Tuesday, December 03, 2013
Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: We Want a Geneva Accord against Israel
Abdel Rahman urged the PA leadership to take advantage of the Geneva accord between the six big powers and Iran to call for an international conference to discuss ways of imposing a solution on Israel.Why Netanyahu Gave Pope Francis His Father’s History of the Spanish Inquisition
The Palestinians are now convinced that that under President Barack Obama, the U.S. role in the region is continually receding. That is why they do not believe that the U.S.-sponsored peace talks with Israel will produce any results.
The Geneva accord and Washington's failed policies in Egypt and other Muslim countries have taught the Palestinians that it would be better to wait until the U.S. completely loses its influence so that other players such as Russia, China and the EU will step in to impose a solution on Israel.
In other words, Ben Zion Netanyahu’s argument shifted the root blame for the Inquisition from religion to ingrained racial animus–from the spiritual to the secular. If one was going to give the pope a book about the Inquisition, then, this would be the one. Moreover, not only does the book’s revisionist reckoning partially absolve Christianity for Spanish persecution of the Jews, it offers a contemporary message of pressing relevance. At a time when Christian anti-Semitism has receded–evidenced not least by the friendly relations between the Vatican and the state of Israel–secular and racial forms of anti-Semitism have been on the rise, particularly in Europe, where a nearly a quarter of Jews say they are afraid to publicly identify as Jewish. The anti-Semitism diagnosed by Ben Zion Netanyahu is alive and well.Israelis distrust Iran deal but overwhelmingly value alliance with US
The elder Netanyahu’s account of the Inquisition then, whatever its merits as a reconstruction of the past, serves as a powerful warning about the dangers lurking in the present–one that his son doubtless intended to convey.
The findings come from the latest Tel Aviv University-Israel Democracy Institute Peace Index, a monthly survey of Israeli public opinion.The truth about Israel’s Bedouin resettlement plan
Fully 77% of Israelis say the nuclear agreement between Western powers and Iran will not end the Islamic Republic’s drive for nuclear weapons. Just 18% said they thought it would.
At the same time, Israelis overwhelmingly welcome the alliance with the US.
What should give the propagandists pause for thought is that even Israel’s very leftist liberal President Shimon Peres has approved of the Begin-Praver plan and insists it should be carried through.Sound and fury masking true debate over Bedouin resettlement
It is a disgrace, but unfortunate no surprise, that Israel is damned if it does and damned if it doesn’t. For all the years that the Bedouin have been neglected Israel has been criticised for not providing proper housing, taking care of their needs and generally neglecting the Bedouin. And now that Israel is finally prepared to resettle them permanently in a very generous arrangement, Israel is demonized by its detractors and haters from home and abroad.
We need to ignore the propagandists and bigots and act in our own – and the Bedouin’s – best interests.
The Bedouins’ plight is real. The state’s failure over the decades to supply them with basic services is a documented fact. At the same time, many Bedouin leaders’ resistance to the kind of centralized planning necessary for such services to be properly deployed is also a fact.Anti-Israel Ads in Boston, Denver, Portland Countered by StandWithUs
And it is the ordinary, unassuming families of the sprawling tent-cities who are the true suffering victims of their own leaders’, and Israel’s, collective neglect. And who are not being usefully served by the passionate, largely under-informed, and in some cases perniciously motivated international outcry.
"The anti-Israel ads also leave out the context such as the chronic wars and terrorism unleashed against Israel that first created the refugee problem. They omit the numerous times Israel has given up land for peace—such as in Gaza—when in exchange, it got thousands of rockets hurled at its southern towns and Palestinian leaders continued refusal to accept the Jewish state,” Rothstein said.The National Lawyers Guild, GUPS, and SFSU: Red Herring. Its whats for Lunch
The pro-Israel ads from SWU depict Jewish loss of land over time, highlight Israeli innovation, and direct viewers to thewholestory.org, a website listing the “Top 10 Things Palestinian Leaders Don’t Want You To Know” about Israel.
On Nov. 7, an event sponsored by the General Opinion of Palestinian Students at San Francisco State University featured signage stating "Our heroes have always killed colonizers", which was roundly condemned by university administrators, and advocacy groups.SFSU GUPS President Loves His Knife And Wants To Stab IDF Soldier With It
In an open letter than never once mentions the controversial phrase, the National Lawyers Guild has come out with a statement declaring this as "controversial political speech rather than hate speech", and therefore safeguarded by protections under the first amendment.
This is so disturbing, it has forced the Simon Wiesenthal Center to warn SFSU of a “a potential threat to its Jewish students.”Documents reveal British banned Geller and Spencer because of their ‘pro-Israeli views’
Simon Wiesenthal Center officials today warned San Francisco State University of a potential threat to its Jewish students after the Amcha Initiative uncovered a picture on Tumblr allegedly posted by the President of the University-sanctioned General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS) in which he is shown holding a knife with the caption saying, “I seriously can not get over how much I love this blade. It is the sharpest thing I own and cuts through everything like butter and just holding it makes me want to stab an Israeli soldier….”The Tumblr post has since been removed.
The British government tried to cover its tracks. But a new cache of documents Robert Spencer and I have received in our battle to overturn our being banned from Britain reveal that a chief reason why we were banned from the country was because we strongly support Israel. As part of our lawsuit against the Queen of England and the Home Secretary et al, we have received numerous documents between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Office of Security and Counterterrorism, and the Home Secretary.John Kerry: US working to end anti-Israel bias at UN
On Monday, the US and other Western countries admitted Israel into the Western Europe and Others Group in Geneva, a move which will provide it with some influence before the UN top human rights body. Israel will official assume its seat on January 1.Samantha Power Welcomes Israel to UNHRC
Kerry called the move “overdue,” and said it was a step toward giving Israel a greater global voice.
“It goes without saying that at a time when the scourge of global anti-Semitism is on the rise, it is more important than ever for Israel to have a strong voice that can be heard everywhere,” he said in a statement. “This is a particularly welcome development as we work to end anti-Israel bias in the UN system.”
In a statement she issued on Monday, Power said, “For far too long Israel has been unfairly excluded from regional bodies at the United Nations. I applaud the decision to admit Israel into the Western European and Others Group (WEOG) at the UN in Geneva beginning January 1, 2014, providing Israel membership into one of the regional bodies that shape policy and determine leadership posts in UN fora.”EU disowns the ‘EU working definition of anti-Semitism’
Power added, “This long-overdue decision brings Geneva in line with the decision to admit Israel into WEOG in New York in 2000, which continues to pay dividends more than a decade later, as well as more recent efforts by this administration to more fully normalize Israel’s treatment across the UN system.”
On 6 November, I protested to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton, the current disappearance of the “Working Definition” from the FRA website, requesting it be immediately re-uploaded.ADL raps rapper Kanye West for 'classic anti-Semitism'
The 29 November response from the European Commission Directorate-General Justice, with responsibility for Fundamental Rights, was astounding in insisting “at the outset, that neither the Commission in particular, nor the Union have an established definition of antisemitism and that there is no policy to create one. Furthermore, it should be pointed out that the FRA is an independent agency.”
The Anti-Defamation League rapped rapper Kanye West over his off-the-cuff remarks in a radio interview that Jews and “oil people” are more well-connected than black people in general and President Obama in particular.French firm to change name of detergent reminiscent of Zyklon B
“If the comments are true as reported, this is classic anti-Semitism,” the ADL’s national director, Abraham Foxman, said in a statement. “There it goes again, the age-old canard that Jews are all-powerful and control the levers of power in government. As a celebrity with a wide following, Kanye West should know better. We hope that he will take responsibility for his words, understand why they are so offensive, and apologize to those he has offended.”
A French detergent maker said it will change the name of a product called Cyclone B following complaints that it is offensive to Holocaust victims.Four menorahs vandalized in spate of Budapest attacks
“We are aware of the issue and are working to address it,” a spokeswoman for the firm IPC-SA from Brest in northwestern France told JTA on Monday.
Three vandals of public menorahs in the Hungarian capital of Budapest reportedly turned themselves into police.Israel Prepares for Record 2 Million Christian Tourists in 2013
Police were searching for a fourth vandal in the attacks they said took place over the weekend on four menorahs throughout the city, Hungary’s Club Radio reported. The vandalism was captured on public surveillance cameras.
At end-October, according to Tourism Ministry statistics, 1.85 million tourists had passed through Rachel’s Crossing from Jerusalem to visit Bethlehem.Jewish Playwright David Mamet Takes on Obama, Defends Israel
A total 75,000 tourists are expected to be in Jerusalem, Nazareth and Bethlehem over Christmas, with 25,000 being considered Christian pilgrims.
The Ministry said, over the past two years, Israel has invested NIS 86 million ($24 million) in strengthening the transport infrastructure and other assets used by Christians to tour Israel’s religious sites.
Mamet also described his own position on Israel and the recent deal that partially lifted sanctions against Iran, coming at the political situation as a Jew from a family of Holocaust survivors.Lady Gaga heading to Israel in 2014
Mamet said, “Well, I was born right after World War II and I’m a Jew. I’m a serious Jew. My grandparents didn’t leave Poland. Got killed, half of them got killed by the Nazis. Half of them got killed by Stalin and it’s clearly evident to me, from the first, that the left is going to make Israel do it’s dirty work. It’s going to turn its back on Israel until, to save the West, Israel is going to have to strike at Iran and leave the cat sitting on the fence to say, ‘See, I told you so. Look at what them Yids are up to this week.’”
Gaga, who is currently touring in Japan, is to perform in Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv, a venue that regularly hosts performances by international stars. She last visited Israel in 2009 when she performed at the Israel Trade Fairs & Convention Center, also in Tel Aviv.
Channel 2 also reported that singer Justin Timberlake is scheduled to perform in Israel on May 14, 2014, either in Yarkon Park or the Ramat Gan Stadium.
More Amazing Photos by Shlomo and Sonia Narinsky -- Jewish Photographers Exiled by the Turks, Swept Up by the Nazis
In 1932, the Narinskys opened a studio in Paris, but Shlomo was arrested when the Nazis captured France. He was later exchanged for a German spy caught in Palestine after the intercession of David Ben-Gurion and Yitzchak Ben-Zvi. The Narinskys returned to Israel, eventually moving to Haifa where Shlomo taught as a photography teacher. He died in 1960, relatively unknown.
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