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Monday, February 04, 2013

Monday links: UN hypocrisy, Iran forfeits to Israel in judo, Ukrainian MP insults Mila Kunis as a Jew

From Ian:

Candidly Speaking: Hypocrisy, deceit, evil at the UN By Isi Leibler
Israel is the first country to boycott the annual human rights review presented at the bogus United Nations Human Rights Council.
"The farcical assignation of rogue states to prominent roles at the UN has transformed this purported human rights organization into a sick joke. A representative of Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya was elected president of the UN General Assembly in 2009; in 2011 Qatar was elected president and Iran became vice president; both North Korea, the notorious proliferator of nuclear arms, and Iraq chaired the UN Commission on Disarmament; Iran, notorious for stoning women, was appointed to the UN Commission on the Status of Women; in 2011, Bashar Assad’s Syria was elected to a UNESCO commission dealing with human rights and to this day Syria remains on the committee of UNESCO; Libya introduced a UN resolution to “end all forms of racial discrimination”; Iran called on the US to implement international humanitarian law; China demanded an end to “excessive force by law enforcement bodies.”

Bombing the Syrian Reactor: The Untold Story by Elliott Abrams
"Finally, this incident is a reminder that there is no substitute for military strength and the will to use it. Think of how much more dangerous to the entire region the Syrian civil war would be today if Assad had a nuclear reactor, and even perhaps nuclear weapons, in hand. Israel was right to bomb that reactor before construction was completed, and President Bush was right to support its decision to do so. Israel was also right in rejecting fears that the incident would lead to a larger war and in believing that it, and the United States, would be better off after this assertion of leadership and determination. That lesson must be on the minds of Israeli, and American, leaders in 2013."

Foreign States Meddling in Israel to Tune of 35M NIS Annually
Transparency Law reveals 13 political advocacy NGOs received foreign grants totaling 21.6M NIS in 2012.
"Jerusalem-based research institute NGO Monitor released a report Sunday analyzing submissions made by NGOs to the Israeli registrar of non-profits in 2012, as legislated under the NGO Transparency law.
The reports for 2012 show that a total amount of 34,355,579 NIS annually was provided to 30 NGOs, from a number of foreign governments."

CIF Watch: Chas Freeman, “Fifth Columnists” and the ‘Guardian Left’
"Increasingly, many on the far left (certainly on the Guardian Left) explain, in a tone of exasperation, that they’re tired of false accusations of antisemitism which, they often add, make people less sensitive to “real” antisemitism. Yet, it seems, when confronted with a competition for their sympathy, foes of the Israel lobby (no matter how crude, unenlightened and Judeophobic their rhetoric) seem to win out over a historically oppressed Jewish minority every time.
A ‘left’ which can’t condemn, passionately and without qualifications, the hideous charge that American Jews are corrupting the body politic, and are working to undermine the nation, due to an unhealthy ethnic loyalty, are simply not worthy of the progressive mantle to which they so hubristically lay claim."

Sunday Times Prints Full Apology for ‘Blood Libel’ Cartoon
“The Times added: “The image we published of Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, which appeared to show him reveling in the blood of Palestinians, crossed a line. The image would have been a mistake on any day but the fact that last Sunday was Holocaust Memorial Day compounded the error.”

Iranian intel post in Syria reportedly among Israeli targets
Report claims listening station near border would be targeted in strike; Israel may be mulling creating buffer zone inside Syria

Israel Nabs Gold, Bronze at Judo Championships
Israel's judo team won 2 medals in the World Judo Championship games.
"Chen beat competitors from Russia, Armenia and Hungary to get to his medal, but was unable to progress further; he had been scheduled to fight against an Iranian judo expert, who refused to enter the ring when he found out he was scheduled to fight an Israeli. Similarly, Sasson's award was marred by a another Iranian's intransigent refusal to have anything to do with Israel; an Iranian who was set to receive a bronze chose to forgo the honor, rather than get on stage with an Israeli to get the prize."

UK firm framed in Syria chemical weapons plot
"Scotland Yard investigators suspect that Iran may be involved in attempt to hack British security company, fake scheme in which it was asked to deliver chemical weapons to Homs
Police in the United Kingdom suspect that Iran may be involved in an attempt to smear the West by hacking a British security company and faking a plot in which the firm was asked to deploy chemical weapons in Syria, the Sunday Times reports.
The company's computers were hacked about two weeks ago, and false emails created as part of the sophisticated cyber attack claimed the plot had been sanctioned by Washington and indicated a desire to frame Syrian President Bashar Assad. "

Erodgan: Israel Waging 'State Terrorism' in Syria
Turkish PM says Israeli air strike on Syria violates international law, ignores his own country's similar past actions.

Your defeat ... becomes our game," a new video for the Hamas media war

IDF nabs 25 in West Bank, including 20 Hamas members
Overnight raids seen as attempt to weaken the surging Islamist group

Shocking: Russia Today Presenter Abby Martin Accuses Israel of Using ‘Hitler’s Methods’
"Russia Today host Abby Martin got back on her high-horse recently, accusing Israel of using “Hitler’s methods” to maintain a “Jewish majority.” The host on the Russian state-funded channel adopted her inimitable posture of disbelief and outrage to brandish her accusations."

Chilling Video: Thousands of Neo-Nazis March Through Athens
Tens of thousands of neo-Nazis rallied in support of Greece's Golden Dawn party, in its largest demonstration of support

First They Came for Mila Kunis
Ukraine's Anti-Semitism
"One of the most recognizable figures of Ukrainian Jewish descent, the beautiful and talented actress Mila Kunis, recently was targeted by a member of the Ukrainian Parliament from the far-right Svoboda Party – known for regularly injecting anti-Semitism into its speeches and public pronouncements. He sneeringly proclaimed that she was "not Ukrainian but a zhydovka." Zhydovka is a hurtful slur for a Jew, and this was apparently a gutter effort to inject Jew-hatred into the acceptable bounds of mainstream Ukrainian discourse."

Israel Prevents Environmental Catastrophe in Samaria
"The Civil Authority and the IDF has cleared out 20,000 cubic tons of trash from an illegal Arab dump in Samaria, after ongoing appeals from an environmental organization. The Yarok Achshav (“Green Now”) group expressed its satisfaction at the resolution of the issue, preventing further damage to the environment by Arabs in the area."

Israel Daily Picture: On "Superbowl Sunday" We Present "Football" from the Holy
Land

American-style football with helmets and pads has only recently caught on in Israel. But "football" in Israel after 1948 and in British Mandate Palestine prior to 1948 is "soccer."


Also:

How water became a weapon in Arab-Israeli conflict (Jpost)