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Tag: Palestinians

Culture wars 

Keir Starmer’s magical thinking

Melanie, , ,

We have now been treated to the absurd spectacle of the Labour party leader, Sir Keir Starmer, trying to wriggle out of supporting Black Lives Matter. Astonishingly, he and his deputy, Angela Rayner, were pictured “taking the knee” in support of the BLM demonstrators, regardless of the fact that their protests had given rise to violence against the police and attacks on the statues of historical figures in an attempt to erase Britain’s history and cultural identity. Tweeting this picture, Starmer wrote: “We kneel with all those opposing anti-black racism”.…

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virus Israel 

Israel-bashers fail to see the Arab train leaving the station

Melanie, , ,

It’s a busy time for Israel-haters. So what’s new? Well, a lot. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the Democratic congresswoman who has a lengthening record of lies about Israel, last week tweeted the boiler-plate falsehood that Israel’s foundation in 1948 had entailed the “ethnic cleansing” of the Palestinian Arabs who were “indigenous” to the land. The Jews, of course, are the only people for whom the land of Israel was ever their national home. And the Palestinian Arabs’ displacement took place in the war of extermination against the nascent State of…

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Israel 

Arabs in uproar – over the prospect of living in Palestine

Melanie, ,

Leave aside, for the moment, the deepening rows about U.S. President Donald Trump’s “vision” for ending the Middle East conflict. Leave aside the question whether the plan’s lead author, Jared Kushner, and the U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, backtracked on an “immediate” Israeli declaration of sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and the “Triangle” of disputed territory (they didn’t; the need to first map out and agree on the details was stated from the start). Leave aside the uproar among Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, along with certain southern…

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conservatism Israel 

The Palestinians’ bluff has been called. Over to you, world

Melanie, , ,

U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East “deal of the century” offers the Palestinians a state. They have rejected it and threatened instead to ramp up violence against Israel. No one can be surprised. They have rejected every offer of a state previously made to them in 1937, 1947, 2000, 2008 and 2014. So is this latest deal anything more than Groundhog Day for the Middle East all over again? Yes, because this isn’t a deal. It’s an ultimatum. Israel intends to enact its part in the plan unilaterally by declaring…

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Boris Johnson Hanukkah message Britain Israel 

A Boris bear-hug against British antisemitism

Melanie, , ,

Is the British government beginning to change its century-old attitude of ambiguity towards Israel and come out instead as its unequivocal friend? Don’t get too excited just yet. It’s certainly true that, fresh from his thumping election victory, Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivered an extraordinary Hanukkah message to the country’s antisemitism-beleaguered Jewish community. Going far beyond predictable seasonal bromides, he delivered a very pointed profession of heartfelt support. The festival of lights, he said, was a time to celebrate the Jews’ unique identity. “When the Maccabees drove the forces…

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antisemitism Israel USA 

Elizabeth Warren and the destruction of the west’s moral compass

Melanie, , ,

The Democratic presidential hopeful, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, has suggested that she would consider cutting military aid to Israel to force it to halt construction of settlements in the disputed territories. “It is the official policy of the United States of America to support a two-state solution, and if Israel is moving in the opposite direction then everything is on the table,” she said. To ensure that no one failed to understand her threat, she repeated her final phrase. Her comment furnished more evidence that Warren resembles British Labour Party…

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Israel 

Puncturing the big lie of Palestinian identity

Melanie, , ,

Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, recently claimed that the Palestinians were the descendants of the Canaanites. “This land is for its people, its residents and the Canaanites who were here 5,000 years ago — and we are the Canaanites!” he declared, vowing that every Israeli stone and house “built on our land” would end up “in the garbage dump of history.” Any western Palestinian supporter might have been left somewhat perplexed. After all, it’s an article of faith among those hostile to Israel that the indigenous inhabitants…

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Labour party antisemitism Britain Culture wars 

Why the Labour party cannot deal with its antisemitism

Melanie, , ,

There can be no doubting the anguish felt by decent Labour party members over the terrible poison of antisemitism that has corrupted their cause. As Harold Wilson said in another era, Labour is a moral crusade or it is nothing. After the departure from the party of nine MPs, wholly or in part over the failure to deal with its antisemitism, deputy leader Tom Watson warned of a crisis over its soul. Those who, like Watson, are appalled but are staying put say they are fighting to rescue the party.…

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antisemitism Global conflict Israel 

The hurdles in front of the Trump peace plan

Melanie, , ,

President Trump’s peace plan for Israel and the Palestinian Arabs, his attempt at the “deal of the century,” will apparently soon be revealed to the world. His envoys, Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, have been making the rounds in the region to get Arab allies on board. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhau has paid a visit to the King of Jordan. No one yet knows the terms of this deal. Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas has refused even to talk to the United States about it and has presumptively rejected…

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reframing Israel 

Reframing the Middle East narrative: my ten-point guide

Melanie, , ,

Reframing the Middle East narrative: my ten-point guide I wrote a couple of weeks ago that those trying to defend Israel in the court of public opinion needed a strategic rethink. Defending Israel against the calumnies being thrown at it is to concede defeat from the start by engaging upon ground defined by its enemies. Instead, Israel’s defenders need to go onto the front foot. They need to do to its enemies what is done to Israel: to paint them as extreme, unconscionable and a mortal threat to life and…

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