Thursday Links Part 2

From Ian:

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Elad Daniel Pereg: Message to Iran

In 2010 Daniel walked in front of an anti-Israel mob in LA with an Israeli flag.

WSJ: Curious IRS Timing

Why the special scrutiny for pro-Israel groups? A New York Times article in July 2010 provided a clue: Tax-exempt groups were donating to West Bank settlers, and State Department officials wanted the settlers out. "As the American government seeks to end the four-decade Jewish settlement enterprise and foster a Palestinian state in the West Bank," the Times wrote, "the American Treasury helps sustain the settlements through tax breaks on donations to support them."
Did the T-men take their political cues from such stories, or did Administration officials give them orders? Either explanation would be a violation of public trust.

Did the Palestinians Ask Obama to Target Pro-Israeli 501(c)(3)s?

Let me provide another possible clue, found in the June 16, 2009 minutes of the Palestinian negotiating unit headed by Saeb Erekat–part of the Palestine Papers published by Al Jazeera in 2011.
Dr. Mohammed Shtayyed made an additional suggestion to Erekat:
“We should also focus on the government incentives to settlers: loans without interest, land for free, agricultural subsidies in the Jordan valley. We can’t stop a pregnant lady from having a baby, but look at what we can do. We should look at the 501(c)(3) organizations in the States that make donations to settlers. Let the US administration investigate this.”

.US Treasury Openly Fighting Settlements, Pro-Israel Groups (Video)

You'll get a better treatment if you're associated with Hamas than with right-wing issues in Israel.

Alice Walker, Roger Waters urge Alicia Keys to cancel TLV gig

In an open letter posted online, Walker wrote that Keys was putting herself in “soul danger” by performing in “an apartheid country that is being boycotted by many global conscious artists. You were not born when we, your elders who love you, boycotted institutions in the US South to end an American apartheid less lethal than Israel’s against the Palestinian people.”

United Church of Canada boycotts Israeli companies

Canada’s largest Protestant church targeted three Israeli companies with operations in Jewish settlements for economic sanctions and boycott.
Last week, the United Church of Canada’s governing General Council approved the start of a boycott campaign, encouraging “economic action” against Keter Plastic, SodaStream and Ahava.

Guardian Letters: Desmond Tutu and the call for a Uefa boycott of Israel

Firstly, the reason Israel plays in European football tournaments is that, long before the 1967 war and the subsequent "occupation", Arab and some Asian countries refused to play Israel at any level. Secondly, if countries were stopped from hosting tournaments because of their human rights records, we'd probably have to hold the World Cup etc in Luxembourg every four years!
Lastly, the games played in Israel will be played in front of crowds unhindered by restrictions on race or gender, unlike the United Nations-sponsored Gaza marathon, which was cancelled due to the fact women were banned from running with men. The World Cup after next is in Russia which, last weekend, saw the arrest of dozens of gay rights activists in Moscow. I don't see any "show Russia the red card" protests.

Dreyfus Prison Letter Sells for $492,000 at Paris Auction

A letter by Alfred Dreyfus in which the French Jewish army captain wrongly accused of treason over a century ago protests his sentence sold for 380,000 euros ($492,000) at an auction in Paris Wednesday, the AFP news agency reported.

Newly Discovered Prisoner Journal Donated to Auschwitz

The Auschwitz-Birkenau museum said on Wednesday it had acquired a newly discovered journal written and illustrated by Polish prisoners of the Nazi German death camp in southern Poland.
The three inmates' hand-made memoirs, which include poems and pen-and-ink and watercolour drawings of gas chambers and a hanging, were donated by the widow of a US war veteran, museum spokesman Bartosz Bartyzel told AFP.

Israeli Company Mobileye Commercializing Automatic Driving Software

Israeli company Mobileye Vision Technologies Ltd. has unveiled a car that navigates itself without human driving using camera-based software. New York Times technology reporter John Markoff tested out the self-driving car on a drive from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, Globes reported.

Florida hospital installs EarlySense to advance health care

Hospital Tampa is the latest US health center to adopt the Israeli-made technology that helps avoid adverse patient events.

Israeli firm, protector of 1.75 billion mobile devices, honoured

Established in 1999, Red Bend has become the go to provider of FOTA (Firmware Over the Air) updates for phones and devices made by manufacturers like Kyocera, LG Electronics, Motorola, Sharp, Sony Ericsson and ZTE. Currently, Red Bend’s technology is used by more than 80 mobile device manufacturers, mobile operators and semiconductor vendors, and is present on more than 1.75 billion devices.

The Indian-Israeli olive agribusiness experiment

Over the last five years, Indian farmers have joined hands with Israeli agribusiness to produce a crop that the majority on the subcontinent have only seen in books and films: fresh, green olives.

Hot fuss as Killers head to Israel

The American pop rock band The Killers is planning to stop in Israel in October as part of its up-coming world tour, Channel 2 reported on Monday.
The band, headed by vocalist and keyboard player Brandon Flowers, will be making its first visit to Israel.