Trump Vows To Get Hamas Sympathizers The Hell Out of Our Country thumbnail

Trump Vows To Get Hamas Sympathizers The Hell Out of Our Country

By The Geller Report

“We’ll terminate the visas of all Hamas sympathizers. We’ll get them off our college campuses, out of our cities, and get them the hell out of our country…” — President Donald J. Trump


Donald Trump in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 23rd, 2024.

G-d bless this man.

“we’ll terminate the visas of all Hamas sympathizers. We’ll get them off our college campuses, out of our cities, and get them the hell out of our country…”

Donald Trump
Las Vegas yesterday pic.twitter.com/xevoOwNEMR

— Hamas Atrocities (@HamasAtrocities) February 21, 2024

President Trump: “This time, the greatest threat is not from the outside of our country… it’s from within. It’s the people from within our country… We can handle China, we can handle Russia… but the inside people are very dangerous.” pic.twitter.com/PL5sGH5gzR

— शून्य (@Shunyaa00) February 23, 2024

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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Jew-Hating Queens College Muslim Student Association to Host Speaker Who Accused Israel of Creating ISIS and Involvement In 9/11, Jews of Pedophilia thumbnail

Jew-Hating Queens College Muslim Student Association to Host Speaker Who Accused Israel of Creating ISIS and Involvement In 9/11, Jews of Pedophilia

By The Geller Report

Nothing new here.

Muslims and leftists bring the most abhorrent, anti-human, vicious demons to speak as a matter of course.

What does bear pointing out is, on the rare occasion that when supporters of Israel, Conservative leaders, voices of freedom are extended an invitation all hell breaks loose and they are inevitably canceled.

There is no freedom in this once free country and we are living under the boot a most brutal and vicious thugocracy.

“Jews of pedophilia” this from a ‘religion’ whose prophet, the ‘perfect example’, married his favorite bride Aisha at the tender age of six which is why child marriage is rampant in Islam.

I won’t even dignify the Islamic State or 9/11 blood libel against the Jews.

Queens College Muslim Student Association to Host Event with Speaker Who Accused Israel of Creating ISIS and Involvement In 9/11, Jews of Pedophilia

By Zach Kessel, JNS, February 21, 2024:

The Muslim Student Association at Queens College, a public institution under the City University of New York (CUNY) system, plans to host an event on February 29 titled “Analyzing the Israel-Palestine Conflict: A Multifaceted Examination.”

Their featured speaker at the discussion is an author named Daniel Haqiqatjou, a writer at a website called Muslim Skeptic and the author of the book “The Modernist Menace to Islam.” According to his bio, he attended Harvard University for his undergraduate studies and then earned a master’s degree in philosophy at Tufts University.

Haqiqatjou, as is often the case with guests invited to address Israel and the ongoing war against Hamas, has a history of publishing antisemitic conspiracy theories.

His most recent article at Muslim Skeptic is titled “Is ISIS Jewish?” and argues that “ISIS acts in keeping with the Jewish law of war,” which “is why ISIS encourages random individuals to constantly burst into churches and even mosques, then kill the innocent men, women, and children there by [sic] shooting or bombing (like the recent church attack in Turkey).”

He says that “the most likely explanation for ISIS’s behavior is that it is run by Israel,” but even if it is not, it has adopted “the type of disgusting tactics approved of in Judaism.”

Haqiqatjou has also written about his belief that “Judaism is perhaps the world’s most racist religion” and that “owing to the influence of Judaism, Israel is one of the most racist states in the world.”

To prove this claim, Haqiqatjou pointed to a passage in the Talmud — which even the most advanced Jewish scholars spend their lifetimes studying — that he contends “says that blacks, due to their inferiority, are not allowed to fully participate in sacred worship.” Haqiqatjou is not a Talmudic scholar, and there is no evidence available to suggest that he has ever engaged in the study of the texts.

In another piece, Haqiqatjou bemoaned a supposed state of affairs in which “researchers who make claims about” World War II and the Holocaust “which might provoke criticism of Jews” find themselves suffering “career setbacks.” He stated his opinion that “it is not permitted to conduct research on the possibility of Jewish human sacrifice rituals” and accused Jews of controlling academia to the extent that no criticism of Jews or Israel can be published.

Haqiqatjou has claimed that Israel and India are working together to commit genocide against Muslims and that “the powerful Israel lobby has . . . successfully pushed the U.S. government into adopting” a plan to eradicate Islam. He wrote that the Jewish holiday of Purim — a celebration of an instance in which a plot to eliminate Jews in the Achaemenid Empire was thwarted — is, in fact, a remembrance of Jews’ “continuing duty to genocide their enemies in all times and all places.”

On his X account, Haqiqatjou has argued that “Judaism has developed a special hatred for Christianity and Islam.” In the immediate aftermath of October 7, he supported Hamas’s barbarism, writing that “Palestine has the right to defend itself from terrorists” and criticized Mehdi Hasan as being a “complete zionist shill” because he condemned Hamas’s taking children hostage. He has baselessly accused Israel of stealing Palestinian organs. He has also reposted those who claim Israel was behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks and said himself that he believes Al Qaeda was “gradually infiltrated over time” by Israel.

Continue reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

U.S. vetoes UN resolution put forth by Arab states demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza thumbnail

U.S. vetoes UN resolution put forth by Arab states demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza

By Jihad Watch

The UN Security Council needs to immediately evacuate Palestinian civilians from Rafah, given its stated concerns about the humanitarian emergency. Instead, the UN has intentionally blocked civilian evacuation, and continues to choose instead to keep the global spotlight on Israel, not on Hamas and its use of human shields. While Israel has shown repeated concern for civilians and attempted to “do all it could” to evacuate Gazans in Rafah, it has emerged that the UN refused to allow it. The UN does not consider Hamas to be a terrorist group, according to UN Relief Chief Martin Griffiths, and so the UN stands with Hamas, including in its use of human shields. Antisemitic and anti-Israel media also aids and abets Hamas in its goal of obliterating the Jewish state by serving as its propaganda mouthpieces.

Hamas Political Bureau member and former Interior Minister Fathi Hammad took the gloves off in December and declared that the Palestinians are aspiring to establish a global Islamic caliphate with Jerusalem as its capital. The UN is controlled by Islamic states and in 2018 adopted a statement “demanding respect for Islam.”

The UN resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire was put forth by Algeria “on behalf of Arab States.” In Algeria, where Islam is the state religion, some people still hold black slaves and torture them, but the Algerian government pretends to care about human rights. The country also engages in “mass death sentences marred by unfair trials, torture claims,” but this gets ignored, as do human rights abuses in other Islamic states — notably the Islamic Republic of Iran, a chief funder of the jihadist effort to obliterate Israel, which was appointed to chair the 2023 UN Human Rights Council Social Forum.

Although the US vetoed the immediate ceasefire resolution, it also supports a temporary ceasefire, which will do damage to Israel’s war on Hamas, allow Hamas to regroup, and place Israel in a severely vulnerable position.

US vetoes Algerian resolution demanding immediate ceasefire in Gaza

United Nations, February 20, 2024:

The UN Security Council met again in emergency session in New York on Gaza Tuesday, where the United States vetoed a resolution put forward on behalf of Arab States by Algeria demanding “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire that must be respected by all parties”.

The latest Council meeting on the Middle East crisis spiralling outwards from the war in Gaza has ended, with another US veto and an abstention on the part of the UK, while Algeria’s resolution gained support from 13 out of the 15 members around the iconic horseshoe table.

Here are the key points:

HIGHLIGHTS

US uses veto power to quash Algeria’s draft resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and presents rival text that would condemn Hamas but also support a temporary ceasefire

The US is expected to circulate its own draft later on Tuesday but news reports suggest negotiations will be far from easy, with both Russia and China voicing strong opposition to the third use of a veto by the US on ceasefire resolutions

Council members lament continued suffering in Gaza and lambast possible Israeli military operation into Rafah….

Read more.

AUTHOR

CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Israel Unfazed by Global Disapproval, Sticks to Eurovision Song ‘October Rain’ Entry Despite Pressure thumbnail

Israel Unfazed by Global Disapproval, Sticks to Eurovision Song ‘October Rain’ Entry Despite Pressure

By NEWSRAEL Telling the Israeli Story

KAN, the Israeli broadcaster, reaffirmed the decision even at the cost of being barred from the competition.


The Israeli Culture minister sent Miki Zohar the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) a letter on Thursday urging them to approve Israel’s submission to the Eurovision song competition after the EBU called it “too political.”

“As you know, the State of Israel is experiencing one of the most difficult and complex periods since its establishment. We lost our loved ones, and there are women, men and children who are still held captive by a terrorist organization,” Zohar said.

Israeli media reported that the broadcasting union would not approve the song, called “October Rain,” after several countries even issued threats to boycott the event if Israel participated. The EBU issued a statement saying “We are currently in the process of carefully examining the lyrics of the song – a process that is confidential between the EBU and the Public Broadcasting Corporation until a final decision is made. To all broadcasters, they have until March 11th to officially submit their songs. If a song does not meet the criteria for any reason, the corporation will be given the opportunity to submit a new song or new lyrics, according to the contest rules.”

“The song that Israel sent to the Eurovision Song Contest was chosen by a professional committee made up of well-known names in the local music and entertainment industry,” Zohar added. “It is a moving song, discussing renewal and revival from a very fragile reality of loss and destruction, and describes the current public mood in Israel these days. We see now most clearly because our lives – as one, united society – manage to overcome even the greatest suffering. This is not a political song.”

Despite the news that the song by Israeli singer Eden Golan would not be approved, The CEO of KAN, Israel’s national broadcasting service, and the body that approves the song, Golan Yokhpaz, said “We will not change the words or the song, even at the cost of Israel not participating in Eurovision this year.” Adding “The Israel Broadcasting Corporation (KAN) is in dialogue with the EBU regarding the song that will represent Israel at Eurovision.”

Zohar said later in a television interview “The songwriters, KAN, and the singer will have to make the decisions at the end of the day… I do think that Israel should participate in Eurovision because it is important for us at this time to be represented there, and to express ourselves throughout Europe.”

NOTE: Based on the Israeli outlet “Israel Hayom“, we can reveal the following details:

  • The majority of the lyrics are in English, but there are 2 lines in Hebrew.
  • The song is a ballad with a build-up in the melody
  • The title of the song is probably “October Rain”

Israeli broadcaster Kan has released the full lyrics of the song:

Writers of the history
Stand with me
Look into my eyes and see
People go away but never say goodbye

Someone stole the moon tonight
Took my light
Everything is black and white
Who’s the fool who told you
Boys don’t cry

Hours and hours and flowers
Life is no game for the cowards
Why does time go wild
Every day I’m loosing my mind
Holding on in this mysterious ride

Dancing in the storm
We got nothing to hide
Take me home
And leave the world behind
And I promise you that never again
I’m still wet from this October rain
October Rain

Living in a fantasy
Ecstasy
Everything’s meant to be
We shall pass but love will never die

Hours and hours and flowers
Life is no game for the cowards
Why does time go wild
Every day I’m loosing my mind
Holding on in this mysterious ride

Dancing in the storm
We got nothing to hide
Take me home
And leave the world behind
And I promise you that never again
I’m still wet from this October rain
October Rain
October Rain

לא נשאר אוויר לנשום
אין מקום
אין אותי מיום ליום
כולם ילדים טובים אחד אחד

(There’s no air left to breathe
There’s no space
I’m gone day by day
Everyone is good kids one by one)

As of the moment, the approval process for the song is still underway.

RELATED ARTICLE: “October Rain”— First Glance at The Lyrics of Israel’s Eurovision 2024 Entry

EDITORS NOTE: This World Israel News column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

10/7 Testimony: The murder of Inbar Haiman thumbnail

10/7 Testimony: The murder of Inbar Haiman

By NEWSRAEL Telling the Israeli Story

Inbar Haiman, 27, was murdered after being abducted by Hamas on October 7th from the Supernova music festival where she was volunteering.

When Hamas attacked, Inbar first hid under a stage with friends and then took cover under a bush where she was found by a pair of Hamas gunmen armed with knives, who hauled her out and placed her on a motorbike.

Eventually, her family and boyfriend received a video posted by Hamas on Telegram, showing Inbar bloodied and beaten, surrounded by four men.

She was murdered while in captivity, and Hamas is still holding her body hostage!

We must not forget this beautiful soul, taken far too early by such monsters.

Bring Inbar home so that her family, and all of Israel may mourn her.

EDITORS NOTE: This Newsrael News Desk column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

PERKINS: Hostility to Churches Fueled by Biden’s Anti-Faith Climate thumbnail

PERKINS: Hostility to Churches Fueled by Biden’s Anti-Faith Climate

By Family Research Council

“It’s an emotional moment,” Pastor Robin Lutjohann said quietly, surveying the rubble of his church. “It’s been a place of worship for a number of communities for over a century,” he told reporters after a six-alarm fire raged through the building Easter Sunday, destroying the Massachusetts landmark. “It fills me with sadness and dread about the work that is ahead of us,” Lutjohann admitted, wondering why anyone would have such malice toward Faith Lutheran. “If and when a person is found who has done this then we will pray for the power to forgive,” he insisted.

Unfortunately, his congregation isn’t alone in that prayer. An astonishing 436 churches in America were victims of criminal attacks in 2023, according to a new report from Family Research Council — more than double the number in 2022. From shattering stained glass and spray-painting relics to lighting five-gallon drums of gasoline on fire and riddling altars with bullet holes, houses of worship have become an increasingly dangerous target.

“You just feel the hate,” Rev. Jerome Jones shook his head, still shocked at the sight of his trashed Maryland sanctuary. Bibles, ripped into shreds that “looked like snow” on the pews, slashed upholstery, the big wooden cross — where congregants lifted their hands during the offering — torn down and tossed on the $100,000 of damage. From now on, Jones had to tell worshippers, “the cross is in your hearts.”

His Fowler United Methodist Church is just a few miles from the Maryland State House, a fact that didn’t shield Jones from the violence that too many U.S. congregations are experiencing. If anything, experts say, our country’s deepening political divides may be what’s fanning the all-too-real flames. The growing anti-faith rhetoric of the Left, led by the Biden administration’s own bigotry toward Christians, has made it open season on houses of worship. After just 55 acts of hostility in 2020 under Donald Trump, the aggression has skyrocketed from 96 (2021) to 195 (2022) to a staggering 436 acts last year.

None of this happened in a vacuum. Under the Biden administration, there’s one common denominator between the growing religious persecution abroad and the rapidly increasing hostility toward churches here at home: our government’s policies.

Frankly, Congressman Nathanial Moran (R-Texas) insisted on Tuesday’s “Washington Watch,” the biggest reason for this spike is probably because “this is the behavior that’s being modeled by the federal government.” When we see “the Department of Justice weaponizing its political views against everyday Americans and religious institutions and faith-based organizations, more of [these attacks] are going to happen.”

Under Joe Biden, men and women at the highest levels of government have not only condoned religious intimidation, they’ve encouraged it — refusing to investigate, hold culprits accountable, or worse, targeting Christians themselves. From the FBI to IRS, the Biden administration has spent the last three years criminalizing Americans with biblical views, only to turn around and complain about threats to democracy. What bigger threat is there than a government weaponized against its own people?

And sadly, this 800% spike in church attacks hasn’t just triggered terror here at home, it’s also had deadly consequences abroad. During my time as chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), I witnessed firsthand that when American leaders turn their backs on religious hostility, it sends a message that the world’s persecuted are on their own.

As my friend and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo understood: “If we got it right here in America, good things would happen all across the world.” If we get it wrong, we’re no longer just hurting ourselves, but millions of innocents who depend on the United States to fight against oppression around the world.

We see evidence of that failure in the freshly dug graves in Nigeria, in the Christians hiding deep within Afghanistan, even in the global calls for Israel’s ceasefire. Biden’s weakness on the international stage has escalated the threat for the world’s religious populations to a degree we’ve not seen in modern history. And the situation grows more dire every day.

When America ignores the indiscriminate slaughter of 8,222 Nigerian Christians in a single year — even going so far as to remove the nation as a Country of Particular Concern from America’s watch list— it gives permission for other world leaders to look the other way. Worse, it sends a green light to terrorists everywhere to continue their killings, abductions, land-grabs, and torture. But if Joe Biden can’t be bothered to condemn thugs and vandals at home, how could he possibly take on jihadists?

At its core, this is cultural terrorism, and it’s designed to silence us. The spiritual enemy of our soul has a goal to intimidate Christians everywhere into backing away from speaking biblical truth. So here’s what we’ve got to do: not yield.

Obviously, we need to take the appropriate precautions, so our people can come to church free of fear with the sole focus of worshiping the Lord. But then, we do something just as important: vote for men and women who respect and understand our vibrant First Amendment freedom, which is the ability — not only to worship God — but to live your life according to your faith. That means teaching your children. That means carrying your beliefs into the workplace.

So we need to be bold. We need to be courageous and live out our faith for the Lord in such a way as it brings honor and glory to him. Yes, we need to take the practical steps to make sure our churches are safe, but we cannot give in to those who would make us shrink back into the shadows of society. We need to continue to hold forth the banner of the Lord Jesus Christ — without apology.

AUTHOR

Tony Perkins

Tony Perkins is president of Family Research Council and executive editor of The Washington Stand.

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POST ON X:

Today’s cover: ‘Absurdly woke’: Google’s AI chatbot spits out ‘diverse’ images of Founding Fathers, popes, Vikings https://t.co/YsguOIXvlj pic.twitter.com/rJETx5lV2r

— New York Post (@nypost) February 22, 2024

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.


The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Students for Justice in Palestine at Claremont Colleges Think They Just got a BDS Win. But did they? thumbnail

Students for Justice in Palestine at Claremont Colleges Think They Just got a BDS Win. But did they?

By Canary Mission

  • On February 11, 2024, the Pitzer College Student Senate voted to suspend Pitzer’s study abroad partnership with the University of Haifa in Israel. The resolution was spearheaded by Claremont Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). Pitzer College is one of the seven Claremont Colleges in Claremont, California.
  • Since 2018, Claremont SJP has been trying to pass this initiative. However, the response by Pitzer’s president was swift and decisive. In a statement, Pitzer said, the “Student Senate does not speak for the College, nor does it represent the views of all Pitzer students. The president will not accept…any resolution antithetical to [the principles of academic freedom and safe and productive learning].”
  • Claremont SJP has a long history of supporting terrorists, calling for Israel’s destruction and rejecting dialogue. The group regularly promotes anti-Israel agitators and initiates campaigns for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

KEY FINDINGS

Claremont SJP and JVP spearheaded the ‘Suspend Pitzer Haifa’ initiative, resulting in the Pitzer College Student Senate voting to suspend the college’s study-abroad partnership with the University of Haifa in Israel.

This BDS campaign is a continuation of an initiative that began in 2018.

Daniel Segal, the faculty advisor for SJP, played a key role in both the 2018 and 2024 campaigns to suspend the Haifa partnership, acting as a link between the two efforts.

On October 7th, the same day as the massacre committed by Hamas in Israel, Segal posted on X (formerly Twitter) justifying the attack with the following statement: “Israeli state apartheid, ethnic cleansing & settler colonialism are ongoing violence against Palestinians; some of the resistance provoked is violent also. All who support the oppression, all who oppose non-violent BDS, have more blood on their hands today. #PalestinianFreedom.”

Claremont SJP and JVP act as two campus groups united under the same banner and have collaborated on events as far back as 2015.

On October 8th, one day after the brutal Hamas attack, Claremont SJP and JVP issued a joint statement blaming Israel for all bloodshed and expressing support for resistance and intifada.

Malak Afaneh, a prominent figure in the 2018-2019 ‘Suspend Pitzer Haifa’ campaign, later attended Berkeley Law, where she served as president of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter. During her tenure, the SJP chapter notably drafted a bylaw to exclude Zionist voices from campus.

Lea Kayali, another key player from the 2018-2019 ‘Suspend Pitzer Haifa’ campaign, is now an organizer with Harvard Law School Justice for Palestine (HLS Justice for Palestine), one of the groups that signed the October 2023 anti-Israel statement. This statement, endorsed by over 30 Harvard student groups, held Israel entirely responsible for the violence perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th.

SEE BELOW CLAREMONT SJP HISTORY OF EXTREMISM AND TERROR SUPPORT

JUSTIFYING HAMAS ATROCITIES

The day after Hamas’ October 7, 2023 massacre of 1,200 Israelis and the kidnapping of 250 more, Claremont SJP and JVP issued a joint statement in support of Hamas, which praised “decolonization” (read: murder), Palestinian “resistance” and violent uprising (intifada). This statement justified the Hamas attack, placing all the blame and loss of life squarely on Israel’s shoulders.

The statement read in part:

Before October 7, Claremont SJP activities in 2023 centered around the re-launch of their campaign against Pitzer to suspend its exchange program with the University of Haifa in Israel.

In addition, the group strategized how they could prevent the Claremont student government from adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.

The definition includes singling out Israel and holding it to a different standard than other countries of the world vis-a-vis boycotts (a feature of the BDS movement).

Claremont SJP also pushed the lie that Israel was harming Black and Brown communities in Los Angeles by training the Los Angeles police department in repressive surveillance techniques.

2022

In 2022, Claremont SJP participated in a car caravan protest in response to false charges against Israel of “ethnic cleansing” neighborhoods in Jerusalem, Hebron and the Negev region.

The group also held a “Free Palestine” Week and ended the year with a letter-writing event to “show solidarity and build morale” for the “Holy Land 5.” The Holy Land 5 refers to the five individuals who worked for the Holy Land Foundation in Texas and were convicted of funneling money to Hamas in the largest terror financing case in American history. Three of the men are still in prison serving their sentences.

2021

SUPPORTING TERRORISTS

In May 2021, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists fired over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at major population centers in Israel.

Israel responded by launching “Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW),” carrying out targeted military strikes in Gaza.

During the conflict, Claremont SJP advertised two marches organized in solidarity with the “Palestinian Uprising and General Strike.” The first, held on May 15, 2021, was billed as an “LA Rally & Protest for Resistance Until Liberation!”

The second, on May 18, 2021, was held in front of the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles.

As of December 2021, Claremont SJP’s signature was on a petition calling the “Palestinian Students Solidarity Campaign” that was launched by the anti-Israel NGO Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (Samidoun).

The petition supports Palestinian students detained or incarcerated by Israel for participating in direct terror activity or terror-related activities.

Samidoun advocates for the release of all Palestinian prisoners, many of whom are members of Hamas or other terror groups like the PFLP. Multiple Samidoun activists have been identified as PFLP members, including Mohammed Khatib, Samidoun’s European coordinator.

On March 26, 2021, Claremont SJP posted to Facebook an event page for an online panel titled “Free Them All!” that featured Khatib. The event page said speakers would discuss “the importance of supporting and organizing for the freedom of political prisoners as part of the Palestinian national liberation struggle.”

CALLING FOR ISRAEL’S DESTRUCTION

As of December 2021, Claremont SJP’s platform referred to Israel as an “apartheid state…that can only be dismantled through Palestinian national liberation.”

As of the same date, Claremont SJP’s Instagram bio read: “Fighting for Palestinian liberation, from the river to the sea.” The same quote reportedly appeared in the Instagram bio as early as February 2020.

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is a chant used [00:02:52] to call for the elimination of the State of Israel. It has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state.

The text on a September 21, 2021 advertisement for Claremont SJP for the colleges’ 5C club fair read, “Join Claremont SJP to fight for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.”

HOSTING A TERRORIST SUPPORTER

On November 18, 2021, Claremont SJP hosted an event titled “A Conversation with Mohammed El-Kurd,” who has glorified terrorists, spread incitement against Israel and whitewashed Hamas. El-Kurd has also spread hatred about America and the police and conspiracy theories about Israel.

He has spread misinformation about Israel in interviews on CNN and MSNBC as well as social media. The event advertisement called El-Kurd a “Palestinian activist and poet.”

El-Kurd’s talk was also sponsored also by the Departments of International Relations, Religious Studies and English at Pomona College as well as the Associated Students of Pomona College (ASPC), Pomona’s student government; McKenna’s student government, The Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College (ASCMC); and the 5C Prison Abolition Collective.

DEMONIZING ISRAEL

During the May 2021 conflict in Israel, Claremont SJP advertised on Instagram a rally in Chicago, calling out all their “Chicago friends” to attend the rally to “Stand against Israeli land theft” and “Stand with the people of Sheikh Jarrah.”

In May of 2021, a property dispute in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah erupted into violence in anticipation of an Israel High Court hearing that was expected to rule on eviction proceedings. The dispute involved over 70 Palestinian tenants illegally residing in Jewish-owned properties. On May 9, 2021, the court postponed the hearing.

The Sheikh Jarrah dispute sparked violent clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces in and around the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount.

Incitement surrounding Al Aqsa and Sheikh Jarrah were leading factors in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists firing over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at Israeli population centers on May 10-21, 2021. Israel responded by launching OGW, carrying out targeted military strikes against the terrorists and their infrastructure in Gaza.

REJECTING DIALOGUE

As of December 2021, Claremont SJP’s platform read: “We reject any and all collaboration, dialogue, and coalition work with Zionist organizations through a strict policy of anti-normalization and encourage our comrades in other organizations to do the same.”

Proponents of the “anti-normalization” policy seek to police all interactions between Israelis and Palestinians and shut down all conversations, interactions and speech that they perceive as being ideologically unaligned with their own agenda. Adherents to this position reject “liberal Zionist” groups who seek to dialogue with Palestinians on the grounds that such interaction “normalizes” entrenched power dynamics.

This policy was originally dictated by the BDS National Committee (BNC), which listed as one of its “main activities” the “Monitoring & Rapid Response” against interactions that recognize or cooperate with “Israel’s regime.”

CAMPAIGNING FOR BDS

On April 15, 2021, Claremont SJP and 5C Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) introduced a resolution to the Associated Students of Pomona College (ASPC) Senate that mandated ASPC compliance with BDS.

The resolution was titled [p.1], “Banning the Use of ASPC Funding to Support the Occupation of Palestine” and it required [p.2] that ASPC “internal spending” could not be used on products or services from companies that “knowingly support the Israeli occupation of Palestine.”

ASPC internal spending includes multiple items including funding 5C student clubs and student-run events.

The resolution also created [p.2] an oversight role for Claremont SJP over the ASPC-run Coop Store and the Coop Fountain restaurant. According to the resolution, ASPC would “work in tandem with members of SJP, and other pertinent parties, to perform an annual check on the ASPC’s businesses to ensure all goods sold adhere to the guidelines outlined in this resolution.”

The resolution stated [p.2] that: “Clubs that fail to divest and/or refrain from such uses of funding would face the loss of all Claremont Colleges Student Government Association funds.”

Claremont Colleges pool mandatory student activity fees and distribute the money to the 5C student governments. ASPC provides almost 47% of the funding for all 5C clubs, although each 5C student government can fund 5C clubs.

The above clause effectively mandated BDS compliance for pro-Israel and Jewish student organizations like Claremont Hillel and Claremont Chabad.

In the spring of 2021, ASPC gave more than $10,000 to 5C clubs. It also gave $30,000 for student-run events at Pomona that were coordinated through the ASPC’s Pomona Events Committee (PEC). The full ASPC spring 2021 budget was $216,700.

The Claremont SJP and Claremont JVP resolution also said [p.2] that ASPC’s “end goal” would be to lead other 5C student governments to pass similar BDS resolutions.

On April 22, 2021, the ASPC Senate passed the resolution with a vote of 10-0-0. Five senators were not present, representing one-third of the ASPC Senate’s 15 seats.

The same day, Claremont SJP issued a press release calling the resolution’s passage “an important first step in reducing our complicity with a country that maintains an illegal military occupation and regularly commits crimes against humanity against the indigenous Palestinian population.”

On April 23, 2021, following criticism of the resolution reportedly among campus and national Jewish groups, Pomona President G. Gabrielle Starr sent an email to the student body opposing the resolution. Starr said that requiring student clubs to boycott Israel was “deeply concerning.” She said that since the vote “was held without representation from any student opposition,” the ASPC Senate should “reverse course and allow for full discussion.”

On April 29, 2021, the ASPC Senate held a Zoom meeting that included a “comment period” for student senators and student guest speakers to express their feedback on the resolution.

On April 30, 2021, the ASPC Senate reportedly decided to “table the resolution” for further discussion in regards to the resolution’s call to deny funding to student clubs that failed to adhere to BDS.

On May 6, 2021, the ASPC Senate reportedly passed a modified resolution that omitted the original clause forcing student clubs funded by ASPC to comply with BDS.

The final resolution mandated BDS compliance for internal ASPC spending, PEC-coordinated events and the two ASPC-managed businesses. Claremont SJP was also granted the oversight role regarding the compliance of ASPC businesses with the resolution.

2019

DEMONIZING ISRAEL

On April 2, 2019, Claremont SJP hosted an event titled, “The Washings: Pinkwashing, Greenwashing, and Faithwashing,” as part of Palestinian Freedom Weeks 2019 (PFW 2019) which was held on campus from March 25-April 7, 2019)

The Facebook event page accused Israel of “settler colonialism” and also said: “The Washing Campaign has been fundamental in sustaining Israeli apartheid by way of presenting Israel as a progressive entity in an effort to deflect from state-sanctioned crimes against Palestine.”

“Pinkwashing” is a claim used by anti-Israel activists to argue that Israel manipulates the LGBTQ community in order to garner support for Israel.

“Greenwashing” is a claim that Israel advocates manipulate the environmentalist community in order to garner support for Israel.
“Faithwashing” is an accusation that supporters of Israel engage in interfaith dialogue to promote a pro-Zionist agenda.

On March 27, 2019, Claremont SJP hosted another PFW 2019 event titled “Open Air & Cages: Prison Abolition from Attica to Gaza.” The event’s Facebook page called the United States and Israel “white supremacist and settler colonial projects.”

The same event page also said: “This event will work through the solidarity pacts of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Black Panther party who attempted to draw ‘comparisons between racial capitalism in the United States and Israel …’”

The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was declared a foreign terrorist organization by the United States in 1987. The group’s 1968 charter stated that its goal was the “liberation of Palestine” through “armed struggle.”

Yasser Arafat, who was known as the “father of modern terrorism,” was the leader of the PLO from 1969 until his ddeath in 20014.

The Black Panther Party (BPP) was a revolutionary Marxist political organization founded in 1966. The party advocated the use of violence and guerilla tactics to overthrow the U.S. government. BPP members were involved in a number of fatal firefights with police.

On March 25, 2019, Claremont SJP hosted an event titled, “Visit the Mock Apartheid Wall,” where they built a wall on campus meant to simulate Israel’s security barrier.

Israel’s security barrier, 97% of which is a low chain-link barrier, was built as a deterrent to Palestinian terror attacks. The concrete portions of the fence were built in response to Palestinian sniper attacks.

The event’s Facebook page read, “The Wall is an extension of Israel’s policies of land theft and ethnic cleansing.” The page also said, “We especially want to bring attention between the connections between the construction of the Apartheid Wall in Palestine and other similar racist, oppressive projects of border militarization around the world.”

PROMOTING ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS

On November 14, 2019, Claremont SJP hosted a film screening of “Gaza Fights for Freedom,” featuring anti-Israel activists Abby Martin, the film’s director, and her husband, Mike Prysner, a journalist.

Martin is a former anchor for the Russian state news agency RT and the Venezuelan state news agency Telasur. She has compared [00:00:13] Israel to Nazi Germany and spread anti-Israel propaganda. Prysner has defended terrorism and has referred to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as the “Apartheid Defense Forces.”

During the event, Martin reportedly “defended Hamas and placed sole blame on Israel for the lack of peace between both states.”

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the European Union, Canada, Australia, the United States and Israel.

Also at the Claremont SJP event, Martin reportedly accused a Jewish student journalist of being “associated with ‘white nationalists.’” Prysner called Israel an “attack dog” of the United States.

CAMPAIGNING FOR BDS

Beginning in 2018 and culminating in 2019, Claremont SJP was involved in a push to boycott Pitzer College’s exchange program with Israel’s Haifa University.

The events transpired as follows:

On November 8, 2018, Pitzer College faculty reportedly voted for a motion to suspend the exchange program which Pitzer had run since 2007. Professor Daniel Segal, the Claremont SJP and Claremont JVP faculty advisor, led the boycott campaign.

The faculty motion was a non-binding recommendation to Pitzer President Melvin L. Oliver. The motion called for the “suspension of the College’s exchange with Haifa University, until (a) the Israeli state ends its restrictions on entry to Israel based on ancestry and/or political speech and (b) the Israeli state adopts policies granting visas for exchanges to Palestinian universities on a fully equal basis as it does to Israeli universities.”

After the faculty vote, the motion was then sent to the Pitzer College Council (PCC), Pitzer’s “primary legislative body” which “votes on policy recommendations forwarded by the faculty as well as committees.” The PCC includes faculty and student senators who issue recommendations to the Pitzer president. The president is then free to approve or disapprove the recommendations.

On November 18, 2018, Claremont SJP issued a statement supporting the pro-BDS faculty vote, saying that it was “imperative” to end the “deeply problematic” Haifa program. Claremont SJP also circulated a petition to the public titled, “No Academic Freedom Under Occupation,” which accused Israel of having “increasingly draconian policies” and employing a “systemic practice of racial discrimination.”

On November 29, 2018, President Oliver responded to the faculty recommendation, opposing it and calling it a “repudiation of our educational mission…an anathema to Pitzer’s core values.” Oliver also questioned the faculty in singling out Israel for special scrutiny among other foreign countries like China and Nepal where Pitzer also has study abroad programs.

On March 14, 2019, the PCC passed a motion to end the Haifa program. The motion, a non-binding recommendation for Oliver, passed with 68 votes in favor, 25 against and eight abstentions.

The motion outlined a “uniform policy” ending study abroad programs in countries that “restrict entry on the basis of either (a) legally protected political speech or (b) race or ancestry (as distinct from citizenship).” The motion claimed that the Haifa program violated the “uniform policy” and would be suspended immediately.

Also on March 14, 2019, Oliver released a statement declining to implement the PCC motion, saying, “By singling out Israel, the recommendation itself is prejudiced.”

In the statement, Oliver also said, “Although some claim that this is not an academic boycott of Israel, I disagree. The recommendation puts in place a form of academic boycott of Israel and, in the process, sets us on a path away from the free exchange of ideas, a direction which ultimately destroys the academy’s ability to fulfill our educational mission.”

On the same day, Pitzer’s student newspaper, The Student Life, reported: “In advance of the Haifa vote, the organization [Claremont SJP] has focused on outreach to Pitzer faculty and student senators, and on building a coalition of other campus groups.”

On March 15, 2019, Claremont SJP posted on Facebook that they would “continue to organize to suspend Haifa and demand that President Oliver reverse his decision.” Claremont SJP also posted an online petition demanding Oliver rescind his veto of the PCC motion and included the hashtag “#ProApartheidOliver.”

On March 25, 2019, Claremont SJP posted a Facebook event page for its “Palestine Freedom Weeks,” scheduled for March 25 to April 7, 2019. The event page promoted the BDS campaign against the Haifa program and used the hashtags “#SuspendPitzerHaifa” and “#MelvinWontListen.”

On March 31, 2019, the Pitzer College Student Senate, the college’s student government, introduced two resolutions at an “Emergency Meeting” called to address the Haifa program boycott campaign.

Claremont SJP members Shay Lari-Hosain and Jorj Chisam-Masjid were among the co-sponsors of the first resolution, which stated: “The Pitzer College Student Senate votes no confidence in President Melvin Oliver and, if President Oliver does not retract his anti-democratic decision by the end of the day on April 11, 2019, call for his immediate resignation or removal from office.”

Pitzer Senate president Shivani Kavuluru and vice presidents Kamyab Mashian and Dawson Reckers were among the co-sponsors of the second resolution. Their resolution censured Oliver for keeping the Haifa program and demanded that Oliver reverse his veto.

On April 7, 2019, the Pitzer Senate reportedly voted down the resolution of no confidence 20-12. However, the resolution censuring Oliver passed 29-0.

As of July 2021, Pitzer continued to offer its semester abroad program at the University of Haifa.

2018

SUPPORTING VIOLENT PROTESTERS

On April 15, 2018, Claremont SJP hosted a “Solidarity Vigil with Gaza” on campus in support of the March of Return riots. The event’s Facebook description alleged Israeli snipers “opened fire on thousands of unarmed protesters, killing at least 35 people, including photojournalist Yaser Murtaja while he was wearing a press jacket, and injuring at least 3,000.”

Yasser Murtaja, a photojournalist, was reportedly a Hamas spy who used drones to film Israeli positions. Murtaja was shot on April 6, 2018, as he filmed the 2018 “March of Return” protest in Gaza.

On March 30, 2018, some 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza approached Israel’s border to take part in “Land Day Protests” or the “March of Return.” The March of Return was organized and funded by Hamas as a campaign of violent protests along Israel’s border to spotlight the demand of Palestinians to “return” to Israel.

The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.

March participants sent scores of kites bearing explosive devices across Israel’s border to burn Israeli crops and homes. Participants also attempted to breach the border fence, which caused the Israeli Defense Forces to respond with live fire.

Agitators threw Molotov cocktails, firebombs, shot firearms and threw rocks under the cover of smoke from burning tires.

On May 16, 2018, a Hamas senior official stated that 50 out of 62 protesters killed during a May 14 protest were Hamas operatives. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) also claimed that three of its members were killed at the same protest.

On April 17, 2018, Claremont SJP hosted “PFW: Political Prisoner Letter Writing Night!” as part of its 5C Palestinian Freedom Weeks 2018 (PFW 2018) which was held on campus April 9-20, 2018.

The event’s Facebook description read: “SJP will be addressing the topic of Palestinian political prisoners in connection to the Israeli occupation, capitalist exploitation, and child prisoners. Later, we will guide people in writing letters of support to political prisoners under the guidelines of Samidoun, a Palestinian prisoner solidarity network.”

As part of PFW 2018, on April 9, 2018, Claremont SJP hosted an event marking 70 years since the creation of the state of Israel. The event’s Facebook description read, “2018 marks the 70th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba — the planned mass expulsion of more than 750,000 indigenous Palestinians to establish an exclusionary Jewish-majority state in Palestine.”

Nakba is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term often used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by defining it as a catastrophe.

PROMOTING ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS

On April 14, 2018, Claremont SJP hosted an event on campus, titled “Voices of Palestine Resistance” to promote the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) was founded in 2001 and is allegedly “committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles.” ISM has been accused of supporting terrorism and has encouraged volunteers to act “as human shields in cities, towns and refugee camps.”

ISM has encouraged activists to break curfew and disregard Israeli directives prohibiting access to closed military zones, a policy which resulted in the death of American ISM activist Rachel Corrie in 2013.

The event’s Facebook description said: “The presentation includes an abridged version of Radiance of Resistance, a film by three ISM volunteers serving in Nabi Salih and featuring Ahed Tamimi and her cousin, Janna Ayyad.”

Ahed Tamimi was detained after she was filmed punching and kicking Israeli soldiers. She has a long history of physically attacking Israeli soldiers.

Tamimi is the daughter of Bassem Tamimi, who is known for exploiting young children as political props in staged confrontations with Israeli soldiers. In 2011, he was jailed for organizing violent rallies and inciting minors to commit violent crimes such as rock-throwing.

Ayyad, who is known as “Janna Jihad,” is a relative of Tamimi.

The village of Nabi Saleh is a Tamimi family stronghold. It is notorious as a place where photographers gather nearly every Friday to document scenes of Palestinian residents and international activists clashing with Israeli soldiers. Much of this is instigated by the Nabi Saleh Tamimi clan.

2017

DEMONIZING ISRAEL

On April 12, 2017, in conjunction with Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), Claremont SJP held a screening of an anti-Semitic documentary titled: “The Occupation of the American Mind.” The film claimed to show that Israel controls the American public’s view on Arab-Israeli conflict via the media.

On April 11, 201, as part of IAW, Claremont SJP held an event titled “Pinkwashing 101 Workshop.” The event page claimed “Pinkwashing is a deliberate marketing campaign that Israel uses to project an image of queer-friendliness in order to cover up its atrocities of apartheid, genocide, and ethnic cleansing against Palestinians.”

On April 7, 2017, Claremont SJP published an article accusing Israel of being an “Apartheid state.” The article claimed: “700,000 Palestinians — Muslim, Christian, and Jewish alike — were violently uprooted and expelled from their homes by Zionist forces in 1948.”

The article went on to mislead its readers, claiming that “Palestinian citizens in Israel are also subject to racialized laws and regulations that inhibit them from living as equals under the law,” and that “There are over 50 laws that discriminate against Palestinians in Israel.”

The conclusion of the article encouraged readers to participate in its IAW events saying: “We call attention to these crimes this year in Israeli Apartheid week.”

On April 3, 2017, Claremont SJP erected a mock apartheid wall on the Pitzer college campus as part of IAW. On April 6, 2017, Claremont SJP wrote a blog post condemning individuals who displayed a large Israeli flag on campus in opposition to the wall, saying: “This flag shows the ideological underpinnings of Zionism, a settler-colonial project to lay claim to Palestinian indigenous land without acknowledging the human rights abuses, the violence, the massacres, the apartheid, and the walls that are necessary to sustain this project… this 20 foot flag that was hung in an attempt to cover up the horrors of Zionist violence.”

BDS ACTIVITIES

On April 16, 2017, which was the sixth day of Passover as well as Easter Sunday, Claremont Colleges’ Student Senate held a vote revising the Pitzer College Student Senate Budget Committee Bylaws.

Pitzer College student Simone Bishara added an amendment to the Student Activities Funds’ restrictions dictating that the student senate budget committee adhere to a boycott list formulated by the BDS movement. The amendment was approved in a secret ballot vote.

Bishara’s amendment to the Bylaws (P.4. Student Activities Funds, Section 2. Restrictions VI.) stated: “Student Activities Funds shall not be used to make a payment on goods or services from any corporation or organization associated with the unethical occupation of Palestinian territories. Products include those products from corporations and organizations as delineated in the boycott list maintained by bdsmovement.net/get-involved/what-toboycott.

Upon being informed of the vote, the executive boards of Claremont Progressive Israel Alliance (CPIA) and the Alpha Epsilon Pi of the Claremont Colleges circulated a petition that objected to the vote’s unexpected introduction and passage when many Jewish and Christian students, including student senators supportive of Israel, were off-campus, due to the holidays.

The petition also criticized the fact that the amendment was not announced before the meeting.

Bishara claimed that “the timing was merely an unfortunate coincidence.”

Claremont’s student newspaper, The Student Life, also reported that Bishara did not include the amendment in the first draft of the budgetary bylaws presented on April 9.

Because the BDS resolution was couched as an amendment, Bishara was not required to announce the measure on the meeting’s agenda. Bishara stated: “It’s just not procedurally how Senate does things.”

Although Bishara did not inform anyone from CPIA and the Alpha Epsilon Pi of the Claremont Colleges of the amendment, The Student Life reported that Bishara did “reach out” to some senators and Claremont SJP, which sent members to speak at the meeting in favor of the amendment.

Bishara told The Student Life she did not alert CPIA that she was presenting the amendment “because my intention was to have it pass. I have had enough intellectual conversation about why people disagree with me.”

Bishara went on to say: “My opinions are less rooted in academic knowledge or political belief and more in this identity-based concern,” she said. “It’s emotionally gutting for me to sit here and have to explain why I think these things are the right things to do…It’s just emotional labor that no one ever should have to do.”

In the same interview, Bishara claimed the amendment’s timing also made it difficult for her to go home to celebrate Easter.

“…I had to pull myself away from home and I would never, in a million years, ask anyone else to do that, and never in a million years would intentionally target something around somebody’s faith…I can’t even conceive of a world in which I would be okay if I knew somebody was doing that on purpose.”

Claremont SJP’s press release on Facebook celebrating the vote said it passed by “22 aye, 0 nay, 4 abstentions.” The announcement did not mention that the budget committee’s decisions would be tied to the dictates of the BDS movement.

2016

SUPPORTING A CONVICTED TERRORIST

On December 7, 2016, Claremont SJP posted on Facebook a call for support for Rasmea Odeh.

Odeh was a military operative with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an internationally designated terrorist organization. In 1969, she masterminded a bombing that killed two university students in a Jerusalem supermarket. Odeh also attempted to bomb the British consulate.

Odeh confessed, in a highly detailed account, the day following her arrest. In a 2004 documentary, one of Odeh’s co-conspirators directly implicated her as the mastermind.

In 1970, an Israeli court tried and convicted Odeh for her involvement in both bombings and sentenced her to life imprisonment. However, Odeh was released 10 years later, in a prisoner swap and emigrated to the United States. In 2017, Odeh was deported to Jordan and stripped of U.S. citizenship, after admitting to immigration fraud.

SUPPORTING AN INCITER TO VIOLENCE

On July 12, 2016, Claremont SJP shared a petition on Facebook supporting Dareen Tatour, a Palestinian woman.

In October 2015, Tatour was placed under house arrest for incitement to violence and for support of a terrorist organization on social media.

Tatour had supported the terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and posted to her 4,800 + Facebook friends “I am the next shahid [martyr]” on Facebook under a picture of attempted-murderer Asraa Zidan Tawfik Abed. Tatour also posted a Youtube video of a woman reading a poem that glorified violence and rejected peace.

October 2015 saw an upsurge in violence across Israel incited by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The wave of stabbings, known as the “Knife Intifada,” saw young Palestinians throughout the country stabbing and attempting to stab scores of Israeli civilians.

HARASSING STUDENTS

On March 9, 2016, Claremont SJP posted a statement on Facebook defending their posting of mock eviction notices on student dorm room doors. The action was in violation of the college’s posting regulations.

The notice read: “EVICTION NOTICE: DORM SCHEDULED FOR DEMOLITION IN THREE (3) DAYS. If you do not vacate the premises by 3/10/2016 8 PM, we reserve the right to demolish your premises without delay.”

On March 11, 2016, It was reported that following expressions of concern by Jewish students that they were being targeted, Stan Skipworth — Claremont’s Director of Campus Safety — wrote in an email to the student body that “the flyers violated posting regulations at CMC, Pitzer College, and Scripps College.”

The Claremont SJP’s Facebook post also stated the group’s intention to engage in “pursuing boycott/divestment campaigns” at the Claremont Colleges.

2015

DEMONIZING ISRAEL

On October 28, 2015, Claremont SJP hosted a speaking event featuring anti-Israel journalist David Sheen titled, “The Bullet, the Ballot, & the Boycott: Racism in Israel Today.”

The Facebook post advertising the event announced that Sheen would “describe how top Israeli political and religious leaders use dehumanizing discourse to inspire vigilante attacks toward Palestinians, Africans and other non-Jews.”

The event was co-sponsored by JVP.

On April 2, 2015, Claremont SJP hosted an event screening the documentary “Occupation 101” as part of Claremont SJP’s Israeli Apartheid Week. The documentary is narrated by anti-Israel agitator Alison Weir, founder of the controversial anti-Semitic website If Americans Knew (IAK).

Weir is notorious for writing an article that endorsed a Swedish newspaper’s blood libel which claimed Israel harvested Palestinian organs.

On March 31, 2015, Claremont SJP installed a mock apartheid wall on campus that aimed to “bolster support for the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel.” Claremont SJP student activists posed as Palestinians supposedly being oppressed by an Israeli soldier next to the mock apartheid wall.

The mock wall misrepresented Israel’s security fence, which was built as a non-violent deterrent to Palestinian terrorist attacks — mostly by suicide bombers.

Claremont SJP’s wall featured text that read: “Zionism is Racism.” The wall also featured a series of maps that presented lands once controlled by Britain, Egypt and Jordan as autonomous “Palestinian land” purportedly stolen by Israel.

PROMOTING TERROR INCITEMENT

On October 17, 2015, Claremont SJP hosted an event featuring Nada Elia. Earlier that month, as radicalized Palestinians across Israel stabbed scores of Israeli civilians during the “Knife Intifada,” Elia wrote on October 7, 2015 an article titled “Why Be Afraid of an Intifada?” In the article, Elia stated: “Intifadas are good.”

The event was co-sponsored by JVP.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SJP

POST ON X:

Woke Kindergarten, w/its antisemitic/anti-Israel agenda, was canceled by the Calif elementary school that was using a $250,000 federal grant to pay for the program which is also anti-American & anti-white.

Lest this move be applauded, district officials emphasized that while… https://t.co/ZsIRbVYWlD pic.twitter.com/0qZWtIABf4

— Canary Mission (@canarymission) February 18, 2024

EDITORS NOTE: This Canary Mission column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Hamas didn’t just gang-rape children and women at gunpoint, they forced their families to watch. thumbnail

Hamas didn’t just gang-rape children and women at gunpoint, they forced their families to watch.

By The Geller Report

“Hostages who have returned from Gaza have revealed grotesque sexual violence towards the hostages” — Jerusalem Post


“Most of those sexually assaulted by Hamas terrorists were killed afterward, and some even during the act of rape. Others still were found dead later, their genitals mutilated beyond recognition or penetrated with weapons.”

In one photo, a burned body appears to project anguish. In another, a woman lies naked from the waist down, her underwear hanging from her leg. In interviews, first responders haltingly describe finding naked female corpses tied to beds and survivors recount witnessing a gang rape at the music festival.

All of this is part of a mounting body of evidence of the gender-based crimes carried out by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7.

Fourteen young girls remain hostage in Gaza.

Hamas terrorists forced families to watch loved ones get raped at gunpoint

TRIGGER WARNING: Most sexual assault victims of Hamas on October 7 were killed either before or during rape; several victims’ genitals were mutilated beyond recognition.

By Tamar Uriel-Beeri, Jerusalem Post, February 21, 2024:

(Warning: This story describes deeply disturbing events and testimonials in graphic detail.)

A report analyzing numerous testimonies from the October 7 massacre specifically relating to Hamas’s sexual violence revealed that families and friends were forced by Hamas terrorists to watch their loved ones be raped and sexually assaulted at gunpoint.

The report, presented by the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, analyzes confidential and public testimonies, eye-witness accounts, and interviews with victims, first responders and witnesses. It was sent to “decision-makers” in the United Nations to leave “no room for denial or disregard.

“The terrorist organization Hamas chose to harm Israel strategically in two clear ways – kidnapping citizens and committing sadistic sexual crimes,” said ARCCI CEO Orit Sulitzeanu. “Silence will be remembered as a historical stain on those who chose to remain silent and deny the sexual crimes committed by Hamas.”

The report revealed that Hamas terrorists threatened victims, often injured women, with weapons in order to rape them violently, often collectively with collaboration between multiple terrorists.

Partners, family, and friends were forced to watch to “increase the pain and humiliation for all present.”

Most of those sexually assaulted by Hamas terrorists were killed afterward, and some even during the act of rape. Others still were found dead later, their genitals mutilated beyond recognition or penetrated with weapons.

The full extent of Hamas’s sexual crimes will probably never be known

The report highlighted that it cannot provide the full numerical measure of the extent of Hamas’s sexual violence, “most of which resulted in the victims’ deaths, making their full extent unknown and possibly unknowable.”

The sexual assaults occurred in four main locations: At the Nova Festival, in kibbutzim, on IDF bases, and in captivity.

Severe sexual assaults were reported on multiple occasions by eye-witnesses and first responders in the Nova Festival, including group rapes. On kibbutzim, women and girls alike were brutally assaulted, including at least one case of a knife being hidden in the genital organ of one such victim.

Soldiers on IDF bases were victims of sexual violence, as well, their bodies clearly indicated. Hostages who have returned from Gaza have revealed grotesque sexual violence towards the hostages, as well.

“As the scars in our hearts refuse to heal, and the souls of our sisters and brothers cry out to us from the depths of the earth, a significant portion of those we considered partners responded in silence and denial of these horrors,” the report’s authors, Dr. Carmit Klar-Chalamish and Noga Berger, wrote. “We call on you to raise your voices and not allow the cries of these victims to fade away.”

Continue reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

POSTS ON X:

Release the hostages. Release the hostages. Release the hostages. Release the hostages. Release the hostages. Release the hostages. Release the hostages. Release the hostages. Release the hostages. Release the hostages.Release the hostages. Release the hostages. FREE THEM! pic.twitter.com/llDwYofIfu

— 🇺🇸 Pamela Geller 🇺🇸 🇮🇱 (@PamelaGeller) February 21, 2024

⚠️Sadistic animals 🇵🇸
WARNING: A detailed initial report has been released on the intense sexual violence, mutilations and rape carried out by Palestinians on October 7.. It is even more sadistic than we feared.

“Many rape incidents occurred collectively, with collaboration… pic.twitter.com/kWHSropxeq

— Ron M. (@Jewtastic) February 21, 2024

“Hamas didn’t just rape, they forced families to watch” pic.twitter.com/6VLpckLvfr

— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) February 21, 2024

“Most of those sexually assaulted by Hamas terrorists were killed afterward, and some even during the act of rape. Others still were found dead later, their genitals mutilated beyond recognition or penetrated with weapons.” — JPost

— Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 (@MarinaMedvin) February 21, 2024

The report by the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel details:

✖️ Multiple instances of gang rape by terrorists.
✖️ Rapes were frequently carried out in front of the spouses, relatives or friends of the victims.
✖️ Women, girls and men were all targeted for sexual…

— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) February 21, 2024

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Netanyahu: ‘Hezbollah must understand—we will restore security’ thumbnail

Netanyahu: ‘Hezbollah must understand—we will restore security’

By NEWSRAEL Telling the Israeli Story

The Israeli prime minister delivered the message to the Iranian terror proxy during a visit to troops stationed on Mount Hermon. 

February 22, 2024 / JNS — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a message to Hezbollah on Thursday during a visit to troops stationed near the Lebanese border, telling the Iranian terrorist proxy that it “must understand—we will restore security.”

היום בחרמון – ממשיכים בכל גזרה עד לניצחון המוחלט. pic.twitter.com/jOyZfPXS1j

— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) February 22, 2024

Surrounded by the snow-covered terrain of Mount Hermon, Netanyahu sat down with commanders from the 210th Division and the IDF Alpinist Unit.

They briefed him on the activities on the northern front, where Hezbollah has been conducting daily cross-border attacks since joining Hamas in the war that started on Oct. 7. Israel has been pounding Hezbollah targets from the air inside Lebanon and with artillery at the border.

“In the north, we have a simple goal: To return the residents [to their homes near the border with Lebanon]. In order to that, we must restore security—and this will be achieved. We will not relent here. We will achieve this in one of two ways: Militarily—if necessary; diplomatically—if possible,” Netanyahu said, according to a government statement.

In addition to the Alpinist Unit, troops from the 188th Brigade are currently deployed to Mount Hermon after departing Gaza one week ago.

RELATED ARTICLE: PICTURE OF THE DAY: Arafat’s house in Gaza

EDITORS NOTE: This JNS column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

The Presidents and Faith thumbnail

The Presidents and Faith

By Jerry Newcombe, D. Min.

Since we celebrated Presidents’ Day recently, I thought it might be interesting to reflect on the faith of the first six men who held that office.

Most of them were believers in Jesus and were not ashamed to say so. Several of these instances are not politically correct, but they are historically accurate.

In 1779, ten years before he became the first president under the Constitution, George Washington was asked by Delaware Indian chiefs for advice on the education of three of their sons.

Washington told them, “You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are.”

John Adams, our second president, said in his Inaugural Address in 1797 that he considered “a decent respect for Christianity among the best recommendations for the public service.”

Our third president Thomas Jefferson was a church-going man whenever it was available to him, generally in the Episcopal tradition. As a young man, before he entertained some private doubts of core Christian doctrines, he helped found an evangelical church. This was in 1777, a year after he wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence.

That church was the Calvinistical Reformed Church of Charlottesville, and Jefferson wrote up its by-laws and donated more money than any other parishioner. He said in the charter for this church that they started it because they were “desirous of…the benefits of gospel knowledge.”

They called Rev. Charles Clay as the minister. He was an ordained Anglican minister who was also an evangelical. A book I co-wrote with Mark Beliles on Jefferson’s faith or lack thereof contains two of Rev. Clay’s sermons. To our knowledge, this is the first time any of Clays’ works have been in print. They are straight forward Gospel preaching.

Clay preached some things as, “Repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are the means of the sinner’s reconciliation with God.” And Jefferson supported Rev. Charles Clay’s ministry for years.

James Madison, a key architect of the Constitution, served on the committee to appoint chaplains to the legislature. (The first non-Christian chaplain appointed was not until the 1860s, long after Madison’s death.)

Writing in his Memorial and Remonstrances in 1785, Madison, (later, our fourth president), described Christianity, as “the Religion which we believe to be of divine origin.” Madison felt the faith best served by not denying “an equal freedom to those whose minds have not yet yielded to the evidence which has convinced us.”

Madison believed in the separation of the institution of the church from the institution of the state, but he certainly didn’t believe in separating God and government.

Madison once wrote of the correlation between morality and Christian conviction, “The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good is so essential to the moral order of the World and to the happiness of man.”

Our fifth president, James Monroe, was the last of the founding fathers to serve as president. Monroe professed to believe in Christian doctrine, although he is perhaps best known for the eponymous Doctrine, which essentially states that the European nations should not interfere with those of the Western hemisphere and vice versa.

In his First Inaugural Address, in 1817, Monroe stated that he was taking office with “my fervent prayers to the Almighty that He will be graciously pleased to continue to us that protection which He has already so conspicuously displayed in our favor.”

Our sixth president John Quincy Adams (JQA) was the son of our second president. He was the only president who went on to a political career in Congress after he served in the White House.

Why? Adams was so dead set against slavery which was inconsistent with the founding principles of the United States, that he sought to remove this evil. John Quincy Adams was nick-named “The Hell-Hound of Slavery.”

While serving in Congress, he sat next to a young man from Illinois, and some argue he was able to influence that man to help end this evil. That man was Abraham Lincoln.

John Quincy Adams had a great motto, “Duty is ours. Results are God’s.”

JQA once observed, according to author John Wingate Thorton, in his 1860 book, The Pulpit of the American Revolution, “The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected, in one indissoluble bond, the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.”

And we could go on and on.

In our highly secular age, we have been largely cut off from our Judeo-Christian roots. It’s time for America to rediscover the indispensable role that the Bible played in our nation’s founding.

Hat tip to Bill Federer and “America’s God and Country” for research help with this column.

©2024. All rights reserved.

Parents of Americans Held in Gaza: ‘We Are All Hostages of Hamas’ thumbnail

Parents of Americans Held in Gaza: ‘We Are All Hostages of Hamas’

By Family Research Council

They know the underground of the U.S. Capitol like the back of their hands. “I have walked more distance in these corridors than I have in my own house,” Ronen Neutra says wistfully. “I can’t believe this is our life.” The 135 days since her son was taken hostage by Hamas have been a sleepless nightmare. “We don’t have day and night,” she admitted. “… It all becomes very blurry to us.” And like the other five American families waiting for word about their loved ones, there’s no end in sight.

Omer was just 22 when he was pulled out of his IDF tank by terrorists and marched to Gaza. A dual citizen who grew up in New York City, he was born just a month after 9/11 — the last time the world was rocked by such unspeakable evil. Omer decided to join the Israel Defense Forces during his gap year before college in the U.S. He picked the tank brigade because he heard “it was among the army’s toughest jobs.”

His unit was attacked by rocket-propelled grenades, the Neutras pieced together from online videos and information from the two governments. That’s when his fate became linked to Edar Alexander, another American-Israeli citizen, who grew up a short train ride from Manhattan. At just 20, he decided to join Garin Tzabar, which trains young people from around the world who want to join the IDF. He was assigned to the infantry at the same base, one month before the attack. Not far from Omer’s tank, the young 20-year-old was surrounded by Hamas militants, standing alone with his rifle.

Now, the two families, who lived a handful of miles apart in New York, are linked by something far more tragic: the unknown fate of their sons. Almost every week, The New York Times reports, the families are on a plane to either Washington or Israel, meeting with international leaders. There’s no certainty that Omer or Edar — two of the six remaining American hostages — are even alive. Of the 130 hostages still in Gaza, the Wall Street Journal estimates that at least 50 may be dead.

“Every day has been like five days,” Orna tells reporters. Friday nights, Shabbat, are the hardest. That’s when she and her husband Ronen, both children of Holocaust survivors, would video chat with Omer at his army base. With hope they don’t feel, the families bought “new, larger dining room tables” for happier times when they’re all reunited. Willing him to be okay, the Neutras even flew to Israel to rent an apartment so that Omer will have a place to go when he’s released. “We wanted to create the reality that he is coming home very soon,” she said.

They wait, fear, and prepare for a reunion they pray will come. At rally after rally, Orna reads a variation of the same words, “We miss your laugh, and your beautiful smile, so, so much, Edani,” While they try not to think about what Omer and Edar are enduring at the hands of Hamas, both sets of parents can’t help but worry. “We are very fearful,” Ronen told The Daily Caller, “130 days without a sign of life, without knowing his medical condition, without any medical crew — including the Red Cross — allowed to go and visit him and the rest of the hostages. Who knows what his condition is? We have no idea … So how should we feel? I don’t know. I mean, we are very fearful, very nervous.”

But honestly, he said, “We don’t have time to think about ourselves and feel pity about the situation, or anything else for the most part.” Their sole focus is spending every waking second working to bring their sons home.

While the rest of America goes about its days, the Neutras and Alexanders try to keep the government focused on the innocents 5,600 miles away. As recently as last Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted that the U.S. is “working intensely with Egypt, with Qatar, on a proposal to bring about their release.” He talked about meeting with the families like Ronen and Orna’s. “The agony that they face … — not knowing the fate of their loved ones — is beyond our imaginations.”

Just as torturous, they admit, is watching the world turn on Israel — their one hope for eliminating the terrorists. Omer’s dad argues, “Get rid of Hamas and give us back our hostages [and] Israel will stop immediately.” Until then, he lamented, “It feels like Hamas is holding hostage the whole Western world. “They’re holding onto our kid. We are definitely hostages. And everyone’s hands are tied…”

Right now, Israeli leaders say, Hamas’s demands are “delusional.” “We want a deal very much and we know we need to pay prices,” a former IDF commander told CNN over the weekend. “But Hamas’s demands are disconnected from reality.”

Past negotiations were not executed in good faith, they point out. In other deals, Hamas promised to deliver medicine to the hostages, only for IDF soldiers to find those medications untouched “with the names of Israeli hostages on them” during the rain on Nasser Hospital.

To the people who say Israel should just back off and leave Gaza alone, Ronen and Orna say it’s time for the world to learn some history and the longtime “abuse of power by Hamas and the Palestinian Authority in Gaza.” “Israel has been fighting for its survival since [its founding]…” Orna insisted. “They still need to fight for their survival,” Orna told the Daily Caller. “Take the time and look at the issues before you take a stance on them.”

The important thing is for Israel to ignore the naysayers, focus on the job at hand, and eliminate Hamas. “It’s time,” Ronen urged. “It’s so urgent [for the hostages]. Every day that there is a delay in reaching a deal is putting a death sentence on some of them.”

AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.


The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Betrayed: Biden Regime Proposes Anti-Israel ‘Ceasefire’ Resolution at United Nations Security Council thumbnail

Betrayed: Biden Regime Proposes Anti-Israel ‘Ceasefire’ Resolution at United Nations Security Council

By The Geller Report

Instead of demanding that the terrorists release of the 134 hostages (including Americans), the Democrat regime is demanding Israel surrender. Biden’s UN Resolution against Israel is depraved and shameful.

According to a Reuters report, the Democrat ruling regime is proposing a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, combined with an objection to the planned IDF invasion of Rafah, on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.

Betrayed: Biden Proposes Anti-Israel Temporary ‘Ceasefire’ Resolution at United Nations Security Council

By: Breitbart News, February 19, 2024:

President Joe Biden plans to introduce a resolution at the United Nations Security Council calling for a temporary “ceasefire” and demanding Israel refrain from conducting an attack on the last Hamas battalions in Gaza that are the key to winning the war.

Israel has been adamant that it must attack Hamas in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza on the Egyptian border, to win the war. Rafah is the last stronghold of the Palestinian terror organization, and also the key to smuggling routes into and out of Gaza.

The White House has said publicly that it would not support an attack on Rafah, at least without an evacuation of civilians. Even after Israel promised to develop a plan to evacuate civilians, the Biden administration has opposed an Israeli operation in Gaza.

That opposition has continued despite a successful Israeli raid last Monday that rescued two civilian Israeli hostages from Rafah. It has become evident that Biden intends to let Hamas survive, to use it as leverage to force Israel to accept a Palestinian state.

The U.S. promised to veto a resolution, set to be introduced Tuesday by Algeria, calling for a permanent ceasefire. But the Times of Israel reported Monday on a draft alternative resolution by the U.S. that would use the word “ceasefire,” in a temporary sense.

The Times of Israel noted:

The United States has proposed a rival draft of the United Nations Security Council resolution that would underscore the body’s “support for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza as soon as practicable,” according to the text seen by Reuters on Monday.

Washington has been averse to the word “ceasefire” in any UN action on the Israel-Hamas war, but the US draft text echoes language that US President Joe Biden said he used last week in conversations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The US draft text also “determines that under current circumstances a major ground offensive into Rafah would result in further harm to civilians and their further displacement including potentially into neighboring countries.”

It is unclear whether the language in the resolution opposing an attack on Hamas in Rafah would be binding.

Hamas has insisted on a permanent ceasefire before it releases the remaining 134 Israeli hostages — a demand that the Biden administration has now ratified by seeking a temporary ceasefire that it openly hopes will lead to a broader halt to the fighting, despite the fact that Hamas would survive.

Read more.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

RELATED ARTICLES:

Parents of Americans Held in Gaza: ‘We Are All Hostages of Hamas’

Biden Regime Considered Sanctioning Israeli Cabinet Members

POSTS ON X:

There are 134 hostages remaining in Gaza, including Americans. Presumably, they’re in Rafah, since everywhere else was cleaned out. Biden doesn’t GAF.

Biden just wants to win the neo-left vote and that means F our Israeli interests and F the Jewish American hostages.

Forcing a… pic.twitter.com/RFf4YtRKiW

— Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 (@MarinaMedvin) February 20, 2024

Family of American hostage in Gaza speaks on grief, efforts to bring son home https://t.co/HGGZKSKXm1

— Bo Snerdley (@BoSnerdley) February 18, 2024

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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Biden Regime Considered Sanctioning Israeli Cabinet Members

By Jihad Watch

The Biden regime is desperate to stop Israel’s campaign against Hamas.

The Biden administration has a plan for the Hamas-Israel war. It’s the same plan that past administrations have unleashed on Israel. Pressure Netanyahu or whoever is in office into ignoring voters and conservative members of his coalition, push him into making a deal with the Islamic terrorists, and go back to advocating for a terrorist state. The problem is that things fundamentally changed in Israel on Oct 7 even if they didn’t change in D.C.

When the Biden administration wanted Israel to stop its offensive at the end of 2023, it didn’t get its wish. Now it’s fighting to keep Israel from going into Rafah and finishing off Hamas in its last stronghold.

So the Biden administration has ramped up a pressure campaign, much of it under the radar, but that is playing out across various fronts. The administration has enabled the “monitoring” of Israeli attacks on Hamas for “human rights violations” in a way that may trigger a shutoff of arms sales. It also tested the waters by sanctioning four Israeli Jewish activists for allegedly harassing terrorists and their supporters.

This was a trial balloon and it looks like the Biden administration is preparing to escalate.

The United States is considering imposing sanctions on Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

According to the report, the US was preparing a package of sanctions that would include actions taken against the two far-right ministers who are influential members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet.

The sanctions were considered amid exacerbated tensions between the US and Israel due to Washington’s insistence that Israel refrain from carrying out a full-fledged invasion of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Sanctioning cabinet members of an allied government would be unprecedented, but apparently, that was Plan A and still on the backburner.

Last month, the U.S. administration was considering enacting a package meant to send a message of discontent to Israel.

The package, U.S. officials said, would have included a reversal of two Trump-era policies: one that allows products made in Jewish settlements in the Israel-occupied West Bank to be labeled as being “Made in Israel,” and another that upended longstanding U.S. policy that the West Bank settlements violate international law.

U.S. officials said they were also considering imposing sanctions on two influential members of Netanyahu’s right-wing government: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Taken together, U.S. officials said, the package could have sent a strong message of discontent. But, in the end, the Biden administration only enacted sanctions against four largely unknown Israeli settlers, once again tempering the Biden administration’s response.

Leaking this to the media however, makes it clear that the Biden administration is preparing to escalate to stop Israel’s campaign against Hamas.

AUTHOR

DANIEL GREENFIELD

RELATED ARTICLES:

Betrayed: Biden Regime Proposes Anti-Israel ‘Ceasefire’ Resolution at United Nations Security Council

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The Muslims of France: The Skyrocketing Threat to European Civilization

EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Minneapolis Muslim trained at ISIS camp, said he would ‘shoot New York up. We going to come blow New York up’ thumbnail

Minneapolis Muslim trained at ISIS camp, said he would ‘shoot New York up. We going to come blow New York up’

By Jihad Watch

How many others are there like Harafa Hussein Abdi in Minneapolis? Such questions, of course, are “Islamophobic.”

“U.S. Citizen Charged with Providing Material Support to Isis And Receiving Military-Type Training at Isis Fighter Camp,” Justice Department, February 16, 2024:

A complaint was unsealed today charging Harafa Hussein Abdi, 41, of Minneapolis, with providing and conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and receiving and conspiring to receive military-type training from ISIS. Abdi, a U.S. citizen, was recently taken into custody overseas and was transported to the United States yesterday. Abdi will be presented before U.S. Magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo in Manhattan federal court later today….

As alleged in the complaint, Abdi, moved from Minnesota to Somalia in 2015. Once there, he joined a group of ISIS fighters at an ISIS training camp in the Puntland region of Somalia. During his time with the group, Abdi regularly carried an AK-47 assault rifle and received training on how to use it. In addition, Abdi worked in the ISIS group’s “media” wing, where he filmed footage for distribution by a pro-ISIS media outlet.

In social media communications during his time at the ISIS camp, Abdi described how he had left the United States and joined the “Islamic state.” Abdi also stated that he had made “hijra,” an Arabic term used by ISIS supporters to refer to traveling overseas to join ISIS and engage in jihad. Abdi also sent a photograph of himself carrying an AK-47 assault rifle, as depicted below:

In or about January 2017, Abdi sent an audio clip of rap lyrics in which he expressed support for ISIS and described multiple acts of violence, including shooting and bombing individuals in New York City. Specifically, Abdi stated, “hollow tips put a hole in your Catholic vest, and chop his head off let it rest on his Catholic chest.” Abdi further stated, “We going to carry on jihad”; “Fly through America on our way to shoot New York up. They trying to shut this thing. We ain’t going. We going to come blow New York up.” Abdi sent the audio clip to at least 20 other social media users and included messages with the audio clip, such as “Fighting back the kuffar who’s at war with Muslims if [that] is not islam then I don’t know wats Islam.”

Abdi left the ISIS camp in 2017 after his relationship with the ISIS group’s leadership deteriorated. After being jailed by the group, Abdi escaped and traveled to East Africa, where he was arrested by law enforcement authorities. In subsequent Mirandized interviews with FBI personnel, Abdi admitted that he had joined the training camp, which was affiliated with a known ISIS leader in Somalia. Abdi also identified himself in an ISIS propaganda video that he helped to film at the training camp in which Abdi carried an AK-47 assault rifle, promoted ISIS and urged others to join and fight on its behalf. In the video, Abdi said, “We thank almighty God for making us His soldiers and chose us to be among the Khilafa troops,” and “So do not stay behind, brother, and get on this caravan…. Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah, and those who reject Faith fight in the cause of Evil.” Abdi also admitted that he was trained on and regularly carried an AK-47 assault rifle and practiced shooting the AK-47 in the Somali wilderness outside the camp….

AUTHOR

ROBERT SPENCER

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Biden Regime Considered Sanctioning Israeli Cabinet Members

India: 50-year-old Muslim arrested for raping 1-year-old child

EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Church Attacks Increase 800% in less than 6 Years: FRC Report thumbnail

Church Attacks Increase 800% in less than 6 Years: FRC Report

By Family Research Council

If you believe anti-Christian attacks have skyrocketed over the last decade, you’re right. Attacks on churches have increased 800% in less than six years — and more than doubled over the last year, according to a new report released today by Family Research Council. Documented acts of anti-church hostility include attempted bombings, shootings, satanic vandalism, and numerous attacks based on anti-Christian bias due to support for abortion or extreme transgender ideology. Some constituted unpunished election interference.

The report identified 915 acts of hostility against churches between January 2018 and November 2023, including:

  • 709 acts of vandalism
  • 135 completed or attempted arsons
  • 32 bomb threats
  • 22 gun-related incidents
  • 61 other incidents, including assault, threats, and interruption of worship services.

These acts of “religious intimidation” send the message “that churches are not wanted in the community or respected in general,” Arielle Del Turco, who authored the report, told The Washington Stand. “Regardless of the motivations of these crimes, everyone should treat churches and all houses of worship with respect and affirm the importance of religious freedom for all Americans.”

The report shows that church attacks, and acts of violence, continued to explode in 2023. During the first 11 months of last year, researchers verified at least 436 acts of hostility against U.S. churches — more than double the number of attacks in all of 2022, including:

  • 315 acts of vandalism
  • 75 completed or attempted arsons
  • 20 bomb threats
  • 10 gun-related incidents
  • 12 instances of satanic graffiti
  • 59 churches faced repeated acts of hostility

These statistics likely understate the extent of the problem, because “[m]any acts of hostility against churches are likely not reported to authorities and/or are not featured in the news or other online sources from which we collected data,” says the report. “[T]he number of acts of hostility is undoubtedly much higher.”

Acts of anti-church hostility blanketed the country in 2023, taking place in 48 states and Washington, D.C. California experienced the largest number of incidents, with 91. Texas churches endured 62 incidents; New York had 58; and Florida had 47.

“The rise in hostility we identified in our December 2022 report has neither slowed nor plateaued; rather, it has accelerated,” says the new report. “The rise in crimes against churches is taking place in a context in which American culture appears increasingly hostile to Christianity. Criminal acts of vandalism and destruction of church property may be symptomatic of a collapse in societal reverence and respect.”

The raw numbers paint a grim picture of escalating anti-Christian action boiling over into bigoted action. The report totals:

  • 50 acts of hostility against churches in 2018
  • 83 in 2019
  • 55 in 2020
  • 96 in 2021
  • 195 in 2022
  • 436 in 2023

“If this rate continues, 2023 will have the highest number of incidents of the six years FRC has tracked,” the last such report accurately predicted last April.

Although federal civil rights laws explicitly ban religious discrimination, and hundreds of assailants targeted houses of worship, only “a minority were under investigation as hate crimes,” according to the 157-page analysis, titled “Hostility Against Churches Is on the Rise in the United States.”

Deadly Shootings, Bomb Threats, and Political Ideology

The report’s longest section is a robust 97 pages of church attacks, verified through 50 pages of endnotes, which show bomb threats, shootings, politically motivated attacks, and explicit Satanism.

Transgender violence: Perhaps the most shocking act of anti-Christian bias took place last March 27, when transgender-identifying Audrey Hale opened fire at the Nashville Covenant School, operated by the Covenant Presbyterian Church, killing six people, including three young students. Hale, who frequently identified as a male named “Aiden,” told a friend she had left a manifesto and “plenty of evidence behind” attesting to her motive. Yet, aside from a few pages pried out of police hands by conservative commentator Steven Crowder, Hale’s manifesto remains hidden.

The assault is but one example of 2023’s transgender-related anti-church violence. Last January 3, a man named Cameron Storer who identifies as female set fire to Portland Korean Church, an historic, 117-year-old vacant building. Storer claimed that voices in his head threatened to “mutilate” him unless he set the church ablaze.

Transgender activist-vandals painted the message “TRANS PWR” on St. Joseph Catholic Church in Louisville, on March 3. The attack came one day after the Kentucky legislature overrode the veto of Governor Andy Beshear (D) to enact a law protecting children from transgender surgeries. Also in March, vandals cut down crosses in the cemetery of the Friendship United Methodist Church in Newton, North Carolina, shortly after it disaffiliated with the United Methodist denomination over the denomination’s liberalizing views on LGBT issues. On June 16, vandals spray-painted the words “Stay gay, stay hard, Love is 4 everyone” on Grace Community Church in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

The report does not include incidents that took place in 2024, such as Genesse Moreno — an ex-Muslim convert to Judaism who is not a U.S. citizen and whom neighbors say has identified as “transgender” — opening fire in Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston.

Bombings, shootings, and Molotov cocktails: Christian churches faced potential mass casualties from explosions or shootings in 2023. Someone set a five-gallon drum of gasoline ablaze inside Word of God Ministries in Shreveport last January, but fire personnel’s quick response limited the damage.

Last October 29, a man purloined Holy Communion from Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church in San Fransisco. “After being confronted about it, the man punched the person who confronted him and ran out. Police pursued the man, who reportedly ‘set off a pipe bomb’ and ignited a ‘Molotov cocktail’ to deter police,” notes the report. Similarly, on July 17, a man threw Molotov cocktails through the windows of Living Stones Church in Reno, Nevada. In March, four people fired 50 rounds into Clearview Mennonite Church of Versailles, Missouri.

While some acts of violence seemed senseless, others carried a pointed political message. Many church assaults stemmed from the Christian church’s 2,000-year-old teaching that life begins at fertilization/conception, and abortion is murder.

Pro-abortion hostility: The number of church assaults peaked in June, the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, overturning Roe v. Wade. An arsonist set the Incarnation Roman Catholic Church in Orlando ablaze on the pro-life ruling’s first anniversary, although investigators could not determine if the date figured into the blaze.

But pro-abortion attacks on Christian churches continued unabated all year long. On January 18, just before the March for Life, someone vandalized the monument to the unborn at St. Rosalia Roman Catholic Church in Pittsburgh. Eight days later, someone desecrated a pro-life banner inside a Florida Catholic parish with the phrase “Women’s body, women’s choice.” Months later, on September 9, someone splattered red paint on a pro-life sign at the Second Baptist Church in Palermo, Maine, leaving behind two messages: “Abortion is our human right” and “Queer love 4 eva.” Vandals destroyed a pro-life display of 1,000 wooden crosses, representing unborn lives snuffed out by abortion, at a display in Mary Queen of Heaven Catholic Church in Elmhurst, Illinois.

Acts of Anti-Christian Election Interference

Several of Ohio’s 24 reported church attacks involved the state’s Issue 1 campaign. The controversial constitutional amendment created a “right” for people of all ages to access abortion at essentially any point in pregnancy. Many constituted acts of election interference. “In October, someone pulled the ‘Vote No’ sign at Cincinnati’s St. Monica-St. George Church out of the ground and threw it in a dumpster,” notes the report. “At St. Bartholomew Church, also in Cincinnati, between six and eight ‘Vote No’ yard signs were removed from the church’s property and replaced with ‘Vote Yes’ signs.” Additional acts of pro-abortion election interference occurred at:

  • Cincinnati’s Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains, Cincinnati, Ohio, where vandals stole or vandalized anti-Issue 1 signs one month before the election.
  • At St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in the university town of Oxford, home of (Miami University), a pro-life sign opposing Issue 1 “was cut in half, and many other similar church signs were vandalized or stolen.”
  • At the Church of the Incarnation in Centerville, “someone spray-painted the church’s front door window to cover up a sign opposing Ohio Issue 1.”

Issue 1 passed handily last November.

“Americans appear increasingly comfortable lashing out against church buildings, pointing to a larger societal problem of marginalizing core Christian beliefs, including those that touch on hot-button political issues related to human dignity and sexuality,” says the report. “Attacks on houses of worship may also signal a discomfort with religion in general.”

Anti-Christian, Muslim-based hatred: Some acts of violence appeared to spring from Islamist sources. Last October, a man claiming to be with Hamas entered Sacred Heart Church in Cicero, New York, and threatened its employees.

International conflicts invaded U.S. churches throughout the year. Last September 24, vandals painted an anti-Christian, pro-Muslim slogan on St. Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic Church in Watertown, Massachusetts. The message — “Artsakh is Dead, Karabakh is Azerbaijan,” which was taped to the Armenian church’s outdoor bulletin board — referred to a violent Christian-Muslim feud over control of Nagorno-Karabakh (also known as Artsakh) between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

A few attacks also involved Jewish issues, including vandalizing a sign showing support for Israel and graffiti on one church denouncing “Israel’s genocide.”

Targeting minority churches: A few attacks targeted ethnic minorities. The report documents nine attacks targeting Missionary Baptist churches and six targeting parishes of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME). Additionally, on October 28, someone burned down Holy Innocents Episcopal Church, which serves the Rosebud Indian Reservation in Parmelee, South Dakota.

Some incidents straddled the line between arson and the demonic. “In June, Ascension of the Lord Romanian Orthodox Church of Hayward, California, was broken into, and several religious artifacts were set on fire, including a Bible and a crucifix. The charred items and ashes were left around an altar,” the report notes.

Whatever the purported motivation, many anti-church attackers directly invoked demonic forces in their attacks on the church, which the Bible identifies as “the Body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12).

Satan: “At least 12 incidents included satanic imagery or symbols,” the report notes. It goes on to specify numerous examples:

  • In July, vandals broke into Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church of El Paso, Texas, and left behind satanic imagery, including writing the number “666” on multiple items. Crosses inside the church were also turned upside down, and holy oil was dumped out.
  • In October, someone spray-painted the words “Devil Has Risen” and a symbol like a pentagram on the buildings of Jesus Worship Center in Jennings, Louisiana.”
  • Last February 4, vandals desecrated the Old Philadelphia Church — the oldest church in Izzard County, Arkansas — with inverted crosses and a pentagram.
  • Last October 7, someone spray-painted “Their [sic] is no God” on the marquee of Miracle Faith Christian Center in Columbia, South Carolina.
  • A vandal spray-painted “Lucifer Lives Here” and “God No More” on Bethlehem Church in Austin, Texas, on October 29.

These attacks leave aside the largest category of anti-church hostility: vandalism.

General anti-Christian vandalism: The 315 acts of vandalism against churches include disturbing reports, including:

  • A man broke into the Roman Catholic Subiaco Abbey Church of St. Benedict in Subiaco, Arkansas, busting the marble altar with a hammer and stealing 1,500-year-old relics.
  • Last January 12, vandals attacked five churches in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. One of its targets alone, Greater Tabernacle Worship Center, suffered $15,000 of damage.
  • The next day, a lone vandal targeted three Roman Catholics churches in New Jersey, setting fire to a flagpole in one, and attempting to burn a cross in front of another.
  • In January, a vandal spray painted “Mary is the whore of Babylon” inside a Roman Catholic church in Billings, Montana, in addition to stealing $8,300 of statutes and paintings, and doing $4,000 damage.
  • Weeks later, a man poured bleach on a statue of the Virgin Mary and threw a statue of Baby Jesus down the stairs at Good Shepherd Church in Fall River, Massachusetts.
  • A woman defecated and wiped feces on the altar of the chapel inside Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati on May 13.

The Biden administration cannot plead ignorance of church desecrations and vandalism targeting houses of worship: The administration actively warned such incidents would increase for the foreseeable future. Last May 27, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a bulletin warning of “a heightened threat environment” for churches and religious institutions, thanks to “the 2024 general election cycle and legislative or judicial decisions pertaining to sociopolitical issues,” such as issues involving “the LGBTQIA+ community.” The Biden administration then opened its Faith-Based Security Advisory Council (FBSAC), allegedly to advise houses of worship on how to improve security. Biden’s handpicked FBSAC members included controversial street agitator Al Sharpton, LGBTQ activists, and “three Islamists.”

Experts say the skyrocketing number of attacks on churches mirrors the general anti-Christian tenor of the Biden administrations’ policies, at home and abroad. President Joe Biden’s “indifference abroad to the fundamental freedom of religion is rivaled only by the increasing antagonism toward the moral absolutes taught by Bible-believing churches here in the U.S.,” said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. The Biden administration’s whole-of-government opposition to biblical morality is “fomenting this environment of hostility toward churches.”

AUTHOR

Ben Johnson

Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.


The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

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The PLO Covenant Calling for the Liquidation of the State of Israel was Never Abolished

By Middle East Media Research Institute

Palestinians | MEMRI Daily Brief No. 572


It is widely believed that, in April 1996, the PLO abolished its notorious Covenant calling for the liquidation of the State of Israel. This belief is based on PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat’s statement in his September 9, 1993  letter to Israel’s then prime minister Yitzhak Rabin: “The PLO affirms that those articles of the Palestinian Covenant which deny Israel’s right to exist […] are now inoperative and no longer valid. Consequently, the PLO undertakes to submit to the Palestinian National Council for formal approval the necessary changes in regard to the Palestinian Covenant.” However, the fact is that this crucial commitment was never fulfilled. In order to understand the gap between the false impression and the facts on the ground we must look back to those days and see exactly what transpired.

It was Wednesday, April 24, 1996, Israel’s Independence Day. Thousands of guests were gathered for the traditional reception at the Tel Aviv compound of the Ministry of Defense. At the very same time hundreds of Palestinian National Council (PNC) members were convened in Gaza for a session at which the articles of the Covenant calling for Israel’s destruction were to be abolished (a move that requires a two-thirds majority). Another significant event was approaching: early elections to the Knesset were set for May, initiated by the ruling Labor Party, and the amendment of the PLO Covenant was important for this party’s electoral victory. In fact, it had now become crucial, because for several months, despite the Oslo Agreements signed three years earlier, Israelis had been witnessing horrific suicide bombings resulting in dozens of casualties.

The PLO leadership had repeatedly deferred the fulfilment of Arafat’s commitment in his September 1993 letter to Rabin, but in those special circumstances the time to do so had finally come. As for the Israeli leadership, after its painful experience with Arafat’s broken promises it was understandably taking no chances: it had dictated to Arafat word by word the required language of the PNC resolution. However, two days before the PNC session, Arafat notified Prime Minister Shimon Peres that it would not work – the agreed-upon text would not be endorsed by the required majority in the PNC. Without delay, another, milder text, was prepared and agreed upon by Arafat and the Israeli government. We learned of this maneuver only two years later, when it was publicized by Yoel Zinger, the legal advisor of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, who was among those who had worded the resolution dictated to the PLO (see “The Truth About the Covenant,” Ma’ariv, June 19th, 1998, in Hebrew).  Thinking the matter closed, the government’s seniors waited in Tel Aviv for the expected note from Gaza. The moment it came the good news was announced with great fanfare by the prime minister: “This is the most important ideological event in the history of the Middle East in the last hundred years.”

But it was not. It took several hours for the PLO press agency WAFA to publish the official text of the PNC resolution in Arabic. Yigal Carmon, until 1993 the counterterrorism advisor to prime ministers Rabin and Shamir, sent it to me, and later that evening I brought the text to Professor Yehoshua Porat, a leading expert on the Palestinian national movement. After reading it carefully he told me: “This is a hoax”.

And that is exactly what it was. Arafat had cheated again and disregarded the second wording he had agreed on with the Israeli Government. The trick used by the PLO will no doubt be familiar to any reader who has ever decided to stop smoking or go on a diet but never actually did. The official PNC statement stated that “the PNC has decided to amend the articles of the Palestinian National Covenant […] [and] has authorized the Judicial Committee to formulate a new Covenant”.  The PNC only “decided to amend” the Covenant, but the Judicial Committee never convened and no amendment ever took place. Former Israeli Finance Minister Yoram Aridor remarked at the time that “Arafat does not respect agreements but he has a great respect for covenants”.

The farce reached its peak when, in the weeks after the passing of this PNC resolution, PLO leaders were asked how many articles would be struck from the Covenant. Haidar Abd Al-Shaffi said two. The PLO representative in Washington DC said six. Nabil Sha’ath was not sure: “I have a feeling that the number of cancelled articles is sixteen,” he said. PNC chairman Salim Za’anun was not so vague. He stated plainly, three weeks after the PNC session, that “there are still no specific articles that [we] have decided to remove from the Covenant.”

Immediately after the PNC session, all its resolutions were published in a large ad in the Palestinian press, except for the resolution concerning the Palestinian Covenant. The reason was simple: The Israeli government understood it had been cheated but refused to admit it, and therefore negotiated a new wording with the PLO, which would be included after the fact in a letter by Arafat to Prime Minister Peres. On April 29, 1996, five days after the PNC session in which the PLO Covenant had been “amended”, the IDF Chief of Intelligence announced in the Knesset that the final wording of the PNC resolution had not yet been agreed upon. Eventually, the Israeli pressure bore fruit, and instead of the original version, “decided to amend,” Arafat wrote to the prime minister in English that the PNC had resolved that the Covenant was “hereby amended by canceling the articles that are contrary to the letters exchanged between the PLO and the Government of Israel on 9-10 September 1993.” The date of Arafat’s letter to the government of Israel in which the (false) version of the resolution was included was May 4, 1996, ten days after the PNC session.

Thus, it was all a hoax in which both parties took part. Two years later, in January 1998, in a letter to U.S. President Bill Clinton, Arafat listed 28 articles of the PLO Covenant that had been cancelled or altered. However, it should be stressed again that no article had actually been changed. The original Covenant in its evil entirety was still valid, and a second round of the PNC bluff was therefore needed. The next grand show was produced one year later, in December 1998, when the PNC convened in Gaza in order to – once again! – cancel the poisonous articles in the PLO Covenant, this time in the presence of President Bill Clinton. The hall was full of PNC members and many others. The vote took place by acclamation: all those present who were in favor of abolishing the Covenant articles were asked to raise their hands – but the raised hands were not even counted. Twenty-five years later, one fact is certainly clear: to date no alternative version of the murderous PLO Covenant has been put forward.

“So what?”, one may ask. True, these are merely words, but they are not trivial. The PLO leadership never extracted the venom from the PLO Covenant.  The fact that this document, including its message that the Jewish State of Israel is destined to perish, is still valid signifies both the unwillingness and the inability of the PLO leadership to change its attitude towards Israel. A peace treaty between two rival parties must include a specific article in which the parties declare “an end to all mutual claims”– but the PLO cannot and will not sign such a document. For them, the goal is still the establishment of a Palestinian State stretching “from the River to the Sea”, thereby eliminating the Jewish state.

One effective tool for the realization of this plan is the implementation of the “right to return” of millions of descendants of Palestinian Arab refugees to their original homes within the state of Israel. The small key on Chairman Mahmoud ‘Abbas’s jacket lapel stresses his commitment to this goal. Paying monthly allowances to the families of murderous terrorists is another way to demonstrate this approach. And since they refuse to abolish their Covenant, the PLO cannot be “renewed” as expected by some leaders. Thus, all maneuvers aimed at taming the PLO are just solemn diplomatic nonsense, and the political concept of the “Two State Solution” is stillborn.

A shorter version of this article was printed in Ha’Aretz on December 19, 2019.  

AUTHOR

Ze’ev B. Begin

Ze’ev B. Begin is a senior fellow at MEMRI.

RELATED ARTICLE: Israel and Lebanon: Do cedars line the road to Tehran?

EDITORS NOTE: This MEMRI report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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Christianity: The Religion that Remade the World

By MercatorNet – Navigating Modern Complexities

Tom Holland’s Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World has become an important apologia for Christianity in our times. Four years after publication, the book, whose author is sympathetic to Christianity but not exactly a Christian, continues to help Christian and non-Christian Westerners appreciate the biblical roots of their civilisation. It even recently helped prominent atheist Ayaan Hirsi Ali convert to Christianity. Holland’s history is not perfect, but it is worth reading for anyone concerned about the future of our society.

Western civilisation is inescapably Christian

The thesis of Dominion, like that of Christopher Dawson’s Progress and Religion, is that the Enlightenment’s account of “progress” is a myth. Everything on which modern Westerners pride themselves — the separation of politics from religion, respect for the dignity of each human being, and a zeal to eradicate injustice — traces its origins not to secular reason and science, but to the Christian faith.

The concept of human rights started not in revolutionary politics but in the canon law of the medieval Catholic Church — a law rooted in the belief that man is made in God’s image and that God took on human flesh in Jesus. European Christians enslaved non-Europeans, but their worship of the God-man who let himself be crucified, stung their consciences so much, or so inspired those they oppressed to revolt, that slavery and colonialism eventually died out. It was also Christianity, not 1960s feminism, that elevated women’s status in society and marriage, through the veneration of women saints like Macrina of Cappadocia, Catherine of Siena, and Mary the Mother of Jesus.

Even apparently anti-Christian Western movements are inescapably Christian. Secularism would not have been possible unless Jesus had distinguished “the things of God” from “the things of Caesar.” Disbelief in the miraculous began with Christian wonder at the wisdom of nature as God created it: why look for extraordinary interventions of God on earth when creation itself is miraculous enough? Progressivism’s zeal for social reform began in the Protestant Reformation, which itself continued the medieval clerical reform movements that were begun by Pope Gregory VII.

Along the way, Holland brings to life figures of Christian history that might seem interesting only to academics: the Donatists, Pelagius, Martin of Tours, Pope Gregory the Great, and Elizabeth of Hungary all appear from a fresh, gripping perspective. Holland also tries to be scrupulously fair to all sides of the events he recounts, as in the complicated story of Galileo: as Holland recalls, the Italian scientist’s condemnation by the Church had less to do with clerical dogmatism than with his tendency to insult others — even his highest-placed defender, the pope — and promote himself.

Law versus Love?

But some of Holland’s arguments will not sit well with orthodox Christians.

For one, he shows a deficient understanding of traditional Christian views on same-sex “marriage” and transgenderism. Holland says these stances cling to a pre-Christian notion of moral law that does not take seriously Christianity’s message of love. He traces this alleged contradiction back to St Paul, who, while he preached God’s love for all human beings, laid down absolute moral prohibitions on same-sex sexual activity.

But as Christians like Pope Benedict XVI have pointed out, there can be no love without truth. Jesus forgave sinners, but he also told them to “go and sin no more.” Behaviours that arise from disordered desires — like greed, lust, or rage — harm both those who perform them and those on whom they are performed. We do not love others if we encourage them to persist in self-destructive behaviour.

Besides, Christians condemn behaviours, not persons. Some deny that it is possible to condemn an action without condemning the actor, but then one would have to deny that the person transcends his acts. That, in turn, would lead us to deny his free will and therefore his responsibility for his actions.

If Holland better grasped the Christian understanding of human sexuality, perhaps he would have been more circumspect in describing sexual sins. It is not that he delights in unchastity; indeed, he rightly points out that a culture of sexual license helps the powerful abuse the weak. Moreover, he praises Christianity for having done away with pagan Rome’s culture of sexual exploitation; and he attributes the return of that culture, as witnessed by the #MeToo movement, to Christianity’s decline. Nevertheless, Holland’s descriptions of that culture at times get unnecessarily graphic, especially the discussions of Harvey Weinstein, Donald Trump, and ancient Rome.

Christianity without Truth?

Perhaps Holland’s weak understanding of the connection between love and absolute moral truths also explains his suggestion, at the end of the book, that the “truth” of Christianity has more to do with its message than its historicity. Recognising the strength of Nietzsche’s point that, if Christianity is false, then Western values are a sham, Holland counters that “a myth… is not a lie” but “can be true.” He says Christianity’s value lies more in its “audacity” to believe that God became man and suffered a horrible death; this belief, he suggests, is what sustains Christianity’s moral energy, regardless of its objective truth.

But if this is Holland’s view, St Paul refutes him better than Nietzsche ever did:

If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain; … [because] you are still in your sins, … [and] those … who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. … If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

It is well and good to pursue justice. But in this world, all die, even the righteous, and sometimes they suffer more than anyone. Unless we knew that beyond death was an eternal reward that far outweighed the sufferings of this life, why would we be willing to endure death and not live only for the pleasures of the moment?

The Gospel of Grace

Also problematic is Holland’s argument that Christian values are “culturally highly specific” and “were never really self-evident truths,” as the Declaration of Independence claimed about human rights and equality.

If that is true, how did non-Christian cultures like India and the Ottoman Empire adopt understandings of religion, secularity, and the immorality of slavery that started in Christianity, as Holland himself recounts? Could it be that Christianity, rather than creating these notions out of whole cloth, helped to awaken non-Christians’ latent awareness of them?

If not, one might credit the view that people of historically Christian cultures cannot reason with people of historically non-Christian cultures until the latter convert. Some might even use this as an excuse to “force” conversion (as though that were possible) — whether to traditional, explicit Christianity or to progressives’ implicit Christianity of secular human rights — as a necessary step in spreading civilisation.

In the orthodox Christian telling, by contrast, although man cannot know the mystery of God’s inner life without revelation, his conscience has never lost knowledge of moral truth. But conscience can become confused if the will rebels against truth, implanting in man the alien law of sin that wars against his nature’s original moral law. The grace of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus won by his suffering and death, overcomes the law of sin, pulling up its roots and righting the nature it has twisted (although not perfectly until the general Resurrection). Thus, grace lets the light of conscience shine clearly again, but it does not impart brand-new moral knowledge; it revives knowledge man already has.

On one hand, the need for grace makes knowledge of the moral law more difficult than Holland optimistically supposes. He thinks that Christian values show no signs of going away anytime soon, even in the post-Christian West. But perhaps those values have hung on only because most living Westerners — probably the baby boomers, and perhaps even their children, the millennials — have still been baptised into grace. Although many may not be responding to grace, at least they have its imprint on their souls. But as millennials stop baptising their children, and a new generation grows up without any direct knowledge of grace, what then?

In another sense, however, we can have more hope than Holland suggests. For if everyone, even those without the grace of baptism, knows the moral law, then perhaps the indirect influence of grace, through the attractiveness of Christian charity, might be enough to help non-Christians recognise that law in their consciences.

After all, that is how ancient Christians won over their fellow citizens, as Holland relates, by the example of their love for one another. But that means that practising Christians need to respond better to their baptismal grace, and work and pray harder to evangelise, or re-evangelise, their fellow citizens.

That Holland overlooks the role of grace in Christian history is surprising, because St Paul, whom he takes to be the origin of Christianity, speaks constantly about the centrality of grace to the Gospel. But perhaps we should not be surprised, because to treat Paul as the creator of Christianity is to misunderstand Paul deeply.

Paul believed Christianity to consist not in human words of wisdom, but in the Word Incarnate: “Christ crucified.” The Church’s proposal to the world is not a program for change, a set of principles, or a set of ideas (though it includes these), but a person — Jesus, Immanuel, God-with-us — who took on our sinful flesh and recreated it in the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection.

Strength in unity

Criticisms aside, Holland gives all modern Westerners — Christians or not — much to think about.

Especially helpful is his book’s suggestion that the conflicts within contemporary Western civilisation — truth versus love, law versus spirit — are between strands of Christianity that, as past experience shows, once existed in harmony. Together they gave life to a great civilisation; apart, each has become exaggerated and destructive.

Zeal for moral reform eradicated corruption in the institutional Church; but when its partisans abandoned the traditional Christian community, they set up brutal political dystopias — whether the Radical Anabaptists’ Kingdom of Muenster or Revolutionary France. Devotion to man’s freedom and dignity ended slavery and racism, but it devolved into moral anarchy when it was separated from reverence for man’s transcendent end. If these strands were reunited, they might balance each other and commence a new springtime of Western civilisation.

Holland’s account also raises the question of whether the rupture of the different elements of Christian civilisation had something to do with divisions within the Church proper. Holland praises Pope Gregory VII for distinguishing the realm of the state from that of the Church, and for holding public institutions to universal moral standards.

But he also notes that Gregory’s zeal could be excessive, and eventually led to the medieval papacy’s claim (which numerous leading fathers of the Church had condemned centuries earlier) that it was good for civil authorities to prosecute heresy at the Church’s direction.

Was Gregory more prone to such excesses because he was one of the first popes not to reign in formal communion with the Eastern patriarchal bishops, who had separated from Rome just twenty years before his pontificate? Had the medieval popes had to keep more in mind the authority and judgments of their Greek-speaking brethren, they might have asserted their own authority with more caution.

Moreover, had the East, with its instinctive reverence for God’s transcendent authority over men’s lives, remained in communion with the West, the West’s confidence in reason might not have rushed so quickly into secularism, nor its love of human dignity and freedom devolved into today’s identity politics and moral anarchy.

On the other hand, if Eastern Christianity had remained anchored to the papacy, it might have been able to defend itself from the Byzantine and Russian emperors who turned the Church into an arm of the state. This “caesaropapism” — the inverse of papal theocracy — persists to this day in parts of Eastern Europe, sapping the Church of evangelical energy and leading it to acquiesce in the reigning autocrat’s policies, no matter how brutal.

These are just some of the important questions that Holland’s history raises for contemporary Westerners, be they Christian or not. We would do well to consider all the insights he has to offer.

AUTHOR

JOHN F. DOHERTY

John Doherty is a member of the staff of The Witherspoon Institute. This article has been republished with permission from The Public Discourse.

EDITORS NOTE: This Mercator column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

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Why Is It So Difficult To Define Anti-Semitism?

By Matthew Hausman, J.D.

Even among those who condemn it, there is little consensus about what constitutes antisemitism. Is it disdain for Jews as a faith community or as a people? Is it motivated by hatred of doctrine or ethnicity?


Antisemitism has been around since the dawn of Jewish history and yet the mainstream media only found it newsworthy after October 7th. Since then, it has become ubiquitous in universities and pro-Hamas demonstrations – where progressives celebrate terrorism and demand the destruction of Israel and the Jews – and in a Democratic Party where progressive radicals demonize the Jewish State.

But even among those who condemn it, there is little consensus about what constitutes antisemitism. Is it disdain for Jews as a faith community or as a people? Is it motivated by hatred of doctrine or ethnicity?

Those who mistake it simply as prejudice against a faith do not understand the nature of Jewish identity, which is at once religious, ethnic, and national. The definition of hatred, it seems, is in the eye of the beholder.

Some antisemitism is religious to be sure, particularly among other Abrahamic faiths that must disparage Jews and Judaism to justify their pretensions to be the fulfillment of Jewish scripture and prophecy. Christians and Muslims both acknowledge the holiness of Tanakh and yet deviate significantly from it. To rationalize their divergence from Hebrew scripture, they must claim they supplanted Judaism or that the Jews corrupted their own scriptures.

Christianity

The Christian gospels, for example, are replete with anti-Jewish invective, associating Jews with darkness, evil, lies, deceit, and Satan (e.g., John 8:37-39; 44-47), blood libel and murder of the Prophets (e.g., Matthew 23:31-33; 1 Thessalonians 2), and hereditary blood guilt (Matthew 27:25). Assertions of insidious influence and control are central to the myth that the Jews compelled Pontious Pilate to kill Jesus at a time when Rome occupied Judea and the Sanhedrin had no leverage or authority to impose or even demand the death penalty. The passion narratives likewise contain demonic anti-Jewish caricatures that inspired persecution and massacres throughout Christian Europe.

Furthermore, the New Testament alters Tanakh (e.g., misstating the number of people who accompanied Yacov to Egypt and the burial place of the Patriarchs), misquotes the psalms and Prophets, and decontextualizes passages from Torah.

Islam

Despite the myth of Muslim tolerance, Islamic scripture is not much better. Indeed, the Quran is equally unflattering when it accuses the Jews of “unbelief” and murdering their Prophets (as does Christian scripture): “So, for their breaking the compact, and disbelieving in the signs of God, and slaying the Prophets without right, and for their saying, ‘Our hearts are uncircumcised’ – nay, but God sealed them for their unbelief, so they believe not, except a few…” (Sura 4:155).

It also accuses the Jews of corruption and deceit:

“And We decreed for the Children of Israel in the Book: ‘You shall do corruption in the earth twice…So, when the promise of the first of these came to pass, We sent against you servants of Ours, men of great might, and they went through the habitations, and it was a promise performed. Then We gave back to you the turn to prevail over them…Then, when the promise of the second came to pass, We sent against you Our servants to discountenance you, and to enter the Temple, as they entered it the first time.’” (17:4-7)

Moreover, Jews are frequently accused of scriptural corruption. “People of the Book, now there has come to you Our Messenger, making clear to you many things you have been concealing of the Book, and effacing many things…” (5:15); “God assail them! How they are perverted…They have taken their rabbis and their monks as Lords apart from God.” (9:31.) Claims of textual manipulation seem necessary for explaining away fundamental discrepancies with Tanakh, for example, that Yishmael, not Yitzchak, was bound by Avraham on Moriah.

Racial and ethnic components

Christians and Muslims often misstate Jewish text, doctrine, and history. But conceding deviations from the original Hebrew would undercut their doctrinal narratives. So, both their traditions must accuse the Jews of corruption and deceit, using themes and stereotypes that have fueled Jew-hatred throughout Christendom and the Islamic world for centuries.

Historically, the aim was not merely to disparage Jewish belief, but to devalue or subjugate the Jews as a people; and this is illustrated by the persistence of antisemitism against those who submitted to Christianity or Islam (usually on pain of death). The ethnic and racial components of antisemitism are evidenced by its continuation even after the outward elimination of doctrinal differences.

Catholic antisemitism always had a racial component. On the Iberian Peninsula, for example, people of Jewish heritage were often banned from professions and public office because of ancestry, not belief. Even before the Jews were exiled from Spain per the Edict of Expulsion in 1492 (and later from Portugal), those who were forcibly baptized and designated “New Christians” were identified by their tainted blood. This was first codified in 1449 by the “Statute of Blood Purity” in Toledo; and while some church leaders denounced such enactments, the Inquisition embraced them when it infiltrated Spain in 1478, and later Portugal, Peru, and Mexico in 1536, 1570, and 1571, respectively.

Clearly, racial antisemitism existed long before the Nazis; and it also infected Protestantism.

In targeting Jews through “friendship evangelism,” missionaries strenuously deny Protestant complicity in antisemitism by blaming Catholicism for the most pernicious forms of Jew-hatred. However, Martin Luther embraced the Church’s racial antisemitism and incorporated it in his vile screed, “On the Jews and their Lies,” which advocated expulsion, enslavement, and extermination. These tropes were later adopted by other non-Catholics, many of whom were complicit or complacent during the Holocaust.

Then there are doctrines like replacement theology and evangelical fronts like the Lausanne Movement. Whereas replacement doctrine seeks to displace actual Jews (defined by ancestry and their relationship with G-d) with a faith community of self-defined “spiritual Jews” who falsely claim covenantal status, Lausanne and similar movements actively engage in Jewish evangelism while claiming to love Israel and the Jews. Though antithetical to Torah, both recognize the Jews as a people, not merely a faith community.

And this recognition had parallels in the Islamic world, where forcibly converted Jews often stayed connected to their heritage, married among their own, continued observing Jewish rites and customs in secret – and remained under lingering suspicion. Like the Anusim (Conversos) of Christian Europe, many of these forced converts forgot their heritage while paradoxically maintaining it through rituals and marriage restrictions they continued to observe but no longer understood.

Xenophobia

When the fathers of European Enlightenment rejected the primacy of faith and national allegiances, they were offended by the Jews’ continuing embrace of their religious, ethnic, and national identity. The refusal to assimilate rendered them strangers wherever their migrations took them, arousing xenophobia with religious and racial overtones. And their image as quintessential outsiders was reinforced by their faithfulness to Torah, Jewish language, and ancient blood ties – all of which distinguished them from their host societies and reinforced stereotypes that continued to fester and mutate.

Denial of connection to Israel

A unique form of antisemitism today is the denial of the Jews’ history and connection to Israel. Progressives often maintain that Jewish identity is “only religious” to delegitimize it compared to Palestinian national identity. This theme is echoed in the PA Charter, which denies the Jews’ national history and deems them colonial occupiers.

The claim that Jewishness is “just a religion,” however, is contradicted by the scriptural, historical, and archeological records, which confirm Jewish ethnicity, national heritage, and origins in Israel. The record does not similarly validate Palestinian Arab identity, which is a modern political construct.

Jewish children

Whereas the roots of antisemitism are disparate, they are not mutually exclusive, whether based on religion, ethnicity, racial theory, or xenophobia; and regardless of ideology, it is exacerbated by the Jewish refusal to assimilate. Unfortunately, many opponents of antisemitism unwittingly help perpetuate it through ignorance of its historical and theological foundations.

Even Jewish children understand this.

My generation was born less than twenty years after the Holocaust. Though my family lost collateral relatives to the Nazis and their Ukrainian accomplices, many of my friends’ parents were Holocaust survivors who constituted a significant portion of our community. And they informed our understanding of antisemitism as simultaneously religious, ethnic, national, and racial – which colored our self-perceptions and even our sense of play.

I grew up in a neighborhood where the streets had storm-sewers with removeable grates that we could crawl through. While other kids played “cops and robbers,” we often navigated our way underground playing “escape from the ghetto.” And the brutal kidnapping of the Bibas family brings that “game” to life.

Clearly, even children experience existential angst, and ours was shaped by an awareness of antisemitism in all its manifestations – something adult academics, politicians, and media personalities never seem to grasp.

But then again, perhaps it takes the untainted sensibilities of a child to recognize the nuanced complexities of Jew-hatred and understand its scope.

Copyright 2024. Matthew Hausman, J.D. All rights reserved.

ORLANDO, FLORIDA: Jew-Hating Neo-Nazi Protesters at Disney World thumbnail

ORLANDO, FLORIDA: Jew-Hating Neo-Nazi Protesters at Disney World

By The Geller Report

Jews that vote Democrat are suicidal.

Antisemitic protests near Disney World

Protesters with swastika flags and antisemitic signs gathered in multiple locations near Disney World and in Orlando, Florida, over Saturday.

By: Israel National News, Feb 18, 2024:

Dozens of Neo-Nazi protesters gathered near Disney World and in nearby Orlando, Florida, yesterday.

Protesters waved flags with swastikas, displayed antisemitic signs, and shouted antisemitic slogans.

The local Jewish community condemned the protest and demanded that local authorities take action against similar incidents.

Anna Eskamani, representative of Florida’s 42nd district, criticized the protesters on X: “Sad to report that Nazi scum and losers are back in Winter Park, holding their disgusting flags and banner. Working with local officials to see what options we have for accountability.”

Continue reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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POSTS ON X:

Biden’s America!
Nazis at the gates of Disney: White supremacists march on Orlando, waving swastika flags and ra… https://t.co/j1IfOecSPs @MailOnline

— Skip (@Skipper2714) September 3, 2023

NEW: Blood Tribe, a neo-Nazi group, marches through downtown Nashville, Tennessee with swastika flags.

The group was founded in 2020 by Christopher Pohlhaus, a former Marine.

While speaking to a reporter over the summer in Florida, Pohlhaus in said he supports Biden over Trump… pic.twitter.com/T8lrCGBMTi

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 17, 2024

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

Netanyahu Rejects Biden’s ‘Diktat’ thumbnail

Netanyahu Rejects Biden’s ‘Diktat’

By Jihad Watch

The Bidenites are working with Muslim Arab states to impose a Palestinian state upon Israel. But Netanyahu is unwilling to go along. More on this can be found here: “‘Israel Outright Rejects International Dictates’: Biden Creating Plan For Palestinian State, Netanyahu Pushes Back: Report,” by Jack Elbaum, Algemeiner, February 16, 2024:

In a statement on Thursday [February 15], the White House said Biden “raised the situation in Rafah [during a call with Netanyahu], and reiterated his view that a military operation should not proceed without a credible and executable plan for ensuring the safety of and support for the civilians in Rafah.”

Look, the IDF of course will have a “credible and executable plan” for “ensuring the safety of and support for civilians.” It did exactly that in Gaza City, when it dropped six million leaflets directing its inhabitants to flee south, beyond the Wadi Gaza. 900,000 of the city’s one million inhabitants followed those directions. The IDF did the same before its assault on Khan Younis in southern Gaza, when it dropped both leaflets and sent messages showing Gazans the precise neighborhoods where they would be safe. Despite the efforts of Hamas to maximize civilian casualties, Israel’s warnings to civilians to leave areas about to be targeted has kept the civilian-to-combatant ratio to 9:5, a ratio that no other army has managed to achieve, and this is especially impressive given he conditions of urban warfare. It is insulting for Biden to lecture Israel on this matter. He should instead have announced that “I have every confidence that the IDF will do its utmost to minimize civilian deaths in Rafah as it did in Gaza City and Khan Younis.

In response to these reports and the conversation he had with Biden, Netanyahu wrote that “Israel outright rejects international dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians. Such an arrangement will be reached only through direct negotiations between the parties, without preconditions.”

Netanyahu has no intention of accepting a diktat from the likes of Biden and Blinken.. He’ served in Sayeret Matkal, the IDF’s most elite unit. His brother Jonathan died while leading a mission to rescue Jews held hostage in Entebbe. Don’t try, Bidenites, to push him around; he won’t have it.

He added, “Israel will continue to oppose the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. Such recognition in the wake of the October 7 massacre would give a huge reward to unprecedented terrorism and prevent any future peace settlement.”…

Netanyahu has thrown down the gauntlet. He has no intention of going along with any Munich-like appeasement of the “Palestinians” and their main backer, Iran. After October 7, the people of Israel realized that the “two-state solution” was no solution at all; even the Israeli “peace parties” had their eyes opened on that day; there is no going back to their naïve former hopes of a peace based on a treaty. In Islamic jurisprudence, treaties with Infidels can be broken whenever the Muslims feel themselves sufficiently strong to overwhelm the other side; the model for all such Muslim treaty-making-and-breaking is the Treaty of Hudaibiyya, that Muhammad made with the Meccans in 628 A.D. That “truce treaty” was supposed to have lasted for 10 years. But after 18 months, Muhammad sensed that his forces were strong enough to take on the Meccans; breaking the treaty, he ordered his forces to attack the Meccans; they did so, and prevailed. That has been the model for all treaty-making by Muslims with Infidels ever since. Do you think Biden, or Blinken, or Sullivan, has ever heard of the Treaty of Hudaibiyya? You know the answer to that.

In northern Gaza, to placate the Bidenites, the IDF decreased its use of airstrikes and relied more on its ground troops. This led to an increase in IDF casualties. After that result, the IDF is unlikely to change its tactics in southern Gaza to please Washington.

Dismissing Biden’s warnings about entering Rafah, the IDF will indeed carry out its own plan to rid the southernmost city of Hamas operatives, then continue for a month or so of mopping-up of Hamas remnants throughout the Strip. At that point, having destroyed Hamas and rescued all of the hostages — that is, all those whom Hamas has not murdered — the IDF can make demands of its own. It will not allow Qatar, the financial backer of Hamas, to have any role in deciding who should rule in Gaza, much less in a “Palestinian state” that Israel, once it has been victorious in Gaza, will be in an even better position to reject than it is now.

AUTHOR

HUGH FITZGERALD

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.