Czech
French
German
Hebrew
Noruegan
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Polish
Portuguese
The ‘Palestine and genocide’ teach in and roundtable by u of w profs- was the academic freedom and dignity of those who disagreed violated?
I take what happened at the “Palestine and Genocide: Reflections on Imperialism, Settler Colonialism, and Decolonization” Teach In and Roundtable on Nov 24, 2023 very seriously.
The advertisement of the event I saw referred to it as being put on by the Faculty of Arts, University of Wpg. I understood from the plain meaning of the words that this was a U of W event. On Nov 17, the U of W President and Vice Chancellor Todd Mondor and Dr. Pavlina Radia, Provost and Vice President, Academic issued a statement about this event which can be read in full at https://news.uwinnipeg.ca/statement-from-the-university-of-winnipeg/.
That statement said there is “an obligation on faculty to ensure that their conduct accords with University policy and other lawful limits on free expression” and “all academic events in any way associated with the University of Winnipeg are required to align with these principles.”
If further said, “In an increasingly polarized world, universities have a responsibility to be places where debate on difficult issues can be conducted…. It is our duty to ensure that all perspectives, so long as they are lawful and inclusive, can be heard, and that those who disagree can safely engage in respectful debate [emphasis added].
“This is an important time for all members of our University community to foster ethical, respectful engagement that aligns with our values based in diversity and inclusion, human rights, and respectful workplace and learning environments [emphasis added] . ..We must ensure that every member of our community is treated with empathy and respect.
I want to look at the way two questions were answered by Dr. Kerry Sinanon, who is an Assistant Professor in the English Department at U of W who moderated the event and answered questions people posted in the chat.
Question:In discussing traumatic experience, don’t you think it is relevant and critical to mention the terror and trauma brought onto innocent civilians on 10/7 by Hamas. How does perpetrating more trauma and terror in the region help the Palestinian movement or put end to the ‘Zionist Project’. If anything, wouldn’t this further divide the region and take us further away from a viable end to this
Dr. Kerry Sinanan: Questions that seek to align the speakers with Hamas are racist and will not be entertained. Thank you.[emphasis added].
I ask the President of U of W Todd Mondor, what kind of answer is that? The person who asked a legitimate question was entitled to an answer about Hamas’s role in this current war. Instead, were they not in fact dismissed, shut down, demeaned and belittled by being told in essence that their question was racist ? Is this not a violation of U of W’s policy on academic freedom, in that the academic freedom of the person asking the question was violated?
Question: “What role does hamas play in the occupation and in the sufferage of the palestinian people, if any? As well, I heard that Hamas fired rockets at Israel 15 minutes after the temporary ceasefire began today. Is this true? If so, how should Israel react to protect civilians, regardless of their geographic location?”
Dr. Kerry Sinanan answered: None of our panelists has knowledge of Hamas operations. We are scholars and academics.
I ask the U of W President Mondor, what kind of answer is that? There was no answer to the question of what role does Hamas play in the suffering of the Palestinian people. And, by the way, if Dr. Sinanan has no knowledge of Hamas operations, how does she have knowledge of Israeli operations? If she can’t say anything about Hamas’s role in the conflict, how can she say anything about Israel’s role in the conflict. Rather than enabling the Jewish student to engage in respectful debate, was the student not shut down ?
Also President Mondor, have you asked the organizers why they spliced out one speaker from the event, a Palestinian woman named Sarah, who said on Oct 7 she felt a sense of shock, “but also because of my Muslim faith, a huge sense of relief because I know that Palestinians will resist…” ? [emphasis added]. Sarah went on to say “The resistance is justified.” Could it be she was spliced out because her views align with those of Hamas? [Sarah spoke after Dr. Alyson Brickey, Assistant Professor in the Department of English but she is not on the you tube released https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3uriO9DSpY]
Now let me tell readers what else I heard at Teach-In and Roundtable.
I did not hear one panelist who said that he or she recognized Israel’s right to exist as a state in the region. Palestinian academic Ghada Sasa said her grandfather was from Ramle and that her family has the right to return to Ramle (which is near Lod, where Ben-Gurion Airport is). She said a two state scenario was gone “a long time ago,” and in any event “My home is not part of the West Bank or Gaza” as her grandfather came from Ramle. She advocated for a “one state solution,” whereby Israel is destroyed as a state in the region. Sarah, the Palestinian woman said that “most Palestinians” want the “right of return” of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, the lifting of the siege on Gaza, and “the end of the occupation in its entirety” and that “these three things cannot be met under a Zionist project.”
I did not hear one panelist condemn or make any negative remarks about Hamas’s actions on Oct 7, or indicate it was recognized as a terror group by the Canada and many others in the Western world. Nor did any panelist say that Israeli hostages taken by Hamas ought to be freed.
There were panelists who referred to Israel as an apartheid state.
I did not hear any panelist say that there has been a continuous presence of Jews in the land of Israel for 3000 years such that they are indigenous to the land of Israel. Academics referred to Israel as a colonialist and imperialist state, such that Zionists were not indigenous to the land of Israel.
There was no panelist who said that Israel was NOT committing genocide against Palestinians
I did not hear one speaker who advocated for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
I did not hear any speaker cast any responsibility for the current conflict on the failure of Palestinian leadership.
I did not hear any reference to the 1947 UN partition plan calling for a Jewish and Arab state, which was accepted by Israel but rejected by the Mufti of Jerusalem and surrounding Arab states who attacked the nascent State of Israel). There was scant mention of the 1993 Oslo Accords, nor was there any mention of peace plans put forth by Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert, which would have seen the creation of a Palestinian state.
At no time did I hear any of the panelists disagree with each other in any major way or on any major point, such that it is easy to conclude that all the perspectives presented were “anti-Zionist” and “anti-Israel.”
Near the end of the Teach-In, Dr. Kerry Sinanon, said “we’ve seen some comments in the question and answer that these are not multiple perspectives.” She said “I want to say very clearly that this is a very racist perspective.”(emphasis added). She said this was an “inclusive” teach in with the participation of people from “different backgrounds, ethnicities, countries and academic disciplines.” The comments of those who disagreed were not read out.
I ask the U of W President Mondor whether those who disagreed with the portrait of Israel as a colonialist/imperialist/apartheid/genocide committing State were treated with respect and could “safely engage in respectful debate,” as per your Nov 17 statement?
Calling those who disagree with you as coming from “a very racist perspective” is, insulting, demeaning, disrespectful and a form of bullying, is it not?
Has the U of W considered whether the Human Rights Code applies in this situation? As a matter of principle is the U of W committed to ensuring in practice that the guarantees of non-discrimination and non-harassment in the Human Rights Code are applied in practice with equal vigour to protect Jewish students and those who support the right of Israel to exist?
Will the U of W put on an officially sponsored forum with at least equal publicity to provide those with different views to respond?
BUT there is more. There were Jewish attendees of the event who believe in Israel’s right to exist who were removed from the event after asking questions which indicated they had differing views than those being presented by the panelists.
Will you President Mondor be investigating whether there were Jewish attendees of the event who believe in Israel’s right to exist, who were kicked out of the event, after asking questions, and if so, how many Jews were kicked out? Did they receive messages saying “You were removed from this webinar by the host and cannot rejoin?”
I have also spoken to a Jewish person who tried to register part way into the program, but was disallowed. Why was this?
Will the U of W be producing for the public a complete list of all the questions in the chat and the way they were answered by Dr. Sinanon ? Were there any questions deleted from the chat?
Will there be any consequences for the violation of the academic freedom of Jewish students and/or community members who tried to engage in respectful debate on the issues, or does academic freedom just apply to some, and not others?
By the way, President Mondor, given there was controversy about this event prior to its taking place, what steps were taken to ensure that the discussion at the Teach in and Roundtable would live up to your Nov 17 statement ?
What corrective measures will be taken to ensure that this happens never again?
On the subject of genocide, Ghada Sasa, who spoke at the roundtable part of the program said that Zionist voices could not be speakers at this event as “Zionist voices they are supporting the genocidal project.” [meaning Israel]. In other words, if you support Zionism, which to me means you believe in Israel’s right to exist as a state in the region, you are by this twisted logic a supporter of genocide.
I, for one, certainly do not agree with every Israeli government policy, or every statement made by every Israeli politician, but since I firmly believe in Israel’s right to exist, and I believe in Israel’s right to self defense after Oct 7, I automatically become a supporter of genocide using Sasa’s twisted logic. And since most Jews are Zionists, we therefore according to this twisted logic become supporters of genocide, and it’s easy to see how we become the objects of hatred. It’s no wonder Jew hatred is increasing in Winnipeg, even though Jews in Winnipeg do not control Israeli policy in any way. President Mondor have you so far effectively tolerated a climate of antisemitism by allowing the program to proceed in the fashion it did ?
Finally on twitter, on Oct 21, Emily Leedham posted footage of Winnipeg’s “ All Out for Palestine rally”, with a large Palestinian flag. Fadi Ennab, a Palestinian academic, who participated in the Roundtable November 24th zoom event, tweeted, ‘I hope the ripples of that flag echos to bring down every Zionist infrastructure from Winnipeg to Palestine. Free Free Palestine! Thank you @Emily_Leedham_ for capturing the heart of the movement!”
I ask President Mondor, what did Ennab mean by referring to bringing “down every Zionist infrastructure” in Winnipeg? Is he talking about bringing down the Asper Campus, where an Israeli flag flies?
Wall Street Journal Editorial , Dec. 14 2023: BIDEN ENDANGERS ISRAEL
It isn’t Mr. Biden’s place to pick Israel’s leaders. Instead, he could try listening to Israelis about the risks of empowering a Palestinian Authority (PA) that has refused to condemn the Hamas massacre. Or he could listen to Palestinians, 72% of whom believe Hamas was right to launch its Oct. 7 attack, according to a new poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. That figure rises to 82% among West Bank Palestinians, who are ruled by the PA, not Hamas.
Mohammad Shtayyeh, the prime minister of the PA, said Sunday that “Hamas is an integral part of the Palestinian mosaic.” The problem is that this is true. That’s why no one in his right mind in Israel thinks of creating a Palestinian state today. Hamas doesn’t want a two-state solution; it wants the final solution.
Israelis are focused on defeating Hamas, a goal the U.S. shares. Mr. Biden was right to say Tuesday that “nobody on God’s green Earth can justify what Hamas did. They’re a brutal, ugly, inhumane people, and they have to be eliminated.” He was also right to stand up for Israel at the United Nations, where the international herd demands a cease-fire.
Israel fights on because it has no other choice if it wants to survive as a state. But many nations see these U.N. votes as consequence-free gestures for peace or solidarity. That a cease-fire now would mean a Hamas victory and the death of Israeli deterrence, bringing on the next massacre and the next war, doesn’t concern them.
Israelis know Mr. Biden is under pressure from the Democratic Party left to stop Israel’s Gaza operation, and they are making sacrifices to satisfy him. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted that the Israeli campaign “we saw in northern Gaza not be repeated in the south,” and Israel has complied. It is now telegraphing its attacks to the enemy so civilians can flee, and it is using a smaller force with less reliance on air power and artillery.
As a result, Israel is taking more casualties. Ten soldiers were killed Tuesday. That follows five Monday and seven Sunday for a total of 445, including Oct. 7.
The rising fatality rate is noticed in Israel, if nowhere else. In a video making the rounds, an infantry officer protests in Hebrew: “How can it be that an area isn’t cleared from the air before allowing our soldiers to enter?” Israel did that earlier in the war, he says, but now “our fire power is being restrained because our leaders may have started prioritizing the enemy’s lives over the lives of our soldiers.” A petition by soldiers’ mothers makes a similar point.
Israel gets little credit for its sacrifices. Mr. Biden even criticized it Tuesday for “indiscriminate bombing,” a slander so belied by the evidence that the White House tried to walk it back. Civilian casualties in Gaza are tragic, but they are mainly a result of Hamas’s way of embedding in what should be safe civilian spaces. The U.S. military also couldn’t avoid civilian casualties against ISIS in Mosul, Iraq, or other post-9/11 engagements. The U.S. doesn’t bomb indiscriminately either.
Facilitating the transfer of fuel and aid to Gaza also hasn’t stopped U.S. criticism. On Oct. 18 Mr. Biden said, “If Hamas diverts or steals the assistance, they will have demonstrated once again that they have no concern for the welfare of the Palestinian people, and it will end.” Really? Hamas theft, some of it caught on video, is so blatant and pervasive that Gazans denounce it publicly. Still, Israel keeps aid flowing, and the U.S. has pressured it to open another crossing to let in even more.
Israel has no good choices here, but America does. The President can focus on supporting a U.S. ally in vanquishing a genocidal enemy.
Understand your adversary: Two videos that will explain why the conflict is for your soul.
Masked Hamas militants hold weapons during a protest against Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip, in Gaza City, Monday, March 3, 2008. In the early hours of Monday, Palestinians counted nine separate Israeli airstrikes on weapons manufacturing and storage facilities, a Hamas headquarters and groups of gunmen, all over Gaza. Five Palestinians were killed in the strikes, all of them Hamas militants, Hamas said. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) *** Local Caption *** ??? ??????
Most Jews and Christians, much less the unaffiliated, have never spent the time learning about the Koran and the political history of Islam. Without this essential background, one cannot appreciate what is happening.
In many ways, this War could be analogous to the Spanish Civil War, which was the preparation for the outbreak of WWII.
See the results of Fundamentalist Islam, further below.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6tPSNo8J1k
James Kaddis is a pastor in North Carolina, but is Egyptian. His family were among the persecuted Egyptian Christian minority, and his mother spent time in Gaza as a Christian missionary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCKAXKq3DZA
Caroline Glick talks to Mordechai Kedar, who educates her about how Moslem Fundamentalism works (historically there is nothing Radical about it); and how that is driving the realities in the Middle East and the traditional (illiterate and misguided) politicians of the West. He provides a solution for Gaza.
Since Glick needed to be educated about these fundamentals, most of what is discussed will be new for the listeners.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Hamas terrorists mutilated female soldiers’ faces, breasts and genitals
‘It is impossible to overemphasize the number of bodies we were dealing with; the sense of shock and despair.
At a sidebar event at the United Nations to raise awareness of sexual crimes committed by Hamas during the October 7th massacre, army reservist Shari Mendes spoke about what her unit saw at the Shura base as they prepared female bodies for burial.The event, entitled “Hear Our Voices: Sexual and gender-based violence in the October 7 Hamas terror attack,” had as its keynote speaker, Sheryl Sandberg formerly an executive at Facebook, as well as other speakers, including those who, like Mendes, dealt directly with the dead bodies of women.
The purpose of the event was to demand that the United Nations regard the sexual violence committed by Hamas as war crimes and to address the silence in the UN and among many global women’s group.
After nearly two months, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced an investigation into the crimes.
Shari Mendes reported that many of the corpses had tense facial expressions and clenched fists that expressed the agony and torment of their final moments. She described one female soldier’s arm was broken in so many places it was difficult to fit inside a body bag.
The entire side of one corpse was entirely shredded by a grenade and hard to identify.
Mendes reported that her team commander saw bodies of female soldiers that had been shot in the crotch, the breasts and inside the vagina.
The faces of many were shot many times in what appeared to be an intent to mutilate them beyond recognition.
Mendes said, “Heads and faces were covered in blood. They were shot in the eyes, face, and skull,”
One female soldier’s face had been shot so many times that the head had nearly fallen off.
Others’ brains were falling out of their skulls.
“Our unit has seen bodies that were beheaded or had limbs cut off, mutilated,” Mendes said. “One young woman came in with no legs: they had been cut off. We saw several severed heads, one with a large kitchen knife still embedded in the neck.”
Mendes said that, in some cases, the disfigurement of the faces was done after death, because it was clear they were made when there was no more blood left in the body and the corpses had already bled out.
“Sometimes we sifted through piles of ash that disintegrated as we touched them. These soldiers were burnt alive at very high temperatures.”
Mendes described the sheer scale of the task, “Body bags just kept coming in all shapes and sizes. Many were oozing liquids and the floors were wet. The smell of death was already unbearable.”
She continued, “It is impossible to overemphasize the number of bodies we were dealing with; the sense of shock and despair.”
Although surrounded by images of death, brutality and horror, Mendes emphasized that the task of their unit was to see the corpses as individuals, to attempt to restore the dignity that had been taken from them during the attack.
“Hamas did not show these women any honor in life, but it was important to us and our teams, groups of women, that we showed them deep love and gentleness as we prepared them for burial.”
We held them in our hearts even just for a moment, as if they were our daughters; we really loved them,” she said.
As the child of a Holocaust survivor, she added, “I understand the importance of bearing witness. I am here to be the voice of those who cannot testify.”
How dare you
Instead of pleading with ignorant, ill-informed and inflamed haters to moderate their language, we should be exposing and challenging them every time they open their mouths.
Knee-jerk slanderers of Israel must be confronted head-on. Appealing to their better nature is useless because these individuals, groups and organizations are irredeemably lost in a cesspool of continual conspiracies.
Take Saint Greta, for example, who has now morphed from a teenage icon of climate change activism to a bitter and twisted supporter of Arab terror, pogroms and denier of Jewish historical legitimacy. Draping herself in the terror scarf so beloved by terror supporters, she stands in front of the braying mobs and shouts, “no climate justice without human rights.” Her version of human rights, however, excludes Israelis because, in her jaundiced eyes, they alone are guilty of crimes against humanity. According to her worldview and those who adore her, the real human rights abusers of this world are blameless. Whether it is executing teenagers, persecuting and incarcerating non-Muslims, targeting women or murdering minorities, none of the UN members engaged in these activities attracts the ire of Greta and her climate co-conspirators.
Tying Israel to climate change conspiracies and exonerating the likes of Iran, North Korea, Russia and China is a classic example of how twisted the whole Green movement has now become. In Australia, New Zealand and other Parliaments where the Greens are represented, their MPs now utter the vilest slanders against Israel. What is very noticeable is the complete lack of pushback by genuine environmentalist individuals and organizations. It is the same shameful silence that progressive women’s groups have exhibited in the face of the rapes and sexual crimes committed by Hamas. It is the same display of moral cowardice and failure shown by university heads and many faculty members.
Jewish communal groups and leadership should be flooding the media and public arena with “how dare you” posters and declarations. Out them and shame them should be the constant message.
The recent debate in the NZ Parliament is a perfect example of how ignorance and plain old prejudices gain traction while the few who dare to stand up to blatant lies are drowned out. A visual theatre of the absurd and a media spectacle is the sight of Green MPs and others draped in a keffiyeh scarf spouting the vilest accusations of genocide against Israel. While the Foreign Minister and an ACT coalition MP strove to inject some reality into the debate, the antics of the Green, Labour and Maori Party representatives garnered the headlines.
Instead of declaring “how dare you” at those spouting lies about how Israel has committed genocide and that 75 years of oppression is the reason for Hamas’s pogroms, the Parliament meekly adopted a Labour Party member amendment. Calling for a two-state solution and immediate ceasefire is a recipe for letting Hamas survive and creating yet another terror-supporting Islamic entity.
How many Parliamentarians have bothered to see the videos of the Hamas pogrom taken by the terrorists and others on the day of the massacres and kidnappings? My guess is that not one MP has bothered to front up to the Israel Embassy and actually find out the truth. If, in fact, one or two did do so, why did they remain silent in the face of the false accusations uttered in the debate?
Has any member of the Labour Party, the Greens or the Maori Party actually ever read the founding charter of Hamas, which calls for the destruction of Israel and the murder of its citizens? Has any member of the NZ Parliament listened to and understood the real intentions of the PA/PLO/Fatah “peace loving” authority?
Obviously not, otherwise they would not be peddling the rhetoric that they currently do.
Here is just a small selection of the latest peace gestures issued from Ramallah.
The PA Prime Minister: Hamas is not only in Gaza, Hamas is an idea. It is not just a structure or a military organization in Gaza. Hamas is in the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria. Its leadership is in Qatar and everywhere. (Interview with France 24 News).
In other words, Hamas is an integral part of Arab society. That explains why children are being taught to murder Jews and why those already imbued with jihad brainwashing have no problem in carrying out the most heinous crimes.
Mahmoud Abbas: We own the land, Jerusalem and the holy places.
When he talks about owning the land, he actually means “from the river to the sea”. He means the Temple Mount and the Kotel. The corollary of all this rhetoric means a land cleansed of any Jewish presence and with its Jewish holy sites desecrated.
PA Justice: Two men accused of spying for Israel were recently strung up from electric poles and then their bodies were dumped in a garbage bin. The watching mob of locals cheered. No PA police were seen.
Needless to say this example of human rights abuse never featured in the international media. It also never reached the agenda of the UN Human Rights Council, nor was it the subject of an emergency debate of the UN Security Council. Unsurprisingly, world leaders remained mute as did other usual suspects.
PA Supreme Shariah Judge & Abbas adviser: Palestine belongs to its residents and its people who have been living in it for more than six thousand years.
In other words Jews have no historical legitimacy or right to claim sovereignty in their homeland.
PA (after recent Jerusalem terror attack): All Israelis are colonialist settlers and legitimate targets.
What this really means is that any Jew living anywhere “from the river to the sea” is a settler and therefore a target for terror and murder. This is why all those who were attending the music festival in the Negev are described as settlers and legitimate targets for abduction and death.
OFFICIAL PA TV: (recorded by PMW on 27 October 2023): The occupation (i.e. Israel) stole organs from the corpses (in Gaza) such as the cornea of the eye, the concha of the ear, liver, kidneys and heart.
Like the blood libels and well-poisoning accusations of the Middle Ages in Europe, these slanderous accusations spread like wildfire. The intention remains the same, namely to tar Jews with the vilest crimes and thereby arouse the ignorant masses to violence and murder.
Given these few examples and recognizing that the daily diet of venomous lies continues, why would any sane Israeli agree to the establishment of another terror and Jew-hating State in its midst? Unbelievably, despite the carnage of 7 October and the evidence of future such outrages, there are still those who dream of and advocate for precisely this to occur. The usual refrain is that we can only make peace with our enemies. What they do not tell you is that genuine peace can only come after the enemies are totally defeated and the evil ideologies buried with them. That is how Nazi Germany and its allies were dealt with before any peace agreement was contemplated.
Clueless politicians in parliaments and others who pontificate about two-state solutions and two states living in democratic peace and tolerance blindly ignore the reality on the ground. What is even worse, their ignorant parroting of mindless slogans, wearing Hamas scarves and baseless accusations of Israeli genocidal policies encourage those plotting future pogroms. In their indecent haste to blame Israel for every sin known to humanity, they blatantly ignore the real genocidal agenda of Islamic terror groups.
HOW DARE THEY INDEED.
First Arab family joins Israeli delegation in US for kidnapped son
Organized by Israel-is, a global Israeli advocacy group, the delegation’s mission focused on the plight of those kidnapped in the conflict. Central to their efforts was Fouad Talalka from Hura, whose son, Samar, 24, was kidnapped by Hamas while working in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
This marked the first instance of a Bedouin family participating in such an advocacy campaign, bringing attention to the October 7 tragedy, which involved the kidnapping of seven Bedouin citizens, the murder of 19, and the injury of numerous others.
Throughout the week, the delegation met with members of the US House of Representatives across the political spectrum. These included Congressman Michael McCaul from Texas, Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan from Pennsylvania, and Jewish American Congressman Brad Schneider from Illinois. They also conveyed Samar’s story to journalist Bret Stephens from The New York Times.
Expanding their advocacy, the delegation met with prominent Arab figures in Washington. During these meetings, Fouad Talalka shared his son’s ordeal and advocated for his release.
Personal appeals and international pressure
In a heartfelt plea, Fouad called for international action: “My son was violently taken to Gaza. His fate remains unknown. He’s a young man seized by a terrorist group that recognizes no human distinction. We must not forget him or the others still held in Gaza. I urge the American government, all rational nations, and individuals to demand Hamas’s immediate release of the kidnapped. This is beyond politics. These are innocent lives, and their captors must face justice.”
Noam Bedein, the foreign relations director at Israel-is and the organizer of the delegation, highlighted the necessity of global pressure on Hamas: “To bring the kidnapped home, we must mobilize international awareness. Understanding the personal stories of these families is crucial in conveying the urgency of the situation to world leaders. Hamas’s detention of hundreds of innocents from various nations, with no information on their well-being, is a crisis unmatched in modern times.”
Uphill battles
Israel’s fight against Islamic terror is being fought on two main fronts.
As well as physical battles in the field, another much tougher contest is taking place in the battle for people’s minds and hearts. Jews have been waging this war for several millennia, and while there have been occasional successes, they tend to be fleeting.
It would be safe to say that for at least the last two thousand years, there has been a marked lack of sympathy and empathy for Jews wherever they may have been domiciled. Some countries at some stage provided beneficent sanctuary and tolerance but this was swiftly replaced after a short interval with expulsions, pogroms and persecution.
Uncomfortable as it may be for some to admit, even during tolerable bursts of friendship, the seething cauldron of enmity was always there below the surface. Occasionally, it erupted with lethal consequences, but even during those times when all seemed quiet, Jews still lived on the edge of a smouldering volcano.
It is an unfortunate and tragic part of Jewish history that far too many Jews have been and continue to be seduced by false visions whereby they believe that tolerance and understanding have become the norm. For some, a complete estrangement from the Jewish People was and continues to be their default position. This takes the form of a divorce from Judaism and a severance from collective togetherness. This leads to a complete rejection of those things that unite Jews and explains why these people can be seen throwing in their lot with the mindless mobs demonstrating against Israel. Rejection of the idea of a reborn Jewish national sovereignty is the hallmark of those who think that by ingratiating themselves with the anti-Israel masses, they will somehow gain their unconditional love.
This has never worked in the past and certainly is a spectacular failure today, as feminist progressives have discovered, to their shock and horror.
The same goes for “Queers for Palestine”, who would be the first victims of any Hamas or Islamic victory.
Many lament the fact that Israel faces such an uphill struggle to gain sympathy and support. Some put it all down to incompetent public relations and diplomacy, while others blame it on Israelis’ perceived aggressive determination to defend themselves.
One needs to recognize that there is nothing new under the sun and that yesterday’s Jew hate has now morphed into Israel hate of the most virulent variety. The old strain of poisonous libels and slanders is still there and has been updated and modernized. Current events conclusively prove it.
The revelation that the situation is rotten has come as a searing shock to those who had lulled themselves into believing that times had changed for the better. American Jews celebrating Thanksgiving and carving up their turkeys must be wondering what has struck them. It was, therefore, with some small measure of amazement that I read an item in the JP that purported to offer advice on “how to alter the narrative and win hearts.”
Asserting that “Israel was on the losing end of the PR battle,” an American political and communications consultant and pollster offered advice. His winning formula for reversing this situation reads like an exercise in consultancy confusion detached from realities on the ground. Here are a few samples that in his opinion, would miraculously reverse the negativity against Israel currently evident not only in the USA but elsewhere in democratic countries.
Israel is at war with Hamas not the Palestinians. If he bothered to read and listen to the daily Palestinian Arab outpouring of hate for Jews and Israel and their support for Hamas, he would realize that the virulent virus against which Israel is fighting is alive and well among all so-called Palestinian groups. It’s not just Hamas that’s the problem it’s all those infected with Islamic rejection of Jewish sovereignty.
The October 7 massacre was an attack on Israelis, not Israel. His rationale that concentrating on individuals rather than the country will elicit more sympathy ignores the malevolent motivations that cause individuals and groups to hate anything to do with Israel. Despite horrendous personal narratives, those who hate the Jewish State will continue to hate its victims.
Instead of calling Hamas terrorists, call them an army of terror. The reasoning behind this piece of advice, according to this expert, is that Americans are frightened of the word terrorists. If this is indeed the case, it explains why avoiding inconvenient facts will never succeed in eradicating terror.
Focus on the mission of destroying Hamas, liberating Gaza and finding a peaceful alternative. Unsurprisingly, this agenda seems too stark for all those demonstrating and vandalizing. Pie in the sky demands about Abbas and his corrupt PA replacing Hamas and being part of a “two state solution” are fatally flawed.
Gazans living under Hamas rule are deeply suffering. They elected Hamas and cheered their 7 October pogrom. As far as the mindless university demonstrators and others are concerned, those causing suffering are Israelis. No amount of evidence to the contrary seems to sway set minds.
Use graphic descriptions: women raped, children beheaded and infant hostages. Despite these facts already being presented via videos and personal testimonies, international progressive women’s groups and others have been significantly silent. The Jordanian Queen questioned the veracity of such evidence. Hostage families have travelled to many countries and met legislators.
The bottom line is that after an initial burst of sympathy, the rest of the world quickly reverted to its traditional stance. The Red Cross is impotent when it comes to Jews and Israel.
President Macron has stated that it will take at least ten years to destroy Hamas. The subtext of his assertion is that we may as well throw in the towel now because it’s not worth the effort. Vichy France did that with the Nazis and French police and railway workers co-operated in arresting and transporting Jews to their death. The French Ambassador to Israel has now offered up some more Gallic expertise. While supporting the goal of getting rid of Hamas, he trotted out the current UN mantra that Israel was killing too many civilians. Somehow, eliminating Hamas, which is deliberately embedded among its civilian population, can be achieved only by issuing pious pontifications.
Meanwhile, the French Ambassador to Israel echoed his master’s thoughts by declaring that he doubted all of Israel’s military goals are reachable. He went on to advise that “once war broke out, one of Israel’s highest goals should have been to discredit Hamas and to convince everybody that Hamas cannot be taken into account anymore as a respectable political player.” He went on to lament that instead, the opposite has happened and Hamas has strengthened its legitimacy in the Arab world.
Think about this for a moment.
The fact that Hamas has been embraced and championed by much of the Arab and, indeed, Islamic world is a failure of Israeli actions. It obviously has nothing to do with the warped and poisonous Islamic ideology driving Jihad and its ambition of cleansing Israel of Jews from the river to the sea. His solution, which mirrors current international delusions, is the creation of yet another terror country on territory historically Jewish and legally approved for Jewish settlement.
There are some optimistic souls who believe that the advent of the incoming New Zealand Government will inject a breath of fresh thinking into the hitherto fatally flawed policies of the country as far as Israel is concerned. I previously warned such individuals not to hold their breath. It, therefore came as no surprise when the NZ Prime Minister last week observed that “there was no will on either side for a ceasefire or peace process. This contortionist effort to equally blame both the terror group Hamas and Israel’s Government for a lack of peace demonstrates that nothing has changed in Wellington. Would Mr. Luxon have offered up the same senseless stupidity in the midst of the war to defeat Nazi terror? Of course not, because in those days, the Government knew that only by totally defeating the terrorists controlling Germany could any meaningful peace be established.
It is symbolic of the idiocy now gripping otherwise sane democracies that Israel is admonished to leave the job half done and, as in the past, buy temporary and ultimately illusory quiet.
Instead of dealing with Iran and its supporting teams of Russia, China and North Korea, the democracies prefer to take the easy way out. These shades of past appeasement policies will come back to haunt those who think that they will be safe if they offer up Israel on a platter instead.
The only trouble is that most sane Israelis are no longer willing to be fed to the marauding crocodiles.
Chanukah is the perfect time to remember how past attempts to detach Jews from their faith and homeland were thwarted. It may be an uphill struggle, but we will prevail.
The Fall and Rise of Judah
