Mark Goldfeder
@MarkGoldfeder
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Director, National Jewish Advocacy Center
Joined July 2020
My opening testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee at yesterday's hearing on stemming hate crimes in America. There is a problem, and there are solutions: .@SenJudiciaryGOP @JudiciaryDems @official_NJAC.#IHRAshouldbeeasy
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Dear @aoc and other useful idiots who only discover IHL if they think it hurts Israel:. No, Israel's attack did not violate international law, including your newfound darling 'AP II Article 7' rules against booby traps (which I bet you never heard of until today). Here is why:.
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.@amnesty international literally redefined the legal term of genocide to suit their accusation, stripping the term of its actual meaning in the process. The craziest part? They admit this in their report, correctly assuming that most people won't read all the way to p. 101: 🧵.
Amnesty International’s new landmark report concludes that Israeli authorities have committed – and still are committing - genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip. Full report, out now. #EndGazaGenocide
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These are your heroes Israel. My heart swells with pride. On Oct 7, Lieutenant Amichai Reuven did not have a car, so he put on his uniform and ran 8 miles to the front lines of Gaza to defend his people.
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@AOC 1) Communication devices issued by terrorists to terrorists for terrorist purposes do not count as civilian objects. Period.
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Dear @AOC and friends:.You don't understand the first thing about international law, but that doesn't stop you from spreading your ignorance. Here is a quick primer on the Law of Armed Conflict to explain why you and @Ilhan are incredibly, dangerously, wrong as usual:.
The population of Gaza is about 2 million. Nearly half are children. Millions of innocent people cannot be made to pay for Hamas’ horror. Collective punishment is a war crime. So are blockades to food and water. We cannot allow dehumanization to descend into further atrocity.
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@AOC 2) The devices do not fall under any of the categories prohibited in Article 7, paragraph 1. It's ok, I know you have not actually read it, so here you go:.
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Dear President Shafik,. Last week in the @WSJ you made the assertion/excuse that drawing First Amendment lines is "difficult" and no one should expect Universities to know how to do this properly. That is absurd and a complete abdication of your responsibility. Let me explain:.
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Dear @RepRashida,.The Nakba never ended because the Nakba never started. Enough with your falsified Middle East narrative. The modern history of Israel is not lost in the shrouds of time, and there are clear contemporaneous records that give lie to your words. Let me explain:.
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I don’t usually lose myself at a hearing, but people don’t usually spew their antisemitism out loud.
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This is sickening. @Trevornoah Shame on you.
Trevor Noah says he was "angry" at CBS's Tony Dokoupil for saying Coates sounded like an extremist. Noah then compares Gaza to the American Revolution: "If you remove America's history. then it's like, yeah, those people who fought against the British, they were terrorists."
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@AOC 4) Paragraph 3 reminds us that even when permissible any such weapon must be placed "in the close vicinity of a military objective." .I think we can agree, no comment necessary.
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For the record, @RashidaTlaib, the reason people think you support Hezbollah and other terrorist groups is not because you are Arab but rather because you get on Twitter and write things that. well, seem to support Hezbollah and other terrorist groups.
It’s easier to stop sending the Israel government weapons to conduct its genocidal wars than it is to evacuate every American in Lebanon.
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@AOC 3) Paragraph 2 prohibits using booby traps that are specifically designed and constructed to contain explosive material- not modifying a device, especially (see 1 above) if it is a military device.
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With respect, @piersmorgan, Israel did not slaughter anyone. A fire broke out from a nearby strike, the kind of unanticipated tragedy that isn't a war crime under a proportionality analysis. No one wanted this to happen, except of course Hamas. Please don't play into their hands.
The scenes from Rafah overnight are horrific. I’ve defended Israel’s right to defend itself after Oct7, but slaughtering so many innocent people as they cower in a refugee camp is indefensible. Stop this now @netanyahu .
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I don’t care what you think about Tim Walz, the antisemitism around Josh Shapiro was disgusting.
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@AOC @RepAOC @SpencerGuard I feel your hatred might be blinding you. Try and do a little better. And in the meantime, if you don't have anything smart to say, just say nothing.
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Dear @jonstewart, .Your pieces on the @TheDailyShow about the war in Israel are painfully uninformed and they do great damage. You are concerned about civilians and love to repeat headlines about how imprecise Israel is being, but you do not seem to understand the realities of.
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@AOC @RepAOC @SpencerGuard It is because you are an unrepentant antisemite who does not value Jewish life.
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In international law terms, the pager operation is a classic act of sabotage, which is legal under IHL. Those protesting the attack on Hezbollah cell phones would have been crying over bombs placed on Nazi Germany's train tracks.
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@AOC @RepAOC @SpencerGuard But for now, take a step back and just look at the optics. You were silent for almost a year while Hezbollah indiscriminately bombed civilians. (FYI- if you care so much about international issues, they should have been disarmed in 2006 under UN Security Council Resolution 1701).
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@AOC @RepAOC @SpencerGuard I do admire your tenacity- willing to constantly make a fool of yourself on the off chance it might hurt the Jews. (This clip, for example, never gets old).
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Before anyone has a chance to label Israel's response 'disproportionate' let's review the law, in this case Article 8(2)(b)(4) of the Rome Statute:.
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@AOC @RepAOC The same reason you regularly ignore actual experts on warfare like @SpencerGuard and accuse Israel of anything you can google.
Hezbollah Pager Operation. A few personal thoughts.
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@AOC @RepAOC @SpencerGuard As soon as Israel strikes back, in a targeted fashion, you feel the need to respond.
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Dear @SenatorWarnock,.You told the press that you are considering voting in favor of @BernieSanders' hateful resolution which would block arms to Israel as it fights for its existence. Please bear these three important points in mind before you make such a terrible mistake:.
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@amnesty This is not just a failure of factual accuracy; it is a willful misrepresentation of international law.
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In 2021, AOC cried after the United States approved $1 billion in additional funding for Israel's Iron Dome. According to AOC, she wept “at the complete lack of care for the human beings that are impacted by these decisions… at an institution choosing a path of maximum
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For those who were rightfully concerned about Charlottesville- everyday is now Charlottesville. Where are you?.
Breaking: A pro-Palestinian protestor yells at a woman in her apartment in NYC, "Do us a favor, jump out, or I'll go there and push you out.". This is the true face of this movement.
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@amnesty How does Amnesty get around this inconvenient fact? .THEY DON'T. Take a look at p. 101:
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And at long last @JamaalBowmanNY has finally found the exit he was looking for. Shabbat shalom.
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@amnesty What is genocide then, according to Amnesty? Essentially: Trust us, 'we know it when we see it.".
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@amnesty To be clear, the 'report' is utter garbage for hundreds of reasons, but the definitional bait and switch is galling.
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@amnesty Under this standard, no reasonable observer could argue that Israel’s military actions—directed against Hamas, a terrorist organization explicitly dedicated to Israel’s destruction—constitute genocide.
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A quick history lesson for anyone still surprised by UN condemnations: The raid on Entebbe.
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@amnesty "As outlined below, Amnesty International considers this an overly cramped interpretation of international jurisprudence. ".
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To be clear- their response wasn’t no we aren’t actually protesting a cancer center that would be cartoonishly evil. Their response was - this is why we are protesting a cancer center. That is all.
Sloan Kettering accepted a *400 million dollar donation* from billionaire Zionist Ken Griffin, the largest in their history. This was *after* he threatened pro-Palestine student activists at Harvard with revoked job offers. Our medical institutions are not innocent bystanders.
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@amnesty in Bosnia v. Serbia (2007), the ICJ held that genocidal intent must be the only plausible inference drawn from a pattern of conduct.
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Sir. He literally pays the terrorists.
I met with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Abbas in Ramallah today to reiterate U.S. support for reforming the PA and establishing an independent Palestinian state.
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@amnesty For the record, and I kid you not, in a previous report @amnesty literally redefined the word apartheid to make it apply to Israel.
@macklemore Amnesty attempts to avoid that little issue by spending several tortured pages arguing that “race” has no meaning, before introducing a brand-new definition of apartheid that includes some other elements.
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Dear @StephenAtHome .Please make sure that when @RepBowman is on the show you ask him why he called the Hamas rape atrocities lies and propaganda. Thanks.
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@amnesty The court reaffirmed this high bar in Croatia v. Serbia (2015), stating that such intent must be “fully conclusive.”.
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Follow up for those who do not understand why @amnesty's 'justification' for changing the definition of genocide here is both stupid and circular- not to mention invalid:.
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Lots of talk about @AIPAC recently, so let me say this: Even amidst the overt hate we are seeing everyhere, this latest wave of “acceptable” antisemitism, which involves demonizing AIPAC for the heinous crime of participating in the political process, stands out. Here's why:.
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@amnesty Contrast this with Israel, which possesses the military capability to destroy Gaza entirely, in minutes, but has taken extraordinary measures and suffered losses of life to minimize harm to civilians- even as it fights an enemy that deliberately endangers its own people.
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@WSJ Assault and battery, trespassing, vandalism, breaking and entering, destruction of property, harassment and material support of terror, are all examples of unlawful antisemitic behaviors that have happened on campuses in the last few months, and that can and should be regulated.
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@amnesty To understand what genocide actually looks like, take a look at Darfur. In the early 2000s the Sudanese government armed Arab militias to ethnically cleanse all African groups in the region through a campaign of mass murder, rape and persecution based on the victims’ race.
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I am saddened by your selective solidarity, and your silence that speaks volumes.
I am saddened by the news coming from #Lebanon about bombings, death, and destruction. May the international community make every effort to stop this terrible escalation. It is unacceptable. I express my solidarity with the Lebanese people, who have already suffered too much.
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Dear @TheJusticeDept:.Your letter re: the scope of @UNRWA's immunity makes a lot of assumptions. Some are big, some are small, but most are unfortunately wrong. I hope that you correct them because they can have very dangerous consequences. Here, let me explain:.
🚨 JUST IN: Merrick Garland thinks UNRWA employees who murdered Jews on October 7th should be immune from prosecution. Are you freaking kidding me, @TheJusticeDept?
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@amnesty "This includes its unlawful military occupation of the OPT, including Gaza, and the system of apartheid it imposes on Palestinians.".
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@amnesty @netanyahu Today, it is Israel, but if @amnesty's 'definition' of genocide was to be accepted then in the future every democracy that wages war to defend itself against terrorism- or even a more conventional enemy- will face the specter of being labeled genocidal.
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@amnesty Amnesty says that: "Approached holistically, that is contextually and cumulatively, taking into account the entire offensive, including acts that may not be prohibited under the Genocide Convention. a different and much more disturbing picture emerges. It is this broader.
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@amnesty For example, @netanyahu's referencing the biblical commandment to eradicate Amalek is cited as a prima facie example of genocidal intent. Except, of course, that they disregard the previous sentences, in which Netanyahu explicitly said he is referring to “destroying Hamas.”.
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Dear @Femi_Sorry,.I don't know you, and won't automatically call you an antisemite. But what you keep saying is actually a dangerously antisemitic form of victim blaming. Let me explain:.
I'll keep saying this until you people get it. I have absolutely no problem with ONLY platforming the voices of Jewish people who oppose Israel's attacks. Why?. Because the belief that all Jewish people support Israel is the main factor in the recent spike in antisemitism.
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@amnesty @netanyahu Amnesty International’s report does not just distort facts; it weaponizes the language of international law in a way that undermines its credibility. In doing so, it cheapens the real horrors of genocide and places the fundamental right of self-defense in jeopardy.
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@amnesty Even in that case, the United Nations hesitated to formally declare the campaign genocidal- because they said there might have been other motives.
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@WSJ Nor does the First Amendment protect speech that is not to inform or persuade, but to disrupt lawful endeavors- activities like studying in a classroom or a library.
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@WSJ Of course, as you and he both know, private institutions- like Columbia- are generally not bound by the First Amendment anyway, and can restrict certain speech, conduct, and demonstrations, in most cases without triggering any constitutional issues.
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@amnesty @netanyahu Israel’s official stance, repeated ad nauseum by the prime minister, the president, the Defense Minister, and the IDF spokesman — is that this “war is against Hamas – not the people of Gaza.”.
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@WSJ President Shafik, Jewish students have repeatedly told you that they are afraid to show their identity on campus. You are on notice, you have the tools, and the First Amendment is not an impediment or an excuse. Please act accordingly, and please act now.
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@WSJ The First Amendment does not protect someone making true threats, which the Supreme Court in Virginia v. Black defined as “statements where the speaker means to communicate a serious expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group.
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@WSJ First, it is well-settled that the First Amendment does not protect any unlawful conduct.
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@amnesty @netanyahu What is most dangerous about @amnesty's report is not merely its double standard antisemitism, but its implications for international law.
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