Ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans at Villa Park based on flawed evidence - "West Midlands Police has been accused of banning Israeli football fans after they had been exonerated of hooliganism by an official report. Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were barred from attending a Europa League clash against Aston Villa on Nov 6 when West Midlands Police (WMP) raised concerns about potential trouble. The force cited the violence around the team’s Europa League match against Ajax in Amsterdam one year earlier when it classed the the Villa Park fixture as “high-risk”. But it is now known that the Dutch authorities had cleared the Maccabi fans in a police report shortly after the November 2024 Ajax match. The document, first seen by the Jewish Chronicle, said Maccabi fans were the victims of “groups ... looking for a confrontation” and did not “have a violent reputation”. Written by the prosecutor and police in Amsterdam and obtained by the Jewish Chronicle, the report appears to contradict statements made by senior WMP officers to justify the ban. In their risk assessment before the Villa Park match, WMP cited the events in Amsterdam, accusing “significant numbers” of Maccabi’s followers of being involved in “demonstrations and confrontations”. The force also referred to claims that as many as 600 of the club’s fans “committed a variety of targeted, hate-motivated crimes”. This led to the decision to keep the Maccabi fans out of Villa Park, condemned at the time by the Prime Minister and Home Secretary. But the official “feitenrelaas” (statement of facts) presented to the Amsterdam authorities shortly after the events in the city and compiled by Peter Holla, the Amsterdam police chief, and René de Beukelaer, the city’s chief prosecutor, painted a different picture. It stated that of the 59 suspects arrested during clashes around the Maccabi-Ajax game, only ten were Israeli, while the remaining 49 were from the Netherlands... Following the match, which went ahead largely without incident, the report said, there were groups looking for trouble with Maccabi supporters. At a later trial in Holland, it was revealed that assaults on Maccabi fans had been planned in WhatsApp messages in which participants talked of a “Jew hunt”. Online footage showed an Israeli fleeing into an Amsterdam canal to escape attackers, another pleading “I am not Jewish”, and another, seemingly unconscious, repeatedly kicked on the ground."
Weird. Terrorism supporters keep claiming the Israeli fans were the aggressors and the Jew hunters were just defending themselves. Clearly, the fact that the "pro-Palestinian" crowd was planning their Jew hunt before the match is because they knew the "Zionists" would attack them
This should be a day of shame for the West Midlands Police - "There have been many previous examples of police forces up and down the country effectively doing the bidding of Islamists and anti-Semites. The hate marches through London, for example, have seen open Jew hate on the streets, with calls for the mass murder of Jews (in the guise of “globalising the intifada”) and the chant, “Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews, the army of Mohammed will return,” which commemorates the mass slaughter of Jews – while the police simply stand and watch. But the decision to bar Maccabi supporters from the match at Villa Park was the first time that police, acting in concert with local Muslim politicians and so-called community leaders, decided to go a step further and, in effect, declare their area Judenfrei – a Jew-free area. As Mark Gardner, CEO of the Community Security Trust, put it: “[The] Aston Villa match is about who controls the streets of UK’s second largest city. The football is a very red herring.” We have known since this decision who West Midlands Police believe should control the streets of Birmingham. But what we now also know makes an already deplorable and worrying situation far worse. At the time, West Midlands Police claimed they were acting solely over concerns about public safety. Indeed, the local chief superintendent, Tom Joyce, gave a series of interviews in which he said that the police had barred Maccabi because of the hooliganism of its fans. This was supposedly based on the violence surrounding a match between Maccabi and Ajax, in Amsterdam. But even as he spoke it was clear that this was wrong, to put it no stronger. The publicly available Dutch court documents after the related convictions showed the opposite – that the violence was the result of Muslim gangs, organised in WhatsApp groups, orchestrating what they called a “Jew hunt” for “cancer Jews”. But it has now, however, became incontrovertible that West Midlands Police’s account of their decision making is pure fiction. The Dutch police made clear to the Sunday Times that every element of the claims about Maccabi violence was not just wrong, but so very wrong that it has to be seen as deliberately distorted. West Midlands Police said, for example, that Maccabi fans threw members of the public into the river. Dutch police said yesterday: “We have evidence of one case [where] you can hear someone say, ‘Yell “free Palestine” and then you can leave, then we’ll get you out’.” West Midlands said Dutch police had been forced to deploy 5,000 officers. The Dutch police response: “In total we came to 1,200, in different shifts, though. About 1,200 were deployed. I read 5,000 police. That number is so not true.” West Midlands said Maccabi fans were “highly organised, skilled fighters with a serious desire and will to fight with police and opposing groups”. Dutch police said: “The Amsterdam police does not recognise the claim.” Even more bizarrely, West Midlands police said that 200 of the Maccabi fans were “linked” to the IDF. Of course they were; army service is compulsory in Israel. And in any case, as the Dutch police said: “We did not investigate any IDF backgrounds … most young men in Israel have some connection to the IDF, but we did not investigate it and we don’t have a number for that.” What we have seen in the West Midlands is deeply disturbing. It appears that the police have not only accepted the idea pushed by these local “community leaders” and Islamists that a Jewish or Israeli presence in their locality is inherently provocative, but have also actively pushed a false account of Maccabi fans’ behaviour in Amsterdam in order to justify a ban on their presence. This is a defining moment because it marks a move from the police acquiescing in Jew hate to actively participating in it. One of the tactics of Islamists is to encroach so deeply into organisations and public bodies that they are in effect taken over, even when the actual decisions are taken by others. This seems to be what has happened with West Midlands Police."
Eve Barlow on X - "Just clearing something up. Jewish football fans have been banned from a game in Birmingham where the population is 40% Muslim and the ban is being pursued solely by Muslim MPs. This is the issue. You can intellectualise that it may be something else or bend over backwards to find proof that this was a justified police decision but it’s happening because the police are capitulating to the Muslim community."
Meme - Roshan M Salih @RmSalih: "I think we need to be more direct about the Maccabi Tel Aviv ban. Those of us supporting the ban do so for two main reasons:
1.We believe ALL Israeli sports teams should be banned from international competition because Israel is not a normal country. It is a nation that has just committed a genocide and has no moral legitimacy on the international stage.
2. Maccabi Tel Aviv fans are particularly known for their racism, Islamophobia and support for Israeli genocide.
So yeah it's not just about hoologanism, it's about baby murdering Israel too."
footyfund @manav_maini: "Would you ban Pakistan and other Muslim nations every time they carry out terrorist attacks?"
Roshan M Salih @RmSalih: "Last time I looked Pakistan has not committed genocide."
Readers added context they thought people might want to know: "Pakistan has in fact committed genocide; specifically the 1971 Bangladesh genocide."
Nick Timothy MP on X - "The authorities picked a side this week and lied about it. They turned their backs on Jews and the law-abiding public - and did the bidding of vile, Islamist thugs. The Jew hate and two-tier policing I saw at Villa Park: #avfc"
Melanie Phillips on X - "Nick Timothy went to the game. He is a Conservative Member of Parliament and is not a Jew. He writes: "A group of men yelled “Jew! Jew!” at my friend and me. I was shouted and sworn at, and called a dog by protestors who had the nerve to ask the police to take me away from them. The police officer who responded was keener to do as these people demanded, and move me along, rather than tell them that I was within my rights to be there.""
Clearly, they really said "Zionist! Zionist!" and he's lying because of anti-Palestinian racism
I was inside the pro-Israel ‘Jew cage’ at Villa Park and this is what I saw - "“A Jew cage.” That is where police put those protesting against the ban on Israeli fans attending Aston Villa’s Europa League game against Maccabi Tel Aviv. For the Jews who found themselves inside a steel-ringed basketball court next to Villa Park on Thursday night, it was a terrible indignity after what had been an astonishing saga. They accepted it was for their own safety – and the location had been agreed between West Midlands Police and the British pro-Israeli group who organised the protest. But the sight of Jews in a cage while rival demonstrators were left “free to roam Birmingham” nevertheless seemed to sum up everything that had happened in the build-up to the match itself. From the announcement of a fan ban, which police finally admitted on Thursday had been more about preventing Israeli hooligans from travelling than the safety of Maccabi supporters, to the signs put up around Villa’s home ground by masked anti-Zionist protestors on the eve of the match, Aston did little to dispel accusations Jews were not welcome in the majority-Muslim Birmingham suburb... “Will the authorities, will the police, will the politicians, will the Government continue to appease the Islamo-fascist mob who abuse the Palestinian cause for their own political and religious gain? If we let them get away with this, what’s next? Birmingham will fall, London will fall, Britain will fall.”"
Clearly, they were only in the cage to protect them from the "far right". So we need to jail Tommy Robinson to keep Jews safe
British Islamism is flexing its muscles more and more openly as it rises to power - "The crowd with the blood of Jews in its nostrils flew many flags tonight: that of Palestine, that of Lebanon, that of Kashmir. One that was notable by its absence was the flag of Great Britain. As the Israeli prime minister pointed out in an interview recently, try asking these masked activists for their views on our country and indeed the West as a whole. What you will soon discover is that their hatred for the Jewish state is simply the tip of a spear that is headed for the heart of our culture. Look at their past attitude towards the statue of Winston Churchill, the cenotaph and our Union flag. Allahu Akhbar, they screamed through megaphones. Allahu Akhbar! Such chilling scenes in Aston did not come out of nowhere. The well-organised antisemitic rallies that disgraced London on October 7, 2023 – while the blood of Jews was still being spilt in southern Israel – emerged with such rapidness because of the strength of existing Islamist networks in this country. Similarly, the mass unrest in Birmingham is testament to the grip exerted by the Muslim Brotherhood and other extremist organisations upon great swathes of our immigrant communities. Ten years ago, a government report named the Brotherhood as “contrary to our national interests and our national security”. It had embedded itself in Britain, it revealed, aiming to extend an incremental dominance over our culture over the generations, spilling blood only as a last resort. What has been done about this in the decade since? You got it. Nothing. So Britain finds itself in a position where citizens must be caged for their own safety. Jews find themselves surrounded by an army composed of many battalions. First there are the thugs on the streets who have cost the taxpayer so many millions in policing bills over the past two years. The sight of our bewildered bobbies trying to protect people in Birmingham from Islamist hordes clad in black is a chilling sign of things to come. Then there is the political wing, led by the “Gaza Independents”, who were propelled to parliament last year by a campaign that contained downright thuggery towards opposing candidates. The local MP in Birmingham, the emollient Ayoub Khan, has made his hardline views felt at every opportunity; he is at the heart of the movement against Israel in Birmingham, having instigated the petition to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans shortly after the draw was announced. Islamist lobbyists have worked long and hard behind the scenes to achieve the criminalisation of “Islamophobia”, another plank in their strategy to weaponise the law against those who stand against their power. Thus far, they have not yet met with success; but the struggle is intense. Scan the list of those groups and individuals who have advised MPs on the matter in the past and you will find a veritable gallery of unsavouries. Then there are the battalions on social media. Take, for instance, Owen Jones, the impish leftist firebrand who has ranted to his million followers almost exclusively about Israel since October 7. What was he posting this evening? “When Maccabi Tel Aviv plays in Birmingham tonight, remember these footballers. At least 421 Palestinian footballers have been murdered by the Israeli state. Remember them. And feel disgust that a team from that state is playing on British soil.” Really? What would Israel gain by assassinating footballers? Has Owen taken the time to go through the list of young men and confirm with the IDF that none of them happened to be moonlighting for Hamas? Social media is awash with Israelophobic loudmouths commanding huge followings, supported by bot legions fielded by the likes of China, Russia and Iran. At times of particular strategic importance, such as the invasion of Rafah or the Trump deal, their output reaches a crescendo. They are out in force tonight. Which brings us to the media and international organisations, which between them have contributed towards probably the greatest international propaganda project history has ever seen. Need I mention the United Nations, with its dodgy and discredited allegations about “genocide” and “famine”? Need I mention the BBC, which only this week turned out to have “raced to air” allegations against Israel without adequate checks, suggesting either carelessness or “a desire always to believe the worst about Israel”? Then there are the further armies of Gaza ideologues peppering our public institutions, from the NHS to our universities and schools, and dominating the media and the arts. Last week, I heard a story of Jews being pursued by anti-Semites on the Tube and running for safety towards London Underground staff, only to find them wearing Palestine badges. Put all this together and what do you get? A movement driven by Islamist fanatics and bolstered by the useful idiots of the fashionable progressive world which has spent years positioning its tanks and footsoldiers around British Jews. That is the context in which the violence in Birmingham should be seen. Tactically, it was well planned and well executed; strategically, it represents a landmark on the road towards increasing Islamist contamination of our society. What will they target next? As Rudyard Kipling warned in 1911, “once you have paid him the Dane-geld, you never get rid of the Dane”. Tomorrow they will wake up emboldened and ready for the next fight. The irony, of course, is that this is not just a Jewish problem. Whether we recognise it or not, these forces surround us all, Jew and Gentile alike. For decades, we have tried looking the other way. How has that one worked out? We have just one option left: to gird our loins and confront it."
Gabriele von Lutzau 🇩🇪 🇮🇱 🔬🚀 on X - "Storm in the Arab World: Muslim blogger Huda Jannat is shocked by what she's learned about Gaza since the war began. In a bold post, she describes what she's learned during the war and reveals the comfortable and prosperous life that Gazans and Hamas leaders have become accustomed to thanks to Israeli concessions. The post exposes Hamas's hypocrisy regarding the supposedly dire situation of Gazans before the war. And here's what she posted:
1. Suddenly, we learned that the Gaza Strip, home to 2 million people, has 36 hospitals. There are Arab countries with 30 million populations that don't have that many hospitals.
2. Suddenly, we learned that Gaza receives water, electricity, gas, and fuel for free from Israel. Of course, there's not a single person in the Arab world who doesn't pay for water, electricity, and fuel.
3. Suddenly, we learned that Gaza receives $30 million a month from Qatar alone. And $120 million a month from UNRWA. And $50 million a month from the European Union. And $30 million a month from America. There are Arab countries drowning in debt, to whom no one gives even a million dollars.
4. Suddenly we learned that there is no "blockade" of Gaza—all goods are flowing in, the borders are open. Gazans traveled to Egypt, and from there all over the world.
5. Suddenly it turned out that Arabs live better in Gaza than in many Arab countries.
6. Suddenly we realized that our brains had been "programmed" by the lies of the Muslim Brotherhood media.
7. Suddenly we learned that the children in Gaza are not ordinary children, as we used to think, but child fighters with machine guns and suicide belts, trained by Hamas.
8. Suddenly, it turned out that schools, hospitals, and mosques in Gaza are organized terror headquarters and weapons depots with underground Hamas tunnels.
9. Suddenly, we learned that Gaza has a "metro"—a 500-kilometer-long Hamas underground network that Israel can only envy.
10. Suddenly, it turned out that Gaza's doctors and teachers are actually active Hamas militants.
11. Suddenly, we learned that rockets and mortars are stored in children's rooms in Gaza homes.
12. Suddenly, we learned that Hitler and his book "Mein Kampf" were very popular in Gaza, and an Arabic translation was in almost every home, along with a portrait of the author.
13. Suddenly, we learned that Gazans live in luxury—multi-story mansions with swimming pools and premium German cars.
14. Suddenly, we learned that there is no Israeli blockade of Gaza, since it borders its Muslim "sister" – Egypt.
15. Suddenly, it turned out that the majority of "civilians" in Gaza support Hamas and other terrorist groups, democratically voted for Hamas, and celebrated the October 7th massacre.
16. Suddenly, we learned that the so-called correspondents and journalists in Gaza working for Western media – CNN, AP, Reuters, and others – turned out to be Hamas militants who participated in the October 7th massacre.
17. Suddenly, it turned out that the so-called "peace activists" and "workers of international human rights organizations" – the UN, the Red Cross, and the WHO – turned out to be terrorists and corrupt members of Hamas.
18. Suddenly, we learned that every Hamas leader is a billionaire, richer than President Trump, with a net worth of $4-5 billion each.
In conclusion: a Muslim blogger tore off the mask of Hamas hypocrisy in Gaza with a series of tweets that shocked the Arab world."
Meme - Mossad Commentary: "This video is making its rounds, a "Palestinian family in Gaza held hostage by occupation forces." Too bad they didn't edit out what's clearly visible right in front of them. Question: How many mortar rounds do you have in your living room?"
Alex Phillips on X - "I have just seen the unedited footage of the October 7th attacks. Please read: What I saw was young men chopping off heads, shooting everything in sight, slaughtering little crying kids calling for their mummy, throwing grenades inside houses and cars and shelters, maiming bodies, playing with them, setting humans on fire, looking like it's the happiest day of their life. They call their relatives to celebrate how many they have killed. The parents back in Gaza are thrilled. They cheer and ask for more. "Bring back some heads for the people to play with" - asks a commander. The savages wilfully oblige, using flick knives to remove the skulls from slaughtered bodies like butchers carving up a carcass. "Bring some home for the people so we can crucify them in the square" the Hamas leaders order. The mangled, blood soaked bodies of hostages were paraded through the streets. The Gazan crowds cheered and filmed, celebrating or coming to spit on the terrified youngsters in the back of pick ups. The young Hamas brutes with their ecstatic grins, taking selfies, shouting Allahu Akbar, looked like so many of the young men in dinghies. Trendy clothes, modern phones. Energy and conviction. The first wave of attackers on October 7th were Hamas soldiers. The second, amateur conscripts. The third, Gazan civilians delighted to join in. What even are these monsters. I am forever changed, seeing what I have seen. And it isn't fake. It's footage Hamas shot themselves. Israel must live with that right next door. I fear we now have it, in hotels and houses around the country"
Prosecutors refused to treat Jews faced with ‘Nazi salutes’ as hate crime victims - "Prosecutors refused to treat Jews who were allegedly subjected to Nazi salutes, intimidation and harassment as victims of hate crime until threatened with legal action. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) only agreed to review the decision not to prosecute when lawyers for two of the complainants applied for a judicial review. The CPS is now carrying out a full review of its original decision... Following this action, the CPS has conceded that a mistake was made. It accepted that both the man and the woman were victims and confirmed that they were entitled to a review under the VRR Scheme... The 69-year-old added: “I felt that it was no longer safe to stay in my home. As a result of my experiences... I felt violated, intimidated and scared. “I was exposed to conduct by protestors which made me fear for my immediate safety and for my future in this country as a Jewish woman. “I was chased away from my home and my community and received no real reassurance or protection by police.” The legal challenge over the CPS’s response to the JW3 protest came after police and prosecutors had been accused of repeatedly allowing anti-Semitic hate speech to go unpunished... The man and the woman confronted by pro-Palestine protesters outside the JW3 say that the fact that the CPS only reversed its position after legal proceedings were initiated raises significant questions as to whether it is taking seriously the experiences of Jewish people as victims of hate crime. The 29-year-old businessman said: “As well as being incredibly distressing, particularly in light of the Manchester synagogue terrorist attack, it’s hard to believe this was an isolated mistake. “It raises real concern that there may be a broader pattern – or even internal guidance – resulting in Jewish complainants being wrongly denied recognition as victims.”... Amid the protests, a number of Jewish people trying to gain entry were reduced to tears, including an 80-year-old woman. Reports said that those attending were subjected to Hamas inverted triangle hand gestures, chants of “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, “Israel is a terror state”, “only one solution, intifada revolution” and “you are mass murderers” as they filed past police and security guards... The man said in his witness statement that many of the speakers were fiercely critical of the Israeli government, yet “the protesters did not differentiate between those who supported Israel and those who did not”. He added: “Their harassment was aimed at everyone – men, women and children – simply because they were Jews. This conduct was plainly driven by racial and religious hostility.” Sir Michael Ellis, a former attorney-general, criticised the record of the police and CPS in tackling anti-Semitism. Sir Michael told The Telegraph: “The police and CPS already have an atrocious record in failing to appropriately handle what appear to be unmistakable cases of anti-Jewish racism. “From the recent Star of David necklace incident through to the inaction against extremism displayed weekly at anti-Israel hate marches, it can be no surprise that the Jewish community has little confidence in our criminal justice system. “The time has now come for the CPS to set up a dedicated Anti-Semitism crime unit staffed by a dedicated team of lawyers who specialise in making prosecution decisions in these types of cases.”"
An open society demands a ban on face coverings - "Certain sights chill the blood. Last weekend, burly men dressed in black with their faces masked marched through east London under Palestinian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and jihadi-style flags, looking for all the world like a foreign militia, while the police stood by. Almost 90 years ago, the Public Order Act 1936 was passed, banning political uniforms in public, “the use or display of physical force in promoting any political object” and “usurping the functions of the police or of the armed forces of the Crown”. It was part of the suppression of the British Union of Fascists, which had just been turfed out of those same East End streets. The Act was also used against IRA and Sinn Féin rallies in the Seventies, with 12 people fined for wearing black berets at Speaker’s Corner in 1974. What would they make of the scenes unfolding there nine decades later? Every footsoldier in a black hood. Every face concealed. A man who was filmed advertising £5 balaclavas to his “Muslim brothers” appeared on stage embracing the local mayor, Lutfur Rahman, who was previously found guilty of electoral fraud, including religious intimidation and vote-rigging. There were chants of “Zionist scum off our streets”, “We will honour all our martyrs,” and of course “Allahu Akhbar”. In an apparent show of force, men prayed in rows across a public highway. Those who fought at the Battle of Cable Street must have been turning in their graves at the brazen display of the new fascism. This was not the only tribe of radicals to have taken to the streets of Tower Hamlets that weekend. In one video, a tribe of radical Leftists, sporting keffiyehs, dyed hair and “stand up to racism” placards, were seen streaming past the black-clad mob. “We’re on the same side, bro,” one bleated through a megaphone. A masked Islamist agitator sneered back: “No, we’re not.” Moreover, this unrest was a response to an attempt by Ukip – now morphed from a party that challenged David Cameron’s Conservatives to an unhinged, Christian identitarian street protest movement – to march through the East End. There you have it. The three tribes of the new radicalism, brought to you by decades of soggy elitist rule. Such are the fruits of Britain’s long experiment in open borders and the repression of national selfhood. Sectarianism. Neo-fascism. The cowing of the sensible majority and the importation of foreign racial bigotries. As society eats itself, the Prime Minister can only bleat: “Where something is clearly anti-Semitic, we need to do more about it.” Thanks for that. How might a future, competent leader deal with this subversion? The tension between individual freedom and government coercion inevitably rears its head. If Britain descends into authoritarianism or chauvinism, even more will be lost. But with docile police officers looking on while the fascists claim the streets, the opposite problem afflicts us right now... “We should claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant,” wrote Karl Popper in 1945, or “the tolerant will be destroyed and tolerance with them”. If we don’t take steps to protect our society, there will one day be nothing left to protect."
Holocaust museum in Guatemala vandalized by anti-Israel activists : r/HaShoah - "Once again proof that globalize the intifada is against Jews and erasing their history. Virtue signaling for Palestinians that they don’t really care about is just their excuse to hate Jews."
Canada recognizes a version of Palestine that only exists in Geneva’s dreams - The Globe and Mail - "Mr. Carney said this recognition is predicated on a commitment by the PA to hold general elections next year, though the reality is that the PA hasn’t held general elections in the West Bank in nearly 20 years. Mr. Carney’s statement said the gesture “in no way legitimizes terrorism,” but the reality is that Hamas sees it as precisely that; in an August interview, Hamas official Ghazi Hamad said that the decision by various countries to recognize a Palestinian state represents one of the “fruits of October 7.” It doesn’t matter that leaders of Canada, France, Britain and Australia insist that their recognition of Palestinian statehood is not a reward for Hamas’s actions. If you give a terrorist a prize, they’re going to see it as a prize. When Canada announced its intention back in July to recognize a Palestinian state, Mr. Carney said the decision was essentially based on a promise: a promise of governmental reforms, of total demilitarization, of the exclusion of Hamas from any future elections (never mind that the people of Gaza elected Hamas to lead in 2006). What Canada has decided to recognize, then, is an idea: a hypothetical Palestinian state that exists mainly in the minds of doe-eyed diplomats in Geneva, but is completely divorced from the current Palestinian reality, where Hamas is very much still in control of life on the ground and carrying out the occasional execution on the street. For a near-century, the Western consensus has been that international recognition of a Palestinian state would be conditioned not on a promise, but on a negotiated peace deal with Israel, where a Jewish and an Arab state could co-exist peacefully, side by side. In that scenario, statehood would mean clearly defined borders, clear leadership and so on: the tangible elements that typically comprise a nation. Yet the argument now being advanced by Canadian leaders and like-minded others is that conferring statehood is necessary to keep the prospect of a two-state solution alive; that officially recognizing a Palestinian state led by the PA emboldens and empowers Mahmoud Abbas, who is a far likelier partner for peace than anyone leading Hamas. So what Western nations are doing, essentially, is making a bet: Hoping that a pre-emptive reward will secure the peace that has eluded the region for generations. But what it might actually do, in fact, is make negotiations more difficult by giving up an important element of a peace agreement before those negotiations begin, while also reinvigorating popular support for Hamas, which has delivered the Palestinian people their most important geopolitical win in generations. Mr. Carney’s statement also implied that Canada’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state now has much to do with Israel’s actions under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which include settlement expansion in the West Bank and the killing and displacement of, and famine imposed on, Palestinian civilians. But if the intention of Canada recognizing a Palestinian state was to compel Mr. Netanyahu to rein in his actions in Gaza and the West Bank, it hasn’t worked... If Mr. Carney’s intention was otherwise to placate his domestic audience, that hasn’t worked either. Supporters of Israel are aghast that our government has effectively rewarded Hamas for Oct. 7, while supporters of Palestine are frustrated that this recognition does not come with the normalization of diplomatic relations and/or cutting off ties with Israel. That’s what happens when you formally recognize an aspiration, based on imprecise criteria, seemingly because your international friends are. You please no one. Well, except for Hamas."
cbcwatcher on X - "Kate Harrison "But again, the facts are this." "The Prime Minister said on August 1 that certain conditions needed to be met for that recognition to occur." "They have not yet been met." "And I do not know why we are trusting the PA and trusting Hamas to make good on their word." "That's not exactly people that we should be considering trustworthy actors in this regard." @KatlynHarrison @JPTasker @MarkJCarney"
Dr. Leslyn Lewis on X - "Just last year, Canada’s Parliament voted 204 to 118 on a motion that explicitly stopped short of recognizing a Palestinian state, yet the Carney Liberals ignored that democratic decision and unilaterally did it anyway. It’s alarming to see this troubling Liberal pattern of circumventing the will of Parliament to play to international audiences — while the PM acts like a tsar when Parliament isn’t even in session."
Marc Emery on X - "Mark Carney & @liberal_party math: Muslim voters in Canada: 2,000,000 and rising daily, up from 500,000 in 2001. Jewish voters: 335,000, not rising and has remained static for 20 years. This is why Canada’s governing Liberals announced their “recognition” of “Palestine”."
Eitan Fischberger on X - "Keir Starmer: "Declaring a Palestinian state will isolate Hamas and end the war sooner." Hamas, literally the next day: "Time to release more hostage footage." Keir's stupidity has emboldened the terror group even further."
Dr Rahmeh Aladwan on X - "Only the Palestinians in Gaza and their resistance can decide. No one else has a say. Palestinians have a right to armed struggle. That 'israel' can't defeat the starved Palestinians in sandals and is begging them to disarm is a testament to its epic failure on the battlefield."
Corey Walker on X - "If you are actively agitating for more war, then you are admitting that it is not "genocide." Just outright nuts that these people are ever taken seriously."
Terrorism supporters want Palestine to undergo "genocide" because it makes Israel look bad. Mocking Israel from failing is hilarious since at other times they keep accusing it of savagery. They don't want them to pull their punches so they can condemn Israel.
Families of Canadians killed by Hamas say Carney still hasn't met with them - "A group called the Association of Families of the Canadian Victims of October 7th went public with their concerns on the two-year anniversary of the attacks earlier this month. In an open letter to Carney, the group said that he had not met with victims' families, unlike leaders of the U.S., France and the U.K. "He ignored every message and every letter that we sent him," said Iris Weinstein Haggai, whose parents were killed by Hamas in the brutal Oct. 7, 2023 attack. "It was just very, very frustrating to understand that my prime minister in Canada doesn't understand the nightmare I'm in." The families say former prime minister Justin Trudeau met with any relative of a victim who requested a meeting, while Carney still has not called them to express his condolences. The group said it started hearing back from Carney's office only after The Canadian Press asked for its response to the criticism... Rivers Vital, who spends part of her time in Israel, told a virtual panel event earlier this month that she wants the prime minister to think hard about Canadians who were killed and tortured by Hamas — and to reflect on his decision to recognize a future Palestinian state... "We have a shameful leader that decided to recognize the Palestinian state while we still had our hostages in the dungeons. And while Hamas is still very much in power," River Vital said during the Oct. 12 event. "I'm back to square one, that he needs to know what happened to eight of his citizens." Many of the families said they feel Ottawa does not fully accept that their relatives were Canadian, particularly those who had citizenship but primarily lived in Israel. Weinstein Haggai, who grew up in Israel and lives in Singapore, said her mother represented the values that Canadians hold dear. She made puppets to help teach students English, and often posted haikus and mediations on YouTube. She volunteered with groups helping the Palestinians who live in the gaza Strip, which sits less than three kilometres from her home, in a collective community called a kibbutz. "My parents chose to live side by side with Gaza. They believed that peace is possible," Weinstein Haggai said. She still gets messages from those who say Judih inspired them."
Time to do more about "Islamophobia"
Strxwmxn on X - "We're not talking enough about the fact that the civilian-to-combatant ratio of Palestinian casualties in the Gaza War (1.39) is one of the lowest in the history of warfare."
Wilfred Reilly on X - "Of course it was. Their whole media campaign was an absurd, disgusting lie. Their greatest ally was the Western left."
