President Trump's Recognition of Jerusalem

President Donald Trump never fails to surprise. It is always the context in which he makes his predictable announcements and the timing that could not be worse. This president is the most unconventional president that the US has ever had in all its history. His announcement that the US will officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s eternal capital and that he will be ordering the US Embassy to be moved to Jerusalem will create repercussions in the Palestinian world if not the whole Arab world and its allies.

Trump recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital, reversing longtime U.S. policy

 In Israel, these announcements of Trump have met with great applause. Naturally, the Government Coalition is head over heels in euphoria and is close to dancing the hora. Was this Trump announcement really necessary?

We are all aware that Israel’s Knesset is in Jerusalem and this makes Jerusalem de facto capital of Israel and this does not warrant Trump’s announcement on this issue. The status quo at present on Jerusalem was never an issue and its final status has been recognized as an essential part of a final settlement between Israel and the Palestinians when both sides re-negotiate a lasting peace. Trump has put the cart before the horse because of his usual hubris and total lack of foresight. It is doubtful whether he has any plan as to how to get peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian initiated.   

What Trump has done may reap praises from the present right-wing in Israel as well as providing an excuse for the Palestinians to threaten Israel with terror attacks that will result in unnecessary suffering for both sides. Trump does not understand that the Palestinians do not resemble the Swiss or any other European nation in their logic and rationality with whom one can negotiate a “peace deal” (to use Trumpist terminology). They are driven by mantras of fantasy and hatred for Israel and if it is not the Jerusalem issue it will be another issue that can ignite the Palestinian leaders to goad their people into committing violence against Israelis. The issue of the status of Jerusalem has been a hot potato since Israel’s establishment. The problem between Israel and the Palestinians is an existential one and will always remain glowing embers until some world statesman puts his/her foot in it by saying things that are best left unsaid for the sake of preventing violence and bloodshed.

Already there are threatening rumblings in the Palestinian leadership about Trump’s announcement that will reverberate across the Middle East and may even threaten the trust that is in its very initial stages between Israel and Saudi Arabia and may even threaten Israel’s tenuous relations with Egypt and Jordan. Is this really necessary? We, in Israel, do not need Trump’s announcements on Jerusalem as it is like waving a red rag to a bull. It is also detrimental to the interests of the US as well as Israel. In fact, there are reports of Israeli soldiers clashing with Palestinians who are protesting Trump’s Jerusalem decision. The clashes have already started between the Palestinians and the IDF. Trump has already struck a match on the already glowing embers. This is the first time that a US president must bear the blame for an unnecessary provocation.

There is an old Jewish saying that says that it is better to be wise rather than to be right. This is most applicable to Trump, who is far from being wise. There are certain things that are better left unsaid in order to avoid senseless violence and bloodshed. This is so true in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Trump appears to have blown it.

Permanent Palestinian Residents of Jerusalem are Entitled to Israeli Citizenship

What is the present status of Jerusalem? According to Israel, Jerusalem is a united city and will remain so. In 1980, Israel passed the "Jerusalem Law", stating that "Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel", thereby formalizing its annexation of East Jerusalem.1 Surely this means that those born in Jerusalem are entitled to Israeli Citizenship by birth. There are many Palestinian permanent residents of East Jerusalem, who do not hold Israeli Citizenship and do not have equal rights to West Jerusalem Israelis even though they were born and lived there for generations.

In the 1967 census, the Israeli authorities registered 66,000 Palestinian residents (44,000 residing in the area known before the 1967 war as East Jerusalem; and 22,000, in the West Bank area annexed to Jerusalem after the war).2

These East Jerusalem Palestinians were born in East Jerusalem and have been living in Jerusalem for generations. They suffer from discrimination and are disenfranchised. Many live in poverty and the infrastructures in the areas where they live are poor. Their education facilities are not as good as in Israel proper. Jerusalem unity is totally artificial demographically and in practice. East Jerusalemites do have the vote in Municipal Elections

If one examines the East Jerusalem Facts and Figures 2017 published by The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), this is clear.

It is an infringement of human rights when East Jerusalem Palestinians born in Jerusalem are denied Israeli Citizenship. They should have the option of applying for Israeli Citizenship. If East Jerusalem is part of Israel, as the government claims on the grounds that Jerusalem is united, then its citizens should have equal rights to those living in Israel proper. Internationally the status of East Jerusalem is controversial and when it suits Israel to view it as not part of United Jerusalem vis a vis its Palestinian permanent residents, something's not right.

Since the annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967, Israeli authorities have promoted the two-fold goal of expanding the city’s Jewish population and reducing its Palestinian population. Various steps have been adopted to achieve this objective, including the isolation of East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, land appropriation, and discriminatory policies on planning and construction and budget allotment. Furthermore, although the annexation of East Jerusalem and its residents was a decision made by Israel and not by the people who live there, Israeli authorities treat East Jerusalem Palestinians as if they had made a voluntary decision to immigrate to Israel. Therefore, the authorities void Palestinians’ residency status and social benefits if they do not meet the restrictive criteria originally formulated for foreign residents.3

Daniel Seidemann, an Israeli lawyer specializing in issues related to Jerusalem and its residents, told Al-Monitor that the residency issue for Palestinians in East Jerusalem has been left vague by a collective Israeli decision-making process.4  

One cannot really have it both ways. Jerusalem is united when it comes to consideration of automatic citizenship for Jews living there according to the Law of Return, but not for Palestinian permanent residents born there. This is discrimination no matter how one views it. If there was an Arab East Jerusalem not part of the same Jerusalem Municipality and a separate entity, part of Palestine, then the eternal status of being a permanent resident of East Jerusalem would be justified

The cabinet this week approved a plan submitted by Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze'ev Elkin to encourage schools in East Jerusalem to teach an Israeli curriculum as opposed to the Palestinian school curriculum.5 If this is the case, surely this strengthens the East Jerusalem Palestinians’ case for Israeli Citizenship if they so desire.

Integration of schools in Jerusalem with Jewish and Palestinian children studying together from a young age will contribute to true coexistence without any side compromising on their culture. By achieving this, both sides will learn to accommodate each other in friendship and understanding. Both sides will learn from each other about each other's’ culture and traditions.

There are reports a few years ago of a growing trend amongst East Jerusalem Permanent Residents applying for Israeli citizenship.

If Jerusalem does become the shared capital of a future Palestinian State and Israel if this will occur, which I doubt very strongly under the present circumstance, the East Jerusalemites would have a clear choice in that matter. Jewish neighborhoods built by the government on land annexed to Jerusalem in 1967, in which 190,000 Israelis presently live; These large settlements were originally built in order to prevent such a solution and to isolate East Jerusalem from the West Bank.6

What is clear at present is that the present status of East Jerusalemite Palestinians is unsatisfactory for the reasons mentioned earlier in this article.

1. 28 May. 2017, http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/05/jerusalem-capital-israel-170524091310050.html. Accessed 16 Jun. 2017.
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Jerusalem. Accessed 18 Jun. 2017.
3. "East Jerusalem | B'Tselem." http://www.btselem.org/topic/jerusalem. Accessed 16 Jun. 2017.
4.  28 Mar. 2017, http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/03/israel-ruling-grant-jerusalem-palestinians-residency.html. Accessed 16 Jun. 2017.
5.  29 May. 2017, http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Israel-to-introduce-education-curriculum-in-east-Jerusalem-494235. Accessed 16 Jun. 2017.
6. https://settlementwatcheastjerusalem.wordpress.com/a-brief-history-of-east-jerusalem/. Accessed 18 Jun. 2017.

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Jerusalem - A City more Divided than Ever!

Israelis wave flags as they celebrate Jerusalem Day outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City 

This past week, almost coinciding with the glitch-filled Trump visit, including the notorious, loutish behavior of MK Oren Hazan, who pushed his way through to take a selfie with President Donald Trump, which was the only achievement of Trump’s State visit to Israel. Another celebration took place after Trump and his retinue boarded the plane to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis.

But as to whether the US considers Jerusalem to be in Israel, whether in the eastern or western part of the city, that question remains unanswered, even after Trump's ceremonial visit.1

Some Israeli politicians have felt that Trump's visit to Jerusalem is a sign of obvious recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the city, including the Old City.2

This celebration - the 50th Anniversary of the capture of Jerusalem during the Six Day War of 1967. There was tremendous euphoria when Eastern Jerusalem fell into the hands of Israel at the time and for a few years after that until the Yom Kippur War of October 1973.

Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed it into Jerusalem, together with the additional surrounding territory.3

The cracks in this euphoria began when settlements were built in occupied territories for religious Zionist zealots. These occupied territories are controversial and Israel was not able to enjoy the fruits of victory for very long as a new reality of illegal settlements were established, including in areas around Eastern Jerusalem that belonged to East Jerusalem Palestinians.

Jerusalem, while being united territorially, was never united demographically and still remains so to this day. This year, while Israel celebrated the unity of Jerusalem, it became clear that cracks in that unity is growing wider and wider so much so that those who celebrated and made themselves the most felt were the right wing, religious Zionists.

An activist with IfNotNow is carried away by Israeli police during a Jerusalem Day protest, Jerusalem, May 24, 2017. (JC/Activestills.org)

It became a political fanfare of showing who are the bosses of Jerusalem today! The Israeli flag waving, tzitzi-dangling, kippa-cladded youngsters of the extremist right wing Zionist religious, Bayit HaYehudi Party, (whose leader is Naftali Bennett) and the religious, fascist, extremist, MK and Deputy-Speaker, Bezalel Smotrich, were raucously parading the streets.

It was a frightening spectacle to watch.

These noisy demonstrations’ sole purpose was to provoke the East Jerusalem Palestinians and those who are against the occupation seeking a just solution to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. Most secular Israelis were not part of this hateful, provocation and there were counter-demonstrations resulting in arrests. The loutish and provocative behavior of the right wing religious, Zionists were left to their own shocking behavior.

The message of this whole charade was a message of power and to show the world that Jerusalem is the property of the right to extreme right-wing settler movement that wishes to colonize the West Bank. There was nothing that one could view as promoting peace. There was no hint of good will or a feeling that Jerusalem belongs to everybody who lives in it irrespective of their creed or race.

Many of us cringed with shame when we saw how the masses of right-wing Zionist religious youth with their raucous, provocative screaming did their utmost to display their power over the Palestinians and others who do not share their racist, extremist views. It was an exercise of hate for the stranger in their midst.

Naturally, there were arrests and detentions of those who opposed this mass exercise of hatred and self-righteousness.

The despicable behavior of the religious, Zionist extremist right-wing is further proof that Jerusalem is far from being a united city. Unity is not based only on free access to every part of Jerusalem, but also on the desire of all Jerusalemites to accept each other. Tolerance towards all people whether they are Christian, Muslim or Jew is not part of the extreme right wing agenda as illustrated by these loutish demonstrators.

This disgraceful, Israeli flag waving and crude slogan screaming of “who is the boss” proves that Jerusalem will remain a city divided by hate for many years to come.

The United States and most other nations have not recognized Israel's annexation of territory captured in 1967, and both Israelis and Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital.4

1.  24 May. 2017, http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Trump-visited-Jerusalem-but-was-he-in-Israel-493801. Accessed 27 May 2017.
2. 24 May. 2017, http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Trump-visited-Jerusalem-but-was-he-in-Israel-493801. Accessed 27 May. 2017.
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem. Accessed 27 May. 2017.
4. 24 May. 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/24/world/middleeast/jerusalem-day-israel-palestinians-western-wall.html. Accessed 27 May. 2017.

The UNESCO Jerusalem Vote and Ramifications

Temple Mount and Western Wall during Shabbat (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It would be a good idea to read the full text of the revised UNESCO Resolution on “Occupied Palestine” before arriving at conclusions that are at most not objective on both sides of the great divide between Israel and the Palestinians. Emotional hubris is not constructive to both sides and in order to be rational we must become more knowledgeable in what is involved.

Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem, Israel. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

. Set up for peaceful purposes to promote intercultural dialogue, has been misused for political purposes.

The tone of the plan is biased towards Israel, which is viewed as the “occupying power” and is not carrying out its obligations towards the maintenance of the “holy places” to which it claims to be a signatory. Israel. According to the resolution Israel is abusing its power as an “occupier” towards the Palestinian population by restricting the “occupied” Palestinians the rights to pray in the Al Aqsa Mosque. The resolution continues its claims of Israel’s abuse of power. This, of course, can be disputed, taking into consideration the increase of Palestinian terror against innocent people, who happen to be in the area. The resolution is far from balanced as it does not condemn Palestinian violence and terror, which has widespread support of the Palestinian Leadership, especially Hamas that has given verbal and written support to lone wolf stabbing attacks against innocent Israelis, non-Israelis as well as Arab Israelis.  

Having read the text of this UNESCO resolution, there is no evidence denying the Jewish Link to the Temple Mount or re-writing history of the Jewish link to the Western Wall.

“3. Affirming the importance of the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls for the three monotheistic religions, also affirming that nothing in the current decision, which aims, inter alia, at the safeguarding of the cultural heritage of Palestine and the distinctive character of East Jerusalem, shall in any way affect the relevant Security Council and United Nations resolutions and decisions on the legal status of Palestine and Jerusalem”.

“35. Reaffirms that the two concerned sites located in Al-Khalil/Hebron and in Bethlehem are an integral part of Palestine;

36. Shares the conviction affirmed by the international community that the two sites are of religious significance for Judaism, Christianity and Islam”. Does this negate the Jewish link to Jerusalem?

The use of Arabic names for the various sites rather than Jewish names is a bone of contention but certainly does not negate the link of these sites to Judaism. It is an attempt by the Netanyahu Government to make political capital over a matter that is non-existent.

Even on the Palestinian side there is a tendency to interpret this resolution incorrectly to suit their own narrative which is based on fantasies and not on history. After all each side has a narrative. Palestinian narratives do not correspond to historical facts. The narratives are based on justifying Palestinian political agendas. Scientific archeological finds and the correct methodology on interpreting historical facts does prove that the connection of Jews to Jerusalem is indisputable. The resolution passed does not dispute that at all.

The resolution was supported by 24 votes to 6, with 26 abstentions, in Paris on October 13, 2016.

Voting in favor were: Algeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chad, China, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Mauritius, Mexico, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan and Vietnam.

Voting against were: Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States.

Abstaining were: Albania, Argentina, Cameroon, El Salvador, France, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Haiti, India, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kenya, Nepal, Paraguay, Saint Vincent and Nevis, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda and Ukraine.

Absent were: Serbia and Turkmenistan.

The message of those voting in favor of this resolution, is not a denial of the Jewish religious connection to Jerusalem over centuries, but rather a vote condemning the occupation of Jerusalem by Israel since June 1967. This includes Israel determining who will be responsible for the non-Jewish holy places.

Of course, the UNESCO members have been manipulated by the Palestinian representatives in the UN, who are making political capital out of this resolution. The resolution does by innuendo allow Palestinians to carry on their violence and murderous deeds against innocent people by weakening Israel’s role in maintaining law and order on the Temple Mount.

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It is significant to note that UNESCO’s Director-General Irina Bokova spoke out Friday 14th Oct 2016 in support of Israel and against the 24-6 vote of her organization’s Executive Board took the day before to approve a resolution that spoke of the Temple Mount and its Western Wall as a purely Muslim religious site.

The chair of UNESCO’s Executive Board, Michael Worbs, said Friday he was sorry about the resolution ignoring Jewish ties to Jerusalem’s holy sites that was passed by UNESCO on Thursday and that is set to be approved by his executive board next week. “It’s very exceptional what happened yesterday, and I’m sorry for that,” Worbs told Israeli television. The fact that senior officials in UNESCO have expressed disapproval of these resolutions gives a much needed sense of balance to this political hubris.

The Bickering Right Wing Coalition of Self-Interest

The Likud won the most seats in the Knesset after the March 2015 Elections and, superficially, it seemed that Netanyahu would have no problem forming a right to extreme right-wing coalition. Everything seemed to go in his favor especially the moment the results were known.

34th Cabinet of Israel

This was not to be. He was surrounded by a macabre mix of small right wing parties, such as Naphtali Bennett's  Bayit Hayehudi, Moshe Kahlon's Kulanu, the ultra-Orthodox Shas under Arye Mahluf Deri and Torah Judaism Parties. Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu decided not to be part of the coalition. A right wing coalition of 61 members was cobbled together with much bickering, political blackmail for cabinet posts and intra-fraternal strife. Even the opposition of 59 members is fragmented. This will give the coalition more power than it deserves.

We all saw the result. Netanyahu won and lost. While forming a coalition, he paid a very high price by giving out key cabinet posts to the small, political blackmailing, sectoral parties so that he could present his credentials to President Reuven Rivlin. We witnessed an amazing circus of squabbling, mediocre party hacks scrambling for cabinet posts, leaving the Likud dry with relatively minor portfolios that were divided into almost indecipherable cabinet posts that hopefully would make a united coalition. This was meant to satisfy the hungry potential cabinet ministers, whose grudges against each other were so blatant. The latest edition to the cabinet is Gilad Erdan, who was sworn in at the last minute possibly at the expense of veteran, Benny Begin. Begin may have a cabinet post created for him at the last minute. Gilad Erdan is loyal to Netanyahu and defended Netanyahu and his wife's follies through thick and thin. Initially he was left out of the cabinet. However with a "kvetch" here and there he was brought into the cabinet.

The majority of the Israeli Electorate is right wing and even that vote is split among right wing small parties. Most of the leaders of these parties have super-inflated egos and wield tremendous power to blackmail Netanyahu into giving in to their demands for cabinet posts. In order to satisfy them a law increasing the number of cabinet ministers from eighteen members to twenty members was cobbled together at a lightning pace.

The ultra-Orthodox partners never had it so good for many years. The conscription of Haredi youth into the IDF will not occur. There will be increased funding for their yeshivot at the tax-payers' expense. They will get increased funding from the National Insurance for maintenance of their children. Secular education will be denied them so that they will remain eternal Talmud scholars, unable to develop skills to earn a decent livelihood on the free market. More state money will be going into settlements in the occupied West Bank, thanks to Bayit HaYehudi (The Jewish Home Party) in the coalition. It will be a coalition to promote narrow sectarian interests.

In apartheid South Africa under white minority rule, the government maintained power by shouting "swart gevaar" (black danger) which was basically a call to the blood by using racist scare tactics. This worked for many years until sanctions were declared against South Africa and the economy collapsed as a result. This heralded the demise of apartheid and a democratically elected ANC government.

In Israel, on Election Day, Netanyahu went into a panic and used the sane "call to the blood" tactic. He stated that the Arabs were coming out in droves to vote and this could be a threat to Israel. The ruse worked but Netanyahu lost to the small right wing parties and the ultra-Orthodox parties. The "wheeling and dealing" to form a coalition, which has always been part of Israel's political leadership, had reached a new low. All the members of the coalition dislike and do not trust each other. This coalition will probably not last until the next scheduled election in 4 years.

The Zionist Camp candidate, Isaac Herzog, lost the elections and perhaps it is a blessing in disguise for him. We are all witnessing "how the mighty Netanyahu has fallen". Netanyahu had it made for him after the elections, but had made painful compromises rather than brave decisions as the small parties blackmailed him politically and left him without any choices. He went back on his cabinet post promises for his political party cartel, leaving his party colleagues disgruntled.

This coalition will be impotent and there will be no reforms that will improve the lot of the economically weak sectors. The Finance Minister, Moshe Kahlon, who promised to introduce reforms in lowering prices of natural gas has turned around and has washed his hands fromhis rhetoric before the elections as it goes against a tycoon friend of his that has large financial interests in one of the gas companies called Tamar.

Most of Israel's Likud cabinet ministers have received chopped up pieces of portfolios to satisfy their voracious appetites for cabinet posts. It is rather pathetic and wasteful. Thank goodness that Israel has many tax-payers who will fulfill their civil duties to pay for coalition follies.

Peace with the Palestinians and the two-state solution will not happen on this Netanyahu watch. He has made that clear. There will be no freezing of settlements in the West Bank. On the Palestinian side there is no viable partner for peace any less than on the Israeli side. President Mahmoud Abbas, will be unable to sign any agreement with Israel on that score even if conditions were amenable. The extremists in the Palestinian camp from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and those even more radical will assassinate Mahmoud Abbas, whose power base is very weak if he even signs a peace agreement with Israel. He is better off threatening to take Israel to the International Court of Justice in The Hague for war crimes where he can somehow maintain his status quo which suits him and his PA. After all, Dr Saeb Barekat, the eternal negotiator, will be unemployed in the remote event of a peace treaty being signed.

The blame for this situation lies with many Israeli voters who are ignorant of the importance and responsibility of voting. There will be no breakthroughs for peace or any progressive new laws. It will be the same stereotype declarations of recognizing Israel as the nation state of the Jewish People and with that much undertones of racism towards Israel's non-Jewish minorities. Sectarian interest, especially serving the right wing, will take priority in this pathetic coalition of mediocre, small party political hacks.The government will have its strength in making laws that have a right wing and religious orthodox Jewish consensus rather than what is good for all Israel's citizens. Israel will be in for a rough ride internationally. 

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Holocaust Context Today

It has become rather trendy to equate the Israeli occupation with all sort  of stereotypes and mantras. The occupation is a problem caused by the inability of the Arab states to recognize Israel's right to exist. Mainstream Palestinian thought today is according to the Hamas Charter. The PA is weak and has very little support in Palestinian street. Most Palestinians want peace but the PA leadership claiming to represent them, fear Hamas.

We are all aware of the wars that Israel fought to defend its citizens against Arab aggression prior to the June 1967 Six Day War. Israel was forced to carry out a preemptive strike after President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, had closed off the Tiran Straits, choking Israel's shipping just after he (Nasser) ordered the UN observers to leave the area. Israel won the war and occupied the West Bank, Golan Heights, Gaza, the Sinai Peninsula and East Jerusalem. Prior to 1967, Israel never had occupied Palestinian lands and yet the desire to destroy Israel from the day of its establishment remained in the mindset of the Arab countries. As far as Hamas is concerned, the whole of Israel, established since 1948 is occupied territory and not just the areas occupied after the Six Day War.

What is happening today? Various Palestinian terrorist groups or "Freedom Fighters" infiltrate Israel carrying out terrorist attacks against innocent Israelis. Many act on their own as individuals, ramming civilians in Jerusalem with vehicles at their disposal, stabbings or suicide attacks. “Peacemaking” NGOs, who have adopted the Palestinian cause against the Israeli occupation, arrived as volunteers to get involved in so-called coexistence projects. Superficially it seems noble but in practice, these organizations are indulged in spreading lies and hate against Israel as well as exaggerating the plight of the Palestinians and IDF abuse of them. Their silence on Palestinian terror gives a clear sign as to whom they support.

These NGOs are funded by many European countries and the whole plan is to delegitimize Israel by creating falsehoods about Israel's treatment of Palestinians. The BDS movement is a ramification of these NGO activities to wear Israel down in the hope of capitulation to Palestinian "freedom movements” such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other splinter terrorist groups whose aim is Israel's total destruction.

Many of us were deceived by these European funded NGOs into believing in the nobility of their cause for peace. These "peacemakers" glorify the Palestinians. They do not know the history of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict or Middle Eastern history, let alone Palestinians.

They equate Israel's treatment of the Palestinians with apartheid South Africa and Nazi Germany. They even talk about Israel's acts of genocide against Palestinians. These self-righteous, ignorant, double standard, hypocrites come to Israel to spread their ignorant lies. Why do they not go to Syria, Iraq and Yemen, where there is bloodshed, killings of a dimension that boggles the mind? In these countries Arabs kill each other and no condemnation of worth is uttered in the UN. What about the persecution of Christians in these countries who are being killed like vermin as well as Muslims who do not follow Jabhat el Nusra and ISIS? This proves that underneath all the NGO "peace motives" is a more sinister all encompassing, race hatred - anti-Semitism! They deny this of course, by saying that they hold the Jewish People and Israel to a "higher standard" and feel they must speak out against the "cruel oppression of the Palestinians" that Israel commits, calling it "war crimes" against Palestinians.  There are some Israelis in the employ of these NGOs, who invent stories about torture of Palestinians and create a new truth by uttering lies and distortions that are publicized in the media sympathetic to the Palestinian cause whatever that represents. Tell a lie often enough and it becomes the truth. This was evident in Operation Naked Edge in July/August 2014 in Gaza.

The aftermath of this last war in Gaza witnessed a rise in anti-Semitism the likes of which has never been experienced since the end of the Holocaust in Nazi Germany. The sympathy for the Palestinian fight against the occupation has taken root in Europe. Attacks against Jews, destruction of synagogues and this is all the result of a resurgence of classic anti-Semitism that has reached a zenith in France with an attack on a kosher Supermarket in Paris as well as anti-Semitic attacks gaining momentum in Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and many other European countries. It is a weird mix of classic anti-Semitism and Islamist extremism that has overtaken Europe. IS has its roots in many mosques in Europe, brainwashing European youth to their cause for establishing a caliphate in their home countries with fiery Imams delivering the most rabid anti-Semitic sermons that has become anti-Christian as well.

The Western world stands in silence while the US kowtows to the wily President Hassan Rouhani of Iran - the charming sugar-coated bitter pill of the cruel, despotic ayatollah regime of Khamenei and its hate of the US and Israel. Pathetic! Is President Obama the modern Neville Chamberlain appeasing Iran? Time will tell and that time is on Iran's side, not on the side of the civilized world. The Holocaust denials - part of Iran's stock and trade, as well as of many NGOs active in the Palestinian quest for freedom from Israeli occupation.

These self-righteous, hypocritical, double standard NGOs should be sent to Syria, Iraq and Iran to monitor human rights and torture, where they can promote peace. Israel is easy meat for them. In the above mentioned countries, they will be beheaded in no time while their allies in the UN will remain apathetic to their plight.

The attempt at creating conditions for committing genocide against the Jews has never been as rife as it is today since the end of World War 2. The anti-Semitism has even spread to places as far as South Africa, Australia and even New Zealand firing the imagination of many Muslims in these countries Thank you, European NGOs, for fomenting anti-Semitism and xenophobia internationally in countries where it was never an issue.