“Since the land did not belong to Transjordan, we must not use the term “Occupied Territory,” and under the precepts of international law it is nonsensical nomenclature”

Posted on November 24, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

FRONT PAGE MAG
There are No Settlers on the West Bank
by Professor Jason D. Hill
November 25, 2019

…To begin with, the Israeli Jews are not settlers in Judea and Samaria. From here on, they should be referred to as heroic pioneers on re-founded land in Holy Israel…We must, therefore, strike from our vocabulary the term “Occupied Territory.” The Jordanian annexation of Judea and Samaria was regarded as illegal. The British had relinquished its claim to the land when the British Mandate left the region. The Arab forces claimed vehemently that the 1949 Armistice line did not have any legal significance. By that reasoning the land did not belong to anyone. READ MORE

TABLET MAG Alan Baker: Israel’s Rights in the West Bank Under International Law Firstly, and underscoring all other considerations, are the international legal rights emanating from the indigenous and historic claims of the Jewish people in the area as a whole, virtually from time immemorial.

MELANIE PHILLIPS BLOG Negotiation in a war of extermination is no solution but surrender Every part of that claim — that Israel is in “occupation,” that the land it is “occupying” is “Palestinian territory,” and that Israel is acting illegally — is false.

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What motivated House Democrats members to send Pompeo that letter?

Posted on November 24, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

ABU YEHUDA
Progressive Democrats Get it Wrong About Israel, Again
by Victor Rosenthal
November 24, 2019

…In response to the decision by Secretary of State Pompeo to finally officially reverse the US position that “Israeli settlements in the West Bank” – that is, Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria – are inconsistent with international law, 100 Democratic members of Congress sent him a letter urging him to take back his decision. I use the word “stupid” because despite their obvious ignorance about the history of the US position, about international law, and about the significance and likely consequences of the change – they went ahead and sent the letter anyway. Sheer stupidity is the most generous explanation, because other explanations – like a desire to aid the enemies of the state of Israel who want to end it and re-disperse or murder its Jewish residents – are much uglier. READ MORE

ISRAEL HAYOM Israeli diplomat slams Democrats for ‘flawed’ letter criticizing White House policy on settlements Former Foreign Ministry Director General Dore Gold called out the Democratic Party over a letter to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo which criticized the Trump administration’s new stance on Jewish territory within the West Bank.

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“Leaving the story of Mizrahi Jews out of pro-Israel advocacy is a mistake”

Posted on November 24, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

JEWISH JOURNAL
The Damage Done by Shouting Down Ideas
by Hen Mazzig
November 20, 2019

For the past several years, I’ve traveled around the United States as an advocate, speaking about my family’s story of exile from Iraq and Tunisia and its journey home to Israel. I visit schools, temples, community centers, LGBTQ groups — you name it. After each talk, listeners tell me that their knowledge about the Mizrahi community was limited before hearing me. Although Mizrahim make up 60% of Israel’s Jewish population today, even devoted Zionists entrenched in Israel’s policies know little about the largest demographic living there. READ MORE

JNS Arab States Are Claiming the Heritage of Their Expelled Jews On or around November 30, Jewish communities around the world will be holding events to remember the mass exodus of Jewish refugees from Arab countries and Iran. Almost a million people were displaced in the past 50 years, leaving billions of dollars’ worth of property behind.

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“Why would students calling themselves progressives feel the need to use such a startling, antisemitic chant to make their presence known?”

Posted on November 24, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

COLLEGE FIX
I’m a queer Jew of color. Woke college students tried to shut me down at Vassar
by Hen Mazzig
November 23, 2019

As part of a recent three-week campus speaking tour, I traveled to colleges across North America to share my family’s story. My father is Tunisian and my mother is Iraqi; their families came to Israel as refugees. In my talks, I share their stories and those of the 850,000 Jewish refugees who were expelled from Arab and Muslim countries between 1941 and 1972. We are known as Mizrahi Jews, those whose families came from Arab and Muslim lands. Because of this history, I am also an advocate for Israel. Not for a specific policy, government, or political party, but for my country’s right to exist. READ MORE

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Unless the Palestinians manage to rise up against their abusive and corrupt leaders, their hope of building a democratic society will remain nothing more than a dream

Posted on November 24, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

GATESTONE
Are Palestinians Not Entitled to Human Rights?
by Bassam Tawil
November 25, 2019

While Palestinian officials repeatedly condemn Israel for violating Palestinians’ freedom of expression, it is actually the Palestinian Authority (PA) that continues to harass, intimidate and detain Palestinians for expressing their opinions on social media or being affiliated with rival political groups. Business as usual. The latest victims of the PA’s ongoing assault on public freedoms, particularly freedom of expression, are Palestinian lawyers, judges, political activists and university students….In another assault on freedom of expression, Palestinian political activist Ghassan al-Sa’di is currently facing charges of “insulting” senior PA officials. Palestinian sources said that al-Sa’di was summoned for interrogation after he posted a comment on Facebook deemed offensive to senior PA officials, accusing them of corruption. READ MORE

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At $25,000-per-couple Trump fundraising luncheon in Midtown, “many of attendees were Chuck Schumer donors”

Posted on November 24, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK POST
Orthodox Jews opening their wallets for President Trump in 2020
by Doree Lewak and Jon Levine
November 23, 2019

Hanukkah came a month early for Donald Trump this year. Though he polls as generally unpopular with Jews and has even been accused of making anti-Semitic remarks in office, New York’s Orthodox enclaves are kvelling over the president — and even raised $4 million for him at a Midtown banquet last week. “[He’s] the first Hasidic president,” gushed Yossi Garelik, an Orthodox rabbi in Crown Heights who voted against Trump in 2016. “Literally right before he went into office when Obama abstained at the U.N. in December 2016 [jeopardizing Israeli settlements in the West Bank], Trump said, ‘January 20th everything will change.’ I said,’ This guy means business.’ I completely converted.” READ MORE

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Netanyahu indicted

Posted on November 21, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
AG announces Netanyahu to stand trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust
by Raoul Wootliff
November 21, 2019

In a decision that drastically shakes up Israeli politics amid already ongoing chaos, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be charged with criminal wrongdoing in three separate cases against him, including bribery in the far-reaching Bezeq corruption probe. The decision marks the first time in Israel’s history that a serving prime minister faces criminal charges, casting a heavy shadow over Netanyahu and his ongoing attempts to remain in power. Netanyahu will be charged with fraud and breach of trust in Cases 1000 and 2000, and bribery, fraud and breach of trust in Case 4000…READ MORE

ISRAEL HAYOM Caroline Glick: The reign of the prosecution Ever since Mandelblit gave his “recommendations,” he and his comrades have been the only political actors with any power to speak of. Our actual elected leaders were rendered bit players in the lawyers’ regime. Mandelblit’s announcement Thursday just made it official…From beginning to end, their criminal persecution of Netanyahu has been a travesty of every norm in democratic societies governed by the rule of law.

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Under the execrable UN Resolution 2334–facilitated by Obama admin–“Israel suddenly was told that it has no right to be in the Golan Heights or at Rachel’s Tomb or at the Western Wall of the Holy Temple compound in Jerusalem”

Posted on November 21, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

AMERICAN SPECTATOR
America Recognizes the Legality of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria, Countering Obama and the UN
by Dov Fishcher
November 19, 2019

As they prepared finally to exit the national scene, Obama and John Kerry thought they were sticking it to Israel one last time when they supported the despicable UN Security Council resolution that declared all “Jewish settlements” in the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, and the rest of the “West Bank” illegal. It never was a surprise that China and Russia would vote that way, and the fickle West Europeans, epitomized in the Security Council by France and the United Kingdom, now all have such a heavy Arab Muslim swing-vote demographic influencing their respective domestic elections that they also are led by the nose and by their dependency on Arab oil to toe the OPEC line. READ MORE

NATIONAL REVIEW Israeli Settlements Are a Political, Not a Legal Issue It was not radical for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to revive the Reagan policy…Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has just upended longstanding, widely held opinion about the legality of Israel’s West Bank settlements. Critics say he is off on the law, has radically broken with U.S. policy, and is undermining the pursuit of peace. Those critics are wrong on all scores.

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“Wiki-Israel seeks to provide accountability for the numerous and often anonymous editors who control all of the content that exists on Wikipedia”

Posted on November 21, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

FREE BEACON
Wikipedia’s Anti-Israel Editors Unmasked
by Adam Kredo
November 20, 2019

A pro-Israel organization has exposed the identities of top Wikipedia editors who use the online encyclopedia to promote anti-Israel bias and causes, a first-of-its-kind effort that is unmasking a global online network of Israel critics. The Israel Group, a nonprofit organization that combats anti-Israel bias, is set to launch next year a database that will expose the true identities of many leading Wikipedia editors who harbor anti-Israel bias and have implanted this viewpoint across the website through more than 325,000 edits during the past 10 years. It has already listed the identities of several of these editors. READ MORE

THE ISRAEL GROUP Wikipedia’s Top Five Anti-Israel Editors

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U of I Professor Nelson profiles Israel hate: “Postmodernism and post-colonialism, combined with antisemitism, have created fertile ground for extreme anti-Israel demonization on campus”

Posted on November 21, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
‘Israel Denial’ lays bare academic attempts to delegitimize Israel
by Gerald M. Steinberg
November 15, 2019

… The core consists of portraits of four individuals with no academic background in Middle East history, whose false declarations and irrational hatred often morph into crude antisemitism. Judith Butler, a senior academic specializing in literature, gender and queer theory, is the Jewish member of the cast, whose virulent hostility to Zionism (she’s a one-stater, imagining “a just and peaceable form of coexistence”) began to appear at age 20. [University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) Professor Cary] Nelson cites numerous examples in which Butler displays the “anti-imperialist jargon of the politics of purity,” combined with the “as a Jew” meme, illustrated by her involvement in fringe groups like Jewish Voice for Peace, which seek to “drive a wedge” between American Jews and Israelis. READ MORE

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