel's military was facing questions on Wednesday as to whether its Iron Dome missile defence system needed an upgrade, after five Israeli civilians were killed by rocket strikes... The unprecedented intensity of the rocket fire, which in some cases was trained deliberately on individual towns and cities, marks a new tactic by Hamas and Islamic Jihad to try to overwhelm the Iron Dome system.     Since the last major conflict in 2014, the militants have been increasing both the size of their arsenal and the capabilities of their rockets."
Many Israel-bashers claim that Hamas's rocket attacks don't count  for anything because of the Iron Dome. Presumably they think attempted murder is fine if you don't kill anyone, and if you defend yourself against attempted murder you're the one in the wrong. Besides, the Iron Dome is not 100% foolproof

Thais killed by rocket in Israel highlight troubles of migrant workforce - "The deaths of two Thai migrant workers in Israel in a rocket attack from Gaza cast fresh light on the difficult lives thousands of Thais face far from home.  Weerawat Karunborirak, 44, from the northern province of Petchabun, and Sikarin Sa-ngamrum, 24, from the northeastern province of Buriram, were killed Tuesday at the farm where they worked just across the border from Gaza. Eight other Thai workers were wounded, one seriously."
Weird. Liberals tell us it doesn't matter how many rockets Hamas shoots at Israel, since the Iron Dome intercepts them all. Nevermind, just blame Israel!

Greene slams Omar and the Squad over defense of Hamas, says terrorist supporters don't belong in Congress

The Squad Is Rooting for Hamas - "First of all, there are no “expulsions of Palestinians.” Six Palestinian families may be evicted from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in a property dispute — and the Israeli supreme court has delayed a decision — over land that was seized from Jewish families by the Jordanian Army after 1948. It’s a complicated case, brought to the judicial system by private citizens and adjudicated in an independent court. The case has been litigated for nearly 50 years, through the existence of numerous Israeli governments, both left and right. Now, I realize Ocasio-Cortez has little use for independent judiciaries or private property — or history, for that matter — but cases like these are just a pretext for the Palestinian Authority, frustrated by the Abraham Accords and their own failures, to create chaos and deflect blame.  Second, the Al-Aqsa mosque was not “attacked.” Israeli police fired stun grenades and tear gas at rock-hurling rioting Palestinians, spurred by rumors of Jewish intrusions into the Muslim holy site. Palestinian leaders have relied on this ugly tactic for nearly a century — even before the idea of Palestinian state had been concocted — to gin up protests and insurgency. Anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of the situation knows the Israeli government has absolutely no interest in controlling or taking Al Aqsa. If they did, they would never have handed administration of the site over to Muslim authorities. If they did, the Israeli military wouldn’t be rerouting Jewish marchers celebrating the reunification of Jerusalem to placate Palestinians.  Other Squad members such as Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib openly spread blood libel. If you listen to them, you’d think Israelis go around killing Palestinian children for kicks. It’s odious. They’re Jew haters, and there’s no reason to pretend otherwise... Israelis aren’t dying in numbers that satisfy Omar’s sense of fairness — as if there is any moral equivalence between the actions of a genocidal theocratic terror group that targets civilians and a state that does all it can to protect its civilians. Of course, we don’t know how many Palestinian children have really died because Hamas lies and because around 30 percent of their Qassam rockets land on their own people. Iran’s proxy, moreover, wants its people to die martyrs. They know that useful idiots in the west will use their tragic deaths in public-relations efforts. In reality, Israel shows a preternatural restraint in these situations. Its responses are tactical, aimed at diffusing threats, not at punishing children. If Israel wanted to see suffering, they could instantly shut down electric power and clean water in Gaza long term. And if Israel relied on a disproportionate use of force, as its critics claim, Gaza City would be a prosperous Jewish resort town by now.   One can be critical of Israel, just as they can be critical of Germany or Brazil. Israel is an imperfect democratic state, after all. Yet, those who want to deny the Jewish people their homeland, or the ability to defend themselves, are, functionally speaking, peddling the most virulent strain of anti-Semitism. And the fact is that Tlaib wants what Hamas wants: an Arab state from the river to sea... before the Corbynization of the Democratic Party, this position would have generated widespread condemnation. Today, Hamas has a booster club in one of our political parties, and no major Democrat dares criticize it."

Rashida Tlaib accusses Israel of ethnic cleansing while Hamas launches hundreds of rockets at civilians - "Rep. Rashida Tlaib, (D-MI), falsely called Israel an "apartheid system" and fraudulently claimed that Israel wants to expel all Palestinians, while ignoring the hundreds of rockets launched at the Jewish state by Hamas terrorists who seek to wipe Israel off the map... Israel's Ambassador Gilad Erdan replied to the post on Monday, "Congresswoman @RashidaTlaib maybe you should open your eyes to the whole picture? Islam’s 3rd holiest site is being used to stockpile Molotov cocktails and rocks that are being lobbed at the police and at Jewish worshippers praying at the Western Wall, below the Temple Mount,""

Tottenham stand firm on Israeli flag ban with football accused of double standards over political symbols - "Football is facing accusations of "outrageous" double standards after Tottenham Hotspur fans were told to remove an Israeli flag within 24 hours of players waving Palestinian colours."

TikTokers wished a 97-year-old Auschwitz survivor a 'happy Holocaust' as some 'Free Palestine' supporters target Jewish social media users with antisemitic abuse - "A "Happy Holocaust," "Peace be upon Hitler," and "Ask her if she thinks the treatment of Palestinians reminds her [of] the treatment she got in the camps" were some of the comments Ebert received.  The targeting of the Auschwitz survivor is not a one-off; the Anti-Defamation League said that between May 7 and May 14, more than 17,000 tweets could be found that used variations of the phrase, "Hitler was right," Insider's Sarah Al-Arshani reported.  There has been a 500 percent increase in the number of antisemitic incidents reported in the UK since May 8, according to the Community Security Trust (CST). Around a third of the 116 incidents took place online, the charity said... ews in the diaspora, with no ties to Israel, were being held accountable for the death and destruction, Sara Gibbs, a Jewish comedy writer from London, said.  "Ordinary Jews are blamed for the actions of a state thousands of miles away," Gibbs told Insider. "Regardless of what you feel about Israel, we don't have a collective responsibility for the actions of a foreign government. To suggest otherwise is just plain racism."... It has also become increasingly common on TikTok and Instagram for users to spam videos with "Free Palestine" or emojis of the Palestinian flag on unrelated content made by Jewish creators.  "It's not antisemitic in any way to say, 'Free Palestine,'" Gibbs said. "It is antisemitic, however, to jump on a Jew's page and say, 'Free Palestine,' for absolutely no reason other than they're Jewish."... Even Jewish creators who speak in support of Palestinians are harassed... Hate crimes against Jews in several cities across the world have surged in the past couple of weeks.  In Toronto, an elderly Jewish man was assaulted in Toronto while attending a pro-Palestinian event, the algemeiner reported.  A religiously aggravated assault of a rabbi led to two arrests in the United Kingdom, the Jewish News said"
The left only cares about Jews when they can use that to shit on white people

Anti-Semitism has 'no place in Britain' says PM after convoy of cars chant abuse in London - "In London, activists protesting against Israel's attacks drove in convoy through Golders Green and Finchley, both areas with large Jewish populations, shouting "F*** the Jews, rape their daughters" through a megaphone... Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, gave a speech at a pro-Palestine rally on Saturday next to a blow-up doll that portrayed a Jewish caricature with devil horns.  A separate video showed demonstrators chanting about the Battle of Khaybar - an historic Islamic-Jewish conflict - threatening Jews with "the army of Muhammad"."

What's going on in London shows anti-Semitism is still the only acceptable form of racism - "  Such open anti-Semitism on our streets is entirely normal. Every year on the ‘Al Quds’ (Jerusalem) Day protest, central London is festooned with anti-Semitic banners and chants.  Organisers and those involved continually say that they are not anti-Semitic and are merely anti-Zionist, but it is a remarkable coincidence how every time there is an anti-Zionist demonstration it is accompanied by unambiguous and explicit Jew hate. And that is without even considering how ludicrous it is to claim that a demonstration in support of Hamas is not anti-Semitic, when the organisation is committed in its founding charter to the elimination of Jews – Jews, not Israel – from the planet."

Police officer filmed shouting 'free Palestine' at protest prompts Met investigation - "The officer was criticised for airing her political views rather than focussing on policing the event"

Man with rainbow flag confronted at pro-Palestinian rally - ""When intersectionality meets reality," political pundit Dave Rubin tweeted.   "Gary was shocked that the only country in the Middle East where gay people are afforded key protections & rights is…" Rita Panahi tweeted. Palestine has a very conservative Muslim culture that is not often welcoming to LBGTQ community members. In 2019, Palestinian police outlawed gay rights events held by the organization alQaws because they went against “traditional Palestinian values.”"

Why does the hard left glorify the Palestinians? - "In a world in which massive violations of human rights have, tragically, become the norm, why has the hard left focused on one of the least compelling of those causes — namely, the Palestinians? Where is the concern for the Kurds, the Chechens, the Uyghurs, the Tibetans? There are no campus demonstrations on their behalf, no expressions of concern by “the Squad” in Congress, no United Nations resolutions, no recurring op-eds in The New York Times, and no claims that the nations that oppress these groups have no right to exist.   On the merits and demerits of their claims, the Palestinians have the weakest case. They have been offered statehood and independence on numerous occasions: in 1938, 1948, 1967, 2000-2001 and 2008. Israel ended its occupation of the Gaza Strip in 2005. Yet, even now, Palestinian leaders refuse to sit down and negotiate a reasonable two-state solution. As the late Israeli diplomat Abba Eban once aptly put it, the Palestinian leadership never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity.  Nor are history and morality on their side. The Palestinian leadership allied itself with Nazism and Hitler in the 1940s, with Egyptian tyranny and antisemitism in the 1950s, and with international terrorism from the 1960s forward. In 1947, the United Nations divided the land that the Romans called Palestine and the Jews called Yisrael into two areas... The Jews declared statehood on their land. Instead of declaring statehood on their land, the Palestinians and surrounding Arab nations declared war. The Arabs lost and the Jews captured more land... Again, in 1967, the surrounding Arab nations threatened to destroy Israel, which preemptively attacked and occupied the West Bank and Gaza, which it immediately offered to return — with some territorial adjustments necessary for security — in exchange for peace and recognition. The U.N. Security Council issued Resolution 242, which called for a return of captured territories in exchange for peace. Israel accepted. The Arab nations and the Palestinians, however, issued their three infamous “no’s” — no peace, no recognition, no negotiation.    The Kurds have never been offered independence or statehood, despite treaties that promised it. Nor have the Tibetans, the Uyghurs or the Chechens. But the Palestinians have, on multiple occasions since 1938, when their leader told the Peale Commission that the Palestinians don’t want a state — they just want there not to be a Jewish state.  The Palestinian people have suffered more from the ill-advised decisions of their leaders than from the actions of Israel.  Back to the present: Hamas commits a double war crime every time it fires a lethal rocket at Israeli civilians from areas populated by its civilians, who they use as human shields. Israel responds proportionally in self-defense, as President Biden has emphasized. The Israel Defense Forces go to extraordinary lengths to try to minimize civilian casualties among Palestinians, despite Hamas’ policy of using civilian buildings — hospitals, schools, mosques, and high-rise buildings — to store, fire and plan their unlawful rockets and incendiary devices. Yet the hard left blames Israel alone, and many on the center-left create a moral equivalence between democratic Israel and terrorist Hamas. Why? The answer is clear and can be summarized in one word: Jews.  The enemy of the Kurds, the Tibetans, the Uyghurs and the Chechens are not — unfortunately for them — the Jews. Hence, there is little concern for their plight. If the perceived enemy of the Palestinians were not the Jews, there would be little concern for their plight as well. This was proved by the relative silence that greeted the massacre of Palestinians by Jordan during “Black September” in 1970, or the killings of Palestinian Authority leaders in Gaza during the Hamas takeover in 2007. There has been relative silence, too, about the more than 4,000 Palestinians — mostly civilians— killed by Syria during that country’s current civil war. It is only when Jews or their nation are perceived to be oppressing Palestinians that the left seems to care about them. While the United States provides financial support for Israel, we also provide massive support for Jordan and Egypt. Even if the United States were to end support for Israel, the demonization of Israel by the hard left would not end... Former CIA director John Brennan as much as admitted this double standard when he complained in a tweet about the alleged lack of empathy by Jews... As Seth Frantzman, a writer for the Jerusalem Post, aptly put it: “In his telling of it, he implied that Jews must have special empathy for others while non-Jews have no special need to be empathetic. Brennan has not … held other countries to a higher standard based on the ethnic and religious origins of their citizens … In short, because Jews endured genocide, they have to live according to a higher standard than those who perpetrated genocide.” This “benevolent” double standard may sound kinder than the malevolent double standard imposed by members of “the Squad” and others, but it has the same effect: it demands that Israel do less to protect its citizens from rockets and terrorism than is demanded from other countries. The same standard must be demanded of Israel as is demanded of other countries defending their citizens. In particular, the same standard must be demanded of Palestinians and their leaders as is demanded of other groups seeking the moral support of good people. As of now, the Palestinians have failed to meet that standard."

WATCH: Masked Pro-Palestinian Mob Allegedly Attacks Jewish Diners in Los Angeles

‘STFU’: Israeli Arab Muslim Blasts AOC For Calling Israel An Apartheid State - "“I’m an Israeli-Arab and a Muslim and I’m a proud Israeli. We are fighting Hamas terrorists who hijacked our religion while you tweet about something you know nothing about. Stfu!!!”... The Arab Muslim who slammed Ocasio-Cortez, Mohammad Kabiya, is an Israeli Bedouin who served in the IDF on a search and rescue team in the Israeli Air Force and later served as an IDF consultant and pro-Israel activist"

WARMINGTON: Eviction notice to a Jewish family a protest tactic - "It was an ominous notice taped to a Toronto family’s front door that came as shock.  “We regret to inform you that your house is scheduled for demolition in the next three days”... many Jewish people have received one. Whether homes have a mezuzah on the front door or not, it seems whoever dropped them off had intelligence that Jewish people live in these homes.  “First time ever for us to be targeted as Jews in Canada”"
Can you protest ISIS by attacking Muslims?

Thread by @habibi_uk on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - ""God, make us part of the mujahideen in Palestine!"
"God, purify al-Aqsa from impure people! God, make the earth quake under their feet!"
"God, lift the curse of the Jews off the Muslims in Palestine!"
A Hamas rally in Gaza? No, a demonstration in Bradford in May.
More:
"God, support Muslim youth to protect al-Aqsa! God, support them with your soldiers! God, we ask you to make the Jews lose!"
"God, make Islam win!"
The blood chants heard across the UK in May followed. "With our soul, with our blood, we will redeem you, al-Aqsa!”
The customary annihilation call too. "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."
It is no surprise to find the disgraced former Liberal Democrat MP and incorrigible racist David Ward at this hatred rally, behind a "Palestine Solidarity Campaign" banner...
Perhaps a Bradford MP could speak up about these ugly scenes?
Naz Shah, for example, Labour's shadow minister for "Community Cohesion"?
Oh. She spoke at the same rally.
"Don’t stop just here today. It must carry on even when this stops.”"
"Anti-Zionism" strikes again

Eli on Twitter - "Pro Palestine protestors beat an elderly Jewish man in Canada. They also sexually assaulted a Jewish girl (whom I just spoke with). This is not normal."
Anti-semitism is normal, so

WARMINGTON: Protesters' swastikas cross the line - "Saturday’s anti-Israel rally event at Nathan Phillips Square, which saw violence break out between participants on both sides, featured some pro-Palestinian demonstrators using the horrific Nazi symbol to protest the bitter conflict between combatants in Hamas-controlled Gaza and Israel’s military.  Witnesses posted images to social media of a sign with a Swastika saying “Death to Israel” while there was another of an Israeli flag with Swastikas all over it. Toronto seems to be able to tolerate that the thousands of protesters were not following stay-at-home pandemic guidelines and protocols, including social distancing... swastikas were also waved at similar protests in London, Ont., and Hamilton, which also had an incident of an Israeli flag-burning."

‘A very different tone this time’: Canadian Jewish leaders warn of spike in anti-Semitic violence - "  In a statement the Centre for Israeli and Jewish Affairs warned of “a wave of violence and anti-Semitism impacting communities across Canada.” The centre posted images of protest signs in Toronto equating Israel with Nazi Germany, as well as a photo of an SUV spotted driving around the campus of Wilfrid Laurier University flying an Israeli flag desecrated with swastikas... Although Twitter has banned multiple U.S. public figures for alleged incitement to violence — most notably former U.S. president Donald Trump — the social media platform has been criticized for appearing much more sanguine about posts targeting Israel and the broader Jewish community"

If the police accept the idea of structural racism, no one is safe - "A little more than a week ago, a gang of thugs drove through Jewish communities in London, using a megaphone to threaten to “rape their daughters”. As the thugs spewed bile and racist hate, their convoy of cars, draped in Palestinian flags, observed the traffic laws and stopped obediently at red lights.  The dissonance in their behaviour prompted dark jokes from some, but in reality the juxtaposition of the care with which these men respected minor laws as they flagrantly committed acts of serious criminality says a lot about modern police priorities. In making violent threats against Jewish women, they very obviously believed they were above the law. And, if we are honest, we should not be surprised that they did.  The same weekend, Jeremy Corbyn addressed a rally where, just yards away, a grotesquely anti-Semitic ten-feet inflatable caricature rose above the crowd. Protestors carried anti-Semitic placards and chanted anti-Semitic slogans. Agitators incited protestors to picket Marks and Spencer stores, a company that just happens to have been established by a Jew.  None of this racism and criminality was conducted in secrecy. It happened on marches approved by the authorities, and attended by the police. Officers walked alongside protesters as they openly broke the law. Last Tuesday a police officer even joined in the protests, shouting “Free Palestine”, as she was recorded by delighted participants.  This is happening, in part, because the police – in common with many other public institutions – are intimidated. When those thugs drove around London, and members of the public expressed their fear on social media, the police response was to promise to “engage” with the men making the threats, rather than to stop them and arrest them.  The trend in public order policing in recent years has been for officers to stand back and allow some crimes to take place, in the belief that they can identify the perpetrators from video footage and arrest them later. Intervening during acts of criminality, goes the logic, risks causing a greater and more violent confrontation.  But as the police learned during the riots in British cities a decade ago, this is nonsense. Then, police officers stood by as youths smashed their way into shops and looted their goods. Standing back did not give the police the time and space to make arrests later; it only encouraged more people to believe they could join in the riots and break the law with impunity.   And something similar is happening now. When the police tolerate criminal behaviour, they encourage more of it. When they back down before criminals they are sending a message to the whole of society – the law-abiders as well as the law-breakers – that the criminals are in charge. The rest of us, we might as well be told, should just learn to live with the fear.  But why are the police so intimidated? It is not just a question of squeamishness, as their robust response to the anti-lockdown protests and the unnecessarily aggressive response to the Sarah Everard vigil showed. It is because of politics.  For years, the police have been terrified of upsetting relations with minority communities. This explains the appalling failure to respond to child grooming gangs of mainly Muslim men who targeted and systematically abused troubled white working-class girls in towns and cities across England. In Rotherham alone, gangs abused at least 1,400 girls over a period of 15 years... But now things are even worse. For the police, like other public authorities, have bought into theories of structural racism... officers will be bound to take a softer approach to criminals deemed to be victims due to their ethnic or religious identity. This explains why police officers took the knee even as the Black Lives Matter protests became violent, turned a blind eye as demonstrators against Israel incited racial hatred and violence, and remained silent as activists threatened the life of a teacher who showed his pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.   All this is pernicious enough, and yet there is a broader problem with important public institutions taking these positions. Society, in the form of the authorities, is telling people – and young people in particular – that they do not need to take responsibility for their lives. The things that are wrong, they are told, are the result of structural forces. And for those who do things wrong, there is an excuse ready-made. Already, head teachers and police officers report examples of a refusal to comply with rules and laws because those rules and laws – and those who are there to uphold them – are said to be discriminatory and racist.  The sooner we escape from this needless predicament the better, because we are storing up huge problems for our future. The idea that the police should operate without fear or favour is undermined. The principle that we are all equal before the law is under threat.  If we lose these two pillars of a fair and open society, our country will become more dangerous, and none of us will be safe."

Rihanna Faces Backlash For Comments On Israel And Palestine - "Rihanna wrote, ‘My heart is breaking with the violence I’m seeing displayed between Israel and Palestine! I can’t bare to see it!’"
It's telling that denouncing violence gets you slammed. That suggest that those slamming her want violence - directed at the right people

Pakistani Actress with 1.2 Million Twitter Followers Quotes ‘Adolf Hitler’ in Support of Palestine - "Veena Malik, a Pakistani actress, TV host and reality television personality, known for appearing in Pakistani and Bollywood films, tweeted a quote attributed to Adolf Hitler yesterday as violence broke out between Israel and Palestinian militant organisation Hamas...
"I would have killed all the Jews of the world...but I kept some to show the world why I killed them""

Israel-Gaza: Netanyahu says militants 'set back by years' - "Israel briefly opened a border crossing into Gaza to allow a convoy of aid to enter. However, the crossing was closed again after it came under fire from Palestinian mortars and rockets...  the US has accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of making "anti-Semitic" remarks about Israel.  He accused Israel of "terrorism" against the Palestinians and recently said: "It is in their nature". He then called Israel "murderers" and used terminology widely seen as promoting anti-Semitic stereotypes."
Keeping the border closed because of terrorism is literally apartheid

Woke hypocrites are fuelling a terrifying rise in anti-Semitism - "Everywhere one looks, in Britain, Europe and America, anti-Jewish hatred is surging. The UK’s Community Security Trust recorded its highest ever number of anti-Semitic incidents in May. A rabbi was assaulted. There have been inflammatory anti-Semitic slogans on marches purporting to support Palestinians. A Jewish hospital nurse was told by strangers in a lift: “I want to kill all your people”. One Jewish teacher in North London explains that pupils tried to stick “Free Palestine” stickers in her hair. Teachers and actors have been forced to resign from their unions, and anti-Semitic tweets and posts have proliferated...   The old anti-Semitism – the fascist, far-Right variety, the middle class “golf club” prejudices, the ancient tropes about banking, the lies about who killed Christ, the deranged Blood Libel, invented in Norwich in 1144, all remain socially unacceptable. But anti-Semitism keeps on reinventing itself to suit the ages, inevitably finding useful idiots to promulgate it.  The new, toxic, more acceptable variety is an obsessive, singular hatred of Israel, demonised as the prototype oppressor, racist, “apartheid” state, the only country that doesn’t deserve to exist, an approach pushed relentlessly by the radical woke storm-troopers who have captured Western academic, cultural and commercial institutions. Even seemingly moderate people now parrot extreme, one-sided, ignorant claims on the subject, believing that they are signalling their virtue. This is going hand-in-hand with Jews being pressurised across the West to disavow Israel, something that no other group would ever be asked to do in relation to any other country... When was the last time Left-wing celebrities tweeted in support of a peace deal for the Tigray war involving Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan, which has cost thousands of lives this year? Or the 13,000 Muslim deaths in Afghanistan this year? Or the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which claimed 7,687 lives last year? Or the insurgency in the Maghreb and the 7,000 lives lost there? Where are the protests, the demos, the flags in football stadiums? The usual “activists” are only concerned by wars that involve Israel. Is that not just a little suspicious? One argument is that Israel is a democracy, so should be held to a higher standard. But so is Turkey, and I can’t recall the tweets defending the Kurds or speaking out against Erdogan. Context matters: Israel is the only democracy under constant attack by neighbours that keep threatening to annihilate it... Virtually all Jews – and most other religious minorities – have been ethnically cleansed from the Middle East in recent decades. Jews have nowhere else to go but Israel; the Zionist project is their only chance...   A central claim of woke critical theorists and social justice warriors is that “white supremacy,” oppression and colonialism explain the world’s problems; but while they are obsessed with identity politics, one minority, namely Jews, doesn’t count, as David Baddiel has put it. The wokerati are especially exercised by Israel, a proud nation-state which has no time for self-hatred. Yet it is absurd to describe Israelis as “white” colonialists: it negates the unbroken connection between the diaspora (the clue is in the name) and the land of Israel. The majority of Israelis are refugees, or the children of refugees, from North Africa and the Middle East. Some 2-3 per cent of Israeli Jews are black Africans, primarily Ethiopians."
According to liberals, this is just criticism of Israel and anti-Zionism, and accusations of anti-Semitism are just trying to deflect from legitimate criticism of Israel

'It's terrifying being a Jew living in North London at the moment,' caller tells LBC

The left’s shameful silence on anti-Semitism - "So the 21st-century left refuses to share a platform with feminists who think biological sex is real but they will rub shoulders with protesters who chant about killing Jews? This is the perverse position the woke left now finds itself in. It sees prejudice everywhere except where it actually exists. State a biological fact and they’ll brand you transphobic. Criticise the burqa and you’re an Islamophobe. Fail to take the knee to Black Lives Matter and its every potty political belief and you’ll be called racist. Wear a sombrero and you’re cancelled. But chanting death to Jews? No biggie. The woke warriors against racism and hatred will suddenly, magically go deaf. They’ll look the other way. ‘I didn’t hear anything.’... Imagine a mainstream politician speaking at a demo on which someone was likening black people to monkeys. This is as shocking as that. And yet there’s silence.  Elsewhere in the UK the words ‘Kike Free Palestine’, along with a swastika, were daubed on the front door of the Adat Yeshua Synagogue in Norwich... Pro-Palestine protesters in Belgium taunted Jews by chanting about the Khaybar massacre. In Germany numerous protesters have been arrested for throwing stones at a synagogue in Bonn, for starting a fire on the plaque that commemorates the destruction of the Grand Synagogue in Düsseldorf during Kristallnacht in 1938, and for gathering outside a synagogue in the town of Gelsenkirchen to chant ‘Fuck the Jews’... Meanwhile, the Hamas slogan ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ – widely recognised as a hateful call to wipe Israel off the map – is being used more and more by the woke left. British leftists have used it; a New York assemblywoman posted a map inspired by the slogan, only to subsequently take it down... The modern left’s blind spot on anti-Jewish racism is a depressing testament to the confusions and contortions of identity politics. The ideology of wokeness is obsessed with categorising people according to their levels of presumed ‘oppression’ or ‘privilege’. In this eccentric worldview, now being bought into not only by middle-class professional protesters but also by the political class, numerous institutions and the education system, ‘whiteness’ is a signifier of privilege while ‘Muslimness’ is an experience of relentless pain. Identity politics has helped to inflame and exacerbate contemporary anti-Semitism through its depiction of Jews as hyper-white, as uber-privileged, and we all know what privileged people deserve, right? Criticism, censure, ridicule, possibly harassment. They definitely cannot be empathised with as victims of racism. That doesn’t compute for a woke left that has decreed that Jews are super-white, and therefore super-privileged, and therefore super-suspect. And it is the woke left’s paternalistic pity for the Muslim community, its tendency to infantilise Muslims as perma-victims in desperate need of our moral succour, that makes it reluctant to call out Muslim anti-Semitism in particular. Much of the vile anti-Jewish commentary and behaviour of the past few days, including in London, Bonn and Toronto, has come from Muslim pro-Palestine protesters. The identitarian left turns a blind eye to Muslim anti-Semitism because it doesn’t fit into its rigid, racialised narrative. The ‘oppressed’ being racist to the ‘privileged’ doesn’t add up. So they make a trade-off, wittingly or unwittingly. They decide that Muslim anti-Semitism is not worth talking about, far less condemning, because Muslims deserve the protections of political correctness while Jews do not. Jews are abandoned to preserve the orthodoxies of identitarianism. It is now seen as virtually Islamophobic to talk about anti-Semitism... Left-wing protesters and commentators argue that it is entirely possible to be opposed to Israel’s military actions in the Palestinian Territories without being anti-Semitic, and they are absolutely right. But the uncomfortable truth is this: the modern left isn’t only opposing Israeli militarism. It is obsessing over it, to a distorted degree. Leftists treat Israel as uniquely barbaric, distinct from every other nation that engages in war. We have to ask ourselves if this hyper-moralisation of the Israel-Palestine conflict, this denouncement of Zionism as a pox on both the Middle East and broader global affairs, contributes to the prejudicial conviction that the Jewish State is the most evil state, and the Jewish people thus a suspect people. ‘Silence is compliance’, the woke left is fond of saying. So should we take their silence on recent acts of anti-Semitism as a sign of compliance with this hateful ideology? People are setting fire to Jewish monuments in Germany. They’re driving through Jewish areas of London calling for the rape of Jewish girls. They’re parading through the streets with images of hook-nosed Jews. If this doesn’t concern the woke left, then it is clearly even more lost than some of us feared."

How one IDF tweet lured militants to their doom in terror tunnels - "A misleading statement tweeted by the Israel Defense Forces on Thursday night appears to have been a decoy intended to lure Hamas troops into strategic tunnels that were later bombarded by the Israeli army.  The IDF tweet gave the impression that troops had entered Gaza, leading global media outlets to report about a ground incursion, and Hamas and Islamic Jihad, seeing those reports, sent their first line of defense into the tunnels to start taking up positions"

AP slammed for claiming it was unaware of Hamas presence - "The Associated Press is taking heat for claiming it had no idea Hamas militants operated at the news agency’s Gaza headquarters destroyed by an Israeli airstrike — as US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Monday he “has seen no evidence” presented by Israel of the group’s presence in the building...   But a 2014 article in The Atlantic written by a journalist in the region described a history between the news agency and Hamas and critics took to social media to cast doubt on Pruitt’s assertion.  “@AP didn’t know about sharing a building w/ Hamas for 15 years?!?” tweeted Gabe Hoffman, producer of the documentary “An Open Secret.”  Noah Pollack, a contributor to the Free Beacon, said in a tweet: “Spoke to a well-placed friend in the IDF just now. The bombed AP office building contained multiple Hamas operations & offices including weapons manufacturing and military intelligence. The building also housed an Islamic Jihad office. And AP’s local reporters knew about it.” Another user wrote that the AP claim “doesn’t say much for their reporting abilities if they missed a Hamas staging office a floor away.”... Israel has said it shared “smoking gun” evidence with Biden administration officials that Hamas was operating out of the building... As to whether AP was aware of Hamas involvement with the building, Matti Friedman wrote in his 2014 Atlantic piece: “When Hamas’ leaders surveyed their assets before this summer’s round of fighting, they knew that among those assets was the international press. The AP staff in Gaza City would witness a rocket launch right beside their office, endangering reporters and other civilians nearby — and the AP wouldn’t report it.” Friedman claimed the Hamas militants would regularly “burst into the AP’s Gaza bureau and threaten the staff — and the AP wouldn’t report it.”"

Hamas fires from foreign Press building in Gaza January 2009 - Unintentional News from Alarabiya-TV - YouTube - "Out-Takes of Alarabiya-TV Reporter Hannan al-Masri Learning of a Hamas Missile being Fired from the Ground Floor of the Building housing the Alarabiya Studio"

'Smoking gun': Evidence proving presence of Hamas in AP building in Gaza shown to Biden administration - "A source told  Jack Posobiec that certain floors were under strict supervision inside the building by Hamas guards. "US military field-grade officer tells me the tower IDF struck in Gaza housed an underground Hamas Tactical Operations Center (TOC). Tenants were not allowed below a certain floor, which contained guards in tailored suits watching straits and elevators. Building owner knew"... Former Obama spokesperson Tommy Vietor wrote on Twitter that "I'm sure Hamas offices were in that building & that they purposefully co-locate operations with civilians."  When asked how he knew that Hamas was housed in that building, Vietor added that "I talked to people who worked in the building.""

Terry Glavin: By using human shields, Hamas doubles down on its war crimes - "there does come a point, no matter which side or slogan or analysis you favour in the agonies that are afflicting the peoples of the Holy Land at the moment, when moral equivalencies cannot be drawn and should not be attempted. This is very much the case in contrasting and evaluating the Israel Defense Forces’ targeted bombing of Hamas operatives and infrastructure in Gaza against the war crimes committed with each and every one of the roughly 1,500 rockets Hamas and Islamic Jihad have launched in indiscriminate attacks on Israeli civilians since last weekend.   Dozens have been killed in a spiralling mayhem that is routinely situated beyond comprehension as a matter of Hamas behaving in a manner that is “unacceptable,” and Israel being in need of advice to exercise “restraint.” That was the tone United Nations Secretary-general Antonio Guterres set on Monday. It was also the tenor adopted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday when he told reporters: “There needs to be de-escalation immediately … We need to see a cessation of violence and attacks. The rocket attacks from Hamas are absolutely unacceptable. We are also gravely concerned about the settlements and the evictions of Palestinians.” The problem is that no amount of Israeli “restraint” would have saved the life of Soumya Santhosh, a 31-year-old housemaid from Kerala, India, who was killed when one of the indiscriminately-fired Hamas rockets landed on a house in Ashkelon... the ultimate cause of this week’s eruptions can be more accurately situated in the power struggle between Hamas, which controls the Gaza strip, and Fatah, which more or less runs things in the Israeli-controlled but semi-autonomous West Bank. The Palestinian Authority was supposed to hold elections this month, but Fatah’s Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, called them off, fearful of losing East Jerusalem’s votes to Hamas supremo and terrorist kingpin Ismail Haniyeh, who has been directing this week’s rocket barrages from the safety of his posh digs in faraway Qatar.  All those rockets are Haniyeh’s way of establishing Hamas as the champion of Al Aqsa and the defender of Jerusalem as the capital of a future Islamic state and a holy cause of the world’s Muslims... There is no equivalence between the IDF’s defensive targeting of the Hamas and its Qassam Brigades launch sites in Gaza and the Qassam rockets targeting Israeli civilians, but the more important thing to keep your eye on is the way Hamas embeds itself among Gaza’s civilians, effectively using the people it claims to represent as human shields...   For whatever its faults, the IDF has made great strides in limiting civilian casualties in warfare, in its Iron Dome rocket defence systems and in its expertise in flooding Gaza neighbourhoods in the vicinity of Hamas targets with cellphone alerts, and hitting targets with rooftop warning blasts in advance of missile attacks. But innocent people still end up getting killed, and it’s a “win-win” for Hamas when that happens. Hiding rocket-launch sites in civilian infrastructure inhibits military decision-makers’ efforts to target Hamas firepower, and civilian casualties serve as “asymmetrical” propaganda victories. Each Hamas rocket is a double war crime: launched at random human targets, from behind human shields"
When Hamas rockets kill Palestinians, it's Israel's fault, naturally, since they "made them do it"

Gal Gadot Gets Backlash for Comments on Israel-Palestine Violence - "The Israel-born Wonder Woman star was trending on Twitter on Wednesday after posting on Instagram the following: “My heart breaks. My country is at war. I worry for my family, my friends. I worry for my people. This is a vicious cycle that has been going on for far too long. Israel deserves to live as a free and safe nation. Our neighbors deserve the same. I pray for the victims and their families, I pray for this unimaginable hostility to end, I pray for our leaders to find the solution so we could live side by side in peace. I pray for better days.”"
It's revealing when saying that you want Israel's Arab neighbours to be free and safe too gets you slammed. That suggests that many of those who criticise Israel don't actually want peace for all sides

Bella Hadid says she's not condoning violence or hate against Jewish community - "I have said this before and I want to make it clear again. By speaking for the equal rights of Palestinians people, I am never condoning violence or hate against the Jewish community. It is unacceptable especially in the name of another marginalized group"

State of Israel condemns Bella Hadid for advocating 'throwing Jews into the sea' - "About two thousand people turned out in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn, chanting 'Free, free Palestine' and 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.'  They waved Palestinian flags and held placards that read 'End Israeli Apartheid' and 'Freedom for Gaza.'  Many protesters wore black and white, and red and white, keffiyeh scarves, while drivers sounded car horns and motorcyclists revved their engines as the sun beat down. Among them in Bay Ridge was Hadid who joined in supporting Palestinians.  Hadid was spotted wearing a traditional dress, a Keffiyeh, a face mask and was waving a large Palestinian flag."
Maybe throwing Jews into the sea is neither violent nor hateful

Anti-Israel Supermodel Bella Hadid Posts Photo Of Team From ‘Palestine.’ One Problem: They’re All Jews. - "Supermodel Bella Hadid, who has been calling for a “Free Palestine,” decided to post a photo from 1939 of a soccer team from “Palestine,” possibly to buttress claims that “Palestine” existed long before the state of Israel was reborn in 1948.  One problem: the photo showed the team from “Palestine,” all right, but every member of the team was Jewish. Additionally, they all had the Jewish Star of David emblazoned on their uniforms.

Bennett slams John Oliver, Trevor Noah, Bella Hadid on Israel criticism - "Bennett sought to set the record straight for who he sarcastically called "The 'great philosophers' of our age." In the video, Bennett, former defense minister, gave numerous examples of important Gazan facilities such as Shifa hospital and the Ayyobiya Boys School, both of which are also Hamas facilities that are used to help plan attacks on Israel or store weapons... "So Bella, John and Noah, help me out here," he said. "If a terror organization like Hamas called to murder your families and launched thousands of missiles at your children while they're hiding inside hospitals, schools and media offices, what would you do?" Israel, Bennett explained, has two options. Do nothing and die, or respond. "I don't know about you all, but we're gonna go with number two," Bennett explained. If celebrities like Noah, Oliver and Hadid want to help end this war, then they should be using their platforms to demand Hamas stop hiding behind innocent civilians, he said. "Maybe you should ask Hamas operator, Fathi Hamad, to stop bragging that 'Palestinian women and children make the best human shields,'" he continued, adding that "Yes, that's exactly what he said." He concluded his short video saying that Israel, just like them, just wants to live in peace with its neighbors, "but what we won't do is commit suicide so you can make your snarky comedy bits.""

Hamas Exploitation of Civilians - "Excerpts from a speech by Hamas MP Fathi Hammad (29 February 2008) on Hamas' al-Aqsa television station that tells how women, children and the elderly have been inducted into Hamas' death-worshipping cult and turned into human shields.
Fathi Hammad: [The enemies of Allah] do not know that the Palestinian people has developed its [methods] of death and death-seeking. For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry, at which women excel, and so do all the people living on this land. The elderly excel at this, and so do the mujahideen and the children. This is why they have formed human shields of the women, the children, the elderly, and the mujahideen, in order to challenge the Zionist bombing machine. It is as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: "We desire death like you desire life.""

What Trevor Noah gets wrong about Israel - "Comedy Central’s The Daily Show host Trevor Noah did an ill-advised segment on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After explaining that he was not trying to place blame, he went on to blame Israel simply because there are more dead Palestinians than dead Israelis. He also echoed the insane argument of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, that somehow the fight is not fair because Israel has a better missile defense system... US-designated terrorist organizations Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are sending thousands of rockets screaming into densely populated Israeli cities. The express, unwavering goal of these terrorists is to kill every Jewish man, woman and child. Israel’s defense system knocks down most of the missiles, but some get through and kill or injure innocents. If Israel had not invested in research and development to protect its people and instead focused on digging terror tunnels like Hamas, there would be hundreds more dead Israelis. Would that make Noah feel better? Israel is not at fault for being able to defend herself and has every right to respond to aggression. Hamas should not be rewarded or excused by the media for its poor aim and misplaced priorities. Proportionality in wartime is a prospective legal analysis that falls under Article 8(2)(b(4) of the Rome Statute, not the opinion of an armchair quarterback a day later, even if that quarterback has a talk show. International law recognizes that civilian casualties are a horrible but inevitable part of conflict, and forbids attacks in which the anticipated civilian casualties will be excessive in light of the anticipated military advantage gained. Note that it does not say in comparison to how many of your people the other side managed to kill. The reason for this is clear: When you judge the appropriateness of an attack based solely on the number of people who died you do not end up protecting civilians, instead you incentivize. That is precisely why Hamas operatives continuously surround themselves with civilians, just to let them die. That is why they store weapons in schools, and in hospitals, and why they shoot them from civilian structures in populated areas. Under the kind of effects-based, non-legal analysis by influential media folk like Trevor Noah, Hamas’s use of human shields to build up the number of casualties is actually rewarded. To paraphrase a quote often attributed to prime minister Golda Meir, if they only loved their children as much as they hated ours this war would be over. Unlike Hamas and PIJ, Israel has only aimed at military targets, and even Hamas seems to begrudgingly admit that. While innocent people have tragically been killed, Israel has done everything it can to limit casualties, including warning civilians in advance to leave the targeted areas. In fact, as Noah ironically notes, Israel has the ability to completely destroy the other side, but they have shown great restraint in not doing so. It is also unfair to fault Israel for its technological advantage. Noah punctuated his remarks by asking, “If you are in a fight where the other person cannot beat you, how hard should you retaliate when they try to hurt you?”  That ridiculous question assumes that the deaths and maiming of innocent Israelis killed by terrorists can be dismissed because Hamas was just “trying to hurt” Israel. Death and injuries do hurt, and constant rocket barrages make it impossible for Israelis to live a normal life. Should the US not have responded to 9/11 because the Taliban could not really beat us? His question also ignores the fact that the other side is intent on winning. Hamas is openly hell-bent on destroying Israel, is using relatively sophisticated weaponry, and believes that it can do it. Israel has every right to take Hamas at its word and does not have to let it keep trying. Here is the simple unavoidable truth as summarized by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel.” The answer to Noah’s question is quite clear then: Israel should hit back just hard enough so that the other side stops targeting its civilians and is deterred from targeting them again. If Noah disapproves of Israel’s methods because too many innocent Palestinians are being incidentally killed as Israel works to take out the strategic military outposts used by terrorists to kill their people, perhaps he should call out Hamas for its destructive behavior, instead of giving it a pass for its ineptitude and rewarding its self-inflated blood counts."

The Palestinians need to stop living in the past - "To listen to some in the anti-Israel movement today – which extends far further into Britain’s media than it should – one might imagine that the Palestinian exodus of 73 years ago was somehow an occurrence unique in modern history. The truth is very different. For all sorts of geopolitical reasons, many groups were forcibly or voluntarily moved during the troubled decade of the 1940s. There were no fewer than 20 different groups – including the Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus of the Punjab, the Crimean Tartars, the Japanese and Korean Kuril and Sakhalin Islanders, the Soviet Chechen, Ingush and Balkars – who were displaced in that period, many in their tens or hundreds of thousands.  None of the specific circumstances are directly comparable. But all of these peoples chose to try to make the best of their new environs except one, and most have succeeded. Some, such as those who emigrated to the United States, have done so triumphantly. The sole exception has been the Palestinians, whose leaders again and again chose to embrace fanatical irredentism and recurrent intifadas regardless of the interests of their people. The rubble seen in Gaza today is all they have to show for it.   The Palestinian militant cadres chose the terrorist path while every other one of the displaced people of the late-1940s chose the peaceful one of moving on with their national stories, looking forward, rather than back to a past that has grown rosier through the distorting prism of hindsight.  After the Second World War, more than 3 million Germans were forced to leave their homes in the Sudetenland, Silesia and lands east of the Oder and Neisse rivers, where their forefathers had lived for centuries. They embarked on the 300-mile journey westwards under conditions of extreme deprivation, carrying only what they could pack on to carts and into suitcases. Having reached the new borders of East and West Germany, they settled and made no irredentist claims to the new Poland and Czechoslovakia. Today, they and their children comprise some of the most successful people in Germany.  The same period saw massive population transfers in the Punjab and North-West Frontier territories of India, where some 16 million people crossed between the new states of Pakistan and India, and modern historians are finally coming to agreement that somewhere between one-half and three-quarters of a million people died in the appalling communal massacres that ensued. While there are severe border disputes still between the two successor countries over Kashmir, no one from the Muslim, Hindu and Sikh communities is agitating for restitution of the lands their forefathers farmed or shops they once owned in the Punjab.   Before his death in 1953, Joseph Stalin moved entire ethnic groups from one side of Eastern Europe and the USSR to the other, sometimes numbering millions. They were “relocated” to Siberia, the Crimea or Central Asia, often hundreds of miles from their homelands and under the harshest conditions. In all, forced internal migrations of the Tatars, Volga Germans, Ingush, Balkars, Karachays, Meskheta Turks and other ethnic groupings numbering some six million led to the genocidal deaths of up to 1.5 million, including 46 per cent of the Crimean Tatars. Yet there are no appreciable irredentist movements among these former Soviet citizens; they have made the best of their new situations rather than carrying on an ultimately hopeless struggle to return.  Tragically, it has been the Arab states’ cynical policy for over seven decades to keep the Palestinians boiling with indignation. For those Palestinians who have continued to live in refugee camps even into the fourth generation, 1948 was indeed a catastrophe, but many other peoples have learned to deal with the same or worse by moving onward and upward. The State of Israel is here to stay, and until the Palestinians are able to accommodate themselves to that fact, they will never find happiness"
This is a great example of how the victim mentality only hurts the victims

Facebook - "There is a pernicious delusion that Might Makes Wrong, or that the side of an armed conflict with the higher bodycount is automatically the moral one, and that being proficient in violence and waging war is inherently bad. This is one of Noam Chomsky’s intellectual and moral hang ups, and I see it all over the place.  Following this strange logic, Nazi Germany would represent the morally superior side of World War ll, as their death tolls outnumbered allied forces."