Jews, Like Palestinians, Are 'Indigenous' to the Middle East
Leftists who openly celebrated the horrifying Hamas attacks in southern Israel argued that the end -- liberation of Palestine "from the river to the sea" -- justified the means, including the indiscriminate slaughter of young rave revelers, elderly Holocaust survivors, children and babies. Although that is a minority position even among harsh critics of Israeli policy, it reflects a more widely endorsed view that Jews, as "settlers" and "colonizers," have no legitimate claim to any of the country's territory and no business living there.
That view, in turn, is based on a simplistic morality tale that pits white European oppressors against "indigenous" people, eliding Israel's demographic roots and the ancient Jewish connection to the land. While this missing context is unlikely to faze people who see mass murder as a noble and heroic act of resistance, it is relevant for anyone who can imagine a less bloody resolution of Palestinian grievances.
In a speech last August, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who supposedly is committed to a peaceful settlement with Israel, asserted that "the Ashkenazi Jews, at least, are not Semites," meaning it is impossible for them to be victims of antisemitism. Abbas was invoking a theory positing that the Jews of Europe descended from the Khazars, a Turkic tribe that supposedly converted en masse to Judaism in the ninth century.
According to a 2016 summary by genetic researchers Ariella Gladstein and Michael F. Hammer, however, "Ashkenazi Jews are not closely related to modern populations that best represent the Khazars." Rather, they "appear equally close to both Middle Eastern and European populations," and they "likely arose from a genetically diverse population in the Middle East."
Notably, Abbas did not address Mizrahim, Jews of Middle Eastern and North African origin, who account for about 45% of Israel's Jewish population, compared to 32% for Ashkenazim. Overall, a 2000 study found, "a substantial portion" of Jewish and Arab Y chromosomes (70% and 82%, respectively) belonged to the same chromosome pool, results that were consistent with "previous studies that suggested a common origin for Jewish and non-Jewish populations living in the Middle East."
A 2001 study by the same researchers, which found "a high degree of genetic affinity" among Ashkenazi, Mizrahi and Kurdish Jews, also found that Jews were "even closer to populations in the northern part of the Middle East than to several Arab populations." The authors suggested that "the Y chromosomes in Palestinian Arabs" reflected "early lineages derived from the Neolithic inhabitants of the area," which "are part of the common chromosome pool shared with Jews," combined with the impact of subsequent migrations from the Arabian Peninsula.
While genetic research belies the notion that Jews are newcomers to the Middle East, it gets you only so far. In particular, it does not address conflicting land claims based on much more recent developments.
Israel's founding in 1948, which most Jews celebrate but most Palestinians remember as the Nakba (catastrophe), involved a mixture of prior land purchases, arbitrary line drawing by the United Nations, and a war in which the nascent state was attacked by the combined armies of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Some of the 700,000 or so Palestinians who fled their homes planned to return after the anticipated Arab victory, while others were forcibly expelled.
Israel's defenders have long argued that it could rightly claim land won in defensive wars -- in 1967 as well as 1948. They have noted that Israel absorbed Jewish refugees from Arab states and wondered why Arab states could not likewise absorb Palestinian refugees.
While there is something to these arguments, the overall message -- that Palestinians should suck it up and start over somewhere else -- is less than completely satisfying for anyone who values individual rights and peaceful coexistence. But that no-compromise position is only reinforced by extremists who take a similar view of Jews, whether or not they are prepared to endorse the final solution that Hamas prefers.
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Antisemitism rampant
The murderous attack on Israel has ripped away what remained of a thin veneer that has covered up growing antisemitism in America and some of the rest of the world. Until now it has only periodically raised its ugly head. The reaction by pro-Palestinian groups to Israel's necessary and defensible response to the terrorist attacks from Gaza reveals how this disease has spread.
For years prior to the invasion, there were occasional demonstrations against Jewish and pro-Israel speakers on some college campuses. Now, students and even some college presidents have blamed the killings on Israel for its "occupation" of land that is rightfully and historically theirs. This is like blaming Jews for their own deaths in the Holocaust.
After the attacks by Hamas, swastikas emerged in several U.S. cities. The BBC reported antisemitic incidents "quadrupled in the UK."
We are constantly warned that words matter and so they do. Words can be used to heal, or to incite. The American Jewish Committee (AJC) has compiled a partial list of words used against Jews that have fueled hatred and violence, dating back to medieval times, and now reborn and spread by antisemitic websites.
Two of these include "Dirty, filthy Jews" an d " dual loyalty," the latter even used by ex-President Trump to suggest that Jews born in America a re more loyal to Israel than the U.S.
"From the river to the sea" is another. AJC notes " At a London rally organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign on October 9, demonstrators in front of the Israeli embassy chanted 'From the River to the Sea' - a call for Palestinian control over the entirety of Israel's borders, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea."
While it is free expression to advocate for Palestinians to have their own state, this chant is an undisguised call for the state of Israel to be eliminated, which is the point of the Hamas Charter and the goal of Iran.
Add "Deicide" and "Blood Libel" to the list. AJC cites a protestor's sign in Miami that read "Jesus was Palestinian, and you killed him too!"
"In Los Angeles, protesters hoisted a banner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wearing a Hitler mustache and devouring a Palestinian child. Both tropes voiced in 2021 echo centuries-old methods of maligning Jews."
Then there are the Holocaust deniers. These include people who say The Diary of Anne Frank is fake. Some also claim the Holocaust (if it happened) was a rationale for illegally establishing the modern Jewish state in 1948. Jews have had a presence in the land for nearly 4,000 years. There are also those who say the number of Jews killed during World War II was far less than 6 million.
No wonder Gen. Dwight Eisenhower ordered photographers to capture images at some of the Nazi death camps. He foresaw there would be people who would deny it happened.
Lyricist Oscar Hammerstein wrote a powerful song for the Broadway musical "South Pacific." Producers wanted to keep it out of the film adaptation, but Hammerstein argued for its inclusion and prevailed. It's called"You've Got to Be Carefully Taught." Babies aren't born haters. Antisemitic books like "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and other literature have been amplified today because of social media and various groups with which troubled minds associate, teaching them to hate Jews (and others).
There is no "cure" for antisemitism, but universal denunciation by all people of good will might help push it back in the closet, or under the Earth where it belongs. It also might help if some pro-Palestinian students were forced to listen to a Holocaust survivor and the true history of Judaism and Israel.
https://townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/2023/10/17/raw-antisemitism-exposed-n2629902
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This week, “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling said she would “happily” do prison time for misgendering someone who identifies as transgender.
Rowling’s remarks came after the outlet Daily Mail published a story claiming that calling someone by the “wrong” pronoun could become a crime under a left-wing government.
“Labour would make attacks motivated by hatred of the victim's gender identity into 'aggravated offences', including deliberately calling a person by the wrong pronouns,” the report stated. “ “This would bring transphobic abuse into line with assault and harassment motivated by hatred on the grounds of race or religion, which are punishable by up to two years in prison.”
Rowling responded to the news on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“I’ll happily do two years if the alternative is compelled speech and forced denial of the reality and importance of sex,” Rowling wrote.
In recent years, Rowling has faced criticism, harassment and death threats for refusing to “affirm” transgender ideology, which Townhall has covered. This year, on a podcast episode of “The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling,” the author said she has come to the conclusion that the transgender movement is “dangerous.”
“I can only say that I’ve thought about it deeply and hard and long. And I’ve listened, I promise, to the other side,” she said. “And I believe, absolutely, that there is something dangerous about this movement, and it must be challenged.”
“I am fighting what I see as a powerful, insidious misogynistic movement that I think has gained huge purchase in very influential areas of society. I do not see this particular movement as either benign or powerless,” she added. “So I’m afraid I stand with the women who are fighting to be heard against threats of loss of livelihood and threats to their safety.”
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/madelineleesman/2023/10/19/jk-rowling-transgender-n2630070 ?
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So many things in society are "wrong" to the Left -- but slaughtering Jews is OK
I'm hoping liberals' instinct for taking the side of barbarism against civilization has taken a hit after seeing so many stories of the BLM movement bellowing their love for Palestinian terrorists paragliding into Israel to butcher, rape and kidnap thousands of Israeli civilians, including infants and elderly dementia patients. It's hard not to notice that the most unrestrained celebrations of the Hamas killers are coming from BLM members, the "colonized," diversity beneficiaries, the "Indigenous," non-Western immigrants and other affirmative action cases.
You unleashed 'em, liberals!
After George Floyd died and was deified on May 25, 2020, the left's coddling of black people (and the black-adjacent) went into overdrive. For three years, this Brahmin caste has been able to get away with anything.
They've gleefully dynamited historic statues, destroyed industries with their racist "equity, not equality" demands, bullied their way onto corporate boards and into every TV commercial, and openly discriminated against white men to elevate the incompetent.
They've shamelessly grafted multiple millions of dollars from post-Floyd "causes" like Black Lives Matter and Ibram X. Kendi's Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University.
They've succeeded in getting the media and universities to ban words like "picnic," "chief," "American," "master bedroom" and "English department." Seriously.
And that's to say nothing of their penalty-free shoplifting, carjacking, maiming and murdering.
But say one little thing wrong about Israel, and everybody gets upset!
Black Lives Matter Chicago put out a statement on Twitter (screw you, Elon -- it'll always be Twitter to me), exuberantly praising Hamas' indiscriminate murder of 1,500 Israeli civilians. Under a drawing of a Palestinian paraglider, the post said, "I STAND WITH PALESTINE."
Facing outrage, the little darlings doubled down, tweeting:
"Yesterday we sent out [messages] that we aren't proud of. We stand with Palestine & the people who will do what they must to live free. Our hearts are with the grieving mothers, those rescuing babies from rubble, who are in danger of being wiped out completely."
This was followed by lots more tweets about defunding the police, Stop Cop City, Israel training the Chicago police -- along with more cheerleading for Hamas.
As they explained, it's all the same thing: "Another mean zionist attempt to get us to switch sides to the genoside [sic] & shut up while they bomb away the homeland of our Palestinian fam who stood on the front lines with us against cops (who get weapons & training from where?) when they killed Laquan & tried to cover it up."
Yes, it is the same thing. It's always barbarians against civilization. Are liberals still OK with the monsters they've created? Are liberal Jews?
Ryna Workman, the black president of New York University's School of Law Student Bar Association, issued a doozy of a statement about the attack in her weekly newsletter. She vowed her "unwavering and absolute solidarity with Palestinians in their resistance against oppression." She held Israelis 100% responsible for their own murders, saying, "Israel bears full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life."
Did I mention Workman is also nonbinary? With that bio, what couldn't she get away with? "They" (as we're supposed to call her) soon found out! The prestigious law firm Winston & Strawn promptly rescinded her offer of employment.
Next partners meeting: Whew! We sure dodged an affirmative action bullet with that one!
Brain teaser: Would the law firm's offer have been withdrawn if Workman had merely burned down a police station during a BLM riot?
Cornell University professor Russell Rickford, whose areas of concentration are African Americans, Africa, African people, black power, African culture and the Renaissance -- oh no, I'm sorry, I mean African radical politics -- spoke at a pro-Hamas rally, saying that after the attack, Palestinians were "able to breathe for the first time in years." He added: "It was exhilarating. It was energizing ... I was exhilarated." (I think he liked it!)
The Anti-Defamation League (business model: defame white Christians) and the Southern Poverty Law Center (business model: defame white Christians) have long defended the systematic murder of white farmers in South Africa, claiming that anyone who mentions it is promoting a "racist conspiracy theory."
Just a few months ago, a South African politician was leading tens of thousands in the song, "Kill the Boer" (the farmer). (Soon to be available on Apple Music, no doubt.)
Genocide Watch (run by a former Clinton State Department official) published the personal account of a South African a few years ago, explaining that most of the country's political parties "view SA-whites as imperialist colonisers and blacks as the exploited local population. In light of SA's Apartheid-history, whites' property is seen as illegitimately acquired (the colonizers vs colonised paradigm) and therefore needs to be redistributed to blacks."
Hey, Jonathan Greenblatt! Sound familiar? Maybe the head of the ADL should try reading Hamas literature sometime and leave white people alone.
Like night follows day, the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, responded to the bloodbath in Israel by pledging "solidarity with the people of Palestine." (BLM Chicago approved!)
If the ADL gives him any guff, maybe he should try putting out a statement calling the slaughter of Israelis a "racist conspiracy theory."
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Kristina Pimenova, once said to be the most beautiful girl in the world. Note blue eyes and blonde hair
Bliss: What every woman wants: to feel safe and secure in the arms of her man. Robert Irwin and Rorie Buckey. See 
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