#Id make an ISRAELI the head of a Jewish state :^)

[ocean-sunfish-hater]

Straight Out of the Colonial Playbook:

The Myth of Untouched Lands

The Jewish National Fund (JNF) is an organisation with charity status all across the world. Many people know them as the people who use their little blue boxes to collect money to plant trees. They seem to be doing well to reach their goals, having planted over 250 million trees since 1901. All this seems pretty innocuous, perhaps even noble. After all, the idea of planting trees seems quite divorced from violent settler colonialism.

ID: A large slice of watermelon. You can see the Red of the flesh, the black of the seeds, and the white and green of the rind. It is set against a light teal background, a colour that may invoke peace and calm, much like a free Palestine would.

But the two have long, intertwined histories. Just look to the National Parks of the US, used to grab land from Native Americans with the justification that they were "uninhabited". Colonisation of the Arabian peninsula was partially justified with the argument that native Arabs had degraded the environment to the point of desertification,  and colonial rule was the only way they could be saved from themselves [1]. Unsurprisingly, most of the ecological damage in that region had been done by the colonialists themselves in the pursuit of resources.

The JNF isn't just some minor organisation that has unfortunate ties to questionable powers. Though they shroud themselves in the soft words of environmentalism,  they currently stand as one of the primary tools of violence for Zionism.

Established in 1901 by the 5th Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, they have always been an organisation with settler colonial intentions. In 1940, their leader Yosef Weitz, said “There is no way but to transfer the Arabs from [Palestine] to the neighbouring countries, to transfer all of them… not one village must be left… for this goal funds will be found." [2]. You know what happened to him after the first Nakba? He became the head of the JNF's forestry department [3].

According to their own website, they currently stand as the "single largest provider of Zionist programs in the U.S." [4]. They also own about 13% of all state lands in Israel [5]. They have been both a major driver, and unsurprisingly, benefactor from the ongoing Nakba of the Palestinian people.

So how exactly does planting trees feed into settler colonialism? The model works like this:

The Israeli government violently displaces people from their lands in the name of "self-defence".

The land becomes "uninhabited".

The JNF uses funds they have accrued from overseas donations to buy up the land.

They establish a national park in the area and begin to plant trees.

Settlers move into the surrounding regions. The JNF have a policy of not leasing land or accommodation to non-Jewish people [5].

Any remigration of indigenous people back into those lands is framed as "environmental destruction" and those people are forced out once more.

You know what's sneaky? They are using trees as bodies. They don’t have enough people to colonise all the land they've stolen, so they plant trees to occupy the spaces that human bodies cannot. They deliberately use fast growing trees like pines to aid in this pursuit [3]. Each forest acts as an occupying force, just one that uses seeds instead of bullets and trees instead of soldiers.

Most of their efforts are concentrated on Naqab (Negev in Hebrew), a region in the south of Israel mostly consisting of desert. On their website, the JNF boast of their Blueprint Negev initiative, and how it's "transformed Israel’s Negev Desert, making the Southern Israel an attractive place to live and work" [4]. Their mission statement in the Naqab includes the justification that they are providing homes, jobs and opportunities in the "empty" region [6]. One of the slogans have on their website is "Building the Negev, town by town"[6]. This is explicitly a settler colonial project, and all of it can be found on JNF website, in their own words.

And to top it all off, you guessed it, the Naqab is far from uninhabited. It was never empty land. In August 2018, 350 villagers from Umm al-Hiran were displaced to the state-regulated Bedouin township, Hura to accommodate the expansion of the Beit Yatir settlement in the Yatir forest, which was planted by the JNF [5]. In 2010, Nuri-al-Uqbi presented evidence that his ancestors had owned and lived in the lands of al-Araqib since before the Israeli occupation to the courts. In 2010, a Beersheva judge rejected the case, siding with the government's claims that his tribe had no ownership claims on the land [7]. The indigenous peoples of Palestine are constantly disenfranchised, displaced, and have very little means of winning their land back within an Apartheid legal system.

The JNF are using strategies employed by colonial powers in the past to violently seize land from native peoples. Acting under the guise of environmentalism "launders" the colonisation, adding extra steps in between the expulsion of people from their homes and the eventual settlement of that land by colonists, with the added bonus of making the JNF look very good. And you know what? Their reforestation schemes suck. Fast growing, new growth forests in the DESERT are not a substitute for old growth forests, not to mention the enormous amount of water they must be using to keep these forests as, well, forests.

What boils my blood the most is that you can see them honouring their colonial inspirations and sponsors in how they name their parks. Britannia park in the Hebron district obviously takes its name from Britain, a country instrumental in the establishment of the Israeli state and the Nakba that has ensued. Fittingly, it sits upon the ruins of seven Palestinian villages, destroyed by Israel during the first Nakba [8].

And this isn't just stuff that has happened in the past, but is happening right now. JNF UK is currently receiving donations to plant a memorial forest "to commemorate those who were brutally murdered on October 7." For £100, you can plant one tree. For £250, you can contribute to an outdoor seating area for group events. For £36, you can pay for an irrigation system that will provide enough water for one tree for four years [9]. Doesn't it make you angry? 36,000+ Palestinians have been murdered, and the JNF are collecting money to water trees on their graves.

I hate it when scientists stay neutral. We and our work are not divorced from the world around us. Conservation means nothing if it comes at the cost of human lives; it means nothing if it is used to veil the atrocities of colonialism and apartheid. It is our duty as conservationists, and as human beings to hear those whose voices carry cries for help, and answer the call. Do not be won over by the siren song of green colonialism.

Free Palestine. May all empires fall.

Bibliography

[1] Skandrani, Z., Decolonizing ecological research. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 2018. 8(3): p. 368-370.

[2] Stop the JNF, The JNF, Apartheid and Settler Colonialism. (Spring 2024). https://www.stopthejnf.org/the-jnf-apartheid-and-settler-colonialism-spring-2024/

 [3] Stop the JNF, Tower and Stockades, Forests and Jim Crow Vetting Commitees. https://www.stopthejnf.org/jnfs-sordid-history-tower-and-stockades-forests-and-jim-crow-vetting-committees-by-jonathan-cook/

[4] Jewish National Fund, We are JNF. https://www.jnf.org/menu-3/about-jnf

[5] Amnesty International, ISRAEL: APARTHEID IN ACTION. Amnesty international: submission to the 43rd session of the UPR working group, 9 May 2023.

[6] Jewish National Fund UK, Homepage, https://www.jnf.co.uk/

[7] Jonathan Cook, Bedouins defiant despite Israel eviction plan. https://www.jonathan-cook.net/2014-06-14/bedouins-defiant-despite-israel-eviction-plan/

[8] Palestine Land Society, Britannia Park - Burial and Treachery. https://www.plands.org/en/articles-speeches/articles/2022/britannia-park-burial-and-treachery

[9] Jewish National Fund UK, Green Sunday 2024 – Memorial Forest. https://israelunderattack.jnf.co.uk/projects/green-sunday-2024-memorial-forest/

[the-incorrigible-chaia]

[alt id]Two pages from the pamphlet "The Past Didn't Go Anywhere" by April Rosenblum, that read as follows:

it was a good try, but time to rethink.

on targeting “zionism”

A lot of activists work to avoid anti-Jewish oppression, and to make a distinction between Jewish people and Israeli misdeeds, by targeting their comments at "Zionists," not Jews, and "Zionism," not Judaism or Jewish culture. Unfortunately, this shortcut doesn't work.

First, it backfires because major, organized antisemitic movements also use the term, for the opposite purpose: to spread anti-Jewish ideology without looking so bad. That's why 2005's international conference, "Zionism As the Biggest Threat to Modern Civilization" was co-chaired by neo-nazi politician David Duke. For many antisemitic groups, “Zionists” are the demonic Jews controlling the world, Protocol-style; and “Zionism” is the general body of evildoing by Jews. Because we activists are only suspicious of Jew-bashing, not attacks on “Zionists,” their antisemitic imagery makes its way right into our circles. Second, because it replaces one one-dimensional image of a 'bad guy' with another. It bypasses the actual work of avoiding anti-Jewish oppression: reshaping how we think and talk about Jews and Israelis to see them as 3-dimensional human beings, capable of wrongdoing like any others. Finally, using the term "Zionists" doesn't protect Jews. It just makes people who bomb Jewish schools, synagogues, etc., call the people they're killing Zionists.

Principled anti-Zionism has little to do with the fake "Zionism" that antisemites like Duke attack. There are many rational reasons why some people are opposed to the philosophy that there should be a Jewish state, just as lots of rational reasons motivate others to believe a Jewish state is neccessary.*

There's no shame in thinking critically toward Zionism. But in a world of unresolved antisemitism, there's also no getting out of fighting this oppression head on.

*For instance: An anti-Zionist might rationally oppose Zionists' having consciously established a state where they did, knowing that this would lead to dispossessing the Palestinian people. A Zionist might observe that Jews' vulnerability was linked to being a permanently small minority and support Jews having one place where they are the governing majority.

innoculate your Palestine work against antisemitism

If you're white, understand: When you take no action to stop anti-Jewish patterns in our movements, you set Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims up to take the fall. Though historic Left mistreatment of Jews has largely been a legacy of white, European/American movements, Arabs and Muslims are the ones who today get publicly scapegoated for charges of Left antisemitism. Don't let them pay the price. Take the struggle on.

Beware of saying Israel is the only country doing anything, or the worst case of any given injustice; it’s often not true, and it gets used to justify global violence against Jews. Know and speak about countries guilty of similar offenses. This not only guard against danger to Jews; it brings a global perspective that strengthen the fights of all peoples, even while we focus on Palestinians.

Be specific about the injustice you're talking about. For instance, don’t jump into generalizations like “Israelis are like Nazis.” Focus on the original thought that led there; ie, “Israeli policies like [blank] treat Palestinians as if they’re not human.”

Remember that, as with every oppression, it’s possible to spread antisemitic ideas without necessarily harboring any ill will toward Jews. Stay open to re-evaluating tactics, even though you know your intentions are positive and just.

Don't casually use one-dimensional, charicatured portrayals of cruel Israelis. Rather than sensationalizing Israelis, and compounding anti-Jewish oppression in a world that already paints Jews as evil, help people see Palestinians: real people, suffering daily injustice, both mundane and extreme, and deserving of global attention.

At the center of Palestinians’ struggle for freedom and human dignity is their human and legal Right to Return to their land. But there are real reasons why Jews around the world fear losing majority control of Israel. (See p. 25.) If you fight for the Right to Return, understand the implications it could have for Jews in a world where anti-Jewish oppression has not been solved. Consider what role you can play in bringing about global safety for Jewish people.

If people use opposition to the term 'antisemitism' to shut down discussion, by all means, speak of anti-Jewish oppression. But speak of it. Don't let fellow activists silence conversation about antisemitism by complaining that the word is wrong, and blaming Jews for the problem. (See page 6.)

Above all, remember:

Taking care to resist antisemitism is not about walking on eggshells or acquiescing to pressure. It's about making a greater commitment to refusing to take part in oppression - and building movements that can win.

[end id]

[cognaccanhac]

sometimes it’s weird seeing the way people talk about israel, especially on tumblr — unorganized and just my own train of thought, coming from my own reaction to the way i see people discussing these matters on tumblr

the constant denial of the existence of israel as a state doesn’t really make much sense to me because like it or not, it *is* there. i can understand why the jews were placed there — where do you put a whole bunch of people that clearly aren’t safe where they’ve been previously that no one wants? back in their homeland i guess. doesn’t really make it great, especially not when you’re displacing people

logically speaking palestinians and people who are jewish by ethnicity are … from the same place geographically. as far as i know, at least

personally i don’t really think characterizing hamas as ‘freedom fighters’ or whatever the fuck is okay. i, personally, am not a big fan of islamist jihad! nor am i okay with some of their rhetoric! or the things they have done! i would agree with the characterization of hamas as a terrorist group!

however! i think benjamin netanyahu desperately needs to be put in prison! i genuinely feel that there are a whole lot more people that want peace over there than people believe, and while i can’t directly corroborate that, the people i know who have gone to israel/palestine have directly witnessed efforts to bring the groups together. id like to hope that that sentiment is much stronger than people internationally realize.

going back though, bibi has literally zero morals. he’s worsening and prolonging this war because the second it’s over, he’s probably headed to jail. innocent people are dying because of how power hungry he is. this man has moved further and further right, alining himself with the ultra orthodox israelis in order to stay in power, and as someone who’s really not a fan of religious extremism in any way, shape, or form, i *loathe* the ultra orthodox. netanyahu is an evil, evil, EVIL man. this war is on him. hell, october 7th is on him. what hamas did on that day was evil — without a doubt. but they could have done something to prevent it.

no one innocent deserves to die, and i don’t think the funding of israel, and more specifically, bibi, makes sense. however, whether you like it or not, israel does exist. those people have been placed there — what point is there to saying things like ‘isnotreal’ or ‘israhelli’ or whatever else? at this point, a lot of the people there were born after the establishment of israel. are they to blame for what the british did? what do you do with them if israel just… doesn’t exist? or you can say ‘it never existed!!’ which like. i feel like that’s kinda just a conversation stopper. it exists as an entity at the very least lol

anyways, i’m no genius, nor do i claim to omniscience. if anyone comes across this and agrees or disagrees, feel free to say whatever you’d like to me — but id rather you not automatically brand me a zionist or talk to me as if i’m evil, i have no interest in a conversation that’s going to get nowhere. if you have information you think ive missed or that might be relevant, feel free to comment it or smth. always willing to learn more.

[newstfionline]

Monday, May 10, 2021

Higher Prices Leave Consumers Feeling the Pinch (WSJ) Americans accustomed to years of low inflation are beginning to pay sharply higher prices for goods and services as the economy strains to rev back up and the pandemic wanes. Price tags on consumer goods from processed meat to dishwashing products have risen by double-digit percentages from a year ago, according to NielsenIQ. Some consumers are feeling stretched. Costs are rising at every step in the production of many goods. Prices for oil, crops and other commodities have shot up this year. Trucking companies are paying scarce drivers more to take those materials to factories and construction sites. As a result, companies are charging more for foods and consumer products including foil wraps and disposable cups. And consumers are therefore paying more.

As US reopens, campuses tighten restrictions for virus (AP) About a year into mask mandates, nasal swabs and remote classes, the atmosphere turned tense at the University of Vermont as the school cracked down on rules for social distancing and face coverings amid a spike in student COVID-19 cases. Students were handed hundreds of citations for violations like standing in another student’s doorway or walking maskless to a hallway restroom, igniting a student-led petition that blasted “strict and inhumane living conditions.” “You start to feel suffocated like I’m afraid to leave my room,” freshman Patrick Welsh said in an interview on campus. Even as restrictions relax across much of the United States, colleges and universities have taken new steps to police campus life as the virus spreads through students who are among the last adults to get access to vaccines. Administrators say they’ve needed to act urgently to avoid risking an early end to the semester or sending infected students home and spreading COVID-19. In recent weeks, the University of Michigan punished hundreds of students for missing mandatory virus testing by deactivating their access cards to nonresidential buildings, and Cornell University announced that students would lose access to campus Wi-Fi, course materials and facilities for missing virus tests. The University of Chicago locked down residence halls for seven days and shifted classes online after finding more than 50 cases in a matter of days.

Pandemic gives boost as more states move to digital IDs (AP) The card that millions of people use to prove their identity to everyone from police officers to liquor store owners may soon be a thing of the past as a growing number of states develop digital driver’s licenses. With the advent of digital wallets and boarding passes, people are relying more on their phones to prove their identity. At least five states have implemented a mobile driver’s license program. Three others—Utah, Iowa and Florida—intend to launch programs by next year, with more expected to follow suit. Mobile licenses will give people more privacy by allowing them to decide what personal information they share, state officials say. The licenses offer privacy control options that allow people to verify their age when purchasing alcohol or renting a car, while hiding other personal information like their address. Having a mobile driver’s license will allow people to update their license information remotely without having to go to a state’s Department of Motor Vehicles or waiting for a new card in the mail, said Lee Howell, state relations manager at the American Automobile Association. Industry leaders say safeguards will prevent anyone’s information from being stolen, but some critics argue that having so much personal data on a phone is too risky.

Why an Estimated 100,000 Americans Abroad Face Passport Problems (NYT) About 9 million U.S. citizens currently live abroad, and as the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel finally appears, immigration lawyers estimate more than 100,000 can’t get travel documents to return to the United States. Despite the State Department making headway on a massive backlog of passport applications in the early months of the pandemic, many consulates and embassies abroad, plagued by COVID-19 restrictions and staffing reductions, remain closed for all but emergency services. Travel is restarting, but for American expats who had a baby abroad in the past year or saw their passport expire during the pandemic, elusive appointments for documents are keeping them grounded. “It’s a real mess,” said Jennifer Minear, an immigration attorney and the president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “It’s a giant, multilayered onion of a problem and the reduction of staff as a result of COVID at the consular posts has really thrown the State Department for a loop.” Michael Wildes, the managing partner of the law firm Wildes & Weinberg, PC, which specializes in immigration law, estimates that the number of stranded Americans abroad is in the hundreds of thousands.

Scotland’s pro-independence leader promises another bid to break from U.K. after election boost (Washington Post) First Minister Nicola Sturgeon promised Saturday to push ahead with another Scotland independence referendum after her party gained a strong showing in Scottish Parliament elections, setting up a potential clash with Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Sturgeon said that an independence referendum was the “will of the country,,” with her Scottish National Party and pro-independence allies taking a majority of the 129 seats after all the votes were counted. That will probably boost calls to redo a 2014 independence referendum, which could lead to the crackup of the United Kingdom under the strains of Brexit and its deep divisions.

‘Freedom’ fiestas: Spaniards celebrate end of COVID curfew (Reuters) Exhilarated Spaniards danced in streets, chanted “freedom” and partied on beaches overnight as a COVID-19 curfew ended across most of the nation. In scenes akin to New Year’s Eve celebrations, hundreds of mainly young people gathered in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square to applaud the clock striking midnight while in Barcelona revellers headed to the beach with drinks in hand. Police in Barcelona had the strange task of moving people on after the last curfew began at 10 p.m., only to let them back at midnight when it ended for good.

Putin reviews Russian military might as tensions with West soar (Reuters) President Vladimir Putin reviewed Russia’s traditional World War Two victory parade on Sunday, a patriotic display of raw military power that this year coincides with soaring tensions with the West. The parade on Moscow’s Red Square commemorating the 76th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two featured over 12,000 troops and more than 190 pieces of military hardware, including intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, and a fly-past by nearly 80 military aircraft under cloudy skies. This year’s parade precedes parliamentary elections in September and comes at a time when Moscow’s relations with the West are acutely strained over issues ranging from the conflict in Ukraine to the fate of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Death toll soars to 50 in school bombing in Afghan capital (AP) The death toll in a horrific bombing at a girls’ school in the Afghan capital has soared to 50, many of them pupils between 11 and 15 years old, the Interior Ministry said Sunday. The number of wounded in Saturday’s attack has also climbed to more than 100, said Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian. Three explosions outside the school entrance struck as students were leaving for the day, he said. The blasts occurred in a mostly Shiite neighborhood in the west of the capital.

China says most rocket debris burned up during reentry (AP) China’s space agency said a core segment of its biggest rocket reentered Earth’s atmosphere above the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and that most of it burned up early Sunday. Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, who tracked the tumbling rocket part, said on Twitter, “An ocean reentry was always statistically the most likely. It appears China won its gamble.” People in Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia reported sightings of the Chinese rocket debris on social media, with scores of users posting footage of the debris piercing the early dawn skies over the Middle East.

Palestinians fear loss of family homes as evictions loom (AP) When Samira Dajani’s family moved into their first real home in 1956 after years as refugees, her father planted trees in the garden, naming them for each of his six children. Today, two towering pines named for Mousa and Daoud stand watch over the entrance to the garden where they all played as children. She and her husband, empty nesters with grown children of their own, may have to leave it all behind on Aug. 1. That’s when Israel is set to forcibly evict them following a decades-long legal battle waged by ideological Jewish settlers against them and their neighbors. The Dajanis are one of several Palestinian families facing imminent eviction in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem. It also highlights an array of discriminatory polices that rights groups say are aimed at pushing Palestinians out of Jerusalem to preserve its Jewish majority. The Israeli rights group B’Tselem and the New York-based Human Rights Watch both pointed to such policies as an example of what they say has become an apartheid regime. Settler groups say the land was owned by Jews prior to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. Israeli law allows Jews to reclaim such lands but bars Palestinians from recovering property they lost in the same war, even if they still reside in areas controlled by Israel. Israeli rights groups say other families are also vulnerable, estimating that more than 1,000 Palestinians are at risk of being evicted.

[loudlytransparenttrash]

This Week Within Our Colleges: Part 5

A University of Chicago student organization was pressured into changing the topic for an upcoming debate because some considered it to be “colonialism apologia.” The debate, hosted by the elite school’s “Political Union,” was initially set to ask if “the British Empire was a force for good,” but student outcry merely over the title of the debate eventually resulted in the name-change. “What is wrong with you people?” one student wrote on the group’s Facebook page, with another questioning why “you motherfuckers needed plenty of critical messages to see that ‘was the British Empire a force for good’ is deeply problematic? How many white people are in this RSO?” The organization changed the question of the debate to whether Britain should be forced to “pay reparations to its former colonies,” and apologizing for the way it had initially framed the conversation.

A black University of Pennsylvania student recently declared that his semester at the Ivy League institution was “traumatic” because he had three white professors who refused to acknowledge their white privilege. “Last semester was honestly the worst semester I’ve had at Penn so far. And all because of one thing: the white professors I’ve had at Penn. It appears that the term ‘privilege’ does not apply to them. Nor do they care to learn what it is.” Student James Fisher wrote. "My professor wanted to protect the voices of the white students who benefit from black oppression, the oppression unfortunately continued. It even led to me mentally breaking down in the classroom. With different emotions going through my head from not only this class but from the Trump election, I did not want to step foot into another white space until I made sure that my mental health was restored. The truth is, you as a single person cannot make up for the horrific things that white people have done to us throughout human history. But that does not mean that you do not have the power to stop yourself from oppressing the students that you teach every day.

American University is blocking whites from a cafe designated as a ‘sanctuary’ for nonwhites. As reported in my earlier posts, after black student activists issued a demand list to American University, the administration caved in and agreed to obey. One of the demands was a ban on white students using a new student lounge for the rest of the spring semester. The activists said they would take over the space as their own “sanctuary” and also demanded that all nonwhite students received extensions. They also asked incoming President Sylvia Burwell, to show how she will enforce “no tolerance for anyone creating a hostile environment for students of color” and punish such people.

A shocking new video shows a Western Washington University student screaming for at least two-minutes straight after seeing a Donald Trump sign on campus. The unknown student reacted to a street preacher’s pro-Trump sign by spiraling into a bizarre frenzy, at some points even splattering paint on the ground. Whether it was an attempt at an artistic protest or not, the fact remains: the bitch is bonkers. 

The University of California, Irvine’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter once again disrupted and shut down a pro-Israel event, shouting “fuck you” at attendees. The SJP overtook a Students Supporting Israel event featuring Israeli veterans who are touring college campuses to share their firsthand experiences from on the ground. “You people are colonizers or occupiers and you should not be allowed on this fucking campus” they screamed and called Israelis “genocidal.” This is the same group that shut down a film-screening hosted by a Jewish student group on campus last year and as reported earlier, they have also been drinking cups of saltwater to show their solidarity with Palestine terrorists currently being detained in Israel. Nobody ever dares to question the vicious antisemitism inflicted by these students on campuses across the U.S and no one bats an eye when they refuse to condemn Hamas, because they are being funded by this terrorist organization who are hellbent on wiping out every last Jew. No one cares because they’re Muslim and saying anything would be Islamophobia. 

A University of Hawaii professor recently claimed that universities should “stop hiring white cis men” until “the problem goes away.” Mathematics professor Piper Harron never gets around to specifying which "problem" would be solved by culling cis white males from academia, but insists that "real solutions require women of color and trans women." Piper Harron suggests, members of the “white cis” demographic should, “as a first step,” resign from their “hiring committee, their curriculum committee, and make sure they’re replaced by a woman of color or trans person.” “Having white cis women run the world is no kind of solution either,” she declares, pointing to the fact 53 percent of white women voted for Donald Trump. “Stop hiring white cis men (except as needed to get/retain people who are not white cis men) until the problem goes away,” she instructs university officials, adding accusatorially that “if you think this is a bad or un-serious idea, your sexism/racism/transphobia is showing.”

Black professors congratulate graduates who heckled Ed. Secretary Betsy DeVos at commencement. Over 200 black professors have signed a “love letter” to the Bethune-Cookman University graduates who booed DeVos during her commencement speech at the school last week. As mentioned in the last post, one professor alleged DeVos is representative of “white power.” The letter reads: “The world watched you protest the speaker you never should have had. We cheered as we saw so many of you refuse to acquiesce in the face of threats. Your actions fit within a long tradition of Black people fighting back against those who attack our very lives with their anti-Black policies and anglo-normative practices.” 

At least DeVos got to talk even though she was still booed and heckled. Texas Southern University withdrew an invitation to Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas to address its graduating students. The university disinvited Cornyn because it wanted students to remember their commencement “positively for years to come,” and that couldn’t happen if a white conservative politician was their speaker. The petition to have Cornyn banned from talking cites his vote in favor of requiring photo ID in federal elections and against continuing federal funding for sanctuary cities who refuse to carry out the law against illegal immigrants. Oddly, it also cites Cornyn’s 2006 vote for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, at a time when same-sex marriage was far more popular with whites than blacks. Then-Sen. Barack Obama opposed same-sex marriage in 2006 as well, and didn’t officially change his position for another six years but hey, only white people can do bad things.

Minority students at the University of Michigan have expressed feeling intimidated by the interior wood paneling found throughout the historic Michigan Union building. Anna Wibbelman, former president of an organization that voices student concerns about university development, stated that “minority students felt marginalized by quiet, imposing masculine paneling” found throughout the 100-year-old building that is set to undergo a massive, $85.2 million renovation project.

A student group at the University of Washington held a teach-in Tuesday to promulgate the notion that America’s “food system is built on racism.” “It is a fact that today inmates, predominantly black Americans, harvest a lot of the food that we eat for less than $.50/hr,” the group explains. Let me get this straight, they want their rapists, pedophiles, wife beaters and murderers inside of prison, but once they’re there, they also want them to be paid and treated under the same conditions as law abiding citizens and if we don’t, it’s racism? 

A Bethel University student issued an apology for wearing a Chicago Blackhawks sweatshirt to class after he was told the clothing was “offensive and hurtful.” The controversy unfolded during a class called “Social Perspectives, Human Worth and Social Action,” which delves into themes of culture, power and oppression in America, according to its online description. Student Cody Albrecht, who is from Chicago, came to the class wearing his home team’s apparel, then offered to turn it inside out “after becoming aware of the unease in his classroom because of his sweatshirt.” A week after he wore the sports apparel and after a “reconciliation” with the head of the Social Work department, his teacher and the whole class, Albrecht issued a formal apology.

Black students at the University of California, Los Angeles are demanding $40 million and their own “safe spaces” on campus as compensation for racially insensitive incidents. “Black students at UCLA are consistently made the targets of racist attacks by fellow students, faculty, and administration,” the Afrikan Student Union (ASU) begins. The first item on the list calls for “a physical location on campus to house the Afrikan Student Union Projects,” which would include “meeting/gathering/safe spaces” and be staffed by a director and an office manager who would be responsible for distributing funds allocated to the ASU. In addition, the ASU ultimatum demands a $40 million “endowment” to fund “a comprehensive effort to address the underrepresentation of African-American students, faculty, and staff at our university,” adding that the endowment should also provide financial aid to “dismissed black students.” The list goes on to ask that UCLA “deliver an anti-discrimination policy that assuages discriminatory and offensive behavior,” specifically “culturally insensitive” behavior, in conjunction with implementing mandatory “Cultural Awareness training” for all incoming students, faculty and staff members, and campus police officers. Finally, the ASU is insisting that UCLA provide “guaranteed housing for black students for 4 years, including on- and off-campus housing,” arguing that securing housing is especially difficult for black students due to factors such as “low socio-economic status and difficulties remaining financially stable amidst the rising living costs in Westwood.”

[giftofshewbread]

Fulfilling God’s Word

: By Daymond Duck 

Published on: May 10, 2020

One, I want to start by offering my opinion on something.

It is my opinion that the U.S. will be part of the North American Union (NAU; now called the USMCA; the NAFTA replacement agreement that is now scheduled to go into effect on July 1, 2020).

This will make the U.S. one of several regional groups of nations, each region will ultimately have a leader, there will eventually be 10 regions and leaders, and the 10 leaders will ultimately be known as the Ten Kings and dominated by the EU.

There seems to be no question that the U.S. is becoming morally and economically weaker, and the Rapture will weaken the U.S. more.

A weaker U.S. is making the Battle of Gog and Magog more likely, and it could hasten the rise of the Ten Kings, the EU and the Antichrist.

Two, my last article said, “on Apr. 22, 2020, it was reported that 19 members of the G-20 held a virtual meeting and called for a document to be signed to strengthen the WHO and put it in charge of a coordinated worldwide response to the Coronavirus Crisis.”

We can be thankful that Pres. Trump did not sign the document, but if he had signed it, the WHO would already have the power to identify, mark and track everyone on earth (see Rev. 13:15-17).

The group plans to hold another meeting on May 4, 2020; and this is so important, I want to go back to it.

The WHO wants the G-20 to empower it to force everyone on earth to be identified, vaccinated and tattooed (Marked), and they want to deny those that refuse to be vaccinated the right to leave their house, hold a job, buy, sell, etc.

Church leaders should oppose political leaders giving permission to the WHO to decide whether Church members can leave their houses, meet and worship or not.

Following guidelines that come down from the WHO is how some officials justify telling churches what to do, arresting pastors, fining Christians that do not obey, etc.

The WHO issues a guideline, politicians and the media say we must listen to these “scientists and go by their data,” and they try to force Christians to submit without giving Christians a voice in the matter.

Why should Christians submit to leaders that are ignoring the Church and obeying unbelievers in the WHO?

How can U.S. citizens even consider turning control of their healthcare and freedom of religion over to foreigners in the UN?

Gates’ dad headed up Planned Parenthood, and Gates holds many of his dad’s beliefs.

I don’t know what will be in Gates’ vaccine, but there have been lots of reports that some vaccines use aborted fetal parts.

“If the blind lead the blind, they will both fall into the ditch” (Matt. 15:14).

Three, on Apr. 28, 2020, it was reported that thermal imaging cameras are already being installed at some businesses.

People with a temperature above 100.4 degrees will be asked to leave.

Several years ago, it was reported that scanners would be placed in front of the entrance to stores during the Tribulation Period, and the store doors will not open for people that do not have the Mark.

Four, on Apr. 30, 2020, it was reported that Knox County, TN, officials released their Phase One plan for reopening places of worship, and they suggested:

That churches do not serve communion because of social distancing.

That churches discourage singing because singers could expel more virus.

That churches use a donation box, if possible, instead of collection plates.

That attendees wear a face mask.

That everyone be treated like they have the virus.

That there be no activities other than worship in Phase One.

That seats be marked off to guarantee 6 feet of separation.

That people maintain social distancing when entering and leaving.

That churches be sanitized between services.

Five, On April 30, 2020, it was reported that Bill Gates said people could start being vaccinated with his Coronavirus vaccine as soon as 12 months from now, and he should be able to produce billions of doses by late 2021.

As I have said before, the vaccine and tattoo (Mark) that Gates and the WHO are working on are not the Mark of the Beast, but a vaccine with a global ID number and a mandatory, trackable tattoo under the skin is a major step toward the Mark of the Beast (and a major sign that the Rapture is close).

It is important to realize that the Mark of the Beast is the mark, name or number of the Antichrist (Rev. 13:17); he is the son of perdition; he is being restrained by the Holy Spirit; he will come according to the working of Satan (II Thess. 2:3, 6-7, 9); he will come out of the bottomless pit (Rev. 11:7); he will blaspheme God (Rev. 13:6); and he will behead people that refuse to take his mark (Rev. 20:4).

This does not mean that Gates is the Antichrist, but it does mean that Gates’ goal is a stark reminder that Satan’s Antichrist is coming.

Six, on Apr. 29, 2020, it was reported that Pres. Trump has launched a program called “Operation Warp Speed” and given it the task of trying to produce 300 million doses of vaccine by the end of 2020.

Pharmaceutical companies, researchers, government agencies and the U.S. military have been asked to work together at U.S. government expense to rapidly identify, test and produce the most promising vaccines.

This could be an answer to prayer, but Fauci is involved; and if it requires a global ID number and a mandatory, trackable tattoo (Mark), it could become a curse to those that are left behind.

Seven, on Apr. 30, 2020, Bill Gates wrote, “I know it’ll (vaccinating everyone on earth) get done. There’s simply no alternative” (notice no alternative).

Eight, on May 1, 2020, Pres. Trump issued an emergency use authorization for the experimental drug remdesivir and, to his credit, Fauci said, “it has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time of recovery,” but he called it a “first step.”

Nine, on Apr. 29, 2020, it was reported that the UN International Labour Organization (ILO) said there are 3.3 billion workers on earth, and almost half (1.6 billion) are in immediate danger of losing their jobs.

If this problem is not solved, it will result in the kind of economic collapse, malnutrition, pestilence and death described in the Bible (Rev. 6:5-8).

Ten, earlier this year, the Jewish Sanhedrin applied for a permit to sacrifice a lamb on the Temple Mount on Passover.

The government turned them down in anticipation of Muslim violence.

Currently, Jews and Muslims are not allowed on the Temple Mount because of the Coronavirus lockdown.

So, the Jewish Sanhedrin has requested government permission to sacrifice a lamb on the Temple Mount on May 7, 2020.

The Torah (first 5 books of Bible) allows those that could not sacrifice a lamb on Passover to make it up one month later (Num. 9:10-11).

What the government will do remains to be seen.

Eleven, the Arab League held an urgent video meeting on Apr. 30, 2020, and condemned Israel for planning to annex part of Judea and Samaria.

Palestinian leaders said Israeli annexation of any part of Judea and Samaria will end the Two-State solution.

Israel has been warned not to annex any territory by leaders of several EU nations, but as of now, Netanyahu plans to submit his annexation request to the Israeli Knesset on July 1, 2020. (The U.S. appears ready to recognize what Israel does.)

Twelve, on May 2, 2020, it was reported that 28 meat processing plants are now shutdown in the U.S., and Kroger said there will be shortages at some stores.

In the Bible, God warned everyone that world government is a bad thing.

It is now obvious that globalist policies will fulfill God’s Word; destroy the world’s economy; create global unrest; and impoverish, starve, and enslave multitudes on earth.

[nataliesnews]

Daphne Banai 8/1-/2019

If you read nothing else I sent you please read this how two 70 year old women were attacked by settlers with soldiers looking on

And then they were arrested as a result of two soldiers reporting that they had tried to ride them over on a narrow country road when they were trying to turn around. If this is the way they treat Jewish women, if this is the way they make up evidence against does this not make you wonder?

> Subject: [machsomwatch] Palestinian Jordan Valley , 4.10.19, Nurit Popper (photo) and daphne Banai

                                                                                                                                               nat

The Culture of Lies

4.10.19 , Daphne Banai and Nurit Popper. Photos by Nurit Popper

“Old hags”, “Bitches”, “You’re not Jews!” The driver of the cement mixer truck got out of his vehicle, leaned into my car window and screamed, spraying me with his spittle, his eyes bulging – because two leftist ladies were in his way up a hill where he was paving an illegal road that would lead to a new illegal settler-colonist-outpost. This was an argument over who would make way for whom, becoming more and more menacing. We hurried to lock our doors and windows and make way for him. He was having a mad fit and we feared for our lives.

About half an hour later we were sitting in our car, two women well past their 70th birthday, on a narrow track in the Palestinian Jordan Valley, surrounded by 5-8 zany Jewish settler-colonists and 4 armed soldiers headed by captain Rubin.  Ahead of us we were blocked by the said cement mixer truck. All of this because we, activists in the Palestinian Jordan Valley came to document how the settlers were pacing an illegal road to an outpost – illegal even according to the laws of the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian territories, and no one was stopping it.

One of settler brought a large water bottle and poured its contents over our heads inside our car. The soldiers and their commander did nothing.

The officer declared the place a “closed military zone” and ordered us to leave. An argument ensued about the legality of this order and its selectiveness, since the settlers and the cement mixer driver were not ordered to leave, and that the officer and his subordinates were aiding and abetting the settlers in their obviously illegal action of paving an illegal road to a settler-colony which the courts have issued a stop-construction ordinance.

The argument drove this officer mad, so he produced the ultimate zany trick: “You tried to run me over!” he cried, while I was carefully maneuvering on the narrow track trying to get away. I shall not go into detail since you are all aware of how fictitious this accusation was. Immediately, more forces arrived with a higher-ranking officer, their weapons at the ready. We were now surrounded by 5-8 settler-colonists, one violent cement mixer truck driver, and about 10 soldiers/officers in 4 army jeeps. We were taken to the Ariel colony police station, detained for about 5 hours, the officer lodged a complaint against us (which developed during his hour of driving to the police station and became “injuring the knee of an Israeli army officer performing his duty” and supported by the soldier who came with him – word for word, and obviously they had memorized the text well…)

We were amazed how easily the soldiers invented a fictive story and how fine they felt about it. This is already automatic: every hurdle, any unpleasant situation is bypassed by simply lying. A culture of deception.

We were interrogated by a matter-of-fact police investigator who was not really impressed with the soldiers’ story, and we immediately lodged a counter-complaint against the army officer about lying, false complaint and lack of protection from violence, as well as violence and threats by the settler-colonists and the cement mixer truck driver. We were let off on bail and ordered to stay away from the area. We shall probably carry on with our lives as usual, in spite of our harsh experience.

On the other hand –

On September 3, 2019, Palestinians were with their herds at pasture near their own community in the Al Auja area. 5 Jewish settler-colonists arrived, followed by others, threatened the shepherds and attacked them. The frightened shepherds called up Israeli activists who hurried to call the army and police. When the army arrived, it arrested… no, not the Jewish assailants but the Palestinian shepherds. Naturally. The claim at first was that the Palestinians were stealing sheep, and then it was replaced by accusing them of throwing stones. The attacked Palestinians spent  13 days in custody after having called the police to protect them. Their arrest was under harsh conditions, until released at a high-priced bail.

Ever since our arrest I cannot help thinking about the culture of lying that has sprouted so well in our society. For days now I cannot help comparing the two events and many others. 15 years ago, already, I was witness at the checkpoints in the West Bank to dozens of cases of soldiers testifying – without batting an eyelash – that a Palestinian who no more than giggled, or said something they didn’t like, or didn’t produce his ID fast enough, or wasn’t servile enough, was accused of “bypassing” the checkpoint, or trying to attack soldiers, or actively injuring them, or throwing stones, or lying or whatever came to mind…I Saw it all with my own eyes! And every single time I was amazed at how easily these lies slip out of their mouths, lies for which the Palestinian inevitably pays a terrible price.

That unlimited power to do whatever they feel like –to people, to children, to the elderly – destroys the soul of these 18-year olds and encourages them to lie. For who would doubt the claim of a Jewish soldier that a Palestinian, one of those people who are known to be all liars by birth, had raised a hand to hit him? And even if that poor indigenous would swear by the lives of his mother and sister, and even if all eye-witnesses would testify that this never took place, after all – “Palestinians are born liars”…

And this should rock the land, shake us to the core and keep us awake at night for these soldiers are our children, and this is what we raise them to be. This culture of lying infiltrates the State and grows roots and spawns and is found everywhere, even at the highest echelons, so how can we raise an eyebrow when half our city mayors and prime ministers are all ill with this very same illness.

Because that is precisely where it comes from – that unharnessed power of rule over subjects who have no rights and no defense.

__._,_.___

Daphne Banai 8/1-/2019

 .

__,_._,___

[republicstandard]

Israel - Gaza Conflict Causes Political Storm in the Holy Land

It’s been a busy few months on the Israeli-Gaza border, with repeated attempts by the Palestinians to break into Israeli territory, and Hamas also increasingly using so-called ‘terror balloons’ (small explosives attached to balloons) to launch minor attacks on Israeli border outposts, in order to provoke a reaction. We’ve all seen the footage of Israeli Troops gunning down Palestinians recently, which only serves to up the tension.

Then a few days ago, Israeli Special Forces launched a covert commando raid into the Gaza strip itself, with some claiming that the objective was to take out a top Hamas commander. Whatever the aim, the operation ran into difficulty and an Israeli Lieutenant Colonel was killed in action, with one of his men being wounded.

(function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:10817585113717094,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-7788-6480"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="//cdn2.lockerdomecdn.com/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");

The next day Hamas began its biggest rocket offensive ever, launching over 300 rockets at Israel with a bus and several homes reportedly being hit. Israel responded with both air and naval power, hitting strategic areas in the Gaza strip. It is believed that over 100 targets were hit by the Israelis, including Hamas’s own Al-Aqsa television network headquarters. Israel’s security cabinet has two ‘ceasefire contacts’, which they rely on for negotiations during periods of conflict with the Palestinians. The ceasefire contacts are the United Nations and Egypt. Whilst the UN is heavily involved on the ground in the Gaza Strip, Egypt takes a more distant role, and is actually helping Israel in blockading Gaza. Cairo has over the last few years been fighting a war against Islamists in the Sinai Peninsular, with many of those Islamists receiving shelter and training in Gaza.

The infamous Iron Dome system built and deployed by Israel intercepted and destroyed most of the rockets before they reached their intended targets, but some got through. Hamas had threatened to use long-range rockets in the future if necessary, with such projectiles possibly reaching over the 40KM mark.

The key calculation the Israeli government makes in these situations is how many military objectives they can possibly accomplish before their economy takes too much of a toll to carry on. This is usually around 2-4 weeks and gives Benjamin Netanyahu more than enough time to damage Hamas and keep them from fighting another war for at least another 3 years. What’s certain is that Hamas has developed a more confident mentality over the last 6 months, and seems intent on causing maximum impact. But at the same time, it is not stupid enough to risk being toppled from power, or causing so much chaos in the region that it loses favor with its regional allies.

This is why it agreed to a temporary ceasefire on Tuesday, something which went down well in the battered Gaza Strip. However, it did not go down so well in Israel where border communities went out into the streets and blocked roads. From their perspective, they are fed up with continuous rocket attacks; and they want a final, great conflict to end any threat from the Gaza Strip. Indeed Israel is so nationalistic that students refused to attend high school in protest over what they saw as their government’s weakness.

This discontent escalated over the proceeding night and into the following morning and caused political ramifications that few had foreseen. Avigdor Liberman, the Israeli Defence Minister, resigned in protest over the ceasefire on Wednesday, and called it a ‘surrender to terror’. Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife are already under investigation by the authorities, and any political instability makes it a possibility that he will be toppled from power. Having said that, Netanyahu held firm immediately after his colleague’s resignation and hinted that not only would he stay as Prime Minister, but that he would also take Liberman’s job as Defence Minister. This is hilariously mad, for the simple reason that he is already Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Health Minister and Immigrant Absorption Minister. On top of that, he is also a member of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) and is the head of the Likud Party. Very Machiavellian indeed!

(function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:10817587730962790,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-5979-7226"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="//cdn2.lockerdomecdn.com/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");

In a further plot twist it was reported that MBS (Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman) tried to persuade Netanyahu to instigate a conflict with Gaza in order to distract attention away from the infamous Khashoggi murder. It may seem counter-intuitive that a Muslim nation like Saudi Arabia would be so close to the Jewish state of Israel, but they are both sworn enemies of Iran, and their intelligence agencies are joined at the hip.

Perhaps it is not surprising to somebody familiar with the Jewish question that the Tribe’s own nation can experience so much turmoil in just a few days, but it is interesting nonetheless.

from Republic Standard | Conservative Thought & Culture Magazine https://ift.tt/2EtZoLL via IFTTT

[arirusilasconflicts]

The Causes of Israel’s Zionist Left Decline?

The Israel leftist movement has been in decline some four decades and especially since 2001. BESA center has recently publishe two pespective papers (by Gershon Hacohen in BESA and by Shmuel Sandler in BESA)which try to describe reasons for this decline.

Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen claims that spatial separation between Israelis and Palestinians - “they are there and we are here.” - as the main position of Left has been disastrous. Prof. Shmuel Sandler (emeritus) claims that the two-state framework has long been the preferred international, as well Labor party, solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, however, opting for that solution have been punished at the polls.

Zionist Left

The Israeli Labor Party is a social democratic and Zionist political party in Israel. It was was established in 1968 by a merger of leftist Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi parties. Since Israel independence 1948 all Israeli Prime Ministers were affiliated with the Labor movement and during the 1970s, the welfare state was expanded under successive Labor governments; but, despite its achievements, in the 1977 elections, Labor for the first time ended up in opposition.

In 1977-96, Labor was headed by two leaders: Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin. Labor won two elections during that period: in 1984 and in 1992. In none of the elections from 1977 through 1992 did Labor accept the PLO leadership as a partner in a peace process between the Jewish state and the Arab states; in stead the perceived partner was the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Future borders between Israel and its eastern partner were drawn according to the Allon Plan, which envisioned Israeli control over the Jordan Valley and strategic territories scarcely inhabited by Palestinians. The position of Labor changed after Oslo accords and Labor accepted the concept of a Palestinian state and Ramallah replaced Amman as the future partner.

Especially since 2001 the Israel leftist movement has been in decline, at least in elections. Following the October 2000 riots and the violence of the al-Aqsa Intifada, Ehud Barak (PM/Labor) resigned from office. He then lost a special election for Prime Minister to Likud's Ariel Sharon. However, Labor remained in Sharon's coalition as he formed a national unity government with Likud, Labor, Shas, Yisrael BaAliyah and United Torah Judaism, and were given two of the most important cabinet portfolios; Peres was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and Benjamin Ben-Eliezer was made Defense Minister. Labor supported Operation Defensive Shield, which was conducted in April 2002 against Palestinians in the West Bank. After harsh criticism that Peres and Ben-Elizer were "puppets" of Sharon and not promoting the peace process, Labor quit the government in 2003.

Prior to the 2003 elections, Amram Mitzna won the party primaries, and led the party into the election with a platform that included unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The party was routed in the elections, winning only 19 seats (its lowest ever), whilst Sharon's Likud won 38 (40 after Yisrael BaAliyah merged into the party). Subsequently, due to internal opposition, Mitzna resigned from the party leadership, and soon afterwards was replaced by Shimon Peres. Despite being omitted from the original right-wing coalition, Sharon invited Labor into the coalition to shore up support for the disengagement plan.

Before the last elections in 2014 Labor, headed by Yitzhak Herzog, and Hatnuah (the Movement party), headed by former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, formed new list – Zionist Union - but this could not to make comeback to power. Following the exit of MK Yitzchak Herzog from the Knesset, to become the chairman of the Jewish Agency, Tzipi Livni replaced Herzog as the new head of the opposition but new Labor leader Avi Gabai would continue to be the Zionist Union’s candidate for Prime Minister.

Spatial separation

Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen claims that ever since Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000, it has been axiomatic among Israeli decision-makers that spatial separation between Israelis and Palestinians is a vital Israeli interest, even if not accompanied by a peace agreement. In line with this thinking, Israelis have been repeatedly promised that the implementation of spatial separation, including the removal of Jews from these territories and the construction of a security fence, would reduce daily friction and create a safer and more stable security situation.

Mr Hacohen asks where a more workable security situation has developed Is it in Gaza after the unilateral disengagement thirteen years ago where complete separation has been effected, or in the West Bank, where Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s vision of partial separation prevails?

Mr Hacohen claims that since Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, the Israeli security forces have been conducting regular counterterrorism activities throughout the West Bank as a matter of course. Generally authorized by the Central Command and the Shin Bet without the need for the approval of the political echelons, this routine activity has given the security forces freedom of action and operational flexibility, which, together with other factors, has ensured relative calm and stability in the West Bank. However in stark contrast, the total spatial separation between Gaza and Israel as of the summer 2005 disengagement has denied the IDF freedom of action beyond the border fence. Not that the IDF’s overall capabilities have been reduced, but by transforming the Strip into an ineradicable terror entity that can exact a heavy price from invading Israeli forces, Hamas has succeeded in placing a strategic “price tag” on a wide range of activities short of overall confrontation. It is no secret that the balance of costs, risks, and opportunities that accompanies the decision to act in Gaza has become infinitely more complex since the disengagement.

[caption id="attachment_4769" align="alignright" width="193"]

No separation = One-State solution[/caption]

I addition the border fence enables Hamas to grow stronger and to organize safely under its protective wing. Hamas has managed to build a regular military force comprising battalions and brigades, armed with a large below-ground rocket/missile arsenal and supported by an effective command and control system. None of this would be possible without the full realization of the Israeli leftwing concept of “they are there and we are here.”

Two-state framework as cause of Israel’s Zionist Left Decline

The low standings of the Zionist Camp list, formed before the last elections in 2014 by Labor, headed by Yitzhak Herzog, and the Movement party, headed by former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, floated a new demand for change at the top. According Shmuel Sandler the Labor party is thus once again challenging its newly elected chairman, Avi Gabai. But if Labor leaders want their party to become a real contender for the office of Prime Minister and an alternative to Likud rule, they should replace their partner for a durable solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict rather than replace their own leaders.

Labor has replaced eight chairpersons in the past twenty years. According Shmuel Sandler the leadership of Labor refuses to recognize is that its main problem is not who leads the party but its identification with the failed Oslo process, which installed the PLO leadership in Ramallah and Gaza (before its loss to Hamas in 2007). A short analysis of the 40 years since Labor’s defeat in 1977 after having ruled Israel since its inception – a turning point in Israel’s political history – shows that the problem is not one of leadership but of political identity. Because it is identified with Ramallah’s behavior and demands in any future settlement, Labor has suffered repeated electoral punishment.

New Leftist approach

Throughout two decades of the Israeli-Palestinian “peace process,” direct negotiation has been perceived as the only paradigm that can lead to an agreement “Two-State solution as its final aim. The failure to reach an agreement has given excuses to the rejectionists and extremists on both sides, allowing them to blame the other party for failure to progress, and destroying the belief within the respective societies that an agreement is possible in the foreseeable future.

Israel’s Left as well sc international community and Arab League have supported Two-Sate solution  The final status agreement has been very close at least since Beilin-Abu Mazen understandings/agreement/plan (1995) where nearly all issues were agreed. The Olmert proposal (2008) was probably the last serious try. (both plans can be found from my document library ) The parameters of the end-game have been clear the whole time but despite of a number of negotiations the final agreement is missing.

[caption id="attachment_4554" align="alignleft" width="198"]

One provocative view to issue[/caption]

Both analysts – Hacohen and Sandler – claim that Two-State and spatial separation between Israelis and Palestinians as the main position of Left are the causes of Israel’s Zionist Left decline. My conclusion differs from theirs. From my point of view the new Leftist approach has wide support in Israeli political map besides in Center-Left also in Center and Center Right which support makes its implementing realistic in future. In addition already partly implemented spatial separation with help of security barrier has decreased dramatically suicide bombings from West Bank. Sure behind the border Hamas can build more easily its military capabilities than in West Bank as Hacohen says but as seen during “Great Return March” campaign from April 2018 the IDF (Israel Army) has effective countermeasures and civilians mostly could continue their civilian routines. In West Bank situation is worse as the security barrier and spatial separation are not so ready than with Gaza.  

I agree with Sandler that the political identity of Israel’s Left is has been connected with Two-State solution, however not anymore identified with Ramallah’s behavior, as Sandler claims, nor with traditional roadmap of peace process. It is clear that to solve Israel-Palestine conflict a new approach to the peace process is needed; and recently Israel’s Left has done exactly that.

Spatial separation and constructive unilateralism

Already 2012 then Defense Minister Ehud Barak, leader of the Labor Party until January 2011, said that Israel should consider imposing the borders of a future Palestinian state, becoming the most senior government official to suggest bypassing a stagnant peace process.

Leader of the Israeli opposition – and Labor/Zionist Union - Isaac Herzog has proposed to divide the land between the Israelis and Palestinians. Following a quote from interview of Isaac Herzog in Fathom :

I speak in a very frank and open manner. I believe that Israel must move for peace. We must move towards the division of the land between the Palestinians and us in order to maintain the future of Israel as a Jewish democratic state... If we reach an agreement to separate from the Palestinians, this will be a victory for Zionism.

According Omer Bar-Lev - MK for the Zionist Union - Israel must give equal rights to all human beings living in the borders of the country. To keep the Zionist vision alive, Bar-Lev proposes that Israel has to separate from the Palestinians. His conclusion:

If Israel wants to be a democratic state, which it does, then it has to either grant them full citizenship rights, which will subsequently destroy Zionism (one state for two nations) or separate from the Palestinians (two states for two nations). In that case, Israel can keep the Zionist spirit. Then, it is for the Palestinians to decide to create their Palestinian State, which is in their interests and they will make their own decisions.

Bar-Lev calls his program as ‘it’s in our hands.’ According him to achieve separation,

the best way to do it is through an agreement with the Palestinians, for sure... However, the probability of both sides, simultaneously, producing leaders who can make that strategic decision, and that strategic compromise, is very low. Israel cannot put its future in the hands of the other side. If we had a partner, then great, we should make an agreement and move forward and sign a two-state solution. However, even if the other side is not prepared to do so, Israel has a lot of steps it can take to begin the separation from the Palestinians.

The plan titled “It’s in Our Hands,” by Omer Bar-Lev calls for Israel to unilaterally define its own borders to ensure its security, would keep control of all of Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley and bequeath about 60 percent of the West Bank to the Palestinians, evacuating 35,000 Jewish settlers — less than 10 percent of the total. This plan might be provocative but for me it seems to be realistic tactic towards two-state solution.

[caption id="attachment_5516" align="aligncenter" width="450"]

Spatial separation with Jordanian and Sinai options[/caption]

An Israeli NGO Blue White Future,(“BWF”) is a non-partisan political movement founded in 2009 and seeks to help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of a “two states for two peoples” solution by facilitating the relocation of settlers so that all Israel’s citizens reside within secure permanent borders that guarantee a Jewish majority. According BWF  a constructive unilateral move is a move by either party that helps to further the achievement of two states, and is in line with the two-state vision as described in the many blueprint proposals for a two state solution. A constructive unilateral move will not become an obstacle once the parties resume negotiations.

Israel should prepare for a reality of two states  for two people, most notably by declaring that it does not have claims of sovereignty over most of the occupied territories, and by planning and acting accordingly, including preparing for the relocation of settlers residing east of the separation barrier to Israel proper. Specifically, its policy should include the following components:

• Israel should consistently strive for a permanent agreement according to the principles of the Clinton parameters and other like-minded proposals, while pursuing an unconditional track, independent of any progress that may take place through negotiations.

• Israel should refrain from building new settlements and from expanding existing settlements east of the separation barrier and in Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. Construction could continue in the settlement blocs and in the Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem.

• Israel should enact a law that allows for voluntary evacuation, compensation and eventual absorption of settlers presently residing on the eastern side of the security barrier, to encourage settlers who wish to relocate within the green line or within settlement blocs, regardless of whether an agreement with the Palestinians is concluded.

• Israel should prepare a national plan for the absorption of the settlers who would relocate to Israel proper, whether before or after an agreement is signed. Such a plan should have urban, vocational, social, psychological and other appropriate components.

My conclusion

From my perspective both Israeli Leftist initiatives – ‘it’s in our hands’ by Omer Bar-Lev and ‘Constructive unilateralism’ by Blue White Future – are steps forward and in my opinion also to the right direction – especially as the prevailing Israel’s Right-wing policy in my opinion is keeping due security reasons discriminating status quo in West Bank and leading towards “de facto” undemocratic “One-State” option, which would destroy Israel as ‘Jewish homeland’. This new Leftist approach can gain more ground in near future as today there is a trend to make regional solution in cooperation between US, Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia as Palestinian Authority will be bystander if needed. Related to Gaza there is a good possibility to make at least a ‘Cold Peace Solution’ with Hamas and at best long term development plan by implementing sc Sinai Option with Egypt.

So what are the causes of Israel’s Zionist Left decline if not the ideas of spatial separation or previous identification to old “Two-States” solution? Honestly I don’t know, but I would seek the answer from wider trend e.g. in Europe where the Left-wing parties have lost elections decades after the basics of Western well-fare societies were built in -70’s mainly by them. Last decades the voters have also found more response to their needs from populist movements who are giving simple answers to practical issues – Israel, especially inside security barrier the West Bank scenarios are secondary questions. In Israel it is clear that the increasing population between pre-67 green line and Jordan river opposes with Right-wing parties “Two-State” solution with pre-67 lines, in my opinion Israel’s Zionist Left should clarify its new Leftist approach to peace process and what it means to awerage population in Israel.

My related articles:

Constructive Unilateralism: Leftist Approach to Israel-Palestine Conflict

Herzog’s Plan: Security Barrier Around the Major Settlement Blocs of West Bank

Analysis: Resolving The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

[democratsunited-blog]

National security expert leads the charge to keep Jews voting Democratic

https://uniteddemocrats.net/?p=3854

National security expert leads the charge to keep Jews voting Democratic

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Halie Soifer says her transition from national security expert to political operative started with a crisis of violence: the deadly neo-Nazi march last summer in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Soifer says the march, which culminated in a car-ramming attack on counter-protesters that killed one and injured at least 20, spurred the establishment of the organization she now leads as executive director, the Jewish Democratic Council of America.

The JDCA accelerated its launch by three months, to August, because of President Donald Trump’s equivocal response to the violence, when he said both sides — neo-Nazis and counter-protesters — were at fault and include “very fine people.”

Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

“President Trump’s outrageous handling of the tragic events in Charlottesville compelled us to speak out now,” the group’s founders said at the time. It also offered a political opportunity for Democrats.

A vehicle drives into a group of protesters demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, August 12, 2017. (Ryan M. Kelly/The Daily Progress via AP)

Soifer says that moment also launched a reexamination of her priorities, leading her to become the JDCA’s first executive director last month.

“At that moment it was very clear, unlike even past Republican administrations, this administration had no qualms about affiliating itself and even sympathizing with anti-Semites,” she said.

Soifer was at the top of her national security game: Having advised Obama administration UN Ambassador Samantha Power, she was then in the same role on the staff of Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., one of the most talked-about politicians likely to seek the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination.

US President Donald Trump speaks to the press about protests in Charlottesville on August 12, 2017, at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. (AFP/ JIM WATSON)

“I wanted to do something political,” she said in an interview with JTA last week in the offices of Bluelight Strategies, a PR firm that does work for Jewish groups and Democrats. “I wanted to help shape the composition of Congress as opposed to working for one member.”

There are other likely factors in the establishment of the JDCA, a successor to the National Jewish Democratic Council, which withered and all but disappeared after the 2014 midterm elections. Democrats traditionally garner the vast majority of the Jewish vote, but Republicans have been making inroads in recent years.

Trump, with his plainly stated biases about minorities and women, was expected drive away Jewish voters. Instead he persuaded 24 percent of Jews to vote for him, according to exit polls — commensurate with George W. Bush in 2004 and John McCain in 2008, politicians regarded with affection by Jewish organizational leaders, even those with political differences.

In 2012, the NJDC played a role in keeping Florida Democratic with a door-knocking drive in the final days of the campaign; Obama edged Mitt Romney by just under 1 percent. In 2016, Florida went for Trump, winning the state by 1.2 percent.

US Senator Kamala Harris, a Democrat from California, speaks at AIPAC’s 2017 Policy Conference at the Washington Convention Center on March 28, 2017 (screen capture)

The party and the Hillary Clinton campaign also had Jewish outreach teams in Florida and other states in 2016. It’s unlikely that a separate Jewish outreach effort would have changed much, but its absence was notable.

Soifer won’t venture a guess as to whether she thinks the NJDC absence made a difference in 2016, but acknowledges that JDCA was created “to fill a vacuum and in response to this administration.”

Soifer, not having been associated with the NJDC, said she doesn’t know why it disappeared. A number of the JDCA board members were involved with NJDC, many others were not. According to a former NJDC official, establishing a new organization was a way of attracting new blood. Another former official said a defamation lawsuit against the organization filed by Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate who is also a major funder of the GOP and pro-Israel causes, was too much of a distraction to sustain other activities. NJDC won the lawsuit.

Soifer says Trump’s presidency is propelling Jewish interest in the midterms.

“What I’ve seen is younger people, and especially women, want to get involved, many for the first time,” she said, anticipating door-knocking campaigns in swing districts with big Jewish communities as the November vote approaches.

Soifer, 39, exudes energy, speaking forcefully, in paragraphs. She headed Jewish outreach for the Obama campaign in Florida in 2008 when she was barely 30. In 2006 she was a star of sorts to Washington wonks: Her then-boss, Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., agreed to let the Sundance Channel track him and his staff for a reality show, “The Hill.”

Robert Wexler in 2012 (photo credit: Courtesy of the Middle East Institute)

Soifer was a much-watched presence on the show. She ditched a Republican boyfriend for a Democrat, then spent the series debating whether they should move in together. (They eventually married.) The Hill newspaper called her “ridiculously idealistic.” Soon after, she left Wexler’s office to obtain a master’s degree at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Middle East Studies and international economics.

She is now coupling her ideology with her organizing skills, but envisions a big tent: The JDCA announced its first eight endorsements this week and last, all moderates in the Hillary Clinton mold, but she won’t turn away the Bernie Sanders wing of the party as she seeks out more candidates to endorse.

Soifer inherits a challenge that grew in part from the 2016 campaign — and it was via Sanders, not Trump. Sanders, who is Jewish, ran an unexpectedly strong challenge against Clinton in the primaries. He was and remains more willing to criticize Israel than Democratic politicians of the past, and insists on America’s role as an “honest broker” in the region.

US Sen. Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont, responds to a question during a town hall meeting in Jackson, Mississippi, April 4, 2018. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

In January, the Pew Research Center reported that the share of Republicans who sympathize with Israel over the Palestinians is growing, while Democratic sympathy for Israel is slipping. The political action committee affiliated with J Street, the liberal Middle East policy group that is consistently critical of the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, announced last week that more than half of the Democratic caucuses in both the US House of Representatives and the Senate accepted its endorsements.

Republicans this season are not hesitating to use Israel against Democrats they find questionable. In Virginia, Leslie Cockburn is a congressional candidate in a district that Democrats hope to pick up and a former journalist who co-authored a book in 1991 lambasting the US-Israel alliance. The state’s GOP describes her as “anti-Semitic.”

Matt Brooks, who directs the Republican counterpart to the JDCA, the Republican Jewish Coalition, told JTA that J Street figures large in the challenges facing Soifer.

Matt Brooks, director of the Republican Jewish Coalition (screen capture: YouTube)

“Currently J Street is raising millions of dollars for Democrats and is seen as the dominant presence in the Democratic Party,” Brooks told JTA. “It’s going to be hard for [JDCA] to compete against them and have the kind of impact J Street is. I think one area where JDCA can make an impact and differentiate themselves is to come up with a plan and take a leadership role in working to address the troubling trend of weakening support for Israel amongst Dems as we’ve been seeing lately in all the recent polling.”

JDCA is pro-Israel, Soifer says, but she turns around questions about Democrats and Israel to focus instead on the other party.

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman in a Times of Israel interview at the US Embassy, Jerusalem, May 30, 2018 (Matty Stern, US Embassy Jerusalem

Instead she describes a divisive president and Republican Party, citing the firestorm around David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel. Democrats have accused Friedman of not inviting them to the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem last month, and he said recently that Republicans are more pro-Israel than Democrats.

“I don’t think it’s Bernie Sanders who is politicizing Israel. I have never seen a US diplomat at any embassy speak in such political terms or treat an event like the opening of the embassy in such a politicized manner,” Soifer said, referencing her years of working at the State Department.

On Twitter, Brooks welcomed her aboard.

“Congrats!!!” he wrote. “Look forward to working with you.”

Grinning, Soifer says “I don’t envision us working closely together. I hope we have a cordial relationship.”

window.fbAsyncInit = function() FB.init( appId : '123142304440875', xfbml : true, version : 'v2.8' ); FB.AppEvents.logPageView();

FB.Event.subscribe('comment.create', function (response) jQuery.ajax( type: "POST", url: "/wp-content/themes/rgb/functions/facebook.php", data: p: "1871988", c: response.commentID, a: "add" ); ); FB.Event.subscribe('comment.remove', function (response) jQuery.ajax( type: "POST", url: "/wp-content/themes/rgb/functions/facebook.php", data: p: "1871988", c: response.commentID, a: "rem" ); );

; (function(d, s, id) var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); (document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); Read full story here

[the-record-obituaries]

May 9, 2018: Columns

Elections, always interesting...

By KEN WELBORN

Record Publisher

 Being an election year, I always like to have the chance to tell the few election stories I know--or at least that can be repeated.

Several weeks ago, I was at the Wilkes Art Gallery for an exhibit opening and there was an artist from Sylva, North  Carolina, with work on display.  As we visited, the name Cagle came up and I was instantly reminded of my (somewhat misspent) youth at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, and the 1970 mid-term election.  I was helping the Jackson County Republican Party headed by a man known as Baldy Cagle--known so for obvious reasons.  An old line politico, cigar and all, he found out that I was from Wilkes County, and, all he really wanted from me after that was to haul as much whiskey as my old 1957 Studebaker could pull up Black Mountain.

This is the same Mr. Cagle who, on Election Day, was at the polls late in the evening when an ambulance pulled up.  An election official climbed into the ambulance and shortly returned. An elderly lady standing next to Baldy Cagle remarked that it did her heart good to see someone on the way to the hospital making sure they got to vote. Baldy smiled and said, "Honey, that ambulance ain't on the way to the hospital--it's on the way to the funeral home."

  And with all the hubbub these days about voter ID’s, I need to explain what was loosely known for years as “…the North Wilkesboro way.” This made sure that anyone who wanted to vote could do so, early and often, as they liked to say. In North Wilkesboro, if a tombstone hadn’t been chiseled for too long, that person quite often “voted” in two or three more elections–by way of what amounts to the ultimate absentee ballot. And, at least once, a van load of folks from Boomer came to the North Wilkesboro Fire Department to vote in an election, apparently they were thinking about moving to town and wanted to feel a part of the community. Conley Call, then an election official, put a stop to that one.

But my favorite election story is about the ‘64 Presidential Election between Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater. Johnson’s campaign slogan was “All the way with LBJ,” and Goldwater’s was “In your heart, you know he’s right.”

Salisbury is the home of the soft drink Cheerwine, regionally popular for many years, and, during the '64 election, the story goes that the Cheerwine plant was the place to find a new “political” drink. AU-H20—or “Goldwater” as it was affectionately known. “Goldwater” was widely distributed in North Carolina during that election, sold both as a novelty item and as a fundraiser for the campaign.

I was a 15-year-old kid at the time and working at the Thrift Super Market in North Wilkesboro for Mr. H. D. Ball. I was at the Thrift I saw my first display of AU-H20, but there was lots of it available in heavily Republican Wilkes County.

Well, you know how that election went—it was indeed LBJ All The Way in a landslide, and the Cheerwine bottler had pallets and pallets of the stuff left over in a warehouse in Salisbury. In what was one of my first exposure to a clever marketing campaign, the Winston Salem Journal ran a story and a picture of the bottler’s plan to liquidate (no pun) his leftover inventory. The photo in the newspaper showed a huge display of the “Goldwater” drinks stacked in a grocery store with a steeply discounted price in big letters. Under the price sign was another one which read, “In your heart, you know it’s just ginger ale.”

He sold out.

Thoughts to my Children

By LAURA WELBORN

I recently ran across this quote and thought it was perfect with Mother’s Day coming up:

 “When My Children remember their childhood, I want only for them to remember that their Mother gave it her all.  She worried too much, she failed at times and did not always get it right…but tried her hardest to teach them about kindness, love, compassion, and honesty.  Even if she had to learn it from her own mistakes, she loved them enough to keep going, even when life knocked her down. I want them to remember me as the woman who always got back up.” Positive Living Inspiration quote

Some of the things I wanted my children to learn was how critical attitude is in life, and when we can work off of kindness, love, compassion and honesty we can always get back up with pride. I found these thoughts from the Marc and Angel Hack Life blog that seemed to hit home for what I tried to model and teach children no matter their age or relationship to me:

1.      “Your attitude often reflects a certain level of self-centered self-victimization. – We all have the tendency to put ourselves at the center, and see everything—every event, conversation, circumstance, etc.—from the viewpoint of how it relates to us and only us.  And this can have all kinds of adverse effects, from feeling hurt when other people are rude, to feeling sorry for ourselves when things don’t go as planned, to doubting ourselves when we aren’t perfect.   When you catch yourself feeling like a singled-out victim, think about other people you might help. Finding little ways to help others can snap you out of your self-centeredness, and then you’re not wallowing in self-pity anymore—you’re starting to think beyond yourself, for your own good.

2.      Your attitude is still greatly affected by old stories. – In the present moment, we all have some kind of pain: anger, sadness, frustration, disappointment, regret, etc.  Notice this pain within yourself, watch it closely and see that it’s caused by whatever story you have in your head about what happened in the past (either in the recent past or in the distant past).  Your mind might insist that the pain you feel is caused by what happened (not by the story in your head about it), but what happened in the past is NOT happening right now.   The pain, however, is still happening right now because of the story you’ve been subconsciously telling yourself about that past incident.

3.      Your attitude often reflects your inner resistance to reality. – Most people make themselves unhappy simply by finding it impossible to accept life as it is presenting itself right now.  Do your best to catch yourself. Be mindful. When you accept the reality of the moment, regardless of how painful, you allow yourself to grow and heal.  Ultimately, happiness is not the absence of problems, but the ability to deal with them.

4.      Your attitude gets caught up in fearing and hiding from change. – Sometimes, no matter how hard it is to admit, there are things in your life that aren’t meant to stay.  Change may not be what you want, but it’s always exactly what’s happening. And sometimes saying goodbye is the hardest thing you will ever have to do

5.      Your attitude is affected by your passivity and procrastination. – So many of us waste so much of our time and energy waiting for the ideal path to appear.  But it never does. Because we forget that paths are made by walking, not waiting.

6.      Your attitude reflects your aversion to discomfort. – Many of us don’t want to be uncomfortable, so we run from discomfort constantly.  The problem with this is that, by running from discomfort, we are constrained to partake in only the activities and opportunities within our comfort zones.  

7.      Your attitude is often rooted in unrealistic ideals. – Despite what you keep hearing inside your head, you can disappoint people and still be good enough.  You can fail and still be smart, capable and talented. You can let people down and still be worthwhile and deserving of love and admiration.

8.      Your attitude easily defaults to self-contempt. – Next time you catch yourself wallowing in self-contempt, remind yourself that you were not born feeling this way.  

9.      Your attitude often reflects a lack of presence and self-awareness. – One of the hardest challenges we face in life is to simply live in our own skin.  To just be right here, right now, regardless of where we are. Too often we use compulsive work, compulsive exercise, compulsive love affairs, and the like, to escape from ourselves and the realities of living.”

I didn’t always get it right and sometimes I think I missed the mark more than I hit it, but I made a conscious effort to try and will continue to remind myself to keep getting back up and not let my attitude hold me back from trying.  So having been a full time mother to two and part time step mother to another seven, an Aunt who adored her nieces and nephews, and a surrogate grandmother to many I hope I have made a difference in some small way to instill love, kindness, and compassion to others.   

 Dismantle the Occupation Myth 

By EARL COX

Special to The Record

After a recent U.N. debate that included Palestinian issues, Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour told reporters: “We challenge the liars who advocated lies in the Security Council yesterday.” Asked if he was calling U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley a liar, Mansour backtracked saying Haley’s speech was “not credible.”

With similar diplomatic finesse, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat snapped at Haley to “shut up” when she criticized PA President Mahmoud Abbas. Haley declined Erekat’s “advice” at the Security Council, with Abbas listening: “I will not shut up. Rather, I will respectfully speak some hard truths.”

Palestinians’ jarring style aside—lies versus “hard truths” are at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And a major falsehood is the politically infused myth of Israeli “occupation.”

Truth prevailed when the U.S. State Department recently struck “occupied” from its description of the Palestinian Territories in a 2017 report, for the first time in almost 40 years. As Trump house cleans the Department of State and sweeps out the Deep State cobwebs, Israel’s 3,000+ years of Jewish history, genealogy and archeology, and international law supporting Israel’s sovereignty become admissible evidence.

Evidence of Palestinian leaders’ habitual lying also is accumulating. It’s getting harder to be a good liar in today’s digitized communications milieu, with its speed-driven, global access to truth for those who care enough to search for it.

If anyone wonders why Palestinian leaders preach peace and claim the victimization of their people in English (to woo international support)—but spew hatred and terror in Arabic (to incite their people), it’s because the Koran condones lying as a way of jihad to deceive Islam’s enemies until they’re slain or subdued.

 Problem is, it’s harder to cover up blatant lies today than it was when Roman Emperor Hadrian named the land “Palestina” to erase “Judea” from the map. Palestinian leaders tap into this august Roman tradition by claiming descent from the “original Canaanites”–a clumsy political effort to pretend that Israel is “occupying” their ancestral land.

 But there’s no trace of Palestinian genealogy in Canaan. “Palestinians descend primarily from … Muslim invaders, Arab immigrants, and local [forced] converts to Islam,” said historian Alex Joffe. No Arab or Palestinian entity ever formed a national state in Israel, Judea or Samaria; therefore, the Palestinian Territories have no legal or political basis, said Ambassador Alan Baker; no international agreement, contract, treaty or binding international resolution exists that defines these territories as Palestinian.

 But Palestinian leaders won’t drop the hype. Erekat proclaimed at an international conference in Europe: “I am a son of Jericho. My age—10,000 years. I am a proud son of the Canaanites, and I was [here] 5,000 years ago, and 500 years before the coming of Joshua bin Nun, who burned my city, Jericho, and I will not trade in my history [because of a demand to recognize Israel as a Jewish state].” In other words, as correspondent Pinhas Inbari points out, Erekat won’t recognize Israel’s history because he was there first, and besides, that makes Joshua bin Nun a war criminal.

 But the Erekat family’s genealogy—including entries on his own Facebook page—tell a different story, Baker said. “Erekat’s family is Bedouin, part of the Huweitat clan that originated in the Hejaz area of Saudi Arabia, arrived in Palestine from the south of Jordan, and settled in … Abu Dis.”

Because the Palestinians know that historical, archeological, religious and genetic records indisputably prove Jews as the indigenous population and with a continuous presence in the land, they deny Jewish history and destroy or usurp archeological evidence and ancient Jewish religious sites.

Genealogical and historical records actually identify the Palestinians as the true occupiers, Joffe said. “The Muslim conquest of Palestine in the 7th century CE, and Muslim immigration … under the Ottoman and British Empires is a textbook example of settler-colonialism.”

 Since these truths are evident and well-documented, why are they so often met with doubt and silence? What explains it?

 Why does the EU attack Israeli sovereignty while ignoring NATO ally Turkey’s illegal occupation of Cyprus? “Where,” asks Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz, “are [their] demonstrations on behalf of the oppressed Tibetans, Georgians, Syrians, Armenians, Kurds … Ukrainians? … Only the Palestinians, only Israel? Why? Not because the Palestinians are more oppressed … but because their alleged oppressors are Jews and the nation-state of the Jews.”

 Anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism, combined with Islam’s hatred of Israel, threaten to dangerously blur the line between truth and lies. The United States, and every nation that upholds, defends and declares the truth is to be applauded.

  Mules, dogs, and a Great Adventure  

By CARL WHITE

Life in the Carolinas

I believe if you can get to know people who own and care for mules and donkeys you will in time come to appreciate the people and love the animals too. That’s what happened to me, and over the years I have formed friendships with both.

Some years ago, I was invited to attend Mule Days at Leatherwood in Ferguson NC. It’s a beautiful place in western Wilkes County where nature seems to be at peace with human interaction. It’s the kind of place where deer, wild turkeys, and other friendly animals are not always on heightened alert.

The relaxing streams are home to an array of fish, and they may also be happy, but I think the fisherman are even more so. It’s the kind of place where stress levels drop as nature administers its therapy.

When I first visited Mule Days, I was amazed at all I did not know about these fantastic animals. Mules are smart and surer-footed than their equine companions the horse. Donkeys while often small can be mammoth in stature and personality.

Like people, the personalities of mules and donkeys differ and offer up a variety of expressions and behaviors that once you get to know them you will find it difficult to not think about them. I enjoy having dogs in my life, however for the most part donkeys do not feel the same way.

Mule Days appears to bring out the best in everyone, and even the donkeys and dogs seem to get along just fine. Maybe it’s the mountain air. Ben Snipes of Lancaster SC brought his dog “Tater” who is a Catahoula Cur. Also known as a “Catahoula Hog Dog” and is the state dog of Louisiana. They are smart and energetic. One interesting trait of this hunting bread is the “cracked glass” or “marbled glass” eyes which have blue or blue-white in the color mix.

Shannon Huffman leads the Mule Days at Leatherwood gathering and has a friendly mule by the name of “Seven” and a donkey named “Madalina” that attended the event. Both are perfect ambassadors.

Morgan Jones is the 2018 Mule Days Queen and represents the event well. Her love of mules and the people who care for them was evident. It was great to see Bernie Harberts and his mule Polly. I first met them some years ago when they had just finished a cross-county trip and were planning a trip from Canada to Mexico. That trip is now completed along with a documentary of the journey. “The Lost Sea Expedition” premiered on Rocky Mountain PBS and is now available on Amazon Prime.

It is a fantastic story that was filmed by Bernie with the gear he carried in the small wagon pulled by Polly. This is a fine story of A Man and A Mule and how they made a journey that inspires everyone who watches it unfold.

When you consider that it was the two of them and the people they met along the way it’s a remarkable story. From what I have witnessed about many of the “Mule People” They have high drive and passion and are willing to do more than many in the pursuit of a great adventure.  

Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote, “Some kinds of animal’s burrow in the ground; others do not. Some animals are nocturnal, as the owl and the bat; others use the hours of daylight. There are tame animals and wild animals. Man, and the mule are always tame…”

 Carl White is the executive producer and host of the award winning syndicated TV show Carl White’s Life In the Carolinas. The weekly show is now in its seventh year of syndication and can be seen in the Charlotte viewing market on WJZY Fox 46 Saturday at noon. For more on the show visit www.lifeinthecarolinas.com, You can email Carl White at Carl@lifeinthecarolinas.com.  

[nedsecondline]

The slow death of Israeli citizenship

Racism in strange places

As the Right consolidates its power over nearly every sphere of Israeli politics, it is slowly turning citizenship into a matter of ideology. Non-Jewish citizens aren’t the only ones who will suffer.

By Marzuq Al-Halabi

Thousands of Israeli Jews wave flags as they mark Jerusalem Day in Damascus Gate on their way to the Western Wall, East Jerusalem, May 24, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The concept of citizenship in Israel has always suffered from significant inadequacies, whether due to the Law of Return or to state policies that make acquiring citizenship an extremely difficult feat. The current situation, for example, allows the state to claim that Bedouin citizens in the Negev aren’t citizens at all and that their blue ID cards were issued to them by mistake, even if they and their tribe were here long before the establishment of the state. Moreover, the situation allows the state to convince its High Court of Justice to uphold, time and time again, a law that restricts Palestinian spouses on both sides of the Green Line from family reunification.

[tmwinpost]

The same goes for foreign workers and asylum seekers — they are good for doing work that Israelis aren’t willing to do, yet we must prevent them from obtaining citizenship at all costs, while denying them human rights. Furthermore, the state has thus far succeeded at convincing the High Court that there is no such thing as an “Israeli nation.”

Analyzing the current state of Israeli citizenship is no less problematic. Citizenship, after all, is not a formal issue limited to identification cards and papers. There are various layers of Israeli citizenship: one for Jews and one for Arabs; one for veteran citizens and one for immigrants; one for those who live in the center of the country and one for those in the periphery; those who are rich and others who are not. Arab citizens in Israel will justifiably claim that the principle of equality — a foundational principle in any democracy — does not apply to them in many aspects of life, thus infringing upon their rights.

In fact, “equality” does not appear in legislation, nor in any of Israel’s basic laws; it exists only in a number of landmark High Court rulings. Moreover, discrimination against Arabs and other groups exists under the guise of bypassing citizenship through national institutions that privilege Jewish citizens. Even the Law of Return gives preference to a Jewish person living abroad over the Arab in Israel.

Palestinian citizens take part in a general strike in solidarity with Palestinians in Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza, in the northern town of Sakhnin, on October 13, 2015. (photo: Omar Sameer)

If we look at the concept of fundamental citizenship as it pertains to the allocation of resources — material, symbolic, and spatial — we will understand the depth of the inequality that Arab citizens suffer. The indigenous population, which makes up approximately 20 percent of Israel’s citizens, lives and exists on three percent of Israeli land. Every Arab community has lost approximately seven percent of the land owned by its residents before the Nakba in 1948, through land expropriations for “the benefit of the public,” enshrined in laws and regulations passed for this very purpose.

The state has managed to build 700 new towns since its founding, yet not a single Arab town has been built. Israel’s Arab population has for years been suffering from a lack of infrastructure development, services, and budgets. A new law would allow the demolition of Arab homes while restricting the authority of the courts to interfere. Israel is defined as a Jewish country subject to continual Judaization, in which the Arab is viewed as a nuisance, an invader, even a foreigner. The Arab citizen is entirely excluded from the symbols of the state, even though he/she is used as a fig leaf in its ceremonies, or as a way of legitimizing the state in the eyes of its victims.

Not only Arabs

The political space is an additional realm in which we can analyze the essence of citizenship vis-a-vis Arab citizens. Arabs have always been excluded from decision-making positions. In politics and in the economy, they have been dependent on Israeli Jews — consumers of politics, rather than producers.

This trend has only worsened under the formal policies of Israel’s right-wing government over the past decade. The ethnic democracy creates at least two kinds of citizenships: that of the preferred ethnic group and that of those who do not belong to it. But that does not end with Israel’s Arab citizens. The cheapening of citizenship threatens all those who oppose the government’s policies, even if they make up the bread and butter of the country’s preferred ethnic group.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett, MK David Bitan, Culture Minister Miri Regev and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attend a Knesset plenum session, December 5, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

It is far easier today to torpedo basic political activities through divide and conquer tactics, delegitimization, and deeming people anti-Israeli traitors. That was done to Breaking the Silence and other civil society organizations who deal with human rights. The attacks on cultural institutions who are unwilling to give up on the role of art — to critique the powers that be and bring forward the voice of the silenced, to speak out against the regime and corruption — is a testament to the attempt to silence artistic freedom of expression.

Death to the citizen, long live the regime

Slowly but surely, Israeli citizenship is diminishing in the face of the Right’s crusade. Citizenship has been damaged by a regime that is attempting to draw its boundaries according to a specific ideology. And all those who stray from that ideology or oppose it will have their rights compromised. What is the significance of restricting the right of Israeli citizens from demonstrating in front of the attorney general’s house if not an attempt to clamp down on political rights that are part and parcel of our civic participation?

After decades of “ethnic citizenship,” it seems that Israel is headed toward “ideological citizenship.” In totalitarian Communist regimes of the past, this type of citizenship was characterized by doing away with society for the benefit of the state, and the state for the benefit of the party. Thus, citizenship is wholly negated for the purpose of praising the regime and its symbols.

Tell me that this is far from happening in Israel for some reason or another, and I’ll tell you: no other situation can arise from the right’s policies — only ideological citizenship, in which the regime will live and the citizen will perish. The nation-state law will only be the first constitutional step toward this kind of citizenship. Because all blind nationalism that sanctifies itself will immediately oppress all those who dare call it into question, especially from within. Jews have already been in this situation — as victims.

Marzuq Al-Halabi is a jurist, journalist, author. He writes regularly for Al-Hayat. This post was originally published in Hebrew on Local Call.

[giftofshewbread]

Remarkable

: By Daymond DuckPublished on: May 3rd, 2020

This article begins with a list of remarkable facts that some readers already know.

The Jewish Talmud, Barnabus (a companion of Paul), Irenaeus, Justin Martyr and others taught that the earth would go through a 7,000-year cycle (6,000 years of human rule and 1,000 years of Messiah’s rule), and the last days of man’s 6,000 years are about up (1,000 years of our time is like one day to God; The last days of human rule started almost 2,000 years ago (Gen.2:17, 5:5; II Pet. 3:8; Acts 2:17).

Psalm 90 is called a prayer of Moses, and not all agree, but many believe that verse 10 teaches that a generation is 70-80 years. (Only God knows, but we could be the terminal generation that Jesus talked about in Matt. 24:34.)

The word “Trump” appears twice in the Bible, and both passages are about the Rapture (I Cor. 15:52; I Thess. 4:16).

Trump was born 700 days before Israel became a nation in 1948; he won the election by a margin of 77 votes; and he was 70 years, 7 months, and 7 days old on the day he was inaugurated.

Prime Min. Netanyahu had been in office 7 years, 7 months, and 7 days on the day that Donald Trump was elected.

Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights in Israel’s 70th year.

Trump moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem on Israel’s 70th birthday.

Trump’s Sec. of State, Mike Pompeo, is the 70th person to hold the job, and he accepted it in Israel’s 70th year of existence.

On Apr. 14, 2020, the world population meter hit 7,777,777,777 (10-7’s), and prophetically speaking, 10 is usually considered to be the number of completeness.

On Mar. 26, 2020, Microsoft published its application (filed internationally on 6-20-2019 under the number WO2020060606, which means World Order 2020 666) for a patent on a Cryptocurrency System Using Body Activity Data (technology that will connect a person to a computer over a cell phone, or whatever, and allow that person to scan a tattoo or a Mark that will grant access to a Cryptocurrency that can be tracked and used to buy and sell).

Microsoft’s patent, World Order 2020 060606, is not the Mark of the Beast yet; it is not mandatory yet; the False Prophet is not involved yet, but an international patent on a system to track buying and selling that is numbered 666 (the number of the Antichrist’s name; Rev. 13:18) could be a sign that the Mark of the Beast System is being developed.

By the way, the word “Mark” is where we get our word “tattoo.”

The Mark of the Beast will be in a person’s right hand or in their forehead, and Gates wants to put the tattoo under a person’s skin.

This list has been compiled because the 6,000 years of human rule, a possible terminal generation of 70-80 years, a President named Trump, the unusual appearance of the number 7, and the World Order number 060606 on a patent application to track buying and selling have converged in this generation.

The significance may be questionable, but the facts are remarkable, and there is the possibility that God could be using these facts to alert those that are watching.

Consider this:

In less than three months, the global economy has almost been destroyed;

several oil companies are facing bankruptcy;

millions of jobs have been lost;

the U.S. Constitution has been trampled upon; several institutions (churches, schools, colleges, etc.) have been disrupted;

Christians have been told not to go to Church, not to shake hands, not to hug;

more than 200,000 people have died;

thousands of families didn’t get to say goodbye and many did not get to provide a normal funeral;

supply chains have been disrupted;

there have been some cases of panic buying; some store shelves have empty spaces;

some in the military have the virus;

some hospitals have been overrun;

many businesses have closed (some permanently);

drones from China are watching people in Connecticut to see if they are social distancing, coughing or sneezing;

Pope Francis is pushing a world government, a world religion, wealth redistribution, and more.

Yes, there are people that make themselves willingly ignorant of what is going on, but there are also many excellent prophecy teachers who understand that Jesus indicated there will be a convergence of the signs at the end of the age, and they realize that at least some of this relates to Bible prophecy.

Many believe Bible prophecy is being fulfilled all around us and we are getting just a tiny glimpse of what the Tribulation Period will be like.

Here are some more remarkable facts.

One, on Apr. 20, 2020, Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz agreed to form a new National Emergency Unity Government.

On July 1, 2020, they will initiate legislation to annex several areas in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria).

Expanding Israel’s borders is a good thing, but there is a big problem.

Israel and the U.S. are proposing a map that will divide Israel and set aside perhaps as much as 2/3 of Judea and Samaria for a Palestinian state.

The good news is that the Palestinians probably will not accept that; but more importantly, God will not accept it either, and He may respond (see Joel 3:2).

Two, on Apr. 21, 2020, it was reported that YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki admitted that YouTube has removed thousands of videos because they contradict World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.

So, the Director-General of the WHO is a Communist from Ethiopia; his main support comes from China; Pres. Trump has suspended U.S. contributions to the WHO for parroting China’s lies and mishandling the Coronavirus Crisis; the U.S. States of Missouri and Mississippi are suing China for lying; and YouTube is censoring those that contradict what the liars at the WHO say.

Truth and freedom will not be tolerated in the coming world government; and lest we forget, the WHO is working with Bill Gates, Dr. Fauci and George Soros to force everyone on earth to be vaccinated and tattooed (Marked), if they want to work, buy and sell.

Three, on Apr. 22, 2020, it was reported that 19 members of the G-20 held a virtual meeting and called for a document to be signed to strengthen the WHO and put it in charge of a coordinated worldwide response to the Coronavirus Crisis.

Trump did not participate, but if he had not blocked it, the WHO would have already been empowered to mark and track everyone on earth (see Rev. 13:15-17).

Considering what the U.S. Constitution says, why should U.S. citizens be forced to obey an unelected organization (the WHO) composed mostly of foreigners under a lying Communist leader that is influenced by Gates, Soros and Fauci?

Four, on Apr. 21, 2020, the Executive Director of the World Food Programme told the UN Security Council the Coronavirus Crisis may cause widespread famine of Biblical proportions in more than 30 African nations (see Rev. 6:5-8).

We are now being told that there is a chance of some food shortages in the U.S.

Five, on Apr. 24, 2020, UN Sec. Gen. Guterres announced that the Global Vaccination Response Team will be headed up by French Pres. Emmanuel Macron and Melinda Gates.

Macron is an avid supporter of the New World Order, and Gates is the wife of Bill Gates, a strong advocate for population control, mandatory vaccinations and digital tracking of everyone on earth.

It is impossible to overemphasize how remarkable and dangerous these events are.

The globalists are not going to wait until Jan. 1, 2030, and try to get a one-world government up and running in one day.

Laws must be written and put into practice; many groups, including the 10 Kings, must be approved, staffed and funded; offices and equipment must be acquired; those that oppose it must be brought under control; a global economic system must be established; the world government must be funded (Guterres recently asked for a 10% global tax), and more.

The process of bringing this about appears to have started, the globalists are not going to back off, they are going to become more aggressive, and where the Bible says this is going is more dangerous than the Coronavirus.

Right now, they are trying to put America’s healthcare system under the control of the WHO, shutting the doors of America’s churches to bring Christianity under control, seeking to replace America’s currency with a digital system, initiating a surveillance system tied to a global ID to track everyone on earth, and this is just the beginning.

The Rapture is probably close, but if there is a little more time, there is no telling what the globalists will do (or what God will do) as the world moves closer to 2030 and the globalist desire for a world government and a global ethic.

The certainty of our salvation and the need to get the gospel out are urgent matters.

The Tribulation period will be the greatest disaster to ever come upon Planet Earth (Matt. 24:21-22; Matt. 24:5-7).

Do not be deceived: if God has decided that it is time to let the globalists have their world government, it is coming, and nothing short of a major revival will slow it down.

Some think a major revival is coming, but I believe the Church will be lukewarm at the end-of-the-age, and the multitude of salvations they are referring to will be in the Tribulation Period (144,000 children of Israel, Two Witnesses and angel).

The Christian’s hope is the Rapture of the Church (Titus 2:13), not the UN, national leaders, vaccinations, tracking systems, social distancing, masks or anything like that.

The only thing that God will accept to let a person into heaven is to sincerely believe what the Bible says about the birth, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus (Acts 16:30-33), confess that belief, and ask Jesus for forgiveness and salvation.

The remarkable thing is that He will grant it, and it is free to those that sincerely ask.

Do it now.

[republicstandard]

US Embassy in Jerusalem Opening Tomorrow: Regional Unrest Ahead

The Iran-Palestine Peace Circus: Two Non-Deal-Deals in Likud Clown World

Deals! They come in three forms: Good deals, bad deals, and forced deals; the first two depend on whether you correctly assess your risks, but they’re agreed upon by both parties; the last depends on whether you’re being conquered or not. If you’re being conquered your only real choice is to fight, rather than accept a deal probably not offered in good faith to begin with. If you trust the word of a person who knows they have the ability to force you into an unfavorable compromise, they’ll probably, eventually, take to themselves even that which you have been offered.

(function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:10817585113717094,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-7788-6480"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="//cdn2.lockerdomecdn.com/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");

This was the sentiment held by my best friend when growing up; a young Palestinian named Peter with a few Lebanese roots, exiled in an Australian capital city with his Christian family, separated from other family members exiled in Lebanon. They were some of the most welcoming, truly conservative people I have ever met, the strength of their family bond being an amazement to behold. Perhaps a strong family bond is easier when your birthright is stolen by a new nation which ejects you from the land of your nativity, finally your family being forced to settle halfway across the planet in a foreign country. Tough times make tough people.

Palestinians, as Christians, had been thriving in Palestine for almost two thousand years until 1947 when the government of Great Britain created a power vacuum, announcing it would remove its mandatory administration. In swept tens of thousands claiming a birthright lost to them in 70AD; though from a Christian perspective this birthright was rejected on Passover 33AD during a Messianic Regicide. Perhaps this is why the Palestinian Christians were the recipients of especially egregious disdain. Today, less than 30% of these Palestinian Christians worldwide still reside in their homeland.

Christian Zionism: Likud Christmas gift that keeps on giving

As a result of this exodus, Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ which was 86% Christian in 1950, was by 2012 only 12% Christian; the rest of the town being Muslim. This de-Christianization of the birthplace of Christ is a direct result of the formation of Israel in 1948 – not the result of Muslims driving out Christians – though if you were to ask a Christian Zionist living in America what they thought of the situation, you’d think modern Palestinians were worshipping Molech, sacrificing babies on altars, Joshua having returned in a secular reappearance.

Pope Francis visited Israel/Palestine back in 2014 during the 50th anniversary of the first Papal visit to Jerusalem (1964 Pope Paul VI visit). During this 2014 visit Haaretz reported an inconvenient truth which might come as a surprise to some western Christians, but not Christian Zionists as it will go through one ear and out the other: The Palestinian Authority is far more accommodating towards Palestinian Christians than the administration in Israel;

... the PA’s record is far better than Israel’s. The president's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, is a Christian. So are two cabinet members, for Finance and Tourism, and two members of the PLO's executive committee. The deputy speaker of the Palestinian National Council, Qonstantin Qurmush, is a priest. Christians abound on boards of banks and chambers of commerce, and head its largest company, CCC. By contrast, in its 66 years, Israel has had no Christian presidential spokesman, government minister, or bank chairman. Where Palestine has eight Christians in its parliament, Israel has two. Where Palestine has at least five ambassadors, including to London and Berlin, Israel has none. … Israel’s prime minister [Netanyahu] ... in his first term in the late 1990s aroused Christian ire by backing construction of a mosque next to Nazareth’s Basilica of Annunciation, while his Palestinian counterpart, Yasser Arafat opposed it. [!!] ... Israel does give its Christians native citizenship, but when its leaders endlessly trumpet their status as a Jewish state, many feel they have second class status. They are not spared strip-searches at Israel’s airports. Exacerbating Christian anxieties, hate-graffiti – such as "Mary is a prostitute" – is daubed on church doors, and increasingly rife. Priests in Jerusalem say spitting on their habits has become well - a habit.

Despite this reality, adherents of the relatively new phenomenon known as Christian Zionism - with their ironic blindness to the implications of Messianic Regicide as applies to the land deed of Mosaic covenant - cheer on the consummation of the remaining land by an ethnic in-group so detached from the Old or New Testaments, it leaves a person actually familiar with that sacred text scratching their head in bewilderment.

This travesty bears heavy irony: Christians thus cheer the historical displacement of fellow Christians by a nation which despises the person of Christ, most of whom, as secular, regard not even the person of Moses; two men respected by almost all Muslims as two of six sacred prophets. Of course, secular leaders like Netanyahu will never miss an opportunity to wheel out the proverbial corpse of Moses endowed with everlasting political capital, citing the land deed promised by (to?) this titan of history as part of a conditional covenant.

It might sound like a generalization, but let’s face it: Christian Zionists actually believe themselves to epitomize the purity of right-wing conservative doctrine in the United States. They consider fellow Christians who hold a position of empathy towards Palestinians to be either ‘liberals’ or anathema to true Christianity. Accordingly, denouncing the false image of largely secular lebensraumist Zionism is a heresy too upsetting to Cyrus Scofield’s ghost. As a result, most Christians who don’t overtly agree with Scofield’s gibberish simply hold their silence. The Christian Zionist cannot but judge, though they should remember, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.”

Well, I’m sorry to be the messenger carrying the uncomfortable flame of truth, but holding your silence is just as bad. It’s time to speak up; something early Church fathers were also persecuted for. It is our duty. It is what qualifies our Christianity. Never shrink from controversy because Jesus Christ died for this very same reason; testifying against this same ethnic group the Palestinians are now also confronted with, I might add. All Christians need to realize that ethnic Palestinians worldwide are over three times as likely per capita to accept the blessing of Jesus Christ than Jews; they also have a much higher conversion rate.

From the same Haaretz article quoted above :

The Knesset bans Christmas trees which sprout all over Palestine from public display on its premises.

The above should be read in context of the National Menorah being erected annually next to the National Christmas Tree directly south of the White House, which if not attended by US officials yearly to celebrate Hanukkah would be shouted from the rooftops as a sign of disrespect, anti-Semitism, probably even garnering hyperbolic insinuations that gas chambers were nigh. Oh, how accommodating we are in the west, regardless of the treatment of Christians by that nation claiming the name of Israel in the east. The Smithsonian magazine gives a little history of how the National Menorah was lawyered into the national capital highlighting the coincidental relevance of Iran ever since its inception in 1979 :

Every year, the White House has two holiday symbols on the Ellipse: the White House Christmas tree and the National Menorah. The tradition of the National Menorah dates back to 1979, and to an Orthodox Jewish leader in Washington named Abraham Shemtov, who thought the nation’s capital needed a menorah as well as a Christmas tree. Then, the secretary of the interior initially denied him a permit to put a menorah on government property, on the grounds that it would violate the First Amendment … Shemtov … “called his friend Stu Eizenstat, an adviser to President Jimmy Carter. Eizenstat gave the secretary a choice: Either approve the permit or deny the National Christmas Tree’s permit too. If he disobeyed, Eizenstat would take the matter straight to Carter, who would side with Eizenstat—a major embarrassment for the secretary.” Shemtov got the permit, and a tradition was born. That year, President Jimmy Carter participated in the lighting of the menorah, mentioning the Iran hostage crisis in his speech.

70 Years: Reversing the symbolism of Cyrus the Great

Cyrus Scofield wasn’t just the author of the most influential pro-Zionist commentary on the Bible, but his parents happened to name him after a man of completely opposite purpose; liberator of those who deserve covenant clemency. Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia is commemorated in Judaism and Christianity, for freeing the People of the Covenant in 539BC from a 70 year captivity in Babylon; the number 70 being of further importance in Christianity as Jerusalem was obliterated by Rome in the 70th year (70AD) since the birth of Christ. Cyrus also lived to 70 years of age and Trump was 70 years old when elected. Haaretz reported the religious buzz in December 2017 :

Christians and Jews Now Compare Trump to Persian King Cyrus – Will He Build the Third Temple? Like Cyrus 2,500 years ago, Trump is seen as an instrument of God. And the plan: to build the Third Temple on the Temple Mount – where the Al-Aqsa Mosque currently stands

Currently, in 2018, during the 70th anniversary of the 1948 Israeli Declaration of Independence, the opportunity to invoke this important number and its relation to Cyrus the Great has not been missed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; leader of the Likud coalition in the Knesset. US President Donald Trump has been happy to indulge Netanyahu’s semiotic fancies for this anniversary by declaring Jerusalem to be the official capital city of Israel – a ‘holy’ grail endorsement justifying the 1967 border violations by Israel.

On March 1st – Purim (!) – Netanyahu made a speech at the United Nations HQ in NYC where he, characteristically, held up a Persian rug made in Iran in what the Jerusalem Post called a ‘Purim Parody’. He declared the rug a weapon of subversive warfare and a vector for money laundering by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Four days later, on March 5th, he met Trump and wife Melania in the White House for a presser ;

It’s always a pleasure to see you, both but this is the first time we meet in Washington – America’s capital – after you declared, Mr. President, Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. And this was a historic proclamation followed by your bold decision to move the embassy by our upcoming National Independence Day. I want to tell you that the Jewish people have a long memory. So we remember the proclamation of the great King Cyrus the Great — Persian King. Twenty-five hundred years ago, he proclaimed that the Jewish exiles in Babylon can come back and rebuild our temple in Jerusalem. We remember, 100 years ago, Lord Balfour, who issued the Balfour Proclamation that recognized the rights of the Jewish people in our ancestral homeland. We remember seven[ty] years ago, President Harry S. Truman was the first leader to recognize the Jewish state. And we remember how a few weeks ago, President Donald J. Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Mr. President, this will be remembered by our people throughout the ages. And as you just said, others talked about it. You did it. So I want to thank you on behalf of the people of Israel. And I also want to — I look forward to our discussions on both challenges and opportunities. If I had to say what is our greatest challenge in the Middle East to both our countries, to our Arab neighbors, it’s encapsulated in one word: Iran. Iran has not given up its nuclear ambitions. It came out of this nuclear deal emboldened, enriched. It’s practicing aggression everywhere, including on our own borders. And I think we have to stop this country — the chants, “Death to Israel,” “Death to America.” Iran must be stopped. That is our common challenge.

Thus, Palestinian Christian and Muslim captivity by Israel, is portrayed as a period of Israeli captivity, Trump is likened to Cyrus the Great, the rebuilt Temple is invoked (!), and the actual Persians are portrayed as if they are Babylonians who need to be thrown off by the might of King Trump at the 70 year mark. Reversals! This is Likud Clown World!

#Netanyahu thinks he can complain about #Iran's nuclear program to the international atomic agency, Is he going to tell them about #Israel's illegal nuclear weapons program too?

— Partisangirl 🇸🇾 (@Partisangirl) April 30, 2018

Trump’s actions to move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem during this 70th year, in spite of Palestinian protestations, is not exactly the sort of conciliatory stance a person makes when apparently just about to offer the Palestinians a deal for statehood – in good faith we are told. This deal which will be publicly tabled by the end of May 2018 is not a good deal. It’s not even a bad deal. It’s the third option; the forced deal. This is conquest in continuation. There is no good faith here towards the Palestinians.

A cadre of four comprising of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and wife, together with Jared Kushner and wife Ivanka Trump, are to open the US Embassy on the 70th anniversary; May 14th. I have a hunch that Kushner is Donald Trump’s chosen peace ambassador to present the deal shortly thereafter. Jared, the geopolitically inexperienced heir of a billionaire Orthodox Jewish New Jersey felon’s real-estate empire headquartered at the Kushner Companies building at 666 Fifth Avenue – who married the non-Jewish daughter of the first billionaire POTUS, shunning Rabbinical marriage custom – will perhaps be ‘offering’ a ‘peace deal’ in Jerusalem to the Palestinians and Israelis (which the Likud totally engineered). Could this get any more clown world?

Early reports are suggesting that this deal is for the Gaza Strip and half of the current West Bank excluding the Jordan Valley; including four peripheral and rather marginal neighborhoods in East Jerusalem as a capital. If true, this new West Bank would be a concentration camp for 3.3 million Palestinians forever placing Israel in charge of Palestinian water supplies, their contact with fellow Arabs in Jordan being cut off. Israel would have a complete choke-hold over this mini-state. If the Palestinians accept or are forced to accept this deal, the new nation could expect to be sanctioned and/or continue to be assaulted by a hostile Israel perpetually citing ‘self defense’; just like Syria and Lebanon, sovereignty would mean nothing.

If one checks the rising war barometer since the Iraq War – especially lately – one gets the impression this symbolic 70th year was singled out so that tensions around Iran and Palestine would climax simultaneously :

Sunni Saddam overthrown. Democracy brought to majority Shiite Iraq.

Shiites inevitably become the dominant force in Iraqi politics.

Shiite ascendancy allows a greater rift to open up between Baghdad and Erbil, fueling the Sunni Kurdish independence movement while Israel digs into the KRG oil and gas industry (previous article) readying it for integration into Israeli water and energy security agendas.

Shiite Iran becomes major power broker in Baghdad and Shiite Southern Iraq.

Sunni ISIS/Syrian Rebel/Al-Qaeda/Al-Nusra NATO-Saudi proxies break out like a virus in order to clear the required pipeline corridors and justify balkanization of Syria (previous article).

Iranian proxy Hezbollah drawn deeper into Lebanon, Syria, Iraq.

Hezbollah strengthened immensely in the Shiite public imagination for preventing the fall of Assad. This is great news for the Likud.

Israel now can claim Hezbollah/Iran have encircled them so that annexation of more Syrian and perhaps Lebanese territory can be claimed as ‘self-defense’ against Iran (actually happening as I type, as I predicted a week ago). This is simply more land theft or theft by proxy. As explained in a previous article, this is to assist Israel and the Saudis to carve out two pipeline corridors, 1) to bring oil and gas from a newly balkanized north-east Syrian puppet state and the KRG in northern Iraq, into Haifa via the Golan Heights, including water from the Euphrates, and 2) to tap the Gazprom Killer in Qatar, linking it with the EU, preventing Iran from tapping this same shared super-field and gaining access to either the EU or Chinese energy markets.

Iran non-deal-deal (explained below) for a nuclear program offered then revoked by successive administrations as if this wasn’t planned all along to provoke predictable reactions in Tehran; for example, the burning of the US flag in their parliament by government officials. Netanyahu, Likud & Co., sit back in glee at this wonderful public relations gift for the Zionist cause. Mission accomplished. Chaos can now resume as desired.

Jerusalem declared the official capital of Israel by the US President and the official location of a newly relocated US Embassy to be opened on May 14th, 2018; the Roman calendar date of the 70th anniversary of the Israeli Declaration of Independence.

Palestine offered a “deal of the century” on statehood by President Trump, almost instantly endorsed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman – even though it isn’t public yet – who then threatened Mahmoud Abbas, telling him he has to accept the deal or resign (Isn’t it funny how this happens right after the recent major purge of royal rivals in Saudi Arabia?). It’s as if Salman were the inaugural recipient of the Zionist award for Wahhabist of the Year. I can imagine the award now; it would be a golden clown waiving the black flag of Jihad wearing a suicide vest of peace.

The billionaire Jewish Zionist Sheldon Adelson – the largest political donor in the US and Trumps biggest donor, who openly supports illegal settlements in the West Bank – waits until Trump revokes the Iran nuclear deal including a fresh slew of sanctions on Iran, before donating $30 million to save the House GOP majority. You’ve got to be good boys and girls before you get your pocket money!

Dear reader: None of this is deliberately synchronized.

These are all ‘coincidences’ following foreign policy ‘mistakes’ in Iraq.

Nothing to see here . . . move along now!

Likud Clown World: Come to the big top, to see the show!

The ‘liberal’ Brookings Institution in Washington DC – which is one of many fronts for tabling Zionist geopolitical agendas and presenting them as productions in the best interests of the United States – released a 156-page report in 2009 entitled “Which Path To Persia?” (PDF).

This report is basically a handbook for regime change, such as those which have occurred or been attempted during the Arab Spring (which began two years after the report was released). As I mentioned in a previous article, JINSA and Netanyahu’s Likud coalition have a fixation on Iran which is the crux of this very influential report I would advise serious students of geopolitics to read in full. On page 39 (pg.52 in PDF), the report states the following regarding Sanctions :

For those who favor regime change or a military attack on Iran (either by the United States or Israel), there is a strong argument to be made for trying this option [sanctions] first. Inciting regime change in Iran would be greatly assisted by convincing the Iranian people that their government is so ideologically blinkered that it refuses to do what is best for the people and instead clings to a policy that could only bring ruin on the country. The ideal scenario in this case would be that the United States and the international community present a package of positive inducements so enticing that the Iranian citizenry would support the deal, only to have the regime reject it. In a similar vein, any military operation against Iran will likely be very unpopular around the world and require the proper international context—both to ensure the logistical support the operation would require and to minimize the blowback from it. The best way to minimize international opprobrium and maximize support (however, grudging or covert) is to strike only when there is a widespread conviction that the Iranians were given but then rejected a superb offer—one so good that only a regime determined to acquire nuclear weapons and acquire them for the wrong reasons would turn it down. Under those circumstances, the United States (or Israel) could portray its operations as taken in sorrow, not anger, and at least some in the international community would conclude that the Iranians ‘brought it on themselves’ by refusing a very good deal.

Notice the inclusion of Israel side-by-side with the United States as dual antagonists attempting to convince every other world player of the need to take down Iran.

What actually happened when this planned Iranian nuclear deal was offered up by Obama in 2015? Rather than decline it, Iran accepted the terms. We can see in the report that the intent was for the deal to be rejected so the US and Israel could use the rejection to 1) prove to the world that the Iranian regime cared more about nuclear arms than peace, and 2) use the rejection to stir resentment internally in Iran, turning the Iranian people against the regime. This deal acceptance delayed Zionist plans to overthrow the regime using this initial approach, though in the section on Invasion, on page 65 (pg.78 in PDF), the report continues :

If the United States were to decide that to garner greater international support, galvanize U.S. domestic support, and/or provide a legal justification for an invasion, it would be best to wait for an Iranian provocation, then the time frame for an invasion might stretch out indefinitely. With only one real exception, since the 1978 revolution, the Islamic Republic has never willingly provoked an American military response, although it certainly has taken actions that could have done so if Washington had been looking for a fight. Thus it is not impossible that Tehran might take some action that would justify an American invasion and it is certainly the case that if Washington sought such a provocation, it could take actions that might make it more likely that Tehran would do so (although being too obvious about this could nullify the provocation). However, since it would be up to Iran to make the provocative move, which Iran has been wary of doing most times in the past, the United States would never know for sure when it would get the requisite Iranian provocation. In fact, it might never come at all.

This report is entirely candid that the desired outcome for the US and Israel is a full scale invasion of Iran!

As I hinted earlier, the foreign policy ‘mistakes’ made after the Iraq War which have led to an Iranian influenced Shiite regime talking over in Baghdad, were completely deliberate. The breakout of NATO asymmetric warfare proxies known as ISIS & Co., in Iraq and Syria, were also deliberate (Wikileaks). Hezbollah which is virtually a direct militia arm of the Iranian regime has been drawn down into Syria and they’re even more entrenched in Lebanon as the recent election has proven. Now Israel and Hezbollah are exchanging fire between the Golan Heights and the Syrian ‘buffer zone’ which I predicted in a previous article.

The truth is, the Iran nuclear deal was always going to be revoked in the event that Iran did not decline the offer. This is because it is a non-deal-deal; it was simply a circus apparatus in the world-class Iran Palestine Peace Circus brought to you by Likud Clown World.

The forced deal in Palestine is also none other than a non-deal-deal, being synchronized with the collapse of the Iran non-deal-nuclear-deal during Israel’s 70th year. This is being done so that a Palestinian rejection or acceptance can be tied into a greater conflict where asymmetric warfare techniques (such as false-flag military or terror attacks) can be used to create the PR necessary to sell Israel as the victim and the United States as the savior; rather than both being seen as aggressors having planned this in advance. Thankfully far more people are waking up to the reality of this circus.

What do the true aggressor’s desire? As I explained in my last two Balkanizing Syria articles (here and here), they desire the final rewiring of mid-east geopolitics: Pipeline corridors; Israeli lebensraum annexations; balkanization; death; misery; flag draped coffins; not to forget massive military industrial complex profits and war debts for the bonds salesmen – Americans can pay the bills and provide the bodies, as usual. US neocons and Zionist JINSA aligned apparatchiks in Washington designed all of this. It is a masterpiece of Hegelian dialectic.

I’ll leave you with one final ominous statement from this Brookings report reminiscent of the chilling “New Pearl Harbor” comment in the 1997 PNAC Rebuilding America’s Defenses report. This excerpt comes from page 66 (pg.79 in PDF), mentioning a “Tehran-sponsored 9/11” :

Most European, Asian, and Middle Eastern publics are dead set against any American military action against Iran derived from the current differences between Iran and the international community—let alone Iran and the United States. Other than a Tehran-sponsored 9/11, it is hard to imagine what would change their minds. For many democracies and some fragile autocracies to which Washington would be looking for support, this public antipathy is likely to prove decisive. For instance, Saudi Arabia is positively apoplectic about the Iranians’ nuclear program, as well as about their mischief making in Lebanon, Iraq, and the Palestinian territories. Yet, so far, Riyadh has made clear that it will not support military operations of any kind against Iran. Certainly that could change, but it is hard to imagine what it would take.

NOTE: Public antipathy can only be manipulated using massive events like the September 11th, 2001, terror attacks in the US, which can be organized as false-flag operations if/when necessary.

I have a good idea exactly what and where such an event may occur, though I’ll save that for a future article. To be clear, I am not against Jews having a sovereign state of their own, but I question the wisdom of them having been given this particular land of all lands; including their M.O. towards their neighbors since their ascension. What is the statute of limitations on a particular land covenant granted by divine right in a largely secular state? 1900 years?

(function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:10817587730962790,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-5979-7226"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="//cdn2.lockerdomecdn.com/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");

I urge the reader to take the time to read the “Which Path To Persia?” report. It’s quite obvious from the bold language and tone, the authors consider Iran to be a frustratingly peaceful nation actively attempting not to trigger a conflict, yet the authors are clearly attempting to work out schemes to implode Iran or to justify a military invasion – shades of Iraq WMD’s propaganda. These people are insane. People with psychological profiles like this, could either deliberately, or accidentally, trigger WWIII if public awareness of their intentions does not increase rapidly. It almost might be too late though, based on events taking place on the Syria-Israel border at this very moment.

I don’t know about you, but this Peace Circus is starting to insult my intelligence. Is Netanyahu Pennywise the Clown from Stephen King’s I.T., or am I just having a bad dream? At least a rogue intern got the best of this dangerous clown villain recently during a PowerPoint presentation :

A disgruntled intern slipped this slide into #bibi's speech about #Iran's nukes, it reminds people that #Israel tried to sell nukes to South Africa. Embarrassing! #Netanyahu pic.twitter.com/KdYAhdQA86

— Partisangirl 🇸🇾 (@Partisangirl) April 30, 2018

Thank you for reading Republic Standard. We publish this magazine and the Freebird Forum because we believe in free speech- but it doesn't come cheap! Will you make a small donation towards our running costs? You can make a difference by clicking here.

If you love free speech, we are building the platform for you! Read about how we are building FreebirdTV, open source video hosting with no thought-policing.

The Republic Standard Web Shop is now open! Every piece of merchandise you buy is a victory against the nerds.

from Republic Standard | Conservative Thought & Culture Magazine https://ift.tt/2KiwPUk via IFTTT