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Alex Abrams retweeted
Share this message and video so that everybody can applaud the Israelis who once again selflessly stepped forward and saved others. 🇮🇱
Today I am reminded of Danny Lewin, believed to have been the first person killed in the September 11 attacks. 🇺🇸Danny was a former Israeli commando and co-founder of the successful high-tech startup Akamai.
Danny was killed by the hijackers on that fateful day, possibly while trying to stop them and save the people on board.
Today, according to emerging reports, Danny’s spiritual descendants helped subdue a suspected terrorist mid-flight on a flydubai plane from Dubai to Tel Aviv. They subdued the attacker, seemingly saved the pilot, and helped enable the plane to land safely in Saudi Arabia.
This is a message to the Israel haters.
Israelis grow up with agency. When there is danger, they run toward it to save other people.
We love life. The terrorists are a death cult.
We still need to find out exactly who was involved and whether anyone sent them. Any connection to Iran or a terrorist organization remains unconfirmed.
But one thing is clear: the most life-loving people, with the highest sense of agency—people willing to risk their own lives to save other people—are Israelis.
We have now raised generations of high-agency people who make the world a better place.
And so, if you hate Israel or malign Israel, what you are really maligning is high-agency people who love life and one day will likely save your life or civilization.
Am Yisrael Chai.🇮🇱
Alex Abrams retweeted
I'm not saying Trump is Achashveirosh but the Megillah does start with a Miss Universe pageant and ends with the king helping the Jews defeat all their enemies.
Alex Abrams retweeted
My open letter to @ChappellRoan:
Alex Abrams retweeted
🚨MUST WATCH AND SHARE: IDF Spokesman General Hagari inside a Lebanese village with a message in ENGLISH to the entire world about the horrors that Hezbollah was preparing for the residents of Israel.
Alex Abrams retweeted
Tuesday's precision strike against Hezbollah was a bridge too far for the chorus of haters who have never met an Israeli military action they found legitimate. cityjourn.al/4gxVcNF via @tal_fortgang
Alex Abrams retweeted
Mark Kelly wouldn't be a bad VP pick, but, from an electoral perspective, Josh Shapiro is clearly the best. He greatly outperformed the baseline in PA in 2022 & now has a 61% favorable rating.
IMPT: the chance PA determines the presidential winner is higher than any other state
Alex Abrams retweeted
The contrast in this race could not be clearer and the road to victory in November runs right through Pennsylvania – where this collective work began.
I will do everything I can to help elect @KamalaHarris as the 47th President of the United States.
Alex Abrams retweeted
This is concerning.
The situation in northern Israel is getting surprisingly little attention in the West. Here’s some background and an explanation of just how dire it is. World War Three gets closer by the day, and I’m not exaggerating.
UNSC resolution 1701 (2006) is that Hezbollah agree to stay north of the river Litani in Lebanon. This puts Israeli settlements out of anti-tank rocket range. However, Hezbollah have broken this and since 7th October have fired thousands of rockets into Israel, displacing some 60,000 Israelis from their homes.
To be clear, Hezbollah is a direct Iranian proxy, who live like a virus inside the almost-dead body of the Lebanese state. Their fighters are far superior to Hamas, having gained serious experience in the Syrian civil war. They have no real ground manoeuvre or air power, but their tunnels in the chalk rock of southern Lebanon are better than Hamas’ and they have an estimated 150,000 rockets.
There are UN Peacekeepers in Lebanon, but (shockingly for the UN, I know) they’re as much use as a bacon sandwich at a Bar Mitzvah. One very senior Israeli source described them to me as “an umbrella that folds when it rains”.
So Israel has a real, very serious problem. They do not have the manpower to assault into Lebanon for any kind of sustained campaign, especially whilst Gaza is ongoing. So, in polite terms, they are kicking the shit out of it from the air (over which they have total superiority) and relying on missile defences. Thousands of targets have been struck in the last 9 months but Hezbollah retain very significant missile capability.
This is why Israel are beholden to the USA to offer obscenely generous ceasefire terms to Hamas (that Hamas appear to be declining). They cannot afford to lose American military aid with this threat on their northern border.
In the videos below, in the first vid you see the war zone northern Israel has become. The second one is the settlement of Katzrin in the Golan Heights. Surrounded on all sides by fires.
In a statement to Qatari-funded Muslim Brotherhood mouthpiece Al Jazeera, yesterday Hezbollah said, “We simultaneously attacked 15 bases in the Golan and the Galilee using 150 rockets and 30 drones. This is the most extensive attack carried out by the organization since October 8, this attack came in response to the assassination in Joya and in order to deter Israel from carrying out further assassinations of this type.”
On top of that, Iranian proxies in Iraq took responsibility last night for the joint operation they carried out together with the Houthis (Iranian proxies in Yemen), which launched these ballistic missiles and UAVs towards the Israeli cities of Ashdod and Haifa (third video).
Iran is besieging Israel on all sides, and Israel is bending, not breaking. This situation is genuinely dire. It explains why Hamas will not sign a ceasefire deal, and why other non-Iran aligned Gulf states are meeting with IDF commanders. The entire region is teetering on the edge of a much more widespread conflict with Iran, and Israel is taking the brunt of it.
If this situation deteriorates, our allies in the Gulf may call for aid. As a second front in the war against the Iran-Russia-China-Qatar axis of malign global actors, this could not be more serious or worrying. And all the while we see subversive Iranian proxy organisations organising protests about Gaza on Western streets. Hopefully the West is not defeated domestically before the war even starts in earnest.
Alex Abrams retweeted
Thrilled to hear that “Remembering Gene Wilder” is now streaming on @Netflix!
ALT Movie poster for the documentary “Remembering Gene Wilder”
Alex Abrams retweeted
שגרירות איחוד האמירויות הערביות בתל אביב מאחלת לעם ישראל חג שבועות שמח! נקווה שהחג יביא עמו שלווה, מסורת ותחושת משמעות והתחדשות.
#UAEinIsrael
Alex Abrams retweeted
There's a reason the US is a representative democracy rather than a direct democracy
Alex Abrams retweeted
Every word. Wow. MUST READ🤯
An incredible letter written by a non-Jewish Scottish professor to his students who voted to boycott Israel
It's a response from Dr. Denis MacEoin to the motion put forward by The Edinburgh Student's Association to boycott all things Israeli, in which they claim Israel is under an apartheid regime.
Denis is an expert in Middle Eastern affairs and was a senior editor of the Middle East Quarterly. Here's his letter to the students.
TO: The Committee Edinburgh University Student Association.
May I be permitted to say a few words to members of the EUSA? I am an Edinburgh graduate (MA 1975) who studied Persian, Arabic and Islamic History in Buccleuch Place under William Montgomery Watt and Laurence Elwell Sutton, two of Britain 's great Middle East experts in their day. I later went on to do a PhD at Cambridge and to teach Arabic and Islamic Studies at Newcastle University . Naturally, I am the author of several books and hundreds of articles in this field. I say all that to show that I am well informed in Middle Eastern affairs and that, for that reason, I am shocked and disheartened by the EUSA motion and vote.
I am shocked for a simple reason: there is not and has never been a system of apartheid in Israel .
That is not my opinion, that is fact that can be tested against reality by any Edinburgh student, should he or she choose to visit Israel to see for themselves. Let me spell this out, since I have the impression that those members of EUSA who voted for this motion are absolutely clueless in matters concerning Israel, and that they are, in all likelihood, the victims of extremely biased propaganda coming from the anti-Israel lobby.
Being anti-Israel is not in itself objectionable. But I'm not talking about ordinary criticism of Israel . I'm speaking of a hatred that
permits itself no boundaries in the lies and myths it pours out. Thus, Israel is repeatedly referred to as a "Nazi" state. In what sense is
this true, even as a metaphor? Where are the Israeli concentration camps? The einzatsgruppen? The SS? The Nuremberg Laws? The Final Solution? None of these things nor anything remotely resembling them exists in Israel , precisely because the Jews, more than anyone on earth, understand what Nazism stood for.
It is claimed that there has been an Israeli Holocaust in Gaza (or elsewhere). Where? When? No honest historian would treat that claim with anything but the contempt it deserves. But calling Jews Nazis and saying they have committed a Holocaust is as basic a way to subvert historical fact as anything I can think of.
Likewise apartheid. For apartheid to exist, there would have to be a situation that closely resembled how things were in South Africa under the apartheid regime. Unfortunately for those who believe this, a weekend in any part of Israel would be enough to show how ridiculous the claim is.
That a body of university students actually fell for this and voted on it is a sad comment on the state of modern education. The most obvious focus for apartheid would be the country's 20% Arab population. Under Israeli law, Arab Israelis have exactly the same rights as Jews or anyone else; Muslims have the same rights as Jews or Christians; Baha'is, severely persecuted in Iran, flourish in Israel, where they have their world center; Ahmadi Muslims, severely persecuted in Pakistan and elsewhere, are kept safe by Israel; the holy places of all religions are protected under a specific Israeli law. Arabs form 20% of the university population (an exact echo of their percentage in the general population).
In Iran , the Bahai's (the largest religious minority) are forbidden to study in any university or to run their own universities: why
aren't your members boycotting Iran ? Arabs in Israel can go anywhere they want, unlike blacks in apartheid South Africa . They use public transport, they eat in restaurants, they go to swimming pools, they use libraries, they go to cinemas alongside Jews - something no blacks were able to do in South Africa .
Israeli hospitals not only treat Jews and Arabs, they also treat Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank.
On the same wards, in the same operating theatres.
In Israel , women have the same rights as men: there is no gender apartheid.
Gay men and women face no restrictions, and Palestinian gays often escape into Israel, knowing they may be killed at home.
It seems bizarre to me that LGBT groups call for a boycott of Israel and say nothing about countries like Iran , where gay men are hanged or stoned to death. That illustrates a mindset that beggars belief.
Intelligent students thinking it's better to be silent about regimes that kill gay people, but good to condemn the only country in the
Middle East that rescues and protects gay people. Is that supposed to be a sick joke?
University is supposed to be about learning to use your brain, to think rationally, to examine evidence, to reach conclusions based on solid evidence, to compare sources, to weigh up one view against one or more others. If the best Edinburgh can now produce are students who have no idea how to do any of these things, then the future is bleak.
I do not object to well-documented criticism of Israel . I do object when supposedly intelligent people single the Jewish state out above states that are horrific in their treatment of their populations. We are going through the biggest upheaval in the Middle East since the 7th and 8th centuries, and it's clear that Arabs and Iranians are rebelling against terrifying regimes that fight back by killing their own citizens.
Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs alike, do not rebel (though they are free to protest). Yet Edinburgh students mount no demonstrations and call for no boycotts against Libya , Bahrain , Saudi Arabia , Yemen , and Iran . They prefer to make false accusations against one of the world's freest countries, the only country in the Middle East that has taken in Darfur refugees, the only country in the Middle East that gives refuge to gay men and women, the only country in the Middle East that
protects the Bahai's.... Need I go on?
The imbalance is perceptible, and it sheds no credit on anyone who voted for this boycott. I ask you to show some common sense. Get information from the Israeli embassy. Ask for some speakers. Listen to more than one side.
Do not make your minds up until you have given a fair hearing to both parties. You have a duty to your students, and
that is to protect them from one-sided argument.
They are not at university to be propagandized. And they are certainly not there to be tricked into anti-Semitism by punishing one country among all the countries of the world, which happens to be the only Jewish state. If there had been a single Jewish state in the 1930's (which, sadly, there was not), don't you think Adolf Hitler would have decided to boycott it?
Your generation has a duty to ensure that the perennial racism of anti-Semitism never sets down roots among you. Today, however, there are clear signs that it has done so and is putting down more. You have a chance to avert a very great evil, simply by using reason and a sense of fair play. Please tell me that this makes sense. I have given you some of the evidence.
It's up to you to find out more.
Yours sincerely,
Denis MacEoin
Alex Abrams retweeted
Historical accounts of the Levant region prior to the establishment of the State of Israel depict a territory characterized by desolation and sparse population. Observations made by various travelers and scholars in the 18th and 19th centuries support the notion of a land largely neglected and underpopulated during these periods:
Constantine Francois Volney (1785) - Volney's description of Jerusalem as "ruined" and "desolate" with a population estimated between 12,000 and 14,000 reflects the poor state of the city, which hardly resembled a significant urban center at the time.
Alexander Keith (1843) - Building on Volney's observations, Keith notes that even in the late 18th century, the land had not yet achieved its prophesied ultimate state of desolation, suggesting a trajectory of continuing decline.
J.S. Buckingham (1816) - Buckingham’s travels further illustrate the state of decay, with Jaffa portrayed as a "poor village" and Ramleh largely in ruins, indicative of broader regional neglect.
Alphonse de Lamartine (1835) - Lamartine’s encounter with Jerusalem likens it to the abandoned cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, noting an eerie absence of life, which paints a picture of profound neglect and abandonment.
James Finn (1857) - As the British consul, Finn’s reports emphasize the extensive emptiness of the land, highlighting a significant need for population to inhabit the vast, uninhabited areas of Palestine.
Mark Twain (1867) - Twain’s descriptions in "The Innocents Abroad" recount a desolate landscape in Galilee, Judea, and around Jerusalem, marked by barren deserts and devoid of villages, which he perceives as indicative of a cursed land.
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1881) - Stanley's mapping observations reaffirm the emptiness, noting extensive areas in Judea that appeared devoid of life or habitation.
By the third quarter of the 19th century, the estimated total population of approximately 400,000 (both Arabs and Jews) starkly contrasts with modern figures, highlighting a dramatic demographic transformation following the establishment of Israel.
These historical accounts provide a consistent narrative of a region that was, until the late 19th century, characterized by significant underdevelopment and underpopulation. This historical context is crucial in understanding the changes that the region underwent with the increasing repatriation of Jewish people, the establishment of Israel and the subsequent demographic and developmental transformations.
Félix Bonfils was a French photographer who extensively documented the Middle East, including what is today modern day Israel, during the late 19th century. His work, particularly the collection titled "The Holy Land (1867-1879) Jerusalem's Monuments by Bonfils," provides valuable visual records of the region's landscape, architecture, and people during this period. Bonfils' photographs are significant because they offer a contemporaneous glimpse into the life and environment of the Middle East.
Under Ottoman rule, 1517-1918, the local inhabitants of the region referred to the area using a variety of terms, often reflecting local, religious, or historical contexts rather than strictly adhering to Ottoman administrative designations.
Local Arab populations often referred to the area by city names or major regional names such as "Al-Quds" for Jerusalem, or "Jaffa," "Nablus," and "Hebron" for other significant towns. Broader regional terms like "Bilad al-Sham" (the historical name referring to the Greater Syria region) were also commonly used.
The Ottoman Turks, governing from Istanbul, would typically use the official administrative names in their documents and communications, such as the names of the vilayets and sanjaks. However, in everyday speech, even Turkish officials in the region might refer to areas by their major cities or by traditional regional names.
Europeans often referred to the region as "Palestine," reflecting the renaming of the Judean province following the Jewish-Roman wars and biblical influences. This name was used widely in the Western world and by Christian pilgrims and was popularized in many travelogues, maps, and scholarly works of the time.
The Jewish community in the region have always referred to the area using biblical names, such as "Eretz Yisrael" (Land of Israel), which has deep religious and historical significance. This term was used irrespective of the prevailing political or administrative designations imposed by the Ottomans.
These designations, deeply rooted in the culture and heritage of the people, often appeared in their writings, oral histories, and day-to-day communications, providing a rich tapestry of identity that was partially independent of Ottoman administrative structures.
Alex Abrams retweeted
Student protests brought in the Islamic Republic to Iran. They were a larger version of the smaller thing now calling for the same thing they were then.
This Post is from an account that no longer exists. Learn more
Alex Abrams retweeted
The Nakba was a traumatic event for the Palestinian people in 1948, but so was the loss of ancient and modern Jewish communities despite Israel’s victory.
Invading Arab armies razed, looted and emptied Jewish towns, notably the Old City of Jerusalem, where 2,000 Jews were expelled and 35 synagogues destroyed. It was a traumatic event occurring only weeks after declaring independence.
“Al-Quds was purged of Jews and for the first time in 1000 years no Jew remained there” wrote a battalion commander of the Arab Legion, Major Abdullah el-Tell. King Abdullah of Jordan visited triumphantly as Jerusalem was finally under Arab control for the first time since the year 1099.
A day before Israel declared independence Kfar Etzion was conquered by the Arab Legion, killing 242 Jews, including 13 who were killed after surrendering. A survivor of the attack reestablished the kibbutz in 1967, making it the first West Bank settlement.
Other Jewish towns conquered and depopulated in ‘48 include Neve Yaakov and Atarot near Jerusalem, Beit HaArava and Kalya near the Dead Sea, & Masu’ot Itzhak, Ein Tzurim and Revadim south of Bethlehem. Also Nitzanim, Kfar Darom and Yad Mordechai near Gaza.
Even before ’48 Jews had already been expelled from the ancient Jewish quarter of Hebron following the Arab riots of 1929 that saw 66 Jews massacred and dozens seriously injured. Despite the resemblance, these pictures are not from October 7.
Jews and Arabs dealt with the losses in very different ways. Israel was able to embrace the victory narrative to project might that would inspire and empower in the building of a country. Internal Jewish refugees from ’48 joined existing communities or reestablished destroyed towns within the new borders.
Israel then absorbed 800,000 Jews who fled Iraq, Yemen, North Africa and Eastern Europe. Many of the neighborhoods and towns they left behind were then ransacked and cleansed of all Jewish life and history.
In contrast, Palestinian refugees from ‘48 were primarily directed to UN refugee camps, denied citizenship in their host countries, and told to save their house keys until Israel would be defeated. With time they would embrace the victim narrative to project helplessness and sympathy, but also to justify armed resistance and an eliminationist stance towards Israel.
If one is to talk of “ethnic cleansing” in ’48 it must also include the expulsion, massacres and erasure of Jewish communities. The simplicity of delegitimizing the victor in war as the violent and belligerent side is no substitute for critical thinking. Similarly today, Palestinians propagate claims of "genocide" after Hamas pepetrated the worst massacre of Jews since Israel’s founding.
Alex Abrams retweeted
A piece about the PR movement behind the Palestinian cause as executed on U.S. campuses over the last 25 years and its implementations for the anti-Israel and anti-American protests now unfolding on campus. Worth a read. jewishjournal.com/commentary…
