All about the Land
As the Palestinians continue to avoid any possibility for peace, the Americans and Europeans weigh in with differing opinions
An Israel Hayom op-ed says, “The Israeli Left is certain that the conflict between us and the Arabs is over something specific, like …the right to the land, and that Jews and Arabs can compromise and make up.” Yet this is “western reasoning” where people see what they gain against what the other gains and since “everyone wants to live…in peace,” they seek a compromise, even if painful, “because that’s better than an ongoing bloody conflict.”
An Arab/Islamic mindset is different. “Jihad [holy war] takes precedence over everything,” which explains a report on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad [PIJ] Gaza summer camps. There are no pools or gyms, music or dancing, instead thousands of youth “train as an army for Judgment Day.” Activities include obstacle courses, and target practice with real weapons. “There are no lectures on reconciliation or peace with Jews,” as they prepare for one goal: “to oust the Jews” – completely. So far, more than 300,000 kids have been summer camp brainwashed. (“The Left lives in a fairy tale,” Dud Elharar, Israel Hayom Op-ed, 30 July 2019)
Israeli-Palestinian peace is still a pipedream
Many Arab nations want relations with Israel and are fed up that the Palestinian issue prevents this, yet most Western nations, other than the US, still demand the “2-state” solution. At the UN, Germany criticized J. Greenblatt, then-US envoy for ME peace, on the US administration’s approach to IsraeliPalestinian peace, saying America had “left the international consensus.” Later, Greenblatt noted, “[We] couldn’t even get an international consensus to condemn Hamas,” a terror organization vowing to destroy Israel, and firing thousands of rockets at it. “If there’s no international consensus on that, there’s no international consensus on a resolution.” (“US peace envoy: There’s ‘no international consensus’ on ME conflict,” TOI, 10 Aug. 2019)
Josh Hammer said the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions [BDS] movement “seeks to economically, diplomatically, militarily, and culturally ostracize, undermine, and (yes) destroy the world’s sole Jewish state.” It was “unequivocally renounced” by the US House of Representatives, in a 398–17 vote. Yet the House also called on Israel to implement a “two-state solution.”
In reply, “21 conservative members of Israel’s parliament … sent a terse letter to thank the House for its anti-BDS resolution” but also chastised it over the pro-“two-state solution” language, saying “establishment of a Palestinian state would be far more dangerous to Israel than BDS.”
Hammer: The “two-state solution,” based on the Oslo Peace Accords, expects the Jewish state of Israel “to provide an Islamic “stronghold” in its “New Jerseysized nation-state,” by retreating to “legally meaningless,” under international law, 1967 borders, leaving it “nine miles wide at its narrowest point,” an area so indefensible that many Israeli military and political leaders have called it “Auschwitz borders.” Also, Judea and Samaria, “the biblical Jewish heartland” would be Judenrein – free of Jews – in a future Palestine, but this area “is geographically indispensable for the Jewish state’s security.“
Also, Palestinians are not ready to have their own state. They have embraced jihadism “as a virtuous way of life.” They refuse to accept Israel as a Jewish state, but seek its destruction through warfare and lawfare. They’ve not developed any kind of civilized society but instead, invest in the “subsidization of Jew-killing jihadi ‘martyrs‘.” (“Yes, a Palestinian State is ‘far more dangerous to Israel’ than the BDS movement,” J. Hammer, The Daily Wire, 20 Aug. 2019)
Gaza – the truth
Israel’s disengagement from Gaza has been a disaster for both Israelis and Gazans. Several times a year, the Hamas terrorists now in charge there fire rockets at Israeli civilians and each Friday they hold hate-filled destructive demonstrations along the Gaza security fence. Yet what is Israel to do?
Until it decides to repossess its possessions (Obad. 1:17), as Gaza is part of Judah’s inheritance (Josh. 15:1, 47; Judg. 1:18), all it can do is “mow the lawn” to keep the terrorist weeds from growing too big. If it conquers Gaza, the world will demand it to be given to the Palestinian Authority [PA], which a deceived world views as moderates! Also, the division between Gaza and the “West Bank” is another reason why a “Palestine” cannot be created as it would slice Israel in two by a terrorist corridor from the “West Bank” to Gaza.
Israeli Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh writes that Iran’s proxy in Gaza, the PIJ, the largest terror group besides Hamas, promised the people in Gaza “more suffering, violence and bloodshed,” until Israel is annihilated. It celebrated its 32nd anniversary in October, with multitudes at their “Our Jihad – the promise will soon be fulfilled,” rally, renewing their pledge to “liberate Palestine from the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River, a well-known euphemism for the destruction of Israel.”
What is unreal is how many Gazans, suffering from “poverty and unemployment,” still back PIJ. “Their hatred for Israel seems to be stronger than any wish to better their situation…” PIJ has not used Iranian funds to build schools, hospitals, or create jobs. “Instead, the money went into building tunnels, smuggling and manufacturing 1,000s of rockets and mortars to attack Israel.“
Hamas congratulated the PIJ and affirmed the same threats to destroy Israel. Abu Toameh asks, “When will the international community” see that with groups like “Hamas and PIJ running the show, [Gaza] will remain the humanitarian disaster that is so bitterly blamed on Israel?” (“What Iran’s friends are doing in Gaza,” K. Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute, 7 Oct. 2019)
EU’s outrageous anti-settlement law Alan Baker, international lawyer and Israel’s former ambassador to Canada, blasted the European Court of Justice [ECJ] ruling of Nov. 12, which said, “Foodstuffs originating in the territories occupied by the State of Israel” must be labeled as coming from an Israeli “settlement.” This EU-driven policy “is intended to harm Israel and Israel only, as a distinct political action and as a means of pressuring Israel politically,” and stems from a one-sided premise of Israel’s settlements as contrary to international law. Yet there are other “legal opinions as to the legitimacy of Israel’s settlement policy in accordance with the accepted international norms regarding the administration of territory.“
Also, the settlements are “an agreed negotiating issue between Israel and the PLO,” as per Oslo, making the ECJ’s ruling an “interference in, and prejudgment of an agreed negotiating issue between Israel and the Palestinians.” (“The EU labels itself biased,” A. Baker, BFP Israel News Focus & Prayer Update, 14 Nov. 2019)
A JP Editorial said EJC’s timing was terrible, as “half of Israel was shut down” by rocket fire from Gaza on its civilians. This decision, “controversial at any time,” came as Israeli children stayed home from school and ran for shelters when sirens blared.
Former Jewish Agency chairman Sharansky said that ‘singling out Israel’ is one of the “three Ds” which separate “antisemitism from legitimate criticism of Israel: delegitimization of Israel, demonization of Israel and subjecting Israel to double standards.” These ECJ double standards are obvious since it has no “labeling mandate for other areas under territorial conflict” anywhere else in the world.
Europeans have a “history of telling Jews where they can – and more often, can’t – live, and with whom they can do business…” Labeling products from Judea and Samaria encourages boycotts, which were aimed at Jews in Europe’s darkest period of history.
“By declaring Jewish businesses,” in reality, Jewish life, “in Judea & Samaria as illegitimate,” the EU agrees with the PA that these areas be Judenrein, which is what PA President Abbas repeatedly says. How can EU courts agree with Judenrein areas today? What Europe fails to see is that the time when they “could tell Jews where they can live or… do business” is over. “Europe should be ashamed.” (“Shame on Europe,” JP Editorial, 14 Nov. 2019)
Trump administration: Israeli settlements not illegal
As the EU was pressing Israel to forsake its biblical heartland, US Secretary of State Pompeo said Israel’s settlements are “not illegal.” Since two negatives negate each other, the US just affirmed the settlements are “legal,” which is true biblically and in line with international law.
Israel’s former UN Ambassador Dore Gold added that “the last sovereign over the territory,” the Ottoman Empire, “renounced its legal rights to the land” after WWI. Then in 1922, the League of Nations backed “close settlement” of Jews in this area, then known as the British Mandate. “Those historical rights of the Jewish people were preserved by Article 80 of the UN Charter.”
Jordan seized the West Bank after the 1949 Arab-Israeli War, and annexed it, yet “even the Arab states refused to recognize its sovereignty there. When Israel captured this area in 1967 in a war of self-defense, there was no recognized sovereign… “(“A long awaited correction,” D. Gold, Israel Hayom Op-ed, 18 Nov. 2019)
Melanie Phillips says Pompeo’s statement was “greeted with adulation by Israel’s defenders and denunciation by its enemies.” Yet both sides miss “the elephant in the room…” She agrees that, “Israel isn’t occupying the disputed territories because, under international law,” only land belonging to a sovereign state can be “occupied,” and this area “never belonged to the Palestinians for the very good reason that there never was a Palestinian nation to which it could have belonged.”
She then unveiled the elephant. Pompeo thinks US recognition would lead to a peaceful settlement; he sees this as a territorial dispute to be “resolved by negotiation.” Yet this is a “war of extermination against Israel. The only appropriate response is to defeat those trying to exterminate it.” Negotiations only reward “their aggression by offering them part of the territory they are attacking.” It is a sign of surrender, encouraging additional attacks, which is “what the West has been doing for decades.” (“Settlements are not just a land dispute up for negotiation,” M. Phillips, Israel Hayom Op-ed, 23 Nov. 19)
Anti-Semitism’s modern manifestations
Liora Henig-Cohen notes that the “rising tide of anti-Semitism across the globe is undeniable…from the radical fringes of Right or Left, or…the various streams of Islam and Christianity.” To combat this trend, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance of over 30 governments, in 2016 adopted a “working definition,” of how to identify anti-Semitism, adding the “de-legitimization of the State of Israel as a new form…” IHRA also included “denying the right of the Jewish people to self-determination, comparing Israel’s present-day policies to the Nazis, applying double moral standards toward Israel and more.” Recently, Trump by executive order signed a bill against anti-Semitism on college campuses, linked to IHRA’s definition.
Many nations and global entities “adopted the definition,” yet the World Council of Churches, an association of about 350 non-Catholic churches, rejected it. “Senior WCC officials view Israel as solely responsible for ‘difficulties facing Christians in the Holy Land’,” and refuse to admit Christian persecution by the PA, and reject all links between the land of Israel and the Jewish people. (“Anti-Semitism under the guise of human rights,” L. Henig-Cohen, Israel Hayom Op-ed, 7 Aug. 2019)
Ginette Weiner says the “new coalitions of perpetual victims” need someone “to blame for their woes” so they blame the Jews, who are now maligned as “privileged whites.” She adds, “We had the ‘privilege’ of being persecuted for centuries by Christians for rejecting Jesus; by Muslims for rejecting Muhammad; denied the right to vote, hold citizenship or own property; crowded into ghettos; denied admission to universities; rounded up and killed in pogroms; scattered to the ends of the earth; beheaded, raped, enslaved; and butchered by the millions in the Holocaust… Today we have the very special ‘white privilege’ of record numbers of hate crimes against Jews worldwide…” (“All who are ‘woke’: Go back to sleep,” G. Weiner, Israel Hayom Op-ed, 11 Aug. 2019)
Even the UN is concerned over rising anti-Semitism, releasing a report “by the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion,” in which he expresses alarm of “the growing use of anti-Semitic tropes by white supremacists including neo-Nazis and members of radical Islamist groups in slogans, images, stereotypes and conspiracy theories meant to incite and justify hostility, discrimination, and violence against Jews.”
Maldivian A. Shaheed, the expert tasked by the UN, authored this “unprecedented” report, even criticizing the BDS movement, saying that while boycotts are “legitimate forms of political expression,” if they are based on “antiSemitic tropes or stereotypes,” reject Israel’s right to exist, or discriminate Jews because they are Jews, they should be condemned.
He added, “Antisemitism is toxic to democracy and…threatens all societies in which it goes unchallenged.” (“UN report alarmed by growing anti-Semitism criticizes BDS,” JP, 24 Sept. 2019).
A recent American Jewish Committee survey of American Jews revealed that 90% see anti-Semitism as a problem in the US, with many fearing its continued growth. (“9 out of 10 US Jews worry about anti-Semitism, and most think it’s getting worse,” TOI, 23 Oct. 2019).
An Anti-Defamation League survey said 25% of Europeans have “strongly negative attitudes toward Jews,” with Central and Eastern Europeans showing a definite increase in anti-Semitic beliefs. Also, European Muslims are even more “prone to accepting anti-Semitic stereotypes…” (“ADL survey: 25% of Europeans antiSemitic, East European bigotry rises sharply,” TOI, 21 Nov. 2019).
Arutz 7 News, reporting on the same survey, says the Muslim violence rate is three times higher than people with “extremist right wing views.” And except for Germany, “where percentages of left wing vs. right wing attacks were essentially equal,” Anti-Semitic left wing violence is higher than right wing violence or threats. (“ADL finds extreme Antisemitism among Muslims 3X national rate,” Arutz 7, 23 Nov. 2019).
Islamic reformer M. Nawaz stated, “All racism is equally evil. Anti-Semitism is the most dangerous form of racism because it has the capacity to unite fascists of the farleft, far-right and Islamist extremes.” (“The ‘Old-New’ kind of anti-Semitism in NYC,” D. Hilkind, Isr