#The Negev Forum

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And then there's the Bedouin People no one's covering in the IDF/Hamas News

"Wahid al-Huzail is exhausted. For the past two months, the 51-year-old has been leading the Negev Bedouin Casualty Forum, a newly-formed NGO that was set up to support the families of Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel who were killed, wounded, or kidnapped during the Hamas-led October 7 assault. For all the extensive coverage in Israeli and international media on the plight of the hostages in Gaza and the communities most affected by the massacres, these victims have largely been forgotten. Seventeen Bedouin citizens from the Naqab (Negev) desert were killed that day, both as a result of rockets fired from Gaza and after being shot by militants who breached the fence that encages the Strip. A further six Bedouins were kidnapped and taken to Gaza; two of them were released as part of a hostage-prisoner exchange during last week’s temporary ceasefire, while the other four remain captives. “Do you understand that nobody is considering us?” al-Huzail asked, with desperation in his voice." "The youngest Bedouin victim, 5-year-old Yazan Abu Jama’a, was killed when a rocket fired from Gaza exploded close to his home in the village of Arara al-Naqab during the first hours of the war. Another victim, 50-year-old Abd al-Rahman Nasasra, was shot dead while trying to rescue people from the Nova music festival that was attacked by Hamas gunmen. Construction worker Amer Odeh Abu Sabila, a 25-year-old father of two, was also shot while trying to save a Jewish family near the Sderot police station. The list goes on and on. Then there are the abductees. Four of them were from the same family: Yousef al-Ziadna (53) and his three children, Hamza (22), Bilal (18), and Aisha (17), were all kidnapped while working at a barn on Kibbutz Holit (Aisha and Bilal have since been released). The other two Bedouin hostages are 53-year-old Farhan al-Qadi, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Magen where he works as a guard at the packing house; and 22-year-old Samer al-Talalqa, who worked at Kibbutz Nir Am."

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Netanyahu-Biden meeting illustrates the political madness of the U.S.-Israeli relationship

Joe Biden finally met with Benjamin Netanyahu. While the meeting was not in Washington but on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, it was nonetheless a positive step for Netanyahu, who got the long-sought meeting without in any way diminishing either his assault on the Israeli judiciary (which concerns so many Democrats) or his massive escalation of violence and annexation against the…

[palms-upturned]

Israeli committee discusses death penalty law for Palestinian fighters

Nov 20th, 10:45 GMT

The Israeli National Security Committee has convened to discuss a bill for the introduction of the death penalty against Palestinian fighters.

The proposal was advanced by the party of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

“The death penalty law for terrorists is no longer a matter of left and right … [it’s] a moral and essential law for the State of Israel,” said Ben-Gvir on X.

The proposal was met with great concern by family members of those taken captive during Hamas’s attack on October 7.

In a moving speech, Gil Dilkma, a cousin to one of the about 240 captives, pleaded with the minister to drop the legislation which could put at risk the lives of those taken captive in Gaza.

“Remove the law, if you have a heart,” he said, holding back tears.

Striking a similar note, the Missing Families Forum said in a statement that such discussion “endangers the lives of our loved ones, without promoting any public purpose”.

Far-right politicians, captives’ families split over death penalty bill

Nov 20th, 12:05 GMT

A member of the Israeli far-right Otzma Yehudit party yelled at a family member of a captive who showed opposition to a bill that would introduce the death penalty for captured Palestinian fighters.

“Stop talking about killing Arabs; start talking about saving Jews,” said a relative of one of the about 240 captives, according to Israeli media. His fear, shared by the Missing Families Forum, is that the legislation, if approved, could endanger the lives of their family members held in Gaza.

“You have no monopoly over pain,” Almog Cohen shouted back.

“You are silencing other families,” said Limor Son Har-Melech of the same party.

Jewish leaders criticise possible expansion of Israel’s judicial death penalty

Nov 20th, 14:00 GMT

The group L’chaim – Jews Against the Death Penalty has expressed alarm over the possible expansion of the statute, which could see Palestinian assailants being sentenced to death.

Earlier, we reported on a Knesset committee hearing over the controversial legislation.

“We urge the Knesset to reject any such proposals. Purely as a practical matter, enshrining capital punishment beyond how it already exists in Israeli law is unnecessary and will be an enticement to more terrorism and murder,” the group said.

“Acceptance of judicial executions as an Israeli norm is irresponsible and will cost innocent Israeli lives,” it said in a statement.

Relatives of some of the approximately 240 captives taken by Hamas on October 7 told the Knesset not to hold the hearing over concerns that it could derail chances of getting their relatives back.

Palestinian detainee was ‘beaten to death’: Prisoner rights groups

Nov 20th, 15:15 GMT

On Saturday, Israeli forces raided a cell in the Naqab/Negev prison and physically assaulted 10 Palestinian detainees, especially Thaer Abu Asab, a witness has said.

A released prisoner told the Palestinian Prisoners Society and the PA Commission for Detainees that Abu Asab, a 38-year-old from Qalqilia in the occupied West Bank, was brutally beaten.

“When his condition deteriorated, prison authorities initially refused to call for medical assistance. After about 90 minutes, a nurse inspected him and he was then taken away. We did not know what his fate was,” the released prisoner said in a statement.

The prisoners’ groups said Abu Asab, who was detained since 2005 and sentenced to 25 years in jail, was “assassinated” by Israeli authorities.

“This is part of Israel’s systemic assassinations against our prisoners, and it is premeditated,” the groups said, adding that five other detainees have died in jail since October 7.

(Emphasis mine)

[clicktheglobe]

Israel was warned: U.S. officials are concerned about efforts to reconvene Negev Forum and forge ties with Saudi Arabia amid deadly IDF raid

[thxnews]

Blinken and Bahraini Crown Prince Foster Security and Prosperity

  The Exact Transcript of the Meeting in Washington

SECRETARY ANTHONY BLINKEN:  Crown Prince Salman, Your Royal Highness, welcome back to the State Department, to Washington, a city that I know you know very well from your student days just up the road at American University.  We’ve had the chance to discuss that before.  Things have changed a little bit on campus, but we’re delighted to have you back in Washington. And to the National Security Advisor Sheikh Nasser, to my friend the Foreign Minister Al-Zayani, to the entire delegation from Bahrain:  Welcome, welcome, welcome. This moment reflects a great deal of hard work from our teams, and I want to applaud as well all of my colleagues on the American side for the work that they’ve put into this and, I believe, helps us define the very promising work ahead.  As both a major non-NATO ally and a major security partner, Bahrain is already one of the United States’ longest-standing and closest partners in the Middle East.  In today’s meeting, we’ll discuss how to deepen our strategic partnership, including through the framework that brings us here today: the Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement. This agreement deepens our cooperation in three very important ways. First, it expands our security and defense collaboration.  For more than 25 years, of course, Bahrain has hosted the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, and we stand shoulder to shoulder in our mission to secure critical shipping lanes that sustain the entire global economy.  This agreement will strengthen coordination between our armed forces and the integration of our intelligence capacities, allowing us to even better deter and respond to threats as they arise. Second, it enhances our economic relationship.  Since 2006, our free trade agreement has more than tripled trade and investment to about $3 billion a year.  Today’s agreement builds on this, in part by identifying new investment opportunities for the private sector partners in the United States. And third, at a moment when technology holds so much potential to better our lives, this agreement advances scientific and technical cooperation between our countries, including through increased information sharing and exchanges between our people.  And already we’re collaborating in areas like health security and digital technology.  I think we’ll see with today’s signing all of this become elevated.  We’ll start the process of working together on renewable energy, on carbon capture technologies, and other cutting-edge endeavors. This agreement is also the first binding U.S. international agreement of its kind to promote cooperation in developing and deploying trusted technologies, which are vital to protecting our critical systems and our peoples’ privacy – all of this from bad actors. But I think when you step back, at the heart of the agreement is a shared goal: working together to build a region that is more secure, that’s more prosperous, and that’s more connected to the world economy.  We’re looking forward to using this agreement as a framework for additional countries that may wish to join us in strengthening regional stability, economic cooperation, and technological innovation. In our meeting, Your Royal Highness, I also very much look forward to discussing ways to continue advancing regional integration – something that Bahrain has been in the forefront of doing.  This is the third anniversary, this week, of the Abraham Accords through which Bahrain became one of the first countries to normalize relations with Israel.  Bahrain has continued its leadership through the Negev Forum.  The foreign minister and I were participants in its first – in its first meeting.  Our two countries are co-leading efforts in the forum to strengthen cooperation on regional security and health, another very important item on our agenda today. We’ll also continue our dialogue on the full range of human rights issues which are a core pillar of the United States foreign policy.  That includes areas like combating trafficking in persons, where Bahrain continues to make important headway.  It also includes ensuring that fundamental freedoms are protected, which contributes to Bahrain’s progress. For more than 130 years now, Bahrain and the United States have forged a partnership that has evolved to meet the challenging needs of our people and the changing needs of our people, from Americans building a school and a hospital in Manama in the early 20th century, to the start of our diplomatic relations more than five decades ago, to our troops serving side by side in Operation Desert Storm in the 1990s. Today’s agreement that we’re about to sign builds on that very proud and important history.  It ensures that this vital relationship between our countries will continue to do what it needs to do, which is deliver for our people and, I believe, help build a more positive future for people throughout the region. So with that, again, it’s wonderful to have you here.  Let me turn this over to you. CROWN PRINCE AL KHALIFA:  Thank you.  Thank you, Mr. Secretary.  Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honor and a privilege to be standing in front of you on this historic day.  I have witnessed the closeness of our two countries and I have understood through deed and word what it has taken to get us to this point. Long ago, over 130 years ago, a group of missionaries came and established the first – we could call it hospital, but I think it was really just a – it was a small little health center that did become, in fact, a hospital in 1903.  We were the first forward operating base for the U.S. Navy in the Middle East, in the Kingdom of Bahrain – 1948, I believe.  We have consistently been the first to promulgate the free trade agreement that we did, as the first GCC country to sign it, and we are the first country to create the U.S. trade zone that we believe is going to be the foundation of something that we are both so passionately working towards. You articulated exactly what this agreement is about.  It is of, I believe, a sense of imperativeness, a need.  The world today is faced by a number of choices, people are faced by a number of choices: either the rise of authoritarianism or the growth of libertarianism.  And the international rules-based order that manifested itself in the early 19th century was the foundation for the freedom of trade, of the movement of ideas, of people all over the world, and we’re all beneficiaries of that.  And those common values – the values of a Bedouin in the desert of Arabia who could pick up his house and move if he didn’t like the level of rainfall he had or something – is essentially the freedom to go where one wants to go, to live how one wants to live, and to build a future for one’s children that is hopefully brighter than the one that they lived. This agreement, by focusing not only on security and defense, which is essential, but also on economy – on the economy, on people, and on technology, will be the foundation for a new global architecture, I believe – as it’s open-ended, it’s an open – it’s an open agreement; we will be welcoming more members, hopefully – that I think is as significant as the decisions that were taken after many of the global upheavals historically. So we are setting sail confidently.  We are reaffirming our direction.  And I couldn’t be more honored on behalf of his majesty to be here to sign this agreement on this day with you in Washington, D.C.  Thank you, Mr. Secretary. SECRETARY ANTHONY BLINKEN:  Thank you. (Applause.) MODERATOR:  Today the United States and the Kingdom of Bahrain are signing the Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement.  This agreement will enhance cooperation across a wide range of areas, from defense and security to emerging technology, trade, and investment.  It marks the latest development in the United States’ enduring commitment to Bahrain and the region in support of peace. SECRETARY ANTHONY BLINKEN:  Well, we have a pen that doesn’t want to cooperate, so I’m going to switch.  (Laughter.) MODERATOR:  And that concludes our signing ceremony. SECRETARY ANTHONY BLINKEN:  One more second.  One more. CROWN PRINCE AL KHALIFA:  We’ve got one more. (Chit-chat.) CROWN PRINCE AL KHALIFA:  Everything is in quadruple. SECRETARY ANTHONY BLINKEN:  You’re a lot faster than I am. (The agreement was signed.) CROWN PRINCE AL KHALIFA:  Perfect. SECRETARY ANTHONY BLINKEN:  Now it’s done.  (Applause.)  Well done, everyone.  Thank you.   Sources: THX News & US Department of State. Read the full article

[infosisraelnews]

Refroidissement dans les Accords d'Abraham ? La convention "Negev Forum" au Maroc devrait être reportée

Le sommet du “Forum du Néguev” qui devait se tenir dans quelques semaines au Maroc devrait être reporté et aura très probablement lieu aux États-Unis ou ailleurs, a appris Israel Hayom de sources politiques suite à la flambée sécuritaire en Israël au début du mois de Ramadan. Le « Negev Forum » est un rassemblement des ministres des affaires étrangères des États-Unis, d’Israël, des Émirats…

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Senior Israeli officials and their counterparts from Abraham Accords countries attended a two-day meeting in Abu Dhabi this week to prepare for the upcoming Negev Forum summit in Morocco later this year, the Times of Israel (TOI) reports. High-level delegations from Egypt and America, including US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, also participated in the meeting.

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Negev Forum Working Groups Meeting Begins In Abu Dhabi

Negev Forum Working Groups Meeting Begins In Abu Dhabi

ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM – 09th Jan, 2023) The first Negev Forum Working Groups Meeting began today in Abu Dhabi in the presence of representatives of the six member states, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Israel, and the United States, with the aim of further building bridges of communication and dialogue and promoting peaceful coexistence…

[thejewishlink]

Govt. Approves Establishment of Negev Forum to Implement Regional Cooperation of Abraham Accords

Govt. Approves Establishment of Negev Forum to Implement Regional Cooperation of Abraham Accords

By TPS • 18 September, 2022 Jerusalem, 18 September, 2022 (TPS) — The Government approved Sunday Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s proposal for establishing a regional mechanism – the Negev Forum, which will implement the understandings that resulted in the Negev Summit. The first Negev Forum, held in March, was attended by six foreign ministers: Lapid, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Minister…

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MYTH Human Rights Watch has proven Israel is an “apartheid” state. FACT In its longstanding campaign of demonization of Israel, Human Rights Watch (HRW) adopted a new tack in its latest report. Knowing the absurd and ineffective efforts of anti-Israel propagandists to compare Israel to Afrikaner South Africa, HRW decided to write a new definition of “apartheid” it could selectively apply to one state – the Jewish state. HRW relies on definitions that apply to the systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group. Neither Jews nor Palestinians are racial groups so HRW expands the definition to include groups – actually only Palestinians – that share descent, national or ethnic origin. As Professor Gerald Steinberg noted, “Beyond South Africa, no other regime or government has been deemed to meet the international definition of apartheid, not even murderous and oppressive regimes practicing separation based on race, religion, and gender such as Saudi Arabia and China” (Gerald Steinberg, “Human Rights Watch demonizes Israel via propaganda of apartheid,” Jerusalem Post, April 27, 2021). “The report mocks the history of apartheid by using its hateful memory to describe a grab bag of policies that HRW happens to disagree with, and in many cases are not in effect, or were never in effect. Apartheid is not just a term for policies one dislikes,” the Kohelet Policy Forum wrote in its response to the report (“HRW Crosses the Threshold into Falsehoods and Anti-Semitic Propaganda,” KPF, April 26, 2021). For its part, the Biden administration wasted no time rejecting HRW’s conclusion: “It is not the view of this administration that Israel’s actions constitute apartheid,” a State Department spokesperson said (“US disagrees that Israel carrying out ‘apartheid,’” France24,” April 28, 2021). Too often, however, truth does not matter. When a human rights organization, even one with a long history of anti-Israel bias, makes an inflammatory accusation it is assured of attracting media coverage, as was the case with HRW’s report. Journalists rarely factcheck the material before quoting the report and its authors in stories with incendiary headlines. By the time the information is evaluated by third parties, it is too late because the original, unverified story has been transmitted around the world to become fodder for Israel’s detractors. Graphic courtesy Elder of Zion Thus, you are unlikely to see any quotes about the report from Judge Richard Goldstone, who was appointed to the Constitutional Court of South Africa by Nelson Mandela, played an important role in that country’s transition to democracy, and was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate alleged crimes committed during Israel’s operation in Gaza in 2009. In a New York Times essay, “Israel and the Apartheid Slander,” Goldstone wrote, “In Israel there is no apartheid. Nothing there comes close to the definition of apartheid under the 1998 Rome Statute” used by HRW in an effort to get around the specious comparison to South Africa (New York Times, October 31, 2011). In a rebuke to the equally fallacious claims made in the recent B’Tselem report, Goldstone noted, “there is no intent to maintain ‘an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group.’ This is a critical distinction, even if Israel acts oppressively toward Palestinians there. South Africa’s enforced racial separation was intended to permanently benefit the white minority, to the detriment of other races. By contrast, Israel has agreed in concept to the existence of a Palestinian state in Gaza and almost all of the West Bank, and is calling for the Palestinians to negotiate the parameters.” Presciently anticipating the similarly misguided argument of John Brennan, Goldstone notes, “until there is a two-state peace, or at least as long as Israel’s citizens remain under threat of attacks from the West Bank and Gaza, Israel will see roadblocks and similar measures as necessary for self-defense, even as Palestinians feel oppressed.” Speaking to those who demonize Israel while claiming to be interested in peace, Goldstone concluded, “The charge that Israel is an apartheid state is a false and malicious one that precludes, rather than promotes, peace and harmony.” Hirsh Goodman, another native South African, said HRW “is blind to fact and reality.” He called the report, “a disgrace to the memory of the millions who suffered under that policy in South Africa” (Hirsh Goodman, “I left apartheid South Africa. Applying the term to Israel is disingenuous,” Forward, April 27, 2021). Goodman noted that HRW is an advocate of discrimination against Jews, supporting the anti-Semitic BDS movement, and that the report came out as an Israeli Arab, a member of an Arab party in the Knesset, and an Islamist no less, had the potential to determine who would be Israel’s next prime minister. In the previous election, a coalition of Arab parties was the third largest faction in the Knesset. This is discrimination? What about Palestinians who are not Israeli citizens? They have the opportunity to vote for their leaders in Palestinian elections, which were last held in 2006 (the one scheduled for May was just cancelled because the president, serving the 16th year of his four-year term, is afraid of losing). HRW apparently has no problem with the fact that a Jew cannot vote in a Palestinian election even though the outcome will affect Israel or that a Palestinian who has acquired Israeli citizenship also cannot vote in the Palestinian Authority (Elder of Ziyon, “Another Double Standard: Palestinian Law Excludes Israelis From Voting,” Algemeiner, March 26, 2021). HRW condemns Israel for treating Palestinians in the disputed territories and Israeli citizens differently, but Israel has no obligation to treat them the same. In the Oslo Accords, Israel agreed the Palestinians should be responsible for their own lives in virtually all areas except security; hence, about 98 percent of Palestinians are governed by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. The fact that both deny their own people civil and human rights goes unmentioned by HRW. HRW also ignores reality while applying a standard that would make nearly every country, including the United States, guilty of apartheid. Take, for example, the report’s criticism of the Law of Return. Yes, it grants automatic citizenship to Jews, but non-Jews are also eligible to become citizens under naturalization procedures similar to those in other countries. More than two million non-Jews are Israeli citizens and 21% of the population are Arabs who enjoy equal rights under the law with Jewish citizens. Meanwhile, Ireland has a law allowing immigrants of “Irish descent or Irish associations” to be exempt from ordinary naturalization rules while Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany and a number of other democratic states also have policies similar to Israel’s Law of Return and yet are not labeled by HRW as apartheid. HRW apparently has no problem with Arab nations that have laws that facilitate the naturalization of foreign Arabs, with the exception of Palestinians, or with Jordan’s “law of return that provides citizenship to all former residents of Palestine – except Jews. Graphic courtesy Elder of Zion For HRW it is a crime for Israelis to want a Jewish majority in the Jewish state. Are Muslim states equally guilty for not accepting a non-Muslim majority? The report castigates Israel for placing restrictions on the movement of Palestinians, ignoring that checkpoints and the security fence were created to protect Israeli citizens – Jews and non-Jews from terrorists. It accuses Israel of “Judaization” of Jerusalem, the Galilee and the Negev, implying that Jews should not be allowed to live in parts of Israel where there are “significant Palestinian populations” (which is not the case in the Negev), including its capital. Israel is also condemned for not agreeing to commit suicide by allowing the 5.7 million Palestinians UNRWA calls “refugees” to live in Israel. To refute the charge that Israel is therefore discriminating against Palestinians simply refer to the thousands of Palestinians who left the country and were allowed to return and become citizens (“Israel Claims 184,000 Palestinian Refugees have Returned since 1948,” Al Bawaba, January 1, 2001). Israel has also repeatedly offered to accept a limited number of Palestinians as part of a peace agreement (Gene Currivan, “ISRAEL TO ACCEPT 100,000 REFUGEES; Offer, to Go Into Effect When Peace Comes, Is Delivered to Arabs at Lausanne,” New York Times, July 30, 1949). Summarizing the absurdity of HRW’s argument, one writer tweeted: “Israel: The only country that’s shrinks when it colonizes, grows the population it’s genociding, fattens the people it starves and consistently increases quality of life and freedoms on every metric for the people it apartheids” (@TheMossadIL, April 29, 2021). Contrast Israel’s behavior with that of the Arab states which deny Palestinians living within their borders, sometimes for decades, the right to become citizens. The Lebanese government goes even further by denying Palestinians a host of rights and placing limits on where they can live and work (Lisa Khoury, “Palestinians in Lebanon: ‘It’s like living in a prison,’” Al Jazeera, December 16, 2017). If you want to talk about discrimination, consider that it is a crime for a Palestinian to sell land to a Jew and a fatwa was issued by the preacher of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Ikrimah Sabri, saying it is permitted to kill the seller (“Khatib Al-Aqsa issues a Sharia fatwa regarding the diversion or sale of real estate to settlement associations,” Sama News Agency, April 8, 2021). Ironically, the author of the HRW report, Omar Shakir, was happy to live in Israel (imagine a black person choosing to live under the Afrikaner regime) until the Supreme Court revoked his residency permit. He is an advocate of the BDS campaign, which raises the question, Why would HRW choose someone who objects to Israel’s existence as the arbiter of its behavior (Ben-Dror Yemini, “A most dangerous and mendacious report,” Ynet, April 27, 2021)? Highlighting HRW’s hypocrisy, the Jerusalem Post reported that one of the organization’s board members runs a venture-capital fund that invests in Israeli start-ups (Lahav Harkov, “Human Rights Watch chairman invests in Israel as he calls it ‘apartheid,’” Jerusalem Post, May 2, 2021). It is also worth remembering that HRW uses its anti-Israel record as a fundraising tool, as we learned when Sarah Leah Whitson, the director of HRW’s Middle East and North Africa division, went to Saudi Arabia to raise money by highlighting the group’s demonization of Israel (David Bernstein, “Human Rights Watch Goes to Saudi Arabia,” Wall Street Journal, July 15, 2009). The founder of HRW, Robert Bernstein, said in 2009 the organization had become devoted to “helping those who wish to turn Israel into a pariah state.” Contrasting Israel with the countries HRW once focused on, he noted it had “at least 80 human rights organizations, a vibrant free press, a democratically elected government, a judiciary that frequently rules against the government, a politically active academia, multiple political parties and, judging by the amount of news coverage, probably more journalists per capita than any other country in the world.” Writing in the context of a biased HRW investigation into Israeli actions in Gaza, Bernstein lamented that “Israel, the repeated victim of aggression, faces the brunt of Human Rights Watch’s criticism” (Robert L. Bernstein, “Rights Watchdog, Lost in the Mideast,” New York Times, (October 19, 2009). Israel’s government is not immune to criticism and many of its policies are subject to vigorous debate and, in some cases, harsh condemnation by Israelis. What distinguishes Israel from the countries HRW should be investigating is the internal democratic processes that lead to self-examination, more enlightened policies and, where legally warranted, punishment for criminal activity. Nevertheless, Israel’s detractors and anti-Semites will use the report to reinforce their existing prejudices and try to convince the uninformed of HRW’s alternative reality. It also feeds into the BDS narrative by arguing it is not just the “occupation” that is bad; Israel itself “is intrinsically racist and evil” and therefore should be dismantled (Herb Keinon, “The HRW apartheid report: Does it matter?” Jerusalem Post, April 27, 2021).

Jewish Virtual Library refutes the odious myths perpetrated by “Human Rights Watch” (except Jewish rights) in their latest edition of “Myths versus Facts”. 

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The Abraham Accords are starting to fall apart

The so-called Abraham Accords were always on shaky ground. Such is to be expected of a deal that is struck between an apartheid state and a collection of some of the most authoritarian dictatorships in the world. The Accords are already starting to crack under the weight of their own hypocrisy coupled with the radical crimes Israel is committing which its Arab friends cannot afford to ignore.…

[eretzyisrael]

Our Existential Choice

In my previous post I asked why Israel only “plays defense” in recent times. Why do we only bat the rockets away with Iron Dome, instead of ending our enemies’ ability to launch them? Why do we bomb empty Hamas installations in Gaza in response to incendiary balloons and machine-gun fire that are intended to burn and kill? Why did we allow Hezbollah to rearm? Why do we allow Hamas to mount its human wave attacks against the Gaza border? Why do we always let our enemies strike first? When they score a goal, why do we give them back the ball and tell them to try again?

I argued that this was not the case in the pre-state period or during the War of Independence, when our military and diplomatic policy was aggressive and creative, despite our relative military and economic weakness. I suggested that this was because in the past, the nation had a single overriding objective – the establishment of a sovereign state, and there was general agreement that there was no option other than success.

Now the nation has no national objective, such as the one the Palestinian Arabs strive for (our disappearance), or the imperial ambitions of the Iranian, Russian, and Turkish regimes. Israel today wishes only for a quiet time in which its people can cultivate their own gardens. Just let us alone, please, we say.

Unfortunately, that isn’t the way the historical development of nations works. Struggle is necessary for national survival. Complacency is the precursor of death. If you snooze, you lose.

The bloody fighting of WWII paradoxically revitalized American society after the Depression, and the struggle against Soviet communism focused its energies in the 1945-1990 period. It could have become the champion of the Western world against the armies of Islam that almost immediately threw down the gauntlet after the passing of the Soviet Union; but it chose not to do so. Perhaps because it saw itself as a secular nation, it was unable to grasp the meaning of the first WTC attack, the one against the USS Cole, the Khobar Towers bombing, and of course 9/11. It chose to shut its eyes to the challenge, and hasn’t reopened them yet.

I think Americans have a hard time seeing that they are involved (whether they want to be or not) in a long-term historical struggle with the Islamic world in part because their society functions primarily in the short term. Their politics are short-term, with a rapid changing of the guard every eight years or less. Their idea of history is short-term as well; they see the birth of their nation as the beginning of a brand new, even messianic age, and nothing that came before has the power to impinge upon it. Their enemies, though, take a very long view: 9/11 was the 318th anniversary of the Muslim defeat at the Battle of Vienna. They remember.

America’s complacency is enabled by the knowledge that it is massively powerful, protected from invasion by broad oceans, and at least in the past, had an industrial engine that could be turned to military purposes quickly to greatly outproduce its enemies.

On the other hand, Israel is tiny, has limited manpower and little strategic depth, is surrounded by enemies, and is dependent on the US for resupply. Complacency is not an option. But a large and powerful minority in Israeli society has turned to fantasy. This group, which includes the intellectual elite of our country, also shut their eyes: they shut them to the narratives and objectives of our enemies. They believe that our enemies think as we do that the greatest good comes from peaceful economic and social progress. Nothing could be more wrong; and yet, nothing that our enemies say or do can disabuse them of the notion that if only the right formula (always involving our giving up land, control, money, honor, etc.) can be found, then the conflict will be over, and we can all cultivate our gardens.

Most Israelis don’t belong to the deluded minority. But that minority holds a veto power over our politics, as well as a lock on our media, legal system, and culture. And so while they don’t have the ability to precipitate national suicide – though they almost succeeded with the Oslo Accords – the state is paralyzed and can’t act effectively against its enemies.

Because the minority believes that appeasement is the path to peace, they try to ensure that we don’t create permanent hard feelings on the part of our enemies. But the rest of the nation demands action against terrorism or rocket attacks. So as a compromise, we have adopted the strategy of “painless retaliation,” in which something is bombed, while great care is taken that nobody is hurt.

The rest of the nation understands that we are involved in a zero-sum situation. Either we will push our enemies out or they will push us out. Most of us understand the erosion of Jewish sovereignty in Judea/Samaria as well as in the Negev, the Galilee, and Jerusalem, as a sign that we are losing. But the fantasizing minority thinks that the Jewish presence in Judea/Samaria and especially eastern Jerusalem is “an obstacle to peace.” So as a compromise, we allow Jews to live there, but limit the construction of housing for them.

Human societies live or die by struggle. Struggle creates vitality, while lack of struggle breeds weakness. Sooner or later a culture that has stopped fighting is conquered by one that hasn’t. Our defeatist minority wants to stop; indeed, its spokesperson could be former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who said in a 2005 speech to the Israel Policy Forum that “[w]e are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our enemies…” He actually said that.

Unlike Iran, Russia, and Turkey, we don’t desire to create a caliphate or an empire. But we are facing an existential choice: we can fight for what is ours, Eretz Yisrael, and at the same time strengthen and revitalize our society. Or, on the other hand, we can give up, like tired Ehud Olmert.

Abu Yehuda

[clicktheglobe]

Israel was warned: U.S. officials are concerned about efforts to reconvene Negev Forum and forge ties with Saudi Arabia amid deadly IDF raid

[kittiponruchakanit]

World of Warcraft pandemic

The Corrupted Blood incident was a virtual pandemic in the MMORPG World of Warcraft, which began on September 13, 2005, and lasted for one week. The epidemic began with the introduction of the new raid Zul'Gurub and its end boss Hakkar the Soulflayer. When confronted and attacked, Hakkar would cast a hit point-draining and highly contagious debuff spell called "Corrupted Blood" on players.

Due to a programming oversight, when hunters or warlocks dismissed their pets, those pets would keep any active debuffs when summoned again. Non-player characters could contract the debuff, and could not be killed by it but could still spread it to players; in effect, this turned them into asymptomatic carriers and a form of vector for the debuff. At least three of the game's servers were affected. The difficulty in killing Hakkar may have limited the spread of the disease. Discussion forum posters described seeing hundreds of bodies lying in the streets of the towns and cities. Deaths in World of Warcraft are not permanent, as characters are resurrected shortly afterward. However, dying in such a way is disadvantageous to the player's character and incurs inconvenience.

Reaction

At the time, World of Warcraft had more than two million players all over the world. Before Blizzard Entertainment commented on the outbreak, there was debate whether it was intentional or a glitch. On Blizzard's forums, posters were commenting about how it was a fantastic world event, and calling it "the day the plague wiped out Ironforge." An editor of a World of Warcraft fan site described it as the first proper world event. After the incident began, Blizzard received calls from angry customers complaining about how they just died. Some players abandoned the game altogether until the problem was fixed. The hard resets were described as a "blunt ending" by Gamasutra.

The people who spread the disease out of malice were described by Security Focus editor Robert Lemos as terrorists of World of Warcraft.

Model for epidemic research

In March 2007, Ran D. Balicer, an epidemiologist physician at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba, Israel, published an article in the journal Epidemiology that described the similarities between this outbreak and the then-recent SARS and avian influenza outbreaks. Dr. Balicer suggested that role-playing games could serve as an advanced platform for modeling the dissemination of infectious diseases.In a follow-up article in the journal Science, the game Second Life was suggested as another possible platform for these studies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention contacted Blizzard Entertainment and requested statistics on this event for research on epidemics, but was told that it was a glitch.

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrupted_Blood_incident

[humanrightsupdates]

Prominent bedouin leader Sheikh Sayyah Abu Mdeighim al-Turi’s early release was scheduled on 15 May 2019. However, on that day Israeli police requested from the Israel Prison Service to include two conditions for release. First, a pledge from Sheikh Sayyah not to live in his village of al-‘Araqib in the Naqab/Negev, in southern Israel. Second, to remain under a night-time house arrest regime at his family’s house in the city of Rahat until October 2019, when his original prison sentence ends. The first condition was dropped following his lawyer’s intervention, and Sheikh Sayyah refused the second condition, and, therefore, has been not released from prison.

Sheikh Sayyah Abu Mdeighim al-Turi, 69, was born in al-‘Araqib village in Negev/Naqab in southern Israel. He is the head of al-‘Araqib village, which the Israeli government considers illegal. He is also a prominent leader in the fight for the right of al-‘Araqib residents to adequate housing and a defender of Bedouins’ land rights in the Negev/Naqab at large.

On 24 December 2017, the Beersheba Magistrate Court convicted him of 19 counts of trespassing, 19 counts of unlawful entry into public land and one count of breach of law. The court sentenced him to 10 months in prison, five months' probation and a fine of 36,000 ILS (9,700 USD). On 21 November 2018, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected Sheikh Sayyah’s appeal. On 25 December 2018, Sheikh Sayyah Abu Mdeighim al-Turi began to serve a 10-month sentence for his role in the non-violent struggle for Bedouins’ rights in Israel.  

The village of al-‘Araqib is located north of Beersheba in southern Israel’s Negev/Naqab Desert, in the middle of a large forestation project expanding over 172 acres, by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), a semi-governmental Israeli organization. According to the Negev Coexistence Forum (NCF), an Israeli NGO focusing solely on problems confronting inhabitants of the Negev, the village of al-‘Araqib was established during the Ottoman period on land that was purchased by the village’s residents at that time. In the early 1950s, residents of al-‘Araqib were forcibly displaced from their village after it was declared a military zone. In the 1970s, residents submitted multiple claims of land ownership to the Israeli government, but they were all rejected. In the early 2000s, residents returned to live on their lands in al-‘Araqib without permission from the Israeli authorities, making the village unrecognized. On 27 July 2010, the entire village of al-‘Araqib was demolished by Israeli forces, and since then the village has been destroyed at least 144 times. At least 400 people lived in the village before its demolition, according to the NCF. The population has since decreased and residents now live in an area nearby, where they were forced to move after the repeated demolitions.

As no health and education services are provided in the village, residents travel to the city of Rahat, which is six kilometres away, to access such services. The village is also disconnected from the Israeli water and electricity grids, forcing residents to rely on private generators, solar panels and purchasing water brought in trucks at a much higher price.

For nine years, residents of the village have been peacefully protesting on a weekly basis to demand government recognition of their ownership of their lands and to commemorate the demolition of their village. Sheikh Sayyah was leading the movement, which led to members of his family being detained and interrogated several times on suspicion of trespassing and unlawful use of state lands. Two of Sheikh Sayyah's sons, Saif and Aziz, are currently on trial for similar offences.

The conviction and imprisonment of Sheikh Sayyah are part of a years-long struggle between the State of Israel and the Negev Bedouins. The village of al-‘Araqib is one of more than 40 Palestinian villages in Israel, many of which are located in Israel’s Negev desert, not recognized by the Israeli authorities, despite the residents having Israeli citizenship and long-established claims to their lands.

The Israeli authorities’ actions in al-‘Araqib systematically violate the villagers’ right to adequate housing, a human right, enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which is legally binding on Israel. Amnesty International has repeatedly condemned demolitions that aim to forcibly evict residents of al-‘Araqib from the land they have lived on for generations.

Take action - write before 5 July 2019

[dermontag]

Erster Negev-Gipfel In der Wüste erfüllt sich für Israel ein Traum 28.03.2022, 20:21 Uhr Für Israel ist es ein diplomatischer Erfolg. Erstmals kommen in der Negev-Wüste Außenminister vier arabischer Staaten und der USA zusammen. Die Stimmung ist entspannt - die Themen könnten nicht weniger ernst sein. Bei einem historischen Gipfeltreffen in der Negev-Wüste sind Israel, die USA und vier arabische Staaten näher zusammengerückt und haben so ein Zeichen gegen den Iran gesetzt. Sie wollten sich künftig regelmäßig auf hoher Ebene treffen, sagte der israelische Außenminister Jair Lapid in Sde Boker im Beisein seiner Amtskollegen aus den USA, Ägypten, Bahrain, Marokko und den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten (VAE). "Wir haben entschieden, den Negev-Gipfel zu einem dauerhaften Forum zu machen." In einer symbolischen Geste stellten sich die sechs Minister am Ende in eine Reihe und reichten sich über Kreuz die Hände. Zuvor hatten sie über unterschiedliche Themen gesprochen. Vor allem Israel hat die Sorge, die von den USA angestrebte Rückkehr zum internationalen Atomabkommen mit dem Iran werde letztlich den Weg Teherans zum Bau von Nuklearwaffen ebnen. Es sieht sich durch den Erzfeind in seiner Existenz bedroht. Besonders die Golfstaaten teilen diese Sorge. Der demonstrative Schulterschluss mit den verbündeten arabischen Staaten dient auch als klares Signal gegen aggressive Aktivitäten Teherans in der Region. "Die gemeinsamen Fähigkeiten, die wir aufbauen, machen unseren gemeinsamen Feinden Angst und schrecken sie ab - vor allem den Iran und seine Verbündeten", sagte Lapid. Für Israel bedeutet der Gipfel in herzlicher Atmosphäre die Art von Akzeptanz in der Region, von der es immer geträumt hat. Eine solche Zusammenkunft sei noch vor einigen Jahren undenkbar gewesen, sagte auch US-Außenminister Antony Blinken. Der Ort des Gipfeltreffens könnte symbolischer nicht sein: in dem Wüstenort Sde Boker, in dem Staatsgründer David Ben Gurion begraben liegt. "Du bist nicht nur ein Partner, Du bist ein Freund" Israel hat binnen 18 Monaten diplomatische Beziehungen mit Bahrain, den VAE, Marokko und Sudan aufgenommen. Zuvor hatte der jüdische Staat nur mit Ägypten und Jordanien Friedensverträge unterzeichnet. Als Hauptmotor der Annäherung galten wirtschaftliche Erwägungen. Marokkos Außenminister Nasser Bourita sagte jedoch auch: "Wir sind heute hier, weil wir ehrlich, aufrichtig und tief an Frieden glauben." Der VAE-Außenminister Abdullah bin Sajid sagte zu Lapid: "Jair, Du bist nicht nur ein Partner, Du bist ein Freund." Bei dem Gipfeltreffen in Sde Boker war kein palästinensischer Vertreter dabei, auch Israels Nachbar Jordanien blieb fern. Während sich die sechs Außenminister in Sde Boker näherkamen, traf Palästinenserpräsident Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah demonstrativ den jordanischen König Abdullah II. Blinken und seine arabischen Amtskollegen betonten allerdings, die neue regionale Zusammenarbeit sei kein Ersatz für eine Friedenslösung Israels mit den Palästinensern. Beide Seiten müssten "ein gleiches Maß an Freiheit genießen", sagte Blinken. Lapid erklärte, man öffne gemeinsam mit den USA "eine Tür für alle Völker der Region, einschließlich der Palästinenser, und bieten ihnen an, den Weg von Terror und Zerstörung mit einer gemeinsamen Zukunft von Fortschritt und Erfolg auszutauschen". Das Gipfeltreffen wurde überschattet von einem neuen tödlichen Anschlag in der israelischen Küstenstadt Chadera. Alle arabischen Außenminister verurteilten die Tat zweier israelischer Araber entschieden. Sie nährt weiter die Sorge vor einer neuen Eskalation der Gewalt im kommenden Monat - wenn die Muslime den Ramadan begehen, die Christen Ostern und die Juden Pessach. Dies betrifft Israel und die Palästinensergebiete gleichermaßen. Vor allem Ägypten war immer wieder hilfreich bei einer Eindämmung der Spannungen zwischen Israel und militanten Palästinenserorganisationen. "Wir müssen uns Extremismus und Terrorismus entgegenstellen, für die Sicherheit und Stabilität der Region", sagte der ägyptische Außenminister Samih Schukri.