Zippy Porath's letters to her American family from besieged Jerusalem, May 15-16, 1948

Zipporah Porath  arrived in Mandatory Palestine in Oct. 1947, as an American student, for what was intended to be a year of study at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.  But, caught up inIsrael's War of Independence, she served first as a medic in the underground Haganah defense forces, and then in the nascent IDF and the fledgling Israel Air Force. These volunteers from abroad were later recognized as part of the MACHAL volunteer corps.

The letters Zippy wrote to her parents and sister capture the historic events as they occurred. They are compiled in the book, Letters from Jerusalem 1947-1948. 

The stamp that she used was issued before Israel had a name. It says "The Jewish State" and shows a picture of the 1947 Partition Plan - including, it appears, Jerusalem as a separate political entity. I had never heard of that stamp before.

Jerusalem,
May 15, 1948
Dearest Family,
It's the most incongruous and inexplicable feeling. I'm sitting  with our soldiers, listening all hearts and ears to the proceedings at the UN Security Council over a broken down battery radio -- trying to find out who will recognize our new State. The room is lit only by a small kerosene lamp which throws eerie shadows on the wall and plays havoc with the imagination.

The voices fade in and out, the static is maddening and it is hard to hear who is speaking. At the moment, the "Representative from Canada" is saying something stupid -- it's difficult to catch more than a word here or there -- so I'll use his time to write a few words ....which may never reach you.
Awareness of the full impact of the significance of this day has been somewhat lost to me in the immensity of rapidly developing events that have gripped Jerusalem. The British are actually leaving. We are fighting desperately to take over their strongholds before the Arabs do. For the last three days we have been on full alert and this is ZERO HOUR.

We are waiting impatiently for the return of the contingents of boys dispatched for today's engagements. Many dear friends are among them. Somehow, that seems more important to me than what the "Gentleman from Canada" is jabbering about -- or is it the Egyptian now?

Egypt. Oh, yes. They are invading rapidly to assure "peace and order."

The faces around me relaxed a bit after hearing that America had recognized OUR STATE. I feel a bit redeemed. Everyone in the room pivoted around to look at me as if I had had something to do with the decision.

What am I doing here? I'm in charge of the first-aid post which has been whitened and brightened for the gruesome business it anticipates. The stretcher bearers are squatting nearby. One of them, a boy with dark curly hair, is resting his head against my knees and looking past the ceiling to the future. Everything we have is ready -- blankets, bandages, a bit of cognac, ready for... we don't know what. This afternoon, it was heavy mortar fire, 25 pounders or more. Tonight, it may be air bombardment.
When I first donned these overalls and learned to sleep with my boots on and one ear open, I felt like a character out of a Hemingway novel; a partisan -- one girl for every hundred men. Now, I'm into the role completely.

We are completely cut off. No mail service out of Jerusalem, but writing eases the anxiety of waiting and worrying. How many of our boys will make it back tonight?

I wish we could know what is going on. So close and so far from the overall picture....
Jerusalem
May 16, 1948
Hello Again,

Day two in the THE STATE OF ISRAEL. Had to abandon writing temporarily for more pressing business. It's a beautiful day, plenty of sunshine, flies and shooting.

My only American compatriot here, Herbert, dug up a pair of shorts for me to wear. He says the boys need it for their morale and never mind if Florence Nightingale never wore shorts. What an outfit for duty.

Everyone gets such a kick out of the fact that there are " Americans" in their midst. I'm actually the first American GIRL most of these men have ever seen. In fact, I'm becoming a legend here. They call me "Tzippy HaAmericait" (Zippy, the American).

There are about three hundred men at this base from all over the world but only two of us from the U.S. Anyhow, what we lack in numbers, we both make up for in other ways. For one thing, we are doing a fine job of public relations, having constantly to improvise with practically nothing at hand. Herbert set up a first class cafeteria in the mess and is demonstrating what American efficiency is all about. And I'm doing my best in the two fields at my disposal, woman and nurse. The sweetheart of the camp and all that. I also set up a very cozy infirmary, thanks to super resourcefulness.

Later...

Pardon the inconsistencies, but I'm constantly being interrupted by minor emergencies -- a scorpion bite, an attack of appendicitis, infections, a misdirected bullet, all in a day's work. In between, I serve sulfa and good cheer -- the best part of the job. Our soldiers are like no others I'VE ever seen. They don't have much to fight with besides guts and determination. No swagger, spit or polish. No drinking, no shirking. Doing the dirtiest jobs, they sing and joke -- even in the fiercest moments, and never with a "here today and gone tomorrow" attitude. TOMORROW is what it's all about.

I am grateful to be here with them. I have become one of them more than ever now. All my love -- thank God for the present -- and pray for the future...

Israel partition stamp - 1948 - Jewish State
.
PS

Don't part with this envelope if you ever receive it. The stamps were issued for 5 days only  prior to the declaration of the State and were available only in Jerusalem. They'll probably be valuable to stamp collectors in a couple of years.

Iran cheated under the interim agreement, and multilateral "snapback" is dead

Going back again to Joe Biden's speech at the Washington Institute, where he defended the Obama administration's negotiations, he stated:

The second argument I hear is that no deal is worth the paper it’s written on, because Iran will simply cheat. And it’s true that Iran could try to cheat, whether there’s a deal or not. Now they didn’t cheat under the interim deal -— the Joint Plan of Action -— as many were certain they would. But they certainly have in the past and it would not surprise anyone if they tried again.
Sorry, Joe:
The Czech Republic blocked an attempted purchase by Iran this year of a large shipment of sensitive technology useable for nuclear enrichment after false documentation raised suspicions, U.N. experts and Western sources said.

Some details of the attempted purchase were described in the latest annual report of an expert panel for the United Nations Security Council's Iran sanctions committee, which has been seen by Reuters.

The panel said that in January Iran attempted to buy compressors - which have nuclear and non-nuclear applications - made by the U.S.-owned company Howden CKD Compressors.

A Czech state official and a Western diplomat familiar with the case confirmed to Reuters that Iran had attempted to buy the shipment from Howden CKD in the Czech Republic, and that Czech authorities had acted to block the deal.

The U.N. panel, which monitors compliance with the U.N. sanctions regime, said there had been a "false end user" stated for the order.

"The procurer and transport company involved in the deal had provided false documentation in order to hide the origins, movement and destination of the consignment with the intention of bypassing export controls and sanctions," it added.

The report offered no further details about the attempted transaction. Iran's U.N. mission did not respond to a query about the report.
How many cheats weren't noticed?

And how come the UN itself - the specific committee that is charged with enforcing the sanctions -  didn't publicize this report, and it had to be leaked to the media?

That is in many ways more troubling than the cheating attempt itself.

Also, the "snapback sanctions" idea is pretty much dead.

Biden said:
And there will be a clear procedure in the final deal that allows both the U.N. and unilateral sanctions to snap back without needing to cajole lots of other countries -– including Russia or China –- to support it. That will be written in the final deal.
Uh, not really:
The Obama administration is trying to sell a nuclear deal with Iran to skeptical Arabs, Israelis and U.S. lawmakers by saying that United Nations sanctions will be restored automatically if the Iranians are caught cheating.

Not so, say the Russians, who have one of five vetoes in the 15-member UN Security Council.

“There can be no automaticity, none whatsoever” in reimposing UN sanctions if Iran violates the terms of an agreement to curb its nuclear program, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told Bloomberg News on Wednesday. He didn’t elaborate.

While the Obama administration maintains that Russia agreed “in principle” to the need for a sanctions “snapback” mechanism if Iran fails to comply with the agreement now being negotiated in final form, the Russian government has offered no corroboration.

Instead, President Vladimir Putin on April 13 lifted a ban on exporting missile defense systems to Tehran, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said lifting all the sanctions against Iran is good business for Russia.
Now there is very little incentive to stop Iran from cheating, which is the entire point of the nuclear agreement.

And don't assume even American sanctions would "snap back" immediately upon evidence of Iranian cheating. For example, the Czech discovery of the illicit compressor deal isn't 100% clear-cut for those who prefer blindness. The compressors have non-military use, after all. Just because they were imported using dummy companies and false paperwork isn't proof that they were meant for nuclear purposes, it is just a string indicator of cheating. How would the Obama administration react to cheating like that which can be rationalized away?

Iran knows the answer, and deep down, so does everyone else.

(h/t Yenta, Omri)

05/15 Links Pt2: Honig: A Delegitimization Called Nakba; Five Reasons to Celebrate Jerusalem Day

From Ian:
Sarah Honig: A Delegitimization Called Nakba
Whereas we celebrate our state’s Independence Day according to the Hebrew calendar, the Gregorian anniversary, May 15, is annually commemorated by Arabs as a day of lamentation for the Nakba. It’s the catastrophe according to their loaded terminology, which renascent Jewish sovereignty supposedly inflicted on the supposedly indigenous people of this land – the Palestinians.
The notion that Israel was born in sin is delegitimization in the most extreme sense.
Israel is painted as a wrong and righting the wrong means eradicating Israel. There’s no getting away from the conclusion to which this representation unavoidably leads. Israel is illegitimate both in its inception and subsequent survival. Peace can be restored only when the illegitimacy is removed.
It’s essential to remember this as we see our Arab neighbors – fellow holders of Israeli citizenship who enjoy all the perks and privileges thereof – bewail the fact that an Israel at all exists. Nakba Day is in fact Delegitimization Day. It lays the ideological groundwork for marking us as “worthy targets of violence.”
The delegitimization rests on two interconnected cornerstones – portraying Israel as the occupier-aggressor and portraying local Arabs as the hapless aboriginals overrun and oppressed by the occupier-aggressor.
Michael Lumish: Happy Nakba Day!
I love Nakba Day.
I understand that that many Arabs are not happy about the fact that the Jewish people escaped from the Islamic system that we call dhimmitude after thirteen centuries of second and third-class non-citizenship under Arab-Muslim imperial rule... but I could hardly be more pleased.
The Muslim Brotherhood is unhappy with Jewish liberation from Arab-Muslim imperial rule.
Hamas is unhappy with Jewish liberation from Arab-Muslim imperial rule.
The Islamic State is unhappy with Jewish liberation from Arab-Muslim imperial rule.
Islamic Jihad is unhappy with Jewish liberation from Arab-Muslim imperial rule.
Boko Haram is unhappy with Jewish liberation from Arab-Muslim imperial rule.
Speaking for myself, I could not be happier or more satisfied in the rightness and justice of the failure of Islamic rule over the Jews.
Nakba Day is one of my favorite holidays, but my favorite holidays are generally concerned with issues of liberation. I love Thanksgiving, for example, because it represents the roots of the United States and, thus, the liberation of millions of people from European authoritarianism and monarchy. I love Passover for much the same reason. It represents the freedom of the Jewish people from persecution by non-Jews, which is why we drink our wine in a lounging position.
Five Reasons to Celebrate Jerusalem Day
This Sunday is Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day).
The newest addition to the Jewish calendar, it’s held on the 28th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar—six weeks after the Passover seder and one week before the eve of the holiday of Shavuot.
In June 1967, 28 Iyar was the third day of the Six Day War.
Yom Yerushalayim celebrates the reunification of Israel’s capital city, when Jewish forces brought Jerusalem “back to Jewish sovereignty”.
In Israel the holiday is marked with pilgrimages to Jerusalem with thousands of Israelis heading to the city for the annual Flag Parade.
But in many Jewish communities Yom Yerushalayim typically passes without a lot of fanfare.
Many Jews haven’t even heard of it.
REASON #1: Jewish holy places are liberated from an illegal Jordanian occupation.
REASON #2: The whole city of Jerusalem is reclaimed and reunited under Israeli sovereignty.
REASON #3: Jewish Jerusalem is reconstituted.
REASON #4: Jewish faithful have the legal right to pray on the Temple Mount.
REASON #5: Reaffirming a Jewish attachment to the holy city and to the land.
Boycott the Boycotters movement gains momentum
The movement to boycott those who support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is gaining steam, particularly at the legislative level.
We previously highlighted federal legislation aimed at the European boycott movement, and the apoplectic reaction, Breaking! Anti-Israel boycotters don’t like being boycotted!:
The reaction is furious from the anti-Israel boycotters, as refleected in this Op-Ed in The Chicago Sun Times with this ironic title, Illinois has no business boycotting those who boycott Israel, which starts off with a fake Gandhi quote:
It’s almost laughable that the same people who support boycotting Israel, as well as the University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign (over the non-hiring of controversial professor Steven Salaita) scream bloody murder when the boycott is directed at the boycotters.
Expect the “Boycott the Boycotters” movement to grow.



No solution for Palestinian refugees without justice for Jewish ones
On May 15, Palestinians and groups associated with them - extreme leftist Israelis and international organizations funded by Europeans - mark a national Palestinian tragedy known as the Nakba (Arabic for “disaster”). No one can deny the existence of the Palestinian refugee problem, created by the 1948 creation of the State of Israel and the ensuing Palestinian flight from their homes. This is historical fact. However, the creation of Israel also resulted in the transfer from their homes of hundreds of thousands of Jews living peacefully in Arab countries. Having failed in their efforts to defeat the fledgling Israeli state in 1948, Arab states took revenge on the Jews living in their lands who had been loyal to the Arab rulers for centuries.
While the Palestinian refugee problem is well known, few in the West are aware of the problem of Jewish refugees from Arab countries. The nature of that Jewish immigration from Arab countries varied. Some were motivated to move to the newly established state by Zionism. Others did not want to leave. My family, for example, had lived in Lebanon for three generations and was an integral part of the Beiruti landscape of Wadi Abu Jamil Street in the Jewish neighborhood of Harat-al-Yahudi. For years we came to Israel to visit family but always returned to our home in Lebanon.
My family did not choose to leave its homeland for Zionist considerations. It was forced to flee in the 1990s fearing for its life. Therefore, the definition of the word “refugee” as formulated in the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention is compatible with my status and that of hundreds of thousands of other Jews. “A person who [has] a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality.”
Dozens of Lebanese Jews were abducted and killed around Beirut in the mid-80s and the Lebanese government was unable to keep the Jews of Lebanon safe. The strengthening of the Shiite organization Hezbollah, on the one hand, and the weakness of the government of President Amin Gemayel, on the other, along with the emergence of many militias, turned Lebanon into a dangerous place, not only for Jews but for hundreds of foreigners many of whom were kidnapped and murdered.
Some 900,000 Jews from Arab countries left their homelands since 1948. The property they left behind is estimated at $30 billion, including the buildings in dozens of Jewish communities in Arab countries: magnificent synagogues, factories and private property that was expropriated and confiscated.
Army on high alert as ‘Nakba Day’ rallies turn violent
Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and rubber bullets at stone-throwing Palestinians in the West Bank on Friday, wounding at least 17 people, medics and security sources said.
Clashes took place near Ramallah and farther north in Nablus, as Palestinians marked Nakba Day, an annual commemoration of the “catastrophe,” as the Palestinians refer to it, of Israel’s establishment 67 years ago.
At a demonstration outside Ofer military prison near Ramallah, dozens of protesters threw stones at soldiers who responded with riot-dispersal means. Palestinian medics said seven Palestinians were wounded.
Marches in memory of Nakba Day took place in several locations, with reports of tensions between protesters and security forces in Issawiya, in East Jerusalem, and the Qalandia checkpoint.
Al Manar TV, a Hezbollah-affiliated news network in Lebanon, reported that a group of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon marched near the Israeli border fence to demonstrate.
Happy Nakba Day!
The authoritative source on the origin of nakba is none other than George Antonius, supposedly the first official historian of Palestinian nationalism. Like so many Palestinians, he actually wasn't Palestinian. He was a Christian Lebanese-Egyptian who lived for a while in Jerusalem, where he composed his official advocacy/history of Arab nationalism. The Arab Awakening, a highly biased book, was published in 1938 and for years afterward was the official text used at British universities.
Antonius was an official Palestinian representative to Britain, trying to argue the cause for creating an Arab state in place of any prospective homeland promised the Jews under the Balfour Declaration of 1917. By the 1930's Antonius was an active anti-Zionist propagandist, and as such was offered a job at Columbia University (where some things don't seem to change much).
He was closely associated with the Grand Mufti, Hitler's main Islamic ally, and also with the pro-German regime in Iraq in the early 1940's.
So how does Antonius provide us with the answer to the current-events quiz concerning the origin of nakba? The term was not invented in 1948 but rather in 1920. And it was coined not because of Palestinians suddenly getting nationalistic but because Arabs living in Palestine regarded themselves as Syrian and were enraged at being cut off from their Syrian homeland. (h/t Bob Knot)
Reuven Rivlin - Born in 'Palestine'?
President Reuven Rivlin was born on September 9, 1939, in Jerusalem.
However, according to the Google search engine, the tenth president of the State of Israel was born in "Palestine."
The Mayor of Ra'anana, Ze'ev Bielski, made the shocking discovery.
"While working on a speech for the arrival of President to Ra'anana, and I typed his name into Google in English, and then we were amazed to see that says he was born in Jerusalem - in the Palestinian state," Bielski stated to Yediot Aharonot on Friday.
"At first I did not believe it," he said. "Reuven Rivlin is an Israeli symbol. But as we continued, we found that even when writing my name in Google says that I was born in Palestine, as stated as well regarding the famous actress Natalie Portman - although she was [also] born in Jerusalem. "
Bielski also found that if you type the names of prominent Israelis in English, Google's search engine will sometimes say that they were born in the "state of Palestine."
Can Michael Oren Become the Icon of the Israeli Center?
At best, one can only make an educated guess about the future, but if Oren’s past is any indication, historians will likely view him as, more than anything else, the man in the middle; a figure whose desire for moderation sometimes brought him much success, but also much frustration. In trying to hew to the middle way, to Aristotle’s Golden Mean, he has sometimes pleased almost everyone, as in the case of Six Days of War, but just as often, as in his current views on the peace process and the controversy over Netanyahu’s speech, he has pleased almost no one.
But perhaps most importantly, I cannot help but come away from our conversation with the sense that Oren really means it. Some politicians hew to the Center for pragmatic reasons, others for the sake of mere rhetoric; but in the case of Oren, the aforementioned sense of integrity is unmistakable. To him, an extremist Israel is an Israel that is a danger to itself, and his politics and diplomacy have been remarkably consistent in their attempt to ensure that the Jewish state does not move too far, and too dangerously, toward one side or the other. To be the man in the middle is often a lonely fate, but one feels, in the end, that Oren has little choice in the matter. He is who he is, and he remains so even in the glare of the cameras and the chaos of Israeli politics. That alone may be enough to ensure a charitable verdict from the historians of the future.
What is certain, however, is that Oren will not be forgotten. Indeed, as we end our conversation, he remarks of his strange meeting with Orson Welles, “Most of my experience with him was being afraid that he would yell at me.”
“Well,” I say, by way of consolation, “that’s a place in history right there.”
CAMERA: Bialik and Bibi on “Revenge”
After Palestinian kidnappers murdered three Israeli teens last June, Benjamin Netanyahu quoted a verse by the well-known Jewish poet Hayim Biyalik. The quote — “Vengeance for the blood of a small child, Satan has not yet created,” Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on Twitter, before adding that the same applies to the three murdered youths — was circulated widely, mostly by critics of Israel who cast the reference as a clear call for Israelis to take revenge on Palestinians.
But as CAMERA has pointed out in a letter in the Washington Post and in a recent article about The New York Times’ misrepresentation of the Bialik poem, the opposite is true.
In “On the Slaughter,” the poem cited by Netanyahu, Bialik “rejects human revenge and envisions a natural revenge that will take place by itself,” explains poet and professor Hamutal Bar-Yosef, who is described in Haaretz as “a leading figure in the field of Hebrew literature.”
That’s hardly only an ivory tower interpretation. Menachem Begin, the founder of Netanyahu’s Likud Party and someone Netanyahu has described as a “role model,” also referenced the poem in a 1979 speech:
Jerusalem forum recommends new laws on cyberhate, anti-Semitism
The biennial Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism issued statements recommending steps for governments and websites to reduce cyber hate, and for European governments to reduce anti-Semitism.
“Given the pervasive, expansive and transnational nature of the internet and the viral nature of hate materials, counter-speech alone is not a sufficient response to cyber hate. The right to free expression does not require or obligate the internet industry to disseminate hate materials. They too are moral actors, free to pursue internet commerce in line with ethics, social responsibility, and a mutually agreed code of conduct,” read a statement issued Thursday night in Jerusalem by the Forum, which is run by Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
Among the recommendations to Internet providers: to adopt a clear industry standard for defining hate speech and anti-Semitism; adopt global terms of service prohibiting the posting of such materials; provide an effective complaint process and maintain a timely and professional response capacity; and ban Holocaust denial sites from the Web as a form of egregious hate speech.
Recommendations to governments include: establishing a national legal unit responsible for combating cyber hate; making stronger use of existing laws to prosecute cyber hate and online anti-Semitism, and enhancing the legal basis for prosecution where such laws are absent; and adopting stronger laws and penalties for the prohibition of Internet materials promoting terrorism and supporting recruitment to terrorist groups.
The forum also addressed the upsurge of anti-Semitism in Europe.
Netanyahu: Modern Anti-Semitism “First and Foremost Targets the Jewish State”
Now, contemporary anti-Semitism doesn’t just slander, vilify and target the Jewish people. It first and foremost today targets the Jewish state. That’s the nexus, that’s the core, that’s the focus of anti-Semitism.
I want to give you an example of this from today, this morning. I went down to Ben-Gurion airport to welcome home the IDF’s humanitarian mission to Nepal.
The UN filed a report. Actually, this is a good UN report about Israel. It said that of all the countries in the world, and Israel is one of the smallest countries in the world, Israel fielded the second largest rescue and relief team in Nepal. Of all the nations in the earth.
Our people did a magnificent job. They saved lives. They took people out of the rubble. They treated 1,600 wounded people and sick people. They delivered life, several births.
Yet yesterday state television in both Iran and Venezuela accused our humanitarian team of trafficking in babies.
Now, did any of you see an Iranian rescue team in Nepal?
This is the quintessential example of the Big Lie technique.
The aggressor accuses his victim.
Meet the Italian Imam With a Plan to Defeat Anti-Semitism
Among the hundreds of participants at the 5th Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Imam Yahya Pallavicini cut an unlikely figure.
A scholarly and softly-spoken individual, Pallavicini is an influential leader in the Italian Muslim community. Apart from heading the Al-Wahid Mosque in Milan, he is Vice President of the Islamic Religious Community of Italy (known by its Italian acronym, COREIS), and serves as an adviser on Islamic Affairs to the Italian interior ministry.
Pallavicini is also a longtime counter-extremism activist, who has been battling the rise of Islamism within his own and the wider European Muslim community for many years. Given the prime role played by Muslim extremism in the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe, his participation in the Forum provided an important perspective on how moderate Muslim scholars can be mobilized to undercut the narrative of "political Islam" that is fueling the hate.
It is a mark of recognition of his work that Pallavicini was invited personally by the foreign ministry to take part in the biennial conference.
Foreign money again; the slander against Ayelet Shaked
Yesterday’s post about foreign money financing anti-state activities here in Israel was also posted on the Elder of Ziyon blog, where it attracted a few comments. To my surprise (OK, not so much), several of them were opposed to the idea of limiting donations from foreign sources to NGOs in Israel. “Putin would be proud of this,” said one.
Putin aside, keep in mind that neither Ayelet Shaked nor I advocates limiting the free speech of Israelis. Although there is a part of me that would enjoy seeing the leaders of Breaking the Silence (for example) imprisoned for treason, I understand that free speech is a fundamental pillar of democracy — you can’t have the latter without the former.
But look at what is happening here: our enemies — yes, I have to place the EU in that category — are paying individuals and groups in Israel to act against the policies of the democratically elected government. If this isn’t treason, it is something like it.
Yes, I know that the saintly Israelis who are involved in this enterprise would claim that they are doing it for moral reasons, not for the money. In that case, though, they should be prepared to finance their activities themselves, or to accept donations only from other Israelis.
Don’t limit the speech — but cut off the foreign money.
Israel-Hating Biology Prof. to Teach Course on Zionism
It is no secret that anti-Semitism on college campuses, spearheaded by the student hate group, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) continues to surge. More disconcerting however, is the emergence of an unholy alliance between college officials and the SJP. The instant case involving Smith’s hate course at the University of Missouri represents but one example of many.
At Brooklyn College, the political science department co-sponsored an event with the SJP that featured BDS activist and notorious anti-Semite, Omar Barghouti. Four Jewish students were tossed from the event under the false pretense of causing a disruption. The forcible removal of the students occurred in full view of senior college officials including Milga Morales, Vice President for Student Affairs. A Daily News reporter who was wearing a Yarmulke was also removed from the event. A subsequent investigation by outside counsel concluded that the Jewish students had not caused any disruption and were removed without just cause.
At Northeastern University, economics professor Shahid Alam told his students to be proud of being called “anti-Semites.” He then spoke approvingly of how the student body has turned against Israel over the years and that those students who are still supportive of Israel are afraid to speak their minds. Like all good fascists, Alam is supportive of free speech when that speech is consistent with his hateful narrative but gives the nod of approval to intimidation tactics when confronted with challenge.
Northwestern Jewish Student Files Bias Complaint Against SJP
In an academic year during which campus anti-Semitism repeatedly made national headlines and numerous Jewish fraternities and other campus buildings were vandalized with swastikas, yet another disturbing incident has come to light. The setting this time is Northwestern University in Illinois where a Jewish student filed a bias complaint with the university after he says he was harassed by members of the organization Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) during a campus event targeting Israel as a racist, apartheid state.
The incident occurred on Tuesday during an SJP “mock checkpoint and border patrol event” which the group held as part of a larger Israeli Apartheid Week, an international campus movement that demonizes Israel and compares it to apartheid-era South Africa.
The Daily Northwestern described the scene:
The event…featured demonstrators in camouflage gear acting as patrol agents. Depending on the scenario, the camouflage gear featured an Israeli or an American flag. Students acting as migrant workers carried water jugs and those acting as Palestinians wore a keffiyeh, a Palestinian scarf.
Something’s Rotten in the State of South Africa
Last week a debate took place at Wits University on the removal of Dlamini. Students claimed that the “speedy” decision by Habib to remove Dlamini from his position was based on pressure from the Jewish community over comments the former SRC leader made on admiring Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, and not for a separate matter, as claimed by Habib.
“I am a critic of the Israeli state,” said Habib, who had arrived at a debate on the subject of Dlamini’s dismissal to a chorus of boos.
“I was the only VC to write about the incursion into Gaza,” he said, referring to last summer’s IDF ground invasion of the Gaza Strip during the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas. “How did we go from the critique of Israel … to talking about all Jews? It’s racist and anti-Semitic.”
Well Vice Chancellor Habib, now you know. It is rarely about Israel and more about Jews. The same booing students who take umbrage at Dlamini’s dismissal are the same that feel no compunction when their BDS supporting classmates chant “shoot the Jew” at concerts given by Israeli musicians on your very same campus or loot stores or pop a pigs head in what they think is the kosher section of Woolworths supermarket.
The jig is up. It is blatant anti-Semitism, which they cleverly dress up as anti-Zionism – but they have blown their cover now.
Dlamini’s moronic statements, which are sadly supported by many equally mired in hatred, coupled with the growing anger and intolerance that is rife in South Africa is starting to stink up a storm. Something is rotten in the Rainbow Nation.
Brandeis Must Explain its Selective Support for Free Speech
As ambassador to Israel and later to the United Nations, Pickering was an outspoken critic of the government’s exile of Palestinians who advocated, assisted, or participated in violent uprisings against the Jewish state. Pickering saw Israel’s exile of Palestinians as a human rights violation, but when he was ambassador to Jordan, Pickering was not moved to remind the monarchy that the very institution itself is a violation of human rights. Recently, Pickering has been a strong supporter of the Obama administration’s deal that permits Iran to keep and expand its nuclear infrastructure, while reiterating its goal of annihilating Israel. For Brandeis, a human rights advocate who is an embarrassment to Islam is silenced, but a severe critic of Israel is more than acceptable. This is the mentality of political correctness that dominates not just Brandeis, but most institutions of so-called “higher education.”
Does Pickering embody the ideals of Brandeis’namesake, a fervent Zionist? Of course not. But then Brandeis is no longer an institution rooted in Jewish traditions. Pickering does, however, represent what Brandeis has become. In an ideal world, students would be able to hear both Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Thomas Pickering. Their speeches would offend some, even lacerate their sensitivities, and they would be provoked to think about what they heard. That is what universities are supposed to be about.
But in the real world of academia, certain sensitivities are to be protected while others are to be eviscerated. Thomas Pickering’s speaking should not be the issue. The issue is that some are to be heard and others silenced, depending upon which set of designated victims can make the most noise.
Universities teach not only through the classroom, but also by example. Brandeis students will have pause to reflect that the university has decided what ideas they are permitted to hear.
Roger Waters Takes Aim At Dionne Warwick
Guess who is flapping his gums again, this time against singing great Dionne Warwick, who rejects BDS and is to perform in Israel in a few days?
Alas, it is Waters who is – to quote his own words here – “showing [himself] to be profoundly ignorant of what has happened in Palestine since 1947.”
Either that, or he just refuses to acknowledge real facts.
Facts like:
- The Jews’ indigenous right to a homeland in the land of Israel
- Israeli being attacked by 5 Arab nations in 1948, following the palestinian Arabs’ rejection of the Partition Plan, in an attempt to destroy her and drive the Jews in to the Sea
- Subsequent wars of annihilation initiated by the Arabs
- The palestinian’s use of terrorism and refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state
Infernal Israeli baby-washing
The Israel haters must be bawling like a baby right now.
Nothing upsets them more than having Israel (and Israelis) portrayed as ...normal. Everything that involves the Zionist entity must, in their eyes, be seen through the prism of the “occupation”.
Any act must be viewed through the lens of this conflict. It’s a one-dimensional, deeply cynical and very biased viewpoint.
Cue: The infernal Israel “Baby-washing”
Some very sweet photos of Hebrew University Professor Sydney Engelberg have gone viral.
Prof. Engelberg’s class is open to his students children. It’s a deeply sensitive and yes, feminist gesture, coming from a father of four, and grandfather of 5.
During Prof Engelberg’s class, the young son of one of his students began to cry. Engelberg picked up the child and continued on with his lecture. A student snapped a photo, and Prof. Engelberg became this week’s darling of social media. The photos have been liked over 50,000 times on Facebook, and this simple gesture has been discussed across the web.
The BDS cru will be condemning this as "baby-washing" any minute now
BBC criticised over comparison of Anjem Choudary with Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi
The BBC has been attacked for the “disgusting “ views of one of its most senior journalists after he compared hate preacher Anjem Choudary to Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Winston Churchill.
Mark Easton, the corporation’s Home Editor, criticised Government plans to clamp down on fanatics and said extreme views were needed “to challenge very established values”.
He drew comparisons to the treatment of two of history’s greatest civil rights campaigners and a Churchill view on democracy.
He said Mandela and Gandhi had both been seen as extremists in their time and questioned what they would think of attempts to silence Choudary.
The comments sparked an immediate backlash with Mr Easton accused of making “ludicrous” comparisons and holding “disgusting” views.
Choudary claimed the two statesmen were "kuffar" or non-believers who were going to "hell-fire".
Edgar Davidson: Simple questions relating to the Middle East that are never asked
I have sent this to a couple of news outlets.
Why are Western countries expected to take in unlimited Muslim "refugees" while far wealthier (and under-populated) Muslim countries like Qatar, Saudi, UAE, Bahrein, etc never are despite them sharing the same religion, language and culture as the "refugees"?
Why is it a cause for celebration when Americans, Brits or Arabs kill Islamic terrorists, but a 'war crime' when Israel does it?
Why is the only country in the Middle East that is not an apartheid state (Israel) the only one that is accused of being an apartheid state?
How is it that the people who call Israel an 'apartheid' state also generally insist that every single Jew must leave 'Palestinian territory'?
Why are antisemitic activists who are dedicated to the destruction of Israel always called "Pro-Palestinians" rather than what they really are?
Can you identify a single pro-Palestinian activity (as opposed to anti-Israel activity) that has ever been carried out by any Western "pro-Palestinian" activist?
Canadian Football Player Fined for Anti-Semitic Tweets
A football player in Canada has been fined by both the Canadian Football League (CFL) and his team over anti-Semitic tweets, The Toronto Star reports.
The CFL and the Montreal Alouettes fined defensive lineman Khalif Mitchell an undisclosed amount for “tweets violating the league’s social media policy”, according to the report.
The CFL and the Alouettes began looking into Mitchell’s social media conduct after B’nai Brith Canada, the Jewish human rights advocacy group, alerted them to “hateful content” on his Twitter account.
Mitchell recently tweeted a link to a 2015 YouTube video titled “The greatest lie ever told – The Holocaust,” which called the murder of 6 million Jews an “alleged” act.
Mitchell has also posted or retweeted comments and video on the terrorist group ISIS, police behavior, the American military and photos with assault rifles, noted The Star.
Vandals target French Jewish cemetery, Vienna’s Freud museum
Vienna’s Sigmund Freud Museum, a Jewish French cemetery and a Polish watchdog on anti-Semitism all were hit by vandalism in recent days.
In France on Sunday night at least six tombstones were smashed at a Jewish cemetery in Lille, northern France’s largest city, according to a report sent out Thursday by France’s National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, or BNVCA. Vandals also poured paint on the gravestones.
In Vienna, vandals earlier this month smashed three of the Freud museum’s display windows, the Israel-based Coordination Forum for Countering Antisemitism reported on Tuesday.
The works targeted are by the Austrian sculptor Peter Kogler, whose creations, fine wire nets with illumination fittings, were inspired by Freud’s discoveries about the unconscious.
Jewish veterans mark Rescue of European Jewry day in Times Square
Jewish veterans, wearing their Soviet uniforms and World War II medals, marched proudly through the streets towards Times Square on Friday, joined by local rabbis and leaders of the New York Jewish community in commemoration of "Rescue of European Jewry day."
The day is commemorated every year on the 26th of Iyar which in 1948 fell on May 9, Victory Day.
“As Jews we are proud to gather for this historic celebration honoring a great victory over evil,” said Boris Feldman, 94, from Brooklyn who fought with the Red Army for two years after being released from a Ukrainian ghetto. “While it’s important to remember the end of the Holocaust, we must remain vigilant even today. Jewish communities throughout the world feel increasingly threatened due to the rise of Antisemitism.”
“Victory Day” is celebrated on May 9 around the world in countries with major Russian immigrant populations, including Israel. With more than 1.6 million Jews from the former Soviet Union, Israel officially recognized the holiday in 2000.
MasterCard to hold its first FinTech Euro-hackathon in Israel
Over the past several years, MasterCard has sponsored a series of financial technology events and contests in Israel, looking for top technology to enroll in its Start Path accelerator in Ireland.
So good has been the crop of companies recruited that MasterCard is now planning a fintech hackathon in Tel Aviv on 11-12 June — the first of 10 it plans to run throughout Europe, with Israel honored for its tech prowess.
MasterCard has good reason to be impressed. Location tech company KitLocate — the company chosen by MasterCard in 2012 for its first-ever Israel Technology Award — was eventually bought out by Russian search giant Yandex, which, according to reports, paid about $20 million for the Israeli firm.
The 2013 winner was mobile customers service firm CallVU, which this year was chosen to be part of the prestigious TexChange program, which brings promising Israeli start-ups to London to develop partnerships and business deals. And in 2015, two companies that participated in the MasterCard Start Path Challenge, Shopnfly and Sling, were chosen as charter members of El Al’s new Cockpit accelerator program.
WhatsApp in Nepal: How one little app saves lives
Our IsraAID Nepal Relief WhatsApp group was activated within minutes of the April 25th earthquake.
Day and night, our group is filled with messages and updates, connecting our teams on the ground with IsraAID headquarters in Israel as well as extra program staff based in Asia, North America and Africa, all on stand-by to support and assist with planning and problem solving.
Through the use of this App, information is quickly gathered, shared and analyzed in real time, enabling us to better assess and prioritize not only the needs on the ground, but IsraAID’s added value and unique strengths which can have the greatest impact in the overall international and local relief efforts.
I quickly post to the group that I’m fine and begin to trace the rest of the team currently working in several different sites across Nepal.
Within a few minutes, I get a message that everyone is safe, including Nirjan, a 3-month-old baby our medical team evacuated from the mountains.
IsraAID’s medical team had just returned from treating hundreds of people in Gorkha, one of the worst-affected districts of the Himalayas and the epicenter of the the first earthquake. Among those treated, were two babies with meningitis that the team finally stabilized. But Nirjan was in critical condition and we worried that he would not make it through the night.
WhatsApp to the rescue!
Einstein ‘Jewish Holy Man’ Letter Up for Auction
A collection of 27 letters by Albert Einstein set to be auctioned in June includes one in which the renowned scientist reveals that he was once called a “Jewish Holy Man,” the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported on Wednesday.
The Jewish physicist wrote the letter in November 1923 about his concerns over antisemitism in Germany and his thoughts about staying in his home country. Writing from Holland, he said, “I was informed that there are certain people in Germany who are after me as a ‘Jewish Holy Man.’”
“In Stuttgart, they even had a billboard where I was ranked first among the richest Jews,” he said. “I have been thinking about giving up my position in Germany altogether but I am not doing that because it would be morally damaging to the German intellectuals…”
Einstein was visiting the U.S. when Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 and decided not to return to Germany, where he had been a professor at the Berlin Academy of Sciences. In a letter written to his son in 1933, Einstein said he would not be returning to Germany, “perhaps never again.”

Did Israelis "assault Al Aqsa guards"? (updates)

From Ma'an:
Right-wing Jews and Israeli police officers physically assaulted Palestinian security guards on duty at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound early Tuesday, the director of the compound told Ma'an.

Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani said that a group of Israeli settlers was touring the compound when they began to "deliberately" provoke Palestinians near the Cotton Merchants Gate by repeating slogans calling for the removal of the Dome of the Rock.

Al-Kiswani said that "when the guards intervened, Israeli settlers assaulted and beat them. The Israeli police backed [the right-wing Jews], protected them, and clashes erupted in the area."

The sheikh said that the Islamic trust that controls the compound subsequently intervened and Israeli police escorted the right-wing Jews from the compound.

Al-Kiswani said that one of the guards, Fadi Abu Mizr, had trouble breathing after he received blows to his chest, while guard Maher Abu Isninweh had bruises on his face. The two guards were treated in the mosque's clinic.
Whenever something like this is reported, I look for video. I actually found one that showed scuffles on the Temple Mount:



I count at least 10 edits in this video.

The person taking this video didn't repeatedly turn off his video camera ten times while juicy fights were happening. No, this video was edited afterwards:

To cut out every scene of Arabs attacking Jews.

That means that there are at least ten punches and shoves that we are not seeing.

The chances that the Jews started fighting with the guards on the Temple Mount this morning are exactly the same chances that they were "repeating slogans calling for the removal of the Dome of the Rock."

More fiction from the haters, who can lie without any fear of consequences.

UPDATE: Qpress' video section has been decimated since I posted this, no idea what is going on. I didn't save it, sorry.

UPDATE 2 - Got it from Facebook (h/t Bob K)

UPDATE 3: (h/t Bob K)
An unedited video:



And from The Temple Institute:

 Jews involved in the altercation say they were attacked by Muslim Waqf personnel whose 'job' is to watch the lips a nd bodies of Jews on the Temple Mount to make sure they are not praying or swaying or bowing down, all expressions of Jewish faith, which Prime Minister Netanyahu, in league with king Abdullah of Jordan, has forbidden in practice, even if he cannot say so, as freedom of worship is the law in Israel.

Rock band Journey sues BDS group for (badly) singing their song

From the New York Post:
Don't stop believin' that you'll get sued if you mess with Journey's music.

The composers of the hit song "Don't Stop Believin' " filed a copyright complaint yesterday against a pro-Palestinian group that performed their pop anthem with the words changed to support a boycott of Israel.

Journey bandmates Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon, along with former frontman Steve Perry, want a permanent injunction barring Adalah-NY from "exploiting" their 30-year-old tune.

The Manhattan federal court filing says Adalah-NY organized a March 26 "flash mob" in Grand Central station that ripped off "the entire melody, chord changes, and other musical elements."
"However, the version defendants performed uses the title 'Don't Stop Boycottin', and contains lyrics that convey a political message relating to the conflict in the Middle East."

Adalah's Web site says a video was viewed more than 30,000 times in two days before it was taken down by YouTube.com on April 1 and replaced with a silent version.

I had seen it when it came out, and while it was quite not as bad as other BDS flash mobs it was still horrible. These stunts just irritate the people they are meant to convince, and no one can even understand the lyrics without the subtitles  (in this case they are drowned out by what sounds like a bad high-school band.)

Here's a version that is still on the web:



(h/t YM)

Terrorist convention in Cairo this week

It is not only Hamas and Fatah delegations traveling to Cairo to sign their latest temporary "unification" agreement.

They are being joined by some equally illustrious partners who will participate in this great event (although they are not signing anything):
A Gaza Strip-based delegation with members of the Fatah party, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Islamic Jihad sit on a bus at the Rafah border terminal in the southern Gaza Strip on May 02, 2011 before crossing to Egypt, as Palestinian factions will ink a reconciliation deal in Cairo intended to repair ties between Hamas and Fatah and end a bitter divide between the West Bank and Gaza.

How wonderful that all the terrorist groups, including Fatah, are acting so inclusively with each other! (The Hamas leadership traveled last night.) 

Sidney Lumet's legacy in Zionism, civil rights - and hasbara

Here is a chapter of American Jewish history I was not aware of:
Academy Award winning film director Sidney Lumet, who passed away on April 9 at age 86, is remembered for classics such as “Twelve Angry Men,” the courtroom drama that challenged racial prejudice and which Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has cited as a major influence on her career.


What is not widely known is that before he became a director, Lumet, as a young actor, was at the center of a 1940s controversy in Baltimore involving Zionist activists and the fight over racial segregation.  
In the summer of 1946, hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors languished in Displaced Persons camps in postwar Europe. The British refused to let them enter Mandatory Palestine, for fear of alienating the Arabs. In New York City, the Jewish activists known as the Bergson Group came up with a new way to publicize the survivors’ plight: a Broadway play. They called it “A Flag is Born.” 
Ben Hecht, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter, was active in the Bergson Group. So were the Adlers, the “first family” of the Yiddish theater. Hecht wrote the script for “A Flag is Born.” Luther Adler directed it. Adler’s half-sister Celia and another ex-Yiddish theater star,Paul Muni, costarred as elderly Holocaust survivors straggling through postwar Europe. Their sister Stella, the statuesque actress and acting coach, cast her most promising student, 22 year-old Marlon Brando, in the role of David, a passionate young Zionist who encounters the elderly couple in a cemetery. Celia Adler’s son, Prof. Selwyn Freed, told me: “When my mother came home from the first rehearsal, she said of Brando, ‘I can’t remember his name, but boy, is he talented’.The actors all performed for the Screen Actors Guild minimum wage, as a gesture of solidarity with the Zionist cause.

“Flag” played for ten sold-out weeks at Manhattan’s Alvin Theater (today known as the Neil Simon Theater). British critics hated it. The London Evening Standard called it “the most virulent anti-British play ever staged in the United States.” American reviewers were kinder. Walter Winchell said “Flag” was “worth seeing, worth hearing, and worth remembering…it will wring your heart and eyes dry…bring at least eleven handkerchiefs.”


Victor Navasky, publisher emeritus of the political weekly The Nation, was a teenage usher who collected contributions for the Bergson Group after each performance. “The buckets were always full,” he told me. “The audiences were extremely enthusiastic about the play’s message. For me, too, it was a political awakening about the right of the Jews to have their own state.”

After New York City, “Flag” was performed in Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Baltimore (and, reportedly, in a DP camp in Europe). Brando’s contractual obligations prevented him from taking part in the out of town shows. He was replaced by Sidney Lumet.

Lumet was just 22 at the time, but as the son of Yiddish actors Baruch Lumet and Eugenia Wermus, he had been on stage since childhood and made his Broadway debut at age 11. Lumet told me that having grown up in the world of the Yiddish theater, it was “a special thrill” to perform alongside Paul Muni in “Flag.” (He did not know Brando well at that point, but Lumet would later direct him in the 1960 film “The Fugitive Kind.”) 

When Lumet and the other cast members of the Broadway hit arrived in Baltimore, local reporters were clamoring for interviews. Lumet spoke to the Baltimore Sun about the inspiring struggle to rebuild the Jewish homeland. “This is the only romantic thing left in the world,” he said. “The homecoming to Palestine, the conquest of a new frontier, against all obstacles.”

On the eve of their performance at Baltimore’s Maryland Theater, controversy erupted when it turned out that the theater restricted African-Americans to the balcony. Neither Hecht nor the cast would tolerate such discrimination. The Bergson Group and the NAACP teamed up to protest: the NAACP threatened to picket, and a Bergson official announced he would bring two black friends to sit with him at the play. The management gave in, allowing African-American patrons to sit wherever they chose. NAACP leaders hailed the “tradition-shattering victory” and used it to facilitate the desegregation of other Baltimore theaters. Lumet, reflecting on the episode six decades later, told me was “very proud” of his part in the protest and “pleasantly surprised that it was so successful.”

For the Bergson Group and its supporters, the fight for civil rights in Baltimore was just as important as their fight for Jewish rights in Palestine. As Ben Hecht put it: “To fight injustice to one group of human beings affords protection to every other group.”

Sidney Lumet’s admirers will remember his extraordinary talents as a filmmaker when they enjoy watching “Serpico,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” or “Twelve Angry Men.” But it’s also worth remembering the role he played in the real-life fight for justice six decades ago. 
Now all the plays being written for political purposes are anti-Israel.

We can learn a lot from the Bergson Group in the 1940s.

The cowardice of Lauryn Hill (update)

From hip-hop artist Lauryn Hill's Facebook page:

Dear Friends and Fans in Israel,
When deciding to play the region, my intention was to perform in both Tel Aviv and Ramallah. Setting up a performance in the Palestinian Territory, at the same time as our show in Israel, proved to be a challenge. I've wanted very much to bring our live performance to this part of the world, but also to be a presence supporting justice and peace. It is very important to me that my presence or message not be misconstrued, or a source of alienation to either my Israeli or my Palestinian fans. For this reason, we have decided to cancel the upcoming performance in Israel, and seek a different strategy to bring my music to ALL of my fans in the region. May healing, equanimity, and the openness necessary for lasting resolution and reconciliation come to this region and its people.
Respectfully,
Ms. Lauryn Hill
The concert was announced in the beginning of March and cancelled on Sunday, three days before it was to be performed.

What Hill didn't say was that she was subject to a huge campaign to bully her into canceling the concert from the BDS crowd.

The excuse that she canceled because of the issue of not being able to perform in Ramallah is obviously a lie. If that was her intent all along, then she wouldn't have announced the Tel Aviv concert until arrangements had been made for the Ramallah concert. Canceling a concert three days beforehand is a political statement whether she likes it or not. And it is a slap in the face of her Israeli fans.

Lauryn Hill didn't have the honesty to say, like Salif Kelta did, that she was threatened by hundreds of haters. Her decision had nothing to do with "peace and justice" or logistics. After all, she performed in Israel in 2007 without worrying about any Ramallah performance.

On the other hand, she didn't publicly embrace boycotting Israel, ,and she tried with this message to say that she still loves her Israeli fans.

The BDS crowd ignores that, and is calling their bullying tactics a victory. It is - because despite her pretense of canceling because she cares about her fans, she really did it to avoid being pilloried by professional haters who don't want peace but want to see the Jewish state destroyed.

She can't have it both ways. Her cancellation is more of a "source of alienation" to her fans than her performance would have been - no one is boycotting the many artists who have braved the threats and performed in Israel.  She caved to haters and antisemites and didn't have the honesty to admit it.

With this episode, Lauryn Hill showed herself to be nothing but a coward.

UPDATE: Dionne Warwick, who is performing in Israel this month,  had  a pointed response to Lauryn Hill:
A statement released to the press read that Ms. Warwick "would never fall victim to the hard pressures of Roger Waters, from Pink Floyd, or other political people who have their views on politics in Israel."

"Waters’ political views are of no concern to Ms. Warwick, as she holds her own unique views on world matters. Art has no boundaries. Ms. Warwick will always honor her contracts," the statement read.

"If Ms. Warwick had an objection to performing in Israel, no offer would have been entertained and no contract would have been signed," the statement concluded.
(h/t cba)

About that Hamas tunnel work accident...

From Ma'an:

The military wing of Hamas, al-Qassam Brigades, said Monday evening that a fighter affiliated to the group had been killed in a tunnel collapse in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip.

Al-Qassam Brigades identified the fighter as 25-year-old Mahmoud Adel Ghaban from Beit Lahiya.

A number of fighters in Gaza have been killed by accidents during military training exercises in recent years, and the tunnel networks, which are largely used for smuggling in the coastal enclave's south and military purposes in the north, are notoriously dangerous.
A tunnel in the northern Gaza Strip? Where would such a tunnel be going to?

Chag Sameach!

I wish all of my readers who celebrate Passover to have a happy and healthy holiday!



I'll still be posting for a few more hours, but I wanted to make sure that my readers in Israel and Europe get the message. I will not be posting anything during the first two days of the holiday, until at least Wednesday night.