Opuscula Dear Alan, When Did you become An Israeli resident?

U.S. ATTORNEY ALAN DER­SHO­WITZ, in a letter to the leftist HaAretz newspaper, posits that “indicting him (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) endangered Israeli democracy.“
Der­sho­witz chose the left-leaning newspaper to carry an “open letter” to Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandleblit. (http://tinyurl.com/yxlxf64j )
In the letter, Der­sho­witz’ argued that indicting the prime minister put Israeli democracy at risk. “To bring down a duly elected prime minister on the basis of an expansive and unprecedented application of a broad and expandable criminal statute endangers democracy,” he wrote.

 
I HAVE SEVERAL PROBLEMS with Der­sho­witz’ pronouncements.
FIRST, unless I am mistaken, the gentleman is a U.S. citizen residing in the U.S. He also may be an Israeli citizen, but he lives in the U.S.
SECOND, does this legal opinion carry any weight in Israel? Is Der­sho­witz entitled to practice law in Israel?
THIRD AND MOST IMPORTANT, if Israel’s AG bows to Der­sho­witz, won’t THAT have a negative impact on democracy? It seems that Der­sho­witz would put Netanyahu above the law.”
Almost no one in the U.S. is above the law. (The Kennedys and the Clintons are the exceptions; Nixon was not above the law and it cost him his presidency.)
Granted Der­sho­witz and Netanyahu are self-proclaimed “conservatives” and that may be why Der­sho­witz is defending a man who would be prime minister for life if he can just control the voters “one more time.”
Perhaps Der­sho­witz really is a leftist rather than a conservative.
If the AG follows Der­sho­witz’ advice, many who reluctantly support Netanyahu might mark their ballots for another party.
 
In Israel, voters vote by party, not by candidate. The party that wins the most seats in the Knesset usually is allowed to name the prime minister, but there never has a single party controlled the government; a coalition always is required.
For one election, voters were able to vote for the prime minister on a separate ballot; the politicians quickly realized the folly of giving voters this opportunity and the separate ballot for prime minister was history.
 
It seems to me that Der­sho­witz is endowed with one Israeli characteristic: CHUTZPAH.
I hold both U.S. (by birth) and Israeli citizenship.
Because I no longer reside in Israel, I generally refrain from commenting on Israeli politics. I have an opinion — in fact, several — but since I don’t LIVE in Israel, it behooves me to keep them to myself. My relatives who DO live in Israel are smart enough to sort wheat from the chaff. Well, most of them, anyway.
Perhaps if Der­sho­witz relocates to Israel, even to a U.S. ex-pat community, THEN he will have right to suggest that the AG close his eyes to potential crimes by officials high in the government.
Dealing with the accusations against a sitting prime minister is not in any way a “threat to democracy.”
Ignoring potential crimes IS a “threat to democracy.”
Holding off on investigating crime “until after the election,” also is a threat to democracy.
AG Mandleblit is well advised to ignore Der­sho­witz’ letter and advice. Mandleblit is there; Der­sho­witz is not.
Der­sho­witz, who usually defends Israel against attacks from its many foes has, in my opinion, done Israel no favor with his open letter in the leftist press.

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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Opuscula PLO statehood Under Trump, Bibi: Will Jordan agree?

I DON’T EXPECT DONALD TRUMP to understand all the implications of statehood for the PLO; he’s neither Muslim nor Israeli.

Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu seems to be trying to be Israel’s Prime Minister for Life at whatever cost to Israel. Netanyahu’s Likud is far, far from the Likud of Menachem Begin.

WHY WOULD ISRAEL, which has true peace agreements with Egypt (first) and Jordan, and potentially developing relations with other regional neighbors, want to have a PLO state on its border, a state whose oft-declared purpose is to drive the Jews into the sea?

If Jordan can control the Waqf which, thanks to a Labor government, was left in control of the Temple Mount despite being in Israeli hands, it should be able to control a fledgling PLO state. That Jordan does a particularly poor job of controlling the Waqf is disquieting, but it may be the best Israel will be able to manage given the powers behind a forced two-state solution.

 

For that it is worth, I favor a three-state solution. Jordan absorbs most of Oslo II areas A and B following a transparent vote be residents to join Israel or Jordan; Jordan will be responsible for all infrastructure including controlled access from the PLO state to Jordan.

Egypt will absorb — albeit Egypt does not want it — Gaza. Egypt already has direct access to the Strip, even if the border portal is closed more often than Gaza’s gates on the Israeli border.

Muslims already Israeli citizens and those who opt for Israeli (vs. PLO/Jordanian or PLO/Egyptian) citizenship would become unencumbered Israelis, with all the rights and most of the obligations adhering to that citizenship.

 

There is simply too much animosity on both sides to trust those electing to remain PLO citizens to suddenly give up their learned hatred of Israels and cancel plans to “drive the Jews into the sea.”

 

There are remote places in the United States even today where being a DamnYankee or Rebel, or calling someone by those names, will result in a fight. The American civil war was fought from 1861 to 1865; as this is keyed, the date is 2019. Folk tales, not government textbooks and tv have kept the conflict in the fore. Compare that with PLO textbooks, UN camps, and PLO media which daily inflame hatred of Israel.

 

If Trump and Netanyahu think a two-state solution is the answer, without the involvement of real governments (Jordan, Egypt), that solution is a pipe dream.

At the same time, unless Israel wants to renege on whatever parts of Oslo II that the PLO has yet to renege, then a one-state option, much as the U.S. conquered the American Indians (by offering, and then breaking treaties) will be on the table. Most — not all — American Indians eventually integrated into the general society.

The PLO’s “leadership” is continuing to reject any option that leaves Israel as a state. This same “leadership” also is keeping the people in ignorance and poverty.

Some government must guarantee the PLO state’s behavior. The IDF might be the guarantor, but that would not be to the PLO’s advantage.

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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Opuscula Muslim says NO Muslim says YES Who to believe

 

I GET ON A DAILY BASIS a newsletter from United with Israel.

On the same day I read that

‘Islam Forbids Alliances with Jews and Christians,’ Claims New York Imam

and

Palestinian-Israeli Initiative Promotes Joint Economic Opportunities in Judea, Samaria

So which is it?

 

Given that the PLO’s Abu Mazen won’t TALK to Israelis — except of course when his close kin need medical attention in Israel.

That there IS cooperation between the PLO and Israel is plain for all to see.

Abu Mazen is upset right now with Israel for withholding tax dollars Israel collected for the PLO’s “Slay for Pay” program.

Once the Israeli election is history, the PLO probably will get the money. (I have no faith in Israeli politicians.)

From the relative safety of New York, during a recent sermon, Imam Abul Baraa Muhammad Abdullah Amreeki warned that collaborating with Jews and Christians is strictly forbidden.

He claimed that there is rampant spying in American mosques, perpetrated by Muslims who covertly monitor other Muslims for shadowy government agents dangling incentives such as immigration status or financial and legal assistance.

Amreeki served time in the Rikers Island prison, where he converted to Islam.

I don’t doubt there is “rampant spying in American mosques” by Muslims that have a loyalty to the country that allows them to worship as they wish.

 

THERE ARE MANY cases of cooperation

SodaStream used be a case in point until the BDSers drove it away from the PLO workers.

Rami Levy is a supermarket chain that hires Jews and Arabs and pays equal pay for equal work.

PLO residents make up a huge part of the construction industry in Israel.

Some Muslims agree that sans business agreements with Israeli Jews, their business would not survive.

The question becomes: Do the imams in New York and the politicians in Ramallah have the power to keep the people in poverty with unrealistic hope that Israel will just “go away” (meanwhile depositing huge sums of foreign aid in foreign banks, a la the inventor of the PLO, Yassar Arafat)

OR

Will the people under PLO rule eventually decide that for their own sake and their children’s sake, doing business with Israeli Christians, Jews, and Muslims provide a better life?

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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Opuscula Law can’t hide Well deserved Reputation

POLAND, its politicians and at least a few of is Jews, took umbrage when Israel’s interim foreign minister, Israel Katz, repeated what former prime minister Yitzak Shamir said about Poles: "Shamir said that every Pole suckled anti-Semitism with his mother's milk. Nobody will tell us how to express out stance and how to honor the dead." .

Consider that most of death camps were in Poland.

On the other hand, All generalities are lies..

What triggered this flap?

The Polish government passed a law basically stating that it is against Polish law to talk about the holocaust and Poland’s substantial role in it.

As far as Poland is concerned, it was the Germans and Hungarians, and anyone else they can point a finger.

As it happens, I know a Polish woman who, to the best of my knowledge, is not anti-Semetic; if she is, I have not encountered it.

Aside from Franklin Delano Roosevelt, I don’t know of anyone who claims the Holocaust didn’t happen. Pole or otherwise and an adult at the time, who can honestly claim “I didn’t know.”

You can’t hide trainloads of people off-loaded at the death camps.

You can’t hide pogroms.

You cannot dispute the number of Poles (and others) who took over Jewish property and refused to return it to any survivors of the owners.

 

Image above of Philosopher George Santayana and the quote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

 

The Poles, along with all the other anti-Semetic opportunists in Europe — not ignoring the French — NEED to be reminded. As Dwayne F. Schneider (Pat Harrington Jr.) oft said : Always remember and never forget

I don’t think I would say every Pole suckled anti-Semitism with his mother's milk, but I take exception to Poland’s new law that basically states: We were innocent bystanders.

That is a blatant lie.

Certainly not ALL Poles ran to cooperate with the nazis, but many did.

To ignore that fact to prove Poland’s anti-Semitism — then and now.

I AM curious about the Polish Jews defending Poland. Did they learn NOTHING from the war years. Their neighbors will NOT protect them. These “bury our head in the sand” Jews are, alas, typical of too many European Jews — and far too many American Jews “from the old country.”

Like the Poles, “all generalities are lies’ but there is more than a grain of truth in this.

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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Opuscula Will Palestinians Rush to accept Israel citizenship?

IF GIVEN THE CHOICE — AND IF ALLOWED TO CHOOSE, will Arabs in “Area C” prefer to live under PLO rule or as Israeli citizens?

ACCORDING TO Arutz Sheva (a/k/a Israel National News),¹, Justice Minister Shaked says she's willing to give Area C Arabs Israeli citizenship in exchange for applying Israeli law to the area.

 

Map of “West Bank” per Oslo II Accords
ResearchGate.net @ http://tinyurl.com/y24r7col

 

Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (right) of the New Right party aligned with Likud, reportedly said "If we apply Israeli law to Area C, I'll live peacefully with the fact that we gave 400-500,000 Palestinians Israeli citizenship and allow them to vote in the Knesset's elections."

In other words, the Arabs — Muslims — in Area C will be just like all other Israeli Arabs.

They will have all the rights of all Israelis.

They will be able to freely move about the country. Translation: they will be able to work wherever it is available in Israel sans special permits.

The only difference between Jewish Israelis and non-Jewish Israelis is that the Muslims in Area C will not be drafted into the IDF (but they will be expected, albeit not forced to, do national service, usually in their home communities).

Poll after poll has been taken that indicate many Muslims living in PLO-controlled areas would prefer to live under Israeli rule.

But as with all polls, the results have to be viewed with skepticism.

   * Who was polled?

   * Where was the poll made?

   * What were the poll questions?

   * When were the polls taken?

   * Who was watching over the pollsters’ shoulders?

If you poll residents of Ramallah, the PLO capital, most responders will express hatred for Israel. If you poll residents of Detroit MI, most residents will express hatred for President Trump. It is not only WHAT is said and HOW it is said, but WHERE it is said than can skew a poll to get the result the poll’s sponsor desires.

When asked whether 400,000 residents of Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods would also receive full Israeli citizenship and the right to vote in Israel's elections, Shaked said, "Jerusalem's residents choose to receive residency, not citizenship.

Non-citizen residents are similar to non-citizens legally working or studying in the U.S.; they have many rights, but not the right to vote in any government elections.

Shaked’s proposal is no more than that. Barring undue political pressure from outside Israel, Israel’s current citizens — Jews and non-Jews alike — should have the right to vote on the issue.

Whether or not the offer of citizenship is made, it would be interesting to see how the Muslims in Area C would vote if they could be guaranteed a secret ballot and an honest count.

And it they preferred the PLO to Israel, what then? Deport them to Areas A and B? Perhaps to Muslim Palestine, a/k/a Jordan? (Would Jordan take them?) They should remain in Area C as a Fifth Column.²

How many residents of Muslim neighborhoods in Jerusalem have been caught committing attacks on Israeli civilians? Residents who elected not to become Israeli citizens.

Attacks by these people and those of Area C would spell the death knell for Shaked’s plan.

Sources

1. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/259137

2. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fifth%20column

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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Opuscula “Rabbis” plant trees For PLO while PLO Burns Jewish trees

I THINK IT IS GREAT THAT ISRAELIS and PLO Muslims can work together, but when “rabbis” plant trees while the people for whom they are working burn trees nurtured by Israelis — something is wrong, terribly wrong.

IN AN Israel HaYom article (see http://tinyurl.com/y3rvb2nx ) headed Future rabbis plant with Palestinians, sow rift with Israel we see rabbinical students from U.S. non-observant “yeshivot” planting trees for PLO farmers.

One “rabbi want-to-be” from the Hebrew College in Boston (see https://hebrewcollege.edu/) “not wanting to be mistaken for a settler, covered his kippah with a baseball cap.”

The article contends the “rabbis-in-training” saw "Death to Arabs" and "Revenge" spray-painted in Hebrew on boulders and several uprooted olive trees, their stems severed from clumps of dirt.

No mention of the murders by the PLO Muslims and the number of Jews’ fruit trees uprooted by PLO Muslims.

Do these children who prefer the PLO to Israel learn anything about the reality on the ground in Israel or are they happy with blinders put on them by their rabbinical leadership?

According to the Israel HaYom article, which seems to be a handout from T'ruah,
This year's student program also includes a tour of the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron, a visit to an Israeli military court that prosecutes Palestinians and a meeting with an activist from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

The program is run by T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, a U.S.-based network of rabbis and cantors.

Most of T'ruah's membership, and all students in the Israel program, are affiliated with the Reform, Reconstructionist, and Conservative movements – liberal streams of Judaism that represent the majority of American Jews. These movements are marginalized in Israel, where rabbis from the stricter Orthodox stream dominate religious life.

Will T’ruah’s leadership introduce the future “rabbis” to anyone from Sedrot, from Askalon and Ashdod, from Beit Shean in the Jordan Valley? Based on the students’ itinerary, meeting Jews who have been — and still are — victimized by the PLO Muslims in Israel and in Gaza does not seem to be on the agenda.

 

Israeli fruit trees destroyed by Gazans

 

Just as well. Why confuse these children with reality.

Take the boys and girls to a session of the Knesset where they can hear members of the Arab List promote the overthrow of Israel. So far, the Muslims in the U.S. House of Representatives have refrained form calling for the overthrow on the U.S. government, although, as good Democrats, they take every opportunity to denigrate anything not on their personal agenda and to disrespect the chief executive.

Aside from being told what nasty people the Jews are in Israel, will these future “religious leaders” learn anything about the Torah or the talmuds; will they encounter Rambam, Ramban, Bet Yosef; will they be disabused of the notion that Shamai was a scoundrel who always lost in the debates with Hillel. (He was not and he often prevailed; indeed, we learn that when the Messiah arrives, we will follow Shamai, not liberal Hillel.)

I think it is great that Jews and Muslims can work together, and in some cases they do, especially Muslims who are proud Israeli citizens.

It is a pity these children don’t comprehend Arabic, particularly PLO Arabic, so they could hear what is being said for Muslim-only consumption. I’m pretty certain they will not accept a translation from a Jewish source.

Although it is illegal, it’s too bad these children cannot ride an obviously Jewish tour bus into areas A and B and see how welcome they would be,

Let the locals see a kippa; strap on tefillin on a Hebron street in the Muslim sector and see what happens. (Do these children even HAVE tefillin?)

 

Truth in blogging: I am a dual-national, U.S. and Israel; my grandchildren live in Israel with their mother, and all of my in-laws live in Israel.

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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