Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: BDSFail

Showing posts with label BDSFail. Show all posts

Monday, April 11, 2016

BDSers might say to boycott HP, but Fatah terrorists don't

Hewlett Packard is one of the companies always targeted by Israel-haters, because it does business in Israel and for the IDF.

But one group definitely hasn't joined the boycott: the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades of Fatah.

In a new video showing off their high-tech military skills, masked Fatah terrorists are seen in a room using HP laptops.

So what do self-respecting BDSers do when they find out that their freedom fighters are using the equipment that they demand everyone to boycott?

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Boycott or buy Israel? Your choice! (Poster)

BDS darlings The Pixies wil play in Tel Aviv

One of the rock bands that Israel boycotters love to pretend supports their cause is The Pixies.

For example, this recent Mondoweiss article was critical of a Variety article on BDS because it only mentioned pressure from Israel-haters on that group but nothing about their supposedly making an active decision to support the boycott:

Kamin also references The Pixies’ cancelled performance in Tel Aviv, again citing intimidation as the reason. However, she fails to mention that their cancellation happened in June, 2010—just days after Israel’s horrendously violent response to the peaceful Gaza Flotilla. At that time, The Pixies cancelled their performance, stating that, “events beyond our control have conspired against us.” Nor does she recognize the Israeli fans that support the BDS movement, writing to The Pixies urging them ‘not to cross the international picket line’. Kamin’s omission of these key facts does not give her readers the full picture of events contributing to The Pixies’ cancelation and calls into question her journalistic objectivity.

Now we have a much better idea of whether the Pixies canceled because they support BDS - or because of the pressure given to them by the haters:

Iconic rock bands Soundgarden and Pixies will perform in Israel for the first time in their careers this summer.

The Pixies were supposed to perform in Israel in 2010, but were forced to cancel in the political fallout from the Mavi Marmara raid, in which nine Turkish nationals were killed when the IDF boarded a flotilla heading from Turkey to Gaza.

The Pixies were apologetic but resolute when they called off their 2010 Tel Aviv concert.

At the time, the concert's producers received the following message from the band's management: "The decision (to cancel) was not reached easily, and we all know well the Israeli fans have been waiting for this visit for far too long.

"We'd like to extend our deepest apologies to the fans, but events beyond all our control have conspired against us. We can only hope for better days, in which we will finally present the long awaited visit of the Pixies in Israel."

The Pixies and Soundgarden is a pretty impressive double act.

(h/t Kramerica, Ian)

Cornell BDS group justifies hypocritically using Israeli web technology

Last week, the ZF and I discovered that a number of groups that push boycotts for Israel are using WiX, an Israeli web technology, on their websites.

One of those was Cornell University's "Students for Justice in Palestine." People on Twitter made fun of them for their obvious hypocrisy.

Finally, Cornell SJP came out with a long, nonsensical, convoluted justification for their BDS inconsistency; 1500 words of hilarious attempts to make themselves look a little less idiotic:

BDS is a tactic, not a principle, let alone a call for abstention. The charge that any contact with Israeli products negates the logic of BDS can only be made by people who do not understand what BDS actually is, how it’s worked in the past, or why Palestinian civil society is calling for it now.

The idea that supporters of BDS must avoid contact with anything Israeli not only misconstrues the nature of BDS, but also contorts the idea of politics in general. Politics is about making change in the world, not shying from contamination to keep oneself pure. GWF Hegel explored—and put to rest—the idea of the political subject whose only options were abstention and total withdrawal from action. He called it the “beautiful soul” syndrome. We do not strive to be beautiful souls, and we resist a view of politics that demands total abstention. In the words of Built to Spill, “I don’t like this air / But that doesn’t mean that I’ll stop breathing it.”

Those who call us hypocritical for not adhering to a rigid logic of separation simplistically insinuate that if one believes in boycotting Israel one must do it absolutely and deprive oneself of all the innovative benefits of the “Start-up Nation”; since one is opposed to Israel, one must not be in contact with anything Israeli. This separation in turn supports the misguided idea of two clear “sides” to the conflict. It is a troubling binary: on the one side, Israel, a plucky, can-do Zionist spirit, innovation, technology, modernity; on the other, Palestine, poverty, backwardness, violence.

The entire piece is filled with similar straw men.

So, who's right? Is BDS a call to boycott all Israeli products or not?

Well, let's look at the original 2005 source of the BDS call, from BDSMovement.net:

Boycotts target products and companies (Israeli and international) that profit from the violation of Palestinian rights, as well as Israeli sporting, cultural and academic institutions. Anyone can boycott Israeli goods, simply by making sure that they don’t buy produce made in Israel or by Israeli companies. Campaigners and groups call on consumers not to buy Israeli goods and on businesses not to buy or sell them.

Pretty explicit, isn't it? No nuance, no exceptions for nice web technologies. Nope - a blanket call to boycott Israeli produce and goods and businesses. It is the BDS movement that advocates the "beautiful soul" syndrome, in Hegelian terms (!!!)

Cornell SJP doesn't support BDS as it is officially defined, because - well, because it would be an inconvenience. They like WiX. They want to boycott Israel, but they only want to ban products that they would never use anyway! They are so moral!

Actually, they admit:

Let us be clear: BDS is not abstention, nor an absolute moral principle.

There's an understatement for you!

Sorry, Cornell SJP. All that hand waving and attempts to change the subject in your very funny screed didn't prove that you aren't hypocrites.

Quite the opposite.

#BDSFail: Lots of BDS sites use Israeli web technology!

Wix is an Israeli company that recently went public on NASDAQ. It creates software that makes it easy to create websites.

And the anti-Israel crowd loves it!

Students for Justice in Palestine - Cornell University use it. Also, SJP in Denver. And Houston. And at Loyola.

So does the webpage of the "Museum of the Palestinian Holocaust." And "Palestine Forever." And "It IS Apartheid". Not to mention "Team Palestina."

Who wants to tell them that they better take down all these sites?

(h/t Zionist Federation, which noticed two of these; I found the rest.)

The heroes of Brighton

Thanks to a Hasby Awards nomination from Harvela, I saw this short video showing how many ordinary people come out every Saturday to counterprotest the BDSers in Brighton who are boycotting a Jewish owned shop that happens to sell Sodastream.

There are lots of videos there, definitely worth checking out.

From the #BDSFail Desk (Zvi)

From Zvi:

BDS continues to fail daily. In this edition, BDS fails miserably in Mexico, at CERN, in Cyprus, in Poland, in Germany and in Tanzania. And it might even fail humiliatingly in Norway in the near future; we shall see.

Israel guest of honor at Mexican book fair (Haaretz)

The book fair, known as the FIL (from its Spanish name, Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara), is a major showcase for the literature and culture of the world's Spanish speakers. It's the biggest event of its kind in Latin America, with 1,900 publishers representing 42 countries and thousands more exhibitors.In recent years the fair, which runs through December 8, has attracted an average of 600,000 visitors.Starting in 1993, the fair's organizers have each year honored a different city, state country or culture; honorees have included Quebec (2003), Catalonian culture (2004), Los Angeles (2009) and Germany (2011). Now it's Israel's turn. In addition to the events at the fair itself - including an Israeli film festival, an Israeli culinary fair and a headline event in the main auditorium each evening - Israel-related events will be held throughout the city for the duration of the festival.In explaining their decision to honor Israel this year, the fair's organizers cited Israel's "dynamic and solid" publishing industry, which releases around 7,000 titles in Hebrew each year.

Israel joins CERN (jpost)

Israel will become a full member of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), following the passage of a Knesset bill Monday night giving Israeli researchers at CERN the same rights as diplomats.

Cyprus and Israel sign standardization deal (Cyprus Mail)

German trade union leader opposes WB boycott (Times of Israel)

“As long as I am head of this organization, there will never be a resolution that says ‘Don’t buy from Jews,’ ” said Sommer, 61, chair of the Federation of German Trade Unions, accepting the Arno Lustiger Award at the third annual German-Israel Congress on Sunday.

Poland, Israel sign scientific cooperation agreement (jpost)

Dar es Salam Water and Sewerage Co. signs deal with Israeli water company to curb water losses (The Guardian via IPPMedia)

Norway coalition partner seeks to end arms export ban to Israel (defensenews.com)

The right-wing Høyre Party heads the administration, but the Progress Party (FrP), the conservative Høyre’s junior coalition partner, is pushing to remove Norway’s munitions/weapons ban on Israel as part of a broader policy to support the arms export industry.Høyre has yet to confirm if it is willing to contemplate lifting the ban, having won the recent parliamentary elections on a trade and foreign policy framework that includes fresh measures to expand Norway’s arms exports, but which made no mention of easing arms export restrictions on Israel.

Other News Items

Israel finds germ-killing protein, could yield new antibiotics (haaretz)

A group of Israeli researchers has succeeded in isolating a protein that kills bacteria, in what is a first step toward developing a substitute for antibiotics. The substance isolated by a Tel Aviv University team prevents bacteria from dividing, thus destroying them and combatting infections. “In the future, a new antibiotic can be produced from this protein,” according to the researchers who published their findings on Monday in the journal, “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”

Ahmed Tibi demands that Israel protect Israeli Arabs in Ukraine (jpost)

I'm moderately surprised that Tibi spoke up, but of course he's using it to create an issue with Israeli Jews - claiming that Israeli media, which have in fact published multiple stories about this, are somehow ignoring it because it is about Arabs. Of course, the Israeli Arabs who were interviewed the other day said that both they and Israeli Jews in the area felt threatened. So Tibi and company are basically squeezing multiple hysterical lies into one accusation. They don't keep their lies entirely coordinated, either... .

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein responded that he had contacted the Ukrainian government and was promised that the heads of the national and Odessa district police were investigating the matter.

Israel quietly treats Syria war victims (FT)

Freely visible earlier, but now behind a paywall

Major #BDSFail: APHA overwhelmingly votes against BDS

From BDS Global Digest:

Last night on November 5th 2013, the American Public Health Association (APHA) dealt a huge loss to the BDS campaign after it had extensively propagandized the committee members on Israel’s medical practices towards the Palestinians in occupied territories. For months, BDS activists had gone after members on the APHA committee to convince them to vote in favor of their prestigious organization to boycott Israel and it’s medical practices. The committee held its vote last night, and was overwhelmingly voted against boycotting Israel by 74% compared to 3% [sic, should be 26%] voting in favor of boycott. This loss deals a huge blow to the BDS campaign which has been desperate in searching for wins lately in the campaign to boycott Israel.

I understand that the BDSers brought out Noam Chomsky to speak and push BDS.

Last year they managed to get Angela Davis to give a keynote speech where she made baldfaced lies about Israel.

It is nice to see that professionals can see through the lies.

(h/t DM)

Jordanian band defies BDSers, tours Israel

From the Times of Oman:

This week, a Jordanian band went on a tour that included the Golan Heights, Nazareth, Haifa, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jerusalem. But the popular music group which is rated as one of the top five in the region faced a concerted social media and online attack as having participated in a politically unacceptable act.

The attack focused on the fact that the band members received visas from the Israeli embassy in Amman. They are accused of normalising with the Israelis. Entry into Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, Nazareth or Haifa is not possible without a visa.

The permits issues by the Palestinian Authority in coordination with and after the approval of the Israelis are valid only in West Bank cities like Bethlehem and Ramallah.

The band, Autostrad, identifies itself as "an Ammani world, reggae, funk band from Jordan". Fronted by lead singer Yazan Alrousan, Autostrad was formed in 2007 with guitarist Hamza Arnaout, keyboardist Wisam Qatawneh, bassist Avo Demerjian, saxophonist Bashar Abdelghani and drummer Burhan Ali.

The online and social media campaign was launched by a number of young Jordanians and Palestinians, including some who are citizens of Israel.

In an article published on a number of progressive sites, the writer says the band is welcome to Palestine only after it is liberated. A hashtag with "come after it is liberated" also went viral as attacks against the music group mushroomed.

Autostrad members reject the accusation of normalisation and insist that they are visiting their country upon invitation from credible Palestinian organisations and will sing to Palestinians and Syrians living under Israeli rule.

It's not like Autostrad loves Israel. Quite the contrary:

Arnaout was quoted on a website that getting a visa was the only option available.

"We are Jordanians and Palestinians and this is the only way we have to enter our homeland Palestine and no one can stop us from doing our work."

But this is a big loss for the "Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel" which defined this trip as breaking their rules for normalization.

Even the author of the piece, Daoud Kuttab, criticized PACBI:

After 65 years of Nakbeh and 46 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and Golan Heights, having a group of unelected individuals decide who is a patriot and who is a traitor does not serve the overall cause.

Ray Hanania made a similar point in Saudi Gazette, slamming the haters:

The extremists, who are a minority faction in our Arab community, step in and bully the mainstream Arabs into silence. Arabs are afraid to stand up to the extremists who often direct their hate and anger against Arabs even more than they do against Israel. So the mainstream Arabs remain silent. It’s better to not say anything, the moderates mistakenly conclude, than to stand up to the fanatics.

The week in #BDSFail

From Zvi:

* Amazon opening Tel Aviv office

* El Al launches flights to Venice, Larnaca

* Israeli startups raise $660M in Q3, most since 2000

* Facebook buys Israel's Onavo

* Malta, Israel sign health, medical sciences action plan

"It is with satisfaction that we have signed an action plan with Israel, which is known for its world-class health service, and we will be collaborating with Israel on specialized cases like cancer treatment," the Prime Minister said.

...

Muscat is the first Maltese Prime Minister to visit Israel. Describing it as "well overdue", Muscat said he was very proud to be the first Maltese prime minister to visit Israel.

"We are deeply committed to strengthen Malta's relations with Israel and collaborate together on the key areas relating to both countries," he added.

* Israeli wins Public Speaking competition at World Universities Debating Championships

* Israel, Arab states work together on Iran

"Israel is a steady anchor to quite a few countries who consider it as reliable and standing behind red lines it has set," the [Israeli] source said.

A quiet dig at Obama, there :-)

* The Nigerian president will lead 30,000 pilgrims to Israel, as noted by EOZ.

* Coach of Tunisian tennis player slams order to boycott match with Israel, as noted by EOZ.

* Israel, US profs win 1st Mathematical Neuroscience Prize)

And then there is this.

Israeli student confronts anti-Semitic MP Galloway at Oxford

On Monday, speaking first in Hebrew, Hunter described his family background and identified himself as Israeli.

Galloway said he felt threatened.

Asking Hunter to back off, he said he was “causing a lot of harm.”

This is so incredibly characteristic of Bigotry and Double Standards advocates like Galloway!

Hunter pulled an Israeli flag from his shirt and turned to the MP saying, “I think you did a lot of harm by not speaking to my friend Eylon [Aslan-Levy, the student who had debated with Galloway in February] and not having a constructive dialogue with him” before saying he did not have a question for him “because I don’t debate with racists.”

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, Hunter said that while he recognizes Galloway’s right to free speech and supports constructive dialogue, the MP denies his very existence and is racist to the core.

“Mr. Galloway refuses to recognize my national and civic identity, he denies my cultural existence,” Hunter said. “In essence, like his pals in Hamas, he seeks the destruction of the State of Israel. He is a vile racist of the worst kind.

This is an awesome response. Straight to the heart of the matter in language that the left understands.

I couldn’t just allow him to return to Oxford and pretend as if nothing happened last time. By looking him in the eye, and speaking to him in Hebrew, I wanted to show my fellow students that Galloway’s continuing behavior is completely inexcusable.”

Hunter questioned why such a respected institution had invited Galloway to speak at all.

An excellent question!

“It is truly perverse that for its first event this term, a debating chamber internationally renowned for its love of free speech, invites a man who denies that right to others on the basis of their nationality. Not only is Galloway a racist, but he epitomizes everything the Oxford Union stands against,” he said.

Yes!

Galloway declined to comment or respond to the accusation of racism.

In a visit to the Oxford Union last year, Galloway was confronted by feminist protestors following his comments that the charges brought against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in Sweden do not amount to rape.

Galloway, who famously met with Saddam Hussein in 1994, was expelled from the Labor Party in 2003 for calling former UK prime minister Tony Blair a liar. He has paid homage to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and “the resistance,” supported Syrian President Bashar Assad and donated money and vehicles to Hamas.

And that is the week so far in BDS Land.

Israeli firm will design helmet for F-35 pilots

The best part about this story is that it is being reported by Hezbollah's organ Al Manar:

An Zionist company has been selected to take part in manufacturing hi-tech helmets for pilots of the US F-35 stealth fighter, Zionist Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Sunday.

He said in a statement that Elbit Systems and its US partner Rockwell Collins have been chosen by the Pentagon and F35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin to supply helmets for the next generation of the Joint Strike Fighter, the hi-tech warplane that is supposed to serve as the backbone of future American air power.

Elbit Systems designed the helmet for the fighter.

"The new helmet, which is to be manufactured in the United States, is capable of putting flight data as well as data about weapons systems and intelligence before the pilot's eyes," it said, adding that it would be delivered as standard with every F-35 purchased around the world from 2016.

Al Manar is actually overstating Israel's case a bit; the helmet is a joint venture between Elbit and Rockwell Collins. But it sounds like an amazing technical achievement:

Lockheed said the move amounted to a vote of confidence in the main helmet and efforts to
resolve earlier problems. "To date, more than 100 F-35 pilots have flown more than 6,000 flights and 10,000 hours with the helmet, and their feedback has been very positive," said Lorraine Martin, Lockheed executive vice president and F-35 general manager.

...The Gen 3 helmet will include an improved night vision camera, new liquid-crystal displays, automated alignment and software improvements. The Gen 3 helmet to be introduced to the fleet in low rate initial production Lot 7 in 2016 will meet program requirements to complete test and development in 2017. Rockwell Collins ESA Vision Systems LLC also developed the Gen 2 helmet that F-35 pilots currently use, which will meet the needs for the US Marine Corps to declare Initial Operational Capability in July 2015.

The F-35 HMDS provides pilots with unprecedented situational awareness. All the information that pilots need to complete their missions through all weather, day or night is projected on the helmet’s visor. Additionally, the F-35’s Distributed Aperture System (DAS) streams real-time imagery from six infrared cameras mounted around the aircraft to the helmet, allowing pilots to “look through” the airframe.

Saudis hire BDS target - for Hajj security!

One of the biggest targets of the BDS movement is a huge security conglomerate called G4S. We've discussed before how the pathetic boycotters pretended that the EU Parliament dropped G4S because of their efforts; as usual, they were lying.

Guess who Saudi Arabia hired to provide security for Hajj pilgrims?

From Al Akhbar:

This year, the mandatory Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, or hajj, will compound the Palestinians’ woes. Palestinian pilgrims will be greeted by a company that assists in their repression – and even torture – under the Israeli occupation regime. Indeed, hajj this year will be brought to you by none other than G4S.

This is not the first time that the Saudi government has hired the private security firm, which has recruited a staggering 700,000 to provide hajj-related services this year, according to exclusive information obtained by Al-Akhbar. Most of the leaked reports indicate that security for the hajj season since 2010 has been entrusted to al-Majal G4S, an affiliate of the parent company G4S.

Didn't the BDSers lobby Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations to drop G4S? They know about the huge contracts given, since the G4S website shows that they operate in Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Yemen, Egypt and Morocco.

The article says that BDS tried to complain, but Saudi Arabia obviously didn't give a damn:

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign has not been sitting idly by. In a press conference on Wednesday, October 2, the campaign sent a clear message to the Saudi government, urging it to terminate the contract with the company that happens to provide equipment and security services to protect Israeli settlements, occupation checkpoints, and police facilities. The private security contractor has also been implicated in enabling the torture of administrative detainees in Palestine, including children, according to BDS activist Zaid Shuaibi.

And Saudi Arabia isn't the only one to utterly ignore the European-based BDS movement:

Shuaibi, speaking to Al-Akhbar, said that the BDS campaign contacted the Palestinian Ministry of Economy, being the competent authority in the issue of boycotting settlements, such as the ones serviced by G4S. But according to Shuaibi, “The ministry did not bother to respond or take action to stop the abuse, even as the company violates Palestinian law by continuing to provide services to the settlements.”

Poor BDSers. Not only are Arab nations completely ignoring them, but they can't even get Palestinian Arab leaders to speak to them.

(h/t WarpedMirrorPMB)

Yet another Israeli TV show coming to the US

From Deadline.com:

CBS has given a put pilot commitment to a single-camera comedy executive produced by Greg Berlanti. The project, based on the Israeli series Haverot (Little Mom), will be written by Julie Rottenberg and Elisa Zuritsky who last season adapted another Israeli comedy for CBS, Mother’s Day, which went to pilot starring Debra Messing. The new project revolves around three moms who live in a Brooklyn high-rise help each other stay sane (or try to) as they juggle their friendships, marriages and kids. ...The original series, produced by Yoav Gross Prods. for Channel 10 Israel and distributed globally by Dori Media, was created by Gross, Lital Schwartz, Shay Ben-Atar, and Liat Shavit.

Here's a trailer (with subtitles) for the Israeli version:

Another Israeli show was picked up last week:

“Shkufim” )is based on the story of the assassination in Dubai of a senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, Globes said. “It involves eight ordinary Israelis who wake up one morning and discover that their names, faces, and personal details have been splashed across the world’s media on suspicion of involvement in an international crime. What begins as an apparent case of mistaken identity, escalates into a psychological espionage drama,” the newspaper said. In the Fox series, to be called “False Flag”, the characters will be Americans, rather than Israelis.

Last week Variety discussed how Israeli shows are becoming smash hits on five continents.