7/23 Links Part 2: Brendan O'Neill on Leftist Anti-Zionists, Guardian's Rock n Roll Fantasy, Israel's Bird Superhighway

From Ian:

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Brendan O'Neill: Anti-Zionists claim to be completely different to anti- Semites. But there's one key thing they have in common

I think the line between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism is getting thinner all the time. These two worldviews are, if obviously not the exact same thing, then at least very close cousins. There is one inescapable thing that they share in common: a tendency to trace all global problems and instabilities back to the behaviour and beliefs of a Jewish thing, whether the Jewish people or the Jewish State. Modern-day anti-Zionism, particularly as practised by left-leaning, trendy Europeans, among whom it is highly fashionable, is the heir to old-style anti-Semitism in one very important way: it has a scary habit of treating Jewish stuff or Jewish people as the source of the world’s ills.

Dore Gold: The U.S. and the Muslim Brotherhood

The perception in the Middle East that the U.S. had been sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood may be overstated, but it is not entirely without foundation. A school of thought in Washington exists that truly believes that the Muslim Brotherhood has evolved into a moderate organization, with which the West can do business. It has been influencing policymaking since the second term of the Bush administration. But it is too early to establish whether the overthrow of Morsi will lead to the demise of this dangerously naive political theory or whether it will resurface in one of the other Arab states facing internal revolts as part of the Arab Spring.

An ‘outspoken and blunt’ Samantha Power: Boon or curse?

Power has reiterated her pro-Israel position, arguing that despite the UN’s many accomplishments, “within the UN, an organization built in part to apply the lessons of the Holocaust, we also see unacceptable attacks against the state of Israel.” She added that “the United States has no greater friend in the world than the state of Israel. We share security interests, we share core values, and we have a special relationship with Israel. And yet the General Assembly and Human Rights Council continue to pass one-sided resolutions condemning Israel…. Israel’s legitimacy should be beyond dispute, and its security must be beyond doubt.”
Power’s supporters emphasize that as Obama’s adviser on UN affairs, she was the final call against American participation in the Israel-bashing 2009 UN Durban Review Conference and that she worked together with outgoing UN Ambassador Susan Rice to combat anti-Israel bias in the world governing body.

CiF Watch prompts correction to ‘Comment is Free’ claim on Gaza rocket attacks

As we noted in our original post, however, while during the first 24 hours of the war roughly 100 rockets were fired into Israel, during the entire eight-day conflict, which ended on Nov. 22, Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups launched approximately 1,500 rockets at Israel.

Guardian rock ‘n roll fantasy: Paper blurs identity of Palestinians and Arab Israelis

Further passages in the story finally confirm what the above text implies – that the band, Khalas, is made up of Arab citizens of Israel (from Acre) not, as the title and most of the text suggests, Palestinians living in the Palestinian territories who don’t have Israeli citizenship. Whilst some activists do use the term “Palestinian citizens of Israel’ instead of ‘Arab Israelis’ to refer to Israelis who are ethnically and linguistically Arab (but full citizens of the state), the average reader looking at the headline and accompanying text wouldn’t likely understand this distinction.
Moreover, as anyone who lives in Israel, or has spent any serious time here, would surely know, Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel mix and mingle in nearly every area of public and private life, and whilst the notion of Arab and Jewish (Israeli) bands going on tour together certainly is a nice symbol, it’s hardly groundbreaking.

ADL: Anti-Semitism down nationwide, up in NY and NJ

The ADL recorded 248 anti-Semitic incidents in New York in 2012, representing a 27 percent increase from the 195 incidents in 2011. New York City’s five boroughs had a total of 172 anti-Jewish acts, including incidents of assault, harassment and vandalism, compared to 127 in 2011.
“While the great majority of Jewish New Yorkers feel comfortable and safe in their respective communities, it is nevertheless disturbing that we saw almost a 30 percent uptick in the total number of anti-Semitic incidents across the state,” said Etzion Neuer, ADL’s acting New York regional director. “Though we did see a decrease in harassment and threats, the sharp increase of anti-Semitic vandalism incidents is a reminder that we are still not immune to anti-Semitism.”

As requested more terrible BDS singing and dancing
Daphne Anson: BDSers' Foolish Moves In Boston
"I laughed so hard I awoke my neighbors. Thank you for sharing your stupidity to the world."


Israeli fashion hits West Bank

The Ramallah branch would be Fox’s first in a Palestinian city.
Although initial responses to the opening of the store among local Palestinians were mainly positive, some Palestinian activists have voiced extreme disdain for the act, accusing store owners, as well as Palestinian Authority leaders, of attempting to “normalize” the situation in the West Bank.

Israeli Firm Reveals New Arsenal in Battle for Cyber Security

Israeli firm Comsec, which specializes in consulting on information security, has unveiled two new tools it developed for providing responses to growing cyber-threats: the ComSimulator, which makes it possible to actively rehearse various degrees of cyber attacks; and the Cyber Intelligence Hub, an intelligence center that provides information collection and analysis services enabling proactive security for organizations.

'Facebook for Every Phone', the feature phone app, now has 100 million users

The Facebook for Every Phone application is powered by technology developed by Snaptu, an Israel-based mobile platform co-founded by Makavy in 2007. Facebook had acquired Snaptu in 2011 and the platform has been used ever since to ensure the social networking website is accessible to low-end devices as well.

Struggling To Preserve an Iranian Jewish Language Before It Goes Extinct

Isaac Yousefzadeh is in mourning for his mother, who passed away a few weeks ago. But with her death comes a second, more subtle loss—that of her language, Judeo-Kashani, which is now on the verge of extinction. “It’s like somebody is sick in bed and in another few days or years he will die,” he said. “That’s it.”
The language’s speakers trace their roots to Kashan, a city in central Iran where Judeo-Kashani had been spoken for centuries. But in the past several decades, the Jews of Kashan have scattered—first to Tehran, and later around the world—and their descendants have adopted different languages. Virtually the only speakers left are a handful of Jews from Yousefzadeh’s generation who were born in Kashan, a city that no longer has any Jewish residents. They are the end of the linguistic line. “It’s a language that each day, the number of people that know it is less and less,” said Yousefzadeh. “In 20 years, I’d say no one would speak it. Because they’re dying each day.”

It’s all about the birds in Israel

Birding in Israel is serious business. With more than one billion feathered friends flying over Israel during spring and autumn, and an amazing variety of resident bird species, the country is one of the world’s best places for bird-watching all year long.
“Israel sits on the junction of three continents,” Prof. Yossi Leshem, director of Israel’s International Center for the Study of Bird Migration (ICSBM), tells ISRAEL21c. “Politically, it’s a disaster, but for bird migration, it’s heaven. We have a huge bird bottleneck — it’s a superhighway.”