What if they were Muslim? (h/t: Avi)

Settlers raid Nablus village, fire live ammo

NABLUS (Ma’an) — Israeli settlers raided a northern West Bank village on Saturday for the second time this week, leading to clashes with local Palestinians, a PA official said.
Dozens of settlers from the illegal outpost of Esh Kodesh raided the Nablus village of Qusra, firing live ammunition into the air, settlement monitoring official Ghassan Daghlas told Ma’an.

Hundreds of Palestinians gathered in the area to defend the village, throwing stones at the settlers until they retreated.

No injuries were reported.

Israeli forces deployed heavily in the area and fired tear gas canisters and stun grenades at Palestinian villagers, Daghlas said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said “there is an ongoing confrontation between Palestinian and Israeli civilians near Esh Kodesh. IDF soldiers have arrived at the scene and are using riot dispersal means.”

On Tuesday, dozens of settlers raided Qusra and uprooted more than 190 olive trees. Several residents of the village were assaulted, and homes and a tractor were also damaged in the raid.

Settler attacks on Palestinian communities and their property are systematic and rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.

All Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law.

Irving Moskowitz surrounded by settlers and security as they ethnically cleanse East Jerusalem Palestinian home (Awad Awad/AFP)

Jewish Foundations Support Islamophobia at Home, Settler Triumphalism Abroad

by Richard Silverstein (Tikun Olam)

Most Jewish foundations support the equivalent of Bubbeh’s chicken soup: Israel, synagogues, youth groups, Jewish education, Jewish studies programs, etc.  But over the past ten years or so, as the ideological battle within Israel has intensified with a rightward nationalist drift, a number of foundations have led a drive toward the increasing politicization of Jewish philanthropy.  Three of the most radical in their funding objectives are located in the west: the Koret Foundation in San Francisco, which is based on the fortune amassed by a successful Jewish clothing manufacturer, with a reported $473-million in assets and $19-million in grants in its latest IRS filing.  The Fairbrook Foundation, based on the $1-billion technology fortune of Aubrey and Joyce Chernick, is based in Los Angeles and had $50-million in assets and $5-million in grants in its last available 2010 IRS filing. The Irving Moskowitz Foundation, which had assets of $48-million and grants $5-million, supports the radical settler vision of its namesake, whose fortune was made buying and selling hospitals and in running a Southern California bingo-parlor.

These foundations are major funders of the most extreme of Jewish groups and individuals including David Horowitz, Pam Geller, Robert Spencer, Daniel Pipes, The Israel Project, MEMRI, and many others.  The agenda of these funders is decidedly Islamophobic and contributes enormously to the current hostile atmosphere toward Muslims in the U.S. and Israel.  They funded Geller’s “Ground Zero Mosque” jihad, her NY subway ads. They helped Daniel Pipes create and fund his lawfare campaign called The Legal Project, which provided free legal representation to leading Dutch Islamophobe politician, Geert Wilders; and for MEK official, Hassan Daioeslam, in defense of his libel suit with the National Iranian American Council.

The main problem with Jewish Islamophobia is that it turns the Israeli-Arab conflict into a religious holy war when it’s really a battle over political power.  Injecting religion as these radical ideologues do, makes resolving differences almost impossible.  Finally, in smearing the religion of most of those living in the Middle East, it almost guarantees that no Muslim will be able to tolerate a Jewish presence there as well.

Similarly, these radical philanthropists fund the most extreme of the settler movement.  Those who not just espouse violence and hate against Palestinians, but engage in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.

Because so much of the activism of the radical Jewish right is shrouded in obscurity, I like to debunk this periodically by showing you the money: who has it, where it’s going, and what it’s doing.

* The following is a list, by Foundation, of some of the most radical of these groups and how much they’ve received. I last blogged about the Fairbrook Foundation’s 2008 IRS 990. The following is from the 2010 report:

American Freedom Alliance
$80,000

Ateret Cohanim (De-Arabizing East Jerusalem)
$30,000

Kiryat Arba Yeshiva
$110,000

Center for Security Policy (Frank Gaffney’s Sharia-obsessed non-profit)
$100,000

Central Fund for Israel (general support for radical settlers and settlements)
$150,000

CAMERA (right-wing media advocacy)
$25,000

David Horowitz Freedom Center
$160,000

Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
$190,000

Heritage Foundation
$50,000

Hudson Institute
$75,000

Middle East Forum (Daniel Pipes)
$270,000

Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE-David Yerushalmi)
$90,000

Zionist Organization of America
$200,000

* While the Koret Foundation has a distinctively more regional focus in a lot of its Jewish grantmaking, it is nonetheless playing a major role funding right-wing pro-Israel groups whose political ambitions are national and international in scope. Here is a list of some of the far-right Jewish groups it funded in 2011. Grants may be paid between 2011-2013:

American Israel Education Foundation (AIPAC Israel junkets)
$20,000 (2012)

American-Israel Cooperative Enterprise (former Aipac staffer, Mitchell Bard)
$50,000 (2012)

Central Fund for Israel
$20,000

Chabad
$80,000

David Horowitz Freedom Center
$45,000

Federalist Society
$180,000

Friends of the IDF
$22,000

Hudson Institute
$25,000

Institute for Jewish and Community Research (funding Ken Marcus’ campus anti-Semitism initiative)
$100,000

The Israel Project
$50,000

Investigative Project on Terrorism
$25,000

Jewish Agency (Natan Sharansky)
$45,000

Middle East Forum (Daniel Pipes)
$50,000

MEMRI
$200,000

Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
$70,000

StandWithUs (Bay Area chapter, one of whose members engaged in a physical assault at a Jewish Voice for Peace meeting)
$50,000

Ayn Rand Institute
$13,000

Center for Security Policy
$225,000

* These are the grants listed in the Moskowitz Foundation’s 2011 IRS report:

Central Fund for Israel
$260,000

Ir David (the settler archaeological excavations which are at the heart of the campaign to depopulate Palestinian East Jerusalem)
$1,000,000

Friends of IDF
$40,000

Honenu (legal defense for settlers accused of nationalist violence like Yigal Amir)
$20,000

MEMRI
$100,000

Young Israel
$100,000

Zionist Organization of America
$100,000

Western Wall Foundation
$100,000

Friends of Itamar
$25,000

Center for Security Policy
$100,000

Americans for a Safe Israel
$50,000

Nefesh B’Nefesh (supporting immigration, often to settlements)
$300,000

Israeli settlers run amok, attack monastery and spray paint the words “Jesus is a monkey.” (JD)

What if they were Muslim?

Settlers Attack Monastery of Notre-Dame de Sept-Douleurs, Spray Anti-Christian Slogans on its Walls

(PNN)

Dr. Erekat: ”When members of Knesset call for the destruction of the Holy Aqsa Mosque or publicly tear a Bible without facing any consequences, this is incitement for terror attacks against Muslim and Christian holy sites”

PLO’s Negotiations Affairs Department revealed in a press release that Chief Palestinian negotiator, Dr. Saeb Erekat, strongly condemned the latest settler attack against the Monastery of Notre-Dame de Sept-Douleurs, in Latrun, in the occupied West Bank. Israeli settlers burnt the entrance of the church and sprayed “Jesus is a monkey” on the monastery door.

“This latest attack provides further confirmation of the culture of hatred and racism espoused by the settlers who enjoy full immunity, which has given them confidence that they can attack mosques, churches, trees, cars, homes as well as our own people without consequence. The settlers’ actions amount to terrorism.” said Erekat

He added, “We hold the Israeli government fully responsible for these escalating acts, which have been encouraged for years by providing incentives to Israelis to live in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which is contrary to international law. The Israeli Government has failed to hold these terrorists accountable for their actions.”

Erekat revealed, “Israeli attacks against Christian and Muslim holy places are not isolated incidents. In the past month, 57 attacks have been carried out by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities. They are part of a clear policy conducted by Israeli terrorists. When members of Knesset call for the destruction of the Holy Aqsa Mosque or publicly tear a Bible without facing any consequences, this is incitement for terror attacks against Muslim and Christian holy sites.”

Dr. Erekat called upon the international community to hold Israel accountable for its colonization policies, including violent attacks conducted by Israeli settlers and occupation forces. “The inaction of the international community has created a culture of impunity. The world cannot do ‘business as usual’ with Israel, while Palestinians live in fear due to the culture of hatred and racism imposed by the Israeli occupation.”

The Monastery of Notre-Dame de Sept-Douleurs is located in Latrun, in the occupied West Bank. It is near the biblical village of Imwas and the villages of Yilu and Beit Nuba, all destroyed by Israel after the 1967 occupation.

The following article is very long but well worth the read.:

Follow the Money: From Islamophobia to Israel Right or Wrong

By Elly Bulkin and Donna Nevel (AlterNet)

You don’t have to get more than a minute into Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West (2007) to begin to see how inextricably it ties Islamophobia to hardline Israeli policies [1]. Despite its initial disclaimer, the film demonizes all Muslims, and through explicit statements and rapid-fire images, makes clear that there is a direct connection between Nazis and both Palestinians and Muslims.

Obsession played a brief but high-profile role during the 2008 presidential election campaign when the Clarion Fund distributed 28 million DVDs as a newspaper insert in swing states [2]. A few years later, Clarion’s The Third Jihad : Radical Islam’s Vision for America (2008)—about an Islamic enemy that, purportedly, “the government is too afraid to name”—made its own headlines with reports that the New York City Police Department had showed the film to nearly 1,500 police officers [3]. And in 2011, Clarion got still more attention when it issued its third big film, Iranium [4]. The film pushes the Israeli and

neoconservative narrative about Iran’s nuclear program and the need for military action against Iran, using a “clash of civilizations” framework that attributes “unavoidable” conflict to fundamental cultural differences between Islamic and Western civilizations [5].

Obsession and The Third Jihad ignited a firestorm of criticism from Muslim, civil rights and other groups. The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) condemned Obsession for spreading “scurrilous accusations against Islam and Muslims,” while the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) denounced The Third Jihad as “blatantly anti-Muslim” [6]. Activists, researchers, and journalists have commented on Obsession’s mistranslations and The Third Jihad ’s use of a “discredited conspiracy theory ” [7]. They have also noted the films’ countless distortions and manipulations: benign images of Muslims at prayer made sinisterby “scary music” and “repeated images of an Islamic flag flying over the White House”—“ cherry picking . . . inflammatory images and splicing them together to create fear” [8].

But others, particularly supporters of Israel’s right-wing policies, found these films’ virulently anti-Muslim message to their liking. All three films have been effectively mainstreamed in the Jewish community, with local showings sponsored by such groups as Hillel and the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, and the Dallas Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and B’nai B’rith chapters [9]. Obsession has become a staple of David Horowitz’s “Islamo-Fascism Awareness” weeks on college campuses. Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire supporter of Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney—and a critic of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) from the right—has distributed copies of Obsession to young people on Birthright-sponsored tours to Israel, a project he funds [10].

The Clarion filmmakers and their funders were using Islamophobia in the service of their vision of Israeli expansionism. Commenting on Iranium, journalists Eli Clifton and Ali Gharib analyze it within the context of The Third Jihad , Clarion’s previous movie. Each, they write, “portrays a clash of civilizations, suggests that Muslims value death over life, and portrays irrational hatred toward Israel and anti-Semitism as key to comprehending the anger and frustration voiced by Muslim countries against the United States. . . . [T]he formula for the Clarion Fund’s anti-Muslim propaganda is becoming more apparent with each new iteration” [11]. And particularly relevant to this article, the films reflect the worldview of almost all of the anti-Muslim ideologues, the funders of a nationwide Islamophobia network, and the right-wing pro-Israel groups that we discuss below.

Some of the activists and journalists critiquing the content of these films also followed the money to the Clarion Fund, especially for Obsession. Ferreting out its funders proved no easy task. While journalists were able to explain fairly easily that Clarion was behind the film and that an $18 million grant from Donors Capital made possible the election-year distribution of the Obsession DVDs, things got messy beyond that. The journalists’ difficulties arose primarily because Clarion has resisted even the most basic level of transparency. An offshoot of the Israel and U.S.-based Aish HaTorah , which supports militant Israeli settlers, Clarion has a “virtual,” rather than a physical, office in the United States and is not forthcoming about its connection with Aish, including having directors with ties to both groups [12]. Sometimes even the most diligent journalist had to just be lucky. An accountant’s error, for example, led Justin Elliott of Salon to learn the identity of the individual source of the huge Donors Capital grant for Obsession—a discovery that, despite IRS forms to the contrary, spokespeople for both the possible donor, Barre Seid, and for Donors Capital claimed to be untrue [13].

Read the rest…

What if they were Muslim?

Israeli police say vandals deface monastery with anti-Christian and pro-settler graffiti

JERUSALEM — Vandals spray-painted anti-Christian and pro-settler graffiti on a monastery on a hilltop overlooking the highway linking Tel Aviv with Jerusalem, Israeli police said Tuesday.

Suspicion fell on Jewish settlers and their supporters who retaliate against anti-settlement measures, generally by attacking Palestinian property, but also by vandalizing Christian sites and Israeli military facilities.

This week, Israel’s government ordered settlers out of two unauthorized enclaves in the West Bank.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the vandalism at the Trappist monastery in Latrun took place overnight. Some of the graffiti referred to unauthorized settler outposts and one read, “Jesus is a monkey.”

The vandals also set an exterior monastery door on fire.

The monastery, clearly visible from the main Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway at the foot of the Jerusalem hills, is a large compound with orchards and vineyards, encircled by a stone wall.

In a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his minister of public security briefed him on police efforts to apprehend the perpetrators.

“Those responsible for this reprehensible act need to be punished severely,” Netanyahu said. “Freedom of religion and freedom of worship are among the most basic foundations of the state of Israel.”

The monastery, built by French Trappist monks in the early 20th century, is under France’s protection according to a decades-old accord signed with Israel about French religious sites in the Holy Land.

France is calling on Israel to bring the vandals to justice, said French Foreign Ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Settler attacks on Palestinians and their villages occur regularly. We’ve reported some of them in the past, as well as the IDF’s collusion with settlers and unwillingness to stop/prevent many of these attacks. Recently, while Israeli forces ransacked the homes of Tamer Jabarin, 22, and Mo’tasem al-Natshehin, settlers attacked several other homes.

In Hebron, Tamer Jabarin, 22, and Mo’tasem al-Natsheh had their homes ransacked and were arrested by the Israeli military while Israeli settlers attacked several others.

Israeli settlers from Sosiya also attacked several Palestinians from the nearby village of Sosiya.

Ma’an News has also reported that 3 Palestinian farmers were injured in an attack by settlers near Ramallah,

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Three farmers were injured Wednesday morning in an attack by settlers near Ramallah, medics said.

Farmers from Sinjil, north of Ramallah, were heading to their land when a group of settlers waiting at the town’s entrance attacked them, medical officials told Ma’an.

They said Israeli soldiers arrived in the area but did not stop the attack.

An Israeli military spokeswoman told Ma’an that soldiers fired in the air to disperse clashes between settlers and Palestinians in Sinjil.

Many of the settlers involved in attacks on Palestinians are motivated by their deep belief that God has given them the land of the West Bank which they refer to as Judea and Samaria. Settler attacks are meant to assert this belief as well as intimidate the native Palestinian population.

Can one imagine if such attacks were being committed by Muslims daily, in one particular region? One can be sure that Islam would be blamed as the root of such evil.

Note: Attacks in the name of Judaism by Jewish Settlers on native Palestinians should not and cannot tarnish the religion of Judaism. Just as violence committed in the name of Islam should not and cannot tarnish the religion of Islam.–Garibaldi

More Settler violence aimed at Mosques. These are part of the ongoing so-called “price-tag” attacks:

Mosque torched near Ramallah

Unknown assailants torched and spray-painted Hebrew slogans on a mosque in the village of Jaba, southeast of Ramallah.

Damage was caused to the building. The slogans read, “Ulpana war” “The war has started” and “Pay the price.”

IDF and police forces are canvassing the area. It is suspected the vandalism was a “price tag” act.

Suspicions for “price tag” acts were raised several times over the past few weeks following the impending evacuation of Beit El’s Ulpana neighborhood.

Last week, the tires of four cars belonging to east Jerusalem residents parked near Shufat were punctured. The word “Ulpana” was found painted over one of the cars.

Several days earlier, the tires of 14 vehicles were punctured in the integrated community of Neve Shalom. The words “Death to Arabs” “Revenge” and “Regards from the Ulpana” were spray-painted on three cars.

Ynet News, 19 June 2012

See also “Settlers suspected in West Bank mosque vandalism”,Reuters, 19 June 2012

Settler Attacks

“Price-tag” attacks against Palestinians continue and are likely to increase.

According to Reuters,

The U.N. World Court considers the settlements illegal but Israel, citing historical and Biblical links to the territory, disputes this.

Pro-settler vandals suspected in anti-Arab assaults

(Reuters) – Suspected Israeli pro-settler activists vandalised Palestinian cars in Jerusalem on Monday, their second attack in a week in apparent retribution for plans to move 30 settler families from illegally built homes.

Israeli police are concerned there could be further attacks before a July 1 deadline to move the families.

“The main suspicion we are looking at is that it is a ‘Price Tag’ (attack),” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, referring to violence by militant settlers who have vowed to exact revenge for any attempt to curb settlement in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinians fear Israeli settlements, built on land Israel captured in a 1967 war, will deny them a viable state, and they refuse to return to peace talks frozen since 2010 until their expansion is halted.

The U.N. World Court considers the settlements illegal but Israel, citing historical and Biblical links to the territory, disputes this.

The name “Ulpana”, an area in Beit El settlement where the Supreme Court found that five apartment houses had been built illegally on private Palestinian land, was daubed on one of seven vehicles whose tyres were slashed in East Jerusalem.

On Friday, anti-Arab slogans were spray-painted on vehicles in Neve Shalom, a community of Jewish and Arab peace activists in central Israel.

Police suspect “Price Tag” activists were responsible and appointed an investigative team, but have not made any arrests.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu angered settlers last Wednesday when, at his urging, parliament defeated an attempt by ultranationalist lawmakers to legalise the Ulpana dwellings and thousands of others erected on Palestinian-owned tracts.

Netanyahu, a right-wing leader, has long banked on the support of settlers and their backers. His opposition to the attempt by the far-right to circumvent the Supreme Court over Ulpana, has left a reservoir of resentment among settlers.

The government plans to move the 30 families in Ulpana to alternative housing in a nearby military zone. In an apparent bid to placate settlers it said it would build 851 new settler homes in the West Bank, drawing Palestinian and international condemnation.

Extremist settlers have struck again in the Nablus region of the West Bank. This has been a recurring issue. Instead of arresting the Settlers the Israeli forces decided to detain five Palestinians.

The settlers believe that all the land is theirs, deeded to them by God in the Bible, and that through acts of intimidation and violence they can secure their “rightful” inheritance.:

Settlers Enter Nablus Village, 5 Palestinians Detained

NABLUS (Ma’an) — Israeli settlers stormed a northern West Bank village Tuesday night, assaulting a Palestinian man and damaging his car, a local official told Ma’an.

Dozens of settlers entered Khirbet Tana, east of Nablus and beat Muatasim Nidal Abu Heit after breaking his car windshield, PA official Ghassan Daghlas said.

An Israeli army spokesman said a fire had broken out in the area and the security guard of Gvaot Olam outpost brought a team to extinguish it, after which Palestinians attacked the guard with clubs. The incident passed without injuries, he said.

Israeli forces arrived at the scene and detained five Palestinians, the spokesman added. Daghlas named three of those detained as Yousif Fayiq Hanani, Fayiz Fursan Hanani and Afif Hanani.

Separately, locals told Ma’an that Israeli settlers gathered near Eli settlement between Nablus and Ramallah on Tuesday night, to protest as Israeli forces prepare to relocate a settlement outpost near Beit El.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got legal approval on Wednesday for his plan to remove five settler buildings erected on private Palestinian land in the Ulpana outpost.

More anti-Palestinian violence from fanatical settlers who believe the land has been deeded to them by God, and therefore they have right to intimidate Palestinians into leaving:

Israeli settler shoots Palestinian in West Bank

NABLUS (Ma’an) — An Israeli settler shot and wounded a Palestinian man on Saturday in a clash that began when a group of settlers set fire to fields belonging to a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, officials said.

Najeh al-Safadi, 22, was handcuffed by a guard from the illegal settlement of Yitzhar who threw him to the ground and shot him while other settlers kicked him, a relative said.

Muntaser al-Safadi said people from his village, Orif, which is near Nablus in the northern West Bank, arrived and rescued the young man. He was transferred to Rafidia hospital with severe injuries.

Residents said about 25 settlers, some of them carrying guns, set fire to wheat fields and an olive grove near the Orif school. Settlers fired at people who were trying to put out the fire, they said.

Villagers came out to extinguish the fire and ended up clashing with the settlers, said Nablus official Ghassan Daghlas. Eight people were injured and four of them were hospitalized, he told Ma’an.

An Israeli military spokesman confirmed that a settler shot and wounded one Palestinian, adding that security forces were sent to the scene to break up the violence.

“The Israel Defense Forces regards this incident as severe and will thoroughly investigate it,” the spokesman said.

The military is investigating a similar incident from last week in which a video distributed by an anti-settlement group appeared to show a settler shooting and wounding a Palestinian during a confrontation with rock-throwing Palestinians, as soldiers stood by.

Daghlas said Saturday’s attack was a direct assault on civilians, and part of a pattern of incidents sparked by gun-toting settlers.

The official expressed surprise at the “international silence” toward Israeli violations, particularly the silence of the United Nations.

It is also being reported that Settlers attacked an Imam in the Ain Silwan region:

Settlers attack mosque Imam, IOF arrest a boy

(Palestine-info.co.uk

AL-KHALIL– A number of Jewish settlers attacked on Saturday the imam of Ain Silwan mosque in Silwan town in Jerusalem after storming the neighboring area.

Jerusalemite sources stated that the settlers attacked the seventy-year-old imam of Ain Silwan mosque, Adam Samreen, under the pretext of enabling tourists to enter the place. Meanwhile, the Zionist settlers raided the neighboring area, and attacked the guard causing him injuries.

It is noted that the ongoing Zionist attacks against Jerusalemites aim at forcing them to leave their lands and properties.