Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, May 21, 2017

05/21 Links: Trump tells Muslim leaders to fight ‘Islamic extremism,’; Tomorrow's Secret 'Day of Rage'

From Ian:

Trump tells Muslim leaders to fight ‘Islamic extremism,’ ‘drive terror’ from their lands

US President Donald Trump called on Middle Eastern leaders to combat a “crisis of Islamic extremism” emanating from the region, casting the fight against terrorism as a “battle between good and evil,” not a clash between the West and Islam.
Trump’s address Sunday was the centerpiece of his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, his first stop overseas as president. During a meeting of more than 50 Arab and Muslim leaders, he sought to chart a new course for America’s role in the region, one aimed squarely on rooting out terrorism, with less focus on promoting human rights and democratic reforms.
“We are not here to lecture — we are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship,” Trump said, speaking in an ornate, multi-chandeliered room. “Instead, we are here to offer partnership — based on shared interests and values — to pursue a better future for us all.”
He urged Muslim countries to ensure that “terrorists find no sanctuary on their soil” and announced an agreement with Gulf countries to fight financing for extremists. Full text of Donald Trump’s speech in Saudi Arabia

Palestinians: Tomorrow's Secret 'Day of Rage'

What is really driving this Palestinian hatred of Trump and the U.S.? The Palestinians and the Arabs have long been at war with what they regard as U.S. bias in favor of Israel. What they mean is that U.S. support for Israel stands in their way of destroying Israel.
Abbas is not going to tell Trump about the "Day of Rage" because it flies in the face of his repeated claim that Palestinians are ready for peace and are even raising their children in a culture of peace.
Once again, Abbas is playing Americans and other Westerners for fools. His people remain unwilling to recognize Israel's very right to exist as a state for Jews. And so, Abbas will talk peace and coexistence while his people organize yet another "Day of Rage."

Red Cross closes its office in Ramallah over 'threats'

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) late Tuesday closed its office in Israel-occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, citing "threats".
In a statement, the ICRC attributed the move to "the serious threats against the staff, and the office in Ramallah."
“A group of people stormed the office, this [Tuesday] evening, threatened the safety of staff, and violently demanded them stop work and leave the office,” it added.
Christian Cardon, head of mission for the ICRC in Jerusalem and the West Bank, emphasized that “these acts are unacceptable and should be stopped immediately."
“In the recent weeks our employees and offices have been subjected to similar incidents in the West Bank,” Cardon said.
“The closure of Ramallah office, however, will not affect the work of the ICRC offices in the rest of the West Bank,” he stressed.

If Trump is the peacemaker, the Left doesn't want peace

Letty Cottin Pogrebin writes in Haaretz:

I’ve been an unapologetic, indefatigable peacenik for more than 30 years, advocating, agitating, writing, and lobbying for the United States to use its power and influence to help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet I do not want Donald Trump to come home with a deal.

I haven’t given up on the peace process. I’ve given up on this president -because I want the two-state solution to succeed.

Some center-left American Jewish leaders are giving Trump the benefit of the doubt – no doubt a wishful fantasy fueled by years of frustrated longing for peace. For me, it all boils down to trust.

No deal brokered by Trump can be trusted because the man himself can’t be trusted and neither can his word.

I'm as much of a peace skeptic as anyone, but this little rant reveals (yet again) the intellectual bankruptcy of the Left.

In the slight chance that Trump brokers a deal, the parties who sign the deal are the ones who are obligated to uphold it - not the facilitator. Trump's "word" has nothing to do with upholding a peace agreement - that it strictly between the parties.

When the Camp David Accords were signed, Jimmy Carter added his signature - as a witness, not as a party to the deal.

What Pogrebin is saying is that the idea of a Trump-brokered peace is so repugnant, that she would rather have no peace at all.

Which means that she hates Trump more than she wants peace.

Some "peacenik"!

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The Prophet Mohammed, a feminist and animal rights activist - according to Linda Sarsour

This video of the Left's darling Linda Sarsour was taken during a panel discussion a year ago at New York's Union Theological Seminary called "Standing Up for Justice: Muslim Women in Action." It just popped up on social media.

To cheers from the audience, Sarsour said, "Our prophet was a racial justice activist, a human rights activist, a feminist in his own right. He was a man that cared about the environment. He cared about animal rights...He was also the first victim of Islamophobia."

Wow.

Robert Spencer fisks each of these claims based on Quranic sources, but such a takedown is hardly necessary. It is obvious that Sarsour wants to whitewash (greenwash?) Islam and align the most socially repressive and backwards political movement in the world with the Left.

The real question is, why does the Left buy this utter hogwash?

The answer, which is no surprise, is that today's Left has left liberalism far, far behind, while pretending to be it's champion.

And there are too few real liberals willing to publicly call them on it.

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The missed opportunity to move the embassy

It is now apparent that Donald Trump will not keep his oft-repeated campaign (and post-campaign) promise to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem.

The whiplash from Trump's statement on the even of his inauguration "You know that I am not a person who breaks promises" to his waffling only a week later to the apparent decision to not move the embassy at this time is in line with the chaos that the White House is engulfed in daily.

According to Haaretz, in a story that seems credible, the battle over the issue is mostly between Trump's close advisors and his cabinet.

There is an irony here.

The promise of a Trump administration was to throw out the old playbook and question the conventional wisdom. And on the Middle East, this strategy has not been too bad so far - Arab leaders, anxious to get on Trump's good side, have been far more forthcoming in showing flexibility than they were under Obama's regime. The Arab plan floated to improve relations with Israel in the absence of even a full settlement freeze is, in many ways, a vindication of Trump's eagerness to reset the playbook and to embrace a regional alliance between Israel and Sunni states.

Even Mahmoud Abbas has made cosmetic conciliatory moves that he would never have done under Obama, whom he saw as someone who would put all the pressure on Israel for him.

The narrative of Israel as an occupier and the inevitability of a Palestinian state has been shaken by Trump, who still has not as far as I can tell uttered the words "Palestinian state."

Which is why his caving on the Jerusalem embassy issue is so disappointing.

The idea that the Arab street would erupt if the US moves the embassy is just another vapor threat, and Trump's vacillating on the issue has emboldened those whose entire careers have been built on threatening the West with violence if they don't get their way. Like Palestinian liar-in-chief Saeb Erekat, who said yesterday “We believe that moving the US embassy to Jerusalem would mean the end of the peace process,”

The Green Line isn't the reason the US doesn't have the embassy in Jerusalem today. It is the longstanding and illogical US policy that Jerusalem itself is not part of Israel, a vestige of the 1947 partition plan where Jerusalem would be an international city under UN auspices, an idea which was dead already in 1948.

The Palestinian insistence on the issue is not based on international law or on anything real - just the old playbook of threatening violence when they don't get their way.

The willingness of Arab leaders to please Trump in the first months of his term was the exact time to make this move, to explode the myth of the Arab street once and for all.

Netanyahu is right that an embassy move would help peace. It would show that the US is not hostage to the threats of the Palestinians. An assertive stance from the beginning, instead of the early waffling, would have shut up the critics on this largely symbolic issue. Not moving the embassy shows the Palestinians that their old playbook of threats still works in Washington, which is the worst message that the Trump White House could ever give.

It was a missed opportunity by any measure.

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05/20 Links: Lumish: The Galling Hypocrisy of Jewish Trump Haters; UNESCO’s Jerusalem Lies

From Ian:

Michael Lumish: The Galling Hypocrisy of Jewish Trump Haters

There are a few reasons for this. One is the obvious hypocrisy of your position. You honestly do not care that Obama supported the Muslim Brotherhood despite the fact that the Brotherhood has been screaming for the genocide of the Jews since the time of Hassan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb who wrote "Our Struggle Against the Jews."
Anyway, let's start a list and we can add to it each time that you spread around your toxic hatred.
1) Obama supported the Brotherhood.
2) Obama lobbied for UN 2334 which robs the Jewish people of our patrimony on the land of our ancestors.
And, for the moment, let's add:
3) Obama supported the empowerment of Iran and normalized their gaining of nuclear weaponry within the coming few years.
But the thing of it is since I know that Eron and the Haters are doing everything they possibly can to derail this presidency no matter what he does, it creates considerable sympathy in my heart for the guy.
So, I have to say, you're doing a terrific job.
I did not vote for either Trump or Hillary, but now I am beginning to wish that I had voted for Trump out of sympathy for the poor bastard due to the fact that poisonous wretches puke vomit on him on a daily basis.
From where I sit, by throwing such garbage at the guy continually you have essentially immunized him from criticism.
Congratulations.

The United Nations and the Palestinians

Book Excerpt: David Brog, 'Reclaiming Israel's History: Roots, Rights, and the Struggle for Peace'
There is one way in which the Palestinian refugees are unique. The United Nations has created a special organization for Palestinian refugees that both defines them differently and cares for them separately from every other refugee population on earth. In so doing, the international community has been a full partner in helping the Palestinian refugees preserve their status and nurture their grievances.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is the body that cares for all of the world's refugees except for the Palestinians. The UNHCR defines a "refugee" as someone who is driven from "the country of his nationality" by a well-founded fear of persecution. This definition imposes two important limitations on the category it creates. First, refugees do not transfer this status with their genes: any children born to them in exile are not considered refugees. Second, refugees lose their refugee status as soon as they are granted citizenship in a new country.
After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the United Nations established a new organization dedicated exclusively to the Palestinian refugees: the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). UNRWA defines a "Palestine refugee" as anyone who was displaced by the 1948 War plus the "descendants of Palestine refugee males, including legally adopted children." In other words, Palestinian refugees pass their refugee status to their children in perpetuity.
In addition, UNRWA continues to recognize a Palestinian refugee as such even if he or she has obtained citizenship in another country. For example, there are approximately two million Palestinian refugees currently living in Jordan. They are all counted as refugees even though over ninety percent of these individuals are full Jordanian citizens.

Who's Standing in the Way of Peace in the Middle East? Hint: It's Not Israel

The conventional wisdom about resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict goes something like this: "If Israel would just give the Palestinians land for their own state, there would be peace in the Middle East. Israel is the party standing in the way of lasting peace in the region."
United Nations ambassadors, world leaders, diplomats and even U.S. presidents have all touted a two-state solution as the way to bring lasting peace to the Middle East, and many repeat the familiar narrative that Israel is the main obstacle to that two-state, peaceful solution. But author David Brog says the problem with that narrative is that it's just not true.
Five times since 1937, Jews in the region have agreed to proposals to divide territory into two states – one Jewish, one Palestinian – living side-by-side in peace.
Every one of those offers has been rejected by Arab leaders.
The last land-for-peace offer was made by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in 2008, in which the Palestinians would have received 93 percent of the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) for a state, and eastern Jerusalem as its capital. That offer was flatly rejected by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Brog says it's time to set the record straight on this and other myths about Israel. He does that in a new book, Reclaiming Israel's History: Roots, Rights and the Struggle for Peace.

05/19 Links Pt2: Murray: The broadcaster brave enough to discuss Islamic violence; Amos Oz wants to talk

From Ian:

Douglas Murray: The British broadcaster brave enough to discuss Islamic violence

Last night Channel 4 broadcast a deep and seriously important programme. ‘Isis: The Origins of Violence’ was written and presented by the historian Tom Holland and can be viewed (by British viewers) here.
Five years ago, to coincide with his book ‘In The Shadow of the Sword’ about the early years of Islam, Holland presented a documentary for Channel 4 titled ‘Islam: The Untold Story’. That was something of a landmark in UK television. For while there had previously been some heated and angry studio discussions about Islam and plenty of fawningly hagiographic programmes about the religion’s founder presented by his apologists, here was a grown-up and scholarly treatment which looked at the issue as though there weren’t blasphemy police around every corner.
Sadly, part of the reception of that programme, and numerous events in the years since have kept such displays of scholarly truthfulness nearly as much of a rarity since as they were before. Which is one reason why Tom Holland deserves even more praise for returning to the subject of his earlier documentary.
And not just returning to it, but – in ‘Isis: The Origins of Violence’ – returning to the hardest part of that subject. In a nutshell he posed the question ‘Why do Isis, and groups like Isis, do what they do?’ And he answers this with the only honest answer anybody interested in truth could possibly come back with – which is that although they may be inspired by many things, their most important inspiration is a version of Islam whose roots can be traced to the origins of the religion, its foundational texts and the behaviour of Mohammed.

Response to Daniel Pipes: Why Palestinian Statehood Obviates Israeli Victory

With commendable daring, Pipes — an international scholar of repute — has opened up the mainstream discourse for the use of terms previously thought of as beyond-the-pale in “polite company.”
He unabashedly called for subjecting the Palestinians to “the bitter crucible of defeat, with all its deprivation, destruction, and despair” and does not shy away from prescribing that Israel “dismantle the PA’s security infrastructure…reduce and then shut off the water and electricity that Israel supplies…occupy and control the areas from which…gunfire, mortar shelling, and rockets…originate.”
This language is refreshing, beneficial and will contribute greatly to breaking up the semantic “logjam” that the tyranny of political correctness has imposed on the discussion of Israeli policy options. By dispelling semantic taboos that restrict open debate, the CIVC rhetoric can contribute greatly to a more robust and unfettered appraisal of such options.
Debating disagreement
Pipes concisely sums up the principal point of disagreement between us: “Sherman and I directly disagree on only one point — Israel accepting the possibility of a Palestinian state.” He goes on to speculate that “the allure of a state after the conflict ends offers benefits to both sides. Israelis will be free of ruling unwanted subjects. Palestinians have a reason to behave.”
He elaborates on the benefits he envisions emerging from the establishment of a Palestinian state, pursuant to an Israeli victory, writing that “when Palestinians do finally give up the fight against Israel, their centrality to the conflict will enfeeble anti-Zionism from Morocco to Indonesia.” He admits “[t]hat shift won’t happen instantly, to be sure,” but somewhat optimistically suggests that “sustaining a more-Catholic-than-the-pope position gets harder over time. A Palestinian defeat marks the beginning of the end of the wider Arab and Muslim war on Israel.”
I confess to a certain amount of surprise at encountering this view from someone as knowledgeable and well-informed as Pipes, for he appears to be embracing the unfounded thesis that Arab/Muslim enmity towards the Jewish state centers solely on the issue of self-determination for the Palestinian-Arabs.
Sadly, this is demonstrably untrue, or at least only very partially true.

Amos Oz wants to talk

It has been 50 years since Israel's glorious victory in the Six-Day War -- a victory that drastically changed Israel and flooded its discourse with the kind of spiritual, cultural and political energy that had not been seen here before. Author Amos Oz is an obvious spokesman for the camp that supports the division of Israel into two states, as he has been since the moment that war ended. Recently, Oz published his latest book, "Dear Zealot," which includes "three pleas" on the key issues that spark Israel's emotions.
I am well aware of the Right's hurt feelings over some of the very critical things that Oz has said and written over the years. Over the course of our conversation, however, I learned that he is also terribly hurt by the things that many in the Right have said about him. It is not the insults or the rage he elicits that hurt, but rather deeper sentiments. But before we delve into the heart of our conversation, I will say that in the current landscape of superficial news media discourse and amid the social media circus, it is comforting to know that there are other arenas for serious debate about our identity and our future.
My copy of Oz's latest book is interspersed with handwritten comments. I strongly urge my friends within the Israeli Right to read it and argue about it. Oz's curiosity about his rivals is an encouraging blast from the past. One of the socio-historical observations I have often written about is the current Left's loss of curiosity about its rivals on the Right, while the Right continues to actively study the Left and remains eager to argue. So Amos Oz invited me -- why would I refuse? (h/t Elder of Lobby)

From the World Economic Forum:

The World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa will be held at the Dead Sea in Jordan on 19-21 May 2017, in partnership with the King Abdullah II Fund for Development (KAFD). The meeting will convene over 1,000 government, business and civil society leaders from more than 50 countries.

Reflecting the central role of Jordan in the region, and with the continued support and participation of Their Majesties King Abdullah II and Queen Rania Al Abdullah, as well as the Government of Jordan, the meeting will provide a collaborative platform for shaping the future of the Middle East and North Africa through public-private cooperation.

“If the hope is fulfilled that the region during the next months will have some kind of stability, it is essential to stimulate the economy through public-private cooperation to make any peace effort realistic and sustained,” said Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.

I can find no indication that Israel is part of this conference.

However much it might be accepted as just the way things are nowadays, it seems more than strange that an esteemed world body like the WEF could not make an effort to include an economic powerhouse like Israel that can contribute so much to the topics being discussed - especially since the Forum is being hosted by a country that Israel is at peace with.

The three conference focuses are:

1. To seize the innovation and entrepreneurship opportunities that are powered by the digital revolution. 2. To work with government and business leaders to create actionable solutions to accelerate economic reforms and build inclusive economies.3. Last (and just as crucial) is to support humanitarian efforts and diplomatic dialogue towards de-escalating conflicts and achieving a vision for shared stability.

How can WEF not invite Israel for this???

It is great to talk about normalization, but Israel needs to push to be included in these sorts of events. As the Arab world is already warming up to Israel and increasing under-the-table ties, the time is ripe for Israel to make efforts to be included. It makes Arab states realize that Israel is permanent, and there is nothing that can bring peace better than that realization.

And the WEF should be forced to answer why they would not invite Israel. The answer that "it angers the Arabs" never was an acceptable response, and even less so now as there is so much Israel can contribute to the topics being discussed - and the host is ostensibly at peace with Israel.

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05/19 Links Pt1: Glick: Trump and Israel: Enemies of the system; Jerusalem - The Eternal United Capital of Israel

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Trump and Israel: Enemies of the system

The main thing that is not in dispute is that during his meeting with Lavrov, Trump discussed Islamic State’s plan to blow up passenger flights with bombs hidden in laptop computers.
It’s hard to find fault with Trump’s actions. First of all, the ISIS plot has been public knowledge for several weeks.
Second, the Russians are enemies of ISIS. Moreover, Russia has a specific interest in diminishing ISIS’s capacity to harm civilian air traffic. In October 2015, ISIS terrorists in Egypt downed a Moscow-bound jetliner, killing all 254 people on board with a bomb smuggled on board in a soda can.
And now on to the issues that are in dispute.
Hours after the Trump-Lavrov meeting, The Washington Post reported that in sharing information about ISIS’s plans, Trump exposed intelligence sources and methods to Russia and in so doing, he imperiled ongoing intelligence operations carried out by a foreign government.
The next day, The New York Times reported that the sources and methods involved were Israeli. In sharing information about the ISIS plot with Lavrov, the media reported, Trump endangered Israel.
There are two problems with this narrative.
First, Trump’s National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster insisted that there was no way that Trump could have exposed sources and methods, because he didn’t know where the information on the ISIS plot that he discussed with Lavrov originated.
Second, if McMaster’s version is true – and it’s hard to imagine that McMaster would effectively say that his boss is an ignoramus if it weren’t true – then the people who harmed Israel’s security were the leakers, not Trump.

Mordechai Kedar: The sun shone, the trees blossomed, and the butchers slaughtered

Bashar al-Assad is accused of burning bodies in a crematorium. The only new thing in this report is the disclosure that there is a crematorium operating in the Arab world. Up to now, we always thought that crematoria were peculiar to Europe, to be found in Auschwitz, Treblinka, Chelmno, Sobibor and the other death factories built by the efficient, refined and oh-so professional Nazis. Here in the Middle East, we thought, they murder in ordinary ways,shooting, slaughtering, beheading, hanging, strangling, drowning or throwing off roofs. But a crematorium? That's a new one.
In actual fact, a crematorium is not an instrument of murder. The unfortunates burned in a crematorium have already been murdered, probably by hanging,at least according to the reports leaked from Saydnaya Prison, known in today's Syria as "The Slaughterhouse." Burning the bodies is not meant to murder the victims, but to destroy the evidence of their murder. Turning bodies into ashes is an attempt to cover up the crime, wipe off the fingerprints, erase the marks of torture, and close the investigative file - because there are no bodies.
A crematorium is meant to eliminate the possibility of a grave for the dead person, to ensure that his name will not be engraved on a tombstone, to strangle the required questions about who killed him, where, how and most importantly - why he was killed. A crematorium is meant to allow its operator to be accepted internationally as a legitimate leader, a politician who survived and an equal among those who are "more equal than others," because there are no proofs extant of the Satanic evils for which he is responsible. They have gone up in smoke.
A crematorium can only be operated in a system that silences opinions, where only a select group makes the decisions and a small group of engineers executes them, while the day-to-day running of the system is in the hands of the victims themselves up until the day it is their turn to be eliminated and enter the evidence-destroying assembly line. This ensures that they will not leak information on what they have done and on what has been done to them by others who will themselves be eliminated the same way. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

JPost Editorial: Trump’s Kotel politics

The battles over the Western Wall reflect the traditional clash between the policy of the State Department and other parts of the US government which are more sympathetic to Israeli policy in Jerusalem. Since the UN Partition plan of 1947 called on Jerusalem to be part of a “special international regime administered by the United Nations,” the US has never recognized Israeli sovereignty in any part of the city. The first US ambassador to Israel, James McDonald, was instructed not to attend the opening session of the Knesset in Jerusalem in 1949. “If I were to go to Jerusalem to attend the function, that might be regarded as US tacit approval of the Israel claim to Jerusalem,” he recalled in his memoirs, My Mission in Israel 1948-1951. US policy has changed since then, but not in its overall rejection of Israeli rights to the Kotel. Since the Oslo period, the US has indicated it would be willing to move its embassy and recognize Israeli rights in Jerusalem if Israel signed a peace agreement with the Palestinians and the Palestinians agree to the changes in US policy. That gives Palestinians veto power over Israel’s rights to Judaism’s holiest accessible site in the world.
Trump’s visit should include a visit to the Western Wall even if he is not accompanied by President Reuven Rivlin or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump is visiting Saudi Arabia and the Vatican, where he will make symbolic statements about Islam and Christianity, so it is fitting that he should also go to Judaism’s holy site.
When it comes to gaining official recognition for Israel’s rights to the Kotel from the US and the international community, Israel faces an uphill battle. The Palestinians and Jordan, which is a steward of the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, deeply oppose Israel’s claims and there is little prospect that any peace agreement will affirm them. Since the 1930s, Islamic activists have sought to reduce Jewish rights to the Western Wall, calling it an Islamic site. The hostile resolutions at UNESCO have also sought to reduce the Jewish connection to Jerusalem.
Against this onslaught Israel has very few allies in the international community that will affirm Jerusalem’s rights over the Old City or east Jerusalem, or even the Western Wall itself. That isn’t likely to change. But Israel can try to make inroads with allies such as Ambassador Haley and the administration to chip away at the iron wall the Palestinians have erected against Israel’s right to the Kotel.

Jerusalem - The Eternal United Capital of Israel

A Jordanian writer, Assad Aezzona, writes a bizarre rant in Alsaa.net about how Zionists are relentlessly attacking Jordan.

I seem to have missed the story, but he is referring to the Jews who are insulted that Jordan led the UNESCO resolution that denies any Jewish connection to Jerusalem.

What is funnier is that while he considers Zionists defending their capital to be a scurrilous attack on Jordan, he nonchalantly begins his article with an antisemitic stream of consciousness - but substituting "Jews" with "sons of Zion."

We say it again and again with evidence as solid as the mountains, it's not safe to coexist with the sons of Zion throughout history, and they proved it at all stages of their lives with their betrayals, [while we] gave them security and safety, they showed their hostility towards humanity through the lies of being God's chosen people, and that God the merciful created everyone just to serve them, and the fact that such heresies are found only in the Babylonian Talmud written by insane rabbis ...

Aezzona goes on to lots of unrelated topics, including claiming that it was Jordanian intelligence that was compromised by Trump in his meeting with Lavrov, not Israeli intelligence. Also that Jordan's king should have won the Nobel Peace Prize instead of Begin and Peres.

But he is very, very upset over "Zionists" attacking Jordan.

Previously, Aezzona has written that ISIS head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is a rabbi and that he looks forward to the final battle between Muslims and Jews.

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J-Street is very upset at UN Ambassador Nikki Haley for breaking with longstanding US policy and saying unequivocally that the Western Wall is part of Israel.

On their blog, they explain why - and this supposedly pro-Israel group supports the inexcusable position that all of Jerusalem is up for negotiation, not just the parts Israel liberated 50 years ago.

Despite repeated promises on the campaign trail, the Trump administration has, for the most part, taken a cautious approach towards the question of relocating the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Yesterday, reports circulated that the Trump administration planned to hold off on the move for the time being. That’s wise and in-line with precedent. Presidential candidates often promise to relocate the embassy if elected, but to date, nobody has.

There’s a good reason for that.

The US has long maintained that Jerusalem is a final-status issue that must be resolved by the parties in the context of negotiations. It has refrained from any decision – like moving the embassy – that could signal that the United States has, in any way, prejudged the outcome.

US policy is clear. The United States – like nearly every other country – does not recognize the sovereignty of any party in any part of Jerusalem (East or West). It has never recognized the Western Wall as part of the state of Israel....Until a peace agreement is reached, Jerusalem’s status will remain in flux.

Polls of Americans a few years ago - not only American Jews, but Americans - show a strong preference for Jerusalem remaining the unified capital of Israel under Israeli control.

Should Jerusalem remain the undivided capital of Israel or should the United States force Israel to give parts of Jerusalem, including Christian and Jewish holy sites, to the Palestinian Authority? (Independent Media Review Analysis, September 2011)

	September 2011
Remain undivided	70.9%
Force/give parts	9.4%
Don't know/refused	19.7%

Do you believe that Jerusalem should stay entirely under Israel's control or that Jerusalem should be divided between Israel and the Palestinians? (The Israel Project)

		June 2011
Under Israel's control		50%
Divided		34%

Should Jerusalem remain as Israel's undivided capital in any peace agreement with the Palestinians? (McLaughlin & Associates, October 2010)

Yes	50.9%
No	20.4%

J-Street isn't only opposing what a majority of Jews want. They aren't only opposing what a majority of Israelis want. They aren't opposing what the majority of Congress wants.

They are opposing even what Americans want.

Because, by any measure, J-Street's positions are nearly indistinguishable from those of the Palestinian Authority and diametrically opposed to those of any conceivable Israeli government.

J-Street claims to be pro-Israel - but it wants Israel to negotiate Jerusalem, as if one's heart is negotiable.

The only thing remotely Jewish about J-Street is the sheer chutzpah they have to call themselves "pro-Israel."

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Nickolay Mladenov, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, tweeted yesterday:

I condemn the reported killing of a #WestBank #Palestinian by an #Israeli settler. Those responsible must be investigated and prosecuted
— Nickolay E. MLADENOV (@nmladenov) May 18, 2017

He condemns the act before he calls for an investigation into what happened.

Luckily, we have video.

The crowd allows the cars to move slowly through - until the Israeli's car enters the area (around 0:50.) . They surround him and he is forces to stop.

For about 20 terrifying seconds he is surrounded by screaming people kicking and hitting his car with sticks and stones.

Then, seemingly deliberately, an ambulance crosses over the median from the other side and blocks the Israeli car, leaving him a sitting duck. (His much smaller car would not easily be able to cross the concrete median himself, and of course there were more people there too.)

Desperate to get out of this situation, he moves his car forward through the crowd, hitting several, right up to the ambulance but cannot get around the new roadblock. The ambulance driver, instead of letting him pass to give them room to deal with the injured, leaves the vehicle only a second after the Israeli car is right next to it. The Arabs, even angrier, surround his car again, hitting his windows with sticks and throwing stones, before he apparently shoots his weapon, causing them to disperse. (It is possible that he shot the gun from his initial position and IDF tear gas dispersed the crowd, I'm not sure of the timing, but clearly he was in a desperate, life threatening situation before he fired his weapon.)

There is no way that the Israeli could have acted any differently. (He says he shot into the air. Presumably he shot after opening his window a crack, leaving him with little angle to shoot directly in the air, and that is how the stone-thrower was killed.)

Instead of calling for an investigation first, Mladenov emphasizes that the person who was about to be lynched was a "settler," implying that his life is worth less than anyone else's, a curious position for a UN official.

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05/18 Links Pt2: PA schools named after terrorists and Nazi collaborators; All 50 governors sign anti-BDS statement

From Ian:

50 Jerusalem Facts for the 50th Anniversary of Its Reunification

Israelis will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jerusalem’s reunification on May 23-24 of this year. Leading up to the holy city’s semi-centennial milestone, here are 50 facts highlighting the rich tapestry of Israel’s capital:
Reunification
1. Jerusalem Day is an Israeli national holiday that commemorates the reunification of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War.
2. During the Jordanian occupation of Jerusalem, Jews were not allowed to access their holy sites, including the Western Wall.
History
3. Jerusalem has been attacked 52 times, captured and recaptured 44 times, besieged 23 times and destroyed twice during the past 3,000 years.
4. Israel is the only country to enter the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees; you can enjoy some of them during a picnic or barbecue in the Jerusalem Forest.
5. The name “Jerusalem” most likely comes from “Urusalim,” a word of Semitic origin meaning “Foundation of Shalem (wholeness)” — or “Foundation of God.”

Rabbi Sacks on Jerusalem: The 50th Anniversary of Reunification (h/t Elder of Lobby)

As we approach Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) on the 23rd / 24th May, and the 50th anniversary of the reunification of our beloved city, here are a few thoughts about what Jerusalem means to me. (This video includes captions in Hebrew. If you wish to receive an MP4 version of this video for use in your community, school or organisation on Yom Yerushalayim, please email info@rabbisacks.org and put 'Jerusalem 50 video' in the subject line.)

Thousands of Six Day War documents declassified

Israel on Thursday released thousands of previously classified official documents charting political decisions during the 1967 Six-Day War when it reclaimed Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem..
Made public by the Israel State Archives ahead of the 50th anniversary of the June 5-10 conflict, the 150,000 pages contain minutes of the wartime security cabinet and transcripts of other ministerial meetings, a government statement said.
At the end of the fighting with Egypt, Jordan and Syria the Jewish state was left in control of Judea and Samaria, the Gaza Strip, eastern Jerusalem, part of the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula.
The publication gives access to unpublished information on the war, long the object of research and historical writing.
"For the first time in 50 years it will be possible to closely follow the dynamic within the government regarding the Six-Day War," chief archivist Yaakov Lazovik said in the statement.