All The News Anti-Israel Posters Will Not Read Or Discuss 2

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Al Quds reports:

The Director General of the Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem, Azzam Al-Khatib , said, "More than 4 million worshipers visited Al-Aqsa Mosque during the month of Ramadan , despite the restrictions and restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation authorities."

Al-Khatib added in a statement: "This number is unprecedented compared to previous years, as the Waqf managed things very well."

This means that under Israeli control, more Muslims have visited Judaism's holiest spot this Ramadan than ever in history.

But as the article goes on to say, there were restrictions:

It is noteworthy that the Israeli occupation authorities prevented, during the month of Ramadan, male residents of the occupied West Bank, between 12-55 years old, from accessing Al-Aqsa Mosque, while only allowing dozens of residents of the Gaza Strip to reach the mosque to perform prayers.

Despite this, thousands of young men were able to bypass The Israeli Forces checkpoints to reach the mosque, especially in the last ten days of the month of Ramadan, to perform i'tikaaf.

This is not quite accurate - men from 45-55 could go to Jerusalem but only with a permit.

AP reports about some of the thousands of young men who sneaked into Israel:

Others found riskier ways to get to the holy compound — scrambling over Israel’s hulking separation barrier or sliding under razor wire.

Abdallah, a young medical student from the southern city of Hebron, clambered up a rickety ladder with six of his friends in the pre-dawn darkness Monday — then slid down a rope on the wall’s other side — so he could make it to Al-Aqsa for Laylat al-Qadr. They paid a smuggler some $70 each to help them scale the barrier.

“My heart was beating so loud. I was sure soldiers would hear it,” Abdallah said, giving only his first name for fear of reprisals.

The Israeli military has picked up hundreds of Palestinians who sneaked through holes in the separation barrier during Ramadan, it said, adding that forces would “continue to act against the security risk arising from the destruction of the security fence and illegal entry.”

Photos from the prayers show plenty of men under 45 who managed to get in.



Which is frightening: if thousands can reach Israel for Ramadan, it means that terrorists can reach Israel for murder.

The articles might emphasize how much the restrictions inconvenience West Bank Palestinians, but there are daily attempts to murder Jews, all catalogued and counted by Palestinian terror supporters - shootings and firebombs and attempted stabbings and car rammings.

The security barrier slows down the terrorists but does not stop them.

Israel tries to balance Palestinian right to worship against the Israelis' right not to be killed. And most of the media simply ignores the second half of that equation.

More Muslims visited Al Aqsa this Ramadan - under Israeli control - than any time in history

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.

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As antisemitic attacks continue to rise in the United States, a growing alliance with far-left organizations has shielded US Islamist groups from scrutiny of their antisemitic statements and ideas, a study by an Israeli think tank warned.

“US Islamist groups and leaders have increasingly sought common cause with progressive left-wing groups that promote minority rights and intersectionality among racial, ethnic, and religious minorities in their efforts to build coalitions around common interests,” charged Yehudit Barsky and Ehud Rosen, authors of the Institute for National Security Studies report “Islamist Antisemitism in the United States,” set to be published Tuesday.

The “red-green” coalition is based on a narrative that portrays the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as an anticolonial struggle, and US Muslims as victims of racism on par with other marginalized minorities in the US, said the INSS study.

The alliance also seeks to delegitimize Jewish communal organizations, according to Barsky and Rosen, by portraying them as part of a white power structure in the US that is ineligible for inclusion in progressive coalitions.

“Within these coalitions,” charged the study, “US Islamists have sought to boycott and delegitimize progressive Zionists and supporters of Israel, deeming them as oppressors and illegitimate participants.”

The study is the latest installment in an ongoing INSS series on antisemitism in the US.

Leading Islamist organizations like American Muslims for Palestine and the Council on American Islamic Relations, the authors argued, seek to challenge the right of mainstream Jewish and pro-Israel organizations to define antisemitism and to call themselves civil rights organizations. A campaign against the Anti-Defamation League, the leading antisemitism watchdog, called it a “silencer of free speech” and promoter of Islamophobia, and pushed for other civil rights organizations to boycott it.

The authors warned that over time, fringe antisemitic beliefs could become increasingly mainstreamed if these organizations are not challenged.

A 75percent spike in antisemitic attacks in the US during and after the 2021 conflict in Gaza is evidence of the need to address Islamist antisemitism, and not only Jew-hatred on the far-right, said Barsky and Rosen. While that discourse exists in Europe, the successful rebranding of Islamist groups from extremists to champions of human rights has stymied debate over their activities against Jewish and pro-Israel organizations in the US.

The alarming trend of antisemitic attacks continued into 2022, according to the ADL, rising another 36% over the previous year.



(full article online)

Islamist antisemitism in the US masked by alliance with far left – study

INSS report argues that rebranding of extremist groups as human rights organizations threatens to bring fringe ideas into the mainstream

www.timesofisrael.com

 

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Let's look at some anti-Israel lies: US aid to Israel​

The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights has created a website that pretends to calculate how much your community would benefit if the US stopped funding Israel.

It is a useful example to show just how much these guys lie.

They write:

Every year, the U.S. government writes Israel a blank check for at least $3.8 billion to fund Israel’s violence against the Palestinian people. The Israeli military then uses your tax dollars to kill Palestinian people, destroy their homes, and steal their native land, in violation of U.S. laws.

How many lies are here?

#1. There is no blank check. Every dollar is earmarked and audited.
#2. None of the money goes towards "violence against the Palestinian people." Unless you consider all Palestinian people to be terrorists; perhaps USCPR does.
#3. None of the money is earmarked for offensive operations against Palestinians altogether.
#4. It is the native land of the Jewish people.
#5. Nearly all of the $3.8 billion goes towards missile defense, joint research projects, F-35 fighter jets, in-air refueling tanks for planes, energy and water conservation research, joint homeland security programs, and above all loan guarantees (which Israel hasn't used for 18 years.) The claim that the full amount is used to attack Palestinians is a ludicrous lie.

Beyond that, the USCPR tries to make $3.8 billion sound like a huge amount. However, it is 0.6% of the federal budget. There is plenty of waste in the US budget - but these modern antisemitic liars want you to focus on Israel alone. The US gets a great deal back for its investments in Israel (missile technology and improvements in the F-35, for example.)

The US gives well over $5.5 billion annually to Arab nations: Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon. That's a lot more than $3.8 billion. Where are the websites that count how much those cost the US taxpayer?

Here is some further deception:

How much of this annual $3.8 billion in military funding do people in your city pay through federal tax dollars? What community needs could be funded instead? Find out below on our interactive map.

See all those rows of things that Kalamazoo's portion of the $3.8 billion could pay for? Each line costs $3.8 billion, not the total. If you buy the respirator masks, there is no money left for public housing. Get the teachers and say bye bye to healthcare. It is a hugely deceptive infographic.

But that barely covers how deceptive. If the US government should suddenly receive a windfall of $3.8 billion, you know what they would do if they were responsible at all? They would use it to make a microscopic 0.2% dent in the national debt! It would never go to teachers!

This entire website is meant to pretend to use real numbers but it is all an appeal to emotions and prejudice. These people don't give a damn about the US taxpayer. And they know that no one will look at their numbers and see how wildly inaccurate their information is.

Let's look at some anti-Israel lies: US aid to Israel

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.

elderofziyon.blogspot.com

 

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There are thousands of Palestinians still living in Iraq with essentially no rights. They have been attacked, and many killed, by Iraqis since 2003. They are not recognized in Iraq as a refugee group. Other Arab countries refuse to allow them to immigrate.

The Safa news agency interviewed Baghdad-based journalist Hassan Al-Khaled who said that there are some 6,000 Palestinians in Iraq, 70% of whom live below the poverty line. He aid that there is no joy this Eid al-Fitr for them.

In 1948, many Palestinians were forced by Iraqi forces to join them and fight against Israel. After their defeat, they were allowed to go to Iraq, where they were treated decently. That all changed after the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein, who had given them huge privileges.

In 2020, UNHCR dropped their rent subsidies for the Palestinian families, throwing them into an even deeper crisis.

Al-Khaled complained about the lack of relief associations or organizations that help Palestinians in Iraq, saying, "If there are any, the amount assistance they provide to the refugees is not enough for everyone."

Think about that. There are hundreds of NGOs in the Palestinian territories, and hundreds more that claim to aid Palestinians worldwide - and this journalist is not aware of a single NGO that provides aid to Palestinians in Iraq.

Meanwhile, Arab countries refuse to allow them to enter, even as hundreds of thousands of other refugees from Iraq have been allowed in. They use Israel as an excuse to keep Palestinians in misery in Iraq. HRW wrote in 2006:

The PLO and the Arab League have rejected in principle and actively discouraged in practice local integration or third-country resettlement of Palestinian refugees. Their view is that local integration or resettlement would negate the right to return of the resettled refugees. The Arab countries hosting large Palestinian refugee populations point to Israel's legal obligation to permit the refugees' return to justify their refusal to integrate the Palestinian refugees and afford them rights equal to their own citizens.

Jordan and Syria have (with some exceptions) refused entry to Palestinians who attempt to flee Iraq, in violation of the international legal prohibition against refoulement. When these two countries made temporary exceptions to their policies of refusal, they conditioned admission of Palestinian refugees on their confinement to camps, for example al-Ruwaishid camp in Jordan in 2003, and al-Hol camp in Syria in 2006. Because of the widely observed policy against resettlement of Palestinian refugees, these camp residents have already waited longer than other refugees fleeing Iraq, such as the Iranian Kurds, for access to third-country resettlement.

Just as with Lebanon, when Palestinians are brutally mistreated by an Arab nation, all of the "pro-Palestinian activists" are suddenly silent. The reason is because they are not pro-Palestinian at all, but anti-Israel. And using Israel as an excuse to actively keep Palestinians in misery - policies that are meant to hurt Palestinians because doing so might indirectly, one day, help weaken Israel - proves that this "anti-Israel" attitude is really antisemitism.

"Pro-Palestinian" activists sure don't care about the suffering of Palestinians in Iraq

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.

elderofziyon.blogspot.com

 

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Palestine’s Christian Population Has Nearly Vanished | For the Martyrs

In the birthplace of Christianity, the Palestinian Christian population is disappearing at an alarming rate.

forthemartyrs.com

 

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PA libel: Israel’s protection of Christian worshippers misrepresented as restricting Christian worship

During the recent Easter holiday, at the request of the Greek Orthodox Church, Israeli police limited the number of participants at a religious ceremony in Jerusalem. In a letter to the Israeli police prior to the Holy Fire ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, church architect Teo Metropoulos explained that "the maximum number of visitors for the ceremony should be 1,800 inside the building and 200 more in the courtyard.” [The Times of Israel, April 15, 2023]

However, when reporting this story in its official press, the PA version did not mention the Church's request but chose to demonize Israel saying Israel's goal was “preventing thousands of Palestinian people and Christians from around the world from reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.” The PA further lied that Israel is “targeting” Christians (and Muslims) in Jerusalem, aiming “to put an end to the Christian presence”:

Official PA TV reporter: “The occupation imposed increased restrictions on the Christian celebrations in occupied Jerusalem on Holy Fire day that is before Easter… and reduced the number of Christian participants to approximately 1,800 together with the religious figures…
The occupation (i.e., Israeli) authorities do not distinguish between Muslim and Christian, and they have targeted the Christians in the holy city [of Jerusalem], just like the Muslims, and are disrupting the celebrations of their holidays and imposing restrictions on the realization of their right to worship, in an attempt to put an end to the Christian presence and erase the true Islamic-Christian identity of the city.”

[Official PA TV News, April 14, 2023]​

The photos from the event show masses of people in the church celebrating the Christian holiday, and also clearly show that the room was filled to maximum capacity:

[Al-Jazeera, April 16, 2023]

​

[Catholic Review, April 15, 2023]

​

[Ynet Twitter account, April 15, 2023]

​

[KeepTalkingGreece, April 15, 2023]​

Israeli Arab leaders who often echo PA demonization of Israel, repeat the libel, claiming Israel's goal is to “reduce freedom of worship”:

Official PA TV newsreader: “The High Follow-Up Committee of the Arab Publics in the 1948 Lands (i.e., an umbrella organization that represents Arab citizens of Israel) condemned the blockade that the occupation authorities are imposing on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre… In a statement, the Committee… said: ‘The occupation’s imposition of this blockade joins the restrictions being imposed on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, while the goal is one: Reducing freedom of worship, particularly in occupied Jerusalem, as part of the occupation’s desperate attempts to impose other [Jewish] identities on the holy city.’”

[Official PA TV News, April 14, 2023]​

The Palestinian Authority doesnât miss an opportunity to demonize Israel | PMW Analysis

The PA doesn’t miss an opportunity to demonize Israel

palwatch.org

 

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Part 1

[Question]: Could you tell us about how and why Palestinian Media Watch was founded?

[Itamar Marcus]: Palestinian Media Watch was founded soon after the signing of the Oslo Accords to find out what the Palestinian Authority was teaching its people, especially its children, about Jews, Israel, and peace. We very quickly discovered that there were two distinct worlds: the English language world for foreign consumption and the Arabic language world for its own people, and there was no resemblance between the two. Whereas in English and in foreign capitals, the PA presented itself as peace-loving, to its people all the statements in Arabic and the actual activities of the PA pointed to a strategy of hate and terror that aims to continuously weaken Israel, eventually leading to Israel’s destruction.

[Question]: At the end of 2022, you published a report titled ‘Teaching Terror to Tots’. The report is dedicated to the memory of Dalya Lemkus, a 26-year-old Israeli woman who was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in 2014. The Palestinian Authority-issued children’s magazine, WAED, teaches Palestinian children that her murder was ‘a heroic car ramming’ and that the terrorist who murdered her ‘has the most beautiful smile’. What were some of the most disturbing examples of how WAED indoctrinates children to the hatred of Israeli Jewish people, and what impact do you believe this kind of education has on the attitudes and behaviour of young children exposed to it?

[Itamar Marcus]: The fundamental purpose of WAED magazine is to raise a generation of children who hate Israelis and Jews, feel obligated to fight and kill Israelis and Jews, and will be willing to kill themselves in the process. WAED’s fundamental messages are that Israelis are foreign colonialist invaders, and therefore, Israel has no right to exist. Israel is coined as the ‘thieving entity’, and Israelis are demonised as the ‘Jewish invaders.’ Fatah proclaims it will destroy Israel by ‘liberating Palestine from the thieving Zionist entity’. Israel’s destruction is packaged in various euphemisms such as: ‘the period of Zionism will eventually pass’ and ‘The Zionist invaders will go to the garbage can of history,’ after which the Jews will all be expelled. Fatah presents Algeria as the historical precedent: ‘Algeria’s experience assures that the Jewish settlers in Palestine will disappear in the end.’ The Palestinian ‘absolute right’ to destroy Israel creates the ‘right’ to use terror, which they call the ‘…right to wage an armed struggle to take back its stolen homeland’ This PA/Fatah education will be the driving force for Palestinian hate and terror for another generation.

[Question]: At the end of January, a 13-year-old resident of East Jerusalem shot a Jewish father and son in the City of David quarter of Jerusalem. The fact that a teenager carried out a terror attack in Jerusalem and became a ‘martyr’ showed that Palestinian children are taught to hate and kill Israelis in East Jerusalem as well. Is there a chance to reach these Palestinian children to make them learn the reality and the truth before their parents sacrifice them for the Palestinian cause?

[Itamar Marcus]: The most effective way to reach Palestinian children and undermine the PA’s hate education is to have joint activities between Palestinian and Israeli children. Israel, for years, has tried to promote these kinds of activities, and when they do happen, they are successful. Unfortunately, the Palestinian Authority prohibits them for the simple reason that they are not interested in having their children stop hating Israelis. Just the opposite is true. The Palestinian Authority does everything in its power through its education and activities to demonise Israelis and Jews and to guarantee that its children will grow up hating Israelis and Jews. The only way to save Palestinian children is to have the international community influence their education, the media, organise summer camps, and youth activities and teach them the meaning of peace. Of course, this will never happen, which is why the future for these kids is very bleak.

[Question]: The European Union has been one of the biggest donors of the Palestinian Authority, giving 1.152 billion euros in financial support between 2021 to 2024. In late 2021, EU Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi vetoed the financial support as he proposed conditioning of the some 9 million euros of the EU aid to the PA reforming its textbooks. He has also been a great advocate for the studying of and reporting on Palestinian textbooks in the EU and was recognised for his efforts with the European Jewish Association’s Jerusalem Award at the end of 2022. Is the EU’s financial assistance being used for its intended purposes, or is it supporting Palestinian terrorism?

[Itamar Marcus]: The Palestinian Authority would never be able to promote and support terror without the EU’s support. The PA promotes terror even among its children, rewards terrorist murderers in prison with high salaries of up to 12 thousand shekels a month—which is four times the average Palestinian salary. The PA supports terror before the fact, rewards terror after the fact, and promises its people that it is their destiny to destroy an internationally recognised democratic UN member state, Israel. Any other government in the world with this intense terror support not only would be refused funding but would be designated as a terror organisation. The willingness of the EU, the US, the UN and other Western countries to give financial support to the PA is interpreted by the PA as a pass from the international community for them to murder Israelis. In my view, Hungary should come to the EU not just with examples of the schoolbooks but with the complete picture of all the fundamental problems with the Palestinian Authority as I am describing them here, so the EU would be embarrassed and eventually would stop funding the terror-promoting PA.

[Question]: In 2022, the UN passed 15 resolutions against Israel and only 13 against the rest of the world. Unlike most state members of the UN, Hungary voted ‘no’ to most resolutions that condemned the Jewish state and promised it would stand with Israel these years as well. How do you evaluate the Hungarian government’s efforts to support the State of Israel?

[Itamar Marcus]: Hungary is a beacon of goodness and decency in a world of intense hatred towards the state of Israel. Certainly, many European countries have convinced themselves that they support the state of Israel and care about its future survival. It’s very likely that most of the European public cares about the state of Israel. Still, any country that genuinely cares about Israel would not financially support the murderers of Israelis and a Palestinian leadership that openly states that their long-term strategic plan is Israel’s destruction in stages. We would like to increase Palestinian Media Watch’s work with the Hungarian government so that the leaders can have all the evidence they need to work within the EU to expose these truths about the PA that I have just elaborated. I meet with members of European parliaments and governments regularly, and the PMW documentation and evidence have a strong impact. It is most effective when the European leaders I have met continue to use the evidence in broader circles.

Itamar Marcus explains how PA terror is enabled by the West, in interview in Hungarian magazine | PMW Analysis

interview in Hungarian magazine

palwatch.org

 

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Part 2

[Question]: One of the most common complaints against Israel is that the settlement movements in the West Bank are the ‘obstacles to peace’. These complaints usually don’t mention the Palestinian Authority and Hamas’s main responsibility in the conflict. What is the real obstacle to peace, and what would need to change to end the conflict?

[Itamar Marcus]: Israel has no illegal settlements and is not building in Palestinian territories. All relations with the Palestinians must be based on signed agreements. According to the Oslo Accords, Israel has the international legal right to build everywhere under its jurisdiction which is where settlements are created. All construction is being done in Area C of Judea and Samaria/West Bank, which according to all the agreements with the PLO/PA, is 100 per cent Israeli land unless it is otherwise designated in future agreements. Moreover, the Oslo Accords, which are the implementation of UN resolution 242, grant Israel the absolute ‘right to live in peace within secure and recognised boundaries free from threats or acts of force.’ What happened when Israel started giving the Palestinians land? Literally, every metre of land that Israel gave to the PA, both in Gaza and in the West Bank, has been turned into terror bases. The Palestinian Authority’s security services, which were armed by the international community and are supposed to stop Palestinian terrorists, have become a driving force of Palestinian terror, and this is confirmed by the PA themselves. The Palestinian leader, Fatah Nablus Secretary Muhammad Hamdan, said last month on official PA TV that ‘more than 1,500 [recent] military operations (i.e., terror attacks) against the Israeli occupation were led by the Fatah Movement members and the PA Security Forces members.’ The PA security services, together with Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah and other terror organisations like Hamas, have murdered more than 2,000 Israelis, with attacks that were launched from the lands that Israel gave them following the Oslo Accords. Accordingly, Israel has already given too much land, and now has borders that are already insecure. Israel therefore, has no further obligations to give more territory to the Palestinian Authority terror entity and its terrorist security services. To do so would be signing the death sentences of countless more Israelis.

[Question]: At the Danube Institute, we launched a research project titled ‘Attacks on Christian Communities and Institutions’ in which we’re planning to do fieldwork in six countries from the Middle East to Africa and Europe. One of our fieldwork trips is going to be in Jerusalem, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories. How do Christians live in Israel compared to the West Bank, and why do many Christians who live there blame only Israel and not the Palestinian Authority and terrorist organisations for their sufferings?

[Itamar Marcus]: The Christians of Bethlehem and the West Bank thrived under Israel. Under Israel, Christians made up approximately 70 per cent of the population of Bethlehem. The PA’s Islamic supremacist ideology, which it passes on to its people even though it denies this internationally, has led to so much anti-Christian hate and terror that Christianity is being decimated in the Palestinian areas. The Christian population of Bethlehem today is close to 10 per cent. All the rest have run away to South America and Europe. Of course, Christians in the West Bank have to blame Israel for the destruction of the Christian population because to openly blame the criminal PA could mean their death sentences. There are Palestinian Muslims who PMW works with who agree completely with PMW’s messages because they sincerely want peace with Israel, and they can tell only their very closest friends that they want true peace with Israel. They are afraid they will be arrested and tortured if the PA police ever finds out about their real opinions.

[Question]: What is the situation of Christians in Israel compared to the West Bank? Is it likely that those extremely radical Jewish representatives in the government who proposed ‘anti-missionary’, anti-Christian legislation could gain more power?

[Itamar Marcus]: Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Christians thrive in every aspect of life and enjoy equal rights. If you look at Muslim countries in the Middle East or Africa, it can be seen how Christians are persecuted and massacred on a monthly basis. I’m always shocked that the Christian leadership around the world and the mainstream media are so silent about the sufferings of persecuted Christians, but when it comes to Palestinians blaming Israel for Christian persecution, the whole world is screaming. The anti-Christian law that was proposed recently was immediately withdrawn. Similar legislation has been proposed for many years but it has never reached a stage of even having to vote on it and was immediately withdrawn each time. Israel will always embrace its Christian residents as equal citizens, and the few extremists who may want to damage relations will never succeed.

[Question]: Even though it’s the holy month of Ramadan for Muslim communities, on 1 April, a Palestinian driver hit three Israelis south of Bethlehem in a ramming attack. It’s one of the many terror attacks carried out by Palestinians against Israeli Jews this year. Whenever there is a terror attack, Palestinians celebrate it with fireworks or distributing sweets. Why do you think the mainstream media does not cover the whole truth and mainly supports the Palestinian side of the conflict?

[Itamar Marcus]: Most people involved in the media are not merely interested in reporting what’s happening but are activists with an agenda or a cause. Supporting a strong and powerful democracy like Israel is not a cause that the media wants to promote. They need to find the underdog. So, they chose Palestinians and have twisted the murderous hate and terror that the PA promotes into proof that the Palestinians are suffering at the hands of Israel. After all, they say: why would Palestinians kill innocent Israelis if they weren’t suffering at the hands of Israel. But of course, all they really have to do is look at the Palestinian ideology as the PA expresses it to its own people, and they would see that the PA promotes vicious Anti-Semitism, hatred of Jews, and denies Israel’s right to exist. Israel has been the victim of Palestinian terror for decades and still has offered the Palestinians statehood numerous times. But since the truth doesn’t fit the storyline that the activist agenda-driven media have created, the truth is ignored. The media have decided that presenting the Palestinians as victims of Israel is a good storyline that sells. Once they have created that narrative, they’re unwilling to let any facts change the story, and some are even willing to defend Palestinian terror.

[Question]: Many people predict that the conflict might escalate into a Third Intifada. What is your take on that?

[Itamar Marcus]: The Palestinian Authority right now is very weak. Mahmoud Abbas is personally very weak; over 80 per cent of the population in all the polls suggests that he, and his government are corrupt and close to 80 per cent have been wanting him to resign for years. He was elected in 2006 for five years; and since then, he’s never allowed elections. The weaker he gets, the more he promotes terror, as many dictators have done throughout history. His goal is to trigger the equivalent of a small Intifada, have regular terror, and force Israel to go into the Palestinian cities to kill terrorists, which he hopes will redirect the anger from him towards Israel. That’s why we’re seeing intense incitement among the Palestinian leaders. PMW regularly reports on all the statements by Fatah and PA leaders who are calling for violence, and historically, whenever the Palestinian Authority is weak, its leaders start violence. Yasser Arafat started the Second Intifada in October 2000 when he had lost the support of the Palestinian people, and only 22 per cent of the population felt that there was positive democracy and human rights in the Palestinian Authority. Arafat had spent years using donor money to build a terror infrastructure and started the Second Intifada when it was politically helpful. Tragically, he was successful as a terror leader. Because of Israel’s naïve trust that the Palestinian leadership had changed, the PA, Fatah and Hamas were able to send hundreds of suicide bombers into Israel and murder 1,200 people. Today Israel has learned from its mistakes and won’t let the conflict turn into an Intifada like the first ones. There could be terror for an extended time because Abbas wants it, but it won’t reach the level of the Second Intifada. Interestingly, since the Palestinian Authority is afraid that Hamas will take over the West Bank, it regularly tells Israel as part of a ‘security cooperation’ where Hamas is organising so the Israeli army can neutralise the terrorists in time. However, the PA isn’t doing it to benefit of Israel.

Itamar Marcus explains how PA terror is enabled by the West, in interview in Hungarian magazine | PMW Analysis

interview in Hungarian magazine

palwatch.org

 

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Palestinians claim Israel will open a synagogue on the Temple Mount "Bab al Rahma" hall. (I wish!)​

The Jerusalem Post reports:

The controversy surrounding the Bab al-Rahma (Gate of Mercy or Golden Gate) prayer hall, located east of al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount, resurfaced on Saturday after the Wakf claimed that Israel Police officers halted renovation work at the site.

The site was closed by court order in 2003 after the police discovered that members of the Islamic Movement in the Israel-Northern Branch were using it for political activities. Despite the closure, Palestinian activists have made repeated attempts to reopen it.

In 2019, activists reopened the entrance to the prayer hall, allowing hundreds of Muslim worshipers to pray. When the police tried to close the area again, they were met with protests by Muslim worshipers, the Jordanian-controlled Wakf Islamic religious trust and the Palestinian Authority.

In the aftermath of the 2019 protests, Israel reportedly reached an agreement with the Wakf to keep the site closed, while allowing Muslim worshipers to pray near it.

There are no photos or video of the Israeli police doing anything at the prayer hall on Saturday, so this may be an excuse to start something up again. There have been condemnations across the Arab world for this event that may have never happened. (As is too often the case, I don't see any official statements from the Israeli authorities.)
Predictably, the rumors are starting. Palestinian news agency Safa says that Israel plans to turn the building into a synagogue:

The ambitions of the Israeli occupation did not stop the chapel of Bab al-Rahma, east of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. Rather, it is actively seeking to re-close it again, and empty it of worshipers and stationed, in a dangerous attempt to convert it into a Jewish synagogue, and impose spatial division in the mosque.

The building is built into the wall surrounding the Temple Mount. It would actually make a wonderful synagogue (Yisrael Medad joked to me when he gave me a tour of the Temple Mount that it already has separate entrances for men and women). But the chances that the Israeli government is planning to do such a thing is exactly zero.
Palestinians made the same accusations in 2020. I noted then:
In a fair world, though, the Bab al Rahma prayer room would be an excellent place for a synagogue on the Temple Mount.
I have been interested in the site for a while. To the immediate left of the structure are some old beams of wood, barely covered in canvas. (Here is a screenshot from a video I made in 2019.)


There is serious evidence that some of these beams could be from the First and Second Temple periods, and conceivably from the Temples themselves.

Matti Friedman wrote a fascinating article about them in 2013.

Which is as good a reason as any to keep people away from the site until the beams could be properly secured.

Palestinians claim Israel will open a synagogue on the Temple Mount "Bab al Rahma" hall. (I wish!)

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.

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[Sixties Fan]

Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha’atzma’ut – Remembrance Day for the Fallen of Israel’s Wars and Victims of Terrorism, and Independence Day – have been inextricably linked since 1950, when the IDF General Staff issued an order declaring the fourth day of the Hebrew month of Iyar – one day before the day on which the State of Israel was established – a day of remembrance for fallen soldiers.


The linkage between the two days was enshrined by the Knesset in legislation in 1963: “The fourth of Iyar is a day of remembrance for the valor of the warriors of the Israel Defense Forces who gave their lives to ensure the existence of the State of Israel, and of the warriors who fought in the wars of Israel and fell to bring about Israel’s restoration, to commune with their memories and recall their acts of valor.”


In 1998, the first government led by Benjamin Netanyahu determined that Remembrance Day would also commemorate victims of terrorism.

Israel Independence Day, Remembrance Day: A hard-won miracle - editorial

As the sun sets this evening, let us give thanks for all those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we might celebrate 75 years of one of the greatest miracles of the modern era.

www.jpost.com

 

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