8/08 Links Part 2: Turning the Negev into the 'Israeli Silicon Valley, Followup on anti-Israel "Donald Duck"

From Ian:

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Why this Christian Supports Israel By: Gary Bauer

The people of Israel love what we Americans love and honor what we Americans honor. Israel is built on the rule of law. Its Declaration of Independence is modeled after ours. We are joined at the heart.
The only memorial in the Middle East to honor the three thousand innocent Americans brutally murdered on the morning of 9/11 is in Israel. As crowds in the West Bank and Gaza rushed into the streets to celebrate the murderous attack on America, Israelis mourned with us, lowered their flag as we lowered ours, and wept with us.

A three part series on BDS by Steve Apfel at The Commentator.

Israel boycotters: A Kabbalistic mission
Part 1. of a 3 part series on the whys and wherefores of Israel boycotters
Israel boycotters: La Trahison des clercs
Part 2. of a 3 part series on the whys and wherefores of Israel boycotters
Israel boycotters: The goose and the golden egg
Part 3. of a 3 part series on the whys and wherefores of Israel boycotters

CIF Watch: Irish Times report includes false claim about BDS impact on Jerusalem Light Rail

However, his claim that Veolia withdrew from the Jerusalem consortium appears to be flatly untrue. As a fact sheet on Veolia’s website, and even posts on pro-BDS sites such as ‘Who Profits?’ (a project of Coalition of Women for Peace) make clear, Veolia has NOT ended its involvement with the consortium.
Additionally, while the company has indicated its wish to eventually sell its 5% share, McDonald’s passage misleadingly implies that Veolia’s calculations are based on the political pressure by BDS activists, a charge flatly denied by the company and contradicted by a recent report in Globes, which included the following:

More BBC whitewashing of ‘Al Quds Day’

That rally was as usual organized by the Iranian regime-linked ‘Islamic Human Rights Commission’ – a registered charity whose chair, Massoud Shadjareh, has been quoted and promoted by the BBC on numerous occasions over the years. The event was also supported by various non-Shiia bodies and non-Muslim organisations such as the ‘Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign’, ‘Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods’ – one of the founders of which, Tony Greenstein, has appeared on BBC programmes – and the ‘Stop the War Coalition’ – members of which are also to be found not infrequently as guests of the BBC.
In contrast to the curious little local custom – odd, but harmless – which this BBC article tries to make Al Quds day out to be, it is in fact a well-organised, well-funded vehicle for promoting racist hatred and glorifying terrorism. BBC audiences are entitled to expect to read the truth about it rather than Ardalan’s insipid, almost anthropological, whitewash.

Israel: For now, no pacts with EU due to West Bank rules

The ministers “did not make a decision specific to Horizon 2020,” a government source told The Times of Israel on Thursday, “but they all agreed that the new EU guidelines are detrimental to the possible success of the peace talks with the Palestinians.”
The ministers also agreed that “Israel will be unable to sign additional agreements [with the EU] that include the stipulations the EU is demanding. The government of Israel will seek clarifications from the EU regarding the territorial clause,” the official said.

Major German daily publishes anti-Israeli cartoon

A major German newspaper on Wednesday published an anti-Israeli caricature likening Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to an evil character from an anti-Nazi song. The cartoon raised serious concerns among Jews in Germany and beyond, who have demanded that the paper apologize.
In Wednesday’s Stuttgarter Zeitung, Netanyahu is seen sitting on a park bench, pouring poison from a bottle labeled “settlement construction” over a piece of bread which he apparently intends to feed to a peace dove. The cartoon caption references a 1938 anti-Nazi song by the Jewish Austrian-American composer and performer Georg Kreisler called “Pigeon Poisoner.”

Obama asked to raise anti-Semitism with Greek PM

Elisa Massimino, the president and CEO of the US-based group, urged Obama in a two-page letter Tuesday to ask Prime Minister Antonis Samaras during their meeting on Thursday to “speak out more forcefully to counteract the negative anti-Semitic and xenophobic discourse.”
The letter specifically pointed to the political party Golden Dawn, which holds 7 percent of the seats in the Greek parliament, noting “its representatives use Nazi symbols, have praised German Nazi leaders in the past, and have engaged in blatantly xenophobic rhetoric.”

Disney Claims ‘Anti-Israel Donald Duck’ is ‘Not Currently Under Contract,’ No Comment on Future Employment

The Walt Disney Company on Wednesday tried to distance itself from an Egyptian voice over artist who calls himself the “official voice of Donald Duck in the Middle East” and who caused an online firestorm this week after he published anti-Israel and anti-Zionist remarks on Twitter.
Wael Mansour, whose Twitter tirade surprised Disney executives while the company, which owns the rights to Donald Duck, was preoccupied with presenting its third quarter results this week, is an outside subcontractor who has no affiliation with the parent company, a spokesman for Disney in Europe and the Middle East told The Algemeiner.

Despite losing wife to terror attack, Chabad envoy returns to India

Only nine months ago, during Operation Pillar of Defense, Rabbi Shmuel Scharf's wife, Mira, was killed when a Hamas rocket struck their home in Kiryat Malachi. Now, about a month before the Jewish High Holy Days commence, Shmuel is going back to India with his kids, where he will once again serve as the director of New Delhi's Chabad House.
Scharf, who was injured along with his children during the rocket attack, is moving to India against the advice of psychologists, who believe it would be premature to resume his activities as a Chabad emissary. But Scharf, having largely recuperated from the attack, says he must pick up from where he and his wife left off.

Israel’s Compugen inks $10 million Bayer deal

Tel Aviv-based Compugen, a drug discovery company focused on therapeutic proteins and monoclonal antibodies to address unmet needs in immunology and oncology, is getting $10 million at the start of a major collaboration and license agreement with Bayer HealthCare.
Their joint preclinical research program aims to research, develop and commercialize antibody-based therapeutics for cancer immunotherapy against two novel “immune checkpoint regulators” discovered by Compugen.

AOL Pays $405 Million for Israeli-Founded Adap.tv

Adap.tv, which is now based in San Mateo, California, was founded by Israeli start-up veteran CEO Amir Ashkenazi, Dan Klein and CTO Teg Grenager in 2006, and its investors include Gemini Israel Ventures, as well as US funds Redpoint Ventures, Spark Capital, and Bessemer Venture Partners, Israeli’s Globes business newspaper reported.
Adap.tv will operate independently as part of AOL’s video department and it will be included in the overall solution packages offered by AOL Networks to its publisher and advertiser partners.

Netanyahu: Negev will become the Israeli Silicon Valley

According to the current timetable, the IDF's Communication Corps compound will be transferred from central Israel to the new Negev complex next year. The IDF's intelligence compound is set to move to the Negev in 2018, and with it 30,000 personnel of which 6,000 are career servicemen.
"The IDF's move to the Negev represents an unprecedented maneuver in its scope and economic, social and cultural impact. The completion of the maneuver will see the Negev turn into the 'Israeli Silicon Valley,'" Netanyahu said.