Category Archives: Israel

Elsewhere, genocide, hatred of Jews, hoplophobia, Israel, Jewish history, Media, mindset, Political philosophy, resistance, self defense

The Double Edged Standard Sword

December 4, 2015 Sheila Stokes 7 Comments

I started collecting stories I wanted to use to write a column a few weeks ago.

Since then there have been the attacks in Paris and the attack in San Bernardino.

The rest of the world has begun to see what Israel has been living with for a very long time.

There is such a difference in how things are portrayed in the media. In America predictably if a gun is involved, conservatives, gun-owners, Christians, whites or some variation or combination of the listed will be blamed. It will be acceptable to call for violence, the internment or a combination of things against law abiding people that have committed no crime and are just trying to go about living their lives and mostly want to be left the heck alone.

Liberals, leftists, communists, socialists etc will not allow this to happen because they see the list above an a real impediment to their ultimate goal which is control, power and domination. So the ability of the list above must be limited, or they must be muzzled or eliminated.

I listened to a radio show within the last few weeks and the host made the point that Anti-Zionism is always the precursor to antisemitism. Anti-Zionism is the polite socially acceptable mask for antisemitism which will reveal and show itself in time.

And antisemitism is alive and well in the world. It flourishes under the guise of the “enlightened”, and while overt antisemitism would perhaps be challenged by Abe Foxman, as long as it wasn’t one of his friends that said it, Anti-Zionism is applauded in the UN, and the European nations, campuses in the US and a large chunk of the demoncratic party.

Let’s have a look-see shall we?

We are told by the media and other “authoritative” sources that the poor Palestinians just want their own home land, they were displaced by the Jews.

I’ll let the always eloquent Dennis Prager answer this from a lecture at Oxford. It has subtitles, we’re good. One thing I find really amusing, though it has nothing to do with the subject. If the little flower that is so anxious to speak against Mr. Prager had worn that dress in a sharia ruled country, she would be dead, eventually. Not sure what would happen first.

Double standard much? Nawww.

Now lets look at the peaceful Palestinians are so disenchanted because they are forced to live in poverty. Ok, why?

Job opportunities suck? Well, many of them collect dole from Israel. American tax dollars going to the PA are given out most generously to terrorists. But some did have jobs. Until the enlightened liberals interfered. The Boycott Divest & Sanction movement? Supported by some churches, buckets of liberals, and the brain dead on campuses all over. Let’s walk it out.

I read a very interesting interview with a Palestinian human rights activist Bassam Eid. He has nothing good to say about the BDS movement. He pointed out that it is hurting the Palestinians the most. Take for example Soda Stream. It moved from the settlement of Mishor Adumim near Jerusalem to Be’er Sheva due to BDS pressures. Some of the former workers had talked with Mr. Eid. The told him at Soda Stream they earned around 5,000 shekels a month, about 1,300 USD. Today they can receive the princely sum of 1,400 shekels (365 USD) from the Palestinian Authority. Sadly, they had taken on financial commitments based on the belief that their work at Soda Stream would continue. The interview ended with him saying to the BS BDS people “As long as the Palestinian people aren’t boycotting Israel, they don’t need to do so for us”.

The mayor of Nazareth has similar sentiments.

The Arab members of Knesset had been coming to Nazareth to meet, photos, rally, hate the Jews, the usual. But a odd thing happened, completely unexpectedly, the Jews quit coming to visit Nazareth.

Salam told the Israeli business newspaper Globes that “on a regular weekend, 20–30,000 Jews come to Nazareth, but yesterday there were none. One a regular weekend, they [the Jewish visitors] spend a minimum of 10 million shekels. Yesterday not one shekel was spent.”The impact has been devastating.“Restaurants are closed. Businesses are closed. They [the business owners] come to the municipality and weep,” said the mayor, noting that it will now take months to return business to where it was before the most recent outbreak of violence.

In fact, Mayor Ali Salam made his point loud and clear on live TV.

In the live broadcast, the mayor could be heard shouting at a shocked Odeh, “Take your ‘business’ elsewhere. …You have destroyed our city. …Not one Jew came [to Nazareth] today. Not one! …Shut up and get lost!”

The left takes great delight in trying to cripple Israel, but because they live in the liberal world they don’t know that things sometimes look good on paper, but that’s not how they plays out in the real world.

The latest is the European Union’s decision to brand Israeli products made in East Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights. They are branding them to make the easier to boycott. Despite the fact that there are currently over 200 territorial disputes going on world wide, Israel is the only country the EU is requiring to label products. The PU ambassador to Israel said that the branding was pretty common, gave a load of baloney and when asked what other countries were required to do this (got a choice of 200 there Lars) replied, well, none. That’s a different situation. Of course it is Lars. Because the EU certainly isn’t antisemitic is it?

Now let’s move on to how the world treats the attacks that happen often in Israel. It is such a glaring difference that a magazine I subscribe to has a regular feature each month called “News From Pallywood”. If you aren’t familiar with this, it is very real. The media will show a photo of some poor innocent arab muslim being dragged off by her hair, or some poor child laying bloody in the street. Obvious victims of vicious Israelis. They just don’t run the photos of what happened moments before with the grinning arab woman hurling stones at soldiers and civilians. Or the cherubic looking child in the street having just stabbed a 13 year old Jewish child. There having even become well known stars of Pallywood. One little girl can turn on the tears at a moments notice. They are very media savvy. I’ve covered some of these attacks before. But since we in the US are currently being told by the obama regime that we are being silly being concerned about women and children let’s have a look at how that works out. Israel has a lot of experience with arab muslims.

A quick 47 second guide on how to avoid Israeli Brutality.

These girls were 14 and 16 years old. Their attack was carried out at Mahane Yehuda, which is a very large old market in Jerusalem. I love Mahane Yehuda, I love shopping at Mahane Yehuda. I’m making my list for my next visit. Many of these precious moments children that go out to stab Jews are in schools, getting an education and could have had prospects for a decent life. But for some reason have decided stabbing Jews is the best thing they could ever do with their lives.

תיעוד הפיגוע בירושלים: 2 המחבלות במסע הדקירות עד שנוטרלו. pic.twitter.com/9Ig2LrnRGx— הערוץ הראשון (@Channel1Iba) November 23, 2015

Here’s what “lightly wounded” looks like, from a magazine.
Just to put things in context.

Most of these are quite short. A few times you will notice the children had to be reminded to say “zionist” and not “Jews”. But some flat out said what they had been taught.

This one was kind of embarrassing for the TV hostess. It’s bad when your grieving guest star whips a knife out of her maidenform bra and says she’s waiting for her chance to stab Jews. Her son was killed stabbing Jews on a bus. He was stabbing Jews on a bus because his cousin was killed a month or so before stabbing Jews. This is the cycle of violence John Kerry and obama talk about. Jews get stabbed, they die, soldiers, armed citizens, the Jerusalem mayor, the police try to stop the stabbing and kill the assailant and another peaceful Palestinian will come and stab more Jews.

But, so the Christians won’t feel left out, these adorable tykes are playing behead the Christians in Turkey.

The media talks about “disproportionate” response. A parody news station called MSNBC uses propaganda maps put out by an anti-Israeli pro-Palestinian group to discuss land and territories.

There are a whole laundry list of helpful tips for journalists in this article, so you can report the news from the Middle East and not look like the usual media buffoons. And since it’s pretty humorous with links to pretty much back up all it’s claims it’s well worth reading.

Compare what you read in there with how the world and France reacted to the Paris terror attack. Just forget the part about barry recently standing on the stage in Paris and telling the French that mass shooting attacks don’t happen in other places in the world as he committed to more American gun control. France’s President said he would be “Ruthless” in response to the attacks. But no one questioned the proportionality of his response, the EU didn’t demand French wines be labeled. In fact everybody but barry was supportive. MSNBC didn’t call them to task, barry may or not have muttered something about not judging all the the response of the “extremists” which have nothing to do with Islam.

Many in our country have not taken a strong stand with Israel and her citizens under attack. They listen to CNN or MSNBC, or university Professor Biotch and don’t know what it’s like to live under constant threats. I think that is going to be changing as our populations demographics change. As the radio show host pointed out, Jews tend to be the canary in the mine. When attacks are beginning to start, they often start with the Jews. And, there was the HyperKosher attack with Charlie Hebdo, and what was done in response? Nothing. Well, not nothing. Nothing really from the French government as far as stopping Islamic attacks, but there has been a response from France’s Jewish population. There has been a 2400% increase since 2013 of young French Jews traveling to Israel. Some of those will consider making Aliyah.

We listen to politicians tell us we’re afraid of women and children. So? They kill the same as men. They are raised to do so. Look at the couple involved in the attack at San Bernardino.

As everyone tries to figure out why the attack happened, because it’s not radical Islam, probably more workplace violence. But a normally relatively clever British paper may have figured it out. A Messianic Jew may be responsible. A good first bit of the article describes what sort of things the man posted on his Facebook page (not the killer, one of the victims) and that he was a strong supporter of Israel (well, there ya go). He and the killer had been friends. Until the killer snapped ran home got his wife and the few little IEDs and pipe bombs he had laying around and donned his “assault clothes”. I’m actually impressed, it takes me longer to make an Israeli dish with quinoa, cauliflower & carrots. But we certainly can’t hold the innocent arab responsible! NO NO!! It’s what that EVIL Messianic Jew said! We must learn to watch what we say around the peaceful muslims, lest they snap & kill people!

I learned a couple things last week. In parashat Vayishlach in Genesis 32:11

11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children.

The question was raised why did Yaakov say Esav the name, and then the title my brother? Why did he ask G-d to save him from both? Because he knew Esav, the wild man who could be a killer, who didn’t value his birthright, he knew to be on guard around him. But he also was afraid of his brother, the man he grew up with. Because he might not see the threat coming from his “brother” in time.

The attacks in Israel now are being perpetrated by the arabs that live among the Israelis. They work in their phone companies, attend their schools, work in their restaurants. They are the brothers and sisters living among them with the scissors hidden in their skirts.

And now they are the men who work in San Bernardino, the army Majors that are psychiatrists, the brothers that are living among us, that grew up here. We are bringing in more by the boatloads. And I’m guessing there will be a few Esavs among them.

What will be the result? Well, it’s almost Hanukkah now. And in Paris the police are telling Chabad not to light the Hanukkah candles. Seriously. And why do we celebrate Hanukkah? Oh, because the Maccabees were victorious over the Syrian Antiochus who wanted to wipe out Judaism and force the Jews to worship false G-d’s. Antiochus’s goal was to prevent the observance of Judaism and thus the revolt. Guess we best not say “You’ve come a long way baby” considering Chabad is now being told they can’t observe the festival that commemorates the war to practice Judaism.

So since France seems to be taking the wrong approach to dealing with Islam, I will provide the helpful information I got from another web site. Perhaps if they can do this, they won’t have any more attacks.

The irony of course, is that France has been very condemning of Israel and her long standing plight.

IF FRANCE WANTS PEACE WITH THE ARABS, THEY MUST DO THE FOLLOWING:

BORDERS
Return to the 1,420 borders

SETTLEMENTS
Stop building French homes on French soil

CAPITOL
Divide Paris into two Capitals for two peoples

Via Daniel Pipes.

So why do I call it the “Double Edged Standard Sword”? Because there is most certainly a double standard when it comes to how the world sees and judges Israeli Jews and her responses to terror attacks and how it treats other nations. And that difference has become a sword to be used against the Israelis. They need to defend themselves, the citizens need to defend themselves and the current American regime needs to quit asking their media lap puppies to skew their reporting to support the anti-Israel white house narrative. The double standard has become a double edged sword that is costing lives.

שבת שלום

Shabbat Shalom

Elsewhere, genocide, gun control, gun grabbers, hatred of Jews, Israel, mindset, Politics, self defense

NOT. ONE. INCH. NOT. ONE. INCH.

October 25, 2015 Sheila Stokes 1 Comment

France has helpfully drafted a proposal to the U.N. to internationalize the Temple Mount, Har ha-Beyit. They feel that seizing control of a section of Israel’s sovereign and most holy ground will somehow calm the violence. I never accused the U.N. of being clever, but I never thought them that stupid either.

UNESCO was planning to vote on making the Kotel, the western wall of King Solomon’s temple a islamic holy site. Mind you since it is a Jewish site now, Jews, Christians and muslims can and do go there to pray now. But if it’s changed to a muslim site, then it will be as the Temple Mount. Only muslims will be allowed to pray there.

Even more insane, barry urged Israel to hand over half of Jerusalem, the Kotel, The Temple Mount, Old Jerusalem, and the tomb of Jesus to the Hamas-Fatah terrorist organizations.
Bibi’s response? Israel cannot accept the draft resolution of the council.

Damn skippy.

Appeasement does not, nor will it ever work.

The attacks against Jews are growing more violent and aimed at larger groups. (The escalating stages) The stabbing attacks are turning into attacks against a larger group. The bus attack in Jerusalem one week ago attacking the passengers.

“…Yisrael – the other driver, my friend – got out of the bus and ran towards my bus (shouting): ‘stop, stop, there’s a terrorist in the bus.’ …he shouted to me ‘he’s slaughtering them, he’s slaughtering them,’ and we had nothing we could do, we were trying to contact the police, there’s nothing we could do.”…..A senior security official told The Jerusalem Post that the series of attacks increasingly appears to be “a planned and timed assault.”

Damn skippy. They are.

The other bus attack was at the Be’er Sheba bus station, and came less than a week later. He was apparently financed by a new terrorist group that was recently established in the Gaza Strip by Iran and Hizballah, more hard core than Hamas. Good thing barry is releasing the monetary sanctions against Iran, huh? WOWZA, who could have seen that coming? A rise in terrorism against Israel with the release of sanctions money and financial aid?

What you may not be aware of and I haven’t heard it mentioned is something special about the Be’er Sheba bus station.

In Israel, Jewish history is everywhere. Literally. Under the floor of the Be’er Sheba bus station are Avraham’s wells. Right, the Avraham in Sepher Bereshit/Genesis. Avraham, the Patriarch.

There was an attack of another kind this week. Joseph’s tomb (article from 28 April, 2011). On the 16^th palestinians set fire to the tomb of one of the Patriarchs. And again, last week.

Seems the arabs have something against Jewish Patriarchs lately, again, always.

The so-called “Oslo Accords” signed between Israel and the Palestinians in 1995 stipulated that Joseph’s Tomb would remain an Israeli-controlled enclave open to Jewish worshippers and religious students.But at the start of the Al Aqsa Intifada in 2000, a Palestinian mob backed by Palestinian Authority police officers assaulted Joseph’s Tomb, killing an Israeli soldier in the process. Israel subsequently surrendered control of the site on the condition that the Palestinian Authority would protect and maintain it.

I ran across something very interesting the other day. A story about the number of times America has pressured Israel. What made it more interesting is what happened in America within days or hours of signing, but you can read that if you want to. But here are the times:

1991 30 October – The Oslo AccordPresident George H. Bush promoted and proudly signed the infamous Oslo Accord at the Madrid Peace Conference on October 30, 1991. The Oslo Accord was labeled a “Land for Peace” accord that demanded Israel award their land to the Palestinian murderers and terrorists in exchange for peace. The perverse Oslo proposition was simple: give us your land and we’ll stop killing you.

1992 23 August-A year later, President Bush literally picked up the pieces from Oslo attempting to rob Israel again. Meeting in Washington D.C. Bush and crew again attempted to “sell” the fictitious Madrid “Land for Peace” agreement.

1994 16 January-President Bill Clinton meets with terrorist and Israel hater Syria’s President Hafez el-Assad in Geneva. They talk about a peace agreement with Israel that includes Israel giving up the Golan Heights.

1998 28 September-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright finishes the final details of an agreement which requires Israel to surrender 13 percent of Yesha (Judah and Samaria). President Bill Clinton meets with Yasser Arafat and Netanyahu at the White House to finalize another Israel “land for peace” hoodwink. Later, Arafat addresses the United Nations and declares an independent Palestinian state by May 1999.

1998 30 November-Arafat arrives in Washington again to meet with President Clinton to raise money for a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital. A total of 42 other nations were represented in Washington. All the nations agreed to give Arafat $3 billion in aid. Clinton promised $400 million, and the European nations $1.7 billion.

1998 12 December-President Clinton arrives in the Palestinian-controlled section of Israel to discuss another “land for peace” fiasco.

2001 8 June-President George W. Bush sends Secretary Tenet to Jerusalem to promote his “Roadmap to Peace,” the continuation of the failed Oslo Accord.

2005 23 August-Israel completed the evacuation of the Gaza Strip and gave it to the Palestinians. The Gaza Strip evacuation came directly from President Bush’s “Roadmap to Peace.”

Every time Israel has ceded land for peace it doesn’t work, it will not work this time.

I think we know something about “reasonable compromise” and appeasement.

“An appeaser is one who keeps feeding the crocodile in the hope it will eat him last”~~ Winston Churchill

Israel and gunowners have both got to stand our ground this time. As the democrats debate on TV who can most proudly try to steal our G-d given rights, and the world tries to pressure Israel into ceding even more land, we can not give in. The results of what we have already given so far has cost us too dearly. We can not give in again.

NOT. ONE. INCH.

defense of others, genocide, hatred of Jews, Inspiration, Israel, resistance

Weekend links

October 24, 2015 Claire Wolfe 1 Comment

I’ve been saving these up, hoping to write something or somethings from them. But life has kept me from it. So here you go for your weekend reading …

“The Banality of Good.” A surprisingly decent piece from Slate on how people who rescued Jews during the Holocaust found it so hard to talk about what they did.
We tend to think of the Poles as being willing, eager collaborators with the Nazis in the extermination of Jews. As usual, the real picture was more varied.
Sometime-TZP-contributor Ilana Mercer says “cut the ‘cycle of violence’ crap and recognize what’s really going on with the latest round of attacks on Jews.
And the great Paul Rosenberg asks to look honestly on the anti-Jewish cancer in the liberty movement. (H/T ML)
Finally, on a more cheerful note, an Israeli hummus cafe gives substantial discounts to Jews and Arabs dining together.

(H/T to colleague Y.B. ben Avraham for several of these stories.)

Elsewhere, genocide, guns, hatred of Jews, Israel, Media, mindset, Politics, self defense

Nightmare on Ha Kotel Street

October 18, 2015 Sheila Stokes 4 Comments

This is the time of year when things like Freddy Krueger and zombies begin to make their appearance. Not only in costume shops, but in the dreams of young and old alike. But then you wake up from the dream, have a nice cup of Israeli coffee and start to breath normally again. Telling yourself, “It was just a dream”.

But what if your life in the daytime rivals the horrific events of your nighttime nightmares?

It’s becoming that way for normal Israelis, just people going out to work, take their kids to school or grab some coffee, milk and halva on the way home.

There have been a lot of attacks on Israeli Jews. There is the one chronicled by my teammate Y.B. of a wonderful man and his wife in front of their young children as they were on their way to a class reunion. Miracle of miracles they evidently didn’t see the children in the back, or just weren’t inclined to kill them at that point. Then a couple days ago there was a horrific stabbing in Jerusalem in the old city of a man, his wife and their two year old toddler. They were out shopping. From the video it appears they were in the Cardo. A nice shopping section in the old city of Jerusalem. I’m quite familiar with the Cardo. I was there four months ago.

You notice all the shopkeepers standing around and watching it, drinking soda, not attempting to intervene as a man, his wife and two year old are stabbed. Not only that, when Adelle Banita-Bennett attempted to escape by running away with a knife stuck in her shoulder the arabs shouted to her to “die” and “hopefully she would die too”. When she tried to hold on to a passerby as she felt she was going to faint, he shook her off and kicked her. No arabs attempted to help her. Who did? Rabbi Nehemia Lavi Hy”d. He grabbed his gun and went out to try to help. The Father of seven was then stabbed and his weapon taken. Those arab shopkeepers stood around watched and did nothing. But the SOBs moved fast enough when the shots started. Too late to save the Father and the Rabbi.

You can add in the children shot in Sukkahs this year, rocks thrown at the IDF and civilians, rockets fired and female motorists ambushed.

Then there seems to be an increase the the rate of arab “traffic accidents”. Like this tragic lose of control of a car.

The driver was the uncle of one of the Har Nof Synagogue murders. With all the unfortunate traffic accidents in Israel lately perhaps they should consider an car ban for arabs. And isn’t it shocking he had that ax right there with him in the car.

Where does all this come from? Part of it is Mahmoud Abbas, known as Abu Mazen that leads the PLO. When you have someone who helped finance the Munich Olympic Massacres as the leader of the PLO, shouldn’t be shocking. If you didn’t know, the day the attacks began, was the day after Abbas stood in the UN and said Oslo was finished.

Somehow I don’t think he is all that concerned that the 13 year old child he told the world the Israelis murdered is actually alive and being cared for in an Israeli hospital. The 13 year old child in question is probably related in temperament to Michael Brown the gentle giant that started the Ferguson riots.

If children are taught to hate, and grow up thinking the best thing is to die killing Jews? There are youtube videos teaching them how, though some have been taken down now. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon showed a chart that has been used teaching how to stab a Jew.

And that brings me to my next point. How the current regime in the White House, the world, the UN and media view this situation. In the article above is the line

Sky News has been unable to verify Mr Danon’s claims, in which he said: “When a Palestinian child returns from school and opens (sic) the television, he doesn’t see Barney or Donald Duck, he sees murderers portrayed as heroes.

Um, well, how about what’s going on now? Because with what I see happening, that pretty much looks to be the case. The two little kids in combat fatigues saying they want to blow up Jews sure sounds like it. The 13 year old “child” that was stabbing people with his cousin sure seems like it.

Then we have the ever reliable CNN, from a CNN article we learn

Although the Obama administration has been careful not to place blame on any party for the latest escalation of violence, the officials said Kerry is particularly concerned about statements by Palestinian officials inciting their people to violence.”This violence and any incitement to violence has got to stop,” Kerry said at a separate event. “The situation is simply too volatile, too dangerous. And it is not going to lead to the outcome that people want, which is to have a peaceful resolution of the differences.”He added, “We continue to stress the importance of all persons of responsibility to condemn the violence on either side and to avoid provocative statements.” (Violence on either side?? I don’t believe the Jews are standing near Gaza or East Jerusalem and hurling rocks or hanging around with knives in their hands. )U.S. officials said Kerry is concerned about heavy-handed treatment of Palestinian rock throwers by Israeli security forces, particularly the use of live ammunition against young protesters.( I think a rock has already binged Kerry in the head. He’s worried about the wrong group, the ones trying to kill innocent people. Perhaps he should suggest to them they stay home and quit trying to kill people by throwing rocks at them.)

From the NY Slimes we learn East Jerusalem, Bubbling Over With Despair

EAST Jerusalem? EAST Jerusalem? Um, I believe the attacks are not being carried out in EAST Jerusalem, which is mainly arab. Written by someone who sounds like they aspire to be a leader of “Occupy whatever the heck is next”, they are offended that the citizenship which arabs in East Jerusalem can apply for is being revoked for the “college students” that have stabbed police and attacked others. They are going to LOSE their SOCIAL WELFARE BENEFITS! And have to reapply for visas every few months. Those Israeli beasts! They have a helpful chart showing the number of Palestinian deaths resulting from Israeli security forces. They also show the number of attacks on Israelis, which is fewer. What they do not mention is it is not one for one. MANY Israelis are sometimes injured in one attack. They talk of the three men that kidnapped and killed a boy from East Jerusalem. Wrong, yes, I agree. But they forget to mention that was in retaliation for the three Israeli teenagers that were kidnapped, tortured and killed. No, it doesn’t make it right, but it would have seemed pertinent to mention don’t you think?

Then there is this attempt by a MSNBC “reporter” to say Israeli forces had shot a unarmed man. Too bad for him, his camera crew had already put in a big shot of the “unarmed” terrorist clearly holding a knife.

These are not people working for a peaceful solution, nor are the people that “just want their own land”, these are people that are killing Jews because they are Jews.

And the world’s response? Our nation’s response via John Kerry ?

“Regarding Jerusalem, it absolutely is unacceptable on either side to have to have violence resorted to as a solution,” he said.”And I would caution everybody to be calm, not to escalate the situation and to deal with this in a way that can find quick way back to the full restoration of the status quo where the chief administration is in the hands of the government of Jordan and King Abdullah, who is the custodian,” he said, referring to the Al-Aqsa site, also known as the Temple Mount.”And it is very important to maintain a sense of calm that will minimize the instinct for escalation.”

Excuse me? Violence on either side? Everyone to be calm? Restore the status quo to Jordan? In case Mr. Heinz-Kerry hasn’t noticed, this is not a two way street. The peaceful palestinians are killing people, the Jews are dying. Jews aren’t attacking shoppers and children sleeping in Sukkahs. Basically it’s the same response of the regime to the shooting of Christians in Oregon. Meh. But for Heinz-Kerry to act like this is aggression on both sides is very disingenuous.

The Gaza strip? You can tell the deep level of caring Hamas has for the people living in the Gaza strip. Hamas uses schools, hospitals, apartment buildings to store and fire rockets into Israel. Israel will then warn the people in those buildings that the buildings are going to be bombed. They are the only military in the world to do this. It seems Israel has an objection to having rockets rained down on it’s citizens. So Israel will warn the people in the targeted buildings. Should the people try to leave the buildings, Hamas will shoot them. Hamas KNOWS the Israelis will not bomb the building as long as there are people in there. So whatever non-sense you hear from the UN or the current regime in the White House? Hamas knows, the Israelis will not attack innocent citizens. Interesting isn’t it?

Look at the response of the White House to killing 22 innocent people in the US attack on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz Afghanistan. We can’t say anything, need a full investigation, don’t want to jump to conclusions. But when Israel shuts down a building that Hamas is using to fire rockets? The condemnation is large and accompanied by outrage.

The media, other nations, our current regime and certainly the UN hold Israel to a different standard than they do the rest of the world. With Jews fleeing the anti-semitism of Europe for the relative safety of Israel, the Jewish people should at least be safe in their homeland.

And finally, it looks like that may begin to happen. While in the CNN version of the bus stop attack they say that a Israeli security officer stopped it, on a Israeli radio show I heard it was a armed citizen. Not that CNN would ever admit THAT!

All this has prompted Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat to call for all licensed citizens to begin to carry guns. You gotta admit, Mayor Barkat is something. This is the mayor in the white shirt tackling another peaceful palestinian after he had stabbed a few people.

Not exactly Bloomers is he?

The IDF, Police and Security Services are almost everywhere. Most times on the bus or the train in Israel there would be young soldiers with their fully automatic weapons riding along. This was shocking to me as in America we are told to allow weapons on a bus or train, let alone fully automatic would result in countless casualties. The weapons would just begin randomly shooting people. In Israel, this never seemed to happen. They just pretty much hung out quietly with the person carrying them. There are IDF, police and security all around that can intervene, and they do it very well.

My point of course, is that they are too easy to spot. A peaceful palestinian that wants to stab someone only has to wait until there are no uniforms around. And no matter how good IDF, Police & Security are, and they are good, they can’t be everywhere at once. In addition to that, just think what it would do to the campaign of terror if they suddenly realized a WHOLE lot of Israelis wearing jeans, TZP polo shirts (sigh, I know) but regular Israelis were armed. Or might be armed. They just don’t know who they are and where they are. I’m thinking that would put a stick in the wheels of the current terror campaign.

Apparently Israelis agree, they have been flooding gun shops looking to find tools to keep themselves and their families safe. One shop owner is teaching for free. He waived the fee as his way of trying to help Israelis cope with the wave of peaceful palestinians expressing their “frustration”. And just so you know, when the Israelis classify a wound as “lightly wounded”? It can still be a very serious, possibly life threatening wound. I think they’re from the Monty Python school of Emergency Medicine. In case you need a bit of levity at this point.

Not that Israelis are completely innocent in all this. No indeed. In fact, one woman has had her gun license revoked! A threat and a menace she was! Do you know what she did? She is accused of attempting to PRAY on the Temple Mount. Everyone knows only muslims are allowed to pray at their third holiest site. First Holiest to Jews and Christians, but hey, they aren’t muslims. She hasn’t actually been investigated for it, so not sure why this happened. But the point is, when there is a list of who owns guns, well, there is a list of who owns guns. Mistakes can be tragic as her husband was stabbed very near their home by an ~~arab terrorist~~ peaceful palestinian.

But as they say on my favorite Israeli radio show, I think this will be coming soon to a theater near you. As 80% of the “refugees” flooding Europe are in fact, not from Syria. What do we have flooding the US via barry’s import program? Who knows? But the chances that they came from a country where the children have been raised to believe that killing Jews is a wonderful thing is good. The attacks we see in Israel now, are quite likely going to increase here.

Israelis are under attack in their daily lives, and the world’s response, the media response is meh. Perhaps the Israelis need to start saying the name of each victim attacked. Perhaps if they say the name of each victim attacked is “Cecil”, the world will begin to care.

“Ams Yisrael Chai – The people of Israel live.” עם ישראל חי

Y.B. put up this video, but I have my favorite version of the same song.

defense of others, genocide, hatred of Jews, Israel, mindset, Schools and campuses, self defense

Teach Your Children Well

September 25, 2015 Sheila Stokes 2 Comments

When I was a fairly young girl my family went to see the Disney movie “Bambi”. I can still remember laying in the back of the station wagon with my sisters on the feather bed we had back there. Nope, never did care for deer meat. When I was young I remember my Dad telling me when I was done riding, you take care of your horse before you take care of yourself. Which explains why a few years ago after a “mishap” shall we say, as blood flowed down my face I unsaddled my horse, put my tack away and turned him out before I sought help. To be fair, if you haven’t priced tack, don’t scoff. What we learn in those “young” years, tends to stick and stick deeply.

I recently read a book called Please Say Kaddish For Me. I bought it when I worked a ethnic event last weekend and the author had a table there. Naturally she visited our table, Israel. We visited and she told me about her book, set in late 1800s Russia. She mentioned that she had people tell her they didn’t know what pogroms were. I had the same thing happen with something I had written, one of the people that read it said I shouldn’t use words that weren’t common. Sadly, pogroms have been common, way too common. I normally don’t have much time to read, but I could not put down the book. I started it Saturday evening, and read most of Sunday till I finished it late Sunday night. The story, the people, the time just sucked me in. I just had to find out what happened next. There were a couple parts in it that I want to bring out, one was when some of the characters talked about perhaps trying to get guns to defend themselves and the other was about the children. She made good point of talking about some of the games the children were playing in the streets, and about the children throwing rocks at some of the Jewish characters. One of the adults said it was what they had learned at home. Yes, yes indeed. It’s how people can grow up to slaughter a group of people because they have learned from a very young age that “those kind” aren’t human, they are evil, they killed Christ, and on and on. BTW, the Jews weren’t allowed to implement or pass a death sentence, only the Romans.

And that is what got me to thinking about the things I learned “when I was young” and how they have stuck with me, part of my fabric.

What are our children learning today? When I was growing up, while my parents were fairly involved but they didn’t check over my homework unless I needed help. If parents today are the same, they could be in for quite a shock.

This country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. Yet in the schools while there is no room for a Torah or Bible study club to meet before or after school. Islam is being taught as part of the lessons of world history. This article is from 2013.

The textbook, called simply “World History,” contains a 32-page chapter fondly devoted to “Muslim Civilizations.” Sections include descriptions of the Koran, the growth of the Muslim empire and the Five Pillars of Islam.Now we’re getting to the truth. An entire 32 page chapter dedicated to the Koran, and the Five Pillars of Islam? This is 100 percent Islamic indoctrination presented as “history.”

But it goes further back than that, this one is from 2008, and lists incidents from all across America, not just one state. Children are taken to visit mosques and given korans, or qurans or as barry calls it, oh never mind. But the point is, there was no field trip to a Synagogue or Church, no Bibles given out.

In New York recently:

Infamous Palestinian Arab “activist” Bassem Tamimi spoke at an Ithaca, NY elementary school on Friday to present to third-graders a presentation on the “suffering” of Palestinian Arab children in Israel

You should read that article and find out how despicable that person really is. Rabid, as in bat-rabid anti-semitic in words and deeds.

The High Holy Days are over, but while the muslim talk was about not allowing Jews to “profane” the Temple Mount because of the Al-Aqsa mosque.

Let’s look at how much the poor palestinian youth treat their holy Al-Aqsa mosque.

This one is even better, it has captions.

It’s not about a great love for Al-Aqsa, it’s about a great hatred for Jews and Christians. Think about it, is this how other religions treat their holy sites? But they are taught from a very young age.

Do you think these lessons will stick with the children? The attitudes that have been taught to these children who graduate from throwing water balloons and stones at worshipers on the Temple Mount become the rock and Molotov cocktail throwing teenagers and far younger that attack motorists and pedestrians in Israel. And now Europe, and before long here as the asylum seekers pour in, unvetted, unscreened.

What do we teach our children? Aim small, miss small I hope, gun safety and value of life. Both theirs and others.

Mommy and Daddy, what does “pogrom” mean and where do they come from?

Please, no more.

Israel, The Zelman Partisans

A little controversy

September 2, 2015 Claire Wolfe 15 Comments

The following is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent any “official” view from The Zelman Partisans.

That statement above applies to this post, but you might as well consider it to be invisibly attached to every post that appears on the TZP blog.

As an organization, TZP has just one central belief statement (spelled out on our About Us page):

The right to keep and bear arms is a lifesaving civil right.
Firearms are crucial genocide-prevention tools.
An armed and informed citizenry is necessary to prevent or defeat tyranny.
The right to self-defense is innate; that it was granted to us by G-d or Nature. It was not given to us by government, and it cannot rightly be taken away by government.
The U.S. Bill of Rights codified pre-existing freedoms owned by all men and women; the Second Amendment guards the other nine amendments; but all rights expressed in that great Bill are vital.
Principles must never, ever be compromised. Compromise may be fine for strategy, but when you give up principles, you’ve already surrendered everything that matters.

Or to put it more simply: “Jews. Guns. No compromise. No surrender.”

In the unlikely event that any TZP blogger posted something that ran against any of those points, rest assured that he or she would … well, hear from the rest of us in short order and perhaps using short (e.g. four-letter) words. It’s hard even to imagine any of us “going Gottlieb,” though, so I expect no four-letter words will be required.

Beyond our absolute commitment to uncompromising self-defense rights, we are a diverse crew and you can expect considerable differences of opinion on matters not directly related to gun rights.

Our bloggers are all volunteers. They have wide interests and they write what they’re passionate about.

—–

A little healthy disagreement came up the other day in comments on Sheila’s blog about Israel and Iran.

Y.B. and Sheila are our two most religious bloggers and Sheila (who has been to Israel several times) is our most ardently pro-Israel writer. Personally, I learn a lot from their posts, but I don’t always agree. For instance, Sheila believes G-d set the boundaries of Israel and gave the land to the Jewish people.

My own view on G-d-given land is closer to Nina Paley’s:

Israel is a state and as such it’s prone to doing dumb, barbaric things. Somewhat less barbaric things than the Islamic states that crowd it, but still ignoble. As a non-Jew and an outside observer I have very mixed feelings about Israel. I just (naively, I know) wish everybody could get along. I also believe that Israel’s survival is ultimately Israel’s own repsonsibility, not that of the U.S.

I have no mixed feelings at all, however, about the survival of the Jewish people and their right to self defense. Jews must survive. After 2,000 years of diaspora and the special hell of the twentieth century, Israel is their best shot. With anti-Semitism again festering globally and violent Islamist insanity rising, Jews once again need all decent people of all religions or none to stand by them.

I also believe that the hellish century taught us that when politicians speak of annihilation they really mean it.

But Sheila is passionate on the subject of Israel and I’m not. And neither of us represents any “official” TZP viewpoint.

Someday, as we grow, I hope TZP will have more of an official viewpoint. If/when that happens, I’m sure our formal articles and other materials will focus on gun rights and guns as anti-genocide tools. But even then, this blog should still represent the individual viewpoints of its diverse authors.

It gives me a little chagrin to hear TZP criticized for being too Jewish or too pro-Israel, partly because Aaron’s old JPFO was just as frequently criticized for “not being Jewish enough.” Oh well, that’s the Way of the Internet for sure. And that’s as it should be.

For now, just know that every blog entry you read here comes from somebody who cares passionately about their subject. Our blogging crew is truly diverse: two observant American Jews (Y.B. and Ilana); one Israeli (Boris Karpa); one non-Jew who is highly knowledgeable about Judiasm and Israel (Sheila); two noted gun-rights activists who were born in the Soviet Union to Jewish refusnik families but who hold no religion now (Nicki and Oleg); and one plain-vanilla non-religious gun-rights activist (me) who is here because of a long association with Aaron Zelman and his late, lamented Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. Behind the scenes, doing everything from leadership to order fulfillment, we have one Jew and one Gentile.

I suspect that if we all ever managed to meet up and spend an evening over a few bottles of wine that we might disagree over many things — including big issues like the Iran nuke treaty and whether politics work or are a waste of time. But here … we enjoy and learn from each other. Hope you faithful readers do, also.

Elsewhere, genocide, guns, hatred of Jews, Israel, mindset, Politics, Sellouts and traitors

By The Rocket’s Red Glare

August 30, 2015 Sheila Stokes 9 Comments

Americans and the rest of the world have been assured in no uncertain terms that the Iranian nuclear arms deal will keep us, and the rest of the world safer.

The Iran nuclear deal “will make America and the world safer and more secure”, President Barack Obama said on Saturday.The 159-page agreement between six world powers and Iran was finalized this week in Vienna, after extensive talks. On Saturday, Obama used his weekly address to seek support among voters, prior to the congressional vote on the deal and against a backdrop of Republican-led opposition.“This deal will make America and the world safer and more secure,” Obama said.“Still, you’re going to hear a lot of overheated and often dishonest arguments about it in the weeks ahead.”

He has for 3 years referred to any opposition to giving nuclear capability and money to a country that hates America and Israel as “noise”.

But now we have the John Kerry brokered deal. And it will keep us and Israel safer.

There’s been a little squabbling over it. President Sotero assures the Jewish community that oppose giving a country determined to wipe the one Jewish state in the world off the map nuclear capabilities that they need to put their “emotions” aside. He then assured everyone that he was pro-Israel. I suppose this was necessary since he is in favor of allowing a country determined to wipe Israel off the map to have a nuclear weapon. But he also feels that once the agreement has been signed sealed and sold out by Congress that Israeli-American relations will improve. Since the deal also involves giving Iran the technology to defeat any attempts Israel might make to defend herself by pre-emptive strikes I find this delusion astonishing.

As he has in previous speeches and interviews, Obama sought to refute criticism of the accord point by point. He disputed the notion that Iran would funnel the bulk of the money it receives from the sanctions relief into terrorism, saying Iranian leaders are more likely to try to bolster their weak economy. He also said the agreement wasn’t built on trusting Iran’s government, which frequently spouts anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric.

Keep that bit in mind.

Last month, National Security Adviser Susan Rice admitted that some of the money due to be released as part of the deal negotiated by the U.S. led P5+1 “would go to the Iranian military and could potentially be used for the kinds of bad behavior that we have seen in the region.”

Ok, first this is the woman that makes the round of Sunday Talk shows telling America the reason for the attack and resulting deaths in Benghazi was a youtube video. Second, Susan Rice and the word “Security” should never been in the same sentence, let alone job description. Beyond that her idea of “bad behavior” defies understanding. Bad behavior is a two year old stamping it’s feet and yelling “NO” at it’s mother, it’s a teen-ager speeding or your horse kicking, nipping or bucking. But I guess if you are part of the Sotero regime then terrorism is “bad behavior”, you know, just part of the “noise”.

Aside from the soon-to-be-released billions, Iran’s finances will also be strengthened by the easing of trade embargoes that have seen a horde of major international business – many from P5+1 countries – rushing to sign lucrative deals with the ayatollahs. Earlier this week, British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond scoffed at the fears of Israel and many Arab countries in the Middle East, saying the deal would “slowly rebuild their sense that Iran is not a threat to them.” Less than 24 hours later, the spokesman for Iran’s top parliament member said, “Our positions against [Israel] have not changed at all; Israel should be annihilated.”

Last week I was pretty much away from the computer, but the first part of last week I found out that rockets has been fired into the Golan by Iran. So I wonder if Barry, Phil & Susie will suggest that Iran go into a time out?

But wait there’s more. Iran is wisely and peacefully spending your taxpayer money every bit as carefully as the obamas on one of their many vacations.

How silly to think American tax money would ever be spent to harm Israel. They’re probably just cranky and need to go for a nap, right Susie?

Especially shocking considering Iran had been engaged in activity hostile to Israel for he last 20 months in the North. Who ever could have imagined it would continue on a bigger scale if they had more money and basically no restrictions?

Wonder if barry is making the rounds at cocktail parties saying “Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit! I really thought they’d put that money into their economy! That was why the people voted for the current regime”.

Then there are the various and sundry terrorist organizations now competing for funding from Iran & it’s unfrozen assets. They do this by committing terrorist acts against Israel to show Iran they can produce results for the money. So Susie, is that “bad behavior” or just “acting out”?

If you want to consider that often what happens in Israel becomes mirrored in America I shudder. Or as I hear a radio talk show host from Israel say often “Coming soon to a theater near you” when talking about what America is creating for herself.

All this has been about nuclear weapons, and putting America, Israel and the rest of the world at risk. And Barry is willing to do that as he assures America it will keep “us” safer. Despite evidence to the contrary, he says it will keep “us” safer.

So next time you hear Barry talking about how “common sense gun control will keep us safer” and that most gun owners want it, remember a couple things. He lies like a rug and two he ignores all evidence to the contrary to further his agenda.

If he is willing to put the world at risk with a nuclear weapon in Iran’s hands, why would you even wonder if the safety of you or your family is really his concern? I suppose though, if we ask ourselves who the “us” is that he wants to keep safer, his statements would make sense if it is the muslim terrorists and thugs. Because his plans and ideology certainly will keep them safer. Perhaps he identifies more with them, thus it will keep “us” safer.

Iran's peaceful program — Iran’s peaceful program

guns, Israel

Not All of Hollywood is Anti-Gun, Clueless, and Anti-Israel

August 24, 2015 Nicki

I will admit I’m a fan of crime dramas. I will watch episodes of Law & Order endlessly, and my latest interest is Criminal Minds – a show about the FBI’s behavioral analysis unit. I tend not to look at the politics of a show. If I did, the writing, plot, and characterization would be sullied for me in most cases. I also try not to pay attention to the politics of the actors, unless they become so unbearable and preachy, that I am unable to separate the screeching lunacy from the character, in which case, the actor’s talent can be called into question.

The reason I bring this up is because as you may know, the majority of Hollywood is leftist, and most actors are sworn enemies of the Second Amendment – from their gated communities and guarded mansions, of course.

One, however, stands out from the pile of mindless, sheltered, spoiled celebrities – Joe Mantegna one of the stars of the aforementioned Criminal Minds.

A recent Ammoland article shows Mantegna as not just friend to the Second Amendment, but also friend to Israel – a combination you won’t often find in Hollywood.

IWI US, Inc., a subsidiary of Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) Ltd., announces it will be donating two TAVOR® rifles to be auctioned off at the next “Bullets & Bagels” event to be held Aug. 23, 2015 at the Raahauges Range in Corona, California. Joe Mantegna, best known for playing Special Agent David Rossi in the acclaimed TV show “Criminal Minds” and for portraying Joey Zasa in “The Godfather Part III” will be conducting the auction. Proceeds from the auction will be going to Friends of the IDF, an organization dedicated to supporting the men and women soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces who defend the state of Israel and to the families of fallen IDF soldiers.

As you can imagine, some Middle Eastern media outlets aren’t all that happy about Mr. Mantegna proudly showing his support for Israel.

Hollywood actors have been long supporting Israeli aggression against Palestinians through various means, such as direct fund-raising events or making movies backing Israeli interpretation and catalyzation of the ongoing unrest in the middle-east.

The obvious lunacy of that claim aside, keep crying those bitter tears, Pakistani media. They taste like WINNING!

defense of others, hatred of Jews, Israel

Jewish lives matter

August 24, 2015 Claire Wolfe 5 Comments

While researching for my last post, I got curious about whether anyone was also proclaiming that endangered Jewish lives matter. Sure enough.

Jeffrey Salkin of Martini Judaism (“for those who want to be shaken and stirred”), reminds us, speaking of the Iran nuclear deal, that Jewish lives matter, too.

There’s even a Jewish Lives Matter Facebook page. Where I found this:

Todd Gitlin writes, reflecting on the Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher murders, that Jewish lives matter — to terrorists, but not so much to the political left who we foolishly expect to defend them.

Evan Traylor of the Jewish Multiracial Network likes Black Lives Matter and says so do those of black Jews.

And another article points out that many black lives are also Jewish lives — but that some Black Lives Matter activists have hijacked the BLM movement by also making it anti-Israel.

Finally, black Zionist Chloe Simone Valdary asserts (in the most nuanced piece I’m linking) that Jewish lives matter, and so do those of Palestinians, including Christians, women, and homosexuals who suffer at the hands of (or with the assent of) Palestinian political leadership.

Judge the value of such articles for yourself (as you will, anyway). Including them here doesn’t mean I endorse or agree with them all. I just thought it was interesting that “Jewish lives matter” was a meme in its own right, and fascinating what a variety of thought has gone into this.

hatred of Jews, Israel, Media, mindset, Political philosophy, Schools and campuses

The Double Edged…….. Standard

August 18, 2015 Sheila Stokes 3 Comments

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”. The sentence comes from the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell. The synopsis is pretty good if you are unfamiliar with the book.

So it seems that some groups are allowed to say and do certain things with impunity, while other groups are branded with evil labels very undeservedly. I have a few examples for you.

Remember the “Draw Mohammed” contest in Garland Texas a while back? The event was organized by Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs. She was demonized by all on the left and some on the right. Because she felt in America, we should have free speech. The event was sometime after the Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Casher grocery terrorist attacks by muslims. The Hebdo attack was prompted by a cartoon that appeared in the magazine and the perpetually offended “religion of peace” went on another killing spree. Many criticized Ms. Geller for having such an event. Why bound to cause trouble, no need to stir things up, best to just shut up and not make waves and all, right old sport? Ms. Geller’s point was, if in America, we are no longer free to speak, or have a cartoon drawing contest, we are no longer free. We have already submitted to Sharia law. This story ran on the news for DAYS on end, without stopping.

Now let’s just compare that to how the mainstream media went on for DAYS on end about a muslim professor at Lincoln University in Philadelphia. Just kidding about it running on the news for days on end </snark>

The Pakistani Professor Kaukab Siddique has made the statement “calling Pamela Geller and like-minded anti-Muslim commentators “dirty Jewish Zionist thugs.” Okayyyy, and if Pamela Geller would have called Kaukab Siddique a dirty muslim thug? But she didn’t, and as it turns out in addition to receiving his paycheck from taxpayer dollars, some of which no doubt are Jewish he also has the lamestream media to fly cover for him. As a state related university Lincoln receives about 13 million dollars in state funds. Wow, so 13 million contributes towards a professor who teaches that the holocaust didn’t exist. From Atlas Shrugs

Of course he won’t retract. Such ideological rhetoric and hatred has been normed by a sharia-adhering culture, and most particularly by academia. Islamic Jew-hatred goes under the guise of “palestinianism,” when it is actually nazism.

The author of the article, Susan Snyder, validates this vile professor’s hatred when she describes me as “anti-Muslim.” I am anti-jihad. But if she described me that way, people would think, “what’s wrong with that”? Snyder goes on to use the radical, fringe Southern Poverty Law Center to further smear me. Mind you, this is an article about a Muslim professor at an American university calling Jews, and me in particular, “dirty Jewish Zionist thugs.” And Snyder works hard to norm this depravity. She did not, of course, bother to contact me for comment.

In calling our free speech event in Garland, Texas “cultural genocide,” Professor Siddique reveals how truly insidious his agenda really is. Standing for free speech against violent intimidation is “cultural genocide”? Snyder passes on this ridiculous claim without remarking upon it. What Siddique is saying is that violating Islam’s blasphemy laws is tantamount to mass murder — and the only alternative is that we submit and accept those blasphemy laws.

It’s really cute how budding “reporter” little Susie Snyder uses the Southern Poverty Law Center as a credible source. Sort of like a local parrot cage liner around here used the Violence Policy Center as a reliable source of un-biased information on guns. I know, sometimes they can’t help but tell us how ignorant and biased they are when they used sources like that and then claim they are unbiased.

So cartoon contest=evil, must not speak or draw of such things.

Calling Jews and their supporters “Dirty Jewish Thugs”=free speech that must be protected and supported with taxpayer money.

Wow, really?

So, while we are on the topic of culture, there is a Jewish American reggae singer named Matisyahu.

It seems Matisyahu was scheduled to preform in Spain at the Rototom Sunsplash festival. But then the radical BDS movement got involved. They demanded that the singer produce a compelling document or video that he supported the two state “solution”. They accused Matisyahu and Israel of supporting “an apartheid state which practices ethnic-cleansing,”. So the organizers in a effort to placate the tolerant freedom loving and supporting BDS movement caved and pressured Matisyahu, who didn’t cave.

“The festival organizers contacted me because they were getting pressure from the BDS movement. They wanted me to write a letter, or make a video, stating my positions on Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to pacify the BDS people,” wrote Matisyahu.

“I support peace and compassion for all people. My music speaks for itself, and I do not insert politics into my music,” he continued. “Music has the power to transcend the intellect, ideas, and politics, and it can unite people in the process.”

“The festival kept insisting that I clarify my personal views; which felt like clear pressure to agree with the BDS political agenda. Honestly it was appalling and offensive, that as the one publicly Jewish-American artist scheduled for the festival they were trying to coerce me into political statements,” wrote Matisyahu.

“Were any of the other artists scheduled to perform asked to make political statements in order to perform? No artist deserves to be put in such a situation simply to perform his or her art. Regardless of race, creed, country, cultural background, etc, my goal is to play music for all people. As musicians that is what we seek,” he concluded.

The answer is no. No other artists were pressured into making political statements that more than likely they didn’t agree with. Certainly another shining example of how freedom of speech (if you are Jewish or Israel supporter anyway) doesn’t go both ways.

It takes courage to continue to fight for her right to speak out, or draw cartoons and Pamela does continue to speak out. It takes courage for Matisyahu not to cave to the pressure to make a statement he may or not agree with. The fact that he was the only artist pressured to do so is very telling.

So while some can say and do as they please with media support, some can not. Some animals really are more equal than others aren’t they?

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