Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Assemblyman: Investigate Israel academic boycott violation of NYS Human Rights Law
I was on a radio show last week hosted by Hikind and had a chance to explain this law.Rep. Engel to ASA: Boycott Syria, Not Israel
This provision of the NYS Human Rights Law was a specific reaction to the Arab League boycott of Israel, which also led to federal anti-boycott laws. The Human Rights Law language is quite clear and more broad than the federal legislation. Since ASA has many NY members and does business in NY, there certainly is jurisdiction.
In a letter to the association’s leaders on Monday, Engel argued that boycotting Israel over its government’s treatment of “Palestinians” is a gross double standard.Anti-Israel academic boycotters complain criticism violates their academic freedom to boycott
“I was surprised to learn that Israel is the first country formally subject to a boycott by the ASA, which curiously has chosen to stay silent on China’s suppression of independent academic voices critical of the Communist Party, the Venezuelan government’s retaliation against opposition-oriented universities, or Zimbabwe’s denial of foreign academics from countries critical of Robert Mugabe’s dictatorial government from assuming academic residencies at the University of Zimbabwe,” he wrote.
Now those behind the boycott are complaining that their academic freedom to engage in an academic boycott is being violated by those who disagree with them!UT-Austin and Texas A&M sponsoring annual meeting of anti-Israel academic boycott group
The U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI), the umbrella organization behind all these efforts, is trying to rally support for ASA by encouraging individual and institutional memberships, among other things, Support the ASA: What you can do.
USACBI claims that the academic freedom of the academic boycotters is under attack
Will UT-Austin allow the NAISA to exclude Israeli scholars and institutions from a conference held on campus? If an Israeli Assistant Dean shows up at the conference, will UT-Austin campus police escort the Israeli from the conference if NAISA so demands?Honest Reporting: Backlash Against ASA Boycott Gaining Momentum
When the American Studies Association (ASA) voted to launch an academic boycott against Israel in early December, al Jazeera crowed with a headline, Calls to boycott Israel grow on US campuses.One-Sided BDS Roundtable Scheduled for Modern Language Association Confab
Actually, what’s really growing is the backlash against the association.
As part of its 129th annual convention from Jan. 9-12 in Chicago, the Modern Language Association (MLA) is holding a roundtable discussion titled “Academic Boycotts: A Conversation about Israel and Palestine.” The discussion—to feature supporters but no opponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement—is a possible precursor to an MLA academic boycott of Israel that would mirror recent boycotts by the American Studies Association (ASA) and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association.Israel blames violence on Palestinian incitement
Israel pointed to ongoing incitement in the Palestinian Authority as the driving force behind a spate of recent terror attacks on Israelis, one of which was fatal, and criticized Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for not speaking out against the incidents.Police chief: Rise in terror anticipated after peace talks resumed
“The terrorist attacks against Israelis over the last few days are a direct result of the incitement and hatred propagated in Palestinian schools and media,” said Mark Regev, spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a statement on Wednesday. “We are disappointed that so far President Abbas has not condemned these acts of terrorism as one would expect from a partner in peace talks.”
Police commissioner Yochanan Danino said on Wednesday that the security forces have noticed a disturbing uptick in “grassroots terrorism,” something which was predicted once peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority resumed.PM: We will not tolerate a ‘drizzle’ of attacks from Gaza
As a result of the increased tension on the security front, defense officials have beefed up army and police forces in so-called “sensitive areas,” according to Israel Radio.
Israel would not tolerate a “drizzle” of attacks from Gaza, which would “turn into a storm,” he said.Gaza terror group takes responsibility for sniper attack
Since Pillar of Defense, the south has been quieter than it had been for more than a decade, the prime minister said. “I am committed to maintaining that quiet, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is our policy.”
Netanyahu said that there had recently been a “certain increase” in attempts to commit terrorist attacks.
The Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees, a coalition of Palestinian terrorist factions, took responsibility Wednesday for a sniper attack that killed an Israeli civilian near the Gaza Strip border on Tuesday.When support for Hamas wanes, the cannons roar
The attack, the PRC stated, was carried out in response to Israel’s “occupation crimes” and killings of Palestinians citizens in Gaza and the West Bank.
The reason for Hamas’s interest in a mild flareup with Israel is apparent in a survey published Tuesday by Dr. Khalil Shikaki’s Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. According to the study, support for Hamas is in decline among Gazans, a trend that the center had already underlined in its September study. Only 33 percent of the latest survey’s respondents in Gaza said they’d vote for Hamas if Palestinian parliamentary elections were to be held today, down from an already poor 39% in September.Despite spike in terror, Israel expected to release 26 convicted terrorists next week
The group of ministers mandated with drawing up the names of the additional 26 prisoners to be released is expected to meet by the end of the week.Danon: 'A Normal Country Wouldn't Release Terrorists'
Their decision does not have to go back to the cabinet for approval.
"I call on the Prime Minister to reconsider the release of terrorists given the recent terror attacks," declared Danon at the meeting, referring to the recent wave of attacks since last Friday.US Consulate Tells Employees: Stay Off Sheruts After Bombing
"In a normal country in which a bus blows up on Sunday, a police officer is stabbed on Monday, and a worker fixing the security fence is shot to death on Tuesday, terrorists would not be freed the following week as a 'gesture,'" stated Danon.
The US Consulate General in Jerusalem has released a notice to all Consulate and Embassy employees with US citizenship, prohibiting them from using sherut or shuttle taxi services for the time being.Officer Stabbed by Terrorist Loses Kidney
The Consulate notice states that the purpose behind the ban is to "assess the security implications of the December 22 bomb attack on a public bus in the Bat Yam neighborhood of Tel Aviv" and notes that there has been a "longstanding prohibition on the use of public busses" for their employees in Israel.
Officer Rami Ravid was stabbed by a terrorist at the Adam checkpoint north of Jerusalem. He suffered moderate injuries, and was unconscious and on a respirator until Tuesday morning. His condition improved following emergency surgery.Two Hurt in Samaria Rock Attack
On Tuesday, he opened his eyes and was able to speak to his family.
Two Israelis, a man and woman in their 30s, suffered minor injuries on Tuesday night, after Arab terrorists threw rocks at their cars as they drove near the Western Shomron (Samaria) community of Oranit.PA rejects EU demand not to fund terrorists with EU money
The two were taken to the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva for treatment.
Earlier in the same area, an Israeli bus driver was injured when attackers hurled stones at his bus as he drove on the road between Alei Zahav and Oranit.
The driver suffered a head injury in the attack, but managed to drive to the nearest checkpoint to seek help. Paramedics gave him initial treatment at the scene, then evacuated him to hospital in light condition.
Recently, PA Minister of Prisoners' Affairs Issa Karake made a public statement rejecting the European demand that EU funds not go to terrorists. Indeed, Karake mocked the EU for challenging the PA's funding of terror saying, "the Europeans want their money... to remain clean." He said that by viewing Palestinian prisoners as terrorists, Europe has adopted an "occupation mentality." According to the PA, the prisoners "are heroes"‘We were in a craze to see blood’
The murders of Avrahami and Nurzhitz occurred on October 12, 2000, at the start of the Second Intifada. After they accidentally entered the West Bank city of Ramallah, they were taken to the local Palestinian Authority police station. A crowd of rioters stormed the building and stabbed and beat the soldiers to death. The mob then dragged the soldiers’ mutilated bodies to al-Manara Square in the center of Ramallah.Anti-Santa campaigns heat up in Turkey as Christmas arrives
“We were in a craze to see blood. I entered the room… I saw an Israeli soldier sprawled on the floor in front of the door,” said 32-year-old Aziz Salha, one of the participants in the attack. “I came closer to him and saw a knife lodged in his back, near his right shoulder. I removed the knife and stabbed him in the back two or three times… while others in the room continued to kick him. I put my hand over his mouth and the other on his shoulder, in order to strangle him.”
A Muslim youth group and a neighborhood authority led two separate anti-Santa campaigns on the eve of Christmas in Turkey.Pakistani Terror Group Threatens Deadly Attacks on New York, Washington, D.C.
The Istanbul University branch of a group called Anatolia Youth Association (AGD) released an illustration of a Muslim youth punching Santa Claus in the face and announced that it would make a press statement against Christmas on Dec. 26 in Istanbul.
Pakistan’s most dangerous terrorist organization, the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), has promised it will attack New York and Washington, D.C., in an act of revenge with suicide fighters, according to a newly released video obtained by TheBlaze.Islamic charity officials gave millions to al-Qaeda, U.S. says
The group also claims responsibility for the most deadly attack in CIA history and the failed bombing of New York’s Times Square.
When Qatar’s royal family was looking for advice on charitable giving, it turned to a well-regarded professor named Abd al-Rahman al-Nu’aymi. The 59-year-old educator had a stellar résumé that included extensive fundraising experience and years of work with international human rights groups.
But one apparent accomplishment was omitted from the list: According to U.S. officials, Nu’aymi also was working secretly as a financier for al-Qaeda, funneling millions of dollars to the terrorist group’s affiliates in Syria and Iraq even as he led campaigns in Europe for greater freedoms for Muslims.
