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Saturday, July 27, 2013

7/27 Links: BDS Bullies, At Least 38 MB Supporters Killed in Egypt, Amar’e Stoudemire At Maccabiah

From Ian:

How Entertainers Are Bullied Into Not Performing In Israel
Israeli fans of golden oldies won’t be hearing Eric Burdon grind out his signature House of The Rising Sun. The lead Animals singer canceled his appearance, a victim of intimidation including death threats to stay away from the Jewish state.
Welcome to the ‘pro-peace’ bullies of the Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions (BDS) campaign, a movement whose public face is a “nonviolent pressure to end the Occupation”—but whose thinly-veiled tactics range from “shunning” to threatening celebrities who refuse to cave to the ‘big lie’ that Israel is an ‘apartheid state.’
BDS’ fixation on celebrities into taking outlandish positions on the Mideast makes perfect sense. In our world, Celebrity=Media coverage.
Sarah Honig: Another Tack: It's all connected
*When Jews are called Israelis, their maligners can fend off accusations of anti-Semitism. Such accusations are anyhow brandished as proof of manipulative intent to silence all criticism of the Jewish state. Calculated circuitous reasoning eventually turns Jew-haters into righteous persecuted underdogs, while Israelis are cast as ferocious hounds.
*World peace will supposedly be secured by restraining these hounds. Submissive Jews/Israelis are presumably assured the affections of do-gooder ‘non-anti-Semites.’ Of course, vulnerable Jews weren’t ever loved Jews. In the 1930s Jews couldn’t have been more powerless or compliant. Nonetheless, their utter helplessness won them no compassion.
Palestinians Threaten to Boycott U.S. Peace Talks If Demands for Concessions Not Met Beforehand
A Palestinian source spoke to the left-leaning gazette Ha’aretz to explain the new ultimatum:
The Palestinians will not take part in peace talks scheduled to begin in Washington on Tuesday, unless Israel commits to releasing veteran Palestinian prisoners, a senior Palestinian source has told Haaretz… He maintained, however, that the Palestinians would not participate in negotiations without a prior decision by Israel to release Palestinian prisoners imprisoned since before the Oslo Accords, including those with Israeli citizenship.
Analysts: Abbas Interested in PA Political Gains, Not Peace
With negotiations set to begin between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the public statements by both sides indicate that the distance between them is vast, and that the chances of an agreement emerging from the talks is next to zero. As a result, say some Israeli analysts, it is possible that the PA is using the talks as a means of gaining some small, short term “victories” over Israel, giving PA chief Mahmoud Abbas more ammunition with which to fight rivals that seat to unseat him, both among Hamas terrorists and in his own Fatah terror group.
Caroline Glick: Column One: How to respond to EU sanctions
Israel has for years been operating under the misguided belief that the EU would eventually come around and side with Israel against its enemies.
This belief has been informed by equal doses of innocence and wishful thinking. The EU’s decision to initiate an economic war against the Jewish state forces Israel to abandon its long-held illusions.
Israel has options for responding forcefully to Europe’s aggression. If judiciously and firmly employed, these responses can diminish the Europeans’ interest in escalating this economic war, by denying them the political victory they seek.
Arab anti-Israel Activist Long Employed as “News” PhotoJournalist
For pro-Israel news readers, it is no surprise to learn that there are strong elements of anti-Israel reporting in much of the mainstream media.
But what about mainstream media outlets which employ people as their source for news about the Arab-Israeli conflict who are not only anti-Israel, but who are major players in anti-Israel activity? Can those media be trusted?
Hezbollah reportedly wired $100,000 to Burgas bombing suspects
According to the Canadian 24 Hours daily, quoted by AFP, the money was used to help coordinate the July 18, 2012 attack which also injured dozens of people.
The two suspects were identified as Meliad Farah, also known as Hussein Hussein, an Australian citizen born November 5, 1980, and Hassan El Hajj Hassan, a Canadian citizen born March 22, 1988. Both are Lebanese born. A third man who served as the suicide bomber has yet to be identified.
Egyptian security forces shoot dead dozens of pro-Morsi supporters
A Muslim Brotherhood website said 120 people had been killed and some 4,500 injured. A Reuters reporter counted 36 bodies at one morgue, while health officials said there were a further 21 corspes in two nearby hospitals.
3-year-old Syrian girl transferred to Israel for treatment
A three-year-old girl injured in the bloody Syrian war was transferred to Israel for treatment Saturday morning. Together with her mother, the toddler was evacuated to Ziv Medical Center in Safed, where she was treated for shrapnel wounds. She was admitted to the pediatric unit of the hospital and was in serious condition.
Earlier this week, four Syrians were brought to the same hospital in Safed for treatment for injuries sustained in the Syrian civil war.
Civilians standing in way of pro-Assad forces in Syria risk summary execution – Amnesty
Amnesty International, the global human rights group, is warning of the prospect of mass killings of civilians by pro-government forces in Syria. In a note highlighting Amnesty's latest briefing, posted up on its website, Amnesty said:
"Eyewitnesses described seeing bodies piled up in the streets and civilians rounded up by pro-government forces.
Iran State Media Reemphasizes Rouhani Support For Hezbollah “Warriors” Fighting Israel
Lebanese and Iranian media outlets are again highlighting cables sent from Iranian President-elect Hassan Rouhani to Hezbollah, supporting the Iran-backed terror group and praising it for waging “jihad” against Israel. Lebanon’s Al-Nahar characterized the cable as support for Hezbollah’s “jihad.” Iran’s FARS outlet was more effusive:
Thousands protest government at Tunisia funeral
Thousands joined a funeral march through Tunisia’s capital on Saturday with the body of assassinated opposition politician Mohammed Brahmi, chanting slogans in a display of the anger threatening the survival of a government once seen as a model for democracy in the region.
Adding to the tension in the North African country, a bomb exploded in the early morning underneath a car at the port in Tunis. Though there were no injuries, the rare attack helped deepen the sense of unease in Tunisia, where two opposition politicians have been gunned down in the last six months, apparently by the same weapon.
Dagestan, Russia, President Says Chabad Rabbi Shot by ‘One of the Most Extreme Islamic Terrorist Groups in the Chechnya-Caucasus Area’
He said the attack was “far from being the first” incident of this kind, in which terrorists choose religious figures as targets, adding that “several well-known muftis in the Caucasus, who professed moderate Islam and who called for inter-ethnic and inter-religious peace, have died at the hands of such thugs.”
Extremists “have put themselves not only outside of any religion but also apart from humankind; their only goal is to kill innocent people, chiefly those who promote eternal values, morals and spirituality, in this world,” he said.
Hungarian ruling party sponsors festival with anti-Semitic books
Anti-Semitic literature was on display at a festival in Slovakia sponsored by Hungary’s ruling party, Fidesz.
Among the books on display at the event were Henry Ford’s “The International Jew,” “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” and Erno Raffay’s openly anti-Semitic book on the Freemasons, “Politizalo szabadkomuvesseg,” according to a report Thursday on the website Hungarian Spectrum.
Bus Full of Jewish Children Pelted With Eggs, Stones, Window Smashed by Gang of Teenagers in Kent, UK, Shouting ‘Go Back to Where You Came From’
Kent Online said the Jews, from London, were visiting the town after a trip to Diggerland beach in Strood on Tuesday afternoon. Witnesses saw seven teenage boys and girls beset the hired bus with eggs and stones, smashing a window of the car as it turned into High Street from Millennium Way. The bus then stopped in a parking lot on Trinity Road, where the teenagers hurled more eggs at the children. No one was injured in the attack.
Dude, where’s my bus?
Remember the frustrations of life before Waze and other traffic apps — getting lost, getting stuck in unexpected traffic?
Well, what Waze did for cars, Israeli start-up NetBus does for public transportation. It’s one of the most-downloaded apps in the Israeli App Store, and is used well over a million times a month to tell commuters where their bus is, whether it’s going to be late, and when they should leave their homes or offices to catch the next one.
That’s Amar’e: At Maccabiah, Stoudemire feels his Jewish connections
Stoudemire, who is participating in the games as an assistant coach of the Canadian basketball squad, has long believed he has Jewish roots — or as he told JTA in an exclusive interview on Thursday, Hebrew roots.
Stoudemire, who visited Israel shortly after signing with the Knicks three years ago, could not pinpoint his specific biblical observances, but he indicated that he strove to live an ethical and meaningful life.