Israel Cannot Be An “Occupier” Of Her Own Land

Succinct, clear, compelling and short video from PragerU debunking the notion that Israel is an “occupier” in the West Bank

Ben & Jerry’s: The Financial Consequences of Harming Israel

Ben and Jerry's Israel Boycott Is Harming Unilever Shares - Lydia Moynihan

Since Ben & Jerry's announced on July 19 it would stop selling ice cream in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, Unilever's stock traded on the New York Stock Exchange has fallen 13% and lost about $20 billion in market value as various funds have said they will pull money out of Unilever. 

(New York Post)

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Spreading the Boycott of Ben & Jerry’s: Wiesenthal Center Ad

 

Muslim Tourism Will Bring Peace to Israel

David Friedman: Muslim Tourism to Jerusalem Can End Conflict 

- Felice Friedson

Former U.S. envoy to Israel David Friedman is opening the Friedman Center for Peace through Strength at the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem. Friedman said in an interview the big goal is to end the conflict. "I think it's endable. I think it's resolvable. I think what we've started is going to continue, the pace of which depends upon a lot of factors including support from the U.S. administration, but we are on a glide path, I believe, to end the Israeli-Arab conflict."

"My perspective on this is really to focus on Jerusalem. I think that making Jerusalem accessible to the Muslim world to see the care and respect that Israel gives to the Muslim holy sites, or the Christian holy sites, and of course, Jewish - I think seeing that firsthand will go a long way in removing the residual levels of mistrust that exist between the nations or the peoples."

"I think that the most important thing is to begin to show the Muslim world that the third holiest site is well taken care of by the Israeli government, and that Israel is the solution, if you will, to many of the problems in the Middle East; not the problem....We are going to use the opportunity of being in Jerusalem to meet with as many groups from the region as we can, whether from Egypt or Jordan, or from the Gulf, and to really emphasize the openness and respect that Israel has for the Muslim faith."

"It's all about changing the way Jewish people and Arabs, and Arab-Israelis and the entire region begins to look at each other in a way where they can coexist. And more than coexist."  

(Medialine)

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Ben & Jerry’s Unites Jews & Their Allies

BDS and Jerry's - Editorial

We're not clear how exactly removing Ben & Jerry's ice cream from grocery stores in the West Bank will benefit the Palestinians. The move appears to be primarily an act of guerrilla theater and a demonstration of base prejudice. The most common expression of anti-Semitism is the application of double standards to Jews and the Jewish state.
    

There is no comparison between Israeli policy in the West Bank and the practices of the world's greatest human rights abusers. Unilever happily does business in Northern Cyprus, occupied Tibet, and Xinjiang, home to Uyghur concentration camps. We won't hold our breath for the ice cream boycott of China. But hey, there are no Jews in Xinjiang. We urge friends of Israel and the Jewish people to vote with their spoons. 

(Washington Free Beacon)

The Pitfalls of Palestinian Exceptionalism - Hussein Aboubakr

    

The Western righteousness industry seems to be deeply interested in democracy, freedom of speech, and human rights violations in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, but is disinterested in the same issues within Palestinian society. Their magical exceptionalism turns appalling acts of violence by Palestinians from terrorism into resistance.
    

The Palestinian cause is waning among Arab nations, while ironically getting brighter in the West...

The writer, a Muslim Arab imprisoned by the Egyptian military for his activities to combat anti-Semitism, is a full time educator and speaker for StandWithUs. 

(Hussein Aboubakr)

FOOTNOTE: 

Actually, It's the Palestinians Who Are Appropriating Jewish Culture 

- Mor Altshuler

A recent article in Ha'aretz accused Zionists of "cultural and culinary appropriation" by presenting Palestinian foods as Israeli cuisine. Yet, as was proven by Prof. Menachem Felix and many others, there is almost no vegetable, fruit, spice or cooking method now ascribed to the Syrian-Palestinian kitchen that is not mentioned in the Bible or the Mishnah, and that didn't migrate with the Jews when they were exiled from their land.
    

For example, in southeastern Turkey, kubbeh, the glory of the Palestinian kitchen, is called "Jewish kofta" - that is, Jewish meatballs. Jews invented kubbeh because it was their custom to eat meat on Shabbat, but it is religiously prohibited for them to slaughter animals or cook on that day. Before the refrigerator was invented, the solution was to wrap ground meat in dough and fry or bake it on Friday, so it wouldn't spoil.
    

Similarly, eggplant and hummus, also ostensibly from the Palestinian kitchen, are mentioned in the records of the Spanish Inquisition as characteristic Jewish foods that could be used to identify people who formally converted to Christianity but secretly remained Jews. Moreover, olive oil, which has become a symbol of the Palestinian people, is one of the seven species the Bible cites as acceptable offerings in the Temple. It was used to anoint kings and priests and to light the menorah in the Temple.
    

It was the ancient Jewish cuisine of the Land of Israel that turned into one of the cuisines appropriated by Muslim nomads after they conquered the region in the seventh century. 

(Ha'aretz)

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Ross: "Give Israel Mountain Buster Bombs"

 

Dennis Ross

How the U.S. Could Empower Its Ally, Israel, to Deter Iran - Dennis Ross 

The U.S. must make the costs of pursuing a threshold capability far clearer. To do so, the Biden administration should consider providing Israel the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a 30,000-pound mountain-buster, as well as leasing the B-2 bomber to deliver it. Such a weapon could be used to destroy Fordow, the underground Iranian enrichment facility, as well as other hardened nuclear sites.

This would send a powerful message. The Iranians may doubt whether the U.S. would follow through on its threats; they won't have any trouble believing the Israelis will.

(Bloomberg)

The writer, who served in senior national security positions for four presidents, is counselor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

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VideoBite: Liberation of Ethiopian Jews circa 1991

 

Rare, stunning, newly released footage of Israel's rescue of Ethiopian Jews in 1991

Everything You Need to Know About the Recent Gaza Flareup

 

Hamas flags waved by Palestinian Arabs

How Hamas' Assault Serves as Iran's Testing Ground

-Jonathan Spyer

In recent years, the Palestinian Arab population west of the Jordan has become politically fragmented. Four identifiable populations exist: the Arab citizens of Israel, the inhabitants of Gaza, the Arab inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the population living under the administration of the West Bank Palestinian Authority.

The Hamas offensive which began with the launching of seven missiles at Jerusalem on May 10 is an effort to test the hypothesis that by mobilizing the symbol of al-Aqsa Mosque, and then initiating military action in the name of its defense, Hamas could reduce or remove these divisions.

Iran's strategic vision is of a long war conducted through the use of proxies and political client forces, and intended to result in Israel's hollowing out, weakening, isolation and eventual collapse.

Jerusalem, with Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr passed, has experienced only sporadic unrest. The riots in Israeli Arab towns have for the moment receded. The West Bank has seen large demonstrations but does not currently appear close to conflagration.

Gaza, though it will undoubtedly continue to fire rockets until the last moments, has suffered far greater damage than it has been able to inflict. If these situations hold, the fragmentation has not been comprehensively overturned.

Nevertheless, from the Iranian point of view, there are also considerable reasons for encouragement from the events of the last 10 days. Most importantly, the widespread rioting and attacks on Jews by Arab Israelis in Lod, Ramle, Haifa, Jaffa and elsewhere demonstrate the efficacy of al-Aqsa as a unifying symbol.

Even if this has not for now resulted in a generalized uprising, it is a strategic lesson that the Iranians will note carefully. For the first time since the establishment of Israel, Arab Israelis in large numbers mobilized, and on occasions used weaponry, to assist the war effort of an organization attacking Israel. This is a matter of deep significance, and represents a profound, if still partial, success for Hamas and its backers. The possession of considerable arsenals in the hands of elements of the Arab Israeli population and the potential this has for disruption will similarly have been carefully noted.

The initially slow and weak response of Israeli state authorities in responding to this will also be recorded. 

The large rallies in Europe and the Middle East demonstrate the continued resonance this issue has for broad sections of the Muslim public.

All these will be seen by Iran as encouraging signs of Israeli internal disarray and division, opening up new possibilities for future use.

As ever, Iran prefers to avoid direct involvement. But without its backing, support and expertise, the latest Hamas offensive against Israel would have been inconceivable. From this point of view, the events of the last 10 days may be seen as the latest episode in Tehran's long war against Israel.
[Middle East Forum/Jerusalem Post]

CartoonBite: Truth

 

Palestinians Deceive on Jerusalem Evictions

Almost Nothing You've Heard about Evictions in Jerusalem Is True - Avi Bell and Eugene Kontorovich (Wall Street Journal)

• The narrative of Israel's critics connects Hamas' current onslaught to eviction proceedings in Israeli courts concerning a few properties in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
• The truth about Sheikh Jarrah is that it involves an ordinary property dispute between private parties. The Jewish claimants' ownership of the few plots of land has been confirmed repeatedly in court, following laws that apply equally regardless of ethnicity. Israeli courts have gone out of their way to avoid evicting the Palestinian residents who haven't paid rent for half a century.
• In the case now before Israel's Supreme Court, the owner is an Israeli corporation with Jewish owners whose chain of title is documented back to an original purchase in 1875. Until 1948, the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood was home to both Jewish and Arab communities. Then Jordan invaded Israel and occupied half of Jerusalem, expelling every one of its Jewish inhabitants and seizing their property.
• This case has nothing to do with ethnicity or religion. The only discrimination in the legal treatment of Sheikh Jarrah property is historic, by Jordan, and against Jews to the benefit of Palestinians.
• The plaintiffs have spent four decades in court seeking to recover possession of the properties. In the latest lawsuits, the courts ruled that four of the eight defendants were squatters with no legal rights to the land, and the remaining four were descendants of tenants who had never paid rent. Nevertheless, Israeli courts have treated the Palestinians as "protected tenants," and would shield them from eviction indefinitely if they paid rent. They have refused to do so.
• Israeli courts adjudicate property disputes in Jerusalem between Arab parties, or by Arabs against Jews, with no protest. There is only one objection in this case: the owners are Jews. The manufactured controversy this time is an attempt to pressure Israel effectively to perpetuate Jordan's ethnic cleansing - in the name of human rights.
  
  Avi Bell is a professor at the University of San Diego Law School. Eugene Kontorovich is director of the Center for the Middle East and International Law at George Mason University School of Law. Both are scholars at the Kohelet Policy Forum in Jerusalem.

Iranians Protest Mullahs

 

Iranian Dissidents on Manhattan Billboard: Don’t Trust Ayatollahs’ Apologists in US Media
- David Israel

Members of the Iranian opposition commissioned a billboard in Midtown Manhattan, opposite the offices of The New York Times last Friday, calling on Americans to ignore the media warning Americans not to trust their media which serve as apologists for the Iranian regime and endorse a return to the nuclear agreement with Iran.
[Jewish Press]
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The Abraham Accords Dance

 

VideoBite: No Nuclear Iran!

 

This short video makes a cogent case for opposing a resurrected Iran Deal and supporting The Abraham Accords.  Note the creative use of President Lyndon Johnson’s iconic Nuclear Daisy ad.  

Jews Are From Judea; Arabs Are From Arabia

 

Jews Are Indigenous to the Land of Israel - Noam Rotstain

Archaeological, genetic, and historical evidence backs the indigeneity of Jews to Israel. Anthropologist Jose Martinez Cobo, who served the UN on indigenous matters, developed a checklist to clarify the meaning of indigeneity, which includes occupation of ancestral lands, common ancestry with the original occupants of the land, culture, language, and residence in parts of the country. 

A study found that over 90% of Jewish people can trace their genetics to the southern Levant region, which includes Israel.
    

Using the same UN checklist, we can determine that genetically, linguistically, culturally, and spiritually, Palestinians can trace themselves back to the Hejaz region in the Arabian peninsula, now known as Saudi Arabia. 

Arabs began arriving in the Levant region in the 7th century CE, hundreds of years after the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans. 

(Algemeiner)

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Abraham Accords Lead To Regional Alliance

A Gulf-Israel Defense Alliance to End the Israel-Palestinian Conflict and Confront Iran
-Gregg Roman

A recent report suggesting that Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates are exploring the possibility of creating a four-nation defense alliance has potentially game-changing ramifications.

While the last few months since the Abraham Accords and normalization agreements signed between Israel and numerous Arab and Muslim countries have witnessed many unprecedented events, this could outshine them all.

The historic narrative of the Israel-Arab conflict has been that the region and the wider Arab and Muslim world will not countenance the existence of the Jewish State, and have tried on many occasions in the past to extinguish it.

That has come to an end in recent years...

The defense alliance can and should ensure that Israel help them to defeat the Iranian menace in the Gulf, and the proxy war raging in Yemen. Israeli intelligence capabilities should compensate for America's recent capitulation to the Houthis. The Israeli navy should operate its submarines and new Sa'ar missile corvettes from Emirati and Bahraini ports.

In return, Israel should be seeking assurances that cooperation is not a one-way street, and that Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain should help Israel fight its enemies, many of which are closely allied to or receive funding and armaments from Iran.

[The emerging alliance] should be used to end the Israel-Palestinian conflict once and for all. 

Helping Israel destroy Palestinian violent rejectionism and win the conflict is a win-win for the Sunni nations in the defense alliance. They would be providing a quid pro quo for Israel helping it rid its own borders of enemies, and it would be ending the conflict which many see as an obstacle to greater rapprochement with the Jewish State in the region.

This would also allow all of the nations in the defense alliance, which could then be enlarged, to focus all of their energies towards the greatest threat to the region, Iran, its proxies and its relentless attempt to attain nuclear weapons capability.

It would also break down the last barrier towards full relations between Israel and the wider Sunni world, thus allowing for the sole focus for both to be on breaking the back of the Iranian ever-growing stranglehold on the region.
[The Middle East Forum]
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Israel Settles Yemenite Jewish Claims

 

A family of Jewish immigrants from Yemen arrives at Lod Airport November 17, 1949

(photo credit: HANS PINN)

Government Recognizes Suffering of Yemenite Families, Compensation Given 

The government approved to officially recognize the suffering of Yemenite, Balkan and Mizrahi Jewish families who came to Israel in the 1950s and to offer them financial compensation. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called this case “among the most painful in the history of the State of Israel” and said that it is time that families “who had their babies taken from them” would get both recognition and compensation. He added that it would be included in history classes offered to the country’s children in the future. 

Finance Minister Israel Katz expressed his hope that this move would “begin to heal, even in a small measure, the pain of history” and called to honor the rich cultural legacy of Yemenite Jews. 

NIS 162 million would be ear-marked for compensation with NIS 150,000 given to families who were not told when or how their child died or buried and his grave was never found or found a long time after. NIS 200,000 compensation would be ear-marked for families who do not know to this day what happened to their child. 

Families would be able to file requests starting from June. 

In response, Union Sefaradi Mundial, a Jerusalem-based NGO devoted to the legacy of Sephardi Jews, said that "compensation by itself is not enough, the government must accept responsibility. The State of Israel has to these events of children who went missing."

USM head Prof. Shimon Shetreet lost his own sister Sara when she was 10 months old.

"My own parents and the parents of other children would be turning in their graves had they known that after all these years, the State of Israel is still refusing to take responsibility," he said. 

The compensation, USM said, are being offered as an act of generosity rather than admittance of guilt.

The claim of the Yemenite Jewish community and others that their babies were taken and given to adoption to other families, usually European Jewish ones deemed able to offer the children more chances in life, was hotly debated and dismissed as a "myth" for decades.

Rabbi Uzi Meshulam was arrested when police raided his home in 1994 after he and his followers, armed with guns, demanded the state investigate this issue.

Meshulam was arrested, spent time in prison and dismissed for many years as a radical with outlandish claims. He died in 2013.  

Many Israelis who took part in the absorption efforts of Yemenite and other Jewish communities deny to this day that such a plan was in place. 
[Jerusalem Post] 
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A Vision of MidEast Peace

 

Single Temple to House 3 Abrahamic Faiths to Be Built In UAE

A single temple serving all three Abrahamic religions will be erected in the capital of the United Arab Emirates by 2022.

Although Islam is both the official and the dominant religion in the United Arab Emirates, freedom of religion is embraced by the law. There are many places of worship throughout much of the country for different faiths to worship.

“In 2022, it is planned to open a temple of three world religions in Abu Dhabi – Islam, Christianity, Judaism. It will be called ‘Abrahamic Family House,'” Mohamed Ahmed bin Sultan Al Jaber, UAE ambassador to Russia, said during an event at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow.

According to Al Jaber, The religious temple will be a place for worship, dialogue, and education, to bring unity between the faiths,

Islam is both the official and the dominant religion in the UAE, with about 76 percent of the country’s population practicing the Koran’s teachings. However, the country’s law promotes religious freedom and has representative places of worship throughout the country, including Christianity, Judaism, and other faiths.

[Jerusalem Online]

Can The Temple Mount Bring Peace?

 

Israel and the Temple Mount's Five Muslim Rivals

- Daniel Pipes, PhD 

Everyone knows about the Jewish-Muslim tussle over claims to rule Jerusalem, with its Palestinian lie that Jerusalem has no role in Judaism, and also the pro-Israel rebuttal that the Koran does not mention Jerusalem.

But there's another heated, if less public, battle over Jerusalem (Arabic: Al-Quds): not about the right to rule the city, but authority over the Temple Mount (Arabic: Al-Haram ash-Sharif), the holy esplanade containing two antique and holy edifices, the Dome of the Rock (built in 691) and Al-Aqsa Mosque (705). Five Muslim parties are mainly engaged in this intricate, consequential struggle: the Palestinian Authority, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Turkey, and the Kingdom of Morocco. Each has distinctive strengths and goals.

Palestinian Authority: Controlling the Temple Mount is absolutely central to the PA's mission. It may lack the economic and military resources of a state, but it wields two unique powers: day-to-day management (thanks to Israeli deference) and wide international support for its claim to rule eastern Jerusalem. The PA zealously sustains these powers by intimidating Israel with its calls for Muslim outrage and leftist anti-Zionism. As the effective ruler atop the Temple Mount, it is the status quo power resisting any change.

Jordan: Amman enjoys many formal privileges but has minuscule sway on the ground. The 1994 Jordan-Israel peace treaty states that "Israel respects the present special role" of Jordan in "Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem" and it grants "high priority to the Jordanian historic role in these shrines." One scholar mistakenly translates this into a supposed custodianship, "with its attendant duties of maintaining, protecting, and regulating access to the shrines." Indeed, Israel colludes with relatively friendly Jordanian kings to hide their impotence because that pretend "special role" is, in the words of Nadav Shragai, "the central anchor that bolsters their monarchical rule, granting it legitimacy in the face of Islamic extremist elements in Jordan. A weakened presence on the mount, Jordan fears, will necessarily also undermine stability in the kingdom to the point of presenting an existential threat."

Saudi Arabia: Saudis lack influence but acutely aspire to some power to enhance their international standing. John Jenkins, a former UK ambassador to Riyadh, explains why: "Iran has always challenged them on the legitimacy of their custodianship of Mecca and Medina. If they were to add a third shrine to their list, it could enhance their claims to be the absolute [religious] leaders of the Islamic world." The Israelis could hand Riyadh such power, simultaneously sweetening a peace treaty and lessening Palestinian control.

Turkey: The Ottoman Empire ruled Jerusalem for four centuries, 1516-1917, after which Turkish authorities abruptly lost interest in it. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently renewed claims to its holy places, culminating in an October 2020 statement that "this city that we had to leave in tears during the First World War ... is our city, a city from us." Ankara has backed those words with tens of millions of dollars to promote Jerusalem's Turkish heritage, win support for Turkey's claims over the Temple Mount, and challenge Israeli rule. Allied with Hamas, the Turks do not cooperate with the Jewish state, which in turn wants to limit its role.

Morocco: Chairing the Organization of Islamic Cooperation's Al-Quds Committeeand hosting its headquarters since the committee's founding in 1975 gives Moroccan kings a certain influence over the Temple Mount – despite a distance of 4,000 kilometers. The committee also has a subsidiary, Bayt Mal Al Quds Agency, which funds Islamic interests in Jerusalem by donating prayer rugs, building houses, helping with renovations, etc. Symbolically, Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita prayed at Al-Aqsa in March 2018 to send "a strong message of support for the Palestinian cause." Generally, Moroccan kings ally on Temple Mount issues with Saudi kings to diminish Jordanian kings. Winning Israeli goodwill presumably had a role in Rabat's December 2020 decision to normalize relations with the Jewish state.

Israel: Israel faces two hostile actors on the Temple Mount (the PA, Turkey/Hamas) and three actors quasi-willing to work with it (Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco). Until now, Israeli leaders have lacked the imagination to exploit this rivalry, with its great potential psychological impact to help achieve Israel Victory. One idea: encourage Emirati rulers to join the other three kings to undermine PA legitimacy. Another: revive Ehud Olmert's initiative to sponsor a committee overseeing Jerusalem's Islamic sanctities.

The ball is in Israel's court.

[Israel Hayom] 

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Will Biden Continue Abraham Accords?

Social Media Sees Drop in Arab Objection to Normalization 

Arab social media witnessed a 20% decline in negative attitudes towards normalization with Israel during the past four months, Israel's Strategic Affairs Ministry reported.

The amount of online objection to the Abraham Accords dropped from 94% in summer 2020 to 75% in November 2020.
(Jerusalem Post)

Biden to Work with Israel to Build on Normalization Deals

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke by phone with Israeli National Security Advisor Meir Ben Shabbat. They discussed opportunities to enhance their bilateral partnership, including by building on the success of Israel's normalization arrangements with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. 

Sullivan confirmed the U.S. will closely consult with Israel on all matters of regional security. He also extended an invitation to begin a strategic dialogue in the near term to continue substantive discussions. 

(White House)

Outgoing Ambassador to Israel Looks Back - Ariel Kahana

After four intense years, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman sat down with Israel Hayom for an "exit interview." 

"We left the Middle East in a pretty good place. Normally, you come into office and the Middle East is always on fire. This time, it's not. I would say, this is not where you ought to be focusing your attention. This is not where I would be trying to bring change. This is one of the few places in the world where change is going to be counter-productive."  

(Israel Hayom)

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Dump The Palestinians

 

Why Jews Should Drop the Palestinian Cause in 2021 - Justin B. Hayet

In 2021, and in the years and decades beyond, the organized Jewish community should abandon its paralyzing, archaic, immoral and dangerous objective of establishing a Palestinian state.

Our world has changed. The Middle East has changed. Israel has changed. The American Jewish community, and its objectives, must too. Suppress your anger, lay down your talking points and hear me out.

The tectonic plates of the Middle East shifted with the signing of The Abraham Accords – and they have not stopped shifting. The accords will continue to shape, if not completely guide, US Foreign Policy in the Middle East for the foreseeable future and throughout future Democratic and Republican administrations.

This diplomatic breakthrough and peace agreement, at first between a few Arab powerhouses, led by the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco is simply unprecedented. Add the countries that continue to follow along with whispers that Saudi Arabia will eventually join, and the map of the Middle East isn’t only re-edited: It is completely rewritten.

Our communal objectives must be reflected in this. This redrawn map will outlive the Trump Presidency and the Jewish community’s distaste for it. The writing is on the wall: the Abraham Accords will continue to shift, guide and influence Middle Eastern geopolitics of the twenty-first century.

Shouldn’t we jump on board? If Sunni Arab Muslim countries, their leadership and increasingly their populations don’t care about the Palestinian cause, why should we?

Why must American Jews cling to a cause that acts against the interest of the Jewish state and its Arab neighbors? Do we want to live in a world where the Israeli government is more aligned with the Sunni-Arab states than with the United States and its Jewish powerhouse of a Diaspora?

What moral imperative calls upon us as a Jewish People to tie our identities, and the love of our nation state, to a neighboring people who name streets after people who kill us, who pay terrorists to kill us and who refuse to accept that we, the Jews, have a right to a state?

This shouldn’t be so complicated. The Arab World is beginning to turn the page and recognize the Palestinian cause for what it is: a problem, a problem that would only grow exponentially if granted statehood. It is time the American Jewish community does the same.

Clutching onto the Palestinian cause as the Arab World continues to publicly, and rightfully, reject it is simply shooting ourselves strategically in the foot, right as the marathon is about to begin. And don’t we want to win the marathon?

It is time the organizations bent on establishing a Palestinian state in the name of their Judaism update their policy objectives, smell the Aroma coffee...

The region – along with the overwhelming majority of Israelis – has moved on from the malpractice of Palestinian rejectionism: It’s time we as a community do so, too.

The times have changed and so must we. We must craft and enact communal objectives based on the reality of the moment and not the nostalgia of Olso’s archaic past. Jewish organizations whose sole mission is the establishment of a Palestinian state are stuck in the 1990s and cannot wish 2021 away. 

The Palestinian cause hates Jews. The Palestinian cause hates Zionists. The Palestinian cause hates America and Americans. Shouldn’t we dedicate our time, communal objectives, organizations and its funds to causes that actually authentically embrace us?

In other words: Let's build the Jewish state. Let's invest in projects and partners who put our values into action – not those who name streets after terrorists who killed Israelis.

Let's build a new Jewish world in 2021 with a renewed and honest vision, with our new partners in the Arab world who have rejected Palestinian rejectionism. Let’s embrace our new and growing list of Arab partners – and leave our old ones in the past.

Justin Hayet is the COO of Bnai Zion and is the youngest executive of a major Jewish organization in the United States.

[Jerusalem Post] 

HAT TIP: JB

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