Wednesday, October 16, 2013
NGO Monitor: Manipulating Israeli Justice: An Analysis of Yesh Din´s EU-Funded Lawfare Report
On October 10, 2013, the Israeli NGO Yesh Din published a report, “Lacuna: War Crimes in Israeli Law and Court-Martial Rulings,” labeling Israel’s legal system “defective” and calling for the adoption of legislation to “criminalize war crimes in Israeli law.”Europe’s strange bedfellows
EU funding
Yesh Din’s report was financed by the European Union, as part of a three-year, €150,000 grant “to change Israeli policy vis-à-vis criminal accountability of Israeli Security Forces Personnel” (emphasis added). In this instance, the foreign government funding is being used to “draft a proposed law” and lobby the Knesset for specific legislation.
In funding a project using NGOs to “change Israeli policy,” in particular through legislative processes, rather than engaging in direct diplomacy, the EU is violating Israel’s democratic integrity and accepted norms between states.
On its face, the grant appears to be part of the EU’s longstanding lobbying efforts to get countries to join the International Criminal Court or at least to adopt the provisions of the Court’s Rome statute into their domestic legislation. The EU is highly invested in the ICC project.Caroline Glick: The bothersome, annoying truth
European countries were the strongest advocates for the creation of the Court and almost all have signed on. Yet, to date, the ICC has not been particularly successful. The ICC’s annual budget is more than $100 million, but in the past decade, the court has only completed two trials (one ended in acquittal). Due to perceived bias and other problems, African ministers even threatened to vote on pulling out of the court at the latest meeting of the African Union.
Last month Theater J announced its Spring 2014 schedule. The schedule includes a play called The Admission.The Islamist Trojan Horse
Authored by an Israeli named Motti Lerner, the play is a dramatization of what is euphemistically known as the “Tantura Affair.”
In 2000, Maariv published an article describing the Master’s thesis of a student at the University of Haifa named Teddy Katz. Teddy Katz’s thesis purported to document a previously unknown massacre during Israel’s War of Independence. He alleged that in May 1948 the IDF murdered 250 Arab civilians after winning a battle in the town of Tantura.
The article caused an uproar. Veterans of the battle sued Katz for libel. They won. Indeed, in testimony before the district court judge Katz admitted his thesis was a fabrication.
The Gulf states spend enormous amounts on the Islamists in the West, financing their social activities and research funds, buying university chairs and founding libraries and universities. They acquire people with influence, recruit lecturers and students, rewrite history and fashion the America of the future. Qatar, a sponsor of the murderous Muslim Brotherhood, brought Al-Jazeera TV to the United States. Al-Jazeera broadcasts pure propaganda and does not adhere to any of the parameters of responsible journalism, and its only objective is eventually to brainwash the American public with the Islamist agenda. Thus, by using legitimate means, and America's freedom of expression, the Muslim Brotherhood has evaded security filters and infiltrated a genuine Trojan Horse of subversive propaganda through open gates directly into America's hearts and minds.CAMERA Monograph: Indicting Israel: New York Times Coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
A new monograph about CAMERA's six-month study of The New York Times details how the newspaper treats Israel with a harsher standard, omits context, and shows a clear preference for the Palestinian narrative.Rights to the Temple Mount
The fear that the police have of the Arabs on the Temple Mount is palpable. When we were verbally assaulted by the Arabs upon our entry, the police made not the slightest effort to quiet them, this in marked distinction from their immediate and angry silencing of any form of Jewish prayer. Rather, their response was to quickly move us past the hateful bigots. And when we were again cursed near the end of our visit, the sole and frightened response of the police was to ask us to leave.Report: Israel, PA Peace Talks Face Implosion Over Jordan Valley Buffer Zone
It is time the police start enforcing the most basic of religious rights, for Jews as well as Muslims, that our law enforcement authorities cease cowering in the face of Arab violence and stop their shameful hiding behind Muslim religious terror as an excuse for their failure to uphold the law.
The current ongoing peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are in jeopardy, Ma’ariv reported on Tuesday, after the PA scoffed at the idea of Israel maintaining a military presence in the Jordan Valley, an Israeli requirement to establish a buffer zone before creating a Palestinian state.Iran the main obstacle to peace with Palestinians, PM says
According to the Israeli daily, PA negotiators in a recent meeting demanded that only its forces should be placed in the Jordan Valley, along what it would like to see as a Palestinian state’s eastern border, allowing for each state to retain independent boundaries. The Israelis refused, maintaining their insistence that a future Palestinian state be demilitarized and that Israel have control of the airspace, maritime traffic and border crossings to guarantee security.
Iran’s leaders “have no interest in compromise or an agreement,” Netanyahu added. “They have the power to control any territory we withdraw from. Their goal is to remove us from here. That’s their publicly stated agenda.”Lithuania Trying to Cash in On Poland's Kosher Slaughter Ban
When Israel “withdrew from Gaza, they took over. When we withdrew from Lebanon, they took over. They don’t want peace. They’re the dominant power” in the region.
The consequences of Iranian expansionism for peace are profound, he said.
Lithuania on Tuesday took a step towards legalizing the ritual slaughter of livestock for food, seeking to expand its exports after neighboring Poland imposed a ban.Spanish Jews ask Catholics to return ancient synagogue
"Arab countries and Israel represent new opportunities for meat exporters," lawmaker Vytautas Gapsys, who tabled the draft legislation, told parliament, according to AFP.
The building, which is owned by the Spanish Catholic Church, “is not being used as a house of worship of any kind these days,” FCJE’s communications director, Maria Royo, told JTA. She said the federation has not received a response from the Church.Priebke lawyer calls off funeral amid protests
Originally known as the Ibn Shushan Synagogue, the 833-year-old building is one of Spain’s most popular museums. It drew some 300,000 visitors in a recent year, half of them locals.
The bitterly protested funeral of Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke was called off hours after it was to have taken place Tuesday by his lawyer, who said police prevented friends and family members from attending amid a noisy protest against the planned religious ceremony.World Jewish Congress Commends Blocking of Nazi War Criminal’s Funeral
“We commend the government of Argentina, the Mayor of Rome, and the Church for refusing to give Erich Priebke posthumous rehabilitation and credibility. His corpse should be cremated and its ashes scattered in an unknown location, as was done with Adolf Eichmann and Osama Bin Laden,” Lauder said in a statement.Tunisia tennis star's camp slams order to shun Israeli
The brother and manager of Tunisian tennis star Malek Jaziri on Monday slammed as "shocking" the political pressure to boycott a match with Israel's Amir Weintraub from the authorities back home.BrainGate team wins $1 million B.R.A.I.N. Prize
This decision is "shocking, because it brings politics into sport... We are totally against that. And Malek is the first victim, because tennis is his career, his bread-winner," Amir Jaziri told AFP.
The BrainGate Research and Development team led by Dr. John Donoghue is the winner of the $1 million B.R.A.I.N. (Breakthrough Research And Innovation in Neurotechnology) contest at the inaugural International Brain Technology Conference.Israeli, US profs win 1st annual Mathematical Neuroscience Prize
The BrainGate team, based at Brown University with collaborators at the Massachusetts General Hospital, the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Providence, Rhode Island), Case Western Reserve University, and Stanford University, triumphed over nine other B.R.A.I.N finalists. The collaborative has demonstrated the first human uses of an implanted neural sensor and neural interface system to control robotic and prosthetic arms in three-dimensional space.
Hebrew University of Jerusalem Prof. Haim Sompolinsky and Columbia University Prof. Larry Abbott are the winners of the 1st Annual Mathematical Neuroscience Prize by Israel Brain Technologies (IBT). The two $100,000 prizes were awarded at the 1st annual BrainTech Israel 2013 Conference in Tel Aviv.10 Israeli Technologies That Are Changing The World
IBT’s Mathematical Neuroscience Prize honors researchers worldwide who have significantly advanced our understanding of the neural mechanisms of perception, behavior and thought through the application of mathematical analysis and theoretical modeling.
Israel has been coined the “Startup Nation”; the country with the highest concentration of startups in the world. Over the past 63 years, thousands of Israeli startups have given rise to innovations in fields as diverse as irrigation; GPS navigation; and cherry tomatoes.Nigerian President to Lead 30,000 Christian Pilgrims to Israel
But which are the Israeli startups that are truly changing the world?
We’ve picked 10 startups that we believe have impacted the world for the better or are in the process of changing lives forever. (h/t Jewess)
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan will lead more than 30,000 Christian pilgrims on an upcoming trip to Israel.New Sigdiada festival celebrates Ethiopian culture
While in Israel, President Jonathan, who is the first sitting Nigerian Christian president to visit Israel, is expected to sign a Bilateral Air Services Agreement between Nigeria and Israel, making it easier for Christian pilgrims to visit, AllAfrica.com reported.
Top Ethiopian artists and celebrities are set to show off their culture at this week’s first Sigdiada event in Tel Aviv. Whereas Sigd – a holiday celebrated by the Ethiopian Jewish community – is usually a closed celebration for members of the community, the new happening is aimed at the general public.
