Tag: BDS

A Knesset Committee Hearing


Antisemitism is in a troubling upsurge in America and Europe. If you are a student of history, you should realize the Antisemitism in pre-WWII USA and Europe that reached a zenith with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, appears to be history repeating itself in this present time.

 

Ari Bussel sent me a bit of editorial of the issue of Antisemitism and the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. Ari found out that Israel’s version of Congress or Parliament – Knesset – had a Committee hearing on Antisemitism and BDS in America and Europe, exploring how such Jew-hatred affects Israel.

 

Ari notes the Committee met under the inspiration of the pro-Israel NGO known as Stand With Us.

 

JRH 11/7/17

Please Support NCCR

***************

A Knesset Committee Hearing

[Antisemitism and BDS]

 

By Ari Bussel

Sent 11/5/2017 2:55 PM

 

Dear Friends,

 

The invitation by the Government Press Office to the Foreign Press Corps (please see below) sparked my interest:   hearing at the Israeli Parliament titled “Upsurge in Anti-Semitism in the US and Europe” at the initiative of Stand With Us.

 

SWU

 

Stand With Us is a 510(c)(3) educational organization that works tirelessly on US campuses and beyond to inform and educate the public about Israel, its past and present.  The organization was founded a decade and a half ago in Los Angeles, and the same people who founded it are still at the helm, dedicating their lives to being at the forefront of the Public Diplomacy Front on behalf of the Jewish People.

 

The organization has grown tremendously, it now has offices throughout the world and a very impressive annual budget.  Some of the major donors are based in Los Angeles, providing the necessary fertile ground on which action sprouts, grows and expands.  It is absolutely impressive.

 

In Israel the organization has presence on all university campuses, graduating hundreds of students from its programs every year, training them to be “soldiers on the front lines, ambassadors of the Jewish State of Israel.”

 

The organization’s current offices in Jerusalem host some 20,000 people a year, yielding them a street sign (close to YMCA):

 

Stand With Us Office Sign in Jerusalem

 

I have witnessed the work of Stand With Us first hand since its inception, and I could not resist going to Jerusalem for the hearing by the Knesset Immigration Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee.  SWU, Knesset, Jerusalem – an irresistible mix!

 

Ineffective Work

 

I wanted to know what will be presented, and more interestingly, what might be the reaction.  I remember having attended a similar hearing, same venue, same Committee, on 5/17/2011.  The subject matter was how does Israel and the Diaspora deal with the “Palestinian Narrative” about the formation of the modern State of Israel.  (The years passed, and the situation only deteriorated.  Thus, in the report card it is pointed out that Israel is failing in practice in its public diplomacy efforts.)

 

That meeting was chaired by Danny Danon, today Israel’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.  I was astonished then to see a room full of experts in their respective fields, and yet not one person from the “Diaspora.”  And how does a country fight at the Public Diplomacy Front when not a single soldier from the front line is present to report and participate?  Think of General Headquarters, completely disconnected from what is happening on the ground.

 

Committee hearings are dangerous, for they provide a false sense of activity and reassurance, when in reality such crucial and existential subject matters cannot be addressed in a short period of time (usually a couple of hours at most).

 

BDS

 

Why is it important to know what is happening on the ground?  One could learn a bit about the spread of the “Palestinian Narrative” when, for instance, Bargouti, the “doctoral student from Apartheid University Tel Aviv” came to Los Angeles.  He is the founder of the single most successful movement of the 21st Century – other than Daesh (ISIS) – which is commonly known today as “BDS” (Boycott, Divest, Sanction Israel).

 

Echoes of the strength and success of this movement have even reached the Committee Hearing’s floor as the representative of one of the Government ministries informed all those present how successful its ministry’s cooperation and support of numerous organizations (none of which elects to be known by name) in defeating the BDS movement.

 

Fantastically and most encouragingly spoken, by a person who thus understands not in what the movement is all about.  Given that a ranking Deputy Minister (in charge, under the PM, of Foreign Affairs) repeats the same mantra, saying the obvious that the BDS efforts to harm Israel economically are unsuccessful, there is a basic misunderstanding in Israel about what the BDS movement is all about.

 

[Blog Editor: Ari doesn’t provide the name of the photo I presumed to “Deputy Minister (in charge, under the PM, of Foreign Affairs)”. I looked the Minister and I think the photo is of Tzipi Hotovely (Haaretz & Wikipedia). But I’m not certain. I am guessing if I am incorrect Ari will send an email pointing out my mistake.]

 

Let us recall, for a moment, the Mavi Marmara and the Turkish Terrorist Flotilla of Lies.  The organizers knew they are unlikely to break the blockade by Egypt and Israel over Gaza.  (Remember, the naval blockade was designed, inter alia, to prevent armament and experts from Iran to arrive en masse.)

 

But the calculation by the organizers – as reported by anti-terrorism expert Steve Emerson – was clear:  If Israel lets us through, we win, and if Israel tries to harm us, we win!

 

Likewise with the BDS movement – it is a win-win situation.  Economic warfare is just a byproduct.  If it happens, it is a bonus.  But this is not the intention of the BDS movement, that was designed to spread lies and deceit, repeat them often enough and create not only confusion but a parallel reality which the world will assume is truth, the whole truth and nothing by the truth.

 

It seems that Israelis have not yet internalized this threat.  For them, the BDS movement does not achieve its namesake (“Boycott, Divest, Sanction”) so it must be a failure (i.e. Israel has the upper hand).

 

* Israel is Apartheid (one needs not even know what is Apartheid, it sounds “evil” enough).  Note also the equal sign:  Israel is the equivalent of something horrible, something that sounds very bad and distasteful.

* Israeli soldiers are the New Nazis.

* Gaza is an open air ghetto, its people being slowly starved to death by Israel.

* Israel steals the water of the Palestinians.

* Israel waters cotton and banana plantations (notorious for their high consumption of water) with drinking water.

* Israeli settlers contaminate the environment by discharging waste in the open.

* Israelis harvest organs of young Palestinian males and throw the men then, still half alive, like garbage.

* Israeli soldiers do not rape Palestinian women, since they view them as sub-human.

* Israel has developed a super large cat, that targets only Muslim Arabs in East Jerusalem.

* Israel demolishes 24,000 houses (of Muslim Arabs) every year.

* The Settlements are the root-cause of all evil.

 

And it continues on and on, ad nauseam, to the point that we start believing all these blood libels and feel the urge to go and correct the wrongs by the Jews, rid the world of that problem once and for all and bring peace and tranquility and an end to all the world’s problems with a hand wave:  JUST ELIMINATE THE JEWS!  They are imperialists-colonialists-zionists – they must return to their countries of origin, for they stole and occupy a land that was never theirs.  They are pigs and apes!

 

This is the real threat of the BDS movement, that feeds from and thrives upon pure hatred, the ancient Anti-Semitism.  An endless supply of fuel to the chimneys, that one day soon will once again spew ashes into the air, night and day without rest.

 

Kristallnacht, 2017

 

Those who have not been exposed to the work on the ground may be alarmed or dismiss the entire description as “right wing extremism” (or, worse as Islamophobia!)  But it is sufficient to experience what is happening on college campuses in the USA, in inter-faith meetings and all other opportunities to realize how dangerous the situation, how it prepares the groundswell to action the likes of which the world has experienced some eight decades ago (79 years ago this Thursday and Friday).

 

We are told:  It is not Anti-Semitism, but legitimate criticism of the State, its government and policies.  Except, Israel is singled out, and as the allegations and lies sink in, it becomes permissible – even necessary – to act against the perpetrators, those bloody Israelis.  From that point, the jump into action is easy, and everything is then excusable, including murder and mayhem.  Jewish blood must be spilled to avenge all the wrongdoings by the Jews.

 

My parents survived the Holocaust.  They were young children and did not experience the 30s or Kristallnacht.  Remember how it all started:  First it was legitimate to burn books.  The leap from burning books to burning people was made without an effort and the chimneys did not stop spewing human dust. [Bold Text Blog Editor’s]

 

All that the BDS movement is doing (and achieving with great strides) is preparing the ground that anything that will happen to the Jews is both warranted and acceptable.  The Jews deserve the fate that is in store for them.  So was in the past; so in present time.

 

A Knesset Committee Hearing

 

I was intrigued this time around to hear what would be reported about the US – an area where I have some limited expertise – and in Europe.  Thus, full of energy and anticipation, I ascended unto Jerusalem.

 

The entire hearing is available on the Knesset website and the Knesset channel (http://main.knesset.gov.il/Activity/committees/Immigration/Pages/CommitteeTVarchive.aspx) [Blog Editor: If you speak English me, you’ll have to use some kind of translator for the Knesset.gov link], and the full transcript will be available (in Hebrew) in a few weeks’ time.  In my upcoming column (in print in Los Angeles this week), I point out the main impression of that entire morning:  The European ambassadors are taking the subject matter of fighting Anti-Semitism extremely seriously.  Each, in his turn, gave a brief overview of his government’s current actions and activities.  This was most impressive and reassuring.

 

For a preview of the column, please visit:

 

http://www.news1.co.il/Archive/0026-D-123967-00.html

 

[Blog Editor: at this Ari has several photos of his visit to the Knesset Committee in Jerusalem. I am only including the photos presented with a caption.]

 

The Austrian Ambassador, Martin Weiss, previously the Consul General in LA

 

The German Ambassador, Dr. Clemens von Goetze

 

The UK and French (L to R) representatives

 

MK Dr. Anat Berko

 

Committee Chair, MK Dr. Avraham Neguise

(In this Apartheid country, there is no differentiation in the skin color of a person; there are Muslim members of the Supreme Court and Arab members of the Knesset; there are Arab doctors and nurses and professors; minorities are protected and enjoy equal rights … only in one place in the entire Middle East and the African continent!)

 

MK Dr. Nachman Shai (L) with the European Ambassadors of Germany, Austria and the EU

 

European Action –

Never to Forget

 

We know that seven decades after the end of WWII, the world has started to forget, to doubt and to raise questions.  A day will come, not so distant, when my parents’ generation will no longer be here – the last Survivors of the Holocaust.  A young person will ask his smart gadget “tell me what was the Holocaust,” and the answer will be “A sovereign country convened a scientific conference that concluded it was just a Zionist lie to cause the world to acquiesce to the Jews stealing and occupying a land not theirs.”  This conference, apparently was then followed by an international competition of cartoons, all belittling and countering the notion of a “holocaust.”

 

There will be no more Survivors.  There will only be doubts.

 

Thus, standing steadfast and resolute with utter determination is crucial, for otherwise we will succumb to the same notion that “maybe there was no Holocaust” and “maybe it was not really what we are taught” and “maybe there is more hype than reality” in all those stories, for “it cannot be….”

 

It is quite amazing to see countries like Germany, Austria, France, Great Britain and the European Union taking relentless action, safeguarding the lessons of the Holocaust.  Alas, it is exactly Germany, under Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been a steadfast, true friend of Israel.

 

Noticeably Absent

 

There are those, both during the Committee Hearing and afterwards in the media, who tried to politicize and sensationalize the absence of the US Ambassador.

 

The US neither slumbers nor sleeps in its activities against racism and bigotry of all kinds, and specifically against Anti-Semitism.  Actions talk louder than words, and the US Ambassador may have felt there is no need to defend or even present what is so obvious back at home.

 

Or maybe the Ambassador could not have shown up to a meeting initiated by a NGO in the USA, lest he be seen as promoting the organization.

 

Whatever the reason, given the presence of his fellow Ambassadors, I felt Ambassador Friedman’s presence would have added and brought balance, since the USA continues to be at the forefront of fighting Anti-Semitism and protecting civil liberties.

 

Instead, his absence created an opportunity to, once again, attack our President, what has turned to a national pastime since President Trump’s election to the highest office of the land.

 

The Right of Return Home

 

Interestingly, during the hearing (luckily after most of the Ambassadors have left), there was some finger pointing whose essence:  It is their governments’ responsibility to protect their Jewish citizens.  The contrast between the Jewish organizations and the representatives of the different Government Ministries and the European representative was striking.  The latter took a few minutes each to give a list of actions being carried out.  It was a report of doing.  It was a very focused, no-nonsense, most-serious approach to a heavy burden carried.  All the while, the Israelis and Jewish participants engaged in a game one may call “passing the Buck.”

 

The message should have been clear:  There is ONE Jewish homeland, it is called Israel.  Since its rebirth seventy years ago, Israel has absorbed Jewish immigrants from all over the world:

 

* Hundreds of thousands who were expelled from the Arab countries who refused to recognize the rebirth of the Jewish State.  

 

* The remnants of the ashes of the Holocaust.  

 

* Later the massive immigration from the former Soviet Union.  

 

* And the Ethiopian immigration.  

 

* They were then followed by the Jews of Venezuela (but they stopped in Miami and in Spain and did not arrive en masse to Israel), and

 

* The Jews of France who fled France for fear of their lives (one can hear so many people speaking French in Israel, and there are entire cities where the French bought condos for a rainy day).

 

Jewish refugees and immigrants alike were all absorbed.  They all assimilated.  They are all one – “Israelis.”

 

By law, every Jewish person can come home to Israel.  It is the shelter and the homeland.  One country in the entire world that is a Jewish state and the only homeland of the Jewish people.

 

Looking Forward

 

Once, eight decades ago, there was no Israel, just a dream and a yearning to go back, to revive the ancient land.

 

Today, there is Israel.  She has the Israel DEFENSE Forces.  She is a member of the family of nations, and she will do all it takes to protect her people, wherever they are.

 

Things are very different, yet they are so similar.  The same trends.  The same undercurrents.  The same blood libels.  The same ancient hatred.

 

Israel needs to focus and prepare.  There will be new waves of immigration, people fleeing due to the rise of Anti-Semitism.  This is Israel’s responsibility, not the EU’s, the USA’s or that of any other foreign entity.

 

All the rest must pay close attention, for maybe we have not learned some lessons of the past:  History tends to repeat itself.  What is effective against the Jews, is also effective against others – Christians, various minorities and, yes, even Muslims (in the hand of Muslims).  When we do not stand up and take action when someone else is being targeted, we may find ourselves being targeted without anyone standing up to protect and defend us!

 

(Below you will find an article about Christian persecution in Muslim countries – “We are going to burn you alive.”)

 

The Committee Hearing took place just before the 100 year mark of the Balfour Declaration and a week before the 79th anniversary of Kristallnacht.  Let us remember, and let us not sit idle as evil, once again, is rearing its ugly head in preparation for the blood it can only smell!

 

Tonight, Sunday, 11/5/2017, Israel’s tenth President Rivlin met with leaders of Spain’s Jewish community and here are some of his remarks, most pertinent to the discussion carried herein.

 

President Rivlin: “We must not surrender to anti-Semitism, we must fight it. I am pleased that the Spanish government is taking steps in legislation and enforcement against this ugly phenomenon. We must not be ashamed of or hide our identity. We will fight these challenges together.”

 

“We love and respect every Jew, wherever they are, but you will be welcome always should you choose to come to your home in the State of Israel.”

 

“The State of Israel today operates an extensive network to combat anti-Semitism disguised as the delegitimization of Israel, to fight hatred of Jews disguised as a criticism of Israeli Government policy: these bodies are at your disposal, they are also here for you.”

 

“We are brothers, let us stand together.”

 

“We are together in the war against anti-Semitism, and today we are stronger than ever.”  The President went on to note that the campaign to boycott and impose sanctions on Israel was, “an expression of anti-Semitism”.

 

 

So let us give thanks that there is Israel – for the Jewish People and for the entire world, and may we all say

 

SHALOM!

 

Always,

 

Ari Bussel
bussel@me.com 

 

Below:

 

1) Invitation for the Hearing

 

2) “Trump Administration Takes Firm Stance against Anti-Semitism” by Ari Lieberman

 

3) “We are going to burn you alive” by Raymond Ibrahim

 

4) “Turks, Arabs Welcomed the Balfour Declaration” by Prof. Efraim Karsh

 

5) “The Balfour Declaration at 100 and how it redefined Indigenous people” by Prof. Judea Pearl (the father of Daniel Pearl z”l)

 

#

Knesset to Hold Discussion on Upsurge in Anti-Semitism in the US and Europe

(Communicated by the Knesset Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee Spokesman)

 

The Knesset Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee will, on Monday, 30 October 2017, at 10:00, in the Knesset Negev Hall, at the initiative of StandWithUs, hold a discussion on the upsurge of anti-Semitism in the US and Europe. The committee will – inter alia – hear new testimony on recent incidents on US college campuses, from students who have specially come for this meeting. European ambassadors will also discuss the actions of their respective governments in combatting anti-Semitism.

 

Attending the discussion will be the ambassadors from the EU, Germany and Austria, and representatives from the UK, France and Russia, as well as representatives from various government ministries, relevant NGOs and Jewish community organizations.

 

The discussion will be broadcast live on the Knesset Channel.

 

The meeting is open to coverage upon prior coordination with Knesset Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee Spokesman Yigal Amitai at 050-6238671 or yigala@knesset.gov.il.

 

#

[Blog Editor: At this point Ari included several other articles relating to the Trump Administration and Antisemitism by Ari Lieberman; the Gatestone Institute on Muslim persecution of Christians by Raymond Ibrahim; a Middle East Quarterly relating to the Balfour Declaration; an article from the Jewish Journal by Judea Pearl also on the Balfour Declaration; a load of source links; and Palestine Solidarity Campaign smearing the Holocaust and the Balfour Declaration from “RichardMillet’s Blog”. All are worthy of a cross post. I am going to share some but I’m not sure if all or a few chosen.]

_________________

Edited by John R. Houk

Content enclosed by brackets are by the Editor.

 

© Ari Bussel

 

Ari Bussel Bio via Saybrex International

 

Ari Bussel is Vice President of Operations at Saybrex International, a privately held family business specializing in the distribution of fine wines and spirits. He is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company and has held various positions in the company since 1993.

 

Prior to joining Saybrex, Mr. Bussel served as First Lieutenant in the Center for Systems Analysis at General Headquarters of the Israel Defense Forces, where he led the implementation of the Logistics War Doctrine in the Computerized Wargame Program.

 

Mr. Bussel is involved in a variety of philanthropic and civic activities. Mr. Bussel completed the Team Beverly Hills Leadership Program and served on the Environmental Sustainability Topic Committee of the City of Beverly Hills. He was a member of the Steering Committees of former Beverly Hills Mayor MeraLee Goldman and the current Beverly Hills City Treasurer, the Hon. Eliot Finkel. Mr. Bussel also completed and participated in the Community Emergency Response Training Program of the City of Beverly Hills as well as the Crisis Response Team of the Maple Counseling Center.

 

Mr. Bussel was among the founding members and served on the boards of Gen. Shimon Erem’s Israel Christian Nexus, the Western Region of Friends of Israel Firefighters and the Israel Institute for Alternative Energy Advancement. He completed the Salvin Leadership Program of the Anti-Defamation League.

 

Mr. Bussel writes regularly. For the past decade, his weekly columns appeared in print in Israel Jewish Life, Shalom LA, Muslim World Today and Israeli Week. Mr. Bussel’s articles appear on numerous websites, including Canada Free Press, Free Republic, NewsBlaze, SlantRight and OpEdNews. He is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club.

 

 

Mr. Bussel received a Master of Science in Operations Research from Stanford … READ THE REST 

 

Veto anti-Israel UN Sec. Council Res. & Move US Embassy ACTION ALERT!!!


The United Coalition for Israel (UCI) wants all pro-Israel individuals and activists to make a concerted effort to STOP the United Nations from bullying Israel about their national/Biblical heritage to Judea-Samaria (branded the West Bank by Jordan which conquered the area booted the Jews already there out and desecrate Jewish holy sites and graves).

 

Here’s an excerpt about the current delay forced upon the UN.

 

The UN Security Council postponed its vote on an anti-Israel resolution at the last minute at the request of Egypt, which proposed the draft in the first place.

 

The United Nations Security Council vote on a draft resolution calling for an end to Jewish construction in all areas desired by the Palestinian Authority for its hoped-for state – and in fact, calling for an end to all Jewish communities in those areas – has been postponed.

 

According to a Western diplomatic source quoted Thursday by Reuters, the vote was postponed “potentially indefinitely” in response to a request by Egyptian President Abdel el-Sisi. The original draft text of the resolution was circulated by Egypt on Wednesday evening, with the vote by the 15-member Council set for 3 pm ET Thursday.

 

The text of that resolution demanded that Israel “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem… “ It said the establishment of settlements by Israel has “no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law…. [and] are dangerously imperiling the viability of a two-state solution.”

 

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement on the PMO website and in a video, appealing to the Obama administration not to allow the … READ THE REST (UN Security Council Vote on Anti-Israel Resolution Postponed; By Hana Levi Julian; JewishPress.com; 12/22/16)

 

JRH 12/27/16

Please Support NCCR

***************

Veto anti-Israel UN Sec. Council Res. & Move US Embassy

ACTION ALERT!!!

 

Sent December 22, 2016 11:56 AM

Sent by United Coalition for Israel

 

Trump team puts forth 16 Position Points on Israel which encourages a veto of any anti-Israel UN Resolution and the Move of the US Embassy to Jerusalem.

The Unity Coalition for Israel wishes all of our readers a happy and healthy Chanukah and Christmas.

 

VIDEO: Trump for Moving US Embassy to Jerusalem

 

Posted by Esther Levens

Published on Dec 21, 2016

 

http://unitycoalitionforisrael.org/aa/alert.php?id=175 Please take time to take action today. We are asking President Obama to VETO any actions the UN Security Council against Israel and also to encourage President-Elect Trump to fulfill his promise to move the US Embassy in Israel to its rightful place in Jerusalem.

 

In the spirit of these holidays, we are expressing our joy and elation over the 16 point position paper on Israel (please take time to read it below) written by Jason Dov Greenblatt and David Friedman (Friedman recently chosen by Trump as US Ambassador to Israel).

We could not have expressed these 16 points any more clearly ourselves. The document is a windfall for friends of Israel who support Jewish sovereignty and security in the land. We express our gratitude for this strong stand being taken by the Trump Presidential Transition Team.

In light of the spirit of freedom both Chanukah and Christmas evoke, we want to call our readers to action over 2 issues raised in this key 16 Point Position Paper:

1 – Remind President Obama to VETO the French-introduced UN Security Council resolution proposing the recognition of a Palestinian state within 18 months OR to impose restrictions on Israel regarding any activity within the lands of Judea and Samaria (‘West Bank’). This resolution can take place at any moment and we must make our support for a veto of this resolution known!

2 – Encourage Donald Trump and his team to stand fast on moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The US Congressional Law, the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, sponsored by Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, long-time friend of Israel and UCI, was scheduled to be enforced by May of 1999. Let Donald Trump, our new Ambassador David Friedman, and Congress (who voted overwhelmingly for its passage) all know that we also strongly support this move!

 

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION NOW!

 

Ambassador David Friedman and Jason Dov Greenblatt, Co-Chairmen of the Israel Advisory Committee to Donald J. Trump, should be lauded for their work in bringing about a 16 point masterpiece.

Read and sign the letter below. Copies will be sent to: President Obama, President Elect Donald Trump, Ambassador David Friedman, Jason Dov Greenblatt and your Senator and Representatives

– – –

We are also including the entire 16 Point Position Paper for you here:

THE 16 POINT POSITION PAPER by Mr. Trump’s Israel Advisory Committee

Jason D. Greenblatt, EVP/Chief Legal Officer of The Trump Organization, co-chairman of Mr. Trump’s Israel Advisory Committee & Co-Founder of InspireConversation.com – Nov 2, 2016

Joint Statement from Jason Dov Greenblatt and David Friedman, Co-Chairmen of the Israel Advisory Committee to Donald J. Trump

It has been an exhilarating election cycle. Approximately seven months ago, we were blessed to have been tapped by Donald J. Trump to be his top advisors with respect to the State of Israel. We have been fortunate to work with a talented team of people and have put together the below positions. Each of these positions have been discussed with Mr. Trump and the Trump campaign, and most have been stated, in one form or another, by Mr. Trump in various interviews or speeches given by him or on his social media accounts. For those of you who are true friends of the State of Israel, and for those of you who believe that the State of Israel and the United States of America have an unbreakable friendship, we urge you to read the below. We would like to express our gratitude to those individuals who have helped us over the past few months. We truly appreciate your efforts, friendship and guidance. We would also like to express our gratitude to our friend, a great friend of the State of Israel, Donald J. Trump, who gave us the tremendous opportunity to serve in this capacity. May God bless the United States of America and the State of Israel.

1 – The unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel is based upon shared values of democracy, freedom of speech, respect for minorities, cherishing life, and the opportunity for all citizens to pursue their dreams.

2 – Israel is the state of the Jewish people, who have lived in that land for 3,500 years. The State of Israel was founded with courage and determination by great men and women against enormous odds and is an inspiration to people everywhere who value freedom and human dignity.

3 – Israel is a staunch ally of the U.S. and a key partner in the global war against Islamic jihadism. Military cooperation and coordination between Israel and the U.S. must continue to grow.

4 – The American people value our close friendship and alliance with Israel culturally, religiously, and politically. While other nations have required U.S. troops to defend them, Israelis have always defended their own country by themselves and only ask for military equipment assistance and diplomatic support to do so. The U.S. does not need to nation-build in Israel or send troops to defend Israel.

5 – The Memorandum of Understanding signed by the American and Israeli Governments is a good first step, but there is much more to be done. A Trump Administration will ensure that Israel receives maximum military, strategic and tactical cooperation from the United States, and the MOU will not limit the support that we give. Further, Congress will not be limited to give support greater than that provided by the MOU if it chooses to do so. Israel and the United States benefit tremendously from what each country brings to the table. The relationship is a two way street.

6 – The U.S. should veto any United Nations votes that unfairly single out Israel and will work in international institutions and forums, including in our relations with the European Union, to oppose efforts to delegitimize Israel, impose discriminatory double standards against Israel, or to impose special labeling requirements on Israeli products or boycotts on Israeli goods.

7 – The U.S. should cut off funds for the UN Human Rights Council, a body dominated by countries presently run by dictatorships that seems solely devoted to slandering the Jewish State. UNESCO’s attempt to disconnect the State of Israel from Jerusalem is a one-sided attempt to ignore Israel’s 3,000-year bond to its capital city, and is further evidence of the enormous anti-Israel bias of the United Nations.

8 – The U.S. should view the effort to boycott, divest from, and sanction (BDS) Israel as inherently anti-Semitic and take strong measures, both diplomatic and legislative, to thwart actions that are intended to limit commercial relations with Israel, or persons or entities doing business in Israeli areas, in a discriminatory manner. The BDS movement is just another attempt by the Palestinians to avoid having to commit to a peaceful co-existence with Israel. The false notion that Israel is an occupier should be rejected.

9 – The Trump administration will ask the Justice Department to investigate coordinated attempts on college campuses to intimidate students who support Israel.

10 – A two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians appears impossible as long as the Palestinians are unwilling to renounce violence against Israel or recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. Additionally, the Palestinians are divided between PA rule in the West Bank and Hamas rule in Gaza so there is not a united Palestinian people who could control a second state. Hamas is a US-designated terrorist organization that actively seeks Israel’s destruction. We will seek to assist the Israelis and the Palestinians in reaching a comprehensive and lasting peace, to be freely and fairly negotiated between those living in the region.

11 – The Palestinian leadership, including the PA, has undermined any chance for peace with Israel by raising generations of Palestinian children on an educational program of hatred of Israel and Jews. The larger Palestinian society is regularly taught such hatred on Palestinian television, in the Palestinian press, in entertainment media, and in political and religious communications. The two major Palestinian political parties, Hamas and Fatah, regularly promote anti-Semitism and jihad.

12 – The U.S. cannot support the creation of a new state where terrorism is financially incentivized, terrorists are celebrated by political parties and government institutions, and the corrupt diversion of foreign aid is rampant. The U.S. should not support the creation of a state that forbids the presence of Christian or Jewish citizens, or that discriminates against people on the basis of religion.

13 – The U.S. should support direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians without preconditions, and will oppose all Palestinian, European and other efforts to bypass direct negotiations between parties in favor of an imposed settlement. Any solutions imposed on Israel by outside parties including by the United Nations Security Council, should be opposed. We support Israel’s right and obligation to defend itself against terror attacks upon its people and against alternative forms of warfare being waged upon it legally, economically, culturally, and otherwise.

14 – Israel’s maintenance of defensible borders that preserve peace and promote stability in the region is a necessity. Pressure should not be put on Israel to withdraw to borders that make attacks and conflict more likely.

15 – The U.S. will recognize Jerusalem as the eternal and indivisible capital of the Jewish state and Mr. Trump’s Administration will move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

16 – Despite the Iran Nuclear deal in 2015, the U.S. State Department recently designated Iran, yet again, as the leading state sponsor of terrorism, putting the Middle East particularly, but the whole world at risk by financing, arming, and training terrorist groups operating around the world including Hamas, Hezbollah, and forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The U.S. must counteract Iran’s ongoing violations of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action regarding Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons and their noncompliance with past and present sanctions, as well as the agreements they signed, and implement tough, new sanctions when needed to protect the world and Iran’s neighbors from its continuing nuclear and non-nuclear threats.

Jason D. Greenblatt

EVP/Chief Legal Officer of The Trump Organization, co-chairman of Mr. Trump’s Israel Advisory Committee & Co-Founder of InspireConversation.com

 

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION NOW!

____________________

UCI Donation Page

 

UCI Contact Information

3965 W. 83rd. Street #292,
Shawnee Mission, KS 66208
913-648-0022 | Info@uc4i.org

 

About UCI

 

The Vision


Since July 1991, the Unity Coalition for Israel has convened an alliance of Christian and Jewish organizations actively working together to generate support for the State of Israel. With more than 200 autonomous partners, representing more than 40 million Americans, we are the largest network of Pro-Israel groups in the world. Through this grassroots coalition, we deliver a much-needed message to the media and Congress.

 

Our Mission


The mission of Unity Coalition for Israel is to focus the efforts of secular and religious organizations and individuals for whom the existence of the State of Israel is central and essential to the future of the free world. We educate these organizations and individuals on security issues and radical ideologies, including global Islamic terrorism, affecting not only Israel, but all of Western Civilization.


Partner Organizations


UCI reaches millions of people through more than 200 Christian & Jewish organizations, including churches, synagogues, prayer networks, think tanks and thousands of individuals. UCI maintains a clearinghouse to update the public by forwarding our daily newsletters, Urgent Action Alerts, Media Alerts, Press Releases and utilizing our two websites. Information is widely distributed throughout this vast network of staunch, reliable friends, keeping them informed concerning the latest issues pertaining to the war for the free world in which we are engaged.

 

Media


We contact radio stations & TV networks by e-mail with the latest news and views not found in most secular media. Routine messages go to: 1,700 religious radio stations, 245 Christian TV stations, and all secular media. Emails are sent regularly to secular newspapers and magazines, 120 Christian newspapers, 70 Jewish newspapers.

 

Our Founder: Esther Levens

 

In 1991, Esther Levens, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Unity Coalition for Israel (UCI), brought together more than 200 organizations to educate Americans and others about Israel, the Middle East and radical Islam. This Coalition, representing millions of people, has served as a clearinghouse for information on Israel, its history and culture, and that of the 22 Arab nations surrounding it. She has overseen this broad educational outreach to grassroots America by communicating with the secular and religious media, college campuses, the U.S. Presidential Cabinet, the U.S. Congress, the Israeli Knesset and other government officials.


Visit EstherLevens.com to see a rich and exciting history.

 

Join Ari Bussel on a Tour of Jerusalem, Israel


When the world around seems to be exploding, Israel is a safe haven. Let us work to protect and defend Israel as she is. Beautiful, although not perfect. Shy yet adventurous. Spontaneous yet thoughtful. Passionate and devoted. The only homeland of the Jewish people, in its ancient and eternal Zion Jerusalem! Ari Bussel

Ari Bussel gives us a tour of Jerusalem while attending the 37th Zionist Congress. You get an idea of the disgust for the terrorism committed by Arabs who call themselves Palestinians while noting there is a deep divide between the Jewish Leftist and Right delegates attending the Congress.

Ari sent a lot of photos to commemorate his down time from attending the Zionist Congress. Ari usually calls his email submissions Postcards from America Postcards from Israel, the postcard is big in this post. Also I added some background links embraced by brackets.

JRH 10/23/15

Please Support NCCR

***************************

Join Ari Bussel on a Tour of Jerusalem, Israel

By Ari Bussel

Sent: 10/22/2015 12:30 PM

Dear Friends,

Join me on a visit to Zion Jerusalem, where the 37th Zionist Congress of the World Zionist Organization [Jewish Virtual Library on WZO] is taking place. You need not even leave your seat, although the weather here in Israel is most inviting – unseasonably warm, even hot at times.

My friend Shalom, the publisher and editor of The Jewish Home LA, asked me to buy some pizzas to give the soldiers walking the streets of Jerusalem tasked to protect us from “innocent” terrorists. Little did Shalom know that many, oh so many, are women! They have shown their bravery time and again, at the most dangerous terrorist attacks. And Shalom is married and an Orthodox man!

I replied to Shalom, and I am taking this opportunity to tell you as well:

CONTINUE WHAT YOU ARE DOING, FOR YOU ARE THE SOLDIERS ON THE FRONT LINE TOO!

Disseminate the truth. Fight the lies. Stand up for Israel; so few do that. Continue what you are doing every day, for the future of Israel depends on it greatly.

But Shalom, as all Jewish people from time immemorial, is stubborn. Very stubborn indeed. He replied:

I was serious, if you see an opportunity to show a soldier [and/or soldiers] that us in America (and the world!) are thinking about them… please use it and I’ll paypal/put in your account/give you a check when you come back…

Agree?

Oh, the Jewish people, very stiff-necked and stubborn. Except, this is the type of “Stubbornness” I actually like and admire.

So let us go on our tour, for this is a different type of Postcard from Israel. It is one in which you join me on this day in Jerusalem.

Remember, it is warm, so drink plenty, bring your sun glasses and a hat. Wear light. You are up for a treat.

Sunny Day in Jerusalem

[Jerusalem’s Central Bus Station building; women soldiers patrolling across next to the Convention Center]

[Across from the main entrance of the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem, where a few days ago a terrorist attack took place, secular men putting Tfilin, women officers standing guard and the light rail keeps running on schedule (it is the target to stone throwing by some of the Arab residents who use it).]

 

The First Zionist Congress took place in Basel in 1897. It was followed each subsequent year until 1901, and then took place every other year. Except Herzls “Zionism” has nothing to do with today’s usage of the word. In fact, as we travel through the streets of Israel’s capital we are cognizant first and foremost we are in the united capital of Israel, a modern and free country of almost eight million citizens, and each can do as one wishes – worship whatever religion, walk freely without fear, argue, have an opinion, enjoy life.

We begin the day standing in line. Most delegates are foreign, so there is some semblance of a “line” (in the traditional definition, meaning one person standing after another); some but not much.

We are waiting for the security check for a keynote address by Prime Minister Netanyahu. It is slated to start at 10AM, and everyone is seated before the Prime Minister of Israel with his security entourage enters the hall.

The reception was lukewarm, somewhat surprising to me. After all, these are the delegates from countries around the world that need Israel, that one day – likely sooner – will see their communities seek refuge in this country.

The Prime Minister of the Jewish State. Once, this title alone made one’s heart race, made us stand taller, made us proud and excited. Apparently no longer. Disgust, loathing, criticism, complaints – these better characterize today’s “connection” between vast portions of the Diaspora to Israel; particular American Jewry’s.

Here is the text of the PM’s speech. He talks about ten lies Israel is fighting nowadays and refutes them one by one.

 

Most poignant and disturbing was the delegate (likely a Jew from the USA) who saw fit to should “LIAR!” at Netanyahu. It was the opening shot, for today’s “love” to Israel is a very strange love indeed.

Netanyahu told us of his grandfather emigrated to [British Mandate] Palestine in 1920, and the hatred toward the Jews when there was no Israel, no “Occupation” and no “Settlements.” But there were Jews.

Bloodshed happened then and continues to happen now. Thus, anyone believing that “two states for two people” can yield a lasting peace must be corrected. Our enemies will only be satisfied with one, and only one, Final Solution – a region and a world free of any Jews.

Not pleasant to the ears? Maybe. But this is the reality which Israel faces.

Benjamin Netanyahu – 37th Zionist Congress

 

Benjamin Netanyahu – 37th Zionist Congress

 

Benjamin Netanyahu – 37th Zionist Congress

Attending an address by the Prime Minister means a very tight security, and after his speech was over and he was whisked off to the next event on his calendar, and for the next two days will have to answer for his remarks about the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and his cooperation with Hitler. ***

[***Blog Editor: I can’t help it. I have to show you a 1942 photo of Grand Mufti Amin al Husseini meeting with Hitler in Berlin undoubtedly talking of the Final Solution for Jews]

Between this keynote address and a lunch to which I was invited to meet the delegates from the USA, I had two hours to spare. What does one do with this time? Go to the Western Wall of course!

From the Convention Center in Jerusalem (across from the Central Bus Station), one can walk straight to the Old City.

First, one would encounter a famous SHUK (market) Machane Yehuda (Judea Camp). Oh, just the name “Judea” immediately brings to mind “Judea and Samaria,” for we all forget that these “territories” are the place where the Tribe of Judea once called home, thus we cannot be “settlers” on our ancient homeland. Further, the word “Jew” (with as much spite as possible) or Jewish is derived from Judea. Lastly, the Tribe of Judea is the one to which King David belonged and from which the Messiah (“Son-of-David”) will come, “soon in these very days” we say.

[The Shuk, Machane Yehuda]

The Shuk

 

Machane Yehuda

The market was relatively empty, although I enjoyed the tourists buying fake sunglasses and pirated CDs. The merchant and the lady tourists did not speak any common language, but paper money exchanged hands and was apparently accepted and understood by both.

From there I hopped onto the tram, where I noticed a lot of people with guns or handguns. Visible. Ready. The Mayor of Jerusalem called any gun holder (a very special permit is required for it in Israel) to carry the gun with them at all times. [Blog Editor: Times of Israel on Mayor Nir Barkat and guns. I wonder if Israel has an American version of a Second Amendment guaranteeing right of self-protection.]

At City Hall one gets off, and the Old City is across the street. At each intersection, groups of security forces – soldiers, police officers and border police – stand together, teams there to protect the innocent passerby and themselves. Each day there is a terrorist attack. They act as the “guard of Jerusalem” and other major cities.

I walked alongside the outer walls of the Old City and entered into the Old City via Jaffa Gate, where two weeks earlier I vowed not to buy anything from the Arab shopkeepers. They – the Arabs of Israel – should stand up and proclaim that the terrorist attacks of the last three weeks must stop, but instead we hear either deafening silence or further incitement from them, particularly from their elected officials serving in the Israeli Parliament (Knesset). [Incitement example by Arab MK member]

Indeed, the Arabs of Israel are the main victims of the current “terror wave,” for they are about to lose all they have, and for the sake of what? The Arabs of Israel are much better off as Israeli citizens than anywhere else in the Arab world, and they know it. Except, them are tempted by the lure of Eve and the Apple, and soon they will be expelled from the Garden of Eden.

From Jaffa Gate I decided not to go via the main Arab walkway that leads eventually to the Jewish Quarter. It might be the shortest route, but in this covered walkway with stores on either side, I did not feel safe. The Arab shopkeepers are those who just a couple of weeks ago spat at a Jewish woman whose husband was stabbed to death, she had a knife in her shoulder, running, pleading for help for their young boy. One Arab shopkeeper beat her. Another said “may you die.” Yet another stood idly and watched, a Jewish family being stabbed to death, a reality TV. The scene reminded me the Europeans eighty years ago, at Strasses throughout Europe’s main capital cities, where Jews were stopped, beaten and humiliated to the cheers and enjoyment of the enlightened crowds.

[Two references to the incident: Arab Witnesses Laughed, Spat at Wounded Terror Victim (INN) and NIGHTMARE ON HA KOTEL STREET (The Zelman Partisans). Youtube video of surviving widow (Adelle Banita-Bennett) being visited by Benjamin Netanyahu:

VIDEO: Netanyahu Visits Wounded Mother and Son

Published by Arutz Sheva TV

Published on Oct 5, 2015]

So I turned toward the Tower of David and Christ Church across from it and walked via the Armenian Quarter. There, at least, I did not feel ill-at-ease. When I arrived at the Jewish Quarter, where dozens of young children were playing outside, free of any worries, in their homeland, I was elated.

I soon arrived at the steps overlooking the Temple Mount. Across from me a mountain of graves, Mount of Olives, from where one can look at the Temple Mount and the Golden Gate, the Gate of Mercy, which the Prophet Ezekiel describes (44:1-3):

1 Then he brought me back the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looketh toward the east; and it was shut.

2 And the LORD said unto me: ‘This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, neither shall any man enter in by it, for the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it; therefore it shall be shut.

3 As for the prince, being a prince, he shall sit therein to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.’

[Blog Editor: Ari included the Hebrew version of the Scripture above]

א וישב אתי, דרך שער המקדש החיצון, הפנה, קדים; והוא, סגור.

ב ויאמר אלי יהוה, השער הזה סגור יהיה לא יפתח ואיש לא-יבא בו–כי יהוה אלהי-ישראל, בא בו; והיה, סגור.

ג את-הנשיא, נשיא הוא ישב-בו לאכול- (לאכל-) לחם–לפני יהוה; מדרך אולם השער יבוא, ומדרכו יצא.

My eyes wandered nearer to the Al Aqsa Mosque. To its left is the Western Wall and above it the Dome of the Rock. Leading from the Western Wall to the Temple Mount itself is a wooden bridge called Mughrabi. I asked a police officer if I may ascend, as Netanyahu said that the area is accessible during these hours, but the officer dismissed my question and said in no uncertain terms: NO. Likely it was my Middle Eastern look, or maybe my Israeli accent. Regardless, the “no” could not have been interpreted in any other way.

I went through the security check and was at the outskirts of the Western Wall plaza. I look with awe – the Western Wall is but a “window” to the actual western wall of the Temple Mount. Over the centuries one layer was built over another, and so the majority of the wall was covered, the ceiling of all these layers is what today is “ground level.”

[Outside the walls of the Old City, tourists are still here!]

[Walking down the stairs in the Jewish Quarter, toward the Temple Mount]

[Al Aqsa Mosque in the foreground, Mount Olives in the background]

[Al Aqsa Mosque; Israel is apparently working for years, decades, to topple it down….]

 

 

[Mughrabi Bridge – a connection between Jews and Muslims]

The Plaza was empty. The women’s section on the right was well attended, but in the main (men’s) section, there were hardly a handful of people.

I took a yarmulke and put it on my head, as does any man approaching the Western Wall. There, between its stones, were thousands of folded pieces of paper, wishes and hopes people have written and deposited. Personal communication between them and the Almighty above.

A religious Jew was praying, and I glanced at the top of the page, I found myself staring at Psalms 121:

1 A Song of Ascents. {N}

I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains: from whence shall my help come?

2 My help cometh from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; He that keepeth thee will not slumber.

4 Behold, He that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD is thy keeper; the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.

6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD shall keep thee from all evil; He shall keep thy soul.

[Blog Editor: Ari included the Hebrew version of the Scripture above]

א שיר, למעלות:
אשא עיני, אל-ההרים– מאין, יבא עזרי.

ב עזרי, מעם יהוה– עשה, שמים וארץ.

ג אל-יתן למוט רגלך; אל-ינום, שמרך.

ד הנה לא-ינום, ולא יישן– שומר, ישראל.

ה יהוה שמרך; יהוה צלך, על-יד ימינך.

ו יומם, השמש לא-יככה; וירח בלילה.

ז יהוה, ישמרך מכל-רע: ישמר, את-נפשך.

ח יהוה, ישמר-צאתך ובואך– מעתה, ועד-עולם.

It was not a coincidence, I decided, and for the first time since I was Bar Mitzva’ed at this very place, I stopped at the booth of the “Chabad” people who usually do not let anyone without pestering him to put on Tfillin [The Free Dictionary Definition].

I complained: “You always stop me, and today, when there are not more than a handful of men in the plaza, you do not offer me to put Tfilin?!?” Putting Tfiling is a great Mitzvah and blessing, not only for the person putting them, but also for the one assisting.

Thus, after 36 years, I was again looking “ceremonial” at the Western Wall. Another reason for a Selfie (my first was in Bus #1, encircling the Old City, an hour after a terrorist attack, when I was the only person on the bus – such a rare occasion, it deserved a “selfie!”).

[The Western Wall plaza, women’s section on the left; UNESCO just determined it is an Islamic site – erasing Israel from the map, one step at a time, no connection between the Jewish people and their holiest site of thousands of years, long before Islam was birthed.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For my return I decided on taking a bus, yes, Bus #1, and I still made it in time for the lunch.

At the lunch, I met delegates from the States. Unlike a group of Christians coming to Jerusalem, all praising the Almighty for this treat-of-a-lifetime and praying for the Peace of Jerusalem, when Jews gather for lunch, one can rest assured there will be trouble.

Indeed, we are a very strange people indeed. Everyone loves Israel to such a degree, that they cannot even agree on the most basic common denominator. These support BDS, others fight it. These try to force their own view of what Israel has to be, while those will defend Israel no-matter-what.

It was strange to see the heads of two organizations, ZOA [About] and Ameinu [Ameinu About Page – ZOA criticism of Ameinu], one on the right and one on the left, sitting at the same table and trying to be “civilized.”

[All smiles – for the camera only]

 

Slowly, the real feelings emerged to the surface, and it was clear there is no agreement, practically on anything. Entrust the future of the Jewish state in the hands of American Jewry, and you can rest assured there will not be an Israel in the Land of Israel within a very short period of time.

If I needed a proof that this “Zionist” Congress has nothing to do with “Zionism” of Benjamin Zeev Herzl [Jewish Virtual Library bio] a hundred and eighteen years ago, that was it.

Our hostess explained that the love of Israel is like a marriage of someone who fell in love with another – not the most exceptional in anything, looks, smarts, money, but still the subject of one’s love. Israel is not perfect, she said, but we are still in love. Well, I would not want her as a marriage counselor, and the marriage between Israel and American Jewry, post the euphoria of the 1967 Six Day War, has long passed the stage of divorce.

Lunch was followed by a panel discussion about BDS. Remember, there are elements within the American Jewish community actively pursuing Boycott, Divest and Sanction, while others are limiting their BDS support only toward whatever is “beyond the Green Line” (products like Soda Stream, Dead Sea Ahava beauty products, produce, wines, professors from Ariel University, etc.) and yet others who fight it with all their means.

BDS has become such a magic word, one everyone uses and so few understand [SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER understanding], that I had to attend the panel discussion.

There, too, I was told of a love story. One of the panelists, a young Israeli, told us about his friend, Tevye and one of his seven daughters that reached the age she was to be married. Interestingly, Shalom Aleichem started publishing this story in 1894 and continued throughout the years that the first 11 Zionists Congress meetings had convened.

Anyone who has grown up on Fiddler on the Roof recognizes immediately “Do You Love Me?” Here is an excerpt of the lyrics:

For twenty-five years, I’ve washed your clothes,

Cooked your meals, cleaned your house,

Given you children, milked the cow.

After twenty-five years, why talk about love right now?

Tevye: The first time I met you was on our wedding day. I was scared.

Golde: I was shy.

Tevye: I was nervous.

Golde: So was I.

Tevye: But my father and my father said we’d learn to love each other.

So, now I’m asking, Golde…

Tevye: Do you love me?

Golde: I’m your wife!

Tevye: I know. But do you love me?

Golde: Do I love him?

For twenty-five years, I’ve lived with him,

Fought with him, starved with him.

For twenty-five years, my bed is his.

If that’s not love, what is?

And I was almost caught in this honey trap, so fond I am of Fiddler on the Roof.

Jews, particularly those from America, love Israel so much, that their love threatens to choke this young (3,067 year old), modern country.

[A panel about BDS]

[So many empty rows – luckily other than the American delegates, most others cannot comprehend a Jew participating in any shade of BDS.]

Much like the lunch, where the participants just awaited a release valve, so here when the issue of “Settlements” and the “Occupation” came up, suddenly there was an awakening, hand clapping and renewed interest.

Just feed American Jews with these magic words, and their hearts will start pumping faster, their breathing will quicken and they will feel exhilarated – finally someone who understands their true love to Israel, love that forces them to do what is good for Israel, even if Israel does not think so. “One day,” they tell themselves, “Israel will thank us.”

Interestingly, there were very many empty seats during this panel discussion.

A keynote address. A short visit to the Wall. A lunch with American Jewish clergy and others. And a panel on BDS. For me, that was enough of “Zionism” for one day. I still need to write Ella Frumkin, whose husband Si Z”L was the co-leader (along with Zev Yaroslavsky) headed the fight from Los Angeles to “Let My People Go” at the height of the Soviet Union. I stood with Natan Sheransky [BIO — usually spelled “Sharansky” in American media] and remembered Si’s work and great friendship.

 

Natan Sheransky & Ari Bussel

Natan Sheransky & Ari Bussel

 

Hundred-year-old organizations often do not remember the reason for which they were formed in the first place.  They often look for things to do.  They are “too big to fail,” spending millions on salaries.  They have an amazing supporters’ network.  But what is the utility in their very existence?  Often negligible if any.

 

Will we survive without them?  Surely.  Will we be worse off?  Doubtfully.

 

The World Zionist Organization should cease to exist.  The “Zionist” Congress is a mockery of what Zionism was.  It is a cynical view of a dream once dreamt.  And those who call themselves ardent “Zionists” and do all in their power to bring Israel to her knees must be exposed, isolated and removed.

 

Zionism is alive and well.  It needs not the name of 118 years ago.  It is called the Modern State of Israel.  A miracle between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean (I will not quibble about the exact place one draws the line – to the east or the west).

 

When the world around seems to be exploding, Israel is a safe haven.  Let us work to protect and defend Israel as she is.  Beautiful, although not perfect.  Shy yet adventurous.  Spontaneous yet thoughtful.  Passionate and devoted.  The only homeland of the Jewish people, in its ancient and eternal Zion Jerusalem!

 

Always,

 

Ari Bussel

____________________

Edited by John R. Houk

Except where Ari explains a photo, brackets enclosing links and text are by the Editor.

 

© Ari Bussel

The new government’s war on BDS


Is the global Antisemitism snowballing in the Western World’s democratic nations grown so bad that tiny Israel is becoming diplomatically isolated?

JRH 6/6/15

Please Support NCCR

******************************

The new government’s war on BDS

By CAROLINE B. GLICK

06/04/2015

Jerusalem Post

The flagship of the diplomatic war against Israel is the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government is less than a month old, but it’s already apparent that it is different from its predecessors. And if it continues on its current diplomatic trajectory, it may do something that its six predecessors failed to accomplish. Netanyahu’s new government may improve Israel’s position internationally.

The stakes are high. Over the years, Israel has largely concentrated its efforts on developing the tools to contend with its military challenges. But as we have seen over the past decade and a half, Israel’s capacity to fight and defeat its enemies is not limited principally by the IDF’s war-fighting capabilities.

Israel’s ability to defend itself and its citizens is constrained first and foremost by its shrinking capacity to defend itself diplomatically. Its enemies in the diplomatic arena have met with great success in their use of diplomatic condemnation and intimidation to force Israel to limit its military operations to the point where it is incapable of defeating its enemies outright.

The flagship of the diplomatic war against Israel is the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

Participants in the movement propagate and disseminate the libelous claim that Israel’s use of force in self-defense is inherently immoral and illegal. Over the years BDS activists’ assaults on Israel’s right to exist have become ever more shrill and radical. So, too, whereas just a few years ago their operations tended to be concentrated around military confrontations, today they are everyday occurrences. And their demands become greater and more openly anti-Semitic from week to week and day to day.

Consider the events of the past seven days alone.

Late last week Israel fended off a major international effort led by Palestinian Authority Soccer Federation chairman and former terrorist chief Jibril Rajoub to expel it from the Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Not only is Rajoub a man with blood on his hands. The Fatah luminary is admired by the Israeli far-Left while also being a favorite of Qatar, the chief state sponsor of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.

Rajoub is sympathetically inclined toward enabling Hamas in Gaza to expand its presence in Judea and Samaria.

Before the government had a chance to sigh in relief that FIFA was settled, Britain’s National Union of Students voted to join the BDS movement. This means that the anti-Israel demonstrations and assaults that take place several times a week at Britain’s universities will now take place under the NUS banner.

Also Wednesday, the French telecom giant Orange’s CEO Stéphane Richard told reporters in Cairo that he wishes to cut off his contract with Israel’s Partner telecommunications company, one of Israel’s largest cellular telephone services providers.

Richard was apparently coerced into making his statement by the Egyptian BDS movement which has threatened to boycott Orange’s subsidiary in Egypt due to its contract with Partner.

Tuesday it was reported that last month the Dutch government issued a travel advisory to its citizens traveling in Israel. In an act of anti-Jewish inversion now common in the Western discourse about Israel and its enemies, the Dutch government warned that Jews in Judea and Samaria constitute a threat to Dutch travelers because they throw stones “toward Palestinian and foreign vehicles.”

In the US, the Anti-Defamation League reported that this past academic year there was a 38 percent rise in anti-Israel events on college campuses over the previous year. The number of BDS campaigns doubled over the previous academic year.

By ADL’s count, there were 520 anti-Israel events on campuses. BDS campaigns were initiated on 29 campuses.

At the UN, Tuesday “The Palestinian Return Center,” Hamas’s European chapter, was granted official status as a recognized nongovernmental organization by the UN’s Commission on NGOs. Now, thanks to the commission, Hamas terrorists can participate in UN meetings, have full access to UN facilities and wear their new, official UN badges.

Incidentally, the same commission rejected a request by ZAKA to receive the same status. ZAKA is an Israeli NGO that provides first aid and handles the remains of terrorism victims and victims of major disasters in Israel and worldwide.

Also at the UN, Leila Zerrougui, the envoy for children in armed conflicts, is pushing to get the IDF added to the blacklist of groups that harm children.

Boko Haram, Islamic State, al-Qaida and the Taliban are among the current names of the list.

Wednesday Republican Sen. Ted Cruz sent a pointed letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemning Zerrougui’s actions. Cruz threatened, “Congress will have no choice but to reassess the United States’ relationship with the United Nations and consider serious consequences if you choose to take this action.”

In contrast to Cruz’s position, in his interview with Channel 2 broadcast Tuesday, US President Barack Obama indicated that due to the rising tide of anti-Israel sentiment and campaigns, if Israel doesn’t make unreciprocated concessions to the PA then the administration will have no choice but to join the anti-Israel UN bandwagon.

The time has come, then, for Israel to take the wheels off the wagon.

For the past dozen years or so, pro-Israel activists in the US in particular have been fighting an uphill, lonely battle against the organizations promoting the BDS movement. Among their top complaints has been the constant refrain that the Israeli government has undermined their actions by standing silent or denying what was happening or treating Israel’s defenders as the moral equivalents of its adversaries.

To some degree, the reticence of the Foreign Ministry was understandable. The BDS Israel haters often claim that they wage political and economic warfare against Israel and isolate and humiliate Israel supporters in the West to promote peace.

This claim has always been ridiculous. You can’t support peace and boycott Jewish-owned businesses in all or parts of Israel. You can’t support peace and boycott Israeli students and professors and dance troupes.

But so long as the word “peace” has been involved, or the boycotters have pretended that they are only referring to Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, the Foreign Ministry has by and large taken them at face value and pretended that their smear operation is nothing to worry about.

To the extent they have tried to deal with the growing hate Israel phenomenon, they have run away from its essence. Instead, our senior diplomats have said that the best way to combat BDS is by rebranding Israel as the start-up, gay, friendly state with great beaches.

And largely as a result of this self-induced paralysis and blindness, pro-Israel activists have been isolated.

Jewish anti-Israel organizations such as J Street, Open Hillel and the New Israel Fund in the US, and European governments and government- funded organizations in Europe have operated largely free from criticism by official Israeli voices unwilling to take sides in the debate about the country’s right to exist and defend itself.

All the while, Israel’s diplomatic standing has gone from weak to incapacitated.

Against this backdrop, statements and actions by the new Netanyahu government are encouraging because, unlike its predecessors, it seems to have stopped playing the fool.

At the outset of this week’s cabinet meeting, Netanyahu spoke out angrily and specifically against the BDS movement and warned that Israel must not blame itself for the BDS haters’ assaults against it.

As he put it, “The last thing we need to do is to bow our heads and ask where we went wrong, where we erred. We have done nothing wrong and we have not erred. We are not a perfect country; we do not pretend to be such, but they are setting standards for us that are both twisted and higher than those for any other country, any other democracy.”

Wednesday Netanyahu assailed the British student union’s decision to join the BDS movement.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked excoriated the BDS movement at the Knesset, stating openly that it is the new Jew hatred.

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely has translated this new position into action. Among other things, this week she instructed Israel’s ambassador to Switzerland to formally demand that the Swiss government and the Zurich municipality rescind their financial support for the planned Breaking the Silence conference this month in Zurich. The purpose of the conference, like the purpose of the foreign-funded group more generally, is to demonize and libel the IDF.

So it appears that the government has decided to finally go on offense. But if this is true, then much more can and must be done immediately.

Take the Dutch travel advisory for instance. Israel wasted no time in condemning Holland’s move. But the Dutch statement was just the tip of the iceberg.

Holland spends millions every year to directly and indirectly finance organizations whose sole purpose is to demonize Israel and Israelis. The Dutch government paid a lot of money to invent lies about Israel and its Jews that then formed the basis of its malicious, bigoted travel advisory.

The Israeli embassy at the Hague as well as the Foreign Ministry must demand not only a retraction of the travel warning. They must demand an immediate cessation of this subversive, adversarial campaign.

So, too, while the British government responded with embarrassment to the BDS vote of the NUS, the fact is that the British government holds responsibility for the strength and radicalism of the BDS movement in Britain. Like Holland, the UK spends millions every year financing NGOs whose purpose is to undermine Israeli sovereignty, demonize the IDF, attack Israel’s right to exist and fund Palestinian terrorists.

Every year, the British government funds dozens of Israeli and Palestinian-registered NGOs whose purpose is to make Israel into an international pariah unable to wage wars of self-defense without risking war crimes tribunals, economic boycotts and international humiliation.

Rather than sufficing with expressions of thanks to the Cameron government for distancing itself from the student union’s boycott of Israel, the government must demand the cessation of direct and indirect British governmental funding of these groups and their campaigns.

The BDS movement is a proxy war. It is being waged against Israel not only by deep-pocketed Arab governments which fund the NGOs that carry the battle to the streets. It is also being waged by hypocritical leftist donors in the US and by supposedly friendly European governments.

The government has taken the first steps in beating back this onslaught. But the hour is late and the stakes are high. The BDS movement is a strategic threat because as it gets stronger, Israel’s ability to wage war on the military battlefield becomes further constrained and the threats to Israel’s economy and social fabric grow. BDS must be defeated piece by piece in an unrelenting offensive that attacks its sources and puts it out of business. It won’t be easy. It won’t be genteel.

But if the government doesn’t submit to the diplomatic urge to be polite, it stands a chance of making matters better, for a change.

_______________________

Copyright © 2015 Jpost Inc. All rights reserved

About Caroline Glick

Background on PM’s European BDS Cabinet Meeting


Anti-BDS Banner
 
Ari Bussel sent this press release from NGO Monitor that further explains the nefariousness of the BDS Movement in relation to Israel.
 
 
JRH 1/30/14

Please Support NCCR

***************************
Background on PM’s European BDS Cabinet Meeting
 
By NGO Monitor
Sent: 1/29/2014 5:14 PM
Sent by Ari Bussel
For Immediate Release
Contact: Emily Ziedman
NGO Monitor January 29, 2014
 
Prime Minister calls Cabinet Meeting on European BDS Concerns:
Background Information and Strategic Options
 
In advance of the Israeli Cabinet meeting about European BDS (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions), being convened today in Jerusalem, NGO Monitor released the following statement:
 
The boycott campaign, targeting Israeli firms and companies that do business with Israel has been active for more than ten years, and is led by a network of political advocacy non-governmental organizations (NGOs) funded largely by European governments. In order to successfully blunt and defeat this threat, it is necessary to understand the sources of BDS campaigns, their scope, alliances, primary tactics, and vulnerabilities.
 
BDS is a form of political warfare against the State of Israel based on the exploitation of human rights and humanitarian principles, double standards, invidious comparisons with South African apartheid, and false allegations of “war crimes” and violations of international law. (The discredited 2009 Goldstone report on Gaza is one of many examples of this process.)
 
Although often expressed in terms of opposition to the post-1967 Israeli occupation and settlements, the leaders of BDS campaigns repeatedly express their rejection of any Jewish right to self-determination, regardless of borders. The radical BDS movement supports Palestinian refugee demands, promotes the 1948 narrative of Palestinian victimization, and a “single state solution,” meaning the elimination of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. In addition, the network of church-based NGOs that fund and promote BDS often include antisemitic themes and images. Therefore, the claim that BDS will end if a two-state peace agreement is reached is inconsistent with the evidence.
 
The most effective and immediate strategy to blunt BDS and other forms of political warfare is to end the massive funding given to radical NGOs that promote these anti-Israel campaigns in the Netherlands and elsewhere. NGO Monitor research has exposed tens of millions of Euros provided annually to NGOs via the EU and European governments. For more than ten years, this highly politicized NGO funding has been allocated for discriminatory anti-Israel warfare through secret processes under frameworks for humanitarian aid, democracy and human rights, and other universal moral principles.
 
There are at least 80 such NGOs, active in promoting BDS in Europe, North America, and elsewhere. Coalition of Women for Peace (CWP) – the leading Israeli NGO promoting BDS – was funded directly by the European Union, but requests for documents on this funding based on the EU’s freedom of information guidelines have been denied. Ali Abunimah and the NGO known as Electronic Intifada – among the most visible participants in BDS campaigns – have been funded indirectly by the Dutch government through the Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation (ICCO), which has an annual budget of over €80 million. ICCO was also involved in lobbying the Dutch pension funds to divest from Israeli banks. As seen in the past few days, CWP, Electronic Intifada, and many Palestinian NGOs that receive European government funding are pressing Oxfam International, which receives funding from the UK, EU, Dutch, and other governments, to join the politicized campaign against SodaStream [Editor: Link added by me].
 
The first step in confronting European governments that provide most of the funds for these organizations is to demand the implementation of democratic transparency principles in Europe. On this basis, Israeli and European officials can negotiate guidelines for funding political advocacy NGOs, which would prevent grants to groups that promote double standards, the discriminatory singling out of Israel, lawfare based on “war crimes” and similar false allegations, and the denial of the right of the Jewish people to sovereign equality.
 
While these measures will not bring an immediate end to BDS and political warfare, they constitute the essential first steps towards a viable counter-strategy.
________________________________
About NGO Monitor
 
NGO Monitor, an independent research institution, was founded in 2002 in the wake of the World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa. At this conference, 1,500 NGOs formulated the “Durban Strategy” which aims to isolate Israel through measures such as boycott, divestment and sanctions
(BDS) campaigns, lawfare, delegitimization and demonization.
 
NGO Monitor (www.ngo-monitor.org), is the leading source of expertise on the activities and funding of political advocacy NGOs involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict. NGO Monitor provides detailed and fully sourced information and analysis, promotes accountability, and supports discussion on the reports and activities of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) claiming to advance human rights and humanitarian agendas.
###############
IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il
About IMRA

My Caroline Glick Introduction


Moral relativism and jihad

 

Caroline Glick

John R. Houk

© April 16, 2013

 

Caroline Glick wrote a scathing yet appropriate exposé on the ignorance of Jewish-American organizations when it comes to Israel and Jew-hating Muslims. It is not surprising that that Left Wing self-loathing Jews moronically support anti-Israel agendas but I find it particularly loathing that Jewish organizations that are considered respectable Right leaning on issues and decidedly pro-Israel remained silent in the face of anti-Israel support given to Radical Islamic governments by the Obama Administration. Glick goes further in criticizing Orthodox Jews for supporting a musician that is virulently involved in anti-Israel Boycott Divest and Sanction (BDS) activities that support Palestinian Statehood while Synagogues that invite Counterjihad speakers like Pamela Geller cave in to American Radical Islamic organizations to cancel exposés of Muslim hatred by actually accusing Geller-like speakers of racist bigotry.

 

Defend Israel against claims of excessive force!

 

JRH 4/16/13

Please Support NCCR

Karl Rove Called the Anti-Christ


 

Karl Rove irreverant

John R. Houk

December 20, 2010

 

A person going by the pseudonym of Hieronymus Brain sent a link from the blog Blonde Sense. There was no introduction, summary or a comment on the positive or negative side. However there was one very short sentence:

 

Karl Rove is the Antichrist.

 

Being the Neocon Christian Right person that I am, the sentence did achieve gaining my attention. Realizing that everyone of the Left hate only one person more (maybe two) more than Karl Rove; that would be President George W. Bush (perhaps the second person is Vice President Cheney).

 

Since the “Brain” writes that Rove is the “Antichrist,” I presume he is a Leftist still infected with Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS) of which Rove would be a particle neurosis of BDS. I was not disappointed that my expectation of the link was another Left Wing twisting facts to fit BDS. If you wish to read up on the BDS link from Blonde Sense, it is here: http://blondesense.blogspot.com/2010/12/when-one-falls-another-must-continue.html.

 

I normally would cross post links sent to me; however this one is so way off I could not bring myself to do so.

 

In essence the link is a cross post of an article by James C. Moore co-author of “Bush’s Brain”. The post does have an intro title followed by a couple of sentences that I am certain are meaningful to a Leftist still enveloped in BDS over two years after President Bush left Office:

 

When one falls, another must continue his quest…

 

Talk about prognostication…
This is from Buzzflash, 2004. But might just as well have been written last week.

 

First Buzzflash pumps up James Moore by dumping a load of BDS on President Bush and his effort to join the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War days. Buzzflash condemns Bush’s choice as if it was a wealthy person’s Conservative conspiracy that only the rich and famous avoided combat duty during the days of mandatory military conscription (the Draft). Bush’s joining the Texas National Guard was responsible for the deaths of many poor draftees who did not avoid conscription don’t you knows? Hello Buzzflash! It was Leftists that did their best to undermine American National Interests by painting the anti-Communist war in Vietnam was more about slowing the dominoes of Southeast Asian Communism than upholding an unpopular corrupt South Vietnamese government.

 

It was Left Wing influenced College Students that managed to get a student deferment without the big bucks of a rich person that called returning veterans fighting for American freedom such things as “baby killers” and “murderers”. You have got to know that those who were able to avoid the draft with some kind of deferment were thought of as geniuses by draftees until combat soured the genius concept. After combat experience I am also certain that the once considered deferment geniuses of the rich and poor were looked upon with a bit of contempt. Unfortunately Leftist twisters of facts utilize BDS to vilify President GW Bush that most Leftists would have envied at the time. How the hypocrisy reigns among the Left. Anyway after Buzzflash does the typical BDS on President GW Bush then it proceeds to James Moore’s delusions.

 

The cross post title is actually “Karl Rove’s Master Plan: A One-Party America”. Moore goes into length how Karl Rove the hated Republicans (probably hated Neocons) had a three step plan to turn America into a ONE Party State. Moore begins by stating that Rove personally put the Swift Boat Vets for Truth together. This is ludicrous! I am certain that the architect of campaigning saw the political value in allowing the Swift Boaters from a distance to disparage the Left Wing hater of the military Senator John Kerry, but a direct link is not credible. Frankly as much as the MSM and the Left vilified the Swift Boaters as liars and doing little to corroborate their then darling John Kerry’s military record that was no doubt polished being a rich boy. Yet when veterans that served with Kerry were vilified in his biography, then the Swift Boaters banded together to give a different perspective.

 

As you read Moore’s thoughts you will notice how delusional he sounds when all the alleged facts sound remarkably like the Leftist/Marxist/Leninist/Alinsky/Obama plan of transforming (remember “Change”?) America into a powerless appeasement nation that is the blame for all the woes of the World. The Obama agenda to provide International authority over American Constitutional Law in the form of the Left Wing thinking of today’s version of the United Nations. This is the same U.N. that demands American money to support anti-American agendas including sovereignty dilution and evaporation within America’s own borders.

 

To think that Karl Rove would be able to control the U.S. government to the point of eliminating the Democratic Party to create a Big Business oligarchical dictatorship that totally divests America of anything slanted toward the Left and bring back serfdom in which a rich elite not only governs the Middle Class and lower classes but dominates them. This makes as much sense as if President Barack Hussein Obama is capable of bringing a ONE Party Left Wing Politburo to power in America. I sense my fellow Conservatives probably feel BHO could achieve such a government takeover, but it is ludicrous.

 

If America mirrors the Roman Empire at all, we are still in the stage of the Roman Republic. When Roman elites began to be power hungry they began to play on the emotions of the people to garner popularity. The people began to form factions supporting various elites. Eventually one popular Roman General not only had the popular support of most of the Roman citizens but had the army to back a Roman take-over. That Roman General was Julius Caesar. Julius used his army to win a civil war and the award of dictator for life. Caesar’s acquired power for purposes ended the last vestiges of the Roman Republic. Julius’ assassination by Republic sympathizers began another civil war which ended in Julius’ nephew Octavius eventually becoming the top dog. Octavius’ victory provided a new Roman title of power which could roughly be translated as Emperor. I predict this is the same rough scenario that will spell the end of the American Republic before any outside force vanquishes our Representative Republic. Decay will be internal.  

 

There has been only one American President with the kind of popularity to sway the American people to allow a power grab in America. That President was George Washington.

 

JRH 12/20/10

%d bloggers like this: