Media scorecard on "secret memo" fiasco (updated)

Here is a scorecard on how well different media outlets handled the fake "scoop" of supposed Israeli war plans that were revealed by the egomaniac serial liar and anti-Israel blogger Richard Silverstein:

Media outlet	Quote	Skepticism about story and Silverstein	Grade
Arutz-7	What will an Israeli strike on Iran look like? American blogger Richard Silverstein on Wednesday published what he claimed is an Israeli briefing document outlining Israel’s war plans against Iran.	None	D
Forward	A prominent left-wing blogger has published what is claimed to be an outline of Israel’s attack plan against Iran. Richard Silverstein, on his blog Tikun Olam, has posted a report that is based, according to Silverstein, on a briefing document prepared by the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Silverstein’s blog is known for breaking news banned for publication in Israel due to military censorship.	Finds him very credible with a track record (!)	F
YNet	Any Israeli attack on Iran will open with a "coordinated strike, including an unprecedented cyber-attack which will totally paralyze the Iranian regime and its ability to know what is happening within its borders," American blogger Richard Silverstein wrote Wednesday.	None	D
BBC	Richard Silverstein told the BBC he had been given an internal briefing memo for Israel's eight-member security cabinet, which outlined what the Israeli military would do to prevent Iran developing nuclear weapons.	They did say they couldn't verify, but they gave him an interview	D-
972mag	I don’t doubt that the document is real. I don’t doubt that it came from somewhere inside  the Israeli government. What I doubt is the veracity of Silverstein’s source’s claim that this document is being used to “persuade high-level Israeli officials.”	Believes him completely	F
Christian Science Monitor	Is the document real? It would be a shocking security breach if so, and Silverstein offers no evidence of its accuracy beyond his anonymous sources and his own judgement. But there is plenty of strategic messaging, smoke, and mirrors to go around on Israel's war plans for Iran.	A little skepticism	C-
Business Insider	While the validity of the report is seriously in question, it does outline a rather spectacular 21st century attack....The news of the "leak" is blossoming around the Web, but David Cenciotti at The Aviationist brings his experience to bear on the subject and offers some of the most unique insights that conclude with the likelihood it's all nothing more than speculation.	Some followup, but only at the end	C+
ABC News Radio	A U.S. blogger says he has been given leaked documents by a high-placed Israeli source that detail that country's plan for stopping Iran's rogue nuclear program.	No skepticism	D
Jerusalem Post	The official, meanwhile, dismissed a report on a left-wing, anti-Netanyahu blog called Tikun Olam Wednesday purporting to have "an Israeli briefing document outlining Israel's war plans against Iran." ...One government official said there is "a lot of press speculation out there, and everyone has their 'secret source.' It is not the government's policy to comment on any piece of speculation."	Reasonable doubt but not enough to show the lies	B-

Altogether, the media behaved abysmally. And none of the reports that gave the leak credibility have been updated to reflect the fact that virtually the same text was published as a "what-if" scenario days before Silverstein's posting. Similarly, none followed up with the evidence that Silverstein lied about the story, repeatedly, especially his attempts to claim that the virtually identical forum post was not similar at all to his "source." 

Anyone who reads Silverstein's pathetic excuses knows that he has no credibility. Too bad that the media is unwilling to change their initial enthusiasm for the story - because by choosing to ignore the new information, they show themselves to be hardly more credible than the liar who spread this fantasy around.

If this angers you, you should contact these media outlets and demand to know why they feature stories from  people who are not credible to begin with.

And the lion's share of the blame goes to the BBC, because their publication of the story and interview of the Israel-hater gave cover for many other outlets to run the story themselves, simply by quoting the Beeb.

See also The Algemeiner and Honest Reporting.

UPDATE: Fresh, the forum where the war scenario was first published, writes a withering attack on the Israeli media that fell for this.

Read More

The hilarious tale of the Dick, the Beeb and the "secret Israeli attack plans" (updated)

Richard Silverstein, the anti-Israel blogger who claims to be the constant recipient of super-top-secret information from Israel's intelligence community, had a huge scoop yesterday: Israel's actual war plans against Iran!

In the past few days, I received an Israeli briefing document outlining Israel’s war plans against Iran. The document was passed to me by a high-level Israeli source who received it from an IDF officer. My source, in fact, wrote to me that normally he would not leak this sort of document, but “These are not normal times. I’m afraid Bibi and Barak are dead serious.”

...There will be those who will dispute the authenticity of this document. I’m convinced it is what my source claims, based on his prior track record and the level of specificity offered in the document. It references cities by name and the facilities they contain. It names new weapons systems including one Israel supposedly hasn’t even shared with the U.S.

No, it’s real.

Silverstein pushed his "scoop" mercilessly on Twitter, and the BBC took the bait and even interviewed him.

Let's pretend for a minute that the memo is legitimate. In that case. Silverstein is purposefully revealing Israeli war plans, and those revelations could conceivably put not only Israeli soldiers at risk but also thousands of Israeli civilians.

Luckily, the memo is provably fake.

Here is the beginning of Silverstein's purportedly leaked memo:

The Israeli attack will open with a coordinated strike, including an unprecedented cyber-attack which will totally paralyze the Iranian regime and its ability to know what is happening within its borders. The internet, telephones, radio and television, communications satellites, and fiber optic cables leading to and from critical installations—including underground missile bases at Khorramabad and Isfahan—will be taken out of action. The electrical grid throughout Iran will be paralyzed and transformer stations will absorb severe damage from carbon fiber munitions which are finer than a human hair, causing electrical short circuits whose repair requires their complete removal. This would be a Sisyphean task in light of cluster munitions which would be dropped, some time-delayed and some remote-activated through the use of a satellite signal.

Now, it just so happens that in an Israeli forum called Fresh, four days ago, a remarkably similar post was written anonymously, by someone who says he created a possible scenario for a war with Iran using public sources. Here is my rather poor, Google Translate-assisted translation of the beginning of that scenario:

The Israeli offensive will open with a combined action an unprecedented cyber attack, completely paralyzing the Iranian government's ability to know what's going on in his own country. Internet networks, telephone, radio and television, satellite communications and fiber optic cables leading to important sites - including underground missile bases at Isfahan and Khorramabad - will be found out of action. ... Power grids across Iran would be paralyzed, and transformers for the power grid would suffer serious damage from weapons dissipating carbon fiber smaller than a human hair - creating shorts that to fix them requires removing them physically - a Sisyphean task in light of cluster munitions with a time delay and some remotely operated via satellite signal.

Some scoop - the words were directly taken from a message board!

Even if Silverstein was duped, as he often is, any journalist should know enough to Google a couple of the original Hebrew phrases before publishing such a supposedly important story.

It is hardly a Sisyphean task.

So once again Richard Silverstein is revealed to be a self-aggrandizing, lying fraud who incidentally cares not one whit about endangering thousands of Israeli lives.

And the BBC is found to show essentially zero ability to distinguish fact from fiction in its zeal to push the idea that it is publishing a scoop, disclaimers notwithstanding.

This entire episode should be taught in Journalism 101 classes to teach future reporters exactly what not to do.

(I was also highly amused by a tweet I saw by Mya Guarnieri, another far-left "journalist" whose writings can be seen at +972mag, who wrote "According to @richards1052 [Silverstein's Twitter handle] Bibi has a secret war plan. I trust Richard..." Pretty much anyone who approvingly quotes Silverstein at this point has thrown all objectivity out the window.)

I don't know who originally discovered the Fresh post, but also see Israellycool, The Commentator and Harry's Place  for their takes on this fiasco.

UPDATE: Silverstein is doubling down on his lies, and he has provided us with a "screenshot" of the text he received. He claims that the leaker also leaked it to the Fresh forum and someone there modified it - even though no one at Fresh claimed that this was a secret Israeli memo, rather than that it was an original speculation.

Then Silverstein relies on his audience not knowing Hebrew:

If the hasbarafia were honorable, which is a contradiction in terms, it would compare word for word my translation with the Fresh posting and concede that they are entirely different pieces of writing with the exception of a very small portion.

Well, I just did. Silverstein publishes six paragraphs of text. Paragraphs 1,3,4,5 and 6 are all virtually identical to what he posted. And even a couple of sentences of his paragraph 2 are identical to the Fresh post, although out of order. (Even the font and font size are identical!)

In other words, well over 90% of Silverstein's "scoop" was published previously in Fresh.

Silverstein is a liar. And any media outlet that publishes his pseudo-scoops is irresponsible.

Read More

Is there a lower limit for Israel-haters in academia?

By Petra Marquardt-Bigman

The Spring 2017 edition of Fathom – a journal that offers a lot of interesting material on Israel – includes a review of a book that was published last year under the title “Israel and Palestine: Alternative Perspectives on Statehood.” As this title indicates, the book is yet another attempt to legitimize proposals to do away with the world’s only Jewish state, though it also features contributions by academics who reject the so-called “one-state solution”. According to the Fathom review, the book “originated in a 2011 conference organised by the Political Science Department of Tel Aviv University,” and in view of this information, I was sure that the Richard Silverstein mentioned as one of the contributors couldn’t possibly be the notorious blogger.

Well, I was wrong…

The fact that a contribution by Silverstein was included in the book (Chapter 3: Israel and the Closing of the American Jewish Mind) is unfortunately not criticized in the Fathom review, though it arguably provides a revealing glimpse of the odious company anti-Israel academics keep. Apparently, Silverstein didn’t quite have what it takes to finish his Ph.D. – he says he “studied for a PhD at UC Berkeley”– and while he has dedicated fans among Israel-haters, he has long been known as a zealous propagandist who will use racial slurs against opponents and who loves to come up with bizarre conspiracy theories and imaginary “scoops” that suit his agenda.

 As I’m writing this, I just see a new EoZ post mentioning Silverstein among those who live in a fantasy world where “Israel and ISIS are allies” – and we also learn that Silverstein is now a popular contributor to Russia Insider, where almost 10K readers thought his story about Israel’s imaginary alliance with ISIS was worth sharing… It’s just one of many Silverstein posts that could be entitled with an updated version of the Nazi slogan “The Jews are our misfortune” – as Silverstein’s message is clearly: “The Jewish state is our misfortune.” And it turns out that his message is popular: The widely shared Russia Insider post is recycled from the Middle East Eye, where it also got several thousand social media shares under the title “Ultimate opportunism: The tacit Israeli-Islamic State alliance in Syria,” and it was first published on Silverstein’s own blog under the title: “BREAKING: Former Israeli Defense Minister Confirms Israeli Collaboration with ISIS in Syria,” with the social media counter again showing several thousand shares.

Fake news about Jews behaving badly remain unsurprisingly popular.

While I think a supposedly “academic” book that includes a chapter by a fake-news propagator like Silverstein should not be taken seriously, I am all too aware that advanced academic degrees and prestigious positions don’t necessarily provide protection from irrational views on Israel. Ian S. Lustick, Bess W. Heyman chair in political science and professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, is a good case in point. His chapter on “Sense of the Nakba: Ari Shavit, Baruch and Zionist Claims to Territory” is criticized in the Fathom review as based on a “tendentious view” that seems “odd” and that “would be regarded as absurd if applied in the Americas.”

But there’s more that could be described as “tendentious,” “odd” and “absurd” about Lustick’s views on Israel. As Martin Kramer has pointed out, Lustick insisted in the early 2000s that “that the success of the ‘peace process’ in achieving its aim of two states wasn’t only plausible and possible,” but that it was ultimately “inevitable.” Yet, a decade later, Lustick “reversed his supposedly well-considered, scientifically informed assessment […] without so much as a shrug of acknowledgement” and penned a lengthy New York Times op-ed in favor of a “one-state solution,” asserting that it wouldn’t be “the end of the world” if the world’s only Jewish state ceased to exist and was replaced by “a single state [that] might be the route to eventual Palestinian independence.”

A few weeks after writing this op-ed, Lustick hosted Max Blumenthal to promote his odious screed Goliath, which equates Israel with Nazi Germany. As I have described previously, Lustick highlighted during the event with apparent approval that Blumenthal showed in Goliath that “Israel is not just a little bit fascist, Israel is a lot fascist.” Lustick pointed out that this was the “ultimate delegitimizer” because after World War II, “nothing fascist can even be allowed to survive.” Referring to the biblical story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha, Lustick then proceeded to ask Blumenthal to fancy himself in the position of God in order to decide whether there are enough “good people” in today’s Sodom-like Israel to save it from destruction. Blumenthal, who really didn’t need convincing that Israel as a Jewish state shouldn’t be allowed to survive, asserted that his priority was relieving “the suffering of the indigenous people of Palestine,” which could only be achieved by “external pressure” – as advocated by the BDS (boycotts, divestment and sanctions) movement – on Jewish Israelis in order to force them to choose between emigrating and agreeing to “become indigenized” by accepting Arab dominance in political, cultural and social terms.

After Lustick had encouraged Blumenthal to ponder the question if there were enough “good people” in Sodom-like Israel to save it from destruction, it was hardly surprising that he didn’t object when Blumenthal responded by openly calling for the demise of the Jewish state and a “Juden raus”-policy for those of Israel’s Jews who would be unwilling to “become indigenized” after the hoped-for victory of the BDS movement.

When it comes to the world’s only Jewish state, there is apparently no lower limit in academia: academics with prestigious positions will happily legitimize scribblers like Silverstein and Blumenthal whose only qualification is their intense hate of Israel. 

---

---

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.

Read More

The Sting (updated)

I don't usually spend much time on the anti-Israel blogosphere, but most readers here are probably familiar with  wrong-headed, thin-skinned, and notoriously unreliable blogger Richard Silverstein.

Since last year the Seattle-based blogger has made a career of publishing news items that were censored by the Israeli military. He has made a name of himself more recently by taking unsourced allegations from people who email him and publishing them as scoops from highly-placed sources in the Mossad.Yet no matter how bizarre his claims, he was getting coverage from lazy newspaper reporters for his increasingly fantastical "scoops" (for example, that Israel sent a booby-trapped drone into Lebanon with the sure knowledge that Hezbollah would carry the drone to a highly sensitive indoor spot where the IDF could blow it up.)

Aussie Dave of Israellycool performed a classic sting on Dickie. In one fell swoop, he proved that:

• Silverstein will publish anything that he hopes to be true, with no fact checking whatsoever.
• Silverstein has no moral compunctions about revealing private details of people he hates.
• Silverstein knows nothing about Israeli culture, even though he claims to.
• Silverstein will come up with fanciful conjectures out of thin air - and post them.
• Silverstein is a liar.

Read Aussie Dave's post explaining the sting.  It is a thing of beauty.

And given that it is many hours later and Silverstein still hasn't deleted his post (his usual method when he's been made into a fool) nor admitted he was scammed, so we have also learned that he cannot bring himself to admit  he was wrong.

In my experience, those who cannot admit mistakes are the ones who are the least reliable of all. Hubris and truth do not intersect.

Maybe he thinks it is Purim.

UPDATE: Silverstein finally admitted he was scammed, and is showing righteous indignation - because Aussie Dave used a fake Facebook account. Richard the Moral reported him. After all, it is a violation of Facebook rules! It's OK to defend Hamas, but creating a fake FB account to prove an idiot blogger has no clothes - well, that's going over the line!

You can't make this stuff up. 

Read More

A strange definition of "tikun olam"

Crazed anti-Israel nutcase blogger Richard Silverstein has an exclusive!

The face of the Israeli terror machine may have reared its ugly head again in the world. This time it may have produced yet another massive act of sabotage (Hebrew original) at an IRG missile base west of Teheran. ...

Ynet raises the possibility that it was a deliberate act of sabotage on not just a missile base, but an intelligence facility. Teheran Bureau says the IRG is telling the Iranian media that the incident was not an act of terror, but purely an industrial accident. An Iranian who worked at the base for several months and was interviewed by Iranian media discounted the likelihood of an act of sabotage since security at the base was extremely strict.

However, an Israeli source with extensive senior political and military experience provides an exclusive report that it was the work of the Mossad in collaboration with the MEK.

...[M]y source has never been wrong so far in the reports he’s offered.

Silverstein is so anxious to blame Israel for everything that he was once taken in by an obvious Ha'aretz Purim joke article claiming that advertising messages would be projected onto the Kotel. He is known as a thin-skinned, sloppy, and unreliable blogger.

Nevertheless, YNet is now headlining an article with Silverstein's unsourced allegations!

And from what I hear, Israel's Army Radio mentioned it as well.

Not to mention Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad mouthpiece Palestine Today.

Now, from the beginning of this story, everyone recognized that it was entirely possible that Israel or other Western intelligence agencies were behind this explosion. I'm hardly an expert and I noted that as well.

But one of the features of espionage is plausible deniability.

Last week, on numerous occasions, Iran threatened to send hundreds of missiles to Israeli targets if it was attacked, or even if it was threatened with an attack.

Silverstein names his blog "Tikun Olam" in a bizarre attempt to pretend that somehow his unhinged and hateful postings help "repair the world." (By the way, along with most Jews who know nothing about Judaism, Silverstein's concept of "tikkun olam" is far from what the phrase actually means.)

If Iran becomes convinced that Israel has just attacked its missile facility, it will consider an avalanche of missiles aimed at Israel to be a response, not an attack.

So Silverstein, hiding his hate for Israel behind a misunderstood concept  of "repairing the world," has no problem with doing his part to help bring war. And if quoting some random Israeli who makes him feel important by even talking to him is the method to do that, then, no problem. (Every real reporter would require corroboration from a second source before publishing something this incendiary.)

Since Silverstein's entire blogging career has always been more about boosting his immense-but-fragile ego and fueling his intense hate of Israel than anything remotely positive, Silverstein can be counted upon as not giving a damn if he just helped edge the region - and possibly the world - towards war.

That's the "tikun olam" of fools.

(h/t CAMERA)

Read More

"Shallow thought processes"

One of the more frustrating sites in the JBlogosphere is the idealistically and wrongfully named Tikun Olam. I don't spend much time there because the blog author is far left wing and his talking points are pretty much identical to those of Saeb Erekat. The only difference is that Erekat knows he is a baldfaced liar, and Richard Silverstein is probably just excessively naive.

Unfortunately, people like Erekat get strengthened by fantasists like Silverstein. Equally unfortunately, people like Silverstein cannot seem to ever find anything good to say about Israel - plenty of attacks and nothing but silence and tacit support for terrorist supporters in the territories. (As I said, I don't read most of his stuff, but the representative sampling I've seen seems to bear this out.)

This morning he posted an article from Haaretz that mentioned that the Atamna family in Gaza, who lost 18 members in the accident last week, are not seeking revenge and do not wish such a tragedy on anyone, including Jews. This is certainly admirable and welcome.

Unfortunately, Silverstein's spin on this is so wrongheaded as to expose his complete inability to see reality. Once again we see partisanship trumping clear thinking. Although perhaps I am not the exact type of person he is referring to in his posting, I am going to respond as if I am:

The Arab haters who frequent this site are fond of throwing around cliches and racist prejudice about Arab religious and cultural attitudes. According to the haters, Arabs are bloodthirsty for revenge against Israel. They are certainly liars and totally untrustworthy. Even when Arabs say something conciliatory they are only saying it for the benefit of western media.

Well, this passage will throw a wrench in the works of those shallow thought processes of theirs. A Haaretz reporter visited the Atamnas family, which lost 18 members to errant IDF shells which killed them as they lay sleeping. The victims must be crying blood curdling calls for revenge, right? Hardly.

[Ha'aretz quote follows]

Does Israel deserve such empathy especially from victims who have suffered so much due to the unconscionable mistakes of an incompetent IDF? I only applaud the victims for being able to muster such humanity in the face of such horrid brutality.

Perhaps, one day the IDF will become the kind of fighting force that does not make such mistakes, or if it does it confronts the mistake directly and honestly. And perhaps someday when it makes one of these mistakes it will actually do everything in its power to ensure it is never made again. Can we really believe that the current IDF will not make this mistake again next week, next month or next year?

The first two paragraphs are one huge strawman. Generalize something about your opponents, make a sweeping statement that you attribute to them, and then find a single counterexample to win an argument that never occurred. On this blog at least I have been careful to distinguish between the Palestinian Arab people and their destructive "leaders."

Incidentally, so did Ariel Sharon even in his most hawkish days.

Not to say that the PalArabs have not been criticized by this blog as well - they have, often, when their collective actions or polls have shown support for terror - but I do not stereotype them beyond my usual oanalysis of their psyche as a whole. But unlike Silverstein, I do not use a single example to prove my point.

And isn't it a teensy bit intellectually dishonest to point to a single example of a Palestinian Arab family not calling for revenge when "tens of thousands" did call for revenge?

And does Silverstein think for a moment that even the quote from the Atamna family was ever printed in the Arabic press? In my travels through the auto-translated Palestinian Arab news sites, I have yet to see anything remotely resembling that quote or that sentiment. The hate for Israel is systemic, endemic and all-permeating.

But judging from his next paragraph, perhaps he shares that viewpoint.

He goes into his "Israel is evil" mode that is so heartbreaking to read from someone who should know better. To imply that Jews do not deserve any sympathy from Arabs is astonishingly sick from someone who claims to be trying to "repair the world."

To say that the IDF, which is arguably the most moral army in the history of the world, is "incompetent" for making a mistake is simply slanderous. Especially in the light of its immediate reaction and investigation, which he purposefully ignores in his next paragraph.

I would love for Silverstein to show me an example of any army or any nation that acts more responsibly or morally from his perspective. Because the fact is, when Israel's enemies compare Israel and only Israel to an impossible standard of perfection and ignore the crimes of every other nation on Earth, it is a form of anti-semitism. I don't consider Silverstein an anti-semite, but what's his excuse?

He accuses others of "shallow thought processes" but it is apparent that these words refer much more accurately to his own. I hope one day he wakes up and becomes interested in being part of a true Tikun Olam. And any solution, if one even exists, has to take reality into account, not just extreme wishful thinking.

Read More

08/24 Links Pt2: Russian 'documentary' claims Jews behind Titanic, Chernobyl and 9/11; BDS encounters a fight in Europe

From Ian:

---

Anniversary of 1929 Hebron Massacre and Ethnic Cleansing of Jews

Hebron is a hot spot in many ways. Hebron and its immediately surrounding Arab areas are the single largest source of terror attacks during the so-called Knife or Stabbing Intifada.
It’s also a place where anti-Zionist and left-wing “liberal Zionist” American Jews love to gather to protest the Jewish “settlers” who live in a tiny section of the city. That section is under Israeli military control by agreement with the Palestinian Authority, with good reason. Hebron has a long history of violence directed at Jews.
Hebron also is the place of the Cave of the Patriarchs, which I visited in 2015.
Hebron had one of if not the oldest continuous Jewish communities in the world, dating back several hundred years at least. Until 1929.
On August 23, 1929, the Arabs attacked the Jews of Hebron along with numerous other Jewish communities.
But in Hebron it was particularly vicious. It was a blood frenzy in which the Jews were set upon with particular glee and slaughtered with knives, machetes and anything else available.

David Collier: HGSS, Jewish News and Yachad, shutting the mouths of the London Zionists

A Jewish newspaper in the UK smears a Zionist movement in a badly researched hatchet job, a London synagogue bows down to pressure and cancels a Zionist event. A scene from an antisemitic horror movie? No, this is the actual state of affairs ofJewish London in 2016. Read on for a Beyond the Great Divide exclusive:
Questions now need to be asked about just where British Jewry is heading. Are the ‘red fascists’ taking hold in our community?Background
Over the last few months, I have received several invitations from grassroots activist group ‘Campaign 4 Truth‘. Some of the speakers have been impressive. ‘Campaign 4 Truth’ are unashamedly Zionist. I only wish more of our established ewish community bodies could take a page from some of the grassroots groups and proudly wave the Israeli flag.
One of the more recent invites was for an event with an Israeli organisation called ‘Im Tirtzu’ that was due to take place on September 11th. It was scheduled to be held at HGSS, the ‘orthodox’ ‘United’ Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue.
Im Tirtzu
Like many of the groups currently campaigning against the delegitimisation of Israel, ‘Im Tirtzu’ are not without their critics. Just a few months ago, a horrendous name and shame campaign backfired badly, and brought criticism against ‘Im Tirtzu’ from across the political spectrum. The main focus of ‘Im Tirtzu’s’ campaigns are the NGO’s that sit to the very left of the Israeli political spectrum. Groups that are now under the microscope, such as B’tselem, Breaking the Silence and more importantly the donors that enable the activities of these groups. In the opening paragraph on the Wiki page for ‘Im Tirtzu’, it says this:
“Im Tirtzu is mostly known for its campaign against the New Israel Fund, foreign government-funded NGOs, and alleged bias in university curriculum”.
No surprise then that the Chief Executive of the New Israel Fund, Adam Ognall, appears to be a primary source for the article in the Jewish News.

Russian 'documentary' claims Jews behind Titanic, Chernobyl and 9/11

A documentary recently aired on a Russian television station with a potential reach of 100 million viewers laid blame for some of history's greatest calamities at the feet of the Jews.
According to The Jewish Chronicle, the short film, which aired on Russia's REN TV, claimed that Jews were behind the sinking of the Titanic, the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl and the September 11 terror attacks.
The new version of the documentary was updated from a 2012 broadcast which had claimed that 300 Jews, Illuminati and Freemasons had plotted to sink the Titanic in order to sow chaos and conquer the world.
The updated broadcast aired on the private network added the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union to the conspiracy, along with 9/11 and Chernobyl.
Russia's Ministry of Education and Science has previously condemned REN TV's "documentaries" as "the most harmful pseudoscientific project (for spreading of myths, delusions and superstitions)," according to the Chronicle.

Read More

The bizarre conspiracy theories of the anti-Israel Left

A nice piece at False Dichotomies by Alex Stein:

The best – and kindest – way to describe Richard Silverstein is that he’s silly. Very silly indeed. He sincerely believes that his blog makes an important contribution to world peace, so important that he regularly asks readers to give him money. After a frustrating first few years as a blogger, while he tried to find a bigger audience, most respectable publications realised that he was silly and wouldn’t have anything to do with him. Then he realised that he could reinvent himself as a ‘whistle-blower’,publishing stories that wouldn’t pass the Israeli military censors. This got him the attention he craved, including one or two profiles in the Israeli media. Some of his exposes were accurate; many were not. In assessing his sources, he seems to go by the principle that if it seems to be bad for Israel then it must be true. Needless to say, this isn’t necessarily the way to go if you want to be taken seriously.

Earlier today, in a report that someone with Silverstein’s prose might describe as ‘breathless’, he declared: “An exclusive report from a confidential highly-placed Israeli source says that a booby-tapped drone crashed and exploded at the top-secret Israeli airbase Sdot Micha.” According to this ‘confidential highly-placed source’, the drone was probably sent by Hizbollah/Iran, and the mainstream media reports (that it was an Israeli drone which malfunctioned) were a cover-up.

Over at +972, Dimi Reider convincingly demolishes Silverstein’s claims. His analysis seems reasonable. But he doesn’t stop there. The obvious conclusion is that Silverstein can’t be trusted (those who want to point out that he sometimes gets it right should be reminded that even a broken clock is correct twice a day), but Reider says he has unwittingly played into the IDF’s hands. “But the real question is: who would have us believe this highly improbably hypothesis is true? Iran is mostly trying to avoid escalation [by reassuring Israel that it is perfectly comfortable with its existence - Alex]. Why it would give Israel a perfect casus belli by launching such a blatant military attack, which causes no significant damage, is beyond me; but I can well imagine plenty of people within the IDF who would dearly like a casus belli to bolster their case for an attack on Iran. If I were Richard, I would be extremely suspicious of any information – especially uncorroborated information – that helps the pro-war camp in Israel. Not to mention that the source might be acting in good faith, but is being hoodwinked by his own sources within the system.”

Now, Dimi is far more intelligent than most of the folk out there who oppose Jewish statehood, and he’s certainly far more intelligent than the man with no sense of irony who calls his blog Tikun Olam. He must know that Silverstein’s a bit of a dupe. But here his world-view has forced him into some ludicrous contortions, especially now that Israeli footage of the drone proves that it was indeed Israeli. If the IDF wanted us to believe that Iran/Hizbollah had crashed a drone in Israel, why wouldn’t it just say so? Why would it bother coming up with a plausible – and verifiable – story about an Israeli drone malfunctioning? Why would it choose to use a consistently inaccurate and possibly unhinged blogger to try to convince the world that Iran was attacking Israel? Has he heard of Occam’s Razor?

The only conclusion to be drawn from this episode is that Richard Silverstein shouldn’t be taken seriously. But then most of us knew that a long time ago.

See also Israellycool.

(h/t Sylvia)

Read More

10/26 Links Pt2: Phillips: How the West has created antisemitism denial; Glick: What was Rabin’s legacy?; Liberation, Not Colonization, Motivated the Creation of the Jewish State

From Ian:

---

Melanie Phillips: How the West has created antisemitism denial

Among Democrats, it is commonplace to compare US President Donald Trump to Hitler and the Republicans to Nazis.

Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price produced an ad for the mid-term Congressional elections next month in which he compared Trump to Hitler.

On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Democratic Representative Yvette Clarke stood in front of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Manhattan and declared: “We are standing in front of a building that has become the headquarters for the Gestapo of the United States of America.”

Even Jewish Democrats are guilty of this. Democratic Representative Stephen Cohen was forced to apologize after he likened the Republicans’ promotion of healthcare policy to the propaganda of Hitler’s henchman Joseph Goebbels.

If everyone’s a Nazi, the real Nazis stop being uniquely evil. They become instead Everyman. Thus the Holocaust is traduced, bad people get a free pass and the innocent are demonized.

The impulse behind Holocaust education and memorializing was noble and understandable. But it missed something crucial.

This was the need to teach the world about Jewish history in both the land of Israel and the Diaspora; to teach the world what it has done to the Jews over the course of recorded time; to teach the world how Judaism itself embodies a unique and unbreakable connection between the people, the religion and the land.

Judaism lies at the heart of western values. Yet it has been misrepresented and demonized by Christianity, Islam and secularism. It is that continuing ignorance and bigotry over Judaism itself which fuels the demonization of Israel, the misreading of the Holocaust and the return of open antisemitism.

In a culture framed by Holocaust memorializing, the West has itself become the avatar of antisemitism denial.

Caroline Glick: What was Rabin’s legacy?

In his speech before the Knesset, Rabin detailed his view of where things would lead. He did not believe that the end result of the Oslo process would be the establishment of a Palestinian state, much less a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital in control of all or the vast majority of the land in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

Rabin not only opposed any compromise on sole Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem: He called for extending Israeli sovereignty to Ma’aleh Adumim and Givat Ze’ev, two major Israeli communities in Judea just north of the city.

He also called for extending Israeli sovereignty to Gush Etzion and other major Israeli communities south of Jerusalem, and for building settlement blocs throughout Judea and Samaria. He committed to take no action to curtail the expansion of Israeli communities, and specifically ruled out any construction freeze in those communities throughout the interim period. He also praised the Israeli communities in Gaza, signaling strongly that they would never be forsaken.

Rabin said that Israel’s eastern border would remain the Jordan Valley in perpetuity and defined the frontier in the broadest possible terms.

In short, depending on how you interpret his phrasing, Rabin was either expressing his support for Netanyahu’s vision of a demilitarized Palestinian state, or for Education Minister Naftali Bennett’s plan to apply Israeli sovereignty to all of Area C.

Either way, Rabin’s actual vision tells us something important about how the Left’s draconian restrictions on freedom of speech have harmed Israel. By shunting aside what Rabin actually stood for, and reinventing him as a leftist ideologue, the Left has cheapened and distorted the true significance of what he stood for while preventing Israel from correcting his mistakes and building on his successes.

Liberation, Not Colonization, Motivated the Creation of the Jewish State

If your child came home from college and said she was challenged by a classmate who claimed that Palestine is Arab land stolen by the Jews, could you provide her with a response?

For the 400 years before World War I, Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire, so it was owned by the Turks, not by the Arabs, let alone by the Arabs of Palestine. There was never a country called Palestine ruled by its own Arab inhabitants.

The original Zionists came to Palestine without the backing of any imperialist or colonialist power. They bought the land on which they settled.

Colonialism didn't bring Britain to Palestine. It conquered the land in World War I not from the Arabs but from Turkey, which had joined Britain's enemies in the war. The Arabs in Palestine fought for Turkey against Britain. The land was enemy territory.

Supporting Zionism appealed to Prime Minister David Lloyd George, Lord Balfour and other officials not just on strategic grounds, but also for moral reasons. They sympathized with the Jewish national cause. Zionism was an answer to the historical Jewish question, a way to remedy some of the harm shamefully done to the Jewish people over history.

And it would give Jews an opportunity to normalize their place in the world, by building up a national center and a refuge, a country in their ancient homeland where they could become the majority and enjoy self-determination as a people.

In 1919, the first Palestinian Congress declared that Palestine had never been divided from Syria and that Palestinians and Syrians were one people. Palestine's Arabs were not viewed by their own leaders as a separate nation.

Read More

10/18 Links Pt2: Why Israel Can't Trust UN for Protection, Hecklers Flee Israeli Speaker

From Ian:

---

Why Israel Can't Trust UN for Protection

The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA), a pre-eminent Israeli think tank, has produced and published a historical/topographic video explaining the basis for Israel's rejection of the idea that international peace-keeping troops can be introduced into Judea and Samaria, to offer Israel protection if it withdraws its forces in a "peace treaty."
The Jerusalem Center is headed by Israel's former ambassador to the UN, Dore Gold, who has been a long-time security advisor to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Hecklers Flee Israeli Speaker at U of Florida

“You think the IDF kills children? You should go to Syria, where everyone knows they are murdering thousands of children with gas and other cruel weapons! Go to Syria where there are actually thousands of real refugees. They need you to demonstrate in Syria, go!” Berko lectured the SJP hecklers.
And with that, the hecklers left the room and Berko continued her lecture. The people who came to hear about what could possibly motivate women and children (that’s the “smart bomb” Berko means) to want to kill themselves were able to hear from her first hand observations and watch video clips of many who attempted to be smart bombs.

'Stop Being Afraid'

At one point, Galloway can be heard saying that he felt "threatened" and demanded to known what Hunter was hiding under his sweater - at which point the 19 year-old student pulls out an Israeli flag, to Galloway's obvious bemusement.
Before being escorted out by security, Hunter parodied Galloway's own remarks to Aslan-Levy that "I don't debate with Israelis," by declaring: "I do not have a question for you, because I do not debate with racists," before unfurling the Israeli flag and making his exit, to applause from members of the audience.
In an exclusive interview with Arutz Sheva, Hunter explains why he decided not to stay silent - and relays an important message to British Jewry and fellow pro-Israel activists.

Comedy Half Hour: BDSers confounded in Oxford Street (video)

A young man of unmistakable Middle Eastern appearance approaches a gaggle of bourgeois-looking BDSers on Oxford Street who are protesting SodaStream outside the John Lewis department store.
One of the protesters hands him a leaflet. After all, the young man's sure to be receptive to material demonising the Zionist Entity, right?
Wrong! The young man in question, from Iraq and of mixed Iraqi and Iranian parentage, is in fact a staunch and well-informed supporter of Israel, and superbly capable of challenging the BDSers' nonsense (in which that infamous set of Four Maps plays its mute mendacious part).

The ultimate in Muslim victimhood mythology: 'they were victims of the Nazis, just like Jews were'

There can be no ambiguity in what the artist is claiming here: Jews, gays, and ... Muslims (dressed in concentration camp outfits) were equal victims of the Nazi holocaust. The myth of Muslim victimhood and 'Islamaphobia' is one that is now constantly pushed not just by the Muslim Brotherhood, but even more so by their useful idiot leftist allies, like the 'guerilla artist' here. To cast Muslims as equal victims when they were actually among the most enthusiastic participants in the Nazi persecution of Jews takes the myth of Muslim victimhood to a whole new level; and as with most Muslim propaganda it is a perfect inversion of reality.

Yerushalayim, Jerusalem, or al-Quds?

Well, maybe we should call Yerushalayim “al-Quds.” Why not? Western liberal Jews have so capitulated to the “Palestinian narrative” that they think within terms created by the enemies of Israel. That is, most western liberal Jews have, over the years, adopted the language that the enemies of the Jewish people use to describe the alleged atrocity which is the existence of the Jewish state..
This is what I refer to as the Palestinian Colonization of the Jewish Mind. It is the unconscious embrace of terminology developed by the enemies of the Jewish people that suggests Jewish guilt and aggression in stark contrast to supposed “Palestinian” innocence and victim-hood.

Family of Girl Hurt by Terrorist Gives Thanks

Two weeks ago, nine-year-old Noam Glick was attacked by a terrorist as she played on the balcony of her family home in Psagot, north of Jerusalem. On Thursday, her family gave thanks for her survival with a celebration.
Among those who came to celebrate with the family were Members of Knesset Yariv Levin (Likud Beyteinu) and Orit Struk (Bayit Yehudi/Jewish Home), both members of the Knesset’s Land of Israel Lobby.

Jordanian Minister: No Israeli Flag on Temple Mount

Hael Abd-el Hafiz Daud, the Jordanian Minister for Sacred Properties and Islamic Holy Sites, warned this week of unspecified diplomatic consequences to the fact that the “Israeli occupation” allows “settlers” to enter the area of the Al Aqsa Mosque and hold up the Israeli flag. This happened, he accused, with the protection of Israeli security forces, who prevented faithful Muslims and Waqf guards from taking the flag down.

Revealed: How Richard Silverstein was duped again by a phony “source”

Richard Silverstein not only devotes his blog to smearing the Jewish state – while defending even the most openly malevolent extremists – but routinely spreads wild claims and, at times, false information under the veneer of promoting “liberal” values and social justice.
The strange phenomenon of mainstream media sites taking Silverstein’s rumor mill seriously was best summed up by the following cheeky Twitterer back when the BBC cited Silverstein’s “scoop” about Israel’s “secret” Iran attack plans.

Analysis: Turkey's unprecedented act of betrayal against Israel

This strategic alliance is manifest in the biannual meetings between the heads of Mossad and MIT and between intelligence analysts and experts on both sides. The two countries’ relationship is characterized by frequent exchanges of information about common enemies and adversaries in the region, including Iraq, Syria and post-Islamic Iran.
Even during the most tense periods in relations between the two countries, intelligence ties remained intact, even if they did cool somewhat. While intelligence work is often interest-driven and unsentimental by its nature, there are still unwritten rules of conduct that govern relationships.
If it is indeed guilty of blowing the cover off of the Israeli spy network, then Turkey blatantly violated these codes.

'Turkish exposure of Israeli spies directed at Kurdish nationalists'

Meanwhile, an Israeli official said Thursday that if the report was true, it had to do with the strained ties between Turkey and the National Kurdish Nationalist Movement. The Turks and the Iranians have been working in tandem for some time against the Kurdish nationalists both in Turkey and in Iran.
Former Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon urged the government to file an official complaint with NATO and demand Turkey's removal from the organization over the incident.

Time to go cold turkey

The problem is that Erdogan does not share Netanyahu's sense of realpolitik; he does not consider Turkey to have common interests with Israel. He most certainly isn't going to assist Netanyahu in an operation against Iran. As the Ignatius article illustrates, Ankara is happier helping Tehran than Jerusalem.

Body of dead Nazi Priebke goes missing

Family lawyer Paolo Giachini said he and the former SS captain’s family lost track of Priebke’s casket Tuesday night, when they tried to celebrate a funeral Mass for him in a church compound in Albano Laziale, south of Rome.

Belgian ‘Holocaust ad’ against ritual slaughter riles Jews, Muslims

A Belgian radio ad that is accused of drawing on Holocaust themes to promote a ban on ritual slaughter has drawn sharp criticism from Jewish and Muslim representatives.
The ad, which the Antwerp-based animal welfare group Gaia produced for airing on national radio and sent Monday via email to 200 politicians, delivers a mock testimony told from the perspective of a lamb waiting for slaughter.

Christian Journalist Who Posed as Jew in Malmo: ‘I’m Optimistic Things Will Get Better’

Reilly says that a concern for safety among the Jewish community is understandable and suggests Jews wishing to visit the country be vigilant.
“Jews who are considering visiting here, my advice would be to do your homework and as I said in the article, be prepared for stares at least and violence at worst if you make your Jewish beliefs visible.”
Still, despite his experience and evidence to the contrary, Reilly believes that there’s reason to remain optimistic that a turnabout is on the horizon.

Israeli bird researcher derides spy bird ‘nonsense’

“The whole field of conservation is based on regional cooperation and not this nonsense,” said Leshem, who collaborates on several projects with Palestinian and Jordanian scientists. “It’s not enough that they kill people; now they are killing birds too.”

Pope Francis Appoints Israel-Friendly Archbishop Pietro Parolin as New Vatican #2

Archbishop Parolin, 58, who was papal nuncio in Caracas prior to this appointment, will become the youngest cleric to occupy this post since 1939.
The BBC said cardinals welcomed the choice, as Archbishop Parolin is seen as a reformer and is known for his efforts to improve relations with China and Israel.

In Tel Aviv’s Silicon Wadi, the focus is on brain gain

Ronak Kumar Samantray, co-founder and chief software architect of NowFloats.com, a Hyderabad, India-based start-up, has only been in Israel for three days. But says he never wants to leave.
“The best part of Israel is how open it is. I just love this country. I wish I was born here,” says Samantray — whose business helps small companies get online — during a meet and greet at the annual DLD Innovation Conference in Tel Aviv. He was rushing between conferences and thrilled, he said, because later in the day he had landed a face-to-face meeting with the CEO of Wix.com, the free website software company that is lauded as one of Israel’s most successful examples of a start-up. “It’s just brilliant,” he says of the culture of the city. “I can just pick up the phone and call a CEO, and they’re so approachable.”

Israel shows the way for Irish hi-tech start-up scene

THEY may share the same first letter but that is where the similarities between Ireland and Israel's start-up scene currently begin and end.
Indeed, while Ireland has struggled to produce large, home-grown hi-tech companies, the Jewish state boasts the highest number of companies listed on the NASDAQ outside of North America, the world's highest gross expenditure on R&D and highest level of venture capital as share of GDP.
However, five up-and-coming Irish hi-tech firms arrived in Tel Aviv this week hoping to rapidly learn the lessons from the small country that has been dubbed the 'Start-up Nation'.

Read More

Tuesday links

From Ian:

---

Clueless in Seattle: Richard Silverstein’s ‘fantasy’ source

"The point is that, given conflicting reports, it’s too soon to make definitive statements. But Silverstein doesn’t even mention alternatives. He just goes on his ideologically tinged rampage. Anyone who cares about the truth and relies on Silverstein is going to be disappointed. That’s for sure."

The "Pro-Palestinians"

"Once again, it has been exposed that Americans and Europeans who claim to be pro-Palestinian are actually just Israel-haters. For them, the Palestinian issue is just a vehicle for vomiting their hatred for Israel, and most likely all Jews. They are closer to Hamas and Islamic Jihad than to moderate Arabs and Muslims. The Palestinians need support from people who promote democracy, moderation, accountability and co-existence with Israel."

How Leftist Jews Make Terror Kosher

Lenin joked that capitalists would sell him the rope by which he would hang them, and Muslim terrorists may be making the same joke about Jews whom they target.

Israel Pushing for UN Summit on Jewish Refugees

"The summit’s main goal would be to address the issue of Jewish property rights, according to a report in Yedioth Ahronoth. The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that between 1948 and 1951 about 850,000 Jews were expelled or forced out of Arab nations, losing an estimated $700 million in property ($6 billion today). Most of these refugees were absorbed by Israel, where today they comprise over half the population."

After rocket fire, IAF strikes Gaza munition depots

Palestinian hospital reports 2 wounded in strike; IDF says attack is response to rocket fire toward Israel, strikes were accurate.

Reinforced school protects Israeli kids from Gazan rockets

$27.5 million facility takes protection to the next level; ‘You can finally teach without worrying,’ principal says

The Attacks on Israelis You Won’t Read About Anywhere Else, August 22-26

Before First Grade Starts, Child Survivor of Mumbai Attack Gets Call From Netanyahu

South African BDS – or Just BS?

"If the South African government is referring to the U.N. Partition Plan of 1947, it is those lines in which the State of Israel declared itself independent in May 1948. However, none of the Arab states accepted Israel inside those lines, and they immediately went to war to eradicate the lines and thus eradicate Israel. Why the South African government would stake its position on the basis of borders rejected by every Arab government is unclear."

Petition Rallies Support for Findings on Anti-Israel Bias at California State Schools

Alarm as hundreds of children under age of 10 married in Iran

How Nazi persecution of a Jewish doctor led to Paralympics — and a revolution in treating spinal injury

As the London games begin on Wednesday, Ludwig Guttman is being rightly remembered as the ‘father of the Paralympics.’ But he was a lot more besides

Neil Armstrong Walks on Jerusalem

Armstrong then asked if these were the original steps, and Ben-Dov confirmed that they were.
“So Jesus stepped right here?” asked Armstrong.
“That’s right,” answered Ben-Dov.
“I have to tell you,” Armstrong said to the Israeli archaeologist, “I am more excited stepping on these stones than I was stepping on the moon.”

---

Also:
Resurrected: The Rachel Corrie Libel

Michael Totten: The Anti-Imperialism of Fools 

An speaking of Butler, this is hilarious.

Read More

10/13 Links Pt2: Syrian Jewish family smuggled to Israel; Rashid Khalidi Bashes J Street's Activism

From Ian:

---

Syrian Jewish family said smuggled to Israel

A Jewish family from Syria was secretly smuggled into Israel several months ago with the aid of a network of Israeli businesspeople and has begun a new life in the Jewish state, according to a Monday report.
The family, one of the few remaining Jewish families in Syria, arrived in Israel “with nothing,” according to a Netanya businessman who helped them immigrate, Army Radio reported.
“In the first stage, the mother and daughter arrived, then the whole family came,” the businessman, identified only as David, told the station. The family arrived with no possessions, so “we donated to help them with everything they needed… we did our best to help them in their acclimation to Israel,” David added.
The businessman is part of a network of Israelis of Syrian origin who helped the family. MK Yisrael Hason of Kadima, who was born in Damascus and came to Israel at age seven, is part of the group. MK Shaul Mofaz of Kadima, who was born in Iran, hosted the Syrian family in his sukkah on Sunday.

Israelis and Palestinians join forces to combat Ebola

Israeli and Palestinian officials met at the weekend to draw up an action plan to prevent the Ebola epidemic from spreading to the territories they control, the Israeli military said Sunday.
"During the meeting (on Saturday evening), updates were exchanged between the parties, and transfer of information was agreed upon by way of additional meetings to take place in order to further track the issue," said COGAT, the defence ministry unit responsible for Palestinian civilian coordination.
One proposal to combat the disease was for Israel to provide courses in advanced epidemiology for Palestinian and Jordanian medical staff, a health ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

Rashid Khalidi Bashes J Street's Activism

Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi, well-known for his anti-Israel rhetoric, slammed J Street, an organization which claims to be pro-Israel, for failing to adequately oppose Israel's military actions in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge.
Speaking at the "Open Hillel" conference, Khalidi said that J Street "needs more radical critique...if it wants real change,"Jeremy Pressman wrote on Twitter. One Jewish Voice for Peace activist noted that Khalidi stated to J Street that "if u [sic] call Israel's attacks on Gaza 'self defense' you can't be agents of change." Khalidi's remarks were met with strong applause.
Over the summer, Israel was forced to defend itself from over 3,000 rockets fired by Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist organization, which has been in control of the Gaza Strip since 2007.
According to one attendee, J Street U members in attendance huddled together at the conclusion of the speech, were "visibly upset" and could be overheard reassuring each other not to worry about Khalidi's demands. (h/t MtTB)

Read More

08/19 Link Pt2: Five Things You Need to Know About World Vision

From Ian:

---

Five Things You Need to Know About World Vision

The allegations against World Vision's man in the Gaza Strip are lethal to the organization's credibility. World Vision collects money through a child-sponsorship program in which donors give money to assist and benefit individual children and here is Halabi allegedly confessing to turning these donations into some sort of terrorist-sponsorship program.
What makes the accusation so bothersome is that World Vision has a well-documented tendency to portray Israel as singularly responsible for the suffering of children in the Gaza Strip (and for the Arab-Israeli conflict) while giving Hamas a pass.
Here are a five things that people need to know about World Vision.
1. World Vision is a conglomeration of local affiliates that operate in countries throughout the world. Its umbrella organization, World Vision International (WVI), is not just a humanitarian agency, but a church.
2. World Vision's affiliates have a troubling tendency to use stories of Israeli villainy as part of its fundraising narrative. It has also supported anti-Israel propaganda in a number of different venues.
3. World Vision's reticence is not restricted to Hamas. Staffers in the Middle East have historically spoken in much harsher terms about Israel than they have about bad actors in the region, such as Bashar Al Assad or ISIS.
4. If the allegations against Halabi are proven in court, World Vision will undoubtedly hear from its U.S. donors in a big way.
5. Experts who pay attention to the humanitarian aid industry have repeatedly documented how humanitarian organizations working in war zones have been corrupted by the circumstances in which they operate. Diversion of goods provided by humanitarian organizations is inevitable in places like the Gaza Strip. It is part of the business. That being said, the allegations against Halabi are beyond the pale, way beyond the pale.

UEFA probing Celtic for Palestinian flags at Hapoel match

The European soccer’s ruling body UEFA is to hold an investigation into Scotland’s Celtic soccer club, after its fans waved hundreds of Palestinian flags during a Champions League game in Glasgow against Israeli team Hapoel Beersheba on Wednesday.
UEFA’s regulations ban “any message that is not fit for a sports event, particularly messages that are of a political, ideological, religious, offensive or provocative nature,” the BBC said Friday.
According to the BBC, Celtic has been penalized eight times in five seasons for poor behavior by its fans.
Scotland’s Daily Record news website said UEFA will hear the case on September 22, and Celtic could be forced to close one of its stands if the governing body decides to take a hard stance over the incident.

NZ Advertising Watchdog Reaffirms Defence of Propaganda Lies

The New Zealand Advertising Standards Authority appeals board has reaffirmed its original ruling that maps are just opinion. The historic and geographic facts are of no relevance to the industry watchdog. It seems content to undermine its own Code of Ethics and allow anyone to publish an advert, no matter how misleading or inaccurate, as long as they claim their image is the expression of a political perspective.
Last December, the “map of lies” billboard in Auckland was taken down after one day. The Advertising Standards Authority said “this is the best outcome we could hope for”, presumably because they, and the advertising company which removed the billboard, understood how misleading the maps were.
Since then, the billboard reappeared in the Auckland CBD. Unlike Ad-Vantage, Go Media refused to remove the billboard, saying they had been threatened with legal action from the Palestinian Human Rights Campaign (PHRC). The ASA has now ruled that the maps are ‘robust opinion’ and allowable because:
"when it comes to strong political perspectives, there are no absolute truth or lies, just political standpoints”
NZ Advertising Standards Authority decision 11/085
This statement will no doubt come as a shock to any serious cartographer.

Read More

12/24 Link Pt2: Child killer - new Palestinian superhero; Has the anti-Israel BDS movement peaked?

From Ian:

---

PMW: Child killer - The new Palestinian superhero

Samir Kuntar who murdered a four-year-old Israeli by smashing her head with the butt of his rifle, is the newest PA - Fatah hero and role model
Samir Kuntar is a Lebanese terrorist who in 1969 infiltrated Israel and murdered four Israelis. Kuntar murdered his youngest victim, four-year-old Einat Haran, by repeatedly smashing her head with his rifle butt.
After being released from Israeli prison in 2006, Kuntar joined Hezbollah and was planning terror attacks against Israel when he was killed in Syria last week.
Child-killer Kuntar is the newest Palestinian Authority-Fatah superhero.
The following are 15 statements by PA and Fatah officials glorifying Kuntar and his “heroic” act of murder:

NGO Monitor: An Irresponsible Civil Society Harms Israel

NGOs that claim to promote peace and human rights are big business in Israel, with dozens of groups competing for money and headlines. One group, Breaking the Silence, or BTS, with a 2014 income of $1 million, may not be the country’s largest, but it’s been making the biggest waves.
With about 10 activists on staff, BTS publishes anonymous and unverifiable testimonies from Israeli soldiers who claim to have witnessed Israeli forces committing war crimes. Representatives of BTS travel the world repeating these stories, appearing in parliaments and before United Nations bodies, university campuses and in the media.
To audiences with no experience in combat with terror groups, the emotional claims of these soldiers can easily appear authentic. Many of the details in these accounts are unreliable or are later proved false. But the accusations go unquestioned, and the political damage is significant.
The bigger problem is that groups like BTS get most of their money, up to tens of millions of dollars, from European governments, including Sweden and Switzerland, either directly or indirectly. The European Union, for instance, is reported as BTS’s largest single donor of 2015. BTS is also one of about 20 similar groups that were built by the powerful U.S.-based New Israel Fund.

UCLA Student Whose BDS-Defeat ‘Meltdown’ Went Viral ‘Deeply Regrets’ Actions; Says Israel Is Great (INTERVIEW)

A University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) student whose angry outburst following the defeat of an anti-Israel vote went viral on the Internet has had a chance to educate herself better, she told The Algemeiner this week, after requesting an opportunity to express her change of heart.
“I don’t believe Israel is evil,” Danielle Dimacali said. “In fact I think it’s a great progressive country that offers a lot of freedom for its citizens.”
Dimacali, originally from the Philippines, was seeking to set the record straight about an incident that occurred in February 2014 during a meeting of the student council, where she still serves as a minutes-taker.
Dimacali attracted media attention at the time for weeping and cursing when a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) motion, initiated by the activist group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), was rejected. A video of the proceedings and Dimacali’s subsequent “meltdown” was shared on social media and reported in this publication.
Dimacali said she was shocked by the angry response her disappointment generated, which was reflected in comments circulating on the web, and in hate mail and even death threats she received.
Dimacali said her intentions were “misconstrued.”

Legal Insurrection: This story’s ending gives me hope that anti-Israel campus hate is doomed

There have been other distrubing incidents at UCLA since then, such as the challenge to a student running for the Judicial Board on the ground that she was Jewish.
But the campus has seen a backlash against these SJP tactics. Last spring, the anti-Israel student slate of candidates was resoundingly defeated and its key members lost their positions in student government.
For me, Danielle Dimacali’s evolution on Israel is a hopeful sign that the anti-Israel venom on some campuses will not last, and that students drawn into it for all the wrong reasons will see the truth through learning.

Read More

02/28 Links Pt2: Richard Silverstein’s racist abuse continues; Anelka 5-match ban for ‘quenelle’

From Ian:

---

Richard Silverstein’s racist abuse of Chloe Valdary continues: calls her a ‘house slave’

So, Silverstein, a Comment is Free contributor, has now called Valdary a ‘Negro Uncle Tom’ and a ‘House Slave’!
This blog has previously exposed Silverstein’s defense of Hamas, his suggestion that Israel behaves like Nazi Germany (and, of course, his faux scoops), but after his latest racist outburst is there really anyone who can honestly claim that the Seattle-based Jewish blogger represents anything resembling liberal values?

Anelka gets five-match ban for ‘quenelle’

Nicolas Anelka’s future in English football was in the balance after the former France striker was given a five-match ban on Thursday for making a gesture widely condemned as anti-Semitic.
The Football Association found the French striker guilty of an “aggravated breach” of their rules for making the ‘quenelle’ playing for West Bromwich Albion in a Premier League match away to West Ham in December.
That saw the 34-year-old banned and fined £80,000 ($133,368).

'X Factor' Israel's Rose gets warm welcome upon return to Philippines

Rose Fostanes, the Filipina care-giving singer who took home first prize on Israel's X-Factor, returned to her home country on Wednesday to a warm welcome.
Appearing on popular evening talk show, Aquino and Abunda Tonight, hosted by Boy Abunda and Kris Aquino, who are known as the country's "King and Queen of talk," Fostanes showed off her pipes.

Read More