Let's start with bestselling British novelist Richard Zimler's report that two British cultural organizations recently refused to host him for lectures about his new book, though he has lectured many times on previous books. "They asked me if you were Jewish, and the moment I said you were, they lost all interest," he quoted his publicist as saying.

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It's not that these groups have anything against Jews per se. They simply feared that hosting a Jew would make them a target for anti-Israel protesters.

Zimler isn't Israeli, has no relatives or investments in Israel and doesn't write about Israel. His latest book is set in the Holy Land 2,000 years ago, but its storyline is Christian rather than Jewish ("The Gospel According to Lazarus"). So he wouldn't seem an obvious target, given BDS apologists' repeated claim that anti-Zionism isn't anti-Semitic.

Unfortunately, much of the anti-Israel crowd hasn't gotten that memo. See, for instance, the German courts, which ruled that torching a German synagogue wasn't a hate crime, but an understandable anti-Israel protest; or the student organizations which demanded that a South African university expel all Jewish students to show its pro-Palestinian bona fides. Or the Norwegian attorney general who ruled that "F*** Jews" isn't hate speech, but an expression of "dissatisfaction with [Israel's] policies," although the speaker never mentioned Israel. Or the Dyke March that banned Jews from holding Jewish pride flags because they remind some people of Israeli flags. And so forth.

So despite deploring the unnamed organizations' cowardice, I can't dismiss their fears as unfounded. And that's the problem.

Human rights groups and liberals worldwide rush to defend the "rights" of boycott, divestment and sanctions activists; see, for instance, their opposition to anti-BDS legislation on the false grounds that it violates freedom of speech (it actually applies only to actions, not speech). Yet they've shown no interest in defending Jewish rights in most of the examples cited above. Evidently, Jewish rights are acceptable collateral damage in the sacred cause of anti-Zionism.

The second incident was the Palestinian Authority's harassment of Palestinian businessmen who attended the US-sponsored economic workshop in Bahrain on June 25-26. One was arrested but eventually released under American pressure. Another escaped arrest by fleeing to the Israeli-controlled section of Hebron. And the PA raided the homes of several others, confiscating documents like credit cards and passports.

These roughly 15 businessmen traveled legally to Bahrain to participate in what one reporter termed as the conference's "real, unofficial" purpose – closing legal business deals, mainly with fellow Arabs. They explicitly said they represented only themselves, not the PA, and refused to talk politics, saying only the PA was authorized to do that. In short, not only did they commit no crime, they made no attempt to undermine the PA's political positions.

Indeed, the PA didn't even try to pretend that any crime was committed. As one Palestinian security official told Haaretz, there was "no specific charge" against the arrested businessman; the arrest "was a warning. He must understand the implications of this sort of collaboration."

In other words, this was pure political persecution, which is a standard PA practice. Palestinian journalists, activists, and businessmen have all been arrested for such "crimes," such as saying that PA President Mahmoud Abbas should resign.

Human rights groups and liberals worldwide incessantly condemn Israeli violations of Palestinian rights (real or imaginary). They also frequently condemn Israel for utterly fictitious violations of Israeli rights. But innocent Palestinian businessmen arrested and harassed by the PA for doing legal business? You won't hear a peep about that. Palestinian rights are evidently acceptable collateral damage in the sacred struggle against Israel.

The third incident was the estimated 100 fires that incendiary balloons launched from Gaza ignited in southern Israel. That's an unusually high number for a single week, but incendiary devices from Gaza – courtesy of Hamas' "balloon unit" – have been wreaking havoc for more than a year. In the six months ending in October 2018, such devices destroyed some 3,000 acres of forest and 4,000 acres of farmland. Since the winter rains ended, additional thousands of acres have been destroyed.

This is a war crime, according to both the Geneva Conventions and the treaty governing the International Criminal Court. Both define "extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly" as a war crime; the latter also lists causing "widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated." Palestinian arson attacks do both while serving no military purpose whatsoever.

The ICC is looking into numerous alleged Israeli crimes against the Palestinians and has even begged Palestinians to provide them with more complaints. Human rights groups and liberals worldwide incessantly condemn these alleged Israeli crimes, including settlement construction, which, even if it were a genuine crime (it isn't), is far less destructive than scorched-earth tactics (evacuated settlements could theoretically be given to the Palestinians under a peace deal). But I haven't heard a peep about the destruction of large swaths of southern Israel, nor has the ICC considered probing it. Environmental devastation is evidently acceptable collateral damage in the sacred fight against Israel.

What all these cases show is that human rights have ceased being an objective standard that are applied equally to all. Instead, they've become a political tool to bash groups that liberals dislike. Hence Jewish rights matter when targeted by right-wing extremists (whom liberals loathe) but not when targeted by anti-Zionists. Palestinians' rights matter when targeted by Israel but not when targeted by the PA. And Israeli rights never matter except when violated by Israel.

This problem isn't unique to the Israeli-Palestinian issue, of course. It's just particularly blatant there.

Liberals and human rights groups frequently complain that human rights are becoming devalued worldwide, and they're right. But their own politicization of these rights is the chief culprit. Until this changes, contempt for human rights will only keep growing.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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The Bahrain conference was intended "first and foremost to bring economic growth to the Palestinians and the region as a whole," Netanyahu said.

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The prime minister quoted Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, who said last week that Israel, as a Middle Eastern country, was "part of the heritage of the region" and that "the Jewish people have a place among us."

Al Khalifa also said that "the Israeli public should believe that there are countries in the region that want to achieve peace and are encouraging the Palestinians to make peace."

Netanyahu called the Bahraini official's remarks "very important" and said they were the "direct result of our policy, which is making Israel a powerful force in the region and a rising world power."

"While we are drawing closer to Arab nations, and gradually normalizing relations with them, and while we welcomed the Bahrain conference, which was intended first and foremost to bring economic growth to the Palestinians … the Palestinians were attacking it viciously, against their own interests," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu said that the Palestinian Authority had recently arrested a Palestinian businessman for the "crime" of taking part in the Bahrain conference. The man was later released due to US diplomatic pressure on Ramallah.

"All this brings one thing to the surface – [that] the Palestinians are determined to continue the conflict at any cost, including the welfare of the Palestinians themselves. That is not how those who want to promote peace operate. We, unlike them, are continuing to foster ties with the Arab world, and that is to everyone's benefit," he said.

Turning to the situation in southern Israel in the face of renewed arson attacks from the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu said, "We completely understand the distress of the communities along the Gaza border, and we are working to ease it as much as possible."

"Last week, we applied stringent sanctions on Hamas, including stopping the supply of fuel. If we need to, we'll use much harsher measures. We carry out these actions after consulting with all the branches of the defense and security establishment."

The prime minister said he was "unimpressed by the propaganda from various 'experts.'"

"A lot of them are giving us advice that they themselves didn't implement when they were in charge. And don't get mixed up – they'll also be the first to criticize us when we launch a wide-scale military operation, which we might be forced to do. So I am guided by only one thing – Israel's security," Netanyahu said.

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The two groups of young female Instagrammers live on opposite sides of the Israel-Gaza Strip border, separated by a barrier of walls, barbed wire, and years of mistrust between their communities.

Above their heads, Palestinian terrorists launch firebomb kites and rockets from Gaza at Israeli communities. In the other direction, Israeli warplanes fly, firing missiles and destroying buildings in Gaza's crowded streets.

The missiles have stopped flying, for the moment, and the world's eyes have already moved on. But the people of Gaza and Israel's border communities are waiting for the next crisis.

Some have taken to social media, driven by a desire to tell their stories, which both sides believe are largely misrepresented or misunderstood.

On the Israeli side, the Instagram account "Otef Gaza," which means "Gaza envelope" in Hebrew and refers to communities living near the border, was started by a group of teenage girls in and around Kerem Shalom, a small kibbutz along near the point where the Israeli, Gazan and Egyptian borders meet.

Photos of burned agricultural fields appear alongside videos of Gaza protests and missile launches, to document their impact on Israeli communities.

"This has been our reality for the past seven months. This is what we experience every day, this is our routine. I have friends in other places in Israel; people are not aware, they don't know that this is our reality, which we have been experiencing since March, and they simply ignore us," said 17-year-old Lee Cohen.

"We opened the [Instagram] account to raise awareness for the reality that we experience every day," said Meshi Almakeas, 16, from Kibbutz Kerem Shalom.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, 27-year-old Manar Alzraiy, said, "Gaza is closed. Not a lot of people have access to it. So it is like you show Gaza through your eyes [to the world] when you use Instagram."

Gaza Instagrammer Fatma Abu Musabbeh, said, "I like to show Gaza like countries abroad are shown. I don't like to be different. I am trying to change the stereotypes people have of Gaza, like war, destruction and so on, which the media has presented to the world. Moreover, I am trying to change this idea through the Instagram platform, I even keep the camera on and ready until I capture the great picture that shows nature, colors, and liveliness.

"Even though life here is not nice and normal, we capture a picture that shows that life here continues and that it is fine. Furthermore, not all days are flowers and honey, there are good days and there are bad days. During the bad days, we have to put the spotlight on something that changes the stereotype about Gaza."

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Palestinian rioters sent dozens of incendiary kites ‎over the border on Friday and Saturday, and hundreds ‎of firefighters battled the flames for hours each ‎day. ‎

Israel Fire and Rescue Services said that so far, ‎the Palestinians' "kite campaign," launched in late ‎April, has sparked 350 fires that have eradicated ‎nearly 7,000 acres of forest and agricultural ‎land on the Israeli side of the border, affecting ‎every community near the security fence. ‎

Firefighters from all districts have been deployed ‎to the Gaza vicinity to help local teams battle ‎the blazes.

The largest fire this weekend destroyed a ‎significant part of the Karmiya Nature Reserve, the ‎Israel Nature ‎and Parks Authority reported Saturday.‎
The INPA said around one-third of the reserve – 75 acres of ‎the 275-acre park – has been reduced to ash, causing ‎untold devastation.‎

Flames raged for hours, fueled by the dry weather ‎conditions. "At first, we couldn't use firefighting ‎aircraft – they would be flying close to the Gaza ‎border and the military forbade it," said INPA ‎inspector Kobi Sofer. ‎

He said rehabilitating the damage caused to the ‎area's flora and fauna would take years.‎

Dozens of greenhouses and fields in the communities ‎near the border sustained fire damage over the ‎weekend as well and local farmers said that at this ‎point, the damage amounted to tens of millions of ‎shekels.‎

Kibbutz Kissufim spokesman Benny Hasson told Israel ‎Hayom that "the government isn't protecting us. ‎We've come to the point where we have no control ‎over our daily routine – they [the Palestinians] ‎control it. ‎ The fires enveloping the kibbutz have caused ‎significant financial damage. The State of Israel ‎has not imposed enough sanctions on the other side ‎to make it stop."‎

Commenting on a suggestion made by the heads of some ‎of the Gaza-vicinity communities, to hire Gazan to ‎work in their fields so as to mitigate their dire ‎economic situation, Hasson ‎said, "How am I supposed ‎to trust people who burn my fields, vandalize their ‎side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, through which ‎vital goods are delivered, and open fire on the ‎Karni crossing, used by Palestinian patients to ‎travel to hospitals?" ‎

Ofer Lieberman, who oversees field crops at Kibbutz ‎Nir Am, said the residents and farmers "are helpless ‎against this phenomenon. We try to minimize the ‎damage caused by the fires, but it's just crazy. It's ‎not just farmland that's being destroyed is the ‎vegetation around us. I hope the state will ‎compensate us for both direct and indirect damages."‎

Danny Ben David, head of the Western Negev Region at ‎the Jewish National Fund, said, "We carry out daily ‎assessments of the damage and it's very frustrating ‎because we have no idea when this [kite campaign] ‎will end, or how. Each one [kite] causes hundreds of ‎thousands of shekels in damages and we deal with ‎dozens of them every day." ‎

The military said it was working on countermeasures ‎against the incendiary kites, with one official ‎saying that drone technology is tested daily against ‎them.‎

"We have the ability to tangle the kites' lines and ‎bring them down where they can't cause any damage," ‎Col. Nadav Livneh, head of the IDF's Testing and ‎Quality Assurance Unit, which is part of the GOC ‎Army Headquarters' Technology Division, told Channel ‎‎12. ‎

‎"When you think of the financial issue, it's not ‎just about the damage to the fields, it's about the ‎trauma caused to the residents of the border-‎adjacent communities. If there is anything we can do ‎to minimize this damage, we'll do it," he said.‎

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