Our Boys vs. Stray Weeds

If you have the opportunity to watch the Israeli 10-part-series Our Boys, do so. Netflix(?) HBO(?) It is worth watching.

It is a docu-drama that revisits the revenge killing of a 16-year-old Palestinian by three orthodox Jews. A real story that happened in Jerusalem in July 2014. The series gives insight into remote – perhaps even alien – societal groups, unknown to most of us: Palestinians, Ultra-orthodox Jews, and... Israeli secret service. You get to understand them all better. Even the warped world and world-view that produced the killers.

I recently asked one of the writers and directors of the series, to what extent, they may have been instrumentalised by the shabaq, Israel’s internal security service. After all, the film’s portrayal of the shabaq is sympathetic and it was a fact, that the film’s directors had been granted access to the interrogation files – surely an unusual occurrence. The only explanation, that I can think of for shabaq’s decision to cooperate with the makers of this series, is the hope that it would benefit their PR.

My interlocutor believed that not to be the case. Indeed, those who are willing to think beyond the excitement of the show, may be asking themselves, why the Israeli secret service treats Jewish suspects of hate crimes with kid gloves, whereas it shows no such reservations when it comes to its dealing with Arabs.

Interestingly, the original name for the series was to be “Stray Weeds”. At some point, they must have concluded that Our Boys better portrays the state of affairs in Israel.  

Here’s an official HBO trailer.

Who are Friedman & Greenblatt Working for?

Last week, David Friedman, US ambassador to Israel and Jason Greenblatt, Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, attended a tunnel-opening ceremony in Arab Jerusalem. The tunnel has been dug over the last six years under Palestinian houses and against their wishes. The instigator of this atrocity is a right-wing Israeli group that is taking over Arab East Jerusalem, stone-by-stone, house-after-house. They are backed by the Israeli government and funded by rich American Jewish donors. US casino-mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam were also among those present at the event. The mascot in the picture is Mrs. Netanyahu.

The US civil servants did more than just attend the ceremony, they actively participated by wielding sledgehammers to break through a wall and open up a tunnel.

Friedman, Greenblatt and Trump’s son-in-law, Kushner, head Trump’s team dealing with the Israel-Palestine issue. Greenblatt recently said in an interview "there is no such thing as an honest mediator." No more veneer of impartiality. The US Ambassador and the Special Envoy, long-time supporters of the settlers, are now evidently working for this most right-wing part of Israeli society, one which many Israelis disassociate from.

So, are Jews likely to be more loyal to Israel than to their countries? Do Jews have too much control over global affairs? Do they have too much control over the United States government?

CAREFUL!!!! Think before you answer these questions. These are three out of eleven statements, that pollsters regularly use as indicators of Antisemitism. Hence, if you answer these truthfully, these will be considered indications that you are an anti-Semite. Take your pick: lie, or be falsely labelled an Antisemite. What a choice.

The American Jewish Committee (AJC)

Polls show that 80% of Jews in the USA opposed the move of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, without making significant progress in the peace process. Two countries followed the US decision, Paraguay and Guatemala. Now, Paraguay decided to reverse its decision of four months ago and move its embassy back to Tel Aviv.

The American Jewish Committee (AJC), an American Jewish lobby organisation, came out with “AJC is deeply disappointed by Paraguay's decision to close its recently opened embassy in Jerusalem and return it to Tel Aviv… This diplomatic reversal is shocking,"

AJC yet again proves that it represents only its right-wing funders and not the opinion of American Jewry.

Jerusalem on Fire

One of the interesting aspects of the original 1947 partition plan that the United Nations had envisaged and decided for Palestine, (UN Resolution 181) was the concept that it had for Jerusalem. It called for a corpus separatum, a special international regime, to be established for the city of Jerusalem.

As we know, this UN resolution was accepted by the Jews and rejected by the Arabs. That was the death of the boundaries set by that resolution.   

Last week there was again an outbreak of violence in the holy basin, an area that both Jews and Muslims consider to be holy. The incident was badly handled by Israel’s right wing prime minister, who is besieged by competing populists in his cabinet, whilst the Arabs managed to play their cards cleverly. Israel lost face in this latest round. It had to dismantle, sensible but not sensitively installed security measures it had put in place (metal detectors and security cameras), and return to the status quo ante, hoping to lower the flames, which the Muslim waqf, the Islamic trust that manages the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, has been fanning.

The land issues between the Arabs and the Jews in Palestine are complicated enough without the incendiary qualities of religion and sites of worship, which one or more groups consider to be sacred. It would be better to take religion out of the equation. The corpus separatum solution was a good idea.

As things seem now, Israel will not agree to give up its status in Jerusalem. It should.

Holy Alliances

Two stories that have recently appeared in the press:

Theophilos III, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, has intervened with Israeli President Peres to grant amnesty to an Israeli in jail. Curiously, the Israeli in question is not a member of his own Church but a Jew: ultra-orthodox Shlomo Benizri, a former Israeli cabinet member, is serving a four-year jail sentence for taking bribes and for breach of trust.

Is Theophilus just a particularly nice man or is this somehow connected to the fact that the Greek Orthodox Church owns very much land in Israel (including the land on which the Knesset, Israel’s parliament is built) and that Shas, Benizri’s party, is a very potent power broker in the country?

The Catholic Church has condemned the French government for attempting to prohibit the wearing of Burqas in public. The Church explained that retaliation on Christians in Muslim countries might follow.

File note for future reference: in dealings with the Vatican - blackmail works.