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Sunday, December 08, 2013

12/08 Links: More blatant Antisemitism from Roger Waters, Iran reports 'evil dystopian robots'

From Ian:

Days After Defending Star of David Pig, Roger Waters Laments ‘Power’ of ‘Jewish Lobby,’ Compares Israeli Policy to Nazis
Asked why he was the only high profile celebrity to have joined the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, Waters explained that it was because people fear “the Jewish lobby.”
“This has been a very hard sell particularly where I live in the United States of America,” he said. “The Jewish lobby is extraordinary powerful here and particularly in the industry that I work in, the music industry and in rock’n roll as they say. I promise you, naming no names, I’ve spoken to people who are terrified that if they stand shoulder to shoulder with me they are going to get f*****.”
Accusing Israel of all manner of heinous crimes, Waters went on to draw parallels between Israeli policy and Nazi genocide.
“The situation in Israel/Palestine, with the occupation, the ethnic cleansing and the systematic racist apartheid Israeli regime is unacceptable,” he said.
EU Supports Economic Activity in Moroccan Occupied Territories
Recently, the head of the International action division in the legal Forum for Israel, Adv. and Ambassador (Ret.) Alan Baker and Prof. Eugene Kontorovich, member of the international action division, approached Dame Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and the Foreign Ministers of the European Union.
According to them, the consent of the EU to exploit fishing resources in the sea in front of the area occupied by Morocco in Western Sahara raises serious questions about the conduct of the Union. The letter claims that “there is a blatant contradiction between the principles according to which the EU operates in the areas of Judea and Samaria, as opposed to their policy in the areas occupied by Morocco in Western Sahara.”
Jihad Jenny pushes for talks with terrorists
Nonetheless Tonge wants Hamas back at the table, not just with the Palestinian Authority, but with Western powers too. Make no mistake, this is like inviting Osama Bin Laden around for tea.
She asks in a written parliamnetary question today:
Baroness Tonge: to ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent discussions they have held with other European countries about opening dialogue with Hamas; and what steps they will take to promote dialogue between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.
Ah yes, let us put British taxpayers’ money to work “promoting dialogue” between a terrorist faction and a corrupt cabal of double-speakers!
Richard Millett: The Lancet, MAP and Sir Iain Chalmers’ “interesting figure” of Six Million
Chalmers: “Let me ask you a question. I was asked to write a commentary for The Lancet after the Cast Lead attack. I ended it by saying a self-defined Jewish state now controls the lives of almost as many non-Jews as it does of Jews. What will that Jewish state do with the six million, it is an interesting figure, the six million non-Jews whose lives it controls? You answer that question.”
Me: “Why is six million an interesting figure?”
Chalmers: “Well, actually it is the same number of Jews that were killed by the Nazis.”
Me: “Whats your point?”
Chalmers: Six million is a lot of people. How will the Jewish state deal with the non-Jews whose lives it controls?
EU regrets hosting rabbi accused of Holocaust denial
Rabbi Moshe Aryeh Friedman attended a conference on Arab-European dialogue held last month at the seat of the European Parliament in Brussels. Friedman, who lives in Antwerp, is perhaps best known for attending a conference in Tehran in 2006 organized by then Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad featuring Holocaust deniers.
According to The Guardian, Friedman said there that only 1 million Jews died in the Holocaust. The Bloomberg news agency reported that he had said the Holocaust was “successful fiction.”
Bennett: Any peace agreement that excludes Hamas is ‘a joke’
“I’m for an agreement,” he told Israel Radio from Australia, where he is on an official visit, “but a real one that doesn’t harm our interests.”
“Maybe I missed the news and Hamas in Gaza recognized Israel and stopped firing rockets,” he added sarcastically. Peace talks that did not include the leaders of Gaza were “a joke,” Bennett insisted.
Obama: Judea and Samaria Must Not be 'Gaza 2'
Obama warned that in the event of a final agreement between Israel and the PA, there would be a "transition period" to ensure that Judea and Samaria does not become a security threat akin to Hamas-ruled Gaza. He said that the PA would have to accept such a transition period.
"This transition period requires some restraint on the part of the Palestinians as well. They don't get everything they want on day one," he said, according to the AFP news agency.
"The Israeli people can't expect a replica of Gaza in the West Bank," Obama added. "That is unacceptable."
Ya'alon: We have no partner for two-state solution
Speaking at the Globes Business Conference in Tel Aviv, the defense minister said, "As someone who supported [the] Oslo [Peace Process], I'm learning that on the other side we have no partner for two states for two people."
"There is no one on the other side, and hasn't been since the dawn of Zionism, a leadership that is prepared to recognize our right to exist as a nation-state for the Jewish nation, and to recognize an agreement as the end of the conflict and the end to demands. We won't talk about an inch, about a millimeter of territory, if we don't see that we have a partner who talks about recognition, about the end of the conflict, and about giving up the right of return. We will not implement the doctrine of stages," he added.
Akunis: If Kerry is Optimistic, Then We Must Be Very Worried
Earlier Friday, US Secretary of State John Kerry had expressed hopes about the talks, declaring that "we are closer than we have been in years to bringing about the peace and the prosperity and the security that all of the people of this region deserve."
The MK was skeptical about the development. "We must ask: what progress? Is progress nothing but a separate word for 'withdrawal'? So let's focus on just one issue we dealt with this weekend: 'The security arrangements in the Jordan Valley'," he stated.
Germany selling Israel two guided missile destroyers
Within the framework of the deal, Germany will reportedly supply Israel with two guided missile destroyers, each valued at one billion euros.
The destroyers will be used to protect Israel’s gas pipelines.
In April, Der Spiegel reported that Israel may sell technologically advanced attack drones to the German military.
Islamic Movement Leader: Temple Mount for Muslims Only
Sheikh Kamal Khatib, who holds the position of the "deputy head of the Islamic Movement inside Palestine (Israel)," warned of a possible internal conflict with "the Israeli occupation" and threatened a "huge eruption" if Israel intervened on the Temple Mount ("Al Aqsa") and continued, according to him, to bother the Muslims praying there.
In an interview with the Al-Quds news agency quoted on the al-Aqsa website, Khatib lashed out at Israeli police forces, who intervened Friday after Muslims rioted at the Mount and began throwing rocks. The Sheikh insisted that the police, rather than preventing more unrest, were part of a wide-scale Israeli agenda to prevent worshipers from being comfortable at the site.
Son of Greek Orthodox priest who supports IDF enlistment attacked in Nazareth
Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon (Likud) spoke with Father Nadaf, who said that the suspect is an Arab Hadash activist. Danon later spoke with Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, demanding an end to incitement from Arab Knesset members.
“Words become deeds; the incitement of Arab Knesset members must stop,” Danon said. “The situation where Father Nadaf, his family, and Christians who want to serve in the IDF live in fear and suffer from attacks and harassment is unacceptable and tough action needs to be taken against the instigators and perpetrators alike.”
‘Palestine’s first online sex shop’
A 30-year-old Ramallah-based Palestinian-American entrepreneur has launched a pornography-free online sex shop aimed at encouraging marital intimacy. The venture hopes to attract customers across the Arab world, the Guradian reported Friday.
The man behind the plan, Ashraf Alkiswani, sought approval from religious leaders in Ramallah before embarking on the ambitious business project.
Obama takes aim at Israeli positions on Iran
President Obama sharply criticized as not viable several Israeli government postures on talks with Iran, but asserted that the military option remained on the table should those negotiations fail.
In a wide-ranging talk with Haim Saban, the entertainment mogul who funds the annual Saban Forum in Washington, Obama took aim at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims that increased pressure during the interim talks would extract greater concessions from Iran, and anticipated a final deal that would grant Iran some uranium enrichment capabilities.
Iran forging ahead with uranium enrichment technology
Iran is moving ahead with testing more efficient uranium enrichment technology, a spokesman for its atomic energy agency said on Saturday, in news that may concern world powers who last month agreed a deal to curb Tehran's atomic activities.
Spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi was quoted by state news agency IRNA as saying that initial testing on a new generation of more sophisticated centrifuges had been completed, underlining Iran's determination to keep refining uranium in what it says is work to make fuel for a planned network of nuclear power plants.
Congress to Obama: Cancel Iran deal
Congressional opposition to the recently announced nuclear accord with Iran reached a critical tipping point this week as lawmakers from both sides of the aisle publicly lambasted the deal while pushing for tighter economic sanctions on Tehran.
As the details of an interim nuclear deal reached last month in Geneva become clear, Congressional opposition has grown, leaving the White House to sell a deal that even its allies have dubbed as worrisome.
Iran reports “evil dystopian robots”
Iranian news can be pretty eccentric. But nobody expected this. What is shown below was reported as news in the semi-official Iranian Fars News and was copy-pasted from a satirical article by technology website TechCrunch about a new robot that can do Rubik’s Cubes entitled “Dystopian War Robots that will harvest us for our organs”. Iranian journalists saw this and apparently saw with it an opportunity to take a stab at the innovations of the Great Satan, republishing the article without the satire in the lifestyle section and even took credit for writing it. With this, Iranian Farce News Agency is even less credible than yesterday. Which says a lot.
PillCam maker Given Imaging sold for $860 million
A huge shakeup in the medical device field as Ireland’s Covidien acquires Israeli camera-in-a-pill maker Given Imaging for a reported $860 million. The companies announced today (December 8, 2013) a definitive agreement under which Covidien will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Given Imaging for $30.00 per share in cash.
Given Imaging is world renowned for its non-invasive technology that detects disorders in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Known as PillCam, the camera-in-a-pill device is ingested by patients and allows physicians to visualize the esophagus, colon, and areas of the small intestine. The PillCam is seen as the alternative answer to traditional colonoscopies.
Israel makes rare appearance at G8 forum with blueprint for tackling diabetes
Israel on Thursday made a rare official appearance at a G8 forum, a group representing the world’s eight largest economies, as the leaders of an Israeli social finance group presented an innovative blueprint for tackling type-2 diabetes to the G8 Taskforce on Social Impact Investment.
The group, Social Finance Israel, developed an outline for preventing the disease using Social Impact Bonds, investment instruments that seek to produce socially favorable outcomes while providing investors a return. In doing so, they hope to attract private funds to a social sphere normally dominated by philanthropic dollars.
Bennett: Israel to Aid Large Islamic Country in Agriculture
Trade and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett announced during a trip to Indonesia that Israel will be providing agricultural assistance to a large Islamic country which has no ties to Israel, according to a report in Makor Rishon.
At the international trade conference, Bennett spoke with Foreign Ministers from dozens of countries including Islamic countries with no ties to Israel.
The goal of many of the discussions was to see how Israeli expertise can be used to assist these countries in increasing their agricultural yields and feed their populations, as well as increasing economic cooperation in general.