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Friday, June 14, 2013

6/14 Links Part 2: Latma, Netanyahu at Auschwitz and BDS Fails

From Ian:

Latma: Gay Pride and Pederasty in Tel Aviv; Arab Pride and Peace Plans in Syria


Netanyahu at Auschwitz: The World Ignored Our Annihilation
The world stood by as millions of Jews were being slaughtered, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday, vowing that Israel would “do whatever is necessary to prevent another holocaust.”
Justice for Jews from Arab countries
The State of Israel has been slow to recognize the importance of this issue. Only last fall, Israel’s then-deputy foreign minister, Daniel Ayalon, launched the “I am a Refugee” campaign in a bid to create parity between the struggle of Jewish and Palestinian refugees. The Senior Citizens Ministry is running a radio campaign to collect testimonies and claims from Arab-born Jews. Likud Beytenu MK Shimon Ohayon has introduced a bill in the Knesset to fix November 30 as the Memorial Day for Jewish Refugees from Arab countries. And only last week, Sir Martin Gilbert’s book In Ishmael’s House was released in Israel in Hebrew translation.
It’s important to note that this initiative is not about money, nor about launching legal proceedings to seek compensation. It is about rights and recognition – that Jews were victimized and became refugees; and about equality – that the international community must recognize equal rights for all Middle East refugees.
PA objects to Israel's Western Wall plans
The Palestinian Authority will not permit Israel to change the entrance to the Temple Mount in order to facilitate the building of an egalitarian prayer area near the Western Wall, PA Religious Affairs Minister Mahmoud Habbash told The Jerusalem Post in Ramallah on Thursday morning.
And any Israeli attempt to “Judaize” holy sites in Jerusalem would be viewed by Arabs and Muslims as a declaration of war, Habbash warned.
Israel assails Red Cross for showcasing Turkish extremist
The Israeli Foreign Ministry on Thursday strongly condemned the International Committee of the Red Cross for conducting an interview with Huseyin Oruc, the deputy president of the IHH, a Turkish NGO that organized the infamous 2010 Gaza flotilla and is suspected of terrorist ties.
The interview with Oruc, which was posted to YouTube last week, focuses on “humanitarian principles and their implementation,” according to the Red Cross. Bülent Yildirim, the head of IHH, which stands for Humanitarian Relief Foundation, is being probed on suspicion of funding al-Qaeda, and the group has been tied to a plot to bomb LAX, Los Angeles’s main international airport.
BBC captions photo of tourist attraction as “army position”
That photograph was in fact taken at Mount Bental, which is not “an army position” as claimed by the BBC, but a tourist attraction run by Kibbutz Merom Golan. The metal cut-out soldier on the left of the BBC’s picture can be seen in the photograph below from the opposite angle – with the site’s decidedly un-military coffee shop in the background.
French court orders Twitter to ID anti-Semites
A French appeals court has upheld a lower court’s ruling which ordered Twitter to divulge details of users who posted anti-Semitic content.
Twilight for the Jews of Sweden?
We have seen an increase in reported anti-Semitic attacks but no charges, arrests or convictions. Nor have any leading politicians shown any concern. Angry anti-Israel demonstrators can shout their message of hate freely, while peaceful pro-Israel rallies are surrounded by police. Jews routinely hide their Magen David necklace’s under their shirts and remove kippahs as soon as they exit shul. This is the reality of Sweden in 2013. Exlemplary of the dangers posed to Jews, one report said that “the Jewish communities spend at least 25 per cent of their funds on security measures.”
Germany adopts anti-Semitism resolution
Germany’s parliament passed a resolution committing itself to renewed action against anti-Semitism.
The resolution emphasizes the special relationship between Germany and Israel and condemns Israel-related anti-Semitism and terrorist organizations like Hezbollah. It was adopted Thursday with support from the Christian Democratic Union, the Social Democratic Party, the Free Democratic Party and the Greens. The Left Party abstained from voting.
LA City Council passes anti-BDS resolution
The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a resolution to continue awarding city contracts without regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The resolution passed Wednesday was intended as a rebuttal to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or BDS, which aims to bring economic pressure to bear on Israel, the Los Angeles Jewish Journal reported.
How Boycotts Hurt the Cause of Middle East Peace
How will the Anglican/Lutheran conclave weigh in on the Israel/Palestine conflict? There is pressure on them to back “product labeling,” i.e. to make sure that the soda they drink is not aided and abetted by well-paid Palestinian workers. Another resolution will “challenge” the validity of any form of Christian Zionism “which support[s] the Israeli occupation.”
Sydney University Professor Warned Over Israel Boycott
In the letters Hamilton pointed out that the Racial Discrimination Act of 1975 made it "unlawful for a person to do any act involving a distinction, exclusion, restriction of preference based on race... national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of any human right or fundamental freedom in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life."
Hamilton also warned that any "successful" boycott of Israel was illegal under the Competition and Consumer Act of 2010 if they damage the businesses they target, and that as a result parties could be investigated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and face legal action for damages.
JCC Watch: Stop Giving Jewish Money to Fund Anti-Israel Activities
Pro-Israel groups are now turning to the UJA-Federation and asking that it stop providing funds to organizations which use those funds to promote virulently anti-Israel activists. If not, a "Close Your Wallet" campaign will begin this summer.
Formula 1: Videos and Photos
For the first time ever, Formula One and GT motor cars took to the streets of Jerusalem as tens of thousands of spectators from all sectors of the city looked on at the Jerusalem Formula Peace Road Show.
Israeli-developed device helps the blind to see, virtually
Beginning this week, blind Americans have the opportunity to use the first smartphone specifically designed to make their lives easier to navigate. Odin Mobile is the first company to offer the RAY Huawei Vision phone, a device that lets blind users not only make phone calls, but also allows them to send text messages, search the Internet, identify the denomination of cash, recognize colors, and access over 100,000 audio books and magazines. All these features are built into the RAY device, and it’s based on technology developed in Israel.
Israeli Parents Meet Palestinian Boy Whose Life Was Saved by Their Dead Son’s Kidney
Two families touched by the death of a 3-year-old Israeli boy were finally able to meet Thursday, Israel’s Channel 2 reports.
When Noam Naor was killed after falling out of a window at his family home in May, his parents decided to donate his kidneys. One went to an Israeli child, the other to a 10-year-old Palestinian boy.
Jordanian and Israeli Students Learn to Save Lives Together
Ben Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) graduated its first class of Jordanian and Israeli students who completed a special joint-emergency medicine BA program earlier this year. The first graduating class at the Israel-Jordan Academic Emergency Medicine Collaboration included 54 graduates who spent three years studying emergency medicine and medical response.
One part of the curriculum included a Joint Disaster Management Project which had Jordanian and Israeli students training with officials from Israel’s national emergency service, the Magen David Adom and the Jordanian Red Crescent to respond to emergency situations such as earthquakes. h/t Zvi