Wednesday, October 02, 2013
Lapid Denounces Anti-Semitic Incidents in Hungary
Speaking during a conference on European anti-Semitism in the Hungarian parliament, Lapid said today's politicians must ensure such tragedies did not happen again.
He recounted the story of his father, former MK and government minister Tommy Lapid, who narrowly escaped being killed along with thousands of other Jews who were taken to the banks of the Danube and shot in public in the winter of 1945.(h/t Yoel)
Palestinian Propaganda Invades the Arts in Canada
Palestinian propaganda has been ramped up a notch, using the prominent Toronto Film Festivals, in a manipulation of the arts to emotionalize its message. The Sixth Annual Toronto Palestine Film Festival (TPFF) opened on Saturday September 28th, on the heels of the renowned Toronto International Film Festival . Although described as "dedicated to bringing Palestinian cinema, live musical performances, cuisine and art to audiences," it is more accurately a propaganda fest that promotes Palestinian victimhood and paints Israel as a criminal. The event is promoted by the Canadian Arab Federation, which has been condemned by the Canadian government for its support of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.CiF Watch prompts correction to false Guardian claim about SodaStream
As Guardian reports on fledgling BDS efforts against Israel go, Benedictus’s article isn’t too bad. However, the strap line falsely claimed that SodaStream’s company headquarters was in “the occupied West Bank”, when in fact only one of their factories (in Mishor Adumim) is in the disputed territory. The company’s corporate headquarters is located in Airport City, adjacent to Ben Gurion Airport and not on the “wrong side” of the green line.Guardian Letters Page Throws Up a Surprise
After contacting Guardian editors the strap line was corrected, and the false claim about SodaStream’s company headquarters was removed.
I’m not sure I can remember seeing a newspaper publish a letter so overtly hostile towards and critical of the newspaper itself as one in today’s Guardian. It begins with the following sentence:BBC’s Marcus promotes ‘moderated’ Iranian Holocaust denial
The reason that you receive letters exclusively from people (including Jews) who are hostile to Israel is that no one who supports Israel bothers to read the Guardian any more. That is why your circulation is dwindling to zero, by the way.
For some reason, Jonathan Marcus seeks to persuade BBC audiences that Israel should be gratefully giving out “brownie points” to any Iranian official who does a mealy-mouthed makeover on Ahmadinejad’s previous performance. The waters of that “wave of euphoria” appear to have turned Mr Marcus’ critical and analytic faculties rather soggy.Fisk Losing Touch With Reality
No surprise that serial Israel-basher Robert Fisk takes a typically snide and bitter view of Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the UN. His latest in The Independent includes the following:Bill Clinton on Rowhani: Interesting That Admitting Holocaust Occurred Qualifies Him As Being A Moderate
Now, with the pleasant smile of President Rouhani gracing their television screens, fully accepting the facts of the Jewish Holocaust – unlike his deranged and infantile predecessor – the Americans (75 per cent, if we are to believe the polls) don’t want to go to war with Iran either.Exactly when did Rouhani “fully accept” the facts of the Holocaust?
Biden’s ‘hawkish’ speech garners mixed reviews at J Street
US Vice President Joe Biden came directly to the J Street conference in Washington, DC, from a one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He brought with him a no-nonsense message that emphasized Washington’s support for Israel’s security and a strong stance against Iran. The message might have been coolly received had it been delivered by someone else, but J Street’s largely Democratic supporters welcomed the vice president like a rock star.Biden Criticized for Calling Palestinians ‘Least Ideological and Sectarian’ Mideast Arabs
“In light of all these problems, some people ask us: Why Biden, why, why Obama. Why are you so set on trying to resolve the peace process?” Biden said.Overheard at the 2013 J Street Conference
“The Palestinian-Israeli issue involves the least ideological and least sectarian Arabs in the Middle East,” he said in an answer to his rhetorical question.
Dr. Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum, said Biden’s characterization of the Palestinians revealed the Obama administration’s “profound ignorance—or willful denial—about the Middle East.” He said the Palestinians, contrary to Biden’s assessment, have “shown themselves over the last century to be the most radicalized of populations not just in the region, but globally.”
The evening also featured an unannounced appearance by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who called the two-state solution “essential to U.S. national security.”J Street and the Decline of American Power
Nonetheless, J Street’s moment in the sun is the result of fortuitous political circumstances, rather than any ingenious strategy on its part. As the Washington Free Beacon’s Adam Kredo reported last week, the group has spent $100,000 reaching out to lawmakers to look kindly upon both Iranian diplomatic entreaties and Palestinian efforts to secure unilateral recognition—a stance that directly contradicts the administration’s commitment to direct talks.J Street Lobbied Congress, But Did They Listen?
But with the government shutdown in effect, and members of Congress shuffling in and out of the chamber trying to reach a solution, meetings were being cancelled and moved, staged and re-staged. The schedule was completely in flux. While still going out of their way to make time for J Street’s activists, there was a sense that the priorities of those on the Hill might just be elsewhere.Experts late with test results in Arafat death case
Informed Palestinian sources told the newspaper that there was fear among the Palestinians that the delay was the result of an “official decision” to procrastinate. Forensic investigators from the three countries took samples from Arafat’s body last November for tests to determine whether he had been poisoned by polonium – a toxic, radioactive element found on some of his personal belongings.Sheikh Salah’s ready-made solution
Palestinian officials expressed fear that the Arafat death probe has entered the process of a “differential calculus” between Western and Russian intelligence agencies, in wake of the Syria crisis and the resumption of peace talks between Israel and the PA.
The officials said that the delay may be designed to prevent the emergence of any issues that could have a negative impact on the peace talks.
Islamic Movement head Sheikh Raed Salah and his friends are in a bind. Radical Islamists like them have become pariahs in Arab nations and around the world as a result of their peers' acts of terror against innocent civilians.Palestinian Supreme Fatwa Council - men and women should only talk on social network sites if they are seeking marriage.
The Islamist movements, their funds and their dawah (proselytizing) activities have now become a target for intelligence and counterterrorism agencies worldwide, and the source of primal fear in the West. Radical Islam is now perceived as a threat against freedom and normalcy.
"The main purpose of the conversation should be marriage through legal ways, and it shouldn't have any other goals which could mark a violation of Sharia law. Any personal details, which could arouse lust, must not be addressed during the conversation."The Church of Sweden used as a weapon against Israel
The second precondition states that women must avoid describing themselves physically to men on social network sites or display any photos.
Today the Church of Sweden is a big critic of Israel and high-ranking bishops refer to the Israeli presence in the West Bank as a “sin” and an “abomination against God.” On their website the Church of Sweden recommends that their congregations “suspend investment, impose sanctions and boycott companies and products from the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian Territories.”Dutch PM to Peres: 'We Never Even Considered Yesha Boycott'
There is clearly nothing spiritual about the views of the Church of Sweden regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It is politicians who are using one of Europe’s biggest churches as a weapon against Israel. Sadly enough the anti- Israel rhetoric in Sweden often spearheaded by the Social Democratic Labour Party has infiltrated the Church of Sweden in a nasty way.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, has said in a joint press conference with Shimon Peres, that the Netherlands is opposed to boycotting goods from Israel and that the issue had not even been considered within the country.Cal State University-Northridge Says Anti-Israel Prof Klein Does Not Have Permission to Use School Servers to Advance Boycott
After an intense letter-writing campaign and in-person pleas by AMCHA Initiative, a national organization fighting anti-Semitism on college campuses, California State University’s interim general counsel, Andrew Jones, has affirmed that CSU-Northridge mathematics professor David Klein has not been granted express permission to use school email and web hosting to support a boycott of Israel.New morphing glass can be dimmed, frosted or see-through
As you enter the elevator at the Aish HaTorah yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem, you’d never suspect that you were about to experience the future of glass technology. But as the car rises from the first to the fifth and final floor, its walls gradually transform, from what seemed at first to be solid and opaque to entirely transparent.Israeli Holocaust historian Israel Gutman dies
When the elevator ultimately comes to a halt on the rooftop of the building, you are surrounded by clear glass – and a stunning view of the Western Wall.
The glass used in Aish HaTorah’s morphing elevator is super-charged with next-generation liquid crystals developed by Gauzy, an Israeli firm that is revolutionizing the way glass can be used in all manner of construction projects – from windows in offices that can be dimmed with the touch of a button, to eco-friendly refrigerators that go transparent so you can see what’s inside without opening the door and wasting energy.
Israel Gutman, who survived the Nazi atrocities of World War II and dedicated his life to researching the Holocaust, has died. He was 90.
Estee Yaari, spokeswoman for the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem, said Gutman died in his sleep late Monday in Jerusalem.
Gutman was born in Warsaw in 1923. He was wounded during fighting in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in 1943 when a few hundred poorly armed Jews put up resistance to Nazi troops who were rounding up residents and sending them to death camps.
