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Friday, March 22, 2013

Friday Links Part 2

From Ian:

LATMA: Yonit Levy and an Israeli soldier responds to the world



Calling for Protests in Israel
If the President told young Palestinians in Ramallah to demand that the PA "take risks" in "voices louder than" the opposition, it is likely that the Fatah government of Mahmoud Abbas would fall to the more radical and more popular Hamas. After years of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic indoctrination in the schools and the general media, it is not realistic to believe that Palestinians desire what the President told Israelis to desire: "A future in which Jews, Muslims and Christians can all live in peace and greater prosperity in this Holy Land." And maybe that is why the President did not say it to the Palestinians.
President Obama, perhaps inadvertently, made the case for U.S.-Israel relations grounded in the most fundamental shared values. Israel -- like the United States -- is that rare country in which the government does not fear the protest of the people, and the people do not fear protesting.
Barry Rubin: As Obama Continues Visit, His Themes Are Confirmed
Other than wishful thinking, how does Obama think that Israel can make new big concessions and take risks in the face of radical Islamist regimes in Egypt, Tunisia, the Gaza Strip, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran, and Syria? This is especially true when none of these regimes--except for Iran and to some extent the Hamas regime in Gaza—is strongly opposed by the current U.S. government?
Obama Compares Israeli-Palestinian Conflict To Disagreements Between U.S. And Canada…
Hmm, I’m having problems recalling the last time Canada fired rockets at America.
78 senators call on Obama to stand by Israel ahead of trip
More than three-fourths of the U.S. Senate have signed on to a letter urging President Obama to stand by Israel ahead of his first visit to that country as president.
The letter, spearheaded by the America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), asks the president to sternly warn the Palestinians against using their new status as a United Nations observer state to take action against Israel.
Bennett on Obama’s speech: No Nation Is Occupier of its Homeland
"It's time for new, creative concepts to resolve the conflict in the Middle East."
Minister of Economy and Trade Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home), sounded a great deal less enthusiastic about the president’s speech, when he told Maariv: “Obama’s statement certainly came out of concern for Israel and out of true friendship, but we’ve seen only this morning the results of our previous withdrawal (from Gaza) in Sderot (where a missile landed on the backyard of a local home), as well as in thousands of victims over the years. It’s time for new, creative concepts to resolve the conflict in the Middle East, including the idea that a nation isn’t the occupier of its own homeland.”
Obama heckler: His speech was extremist and Zionist
The Israeli-Arab student who shouted a pro-Palestinian slogan, interrupting US President Barack Obama's speech at the Jerusalem International Convention Center on Thursday, said Friday that he had done so because he found the speech to be "extremist and Zionist."
Speaking in an interview with Channel 10, Rabia Eid said that "Obama talked about a Jewish state, and that is unacceptable to me and to the Arabs of the world."
Special Feature: The Israeli Technologies Presented to Obama
Prime Minister Netanyahu showed US President Obama a series of technological products by Israel’s high-tech industries.
The products were chosen from among proposals presented by Israel’s universities in keeping with their degree of innovation, impact on humanity and presentability. The committee forwarded its recommendations to Gil Shefer, the head of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s bureau.
US president meets Intel’s wannabe future head — an Israeli Arab, 26
On his Israel Museum visit, Obama impressed not only with the technology, but also with a program to help Arabs get hi-tech jobs
Harif was there representing Intel, as well as Maantech, the hi-tech “finishing school” for Israeli Arabs, which was developed to help them become more integrated into Israel’s hi-tech scene. Haruf told Obama all about Maantech, which helps train Israeli Arabs to interview, prepare resumes, and improve their Hebrew and English skills.
It's obvious, Cyprus should adopt the Israeli Shekel
It could be that when Syria and Lebanon settle down they too would be wise to adopt what could well become the main currency of the Eastern Med region. Think of the trade and political benefits all this would bring about
So, that's the euro and that's Cyprus. Oh, and the latest mad idea is that Russia could do the bailing out meaning that the whole house of cards is only remaining upright because it's being underwritten by Vladimir Putin's Kremlin.
Now, here's an idea that is actually grounded in sanity. Cyprus should ditch the euro and adopt the Israeli Shekel. Think about it.
It's one of the best managed currencies in the world and is already used by default by 2 or 3 million Palestinians. Another 1 million Cypriots would not make much difference.
Exhibition Looks Back On Kubrick, Legendary Director Who ‘Knew He Looked Jewish’
The films of the late Kubrick, who died in 1999 at age 70, have served as an inspiration to other renowned Jewish directors such as Steven Spielberg and Woody Allen. “Stanley Kubrick,” an exhibition running through June 30 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), is the first retrospective of the filmmaker. Developed in collaboration with the Kubrick estate, the show is getting its North American premiere in California after previously being seen in Frankfurt, Paris, Rome, Brussels, Amsterdam and Melbourne.
First rabbi to enter liberated Buchenwald dies
Herschel Schachter, a former chairman of the Conference of Presidents, was 95
Rabbi Herschel Schachter, a former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, has died.
Schachter, the first US Army chaplain to enter and participate in the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp, died Thursday. He was 95.