Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Richard Friedman: Alicia Keys, Israel and Civil Rights (WSJ)
What characterized the civil-rights movement was its strict adherence to the philosophy of nonviolence. Even when attacked with fire hoses and police dogs, civil-rights demonstrators courageously refused to retaliate.Apartheid: More Than Just a Word
The Palestinian leadership, by contrast, for decades has used violence whenever missile attacks or suicide bombers suit its aims. It is Israel that has shown an inclination to absorb punishment, though the country’s tolerance stretches only so far before it responds militarily to attacks.
Apartheid. Just the mention of the word is emotive, evocative and provocative. For millions of South Africans who suffered under the apartheid regime, the word is synonymous with suffering, discrimination and racism.IM Tirtzu- Building the Zionist dream
Today the word apartheid has been hijacked by Israel’s detractors as a way to launch a well-orchestrated assault on her legitimacy as a state. They capitalize on the emotional response that the very mention of the word and the images that it conjures up, to plan campaigns that are based on their own particular brand of racism – anti-Semitism.
Remembering Howard Grief
Howard Grief, champion of Israel’s legal rights to all Eretz Israel, was plagued over the past decade by deteriorating health, a condition which caused him considerable distress, but had no effect on the clarity of his legal reasoning. Besides his normal work burden, he composed lengthy petitions to be presented to the Parliament of Canada (already done) and to the United States Congress, calling on these august bodies to reconfirm their earlier support for Jewish legal rights to the entirety of the Land of Israel. His hospitalization over the last few weeks of his life prevented him from completing the two books we had been working on over the past five years, and which will hopefully reach the public over the months to come.More voices from GFCA 2013
The video below – filmed at the Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism which was recently held in Jerusalem – features interviews with Kasim Hafeez from the UK and Rev. Majed El Shafie who now lives in Canada after having been forced to leave his native Egypt in 1998 due to religious persecution.
Shame on Germany for boycotting Jews
So just who is it that the Germans are really hurting here? The duplicity of the labeling campaign targeting Judea and Samaria is all the more apparent when one considers that no such campaigns are being contemplated for Chinese products made in Tibet, Russian items manufactured in Chechnya or Spanish goods from Catalonia. Only when it comes to the Jewish state do the liberals of Europe insist on drawing a line in the sand.Solidarity with Palestine in Germany
This is not only hypocrisy, it is hatred, pure and simple.
As the Anti-Defamation League’s Abraham Foxman put it, “If the only country you want to single out is Israel, that’s anti- Semitism.”
In the recent controversy about an antisemitic op-ed by Columbia University Professor Joseph Massad, some fans of Massad noted gleefully that the disgraceful screed published by Al Jazeera “was based on a lecture Massad gave at a conference in Stuttgart… Germany, to a largely German audience.” The implication was of course that if the audience at a German “conference” happily listened to an American professor claiming that Nazism and Zionism were both antisemitic, this lunacy somehow became legitimate.Israeli Tourism Healthy and Growing
But Germans don’t really need an American professor to demonstrate how best to dress up antisemitic resentments. Despite many official German efforts to grapple with the Nazi past and combat contemporary antisemitism, studies have not only documented that about 20% of Germans hold persistent antisemitic views, but that there is also “a big rise in anti-Semitism based on hostility toward Israel.” Since some 40% of Germans believe “Israel is conducting a war of extermination against the Palestinians,” Massad could clearly expect to find a sympathetic audience for his preposterous comparison of Nazism and Zionism.
Israel’s Tourism Ministry is showing an impressive record, with figures in May hitting an "all time record for incoming tourism."Israel signs Open Skies deal with EU
Last month saw a five percent increase in the number of tourists and visitors, with 336,000 visitors entering the country.
Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz and Civil Aviation Authority Director Giora Rom on Monday signed an Open Skies agreement with the European Union.EU keen to tap into Israel's gas supply via Trans Adriatic Pipeline
The agreement, signed at a festive ceremony in Luxembourg between the Israeli representatives and EU transportation ministers, will gradually, over the next five years, remove all barriers for flights between Israel and Europe, in the hopes of lowering air fares and significantly increasing tourism to Israel.
The European Union, which is trying to reduce its dependence on Russia for gas and diversify its supply sources, is eyeing Israel as a likely alternative and has proposed linking it to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, Israeli industry sources said Monday.Network’s inventor names Israeli tech top network product
When the creator of the computer network as we know it tells you that you have a good networking product – the best in the world, in fact – then you know you’ve done a good day’s work. That, in fact, was the message that the co-inventor of Ethernet technology, Dr. Robert Metcalfe, had for Israel’s RAD Data Communications, when, heading the panel of judges at this year’s NetEvents Technology Innovation Awards, he awarded RAD Data the award for “best in class infrastructure equipment and innovative solutions to Service Providers’ current challenges” for its MiNID communication device.Israelis build world’s first eye-free smartphone
The world’s first smartphone for people with visual disabilities, already making daily life easier for many Israelis, is launching in the United States in collaboration with Qualcomm, Amazon and T-Mobile.Lockheed Martin to set up Israeli development center
Sources inform ''Globes'' that Lockheed Martin Company (NYSE: LMT), the world's biggest defense company, will establish a development center in Israel. It will collaborate with Bynet Data Communications Ltd. in building the IDF Intelligence Corp's technology campus in the Negev, known as the 5/9 project.Latino stars explore Israel, stun Dominican fans
A group of tourists visiting from the Dominican Republic got the shock of their lives Sunday when they bumped into two of Latin media’s most iconic faces while walking in the Ein Kerem village in Jerusalem. The tourists screamed in disbelief as famed Univision TV hosts, Don Francisco and Raul De Molina, posed for pictures with them.Sir Cliff to enjoy ‘summer holiday’ in Israel
Having quickly sold out his announced show in Israel, promoters added a second show for fans who recall Richard’s heyday.
“I’m thrilled about the turnout, because I was dubious since it’s been a long time since I’ve had a hit in Israel. One show would have been fine, and two is great.
