5 Reasons to Reject BDS

Arab citizens back Israel

Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Arabic social media outlets, usually brimming with comments criticizing Israel over their treatment of Palestinians, is flooded with remarks by citizens of Arab countries exhibiting aversion of Hamas over its 'exploitation' of Gaza and its residents in Friday's border riots

Aside from the usual clamor flooding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Arabic social media outlets denouncing Israel for its treatment of the Palestinian populace, a surprisingly large number of people voiced their support of the state following Friday's Hamas-led protest on the Gaza border, in which nine people were killed.

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The ministry's Facebook and Twitter pages were brimming with comments from residents of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan and other Arab countries, who backed Israel's side of the conflict and lambasted Hamas for its exploitation of the inhabitants of Gaza, who they rule.

This is the land (of Israel), and who are you?" wrote one commentator addressing the Great March of Return protesters, questioning their right of return to territories that are now Israel. "My heart is with my Jewish cousins. There is no escaping the fact that Hamas' Palestinian terrorism will inevitably end," he added.

"We hope that our Palestinian brothers will not be dragged by Hamas' terror plots, which will only harm the Palestinians," Ahmad from Basra in Iraq wrote. "We must act for peace between the State of Israel and the Palestinians."

A picture of a Palestinian baby photographed alongside tires intended to be torched in the "Friday of Tires" riots sparked great uproar among commentators.

"Gazan children need clean air, not air that has been contaminated with the burning of tires of hatred," a Jordanian citizen wrote, chiding Hamas over their initiative. He added that Gaza needs fresh leadership that can move it forward "from the age of conflict and hunger to the light of humanity, knowledge and love."

He then claimed that the leaders of Hamas were drawing their ideas from Hitler and Iran. "The time has come to throw them into the dustbin of history, along with their hate tires," he concluded.

"Mercy and humanity have faded from your hearts, Hamas leaders," wrote Omar. Another referenced the picture of the baby, writing, "Your tiny body will be used by them (Hamas). They will trade in your blood, my children; they will trade in your pure soul. My dear Palestinians—they will trade in your story."

Itamar Eichner|Published:  04.09.18 , 13:08

Waffle House Hero James Shaw Jr.

I've noticed that heroes never boast about themselves. This young man saved many lives today, and may have inspired others in a similar situation to emulate him. What can you say about a young American like this? Thank you James Shaw Jr.!   mfbr

The man who wrestled the gun away from a Waffle House shooting suspect in Tennessee said Sunday if he were going to die, the gunman would "have to work to kill me."

Police are calling James Shaw Jr. a hero for saving lives in the busy restaurant, but the 29-year-old Nashville resident said he only made a split-second decision to do all he could to challenge the shooter and save himself from being killed.

Shaw said at a news conference Sunday he had spent an evening out at a nightclub and entered the restaurant minutes ahead of the gunman's arrival. He said he and another friend were seated at a high counter when he heard gunshots. Shaw said he had just seen restaurant workers stacking up freshly washed plates and thought at first that plates had crashed down.

Then, he said, restaurant workers scattered and he turned and saw a body near the front door as the gunman burst in. It was then he realized he had heard gunshots.

"I looked back and I saw a person lying on the ground right at the entrance of the door, then I jumped and slid ... I went behind a push door — a swivel door," Shaw said. "He shot through that door; I'm pretty sure he grazed my arm. At that time I made up my mind ... that he was going to have to work to kill me. When the gun jammed or whatever happened, I hit him with the swivel door."

Shaw said it was then that they began wrestling, ignoring his own pain as he grabbed the hot barrel of the gun: "He was kind of cussing while we were wrestling around. When I finally got the gun he was cussing like I was in the wrong ... it wasn't any kind of talking between us; I just knew I just had to get that away from him."

Of the gun, he added: "I grabbed it from him and threw it over the countertop and I just took him with me out the entrance." Shaw said after getting the man out of the Waffle House, he then ran one way and saw the suspect jogging or trotting another way.

Shaw's right hand was bandaged at the news conference from the struggle. He also said he had an apparent bullet graze on one elbow and fell and hit his knee as he escaped and skinned up some fingers.

He added he didn't see himself as a hero, adding he's certain he wouldn't be alive if he hadn't succeeded in his mission.

"I didn't really fight that man to save everyone else. That may not be a popular thing," Shaw said. "I took the gun so I could get myself out" of the situation.

Tears welled in his eyes at the news conference as law enforcement agents called him a hero. He said he was glad he ended up saving other lives.

Waffle House CEO Walter Ehmer also thanked Shaw at the news conference for his bravery.

"You don't get to meet too many heroes in life," Ehmer said before addressing Shaw, who dabbed at his eyes. "We are forever in your debt." —(AP)

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UN Nikki Haley had strong words for top Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat on Monday: "I will not shut up."

United States Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley had strong words for top Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat on Monday: "I will not shut up."


Her remarks, made at a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York, were a firm response to comments made by Erekat earlier this month, in which he called her "impudent" and told her to "shut up" regarding her criticisms of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

"But I will decline the advice I was recently given by your top negotiator, Saeb Erekat. I will not shut up," she said. "Rather, I will respectfully speak some hard truths."


Haley also disparaged the repetitive nature of the meeting's rhetoric, opening her statement by saying, "this session on the Middle East has been taking place each month for many many years, its focus has been almost entirely on issues facing Israelis and Palestinians, and we have heard many of the same arguments and ideas over and over again, we have already heard them again this morning. It is as if saying the same things repeatedly, without actually doing the hard work and making the necessary compromises, will achieve anything. "

Haley again remarked on the UN's preoccupation with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying that serious security and humanitarian challenges in Syria and other areas of the Middle East should be the topic of discussion, rather than to "sit here, month after month, and use the most democratic country in the Middle East as a scapegoat for the region's problems... but here we go again."

Haley said the administration "stands ready" to work with the Palestinian leadership. "Our negotiators are sitting behind me," she said. "But we will not chase after you."

"You don't have to like that decision," she said, of Trump's Jerusalem move. "You don't have to praise it. You don't even have to accept this. But know this: That decision will not change."

Haley said that Abbas faced two paths: one of anger toward the Americans and incitement of Palestinians to violence against Israelis, or one of direct negotiations with both.

Of the first, she warned: "I assure you that path will get the Palestinian people exactly nowhere toward the achievement of their aspiration".

Progressives Should Support Israel

The progressive movement has been tarred by a vocal minority that seeks to criticize Israel at every opportunity. It’s time for the progressive community to stand up and show its support for Israel.

Israel is a progressive’s dream: “Universal education, universal health care, equal rights, minority rights protections, strong activist courts, and gays and lesbians openly serving in the military.” As progressives, we should be outraged by the way the Arabs, including the Palestinians, treat women, gays and other minorities. We should be outraged that the Palestinians demand that no Jews should be allowed to live in the West Bank, even as over one million Palestinians live within pre-1967 Israel. We should be outraged by the beheadings and honor killings. Israel is not perfect, but Israel holds itself to its own standards, to progressive standards.
Israel is accused by some of apartheid. Yet Arab Israelis “can be found on the Supreme Court, in the Knesset (parliament), in ambassadorial positions, as senior officers in the police and army, as mayors, as deputy-speakers of the Knesset and even as government ministers and deputy ministers. Prominent Arab Israelis can be found in almost every sphere of Israeli life, including in the medical fields, media and playing on Israel’s national soccer team.” Whatever an apartheid state is, it’s not Israel.

That’s all well and good, but what about the “occupation”? What about ending the conflict between Israel and its neighbors? Progressives are on the side of peace. So is Israel. There would be no “occupation” if Jordan had not attacked Israel in 1967, and there would be no “occupation” if Palestinian leadership had accepted either of Israel’s offers in the last decade to withdraw from nearly all of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank).

If Palestinian leadership is so upset about the “occupation,” if Palestinian leadership is sincere about its concern for its people, why did it twice in the past decade reject the opportunity to establish a state on the West Bank?

Israel’s entire history is an unending willingness to trade land for the hope of peace despite Arab intransigence and Arab unwillingness to partner with Israel for peace.

When the United Nations recognized Israel’s independence, all of the West Bank and Jerusalem were outside Israel’s borders. Despite the historic, legal, and moral claims of the Jewish people to Jerusalem and to Judea and Samaria, Israel was willing to forgo the land in exchange for independence and peace.

But the Arab world could not countenance a Jewish state in its midst. Several Arab armies attacked Israel. When the fighting stopped in 1949, Israel controlled half of Jerusalem (the half without the holy places) and none of the West Bank. Jordan proceeded to raze dozens of synagogues in the half of Jerusalem it controlled, with no international protests.

In 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization was formed — three years before Israel controlled any of the West Bank. It’s not hard to imagine what the “Palestine” was that the “organization” wanted to “liberate.” There were no settlements and there was no “occupation” in 1964.

In 1967, Israel launched preemptive strikes against Egypt and Syria after they committed acts of war against Israel (Syria attacked kibbutzim from the Golan Heights while Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, ordered UN peacekeepers to leave the Sinai, and massed troops on Israel’s border, threatening to “drive the Jews into the sea”). But Israel did not attack Jordan. Israel controls Jerusalem and the West Bank today only because Jordan attacked Israel during the Six Day War.

Despite achieving the 2,000-year-old dream of Jewish sovereignty over its historic homeland, albeit in response to Arab aggression, Israel immediately indicated its willingness to trade land for peace, only to be rebuffed by the three no’s of Khartoum: no peace with Israel, no negotiations with Israel, no recognition of Israel.

So it went until 1973, when on the holiest day of the Jewish year, Yom Kippur, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel. Yet when Egyptian President Sadat indicated a genuine desire to make peace with Israel, Israel traded the entire Sinai peninsula to Egypt in exchange for a promise of peace from a man who, if not a Nazi, was at least a Nazi sympathizer during World War II, and from a country that had waged unceasing war against Israel since its rebirth.

Relinquishing the Sinai meant forcibly uprooting settlements (so much for the myth that settlements are the obstacle to peace) and giving up its energy independence, but Israel was willing to make those tangible sacrifices for the intangible promise of peace.

In 2000, Israel offered Palestinian leadership 94-98% of the West Bank in exchange for peace, but Yasir Arafat — who could have gone down in history as another Sadat — rejected the offer. Had he accepted, there would today be an Arab Palestinian state.

In 2000, Israel unilaterally withdrew from all of Lebanon in exchange for nothing, and that’s exactly what it got: nothing. Nothing except terrorism and rockets from Lebanon, ultimately resulting in the Lebanon War of 2006 and the evacuation of nearly one million Israelis from the north.

In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from all of Gaza in exchange for nothing, and that’s exactly what it got: nothing. Nothing except terrorism and rockets from Gaza. There is no “occupation” of Gaza; the only Israeli in Gaza is Gilad Shalit, the soldier held captive in violation of international law. Yet just last week, dozens of rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel.

Israel withdrew from Lebanon and Gaza and was rewarded not with peace, but with violence. Israel learned from those experiences that ending the “occupation” is not enough. It’s not enough to unilaterally withdraw. Israel needs a partner for peace.

But Israel did not give up hope. In 2008, Israel offered Palestinian President Abbas a state consisting of nearly all of the West Bank. But the Arabs said no, just as they said no to a state of their own in the West Bank in 2000. How is Israel supposed to end the “occupation” if the Palestinians won’t accept Israel’s offers to withdraw? How can Israel address Palestinian concerns about a final peace agreement if Abbas refuses to re-enter peace talks?

If Palestinian leadership was serious about peace, they would accept Israel’s offer to talk peace with no preconditions. But more than that, they would start preparing their people for a two-state solution, which means stopping the incitement and publicly recognizing Israel’s permanent right to exist as a Jewish state. And they would recognize the moral and historic right of the Jewish people to live in Judea and Samaria — the key point is that by agreeing to cede the West Bank to a Palestinian state, Israel is making a major concession by relinquishing territory it not only won in a defensive war, but by relinquishing territory that represents the fulfillment of a 2,000 year-old dream. 

The concept of an Arab “Palestinian” people did not even exist 100 years ago. Israel’s security and moral concerns require a two-state solution, and one would think that if Palestinian leadership’s goal was a state of their own rather than the destruction of the Jewish state, Palestinian leadership and those sympathetic to the Palestinians’ demands would do all they could to create an atmosphere conducive to peace.

Instead, as Rep. Steve Rothman (D-NJ) and Rep. Steve Austria (R-OH) note in their recent letter to President Obama, “Television programs run by the Palestinian Authority and textbooks in government schools continue to praise martyrdom and terrorists and call for armed struggle against the Israelis.”

Most Israelis believe that Israel cannot indefinitely remain Jewish and democratic while retaining the West Bank. Israel again and again has chosen peace over land, even land it has dreamt of regaining for centuries. Israel’s dream of peace in exchange for land will become reality as soon as the Arab world gives up its dream of destroying the world’s only Jewish state.

Israel continues to strive for peace not because the Arab Palestinians have a better legal, historic, or moral claim to the land — after all, there has never been an Arab nation of Palestine and the concept of a unique Arab Palestinian people was unknown before the 20th century — but because trading land for peace is in Israel’s best interests, and Israel knows it.

Peace can be achieved tomorrow if the Arab world accepts the permanent reality of a Jewish state of Israel today. The Palestinians could have had a state comprising nearly all of the West Bank if their leadership had accepted Israel’s offers in 2000 or 2008. Israel accepted several partitions of its national homeland before achieving independence in 1948, and Israel remains willing to cede parts of its national homeland because it values peace over land and an independent state over a state perpetually at war. It is time for Palestinian leadership to accept the same paradigm. It is time for Palestinian leadership to work toward a state for their children instead of working to deprive Israel’s children of their future.

Peace is still within our grasp. All it takes is for Arab Palestinian leadership to place a higher priority on achieving a state of their own than on destroying Israel. Or as Golda Meir said, “we will have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.”

By Steve Sheffey
Follow Steve Sheffey on Twitter: www.twitter.com/stevesheffey

Steve Sheffey

Pro-Israel and political activist

I will speak some hard truths.

United States Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley had strong words for top Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat on Monday: "I will not shut up."


Her remarks, made at a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York, were a firm response to comments made by Erekat earlier this month, in which he called her "impudent" and told her to "shut up" regarding her criticisms of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

"But I will decline the advice I was recently given by your top negotiator, Saeb Erekat. I will not shut up," she said. "Rather, I will respectfully speak some hard truths."


Haley also disparaged the repetitive nature of the meeting's rhetoric, opening her statement by saying, "this session on the Middle East has been taking place each month for many many years, its focus has been almost entirely on issues facing Israelis and Palestinians, and we have heard many of the same arguments and ideas over and over again, we have already heard them again this morning. It is as if saying the same things repeatedly, without actually doing the hard work and making the necessary compromises, will achieve anything. "

Haley again remarked on the UN's preoccupation with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying that serious security and humanitarian challenges in Syria and other areas of the Middle East should be the topic of discussion, rather than to "sit here, month after month, and use the most democratic country in the Middle East as a scapegoat for the region's problems... but here we go again."

Haley said the administration "stands ready" to work with the Palestinian leadership. "Our negotiators are sitting behind me," she said. "But we will not chase after you."

"You don't have to like that decision," she said, of Trump's Jerusalem move. "You don't have to praise it. You don't even have to accept this. But know this: That decision will not change."

Haley said that Abbas faced two paths: one of anger toward the Americans and incitement of Palestinians to violence against Israelis, or one of direct negotiations with both.

Of the first, she warned: "I assure you that path will get the Palestinian people exactly nowhere toward the achievement of their aspiration".

45,000 Gazans riot and attempt to infiltrate into Israel – 16 Muslim terrorists shot and eliminated, 1500 injured

16 Muslim terrorists were eliminated and 1,200 more were wounded by IDF gunfire, as 45,000 Gazans riot, throw rocks and attack IDF forces in multiple locations along the border, as part of the so-called ‘great march of return’ called by Hamas, the terror group which rules Gaza.

The IDF has declared the area around the security border fence with Gaza a closed military zone.

IDF troops are responding with riot dispersal methods, including firing at key instigators.

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A 7 year-old girl was sent by Hamas to confront soldiers across the border, endangering her life.

“When the IDF troops realized it was a girl, they picked her up and made sure that she could get back to her parents safely,” the army says.

“Hamas cynically uses women and children, send them to the fence and endangering their lives,” the army says.

IDF Southern Command Maj.-Gen.Eyal Zamir: “We’re identifying attempts to carry out terror attacks under the disguise of riots. We urge Gazans to stay away and warn the Hamas terror organization.”

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says that over 1,000 terrorists were injured in the violent riots, mostly from tear gas and rubber bullets.  A small number were also said wounded by live fire.

Hamas terrorist wing Izz ad-Din al Qassam, is instructing its terrorists to urgently donate blood to hospitals in northern Gaza.

The Hamas movement and other organizations called for protests, calling it “The march of return”, said IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee while speaking in Arabic to Reuters, ”however, as events are taking place on the ground, it is the march of chaos.”

Siding with the Muslim terrorists and wannabe infiltrators, ultra-leftist groups and Meretz party’s new leader questioned the usage of IDF snipers during the riots.

View image on Twitter

Behind The News@Behind__News

BREAKING: 16 Muslim terrorists eliminated, 1500 injured as part of Hamas sponsored so-called 'march of return'–in a coffin. All hospitals in Gaza are appealing for blood donations while Hamas leaders themselves, are hiding in underground bunkers beneath the very same hospitals.

11:38 AM - Mar 30, 2018

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