Six on Israel: Gideon Levy: Killing Islamic Jihad leader got Israel nothing; PM sought Abu al-Ata’s killing after rocket forced him offstage before election; Bernie Sanders: How to Fight Antisemitism; Gideon Levy: Only a Jew can be an Israeli; “I gav
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"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to kill Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror chief Baha Abu al-Ata after a rocket attack orchestrated by Abu al-Ata forced the premier off stage at an election rally a week before the September 17 Knesset vote, multiple Hebrew-language media outlets reported Tuesday.
Two rockets were fired at Ashdod and nearby Ashkelon from Gaza on September 10, triggering sirens thatforced Netanyahu to abort a campaign speech that was being broadcast live. He told attendees to calmly leave the hall, and he was rushed off the stage to take cover, returning later to deliver the address.
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The cabinet’s unanimous decision to kill Abu al-Ata was then made last Sunday, the reports said. Since then, the IDF had been waiting for an opportune time, when he was as isolated as possible to avoid other casualties.
The targeted killing was eventually carried in the predawn hours of Tuesday morning by firing a single precision missile from an Air Force jet through the window of Abu al-Ata’s bedroom while he and his wife were sleeping, killing both. Other parts of the building, in the Shejaiya area of Gaza City, were unharmed."
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"When I look at the Middle East, I see Israel as having the capacity to contribute to peace and prosperity for the entire region, yet unable to achieve this in part because of its unresolved conflict with the Palestinians. And I see a Palestinian people yearning to make their contribution—and with so much to offer—yet crushed underneath a military occupation now over a half-century old, creating a daily reality of pain, humiliation, and resentment.
Ending that occupation and enabling the Palestinians to have self-determination in an independent, democratic, economically viable state of their own is in the best interests of the United States, Israel, the Palestinians, and the region. My pride and admiration for Israel lives alongside my support for Palestinian freedom and independence. I reject the notion that there is any contradiction there. The forces fomenting antisemitism are the forces arrayed against oppressed people around the world, including Palestinians; the struggle against antisemitism is also the struggle for Palestinian freedom. I stand in solidarity with my friends in Israel, in Palestine, and around the world who are trying to resolve conflict, diminish hatred, and promote dialogue, cooperation, and understanding.
We need this solidarity desperately now. All over the world—in Russia, in India, in Brazil, in Hungary, in Israel, and elsewhere—we see the rise of a divisive and destructive form of politics. We see intolerant, authoritarian political leaders attacking the very foundations of democratic societies. These leaders exploit people’s fears by amplifying resentments, stoking intolerance and inciting hatred against ethnic and religious minorities, fanning hostility toward democratic norms and a free press, and promoting constant paranoia about foreign plots. We see this very clearly in our own country. It is coming from the highest level of our government. It is coming from Donald Trump’s tweets, and from his own mouth.
As a people who have experienced oppression and persecution for hundreds of years, we understand the danger. But we also have a tradition that points the way forward. I am a proud member of the tradition of Jewish social justice. And I am so inspired when I see so many Jewish people picking up this banner, especially the younger generation of Jews, who are helping to lead a revival of progressive values in our country. They see the fight against antisemitism and for Jewish liberation as connected to the fight for the liberation of oppressed people around the world. They are part of a broad coalition of activists from many different backgrounds who believe very deeply, as I always have, that we are all in this together."
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"There’s no such thing as non-Jewish Israelis; Israel will do everything so there never will be. There are nonevangelical Americans, non-Catholic French people, non-Protestant Germans and even non-Muslim Arabs. There are some 1.8 million Canadians of Chinese origin and at least 80,000 Swedes of Serbian origin. They are all considered members of the nation of the state in which they live. Judaism hasn’t yet decided whether it is a religion or a nationality, but Israel has decided that a person who is not a Jew cannot be an Israeli. It will deport such people or at least exclude them from Israeliness. Israel doesn’t belong to those people.
How many times have you said “Israeli” when you really meant “Jewish”? How many times have you said “Arabs” and meant “non-Israelis”? That’s the attitude of the state to its Arab citizens and that’s also the explanation for the abuse of the children of foreign workers: children who were born, raised and educated here, who have no language other than Hebrew and no society other than Israeli society are not Israelis. They dream of serving in the army and becoming obedient, dedicated soldiers, but even this sacred entry threshold is not enough.
"President Donald Trump received an enthusiastic welcome from several hundred members of the Orthodox Jewish community at a re-election fundraiser held at the InterContinental New York Barclay on Tuesday.
Video recordings circulating on social media show the president being greeted by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Jacobson, who recited the Hebrew blessing traditionally said upon seeing a king or head of state.
After being greeted with chants of “four more years,” Trump said he will focus his remarks on Israel because “this is a group, I think, if I didn’t talk about Israel, they’d say, ‘What a rotten speech that was.'”
In his remarks, Trump spoke at length about the Jerusalem embassy move and the pressure he got before making the decision. “I gave you, in Jerusalem, the embassy. That was a big deal,” Trump told attendees.
Trump also mocked Israel’s political system in the wake of the last two election outcomes. “What kind of a system is it over there?” he asked. “They are all fighting and fighting. We have different kinds of fights. At least we know who the boss is. They keep having elections and nobody is elected.”
The president boasted that he has “an approval rating of 98 percent” in Israel, and quipped that “if anything happens here” with his impeachment, “I will take a trip over to Israel to run for prime minister there.”
Trump on the flare-up in Gaza: “We’re watching Israel very closely… There are missiles going in and going out. A very bad day… very scary. We are watching it very closely, however. But a lot of bad things are happening today. I mean literally, I wake up and they showed missiles being shot in Israel, and likewise going in the other direction. We have to take care of Israel… We are watching and we are looking out for, really, a great country and with great people. Great people. It’s been misunderstood for a long time. It’s a tiny speck. When you look at these massive empires that it’s surrounded [by]. It’s a tiny speck, and they are almost saying, ‘How can this happen?’ But it happens because they are a great people and they are a very advanced people, and they have a great protector in Donald Trump.”
Speaking of Hillary Clinton, Trump noted, “75 percent of your people voted for her… She would never do anything for Israel.”
Hasidic singer Beri Weber performed during the luncheon."
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