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Abbas Asks UN for Protection Against Israel

"Just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, …. they have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.  They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice."  (Romans 1:28–29)

Speaking before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas called for "international protection" against Israel while accusing Israel of "extrajudicial killings against unarmed civilians." At the meeting specially convened in Geneva at the request of the PA, Abbas urged the UN to "shoulder its responsibilities" in preparing a "special regime of international protection for our Palestinian people.  We want your protection — we want the protection of the world." In the meantime, Palestinians continue to take up axes and knives to attack Israeli civilians on the streets and soldiers at checkpoints. Abbas' false claims against Israel stand in stark contrast to his silence about the 35 Israelis killed and the dozens of others wounded by Palestinian terrorists in 2015. Abbas' request adds absurd insult to outrageous injury — Israel and its Jewish population have endured a significant uptick of Palestinian violence, murder, terror, racism, incitement, and slander since the Jewish New Year started this September 13.

 
 

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas addresses the
UN Human Rights Council. 

In response to Abbas’ speech, Israeli Ambassador to the UNHRC Eviatar Manor said, "What we have witnessed today is the glorification of terror and violence." "What the Council allowed today is the banalization of the spilling of Jewish blood," Manor said. "The role of the Council in fanning the flames of conflict and assisting in the dissemination of lies is now well established," Manor said. Over the last few years, there has been a rise in attacks.  This year Israel has endured 1705 terror attacks against its citizens, more than the 1650 terror attacks against Israelis in 2014 and the 1414 terror attacks in 2013, according to Stand With Us. Although Abbas has not just ignored, but encouraged terror attacks against Israelis, he told the Council that human rights in the Palestinian territories — as he has appropriated Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem, as well as Gaza — are the "worst and most critical since 1948." "President Abbas did not speak about the situation of human rights in the areas under his responsibility.  He is perfectly aware of the abject conditions of these.  No, he chose to name and shame my country,” said Manor after Abbas' speech. Meanwhile, "Palestinian children have been taught to idolize the murder of Jews as a sacred value and to regard their own death in this 'jihad' as the pinnacle of their aspirations," said Tzipi Hotovely, Israel's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Mahmoud Abbas (second from left) stands at a special meeting of the Human Rights Council with Flavia Pansieri (left), Deputy High
Commissioner for Human Rights; Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein (second from
right), High Commissioner for Human Rights; Mothusi Bruce Rabasha
Palai (right), Permanent Representative of Botswana to the United Nations
Office at Geneva (UNOG) and Vice President of the Human Rights Council.

Abbas' rhetoric to the nations contrasts his own incitement to terror:

"I once again call upon the Israeli people to achieve a just peace," Abbas said before the Council — at odds with his September 18 appearance on PA television where he stated, "We welcome every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem.  This is pure blood, clean blood, blood on its way to Allah." Deflecting all Palestinian-Arab culpability for the conflict, he placed it on the Israelis:  "Israeli policy turned the political conflict into a religious conflict, which will have destructive repercussions." "Our hands are extended for peace," Abbas told the special UN session, yet he refuses to sit down to peace negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has repeatedly called for negotiations with the PA. Abbas reiterated previous claims that "it is no longer useful to waste time in negotiations for the sake of negotiations.” While John Kirby of the US State Department did not respond to Abbas' rhetoric specifically, making generic murmurings that "we want to see … words and deeds that do not do anything to escalate tensions," Manor's objections clearly addressed Abbas' double talk.
 

Eviatar Manor, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations
Office at Geneva (UNOG)

"Let me be very clear: the days of spilling Jewish blood without Jews allowed to defend themselves are long gone.  The Human Rights Council has forgotten that the right to life is a basic human right and that it is universal.  Jews in Israel have it, too.  And we shall exercise our right to life,” Manor said. Israel may have to exercise that right sooner than later in the face of the recent fatwa (Islamic religious decree) issued by Sheikh Sabri, the head of the Palestinian Supreme Islamic Council. Two days before Abbas’ plea to the UNHRC in Geneva, Sabri said it is "religiously prohibited for Muslims to accept the 'internationalization' or 'Judaization' of Jerusalem." Further, the fatwa reasserts the Muslim allegation that the Jews have no historical or current claim to the land: “The goal [of Judaization] is to erase the character of the city and replace it with a fake Jewish identity.” Abbas did not give the Council a feasible course of action for his requested intervention, but he did issue an ominous sounding warning that “this might be the last chance for this solution.”

 
 

The Western Wall Plaza and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem

Facebook Faces Class-Action Lawsuit by 20,000 Israelis

"'Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.'  Then all the people shall say, 'Amen!'"  (Deuteronomy 27:19)

About 20,000 Israelis are suing Facebook for its failure to take tough action against online incitement by Palestinian extremists: “Facebook is fanning the flames of the current Palestinian intifada,” said Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the group’s Tel Aviv-based lawyer, after filing the lawsuit with the New York State Court. Attorneys Nitsana Darshan-Leitner (founder of the Israel Law Center), Shurat HaDin; Robert Tolchin (New York); and Asher Perlin (Florida) have accused Facebook of "intentionally disregarding the widespread incitement and calls for murder of Jews posted on its web pages by Palestinians." "Many of these murderers were motivated to commit their heinous crimes by incitement to murder they read on Facebook — demagogues and leaders exhorting their followers to ‘slaughter the Jews,’ and offering instruction as to the best manner to do so, including even anatomical charts showing the best places to stab a human being," states the complaint.
 

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner is an Israeli attorney, human rights activist and
the founder of Shurat HaDin Israeli Law Center. 

The lead plaintiff in the case, Richard Lakin v. Facebook, is 76-year-old American-Israeli educator and peace activist Richard Lakin. On October 13th, Lakin was stabbed and shot in the head by two Palestinian terrorists who hijacked a public Egged bus in East Talpiot, Jerusalem. Lakin was a passenger on the way home from the doctor. The pair of Arab assailants, one carrying a gun and one carrying a knife, killed three others during the attack and wounded 17, including Lakin. Lakin succumbed to his wounds on October 27, the day after filing the lawsuit in New York. "I spent the past two weeks holding my father's hand by his bed, praying for him … but I also spent a lot of time researching and thinking what is going on, and I saw the massive amounts of incitements, of instructional videos that show people how to split stomachs open, how to cut veins, how to create injuries, inciting people to do this — that that's really at the core of this current intifada," said Micah Avni, Lakin's son, in a video interview. "… randomly stabbing people brutally in the street — it's the result of incitement that is passed along and it is strengthened by social media," said Avni, who filed the lawsuit on his father's behalf, leading thousands to sign a petition against Facebook.
 

The body of a victim is removed from the scene of a terror attack on a bus
in Jerusalem, October 13, 2015.

"If they can allow inciteful material to be published on Facebook and have it impact millions of people and have that create terror which then has brutal effects on people like my father … then they have to take responsibility for that." "He used social media in such a peaceful and wonderful way to spread ideas about education; he had thousands of followers on Twitter," Lakin said, "but as I looked at his attackers, and I looked at the posts that they put on Facebook before the attack, putting their will to be a shahid, to be a martyr, and encouraging others to do so — having that spread around on Twitter and on Facebook and on LinkedIn, I realize there's also an evil face to social media.  And I realize that social media has reached the level where incitement has run rampant." Avni emphasized that his father believed that "people could work together in peaceful ways," but he was clear:  "Social media killed my father." Israel advocacy groups have publicized the lawsuit and continue to point out the incendiary posts of would-be martyrs and of others trying to incite against Jews and Israelis. Among the posts that Facebook has allowed include instructions on "how to attack effectively an [Israel Defense Force] IDF vehicle: Molotov cocktail and nails to the tires; glass bottles and paint to the windows."

Palestinian rock-throwers have often targeted cars with Israeli license
plates, injuring or killing the vehicle occupants. The rocks that Palestinians
throw at Israelis are far from harmless.

Far too many Facebook groups incite members to murder in the name of rallying for "Palestinian resistance."One Facebook user, Stephanie, reported a post that said any Jews who weren't in the region before it became a State needed to be killed or expelled. "This does not violate our terms" has been the Facebook response to thousands of reports against such posts. Facebook responded to Stephanie:  "Reports like yours are an important part of making Facebook a safe and welcoming environment.  We reviewed the comment you reported for having a credible threat of violence and found it doesn't violate our Community Standards. "Please let us know if you see anything else that concerns you.  We want to keep Facebook safe and welcoming for everyone," the Facebook update states. Stephanie responded to Facebook, "I'm very disappointed that this doesn't violate your 'community standards.'  I urge you to reconsider those standards." Those community standards include “Helping to keep you safe” and “Encouraging respectful behavior.” A Facebook spokesman told Fox News the suit is "without merit."
 

Facebook's response to a complaint
about Palestinian incitement.

Lessons in Unity: Knesset Bill Mandates Arabic Lessons from First Grade

“For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, ‘Peace be within you.’” (Psalm 122:8)

Israel's Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved a bill this past Wednesday that mandates Arabic language instruction for Israeli students.  The bill is intended to build bridges among Jewish and Arab Israelis. According to the bill, which passed its first reading in the legislation committee, Jewish schools will begin teaching spoken Arabic (not just literary Arabic which is already taught), and Arab schools will begin teaching Hebrew from first grade. "Especially during these days, in which terrorism grows and coexistence is undermined, it is important to lower the flames and create a bridge of language, cultural understanding and rapprochement between citizens," said Member of Knesset (MK) Oren Hazan (Likud), who co-sponsored the bill. "There is no better way to do so than to learn the language in order to understand the culture and mentality of a million and a half Arab citizens in Israel and hundreds of millions of Arabic speakers throughout the Middle East," he elaborated.  (Times of Israel)
 

Palestinian children

All of Israel's neighbors and 20 percent of Israelis speak Arabic, which is one of the two official languages — Hebrew being the other. Though English is not an official state language, road signs and product labels are often translated into English as well as the mandatory Arabic. The language-learning bill's co-sponsors include MK Oren Hazan (Likud), Eyal Ben-Reuven (Zionist Union), MK Issawi Frej (Meretz) and the controversial MK Hanin Zoabi (Joint Arab List).  Education Minister Naftali Bennett also supports the bill. "At times like these, when the public sphere is rife with divisiveness and acts of racism, this [bill] represents a light at the end of the tunnel; it's hope that things can be done differently," Ben-Reuven told Israel HaYom. "I have no doubt that when the Jewish population will understand Arabic the way the Arab public understands Hebrew, we will see better days," added Hazan in an interview with the Jerusalem Post.

An Israeli child stands beside a Hand in Hand school
sign.  Hand in Hand brings together thousands of
Jews and Arabs in six schools and communities
throughout Israel.

Pope: Anti-Zionism Is Anti-Semitism

"For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome.  The arrogant cannot stand in your presence.  You hate all who do wrong; … But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy."  (Psalm 5:4–5, 11)

Pope Francis declared Wednesday at St. Peter's Square in Rome that direct attacks on Jews and on the State of Israel are anti-Semitism. His remarks came after marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Nostra Aetate, a landmark Catholic document put into effect October 28, 1965 that states Jews are "not guilty" of killing Jesus. “To attack Jews is anti-Semitism, but an outright attack on the State of Israel is also anti-Semitism,” the Pope told a private audience with a nearly 150-member delegation from the World Jewish Congress (WJC).  “There may be political disagreements between governments and on political issues, but the State of Israel has every right to exist in safety and prosperity.”  “We owe special gratitude to God for the dramatic transformation that has taken place over the last 50 years in the relationship between Christians and Jews,” the Pope said in his address.  “Indifference and opposition have turned into cooperation and goodwill.  From enemies and strangers, we have become friends and brothers.” "The [Second Vatican] Council, with the declaration Nostra Aetate, paved the way.  It said yes to the rediscovery of the Jewish roots of Christianity, and no to any form of anti-Semitism and condemnation of any insult, discrimination and persecution derived from that," the Pope told the WJC.
 

Pope Francis

Pointing out that a “relation with Judaism is intrinsic to the very nature of the Church,” Rabbi David Rosen, Director of the American Jewish Committee’s Department of Interreligious Affairs said that the Nostra Aetate gave everyone reason for hope. During the Holocaust, Jewish refugees fled from their homes from among hostile, anti-Semitic neighbors; and the Catholic Church had to undergo "reckoning of the soul" because the Holocaust "could only take place because of 2,000 years of demonization of the Jews," he said.  (Times of Israel) "It was perpetuated ostensibly in Christian lands by ostensibly baptized Christians.  This was therefore an enormous call to the Church to look into itself," Rosen said. He emphasized that this repair of relations between Jews and Catholics reveals that "there is no relationship, no matter how bad and how poisoned, that cannot be transformed into a blessed one." In St. Peter's Square, WJC President Ronald S. Lauder called the Pope's message "powerful," emphasizing the strength of relations between Judaism and Catholicism. "Pope Francis does not simply make declarations; he inspires people with his warmth and his compassion.  His clear and unequivocal support for the Jewish people is critical to us," Lauder said.  (Catholic Herald) The Vatican II composed Nostra Aetate to define the relationship between the Catholic Church and "non-Christian religions," including Judaism and Islam. While maintaining a replacement-theology tenet that "the Church is the new people of God," the 50-year-old document "decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone."
 

Ronald S. Lauder addresses a crowd on Holocaust Memorial Day at
Bergen Belsen.

Christians Challenge UNESCO on Labeling Patriarchs' Tombs Muslim

"He said to [the Hittites], 'If you are willing to let me bury my dead, then listen to me and intercede with Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf so he will sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the end of his field.  Ask him to sell it to me for the full price as a burial site among you.'"  (Genesis 23:8–9)

The recent UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization) resolution that lists Rachel’s Tomb, located just south of Jerusalem and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, as Islamic sites is being challenged by Jewish people and Christians alike. The UNESCO resolution was submitted by six Arab states and voted in by 26 countries, to claim the Jewish burial sites as Muslim. The vote passed despite the fact that the Cave of Machpelah, in which the Jewish Patriarchs and Matriarchs are buried, is the second holiest site for the Jewish people, after the Temple Mount.
 

The Cave of Machpelah is the world's most ancient Jewish site.  It is
the second holiest place for the Jewish people, after Temple Mount
in Jerusalem.  (Photo by See the Holy Land)

President of Christian organization "Proclaiming Justice to the Nations," Laurie Cardoza-Moore, described the UNESCO move as "revisionist history being written … in our lifetime." "The Islamists through organizations like UNESCO and governments, are trying to rewrite documented archeological history that generations have recognized for thousands of years," Cardoza-Moore said to Tazpit Press Service (TPS).  "They are no different than ISIS which physically goes in and destroys historical evidence." The UNESCO resolution stealing the Jewish-forebears' burial sites for Islam also condemned "aggression and illegal measures taken against the freedom of worship and access of Muslims to Al-Aqsa mosque and Israel’s attempts to break the status quo since 1967." "Apartheid is being practiced, but it is not being practiced by the Israeli government," Cardoza-Moore said to TPS.  "It is being practiced by the Palestinian Authority and UNESCO." "We are watching UNESCO through what we call “disinformation” destroy the Jewish and Israelite connection historically to these holy sites and this land," said Cardoza-Moore, who is also Special Envoy to the UN for the World Council of Independent Christian Churches.
 

Abraham buried his beloved Sarah in the cave of
Machpelah in Hebron, a plot of land that he
purchased at full price for family burial.
(Illustration from The Bible and Its Story, 1908)

Abraham purchased at full market value the burial site of Israel's forebears — Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as well as their wives, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah, along with its adjoining field. "So Ephron’s field in Machpelah near Mamre — both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field — was deeded to Abraham as his property."  (Genesis 23:17–18) Recognizing the holiness of the Tomb of the Patriarchs, King Herod built a structure above the cave that still exists today. "About 700 years ago, the Muslim Mamelukes conquered Hebron, declared the structure a mosque and forbade entry to Jews, who were not allowed past the seventh step on a staircase outside the building," the Jewish Virtual Library (JVL) states. Since Hebron was liberated in 1967, "Jews have been struggling to regain their prayer rights at the site, still run by the Muslim Waqf (Religious Trust) that took control during the Arab conquest," adds JVL. Jacob’s wife Rachel — mother of Joseph and Benjamin — is not buried at Hebron.  Because she died in childbirth while the family traveled, she "was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).  Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel’s tomb."  (Genesis 35:19–20) For more than 3,000 years, Rachel's Tomb has been a place of Jewish prayer and pilgrimage.  It is considered Judaism's third holiest site.
 

Jewish pilgrims pray at Rachel's Tomb. 

In 1841, prominent Jewish philanthropist and statesman Sir Moses Montifeori (1784–1885) renovated the site, enclosing the small domed structure with a larger domed structure to provide shelter.  He also added a large side room for pilgrims. In the 1990s the State of Israel's Ministry of Religion enlarged the site again to provide more security for the building and pilgrims with room for lectures, Torah study and bar/bat mitzvah services. The Ministry of Religion did this renovation for all visitors but especially Jewish pilgrims who even before Solomon built the Temple stopped at the tomb to pray on their way to Jerusalem. Nevertheless, 3,000 years later when Israel once again became a nation in 1948, Muslims developed the surrounding land on three sides into their own cemetery. “For political purposes, Muslims claim that Rachel's Tomb is one of their burial plots and that it contains a Muslim notable rather than Mother Rachel," writes Rachel’s Tomb website, which has published early photos that show the Muslim cemetery surrounding the tomb today did not exist even in the 1930s. At such a time as this, your support of Israel and the Jewish People really makes a difference!