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Memri
6 days ago
- Politics
- Memri
AMP Chairman Hatem Bazian in California Friday Sermon: Kashmir and Palestine Are Battlegrounds for Identity; Zionists Came from Ukraine and Poland, Changed Their Names to Appear Indigenous
In a May 16, 2025 Friday sermon at the Muslim Community Association in Santa Clara, CA, American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) National Chairman Hatem Bazian drew parallels between the conflicts in Palestine and Kashmir, framing both as struggles over identity and land driven by religious nationalism. Bazian said that in Palestine, the land is being claimed under the pretext of a divine promise tied to Judeo-Christian civilization, while in Kashmir, he argued, the region is being framed as a 'pure land of the Hindu gods' in service of building a Hindu nation-state. Bazian rejected the notion that Palestine belongs to those who claim a divine promise tied to Judeo-Christian civilization, saying it does not belong to those who came from Ukraine or Poland and changed their last names to appear indigenous. He emphasized that the Canaanites were the original inhabitants of the land and said that they were of Arab origin. Bazian argued that the promise to Abraham was not a bloodline promise but one based on belief, citing a Quranic verse in which God tells Abraham that transgressors from his lineage are not included in the promise.
The Print
23-04-2025
- Politics
- The Print
Shin Bet chief says Netanyahu wants to make Israel a police state. What it means for country
The affidavit—filed after judges halted Bar's firing by Netanyahu last month—alleges that the Shin Bet chief was told to conduct illegal espionage against democratic protests, obstruct the ongoing criminal trial of the Prime Minister, and disregard the courts as a constitutional crisis unfolds. The decision to fire Bar came even as Shin Bet investigated allegations that two of the Prime Minister's top aides received payoffs from the state of Qatar. Earlier this week, the head of Shin Bet, Israel's internal intelligence service, Ronen Bar, filed an explosive 31-page affidavit in the country's High Court of Justice, in essence accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of seeking to turn the country into a police state. The Lord spoke to Moses,' so the Hebrew Bible records , 'saying, 'Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel.'' The twelve men he despatched returned, saying: 'We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.' The prospect of war against the Amalekites of the Negev, the Canaanites of the sea, and the Amorites of the hill country scared the spies, though. They falsely reported to the people: 'The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants.' Few nations have stories of espionage—and its handmaidens, intrigue and deceit—so entwined with their origin myths. Few nations owe so much to their intelligence services for their survival, either. Even as Israel began its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the eminent Israeli philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz warned that 'a country that controls a hostile population of a million foreigners will necessarily be a Shin Bet state, with everything that this requires, with implications on education, freedom of speech and thought and on democratic governance. The corruption characterising every colonial regime will also infect the State of Israel.' The bleak contents of Bar's affidavit are making many Israelis ask if the scholar might have been right. The invisible shield From a cluster of unimposing buildings in Jaffa, only just abandoned by their Palestinian owners, Lieutenant-Colonel Isser Harel began the task of securing the new Jewish state which had emerged in the Middle East in the summer of 1948. Formed in 1940 with training and resources from the British military intelligence service MI4, as well as the Special Operations Executive, Isser's old service, the Shai, had served as the intelligence arm of the Haganah, the main Zionist paramilitary. Now, Shai was divided into three services, the Shin Bet, Mossad and military intelligence. Things didn't begin well. Isser Be'eri, the commander of the Israeli Defence Forces' intelligence wing, was cashiered in 1949, for the wrongful execution of an innocent man scapegoated as a traitor. The military intelligence chief was sentenced to just a day's symbolic imprisonment, before which he was pardoned—but it was an early warning of the dangers of unchecked power. Like all domestic intelligence services, historians Ian Black and Benny Morris have written, Shin Bet was called on to monitor public disaffection, particularly anger against post-war black-marketeering. In his private diary, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion recorded why he trusted Harel: 'There's hardly a family that doesn't buy on the black market. In Isser's house there's nothing to eat because he doesn't.' From early in its existence, Shin Bet also found itself sucked into political intrigue. In 1949, Shin Bet was found to be conducting surveillance on members of the right-wing Herut Party, led by to-be Prime Minister Menachem Begin. The bulk of Shin Bet's work, though, involved the control and surveillance of Israel's 200,000 Arab citizens, who lived, until 1966, under military administration, complete with curfews, pass laws and residence permits. Efforts by the Arabs to create their own political formations were stamped out by Shin Bet for fear they would begin a Soviet Union-backed war of national liberation. Large numbers of sensational espionage cases peppered the media through the 1950s, an evident acknowledgment of the successes of Shin Bet. The reality of these cases, Black and Morris suggest, was somewhat less impressive than advertised. Nayifa Aqala, a Haifa resident, was arrested for purchasing postcards, from which Jordanian intelligence was purported to seek to extract the locations of military bases. Galilee resident Mahmoud Yasin, who volunteered to gather military intelligence for Syria, was defeated in his attempt to cross the Israeli border by a large porcupine, which attacked his brother. Even though its battles with low-level border espionage provided Shin Bet with public colour and a reputation for derring-do, its real contribution was as a patient and skilful collector of intelligence on the Soviet Union. Immigrants from the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites were patiently interrogated, providing a wealth of information on the Bloc's technological capabilities and economic problems. The Central Intelligence Agency, declassified documents reveal, was an avid consumer of Shin Bet's interrogations from 1951 on, which laid the foundations for a growing relationship between the two countries. Also read: New round of Iran nuclear negotiations begins. Time to talk about Israel's atomic bombs too The war inside From the middle of 1967, emerging from the war that won Israel the West Bank and Gaza, Shin Bet began warning that despair had begun to turn to rage. The arrival of Israeli settlers looking for cheap land had provoked alarm, leading young volunteers to join the ranks of Al-Fatah insurgents. Shin Bet proved adept at manipulating clan rivalries to gather intelligence, and won the support of conservative traditional leaders like the mayor of Hebron, Sheikh Muhammad Ali Ja'abari, who feared the destruction armed insurgency might bring. To the east, in Gaza, Shin Bet found itself facing a more determined insurgency. Ever since 1949, historian Jean-Pierre Filiu has written, the crowded enclave had received regular flows of weapons, compelling Israel to be drawn into repeated military incursions. Fearing being drawn into an expensive counter-insurgency without end, Defence Minister General Moshe Dayan had withdrawn the Israeli army from the Gaza refugee camps in 1970—but that decision abandoned their control of organised crime and terrorist organisations. Even though Shin Bet soon built a close relationship with the army, allowing it to conduct raids into Gaza's camps at short notice, the situation never fully stabilised. To make things worse, new challenges emerged. In 1972, after the massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes in Munich, Jewish rage surged. Amihai Paglin, the former operations chief of the Irgun militia, was arrested at the end of September after trying to smuggle weapons and explosives abroad for use in revenge attacks against Arabs. From 1977 on, Jewish extremism grew as a challenge. The Israeli intelligence services remained on top of the challenge—but at a price. General Dayan had long lamented Shin Bet's use of administrative detentions instead of bringing regular criminal prosecutions, Black and Morris note, pointing to its corrosive impact on the legitimacy of Israeli rule in the West Bank. Torture grew more commonplace. And then, in 1986, senior officials of the agency were accused of murdering two hijackers of a bus in cold blood. Legal clemency was granted to the killers, leading many Israelis to worry about the nation's commitment to the rule of law. Inside Shin Bet itself, many were questioning the paradigm of Israel's counter-terrorism campaign. 'I think my son, who served for three years in the paratroopers, participated in the conquest of Nablus at least two or three times,' argued Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon. 'Did it bring us victory? I don't think so. Did it create a better political reality? The tragedy of Israel's public security debate is that we don't realise that we face a frustrating situation in which we win every battle, but we lose the war.' Also read: Trump wants a new Yalta to assert American hegemony. History shows this grand plan will likely fail The looming abyss Four decades of constant war—and the barbaric Hamas assault of 2023—made questions of legality and the rule of law appear irrelevant to a large swathe of Israel's public. The corrosion of institutions this enabled, though, became increasingly apparent. In 2022, credible allegations emerged that Israel's police services had illegally used Pegasus spyware to monitor the phones of several heads of government ministries, a leading businessman, and co-defendant in the ongoing corruption trial of the Prime Minister. 'The future is bleak,' said Avraham Shalom, the Shin Bet director implicated in the 1986 bus murders. 'Where does it lead? To a change in the people's character? Because, if you put most of our young people in the Army, they'll see a paradox. They'll see that it strives to be a people's army, like the Nahal unit involved in building up the country. On the other hand, it's a brutal occupation force, similar to the Germans in World War II.' Bar's affidavit shows Israel still has a core institutional resilience, and individuals of integrity, who can help prevent that outcome. The nation's fate depends on their success. Praveen Swami is contributing editor at ThePrint. His X handle is @praveenswami. Views are personal. (Edited by Theres Sudeep)
Saba Yemen
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Saba Yemen
Enemy storms archaeological sites in Yatta & Bethlehem to secure settler incursion
Hebron - (Saba): The Zionist enemy forces stormed the town of Yatta, south of Hebron, to secure the settlers' storming of the 'Carmel Pool' archaeological site. Media activist Osama Makhamra told the Palestinian news agency Wafa, that the enemy forces surrounded the Carmel archaeological area, and closed roads leading to it, and that snipers climbed on the roofs of houses, in order to secure the storming of dozens of settlers to the archaeological site to perform biblical rituals under the pretext of the Jewish holidays. Makhamra added that the site of the pool is a historical archaeological area dug by the Canaanites to collect rainwater and springs to be used for watering livestock and crops. On Thursday, enemy forces stormed the archaeological area of Solomon's Pools, south of Bethlehem. A security source reported that a force of the enemy army stormed Suleiman Pools, and stationed in it, in preparation for securing an incursion of settlers. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Toddler Discovers 3,800-Year-Old Archaeological Relic
A three-year-old child in Israel made a remarkable archaeological discovery in the form of a 3,800-year-old relic. While out on a hike with her parents and two sisters at the archaeological site of Tel Azeka, Ziv Nitzan located a Canaanite amulet in the shape of a scarab while searching the ground for stones. 'We were walking along the path, and then Ziv bent down, and out of all the stones around her, she picked up this particular stone,' one of her sisters, Omer Nitzan, recalled in a statement released by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). 'When she rubbed it and removed the sand from it, we saw something was different about it. I called my parents to come see the beautiful stone, and we realized we had discovered an archaeological find! We immediately reported this to the Israel Antiquities Authority.' (via Ancient Origins). Scarabs, otherwise known as dung beetles, were revered as a symbol of renewal and regeneration in ancient Egypt. 'Scarabs were used in this period as seals and as amulets. They were found in graves, in public buildings, and in private homes. Sometimes they bear symbols and messages that reflect religious beliefs or status,' said researcher Daphna later determined that the artifact came from the Canaanites, a people who had longstanding economic and cultural associations with Egypt. Tel Azeka itself had immense historical and religious significance, featuring in the Bible as the location of the battle between David and Goliath. The latest discovery provides researchers with new information about the ancient land. 'The excavation findings show that during this period, Tel Azeka was one of the most important cities in the Judean Lowlands,' excavation director Oded Lipschits said. 'The scarab found by Ziv joins a long list of Egyptian and Canaanite finds discovered here, which attest to the close ties and cultural influences between Canaan and Egypt during that period.'Young Ziv's discovery can soon be seen by all at the IAA, located at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel in Jerusalem. It will be displayed alongside other relics from ancient Egypt and Canaan. 'In our public tours, we will present impressive items for the first time, including seals of the pharaohs, Egyptian statues, ritual vessels, and evidence of the Egyptian cultural influence in the Land of Israel,' IAA Director Eli Escusido said.
Boston Globe
03-04-2025
- Science
- Boston Globe
‘It had teeth': A 3-year-old discovers ancient treasure in Israel
Naturally, Ziv picked it up. When she rubbed off the dirt, 'she noticed that it was something very special,' said her mother, Sivan Nitzan. The alluring pebble turned out to be a 3,800-year-old Egyptian amulet, engraved with the design of an insect known as a scarab and dating from the Bronze Age, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority, which later collected it. It wasn't the first time that a young hiker had stumbled upon an archaeological treasure in Israel, given its rich history. Advertisement Last year, while on a hike on Mount Carmel in Haifa, a 13-year-old boy found a Roman-era ring with an engraving of the goddess Minerva. In 2016, a 7-year-old boy on a trip with friends in the Beit She'an Valley discovered a well-preserved, 3,400-year-old carving of a nude woman. And many sharp-eyed children have unearthed coins made during periods of Roman or Hasmonean rule. But Ziv is the youngest child known to have discovered an ancient artifact in Israel, said Yoli Schwartz, a spokesperson for the antiquities authority, who called the find 'very exciting.' Ziv found the relic near Tel Azekah, an archaeological site and an area described in the Bible as the site of the battle between David and Goliath. Advertisement The amulet most likely belonged to the Canaanites, a group of Semitic people who lived in the area around 1800 B.C., said Oded Lipschits, a professor of Jewish history at Tel Aviv University who is leading an excavation at Tel Azekah. The Canaanites, like others in the region at the time, were interested in all things Egyptian, he said, and they often imported or imitated their food, style and luxury items — including seals like the one that Ziv found, which were worn like jewelry as personal talismans. Scarabs, or dung beetles, were particularly popular in talismans at the time because they were a symbol of rebirth, the antiquities authority said in a statement. (The insects lay their eggs in balls of dung, from which a new generation emerges.) Ziv's scarab relic was most likely created in Egypt and then found its way to modern-day Israel around 3,800 years ago, Lipschits said. But how did it end up on a hiking trail where a child could find it? Lipschits offered an explanation. In 1898, two British archaeologists began excavating Tel Azekah — one of the first biblical sites to be exhumed in Israel — where they found an acropolis, walls of a citadel and artifacts from pre-Israelite cultures. When they were done, the man who owned the land asked them to fill the hole they had excavated so he could farm the area, Lipschits said. 'So the modern layers are now inside, and the old layers that used to be very deep in the ground are now on the surface,' he explained. 'And this is why people can find all kinds of ancient items like these scarabs on the surface.' Advertisement Children also make excellent amateur archaeologists, Lipschits added, because they're curious, low to the ground, and unafraid to get their hands dirty. In itself, the amulet that Ziv picked up 'was not so exceptional,' Lipschits said — his team has uncovered dozens of similar scarabs in the area, some of higher quality. What is more important, he said, is that the family handed it over to the Israel Antiquities Authority so that it could be preserved and everyone could enjoy it. 'If she put it in her pocket and kept it, we wouldn't know about it,' Schwartz said. 'We're very happy to show it to the public.' The authority gave Ziv a certificate of appreciation for 'good citizenship.' The amulet she found will be included in an upcoming exhibition of Canaanite and Egyptian artifacts at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel in Jerusalem. This article originally appeared in
