RSS
Palestinian Authority Summer Camps: A Place to Idolize Terrorists and Eliminate Israel
A group of Palestinian children being taught during the school year that Israel will be destroyed. Photo: Palestinian Media Watch.
While the Olympics were being held in France to celebrate athletics, the Palestinian Authority (PA) held a summer camp to celebrate the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
The PA chose to name its largest summer camp, which hosts 150 children ages 7-13, after terrorist Salah Khalaf “Abu Iyad” — the head of the Black September terror organization and the mastermind behind the Munich Olympics massacre.
Salah Khalaf was not the only terrorist placed on a pedestal at the PA summer camp.
Fatah terror leaders Khalil Al-Wazir — “Abu Jihad” — and Yasser Arafat were also placed on the camp’s banner — in military garb — to serve as role models, while the campers were taught to memorize the camp’s motto and pledged to follow the path of the three terrorists:
Posted text and picture: “#Announcement
All the lion cubs and flowers [i.e., boys and girls] participating in the Martyr Salah Khalaf ‘Abu Iyad’ summer camp are asked to memorize the Cry and Motto of the summer camp:
‘We are the lion cubs and flowers of Palestine
Education, knowledge, culture, and religion
My land, my country, and the Paradise of My Lord, all the wishes for Palestine
On your path, Yasser Arafat
On your path, Salah Khalaf ‘Abu Iyad’
On your path, ‘Abu Jihad’
All the lion cubs and flowers [i.e., children]
Al-Aqsa Mosque remains our first Qiblah [i.e., Muslim direction for prayer], and Jerusalem is the cradle of the civilizations” [emphasis added]
[Beit Amin-Azzoun Atma sports club, Facebook page, Aug. 8, 2024]
The PA is proud to show how it educates children to follow the way of hate and terror.
The Western-funded PA Security Forces led the summer camp activities, as the children stood at attention dressed in t-shirts that also boasted terrorist Khalaf’s picture and name:
The camp’s T-shirts worn by all the children and staff have the picture of Khalaf and the words: “Martyr Salah Khalaf ‘Abu Iyad’ summer camp”:
The children were taught to draw the PA map, in which all of Israel has become “Palestine.” Israel is gone and is painted over in the colors of the Palestinian flag:
Since the PA intends for “Palestine” to be repopulated with UNRWA refugees, it inculcated this ideology to the children through signs that read: “I will not relinquish my right of return”:
In another summer camp organized by the PLO Supreme Council of Youth and Sports, the children were likewise taught that their goal is to be a world without Israel and to that end, they also facepainted the map of “Palestine” that erases Israel.
[PLO Supreme Council of Youth and Sports, Facebook page, July 22, 2024]
The Salah Khalaf camp further emphasized the centrality of terror glorification by taking the children to visit the Salah Khalaf Square in the Azzoun Atma village:
[Beit Amin-Azzoun Atma sports club, Facebook page, Aug. 11, 2024]
The PA also ran yet another summer camp for 100 children from a refugee camp at the Salah Khalaf Center. The children were taught to ignore Israel’s existence by presenting the names of the Israeli cities of Haifa, Beit Shean, Acre, and Jaffa as Palestinian on signs that they were holding.
In an article in its official daily, the PA explained that the naming of the summer camps was intentional, as part of its policy to honor its dead terrorists:
The symbolism of the Martyr … remains one of the most important and sacred symbols in the Palestinian national consciousness … The Israeli occupation has been targeting the Martyrs’ symbolism… activating all kinds of aggression to press the PA to stop paying the allowances of the families of the Martyrs and the prisoners and stop what Israel calls ‘incitement,’ including the glorification of the Martyrs in the political discourse and Palestinian media.
…
The camp is named after Martyr Salah Khalaf “Abu Iyad” to eternalize the memory and symbolism of one of the prominent leaders of the Palestinian national movement …
He was one of the most prominent founders of Fatah, a member of its Central Committee… He established the first security forces of the revolution, the surveillance organization, and stood alongside Yasser Arafat, Khalil Al-Wazir [Abu Jihad], and Saad Sayel in commanding the revolution’s forces. He participated in all its battles until his death as a Martyr on Jan. 14, 1991 in Tunisia. [emphasis added]
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida website, Aug. 21, 2024]
The “allowances,” which the official PA daily glorifies, is what is known as its “Pay-for-Slay” program. This program was exposed by Palestinian Media Watch and consists of a law enacted by the PA whereby it must pay salaries to terrorists in prison and to the families of dead terrorists.
So, while Israeli athletes were busy winning seven Olympic medals, the PA was busy making sure that its young people’s role models would not be sports heroes but the masterminds of massacres.
Itamar Marcus is Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Palestinian Authority Summer Camps: A Place to Idolize Terrorists and Eliminate Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
White House, Pentagon Reaffirm US Ready to Defend Israel as Iran Threatens Major Attack
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin meets with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at the Pentagon in Washington, US, March 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The White House and the Pentagon both signaled the US military was positioned and ready to defend Israel as Iran threatened to attack the Jewish state in retaliation for the recent killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
“We believe that they are still postured and poised to launch an attack should they want to do that, which is why we have that enhanced force posture in the region,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told Israel’s Channel 12 on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
“Our messaging to Iran is consistent, has been and will stay consistent,” Kirby added. “One, don’t do it. There’s no reason to escalate this. There’s no reason to potentially start some sort of all-out regional war. And number two, we are going to be prepared to defend Israel if it comes to that.”
Haniyeh, the exiled political chief of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, was killed in an explosion in Iran’s capital city on July 31. Iran has accused Israel of carrying out the assassination and vowed revenge, which, according to experts and Western officials, will likely take the form of a direct strike on the Jewish state. The Israeli government has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for Haniyeh’s death.
Iran is the chief international sponsor of Hamas, providing the terrorist group with weapons, funding, and training.
Kirby’s comments came one day after the US Defense Department similarly said Washington was positioned to support its closest ally in the Middle East.
“We remain postured to support Israel’s defense against any aggression from Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah or other actors,” Pentagon press secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said on Monday.
Ryder also said that while the US did not assist Israel in intercepting incoming rockets or drones fired by the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah from southern Lebanon over the weekend, it helped in other ways.
“We provided some intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support, [or] ISR, in terms of tracking incoming Lebanese Hezbollah attacks, but did not conduct any kinetic operations as they were not required,” he said.
Israeli fighter jets early on Sunday destroyed thousands of drones and rocket launchers belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, after detecting an imminent attack on the Jewish state.
Hezbollah, which is Iran’s chief proxy force in the Middle East, subsequently fired some 300 projectiles into Israel.
Several reports have confirmed Israeli claims that Hezbollah was preparing to target Israel with a major barrage. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah stated on Sunday that the terrorist group carried out its strikes in retaliation for the killing of Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander, in an airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon late last month. Israel claimed responsibility for Shukr’s death.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reassured Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the weekend that will continue to support the Jewish state as it continues to defend itself from Iran and Hezbollah, according to a Monday press release from the Pentagon.
Amid escalating tensions between Israel and Iran along with its terror proxies, the US has deployed two aircraft-carrier strike groups in the Middle East, as well as an extra squadron of F-22 fighter jets and a guided missile submarine.
“The additional forces in the theater send a very clear message to all actors in the region that we’re serious when it comes to supporting the defense of Israel, as well as protecting our forces should they be attacked,” Ryder said.
Kirby added that the force will remain “as long as we feel like we need to keep it in place to help defend Israel and defend our own troops and facilities in the region.”
Analysts have suggested that Israel’s successful attacks on Hezbollah military targets potentially saved hostilities from escalating into a broader war.
“Both [Hezbollah and Israel] are pleased with the results, which makes a descent into full-blown war less likely,” a senior Middle Eastern diplomat told The Washington Post.
However, US Air Force General C.Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned that Israel still faces a looming potential attack from Iran.
“You had two things you knew were going to happen. One’s already happened. Now it depends on how the second is going to play out,” Brown told Reuters. “How Iran responds will dictate how Israel responds, which will dictate whether there is going to be a broader conflict or not.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said earlier this week that Iran’s retaliation for the killing of Haniyeh will be “definitive” and “calculated.”
According to reports, the expected Iranian response will likely be larger than Iran’s unprecedented direct attack on Israeli soil in April. In that attack, Iran fired some 300 missiles and drones at Israel, nearly all of which were downed by the Jewish state and its allies, including the US.
The post White House, Pentagon Reaffirm US Ready to Defend Israel as Iran Threatens Major Attack first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
‘Antisemitic and Unlawful’: 24 Attorneys General Warn Brown University Not to Adopt BDS Movement
More than 200 Brown University students protest outside University Hall. Photo: Amy Russo / USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters Connect
Two dozen attorneys general across the US wrote to Brown University on Monday warning that it could face “immediate and profound legal consequences” if it adopts the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, a decision its trustees will consider in October.
The communication preludes what stands to be another academic year of upheavals and tense debate over the Israel-Hamas war in American higher education, a tempest that has caused the resignations of four Ivy League presidents and set off waves of antisemitic incidents on college campuses. Aiming to survive the storm, Brown agreed in May to review an anti-Zionist group’s demand that the school divest its endowment of assets linked to Israel. Should that ultimately happen, the 24 state attorneys led by Arkansas’ Tim Griffin said, dozens of states across the US that have passed anti-BDS laws will sever its ties with Brown.
“It may trigger the application of laws in nearly three-fourths of states prohibiting states and their instrumentalities from contracting with, investing in, or otherwise doing business with entities that discriminate against Israel, Israelis, or those who do business with either,” he explained. “Adopting that proposal may require our states — and others — to terminate any existing relationships with Brown and those associated with it, divest from any university debt held by state pension plans and other investment vehicles, and otherwise refrain from engaging with Brown and those associated with. We therefore urge you to reject this antisemitic and unlawful proposal.”
He added, “Anti-BDS laws like Arkansas’s statute reflect the states’ interest in aggressively combating antisemitic conduct and national origin discrimination … Others have discovered to their detriment that those laws have profound financial consequences, and we would strongly counsel you to learn from those past examples.”
According to The Brown Daily Herald, Brown president Christina Paxson initially only promised anti-Zionist protesters — members of Brown Divest Coalition (BDC) who illegally occupied a section of campus in April and refused to leave until the school officials agreed to boycott Israel — a meeting with members of the Brown Corporation in exchange for their leaving campus for the summer. However, the students pushed for more concessions and ultimately coaxed Paxson into scheduling a vote on divestment at the Corporation’s October annual meeting.
In May, the representatives of BDC met with the Brown Corporation for preliminary talks, the Herald has reported. They must, by Sept. 30, submit a report outlining their recommendations for divestment to Paxson, who will forward it to the Corporation before it convenes the following month. So far, the president has described their discussions positively, saying in a letter to the campus community that “the members of the Corporation expressed appreciation to the students for sharing their views and perspectives.”
The recent sequence of events sharply contrast with the numerous conflagrations that convulsed Brown throughout the academic year — which saw Paxson order arrests of dozens of students — and they appear to overturn Paxson’s once adamant opposition to the BDS movement. Earlier this year, she rejected BDS even after BDC amassed inside an administrative building and vowed not to eat until she acceded to their demands. Addressing their chosen method of protest, Paxson told them they were making their “own choices.” Months earlier, she directed campus law enforcement to arrest over 40 students occupying University Hall.
“We consistently reject calls to use the endowment as a tool for political advocacy on contested issues,” Paxson said in a letter to the students participating in the hunger strike. “Our campus is a place where difficult issues should be freely discussed and debated. It is not appropriate for the university to use its financial assets — which are there to support our entire community — to ‘take a side’ on issues on which thoughtful people vehemently disagree.”
According to The Brown Daily Herald, BDC has buttressed its case for BDS by citing a 2020 report by the university’s Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investment Practices — now renamed the Advisory Committee on University Resource Management — which recommended “divesting [Brown’s] endowment from companies that enable and profit from the genocide in Gaza and the broader Israeli occupation.” Paxson had refused to accept the report’s recommendation, arguing that it breached the body’s mission statement, but it is now the cornerstone of the case the students will present to the Brown Corporation.
Thirty-five states in the US have anti-BDS laws on their books, including New York, Texas, Nevada, and Illinois. Tennessee passed one in April 2023, and in the same year, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) issued an executive order banning agencies from awarding contracts with companies participating in the BDS movement. The justice system has repeatedly upheld the legality of such measures. In February 2023, the US Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to Arkansas’ anti-BDS law, which argued that requiring contractors to confirm that they are not boycotting Israel before doing business with the University of Arkansas is unconstitutional. Several months later, a federal appeals court dismissed a challenge to Texas’ anti-BDS law, ruling that the plaintiff who brought it lacked standing.
BDS seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as a step toward its eventual elimination. Leaders of the movement have repeatedly stated their goal is to destroy the world’s only Jewish state.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post ‘Antisemitic and Unlawful’: 24 Attorneys General Warn Brown University Not to Adopt BDS Movement first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israeli TV Series Starring Gal Gadot Premieres Worldwide on Streaming Service IZZY
Gal Gadot seen outside the ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ studios in Los Angeles. Photo: Cover Media via Reuters Connect
IZZY, the leading steaming platform for Israeli content, will premiere on Thursday Israeli actress Gal Gadot’s only Hebrew-language television role, a drama series called “Kathmandu.”
The 13-episode series is about a young Chabad Hasidic couple, Mushky and Shmulik, who are on a mission to establish and run the first Chabad house in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, for Israeli travelers. The couple face challenges the minute they arrive in Nepal and the series “explores their journey of faith, resilience, and community building in a foreign land.”
During their time in the South Asian country, they meet a diverse group of people including Guyani, a former Israeli soldier turned hostel owner who has a complicated past, and Gadot’s character Yamit, who is on a journey to find her missing sister Opira in the streets of Nepal.
“Yamit’s storyline adds a layer of intrigue and emotional depth, as she navigates her relationship with Guyani and her own identity,” according to a synopsis of the show provided by IZZY. “Kathmandu” originally aired in 2012 and Gadot filmed the Israeli television show, her first and last, before she became internationally famous for her roles in “Fast & Furious, “Wonder Woman,” “Justice League,” and many other films. IZZY released a teaser for the first episode of “Kathmandu” that shows Gadot’s character arrive in Nepal and ask around about her sister.
“‘Katmandu’ captures the essence of Israeli culture and the unique experience of Israeli travelers in distant lands. It also highlights the universal themes of belonging, faith, and the search for meaning,” according to a description by IZZY. “The series is beautifully shot, with the stunning landscapes of Nepal providing a breathtaking backdrop to the story. The cast delivers powerful performances, particularly Gal Gadot, who brings warmth and complexity to her role as Yamit.”
“Kathmandu” will stream exclusively on IZZY. The show also stars Liron Levo, Michael Moshonov, Nitzan Levartovsky, Karen Berger, and Roy Gurai.
The post Israeli TV Series Starring Gal Gadot Premieres Worldwide on Streaming Service IZZY first appeared on Algemeiner.com.