Palestinian Relationship With Europe

Nadene Goldfoot

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gets a hug from European Union Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini. Federica Mogherini is an Italian politician who served as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission from November 2014 to November 2019.

Whereby things are rosy between the European Union and Israel economically, Israel views four decades of EU declarations on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict as one-sided and pro-Palestinian.  This means that for the past 40 years, the EU has sided 

with the UN which has been top-heavy with Arab countries siding 

with their compatriots, the PLO via Hamas and the PA, who want to 

destroy Israel.  

       In front in the white jacket is Dr. Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany  and 

                                    de facto leader of European Union.  

The EU has been more critical of Israel and more supportive of the Palestinians than the US. The general position of the EU is that a Palestinian state should be based on the 1967 borders with land swaps, Jerusalem should be divided and become the capital of both states, and a negotiated settlement be found for the Palestinian refugee issue, although member states have sometimes been divided on these issues. However, all EU states universally consider Israeli settlements illegal under international law. (Cities  or neighborhoods are not called settlements, and Israel is 72 years old. Jerusalem was settled by Jews in King David's day 1010 BCE  and is part of the tribe of Judah's land. Jews come from Judah. ) The EU has insisted that it will not recognize any changes to the 1967 borders other than those agreed between the parties. Israel's settlement program has, thus, led to tensions. The most difficult of these issues, however, is Jerusalem.                                  

Israel has insisted that the city will remain its undivided capital, and is fiercely opposed to its re-division. Israel does not regard Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem as settlements, while the EU does. East Jerusalem has been a de facto part of Israel following Israel's unilateral annexation of the area, while the EU, along with the rest of the international community, regards it as occupied territory subject to negotiations. The EU has frequently criticized Jewish construction in East Jerusalem.

"EU efforts to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians include funding anti-Semitic Palestinian organizations and schoolbooks and censuring nations intending to locate embassies in Jerusalem".  The author is being quite facetious.  In other words, they are working towards keeping the Palestinians as enemies of Israel.                                       

You'd think that after experiencing the 2nd World War, Europe would act differently towards the Jewish people.   So many had swallowed the line of the Nazis in the first place of Jews being 3rd class citizens and blaming all their mishandlings of their government on the Jews, and now they swallow everything the Palestinians say against the Israelis.   A few Europeans, probably in fear for their own lives, aided and abetted the Nazis in finding Jews to slaughter during  the war. while a few helped Jews to safety.  That very old, very deep anti-Semitic feeling was very strong though under the surface in good times, and during Germany's economic break-down, surfaced loud and clear, and it is still there. Nazi sympathizers have been popping up even in Portland, Oregon. 

Since 1998, Israel and the EU have been in dispute over the legal treatment of products exported to the EU from the occupied Palestinian territories (they mean Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem). Israel argues that these are produced in its customs territory and should thus be subject to the Association Agreement and benefit from preferential treatment. The EU maintains that the Territories are not part of Israel, and are illegal under international law, and such products do not therefore benefit from preferential treatment. 

                                              

Soda Stream is one business made here.  Until 2015, its principal manufacturing facility was located in the Mishor Adumim industrial park in the West Bank, creating controversy and a boycott campaign.  In October 2015, under pressure from BDS activists, SodaStream closed its factory in Ma'ale Adumim and moved to a new facility in Lehavim,  and laid off more than 500 Palestinian workers in the process.

The bizarre fact is that the Palestinians benefited by working for Soda

Stream, the only business there.  

We cannot forget our past history and  Kristallnacht.  Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November Pogrom, was a pogrom against Jews carried out by SA paramilitary forces and civilians throughout Nazi Germany on 9–10 November 1938. The German authorities looked on without intervening.  It was the 

night that all Jewish businesses were broken into; the glass facing the streets broken, the end of their businesses.  

The EU and UN together have 1,769 issues on the docket about Israel of concern from the end of February to the present day.  One of them of recent days is concern of homes and buildings of Palestinians in East Jerusalem that are being razed.  The issue, once looked into, is over city plans and lack of building permits.  Jerusalem is no longer a divided city but a unified one; Israel's most important city of the past  3 thousand years plus. 

                                                 

 Jerusalem was a Jewish city since King David in 1010 BCE and is once again, ready to make their own decisions about their capital.  Israel was attacked in 47-49; 56; and 67 when they regained control of Jerusalem, winning each time.  The UN and the EU cannot tell Israel how to run their own capital.  Jerusalem has been called "The City of David" for good reason.  

Resource:

https://www.factsandlogic.org/how-the-european-union-obstructs-peace-between-israel-and-the-palestinians/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=push_notification&utm_campaign=vwo_notification_1601339682&vwo_powered=1 

https://www.un.org/unispal/document/eu-local-statement-on-the-demolitions-of-palestinian-structures-in-the-occupied-west-bank/

https://www.un.org/unispal/document-source/european-union-eu/

https://www.un.org/unispal/document-source/european-union-eu/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel%E2%80%93European_Union_relations

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/186776

Proud Boys Entered Portland's Fray With Their Anti-Semitism and Hate Doctrines

Nadene Goldfoot                                           

             Gavin McInnes, founder of Proud Boys, a Canadian writer            Gavin McInnes is a Canadian writer and political commentator. McInnes is known for his controversial promotion of violence against political opponents, and has been described as far-right, although he denies this label." He's 50 years old and a father of 3 children, but refers to his group as boys.   

"Established in the midst of the 2016 presidential election by VICE Media co-founder Gavin McInnes, the Proud Boys are self-described “western chauvinists” who adamantly deny any connection to the racist “alt-right,” insisting they are simply a fraternal group spreading an “anti-political correctness” and “anti-white guilt” agenda."  That may have been their first fleeting thought, but they're showing they're a most anti-Semitic group; a regular hate group.                                            

              Portland Police on September 26, 2020 on duty
 A rumble was expected to happen the other night in Portland.  The Proud Boys appeared ready to take on Black Lives Matter, only they came and they left;  it didn't happen.  They had rolled into town in their automobiles and that was pretty much it.  So who are these Proud Boys and what are they so proud of, themselves, I gather. Where are they from?  Are they home-grown or from out of state? How well organized are they?   

Days before the Proud Boys rally took place, The Guardian and Bellingcat, an investigative journalism organization, reported on a trove of leaked chats obtained by anti-fascists in Eugene, Oregon, which showed a network of Pacific Northwest-based pro-Trump and pro-law enforcement activists planning to engage in acts of targeted political violence, including the assassination of elected officials.  Bellingcat is an investigative journalism website that specializes in fact-checking and open-source intelligence. It was founded by the British journalist and former blogger Eliot Higgins in July 2014.

 Their  "brief gathering mostly consisted of swilling cheap beer and hard seltzers and assaulting journalists in a park on the edge of town. The absence of large-scale violence, which has so often defined the group’s forays into Portland over the past few years, came as a relief to a city that has been blanketed in wildfire smoke in recent weeks and targeted by the Trump administration as an “anarchist jurisdiction” for its nightly protests against police brutality."

Police in tactical gear were mustered near overpasses outside Delta Park on the northern edge of the city, but with the exception of occasional visits from a handful of liaison officers, the Proud Boys were largely permitted to police themselves.

 "Proud Boys have appeared alongside other hate groups at extremist gatherings like the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville. Indeed, former Proud Boys member Jason Kessler helped to organize the event, which brought together Klansmen, antisemites, Southern racists, and militias. Kessler was only “expelled” from the group after the violence and near-universal condemnation of the Charlottesville rally-goers."   

"Jason Eric Kessler graduated from the University of Virginia with a bachelor of arts in psychology in 2009. Prior to his involvement in political extremism, Kessler wrote that he was employed in various working class jobs as a dishwasher, gym technician, truck driver and handyman. "He was  (born September 22, 1983) is an American neo-Nazi, white supremacist and anti-semitic conspiracy theorist.  Kessler organized the Unite the Right rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 11–12, 2017 and the Unite the Right 2 rally held on August 12, 2018.  Kessler is a supporter of Neo-Nazism, far-right politics, and the alt-right.  In April 2017, Kessler was contracted to write two pieces for The Daily Caller.  He wrote another piece in May about the first protests in Charlottesville over the statue of Lee. Kessler also wrote several posts for the anti-immigrant white nationalist site VDare.  One of Kessler's posts claimed that the government was waging genocide against white people by policies that cause low Caucasian birth rates.                                      

“Let’s not bullshit,” Brian Brathovd, aka Caeralus Rex, told his co-hosts on the antisemitic The Daily Shoah — one of the most popular alt-right podcasts. If the Proud Boys “were pressed on the issue, I guarantee you that like 90% of them would tell you something along the lines of ‘Hitler was right. Gas the Jews."   "They are known for anti-Muslim and misogynistic rhetoric" (hatred of women). "The group admits only men and glorifies political violence. "                                        

The leader of The Daily Shoah is another hater, mainly of Jews.  Michael Isaac Peinovich (born 1977), commonly known by his pseudonym Mike Enoch, is an American neo-Nazi. He grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey in an upper-middle class Episcopalian family of Norwegian and Serbian descent.  His parents were divorced.  His only education was high school, and he was a dropout from several higher educational facilities as well as vocational ones.  Working at programming, he revealed his ani-Jewish conspiracy theory and therefore lost his job. Now he's a blogger and podcast host. He founded the alt-right media network The Right Stuff and podcast The Daily Shoah. Through his work, Peinovich ridicules African Americans, Jews, and other minorities, advocates racial discrimination, and promotes conspiracy theories such as Holocaust denial and white genocide.  This is what the Proud Boys listen to. 

 Proud Boys is based in the United States and has a presence in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. The group was started as a joke in the far-right Taki's Magazine in 2016 by Vice Media co-founder and former commentator Gavin McInnes, taking its name from the song "Proud of Your Boy" from the Disney https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX4YR3ItBswfilm Aladdin.   The Proud Boys emerged as part of the alt-right, but McInnes began distancing himself from the alt-right in early 2017, saying the alt-right's focus is race while his focus is what he defines as "Western values". This re-branding effort intensified after the Unite the Right rally.

In late November 2018, a news story which attracted national attention reported that the FBI classified the Proud Boys as an extremist group with ties to white nationalism.  Two weeks later, an FBI official briefing Clark County, Washington, law enforcement officials on the group denied that it was their intent to classify the entire group in this manner and ascribed the mistake to a misunderstanding. During the briefing, FBI agents suggested the use of various websites for more information, including that of the SPLC.  The official said that their intent was to characterize the possible threat from certain members of the group.  

Could it be that they only have their skin color to be proud of; not any manly accomplishments, are basically afraid of women, and that's why they cling to each other against all others?

                                                

All people should be raised to be proud of themselves and their origins.  Parents should complement their children enough to give them confidence in life.  Somehow, these "boys" have no pride at all having felt that being "white" was their only accomplishment in life, and felt denigrated by other non-whites and their achievements.  Too much pride is not good, however.  

Pride goeth before fall. (People who are overconfident or too arrogant are likely to fail. This saying is adapted from the biblical Book of Proverbs.).Pride is G-d's gift to little men.  Pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes.  Remember, when the peacock struts his stuff, he shows his backside to half the world.                           

                         

  "In July 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would commute the sentence of Roger Stone, a political ally who was convicted of seven felony charges, including witness tampering, lying to congress, and obstruction, in relation to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.  His only occupation is that of a conservative political consultant and lobbyist. Stone was for many years a lobbyist for Donald Trump on behalf of his casino business and also was involved in opposing expanded casino gambling in New York State, a position that brought him into conflict with Governor George Pataki.

      Donald Trump's longtime friend, Roger Stone has pleaded not guilty to charges in the special counsel's Russia investigation on January 29, 2019. Video shows him leaving the federal courthouse in Washington after his arraignment. BY ASSOCIATED PRESS with Proud Boys; not the picture referred to.

Shortly after the news broke, a photograph started to circulate online that supposedly showed Roger Stone and members of the Proud Boys flashing a white power gesture at a bar:" Snopes reports that this is true.  According to the Anti-Defamation League, white nationalists started to appropriate the common "OK" hand gesture in 2017.

"The perception" in Portland "that the police favor the far-right agitators was further informed by the sharp contrast with how the police treated those protesting police violence and racism later that day,” German, the former FBI agent, said. “That they would modify the law enforcement command structure specifically to avoid restraints on police violence ordered by courts and local political leaders demonstrates complete disregard for the law, democratic restraints on police power, and the security of Portland residents from unaccountable law enforcement actions.”

According to Wikipedia, (In early 2018, ahead of an appearance at the annual Republican Dorchester Conference in Salem, Oregon, Stone sought out the Proud Boys to act as his "security" for the event; photos posted online showed Stone drinking with several Proud Boys. In February 2018, the Proud Boys posted a video on Facebook which they described as Stone undergoing a "low-level initiation" into the group. As part of the initiation, Stone says "Hi, I'm Roger Stone. I'm a Western chauvinist. I refuse to apologize for creating the modern world", making him a "first-degree" member, which Kutner characterizes as being a "sympathizer".                                                   

A man hold his hand to his heart as a Proud Boys organizer recites the Pledge of Allegiance during a Proud Boys rally at Delta Park in Portland, Oregon on September 26, 2020. A Proud Boys supporter has been filmed warning that there will be a "civil war" if Donald Trump does not get re-elected in November.MARANIE R. STAAB/AFP/GETTY Stone denies being a member of the group. In July 2020, Facebook announced it had shut down the accounts and pages linked to Stone and Proud Boys. This network of over 100 Facebook and Instagram accounts spent more than $300,000 on ads to promote their posts and included false personas.  In late January 2019, when Stone was arrested by the FBI on seven criminal counts in connection with the Mueller investigation, Enrique Tarrio, the chairman of the Proud Boys, met Stone as he left the courthouse in Florida. Tarrio, who wore a "Roger Stone Did Nothing Wrong" T-shirt, sold by a company owned by Tarrio, told a local TV reporter that the indictment was nothing but "trumped-up charges", and was later seen visiting Stone's house. The next day, in Washington D.C., a small number of Proud Boys demonstrated outside the courthouse where Stone pleaded not guilty to the charges, carrying "Roger Stone did nothing wrong" signs and others that promoted the InfoWars conspiracy website. The Proud Boys got into an argument with anti-Stone hecklers Tarrio was later filmed behind Donald Trump in February 2019, during a televised speech in Miami, where he was seen wearing the same message on a T-shirt.  Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes said Stone was "one of the three approved media figures allowed to speak" about the group. When Stone was asked by a local reporter about the Proud Boys' claim that he had been initiated as a member of the group, he responded by calling the reporter a member of the Communist party. He is particularly close to the group's current leader Enrique Tarrio, who has commercially monetized his position.  At a televised Trump rally in Miami, Florida on February 18, 2019, Tarrio was seated directly behind President Trump wearing a "Roger stone did nothing wrong" tee shirt.Update: 10/16/20

Resource: 

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/proud-boys

https://ucommblog.com/section/national-politics/proud-boys-greatest-threat-america

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proud_Boys

https://theintercept.com/2020/09/28/portland-proud-boys-rally-journalists/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/23/oregon-portland-pro-trump-protests-violence-texts

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Enoch

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Kessler

https://www.newsweek.com/proud-boys-trump-civil-war-qanon-1538208?fbclid=IwAR1yfckIXuCeW0iE-f3PK5kHmSFVnguXjDmvaA86zfY0AjFyIF6liSobYx0

Israel and Lebanon 's Fighting Over the Shebaa Farms

 Nadene Goldfoot                                           

Both Israel and Lebanon are teeny states, so any amount of land is very important to them.  They have been fighting over a small patch, the Sheba (Shabaa) Farms, located at the intersection of the Lebanese-Syrian border and the Israeli-Golan Heights.  It's about 7 miles long and 2 miles wide.  

Where England held the mandate over Palestine, France held their mandate over Lebanon.  The French and later their own Lebanese and Syrian governments failed to demarcate the border between Lebanon and Syria.  Their 6 Day war against Israel in 1967 led to Israel winning the Golan Heights and annexed it in 1981, and Syria was the de facto ruling power.  In 1978, Israel won southern Lebanon and in 1981 the Golan Heights including the Shebaa Farms which Israel annexed.  Of course, Israel,  constantly attacked by their neighbors, winning the land from being attacked and then successful,  was not defended by other nations, and only the USA recognized the annexation.  

Violent attacks on Israel since they withdrew from Lebanon in May 2000 have happened.  The UN studied the situation and could find no evidence that the abandoned farm belonged to Lebanon  Fighting has continued over the land during 2000-06 and early in August 2015.  

Hezbollah launched an ambush on January 28 against Israel's military convoy in the Shebaa Farms against 2 Israeli Humvees patrolling the border.  2 Israelis were killed and 7 were wounded.  This was in response, Hezbollah said, to their Hezbollah and Iranian officers attacked in their military convoy on January 18, 2015 at Quneitra in Syria.  The Israel-Hezbollah conflict ended after UNIFIL mediation.                                    

Today, Trump's election campaign has caused talks to take place on this Israel-Lebanon controversy over sea and land disputes after he gained the UAE-Bahrain ties with Israel.

                                                         

On the table is an agreement with a land border marked by the Blue Line Since 2011, except that land of the Shabaa Farms.  Lebanon is receptive to it in principle, but stopped by their failure to form a government.  

Since January 2020, their government is made up mostly of Hezbollah terrorists.  "There are two major political coalitions in Lebanon: March 8 and March 14. The first most notably includes former Prime Minister Saad Hariri‘s Sunni-led party, and the latter includes Iran’s backed Hezbollah movement and its allies.  This is not what the people expected.  

The deal for a new cabinet came after an agreement by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, a major parliamentary bloc, and its allies including the Free Patriotic Movement led by Gibran Bassil, President Michel Aoun’s son-in-law.  Notice that Iran backs the terrorism and it is they who want to destroy and bring to an end of Israel.  

Lebanon, being just across the border, has also been a home for many Jews.  The Torah refers to the Cedars of Lebanon that were used in building the 1st Temple when Solomon had good relations with King Hiram of Lebanon.  Even by 1944, there were 6,261 Jews living there.  After 1948, Syrian Jews moved there.  By 1964, 5,000-7,000 Jews still lived there.  1975 was the year of a Lebanon Civil War when the 1,000 remaining Jews finally left and by 1990 less than 100 remained. 

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shebaa_farms

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=wm#inbox/FMfcgxwJXxxhDJMGfKtKvVFHKwBWPWJM

https://www.factsandlogic.org/israel-owns-the-golan-heights-time-u-s-and-world-to-recognize-it/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwzbv7BRDIARIsAM-A6-3QUjuXiIt-Iq0fNIOHLOAMm7YgDx_Wg0uY5Awbw91ygdHDAD1qGdUaAnoIEALw_wcB

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2020/1/22/hezbollah-a-major-architect-of-lebanons-new-government

 

Republic of Sudan and Possible Recognition of Israel Soon

 Nadene Goldfoot                                              

Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in North-East Africa. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, Libya to the northwest, Chad to the west, the Central African Republic to the southwest, South Sudan to the south, Ethiopia to the southeast, Eritrea to the east, and the Red Sea to the northeast.

Sudan is the 8th largest populated Muslim majority country  with a population of 43,939,598 in 2011.  70% are Muslims.  Jews had visited the Sudan from remote times.  In 1885, the Mahdi compelled all Jews and Christians to embrace Islam.  The community dated from the end of the 19th century, but few Jews now live there.  There have been a few Greeks, however.                                                    

 US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) with Sudan's Sovereign Council chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in this August 25, 2020 photo [File: Sudan's Foreign Media Council/AFP]

   Secretary of State Pompeo seeks a Sudan breakthrough before the US presidential election.  He is hoping that Sudan will "recognize" Israel, something that the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have now done.   The peace treaty between Egypt and Israel was signed 16 months after Egyptian president Anwar Sadat's visit to Israel in 1977 after intense negotiation. ... The agreement notably made Egypt the first Arab state to officially recognize Israel.

Sudan's history goes back to the Pharaonic period, witnessing the Kingdom of Kerma (c. 2500–1500 BC), the subsequent rule of the Egyptian New Kingdom (c. 1500 BC–1070 BC) and the rise of the Kingdom of Kush (c. 785 BC–350 AD), which would in turn control Egypt itself for nearly a century.  From the 16th–19th centuries, central and eastern Sudan were dominated by the Funj sultanate, while Darfur ruled the west and the Ottomans the far north.

From 1820 to 1874 the entirety of Sudan was conquered by the Muhammad Ali dynasty. Between 1881 and 1885, the harsh Egyptian reign was eventually met with a successful revolt led by the self-proclaimed Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad, resulting in the establishment of the Caliphate of Omdurman. This state was eventually toppled in 1898 by the British, who would then govern Sudan together with Egypt.

This Muslim country is remembered with the name of Darfur.

A letter dated 14 August 2006, from the executive director of Human Rights Watch found that the Sudanese government is both incapable of protecting its own citizens in Darfur and unwilling to do so, and that its militias are guilty of crimes against humanity.  Some reports attribute part of the violations to the rebels as well as the government and the Janjaweed. The U.S. State Department's human-rights report issued in March 2007 claims that "all" parties to the conflagration committed serious abuses, including widespread killing of civilians, rape as a tool of war, systematic torture, robbery and recruitment of child soldiers."

Over 2.8 million civilians have been displaced and the death toll is estimated at 300,000 killed. Both government forces and militias allied with the government are known to attack not only civilians in Darfur (over 9 million live here) , but also humanitarian workers. Sympathizers of rebel groups are arbitrarily detained, as are foreign journalists, human-rights defenders, student activists and displaced people in and around Khartoum, some of whom face torture. The rebel groups have also been accused in a report issued by the U.S. government of attacking humanitarian workers and of killing innocent civilians. According to UNICEF, in 2008, there were as many as 6,000 child soldiers in Darfur.

Sudan is one of four nations listed as a “state sponsor of terrorism” by the US, severely impeding investment as businesses worry of legal risks in dealing with the country.

Currently there are four countries designated under these authorities: the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), Iran, Sudan, and Syria.

But Sudan was transformed last year when al-Bashir was deposed following a wave of youth-led protests. British-educated economist Abdalla Hamdok has become the new prime minister with a reformist mandate in a transitional arrangement with the military.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan, head of Sudan’s sovereign council, is holding talks with UAE leaders on “regional issues” amid reports concerning a Sudanese decision to normalize relations with Israel. Justice Minister Naser-Eddin Abdelbari is meeting separately with US officials. present in Abu Dhabi to discuss the “removal of Sudan from the list of states sponsoring terrorism.” This is the Khartoum government’s main proviso for going forward on formal ties with Israel as well as a demand for app. $3bn in humanitarian assistance and direct budgetary aid.

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt%E2%80%93Israel_peace_treaty#:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudan

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/9/23/us-seeks-breakthrough-on-sudan-before-election