How Long Did Israel Think Palestinians Would Put Up With Their Current Situation?: Jon Allen, The Globe and Mail, May 18, 2021An example of the widespread media use of the “Yes, but…” approach to Israel-Arab conflict (“Yes, both parties are to blame, but the real culprit isn’t the Jew-hating Hamas terrorists, it’s Israel…”) – article written by former Canadian ambassador to Israel Jon Allen.
“Nothing justifies the more than 2,000 [actually, ca.4,500–Ed.] rockets that have been launched at Israel…The attacks by Hamas should be condemned as pure political opportunism …The causes of the disturbances are multiple…but they are ultimately centered on the question of Palestinian rights and the lack thereof…[The initial Temple Mount confrontation] was a provocation…the second cause was the pending…Supreme Court decision on whether four large Palestinian families would be evicted from their homes [in Sheikh Jarrah,] homes they have lived in for decades…[this is] perceived correctly by Palestinians as part of a larger effort to surround the Old City with ”Jewish only” settlements… [Hamas used the situation] to take advantage of the Palestinians’ anger and long-standing frustration…to fill the vacuum left by Fatah…Hamas prefers a Netanyahu government, just as Mr. Netanyahu prefers to quietly support Hamas. Both want to weaken Fatah, and neither is interested in a two-state solution… The occupation is 54 years long. There has been no path towards peace or even a glimmer of hope in this direction for 12 years—since Mr. Netanyahu became Prime Minister…For how long do Israelis think this situation is sustainable?….”
To Truly Undermine The Threat Of Belarus And Russia, Sanctions Must Have Real Teeth: Doug Saunders, The Globe and Mail, May 28, 2021
Saunders agrees with France’s President Emmanuel Macron, that insofar as sanctions on Russia and Iran are concerned, “We are at the limits of [feasible] policy [but] as it happens, we have a successful policy before us.”
“The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Acton (JCPOA) is uniquely successful because it reverses the usual logic of sanctions…it promises to remove…punishments–to unfreeze assets and allow citizens access to foreign banks–if the offending country promises to cease the misbehavior….it is a scheme that promises to normalize relations on the basis of constant distrust….
“There isn’t a person in Israel who would have voted for you if they had known what you were going to do.” – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after Naftali Bennett, the Yamina leader announces his intent to join a “change” government together with opposition leader Yair Lapid of the Yesh Atid Party. (JNS, May 31, 2021)
“While we were engaged in these hostilities a few days ago, Iran sent an armed drone from Iraq or from Syria…, which our forces intercepted on the border between Israel and Jordan … that I think says everything on the true patron of terror in the Middle East and in the world: Iran.” – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (United With Israel, May 20, 2021)
“Gaza’s residents know that Hamas deliberately operates from within the dense neighborhoods in which they live. Though the civilian population is rarely directly hit by the Israeli army, which does everything possible to prevent collateral civilian damage, the psychological toll of being used as a human shield is nevertheless considerable. Israel’s 6,500 strikes mostly involved missiles with payloads of approximately 1,000 to 2,000 pounds. Israelis know that Hamas’ missiles with a payload one-twentieth of that have a nerve-racking impact that can be heard and felt over an area of six to nine square miles. This means half of Gaza’s residents are affected by every Israeli strike. They endured that effect 300 times over 12 days, 25 times a day—a level of punishment perhaps only fully understood by Israelis in the “Gaza envelope.” Even worse is the feeling that for the past 17 years, Gaza’s residents have borne the brunt of repeated rounds of fighting alone.” – Political analyst Hillel Frisch arguing that Hamas has lost the support of its people. (JNS, May 25, 2021)
“… what I think you’re seeing playing out is Iranian influence targeted toward Israel and trying to break up alliances that were formed in the previous administration called the Abraham Accords.” – former President George W. Bush regarding the violence between Israel and Hamas. (Fox News, May 19, 2021)
“I admire your intellect, I admire your passion, and I admire your concern for so many other people. And it’s … from my heart, I pray that your grandmom and family are well—I promise I’m going to do everything to see that they are in the West Bank. You’re a fighter, and God thank you for being a fighter.” — US President Joe Biden to antisemitic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib while Hamas was shooting thousands of rockets indiscriminately into Israeli cities. (MetroTimes, May 18, 2021)
“I would have killed all the Jews in the world, but I kept some to show the world why I killed them.” — Veena Malik, Pakistani film-star, mistakenly quoted Hitler on Twitter. Moreover, an Instagram account called Paliroots, shared by “Blackfish” star Yara Shahidi with 5.8 million followers, advised its readers to use terms such as “apartheid”,” colonialism” and “ethnic cleansing” instead of “eviction”, “conflict,” and “war.” (National Post, May 22, 2021)
“Outrage attracts eyeballs, an echo chamber of carefully chosen reactions keeps you scrolling. The algorithm is designed so that Facebook hoovers up advertizing dollars; facilitating a Trump rally is as good a way to do that as any. And it wasn’t just Big Tech; televising Trump rallies was a ratings bonanza for cable networks, including the liberal ones which denounced him otherwise.” – Political columnist Raymond J. de Souza blaming Facebook for the Jan. 6th Capitol riots. (National Post, May 28, 2021)
ISAAC HERZOG ELECTED ISRAEL’S 11TH PRESIDENT, WITH 87 VOTES OF KNESSET’S 120 (Jerusalem) — Isaac Herzog, the chairman of the Jewish Agency and former head of the Labor party, was elected Wednesday as Israel’s eleventh president. Herzog defeated Miriam Peretz, a social activist who overcame the loss of two of her sons in battle to become an Israel Prize-winning educator, with 87 votes, the most a presidential candidate has ever won, to her 26. In the secret election, in which all 120 MKs were eligible to cast votes, three abstained, three votes were disqualified and one lawmaker, Ra’am chair Mansour Abbas, did not vote. (Times of Israel, June 2, 2021)
REPORT: HAMAS COORDINATED GAZA WAR WITH IRAN, HEZBOLLAH IN JOINT MILITARY ROOM (Gaza Strip) — Senior leaders of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) worked reportedly in close coordination with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah to discuss military operations during the 11 days of fighting with Israel, according to the Hezbollah-operated Al-Manar TV..(Algemeiner, May 30, 2021)
ISRAEL BURIED 80 HAMAS FIGHTERS IN TERROR TUNNELS AFTER GROUND INVASION DECEPTION (Gaza Strip) — As many as 80 Hamas fighters were killed and buried in Gaza’s terror tunnels after Israel duped them into thinking a ground invasion was underway. Search teams are still digging the fighters our of the blown-up underground system dubbed the “Gaza Metro” which has been battered by hundreds of airstrikes. (Mirror, May 24, 2021)
MAJORITY SAY HAMAS RESPONSIBLE FOR MIDEAST VIOLENCE: POLL (Washington) — Sixty percent of Americans believe that Hamas is responsible for the recent violence in Israel, according to a new Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey. The findings come hours after President Biden announced that Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to the region to meet separately with Israeli and Palestinian officials. (The Hill, May 24, 2021)
ISRAEL SUMMONS MEXICAN, PHILIPPINE AMBASSADORS OVER VOTES SUPPORTING UNHRC PROBE INTO GAZA WAR (Jerusalem) — Israel has summoned the ambassadors of Mexico and the Philippines after they voted for a resolution by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to open an investigation into alleged human rights abuses and crimes committed by the Jewish state during Operation Guardian of the Walls. (Algemeiner, May 31, 2021)
IRAN FAILS TO EXPLAIN URANIUM TRACES FOUND AT SEVERAL SITES: IAEA REPORT (Tehran) — Iran has failed to explain traces of uranium found at several undeclared sites, a report by the UN nuclear watchdog revealed, possibly setting up a fresh diplomatic clash between Tehran and the West that could derail wider nuclear talks. (Algemeiner, May 31, 2021)
INFLATED PALESTINIAN – AND BOLSTERED JEWISH – DEMOGRAPHY (Ramallah) — Official Palestinian demographic numbers are highly-inflated, as documented by a study, which has been ongoing since 2004. A 32% artificial inflation of Palestinian births was documented by the World Bank (page 8, item 6) in a 2006 audit. (Ettinger Report, May 25, 2021)
ROSEN, LANKFORD TO INTRODUCE BIPARTISAN ANTISEMITISM RESOLUTION URGING WHITE HOUSE ACTION (Washington) — Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and James Lankford (R-OK) will introduce a bipartisan resolution condemning the recent uptick in antisemitic violence and urging President Joe Biden to take steps to combat it. This would mark the first bipartisan legislation in response to the recent surge, and follows a resolution introduced by more than a dozen Republicans.(Jewish Insider, May 27, 2021)
NY TIMES’ DECEIT EXPOSED: THE TRUTH ABOUT HAMAS’ CHILD VICTIMS (NYC) — A recent New York Times piece took media bias against Israel to a new low. The front-page article was allegedly supposed to show how innocent children were the real victims of the recent fighting sparked by the Hamas terror group, which fired over 4,000 rockets at Israeli civilians. Watchdog blogger Dave Lange of the Israellycool.com site pointed out that the Times failed to say that at least eight of the Palestinian children were NOT killed by Israeli airstrikes, but were killed by Hamas rockets aimed at Israeli population centers that fell short and instead blew up in Gaza. Moreover, a reader pointed out that one of the children included died in 2017 by falling off a ladder. (United With Israel, May 31. 2021; Twitter, May 28, 2021)
DANISH PENSION PLAN MAY DIVEST ISRAELI BONDS (Copenhagen) — A Danish pension fund, the world’s strictest on human rights violations is considering adding Israel to a long list of countries it excludes following this month’s conflict with Palestinians. The US $22 billion Akademiker looks after the pensions of Denmark’s teachers and university lecturers. It holds about US$31 million worth of Israeli government and quasi-government bonds. (National Post, May 29, 2021)
PRIME MINISTER JUSTIN TRUDEAU COMMITS $25M FOR PALESTINIANS IN GAZA AND THE WEST BANK (Ottawa) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada will provide $25 million to Palestinian civilians affected by the recent conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians in Gaza Strip and the West Bank. He says the funding will go directly to experienced organizations which will help the most vulnerable Palestinian civilians cope with the impacts of the recent conflict. (Yahoo News, May 28, 2021)
BLM CO-FOUNDER RESIGNS AMID REAL ESTATE CONTROVERSY (California) — A Black Lives Matter cofounder has resigned from her role as executive director amid controversy over her US $3 million property portfolio. Patrisse Cullors, who founded the racial justice movement in 2013, is a self-described Marxist but faced criticism after it was reported last month that she owns four properties, including a US$1.4 million house in Malibu and a ranch in Georgia. Cullors called for the end of Israel in 2015 during a panel at the Harvard Law School. (National Post, May 29, 2021. Fox News, May 31, 2021)
QUARTER OF TOP UK UNIVERSITIES BREACHED IHRA GUIDELINES IN RECENT GAZA CONFLICT: REPORT (UK) —The Pinsker Centre, a UK think tank, claimed that student unions or faculty bodies at 12 of the country’s top 40 universities — including Oxford and Cambridge — published “highly partisan” anti-Israel statements that might have breached the widely agreed-upon working definition of antisemitism. (Algemeiner, May 30, 2021)
HARVARD POLICE INVESTIGATING VANDALISM OF JEWISH CENTER AFTER WINDOW SMASHED, PALESTINIAN FLAG ZIP-TIED TO DOOR (Cambridge, Mass) — Rabbi Jonah C. Steinberg of Harvard Hillel confirmed that Harvard University Police Department were investigating two acts of vandalism targeting the Jewish group’s Reisman Center in the Rosovsky Hall campus building. The most recent incident, which is the second in two weeks, occurred during a party on Mount Auburn Street when someone shattered one of Rosovsky Hall’s windows. (Algemeiner, June 1, 2021)
CHINESE AI FIRM BLACKLISTED BY U.S. GAVE FUNDS TO YORK, QUEEN’S UNIVERSITIES (Ottawa) — Two Ontario universities, York and Queen’s, have been collaborating with a major Chinese artificial-intelligence company that has been blacklisted by the U.S. government for supplying surveillance equipment used against Muslim Uyghurs. iFlytek, a partly state-owned enterprise that specializes in voice recognition, provided $1.5 million to Toronto’s York University in 2015 to create a new iFlytek Laboratory for Neural Computing and Machine Learning and a chair at the Lassonde School of Engineering. Queen’s University, in Kingston, received $727,000 in 2019 from the Chinese AI company to develop learning models that detect and process speech. (Globe and Mail, May 28, 2021)
“Hamas Commits Double War Crimes” — UN Watch Testimony: UNWatch. YouTube, May 28, 2021 — UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer takes the floor at UN Human Rights Council special session, May 27, 2021, after speeches by the PLO & Pakistani foreign ministers, co-sponsors of the meeting, as well as by Iran, Venezuela, and UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet.
Uncovered Report Reveals Details Of UK Island’s Nazi Concentration Camp Killings: Times of Israel, June 1, 2021 — A report compiled on Nazi concentration and death camps set up on the British Channel Islands during World War II that was uncovered in the Russian State Archives details some of the atrocities that led to the deaths of at least 700 people incarcerated at the sites.
