Reason It Out: Israel Hasn't Committed Genocide

 Nadene Goldfoot                                        

                      Arab leader Husseini and the Nazis of Germany

You've heard it so over and over !  Too many people are repeating this, that Israel has committed genocide.

What is genocide?  The term genocide was coined by Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in the early 1940s. Lemkin lobbied for genocide to be outlawed by international treaty, but the Genocide Convention restricted his initially broad definition to five specific acts "committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such."

The United Nations defines genocide in Article II of the 1948 Genocide Convention as specific acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.  Is this the reason Israel has been fighting Palestinians in Gaza?  

No, they have been fighting against people who have wanted to kill Israelis for the past 49 years and drive them into the Sea or as far away as possible leaving Gaza and Israel for the sake of Iran's goals and theirs.  

                                    Yasser Arafat, born in Egypt

Ever since 1967 when Arabs lost the 67 War against Israel, there has been attacks on Israel from Hamas.  Before Hamas it was the PLO, Palestine Liberation Organizaion run by Arafat.1950s - After graduating from college, founds a nationalistic group called Fatah. The group publishes literature that advocates armed rebellion against Israel.  They fought against Israel.  

The sad thing is that Jews, since the 1920's have been the goal of genocidal people who have wanted to wipe all of us Jews in the world out.  These were the Nazis, run by Hitler.  Nazis hunted down Jews, kept them from work, schools, in Germany since the 1920's.  Europe saw war starting in 1939, America in 1941-1945.  Jews were taken in mass to gas chambers to be killed on purpose.  It was a true genocide.  Even gypsies  were suffering from genocide by them.  6 million Jews died of genocide by Hitler's orders.  Approximately only 11 million Jews were left in the world at the end of World War II in 1945.  I was one of them.  

Showing his true colors, it was Hajj Mohammed Amin El-Husseini,(1893-1974) the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who went to Germany to speak with Hitler to get help in doing just that;  wanting a genocidal wipe-out of all Jews in the world.  In 1921 this Arab leader, was appointed for the job of Grand Mufti by a British Jew, Sir Herbert Samuel.  Husseini had by this appointment become chairman of the Arab supreme Council. He promptly   organized Palestinian riots, causing his exile in 1937.  Not too smart.  He helped Hitler and was largely responsible for the liquidation of the Jews in the Moslem areas of Bosnia.  In 1946 he escaped to Egypt.  After 1948-Israel's birth, he set up  short-lived Palestine government in Gaza and then later in Cairo.  

Hamas terrorists are no fools.  They have been so clever as to cause the Jews to be guilty of killing their own people.  To them, it's imperative to turn their people into ammunition to kill Jews.  This is hard for anyone to believe, and so they use terrible methods to do so, putting the fear of G-d into the Palestinians by shooting them if they refuse hiding weapons in their home, entering into the fighting, dastardly acts.  

Israeli armies have taken giant steps in trying to reduce the Palestinian deaths by using phones to tell them to leave their homes before bombing started, leaflets, bull horns, sirens.

Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir: The professional head of the Israeli military serving as the Chief of the General Staff. He assumed command with a mandate to proactively target Hamas leadership and dismantle its remaining network.

How can anyone believe that a people would do unto others what they don't want done to them?  They had been treated by others in the most horrendous ways of death  already that they hadn't asked for.  

These are people brought up on the Golden rule ever since  the first century AD, a little before Jesus had come along.  We Jews know it as the reply of Hillel, when asked by a scoffer to condense the whole of the Torah in one sentence.  (Shabbat 31a) Jesus and Matthew had similar rules.  "Lev. 19:18 said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.", and this was repeated by  Rabbi Akiva and Jesus.  Evidently Europe doesn't study the bible since they have been so adamant as to believe that Israel has committed genocide.  

It's true that Israel has killed a lot of Palestinians, Palestinians who believe  that they will be rewarded for giving their life to the cause of damning Jews, which is so sad for their young children who have no choice.  But Israelis have not done it willingly or not without trying to find other means of dealing with attacks on their own families.  Jews have been put in the position of being damned if they do and damned if they don't.

Jews, especially those outside of Israel are experiencing more anti-Semitism than usual, more like Germany 1939 back East.  All the European countries are rumbling and complaining, pulling away from support of Israel.  This, as they must be hoping, is causing more harm than good.  

Our favorite phrase is, "but is this good for the Jews?"  Well, no war is good for anyone, but for some silly reason, they cannot sit by and watch their families being wiped out again. Reasoning hasn't helped.  Can any others reason with Iran and Hamas and Hezbollah?  Not without acting foolish and allowing arms in Gaza to be available by these terrorists.     

  

Keeping Netanyahu's Government No Easy Trick

 Nadene Goldfoot                                               

Finance Minister Smotrich is promising that his Religious Zionist party would demand control in the next government of the Planning Administration and the Israel Land Authority;   the state bodies that play central roles in planning,  and development and management of most of Israel’s land. They will  then be able to implement a plan to dramatically expand Jewish settlement in the Negev and Galilee.  They planning for the migration  of 1 million people through the establishment of 40 new communities.  Also, that includes dozens of agricultural farms.  The farms will allow major expansions of existing towns and hundreds of thousands of new housing units. 

His last name is derived from the Ukrainian town of Smotrych, where he says his ancestors lived. His grandfather Yaakov immigrated to Mandatory Palestine before World War II, and subsequently lost his parents, who drowned on an Aliyah Bet ship trying to reach Palestine, while his grandmother Bruria survived the Holocaust before immigrating to Israel. So he must be Ashkenaz.  

A major section of Smotrich’s program also focuses on crime, illegal weapons and state authority in Arab communities. 

Bezalel Smotrich's settlement expansion and policy shift program is taking place primarily in Area C of the occupied West Bank, though enforcement actions and broader strategic goals also impact other areas.  Area C is the one set aside for Jewish living.  Area C covers roughly 60% of the West Bank (referred to by Israel as the Judea and Samaria Area) and remains under full Israeli civil and security control 

 It's about time, as they have been holding the land since 1967 The Six-Day War, which took place in 1967 (specifically from June 5 to June 10), which was the turning point when Israel won this war that seemed to be miraculous being all the Arab countries and more attacked teeny Israel and Israel won.  Many Jews did believe that G-d must have had a hand in this.  

 Israeli Arab politicians have condemned the plan. [But what's wrong with strengthening Jewish communities in the Galilee and Negev?

The Galilee contains roughly 45 dedicated Jewish towns and villages, while Area C of the West Bank holds over 140 officially recognized Israeli settlements and nearly 400 outposts.   The Galilee is a fertile, mountainous region in northern Israel. It’s known for the Sea of Galilee, where the Christian's  Jesus is said to have walked on water. Christianity's history takes place mostly in the Galilee.  

The city of Tiberias has the tomb of Jewish sage Maimonides and the Church of St. Peter, with art depicting the 4 Gospels. 

Mount Arbel has ancient cave fortifications. The Mount of Beatitudes is where Jesus allegedly preached the Sermon on the Mount. 

                                                  

Map showing the Lower and Upper Galilee. The narrow "Galilee Panhandle" to the east may be seen geologically and geographically as a separate area (as part of the Jordan Rift Valley), or as part of historical Galilee. The same applies to the western shore of the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan Valley down to Beit She'an, as well as the Jezreel Valley in the south and the coastal strip bordering the Galilee to the west.

The Negev is a desert region occupying the southern half of Israel proper (within its internationally recognized pre-1967 borders).

 There are over 100 Jewish localities in the Negev—including major cities like Beersheba and Eilat, development towns, and dozens of agricultural kibtzutzim and moshavim.

 Since they are located inside sovereign Israeli territory, they do not fall under any "Area" designations.  They ARE  ISRAEL.  If Smotrich wants to expand cities, he should be welcome to do it.Remember, it's a desert.  The Negev is a large desert region in southern Israel. Its main city is Be’er Sheva. Here, the Old City is home to the Negev Museum of Art, with contemporary Israeli and international exhibitions. Nearby is Abraham’s Well, a cultural center with interactive exhibits about the story of Abraham. East of the city, Tel Be’er Sheva is a prehistoric settlement mound with ruins, plus a lookout tower with desert views. 

Smotrich puts his money where his mouth is.  He is a settler in Judea/Samaria, what other call the Israeli-occupied West Bank, living in the settlement of Kedumim, which is illegal under international law that ignores Jewish law and Oslo Accords. 

Kedumim (Hebrew: קְדוּמִים, romanized: Kdumim; Arabic: قدوميم) is an Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank, Palestine. Founded on Hanukkah 1975 by members of the Gush Emunim settlement movement, it later became a local council. In 2024 it had a population of 4,564.

The consensus of the international community considers Israeli settlements in the Judea/Samaria (West Bank) illegal under international law. Kedumim is considered illegal under international law because it is an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank, an area Israel captured and occupied during the 1967 war,  

The Israeli government disputes this. Under the 1995 Oslo II Accord, the West Bank was partitioned into Areas A, B, and C, placing Israeli settlements like Kedumim within Area C under complete Israeli military and civil jurisdiction. The agreement categorized these settlements as a final status issue, deferring their permanent future and borders to negotiations that were ultimately unfulfilled.  He had been told he was illegal;  but that was wrong.  

Bezalel Yoel Smotrich (Hebrew: בְּצַלְאֵל יוֹאֵל סְמוֹטְרִיץ׳; born 27 February 1980) is 46, is an Israeli politician and lawyer who has served as the Minister of Finance since 2022. The leader of the Religious Zionist Party, he previously served as a Knesset member for the Jewish Home and Yamina, leaving in 2023 after resigning under the Norwegian Law, allowing him to remain a minister in the government while his seat in the Knesset could be taken by another candidate from his party. 

Ben-Gvir is also a settler in Judea/Samaria  (West Bank); according to the BBC, his "political background lies in Kahanism—a violently racist movement that supports the expulsion of Palestinians from their lands".   His parents were Mizrahi Jews, originally from Iraq. Ben-Gvir claimed to be of Kurdish Jewish descent,  

He has a long history of anti-Arab activism, leading to dozens of indictments and at least eight convictions of crimes including incitement to racism and support for, as well as possession of propaganda of, a terrorist organization (the now-illegal Kach political party).

 As a lawyer, he is known for defending Jews accused of Jewish extremist terrorism in Israeli courts.

Itamar Ben-Gvir (Hebrew: אִיתָמָר בֶּן גְּבִיר [itaˈmaʁ benˈgviʁ]; born 6 May 1976) is age 50, is an Israeli politician and lawyer who has served as the minister of national security since 2022, except for a two-month gap in early 2025. He is the leader of Otzma Yehudit ("Jewish Power"), an Israeli far-right, Kahanist and anti-Arab party which won six seats in the 2022 legislative election and is part of the thirty-seventh government of Israel.

      

Prime Minister Netanyahu would like Smotrich and Ben Gvir to unite their parties in the upcoming election like they did in the last election.                               

                   Netanyahu under American pressure most all the time

That's like mixing oil with vinegar, my friends. Two lawyers, one for the left, one for the right, in American lingo;  one Mizrahi and one Ashkenazi. Whose idea was this?     

 Ben Gvir's Otzma Yehudit party quickly responded to the invitation, stating, "The Otzma Yehudit party and the Religious Zionist Party will not run together in the upcoming Knesset elections. 

This decision is final and absolute and will not change under any circumstances.

There will be no negotiations, meetings, or discussions on the matter, either directly or indirectly."

The UK government under new prime minister Andy Burnham is preparing a comprehensive package of sanctions on trade with Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria. 

Such measures have already been taken by Spain and the Netherlands, and are being considered by other European countries. 

The Netherlands adopted a particularly strict law not only banning imports of goods from Israeli settlements but also forbidding their sale and purchase, making that an offence that could result in a prison sentence of up to six years. 

The Dutch law will come into effect on September 22. 

Meanwhile, Israel’s minister of foreign affairs, Gideon Sa’ar, has ordered that the expulsion of representatives of the Netherlands from the International Support Center for Gaza in Kiryat Gat.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Tuesday ordered the immediate expulsion of Dutch representatives from the International Support Center for Gaza in Kiryat Gat, following a recommendation by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The move came in response to what Israel described as a series of anti-Israel measures by the Dutch government, the latest being a law banning trade in Israeli products from the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. The law is due to take effect next month.