Six effective ways to stand with Israel, by Fred Maroun

eretzyisrael:

4. Speak up wisely on social media

Anyone who has debated the Israel-Arab conflict on social media knows that there is never a lack of anti-Israel voices, but their weakness is that they fear facts. They react to them by compounding the lies, engaging in personal attacks, and allowing their antisemitism to come into the light, all of which discredits them in the eyes of fair observers.

When you debate them, follow these rules consistently:

  • State your case clearly and concisely. Long or confusing comments are rarely read in full.
  • To support facts that you advance, quote only sources that are widely seen as reasonably credible, especially by people who are not particularly pro-Israel. Good sources are The Times of Israel and The Jerusalem Post, and it also helps to use sources that are not typically seen as pro-Israel, such as Haaretz, BBC, The Guardian, CBC, CNN, Huffington Post, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
  • State the facts as they are. The facts are almost always on Israel’s side, and on the rare occasion when they are not, it is better to be honest and to maintain your credibility.
  • Do not confuse facts with hyperbole or rhetoric. Hyperbole and rhetoric may sound good to your friends, but they do not convince sceptics. For example, if a politician funds the UNRWA and you believe it is unwise, say so; do not jump to the conclusion that the politician supports terrorism.
  • Avoid personal attacks, even when extremely tempting. Personal attacks do not convince anyone. If others engage in personal attacks against you, comment on the inappropriateness of the attack then move on.
  • Avoid comments that could be interpreted as anti-Muslim or bigoted in any way. Such comments divert from the pro-Israel message and do not help your argument.
  • If you use sarcasm, do it carefully because sarcasm is often misunderstood on social media.
  • Do not mix partisanship and support for Israel. Israel is not a right-wing or left-wing issue. There are people who support Israel everywhere on the political spectrum except on the extremes, and it is essential to maintain that support. Making Israel a partisan issue alienates partisans of the other side.
  • Use rational arguments based on evidence and reason, not based on religion. Religious arguments do not convince people who do not share your beliefs.
  • Avoid getting bogged down in long discussions with people who debate in bad faith and who are wasting your time. Simply leave the discussion.
  • Always remember that you are seen as the voice of Israel. That voice must be intelligent, confident, honest, and well-mannered. If at any moment, you do not feel up to maintaining that standard, do not debate the Israel-Arab conflict.

Six effective ways to stand with Israel, by Fred Maroun

eretzyisrael:

This is a list of attacks against Israel last night. 

04:02 Iron Dome intercepts two rockets over Sderot
04:01 Code Red – Sdot Negev
04:01 Code Red – Sderot
04:01 Code Red – Sha’ar HaNegev
04:01 Code Red – Meflasim
03:41 IDF reports one rocket intercepted by Iron Dome
03:40 Code Red – Sha’ar HaNegev, Sdot Negev
03:36 Code Red – Sdot Negev, Sha’ar HaNegev
03:36 Code Red – Kfar Aza, Sa’ad
03:36 Code Red – Nahal Oz, Alumim
03:28 Rocket fire – Kissufim – No Code Red alert
03:09 Code Red – Kissufim
02:33 Code Red – Kissufim
02:32 Code Red – Nirim, Ein Hashlosha
02:32 Code Red – Kissufim, Nirim, Ein Hashlosha (2)
02:32 Code Red – Kissufim
02:18 Code Red – Sha’ar HaNegev
02:18 Code Red – Eshkol (2), Sha’ar Hanegev
02:18 Code Red – Eshkol (2)
02:18 Code Red – Eshkol (2)
IDF:1:45 Sirens heard in Shaar Hanegev
01:41 Rocket sirens heard in Gaza Belt

What Happened to the Jews?

eretzyisrael:

           Here is an article from the Associated Press on the NBC News website. The focus is Germany’s current attempt to bring former Nazis to justice, specifically former members of the “Einsatzgruppen”, who were “SS units and police personnel who followed behind the regular army as it pushed into the Soviet Union in 1941, slaughtering perceived racial or political enemies in mass executions. Estimates vary, but experts agree they were responsible for well over 1 million killings.”

           Notice the wording – “perceived racial or political enemies.” The article is illustrated with a photo that shows, “a German firing squad shooting Soviet civilians in the back as they sit beside a mass grave in the Babi Yar ravine …”

           What’s missing from these descriptions – and from the entire article? Two words: “Jew” and “Jews.” The article mentions Nazis, death squads, the Holocaust, Sobibor, Auschwitz, the Wiesenthal Center, but no mention of Jews. Even later in the article, the Babi Yar massacre is described as, “… the shootings of nearly 34,000 people at Babi Yar, …”

According to eye-witness accounts of the massacre, area Jews and only Jews were ordered to report to Babi Yar, where they were murdered and buried in mass graves. The Associated Press has denied the Judaism, not only of the 34,000 victims at Babi Yar, but of all the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust. This goes way beyond President Obama’s description of Jewish victims of the 2015 Hypercacher Kosher Supermarket attack in Paris, “… or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a Deli in Paris.“

           This may seem like a petty issue, one that would only be noticed by a thin-skinned obsessive. But it is actually very important. We know that as Jews we have and will always have more than enough enemies. They want to get rid of us. They will use any method they can think of, and they’re constantly coming up with new methods. Here we see instead of Holocaust denial – Jew denial. Sure, the Holocaust was real. But Jews? Who? The AP has separated Jews from the Holocaust, the major twentieth century trauma in Jewish history. The AP has tried to strip our identity from us. We are no longer unique. We are anonymous, just one of the crowd – unless somebody needs a scapegoat.

           Jews and Jewish concerns have been minimized in other ways. Jews are separated from Israel with lies about an “indigenous Palestinian People,” Ashkanazi Jews being descendents of Khazars, not being “real” Jews. There are attempts to separate Zionism and even Jews from Judaism, our enemies redefining Judaism for us so that we are redefined right out of existence. Palestinians and Iranians insist that Jews have no connection to Jerusalem or any of our holy sites. The Palestinian foreign ministry recently accused Israel of lying about a Jewish history in Jerusalem. They’ve been joined by UNESCO, a United Nations agency that recently passed a resolution denying Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem. Wait. Did I say “Israeli?” According to the UN, it’s now “Occupied Palestine.” Israel is the occupying power. The UN is trying to vote Israel out of existence, and that’s nothing new.

           This AP report has written Jews out of existence. No Jews, no Israel. Fake news has been joined to fake history. If they can’t murder all of us, the UN, UNESCO, Iran, along with journalists under their control will merely try to erase our existence.