"Perhaps You've Heard"

Arlene Kushner

Word came out on a major scale yesterday that YouTube had dropped the Palestinian Media Watch ( http://palwatch.org ) account. The reason given was that PMW had severely violated YouTube guidelines -- with regard to hate speech. This came as a blow, for there seemed to be an essential confusion between promoting vile speech and exposing it. But that was yesterday, and today the news is different.

Apparently this was not a perverse or biased decision, it was an automatic process that was generated by complaints (complaints from Arabs who resented what was being shown, or from others offended by some of the content of what the videos show, I cannot say). Once a person of decision-making capacity was reached, and the situation was thoroughly explained, the decision by YouTube was reversed. Many is the time that I have relied upon such PMW-generated YouTube videos to demonstrate exactly what is really happening in the PA (e.g., an officially designated musical troupe that dances on stage while singing, "This is the day of consolation of Jihad. Pull the trigger. We shall redeem Jerusalem, Nablus and the country." Which you can see here.)

I am glad that this story has a happy ending.

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It would be good -- and far far more important -- to secure a happy ending on this score, as well:

I've read numerous exceedingly thoughtful pieces regarding the inadvisability -- the danger! -- of approving the new START treaty, which would put the US at a disadvantage, as well as regarding the audacity of President Obama in trying to push this through a lame-duck Senate right before Christmas and without adequate debate.

What I have chosen to share here is from Frank Gaffney's Center for Security Policy. It provides facts and an avenue for action. Please! Do respond to this:

http://stopnewstart.com/

There is no time for delay! Be activist enough to make those phone calls. It can make all the difference.

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And then we have this, from StandWithUs Northwest:

"A group calling itself Stop30Billion has purchased...billboard and bus banner ads that demonize Israel. The bus ads will run on buses that serve downtown Seattle for at least the next four weeks starting on December 27. This is part of a growing campaign that has placed similar ads on buses and billboards in Houston, Albuquerque and San Francisco."

Pictures for these ads say, "Israel War Crimes -- Your Tax Dollars at Work."

"These ads...fcor the first time try to spread broadly into our community a message of hate against Israel.

"In our culture of sound-bite news, what people will remember from this bus and billboard ad campaign will be the lead line, "Israeli War Crimes."

"This is a well-funded effort to have our community reject Israel, an effort to have our friends and neighbors, co-workers and children's schoolmates see Israel as a pariah state, a country acting outside of acceptable norms."

Please click here for the StandWithUS website that provides advice on whom you should contact to stop this from happening.

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I'm no fan of Tzachi Hanegbi. No way. But a JPost piece by this former Kadima minister -- who supports a "peace process" -- makes interesting reading:

"...During the Saban Forum, I spoke with local friends who are experts in gauging the mood shifts in the Democratic administration, the Republican Congress and American public opinion.

"Their assessments were identical: President Obama has despaired of his failed diplomatic adventure in our region. His main priority now will be getting re-elected for a second term. The lesson the Democratic Party has learned from its recent beating in the congressional elections is to focus all its efforts on the domestic arena – on the faltering economy, the deepening recession and the dismaying unemployment numbers.

"Therefore, even if the US government does not go as far as to adopt the repeated calls of the New York Times’ Thomas Friedman to leave the quarreling children of the Holy Land alone, those presidential energies and attention directed at our region will be focused solely on managing the conflict rather than solving it.

"This is the view from Washington. Not only is the weather in the American capital freezing (minus seven degrees), but so too is the diplomatic process between us and our Middle East neighbors."

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=200153

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A situation that has been infuriating and distressing seems on its way to some amelioration, even if the public will not privy to all that is going on:

The subject is control of Har Habayit -- the Temple Mount. After we redeemed it in 1967, a foolishly motivated Moshe Dayan, in an effort to keep things smooth (and, I suspect, with enormous naivete regarding what would ensue), told the Muslim Wakf -- the Islamic trust -- that it could have everyday management of the Mount, where Muslims came to pray at the Al Aksa Mosque, while Israel would retain over-all control.

But the Wakf was not into sharing. They have parlayed what was given them into a situation on the ground in which they have far more control than should ever be the case. The Mount is ours. But they have done excavations that have destroyed archeological treasures, while Israeli officials, in a craven attempt to keep things quiet, have restricted Jewish presence -- and Jewish ability to pray! -- on the Mount.

Remember that the Second Intifada was started ostensibly because Ariel Sharon went up on the Mount and this was said to cause "offense." Never mind that this war had been planned by Arafat, who was simply waiting for a hook to hang it on. The mere fact that the Arabs were able to represent the presence on the Mount of a member of the Israel government as "offensive" tells us what the mindset was.

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At any rate, Arutz Sheva tells us that State Comptroller Michal Lindenstrauss has prepared a report on Israeli sovereignty on the Mount. Only portions of this material, considered to be highly sensitive, will be released to the public -- with a subcommittee of the Knesset Control Committee deciding what can be made public.

Arutz Sheva cites MK Otniel Sheller, who heads the subcommittee:

"The report mainly deals with how we, Israel, actualize our sovereignty on the Temple Mount. It notes the problems, what can be done, and what has been done. And the conclusion is as follows: Many improvements have been made over the past few months, and everything is now done there in full coordination with the police, the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Attorney-General’s office, the relevant ministerial committee, and the Jerusalem municipality. The situation has totally changed."

This is good news, but my gut feeling is that it needs to be even better.

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Esther Pollard, wife of Jonathan Pollard, is here in Israel and has asked PM Netanyahu to intervene-- Jonathan, whose health is failing, has personally requested a public call for his release. Claiming unease about his role and what will result, Netanyahu is said to be thinking about it.

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One more mark of what we're dealing with:

"For the past week," according to Haaretz, "representatives of the Popular Palestinian Committees (PPC) have been urging West Bank [i.e., Judea and Samaria] residents [who are Arab] to bury their dead in Israeli-controlled parts of the West Bank, identified as Area C."

This plan, being called "Intifada of the Graves," was revealed on Army Radio yesterday.

"Proponents...believe it will be more difficult for Israelis to take control over parts of the West Bank in a final agreement if there are Arab cemeteries throughout the disputed territories."

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This is only a slightly different version of an Arab scam that's been operative for a while, and has now been reported by Arutz Sheva: Not long ago it was discovered that new graves were turning up in the Mamilla Cemetery, an ancient Muslim cemetery located on the outskirts of Jerusalem's Independence Park, but that no one was buried in them: the plan was to usurp land and authorities removed the gravestones.

Now the same thing is happening outside the Eastern wall of the Temple Mount, in what is designated as a national park.

Maya Shukri of the El Har HaMoriyah Institute, documented the faked graves with her camera; she says that at present, the graves are empty but an infrastructure is in place for future burials.

A year ago, the Court ruled that there could not be graves placed in this area, which has historical significance, but so far nothing has been done to stop it.

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In closing today, allow me to return for one moment to PMW. I'm sure my Christian readers will be interested in learning that Jesus (and Mary) were not Jews, but Palestinians. How do I know? These videos tell us so. Never mind that there was no Islam when Jesus lived.

Reminds me just a bit of how a Muslim Arafat used to tell journalists, before Christmas eve, "excuse me, I must go to Bethlehem to pray." And they would eat it up.

http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=506&fld_id=506&doc_id=830

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© Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner, functioning as an independent journalist. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution

see my website www.ArlenefromIsrael.info
see my website www.ArlenefromIsrael.info