Monday, December 05, 2016
I’m a South African Activist Who Used to Fight Against Israel—Until I Went There
Tshediso Mangope grew up under apartheid and believed that Israel had the same policies. But seeing the country for himself changed his perspective.The Holocaust as a Weapon Against Jews
As a black South African and member of the African National Congress (ANC), I have often heard the accusation that Israel is an apartheid state—and therefore a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has to be based on a single state of Palestine between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. I recently made a trip to Israel and the West Bank in order to understand the issues and the prospects for resolving the conflict.
Traveling through the country encouraged me to reflect upon the suggestions by some sections of the Palestine solidarity movement—particularly those advocating for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel—that it is possible to establish one country between Israel and Palestine based on a “one-state” solution, like the one we established here in South Africa. Though supporters of this solution claim it is democratic, the rejection of a Jewish state is in fact a modern way of institutionalizing anti-Semitic posturing.
First and foremost, my visit to the region confirmed for me that there is no meaningful comparison between the State of Israel and the former apartheid regime in South Africa.
I grew up under apartheid. I saw my parents being humiliated under apartheid. The scars of apartheid still live with us to this day and are strongly embedded in the psychology of my people. Therefore, in considering what a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict involves, I reject both the analysis that Israel practices apartheid and the demand that Israel should be dismantled and replaced with a single state of Palestine.
It appears that those who compare the State of Israel to apartheid South Africa do not understand the fundamentals of apartheid, nor have they experienced it. Let me explain.
What remains of Holocaust memory is now poisoned with even greater ill will and bad faith. Hijacked once again, in the same lifetime, by a sinister movement that trivializes and falsifies the Holocaust even further. On campuses, for example, Students for Justice in Palestine has disrupted Yom HaShoah commemorations, hosted events and rallies that equate Zionism with Nazism, charged Israelis with committing genocide against the Palestinian people, and proclaimed that Israel has turned Gaza into Auschwitz. On both sides of the Atlantic, such twisted, abhorrent thinking is fashionable on university campuses, despite the fact that many of SJP’s intersectional partners would be stoned, beheaded, or burned alive if they lived in Gaza. Israel, meanwhile, remains the only nation in the region that functions as a liberal democracy where an open, pluralistic society enjoys rights nowhere else seen in the Middle East.Ben-Dror Yemini: Fighting anti-Semitism while demonizing Israel?
In so many pernicious ways, this latest misappropriation, this vulgar corruption, is worse than conventional Holocaust denial. The existence of the Holocaust—the reality of its moral indictment of humanity—is not a difficult argument to win. Such claims were mercifully confined to crackpot conventions. They were in the same category as having to prove that there was once an African slave trade, or that the world is round. In such low-budget intellectual battles, the deniers revealed themselves to be nothing but barbarians and baboons.
When it comes to anti-Semitism cloaked in the smug smock of human rights, however, the toxic atmosphere against Zionism makes even the exploitation of the Holocaust fair game so long as it is being directed at delegitimizing the State of Israel—an especially favorite pastime of university and Leftist communities in the West. In such dizzying games of three-card monte, the Holocaust is not a myth, but an operating manual that Israelis are following, with great precision, in their “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians. The fact that the Palestinian population has more than doubled since the Six-Day War becomes only an inconvenient and easily ignorable truth. After all, genocide requires subtraction in the census, not multiplication.
Op-ed: The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, which backs organizations supporting the BDS campaign, is paying the New Israel Fund to research the growth of anti-Semitism on US campuses. This absurdity needs no explanation.
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) has allotted a special grant to the New Israel Fund (NIF) for “research and report on anti-Semitism on US campuses.” I read it and couldn’t believe my eyes.
Let’s put the NIF aside for a moment. The RBF funds bodies that support the BDS campaign, which is at the spearhead of the demonization propaganda against the State of Israel. The style, the lies, the preaching and the brainwashing are similar to the patterns of action of the anti-Jewish campaigns in the 1930s.
There is no need for any research on anyone’s behalf, including the NIF, to know that whoever is exposed to these bodies’ propaganda quickly reaches the conclusion that Israel is a monster which has no right to exist. The heads of the BDS campaign are not trying to be self-righteous. They are saying these things out loud. They are against a two-state solution and in favor of Israel’s destruction. These are the bodies funded by the RBF.
Are these bodies’ activities anti-Semitic? Let’s put the Israeli definitions aside and refer to the US State Department’s definition of anti-Semitism. Well, BDS activists seem to fit almost every segment in that document. It includes, by the way, not just demonization but also double standards, comparing Israel to the Nazis and denying Israel’s right to exist or the Jews’ right for self-determination.
Why Did This Huge Christian Charity Help Hamas?
It shouldn’t have been terribly surprising when an employee of the Christian charity World Vision was charged with funneling money to terrorists. The organization has been on a crusade against Israel for decades.More Youtube censorship of Prager U Videos
World Vision is the largest and most respected Christian humanitarian organization in the world. In homes and churches across the U.S., it is widely known for assisting children and families in need. Their model of encouraging families in the U.S. to sponsor needy children in an impoverished or war-torn country has helped lift millions out of poverty, providing education and hope for the future.
But World Vision’s reputation has now been tarnished by the accusation that one of their leaders was funneling millions of dollars to the terrorist organization, Hamas. The charges are very serious. Mohammad el-Halabi, World Vision’s manager for Gaza, stands accused of funneling as much as $43 million to Hamas over 10 years. Food intended for families and children went to feed Hamas fighters training to attack Israel. Farm equipment was diverted to build terror tunnels.
World Vision’s complicated internal structure has been used in the past to deflect criticism by allowing different national offices to pass blame. But because the accusations include funneling money to terrorists, that structure has magnified World Vision’s problems. Currently, World Vision Australia, World Vision Germany, and others organizations have suspended their support for the work of World Vision in Jerusalem, West Bank, and Gaza. Unsurprisingly, the liability associated with financing terrorism has led to tense questioning from governments as well as banks and other financial institutions.
"This video has been removed for violating YouTube's policy on hate speech."
Update video has been restored
Born to Hate Jews
How do devout Muslims born in the West feel about Jews? How do they feel about Western values in general? Kasim Hafeez, who was raised a devout Muslim in England, explains.
IsraellyCool: WATCH: Israel-Haters ‘If Not Now When’ Protest Breitbart
Mike Cernovich is, for some, a controversial figure. He’s of Jewish descent (as he mentions at one point in this video) but he was a leading figure supporting Trump online. He periscoped live from outside the HQ of Breitbart in Los Angeles yesterday as a group of “Jews and allies” from the BDS friendly If Not Now, When? organisation staged a protest. They called it “Jewish Resistance”.Anti-BDS Legislation Introduced in Nevada
I don’t think anyone reading Israellycool can accuse me of being a white supremacist: it’s pretty clear I don’t think Jews are white for starters. I’m certainly not of the alt-white (as JPF called them) and I don’t think Cernovich is either.
I’m a fan of the Breitbart site, I’ve published there and they’ve linked to Israellycool many times. Their Israel coverage is excellent, fair and far better than any mainstream outlet or news agency. The problem for this crowd of “Jewish Resisters” is that Breitbart doesn’t reflexively condemn “occupation” or “settlers”.
If I have to pick a side, I’m always going to pick a side which doesn’t include this crowd of BDS supporting, anti-Israel Jews. So I’m still feeling good about Trump heading to the White House in January and I’ve got no problem with Bannon.
Nevada Lieutenant Governor Mark Hutchinson and pro-Israel activists introduced a new resolution seeking to counter the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.PreOccupiedTerritory: Man Has Local Shop Make Pro-BDS Shirts To Sell At Guns ‘N’ Roses Tel Aviv Concert (satire)
The proposed Senate Bill 26 will seek to counter the discriminatory environment fostered by the BDS movement, according to the Israeli-American Coalition for Action (IAC for Action), which is promoting the measure. Nevada’s anti-BDS resolution will be similar to others passed by more than a dozen US states in recent years.
“We have a unique opportunity in the coming legislative session to send a powerful message that the hateful and discriminatory environment fostered by BDS has no place in Nevada,” said IAC for Action Chairman Shawn Evenhaim. “The IAC for Action is grateful to Lieutenant Governor Mark Hutchison and the state legislators of Nevada for their courageous leadership on this issue.”
Axl Rose and his bandmates will perform here in seven months, but one area entrepreneur already sees an economic niche that the scheduled concert has opened today: selling fans and concert attendees some locally-sourced T-shirts to protest the ensemble’s visit to Israel instead of adhering to a call to boycott the Jewish State.Times of Israel Adds Information on Palestinian Violence to AFP Story
Activist and businessman Guy Avek, 30, hopes to merge his political orientation with his ability to turn a profit, and has already ordered three hundred shirts with a BDS logo and an assortment of slogans from a Haifa enterprise that offered competitive pricing and delivery. Avek intends to offer the shirts for sale online through a new website and from a Facebook page he plans to set up for the purpose.
“It’s almost the perfect market,” gushed the entrepreneur. “We’re talking about people who definitely have the means to buy a t-shirt, or several, since they’ll be spending upwards of five hundred shekels for each ticket. They clearly have an appreciation for Western culture, which already places them in an elite minority – and as everyone knows, the only elite minority that’s worth anything in this country is the progressive Left. That’s right: jackpot. Admit it, you’re jealous you didn’t think of this yourself first,” he challenged a reporter who gave him a look of skepticism.
Unlike their colleagues at Times of Israel, AFP editors failed to act on calls to amend the article to make clear that the violence which "broke out" was Palestinian.The Portrayal of Palestinian Terrorists
This was the first of two AFP articles within the space of one week which whitewashed Palestinian violence. The second article, which also appeared in Times of Israel ("Fatah picks party officials amid talk of Abbas succession"), refers to "the hugely popular Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison." Nowhere does the article say why Barghouti is serving five life sentences in Israeli prison. Elsewhere, of course, The Times of Israel has reported Barghouti's role in murderous terror attacks.
That the AFP has twice within the last week whitewashed Palestinian terrorism isn't terribly surprising. In a gross conflict of interest, AFP's main West Bank correspondent, Nasser Abu Baker, is the chairman of the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate, a position that he has used to lead a boycott of Israeli journalists, endangering them in the West Bank. He was also one of the 1400 delegates to the Seventh Fatah Congress, which wrapped up yesterday, and he even unsuccessfully campaigned for a seat on the Fatah Revolutionary Council.
An article in the Irish Times about Donald Trump, Jews, and Israel is riddled with lies, which all make sense when you see who the writer is. Lara Marlowe has a history of anti-Israel articles, which HonestReporting has documented.BBC 4’s ‘Storyville’ resurrects an old theme
Trump has made some ambitious statements about making a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, but according to Marlowe, the reason why this would be unlikely to happen is because of Trump’s apparently “ugly portrayal of Palestinian ‘terrorists.’”
This makes you wonder, what does Marlowe think is an appropriate way to portray terrorists? And what portrayal is she referring to anyway? Is it when Trump condemned the “barbaric behavior” of the terrorists who killed a father in front of his family in a drive-by shooting, or stabbed to death a 13 year old girl, Hallel Yafa Ariel, as she slept in her bed? Does Marlowe have a problem with these cold-blooded murderers being called barbaric? Of course she may not even consider them to be terrorists in the first place, as it seems she can only use the word if it’s put in “scare quotes.”
Marlowe claims that promises made by Trump’s Middle East policy advisors to maintain“defensible borders” for Israel are:
code words for the refusal to return to Israel’s 1967 borders [sic], as required by UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338.
On December 4th at 22:00 UK time, ‘Storyville’ will air a film titled “Forever Pure – Football and Racism in Jerusalem” which is described in the synopsis as follows:BBC’s double standards on terrorism highlighted again
“Documentary which follows events at Israel’s most notorious football club. Beitar Jerusalem FC is the most popular team in Israel and the only club in the Premier League never to sign an Arab player. Midway through a season the club’s owner, Russian-Israeli oligarch Arcadi Gaydamak, brought in two Muslim players from Chechnya in a secretive transfer deal that triggered the most racist campaign in Israeli sport and sent the club spiralling out of control.
Forever Pure follows the famous football club through the tumultuous season, as power, money and politics fuel a crisis and shows how racism is destroying both the team and society from within.”
Longtime readers will not be surprised by the BBC’s decision to showcase such an allegation: the actions of a specific group of hooligans at a specific football club have long been employed by various BBC journalists to promote sweeping notions of ‘racist Israel’.
As can be seen above, despite its own guidelines on ‘Language when Reporting Terrorism‘, the BBC was able to accurately and appropriately describe the November 2015 attacks in Paris as acts of terror.Netflix nation? Financial Times stumbles upon the ‘normal’ state of Israel
In contrast, not only do BBC audiences not get to hear the stories of Israeli victims and survivors of attacks but the corporation continues its editorial policy of refraining from using the words ‘terror’, terrorism’ or ‘terrorist’ in its reporting from Israel.
Other Israeli shows featured in the FT article include Loaded, a series about four tech geeks who become millionaires, now being produced for Britain’s Channel Four, False Flag, an espionage thriller picked up last year by Fox, and Fauda, described by Reed as “an edgy, powerful Israeli TV series” that was picked up by Netflix.Neo-Nazi branded Jewish MP a ‘rodent’ and ‘evil money-grabber’
Sadly, such human interest stories about Israel and Israelis are far and few between.
Indeed, the dominance of the ‘conflict Israel’ narrative in the public imagination was touched upon in our 2011 interview with Middle East analyst Jonathan Spyer about his book The Transforming Fire. We asked Spyer about the contrast between the real Israel and “mythical Israel”, what he characterized as “a place of uninterrupted darkness and horror, in which every human interaction is ugly, crude, racist, brutal.” Spyer attributed the popularization of “mythical Israel” to “the sheer volume of copy and programming hostile to Israel which an average consumer of media…in the UK would…be exposed to”, compared to the dearth of depictions of the real state with all its nuance, complexity and even ordinariness.
We’re happy that FT readers were exposed to this little piece of the normal, everyday modern Jewish state those who live here know so well.
A Labour MP was branded a “rodent” and an “evil money-grabber” in a series of repulsive anti-Jewish blogs, a court has heard.Jewish family battles Spain museum over art looted by Nazis
Over four months, Liverpool Wavertree MP Luciana Berger, 35, was allegedly harassed online by Joshua Bonehill-Payne – a “committed proponent of anti-Semitic views”.
The Old Bailey was told that Bonehill-Paine, 23, posted five “hateful and insulting” articles about the woman he blamed for the jailing of a far-right extremist he regarded as a comrade.
Garron Helm was sentenced to four weeks in prison after pleading guilty to sending a malicious communication by tweeting a picture of Ms Berger with a Star of David superimposed on her forehead accompanied by the words “#Hitler was right”.
Prosecutor Philip Stott told jurors that Bonehill-Paine regarded the sentence as “wrongful” and set about targeting Ms Berger afresh.
Mr Stott said: “The common ideology which so stirred Mr Bonehill-Paine is one of fierce anti-Semitism.
“Throughout the articles … Ms Berger is referred to by Mr Bonehill-Paine as, for example, a rodent, as evil, a money-grabber, a dominatrix and responsible for the death of Jesus.
“Repulsive as they may be to you and me, I understand that Mr Bonehill-Paine is not likely to dispute that he made these remarks.”
In the epic, 16-year battle over a priceless painting looted by the Nazis, there is one point on which all sides agree: When Lilly Cassirer and her husband fled Germany ahead of the Holocaust, they surrendered their Camille Pissarro masterpiece in exchange for their lives.US lawmakers look to expand definition of anti-Semitism for schools
The Jewish couple traded the work for the exit visas that allowed them to flee to the safety of England in 1939. When they did so, they set Pissarro’s stunning 1897 oil-on-canvas Paris street scene on an incredible journey of its own.
It was an odyssey that would take “Rue St.-Honore, Apres-Midi, Effet de Pluie” from Germany to the United States, through the hands of several wealthy collectors and prominent art dealers and, finally, to Spain’s Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, where it has resided since 1993.
Since 2000, Lilly Cassirer’s heirs have been trying to get it back.
They may get one of their last best chances Monday when their lawyer, David Boies, argues before a federal appeals court that under state law and international treaties, the painting appraised at more than $30 million belongs to Cassirer’s great-grandchildren.
A bipartisan slate of leading members of the US House of Representatives introduced a bill that would expand how the Department of Education defines anti-Semitism in advising learning institutions on how to identify discrimination.Jenna Jameson reveals ‘massive crush’ on Netanyahu
The bill introduced December 2 by Reps. Peter Roskam, R-Ill, and Ted Deutch, D-Fla, replicates a similar bill passed last week by the Senate, which was sponsored by Sens. Tim Scott, R-SC, and Bob Casey, D-Pa.
The bill has the backing of senior House members, including Reps. Eliot Engel, D-NY, Nita Lowey, D-NY and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla.
The bill expands previous guidelines sent periodically to educational institutions receiving federal funding to define anti-Semitism according to a definition first published by the State Department in 2010.
That bill adopts the European Parliament Working Group on Anti-Semitism’s definition: “Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
Former porn mega-star and recent convert to Judaism Jenna Jameson revealed Sunday that she has a “massive crush” on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, refering to him as “complete badass” in a series of tweets related to Israel.Jenna Jameson flogs David Duke over claim Jews rule porn
Jameson’s tweetstorm began with a post of Netanyahu’s comments on Sunday to the annual Brookings Institution’s Saban Forum for Middle East Policy, and a comment about his budding relationship with US President-elect Donald Trump, whom she has supported for the presidency.
“It’s so apparent Trump and BeBe [sic] are going to be great friends…. I have to admit I have a massive crush on @netanyahu,” she wrote.
In response to a user who then said Netanyahu was “hot,” suggesting it was something in “his voice,” Jameson said: “And the fact that he’s a complete badass,” later adding that his wife Sara was a “very lucky woman.”
Former porn mega-star Jenna Jameson, a recent convert to Judaism, blasted the white supremacist David Duke as an “evil” and “loathsome monster” early Sunday, after he made anti-Semitic comments about her and the porn industry.Hundred-buck wheelchair brings hope to disabled kids
Jameson said she always knew she would face hatred, but accepted it as an inevitable part of being Jewish.
Duke had tweeted that “Jews dominate porn” and then asked why that is acceptable to “Christians.” His tweet included a link to a Times of Israel story on Jameson’s revelation earlier, in a series of tweets about Israel, that she has “a massive crush” on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I guess it is my first welcome to being Jewish and hated for it,” Jameson said in a direct message to a Times of Israel reporter.
“Being targeted was something I knew would come but it still shocked me to be attacked by such an outspoken loathsome monster like David Duke,” she added. But she said racist attacks would not deter her from backing of the Jewish state.
“My support of Israel is undying… if it means being targeted by evil anti-Semites, so be it,” Jameson said.
Millions of disabled people lack minimal mobility as the third world has a shortfall of 20 million chairs to serve them. Children aged five and older sometimes need to crawl to get around, or can’t attend school because of lack of accessibility.Israeli cannabis-based nanotech droplets start US sales
So Pablo Kaplan, who served for almost 30 years as the vice president of Marketing at Keter Plastic, an Israeli manufacturer of plastic household and garden products, decided to come to their aid and set up the Wheelchairs of Hope project. The aim was to produce wheelchairs for disabled children in Third World countries.
After he spent three years working on the project, the first shipment of 250 wheelchairs for children in institutions in Israel and the Palestinian Authority is to be sent this month, with a batch for residents of the refugee camps in Syria soon to follow. Distribution of the wheelchairs is being done through institutions including the Alyn Hospital in Jerusalem and Beit Issie Shapiro in Ra’anana.
Sales based on Israeli startup Lyotropic Delivery Systems (LDS) Biotech‘s nanotechnology have started in the US. The commercial launch of its cannabis-derived compound, which aims to relieve inflammation and pain, was announced earlier this month by LDS and US based company Ananda Scientific at a marijuana business conference held in Las Vegas.‘Godfather’ Co-Star James Caan Tells Facebook Followers: ‘You Gotta Come’ to Israel
LDS’s new cannabis-based technology increases the amount of cannabidiol compound (CBD) absorbed into the bloodstream and is more effective than other available solutions, without a narcotic effect, the company said.
LDS and Ananda Scientific, a privately held Delaware corporation that produces and markets cannabis based products, entered into a licensing agreement in 2015. As part of the accord Ananda gained rights to LDS’s cannabinoid drug delivery nanotechnology for the development of cannabidiol (CBD)-based oral products. Ananda Scientific said it expects the sales of the new product to reach millions of dollars in the US alone within the first year.
The products will be sold over the counter in the US as they are marketed as a nutraceutical product — derived from food sources with extra health benefits — and not as a medication. They are based on a technology developed by Professor Nissim Garti from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and licensed to LDS by Yissum, the technology transfer company of the Hebrew University.
CBD is a non-psychoactive antioxidant extracted from the cannabis plant that is rapidly gaining importance due to its numerous benefits to humans’ overall well-being. Unlike THC, which is the part of the cannabis leaf that makes you high, CBD is a nontoxic, anti-inflammatory substance that is very well tolerated by the body with few side effects, researchers say.
Movie star James Caan, who played Sonny Corleone in the classic 1972 film “The Godfather,” was full of praise for Israel on Thursday, telling followers via a Facebook video clip: “You gotta come here, you just gotta come here.”
Caan, whose parents are Jewish immigrants from Germany, took a five-day trip to the Holy Land with his son in July as a guest of the Ministry of Tourism and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His first stop was the Western Wall, where he lay tefillin (phylacteries), prayed and placed a handwritten note in a crack between the ancient limestones. He also enjoyed a tour of the tunnels that run beneath the Wall and marveled at the ancient construction.
He described his visit to the holy site as surreal, explaining that he had always thought of it “like a prop,” a backdrop shown in movies or on television.
“I was at the Wall and it’s just like — I don’t want to make it too flowery — but it’s just like some magic happens to you…It was really kind of moving,” Caan said.
During the trip, Caan also met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, visited IDF soldiers and taught a master class at the Hebrew University.
“All my life, I’ve always had this passion to come to Israel, but never had the opportunity,” Caan noted. “There was always something inside of me. I couldn’t figure it out.”
For those interested in making the trip, he quipped, “I’ll put it on my credit card.”
