The Right To Destroy Jewish History

[Sixties Fan]

 

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[Sixties Fan]

Lately, Palestinian Arabic media have been making a bold claim.

Raia al-Youm writes,

Even before its establishment in Europe, the Zionist movement used to claim that Palestine is the “Promised Land” and that the Jews are “God’s chosen people.” And the heresy of Jerusalem as a “completely Jewish city,” invaded the Western world, which eventually led the former US President, Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jewish people, and ordered the transfer of Washington’s embassy in the entity to occupied Jerusalem.

In this context, the famous Israeli archaeologist Israel Finkelstein (72 years old) from Tel Aviv University, once again appeared to dismantle these allegations, denying the existence of any connection to the Jews in Jerusalem, as he put it.

Al Quds goes further:

Israeli archaeologist Israel Flinckstein said that no one has found any Jewish antiquities in Jerusalem and that the archaeological excavations have not foiund a single Jewish article, and that what was discovered confirms that Jeruaalem is not Jewish and that all Talmudic claims are myths that were marketed for political purposes.

Finkelstein provided important information to the Jerusalem Report about the antiquities discovered in Jerusalem, all of which date back to ancient times, and that they are evidence of important historical periods for the empires that were prevalent, and that the Jews alone are not represented in them. ,

Finkelstein acknowledges that Jerusalem was ruled by the Jebusites, Sassanids, Greeks, Romans, etc., without mentioning the Jews in it, and that archaeology confirms that Jerusalem was never Jewish and was not subject to the rule of the Jews who lived in the vicinity.

Israel Finkelstein is well known as a skeptic of Biblical accounts of history, although he doesn't define himself in the "minimalist" school of Biblical archaeology. He has said there is no evidence for Joshua's conquests or for King David being more than a local chieftain.
But did he say Jerusalem has no Jewish history?


A friend emailed Finkelstein a copy of the Al Quds article and asked him to comment.

Finkelstein's response: "Complete nonsense. I've never said that nor do I think that."
He added, "The world is out of control, every spin and every lie gets a pass."
Which sounds a lot like Palestinian Arab media.

Prominent Israeli archaeologist refutes Arab media claims that he said Jerusalem wasn't Jewish (update)

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.

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[Sixties Fan]

Imagine if one of the world’s leading news publications in a headline referred to Washington DC merely as a ‘City on the Potomac River.’ Yet this is exactly whatThe Associated Press, a wire service with more than 1,300 clients, did in a piece titled Israeli president celebrates Hanukkah at West Bank site. Beyond diminishing the Jewish people’s historic connection to Hebron, AP also chose to ignore Hamas’ threat of violence against the city’s Jewish residents that was made following the announcement that President Isaac Herzog would be lighting the first candle of Hanukkah at the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

Instead of facts, AP’s report is structured as a series of unchallenged Palestinian victimhood narrative talking points.

AP buries Jewish link to Hebron​

The Associated Press rather belatedly mentions, in the eighth paragraph of the November 28 piece written by Moshe Edri, that “the cave is believed to be the burial site of the Jewish and Muslim patriarch Abraham. It also is revered as the burial site of other Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs and is considered the second holiest site in Judaism.”

In AP’s estimation, the Jewish people’s ancient connection to Hebron is but an afterthought.

But research has shown that while eight out of 10 people will scan a headline, only two out of those eight will read the remainder of the text. Accordingly, the vast majority of AP readers are likely to have come away believing that Israel’s presence is little more than a provocation that has turned Hebron into one of the “most contentious spots in the occupied West Bank.”

(full article online)

AP Demotes Second Holiest Place in Judaism to ‘West Bank Site’, Ignores Recent Hamas Threat Against Hebron’s Jews | HonestReporting

Imagine if one of the world’s leading news publications in a headline referred to Washington DC merely as a ‘City on the Potomac River.’ Yet this is

honestreporting.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

The New York Times recently released a documentary called Mission Hebron, where supposed whistleblowers from the IDF speak out against what they claim happens in Hebron. However, the New York Times left out one major detail, four of the six ex-soldiers are professional activists for Breaking the Silence and Peace Now.

Watch as we break down their lies and propaganda.

 

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As much as Abdeed would like readers to view the conflict through the lens of race, there are no racial litmus tests determining who can reside in Israeli communities within the territories captured by Israel during the 1967 war. The only requirement is citizenship or (as in the case of east Jerusalem Palestinians) permanent residence. As with the oft-repeated lie of “Jews-only roads” in the West Bank, Palestinians like Abdeed are intent on obfuscating Palestinian terrorism, incitement and endemic antisemitism, by hoodwinking readers into believing that the Israeli-Palestinian issue is primarily fueled by Jewish racism.

Abdeed continues by writing that Hotovely has “incited against Palestinians”, claiming they are “thieves of history”.

However, the speech in question was during a 2017 Knesset debate in which Hotovely, then deputy foreign minister, was condemning UNESCO’s decision to declare Hebron and the Cave of the Patriarchs endangered “Palestinian heritage” sites – which was widely condemned for erasing the Jewish connection to the sites. Hotovely was arguing that those denying that historical connection were “thieves of history”.

Then, Abdeed writes that “Hotovely opposes marriage between Palestinians and Jews, and has invited the far right Jewish group Lehava to speak at the Israeli parliament”.

Hotovely, like many Jews both in Israel and the diaspora, oppose intermarriage as – given Jews’ minuscule numbers – it’s considered a threat to Jewish survival. Though a very contentious issue within the Jewish community, the suggestion that the desire to have Jews marry other Jews is racist is absurd. For instance, polls have shown that nearly two-thirds of Israeli Arabs wouldn’t marry someone from outside the religion. Are Arab Muslims racist for wanting their children to marry Muslims?

The specific accusation regarding Hotovely and Lehava is one that widely repeated, and extremely misleading.

In 2011, when Hotovely was an MK and on the Knesset Committee for the Advancement of Women, she hosted a hearing on the subject in honor of Jewish Identity Day. Whilst Lehava was one of many groups allowed to speak during the hearing, Hotovely has been clear that she strongly opposes the group’s extreme ideology. She was quoted in the Jewish Chronicle in April saying she “had no time for the sort of divisiveness shown by the extremist group” and that she “was not and never will be associated with Lehava and what it stands for”.

The distortions continue, as Abdeed alleges that, in her first speech as ambassador, “Hotovely denied the Nakba”.

During the 2020 speech in question, Hotovely never claimed that the Nakba (the displacement of 700,000 Palestinians during the 1948 Arab war against the nascent Jewish state) never happened. Rather, she took aim at the “lies” spread by the Nakba Day Movement, including their suggestion that Jews who emigrated to pre-state Israel were “colonialists” with no roots in the region, as well as their denial of the ethnic cleansing of 800,000 Jews from Arab lands.

Abdeed then alleges that Hotovely “has also pushed for the formal annexation of the West Bank while denying citizenship to its millions of Palestinians“. However, in the comments attributed to Hotovely, which date back over a decade, she was clear that in any such scenario, Palestinians would in fact be granted “full citizenship”.

Then, Abdeed finally levels with his readers about one thing: it isn’t only Hotovely he’s trying to ban, but any and all Israelis representing their country. “I did not attend this protest just because of Hotovely’s personal track record”, he wrote. “I protested because, to us, an Israeli ambassador represents an apartheid regime which dominates one people for the benefit of another”. He later clarifies any Israeli diplomat or politician is intrinsically “incompatible with our communities’ ideals, and should not be legitimised in British political spaces”.

It isn’t merely Israeli ‘officials’ that activists like Abdeed object to.

LSE Students for Justice in Palestine expressed support for the intimidation campaign against a Israeli woman named Adi Peled who was scheduled to appear at a Jewish Society Shabbat dinner focusing on Mizrachi Heritage Week. Warwick Action for Palestine objected not only to the Israeli speaker (who doesn’t work for Israel’s government), but also because the event was co-sponsored by the pro-Israel group Stand With Us, who they smeared as “Islamophobic and far-right”. The bullying and fear of violence forced the Shabbat event to be cancelled.

(full article online)

In the Indy, LSE student calls no-platforming Zionism a "moral obligation"

Sayf Abdeen is a Diversity, Inclusion and Overseas officer at London School of Economics (LSE) Law Society, and is one of the students who opposed the Israeli A

camera-uk.org

 

[Sixties Fan]

It’s of course true that only when news reports provide the full picture can you really know what happened. However, as we’ve demonstrated continually, when it comes to Israel, Guardian news consumers are consistently only given half the picture – a pattern evident in a recent article they published about West Bank violence.

The three thousand plus word Guardian article by Donald Macintyre (“How settler violence is fueling West Bank tension”, Nov. 28) focuses entirely on Israeli attacks against Palestinians, yet fails to devote even a word to Palestinian violence against Israelis.

Palestinian terror erased

To get a sense of how misleading the omission is, an Aug. 2020 report by Israel’s Justice Ministry, based on data compiled by Israel’s Security Agency, concluded that most acts of violence in the West Bank are committed by Palestinians against Israeli settlers – not, as the Guardian would have you believe, the other way around.

Ministry of Justice: Israel’s Investigation and Prosecution of Ideologically Motivated Offences Against Palestinians in the West Bank, Aug. 2020.
However, as illustrated in our monthly reports on BBC coverage of Palestinian terror incidents, the overwhelming majority of Palestinian attacks against Israelis in Judea and Samaria go unreported by most media outlets.

The following graph was published by Israel’s Security Agency. Note the number of monthly Palestinian attacks in the West Bank / Judea and Samaria (in green) over a four month period in 2021.

(full article online)

Guardian report on "West Bank tension" omits half of the story

This award-winning Guardian advert aired in 1986. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SsccRkLLzU It's of course true that only when news reports provide the

camera-uk.org

 

[Sixties Fan]

(Fascinating, even the swamp the Arabs never bothered to drain and build on is "occupied territory".
At least the Jews paid for that swamp before building on it. Not a word from the Arabs, then )

 

[Sixties Fan]

The United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution 129-11 on Wednesday, that disavowed Jewish ties to the Temple Mount and called it solely by its Muslim name of al-Haram al-Sharif.

The text, referred to as the "Jerusalem resolution," is part of a push by the Palestinian Authority and the Arab states across the UN system to rebrand Judaism's most holy site and as an exclusively Islamic one.

The United States, which opposed the text, said that the omission of inclusive terminology for the site sacred to three faiths was of "real and serious concern."

"It is morally, historically and politically wrong for members of this body to support language that denies" both the Jewish and Christian connections to the Temple Mount and al-Haram al-Sharif.

(full article online)

129 nations ignore Jewish ties to Temple Mount, call it solely Muslim

The United States, which opposed the text, said that the omission of inclusive terminology for the site sacred to three faiths was of "real and serious concern."

www.jpost.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

 

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The common theme of anti-zionist revisionist history is that the Jews enjoyed a good life under Muslim rule. They only moved to Israel because the left failed to build its utopian tyranny.

The implicit underlying idea is that had the Arab world undergone a true leftist revolution, Israel would never have existed or even been needed. Instead, Jews, Turks, and Arabs would have all lived happily in a socialist utopia. No matter how thoroughly the reality of the Soviet Union discredited this sort of antisemitism wrapped in utopian garb, leftists can never abandon it.

Rather than some sort of insightful perspective, this just copies and pastes the old Communist arguments against Zionism into an Arab-Muslim context. Not only isn’t this sort of revisionist history new, but its Jewish proponents are just building on the old propaganda of Arab Socialist academics demanding that Jews accept their place in their own nationalist schemes.

All it takes is believing that the Jews were never a people, and never had a nation or a history.

Revisionist history of this sort is padded out with interviews with elderly Jewish refugees from Muslim countries with a fondness for Arabic. The resulting exercises are as hollow as interviews with German Jewish refugees who retain a fondness for Goethe and Berlin cafes.

But what’s old hat in the middle east looks like an exciting new idea in American academia.

Jews, like all minorities, were always oppressed under Muslim rule. While there were periods of greater and lighter persecution, the myth that Sephardi Jews living under Sharia law had it easier was largely a product of Ashkenazi Jewish mythmaking and local appeasement.

While Sternfeld and Bashkin appropriate the history and suffering of Sephardi Jews, both of them carry typical European Ashkenazi last names. Sternfeld even celebrated his NEH cash with “I am beyond verklempt to share the news” in the typical minstrel show comic Yiddishism embraced by anti-Israel activists trying and failing to appropriate Jewishness.

Wondering why Sephardi Jews "vote for right-wing parties", Bashkin agonized, "I often asked myself if I had been born to Iraqi Jewish Israeli parents, what my own political inclinations might have been".

The agenda behind appropriating the Sephardi experience is to justify antisemitic violence against some Jews. Or as Campos writes in a piece on the Hebron massacre of Jewish men, women and children of "the degree to which indigenous Jews lived intimitately within the broader Palestinian community". Jews who had remained behind under Muslim rule were “indigenous” while those who had been expelled and returned to their homeland were not.

(full article online)

The National Endowment for the Humanities Spends $250K to Fund a 1619 Project for Israel | Frontpage Mag

Daniel Greenfield is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center specializing in investigative reporting on the Left and Islamic

www.frontpagemag.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

Listeners hear nothing at all about the ancient history of Jews in what later became known as Palestine or that they continued to inhabit the region for thousands of years. The fact that the word Zion is a synonym for Jerusalem is absent from Anand’s explanation of Zionism and she erases the connection of Jews to the land that is part of their identity, with or without Zionism.

Anand: “Now a Zionist is someone who supports the creation of a Jewish nation in Palestine. The word comes from one of the hills of ancient Jerusalem called Zion. Herzl and the congress invited more than 200 delegates to Basel, Switzerland and held a symbolic parliament – a chance for Jews to express their determination for nationhood.”

Listeners then hear another narrative advancing but highly dubious story which Bowen has promoted in the past.

Bowen: “After the conference…ahm…some European Rabbis went to Palestine, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire, to see the territory which at that time…it was still being debated but was a potential site for a Jewish state. And they sent back a telegram and they said the bride is beautiful but she’s married to somebody else. In other words, the land is great but hang on, there are people here.”

In other words, in the opening minutes of this programme, Bowen and Anand have erased Jewish connections to the land but twice highlighted those of non-Jewish inhabitants.

Listeners then hear some problematic history:

Anand: “So Jeremy, what is the key event in 1917 that brings the British into this whole conflict?”

Bowen: “In 1917 British Empire forces led by General Allenby captured Jerusalem – they captured Palestine – and he entered the Old City. Back in the UK, in London, notable British Jews had been pressuring the British government to declare that it would be a site for a future Jewish state. They issued a statement which became known as the Balfour Declaration where they declared that the British authorities would look with favour on establishing a homeland for Jews in that territory. Now within that there was a built-in contradiction because it said it was without prejudice to the rights of people already living there. They didn’t say Arabs or Palestinians or anything like that. As things turned out, you couldn’t really have one without the other happening.”

While Allenby did indeed capture Jerusalem in December 1917, as we have previously had cause to note in relation to Bowen’s portrayals of those events, British forces did not complete their First World War ‘Sinai and Palestine Campaign’ until October 30th 1918 – almost a year after the Balfour Declaration was issued.

Bowen’s predictable portrayal of the Balfour Declaration fails to clarify that the part referring to what he describes as “the rights of people already living there” actually specifies “civil and religious rights” rather than political rights.

Ignoring decades of Jewish immigration to Palestine, the Mandate for Palestine and the fact that the League of Nations had assigned the territory to the creation of a Jewish national home, Anand goes on to distort history yet again:

(full article online)

BBC WS radio’s ‘The Explanation’ flops on Palestinian-Israeli conflict – part one

BBC World Service radio programming currently includes a series called ‘The Explanation’ which is described as follows: “The Explanation is a snackable a

camera-uk.org

 

[Sixties Fan]

If the makers of this programme really intended to provide the BBC’s worldwide listeners with an explanation of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Palestinian-Israeli sub-conflict, its numerous factual errors, highly significant omissions and generous use of context-free archive recordings clearly compromised that aim.

The fact that historic Jewish connections to the land were erased and the conflict was portrayed as being one between ‘indigenous’ Palestinians and Jewish immigrants who “began moving to Palestine” in “the 1930s and 40s” materially misleads BBC audiences. The fact that no real discussion of decades of Arab and Palestinian rejections of Jewish historical claims to the land and proposed solutions to the conflict was heard throughout the entire programme is clear indication of its lack of gravity.

If, however, this programme was merely intended to promote and reinforce well-worn, politically motivated narratives on topics crucial to understanding of its subject matter such as the 1947 Partition Plan, the Balfour Declaration, the Six Day War, Rabin’s assassination and the Oslo Accords, it undoubtedly succeeded. Listeners to this programme heard nothing that they have not heard dozens of times in the past from the BBC’s Middle East editor and his colleagues.

(full article online)

BBC WS radio’s ‘The Explanation’ flops on Palestinian-Israeli conflict – part two

Previously we discussed the first half of the November 27th edition of a BBC World Service radio programme called ‘The Explanation’ in which Anu Anand and J

camera-uk.org

 

[Sixties Fan]

Stillman says Bashkin is at “her insightful best” in describing the intellectual and cultural ferment in the Iraq of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. However, her chronicling of the watershed events of the 1940s leading up to the mass exodus of 1951 “lacks the same degree of analytical insight,” he writes.

“This is due, I suggest, to her basic approach as a cultural studies scholar who interprets texts, but does not fully take into account the actual events, people, and politics. It is also due to a priori ideological assumptions. Bashkin from the very outset acknowledges her intellectual debt to contrarians such Sami Zubaida, Ella Shohat and Gilbert Achcar, and the ghost of Edward Said often lurks in the background un-named. Previous historical work on the Jews of the Islamic world is reduced to an oversimplified caricature: ‘a model of harmonious coexistence’ or ‘a tale of perpetual persecution,’ and ‘alongside these ideas, an orientalist interpretation.’

“More seriously, there is an element of naïve wishful thinking which constantly views positive examples of Jewish acculturation and patriotism, on the one hand, and the openness of some Arab liberal intellectuals and politicians, on the other, as proving that the dark forces of radical Arab nationalism were not really as powerful as they appeared in retrospect.”

A shared culture and language with Arabs did not save the Jews of Iraq, any more than the Jewish contribution to German culture or their love of Mendelssohn and Goethe saved German Jews from Nazism. All MENA Jews, including anti-Zionists, Communists and the most Arabized, were forced to take the road to exile. And thus a study of how groups interacted before the great exodus becomes irrelevant, because it does not take into account actual events, political factors and actors such as Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Arab League, Nasser and Saddam, leading to the exclusion and persecution of Jews and other minorities.

US taxpayers to fund revisionist, anti-Zionist history

The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded a $250,000 grant to rewrite the history of the Jews in the Middle East.

www.jns.org

 

[Sixties Fan]

I've mentioned that literally every Sunday through Thursday, Jews visit the Temple Mount and each time where are headlines in the Arab world about how the "stormed Al Aqsa Mosque."

On Sunday, PA religious affairs ministry published statistics of how many times Jews "stormed" the Temple Mount in November.

They said it happened 22 times.

Let's look at a calendar of November:

22 stormings in November!

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.

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