The Thank You Note: Because Real Men Understand Jewish Sisterhood

You’re about to read the most amazing thank you note ever. But first some background:

For the past half a year, I’ve been involved in the most amazing theater project. A brand new theater company, the Women’s Performance Community of Jerusalem, put on Count the Stars, an original musical by and for women. The musical is based on the journey of Abraham and Sarah, the Jewish patriarch and matriarch. We women of Jerusalem and Greater Jerusalem, rehearsed twice a week, week in and week out, for six months at the OU Israel Center.

During this time, the cast, comprised of women and girls of all ages, forged a powerful bond. Most of us had performed in a variety of shows through the years, but never did we experience such unity as we did this time around. There was just something special here. Something remarkable.

Some Count the Stars backstage fun

One cast member thought it was about the lack of ego among the performers. I thought it was about the dynamism of one of the founders of the performance company, Sharon Katz. Or perhaps it was about the fact that we were doing something totally new in theater, something new and Jewish, and doing it in the heart of the holy city of Jerusalem.

Whatever it was, that special something, and whatever the reason for it, it continues. We had our four performances at the Gerard Behar Theater. We had our cast party at the OU Center. And still, we’re just not ready or willing to say goodbye. That’s why we have a Chanukah party scheduled. We don’t want to see the holy atmosphere, the Jewish sisterhood we found here in Jerusalem, to dissipate.

This is something that must be nurtured, treasured, and indulged.

Now I’d like to say that even though I have a full time job, I felt pretty free to pick up and leave for rehearsals at the end of a work day. My kids are older. They can fend for themselves. I don’t know if I could have managed if they were younger. It was a big sacrifice for the women in our cast who are still raising young children. Or rather, it was a big sacrifice for their husbands.

Just how big a sacrifice became clear at our cast party, when our director, Shifra Penkower, read us a letter from the husband of one of our cast members. It seems that Betsalel Steinhart, a licensed tour guide and Jewish educator, sent this letter to the production crew with the specific intent that it be read aloud to the cast. He meant to surprise his wife Shoshana, a petite dancer who in real life, is an occupational therapist at Alyn Hospital Pediatric & Adolescent Rehabilitation Center.

The Steinhart family

He certainly succeeded. I watched her out of the corner of my eye as the letter was read. She was moved to the core. She was actually shaking with emotion.

Here is the letter:

Tuesday December 6th.                                                                                                    BS’D.

To the wonderful women of Count the Stars, from the long lost men in your lives…

I think I am speaking on behalf of all the Count the Stars men when I write these words. True, I have never met them, your husbands, boyfriends, fathers and sons, and can only see my wife, Shoshana, as she went through the last six months, but I am hazarding a guess that this applies to us all.

I am sitting in my quiet house, as a few miles from here the last performance is winding down.  My kids are sleeping or reading, and my wife, as usual, is not here.

I have two words for you all, the two words that have defined our nation since our matriarch Leah in this week’s Parsha named her fourth son Yehuda-Judah, meaning I will thank G-d, and eventually became the name of our people, Yehudim.

Thank you.

Thank you to Hashem for giving you the strength and ability to do what you did.

Thank you for your dedicated, hard work.  Especially to the team of Shifra, Sharon, Bati, Judy, Ellen & Avital, but to you all.

Thank you for putting on such a beautiful show that inspired so many.

Thank you for raising the lives of the women in our lives who mean so much to us, despite the price we have paid (Laundry-help!-What are delicates??? What should I make for dinner??? Is there a limit to how many times I can order pizza??? Which kid wears what size and which clothes?? Where is the cleaning fluid?? Ahhhhhh!!!)

Thank you for fanning that spark of creativity that burns within the women in our lives, that sent them to the tryouts for Count the Stars so long ago, and enabling that spark to become a burning flame of intense exuberance.

Thank you for the satisfied exhaustion that was on the faces of our women, when returning home late after yet another crazy practice, with the tiredness that only comes from doing something so fulfilling.

Thank you for giving them the opportunity to glow, to shine, to sing, to act, to dance, to radiate joy and happiness, to release all their tensions on stage as they gave their all, and to become the parts that they played with all that entails.

Thank you for giving expression to the confident, radiant smile that my wife only wears when she is in dance mode. One is only really in full flower when one is expressing their creative essence, and you gave them this chance to do so.

Thank you for caring about each other.

Thank you for building a kehilla, which by nature of its existence and the shared values that its members embody, brings forth a greater meaning and a more permanent sense of connectivity: you will never forget this, in essence.

Thank you for giving the religious women, who yearn for the opportunity to do the dances and sing the songs that maybe they wouldn’t feel comfortable doing in front of men, that opportunity to do so.

Thank you for returning our women to us, each invigorated and inspired in her own way.

Thank you.

Our one complaint? We just wish we could have been there to see you…and in that, I definitely speak on behalf of all the men.

May Hashem grant you all the strength to continue and to perform again and again,

We love you all, and welcome you back with open arms,

Betsalel Steinhart

It was such a beautiful letter that I felt the need to share it with the world, here in this space. It is not too many men that could or would write such a letter.

Which proves the point I’m trying to make.

We did something special here with this show. Something that is difficult to put into words. Something that I feel could only have happened in the Holy City between Jewish sisters.

And we should definitely keep it going somehow, do more shows, create more magic, make the bible come to life on the stage, make it enjoyable, and do it all with a whole heart, in happiness and love and sisterhood.

We made something real here.

And it took a real man to see that.

Bless you, Betsalel Steinhart, for seeing us.

ABC Does a Switcheroo and Tells A Whopper of a Lie

ABC lied today.

Somewhere between a school filled with panicked children and the mayor’s house, this morning a Qassam rocket, shot with malice and intent to kill as many Jews as possible,  struck hard. Buildings were damaged. Cars were damaged. And many people were treated in hospital for shock. 

But this is not what was reported in the mainstream media.

As ABC has it, Israel struck Gaza.

That’s not the whole headline. But you don’t need the whole headline. You’ve got the facts in the order ABC wants you to have them.

And ABC wants you to have the facts in that order because ABC wants you to think Israel struck out at Gaza in a vacuum, without reason.

And if you don’t buy that, then at least ABC wants you to think of this not as a strike by Arab terrorists against Jewish schoolchildren or the mayor but as some sort of squabble between very mismatched sides.

On the one side there is Israel with its huge army with planes and technological know-how. On the other side,  you have these lone poverty-stricken, oppressed Gazan refugees who have these dumb homemade rockets made out of sugar.

That is when Israel will let them have sugar. (Bad Israel. Mean Israel.)

Wait. There is more.

ABC wants you to think that anonymous rocket had no serious target. Not a school or children or the mayor. Just a city. Just in general.

And ABC wants you to OVERLOOK the rocket and look at the retaliation. The big guns. They want you to look at that FIRST.

They want you to look at that FOREMOST.

They don’t want you to dig too deeply, ABC. They don’t want you to find out how many rockets these lone poverty-stricken Arab refugees have shot into the city of Sderot, into its kindergartens, schools, and homes, since Disengagement.

ABC: The “D” Word

Remember Disengagement? ABC doesn’t want you to remember that. The “D” word is when the Jews expelled 11,000 of their own people from their homes in a unilateral gesture of peace and gave the land, lock, stock, and barrel to the Arabs, so they would have a state of their own and stop killing Jews. You know, the Arabs. The ones now shooting Qassam rockets at little kids, those amazing dual purpose Jewish children who can serve as sitting ducks in their classrooms while learning the Hebrew alphabet.

It’s more than 10,000 rockets, by the way. The number of rockets shot into this random “Israeli city.” It’s a number ABC doesn’t want you to know.

And these children? The ducks who learn the Hebrew alphabet? All of them have PTSD.

Bar none.

This too, ABC doesn’t want you to know.

See, this is how it works: shock, PTSD? These injuries are not visible. So ABC can say that since the injuries aren’t visible, they aren’t injuries. And since the invisible injuries were not reported by ABC, ABC can say these injuries were not reported.

Besides, ABC says there were no reported injuries. And if ABC says this, you must believe it. Because it’s the mainstream media.

It’s all about the spin. It’s all about the order of the words. The context, the lack of context.

Keep it yawningly general. Don’t mention schools, or schoolchildren. Don’t mention the mayor, don’t mention shock, hospitals, PTSD, the number of missiles shot into Sderot. Don’t call Sderot by its name. Israeli. City.

This is what happened today, on the first day back to school in Sderot after the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashana. A Qassam rocket was shot. Either toward the school, where, with any luck, there would be many young casualties or toward the mayor’s house, which would indeed be a coup, a strike at the heart of Jewish government by hate-filled, blood-lusting Arab terrorists whose desire for a state is not desire for a state, but desire for everything the Jews have. All of it. All the land. Jew-free.

The attack today was not random. It was not general.  Injuries occurred and were reported in Israel.

ABC simply told you a kind of lie.

And they’ll keep doing it. They’ll keep lying to you.

If you let them.

They’ll keep lying to you as long as they can get away with it. That is to say until you stop believing them and their lies.

And stop tuning in.

You can hold them accountable by withholding your page views, your patronage.

And you must. Because it’s what you can do for the children of Sderot.

And because it’s the right thing to do.

WATCH: Shimon Peres at 54 in Operation Thunderbolt

Shimon Peres was 93 when he died today after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage two weeks ago. We thought of him as young at heart. But once upon a time, he was actually young.

In 1977, a much younger Shimon Peres had a cameo appearance in an Israeli film about Operation Entebbe. The movie’s English title is Operation Thunderbolt, but to Israelis, the movie (and the operation) will always be known as Mivtza Yonatan, after the brother of Binyamin Netanyahu. (Yoni Netanyahu was killed during the daring rescue attempt to free the Israeli hostages held captive in Entebbe.)

Shimon Peres would have been 54 at the time this movie was made. The movie isn’t a great one, but one that Israelis love. It’s part of our popular culture, and carved into our hearts. It expresses our national pride, our Israeli chutzpah in the face of extreme danger, because “ein breira,” there was “no choice.”

We don’t leave our people twisting in the wind, at the mercy of ANYONE.

So we all love that corny old movie. And I always get a kick out of seeing a young Shimon Peres. His nemesis, Rabin, is also there, as are some other more obscure politicians. See how many you can spot. I have the starting time set shortly before Shimon Peres makes his entrance, but really, watch the whole thing.

You see Shimon briefly at 1:39:33 in the movie, as well.

He was always debonair, even in jeans and a casual jacket.

Rest in peace, Shimon Peres,

Looking Occupation Full in the Face

Sarah Tuttle-Singer wrote a longish status about the word “occupation” yesterday. Except none of what she wrote has anything to do with occupation, the concept. Rather, she created a new definition for a word that already has a perfectly good definition as well as a well-defined legal meaning, as put forth by the Fourth Geneva Convention.

This is a predictable tactic, one favored by the left. They throw tons of ordure at the fan knowing some of it is bound to stick. And when I say ordure, I mean lies. They shoot out so much of it all at once that you cannot unpack it all without looking like a pedant. And their followers drink it in and regurgitate it back into the world like the sheeple they are, even though none of it makes any sense.

Here is a screenshot of the status:

The text:

After a break-out session at #ZionismV3 at the Oshman Family JCC, where I said the “O word” — Occupation — a woman came up to me and told me she prefers the term “Disputed Territories.”

Maybe some of you do, too, and since we know words are important, I’ll explain why the word “Occupation” is important:

When I use the term “Occupation” I’m not talking about land. I’m talking about people.

Specifically, over 2 million Palestinians living in Areas A, B, and C who are the mercy of our Minister of Defense.

And what does that mean?

It means that if the IDF is ordered to raze someone’s house because their brother’s kid stabbed someone, then an entire family is homeless.

It means that the IDF can kick down their doors in the middle of the night – because maybe someone has a brother who was planning a terror attack.

It means that freedom of movement is restricted and that you can’t get from point A to point B without a check point.

It means that water can be redirected away from Palestinian villages and toward the settlements if there’s a water shortage.

It means that there are children living 30 minutes from the beach who have never seen the sea.

It means that just because things are quiet in Israel does not mean they’re well, because over the Green Line there are a lot of people who are living under the control of our government – a government they had no say in choosing.

This is occupation. And that is not in dispute.

And I don’t know what the solution is, but I do know that all of us living in Israel and dealing with all the various complexities of what that means — from sleeping in bomb shelters with our babies to sipping cappuccinos on Shenken to wailing over the open grave of our friend killed in a terror attack to swimming in warm sea water at midnight — need to look this full in the face without turning away.

Definition of Occupation

For the record, let us take a look at the first sentence of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which defines “occupation.”

Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.

What we are speaking about here is a belligerent nation that invades another country and forcibly transfers people to the area in an effort to create facts on the ground in order to strengthen its claim to the territory.

This does not in any way shape or form describe Israel’s relationship to Judea and Samaria. For one thing, Jews lived in Judea and Samaria before there was an Arab people and before Mohammed was a gleam in his mama’s eye. Use archaeological artifacts, Josephus, or the bible. You’re still going to happen on that unassailable truth.

The Real Occupation

In fact, it was the Muslims who occupied Judea and Samaria, expelling the Jews and installing Muslims in their stead. Of course, they weren’t the only people to occupy Judea and Samaria. The territory was occupied time after time in history by the following empires: Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Crusader, Mamluk, Ottoman, and British.

But the Jews never lost hope that they would return. They prayed for rain in Israel during Israel’s rainy season. They prayed they’d have next year’s Passover Seder in Jerusalem. They said to themselves, “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand lose its cunning.”

The Quran calls the Jews, “Yahud,” meaning the people of Judea. Which is also what “Jew” means, by the way. The Quran refers to the Jews as Bani Isra’il, the sons of Israel, or Bnei Yisrael, as we say in Hebrew. The Quran makes no claim to these territories, but rather describes the ingathering of the Jewish exiles:

To Moses We did give Nine Clear Signs:

As the Children of Israel: when he came to them, Pharaoh said to him:

“O Moses! I consider thee, indeed, to have been worked upon by sorcery! Moses said,

“Thou knowest well that these things have been sent down by none,

But the Lord of the heavens and the earth as eye-opening evidence:

And I consider thee indeed, O Pharaoh, to be one doomed to destruction!”

So he resolved to remove them from the face of the earth:

But We did drown him and all who were with him.

And We said thereafter to the Children of Israel,

“Dwell securely in the land (of promise)”:

But when the second of the warnings came to pass,

We gather you together in a mingled crowd. (2314)

surah 17:101-104 Al Isra’ (The Night Journey)

But back to the Geneva Convention and Article 49. The language is clear. It describes a forced population exchange. Nothing of the sort happened in Judea and Samaria. Jews are not alien to the land. No one forced settlers to move there. No one was living in the areas settled at the time the settlements were created. The Arabs live in the valleys, the Jews live on the hills. It’s the way it is. Look at a topographical map and know this as fact.

Between 1948 and 1967, Jordan held Judea and Samaria. Only two UN member states saw this as a legal occupation: Great Britain and Pakistan. When Israel took possession of Judea and Samaria in 1967, it was no invasion, Habibi. She was fighting off FOUR Arab armies. She was fighting for her life.

Not Occupation: Let Me Count The Ways

So, to sum up, let’s list the way Israel is not an occupier. Israel:

• Is not an invader, but rather, was forced to fight a defensive war against four armies
• Didn’t force people to move to Judea and Samaria, they volunteered
• Didn’t kick Arabs out of their homes to create settlements, but built on barren hilltops
• Didn’t transfer a non-native population into Judea and Samaria, rather the Jews are the indigenous people of the territory with their presence in Judea and Samaria actually predating the Arab people.

Now Tuttle-Singer thinks she can get around all that by prefacing her remarks with this statement:

When I use the term “Occupation” I’m not talking about land. I’m talking about people.

But that doesn’t mean anything. It’s nonsense. It’s like someone saying, “When I say ‘car’ I’m not talking about a vehicle, I’m talking about people who drive,” or, “When I say ‘butter’ I’m not talking about a dairy product but about people who dine.”

It’s a meaningless construct. And rather than explain the logic behind this assertion that even she can’t see, she mounts a soapbox and spouts several anti-Israel lies. Beginning with this:

Specifically, over 2 million Palestinians living in Areas A, B, and C who are the mercy of our Minister of Defense.

Tuttle-Singer does two things with this statement:

1) She gets in a dig at Avigdor Liberman, Israel’s Minister of Defense,  because to her he’s über right when actually he’s no different than any other politician and waffles like the best of them when necessary. He has no compunction ordering the demolition of a Jewish home just because.

2) She lies about Area A being under Israel’s thumb. Area A has had full Palestinian Authority autonomy in Arab villages and towns since the year 2000. Arab villages and towns in Area B are also under the PA, but Israel and the PA do joint patrols here. Finally, Area C remains to be negotiated and well, that’s up to the Arabs. Israel (unfortunately, in my opinion) remains open to negotiate at any time, with no preconditions.

Really, the Arabs could have just about anything they want, if they’d just stop acting like behemoths, stop the terror, and behave like human beings.  But back to Tuttle-Singer.

It means that if the IDF is ordered to raze someone’s house because their brother’s kid stabbed someone, then an entire family is homeless.

Seriously? So teach your children not to stab people. Teach them that knives are for eating steak, and not for murdering peace activists taking bus rides—peace activists like Richard Lakin, for instance.

Don’t blame the reaction to terror, the defense. Blame the CAUSE.   Blame TERROR.

And anyway, these relatives of terrorists aren’t so homeless. They get a warning. They take their stuff out. They cry to the EU, or to their neighbors and someone builds them a newer, nicer house. Also, they get a monthly stipend for being related to someone who murdered a Jew.  And they’re lauded as heroes.

When a Jew’s home is demolished, on the other hand, he’s not allowed to rebuild, no one gives him money to buy a new home, and rather than receive a monetary reward, he’s out a couple of hundred thousand shekels with no new home on the horizon. And that’s by his JEWISH government, regarding a home that sits in Jewish indigenous territory!!

A Case Study: Israeli Demolitions

After Mohammad Nasser Tra’ayra, 17, of Bani Naim, murdered 13 year-old Hallel Yaffa Ariel in her sleep, stabbing her multiple times, his parents’ home was slated for demolition as a deterrent measure against terrorism.  The IDF Spokesman’s office released this film clip of the demolition.

However, this doesn’t tell the real story.

What really happened was this: the IDF knocked down just a few walls and this only after the family received advanced warning and were able to remove their furnishings and belongings. The family also managed to carefully remove and preserve the windows and faucets for future restoration of the home.

Arab youth pretending sorrow for the camera

They took down just a few walls, leaving the house mostly intact, and easily restored.

In the inimitable words of Allen Sherman: “And they knocked a hole in the wall. That’s all. No wall.”

Contrast and compare to these before and after photos of the demolition of the home of Jewish settler, Choni Kaniel of Maale Rahavam, on May 7, 2014.

Before

One day, the Israeli courts decided to redraw the blue line and rule his home illegal. The home was demolished.

After

But this was not a symbolic demolition as in the case of the family home of the Arab terrorist who murdered a 13 year-old girl in her sleep. It was not a show for the public.

Large machinery was brought.

The home was smashed to smithereens.

No walls were left intact.

Choni now lives in a tent on the spot where his home once stood.

Choni's new "home."

Choni created this meme to illustrate the disparity between the demolition of a terrorist’s family home and that of a Jewish home.

Un. Fricking. Real.

Tuttle-Singer writes:

It means that the IDF can kick down their doors in the middle of the night – because maybe someone has a brother who was planning a terror attack.

Well, again. Whose fault is that? Israel remains in a permanent state of war from 1948, when it declared statehood. The Arabs refuse to end the state of war, no matter how much land we give them, no matter what we do. And they murder us. They murder young girls sleeping in their beds. They murder whole families on quiet Shabbat evenings. They murder us on buses and in the streets. They murder us wherever they find us. Wherever and whenever we fail to stop them, fail to defend ourselves. We expelled roughly 10,000 of our own people from their homes in the name of peace, and still, they hunt us down and murder us. They did it before 1948, such as in Hebron in 1929 and 1936. And they’re still doing it now.

We have every right to follow the leads that may prevent the murder of someone’s mother, someone’s sister, someone’s son. That is what war means: the war they force on us by refusing to make peace, by refusing to be peaceful, by their nonstop terror. If they won’t sign a treaty, then we damned well WILL kick down the doors of potential terrorists to stop them from doing their horrible, ugly, violent deeds.

That Tuttle-Singer sings her song of woe on behalf of the violent and against her own people betrays the blackest of souls.

She writes:

It means that freedom of movement is restricted and that you can’t get from point A to point B without a check point.

This too, is the result of constant Arab terror against the Jews since way before the British Mandate. Don’t like having your freedom of movement restricted? Don’t. Murder. Jews.

Don’t like checkpoints? Don’t. Murder. Jews.

Why is her concern for the murderers and not for their victims and potential victims? Because she hates us.

Tuttle-Singer writes:

It means that water can be redirected away from Palestinian villages and toward the settlements if there’s a water shortage.

This is just a lie. One that’s been debunked.Over and over again. A burst water pipe is not a water “redirected” and has nothing to do with any water shortage. Israel has actually increased the water supply to Arab villages and towns.

Some footage of the bursted water line that is now repaired by #COGAT Civil Administration. pic.twitter.com/nclwCaOwBR

— COGAT (@cogatonline) June 15, 2016

Tuttle-Singer writes:

It means that there are children living 30 minutes from the beach who have never seen the sea.

This has nothing to do with Israel, but everything to do with democratically elected terrorist Arab leaders who keep their people imprisoned in camps and refuse to make peace with Israel. Does she really want to say this has anything at all to do with Israel?? Okay, yeah. It’s Israel’s fault because Israel EXISTS.

Since Israel exists, these people remain political pawns, held in place by their democratically elected terrorist leaders. So clearly Tuttle-Singer is working toward the eradication of the Jewish State because instead of doing anything meaningful to fight against the injustice, she blames the injustice on the wrong party, and backs those responsible for the injustice, instead. And those who are responsible for the injustice have vowed not to do justice, not to let their people out of the prison camps, until Israel is Judenfrei, with the Jews in the sea, the same one Arab children apparently are so desperate to see.

Which begs the question: why is Tuttle-Singer here in Israel with her children? By her/their presence, they perpetuate the refugee status of the Arab people who remain behind barbed wire, unable to see the sea. She could actually make a difference if she’d just get on a plane and LEAVE. (I know plenty of people who’d be happy to buy her a one-way ticket back to LA.)

Tuttle-Singer writes:

It means that just because things are quiet in Israel does not mean they’re well, because over the Green Line there are a lot of people who are living under the control of our government – a government they had no say in choosing.

But things are not quiet in Israel. We are right now experiencing an uptick in terror. And if it’s not quiet, it’s because the Arabs are not quiet. So as the “new media director” of the Times of Israel, someone who works for a NEWS OUTLET, what the Hell is she talking about?

What she is trying to say (but doing a poor job of it) is that Arabs are ruled by a Jewish government but don’t get to vote for that government. But this too, is a lie.

Israelis Arabs can vote. And there are Arabs in the Knesset.

The Arabs who don’t have Israeli citizenship are welcome to apply for Israeli citizenship if they live in areas under Israeli autonomy. Once granted citizenship, they can vote in Israeli elections.

Arabs who don’t live under Israeli autonomy can vote in PA or Hamas elections, depending on where they live. And if Abbas wants to serve way past his term, and not hold new elections, that’s not on the Jews, that’s on the Arabs who voted for him.

Tuttle-Singer writes:

This is occupation. And that is not in dispute.

“This” whatever “this” means, is NOT occupation. And that is absolutely no longer in dispute, seeing as I have now unpacked and refuted her every word on the subject.

Occupation is not anything but what it actually is, and there is no Israeli occupation of Arab land. Arabs who don’t have freedom of movement, don’t have it because of Arab terror, and because they vote for terrorists to lead them: terrorists who will never negotiate peace with Israel.

Tuttle-Singer writes

And I don’t know what the solution is, but I do know that all of us living in Israel and dealing with all the various complexities of what that means — from sleeping in bomb shelters with our babies to sipping cappuccinos on Shenken to wailing over the open grave of our friend killed in a terror attack to swimming in warm sea water at midnight — need to look this full in the face without turning away.

I do know what the solution is. Everyone does. It’s simple: stop the murder machine. Stop the terror. Accept that Jews have a state on their indigenous territory. Accept that the Jews expelled their own people to give you land. Accept that Israel gives you arms (the better to shoot you with, my dear), autonomy, and citizenship. Accept that Israel offered you housing, gives you money, free electricity, tons of aid, medical care, places in the government, and on our Supreme Court.

Deal with it. Compromise! Lay down your arms, your knives, your car rammings, rocks, and firebombs. Live and love in peace. Give your children a better future.

This is not at all complex. This is what Tuttle-Singer needs to look full in the face, without turning away.

This is the solution.

And only this.

WATCH: Bibi for President

(screenshot)

Bibi for president of the United States? No. It could never happen. But it sure is fun to watch Asaf Liberman ask Americans what they think of the idea. After all, the selection of candidates in this particular election is kind of, shall we say, slim pickings.

WARNING: The language gets rough at the end of this.

Anyway, some comic relief was much needed after doing all those posts about the Baha Alyan terrorist training course for Scouts. (Feh.) So I was glad my son Aharon tagged me on this one. (12,831 views!! How come that never happens to me??)

Aharon finds the best stuff. And anyway, people sure do love to pick on Bibi. It’s okay, he’s got broad shoulders.

Scout's Honor: 250,000 Scouts Follow Murderer's Path

(screenshot)

No sooner had I hit “publish” on my most recent blog on the response of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) regarding the Baha Alyan “leadership” training course than the promised update arrived at my inbox. Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) published a clip of a short segment of the closing ceremony of this course named for the Arab terrorist who killed three men on a Jerusalem bus in October.

From the PMW website:

Text on banner with picture of terrorist Baha Alyan:
“Palestinian Scouts and Guides Association (i.e., PSA)
Preparatory studies – Jerusalem
The Committee for Developing Leadership
Aug. 24-28, 2016
Martyr Baha Alyan Course”

Chairman of the Jerusalem Scout Commission Maher Muhaisen: “We thank our brothers in the Shabab Al-Eizariya Club for letting us use their clubhouse…”

Terrorist Baha Alyan’s father, Muhammad Alyan: “The scouts are the leaders of society, they are the leaders of the people, they are the symbol of giving, they are the symbol of sacrifice. I think – no, I am certain – that Baha, while it is true that he died as a Martyr (Shahid), there are thousands of Bahas in Baha’s place. Now Baha is a soul in Heaven, but his body is in a [morgue] refrigerator…”

Baha Alyan Course instructor, Muhammad Al-Dahdar: “Baha remains among us, he remains in our hearts, and emphasizes to you that 250,000 scouts and guides in the Palestinian Scout Association are Baha. And if Allah wills it, they are following Baha’s path. In the name of the Palestinian Scouts and Guides Association and the Jerusalem District Scouts and Guides Commission, I am happy [inaudible]…”

Terrorist’s father is given a scouts’ scarf

The audience shouts: “Ya Baha, ya Alyan! You are a symbol to the Martyrs (Shahids)! We salute you in the Jerusalem scouts! Palestine! Jerusalem! Ours, ours, ours!”

Baha Alyan Course instructor, Muhammad Al-Dahdar: “You (i.e., Baha’s parents) [are the ones] who gave birth to this good and living role model for the young people of Palestine, to whom [we] tip [our] hats… thanks to what they [the youth] gave for Palestine, and because they sacrificed the most precious thing to them of all – which is life. They hated [and gave up] life for Palestine. They hated [and gave up] life because they wanted freedom and independence. I am happy to be with you at this moment in order to together commemorate our heroic Martyr, brother Baha Alyan.”

PMW identifies for us some of the men standing in front of the banner at the ceremony:

Muhammad Alyan – father of terrorist murderer Baha Alyan
Maher Muhaisen – Chairman of the Jerusalem Scout Commission
Mufid Al-Barq, Muhammad Al-Dahdar, and Sa’id Atoun – Martyr Baha Alyan Course instructors
Ahmed Mashahreh – Author of article on the course published on PSA’s website on Aug. 25, 2016, and in the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida on Aug. 27, 2016

The ceremony included both a symbolic wedding and a symbolic funeral for the “martyr” A/K/A murderer Baha Alyan. All under the auspices of the Palestinian Scout Association, so recently inducted as a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement.

It is a terrible thing to watch adults exploit children, watch them tell children that terror is leadership, and listen to them heap glory on murderers. But it is simply repugnant to witness adults do all of these things under the banner of the Scout Movement.

Will the World Organization of the Scout Movement strip the Palestinian Scout Association of its membership, or will the WOSM turn a blind eye, make excuses, and effectively remain a co-sponsor of Arab terror?

The watching and waiting on this one?

It’s kind of hard to breathe right now.

WOSM: Lies, Damned Lies, and The Baha Alyan Leadership Course

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WOSM, the World Organization of the Scout Movement, has been sold a pack of lies by the Palestinian Scout Association (PSA), regarding a “leadership training course” they held called  the Martyr – Leader Baha Alyan Course. The Palestinian Scout Movement was accepted as a full member of WOSM in April. Baha Alyan, as readers of this blog will recall, murdered peace activist and educator Richard Lakin and two other men on a Jerusalem bus in October.

Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) Director Itamar Marcus, gathered information about the course and sent it to the WOSM, with a letter demanding that this body cancel the PSA’s membership.

I too, contacted the WOSM, via their Facebook page demanding they disassociate themselves from a troupe that glorifies terror against my people. I received no response. Friends and readers also wrote to various entities within the WOSM. One friend, for instance, wrote to Boy Scouts of America, telling them that if they did not do something about this, he would be turning in his Eagle badge, a cherished memento from childhood.

With the help of a parent from my son’s Israeli scout troop, I discovered that the Israeli Scout Movement, Tzofim, is only patterned after the Boy Scouts, and is not actually a member of the WOSM. Delegates of Tzofim, however, are sent to the States each year to receive training from the “real” Boy Scouts. The parent who helped me gather this intel thought it curious that the Arabs have been accepted as full members of the WOSM, while Tzofim remains on the outside margins of the movement. It is not clear to either of us if this is by choice, or by default (because Jews).

PMW had an update today on the story. WOSM responded by saying the troop that held the Baha Alyan “leadership course” had nothing to do with the Palestinian Scout Association and therefore nothing to do with WOSM.

This, of course, is a lie. One that was cooked up by the Palestinian Scout Association, who, when confronted by the WOSM said, “Oh, no. That wasn’t us. That was the Jerusalem Scout Commission. They have nothing to do with the Palestinian Scout Association. They’re a branch of the Palestinian Scouts AND GUIDES Association. An entirely different horse which has nothing to do the World Organization of the Scouts Movement.”

The lie was regurgitated by the WOSM in a press release:

The website on which the original article [about the Alyan course] was published belongs to a group which calls itself ‘The Palestinian Scout and Guide Association’ which is not recognised by WOSM. This is the Arabic heading used on the website. The recognised group in Palestine is the ‘Palestinian Scout Association.’… Our recognised group has not been able to secure a domain name in Palestine and therefore does not have a website, which adds to the confusion.

Spokesperson for the WOSM, Stephen Peck, in an email to PMW’s Itamar Marcus, added:

The website of the Palestine Scout and Guide Association uses our symbols and branding to give themselves credibility and to give credibility to their views. You will understand that in the current climate, there is little we can do about that… The spokesperson for the Palestine Scout Association is Tawfeeq Salem who is the Secretary General.

This too, is a lie, told to the WOSM by representatives of the Palestinian Scout Association. As PMW states clearly on its website:

Evidence:

1. The Palestinian scouts have only one name in Arabic: The Palestinian Scouts and Guides Association.

WOSM’s spokesperson Stephen Peck was informed by the PSA that there are two different organizations with two different names, and this is not true. The WOSM-recognized PSA’s name in Arabic is literally “Palestinian Scouts and Guides Association” – the name that WOSM was told by the Palestinian scouts is a different organization. See for example “Director of the Scouts and Guides leader Tawfeeq Salem.” [Ma’an, independent Palestinian news agency, Feb. 29, 2016]  Tawfeeq Salem is the person WOSM recognizes as the legitimate PSA Secretary General. This name, “Palestinian Scouts and Guides Association,” appears on WOSM’s website, in official WOSM events, and in the Palestinian media.

There is only one name. There is only one organization.

I urge readers to go see the wealth of information at PMW, proving without a doubt that the Palestinian Scouts and Guides Association and the Palestinian Scouts Association are one and the same and that this troop definitely is a member of the WOSM in good standing, and under these auspices, held a “leadership training course” named for Baha Alyan, an Arab terrorist who murdered three Jews in October, one of them, the peace activist Richard Lakin.

I spoke to Itamar Marcus:

Judean Rose: What will be your next move regarding this matter? Is the WOSM paying attention to you? Are they going to take this matter seriously?

Itamar Marcus: They are taking this seriously. I am convinced they were misled and actually believed the Palestinian Scout Association. I expect that they will review this and take necessary steps. Their spokesperson has informed me that they will review this and reply to us.

I really hope so.

History: Is 9/11 Doomed to Repeat?

“History is doomed to repeat itself.” The phrase was stuck in my head last night and I awoke to its refrain this morning, September 12. Which is nuts.

History may be doomed to repeat itself, but no one much thinks about September 11 on September 12.

Unless you’re someone like me, I guess.

Feeling Cleansed

If you’re someone like me, you try not to think about 9/11 on September 11. You don’t want to think about 9/11 because you don’t like having your emotions manipulated by the media. If you’re like me, you don’t want to think about 9/11 because you don’t wish to immerse yourself in a tragedy for a single day and then move on. You don’t want to feel cleansed.

For people like me, you see, 9/11 isn’t a one-day event.

People like me, well, we think about terror all the time. We have fear in our hearts. We are afraid of losing the immediacy: the sense of danger that terror can strike anyone at any time, without warning. People like us don’t believe in catch-phrases like “Never again.”

We dread being caught off-guard, caught frozen: the deer in the headlights thing.

The Scale

9/11 can happen again. Has happened again. 9/11 is Charlie Hebdo, Richard Lakin, and San Bernardino. Only the details are different and the scale. What changes is the location, the method, and the number of people directly affected.

The motive is absolutely the same.

And here is something interesting: “History is doomed to repeat itself” is not the actual quote. The actual quote is this: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (George Santayana)

This means remembering that the motive behind 9/11 still exists, is still ever-present, still strong. We are not even close to eradicating radical Islamic terrorism from our world when so many of us cannot even say the phrase “radical Islamic terror.” And there is no mistaking the idea that radical Islamic terror is the force behind 9/11, its tears and fears, and the thing that threatens to repeat.

It is the day after 9/11 that we must be resolved to remain sober, sad, shocked, and in pain. September 12 is the day we must remember what bonds us as human beings and conversely, the thing that threatens to rips us apart at the seams, consuming all good, all kindness, all the things that makes us what we are.

It is precisely the day after all the media hype, after videos like this one go viral:


. . . that we must watch the videos and feel the feelings afresh, let them wash over us.

So that in remembering the past, we won’t be condemned by our forgetfulness.

Richard Lakin and the Baha Alyan Leadership Course

Richard Lakin was murdered in October. By June he was no longer in the news. That’s when I went to a wonderful conference put together by Shurat HaDin, the Israel Law Center.

The conference was two days of pure pleasure. It was all about politics, all about Israel, the country I love with all my heart, and how the battle for her honor is being fought in the court of public opinion as well as in the real courts, namely the International Criminal Court (ICC).

You go to something like this and you hear a lot of famous people speak. Members of Knesset like Yair Lapid, Tsipi Livni, and Naftali Bennett. You hear people like Ambassador John Bolton. And you may even get a photo of someone you thought you’d never have the privilege to see.

View this post on Instagram

Ambassador John Bolton

A post shared by Varda Epstein (@epavard) on Jun 20, 2016 at 7:55am PDT

But you come with preconceptions. You think you know the good guys from the bad guys, whom to cheer and whom to boo. You think you know right from left.

And sometimes you’re right.

When Tsipi Livni spoke, for instance, I stayed, thinking maybe I should at least hear her out, while others left before she could begin. And I had to leave in the middle of her speech in protest of the way she demonized Elor Azaria, the soldier who, like Israel, is being tried in the court of public opinion as well as before a jury of his peers (or what passes for that in Israel)* for shooting a terrorist who was already down. That boy could be my son. Anyone’s son. And I was disgusted at the suggestion that we should not support him.

Just a boy. Put in an impossible situation. A stressful situation.

It made me want to cry, just thinking about it. Still does.

And then at some point, Richard Lakin’s son spoke. Micah Lakin Avni. I steeled myself to listen to him with kindness. His father had been murdered not that long ago, the year of mourning, not yet complete.

Why did I need to steel myself? Not because it would be difficult to hear his pain, it would be of course, but I steeled myself only because I knew the family, including Richard (HY”D), himself lately murdered by Arab terrorists, leaned to the left politically.

It is very difficult to listen quietly when people talk about giving up Jewish land for peace, when one doesn’t believe this a sound or advisable idea—when one does not believe this will bring the desired result. It is very difficult to listen quietly when left-leaning people pay homage to the idea of symmetry and balance when all I see is an Arab war against the Jews. But I had no intention of not giving Micah Lakin Avni my fullest attention. He deserved to be heard, as the son of a terror victim, as a fellow Jew, as someone who had suffered pain no one should be made to suffer.

And what I found was that he was quite reasonable, Micah Lakin Avni. He was straight-talking. From start to finish. He said not one thing with which I disagreed politically or on any other level. He spoke about the disbelieving Arab nurse in ICU who cared for his father as he lingered in a coma, on the edge of death. Only one week before, her two sons had been in Richard Lakin’s home. He was their teacher, their tutor. His home had always open to them. He was kindness itself. It was impossible for her to believe that something like this could happen to him.

Richard Lakin, HY"D

It was so sad.

But the main thrust of what Micah Lakin Avni spoke about was how social media was being used to facilitate and feed the terror pipeline. He spoke of how it felt when only a few days after his father’s murder, the Hamas Student Union aired a video reenactment of the murder on Facebook and Twitter. When Micah could barely deal with the torrent of emotions, he was confronted with something so cruel and ugly.

He called it “open-source Jihad”  and talked about how it grows itself. And he talked about how he wrote an op-ed in the New York Times called The Facebook Intifada. Precisely because he was left-leaning, and precisely because of what he had personally suffered, moreover, his op-ed went viral.

And that’s important.

It’s important any time we can get the mainstream media to hear the truth about terror, the truth about Israel and what is happening here. It is important when the mainstream media allows our voices to be heard. For soldiering on and making his voice heard, Micah Lakin Avni is only to be praised.

But even more so for what he then said at the conference I attended. He dared to say that open-source Jihad is the new Nazism. And he said that in order to deal with this new Nazism, we will have to revisit our rights. Things like freedom of speech and the presumption of innocence which is at the very core of our society.

Lakin Avni did not suggest we discard this presumption, only revisit and perhaps reconsider or revise. Because when you have terrorists airing reenactments of murder on social media, you have to think hard about the effect of this on society and whether the freedom to create and share a clip like this, that incites to murder, is more valuable than peace.

(Think of Hitler’s speeches—what if they had been suppressed because of the danger? This was a danger we now know was too high a price to pay for freedom of speech.)

The frustrating thing here, for Lakin Avni, and for all of us, is that Facebook has no face. There is no address for these concerns, no address to deal with incitement on social media, this open-source Jihad. Facebook couches its “Community Standards” in words that preclude any complaint. Facebook decries “acts of violence” and not incitement to terror. The monolith says its concern must be for the safety of the people on Facebook (and not people on buses, people like Richard Lakin, for instance). There is no face to sue.

Meanwhile, said Lakin Avni, incitement to terror is rampant on Arabic and Muslim pages on Facebook and Facebook simply closes its eyes to the phenomenon. Lakin Avni dares them to refute this fact: that incitement is rampant on Arabic and Muslim Facebook pages.

His dare goes unanswered. Will go unanswered. And the result of this silence is and will be bloodshed.

Well, I am now at over 1,000 words and have not yet gotten to the meat of my piece, the reason I am suddenly writing about a conference that took place over one month ago. It is this: six months ago, the World Organization of the Scout Movement accepted as a full member, the Palestinian Scout Association. And now, this very same Palestinian Scout Association is running a “leadership training course” called the Martyr – Leader Baha Alyan Course.

This “leadership course” which incites children to die in the act of killing Jewish Israelis is named after the murderer of peace activist Richard Lakin: Baha Alyan.

Now my son is a boy scout. He is big into Scouts. He eats, sleeps, and dreams Scouts. He tries hard to be a leader and a good example to the boys he has charge of, as a patrol leader. It is difficult to imagine the disparity between my son’s experience of being a scout, which means things like being trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent, and what these Arab children are being taught in the name of “leadership.” Namely: to go out and kill the Jews.

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It’s open-source Jihad writ large. It’s incitement to kill. It’s extreme xenophobia, and yes. It’s CHILD ABUSE.

The story of these boy scouts for Jihad was broken by Palestinian Media Watch with a quote from the official Palestinian Authority daily, Al-Jadida:

“Yesterday the practical studies for the [scout] deputy unit leaders (preparation for the wood badge) – Martyr (Shahid) Leader Baha Alyan Course began at the Shabab Al-Eizariya Club in the Jerusalem district (Note: Alyan was terrorist who murdered 3, Ed.). [The course] was organized by the Committee for Training and Developing Leadership of the Palestinian Scout Association, in cooperation with the scout commission in the Jerusalem district.

The training staff is composed of several members of the Committee for Training and Developing Leadership: Preparatory studies [course] leader and Jerusalem commissioner Sa’id Atoun, [scout] leader Muhammad Al-Dahdar, and [scout] leader Mufid Al-Barq.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 27, 2016]

In response, PMW’s Itamar Marcus wrote to the World Organization of the Scout Movement:

From: Palestinian Media Watch <pmw@palwatch.org>

To: worldbureau@scout.org

Date: Aug. 28, 2016

Subject: Palestinian Scout Association terror promotion

Dear World Organization of the Scout Movement,
We would like to bring to your attention that the Palestinian Scout Association (PSA), which six months ago was accepted as a full member in the World Organization of the Scout Movement, is training its scout leaders to see a cold-blooded terrorist murderer as their role model. The PSA leadership training course that started last week is named the “Martyr – Leader Baha Alyan Course,” after terrorist Alyan, who boarded a bus in Jerusalem last October and murdered three Israeli passengers on the bus: Alon Govberg (51), Haviv Haim (78) and Richard Lakin (76).

We ask that you take steps to guarantee that the distinguished World Organization of the Scout Movement will have no part in training future scout leaders to see terrorist murderers as role models, by immediately canceling the PSA’s membership. There is no greater impediment to peace than bringing up children to see murderers of innocent civilians as heroic role models. Should you allow the Palestinian Scout Association to keep its membership in the World Organization of the Scout Movement at the same time as they are presenting a murderer as a role model for future scout leaders, then your organization is effectively a co-sponsor of this terror promoting course.

We thank you and are waiting to hear what actions you have taken to distance yourselves from the terror-promoting Palestinian Scout Association.

Sincerely,

Itamar Marcus,

Director Palestinian Media Watch

I am absolutely biting my nails to hear what, if any answer, Marcus will receive.

Will the World Organization of the Scout Movement, like Facebook and Twitter before it, turn a blind eye to open-source Jihad, to the incitement of children to kill my people, as long as someone calls it “leadership training?”

Will the Scouts movement refuse to disassociate from these evil people with their extreme hatred and xenophobia?

Will Scouts become a place where I cannot in good conscience allow my son to continue to serve in a leadership role?

Will Scouts become a place where “terror” is called “leadership,” and “Jew-killing,” “resistance?”

And what will be the response of the Israeli branch of the Scout movement??

I probably need to have a talk with my son.

It is a talk I am dreading.

*UPDATE: I knew the military court was likely different than the American court system, but didn’t quite know how. Reader Shabtai wrote and explained as follows: “There is no jury at all. If there were,  [Elor Azaria] would be tried in front of 6 of his peers – other לוחמים [fighters]. Instead, he is tried in front of a panel of military judges – who depend, in a large measure on the Ramat Kal [Chief of Staff], who has already condemned Azaria, for their next promotion. Ever hear the term ‘show trial’? I think that this is a critical point, and not enough folks in blogosphere (as far as I can see) are making it.”

What Makes Yahoo the Most Racist Website in the World?

Don’t let the title fool you. Yahoo is not the most racist website in the world. But I bet that linkbait title got you to click it open, mighty fast.

So here’s the deal: this morning, my husband brought my attention to the fact that Yahoo had published a “listicle” of the ten most racist countries. Guess who came in at #10?

If you guessed Israel, you’re right.

Israel: Most Racist Country (According to Yahoo)

Of Israel, the unknown Yahoo staff writer wrote:

“Despite repeated endeavors by United Nations and other countries, the eternal hate among Palestinians, Israelis, and Israeli Arabs sees no hope of coming to a closure anytime soon. The environment is inflammable instigating frequent riots, the population of refugees is huge and the fleeting cease fires couldn’t solve anything.”

This is a bold lie.

For one thing, as my husband noted, while Arabs mix freely with Jews in Israeli towns and cities, there is a policy of “no Jews allowed” in any Arab area autonomous to the Palestinian Authority. There are signs posted to this effect at the entrance to every Arab village and town.

Here is one such sign.

Note that the sign doesn’t say, “No Jews allowed.” Instead the sign says, “No Israeli citizens allowed.” But they don’t mean Israeli citizens, because that would mean Israeli Arabs are not allowed entry, which is not the case.

Arabs have a prejudice against Jews to the point that they insist their towns and cities be “Judenrein.” This hatred and exclusion IS NOT reciprocated by Jewish Israelis toward Arabs, and Arabs are full members of Israeli society.

The article references “frequent riots.” You would think from this description that you have two sides throwing things (boulders, firebombs) at each other, screaming at each other, and so forth. But this too, is not the case. You have Arabs rioting and throwing things at IDF soldiers, buses, private cars, and the light rail train. What do you not have? Jews rioting and throwing things at Arabs or Arab vehicles.

Racist? Jews Hate Terror

The article mentions “hate among Israelis, Palestinians, and Israeli Arabs,” but this too, is not the case. I personally don’t hate Arabs. I do hate terrorism and terrorists, most assuredly. And I think that is true of most people.

The article speaks of the environment being “inflammable” and this is another lie. The environment is not inflammable. That’s an excuse people give to Arab terrorists to kill people. The environment is inflammable? Well, it must be something set off that terrorist! It’s the kind of thing your mother says when she doesn’t want to deal with the bully who is making your life miserable: “Well, you must have done something to make him do that to you!”

Actually, in the case of Arab terrorism, it’s true. We Jews definitely do something that makes Arabs kill us. We insist on being Jewish and living in our homeland. That makes them crazy.

Is the answer: “Well, then, you should convert to Islam! You should leave Israel! Because it makes them very, very angry that you are Jewish and living in your land!”

No. The answer is the world has to stop making excuses for terror. There is NO VALID REASON FOR TERROR.

“Repeated Endeavors”

The repeated endeavors of the United Nations and other countries? Those endeavors are about demonizing Israel. “Bad Israel. How dare you build homes where Arabs don’t want you to live?”

The “endeavors” are the lies phrased as UN resolutions about all the ways Jews torture and oppress Arabs, which is something that does not happen, something I have not seen in my 37 years of living in this country. In my local Rami Levy supermarket, for instance, Arabs shop alongside Jews. They sometimes ask our help reading the Hebrew labels or locating a product. We help them and are polite and kind.

The same is true everywhere we encounter Arabs: in our hospitals and buses and stores.

Not Racist: Prudent

Are we sometimes nervous to be in close quarters with Arabs? Well then. That is what is wrought by Arab terror against Jews. It is called “being prudent.”

The world thinks they can paint this thing–this Arab hatred–as something balanced, as a conflict between two peoples. But this is not the case. There is no symmetry, no balance. There is no “conflict.” There is an Arab war against the Jews. It is unasked for and undeserved. Israel has always been ready to coexist with and have a true peace with the Arabs.

The racism is not Israel’s. The racism belongs to one minority living in Israel, the Muslim Arabs. It is unfair and wrong to attribute the xenophobia of a single minority to a democratic country: the only one in the Middle East where Jews and Arabs can mix freely. Israel is a model of coexistence, and a light unto the nations. (You sure won’t see Jews in Iran’s government, or Saudi Arabia’s government, for instance. But it would be nice if they’d follow Israel’s example, now wouldn’t it?)

I guess it’s no surprise that Yahoo took down the article before I could get a look at this extreme example of media bias against Israel. I found a cached version and my talented son Natan clicked “next” on the cached link really quickly ten times and managed to catch a screenshot of what Yahoo belatedly decided to delete from its website, lest anyone think that the racist entity is not Israel, but, um, YAHOO.