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Friday, November 08, 2013

11/08 Links Pt2: Students Obsession With Israel, Nazi Converts to Islam, Jordan takes UNSC Seat.

From Ian:

Stand With Us: Why Are Students Totally Obsessed With Israel?
Why is there an Israel Apartheid week in nearly two dozen campuses across the UK - yet there are no similar events drawing attention to human rights abuses in Zimbabwe or Venezuela? Why does the NUS want to send students on a 'humanitarian mission' to Gaza - yet it has refused to support a campaign fighting racism on campus? Above all, why is Israel the only country in the world which 18 year old kids believe has no right to exist (that is, when they're not stupidly drunk in a nightclub)?
It's a saddening question with a myriad of answers. A lot of university students are naive? True, but not a satisfactory answer. Anti-Semitism? A bit too simplistic perhaps - though Woody Allen has no problem with this explanation. Israel makes a good news story? It's embroiled in an iconic conflict?
Ad campaign tests pro-Israel group’s launch in Canada
The dueling ads from PAC and StandWithUs depict “Palestinian Loss of Land” and “Jewish Loss of Land” respectively. The PAC ads show an area marked “Palestine” being reduced in size from 1946 until 2012 and the text, “5 million Palestinians are classified as refugees by the UN.”
The counter ads depict the ancient Jewish kingdom dated 1000 BCE, the “Jewish homeland” under the Balfour Declaration in 1920 and the modern state of Israel with the West Bank and Golan Heights marked as “disputed territory.” (StandWithUs also ran a second ad with children waving Canadian and Israeli flags.)
Why Did so Many Wanted Nazis Convert to Islam?
There are Nazi grafts in Arab-Islamic terrorism.
At the top of the most wanted list of the Simon Wiesenthal Center there is a man who today would be one hundred years old. His name is Alois Brunner and he is responsible for the deaths of over 130,000 Jews. The Nazi hunters still place him in Syria, where he was last seen in 2001, protected by the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Brunner was one of the most zealous ideologues and officials of the “Final Solution”, the plan for the extermination of the Jews. The idea haunted him to the point that in 1985 he said to the German magazine Bunte: “I regret that I didn’t finish the job”.
Obama Accused of ‘Crimes Against Humanity’
According to Egyptian newspaper El Watan, a group of Egyptian lawyers has submitted a complaint charging U.S. president Barrack Hussein Obama with crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court.
The complaint charges Obama of being an accessory to the Muslim Brotherhood, which incited widespread violence in Egypt both before and after the June 30 Revolution.
Jordan to take Saudi seat on Security Council
Jordan will replace Saudi Arabia on the Security Council for a two-year term starting in January after the Saudis’ unprecedented rejection of the seat hours after they were elected, a UN diplomat said Thursday.
The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because the deal was made privately, said Jordan’s UN Ambassador Prince Zeid al Hussein was flying to Amman Thursday night to discuss Jordan’s new role on the UN’s most powerful body.
Earlier this week, Jordan dropped its bid for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council, leaving Saudi Arabia a clear path in the now uncontested election next Tuesday.
Top EU Legislators Appeal Against UNHRC Candidacies of China, Cuba, Russia, Saudi Arabia
We, the undersigned members of parliament, human rights activists and non-governmental organizations, call on you to publicly oppose the candidacies of Algeria, China, Cuba, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, for seats on the United Nations Human Rights Council, elections for which will be held on November 12, 2013. We urge you to take action to defeat these manifestly unworthy candidacies, which threaten to cast a shadow upon the reputation of the Council—and of the United Nations as a whole.
Israel, US lose UNESCO voting right in dispute
Under UNESCO rules, the US had until Friday morning to resume funding or explain itself, or it automatically loses its vote. A UNESCO official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue, said nothing was received from either the US or Israel.
The suspension of US contributions, which account for $80 million a year — 22 percent of UNESCO’s overall budget — brought the agency to the brink of a financial crisis and forced it to cut or scale back American-led initiatives such as Holocaust education and tsunami research over the past two years.
BBC Trust Censures Show for Inaccurate Portrayal of Six Day War
The BBC Trust has decided that Dan Snow breached its Editorial Guidelines on accuracy when he implied that Israel had started the Six Day War in a film called ‘History of Syria,’ the BBC reported Thursday.
A complainant initially complained to the BBC that Snow’s statement that ‘In 1967, Assad was Minister of Defense when Israel launched a series of strikes against Egypt, Jordan and Syria…’ “vilified” Israel.
Guess who endorsed Max Blumenthal’s ‘I hate Israel handbook’?
It’s of course not surprising that the former Guardian columnist – whose history of engaging in antisemitic tropes is well-documented – endorsed a book by such a hateful anti-Zionist. However, in light of Greenwald’s star status within a segment of the progressive media, it’s important to continue documenting his propensity to sympathize with commentators who characterize Jews and the Jewish state in a manner indistinguishable from the rhetoric of decidedly illiberal extremists.
U.S., Jewish leaders condemn Hungary far-right for protest
The United States on Thursday strongly condemned a far-right party for unveiling a statue of wartime leader Miklos Horthy, who allied Hungary with Nazi Germany, an event which stoked concerns about a wave of anti-Semitism in the country.
The Jobbik party unveiled the statue on Sunday in Budapest.
"Those who organized and participated in the event, including members of Hungary's parliament, promoted not only their own intolerance, but also a dramatically negative image of Hungary," the U.S. embassy said in an e-mailed statement.
Controversial Film ‘Aftermath’ Confronts Poland’s Relationship With the Holocaust (INTERVIEW)
‘Aftermath’ elicited a harsh response from many Polish nationalists and right-wingers, who accused it of being “anti-Polish” propaganda and an attempt to rewrite history. Some local cinemas even banned the film and actor Maciej Stuhr, in a disturbing case of life imitating art, was, like the brothers in the film, on the receiving end of death threats and accusations of being Jewish.
Dariusz Jabłoński, the film’s producer, told The Algemeiner that the struggle to create the controversial movie took seven years, and the financial backing from investors in four countries.
Germany: The Greatest Double Robbery in the History of Art?
A full list of artworks will not be published online. "We prefer if people with a claim to lost artwork get in touch with us to say which picture they are missing, rather than the other way around." — Reinhard Nemetz, State Prosecutor's Office, Augsburg, Germany.
"I find it shocking they won't list everything they've found. Families don't always know exactly what they're looking for until they see an image of it." — Lawrence Kaye, Art Lawyer, New York.
South African cabinet: No ban on government travel to Israel
The South African government announced on Wednesday that it does not have a ban on government officials travelling to Israel, a week after International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said the country’s ministers were not going to Israel as a sign of solidarity with the Palestinians.
“Government has not imposed a ban on travel to the State of Israel by government officials,” the cabinet’s official communiqué stated.
EU Ambassador Wants Cooperation with Israel
The European Union’s new ambassador to Israel has indicated that the EU is interested in continuing its collaboration with Israel in the field of science.
The ambassador, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, made the comments during a meeting on Thursday evening with Science and Technology Minister Yaakov Perry (Yesh Atid).
Israeli water tech comes to rescue of EU farmers
The green fields of Europe are struggling to stay watered. A number of factors, from climate change to population growth to government policies, have turned even areas where water was previously plentiful into thirsty regions, where irrigation and other methods to manage water have become necessary. For much of Europe the concept of water management is relatively new, which is why an Israeli company known for its expertise in water management technology is stepping in.
Two Israelis win French National Order of Agricultural Merit
An Israeli agro-hydrology researcher and a winemaker are the winners of the National Order of Agricultural Merit, awarded by the French Ministry of Agriculture.
Prof. Pedro Berliner, director of the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research on BGU’s Sede-Boqer campus, and Eli Ben-Zaken, maker of Domaine du Castel wines, will be awarded at an official ceremony on November 27 at the French Embassy.
Israel Daily Picture: The First Graduating Class of One of the Yishuv's Great Institutions, the Gymnasia Herzliya
The Hebrew Gymnasia Herzliya was formed in 1905 and was the first Hebrew-language school in modern history. We suggest that the date, 1900, written in the caption of Marks' photo of the school's first graduating class is mistaken by 10-15 years, considering that Rachel married David around 1919. [He was discharged from the British Army in 1920.]
The Gymnasia produced several of Israel's prominent leaders, such as Moshe Sharett, Israel's second prime minister.
Rupert Murdoch: World Freedom Dependent on Israel
News Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch told a Jewish gathering Thursday that the freedoms enjoyed by many of the world’s citizens are dependent on the existence of the state of Israel. “You know as I do that as Israel goes, so goes [...] our morality and our very existence as freedom loving citizens of the world” he said, addressing the founder of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), Pastor John Hagee, who was being honored at the event.
“This beleaguered nation and its people are beacons of hope and justice,” he said further, adding, “their enemies are our enemies, glorifiers of death, seeking to impose their bloody doctrine through violence.”