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Thursday, November 28, 2013

11/28 Links Pt2: Israeli Prof elected VP of Project Including Iran PA, GWU reviews links with Al Quds

From Ian:

Israeli Professor Vice-President of Project Including Iran, PA
A Jordan-based scientific research project whose members include Iran and the Palestinian Authority has chosen an Israeli professor as vice president, the candidate's university confirmed.
Scientists from states participating in the project elected Eliezer Rabinovici, a physics professor at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, as vice-president of the Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME), the university told AFP
GW Med School: Al-Quds Exchanges ‘Would Need to be Evaluated’ After Nazi-Style Rally
Student exchanges between the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences and the Palestinian Al-Quds University, which have not materialized since being offered in 2008, “would need to be evaluated” following the recent Nazi-style rally on the Al-Quds campus in Jerusalem.
What's With the Nazi Fascination?
Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Tom Gross said that the footage proved that attempts by Al-Quds to excuse the November 5th rally as an isolated event were disingenuous:
"The emergence of a video showing another Fascistic-style, militaristic Islamic Jihad rally, on what appears to be the main campus of Al-Quds University this past May - together with Palestinian students at Al-Quds who have informed me that the student factions of both Hamas and the PFLP held similar rallies at Al-Quds University this semester a few weeks ago - calls into question the claims by the Al-Quds university authorities that the November 5 rally was a one-off event, which they claim they didn't know about until they saw the photos of it."
UN Watch: UN condemns Israel 6 times, declares ‘Year of Palestine’
The UN General Assembly yesterday condemned Israel in six resolutions, the most significant of which declares 2014 a “Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian people.”
The new year is now liable to bring escalated politicization within UN agencies worldwide, doing nothing to help Palestinians or Israelis on the ground, while inflicting yet further damage to the world body’s effectiveness and credibility.
The one-sided resolutions were adopted in tandem with the UN’s observance Monday of its annual “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.”
The Guardian: Australia is right to challenge the UN’s anti-Israel bias
The consequences of the UN’s one-sidedness against Israel are grave. For one, it is a disservice both to Israel and the Palestinian cause. A complex struggle for national self-determination by two peoples over a territory less than half the size of Tasmania, has seen the Palestinians cast as victims, and Israel depicted as the brute. As a result, the world overlooks the true causes of the conflict, and by logical extension, is unable to see the solutions.
For example, the EU recently found that the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah had squandered close to €2bn of aid from European taxpayers; aid intended to build Palestinian institutions, enfranchise the people, elevate their quality of life. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Al-Quds University is reported to have staged a Nuremberg-style rally by members of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation, replete with black uniforms and Nazi salutes. Yet such issues concerning incitement and mismanagement, which strike at the heart of why the Palestinians’ national goals remain unfulfilled, are routinely overlooked by the UN.
Report: Anti-Semitic incidents rise 21% in Australia
Anti-Semitic incidents in Australia rose 21 percent in the last year and are the second highest on record, according to an annual report.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry’s annual “Report on Anti-Semitism in Australia” – tabled at Sunday’s annual general meeting in Melbourne – revealed 657 reports of racist violence against Jewish Australians and Jewish community buildings between Oct. 1, 2012 and Sept. 30, 2013.
Serious physical attacks were at the lowest since 2005, however, with fewer than 20.
Aussie Paper Publishes Photo, Caricatures Jews
Put aside the attitude of Amin Saikal as he almost crows with glee over the perceived blow to Israel following the signing of the Iran interim nuclear deal. The first thing that most readers will notice before reading the text of his Sydney Morning Herald op-ed is the accompanying photo.
What exactly does an uncaptioned photo of silhouetted ultra-Orthodox Jews have to do with the Israel-Iran situation?
Pope Francis Reaffirms Commitment to Jewish-Christian Relations, Regret for Anti-Semitism
Pope Francis on Tuesday released his widely anticipated first Apostolic Exhortation, which included a strong reaffirmation of dialogue with the Jewish people and an expression of regret for past anti-Semitism.
The 224-page comprehensive document, titled Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), outlines the pope’s vision for the Catholic Church.
“We [the Catholic Church] hold the Jewish people in special regard because their covenant with God has never been revoked,” Pope Francis wrote in the document.
‘Dolphin Boy’ gets picked up by Disney
Walt Disney Animation Studios has bought the rights for “Dolphin Boy,” an Israeli-made documentary film about Morad, an Israeli Arab teenager who was healed by Eilat’s dolphins after turning mute following a violent attack.
The purchase is the first that Burbank, California studio has made in Israel. It intends to turn the story into a feature film.
Shine keeps mobile devices happy and virus-free
While they won’t say it to the media, most security technology startups in Israel have a link to Israel’s version of the CIA, Unit 8200. But Ron Porat, who founded the anti-virus company Shine (www.getshine.com), comes from a modest background as a technician in the Israeli Air Force. Once a teenage gaming hacker, after military service he became a professional archeologist.
Seven years of digging though layers of dirt led to a sad paycheck that wouldn’t support a growing family. So Porat, now 44 with three kids, went back to the traditional workforce as a programmer and worked his way to the top.
BGU and Chinese firm to create desert research institute
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Elion Resources Group of China to create a desert institute in Mongolia. The goal of the new Kubuqi Desert Research Institute is to develop China’s desert economy.
Mr. Wang Wenbiao, the chairman and president of the multi-billion dollar construction and development company, was recently in Israel to visit BGU’s Sede Boqer and Beersheva campuses. He and 10 senior executives were so impressed with the quality of desert research that they saw they pushed for an immediate MoU.
Israel to open new industrial park with Jordan
An Israeli ministerial committee authorized the construction of a multimillion-dollar joint industrial zone with Jordan, considered to be the first large-scale project since the signing of the peace treaty between the two countries in 1994.
The industrial park, initiated by Regional Cooperation Minister Silvan Shalom, will be located in the northern Jordan Valley and comprise an Israeli and a Jordanian industrial zone connected by a bridge over the Jordan River. An Israeli ministerial committee Monday authorized initial funding for the project at NIS 120 million ($34 million) with an additional projected investment of 60 million ($17 million) over the coming years.
Meet the Israeli Startups Supported by Microsoft
Microsoft Ventures Accelerator in Tel Aviv has graduated its third batch of startups, five of which have already received an average of $1m in funding or formal proposals.
The ten graduating startups benefitted from the support of several multinational corporations participating in the accelerator program, including eBay, Comcast, Sears Israel, Saatchi & Saatchi, Y&R and Deutsche Telekom. The multinationals contributed mentoring from leading executives, help in developing technology and solutions, beta sites to test those solutions, and connections with customers.
Mexican billionaire Slim: We want to invest more in Israel
Slim said that he was touched to receive such an invitation and will be happy to visit Israel. He added, "Technology is the engine of the present era and the Slim Group will be happy to take part in additional investments in Israel. We like to have our finger on the pulse of everything regarding new technologies and I know that in this Israel is a world leader, so we are interested in Israeli developments. I'm glad that through our connection and friendship the opportunity was created for this unique visit here by the Israeli delegation to Grupo Carso." (h/t Bob Knot)
UN Conference Highlights Plight of Jewish Refugees, Fate of Iraqi Jewish Archive
On the front line of that battle, according to Jewish and Israeli leaders, is the United Nations. Since 1947, among the 687 U.N. resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 101 have referenced Palestinian refugees, but none have called attention to the plight of Jewish refugees from Arab nations.
“Over the last 65 years, the U.N. and its agencies have spent tens of billions of dollars on Palestinian refugees, but not a cent on Jewish refugees,” said Silvan Shalom—Israel’s Minister of Energy and Water, whose grandfather was once the leader of the Jewish community in Gabes, Tunisia—during a Nov. 21 conference on Jewish refugees at the U.N. titled “The Untold Story of the Middle East.”
The partition plan and Jewish refugees
Over the years, the Arab leadership exacerbated human suffering by making sure the refugees would not be integrated into their new countries. West Germany, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Greece and other countries all saw similar, perhaps even identical, refugee crises. But in all of those instances, the governments worked to rehabilitate the displaced people.
The Arab refugees became a prop that was cynically used by the anti-Israel propaganda machine. That is how the myth of the so-called Nakba (catastrophe) grew with each passing year. Over the years, the Arab states have deliberately ignored the human tragedy inflicted on the Jews in Muslim countries. The Jews were slaughtered and expelled and their property was expropriated. In today's terms, an equivalent of $300 billion was confiscated. This was coupled by great mental anguish.
U.S. Holocaust Survivor Reunites with Polish Savior
A Jewish boy who hid from the Nazis in a haystack was reunited in New York after 70 years Wednesday with the Polish son whose parents risked everything to save him, reports AFP.
Beaming American Holocaust survivor Leon Gersten, 79, embraced and clasped the hand of a visibly moved Czeslaw Polziec, 81, whose Polish parents saved five Jews during World War II.
Israel Wins EU ‘Reducing the Gender Gap’ Prize for Middle East
Female members of parliament from around the world have gathered in Brussels this week to celebrate advances made by women. The prize awarded to Israel was based on research from the World Economic Forum into the progress made by women in 135 countries, in terms of resource allocation between men and women and how that is reflected in gender equality in the population.
IDF Blog: #IDFWithoutBorders: Map of IDF Aid Delegations Around the World
Most of the delegations were staffed with reserve soldiers from the IDF’s Search and Rescue Unit. The national Search and Rescue Unit, under the Home Front Command, is a highly skilled force trained to execute special search and rescue missions. Although the unit – created with the goal of providing aid both in Israel and abroad – was established in 1983, the IDF has been sending medical aid delegations around the world since its founding. In addition to the rescue teams, the delegations include doctors from the Medical Corps, mechanical engineering equipment operators, rescue dog handlers and Logistics officers.
IDF Aid Delegation Returns from the Philippines