Stand for Israel

Sometimes a headline says it all

Ha'aretz: "Hamas: War will settle Jerusalem dispute, not talks"

Temple Mount heating up again

Heavy rioting despoiled the Temple Mount and areas around it over the weekend.

On Thursday, just prior to the latest outbreak of violence, Rabbi Eckstein wrote about how the Mount, "Described by Jewish tradition as God's dwelling place on earth...has today become a pawn used by cynical Palestinian leaders—used not to draw us closer to the Divine, but to inflame passions and foment troubles."

Read the whole piece here.

History shows anti-Jewish rumors lead to Palestinian riots

Barry Rubin looks at the historical record and finds that, sadly, some things don't change:

In August 1929, wild rumors that Jews had attacked Arabs, cursed the name of Islam’s founder, and were about to seize the Temple Mount led to inflammatory sermons in mosques, followed by massive Arab riots. More than 105 Jews were killed by Arabs; not a single Arab was killed by a Jew.

The exact same thing happened—albeit with far fewer casualties—in 1996, 2000, 2009, and at several points in between. The pattern tells a great deal about why the conflict doesn’t end and in fact stays a great deal the same.

UK to UN: Feh on Goldstone report

World Jewish Daily reports:

Britain on Thursday became the first Western country on the U.N. Human Rights Council to categorically reject the Goldstone report and any subsequent draft resolution, the Jerusalem Post reports.

"We can not endorse the report and can not vote for the resolution as tabled," diplomats stated while decrying the council's decision to hold a special session on the matter.

Earlier, the Palestinians submitted a five-page draft resolution aimed at condemning Israel for alleged human rights violations during recent clashes, including last winter's Gaza war.

Despite fierce criticism of the largely biased report from both U.S. and Israeli officials, the council is expected to eventually endorse the new resolution.

Read more in the Jerusalem Post.

Netanyahu: Don't believe the lies about Temple Mount dig

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issues a call for sanity:

"There is an extreme minority that has spread lies according to which Israel is planning to conduct excavations beneath the Temple Mount," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said regarding the recent unrest in east Jerusalem.

"I want to make it clear that these are lies, and I call on the majority of Arabs in Israel not to believe these lies," said the PM at the onset of Monday's cabinet meeting, "The vast majority of Israel's Arabs are not being dragged in by these provocations.

"I want to tell the Arab citizens of Israel – those who want to lead normal lives – that you are a part of the State of Israel. The government is working to make certain that you (Arab sector) enjoy full equality in every field, be it education, economy, employment or infrastructure," he said.

How will Ateek respond?

We've spoken before about Naim Ateek, a Palestinian Anglican priest who is also director of the stridently anti-Israel Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center. Over at the CAMERA blog, Dexter Van Zile wonders aloud how Ateek may respond to the violence currently taking place on and around the Temple Mount in Jerusalem:

Palestinian leaders are falsely accusing Israel of "besieging" the [Dome of the Rock] mosque. If history is any predictor, this is a prelude to increased violence. What will Ateek do? Will he affirm Palestinian propaganda and incitement? Or will he speak truth to power and condemn leaders in the West Bank for lying about Israel? Will he encourage the Palestinian people to remain calm? Or will he remain silent? If Naim Ateek truly is a man of peace, now is the time for him to step up and tell his Palestinian Muslim brothers and sisters to refrain from violence, not to riot, and to not throw stones at Israelis.

Why does the press give Hamas a pass?

At Sky News, Tim Marshall comments on a story you probably haven't heard much about, and notes a blatant double standard in the media's treatment of Israel:

Thirty Palestinians killed. Women and children caught in the crossfire. Missiles fired at a Mosque. Muslim prisoners 'executed' in cold blood. A massacre. Media restrictions.

A familiar tale? Indeed. International outrage and demonstrations in the streets of London? Nope.

And why might that be? Why it's simple. The Palestinians were were killed by Palestinians and, it would appear from the lack of reaction that in those circumstances their lives are cheap, but when they are killed by Israelis it is an outrage.

Fatah to Israel: Release all Palestinian prisoners

Another unreasonable demand:

Fatah delegates meeting here Thursday resolved not to renew peace negotiations with Israel until all Palestinian prisoners are released from Israeli jails, all settlement-building is frozen and the Gaza blockade is lifted.

In a nutshell, Fatah's precondition for renewing peace talks is releasing the guys held in Israeli prisons who staged the attacks that thwarted peace talks in the first place. More significantly, when you read what they say in Arabic, they make clear that they're not going to give up "armed struggle" -- meaning, attacking Jewish men, women, and children.

Lovely. Sounds like a great "peace process". Wouldn't you want to negotiate with these guys?

PA: Arafat supported terrorism

No surprises here to anyone who was paying attention, but it is unusual to hear this coming from a top Palestinian Authority official:

[Mohammed] Dahlan said the international community demanded that Arafat condemn terrorism against Israel in order to win land concessions from the Jewish state, so he did just that. But behind the scenes, Dahlan said Arafat continued backing the use of terrorist violence against Israelis, a fact that Western leaders only acknowledged toward the end of Arafat's life.

Note that in the story Dahlan refers to Arafat's terrorist planning as "honorable," and urges current PA officials to "again employ calculated and carefully-tiimed terrorism as an official tactic." These are the Palestinian "moderates"?

Why Khaled Abu Toameh writes for a Jewish newspaper

Over at AISH, there's a fascinating article about the courageous Israeli-Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh, who does great work reporting on events in the West Bank and Gaza for the Jerusalem Post and other media outlets:

Most of the world believes, often with passionate intensity, that Jewish settlements on land claimed by Arabs limits the chances for peace. Abu Toameh disagrees. "I wish the settlements were the problem," he says, because it can be solved by the Israelis. If settlements were the problem, he argues, then Gaza would now be at peace. After all, the Israelis pulled out in 2005. But the result has been war -- war among the Palestinians, war with Israel. "The real obstacle to peace is not a Jew building a settlement but the failure of the Palestinians to have a government. Is there a partner on the Palestinian side for peace talks? No."