Ahmed Tibi makes us feel all warm and fuzzy about 'peace'
This is a quote from a speech by former Arafat adviser and current Knesset member Ahmed Tibi. The quote is from a speech he made on Saturday. I can't confirm it, but it certainly sounds plausible that he said it.
Ahamad Tibi yesterday: "Akko is my city… This is our homeland, we are the salt of the earth"
^^^^^ First Judea and Samaria then Akko, then Tel Aviv
Ahamad Tibi had this to say at an event in Akko:
"Akko is my city; it belongs to my country and to everyone, and your
voices will not prevent me from saying so. Akko is suffering because of
the Jews ruling over it, and I will state my opinion [on this]
everywhere."
"We did not immigrate to Israel, this is our homeland, we are the salt of the earth." ^^^^^
If we give up our legal claims to Judea and Samaria, if we let others
dictate the narrative in the international media. We will find ourselves
defending our legal claims to Akko and Haifa and Tel Aviv.
But I thought that Obama and Kerry decided that if we 'only' give up Judea, Samaria and 'east' Jerusalem for a 'Palestinian state' there will be peace. You mean there won't be?
Meanwhile, back in Canada, they're trying to figure out why 'Israeli Arab' MK's Ahmed Tibi and Abu Arar would have heckled their Prime Minister and stormed out of the Knesset. This is from the first link.
“A lot of us were a bit taken aback that
members of a national parliament would heckle a visiting foreign
leader,” Jason Kenney, Canada’s minister of employment and social
development, told The Times of Israel Tuesday.
Kenney added that the Arab MKs’ conduct
contrasted strikingly with the attitude of Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas, who hosted Harper earlier on Monday in
Ramallah. “I attended our meetings with President Abbas earlier in the
day,” said Kenney. Abbas “was extremely gracious, offered nothing but
warm words of welcome and partnership, expressed gratitude for Canada’s
constructive role that we’re playing here.”
Abbas was also “asked by Canadian media to
criticize us,” but “refrained from doing so,” added Kenney. “I mean if
the president of the Palestinian Authority could do that, I would hope
that a member of the Israeli Knesset could.”
...
Kenney said Harper “was prepared” for possible interruptions, “because
he saw what was happening with the prime minister’s [Netanyahu's]
speech.” He noted, too, that Harper had plenty of experience with
heckling, since “our House of Commons is as boisterous as the Knesset…
Everyone here thinks you’ve got the wildest show in town” but a quick
YouTube search can show “how rancorous our Question Time can be.”
Nonetheless,
Canada’s parliament wouldn’t heckle a visiting foreign leader, Kenney
stressed. “It only happened once, in the 1980s, when a Socialist [member
of parliament] heckled Ronald Reagan. But that was really an
exception.”
The interruptions did “prove a point,” however, Kenney noted. “This is the only parliament in the Middle East where that could possibly happen. I think that’s fair to say.”
Somehow, I think that point will be lost on Tibi and his friends.
A message to 'Israeli Arab' MK Ahmad Tibi, who walked out of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Knesset speech on Monday because Harper pointed out the ridiculousness of calling Israel an 'apartheid state.'
Video: 'Israeli Arab' MK's heckle Stephen Harper, walk out on him
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper spoke at the Knesset on Monday. 'Israeli Arab' MK's Ahmad Tibi and Abu Arar heckled Harper and walked out of his speech as Harper spoke about what he calls the
twisted logic of calling Israel an apartheid state.
Let's go to the videotape.
Afterwards, Tibi complained to Canadian broadcaster CBC that there is discrimination against 'Israeli Arabs.'
"We are 20 per cent of the population, we are suffering
discrimination," Tibi said in an interview to air at 5 p.m. ET on CBC
News Network.
"That democracy of Israel is a selective democracy, ethnic democracy. Canada
is a democracy and people are equal without relation to their ethnic
background. Here, there's a problem with that," he said.
Tibi is a deputy speaker of Knesset and leader of the Arab Movement for Change, or Ta'al.
Canada's foreign policy toward Israel is "biased, non-balanced,
and that's why Canada has a very marginal role in the Middle East,"
Tibi said.
He and colleague Abu Arar walked out, Tibi said, "to say that
we are very much unsatisfied with the remarks and the policy of Prime
Minister Harper. It is very diplomatic. It's a protest which is
legitimate in any parliament."
"When you are controlling, discriminating,
confiscating, occupying lands from one side and putting them in the
corner without any basic rights, you are by this way ruling and
committing apartheid in the occupied Palestinian Territories," Tibi
said.
"If he is talking about freedom, why [is he] totally neglecting the
absence of freedom of the Palestinians under occupation? It is a
double-standard. These words are moral double-standard from the prime
minister of Canada."
Isn't it funny, then, that every time Avigdor Lieberman proposes a population exchange that would send 'Israeli Arabs' to 'Palestine' and Jews to Israel, the 'Israeli Arabs' object? I wonder why.... Oh yeah - and as you can note above, we discriminate against Tibi so much that he's deputy speaker of the Knesset.
“I want to tell the US to free Pollard,” Sarsur said. “He has served
too long. But there are 5000 Palestinians in Israeli jails and some are
serving too long too.”
At the conclusion of the Knesset session,
every faction endorsed a resolution calling upon US president Barack
Obama to commute Pollard's sentence to the 28 years he has already
served. The Arab factions endorsed a different version of the resolution
that also calls for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli
jails and opposes conditioning the releases on Pollard's freedom.
The
two resolutions will be sent to Obama via President Shimon Peres and to
the Senate by Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein. A group of legislators
will deliver the resolutions to US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro.
The
MKs will also deliver a petition for Pollard's freedom. Among MKs from
Jewish factions, the only MKs who have not signed it are three ministers
who deal regularly with the US: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu,
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni.
Netanyahu
welcomed the effort by the MKs but cautioned them that the need to
bring about Pollard's release was unconnected to the reports of American
spying. He vowed to intensify his efforts to bring Pollard home.
I wonder how many more 'Israeli Arab' MK's signed. Ahmad Tibi? Hanin Zoabi?
Deputy Knesset Speaker Hamad Amar (Likud) (yeah, we're real racists in this country - he's Druze) ripped former Arafat adviser and current MK Ahmed Tibi (pictured with Muamar Gadhafi) for the latter's contribution to the situation of 'Israeli Arabs.'
“Perhaps more than anyone else, Tibi represents all that is wrong
with parts of the Israeli Arab leadership,” Amar wrote in a post to Congress Blog.
“Rather than encourage integration among our community, the community
of Arabic-speaking Israeli citizens, Tibi supports segregation, calling
for the complete ostracism of any Israeli Arab who volunteers for
national civilian service,” he continued.
Tibi does this, he added, because, “he knows his political future
rests on the continued demonization of the State of Israel and its
Jewish majority.”
Amar took Tibi and other Arab Members of Knesset to task for their
visits to despotic Arab regimes, including previous warm ties with
deceased Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and shows of support for Syria’s
Bashar Assad “even while the rest of the world stands aghast at his
systematic butchery.”
Amar argued that his own story, and that of the Druze community,
shows that “there is another way.” Druze Israelis are highly integrated
in the IDF, he noted. In recent years, he said, “I initiated an
overhaul, repair and modernization of the sewage and water systems and
the electricity grids in predominantly Arab areas in the north of the
country, long ignored by others.”
“This is what can happen if one chooses integration and contribution over ostracism and demonization,” he declared.
Israeli Arabs have more rights than Arabs elsewhere in the Middle
East, he noted. “In our whole region consisting of over 350 million
Arabs, there are only 1,658,000 Arabs who have complete political and
religious freedom and have the right to vote in full democratic
elections. It is no coincidence that all of these Arabs live as full and
equal citizens in the one Jewish State.”
Amar concluded with a call to Israel’s Arab community. “What is our role as Arabic-speaking Israeli citizens?” he asked.
“Will we pick up the gauntlet and contribute and assist in the
building of our country, as Kennedy encouraged, or will we, like Tibi,
continue to malign it while preventing our community from the progress,
development and integration it requires and deserves?
Indeed. There should be more Israeli Arab MK's like Amar.
At a protest in Beer Sheva against an Israeli plan to resettle Bedouins in permanent homes, former Arafat aide and current MK Ahmed Tibi had a cup of hot tea thrown in his face.
Jewish prayer days and Muslim prayer days at the Temple Mount?
As some of you might recall, I don't ascend the Temple Mount, because my rabbis don't allow it, but in light of the fact that Jews are constantly being excluded, Likud MK and Knesset Interior Committee Chairwoman Miri Regev has proposed having Jewish prayer days and Muslim prayer days on the Temple Mount, as is done with the Machpeila Cave in Hebron.
"We will allow Jews to visit the Mount, and we don't want to disturb
Muslims who are praying. Why doesn't the police decide that if Muslims
don't allow Jews to visit without disturbances, we'll have days for Jews
to access the Mount and days for Muslims," Regev suggested.
MK Ahmed Tibi (UAL-Ta'al) said Jewish visitors disturb Muslim
worshipers, but the "occupation is temporary and the government in east
Jerusalem is temporary."
"The crusaders passed, the British passed, and so will the Israelis," he added.
Tibi
also warned that any change in the current situation on the Temple
Mount will be seen as "a declaration of war" and set off violence.
"You
need to use your judgment and think about whether you want to spark a
fire in the most sensitive place in the region. [Former prime minister]
Ariel Sharon's stupid surprise visit [in 2000] was enough to set off an
Intifada," he claimed.
Except that the intifada was planned and Sharon's visit didn't set it off....
Flock Builder on how to conduct a National Referendum and simulation of the peace talks
Flock Builder explains how to conduct the National Referendum on
Israel's future and computer expert Geek Bizarre presents a computerized
simulation of the anticipated rounds of peace talks. Yes, it's the weekly LATMA update.
For those who still believe in a 'two-state solution'
For those of you who still believe in a 'two-state solution,' meet Ahmed Tibi. Knesset Member Ahmed Tibi. Former political adviser to Yasser Arafat. This is from a debate at Bar Ilan University, the 'most Jewish' of Israel's university (i.e. nominally religious Jewish, and the smallest percentage of Arab students among Israel's universities - where many Orthodox Jews go to university).
Unfortunately, I only have this video in Hebrew. In it, Tibi says 'we don't have rights in Israel, but rights to Israel' and 'I don't recognize any such thing as a state of Israel.'
No, of course, he doesn't belong in the Knesset.
Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip: Varda N).
At the end of the debate, someone spit on Tibi. He was lucky he got off so easily.
Palestinian Media Watch reports that its YouTube account is up and running again, and that the video which resulted in its being shut down - which showed the Mufti of the 'Palestinian Authority' calling for the murder of Jews on 'Palestinian Authority' official government television, is now once again available.
In the meantime, PMW has posted a video of Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi, a former adviser to Yasser Arafat, speaking to an audience on 'Palestinian' television, and telling them that 'Palestinian' terrorists are 'martyrs.' The video only has Hebrew subtitles, but I have a translation to English courtesy of IMRA, which I am posting below the video.
Let's go to the videotape.
And here's the English translation.
Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi was introduced by the presenter with the following words: "The words of our people in Palestine occupied since 1948."
Tibi: "... my brothers in the Palestinian leadership, I come to you from the other half of the orange to bow my head before the memory of the martyrs and the martyrs' families, and greetings to you ...
In the history of peoples and their struggles the martyr holds the summit of glory. There is no higher value of martyrdom.
The shahid is the path breaker who draws the way with his blood on the road to freedom and liberation. The shahid is the symbol of the homeland ...
Congratulations to the thousands of martyrs in the homeland and in an exile and blessings to ours and your martyrs inside the Green Line - these, who the occupier wants to be referred to as terrorists, and we say that there is nothing higher than those who died for the fatherland. "
Anyone still think this is about the areas liberated by Israel in 1967?
It must be tough to publish a newspaper 100 miles south of Washington DC. All the good writers and all the big names want to have their opinion pieces published in the Washington papers, where American decision makers are more likely to see them. What's an editor to do? At the Richmond Times Dispatch, they decided to give a soapbox to former Arafat adviser and current Knesset member Ahmed Tibi three days before Christmas. That it took nearly a week before anyone in Israel heard about it shows what a failed strategy it was.
What's more astounding is whom Tibi goes after. Much of his article goes after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va), and it does so in an incredibly disingenuous manner. Here are two examples.
The arrogance of some American politicians and presidential candidates toward the Palestinians and Palestinian national aspirations is breathtaking. Last week, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor stated, "If the Palestinians want to live in peace in a state of their own, they must demonstrate that they are worthy of a state." He appeared to hold all Palestinians responsible for the violence of a few.
'Violence of a few'? You've got to be kidding. While the percentage of 'Palestinians' who support 'armed resistance' and outright terror against Israel has allegedly declined, violence is still supported by far more than a 'few' 'Palestinians.' Moreover, incitement against the Jewish state in 'Palestinian' media and in the 'Palestinian' educational system - both of which are controlled by the 'Palestinian Authority' - continues unabated. Perhaps that's why Cantor says that the 'Palestinians' must demonstrate that they are worthy of a state? Perhaps he means that they must demonstrate an as-yet-unexpressed willingness to accept and live in peace with their neighbors and not to make additional demands?
Back to Tibi:
A man living in a glass home ought not to throw such stones. Cantor's remarks ignored the fact that Americans engaged in genocidal violence and enslavement when establishing the United States of America. He vilifies a Palestinian "culture of resentment and hatred" yet says not a word about his own Richmond neighborhoods that still extol the virtues of Confederate leaders who fought to uphold slavery.
He's got to be kidding. Slavery has not existed in the United States in nearly 150 years. Even when it did exist, it exploited blacks, but did not randomly murder them. It was not enforced or promoted by suicide bombers or by machine gun-wielding plantation owners. Tibi's comparison is absurd and ought to be offensive to the very people he is trying to convince.
Read the whole thing. Tibi and the 'Palestinians' are clearly not ready for prime time.
Tibi visits Barghouti, calls him a 'freedom fighter'
Former Arafat political adviser and current Knesset member (yes, really) Ahmed Tibi visited 'Palestinian' terrorist Marwan Barghouti in jail on Sunday, called him a 'freedom fighter' and urged his release.
"He is struggling for the sake of the Palestinian people and his place is among the Palestinian political leadership and not behind bars," the Knesset member said. "His natural place is out of prison and not in it. All peace and liberty champions should endorse his release."
I wouldn't bet on that. Even Israel isn't that dumb.
Under the terms of Israel's new anti-boycott law, those who call for a boycott of the Jewish state may be sued for damages. Former political adviser to Yasser Arafat and current 'Israeli Arab' MK Ahmed Tibi (pictured here with his good friend Muammar Gadhafi) has called for a boycott of Israel. Will anyone step to the plate to sue him?
Arab MK Ahmed Tibi (Balad) has called on the world to boycott all Israeli companies that help perpetuate the “injustices” of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, in an op-ed published in the New York Times earlier this week.
Tibi wrote the op-ed as a direct response to the Knesset's recent approval of the boycott law forbidding individuals or organizations from publicly calling for a boycott against Israel or the settlements under its control.
In the op-ed, Tibi declared that his support for the right to boycott stems from his belief in ending the “Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory”, in granting “equal rights for Palestinians and Jews”, and implementing the right of return “for Palestinian refugees forced from their homes and lands in 1948”.
According to Tibi, MK Alex Miller (of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party) has threatened to sue him overhis calls to “boycott the illegal Jewish settlement of Ariel”, a protest he posits would be “unremarkable in a proper democracy with untrammeled free speech”.
I certainly hope that MK Miller will sue Tibi and that other MK's will join in. It is long overdue.
Here's how Abu Bluff and his friends entertain themselves, in full public view of their constituents.
At a recent Fatah event in the presence of Mahmoud Abbas and many other senior PA officials, a Palestinian singer defined all of Israel as being Palestinian. He sings that "my land" and "our coast" span from Rosh Hanikra in Israel's north to Rafah in the Gaza Strip in the South, and from Haifa on Israel's Western coast to Beit Shean on Israel's Eastern border.
The Fatah members filling the large auditorium are shown clapping enthusiastically to the song. The event was rebroadcast on PA TV on May 12, 2011.
Let's go to the videotape.
And no, no one will try former Arafat political adviser Ahmad Tibi for treason for being there or for anything else he does.
By the way, note that in the song, 'Mahmoud Abbas' is referred to by his nom de guerre (which is how he is usually referred to in Israel), Abu Mazen.
'Israeli Arab' MK's Ahmad Tibi, Taleb a-Sanaa and Mohamed Barakeh (pictured) attended Wednesday's signing ceremony between Hamas and Fatah in Cairo and were pictured with Hamas' leaders. Now, lots of Israelis would like to see them thrown out of the Knesset.
National Union Chairman MK Yaacov Katz called on Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin to intervene and “throw out the traitors and the murderers and the collaborators with those who want to destroy” the very Knesset in which they serve.”
Almagor, a terror victims’ advocacy organization called on Attorney-General Yehudah Weinstein to open a criminal investigation into the participation of Ahmed Tibi, Mohammed Barakeh and Taleb a-Sanaa in the ceremony.
The organization argued that because Hamas is officially recognized as a terror organization, anyone participating in an event involving Hamas has violated an law prohibiting attending a meeting of a terror group.
“Public support of a unity agreement with a terror organization is the peak of expressing support of the organization and renders useless all attempts by legislators to differentiate between legitimate organizations and organizations that should not exist at all,” wrote Almagor in the letter to Weinstein.
In an earlier post, I reported that two of the six 'Israeli Arab' MK's who visited Libya last spring now regretted going. Haaretz interviews former Arafat adviser and current MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al), who was one of the initiators of the Libya trip. Tibi says that he has no regrets about visiting Libya.
I guess that it goes without saying that Tibi's interview is full of disingenuous claims regarding both the visit to Libya and Israel's treatment of 'Israeli Arabs,' but this is perhaps the most bizarre claim of all:
So it is correct to accept an invitation from anyone, without exercising judgment?
"First of all, he invited us and secondly, no one imagined he would do what he is doing a year later. Anyone who says he could have foreseen these events is not speaking the truth and is being deceptive."
Everyone today seems to be in favor of the people and against the regime in Libya, but isn't it true that even before the visit, Gadhafi was not a democrat or a believer in human rights?
"I admit the connection with the Arab world is one that involves non-democratic regimes. There's a difference between visiting and being loyal to or trailing after one regime or another. I am saying clearly and unambiguously that a visit does not constitute an expression of support for Gadhafi's policy in Libya - and such things were said there. For example, I personally expressed criticism of the backwardness in the world as a result of certain regimes, and the fact that rights are not granted to citizens. And we said that the role of the revolutions that erupted and overcame colonialism in the Arab world has been to give freedom and liberty and democracy to the Arab world."
No, no one could have predicted a year ago that the Gadhafi regime would be on the verge of being overthrown. But it was definitely predictable that Gadhafi would react violently to any demonstrations. And the Libyan regime was one which was already known a year ago to practice torture. Go here and here.
The Libyan regime was known a year ago - and even longer ago - as one that practiced torture. It was more than 'just' an undemocratic regime. Tibi's claims not to have been aware of the nature of the Libyan regime are completely disingenuous. He and his colleagues gave support and comfort to a tyrant. The least they could do is own up to it.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
