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Monday, September 23, 2013

9/23 Links Pt 2: Israel the 'Key Issue' Fizzles Out, SA MP no Apartheid in Israel, Elmo goes to Jail

From Ian:

Douglas Murray: Favorite "Key Issue" Fizzles Out
In three years of uprisings, overthrows, revolutions and counter-revolutions, barely a protestor in any country has come out onto the streets to express their irritation at current housing arrangements in East Jerusalem. In every instance they have come out to demand a say in their future or to demand work, fair pay, opportunities or simple amenities such as food. The demands of the Palestinian people and their propagandists in the West have not even been at the bottom of the list of demands in a single one of the Arab uprisings. And just as Israel has played no part in their revolutions, so it has played less-than-no part in their ensuing civil conflicts.
It is time to face up to the fact that in almost all Western countries, entire foreign ministries and political establishments have been caught repeating a motif so wrong-headed, so completely mistaken that if they had any shame, they should now be silent. In the meantime we should tell them that although it is possible we will listen to them at some point in the future, we will not do so until they have gone away for a time and successfully retuned. (h/t Sophie44)
Danny Danon: Oslo Accords Should be Annulled
Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon wrote in a New York Times op-ed published Sept. 20 that the 1993 Oslo Accords should be annulled.
“Only by officially annulling the Oslo Accords will we have the opportunity to rethink the existing paradigm and hopefully lay the foundations for a more realistic modus vivendi between the Jews and Arabs of this region,” Danon wrote.
Oslo’s failure “cannot be attributed to a lack of will and persistence by Israel,” according to Danon.
Guardian caption falsely claims “Jewish extremists” entered al-Aqsa mosque
As with the previous photo caption, the Guardian again allowed pure Palestinian propaganda regarding the al-Aqsa mosque – consistent with a larger anti-Zionist narrative advanced by extremists alleging that the mosque is threatened by Jews – to pass as straight news. Whilst the Guardian likely isn’t responsible for the photo itself (as such images are typically taken by photojournalists at outside agencies), their editors are indeed responsible for editing the caption for accuracy. In the last two examples we’ve highlighted, Guardian editors failed miserably at this task.
BBC presents one-sided report of incident involving European diplomats
The BBC News website clearly needs to revise this article considerably if it is to comply with BBC editorial standards of accuracy and impartiality because, as it currently stands, it is nothing more than one-sided propaganda for a very blatant political campaign.
Exec Director Of CAIR Michigan Attacks Israeli Special Forces Efforts To Help At Nairobi Mall
According to his bio, Mr Walid is the executive director for CAIR Michigan.
Shortly after I challenged his statement, Mr. Walid scrubbed his tweet, forgetting that time-honored maxim “Twitter is forever”.
Bennett to Christians: Stop the lies - Jerusalem isn’t occupied
The Bayit Yehudi leader called on the parliamentarians to “stand up and speak up. Whenever there’s an opportunity or a lie being told, don’t be silent.
“We’re being told that right behind this succa [the Old City of Jerusalem] is occupied territory, and we may be boycotted as long as we’re there.
Whoever thinks our capital of 3,000 years is occupied doesn’t understand anything. Stop the lies,” he said.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat reaffirmed his commitment to freedom of religion in the capital.
Kenneth Meshoe: A Black South African, Israel and Apartheid
Is the charge that Israel is an apartheid state valid or a slander? Who better to answer this question than someone who lived in a real apartheid state?


Saatchi Online promotes “anti-Israel” art
Saatchi Online, the official web presence of the Charles Saatchi owned Saatchi Gallery, is promoting what critics call “anti-Israel” propaganda, by artist Michal BarOr.
BarOr, Israeli herself, has called the work listed as “not for sale” on the gallery’s website, “The Map“.
The work of art is a photograph of a map depicting historical “Palestine” under British rule. BarOr writes of the work, “I hold a map of Palestine from 1947 – just before the invention of Israel – just before the Palestinian disaster. The hand is partly showing the map and partly discussed by it keeping it away from the unseen body. The map is no longer readable – folded like a dirty rag, become a leftover – a used object to be thrown away.” (h/t Sophie44)
“Dubula iJuda”…and the lid blew off
Words in the Xhosa tongue exposed the cover of anti-Zionists talking in mother tongues by the score. A riddle wrapped in a mystery – until the words are put into English.
‘Dubula iJuda:’ Kill the Jews, a boycott mob chanted at patrons of a campus jive in Johannesburg. The artists were Israeli and the promoter was a Zionist body – two combustible elements to ignite even a well-disposed mob. Dubula iJuda!
Boycott leaders had no choice but to recoil in horror. “We condemn any and all incitement to violence and racism -- including anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism” declared Farid Esack, Director of BDS South Africa. Not to be outdone by a Muslim, Jewish boycotters condemned the chant “in the strongest terms” and couldn’t fathom how Muhammed Desai, who runs BDS affairs, could defend the chanters.
Democrats Invite Spewer of anti-Israel Lies to Lunch in S. Dakota
Alison Weir is an infamous Israel hater. She started an organization called, “If Americans Knew,” which claims to provide critical information which – if only Americans knew it – would mean the end of poor little America being manipulated by the evil Israelis into supporting the “ZioNazi” Jewish State.
It is through this organization that the Democrats in Sioux Falls, South Dakota have invited her to break bread with them next week.
Dick Durbin's Dreamer: 'F*** Israel'
Alaa Mukahhal, the "Dreamer" who has been praised on the floor of the Senate by Dick Durbin (D-IL) as an activist "in the finest American tradition," wrote a short and obscene assessment of Israel and its supporters on her Facebook page that was "Liked" by a former congressional staffer named Lindsay Schubiner, also a Dream activist.
Anti-Israel flag at Oberlin just par for the campus course
Unfortunately, such discourse on campuses and elsewhere is par for the course in the anti-Israel movement. The attempt to single out Israel alone for boycott, and the false equation of Israel with Apartheid, fascism and Nazism, is part of the dialogue and accepted. Oberlin is one of only a handful of higher education campuses where the student government has endorsed the anti-Israel BDS movement and boycott.
British university to compensate Israeli after bias claims
An Israeli master’s student who charged that she had suffered prejudice at the hands of her thesis supervisor due to her pro-Israel views was awarded £1,000 (NIS 5,600) following an inquiry by England’s body for reviewing student complaints. The Office of the Independent Adjudicator also ruled that Warwick University must apologize to Smadar Bakovic, 37, for failing to find her a new supervisor, according to the Times Higher Education supplement.
The Top Ten Responses to Campus Anti-Semitism
Some of us are accustomed to criticizing government and campus leaders when they fail to respond properly to anti-Semitism. But what are these leaders getting right? As the new academic year begins, we would like to strike a positive note. The Louis D. Brandeis Center has developed the following top ten list of laudable actions recently taken to address the upsurge in campus anti-Semitism. We concede that some of these actions are debatable, and we agree that a few have had some flaws. Nevertheless, they all represent a step forward. We have commended some of these officials before, but we are happy to do it again.
French Muslim leader ousted over invite to pro-Israel Jewish lawmaker
Farid Belkacemi, former vice president of the League for the Judicial Defense of Muslims, resigned because of the presence at the September 16 opening event of Meyer Habib, a member of France’s National Assembly and former vice president of the CRIF umbrella organization of French Jewish communities, according to a statement by the League.
NYC’s ‘Anti-Semitic Elmo’ Pleads Guilty to Extortion Scheme
The Times Square Elmo who made headlines for heckling tourists with anti-Semitic rants pleaded guilty this week in a Manhattan court to attempting to extort $2 million from the Girl Scouts, the New York Post reported.
Israeli scientists make breakthrough in stem cell reprogramming
New Israeli research could help facilitate the production of stem cells for medical use, as well as advancing our understanding of the mysterious process by which adult cells can revert back into their original, embryonic state. Weizmann Institute’s Dr. Yaqub Hanna and his team have revealed the “brake” that holds back the production of stem cells, and found that releasing this brake can both synchronize the process and increase its efficiency from around one percent or less today to 100%.
Jerusalem's beauty captured in the most detail EVER: Stunning images from IMAX film exploring mysteries of the Holy Land
Throughout its checkered history it has been fought over more than any other place in history; conquered and destroyed, rebuilt and reinvented and remains to this day both a thriving modern city and a living museum to over 5,000 years of history.
‘Jerusalem,’ which is being distributed by National Geographic Entertainment, explores this ancient, enigmatic place on a grand scale. It has been shot especially in 3D for IMAX and Giant Screen cinemas which immerses audiences in a spectacular cinematic journey
Audiences get a rare glimpse of the storied city, as well as exclusive access to iconic holy sites including the Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee and the mountain fortress of Masada.
Although a strict no-fly zone has existed over the region for many years, the filmmakers were granted special permission to capture aerial images using low-altitude planes.
Simon Schama: The Story Of The Jews Ep.4 Over the Rainbow