Huffington Post Monitor

Talking Point Combat: Beating the "Right" of Return

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:30:00 +0000

Now that the fighting between Israel and the Palestinians has eased off slightly, the Palestinian propagandists have returned to one of their demands, the so called "right" of return. With the recognition of the "State of Palestine" last November, though, it's easier than ever to form a logical argument beating this demand.

Before we begin, make sure your opponent is aware of what the Palestinian "right" of return demands: Free passage into Israel for all Palestinians who fled during the 1948 war and their descendants. In other words, every single person who identifies as a Palestinian must be allowed to move to Israel whether Israel wants them or not.

1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The first step in any argument about this is to demand a citation from your opponent as to why they believe the Palestinians even have a right of return to anywhere. One citation is the 4th Geneva Convention, which we'll get to later, but another is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The UDHR states quite clearly that:

"[e]veryone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.""

Pretty straightforward right? There's only one problem: Israel is not the Palestinians' country. That is literally all you have to say. The Palestinians' country at the time of partition was the British Mandate of Palestine, and that doesn't exist anymore. The Palestinians are not Israelis, they don't hold Israeli citizenship, they have never lived in the state of Israel, and they don't even consider themselves to be Israelis. In fact they claim to be a proud, noble nation of "Palestinians" that has exited for 1,400 years. How can anyone make the legal argument that Israel is now the Palestinians' "country"?

If you want to get technical, the UDHR is also a General Assembly resolution and therefore not legally binding.

2. Living in Palestine, still a refugee

What is a refugee? A refugee is, according to international law,

"individuals who:

are outside their country of nationality or habitual residence;

have a well-founded fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion; and

are unable or unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of that country, or to return there, for fear of persecution."

What is the Palestinians' country of nationality? Ever since November of 2012, it's clearly Palestine! It's right there in the name: "Palestinian." So all Palestinians living in "Palestine," the West Bank and Gaza Strip, are in fact living INSIDE the country of their nationality. For a Palestinian apologist to make the case Palestinians are even refugees, much less a return of return to some other country besides their own, they need to legally prove Palestinians are not Palestinian. Good luck with that. Furthermore, their place of habitual residence has been the West Bank and Gaza for going on forty years now, so even if you claim that Palestinians are actually Israelis, it doesn't matter.

Keeping that in mind, there is a plethora of refugee law that could help the Palestinians "return" somewhere, but none of it is applicable because they aren't legally refugees.

And don't worry if UNRWA and the UN still considers them to be refugees, that just shows how biased and corrupt the UN is. Nor are the opinions of UNRWA legally binding.

3. Principle of states "getting" the population on them when they form

Some Palestinian propagandists will claim that when one state dissolves and another takes its place, that state "gets" the population of the first state automatically. There is nothing in international law that I have found to support this, but even if it's true, when the state of Palestine was created in November 2012, by that same principle it should get the population in the territory it controls. After all, we wouldn't expect Palestine to have different standards of behavior than Israel, right?

Furthermore, the Palestinians rejected the creation of Israel with violence. There is not the slightest indication, even today, that they consider themselves to be citizens of Israel who just want to return to the State of Israel.

4. Law of "state succession"

Other propagandists recently have attempted the claim that the law of "state succession" applies and that is why the Palestinians have a right of return. There is a Wiki article about state succession, and there is an international convention about it, but Israel has not signed onto the convention. Without clearly stated international law that applies to Israel, this argument has no legs.

5. Geneva Convention

A favorite of those making the case for the RoR is the 4th Geneva Convention. But the Geneva Convention has never been applied to any other group of people like this, so there is legal precedent set. The GCs were signed after the Palestinians became "refugees," so Israel cannot be expected to obey an ex post facto law.

But here's what the GC actually says:

"Article 49, which allows a “belligerent occupant” to temporarily evacuate occupied areas but requires that the evacuees:... be transferred back to their homes as soon as hostilities in the area in question have ceased."

If this is the article that the Palestinians are trying to use, then first of all hostilities in the area have not ceased. Second, they would not be considered refugees, they would be considered evacuees. Third, "evacuee" status does not transfer to descendants, so only the people who were evacuated by Israel, not the ones who ran away, not the ones who are their descendants have a right of return. Not good enough.

But even if the Geneva Conventions applied, the Palestinians are the last people to be demanding someone else follow them, since they themselves have treated the Geneva Convention like toilet paper since day one. Nor have they even signed up to the Geneva Convention, so have no legal right to demand its protection.

At the end of the day, Israel simply won't allow the Palestinians back in, no matter what international law says. There's a higher law in effect, the law of survival, that Israel has to follow first. But it's nice to take down these arguments anyway and deflate the haters' sense of self-righteousness.

Anti-Semitism Report Released, HuffPost Releases Anti-Semites

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:00:00 +0000

The Huffington Post covered the news of the annual report on anti-Semitism worldwide released by the US State Department. You would expect the progressive human rights advocates of the Huffington Post to be dismayed that the report concluded anti-Semitism is increasing worldwide, and indeed some of them were. But lots of others were far more interested in attacking Israel and whining about "the Jews" "using" anti-Semitism to get away with their "crimes." Here's some comments:

We'll keep an eye on the thread and update this post as necessary.

HuffPosters Laugh at Struggling Israelis

noreply@blogger.com (Zach) — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:30:00 +0000

The Huffington Post covered a story about lower-class Israelis who are finding it difficult to make a living. You may be aware that Israel is hardly the only country in which poor people exist, but apparently this is news to the Huffington Post readership. So they proceeded to laugh and sneer at Israel, a perfect mirror of the faux sympathy they would engage in if it was an Arab people who were poor:

As always, Huffignton Post approved.

HuffPost Brings the Al-Dura Bias

noreply@blogger.com (Zach) — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

The Huffington Post covered a story about how Israel, 13 years too late, has debunked the Mohammad Al-Dura hoax and proved once and for all that al-Dura wasn't killed in the video and may have been killed at all. Naturally, the Huffington Post covered it in the most biased way possible:

I guess they subscribe to the theory that if you can't tell the truth, be as vague as possible and let your readership draw their own conclusions. As for the readership in question, few tried to actually prove that Mohammad Al-Dura was killed by the Israelis, possibly sensing that it was a futile battle. Instead, they tried to claim that Israel "kills kids" all the time, so it doesn't actually matter that the only example the Palestinians can find in 60 years of this turned out to be a lie. And, of course, there was anti-Semitism and even Holocaust denial that followed:

The Huffington Post: Classy as ever.

Diana Bletter on Diversity in Israel

noreply@blogger.com (Zach) — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

[From HuffPostReligion.]

My friend Nasra Hussein just came back from a scientific conference in Austria where she met other scientists, from places like Saudi Arabia and South Africa, who were shocked to discover that she, a Muslim Arab, was living and working with Jews in Israel. Nasra, who just received her Ph.D. under the supervision of a Jewish advisor, explained that she works at Nahariya hospital (bombed by Hezbollah during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War). The hospital staff that consists of Ethiopian Jews, Druze, Muslims, Christians and Jews.

After my conversation with Nasra, a thought came to me. I've lived in New York City, London and Paris. In every city, there are different ethnic neighborhoods. Paris has its African neighborhoods; New York City has its Spanish and Asian neighborhoods; London has its Arab neighborhoods. On an average day in your town or city, how many people of other religions and races do you meet?

I live in Western Galilee, Israel, home to about 1 million people, split almost 50-50 among Arabs and Jews.

The other day -- an ordinary day -- I got up and brought my car over to the auto repair shop in our village, owned and operated by a Muslim man, Nasser. Nasser employs about 15 people in his shop, including my friend, Jasmine (more on her in a minute), several mechanics (Muslims and Jews) and a Rumanian Christian woman who, after meeting a Muslim man studying medicine in Bucharest, married him and moved to Israel.

From there, I went to Akko -- home to about 50,000 people, of whom 30 percent are Arab -- to visit my friend, Janan. She was the first Druze woman in Israel (if not in the entire Middle East) to receive her Ph.D. Janan is founder of Akko Vision, a dialogue group consisting of Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Druze women. (I'm a member of the group.) There is also a Baha'i woman. (Unlike in Iran, where the Baha'i are persecuted.) The group's lasts initiative was a visit of women from Bethlehem.

After meeting with Janan, I went to the market in the Old City of Akko where I walked through winding, ancient alleyways, Arabic music playing, incense burning, guys smoking water pipes, the smell of coriander and fresh pita bread. I stopped to buy blue ceramic dishes made by Armenian craftsmen from a Christian couple who own one of the largest tourist shops in the Old City. I learned that there's only one country in the Middle East with an increasing Christian population and that's Israel. (In Iraq, Lebanon and Libya, Christians have become victims of religious persecution. There has been a spike of attacks against Christians since the Muslim Brotherhood gained power in Egypt. In Gaza, Christians face attacks daily.)

Then I called Jasmine, Nasser's sister, who manages the auto repair shop and just found out she's pregnant. She will get full pre-natal care -- everything -- via Israel's National Insurance Program. If she'd been unable to get pregnant, she would have been able to receive treatments through government-sponsored facilities that serve all religious sectors in the country.

In the afternoon, I went to work at the Easy English Academy, where I teach English to Arab and Jewish students. One of my students is Nasra, working to polish her English. She is now furthering her research with another nurse from Ramallah, across the border in Palestine.

Finally, after dinner, I spoke to my unofficially adopted Ethiopian daughter, who has lived in Israel for about 20 years. She came to Israel with her family to avoid further religious persecution by the Ethiopian government. In Ethiopia, she knew it was time to go to school when the sun made a certain shadow off a tree and now works in an Israeli bank in computer security. She married a man whose parents are from Afghanistan and Rumania; their wedding was a wild celebration of distinct and vibrant cultures.

Diversity makes life rich. How many different people have you spoken to today?

HuffPost Continues to Milk Palestinian Victim Card, Doesn't Work

noreply@blogger.com (Zach) — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:30:00 +0000

As our buddy Huff-Watcher spotted over the weekend, the Huffington Post's "World" section attempted to wring some more blood from the stone that is the Palestinian victimization industry:

Unfortunately what they forgot was that Palestinians are only of interest to the prejudiced Huffington Post readership when they are victims of Israel, not when someone else is mistreating them. So although the thread did get around 1,100 comments (many times more than if it was some other group being mistreated in Egypt) all of the top favorited ones were slamming the Arabs and rightfully so:

Amazing how rational the Huffington Post readership becomes once you take Israel out of the equation.

Sarah Hindman on Sderot Trauma, HPers Sneer, Whine, Insult

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Sarah Hindman touched the real third rail at the Huffington Post, humanizing Israelis, when she wrote a blog post about the trauma suffered by Israelis in Sderot because of the rocket attacks. The essay is short, about her experiences traveling from an Episcopal school to Sderot to work with little girls on the trauma of living with rocket attacks through "theater therapy." A quick read, but worth checking out.

Naturally, those HPers that bothered to show up to the thread immediately attacked Hindman and/or justified the rocket attacks using one method or another. Here's the comments:

If you're wondering where the "liberal progressive" concern for "human rights" and "international law" in this thread is, stop wondering. It's not here.

Possible HP Bias: Israeli "FM" Makes Statement

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:30:00 +0000

Over the weekend, the Huffington Post covered the news that Israeli minister Yair Lapid made a statement about which direction the peace process should go. In a possible display of bias, this was the headline they chose for the article:

If you can't read the headline, it says "Israeli FM Seeks Interim Peace Deal with Palestine." The "Palestine" part isn't a big deal, frankly I'm surprised we don't see more of that from the HP. It's the "FM" part.

From your gut, what does "FM" stand for? Well, this guy is making statements about peace deals, and the HP has always used the abbreviation "FM" when referring to Avigdor Lieberman when he was in the Israeli cabinet as foreign minister, so I guess "FM" stands for foreign minister.

But no, Lapid is Israel's Finance Minister. Why didn't the HuffPost point that out? Why make his position ambiguous to the readership? My guess is to make Lapid seem more influential than he really is, which would make his statement more important than it is, which would bring in the clicks. And it seems to be working, 200 comments so far, mostly blaming Israel for the lack of peace. Just another day on the HP.

News the HP Doesn't Cover: Hezbollah Taking Heavy Losses in Syria (Updated)

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:30:00 +0000

The Huffington Post will cover almost anything that comes out of Syria, except the news that their beloved Hezbollah is taking some losses there:

Syrian activists reported that about 30 Hezbollah fighters and 20 Syrian soldiers and militiamen loyal to President Bashar Assad were killed in heavy fighting with rebels on Sunday in the town of Qusair.

According to Al-Arabiya TV, their bodies were transported to hospitals in Beirut. One of those killed was senior Hezbollah official Fadi al-Jazar.
Syria's state news agency SANA said the army had "restored security and stability to most Qusair neighborhoods" during the offensive in the town, about 10 km (six miles) from the Lebanese border.

On Sunday, Syrian troops aided by Hezbollah launched a massive assault on the rebel-held city near the Lebanese border.

Speaking from Qusair, activist Hadi Abdallah said Syrian warplanes bombed Qusair in the morning and shells were hitting the town at a rate of up to 50 a minute. At least 52 people were killed, he said.

"The army is hitting Qusair with tanks and artillery from the north and east while Hezbollah is firing mortar rounds and multiple rocket launchers from the south and west," he said.

"Most of the dead are civilians killed by the shelling."

UPDATE: The HP did cover this news later on today.

Ultra-Orthodox Riot, HuffPosters Spew

noreply@blogger.com (Zach) — Sun, 19 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000

To conclude our round up of anger for today, the "Religion" section on the Huffington Post had a story about ultra-Orthodox Jews rioting in Israel about possibly serving in the army. Usually ultra-Orthodox threads are pretty placid as everyone unites in their dislike of religious "fundies" but this time the hate was spewing toward Israel in general and of course Jewish people, all with Huffington Post moderator approval:

Welcome to the Huffington Post.

News the HP Doesn't Cover: Majority of Israelis Support Women of the Wall

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Sun, 19 May 2013 15:00:00 +0000

If there's one prejudice that is actively encouraged on the Huffington Post, it's hating Israelis. Not Jews of course, just Israelis (but not, naturally, Israeli Arabs, so....yeah). No wonder then, that the HP couldn't publish this poll:

"The majority of Israeli Jews support the Women of the Wall group, according to the latest monthly Peace Index poll released by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) and Tel Aviv University following recent altercations at the Western Wall and legal rulings on the limits of public prayer there. Israelis were surveyed on their attitudes towards the Women of the Wall’s quest to pray out loud and wear a prayer shawl and tefillin (phylacteries) at the holy site.

Support for the Women of the Wall is highest among self-defined secular Israeli Jews (64%) and the traditional-non-religious (53%). Traditional-religious (26%), religious (28%), and ultra-Orthodox (0%) support them to a lesser degree.

Questioned about their overall attitude, 48% of Israeli Jews back the Women of the Wall, while 38% do not."

Brennan Goes to Israel, HuffPosters Spread Anti-Semitism

noreply@blogger.com (Zach) — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Head of the CIA John Brennan went to Israel on Friday, and the Huffington Posters reacted with all the hate we have come to expect:

Soon followed by blatant anti-Semitism of the "Zionist Occupied Government" kind, so beloved by neo-Nazis and the readers of the Huffington Post.

As always, Huffington Post approved.

HuffPosters Run Interference for Iranian Gender Apartheid

noreply@blogger.com (Zach) — Sun, 19 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

The Huffington Post covered a story that in Iran, women can't be President. Naturally if Israel had a rule like that it would have around 30,000 comments shrieking for Netanyahu's head on a plate. But since it is Iran, the Huffington Post readership either makes generic anti-religion comments or otherwise seeks to defend them:

Iran firsters, anyone?

Seeing Trauma Through A Camera Lens in Sderot

noreply@blogger.com (Zach) — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:00:00 +0000

[By Sarah Hindman, from the HuffPost.]

This is the first part of a New Voices series on Sderot. Find the second part of the series here.

The chapel at my Episcopalian boarding school was shaped like a crucifix.

I always tried to find a seat in the back corner so no one would see me when the reverend asked us to bow our heads. Instead, when the prayers mentioned Jesus, I would look at the ceiling and say the she'hecheyanu. It was the only blessing I remembered.

One summer in college, I again found myself looking at the ceiling. This time, instead of being the only Jew in the room, I was the only one going to Sderot.

"It's that place where all the rockets are falling," I would tell my friends about the embattled southern Israeli town near Gaza. The Career Israel internship program had set me up to be a media intern with the Sderot Media Center, which documents rocket attacks on southern Israel. In the program, I would film lives under attack and edit my footage, which the center would then broadcast to the public.

"Are you crazy?" my friends would say. I couldn't help asking myself the same question.

Career Israel had made the decision easy for me by taking care of most of the logistics. When I found myself alone in the back of Tel Aviv's Central Bus Station, though, the weight of my choice hit me. The other terminals were packed with eager travelers, but I was the only one on my way to Sderot.

When I got there, I saw a bomb shelter next to the bus stop, I couldn't help but think back to the alarming films I had witnessed in preparation for the trip--the heart-stopping tzeva adom, or code red, and the physical and psychological damage that went along with it.

I jumped into the shelter, ready for any signal of the approaching attack. After a few minutes of no explosions, I poked my head out to find that my shelter was one of several in a row. I darted for the next--also empty. I was the only one jumping from shelter to shelter.

I had expected to see the Sderot residents with nervous expressions and panic-stricken eyes. I imagined terrorized buildings surrounded by rubble. Instead, I found students lounging on the grass or sipping coffee at picnic tables, elderly woman carrying groceries and children eating ice cream.

One of my first assignments was with the Sderot Treatment Theater Project, an initiative to offer teenage girls a coping strategy through theater therapy. The girls had compiled their experiences in a script that they met daily to rehearse.

The girls at the rehearsal were practically the same age as me, but unlike American teens they weren't practicing for a musical. Instead, their challenge was to reconstruct the trauma of their everyday life in order to achieve some kind of relief from the stress.

When the time came for a reenactment of the tzeva adom, I lost all sense of what I was doing. Shattering screams filled the room. The girls ran in every direction. They buried their faces in one another and huddled--anticipating the danger that approached them. A large crash sounded and one girl lay still on the stage, a symbol of those that were killed during the attack. The girls cried over her lifeless body.

Then the director yelled, "Cut!" and the moment was over. Somebody pulled the girl off the ground and they continued on to the next scene. Later, my footage would become a promotional video for the Sderot girls' play, and they would perform "Children of Qassam Avenue" at the Knesset almost a year later.

These girls are alone and I am alone. They will keep struggling to make the rest of the world know what it is to go through life in Sderot--no matter how many times they perform the play, and I will still be unable to explain to my friends why I went to Sderot--no matter how many times I talk about commitment and sacrifice. But what they've learned, what this play has taught them, is that what matters most is that they can explain it to themselves.

And now I know that it doesn't matter whether I can answer others when they ask me why I went to Sderot, or why I insisted on saying a Jewish prayer in a Christian school. Watching these girls leave the rehearsal, I understood that what mattered was that I knew the answer, even if I was the only one.

HPW User Profile: steelheadtrout

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:30:00 +0000

HP user steelheadtrout has only been on the Huffington Post for the month of May, but he or she has already racked up an modest number of explicitly anti-Semitic comments. If I had to guess, I'd say he was another profile of Nwo2012, but no way to know for sure. Naturally, he has made tons of friends among the "anti-Zionist" community there. Here's some comments:

“These people really need to be stopped. They make up ONE tenth (Israel) of ONE PERCENT of the world. What the he!! right do they have?
Self-entitled sociopaths.
I taught for 35 years. Every time any Muslim was noticed on campus, for any reason, there was Hillel, whining and threatening to sue over anti-Semitism.
There is a part of Judaism that, according to one Rabbi, is "of the Torah" and another part that is "of the Talmud" (whether they read the Talmud or not). The people of the Torah seem to be decent people. The rest (Zionists and related) are animals.”
Link

“In Islam, the crazies represent only a small percentage of all Muslims. =
These orthodox are a very noticeable percentage of Judaism.=
And, the people Jesus warned you about are, today, named Bernie Madoff, Goldman, Sachs, Rothschild (the ULTIMATE bankster), Richard S. Fuld and more. Those are the money changers of today.”
Link

“Do some online checking about the Talmud - Jewish book of laws.
You might not want to eat just before. It's a bit nauseating.”
Link

“You are a LIAR, hasbara”
Link

“Jesus died because he was too charismatic and it was putting a dent in the Jewish leaders' business. The Roman authorities had had trouble with Jewish gangs rioting, marauding and making terrorist attacks on all non-Jews, not just Romans. The governor ordered Jesus executed because of threats of riots if he didn't.=
These people think that they can rewrite history to suit the image they want to project and it simply isn't going to happen.”
Link

"Odds are, Brennan is in Israel to coordinate the next false-flag event or something equally pleasing for the neocons and Israeli Führer."
Link

“Baba Mezia 114a-114b. "Only Jews are human"
Sanhedrin 58b. "If a heathen (Gentile) hits a Jew, the Gentile must be killed. Hitting a Jew is the same as hitting God."
Yebamoth 98a. "All Gentile children are animals."
Sanhedrin 59a: "Murdering Goyim is like killing a wild animal."
Link

Comment Comparison: Syria War Dead vs. Palestinians and Israelis

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:30:00 +0000

Today on the Huffington Post World section, enough time has gone by to determine what exactly the HPers care about. First item: the latest horrific news out of Syria.

120,000 dead in Syria, the vast majority of them civilians. You would expect the liberal, humanitarian HPers to be all over this story. But no, less than 300 comments.

Let's compare this to the news story about Israel's poverty rating:

More than double the amount of comments, and not one person is dead.

But Matt, you say, Syria is old news! There's been fighting there for more than a year. Sure, it's terrible, but you can't expect HPers to still care as much about an older conflict than the recent news about this poverty story.

But if that were the case, how can you explain this:

More than TEN TIMES as many comments on a story in which no one died and the conflict is 65 years old, not just one!

The truth, of course, is that the HPers are obsessed with Israel and could not care less about Syria. We've known this for a long time, but it's always nice to have more evidence.

Ahmed Shihab-Eldin Tweets Latuff Again

noreply@blogger.com (Zach) — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Huffington Post editor and pro-Palestinian propagandist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin first came to our attention when he put an offensive Carlos Latuff cartoon in the Huffington Post itself. Now he's tweeting Latuff again, just to show us that he is a big fan:

Always nice to see a Huffington Post editors solidifying his pro-BDS and pro-anti-Semitism credentials. And yes, Latuff is a proud anti-Semite.

The "War" Two-Step

noreply@blogger.com (Zach) — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:00:00 +0000

In the same vein as the peace two-step I remarked upon last year, the Huffington Posts have tried to hold contradictory views again in the recent "Nakba Day" thread. See, they would have us believe that the Israel is the principle obstacle to peace, but that the Palestinians are justified in refusing to make peace with them. Let me show you some examples.

First we have the first step. Israel doesn't want peace, Israel is the obstacle to peace:

I think one example is probably sufficient, seeing as how this is the most common argument that we see coming from the anti-Zionist camp. But here's the other step: The Arabs are justified in starting wars against Israel:

You may notice that all of the excuses the Huffington Posters provide for the 1948 war stick around today: That the Israelis are "Europeans," that they live in an "illegitimate entity" and that the Partition Plan was unfair to the Palestinians.

This is where the two-step comes into play: Okay, the Palestinians may be justified in attacking Israel because (just to pick one example) they are "Europeans" but if that's the case then settlements/occupation/land theft/Jerusalem/checkpoints are not the obstacles to peace. Nor is anything that Israel does the obstacle to peace because, as the anti-Zionist just admitted, the problem is who the Israelis are, not what they do.

It's easy for the Huffington Posters to sit at home in America and justify wars, no matter on which side of the Israeli/Palestinian divide they choose to place themselves. But if you are going to say that the Arabs were in the right to start a war, you still have to admit that they did in fact start a war.

It seems that the best way to respond to this dichotomy is to do what the Huffington Post pro-Israel people have been doing, which is to say "So you admit the Arabs don't want peace?" The anti-Zionist is forced to either say, "Yes the Arabs don't want peace because of ______" or say no they do and contradict what they just said. Either way, it demonstrates yet another logic hole in the pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel point of view.

Asia is Israel's New Frontier

noreply@blogger.com (Zach) — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:30:00 +0000

[By Jonathan Adelman and Asaf Romirowsky, from Forbes.]

When we think of Israel, we usually think of the Middle East (its neighborhood), North America (its close ally the United States) and Europe (the long history of Ashkenazi Jews). Rarely do we think about Israel and Asia, even less about Asia as Israel’s new frontier. We don’t think of Asia as playing any significant role in Israel’s evolution given the tiny Asian Jewish population, the lack of significant Jewish history in Asia, and minimal relations between Israel and most Asian countries for the first 40 years (1948-1988) of Israel’s existence.

Yet, last year Israel called 2012 “the year of Asia in Israel.” The Israeli government sponsored an Asian Science Camp attracting over 220 Asian students to join nearly 40 Israeli students for a week long program of lectures by world class Israeli researchers

How did such a gathering ever happen? Many factors propelled Israel-Asian relations to the forefront. Historically, Asia largely lacks the anti-Semitism that was so prominent in Europe and also the Middle East. Geographically, Israel is in West Asia, only four hours by air from India and 11 hours by air from China. Historically, Israel, like most Asian states, is a new state born after World War II after a struggle with a Western colonial power, in this case Great Britain.

Economically, Israel’s rapid transition from Third World power to First World “start-up nation” echoes the great transformation underway in such Asian countries as India, China and the Four Tigers. Scientifically, Israel has emerged as a high-tech superpower (with Tel Aviv rated #2 in the world for its startup companies, thereby very attractive to Asian high tech [powers in Bangalore, Xinchu Park and Beijing Silicon Valleys]. Politically, the growing threat of Islamism in the regime draws many of these countries towards a country that is in the forefront of fighting this threat to governments around the world. And, militarily, the Israeli military, a world leader in anti-missile technology (Iron Dome), UAVs (which they sell even to the Russians) and 5 billion dollars of military exports, is attractive to Asian countries developing their own militaries as they rise economically. Finally, in intelligence matters, which are so critical to many developing countries, Mossad, with its strong human intelligence capabilities, is attractive for helping these countries overcome foreign threats to their rise to power.

Most of all, Israel has developed strong relations with the two Asian countries in the BRICs—China and India. Both of these countries, which had no diplomatic relations with Israel before 1992, now have major Israeli embassies in their capitals (Beijing and New Delhi) as well as consulates in their leading cities (Shanghai and Mumbai).

Militarily, Israel is the second biggest arms exporter to India today, and sold it the Phalcon AIWACS system for a billion dollars back in 2004. In turn India in 2004 launched a 300 kilogram Israeli satellite in orbit which dramatically increased Israeli intelligence gathering capabilities against the Iranian nuclear program with clear images in all kinds of weather. At one time in the ‘90s Israel was the second biggest arms exporter to China (4 billion dollars worth of exports). In turn Israeli intelligence works closely with Indian intelligence against radical Islamic threats and is on friendly terms with its Chinese counterparts.

Economically, Israel can claim $5 billion worth of trade with India and over $8 billion dollars with China. It hopes to boost trade with the world’s second largest economy by GDP to $10 billion in the coming years. Back to India, Israel is working with it on the framework for a Free Trade Zone that within five years could triple annual exchange between producers in each country to $15 billion. Politically, Israel supports India in its fight over Kashmir and against Pakistan, while China also battles Islamic fundamentalism in Xinjiang Province.

Outside the two BRIC members, Israel has developed diplomatic relations with a large range of Asian countries. It has extensive trade with a number of these nations—ranging from $2 billion with Japan and South Korea, to several hundred million dollars worth of trade with Vietnam. It also has growing economic and educational ties with Singapore. Israel has developed strong relations too with a series of newly independent states formerly part of the Soviet Union, including Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan.

Not all of these relations have been easy. Few Asian states face serious existential threats as Israel has and continues to face. And it can’t be forgotten that some of them are Muslim states (as Pakistan and Indonesia), plus very few have attained Israel’s strong First World economy ($33,000 GNP/person) status.

But it seems as China and India have risen economically, so has Israel’s global status. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s four day to visit to China this week highlights the importance of China to Israel. Excitingly for Israel, the importance is mutual. As Chinese Ambassador to Israel Gao Yanping stated ahead of the visit, “China views its relationship with Israel with tremendous importance.”Truly Asia is the new frontier for Israel in the 21^st century.

Jonathan Adelman is a professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver and Asaf Romirowsky is the acting executive director for Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME).

HPers Cheer at News of Israeli Poverty

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

In between their attempts to destroy Israel's economy through BDS, the HPers took time to cheer the news about Israel's relative poverty rate being highest in the OEC D. Zach already commented on the spin the Huffington Post helpfully provided. Anyway, they naturally blamed Israel for its own poverty issue, because obviously doing what the Palestinians want them to do will somehow reduce the poverty rate. After all, the entire world looks to Arab countries for ideas about how to help the poor. That's in combination with the usual attacks on Israel's status as a developed country and a democracy and other Israeli policy.

Here's some of the top comments:

As if this wasn't enough for you, the anti-Semitism level on the thread soon skyrocketed, more than we have seen in a while. Here are some examples:

But remember, Israel has nothing to do with Jewish people.

Your Morning Bias

noreply@blogger.com (Zach) — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Check out an article the Huffington Post published yesterday, all original:

As usual, the Huffington Post refuses to publish pictures of Israelis when Palestinians are killing them but are happy to publish pictures of a dirty homeless man. Isn't that typical. Anyway, the headline is super spun thanks in part to Ha'aretz, who did half of the Huffington Post's job for them. The truth is that Israel has the highest relative poverty rate among the OECD. If this seems like a distinction without a difference, the OECD does not include everyone, and the measurement is also by what Israel considers to be the poverty rate is quite different from the international one. Internationally Israel is not anywhere near the highest.

But leave it to the Huffington Post to go for the sensationalist headline first.

News the HP Doesn't Cover: Mortars Land In Israel

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:30:00 +0000

The HP doesn't cover when rockets and mortars fly from Gaza, how can we expect them to cover the news of mortars from Syria? The problem is really our expectations.

At least two mortar shells were fired Saturday into Israeli territory in the Mount Hermon region in the Golan Heights.

According to assessments they were stray mortars mistakenly fired at Israel as part of the Syrian conflict between rebels and government forces. No injuries or damage were reported.

In wake of the incident, the IDF has decided to close off the upper part of the Mount Hermon site to visitors and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz held an emergency assessment meeting with senior IDF officials. In the meanwhile, Israel has lodged a complaint with the Golan-based UN peacekeeping force.

HuffPost Brings the "Nakba Day" Bias (Updated)

noreply@blogger.com (Zach) — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:00:00 +0000

As we knew they would, the Huffington Post covered the propaganda event that is the Palestinian "Nakba Day" and did all they could to spin the coverage:

And on the inside:

The Huffington Post can't be bothered to publish a single Israeli victim of a Palestinian terror attack, but will never stop making the Palestinians as humanized as possible. Even in, in this particular case, the picture is of a violent protester. Naturally this was followed up by one of the Huffignton Post's famous propaganda slideshows. Here's one example:

We'll let you know about the rage that is sure to roll in.

Update: They have changed to include a video now:

We've long known the Huffington Post to be willing to regurgitate any Palestinian propaganda they can find, including calls for a "one state." I wonder if any of the readership will realize the Arabs don't want peace because of it.

Yavuz Baydar on Turkey's "Crippled" Media

noreply@blogger.com (Zach) — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:30:00 +0000

[From HuffPostWorld.]

Journalism -- but 'good' journalism -- in Turkey, comes with a tough ticket that urges a fight against far too many windmills.

Two days ago I was called by one of those colleagues who, in a baffled tone asked me: 'Can you please enlighten me what this ban is all about?'

She was in Reyhanlı, a small town in the Turkish province of Hatay, bordering Syria, targeted by an heinous terror attack with two car bombs that blasted a ton of explosives, killing 51 people, causing carnage and huge devastation.

That she was working for an international news outlet only added to the confusion. It all had to with a ban on reporting the event, by a local court ruling, that said:

"It has been decided to ban all forms of audio, visual and print reporting and their broadcast of the investigation on the explosion in the town of Reyhanli which killed and wounded many people ... and anything related to the context of the incident ... [and] anything to do with anything about those killed and wounded in the incident."

Turkey's powerful regulator, Radio and Television Supreme Board (RTÜK), was quick to send the decision around . What made it more than surreal was that it landed in the middle of a vast media domain, particularly with intensely buzzing social media, and caused either bitter smiles or confusion.

'The naked truth concealed by this strange legal language' wrote Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a lawyer, in his column, 'is a media clampdown using the imposition of a comprehensive censorship mechanism via court decision.'

"In this case, the court is banning not only reporting on the prosecutor's investigation but on anything to do with the incident. It doesn't seem likely that a prosecutor in a small town would demand such a comprehensive censorship decision from the legal system. It is not hard to imagine that some sort of diplomacy transpired behind closed doors and that the prosecutor was instructed by the Justice Ministry to file for such a demand."

Sigh, but nothing new.

Not so long ago, when Turkey's Prime Minister Erdoğan hastily gathered the conglomerate media for a careful 'terror coverage', it was the proprietors themselves that had offered a 'censorship' mechanism, and they had practiced it in conglomerate media successfully by a black-out on the bombing of Kurdish villagers by Turkish fighter jets. It was through the social media that the public had found out about the tragedy which to this day remains in the dark.

The surreal ban in Reyhanlı is yet more proof of how sad the state of Turkish media freedom is. Given the importance of Turkey as a critical regional player, its status as the negotiator with the European Union and the reform process which is going on for years, every such move to keep its media in leash only exposes it more as an issue to be addressed decisively.

"The issue of press freedom is at the core of Turkey's development as a modern democracy. Vigorous -- and often controversial -- internal debate is necessary to help reinforce Turkish leadership in the region and the strategic partnership with the United States" says a brand new report issued by the Center for American Progress (CAP), a powerful think-tank, known to be close to Obama Administration. What makes the report interesting is primarily its timing: it is issued only hours before Erdoğan lands in Washington DC for a critical meeting with President Obama.

It is obvious it is meant to highlight the crucial value of free, independent journalism at a time it is being more and more suffocated by destructive relations between politics of power and greedy ownership.

While identifying the punitive measures, such as jailing of -- mainly Kurdish -- journalists as urgent, the report is keen to nuance that the issues go far beyond the law and judiciary.

In a fair observation, it dismisses the comparisons of Turkey with Iran, China or North Korea as 'off base':

"Some organizations monitoring the situation in Turkey have drawn such comparisons in order to attract attention to the plight of imprisoned journalists, and while their motives may be good, such overreach undermines the wider political effort to ensure reform, as it provides the government with the opportunity to dismiss all outside criticism as overhyped. Turkey today is more democratic than in the past, if perhaps less socially liberal."

"Turkey's crisis of press freedom extends beyond the outright silencing of journalists through imprisonment... Much of the problem stems from the consolidation of major media holdings over the past two decades and the cross-ownership of media outlets by large conglomerates... Companies with interests across economic sectors often rely on government contracts or regulation, leading to situations where they are asked or decide to apply pressure to limit political criticism, which could jeopardize those interests or contracts. Numerous Turkish journalists cited instances where they were told to tone down government criticism or had columns pulled because of such concerns. This pressure manifests itself in direct pressure on news-outlet owners from government officials and more subtle forms of self-censorship from editors and journalists afraid of dismissal."

"Journalists and editors also report pressure on content from owners, leading to fears of dismissal. Indeed, there are countless instances of columnists or journalists being dismissed for refusing to tone down criticism or for breaking controversial stories."

"The concerns... should not shroud the fact that many owners, editors, and journalists are quite happy to self-censor or cooperate with the authorities. The motivations for this cooperation can vary from political proximity and personal ties, to business interests and a desire for access to information, to a genuine yearning for unity on issues of national security. The blame for such censorship does not lie squarely with the government but also has its roots in the varying quality of journalistic training and ethics across the profession in Turkey."

"Turkish society has also not fundamentally decided what balance of security and freedom of expression is right for their country -- should reporting on bombings or carrying the statements of separatists be considered criminal? The question of media ownership is also thorny, with no indication that the trend toward consolidated ownership of news outlets by large conglomerates is slowing."

For Turkey, a country in critical transition, freedom and independence of media must be non-negotiable. Question is whether or not this key issue will be sidelined by security and economic aspects of Turkish - American relations.

Puff Piece on Mosaics Leads to Hatred

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Every week in Israel, archeologists are pulling artifacts out of the ground that tell the story of the long history of that land. This week, it was mosaics created by the Byzantines 1,500 years ago, which for those of you keeping track at home is about 800 years before the Arabs invaded Palestine and conquered it for themselves.

Naturally, despite the puff nature of the article, the haters still came out in their usual numbers:

There were more comments, but they were deleted before I could grab them.