PA TV hostess expresses her "respect and love" for Sbarro's suicide bomber

From Palestinian Media Watch:

Palestinian Authority TV recently interviewed released terrorist Qahira Al-Sa'adi, who drove a suicide bomber to an attack that killed 3 and injured 80 in Jerusalem on March 21, 2002. During the interview, the host chose to send greetings to another terrorist, Ahlam Tamimi, who led a suicide bomber to the Sbarro pizza shop in Jerusalem on August 9, 2001. 15 people were murdered in the attack, 7 of them children, and 130 were injured.

Apparently finding something in common with terrorist Ahlam Tamimi who studied journalism, the PA TV host expressed how Tamimi's choice to study and work in the field of media "increases the respect and love I feel for her":

PA TV host: "We send greetings to the released female prisoner Ahlam Tamimi and to all the female prisoners who were released. I focus here on Ahlam because Ahlam chose a way that increases the respect and love I feel for her. I send greetings to you, dear Ahlam, and to your husband Nizar. Ahlam chose the way of media (i.e., as a journalist), and now hosts a program for prisoners."

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Palestinian Arab propaganda art - at the Israel Museum

Al Quds has an article today about how the Israel Museum is erasing Palestinian (Arab) history in its exhibitions, by either "stealing" archaeological artifacts from Canaanite times or by not mentioning the history of Arabs in the region.

I don't know how accurate the article is, but I looked at the Israel Museum website and found this:

Mona Hatoum

Current Disturbance, 1996

Mona Hatoum, Palestinian, born Beirut 1952, lives in London
Current Disturbance, 1996
Installation: Wood, wire mesh, lightbulbs, computerized dimmer switch, amplifier, four speakers
280 x 550 x 504 cm
Gift of Wendy Silverman, Thomas Schulhof, and Michael Schulhof, in honor of their parents Hannelore and Rudolph Schulhof, New York, to American Friends of the Israel Museum
B98.0017

Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum creates deeply personal and political works relating to the body, the artistic language of Minimalism, and the condition of exile. In Current Disturbance, she used varying electrical current in lightbulbs to generate effects of sight and sound. The bulbs fade on and off randomly and at various levels of intensity. Sometimes the current makes a crackling sound, and at other times a humming. It is like a malfunctioning nerve center in which some of the synapses fail to connect.

In formal terms, the rather pure geometric grid is minimalist; in associative terms, it recalls a prison cell, a camp, territory that is out of bounds. There is no entrance or exit, so viewers can only walk around this closed-off no-man’s-land, an empty inner space that nevertheless implies a human presence or absence. The flickering lights, like hundreds of tiny lighthouses, transmit a message of warning but perhaps also of hope of rescue.

The installation has traveled to museums throughout the world but it is apparently owned by the Israel Museum.

I'm not saying that this isn't art - it looks like a powerful piece, even if it is overtly political and anti-Israel. I would question whether it belongs in this museum at all.

The point is that even the Israel Museum is hosting anti-Israel Palestinian Arab art, so the charge that it erases the PalArab viewpoint is clearly baseless.

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A new entry in the PalArab propaganda dictionary

It is no secret that a major weapon used by the Palestinian Arabs has been to co-opt the English language and use  phrases like "illegal occupation" or "West Bank" or "historic Palestine" or "1967 borders"  that become mainstream even when they are inaccurate or nonsensical. It is also no secret that they have used this weapon to great effect to subtly brainwash the world towards a false narrative and history.

The official PA news agency, WAFA, has used a new phrase dozens of times since last year. They now almost invariably refer to Jews peacefully visiting the Temple Mount as...."Jewish fanatics."

From today's WAFA press release:

Israeli fanatics resumed Monday provocative tours of the yards of al-Aqsa Mosque, an Islamic holy place, in Jerusalem’s Old City, said witnesses.

They said some 40 Israelis toured the compound in small groups under heave police protection.

No contact was reported between the Israelis and Muslim worshippers at the site.

Last week:

The clashes that have occurred almost daily in al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and provoked by Israeli police measures against Arab worshippers and tours by Jewish fanatics continued to dominate the front page headlines in the three Palestinian Arabic dailies on Thursday.

The earliest use of that phrase to describe devout Jews who want to respectfully visit their holiest site that I found was from April 2012, when they transitioned from calling the Jewish visitors "settlers" into calling them "fanatics."

In Arabic, they still refer to them as "settlers," which is equally inaccurate.

The obvious reason for their choice of the word "fanatic" in English is to deflect the idea that Jews have basic human rights to practice their religion. By any reasonable yardstick, Jews should have an (at least) equal rights to visit the Temple Mount as Muslims do. Palestinian Arab leaders, who have perverted the entire field of human rights into something grotesque to serve their own selfish interests, are very sensitive to how that same weapon can be used against them. So they are subtly trying to equate Jews who are peacefully visiting their holiest site with Al Qaeda-type fanatics, implying that these Jews are violent and unstable.

As we've seen in countless videos of Muslims throwing rocks and debris from inside their own "third holiest site," the truth would reveal something quite different.

This use of the phrase is meant to make the West comfortable with the idea of denying Jews their own human rights.

Has Human Rights Watch ever asserted the right of Jews to ascend the Temple Mount? No. In fact, the phrase "Temple Mount " is completely absent from their site; but they refer to Ariel Sharon's visit to the site as if he visited the "Al Aqsa Mosque" - which he didn't - and they called that "provocative."

There's another victory for the Arabs who twist language to eliminate Jewish human rights.

So here we see the birth of another example of how Palestinian Arabs will create and endlessly repeat lying phrases to brainwash the West. So far, they have a very good track record.

This is just one more attempt.

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Follow up on anti-Israel propaganda in Irish schools

Received via email, people you can write to in order to protest the apparent inclusion of anti-Israel propaganda in Irish school curricula that I mentioned recently:

It has been extremely difficult to establish who is actually funding this booklet but it seems, the booklet was funded by the Education for Reconcillation,which is a project run by the CDVEC (now CDETB) who received the money through PEACE III who get their funding from the EU

We must now speak out loudly against this material being used in Irish schools, it clearly is intended to push a one sided agenda onto Irish school children.

The material is available for schools in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland..

It is vital that you speak out now,

Please email the following organisations

Education for Reconciliation info@cdu.cdvec.ie

Chairperson of CDVEC now CDETB, Cllr Paddy Bourke - pbourkelabour@eircom.net

Object to the Chairperson that CDVEC (now CDETB) used public funds to promote one sided anti Israel material for schools. Ask why was Irish and EU tax payers money used to produce such material ? Did he agree with supporting and funding this material produced by CDVEC, Sadaka Ireland and The Centre for Cross Border Studies.

Peace III Programme , (Funded by the Special EU Programmes Body) interreg@seupb.eu

Please object to EU funding being used to promote such one sided partisan material.

The Centre for Cross Border Studies - Mairead Hughes (Finance Officer) m.hughes@qub.ac.uk

Once again object to the material which they produced in conjunction with Sadaka Ireland and CDVEC, Enquire how much money they gave to produce this material ?

Minister for Education - Northern Ireland - John O'Dowd - john.odowd@sinn-fein.ie

Write to express concern that this material will be available for schools across Northern Ireland

Minister for Education - Republic of Ireland - Ruairi Quinn ruairi.quinn@oireachtas.ie

Write to express concern that this material will be available for schools across the Republic of Ireland.

We stress the need to remain polite, It may be worth including in your mails concerns about Roger Waters hardline bias against Israel and antisemitic behaviour.

(h/t Irish4Israel)

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Israel-hating organization creates curriculum for Irish students

Ma'an reports:

Iconic British musician Roger Waters launched an education resource on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Dublin this week, an Irish solidarity group said.

Mr Waters told a packed audience in Dublin that he "wholeheartedly endorsed" a teaching pack entitled 'Palestine & Israel – How will there be a Just Peace?', which was co-produced by Sadaka – the Ireland Palestine Alliance.

The resource is the first curriculum approved teaching module on Israel/Palestine in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and provides a critical analysis of the conflict in a context of human rights.

"I have studied the education pack... and it is extremely well laid out, extremely informative and eloquent in a way that kids will understand," Waters said.

Marie Crawley, chair of Sadaka, said that Waters' endorsement of the pack is "immeasurable in its importance and will be hugely influential with young people around the country as we encourage schools to use this resource."

The home page of Sadaka includes The Map That Lies, just so you know what Irish students are in for.

The curriculum itself pretends to be even-handed. It is pretty much what Israel haters would consider even-handed, without actually subjecting themselves to the opinions of mainstream Israelis.

Here is how the history of the land looks to Sadaka, and now to the Irish school system (p. 16). along with my notes about how literally every timeline event suffers from either huge bias or gigantic omissions.

1897: Growth of Zionist movement - the Basle Declaration (1897) which was agreed at the first Zionist Congress, declared that the main objective of Zionism was the “colonisation of Palestine by Jewish agricultural and industrial workers”.

Nothing about the ancient nations of Israel and Judea. Nothing about the Bible, the Patriarchs, King David, the Temple. Nothing about Jews longing to return to Zion for millennia. But they do take out one sentence of the Zionist Congress that uses the word "colonisation," which sounds a lot like "colonialism" even though they have completely different meanings.

1917: The Balfour Declaration in which Britain stated that they would support a homeland for Jewish people. At this time the population of Palestine was approximately 90% Palestinian and 10% Jewish

No, it was 90% Arab, not "Palestinian." Jews were called Palestinians then, more often than the Arabs were.  This curriculum doesn't mention that. So the Palestine Symphony Orchestra, the Palestine Post, the Palestine Exhibit at the World's Fair all sound, to these students, like they were run by Arabs. They weren't. They were all run by Palestinian Jews. 

1930s: Jewish immigration to Palestine increased greatly after WW1, especially in the 1930s. By the end of the 1930s, Jews made up nearly 30% of the population.

Arab immigration, especially illegal Arab immigration also increased dramatically because of the increased standards of living that the Jews brought. 

Not a word about the Arab rebellion that killed thousands in the 1930s. Nothing about the British methods to stop Arab disturbances, like executions and collective punishments that far exceed anything Israel could ever be accused of doing. In fact, the British Mandate itself is essentially ignored! So are the massacres of Jews by Arabs in 1929 and earlier. 

1942-1945: The Holocaust takes place in Europe: 6 million Jews and up to half a million Roma Gypsies were killed by the Nazis.

The mention of Gypsies seems deliberately included to minimize the goal of the Holocaust - to destroy all Jews in the world. After all, they don't mention homosexuals. 

The Holocaust began before 1942.

Nothing about the British White Paper that limited immigration (to appease Arabs after the 1936-39 revolt) and the hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives lost because they had no safe haven to escape to. This is critical background information and it is ignored.

1945: World War 2 ends

1945-47: Greatly increased Jewish immigration from Europe after WW 2 into Palestine

Immigration that was illegal because the British tried to prevent it, breaking their promises from the Balfour Declaration.

1947: UN partition plan - granting 56% of the area to a Jewish state, even though they only comprised 1/3 of the population and owned less than 6% of the land. Outbreak of war between Israelis and Palestinians.

The White Paper also limited the ability of Jews to buy land, which is why Jews owned so little.

Arabs also privately owned little, perhaps 20% of the land. The false implication is that Arabs owned 94%.

Most of the Jewish state under the UN partition plan was desert.

The Arabs didn't accept partition, and the Palestinian Arabs started massacring Jewish civilians literally hours after the partition plan passed.

For the most part, the war wasn't between Israelis and Palestinians, but between Jews and the Arab states. Most of the Palestinian Arabs fled before seeing any fighting as Arab armies attempted to destroy Israel.

1948: Proclamation of the State of Israel. 750,000 Palestinian refugees fled homes. West Bank and East Jerusalem came under Jordanian control. Gaza Strip came under Egyptian control.

Jordan expelled literally every Jew from its occupied lands, including Jerusalem, where Jews had lived continuously for well over a thousand years. Its annexation of the West Bank was considered illegal by virtually the entire world. 

1948-1951: In 1948 all restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine were lifted. Between 1948 -1951, 700,000 Jews arrived from Europe, including two thirds of the Jews displaced after World War 2.

Not a word about the 800,000 Jews who were expelled or forced to flee Arab countries, as this sham of a curriculum attempts to make Israel look like it is filled with only European Jews. 

Nothing about the founding of the PLO in 1964, about terror attacks before 1967, about the constant state of war between Israel and her neighbors, about the Arab League boycott of Jews (later Israel,) about daily Arab incitement to destroy Israel. 

1967: ‘Six-Day’ War - Israel occupies Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Palestinians in those areas living under military rule. Israel began to build settlements in Palestinian areas.

When exactly did those areas go from being Egyptian/Jordanian to "Palestinian"? A little sleight of hand here.

Nothing about the wave of Palestinian Arab terror against the world in the early 1970s.

Nothing about the Yom Kippur War. Nothing about peace between Israel and Egypt, including Israel giving back some 90% of the land controlled by Israel for peace. Nothing about how Judea and Samaria are the cradle of Jewish civilization. Nothing about how Jews were returning to areas that they lived in a mere 19 years before.

Nothing about the increase of life expectancy and decrease of infant mortality under "occupation." Nothing about how Jews and Arabs coexisted before the first intifada. 

1993: Oslo Accords – Palestinian Authority was created, with limited powers. Israel still occupying West Bank and Gaza.

Nothing about how Arafat spurned the Clinton parameters and chose instead to start a terror war that ended up killing thousands. Not a word about suicide bombings or terrorism - even before the second intifada.

2005: Withdrawal of Israeli settlers from Gaza strip. Israel still controlling all access to area.

Of course, Egypt shares a border with Gaza.

Nothing about rocket attacks from Gaza.

2009: A ban on new Israeli settlements in the West Bank was agreed

A ten month freeze on new construction that was never agreed to be permanent. It was meant to re-start negotiations, and the PLO refused to negotiate until the last minute so they could storm out when the deadline passed.

2010: The ban on Israeli settlements in the West Bank ends. Palestinians now only have access to less than one-third of the West Bank territory.

Nothing about how tens of thousands work in Israel - or in the Jewish communities in the territories.  Nothing about PLO intransigence. 

The rest of the curriculum is just as bad, with highlights of "good Jews" like Jeff Halper and nothing about any Israeli human rights.

The entire coursework is filled with one-sided pseduo-facts and startling omissions that shows it to be simple propaganda masquerading as a school curriculum.

The fact that the Irish school system accepts this sham as legitimate shows how ignorant Europeans are about the facts and how willing they are to accept any anti-Israel narrative.

UPDATE: I made a poster about this, pointing out the irony that a songwriter who rails against "thought control" in the classroom is guilty of exactly that.

UPDATE 2: Israellycool also looked at the curriculum. Besides not mentioning terrorism, the entire pack doesn't mention Hamas once - except in the glossary, which no one would see because it isn't mentioned in the text!

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Video: French diplomat punching IDF soldier in the face (updated)

Over the weekend, there have been accusations that the IDF "manhandled" NGOs and diplomats trying to build an illegal Bedouin village in Area C.

Here is the IDF version of the events:

Yesterday, following an illegal attempt by Palestinians and foreign activists to erect tents in Samaria’s Hemdat area, in the northern Jordan Valley, security personnel responded to the site with the intent to implement a standing Supreme Court Decision. At the site, Palestinian and foreign activists violently objected, throwing stones and striking Israeli security forces. The security personnel contained the violence with riot dispersal means, seized the tents and detained three Palestinians who were the main instigators, forcefully objecting to the activity. Reports that foreign diplomats abused their diplomatic privileges are currently being reviewed and, if required, complaints will be filed with the relevant authorities.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Paul Hirschson, said a formal complaint might be filed with the French over the involvement of French diplomat, Marion Castaing. “If she did participate then a formal complaint will be filed because that is not the way diplomats behave,” he said.

The IDF notes that a PressTV video shows that the French diplomat Marion Fesneau-Castaing actually punching an IDF soldier (0:52) of this video. (UPDATE: Video is gone; excerpt is here.) A colleague actually tries to hold her back.

I turned it into an animated GIF:

This video of the incident, lightly edited, shows that the IDF only acted when it was provoked. Soldiers politely shooed away the activists until they kept pushing past them. It also shows some activists smiling after getting "manhandled" because they wanted it to be caught on camera.



Castaing is seen on the ground (2:45) apparently lying there voluntarily, or as part of a protest; she certainly doesn't appear to be trying to get up and no one is forcing her on the ground. She is seen smiling at around 3:15 after her supposedly terrifying ordeal. Similarly, an activist who ignored IDF orders to stay away from the truck and who was pushed away is grinning at 2:17.

It is all a play, where the Israel-haters know that the IDF won't do anything serious to them and they are hamming it up for the cameras.

UPDATE:  Here's another angle, showing Castaing getting out of the truck at 6:05. It looks like she is hanging onto the IDF and then dropping to the ground; the soldiers seem to be ignoring her as they are looking at the other activists. If the soldiers grabbed her and dragged her out, it was not a very tense scene. Then a minute later, she simply gets up.

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When Israel pays students to post on social media, it's terrible. But what about Turkey?

Last month, the world media breathlessly reported "Students offered grants if they tweet pro-Israeli propaganda." Reaction from the usual suspects was immediate and scathing, as if somehow it sullies the idea of social media to begin with. How dare Israel take advantage of the same tools that every company on the planet is trying to exploit?

Today a story was released that will certainly get no such reactions:

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has launched a massive project to boost the party’s social media presence by hiring over 6,000 new employees for its newly formed social media team, according to daily Star.

Over 900 districts will have its own AKP social media representatives, with a 1,000 staff to be located in Istanbul, 600 in Ankara, and approximately 400 in İzmir.

The team will be responsible for converting AKP sentiments into trending hashtags, Star reported.

The move came soon after the AKP was dealt a clear defeat in social media when Gezi protesters turned websites like Twitter and Facebook into tools for organizing protests, voicing mostly anti-government sentiments.

Do you hear that? It's the sound of a big yawn when someone other than Israel tries to take advantage of Twitter and Facebook.

By the way, there was similar concern when the State of Israel put this infographic on Buzzfeed - even though the article admitted that the UK government also posts on BuzzFeed.

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Ma'an implies mosque preceded Tomb of the Patriarchs

At the end of an article about Arab protests against Jews living in Hebron, Ma'an gives some background, Muslim-propaganda style:

The Israeli military-controlled H2 zone includes the ancient Old City, home of the revered Ibrahimi Mosque -- also split into a synagogue referred to as the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

No, the entire site has been known as Tomb of the Patriarchs for 2000 years before Mohammed was born. The ever-liberal Muslims didn't allow Jews to enter their second-holiest place for hundreds of years.

Then again, Ma'an also says "Settlers in the property have committed frequent acts of violence against local Palestinians since occupying the property, including arson attacks and physical assaults, according to Christian Peacemaker Teams." without mentioning that Arabs have murdered quite a few Jews in Hebron over the years.

Oh, you mean you expected Ma'an to be truthful?

By the way, I couldn't find any video of the protests mentioned in the article. There was a protest in Hebron against American involvement in Syria, though, that was just as large ("dozens."). Why cover one and not the other?

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Anger at Israeli Arabic curriculum saying Solomon built a Temple

From Ma'an:

The director of education in Jerusalem has urged families with schoolchildren in Jerusalem to be aware that at least five Palestinian schools are switching to Israeli education materials.

Sameer Jibril said the Ebin Rushd and Abdulla bin Hussain schools were using Israeli education materials in the seventh and eighth grades. The Sour Baher school is using them for fourth, fifth and sixth grades, and the Ibin Khaldoun school uses it for seventh graders.

An education official told Ma’an that a meeting took place on Thursday in Herzliya near Tel Aviv for Palestinian and Israeli principals and teachers to discuss switching from Palestinian Authority to Israeli curricula.

The Israeli municipality in Jerusalem offered to increase salaries for teachers and principals who agree to implement the plans in their schools, the official said. The proposal would add about 2,000 shekels (about $550) per student enrolled in schools using Israeli curricula.

A teacher who identified himself as Jibril told Ma'an that using Israeli curricula was a "violation" of Palestinian culture and history.

"This step is very dangerous and touches the awareness of Palestinians in Jerusalem in an effort to brainwash them and control them, especially young generations.”

Among the concerns Palestinian teachers have about the materials are maps purporting to depict the state of Israel which include the West Bank and identify Palestinian territory by Jewish Biblical names.

It also includes history lessons about the destruction of a Jewish temple in Jerusalem, which the texts separately identify as the capital of Israel despite an international consensus that the city is occupied.

Another section depicts a conversation between three Arab students who praise Israel's development of Palestinian cities and decide to sing the Israeli national anthem.

Other points of concern include a photograph of the separation wall along with a caption identifying it as Israel's "security fence," and another referring to Israel as a bastion of human rights and democracy.

Sure - much better to brainwash kids by claiming there was no Temple, that Israel is uniquely evil, and that Jerusalem has no importance to Jews.

I asked an Arabic speaker to translate the supposedly offensive passages for me, rather than relying on Ma'an.

"The occupation of Urushalim and the Destruction of the Temple ". It doesn't call Jerusalem "Al Quds" in this case, but it is referring to historic times.

This is the closest one to propaganda, although it is hardly different than one would find in any country's school textbooks:

Dina: The state (Israel) has built and embellished our Arab cities and villages a lot.
Ahmad: And it brought electricity to the schools and shops.
Khaled: And the elderly and the children benefit from Social Security.
Together: Then let's sing the [Israeli National anthem].

Under the section "King Solomon and his works/deeds", there is a sub-section titled "The Building of the Temple ". (See here for some interesting background on how Muslims always accepted that there was a Temple before Al Aqsa mosque.)

Jerusalem is shown on the mas as "Urushalim Al-Quds," something Arabs never call it. The Judean Mountains are referred to as "Judean Mountains " and not as "Jibal Al-Khalil" – "the Hebron Mountains", i.e. the Arab name.

The cover of an Israeli school book titled "Towards Democracy in Israel – Civic Studies" Terrible!

The caption reads: "In the Picture: The Security Fence. Israel built a fence along some parts of its border in order to separate it from its neighbors. This fence is known as the "Security Fence".

The title of the school book: "Living Together in Israel". Horrors!

Title of the section: "Al-Quds – the capital city of Israel "

The Jewish Population
Around 5.5 million Jews live in the State of Israel (2007). Jews lived in this country (The Land of Israel) many years ago, but most of them left after other nations/peoples conquered it, and for many years, the majority of the Jewish people lived in various countries around the world. In these countries they suffered a lot from hatred and discrimination against them and their religion. Throughout all these years, they longed for this country and wanted to return to it. The Jews who began to return to it wanted to establish a state for the Jewish people in it. In 1948, that is around 60 years ago, Israel was established as a Jewish and democratic state. Today, the majority of the people in the state of Israel are Jews, but still many Jews live abroad…

"Tiberias: An ancient Jewish city established around 2000 years ago at the time of the Roman rule. The city is on the shore of 'Buhayrat Tabariyya' (the Arabic name for the 'Sea of Galilee ')."

Seeing what the Palestinian Arabs regard as offensive tells us far more about their intolerance and their own desire to brainwash their kids than about any supposed Israeli hasbara towards schoolchildren.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

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Swedish royalty get conned to pose with anti-Israel keffiyeh

From YNet:

During a tour of Sweden to celebrate 40 years of the reigning royals, King Carl Gustaf and his wife, Queen Sylvia, visited the neighboring area of the city of Sundsvall. There they were approached by a man who identified himself as an Iraqi refugee, and who gifted them with hand made keffiyehs, the traditional Arab scarf, as a thank you for allowing him to start a new life in Sweden. He then asked them to pose for the camera with the scarves.

Unbeknownst to the royal couple, however, the keffiyehs were adorned with an anti-Israeli inscription: "Al Aqsa is ours and is not their temple." This fact that came to light only after the photo was published, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

The pictures caused ripples of reaction throughout Sweden. Pro-Palestinian organizations expressed satisfaction with the support the royal couple showed with regards to the Palestinian right over Jerusalem, while others riled at the fact that the King and Queen—even unwittingly—served as a part of Palestinian propaganda.

"On their visits to various parts of the land, the royal couple meets many people," said Bertil Ternert, spokesperson of the Swedish royal house, to Yedioth Ahronoth. "In this case, the man placed the keffiyehs on the King and Queen so quickly, that there was no possibility to take the scarves off before the couple posed for the camera. Shortly after the photo opportunity the King and Queen took off the keffiyehs. We want to stress that the acceptance of this gift holds no political statement of any kind."

Here is an example of how clueless the EU intelligentsia are.

A Swedish newssite that reported this story can't figure out if the statement "Al Aqsa is ours and is not their temple." They even make it sound like the idea that of a Jewish temple is what is controversial:

Michael Schulz, Associate Professor of Peace and Development Studies at the University of Gothenburg says that there is often strife in the area.

- "Jewish religious nationalists are trying to establish a Jewish temple there, 1990, an offensive that resulted in gunfire and bloodshed," he says.

Even Michael Schulz believes that the text of the shawls is a political / religious slogan.

- It's hard to tell if the message is anti-Jewish or anti-Israeli. Most likely it is a mark against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

Of course. Because the only problems any Muslims have with Jews is "occupation." That's the breadth of understanding of a professor of "peace and development studies."

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Librarians visiting "Palestine" show their ignorance

The entire idea of librarians supporting boycotting Israel is an oxymoron. How can people who are dedicated to acquiring, categorizing and disseminating knowledge even consider boycotting an entire nation of people who are so instrumental in creating that same knowledge?

Yet a group of Israel-hating librarians recently visited "Palestine" to drink up and then regurgitate the lies being fed to them by their propaganda-spewing hosts.

It is remarkable that self-described librarians can write a paragraph like this with a straight face:

We are an independent group of librarians and archivists who traveled to Palestine from June 23 – July 4, 2013. We come from the US, Canada, Sweden, Trinidad & Tobago, and Palestine. We bore witness to the destruction and appropriation of information, and the myriad ways access is denied. We were inspired by the many organizations and individuals we visited who resist settler-colonialism in their daily lives. ... In all our travels and work, we respected the Palestinian civil society call for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel and did not partner with any organization that violates this call. As librarians and archivists, as people who believe in access to information, we affirm that institutional academic and cultural boycotts are appropriate responses to curtailed freedoms and are effective tools for change.

Librarians who voluntarily censor others' opinions are not librarians.

As a result of their indoctrination during their trip, you can see howlers like this on their blog:

[A]bout 25% of Israelis in pre-67 borders are Palestinians, who are “residents” of Israel, but denied citizenship and legally discriminated against, thus it is important to distinguish between Israelis and Israeli Jews...

These librarians are so brainwashed that they believe that there are no Arab citizens of Israel!

If they had bothered to speak to any Israeli, they could have found out that they were taught and then spread lies, which should bother any real librarian. Actually, if they would have bothered to read any books about Israel they would have known that this was nonsense. However, these "knowledge workers" prefer to work without knowledge. Their BDS overlords told them to boycott any books that tell actual truth about Israel.

The group happily posed with drawings of terrorists:

Another photo they proudly took symbolizes the ethnic cleansing of Jews from their homeland (unless the graffiti is referring to the dog breed.)

This photo of theirs shows a map that erases Israel and helpfully enshrines violence with the PFLP logo along with two rifles:

Support for violence? Spreading lies? Romanticizing terrorism? What kind of "librarians" are these, anyway?

Indeed, these "librarians" have no problem violating their own code of ethics:

The core mission of librarians and other information workers is to ensure access to information for all for personal development, education, cultural enrichment, leisure, economic activity and informed participation in and enhancement of democracy....Librarians and other information workers are strictly committed to neutrality and an unbiased stance regarding collection, access and service. They seek to acquire balanced collections, apply fair service policies, avoid allowing personal convictions to hinder the carrying out of their professional duties, combat corruption and seek the highest standards of professional excellence.

One of the leaders of the group, although she didn't participate in this visit, is "Jenna," who wrote many of the blog posts on behalf of the tourists. Librarians for Fairness fills in the details:

Jenna's father, whom we will refer to as Mitch, is one of the most prominent librarians in the world. He is also a former president of the American Library Association. We doubt that anyone would call Mitch an ardent Zionist, or for that matter, a Zionist. But Mitch accepts Israel's right to exist. We believe Mitch to be a fair-minded man...

Mitch communicated to Jenna in December of 2012, during the early planning stages of Librarians and Archivists to Palestine. He asked Jenna if respecting the BDS Movement was a requirement for acceptance in the delegation. Mitch wisely asserted that if it was, that in and of itself would be "oppressive." Well, we in LfF know that supporting the BDS Movement is, indeed, one of the mandates for inclusion in Librarians and Archivists to Palestine. And the BDS Movement (founded by Omar Barghouti, who, ironically, holds a graduate degree from Tel Aviv University) does, in fact, call for the annihilation of Israel. Mitch also expressed his view that the de-legitimization of Israel was "deeply wrong." And he further pointed out that Israeli Arabs are treated a lot better than Jews in Arab lands have been treated, since the 1940's. Moreover, in his criticism of BDS, Mitch noted that he does not see anyone doing a BDS against Saudi Arabia.

Jenna, why haven't you listened more to the wise words of your Abba (Dad)? Jenna, do not your father's admonitions indicate that he may very well feel that Librarians and Archivists to Palestine is more about de-legitimizing Israel, than helping Arab libraries and archives?

The vast majority of real librarians should be ashamed of this group.

(h/t Dan)

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